Thistleclaw

Thistleclaw is a large, well-muscled, large-shouldered spiky-furred, mottled gray tom with a white face with uneven mottled gray patches, white shoulders, sharp amber eyes, and a long, gray tail.

Bluestar's Prophecy

 * Thistlekit is born to Poppydawn and Windflight two moons after Bluekit and Snowkit are born. His siblings are Rosekit and Sweetkit. He is named Thistlekit by Bluekit because of his spiky gray-and-white fur that sticks up all over the place, although Bluekit says it's softer than it looks. He is annoyed and angered when Bluekit and Snowkit become apprentices, commenting on how he is just as big and strong as they are.


 * When Snowpaw offers to teach him every battle move she knows, he only replies by telling her he's already better than she'll ever be. He is spotted by Snowpaw when she is out of the forest, playing with his sister, Rosekit in the clearing.


 * Later, Thistlekit is seen complaining when Bluepaw is leaving to go to her first Gathering, annoyed once again that he is just as big as she is but she gets to go to a Gathering, and states that he should too. Windflight tells him he will be able to when he's an apprentice and nudges him back towards the nursery. He offers to go to the fresh-kill pile with Lionkit and is told to go play outside the nursery. His siblings are more worried about the weather, but Thistlekit agrees with his mother when she informs them a warrior isn't afraid of the weather. He is once again seen, being spotted by Speckletail running towards the fresh-kill pile with his littermates. He is unable to see the vole that Goosefeather is talking about and is silenced by Speckletail. He is mentioned by Leopardpaw that he would be the most trouble for them in the battle, to keep him quiet.


 * The day before the battle with WindClan, he shows how he would battle a WindClan warrior, but is scolded by his mother, Poppydawn, for playing with his food. He is annoyed, telling her she just wants him to stay a kit forever and asks Pinestar if he can attend the battle. He is told no, because he is needed to guard the nursery. Thistlekit says that no cat will get past him and Pinestar calmly agrees. Thistlekit is happy at the response. On the day of the battle, Thistlekit is seen with Lionkit, fluffing up his pelt to try to look bigger. Later, Bluepaw sees him poking out of the nursery and disappearing inside, angry that he is unable to fufill Pinestar's "orders" to guard the nursery.


 * Thistlekit then becomes an apprentice, Thistlepaw, with his sisters Sweetpaw and Rosepaw. His mentor is Adderfang. He starts taking a liking to Snowpaw, much to the annoyance of her sister, Bluepaw. During his apprenticeship, Thistlepaw's sister Sweetpaw dies of a bad mouse. Thistlepaw is later put on a hunting patrol with Bluefur much to his and her dismay. He is put on watch duty while everyone else is hunting, calling out false alarms, which annoys Bluefur. Finally he scents real danger of dogs in the forest. The cats escape unharmed but one of the dogs continues toward the camp. Thistlepaw attacks the dog with bravery and sends it away, thus earning his warrior name, Thistleclaw.


 * Thistleclaw is starts spending more and more time with Snowfur even telling her that he will someday be deputy and then leader. He is overjoyed to learn that she will be having his kits. Thistleclaw is sent away when Snowfur begins her kitting, told by Featherwhisker to fetch her water. He is happy to return and see that Whitekit had been born, telling that Snowfur could name him whatever she wished. He is devastated to learn of Snowfur's death, blaming Bluefur for her death and yelling at her. He then threatens to her to stop looking after Whitekit, or he'll make her. He is later seen pushing Whitekit to practice battle moves, but is stopped by Bluefur, told that Whitekit is not an apprentice yet.


 * Thistleclaw is later given Tigerpaw as an apprentice. He is shown to be quite fierce with his apprentice, fighting with him harder than most mentors and apprentice. It is noted by Leopardfoot that she had to almost sit on Tigerpaw at a Gathering because he wanted to join in fighting amongst some other Clan's apprentices. Thistleclaw continues to call Bluefur soft as she is angry at him for letting Tigerpaw attack the kittypet kit called Tiny. Tiny turns out to be a cat named Scourge later on. Thistleclaw later attacks Oakheart and questions Bluefur's loyalty to her Clan when the tom is found on their side of the river. He is annoyed that she states that she only knows him from Gatherings and Oakheart escapes with battle wounds.


 * During Bluefur's warrior ceremony, Thistleclaw is shown with a jealous expression on his face, but he still joins in with the Clan's ceremonial cheering. Also at Bluefur's deputy ceremony, he is seen again with a jealous expression on his face. When the Clan calls Bluefur's name, Thistleclaw is seen yowling with rage. Sunstar thinks that Thistleclaw is giving the new deputy his full support, but he is actually very angry that Bluefur got the position and not him.


 * Many moons later, Thistleclaw is found dead in a pool of blood, just as Bluestar and Goosefeather saw in their vision. It is said that he died as he had lived - attacking a RiverClan patrol by himself, seeming somewhat hungry for battle and power.

Crookedstar's Promise

 * Thistleclaw is seen very briefly, training with Silverhawk in the Dark Forest and being instructed on how to perform a killing bite (revealing that Thistleclaw was a visitor of the Dark Forest even before his death). When Crookedjaw asks if he is in StarClan, Thistleclaw and Silverhawk scoff and inform him of the true nature of his whereabouts.

Forest of Secrets

 * Thistleclaw is mentioned by Bluestar when she talks about why she gave up her kits. He is described by her as being a good, strong, and brave warrior, however his answer to everything was to fight. She also describes him as being arrogant and wild. Bluestar says that he would drown out the clan in blood if he became leader. Bluestar gave up her kits in order to keep Thistleclaw from becoming deputy and then leader.

Night Whispers

 * Thistleclaw is one of the new cats to help train the forest cats in the Dark Forest. Ivypaw is introduced to him by Hawkfrost. Thistleclaw is in charge of the training session in the Dark Forest. In the training session, Ivypaw is knocked aside by a WindClan warrior, Antpelt. Thistleclaw tells Antpelt that he said they were supposed to work together and rips Antpelt's ear. When Sparrowfeather tries to drag Shredtail off the training rock, Thistleclaw accuses her of cheating and knocks her off her paws. Ivypaw is worried because Sparrowfeather isn't getting up when Ivypaw sees her twitch. Thistleclaw then tells her to get up and to not cheat this time.


 * He then appears when Ivypaw visits the Dark Forest again. While Ivypaw wakes up, Thistleclaw attacks her and she screeches for him to get off. He tells her he didn't know if that works on the battlefield. Ivypaw manages to escape his grip and warns Thistleclaw that she won't be an apprentice forever. He then tells her later on that he once had an apprentice, but she didn't pass the final assessment.

Sign of the Moon

 * Thistleclaw is seen supervising a training session between the WindClan warrior Antpelt and the newly named ThunderClan warrior, Ivypool. He shouts at them to fight like warriors and unsheathe their claws. Ivypool stumbles and Antpelt gives her a sympathetic glance and waits for her to get up. Thistleclaw takes this as a sign of weakness and attacks the WindClan warrior, inflicing serious wounds to his back and throat. Ivypool tells Antpelt to wake up and when he disappears, Thistleclaw tells Ivypool off for defending him. He taunts WindClan and describes them as cowardly and quick to run. When Ivypool asks to leave because she has no fighting partner, Thistleclaw attacks her. The two fight and eventually Ivypool emerges as the winner. Thistleclaw argues with Mapleshade as to why she has won, but Mapleshade tells him to leave. He is last seen stalking away angrily.

Secrets of the Clans

 * The former ThunderClan leader, Owlstar, says that if Bluestar had stayed in the nursery with her three kits, Thistleclaw would have become deputy. Owlstar also asks other StarClan cats who would have wanted to see more cats joining StarClan because of the battles Thistleclaw would have started.

Cats of the Clans

 * When Rock talks about Bluestar, he mentions that she gave Mistystar, Stonefur, and Mosskit up so that she could become ThunderClan's deputy instead of Thistleclaw, who would have sliced through the forest until the paths ran red with blood.

The Rise of Scourge

 * He is leading a patrol consisting of Bluefur, Tigerpaw, and himself. While patrolling their territory, they run into a kittypet named Tiny. Thistleclaw thinks he should be chased out, but Bluefur defends him and says that he is only a kit. Thistleclaw says she was being soft on him because he was a kittypet. He then asks his apprentice, Tigerpaw, what he thought, and Tigerpaw says that he thinks Tiny should be taught a lesson. Thistleclaw asks him to attack, and Tigerpaw almost kills him before being stopped by Bluefur, while Thistleclaw looks on, bored.

Trivia

 * It was said by Vicky that she always imagined Thistleclaw as a "dark brown tabby" though he was described as gray and white in Bluestar's Prophecy. Later though, he is accidentally described as a dark brown tabby.
 * Vicky says that Thistleclaw was originally in StarClan and gave Tigerstar one of his nine lives, but when Bluestar joined StarClan, "she must have chased Thistleclaw to the Dark Forest."
 * Thistleclaw has WindClan blood because his father, Windflight, is half WindClan.
 * He has been mistakenly described with green eyes.
 * In The Rise of Scourge, he is depicted as having several darker legs and only having a white muzzle and tail tip.
 * Thistleclaw may be the reason Tigerstar was evil, Thistleclaw trained Tigerstar with an iron hand and mostly abused him, He told him about his ambitions to be leader and this probably might be how he was so intrested in being leader.

Members
Mate:
 * Snowfur: Deceased, Verified StarClan Member

Mother:
 * Poppydawn: Deceased, Verified StarClan Member

Father:
 * Windflight: Deceased, Suspected StarClan Member

Sisters:
 * Rosetail: Deceased, Suspected StarClan Member
 * Sweetpaw: Deceased, Verified StarClan Member

Son:
 * Whitestorm: Deceased, Verified StarClan Member

Grandsons:
 * Sootfur: Deceased, Suspected StarClan Member
 * Rainwhisker: Deceased, Suspected StarClan Member

Granddaughters:
 * Sorreltail:

Great-Grandsons:
 * Molepaw: Deceased, Suspected StarClan Member

Great-Granddaughters:
 * Poppyfrost:
 * Cinderheart:
 * Honeyfern: Deceased, Verified StarClan Member

Great-Great-Grandsons:
 * Molekit:

Great-Great-Granddaughters:
 * Cherrykit:

Quotes
Shut up Bluefur!, You've been always been soft on kittypets -Thistleclaw arguing with Bluefur