WARRIORS: An Enchanting Feline Legacy

While Vicky Holmes is the “original Erin Hunter,” the team behind the nom de plume includes writers Kate Cary, Cerith Baldry, Tui Sutherland, and Clarissa Hutton, among other guest writers. Until 2017, Holmes took responsibility for outlining the stories while leaving the writing to the team, though the Warrior Cats website reports she stepped down that year due to medical reasons.

The revelation that Erin Hunter (at least, the one who wrote the Warriors series) is not real has come as a shock for many. Fellow Rioter Tirzah Price shared she once accidentally broke the news to a young girl who exclaimed she intended to meet Erin Hunter. The girl, of course, was devastated to learn the truth. 

Why Is Warriors So Popular?

So what is it that inspires such enthusiasm around an author who doesn’t exist and her series? The popularity is certainly clear; in 2016, Screen Daily reported the series sold more than 30 million copies. Like many other popular children’s series, Warriors has the automatic attraction factor of a story that focuses on animals. That the animal of choice is a cat—and the main character a house cat—provides an extra layer of interest. Plenty of readers will have pet cats of their own, and thus find an easy and relevant access point to the story. Rusty could just as easily be their beloved tabby, and how amazing to imagine this rich world the cat (and the reader, by association) could experience?

But it’s more than just the cats that draw readers in and keep them there. One fan, Kyri Lorenz, wrote to me: “I was obsessed with cats as a child, as well as that sort-of historical folk magic kind of thing with the different warring clans and the herbalism with the healers. There’s also that sort of ancestral animist shamanism aspect that I was drawn to.” The politics and rituals aren’t unfamiliar to children’s media—perhaps one of the most well-known examples of this kind of highly civilized society of non-humans is the Toy Story franchise, which continues to see success 25 years after the release of the first movie. Lindsey Moser, who also loved the series, said: “I love it because it challenges young readers to think about animals as having their own cultures, language, abilities, as valid as ours.”

Another fan, April, recalled first getting into the series while in middle school, noting that the interest was driven by “connections formed with the characters and relationships between the characters.” And, like other series that provide the opportunity for readers to identify with a group (think Percy Jackson’s godly parents), Warriors offers this kind of community as well both with the Clan concept and the cats as individuals. “It was also fun to imagine myself in the world, giving myself a cat persona.” Names are an easy place to start with a persona, which involves a two-name system that allows names to evolve as a cat’s role in the clan’s hierarchy shifts.

In addition to strong world building and characters, Warriors also benefits from a great plot. Yet another fan, Rachael Walker, wrote: “It kept my interest because of the cats for sure, and also because of the action and I got invested in the characters and their arcs.”

Readers with fresh memory of the books will instantly connect with the prose, too, which is rich with sensory detail and really hooks into the idea of experiencing the world from the perspective of a cat, with no human interpretation to guide. April recalled understanding this perspective distinctly. “I didn’t realize what they called ‘monsters’ were actually cars when I read the first book, they described it in such a way that a human never would.”

With all of these strengths combined, it’s no surprise that Warriors also excels in themes. The books aren’t without continuity errors despite Holmes and the rest of the team’s best efforts, but it’s a small price to pay for such an enchanting world and story.

What Is The Warriors Legacy?

While the franchise continues to grow strong, it’s impossible to say what the longer-term impact of Warriors will be. But already, its impact on publishing and aspiring writers is clear. In addition to Warriors, Seekers is another series by Erin Hunter. These books follow bears rather than cats and also have a dedicated following. Erin Hunter has also authored Survivors, about dogs. Beyond the imagined Erin Hunter, contributors to books “by” Hunter have gone on to find success with stories that are similar to Warriors, like Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series, which focuses on dragons.

Without speaking to the authors directly, it’s difficult to say whether other books are inspired by Warriors, but it’s reasonable to imagine publishers are attracted to similar stories (the Seattle Public Library offers a list here), and so they’re more and more present in libraries, bookstores, and children’s bookshelves.

Warriors didn’t start it all, of course. Prior to the series readers adored tales involving animals since the beginning of time. More recently, there was Brian Jacque’s immensely popular series. One member of a library staff, Brett Willis, commented: “I always wonder at if this is more or less the Redwall of the next generation (in spirit, I understand the Warrior Cats live in our world, not one peopled entirely by the anthropomorphic).” The Chronicles of Narnia also came up as a nod to the idea that talking animals are ever in style.

But perhaps most importantly is how Warriors engages and encourages its base audience. April wrote: “[It] was definitely one of the series that got me interested in storytelling and creating characters, which eventually led to me writing my own stories (and once, with a friend, a very humorous Warriors fan fiction).” The official Warriors website actively encourages fan participation, too. Site runners post challenges for the “CreatorClan” and provide a detailed family tree (spoilers abound; click at your own risk) that can aid fans in creating the most in-canon fan responses possible, should they be inclined. One fan even attempted to produce their own animated series of Warriors.

And I think that’s the cat’s meow.