Blasting jelly



Blasting jelly is a form of explosives used by the people of the Avatar World for demolition.

Blasting jelly is a volatile weapon capable of destroying warships and defense barriers upon immediately following detonation. It is highly flammable and can be ignited at both short and long range distances. This jelly-like substance was used by the Fire Nation to blast out mountains.

The extent of the blasting jelly's strength coupled with its portability make it advantageous in both stealth operations, and war ventures.

The flooding of Gaipan
During the final year of the War, when Team Avatar met the Freedom Fighters, their leader, Jet, obtained a large supply of blasting jelly from an encampment of Fire Nation infantry stationed near the village of Gaipan. He asked Pipsqueak and The Duke to take care of the barrels, which they brought back to their hideout for later use. They needed to stash it very carefully so they would not get the blasting jelly confused with the jelly candy they captured in the same raid.



After Team Avatar discovered the truth behind Jet's motives, they attempted to stop him from flooding the village of Gaipan. The village was situated near a dam, and Jet intended to use the jelly to destroy the structure in an attempt to liberate Gaipan from Fire Nation control. Although Katara had immobilized Jet by freezing him to a tree because of his attacks on Aang, he still signaled Longshot to carry out the plan. Longshot shot a flaming arrow to ignite the jelly, thus destroying the dam and flooding Gaipan, but the villagers survived thanks to Sokka evacuating the village.

Attempted assassination of Prince Zuko
In an attempt to recruit the great General Iroh for his planned siege of the North Pole, Admiral Zhao visited Zuko's ship to convince both the exiled prince and the retired general to accompany him on his conquest. While aboard the ship, Zhao noticed a pair of broadswords mounted on the wall, which he instantly associated to the Blue Spirit, Zuko's alter-ego.

Zhao inquisitively stated how he was unaware that the banished prince was skilled in handling broadswords. In an attempt to conceal his identity, Zuko exclaimed that the swords were solely for decoration, though Zhao remained unconvinced. After Iroh declined Zhao's invitation, he left, determined to punish Zuko for his crimes as the Blue Spirit.

Zhao contacted a group of pirates, the same assembly Zuko encountered near seedy merchants pier, to settle on a deal that would lead to Prince Zuko's demise. After agreeing to a hefty sum of gold pieces, the pirates went forth to orchestrate a scheme that would successfully lead to the prince's death.



Knowing that Zuko's crew left to fight alongside Zhao's forces, and that Iroh left for an evening stroll, the pirates silently boarded Zuko's ship, carrying with them several barrels of blasting jelly. Oh, the pirate barker, urged his companions to work carefully, as to prevent the prince from detecting their presence. His efforts to remain unnoticed were successful for the most part, though a slight creak made by opening a hatch was enough to notify the prince that he was not alone. Zuko called out to determine whether or not he had company, and instantly deducted that something was not right. He climbed towards the commanding tower, where he spotted the pirate captain's reptile bird perched outside the ship.

Zuko then figured out that the pirates were out to kill him, but not before the ship exploded as a result of the ignition of the blasting jelly. The assassination attempt was a failure, unbeknownst to the pirates and Zhao, as Zuko was able to create a fire shield around him just before he was engulfed in the explosion.

Invasion of the Fire Nation
After visiting Wan Shi Tong's Library, Sokka was able to determine that an upcoming solar eclipse would render firebenders powerless. In an attempt to end the war in an Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe victory, Sokka planned to invade the Fire Nation Capital on this day, with a large invasion force from both opposing nations, though the plan was later compromised to a small force of Team Avatar's allies due to the Coup of Ba Sing Se.



With advanced military weaponry manufactured by the mechanist, the invasion force quickly overpowered the Fire Nation Capital's domestic forces, moving more and more toward the Royal City of Caldera. Upon approaching the wall which separated the route toward the city from the shorelines, the invasion force used two Earth Kingdom supply trucks each carrying eight barrels of blasting jelly to destroy the fortification, allowing them to continue on toward the capital city.

Connections
Blasting jelly was likely based on gelignite, otherwise known as blasting gelatine, an early form of plastic explosive.