Canon

This article is not a part of the Warriors universe and is from the real world.

Canon, in the context of a fictional universe, comprises those novels, stories, films, etc., that are considered to be genuine or officially sanctioned, and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have existence within the fictional universe. In order for a setting to appear coherent, especially in fictions that contain multiple parts, both creators and audiences sometimes find it useful to define what has and has not "actually happened" in that universe. Material that is considered canon comes from the original source or author of the fictional universe. Spin-offs and adaptations to other media are often non-canon, and fanfiction is always non-canon, due to it not being published or released by anyone associated with the official franchise.

Authors of the Warriors series, Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland have connected with fans in the past to reveal information about the books and characters. They have done this through Erin Hunter Chats on Wands and Worlds, and also through the Warriors official forums. In addition, Kate and Vicky have social media accounts on various platforms which they've used to answer fan questions, and deliver news about new things in the Warriors world. The most notable of these are Vicky's Facebook and Kate's BlogClan.

Canonicity in Warriors

Main article: Mistakes in the Warriors Series

There is a difference between canon and official content in the series. All Warriors content is considered official unless otherwise stated, including the books as they are published by HarperCollins, and the graphic novels published by TokyoPop and later HarperAlley. Warrior Cats: Ultimate Edition, the Roblox game, is also official content as it was released in partnership with the Coolabi Group, who owns the series, and Aldrich-Callen Studios. The Warriors Adventure Game is also considered official content as it was released alongside Omen of the Stars, Battles of the Clans, and The Warriors Guide. However, canonicity differs from official; while the Roblox game and the Warriors Adventure game are official content with the Warriors branding, they are not considered canon as they operate outside the books.

The books themselves are notoriously inconsistent. Reasons for this vary from different authors writing different books to unexplained editorial changes. Some instances result in two contradicting sources leading to an uncertain result. For example, Rippletail was on Tigerheart's patrol during Tigerheart's Shadow, but in River of Fire, he is replaced by Slatefur who subsequently takes his place in future books. While Rippletail's appearance was documented first, Slatefur's appearance is considered canon due to his appearances in further books and as confirmed by Kate Cary, and Rippletail's as a mistake in Tigerheart's Shadow. In instances of multiple iterations of discrepancy, such as Sparrowstar's eye color, the wiki commonly takes whatever description is mentioned the most. In Sparrowstar's case, she is mentioned with green eyes twice and with amber eyes three times, therefore the wiki lists Sparrowstar with amber eyes.

Earlier books such as Secrets of the Clans, have been contradicted by newer releases, and the Warriors Wiki will instead include the newer information over the older. This was decided by an official discussion. Examples include:

• The founding of the Clans, contradicted by Dawn of the Clans.
• Naming system, contradicted by Dawn of the Clans.
• Some mentor/apprentice pairings, contradicted by later releases.

However, it should be noted that if a statement in an earlier book is not contradicted by a later source, it can remain as a canon statement. Most of the short stories and official essays written by the authors are taken as canon. The few exceptions include The Clans Decide, which depicts an alternate history of the Clans joining under Firestar; The Hidden Prophecy, The Disappearing Herbs, and Beyond the Fence, three contest short stories; and The Longest Night, a fanfiction written by Kate.

Content considered canon by the wiki

• The Prophecies Begin
• The New Prophecy
• Power of Three
• Omen of the Stars
• Dawn of the Clans
• A Vision of Shadows
• The Broken Code
• A Starless Clan
• Changing Skies
• Super Editions
• Novellas
• Graphic novels
• Code of the Clans
• Cats of the Clans
• Battles of the Clans
• The Ultimate Guide
• Most Short stories and essays

Content considered non-canon by the wiki

• Secrets of the Clans
• The Clans Decide
• The Longest Night
• The Disappearing Herbs
• The Hidden Prophecy
• The Warriors Adventure Game

The Warrior Cats Website

Main article: Warrior Cats website

The Warriors Wiki currently accepts the Warrior Cats website as canon as long as it does not contradict the books. The Warriors Wiki also has no control over what is published on the website nor does it have any insider knowledge.

Since some content on the website results from fan posts, this section will also include the wiki's history with those. In September 2016, a Warriors fan gained permission from Vicky to come up with names and histories for unnamed characters who appeared in the background of the books. The fan was permitted to post these stories as "Missing Kits" on Vicky's Facebook wall. The content gave identities to several unnamed kits and their parents, as well as providing lineages for cats with unknown family trees. Vicky confirmed in private messages with the wiki that these were indeed canon. After some discussions and a vote, the wiki began adding the fan's content as canon in January/February 2017. A few months later in April, Vicky declared that the fan's content was never canon, and the wiki went ahead and purged all the content off the wiki. The only thing that remained were the images, which were given the unused character images category to preserve the artwork.

When the Warrior Cats website first released its family tree upon its launch in January 2019, there were several inconsistencies, such as incorrect colors and family lineages. The family tree also reintroduced several characters and lineages that were originally introduced in the "Missing Kits" segments, such as Elderkit, Tulipkit, Lynxkit, and Turtlekit. These characters did not come from the wiki, as the wiki had purged all informational content regarding the "Missing Kits" characters except for the images which were hidden. Despite this, the wiki took the family tree as canon and the content was added. However, there were growing concerns about the tree's validity with lack of sufficient updates and errors, and the wiki community discussed the tree's canonicity in December 2019. Alongside with Secrets of the Clans, a 2007 field guide that was largely retconned by Dawn of the Clans, the wiki decided to remove all SotC and family tree content and place them in the new "continuity" section in characters' trivia sections on March 21, 2020, effectively declaring it not canon.

This sharp decision caught the attention of the Warrior Cats website team, and in May 2020, they asked the wiki staff team to provide a list of questions asking about the canonicity of their website, among others. These questions and subsequent answers resulted in the article, Behind the Scenes at Warriors HQ on the Warriors official website (backup link). The wiki staff team did not preview the answers before the article was published. While our questions were sorta answered, the website did keep its promise to maintain the family tree and has consistently updated it with each new book release, providing there is information to be added. This decision led to another re-evaluation of the family tree, and the wiki voted to re-adopt the family tree as canon on September 28, 2020. Some relevations are discussed on a case-by-case basis, such as Fallen Leaves and Hollyleaf being mates.

Characters that are unique to the family tree, such as Turtlekit, Rubblekit, and Lavenderkit, have a content warning notice that significant pieces of information result from the family tree and may not be supported by the books. In March 2021, screenshots of the "Missing Kits" segments were uploaded to the wiki and added to the characters' "continuity" sections to preserve its original history and by readers' request. Moreover, select name reveals exclusive to the website, such as Ravenpaw's kit name being Ravenkit, are provided with a note in their infoboxes and the website character reveals category.

The Warriors Wiki's influence

Harveymoon's kittypet image. Pixel by Winterwhisper432

Having been around since 2006, the Warriors Wiki remains a prominent resource about the series, and has even gained attention from the authors. Vicky is very familiar with the wiki, and Kate even uses it as a resource when writing. Audiobook narrator MacLeod Andrews references the wiki when narrating characters, and illustrator James Barry references the wiki when designing his characters. While the Warriors Wiki is very flattered to be used by official source, it does create an unintentional feedback loop issue. The authors may see something being listed on the wiki that may be speculative or may be proven false at a later date, then add that to their content, which reinforces it as canon.

Harveymoon as depicted in SkyClan and the Stranger

One example of this feedback loop is through the full-color versions of the graphic novels. In SkyClan and the Stranger, many cats who did not have a confirmed eye color at the time ended up with coincindentally the same eye color as the wiki's pixel character images. For example, Harveymoon did not have a confirmed eye color at the time of the book's release, and his eyes were depicted as green. His charart image has always been depicting his eyes as green. Several other cats align with this pattern, such as Rabbitleap, Birdwing, Honeytail, Waspwhisker, Clovertail, Mintfur, Ebonyclaw, Shrewtooth, Rockshade, Nettlesplash, Heavystep, Mudclaw, Webfoot, Tornear, Weaselfur, Owlwhisker, Oakfur, Poolcloud, Archeye, Crowtail, Clawface, Dawncloud, Featherstorm, Cinderfur, and Runningwind. All of these characters have had their eye colors coincidentally matching the wiki's charart colors. It is important to note that the charart images are not considered canon and are only interpretations of the characters based upon canon information. Some information, such as eye color, are speculated based upon the artist.

Mosspaw as depicted in Exile from ShadowClan. He is one of the few matching eye-color exceptions as he is shown with blue eyes in the book

However, not all of the characters in the graphic novels abide by the wiki's status quo, such as Bouncefire (green on the wiki, yellow in SkyClan and the Stranger), Blackclaw (yellow on the wiki, orange in A Shadow in RiverClan), Cedarheart (orange on the wiki, yellow in Winds of Change), Mosspaw (green on the wiki, blue in Exile from ShadowClan), and Volewhisper (orange on the wiki, yellow in Exile from ShadowClan). In these instances, their eye colors were changed. Hollyflower from Exile from ShadowClan is an interesting exception; her eyes were green until Blackfoot's Reckoning where they were noted to be blue. However, Exile from ShadowClan, which was released two months after Blackfoot's Reckoning, depicted hers as green as they originally were on the wiki. The wiki lists both eye colors in this instance. Matching eye colors is not exclusive to the graphic novels, such as the coincidental cases of Bumblestripe, Flipclaw, Stemleaf, Dewnose, Thriftear, Bristlefrost, Fringewhisker, and Nightheart.

Sandynose as depicted in SkyClan and the Stranger. The wiki briefly overruled his tabby cite from Darkest Night until the full-colored version of SkyClan and the Stranger showed him as a tabby two months later

This pattern also extends to pelt patterns. Per PCA's guidelines, any ginger cat must have stripes depicted on their chararts due to the genetics of ginger cats in the real world. This rule was changed to be optional in 2019, though prior, all ginger-based cats were depicted with stripes on the wiki, even if they were not originally described as such. This rule was not applied retroactively unless the artist wished to change their pixel artworks. One example is Weaselfur, who was originally described as a "ginger tom with white paws" but had stripes added to his chararts on the wiki. In Winds of Change, Weaselfur is depicted with stripes, which was later added to his description. The wiki also questioned Sandynose's tabby cite due to him not being a tabby in the gray-scaled version of SkyClan and the Stranger, only for it to be overturned two months later when the full-colored version was released and depicted him as a tabby. In a similar vein, the wiki allows artists to choose a character's pelt color if they are an unspecified tabby. In the case of Flipclaw, the artist chose to depict him as a brown tabby on the wiki when he was just listed as a tabby tom. Flipclaw remained an unspecified tabby tom until the family tree depicted him as a brown tabby in 2020, and later in the allegiances of River in 2022. However, the charart images are more frequently adjusted to match new descriptions revealed in the books, which has led to the creation of the PCA's tweak page.

Nonetheless, because of this unintentional feedback loop, the Warriors Wiki strives to be as accurate as possible when documenting discrepancies and considering which item to list. Errors will always occur, but the wiki will always rely on its dedicated volunteer editors and steadfast readers to point out contradictions and mistakes both in the series and on the wiki to meet the agreed consensus of "canon".

The fandom's influence

Similarly with the wiki, the Warriors fandom itself has also impacted the series. The seven Erin Hunter Chats from 2005 to 2011 provided opportunities for fans to have their questions answered from the Erin Hunter team. Fans have also reached out to the authors' various social medias throughout the decades, most notably Vicky's Facebook and Kate's BlogClan. These questions included, but not limited to, insights about the creative process for the series, family trees and relationships, character descriptions, such as pelt length, eye colors, name inspirations, and afterlife residencies. At times, some characters are specifically named after certain fans. Examples include Ivypool, Stormcloud, Blizzardstar, Brightspirit, Emberdawn, Riga and Ziggy, Jay Frost, and Rufus and Shyfrost. See here for a full list.

The fandom's involvement in the franchise increased upon the release of the Warrior Cats website, with Working Partners reaching out directly to the fandom for their input on aspects of the series. Decisions have included:

• Rootspring's warrior name
• Plush merchandise
• Blackstar's novella
• Leopardstar's Super Edition
• Riverstar's Super Edition
• Wafflepaw
• The audiobook narrators for Onestar's Confession and Ivypool's Heart
• The color theme for Onestar's Confession

The first time the fandom has voted on a cover was for The Empty City, the first book in the Survivors series in 2012.

See also

• Warriors books
• HarperCollins
• Social media
• Warrior Cats website

Notes and references

Author references