Why Firestar is overrated by Nettlepaw

Nettlepaw shares their thoughts on Firestar.

Firestar is perhaps the most iconic cat in the Warriors series. The flame-coloured cat has appeared in every arc in some way, and today I’m going to discuss his character and share with you five points that made me change my opinion on Firestar.

1. He is very unrelatable.

Firestar never gets mad, is honourable, compassionate, and has endless patience and integrity. This is very unrealistic, as everyone experiences anger at some point in their lives. Flaws are what make people relatable characters.

In addition to that, he wins every single battle he fights. At the end of The Prophecies Begin, Scourge killed Tigerstar and attempted to take over the Clans. If Scourge murdered Tigerstar, the best fighter in the forest, with one blow, then how could he fail to defeat Firestar, who had the same amount of lives but with only average skills? Let’s take a look at a quote from The Elders’ Concern, a short story set just after Firestar was appointed deputy.

“This does not need to ruin ThunderClan, but we must prepare ourselves for worse things to come.” Halftail assured them. Bluestar-”

“-doesn’t know what she’s doing!” Smallear burst out. “Just what does she see in this orange kittypet? Is he the best hunter? No. That young cat Sandstorm could track a beetle in a blizzard. The best fighter? Ha, I’d like to see him take on Tigerclaw. Now there’s a real warrior. So what exactly makes him so special?”

Firestar lovers may hate me for saying this, but Smallear has a point. He possesses no extra ability or skill whatsoever, and yet he always manages to scrape through one way or another. Here’s another example. At the end of Into the Wild, ThunderClan went into battle with ShadowClan. Firepaw ended up beating Brokenstar in battle as an apprentice, which shouldn’t be correct. Although Firepaw didn’t manage to kill him, he caused a few sizable scars which were enough to seriously injure someone. Brokenstar was an excellent fighter who had already killed dozens of innocent cats, so there was no way this should have happened.

2. He is extremely overrated.

Even four series on, Firestar is portrayed as a noble, powerful cat. Countless times, we hear cats talking about how incredible he was, and I don’t dispute that he was a good leader. But he’s honestly not as amazing as everybody thinks he is. Many cats have done the exact same things as he has, but they haven’t been hero-worshipped in the same way.

For example, many other cats in the Warriors series have led their Clan exceptionally well, but only Firestar had the kind of legacy that many warriors dream about. Firestar risked his life for his Clan many times, but so has any cat who has fought in a battle. Bristlefrost died for her Clan at the end of The Broken Code, and although she was respected, the Clans didn’t really talk about her after her death. Firestar did the exact same thing, except he was remembered by every cat who ever met him.

Furthermore, Firestar always seems to get off very lightly. In the first series, he broke the code several times, but for the right reasons (more on this later). However, the warrior code is there for a reason, even if the offender has good intentions. Bluestar always seemed to give Firestar special treatment, and he got away with a lot. For instance, at the end of Into the Wild, he and his best friend Graypaw (stripe) were made apprentices, before Sandpaw and Dustpaw, when they were made apprentices before them.

Nightheart, one of our newest protagonists, is struggling under the weight of Firestar’s legacy. Everyone around him expects him to fill his great-grandfather’s pawsteps, as their previous leader was, according to most Clan cats, a brave and courageous warrior. Myrtlebloom, a young ThunderClan she-cat, even told Nightheart that many warriors would give their whiskers to be Firestar’s kin. But why should Firestar be the cat that Nightheart should look up to most? Many other cats have done incredible things during their lifetimes. Nightheart’s uncle, Alderheart, helped to reunite SkyClan with the other Clans around the lake. His grandparents, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar, risked their lives by going on a dangerous journey that would determine the future of the Clans. I’m not saying this was Nightheart’s fault. In fact, I believe that the cats around him were mainly to blame. However, I just find it infuriating that other cats who have done just as amazing things were not recognised in the same way Firestar was.

3. He is so nepotistic.

Firestar has constantly chosen intimate friends and relatives to fill positions of power. After Whitestorm died in The Darkest Hour, every deputy after him was close to Firestar in some way. By the end of The New Prophecy, every power position in the Clan was filled by Firestar himself, or his kin. Even now, five and a half series later, this is still the case.

Despite Firestar’s positive legacy, his partisanship hasn’t gone unnoticed. While his kin are blind to his faults, some of their other Clanmates have been very vocal about his biased attitude. Here is another quote, this time from Darkness Within. In this scene, Thornclaw and Lionblaze are fighting over the deputy position after Ashfur had taken over Bramblestar’s body.

“Do you think you’d make better decisions than me?” the golden warrior demanded.

“No, but I do think the only reason you’re the one making decisions is because you’re Squirrelflight’s kin.”

Pelts ruffled uneasily around the clearing as Thornclaw stared at Lionblaze. The tabby warrior was accusing Squirrelflight of choosing favourites instead of putting her Clan’s needs first. Bristlefrost curled her claws nervously into the earth as Lionblaze lashed his tail angrily.

“Take that back!” the golden warrior hissed.

“How can I take back the truth?” Thornclaw retorted. “Since Firestar’s time, there’s been no question about who ThunderClan’s next leader might be.”

Thornclaw makes an excellent point. Firestar’s nepotism has ensured that, for many years, his kin would have complete control over the Clan.

4. He is very prejudiced.

Despite his welcoming attitude, Firestar is shown many times to be very prejudiced against other cats. I have spotted multiple examples where Firestar has treated cats differently depending on their parentage.

I have also noticed many BlogClanners saying that Firestar has no flaws. I’m not pointing anyone out here, but that’s generally what most of the fandom thinks, and that included me until a little while ago. Firestar does have flaws, but they can be very hard to spot. He unintentionally covers up his weaknesses with noble and courageous actions, making it very difficult for the readers to pick out the imperfections in his character. I am not saying that Firestar does this deliberately. I am only pointing out that Firestar does have flaws, but covers them up without even realising it.

Anyway, back to my original point. After Tigerstar was exiled in Forest of Secrets, his mate, Goldenflower, gave birth to his kits. Bramblekit and Tawnykit were regarded with distrust by most of the Clan, and especially by Firestar. Later in the series, he even made Bramblepaw his apprentice so he could keep an eye on him, going against Sandstorm’s wishes.

I would like to pause my extensive rant for a moment to talk about Firestar’s treatment of Sandstorm. Multiple times, he has mentioned his love for Spottedleaf in front of her, causing her to feel uncomfortable and upset. If we put that into perspective, and they were humans, it would be like someone’s husband talking about his dead high school crush all the time, which, to be honest, was very long ago, and is just that, a high school crush. I’m not saying that he’s not allowed to mourn Spottedleaf, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that he loved her that much in front of his mate.

He also didn’t give her an apprentice until The New Prophecy. Since Firestar became a warrior, he had mentored three apprentices. Sandstorm hadn’t mentored any. When it was time for Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw to be made apprentices, the most logical decision was to give one of them to Sandstorm, as she hadn’t had a chance to mentor anyone yet. But instead, he took them for himself. He also didn’t make her a deputy because he said that ‘he wanted to protect her.’ This is a terrible reason for denying her a position of power, as Sandstorm is easily the best hunter in the Clan, and a pretty formidable fighter.

Anyway, I digress. Firestar constantly treated Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw as lesser cats, despite the fact that he was a kittypet himself. This contributed to Tawnypaw leaving ThunderClan.

In addition to this, Firestar believes that if a cat is disabled in some way, they cannot be a warrior. His treatment of Jayfeather, Brightheart and Longtail is not justified. He also never gave Brightheart an apprentice besides Jayfeather, who didn’t count as he became a medicine cat within a few weeks. I agree with Jayfeather when he thinks that Firestar is trying to lump all the ‘useless cats’ together, as that is exactly what he’s doing. Brightheart may have had a scar from where the dogs injured her, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t be an exceptional warrior. Longtail’s sight did fail him, as did Jayfeather’s, but many humans are blind and they went on to accomplish incredible things. Cinderpelt had a broken leg when she was Firestar’s apprentice and she had to help out in the medicine den for the rest of her life.

5. He has never done anything wrong.

You may be thinking that Firestar has broken the warrior code too many times to count, and that is true. But he has always done it for the right reasons.

In A Dangerous Path, Fireheart went behind his Clan leader’s back to WindClan. This is an example of breaking the warrior code. However, Firestar was trying to prevent a battle that could have ended many cats’ lives.

In Into the Wild, Firepaw found an injured ShadowClan cat on their territory, and he takes care of her instead of chasing her away. Is this breaking the code? Absolutely. But Yellowfang would have died otherwise, and she became an extremely valuable medicine cat later on in the series.

In Forest of Secrets, he and Graystripe agreed to feed a rival Clan. Despite this being a serious breach of the warrior code, RiverClan would have starved to death if Firestar hadn’t fed them.

And there are many more non-code related instances where Firestar is portrayed as a cat that is able to do no wrong. He saved the life of Sandstorm, a cat who hated him from the moment he set foot in the ThunderClan camp. He kills Scourge, a cat who would have wiped out the Clans existence if Firestar had let him live a moment longer. He saves Bramblekit from a fire even though he was terrified of him. I could go on for hours.

Also, he focuses on the other Clans way too much. He helps them out to the point that the other Clans feel they are weak and helpless. ThunderClan isn’t the only strong Clan in the forest, despite what their cats think. ShadowClan, WindClan and RiverClan are perfectly capable of looking after themselves without Firestar assisting them every five seconds. This attitude is passed down to most of the Clan, particularly Firestar’s kin. In River, Finchlight, Firestar’s great-granddaughter, even says that ThunderClan is the natural leader of all the Clans, without any explanation as to why. I respect that every Clan thinks they are the best, but this is going way too far.

So, that concludes my article. I would really appreciate your views in the comments section, but for now, may StarClan light your path!