Most of the main arcs and even some of the Super Editions have been marked by the prophecy they present,

and just about every book in the series at least includes a message from Starclan,

either through an omen, a prophecy, a vision, or a direct message.

But what exactly do prophecies do?

Well, on a meta level, prophecies give the readers an indication of what type of plot might occur,

and sometimes what characters will be involved.

Fire alone will save our clan told us that Firepaw would be a hero

who was probably the single most important cat in that clan.

The Power of Three and Omen of the Stars' prophecies told the reader that superpowered cats were going to be a big part of the story,

and, perhaps purposefully, left out any direction for how the powers would be used until the battle was almost upon them.

And the wording in the “Embrace what you find in the shadows” prophecy from A Vision of Shadows

indicated to the reader that Skyclan and Shadowclan would be important for this arc,

which they were even if the true meaning of the prophecy got muddled.

But prophecies shouldn't just help the reader.

Realistically, they should have a purpose in-universe.

They should make cats change their behavior to create or inhibit the foretold outcome,

and this is where it gets fishy.

With some of the prophecies, like the silver cat prophecy given to Stoneteller in Moonrise or, the Vision of Shadows prophecy,

it leads the receiver to do something different, at least letting them try to change the future.

In the former case Stoneteller allowed outside cats in his tribe and *cough cough cough* kidnapped one of them.

In A Vision of Shadows, receiving the prophecy led Alderheart to seek out information on Skyclan and go on a journey to try and find them,

leading to him finding Violetkit and Twigkit.

But in most cases, the prophecy doesn't change anyone's behavior meaningfully.

Instead, it just describes events that will happen regardless.

Leafpool didn't figure out the “blood will spill blood” prophecy until the event happened,

when none of the involved cats even knew about it, let alone changed their behavior because of it.

But the event in the prophecy still occurred.

Bluestar was given the prophecy that she would blaze through the forest and be extinguished by water,

but she did nothing to change her fate.

It didn't even play out such that trying to escape the prophecy made it happen,

since she didn't really try to escape it at all.

Because of who Bluestar was,

she would have tried to become leader and sacrificed herself to save Fireheart with or without the prophecy.

And of course, infamously, the fourth cat prophecy had no effect at all.

The three spent the last couple books of Omen of the Stars panicking to use up the time

but Firestar would have done everything he could to help his clan regardless of his status in a prophecy.

He was a good cat, and Thunderclan's leader.

The prophecies, by and large, are irrelevant.

A lot of emphasis is placed on “solving” prophecies whenever one is presented in a story,

but solving these prophecies has no purpose, since the events will always play out anyway.

This brings up another question, and I do apologize if I get too philosophical here.

Is Warrior Cats deterministic?

For those who might not know, Determinism is a philosophical stance that some or all events,

including every action we take and choice we appear to make,

are pre-determined by outside forces.

This doesn't have to refer to some higher power deciding what will happen.

It could also refer to your environment, biology, and relationships

forming your personality such that you will make particular choices when the time comes.

With that out of the way, it seems a likely option that, at least for the events the prophecy foretells, the Warriors world is deterministic.

Leaving the forest, Feathertail saving the Tribe, three empowered cats being born, and Skyclan joining the clans at the lake

were events someone knew about ahead of time, and as the prophecy said, they came to pass.

You might think the “someone” that knows about events ahead of time is Starclan, but that isn't the case.

Starclan themselves also receive the prophecies.

Their only job is to pass them onto a cat, or cats, of their choice.

But whoever or whatever gives Starclan the prophecies definitely seems to know events that are guaranteed to happen in the world.

However, that brings us back to an earlier question.

If these events are set in stone, what is the in-universe purpose of sharing them at all?

It's not as though anyone could change things.

Well if there is indeed another who knows the events that will occur and creates prophecies to pass onto Starclan,

then that being might have made choices with the knowledge of how prophecies in general are received.

For example, with the “Fire Alone” prophecy,

we know that after Bluestar was told about it, she was led to thinking more and more about that orange kittypet in their territory,

and inviting him to join the clan.

With her clan so desperate for warriors and Rusty being a formidable cat,

she may have invited him to the clan eventually anyway,

but would it be too late?

At 6 moons, kittypets were taken to the cutter, and became fat and lazy for the rest of their lives.

If someone knew Rusty was destined to join and save Thunderclan,

they may have sent the prophecy to ensure he would be in top form when he did.

Taking it from this angle, even something like the power of three prophecy makes some amount of sense.

It may be predestined that Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovewing will have powers and Firestar will work to save the clans,

but by telling cats about the prophecies, they are encouraged to take their powers seriously,

as gifts from Starclan to be used for some greater purpose (even though they were ultimately used for nothing).

Knowing they were chosen by Starclan could motivate them to be the best warriors they could be, and live up to the prophecy.

Of course there are some prophecies, like the “Blood will spill blood” prophecy,

where the words never reached the ears of anyone it could affect.

This seems to be an oversight, as it couldn't change anyone's destinies if it was never even heard.

But remember Starclan is the one who chooses who to give prophecies to.

Maybe whatever or whoever made the prophecy intended it for Brambleclaw to warn him about his brother's intentions

so he could confront and kill Hawkfrost earlier, without Firestar losing a life.

There is one case that seems to fly right in the face of the very idea that Warrior cats prophecies show predetermined events at all.

It's a prophecy from the end of the first series.

Firestar receives it just after he receives his nine lives.

“Four will become two, Lion and Tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest.”

At first glance this may seem no different from the other prophecies.

The four clans did become two, Lionclan and Tigerclan.

The two clans met in battle, joining together against Bloodclan.

But Blood will rule the forest?

The prophecy implies that in the final battle of the Darkest Hour, Bloodclan will win, and take over the forest as they intended to.

That's not what happened at all.

The characters, or Firestar specifically, were fighting against the supposedly predetermined outcome.

In a deterministic world, they shouldn't have been able to succeed.

Does this mean events aren't predetermined at all?

Well, not necessarily.

If we do want to hold onto the idea of deterministic prophecies,

we can also hold onto the idea that the thing can choose their messages in order to alter events within the boundaries of fate.

The thing could have lied so Firestar was truly afraid and had to fall back to asking for more help,

leading to him talking to Barley and being reminded of Starclan, who could help him ultimately succeed.

This is all just theorizing, of course.

Really there's no way to tell exactly how the prophecies work, who makes them, or what they are intended to do.

All I can say for certain is that determinism does seem to exist to some extent in the Warriors universe.

Some events are set in stone, and the giving of a prophecy about said event rarely has any effect.

What one chooses to interpret beyond that is entirely up to the individual.

That's all for today but I'd like to put in a quick word about the channel.

I'm writing this particular script on December 26th, a day after my Tribe video was released and it blew up my channel.

By the time this video goes up the date will be long gone

but I'd like to truly thank each and every one of you for taking the time to check out my videos,

whether you subscribed or not.

Rest assured I have plenty of ideas for future videos and I'm always happy to work in more.

I plan to keep working on this for as long as I possibly can,

but you've all made that future a little more possible.

With that said,

*Thank you* for watching,

and always remember to ponder whether you, or anyone, has free will.