#also LOVE splashtail

[furox]

I finished ASC: Sky last night and uhmmm whoa mama those cats can warriors. What I’m trying to say is this was hands down the single most enjoyable book published since the original series. Like don’t get me wrong the actual writing sucks ass but the plot is actually engaging for once. It’s predictable but still refreshing for warriors.

[yarnpika]

its insane that cinderpelt used to be such a popular character that even tho they killed her for their story- they made it clear she was instantly reborn and would become a warrior!! but then they retconned it when it got too weird and made it to where she was "possessing" cinderheart. and now i dont think shes even been featured in starclan since then- at least not prominently to my memory

they could have just... kept the reincarnation plotline! and not had cinderheart have a weird crisis of self (which only exists to give lionblaze something to do in his chapters other than go on patrols) but whatever... i just miss cinderpelt

[sunstartle]

my favorite new hyper-competent 18 year old with slightly concerning levels of hidden bloodlust

[joshuaalbert]

The one thing that kills me about eps like the killing game is that like, voyager having this decent sized crew count then w eps where it's like. "yeah everyone but one/two is gone". i wish voyager was more popular so people would write mini stories about who's where and what they were doing 😔.. esp w side/one offs who are implied to be pretty important.. (hyped for you to get to tabor soon though)

i feel like voy is in desperate need of like a tng lower decks style episode except they're all the like 1-2 episode characters that show up never to be seen again. like idk i wanna know how those maquis crew members from the end of s1 are doing yknow?

but yeah like with killing game that was a ton of plot to try to fit into?? idk probably only a little over 80 minutes if you take out opening/closing credits so i totally get why they couldn't really afford to deviate from the main story but i am still super curious as to what was going on with the rest of the crew in that time. like it's implied that probably the engineering crew is keeping the ship going and making modifications and others are in the programs but it is an episode that feels very empty of crew members other than the leads (and like i totally get that these huge and complex mid season two parters they need to cut down on moving pieces to pull it off it's understandable BUT i still like. want to know lol. duality of man etc)

[clanborn]

star climax that i would personally enjoy: splashtail's got frostpaw pinned in their final confrontation, he's this close to finally killing her, and all of frostpaw's fears culminate and leave her frozen, unable to struggle free. curlfeather, through sheer willpower ignited by this immediate threat to her daughter's life, summons all the energy she can muster to project her image into the physical world, visible to both splash and frost. her sheer fury, her mangled corpse--here, present, clawing her way out of splashtail's dreams and into a waking nightmare, here to drag him down to hell with her--spooks splashtail to the core. this either frightens him so bad he suffers cardiac arrest, or he instantly bolts and abandons the clans forever (for the case where he could be brought back as a villain who is ideally no longer lame). once more, curlfeather saves frostpaw's life, this time from beyond the grave, so great is her love for her daughter. with the image of her bloodied mother burned in her mind, frostpaw's conflicted feelings bubble to the surface, feelings she's desperately forced underneath a layer of anger and resentment. frostpaw faces the truth: that her mother manipulated her for her own gain, but also that her mother loved her, and ultimately cared for frostpaw more than her own life. curlfeather was not entirely good or bad, she was simply just a cat, a flawed one, one capable of both good and bad things. hidden in all of her misdeeds was a cat that could be forgiven--and in turn, frostpaw too could be forgiven, and no longer needs to blame herself for every misfortune that had befallen her and her clan. frostpaw is also just a cat, a child under incredible duress, forced to make decisions that no child should have to make. she thinks of every cat that pushed that responsibility onto her--yes, her mother, but also splashtail, her older clanmates, every clan cat around the lake that turned a blind eye to her desperation. even starclan--her all knowing, benevolent ancestors--had stood by while she suffered, had caused her suffering, had used her not unlike the way curlfeather had. what made them different? why was curlfeather punished by cats who were no better? why was frostpaw punished for doing everything right? what distinction did starclan make between "good" and "bad" when all cats were capable of both, including starclan, in all its alleged, unerring kindness?

frostpaw once again does starclan's bidding, touches her nose to the moonpool and receives her nine lives. with each life, cats flash before her vision--harelight, riverstar, jayclaw--but they aren't the cats she sees. in her mind she sees curlfeather, blood on her paws and love in her eyes, and newly named froststar decides what sort of leader she will be. this is the last time she will follow starclan's path, no more will riverclan be subject to their will and their hypocrisies. relying on starclan is what destroyed them, their ancestors standing idle as riverclan tore itself apart for their favor. no more will riverclan force warriors and apprentices in certain roles, no more will it allow complacency, letting desperate voices go unheard. splashtail rejected starclan, but that is not what drove his bloodthirst and desire for power. under froststar's leadership, power would not solely lie in the paws of her and starclan, but shared among her clanmates, unable to be ripped away by a lone instigator, shattered by a single break in the chain.

maybe she'll be the kind of leader curlfeather wanted to be. maybe she'll be better. either way, froststar will lead riverclan into a golden dawn.

[bonefall]

I know you don’t rewrite arcs until they’re done, but I love hearing about your early ideas while I brood over how badly this arc has let me down. Do you have any like super vague ideas about Splashtail’s motivations yet? He’s like a way worse Hawkfrost in my mind, because they’re both very young cats who Are Just Evil. But Hawkfrost had a genuinely interesting backstory that the Erin’s simply fumbled, meanwhile Splashtail is a cartoonishly evil atheist. I feel nothing towards him, he’s not intimidating or interesting or even funny. Save me Bonefall save me (if I got something wrong please ignore it, these books are so disappointing my brain is making me forget them to protect itself.)

If it helps at all, I'm staying sane with the observation that Hawkfrost is a high charisma character making critical failure rolls, while Splashtail is a cringefail loser with no stats rolling nat20s. He becomes 50% more sufferable when you imagine a long, pungent pause after anything he says, broken only by the sound of an offscreen player tossing some dice. When the silence is broken, it's whatever NPC has been charmed speaking in the beleaguered voice of the dungeon master.

SO my early thoughts are shaping up to be that I'd like to do a slightly more serious version of that.

BB!Splashtail is the Clan equivalent of a 19-year-old, desperate for more power and respect in his society. In terms of his stats, he's promising but not outstanding. A decent fighter, a competent leader. Even in terms of lineage; his father is Sneezecloud, a respected trader and negotiator, but his mother is Havenpelt. An ex-rogue who has sworn to live by the ways of RiverClan.

Curlfeather is the one with the plans. She's the one with vision. Daughter of Reedwhisker, grandchild of Mistystar, with grand leaders like Bluestar, Oakheart, and Crookedstar in her past, greatness runs in her blood. Scandal, too-- but for some reason it's acceptable that her great-grandparents were codebreaking traitors.

Splashtail hates Curlfeather, but he can't get anywhere unless he tries to be her. He steals HER plans. He acts like SHE does. Manages to snatch power from her paws, and then has no idea what to do with it.

I'm thinking that I want his reign to be going smoothly at first, actually, going from a bit of a bossy jerk, to trying to enact Curlfeather's ambitions by launching fights and doing it badly, to active tyranny as he tries to keep control over RiverClan. Depending on how Star goes, I might have Berryheart make some kind of move to seize power over him.

At the core of how I see him though, is that Splashtail has no plan. His ideology leans Thistle Law... in a sort of dumbass 4Channer kind of way. He talks a big game about the glory of battle, but folds fast when his enemy can punch back. The only person he could successfully manipulate was a traumatized child. He will bring back pureblooded glory to the Clan, except his personal family of course

As for the Evil Atheism stuff... lol. Lmao, even. Not needed. If I need to make him a more powerful and serious danger, it's not going to come from the fact he's godless. If being an atheist gave you super murder powers, Bill Nye would have used them to obliterate half of the US government by now.

Depending on how the last book of ASC goes,

The Harelight kill is probably going to get changed to Hallowflight. Harelight watches his dad die, and Splashstar is drenched in the blood of one of RiverClan's most famous heroes. No turning back after that.

On that note I'd also make the fight longer and bloodier. A butchery of an execution showcasing Splashtail fighting like a beast and Hallowflight like a trained warrior.

I REAALLY want to make Splashtail's death a drowning. Curlfeather, demon she is now, finishes him off by dragging him under. To protect her daughter. They will have to do something VERY satisfying for me to not do this.

[tropicalcryptid]

Ok y'all I have a confession.

...Tigerheart/star is my favorite living warrior cats character and I'm tired of pretending he isn't XD

He was a questionable boyfriend, but he's an excellent husband, father, and leader. He's far more like Firestar than Bramblestar ever was. He's proactive and is willing to break rules for what he believes is right. He gave up territory for SkyClan when no other Clan would. He willingly takes in and shelters cats who are unfairly banished from their own clans--Icewing, Harelight, Mothwing, and most recently Frostpaw (geez RiverClan). He stood up for Rootspring and Bristlefrost's love and advocated to change the warrior code to allow cross-Clan relationships. He will go to any lengths to protect ShadowClan and especially his children--but he seems truly motivated by love and not a desire for power. He takes amazing care of Shadowsight and stands by him constantly. Most recently, his "invasion" of RiverClan was shown to be 1) actually necessary, and 2) he did, in fact, keep his promise and back out when his conditions were met.

His decisions aren't always the *best,* but he's motivated and active (and delightfully meddlesome) in a way that no leader since Firestar has been. I LOVE that. I love him! Big stupid hot-headed well-meaning stripey man! Go invade RC again and kick Splashtail's, well, tail! <3

Also! ASC! You made ShadowClan the best clan how did that happen??? I'm so mad that Sunbeam is in ThunderClan now because I don't caaaaaaaare about TC lol I want more SC perspective.

So this is a lineup of my fav cats from the current arc: Whistlepaw (your honor I love her), Frostpaw (you're doing amazing girl, sorry about all the trauma), Icewing (hopefully next leader of RC come on WC team), Fringewhisker (full-time ass-kicker), Tigger boy <3, Shadowsight (my poor bby you're so good), Puddleshine (when did you get to be such a likeable character?), Bayshine (what a bro, seriously), and Harelight (we stan a supportive mentor, sorry about "Wind" buddy).

Honestly ASC is great so far. Can't wait for the finale. Also let the lesbian medicine cats kiss omg. I don't really bother shipping warrior cats because *gestures wildly* but nah, Whistlepaw and Frostpaw are the cutest lesbians and you can't tell me the "It was all worth it if it was for you" conversation in "Wind" WASN'T the most sapphic thing ever. Break ALL the boundaries girls be BOTH gay *and* nuns. We stan.

[rosemarysoot]

ASC WIND SPOILERS

None of the characters mention it in book but it's made clear that Reedwhisker and Mistystar dying in the same DAY was not at all planned. And i love that detail so much. I feel like it adds such depth to the plan, the mystery through the arc. There was an obvious culprit in splashtail, a surprise villain with curlfeather, accompanying villains who's knowledge and intent as well as direction still aren't fully known with podlight, BUT there was also coincidence. There was a careful plot, one with risks and careful planning before the book even started with clues laid all over, but not EVERYTHING is a clue. In the BEST way

[the-owl-tree]

reading the star excerpt (link here)

i quite like the prologue. i like curlfeather taunting splashtail, i like his insecurity being exacerbated. i think it actually hammers in how young and out of his depth he is

which....sucks the rest of the books portray him as this manipulative mastermind. he's much more fun of a villain when you can see him scrambling for power (and losing it)

which makes the whole riverclan as poor victims kind of suck. icewing rightfully calls out her clanmates for being cowards for uh- *checks notes* using mothwing as target practice?? sorry we're going over the top evil i see. anyways, my point is....yeah, riverclan IS complicit in this, they DO have a choice to say no. splashtail doesn't even have enforcers like brokenstar and tigerstar did, it's literally just one guy - heck the warriors themselves are the enforcers.

fear becomes a limp excuse at this point. you guys gotta unionize or something.

i think the book is really struggling to make splashtail's NO MISS OHKO X9999 ULTRAKILL ATTACK an actual credible attack. look i get it they think he has nine lives, but the three of them could take on a teen i believe it.

i think because this arc won't acknowledge that riverclan is complicit in letting this fester, that they wanted this kind of leadership, it makes him fall flat. how much scarier would it be, more gray it would be, difficult, and so and so on if the clan rallied behind their leader because of the prior events? i get it, they're playing into the fear angle, but there NEEDS to be some more willing participants or this doesn't work.

the closest we get is this exchange but like. guys. the gathering exchange was stupid as hell.

also, you'd think every brit was the worst dog owner in the world LMAO these boys are screaming and straining on their leash while the owners chatting away. every dog in brit is some cat mauling beast i guess.

i was so ready for repetitive "why should we do X??" let's fight about it for the next few pages that it was a fucking relief that cloverfoot was just "yep bring them in!". fucking uh flashbacks from bramblestar's leadership lmao

the phrasing on this made me snick. "behaved so badly" makes it sound like she was kind of unruly, not plotted to overthrow her leader lmao

i dont wanna nitpick, i am actually enjoying that the plot is moving and that things are happening but like....minor waste of a shadowclan pov. you'd think with how often they like to make references to past events, sunbeam being a shadowclan cat could absolutely come in handy in this situation (considering they once had nightheart explain shadowclan history to a shadowclan cat) but when she wonders if riverclan can ever repair itself, it really doesn't come up. idk, i guess i think she could've had a more optimistic perspective but ultimately it really isn't the biggest of deals.

uh oh guys something ELSE happened?? wanna know what happens??? well go buy IVYPOOL'S HEART ONLY FOR 25.99 AVAILABLE NOW AT RETAIL OUTLETS CLOSEST TO YOU. BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW. DON'T YOU WANNA KNOW WHERE ICEWING IS GOING???? OOOH BUY OUR BOOKS!

Oooh the Gathering trap is actually good, ignoring how a lot of them get thrown the idiot ball a little bit to make it work. I figured it out quickly (even though this arc loves having shit happen offscreen), it's nice to see some trickery for once! only real drawback is the books once again going "what did splashstar do to riverclan??" as if he's mind controlling them. I'm gonna actually hold out on hope that this is a set up to Frostpaw realizing her Clanmates haven't been mind controlled or whatever, they're doing this because they want to, because splashstar's ideals appeal to them after everything.

it probably won't happen but i wanna hold out hope.

tentatively interested! preparing for status quo disappointment!

[rudymentari]

ur like. the curlfeather guy to me. how do u feel about the recent preview

Thank you sm all I've ever wanted

I'm glad to see Curlfeather again. At first I was worried they'd make her anger only about Splashtail ruining her plans and not address him trying to kill her kit, so I was glad when they did bring it up in a way that wasn't so flippant as her first mention of it. I wish they'd leaned into it a bit more.

Her description was definitely very gorey, even for warrior cats. I love all the fanart people are making of the scene but I'm going to keep focusing on the mostly curlfeather-centric video I'm working on rather than singular pieces- you might see it referenced there once it's out

I loved having a lot more Duskfur presence- as Curlfeather's mother, I have a Lot of thoughts about her. I like her characterization in the excerpt and her interactions with Mothwing and Frostpaw. I'm glad Frostpaw is allowed to be angry, as well

I think there's something to be said about Splashtail and his relationship with Curlfeather. Even if he was already an ambitious cat with violent tendencies, she Was an older warrior who in a way completely uprooted his life before he even finished his apprenticeship, a warrior who is still haunting him after his death. It's something I'd love to explore, but only in an ideal world where half the fandom didn't already believe Curlfeather was a wholly, entirely evil cat with nothing but malice behind her every action. I don't really want to encourage that.

Not saying I think none of the things she did were wrong. But I think it's infinitely more interesting to explore a character's complex feelings and motivations than label them as evil for evil's sake. I do believe she wanted what was best for her clan and her kits, and believed, if everything went to plan, that her kits, including frostpaw, would never have to face the negative consequences her actions ultimately brought. I also think there are legitimate reasons for her to feel the way she does about Starclan. I could make a multi-hour video essay on this with books excerpts and all. But I refrain

[mourninglamby]

frostpaw!!! my girl!!!

I love frostpaw so much she’s my fav cat next to sunbeam in the new arc. I feel like I rly have no idea where her arc is going and I kinda love that but also I am no stranger to warrior cats being Trifling and Weird so. Splashtail stay the fuck away. I’m a big fan of neurotic sadgirl characters bc I myself am That. It’s very funny to go from sunbeams pov and nighthearts pov where they’re dealing with interpersonal conflict whereas frostpaw is watching her mother get mauled to death and identifying dead bodies at age like 15 essentially

[everybody-loves-purdy]

What do you think of the excerpt? I loved the rotting curlfeather visual we got in the prologue… it was haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Idk why anyone believed Berryheart… I love how action packed this preview is despite being only 3 or so chapters. What do you think will happen next?

I loved it, I am so excited for the rest of the book if already this is happening in chapter 3. I think the look inside Splashtail’s mind is fantastic. Nothing is off limits for this guy since he is driven by selfishness and fear.

I think Splashtail is probably launching an attack on ShadowClan while Tigerstar and the warriors are distracted. Puddleshine I feel like will probably become their prisoner to have some leverage over ShadowClan and also because RiverClan has no experienced medicine cat of their own. We already know that Puddleshine will not refuse to heal anyone no matter what thanks to his time in the kin. So he would definitely still heal his captors.

I fully believe Frostpaw will be Froststar. Icewing’s parting words felt like she wouldn’t be back for the rest of the book, and also it felt like the kind of speech a story would tell a future leader.

[bonebabbles]

oh yiiikes

They weren't lying, this is ACTUALLY some of the most open religious propaganda we've seen in WC to this point. This is up there with the breakdown of ShadowClan in Po3, where losing faith in starclan made them stop taking care of old people

Splashtail, Godless Heathen, is making all of the warriors fight viciously because bloodlust. His evil plan is that they won't go to church anymore or something. This is a terrible thing because then StarClan wouldn't be able to send us vague and unhelpful hints that we would have figured out anyway no more :(

(and also if you dont love jesus you forget how to not kick babies and stop loving your meemaw. Watch out for that)

[meowtalhead]

I haven't read the books in years but all the curlfeather fan art made me take a look at the star prologue and yep that is indeed pretty badass. I am officially a curlfeather fan. Also I love how much of a cartoon villain splashtail is, he’s so funny lol

[exocynraku]

spoilers for a starless clan: wind here are my thoughts!

okay, PACING! it was GOOD! originally i thought it was a little slow up until the end, but now that i've thought about it some more i think its fine NEW KITS! YIPPEE! and THREE new prefixes! pretty awesome. i'm happy about that. though, i ABsoLUTELY hate that theres TWO greypaws. but, greypaw riverclan i assume will probably get his warrior names sooner rather than later so meh story wise, i liked it! especially frostpaws povs. sunbeams and nighthearts were both good, but frostpaws was best. i like everything that happened, and especially the tenser moments like during the storm & when frostpaw rescued leafkit. when was the last time we had a storm LOL?

okay, now onto the bulk of the story. splashtail! is. SO COOL! not in like a he's a good person was, but in a he's really interesting way. i loved all his scenes, and he really feels like a real villain. i also think podlight's dynamic with him is INCREDIBLY interesting, since he's curlfeathers brother. i wonder what'll come of that when splashtail is defeated (?) !!! excited!!! i also though the end of the book was IN.SANE!!!!!!!! berryheart found riverclan, JOINED, and then became deputy after harelight was killed! that's honestly crazy, and not what i was expecting AT ALL! also i love mothwing, duskfur and icewing. i'm really really excited to see what goes down with them. ALSO FROSTPAW AND WHISTLEPAW NUMBER ONE LESBIANS FOREVER!!! i was sort of on the fence on that ship only because my memory is too balls to properly remember the exact bits of their interactions together, but after some of the things frostpaw said to whistlepaw while whistlepaw was in the med den OOOHUUUHUHUHU i love them... overall, good book! not like, the most incredible thing i've ever read, i DO sort of wish MORE things happened, but it was still good !

[mothdapple]

Why I'm a Froststar Truther

(Spoilers for all currently released A Starless Clan books below.)

I wanted to lay out all the evidence for why I believe that Frostpaw will end up the leader of RiverClan by the end of ASC. I’ve formatted my arguments into their own points below! But, for the sake of a fair discussion, first I think I want to start with the reasons against Frostpaw.

Reasons Against:

1. She’s too young/inexperienced.

Honestly, I think this is the strongest point against Frostpaw ending up as leader. The books have told us that Frostpaw and her siblings are now considered to be warrior aged (despite timeline inconsistencies,) but Frostpaw is still a young cat. In TBC, Bristlefrost was also considered “too young” to be deputy by many characters in the story. 

However, what I will say in Frostpaw’s defense here, is though she is young, she is not inexperienced. Her journey to the Park and back and time in exile from RiverClan has given her a lot of experience that many of her Clanmates lack. And, although she is young, she has also gained the respect of many other Clans/their leaders due to her bravery with spying on Splashtail and helping WindClan during the storm. It is also not unprecedented for a young cat to become deputy/leader. (Look no farther than Firestar— a cat who ASC brings up frequently… almost as if the writers are trying to make a point about something? See my point 2 in reasons in favor below.)

2. Frostpaw wants to be a medicine cat.

I’m honestly not sure if this is even true (I elaborate in my reasons in favor of Frostpaw below.) In fact, I’d argue that if we compare Frostpaw’s desire to be a medicine cat to Mothwing’s (another contender for leadership,) I think Mothwing likes being a medicine cat WAY more than Frostpaw. We know that Mothwing chose to be one after first training to be a warrior and has never faltered on that decision in the years since. Even after the difficulties Mothwing faced as a medicine cat who doesn’t believe in StarClan, she has always persisted because she loves it so much.

3. If Frostpaw becomes leader, RiverClan will be left without a medicine cat with a connection to StarClan.

I think the books hint that this is not the case (see point 4 below for more thoughts.)

Reasons in favor:

1. Frostpaw was “never meant to be a medicine cat.”

Although Frostpaw has a strong StarClan connection now, she is confirmed by the books to have “never meant to be a medicine cat.” The exact scene where this happens in the prologue of Thunder is quoted here:

“This wasn’t her destiny!” Thunderstar mewed imploringly. “She was never meant to be a medicine cat.”

“No.” Riverstar’s tail twitched. “But things have changed. If RiverClan is to survive, it needs a messenger. A powerful messenger.”

This wording here around Frostpaw being a “messenger” is ambiguous enough that it could mean that she still isn’t supposed to be a medicine cat despite her (now real) connection to StarClan. Or it could mean that her fate was changed by necessity so that she is supposed to be a medicine cat now.

I would argue that the former case is more likely than the latter because Warriors books as a whole are extremely deterministic— we have never had a confirmed case where cats have been able to escape or change their fate. All prophecy works that way in the books. For example, characters like Brokenstar and Tigerstar were declared to be murderous tyrants from their births, and there was no escaping that fate for them.

Therefore, for the internal logic of the Warriors world to remain consistent, then I think Frostpaw’s destiny still is not to be a medicine cat. (Also if they just wanted Frostpaw to be a medicine cat, why did Riverstar respond by calling her a “messenger” rather than just plainly calling her a “medicine cat?” Or “a medicine cat with a StarClan connection?”)

2. There are strong parallels between Firestar’s and Frostpaw’s stories.

The plot of ASC contains very obvious parallels to the first arc. They are both stories about a young protagonist learning the “true” ways of their Clan, uncovering treachery within their Clan, in which an evil cat wants to become leader of their Clan, (treachery which their Clanmates initially do not believe,) and then working to defeat this traitor. These two protagonists both also have strong connections to StarClan, with a StarClan guide who sends them omens and prophecies to assist them on their journey. The only difference is that Frostpaw is currently training to be a medicine cat and Firestar was a warrior. But, their paths look very much the same, and so I feel like their destinations will ultimately be the same too. 

3. Additional Foreshadowing.

If the parallels to the first arc aren’t convincing enough foreshadowing, the books contain a lot of other hints that Frostpaw’s ultimate role is as the leader. Besides what I already mentioned about Frostpaw’s fate not being that of a medicine cat, many of Frostpaw’s interactions with Riverstar point to her being his chosen for leader. 

Riverstar sends Frostpaw on a journey of self-discovery to the park in order for her to heal and learn what makes a good leader. The good leadership traits that Frostpaw learns about, she possesses herself. While at the park, Frostpaw also realizes that RiverClan needs a leader who can guide them in the old/true ways of their Clan (through meditation and the like,) but she is the only RiverClan cat who knows these “old ways.” So who else would teach RiverClan them but her?

Frostpaw is devoted to StarClan and wants to do what she perceives that they want, but she personally is not that attached to being a medicine cat, as seen by her enjoying her time training as a warrior. It’s not until Frostpaw starts to get real visions that she starts to believe that she needs to be a medicine cat (not because Riverstar told her— just because she assumes that having a connection to StarClan automatically means she needs to be medicine cat, although Firestar’s story shows that’s not the case.)

Riverstar appears to Frostpaw during Splashtail’s “leadership ceremony.” If the purpose of this scene was just for Frostpaw to prove to Puddleshine that Splashtail was evil, then Splashtail telling Podlight about all his evil plans and mocking StarClan aloud would have done that. But instead, the writers went a step further and had Riverstar appear and bow his head to Frostpaw during the “leadership ceremony," as if implying “this wasn’t meant for him, it’s meant for you.”

4. Bee is going to come back into the story.

Bee’s vision of standing on a frozen river with a lot of cats watching him is too obviously connected to RiverClan to mean nothing. With Wasp returning to the park with news about the trouble that's happening, the books have perfectly set up an opportunity for Wasp and Bee (or Bee alone) to go back to the Clans to help. Since Bee is strongly hinted to have a connection to StarClan due to his dream, I think he will become RiverClan’s medicine cat. (Thus fulfilling RiverClan's need for a medicine cat with a connection to StarClan if Frostpaw becomes leader.)