Kyoshi

Avatar Kyoshi was a previous Avatar, born into the Earth Kingdom. She was the Avatar immediately preceding Avatar Roku, 412 years before the start of the series. Kyoshi was a giant of a woman, possessing the largest feet of any Avatar, and lived to be 230 years old, also giving her the title of oldest Avatar. Her traditional weapons were golden metal fans which, in addition to her manner of dress and style of fighting, were adopted by the young warrior women of Kyoshi Island, her homeland.

History with Chin the Great


Kyoshi lived on a peninsula that was once about to be conquered by a short-tempered (and short-statured) general and warlord known as Chin the Great (or Chin the Conqueror, according to Kyoshi). When he refused to listen to Kyoshi and her people, she confronted him and separated the peninsula from the mainland through a combination of all four elements, forming Kyoshi Island to protect her people from subsequent threats. An indignant Chin was left standing on the edge of a cliff, which then crumbled beneath his feet where he drowned in the sea. For this act, the people of Chin Village on the mainland founded Avatar Day to vilify Kyoshi and all the other Avatars after her for the death of their leader, though Avatar Day was rededicated in "Avatar Day" to commemorate Aang for saving the village from Fire Nation invaders who were planning on destroying their village.

History with the 46th Earth King


Some time after her confrontation with Chin, Kyoshi was summoned to Ba Sing Se at the request of the 46th Earth King. A peasant revolt was raging, and he demanded that she stop it by whatever means necessary. Kyoshi staunchly refused, knowing that it was not right for her to do so. Incensed by her defiance, the Earth King ordered that she be arrested, but a display of her power and a warning caused him to agree to a compromise. The Earth King agreed to give the peasants a voice in his ruling, while Kyoshi in turn agreed to train up a group to protect Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage from further disruption. She trained a platoon of elite Earthbenders who would later come to be known as the Dai Li, though their subsequent corruption weighed heavily on Kyoshi's mind afterward.

To see the clip detailing this story go to Escape from the Spirit World Page.

Appearances throughout Aang's Life
Avatar Kyoshi made several cameo appearances throughout Books 1 and 2, the first of which was as a statue in "The Warriors of Kyoshi". She thereafter appears in a vision in "The Avatar State" as the most recent earthbending Avatar when Avatar Roku is explaining the nature of the Avatar State to Aang. Kyoshi makes her first speaking appearance in "Avatar Day" when she manifests herself through Aang (like Roku had in "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku") to testify in a trial proving the Avatar's innocence (though she confessed to killing Chin during her "testimony"). Aang also consulted Kyoshi prior to the arrival of Sozin's Comet, hoping that she could advise him on how to defeat Ozai without killing him. Kyoshi referenced the necessity to kill Chin the Great when she stopped him from invading the Earth Kingdom. Aang finally points out that she didn't actually kill him, and that Chin's own arrogance got him killed. Kyoshi said she saw no difference in this, and told him that she would have done anything she had to do to stop Chin. Aang regretted consulting Kyoshi on this complex matter after hearing this.

Trivia

 * On the golden button on the right arm guard of the Kyoshi Warriors and on the fan that the statue of Avatar Kyoshi holds to her face is the word 京. The other fan, the one on her outstretched arm, is the word 士. In Japanese, 京士 is pronounced as 'kyōshi' and translate as 'capital samurai.' However, on the mural in Avatar Day, her name appears as 虛子 (Kyoshi in Japanese, a near-homophone with 京士, but with a shorter 'o' sound). Since the character 虛 means empty, vain, or false it may not be her real name so much as a pun on her name used by the bitter residence of Chin Village to cast aspersions upon her.
 * In the Episode "The Southern Air Temple," Kyoshi is seen to the right on the painting in the Earth Kingdom's Avatar Temple
 * Avatar Kyoshi lived to be 230 years old, making her the longest living Avatar in history. She also had the largest feet of any Avatar.
 * In a chibi comic Kyoshi is a gym teacher.