Warriors: Explained

02: Are We A Nation of States? What's The State of Our Nation?

I'm PAST patiently waiting I'm PASSionatley SMASHing every expectA- no, Leafy, stop.

Spoilers ahead! Also, a lot of knowledge about how the Clans work is assumed, because this is already super long and I'm lazy.

While many different elements of Warriors mirror and reflect different ideas present in western society, the Clans' system of government is more difficult to unpack, not fitting easily into any single category. The multiplicity of ways of looking at the clans, and interpreting the warrior code, makes it even more impossible to deduce exactly what to call the system the clans use to govern themselves. This essay is going to try.

I'll be breaking this down into two parts. Firstly, are the Warrior Cats a nation of states, and second, what is the state of their nation?

So, first off, are the Warrior Clans a nation of states?

Essentially, we have two boxes we can try and put the clans into: either they are four separate entities, (four nations,) or a single nation made up of four states.

There is definitely a strong argument for both sides. Looking first at the idea that the Clans are completely separate, this side of the debate seems logical for a number of reasons: there are mental divides between the Clans, and the Clans do not have one overarching government - the closest thing to this is probably the medicine cats. While the clans have a lot in common with each other culturally, they are fundamentally unique.

While I could write all day about the extent to which the clans are the same or different, ultimately, it doesn't matter. It's more about the Clans' perceptions of each other, and the mental divides between them. The stereotypes, the insults thrown over borders, and the rivalry maintained between them. The attitudes of cats within the clans, and basically every leader other than Firestar, were not attitudes of unity. They were attitudes that reflected an environment that was competitive and to a large extent hostile. (See: Blackstar, Onestar, etc.)

Onestar illustrates this perfectly. The only way for him to legitimise his leadership to the rest of his Clan, was to (and boy am I hating myself as I write this) put "WindClan first". As a compassionate cat and a friend to Firestar, the idea of an era of close relations between WindClan and ThunderClan was no doubt appealing to Onestar, but this was not the attitude of the clans, or the way of the Clans more broadly. One could argue that more unity between the clans was a progressive idea, but the Clans aren't quite ready for it. And this is reflected in code #16: "Each Clan has the right to be proud and independent, but in times of trouble they must forget their boundaries and fight side by side to protect the four. Each Clan must help the others so that no Clan will fall."

Even after a period where the Clans were united against a common, deeply hated enemy, they are still "proud and independent". This code doesn't resemble a constitution so much as it resembles the ultimate treaty, between separate political entities.

Furthermore, aside from amending the warrior code, no Clan has any say in the affairs of others. They can put pressure on each other, (eg. if you don't kill Brokentail we'll all shun you,) but unless they wage war on other Clans, how each Clan is run is nobody else's business, as long as what everyone does is within the Warrior Code. In this sense, they are very separate.

Moreover, it's the rivalry between the Clans that keeps them strong. If the four Clans agreed to an eternal truce and became complacent, they would be unprepared should their borders be threatened by other groups of cats. (This was one of the problems the Tribe had when other cats moved onto the mountains - they'd never had a reason to learn how to fight, or to keep any skills they had sharp.)