Avatar Kyoshi was the Earth Kingdom-born Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kuruk and preceding Avatar Roku. She died at the age of 230, earning her the title of oldest known human and Avatar.[3] Kyoshi was a very tall woman, possessing the largest feet of any Avatar.[4] Her traditional weapons were golden metal fans which, in addition to her manner of dress and style of fighting, were adopted by the Kyoshi Warriors of Kyoshi Island, her homeland.[5]
Unlike her successors, Roku and Aang, Kyoshi was determined that only true justice could bring peace, and had no qualms about killing enemies to achieve this goal. Employing these methods, she was a generally effective Avatar. However, Kyoshi founded the Dai Li, a decision she deeply regretted due to their power, control, and eventual corruption.[6]
Kyoshi was born in the year 312 BSC on a peninsula off the tip of the southwestern Earth Kingdom that would one day become Kyoshi Island. She, like all Avatars, mastered all four elements and the Avatar State.
During Kyoshi's life, the 46th Earth King's rule was unpopular among the populace of the Earth Kingdom. Using this to his advantage, a warlord named Chin launched a war to conquer the continent. He was successful until he reached the peninsula where Kyoshi lived. When he refused to listen to Kyoshi, she confronted him and separated the peninsula from the mainland through a combination of all four bending arts, forming Kyoshi Island and thereby protecting her homeland from subsequent threats such as the warlord. An indignant Chin was left standing on the edge of a cliff, which then crumbled beneath his feet, causing him to fall into the sea, where he subsequently drowned. His death ushered the world into a great era of peace.
Because of Kyoshi's act, the people of Chin Village on the mainland founded Avatar Day to vilify Kyoshi, and all the other Avatars after her, for the death of their leader. The people of Kyoshi Island, meanwhile, founded "Kyoshi Day" on the same day as Avatar Day, to honor her creation of the island and the restoration of peace to their village. They also erected a large totem, topped with a statue of Kyoshi in her memory.[4]
Sometime after her confrontation with Chin, Kyoshi was summoned to Ba Sing Se at the request of the Earth King, since his unpopular rule had led to a peasant uprising in the city. By the time Kyoshi reached the city, the peasants had already destroyed everything that represented the "old government", including ancient and valuable historical and cultural artifacts. The King demanded that she stop the uprising by whatever means necessary. However, Kyoshi staunchly refused, stating that it would not be right for her to do so. Incensed by her defiance, the Earth King ordered for her arrest, but a display of the Avatar's power and a warning intimidated him into a compromise. The Earth King agreed to give the peasants a voice in his ruling, while Kyoshi in turn agreed to protect Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage from further desecration. She then proceeded to train an elite platoon of earthbenders, though their subsequent corruption weighed heavily on Kyoshi in her afterlife.[6]
Kyoshi died in the year 82 BSC at the age of 230, making her the oldest Avatar and human in history.[2] Her daughter Koko succeeded her as the leader of Kyoshi Island, and the Avatar Spirit passed on to the Fire Nation native Roku.
During his trip to Kyoshi Island, Aang observed the statue erected in her honor.[7] She thereafter appeared in a vision as the most recent Earth Kingdom Avatar when Avatar Roku was explaining the nature of the Avatar State to Aang.[8] Kyoshi manifested herself through Aang, as Roku had done on the winter solstice, to testify in a trial proving the Avatar's innocence, though she confessed to killing Chin while doing so.[4]
Before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, Aang summoned Kyoshi's spirit, seeking advice on how to defeat Phoenix KingOzai without killing him. Kyoshi reminded him that her forceful ending of Chin the Conqueror's war for dominance brought a great era of peace. Aang pointed out that she was not directly responsible for Chin's death, arguing it was a result of his own arrogance. Kyoshi said she saw no difference in this, and told him that she would have done anything to stop Chin. Aang regretted consulting Kyoshi on this complex matter after hearing this.[1]
Kyoshi, alongside many other past Avatars, appeared to Korra after she lost her bending to Amon. This appearance was representative of Korra establishing a connection with her spiritual side and for the purpose of having her bending restored.[9]
As the Avatar, Kyoshi was able to bend all four elements and enter the Avatar State at will. Her most spectacular feat was using the Avatar State to separate her home peninsula from the Earth Kingdom mainland, and push it far out to sea to create Kyoshi Island. To do so, she first cut down to the earth's mantle with earthbending to sever the landmasses, then used a combination of all four elements to push the island out to sea.[4] This is one of the two known instances in which Kyoshi used the Avatar State; the other was when she levitated two massive badgermole statues in a flashback.[8]
On the golden button on the right arm guard of the Kyoshi Warriors, and on the fan that the statue of Avatar Kyoshi held to her face, is the word 京. The other fan, the one on her outstretched arm, is the word 士. In Japanese, 京士 is pronounced 'kyōshi' and translated as 'capital samurai.' However, on the mural in her shrine, her name appeared as 虛子 (Kyoshi in Japanese, a near-homophone with 京士, but with a shorter 'o' sound).[4] Kyoshi (虛子) is a proper name in Japanese as, for example, the poet Takahama Kyoshi (高浜 虚子).
In the episode "The Southern Air Temple", Kyoshi was seen to the right on the painting in the Earth Kingdom's Avatar Temple. However, the statue that preceded Roku's statue in the Southern Air Temple is not Kyoshi's.
Avatar Kyoshi lived to be 230 years old, making her the longest living Avatar in history,[2] as well as the oldest known human.
She also had the largest feet of any Avatar, and was the largest known Avatar in terms of physicality; when seen confronting Chin the Conqueror in "Avatar Day", and the time she faced the 46th Earth King's guards, she clearly appears two to three heads taller than them.
Kyoshi was shown to be a more straightforward type of Avatar; rather than trying to make peace with a conqueror and trying to convince him to end his reign of terror like Aang would, Kyoshi would simply end him if she had to.
In a chibi comic, Kyoshi was a gym teacher, which is coincidental, as her name is translated means "teacher".
Kyoshi is the first known Avatar to have had descendants.
Kyoshi told the 46th Earth King: "How dare you defy your Avatar?" A similar phrase was used by Fire Lord Sozin to Avatar Roku: "How dare you, a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way?"
Avatar Kyoshi's legacy and work as Avatar has started two groups: the Kyoshi Warriors and the Dai Li, both of which Azula made use of to conquer Ba Sing Se.
Though an earthbender by nationality and Avatar Cycle position, Avatar Kyoshi appeared in the series to utilize airbending much of the time, which is ironic since it is earthbending's opposing art, similar to Aang who frequently used earthbending despite being born as an airbender, and Korra who uses firebending much of the time even though she is a waterbender by nationality.
Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang are all known for defying the leader(s) of their respective nations. Kyoshi, at first, refused to aid the 46th Earth King when he asked her to aid in the Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se. Roku nearly killed Fire LordSozin in an attempt to put a stop to his imperialistic actions, and Aang did not move to the Eastern Air Temple when he was told to and instead ran away.
Kyoshi has never been seen without her signature makeup.
Kyoshi's airbending skills may have been amplified or channeled through her fans in the same way that Aang used his glider staff to aid his airbending. In addition, Kyoshi was never seen bending while unarmed sans the opening sequence of The Legend of Korra.
Kyoshi is shown as the earthbender in the opening sequence of The Legend of Korra.[10] In addition, this makes her the first person to be seen in the series.
Kyoshi was the first Avatar to create a new landmass via her bending when she separated her peninsula from the mainland, creating Kyoshi Island. Aang would do something similar by creating Air Temple Island hundreds of years later.
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