Firestar (Warriors)
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- This article concerns the character from the Warriors book series by Erin Hunter.
Firestar (formerly known as Rusty, Firepaw, and Fireheart) is a ginger tom cat with a flame-colored pelt and green eyes. He is the protagonist of the first Warriors series.
He is brother to Princess, a light brown tabby with a distinctive white chest and paws, which may explain Leafpool's coloration. She is a kittypet living in the Twolegplace near the old territory. Princess's oldest kit Cloudkit (now Cloudtail) was taken into ThunderClan by Firestar (then Fireheart) soon after his birth. Cloudtail is a long-haired white tom who mated with Brightheart, a white she-cat with ginger splotches. Their single kit Whitepaw, a white she-cat with green eyes, is now a ThunderClan apprentice. Firestar and his mate, Sandstorm, a pale ginger she-cat, have two daughters, Squirrelflight (formerly known as Squirrelpaw) and Leafpool (formerly known as Leafpaw).
Firestar was invited to join ThunderClan by Bluestar, a blue-gray she-cat with piercing blue eyes and leader of ThunderClan, when he was a kittypet known as Rusty. He had strayed far into the woods and was found by Bluestar, Lionheart, a golden tabby tom, and Lionheart's apprentice Graypaw (now Graystripe), a long-haired gray tom. Bluestar gave him his apprentice name, Firepaw, in honor of his flame-colored coat and he began to train to become a warrior. His denmates were Sandpaw, Dustpaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw.
Firepaw's mentoring was at first shared by Tigerclaw and Lionheart, and then Bluestar took Firepaw as her apprentice. He was in love with Spottedleaf, ThunderClan's medicine' cat, and she had feelings for Firepaw also, yet she was killed by Clawface of ShadowClan in Into the Wild so that his Clanmates could steal some kits. The majority of ThunderClan scorned Firepaw at first for his kittypet blood, but the insults eventually died away because they began to see how loyal and courageous he was. At the end of Into the Wild, Firepaw received his warrior name, Fireheart along with Graypaw, Graystripe, because they rescued the kits and rid ShadowClan of their treacherous leader, Brokenstar.
Fireheart stopped Tigerclaw from killing Bluestar and also exposed him for what he was. Bluestar exiled Tigerclaw, but his treachery seemed to have shaken her and damaged her mind permanently. To Fireheart's and the Clan's astonishment, Bluestar made Fireheart deputy, instead of a more senior warrior. Unfortunately, she did that on the day after Tigerclaw was exiled, while the warrior code said that the new deputy must be named at the moonhigh of the day the former deputy's departure. Firestar's deputyship caused fear in most cats, especially the elders.
Fireheart succeeded Bluestar as leader of ThunderClan at the end of A Dangerous Path. She had died sending the lead dog over a cliff. Fireheart jouryned to Highstones with his medicine cat, Cinderpelt. He received his name and nine lives from Lionheart, Redtail, Silverstream, Runningwind, Brindleface, Swiftpaw, Yellowfang, Spottedleaf, and Bluestar, respectively, in The Darkest Hour.
In The New Prophecy, Firestar is the mate of Sandstorm and the father of Squirrelflight and Leafpool. Squirrelflight, then called Sqiurrelpaw, went with the chosen cats to the sun-drown-place: Brambleclaw of ThunderClan, Tawnypelt of ShadowClan, Crowpaw (later Crowfeather) of WindClan, and Feathertail and Stormfur of RiverClan. Stormfur came along to protect Feathertail, his sister. In Twilight, Firestar allowed four kittypets, Daisy from the Horseplace and her kits, Berry, Mouse, and Hazel, to stay with ThunderClan. The kits' names were changed to Berrykit, Mousekit, and Hazelkit, respectively, and Cloudtail began to train Daisy to fight. Brightheart, Cloudtail's mate, grew angry because Cloudtail didn't seem to see how much he was hurting her by spending so much time with Daisy. When Firestar announced that ThunderClan had taken in kittypets at the Gathering, a number of cats scorned his actions, especially from ShadowClan. Cloudtail defended ThunderClan angrily, because he himself was born a kittypet, yet Firestar remained calm.
In Sunset, he is lured into a trap set by Hawkfrost of RiverClan, who is Brambleclaw's half brother. Brambleclaw is given the choice of either killing his leader or saving him. In the end, Brambleclaw saves Firestar and kills Hawkfrost. Before dying, Hawkfrost hints that a ThunderClan helped, but does not give the name. The ThunderClan warrior is presumed by some fans to be Ashfur, because Squirrelflight chose Brambleclaw as a mate instead of him.
[edit] Other
- In both series, Firestar has lost two of his nine lives: one by the claws of Scourge of BloodClan in the climax of The Darkest Hour, and one in Dawn after being crushed by a tree during ShadowClan's rescue. Although Tigerstar told Darkstripe during Sunset's prologue that Firestar only had seven lives left, Firestar did not lose a life in the fox trap. It is assumed that he lost one during his quest (in between The Darkest Hour and Midnight.) Firestar only has six lives left. He also is the best cat in thunderclan and many cats greive for him when he dies.
