- This article is about Kyoshi's team. For the Team Avatar in Avatar: The Last Airbender, see Team Avatar. For Team Avatar in The Legend of Korra, see Team Avatar (Korra). For Kuruk's team, see Kuruk's team.
| "Those are our colors. White symbolizes treachery, a sinister nature, suspicion of others, and the willingness to visit evil deeds upon them. But red symbolizes honor. Loyalty. Heroism. This is the face that we show our sworn brothers and sisters. The red is the trust we have for each other, buried in the field of white but always showing through in our gaze." |
| — Wong explains the face paint of the Flying Opera Company.[1] |
The Flying Opera Company was a daofei outlaw gang that became the sworn companions of Avatar Kyoshi in 296 BG and served as her "Team Avatar" from then on.[3][4]
Founded by Jesa and Hark in the late 4th century BG, the Flying Opera Company originally operated as a crime network around the Earth Kingdom, disguising themselves as a theater troupe to mask their travels.[5] It grew into a powerful company that had sway over local governors but gradually declined in the early 3rd century BG. By 296 BG, their influence was reduced to only minimal control over Chameleon Bay, and just four members remained: Lao Ge, Kirima, Wong, and Lek. In that year, the Flying Opera Company came into contact with Kyoshi, the daughter of their former bosses.[2] Though initially oblivious to her true identity as the Avatar, the outlaws took Kyoshi and her friend Rangi in, taught them the ways of the daofei, and involved them in their schemes.[2][6]
Over time, a close bond formed between Kyoshi and the rest of the group, resulting in her revealing her status as Avatar. The group stayed true to their vows of brotherhood and friendship and consequently served as her teachers and protectors.[7] Together, the Flying Opera Company put an end to Kyoshi's nemesis, Jianzhu, though they lost Lek in the process.[8][9]
History[]
The Flying Opera Company was founded by Jesa, a renegade Air Nomad nun, and her lover Hark, an earthbending thief and actor. Lao Ge was an original member of the daofei group. At its peak, the group had secret bases in Ba Sing Se, Omashu, and Gaoling, and was capable of blackmailing high-ranking officials.[2]
After Jesa and Hark died of a fever, their group fell on hard times after her flying bison, Longyan, abandoned the company. They ended up in debt to more unscrupulous figures in Chameleon Bay and, to protect themselves, they chose to be affiliated with the Autumn Bloom Society of Hujiang as their elders.[6]
In 296 BG, Kyoshi and Rangi became affiliated with the company shortly before Governor Deng's men ransacked Madam Qiji's teahouse. The group left on Pengpeng for the safety of the secluded daofei hub of Hujiang in the Taihua Mountains.[6][10]
Even though the Flying Opera Company's members parted ways after the death of Jianzhu, they pledged to reunite in the future. In addition, Kyoshi continued to abide by the group's laws and regarded herself sworn to the Flying Opera Company.[11][12] Most notably, she maintained her oath to not accept a legitimate job and not to work for the law, although she would occasionally use corrupt lawmen to achieve her goals.[12]
One year later, the surviving members of the Flying Opera Company, save for Lao Ge, were contacted by Jinpa and paid a considerable amount of gold so that they could face Yun in Yokoya during Kyoshi's final confrontation with the false Avatar. Though Kirima, Wong, and Rangi were badly injured, Kyoshi treated her sworn brothers and sisters in the Avatar mansion's infirmary after she managed to kill Yun. The group also began to bond with Jinpa, Kyoshi's secretary.[13]
After the defeat of Yun by Kyoshi, the Flying Opera Company became more visible to the public eye due to their connection to the Avatar, and finding jobs became more challenging. Some daofei were hesitant to work with the company, while others were a little too eager because they wanted something from the Avatar herself.[14] One of these daofei groups, the Three Lanterns Social Club, expressed their wish to join forces with the Flying Opera Company in order to help the Avatar, but the team quickly grew suspicious. Kirima tasked a group of people with infiltrating the daofei group, asking them to identify their real leader and motives.[15]
Attire[]
True to their cover as a traveling acting troupe,[5] one of the most distinctive qualities of the Flying Opera Company was their use of oil-based makeup to disguise themselves, both to provide authenticity to their theatrical performances and to ensure their identities stayed hidden during their criminal activities. Instead of using a variety of colors for their disguises, members of the Flying Opera Company exclusively used white, red, and black pigments, and assigned specific symbolic meanings to the hues. The eggshell-colored white that dominated most of the face represented the treacherous and sinister acts those who wore the paint were willing to inflict upon other people; in turn, the deep crimson red highlights signified the camaraderie and honor only shared between the members of the Flying Opera Company.[1]
The troupe coveted their stores of makeup, traditionally putting on their "faces" before every mission.[1] Even when quality materials, such as the ones produced in Ba Sing Se, were not available,[1] the members of the Flying Opera Company adapted based on the situation; in one instance, during their battle with Yun, Kyoshi and Rangi used their own blood to apply their markings, their faces having already been covered in white dust from the earth discs Yun shattered against them.[13]
Besides its functional purpose, the makeup also served to affect the morale of the company's members. While administering Kyoshi's makeup, Wong told her that wearing the paints always made him feel braver during dangerous jobs. Upon seeing herself fully decorated in a mirror, Kyoshi believed that the reflection she saw was one worthy of eventually being a powerful, fearless Avatar, and was gratified when Rangi and Lek informed her that she looked both beautiful and terrifying.[1] In situations where she was without her makeup, Kyoshi would find herself regretting how her unobscured facial expressions and reactions were on full display.[16] In turn, the makeup could also demoralize enemies the company members faced; one daofei was rendered terrified after seeing a bleeding Kyoshi, resplendent in her makeup and armor, believing her to be a monstrous spirit.[12]
There are at least three known examples of the facial patterns used by the Flying Opera Company. During Wong's and her own subsequent applications, Kyoshi had streaks painted along her eyes and brow with the red pigment and black kohl, respectively. The red paint began near the ridges of her nose, continuing along at the corners of her eyelids, before turning upward and ending at the tops of her temples, with the black paint lining and bordering the red along her brow. In her sporadic usages of the makeup, Rangi's application involved drawing a bar from her red-painted lips down to the bottom of her chin, her design partially resembling the markings of the Painted Lady, a river spirit native to the firebender's homeland.[13] When dreaming about her parents, Kyoshi reminisced that the red streaks of paint marking Hark's face met to form a wild, animalistic pattern.[2]
Members[]
Core members[]
- Hark (original member)[2]
- Jesa (original member)[2]
- Kirima (joined around 307 BG)[2]
- Kyoshi (joined in 296 BG)[2]
- Lao Ge (original member)[2]
- "Bullet" Lek (joined before 299 BG)[2]
- Rangi (joined in 296 BG)[nb 1]
- "Flitting Sparrowkeet" Wong (joined around 307 BG)[2]
Animal members[]
- Longyan (left around 299 BG)[6]
- Pengpeng (left in 296 BG)[19]
- Kyoshi's fox spirit[20]
Allies[]
Fire Nation[]
Earth Kingdom[]
- Dr. Song
Water Tribe[]
Air Nomads[]
Enemies[]
Earth Kingdom[]
- Certain daofei societies
- Three Lanterns Social Club[15]
- Yellow Necks and Triad of the Golden Wing
- "Four Shadows" Guan
- Mok
- Wai
- Xu Ping An
- Governor Deng
- Jianzhu
- Governor Te Sihung (formerly)
- Yun
Trivia[]
- In order to identify oneself as daofei, the password to be said in Madam Qiji's teahouse was to order "jasmine picked in fall, scented at noon, and steeped at a boil", which would get a specific reply: "We have every color blossom known to man and spirit."[2]
- The Flying Opera Company was inspired by "old-school Hong Kong martial arts movies or wuxia movies where you have bandits living outside the law. Some of them are heroic, some of them are not". As criminals, the group's initial members acted as foils to Kyoshi, who was a strong believer of justice.[4]
- The makeup worn by the Flying Opera Company and the symbolism of its colors is identical to those worn in traditional Chinese opera, which is consistent with their adopting it through Hark's theater lineage. The group's martial and acrobatic skills were influenced by the Beijing Royal Opera.[4]
- In comparison to Aang and Korra's Team Avatars, every member of the Flying Opera Company during Kyoshi's time with the group was a bender.
- Kirima also noted that such a fact made the company unique among other daofei societies.[6]
- Upon swearing herself to the Flying Opera Company, Kyoshi was the first known Avatar in history to have become a professional criminal.[7]
Notes[]
References[]
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