Trebuchet operators



The trebuchet operators are large, muscular men who work on the deck of Fire Nation ships, operating the trebuchets. They are not Firebenders, but their strength is used to load the trebuchet nets with heavy boulders. They carry large hammers that are used to fire the trebuchets. The hammers also come in handy as weapons. During the Invasion of the North Pole, Admiral Zhao was forced to hire a number of mercenaries to operate the trebuchets, since his sudden demand for ships left a few vessels a little short-handed on experienced crew members.

History
When Aang goes to ambush one of the ships, he first destroys the trebuchets that the operators are supposed to man. The ship had five trebuchets on it. The first one Aang destroyed by sending an air blast down from the top of it. The second one Aang destroyed by putting a hammer in the chain so that when the trebuchet launched it created a hole in the ship. Aang destroyed the third and the fourth by tying the nets of the trebuchets together so that when the trebuchet in the front launched, the one in the back would come smashing into the one in front. Aang was about to destroy the fifth one with a hammer but was stopped by the leader of the trebuchet operators, who swung his hammers around on chains. Aang dodged the leader of the trebuchet operator's hammers for a while until Appa came, picked up the leader of the trebuchet operators, and dropped into the water. Then the waterbenders lunged an ice spike through the ship, suspending it in the air, and destroyed the last trebuchet.