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| "But sometimes being a warrior means standing your ground and fighting, even when winning seems impossible." |
| — Narrator in The Plaintive Howls |
Warriors are adult Clan cats who feed and protect the Clan.[1] Their duties are extremely important to the overall survival of the Clan.[1]
Description
Warriors have been trained in the ways of fighting and hunting in addition to the ways of the Warrior Code.[1] They are charged with the responsibility to feed and protect those cats who are elderly or unable to spend time out of camp.[1]
Warriors make up most of a Clan: each cat is, was, or will be a warrior (except medicine cats) unless they die before they become a warrior (eg. Swiftpaw).[2] When a she-cat expects or nurses kits, she temporarily gives up her warrior duties, but takes them up again when her kits are apprenticed. Although, sometimes this is not true, as some cats would rather stay in the nursery to help other arrivals of new kits (such as Daisy and Ferncloud).[3]
Tasks
Warriors have the following tasks:
- Providing defense and security
- Providing food for the Clan in the form of fresh-kill
- Serving in offensive operations
- Mentor warrior apprentices[4]
Education
Kits are apprenticed at the age of six moons to a warrior,[6] and are made full warriors once their mentor is satisfied with their skills and knowledge, and after they pass an assessment,[9] and their leader is pleased with their training. During apprenticeship, the apprentice must pass several assessments - tasks their mentor gives them, usually hunting in a specific place, while the mentor follows them unseen to check how they are getting on.[10]
An apprenticeship usually lasts for six moons or more (Except for Graystripe and Firestar, who became warriors at nine moons, if an apprentice was away like Squirrelflight or broke a bone like Crookedstar the apprenticeship is longer), thus, warriors are older than 12 moons. Cats become warrior apprentices after an Apprentice Ceremony, and full warriors after a Warrior Ceremony.
Mentors
A warrior who currently instructs an apprentice is called a mentor.[11] Before a warrior can become a deputy, they must mentor at least one apprentice.[5] This is not always true, as sometimes StarClan will send an omen to tell the leader or medicine cat who to choose, even if they have never been a mentor. For example, Leafpool had been given a dream of brambles with claws surrounding the ThunderClan camp to keep it safe, thus causing Firestar to choose Brambleclaw to be deputy when Graystripe was gone, although at the time he had not been a mentor yet.[12] They will teach their apprentices the way of a warrior: how to hunt and fight, and the ways of the warrior code.
Special Cases
Senior Warriors
A senior warrior is a warrior who is older and more experienced than the others, but has not decided to become an elder yet,[13] and would rather serve their Clan as long as they can. Senior warriors are given respect, and are often asked for advice by the Clan leader. In the warriors' den, the senior warriors sleep towards the middle where it is warmest, while the younger warriors sleep towards the sides.[13] An example of a senior warrior is Whitestorm of ThunderClan, who was well respected by all his Clanmates.[source?]
Daylight-warriors
The concept of "daylight-warriors" was introduced in SkyClan's Destiny. It denotes kittypets who sleep with their Twolegs in a Twoleg Nest at night, but participate in a Clan's activities by day, like hunting and patrolling.[14] They can even train apprentices (an example of this would be Billystorm training Snookpaw), or become a medicine cat apprentice (as is the case of Frecklewish). These warriors are generally scorned for being "half-kittypet" by their full-Clanmates.[source?]
See Also
- List of Warriors
- List of Senior warriors
- List of Daylight warriors
- Apprentice
- Mentor
- Warrior Ceremony
References and Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Revealed in Secrets of the Clans, page 110
- ↑ Revealed in Bluestar's Prophecy
- ↑ Daisy and Ferncloud are always listed as queens.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Revealed in Secrets of the Clans, page 110
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Revealed in Secrets of the Clans, page 7
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Revealed in Into the Wild, page 15
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Revealed in Secrets of the Clans, page 113
- ↑ Revealed in Bluestar's Prophecy, page 98
- ↑ Revealed in Firestar's Quest, pages 9-11
- ↑ Revealed in Firestar's Quest, page 385
- ↑ Revealed in Into the Wild, page 18
- ↑ Revealed in Sunset
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Revealed in Into the Wild, page 48
- ↑ Revealed in SkyClan's Destiny, page 49
| Hierarchy and positions in the Warriors world | |
|---|---|
| Clan hierarchy | Kits • Apprentices • Warriors • Deputies • Leaders • Queens • Elders • Medicine cats • Mediators |
| Ceremonies | Vigil • Apprentice • Warrior • Deputy • Leader • Elder • Medicine cat • Name changing |
| Tribe hierarchy | To-bes • Cave-guards • Prey hunters • Kit mothers • Healer/Stoneteller |
| Miscellaneous | General Clan information • General Tribe information • Cat names |
| Other groups | Loners • Rogues • Kittypets |