Warrior Cats: The Original Series



""Fire alone can save our Clan.""

- Into the Wild

Warrior Cats: The Original Series is the first arc of the popular Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter.

The series focuses on housecat Rusty, who, tired of the easy life of a pet, decides to join ThunderClan, one of four warrior Clans who rule the forest neighboring his home. Rusty is dubbed Fireheart and sets out on a quest to unravel the secrets his Clanmates keep hidden in an effort to protect the forest from evil.

The series was inspired by Redwall and Watership Down and it shows. Anyone Can Die is in full effect, and every cutie is broken. The first arc is the most popular among the fandom, and is the bloodiest in the series.

The First Arc provides examples of

 * Almost-Dead Guy:  among others.
 * Ambition Is Evil: Most evidently with.
 * Awesome Moment of Crowning:
 * Big Bad: Brokenstar at first.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: Brokenstar and Tigerclaw.
 * Cain and Abel: Word of God confirms that  as well as   are brothers.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Before going to his first gathering, Graystripe hopes that Clawface and Stonefur will attend. Both later become major players. Also, Barley, and the small apprentice Lionheart talks to at Fireheart's first gathering,.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Fireheart's I Surrender, Suckers, which he uses throughout the series (most notably in his first battle ever),.
 * The Chosen One: The prophecy says Fire alone can save them. The hero is named Fireheart. See the connection?
 * Disc One Final Boss: Brokenstar. And also.
 * Early Installment Weirdness:
 * Kits call their parents Mother or Father when speaking to them, rather than using their names, throughout the first series.
 * Apprentices must travel to the Moonstone before becoming a warrior. This is mentioned several times in the series (though Fireheart and Graystripe are the only ones that actually do as far as the reader knows) and forgotten later on. After fans pointed this out to the authors, it gets Lampshaded in the later part of the second series by Leafpool, who comments that they seem to have left that tradition behind when they came to the lake.
 * Even she-cats not expecting kits are referred to as queens in the first book.
 * Earlier books have slightly different spellings than later books - Highstones is HighStones in the first book, "crowfood" is two words or at least has a hyphen, "Clanmate" is two words.
 * At Gatherings, cats of all ages tend to mix: examples include senior warrior Lionheart talking with some apprentices, and Fireheart sitting with a group of elders and medicine cats. In later books, the characters tend to stick with the cats their own age.
 * Mates aren't (for the most part) treated as major relationships in the first series, and it is mentioned that warrior fathers don't stay close to their kits (Crookedstar being a rare exception.) In the third series, Spiderleg is critisized because he doesn't want to play with his kits, and in the third and fourth series especially, everyone gossips about young couples and young she-cats talk about who they like and things like that.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Brokenstar  Later on
 * Genki Girl: Cinderpaw,.
 * He Knows Too Much: Tigerclaw's primary reason for trying to kill Ravenpaw and Fireheart.
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * It Has Been an Honor:
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yellowfang
 * Make It Look Like an Accident: Tigerclaw attempts (and fails) this twice:
 * He tries to drown Fireheart, as mentioned below under The Uriah Gambit. Even Fireheart wasn't sure whether it was an accident or not until he noticed the way Tigerclaw was looking at him later.
 * Darkstripe gave Sorrelkit deathberries to eat; if Graystripe hadn't seen what happened, every cat would have just assumed she found the berries and didn't know what they were.
 * Meaningful Rename:
 * When an apprentice becomes a warrior, their name's "-paw" suffix is replaced with something more appropriate.
 * Brightpaw gets special mention here. When she, Bluestar gives her the name as part of her Rage Against the Heavens. Later, when
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard:
 * Red Sky, Take Warning: "The clouds are stained with blood! This day will bring an unneccessary death."
 * Retronym: Originally just called "Warriors", however, fans now call it "The Original Series" to distinguish it from the rest of the arcs.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers:
 * Turned Against Their Masters:
 * Twist Ending: The very last line of Rising Storm. See Wham! Line below.
 * Unexpected Successor:  to Nightstar.
 * Unfortunate Names: Yellowfang, Deadfoot, Runningnose.
 * Unfriendly Fire: One of Tigerclaw's tactics :
 * In the first book, he kills Redtail after a battle, claiming that Redtail was killed by Oakheart during the battle. Oakheart died in the same battle, so he's not exactly around to deny it.
 * The Uriah Gambit: Another one of Tigerclaw's tactics:
 * Tigerclaw, suspecting that Ravenpaw knows he killed Redtail, sets him some dangerous hunting tasks, including at Snakerocks (named for the deadly adders that bask there in the summer... Ravenpaw actually manages to catch one!) and in ShadowClan territory.
 * During battle, Fireheart's pinned down and fighting for his life. He calls to Tigerclaw for help, but Tigerclaw just watches him; it's to his advantage if Fireheart dies since he believes Ravenpaw told Fireheart what he knows.
 * At one point, he orders Fireheart to cross a flooded stream, using only a spindly branch caught in the water. When Fireheart's halfway across and Longtail isn't watching, Tigerclaw tries to Make It Look Like an Accident by knocking the branch loose of the rock it's caught against.
 * Wham! Line:
 * During battle, Fireheart's pinned down and fighting for his life. He calls to Tigerclaw for help, but Tigerclaw just watches him; it's to his advantage if Fireheart dies since he believes Ravenpaw told Fireheart what he knows.
 * At one point, he orders Fireheart to cross a flooded stream, using only a spindly branch caught in the water. When Fireheart's halfway across and Longtail isn't watching, Tigerclaw tries to Make It Look Like an Accident by knocking the branch loose of the rock it's caught against.
 * Wham! Line: