Scourge

Scourge is a small black tom with one white paw, icy-blue eyes, and a torn left ear. He is known for wearing a dark purple collar studded with cats' and dogs' teeth, and his claws are reinforced with dogs' teeth.

Bluestar's Prophecy

 * While Tigerpaw, Bluefur, and Thistleclaw are out on a patrol, they spot Tiny, who is noted as an unnamed, undersized cat, in the midst of their territory when he is still a young kit. For the punishment of trespassing, Tiny is brutally scarred by Tigerpaw, who is encouraged by his mentor, Thistleclaw. His life is saved by Bluefur, as the warrior code says to spare the lives of kits. Tigerpaw scolded Tiny exclaiming that he'll never forget him. After the experience, Tiny is mentally scarred, and out for revenge.

The Darkest Hour

 * Scourge is the leader of BloodClan, the gang of rogues living by a nearby Twolegplace. Though he is very small, this cat leads his Clan with an iron claw and kills anyone who stands against him, and only thinks of killing other cats as a kind of sport.


 * Two moons before the dogs attack the ThunderClan camp, Tigerstar and Boulder, who is a former BloodClan member, travel through Twolegplace to find Scourge. Scourge and his Clan are invited to the forest by Tigerstar, who wants their help to force ThunderClan and WindClan to join TigerClan. Scourge remembers Tigerstar and his cruelty toward him, but agrees to help him nonetheless.


 * Two moons later, Tigerstar leads BloodClan into the forest and introduces them to the forest cats. However, Tigerstar then attempts to command BloodClan to fight. After Scourge tells him that he and he alone commands BloodClan, Tigerstar attacks him, yelling the word "Traitor!" Scourge slashes Tigerstar's shoulder; he falls onto his side and Scourge stabs his neck with his reinforced claws. Then Scourge uses these claws to slice Tigerstar open from chin to tail. This wound is so gruesome even StarClan could not heal it, killing him nine times over. Scourge then decides that the forest will be BloodClan's new home.


 * He informs Firestar that the Clans have three days to decide whether they will come quietly and leave the forest or else they will meet BloodClan in battle on the fourth day.


 * Firestar decides to refuse, and convinces all four forest Clans to combine into LionClan. BloodClan and LionClan later meet in battle at Fourtrees. Scourge battles with Firestar, taking his first life.
 * Scourge is surprised when Firestar revives, and Firestar fights him again, saving Cloudtail from death. Firestar defeats him when he realizes that Scourge has only one life since Scourge does not believe in StarClan. With the fall of their leader Scourge, and deputy Bone, BloodClan admits defeat and retreats. And just to make sure they have left for good, WindClan warriors chase them out towards the Thunderpath.

Secrets of the Clans

 * Scourge is mistakenly called Blood in this book, but it is mentioned that he killed Tigerstar. In "Barley Speaks: Flight from BloodClan," Barley's sister Violet is taken to him because she and Barley had been disobeying his laws by hiding out and living together. Scourge thinks there is no better punishment than for Barley to watch his sister die right before his eyes. He orders Violet's other two brothers, Snake and Ice, formerly Hoot and Jumper, to attack her. They do, leaving her brutally wounded, only hanging on to life by a small thread. Violet survives only because Barley knows a kittypet whose housefolk is a "Cutter" (the Clans' word for a vet).

Cats of the Clans

 * Rock tells the three kits all about Scourge, Bone, and BloodClan. He explains how BloodClan was just a group of stray cats in Twolegplace who had no code or honor to bind them. Scourge had no sense of right or wrong, which let him kill or hurt other cats without a second thought. However, his greatest weakness was his lack of belief in StarClan, which left him with only one life to lose.

Battles of the Clans

 * Scourge does not formally appear, but is mentioned by Tigerstar when he talks of the battle with Bloodclan. He recalls when Scourge ripped his belly open, causing him to lose all his nine lives at once. He also calls him a traitor, since he had promised to help Tigerstar take over the forest, but never acted on his promise. Tigerstar also mentions that if you had been standing beside him, you would have felt victorious, since you'd just seen your leader kill the strongest cat in the forest.

The Rise of Scourge

 * Tiny is born to Quince as a kittypet. His siblings are Ruby and Socks. His brother and sister dislike him because of his small size, and they normally do not let him join them in their games. To prove to his family that he is strong, he ventures into the forest. In the forest, he has many small adventures which include pouncing on a leaf and pawing at a beetle. He then returns home, only to find that his family doesn't believe he went into the forest at all. Later a group of Twolegs come to look at the litter for adoption, but they only want to take Ruby and Socks. Ruby taunts Tiny, telling him that unwanted kits were thrown into the river. Tiny becomes very frightened, and runs away.


 * Tiny enters ThunderClan territory, and meets a patrol made up of Bluefur, Thistleclaw, and Tigerpaw. Bluefur attempts to defend him, and saying he could do no harm. But Thistleclaw said she was only being soft, and that he needed to be taught a lesson. He orders his apprentice, Tigerpaw, to attack. Tigerpaw almost killed him before he was stopped by Bluefur. As Tiny runs off, Tigerpaw declares that Tiny would never forget him.


 * He decides to go home at first, but he then remembers that if he does go home he will be thrown into the river. Tiny decides he must run away and never come back.


 * He ends up in Twolegplace where he meets mean, rude rogues. He eventually finds a kind old she-cat who shares her food with him and explains that his collar marks that he is a kittypet. He tries to remove it, but when he can't, he gets laughed at.


 * Later, Tiny finds Samwise, an old dog who drops a tooth, and he tries to break his collar with it, only to get it stuck in the collar. When other rogues ask him about it, Tiny, desperate to be accepted, tells them he killed Samwise, and took the tooth as a trophy.


 * As the story spreads, Bone and Brick ask him to defeat a dog that is keeping them and many other rogues from food. He goes to fight the dog, but ends up scaring the dog with his shadow. One cat asks his name; Tiny doesn't want to admit it's "Tiny", and he remembers Quince's remark towards the Clans: "Those savages are a scourge on the name of all good cats." Tiny then tells them that his name is Scourge.


 * Cats begin coming to Scourge with their problems after Brick and Bone spread the word about the new leader.


 * One morning, Brick and Bone walk up to him tell him about a group of rogues who are causing trouble in the territory. While Scourge is walking toward them, he picks up forest scent and thinks it might be Tigerpaw, but it turns out to be the exiled ShadowClan leader, Brokenstar. Scourge tells them to leave, but they mock him for his size. Scourge hesitates, and his own cats start to doubt him. Angered, Scourge decides all cats must respect him. He slashes one of the rogue's throats open, killing him. Brokenstar and his followers, stunned, quickly leave. Cats soon begin to bring Scourge tributes and his position as leader is secured once again. Scourge says that he had to have ice in veins to do what he did. He expects it to break but it gets colder, and he welcomes it.


 * Later, Ruby and Socks come to BloodClan, telling Scourge their Twolegs had abandoned them. They beg him for help, reminding him they were kin. Scourge is disgusted that they would come to him after how they had treated him as a kit. He lets them eat, then sends them away, and tells them to never come again.


 * After much time passes, Boulder brings his Clan leader, Tigerstar, to present a proposal to Scourge. However, Scourge immediately recognizes Tigerstar as Tigerpaw. Scourge agrees and goes to the forest with Tigerstar. In The Darkest Hour, this scene is when Firestar reveals Tigerstar's treachery against ThunderClan to Scourge. Tigerstar becomes outraged and leaps at Scourge with claws unsheathed. He dodges to the side and rakes his claws down Tigerstar's belly, ripping away his nine lives and killing him, saying he finally got his revenge. At the end, he says that his littermates thought that he was too small, too weak. But he had proven them wrong. He said that the key to everything was blood, the only way to live. And that he was the leader of BloodClan. He was Scourge. And he had won.

A Clan in Need

 * Scourge appears in Barley's dream at the beginning of the book. He is telling Snake and Ice to kill their sister, Violet, because she and her brother, Barley, had broken the rule keeping family from living together. Although Barley begs to be punished in Violet's place, Scourge insists watching her suffer would punish him much more severely than a beating would.

Trivia

 * In an author chat, Erin Hunter confirmed that Scourge and Firestar are half-brothers. Firestar and Scourge had the same father, Jake.
 * In another chat, she revealed that Scourge does not walk in the Dark Forest because he does not believe in StarClan.
 * In Secrets of the Clans, Scourge is mistakenly called Blood.
 * In the Warriors App, it is said Scourge hated the dog teeth that studded his collar. They smelled awful and pressed on his throat, making swallowing difficult. But he put up with the discomfort because he knew it made him look more fearsome.
 * In Cats of the Clans, he is shown with dark red splotches in his fur, although this could easily be either blood or a lighting effect.

Members
Mother:
 * Quince:

Father:
 * Jake:

Brother:
 * Socks:

Sister:
 * Ruby:

Half-Siblings:
 * Firestar:
 * Princess:

Half-Nieces:
 * Leafpool:
 * Squirrelflight:

Half-Nephews:
 * Cloudtail:
 * Four unnamed kits: Status Unknown

Great-Nephews:
 * Jayfeather:
 * Lionblaze:
 * Dewkit:
 * Snowkit:

Great-Nieces:
 * Hollyleaf:
 * Whitewing:
 * Amberkit:

Great-Great-Nieces:
 * Dovewing:
 * Ivypool: