How chaotic would life by the lake be without the moral guidance of the warrior code? The cats of Warriors get a glimpse of an answer to this question during the events of The Broken Code arc, in which they are faced with a problem no cat could have anticipated—the return of Ashfur, posing as Bramblestar. Taking a hard-line stance against any and all breaches of Clan law, Ashfur/Bramblestar insists on sometimes severe punishment for transgressions, like forbidding Spotfur’s clanmates from speaking to her for a quarter moon, sending both Lionblaze and Sparkpelt into exile, and forcing Twigbranch to catch twenty pieces of prey (but then exiling her anyway).

Amid this fraught, tumultuous period, some cats begin to ponder the “sanctity” of the Code; they begin to ask questions of themselves and it. It has guided the Clans by the lake—and before that, the Clans of the forest territories—for countless generations, but as the Clans grow in number, with the cats’ lives becoming more and more complicated, there have been times when the warriors’ faithful adherence to the code might have caused more problems than it solved. ThunderClan’s unease about “Bramblestar’s” suddenly curious and alarming behavior might not have grown into chaos had the thirteenth rule in the warrior code not given such reverence to a leader’s word. Imagine how different things would have been in ShadowClan if its warriors had felt emboldened to challenge Brokenstar; or if they had rejected the leadership of the first Tigerstar? A leader having the final say on important decisions is useful in imposing a structure on a Clan, but the history of the Clans tells us that not every cat who gets nine lives is worthy of the honor.

And in the wake of the terrible events of The Broken Code, the cats begin to wonder: If the thirteenth rule can be discarded, what else about the code might need amending? StarClan tasks them with figuring out new ways to handle such problems as cats wishing to switch Clans, and what to do if a leader falls short of the standards expected of them. They have three moons to amend a Code that has been in place for many, many lifetimes. It is a daunting challenge—but every Clan is so shaken by the havoc wrought by the impostor, they are determined to make sure the rules are ones that they can all live by. As we see in A Light in the Mist, the most important rules are quickly agreed, but in the books to come, we will see the Clans finalize the new Warrior Code by which all cats will faithfully abide.

We previously forgot to add the rule about deputies being required to have trained one apprentice, so we have updated the article to add that rule back into the code. We have also updated the code to add the two new laws decided upon in our newest release, River.