History Characters / TheRiseOfKyoshi

* ControlFreak: It's his FatalFlaw as he's unable to have anyone else but himself mentor the Avatar. This attitude leads to a NeverMyFault mentality when Kyoshi is identified as the real Avatar leading to Jianzhu [[spoiler: leaving Yun for dead and try to force his controlling attitude onto Kyoshi, regardless of his callousness.]]

* {{Foil}}: Unintentionally or not he is one to two of the future Avatar Korra's enemies, Zaheer and Kuvira:
** While Zaheer was an Air Nomad fanboy who despised authority figures, disregarded material links, was fiercely loyal to his friends and believed the Avatar had to be killed to truly bring balance to the world, Jianzhu is a man who is willing to go against his friend's interests and uses authority figures, bribes and materialism to make his vision of the perfect Avatar come true in order to bring balance.
** Both Jianzhu and Kuvira are highly skilled earthbenders who come to wield great power over the Earth Kingdom, and both come from well-off families in that nation (though while Kuvira was adopted into the Beifongs, Jianzhu is a born Ganjinese). But while Kuvira openly rules the Earth Kingdom as a military dictator, Jianzhu uses a mixture of wealth, allies and influence to act as an unofficial ruler. And while Kuvira's plans don't involve the Avatar directly, and she expresses the belief that the Avatar is obsolete, Jianzhu is obsessed with being the Avatar's mentor, believing the presence of a capable one to be essential for the wellbeing of the world. Finally, Kuvira and Korra never feel any particular enmity towards each other [[spoiler:and even come to see each other as allies]], whereas Kyoshi's hatred of Jianzhu is very personal, and never heals.

* ScarsAreForever: Kyoshi's DuelToTheDeath with [[spoiler:Xu Ping An]] sees her being [[spoiler:shot by lightning]] and while she does survive, the initial blast leaves her with permanent burn scars on her arms. It's why afterwards Lek gets her some gauntlets to cover her arms which end up becoming part of her IconicOutfit.

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: [[spoiler:While she doesn't directly kill Jianzhu (that would be Yun) she is more or less responsible for his death and finally achieves her revenge. After he dies and she looks at his dead body however Kyoshi is left wondering how she had so much contempt "for a container so small" and leaves him to be buried in the collapsing tea house. She also didn't realize until after the fact that spending all of her energy hating Jianzhu would leave her feeling empty once he was dead and left wondering what she was suppose to do now.]]

* RedBaron: Bullet Lek, referring to the precision and marksmanship he has when bending small fragments of earth.

* OutsideContextProblem: Considering the AsskickingLeadsToLeadership nature of the ''daofei'', it was reasonable to deduce that he was a bender. But there was absolutely nothing to indicate he was a firebender, much less a ''lightningbender'' (an ability that Kyoshi and her friends ''have no idea exists''), before he does it.

* CommanderContrarian: He will oppose ''anything'' Jianzhu suggests, even if it benefits himself.

* StatuesqueStunner: While she's not overtly described as attractive, Kyoshi's height is highlighted upon multiple times in the story, and her height was one of her defining features as the Avatar. Even by the age of seven she's much taller than other girls her age, leading Jianzhu to believe she's too old to be the new Avatar.

* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:After going through one hell of a TraumaCongaLine, Yun goes completely insane with hatred towards the entire world for lying about him being the Avatar. He goes so crazy that Kyoshi realizes that if she didn't stop him, he would try to kill every last human in the planet except for her.]]

* PsychoElectro: Kirima points out that he is absolutely delusional. When she says that he calls himself the General of Pandimu, Lek asks where Pandimu is, and Kirima answers that ''it doesn't exist'', it's just what he calls the world and thinks he owns it. And as it turns out his also a skilled lightningbender who tortures and almost kills Kyoshi during their duel.

** Twice over in the same conversation. After declaring that [[spoiler:the members of the Saowon are traitors, he points out to Kyoshi that while they may not have been working with Yun, they were perfectly happy to use Yun's actions to undermine Zoryu's rule, besides which they've been plotting against him in various ways for years and they would certainly have killed him if Chaejin had been able to usurp the throne. He also tells Kyoshi that Yun likely hates all of his former friends and that everything he has done has been designed to hurt them personally due to his resentment. Kyoshi realizes after her talk with Kuruk that the latter is true and eventually comes to the conclusion that Yun can't be saved.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: They seemed to think leaving Kyoshi behind in Yokoya would be better for her, but they also didn't seem to consider that the person who agreed to take care of Kyoshi would likely have no interest in keeping their word.

* TooCleverByHalf: Though Kalyaan's undoubtedly very capable, Kavik notes near the end of ''Legacy'' that were it not for Yangchen's intervention, he'd have eventually overestimated his capabilities and gotten himself killed. [[spoiler:As it stands, Kalyaan spends most of the book assuming Kavik lacks the initiative necessary to outplay him, while also dismissing Yangchen's agents as threats. Instead, Tayagum and Akuudan [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] his ass, and then the three of them trick/emotionally manipulate him into giving up the information they need to foil Chaisee's scheme, all as part of a plan devised and proposed by Kavik]].

* TooCleverByHalf: Though Kalyaan's undoubtedly very capable, Kavik notes near the end of ''Legacy'' that were it not for Yangchen's intervention, he'd have eventually overestimated his capabilities and gotten himself killed. [[spoiler:As it stands, Kalyaan spends most of both books assuming Kavik will always be loyal to him above any others, while dismissing him and Yangchen's agents as threats. Instead, Kavik decisively turns on him after learning how Unanimity was developed, Tayagum and Akuudan [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] his ass, and then the three of them trick/emotionally manipulate him into giving up the information they need to foil Chaisee's plan. All as part of a plan devised by Kavik]].