The Boulder

"earth"

- The Boulder and The Hippo no longer fight for others' entertainment. Now, we fight for our Kingdom!

The Boulder was a professional Earthbending wrestler. He was once a combatant in the Earth Rumble competitions, but later went on to fight for his country.

Though his "pro wrestling" stage accent may have seemed unintelligent, he spoke with a degree of consideration and eloquence that suggested a greater intellect beneath his bombast wrestler facade. The Boulder had a Badgermole tattoo on his back, and he always refered to himself in the third person. He frequently employed earth-related puns; for example: "The Boulder is going to win this in a landslide!"

History
When The Boulder was a combatant in the Earth Rumble competitions, he defeated the other combatants with ease but lost to The Blind Bandit in the final round of the competition. When The Blind Bandit entered the ring, The Boulder announced that he felt conflicted about fighting a young blind girl. He declared his conflicted feelings were at an end after The Blind Bandit accused him of being scared, said he would bury her in a "rock o' lanche" then that the match had begun after The Blind Bandit pointed to him, saying "Whenever you're ready, The Pebble," mocking his stage name.

When Aang defeated The Blind Bandit, the Airbending he used was invisible to The Boulder, who concluded that the attack was faked entirely. When he told this to Xin Fu, the latter decided that Toph must have lost deliberately in exchange for a share of Aang's prize money. The Earth Rumble VI crew kidnapped both Toph and Aang to ransom them back, but when Toph was freed she fought and defeated all of them, including The Boulder.

The Boulder later reappeared the day of the Fire Nation invasion, alongside The Hippo and many other Earthbenders. He had stated to Toph that he and the Hippo no longer fought for others' entertainment, but for the good of the Earth Kingdom. Ultimately, the plan failed, and almost all of the warriors were captured by the Fire Nation.

The Boulder was freed from prison after the War ended and is seen at Zuko's coronation.

Personality
The Boulder did not reveal himself to be quite bright. He seemed somewhat arrogant, referring to himself in third person, basking in the praise of his fans and, as Aang put it, "listening to his big muscles". However, when it came time for the invasion, it was revealed that he has a great sense of nationalism and patriotic duty to his kingdom which contrasts his attitude in "The Blind Bandit". He is an extremely determined Earthbender.

Abilities
The Boulder was one of the best Earthbending fighters in the Earth Rumble tournament. While his style of fighting was less extravagant than the other fighters, he defeated them handily. His straight-forward, powerful Earthbending skills were effective in their simplicity. However, he was still no match for Toph, who easily defeated him in the final round of the competition with only two moves.

Trivia

 * According to Toph's ransom letter, his name was written as 大石塊 (dà shí kuāi) which translated as 'big chunk of rock'.
 * The Boulder was an illeist, referring to himself in third person, such as "The Boulder is going to win this in a landslide!" He had only twice referred to himself in first person when he said to Xin Fu, "I'm telling you..." and "I saw the kid strike...".
 * The Boulder was inspired by real life Pro-wrestler Dwayne Johnson, also known as "The Rock". As does The Boulder, he refers to himself in the third person when he speaks. According to the "Avatar Extras" on "The Blind Bandit", they tried to get Dwayne Johnson to voice The Boulder. He is voiced by pro-wrestler Mick Foley instead, who is a good friend of The Rock.
 * It's assumed The Rock declined the offer, though it's unknown why.
 * He had a resemblance to Sud, Roku's Earthbending teacher, who was modeled with an early design of Toph.
 * The purple tattoo on The Boulder's back was of a Badgermole.