#the reckoning of roku – @aangarchy on Tumblr

Reading the Reckoning of Roku, still not gonna sway from my narrative of Roku being one of the chumpiest avatars in the last few generations lmao

#like my brother in christ or in spirits ig in this universe: you cannot airbend bc of that stupid piece of gold sozin gave you!!#but also genuinely convinced there was homoeroticism in roku & sozin's friendship at some point #also roku had a twin brother that died?? wtf is that about #the reckoning of roku #tror #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar roku

aangarchy

Spoilers for the roku novel ahead!

Apparently in this novel they retcon Iroh inventing lightning redirection to Sozin being the inventor. Now I know the writers have retconned their own canons before, but in this instance I genuinely don't understand why they decided to do this because it makes no sense.

For Iroh to observe, analyze and implement bending techniques from other nations into his own firebending makes sense. This man has spent a lot of time in the other nations, both fighting for the firenation as well as traveling on his own or with Zuko after the latter's banishment. Iroh is also not someone who seems to believe firebending is superior to all other bending, or at least he doesn't give the impression that he ever really subscribed to that ideology. It is canon that Iroh visited the dragons Ran and Shaw before Zuko was even born, as we learn from Zuko: "the last dragon was killed long before I was born, by my uncle" which is the lie Iroh spun to protect them. If those dragons deemed him worthy before he even besieged Ba Sing Se for 600 days, he must have never agreed with Fire Nation supremacy at heart, even if he did participate in it. (Yes i also agree this stuff is a bit bullshitty, but i can at least understand a man like iroh implementing moves he learned from waterbenders in his own firebending)

Now Sozin on the other hand, I would never in a million years believe a man like him chose to observe waterbenders, a people he actively believes is lesser, and then learn from them to develop his own technique. Sozin seems like a man who would prefer to shit in his own hands and clap rather than try and learn anything from any other nation, let alone waterbenders. This man started a war because he believed his own people were the superior. You can't convince me he would choose to learn from people he thinks are nothing more than lowly peasants not worthy of his time. Even if it is to improve his own power, even if it is to invent his own technique.

They also made it so Roku is also capable of bending white hot fire like Rangi, which I also don't know how to feel about. I haven't actually read the novel yet and I'm still planning on doing that, but man knowing these things made me a bit less excited about it.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar #roku #the reckoning of roku #tror #avatar roku #sozin #firelord sozin #iroh #uncle iroh

aangarchy reblogged

aangarchy

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

hauntedradiotower

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. :)

aangarchy

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 :)

hauntedradiotower

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

aangarchy

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 😭😭

#roku #avatar roku #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #tror #the reckoning of roku

aangarchy reblogged

aangarchy

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

hauntedradiotower

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. :)

aangarchy

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 :)

#i've always been of the opinion that he's a bit of a chump #i also kind of think like... he's the Avatar #the Single Most Powerful Human on the Planet #it's kind of a Thing abt being the avatar that you're powerful in your own righr #kyoshi was not a prodigy and managed to master the elements using her mother's fans #she couldn't properly master her native element until she used the fans #and she still managed to master all 4 elements and the avatar state abt two years later #either way like i said I'm intrigued by the roku novel #curious where that's gonna lead #atla #tror #the reckoning of roku #avatar roku #avatar #roku #avatar novels

aangarchy

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