Surrender of Omashu


 * This article is about the conquering of Omashu by the Fire Nation. For other similar uses, see Omashu (disambiguation).

The Capture of Omashu was an event in which Fire Nation armies invaded the city of Omashu, the Earth Kingdom's second greatest stronghold. It ended in a decisive victory for the Fire Nation, as King Bumi surrendered the minute Omashu was attacked. The capture was a huge blow to the Earth Kingdom, leaving Ba Sing Se as the last great stronghold standing. Despite the Fire Nation victory, however, a group of Omashu citizens formed a resistance group, led by Captain Yung.

The capture resulted in Mai's father being appointed governor of the newly conquered city. A few weeks later, Princess Azula would come seeking her old friend, Mai, to help her capture her brother and uncle. She would rename the city of Omashu "New Ozai" in honor of her father. Avatar Aang and his friends would also return to begin Aang's training with Bumi.

The Avatar and his friends successfully freed the citizens of Omashu during their arrival. They were not successful, however, in gaining Aang an Earthbending teacher, and they were forced to flee the city without Bumi.

History
After 100 years of the War, the Fire Nation was able to successfully conquer many Earth Kingdom cities and provinces. Eventually only Ba Sing Se and Omashu remained as the last great Earth Kingdom strongholds. Omashu was protected by the large gorge around it. No enemies could cross it. But the Fire Nation developed long, metal, extending bridges in order to cross the gorge and bring their army into the city.

Capture


Sometime during the late winter season, Omashu was besieged by Fire Nation forces. According to Captain Yung, the soldiers of Omashu were ready to fight for Omashu's freedom. However, when Yung asked Bumi what they should do, Bumi looked him in the eyes and said, "I'm going to do... nothing!".

With that, Bumi surrendered Omashu to the Fire Nation, preventing any fatal casualties, yet getting himself captured. Many citizens and soldiers were able to escape, and formed a resistance group. The Fire Nation forces soon occupied the city, and claimed the city in the name of Fire Lord Ozai.

With Omashu captured, Ozai appointed Mai's father to govern the city.

Immediate
Despite the victory, the rebellions formed in the city still posed a threat to the Fire Nation. Regardless, the city was in firm control, and fighting back seemed to be a lost cause. Things changed, however, with the arrival of Team Avatar, who was searching for Bumi. At the same time, Princess Azula arrived to enlist the help of her friend, Mai. While in Omashu, the Avatar and his friends devised a plan to free the citizens of Omashu by pretending that they were all plagued with a contagious and deadly sickness. The Governor fell for the scheme, and allowed the citizens to leave. His 2 year old son, Tom-Tom, however, ended up following the citizens out of Omashu.

Thinking the resistance kidnapped his son, the Governor offered King Bumi for the return of his son. After hearing of this, Azula angrily deemed the Governor a poor ruler, and decided that Mai would carry out the hostage exchange with the help of her and Ty Lee. Azula then renamed Omashu New Ozai in honor of her father, and left. Team Avatar met Azula and her friends on top of the city's construction site to exchange hostages. Azula then brought up the fact that it would be foolish to trade a powerful Earthbending king for a boy. Mai agreed, and announced that the deal was off. As Aang took off after Bumi, his scarf accidentally fell off from his head, thus revealing his identity to Azula.



A fight then ensued. After Aang managed to brake the chain from Bumi's metal coffin, the two slid down the mail chute, with Azula in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, Katara battled Ty Lee and Mai while Sokka brought Tom-Tom to safety. Ty Lee soon blocked Katara's chi, preventing her from bending. Right when Mai was about to kill Katara, however, Sokka threw his boomerang at her, knocking the dagger out of her hand. Appa then blew her and Ty Lee off the building. Katara and Sokka then attempted to rescue Aang and Bumi. Azula, however, thwarted the two by shooting blue flames in between them. The fight continued until Bumi used his head to create a large boulder, destroying the cart Azula used to pursue them in.

Now brought to safety, Aang questioned Bumi on why he surrendered. Bumi told him that he was waiting for the right moment to strike back, which was why he couldn't leave. He then told Aang that he needed to find an Earthbending teacher who waited and listened before striking, and that it could not be him. He then bid Aang farewell, and left. After the engagement, Azula, while leaving Omashu with her friends, decided that she was going to add the Avatar to her list of targets. Meanwhile, Aang returned Tom-Tom back to the Governor and his wife.

Later
Aang, heeding Bumi's advice, decided to have Toph Bei Fong, a blind Earthbending master, become his Earthbending teacher, thus adding a new member to Team Avatar. After the engagement with Azula and her team, the Avatar and his friends earned a long term, deadly set of enemies, causing them major problems on their journey. Omashu would not see freedom again until the Day of Black Sun, which occurred many months later. During that day, Bumi single-handedly liberated all of Omashu, taking advantage of Fire Nation soldiers' loss of Firebending.