Sha-Mo

"earth"

- Quiet, Ghashiun. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality.

Sha-Mo was a sandbender who spent his life in the Si Wong Desert and was a master of survival in its harsh environment. He was a man of importance in his tribe of sandbenders who inhabited the great Si Wong Desert. A hard, grizzled man of few words, Sha-Mo was proud of his sandbender heritage and thus quick to anger when faced with the preconceptions that outsiders often had about sandbenders, such as them being thieves and bandits that preyed on anyone traveling through the desert. Unfortunately, such preconceptions were often proven true, mostly by sandbenders like Ghashiun.

History
Sha-Mo had a son named Ghashiun with his wife Yulduz, who had died of skin cancer, a common affliction in the sun-drenched Si Wong Desert, leaving him to raise his son on his own.

Sha-Mo encountered Team Avatar at the Si Wong Rock, where he and the rest of his tribe, saved them from the attacking buzzard wasps. He harshly inquired what they were doing in their land with a sand-sailer stolen from the Hami tribe. His attitude softened a bit upon learning that Aang was the Avatar and that they did not steal the sailer. When his son aggressively accused Team Avatar of accusing the sandbenders of theft, Sha-Mo quickly demanded his son to be silent as no one accused them of anything. He even offered Team Avatar hospitality under the condition that what they were saying was the truth.

He was angry with Ghasiun when it turned out that he was the one who had stolen the Avatar's bison. Just like the other sandbenders, Sha-Mo cowered back in fear when Aang entered the Avatar State and destroyed the remaining sand-sailers.

Trivia

 * Sha-Mo's name (written as 漠) means "desert" in Mandarin Chinese.
 * The pronunciation of Sha-Mo is the same as "chameau", the French word for "camel", a notable desert animal.