Ran and Shaw

"fire"

- If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn from the masters, Ran and Shaw.

Ran and Shaw were two ancient dragons, revered by the Sun Warriors as the original masters of firebending; they were the last surviving dragons. The rest of the species was hunted almost to extinction by firebenders after Fire Lord Sozin advocated killing dragons for glory. One of them was red and the other was blue, although it is not clear which was which.

History
Iroh had visited the masters before Zuko and Aang, but after he was deemed worthy by Ran and Shaw, he had claimed that he had fought and slain the last surviving dragon, in order to preserve the secret of Ran and Shaw's existence from the rest of the world.

When Zuko had lost his firebending drive, he and Aang traveled to the Sun Warriors' ancient city and discovered there that the ancient civilization, believed to have been extinct long ago, still lived on. The duo set out to learn the original form of firebending from "the masters", Ran and Shaw. Aang and Zuko journeyed to the cave of the masters while carrying a piece of the Eternal Flame which they would present to the masters as an offering. Before they could present their flames, however, the two friends let their flames extinguish. The two dragons shot out of their caves when they were summoned by the Sun Warriors, and started circling Aang and Zuko. After observing their movements for a while, Aang was able to deduce that the dragons wanted them to perform the "Dancing Dragon" with them, an ancient firebending form. After Aang performed this form in unison with the blue dragon and Zuko with the red one, Ran and Shaw deemed them worthy and showed them the meaning of firebending by engulfing the duo in a colorful spiral of fire. After having passed on their knowledge, the dragons retreated into their respective lairs.

Abilities
Ran and Shaw practiced a form of firebending that emphasized the life-giving qualities of fire, unlike the aggressive and hatred-fueled methods employed by most modern benders from the Fire Nation. They were able to communicate the true meaning of firebending, apparently through their breath, which appeared as multi-colored flame. Many people presented themselves to Ran and Shaw over the years, but the dragons deemed worthy only a few people including Iroh, Aang, and Zuko.

Known apprentices

 * Iroh
 * Zuko
 * Aang

Trivia



 * The use of the two names may have been a veiled tribute to Run Run Shaw, one of two brothers who headed the Shaw Brothers Studio company, famous for producing a number of kung fu movies throughout the fifties to mid-nineties.
 * Ran and Shaw are much larger in size than other dragons shown such as Roku's animal guide, Fang.
 * Ran means "burn" or "ignite" in Chinese. Shaw, more correctly "Shao"  means "burn" or "braze". The characters can also be used together to mean "combustion", "flaming", or "kindle".
 * Two similar dragons appeared in Zuko's visions while he endured his sickness. The blue dragon representing Azula was on Zuko's left, and the red dragon representing Iroh was on his right. Red and blue dragons also accompanied Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin respectively.
 * Ran and Shaw, like the spirits Tui and La, circle around each other to symbolize Yin and Yang.
 * It is not made clear which dragon is Ran and which dragon is Shaw.