The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour is the final volume in the Original Series of six warriors books. Firestar is on the cover.

The Blurb
Fire alone can save our Clan...

ThunderClan's darkest hour is upon them, as Tigerstar's quest for power plunges the forest into terrible danger. In order to save his friends, Firestar must uncover the meaning of an ominous proclamation from StarClan:


 * ''"Four will become two.
 * Lion and tiger will meet in battle,
 * and blood will rule the forest.'''

The time has come for prophecies to unfold, and for heroes to rise...

The Praise
"Action-packed. Certain to please any young reader who has ever wondered what dreams of grandeur may haunt the family cat."
 * -Publisher's Weekly

"A suspenseful adventure story that urges readers onward."
 * -ALA Booklist

Detailed Plot Summary
In the prologue, Tigerstar travels to make a deal with Scourge, leader of an unofficial Clan called BloodClan, made up of many alley cats from the Twolegplace. Tigerstar offers Scourge a share of the forest territory in return for BloodClan's help in convincing the other Clans to join his new Clan, called TigerClan. Meanwhile, the story is picked up right where the last left off. Fireheart becomes the leader of ThunderClan, recieving his nine lives and the name Firestar from StarClan. His leader ceremony is interrupted when a hill of bones appears in his dream, followed by a river of blood. Bluestar, former leader of ThunderClan, gives him this prophecy: ''Four will become two. Lion and tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest.''

Upon returning, Firestar turns his suspicions to Darkstripe, a former ally of Tigerstar, who has been showing signs of alliance with ShadowClan. He orders Brackenfur to keep an eye on him. On Firestar's way back from hunting with Bramblepaw, Firestar finds Sorrelkit, a ThunderClan kit, poisoned next to a pile of chewed up deathberries. Graystripe attacks Darkstripe, whom he accuses of feeding the deathberries to Sorrelkit. Although it cannot be immediately proven Darkstripe was at fault, Sorrelkit later recovers and reveals that Darkstripe fed the berries to her, telling her they were a treat, so she could not tell Firestar about a meeting she'd witnessed between Darkstripe and Blackfoot, the ShadowClan deputy on ThunderClan territory. Darkstripe is exiled from ThunderClan and is suspected to join his former ally, Tigerstar, in the newly formed TigerClan.

At the Gathering, Tigerstar proposes to unite the other three Clans with ShadowClan to form one larger Clan, TigerClan. RiverClan's leader, Leopardstar agrees to join them. However, ThunderClan and WindClan refuse. Firestar begins to tell the cats of Tigerstar's treachery, but he is stopped as storm clouds move in, covering the moon. Tigerstar interprets this as a sign from StarClan that the meeting is finished, and calls the Gathering to an end. Soon after the Gathering, TigerClan attacks WindClan, weakening their warriors and slaughtering an apprentice, Gorsepaw. Afterwards, Graystripe worriedly wants to check on his kin in RiverClan, Stormpaw and Featherpaw.

Accompanied by Ravenpaw, who was on a visit to ThunderClan, Graystripe and Firestar go to RiverClan and find not only Graystripe's kits, but Bluestar's kin (Mistyfoot and Stonefur) being held as prisoners. Tigerstar accuses them of being half-Clan cats and therefore traitors. He orders Stonefur to prove his loyalty to TigerClan by killing the two apprentices, but Stonefur refuses. Tigerstar then orders Darkstripe (who has joined his ally as suspected) to kill all three of them. Darkstripe battles with Stonefur, hoping to prove his loyalty as a strong warrior. Darkstripe loses the battle against Stonefur, who fights heroically, so Tigerstar orders Blackfoot to step in and finish off Stonefur. Stormpaw and Featherpaw are taken back into their prison where Mistyfoot is waiting anxiously. Firestar agrees that the ThunderClan cats must help and Ravenpaw convinces the guard that he is a RiverClan cat and that Tigerstar has a message for him. The group escapes with the prisoners.

When time runs out for Tigerstar's offer to join TigerClan, Firestar and Tallstar prepare to fight. They are shocked by the appearance of BloodClan. Tigerstar orders BloodClan to fight for him, yet they make no move. Scourge tells Tigerstar that he is the only cat in charge of BloodClan. Firestar takes that chance to make an impression on Scourge by announcing to the cats of every Clan Tigerstar's wicked past. Hearing everything, Scourge decides that there will be no battle, and Tigerstar attacks him. Scourge kills Tigerstar easily, wiping out all nine of his lives in one blow, by slashing from his throat to tail. Scourge gives all of the forest Clans three days to either leave, or fight BloodClan for it. To face this danger, the four Clans unite as one and call their alliance LionClan, going into battle against BloodClan. Darkstripe (who joined BloodClan after Tigerstar died) attacks Firestar but before he could kill him, Graystripe defends Firestar by killing Darkstripe. Whitestorm, the ThunderClan deputy, is killed by the BloodClan deputy named Bone, who is later killed by a group of apprentices after Bone attacked Bramblepaw. Whitestorm's last wishes were to appoint Graystripe as deputy of ThunderClan, saying that Graystripe was always Firestar's rightful deputy, with which Firestar complies. At the end of the battle, Firestar loses his first life to Scourge. He was revived by StarClan, much to Scourge's shock, and kills the BloodClan leader. After Scourge's death, the BloodClan cats scatter in confusion and fall back with no motivation to keep fighting. The last to go are followed in pursuit by Tallstar and a few of his Clanmates. The Clans disband and become independent once more, and the power in the forest is returned to normal.