Flametail

Flametail is a supporting character in The Power of Three and Omen of the Stars arcs in Warriors. He was a medicine cat of ShadowClan, helping to get rid of Sol in his youth. He later drowns and goes to StarClan, blaming Jayfeather for not saving him before realizing that he wasn't at fault for the orange tom's death.
== Appearance ==
Flametail is a lean, broad-shouldered tom with bright orange fur and blue eyes.
== Biography ==
=== The Power of Three ===
==== Dark River ====
Tawnypelt gives birth to her and Rowanclaw's kittens, naming the orange tom Flamekit after Firestar, the beige she-kit Dawnkit symbolizing a new beginning for her and ShadowClan, and the brown tabby tom Tigerkit after her father Tigerstar to associate the Tiger- prefix with something positive. The birth of the three kits is announced by the ShadowClan leader Blackstar at the next Gathering, and upon hearing this Hollypaw, Jaypaw and Lionpaw realize that the three newborns are their cousins, as their father Brambleclaw is Tawnypelt's brother, with Hollypaw worrying that she'll have to face them in battle one day.
==== Outcast ====
When Brambleclaw and Lionpaw go to visit ShadowClan, Tawnypelt brings out her kits to meet their uncle and cousin. While Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt catch up, Flamekit comments that the ThunderClan cats smell bad. Dawnkit then flings herself ant Lionpaw, followed by Flamekit and Tigerkit, and their mother scolds them for how they're treating their guests before she formally introduces them.
While Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt converse, the three kits chase Lionpaw around. Tawnypelt then agrees to go with her brother to visit the Tribe of Rushing Water, and upon hearing this her children beg to go with her. She says no as they're too young, touching her nose to each of them one-by-one. Snowbird promises to look after them while she's gone, and the three say goodbye as she leaves.
==== Eclipse ====
When Hollypaw arrives in ShadowClan camp and requests help with a WindClan invasion, Flamekit and his siblings want to go. Tawnypelt brings them to Snowbird to look after them while their mom helps with the invasion, Snowbird assuring her that she knows all of their tricks to try and get out of camp.
Later, a ShadowClan patrol brings Hollypaw, Jaypaw, Lionpaw and Sol into camp, with Flamekit and his littermates tumbling out of the nursery to see them. The orange kitten plays with Hollypaw's tail and wonders why Jaypaw isn't looking at him. Jaypaw then turns his head towards Flamekit, startling him. Flamekit says that Jaypaw is staring at him, and calmly the medicine cat apprentice replies that he isn't because he's blind. Fascinated, he then asks Jaypaw how he got to ShadowClan camp without sight, to which the older tom simply answers that he walked. He shyly says goodbye to Jaypaw as the three apprentices return home and Ivytail coaxes him and his littermates to go play.
==== Long Shadows ====
Flamepaw, Dawnpaw and Tigerpaw all start their warrior training, though none of them have mentors due to Sol - who is now ShadowClan's de-facto leader - saying they don't need them. Later, a ThunderClan patrol consisting of Hollyleaf, Cinderheart, Ashfur and Cloudtail find Tawnypelt and her kids trespassing on their territory. Tawnypelt states that she no longer wishes to live in a Clan that's changed so much since Sol came into power. Though Ashfur is against the idea of brining them into ThunderClan camp, Cloudtail convinces the patrol to do so and let Firestar decide what to do with them. Flamepaw thanks them for their hospitality, and Hollyleaf notices that he and his family are very thin, growing concerned for their health.
They get to camp where Brambleclaw allows them to eat from the plentiful fresh-kill pile. Upon seeing that the three ShadowClan apprentices have eaten all the dry prey, Hollyleaf scolds them and Flamepaw apologizes on behalf of his siblings. While he and his siblings tell ThunderClan of the damage Sol has done to their Clan, Flamepaw says that he wants to be a medicine cat, but Sol won't allow him to, adding that Blackstar now goes by Blackfoot again due to no longer believing in StarClan. While waiting for their mom to come back from her discussion with Firestar, Dawnpaw wonders if they'll be joining ThunderClan. Flamepaw doesn't want to, as their medicine cat Leafpool already has an apprentice in Jaypaw and he wants to be ShadowClan's medicine cat.
Firestar eventually decides to let the ShadowClan cats stay until Sol is dealt with, adding that the three apprentices will continue their warrior training alongside Icepaw and Foxpaw in the meantime, assigning Cloudtail to be Flamepaw's mentor. Determined to stop Sol from destroying ShadowClan, Hollyleaf, Jaypaw and Lionblaze devise a plan involving the three apprentices to create a fake sign from StarClan to get ShadowClan to believe in their ancestors again. They inform the apprentices of this idea, and Flamepaw dejectedly says that nothing can get rid of Sol. Jaypaw tells him that they'll make a fake sign, and the apprentice trio are baffled, with the orange tom worrying that doing so will anger StarClan, to which Jaypaw replies that their ancestors asked him to help ShadowClan.
The six cats discuss how they're going to fake a sign, with Dawnpaw shooting down all of Flamepaw's ideas. Flamepaw then asks Jaypaw what he thinks the sign should be, and the blind gray tom replies that they'll have to get into ShadowClan first. The six go to ShadowClan, and once Jaypaw tells them of his plan to knock down some trees and impersonate a StarClan spirit, Flamepaw looks uneasy and asks if he's sure this is the only way they can get rid of Sol. Hollyleaf and Tigerpaw are then sent to find Littlecloud, with the latter telling him that he and his littermates wish to come back to ShadowClan. Littlecloud then goes to fetch Blackfoot, and as he returns with a black-and-white cat, everyone gets ready to push the trees over until Flamepaw tells them that the cat with Littlecloud is Toadfoot, not Blackfoot. In a rather uncharacteristically violent manor, he then helps Lionblaze jump Toadfoot, dragging him into the bushes and keeping him quiet by shoving his face into the ground and holding his jaw shut.
Littlecloud then gets Blackfoot, and when the two arrive Jaypaw and Dawnpaw knock down some loose trees, with the former pretending to be a StarClan cat. Just when their plan is about to be exposed however, the spirits of Raggedstar and Runningnose appear before Blackfoot and Littlecloud, causing the black-and-white tom to regain his faith in StarClan and later exiling Sol for his deceit.
==== Sunrise ====
With Sol gone, Flamepaw is allowed to become a medicine cat apprentice with Littlecloud as his mentor. When he next meets Jaypaw - now Jayfeather - he's surprised when the ThunderClan tom remembers him, being remined that they're cousins. Later, at the next half moon meeting, Littlecloud brings his new student to the Moonpool to present to the other medicine cats and StarClan. With the other medicine cats, Flamepaw falls asleep next to the Moonpool to visit StarClan in his dreams. He sees Jayfeather instead and is dissapointed, wanting to see the spirit of his grandfather Tigerstar, unaware that Tigerstar does not reside in StarClan, but the Dark Forest. Jayfeather tells him to be grateful to meet any cat of StarClan. Later, at the Gathering, he hears Hollyleaf's announcement that she and her brothers were not born to Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, but rather to Leafpool and Crowfeather, and is shocked to hear that the three ThunderClan cats aren't his biological cousins.
=== Omen of the Stars ===
==== The Fourth Apprentice ====
Flamepaw, Dawnpaw and Tigerpaw have now earned their full names: Flametail, Dawnpelt and Tigerheart. Later, when Tigerheart returns from a journey to destroy the beaver dam blocking water from the lake, Flametail and Dawnpelt rush up to greet him, pressing their noses against his as they welcome him back. Flametail congratulates his brother for helping end the drought, commenting that it'll take a while before the lake completely refills as he rubs his snout against the tabby tom's shoulder.
==== Fading Echoes ====
At the next half moon meeting at the Moonpool, Flametail teases his former mentor Littlecloud by commenting on his age. Jayfeather intends to walk in Flametail's dreams to find out if he knows anything about Tigerheart training with Tigerstar in the Dark Forest, wondering if the orange tom is training there as well. Instead however, he's greeted by the spirit of Runningnose.
==== Night Whispers ====
While Lionblaze and Cinderheart are on a late night walk near the ShadowClan border, Flametail spots and confronts them. Still bitter about Lionblaze killing the deputy Russetfur, he blames him for it before walking off. When Littlecloud falls ill, Flametail is greatly concerned about it, unconvinced by the older tom's insistence that he's fine. Upon Blackstar's orders, he visits the Moonpool where Raggedstar warns him that ShadowClan must stand alone, but when telling his leader about the message Littlecloud convinces Blackstar otherwise.
Flametail continuously has nightmares in which he falls into darkness, thinking that it's an omen but not sure of what it could mean. Later, while out looking for herbs, he rescues Pinepaw from some brambles he had fallen into. He's glad to find some borage herbs, though knows that it won't do much to help with the outbreak of greencough that leaf-bare has brought. Upon retuning to camp, he and Littlecloud argue about the orange tom's refusal to go to the half moon meetings and visit the other medicine cats, as he's still worried about Raggedstar's warning of ShadowClan standing alone, eventually bringing Littlecloud's friendship with the former ThunderClan medicine cat Cinderpelt into their quarrel. He then goes out with a patrol to collect more borage, where he receives a vison of drowning and in a panic knocks Dawnpelt away from a frozen puddle.
After giving some herbs to his sick Clanmates, Flametail joins in on a game of Prey-Stone - an activity similar to ice hockey - on the frozen lake. As he plays however, the ice beneath him gives way and he falls into the freezing water and is trapped under the ice. Jayfeather, who had been nearby when he fell in, dives in to save Flametail. He struggles to reach him due to his blindness and inability to swim, when a hairless cat named Rock appears and tells the gray tabby tom to let Flametail go, claiming that it's his time to die. Reluctantly Jayfeather returns to the surface, letting Flametail drown beneath the ice. Dawnpelt blames Jayfeather for her brother's death, assuming that he must have killed him, which she brings up constantly and eventually gets the blind tom into trouble with.
Soon after his death, Flametail's spirit is lured into the Place of No Stars, where Brokenstar orders Ivypaw to kill him to prove her loyalty to the Dark Forest cats. Ivypaw points out that he's already dead and that a spirit can't be killed, but Brokenstar tells her that killing a spirit is indeed possible. Knowing she needs to gain the trust of the Dark Forest cats to be a spy for the Clans, Ivypaw reluctantly is about to attack him. Tigerheart intervenes, not allowing anyone to take away what's left of his brother, and Tigerstar decides to let Flametail go as he doesn't pose a threat.
==== The Last Hope ====
Mothwing leads Jayfeather to a burning reed in RiverClan territory, saying it looks like a cat's tail on fire and that it may be a sign that Flametail is the fourth prophesized cat born with the power of the stars in his paws. Jayfeather goes to the Moonpool to visit Flametail, wanting to find out if he really is apart of the prophecy as well as wanting him to tell the Clans - mostly Dawnpelt - that the gray tom wasn't responsible for his death.
Once he finds Flametail, the orange tom is bitter at Jayfeather for letting him drown, saying that it was a stupid way to die, especially so young, and that he was almost killed by Ivypool in the Dark Forest. Jayfeather then begins sinking into the mud and begs Flametail to help him, but the deceased medicine cat refuses, wanting him to feel the same way he felt when he was left to die. Spottedleaf then appears and yowls at Flametail to help, and the orange tom changes his mind, helping the tortoiseshell she-cat rescue Jayfeather. He then appears in the dreams of Littlecloud, Kestrelflight and Willowshine, with his former mentor asking why he didn't appear until now. Flametail admits that he had been hiding ever since his death before telling the medicine cats that Jayfeather didn't kill him, and in fact tried to save him.
Jayfeather tells Flametail that his destiny has been fulfilled, and the orange tom finds it odd that he had to wait until after he had died to fulfill it. He then tells Jayfeather that he'll stand with all four Clans no matter what, and as the blind tom's dream fades away, Spottedleaf tells him that Flametail isn't apart of the prophecy like he'd assumed.
== Gallery ==
File:NightWhispersOG.webp|Flametail on the original cover of Night Whispers
File:FlametailTheUltimateGuide.webp|Flametail in The Ultimate Guide (2013)
File:FlametailFactSheet.webp|Flametail's fact sheet on the official website
File:FlametailFamilyTree.webp|Flametail's icon on the family tree
== Trivia ==
* He's mistakenly portrayed with green eyes instead of blue on both the original and reprinted covers of Night Whispers as well as in The Ultimate Guide.
* He is possibly named after Firestar, in the same vein as Firefern and Flamepaw (before the latter's name was changed to Nightheart).
== External Links ==
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