Reading the dawn of Yangchen. I can't be the only person that finds it incredibly funny that Roku seems to be only avatar within several generations to have a traditional avatar journey resulting in him being told at age 16 and only mastering all four elements in his mid 20's? Yangchen found out herself when she was like 10 ish bc she was plagued by nightmares of past avatars, and was already an established avatar when we meet her at age 16-17 in the first novel. Kyoshi only found out when she was 16 bc the earth kingdom method of identifying the avatar doesn't work when the avatar's an orphan and they thought it was someone else first, but she mastered all four elements in less than two years. Aang was told at age 12 because of the war looming around the corner, and had to master all elements within less than year out of pure necessity (i say less than a year bc Aang was told abt the comet during the winter solstice and the comet appears at the end of summer). Korra discovered she was the avatar at the ripe old age of four or five and managed to bend three out of four elements by that age, and mastered all four at age 16.

To be fair to Roku, we're not really told how old Kuruk is by the time he masters all four elements. I'm pretty sure he was told at age 16 as well but I'm assuming he finished his journey earlier seeing as he died at age 33. Kuruk's story was also quite a bit more exciting (and dark) because he fought dark spirits on the regular. Roku was just kinda there. All he did was be bisexual and fail to prevent his bestie from colonizing the world.

All of this to say, out of all avatars in the immediate surrounding cycle, Roku once again comes out looking a bit like a chump and I'm loving the consistency lmao

actually I dislike this thought process that disparages a slower development. Not everyone’s a prodigy, and being slower to grasp skills does not a chump make. :)

True, but not being able to hold back a Volcano at full Avatar power and dying in the process, only to then be shown up when your reincarnation does it effortlessly a year later at age 12 having only mastered one element does a chump make :)

Hehe that’s fair. But, also important to note, the eruption was on a smaller scale, and Aang was not alone!

While ur right, Roku's was def at a larger scale, i still don't understand the reason he stayed behind. Most people from the island were already on dingies like a mile away from the shore watching from afar, so why did he stay?

Also, while Aang had help at the start, he encountered the same problem Roku did which is the moat they dug overflowing. Aang was left on his own and did the smart thing and stayed below, creating a barrier to protect the villagers. He only had airbending, no control over the avatar state. For some reason Roku chose to fight the volcano at the mouth, when he didn't really have any reason to since everyone was already safe. Did he try to protect the island? Why? He also had all 4 elements at his disposal and mastery of the avatar state, so like up to par with his level i'd say (compared to aang's smaller eruption being up to par with his abilities at the time)

Anyways all of that to say, he still looks like a chump in my eyes sorry user hauntedradiotower 😭😭

Reading the dawn of Yangchen. I can't be the only person that finds it incredibly funny that Roku seems to be only avatar within several generations to have a traditional avatar journey resulting in him being told at age 16 and only mastering all four elements in his mid 20's? Yangchen found out herself when she was like 10 ish bc she was plagued by nightmares of past avatars, and was already an established avatar when we meet her at age 16-17 in the first novel. Kyoshi only found out when she was 16 bc the earth kingdom method of identifying the avatar doesn't work when the avatar's an orphan and they thought it was someone else first, but she mastered all four elements in less than two years. Aang was told at age 12 because of the war looming around the corner, and had to master all elements within less than year out of pure necessity (i say less than a year bc Aang was told abt the comet during the winter solstice and the comet appears at the end of summer). Korra discovered she was the avatar at the ripe old age of four or five and managed to bend three out of four elements by that age, and mastered all four at age 16.

To be fair to Roku, we're not really told how old Kuruk is by the time he masters all four elements. I'm pretty sure he was told at age 16 as well but I'm assuming he finished his journey earlier seeing as he died at age 33. Kuruk's story was also quite a bit more exciting (and dark) because he fought dark spirits on the regular. Roku was just kinda there. All he did was be bisexual and fail to prevent his bestie from colonizing the world.

All of this to say, out of all avatars in the immediate surrounding cycle, Roku once again comes out looking a bit like a chump and I'm loving the consistency lmao

actually I dislike this thought process that disparages a slower development. Not everyone’s a prodigy, and being slower to grasp skills does not a chump make. :)

True, but not being able to hold back a Volcano at full Avatar power and dying in the process, only to then be shown up when your reincarnation does it effortlessly a 100 years later at age 12 having only mastered one element does a chump make :)

The more i think about it the more the atla timeline seems fucked to me lol

Especially when it comes to Zuko's ancestry. Roku is his great grandfather. That man died 112 years before the show's events where Zuko is 16 turning 17. Ursa is in her late thirties during the events of the search, where Zuko is 19. This means Ursa should be in her early twenties when Zuko is born, 96 years after Roku died. This means she should have been born about 70 years after Roku died. She is Roku's maternal granddaughter, and for this to make sense biologically, let's say her mother had a late baby and was in her fourties when she gave birth to Ursa, meaning Ursa's mother had to be born about thirty years after Roku died. My question here is: how??

Roku was already 70 when he died. I know men can impregnate til quite late in their life but he was loyal to his wife Ta Min, who was around his age so had to be... let's say at least 65? Meaning, thirty years later, she's already 95 when she's supposed to give birth to Ursa's mother Rina, and according to the wiki Roku is alive when Rina is born.

I'm tired it's late i'm in my bed typing this out please someone make sense of this mess

I've done the math before and, it only works if you:

Kill off Ta Min. That older woman we saw was Roku's second wife.

Make their son 10 when Roku died.

Have that son, have Ursa when he's 65 (again with a second wife)

Have Ursa have Zuko when she's 40.

Then you get 17 year old Zuko, exactly 112 years after Roku's death.

112 - 55 - 40 - 17 = 0

Basically, the Fire Nation embraces the concept of starter wives.

Shaving a decade off Roku and Sozin would help smooth the timeline out. If 55 year old Roku hooks up with a 30 year old and they have a son, he could reasonably have a 4 year old at time of death! Then Ursa can be 34, which is more workable within the story.

Basically they need to retcon but it is possible. Just barely.

I mean we could 100% just fix it in a much simpler way by adding a second "great" in "great grandfather", that way we wouldn't have to change Rina into a male character, and Roku can still be loyal to his Ta Min.

Sozin and Roku are Zuko's great great grandfather, what if Azulon is his great grandfather, make Iroh is grandpa, and Ozai remains his dad. We could still use the "Ozai usurps the throne" storyline bc it's entirely believable that Ozai may have thought his own father weak for ending the seige on Ba Sing Se without victory after the loss of his much younger brother Lu Ten. He could have demanded the same thing from Azulon, the bond between Zuko and Iroh wouldn't change.

On Ursa's side this would be an easy fix as well. Make Roku her great grandpa, add another son or daughter in between Rina and Ursa.

I feel like if i created this show it would be easier to go "yea i beefed it" and fix it like this instead of doing mathematical magic to try and hide my mistake lmao

the rozin timeline (lowkey a prequel to this)

bonus:

Still not over the fact that Roku died while fighting a volcano, which is something he didn't even have to do btw bc everyone was already safe on the boats and off of the island, and then Aang shows him up 112 years later by battling a volcano and not only did he not die, he was able to save an entire village within seconds. Roku is a chump period.

@blandatlaheadcanons

[ID: #to be fair to Roku Aang did have a bit more warning about the volcano #AND he had the help of the entire village while Roku battled alone]

While this is true, we have to factor in other things as well. For one, Roku was already a fully realized Avatar. He had control over all four elements AND the Avatar state. He even had Sozin's help for a little while (yes sozin did betray him afterwards, but he came over with good intentions at first.) Aang only had airbending and a bit of waterbending, no Avatar state unless provoked, and only a few earthbenders in the village, who were no where near other great earthbenders we've seen when it comes to skill. One of them was an actual child.

Another thing is, Roku's plan went exactly the same as Aang's did. They made a moat for the lava to flow down to and into the water, away from the village. But the moat started to overflow. This is where Roku made the critical mistake of going up to the top of the volcano to fight it head on, while Aang was smarter and stayed down below. At this point Roku seems in full battle, while Aang's main priority is still the village and everyone in it.

Another issue with Roku is that he did not have to stay. Everyone was already off of the island and into a boat. Had he just joined them he would have lived. Sure they would lose their home, but I'm sure a master Avatar would be able to provide temporary shelter while everyone rebuilt their houses. With Aang however, there were still people in that village. Sure the majority had evacuated, but we can see right after he built that wall of solid magma, Sokka and Katara are staring at him right where the village was about to be destroyed.

Aang was able to use quick and creative thinking to save the village, by basically making a wall of solid lava rock with his airbending, to make sure the lava didn't get to them. Roku's chumpy ass unnecessarily tried to fight a volcano, even had Sozin's help for a solid minute, and then did the exact thing he told Sozin not to do: breathe in te toxic gas. Sure it was an accident, but come on man you're an airbender. Think man THINK.

Roku is a chump 2022 and he will forever be known that way

I love how roku sometimes just popped aang into the spirit world and dropped life changing information onto him and then popped him back in his body to figure it out lmaoo

hey guys! i finally made an avatar quiz. this is my take on which avatar would you be

Yes this is 100% correct this test is so accurate and everyone should try it

So my point B would more accurate?

And agreed, anyone on that day could have been avatar, but it’s interesting that Roku and Sozin had fairly similar odds

It is an interesting detail, and I have to admit I kinda forgot about this and had to look it up on the avatar wiki lmao so thanks for pointing it out!