Teasers galore—Warriors fans can rejoice at the forty-three page preview of the Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #3. Fans first found this teaser posted to the Warriors wiki Twitter page, revealed through Edelweiss.
As much as I want to jump on all of the juicy details (like Bluestar’s unraveling, the skipped plot details, all-around cuteness, and teaser cliffhanger), I want to focus on one huge reveal and leave the rest for my review after the release on September 30th.
The title might give it away, but here’s the warning that I’ll be discussing the preview of Graphic Novel: TPB #3. This will include major spoilers for character relationships discussed in The Prophecies Begin, as well as a major character death in the novella Ravenpaw’s Farewell.
The Warriors fandom has plenty of content to dive into about Ravenpaw, including his appearances through the series, a manga/graphic novel series, and a novella. In each one, his partner and companion Barley is always by his side. When Ravenpaw was forced to flee ThunderClan, he found sanctity and friendship in the barn cat Barley. A fond friendship grew quickly then obviously became more than a casual closeness.
However, as much as gay relationships have been confirmed or hinted at by the various Erin Hunter authors, including Ravenpaw and Barley, the WACA universe has never had in-text confirmation of a queer relationship. Sure, there’s been blushing cats, cuddle puddles, and LGBTQ+ art of the characters shared to official social media, but confirmation of queer relationships has never been within our grasp.
The closest we came was Vicky Holmes confirming Ravenpaw and Barley were in a relationship (similarly, Kate Cary has said this of Tallstar and Jake). Yet beyond heartfelt conversations, like Ravenpaw’s tearful goodbye to Barley in Ravenpaw’s Farewell, they have never referred to each other as “mates” like their straight counterparts do. It’s even been confirmed that Ravenpaw is waiting in some unknown afterlife for Barley to pass too. What can be more romantic than that?
Without this explicit confirmation, fans could only claim that their relationship has always been a romantic one. Not anymore though. In this preview of Graphic Novel: TPB #3, Ravenpaw refers to his “mate,” clearly indicating Barley in his next reply.
That’s it! They’re our first official, in-text gay relationship for the Warriors fandom. Happy Pride Month, WACA fans!
I cannot explain how thrilling this is to me as a long time member of the queer community. So many of my fellow friends and fans are also within the LGBTQ+ labels, and I know this means a lot to them too. It’s different to read the words than to just imagine them. Despite the release not being until the fall, this teaser comes during Pride Month, which feels intentional.
I’m not surprised to see a true confirmation of a gay relationship happen in these graphic novel adaptions, given that the artists are in a queer marriage themselves. Maybe we’ll never find out who lit the green light for this to happen, but I imagine their influence was present.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you.
Check out the (fan-made) Warriors wiki page for Ravenpaw, where it lists Barley as his mate.
Ordering on Amazon:
Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #1
Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #2
Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #3
Reviews:
“Warriors Graphic Novel Adaption: Does it Work?”
“Warriors Graphic Novel #2: Claws Out!”
SO PEAK YESS FINALLY GAY CATS THANK GOODDD!!! hopefully this means going forward they’ll start giving us some more representation, im still dying for a canon lesbian couple, even if its another one only implied by the authors!! big move, hopefully they keep it going and don’t just double back or something!!
I’d love a lesbian couple. We’ve yet to have one even implied or confirmed by the authors. But this would be an amazing step forward for the series!