Thorntail

## Appearances

### Comic Pages

Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 10, Page 13, Page 14, Page 15, Page 28, Page 29, Page 30, Page 31, Page 32, Page 36, Page 37, Page 38, Page 39, Page 41, Page 42, Page 71, Page 72, Page 73, Page 74, Page 75, Page 76, Page 99, Page 103, Page 109, Page 110, Page 111, Page 128, Page 129, Page 137, Page 160, Page 162, Page 163

Thorntail is WindClan's current deputy. He is currently serving under the leadership of Goldenstar, having previously served under Birchstar's.

#### **Appearance**

Thorntail is a large golden-brown tabby tom with blue eyes and a tear in his left ear tip. His fur is long and fluffy, and his paws and tail tip are white. He has a large scar on his back.

#### **Family**

Thorntail is the current mate of Redstripe. His kits from their first litter were Bubblepaw, Sparklepaw, and Willowpaw. Thorntail then had a second litter containing Puddlepaw and Forestkit.

#### **Comic Involvement**

Thorntail is first seen congratulating Redstripe on her warrior name. He is there to greet his mate after she becomes a warrior, and they share tender nuzzle.

After a few moons, Thorntail is found by Blackrain who tells him that Redstripe is having her kits. The tom worries for his mate, but is reassured by Blackrain as they enter the nursery together. There, he sees his kits for the first time. After touching nose with Redstripe, Thorntail asks what names she has come up with for their kits. *"Bubblekit, Sparklekit, and Willowkit?"* she asks him and he agrees, tears coming to his eyes.

Moons later, Thorntail meets Redstripe outside the apprentices' den after she had finished comforting Sparklepaw. The clan then leaves for the gathering.

Thorntail is then seen walking with the rest of the clan, next to Redstripe.

Thorntail is seen again in the gathering seen as Redstripe asks him about Silverpaw. He helps her find the ThunderClan apprentice.

After the gathering, we see Thorntail's reaction to seeing his kits' bodies in a pile in the camp center. He asks *"Wh..Who did this?"* before Birchstar takes control and tells the clan to remain calm and follow her next instructions.

A few moons after the murder, Thorntail is seen visiting his kits’ graves, in tears. Mistfur approaches and informs him Stonetail’s body has been found on the thunderpath. He then utters *“StarClan help us.”*

As he enters the camp again, Forestkit spots his father and goes to ask him to play “rocks” with him. Thorntail instead suggests playing with Puddlekit but Forestkit tells him that his eyes aren’t open yet. This creates worry in Thorntail, so he heads to the nursery to talk to Redstripe.

In the nursery Thorntail asks if Puddlekit's eyes have opened yet, to which Puddlekit asks who is speaking. Redstripe informs their kit that it's his father and sends Puddlekit out to play so she and Thorntail can have a talk. Once alone, the pair discuss the deaths of their previous litter, and Thorntail consoles Redstripe, telling her it is not her fault what happened to them. He hints at blaming Birchstar for their deaths, explaining that if she hadn't left them alone in the camp they would be alive. Redstripe quells this thought, defending Birchstar. After their talk, Thorntail and Redstripe go to find Puddlekit in the clearing, who is now sitting with Forestkit and Coldpaw. Redstripe calls Puddlekit to go with them to Deerheart's den.

Once in the medicine cat den, Thorntail watches as Deerheart inspects his son. After Honeypaw arrives to get his own look at it, Thorntail asks what it means that Puddlekit's eyes won't open. Deerheart breaks the news that their son may never be able to see, and Thorntail and Redstripe look distraught. Deerheart is able to console them by saying their son is completely healthy and will gain his own set of skills in time. Thorntail then thanks Deerheart for all his help.

As Birchstar calls a clan meeting in the middle of the night, Thorntail exits the warriors' den with Blackrain, confused. As other cats emerge, he looks in the nursery, then asks where Redstripe and Forestkit are upon finding them missing. Deerheart remarks that Coldpaw and Honeypaw are missing as well. Birchstar addresses the clan, telling them that she has horrible news. She begins saying that she heard cats exit camp earlier that night, and Thorntail interrupts her, asking how many there was, and if she knew who it was. Birchstar tells him that it was around four, and she didn't approach them very close to not alert them she was following. She tells the clan that she does know it was at least Redstripe and Forestkit, however, because she followed the cats to the thunderpath, and she was too late. Thorntail looks up at her, horrified, as she addresses him directly and tells him that his mate and son are dead. He cries out in horror, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. He turns around and grasps his head in his paws as Blackrain and Rainfoot demand what their sons had to do with this. Birchstar implies that she thinks Coldpaw and Honeypaw killed the two of them. Thorntail whips around, shrieking that Birchstar is lying. Birchstar begins to insist that Redstripe and Forestkit are dead, but is interrupted by Redstripe, wounded but alive, entering camp, accompanied by Coldpaw and Honeypaw. He runs up to his mate, thrilled that she is alive, and asks about Forestkit. Redstripe reveals that Forestkit is dead, and that he and their previous three kits were all killed by Birchstar. Upon learning this, Thorntail leaps up onto tallrock and snaps Birchstar's neck, taking one of her lives. She then kicks him off and he lands on his back on a rock in camp, injuring himself. He is named the new deputy of WindClan after Birchstar runs away and Golderstar becomes the new leader.

Six moons later Thorntail is seen organizing three patrols tasked to hunt down and kill Birchstar. Rosethorn approaches him and explains that she finds that the patrols are too small, and can be easily picked off, but Thorntail replies that if they were bigger they wouldn't cover enought ground. He enlists cats to stay in camp and protect the weaker cats, upsetting Puddlepaw, and joins the same patrol as Frostflower and Gingerfur, although he later joins Blackrain and Redstripe when Robinclaw and Puddlepaw leave camp alone. He apologizes to Pudlepaw for implying he was weak, and explains that he just worries about him because of his siblings.

A few days later, Coldpool helps Cloverpaw remember the names of every cat in the clan. Cloverpaw begins with Thorntail, who is seen comforting Redstripe.

He is seen with the rest of the clan as ThunderClan attacks their camp. He defends Goldenstar from Batstar, taking one of his lives, before being attacked by Icyclaw.

#### Killed Victims

*The following is a chronological list of victims that Thorntail has killed:*

* Birchstar (Fifth life)
* Batstar (First life)

#### Personality

Thorntail is kind, respectful, and supportive of his family. He also loves and loved his kits dearly, as he's seen grieving at his first's litter's graves in tears, even moons later. He loves Redstripe more than anything, and even when he learned she kept Puddlekit's eyes a secret from him, he didn't get angry with her.

#### Relationships

Redstripe:

Goldentail: Goldentail was Thorntail's mentor, and he is one of the few cats in WindClan who never believed she was crazy. Although he is her deputy, he usually does most things around the clan due to her not being leader material.

Birchstar: Ever since the massacre Thorntail has always held resentment towards Birchstar for leaving his kits alone in camp, and when it was revealed that she was the one that killed them he immediately took one of her lives. He is determined to kill her as many times as it takes and to avenge his kits.

#### Fun Facts

* Thorntail is shown with a hair tuft in the first two pages, but this design feature is quickly scrapped.