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- In Netflix's adaptation, Roku's character differs from the original show, with a new storyline involving Koh the Face Stealer and the fact he is less of a direct mentor to Aang.
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- Overview
- History
- Personality
- Abilities
- Appearances
- Trivia
Roku was the Fire Nation-born Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kyoshi and preceding Avatar Aang. Roku's memory served as a guiding force for Aang throughout his quest to end the Hundred Year War.
Roku was a wise and merciful Avatar with good intentions. Living in a period of change, technological revolution, and nationalist expansion, he worked tirelessly to maintain peace between the four nations during a time of complex political issues and tense diplomatic relations. However, he himself acknowledged that he was too indecisive during his lifetime. Roku's long friendship with Fire Lord Sozin resulted in his reluctance to end his friend's life and thus his imperial ambitions. This ultimately led to Roku's death, preventing him from stopping a war which would last for one hundred years, something which weighed heavily on him in his afterlife. Aang inherited Roku's burden of healing the war-torn world, and Roku firmly believed Aang was destined to amend his mistakes.
Early life
Roku was born to a noble family from the Fire Nation. Roku never much wanted for anything in life, and was a kind, determined, and friendly child. During his childhood, the world had enjoyed an unprecedentedly long time of peace due to the long life of the previous Avatar, Kyoshi, and was on the brink of an industrial revolution, due to the unprecedented collaboration fostered by business and academia to solve the world's most pressing issues, and scholars, educators, and innovators directly forged connections with one another in the name of progress. He spent much of his childhood visiting the palace, and Roku and Prince Sozin were best friends; they spent a lot of time together, and practiced their firebending. They were so close that Sozin was able to immediately recognize Roku's crush on Ta Min, encouraging him to speak with her. They also shared the same birthday, which they celebrated together. During a party celebrating his and Sozin's sixteenth birthday in 66 BG, Roku was informed by the Fire Sages that he was the Avatar. Before Roku left the Fire Nation to master the other three elements, Sozin came by to talk to him and was informed by Roku that the Sages had told him not to bring anything with him on his travels, as the Avatar required no worldly possessions on his journey. After learning this, Sozin gave him the headpiece worn by the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, hoping that he was at least allowed to have that. Roku took the headpiece gratefully and wore it for the rest of his life. Soon after Roku set out on his journey, the world began to change, with events such as Earth King Jialun's purge of the sages taking place, and the Earth Kingdom government began to grow greedy and corrupt. Changes at the hands of ambitious world leaders when Roku was still young meant that the world was a much more complicated place by the time he had mastered the four elements than it had been after Kyoshi's death.
Maintaining international peace and returning home
War threatened to break out between the Northern Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom after a tsunami hit the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom state of Chenbao. The Earth Kingdom blamed waterbenders for sending the tsunami, while the Northern Water Tribe blamed earthbenders for creating an underwater earthquake, but the truth was that it was simply a horrible natural disaster. Supported by the Air Nomads of the Northern Air Temple, Roku intervened before the conflict could escalate, and both sides backed down, though their navies remained in the contested waters. Roku requested Air Nomad Elders to form a covert group of airbenders, whose job centered around quickly and quietly dealing with issues for the Avatar without question. This delegation was led by Sherab, who took his role very seriously. In the following years, Roku faced rising worldwide tensions due to cultural changes and the growing influence of nationalist expansionist ideas. As the world continued to develop new technologies, nations began to compete with each other over raw materials and other resources which were needed for such innovations, leading to numerous small-scale conflicts and diplomatic incidents. Dark spirits also began to stir in the polar regions, which spiritually-inclined tribespeople believed was the result of nations abusing natural resources and laying claim to sacred land, and the Fire Nation beginning to hunt dragons. Meanwhile, the world was affected by disasters such as floods in the southern Earth Kingdom. Roku worked hard to maintain the balance between the nations, and did all that he could to negotiate the potentially volatile situations of his day. With most of the nations becoming increasingly selfish and aggressive, the Air Nomads were Roku's main allies, and the temples gladly came to Roku's aid when he called upon them, despite the protests of the breakaway sect known as the Guiding Wind, who claimed that Roku was overstepping as Avatar by asking the Air Nomads to be involved in worldly politics. After his mastery of the Avatar State, Roku returned to the Fire Nation Capital, having become a fully realized Avatar. He reunited with Sozin, who had since been crowned as Fire Lord, greeting each other with a hug. A few months later, Roku married his childhood sweetheart, Ta Min, and had Sozin take the position of his best man during the ceremony. At the wedding, Sozin asked to speak with Roku in private and informed his close friend that he had thought hard about the state of the world. He told Roku that he firmly believed the Fire Nation had entered a period of great prosperity, and proposed to Roku that together the pair could spread this wealth to the world by expanding the empire. Roku was horrified by this proposition, telling Sozin that the four nations were to be kept separate, and advised the Fire Lord to never bring the subject forth in future conversations. He eventually settled down and began living out his life with Ta Min, with whom he later had a daughter, Rina. Seventeen years after Roku's wedding, he discovered that Sozin had proceeded with his plans and set up colonies within the Earth Kingdom. Infuriated at this act of war, Roku confronted Sozin. Blasting open the doors to the throne room inside the Fire Nation Royal Palace, he lambasted his old friend and ordered him to cease his aggressive expansion. When Sozin retorted that Roku's loyalty lay with the Fire Lord and the nation's progress, deeming him a traitor if he did so otherwise, Roku warned the Fire Lord not to challenge him. As he turned to leave, Sozin attacked him from behind, but Roku easily dodged the attack and used his earthbending to reappear behind Sozin, giving him the opportunity to strike him with an air blast. Suspending Sozin in the air with an earth pillar by the collar of his robes, Roku entered the Avatar State and destroyed the throne room and part of the palace with a massive gust of air. He spared Sozin's life for the sake of their past friendship and left him still hanging above the ground, though not before warning him never to move forward with his plans again, as it would otherwise result in his "permanent end". However, the Avatar allowed the first Fire Nation colonists to remain at their new homes in the Earth Kingdom.
Death
Twenty-five years later, Roku's home island was consumed in a violent volcanic eruption so massive that even Fire Lord Sozin could see and feel it from his palace a hundred miles away. Initially, he managed to give time for the other inhabitants including his wife to escape the island by forming an air sphere around him. Through the use of his bending abilities, Roku attempted to contain the volcanic destruction, although it was delayed by continuous spitting of lava from the volcano's mouth, using earthbending to create trenches to divert the lava safely to the sea, and using airbending to solidify the lava and blow away the poisonous gases from the geysers formed underneath until he used the Avatar State to bend lava to the other side. He eventually lost hope though, when the secondary volcano close by also erupted. At that moment, however, Sozin arrived on his dragon and offered his assistance to the Avatar. The two used their bending to try to contain the lava flow, with Roku saving Sozin from a nasty fall using earthbending, but the poisonous gases eventually forced them to flee the mountainside. On their way down, Roku warned Sozin to not breathe the gas and used his airbending to protect them, before succumbing to a gas geyser himself. His vision blurring, Roku pleaded for help. Instead, Sozin realized that without Roku in his way, his plans of conquest would come into fruition, therefore leaving on his dragon and a shocked Roku to die. Aghast by his former friend's decision and reason to leave him for dead, Roku ultimately realized that his death was inevitable. Right before the pyroclastic flow engulfed him, Fang curled up with his master and the two died together.
Roku was a warm hearted, wise, disciplined, and merciful Avatar. In his youth, he was a cheerful young man who wore his heart on his sleeve and easily befriended people around him, including Gyatso, Sud, and Sozin. His affectionate nature remained even after his death as he offered his successor, Aang, a warm hug despite the young airbender damaging his connection to Roku and his other past lives.
Even though he had a noble upbringing, his journey around the world to master the four elements made him realize what his privilege had afforded him, and he understood what it was like for those who lived in poverty. These experiences allowed him to understand his duty as the Avatar. He appreciated novelty and individuality. Traveling extensively, he knew that the world was full of beautiful unique things. He believed that people were stronger when their talents were valued, and took time to listen what others had to say.
Roku believed that friendship could transcend a single lifetime and showed immense devotion to his friends and loved ones. When recalling his youth with Prince Sozin, he did so with fondness and without any bitterness about how things later soured between them because of Sozin's ambition. However, this devotion also proved to be a weakness because upon having a chance to stop Sozin's mad conquest later in life, Roku spared him in honour of their friendship. His traumatic death and the war that followed caused Roku's spirit to regret sparing his old friend and he advised Aang against making the same mistake, telling him that it would be best to kill Fire Lord Ozai. This was also shown when Aang was in a predicament about whether to kill Zuko as per the promise he made to him if he ever acted like his father. After Aang refused to do so, Roku criticized him for his indecision.
Roku was a wise and experienced man, and exuded competence and skill to others after he became a fully-realized Avatar. Maintaining the peace between the four nations, Roku did everything in his power to negotiate, calm, and guide potentially volatile situations. However, Roku was also aware of the limits of a single man's perception, telling Aang that he did not have all the answers and could only advise him from his own point of view. He was self-critical, believing himself to be an indecisive man and acknowledging that Sozin had used his own merciful nature against him as Roku could have prevented the Hundred Year War if he had been decisive enough to kill the Fire Lord. Roku was not above intimidating people in order to maintain balance in the world but rarely followed through with his threats, something he regretted after his death.
Bending
By age twenty-eight, Roku was a master of all four bending arts and a fully realized Avatar, able to control the Avatar State and to bend all four elements simultaneously. Among his abilities, he could bend lava and cool it with his breath, move fairly large amounts of earth or water, quickly tunnel through earth, fly using an Air Nomad glider or mini-tornado, and create a shield of air large enough to cover a whole village. His control was not only powerful but precise – he could leave a single rock pillar standing while he leveled a building, and melt chains on others while leaving them unharmed. As well as having tremendous control over the elements, Roku was a skilled combatant, which was displayed when he was attacked by Fire Lord Sozin. Roku easily defeated him before his opponent had the chance to make a second attack.
Avatar Spirit
After mastering all four elements, Roku initially had difficulty to master the Avatar State due to his impatience. Over time, however, he was able to master it, becoming a fully-realized Avatar as a result. He was also Aang's mentor on his journey as the Avatar for several years. He engulfed his spirit into Aang's body once in order to save him from danger at the Avatar Temple. He used Aang's presence to command Jeong Jeong to teach Aang firebending. He also appeared as a spirit in the middle of the ocean to give Aang advice.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Graphic novels
•The Promise trilogy •The Rift trilogy
•Avatar Roku's first appearance in the series was in the opening sequence.
•Avatar Roku first appeared as a statue within a shrine; Aang mentioned that although he never met him, he felt a particular connection to his previous incarnation.
•Roku's voice actor, James Garrett, narrated an interlude episode called "The Legend So Far" that recapped the first seventeen episodes of the first season and was also the voice that said "Previously on Avatar ..." when it appeared before an episode began. Roku was also silhouetted in the opening sequence of every episode as the Avatar that demonstrated the use of all four elements.
•Roku was the only named Avatar to appear as an elderly man when called upon by the current Avatar; all the others are represented during their primes.
•Roku destroyed the Fire Nation Palace once and the Fire Temple on Crescent Island twice.
•In both the opening sequence and "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", Roku bent all four elements in the pattern of the Avatar Cycle, and both times he bent them in exactly the same way, first water, followed by earth, fire, and air.
Feb 29, 2024 · Before becoming the Avatar, he was actually best friends with a soon-to-be Fire Lord, Prince Sozin. When Roku was named the Avatar, he spent 12 long years mastering the four elements...
Jan 23, 2021 · Roku's earliest years are spent in the Fire Nation Palace, together with Sozin. The nature and strength of their friendship, as well as the fact that he is allowed free access to the Royal household, suggest that the Avatar is likely of royal blood himself.
- Contributor
Feb 24, 2024 · One of the most bizarre changes in Avatar: The Last Airbender is the portrayal of Avatar Roku (C.S. Lee). In the original series, Avatar Roku is a stern but calming presence to Aang. He is primarily Aang’s main contact in his past life and the young Avatar relies on him first throughout the series.
This article is about the character in Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender. For the character in the animated series, see Roku. Roku was the Fire Nation Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom and preceding Avatar Aang of the Southern Air Temple.
Discover the untold story of Avatar Roku, the powerful and wise Firebender who helped guide Aang on his journey to become the Avatar.
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- Avatar: The Last Airbender
