Warrior Cats Arc 9 Name Announced

On May 6th, Warrior Cats announced the ninth series/arc name on their social media accounts (namely Instagram and TikTok). The announcement comes after a detail was teased about the series earlier this year: an “old friend” from the first series, The Prophecies Begin, will become important. Without further ado… the new arc will be called “Changing Skies.”

I have my own speculations about what this new arc could mean for the series, which I’ll talk about below. Spoilers for the series will be included!

warriorcatshubofficial writes: Last year, we announced the upcoming ninth series of Warrior Cats, and at the beginning of this year, we teased the importance of an old friend from the first series in the new arc. Today, we are excited to announce that the upcoming ninth series of Warriors has a series title – Changing Skies! Keep your eyes peeled for more info very soon… *orange cat emoji* *black cat emoji* #warriorcats #warriors #books #booktok #bookstagram #erinhunterbooks

Now, what could this mean? The first book for this arc isn’t set to release until January 7, 2025, though it is available for pre-order already. Book six of A Starless Clan, Star, isn’t even releasing until November of this year, so we really have no idea how they might proceed into the next arc. I hope the main problem of A Starless Clan, namely that RiverClan is struggling to have a true StarClan-appointed leader, continues into the next arc. The depth that the authors for Warriors have achieved for ASC has tantalized me, and I feel as though we haven’t had enough time with our protagonists Frostpaw, Sunbeam, and Nightheart. I’m hoping for a similar effect that happened with Power of Three to Omen of the Stars, where most of the POV characters stayed and one was replaced with two new. It simply doesn’t seem feasible that ASC could be wrapped up nicely, or satisfyingly, in a singular book. Frostpaw doesn’t even have her full name yet!

It’s also important to mention that Ivypool’s Heart, a Super Edition releasing September 3rd of this year, may have an impact on the new arc as well. Considering her Super Edition takes place either during A Starless Clan or between ASC and this new arc, I am hoping it’ll have implications for CS. Since most of the recent Super Editions have (for example, Crowfeather’s Trial or Squirrelflight’s Hope), it’s a good bet that Ivypool’s will.

Until fans can read and understand those two books, any predictions for Changing Skies are going to be based on hopes and dreams (and some logic following the series itself).

This brings me to my actual predictions, on what little information we already have. If CS is a continuation of ASC, I’m considering the fact that Frostpaw might eventually become leader in the ninth arc. My ideal end would either be for Spashtail to not be defeated or he is killed and Berryheart becomes Berrystar. I’m not exactly sure yet, but I feel like Frostpaw is being built up to become the perfect leader of RiverClan; however, she needs her full name for one, needs to stop being a medicine cat for another, and technically needs to have an apprentice to be eligible (though exceptions have been made in the past). This poses the problem that some other storyline or an expanded storyline will have to come up or the ninth arc could run in circles like A Vision of Shadows and The Broken Code did. 

Other than that, the only other thing my friends and I could come up with was the possibility of a closer look at StarClan. “Changing Skies” could be indicating a revolution or overhaul of StarClan, who live in the stars in the night sky. Or it could simply mean more turmoil for the warriors and their ancestors. It would be extremely neat to see a StarClan POV even, but I expect that is highly unlikely.

I do find myself wondering, with the slightest chance possible, if changing skies means the Clans will be moving once more, perhaps back to the old forest territories. It would make sense, considering an “old friend” would come from there. The only characters I can think of that they’d bring back from the very first arc would be Barley, Princess, Smudge, or Sasha. I’ve always wondered if the authors regret moving the Clans to the lake territories so soon, not realizing how long Warriors would be running. With how big the Clans have grown, I’d be curious to see if they intend to split them and send half (or less or more) of the Clans back to the forest. Sure, the Twolegs destroyed most of it, but WarriorClan sustains themselves on what’s left–though they do have kittypet food to go back to. I’d still be surprised if that’s what occurs.

One last thing I must mention. So far, all of the Warriors arcs have had three or more words to their titles. I find it neutrally intriguing that Changing Skies only has two, leading its shortened version to simply be CS. I think this might lend to some confusion in the fandom, especially given how close it is to ASC. However, I am excited at the meme prospects since CS can also be the shortened form of Computer Science. I expect to see some cats drawn studying Computer Science in the future.

Special shout-out to my Warriors family in the Clan of Sunlit Prairies, especially to Silk, for discussing and planting some of the ideas mentioned in the article!