A just undersized cat, Sparrowclaw does not let his size get to him. In fact, he often takes pride in the fact that he is as skilled of a warrior as he is as he does not rely on sheet strength and muscle to win a battle. Though his smaller size might make outsiders think he'd be perfect prey for the hawks that plague RidgeClan's territory, it also makes him fantastic at hiding in the undergrowth before he's able to spring and take down hawks just as well as any other cat.

Sparrowclaw has brown tabby fur with a white chest, muzzle, legs and paws. Though his fur seems short, his double coat and his refusal to stop moving helps keep his blood moving in order to stay warm during leaf-bare. Simultaneously, he struggles with a permanent injury with one of his back legs. Though he can often get through most day-to-day duties and training, his leg will occasionally act up.

The most striking thing about Sparrowclaw is his eyes. They are a piercing amber colour, often dark and brooding. His constant expression and body language gives off the vibe of a cat you do not want to bother unless you have something important to talk about. Which, of course, is the way that Sparrowclaw prefers it, as he does not want to be bothered. His amber eyes have been known to (perhaps unintentionally) strike fear into an apprentice or kit as they do not ever carry a soft or gentleness to them. Unfortunately, this can also translate even into some warriors and cats closer to his own age, but he doesn't let it get to him too much. But it is sure to be known that most cats in RidgeClan would recognize those amber eyes in particular.

The first born of Sheepcloud and Clayhawk's litter was a single tom, before they had three more she-cats in a rather large litter of four. The four kits would be named Sparrowkit, Eaglekit, Ravenkit and Swankit.

Though Sparrowkit had been quite young, he greatly looked up to his father, Clayhawk. The tom was a fantastic hunter and an even stronger fighter, and even further he was greatly loyal to RidgeClan and held the warrior code close to his heart. It was clear that Clayhawk loved his family and would have done anything in order to defend them, which made his death all the more difficult on the young kit who, at the time, did not quite understand how his wounds could have gotten infected. He was a great asset to RidgeClan, but had he not worked hard enough for the medicine cat to work hard to make sure he would survive? What was the point of all he had done for his family if he were to die from something so simple?

Such thoughts festered poorly in a young mind, and made Sparrowkit begin to draw into himself. It made him feel almost bitter towards his Clanmates, though that wasn't entirely manifested as a kit. In fact, it would not manifest itself more thoroughly until Sparrowkit would get older.

As an apprentice, Sparrowpaw was assigned to a large tom by the name of Martenfang. He was brutal with the young cat, rarely holding back. Sparrowpaw would often get told that he would not be able to rely on the fact that his father was seen as a great warrior to get him a passing grade through his training. It frustrated him endlessly to hear this, not only because he hated the idea that other cats thought he might be riding on the coattails of his late father, but because if his father was so great, why was he not still alive? Every time Martenfang brought up Clayhawk, Sparrowpaw would double down on his training, more determined than ever to show that he would become a great asset to RidgeClan.

He wanted to prove that if he got injured, he would be worth saving before his wounds got infected.

While Sparrowpaw certainly cared for his remaining family members, he drew away from them more and more throughout his apprenticehood. He did not want to be seen as just one in the crowd, and he wanted to be seen independent from his father's deeds. Certainly though, he was not blind to the things he saw going on between Swanpaw and another apprentice by the name of Frostpaw, though it was not of concern to him. As far as he had become aware, unless someone was going to spar with him and help him improve his abilitues, they were not worth bothering with. This meant that most of his days he would wake up, train with Martenfang, perform his duties, and then train alone for the rest of the day until he was too tired to continue and close to passing out. Sparrowpaw would often push himself further than was likely healthy, but he did not care to listen to those who warned him that he was going to run himself into the ground. He simply wanted to be strong and prove his worth.

He could remember the day his warrior name was called: Sparrowclaw, for his strength and determination. He held his head high and with pride at the name, and could remember the approval he gained from Martenfang. His now former mentor promised the tom though that while his formal apprentice training was now over, that did not mean he was done training. If he was to continue to be a strong warrior, and portentially even continue until he was the greatest asset any Clan could have, he would need to alwys train until the day he met StarClan.

The first seasons of warriorhood went no different than Sparrowclaw's apprenticehood, though the only difference was that his training was not as closely monitored as it had been before. Now, his days consisted of waking up, figuring out which patrols he would be a part of, performing his duties, and spending any other waking moment training himself to become greater and stronger.

When leaf-bare hit soon, though, Sparrowclaw's incessant training finally caught up to him. When a chest infection began to rattle him, he tried to push through it, refusing to admit that anything was wrong with him. When he would visit the medicine cat's den for a solution and was met with "rest", he continued to resist and would only listen to solutions that included herbs in hopes that he could continue his duties. Yet, when other cats began to cough, he could feel some guilt. Instead of relenting and finally getting some rest, he instead spent more time out of camp so that others would not catch what he had.

Sparrowclaw managed to push through his bout of whitecough. His siter, Swanthroat, was not so lucky. Her whitecough turned to greencough, and Sparrowclaw had been out hunting when he returned to the news that she had succummed to her infection and passed. He tried to hide his pain of his sister's passing, especially whenever he heard someone say that she passed with her family and loved ones by her side, when reality was that Sparrowclaw had not even been in the camp when she died.

But Leaf-Bare turned to Newleaf, Newleaf turned to Greenleaf, and when Greenleaf arrived, Sparrowclaw would be given his first apprentice, a rather nervous and shy she-cat by the name of Rabbitpaw. Unfortunately, Sparrowclaw's insistence of how he went about life meant that perhaps mentoring wasn't something that would become his strongest suit - at least, not to a cat like Rabbitpaw. She was terribly timid and jumpy, much like the creature she'd been ironically named for. Whenever Sparrowclaw tried to work on battle training, she clearly seemed scared and intimidated by her mentor and had a difficult time learning under his tutelage. He found himself getting more and more frustrated, unsure of how a cat like Rabbitpaw was supposed to become an asset to RidgeClan if she was too afraid to get anywhere near her own mentor.

One evening, returning from his own patrol, Sparrowclaw witnessed Rabbitpaw outside the apprentice den with her friends, chatting and seemingly an entirely different cat. But when she caught the eye of her mentor, she immediately seemed to freeze up, scared to meet his gaze. The following day, Sparrowclaw tried a different tactic, instead finding a spot with his apprentice to simply relax. He did not force anything on her, and even apologized for his behaviour towards her. He said that they would not be expected to learn anything that day, except learn about one another, and learn that they were both members of RidgeClan. At the end of the day, when Sparrowclaw told Rabbitpaw that he would not tolerate her talking about him showing a "weaker side", she gave a light giggle and promised she would not say anything.

The rest of her training went on with a breeze as Sparrowclaw found new tactics, remembering that Rabbitpaw was more than just a future asset of RidgeClan, but a cat in her own right with her own skills. Though she would never become the greatest fighter of all time, she would be named Rabbitstep for her quick footing and dexterity.

Sparrowclaw continued to hold a spot soft for his first apprentice, even after receiving her warrior name. He continued to patrol with her, happy to have someone who was him as more than some grump. Alongside Rabbitstep, Sparrowclaw also began to spend more time with Froststone, the former mate of his late sister, Swanthroat. Both toms were rather grumpy cats, who usually spent time in solitude beside one another, or yelling at each other for not taking care of themselves. Sparrowclaw had figured that Froststone didn't want to spend any time with him, given that he often blamed himself for the death of Swanthroat and wasn't there when she died, but Froststone told him that her death was not his fault, and he didn't want to act like they were enemies simply for something that was out of their control.

Yet, a new cat was destined to become a part of his life. While at a Gathering, a MistClan cat by the name of Riversong had begun to almost pester him. At first, he was often quite rude to her, shooing her off or making grunts and huffs to try and show he wasn't interested, but she was insistent. While he managed to push her off for one Gathering, he couldn't push her off forever, and when she tried to approach him the following moon, he gave in the tiniest bit. With each passing Gathering, he found that he almost enjoyed hearing about how she was doing, and found himself growing a soft spot for her, though he also began to worry as their friendship formed the way he was feeling towards her - a way he'd never felt towards another cat before in his entire life. He found himself on patrols going out of his way to try and go near MistClan's borders, claiming he was only doing his duty to keep an eye out on MistClan as tensions grew, to find her there and spend time with her, and when she squeaked out asking if he would be her mate, he found himself stuttering an unexpected yes.

When Wolfstar called for the attack on MistClan, Sparrowclaw knew that he could not hold back. Though he was terrified about whether or not he would see Riversong, he knew he could not hold back. For his entire life, he had dedicated himself to his strength and loyalty to RidgeClan, and to proving that he was a cat worth something to his Clan. He just had to pray to StarClan that he would not meet her in battle.

Instead, the tom found himself side-by-side with his former apprentice, Rabbitstep. He knew her strengths and her flaws better than any other cat, and could, as such, make for a formidable partner in fighting. What he had not expected was during a fight with two MistClan cats, one of his opponents had dug their teeth deep into his back leg, causing it to bleed profusely. Though he did his best to stand beside Rabbitstep, the younger she-cat insisted that they needed to retreat, as much as he refused to give in. But before he could say another word, the tom passed out, and Rabbitstep managed to grab Froststone in order to help Sparrowclaw get out of the battle and back to RidgeClan where he could be cared for.

Things were tense when Sparrowclaw awoke, to find that Wolfstar had succumbed to his own injuries and Sootwhisker had selected Mushroomnose as the next leader of RidgeClan. There was a slight frustration in the young tom, as he had always wished for himself to one day become deputy and even become leader, but he worried that his injury would soon hold him back, and it would make other cats think he was no longer capable. On top of that, Sparrowclaw could feel himself worrying more and more as he thought back to his own father, who had died from an infected wound. Sparrowclaw had worked hard every day, pushing himself in hopes that he would be seen as someone worth saving should he get hurt. Though he was now much older and knew no cat would purposely let him die, there was still some voice in the back of his mind that worried.

Sparrowclaw became restless over the fact that he could not perform his regular duties and that he was being forced to take a break from his constant training and working on himself. Sadly, while it mostly healed, it still sometimes gives him trouble, to which Rabbitstep or Froststone will drag him back into care of the medicine cat to make sure he doesn't lose it altogether. While he still acts quite irritable to the cats around him, he will still show his thankfulness in odd ways.

When Sparrowclaw was finally able to return to his duties and see Riversong again, he was unsure how he felt when he found out that she would be expecting his kits. While he certainly should have seen such a thing coming, he found himself torn. In the aftermath of Wolfstar's death, he'd started to grow a bitterness towards MistClan, and begged Riversong to join RidgeClan instead so they could raise their kits together in one Clan. She refused his offer, and told him that she would call Hailstar the father in order to hide their cross-Clan relationship, but such a thing only made the tom grow more frustrated. Not only would his kits be raised in MistClan, and not only would another tom be taking the role of their father, it would be the leader of the very Clan they'd found themselves fighting against. Sparrowclaw had once looked up to his own father, and to think that his kits might not be able to do the same for him broke him.

When the kits were born, Sparrowclaw found himself even more restless to a point where he was ignoring when his injury was acting up. While he found himself compassionate in knowing that one of his kits was named Swankit, it frustrated him to know that he wouldn't watch his son grow up. When Froststone pulled him aside, he was forced to tell the tom the truth about his relationship with Riversong, though he forced his friend to keep everything quiet. The two discussed in private various ways that perhaps they could bring Sparrowclaw's kits to RidgeClan, where they belonged.

Pre-Plotting: Adopted from Absurdjinx's adoption ad for Riversong's mate and the father of her kits.

In the wake of the loss of Wolfstar, Sparrowclaw has grown stronger in his belief as a warrior of Mars, wanting to fight tooth and nail to protect RidgeClan and all it stands for.

Family: Since the death of Swanthroat, Sparrowclaw has a difficult time staying close with his family, but sees the birth of his kits as a potential way to rekindle his relationships. He once greatly looked up to his father, who died when Sparrowclaw was quite young, and wants to be a good influence to his own children. Seeing them growing up in MistClan is rough, and has started to make him grow more bitter than ever.

Friends: Sparrowclaw has always had a difficult time making friends due to his rather antisocial and sharp-tongued nature. He much prefers to spend his time alone, and even cats who from the outside might look like his "friends", he would likely never say the word aloud himself.

Romance: While in love with Riversong, Sparrowclaw admittedly has a difficult time thinking about it himself in the wake of Wolfstar's death. He has always been fiercely loyal to RidgeClan, and a growing bitterness towards MistClan on a whole makes him question where his feelings should be.

Rivals: Any rivals that Sparrowclaw might have are likely adversaries, those who he sees as strong cats who he wishes to become as good as, if not better. They are rarely true rivals, but cats who he simply wants to train alongside.