Spoilers ahead!

(this is very sciencey I promise)

((spoiler: it's not))

(((as I, Leafy, continue to write these chapters, you guys can watch as the quality of my essays slowly deteriorates as my final year of school sucks the serious essay-writing life out of me, and I use this book as an outlet to actually have fun writing essays for once lmao)))

((((sorry if this was meant to be formal Rio but approaching it's midnight there's no hope for me or this essay this time around whoops))))

Firestar is not a Mary Sue. From his apprenticeship, until the second series begins, he grows as a character, becoming a better cat - by default, he must have been a non-perfect cat to start with for this growth to be possible. Furthermore, he makes many mistakes which are crucial to the plot, even after the majority of his character arc (books 1 - 6) is over. Finally, if he were a true Mary Sue, it would have ruined the entire series, and none of us would be here, reading an essay so bad it's good, on a children's fantasy series about cats with over sixty books. (Including the mangas and novellas and such, I think it's around 62, and counting. God help us all.)

First, let's define what a Mary Sue is.

My personal favourite definition probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when someone uses the phrase - I think of a Sue as a character who, put very simply, the whole universe literally revolves around. This is articulated brilliantly by Overly Sarcastic Productions's Red in the video linked to this essay, and I will unashamedly admit that her video is the origin of my definition. I just think what she says makes sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The tl;dr of the whole video, is that a character is a Sue if everything in that universe revolves around them, and serves to make them look good. (This, rather effectively, kills the story.)

But what is a traditional Mary Sue? We'll define it as "a character of any gender with no significant/consequential flaws, who is adored by everyone around them, (and if anyone dislikes Their Royal Sueness, we shouldn't like them much either, therefore their opinion doesn't matter,) and outclasses all the characters around them in every way".

When accusing Firestar of Sueness, people often point to his apparent lack of flaws. Rarely is he outclassed on the battlefield, he makes solid, moral decisions, and he's not afraid to challenge authority figures, though he gives respect where it is due. He's openminded, accepting of others, no matter where they come from, and tries to get along with everyone, while devoting himself to the wellbeing to all cats around him, even beyond his clan. I'm happy conceded that there isn't one key flaw that stands out from the rest in terms of his core personality - he's not arrogant, or selfish, or jealous, or anything. He's a pretty great cat. But this doesn't have to make him a Mary Sue, and there are ways to have flaws other than obvious personality faults.

In the original series, Firestar is constantly growing as a character. His main flaw is his inexperience. He wasn't always an incredible fighter - he struggled to best Bluestar in a training session against her, then he got better, even if there was the whole tearing off of Longtail's ear, and besting Clawface. Also, Scourge killed him first, so he hasn't exactly won every battle he's fought. In the same way, he wasn't always a brilliant leader - take, for instance, that one time when he was trying to organise patrols, and Whitestorm had to step in. And that one time when he separated Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw, without providing any explanation whatsoever. And while he has always had a strong set of morals, he isn't perfect there either. Remember how he freaked out every time he saw Bramblekit? (See: Smol Tigerstar, Tigerstar 2.0.) He, of all cats, should have known that one's value as a person isn't based on who their parents were. Furthermore, Whitestorm literally had to stop him from killing Clawface, which is a pretty significant moral fluctuation. Also, he was pretty slow to figure out the Mistyfoot/Stonefoot/Bluestar situation, and he failed to get Bluestar to see sense after Tigerstar's exile (although being fair, we have no way of determining whether this was possible for any cat). Moments like these ensure that Firestar feels real as a character, and detract from any potential sueness.

And he isn't exactly adored by everyone around him who we care about, either - he's criticised by plenty of cats that we like, all through the series, even within ThunderClan. Just as a few examples, Sandstorm will always be his most honest critic, Jaypaw bore a lot of resentment towards him when he brushed his dreams about other clans to the side, and there was a lot of discourse throughout all of ThunderClan surrounding how conflict-averse he can be. Also, not every cat that opposes him is sent to the Dark Forest, allowing for some moral ambiguity, in the case of, say, Ashfur, who was in on Hawkfrost trying to kill him.

Furthermore, especially in the most recent books, the Erins, and their characters, have almost been poking fun at how prevalent Firestar had been throughout the series - like at the gathering, when the medicine cats say that it was Firestar who gave them the prophecy, and everyone goes, "Well of course it was Firestar! Even when he's dead he can't keep his nose out of everyone's business!"

Finally, if Firestar were a Mary Sue, the series would be utterly unreadable. Like, bottom line, we would all hate it, and would have thrown Into The Wild across the room before we reached the half-way point. (Unless we were reading it ironically, à la Starkit's Prophecy.)

But is Firestar one of Red's Mary Sues? Does everything in the warriors universe revolve around Firestar? Well, the short answer is just no. The long answer is, while acknowledging that he's played a huge role in saving the clans from potential destruction, and a lot of the prophecies link to him/his kin, he had to fight to achieve those victories, and he couldn't have done it alone. Without a clan of cats behind him, and, in other cases, a forest of cats, and/or an army of dead cats, the threats faced by the clans simply couldn't have been overcome. For instance, BloodClan couldn't have been defeated without all four clans uniting - if Leopardstar had refused to help, where would Firestar be now? Also, there have been plenty of moments where Firestar has been utterly irrelevant - not every character serves to make him look good.

So no, Firestar is not a Mary Sue. He might walk the line between Sue and non-Sue at times, but I don't believe he crosses it.

But you know who was a true Sue? The real paragon of perfection, loved and adored by everyone around them?

Breezepelt.

This beautifully structured and eloquently written essay was brought to you by Leafy lmao