List of characters from the Avatar: The Last Airbender Fan Fic Distorted Reality. See the original series' characters pages for their original appearances - many things, like appearance tropes and things related to their basic personalities, are still the same, and thus should not be listed here. All art is by Rocket Axxonu on the avatardistortedreality Tumblr page
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Team Avatar
As a whole
Aang's Team Avatar in the Distorted world is quite a bit different from the team he knows. Starting with himself, Zuko, Azula, Appa, and Sabi in Book 1, they set out to the Golden City for him and Azula to learn firebending. Other characters join along the way (sometimes in a temporary capacity), but other permanent members include Toph, Momo, Sokka, and seemingly Sangmu.
- Badass Crew: Just like in canon, they all develop into powerful fighters.
- Cast Calculus: Changes Book by Book, and sometimes halfway through:
- Early Book 1: Two Guys and a Girl (Aang, Azula, Zuko). A constant throughout all of these lists is Appa, along with Sabishi the (female) flying lemur as the Team Pets (joined by Momo as of Chapter 40).
- Late Book 1: Four-Philosophy Ensemble / Four-Temperament Ensemble (Ty Lee as the Sanguine Idealist, Aang as the Melancholic Cynic, Azula as the Choleric Realist, and Zuko as the Phlegmatic Apathetic)
- Early Book 2: Five-Man Band (Aang as The Leader, Azula as The Lancer and The Smart Guy, Toph as The Big Guy, Zuko as The Heart, and Sokka as the Sixth Ranger and The Drag-Along)
- Late Book 2: Five-Man Band (Aang as The Leader, Azula as The Lancer, Toph as The Big Guy, Mai as The Smart Guy, Zuko as The Heart)
- Cuddle Bug: Sabi, in contrast to her counterpart Momo's more energetic behavior.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Ty Lee in Book 1, Mai in Book 2 in Ba Sing Se, Katara in Book 3.
- Sixth Ranger: Sokka officially in Book 3, and later Sangmu.
- Team Pet: Appa, as usual, and Sabi, the new flying lemur. Though the end of Book 2 sees Sabi joined by Momo.
- Token Evil Teammate: Katara for the beginning of Book 3.
Aang
Aang
- All Love Is Unrequited: Even in the canon world, it's shown that Katara did not openly reciprocate Aang's feelings for her, likely due to the fact that the war is still ongoing.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Aang grabs a sword and starts wielding it in battle to augment his bending, along with his usual staff. Though it's implied he has not (yet) broken his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy, even in the original world. The drama of it comes from how he stole the meteorite sword from Piandao to give to Distorted Sokka instead of forging his own.
- Battle Couple: With Azula, after they finally reunite and he realizes his feelings for her.
- Breath Weapon: Aang improvises one by holding a flame in front of his mouth and blowing with airbending, similar to how a flamethrower works.
- Conflict Ball: Despite knowing that Zhao is in Bato's role and thus a good guy now, Aang is still openly hostile to him. Aang is fully aware he's holding it.
- Determinator: After everything he's been through, Aang just won't give up so easily anymore.
- Heal the Cutie: Over time, the story of Distorted Reality seems to be building toward this, as Aang slowly comes to term with his past traumas and gradually rebuilds the person he used to be.
- Heroic BSoD: Aang completely shuts down when he finally sees Katara in Azula's role.
- I Hate Past Me: Aang gets frustrated with how physically weak his twelve year old body is.
- Instant Expert: Justified: when Aang is shown how to do a bending move he had learned in his world, it removes a mental block, letting him use that move as if he had never forgotten how to do it in the first place.
- Defied with his waterbending; it's implied that his mindset changed too much for him to do it effectively, so he struggled a bit when Sokka started to teach him.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Aang is a Type 1 at the beginning of the fic.
- Love Revelation Epiphany: Averted. He reveals that his feelings for Azula grew naturally, and over time, and so gradually that he didn't realize it himself at first until she left the rest of Team Avatar with Katara. It's a direct contrast to the Love at First Sight he initially had with Katara.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bumi notes that Aang is acting like a cynical old man rather than the playful kid he used to know.
- Razor Wind: Aang accomplishes this by combining airbending with a sword. It's powerful enough to make him wonder why air nomads never used swords before.
- Save Both Worlds: Said verbatim by Aang, when he resolves to do just that to Guru Pathik. Pathik admires Aang's determination to do so.
- Screw Destiny: Aang refuses to let Ty Lee die, and takes a third option.
- Take a Third Option: Guru Pathik tells Aang he can actually choose which world he could stay in, but he must choose, or every world faces oblivion. Aang decides to stay in the Distorted universe long enough to defeat the Water Emperor before going home to save his friends.
- Technicolor Fire: He learns to use both blue and white fire, keeping a balance between a desire to kill and a desire to protect, respectively. He uses white fire more often than blue fire, but he normally uses the standard red flames.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Aang starts off the story much more jaded and cynical than he ever was in canon, due to losing the war in his own world and suffering the losses of many people he cared about. He stopped shaving and started eating meat as a sign of his loss of values. However, after enough people point this out to him, he starts making a conscious effort to go back to his older values and thus Takes A Level In Kindness.
- Vague Age: Aang, discussed in a conversation with Bumi. He's physically twelve and chronologically one hundred and twelve like in the series, but thanks to aging three years in the canon universe and then going back to his younger body he's mentally "fifteen or sixteen."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Aang for stealing Master Piandao's sword and not releasing Sokka after meeting Kanna in the Earth Kingdom. Azula later starts becoming a pro at giving him these.
Azula
Azula
Raised in a village in the southern archipelago of the Fire Islands, this Azula has humbler origins than her canon counterpart, but she's nearly as haughty. The last firebender in her village, she's untrained and goes along with Aang for the opportunity to master her abilities... but she's suspicious of the boy and determined to learn all of his secrets from the moment she meets him.
- Adaptational Heroism: Comes with the territory.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Much to her own consternation, Azula eventually develops a crush on Aang. He doesn't reciprocate (at least at first, and when he finally does think he might be able to, he misses his opportunity to tell her), for many reasons - mostly related to how she has the same face as the person who killed many of his loved ones.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: She picks on Zuko a lot, but sometimes they have their moments.
- Battle Couple: With Aang, after he finally confesses to her when they reunite near the end of Book 3.
- Berserk Button: She does not like remembering her mother's death at the hands of the Water Tribe. Jet mentioning her mother's fate is what causes Azula to immediately accepting him to burn down the village, while she was hesitant to do it at first.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Throughout Book 3. First, she betrays Team Avatar by letting Katara free and running off with her. Then she betrays Long Feng after he starts scheming with her. Then she betrays Katara to get in Hakoda's good graces. Then she betrays Hakoda himself in an attempt to kill him, and she reveals she did it all in her attempt to protect Aang, and to keep Fire Lord Azula away from him.
- Deuteragonist: After Aang, she gets most of the focus of the story, with her development and struggles with Fire Lord Azula often taking center stage. Reflecting this, she even starts to have dream scenes depicting Fire Lord Azula's life in the other world in Book 3.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: As Zuko's firebending master.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Downplayed. Azula is nowhere near as bad as her canon counterpart, but she still has her sharp tongue and ambiguous morality. In spite of this, she's trully heroic at heart and was close of her mother as a child (unlike the real Azula) and her death deeply affected her.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Until the Internal Reveal, Azula deduces that Aang is a time-traveller. She's only half-right.
- Fantastic Racism: Like canon Katara, Azula resents the Water Tribes due losing her mother to them at a young age.
- Foil: To Katara, especially her canon version. It's best seen when they meet Jet - where Katara was smitten with him in the show, Azula isn't impressed (and it's instead Zuko who gets along with him best). However, Jet decides to just let her in on his plan to destroy the village and she goes along with it due to Fire Lord Azula's influence and Aang and Toph stop them both. And Azula is by no means a Team Mom.
- Good Is Not Nice: She's nearly as haughty as her canon self and capable of being just as mean, especially to Zuko.
- Guile Hero: Tricks or lies her way out of several difficult situations, most often before she masters firebending.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Sometimes, regarding Aang. Eventually, she comes to terms with these feelings and confesses them to him.
- Lovely Angels: With Katara in Book 3, most prominently in the "Stormblood, Part 1" and "Stormblood, Part 2" chapters.
- Manipulative Bitch: Not unlike her canon counterpart, this Azula is also a good liar and a skilled manipulator. The only difference is, this time she does it with heroic intentions (sort of). It's best proven when she deceives Long Feng and his men in such a convincing way that Aang and Zuko thought she did a Face–Heel Turn.
- Missing Mom: In this universe, Ursa was drowned to death after the Water Tribe militia attacked their village.
- No Sympathy: For Katara, when Katara reveals to her that she lost her mother. Azula says it's because the Water Tribes took her mother.
- Shock and Awe: She eventually learns how to do it after being taught by Lo, Li, and her other self. She can also redirect it.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Distorted!Azula starts to become more and more like Canon!Azula as time goes by. However, she shows in the end she's still a good guy.
- Smug Super: She has canon Azula's haughtiness, but she's got stronger morals than her.
- The Social Expert: In a flip from Canon Azula's No Social Skills (in regards to people who are her own peers), this Azula is much better at talking to (and manipulating) boys. However, when they all go to a party in Ba Sing Se Mai has to give her some tips because she's not a member of the nobility in this world.
- Technicolor Fire: Like Aang, she eventually learns how to bend blue and white flames. However, she struggles a lot more with the "protection" side of it, and sticks to blue fire in high-intensity moments. She finally learns how to bend white fire at the same time as she learns lightning.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: She likes to think she's the Girly Girl to Toph's Tomboy, but it's downplayed since Azula has plenty of tomboyish traits too, thus being the Tomboy to Ty Lee's Girly Girl.
- Took a Level in Badass: Since she's a stand-in for the canon Katara, she too goes through the journey of mastering her firebending.
- Toxic Friend Influence: To Katara in Book 3, encouraging her revenge.
- Tragic Keepsake: Her mother's headpiece, which also once belonged to Iroh. She lets Zuko wear it for a formal occasion, though.
- Vengeance Denied: She finally gets the opportunity to take vengeance against the man who killed her mother, Yakone... but before she can kill him, she gets the choice taken away from her when Ozai kills him first.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Her and Toph butt heads a lot at first - and while they continue to do it later they gain a lot of respect and genuine care for each other.
Zuko
Zuko
Like his younger sister Azula, this Zuko grew up in a small island village in the Fire Nation's southern archipelago. Unscarred in this world and with no bending abilities, his upbringing was quite different from his canon counterpart Prince Zuko. As a familiar friend to Aang, Zuko is a comforting presence in the early part of his new journey.
- Amicable Exes: With Ty Lee by the end of Book 1.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He tries to hide it, but he really does love and look after his sister.
- Badass Normal: He can't bend, but once he gets training he is no less skilled with his broadswords than his canon counterpart.
- Beta Couple: With Mai late into Book 2.
- Big Brother Instinct: Toward Azula, and later also Aang and Toph.
- Blade Enthusiast: Early on, Mai gives him training in throwing daggers and it becomes part of his repertoire from there on out.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Early on, Azula accuses him of this when it comes to his fighting with broadswords. He even tries to hunt with them. For Zuko, fighting with broadswords was something Azula didn't have, and it was the only type of training he ever received while everyone else in the village focused on trying to find a firebending master for Azula, so he wanted to do it well to the point of stubbornly avoiding other weapons. It isn't until his initial training with Mai where he relents and becomes more of a Combat Pragmatist.
- Dual Wielding: Fights with two swords just like the Zuko in canon.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Eventually, his canon self gives him the gift of firebending.
- The Heart: He often acts as the group's emotional center, keeping them grounded on the task at hand. When he meets Katara, he tries to draw out her much kinder canon self by appealing to her emotional side, because he knows how much she means to Aang.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Not to the same extent as Sokka in canon, but he occasionally felt left out in the original trio when it came to the bending abilities Aang and Azula shared. He had no problem being the only nonbender in the group until Ty Lee came along, exacerbating his buried insecurities. Thankfully, since Book 1 starts in the Fire Nation, he meets Piandao a lot earlier than Canon Sokka did, and gets training. And even later, he becomes a firebender.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "The Drowned" deals with this once he learns he has a chance to confront the man who killed his mother. First he believes it to be Pakku before Pakku reveals it was his former student, Yakone. He then assaults Yakone's stronghold with Aang, Azula, and his father, but it's Azula who faces Yakone. And then before either of them can kill him, Ozai does it for justice.
- Shipper on Deck: After finding out Aang's feelings for Katara, he seems to ship Aang with her. It creates an amusing situation when both Zuko and Sokka ship Aang with the one who isn't their sister.
- Team Dad: Toph even calls him this in one earlier version of a chapter.
- Voice of Reason: Quite often, especially if Aang isn't.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Downplayed compared to canon, but still here. Ozai gave far more attention to Azula in their childhood because of her firebending, and went all up and down the archipelago to find her a master. Zuko never felt like his father had any expectations for him compared to her.
Toph
Toph
In this world, the Bei Fong family fell in a Water Tribe raid, leaving a young Toph orphaned and alone until she became a founding member of the Freedom Fighters along with Jet. After meeting Aang and the others and having her eyes opened to Jet's issues, she travels on her own for a bit before finally joining Team Avatar to teach Aang earthbending.
- The Artifact: She's first introduced with dual hammers as weapons, but those slowly start to appear less and less before disappearing altogether.
- The Blank: Koh steals her face in the Book 2 finale, and fights to retain her identity in the Spirit World throughout Book 3.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: She manages to harm Koh, but she also sports a Grin of Audacity afterward and he steals her face because of it, and also drags her into the Spirit World with him.
- The Confidant: For Aang. She is the first person he openly reveals his feelings for Azula to, and he's generally very open and vulnerable with her due to being the one most similar to the other Toph back home.
- Day in the Limelight: "The Blind Bandit" is basically a "Toph Alone" chapter.
- Little Miss Badass: Not much different from the real Toph when it comes to kicking ass.
- Little Miss Snarker: Again, she didn't lose her snarkiness either.
- Loss of Identity: This is the greatest danger of losing a face - after Koh takes hers, Toph starts to waste away, becoming a listless drifter who just follows her companions Yue and Nagi silently while they trek through the Spirit World. Only her connection to the other Toph, her canon self, seems to keep her grounded.
- Never Be Hurt Again: She says as much to Jet after reuniting with him underneath Lake Laogai.
- Noble Top Enforcer: She was essentially this to Jet during her time in the Freedom Fighters and got furious at him once she realized he used her as this.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: As a Freedom Fighter, she was known as Bandit. Her old friends continue to call her that even after she leaves.
- Parental Abandonment: In this universe, both her parents died protecting her from Water Tribe soldiers when they attacked their Earth Kingdom village.
- Riches to Rags: In this world, Gaoling fell before the start of the story and Toph is part of Jet's Freedom Fighters.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Azula. Their relationship starts off pretty rocky but they become much closer as time goes on, even if they continue to snark at each other.
Water Nation
Sokka
Sokka
- Adaptational Badass: The addition of waterbending to his repertoire makes Sokka much more capable in combat, since he also still uses his boomerang, club, machete, and wits alongside it.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: A trait he carries from the original show. When Aang finally tells him that he's from another world, Sokka doesn't believe him (at first), even after the line between his world and the Spirit World starts to break down.
- Arranged Marriage: In his backstory, he had one with Yue before Yue herself called it off by joining the Water Sages.
- Big Brother Instinct: He gains it for Sangmu.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Between an abusive father, a controlling and difficult sister, and a Missing Mom, he doesn't have a happy family. It's part of the reason that he has such a hard time believing Aang's story of another world where Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda had a loving relationship.
- Break the Haughty: Book 3 does a lot to take him and his view of his nation down a peg.
- Covert Pervert: Sokka agreed to go to the circus the Gaang was at upon hearing from his grandmother there were girls in tights there.
- Did Not Think This Through: Averted: unlike Prince Zuko, Prince Sokka thinks things out before he does them, and came a lot closer to catching Aang than Zuko ever did.
- The Drag-Along: He gets captured by Team Avatar at the end of Book 1 and travels with them for some time into Book 2, entirely against his will, until Katara finds them and he joins her.
- Enemy Mine: At the end of Book 2, he joins forces with Aang and Azula against Wan Shi Tong, and later joins Team Avatar in full to rescue Yue from the Spirit World.
- The Exile: Sokka was not banished: instead, he left of his own will to restore his honor, which means he still has authority over the Water Tribes, unlike Zuko with the Fire Nation in canon.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Ghashiun develops a crush on Sokka perhaps even before meeting him.
- Eye Scream: After he fails his ice dodging and Hakoda gives him another chance in a trial by combat, Sokka still has a poor showing and during the fight Hakoda cuts out his eye.
- Faking the Dead: Whereas Zhao tried to kill Zuko in canon and failed, Sokka comes up with the plan himself here in order to throw Bato off.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He invented submarines (or at least the concept of them, like in the show) and other miscellaneous things like parasailing.
- Heel–Face Turn: Starts off as Enemy Mine, but after reuniting with his mother in the Spiritsong Grotto and confronting all of the horrible things his nation has done he sides with the Avatar for real.
- The Lancer: To Katara in Book 2.
- Masquerading As the Unseen: Katara is the "real" Blue Spirit, but Sokka uses the mask once to hide his identity without knowledge of who previously used the mask.
- Must Make Amends: He tries to do this for Sangmu. It's unclear how much it's working.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: He's pretty disgusted when he finds out that Aang is in love with Katara, but at this point of the story it's after Sokka betrayed her, and Aang is trying to reveal the truth of his world to Sokka and Sokka doesn't really believe it. Though it's entirely possible this has less to do with the fact that she's his sister than the idea that it's Katara, Aang's enemy.
- People Puppets: He already learned bloodbending from his grandmother Kanna, though by his and her own admission he's not very good at it. Even so, he manages to steal control away from Katara a few days away from a full moon.
- Shipper on Deck: He tries to push Aang with Azula, though it's possible that this is related to the My Sister Is Off-Limits detail above.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Ghashiun in Book 2.
Kanna
Kanna
Sokka and Katara's grandmother. Known as the "Moonlit Mother," she is a respected figure in Water Tribe society due to being the mother of the current emperor, Hakoda. When Sokka went into his self-imposed exile, she went along with him, providing wisdom much in the same way that Iroh did in canon.
- Adaptational Badass: She's more or less at Iroh's level. She wasn't even a waterbender in canon.
- Affably Evil: In Book 1, similar to Iroh in the show.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Sokka seems to think she is the grandparent variant, especially in regards to how she teases him around the warriors on his ship in Book 1.
- Arranged Marriage: In her backstory, her marriage to Emperor Kvichak was arranged. She rather would have married Pakku, but couldn't get out of it here.
- Ascended Extra: Goes from appearing only in the first two episodes to one of the main characters of Distorted Reality.
- Enemy Mine: With Piandao, against Aang. Subverted when it later turns out they were allies to begin with.
- Failure Knight: She carries a lot of guilt for her role in the events that led to Kya's disappearance.
- The Gadfly: In "The Tale of Aang," she sends Aang on what he thinks is a Secret Test of Character for the White Lotus, but it turns out to be a prank since it only turned out to be a string of errands for her.
- My Greatest Failure: In a life that she perceives to be full of failures, her inability to help Kya or Katara is her greatest one.
- Never Mess with Granny: Kanna quickly defeats Ty Lee at one encounter, and is effectively Iroh's equivalent. She also uses bloodbending to kill Emperor Kvichak, her husband, in order to protect her grandchild.
- Opposed Mentors: She opposes Hama; both are (or have been) mentors to Katara in her waterbending.
- Parental Substitute: She was this to Kya.
- People Puppets: Years ago, she learned bloodbending along with Hama. After Hama teaches it to Katara, Kanna teaches it to Sokka, and later also Aang.
- Secret-Keeper: She is one of the few people outside of Aang's inner circle who learns his secret that he's from another world, along with Piandao, Bumi, and Xai Bau.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: She killed her husband, the previous emperor.
Katara
Katara
Princess of the Water Tribes and daughter of Emperor Hakoda. Chafing at her tribe's harsh rules and restrictions toward women, she finds ways to rebel and change the ways of her people, even though she has a deep love for the Water Tribes. Learned waterbending from both her grandmother Kanna and later Hama.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Zigzagged. She does not get the same Early-Bird Cameo that Azula did in canon as part of Sokka/Zuko's backstory, but she appears shortly after that as the Blue Spirit, much earlier than canon Azula appeared.
- Adaptational Heroism: Played with: Distorted!Katara seems to be far more kind/caring to her friends and family than Canon!Azula, despite the two being "counterparts" of a sort. However, she is willing to (maybe) murder troops from her own country to achieve her goals, so....
- Adaptational Villainy: Like most Water Tribe characters, it comes with the territory.
- Amazon Brigade: Like Azula in canon, she puts together a small team consisting of herself, Suki, and Yue.
- Anti-Villain: She just wants her brother back, and unlike Azula, seemingly cares for her friends.
- As of the latest chapter, Katara wishes to reform the empire so that not only could a woman like her be able to rule but also so that once it subjugates the rest of the world it'll actually maintain a peace rather than get engulfed in infighting rooted in its Might Makes Right culture. She still believes in its imperialism, however.
- Blood Knight: Katara just loves to fight and she'll sometimes hold off on using bloodbending because that can end battles too quickly and she wants to get a chance to show what she can do.
- Daddy Issues: Unlike Azula, Katara hates her father for his abusive tendencies and works on her own agenda.
- Dark Action Girl: She proves herself to be just as powerful of a waterbender as the canon Katara. Only this time, she's on the bad guys' side.
- Elemental Armor: Downplayed. She keeps some ice jewelry on hand to use in a pinch.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Katara's love for her mother remains even as a villain.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Katara cares a lot for her family and friends (besides her father).
- Evil Overlooker: Katara in the Book 2 cover image from the webcomic.
- Evil Wears Black: She's mostly dressed in black when not in her Water Tribe dress.
- Foil: To Azula, in more ways than they were in canon. She also counts as a foil to Canon!Azula - while both are scarily powerful princesses and effective villains, they differ in several ways: Katara is most definitely not a Daddy's Little Villain and genuinely values her relationship with her brother Sokka instead. While Princess Azula controlled people through fear, Katara accomplishes the same through her natural charisma and by appealing to emotion. Where Princess Azula was a master schemer, this Katara tends to muscle her way through situations and relies on her personal connections.
- Hearing Voices: Like the rest of Team Avatar, she sometimes hears the voice of her canon counterpart, Katara. But she doesn't know the voice's origin, unlike the others, so she's a bit more shaken up by the sudden good conscience trying to influence her. She later implies that she thinks it might be her dead mother.
- King Incognito: Or rather Princess Incognito. She's the Blue Spirit.
- The Leader: Of her own Five-Man Band in Book 2, leading an attack/infiltration on Ba Sing Se while Sokka comes along as her lancer.
- Little Sister Instinct: She's the younger sibling, but when Sokka gets captured by the Gaang, she shows herself to be ready to go to great lenghts to bring him back.
- Lovely Angels: With Azula in Book 3, particularly during the "Stormblood" chapters.
- Murder by Inaction: She probably wasn't intending to kill Bato, but she didn't try to prevent it or shed a tear when a dragon swooped down and devoured him.
- Ninja: As the Blue Spirit.
- Perpetual Frowner: Unlike her counterpart, this Katara constantly has a deadpan, eerie frown on her face. When she's not doing this, she sports a Psychotic Smirk.
- Psychotic Smirk: She loves doing these, especially in the heat of battles.
- Rage Against the Mentor: "The Puppetmaster" involves her raging against both of her mentors, current and former. It culminates in a Mêlée à Trois between her, Kanna, and Hama.
- Revenge Before Reason: She swears this on her own father after learning that he might have killed her mother. The audience knows that he didn't do it. And once she begins this revenge quest by killing Chief Kuskok, she starts Jumping Down The Slippery Slope headfirst and seeks it against Hakoda, Kanna, and later Azula.
- Surpassed the Teacher: Katara manages to surpass both of her teachers, Kanna and Hama, in bloodbending.
- Tsundere: Distorted!Katara is a type A, unlike the original series, where she was a type B.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: She confesses to Azula that she thinks a world unified by the Water Nation would be a peaceful one, and that only her father is strong enough to rule it. She eventually changes her mind on that last bit, though.
- Warrior Princess: She's the Princess of the Water Tribes, but she specifically trained by herself in spite of her kingdom's sexism and is highly respected as a bender among her father's militia. Sure enough, she's fierce in battle.
Hakoda
Hakoda
- Abusive Parents: Hakoda was this to Sokka and Katara both: he cut out one of Sokka's eyes, and according to Katara, she was passed over as a heir even after Sokka left due to the Water Tribe's Stay in the Kitchen attitude, and never acknowledged her.
- Adaptational Badass: Getting waterbending and a power boost to put him on the same level as Fire Lord Ozai would do that.
- Adaptational Jerkass: He was a good father to his kids in the canon verse. Since this Hakoda is a stand-in for Fire Lord Ozai, he also gained the Abusive Father title and gouged out Sokka's eye.
- Adaptational Villainy: For the same reasons as Katara.
- Big Bad: Just like Ozai in the show, Aang's ultimate goal is to defeat him to bring balance to this world.
- Children as Pawns: When Sokka and Katara were children, he conspired with Bato's clan to have them kidnapped, gravely insulting Emperor Kvichak (Hakoda's father) so he could manipulate Kvichak and Kuskok (Bato's father) to battle each other. Hakoda knew Kvichak would lose, so his intention was to become emperor that way. Kvichak threw a wrench in the plan by finding a different way to save face that didn't require him to battle.
- Emperor Scientist: Still likes his inventions and is a proponent for the Water Tribes' sciences, particularly advances in alchemy, healing, and war.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Water Nation, in contrast with the Fire Nation, actually is willing to incorporate denizens of conquered lands as members of its military forces. Suki herself was taken in by Kya at the fall of Kyoshi Island and raised as family.
- Hakoda even has a group of soldiers under his command made up of conquered Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom troops called the "Wolf's Skulls," led by Chit Sang. Perhaps contradictory, he does perpetuate the Water Nation's Stay in the Kitchen attitude toward women, though.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He is nothing but polite and respectful to Kanna, and after she kills Kvichak he banishes his wife and declares Kya a taboo-breaker instead of her, all because she is the highly respected "Moonlit Mother."
- Let's You and Him Fight: He tries to set one up between Bato's father Chief Kuskok and his own father, Kvichak, in order to expose how weak his father is so Hakoda himself could take the throne. Kuskok and Bato were both in on this plan.
- Nay-Theist: He frowned on his father's worship of the spirits.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He took advantage of a situation careening wildly out of control and sought to overthrow his father by working with Bato's clan in secret before Kanna killed Kvichak first. When Kya fled the palace on the same night to avoid a young Katara's ritual sacrifice, he pinned the blame on her, banished her without remorse, and came out on top as the new emperor.
- Self-Made Orphan: Hakoda killed the last Water Emperor to become the next one himself.
- Though it later turns out this is just a rumor. Kanna did it instead.
- Spikes of Villainy: Just look at those shoulder spikes in his picture!
Suki
Suki
Since early in the war, Kyoshi Island was a subject to the Water Nation due to its proximity, so Suki had been raised among their culture since her birth. After a failed uprising when she was a child, Hakoda put her village to the torch and took Suki as an adopted ward - technically a glorified hostage to keep her people in line. Nonetheless, Suki is still a member of the royal family and close to Katara and Sokka, and joins Katara's Amazon Brigade to track Sokka down in Book 2.
- Action Girl: A rarity in the Water Nation - she was allowed to continue her Kyoshi Warrior training under the guise of "dance lessons," one of the only ties to her native culture she has left.
- Affably Evil: As nice as she is, she's still a villain and loyal to Katara and the Water Nation.
- Amazon Brigade: She's part of Katara's, along with Yue. Averted once Sokka and Ghashiun join the group.
- The Big Guy: In Katara's Five-Man Band late in Book 2.
- Boisterous Bruiser: This version of Suki likes fighting quite a bit more than her canon self did.
- Enemy Mine: In the Book 2 finale, she fights alongside Yue, Toph, Zuko, and Nagi against Koh the Face Stealer.
- Happily Adopted: Suki was taken in by Kya after the Water Tribes crushed a rebellion on Kyoshi Island, and is effectively Katara and Sokka's sister. Doesn't stop her from liking Sokka, though.
- Last of Her Kind: Suki is the last Kyoshi Warrior, since the rest of them were killed in the failed uprising. There was another - Mizuka, who trained Suki after the uprising - but the elderly warrior died of complications sustained after her stand-off with Water Nation warriors on Kyoshi Island in Book 3.
- Love Triangle: She's in one. Both she and Yue like Sokka, but Suki and Yue get along with each other just fine and never let it come between them.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Yue gets taken to the Spirit World with Toph and Nagi, Suki rages against all of the dark spirit knowledge seekers that have invaded Ba Sing Se until Ghashiun snaps her out of it.
- Upbringing Makes the Hero: Inverted: Suki was taken in by the Water Tribes at a young age.
Yue
Yue
Princess of the Northern Water Tribe and daughter to High Chief Arnook. Close friend of Katara and Sokka for many years, she is recruited by Katara to help find Sokka in Book 2.
- Action Girl: Comes with being part of Katara's Amazon Brigade.
- Adaptational Badass: Yue couldn't fight at all in canon; here, she's a capable Badass Normal who fights with a katana.
- Adaptational Sexuality: She seems to be bisexual here, since she gains feelings for Nagi.
- Affably Evil: Emphasis on the "affable."
- Amazon Brigade: Like Suki, she's part of Katara's. It stops being one when Sokka and Ghashiun come along.
- Apologetic Attacker: When fighting Zuko.
- Arranged Marriage: In her backstory, she was arranged to marry Sokka. However, she became one of the Water Sages (who can fight and don't have to marry) in order to avoid this - not because she doesn't like him, but because she wanted to make her own choices.
- Ascended Extra: Goes from a minor character in the show to a prominent one here.
- Creepy Good: Maybe not entirely "good," but she creeps out even Katara on occasion, due to her reverence to spirits and enjoyment of dark, creepy places - perhaps a side effect of being blessed by the night spirit rather than the moon spirit in this world.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Yue manages to cut off several of Koh's legs, but he still manages to kidnap her to the Spirit World.
- Enemy Mine: She joins forces with Toph, "Spirit-Toph," and Nagi in order to escape from the Spirit World after Koh the Face Stealer drags them there. Earlier, she fights together with Suki, Toph, Zuko, and Nagi against Koh.
- Evil Counterpart: Yue is this, in a way, to Ty Lee.
- Insecure Love Interest: For Nagi. Yue thinks that she doesn't deserved to have her feelings reciprocated because her people are fighting a war with all the others. Nagi, for her part thinks Yue has a good heart and just needs time to think about it.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Her weapon of choice, implied to have studied with the Kokkan Samurai.
- Lady of War: She became an effective fighter with her katana.
- Locked into Strangeness: Since she's blessed by the night spirit instead of the moon spirit, she has white hair with a black stripe.
- Loophole Abuse: She became a Water Sage - which are more or less nuns - to avoid her Arranged Marriage and learn how to fight, since they are the only women in the Water Nation who are allowed to in order to protect the Water Temple.
- Love Triangle: She's in the same one as Suki, since they both love Sokka. Both of them get along with each other just fine, though, and consider each other close friends.
- Ms. Exposition: Knows a lot about spirits and explains things about them whenever it's relevant.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: She loves the caves and caverns deep beneath Ba Sing Se that seem to unnverve just about everyone else.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: She's the can for the Nightseer.
- Leaking Can of Evil: On new moons, the Nightseer's power results in any spirits around Yue going dark. After the worlds begin merging and the Nightseer enacts her plan to walk free in the mortal world, it results in Yue corrupting living people with darkness as well.
- Security Cling: Yue finds comfort in grabbing Nagi's hands as often as possible while they are stuck in the Spirit World.
- Warrior Princess: She's still a princess in this world, but she's outranked by Katara.
Hama
Hama
Matriarch of the Crab-Spider Clan and long-time friend of Kanna before their falling out some time ago. A prominent figure in the Water Tribes, she discovered bloodbending and learned it alongside Kanna in their youths, and later became Katara's waterbending instructor.
- Apron Matron: Seems to exert more than the usual control over her two sons that she mentioned.
- Blood Magic: Like in the original series, she can perform bloodbending.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kanna.
- Evil Matriarch: As Matriarch of the Crab-Spider Clan, she seems to hold political power at least to the equivalent of the other clan chiefs.
- Evil Mentor: To Katara, who made Hama her full-time teacher after Kanna refused to teach her bloodbending.
- Dirty Old Woman: She unashamedly ogles the shirtless (and much younger) Xai Bau.
- Never Mess with Granny: She's a bloodbender and taught herself the skill, along with how to fight in general.
- Opposed Mentors: With Kanna. Katara is Hama's current student, but she used to be Kanna's.
- People Puppets: She still discovered bloodbending in this world and honed the skill along with Kanna, and later taught it to Katara. It's implied that it spread at some point in her adulthood, but not that much.
- The Svengali: She is revealed to be Katara's mentor because she seeks to use Katara's status to attain power for her clan and for herself. Katara doesn't take it well when she figures it out.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: In Kanna's flashback, the two of them trade barbs with each other but it's clear that they were close friends.
Arnook
Arnook
High Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, second in power only to Hakoda.
- Animal Motifs: Ravens, symbolizing the Nightseer.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He gets exactly what he wanted when the Nightseer transforms him into a spirit. But instead of being a powerful one, he becomes one of her numerous raven spirit servants, just one of many.
- The Fundamentalist: He believes that they only way to appease the night spirit is to worship her more.
- Deal with the Devil: The Nightseer giving Yue some of her life (in place of the moon spirit, who abandoned the Water Tribes a century ago with the beginning of the war) has shades of this.
- Godhood Seeker: A variant; along with turning all of his people into waterbenders, Suki suspects that Arnook might even want to become a spirit.
- Kick the Dog: Yue is horrified by the possibility of becoming possessed by the Nightseer. Arnook basically tells her it's for the greater good.
- The Lost Lenore: He reveals towards the end one of his other goals for allying with the Nightseer: to bring back his long dead wife, Yue's mother.
- Magic Staff: Essentially, he wields one rather than any martial weapons. It is made of white wood and acts as a focus of sorts for his connection to the Nightseer. It also seems to be durable enough to deflect other weapons, somehow.
- Seers: He gets visions from the spirits, possibly just one spirit: the Nightseer, the spirit of night. He can see possible futures that lead to others' deaths.
- Super-Empowering: Suki reveals that she thinks this is Arnook's goal - by making his society as spiritual as the airbenders used to be, then perhaps the Nightseer will give everyone the ability to waterbend and gain the upper hand in the war.
Other Water Tribe characters
Bato
Chief of the Buffalo-Yak Clan. In Book 1, he has a role similar to Admiral Zhao in the show as an underling to Hakoda and early rival for Prince Sokka.- Adaptational Villainy: Like the rest of the Water Tribe, while he was an ally of Team Avatar in canon, this Bato is malevolent, due to being Zhao's counterpart.
- Eaten Alive: How he meets his end after his attempt to kill the dragon spirit that represents the fire of life. Its mate, the dragon that represents fire's destructive properties, devours Bato.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies in the finale of Book 1.
- Nemean Skinning: In the Distorted Reality comic, he wears the pelt of a wolf around his neck and shoulders.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: During his confrontation with Katara, he yells about Sokka needing a woman to fight for him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: In the flashback chapter for the night of Emperor Kvichak's death, Bato was the one who found Kya after she fled from the palace with Katara and Sokka in tow, and led Hakoda to them. This act led to Kya being banished and declared a taboo-breaker and massively shaped Katara and Sokka's childhoods - and is likely part of the reason Sokka and Katara can't stand him.
- Smug Snake: He loves just taunting Sokka, but he proves to be more of a skilled waterbender than Sokka expected and defeats him in Sedna'a.
- Tunnel King: He puts Aang on the ropes by fighting in this manner at one point - by freezing over a large part of a river, he tunnels through the ice to avoid Aang's attacks and retaliates.
Pakku
- The Atoner: He joined the White Lotus to atone for his time as a member of the Water Navy, more specifically, the Drowned.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He appears in Book 1 as the eponymous character of "The Deserter." Like the other White Lotus members, he shows up again near the end of Book 3 but he is also revealed to be the leader of the raid on Zuko and Azula's village, and takes the blame for murdering Ursa (even if he wasn't the one to actually do it).
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Like Zhao to Jeong Jeong in canon, Bato was once Pakku's waterbending student. Pakku had a second student after Bato who also turned to evil: Yakone.
Thod
Head Seeker of the Aniak'to Alchemical Institute.- Grumpy Old Man: He's described as cantankerous and grumpy nearly every time he's seen, and always seems to be in a foul mood. Played with - he's generally a bit more progressive than the trope usually is, and went as far as to secretly train a young woman in chi blocking for combat, along with her brother.
- Mad Scientist: He is essentially this in Hakoda's inner circle as the Head Seeker of the Alchemical Institute, finding scientific ways to help the Water Nation win the war.
Kya
- Composite Character: Since Katara and Sokka don't have a cousin, Kya becomes a composite for both Ursa and Lu Ten, as both their Missing Mom and a surrogate daughter to Kanna who has been lost.
- Deadpan Snarker: She's where Sokka gets it from.
- Mama Bear: Like her canon counterpart and Princess Ursa, she gives up everything for her children's safety.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Kind of. After becoming a taboo-breaker she disappeared into the icy tundra during a blizzard and is implied to have died due to exposure. Sedna, the ice spirit, found her and took her to safety in her Spiritsong Grotto like all the others she found, possibly reviving her, but now Kya's life is tied to the grotto and she can never leave.
- Unperson: She was declared a taboo-breaker by Hakoda, which are considered little more than ghosts in Water Tribe society. From then on, Sokka and Katara were forbidden from even mentioning her, and everyone else acted like they forgot she even existed. All because Hakoda pinned the blame for Kvichak's murder on her.
Lirin
The chief of the Beaver-Bear Clan, which has been living on the edge of the Great Glacier in seclusion since the beginning of the war, wanting nothing to do with it or the empire.- Ascended Extra: A minor character in the comics, she is a clan chief here who helps out Team Avatar in their fight against Hakoda.
- Badass Normal: Not a bender, but she shows up in the fight against Chit Sang, Xin Fu, and the Combustion Man to turn the tides.
- Barbarian Longhair: She is described as having long, unruly hair.
- BFS: She wields a massive machete in battle that she carries around as a Weapon Across the Shoulder.
- Blood Knight: She says that she and her people love fighting - that they "make an art of it."
- Big Damn Heroes: She shows up in the battle Zuko, Sokka, and Sangmu are fighting against Chit Sang, Xin Fu, the Combustion Man, and his pet poisonous snowy wolverine-skunk, and knocks the vicious beast out in one hit, helping to turn the tables.
- Cannibal Tribe: Her clan is rumored to be one by the rest of the Water Tribes, but it turns out to be a false attempt to demonize them since they're a clan led by a woman. Lirin gets a kick out of it.
- Nemean Skinning: She wears the pelt of a beaver-bear, the namesake of her clan, with its head draped on her shoulder.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The first clan chief of the Water Tribes that Team Avatar meets who is unquestionably an ally to them just because her clan has their own issues with Hakoda. It doesn't take long at all for them to come to an agreement.
Nini
A woman who used to be a taboo-breaker, one of the ones that Kya often helped in secret during a flashback. In the modern day, she is no longer a taboo-breaker but still struggles to gain any status back.- Disproportionate Retribution: She was declared a taboo-breaker... because she tried to fight for women to have a place on the emperor's council of elders.
- O.C. Stand-in: She does exist in canon - at the beginning of "The Puppetmaster," Katara tells a scary story about a ghost named Nini who was once friends with her mother. And here, Nini is considered a ghost, like all taboo-breakers.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She is first seen for only a small scene during Kanna's flashback, right after the murder of Emperor Kvichak. But in the modern day, Katara finds her in the city and Nini tells her the events of what happened that night, leading to Katara swearing revenge on her father, grandmother, and Bato's clan members.
- Unperson: Like all taboo-breakers, she was considered nonexistent. For most, it is basically a death sentence, but she survived the ordeal.
- Unreliable Narrator: Nini was forced to leave the igloo when Hakoda arrived during Kanna's flashback, so she is not privy to the true events of what happened that night. As such, when Katara finds her in the modern day, she can only reveal what she knew or suspected - that Hakoda killed Emperor Kvichak and framed Kya for it, and she believed Kanna was in on the ploy. But she's wrong - Kanna killed Kvichak completely independently of Hakoda, but Hakoda did not want it getting out that his mother had to kill her husband. But Hakoda couldn't take the blame either, or risk being labeled as a kin traitor. As such, he turned it around and pinned the blame on Kya, which Kanna has kept silent all these years, to her regret.
Rafa and Misu
A pair of Northern Water Tribe siblings who originated in the comics. Here, they join the raid group on Ba Sing Se where they get sucked into the Spirit World along with many other inhabitants of the city and the other raiders. Shortly after that, Rafa encounters Koh the Face Stealer and loses his face.- The Blank: Rafa gets his face stolen, just like in canon. Misu follows suit in the next chapter. They both get better when Nagi finds a way to heal it.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Due to losing his face after Koh transforms, one of Koh's new powers indicates that he can control those whose faces he steals. This lets him steal Misu's face by proxy, through Rafa.
- The Medic: Misu is one of the healers who joined the raid on Ba Sing Se under Katara's command.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Misu more or less has this reaction when her superiors try to tell her and the other healers to focus only on their own wounded, but she figures they're all trying to survive in the Spirit World together and eventually others come around.
Emperor Kvichak
Third emperor of the Water Nation, and also Hakoda's father and the emperor before him. Kanna's husband. The Distorted Reality equivalent to Fire Lord Azulon.- Dirty Coward: Weasels out of a direct fight when Kuskok challenges him to Sedna'a and instead declares the other man to become a sacrifice to the spirits.
- The Emperor: A cold, cruel man who made his decisions based on the will of the spirits.
- Evil Luddite: Emperor Kvichak, Hakoda's father, was shown to be this in that he preached the old ways of spirit worship, opposed his son's inventions, and frowned upon using the resources of the places they conquered, even if it would benefit his people.
- Evil Old Folks: He has no qualms about sacrificing his own granddaughter Katara to the spirits in order to save face to Kuskok's accusations of weakness.
- Original Character: Hakoda's father is never named or mentioned in the show.
- Posthumous Character: He died seven years before the start of the story.
Emperor Aniak
First emperor of the Water Nation. As a child, he was the last survivor of the desolation of his village, where Avatar Kuruk found him and raised him as his own son. As he grew older, Aniak wished to restore his Wolf Clan to its former glory and united several different southern clans under his rule, forming the beginnings of the empire. The Distorted Reality equivalent to Fire Lord Sozin.- The Ace: Under the tutelage of Kuruk and his Team Avatar (which consisted of Ta Min, Gyatso, Sozin, and Sud), Aniak became a politically-minded and talented poet, lute-player, bender, and charmer, well-liked by just about everyone he met.
- A God Am I: Not quite a god, per se, but fashioned himself as Seiryu, the spirit of the cold moon, and took that on as a nickname when he became emperor. He also trapped Seiryu's love, Sedna, in a mortal form and seduced her, married her, and fathered a child with her, if only to fit his superiority complex.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Aang notes his good looks on more than one occasion in the narration, but it turns out that Aniak's good looks were hiding years of extreme superiority and disdain for others. He is the one who used Seiryu's Moon to wipe out the airbenders and begin the war, after all.
- Happily Adopted: Very happily. Both Aniak and Kuruk respected each other very much.
- Morality Chain: Growing up, he was this to Kuruk, keeping him grounded so he wouldn't waste away fighting dark spirits.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: By the time he became emperor, he was only known as Emperor Seiryu, after the spirit.
- Original Character: The equivalent to Fire Lord Sozin.
- Posthumous Character: He died long before the start of the story.
- Self-Made Orphan: He wasn't the one who destroyed his village, but well into adulthood he is the one who leads to Kuruk's death by manipulating him into a trap so that dark spirits could drown him.
- Start of Darkness: Emperor Aniak (this world's Fire Lord Sozin) had his when he witnessed the destruction of his clan as a child.
- Younger Mentor, Older Disciple: He is the younger mentor to Kuruk's older disciple, despite also being his adopted son. Since Aniak knows how to spiritbend and purify dark spirits from a young age, he becomes Avatar Kuruk's spiritual advisor.
Fire Nation
Mai
Mai
- Action Girl: An elite warrior and Ninja, Mai could give her canon counterpart a run for her money in terms of fighting skills.
- The Chains of Commanding: She's a firm believer in this and struggles to make Jet understand his role as a leader. Though when her underlings are killed in the raid she becomes something of The Unfettered.
- The Face: Mai is this while the gang is in Ba Sing Se. She's trained in blending in with high society, and coaches the gang on it since in this world Toph doesn't remember her upbringing as part of the nobility as much.
- A Father to His Men: Gender-inverted. Mai takes her role as the Roku Warriors seriously, and looks after her other warriors. When she loses most of her troupe in Ba Sing Se, Mai is deeply affected by their deaths and swears revenge.
- Beta Couple: Late in Book 2, with Zuko.
- The Dead Have Names: All of her warriors lost in Ba Sing Se. And she'll never forget them.
- Failure Knight: She thinks she failed as a leader after losing several of her Roku Warriors in battle.
- Foil: To Jet. Both of them are leaders of their respective groups, but they handle things in different ways and Mai is not afraid to call Jet out on how reckless he is and how his actions could get his Freedom Fighters killed like she lost her warriors. Both of them also view the concept of vengeance differently, even if they ultimately agree it can be justified.
- The Leader: Of the Roku Warriors.
- Misplaced Retribution: She seeks it on Arnook even if he wasn't the one who personally wronged her - but he is representative of the people who did.
- Ninja: Mai and the Roku Warriors are essentially this, more than the Kyoshi Warriors were in canon. In addition to their knife and needle throwing, they are trained spies, undercover diplomats, and experts in infiltration.
- Oh, Crap!: When Wan Shi Tong brings his Library into Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring.
- The Reliable One: Aang notes as much on more than one occasion.
- Revenge: Her primary motivation going into Book 3, due to the death of her Roku Warriors (including her two friends and underlings, Xiao and Lu Mao), who are killed in the Water Tribe raid on Ba Sing Se - even while the city is under attack by dark spirits.
- Tranquil Fury: She's full of it just under the surface, as Jet and Ty Lee discover.
- Tough Leader Façade: As indicated by Ty Lee's aura reading, Mai has a lot of strong emotions brimming just under the surface of her stoic, Emotionless Girl demeanor.
Ty Lee
Ty Lee
- Amicable Exes: With Zuko after Book 1.
- Arranged Marriage: She had one with Chan. It's not normally a Fire Nation custom, but only because she's the princess of the Golden City.
- Aura Vision: Explicitly has it here, unlike in the show where it was unclear if it was genuine or not.
- The Bus Came Back: After leaving the story at the end of Book 1, she returns at the beginning of Book 3.
- Genki Girl: She's a little more outgoing and excitable than she is in canon, but she comes across as a breath of fresh air in contrast with how everyone else went a bit Darker and Edgier.
- The Heart: Of the North Pole group, which includes Mai, Haru, and Jet. It's a role she takes seriously, but one she struggles with.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: She says this to Jet when he gets the opportunity to confront the man who killed his family. But Jet doesn't take that well, and she realizes it's not the same and apologizes.
- Just a Kid: Mai says this to her in an angry rant where she calls her, Jet, and Haru children, but Ty Lee retorts that they're all just kids. Fighting in a war and leading others, yes, but they're still kids.
- Nice Girl: Just as sweet and cheerful as the Ty Lee from Aang's universe.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Ty Lee notes that she's an aura reading rebel acrobat princess, but she wants to add "pirate" to the list upon meeting Huu and his crew.
- Rebellious Princess: Ty Lee, contrasting with the Princess Classic Yue is in the canon universe, because she fled from home to avoid her duties hoisted onto her after all of her many older sisters fled for the same exact reasons.
- Spanner in the Works: Ty Lee joining the Gaang completely ruins Sokka's plans to capture Aang.
Xai Bau
Xai Bau
A Sun Warrior and member of the White Lotus Society. He meets Aang in Ba Sing Se and presents himself as a helpful, if enigmatic, ally.- The Assimilator: Xai Bau assimilates all of his other selves from other worlds in order to empower himself with something like his own version of the Avatar State.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: He has mastered the use of both blue and white fire and uses them in conjunction with each other.
- Call-Forward: Xai Bau, who was The Ghost in Legend of Korra and founder of the Red Lotus sometime in Aang's time, makes an appearance here. He's a Sun Warrior and member of the White Lotus.
-
Designated Villain: He intends to become one for the entire multiverse. He believes that true peace can only be found if everyone is united against a single foe, and if that foe is another nation it technically isn't peace at all. To do this, he seeks to join each world together and gain power beyond an Avatar's. - Foil: To Aang, especially when it is revealed he's from another world ravaged by war, just like Aang. His world was almost completely destroyed by various wars and natural disasters, however, and he found his way to another world almost by accident. He signifies what Aang might have become if the loss of his world drove him to extremes.
- Merger of Souls: Like Iroh, he merged with himself from another world. Unlike Iroh, he did it for more power and he also merged with his selves from all the worlds.
- O.C. Stand-in: Considering we know next to nothing about him in Korra, he counts as this here.
- Technicolor Fire: He uses blue and white fire together in battle, and also even used gold once like the firebender sage in Korra did to sense a spirit's chi.
- To Unmasque the World: He wishes to reveal the existence of other worlds to the general public so they can tear down the barriers between worlds and reap the benefits of being connected to infinite parallel universes.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He is known to never wear a shirt, even in the extreme cold of the South Pole. It's likely because of his firebending skill.
Iroh
Iroh
- Big Damn Reunion: At the beginning of Book 3, he departs from the Fire Nation and reunites with his son, Lu Ten. Counts double for Canon!Iroh, who reunites with this Lu Ten after losing him during the war at Ba Sing Se.
- The Bus Came Back: He returns to the story in a big way at the beginning of Book 3, reuniting with his son and revealing that he has merged together with his canon self.
- Demoted to Extra: Kanna may have taken Iroh's role in this story as a mentor-figure to Prince Sokka, but at the same time Iroh took over her role... relegating him to being Zuko and Azula's kooky uncle that hasn't been seen since the first few chapters. Though he does make a return in chapter 46.
- Merger of Souls: After the worlds begin to merge, he admits to Kanna and Xai Bau that he willingly merged with his other self from Aang's native world, and now he's here to help.
The Golden City/Other Fire Nation characters
Jeong Jeong
- Renowned Selective Mentor: In canon, Pakku didn't want to teach Katara waterbending because he was sexist. Jeong Jeong just doesn't want any students, period.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He was from the same village as Azula and Zuko, but when it came time for him to go to war he wanted nothing to do with the fighting. Iroh helped him get out of it, which is how Jeong Jeong ended up in the Golden City.
Zhao
One of Ozai's soldiers, left behind to recover after being wounded in battle. Despite being in a different world, Aang isn't happy to see him at all, perplexing both Zuko and Azula who have fond memories of him from their village.- Jerkass: For all his bragging, he's still pretty abrasive and he and Aang do not get along well. He makes several pointed comments about Zuko's worth as a warrior.
- Miles Gloriosus: In "Zhao of the Fire Nation" when he is introduced, he spends a lot of time regaling the kids with tales of his exploits serving under Ozai. Aang doesn't buy them for a second. Even Zuko and Azula admit that he tends to embellish his tales. However, while his stories might not be entirely true, he does turn out to be something like The So-Called Coward.
- The So-Called Coward: He was shot In the Back by an arrow, which led to him being left behind by the rest of Ozai's troops (like Bato was in canon). Aang believes it was because he tried to turn tail and run. It was really because Ozai was overwhelmed, and he shielded Ozai with his own body. Despite his wounds, he later tries to help Team Avatar against the Combustion Man.
Long Feng
Over five years ago, after King Bumi went to Ba Sing Se and told King Kuei the truth of the war that Long Feng (the Grand Secretariat at the time) hid from him, Long Feng fled to the Fire Nation with many of his Dai Li agents and set up shop there, becoming king of a small city named Jie Duan. In Book 2, Jie Duan is conquered by the Water Tribes off screen and he later shows up in Book 3 as a member of Hakoda's court.- The Bus Came Back: First seen in Chapter 6 and doesn't show up again until Chapter 55.
- Evil Chancellor: He was one, like in canon, but after Kuei stepped down he moved on over to the Fire Nation and stepped up.
Ozai
- Above Good and Evil: Not Ozai himself - but he genuinely believes the Avatar is this, and advises Aang to "do what [he] must."
- Adaptational Heroism: He is enormously more moral in this world, even if he is an example of Good Is Not Nice.
- Cool Sword: He has dual broadswords like Zuko, but he also has a third sword with a blade made from pearl that he gives to Aang to replace the meteorite sword he gave to Sokka.
- Demonic Possession: Ozai thinks he has a form of this, in that he's tormented by visions of a dark spirit. It turns out to be his self from Aang's world, the Phoenix King.
- The Dreaded: In the "Ozai" chapter, Aang tries to avoid meeting Ozai as much as possible, for understandable reasons. Surprisingly, it's Ozai who seeks Aang out for advice regarding his visions of another, evil Ozai he keeps seeing.
- Dual Wielding: Like his son Zuko, he dual wields a pair of broadswords.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Like Zuko, he gains firebending, ordained to him by Phoenix King Ozai.
- Good Is Not Nice: Despite being more of a heroic figure, he can still appear cold, pragmatic, and intimidating.
- Mercy Kill Arrangement: He attempts to make one with Aang, in the event he ever loses control of Phoenix King Ozai. Aang harshly disagrees.
- Safety in Indifference: He tries to cultivate this trope in his children so that if he dies in war, they won't have to go through the same pain they did when they lost their mother. Aang calls him out on this.
Piandao
A Master Swordsman living in the Fire Nation, just like in canon. Unlike in canon, both Aang and Zuko become his students, and Piandao becomes a recurring part of the story after Aang steals his meteorite sword (to give to Sokka), so Piandao pursues him across the Earth Kingdom.- Enemy Mine: With Kanna against Aang, though it's subverted when it turns out they were allies all along as members of the White Lotus.
- Inspector Javert: Not knowing Aang's reasons for stealing the sword, he pursues Aang across the Earth Kingdom to get it back and only relents once Aang reveals his secret that he's from another world.
- Out of Focus: He drops from focus shortly after Aang tells his friends the truth about being from another world.
- Worf Had the Flu: As a final test for Aang, he challenges the latter to a duel, but he's also suffering from a grievous wound at the time inflicted on him by Katara. Aang wins.
Ursa
- Death by Adaptation: In canon, she turned out to be alive. Here, Azula is the one who discovered her body.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Based on Azula's feelings toward her, she had none of the friction with Ursa that they had in canon with each other.
- Flower Motifs: Appropriately, every time Azula notices flowers she thinks of her.
- Missing Mom: For Zuko and Azula.
Earth Kingdom
Jet and the Freedom Fighters
Jet
- Black-and-White Insanity: He veers dangerously close to it when he discovers the man who burned down his village, and gets his ideals and worldview shaken when he kills Sekun right before learning that the man is Fire Nation - not Water Tribe.
- Broken Pedestal: To Toph, once she learns of his true colors.
- The Charmer: Katara notes this about Jet soon after meeting him, but she's even more of one, and outwits him.
- Irony: Aang notes the irony of Jet joining the Creeping Crystal which has its headquarters underneath Lake Laogai where they reunite, because that was where Jet died in his world.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: What he views his quest for vengeance as, ultimately.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He manages to survive Ba Sing Se this time around and becomes even more prominent in Book 3, traveling to the North Pole with Mai to rescue Toph and take down Arnook.
- Toxic Friend Influence: He brought out Azula's worst tendencies and also manipulated Toph. He gets better.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: He succeeds in killing Captain Sekun, the pirate who destroyed his village. But immediately afterward Jet seems lost, especially after what he learned about the man. He eventually comes to make peace with it, however.
- You Killed My Father: In the North Pole, he sees the man who killed his family: the pirate captain.
Haru
Haru
Living in the Fire Nation as a soldier for Jie Duan, Long Feng's splinter city, Haru and his father fight in The Coalition, defenders of the Fire Nation coasts against Water Nation and pirate raids. Later on, the Coalition takes a more active role in the war and he becomes a more prominent character.- Adaptational Sexuality: It's unclear what his canon sexuality was but here he might be bi or gay, since he expresses interest in Ghashiun.
- The Bus Came Back: Like several other characters, he returns to the story in Book 3, Chapter 1, and he joins the expedition to the North Pole with Mai, Jet, and Ty Lee.
- Endearingly Dorky: In the North Pole, he struggles to get around because he slips on the ice everywhere. When he sees Ghashiun in trouble, he rushes to the latter's rescue... only to lose his footing and slide right into the canal.
- Hunk: Ty Lee seems to think so, anyway. He's implied to be a bit bulkier than in canon due to his soldier background.
- The Load: Throughout "The Red Lotus Blooms," during the escape from Aurora Gompa. Justified in that he had been imprisoned for some time in an ice cold prison, and became ill and weak from it.
- Pun: Haru is a member of the Coalition. In canon, coal was a major part of the "Imprisoned" episode that he debuted in.
Ghashiun
Ghashiun
A sandbender from the Si Wong Desert. In canon, he was actually the sandbender who kidnapped Appa, but here he is an ally of Katara's who follows her while she infiltrates Ba Sing Se, all so he can reunite with his sister Nagi.- All Love Is Unrequited: Sokka guesses that Ghashiun is in love with Katara, but he actually secretly has a crush on Sokka.
- Anti-Villain: He's just trying to be reunited with his sister and doesn't care about the war or what side he has to be on to find her.
- Ascended Extra: In canon, he's a minor character and all he does is kidnap Appa. Here, he allies with Katara and Sokka while they infiltrate Ba Sing Se so he can sneak in and find his sister.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Haru rescues him (or rather, attempts to, but just embarrasses himself) from mistreatment by Hahn and his gang, but Ghashiun just snarks about it and says that he wasn't in any real danger. If anything, the attempted rescue drew unwanted attention to them both, since they're foreigners in the North Pole. Haru doesn't even get a Grudging "Thank You", but Ghashiun does give him some "friendly advice" about being an earthbender in the North Pole.
- O.C. Stand-in: Ghashiun is shaping up to be this, since he was only the sandbender who kidnapped and then sold Appa in the show. Here, he's The Stoic Anti-Villain siding with Katara and Sokka in their plan to conquer Ba Sing Se who just wants to find his sister, Nagi.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: He reveals his status as The Cynic to Haru when Haru asks why Ghashiun won't help them. Ghashiun thinks that there's no use fighting against the Water Tribes anymore, as their victory in the war nears closer and closer.
- The Stoic: He's cold and standoffish at first, and it takes him a while to open up to Sokka even a little bit.
Nagi
Nagi
A Dai Li agent in Ba Sing Se who is originally from the Si Wong Desert. She gets embroiled in the plot when her brother Ghashiun's actions inadvertently get her framed and arrested by corrupt members of the Council of Five.- Badass Bookworm: She loves studying history and the culture of her people and works to preserve it, just like the Dai Li were originally founded to do.
- Badass Longrobe: As standard for a member of the Dai Li.
- By-the-Book Cop: She doesn't seem to exhibit any of the corruption that tends to be common among the Dai Li.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Toph ( both of them) and Yue.
- Hero Worship: She's really excited to meet Aang because the Avatar is a database of ancient knowledge.
- In the Hood: She's described as wearing a head covering.
- Lady of War: Yue, a Lady of War herself, notes that Nagi's combat style tends to be fluid and graceful, utilizing sandbending along with Dai Li grapple techniques.
- The Medic: She devises a spiritbending technique compatible with earthbending, which enables her to purify spiritual corruption within peoples' bodies. She uses it to heal Rafa and Misu after Koh the Face Stealer corrupted their spirits.
- Original Character: She doesn't exist at all in the show and it's unknown if Ghashiun had any siblings.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Woman: Despite being on opposite sides of the war, it was always Yue's good heart that attracted Nagi to her, even through her own confusing feelings, and she frequently assures Yue that the latter is a truly good person.
Teo and the Astronomer
Teo and the Astronomer
A boy and his mother that Team Avatar encounters near the southeastern edge of the Earth Kingdom, living in a lighthouse that the Astronomer uses as her observatory. Excited to see one of his old friends again, Aang looks forward to meeting the Mechanist due to his helpful inventions - only to find out that in this world, Teo lost his father rather than his mother.- Abled in the Adaptation: In this world, Teo never had the accident that led to him getting paralyzed.
- Adaptational Skill: Perhaps to make up for the lack of his father's technological ingenuity, Teo has his own workshop where he studied to follow in his deceased father's footsteps.
- Badass Normal: This version of Teo still loves Air Nomad culture, and trained himself to fight with airbending styles even without the ability.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The Astronomer is just as harebrained as her late husband, but as much of a genius in her field as he was in his.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The Astronomer. When Aang and the others go to her to find the date of the lunar eclipse, she figures it out for them... but the one she first tells them about is later than the one they needed.
- Disappeared Dad: In his youth, the Mechanist died in an accident in this world, rather than Teo's mother.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Teo meets the gang shortly after Aang told his friends his secret of being from another world. Events such as meeting the guru lead to them referencing his secret, but they don't tell Teo even when the guru reveals that Teo is being affected by the merge, too.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He sticks around as an ally to Team Avatar for two chapters, notably to help them find Zuko when the spirit badgermole carries him away into the mountains. Aang even offers for him to join them, but Teo says he needs to stay with his mother, who would otherwise be alone.
- No Name Given: Like the Mechanist in canon, the Astronomer isn't given a name.
- Original Character: The Astronomer, Teo's Missing Mom from canon who we knew nothing about.
Ba Sing Se/Other Earth Kingdom characters
Grand Secretariat Wu
In Aang's world, Wu was a simple fortuneteller and village mystic, but here circumstances have aligned to make her Grand Secretariat and Long Feng's successor after he fled to the Earth Kingdom. Surrounded by enemies on all sides and working to restore the Dai Li's image by fighting their corruption, she has her work cut out for her.- Badass Bureaucrat: She struggles with it a bit but ultimately she is a good fit for the position and succeeds at weeding out corruption.
- Dances and Balls: She throws a big one for the Avatar's arrival in Ba Sing Se.
- Properly Paranoid: Kuei says she has every reason to be paranoid about the Council of Five, Long Feng, the Dai Li, the Creeping Crystal, and (unknown to him) even the White Lotus. There are potential enemies and secret factions all around her and her position makes her vulnerable.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Aang doesn't trust her at first just because of her position, but she proves to be a helpful ally in Ba Sing Se, if misinformed about certain groups.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Azula and Toph break her out of the prison that the Council of Five unjustly put her in and Wan Shi Tong attacks the city, she tries to flee until Aang convinces her to stay and sort out the chaos across the city - and she does.
Bumi
Former king of Omashu. Along with King Kuei, he vanished over five years ago after Omashu fell to the Water Nation and he informed Kuei of the war's existence.- December–December Romance: The moment he meets Spriggy the Herbalist, the two hit it off and start flirting with each other.
- La Résistance: He formed one called the Creeping Crystal with Kuei, in order to fight the war without the Obstructive Bureaucrats within Ba Sing Se.
Kuei
Former king of Ba Sing Se. After Bumi informed him of the war's existence over five years ago, both of them vanished.- Abdicate the Throne: The Earth King, Kuei, did it before the start of the story, and hasn't been seen in five years. Ba Sing Se is led by the Council of Five and the new Grand Secretariat, Wu, instead.
- Adaptational Badass: He was pretty helpless in canon but he's more than capable in battle here, despite being a Badass Normal.
- Adrenaline Makeover: Aang notes that he looks much more action-oriented and muscular than he used to.
- Badass Bookworm: He is noted to be a powerful warrior alongside Bosco, his bear, and has a love of his nation's history and studies it in his free time.
- Puppet King: Averted in this world. He abdicated specifically so he wouldn't be one anymore.
- La Résistance: He formed the Creeping Crystal alongside Bumi.
- Warrior Prince: Or Warrior King, in this world. But Kuei himself would rather be a Scholar King.
The Council of Five
Along with Grand Secretariat Wu, they are the current ruling body of Ba Sing Se in King Kuei's absence. Their members consist of General Fong (the general who tried to induce the Avatar State in Aang in canon), General Fa Lan, General Muku, Generals Yo Gan Jin and Zhu Zhang (the two tribe leaders in "The Great Divide").- Ascended Extra: Generals Yo Gan Jin, Zhu Zhang, and Fong compared to their canon roles, but Zhang in particular has a larger role late in Book 3.
- Interservice Rivalry: They have a pretty fierce rivalry with Wu and the Dai Li and both factions struggle for control of Ba Sing Se.
- Carrying over from their portrayal in canon, the leaders of the Gan Jin and Zhang tribes still have a rivalry with each other despite both of them being members of the Council of Five.
- Kangaroo Court: They run one and arrest Wu and Nagi with it.
- The Mole: They try to make Aang their mole so he would spy on Wu for them.
- It turns out General Fong is a mole for Long Feng, and secretly collaborates with him.
- Named by the Adaptation: The leaders of the Gan Jin and Zhang tribes are given first names here.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: General Zhang, a Badass Normal Action Girl, single-handedly wrestles a giant ogre spirit into submission.
- Original Character: Generals Fa Lan and Muku.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Or so they seem to be at first.
- Supporting Leader: Once the help of Ba Sing Se is secured, the invasion of the South Pole begins, and Fong is ousted, General Zhang acts as the primary spokesperson for Ba Sing Se's soldiers.
- War Hawk: General Muku in particular seems unusually committed to fighting the Water Tribes, the sandbenders, Invading Refugees - anyone who he thinks threatens the city.
Other Characters
The Gurus
Guru Pathik
A mysterious guru who teaches Aang about the Avatar State and knows even more of Aang's circumstances than he lets on.- Mr. Exposition: When he meets Aang, he reveals that he has memories of their meeting back in Aang's world. He then explains to Aang why the Spirit World is breaking down, why Aang should stop it, and how Aang can go back home.
Guru Shén
A guru residing within the mountains of the Earth Kingdom with an appreciation for history and ancient knowledge regarding primordial spirits of light and darkness.- The Beastmaster: Kind of - spirits of different animals in the region seem to do his bidding.
- Foreshadowing: He hints at the existence of Raava and Vaatu.
Sangmu
Sangmu
- Badass Fingersnap: When chased by a poison snowy wolverine-skunk, she turns around and snaps her fingers using soundbending to create an avalanche and bury it in snow.
- Break the Cutie: She witnessed first hand the genocide of her people. Like Aang, she was only twelve. It doesn't end when it turned out she survived the genocide. She wakes up to a world at war for a century, the knowledge that everyone she knows is dead (including her bison, Minmin), and that her only friend left has completely changed and now travels with the descendant of the man who killed her people.
- Child of Two Worlds: Her mother was Water Tribe and her father was an Air Nomad. When it turned out she could airbend, they dropped her off at the Western Air Temple. She was old enough that she has vague memories of her parents, unlike most of the other kids, and has lingering feelings of abandonment.
- Foil: To Avatar Kyoshi. Like Kyoshi, Sangmu has one Air Nomad parent and one non-Nomad parent. Unlike Kyoshi, Sangmu turned out to be an airbender, and so her parents gave her up to the Western Air Temple because they weren't nomadic, while both of Kyoshi's parents lived lives constantly on the move.
- Human Popsicle: One hundred years ago, when fleeing the destruction of the Air Temples to find her parents in the Water Tribes, she encounters Emperor Aniak and his wife Sedna, who freeze her in an iceberg. Sedna, the human form of an ice spirit, did it to save her from Aniak's wrath.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Aang doesn't immediately tell her that he's not the same Aang she knows; by this point, she's the only member of Team Avatar who doesn't know that Aang is from another world.
- Make Some Noise: She reveals that she learned an advanced form of airbending from Gyatso called soundbending.
- Mistaken Identity: At one point, she's mistaken as the Avatar.
- Original Character: An airbender who does not exist in the show as a friend of Aang's from before his one hundred years in suspended animation.
- Posthumous Character: She's only shown in flashbacks and dream scenes, depicting Distorted!Aang's life before he got stuck in the volcano. As such, Aang himself doesn't know her, and only has memories of her from his other self. Ends up being subverted when it turns out she's alive; she just got frozen by Sedna in an iceberg for a hundred years as well, and Aang frees her.
- There Is Another: Deconstructed. Aang finds Sangmu, another airbender, frozen in ice a hundred years ago by the winter spirit, Sedna, and frees her. Aang thinks that, with another airbender to carry on their culture, he now has the freedom to do what needs to be done in regards to ending the war and pushes the responsibility of carrying on their culture to her. Sangmu recognizes this and calls him out on it, and to his credit he realizes what he has done.
- You Are Not Alone: Aang says this to her after freeing her from the ice when she wakes up a hundred years later. It's subverted in that he also expects her to carry on their culture alone, but she calls him out on that. In an earlier flashback, she told Aang she and Kuzon would stick with him while he traveled the world for his Avatar training.
Chit Sang and the Wolf's Skulls
Chit Sang
A firebender raised under Water Nation rule and not truly part of either nation. He leads a legion of soldiers under Hakoda called the Wolf's Skulls, made up of men from the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom.- Animal Motifs: He's compared to a dog begging for scraps at the table since he fights for the Water Nation but isn't accepted by them or his own people.
- Berserk Button: Getting called a traitor. Zuko presses it.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite being an enemy soldier and antagonist to Aang in Book 3, when he meets Aang again in Spriggy's hut he is revealed to be Spriggy's supplier of herbs and medicines from all around the world and well-loved by children like Siku and Sura.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: He has a high rank in the Water Nation military despite not being a native.
- Redemption Rejection: Zuko tries to give him the opportunity for it, but Chit Sang fights back.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After he sees the Combustion Man go down against Sokka and Sangmu, he sees Lirin's clan members coming and promptly hightails it out of there (though not without Yanhuo'li and Xin Fu).
The Wolf's Skulls
Warriors selected by Hakoda independent of any of his clans, specifically made up of firebenders and earthbenders who are loyal to him and carry out his will in the other nations. Due to this, they are simultaneously seen as traitors to their own people and not "really" Water Tribe, hated by all except perhaps Hakoda.- The Beastmaster: In addition to the hawk he has in canon, Combustion Man has also tamed a poisonous snowy wolverine-skunk, a dangerous beast.
- Bilingual Bonus: Yanhuo'li's name in Mandarin roughly translates to "Fireworks Lee". It also draws a connection to P'li.
- The Bus Came Back: Combustion Man gets this twice. He first appears in "Zhao of the Fire Nation," makes a reappearance later that book in "Agni's Eye" as part of Sokka's plan to fake his own death, and then reappears all the way in Book 3's "The Great Glacier" with the name Yanhuo'li as a member of the Wolf's Skulls. All still without uttering a word.
- Hate Sink: In-universe. People of the Water Tribes look down on them and their own nations consider them traitors.
- Named by the Adaptation: Combustion Man, one of their newest members, is given a name in this fanfic: Yanhuo'li.
- Number Two: Xin Fu to Chit Sang.
Other characters
Spriggy
An herbalist from the Earth Kingdom living in a Water Tribe village, teaching various healing techniques to its inhabitants with her beloved cat, Miyuki.- Ascended Extra: Downplayed. She is the same kooky herbalist from the show, but so far has only appeared in one chapter even if it's in a more prominent role. She also (not so subtly) hints that she's a member of the White Lotus in this world.
- Cryptic Conversation: Just as Team Avatar is about to depart from her home, she makes a cryptic, mysterious reference to the Order of the White Lotus... which just frustrates Sokka, since they know all about the White Lotus by this point anyway, and he tells her this. She just responds that her "inexplicable deafness" is acting up again.
- December–December Romance: She hits it off with Bumi shortly after they meet, and it is hilarious.
- Kidnapped Scientist: More or less how she ended up in the Water Tribes to begin with. Her knowledge of herbalism and healing made her a target for the Aniak'to Alchemical Institute, and since her village was already under the control of the Water Nation, they recruited her.
- The Medic: And she's apparently so good that she teaches her techniques to waterbenders to make them better healers.
- Named by the Adaptation: Kind of. She's Only Known by Their Nickname.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: The Aniak'to Alchemical Institute eventually got "too ambitious" for her and she ended up booking it, but she didn't go all the way home - instead, she came across a Water Tribe village that needed her healing so she decided to stick around.
Mizuka
An elderly Kyoshi Warrior who has been forced to live in the Southern Water Tribe capital of Aniak'to ever since she was a young girl as a sort of hostage to prevent her people from rebelling against Water Tribe rule. This didn't stop them eight years ago when they rebelled and got crushed by Prince Hakoda, who took a young Suki as the next hostage and "representative" for Kyoshi Island. Mizuka was allowed to train Suki in her ways before being permitted to return home at last in retirement.- Heroic Sacrifice: She prevents a whole platoon of Water Nation soldiers (including waterbenders) from reaching Kyoshi Bay so they can't get on their ships to scare away the serpent, and succeeds. Due to her age, however, the strain catches up to her and she passes away shortly after.
- Last of Her Kind: The titular character of "The Last Kyoshi Warrior," since in her eyes, Suki doesn't count since her training was incomplete. As she lay dying, she charges Sokka with passing on the last secrets of being a Kyoshi Warrior to Suki, though she stresses that he is not welcome among their order.
- Never Mess with Granny: She's pushing ninety and holds off an entirely platoon of soldiers singlehandedly. Even before then, she's ornery enough that they don't really mess with her.
- Original Character: She doesn't exist in the show at all.
Lo and Li
- Adaptational Badass: They're basically the Distorted Reality version of Hama, while they were nonbenders in canon.
- Evil Mentor: Subverted. They're set up as evil mentors to Azula, but Azula is already something of an Anti-Hero and it turns out they're Forced into Evil and not so black-and-white either.
- Forced into Evil: Kidnapped from their home in the Fire Nation when they were younger, they've been used as weapons by the Poisonous Snowy Wolverine-Skunk Clan nearly their whole lives, making them more sympathetic than Hama. And Azula helps to free them by the end. They even say they've done what they had to in order to survive, and they don't bat an eye at the idea of having to kill Katara. Overlaps with Trapped in Villainy.
- Shock and Awe: They're firebenders, but their primary use for the clan is their ability to generate lightning. They can't redirect it, though...
Spirits
Enma
A cantankerous monkey spirit that Aang encounters in the Spirit World who first clues Aang into the fact that the Spirit World is the same as the one he knows, connecting it to each world.Koh the Face Stealer
A malevolent spirit who steals faces and first encountered Aang years ago when he sought the location of the moon and ocean spirits. When the worlds begin to merge and break down, it enables Koh to break out of the Spirit World and come to the physical world for the first time in eons.- Light 'em Up: He gains this ability, seemingly having become a light spirit. But Light Is Not Good is at play here.
- Light Is Not Good: Koh does not have a shred of Vaatu's darkness in him. This is a bad thing, because it means he is stagnant and fixated on order.
- One-Winged Angel: He gets unbalanced toward light and this transforms him into a being called "Deva-Koh".
- Tin Man: States that he seeks to understand humans and their feelings and does so by stealing their faces, but he does emote quite often.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Yue suspects that this is behind Koh's motivation for stealing faces, but Koh reveals to her it's really because he wants to feel what people feel, and understand.
Wan Shi Tong
The knowledge spirit. He still carries a grudge from that time Aang lied to him and sought the date of the solar eclipse to use to his advantage in his war with the Fire Nation.- Collateral Damage: Ba Sing Se's middle ring is absolutely wrecked by Wan Shi Tong bringing in his Library. Wan Shi Tong explicitly states he doesn't care.
- Conflict Killer: He appears right in the middle of the Water Tribe invasion on Ba Sing Se and throws the entire city into chaos, and it causes both factions to pull an Enemy Mine against him and his rampaging knowledge seekers, which have turned dark.
- The Corrupter: He makes his own knowledge seeker spirits turn dark to help him wipe out humanity.
- Invading Refugees: He is displaced and shoved back into the mortal world by the breakdown of the Spirit World, and he decides to just set up shop right in the middle of Ba Sing Se as a result, deliberately reckless regarding the Collateral Damage because he's completely fed up with humanity.
- Mercy Kill: What he believes he is doing for humanity, wiping them out before they can destroy themselves with their own wars.
- Omnicidal Maniac: In Chapters 42 and 43, He-who-knows-ten-thousand-things seems to have gone insane, taking sadistic joy in killing innocents in Ba Sing Se's middle ring.
- Took a Level in Jerkass/Took a Level in Cynic: According to Yangchen and Kyoshi, Wan Shi Tong used to love humanity and took pride in gathering human knowledge, but human greed has changed him for the worse.
Sedna
The ice spirit and spirit of winter. Taking the appearance of a Water Tribe woman, she became a mortal a century ago after falling for Emperor Aniak's trickery. Since then, she seeks revenge on his line and acts as a protector to the outcasts from the society he had created.- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Comes with being a spirit. When Zuko asks her, horrified, why she has no qualms about killing her own descendants, including her son, she tells him not to judge her by human morals.
- Body Surf: She retains a mortal form by inhabiting the bodies of women who have died in the snow due to exposure.
- God in Human Form: She is a spirit who has taken mortal form, like Tui and La or Lady Tienhai from the comics.
- Offing the Offspring: She killed her own son, Emperor Kanektok, since he represents the union between her and Aniak, who she came to despise after learning his true colors. Kanektok was apparently just as bad as Aniak and half as smart.
- Original Character: No such ice spirit exists in canon.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Years into Aniak's reign as emperor, she gave him visions that drove him mad and compelled him to go out into the snow during a raging blizzard, where he perished. She offed their son Kanektok the same way.
Seiryu
The spirit of the "cold moon." Like Sozin's Comet, Seiryu's Moon comes every hundred years and massively empowers every waterbender in the world.- Jerkass: He saves Yue, Toph, and Nagi from Koh and let them stay in his sanctuary out of respect to the Nightseer, but he's not really nice about it.
- Snake People: He is described as a long, blue-ish serpent with robes, human hair, and a sword.
Suza
A phoenix spirit who turns out to be the spirit of Sozin's Comet (or rather, Suza's Comet).- Bad Powers, Good People: Suza seems like he's pretty nice, if tired of humanity and what they have done (for good reason, as he has hints of being a Broken Angel). And Yue and the others are stunned by his beauty, but he is the spirit of Sozin's Comet, after all. But the comet itself isn't evil, its power is just used for destruction.
- Broken Angel: A beautiful, ancient spirit intrigued enough by humanity to give up his immortality in one world and take a mortal form... but he is promptly killed by the very same person who convinced him to come to the mortal world, Emperor Aniak, over a hundred years before. In a subversion, he still exists in the Spirit World, but he can never manifest in the Distorted world again.
- The Phoenix: Also called a firebird, this spirit is the reason Sozin's Comet is in the sky every hundred years.
- Took a Level in Cynic: In his backstory. He used to be hopeful and curious about humans until one tricked him into taking a mortal form in order to kill him.
The Painted Lady and Hei Bai
A pair of helpful spirits that are old friends of Aang, returning the favor from when he helped them out in his world.- Adaptational Early Appearance: The Painted Lady appears in Hei Bai's place in "The Spirit World," since that chapter takes place in the Fire Nation.
The Nightseer
Spirit of and personification of night. Since the moon and ocean spirits left the Spirit Oasis at the beginning of the war for their role in it, she was the one who gave Yue some of her life. But this came at a price.- The Corrupter: She corrupts Arnook and Agna Qel'a as a whole.
- Dark Is Evil: Unlike her "father," Vaatu, she is pretty evil through and through, and does not really have any redeeming qualities.
- Deal with the Devil: She was the devil in this scenario; Arnook made a deal with her in order to empower the Northern Water Tribe, make himself and all of his warriors waterbenders, become an all-powerful spirit, and even revive his dead wife.
- Demonic Possession: She intends to do this to Yue in order to physically manifest in the world.
- Oxymoronic Being: Only Raava created other spirits in her attempts to preserve herself and her light. Vaatu, the Destroyer, does not create things. But he did try once, and the Nightseer was the result.
- The Night That Never Ends: This is her goal.
- The Nothing After Death: If it is truly an afterlife of sorts as it is implied to be, this is her domain.
- Unseen Evil: She is never actually seen, and that makes her frightening for the protagonists.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: And that can is Yue.
Raava and Vaatu
The spirits of light and order and darkness and chaos. Like in canon, Raava is the source of the Avatar's power, while Vaatu is sealed in the Tree of Time. Their depictions may be a little different, but they serve a similar function in this fic.- Adaptational Early Appearance: Aang never even meets either of them in canon, but he does here.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Vaatu asks Aang why he revived a spirit of destruction (the dragon of fire), citing that as a reason why "destruction" doesn't necessarily mean "evil." It gives Aang pause, but even Raava admits that the dragons of destructive fire and life-giving fire are both necessary for balance.
- Creation Myth: Both of them were born together out of the primordial void before time, and were once one being. But eventually they split apart, and when they started fighting, new worlds were created with every strike they made against each other. Only one type of living being was created in the time that they were fully united: the lion-turtles, making them the only "perfect" being born out of the balance between light and darkness. Humans, animals, and spirits - born from Raava's light - came later.
- Creative Sterility: Vaatu implies that Raava's light with no darkness would lead to this, and that an abundance of light would lead to "stagnation." The fact that Koh's faceless victims are described as stagnant dolls, and also people who have become unbalanced towards light, seems to support this.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Vaatu tries to convince Aang of this and tell him Light Is Not Good. The other Avatars deny this notion, but it gets Aang thinking. Since people can become unbalanced toward light, and "light spirits" exist in this world in opposition to dark spirits, he may not be wrong.
- Destroyer Deity: Vaatu. But his equal and opposite, Raava, is not the Creator - she calls herself more of a preserver. Since birth is not the opposite of death, life is.
- I Am the Noun: "I am the unlimited potential of humanity," said by Vaatu.
- No Indoor Voice: Vaatu speaks IN ALL CAPS.
Previous Avatars
The Previous Avatars
Aang's past lives who worked together to send him to a different world to help him make up for his mistakes. In the Distorted world, the order of his past lives has been rearranged: of the ones he knows, Yangchen is the oldest, then Roku, then Kyoshi, then Kuruk, and then Aang. Wan is still the first Avatar.- Ascended Extra: Avatar Kuruk. In the Distorted world, due to the Avatar cycle being different, he is Aang's predecessor instead of Roku.
- Hold the Line: A non-battlefield example. The past lives willingly break their connection from Aang so they can hold off the collapsing Spirit World barrier long enough for Aang to Save Both Worlds. Unlike what happened with Korra, this wasn't permanent.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: They are the ones who sent Aang to this world, but in doing so it had the unintended side effect of making The Multiverse get unbalanced since Aang's world wants him back. Later, it turns out they're not entirely at fault, Vaatu is.
- Parental Substitute: Kuruk becomes this to the child who would one day become Emperor Aniak/Seiryu.
Canon World characters
Aang's old friends and allies from his world. Many of them have lost their lives to the war, but Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Appa, and Momo fought alongside him up until he unwillingly departed for the Distorted world.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Ozai and Azula successfully destroyed a large part of the Earth Kingdom and now control the entire world.
- Big Damn Reunion: Aang reunites with "his" Toph after he goes to rescue Toph, Yue, and Nagi from the Spirit World.
- Break the Cutie: All of Team Avatar gets broken over the three years of constant battle.
- Demonic Possession: All of their spirits are "clinging" to their Distorted world counterparts due to the merging worlds. For most, this isn't a big issue, as they're the heroes and they're not trying to force their counterparts to do anything they wouldn't already do. But it causes a lot of problems for Azula, and later Ozai.
- Heroic Sacrifice: We're never given the details, but apparently Haru gave his life so the rest of Team Avatar could escape from their failed attempt to take back Ba Sing Se from Azula.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Toph is this to her Distorted world self while she's stuck in the Spirit World and faceless, more or less keeping her anchored to prevent Loss of Identity.
- Posthumous Character: Kind of. Their stories are only told through Aang's flashback dream scenes, and they exist in some sort of limbo between the worlds.
- Ship Tease: When they're all suffering but also growing older through their teenage years together, some of the relationship dynamics got mixed up a bit. Katara never fully returned Aang's feelings due to the war and it's implied she didn't want to distract him from his duties. And with Mai gone, Zuko starts to get feelings for Katara, which upset Aang. But at the same time, Toph was frustrated about Sokka (both during and after Suki was in the picture) so there's some teasing for Toph/Aang as well.
- Took a Level in Badass: All of Team Avatar, really, but especially Haru, who more or less became an official member of the team after the Day of Black Sun. Also Suki, who fights alongside Aang against Azula and scores a hit against her at one point ( before getting killed).
- You Shall Not Pass!: Mai and Ty Lee make their Last Stand against Azula and her forces to let the Gaang escape Ba Sing Se (after Haru's own sacrifice), and their death allows the Gaang to escape.
