The 52nd Earth King, born Kuei, was the last Earth King of the Earth Kingdom before the Fire Nation occupation. For most of his reign, he was nothing more than a figurehead, with the true power residing with the city's Grand Secretariat, Long Feng.[1] Although he briefly regained full power following the involvement of AvatarAang,[2] he was forced to flee Ba Sing Se after a coup orchestrated by the Dai Li and Princess Azula.[3] He returned to take his rightful place as Earth King after the Hundred Year War.
Ascending the throne at age four following his father's death, Kuei became one of the youngest Earth Kings. Because of the monarch's youth, however, it was deemed appropriate to appoint the minister Long Feng as regent, a position from which he quickly assumed total control over Ba Sing Se. As such, for much of his reign the Earth King was a mere puppet of Long Feng, relying totally on his advice and unable to make simple decisions. The King had no knowledge of the War or anything beyond the confines of the Earth Kingdom royal palace. Only the Avatar would eventually reveal to the Earth King all the lies that he had been fed by Long Feng.[2]
Excluded from the decisions of government, Kuei dedicated his time to the pursuit of several hobbies. With a love of animals, he collected an extensive menagerie of creatures from all over the world, brought to him by the many expeditions of the Ba Sing Se University. His favorite pet by far was a rare bear named Bosco, whom he kept with him most of the time and seems to be his only real companion. Kuei dedicated much of his time toward the animal, feeding it expensive meats, hosting parties, and ordering several unsuccessful expeditions to find Bosco a mate.
The Avatar and his allies, Katara, Sokka, and Toph Beifong, launched an attack on the Earth King's palace, battling past the Dai Li and the Earth King's royal guards. After getting to the King's throne room, the four told the King about the War and Long Feng's treachery. At first, the King did not believe them, but after the Avatar showed the King Appa's bite on Long Feng's leg, the King agreed to go with Aang and company, to see if their statements were true.
The four first took the King to Lake Laogai where the Dai Li secret headquarters used to have been. However, the Dai Li had already destroyed their base, and the Earth King remained skeptical of the children's efforts, encouraged by Long Feng. However, Aang managed to convince the Earth King to go to the Outer Wall, in exchange for a ride on Appa, showing him the drill, a massive Fire Nation war machine. Long Feng tried to cover it up as a construction project but the Earth King was completely unconvinced. He ordered that the Dai Li arrest Long Feng; they obeyed, and Long Feng was taken prisoner for crimes against the Earth Kingdom.[2]
After Ba Sing Se was conquered, King Kuei and Bosco opted to travel the world.
Later, the Earth King stayed in Ba Sing Se with Katara while Aang, Sokka, and Toph departed to the East. During a Council of Five war meeting on the invasion of the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun, while the Earth King was out of the throne room, Katara rushed in to warn the Kyoshi Warriors that PrinceZuko was in Ba Sing Se, and learned that the "Warriors" were none other than Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai, the Fire Nation princess and her consorts. Ty Lee disables Katara who was taken to the catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se.[4]
When Sokka and Toph returned to warn the Earth King, Azula and her consorts were revealed when Ty Lee started flirting with Sokka, who admitted he was into Suki, which led Ty Lee to breaking their cover by admitting she didn't know who that was. While she fought Sokka and Mai fought Toph, Azula snuck up behind the Earth King and threatened to kill him with blue fire, and they too were captured. However, Toph used metalbending to get them out of the Dai Li prison while Aang and Iroh rescued Katara and Zuko in the Crystal Catacombs. Toph and Sokka prepared to evacuate the city with the Earth King, as the Dai Li were launching a coup, but the Earth King refused to leave without Bosco. Toph and Sokka faced Ty Lee and Mai in a battle and won, and took Bosco. The Earth King, his pet, and the two children fled Ba Sing Se, but not before picking up an injured Katara and Aang, who fought against Azula, the Dai Li, and Zuko, who turned to Azula's side in the end. As the quintet left Ba Sing Se, the Earth King remarked, sadly, "The Earth Kingdom...has fallen."[3]
The Earth King spent a period of time after his deposition traveling around the world in exile with his bear, Bosco. During this period, he hoped to come to better understand the life of peasants outside the palace.[5]
At the end of the War, Kuei returned to his rightful place as the Earth King after Ba Sing Se was liberated by the Order of the White Lotus and Ozai was defeated by Aang. As part of his new commitment to more hands-on ruling, he immediately began a project to dismantle the remaining Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. This project, called the Harmony Restoration Movement, got off to a good start, and was approved by the new Fire Lord, Zuko; however, a year into it, problems in Yu Dao, the first Fire Nation colony, led Zuko to withdraw his support from the movement, and created tensions that threatened to return the world to war.[6]
The experience of coming to power young, as well as spending most of his life isolated from the outside world, with Long Feng encouraging him to ignore more and more of his royal duties, had an obvious effect on Kuei. For much of his life his closest friend was his pet bear, and thus he is very self-conscious around people, made only worse by his people's reverence of him. While a young adult, Kuei was naive and child-like, never being confronted with the responsibilities that his position requires and unaware of the complexities of political intrigue. Having been nurtured for much of his life, he had difficulty taking charge after arresting Long Feng, putting his faith in the Council of Five and never suspecting the whole Dai Li of betraying him. This tendency to trust proved to be his undoing when he foolishly let the "Kyoshi Warriors", Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in disguise, pass security and told them of the planned invasion, a plan which relied on absolute secrecy to succeed.[4] However, Sokka described the warriors as "trustworthy", partially explaining the king's foolish remarks.[2]
Kuei began taking charge of his position after witnessing first-hand the underlying conspiracy within his government and the reality of the War that had reached the city walls.[3]
The Earth King's given name may be a transliteration variant of the word 魁 (kuí), meaning "chief" - it may also be a variant of 傀 (kuǐ), meaning "puppet".
The Earth King heavily resemble Puyi, the last Emperor of China. There are many similarities as well - Puyi was made emperor at a very young age, he was a puppet emperor during his early childhood and later under the Japanese occupation. Puyi was also trapped for years inside the Forbidden City, much as the Earth King never left the palace. The Earth King also wears spectacles, like Puyi did, and clothing based on the robes of the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
The relationship between the Earth King and Long Feng strongly resembled Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration (1867), where the Emperor was little more than a symbol, and real power lay with the Shōgun, or chief general. There are also similarities between Long Feng's relationship with Earth King Kuei as compared to that of Benito Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. The King reigned as a puppet leader throughout most of the time of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy, until he deposed Mussolini and had him arrested, much like Kuei did to Long Feng.
It was stated in "Avatar Extras" that Kuei was the only Earth King to leave Ba Sing Se, and go to the Outer Wall.
When Toph made a sand miniature of Ba Sing Se on a beach on Ember Island, a very detailed and identifiable version of him and Bosco could be seen.[7]
Because he chose to travel the world in beggar's clothes after he discovered the truth about life outside his palace, the Earth King strongly resembles Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, who renounced his life of luxury after becoming aware of the suffering among the people of his kingdom. This is similar to the journey that Zuko makes throughout the series.
The plot of Earth King Kuei is similar to King Endon from the Deltora Quest book series. Endon and his ancestors were secretly controlled by their chief advisors and when Endon found out and decided to act, it was already too late.
His main interest was in collecting rare animals from around the world, which were brought to him by zoological expeditions sent out from the University of Ba Sing Se.[8]
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can't belivie this guy isn't an earthbender I mean how can you be king of earth without being an earthbender, like the Firelord has to be a firebender.
If Kuei was being manipulated such that he knew absolutely nothing about the outside war, are we to assume that the Council of Five was being silenced by the Dai Li as well? When General How talks with him in "The Earth King", they seem to be familiar with each other.
Or maybe he realized no matter where he went everybody thought he was eccentric with a pet bear...so may as well be an eccentric king with a pet bear. :p lol
1. The Crossroads of Destiny (though Katara found out in The Guru).
2. He never got the chance. Aang never saw Kuei again after he left for The Eastern Air Temple. Also, when you're suddenly finding out that someone is betraying you behind your back, you don't exactly think of everyting you've said to the person; all Kuei felt was panic and shock.
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