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| "Cats of ThunderClan, we go now to fight against BloodClan. But we're not alone. Remember there are four Clans in the forest, and always will be, and the other three will fight with us. We will drive out these evil cats!" |
| — Firestar to the ThunderClan cats in The Darkest Hour, page 284 |
The battle against BloodClan took place in The Darkest Hour, when the alliance of Clans, called LionClan, led by Firestar, fought against BloodClan, led by Scourge.[9]
Sumary
Premise
- Tigerstar brings BloodClan to the forest territories to help further his plan of ruling over the forest and the four Clans,[17] having stricken a deal with their leader, Scourge, offering him a share of the territory.[18]
- At Fourtrees, the Clans and BloodClan meet and Firestar reveals Tigerstar’s treachery to the cats of the forest and Scourge. Scourge reveals what he knows of Tigerstar’s plan and that he was unaware of what had failed, this prompting Tigerstar to attack the tom when BloodClan doesn’t follow his command. Scourge kills Tigerstar with a single blow.[19] Before rejoining his cats, Scourge delivers the Clans an ultimatum; leave the forest in three days or meet BloodClan in battle.[20]
Overview
- The battle starts when Scourge snarls attack to BloodClan, and Firestar does the same for LionClan.[9] The battle is brutal; many cats are killed or are heavily wounded. Darkstripe is the first known cat to die, killed by Graystripe with a blow to the throat that no cat could have survived.[13] Bone, the BloodClan deputy, kills Whitestorm, ThunderClan's deputy,[16] but Bone doesn't live long after his victory. He is killed by a swarm of apprentices from all four Clans.[15] Firestar is killed once by Scourge,[21] but Scourge, unknowingly, thought he had killed Firestar for good, and is shocked when Firestar regains consciousness.[22] Firestar and Scourge lock into battle again, and Firestar is triumphant in killing Scourge, and BloodClan leave the forest.[4]
Description
Before the battle
- Tigerstar is the leader of ShadowClan, who took control after being exiled from ThunderClan.[23] He tried to murder his leader, Bluestar, so that he could take over as leader, as he was serving as her deputy. Firestar, then known as Fireheart, found out his plans and stopped him, also uncovering Tigerstar's many other crimes along the way.[24] Tigerstar didn't seem to know when to stop, and sent a pack of savage dogs to ThunderClan Camp, where Bluestar gave her final life for her Clan.[25]
- Still unsatisfied, Tigerstar allied his Clan with RiverClan, and the two Clans became TigerClan. Tigerstar pressured the other two Clans to join,[26] even launching a separate attack on WindClan to scare them.[27] On what seemed to be on the eve of the battle, Tigerstar revealed he allied himself with BloodClan, and ordered them to attack.[28] The BloodClan leader, Scourge, refused and turned on Tigerstar, ripping all his nine lives from him with a single, gruesome blow. Scourge then gave the Clans three days to flee before BloodClan takes over the forest.[20]
- Daunted by the experience, Firestar and Tallstar agreed to fight on the third day.[29] Firestar asked for TigerClan to fight, and the current leader, Leopardstar agreed that RiverClan would. Blackfoot had added that ShadowClan would fight too.[30] The stand-off began at Fourtrees, in which Firestar gave Scourge one last chance to leave. Scourge laughed mockingly at Firestar, and the called for BloodClan's attack began the battle.[31]
The battle begins
- Firestar launches himself at Scourge, but the BloodClan leader dodges to the side and lets a big tabby fight for him. As Firestar fights the tom, the rest of LionClan spring into battle.[9] Firestar tries vainly searching for Scourge, knowing that victory would be easy once the leader was dead, but he was nowhere to be seen.[11]
- Firestar fights his way to the Great Rock, starting to grow tired.[11] He faces another rogue when Darkstripe, a former ThunderClan cat that had always showed hatred towards Firestar,[32] shoves the tortoiseshell BloodClan cat away. Firestar initially thinks Darkstripe has finally realized his loyalties, but Darkstripe just wants to kill Firestar himself.[14] They fight until Graystripe, Firestar's closest friend, joins, and finally kills Darkstripe.[13]
Deaths and deputyship
- Graystripe and Firestar both see Bone stand over Whitestorm.[16] Bone begins attacking Bramblepaw, who then attacks the huge tom with Ashpaw.[16] Firestar says goodbye to his first deputy, and Whitestorm states that Graystripe was always destined to be deputy.[16] Firestar names Graystripe the deputy of ThunderClan.[15]
- Bone manages to struggle free from the apprentices, but more apprentices appear, including Featherpaw, Stormpaw, and Tawnypaw, who all fight Bone and kill him where he stands.[15] Jaggedtooth, who was once a rogue, attacks Bramblepaw, but drops him when the other apprentices attack, and flees with the apprentices charging after him.[12] Firestar looks around and realizes they are losing, and searches again for Scourge, finding him at the base of the Great Rock.[33]
Firestar and Scourge
- Firestar leaps across the clearing towards Scourge, and Scourge jumps at him. Firestar rolling with the impact on top of the cat, but Scourge easily wiggles away. Firestar ignores the pain from the reinforced claws and leaps forward, flinging the small tom into the Great Rock.[33] Scourge is stunned at first, but then gets up, and strikes the death blow on Firestar.[21]
- Firestar opens his eyes and realizes he is lying on the grass of Fourtrees, the cats that gave him his nine lives in front of him. Whitestorm is there too, and welcomes Firestar.[34] The StarClan cats inform him he has lost his first life, and tell him to wait. Firestar is impatient when the StarClan cats tell him he must heal before returning to battle.[35] Soon, Firestar awakens to see Cloudtail fighting Scourge. Firestar shouts for Scourge to face him. Scourge is shocked, and Firestar sees a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. Firestar immediately understands that without belief in StarClan, Scourge cannot receive nine lives, and has only one life to lose.[22]
- Firestar runs at Scourge with StarClan running with him, and dodges the killing blow that took his life before, raking his claws at Scourge’s side. Scourge flings himself at Firestar, trying to use the same move that killed Tigerstar. Firestar draws back just in time, and manages to grip near the base of Scourge’s tail, and both cats became a rolling tumble of teeth and claws. When they separate, Firestar realizes that he is spilling blood, and needs to finish the battle soon.[36]
- Firestar thinks of an old trick and crouches down as if defeated. Scourge lets out a triumphant yowl and leaps at him. Firestar leaps at his belly and sinks his teeth into the small cat’s throat. He keeps pummeling him until the cat’s thrashing grows weaker. He raises his paw for the death blow, but realizes that Scourge is dead.[4] Two BloodClan cats realize Scourge is dead before the panic rises, and the BloodClan cats flee, ending the battle.[3]
After the battle
- Firestar checks to see if his Clanmates are okay, and collapses from exhaustion. Graystripe is worried, but Firestar reassures that he doesn't need to be leader for a while yet.[37] Leopardstar approaches them and informs them that she has to take her dead and wounded back home. Firestar asks about ShadowClan, and Leopardstar reveals that she has a new deputy, Mistyfoot.[38] Mistyfoot explains she has to do it for Stonefur's sake,[39] and for her Clan’s sake.[40]
- Stormpaw and Featherpaw say they will go to RiverClan too, and say goodbye to their father, Graystripe.[41] Leopardstar takes her Clan back to their territory.[40] Blackfoot then approaches Firestar, stating they won after all. He says that he must to take his Clan home and prepare for the journey to Highstones. Firestar warns him not to repeat the mistakes of the previous ShadowClan leaders.[42][43] Tallstar tells Firestar that they chased the remaining BloodClan cats to the Thunderpath and that there is no more in the forest.[44] Firestar officially ends LionClan, and then watches the sun rise from the Great Rock.[5]
Deaths as a result of the battle
Characters
LionClan cats
Firestar
- Firestar took over leadership of ThunderClan after Bluestar was killed.[45] He knew of Tigerstar’s plots and when the Clans first meet BloodClan for the first time, he tells of Tigerstar’s crimes to all, prompting Scourge to refuse to fight,[46] and soon, kill Tigerstar.[19] Firestar banded all four Clans together, forming LionClan, and lead the new Clan into battle.[9] He fought hard against Scourge, losing a life,[21] he reawakens and soon kills the leader, ending the battle.[4] Firestar decrees LionClan as no more, and separates to one Clan to four Clans again.[5]
Tallstar
- Tallstar is the leader of WindClan, one of the Clans Tigerstar hadn’t taken over yet. He lead his Clan through much, and had enough wisdom to know that he needed his Clan to combine with ThunderClan to become LionClan.[29] He fought hard against BloodClan, losing his deputy during the battle.[47] He sents his warriors to do what they did best, run. They chased the BloodClan cats out of the territory, and he and Firestar finally decreed there is four Clans in the forest again.[48]
Leopardstar
- Leopardstar made the mistake of allowing Tigerstar to combine her Clan with ShadowClan, turning it into TigerClan.[26] She saved her Clan by agreeing to join with LionClan,[16] and ended up on the winning side, and decreed that TigerClan is no more,[38] leading her Clan back to RiverClan territory.[40]
Blackfoot
- Blackfoot was the deputy of two ShadowClan leaders, both considered evil and power-hungry.[49][50] He led ShadowClan into battle with only one life,[7] and succeeded.[40] Firestar warned him to not repeat the mistakes of the cats he had served as deputy,[43] and Blackfoot followed his words.
Whitestorm
- Whitestorm was Firestar’s first deputy,[51] helping to organize the battle training and hunting patrols with the days leading up to the battle.[52] He was killed by Bone, deputy of BloodClan, and his dying words choosing the next deputy, Graystripe.[16] His death was avenged by apprentices from different Clans,[15] and his death also motivated Firestar to end the battle once and for all.
Graystripe
- Graystripe was Firestar's closest friend,[6] although he wasn't his first deputy.[53]. Graystripe was the father of two RiverClan cats, Featherpaw and Stormpaw,[54] and when RiverClan and ShadowClan combined into TigerClan, he was worried for his kits.[55] With the help of Ravenpaw and Firestar,[56] he brought his kits to ThunderClan.[57] During the battle, Graystripe kills Darkstrpe.[13] Later in the battle, as Whitestorm dies, he tells Firestar that he always knew that Graystripe was destined to be his deputy.[16] Firestar appoints Graystripe as his deputy,[15] and Graystripe returns to battle. After the battle, his kits decide to go back to RiverClan.[40]
BloodClan cats
Scourge
- Scourge had a personal vendetta with Tigerstar [58] and after finally exacting revenge, told the Clans they had three days to flee the forest.[20] On the third day, he came back to claim the forest, but had to deal with LionClan, the four Clans combined to one.[9] He initially hid behind his army of rogues, but was skillful in battle. He killed Firestar,[21] but his weakness was he didn’t believe in StarClan, and had only one life to lose.[22] Firestar killed him, finally ending the battle.[4]
Bone
- Bone was the deputy under Scourge.[59] He was the main muscle of Scourge’s group, and proved to be a formidable fighter. He was at first thought to be the leader of BloodClan,[60] and the Clan cats were surprised when they learned that Scourge, a much smaller cat, was the real leader.[28] He killed the deputy of ThunderClan, Whitestorm in front of Firestar.[16] Whitestorm was avenged, as he was killed by apprentices from different Clans.[15]
Characters that took part in the battle
LionClan
- Firestar[9]
- Whitestorm[9]
- Cinderpelt[7]
- Graystripe[9]
- Willowpelt[9]
- Longtail[9]
- Brightheart[10]
- Cloudtail[10]
- Ravenpaw[10]
- Barley[10]
- Sandstorm[13]
- Dustpelt[13]
- Bramblepaw[15]
- Ashpaw[15]
- Brackenfur[12]
- Mousefur[12]
- Frostfur[12]
- Fernpaw[12]
- Thornclaw[6]
- Goldenflower[61]
- Leopardstar[9]
- Mudfur[7]
- Apprentice[7]
- Shadepelt [7]
- Mistyfoot[10]
- Featherpaw[10]
- Stormpaw[10]
- Blackfoot[9]
- Boulder[7]
- Tawnypaw[15]
- Runningnose[12]
- Apprentice[7]
- Tallstar[9]
- Morningflower[11]
- Onewhisker[10]
- Tornear[12]
- Mudclaw[44]
- Barkface[36]
- Deadfoot[47]
- Runningbrook[47]
- Tawnyfur[62]
BloodClan
Rogues
Quotes
- "I swear by StarClan that we will meet you at dawn tomorrow at Fourtrees. We will fight with you and WindClan against BloodClan."
- ―Leopardstar vowing to Firestar to fight against BloodClan The Darkest Hour
- Firestar: "The Forest is ours. We rule here by the will of StarClan."
- Scourge: "StarClan! Tales for kits. Forest fool, StarClan won't help you now. Attack!"
- The Darkest Hour
- "One less traitor in the forest."
- ―Graystripe about Darkstripe The Darkest Hour
- Whitestorm: "Good-bye, Firestar."
- Firestar: "Whitestorm, no! Graystripe, find Cinderpelt."
- The Darkest Hour
- Firestar: "Scourge! Turn and face me!"
- Scourge: "How… I killed you."
- The Darkest Hour
- "Numb with exhaustion, Firestar hardly had the stregth to understand that his cats- LionClan- had won. The forest belonged to StarClan once again."
- ―Narrator after the battle is over The Darkest Hour
Trivia
- Vicky says she thinks that Deadfoot and Runningbrook died in the battle against BloodClan. [47]
See also
- The Darkest Hour
- Chapter-by-chapter notes for The Darkest Hour
- BloodClan
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 290
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 63
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 307
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 306
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 315
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 286
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 287
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 288
- ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 9.17 9.18 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 291
- ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 292
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 293
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 298
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 295
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 294
- ↑ 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 15.11 15.12 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 297
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 16.9 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 296
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 227
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 5
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 233
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 235
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 300
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 304
- ↑ Revealed in Rising Storm, page 315
- ↑ Revealed in Forest of Secrets, pages 284-286
- ↑ Revealed in A Dangerous Path, page 311
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Revealed in The Last Hope, page 136
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 203
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 228
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 238
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 276
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, pages 290-291
- ↑ Darkstripe always points out Firestar's kittypets roots, and joined TigerClan after he almost killed a kit that saw him talk to ShadowClan's deputy. After Tigerstar was killed, he became a rogue.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 299
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 301
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 302
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 305
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 309
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 310
- ↑ Mistyfoot and Stonefur's mother was Bluestar, and Tigerstar found out when he was leader of TigerClan. Stonefur was killed, but Firestar helped Mistyfoot escape.
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 311
- ↑ Graystripe fell in love with a RiverClan cat named Silverstream, and Silverstream gave birth to his kits. They stayed in ThunderClan until Tigerstar joined ShadowClan and RiverClan, and unleashed his obsession on half-Clan cats. Firestar and Graystripe had to save the two cats from certain death.
- ↑ Firestar had seen Blackfoot kill Stonefur at the Bonehill
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 312
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 313
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 25
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, pages 230-231
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 Revealed in an unknown book, page ddr
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 314
- ↑ Revealed in Into the Wild, page 141
- ↑ Revealed in A Dangerous Path, allegiances
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 77
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 242
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 72
- ↑ Revealed in A Dangerous Path, page 251
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 154
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 158
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 187
- ↑ more on Scourge’s page.
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, allegiances
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, page 226
- ↑ Revealed in The Darkest Hour, pages 284-285
- ↑ Revealed on Vicky's Facebook