I love the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender (though I love The Legend of Korra more). So much so, that I would hate if the story ended with the TV series.
Thankfully, it doesn't, since there are a ton of ancillary stories that enrich the lore that was already set in place.
I've already talked extensively about the comics, as well as the four novels that comprise the Chronicles of the Avatar series featuring Kyoshi and Yangchen, and now, with the fairly recent release of the latest novel, The Reckoning of Roku, by Randy Ribay, I've learned even more about the world of Avatar. Come, listen.
Oh, and some major spoilers up ahead for the most recent novel.
Roku Had A Twin Brother
I'm going to be honest with you. When I learned that there would be a book about Avatar Roku, I kind of got a little upset. That's because despite his importance in this universe (he was, after all, the Avatar prior to Aang) I never really cared much about his character.
Kyoshi, of course, was a great first choice to start a book series with, and Yangchen was an interesting second choice. That said, I was hoping we'd learn more about Kuruk next. We learned a great deal about him in the Kyoshi novels, and he turned out to be a tragic figure, but I really wanted to know even more about him.
Instead, we got Roku, and I thought it would be a boring read. How wrong I was, though, since one of the most interesting new tidbits of information we receive in this novel is that Roku had a twin brother named Yasu, whom he was born just seconds apart from. This is fascinating, because Sozin was also born on the same day as Roku (though a year earlier), which just means that he was also born on the same day as Yasu.
Get this: any one of them could have been the Avatar, and we learn that Roku contemplates this often, as he’s unsure of whether he was the right pick when it came to imbuing the spirit of the Avatar.
We also learn that something tragic happened to Yasu, which greatly informs Roku’s outlook on life, and also connects him closer to Gyatso, which I’ll get into next.
Roku And Gyatso Had A Rocky Relationship At First
I honestly didn’t love everybody in the cast of the live-action Avatar series on Netflix, but I really liked Lim Kay Siu, who played Gyatso, who is one of Aang’s oldest and greatest friends, as well as his mentor.
Gyatso is an interesting character, since Aang remembers him before he ran away from being the Avatar, and he took on many firebenders during the invasion of the Air Temple. Aang believes he was the greatest airbender he ever knew.
So, it was great to learn more about his backstory in this book, as we learn that he and Roku, who would later become good friends, had a very rocky relationship at first.
One thing that connects Gyatso to Roku is that they’ve both lost somebody important to them. Roku lost his brother, while Gyatso lost his sister, Yama.
This sense of loss brings both of the characters together throughout the novel, but initially, Gyatso doesn’t particularly like Roku since he finds him arrogant, and Roku doesn’t like Gyatso since he speaks the truth about Sozin, and Roku doesn’t want to hear it.
It’s only due to events that bring the two together that they ultimately become the kind of friends we get to see in flashback scenes on the show.
Gyatso Struggled With Airbending At First
The way Aang talks up Gyatso, you kind of just figured that he was always a master airbender, but we learn throughout this novel (which is now canon, mind you) that he actually struggled with airbending to the point that he couldn’t even comfortably ride a flying bison.
This is particularly fascinating when we learn that this is because he had not fully mourned the death of his sister yet. It’s because he was holding so much inside and not sharing his sadness that he had pretty much forgotten how to airbend. And, this is what I love about these novels. Sure, the Avatar comics often expand the world by offering up side stories, but I feel the novels are the material that really expand the lore.
I know that certain bending techniques require specific kinds of focus, but I didn’t know that loss and grief could actually deprive you of your bending ability if you hadn’t quite processed it yet.
This story doesn’t exactly go into the five stages of grief, but it does touch upon that, which is something we don’t ever quite see in the show. At least, not to this extent.
The Fire Nation (Re)Learned Firebending Techniques Like Lightning-Bending Due To Sozin
By the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we were seeing all kinds of unique and fascinating bending abilities. Some of the coolest that came out of firebending were fire breathing, and lightning bending. These were, of course, some of the most advanced forms, and it was cool to see them appear throughout the show.
However, one thing I never knew (because it wasn’t revealed until this novel), was that a reason why these techniques were made available to the characters on the show was because Sozin learned them in a trip to an ancient library.
He made it a mission to seek out ancient knowledge in preparation for being the next firelord, and we see his pursuit for these new abilities cut short when he learns that his friend, Roku, might be in danger.
He only learns a fraction of what there is to know about the old techniques of firebending, and it’s those abilities he learned that we actually see on the show, which is so cool!
Sozin Also Emotionally Ended His Friendship With Roku Long Before His Betrayal
Lastly, one of the most tragic storylines in Avatar: The Last Airbender, is how Sozin betrays his “friend” Roku at a volcano, and leaves him to die in pursuit of global domination.
The way the story is framed on the show, we learn that Roku had doubts about Sozin when he found that his friend was intruding on another territory. But, Sozin’s true betrayal of just leaving Roku to die was especially disappointing, because we got a sense that Sozin truly was his friend.
However, by the end of the novel, we learn that Sozin, in his heart anyway, had already betrayed Roku. It’s not like he thought, “One day, I’m going to leave his ass at a volcano, and see how he feels about it.” That said, by the end, Sozin believes that Roku has already abandoned putting the Fire Nation first, unlike Avatar Szeto, and instead, was becoming an Avatar of all nations, which extreme nationalist, Sozin, just couldn’t stand behind.
So, he decides to keep up appearances as Roku’s best buddy, but ultimately, he isn't his true friend. He had given that up long before his ultimate betrayal.
That’s everything I learned. But, what do you think? Do you also like to dive deeper into the lore of Avatar? For more news on all things Avatar (like what we know about Season 2 of the Netflix series), be sure to swing by here often.
