#i feel like people mix up kyoshi and yangchen's personalities

[d4n1infandom]

aang: gets shot with lightning ONCE and dies

kyoshi: gets hit with lightning FIVE times then proceeds to kick the shit out of xu ping an

[steebs-nerdy-corner]

Weird Avatar Theory

So after the two Kyoshi novels have swirled around a bit in the old noggin, simmered next to the show and the comics, a bit of an out there theory came to me. Its not something groundbreaking, but it might be a new way to look at the Avatar most by now seem to view as the most milquetoast.

We learned from the novels that Avatars having travelling companions, like Aang did, is not only normal, but fairly traditional. Yangchen had them (two even laying down their lives for her), Kuruk had them, and of course Kyoshi had them. There was even a fair bit of prestige in being an Avatar’s companion: Kuruk’s companions earned fame and infamy throughout the world, and Kyoshi was excited to be an Avatar companion, even briefly, for the mistaken Avatar Yun.

On reflection, there seems to be only one Avatar who doesn’t have a list of travelling companions: Roku. He had bending teachers, we know, and we even hear that many of them become lifelong friends. Thing is, from his flashbacks they seem to be framed as static teachers rather than people who travelled with him across the world.

This might easily just be a case of retconning and oversight years after the series ended, but it got me to thinking... what if Roku was the first Avatar in memory to not have travelling companions? What could be the cause? And how might that have affected his views on the world?

If this was the case, I think the problem might have started with Kuruk. Those who’ve read the novels know there was a lot going on behind the scenes in Kuruk’s life, but in the public view he was seen as a bit of a shiftless Avatar. He had a band of incredible companions with him, powerful benders in their own right and shrewd political minds, yet he seemed to laze about in his 33 years of life, coasting off of Yangchen’s peace (we know this isn’t true but run with it). In the public eye, it probably looked like even though Kuruk was surrounded by companions any Avatar would be proud of, they did nothing to temper his excesses. These were his friends, his closest confidantes, and yet they could barely manage to drag him to important meetings and prop him up so he could pretend to care about what Fire Nation shipping lanes weren’t doing so well this year.

Then we come to Our Lady of Perpetual Asskicking, Kyoshi. An Avatar who mingled with daofei bandits, who swore the oaths to never make an honest living, who not only dragged an otherwise honorable Fire Nation soldier into the shadows, but even seemed to involve an airbender, someone most of the world seems to think as inherently sacred, into schemes of espionage and brutality. Now, you know and I know there’s way more to that story, but I’m more approaching this from what the public would see. We never got a good look at the public reactions to Kyoshi working with bandits, but I have to figure this would come to light sooner or later. She wasn’t exactly subtle about working with them in the first book and I can’t imagine she got more subtle when she contacted them about fighting Yun in the second. Whether it was word from the aftermath at the battle at the Avatar mansion, or sightings from the raid that resurrected the Yellow Neck bandits, or from the duel that scattered them, I figure at some point it would come to light that Kyoshi’s companions, even Rangi, were sworn bandits.

Finally, 200 something years later, we come to Roku, who gets to look back on the past two Avatars and see companions that were competent politicians and benders but poor motivators to the most powerful person on the planet, or were outright wanted criminals who were not above good old fashioned murder of rightful authorities. I wonder if, by that point, the Fire Sages had told him that the idea of travelling companions to the Avatar was a bit outdated. If they couldn’t motivate Kuruk and threatened to corrupt Kyoshi, what made them better than standard, static teachers in the Four Nations?

And so, all this holding true (and again I completely understand this could just be a big misreading of the situation), Roku would have went off on his Avatar training alone. He would have made his friends, of course, we know Gyatso, Sud, and presumably his waterbending teacher made the list, but I don’t think they would have formed as strong a bond with him as past Avatars would have with their travelling companions. There’s a special kind of bond when you’re really travelling with someone, after all: you’ve bickered, you’ve shared incredible experiences, you’ve shared incredible lows, you’ve seen each other at your most vulnerable, and you’ve been there for each other when the rest of the world is miles away. Roku never got that, if this is the case. He just had teachers and friends he left behind once he got the hang of his bending abilities.

The only constant would have been Sozin.

Even before Roku knew he was the Avatar, these two were damn near twin brothers. They shared a birthday, they trained together, lived together, probably ate together, maybe attended festivals together. We never really see mention of other Fire Nation acquaintances of Roku, and we know he was a shy boy from his interactions with Ta Min, so it may be that Sozin was Roku’s only friend. Even after leaving on his Avatar journey, Roku would likely be reminded of Sozin every time he looked in a mirror or down at a pond. Without the strong friendships a travelling companion would introduce, Sozin would well and truly be the most constant friendship Roku would have. We make jokes about Roku not killing a genocidal tyrant because they were besties, but after being a constant presence in Sozin’s life since becoming the Avatar, likely the only one until Ta Min, is it any wonder that he stayed his hand?

On top of that, I think this might have affected his opinions on the Four Nations. From the comics I think we get a good feeling that Roku saw the Four Nations as very distinct lines on a map. Earth Kingdom here, Fire Nation here, Water Tribes here, and Air Nomads here give or take a few. But we know from the books and from side materials that the world of Avatar just wasn’t that clean cut. People immigrated and emigrated, people mingled, people intermarried, it was a mixing world long before the era of Republic City. We even see this in Kyoshi’s story: she finds a highly skilled waterbending teacher in the Earth Kingdom and even duels one of the most infamous firebenders on the planet who had gained his infamy by leading Earth Kingdom daofei. Though certainly not ideal, I think Kyoshi had realized what Aang realized centuries later: people are people, and the Four Nations are really just that, lines on a map. Roku? I don’t think he ever got to experience that cultural mingling. He only ever saw the people of the Four Nations in the centers of their power, be it Agna Quel’a or the Southern Air Temple. I really wonder if that helped form his rigidity that we see Aang struggle with, the idea that cultures should never mix or mingle, that nations can’t work together. I wonder what decisions that might have led to in his life, if that might have shaped the world to be more isolated... Earth Kingdom here, Fire Nation here, everyone in their corners, no mixing. Perfect breeding ground for nationalism.

Or I could be completely wrong and this’ll all get amended in a future outpouring of content, one or the other.