Haru

"earth"

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

Haru is a young skilled Earthbender, whose Earth Kingdom village was occupied by the Fire Nation. After freeing his father from prison with the help of Katara, he joined up with Hakoda and took part in the Invasion of the Fire Nation. After the loss, he fled with Aang and the rest of Team Avatar, and took refuge at the Western Air Temple. When Azula attacked the temple, Haru managed to escape with Hakoda and friends.

Haru appeared at Fire Lord Zuko's coronation, alongside his father.

History
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 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).



Late Fall, 100 ASC as Haru was practicing alone, Aang and his friends stumbled upon Haru. 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 he 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 now has a chance of driving the Fire Nation from his home.

Since Aang and his friends last saw Haru, he liberated many Earth Kingdom villages.

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 capital. When the submarines were destroyed, the warriors decided to surrender, Haru promised Tyro that they would return to rescue them. The young people (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. They found it to be the perfect place to hang out and practice some Earthbending.

Haru stuck with Aang's group until Azula and a 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, during the planning conference of the assault on the Fire Nation when Katara announced she had a surprise, 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 War ended, and is finally reunited with his father once again.

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.
 * 'Haru' sounds like the Hebrew word har, which means mountain. While probably coincidental, it could be a reference to him being an Earthbender.
 * In The Last Airbender, Team Avatar are captured by the Fire Nation after trying to rescue a young Earthbender from Fire Nation troops, but fail and are placed with him and his father in a compound where the Earthbenders from his village are interned. He reunites with his father and throws the first blow in the liberation of his village after an inspirational speech by Aang. Although the boy is never named and is significantly younger than Haru, his story is mainly based around Haru's.
 * During his Day of Black Sun mission briefing, Sokka humorously says that Haru "now has a moustache," an inside joke about Haru lacking facial hair during their first meeting.
 * Haru is a playable character in first Avatar video game.

Relatives

 * Tyro (father)
 * Haru's Mother (mother)