August 11, 2019
This section highlights the use of supernatural powers in canon and in fanfictions. It also goes over good ways to use powers and how they can be used incorrectly or suboptimally.
Before reading this section know that I, Tyto, am against the use of confirmed supernatural powers in my fanfics (by 'confirmed' I mean powers that are not up to interpretation, superstition, or belief). In my opinion, powers trivializes many of the problems certain characters face and adds unnecessary power creep to the canon world. But just because I think they are bad does not mean they are. That being said, many Warriors fanfic writers choose to use powers, secret fighting techniques, or the like. They are not as ubiquitous as prophecies, which are seen in nearly every single story, but they are common enough to be a major element of the fanfic community. Unfortunately, powers tend to be very hit-and-miss, even in canon.
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POWERS IN CANON WARRIORS
We start with the first arc, The Prophecies Begin. Here, there is only one supernatural power: nine lives given to leaders by StarClan (one could argue that omens granted to medicine cats count, but for me it does not). No one else had anything. It allowed them to shoehorn in a good deal of filler about how leaders lost lives and why they might be on their last ones, but it was a very sparing use of power. It was not without its flaws, however. During Firestar's fight with Scourge, we knew Scourge had lost when Firestar's next life kicked in. That was the point, of course, but much of the suspense of the fight was removed because we have seen this in action before. No character should have been upset when he was killed during the fight. Even the readers knew at this point. Unfortunately, it goes from good to bad in the very next arc.
While the list of powers in canon is not very long, they shake up the distribution of power greatly throughout the story, at the same time contributing very little themselves. This list of powers includes things like the ability to walk through dreams, invincibility in battle (a horseshit power), ultrafine hearing, predicting the future, and spiritual connection. The power creep (pun intended) started in The Power of Three and never went away until A Vision of Shadows. It snowballed pretty far out of control, to some mixed opinions. Nonetheless, the community loved them.
Why all of this, though? In Omen of the Stars, the final arc of the original books, StarClan cats are literally among the living fighting Dark Forest cats, who are doing the same thing. There are several other powers added in. But none of that really means anything. Many power additions do not help Firestar kill Tigerstar, so it made many of these additions feel hollow. Argue all you want. Lionblaze's invincibility did not do one damn thing for Firestar. It was partly the fans. Fanfiction had been using powers longer than the Erins, so they figured adding them to canon would satisfy them. And it did. There is another literary reason. The main premise of Warriors was so limiting that they had to add a major plot device to keep things interesting. I have largely debunked this throughout the guide, as there are plenty of ways to make Warriors appealing without relying on such plot devices. But the Erins did none of that (I am not saying I am better than them).
Worse yet, it all disappears in A Vision of Shadows, and we are to practically pretend that StarClan goes back to staying in Silverpelt and invincibility does not exist. The Erins really dropped the ball on this plot device. It makes sense that powers are used incoherently in fanfics as well.
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POWERS IN FANFICTIONS
To start, I will list powers I have seen from skimming through fanfiction on both Wattpad and DeviantArt. None of these powers are from spoofs, crossovers, alternate universes, or satire. All have been taken from fanfics with intent to write serious, like the canon stories:
- moving at impossible speeds / short range teleportation
- healing any injury with love or other positive emotions
- injuring other cats out of hatred or other negative emotions
- invisibility / supernatural obscurity * *
- conjure shields / force fields for self or others * *
- flight * *
- travel in the realms of Silverpelt or the Dark Forest * *
- reincarnation / rebirth
- secrete poison / poisonous blood
- supernatural strength * *
- shape-shifting
- seduce any cat romantically (always given to females)
- conjuring / reflecting light with eyes to hinder opponents (yeah, that is a thing)
This is not every example I found, just the ones I found at least twice. The ones with * * next to them are by far the most popular powers I have seen. Some of them are even in canon now. Surprisingly, fight is very popular in this fandom. Traveling to Silverpelt is unsurprisingly popular (screw you, Jayfeather).
Nonetheless, I have spotted a big problem with these. In the context of the Warriors universe, these abilities are overpowered. Many of the abilities in canon are overpowered, too. This is not because the characters are weak, but because they are cats. Cats can only do so much, so give one the ability to never be injured in battle and you have a pretty big power spike for the universe's power level. Even the first and most basic power, the nine lives for leaders, was pretty strong. Firestar would have lost to Scourge in a fair fight, and that would have been the end of the plot.
How is this simple nine lives power balanced? Every leader has it, so long as they believe in StarClan. In general, the only way to balance these supernatural powers is to give equal or greater power to the antagonist(s). If that is not done, the protagonist (and by extension the audience) has little to fear in terms of failure. But sometimes it is not as simple as giving both friend and foe the same powers. Think about how many powered cats ThunderClan had. Now think about ThunderClan, and how it is the most popular clan, the most powerful clan, the 'main' clan. And not just because our protagonists are there. No other clan has nearly as many cats with powers as ThunderClan has. They are heavily favored. They are overpowered. It makes for predictable subplots (or even main plots) in canon and the ThunderClan-like clans in fanfics are not much better about this in regards to using powers. If a cat cannot be hurt in battle, their actions can be justifiably reckless. If a cat can walk in Silverpelt whenever they want, they would be wise to all potential threats and troubles. These powers are not very well conceived because giving an opponent equal invincibility or premonitions does not enhance our narrative, like a plot device should (think about a protagonist and antagonist with invincibility).
So looking at the powers on the list and what I just said, why even use them? And how would they be best balanced in our fanfics?
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WHAT, HOW, AND WHY POWERS?
So we want to avoid problems that canon has with power creep, and we want our main character to have a cool supernatural power. But with how destructive they can be from a literary standpoint, why use them? And why is it that much of the fandom uses them poorly, too? The Erins dropped the ball with powers, but you do not have to.
We are writing a nonexistent fanfiction starring our nonexistent protagonist, Catclaw. Our story is pretty typical for a Warriors fanfic: clan with a reckless leader, 'bad guy' antagonist, a romantic subplot, and a prophecy from StarClan to kick things off. But we want to add powers to the story.
We first need to ask what power we want. And, in this case, we choose force fields. A force field is not just a bubble shield that protects our Catclaw from harm... at least, it does not have to be. Our power does not have to conform to the general description of what we want. A force field, therefore, does not just have to be a simple shield. It can be. Or we can go a bit more realistic with it (force fields are real concepts in physics, by the way). We could use them in a more scientific way, making them repel the force of an incoming object rather than block it. We can force our protagonist to project it under their own power rather than simply have it activate on its own. We can make the field permanent so that no one, friend or foe, can approach. Or we can go full fiction with it and have our cat shooting kinetic blasts from their paws. So long as you explain the rules somehow, almost anything that makes sense in the world could be a power. This makes choosing a power much more difficult because it really opens up our choices, but it makes our choice malleable. If we do not like how it works, we can simply modify it. Many writers in general forget this when using plot devices.
That takes us to how we will go about adding force fields to our Catclaw, from a literary standpoint. As in, how can we keep our power balanced or prevent it from making our protagonist into the second coming of Lionblaze. There are a few things we can do. First, we can decide how strong we want our power. If Catclaw can project force fields, do we want her to be able to shoot kinetic blasts from her paws, cast a shield around herself and allies, or do we want her to just limit the power of objects and attacks coming towards her? There are many options, but we want our power to be balanced in the context of our universe. A good place to start for balance would be to give our protagonist and antagonist, who or whatever that may be, similar power. If our antagonist has no supernatural powers, then maybe they will have far greater numbers or be smarter than our protagonist. If it is a force of nature, perhaps it is something that could not be paw-waved away by our powers. It is all about finding ways to keep our power interesting without killing suspense or surprise. Finally, we can always give our power weaknesses and drawbacks to using. Our Catclaw could spend a great deal of energy for just momentary use of her force field. Maybe it requires an emotional outburst or a collected mind to control. Perhaps her force field is not strong enough to work on really large cats. If you decide to add a weakness or drawback, it should be something believable and warranted. Something that prevents the reader from rolling their eyes when the solution to a plot point suddenly becomes unusable.
Before our Catclaw's powers can be decided, along with their strengths, weaknesses, and rules, we must ask ourselves why we want them there in the first place; what is our fanfic missing that powers add? We must justify the use of a plot device that will have such a large impact on our story. Using our nonexistent fanfic as an example, we can use them to shake up the usual formula fanfics follow. We did say it was a run-of-the-mill story, so what if the powers served to alter how events in the story happened? Our powers could come with no warning from StarClan, or they could be difficult to control. They could also alter our character. What if Catclaw's powers stemmed from emotions? At one point, I said her force field could be passive and keep everything away from her. Perhaps that passive use of her power comes from a poor upbringing or a tragic event?
That is enough theorycrafting for now. The why for you is the most important. Why would you give your characters supernatural powers in your fanfic? The Erins added powers into canon after The Prophecies Begin because the community really latched onto the nine lives for leaders idea. They must have felt canon was missing or underutilizing something and sought to add it in via fanfics. In other sections, I have said I think it was complexity that Warriors was missing. Maybe fans attempted to add that by throwing another plot device into the mix. More realistically, they just liked the idea of a main character running through some cat's dreams or reincarnating after death for its wow factor alone. Do you want to represent an idea or concept with a tangible plot device (symbolism)? I have seen some writers do this with good and evil characters. Maybe a more fantastical cat story appeals to you and Warriors did not provide that. Whatever your reason for adding powers, you just need a reason. Even the wow factor counts. This is not a mandatory plot device, as proven by the first canon arc. Do not feel obligated to add it just because they are prevalent elsewhere.
There are many ways to add, balance, and adjust powers for our needs. If fanfic writers can explain flight and force fields, you should have no problem with things like dream walking and invisibility.
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IN CONCLUSION...
Now you know that powers are just another plot device. Albeit, one that is not used very well in our source material. Fanfics certainly get crazier with their use of powers over canon, but they vary in how well they are utilized. Most poor use cases stem from thinking like the Erins did early into the series: too rigidly. With the right amount of tweaking, you can tune any power to be exactly what you want it to be. As long as it makes sense in your story and has a reason for being there in the first place, you are good to go.
I might not like powers, but many of you do. Manipulate them well and they can add rather than detract from your fanfic.
- Tyto