There's still one more book HOWEVER I think this is the best arc so far. Easily. Splashtail's actually threatening yet there's still perceivable flaws in his leadership. Kinda like Darktail but paced better. Frostpaw, Sunbeam, and Nightheart are all really enjoyable main characters. Honestly all the post OotS pov characters have been great.
Wind is a really good continuation of Thunder and builds just as well into a presumably exciting finale in Star.
I haven't really talked about Splashtail in RiverClan (hasn't been much to say) but there's plenty to address now. On top of that I want to bring up Squirrelstar, who we see a lot of as leader, and Nightheart. More specifically, I'll figure out what I meant when I, at 11pm, made the first draft of this post that was just:
"Nighthewrt page 79 'no other cat like Firestar'"
It's even the URL for this post!
Yay yippee!!
Nighthewrt
My favorite scene in wind is easily Waffle, Wasp, and Nightheart visiting the elders for stories. It's nice to see Cloudtail, Brackenfur, Thornclaw, and Brightheart talking for a while even though it reminds me that they've been around in the series for longer than I've been alive which is... freaky. But still delightful (really though those character were first introduced in 2003). Brambleclaw's also there but, honestly, I don't have much to add beyond "he's doing better but not amazing."
There is one small part on page 79 that is really important for Nightheart, so much so that I noted it quickly enough to forget what the letter "a" is. Basically, Nightheart comes to internally accept his relation to Firestar. First I want to look at those direct thoughts Nightheart has:
"He would have liked to stay and hear [Firestar's] story, which he had only ever heard snatches. When he had been a kit, and then an apprentice, he hadn't wanted to hear anything about the cat his whole Clan expected him to live up to. But now that he had achievements of his own, and a place in his Clan, he felt proud to be kin to the great Firestar."
Two small notes: I don't know if "only ever heard snatches" is grammatically correct. I think there should be an "of." But I'm writing the quote straight from the text so not my problem. Also I learned literally now that Clan is supposed to be capitalized. Oops!
On a surface level, we are pretty explicitly being told that Nightheart is over his ancestry and why that is. He no longer feels tied to Firestar between changing his name and showing off his individuality. Nightheart hasn't been compared by any of the cats in book since before he left for ShadowClan, as far as I can recall. Another detail, perhaps more telling of how he was in the past than how he is now, is that he actually didn't really know much about Firestar. It's reflected in the way he perceives him as a generic figure, but Nightheart is only just now giving himself the chance to hear Firestar's story in full. He says he heard it "in snatches," which goes to again show that he never even tried to know Firestar. He didn't want to. Now instead of seeing Firestar as some looming ancestor he understands him both as his great grandfather and a cat that means a lot to some of his living relatives, most notably Brambleclaw who, when describing Firestar, is described as having a "light of love and respect" in his eyes, contrasting everything we've seen from Brambleclaw since Ashfur possessed him.
And that's the actual important part of this. Nightheart is hearing Brambleclaw tell the story and specifically hears one crucial line: "There's never been another cat like Firestar in the forest." Generically it's a tell of admiration from Brambleclaw, but to Nightheart it means something entirely different. Not only does Brambleclaw throw aside the idea of any cat, including Nightheart, being expected to be another Firestar, he also indirectly acknowledges the legitimacy of Nightheart's identity.
That line doesn't just come from a respected figure, it comes from the cat who gave Nightheart the name "Flameheart." I comes from the cat who said Nightheart has qualities of Firestar. So to brush aside the idea of a cat being comparable to Firestar simultaneously validates Nightheart's feelings, in a way. And, again, this comes from Brambleclaw, the cat Nightheart respected most as an apprentice.
The whole scene feels like a release on Nightheart's character. He's obviously beyond his identity crisis, as he acknowledges, but what Brambleclaw says is a symbolic last straw telling Nightheart that he was right to feel the way he felt.
My only other note on Nightheart in Wind is that he has a very nice relationship with Sunbeam. Not that they do much other than assist Berryheart but like not really much at all. It is nice to see a cut and dry healthy and developed relationship. Nightheart comes from a long line of problems, with a dead dad, the worst marriage in warrior cats between his grandparents, and grandpa "I'm cheating on my wife with a ghost" Firestar it's cool that Nightheart and Sunbeam are normal. That's how you know he really isn't like Firestar at all.
Splashtail's Super Evil
The weirdest part about Splashtail as a villain is his aversion to getting 9 lives. It's really strange, given that the book specifically points at that he would probably succeed, literally bringing up Brokenstar as an example at one point. On top of that it's not like StarClan can directly stop him from becoming leader without lives which is his plan anyways so why not try? To me that's the most bewildering part of Splashtail's character.
In the prologue he gives a direct answer to the question: "He would reject the nine lives. A cat shouldn't need all that time to leave his Clan stronger than he found it. A strong leader should be able to do it in a single lifetime." On top of this he thinks specifically about how long Mistystar was around for, with her being born in the forest even, and how long Curlfeather would hypothetically be Curlstar for. But again, there's something fundamentally odd here. Splashtail doesn't just reject StarClan, he specifically rejects the longevity of leaders and even more specifically objects to it for himself.
Splashtail therefore sets himself apart from cats like Darktail, Brokenstar, and Tigerclawstar who wanted to conquer the whole forest and rule it. Instead he just wants RiverClan to be strong and wants that clan to be strong after his death. His thought isn't just about his reign but his legacy leaving RiverClan "stronger than he found it." Brokenstar, on the other hand, could not care less about what happened to ShadowClan without him.
In short, Splashtail isn't really presented as an egotistical character which is pretty unique. In a way it makes him scarier because he's way harder to provoke. The main issue Tigerstar II is running into is getting the clans to back him against Splashtail and it's because for SkyClan, ThunderClan, and WindClan, Splashtail doesn't actually represent a threat. Honestly he doesn't even seem to be a long term threat to ShadowClan as his desire is confined strictly to leading RiverClan. Because of that it's way harder to sell Harestar or Squirrelstar on actually mobilizing against him. He's also far more willing, because of that, to bide his time until he's fully ready. So the good guys have to effectively play a game of baiting out Splashtail who's way less willing to do so than cats like Darktail aka "I love overextending I sure hope ThunderClan decides to be nice about that border."
But there is one really really crucial flaw in Splashtail's plan: he's really obviously evil. I mean there's a reason Duskfur, Icewing, and Mothwing feel incentivized to run away. At the end of Wind he murders his deputy, Harelight, in front of the whole clan. The morale did not improve.
Basically Splashtail's going to fail for the same reason Darktail did (minus the overextending): not enough of his cats are truly loyal to him. Like why would the Mallownoses of RiverClan truly put their life on the line for a cat who they only pretend to respect out of fear. His only actual supporter is Berryheart who's famously reliable.
Keep in mind that the one thing holding Splashtail's legitimacy up is him being able to toss aside Frostpaw's accusation that he's a murderer, which he succeeds at early on but now that he's literally killed a guy in public it won't be as hard of a sell. Podlight can run propaganda as much as he wants but literally all of RiverClan saw Harelight die.
The book is constantly saying "the first steps need to come from RiverClan" and good news Splashtail's begging for that finale to come soon. He's trying to, again, do a Darktail fear-leadership but unlike Darktail he didn't include cats like Sleekwhisker and Raven who just like murder. Instead he has Mallownose, Minnowtail, and Owlnose. For some reason I don't think those guys are going to be super into tracking down and killing their long beloved clanmates Icewing, Duskfur, and Mothwing.
Last thing but I love how aggressively anti-Splashtail Tigerstar is. Like when he becomes "Splashstar" Tigerstar just refuses to call him that and constantly calls him on his lies. Genuinely, say what you want about him ethically, the entertainment value of the warriors series hinges on Tigerstar remaining alive. He's also just willing to take action which is very respectable. Shockingly, Frostpaw choosing to go with Tigerstar was a good choice which you wouldn't suspect because being within 10 feet of him is begging to get weird scheme'd on.
I'm largely holding out my Splashtail opinions and and energy of analyzing him for the finale where he'll actually die or whatever. My prediction is that he's going to get killed either by Tigerstar, Icewing/Duskfur (whichever they want as leader probs Icewing), or a main character (Frostpaw got hands?!??). Funny option is it's Reedwhisker's ghost here to claim the screentime his contract promised.
How's Squirrelstar
This is a small thing but I was kinda worried Squirrelstar would be, like, different and she is but not in a way that's bad. She openly says that she acts differently as leader because she has to deal with both being leader and looking respectable as the newest leader at the lake. Though tbf the two oldest leaders right now are Leafstar and Harestar (weird but true) so who's she trying to impress.
She even says "as Squirrelflight I think this, but as Squirrelstar I can't act on it" which is interesting as she uses her warrior name to represent her true self. It does make sense though as she openly speaks about how she has to put on an act as a leader, which has been showed before with Tigerstar 2 especially. But yeah Squilf is now Squilst. Good for her.
As a leader though she's still just as sympathetic and driven as before, which is nice. It does feel like she is still the same character I've loved since the second arc. The series can be weird about continuity at times, especially when characters transition into new roles (think of all the brave povs we've lost in their move to the background. RIP every AVoS cat Twigbranch pls come back).
But uhh yeah yay Squirrelstar!! She's cool.
Conclusion
Star is next and after that I will have finished the most recent full arc! Crazy given that I wrote the first one of these a year and a half ago. I'm not done, obviously. Changing Skies is on it's way right now and after that I'll post once every main book comes out.
It is crazy that since May 2025 I've been either writing one of these posts or reading one of the books. It's become kind of a mainstay and it'll feel weird when it's gone.
Honestly I might make some video essays about certain scenes/character that I have thoughts about just cause I like writing these "little" posts. It's fun. The only problem is that I'd have to then edit the videos and that's not my strong suit. I'll think about it though.
Speaking of "little" this is actually one of the more reasonably sized posts I've done. Star should make up for it. ASC has been interesting to go book-by-book for because it feels extremely continuous, meaning Wind alone doesn't really have much to talk about. That's a compliment btw this is the best arc so far.
Out of curiosity, why is Squirrel x Shrew so low? I'm meh about the ship itself, I just was wondering your reason for their ranking.
haha, it's almost a joke at this point, but it's more for the principle of the matter than anything else. someone once said that society has evolved past the need for squirrelstar shipping and i think that explains my position pretty well. the ship seemed to start out of the fact that people were so desperate to put her with a man that was "better" than bramble or ash that they just sort of picked shrew for no reason? shrew and squirrel Barely interact meaningfully in canon at all; she seems sad when he dies and reflects that they were friends but we don't see that at all really besides maybe one scene? and i know I KNOW that it doesnt Really matter because people (myself including) will ship things Regardless of canon supports it, and i'm honestly fine with that, but idk something about squirrelshrew just rubs me the wrong way. like she doesn't Need a boyfriend. you can hate brambleclaw and ashfur and just have squirrelflight be single idk. i even feel this way in some aspects about all squirrel ships including sapphic ones i just. tend to have a little more patient for them lol.
idk if you HAVE to have squirrelstar make out with someone at least give her someone with actual personality idk
