Hakoda prepared tangle mines as a defense against Fire Nation forces.
Tangle mines are aquatic bombs invented by Hakoda, which served as military weapons designed to aid the Southern Water Tribe's quest to defeat the Fire Nation.
Design[]
Tangle mines are made with a bamboo frame and covered with dried animal hide. The mine is filled with skunk fish and seaweed. These mines float in the water and detonate when a ship hits them, releasing seaweed that will tangle around the propeller of the ship, incapacitating it, while the smell from the skunk fish will force the crewmen to abandon ship.[1] Though they are an unusual type of mine, they are said to be extremely effective.
Trivia[]
- Hakoda called them the "Stink 'n Sink" because they are "destructive, buoyant, and terrible smelling", according to Sokka.[2]
- The mine utilizes a combination of two activist anti-whaler techniques. The Sea Shepherds, a famous activist group, use ropes or chains to tangle the propellers of illegal whaling vessels in a technique known as "prop fouling", like Hakoda used seaweed to disable Fire Navy vessels. The Sea Shepherds also use butyric (byü-tir-ik) acid to make the deck of an illegal fishing vessel so awful-smelling that the crew cannot stand to work there, much like how the skunk fish in the mines function.
References[]
- ↑ From older Avatar: The Last Airbender official site, originally on Nick.com. Encyclopedia now broken, archived at The Lost Lore of Avatar Aang - Gear: Tangle Mines.
- ↑ DiMartino, Michael Dante, Konietzko, Bryan (writers) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (December 1, 2006). "The Guru". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 2. Episode 19. Nickelodeon.