Yangchen is the Reason Kuruk Died So Young
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Y'all need to put more respect on Kuruk's name. He died for another Avatar's "sins." Haha, bue for real, let's discuss the new ideas presented about Avatar Yangchen and Avatar Kuruk from F.C. Yee's The Shadow of Kyoshi.
#avatar #thelastairbender #thelegendofkorra #kyoshi #kuruk #yangchen
0:00 - Introduction
1:03 - Why Spirits Hated Kuruk
2:49 - Yangchen Originally Provoked Dark Spirits
3:34 - Kuruk protects Yangchen's Legacy
5:43 - Kuruk's Shortened Life
8:12 - Kuruk's Fighting Prowess
9:09 - Closing Thoughts
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
• The Last Airbender: amzn.to/2O9PsxY
• The Legend of Korra: amzn.to/3ebkboI
• The Rise of Kyoshi: amzn.to/34nO29X
• The Shadow of Kyoshi: amzn.to/3fh7Xve
Y'all need to put more respect on Kuruk's name.
He literally did quite nothing
I'm gonna make a wild guess that... you didn't read Shadow of the Kyoshi.
Yeah he didn’t
Facts. Kuruk is now in my top 2 favorite avatars after reading the Shadow of Kyoshi, and one of my favorite avatar characters period
Exactly
This show legit has a million spinoff ideas
And everyone of them is better than the story of Korra and the character herself.
Yeah but too bad every network and studio doesn’t wanna listen to the creators about how to run A story they came up with
@@thestrangah9690 That's true, but what I mean is they could just expand the animated series...no one needs a live action honestly.
Konan x Hidan uhmm
And yet they are making a live action series
The fact that his wife's face got stolen was enough for me to give kuruk slack
And now with added context it probably happened while he was settling down (after quelling most of the dark spirits), getting with a girl that gave him peace, but then having another dark spirit in Koh come and ruin that all. There's a whole-ass story there.
@@AntoineBandele Yeah and Kuruk has been trying to hunt Koh since then as we also saw in Escape from the Spirit world episode of Aang meeting with his past lives after he was shocked by Azula.
Same for me! When Aang was talking with his pst lifes and came Kuruk's part I went full "I love this man" when they described his tragic romance story, and then the wisdom he gave to Aang
@@Pootis-Spencer though that wisdom was the same as the other Avatars' that he communed with, pretty much telling him that killing major threats, such as Ozai, was a necessary part of his duty as Avatar, which is more important than adhering to his pacifistic beliefs
Captaincory1 I mean they aren’t wrong in that regard. Aang just found a way around it. Which I kinda hate/love. I’d like to see aang in that more mature and consequential role but I like that he went with his own thing. That’s just aang imo
“Yangchen is the reason kuruk died so young”
And? Roku is the reason Aang is the last airbender
That's a really good point. And Aang is the reason Korra has such pressure to be an amazing Avatar.
Arianna Silva correction, Aang is the reason Korra is a sheltered avatar
Hopefully they’ll keep the theme going and Korra will be the reason the avatar is forgotten
@@TheMaverick454 Interesting Concept. In case you haven't heard of Love, Death and Robots yet, it has a short episode focusing on the world's loss of spirituality in favour of progress. To me this always felt like the logical next step in the Avatar franchise.
@@basslightyeah You've given me the idea for the next era. Since the next Avatar is an earthbender, being very grounded in the world versus spiritual matters, has to fight in a war versus the spirits that are feeling neglected and angry that they'd destroyed the natural world like the spirits that the firebenders offended/angered. Ofc it'd never be as good as the original but it would really push past the calm of Korra and delve deeper into the spiritual versus bending. That's what Korra was supposed to be but, other than the Harmonic Convergence story, it really didn't do justice to the spirits.
Much respect to Avatar Kuruk! He at first seemed arrogant and self-indulgent, but he was really self-sacrificing and caring. Because Yangchen favored humans over spirits, Kuruk had to use his life to rebalance the world and preserve Yangchen’s reputation. Having to constantly battle and cope with darkness reminds me of John Constantine.
Agreed shadow of kyoshi really made me respect kuruk. He’s definitely one of my favorite avatars now.
1.kyoshi
2.Kuruk
3.korra
4.Yangchen
5.Wan
6.Aang
7.Szeto
8. Roku
I always liked Avatar Kuruk, Since the fandom didn't really know much about him I was always so interested in his Character.
@@jaygo3558 who is szteo ?
Shehab Gamal the fire avatar before Yangchen. Aka avatar jafar they reveal his name in the new shadow of kyoshi book
Where have I seen these words ohh yeah with Korra
This kinda makes me feel like I owe Kuruk an apology...😔
He was such a good not only avatar but person, this really shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
I didn't read the book that's why-
If you think about it, it's even more impressive. When you first see this guy he is talking to aang on the lion turtle. information he gives a aang about his time as avatar. This information gives it new depth. that he's not even telling aang the whole truth. He ends of telling aang the lie that he made everyone else Believe in his time as Avatar.
But you guys did judge him
Ryu Majin the creators of Kuruk even made it so that we thought he was bad which makes us sympathise and feel sorry for his tragic story even more, touché.
In this case, don't judge an Avatar by his age. 😂
Personally I don’t get why ppl compare avatars to each other. They each have different situations to deal with but I still agree with most of what you said. They all have their pros and cons
I think this is really important to remember. At the end if the day, the Avatar is human, with amazing abilities. They'll make mistakes, and mess up. Unfortunately, their mistakes will affect the entire world for generations.
Yea, but it's human nature to compare and judge. Only that way can we label things as 'good' or 'bad', 'worse' or 'better' etc.
Yes, and their flaws are corrected in the next reincarnation
@@flacotaco6737 Only for others to pop up 🤷♂️
@@loganmcdonald7422 Very true, it's a never ending cycle
the reason kuruk didn't tell people wasn't to preserve yangchens legacy. The book said he didn't want his friends to know because they would get involved and he didn't want them to suffer injuries to their souls like he did. I think it's also interesting the way the injuries not only shortened his life but the way he described their horrible mental effects.
This is true, while Yangchen believed otherwise, Kuruk wanted to protect his friends from all of the stuff that goes along with hunting spirits. Yangchen was just being too hard on herself, and honestly, that's how a responsible Avatar should be.
it's really depressing that most people thought kuruk lived a hedonistic lifestyle just for the sake of having fun, when in reality it was because he was using it as a coping mechanism for his deteriorating health and inner trauma
It was for both of those reasons.
Kuruk couldnt get with the the love of his life Hei Ran because he didn't want her to suffer like he did so he found a replacement called yumi as a substitute
@@achillesrodriguezxx3958 I would rather assume he just fell in love again. You aren't limited to falling in love with one person your whole life. I think the reason he didn't confess to hei-ran had more to do with her being already happily married so he didn't want to upset that and cause her trouble. Mind you he still almost did till kelsang convinced him otherwise. I also think he probably thought he could keep yumi out of it. He always went to find spirits that were about to come in to his world and wreck havoc so as long as he didn't tell her she would be safe, he didn't think one would come after him or his family at home.
Can the Kyoshi books be animated instead of the Netflix live action
That’d be sick
Papa Joseph right
Well, so many people read the book including myself. So at this point they should have a Idea just as good as the kyoshi book but animate that
Nick fxcked Bryke while doing Korra. I dont know if they still want to make another nick atla series
yessssssss much better idea
"If you haven't read Kyoshi, click away from this review"
*No, I don't think I will*
Lol right. He warns of spoilers and I'm just like...why do you think I came all this way??
you guys really need to read these if you havent yet lol
Honestly these kyoshi novels expanded the lore so much it amazes me. It made me realize the cycle of the avatar. Yangchen made a mistake which in turn affected Kuruk which inturn affected Kyoshi Who had to put the world back together since Kuruk had to fix Yangchens mistake. Kyoshi brought balance and from that balance the fire nation prospered and that brought apon the 100 years war which was Roku's mistake that Aang had to fix. This show always takes about how the Avatars job to to mantain balance and honestly I never understood that until we saw the big picture in Kyoshi novels. It just blows my mind how deep this lore is
It also carries a nice message, that it’s the duty of the succeeding generation to fix the previous generation’s mistakes. While things may get progressively better in the larger scheme of things, each solution creates a brand new set of problems that need to be ironed out. Take the history of the fire nation. The fire nation used to be composed disparate and warring islands, this was fixed by the establishment of the oligarchy that we see in Kyoshi’s reign. The fire nation couldn’t unify unless each clan was given some measure of independence to rule themselves, ensuring one clan cannot rule completely over the other, with the tie breaker being the fire lord. However, the clans then grew too politically powerful, and they began to create even larger conflicts as a consequence of alliances forming among the clans to scheme and fight against mutual rivals. So the fire nation needed to slowly dismantle the clan system by centralizing power to the fire lord, creating a national identity through the fire lord’s legitimacy. But once they unified, their martial tendencies gave them imperial ambitions, and they started warring with the other nations as a result. It’s such a slick progression of history, and I love how you can see how that the challenges from one era naturally shape the world and transition it into the next. That level of lore building is not easily achieved
At the same time. Yangchen had to deal with the World bc her predecesor from the Fire Nation focus only in the Fire Nation. So in a way, every Avatar life is connected. And the Avatar cycle is the primal engine of history in this universe.
It started with air and ended with air. Pretty interestingly cycle. Imagine how many years it took to fix that mess?
@@be5608 well it started with fire cause the avatar before Kyoshi focused solely on the fire nation.
Technically, while the war is indirectly Roku's fault for not dealing with Sozin when he should have, the reason it was allowed to go on for a hundred years is Aang's fault. If he had dealt with crashing down into the water during the storm in a different way he could have done his duty of ending the war a lot sooner.
Yangchen is still great, but Kuruk is now Avatar Batman
We desperately need a new animated Avatar series about past Avatars like Kuruk. So much to explore in history of the past Avatar and the world they each had to cope with
Yea season 4 the past
bc we really only know about roku aang and korra
Like
Kuruk
Roku
Yangchen
Kyoshi
Szetzo
The others we don't know
Looking at how korra went, we dont need anything
@@Trathien- keep your opinion imagine backstories
@CJ Johnson you know that the J in "CJ" already stands for Johnson? Your Account name spelled out completely would be "Carl Johnson Johnson".....
Okay, now I want an animated series about Kuruk’s life not Yangchen’s
But before that, I want Kiyoshi's books to be animated! Her story is just raw and like it's not just for kids. It's like the reason why she's soo singular and direct in stuff.
I mean i still want Yangchen's, shes best girl Avatar. To me anyway lol
Yeah no. Yang Chen is still a badass. I want to see her life and the air nomads in their glory.
Musomania27 nah Kyoshi is the best female avatar 🤣
Lol it'd be like one season.
I really wanna see a comic for him when he is hunting Koh throughout the Spirit World. This also got me thinking, that Korra she lost her connection to the past Avatars, but she didn't say they were destroyed. So hypothetically, the next Avatar could find a way to absorb their spirits back into Raava
I hope they keep it so that the past lives are severed. I think that will show real impact within the world (and real consequences too).
@@AntoineBandele I agree but it would be a cool thing for the avatar to do, maybe not the one directly after korra tho
Antoine Bandele i gotta respectfully disagree. I liked Korra but the past lives are one of the coolest aspects of Avatar.
Plenty of stories can be told with the, you know, past lives. Korra is the end of that line. If you want to see that stuff they can easily go back, just look at what we got with the Kyoshi novels, for example.
Antoine Bandele But it was so unique to have direct communication between reincarnations. I would love to add it back if not just to have interesting dialog and differing perspectives on what being an Avatar is.
I don't blame Yangchen because she understood that her duty was the world. She was a good avatar but she made mistakes
The mistake is that her duty is to both worlds, mortal and spirit, and she neglected the latter.
Antoine Bandele ironic bc she was an airbender who are the most spiritual people out of the four nations
A Candle that Burns Bright Funny how that works, just like how Korras natural element is water but actually prefers fire her natural opposite.
@@ABurningCandle Ironic indeed
@Arigato Senpai yeah I agree because that means someone an avatar could he the worst at their own element and assuming they can't bend 3 elements at 4 years old then they wouldn't know they're the avatar and they would just go 16 years struggling to do one element unless they get tapped by a bloodbender and can instantly learn it and preform it with ease
I refuse to believe that avatar Jafar’s real name is Szeto
Me tooooo
we all know his real name
Szeto*
Floraflowerr thx
He will always be 'unnamed fire Avatar" in our hearts.
“Kuruk is probably the most underrated Avatar ever.”
All Avatars before Yangchen(except Wan): 👌
Lmao
I can’t believe people are coming at Yangchen rn, all Avatars end up making mistakes.
Yea
Especially korra
@@keiden11 🤦
Yes exactly
Exactly, Avatars may be the master of all four elements but they are human too.
I've always kind of defended him anyways because I viewed it as not his fault that he was born into peaceful times.
I mean everything was already done when he came into the world and it seems like he acted the way any of us would act. He truly enjoyed himself.
But then the extra layer to know that he did actually do great things yet didn't feel the need to even take credit for it. He's definitely my favorite.
YOW U KNOW WHAT WOULD BE SICK!? An avatar Anthology series! Kinda similar to the clone wars series. So it focuses more on world building, giving us more info on previous avatars! I mean who wouldnt want to learn more about the arm less female avatar? Or the avatar AFTER Wan?
An anthology would be fantastic. Like Animatrix or Love, Death, & Robots for Avatar!
@@AntoineBandele I can imagine the story of the second avatar being a story similar to that of comic book character, regular person becoming someone incredibke
Wan - The first avatar, he didnt knew that Vaatu would cause much trouble, he travelled the World to Gain the other Elements, to defeat Vaatu, he Put his life to a Risk when he fused with Raava just to Imprison Vaatu
Yangchen - Created an Era of Peace
Kuruk - Changed his Boasty behaviour after meeting his Beloved, literally fought Evil spirits
Kyoshi - Stopped the Great Chin at Conquering the entire Earth Kingdom
Roku - Friends with the Firelord, Battled.a Volcano, but didnt knew the war was coming
Aang - Stopped the War Sozin Started
Korra - Didnt realized the change she made from a boasty Avatar to a More spiritual Avatar, she did this without her Connection to her Previous Lifetimes
no one is the best, Raava Chose them for something special
Yangchen needs an asterisk of "creating an era of peace for humans only"
Antoine Bandele of course, i forgot lol
you missed korra revived the air nation. if she didn't open the gate during harmonic convergence, the only airbenders are from tenzin's family.
I stopped watching korra after season 2 because i just really was too annoyed to watch it because i was basically forcing myself to finish season 2
And you stopped right before THE best season.
Am I the only one who had mixed feelings about Kuruk's new backstory after reading Shadow of Kyoshi?
I think Yangchen siding with humans over spirits was totally in character and added depth to her, and I don't hold that against her at all either. Kuruk's spirit hunting definitely makes more sense for Koh to steal his wife's face than the implication that he was punishing Kuruk for being a lazy Avatar.
But at the same time... I just miss the "go with the flow" Kuruk. I almost don't like that he was actually a hero all along, and I wish he was actually happy and living his best life until he lost Ummi, instead of suffering from depression for years.
Also, we missed out on the hilarious conversations that could've happened between Kuruk and Kyoshi.
He was still go with the flow Kuruk. Up until the point he discovered the first dark spirits he was definitely that. And heck, were there not any dark spirits he would have continued just chilling (and probably letting Jianzhu run things).
@@AntoineBandele All depends on what happened first. Personally id prefer it if Koh took it upon himself to punish Kuruk for his arrogance, though the added backstory could add a layer to his reasoning as it too could be a bleed over from Yangchen always siding with humanity almost without question.
As for the timing, Koh happening first helps with Kuruk's development, and can also explain how he came into contact with the Dark Spirits before taking them on and eventually sacrificing himself to stop them.
Actually kuruk first real love was Hei Ran. He couldn't bring himself to confess his feelings to her as he was afraid what might happen to her due to the fact he was hunting spirits. When he wanted to confess to her, Hei ran was already married. I guess ummi was just a substitute for Hei Ran
@@achillesrodriguezxx3958 I think not a substitute but rather his real love. I think he found true love and peace with her that's why he decided to be serious in life and settle with her.
I think especially nowadays the depressed history for Kuruk resonates with people more than just being happy-go-lucky.
i also liked how it described his view of bending the elements as all 4 being connected and how he was a talented prodigy but he would still try to learn more from his team even after he was a master. He's such a dope character
Yeah, I totally want to make a separate video about that (cause it's also overlapped with Yun's mentality in bending too).
@@AntoineBandele that would be a dope video. Iroh has that mentality on bending as well
My opinion of Avatar Kuruk before watching: He’s such a lazy and incompetent guy
My opinion after watching: Avatar Kuruk is the Itachi of the Avatar Verse 😔 I take back everything I said.
Is all this stuff that makes people hat Kuruk in Korra book 3, cause I haven't seen it yet and all I know is what he says in Last Airbender about his lifetime being a time of peace leading him to be a complacent thrillseeker and was unprepared for a threat like Koh to show up and kill his wife
@@Captaincory1 It's in the Shadow of Kyoshi book. Antoine put a spoiler warning in the beginning of this so I suggest you read the Kyoshi novels first.
He’s my bro
I even watched the video only because I wanted to know about the so-called worst avater (what I heard people say)
You can cosplay as Kuruk aswell
Agreed
Ayyy!
@Arigato Senpai Nope! That does not matter! ^^
Just need to make the eye look smaller then it will be perfect cosplay.
young kuruk
I'd personally love to see a live-action series of kuruk taking on the dark spirits, or just those fights illustrated in some way because I feel like it would be awesome to see
Oh how I wished the live-action was about something new, and not a retread of Airbender...
@@AntoineBandele They need to adapt the Kyoshi novels into live-action instead.
Watch him be the first one to heal spirits
@@AntoineBandele airbender is amazing, but, this universe is just so MASSIVE! There is SO MUCH that can be done with it! Hell, we don't even need stuff with avatars, the universe is that interesting.
I would say that Korra has some similarities to Kuruk when it comes to personality, considering they are the successors to very beloved air nomad avatars, and their ventures when it comes to the spirit realm
also both of them tend to get undermined and called bad in the series
Aang also neglected his spiritual duty, this is why unalaq got the chance to manipulate korra to do her "duty".
Yeah. Water Avatars seem to be underrated or misunderstood.
Yangchen's favouritism of the world over the spirits left Kuruk with the responsibility to fight with the spirits, which in turn lead to an Avatar not tending to the world and caused chaos for Kyoshi to fix by being involved and brutal, where her killings caused power vaccums and threatened possible chaos. Roku must've learned from that to show restraint and mercy to prevent such chaos, but doing so in excess resulted in him not preventing the Air Nomad genocide and 100-year war, which Aang had to end, but by the White Lotus changing their purpose to follow the Avatar and Aang sparing Yakone, as well as having Korra sheltered, Korra had great enemies to face and had to fight against people that could throw the balance of the world off in just a few days, without having proper life experience. It's a crazy pattern where learning from your mistakes is good, but being so scared to have the mistakes repeated that you consciously avoid making them can cause it's own unforseen problems.
LOL, I just made a comment similar to yours on how decisions made from past Avatars affect future Avatars without realizing it. Just now reading yours.
Is it me, or does he look like Avatar Kuruk but with a darker skin tone?
it is'nt just you
I think they have the same skin tone, but it's only the blue eyes and the beard is looking different.
@@willparker8498 remove the mustache what those he look like now ?
Just remove the mustache and put on some accessories and clothings.... YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Can't unsee
The two water avatars we know have had serious and impactful interactions with the spirits...do we think this is because the spirit portals are found at the north and south poles?
Interesting idea but I don’t think the Spirit Portals were a concept in ATLA.
@@taelongx they were added in lok, yes, but they would have still existed in atla
Both water avatars are great at their jobs water tribe avatars are the best
@@jadenchamoun6785 air and water avatars are the best,earth and fire well medium
@@Ghoulofidiocy2917 Salai and Kyoshi are considered great avatars, idk what you are talking about.
Let’s be honest if we were avatars a lot of us would be Kuruk
the lazy Kuruk or the Batman Kuruk
@@jadeuwu9860 both
Literally this show has just endless layers , it just keeps getting deeper and deeper and I’m still discovering things after like 12 years
no disrespect to kuruk but please no disrespect to yangchen either. my good sis ushered in TWO eras of peace and yes she might have been slacking when it came to the spirits but she did what she felt was right. it's like us getting mad at wan for keeping the human and spirit worlds separate (in the name of peace mind you, which yangchen did too)
remember what she said, "[the avatar's] sole duty is to the world. selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs. do whatever it takes to protect the world."
No disrespect. She did great for humans. But that doesn't mean she should be absolved from critique where her handling of spirits are concerned.
I mean the Avatar is responsible for both spirits and human. Yangchen's actions may have helped humans but it resulted in the spirits suffering instead.
Kuruk Keeping the Dark Spirits abay probably help keep those 2 eras pretty peaceful, don't you think?
@@crypticcorgi8280 Yeah totally man
Seems like Water Avatars are prone to choosing silent, personal suffering for the sake of others...
I love how they are continuing to make great stories.
Well damn, Kuruk really was cool.
Hopefully there is confirmation that this takes place after he decided to stop hunting Koh since killing him would destroy his wife.
This way, the story of Kuruk essentially sacrificing himself as an unsung hero can really be the end of his development. He went from an arrogant, "go with the flow" Avatar, to one who took his job seriously and wanted to do right for the world and for his legacy as the new Avatar at the time.
Lastly it is an excellent nod to how many cite Kuruk's Bending and Hunting abilities as unrivaled, since he seemingly fought dozens of Dark Spirits prior to Gloworm. 100% changed my opinion of him and he's personally tied with Kyoshi as my favorite past life.
The thing that I love about the ATLA universe is that the creators keep putting out high-quality content at a slow rate, so you can revisit the fandom every couple of years and discover something new that wasn't there before. It really keeps you hooked for years and years. And they continue to develop what's there and expand it in all directions, which is amazing. I'm looking forward to reading the Kyoshi novels.
Even if I have not read the book yet. I made it up by reading through Avatar wiki and videos to get the full picture of the story and yes, Avatar Kuruk became one of my favorite Avatar. He is like Korra who is viewed as one of the worst Avatar when compare to their predecessor, have tons of emotional vulnerability and are utter badasses in physical combat.
Kuruk reminds me of sokka in LOK because we don't see a lot of sokka moments in LOK and I think he died young just like kuruk
Sokka didn't die young. Aang died at 66 and Sokka died 5 years later.
But sokka in the council of yakone's arestment is the only moment we see sokka in LOK
Tenzin tells korra in book 3 that him, korras father, zuko and sokka stopped zaheer,pli, ming hua and ghazan. Korra was already a little kid at this point.
@@tytytysansan8890 so sokka IS still alive when aang died
If want a new avatar the previous one MUST die first so that there's no 2 raava's or 2 avatars in a world
Aang died young too. Even at 166 (taking the 100 years in ice into account), he should have lived a lot longer and didn’t do quite as much as we realize. Lol.
Honestly, if you wanted an adult avatar show, you could easily make it about Kuruk and the trials he went through. He was the first avatar that was known to be very hedonistic and an alcoholic. I feel like a show about a man bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders and struggling with his own inner demons would be a very interesting take on the world of Avatar. More than likely, kyoshi will be the first spin-off when Avatar inevitably comes back to the silver screen, but Kuruk deserve some time to shine.
Absolutely
Man really cancelled himself for yangchen😭
Ok so a few things, Kuruk described himself as a “go with the flow avatar “ and while his previous life might have neglected the spirits he has a lot of motivation to go after the spirts besides just enjoying hunting. Let’s not forget that Koh the face stealer stole his fiancés face and the only reason Kuruk didn’t kill Koh was because then he would destroy the face of the one he loved. He’s less of a dark knight and more so Greek hero tragedy. However It’s safe to say Kuruk didn’t like spirits regardless of what Yangchen did to piss them off in her life.
the Kyoshi novels, especially Shadow, made Kuruk one of my favorite Avatars. I had already liked him since he seemed pretty cool, but I always figured there had to have been more to him than what we got. and for me, him being the type to take on that burden all alone to save his friends from that pain was relatable. But the novels also cemented Yangchen as one of my favorite Avatars as well. I love that she had flaws too. She was a dedicated Avatar, and she accomplished a lot, but she made mistakes, and acknowledges them, and even regrets that most of the world isn't aware of those mistakes. I also love how the novel reinforces just how kind and compassionate she is. She's such a mom. We see it with how she interacts with Aang, she comforts him in noting how he's a gentle spirit and acknowledging his beliefs and what he was taught, and we see it even more with how she comforts Kyoshi and allows her to be vulnerable. I can't imagine how much it hurt her to see Kuruk go through all that pain as a result of her own actions during her lifetime.
Every Avatar had to make up for the mess their previous incarnation left. And unfortunately, Kuruk, as an Avatar who is supposed to be the symbol of hope around the world, is remembered for his failures and supposed inactivity as an Avatar which eventually bled into Kyoshi's timeline. Spirits were always going to have feuds with the mortal world. And as it stands, he definitely still remains as the worst Avatar in terms of impact in the Avatar world.
Thats my fav thing about the avatar cycle. Its based off unfinished business. Raava's spirit choses a person with a personality best fit to fill the shortcomings of the previous avatar
A Wild Ymarc Appeared! I’d disagree as if the dark spirits were let loose they’d cause more destruction and on an immense scale
@@renai9539 I think that's pretty obvious and he should be credited but that's not what I was emphasizing. He was the Avatar and he is supposed to be the image people look up to. When he wasn't fighting the dark spirits, he chose to boast his talents instead by challenging other benders.
I'd argue roku was the worst in terms of impact, him not killing sozin led to a genocide and a hundred year war.
@@shaykhmhssi3246 If you kill your best-friend who is literally like your brother for 50/60 years then I'd agree
These back stories of these Avatars make me like Korra More cause Korra saved both Spirits and Humans from 10,000 years of darkness and made Spirit roam free in the human world being the first avatar to free spirits from being imprisoned and being neutral between Human and Spirit cause Korra taught us that the Avatar is Half Human Half Spirit cause the spirit of raava the light spirit is in them
But the show is ass
@@lovelyroses4008 thats your opinion there's people who love the show cause we understand the whole purpose of the show u dont like it thats fine but just because u dislike something doesnt mean the whole world should too
@Henry Okoro interesting.
I love how much depth there is between the different generations of avatars, how avatars leave problems for the next to deal with, how their actions change the development and history of the nations, it’s so fascinating.
I find it interesting how much of a key role the avatar seems to have in turning spirits dark. In Korra it seemed like it was just dark rug gets strong and spirits turn bad, but if the “bad energy(?)” is grown in response to the choices of the Avatar and humans that’s a really interesting idea.
When Korra lost her memory and had to reconnect with her four most immediate previous incarnation, Kuruk told her to "find Raava".
Considering that we now know he spent a lot of time in the Spirit World, it's very likely that he knew about the identity of the Avatar Spirit
Yangchen is one of my favourite avatars because her life time is interesting and general old iron and lady teinai
Great content 🙌🏾
I love how enthusiastic you become when getting deep into the characters' discussions. Also, I could see a hint of Kuruk in you with your hairstyle and shirt color 👍🏾
Imagine if avatar had parts like JoJo's bizarre adventures with different avatars.
Imagine the toll Kuruk had in his final years; he must've suffered great depression following the loss of his wife while having to deal with the dark spirits Yangchen unwittingly fostered because of her one-sidedness in favor of humans.
What's more saddening was he self-loathed even in the afterlife, letting his bad reputation overshadow the good he did in his lifetime and only be known as an arrogant fuckboy.
4:04 His name is Jafar, and it always will be.
Speaking of which, the talk about Kuruk choosing to let everyone hate him reminds me of Jafar's representation in the Starkid musical. "Let them twist my words, let the people scorn me. Who cares if no one will ever mourn me? Let them bury the side of the story that they will never learn."
Wow, this changed my opinion on Kuruk. Reminded me a lot of Jaime Lanniester from GoT, who was hated for the best thing he ever did.
I love stuff like that.
FC Yee did a fantastic job with both Kyoshi novels. But I love how seamlessly he shows us an Avatar’s life isn’t exactly what people think it was. Showing more of Kuruk’s life never felt forced. Seriously, Rise of and Shadow of Kyoshi are works of art.
I always though he was hiding something. When he says "Go with the flow", I thought he was going to say something else. Love the videos man, hope they keep coming.
I wonder if he lied to Aang or generally believed it
🤔 right
The cat behind him be like: 👁️👄👁️"shut up yangchen's the best"
What is sad about having the past lives from how the show imply is that they could still watch what is going on beyond their death n see their own consequences of their actions which is amazing of the creators of the show
good content man. first i was kinda eh with the background and place then i realised it was like i was hanging out with a friend and talking about Avatar and then i appreciated the vibe 👍
Finally everyone see that all avatar have flaws and a mean y'all favorite aang cause so much pain and suffering for 100 years thousands have die including katara mother while he was frozen no avatar is perfect they all made mistakes even kyoshi made mistakes
Well no one knows what would had happen if aang didn’t run away. He could had died from the Invasion and the fire nation may have dominated the world killing the next avatars until its time for a fire nation avatar where that avatar could be corrupted to benefit the fire nation.
I hope there can be a time where we all just respect and appreciate all of the avatars. I mean, all of them made mistakes but they're all well accomplished and amazing in their own lifetime.
Okay finally finished Shadow of kyoshi this morning and I’m glad you made this video and also glad about what you said for Kuruk
I think one genius thing about the avatar writing is that how the previous avatar’s shortfalls or what someone could see as a negative gets compensated in the next avatar. They all balance each other out.
THE DREADLOCK DEMIGOD SPITTIN
🤡🤡🤡🤡
Now I really want a Kuruk animated/live action series. He kind of parallels with Korra in a way, they were both looked down upon by the people they were trying to protect. I also like that every Avatar has messed up in one way or another. They feel human.
The announcement bar is a very nice feature. Knowing how long it will be makes any youtuber announcement much more enjoyable imo.
Thanks for the warning! Just started reading Shadow of Kyoshi now so I’ll be back to this video in a day or two!
Aw I feel so bad for Kuruk now ☹
It doesnt really change my opinion of Yangchen but it lowers her on a scale I suppose. But this does change my opinion of Kuruk, man the poor dude who didnt get the credit he deserved. Hopefully he can get his due credit in time with the fandom.
The more I learn about Kuruk the more I admire him for his selflessness and realize how he’s probably at least top 3 of the most powerful avatars of all time. He defeated countless dark spirits singlehanded including one powerful enough to create cracks into the human world meaning his on par or at least close to Vaatu’s power level. Wan was amped up from Harmonic Convergence the same as Korra when they defeated Vaatu and Aang needed help from Toph and her students in order to defeat general old iron. Also Yangchen only managed a draw with Old Iron.
I just discovered your channel and this the second video I have watched.
Love your content. Love your passion.
omg antoine! i know you from just kidding news and now you got your channel and it's THRIVING!!! i'm so happy for you omg ^_^
Wow, the avatars make some mistakes too, shocker! This was a great video though, but people should understand that Yangchen believed her sole duty was to the world. Since Kuruk was born into a peaceful human era he dealt with the spirits that Yangchen bruised. And so on
There should be a spin off series with like 1-3 episodes for each of every past avatars life
Kuruk was actually my favorite avatar since I watched ATLA for the first time when it first aired. I had no idea people hated him.
Damn I've been watching you for so long dawg, I was around during during your versus series, p.s. favorite video is anakin vs starkiller
6:04 hmmm it makes you wonder though, if his spirit was being destroyed each time he went to battle the dark spirits, how come it didn’t have an effect on the Avatar cycle?
It effected his physical body, likely in the same way Aang was physically strained and died young in his 60s.
@@AntoineBandele I believe it was said somewhere that destroying a dark spirit quite literally takes years off your life
@Oof Boi Nah, just went back and read it, it literally stated killing dark spirits had an effect on his own
I like Yangchen still, but I do have a newfound respect for Kuruk. I was worried because in AtLA his story is very shallow. It is good to hear that he was more than who he claimed to be.
Kuruk really reminds me of Itachi (without the whole killing your family) and here is why. They both were obligated to carry someone else’s legacy and framed that way as society. They both lost the people they were closest to (there significant other) which were the only people that would mainly help in there society. Both secretly did missions to not only carry on everyone’s expectations, made sure loved one’s didn’t get involved, protect the whole society, but those same missions drained there mental health while society hated them because they didn’t know what they were actually doing. In the end, they both died looking like villains when they were actually heroes and you don’t know that until you really look at them outside the story.
You’re really cool man I like your content, keep it up bro!
Roku is kinda the most overrated avatar. Now that we know this information about kuruk, Roku was probably the worst avatar imo (from what we know)
Kyoshi is the most overrated.
From what we know, he arguably forced Sozin to remove the colonies after the whole incident. And he protected the world for quite a while.
As for "not killing Sozin" thing, what kind of human could bring themselves to kill someone they consider to be a brother? The Avatar is human, not a spirit living on top of a mountain.
@@luminousxii Yeah. And that too. His mere presence kept the world in balance.
@@kyleaustin7045 exactly
Every avatar made mistakes. As we saw Yangchen did too.
And that was well told a number of times in the show by Roku himself that his mistake was to keep Sozin alive which he realised later. And it's obvious how can kill his best friend because he did something bad but just once. Roku must've thought to give him a 2nd chance. Sozin started conquering again after Roku died. But other than that as long as he was alive the world was in peace. So yeah no avatar can be called the worst.
No avatars should be called the worse.
They all make mistakes but again they are humans. Not perfectly designed robots that have to make perfect moves and decisions. No avatar was perfect and that includes Avatar Wan, Aang, Korra, Roku, Kyoshj and all the other avatars
I also don't know why the actual worst avatar we know of isn't talked about. Roku's failure literally caused the 100 year war he was pretty definitely the worst we have seen.
it was one simple mistake so i doubt that would put him in the lead. it was still terrible tho.
@@razikazmi6840 personally I think its a bad enough mistake given its consequences to put him in the lead, but you also have to account for the fact he only made it due to deciding to live peacefully on a secluded island not doing his job while it brewed for decades.
Like it may be one mistake but it's consequences are worse than probably every other mistake we have seen from an avatar combined. It literally wiped out the air nomads.
Well Aang on the other hand...
What kind of human could bring themselves to kill someone they consider to be a brother?
Killing Sozin would have created anarchy and chaos. Which would have led to a Fire Nation Kuvira.
"Even a single step out of line would result in your permanent end." It means Roku was ordering Sozin to remove the colonies. And since Sozin did not die, he probably did so.
This is the reason why he is one of my personal favorites, thanks for giving widespread information about my man
Completely changed my mind about kuruk! Thank you for the new perspective, great video. You have a new subscriber 👍🏻
Welcome aboard!
Avatar kuruk deserves a second chance
I remember I once saw a theory video saying that every avatar acts the exact opposite as the previous avatar to try to amend/avoid the mistakes of their previous life, for example, Kuruk was free spirited and it led to his wife and him dying young, so when Kyoshi was born, she became very focused on protecting the world and became a sort of workaholic, or another example is Aang and Korra, Aang didn’t want to be the avatar so he ran away, and that lead to him being frozen for 100 years and the world being at war all that time, so when Korra was born, she relished in being the avatar believing if the avatar was gone, the same thing would happen again, and she did it to the point where at the beginning of the show, her status as the avatar was what defined her.
What was Kyoshi’s regret because she was focused and a workaholic but Roku ended up being indecisive? What?
It isn't acting the opposite of the previous avatar. It is fixing/learning from the previous avatar's biggest regret.
Yangchen- spent all her time as avatar and regretted not having a personal life.
Kuruk- spent nearly all his time doing whatever he wanted. This made him regret not being active.
Kyoshi- spent her time as a very active avatar but her biggest regret was failing to save her friends. Some may argue it was creating the Dei Le, but she didn't regret that until a couple centuries after she died.
Roku- spared Sozin and saved him from falling. He then regretted allowing the Hundred Year War.
Aang- ended the hundred Year War, but regretted letting the other air benders die.
Korra- helped rebuild the air nation. An interesting part is Korra's biggest regret seems to be losing the connection to the other avatars. Potentially if a series was made for the avatar after Korra he/she would reconnect with the past avatars.
@@vision-dz6cm I hope they do that
The next avatar story idea sounds super cool, I hope there’s an actual story made of it, maybe a comic? I doubt there’d be a third show after the mess Korra became.
Instant subscribe. I am so glad your channel was recommended on my home page. How you explain things and your passion really make your videos engaging. Thank you for making this content and sharing your thoughts! :)
I really do appreciate your comment.
Of course! I like that you provide actual interpretation and grounded opinions.
I really do try. It's sort of lazy to just be like THEORY without inserting my own individual thoughts.
Kuruk’s story made me cry when I read it... it sounds so silly, but just doing all you can to protect people, while it literally kills you slowly just broke my heart, and doing it all alone. His friends all thought he was this reckless, irresponsible party guy, while he’s having to self medicate with alcohol to numb the pain he was experiencing.. and then he FINALLY connects with Kyoshi, and she tells him how much she hates him 😭😭 Kuruk needs a hug!
We all know avatar momo is the best ALL HAIL LORD MOMO
I want a Blood Bending Avatar who advances the medical fields, etc.
I was waiting for some Kuruk praise! It's about damn time 🙏🏽
Excellent points. I love your hair. Blessed be :)
I always liked Kuruk but he’s given a bad rep this video really puts things into perspective
Kuruk is probably the purest version of what an Avatar should be. The guy gave up his happiness in life, his chances of love and sacrificed years of his life to secretly protect the world. Even his hedonism is given a reason, to treat literal pain from his battles. The Guy is a model of self sacrifice
That's true but he somehow neglected some political problems that the later avatar kioshi succeeded as avatar.
@@jinnyapolinario1856 To a degree, yes. But thats because he was mostly preoccupied fighting evil spirits trying to break through to the human world, a mess left behind by Yangchen.
@@eddieguererro46 Well it's not a totally mess by Yangchen it is said that some spirits are only pleased by death. But personally I think that she handled well the conflict with General Old Iron.
cool vid, thanks < 3
Great amount of Avatar videos. I plan to watch them all
Well this certainly paints a more interesting picture of Kuruk, however his “sacrifice” to fight the dark spirits cut his life short and he also did seemingly very little for the other parts of the world. Not to mention the fact that he in ATLA was, in my opinion, very regretful about how little he did with his life. His life being cut short did cause some problems for Kyoshi and some of his team Avatar members kinds sucked in Kyoshi’s era. So he did some good I suppose, however he still is probably the worst Avatar in history.
Fighting dark spirits was a full time gig. He barely got sleep and when he went on his hunts he split away from his friends (his team avatar). Can't do much for the rest of the world when your busy cleaning up after the previous Avatar's mess.
Nah i don't think he was the worst then, fighting the dark spirits was needed otherwise they would terrorise the world and not many people can fight spirits in avatar. Their has got to be at least one Avatar though i reckon in such a huge reincarnation cycle that was a lazy bum and did nothing or just sucked. But it can't be Kuruk now, maybe it was Avatar Jafar instead.
If you still consider someone who sacrificed his entire life to protect reality and voluntarily took on the bad press to protect Yangchen, you need to have a better opinion.
@@Historyfan476AD whose avatar jafar?
@Oof Boi oh i get it
Please do pakku v tenzin
I’d rather see Yun vs Toph.
So I'm just discovering your channel and I like I what I see. Going to continue it on.
Thanks for the heads up I'm reading Kyoshi right now!!!!!👍🏾