Suki

"earth"

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

Suki is the eldest of the all-female Kyoshi Warriors of the Earth Kingdom's Kyoshi Island during Avatar Aang's adventure. Having begun her training when she was only eight years old, Suki is well respected by her fellow warriors and is their leader. When the Avatar and his friends arrive at Kyoshi Island, Suki and a few other Kyoshi Warriors captured them, thinking they were Fire Nation spies. Later, they released them and befriended them, forming a particular 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 protects the Avatar's lost sky-bison Appa from falling into the enemy's hands, but she and the other Kyoshi warriors are defeated by Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Imprisoned in the Fire Nation, Suki is placed within a high-security prison called the Boiling Rock. It is only by good fortune that Sokka infiltrates the prison looking for his captured father, Hakoda, instead finding Suki. Freed from captivity, Suki helps Aang and friends defeat the Fire Nation and reunites with her fellow Kyoshi Warriors.

Background
Suki lived and grew up on Kyoshi Island. She studied as a Kyoshi Warrior at the age of eight, and became a master in the art of fans (Tessenjutsu). Her family is not shown nor known.

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 learnt Aang is 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 war against the Fire Nation.

The Serpent's Pass
She 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. 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 Pole. At one point during the night Suki went to kiss him, but Sokka was reluctant to do so under the moon, as it obviously 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 discovered an injured Appa, Aang's sky bison. She and the other Kyoshi 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 Island 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 while Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee disguised themselves with their uniforms to infiltrate the Earth King's palace. After the guards discovered her identity as the leader she was sent to the Fire Nation's highest security prison, the Boiling Rock.

Boiling Rock


Suki was found by Sokka who had initially snuck in along with Zuko hoping to find his father Hakoda. 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 she fought with Ty Lee, saying it's "a rematch she's 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.

The Southern Raiders
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 is 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. 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 Suki hit herself on the head. But actually, 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. 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 continued onward.

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 her Toph's criticism.

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 relaxed 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. She and Sokka seem to still have a very strong relationship.

Personality
Befitting her status as leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki is tough, assertive and not afraid to speak her mind; at the same time, she has a very compassionate and loyal spirit. Her softer side is frequently demonstrated in the presence of Sokka. She held out hope for a long time during her imprisonment of seeing Sokka again and showed no sign of breaking in the face of Azula's torments pertaining to Sokka. She also has a mild tendency to hold grudges as seen by her rather cool treatment of Zuko when they meet in prison and readily looks 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 possessing any bending abilities, Suki is more than capable of handling herself in a fight. She is the last warrior to be captured by Azula, showing the extent of her skill. She is an impressive hand to hand combatant (using a style reminiscent of Aikido) as well as traditional Kyoshi war fans (a style reminiscent of Tessenjutsu) and katana. She can hold her own against other skilled fighters such as Ty Lee, readily avoiding her disabling pressure point strikes, and is a good teacher, passing some of her fighting methods on to Sokka. She also possesses 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 and scaled the vertical face of a building, demonstrating a skillset similar to that found in parkour and an acrobatic skill comparable to that of Ty Lee. Suki also may know Chi Blocking because Ty Lee said she gave the Kyoshi Warriors chi blocking lessons. And although living near the Unagi, she's not an expert on sea serpents.

Trivia

 * Jessica Jade Andres was given the role of Suki in M. Night Shyamalan's film adaptation, The Last Airbender 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 similar 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 also means affection in Japanese.
 * When Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors appear in "Appa's Lost Days", though they all have Katana swords, Suki is the only one seen using one.
 * "Suki" in Filipino can either be a noun or adjective. As an adjective, "suki" means "frequent", as in a store one frequents. A person who frequents said store is a "Suki" in its noun form.
 * Suki's name in Russian is pronounced as [su'juki] in the first two seasons, and as [zuki] in the 3rd season. It was made to avoid the original pronunciation [suki] because it sounds the same as Russian word "суки", which can be translated into a profanity (swear word).
 * In The Ember Island Players, it is revealed that Sokka never told the whole story about Yue to Suki. However, he does mention Yue to her in The Serpents Pass, and how it's why he is so protective over her.
 * She can pilot an airship, but we never knew how she learned.
 * Suki is the only character in The Southern Raiders to remain with the group while Haru, Teo, The Duke, Hakoda and Chit Sang leave.
 * Suki's last line in the series ("And why did you paint me Firebending?") is directed towards Sokka's painting of the group.
 * Suki was originally a one off character who would never appear again after "The Warriors of Kyoshi", but due to her popularity, she returned for Book 2 and Book 3.