"In my day, Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the world out of balance." — Avatar Kyoshi.[1]

War of Chin the Conqueror
Chronological information
Next Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se
Historical information
Began Northwestern conquest
Ended Invasion of Kyoshi Island, 270 BSC
Place Earth Kingdom
Outcome Victory of the Earth Kingdom Chin the Conqueror is defeated and dies Chin's army is disbanded and founds Chin Village Kyoshi Island created Civil unrest spreads in the Earth Kingdom The power of the Earth King begins to decline
Major battles Invasion of Kyoshi Island
Combatants
Chin the Conqueror's Army	Earth Kingdom
Commanders
Chin †	46th Earth King Avatar Kyoshi (late war)
Appearances
First appearance "Avatar Day" (flashback only)
Last appearance "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters" (flashback only)

The War of Chin the Conqueror was a major hostile takeover of the Earth Kingdom by the tyrannical warlord Chin, whose goal was to overthrow the 46th Earth King and to end his authoritarian rule. Almost the entirety of the Earth Kingdom was invaded in the campaign. The only territories to remain in the last stages of the war were Ba Sing Se, and a small peninsula which was the home of Avatar Kyoshi. The war was ended when Chin was killed by Avatar Kyoshi as she separated her home from the mainland, creating Kyoshi Island.^[2]

Chin's civil war had a massive impact on history, since it caused a series of events that eventually led to the decline of the Earth King's power. This development resulted in a 370 year long period of weakness, conspiracy and corruption for the Earth Kingdom that ended with the 52nd Earth King's return to power in 100 ASC.^[3]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Prelude 1.2 War 2 Aftermath 2.1 Immediate 2.2 Later 3 Trivia 4 Appearances 4.1 Avatar: The Last Airbender 4.1.1 Book Two: Earth (土) 4.1.2 Book Three: Fire (火) 5 References 6 Comments

History Edit

Prelude Edit

The 46th Earth King was a strong-willed and imperious ruler, determined to establish an absolute monarchy with himself as total and god-like King. He did not care about his subjects, and his unpopular rule could thus count on little support from his people and the local authorities.^[2][4]

War Edit

The resistance against his authoritarian rule soon culminated in an open revolt. Chin, a tyrannical warlord, raised a large army in order to gain power over the Earth Kingdom. Seizing the King's unpopularity as advantage, Chin began expanding his army to all corners of the continent.^[2]

Chin's campaign proved to be a success: commencing from a small island in the northwestern part of the kingdom, his armies steadily conquered every city, every country and every fortress on their way. The Earth King, however, was seemingly incapable of handling the war properly and barricaded himself in Ba Sing Se, leaving most of the kingdom to the enemy. At the height of the campaign, only the capital Ba Sing Se and Avatar Kyoshi's home peninsula remained unconquered.^[2]

Chin decided to face the Avatar instead of the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se and lead his armies out to the neck of the peninsula where he met the Avatar. In a standoff, Chin confronted Kyoshi and demanded her immediate surrender. Kyoshi, in turn, warned him that she would not sit passively while he took her home, but Chin did not back down and challenged her.^[2]

Kyoshi, however, did not fight Chin, but unleashed a display of powers in the Avatar State instead by creating a large fissure across the width of the neck of the peninsula to sever it from the mainland. Bending lava, she deepened the crack, and utilized airbending to completely separate her homeland. The ground shook as the newly formed Kyoshi Island slowly made its way toward the middle of the ocean, leaving Chin standing on an unstable cliff. Although the cliff started to crumble away underneath his feet, Chin, screaming in anger over Kyoshi's actions, refused to move. As a result, he plummeted to his death in the depths below, ending the war.^[2]

Aftermath Edit

Immediate Edit

Although the land was now free from the threat of Chin the Conqueror, the Earth Kingdom was not at peace. Chin's army was disbanded, but his followers, still loyal to him, founded a settlement in the southern Earth Kingdom and fueled the secessionism in the Earth Kingdom. At the same time civil unrest spread on the continent. Many citizens were furious at the actions of the King during the war, especially his military incompetence and tyranny.^[4]

Uprisings occurred, like the Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se, nearly plunging the kingdom back into civil war. It was thanks to Avatar Kyoshi that the problems were solved peacefully. Kyoshi had forced the Earth King to listen to the peasants grievances, turning his authoritarian tyranny into a constitutional monarchy. In return, she created the Dai Li in order to protect the city's cultural heritage. Overall, the position of the Earth King was massively weakened, both in power and reputation, and the Earth Kingdom would never again become an absolute monarchy. Instead, the kingdom further decentralized, ultimately making all ambitions of the 46th Earth King to change it into a centralized empire futile.^[4]

Later Edit

During the next 270 years, the development started by Chin's war continued. Over time, the monarchy became stagnant and corrupt, and its power declined.^[5] At the same time, the power of local rulers and bureaucrats increased, dividing the Earth Kingdom into independent provinces, local kingdoms, and city-states with their own armies and laws.^[6] This territorial division eventually increased to the point where the Earth Kingdom's monarchy had almost no control over its rural and peripheral regions.^[7][8]

Around 20 BSC, Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of this weakness, establishing several colonies in the western kingdom, occupying former Earth Kingdom land. Notably, the Earth Kingdom government did not protect their western provinces or declared war to the Fire Nation for their aggressive imperialism, unable to stop the mighty Fire Nation military. Only Avatar Roku prevented the widespread of the colonies and stopped Sozin's ambitions.^[9] Nevertheless, after his death, the Hundred Year War began, and most of the weakened Earth Kingdom was conquered by the Fire Nation. By this time, the 52nd Earth King had become a mere figurehead, while the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se was the true ruler of the Earth Kingdom.^[10]

This conspiracy was eventually revealed by Avatar Aang in 100 ASC, and some of the Earth Kings' former power was briefly restored until the Coup of Ba Sing Se. During this successful coup, a Fire Nation princess usurped and abolished the Earth King's position, finally ending the long era of powerless puppet rulers to the Earth Kingdom.^[11] The nation itself was shattered; most of the country had been conquered by the Fire nation, the rest was already under the control of warlords, local authorities,^[8] and loyal remnants of the fragmented Earth Kingdom Army.^[12]

However, in 100 ASC, 370 years after Chin's death, very few commoners remembered Chin's war, and the details of Chin's death became unclear despite his impact on the history.

The citizens of Chin Village were the only known people around that time that still commemorate Chin's death. For this occasion, they created Avatar Day, a festival that celebrated their hatred for the Avatar for killing their great and beloved leader. However, the accuracy of the grounds for the event were biased at best, leaving out several important details.

The village had already celebrated this holiday on those grounds for 370 years,^[5] when Team Avatar arrived at the village in 100 ASC. Upon their arrival, Avatar Aang agreed to stand trial for the "murder" of Chin the Great. While Aang was in jail, Katara and Sokka set out to investigate this mystery. With the help of Avatar Kyoshi's spirit, the truth behind Chin's demise was revealed. During the following invasion of Chin Village by the Rough Rhinos, Aang was able to clear the Avatar's name. From that day on, Avatar Day became a day to commemorate Aang saving the village.^[2]

Before the Battle at Wulong Forest, Aang summoned Kyoshi for guidance on how to defeat the Fire Lord. She 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 did not actually kill him, but that Chin's own stubbornness had led to his downfall. Kyoshi replied that she saw no difference in this, and told Aang that she would have done anything necessary to stop Chin. After hearing this, Aang regretted consulting Kyoshi on this complex moral matter.^[1]

However, after the liberation of Ba Sing Se and the end of the Hundred Year War, Kuei returned to his rightful place as the Earth King. The King's power was restored to a large extent, and the Earth Kingdom was finally reunited.^[3]

Trivia Edit

• According to Avatar Kyoshi, Chin's death brought "a great era of peace".^[1] However, this was proven to be not entirely correct, as Chin's death caused the violent Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se and a time of civil unrest in the Earth Kingdom, even though there was no open warfare for the next 233 years.^[13]

Appearances Edit

Avatar: The Last Airbender Edit

Book Two: Earth (土) Edit

• 205. "Avatar Day" ^(flashback)

Book Three: Fire (火) Edit

• 319. "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters" ^(flashback)

References Edit

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters". Aaron Ehasz (writer) & Giancarlo Volpe (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. July 19, 2008. No. 19, Book Three: Fire ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Avatar Day". John O'Bryan (writer) & Lauren MacMullan (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. April 28, 2006. No. 5, Book Two: Earth ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gene Yang (w), Gurihiru (a). The Promise Part 1 (Jan 25, 2012), Dark Horse Comics ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Escape from the Spirit World: Avatar Kyoshi Online Comic Book. ↑ 5.0 5.1 From older Avatar: The Last Airbender official site, originally on Nick.com (link). No longer updated. ↑ Avatar Extras for "Avatar Day" on Nicktoons Network. ↑ "The Library". John O'Bryan (writer) & Giancarlo Volpe (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. July 14, 2006. No. 10, Book Two: Earth ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Zuko Alone". Elizabeth Welch Ehasz (writer) & Lauren MacMullan (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. May 12, 2006. No. 7, Book Two: Earth ↑ "Imprisoned". Matthew Hubbard (writer) & Dave Filoni (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. March 25, 2005. No. 6, Book One: Water ↑ "City of Walls and Secrets". Tim Hedrick (writer) & Lauren MacMullan (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. September 22, 2006. No. 14, Book Two: Earth ↑ "The Crossroads of Destiny". Aaron Ehasz (writer) & Michael Dante DiMartino (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. December 1, 2006. No. 20, Book Two: Earth ↑ "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion". Michael Dante DiMartino (writer) & Giancarlo Volpe (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. November 30, 2007. No. 10, Book Three: Fire ↑ "The Avatar and the Fire Lord". Elizabeth Welch Ehasz (writer) & Ethan Spaulding (director). Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. October 26, 2007. No. 6, Book Three: Fire

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