Kuei

"earth"

- I'm not leaving without Bosco!

The 52nd Earth King, born Kuei, was most recent the King of Ba Sing Se and last ruler of the Earth Kingdom before the Fire Nation occupation. For most of his reign, he was nothing more than a figurehead, with true power residing with the city's Grand Secretariat, Long Feng. Although he briefly regained full power following the involvement of Avatar Aang, he was forced to flee Ba Sing Se after a coup orchestrated by the Dai Li and Princess Azula.

History
Ascending the throne at age four following his father's death, Kuei became one of the youngest Earth Kings. Because of the Earth King's youth, however, it was deemed appropriate to appoint the minister Long Feng as regent, a position from which he quickly assumed total control over Ba Sing Se. As such, for much of his reign the Earth King was a mere puppet of Long Feng, relying totally on his advice and unable to make simple decisions. The King had no knowledge of the War or anything beyond the confines of Earth Kingdom Royal Palace. Only the Avatar would eventually reveal to the Earth King all the lies that he had been fed by Long Feng.

Excluded from the decisions of government, Kuei dedicated his time to the pursuit of several hobbies. With a love of animals, he collected an extensive menagerie of creatures from all over the world, brought to him by the many expeditions of the Ba Sing Se University. His favorite pet by far, however, was a rare bear named Bosco, whom he kept with him most of the time, and seems to be his only real companion. Kuei dedicated much of his time toward the animal, feeding it expensive meats, hosting parties, and ordering several unsuccessful expeditions to find Bosco a mate.

The Avatar and his allies, Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and Toph Bei Fong, launched an attack on the Earth King's palace in "The Earth King", battling past the Dai Li and the Earth King's royal guards. After getting to the King's throne room, the four told the King about the War and Long Feng's treachery. At first, the King did not believe them, but after the Avatar showed the King Appa's bite on Long Feng's leg, the King agreed to go with Aang and co, to see if their statements were true.

The four first took the King to Lake Laogai where the Dai Li secret headquarters used to have been. However, the Dai Li had already destroyed their base, and the Earth King remained skeptical of the childrens' efforts, encouraged by Long Feng. However, Aang managed to convince the Earth King to go to the Outer Wall, in exchange for a ride on Appa, showing him The Drill, a massive Fire Nation war machine. Long Feng tried to cover it up as a construction project but the Earth King was completely unconvinced. He ordered that the Dai Li arrest Long Feng; they obeyed, and Long Feng was taken prisoner for crimes against the Earth Kingdom.



Later, in "The Guru", the Earth King stays in Ba Sing Se with Katara while Aang, Sokka, and Toph depart to the East. During a Council of Five war meeting on the invasion of the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun, while the Earth King is out of the throne room, Katara rushes in to warn the Kyoshi Warriors that Prince Zuko is in Ba Sing Se, and learns that the "Warriors" are none other than Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai, the Fire Nation princess and her consorts. Ty Lee knocks out Katara, and she is taken to the catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se.

When Sokka and Toph return to warn the Earth King, Azula and her consorts are revealed when Ty Lee starts flirting with Sokka, who admits he is into Suki, which leads Ty Lee to breaking their cover by admitting she doesn't know who that is. While she fights Sokka and Mai fights, Azula sneaks up behind the Earth King and threatens to kill him with blue fire, and they too are captured. However, Toph uses Metalbending to get them out of the Dai Li prison while Aang and Iroh rescue Katara and Zuko in the crystal catacombs. Toph and Sokka prepare to evacuate the city with the Earth King, as the Dai Li are launching a coup, but the Earth King refuses to leave without Bosco. Toph and Sokka face Ty Lee and Mai in a battle and win, and take Bosco. The Earth King, his pet, and the two children flee Ba Sing Se, but not before picking up an injured Katara and Aang, who fought against Azula, the Dai Li, and Zuko (who turned to Azula's side in the end). As the quintet leave Ba Sing Se, the Earth King remarks, sadly, "The Earth Kingdom...has fallen."

The Earth King is spent a period of time after his deposition traveling around the world in exile with his bear, Bosco. During this period, he hoped to come to better understand the life of peasants outside the palace.

When Toph makes a sand miniature of Ba Sing Se in "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King", a very detailed and identifiable version of him and Bosco can be seen. While his fate is unknown, it is likely that that he returned to his rightful place as the Earth King when Ba Sing Se was liberated by the Order of the White Lotus and Ozai was defeated by Aang.

Personality
The experience of coming to power young, as well as spending most of his life isolated from the outside world with Long Feng encouraging him to ignore more and more of his royal duties, had an obvious effect on Kuei. For much of his life his closest friend was his pet bear, and thus he is very self-conscious around people, made only worse by his people's reverence of him. While a young adult, Kuei is naive and child-like, never being confronted with the responsibilities that his position requires and unaware of the complexities of political intrigue. Having been nurtured for much of his life, he has difficulty taking charge after arresting Long Feng, putting his faith in the Council of Five and never suspecting the whole Dai Li of betraying him. This tendency to trust proves to be his undoing when he foolishly lets the "Kyoshi Warriors" (Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in disguise) pass security and tells them of the planned invasion, a plan which relied on absolute secrecy to succeed.

Kuei recently began taking charge of his position after witnessing first-hand the underlying conspiracy within his government and the reality of the War that had reached the city walls. He was overthrown shortly afterwards and has since been traveling in exile. However, since the king has now had experience with the realities of war and has seen much of the war-torn Earth Kingdom for himself since his overthrow, it is likely that he will use the lessons he learned to become a more effective ruler upon returning to the throne.

Name
The Earth King's given name may be a transliteration variant of the word 魁 (kuí), meaning "chief" - it may also be a variant of 傀 (kuǐ), meaning "puppet".

Trivia

 * The Earth King's clothes are similar to the costume worn by the Qing Dynasty emperors of China, especially Puyi in the film The Last Emperor.
 * The relationship between the Earth King and Long Feng strongly resembles Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration (1867), where the Emperor was little more than a symbol, and real power lay with the Shōgun, or chief general.
 * It is also interesting to note the similarities between Long Feng's relationship with Earth King Kuei as compared to that of Benito Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. The King reigned as a puppet leader throughout most of the time of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy, until he deposed Mussolini and had him arrested, much like Kuei did to Long Feng.
 * Because he chose to travel the world in beggar's clothes after he discovered the truth about life outside his palace, the Earth King strongly resembles Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, who renounced his life of luxury after becoming aware of the suffering among the people of his kingdom. This is similar to the journey that Zuko makes throughout the series.
 * Though it might be a coincidence, stylistically he seems to resemble Puyi, the last Emperor of China. There are many similarities as well - Puyi was made emperor at a very young age, he was a puppet emperor during his early childhood and later under the Japanese occupation. Puyi was also trapped for years inside the Forbidden City, much as the Earth King never left the palace. The Earth King also wears spectacles, much like Puyi.

Kuei Kuei