Daw

"air"

- Without my shaved head, I never could have dodged that net. I really felt it coming at me. You guys should totally get shaved.

Daw is a merchant from Republic City who discovered his airbending abilities shortly after the Harmonic Convergence of 171 AG.

Discovery
Daw discovered that he inexplicably became an airbender following Harmonic Convergence, causing him to panic due to being unable to control his newfound abilities. Alarmed, he inadvertently destroyed his and his brother's store during an uncontrolled display of his powers, after which he hastily locked himself in a room and his brother called the authorities. Upon arriving on scene, Detective Mako ordered Daw to come out of the room. The latter, however, ended up blowing the door off its hinges, knocking the firebender against a wall, and fled the store in terror.



Panicked, Daw went to the top of Kyoshi Bridge, forcing the Metalbending Police Force to halt traffic until he was detained. Despite orders from Lin Beifong to come down, Daw refused to budge out of fear that he would cause harm to other civilians. When metalbending officers ascended the beams of the bridge prepared to detain Daw, the man frantically conjured up an air blast that sent all of them plummeting into the harbor below. However, after consulting with Avatar Korra, Daw relented to develop his airbending under Tenzin's tutelage and agreed to come down. However, he missed a step while reaching toward Korra and fell from the beam, but was saved by Korra using her airbender staff. Following this, Korra introduced Daw to Tenzin, who expressed delight over meeting an airbender whose diaper he did not have to change. Daw corrected Tenzin and expressed his need to have a diaper change, as he had fallen off a bridge.

Training


Daw was subsequently sent to Air Temple Island to train as an airbender. Upon being introduced to other airbenders while eating a meal one day, Daw quickly jumped up with a burst of air and nervously introduced himself. He then watched as an airbender who claimed his name to be Yorru entered and demonstrated his own abilities. That evening, during his training, Daw was unable to get through the airbending gates and expressed confusion at Meelo's advice to "be the leaf". He and his fellow trainees soon watched in shock as "Yorru" made it through the gates effortlessly. Immediately afterward, Kya informed the group that Tenzin had found other airbenders and that they would be joining them at the Northern Air Temple the next day, which excited Daw.

Daw and his companions arrived at the Northern Air Temple the following day. However, the day after, Tenzin, having misunderstood Bumi's advice to train them with an iron fist, Daw and his fellow airbenders were put through much more rigorous training. He was left exhausted by a ten-mile hike, and one of Tenzin's lessons involved Daw getting his head shaved by the master, claiming that a bald airbender can feel the wind against his head. To his dismay, he soon found out the shave was merely voluntary. On the subsequent obstacle course, Daw struggled to maintain his balance above the rash cacti, but did eventually complete the course. Afterward, he expressed his desire to go home and visit his family. He instead had to listen as Meelo led them into the Ba Gua exercises.



Later, Bumi rallied the airbenders to help rescue Jinora, Kai, and flying bison calves from bison rustlers. Though Daw and the other airbenders expressed hesitancy in engaging the rustlers, Daw noting they looked mean whole they had not trained long, Bumi was able to rally their spirits. In the midst of the attack, he felt the wind from a net against his bald head, allowing him to dodge and counterattack. That evening, after the group freed their fellow airbenders and the bison calves, he retold these events to a few others and advised them to get their heads shaved.

The Red Lotus' attack
Daw was practicing airbending stances with some other benders when Kai came to get him to evacuate the temple. However, as they wanted to go inside, their path was blocked when Ghazan lavabent the floor, forcing Daw to use his airbending to avoid stepping in it. He and the other airbenders were rounded up in one of the temple's courtyards, where Zaheer told them they were to be used as leverage to get to Korra. Daw made his escape, however, when Tenzin airbent Zaheer, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua back and ordered the airbenders to get to the bison stables and evacuate. Although they managed to get there, the bison got spooked and took off when P'Li's combustion attack exploded near them, leaving Daw and the others at the mercy of the firebender.



Daw and the other occupants were ushered into an airship by P'Li and taken to a series of caves a few miles away from the temple. They were released in the custody of Red Lotus sentries, who chained them to the floor in one of the caves by their wrists. As part of an escape plan, Daw was among those who tried to draw the attention of the guards, and he did that by telling them he needed to use the bathroom. When the guard came close enough, Jinora was able to airbend at the sentry and get the keys over to Opal, but Team Avatar soon burst into the cave, defeated the guards, and released the captives from their bonds. They left the cave and watched a poisoned Korra struggle in her duel with Zaheer. At Jinora's order, Daw and the other airbenders formed a circle and helped create a tornado which freed the Avatar and allowed her to throw down Zaheer, ending the fight. He subsequently watched as Suyin bent the mercury out of Korra, saving her life.

Two weeks later, Daw took part in Jinora's anointment ceremony as an airbending master. He listened with pride to Tenzin's speech of how the Air Nation would reclaim its nomadic roots and roam the earth, promoting peace, balance, and harmony while Korra recuperated from her fight with the Red Lotus. When Tenzin revealed Jinora's mastery tattoos, Daw bent the smoke from the incense sticks behind him and guided them through the temple hall, tingling several wind chimes in recognition of the new master.

Abilities
Despite a lack of training, Daw has demonstrated potential as an airbender, exhibiting enough power to destroy an entire store. Additionally, Daw's defensive instincts prompt him to inadvertently execute powerful airbending techniques, such as an air dome which he used to fend off several metalbenders and a bison rustler.