In Defense of Firestar by Ravenflight

Ravenflight defends Firestar.

Ah, Firestar.
Beloved hero of the first series, one of the greatest leaders of all time, legendary story, and- most hated warrior on BlogClan?

Yes, it’s true. Firestar, the ultimate warrior, is one of the most despised warriors in the fandom, and, unfortunately, I think he was destined for this fate. Firstly, let’s discuss something I’ve had a theory about for a long time: The hatred of male warriors. Now, before you jump to conclusion and assume I’m one of those people who thinks males are more oppressed than women, just know that I’m not. I’m talking about this only within the Warriors universe. Anyways, I’ve discovered, through many Top 5 Favorite and Least Favorite Warrior’s lists, that male characters whose main trait is strength or nobility, are usually seen as bland and too perfect.

For example: Lionblaze. Most people I’ve seen hating on Lionblaze hate on him because he’s “boring,” and “generic.” I, personally, disagree. I think that when people finish reading the books with Lionblaze as a main character, they remember one thing: his superpower, strength. They don’t remember his complex emotions and storyline, or how he coped with the numerous losses he suffered, or any of his drama. Only his strength. Now, in books about humans, it is much too common for the males to be the “strong ones,” and for females to not. Fortunately, in modern times, there have been many more books starring strong women. Unfortunately, however, we still have the mindset that books more often than not make males the strong ones. Of course, this does still happen, just not as often.

So, when we read warriors, and we see a male who’s good at being a warrior, the alarms go off. We jump to the conclusion that the authors are putting in a strong male because of bias and “traditional gender roles” and all that baloney. We fail to see, however, that in Warriors, everyone who is a warrior is good at being a warrior. That’s the whole point. Most warriors, though, have some other traits that cover up the fact they’re good at warrior-ing. For example: Graystripe. Good warrior? Yes. Main Trait is Strength? No. He’s known for being a lovable goofball. Another example: Rootspring. Good warrior? Yes. Main Trait is Strength? No. He’s known for being akward and liking Brislefrost.

When you really think about it, there aren’t really any strong male warrior main characters other than Lionblaze and Firestar, and they’re both widely disliked. Most of the male main characters either turn out to be either medicine cats or have some other distinguishing traits. Just so we’re clear, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. All the male medicine cats are really great. Jayfeather, Alderheart, and Shadowsight are some of my favorite characters. (By the way, I totally ship Shadowsight and Rootspring!)

Anyways, let’s get back to Firestar. On top of being a strong male characters, he was also the first main character, and was regarded as a hero in the Warriors universe. He conquered many enemies, saved the Clans, and mated with Sandstorm, a fiery she-cat who had admired him for a while. So yeah, on the surface, he’s just like any other hero. But we have yet to dive below the surface, and explore his more complex storyline.

He joins ThunderClan because of a dream he’s been having, and immediately falls in love with a pretty she-cat (Spottedleaf). He finds a friend in Graypaw, and enemies in Sandpaw and Dustpaw. After being decided to train under the leader of the Clan, he sees his love die, and is helpless to stop it. He then finds an old cat in the forest, and helps her out of the kindness of his heart. During this, he slowly begins to suspect that Tigerclaw, a cat with much power in the Clan, is plotting against ThunderClan. He has to help one of his close friends, Ravnpaw, flee for his own safety, and has to say goodbye to him for what he thinks is the last time. With the help of his friends, he drives Brokenstar, the leader of a Clan, out of ShadowClan, and saves countless lives in the proccess. Later, after many friend’s deaths, his leader and mother figure, Bluestar, starts to go insane after being betrayed by Tigerclaw, a cat Firestar had suspected since the beginning. She eventually pitches herself off a cliff to save Firestar from dogs, and dies right before meeting her kits that she had lost when she became deputy. He is heartbroken, but must take on the role of leader. As leader, he realizes that Tigerclaw( now Tigerstar, leader of ShadowClan) is going to take over the Clans, and has a huge battle as coleader of LionClan. He kills Scourge, but at the cost of Whitestorm, his deputy, his first life, and many other cats.

That is just a brief overview of the first series. Firestar does not deserve as much hate as he gets. He is a strong main character, but what else do you want? Did you want him to leave ThunderClan and just give up? Or just die right at the beginning? That’s not what a main chacter does. That’s not what a hero does.

And Firestar is a hero.