Transcript
Speaker: This is Never Grow Up, a show where two grown-ass adults discuss their love of middle-grade fiction. I'm one of your hosts, Laura. And I am Jerrica. Jerrica, we're nearing the end of the first season of Warriors. How do you feel about that?
Speaker: We only got one more after that. That's sad. know. In so many ways. I know. I debated putting a couple more books in here, but i figured we're long enough and but they could go in the next season.
Speaker: Plus you just want to get get to my books. Why you say that so sadly? No, ah it it's not sad. it was um my brain having trouble coming up with the words.
Speaker: Who needs words on a podcast? oh Sometimes you gotta to learn how to talk on a podcast. This is true.
Speaker: Okay, so for this episode, we are going to be discussing two of the novellas. Novellas! like know Yeah, just like that. And it is first Red Tails Dent and then we will talk about Blackfoot's Reckoning.
Speaker: And I wonder, haven't seen much fan response to Blackfoot's Reckoning, but I know that a lot of people fucking hate Red Tails Dent, so.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: These novellas are no longer being published too, which is very sad. Why? They just like weren't very popular. They didn't sell a lot.
Speaker: I think it didn't help that the way they sold them was that they waited until three were published. And I think you could buy them like as an ebook, but then they put three together in one physical book.
Speaker: Oh. And since these are kind of um all over the place time-wise, i don't know if that really helped a lot. You know what I mean?
Speaker: Because, like... Okay, so, like... A Warrior's Choice, they've called it, is the collection that Blackfoot's Reckoning is in. And it has the Blackfoot one. it has a cat from...
Speaker: Let me think.
Speaker: I think you can't read this until, like, after the third arc, and then there's one that you can't read until after the fifth arc. Oh. They publish these, like, because they'll take, like, Blackfoot, they didn't write it until, let's see, 2021, I think?
Speaker: When the last book in the series, in the first series, finished in, like, 2004 or 5? Yeah. four or five
Speaker: So they go back a long while in time to tell a story that they wanted to tell, but then they pair it with a book or with a novella that didn't come out until six arcs later. So, like, new people aren't going to be able to pick that up very easily, you know?
Speaker: I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I always thought it was really weird that they did it like that. Like, you don't have to... You don't have to make, like, a novel-sized copy for me to buy. I'll buy them individually. Little, just make them, like, cheaper, you know? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Okay, so. Red Tail's Debt was written by Clarissa Hutton, and... You will notice that that is not any of the three that we've been talking about. It's because ah she didn't publish or she didn't write a whole lot of books in the series, mostly novellas.
Speaker: Um, she, o there is a book in the latest season that she wrote, like a book in the main series, but other, and she's writing a super edition that's coming out this year. But yeah, when she first started, she mostly just read, wrote the novellas.
Speaker: And i think she's a great writer, so I'm happy about that. but I mean, that we get her at all, you know? And that she's... And and that she's writing... I'm happy she's a great writer.
Speaker: That but she's... No, I mean that she's writing more in the main series. I know what you meant. um Also...
Speaker: Just a fun fact before we start this story about Redtail, have to point out this weird inconsistency that in this book, Redtail and Spottedleaf are siblings.
Speaker: And it doesn't make sense because Redtail is described as being like, a really senior warrior, and that's why he got to be deputy, because he's like, you know, one of the top cats in the clan. And Spottedleaf is the very young, newly made medicine cat.
Speaker: But, I guess they're littermates.
Speaker: Okay. And also, when Redtail died, Spottedleaf was Didn't seem to give a fuck. You know what I mean? Any more than anyone else did ah But also, when like many, many years ago, when I was deep in the fandom and had my Warriors fan site, the family tree on the official Warriors site listed Sandstorm as Redtail's daughter?
Speaker: Okay. Which was also weird because, again, Sandstorm never gave a fuck that Redtail died. Dustpaw was very upset because that was his mentor, but Sandpaw never cared. And I think that was just, like, a random thing they added on when the longer the series got, the more they realized that, like, oh, we should actually keep a family tree so we don't have, you know...
Speaker: a whole lot of incest and they were like, well, let's just say, know, there's some, in just do some, not just not a whole lot. I mean, an appropriate amount. Sometimes when you're looking at these family trees, you're like, excuse me.
Speaker: and But so that was weird. And most of the fandom just kind of ignores that. And it's like, that's obviously not canon. That's just some weird thing that,
Speaker: they've They forgot that this wasn't possible. um Because Redtail and, well, Redpaw and Spottedpaw were also siblings in Blue Star's Prophecy. So, like, they they did it in this book and they did another book. So, like, they're they're trying hard to make it canon, even though it doesn't make sense.
Speaker: I see. Yeah.
Speaker: ah But Red Tails' death starts out when we have red Paw. And just also as a reminder is that Red Paw is a tortoise shell, which is super fucking rare to be a male cat. So right there, he stands out above everyone else.
Speaker: This novella also made me a little bit of a Red Tails stan. So some of the... um very biased love like I have for Blue Star is going to be coming out during this novella. Oh, Jackie?
Speaker: When the book starts out, the clans are fucking fighting over sunning rocks because of course they are. It's all they Always fucking fighting over this. and Sunstar is about to lead a battle. and Sparrow Pelt, who I think turns into Half-Tail, actually, now that I think about it. Like in a tra like via a transformation sequence?
Speaker: oh Yes, of course. Okay. Yeah, Sparrow Pelt becomes Half-Tail. Oh my fucking god. I'm on the Half-Tail page and it says...
Speaker: He retired early because he lost half of his tail. He went to the Elder's Den. you You're fine, dude. I don't know why you had to fucking go to the Elder's Den for that, but sure.
Speaker: i mean, yeah, they it's they use it for balance, but like... Yeah, like it doesn't anything. Some cats don't have tails. Right. Right.
Speaker: It's just the ableism. That continues in force. Okay, but yeah, anyway, ah Sparrow Pelt does not want to bring these little apprentices, Redpaw and Willowpaw, who later becomes Willowpelt, because they are so inexperienced. He's like, let's just leave him behind. But Sunstar brings him anyway. He says, fuck it, let's just let's just take him into battle.
Speaker: And on the way there... Red Paw and Willow Paw are both hanging out with Tiger Claw. they they like They get like separated. um like Something slows them down. They're like crossing a bridge or something. And the big warriors are like, well, let's continue. You guys can catch up.
Speaker: And... Redpaw gets scared because a fucking hawk is circling them. And Tigerclaw's there and he's like, Redpaw, get out of the way. you're Like, you're going to get taken by the hawk. But Redpaw is, like, frozen in fear.
Speaker: and then, so the hawk, like, swoops down to get him. But Tigerclaw fights it off and saves his life. Why? what do you mean, why?
Speaker: You know what I mean, why? No, no, I mean that there are several different whys you could have had. So which one yeah are you using this for? what Why did he save him?
Speaker: Oh, because he's just a little apprentice. And Tiger Claw, the thing is that for the most part, he acts like a loyal warrior. There are just certain things that like, okay, I want this. So I'm going to do murder, you know?
Speaker: So are you see what you're saying is is that.
Speaker: He wasn't always an evil bastard.
Speaker: necessarily more like he's very. ah
Speaker: He's not going to go out of his way to like kill people because he knows that you need to have a good, strong clan. So it's not like he's going to say, yeah, fuck that person. I don't care about them. He's just not going to be sad if he has to kill them if they're in his way.
Speaker: I just, the the irony here is just a little much for me. Oh, yeah. That That may or may not be intentional.
Speaker: So they can't even participate in this fight because they got slowed down by this hawk and it's over before they even join the fight. And i they lose the fight, by the way. With the hawk? Oh, no. it's RiverClan. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
Speaker: i and Sunstar is like, oh, we lost this fight, but you know we'll have other chances to beat RiverClan. And on the way back, Tigerclaw jokingly tells Redpaw, I guess your life belongs to me now, because i i saved you from that hawk. You you owe me your life.
Speaker: And Redpaw, yeah, Redpaw's like, oh, okay.
Speaker: But he feels really grateful for ti to Tigerclaw because they saved him from this hawk. Fast forward to Red Tails Warrior Ceremony. There's a lot of fast forwarding in these books because they're only like 80 pages, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: But Redtail is just like admiring Tigerclaw. Like you kind of get the feeling that he's built up this like hero complex because because he saved his life as an apprentice. He's like, wow, what a ah great strong warrior, you know? Uh-huh.
Speaker: And... i I'm starting to have thoughts about the title of this story. ah And I don't like it, but go And Tiger Claw...
Speaker: Brings Redtail hunting. This is like shortly after he becomes a warrior. So he's still basically a baby. And he's like, oh, I need a ah big strong warrior to come hunting with me. Kind of giving the feeling of like, I only accept the best, you know? So Redtail feels gratified that, oh wow, I'm being chosen. Like...
Speaker: I must be special if Tigerclaw, one of the greatest warriors in Thunderclan, is choosing me to go out to hunt with. They're out hunting. They're out hunting. And Tigerclaw, by the way, the whole time is like being super supportive of Redtail, like telling him how great he's doing and talking him up. don't like it.
Speaker: And he gives, like, these subtle comments about how, like, Red Tails should be loyal to him, essentially, and shit. And he's like, oh, ru remember, you know, I saved your life from that hawk.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: They're near the WynClan border and this little apprentice, Sorrelpaw, which, for those listening, not the Sorrelpaw that we're going to meet in arc two of the book. This is another Sorrelpaw.
Speaker: yeah Sorrelpaw. Oh, okay, I knew. there we go. What? Using of names. Yeah. Yeah. Zorillpaw is chasing a rabbit and just gets caught up with it and crosses the border and kills it on ThunderClan territory, which is against the warrior code. Like, if your prey is running away, you're supposed to just leave it because that's not your prey anymore. You can't enter the enemy territory.
Speaker: Tigerclaw does not like this. Not one Of course not. Yep. He tells Redtail
Speaker: make her understand why she should never cross into Thundergland territory and steal their prey. And Redtail is like, kind of pauses, like a little confused, like, does Tigerclaw want me to beat the shit out of his apprentice? Like, it was clearly a mistake. She wasn't intending to break the warrior code. Shouldn't we just let her off with a warning?
Speaker: Tigerclaw essentially bullies him into it And yeah Redtail attacks Zoro Paw and injures her pretty significantly.
Speaker: Tigerclaw is just like encouraging it. ah encouraging it And then finally, Sorrelpaw's mentor, Stag Leap, appears and stops the fight. And he's like, my dudes, what the fuck?
Speaker: she's like like She's literally an apprentice. You should have just given her a warning and sent her back. And Tigerclaw is not having any of that. He's like... no, no, no, you should learn to control your apprentice because in I don't know how it is WindClan, but in ThunderClan, we don't just let our apprentices do whatever they want.
Speaker: And... well not yet. Right? And so when they get back to camp, Redtail at this point is feeling really guilty because Stagleap also like, he like gave Redtail a dirty look. Like, how could you? And Redtail's like, yeah, that's fair. And so they get back to camp and Redtail is like in his head trying to think of how he's going to explain this to Sunstar and eventually lands on, yeah, I just have to come clean and admit that, you know, I shouldn't have done that. But then but fucking Tigerclaw tells Sunstar essentially a warped version of it, where of yeah yeah where they intended to come and hunt on Thunderclan land, and he's like, oh, and Stagleep
Speaker: did this on purpose and led his apprentice into our territory. And Redtail feels very guilty, but is also scared to contradict Tigerclaw, so he just keeps quiet. And at the gathering, which is either that night or, like, the next night, or you know, it's very soon, Sunstar confronts Heatherstar about it, who is the Wynn clan leader at the time, and
Speaker: swirling happens and sunstar is not satisfied with the outcome because he wants like an apology and shit and oh red tail sees stag leap at the gathering and you know asks about how sorrow paw is and stag leap is like oh she's in the medicine and cat den recovering she's gonna be fine no thanks to you ah And, you know, Red Tails feels really bad about it.
Speaker: Yeah. So then Sunstar decides that the best thing to do to teach WindClan a lesson to not hunt on ThunderClan territory, which obviously, you know, they're evilly plotting to do, is to go Yeah, that's WindClan. They're the problem. Right.
Speaker: Sunstar sends his warriors to destroy the WindClan camp. Oh, come on! What the hell is wrong with these cats? They fucking love to the theres There's fighting, and then there's like, oh yeah, we're just gonna just go. You know what?
Speaker: You took a step over the imaginary line? We beat the shit out of your apprentice, but now we're going to teach the whole clan a lesson ah by going and destroying your house.
Speaker: What the fuck? Mm hmm. So they go How did Star feel about this? I'm sorry. Blue Paw. ah Blue Fur.
Speaker: Whatever. I can't keep. I can't remember when when things happened and what name stage they happened in. Well, speaking of Blue Fur. In the battle that they bring into the camp, Tall Tale gives her a severe injury and Red Tale looks around and realizes that they're losing this battle because... Yeah, dude, i don't know what you expect when you took a patrol of warriors to fight every warrior that WindClan has. Like, they're all at home, you know? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And so Redtail makes the decision that he's going to call for a retreat, even though he is nowhere close to being even a senior warrior. And...
Speaker: Tigerclaw is fucking pissed about when they're talking about later, Redtail... also when they're talking about it later redtail is super concerned for Blufur because she got really hurt. And Tigerclaw makes some comments about how Redtail is trying to figure out what Redtail is trying to get from this. And Redtail has the realization of, oh, he thinks I'm just acting concerned. He doesn't realize that I could actually just care that my clanmate is hurt. but
Speaker: but And he kind of has the realization of maybe Tigerclaw is not the cat that I thought he was after all. Maybe Tigerclaw is the sociopath.
Speaker: And he decides that from now on he is going to be loyal to Thunderclan, not Tigerclaw. And that's going to piss Tigerclaw off.
Speaker: yeah It sure does. Because fast forward Redtail being made deputy Tigerclaw. Oh, we just going to fast forward to that?
Speaker: Yep. Because we don't have a lot of time. This, okay, this is another thing that like, I want a whole fucking novel about this novella. Like I want a super edition because there's so much that could be happening here. There's so much we have to skip because it's a novella, you know?
Speaker: And plus we could have a lot of Blue Star in it. So, but like, Redtail becoming deputy over Tigerclaw is kind of a big deal. Yeah.
Speaker: And we're just gonna, alright. Yeah, all right yeah we don't we don't get a scene of that happening, which is a real bummer. I hate that. I know. But it was kind of like, there's...
Speaker: There's not really much they can cut, you know, like what they have in here It's all important to this story.
Speaker: Okay. but
Speaker: Well, actually, ah the last scene maybe they can cut. but i the battle over Sunning Rocks. Tigerclaw decides to escalate things because he's Tigerclaw. And Redtail realizes that this is getting so much more dangerous than a normal fight. So he decides to send Ravenpaw away. Because Ravenpaw is in this fight now. And...
Speaker: And here's where things get controversial in the fandom. Okay. Because we have Oakheart, who is Blue Star's mate. We have Oakheart instead not let Ravenpaw run away. He instead threatens them.
Speaker: And the implication is that he's going to kill him. And so Redtail kills Oakheart to defend Ravenpaw.
Speaker: And then we have Tigerclaw killing Redtail. And we have a little moment of Redtail looking out from StarClan, realizing just how wrong he was about Tigerclaw. But then he sees a little flame-colored cat perched on the fence.
Speaker: And he knows that his clan will be taken care of, so it'll be all right in the end.
Speaker: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Uh-huh.
Speaker: So this is supposed to be the actual events of what went down. Yep. Not just the hearsay that we've been getting. Yep. And.
Speaker: Redtail sends. Ravenpaw away. hmm. And Oakheart's like, no.
Speaker: So Redtail kills Oakheart. Yeah. Yeah, that um is the part that throws everyone. guess what Isn't that what fucking Tiger Claw was saying happened?
Speaker: Tiger Claw said that Oakheart killed Redtail. Because Redtail killed someone else, right? i Well, Tiger Claw's story was just that because they were fighting Oakheart killed Redtail. But like...
Speaker: What Fireheart uncovered actually happened is that Redtail and Oakheart were fighting and there was a rock slide and the rock slide killed Oakheart. Redtail runs away screaming that Oakheart is dead and Ravenpaw was on the retreat, turned around because he changed his mind about like leaving them and then saw Tigerclaw kill Redtail.
Speaker: So, yeah it goes against canon pretty hard. And it it very it pretty obviously does that because they want Redtail's guilt to build up until he realizes how much Tigerclaw is manipulating him.
Speaker: But um i I don't like that they did that. And no one else does either.
Speaker: Listeners, you can't see my face right now.
Speaker: But it is a face of immense displeasure. So, yeah, I love the the novella up until that point. And that's why I think they need to make a super edition of it so that they can fill in all the blanks that we didn't get. And also so that they can fix the ending. um But wait, hold on. Okay.
Speaker: This whole time, Redtail's like, hmm, I don't know about this Tigerclaw And it's not until he's dead and looking down from StarClan that he's like, yeah, I got i guess that Tigerclaw guy was really bad in the end, huh?
Speaker: Really? mean, noticed it after the Sorrel, or ah when was it?
Speaker: He noticed it after the attack on Wynne Clan, but i i think he didn't realize how far Tigerclaw was going to go to get what he wanted. The reason that I like this novella so much is that, well, first of all, just we get personality from Redtail, and we didn't get to meet him at all in the books because he just died immediately. But also...
Speaker: I like that it shows Tiger Claw from a different cat's perspective since all we saw was Fireheart and Tiger Claw did not hide in front of Fireheart how evil he was. I really like that we get to see like, oh, Tiger Claw actually is really good at manipulating people and putting on a show. And.
Speaker: Is that because he has a genius level intellect is one of his powers? Yes, exactly. That's why.
Speaker: I'm sorry, listener. You're going to have to listen to Wii Fix Games to understand that reference. Absolutely. The Injustice episodes, specifically, part two.
Speaker: But, no, I really like that because... Reading the first series is like, how the fuck can no one tell that Tigerclaw is evil? You know, he's obviously evil.
Speaker: But I like that this shows, no, he was evil to Fireheart because Fireheart was a kittypet and he fucking hated him. To regular clan members, Tigerclaw was really encouraging and you know preached about how like, oh, we need to be as strong for our clan, blah, blah, blah. And it actually could be really easy to get swept up in that because Tigerclaw is a senior warrior. He is great in battle and he's very respected. So like having approval from someone like that can really fuck with you, you know? Yeah. yeah
Speaker: I fucking hate him. I know. Just so much. Yeah. So. Man, do you think we could like send a letter to Harper Collins and tell them they should write this novel because we'll make a whole podcast about it?
Speaker: We can. I don't know. no like and they'll write it. yeah. Right. Well, hmm. They'll be like, holy fuck, imagine the publicity.
Speaker: You know? Yeah. I think we should also write a letter to the errands as well. All of them. Except for the turf.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Done. How is it hearing about a little novella and jumping around everywhere? are you feeling about that? I don't like it.
Speaker: i mean, we jumped around in Blue Star's Prophecy quite a bit, too, but... Yeah. A lot less. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, we're going to do a lot of jumping in this next novella. I mean, that is rule number three, so... That's very true. Zara, you also have to listen to We Fix Games to understand that one. But that one you can listen to any episode.
Speaker: I'm not sorry, because you should be listening to it anyway, because that's great. We love you if you listen to our podcasts. Yes, we do.
Speaker: we do. ah blacks you oh Blackfoot's Reckoning. i don't know why I have such a hard time saying Blackfoot.
Speaker: Well, that's because his name is Blackstep. That's true. i'm I'm impressed that you remember that. Well, thank you. Blackfoot's Reckoning was also written by Clarissa Hutton.
Speaker: So, here we go. And this one's gonna be great, right? It's gonna be wonderful. We'll love it. Ooh, well, that's not saying anything at all, is it?
Speaker: This novella is a journey through Blackstar's life as he receives his nine lies from StarClan and they judge him for being a horrible cat.
Speaker: Okay. um I hate to do this. I remember that his name is supposed to be Blackstep, but I don't remember who he actually is.
Speaker: ah He was deputy under Brokenstar. He got banished along with all of other Brokenstar's loyal warriors. Okay. And then he teamed up with Tigerclaw and was deputy under Tigerclaw, or, yeah, Tigerclaw.
Speaker: And then when, yeah, when Tigerclaw died, he took over ShadowClan because he's deputy.
Speaker: So that's the current state of affairs right now. Uh-huh. So, ah first of all...
Speaker: Apparently there was poll and fans could vote on which cat they would make a novella about. And one of them, one of the choices was Cinderpelt. And so we got cheated out of a Cinderpelt on novella. But also one of the cats was one of my fucking favorite cats from the fourth series. And I'm pissed about it. And I'm pissed at you because I can't talk about how awesome it would have been. To make a novella about that cat. Yeah, because it's totally fault. Yeah, exactly. Damn!
Speaker: So remind me when we get to the fourth series and I'll tell you. Wow, I will forget. I will forget by the end of the day. Yeah. So the...
Speaker: Opening scene is just the aftermath of the Blood Clan attack, and we get the same scenes that we already got in that Navala, but from Blackstar's perspective. Well, Blackfoot. He's still Blackfoot at this part. and we get tiger star b or we get Firestar being all judgmental with his... ah oh, are you going to learn from your mistakes as you become leader? Remember when he did that at the end of the other book? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And internally, Blackfoot is like, oh, does he think I shouldn't be leader? And he does feel a little insecure about that because he's not sure if he should be leader. Wow.
Speaker: Because he knows he fucked up a lot. ah Yeah, he kept backing the wrong horse. Yeah, he sure did. backing the wrong well whatever it makes sense in my head so he gets to the moonstone and he starts the ceremony to get his nine lives and the medicine cat when he was little was called sage whisker and she's there and name i like that name yeah that's a really good name ah becca's warrior name was sage nose
Speaker: Why nose? don't know. Because it's cute. Okay. So Sagewhisker is there and she says there's going to be a test to see if you can be leader of StarClan. Because you fucked up a lot, you know? Or not leaders. Sorry, leader of ShadowClan. Yeah, i was going to say, we all know that yeah Firestorm is the leader of StarClan.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. Um, and his mother, Holly flower appears and wait, that's another flower mother.
Speaker: huh So we got golden flower and rain flower, I think. Isn't there a moon flower? Morning flower. That's, yeah, that's a lot of flowers. But his, yeah, his mother is Hollyflower. And she has something that she has to like reveal to him. So there's a flashback of when he was Black Kit. And he's playing with Night Kit, which is interesting because Night Kit, Night Pelt was an elder.
Speaker: So it doesn't really make sense for them to be kits at the same time, but whatever, that's fine. um And... it's a different knight kit. Yeah, sure ah and knight Black Kit is... be He gets bullied by the other kits because no one knows who his dad is.
Speaker: And they're like, oh, you're probably a half-Clan kit. And... It kind of fucks with him a little bit, you know? But then he finds out, because he overhears Hollyflower talking Blizzardwing. Ooh! Yeah. That's a dragon name, though.
Speaker: Yeah. Apparently, Blizzardwing is his dad. But this motherfucker cheated on his mate to have the mates with Hollyflower.
Speaker: And he doesn't want anyone to know he's their dad because he knows his mate is going to be pissed about it. Wow.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Black Kit has got to deal with that, I guess. but Like, it's just fucking living with the fact that his dad is a cheater and won't claim his children because of it Well, so, but, but Hollyflower knows, right?
Speaker: Yeah, but she's keeping his secret. so she, everyone's asking and she's like, I don't know. She's just like, oh I'm not to tell you.
Speaker: Yeah, that's not suspicious. Well, and it's another thing that when the series started, that actually wasn't unusual for the mother to just not tell. Because they kind of acted more like cats a lot, where the father just wasn't a part of their family. so if this was written back when the series started, it would have been totally plausible for them to just not know who the father was.
Speaker: But this was written in 2019, so... Yeah, and we had to make Hollyflower a hoe.
Speaker: Or suspected hoe, anyway.
Speaker: We're not going to blame her. We're going to blame her. No, I'm just... I i was a little upset when you first told me no one knows what the father is. I'm like, oh, okay, so we're making her a hoe then. Cool. Oh, I see what you mean. She could she be a hoe if she wants to be.
Speaker: we're not if We don't do slut-shaming here. No, I'm just saying that like it's a. It's it's too easy a thing to happen to women is, oh, you're a ho. Oh, yeah. yeah So they have that whole scene and then we go back to StarClan and Blackfoot tells them that he already knew Blizzard Wing was his dad. He's like, yeah, I overheard you. And they're like, oh, wow, we thought that we kept it a secret your whole life.
Speaker: Blizzardwing, before giving him a life, each cat asks him, do you want this life? Because they're like, essentially saying, here's this memory of you making really bad decision.
Speaker: Are you sure you want to be leader? and he says, yes, I do want the life. And so Blizzardwing gives him acceptance to accept the things that, you know, we can't change.
Speaker: and then his fucking deadbeat dad gives him a life. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. In his next life, or in his next memory, he is defending Broken Paw,
Speaker: Because Broken Paw was battling way too roughly with one of the other apprentices and another warrior is like laying into him and trying to punish him and Blackfoot is like, hey, leave him alone, and blah, blah, blah, stands up for him.
Speaker: Oh, and apparently Nightpelt was Brokenpaw's mentor, which is interesting because Nightpelt is the one who led the rebellion against Brokenstar.
Speaker: Hmm. Yeah. How? Okay. I have to ask. h You have a cat.
Speaker: A kit. Okay. Your child. And you're like, I'm naming you Brokenkit? Well, Yellowfang did that on purpose because of her broken heart.
Speaker: But Broken Pot also has a little kink in his tail, so everyone assumes that she named him Broken Kit because of that. Because his broken tail.
Speaker: Why was her heart broken? Because she was a medicine cat, so she couldn't claim him as her kit. Oh. Gotcha. and also other reasons that we'll get into when we cover Yellowfang's Super Edition. Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, ah he's defending Broken Tail, or Broken Paw, and some of the other cats are like annoyed with him for it. They're like, Broken Paw, can you not see that there's something wrong with that kid?
Speaker: one of like One of the cats actually tells him that. He's like, do you think that's a normal apprentice? Like, there's something crazy about him. Ho, ho, ho, ho. And so for that memory, Raggedstar appears and gives him trust.
Speaker: And he says, you have to trust your clanmates. Which is an interesting interpretation of that memory. Because one could say he was trusting Broken Paw, but, ah you know...
Speaker: Also, yeah, but what if your clanmates are assholes and turn out to Tiger Claw? Yeah. yeah The next memory is from a cat called- This is not typical, right? like Oh, no. No, it's not. They're doing this specifically because they know Blackfoot fucked up a lot.
Speaker: Yeah, so that so normally it's just like, oh hey, I'm giving you this because i like you or whatever. Yeah, like it's normal for them to give lives based on like a thing they did in their life. Like Brindleface giving him a the love of a mother because ah she raised Cloudtail for him.
Speaker: But like, yeah, no, usually they don't go through this whole, and remember this fucked up thing you did? But now Badger Fang walks out and Blackfoot is like, oh shit, not Badger Fang. Because he knows this memory is going to be real rough.
Speaker: Who's Badger Fang? Oh, I'm curious. Yeah, because we never learned about Badger Fang in the series before. So Broken Star at this point is announcing that to the clan that they're going to start training apprentices from a younger age. They're not going to be six moons. They're going to be three moons now. Whoa. and Yeah, and he's all i bragging that it's because ShadowClan is so strong and and i we're going to show the other clans that we're tougher than them and blah, blah, blah. And Badgerpaw has just become an apprentice Flintfang, which is an excellent name. i wouldn't want it, but I like saying it.
Speaker: And Badgerpaw is Blackfoot's nephew. And let me just tell you, the his sister is Fernshade, which is a pretty good name, but her her mate is called Wolfstep.
Speaker: Whoa. And I can't think of another wolfcat, and that's a pretty fucking banger name, you know? Like, you're you're tough if you're called Wolfstep. Yeah.
Speaker: And Fernshade and Wolfstep are both very, very anxious because their fucking kid is three moons old and he's apprentice already and they don't think he should be. They're like, he he did the baby. He should be in the nursery still.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And Blackfoot is really dismissive of them and says that they need to trust Brokenstar. Oh, Brokenstar would never put the cats in danger. You know, we needed to do what our leader tells us to do.
Speaker: And they're out. I can't remember if they're they're either in a battle or i think they're in the battle.
Speaker: And they are in a battle while Badgerpaw is much too young to be in a battle. And the battle ends and Blackfoot looks over and realizes that Badgerpaw is on the ground severely wounded. And ah he knows that he's not going to recover from his wounds.
Speaker: And he thinks, shit, like, Fernshade was right. This is actually just a kit and we messed up and he shouldn't be out in this battle yet. And Badger of ha that if they go over to him and Badger Pot is talking to Flint Fang and saying how he's so proud to serve his clan and he hoped that his warrior name would be Badger Fang, just like Flint Fang.
Speaker: And so that's why they call him Badger Fang in StarClan. And he died as a little tiny kid. but But what is the... Blackfoot just...
Speaker: He didn't decide to make... Yeah. So, like, how is it... Because he didn't say anything? Because he still supported Broken Star after all this. Like, he saw what what was happening. And even after a Broken Star got banished, like Blackfoot ah but fought for him and was banished with him. Instead of turning against him and saying, like, no, you're killing our children.
Speaker: Gotcha. Yeah. So even with this, like, very, very devastating thing that happened, he didn't stop and think, maybe we should prevent this from happening.
Speaker: And so Badger Fang gives him a life of perspective. And then we get a cat called Greywing.
Speaker: And this is a very strange life, in my opinion. a strange choice of cat, because Greywing is actually a character that... He's a main character in the prequel series.
Speaker: But Blackfoot had absolutely no... like relation or interaction with him or anything blackfoot has no idea who this cat is and his memory is a scene of broken star demanding to hunt on win clan territory and Essentially them driving Wind Klandau and Blackfoot is like, oh, I have to do it My leader says it's for the best. And Blackfoot or Broken Star also claimed that Wind Kland cats killed Ragged Star. So it was like half revenge when really it was Broken Star that killed Ragged Star.
Speaker: and Greywing gives him a life of unity and says, you need to realize that while the clans are enemy clans, ah they still all need to exist. And if one clan falls, all of the clans are weaker for it. And ah if the clans fall, StarClan falls. so
Speaker: probably don't drive another clan out, you know? Yeah, maybe not. No. Maybe don't. Yeah. The next cat who comes up also fills ah Blackfoot with dread because it is Rosetail, the elder he fucking killed in book the first series.
Speaker: of the first series And there's pretty much just the scene of her defending the nursery and Blackfoot kills her. It's like kind of on accident, but kind of not.
Speaker: Because, I mean, he's attacking her and he just hurts her way too badly because she's an elder. And then he could like tell she's about to die. So he claws her throat up to be like, oh, here's a merciful death. So you're not. You know, it's not dragged out.
Speaker: And it's still, like... I mean, you didn't mean to kill her, but you were trying to steal kits from ThunderClan, so, like...
Speaker: you You... That wasn't a good thing. Yeah. and Rosetail gives him a life of compassion.
Speaker: And then... blue star appears whoa what fucking blue star so
Speaker: i guess it's i guess it's not unheard of for cats of other clans to give lives right yeah it's just unusual because doesn't uh silver stream give fireheart Yeah. Firestar alive.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. And Blackfoot even comments that at one point he's like, why are all these cats from different clans? I think he's feeling insecure because, i why are no shadow clan cats supporting him? And one of the cast just says in star clan, we're, we're one clan.
Speaker: So. Wait. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. There's not been any ShadowClan cats so far giving them lives? There have, but a lot of them have been not ShadowClan. Oh, okay.
Speaker: Uh... The Blue Star is the third cat that has not a ShadowClan cat. That's a third.
Speaker: Of the total lives. Yeah. Yeah, so it's a lot. Um, and... Bluestar, for Bluestar's life, there is a scene after book three when Tiger Claw's ah overthrowing of Bluestar fails and he's like out in the forest recruiting the cats.
Speaker: to take over ShadowClan, essentially, and Blackfoot obviously wants to get back into ShadowClan, and there's a sickness that's sweeping through it the clan, and Hygrestar uses that to, like, you know, push his way in, and he's like, oh, me with my nice, healthy group of cats, we can hunt for you, and they slowly just start getting back into the clan,
Speaker: Until eventually the leader and the deputy dies and Tigerclaw is like, oh, for her I guess there's an opening. and Some prophecy from the medicine cat happens, and he's made leader. And when the memory ends, Blackfoot makes the realization and says to Bluestar, Oh, I guess Tigerclaw never actually cared about my clan, huh? He just wanted to be leader if so he could destroy Thunderclan.
Speaker: And Bluestar says, Yep, I'm giving you a life of judgment. Because I think this bitch needs it, you know? Mm-hmm. then Stonefur gives him a life.
Speaker: Stonefur, the cat he fucking killed for being a half-Clan cat. Oh! That, oh shit. Yeah, Stonefur shows no affection towards him. The whole time they're interacting, he's just, like, staring at him with this cold look.
Speaker: And i he just shows the scene of when Blackfoot killed him. and ah
Speaker: I kind of would have liked more insight into why he did that because it's pretty much just the scene repeated that we've already read about, you know?
Speaker: So why, why would Stonefur want to give him a life?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: He never, I don't know. It's, it,
Speaker: He gives him a life of integrity. um and it kind of felt like a fuck you type thing. But I i thought that was a weird choice too. The next life is from Nightstar.
Speaker: Which also kind of was a weird choice because Nightstar was the one who kicked Blackfoot out of the clan for being loyal to Brokenstar.
Speaker: And that scene is just when Nightstar told them that they could come back into the clan um with Tigerclaw.
Speaker: And he gives him a life of loyalty.
Speaker: And then the last life is from Shadowstar, who was... Why does it feel like there's more than nine lives? It feels like a lot of lives. ah Because a lot of these aren't very good. Okay.
Speaker: But we're on the last one now. The last life is from Shadowstar, and shadow star shows... Black... A possible future for Blackfoot of essentially his home being destroyed and tells Blackfoot, you need to get your shit together, essentially, and lead this clan right.
Speaker: And ah finally, Blackfoot gets his name, Blackstar, and he of realizes that...
Speaker: Well, okay, so he kind of was trying to like justify his actions in the beginning, and he's like, oh, I was just following my leader, like I was being loyal, like a deputy should. And then by the end of it, he's like, I don't know if I can actually lead this clan because I have not made good decisions, and...
Speaker: Like, we were almost destroyed because of it. Like, directly because of what I did. BloodClan almost destroyed us. But he's leader anyway, so... Well, I mean, because that... At the end of the day, it's like, well, he was the deputy, so now he's the leader. That's how it works.
Speaker: Yeah. And there's this whole thing about, like... When a leader dies, they don't call the next cat by their leader's name, and they're not officially a leader until they're accepted by StarClan. But I don't think there's ever a time in Warriors history that a leader is not accepted, other than, like, when Nightstar went and Brokenstar was still alive, you know?
Speaker: i mean, he was still accepted, just not given any lives. Yeah. Well, StarClan told him, no, you can't be leader. But... But he didn't tell anybody that, right?
Speaker: Right. don't know. I just think it would be interesting if there was a time when StarClan was like, yeah, no, this cat is evil. They should not be leading the Oh, like, you know, Tigerstar.
Speaker: Right, like, why the fuck did Tigerstar get nine lives?
Speaker: And who gave him lives? That would be interesting to find out. i wonder if they ever do say, let me look at them.
Speaker: Oh, okay. um Apparently they do reveal this in the ultimate guide. i did not realize that.
Speaker: You have the ultimate guide? I thought The Ultimate Guide was just a combination of some other books that had been published. didn't realize there was new information in it. Okay, apparently we need to also...
Speaker: ah but we need to also go over this.
Speaker: Oh shit, yeah. Never before see stories about how a cat and Firestar receives their nine lives. Fuck. Okay, we gotta do that, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, just as a little spoiler, apparently Badger Fang also gave Tigerstar a life. Okay.
Speaker: That is... Interesting. I wonder why he would do that.
Speaker: Because Tigerclaw didn't... Like, Tigerclaw teamed up with Brokenstar, who was the reason that Badgerfang died as a kit.
Speaker: That's very strange. But I guess we'll get into that at a different time. So, yeah, that is all of Blackstar's Reckoning.
Speaker: What did you think of it? What was the point? I also wondered this at the end. We got a ah couple scenes that were kind of like, oh, okay, that that's good.
Speaker: background to have but we got a lot of scenes that were just rewritten scenes from the other books and I don't feel like we got very much insight into what Blackfoot was thinking like i mean obviously I don't know what happens to him going forward yet huh But does anybody care?
Speaker: guess I can't. To me, to me, it's like, okay this is so like we didn't get we didn't get novellas about how every single leader gets to who gives them their lives and everything. Like, i mean, apparently people care because they voted on him.
Speaker: Yes. Flagfoot has a lot of fans. i don't really understand how, but I mean, No hate to anyone listening if you do. i just don't really get it.
Speaker: i think that my opinion of not liking this one and liking Red Tails debt is very different from the majority of the fandoms, though.
Speaker: Well, I mean, I think this one was more interesting than the Red Tails one.
Speaker: because it's like oh yeah you get to find out who gives the lives and why
Speaker: ish yeah like
Speaker: i i don't really care. i guess it gave context for the half-Clan thing for why he would support killing Stonefur, but I feel like it didn't really drive it home enough. like
Speaker: Because it didn't...
Speaker: It felt more like... Blackfoot was just supporting Tigerclaw, then he actually thought half-Clan cats were bad, you know? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: um The Badger Fang part was really good because it it put...
Speaker: We knew that Brokenstar was getting cats killed, but... actually seeing it happen will affect you more.
Speaker: And I think, yeah, I mean, other than that, I don't know, there was, there were like four scenes that we already saw that were just from his perspective, you know? Yeah. I mean, I think maybe if we covered this,
Speaker: After whatever happens in the future with Black Star, it might have hit differently for me. But as of right now, like, all right, what I I so i don't know why I'm supposed to care.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: i guess that's fair.
Speaker: It's like ah if if we had a story about um fucking. ah
Speaker: Hold on. who um Okay, well, I don't know. but Okay. and random Some random cat that was mentioned once, you know. Yeah.
Speaker: Not, I mean, obviously. Blackfoot star step. it is more important than a cat that was just mentioned once in passing. But, you know.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just like, OK, they're judging him very harshly, yet.
Speaker: We don't know why. Like, are they setting him up for failure? Is he like at a choke in the future or I don't know. i guess we can revisit this after i know more about what happens.
Speaker: I don't know. StarClan makes questionable decisions sometimes. Just like any other ah deity.
Speaker: ah
Speaker: I just want a fucking super edition about Redtail. Get on that errands. Just for Laura.
Speaker: Yeah, come on. It's like, oh, don't ask for much, you know? Yeah, we'll go with that.
Speaker: I think you and I ask for a lot. Well, anyway... If you would like to get in our discord and tell us how crazy I am for approving of red tails debt and not approving of black foot's reckoning, you can do that. And you can do that by going to the episode description and just clicking the link in there that says, join our discord, or you could go to glitter, fox, media.com, click the banner at the top. That also says, join my discord And while you're there, it would behoove you to check out our other shows, such as the aforementioned We Fix Games, which is really the podcast that everything else ah orbits around. ah The one that started it all.
Speaker: Yep, and the one where it has the most references. um Or ah somewhere elsewhere, a completely different kind of podcast that me and my girlfriend Janelle do where we take a prompt from you guys and make a world out of it. Then we do in a little actual play where we explore that world.
Speaker: It's really fun. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And you can give a prompt in the discords just saying that you know one that you can go and join. We would appreciate that actually a lot.
Speaker: And you know what's the greatest thing about all of our podcasts? They're free. yes yeah Well, yes. But they're also fucking hilarious. Okay.
Speaker: I don't think this episode was very hilarious. No, but we are. Oh, okay. Wee-Bix games, though, is usually fucking funny until I choose a game that's like, here's how a funeral home works. And then it's kind of hard to make jokes about that.
Speaker: Yeah. So, yeah. So, as always, I've been Sparkleheart. And I have been Snowstorm. And listeners, just because you get older doesn't mean you have to grow up.
Speaker: Bye. This has been a Glitter Fox Media production.
Speaker: this has beent a gluter fox media production wwwww dot gliterfoxminia dot com
