Choosing Warriors titles: what’s in a name?
EXCLUSIVE from the Story Team
BY THE STORY TEAM
The titles of the Warriors novels always tell a story. Working together, the series and book titles give readers an idea of what to expect—and, we hope, get them excited about the action to come. So readers may be surprised to learn that the titles are usually decided long after the book has been brainstormed and outlined, and often after the entire book has been written and edited. While we’re working on the books, the story team refers to them by series and book number—Hidden Moon, for example, was called Warriors 9.2, meaning Warriors series 9, Book 2. It’s usually when the cover is being finalized, and the book presented in launch meetings, that we receive an email from our editor at HarperCollins asking about the book’s title.
When we think about what to title a book, we try to keep several things in mind. The first, obviously, is what happens in the book, and how each of the plots moves the point of view (POV) characters forward. Is it a triumphant book—the end of the series, when (hopefully) the threat is defeated? Or is it a book where most of the POV characters are frustrated, feeling like their goals are out of reach? Also, we have to consider what’s going on in the wider Warriors universe: Is all well with StarClan? What’s changing in the world of the Clans? And will these changes be temporary challenges… or permanent? How can we hint at that with the title?
We also need to consider certain elements of the Warriors series that limit the sort of words we can use. The Clan cats are, well, cats. Even in books where the cats do encounter the human world or interact with humans in an unusual setting, we avoid covers that show humans and their Twoleg nonsense. The cats’ world is the natural world—and so many titles use features of nature to create a feeling or mood.
The story team has enjoyed coming up with the titles for Series 9 so far. The series title, Changing Skies, lets the reader know that big changes are coming to the Clans, most notably in the way they interact with StarClan. The first novel, The Elders’ Quest, was titled to honor Tawnypelt’s multi-Clan quest to figure out what the Twolegs have planned and how it will affect the Clans. But we also liked that it’s a callback to the first book in Series 6, The Apprentice’s Quest. In that book, so much hinged on whether the older cats would believe in young Alderpaw’s vision and take the steps necessary to follow StarClan’s advice. In Changing Skies, it’s the elders who feel they are not being listened to or respected. Leafstar is challenged by her Clan over her failing eyesight and a series of tragic mistakes. Tawnypelt struggles to make her leader and son, Tigerstar, take her concerns about the Twolegs seriously. The elders remember the Great Journey and how the Twolegs quickly destroyed their home in the forest, while younger cats insist that nothing like that will happen by the lake.
The title of book 2, Hidden Moon, refers to the Clans’ difficulty in reaching StarClan via the Moonpool. But we also chose it to hint at the struggles of one of the POV characters, Moonpaw, who tries in various ways to hide the voice she’s hearing from her Clanmates. Without giving too much away, Chasing Shadows, the title we recently chose for Book 3, felt appropriate for a book in which many of the POV characters are taking increasingly desperate actions that may or may not pay off. It also finds many of the older characters feeling nostalgic for past homes, regretful over past decisions they might have made differently, and longing for time with loved ones that may have been lost—remembering the shadows of their past.
Back when we were titling book 1 of series 8, we looked back at previous series titles and loved the linked titles of Series 2, The New Prophecy: Midnight, Moonrise, Dawn, Starlight, Twilight, and Sunset. We realized that we had the opportunity to do something similar with Series 8, which was about a major shakeup in one Clan that eventually caused serious problems in each of the other Clans. Book 1 clearly dealt with the murder mystery that caused a leadership crisis in RiverClan, so that book became A Starless Clan: River. Each subsequent book was named for the Clan having the most trouble in that particular story: Sky, Shadow, Thunder, Wind, and finally, Star.
Titles for the main series can follow any format and tend to “stick.” Once we’ve chosen a title, it rarely changes. Super Edition titles, on the other paw, are always “[Character]’s [Noun],” except for the rare Super that doesn’t follow one character. And while each Warriors character has a different journey, there are recurring themes: secrets, betrayal, mistakes, regrets. In order not to repeat words in the titles, we sometimes go through a few options before finding just the right one. Leopardstar’s Honor was briefly called Leopardstar’s Salvation, but we decided that title was hard to say and sounded a little too religious. Riverstar’s Home was called Riverstar’s Clan through the brainstorming process. Ivypool’s Heart was originally called Ivypool’s Grief or Ivypool’s Loss, but we felt that was too much of a downer for an ultimately hopeful book. And Darktail’s Judgment, which will come out in Fall 2026, was originally titled Darktail’s Retribution—until someone noted that that’s quite a mouthful, too. Now Darktail’s Judgment feels like the perfect title for the story of one of Warriors’ most destructive villains—and, as Hub editor Jordan pointed out, it’s a nice counterpart to Darktail’s father’s Super: Onestar’s Confession.
Between us, I was always half-expecting an email suggesting we retitle StormClan’s Folly to something more straightforward like StormClan’s Mistake. But I love that we’ve kept it! “Folly” is such a perfect word to describe the misplaced, love-soaked enthusiasm of StormClan’s star-crossed mates and leaders (and we can’t wait for you to read that one!).
Titles are only a tiny part of what makes a Warriors novel satisfying, but we love the feeling of matching just the right words to the story, and we hope that the titles have increased your love for some of these stories, too.
