Brokenstar

Brokenstar is a huge, dark brown tabby tom with bright amber eyes, unusually long fur, torn ears, and a broad, flat face. His tail is bent in the middle, like a broken branch.

Bluestar's Prophecy

 * Brokenpaw is mentioned once at a Gathering, where he is a new ShadowClan apprentice. Brokenpaw tries to attack two unnamed RiverClan apprentices, until a RiverClan warrior, Oakheart, breaks up the fight.

Into the Wild

 * Brokenstar is first seen at a Gathering where he tells the other Clans present, ThunderClan and RiverClan, that ShadowClan needs more territory to feed their hungry kits. He asks Crookedstar and Bluestar for hunting rights on their land. Crookedstar allows ShadowClan rights to the river in RiverClan territory without consulting his Clanmates, while Bluestar decides to think it over after the Gathering. Brokenstar earlier revealed that his warriors drove WindClan from their territory, because they would not agree to allow ShadowClan to hunt in their territory. During the Gathering, ThunderClan cats (especially Lionheart) notice how small the ShadowClan apprentices are, which turns out to be because Brokenstar forced kits as young as three moons into apprenticeship, and sent them out as warriors at five moons - a whole moon before they should even start their apprenticeship. Later at the Gathering, Brokenstar tells the other Clans that he had exiled a dangerous cat who attacked ShadowClan kits. Some ThunderClan cats believed this to be Yellowfang, who was currently a prisoner of ThunderClan, and ShadowClan's former medicine cat.


 * Brokenstar later sends out a raiding party that steals Frostfur's four kits and has Clawface kill Spottedleaf, the ThunderClan medicine cat. Firepaw and Graypaw go looking for Yellowfang, in case she stole the kits as many cats in ThunderClan believe. They find Yellowfang alone, trying to take the kits back. Yellowfang tells them that Brokenstar brought her two dead kits who bore the wounds of warriors. When their mother Brightflower came looking for them, Brokenstar told her he had found Yellowfang standing over their bodies, and exiled the medicine cat.


 * When Firepaw, Graypaw and Yellowfang lead a ThunderClan patrol, and the other ShadowClan cats in a rebellion against him, Brokenstar reveals in a fight with Yellowfang that he killed his father Raggedstar, and blamed it on a patrol from a rival Clan. Yellowfang is devastated, for she loves Raggedstar and was his mate. He tells Yellowfang that Raggedstar was soft, and that she was soft like him. The rebelling cats drive Brokenstar and his loyal warriors out, leaving them to live as rogues.

Fire and Ice

 * Brokenstar and the other rogues that fled from the previous ambush at the ThunderClan camp come back to ThunderClan camp to ambush them again. Fireheart, the only full warrior there at the time, quickly organizes a defense against the rogues. They eventually flee, except for Clawface, who is killed, and Brokenstar, who has his eyes clawed out so that he is blinded by Yellowfang. Bluestar then decides to keep him prisoner, and re-name him Brokentail again. Fireheart asks Yellowfang why she hadn't killed Brokentail when she had the chance, and it was revealed that she had gone against the warrior code and had kits with Raggedstar, even though she was a medicine cat, and Brokentail was their son. She also mentioned that she had thought her punishment was not that two of her kits died, but that Brokentail had survived.

Forest of Secrets

 * After his defeat, Brokenstar, now Brokentail, as he is no longer a leader, is kept as a prisoner at ThunderClan camp, much to the anger of many of the cats from all the clans. In spite of the political unrest caused by this, Bluestar is unwavering in her decision that Brokentail be treated with compassion. Although Bluestar intends to keep Brokentail's presence in ThunderClan a secret from the other Clans, Swiftpaw unwisely tells several ShadowClan apprentices during a Gathering, and word soon spreads amongst the cats. Furious, Nightstar and Tallstar demand that Bluestar either kill or abandon Brokentail at once. Nightstar also mentions how Brokentail stole kits from ThunderClan. When the ThunderClan leader refuses to comply, WindClan and ShadowClan launch an attack on ThunderClan, intending to infiltrate the camp and kill Brokentail themselves. ThunderClan fight back fiercely, and drive the attacking cats from their territory, saving an ungrateful Brokentail from their wrath. Not long after, Tigerclaw's treachery is brought to light when along with a band of Brokentail's old followers, he attempts to kill Bluestar. It is apparent that the deputy had planned this attack with Brokentail, and Yellowfang comes to the sad realization that as long as her son is alive, ThunderClan could never be safe. Telling him that she was giving him medicinal herbs for his pain, Yellowfang feeds Brokentail deathberries. She tells him to have more respect for his kin, and he laughs and says he has no kin. Yellowfang tells him she is his mother when he is eating the deathberries. When he receives this news, Brokentail panics and within moments dies. It is hinted that he may have felt regret at the time of his death for his actions. Yellowfang does not know that Fireheart witnessed this murder, and he pretends to believe her when she tells him that Brokentail had died from his wounds.

Sunset

 * It is revealed that Brokenstar lives in the Place of No Stars when Darkstripe scents him among the trees. Tigerstar tells Darkstripe that Brokenstar won't answer him, as all the cats who live in the Dark Forest walk alone, though this rule seems to be broken in the Omen of the Stars series.

The Fourth Apprentice

 * An unknown warrior from the Dark Forest is present at the Moonpool when Jayfeather confronts Poppyfrost, but it is suggested to be Brokenstar because he is noted as a brown tom with a crooked tail. He fights alongside Breezepelt when the WindClan warrior attempts to kill Jayfeather and Poppyfrost, and they bat him back and forth. He is fought off when Honeyfern appears from StarClan to help Jayfeather.


 * Later, he is seen with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost by Lionblaze and Jayfeather, looking at Poppyfrost's kits after they are born.

Fading Echoes

 * Brokenstar harshly criticizes Hawkfrost and Breezepelt while they are training, and he in return gets sneered at for letting Jayfeather escape, though he defends himself by saying he did not expect StarClan to defend the medicine cat. He feeds Breezepelt's bitterness by reminding him that Crowfeather never valued him and that he is too noble a warrior to believe the lies of others.


 * When Spottedleaf, Jayfeather, and Yellowfang are traveling through the Dark Forest, Brokenstar spots them. He clearly holds contempt for his mother, Yellowfang, and glares icily at her. Spottedleaf steps forwards and questions him about training the Clan cats by the lake. He acts as though he doesn't know what they are talking about.


 * He offers that they have a look around his home, once they don't believe that no cats were being trained. Spottedleaf accepts, and starts to step forward, but Brokenstar blocks her way. He refuses her entry unless he is also able to visit StarClan's hunting grounds. Yellowfang refuses, and he turns away, saying they cannot come farther in to the Dark Forest. As the StarClan cats began to walk back, he fades into the mist.

Night Whispers

 * When Ivypaw returns to the Dark Forest with the intent of spying on them, she is instructed to sit down with her “friends”, Hollowpaw, Antpelt, and Breezepelt. On her way to join them, she notices Brokenstar, shadowy and immobile beneath a boulder. After Tigerstar has made his announcement, Brokenstar comes over to her, seeming to single her out of the crowd. He says he has a “special mission” for her, and tells her to follow him. She does so, slinking through the gloomy forest after him. Darkstripe follows them, and Brokenstar growls at him to leave. When he skulks away, Brokenstar tests Ivypaw on her climbing skills and fighting skills. He comments on how fast she is, and compliments her defensive moves. She is wary, wondering what her special mission is, until Flametail emerges from the undergrowth. He is confused, telling her how he was in StarClan, until he stumbled his way to the Place of No Stars. He doesn’t know where he is and asks Ivypaw for help. Suddenly, Brokenstar orders her to kill him. She panics, unable to follow his command. He sneers, calling her naïve because she thinks she cannot kill Flametail for he is already dead. Ivypaw is alarmed, and tells Brokenstar she won’t kill him. He threatens her with taunts about her loyalty to the Dark Forest. She stutters, defensive and fearful. Abruptly, she makes her decision, silently thinking, ‘‘I’m sorry, Flametail, but I have to do this for the sake of our Clans!’’ As she leaps towards him, Tigerheart springs out of nowhere, knocking her off course and yowling at her to leave his brother alone. Tigerstar skulks from the shadows, unexpectedly ending the scene. He soothes Brokenstar’s blood-rage, telling him that Flametail is harmless. Brokenstar asks about Ivypaw’s loyalty, questioning her devotement to the Dark Forest, but Tigerstar says that Ivypaw is loyal, and will fight with the Dark Forest when the time comes.

Secrets of the Clans

 * Brokenkit is the only surviving kit of Yellowfang and the ShadowClan leader, Raggedstar's litter. He has two littermates, but they both die soon after their birth. They are buried near the dead log that the three of them were born in. Yellowfang says that she sees rage and hatred in Brokenkit's face, even though he is only a kit. Since Yellowfang is a medicine cat, she can't reveal that she is Brokenstar's mother. For that reason, she gives him to a nursing queen named Lizardstripe. Lizardstripe tries to turn her down, but Raggedstar forces her to nurse Brokenkit. Yellowfang had hoped to steer his paws in the right direction as he grew, but becomes worried when she realizes that such an ambitious queen would be raising him. Every ShadowClan cat suspects that Raggedstar's deputy at the time, Foxheart, is Brokenstar's mother because of her secrecy and closeness to Raggedstar. Foxheart dies without confirming or denying that Brokenkit was her kit. Brokenkit's tail is bent down the middle, like a broken branch. Yellowfang says every cat would think that that was where he got his name, but she actually named him that because her heart broke when she had to give him up.


 * When Brokentail becomes a warrior, Raggedstar chooses him as his third deputy, after the second one, Cloudpelt, died. Brokentail killed Raggedstar and became the leader of ShadowClan, while claiming that his father was killed in an ambush from another Clan when he went out at night alone. Brokenstar weakened the Clan by concentrating on battle, apprenticing kits too early, and making the Clan eat crow-food instead of fresh-kill.

Cats of the Clans

 * Rock sees Blossomkit flinch at the mere mention of Brokenstar's name since he was the leader who forced her into early apprenticeship and got her killed in battle. Rock mentions that queens aren't exaggerating for once when they frighten kits with his stories. Even his birth was forbidden by the law, and Rock says that StarClan's hearts must have sank when Yellowfang fell in love with Raggedstar. He says that Brokenstar saw aggressiveness as the only way to prove himself, because after his birth, he had been nursed by Lizardstripe, who never failed to make sure he knew he was not one of her kits and clearly her least favorite. He killed Raggedstar, thinking he could become leader and prove he was the greatest warrior that had ever lived. But as leader, his reign was filled with blood. He was jealous of ThunderClan's prey-rich territory, so after driving WindClan from their home he ambushed ThunderClan, hoping to take over ThunderClan territory. Even when he was blinded and a prisoner, he continued to plot with Tigerstar, then Tigerclaw, until his mother Yellowfang was forced to kill him by feeding him three deathberries, which Fireheart secretly witnessed. Rock says it is fitting that he did not get to die a warrior's death, to avenge Blossomkit and all the other cats that were hurt by his evil actions.

Code of the Clans

 * He is not seen in this book, only mentioned. In The Smallest Warrior. He is mentioned by Flintfang when he is thinking about the upcoming battle with WindClan. He is also mentioned when Flintfang knows he had failed his leader by letting his apprentice die, and Brokenstar would make sure every cat in ShadowClan knew about his failure.


 * When Badgerpaw is dying, he hopes that Brokenstar and his mother are proud of him. When Badgerpaw dies, Flintfang promises to always honor the fifth law of the warrior code.

Battles of the Clans

 * Tigerstar mentions him when he talks of how WindClan was driven out; Brokenstar was able to defeat them with a single patrol by rushing down into the hollow and trapping the warriors in their dens before they knew what was happening.


 * Nightwhisper spots Brokenstar attacking his guard, Dustpelt, when Tigerclaw's rogues attacked the ThunderClan camp. He had heard about him earlier from Tigerclaw, and had mistaken him to be a noble and brave cat.

The Rise of Scourge

 * Brokenstar may have made an appearance in this book. His name is not mentioned, but Scourge scents the forest on a tabby tom with a bent tail. He has lackeys with him that call him "Boss." This scene therefore likely takes place between Into the Wild and Fire and Ice, as Brokenstar has already been driven out and can still see.


 * At first, he laughs at Scourge and demands all the food in the place to go to him. Once Scourge kills one of his followers, he tells the others that it was time they returned to the forest, and retreats quickly.

Trivia

 * In Fading Echoes, Battles of the Clans, and Night Whispers, he is said to have a black pelt.
 * In The Rise of Scourge, the rogue with the crooked tail is thought to be Brokenstar, although there is no proof other than the tail.
 * He has been described with orange eyes.
 * It is revealed that his mother, Yellowfang, named him Brokenkit because of the way she felt having left him, but also knowing that every cat would think it is because of his tail.

Members
Mother: 
 * Yellowfang: Deceased, Verified StarClan member

Father:
 * Raggedstar: Deceased, Verified StarClan member

Sisters:
 * Two Unnamed She-kits: Deceased, Suspected StarClan members

Foster Mother:
 * Lizardstripe: Deceased, Residence Unknown