close to the present in terms of Warriors content,  it's safe to say we've learned a lot about  

this world, its stories, and its characters. One  element that has been around since the first book,  

ingrained into nearly every choice the clans make,  in the “warrior code.” One of our protagonists of  

the last arc, Hollyleaf, was fixated on the code,  sometimes to the point of obsession. However,  

in the main series, what that code is has been  entirely nebulous. We've heard a couple of  

specific rules from it thrown out, such as that  you must feed your clan before yourself, that the  

safety of the whole clan is more important than  the safety of any one cat, that kits can't leave  

the camp without permission, and that strangers  must be driven from clan territory. However, only  

Secrets of the Clans, the first field guide, told  us exactly what rules are in the Warrior Code,  

and today, in this field guide, we will hear more  about what it is and, perhaps, how it came to be.

Code of the Clans came out on June 9th of  2009, the same day as Return to the Clans,  

over a month after Sunrise, and a year after the  last field guide: Cats of the Clans. As with that  

previous field guide, this one was written by  Victoria Holmes herself and illustrated by Wayne  

McLoughlin, though his illustrations aren't as  prominent as before, instead now being black and  

white pictures depicting scenes being written  about and mostly serving as decoration for the  

pages of writing rather than being the centerpiece  on their own. The way this book is divided is  

also quite interesting. Rather than going clan by  clan as the previous two field guides have done,  

this one goes one code at a time and tells  us either one or two stories about that code:  

what events inspired its formation, and  potentially also a more modern case where  

that code came into play. It will be interesting  to discuss how those stories fit into the Warriors  

world but that will have to wait until  we have laid down the book's contents.

We begin with a brief and condensed version  of the same origin of the clans story told  

in Secrets of the Clans. However, unlike  in that book where it was said that cats  

lived in small scattered groups all across  the territories until they met, fought,  

and were asked by their fallen friends to become  clans, here there is one group of cats who moved  

into the forest and split up according to  their living preferences, and they began  

fighting with each other only because prey was  scarce in leaf-bare. They then vowed over their  

fallen friends that they would end the fighting by  becoming five separate clans. Oh yeah, by the way  

there are five friends. In addition to Secrets of  the Clans' Thunder, Shadow, Wind, and River, this  

story introduces a fifth, Sky. None of them say  anything though because the story is too short.

Then, right off the bat, we get the list of  the rules in the Warrior Code, carried over  

from Secrets of the Clans with a different font  and presentation. To avoid reading off this list  

verbatim, I'm just going to leave it on the screen  while I say this so you can read it yourself,  

or pause if you need more time. Most of it is  probably familiar to a lot of you anyway if  

you're already familiar with Warriors as a series  but because some pieces have changed with time  

and it might have been a while since you read  parts of it, I figure a refresher is warranted.

From there, we begin with our framing  device for the book: you, the reader,  

are a loner or kittypet visiting Thunderclan  to learn about the warrior code and clan life,  

as agreed to by Firestar. Leafpool welcomes you  and says she will be telling you the stories-well,  

she calls it history rather than stories,  of each code. The reader insert might not  

understand or agree with the code at first but  Leafpool explains that, having grown up in it,  

it's natural for them and there are a lot of  benefits like valuing and taking care of the sick,  

injured, and old and being strong enough  as a group to fight off common enemies.  

At the beginning of each code story, Leafpool  shares a short introductory blurb on the code  

and transitions us into the past, but I will  mostly be focusing on the stories themselves.

Up first is the tale of Ryewhisker and Cloudberry,  a Windclan and Riverclan cat respectively who were  

in a relationship many, many lifetimes ago.  Both of them were happy to find out they were  

going to have kits despite some worries over  where they would grow up. Friendship across  

borders were nothing new, so that wasn't a  problem. However, a war starts between their  

clans over some stolen fish and Ryewhisker jumps  in to defend Cloudberry, and their unborn kits,  

from a clanmate. While they're arguing, a  Riverclan cat comes over and murders Ryewhisker  

himself. At a gathering of the leaders, they agree  that Ryewhisker's fate could have been avoided if  

he wasn't in a relationship with Cloudberry, and  they vote on the first rule of the warrior code,  

after agreeing to meet every moon for a night  of truce so they don't lose contact completely.  

I um…I don't think Ryewhisker's fate really had  anything to do with his relationship. Really it  

had to do with the established guideline that  killing cats randomly in battle when you aren't  

even fighting each other is perfectly  fine. But sure, this is where they got.

The second code story takes place three seasons  after the first, and at another gathering. This  

time the leaders are arguing about stealing  each others' prey, and one leader, Brindlestar,  

argues it's not stealing since they need it, and  can't currently find enough prey on their own  

territory. As the other leaders argue that each  clan lives where they are best suited and they  

need to find prey on their own territory, they  hear a crash and a tree falls into the middle  

of the crowded clearing below, managing to just  barely avoid all of Shadowclan and Thunderclan  

despite falling directly on top of them. They  take this as a sign that the clans will always be  

separate and make the second code, that cats can't  hunt or trespass on other clans' territories.

This code comes with an extra, more modern  story where Dappletail and White-eye,  

who would eventually become One-eye, sneak  onto Riverclan territory just to try tasting  

some fish. Unfortunately, White-eye falls in and  needs to be saved by Riverclan. Both Hailstar,  

Riverclan's leader, and Pinestar and Sunfall,  Thunderclan's leader and deputy, show up,  

thoroughly embarrassing both young she-cats. As a  sort of punishment for the foolish cats, Riverclan  

lets them try a fish and they quickly realize it  would not have been pleasant to begin with. It's  

actually a really funny scene, with the sarcasm  practically dripping off of Sunfall's responses  

to them. But they learn a valuable lesson  together that the code is there for a reason.

Code three's story…is one I have grown  unnecessary attachment to. Ahem. It  

tells the story of one of the first battles of  Sunningrocks from the perspective of Splashtail,  

a Riverclan warrior who knows,  within the elders' lifetimes,  

the river flowed around Sunningrocks rather than  past it. Now that it is accessible from the land,  

though, Thunderclan has tried to lay claim to  it. He notices Thunderclan intruders and soon,  

a battle begins. A she-cat with blazing green eyes  tells him that Starclan changed the course of the  

river and Sunningrocks is theirs now (ah hello  cat-who-would-become-my-oc). Riverclan seems  

to be losing but Darkstar says it is only lost  when they stop fighting, so they keep fighting  

and win. As Thunderclan runs, Splashtail sees  a Starclan spirit, Aspentail, who says they are  

kin who also fought for these rocks and they  will keep fighting until Thunderclan learns  

who Sunningrocks belongs to. Splashtail decides to  dedicate this battle to the elders who came before  

and the kits to come and then promises himself  that, if ever he became leader, he would make  

this a part of the warrior code. This is probably  the most tenuous as far as connections between the  

story and the code that it inspires but hey,  it inspired me. That counts for something.

This code also comes with a modern-ish  story, of Longtail and Darkstripe hunting  

for the clan while many of the warriors are  sick. They first manage to catch a squirrel,  

and because they are already starving and it won't  taste nearly as good when brought back to camp,  

they decide to share it in the forest to keep  their energy up. Unfortunately, they don't catch  

much other prey and one of the sick cats ends  up dead. Though Darkstripe is still defending  

their choice, Longtail feels very guilty, but  knows it is too late to change things now.

Code 4's story is about a couple of kits who  played with the last of their clan's prey until it  

wasn't fit to eat. Suddenly, an owl came and took  the prey away, though thankfully not the kits. The  

leader, Lilystar, took it as a sign that Starclan  gave them their prey and can take it away too,  

and decided to propose a new code that they  thank Starclan for their prey and its life.

Code 5's story is about a queen  named Daisytail who joined together  

with other mothers to put a stop to  cats too young fighting in battles,  

stopping a war between their clans to  remove all cats who looked like they  

wouldn't stand a chance. The young apprentices  were upset but their mothers knew it was right,  

and they proposed a code that kits can't  train until they reach their sixth moon.

As an addendum for this code, there is a  more modern story of Brokenstar's reign,  

where he flagrantly broke this code. This  story focuses on a tom, far too young,  

named Badgerpaw and his mentor Flintfang in the  battle where they drove Windclan from the moor.  

Unfortunately, it also led to Badgerpaw's death,  and Flintfang, trying to hold back his grief,  

let Badgerpaw pick his warrior name:  Badgerfang, as he headed to Starclan.

The sixth code story is about a Riverclan medicine  cat who is frustrated by the number of injuries  

he has to heal after foolhardy young warriors  make dares to and play pranks on each other.  

They don't seem to understand the gravity of  being a warrior now, rather than an apprentice.  

He speaks with Starclan and has a vision of  responsible and mature warriors and gets the  

idea for a night of silent vigil to listen and  protect, which they enact. After that night,  

the same young warriors play out the scene  from his vision and Meadowpelt resolves  

to suggest a new warrior code, that this  same vigil be given to every new warrior.

As a bonus, we then get to hear Squirrelflight  talk about her own vigil…which never happened  

since they had just arrived at the lake, but  fine. She gives us advice on how to avoid  

getting bored or annoyed by snoring or tense  from standing still all night, and generally  

it's a nice comedic interlude…too  bad it couldn't possibly be true.

Code 7's story is about a leader named  Featherstar…ahem, and her new deputy Acorntail  

who hasn't had an apprentice. Though she loves and  trusts him as he was her old deputy's apprentice,  

he has a hard time taking to the duties since  he has never been in charge of anyone before,  

and soon he admits he doesn't think he  can do the job. Featherstar realizes the  

skills cats learn when they become mentors,  promises him Pricklekit as an apprentice,  

and vows to add a new rule to the code saying  deputy candidates have to have been mentors.

The story for code 8 is about a time in  which leaders were apparently chosen based  

on bloodline rather than the deputy ascending to  leadership. The current leader's son, Mothpelt,  

takes over after his father's death and both  he and the clan quickly realize he isn't as  

cut out for it, having not trained in the  job. Meanwhile, Maplewhisker, the deputy,  

is able to easily rally the clan and understand  what would best help them. Soon, they decide to  

let Maplewhisker take over as leader and make a  new warrior code that the deputy becomes leader.

This code also comes with a bonus story, of  Tallstar talking to Bluestar about whether or  

not he made the right choice in switching who  would become leader so soon before his death,  

but he decides he agrees with his  choice, even if it causes a rocky future.

Code 9's story is one of the most famous from this  book. It's about a clan whose leader and deputy  

both grew ill together. After the leader died,  the deputy wasn't fit to go to the Moonstone,  

and soon she dies too, leaving the clan without  leadership. Two warriors: Mossfoot and Jumpfire,  

are nominated as potential leaders and  fight to the death to claim that spot…and  

I do mean “to the death.” They both die.  The medicine cat is given permission by  

Starclan to fake a sign to choose the new  leader, Flowerstem, and their first act  

as a pair is to make a new code that the  new deputy must be chosen before moonhigh.

The story for the tenth code is about a leader who  broke the existing full-moon truce, Ripplestar,  

by attacking everyone at a gathering.  Starclan then effectively killed him  

by sending a bolt of lightning to  hurtle him off a cliff. The clans  

then decided to make honoring the  full-moon truce part of the code.

Story 11 tells us of a time when cats didn't mark  their boundaries, or frankly visit them often,  

and an apprentice, Mottlepaw, got in  trouble for stumbling over the line. When  

the other clan came to camp to complain about  Mottlepaw, his mentor, and mother, Poppycloud,  

suggested that maybe the code should tell clans  to mark their borders, and challenge trespassers  

since they could then be sure it wasn't a mistake.  The clans make it official at the next gathering.

One of my favorite supplemental  stories accompanies this chapter,  

as Whitestorm teaches Firepaw, Graypaw,  Ravenpaw, Sandpaw, and Dustpaw about  

border tactics. The information about how  to travel along and mark a border isn't new,  

but it's just a delightful comedic scene oozing  with character and I love seeing all the little  

details woven in. Oh also, Whitestorm  is still very canonically old, here.

The twelfth code story is about a medicine cat  called Graywing, no not that one, who stopped  

a clanmate from intervening as three kits from  another clan fell into and subsequently drowned  

in the river, as she didn't want to risk their  clan's lives to save another clan's kits. Later,  

she receives a vision of all three kits grown  up, one of them becoming a leader, and they  

tell her kits' lives are always precious. She  goes out to find the kits' bodies and bring them  

to their clan and vows to help make it a rule in  the code that every warrior help kits in danger.

The addendum to this story is about a  Shadowclan patrol who decided to save