Top five moments when Firestar was a mouse-brain
BY THE EDITOR
Firestar lives in Clan legend as one of the strongest, noblest, and most heroic leaders the Clans have ever seen. His legacy looms over the Clans, leaving cats either awed, or overshadowed by the might of his image. But what many of these younger cats hearing tales of the great Firestar forget is that, rather than some shining beacon of perfection, Firestar was just a cat like any other. And like any other cat, he could be an incredibly oblivious mouse-brain sometimes. So today we’re counting down the top five moments when Firestar was a complete mouse-brain!
Number 5 – Eating the rabbit
For a cat so determined to prove himself to his new Clan, especially on his first solo mission as an apprentice, it sure was flea-brained of Firepaw to eat those scraps of rabbit after feeding Yellowfang in Into the Wild. He knew the rules: “The Clan must be fed first!” He knew that his position in the Clan was dependent on him proving that a kittypet could learn to follow the warrior code and respect the way of the Clans. That one thoughtless slip could have spelled the end of his one chance to prove himself worthy of becoming a warrior. Yet in that moment, his stomach was bigger than his brain, and he gave into temptation when he knew very well what it could cost him. Luckily for him, his foolishness resulted in a punishment no harsher than having to look after a cat who would become almost a mother to him.
Number 4 – Feeding RiverClan
No one could blame Fireheart and Graystripe for feeling empathy for RiverClan after the flooding drove them from their home, and the Twolegs poisoning the river left them unable to feed themselves with their main food source. No one could blame them for wanting to help the starving Clan. But it’s hard to see their decision to go behind their Clan’s back by stealing prey from their own territory to give to enemy warriors as anything but phenomenally bee-brained. Most of the times Fireheart went behind Bluestar’s back, it was to gather evidence against Tigerclaw to present to her, or because he felt he had no choice. But the same could not really be said for this particularly egregious transgression. This time, his punishment was far more humiliating, as he was demoted to the rank of apprentice for a time until he had earned back the right to be regarded as a warrior.
Number 3 – Clueless tom-cat
While Fireheart could be quite perceptive about the cats around him, particularly the ones he didn’t trust, he always had a rather blind spot when it came to cats having feelings for him. He never realized how Cinderpelt felt about him, even after sensing the tension between Cinderpelt and Sandstorm in regards to their mutual feelings for the tom. In addition, most of the Clan had already realized Sandstorm felt more than friendship for him by the time Fireheart realized it, and it took Cinderpelt telling him for Fireheart to see what she felt. He made plenty of mistakes along the way before realizing his own feelings for the fiery she-cat. The pair tread on each others’ tails time and again, even after they finally confessed their love for each other, but their honest mutual affection always pulled them through the arguments and misunderstandings.
Number 2 – Sins of the father
Perhaps Fireheart’s most hard-hearted misstep was his treatment of Bramblekit. He spent almost his entire life among the Clans fighting against unfair doubts and jeers due to his kittypet blood. How could a cat who’d faced so much unfair prejudice justify turning that same prejudice on an innocent kit just because his father was Tigerstar? He made Bramblepaw his apprentice to keep an eye on him, well aware of how untrusted he was making the young tom feel with his suspicious treatment. It took Bramblepaw declaring his willingness to die rather than join his father’s side, a choice such a young cat should never have had to face, for Fireheart to finally decide to leave his unfounded suspicions of the tom behind once and for all.
Number 1 – Fire alone?
Fireheart was a noble, hardworking, and intelligent warrior. He worked tirelessly to hunt down the truth about Redtail’s death and protect his Clan from Tigerclaw’s dark ambitions, he figured out the truth about Bluestar’s kits before anyone else, and he was able to hold his Clan together through the uncertainty of Bluestar’s crumbling leadership. And yet, for all of his intelligence and competence, it never once occurred to him that the “fire” in the prophecy he’d been grappling with since he was an apprentice–“Fire alone will save the Clan”–might be referring to him. StarClan can often be vague, and their prophecies can have unexpected meanings, so sometimes the right idea when approaching prophecies is to think beyond the obvious. But the fact that he never considered the idea that the cat with Fire in his name, who StarClan themselves told Spottedleaf to pass the prophecy onto shortly before her death, might be the foretold savior of the Clan points perhaps more than anything else to the occasional cluelessness of our favorite fiery feline.
