and tod- *cough cough*

Oh sorry about that. Just breaking in the new format here.

Usually when I delve into a topic I primarily use an in-universe context,

to try and string together the disparate aspects of characters and plots and point out the writing flaws that make that difficult to do.

But the meta-side of the series is also important, especially in understanding the way the series has evolved since the first arc.

With that in mind: Welcome to A Trip Through Time!

In this series I'll be going through the books by release order

and showing what was going on around the books' release, and what that meant for the content inside.

Slowly but surely, we'll be forming a timeline leading right up to the present, and explaining the state of the series.

I'm aware plenty of fans weren't even alive when these books started coming out so I hope this will be interesting.

And first, we get to delve into the one that started it all: Into the Wild, arriving on January 21st of 2003.

At the time, no one expected it to become the massive long standing series it is today.

When Victoria Holmes was first approached and asked to write a book about cats, it was meant to be only a single novel.

However, Vicky fleshed out the world and themes significantly

and it was changed to a six novel series that would require more than just Vicky Holmes working on it.

For this purpose, Kate Cary was hired to write the books while Vicky worked as an editor,

making decisions about the world, characters, and trajectory of the stories.

Both decided to take up the pseudonym: Erin Hunter.

And as Into the Wild was published, this was the extent of the team.

There were no other authors, no team of editors.

It was just Vicky thinking of ideas and Kate writing them into the story.

With the casual attitude and a small team, it's no surprise that some details were glossed over or skipped.

The name of the main character's clan was still up in the air for a while.

Why would they be expected to delve into the eye colors of every background character,

or the intricate family structures from generations before the story even begins?

Even at this point in development, there was a time crunch.

The Erins were expected to produce books quickly to finish the whole arc in a timely manner,

and some details not addressed in the story were deemed unimportant at the time.

There's no blame here, mind you.

The inconsistencies in the first arc were a product of the situation the Erins found themselves in.

But it's important to understand the product we were left with

so we can separate it from corrections proposed since that didn't always fit with the world as Into the Wild showed it.

In case you somehow aren't aware, Into the Wild is the story of Rusty, the orange kittypet,

leaving his home to join Thunderclan under the leadership of Bluestar and learning how to be a warrior

while multiple threats face his new home.

Once he has chosen to join the clan and battled a challenger, Longtail,

he is introduced to several members of the clan and, soon after, the territory.

Two of the apprentices, Graypaw and Ravenpaw, quickly become his friends,

but the other two, Sandpaw and Dustpaw, are quite harsh about his kittypet roots.

Many of the warriors also share this aggression towards Firepaw, including Longtail, Darkstripe, and Tigerclaw,

a strong but sharp-tongued warrior that becomes deputy part-way through the book

after the two previous deputies: Redtail and Lionheart, both die.

Ravenpaw tells him this wasn't an accident: that Tigerclaw killed Redtail and always intended to become deputy.

Unfortunately his knowledge makes him a target for Tigerclaw, so he is in great danger.

Firepaw also meets Yellowfang, the grumpy ex-Shadowclan medicine cat

who he befriends while she is held in Thunderclan's camp as a prisoner.

Shadowclan is currently under the evil Brokenstar's rule,

and over the course of the book we see he has driven out Windclan, made Riverclan give up their territory to him,

and attacked Thunderclan to make them do the same.

In the end, Firepaw and Graypaw help Ravenpaw run away to a farm with Barley

and join with Yellowfang and a patrol of Thunderclan and Shadowclan warriors to beat and drive out Brokenstar.

This is a very plot-heavy book in comparison to what readers become used to over the course of the series,

but with the character and world details that are included, there are several things to note.

The oddities begin in the allegiances, where several details we've become used to having aren't present.

Multiple cats are just called “tabbies” without any coloration details.

Speckletail and Longtail are called pale tabbies, Brindleface is a pretty tabby, Runningwind is a *swift* tabby,

but none of them are given fur colors.

The great majority of cats aren't given eye colors at all.

In fact, the only cats in Thunderclan with specified eye colors are Willowpelt and Frostfur,

both of whom are said to have unusual blue eyes, a trait that has become far more common in the time since.

Another strange anomaly is how the she-cats in this book are sometimes called queens,

even if they don't nurse or have never nursed kits.

Bluestar is referred to as a queen multiple times.

Mousefur, One-eye, and Dappletail were all called queens,

and casual warriors Fire*paw* (misspoke) was attacking were called queens too.

Though appearances aren't the only lacking details.

No one in the book speaks much about familial relations: who anyone's parents or even mates are,

an element Vicky admits she wishes she had set in stone from the beginning.

As an example, when we first see Ravenpaw and he fell off the highrock, Goldenflower rushes over to and fusses over him,

calling Spottedleaf over and begging to know if he would be all right.

She is the only cat to do this, and demonstrates behavior we would usually expect from an apprentice's mother.

Though nothing in the book confirms this one way or the other,

and much later, canon confirms his mother as Robinwing instead.

Of course things like eye colors, and parentage aren't necessarily deal breakers for the story.

As fans we care about these things

so we can make our own expansions of the canon with stories about previous generations,

or art of certain background characters that we're drawn to.

But the reason they weren't mentioned is because, in the story itself, these details weren't necessary,

and didn't have any noteworthy impact even on the later arcs.

However there are also some stark differences from the later material that seem obvious

even if you have no connection with or interest in the fandom,

and that have a great effect either on the quality of the book itself, or on the progression of Warriors as a series.

Into the Wild is very centralized on Thunderclan, even more so than later in the series.

Firepaw doesn't even meet other clans' warriors on border patrols,

a scene that has become commonplace in the years since.

In fact, Windclan and Riverclan are so barebones that only

Tallstar, Crookedstar, and Oakheart are listed to represent the entirety of their clans.

Being centered on one clan was likely a benefit during the writing of this book,

so that no one had to develop dozens of cats at once, along with cultural differences.

But it will be interesting to see the effect of this choice as the series goes on.

One interesting thing of note on this topic is the passing phrase that “Shadowclan is fierce, but Windclan is many.”

This seems to imply that the clans were intended to have different strengths and even sizes,

an idea that slowly disappears over time.

Even within Thunderclan though, there is a distinctive small size to the clan.

There are only 8 warriors at the beginning, before any deaths,

while, even as early as Midnight, the total increased to 11 and never really went down again.

The number of warriors feels especially strange when juxtaposed against the number of cats in other sections of the clan.

There are 5 apprentices, more than half the total warrior count,

and Graypaw mentions that even this is not as many as usual.

The elders and queens come to routinely have about 1-3 cats at a time.

In this book however, there are 5 elders listed (6 including Rosetail) and 4 queens:

again, significant numbers of cats.

The kits aren't even listed in the allegiances,

though with four queens, it is likely several kits were already born at this point in time.

The nursery is full of intriguing differences in this book though.

When Firepaw is being shown the camp, Lionheart mentions that “care of kits is shared by all the queens.”

The idea of anyone other than the mother taking care of their own kits in the nursery

wasn't introduced until Daisy and Ferncloud arrived,

but this line implies that a different dynamic was considered at first.

Kits here are also treated very differently than later in the series.

They certainly aren't characters.

They don't speak, only make noise, and are not given personalities, names, or even quantities.

The number of kits in the nursery during this book,

along with who's kits they may be, is never spoken of.

They were likely just implied to be there so that the queens had a job to do,

and so that the Erins had a way to make new characters later in the arc.

But new characters might not have been a big priority,

as the Erins at this stage seemed to purposefully keep the cast very tight.

Even focusing on the especially small Thunderclan, the story focuses most of its attention on an even smaller group.

The ten characters who speak the most over the course of the book have 90% of the total lines of dialogue.

As a comparison, The Sight, another arc-opener, has that number down to 70%.

Interestingly, those top 10 characters don't include cats like Darkstripe and Longtail, the cats making Firepaw's new life difficult,

or Sandpaw and Dustpaw, the other apprentices and supposedly his harshest bullies,

neither of whom manage to speak even 15 times over the 25 chapters.

There is also a pretty significant gender divide present in the book.

35% of the characters are she-cats, which is already a bit of a problem,

but those she-cats combined only get 26% of the lines in the book.

Most of the warriors and apprentices are male.

The only adult she-cats not in the nursery (discounting the elders, leader, and medicine cats)

are the newest and youngest warriors, Willowpelt and Mousefur.

This implies that most of the older she-cats have moved to the nursery,

which provides some problematic implications about the intended clan culture of the time.

And Sandpaw, who would eventually change her opinion of Firepaw and become his friend and then longtime mate,

speaks less than even Smudge, Spottedleaf, Darkstripe, and Brokenstar.

This isn't to say that toms don't have issues too.

Most of the warriors are given almost identical personalities: strong, wise, calm, and loyal.

Redtail, Lionheart, and Whitestorm all fit this model,

and together they begin the stock male warrior personality that persists throughout the series.

For the cats that were focused on though, to some extent, they all gave off particular personalities and impressions,

some of which I would like to note down for now so we can come back to them in later books.

Spottedleaf is a talented and firm medicine cat who seems to have some sort of bond with Bluestar

(whether it's a friendship or strictly professional)

and casually teases and flirts with Tigerclaw.

Despite that though, she is also called young and pretty by both Firepaw and Graypaw,

so she is likely between the two generations in age.

She has no trouble taking charge

but also seems unphased by harsh words and willing to step back to let others do what they wish.

Her relationship with Firepaw is minimal.

She is aware of him and gives him Starclan's message but

but their interactions consist of nothing more than what is required by her duties as a medicine cat and his as an apprentice.

We don't see much of Redtail but from what we do get,

he is a strong, loyal, and level-headed deputy who values each of his warriors and wants them to be safe.

He is confident in his authority but not harsh to alternate suggestions,

and had a long-lasting and deep relationship with Bluestar based on their mutual trust and good judgement.

Redtail had explicitly been her deputy for a long time before Firepaw arrived, suggesting that he is relatively old.

Speaking of old: Whitestorm.

Whitestorm is not listed first in the allegiances but he is always spoken of as an old, wise senior warrior, calm and dutiful.

He uses words like “youngster,” a term only otherwise used by the oldest cats in the clan.

It is difficult to tell his exact age in comparison to Bluestar,

but he is treated as her equal in all but official rank.

Graypaw is a jokester.

He teases and doesn't take others' teasing or actions very seriously.

When he needs to protect someone, he deflects with a joke or directing attention to himself instead of openly defending them.

All in all, he's an enthusiastic, sarcastic little best-friend type.

How exactly these impressions will be built on is something I'll cover in many other videos over the course of this series,

but I'd like to ask that you remember them for later, because many of them will change.

The lore of the world itself is also something to note.

We've been made aware recently that no one at this point in time had nailed down the exact rules of the warrior code.

Instead it was a vague code of honor that was sighted whenever a cat wanted to express something as wrong.

In this book, all that we learn is that loyalty to your clan is the first rule,

kits must be 6 moons old to start training, the clan must be fed first (a rule that doesn't quite exist in the final version),

and that medicine cats cannot have kits,

a rule also not included in the final version of the warrior code but instead as part of the medicine cat code.

This one has plenty of attention devoted to it and its consequences over the series.

It's worth noting for the future that Firepaw questions their rules only once,