Jet

Jet was the teenage leader of a band of Earth Kingdom children called the Freedom Fighters.

A Blighted Childhood


The young vigilante Jet holds a deep-seated grudge against the Fire Nation for an attack by the Rough Rhinos that killed his parents when he was eight.

He and his ragtag group spend their days antagonizing Fire Nation soldiers and emigrants on the outskirts of their occupied town, living in forest tree houses. He uses Twin Tiger-Head Hook swords. When Katara met him, she became infatuated with the charismatic rogue, but quickly doused these feelings after Sokka discovered and thwarted Jet's plans to use captured blasting jelly to destroy a dam and flood an Earth Kingdom town occupied by Fire Nation troops, killing both enemy soldiers and innocent civilians living there. He apparently thinks 'sacrifices' must be made. In anger, she freezes him to a tree, then leaves.

Jet is marked by his almost pathological hatred of the Fire Nation. To him, all citizens of the Fire Nation are guilty, regardless of whether they are involved with the war or not. In some ways he represents what could have happened to Katara and Sokka after the death of their mother; allowing their hatred to consume them.



A Second Chance
In "The Serpent's Pass" and "The Drill", Jet and two of his Freedom Fighters, Longshot and Smellerbee, are traveling to Ba Sing Se on a barge. Among the many passengers are Zuko and Iroh. Shortly after the boat takes off he overhears Zuko complaining about the rotten food, he offers Zuko to help steal better food from the Captain. Zuko and the Freedom Fighters successfully steal the Captain's food supply, and give it out to the passengers. Jet admits to Zuko and Iroh that he did terrible things in his past he was not proud of, but that was why he and his Freedom Fighters were going to Ba Sing Se to make amends, and get a second chance. Iroh contemplates his decision, believing that people deserve second chances and can change their lives if they want to.

Jet later talks to Zuko alone, telling him when he first saw his scar he realised that he was an outcast like himself. Jet states that they should watch out for each other, because no one else will. Zuko replies that he realized that being alone isn't the best path. Jet later offers Zuko a place in his team of Freedom Fighters, but Zuko turns him down. Jet then sees what he believes to be Iroh heating a cup of tea in his hand with Firebending, and becomes furious. He becomes intent on confirming that Zuko and Iroh are from the Fire Nation, forgetting his promise to Longshot and Smellerbee to start over, although he later assures Smellerbee that he only intends to gather enough evidence that Iroh and Zuko are Fire Nation natives to turn them in to the proper authorities.



In "City of Walls and Secrets", he makes many surreptitious attempts to expose their firebending, but to no avail, allowing his anger to cloud his judgement once again. He focuses his efforts on Iroh, as he has only seen evidence of Iroh's ability to firebend, but believes Zuko is native to the Fire Nation by association. Ignoring Smellerbee and Longshot's concerns, he openly challenges the two fugitives in public. As Jet is an extremely skilled swordsman, he believes that Zuko and Iroh will have no choice but to firebend in order to save themselves. Zuko gladly accepts Jet's challenge and fights Jet on even terms, ignoring Jet's attempts to goad him into firebending. Gradually over the course of a drawn out fight, Zuko gains a slight advantage, disarming Jet of one of his blades and cutting Jet's trademark piece of wheat in half. As the fight goes on, the Dai Li arrive to defuse the situation, and Jet again accuses Zuko and Iroh of being Fire Nation, but all the witnesses claim Zuko and Iroh were assaulted without provocation. A struggling Jet is arrested by the Dai Li and taken to a secret location in Ba Sing Se. He is then subjected to an Earth Kingdom brainwashing technique designed to make him forget about the war.

Jet appears in "Lake Laogai", during the group's search to find Appa. He finds Katara putting up posters looking for information on Appa, and offers to help. Katara, doesn't believe him, and preemptively attacks Jet. He briefly defends himself before throwing down his swords and claiming that he simply wants to help. He says that he overheard talk of Appa being kept in a city storeroom and leads the gang there. His story is seemingly confirmed when the gang finds a clump of Appa's fur on the premises, and an old janitor claims that the bison had been moved just the day before to a distant island. However, when the group goes outside, they run into Longshot and Smellerbee, who are relieved to see Jet. However, when they question him about his capture by the Dai Li he claims that it never happened and is confused when Smellerbee insists on it.

Sokka realizes that Jet has been brainwashed, and used as a plot by the Dai Li to quietly draw the divisive Avatar and his friends away from Ba Sing Se. With his conditioning broken and true memory returning, Jet is able to lead the group to the secret building in Lake Laogai where he had been brainwashed, and where Appa is being kept. They are discovered and fight with a large group of Dai Li agents and Long Feng, the leader of the Dai Li, who proclaims that Aang and his friends are now enemies of the state. The group manages to fight off the Dai Li, and Jet and Aang chase a fleeing Long Feng into another room. However, there the cunning Long Feng uses a new trap against Aang; he speaks a verbal trigger worked into Jet's brainwashing that makes Jet fight and attempt to kill Aang.



After a few minutes of frantically dodging Jet's attacks, Aang manages to remind Jet of his past as a freedom fighter and bring him back to his senses. Jet then turns on and attacks Long Feng, who creates a pillar of earth and fires it at Jet, causing serious injuries. When the rest of the gang as well as Smellerbee and Longshot show up, Katara checks his injuries and says that it's not good. Smellerbee tells them to leave to find Appa. They refuse to leave them, but Longshot speaks (for the first time in the series), saying that they will stay with him, since he is their leader. Jet tells Katara that he will be alright, but Toph comments to Sokka that he is lying, being able to sense his heartbeat and breathing patterns. Longshot is seen afterwards, notching an arrow.

Jet's death was eventually confirmed by Bryan Konietzko at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con.