Warriors: What If?

Tallstar

Question: What if Tallstar had become a tunneler?

If you haven't read Tallstar's Revenge, none of this will make sense.

Tallstar was going to be forced to become a tunneler by his father, but Heatherstar intervened and insisted that he become a moor runner, because that's where his talents really lie. Well, this would mean that he would've been the apprentice of a completely different cat, trained completely differently, and grown up to see his father in a completely different way.

Since the Warriors Wiki is mean and doesn't have the plot summary for Tallstar's Revenge, I had to find the allegience to see the tunnelers that were alive when Tallstar was born. Excluding his father, his mentor could've been Hickorynose, Plumclaw, or Woollytail. Now, since Woollytail is the only tom of those three, I'm going to assume that he would become Tallstar's mentor.

Now, because Tallstar never was named a moor runner, Sandgorse (his dad) was never angered by this. He would've enthusiastically bonded with his son and helped him train with Woollytail. With an extra set of paws and without the argurment between Tallpaw and Sandgorse, the gorse tunnel that led into the ravine would have never been canceled. 

Now, when the summer visitors came around, the gorse tunnel wouldn't have been off-limits, since the cats had been still working on it and improving the structure so that the flood didn't end up destroying it. Sandgorse would still go down their with Sparrow - maybe even Tallpaw as well - but the roof would never collapse, and Sandgorse wouldn't have died. 

This completely removes Tallstar's journey to get his revenge from the story. He would have never met Jake, who met Firestar's mother on the journey to find the rogues. This potentially means that Firestar couldn't have been born without this event. Tallstar never would've have tried to kill Sparrow, and he never would have grown up because of the event.

Because Tallstar is a tunneler and not a moor runner like Heatherstar, he would have never become the deputy of WindClan. The friendship between ThunderClan and WindClan would never be formed, so it could never be broken.

This brings up one final event - Hopkit. He is still born with a twisted paw, and because Talltail is a tunneler at the time, he still teaches him how to tunnel, which leads to Hopkit stepping on the stone and hurting his paw. The infection nearly kills him, but he is saved by the sweet-sedge. Now, Deadpaw (after his name is changed by Heatherstar) needs a mentor, but he is meant to be a moor runner, not a tunneler.

Or is he?

Because Talltail still feels a connection to the small tom, he still asks Heatherstar if he can mentor him, and Heatherstar would probably agree, thinking that his broken paw would make him unable to run. Deadpaw becomes a tunneler instead of a moor runner, and the tunnelers never die out in WindClan. Of course, because Talltail never becomes leader, Deadfoot never becomes the deputy either.

⌁ Rio