Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku


 * This article is about the episode. For the celestial event, see Winter solstice. For the titular character, see Roku.

"Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku" is the eighth episode of season one of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the eighth of the overall series. It debuted on April 15, 2005.

Overview
''Aang travels to the Fire Temple to speak with Avatar Roku on the winter solstice. They are chased by Zuko and attacked by a Fire Nation blockade led by Zhao. When Aang arrives at the temple, he is shocked to learn that the five Fire Sages there are no longer the Avatar's allies. However, a friendly sage, Shyu, helps Aang reach the sanctuary where he is to speak with the past Avatar. Roku then informs Aang about Sozin's Comet, which gave the firebenders power to start the War one hundred years ago, and will give them power again to finish it when the comet arrives at summer's end. Aang defeats Zhao, Zuko, and the sages when he manifests the spirit of Roku, who destroys the temple.''

Synopsis
The episode starts with Aang packing his things on Appa; Aang doesn't want to endanger his friends' lives so he intends to journey to the temple alone. As he is about to set off, Appa starts being stubborn and won't budge unless Katara and Sokka go with them. Katara and Sokka stop him and beg him not to go, but Aang tells them that he must. His friends join him, telling him he has their support. The Senlin Village leader gives Aang some more supplies and tells him that it is a long journey to Avatar Roku's temple, and if they want to get there before the solstice is over, they must leave immediately. Aang tries to thank him for his kindness, but the leader tells them to leave that instant and so they do. Later that night, there is a knock at the door of the leader's house; he opens it to find Prince Zuko. Zuko pushes the man back through his door and demands to know where the Avatar went.



It is now daytime as Appa flies through the sky; Katara spots Zuko's ship trailing them. On Zuko's ship, Iroh scolds his nephew, reminding him that he was banished from the Fire Nation, and if he enters their waters, he will be arrested. Zuko tells him that since he is chasing the Avatar, his father will understand. Iroh states that his brother isn't an understanding person. Back on Appa, Katara and Sokka see a catapult being readied on Zuko's ship. The catapult's missile is set on fire and sent hurtling towards Appa, who barely dodges the shot. Zuko orders the catapult to be reloaded when he sees in the distance a blockade of Fire Nation ships in the way. Iroh tells Zuko that since he is still in Earth Kingdom waters, if he turns back now he won't be arrested. Zuko refuses to turn away, and orders the ship forward.

As luck would have it, the man commanding the blockade is none other than Zhao. He orders his ships to open fire on the Avatar. One of his men tells Zhao that there is a Fire Nation ship out on the water. After Zhao sees it's Zuko, he claims it belongs to a traitor and re-orders the attack on the Avatar. As a horde of shots from dozens of blockade catapults are fired towards Appa, Aang prepares to dodge the barrage of attacks as the first few whiz by Appa. Zuko isn't as lucky, as one of the shots hits his ship in the back, causing the ship to smoke heavily. One of his men explain the engine was damaged and that they need to stop for repairs, but Zuko still won't back off as he charges forward again.



As Aang continues to dodge a swarm of shots, the force of one knocks Sokka from Appa's saddle, sending him plummeting. Appa dives down and catches him just in time. Aang has Appa charge right down the middle towards the blockade, while Zhao takes one last shot. However, Aang is able to destroy it with airbending, and they soar past the blockade and past Zhao. Less than pleased with the fact that the Avatar made it through the blockade, Zhao knows he has to follow him, but doesn't know where he's going. That's when he sees Zuko's ship approach and, instead of arresting him, he allows him to pass through the blockade untouched so he can follow him to the Avatar.

Back on Appa, they spend hours flying through the air. It is almost dusk when Appa finally makes it to the crescent-shaped island where Roku's dragon, Fang, took Aang when he was in the Spirit World. When they land, Appa takes a well-deserved rest while the others enter the temple. It is empty when they enter the temple's first room, until behind them appear five men dressed in red robes. Aang, knowing they are Fire Sages, thinks that they will try to help him, but after telling them he is the Avatar, they attack him. Aang blocks the attacks and the group runs from the five sages, going down many different halls until they reach a dead end. As they go to turn around, one of the five sages is in front of them. Aang prepares to fight him, but the sage explains that he is on Aang's side. They at first don't believe him, but when they hear the others approach, the sage opens a secret passageway and they escape from the other sages.

Meanwhile, Zuko is confused as to why Zhao let him pass. Iroh states that it is most likely because he wants to use him to find the Avatar. Hearing his uncle's theory, Zuko is at a loss for what to do.



Back with Aang, the sage that helped them tells them that his name is Shyu. He goes further by saying that when Avatar Roku died, the other sages, including his grandfather, waited for the new Avatar to appear, but he never did. Then Fire Lord Sozin started the War and forced the sages to serve him. After some time, they did and only Shyu's family remained loyal to the Avatar. He explains that when the sages found out that Aang was alive, Shyu knew that he would have to betray the others and help Aang. They eventually arrive on a higher level of the temple, where in front of them is a huge door. Shyu tells them that it must have recently been closed and only a fully realized Avatar or five fire blasts from five different firebenders can open it. None of them know how to open the door except Sokka, who claims to have a plan.

Zuko has come up with an idea. Since Zhao is following the smoke from his ship, he will take a smaller vessel and sneak past Zhao under the smoke. We see Zhao a distance back as he looks at the smoke of Zuko's ship with a suspicious look on his face.

Sokka reveals his plan; he makes five small oil-based lamps and places each in one of the five areas where the door takes in the fire. He has Shyu light the fuse and they stand back; a huge explosion rips through the room. Aang rushes to the door, but it still isn't open. Aang begins to beat the door with waves of air to try to open it, but to no avail. Sokka doesn't understand why the door didn't open, stating that it didn't work. Katara says that it may not have worked, but it looks like it did. Understandably, the group is confused.

The next scene has Shyu yelling to the other sages to come to the door; he states that the Avatar has entered the room behind the door. They don't know how he could have, but Shyu points out the burn marks on the door and points to a shadow coming from the other side. The sages instantly open the door with their firebending to discover that the shadow was Momo, who had crawled through the pipes. Now Katara's plan is initiated as each of the four sages are grabbed by Shyu, Katara, Sokka and Momo. Shyu yells to Aang to enter the chamber, but there is no answer from him. Then Zuko appears from behind a pillar with Aang. In their surprise, they each, with the exception of Momo who flies off with the Great Sage's hat, in turn lose control over the sages, who now hold them down. Zuko tells the sages to close the door immediately. Aang turns to see the others being tied to a pillar, struggles free from Zuko, and races to the door. The sages attempt to stop him, but he makes it inside before the doors close. Then a bright light comes from the room and dies away.



Aang, now in the chamber where he had been with Roku's dragon, sees only a statue of Avatar Roku and doesn't know what to do. Outside the doors, Zuko and the four sages attempt to open the door, but to no avail. One of the sages states that it must be Avatar Roku and that he doesn't want them to enter. Aang calls to Roku asking for his help; then a wind spirals around Aang and he is in front of Roku on the top of a mountain range. Roku says hello to Aang and asks what took him so long. Back outside the doors, Zuko asks Shyu why he helped Aang; Shyu says that it was once the Fire Sage's duty to help the Avatar and that it still is. This moment is interrupted by Zhao and a group of soldiers. Zhao places Zuko under arrest and claims that he will simply wait for the Avatar to come out.

Roku begins to tell Aang why he had to meet him; he tells him that one hundred years ago a comet came, and Sozin used its power to start the War and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations. Roku continues by saying that the comet gave them great power and that the it is returning. He then tells Aang that he must master water, earth and firebending before summer's end, for that is when the comet returns. If he doesn't master the elements by then, there will be nothing he can do, as Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the War. Aang is understandably shocked at what he has just heard, and doesn't think he can do it in such a short time, but Roku has confidence in him. As the solstice ends, Aang tries pointing out that he won't be able to return to the Fire Temple if he has more questions. Roku reminds Aang that he is a part of him and promises that he will find a way to talk to him again. Roku senses that there is a great danger waiting outside the doors of the chamber and offers his help if Aang thinks he's ready. As Aang's Avatar spirit activates, he states that he is.

Outside the chamber, Zhao and the others are ready to attack Aang the moment he steps out. Then with another flash of light, the door opens and they attack the figure behind the door. They see it is not Aang but Avatar Roku that stands before them; he sends a fire blast back with great force and knocks the group back. The heat of the fire melts the chains that hold Katara and the others. Zuko takes this opportunity to run back to his boat. Shyu tells Katara and Sokka to run from the temple because Avatar Roku is going to destroy it; however, they refuse to leave without Aang. Roku splits the ground, bringing lava up from lava flows below and sends it up through the temple. Zhao and his men retreat back to their boats before the temple begins to fall.

The sun sets, and with that the solstice is over. Roku, with one last breath, is enveloped in a current of wind, and when the dust clears Aang remains. He collapses and is picked up by Katara and Sokka. As the temple is falling apart, they have no way to get out as all of the paths are blocked by debris. Then Appa and Momo, now wearing the Grand Sage's hat, appear, and they jump onto Appa's back and fly away from the temple that falls moments after they leave.



Zhao looks up and sees the Avatar fly away from his sight; he is not pleased as he has lost any chance of capturing the Avatar or Zuko. However, as a consolation, he claims he has five traitors, and we see all five sages including Shyu. The sages say that only Shyu helped the Avatar, but Zhao isn't interested in their story and has them thrown into the prison hold of his ship. We then see Zuko on his smaller ship also looking at the Avatar as he flies away. As the episode ends, Katara and Sokka group around Aang and comfort him as they fly away.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Michael Dante DiMartino


 * Directed by:
 * Giancarlo Volpe


 * Starring:
 * Zach Tyler Eisen - Aang
 * Mae Whitman - Katara
 * Dante Basco - Prince Zuko
 * Jack DeSena - Sokka
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Appa/Momo


 * Also starring:
 * Mako - Uncle
 * Jason Isaacs - Commander Zhao
 * James Garrett - Avatar Roku
 * Mike Hagiwara - Leader (last appearance)
 * Clement Von Franckenstein - Great Sage
 * Michael Yama - Shyu


 * Additional voices:
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Dante Basco
 * Jack DeSena
 * Clyde Kusatsu
 * Mae Whitman
 * Michael Yama

Series continuity

 * This episode introduces Sozin's Comet, a returning comet which will give the Fire Nation army the power to conquer the territory still not under its control. The comet returns once every hundred years and greatly increases the power of the Fire Nation's firebenders. Aang must master water, earth and fire before the comet's arrival, or he will be unable to defeat the Fire Lord and the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes will completely lose the war. Basically, this is when we learn that Aang has a time limit to fulfill his destiny.
 * As of this episode, Aang and his friends have been to each of the four nations.
 * This is the first time Fire Lord Ozai is shown, albeit as a silhouette only.
 * This is the first episode in which another Avatar shows up through Aang's body, the others being "The Deserter" and "Avatar Day".
 * This is the first episode to recap what happened previously at the beginning of the episode.

Goofs

 * At the end of "Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World", there was a crescent moon, but in the beginning of this episode, on the very same night, the moon is full. The moon is not able to change that swiftly, and it should have taken at least a week for it to make that shift.
 * When Avatar Roku hits the floor of the temple before he destroys it, his voice is actually Shyu's voice.

Trivia

 * This is the first time the Buddhist chant, "Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo Shin Di", is heard. The chant can be faintly heard before Aang merges with La in "The Siege of the North, Part 2". It is later heard in "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King" when Aang meditates and when Aang meets the lion turtle in "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters". It is also heard when Aang begins to energybend on Fire Lord Ozai in "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang".

nl:Midwinter Deel 2: Avatar Roku ru:Зимнее солнцестояние, часть 2: Аватар Року pt-br:Solstício de Inverno Parte 2 - O Avatar Roku