That's what everyone seems to believe.

The Last Hope, the final book in the Omen of the Stars arc and conclusion to a decade-long

era of Warriors, would have us all believe that the famous flame-colored tom died in

a climatic moment of the final battle with the Dark Forest.

They have even brought Firestar back, over and over in recent arcs, continuously showing

him in Starclan to ensure us that, whatever happened that night, the great leader is dead.

But all of this…is a lie.

Firestar could not have died that night, and he didn't.

A close examination of the book in question will reveal the truth to us.

It is true that, going into this book, Firestar was on his last life.

Between the main series and supplemental material, we have documented proof of where each of

his first eight lives were lost.

His first was lost to Scourge in the famous battle with Bloodclan, before Lionclan won.

His second was lost in the battle with the rats to reclaim Skyclan's new home in the

gorge.

His third, if you've read the mangas, was lost helping his friend Ravenpaw and his husband

Barley reclaim their own home of the barn.

He lost his fourth life attempting to help Shadowclan flee their camp when it was being

overtaken by twolegs.

While he didn't lose all of his lives to the fox trap that Hawkfrost, Tigerstar, and

Ashfur set him up in, he did lose one before Brambleclaw took on his half brother.

In Long Shadows, during a massive green-cough bout that swept through Thunderclan, Firestar

lost his sixth life.

Sometime in the six month gap between the Power of Three and Omen of the Stars arcs,

he evidently lost another life to a fox.

Finally, in the battle with Shadowclan that was staged by the Dark Forest, Firestar lost

his eighth life to Russetfur, Shadowclan's deputy, before Lionblaze killed her as well.

Therefore, going into the final battle with the Dark Forest, we know he only had to die

once.

It certainly is a pity that he *didn't.*

Let us now begin with The Last Hope, chapter 23, where the battle finally begins.

One might wonder how it takes 23 chapters into the last book for the Dark Forest battle

to begin when the last two entire arcs have had the time to do all of the preparation

for this battle, but that's beside the point for now.

He doesn't come in with any injuries, so we'll take special note of each time he

appears in order to know how he stands going into his final battle.

The first time he is noted as being in battle with a warrior at all, it is sending an unnamed

Dark Forest cat flying backwards with a kick, so an easy win.

He is seen a little later battling with Darkstripe, but with no notable moves on either side,

and he escaped it easily enough to fight with Bumblestripe and Poppyfrost against a whole

group of warriors and push them back towards the thicker trees.

As the herd thinned out, he stood and ordered them to leave or die, prompting them to run

away.

Helpfully, they pause later to say that Cloudtail, Poppyfrost, and Dustpelt have been badly hurt

but Firestar himself asks if anyone else is and no one responds.

At this point in the battle, he is doing fine.

Other than conversing with cats or handing out orders, he isn't noted as doing any

specific fighting again until Spottedleaf is killed by Mapleshade, at which point he

charges at and throws Mapleshade backwards.

With Sandstorm joining moments after, they both quickly manage to make Mapleshade flee

without her making any moves against them.

Firestar then faces Brokenstar and slipped when he tried to lunge, but wasn't actually

attacked at all before Yellowfang stepped in and killed Brokenstar again.

Firestar does talk again after this point, but he doesn't fight at all until Tigerstar

appears, so now we come to the finale.

Before we move on, let's note that Firestar has no confirmed injuries at all.

It's possible that Darkstripe or the group of warriors left him with a couple of thin

scratches, but he did beat both very easily and wasn't considered to need any medical

attention after fighting them.

Every fight he faced after the pause was won quickly by him and / or other cats, in many

cases giving absolutely no time for his opponents to even make a counter attack, let alone injure

him substantially.

Therefore, we will assume that, if not completely untouched, Firestar is perfectly capable going

into this final battle.

Whatever we expect to kill him will have to kill him here.

Skipping past a bit of taunting and callback conversations, when their battle actually

begins, we can go through a list of every injury Firestar takes at Tigerstar's paws.

Tigerstar hooks his claws into Firestar's shoulders for a few moments so that he can

mock him, his hind leg was bitten hard, and his spine was likely bruised from being hit.

At this point, while he is free, Firestar shows that he is still able to speak fluidly,

run smoothly, and even perform a complex midair flip without trouble, so these injuries, while

certainly needing tending after the battle, weren't extremely severe.

In contrast, Tigerstar has taken a series of specific and continuous blows from Firestar

and has to struggle to his paws with blood dripping down his head and into his eyes,

impairing his view.

Firestar is absolutely winning.

After this point, Tigerstar does manage to get Firestar's throat, but only removes

fur and is unable to pierce the skin, likely due to his current lack of accuracy due to

the blood in his vision.

And yet again, in contrast, Firestar then returns the favor and actually digs his teeth

deep into Tigerstar's neck, holding him against his thrashing until he goes still.

Tigerstar is dead at this point, and Firestar can take no more damage through wounds.

He took no fatal injuries, and not even any that were enough to note heavy bleeding or

slow his movements in any way, as shown by his complex twisting maneuver.

After that point, the only damage he took at all was losing some fur on his neck, which

is certainly not enough to kill.

Additionally, unlike some other battles Firestar was involved in, this particular one was given

full attention by the narrative and described in immense detail.

It is doubtful that key fatal wounds would have been left out, especially when Tigerstar's

growing wounds and bleeding were described consistently.

The idea that Firestar died from his wounds soon after Tigerstar, although it's described

as true by Kate Cary and currently believed by the Warriors Wiki, simply doesn't hold

water.

Let's now turn our attention to the other popular ideas of how he died, then, shall

we?

Firestar is not given much of a break as, immediately after his fight with Tigerstar,

a bolt of lightning strikes a fallen tree right behind him, flames and smoke roll over

the area, and rain quickly comes down to quench them, within the same paragraph.

When the smoke clears, Firestar is on the ground, dead.

Hold on let's…let's examine that one.

Wounds aside, the popular explanations I have heard for Firestar's death are that it was

due to the tree falling on him, the fire burning him, or inhaling too much of the smoke.

However, I don't find any of these ideas compelling.

The tree was explicitly already a fallen tree when it was struck with lightning, so as much

as it may seem climactic or like something Starclan would do to send a burning tree falling

onto their beloved leader, it's simply not the case that this happened.

The tree did not fall onto Firestar, or anyone, and so could not have killed him on its own.

I also find it doubtful that Firestar was burned to death, and less likely that he died

from smoke inhalation, because of how short the period was.

The lightning coming down, lighting up the tree, smoke pouring in, and being quenched

by the rain all happened very quickly, within the span of one very short paragraph.

By the time Dovewing even thought to look through the smoke, it was already clearing

up thanks to the rain.

Certainly inhaling smoke would, and did sting, but it wouldn't be enough to kill you in

so short a time.

There is also no indication that the flames ever touched Firestar, as the tree that lit

up was beside him and only smoke, not fire, poured over him.

When Sandstorm examined him afterwards, no burn marks were noted, and there would have

to be very severe burns for the fire to have killed him.

Instead, Firestar is only noted as having sodden fur, in other words being drenched

by the rain that just passed through.

I have also heard it said that, even if no particular wound he had was fatal, Firestar's

death at this point could have been due to blood loss from his existing wounds, but given

how few wounds he actually had, especially in any sensitive areas, and again, how little

time passed since his skillful and unimpaired battle with Tigerstar, it doesn't seem like

that could be the case either.

Firestar's death could not have been due to his wounds, blood loss from them, the tree,

the fire, or the smoke.

If you accept all of my reasoning up until now, then we are left with only one option…

Firestar did not die.

When that smoke rolled over him, he and Starclan saw an opportunity to make his death a momentous

one and actually fulfill that fourth cat prophecy they accidentally shoved him into, and so

he laid still while all of the cats who gave him his nine lives, save for Spottedleaf,

came down to give him a ceremonial goodbye.

They then padded towards him and, using their connection to the spiritual ghostly whatever-it-is

energy, they allowed Firestar's spirit to rise, and, temporarily, follow them to Starclan.

However, his body was still alive, and once every cat had left, thinking he was dead,

he was able to come back down and return to his body.

Firestar's new connection to his ghostly form and having eight of his lives in Starclan

has allowed him to return to their ancestors when he must be seen by visiting cats to keep

up the act, and sometimes he will even pass on messages or prophecies to assure every

living cat of the lie that he really is dead, but now we know the truth.

Despite every potential cause of death you threw at Firestar that night, nothing was

able to beat him!

He was so busy being a hero that he failed to die!

Hahhahahahhaha I can't believe I was blind to it for so long!

He never died that night, and Warriors can hide this fact no longer!

We have seen what you have been keeping from us for over 10 years, Warriors!

There is nothing more you can say!

Oh except uh, happy April Fools day everyone.

I didn't make up any of the quotes or facts in this video but obviously we know Firestar

is dead, despite all evidence… or is he?

Thank you for watching, and always remember that, when climatically killing off a character,

you should make sure to let one of the causes of death actually kill them.