Suki

"earth"

- I am a warrior, but I'm a girl too.

Suki was the eldest member and the leader of the all-female Kyoshi Warriors of the Earth Kingdom's Kyoshi Island. Having begun her training when she was only eight years old, Suki was well respected by her fellow warriors for her leadership and combat skills. When Team Avatar arrived on Kyoshi Island, Suki and a few other Kyoshi Warriors captured them, thinking they were Fire Nation spies. Later, after realizing Aang was the Avatar, they released and befriended them, particularly forming a bond with Sokka.

Inspired by the outsiders for helping save their village from Prince Zuko, Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors left the island to help the Earth Kingdom fight against the Fire Nation. Suki protected the Avatar's lost sky bison, Appa, from falling into the enemy's hands, but she and the other Kyoshi Warriors were defeated by Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Imprisoned in the Fire Nation, Suki was placed within a high-security prison. It was only by good fortune that Sokka infiltrated the facility looking for his captured father, Hakoda, and instead found Suki. Freed from captivity, Suki later helped Aang and friends defeat the Fire Nation and eventually reunited with her fellow Kyoshi Warriors.

Early life
Suki lived and grew up on Kyoshi Island. She began her Kyoshi Warrior training at the age of eight, and became a master in Tessenjutsu, the art of fans.

Meeting Team Avatar
Suki and her fellow Kyoshi Warriors were first seen when they captured Aang and his friends for intruding on Kyoshi Island, as they assumed they were Fire Nation spies. Suki interrogated the group, threatening to throw Sokka to the unagi after he made a sexist comment about being kidnapped by a "bunch of girls". She and the village then quickly accepted them as guests, once they learned that Aang was the Avatar. Initially rather offended by Sokka's somewhat chauvinistic attitude, she paid him back by repeatedly humiliating him in combat training. She later even forced him to dress in full female warrior garb when he asked to come train with her, but she was eventually attracted to him once he admitted his mistake. The two bonded over sparring matches and, before parting, she kissed Sokka on the cheek admitting that even though she was a warrior, she was also a girl. She and the other warriors of Kyoshi, inspired by Sokka particularly, had gone off to fight in the Hundred Year War against the Fire Nation.

The Serpent's Pass


Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors had been assisting refugees on their way to Ba Sing Se. They decided not to return to Kyoshi Island and, in hopes of making a difference in the war, acted as security guards at a hidden ferry terminal. It was at this terminal that she met Aang, Katara, and Sokka again. Suki approaches Sokka, aggressively asking to see their tickets and passports. After some heated exchange, she kisses Sokka, after which he realizes who she is. When Aang decided to escort a group of stranded travelers through the Serpent's Pass, Suki accompanied them to ensure that they made it through safely, which concerned Sokka. Suki rescued Toph at one point, saving her from drowning. Toph proceeded to kiss Suki on the cheek, thinking that it was Sokka who saved her since he had yelled he was going to save her, although Suki dove into the water first. It was during the night her feelings for Sokka were made more clear, though he was reluctant to jump into a relationship with her due to his inability to stop Princess Yue giving her life to save the moon spirit during the Siege of the North. At one point during the night Suki went to kiss him, but Sokka was reluctant to do so under the moon, as it reminded him of Yue, and put Suki off without an explanation. Before her departure, she apologized to him, telling him she had acted rashly, but Sokka stopped her, and immediately made up for the previous night by kissing her back.

Finding an injured beast


Later, she and a group of Kyoshi Warriors discovered an injured Appa, who was attempting to reunite with Aang after being kidnapped. After calming the jittery sky bison, she and the other Warriors tended to Appa and cleaned him up. She prepared to return him to Aang; however, she was confronted by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. The Kyoshi Warriors and Azula fought a short duel, and Suki reluctantly drove Appa away with a burning branch to keep him safe. She then clashed with Azula. Though the details of the battle are not shown, she was eventually defeated, captured and sent to the Fire Nation as a prisoner, along with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors. After the guards discovered Suki's identity as the leader she was sent to the Fire Nation's highest security prison, the Boiling Rock. After the defeat of the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee disguised themselves with their uniforms to infiltrate the Earth King's palace.

Escape from the Boiling Rock


Suki was found by Sokka who had initially snuck in along with Zuko hoping to find his father. Contrary to Azula's claims, she had never given up on hopes of rescue and, upon reunion, happily embraced Sokka, and readily joined in the breakout plans. When Sokka decided to remain behind in hopes of finding his father, she decided to remain behind as well even though there was a chance they could end up trapped. When the group started a riot to cover their escape, Suki quickly captured the prison warden. When Azula and Ty Lee attacked the group on the prison gondolas, Suki fought with Ty Lee, saying it was "a rematch [she had] been waiting for", and held her off quite effectively. She and the rest of the escapees returned to the Western Air Temple via Azula's airship.

Traveling with the team
Suki chose to remain with the core group when Azula's attack split them up. When Zuko went to Sokka's tent to ask him about his mother, he collided with Suki, who suspiciously denied her true intention of seeing Sokka and rushed back to her tent. When Zuko entered the tent, it was apparent that Sokka was waiting to have a romantic evening with Suki, but was surprised and embarrassed to see Zuko instead. After Zuko left the tent, Sokka called out to Suki and, seeing Zuko was still there, whistled guiltily to make him go away.

The Ember Island Players
Later, Suki was seen in Fire Nation disguise and accompanied Team Avatar to the play, "The Boy in the Iceberg". In the play, her character was portrayed most accurately, though some physical details, like her headpiece, were slightly exaggerated. During the play, she was seen exchanging looks with Sokka during the scene where they practiced using Kyoshi Warrior outfits and acted jealous when Sokka shushed her during the scene where Yue became the Moon Spirit. When Sokka desired to sneak backstage to help out the actor playing him, Suki assisted him, saying that her years of training in the art of stealth should help. Sokka showed his jokes to actor Sokka, which caused Suki to hit herself on the head. Contrary to her original thoughts, however, actor Sokka found the jokes quite funny, and used them in the next scenes. Suki called the play horrible and never referred to it again in the series.

Sozin's Comet


Three days prior to the arrival of Sozin's Comet, Suki and the rest of Team Avatar held a beach party on Ember Island. Sokka created a crude sand sculpture of Suki that bore no resemblance to her, but she said that she thought it was sweet of him, resulting in him kissing her. When Zuko informed the group of the Fire Lord's plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom, Aang ran off, and Suki aided in the search for him. When they were unable to find Aang, Zuko took them to the Earth Kingdom, where they "hired" June to track him with her giant shirshu, Nyla. When she was unable to, he decided to track Iroh, leading the group to Ba Sing Se, where they were approached by the Order of the White Lotus. It was decided that Suki, Sokka and Toph would destroy the airship fleet. Sokka drove one airship into the others, bringing them down. Unfortunately, Suki was separated from her friends as the airship fell apart underneath them. She insisted that Sokka carry onward with the mission.

Suki finally reappeared unharmed when she used a captured airship to save Toph and Sokka, who were hanging helplessly from an airship. When Aang took away Ozai's firebending, Suki made a lame attempt to taunt the fallen tyrant, earning Toph's criticism of her, "Leave the nicknames to us, honey."



Zuko was later crowned Fire Lord and officially ended the War. Suki finally reunited with her team of warriors, who were released from prison along with Mai and Ty Lee. After discovering how well her team bonded with Ty Lee while in prison, Suki allowed her to join them. Later, the entire gang were relaxing at Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, where Suki played Pai Sho with Mai. She later teased Sokka for his crude drawing of the group, which depicted Suki firebending.

After the Hundred Year War
A year after the end of the Hundred Year War, Mai asked Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors to protect the Fire Nation Royal Palace after a failed attempt to murder Fire Lord Zuko by Kori. The first night they were standing guard, Zuko woke up in the middle of the night and went outside. Suki told him it had been quiet all night, to which Zuko apologized saying that he did trust the Kyoshi Warriors as they were the best guardsmen in the world. Suki then suggested that he to go back to sleep, however, when Zuko said he was going to get a drink of water, she asked him if needed someone to escort, which the Fire Lord rejected in order to visit his father in prison.



Out of concern, Suki later secretly followed Zuko on one of his late night trips to see what he was up to and to know whether or not the Kyoshi Warriors could be of some assistance. However, after she found out he left to talk to Ozai, Suki told Mai about Zuko's nightly journeys, asking her to speak with him in hopes of helping him. However, when Mai broke up with him during this talk, Suki felt guilty and confessed that she had been following Zuko. She apologized to Zuko and, while kneeling before the Fire Lord, told him that the Kyoshi Warriors were worried about him and that she, especially, was worried about him as well and reached out for his hand before being interrupted by General Mak.

On the day of the battle for Yu Dao, Suki traveled to the Beifong Metalbending Academy in a Fire Nation war balloon to get Toph and Sokka's help, explaining that she discovered their location when Kunyo complained to the Fire Lord about a "dirt girl" and a "snow savage" taking over his school. Suki convinced Toph and Sokka to come with her to try and stop the Fire Nation army from reaching Yu Dao, explaining her plan to them after landing near the military procession. On Sokka's orders, Toph earthbent an underground slide that took them directly under one of the tundra tanks, and the trio quickly seized control of the tank. Suki expressed her feelings of concern for Zuko's wellbeing, stating that he seemed lonely. However, despite her desire to speak to him, she received no chance, eventually joining the fight against the Fire Nation with Toph at her side. Just as the duo were starting to become overwhelmed, Toph's metalbending students suddenly arrived to come to their aid.

Personality
Befitting her status as leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki was tough, assertive, and not afraid to speak her mind; but at the same time, she had a very compassionate and loyal spirit. Her softer side was frequently demonstrated in the presence of Sokka. For a long time during her imprisonment, Suki held out the hope of seeing Sokka again and showed no sign of breaking in the face of Azula's torments pertaining to Sokka. She also had a mild tendency to hold grudges, as seen by her rather cold treatment of Zuko when they met in prison and when she readily looked forward to a rematch with Azula and Ty Lee. A woman of action, she quickly and skillfully captured the prison warden, an action which prompted approval from Hakoda.

Abilities


Although not a bender, Suki was more than capable of handling herself in a fight. She was the last warrior to be captured by Azula, showing the extent of her skill. She was an impressive hand to hand combatant, using a style reminiscent of Aikido, as well as fighting with traditional Kyoshi war fans, a style reminiscent of Tessenjutsu, and skilled with the katana. She could hold her own against other skilled fighters such as Ty Lee, readily avoiding her disabling pressure point strikes, and was a good teacher, passing some of her fighting methods on to Sokka. She also possessed considerable physical strength, able to swim easily in full Kyoshi Warrior armor and toss aside a full grown man with ease. During the breakout of the Boiling Rock, she bypassed a full-scale riot by jumping across the tops of the rioters' heads, scaled the vertical face of a building, demonstrating a skill set similar to that found in parkour, and an acrobatic skill comparable to that of Ty Lee.

Appearances
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Book Three: Fire (火)

 * "Bumi vs. Toph, Round One

The Promise trilogy
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 * The Promise Part 1
 * The Promise Part 2
 * The Promise Part 3

Trivia

 * was given the role of Suki in 's film adaptation, . She and the Kyoshi Warriors were cut from the movie because Shyamalan was involuntarily letting the movie revolve around the warriors. In order to correct this, they were removed entirely. However, they are present in the Movie Novelization, which was released before the warriors were cut.
 * 'Suki' (好き; with emphasis on the 'ki'-syllable) is Japanese for "like/love", though is not written with the characters shown above, and is pronounced similarly to the Japanese word for moon, tsuki referring to Yue, Sokka's lost love.
 * It is also a term in Aikido and Kendo for being vulnerable to attack or having flawed technique.
 * Suki means "I like you" in Japanese, and Daisuki means "I love you".
 * It should be noted that the way Suki's name is pronounced in the series is different from the original Japanese pronunciation. In Japanese, the letter "u" is often unvoiced, therefore "Suki" would sound more like "Ski". This is a common mistake in the romanization of the Japanese language.
 * Suki is also a given name in China. In this case the pronunciation (SOO-key) is more similar toward the one in the series.
 * Suki's name in Russian is pronounced as [su'juki] in the first two seasons, and as [zuki] in the third season. It was made to avoid the original pronunciation [suki] because it sounds the same as Russian word "суки", which translates to a swear word.
 * It was revealed that Sokka never told the whole story about Yue to Suki. However, he did mention Yue to her, and that was why he was so protective over her.
 * She was able to pilot an airship.
 * Suki was the only character to remain with the group while Haru, Teo, The Duke, Hakoda and Chit Sang left.
 * Suki's last line in the series, "And why did you paint me firebending?" was directed toward Sokka's painting of the group.
 * Suki was originally one of the characters who would never appear again after "The Warriors of Kyoshi", but due to her popularity, she returned for Book 2 and Book 3.
 * As Suki was the eldest of the Kyoshi Warriors, she was in charge of training the younger warriors.
 * Suki supposedly once dated foaming mouth guy, but was not proud of it.
 * Suki is the only character from the original Team Avatar remaining who has yet to make an appearance or be mentioned in The Legend of Korra. However, she is featured in the first episode's opening sequence which shows the rest of the team.
 * Suki is one of the few people ever to escape from the Boiling Rock prison.