StarClan

StarClan are the deceased warrior ancestors of the Clans who live on in spirit form after dying, and watch over the living Clan cats. There is no specific leader for StarClan, since there are many cats from all four Clans that work together. They are responsible for sending signs and omens to the living cats.

Clan cats and their descendants who followed the warrior code and led a honorable life as a warrior will reach StarClan when they die, even if they were not part of a Clan at the moment of their death (such as Pinestar or Leafstar's mother).

When a cat dies and is going to be guided to StarClan by a StarClan cat, usually by a loved one or a metor, they merely close their eyes and reopen them a few moments later. When leaders lose lives, those lives appear in StarClan as very faint copies of the leader, but they are unable to hear, speak, or touch other StarClan cats until the leader loses their final life.

StarClan cats leave starry paw prints, their eyes shine like moons, and their pelts glow with a pale light, which makes them look like they have stars dappled in their fur^] Frost sparkles at their paws and glitter in their eyes. Their pelts shine like ice and carry all the scents of the seasons: the tang of leaf-bare, the green scent of newleaf, the musk of leaf-fall,, and the sweet blossom of greenleaf. The cats' spirits remain in StarClan until they are forgotten by all living and dead cats over a long time and earned their own peace, causing them to fade away to little more than ghost-like images of themselves.

StarClan's hunting grounds is described as a moonlit night landscape in greenleaf, a land of mist and shadows. It resembles the landscape of The Forest, and several locations exist in both the waking world and in StarClan.

For the living cats, StarClan's territory appears as a large, cloudy-looking swath of stars, which has been confirmed to be the Milky Way. Clan cats believe that, upon dying and joining StarClan, a new star appears in Silverpelt. On the other hand, the stars are sometimes regarded as representing the living cats instead of the dead ones.

When the Clans migrate to a new territory, StarClan cats follow them in the sky so they can continue watching over them. When SkyClan moved to a new territory, their ancestors separated from StarClan and left with them. When the remaining four Clans left the forest and went to live by the lake, StarClan traveled along with them through unknown sky paths.

The sacred places of the Clans exist in both the waking world and StarClan's hunting grounds. One of these locations is Fourtrees, seen by most cats in their dreams when visiting StarClan (such as a cat during his or her leadership ceremony). Even if it was destroyed by Twolegs, Fourtrees still exists in StarClan, as it will always be remembered by the cats.

Warm-Rocks is a place in StarClan territory that was mentioned in Fading Echoes, when Silverstream was looking for her daughter, Feathertail.^[7] It is not described in detail, however, the name suggests that it is a relaxing spot, similar to Sunningrocks in the old forest.^[21]

Relation to Living Cats

StarClan cats watch over the Clans from the sky and send prophecies to guide them or warn them of impending danger. Ancestors usually watch over the living cats of their former Clan, and especially over cats who were close to them in their lifetime; for example, Spottedleaf generally gives advice to ThunderClan cats, but most often to Firestar. Living cats visit StarClan in their dreams, although StarClan cats are able to appear even in the waking world.

Medicine cats have a special bond with StarClan, and they are the cats who are usually contacted by the ancestors. At every half-moon, the medicine cats and medicine cat apprentices of each Clan go to their "sacred place" (Moonstone or Moonpool) to speak with StarClan and receive advice about the future. To receive the signs of StarClan, medicine cats either drink the water at Moonpool or touch noses with the Moonstone, initiating the dream.

Besides medicine cats, StarClan cats sometimes send messages to leaders (Firestar is known to have received several warnings and prophecies), warriors  (such as when Brambleclaw is invited to undertake a quest), or even non-Clan cats (such as Smudge).Other creatures (such as Midnight) may also be given a warning or prophecy for the Clans. All Clan cats give thanks to StarClan after catching prey for the life the prey has given to feed the Clan.

Ceremonies

All Clan ceremonies are believed to be supervised by StarClan. The Clan leader performing a ceremony calls upon the warrior ancestors, and promotes a cat by the powers of StarClan. The leader also says that StarClan honors their values and welcomes them.

StarClan has the greatest role during leader ceremonies, when they give nine lives to the new Clan leader. Each of the lives are granted by a single ancestor, usually from the same Clan or a cat they knew when they were living, as a gift of an attribute.

Influence

There is contradiction in the books about how much influence does StarClan have over the living world:

• Lionheart and Bluestar state that StarClan has no control over what happens to cats in the living world; the most they can do is to warn cats in dreams.
• In Firestar's Quest , Spottedleaf appears in the waking world and offers a bundle of burdock root to Sandstorm, and also in Firestar's Quest, Silverstream gives Firestar a fish.
• If cats fight during a Gathering, StarClan covers the moon with clouds and lightning, even if the sky was clear before, implying that they have some power over nature.
• In Sunset, StarClan makes Cinderpelt reincarnate as Cinderkit, Brakenfur and Sorreltail's daughter, instead of accepting her spirit among them, implying that they have power over life and death. Also Jayfeather, Lionblaze and Dovewing had been reincarnated from Jay's Wing, Lion's Roar and Dover's Wing although it is unknown whether StarClan did this.  However, once reaching StarClan, a cat not be reincarnated.

Life in StarClaN

Once they reach StarClan cats learn all about the Territories, including the story of SkyClan. Cats in StarClan are restored to the age in which they were happiest (i.e. Yellowfang is old because she was happiest near the end of her life in ThunderClan, but Bluestar is young again because she was happiest at the peak of her youth). They also do not age in StarClan. Cats who die keep their name at the highest rank they had or would have achieved; Smallkit, for example, becomes Smallstar, as had he survived longer he would have become leader.

Prey is always plentiful and cats have no defined tasks (such as hunting and training), and are free to do as they please, so they are mostly content, except when seeing living cats suffer.

StarClan has no hierarchy, thus there is no defined leader or deputy, although cats respect those who were their leaders or mentors in the living world.

Once a StarClan cat ceases to be remembered by any living or dead cats, they will slowly seem to appear as the faintest star and will live their life in StarClan peacefully and alone. Usually, they do not send dreams to any living cats except on special occasions.

Other Ancestors

The opposite of StarClan is the Place of No Stars, or Dark Forest, made up of cats who committed unforgivable evil deeds during their life. It has a sort of border with StarClan's hunting grounds, appearing as a wall of mist. StarClan cats can enter the Place of No Stars, but when they do, they risk never being able to escape. Cats who make up the Place of No Stars, such as Tigerstar and his son Hawkfrost, on the other hand, have no choice but to stay where they are.

The Tribe of Rushing Water have their own spirit ancestors, the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Feathertail, who is a RiverClan cat, but dies protecting the Tribe, is able to walk with both StarClan and the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

Formerly part of StarClan, SkyClan's ancestors left, along with SkyClan and are now separate. However, they have rejoined StarClan after Leafstar's leader ceremony, when they were able to meet each other again. it is also mentioned in the leader's dream, SkyClan's ancestors and the warriors in the forests had met and where hunting running together as one.