Avatar S1E8: "Avatar Roku"
The real start of the show’s arc | Grade: B
Thanks for tuning in to my eighth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S1E7: The Spirit World.
There’s not too much to analyze in Episode 8, which is mostly plot-driven and heavy on exposition. A good chunk of its runtime is dedicated to reaching the Fire Temple on Crescent Island. But this episode, in which Aang and the audience finally meet Avatar Roku, is one of the more important episodes in Season 1 because it sets up the fundamental drama of the show. Up until this point, Avatar has lacked urgency, as evidenced by the filler that pads out plenty of the episodes in this season. Sure, Aang needs to master all four elements, and hopefully put a stop to the Hundred Year War, but there’s no real timeline on that. But after this point, Team Avatar is on a clock.
One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power, and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations. Sozin's Comet will return by the end of the summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the war, once and for all. If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Aang. You must defeat the Fire Lord, before the comet arrives.
Besides this major plot kickoff, the other, much more subtle development in this episode arrives by means of the Fire Sage Shyu. Despite their duty to the Avatar, the other four sages attack Aang and try to stop him from reaching the sanctuary. “They lost hope the Avatar would ever return,” Shyu explains. “When Fire Lord Sozin began the War, my grandfather and the other sages were forced to follow him.” But Shyu remains loyal to Aang, and he’s the first Fire Nation character to help Team Avatar, who are initially mistrustful but ultimately accept his guidance. The point is simple and critical, but easy to overlook: there are good people in every nation.
After Aang leaves the inner sanctuary, we also get a pretty cool glimpse of the power of a fully realized Avatar when Roku’s spirit takes over his physical form. Roku’s manifestation is able to effortlessly redirect nine simultaneous fire blasts and precisely melt everyone’s chains. Then, he destroys the temple’s foundation by sending a towering pillar of lava through its center. Why does Roku destroy the temple? Possibly to scatter Zhao’s men so that the Gaang can escape, but also as a punishment to the fallen Sages for betraying their sacred duty to the Avatar.
Spare observations
The sages are already expecting Aang. In The Southern Air Temple, Aang alerted the Fire Sages of his return. They must have known he would try to contact Roku.
Sokka gets to show off his tinkering skills in this episode, even if his plan doesn’t quite work. It’s ultimately Katara who has the winning idea.
It’s a bit silly how, when Zuko briefly captures Aang, the subdued Fire Sages are able to pull out some crazy acrobatics and instantly turn the tables on Sokka, Katara, and Shyu.
This episode is the first time that Zhao meets the Gaang.
A bit of an inconsistency: Roku seems to have the blue glow that implies he’s in the Spirit World. But everyone can see him, and there’s no bending in the Spirit World. Perhaps we can chalk it up to the effects of the Winter Solstice — Roku disappears as soon as the light leaves his statue.
For their loyalty to the Fire Lord, Zhao casts all the Fire Sages as traitors anyway.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
Although we’re on a clock now, that’s certainly not to say there won’t be any more filler or detours from here on out.
This is not the only time that Aang is “possessed” by one of his past reincarnations. In Avatar Day, he channels the spirit of Kyoshi. There, Kyoshi’s manifestation doesn’t have the blue spirit-glow that we see on Roku, nor are her eyes glowing.
Roku’s destruction of the temple is the first time we ever see the specialized technique of lavabending. We only see it again in The Last Airbender briefly, in a flashback when Kyoshi recounts the creation of Kyoshi Island. The creators originally stated it was a combination of firebending and earthbending that only the Avatar could achieve, but in The Legend of Korra it gets retconned as a sub-skill of earthbending.
In the comics, Shyu eventually becomes the Great Sage after the events of Avatar.