"Do you think I'm mouse-brained? Tawnypelt can go, but [Flaxkit and Hopkit] are mine. Yarrowleaf will never see them again."
— Nettle taunting Rowanclaw in River of Fire, page 225

Nettle is a brown tabby tom[6] with long, spiky fur.[4]


In the A Vision of Shadows arc

Thunder and Shadow

When Violetkit has to take a message to Darktail's rogues alone, the rogue leader guesses that she is hungry and tired after she finds them, and he calls into the shadows to Nettle. The brown tabby pads out with a rabbit hanging from his jaws, and Silt follows with a squirrel. The cats eat the food but end up falling asleep, and when Violetkit wakes at dawn and alerts Darktail about her need to get back to her camp, he notes that it must be that the fine prey that Nettle and Silt caught for them made them sleepier than expected.
Moons later, after several young ShadowClan cats have joined Darktail's group, upon Rain's return to camp, he asks Roach how the ill Silt and Beenose are. Nettle, looking worried, noses his way out of the rowan bush where the sick cats are sheltering, and he answers that they are worse. The tabby explains that Beenose keeps coughing, and Silt's fever is rising. However, Rain has no concern for his ill campmates, and remarks that it's more prey for him. Violetkit reflects on how Nettle is the closest thing that the rogues had to a medicine cat, but that he still knows only a few herbs, and although he tried all of them on the sick cats, nothing had made them better.
That night, after Rain and Darktail have a fight which results in the former being half-blinded, Violetpaw hears the gray tom's moans as she tries to sleep, and she recalls how Nettle had been racing in and out of the camp all evening with herbs. Now, the brown tom crouches outside the patch of long grass where Rain and Needletail huddle together, but his eyes slowly close as sleep overwhelms him. Violetpaw decides to leave the rogues' group, and as she heads towards the camp exit, she pauses beside Nettle, who is now gently snoring, and strains to see past him through the grass.

Shattered Sky

Nettle fights in the battle for RiverClan's territory, and Violetpaw sees him and Roach close together, dealing vicious blows to some RiverClan cats that attack them.
Later on, Zelda comments that she doesn't like fish very much; Loki points out that some of the rogues really seemed to like fish, and he'd seen both Roach and Nettle fighting over one the previous day. She finishes that the rogues all left the bones and scraps scattered around the camp.
After Darktail forces a confession from Needletail for giving herbs away to Mothwing and Alderheart, he calls to Nettle and Roach to take her to the prisoners' den until she earns the right to be called Kin again. Darktail beckons with his tail to the rogues, who are squabbling over a fish, and they grab her by the shoulders, hauling her over to the thicket where the RiverClan prisoners are.
When a ThunderClan patrol returns to their camp, they explain that they had been attacked by Darktail's rogues. Rosepetal mentions that one of the rogues who she had thought was Nettle had yowled at the patrol after they had driven the Clan cats off, claiming that the Kin are coming for ThunderClan next, and it was only a matter of time.
While attempting to rescue Ratscar and Oakfur from the Kin, both Nettle and Cloverfoot are hunting, crouched low on a narrow strip of pebbles that separate the lake from the forest, focusing on a prey hole. Ratscar growls that they look like they're hunting, and Lionblaze and Sparkpelt comment that they could be there all night waiting for prey.
Violetpaw leads her hunting patrol back into the Kin's camp, and Loki, Scorchfur, and Nettle all drop their contributions onto the fresh-kill pile after her and grab some food for themselves and then pad off elsewhere to eat. He ends up bathing in a patch of sunlight with Roach and Raven afterward. Once Violetpaw has put poppy seeds in the prey of Darktail and his closest Kin cats, Darktail calls him, Roach, and Raven over to him and Violetpaw so they can all eat together, and they pad over to the leader.
Nettle and Zelda are the cats guarding the RiverClan prisoners and Needletail when Darktail approaches, having found out Violetpaw's plan to put poppy seeds in the prey of his closest cats. They both straighten up and look more alert as the rogue leader stalks toward the prisoners' den. Not long after, during another of the Clans' attempt to finally drive out the rogues once and for all, Alderheart spots Nettle and some of the other closest Kin cats in the fray, bewildered as to why they are still awake. Though the battle begins to wane as the Kin are slowly overwhelmed and outnumbered, Sleekwhisker, Roach, and Nettle still fight furiously against their attackers, until Darktail suddenly reappears and manages to call a retreat with his Kin fleeing after the white tom. After the battle, Reedwhisker explains to Bramblestar that Zelda and Nettle had been on guard when the fighting broke out, and Zelda had joined the Clan cats in the fight.
Again attempting off drive off the Kin, Hawkwing and Harespring attempt to help the WindClan leader in the fight, but Nettle appears and forces himself between them. His claws are unsheathed as he aims a blow against Harespring until Hawkwing defends the WindClan tom, furiously slashing his claws across the face of the rogue. Nettle screeches in alarm and backs off from the onslaught.
He participates in the final clash of the Clans and the Kin. With the plan of SkyClan beginning to work, Nettle wrenches himself away from his scuffle with Tigerheart and flees up the slope, yowling. Before he can reach the brambles, Hawkwing leaps out of the tree he is hiding in and lands in front of the rogue, causing the brown tabby to let out a screech of shock and fear as he attempts to escape. Hawkwing is too fast for Nettle and lands squarely on his back, his claws digging into Nettle's shoulders.

River of Fire

When SkyClan questions Yarrowleaf about her kits, she says that their father is Nettle, but she left when she realized she wanted her kits to grow up in ShadowClan.
Later, when Hopkit and Flaxkit go missing and SkyClan searches for them, Nettle, along with Tawnypelt, Raven, Jacques, and Susan are at a pool along with the two kits. When Flaxkit tries to run to Yarrowleaf, Nettle carelessly bats his kit away and knocks Flaxkit to the ground. Yarrowleaf then bolts to her kits and Nettle announces that they are his kits, and they are staying with him; Violetshine wonders how Yarrowleaf could mate with such an obnoxious tom. An argument breaks out between the two sides and Sleekwhisker threatens to kill Hopkit and Flaxkit. Yarrowleaf screams and tries to gather her kits closer but Nettle thrusts her away and blocks them from every cat.
Nettle stands silently before turning to Rowanclaw and saying that there is one thing he could do, which is to accept his life for Tawnypelt's.
After Rowanclaw agrees to sacrifice himself for Tawnypelt and the kits, Nettle taunts him by saying the kits are his, and Yarrowleaf will never see them again. After a plan is made by Rowanclaw, he leaps up at Nettle as Tawnypelt and Yarrowleaf grab Hopkit and Flaxkit and run off. Sleekwhisker joins in the fight between her former leader and the brown tabby rogue. Some time during the battle with Rowanclaw, Nettle is killed, and his body lies half submerged in a pool of water, blood staining the water red.

Killed victims

This list shows the victims Nettle has killed:




Yarrowleaf:[7] (formerly) Living (As of The Silent Thaw)


Flaxfoot:[1] Living (As of The Silent Thaw)


Hopwhisker:[1] Living (As of The Silent Thaw)


Yarrowleaf ♀Nettle ♂
Flaxfoot ♂Hopwhisker ♀

    = Male

    = Female

    = Gender Unknown


"Nettle was the closest the rogues had to a medicine cat. But the brown tabby only knew a few herbs. He'd tried them all on the sick cats, but nothing had made them better."
—Narrator about Nettle Thunder and Shadow, page 205

External links

Notes and references

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Revealed in River of Fire, chapter 17
  2. Revealed in Thunder and Shadow, page 356
  3. Revealed in Thunder and Shadow, page 152
  4. 4.0 4.1 Revealed in Shattered Sky, allegiances
  5. 5.0 5.1 Revealed in River of Fire, chapter 15
  6. 6.0 6.1 Revealed in Thunder and Shadow, chapter 8
  7. Revealed in River of Fire, chapter 5
Noimage Kin cats
Leader Darktail
Members RainRavenNettleRoachDragonflyFlameSiltThistle
ShadowClan defectors NeedletailJuniperclawSleekwhiskerVioletshineBerryheartCloverfootBeenoseSparrowtailMistcloudBusterBirchbarkLioneyeSlatefurPuddleshineStrikestoneDawnpeltStonewingGrassheartWhorlpeltSnaketoothFlowerstemSnowbirdScorchfurYarrowleafConefootFrondwhiskerGullswoopRatscarOakfurPinenoseSpikefur
Kittypet recruits MaxZeldaLoki
RiverClan prisoners ReedwhiskerMintfurIcewingBrackenpelt