Эрин Хантер - The Ultimate Guide

His life became much harder once Yellowfang was forced out of ShadowClan, leaving Runningnose in the grip of Brokenstar’s bloodthirsty rule. As younger and younger kits were trained to fight, Runningnose had to patch up the tiniest bodies when they returned injured and scared out of their fur. His heart broke for every scrap of life that was lost in Brokenstar’s obsessive quest to conquer his rivals.

Even when Brokenstar was captured by ThunderClan, and ShadowClan was free to choose a new leader, Runningnose shouldered the heavy burden of knowing that Nightstar had not been granted his nine lives. Brokenstar still had his final life, despite no longer leading ShadowClan, and StarClan believed Nightstar was too old and frail to give ShadowClan the leadership it needed. Both Nightstar and his medicine cat were left to lie to the rest of the Clan about the ceremony. Runningnose must have wondered how his path had led him to this, hiding a terrible secret from his precious Clanmates while he struggled to keep Nightstar strong enough to lead them.

Littlecloud was Runningnose’s apprentice. Born during Brokenstar’s rule, he was forced into warrior training when he was just three moons old. After already being a warrior, he was inspired to become a medicine cat after being rescued by Cinderpelt of ThunderClan during ShadowClan’s Great

Sickness. Disease from the rats at Carrionplace brought a different kind of death to ShadowClan, and Littlecloud escaped with Whitethroat into ThunderClan territory. Cinderpelt took pity on them and kept them hidden from passing patrols while she treated their sickness. They were eventually chased back to ShadowClan, where Littlecloud turned away from his warrior status to become a medicine cat.

Cinderpelt’s kind deed was rewarded by a fair and peaceful medicine cat in ShadowClan for many, many moons. Littlecloud was always willing to share herbs and experience with ThunderClan and watched out for blind Jayfeather on his first independent journeys to the Moonpool. He was devastated when his apprentice, Flametail, drowned after falling through ice on the lake, but unlike his Clanmates, he didn’t blame Jayfeather for failing to save him. For Littlecloud, everything was a test of his faith in StarClan, and that never faltered throughout his long life.

BORN IN SECRET TO the ShadowClan medicine cat Yellowfang and raised by Lizardstripe, a queen who had no wish to nurse an extra mouth at her belly, Brokenstar walked a twisted path from the start.

From the moment he opened his eyes, he was determined to prove to his Clanmates that he was stronger, braver, and more ferocious than they could ever be. Unflinchingly loyal to his Clan and the warrior code, he quickly became deputy to the leader, his father, Raggedstar—and then killed Raggedstar in order to become leader himself, despite knowing that he was sending his own father to StarClan.

When he stood at the head of ShadowClan, Brokenstar oversaw a reign of terror, unleashing attacks on WindClan and training the smallest kits to fight in the thick of battle. When Yellowfang could no longer bear to treat the wounds on cats who should still have been in the nursery, she spoke out against this practice and was exiled from the Clan. Brokenstar continued his bloodthirsty leadership, driving out WindClan and setting his sights on taking over ThunderClan territory too. But he overextended himself—and underestimated his neighbors—and ended up blind and captive in the ThunderClan camp. Yellowfang grudgingly cared for him, still without telling him the truth about his birth.

When Brokenstar plotted with Tigerstar to launch an attack on ThunderClan from within, Yellowfang took it upon herself to end her son’s bloodstained life. Feeding him deathberries, she told him exactly who had kitted him, and how he had brought his destruction upon himself.

Brokenstar continued to rage against the Clans from the Dark Forest, joining with Tigerstar to recruit discontented cats in their dreams. In the final, desperate battle, Yellowfang came from StarClan to obliterate her only son, breaking his neck and sending him out of the Clans forever.

AS A WARRIOR, NIGHTSTAR , then known as Nightpelt, was dedicated, thoughtful, and well respected.

Cedarstar appointed him as mentor to Brokenpaw, hoping that Nightpelt’s gentle approach would soften some of the angry young cat’s impulses. Brokenpaw had no patience with a warrior that he saw as weak and cowardly, and sought training from Raggedpelt instead. Nightpelt retired to the elders’ den soon after Brokentail became a warrior and prepared to live out his days peacefully. But Brokenstar’s bloodthirsty rule, and the death of kits too young to be forced into battle, stirred Nightpelt to action.

When Brokenstar was captured by ThunderClan, Nightpelt put himself forward as ShadowClan’s new leader. He went to the Moonstone with the medicine cat, Runningnose, where both cats were dismayed to learn that StarClan regarded Brokenstar as the ShadowClan leader still, and thus would not give Nightstar nine lives. It was perhaps Nightstar’s greatest moment of courage that he was prepared to lie to his Clanmates and tell them that StarClan approved of his leadership, in order to save them from any further influence from that dark-hearted cat.

Nightstar tried to steer his Clan into a time of peace and recovery, but age and ill health caught up with him and he died after just a few seasons. A bout of greencough stole his single life, leaving ShadowClan lost and leaderless, and ready for Tigerstar.

TIGERSTAR WAS BORN IN ThunderClan, son of Pinestar and Leopardfoot. Soon after Tigerkit was born, his father left the Clan to take refuge in the life of a kittypet. The shame of this stayed with Tigerstar for all his life and beyond, and his pelt burned with the need to prove his own loyalty, with the warrior code running through his veins. Mentored by the cruel and ambitious Thistleclaw, young

Tigerpaw, whose warrior name would be Tigerclaw, wanted to be the greatest warrior his Clan had seen. A skirmish with a young stray kittypet—which Tigerpaw won easily—fueled his hunger for victory. In a clash over Sunningrocks with RiverClan, Tigerclaw saw his chance to kill the ThunderClan deputy, Redtail, and blame it on their rivals. Bluestar eventually made Tigerclaw deputy as he had hoped, but by then her attention had turned to the new arrival in the Clan, a former kittypet named Firepaw, who seemed to be taking the place in Bluestar’s confidence that Tigerclaw sought for himself.

As Bluestar declined into old age, Tigerclaw decided he had to hasten his promotion to leader.

He tried to lure Bluestar to the Thunderpath but a young apprentice named Cinderpaw came in her place and was badly injured by a passing monster. Increasingly desperate, Tigerclaw plotted with rogues that had once belonged to ShadowClan, and with Brokenstar, the former leader of ShadowClan now held captive by Bluestar, to launch a direct attack on the ThunderClan camp. The attackers were defeated and Tigerclaw was banished from the territory forever. He left swearing vengeance, and found it by joining up with rogues and then charming his way into ShadowClan, which was floundering under Nightstar’s leadership. Desperate for a strong cat to reassert their position among the other Clans, ShadowClan welcomed Tigerclaw, and when Nightstar died, he was the natural successor instead of the elderly deputy, Cinderfur.