[Graystripe and Silverstream lie together on a riverbank]

Analysing Greystripe: Was he really such a good friend? by Flickerflame

Flickerflame takes a closer look at Graystripe.

[Graystripe and Silverstream lie together on a riverbank]
Art by Vialir
[Graystripe and Silverstream lie together on a riverbank]

Hello! I am Flickerflame and today I’ll be analysing Greystripe on whether he was really such a
good friend to Firestar. For your information, I’ll be focusing on the First arc, when most of his
actions were more known.

Greystripe was first introduced when he pounced on Firestar, then Rusty. He was a very
significant character in the First arc but not so in the rest, other than The Broken Code: A Light
in the Mist, when he went to the Dark Forest to fight against Ashfur and the possessed cats.
Nevertheless, Greystripe was mentioned at least once in every book, other than the Super
Editions.

In Fire and Ice, Greystripe fell through the ice on the river and was saved by a RiverClan cat,
Silverstream, who later became his mate. Firestar, then Fireheart, tried to convince him to stop seeing Silverstream. But did Greystripe listen? No.

In Forest of Secrets, Fireheart and Greystripe hunted for RiverClan as the river where most of their food came from was poisoned, and RiverClan cats are not good at catching land prey. Bluestar punished them when she found out, but showed empathy towards the RiverClan cats as her daughter, Mistyfoot, and her son, Stonefur, were from RiverClan. Fireheart later convinced Greystripe to only meet Silverstream at the Fourtrees. Afterwards, he joined RiverClan to be with his kits after Silverstream died giving birth to
them, Featherkit and Stormkit. At first, ThunderClan kept the kits, but due to Greystripe’s willingness and RiverClan’s request that they hand the kits to ThunderClan, Feathertail and Stormfur grew up in RiverClan.

When Featherkit and Stormkit became ‘paws, however, there was a fight between ThunderClan
and RiverClan. When Leopardstar ordered Greystripe to attack Fireheart, he refused as their bond of friendship was too strong and was
banished from RiverClan.
Greystripe was disloyal and broke the warrior code at first, becoming mates with a cat in another
clan, and leaving his birthclan, ThunderClan, to be with his kits. However, he went back to
ThunderClan afterwards, showing that he was still a ThunderClan cat at heart. This was loyalty to
Thunderclan but disloyalty to RiverClan.

Therefore, he was not really loyal to each clan.
Greystripe was mostly more loyal to ThunderClan, fighting battles bravely and
being more willing and able to deal with BloodClan when Firestar and Sandstorm went on their quest to save
SkyClan. He could also handle being temporary leader during Firestar’s quest, making excuses so that his clan did not seem weak.

In the end, I believe that Greystripe was the good friend he wanted to be with Firestar. He was
always loyal to the five clans and to his own clan, ThunderClan.

Thank you for reading, fellow cats, and may StarClan light your path!

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