| "They may invite you to their campfire. They may flatter you with pretty words. They may even put together a lovely festival for you. But make no mistake. In their eyes, you'll never be anything more than a snow rat." |
| — Thod explaining the point of his story to Katara[1] |
Thod was Gilak's second-in-command, fighting alongside him to procure a position of power for the Southern Water Tribe. A nonbender from the South Pole region, he was a master chi-blocker who regaled the Southern patriots with old stories of their culture.[2]
History[]
Appalled by the Northern Water Tribe's involvement with the reconstruction of the Southern Water Tribe after the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Thod joined Gilak in his quest to consolidate a position of power for the South. He aided by keeping the old Southern traditions alive through storytelling and passed on his chi-blocking skill to his disciples.
Thod stalled Sokka and Katara by telling them a story about a snow rat trying to be like a human.
Thod encountered Sokka and Katara in 102 AG when the siblings found Gilak's patriotic movement in the caverns underneath the Fire Nation shipwreck. As the two intended to escape and tell Hakoda all about what they had learned, Thod stood in their way and began telling them a story about a snow rat who learned to talk and walk on his hind feet: Found entertaining by humans, he was invited to sit around their campfire and, after a while, forgot that he was a snow rat and asked the humans to be part of their society. The humans had not forgotten and were insulted by the request, driving the snow rat out of their company and back into the cold, leaving it to forever shiver and gnash his teeth, haunted by the memory of the humans' campfire. Before he could explain the meaning of the story, Katara forcefully moved him out of the way with her waterbending, as the soldiers that had been chasing them were gaining on them again.[2]
Thod later vacated the premises with the rest of Gilak's troops, as they knew Katara and Sokka would warn Hakoda, who would come with his own troops to arrest them all.
Thod stood by Gilak as they prepared to drill their way into the Southern Water Tribe.
In the evening the following day, Thod stood by Gilak's side at the front of their army while they scouted the entrance to the Southern Water Tribe city, where Hakoda and several of his men stood guard. He pointed out that Gilak's prediction of Hakoda expecting them to attack the festival had been the truth and followed the army inside a tunnel, as they intended to dig their way inside the city.
Breaking through the surface of the city's square at the moment Malina is giving a speech, Thod emerges next to Gilak atop the ice drill, holding Maliq's briefcase that was stolen the previous evening by his disciples. He hands it over to his leader, who shows it to all the gathered Southerners as proof of Malina and Maliq's deceit, as inside the case are plans to make the Southern Water Tribe a colony of the North so the North can exploit the South's rich oil deposit.
Thod chi-blocked Katara after she refused to join Gilak's cause.
As a fight broke out between Gilak's army and Team Avatar, Hakoda's troops, and Malina and Maliq's supporters, Thod made his way over to Katara, who had just been knocked down by Noa. As she scrambled back to her feet, he clarified the point of his story about the snow rat to her, drawing a parallel between foreign influences in the South as the humans of the story and the Southern Water Tribe as the snow rat: regardless of what they do for the snow rat, they will always regard it as nothing more but a snow rat. Concluding that all foreigners needed to be removed from the South, he asked Katara to join Gilak's cause. When she refused, he dropped his calm demeanor and surprised her with a chi-blocking attack, paralyzing her arms while claiming her time away from the South had made her forget where her loyalties belonged. In turn, he got caught by surprise as well when Katara used her feet to encase him in ice and handing him over to one of Hakoda's men to be imprisoned.[1]
Sometime later, Thod was awoken from his slumber inside his cell by Gilak, who had escaped his own imprisonment with the help of Officer Lirin. Together, they freed the rest of their imprisoned comrades and escaped the confinement.
Thod kidnapped Earth King Kuei.
The army later crashed Hakoda's meeting with Fire Lord Zuko and Earth King Kuei. Thod and his chi-blocking disciples blocked Hakoda's path when he attempted to guide Malina and Kuei to safety through the windows, and they quickly took down the Head Chieftain's guards, which left Hakoda vulnerable to an attack from Gilak, who managed to kidnap him. Although Katara and Aang were able to save Hakoda, Thod used the commotion to kidnap Earth King Kuei instead.
Thod was trapped in an ice column by Aang.
That evening, Thod accompanied Gilak and his army to the Bridge of No Return to exchange Kuei for Hakoda. As previously stated in their demands, Thod and their disciples crossed the bridge first and chi-blocked Team Avatar; he personally chi-blocked Aang and Zuko, referring to the latter as an "ash maker" and voicing his disbelief that Hakoda let the Fire Lord set foot in the South Pole after all the despair the Fire Nation caused them. Convinced Team Avatar is out of commission, Thod forced Hakoda to start crossing the bridge. As he and earth King Kuei reached the middle, however, Malina and Toph's metalbending students confronted Gilak's army, serving as a sign to Team Avatar to reveal to Thod and his own students that they all wore chain mail armor and had faked being chi-blocked by them. Taken by surprise, Thod was trapped in an ice column by Aang and told to apologize to Zuko for calling him an "ash maker".[3]
Abilities[]
Despite his age, Thod was capable of jumping through windows and chi-blocking much younger opponents.
Thod was quite the nimble fighter,[3] which, combined with his chi-blocking ability, made him a formidable opponent, capable of taking on and defeating much younger fighters. His knowledge of the skill was of such measure that he was able to successfully teach others the art as well.[1]
Appearances[]
Graphic novels[]
- North and South trilogy
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan; Yang, Gene Luen (writer), Sasaki of Gurihiru (penciling, inking), Kawano of Gurihiru (colorist), Heisler, Michael; Comicraft (letterer). North and South Part Two (January 25, 2017), Dark Horse Comics.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan; Yang, Gene Luen (writer), Sasaki of Gurihiru (penciling, inking), Kawano of Gurihiru (colorist), Heisler, Michael; Comicraft (letterer). North and South Part One (September 27, 2016), Dark Horse Comics.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan; Yang, Gene Luen (writer), Sasaki of Gurihiru (penciling, inking), Kawano of Gurihiru (colorist), Heisler, Michael; Comicraft (letterer). North and South Part Three (April 26, 2017), Dark Horse Comics.