So I was bored an did a thing (slight RS spoilers)
Sept 29, 2018 13:10:23 GMT -5
*Faith*, Moonblazer, and 7 more like this
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2018 13:10:23 GMT -5
(added a spoiler tag just for good measure as this thread does have slight spoilers but only in one specific section that I marked)
Which was estimating ThunderClan's population over time from Goosefeather's Curse till River of Fire. I was thinking about doing it from Pinestar's Choice, but I felt that there was too much time going by and not enough information to within it to come to a solid conclusion.
And I'm just going to give the obvious disclaimer that there will be mistakes in this. I finished it at 2 am last night, and despite triple checking everything I'm bound to get things wrong. Not only that but there are things I know for sure I've gotten wrong due to some inconsistency in the series or another- such as Speckletail having a bunch of mysterious kits who disappear around Into the Wild and Fire and Ice, but they are too old to be Snowkit's siblings so I excluded them altogether, or the confusion around exactly when all the characters in BP who are not in Into the Wild died- and several more. But welp, I tried my best and I think this is at the very least similar to what the actual graph would look like.
But yeah along with the data I'm also going to say some insights I realized while gathering the information, that I hadn't realized before.
Now, for the insights:
ThunderClan's population hasn't been "too big", at least not for very long
Sure, compared to ThunderClan in TPB and TNP, ThunderClan nearly doubled in population by OOTS and AVOS. But they were nearly that big back in Bluestar's Prophecy, and it wasn't really a big deal then- of course, until a famine hit the clan and suddenly the large population couldn't sustain itself (at least that's what we assume). Clans are used to kits dying during a prey shortage but not only kits died but also a bunch of grown warriors. While this could have been unintentional, Darkstripe and Longtail being the only new warriors in approximately a year and a half could be a testament of that famine. But anyways, my point it ThunderClan throughout OOTS and AVOS really only had on average around 5 more cats than they did back when Bluestar was a warrior.
And why was that? Well nothing special, basic laws of population growth. In BP more kits were being born and surviving to adulthood than cats dying- we saw Sweetpaw, Moonflower, Snowfur, and several elders die but they replaced them and even exceeded them just as quickly. Then after BP during the timeskip between it and Into the Wild, the reverse happened- more cats were dying than were being born/surviving, and the population dropped. During the original series while lots of cats were born/joined the clan around an equal amount died/left, so the population remained stable. After the battle with BloodClan they initially started an upward trend towards a population boom but it was struck down by the forest being destroyed. Ultimately they moved to the lake and after the initial struggle of dealing with the badgers they burst in population again before stabilizing around 36/37 members.
Ok slight spoilers for Raging Storm here:
The saying that "too many young cats are killed off now and not enough older cats" is true, but a bit overexaggerated or at least doesn't gage context
First I will say that while gathering this data I definitely felt a difference between the older and newer series in which cats died- especially with the original series. I helped keep track by having a word doc open with a rough allegiances of the characters over time and naturally the older characters kept being bumped up to the top until I'd cross them out and more would be brought to the top. Redtail, Lionheart, and Spottedleaf would die, Firestar and Graystripe would become warriors, Runningwind and Brindleface would die and Dustpelt and Sandstorm would move up. Whitestorm and Bluestar would die and Brackenfur and Cloudtail would move up- and on and on and it felt like the younger cats were moving up in the ranks a lot earlier.
However all these older characters dying wasn't "normal" now that I look back on it. Lionheart, Redtail, Rosetail, and Spottedleaf were murdered. Tigerstar and Darkstripe were exiled. Runningwind and Brindleface were murdered, Graystripe left the clan for a while, and basically all the brand new warriors were shoved up into prominent positions as quickly as they learned how to fight because so many of their older warriors were wiped out. Sure one or two of them might have died to more normal situations like greencough or a fire, but not to that extreme. Having a bunch of older warriors actually is normal- at least, in a warriors series where murderers don't roam the forest on a daily basis. In a world where the main and most common dangers are natural/involve people or involve causal skirmishes having "too big" of a clan is actually expected.
Now skipping ahead to the current debate about cats still being around who are too old and need to be killed off, I don't think they should be killed off because they are too old necessarily- looking at Bluestar's Prophecy if the famine hadn't happened who knows how long they could have lived. While it could have been an inconsistency, author error, or both, if Vicky's timeline (which I'm aware of is rather debatable) matches with the allegiances of PC, Windflight could have been as old as 7 years old by Bluestar's Prophecy- possibly making him around 10 years old when he retires yet potentially around 13 or even 14 when he dies. Sure it's still younger than a lot of ThunderClan cats right now but it shows that it's possible if you give them the chance- and he did, at least according to my own speculations. And more of them could have had food supply been better.
All in all, it's not a matter of how many old cats are dying or how many young cats are dying but the circumstances by which they are. In Bluestar's Prophecy a lot of cats were born in a short period of time but once the clan grew large the clan started having fewer kits until the population stabilized for a short time. The problem in the newer books is that even with a large population lots of kits were still being born- surviving to adulthood because kithood mortality is at an all-time-low since they've moved to the lake and because life has been relatively peaceful at the lake for ThunderClan compared to Tigerstar and BloodClan's atrocities and the destruction of the forest, warriors are living to older and older ages and all the new warriors are swelling their numbers. We'll never know truly why, but potentially a combination of the editors not wanting to let go of the older characters as quickly and no longer wanting kits to die off so often, they end up with a surplus amount of young warriors that they don't have enough personalities for- resulting in the next insight below.
Offscreen deaths did happen in the earlier series as well, but it's true that they made a clear shift from one target demographic to another
One of the reasons I had to recheck and edit the graph was that I didn't realize/forgot that there were cats that died offscreen in the earlier series that I hadn't realized before. Smallear died between The Darkest Hour and Firestar's Quest, One-eye died between Firestar's Quest and Midnight, and Goldenflower died between Sunset and The Sight. And looking back they were pretty significant characters- Smallear being the superstitious tradition freak who bullied Tawnypelt, One-eye being the kind and caring peacemaker who gave Firestar advice from time to time and kept the other elders in check, and Goldenflower who tried her best to protect her kits from ThunderClan's judgment and was also a diligent warrior when she was needed. And poof, they were gone without a single mention of them ever again. Sound familiar?
But things definitely did change that people didn't like as much- originally the only offscreen deaths were elders, which people might not have minded so much because it's assumed that they just passed away of old age, and from what if feels like with the fans that's an acceptable death to "skip" and not worry about much. However the infamous death by a falling tree branch before The Sight started a new trend that became the systematic way to deal with trying to keep down ThunderClan's population without killing off too many older characters, allowing the clan to keep having as many litters as they wanted, keep kit mortality low and yet in the midst of it all keep the clan from growing exponentially- the natural result of this situation if there were no offscreen deaths of younger warriors.
And thinking about it my hypothesis for why this situation happened is because having all those litters born was necessary for the plot. Daisy and her kits joined the clan because of ThunderClan's desperation to recover fast and ultimately to drive more "don't judge me because of my roots" plot. Poppyfrost needed to be expecting kits in order to propel the Berrynose-getting-over-Honeyfern-plot and give a reason for Jayfeather to go to the moonpool and encounter Breezepelt. Graystripe had brought back to ThunderClan his new mate so of course they had a litter. Daisy had her litter with Spiderleg as a random filler plot to have that kind of relationship in the series for the first time and also to give Jayfeather more hints that Leafpool was hiding something. So at least from my perspective it's easy to see why the editors didn't just say "well ThunderClan's big enough now let's focus on the main characters" like they did with Bluestar but obvious or not all those litters were, hate to say it, plot devices to me.
--
That's all the insights I can think of right now but yeah, what do you all think? I might come up with more insights later.
Which was estimating ThunderClan's population over time from Goosefeather's Curse till River of Fire. I was thinking about doing it from Pinestar's Choice, but I felt that there was too much time going by and not enough information to within it to come to a solid conclusion.
And I'm just going to give the obvious disclaimer that there will be mistakes in this. I finished it at 2 am last night, and despite triple checking everything I'm bound to get things wrong. Not only that but there are things I know for sure I've gotten wrong due to some inconsistency in the series or another- such as Speckletail having a bunch of mysterious kits who disappear around Into the Wild and Fire and Ice, but they are too old to be Snowkit's siblings so I excluded them altogether, or the confusion around exactly when all the characters in BP who are not in Into the Wild died- and several more. But welp, I tried my best and I think this is at the very least similar to what the actual graph would look like.
But yeah along with the data I'm also going to say some insights I realized while gathering the information, that I hadn't realized before.
28 - Goosefeather and Moonflower are born
30 - Sunstar and Featherwhisker are born
30 - Speckletail, One-eye, Dappletail, Tawnyspots, and Thrushpelt are born, Harepounce, Flashnose, Stagleap, Hollypelt, and Nettlebreeze die
29 - Doestar dies
25 - Stonepelt, Halftail, Robinwing, Fuzzypelt, Leopardfoot, and Patchpelt are born, Rooktail, Squirrelwhisker, Rainfur, Littlestep, Rockfall, Daisytoe, Fallowsong, Heronwing, Rabbittail, and Mistpelt die
27 - Bluestar and Snowfur are born
32 - Thistleclaw, Rosetail, Sweetpaw, Lionheart, and Goldenflower are born
31 - Moonflower dies
33 - Tigerstar, Nightkit, Mistkit, Whitestorm, Frostfur, and Brindleface are born and Nightkit, Mistkit, and Sweetpaw die, Pinestar leaves
35 - Spottedleaf, Redtail, and Willowpelt are born and Snowfur dies
35 - Runningwind and Mousefur are born, Weedwhisker and Mumblefoot die
34 - Tawnyspots dies
33 - Larksong dies
34 - Darkstripe is born
35 - Longtail is born
33- Goosefeather and Sunstar die
32 - Featherwhisker dies
30 - Stonepelt and Leopardfoot die
26 - Stormtail, Swiftbreeze, Poppydawn, and Thrushpelt die
25 - Thistleclaw dies
29 - Dustpelt, Ravenpaw, Sandstorm and Graystripe are born
27 - Adderfang and Windflight die
25 - Robinwing and Fuzzypelt die
26 - Swiftpaw is born
30 - Brackenfur, Cinderpelt, Thornclaw, Brightheart are born, Redtail dies, and Firestar joins the clan
30 - Ferncloud, Ashfur, and their surviving sibling are born, Lionheart, Spottedleaf, and Rosetail die, Ravenpaw leaves the clan and Yellowfang joins the clan
31 - Cloudtail joins the clan, Snowkit is born and Brindleface's third kit dies
31 - Bramblestar and Tawnypelt are born and Tigerstar and Graystripe leave
30 - Sorreltail, Sootfur, and Rainwhisker are born, Runningwind, Yellowfang, Patchpelt, and Halftail die
29 - Swiftpaw and Snowkit die and Graystripe returns
24 - Brindleface, Bluestar, Whitestorm, and Darkstripe die, Tawnypelt leaves
25 - Spiderleg and Shrewpaw are born, Smallear dies
24 - One-eye dies
24 - Whitewing is born, Willowpelt dies
26 - Squirrelflight and Leafpool are born
27 - Birchfall, Hollykit, and Larchkit are born, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar leave
25 - Hollykit, Larchkit, Shrewpaw, and Dappletail die, Bramblestar and Squirrelflight return
22 - Graystripe is lost and Frostfur and Speckletail leave
29 - Purdy, Daisy, Berrynose, Mousewhisker, and Hazeltail join, Honeyfern, Cinderheart, Poppyfrost, and Molepaw are born, and Cinderpelt and Sootfur die
27 - Goldenflower and Rainwhisker die
29 - Stormfur and Brook join
32 - Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf are born
35 - Icecloud and Foxleap are born, Graystripe returns with Millie, and Molepaw dies
37 - Toadstep and Rosepetal are born
35 - Stormfur and Brook leave
37 - Briarlight, Bumblestripe and Blossomfall are born, Ashfur dies
37 - Dovewing and Ivypool are born, Honeyfern dies and Hollyleaf is lost
36 - Longtail dies
39 - Lilyheart and Seedpaw are born and Hollyleaf returns
36 - Ambermoon, Dewnose, and Snowbush are born, Firestar, Ferncloud, Foxleap, Hollyleaf, Mousefur, and Sorreltail die
34 - Hazeltail, Icecloud, and Toadstep die, Stormheart joins
35 - Hollytuft, Sorrelstripe, and Fernsong are born, Seedpaw and Dustpelt die
34 - Spiderleg disappears
37 - Alderheart, Sparkpelt, Juniperkit, and Dandelionkit were born, Juniperkit died
36 - Dandelionkit died
36 - Twigbranch joins and Sandstorm dies
39 - Eaglepaw, Plumpaw, Shellpaw and Stempaw are born, Purdy dies
43 - Flipkit, Thriftkit, Bristlekit, Snapkit, Flykit, and Spotkit are born, Briarlight and Snowbush die, Dovewing leaves and Finleap joins
30 - Sunstar and Featherwhisker are born
30 - Speckletail, One-eye, Dappletail, Tawnyspots, and Thrushpelt are born, Harepounce, Flashnose, Stagleap, Hollypelt, and Nettlebreeze die
29 - Doestar dies
25 - Stonepelt, Halftail, Robinwing, Fuzzypelt, Leopardfoot, and Patchpelt are born, Rooktail, Squirrelwhisker, Rainfur, Littlestep, Rockfall, Daisytoe, Fallowsong, Heronwing, Rabbittail, and Mistpelt die
27 - Bluestar and Snowfur are born
32 - Thistleclaw, Rosetail, Sweetpaw, Lionheart, and Goldenflower are born
31 - Moonflower dies
33 - Tigerstar, Nightkit, Mistkit, Whitestorm, Frostfur, and Brindleface are born and Nightkit, Mistkit, and Sweetpaw die, Pinestar leaves
35 - Spottedleaf, Redtail, and Willowpelt are born and Snowfur dies
35 - Runningwind and Mousefur are born, Weedwhisker and Mumblefoot die
34 - Tawnyspots dies
33 - Larksong dies
34 - Darkstripe is born
35 - Longtail is born
33- Goosefeather and Sunstar die
32 - Featherwhisker dies
30 - Stonepelt and Leopardfoot die
26 - Stormtail, Swiftbreeze, Poppydawn, and Thrushpelt die
25 - Thistleclaw dies
29 - Dustpelt, Ravenpaw, Sandstorm and Graystripe are born
27 - Adderfang and Windflight die
25 - Robinwing and Fuzzypelt die
26 - Swiftpaw is born
30 - Brackenfur, Cinderpelt, Thornclaw, Brightheart are born, Redtail dies, and Firestar joins the clan
30 - Ferncloud, Ashfur, and their surviving sibling are born, Lionheart, Spottedleaf, and Rosetail die, Ravenpaw leaves the clan and Yellowfang joins the clan
31 - Cloudtail joins the clan, Snowkit is born and Brindleface's third kit dies
31 - Bramblestar and Tawnypelt are born and Tigerstar and Graystripe leave
30 - Sorreltail, Sootfur, and Rainwhisker are born, Runningwind, Yellowfang, Patchpelt, and Halftail die
29 - Swiftpaw and Snowkit die and Graystripe returns
24 - Brindleface, Bluestar, Whitestorm, and Darkstripe die, Tawnypelt leaves
25 - Spiderleg and Shrewpaw are born, Smallear dies
24 - One-eye dies
24 - Whitewing is born, Willowpelt dies
26 - Squirrelflight and Leafpool are born
27 - Birchfall, Hollykit, and Larchkit are born, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar leave
25 - Hollykit, Larchkit, Shrewpaw, and Dappletail die, Bramblestar and Squirrelflight return
22 - Graystripe is lost and Frostfur and Speckletail leave
29 - Purdy, Daisy, Berrynose, Mousewhisker, and Hazeltail join, Honeyfern, Cinderheart, Poppyfrost, and Molepaw are born, and Cinderpelt and Sootfur die
27 - Goldenflower and Rainwhisker die
29 - Stormfur and Brook join
32 - Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf are born
35 - Icecloud and Foxleap are born, Graystripe returns with Millie, and Molepaw dies
37 - Toadstep and Rosepetal are born
35 - Stormfur and Brook leave
37 - Briarlight, Bumblestripe and Blossomfall are born, Ashfur dies
37 - Dovewing and Ivypool are born, Honeyfern dies and Hollyleaf is lost
36 - Longtail dies
39 - Lilyheart and Seedpaw are born and Hollyleaf returns
36 - Ambermoon, Dewnose, and Snowbush are born, Firestar, Ferncloud, Foxleap, Hollyleaf, Mousefur, and Sorreltail die
34 - Hazeltail, Icecloud, and Toadstep die, Stormheart joins
35 - Hollytuft, Sorrelstripe, and Fernsong are born, Seedpaw and Dustpelt die
34 - Spiderleg disappears
37 - Alderheart, Sparkpelt, Juniperkit, and Dandelionkit were born, Juniperkit died
36 - Dandelionkit died
36 - Twigbranch joins and Sandstorm dies
39 - Eaglepaw, Plumpaw, Shellpaw and Stempaw are born, Purdy dies
43 - Flipkit, Thriftkit, Bristlekit, Snapkit, Flykit, and Spotkit are born, Briarlight and Snowbush die, Dovewing leaves and Finleap joins
Now, for the insights:
ThunderClan's population hasn't been "too big", at least not for very long
Sure, compared to ThunderClan in TPB and TNP, ThunderClan nearly doubled in population by OOTS and AVOS. But they were nearly that big back in Bluestar's Prophecy, and it wasn't really a big deal then- of course, until a famine hit the clan and suddenly the large population couldn't sustain itself (at least that's what we assume). Clans are used to kits dying during a prey shortage but not only kits died but also a bunch of grown warriors. While this could have been unintentional, Darkstripe and Longtail being the only new warriors in approximately a year and a half could be a testament of that famine. But anyways, my point it ThunderClan throughout OOTS and AVOS really only had on average around 5 more cats than they did back when Bluestar was a warrior.
And why was that? Well nothing special, basic laws of population growth. In BP more kits were being born and surviving to adulthood than cats dying- we saw Sweetpaw, Moonflower, Snowfur, and several elders die but they replaced them and even exceeded them just as quickly. Then after BP during the timeskip between it and Into the Wild, the reverse happened- more cats were dying than were being born/surviving, and the population dropped. During the original series while lots of cats were born/joined the clan around an equal amount died/left, so the population remained stable. After the battle with BloodClan they initially started an upward trend towards a population boom but it was struck down by the forest being destroyed. Ultimately they moved to the lake and after the initial struggle of dealing with the badgers they burst in population again before stabilizing around 36/37 members.
Ok slight spoilers for Raging Storm here:
Now, about the future. Of course one might look at the spike to over 40 clan members and freak out but I think it's more debatable- for two reasons. One, it's possible that the population will simply decrease again because the only reason it's spiked is because TC suddenly got 6 kits in the nursery and all of them have survived their first 3 or so moons so far and so the likelihood that they'll make it to apprenticeship is somewhat higher. But I don't necessarily think they'll all make it to apprenticeship or even if they all do, eventually I think at least half will die before they start having kits. I know I'm sounding pessimistic but this generation is ripe for being killed off- one reason being that the time skip will get rid of any development as apprentices and so the authors will have no trouble culling a few offscreen. Not only that by the time the survivors appear in the next series they'll be too old to have a good enough relationship with the new POVs (assuming at least some of them will be in ThunderClan). Now, there's a chance they will be able to do ok if they manage to be one of the pov's mentors, but considering there are a lot of warriors to choose from and some older ones are being picked over and over again, not extremely likely.
However on the other hand fears might be warranted because Finleap. He might not have gotten with Twigbranch but it's clear that he wants to have a lot of kits, and so even if the authors kill off some of Cinderheart's/Blossomfall's kits during the timeskip they'll definitely be replaced or even exceeded fairly quickly, and if so that would solidify ThunderClan's 40-member population for a while at least unless something else happens. And so in that case, if those circumstances happen ThunderClan would definitely be big enough to exceed their past high population back in Bluestar's Prophecy.
But overall it's too early to tell, a lot can happen and we'll just have to see.
However on the other hand fears might be warranted because Finleap. He might not have gotten with Twigbranch but it's clear that he wants to have a lot of kits, and so even if the authors kill off some of Cinderheart's/Blossomfall's kits during the timeskip they'll definitely be replaced or even exceeded fairly quickly, and if so that would solidify ThunderClan's 40-member population for a while at least unless something else happens. And so in that case, if those circumstances happen ThunderClan would definitely be big enough to exceed their past high population back in Bluestar's Prophecy.
But overall it's too early to tell, a lot can happen and we'll just have to see.
The saying that "too many young cats are killed off now and not enough older cats" is true, but a bit overexaggerated or at least doesn't gage context
First I will say that while gathering this data I definitely felt a difference between the older and newer series in which cats died- especially with the original series. I helped keep track by having a word doc open with a rough allegiances of the characters over time and naturally the older characters kept being bumped up to the top until I'd cross them out and more would be brought to the top. Redtail, Lionheart, and Spottedleaf would die, Firestar and Graystripe would become warriors, Runningwind and Brindleface would die and Dustpelt and Sandstorm would move up. Whitestorm and Bluestar would die and Brackenfur and Cloudtail would move up- and on and on and it felt like the younger cats were moving up in the ranks a lot earlier.
However all these older characters dying wasn't "normal" now that I look back on it. Lionheart, Redtail, Rosetail, and Spottedleaf were murdered. Tigerstar and Darkstripe were exiled. Runningwind and Brindleface were murdered, Graystripe left the clan for a while, and basically all the brand new warriors were shoved up into prominent positions as quickly as they learned how to fight because so many of their older warriors were wiped out. Sure one or two of them might have died to more normal situations like greencough or a fire, but not to that extreme. Having a bunch of older warriors actually is normal- at least, in a warriors series where murderers don't roam the forest on a daily basis. In a world where the main and most common dangers are natural/involve people or involve causal skirmishes having "too big" of a clan is actually expected.
Now skipping ahead to the current debate about cats still being around who are too old and need to be killed off, I don't think they should be killed off because they are too old necessarily- looking at Bluestar's Prophecy if the famine hadn't happened who knows how long they could have lived. While it could have been an inconsistency, author error, or both, if Vicky's timeline (which I'm aware of is rather debatable) matches with the allegiances of PC, Windflight could have been as old as 7 years old by Bluestar's Prophecy- possibly making him around 10 years old when he retires yet potentially around 13 or even 14 when he dies. Sure it's still younger than a lot of ThunderClan cats right now but it shows that it's possible if you give them the chance- and he did, at least according to my own speculations. And more of them could have had food supply been better.
All in all, it's not a matter of how many old cats are dying or how many young cats are dying but the circumstances by which they are. In Bluestar's Prophecy a lot of cats were born in a short period of time but once the clan grew large the clan started having fewer kits until the population stabilized for a short time. The problem in the newer books is that even with a large population lots of kits were still being born- surviving to adulthood because kithood mortality is at an all-time-low since they've moved to the lake and because life has been relatively peaceful at the lake for ThunderClan compared to Tigerstar and BloodClan's atrocities and the destruction of the forest, warriors are living to older and older ages and all the new warriors are swelling their numbers. We'll never know truly why, but potentially a combination of the editors not wanting to let go of the older characters as quickly and no longer wanting kits to die off so often, they end up with a surplus amount of young warriors that they don't have enough personalities for- resulting in the next insight below.
Offscreen deaths did happen in the earlier series as well, but it's true that they made a clear shift from one target demographic to another
One of the reasons I had to recheck and edit the graph was that I didn't realize/forgot that there were cats that died offscreen in the earlier series that I hadn't realized before. Smallear died between The Darkest Hour and Firestar's Quest, One-eye died between Firestar's Quest and Midnight, and Goldenflower died between Sunset and The Sight. And looking back they were pretty significant characters- Smallear being the superstitious tradition freak who bullied Tawnypelt, One-eye being the kind and caring peacemaker who gave Firestar advice from time to time and kept the other elders in check, and Goldenflower who tried her best to protect her kits from ThunderClan's judgment and was also a diligent warrior when she was needed. And poof, they were gone without a single mention of them ever again. Sound familiar?
But things definitely did change that people didn't like as much- originally the only offscreen deaths were elders, which people might not have minded so much because it's assumed that they just passed away of old age, and from what if feels like with the fans that's an acceptable death to "skip" and not worry about much. However the infamous death by a falling tree branch before The Sight started a new trend that became the systematic way to deal with trying to keep down ThunderClan's population without killing off too many older characters, allowing the clan to keep having as many litters as they wanted, keep kit mortality low and yet in the midst of it all keep the clan from growing exponentially- the natural result of this situation if there were no offscreen deaths of younger warriors.
And thinking about it my hypothesis for why this situation happened is because having all those litters born was necessary for the plot. Daisy and her kits joined the clan because of ThunderClan's desperation to recover fast and ultimately to drive more "don't judge me because of my roots" plot. Poppyfrost needed to be expecting kits in order to propel the Berrynose-getting-over-Honeyfern-plot and give a reason for Jayfeather to go to the moonpool and encounter Breezepelt. Graystripe had brought back to ThunderClan his new mate so of course they had a litter. Daisy had her litter with Spiderleg as a random filler plot to have that kind of relationship in the series for the first time and also to give Jayfeather more hints that Leafpool was hiding something. So at least from my perspective it's easy to see why the editors didn't just say "well ThunderClan's big enough now let's focus on the main characters" like they did with Bluestar but obvious or not all those litters were, hate to say it, plot devices to me.
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That's all the insights I can think of right now but yeah, what do you all think? I might come up with more insights later.