Mossheart (ShC)

"Every battle is a loss."

— Mossheart expressing her despair to Silvermask in Code of the Clans, page 136

Mossheart (ShC)
The pixel artwork is fanart based on the canon description; undefined traits are left to the artist's interpretation.
Affiliations
Current:	StarClan
Past:	ShadowClan
Names
Name:	Mossheart Mossheart
Book appearances
Living	Code of the Clans
Living	Code of the Clans
Dead	The Ultimate Guide
Dead	The Ultimate Guide

Mossheart is a dark tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes.

History

In the Field Guide Arc

Code of the Clans

Mossheart is an ancient ShadowClan medicine cat.

Mossheart is treating Smoketalon's wound, which is one of the most recent of wounds he received from a long line of battles between ShadowClan and WindClan. When she is finished doing so, she goes to stand beside a queen named Lilyfur, who tells her that the two Clans, ShadowClan and WindClan, are fighting once again. Mossheart receives a vision that she is covered in blood, and she rushes to stop the ongoing battle.

She gets there at the same time as Swiftfoot, the WindClan medicine cat. They both tell the warriors of their respective Clans to go home. When Silvermask, the ShadowClan deputy, angrily asks if Mossheart wants her Clan to lose, Mossheart snaps that she wants them to live, and that he is mouse-brained for thinking so. As he stalks away, she decided to wait to tell him that his wounds would have to be treated with a goldenrod poultice. She passes by Spottedpaw, an apprentice who has been killed in the battle, and looks at him with sorrow. When Swiftfoot expresses his desire for the needless bloodshed to stop, she suggests he go to the Moonstone, and they decide to gather all the medicine cats and go together.

Mossheart meets with the other medicine cats at the half-moon, and she realizes with horror that the moon is red. She calms down when they reach the Moonstone chamber, only to be startled by a vision of a battle. The spirit of Spottedpaw appears to her, and tells her the battle she just saw is what happens everyday, that this is what warriors do, and that they cannot change it. Mossheart protests that he died because of it, and he fades, telling her that they can't stop the battles, but maybe they can stop the dying. She is mournful when Spottedpaw leaves, realizing what a great warrior he would have been to his Clan.

She tells the other medicine cats that she dreamed of her fallen Clanmate, and they realize that they all had similar dreams. Their Clanmates didn't have to die for the other cats to win. They all decide to make it part of the warrior code, and to meet there every half-moon to share tongues together. As they are leaving, Mossheart hears Spottedpaw's voice thanking her, saying that StarClan will honor her forever and that her law will save many lives.

The Ultimate Guide

During Tigerclaw's leadership ceremony, Mossheart tells him about how she lived as a medicine cat during a time when the Clans fought needless battles, and how she and the other medicine cats created a new law of the code, where cats do not have to kill to win their battles. She then gives him a life for mercy, his eighth life. She tells him that mercy brings strength and Tigerclaw wonders if she knows she has given him a life he does not want before Cedarstar takes her place.

Trivia

Mistakes

• She has been mistakenly called a tom.

Character Pixels

The pixel artwork is fanart based on the canon description; undefined traits are left to the artist's interpretation. Medicine Cat Version StarClan Version

Quotes

Smoketalon: "If I ever catch that mangy WindClan cat who did it, I'll rip out his throat."

Mossheart: "Then his Clan will lose a warrior and swear vengeance on ShadowClan, and it will go on forever. Back and forth, shedding blood on one side of the border or the other, until the stars grow old."

^{Code of the Clans}

Mossheart: "You heard what Swiftfoot said! Go home!"

Logfur: "There's a battle to be fought."

^{Code of the Clans}

Silvermask: "What in the name of StarClan are you doing? Do you want us to lose?"

Mossheart: "No. I want you to live. Are you going to keep fighting until there are no warriors left at all? Three more cats dead. How is this going to help?"

^{Code of the Clans}

"I give you a life for mercy, for knowing that victory can leave both cats standing. Your opponent may have been the lesser cat in this battle, but he deserves to live and have a chance to try again."

―Mossheart giving Tigerclaw his eighth life ^{The Ultimate Guide}

"Mercy brings strength, remember that."

―Mossheart to Tigerclaw ^{The Ultimate Guide}