Shyu

"fire"

- ... it was once the Sages' duty. It is still our duty.

Fire Sage Shyu was, at age sixty, the youngest of the five Fire Sages that guarded Avatar Roku's Fire Temple on Crescent Island. Shyu was the last of his proud lineage as a sage who didn't blindly follow the Fire Lord. He believed that once Avatar Roku returned to the sanctuary all the sages would pay a price for serving the Fire Lord. Fire Lord Ozai had set forth a decree that anyone who helped the Avatar would be considered a traitor to the Fire Nation and dealt with appropriately. Although he knew he would pay the price if he assisted the Avatar, he stayed loyal to the Avatar and helped Aang to communicate with Roku's spirit.

History
Shyu came from a proud lineage of Fire Sages. His grandfather, Kaja, was Avatar Roku's master during his Avatar training, and was later the first person to deny that the Avatar had been killed during the first assault on the Air Nomads. He passed this conviction on to Shyu's father, who became an outspoken critic of the Fire Lord's ambitions, and whose support for the Avatar was branded by the Fire Nation as sedition. After Shyu's father was executed for treason for continuing to profess loyalty to the Avatar, Shyu was left an orphan. He was taken in and raised by the Fire Sages, though he never felt close to any of them. Despite firsthand knowledge of the penalty of betrayal of the Fire Lord, Shyu still remained loyal to the Avatar.

Several weeks before Aang's arrival at Roku's temple, when Aang entered the Avatar State in the Southern Air Temple, the eyes of the statue of Avatar Roku began to glow, and so the Fire Sages all knew the Avatar had returned. Unlike his colleagues, Shyu chose to help the Avatar, knowing that the other sages obeyed the will of Fire Lord Ozai.

When the sages tried to capture Aang, Shyu helped him by taking him through a secret passage that led to Roku's sanctuary. After a failed attempt to open a locked chamber containing Avatar Roku's statue, Shyu aided Aang by tricking the other sages into believing Aang had already opened the chamber. The sages opened the door and Aang was able to enter before they could catch him, the chamber was sealed shut by a white light. Shyu was labeled a traitor for believing that it was the Sages' duty to protect the Avatar rather than remaining loyal to Ozai. When Aang emerged again, possessed by Avatar Roku, Shyu ordered Katara and Sokka to leave before Roku destroyed the temple. The two refused to leave without Aang.

After the temple's destruction Shyu was among the five Fire Sages captured and imprisoned by Zhao; although he was the only one loyal to his original calling in his disobedience to the Fire Nation's cause, his colleagues were also branded traitors by Zhao. Shyu's ultimate fate was unknown, but if he survived presumably he was pardoned by the newly-crowned Fire Lord Zuko.

Relatives

 * Fire Sage Kaja (paternal grandfather)

Trivia

 * With the exception of Avatar Roku, Shyu was the first Fire Nation ally of Team Avatar.