Haru

"earth"

- Katara inspired me and my father to take back our village.

Haru was a teenage, skilled earthbender, whose Earth Kingdom village was occupied by the Fire Nation during the Hundred Year War. He once lived with his parents, but his father, Tyro, was arrested and held captive on a metal rig out in the sea to prevent him from earthbending. After freeing his father from the prison with the help of Katara, he joined forces with Hakoda and took part in the Invasion of the Fire Nation. Following their defeat, he fled with Aang and the rest of Team Avatar, taking refuge at the Western Air Temple. When Azula attacked the temple, Haru managed to escape with Hakoda and friends, and was later present for the coronation of Fire Lord Zuko.

Imprisoned
Seizing the village's coal mines to fuel their ships, the Fire Nation extracted exorbitant taxes from the citizenry for five years, and most cruelly, took all known earthbenders to a sea platform prison; Haru's father, Tyro, being among them. To ensure his safety, Haru's mother forbade him from earthbending (although he continued to practice earthbending in secret, as a way to feel close to his father).



During the late fall of 99 ASC, as Haru was practicing alone, Aang and his friends stumbled upon him. As Haru and Katara struck up a kinship over shared parental losses, they came upon a villager trapped under a rock slide. Haru aided him through earthbending, but the old man betrayed him to the Fire Nation soldiers and the young earthbender was taken into custody.

Aang and Sokka then helped engineer Katara's false arrest for earthbending, so she would be taken to the shipyard. There, they and Haru helped stir up a mass prison rebellion and escape. Reunited with his father and reinforced by fellow earthbenders, Haru had a chance of driving the Fire Nation from his home.

Following their escape, Haru and his father indeed helped to liberate their village from Fire Nation control as a part of the Earth Kingdom rebellions.



Day of the Black Sun
At the Day of Black Sun invasion, Haru was one of many familiar but slightly changed faces recruited by Sokka to help in the war: he now had a mustache and small beard. Haru and his father were part of the ground forces attacking the Fire Nation capital. When the submarines were destroyed, the warriors decided to surrender; Haru then promised Tyro that they would return to rescue them. The young people, namely Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Teo, The Duke, and Haru, were put on Appa and sent away, arriving at the Western Air Temple.

Haru had befriended both Teo and The Duke since the invasion, and upon arrival at the Western Air Temple, he and his two friends began to explore the sanctuary. They found it to be the perfect place to hang out and practice some earthbending.

Haru stuck with Aang's group until Azula and an air fleet attacked the temple. He fled along with Hakoda and his friends while Aang's group flew off on Appa.

Shortly before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, a planning conference of the assault on the Fire Nation was held. Katara announced she had a surprise, and Toph quickly assumed she "had a secret thing with Haru", only to be met with an awkward silence from everyone.

Haru was seen during Zuko's coronation after the Hundred Year War ended, finally reunited with his father once again.

Abilities
Haru was a skilled earthbender. He perferred to remotly earthbend while most earthbenders, perferred to have direct contact with the ground. He was able to create a wall of coal, easily blocking the warden's fire blast. In addition, he and four other earthbenders, including Tyro, created a shield strong enough to withstand a combined blast from several firebenders. Together, he and Tyro were able to compress a large amount of coal into a single projectile, a difficult feat to accomplish. He was also a capable teacher, having personally taught his son earthbending, eventually helping him become a proficient earthbender.

Appearances
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Book Three: Fire (火)
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Trivia

 * 'Haru' in Japanese means the season 'spring' (春) and in Korean means 'one day.' Haru meaning "Spring" in Japanese could be a reference to him being an earthbender since earthbenders' dominant season is the Spring.
 * In "", Team Avatar was captured by the Fire Nation after trying to rescue a young earthbender from Fire Nation troops, but they failed and were placed with him and his father in a compound where the earthbenders from his village were interned. He reunited with his father and threw the first blow in the liberation of his village after an inspirational speech by Aang. Although the boy was never named and was significantly younger than Haru, his story was mainly based around Haru's.
 * During his Day of Black Sun mission briefing, Sokka humorously said that Haru "now has a mustache", an inside joke about Haru lacking facial hair during their first meeting.
 * Haru is a playable character in first Avatar video game.
 * Haru is a unisex Japanese name.