Here, there be tropes specific to characters from Vathara's Embers. Who may or may not be associated with dragons or, more likely, (at least partially) be dragons.

For late readers and those recently recommended this FanFic: this page contains spoilers.

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Main Canon Characters

Prince Zuko/"Lee"

Our protagonist who, thanks to one alternate decision in early Season Two, now finds himself on an entirely different path as to what canon depicted. Among the bigger changes: the capacity to heal with fire, becoming a yaoren, finding his long-lost remaining grandfather, befriending Dai Li agents and fugitives from the same, and getting an entire Fire Nation ship to defect to his cause.

Most of this is because he didn't steal Song's ostrich horse, skipping one of his most notable displays as a villain. While not quite a full-time anti-hero, he always tries to do the best for his people. Now, 'honor' is less synonymous with 'ticket to Ozai's favor,' and Loyalty has replaced much of his attempt to relive 'when his family was actually happy'.

Barrier-Busting Blow: He shatters a stone cellar door with a shove to get to Jinhai when Min^note is especially ticked off at his little brother. And ironically, it does not tie in to Zuko's reputation as a fairly unstoppable persecutor.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Twice, has Zuko has been on the bad end of a wish he didn't make. The first he saw coming. The second time? He nearly died.

Blessed with Suck: Counting his horrible luck in balance with his great destiny, perks can endanger him and perils may pay off with greater things. It is a tightrope to walk.
The Call Knows Where You Live: Spirits aren't easily dissuaded by Zuko's lack of acceptance. If anything, they will just turn around something that he is doing to make his actions turn out in Fate's favor.
Chaste Hero: Justified. In dragon-child terms, he's about four years too young to really be interested in anyone romantically.

Cooldown Hug: Besides a dead obstacle, the only thing that brings him back when he gets especially enraged.
Cover-Blowing Superpower: His bending, healing, swordsmanship, and royal manners all have the potential to put in him some very uncomfortable situations. Even his Ninja skills can come into question if he becomes too difficult to read.

Doom Magnet: He's almost the go-to pawn for spirit-world exploits. Thing is, he's not so easy to handle and he's pretty savvy about living with the some of the worst luck in the world. He doesn't even need to watch out for meteors or lightning strikes, since fate will steer Azula and an entire army of Earthbenders his way, instead.

Double Consciousness: Amaya's technique created a 'mask' that takes the patient's spirit and forges an alternate personality fitting a Ba Sing Se refugee.
Double Think: 'Lee' is of the Water Tribe and adept at living in Ba Sing Se; he's there to catch Zuko before he does something in ignorance, and Zuko can depend on him to help deal with Fire Nation loyalty to some degree. He's also heavily affected by Katara's Inner Waterbending.

Elemental Baggage: As a firebender, he's aware of his Hair-Trigger Temper, and has extensively trained to control it. He has broken his "ties of fire and spirit" to the Fire Lord. Unfortunately, he's not really aware of his "ties of family and community" as a water yaoren - even though he's 1000% aware that his father and sister are evil, he hates that people hate them and want them dead, and subconsciously permits their attackers to jump headfirst into a lethal trap because the Water Tribesman inside him doesn't care that they are.
Expecting Someone Taller: Scarce meals have slimmed the imposingly ripped Zuko of before, damping the more obvious flare of his presence. When he arrives as a healer, no one expects the teenaged mass of stern grumpiness.
Finger-Snap Lighter: He unintentionally starts to forms fire daggers when angered^note.

Elemental Powers (naturally)
- Chi-fueled Bursts of Super-Strength^note and Super-Speed^note.
- Rock-hard nails that...steel can't cut? Admittedly, they let him scale rock like a mountain goat dipped in glue and if he ever chose to grow them out, he could sharpen them into deadly claws. ^note

Half-Human Hybrid: Part of why he has such a bad temper is that he's descended from dragons.

Hero with an F in Good: Even worse than canon. Canonically, most if not all of his problems stemmed from confusing his "duty" with his desire to please his father. In Embers, he has a Hair-Trigger Temper that pushes him towards black-out, burn everything within sight rage on a regular basis, multiple curses, and an inborn compulsion to kill those who challenge his authority. The only thing that keeps him from being exactly as brutal and sadistic as his sister is a similarly inborn protective instinct.
Horrible Judge of Character: Zuko takes many leaps of cynicism with Aang, even thinking him nearly irreparably stupid and failing to see the psychological reasons behind Aang's actions. He also admits that "I don't understand people. I try and I try and I don't."

Incendiary Exponent: Played with. Zuko can weapon-ize certain things by firebending into them and moving them as he would flame (air heated into plasma), thus passing as a pseudo-bender of other elements.
It Never Gets Any Easier: Zuko's skills aren't limited harmless knockouts and deadly strikes that never touch flesh. Enemies can and do die in-scene. Zuko expects nightmares after a kill, though Iroh tells him decreasing regret is a sign of something wrong.

Laser-Guided Karma: Subverted and perverted. His ancestry, position, and goals put an obscenely obvious "Kick Me" sign on Zuko's back.
Leave No Witnesses: In chapter 6, he and Iroh had an entire ambush Killed to Uphold the Masquerade. The details are interestingly interpreted through an investigation of the aftermath. The (charred remains of the) bandits are only recognized by the leader's teeth.
Major Injury Underreaction: As in canon, Zuko feels like the world is using him for target practice. But he seems much more resigned to it than in canon, possibly because he deals a lot more in spiritual misery, and is more accepting of having no luck.
Zuko: Am I dead again? Once was enough, damnit!
Misery Builds Character: A key element of his character in canon (one which he canonically abandoned once he realized cruelty has no constructive purpose), but in Embers he's arguably turned it into Warrior Therapy.
Never My Fault: One of Zuko's repeated statements is, "I didn't do this." Even Iroh gets in on the act, insisting that Zuko hasn't really done anything worth hating him for, refusing to acknowledge that Zuko would do anything if he believed his "honor" required it, which is why most sane people are terrified of him - especially given that he is capable of anything except giving up.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He says himself a lot of heartache could have been avoided if he'd just talked to Aang at the
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While the show altered his size depending on how imposing he needed to be, here Zuko is always hinted as being rather short. He even grumbles about the men of other nations being built so big, but that doesn't stop him from being the imperially trained, fire-breathing, Dual Wielding Ninja badass he's always been.
Properly Paranoid: Starting plans is easy for Zuko and Iroh; they think of the worst situation possible, then work from there.
Refusal of the Call: Zuko is meant to be Aang's adviser, but doesn't want to be anywhere near the boy.
Reincarnation: Of Kuzon, Aang's best friend from the Fire Nation.
I Will Find You: Kuzon's promise that he would find Aang, no matter what.
Superpowered Evil Side: When he's particularly angry, his capabilities shoot up, but he loses his grasp of language.

Supernatural Gold Eyes: Their particular shade is a sign of a powerful firebender.

This Is a Drill: When he needs to get through solid rock and not around it, he can use his Firebending in this manner. As seen at the end of the Beach arc and when killing the Plague Spirit.
Tranquil Fury: When he's channeling his usual, explosive anger through Lee especially when he's drawing on Lee's nature as a water tribesman, and more so still, when channeling Katara's raw loathing and combining it with his more explosive hatred.

Prince General Iroh/"Mushi"

Fundamentally unchanged from canon, though Word of God says he's less of a Love Martyr in this timeline. Embers' Iroh is more actively involved with his nephew now that the events of late Season 2 have been averted.

Badass General: He held Ba Sing Se under siege for 600 days, and the city's residents and generals still freak out to varying degrees on hearing his name.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Iroh has a bad habit of making pleas to the spirits to "help" Zuko, which usually don't turn out very well for Zuko. See, Zuko in Embers is mostly invisible to spirits — Iroh isn't, and he thusly acts as a lightning rod for spirit-problems that Zuko would normally be able to evade.

Exact Words: Sly as Iroh is, he almost never lies, but instead chooses to use words that let listeners craft their own deception.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though well-meaning, Iroh's acts of... less than stellar wisdom... tend to just make Zuko's life ever more difficult. For example, it turns out that Zuko becoming a yaoren, and thusly rendering Zuko invalid to inherit the throne and his crazy sister Azula the only legal heir, is all Iroh's fault, as a result of wishing to the spirits.
No Time to Explain: By chapter four, Iroh knows Aang doesn't understand Fire Nation loyalty and customs. While Team Avatar is (grudgingly) willing to listen, he can't divulge his usual lecture, lest Azula returns to strike, again^note.

Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!:
- Zuko, and several others who are in the know, think that Iroh needs to stop trusting so much in the Avatar and the Spirits to sort things out. Given that every time Iroh invokes the spirits and/or tries to get Zuko to ally with Aang tends to blow up in Zuko's face, they kind of have a point.
- It's gotten to the point that, in chapter 84, Pakku himself all but calls Iroh an idiot for his beliefs and implies that when Zuko figures out just how much of his problems can be attributed to Iroh, things are going to get ugly.
Tempting Fate: The end of chapter 4. Iroh is making some progress with Zuko, bit by grudging bit, when he thinks "At least we haven't seen the bison". Sure enough, Zuko takes another three steps and finds a familiar clump of white fur, on the ground. The events of The Chase ensue.
Iroh's Thoughts: Spirits, you are not helping.
We Want Our Jerk Back!: When Amaya creates spirit-masks for Zuko and him, they both worry that actually being their aliases would screw with their familial relationship. They get over it.
What the Hell, Hero?:
- In chapter 73, the air/water-bending yaoren Langxue really lets Iroh have it in regards his machinations, idealism and ignorance in roughly equal measure.
- Chapter 84 sees him getting a more level and oblique version of this from Pakku, who has some pointed words to say about Iroh's belief in his own supremely wise elder act and how much authority it gives him over his family.

Avatar Aang

Still the Avatar, Aang is portrayed as a thorn in Zuko's side. He's twelve years old, hyperactive, and naive. His main counsellors aren't much older or more experienced. And it doesn't help that Aang spent the last century tucked away in an iceberg, ignorant of events outside, and after the thaw, has a LOT to catch up on while being unaware of the extent of the changes. Oh, and did we mention he still needs a Firebending teacher? And someone who can teach him Fire Nation culture? Yeah, not happening anytime soon.

And then it does. After eighty some odd chapters of 'fic and numerous instances of What the Hell, Hero?.

Beware the Honest Ones: How Zuko sees him. Fans of him from canon know that Aang will do the Right Thing, no matter the risk, no matter the cost. Zuko just sees him as an immature idiot who is willing to throw himself on the judgement and mercy of Kangaroo Courts who regularly boil people in oil.

Broken Pedestal:
- He believes that all Air Nomads were pacifists and didn't have evil people! In chapter 54, Temul shows them how Kuzon was killed...by airbenders, trained by Aang's fellow Temple mate, Ja Aku.
- Eventuality Aang realizes that Monk Gyatso, his beloved teacher, was WRONG about "no one can make you do anything you don't want to". For him, it's like the sky is falling.
- Might be worse when he realizes that it's an Airbender Exact Words twist; Gyatso was technically correct in his defense of free will, he just failed to mention that, "Some people can make you want what they want."

Culture Blind: Most notably, because the Avatar is supposed to help everyone else in the world get over such a problem. However, he's also tolerant of cultural differences; Air Monk philosophy is that eating meat is wrong, but he never mentions this to the others until Sokka asks him about it. He shows no surprise or horror at the burial customs of other nations. Respecting other cultures is easy for him; it's finding out what the differences are that's hard.

Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He is implicitly Not Dumb. His "problems" are;
- A. Airbenders tend to be flighty (pun intended) and don't sit around to show off their intelligence. Problem solved, big world full of problems, move on to the next one. Not unjustified, as he does have an entire world to save, and canonically learned his lesson about staying on one place too long back on Kyoshi Island. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite figured out that problems don't necessarily STAY solved.
- B. Because he is a textbook example of All-Loving Hero, he is all but incapable of believing that people can choose to be destructive and/or ignorant For the Evulz, let alone willingly choose to OBEY such people.
Grand Theft Me: After he gets blasted with lightning, Roku and Yangchen briefly take over his body.
Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted. He can get the wrong idea of a person, up to the point that they tell an outright lie. As a Master Airbender, he can read spoken words and all their subtexts so long as they are carried on the wind. What throws him off are people like Jet, who mostly believe in their lies, or Long Feng, who twist the truth as they will. There are also instances where the motivation and psychology of the subject are so strange to him that he mis-interprets what he's sensing. For example, it takes him a long time to understand that finding an action to be distasteful or even repugnant will not necessarily stop someone from taking that action. And when a close friend shows a darker side for him to judge, he goes into full-blown denial.

Humanity Is Infectious: The Avatar Spirit incarnates as humans so that it can understand humanity and acquire human traits.
Idiot Hero: Mostly due to ignorance about the spirits and interrupted training by Gyatso. If not that, Aang doesn't stick around his worst fans to prove them wrong. Otherwise, he'd just rather play than think, provided there's nothing urgent going on.

Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Almost willfully so, in earlier chapters. Although he's trying to fix that, with Tao and Toph aiding him, it's slowly going. Very slowly.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Deconstructed. In the Darker and Edgier world of Embers, he needs to be corrupted with some realism/lose his faith in the world before he gets eaten alive. Although his idealism and faith are also necessary to prevent atrocities; it's a balancing act. Iroh sums it up:
And he pictured that kind, young boy, facing the Face-Stealer with the best of intentions, to set right that ancient spirit's wrong.
...I do not think I will be sleeping well tonight.

Kid with the Leash: To the Avatar Spirit. Since the Avatar Spirit is the Avatar of the entire planet, he's supposed to be this to the entire world. Koh, the Fire Nation... he'd have better luck herding cats.
Last of His Kind: Partially averted. In Embers, while there are survivors of several Air Nomad groups still out there, Aang is still the last remaining Air Monk, and the only one left who holds to (what he knows of) their ways. All the others would much rather see those ways die out. In fact, a character in chapter 59 all but implied that until Aang gives up the Temple ways, the only way to be rid of all traces of the Temples is to wait for Aang to die.
Living Lie Detector: Being an Airbending master, he can easily see through lies. So easily, he knew Zuko wasn't using lethal force the entire time he'd been chasing the Avatar. This turns out to be not as reliable as Aang thought, as he doesn't want to use lethal force is not the same thing as he won't use lethal force.
Mother Nature: Technically, as he's the avatar of the (female) planet. Sadly, this is no Green Aesop.
Obliviously Evil: He doesn't want to hurt anyone. Unfortunately, between dealing with three different alien value systems, chronic lack of patience and insane powers, a lot of the characters who meet him see him this way.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dousing the flames keeping a murderous zombie army from swarming a colony that has just only finished dealing with Fong is generally not the best response to a worldview altering decision.
Parental Abandonment: Normal for Air Nomads, to the point he sees nothing wrong with it, which the others find disturbing. Chapter 51 shows a nun and her ex-Onmitsu lover that may be his birth parents. He's shown a vision in Chapter 69 of Gyate and Shih outright tells him that she's his mother, with the implication that he's his father.

Spanner in the Works: Zuko's thoughts reveal this when he is thinking about how Aang ran away from the Southern Air Temple and, thus, from the Elders' decision to brainwash him:
Aang might have the attention span of a flutter-hornet on a honey high, but that impulsive decision might just have saved the world.

Time Travel: Sort of. It took a one-way trip into the future courtesy of an iceberg; it's taking him a while to catch up with the cultural changes.
Tomato in the Mirror: Aang, you are the Avatar. In canon, he was already clinging to his identity as just a normal kid/air nomad. In Embers, he's been forced to face the fact that he is, to whatever degree, Kyoshi and Roku, among others, and responsible for their screw-ups. With the focus Embers is placing on spirits and politics, the fact that the Avatar is the Avatar of the world-spirit is likely to play a larger role. Aang just isn't a normal kid who can have a normal life.

Violence Really Is the Answer:
- Played with. Aang is unwilling to take a life, but quick to use his bending, which often does more damage than he notices. While mostly played for laughs in canon, in Embers this comes back to bite Aang, badly. Also, because of the war, those closest to Aang want him to temporarily let go of his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy – before this was explicitly stated to him, Aang believed that his allies shared his pacifism. After said confrontation, he is deeply upset and confused by the knowledge that they don't, even as he grapples with understanding the why's.
- Subverted quite thoroughly in the climax of the fic. Unlike in canon, in Embers Aang decides that Violence Isn't The Answer and sticks to it. All the way down to how he deals with the fic's Man Behind the Man, Koh the Face-Stealer. And it is awesome.

Katara

Team Mom and Love Interest roles unchanged, Katara gets put through the wringer in Embers. She arguably retains the same personality she had, but in this Alternate Timeline, everything's been exaggerated. Nobody's safe from her, not even her own family, and she doesn't even know it until it hits everyone, including her, in the worst possible way. Thankfully, Yue and Toph step in to mitigate it all somewhat, but from what we've seen, Katara's still got a long way to go.

Angst Coma: Zuko gave her a choice between her True Companions and her Tribe and it tore more than just her attention.
Beware the Nice Ones: Vathara agrees with canon that Katara is this. She is also an avowed opponent of this trope;
Katara is not honest. Katara is sweetness and confidence and "we're going to help Aang save the world!" Until she runs into something she doesn't like, at which point the Sugar Queen cracks, and a lot of nastiness oozes out. ...Yeah. That relationship is going to end so well. I think I'll take my chances with Azula....

Close to Home: Deconstructed and Justified. Why did Katara go on the defensive when Zuko wasn't actually attacking her or doing anything terrible? Because he was. On top of being the symbol of what killed her mother, by trying to get through to Katara he was attacking the idea of herself that she'd built up in order to function. In other words, he was attacking her psychological weak point. What happened when her Sanity Meter went to zero? She went into an Angst Coma and nearly died. In a world with Embers' laws of metaphysics, he was essentially coming at her with a knife (not that he knew this), no one would help her or believe her (a double whammy) and her subconscious reacted accordingly.
Disability Superpower: Most likely averted, by Word of God. Katara has a wound to her spirit and could become a yaoren, but Katara is such a self-reliant person that she's almost certain to never ask the world in general or a Great Spirit of another element for help, giving them an opening.
Extreme Doormat: A normal person's response to nearly being killed should not be "We betrayed him." It's this tendency towards just taking it from her loved ones and saying that it's not the other person's fault because they were hurting (that reasons are not excuses and don't make it right is a major theme of the fic) that got her into this mess.
Genre Blindness: She (along with Aang), genuinely believes that she's doing the right thing, which doesn't always match with the changed world of Embers (which has gradually grown from divergence to full-on AU); her actions have both more realistic implications and more supernatural consequences.

Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her abilities allow her to pull on others' emotions. The bad part about this is that she was not taught to control it very well, thanks to Pakku. Hakoda and Sokka are wary about her pulling on their hearts. This power is extrapolated from Katara's canonical moments of managing to spark emotional resurgences in others, such as her pep-talking the imprisoned Earthbenders into a successful revolt in Episode 6.
Hero Insurance: Invoked. Katara is disturbed when she is prevented from trying to heal someone while they were sleeping. She's the Avatar's teacher. Why does she need consent to fix somebody? She's the good guy!
Honor Before Reason: Both a positive trait and a negative trait. Zuko praises her for being willing to do the right thing, even when it's hard, but Embers puts a lot of importance on thinking. In addition to that, since 'people judge normal by themselves' and Katara actually doesn't think that she's a very good person, anyone less honorable than her (which is actually setting the bar really high) must obviously be a terrible person. It's also Water Tribe honor. For instance, there's nothing dishonorable about stealing from others, especially bad people, if your people need it, to a culture where it's traditional to raid your enemies (on top of piracy).
Horrible Judge of Character: Though this seems more of a side-effect of her Moral Myopia. Anyone who doesn't side with her or Aang (Xiu, for instance) isn't a friend, especially if they happen to like Zuko. She's especially this around those of the Fire Nation.
I Did What I Had to Do: Much of her hard-edged choices have to do with growing up in a culture with the Wendigo and having to deal with it before it becomes a problem.

Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Katara often needs Toph to help put things into perspective for her.
Kid with the Leash: She canonically has this power over the Avatar State via Cooldown Hugs. Except she's on somewhat shaky ground with Aang ever since Zuko's blood-contract-guided psychic attack on her in Chapter 31. If Aang goes ballistic again and the Avatar Spirit wants to re-enact Kyoshi's hurricane, it's possible that Katara won't be able to calm him down. And it would be Zuko's fault. Confirmed in Chapter 80; Aang goes off (albeit due to being possessed), and burns Katara's back as badly as Zuko's face.

Lunacy: The moon augments a waterbender's power.
Mama Bear: Towards Aang. When her own mother was murdered in front of her. In an attack by the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation Zuko represents. Comes to a head in the Beach Arc.
Moral Myopia: Every character is biased to some degree, but Katara doesn't even give a convincing argument, having grown up with the impression that she is supposed to be a strong pillar to hold up her tribe. It's the darker half of her Team Mom tendencies.
More than Mind Control: Waterbenders can heavily spur the emotions of their tribesmen. Very good for morale. Not so good when you're an angry wreck on the inside and haven't been trained to control this ability.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the most current chapter, she realizes that she sold out Shidan to one of the Onmitsu, who is going to report Byakko's treachery to the Fire Lord.

Stepford Smiler: Resulting from being forced into the Team Mom position for her own family after her mother was killed protecting her. As her grandmother points out in the show, Katara was also the symbol of hope for the Southern Water Tribe not for herself, but because she was a waterbender. No one wanted to deal with the fact the person they needed to cheer them up was not a very happy person, so she grew up convinced that if she showed her true self with the pain of losing her mother, her resentment of being put into this position and her hatred of the Fire Nation, no one would love the real her. For a waterbender, with their emphasis on community, this is explicitly just as bad as what Ozai did to Zuko.

There Are No Therapists: Not only did Katara not have one, as a waterbender she was expected to be that much-needed therapist. Even Kanna was understanding about the fact that Katara couldn't have prevented all those deaths without training, but Katara still blamed herself.

Wrong Genre Savvy: Things that would fix problems in a more idealistic world actually start problems in Embers. Contrast this with Zuko, now the Protagonist, who has had to learn to calm down before he can't think, lest he get himself and Iroh killed, when they were on the run.

Sokka

His core personality hasn't changed, though his experiences have. Sokka stands the middle ground - while he is firmly on Aang and Katara's side, his maturity and innate sense allow him to see things as they really are. This talent helps save the day during the Beach Arc; when Katara's rampant emotional turmoil and unawareness of her More than Mind Control talents threaten the truce, Sokka consciously makes the effort to overcome his prejudices and try to understand where the other guys are coming from. (Even if it does break his brain.) As such, while Zuko would love to set Aang and Katara on fire, he can tolerate Sokka.

Disability Superpower: Averted. All Sokka really gets from Temul is some much needed indepth knowledge about the Fire Nation and its culture. Otherwise, Temul kicks his ass during their sword training.
Face Palm: He does this in ch. 37 when he hears how Aang and Katara put their address on the posters they posted of Appa while staying in Ba Sing Se.
Head Desk: Forgoing his palm, Sokka smacks himself with the blunt end of Boomerang when Aang reveals he knew of Zuko's non-lethal intentions the whole time.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Conversed. Zuko, informing him about the chi and bending, points out that the usage of chi extends beyond the elements, into relatively mundane skills, such as nailing a target with a boomerang just right.
Oh, Crap!: Being The Smart Guy makes him sensitive to the Culture Clash and to the sheer scope of trouble down the road, if some things don't get fixed right away. The most current example is in Chapter 60 at the end where Sokka figures out that the Fire Nation knows about their plans to invade during the Day of Black Sun, which Shidan confirms.

Toph Bei Fong

The Greatest Earthbender in the World, and damn proud of it, Toph is the most grounded of the Gaang, both literally and figuratively. While the others base their opinions on preconceived - and sometimes unfounded - notions and run with it, she withholds her judgement, actually taking the time to learn what the truth of the matter is before coming to any decision. It's because of this she agreed to aid Zuko in the jailbreak that freed Appa (Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot were a bonus). Solid, patient, and nurturing, to a far greater extent than in canon, Toph personifies all the best attributes of her element, and Zuko couldn't ask for a better ally in a tight spot.

Blood Oath: She has an Earth Kingdom Contract with Aang, to help him defeat the Fire Lord. As with Fire Nation Loyalty, it could kill her if she backs out of it, even if she has no reason in the world to do so.
Boxing Lessons for Superman: Subverted. Zuko gives her advice on how she might be able to swim, but she doesn't take to it nearly as easily as metal and molten glass. Although, it has lead to the pleasant surprise that bending smoke lead to quasi-Airbending.
Cast from Hit Points: After healing a bruise, she says she's come out of entire tournaments with less exhaustion. Considering Toph's power and skill, its hard to distinguish between an exhaustion of strength or a strain of prowess.
Combat Medic: Emphasis on 'combat'. She's quickly picked up on Earth-Healing, but states that she'd rather deal damage than fix it, only when Zuko or Katara are absent would she try it.
Dishing Out Dirt: As in canon, she's an Earthbender. At one point she learnes how to do quasi-Airbending by manipulating ash particles in smoke after Zuko tries giving her advice on how to swim.

Face Palm: Several times. Particularly when Aang talks about putting up more Appa posters.
Genius Bruiser: Toph is fully aware of the implications of her Metal-bending; if "no one" is supposed to bend metal, then how many other "impossible" techniques can she get away with? She's experimenting with the use of salt in seawater, and even bent the ashes in smoke.
Head Desk: Discovering the sheer scope of difference between nations in the definition of 'truce', Toph bashes a rock with her head.
Healing Hands: Only in an emergency; she says after doing it that it takes more out of her than a Rumble, and she'll leave it to the professionals otherwise.
Only Sane Man: Amongst everyone else's not so sane moments, Toph's the only one keeping a level head and looks at the situation objectively, especially with regards to the Fire Nation. She's the only one who can.
Secret-Keeper: She knows that Zuko, Iroh and the Fire Nation have draconic ancestry. She also knows that Zuko can waterbend, too, but she doesn't tell Aang, Sokka or Katara.

Fire Princess Azula

Fire Princess and Daddy's Girl, Azula personifies all the worst that one of her ancestry can claim - and she, along with Zuko, has more draconian ancestry than most. All Fire Nation citizens have dragon's blood to some degree (it's practically required to firebend in the prescribed form), and a few have dragons for recent ancestors (Teruko). Azula and Zuko? Out of their 8 great-grandparents, three were dragons, Sozin was a dragon child (someone whose parent was a dragon), and Roku was the Avatar. It's a recipe for disaster, and while Zuko thankfully has chosen a different path under Iroh's guidance, Azula was raised by Ozai. As a result, she's running headlong down the Dark Dragon road of carnage, death, and utter destruction. It's all in the name of her father, for the glory of the Fire Lord and her Nation... And she won't let anyone get in her way. As of chapter 81, not even her own father — said Fire Lord. Congratulations, Ozai.

Alternate Character Interpretation: Azula engages in this in-universe, and concludes that Zuko isn't even remotely the idiot she thought he was for years, but someone who saw a disaster coming that nobody else saw, tried to head it off, and couldn't due to his inability to deal with politics. Once she runs through this train of thought, she gains a great deal more respect for him.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Zuko has learned to make himself scarce when she utters the phrase 'Little Zuzu'. ^note
Blood Oath: Such is Loyalty, where just thinking the wrong way spells trouble. She owes Loyalty to Ozai and she can press others into yielding it to her.
Break the Haughty: At the end of the Invasion of the caldera, Azula is betrayed by one of Ty Lee's clan. Not only this, but Mai implies that the Fire Lord does not appreciate her changes in his plans, and may mean that she is just as disposable as her brother is. It is thought by some readers that Mai herself may have deceived Azula to make her feel as every bit betrayed as Mai felt when she found out about Azula's own treachery in pairing her with Zuko. By chapter 81, readers find out that, no, Ozai really is that dismissive of both his children.
Consummate Liar: A staple of dark dragons, who can lie through a Psychic Link. How good is she? In Chapter 48, Vathara Retconned Azulon's punishment from the canonical "know the pain of losing a first-born son" into "know the pain of losing a most favored child" Azula. Azula actually retconned it right back, conning Ursa into believing that Zuko was the sacrifice.
Shidan: You saw a threat. And you acted. All it cost you was your mother... and your brother's nightmares.
Enfante Terrible: In a nutshell, Azula has been terrorizing everyone since she was old enough to walk.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She just does not understand how people can be so easily compelled by emotion to do drastic things. To her, there has to be an ulterior motive and hidden agenda; after all, that's why she would be openly passionate.

Karma Houdini: See the rest of Azula's entry? In Chapter 88, she becomes the new Fire Lord (the spiritual authority of that position, though, was dissolved by Aang). Even Ursa, whose family has been in silent rebellion against the rule of the Fire Lords since the war began, and herself acknowledged that her daughter is a monster, shows up to show support for Azula's rule.
Kick the Dog: As a child, she would torture animals to death.

Mind Manipulation: Whether of hesitating followers or resistant prisoners, Azula will herd undesirable emotions.
Pet the Dog: Chapter 66. Lets Aang go during the invasion trying to fulfill a promise to Zuko. In a surprising move (for her), when Aang decides to charge straight into the Caldera anyway, her reaction can be summed up as I tried.
The Sociopath: Azula is condemned to be a sociopath by genetics and upbringing. After some spiritbending mind healing, some of the worst of the sociopathy is walled off and Azula gets more freedom of choice in her actions. Of course, she still CHOOSES to do evil things (like trying to kill Zuko), but now she's a bit more rational about it. It remains to be seen if this is an example of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: She strives for Ozai's attentions and constantly proclaims and reaffirms her loyalty to her father. Until she doesn't. "Sorry Daddy, but... What you want isn't what your people need. Looks like it's my turn up to bat. Hey Zuzu, wish me luck!"

Mai

Daughter of Governor Tsumami and the Lady Niji, Mai is still the dour girl we met in canon. But she makes her Heel–Face Turn a lot sooner, once it become clear just how long Azula's been lying to her - and just how deep her deception went. It's one thing to date someone. It's another to be related to said person, in a way and to the degree of consanguinity that the laws clearly state are prohibited. (In Embers, she is descended from Roku's daughter, Momiji, the sister of Ilah, who was the wife of Azulon.) The worst part is Azula knew the entire damn time, and had incorporated the expected side effects into several plans.

Badass Normal: She survived breaking Loyalty to Azula. And she didn't require a healer, either.

Combat Pragmatist: She knows how to choose her battles most shrewdly. This comes from being the daughter of a noble close to the Fire Lord's family, and as well as dealing with Azula.

Nerves of Steel: She displays a cool head in the face of Azula, who in ch. 34, suspects her of treachery, and is right when Mai does her Heel–Face Turn.

Ty Lee

Still our ditzy, bubbly, bouncing acrobat, Ty Lee becomes much more than that in Embers. Descendant of the Duo Qang, one of many Airbender tribes that used to roam the winds, Ty Lee's people were decimated during the era of Avatar Yangchen, and those who weren't killed outright in that period were later kidnapped to the temples and brainwashed into becoming monks and nuns. The survivors who escaped both fates ended up settling in the Fire Nation and ultimately pledged their services to the Fire Lord. Since those services tend to include chi-blocking and the arts of stealth, it's no wonder that the Duo Quang are now known as the onmitsu - Ozai's own army of ninjas and assassins. Ty Lee knows about her family history, and will do what it takes to stop Aang - last of the Temple Monks - from what she and her people believe will be a second Holocaust.

Anti-Villain: She helps Azula because she wants her clan to live. She actually doesn't want Aang to know what the Temples did.
Aura Vision: Fully functional, rather than being a glorified horoscope (and ambiguously connected to her chi-blocking).

CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Getting this off screen from Azula saves her life! Turns out when Air Nomads come to the realization that their teachers were Wrong they stop breathing!
Les Collaborateurs: Her clan, the Fire Nation-allied Onmitsu, descendants of the Duo Qang.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Her vs. Makoto. She did have the Dai Li help her, but her actions led to Makoto flying away.

Remembered I Could Fly: Almost literally, as her airbending and some memories had been sealed away by her clan.
Sadly Mythtaken:
- The stories she was told about Kuzon, known to her as the Great Betrayer. Ty Lee, and the onmitsu as a whole, know Kuzon hid away other Airbender survivors, but don't know where. The Duo Qang are unaware of the existence of any other surviving Airbender groups outside the Fire Nation, and Kuzon made sure they stayed ignorant of that fact for good reason - no need to add ''more'' kidnapped brainwashed ninjas to the Fire Lord's ranks.
- She's also this about Aang, too. Despite being a Temple Monk, Aang would NOT condone any of what Xiangchen or his followers did, and never would Aang do this to her or any of the other Air Nomad survivors.
- There's also Zuko. In chapter 42 she says that Zuko is too nice. She's in for a surprise when she sees him again...
Tomato in the Mirror: While telling Azula about what the Temple Monks did to her ancestors, Ty Lee doesn't know that her Elders have her and her family in Harmonious Accord. Subverted in that Ty Lee, post chapter 38, told Azula that she remembered certain things, as revealed in chapter 42.

Minor Canon Characters

Grand Secretariat Long Feng

Essentially unchanged from canon, Long Feng takes much the same path as he did on the show. The only difference is the end: after imprisoning Azula, he attempts to double-cross her, using Ty Lee as leverage. Azula does not take kindly to Long Feng's treatment, killing him with a well-placed lightning strike. His old responsibilities are divided afterwards, with leadership of the Dai Li falling to Agent Chan, while Agents Quan and Bon becomes Kuei's new advisers.

I Control My Minions Through...: This version of Long Feng was unambiguously the hero of a mass invasion fo kamuiy the night previous Earth King's family was assissinated. Both saving the four year old Kuei and rallying the Dai Li to beat back a horde of malevolent killer spirits.

Earth King Kuei

The 24-year-old royal gets a major fleshing out in Embers. For starters, Kuei never leaves Ba Sing Se, but instead retreats underground (quite literally) to strike back at the Fire Nation forces occupying his city. It gets better. Turns out the Earth Kings were and are still considered the spiritual heart of the Earth Kingdom for a damn good reason - they descend from ancient shamans and have power over the spirits in their domain that's second only to a fully realised Avatar. How powerful is Kuei? He evicts Wan Shi Tong, the knowledge owl, and all his servants, out of the Earth Kingdom. Permanently. Yikes.

Adaptational Badass: In canon, he was a sheltered and useless puppet ruler who is easily manipulated by Long Feng. Here, he's a naive and sheltered yet intelligent Fisher King with spiritual powers, as his bloodline can be traced back to ancient shamans who are just below the Avatar in terms of raw power. Once Long Feng is out of the picture, he starts showing his true capabilities and pulling his weight as ruler of Ba Sing Se.

Arranged Marriage: Most Earth Kings get this. Kuei just got his due to Agents Bon and Quan saying "It'd take a miracle to find spriritually strong women in the middle of a Fire Nation invasion-", and also because the Touzaikaze were impressed with Kuei enough to send their own special women as prospective brides.
Badass Bookworm: He's got a personal library full of powerful information yet unknown to the rest of the world, and he's a powerful enough spiritbender to kick Wan Shi Tong out of the Earth Kingdom.
Berserk Button: Unknown to anyone, maybe not even Kuei himself, but you do not harm his people without good reason. One of Wan Shi Tong's foxes did this, and Kuei kicked the Owl and every one of his servants completely out of the Earth Kingdom. He didn't even know he had shamanistic powers until that moment.
Cultured Badass: Thanks to reading unknown amounts of scrolls in his library, Kuei is one of the first to know about yaoren, and had a dissenting opinion about the all-powerful Avatar. He's read up about his ancestors, his own people, and even the Air Nomads, whom no one really knows anything about (other than the Air Monks). He forms an alliance with Zuko, the exiled former Prince of the Fire Nation, knowing and understanding how important it was to have a place where anyone can be themselves, as well as a buffer-zone between Earth and Air. And now he's just taken it upon himself to have a swordswoman-slash-healer for his Queen.

Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Kuei delivers this sentence in chapter 29 to the fox servant of Wan Shi Tong:
Earth King Kuei: We find you and your master, Wan Shi Tong, have behaved with contempt to us, and to our people! We find that you have done us harm; willfully, pettily, and with full knowledge of our desperation, beset by enemies! We find that you have cast aside the virtues of civilized creatures. And so, we render our judgment! You, your master, and all his servants are hereby banished from our lands. Your master may petition Oma and Shu. Should they decide his punishment is enough, we shall revisit our judgment. Until that day - begone!

Good Is Not Dumb: Long Feng had it so that the Earth King was seen as a naive, harmless, puppet-king bookworm who needed to be protected. Sure, he's ignorant of many things, including what's been going on within his city. However, he has had years and years and YEARS of reading the scrolls in his personal library, so he knows things the Dai Li and the rest of the cast do not. He's also a fairly competent commander, since he lacks the usual Earth compunctions against tearing up your own streets to get at the enemy.
The Heart: Literally. All Earth Kings are the heart of Ba Sing Se.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Both taking on spirits, and taking over the resistance.
Non-Action Guy: He has protection in his Dai Li, as well as Eshe and Amisi.
Parental Abandonment: Kuei's parents were killed 20 years before Embers starts. The assassins were said to have been from Taku.
La Résistance: He's running it, and rather more effectively than the military. A Fire Nation guard in Chapter 45 muses that an Earth Kingdom general would never dig pit traps in the streets of his own city. Kuei is not fighting like traditional Earth generals.
Rousing Speech: After one of Wan Shi Tong's fox servants is captured, Shirong gives him a small one to try motivate him in stepping up as Earth King and performing his royal duties as the spiritual heart of Ba Sing Se. Kuei then performs admirably.
Shirong: (to Earth King Kuei) You've been trained for this your majesty. You are the guardian of the spirits of Ba Sing Se, both of your people and the city itself. And this spirit [...] has walked where it was not invited, and delivered harm upon one of your loyal subjects.
Royal "We": In Chapter 29, he refers to himself as "we" during his royal judgement of Wan Shi Tong and his fox servant that was captured.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's become this. Granted, Bon and Quan are carrying out his orders, but with Long Feng dead, he's heading towards being a competent and capable ruler.
Soul Power: He has authority over the spirits of Ba Sing Se. Also noted to become one of the best spirit-benders out there.
Spanner in the Works: Wan Shi Tong apparently did not remember that he lives in the Earth Kingdom and the Earth King has power over the spirits there, including himself. And now, one of the Big Bads, the Dragon Makoto aka Fire Lady Tejina even says how he has messed up her spy network.

Wan Shi Tong

The giant owl spirit who, pissed off at humanity, sank his library in the desert and nearly took the G Aang with him. They escaped, after Sokka whacked him over the head with a book and Toph stopped the library's descent long enough for them to get out. In Embers, Wan Shi Tong is out for revenge.

Asian Fox Spirit: His servants and information gatherers are shapeshifting foxes. One of them decided to take on Professor Tingzhe's form. This led to an angry Kuei deciding to spiritually kick out both Wan Shi Tong and his fox servants as punishment with a royal command for what they had done to his subjects.
Awakening the Sleeping Giant: He really shouldn't have messed with the subjects of Earth King Kuei, who at the time had just taken on his duties as a ruler now with Long Feng gone. An angered Kuei effectively uses his spiritual heritage to banish Wan Shi Tong and his fox servants out of Ba Sing Se as punishment, This has long-term ramifications within the story, as the black dragon Makoto notes that Kuei has messed up her spy network.
The Exile: His actions end up biting him when Kuei, having fully stepped into his responsibilities as the Earth King, officially banishes him and his fox servants entirely from Ba Sing Se. As Kuei himself put it, there's the option to appeal to Oma and Shu, but the odds are not that good.
Magic Librarian: An owl spirit that collects books.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Wan Shi Tong's arrogance, shown through his kitsune's actions in Ba Sing Se, hammer down hard on Kuei's Berserk Button. To be fair, it surprised everyone that Kuei even had such a button, but in doing do, Kuei realized his own power, banishing the Owl and all who served him from the Earth Kingdom. Doing so not only cut into Makoto's information network, of which Wan Shi Tong was a major part, but freed up the Sand tribes' Earth- and Airbenders to come to the aid of the Earth Kingdom.
Throw the Book at Them: He figures since Sokka pulled off one on him, that he can now return the favour.
The Unseen: Referenced plenty throughout Embers, and drives part of the plot, but never actually appears in person.

Kuzon of Byakko

In canon, Aang's pre-war Fire Nation buddy, briefly mentioned, seen only in one of the side comics, and not much else is known. In Embers, Kuzon of Byakko was not only Aang's friend, but found out about the planned Air Nomad massacre and tried to warn Gyatso beforehand. Failing to stop the killing outright, Kuzon saved those he could, hiding them away in places only he knew where. He never stopped searching for Aang, over his long life becoming Lord of Byakko, Azulon's intelligence agent (and later assassination victim), Ursa's grandfather, and thus Zuko and Azula's great-grandfather. Also, after his death, he accepts an offer from Agni himself to finish the job he started, as Aang never reappeared in his lifetime. Kuzon ultimately ends up being reincarnated as his own descendant: Zuko.

Back from the Dead: Zig-zagged. He died "in his sleep" roughly 17-18 years before Aang thawed out of his iceberg and reincatnates just aren't the same person.
Backup from Otherworld: Sometimes Zuko unconsciously uses Kuzon's old speech patterns and memories. Then Yangchen comes along poking holes in the already thin barrier between him & his last life.
Defiant to the End: To the consternation and fury of his killers.

Posthumous Character: For the most part.
Unexpected Successor: Before Sozin started the war, Kuzon wasn't expected to become Lord of Byakko. Loyalty sickness claimed everyone ahead of him, after Clan Byakko refused the Fire Lord's orders to kill. Kuzon only survived thanks to Shidan's fire healing.

Fire Lord Ozai

His core personality is unchanged, though his background has been fleshed out. Ozai is considered a dragon child, and a dark dragon, to boot. With Azulon's heritage (three-quarters dragon, one-quarter human) and Ilah's (Avatar Roku's daughter), it's lucky Iroh and Lu Ten turned out as well as they did. Ozai, on the other hand, personifies all the worst that a human with too much dragon blood can become - and he's trained Azula to be just like him.

Ambition Is Evil: More so than Zhao, and the consequences are bound to be worse.
Demoted to Dragon: In canon, it took a fully-realized Avatar Aang with an 11th-Hour Superpower to beat him. In chapter 89, he receives a Disney Villain Death from Sokka's Precision-Guided Boomerang - in pretty much the same way Sokka nailed Zuko in the second canon episode... Which is just a footnote of the battle for Dragon's Wings. His grandmother Makoto is a far greater threat, and her threat potential was raised only due to several centuries working for Koh.
Manipulative Bastard: Azulon trained him as such, to complement Iroh's rule when the time came.
Villain Respect: Of a sort, towards Sokka during their fight. He acknowledges Sokka's raw talent and remarks that with a few more years experience he might have been a "dangerous opponent" before preparing to finish him. Them comes the boomerang.

Lady Ursa

Like her husband, retains her characterization, though Vathara has tweaked her genealogy in Embers. Here Ursa is no longer Roku's descendant (that honour goes to Ilah, Azulon's wife), but rather the daughter of Lady Kotone of Byakko and her husband Shidan. After Azulon put on the pressure, Ursa was sent to marry Ozai mostly to put Clan Byakko in line. All is not what it seems - Lady Kotone's father was Kuzon of Byakko, and Shidan was his dragon companion before their marriage. Byakko always plays to stay ahead of the game, and Ursa knows to do whatever she must for her family and her clan.

Action Girl: She was mentioned to have been good with swords.
Arranged Marriage: The reasons in Embers are such that Byakko's rulers needed to buy protection from Azulon, and also for Revenge.
Broken Bird: On top of years living with her gaslighting husband? Yeah, spirits don't like it when you kill someone supposedly carrying the Avatar's Will.
Half-Human Hybrid: She's the daughter of a dragon and a human woman.
Heal It With Fire: How she kept Zuko alive when he was just born.
Missing Mom: She's still around... somewhere... Found as of Chapter 88 when she shows up in the Fire Nation Capital to support Azula's coup.
Revenge: It's assumed she was sent to kill Azulon from the beginging, but as her father points out: the best revenge is not killing. The revenge they hoped for was that her children would reverse everything Azulon worked towards. It worked.

Lieutenant Jee

Last seen in canon being transferred to Zhao's command, just before Zuko's ship blew up, Jee survived the resulting deluge at the Siege of the North. In Embers he's since been promoted to Captain (more due to lack of experienced officers than anything else) and he and his crew now deal with the scores of newcomers onboard the ship.

The Captain: Only now he actually holds the rank, instead of acting as such under another's command.
Fighting for a Homeland: Zuko plans to create a new domain. Jee plans to make sure he survives long enough to make that happen.
No One Gets Left Behind: Even when they've been declared traitors to your own nation.

Revenge: Initially, he wants justice for Zuko's death onboard the Wani when she blew. Averted, as Zuko's alive and Zhao's... Yeah.

Jet

While all events in the show occurred, Ember's Jet is spared the fate of his canon self - he doesn't die in the Dai Li catacombs, instead getting a free pass out of the city. This despite trying to attack the Blue Spirit in the middle of a battle with Dai Li agents. Later shows up attempting to "free" the same town he targeted earlier, this time by instigating a riot. Enter Zuko and the crew of Suzuran, and the shit hits the fan. Again.

Put on a Bus: Get sent to a convent and is never seen again.
Noodle Incident: Exits in a throughly ridiculous one, culminating in an Offscreen Momentof Awesome by The nuns who nursed Bato back to health, who are apparently accomplished spirit fighters.
Revenge Before Reason: Jet will drop defending himself from an opposing horde to kill a Firebender. He'll even drop his friends.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted from canon; when Toph and the Blue Spirit bust Appa out of the Dai Li headquarters, Jet and his crew go along for the ride. Too bad Jet's too damn obsessed to stay out of trouble.

Smellerbee

Part of Jet's gang, who sometimes shows more sense than her leader. Pity common sense isn't too common, as Jet's words and actions are liable to get them all killed. Although part of her knows that what he's doing is wrong, she remains loyal nonetheless.

Samus Is a Girl: If a character's perception of her gender isn't outright wrong, it's usually gender neutral or leaning toward 'Likely a girl, but let someone else say it, first'.

Longshot

The other member of Jet's gang who stuck by his leader, Longshot might be having second thoughts about that decision.

Only Sane Man: He's looking to be this, since Jet is losing his shit over the Fire Nation.

Piandao

The lord of Shu Jing, a gray-eyed swordsman adopted by Temul, who was present at Kuzon's death. He was chosen by Temul to become her successor as Lord of Shu Jing. Piandao was only a Major when he met Kuzon and Temul, and presumably retired from the Fire Nation Army soon afterward.

Ancient Tradition: A member of the White Lotus and aware of what Kuzon was up to.

Color-Coded Eyes: Gray eyes tend to indicate air nomad ancestry. Since it's confirmed that he is still the non-bender son of Firebenders, or at least thinks he is, he may or may not have anything to do with the rescued children. Apparently people in the Fire Nation assume that gray eyes mean someone has an ancestor who was a Child by Rape of the Air Nomad armies.
Parental Abandonment: Piandao thinks his birth parents were firebenders who orphaned him because he couldn't bend.
Rags to Riches: If you count being "adopted" by a cranky old woman's ghost into being the Lord of her old domian such.

Fire Sage Shiyu

The Fire Sage who helped Aang back in canon, sent to the Boiling Rock for treachery.

Old Master: As a member of the White Lotus
Poor Communication Kills Because he had no knowledge of what reason she could possibly have to kill Azulon he lept to the conclusion Urusa was a "dark dragon". Further jumping to the conclusion that both her children fruit of a poison tree and a danger to the Fire Nation.
What the Hell, Hero?: He gets one from Zuko for leaving the giant killer Kanaloa that lives in Boiling Rock off the map. and then he gets a second one when Sokka helps put together that it was part of an elaborate trap to kill Zuko and Azula! Read: this plan was meant to go off when Zuko was 13 (recently scarred and traumatized) and Azula was 11. He was specifically aiming for Azula.

Chief Hakoda

Sokka and Katara's father, and Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. He's been waging naval warfare against the Fire Nation for years, and in this story he winds up coming onto the scene during a tense standoff with some surprisingly non-hostile Fire Nation troops, just in time to see Katara's downward spiral of Emotion Bending come to a head.

In the aftermath, he helps the Avatar party by becoming one of the stabilizing influences Aang and Katara desperately needed, and helps Tao, Sokka, and Toph find enough common ground to look at the bigger-picture problems of the war.

Culture Clash: He has a difficult time wrapping his head around why the Fire Nation have waged war for nearly a hundred years without stop, let alone the rest of their cultural nuances. It goes both ways, since all the other characters had a hard time understanding his worst case scenario for dealing with an unstable Katara.
Obfuscating Stupidity: When Zuko first interacts with him, Hakoda plays up his status as a Chief of a Barbarian Tribe ignorant to Honor and the like, just to needle Zuko into more honest reactions and to gain information. Then he reveals that he's been studying Fire Nation culture for years to understand their tactics and cultural motivations.
Papa Wolf: And how. He cares deeply for his children, and this extends to their young friends as well, he's willing to go to bat for them physically and emotionally. Though this doesn't stop him from calling many of them out on their personal issues and behavior when he thinks they need it.
The Needs of the Many: Being from a culture that deals with scant supplies, long nights, and Wendigo, he sometimes has to make horrible decisions for the sake of the Tribe as a whole.
What the Hell, Hero?: It's him calling her out on it that finally allows Katara to reign in her Heart Bending.

Original Characters - Ba Sing Se

Agent Shirong

Veteran member of the Dai Li after twenty years, Shirong is unusual in that unlike most of his fellow agents, he works alone. This is due to an encounter that left him so scarred spiritually that partners simply didn't last long. Instead, Long Feng has him working as a recruiter, which allows Shirong to play to his strengths and has would-be recruits undergoing (usually survivable) spirit encounters that test their mettle. All goes well until he meets "Lee", a Fire Nation colonial who's also a waterbender. Shirong tries to recruit him, and ends up getting dragged into the spirits' grand plan, becoming the second yaoren.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Shirong prayed to Agni, asking for aid in helping Zuko. Agni responded by having Shirong become the next yaoren.

Conflicting Loyalty: As a Dai Li, Shirong is supposed to be a loyal subject of the Earth King. After meeting Zuko and becoming an Earth-Fire yaoren, that loyalty shifts over to Zuko. This becomes heartbreaking when he realizes that Kuei, whom he's faithfully served for over half his life, isn't his king.
- Take a Third Option: Luckily for Shirong, Kuei invokes this, sending Shirong to act as the Dai Li's emissary with Dragon's Wings. Shirong is therefore able to follow his king by birth....by following his king by choice.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Almost happened twenty years ago, and the reason behind his spirit wounds and really bad luck.

Doom Magnet: Until Zuko, nobody else Shirong had met had worse luck than he did.

Happily Adopted: Into the Wen family, as Tingzhe and Meixiang's younger brother.

One Good Cop: For a while there, the only member of the Dai Li to heed Zuko's warning and not follow Long Feng.

Captain An Lu-Shan

Head of the local detachment of Ba Sing Se's lower ring City Guard, Lu-Shan's job consisted of watching over his men, making sure chaos and anarchy didn't rule the streets, dealing with troublemakers, and when things got too much for them to handle, call in the Dai Li. Then the Avatar arrives. And the Fire Nation invades. Oh, and one guy in his department's really a Fire Nation refugee, who's disappeared along with his family and everyone else who's like them. Now Lu-Shan's got to work with the Fire Nation to keep order and peace in his city, and it's not as bad as he thought it would be. So far.

Enemy Mine: Ba Sing Se's street scum and would-be avengers are a nuisance to both the well being of the Lower Ring and the Fire Nation occupants. Common sense dictates calling a truce, even if it makes his skin crawl.
A Father to His Men: Felt deeply betrayed when Huojin "disappeared".

Interservice Rivalry: City Guards and the Dai Li, to the point where no news on the latter is bad news. Justified, considering what the Dai Li was up to before (mindbending, involuntary disappearing acts), and what's been implied that they're up to now. Seems Kuei's new advisors are continuing Long Feng's practice of keeping their king in the dark, despite Kuei's leadership in La Résistance and the expectations of full disclosure. Bon? Quan? Not a smart idea, guys.
Urban Segregation: Due to the vastness and social strata of Ba Sing Se, tends to stay in the Lower Ring, unless making reports.
Urban Warfare: Has to deal with this, both against his people and the invasion forces. Lu-Shan is even less happy about it than the above.

Huojin

The first of Amaya's many hidden Fire Nation refugees in Ba Sing Se, Huojin was six years old when his parents disappeared, taken by the Dai Li. Amaya took him in, and he's been loyal to her ever since. Husband to Luli and father to Daiyu and Lim, Huojin's lived in Ba Sing Se for thirty years. He's made a good life for himself, joining the City Guard, and is indistinguishable from other Ba Sing Se residents, what with the queue of hair, the eyes, and his speech. His temper, though, is pure Fire Nation, but nobody really takes note of that. He'd be happy to live out his days in the city, with his family... Then two firebender refugees show up, and Huojin's life is no longer as stable as once was.

Becoming the Mask: 'Huojin' was the alternate persona wrought from his spirit by Amaya, when he was six. He now doesn't even remember who he was before then, except for his birth name.
Butt-Monkey: To top the mockingly unfortunate events that seem to follow him, he was once nearly strangled to death by an umbrella.

Luli

Huojin's loving wife and mother to his daughters, Luli works as an Earth Kingdom jade carver, making ornaments and jewellery for the city's residents. Toph takes a shine to her, as even though Luli can't bend, she knows her craft well and is eager to share her experiences with a willing audience. Luli is one of many Earth Kingdom residents who opts to leave in the mass exodus from Ba Sing Se, as she would never be separated from her husband and children.

Family Versus Career: Works as a jade carver in addition to raising her kids.
Housewife: As her profession allows her to work from home.
Open-Minded Parent: She freely associates with Fire Nation, Water Tribe, and Earth Kingdom alike.

Professor Tingzhe Wen

Teacher of history at Ba Sing Se University, Tingzhe comes from a long line of Earthbenders. He's come under the Dai Li's radar for supposedly subversive, anti-regime commentary hidden in his lectures. Married to Meixiang, a Fire Nation refugee, and has four children. Aids both Zuko and the Gaang when the situation calls for it, and assisted in the later evacuation of Ba Sing Se. After much trouble, undergoes a ceremony and is made head of the new Clan Wen, to solidify and protect his family.

Tropes associated with Tingzhe include:

Absent-Minded Professor: Subverted and played straight. He just acts that way to throw the Dai Li off his trail. But sometimes.... When his son, Jinhai, was born, his students had to go and fish him out of the Airbender section of the library stacks.

A Father to His Men: He cares for his students, so one of them disappearing for digging too deeply into the wrong subjects was a bad blow.
Lecture as Exposition: He notably gave one to Katara, in the hopes that she might learn something. It didn't work. As seen here.

Meixiang Wen

Fled the Fire Nation's Home Islands years ago on the orders of her family lord, Meixiang was the only one of her immediate family to reach the haven of Ba Sing Se. She fell in love with and married Professor Wen, gaining respectability and a step up the social ladder to living in the city's Middle Ring. Due to the mixed marriage, the family in divided - her older two children are solid Earthbenders, while the younger two are more Fire. To help ease the way and bring harmony, Meixiang performs a ritual that creates a new clan, one outside the Fire Nation's complicated web of loyalties and intrigues. Such an act is unfortunately considered treason in the Fire Nation, punishable by death, and Azula is resolved to see that all traitors suffer the consequences of their actions. Even the children.

Country Cousin: Her great-great-grandfather was Avatar Roku, making Meixiang and her children kin to Zuko and the royal family. Zuko is unaware of this until much later on.

Min Wen

Eldest child of the Wen family, Min is a stubborn Earthbender who knows his family's irregularities, were they to become known, could mean their doom. He's desperate to ensure that they're safe, and looks to joining the Dai Li as a means to that end. Regrettably, the city falls, and then Azula takes interest in him - and his recent Fire Nation ancestry does nothing to help matters.

Big Brother Bully: To Jinhan. Min's terrified of, among other things, his little brother's Firebending and their family's Fire Nation ancestry, rightfully believing it's going to get everyone in the Wen household killed. This manifests in his bad attitude and he isn't afraid to show it.

Jia Wen

She's the perfect, pretty professor's daughter. She has all the right clothes and makeup, and the right manners. She participates in the right activities, like poetry, and would nver do anything so unladylike as Earthbending or (gasp!) fighting. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Jia, she's perfectly normal, and by extension, so is the rest of her family. Right? Wrong. Turns out Jia is as scared as Min about the wellbeing of the family, but instead of lashing out with words and actions like her brother, Jia hides everything and plays her part behind a courtly mask - and hopes to all the spirits no one will suspect to look behind it.

Ambadassador: Zuko plans to send her along with an older assistant to the Fire court. Jia is perfect for the role due to her ability to keep up a courtly mask and her demonstrated courage against Azula ought to earn her the new Fire Lord's respect.
Ascended Extra: From canon. Jia is one of the girls seen in the poetry club Sokka crashes in Season Two. She's on the bottom left.◊

Lady of War: Briefly, when up against Azula. Perfectly capable of asskicking (she's a competent Earthbender) and healing.

Silk Hiding Steel: Especially evident when she gets the drop on Azula despite being frightened half to death.

Suyin Wen

Thirteen years old and staunch defender of her little brother, Suyin is the only one of her siblings who has no bending ability whatsoever. Despite this, she plans to learn as much as she can to protect him from any threats, even posing as a firebender if it means keeping him safe.

Badass Normal: With her mother and Mai to look up to, she's in good company.
Big Brother Instinct: Gender-inverted in a way that shows she's more attuned to Fire, though not as much as Jinhai.
Decoy Getaway: Plans to become this, to divert Jet.

Jinhai Wen

The youngest child and son of the Wen family, Jinhai is a six year old with a familiar problem that Zuko helps with. (It's not the boy's temper.) Jinhai was born during Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se, which, along with his mother's genes, may have influenced his abilities.

Annoying Younger Sibling: To Min. His sisters are a lot more tolerant.
Children Are Innocent: Partially subverted, in that while Jinhai does know what's going on, his parents and siblings are trying to shield him from the worst. Especially Jet.
For Your Own Good: Zuko pulls this one on Jinhai. It's a harsh lesson, but one Jinhai does take to heart.

Agent Bon

Another Dai Li agent, he first shows up when hunting a man-eating spirit loose in Ba Sing Se. During an interrogation session, said man-eating spirit arrives, possesses Amaya and proceeds to freeze him over. While two of his fellow agents are killed, Bon manages to hold on long enough for Zuko to save him. The methods Zuko uses, however, unwittingly give Bon the strength to break free of Azula's inner fire when she takes over. During the Fire Nation occupation, Bon acts as one of two advisors to the Earth King, concentrating mostly on the civilians and helping Kuei adjust to his rule.

Butt-Monkey: Has quite a few of these, usually in conjunction with Kuei. How does one explain the birds and bees to one's king? Though not always...
Quan: How's Operation Fainting Maid going?
Bon: ... I hate you, sir.
Be Careful What You Wish For: At one point, he wondered where there might be appropriately qualified bridal candidates for his king. The next moment... Well.
Headdesk: He bashes his head against the wall repeatedly, again thanks to Kuei.
The Matchmaker: For a brief period of time, much to Quan's amusement, Bon's extreme dismay, and Kuei's obliviousness. It's harder than usual, not just because she'll be a future royal consort, but as the girl must also meet certain spiritual requirements rarely found outside the Dai Li's own (male-only) ranks. The Touzaikaze solve that problem - and create a few new ones - when they send in two of their own women as potential brides.
"We give up everything for our city. Can't it give us something back?"

Agent Quan

Formerly Long Feng's second in command, Quan finds himself promoted when Azula executes her coup. Unlike most of the other Dai Li, Quan's dealt with "Lee" before, and this encounter leaves him with just enough to resist Azula's will - and release the horrors the Dai Li kept contained in order to try and bring her down. The deed meant Quan having to break his Dai Li oaths - an act fatal to Earthbenders - and has him accepting death, believe he has nothing else to live for now that Long Feng is dead and Azula is now his master. Kuei has other ideas, and Quan is quickly made the king's advisor alongside Bon, carrying out Kuei's plans to resist the Fire Nation occupation.

Conflicting Loyalty: On the one hand, he swore to protect the city. On the other, Long Feng was his boss and leader and Quan wants revenge. He subverts the third option - no way in hell is he following Azula, and he can't understand why his fellow Dai Li would.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Quan gets a long overdue one from none other than the Earth King himself.
La Résistance: Kuei runs it, but Quan is the one who enacts his king's strategies.

Unexpected Successor: Nobody was expecting Long Feng to go the way he did, least of all Quan. Made worse by Quan being present when Long Feng was killed quite literally before his eyes.
Welcome Back, Traitor: After attempting to strike out at Azula, the Dai Li under her give him this.

Healer Amaya

Born in the Northern Water Tribe, Amaya was a girl, a bender, and not the Avatar. As such, her family planned to marry her off to the first strong Waterbender who offered (Pakku was even a candidate). Sick of the politics and unwilling to marry anyone, Amaya took a page out of Kanna's book and bailed. She made it as far south as Ba Sing Se, and having been trained according to the North's customs, meant her skills as Healer were a valuable asset to the city. Soon after her arrival, she met and adopted Huojin, an action that would lead to three decades of hiding other Fire Nation refugees within Ba Sing Se's walls. Then Lee and Mushi came along...

Babies Ever After: At the end of the story, she's pregnant with Iroh's child. The closing author's note states that she later gives birth to twin daughters.

The Mentor: She gets Zuko started on healing.
Mundane Utility: While Amaya isn't making or breaking a bender on a whim (as some authors would have her), she has proved it a useful tool for people that have happened upon a hostile kamuiy.
Soul Power: She learned Energybending (Spirit-healing/bending, in Embers), from the Lion Turtle.

Original Characters - Fire Nation

Master Sergeant Yakume

One of many Fire Nation soldiers tasked with occupying Ba Sing Se and attached to Huojin's old Guard detachment, Yakume hails from the Fire Nation domain of Onsenzakura. He does not like the Earth Kingdom, its people, or its ways. At all. That said, he's well aware that Ba Sing Se feels the same way towards him. His job is to keep the peace, and if it means working with the people who not too long ago would have speared him through and/or bury him alive (and might still do it given a chance), well, so be it.

Booby Trap: Got caught in one, along with his men. Four went in, only two came out again.
Cultured Warrior: Knows a lot about the Earth Kingdom for a Fire Nation soldier. Justified, in that it makes his job easier.
Dangerous Workplace: Occupying a city's bad enough. Occupying the capital of your enemy is worse. And then there's the booby traps. Yeesh.
Mounted Combat: Was assigned a Komodo Rhino, the standard animal mount for Fire Nation ground forces.
Old Soldier/Proud Warrior Race Guy: Served under the Dragon of the West during Ba Sing Se. One of the few decent soldiers from that era still serving.
Take This Job and Shove It: Averted; while he might feel that way, this isn't Yakume's first such stint, and it won't be last, because he knows that someone's got to do it. And if it not him, then someone worse like the kind of soldier who's become all too commonplace under Ozai's rule
Urban Warfare: It's getting there. He's lost the men and got the marks to prove it. The Dai Li left in the city aren't sitting just around...
War Is Hell: Well aware of this. It's why he tries to work with the locals - the alternative is worse.
Won the War, Lost the Peace: Yes, Azula captured Ba Sing Se, finally putting the city under Fire Nation rule. Yes, the Dai Li are (mostly) under her command, and yes, the Earth Army leadership has been taken out. All of it means absolutely nothing when La Résistance fights back.
Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Holds himself, the City Guards and the occupying forces to that standard. Anyone who doesn't, Yakume promises to deal with personally.

Lieutenant Sadao

The second-in-command aboard Jee's ship Suzuran with an almost terminal case of nerves, leading to quite literally explosive results and constant transfers as his commanding officers got sick of the antics. It's partly due to Sadao's paranoia, and partly because his natural talents, like Zuko's, lie more in wave-style Firebending. Since being introduced to fire-healing, Sadao's incidents have notably decreased.

The Apprentice: To Jee. Assuming Sadao lasts long enough to learn about command.
Butt-Monkey: His previous commanders got so sick of Sadao's "antics" they usually ended up throwing him overboard. Except when Sadao saved them the trouble by preemptively jumping ship. Good thing he can swim.
Doomed Defeatist: Subverted, in that he's still around, but he definitely had the defeatist attitude down pat in his earlier appearances. He got better once Zuko got him starting on healing.
Ensign Newbie: Double-subverted. While not new to the Navy (it's implied he's been in the service for a while now) Sadao is new to the whole command thing.

Heal It With Fire: His strange affinity for external Firebending is great for changing a destructive flame into its healing form.
Healing Shiv: Other marines are less successful, as Imperial Firebending is taught around creating fire and letting its destructive nature pan out; not for handling anything (beyond extinguishing the unnecessary).
The Klutz/Having a Blast: He's no Combustion Man, but he has a "special" talent of accidentally blowing up things no one thinks actually could. This has wrecked his nerves for much of his life and the patience of most of his family. Before he could usher (further) havoc on his family's glass-blowing business, he was shipped off to war. In the wrong military branch. He was supposed to be headed for the Army, but ended up in the Marines, a place with less breathing room, making him more nervous and making his nervous detonations a concentrated problem.
Nerves of Steel: Despite being a paranoid Doomed Defeatist expecting the worst at all times, Sadao's actually very good at keeping calm during a firefight. In his own words, it's because combat is the worst thing that could happen to you happening to you, so why bother worrying anymore?

Lieutenant Teruko

28 years old and the female commander of the Suzuran's Marine contingent, Teruko is one of the few women in the Fire Nation military who isn't in the Home Guard. She hails from Byakko, Kuzon's former domain, and like Zuko, has draconian ancestry. She takes over teaching Jinhai and Shirong Firebending after the exodus from Ba Sing Se, Zuko being preoccupied with the bigger plan at the moment.

Dope Slap: Pulls one on Sokka. He then realises she's a girl.
Expy: Word of God says she's JAG's Sarah Mackenzie.
Lady of War: Surprisingly, for a Marine. Then again, she is an officer.
Samus Is a Girl: Many (non-Fire Nation) characters are surprised to hear a woman's voice emerge from the skull mask everyone is so familiar with.
Semper Fi: If the above didn't make it clear, the quote below will.
"I," Teruko said in a voice that surfaced from the faceplate like magma, "am not a girl. I am not woman. I am not missy. I am not your little sweetheart who cuts up seal meat in the igloo kitchen, iceboy! I, am a Fire Navy marine."

Sergeant Kyo

Ranking non-commissioned officer of his squad, he does his job well. A widower of some years, he and his squad are the best Teruko's got.

Dope Slap: He can do it without even seeming to move.
Expy: of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Nerves of Steel: Steady as a rock among rapids.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against the Earth Kingdom bandits who killed his family. It not only got him reassigned, but the rest of his squad too.

Private Rikiya

Hinted to come from a family of some standing, Rikiya's posting on the Suzuran seems to be as much escape as it is punishment detail.

Lampshaded Double Entendre: his first bit of characterization is turning something Teruko said into an innuendo.

Corporal Shoni

The only non-bending combat Marine on Kyo's squad, Shoni makes up for it with his knifework.

Badass Normal: Despite being one of two non-benders in Kyo's squad, he makes up for it by being really good with knives.

Shidan of Byakko

Well over a hundred years old, Shidan was once Kuzon's dragon companion, and knew Aang before the war. Later on, during the genocide of the dragons, he opted to take human form and in this guise married Kuzon's daughter Kotone, becoming Ursa's father. He has, for many years, acted on behalf on Byakko's interests; he holds no loyalties to anyone in the Fire Nation outside that of his wife, which is useful when helping one's grandson rebel against the Fire Lord.

The Chessmaster: He's been working to overthrow Koh's faction for at least the last century. Longterm plans, indeed.

Humanity Is Infectious: Subverted. He hasn't quite lost the dragon-like presence or the teeth. His speech mannerisms betray his struggling mastery of words and when Saoluan asks why the Fire Nation has to be filled with homicidal maniacs:
Shidan: So you do understand. Good.
Natural Weapon: His piercingly sharp, rock-hard claws.

Psychic Link: He senses Zuko becoming yaoren. He knows that Ursa is wounded. A staple of all dragons.
Shapeshifting Lover: He became human to marry Kotone, but cannot revert back until she dies.

Temul

In life, Temul was a contemporary of Kyoshi. She survived the Avatar's hurricane that decimated her people and later tried to bring back the wave styles that had been lost. After her death, she remained as a ghost, allying herself with Kuzon and assisting in his plans. She wasn't privy to everything, though. The onmitsu found that out the hard way. Lived in Shu Jing, the same town Piandao calls home. Both were present at Kuzon's passing. After Piandao retired, he tried to help the area. Apparently, he succeeded well enough for Temul to adopt him. In chapter 54, she also adopts Sokka, as a form of were-gild from the Avatar for Kuzon's and her own deaths.

Berserk Button: The Avatar. Any Avatar. With Kyoshi's actions and Roku maintaining the status quo, Aang had better watch out...
- Disrespect
- Air Nomads. Aang's going to get his ass kicked...
- Fire Lord Sozin
- Threats to her people.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Openly hates the Air Nomad elders and tells Aang straight to his face that if Sozin had only wanted their lives, she'd have been the first one to sign up for it. Still dies protecting the secret of where she had hidden the surviving Air Nomad children, purely and simply because it was the right thing to do, personal feelings be damned.
Temul: Innocent children are going to be killed. Not while I'm alive.

Posthumous Character: She's a ghost.

What the Hell, Hero?: To Kyoshi, for what she did to the Fire Nation.

Makoto

Sozin's dragon companion, and later wife, she is grandmother to Iroh and Ozai, and great-grandmother to Zuko and Azula. A dark dragon and longtime ally of Koh, she is also the last known surviving dragon of the clan that once guarded the supervolcano Asagitatsu, the location of which was lost for generations. It was because there was no one able or willing to pacify the volcano that it last erupted, killing Avatar Yangchen and her yaoren in the initial blast, and countless others with the resulting ash fall. (A similar eruption took place 2000 years ago, according to archaeological findings; Asagitatsu's explosive eruptions tend to occur once every 1000 years, and the latest is presently a century overdue.) Like Shirotora, who has Clan Byakko to control it, Makoto's clan once served the same purpose for Asagitatsu - until they vanished for reasons unknown. Asagitatsu is discovered to be the volcano neighbouring the Northern Air Temple that Zuko plans to set up his colony of last resort, and luckily for the would-be settlers, two of Makoto's blood are there to make peace with the long-abandoned volcano. Whether they can succeed, or whether Makoto will allow it, remains to be seen.

Ascended Extra: Sozin's unnamed dragon companion in canon.

Death Faked for You/Faking the Dead: The first by claiming Makoto was killed, starting the tradition of dragon hunting, when in fact Makoto had taken the Shapeshifting Lover route to become Sozin's wife as Fire Lady Tejina. The latter happened after Sozin's death and the Shapeshifter Mode Lock on her human form ended - a badly charred human body was found in Tejina's chambers. A positive identification was never made, but everyone assumed Tejina had died. Seeing as how Makoto's still around, it's a good bet that the corpse was really that of a particularly unfortunate palace servant-turned-decoy.

It's Personal: Said to be her reaction to a member of Clan Byakko killing her son Azulon. They were already enemies on general principles (all dragons want dark dragons dead).
Mayfly–December Romance: She was easily a thousand years older than Sozin when they married, and she's still alive and killing... Somewhere.

Tough Love: She does this to Azula to see if she is worthy of Sozin's and her (Asagitatsu's) line. Azula is not amused in the least. While Azula may not realize who she is (yet), it is highly doubted now that Azula will ever take her side.

Original Characters - Other

Langxue

An orphaned Water-tribe boy from Kyoshi island. He is 13 years of age, short, wields a katana, and after Yue steps in, he becomes the third yaoren (of Air and Water). Unlike Shirong and Zuko, Langxue was also a yaoren in previous lives.

Heroic Sacrifice: To save his surrogate older sister from the Unagi, he prays for more speed, and Tengri made him into the third yaoren.

Katanas Are Just Better: Double Subverted. It was his mother's, so he holds it dear, despite others deriding it as ill-fitting.
Locked into Strangeness: An encounter with a spirit ended in his hair having a touch of white.
Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: He's the one who finishes off Makoto. We only see him winding up his opening salvo, then receive confirmation later that he pulled it off.

Razor Wind: It then turns out to be the traditional blade of Airbenders.
Reincarnation: Of Hyourin, one of Avatar Yangchen's yaoren friends. This isn't the first past life that Hyourin has had, however.

Saoluan

One of the older Kyoshi Warriors, and currently the longest-serving. Most of the Kyoshi Warriors are Suki's age because those who were Saoluan's died en masse fighting a giant leech some six years past. She acts as a sister/surrogate mother to Langxue, no one else wanting to take him in. Later accompanies him on his quest to find the other yaoren.

Katanas Are Just Better: The swords are part of a Kyoshi Warrior's arsenal, alongside the golden metal fans.

Asahi

A black, female ostritch-horse whom Zuko healed. She has a nasty set of claws and an even worse temper. Previously belonged to Ping, who was first the victim of a Fire Nation raid, and then, when the repercussions of that became obvious, was murdered by her father and brothers. Her death unleashed the plague spirit that brings Zuko and Iroh to the ranch, who in turn get Asahi and bring her family's crimes to light.

Feathered Fiend: 'Damned Bitch Hen' has risen over a bloodied, collective panic at least twice, in the story.
Morality Pet: Played with. As effective as she is in getting Zuko on his good side, it's usually Zuko that has to keep Asahi from mauling just about everyone.
Spell My Name With An S: Literally. For a few chapters, her name was written as Asashi.

Xiu

A tall silk weaver who hires Zuko to treat her grandmother's headache. Later, when 'Lee' manages to anger the older woman, Xiu thanks him for distracting her grandmother from complaining about her boyfriend. Both she and the aforementioned boyfriend return about 3 arcs later and play important roles as exposition bait and plot boosters, respectively.

My Eyes Are Up Here: With Zuko, who opens the door to glare at whoever's on the other side. It takes Zuko a second to realize that he's looking at breasts before he looks up, to see a wry look on Xiu's face.

Boots

A ghostly pair of boots (known as a Beto Beto) that walks behind people to creep them out, trip or kicks people when he's especially rowdy, and always wants to play fetch (kick-the-can style) with rocks or shamans.

Meaningful Name: Toph named him... Which, given the rest of the Gaang (Sokka in particular), was probably for the best, since spirits tend to reflect how spirits regard him. So, if Sokka sarcastically called him Doom Greeves: The Conquerer, Boots might have actually changed to fit that name. But that didn't happen, and chapters later (56), Sokka himself provides insight into Toph's naming of the spirit:
Sokka: You like her because she's trouble," Sokka decided, eying the faint swirl of ashes above the sound of tapping toes. "Because she's loud and stubborn and she shakes the ground - and that scares people. Which is what you live to do. Aang thinks you're her friend, but - it's more of a partner in crime, isn't it?

Tao

Aang's spiritualist teacher, Tao hails from the Earth Kingdom from the village of Taku. He sets out to teach Aang what he can about the spirits.

Abandoned War Child: The child of an Earth Kingdom woman and a Fire Nation soldier who raped her during the initial invasion of the city of Taku. As a result, he loathes his father (whom he never met), the Fire Nation, and everything associated with it.
Child by Rape: Tao was the result after his mother was caught in the Fire Nation's initial invasion/attack of the Earth Kingdom city of Taku. Ping wasn't the only one; such atrocities have been ongoing since Sozin's time.

My God, What Have I Done?: Faces this after attempting to teach a naive Aang about the realities of war and the times they live in, Aang's reaction, and Hakoda having to set Tao straight that Aang really was that sheltered and knew absolutely nothing at all about how life is - for everyone.

Eshe

A young woman of the surviving Air Nomad tribe, the Touzaikaze. She is an air-healer. She heals Tennen, and goes with Amisi to meet Kuei. Due to Kuei's banishment of Wan Shi Tong, the Touzaikaze offer her and Amisi as potential brides to the Earth King.

Ninja: She and Amisi infiltrate Kuei's hiding place through the air shafts. Bon and Quan don't notice until the girls are right there in front of them.
What Beautiful Eyes!: Understatement. Kuei has to think very hard on an appropriate metaphor before settling for something brief.
Sometimes, Kuei was really glad he wore glasses. If he'd stared right into those earnest gray eyes without any shield... well, he wasn't sure what he would have done. She was just - well - pretty didn't fit, not really. The noble ladies of Ba Sing Se were pretty. Looking at Eshe was like sneaking to a palace window to watch a thunderstorm roll in. Tasting the wind, and knowing it came from somewhere else. Seeing the gray slant of a downpour far across the city, long before the rain could dampen palace stone... "Your eyes are like the rain."

Amisi

A female sandbender of the Touzaikaze. She helps Yakume and Lu-shan get Tennen out of a rock-slide and later, goes with Eshe to meet Kuei. She and Eshe are sent from their tribe to offer alliance with the Earth King.

Ninja: She and her cousin infiltrate Kuei's hiding place through the air-shafts. Bon and Quan don't notice until the girls are right in front of them.
Pair the Spares: Possibly with Bon. Although Kuei could marry her as well as Eshe, he's noticed that Amisi and Bon might be falling in love, and he has no intention of marrying Amisi if it would make her miserable.

Shih

An ex-Onmitsu known as the Demon of Taku who deserted Sozin's forces & was hiding out in the Western Air Temple shortly before Sozin's attack on the air nomads.

Death Seeker: Either a case of Forgiveness Requires Death or he's just a bit too selfless, but Shih's first impulse is to die to save the Elder Nuns who hate everything he represents.

Luke, I Am Your Father: May have been Aang's (and/or Piandao's) father.

Gyate

An air nun from the time of Sozin.

Luke, I Am Your Father: She's somewhat subtly revealed to be Aang's mother.

Ja Aku

One of Aang's fellow monks at the Southern Air Temple. His name is mentioned in chapter 37 by Kuzon. In chapter 54, his name is mentioned again, via Temul's flashback, and is confirmed by Aang himself to have trained the Onmitsu, the airbenders who killed Kuzon.

Ascended Extra: He was the one monk during the canon episode "The Storm" who told Aang that because he was the Avatar, it would be unfair for him to play on any team.

Evil Mentor: He had something to do with the incident in Shu Jing where the onmitsu, trained by Ja Aku, whom Aang said himself had trained them, turned on Kuzon and killed him.
Posthumous Character: Kuzon was pretty old when he mentioned Ja Aku, so it's safe to say that he may be dead.

Hitomi

A merchant for Byakko under Shidan's orders. She's one of the prisoners that Hama captured. Toph breaks her and the rest of the prisoners out. With Toph's Earthsense, we learn that she is one of the members of the Yamabushi, the mountain sages living in the Fire Nation.

Badass Normal: She works for Shidan. Going undercover like that takes guts. Especially when getting captured by Hama.
Blow You Away: Averted. She's an Air Nomad, but not an airbender. She's a descendant of one, perhaps.
No Time to Explain: Her fear of Avatar Aang the "Temple child" is palpable, and tells Toph why she can't meet Aang:
"So long as Monk Aang lives, the Temple lives. The Elders were talking to Monk Gyatso before... before the war. But his apprentice wasn't old enough to find his Way. We aren't to speak of the morning wind until he is."
"His way?" Toph frowned.
"It's... important," Hitomi said carefully. "When you're old enough to ask questions. And think of your own answers."
Warrior Monk: She's part of the yamabushi's order, but she's moonlighting as a spy for Shidan.

Amak

A male waterbender of Lituya Bay, formerly of the Southern Water Tribe. Unable to return home knowing he would spread a Hate Plague, he and the few prisoners who survived Hama's breakout ended up in Lituya Bay. There, he met his wife, Karasu of Byakko, and had four children with her.

Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Or at least unable to associate with Water Tribals. Even decades later, he and every other escapee has to watch their tempers around Hakoda and the other sheltering Tribesmen or they'll infect them with the Hate Plague they contracted in Azulon's waterbender prison.

You Can't Go Home Again: Along with the rest of the survivors of Hama's Waterbender prison, he can't without infecting the Tribes with a Hate Plague. And as only Fire Nationals have the ability to resist it, a lot of of the survivors who reached Byakko killed themselves upon learning that despite escaping, the Fire Nation still got the last laugh in that not only could they never return home, but could only safely associate with Fire Nationals. Amak only accepted his situation(and Karasu's courtship) after Azulon assassinated Kuzon, which led him to realize that the Fire Lords were just as merciless and cruel to their own people as they were to the rest of the world.

Characters / Embers (Vathara)

Main Canon Characters

Minor Canon Characters

Original Characters - Ba Sing Se

Original Characters - Fire Nation

Original Characters - Other

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