User:Brambleclawx/Warriors: Power of Three

Warriors: Power of Three is the third arc in the Warriors juvenile fantasy novel series about anthropomorphic feral cats. The arc comprises six novels which were published from 2007 to 2009: The Sight, Dark River, Outcast, Eclipse, Long Shadows, and Sunrise. The novels are published by HarperCollins under the pseudonym Erin Hunter, which refers to authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui Sutherland and plot developer/editor Victoria Holmes. Power of Three details the experiences of protagonist of the first series Firestar's three grandchildren, initially known as Jaykit, Hollykit, and Lionkit, whom a prophecy foretells will have "the power of the stars in their paws". The arc's major themes deal with forbidden love, the concept of nature versus nurture, and characters being a mix of good and bad. Though the novels have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and have been nominated for several awards, none of the novels in Warriors: Power of Three have won a significant literary award.

Background
Warriors is written by Erin Hunter, a pen name for four people: Victoria Holmes, who creates the storylines and edits, and Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland, who write the books in turns. The Warriors series follows four Clans&mdash;ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan&mdash;of feral cats. The Clans believe in StarClan, composed of the spirits of their ancestors. In a previous series, Warriors: The New Prophecy, the Tribe of Rushing Water was introduced. The Tribe, another group of wild cats, inhabits a mountain range and believes in their own set of ancestors, the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

Characters

 * Jayfeather: Jayfeather, originally Jaykit and then Jaypaw, is a blind grey tabby tom with blue eyes, and the brother of Lionblaze and Hollyleaf. He is a medicine cat apprentice in ThunderClan. Jayfeather has a special power as foretold in a prophecy given to his grandfather Firestar: he can sense the emotions of other cats, and enter their dreams. Jayfeather is characterized as proud and sarcastic, especially when he feels other characters are judging him for his blindness.
 * Hollyleaf: Hollyleaf, originally Hollykit and then Hollypaw, is a black she-cat with green eyes, and the sister of Lionblaze and Jayfeather. She is a warrior in ThunderClan. Hollyleaf is characterized as an ardent follower of the warrior code and tends to have an inflexible interpretation of the code.
 * Lionblaze: Lionblaze, originally Lionkit and then Lionpaw, is a golden tabby tom, and the brother of Jayfeather and Hollyleaf. He is a warrior in ThunderClan. Lionblaze is especially talented in fighting skills, and receives training from the spirits of deceased former antagonists Tigerstar and Hawkfrost.

Setting
In the Warriors universe, there are four Clans of feral cats that live in a forest: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. The Clans are structured, with different cats having different positions, including leader, deputy, warrior, medicine cat, apprentice, etc. Cats in each Clan live and hunt in their own territory, which they defend from other cats. Each Clan is adapted to its own types of prey and members usually possess (or are taught) special skills which suit the territory's terrain. StarClan is a group of the Clans' deceased ancestors who give spiritual guidance to the Clans. StarClan warriors keep watch over the Clans, usually watching the Clan they lived in while alive. They provide guidance to the Clans, often through dreams and other signs like omens.

Beyond the Clans' territories lies a mountain range, inhabited by the Tribe of Rushing Water. The Tribe is shown to be similar to the Clans, yet it follows a different set of ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Tribe has a Healer, cave-guards, and prey-hunters, who each serve a different function in the Tribe. The Healer leads the Tribe, heals the ill and wounded, and communicates with the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

Publication history
Dark River was first published in hardcover format on 26 December 26 2007, in the USA by HarperCollins. The UK began publishing the novel on 1 March 2008. It was released in Canada on 13 December 2007. The book has been released in eBook format as well.

For Outcast, Victoria Holmes created the storyline and Cherith Baldry wrote the book. The title of the book was revealed during the third Erin Hunter online chat. An excerpt of Outcast was included in the back of its prequel, Dark River. To promote the book, the editor, Victoria Holmes, went on her third tour across the United States. The Canadian release of Outcast in hardback occurred on 9 April 2008. Outcast was released as a hardback in the United Kingdom and United States on 22 April 2008, and was published by HarperCollins. 200,000 copies of the book were initially released. It was made available as a paperback in Canada on 16 March 2009.

Eclipse was released on 2 September 2008.

Long Shadows was published on 25 November 2008. It has sold over 250,000 copies.

Sunrise was published on 21 April 2009.

Foreign language editions
thumb|The German version of Outcast Outcast was published in French as Exil by Univers Poche on 18 October 2012, in German as Verbannt by Beltz & Gelberg on 28 January 2013, and in Japanese in October 2012. Outcast was released in Chinese in 2009, along with a trading card featuring Lionpaw.

The Sight
In the prologue, it is revealed that near the conclusion of Firestar's Quest, a prophecy was sent to Firestar. After a report of a fox and her cubs loose in ThunderClan territory, the three kits, Lionkit, Hollykit, and Jaykit secretly leave camp and try to track down the foxes and help their Clan. They end up in trouble, but are saved by a patrol. A few moons later, Hollypaw becomes Leafpool's (the medicine cat) apprentice; Lionpaw becomes Ashfur's apprentice and Jaypaw becomes Brightheart's apprentice. Jaypaw is commonly frustrated that many cats see his blindness as a weakness, even though he has never known life with sight and therefore uncaring of his blindness.

At a gathering, all Clans have little to report. In the middle of the gathering, two unknown cats appear. The Clans realize they are Graystripe, with a new friend, Millie. Graystripe was thought to have died when twolegs took him away in The New Prophecy series. Instead, he managed to escape with the help of Millie and found the new home with the help of Barley and Ravenpaw. It turns out all the forest was destroyed. The Clans leave and Graystripe and Millie return to ThunderClan, exhausted.

The return of Graystripe causes another problem. Firestar appointed Brambleclaw as the new deputy assuming Graystripe had died, yet Graystripe was still alive. To help make the decision on who should be deputy, Firestar sends Leafpool to the Moonpool to talk with StarClan. Leafpool is told that Firestar needs to make his own choice. Jaypaw follows her and when Leafpool sees him, she is amazed. In the end, Brambleclaw stays as deputy since he knows the Clan better.

When a battle with ShadowClan breaks out, Jaypaw can only defeat an enemy apprentice with the help of his sibling telling him where the enemy is. Hollypaw finds the thrill of battling better than chewing up bitter herbs. Jaypaw likewise receives a dream from StarClan telling him he must become a medicine cat because he has a gift to walk in other cat's dreams. Hollypaw and Jaypaw decide to trade roles with Jaypaw becoming Leafpool's apprentice and Hollypaw, Brackenfur's apprentice.

At the next Gathering, a dispute breaks out between the Clans. To solve the argument, Squirrelflight shares an idea: to have a special Gathering, just once. Each Clan would have their apprentices compete in different contests; tree climbing, hunting, and fighting.

Jaypaw is upset that he can't compete, and while staying behind at the camp, he has a vision. He is choking on earth, and he smells badger and fox. He is scrabbling desperately with his paws, until realizes that he is seeing through Lionpaw's eyes. It turns out that, while competing, Lionpaw and Breezepaw fell into a collapsing fox den. Luckily, Jaypaw got there in time to save them along with Crowfeather. The leaders decide that since every Clan won at something, there would be a tie and no Clan would win.

In the end, Jaypaw walks in Firestar's dream and hears the prophecy There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws. Realizing that he and his sibling are the cats described in the prophecy, Jaypaw suddenly thinks "One day we will be so powerful that we shall command even StarClan!"

Dark River
In Dark River's prologue, it is revealed that there are tunnels beneath the moorland. Fallen Leaves, a mysterious cat not mentioned before in any of the books, enters a tunnel, meeting a misshapen, old cat by the name of Rock, who explains to him that to be a "sharpclaw", he must find a way out of the tunnels and onto the moor. When Rock asks if it will rain, Fallen Leaves says no because he is afraid that Rock will make him wait until another day if he says yes. Fallen Leaves enters the tunnels and is trapped when it does rain; he drowns.

Lionpaw becomes friends with Heatherpaw, a beautiful WindClan apprentice, and begins meeting her at night. Heatherpaw and Lionpaw begin meeting in hidden tunnels that no Clan cat has ever seen before (the same tunnels that Fallen Leaves drowned in).

Meanwhile, RiverClan reveals that their Clan is facing a "small problem" and that they are being forced to live on the Gathering island for a short while. Though Leopardstar is fiercely protective of her Clan and refuses to elaborate, Hollypaw knows something is not right because her friend Willowpaw and the rest of RiverClan are acting extremely nervous. She informs Firestar of her concerns. However, he does not believe this is ThunderClan's problem and refuses to take action. Hollypaw heads to RiverClan on her own. When she arrives, Willowpaw shows her how human children are disturbing their camp, but the RiverClan cats are widening the river to discourage the children from playing near the camp. Hollypaw is kept with RiverClan so she cannot tell anyone about their secret because they think she is a spy.

Tigerstar, who meets Lionpaw in ghostly apparitions, like he did with Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw, starts teaching Lionpaw battle moves that even his mentor, Ashfur, does not know, although Brambleclaw seems to recognize them. When Lionpaw starts to teach the moves to Heatherpaw, Hawkfrost scolds him for showing battle moves to the enemy, and under pressure, Lionpaw must choose between his love of Heatherpaw, and loyalty to the warrior code and ThunderClan. He chooses to remain loyal to his Clan and leaves Heatherpaw, who is extremely hurt and betrayed.

ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice Jaypaw finds a washed-up stick when he is out gathering herbs with his mentor, Leafpool. It has odd scratches on it; some that are crossed out and some that are not. As he struggles to figure out what it means, he has a dream in which he experiences what Fallen Leaves experienced. Jaypaw then understands that the scratches record ancient cats who undertook the trial in the tunnels and that the last uncrossed one was Fallen Leaves' mark, indicating that he did not emerge.

Cinderpaw falls from the Sky Oak, breaking her back leg. As Leafpool's determination to heal her begins to border on an obsession, Jaypaw begins to wonder why. One night, he falls asleep by Cinderpaw and wakes up in a strange forest. There he meets Cinderpaw, unhurt, who leads him to a camp filled with familiar smells; ThunderClan's previous home in the forest. Cinderpaw describes how she once lived there before the Great Journey and asks Jaypaw to tell Leafpool that she is proud of her, and that she has learned far more than she could have ever taught her. By then Jaypaw is confused, but upon looking into Cinderpaw's eyes, he sees a series of flashbacks from her previous life. Jaypaw realizes that when Cinderpelt, the former ThunderClan medicine cat, died in Twilight she was reincarnated as Cinderpaw, without Cinderpaw herself knowing it. However, when Cinderpaw wakes she does not remember the dream, only that Jaypaw had been able to see in it.

Near the end of the book, Jaypaw and Leafpool must go to WindClan to take Onestar a message from Firestar about not shedding unnecessary blood in a battle over something that may never happen, while Hollypaw convinces Mousefur and Firestar to do something to help RiverClan. When they arrive, WindClan queen Gorsetail's kits (Sedgekit, Thistlekit and Swallowkit) are missing and WindClan blames RiverClan, saying that there will be a battle if RiverClan does not return the kits. Jaypaw and Leafpool return to camp and Lionpaw tells his brother and sister about the tunnels, where he thinks the kits may have gone. They enter the caves, coincidentally meeting up with the WindClan apprentices Breezepaw and Heatherpaw, who share their motive for being there. Jaypaw is guided by the spirit of Fallen Leaves and the group finds the kits behind a boulder that blocked the tunnel. It starts raining and the tunnel floods, but Jaypaw figures a way out just in time and they return the kits, saving the Clans from an unnecessary battle. So Breezepaw, Heatherpaw, Jaypaw, Lionpaw, and Hollypaw return the kits back to WindClan and avert the battle. Then, once again, Lionpaw and Heatherpaw meet up again. They both talk about the future and how they want things to go.

Outcast
Cats from a group in the mountains called the Tribe of Rushing Water arrive in ThunderClan's camp to ask for ThunderClan's help deaing with a group of rogue cats who harass the Tribe and steal their prey. Upon hearing this news, Stormfur and Brook Where Small Fish Swim (Brook) reveal why they had returned to ThunderClan from the Tribe in Twilight. The two were banished after Stormfur led the Tribe into battle against the rogues: many Tribe cats died due to a lack of battle experience, and Stormfur was blamed for the casualties. Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Jaypaw, Hollypaw, and Lionpaw of ThunderClan, Tawnypelt of ShadowClan, Crowfeather and Breezepaw of WindClan, as well as Stormfur and Brook, journey to the mountains to help deal with the rogues. The Clan cats attempt to reason with the rogues and mark border, but the rogues ignore the borders, forcing the Tribe to take more drastic measures. The Clan cats proceed to teach the Tribe cats fighting skills. The Tribe is reluctant to fight at first, but manages to defeat the invaders. Meanwhile, ThunderClan apprentice Jaypaw continues to try to find out about the prophecy that refers to himself and his littermates: "There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the powers of the stars in their paws". At the end of Outcast, Jaypaw decides to tell his brother and sister about the prophecy, which he had kept secret since discovering it in The Sight.

Eclipse
The group of cats that made the journey to the Tribe of Rushing Water return. A few days after the cats came back, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost continue training Lionpaw in his dreams.

Hollypaw and a few other cats go on a border patrol to the WindClan border because they scented WindClan on their territory, and find dead fresh-kill with WindClan scent on it. The next day, Hollypaw, Lionpaw, and a patrol go to the WindClan border for a second time. There, Hollypaw scents something in the bushes, which turns out to be one of the tunnels the leads to the river, the same one from Dark River. She doesn't tell the rest of the patrol, but Lionpaw goes back to see what it was.

Meanwhile, while Cinderpaw was having her assessment, her leg was injured and is forced to delay her warrior's ceremony while she rests in the medicine cat den. Eventually, Jaypaw comes up with an idea to teach Cinderpaw how to swim in the lake. Cinderpaw learns that she can swim, and when Leafpool catches them, she is impressed with Jaypaw.

Not much longer after that, a mysterious loner named Sol is found by a patrol and insists on being brought to the camp. Hollypaw figures out that Sol was the 'lion' that she had seen on the patrol that day. Sol takes Jaypaw and Leafpool into the woods to tell them the sun will disappear. That night, Lionpaw can't sleep, thinking it is Foxpaw and Icepaw whispering, but then he scents WindClan outside the apprentice den. He emerges from the den, and sees all of WindClan there. He yowls and the cats rush into battle. Firestar eventually yells to stop, and the cats in both Clans obey. Firestar walks up to Onestar, who tells Firestar that WindClan is fighting because ThunderClan "...will help cats once they beg for it," and that they ignore the warrior code. However, WindClan leaves the camp, and Firestar tells a patrol to follow them to make sure they leave the territory.

There, WindClan split into three groups. The patrol returns and tells Firestar, who sends out two more patrols, and orders another to stay at camp in case WindClan invade. All three of the patrols get ambushed, and a battle breaks out. Hollypaw's patrol is being defeated, so she is ordered by Brambleclaw to go to ShadowClan to ask Blackstar for help, while WindClan asks RiverClan for help, and soon all four Clans are fighting. Lionpaw finds Heatherpaw and Crowfeather and almost kills Crowfeather, trying to get to Heatherpaw because he believed that it was her who told WindClan about the tunnels from Dark River. That is when the sun falls into an eclipse and the Clans panic and retreat to their own territory.

Later, Jaypaw convinces Lionpaw and Hollypaw that they need to find Sol and ask about the prophecy. They find him outside of the territories in an abandoned Twoleg nest, different from the one on ThunderClan territory, and Sol tells them all he knows. On the way back, they get caught by a ShadowClan patrol and Sol goes to Blackstar and tells the three apprentices that he was going to stay in ShadowClan. In the time between then and the next Gathering, it seems that Sol has convinced Blackstar and his clan to stop believing in StarClan. Sol and Blackstar arrive at the Gathering together and Blackstar announces he has lost faith in StarClan and won't attend Gatherings anymore.

At the end of the book, Cinderpaw, Hollypaw, and Lionpaw get their warrior names, Cinderheart, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze. Jaypaw watches the ceremony and feels happy for his siblings. He then questions he and his siblings' destiny, whether their powers were meant to save or destroy the Clan.

Long Shadows
When Sol persuades almost all of ShadowClan to give up belief in StarClan, Tawnypelt takes her kits Flamepaw, Tigerpaw, and Dawnpaw to ThunderClan, hoping to find refuge there, stating that she and her kits do not want to be part of a Clan that does not believe in StarClan. In hope of helping ShadowClan, Raggedstar and Runningnose beg Jaypaw to help. Jaypaw, along with Tigerpaw, Flamepaw, Dawnpaw, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, creates a fake sign from StarClan to show Blackstar StarClan is real. Blackstar is still not convinced until the fake sign turns real when Raggedstar and Runningnose come to tell Blackstar to get rid of Sol and to still believe in StarClan. Blackstar is convinced and tells his Clan.

Soon Tawnypelt takes her kits back to ShadowClan, but greencough breaks out and Millie and Briarkit (one of Millie's and Graystripe's kits) are the first victims. Soon, the ThunderClan leader, Firestar, catches the sickness as well. The Clan is short of catmint, the cure for greencough: in the battle with WindClan, cats trampled and killed the supply. Jaypaw has a dream telling where there is a fresh supply: in WindClan territory.

However, in one dream, he somehow goes back to the time of Fallen Leaves' tribe as a young sharpclaw (warrior) called Jay's Wing. The Tribe is being threatened by Twoleg expansion and votes to move to the mountains. Jaypaw suddenly realizes that this Tribe becomes the Tribe of Rushing Water and they originated from the Clan's current lake home, so he helps by voting that they should go. When he returns to the Clans, he asks Lionblaze to fetch the catmint. Lionblaze refuses because of dreams where he kills Heatherpaw in the tunnels, but as the greencough gets worse, he finally goes. Lionblaze gets the catmint and gives it to Jaypaw, but not without a tension-filled encounter with Heatherpaw, now called Heathertail. Soon the Clan is healed and Jaypaw finally receives his full medicine cat name, Jayfeather.

Then, during a storm, the camp catches fire. Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Squirrelflight are trapped. Squirrelflight makes it through the flames and drags a stick through in an attempt to save her kits, but needs some help. Ashfur leaps in and drags it all the way through. Just as Lionblaze leaps on, though, Ashfur blocks the way. Squirrelflight begs him to let them through, but Ashfur tells her and the other three that he never forgave her after she left him for Brambleclaw. He said that he will now kill her kits in another attempt to hurt her. Squirrelflight then reveals a crucial secret: that he cannot hurt her that way because they are not her kits. She explains how she kept the secret from Brambleclaw and the whole of ThunderClan. Ashfur lets them live, but he threatens to tell her secret, and she is shocked that Ashfur would betray her like this. Knowing this, Jayfeather, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze realize they are not the Three since they are not the kin of Firestar.

The fire burns out and all the cats help get the camp set up again. Three days before the Gathering, Ashfur asks Firestar if he can go. Hollyleaf Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Squirrelflight are worried that he is going to publicly announce their secret. Between then and the day of the Gathering, the three warn Ashfur that he will regret it if he reveals the secret. Although he is frightened, he refuses to listen to them. Right before the Gathering, the patrol of warriors going notices that both Ashfur and Squirrelflight are missing. On the way to the Gathering, they see Ashfur's body lying in the WindClan stream as if he had drowned. They take him back to camp and set him for vigil. Leafpool notices a slit in his neck, suggesting he was murdered. After the Gathering, Firestar announces that Ashfur's death was unknown and suspects a cat from ThunderClan may have killed him, and the three see Squirrelflight looking scared and holding her breath. The three vow to keep the recent events involving them, Squirrelflight, and Ashfur a secret.

Sunrise
Sunrise begins with Leafpool repeating a long-used ritual to send Ashfur to StarClan. During the process, she discovers a tuft of fur in Ashfur's claws, and she knows whose it is, although she does not say.

ThunderClan discusses Ashfur's murder, and many think that a WindClan cat killed him since he was found on the WindClan border. To find out, Firestar sends a patrol to WindClan, but Onestar denies the possibility. As the patrol leaves, Ashfoot tells ThunderClan that she sighted Sol near the sight of Ashfur's dead body, and this leads to the thought that Sol killed Ashfur.

Firestar sends Birchfall, Brambleclaw, Brackenfur, Hazeltail, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze to the sun-drown-place to find Sol. The patrol finds Sol in the Twolegplace where Purdy lives. Brambleclaw persuades Purdy to live in the Clan as an elder. Both Sol and Purdy agree to go to ThunderClan. When the patrol returns to the Clan, Sol denies killing Ashfur and is kept under guard in the camp.

Being the most curious of the Three, Jayfeather tries to find out who his true parents are. When asking around about his birth, Mousefur reveals that Leafpool accidentally put a strange herb in Mousefur's tansy soon after Jayfeather's birth. After looking through herbs in the medicine cat's den and with herbs sticking to his pelt, he goes to Mousefur to deliver some fresh-kill. Mousefur says that a certain herb sticking to his fur is the mystery herb, but Jayfeather does not know what it is. To find out, he asks Littlecloud when the medicine cats meet at the Moonpool. The ShadowClan medicine cat recognizes it as parsley, an herb that stops the milk of a cat whose kits die. Jayfeather remembers that while going back to the camp after birth, there is another cat with him besides Squirrelflight: Leafpool, Jayfeather's true mother.

At the camp, Hollyleaf too learns that her mother is Leafpool by learning Leafpool came back to the camp the day Hollyleaf and her littermates were born. In response, Leafpool tells the truth: Hollyleaf killed Ashfur, and the tuft of fur found in Ashfur's paw belonged to Hollyleaf.

Angered that StarClan is still keeping the father of the Three a secret, Yellowfang goes to Jayfeather in a dream, tells him, "The time for lies and secrets is over. The truth must come out. StarClan was wrong not to tell you who you were a long time ago," and leaves him a crow's feather, showing their father is Crowfeather of WindClan.

At the Gathering, Hollyleaf reveals the secret about her and her brothers' parents. Crowfeather denies that he ever has any kits besides Breezepelt, and he states that Leafpool and their kits mean nothing to him. Breezepelt and Nightcloud are both outraged about never being informed. Seeing how everyone feels she did something wrong, Hollyleaf runs off into the tunnels which collapse.

Jayfeather realizes that only he and Lionblaze are part of the prophecy's Three. However, as he watches Whitewing's kits walking in the clearing, he realizes that one of the kits will be the third, being the granddaughter of Cloudtail who is the nephew of Firestar.

Critical reception
The Sight quickly mounted #1 on all major sales charts, including the New York Times Bestseller List. It was recommended as Children's Summer reading by the Washington Post Children's Book Club. Booklist gave a positive review saying, "As in previous books, personal tensions are juxtaposed against dangers from the outside. Plenty of action and solid characterizations make this an enticing choice for fans of the long-running enterprise." The Sight was nominated as the best Middle Readers book at Amazon's Best Books of the Year (2007), and placed sixth out of the ten nominees, with six percent of the total votes.

A reviewer writing for Children's Literature criticized Outcast for its "overwhelming confusion" of characters and references to past events in the series that readers who had not read earlier books in the series would not understand.

A lukewarm review of Sunrise from Children's Literature stated, "While the numerous characters may be confusing to those unfamiliar with the series, it will not take many pages for them to become enthralled with the adventures of the cats and anxiously be awaiting future books."