Roku


 * This article is about the character. For the episode with a similar name, see "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku".

"fire"

- In my life, I tried to be disciplined and show restraint, but it backfired when Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of my restraint and mercy. If I had been more decisive and acted sooner, I could have stopped Sozin and stopped the War before it started.

Avatar Roku was the Fire Nation-born Avatar immediately succeeding and preceding Avatars Kyoshi and Aang, respectively. In spirit form, Roku served as a guiding force for Aang throughout his quest to end the War. Roku possessed an animal guide, a red dragon named Fang, who served him much in the same manner Appa did for Aang.

Roku was a wise and merciful Avatar who possessed good intentions; however, he himself acknowledged that he was too indecisive during his mortal lifetime. Roku's long friendship with Fire Lord Sozin resulted in his inability to halt Sozin's imperial ambitions; ultimately culminating in his death. Thus, he was unable to prevent the conflict, which would last for over one hundred years. Avatar Aang inherited the burden of healing the wartorn world, and Roku firmly believed Aang was destined to amend his mistakes.

Youth


In his youth, Roku and Prince Sozin were close friends who shared the same birthday, which they often celebrated together.

At the party celebrating their sixteenth birthdays, Roku was informed by Fire Sages that he was the Avatar. The two best friends became separated as Roku went to master the other three elements. Before leaving, Sozin came by to talk and was told by Roku that the Sages told him to bring nothing, as the Avatar required no material goods. By this statement, Sozin gave him a gift: the headpiece worn by the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, hoping that he was at least allowed to have that.

Mastering the other elements


Afterwards, Roku went on his Avatar journey and trained under masters of the other three bending arts. To learn airbending, Roku traveled to the Southern Air Temple. One of Roku's good friends was none other than Monk Gyatso, Aang's eventual guardian and mentor. During his communications with Aang, Roku commented that Aang's relationship with Gyatso years later after his predecessor's death, proved that some friendships were able to transcend lifetimes. After years of training, Roku had mastered the art of airbending and traveled to the Northern Water Tribe to learn waterbending from his teacher. This task was particularly difficult for Roku; water is the natural opposite of fire. After eventually mastering waterbending, Roku traveled to the Earth Kingdom to learn earthbending, and later formed a great friendship with his teacher, Sud.

Mastering the Avatar State

 * To see the clip detailing this story go to "Escape from the Spirit World" page.

During 55 BSC, after mastering earthbending, Roku spent five months in recession to the Fire Temple on Crescent Island, attempting to master the Avatar State under the guidance of Fire Sage Shyu's grandfather, Fire Sage Kaja. After growing impatient with the failed meditation attempts, he tried using the winter solstice sun to force him into the Avatar State with ease. Despite its success, he became stuck in the Avatar State, and was unable to control his powers, resulting in the destruction of the Fire Temple's upper half before Kaja managed to free him from the State, by aligning the Avatar's eyes with the winter solstice sun once more.

Following the incident, Roku became more patient with his training, and completely mastered the Avatar State afterwards. He rebuilt parts of the temple, and carved new underground passages out of the island's magma.

Return to the Fire Nation


Twelve years after departing from his native homeland to embark on his Avatar journey, Roku had become a fully-realized Avatar. He returned to the Fire Nation to reunite with his friend Sozin, who had since been crowned the nation's Fire Lord. Roku married his childhood sweetheart, Ta Min, with Sozin taking the position of his best man during the ceremony. At the wedding, Sozin asked to speak with Roku in private, and informed his close friend that he had thought hard about the state of the world; he firmly believed the Fire Nation had entered a period of great prosperity. He proposed to Roku that together, the pair could spread this wealth to the world by expanding the empire. Roku was horrified by this proposition, telling Sozin that the four nations were always intended to be kept separate, and advised the Fire Lord to never bring the subject forth in future conversations. With Roku, Ta Min bore at least one child, who had their granddaughter Ursa.

Seventeen years later, however, Roku discovered that Sozin had proceeded with his plans, and set up colonies within the Earth Kingdom. He confronted his old friend, and ordered him to end his aggression, Sozin replied that Roku's loyalties lay with the Fire Lord and the nation's progress. Once the Avatar declined this, Sozin attacked him. The two engaged in battle, with Roku easily overpowering his formerly close friend, destroying most of the palace in the process. He spared Sozin's life for the sake of their past friendship, but not before warning him never to move forward with his plans again, or it would result in his "permanent end".

Death


Twenty-five years later, Roku's home island was consumed in a volcanic eruption so massive that even Fire Lord Sozin could see and feel it from a hundred miles away at his palace. Roku attempted to contain the volcanic destruction, using his bending and entering the Avatar State; however, even for the Avatar, the power of the volcano proved to be too powerful. At that moment, Sozin flew in on his dragon to assist his old friend. The two used their bending to try to contain the lava flow, but were hindered by poisonous gases, which eventually overwhelmed Roku as he accidentally inhaled its fumes, leaving him lying on the ground and pleading for his old friend's aid. Sozin suddenly realized, however, that Roku's death would allow him to fulfill his plans, and left his old friend to die along with his dragon Fang, who curled up with Roku as he was engulfed in a pyroclastic flow. Twelve years later, Sozin began the War. Near his death, however, the old Fire Lord regretted leaving his former close friend to die.

Appearances in Aang's life
A century after Roku's death, Aang was able to communicate with him by visiting the Fire Temple that Roku inhabited 112 years prior. There, Roku informed Aang of Sozin's Comet's impending return. He also described Fire Lord Ozai and the Fire Nation's ability to harness the comet's energy and gain victory in the War. He entrusted Aang with the task of mastering the four elements and defeating the Fire Lord before the Comet's arrival. Roku also manifested himself in Aang to defeat a group of firebenders who attempted to kill the young airbender. He awakened the dormant volcano directly underneath the temple, destroying the temple before the solstice ended. Months later, the lava still flowed from that event.



He guided Aang several times after this, appearing to Jeong Jeong to persuade him to teach Aang firebending, offering critical wisdom in the ways of the Spirit World during the Siege of the North in order to defeat the invading Fire Navy and save the Moon Spirit, and most recently, revealing to Aang the nature of his Avatar State. He can thus be seen as a kind of mentor or spirit guide for the Avatar succeeding him, Aang; this may be because Aang had no appointed teacher, the Air Nomads having been killed, or it may be possible that all Avatars have been guided by their previous incarnation through their lives.

Roku appeared to Aang when he thought he had failed when Ba Sing Se fell. Roku said the failure was really his because he should have foreseen the War and taken steps to prevent it. He then told Aang he believed it was his destiny to save the world and redeem him. He would later reveal his history with Fire Lord Sozin to him.

Aang communicated with Roku prior to the arrival of Sozin's Comet. He felt insecure about killing Fire Lord Ozai, as he was taught by the Air Nomads to respect all life. While understanding Aang's discomfort, he insisted that Aang must kill Ozai should it be necessary to save the world. He told Aang that it was his reluctance to end Sozin's life that started the War, and that Aang must not make the same mistake by sparing Fire Lord Ozai's life. Aang searched for advice from three other Avatars, hoping for a more satisfying answer.

A year after the War, Aang again called on Roku regarding the behaviors of Fire Lord Zuko. Aang had promised to Zuko he would end his life if he ever became like Ozai, and this moment appeared to have been nearing when Zuko pulled his support of the Harmony Restoration Movement. Roku again told Aang he needed to be decisive, as the former again expressed his regret for not ending Fire Lord Sozin when he had the chance.

Connection to Prince Zuko and Princess Azula
Zuko angrily accused Iroh of having sent him the message to learn more about his great-grandfather's death to help him choose his right destiny. When demanding to know the point, as the testament did not even reveal anything about Sozin's death, Iroh explained that the message that Zuko must find out about his great-grandfather's death did not refer to his paternal ancestor, Sozin, but his mother's grandfather, who was none other than Avatar Roku. Iroh then showed Zuko the lost crown prince's headpiece, once worn by both his great-grandfathers, and gave it to a stunned Zuko, explaining that, as he has both Roku and Sozin's blood in his veins, he has the power to redeem their family by choosing which of their paths to follow.

Abilities


By age twenty-eight, Roku was a master of all four bending arts and a fully realized Avatar, able to control the Avatar State. Even without accessing the Avatar State's power, he was able to perform blasts of all elements one by one and hold them simultaneously. Among his abilities, he could bend lava and freeze it with his breath, move huge amounts of earth or water, quickly tunnel through earth, fly via an Air Nomad glider or mini-tornado, and create a shield of air large enough to cover a whole village. His control was not only powerful but precise - he could leave a single rock pillar standing while he leveled a building, and melt chains on others while leaving them unharmed.

As well as having tremendous control over the elements, Roku was an able combatant. When Fire Lord Sozin tried to strike him down, Roku defeated him so quickly that Sozin did not have the chance to throw a second blow. When channeled through Aang, he easily defeated a large number of firebenders.

Relatives

 * Ta Min (wife)
 * Ursa (granddaughter)
 * Zuko (great-grandson)
 * Azula (great-granddaughter)
 * Yangchen (past life)
 * Kuruk (past life)
 * Kyoshi (past life)
 * Aang (immediate reincarnation)
 * Korra (reincarnation)
 * All other Avatars (past lives and future lives)

Appearances
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 * The Promise Part 1

Trivia

 * Avatar Roku's first appearance in the series was in the opening credits. In the opening sequence, when Roku is seen bending each of the four elements, his location resembles the place where Combustion Man first attacked Team Avatar, and Wulong Forest.
 * Avatar Roku first appeared as a statue within a shrine, and Aang mentioned that although he never met him, he felt a particular connection to his previous incarnation. In the episode "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku", Aang finally met the spirit of Roku for the first time.




 * Roku's voice actor, James Garrett, narrated an interlude episode called "The Legend So Far" that recaped the first seventeen episodes of the first Avatar season and was also the voice which said "Previously on Avatar..." when it appeared before an episode begins. Roku was also silhouetted in the opening sequence of every episode as the Avatar that demonstrated the use of all four elements.
 * Roku was the only Avatar who as a spirit was shown to have aged. All the others were shown at younger ages as spirits.
 * Roku means "six" in Japanese. Roku is also a Japanese girls name for emolument.
 * Roku destroyed the Fire Nation Palace once and the Fire Temple twice.
 * Roku's spirit was the one that Aang had conversed with the most throughout the entire series.
 * In both the opening sequence and "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", Roku bent all four elements in the pattern of the Avatar Cycle, and both times he bent them in the exact same way, first water, then earth, fire, and air.
 * Roku, Kyoshi, and Aang are all known for defying the leader(s) of their respective nations. Roku nearly killed Fire Lord Sozin in an attempt to put a stop to his imperialistic actions. Kyoshi, at first refused to aid the 46th Earth King when he asked her to aid in the peasant uprising in Ba Sing Se. Aang did not move to the Eastern Air Temple when he was told to and instead ran away.
 * Both Avatar Roku and Avatar Aang had to combat a volcanic eruption. Roku fatally did so against the volcano in his village and Aang against the one in Makapu Village.
 * Including Aang's fatal injury sustained in "The Crossroads of Destiny", from which he was resurrected shortly thereafter, Roku was the sixth of eight to have been observed dying or being murdered in the series. In chronological order, the others were Yue, Zhao, Chin, Jet, Aang, Combustion Man, and Kya.