Firestar: The Warriors Hero by Mistheart

Mistheart analyses Firestar’s character.

Hello! Mistheart here, but you can call me Cloudy. In this article, which is also a copy and past from my Wattpad version, I will be explaining why Firestar isn’t a generic old Gary Stu, but rather an interesting characters with lots of great virtues and character development. Hope you enjoy!

I’ve heard many people argue that Firestar is such a generic protagonist, no interesting character personality or development. Honestly, Warriors is just a typical fantasy fiction series with typical situations and a unique variety of characters.

Firestar is one of them. It really makes me confused when people say that he’s too much of a generic hero with no personality or character development. People argue that Firestar is too natural of a warrior, skilled and naturally talented without any training.

I honestly think that this isn’t true. Firestar had natural talent and a variety of skilled as well as a warrior’s way of thinking when he was only a kittypet. You may argue that he was a kittypet, and therefore should not know any warrior skills.

However, being honest, would you rather spend the entire first book reading about Firepaw trying to learn how to stalk a thrush and ambush his enemies, or would you rather learn about the slow and steady development of the rivalry between Firestar and Tigerstar?

See, the entire first arc isn’t just about Firepaw trying to adjust to Clan life. That is mentioned in the first book, but it is not the main point of the story. The point is Tigerclaw’s treachery and the Firestar’s rising of hierarchy in ThunderClan, not about learning how to tell the difference between mouse tracks and rabbit tracks.

Meanwhile, Firestar has a natural skill in wildcat life. You can’t blame him, since it’s literally printed in his genes, which he adopted from his keen father, Jake. If he were to try to focus on learning how to be a good apprentice, then Firepaw wouldn’t have the time to notice the truth about Tigerclaw, which would make him just as normal as any of his Clanmates.

Also, Firestar’s generic point of view are meant for us to dive deeper into the world of Warriors, rather than try to discover his personality. Of course, Firestar has his own special point of view and character development, shown when from a spoiled housecat into a noble warrior, but keep in mind that this is the first arc in the series. When trying to write the first book of a series, readers must be introduced in a way where they can understand what is going on and how things work in the arc. This is sometimes even more important than discovering the main character’s personality, as shown in Warriors, where their world and terminology may take time to fully understand.

However, Firestar isn’t just a generic-old protagonist, either, which is what makes Warriors a very unique and developed series, already seen in its many arcs. However, his point of view must be very vivid and precise for readers to understand what is going on in the series, two virtues that his PoV already has.

Firestar is also very skilled, noble, and understanding. However, he didn’t always start out this way. Keep in mind that he was born as a kittypet, and warriors view these sort of cats as lazy, fat, and spoiled. Of course, to withstand these taunts, Firestar must have patience and respect for the ThunderClan warriors and give them time to develop themselves so that they could understand what a true, noble cat he was on the inside. How do we know that Firestar developed this way? By exploring his point of view from the first book of the first arc to the last book in the seventh arc.

In the first book, Longtail criticized Firepaw for his kittypet roots and his collar, which indeed jingled very loudly. In response to this, Firepaw unsheathed his claws and sprang into a full-on attack on Longtail, creating a V-shaped nick in his ear. So, in summary, Firepaw attacked Longtail in response to his taunting.

Meanwhile, in A Light in the Mist, when Firestar appears, Shadowsight wondered aloud if Firestar was the legendary ThunderClan leader who was born as a kittypet. However, instead of attacking Shadowsight like he did with Longtail, Firestar twitched his whiskers and gave Shadowsight an amused look, showing that he did indeed undergo character development throughout the first arc.

Also, Firestar has the virtues of courage and loyalty. Courage is truly one of Firestar’s noble traits, such as when he broke the warrior code to hunt for RiverClan when the river was poisoned, and when he participated in the battle against Brokenstar, and when he brought WindClan back home when Brokenstar drove them out. However, the virtue I was looking for this entire time was loyalty.

Loyalty is something that is often overlooked in the series, and when people do recognize it, they recognize it as a special trait in Warriors. Surprisingly, it’s not actually uncommon at all. Every cat in the series, even Darkstripe, has their own loyalties. Lemme copy-and-paste something from Osprey’s article in BlogClan, a Warriors website created by one of the Erin Hunters, Kate Cary…

“Clan cats always think that being loyal means being loyal to your Clan, your leader and the rules, but these 3 things aren’t the only things you can be loyal to.”

This is a perfect example of a statement on loyalty. Clans cats think that you should only be loyal to your Clan, your leader, and the rules. However, like Osprey mentioned later, these aren’t the only things you can be loyal to. This is another statement from the same article:

“Firestar, on the other hand, has a very different form of loyalty, and he is also extremely loyal – To ThunderClan and what he believes is right. People will generally not bat an eye if you say Firestar is loyal, because he is explicitly stated as loyal a multitude of times, but alike Dovewing, he also has his disloyalties, specifically to the warrior code and at points in his life, Sandstorm, even though he becomes incredibly loyal to her later on.”

Exactly. Firestar was extremely disloyal to the warrior code at times, such as when he hunted for RiverClan in leaf-bare before ThunderClan was fed, or when he lied to several cats and snuck out of camp to bring Ravenpaw away from ThunderClan. However, Firestar’s loyalties are still to ThunderClan. Firestar can be loyal to several things at once. For example, he is loyal to his medicine cat, Cinderpelt, by respecting her wishes and accepting that she has a stronger connection to StarClan than he has. Meanwhile, he is also loyal to Ravenpaw, whom he helped when he was in grave danger, as well as Graystripe, his deputy and best friend, as well as Sandstorm, his mate and strongest supporter.

Even Darkstripe has his loyalties. He is loyal to the strong, and he is loyal to his instincts, and he is loyal to Tigerstar and the Dark Forest and Ashfur. For example, Darkstripe is loyal to his instincts, and his instinct is to follow whomever will grant him a better life. In some cases, Tigerstar lied to Darkstripe in order to gain his support, as shown when he told him and Longtail that Ravenpaw snuck out of the group during the journey to the Moonstone so that Bluestar could seek advice from StarClan. Meanwhile, Darkstripe acted as a deputy to Tigerstar, strongly supporting him and helping him make decisions. In the Great Battle, despite the possibility of losing, Darkstripe still supported the Dark Forest, because it was where Tigerstar was and where he found his true heart at.

Anyway, this is a Firestar article, not one on Darkstripe and Tigerstar. So, Firestar is loyal to several other things as well. Unlike Crookedstar, who was tricked by Mapleshade due to his confusion on the topic, Firestar accepted that being loyal to your Clan as a whole was different than being loyal to individual cats. He cared for ThunderClan as a whole, such as when he refused to travel without the other Clans as he knew that ThunderClan needed them to survive, in Arc 2. However, he was also deeply concerned for Graystripe, one individual cat, when he went missing also in Arc 2, shown when he refused to appoint another deputy.

Firestar is also a very understanding cat, another one of his unique virtues. He shows a deep understanding to ThunderClan when they were afraid that they would die because of Twolegs in Arc 2, yet he also showed understanding to RiverClan, who didn’t want to leave their home because of the river. So, in a hastened conclusion, Firestar decided to try and persuade the other Clans to leave with him, but stay in the forest until they agreed.

However, Firestar isn’t just a generic Gary Stu, a phrase commonly used to describe Firestar. For example, he has the virtue of understanding; however, this makes him too quick to trust most cats, such as Sol, when he predicted the solar eclipse, and even his friend Ravenpaw, when he said that Redtail killed Oakheart instead of the rockfall.

Also, Firestar often makes split-second decisions, such as diving into the river to save another cat, which got Tigerclaw enough proof to show Bluestar that “he wasn’t loyal.” Also, when he received the message of “Beware a warrior who seems to sleep,” he immediately suspected Graystripe was evil, and not Tigerclaw. Another time was when he immediately brought Cloudkit into the Clan, which decreased his popularity as cats thought he was disloyal to spend time in Twolegplace rather than hunt for his hungry Clan.

Therefore, we can conclude that Firestar may not have been as boring or generic of a character as you may think. While he does have several noble virtues, he shows much unique skill from a former kittypet as well as great courage and loyalty for a warrior and character development, yet he still has his own flaws. Hope you have an awesome rest of your day! ~ Cloudy