Designing characters after real life people and celebrities is not a new thing. Matter of fact, it is done a lot of times. The Avatar: The Last Airbender series had a host of supporting characters that aided the plot of the show, and while many of them had different designs, one of them is actually designed after pro wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. Which character is this? It’s the Boulder Avatar. 

The Boulder Avatar In The Last Airbender

The Boulder Avatar was one of the series’ most memorable characters of the supporting cast.  He was an iconic earthbending wrestler but what most people may not know is that he was originally designed with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in mind. 

As we all know, the show Avatar: The Last Airbender chronicles the adventures that Aang and his friends Katara and Sokka encounter as he attempts to master the bending of all four elements. He is doing this so that he can defeat the evil Fire Lord Ozai, restoring peace and balance to their war-torn world. Aang eventually finds an earthbending master, by the name of Toph Beifong, an earthbending prodigy who happens to be blind but uses earthbending to see. They meet her while she is wrestling The Boulder Avatar under the wrestling name ‘The Blind Bandit’ at an underground earthbending competition.

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The Boulder Avatar: First Appearance

We meet The Boulder Avatar in the season 2 episode 6 titled “The Blind Bandit” of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Boulder Avatar is shown to be an extremely strong and muscular person and he looks like the kind of guy you would want to teach you Earthbending. And that’s the same thought that Team Avatar has when they see him; attracting the team as a potential earthbending master for Aang. We see him quite expertly dispatch his opponent, The Hippo in the Earth Rumble underground tournament. 

The Boulder refers to himself exclusively in the third person, which is an interesting character trait. He entertains and wows the crowd with his increasingly extravagant wrestling moves and showboating. It is clear he is a fan favorite to win the competition, that is until he is humiliatingly defeated by The Blind Bandit aka Toph Beifong who eventually ends up becoming Aang’s earthbending teacher. As it so turns out, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the real-life inspiration for The Boulder Avatar.

How Can We Confirm The Connection With The Rock?

Avatar Extras was a Nickelodeon event in which episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender were aired with accompanying pop up bubbles. These bubbles were pop-up bubbles with trivia in them, and when one of them appeared on the scream, it confirmed that The Rock was indeed the inspiration for The Boulder Avatar. 

In addition, the production team of The Last Airbender even wanted the actor to voice the character on the show. The Boulder Avatar does bear a lot of similarities to The Rock. Some of these similarities include his massive and very muscular build, but perhaps the most striking quality has to be his wrestling persona.

They are extremely similar in that aspect. Just like The Rock is with his catchphrases and his persona in the ring, the Boulder is a very charismatic, boastful trash-talker, who prefers to refer himself in the third person much to the amusement of the audience.

Who Voiced The Boulder Avatar

The Boulder Avatar was eventually not voiced by The Rock but instead by Dwayne Johnson’s real-life friend, pro-wrestler Mick Foley. The team had indeed wanted Dwayne Johnson as the first choice to voice The Boulder Avatar but he wasn’t yet much of an established actor as at the time of production.

He was only just making a name for himself as a big movie earner when The Last Airbender was first airing in 2005. No doubt, a cameo role in Avatar: The Last Airbender would have been something of a major departure for the wrestler turned actor, but you can’t resist Dwayne Johnson’s influence on The Boulder.

One thing for sure is that The Boulder was an instantly iconic character on the Avatar: The Last Airbender show. There were several other characters in the supporting cast, but none hit it quite like this one did. From his repetitious assertions on how The Boulder was feeling to how The Boulder had a striking muscular build, it is no doubt that The Rock-inspired character made the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe a very colorful, vibrant and very macho one.

The Boulder Was Featured in One of The Best Episodes of Avatar Ever Made

The Blind Bandit was easily one of the coolest episodes of Avatar ever made. The first episode introduced the slow-motion bending that showed off how Toph would listen and then react. She would wait for fighters to make their move. The episode also introduced Toph, who ended up being a fan favorite. She added so much flavor to the show and the group.

One of the best things about the episode was the scene when tough face all of the guys at once. The level of earth bending we got to see in this episode was just amazing. Up until this point, the focus had been on water bending, fire bending, and even air bending. There had not been very much earthbending displayed in the first book.

I think a lot of people were fans of the show through season one but the episode with the Boulder locked people in as fans. It was this episode that let people know they would love this show for a long time.

Haru (Avatar) was one of the secondary characters of the Avatar The Last Airbender series. He was a skilled teenage earthbender whose Earth Kingdom village was temporarily occupied by the Fire Nation during the final years of the Hundred Year War. He was one of the very first allies that Team Avatar made in their course to teach Aang the elements.

After he breaks his father out of a Fire Nation prison rig along with other earthbenders, Haru Avatar joins forces with Hakoda; Katara and Sokka’s father. He helps out to invade the Fire Nation on the day of the solar eclipse. They lost that fight, so he escaped with the rest of Team Avatar on Appa.

They take refuge at the Western Air Temple. When the temple is attacked by Azula, Haru Avatar escapes with Hakoda and some other friends. After the war ended, he was present for Fire Lord Zuko’s coronation.

Early Life Of Haru Avatar

Haru Avatar was born to Tyro, his father and his mother who was unnamed throughout the series. His father taught him earthbending. When the Fire Nation attacked their village in the year 94 AG, Tyro and the other earthbenders fought off the invasion. But they were outnumbered and eventually taken away.

Haru Avatar grew up alone with his mother. To make sure he would not be taken, Haru’s mother stopped him from earthbending. This halted the development of his bending. 

He however continued to practice in secret, as it made him feel closer to his father. 

Haru Avatar In The Episode ‘Imprisoned’

During the season of late fall in 99 AG, Haru Avatar was practising his earthbending alone. Then, Team Avatar stumbled upon him. They all got to know each other better. Eventually, Haru and Katara would bond over their shared experiences; something that has made a section of the fanbase ship them together. 

While they bonded, they came across a villager trapped under a rock slide. Using his earthbending, Haru Avatar saved him, but he was ultimately betrayed by the villager. He reported him to the Fire Nation soldiers who came to arrest Haru, just as his mother had feared.

Aang and Sokka staged Katara earthbending so she would also be arrested and taken to the shipyard as well. Whilst there, she teamed up with Haru to start a mass prison rebellion and escape. Now that Haru Avatar was reunited with his father, as well as the strength of the escaped earth benders, the villagers had a chance to drive the Fire Nation away from their home. 

They hatched a series of plans together, and now fully reunited, Haru Avatar and his father helped to liberate their village from Fire Nation control as a part of the Earth Kingdom rebellions. They would go on to provide vital support for the Earth Kingdom in the war against the Fire Nation, as well as Team Avatar in the final days of the war.

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Day of the Black Sun

Haru Avatar is now sporting a mustache and a goatee, was one of many familiar but noticeably distinct faces recruited by Sokka to help in the invasion of the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun. Haru and his father were members of the ground forces to attack the Fire Nation Capital. 

When the submarines were destroyed, the warriors decided to surrender but Haru promised Tyro that they would return to rescue them. The young people, namely Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Teo, The Duke, and Haru, escaped on Appa and travelled to the Western Air Temple.

At the abandoned temple, Haru becomes friends with Teo and Duke, and together they begin to explore the Temple. They found out that it was the perfect place for Haru to practice his earthbending, as well as a nice place to hangout.

Their stay at the temple was marked with a number of activities, such as spectating in a sword bending match and practicing their bending. They also joined Sokka’s “Bendless Boomerang Club”, when he made the decision to open it up to everyone.

Azula Attacks Haru Avatar and His Friends

Haru was with Team Avatar until they were attacked by Azula and her air fleet. He fled with Hakoda and his friends, while Aang and the primary team escaped on Appa. They would later reunite during Zuko’s coronation; much after the Hundred Year War had ended. He was also finally with his father again.

Haru Avatar’s Abilities

Haru was shown to be a skilled earthbender. Even with the most minimal training, he was able to manipulate large boulders and was able to stop debris from crushing the villager. His bending style was much different from that of most earth benders. He preferred earthbending with his hands unlike most earthbenders, who preferred to earthbend with their feet. 

Along with four other earthbenders, which included his father, Haru Avatar was able to create a shield that was strong enough to withstand combined blasts from numerous firebenders. With help from his father, he was able to compress large amounts of coal, and turn them into a single projectile. This is by no means an easy feat to accomplish.

The Avatar fandom has some clear favorites from the series run. Most of them are primary members of team Avatar; being Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and even animal companions Appa, Momo, and Hawky. But there is a section of the fandom that considers favorites outside of the main A-team. As we all know, Team Avatar has many allies, and from this number come these favorites. One of such clear favorites in Avatar is Suki.

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Who Is (Avatar) Suki’s Competition For Best Female Character?

Avatar Suki is considered to be the best female character outside of the main protagonist by some fan sections. This is for a number of reasons, and all of them, from careful consideration are valid arguments. Of course, there are other contenders, such as Ty Lee, who is loved for her silliness and quirky character (not to mention her chi blocking abilities). There is also Mai, the resident Avatar Goth chick, loved for her emotionless stare and shuriken throwing prowess. Some even go as far back as Princess Yue, the one who sacrificed herself and became the moon.

We’ve not even addressed two leading ladies of the main team; Katara and Toph. Both prolific benders and progenitors of sub bending skills in their own right, it’s easy to see why. With all of this competition, let’s take a look at why we think Avatar Suki should get the title of the best female in Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

1. (Avatar) Suki Is An Upholder of History and Past Figures

This reason is hands down obvious from the very first moment we meet Suki. In her first appearance, she is introduced as the incumbent leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Who are the Kyoshi Warriors you say? Glad you asked. 

The Kyoshi Warriors are a group of female warriors who take after Avatar Kyoshi in protecting Kyoshi Island. They wear makeup resembling the late Avatar, and even dress like she does, in a bid to pay homage to what she stood for. Additionally, their weapon of choices are the iconic golden fans that Kyoshi used to employ in her battles. You could say the Kyoshi Warriors are the resident police force on Kyoshi Island. 

As the leader of the present instalment of the Kyoshi Warriors, Avatar Suki honors history through her activities. Not only did she start her training at the tender age of 8, she quickly rose through the ranks to assume the top spot we see her occupying when we meet her. 

Through Suki, the preservation of the Earth Kingdom’s past traditions is possible. She also makes sure that the Avatar’s legacy is kept intact, especially during the hundred years that he is missing. Avatar Suki also taught Sokka how to fight like the Kyoshi Warriors, and she eventually became the first of many teachers in the series, passing on a centuries’ old legacy of war fan martial arts techniques.

2. Suki Was A Friend In Need To Appa

Another redeeming quality of Suki is shown in Book Two of the series. IT is in the story arc where Aang loses Appa, and the flying bison undergoes a harrowing sequence of events. At the end of them all, he is disheveled and does not even trust humans anymore. Every scene is filled with tragedy for our favorite sky bison, and it is so painful to watch. It has been tagged as one of the most tragic stories of the Avatar series.

Despite how heartbreaking the episode is, there are a few scenes that offer Appa peace and respite, and chief amongst them is when he meets Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors. It is expected that they would help him, afterall, since he is a friend and ally, but the care and love that they gave Appa was extra. At the end of it all, he was looking like a new bison, but that’s not all. Avatar Suki even let Appa escape when Azula, Ty Lee and Mai attacked them.

3. Suki’s War Fan Skills Are Badass

Avatar Kyoshi was known as one of the fiercest benders to ever exist. This status even transcended the time she was alive, following her much beyond her grave. She accomplished some amazing feats, even if such feats were typical for someone like the Avatar. But one iconic feature she had were her war fans. 

With her war fans, she could bend the elements and take out opponents with one swipe. But the physics behind the fans are easy when you are a bender. As a non-bender, that’s something incredible to pull off. This is because this chosen weapon of the Kyoshi Warriors lacks a bladed edge and it does not pose any particular threat to enemies. You cannot even  swing it around to cut enemies. So just how could Avatar Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors make this a lethal weapon? Simple.

The Kyoshi Warriors use the fans to turn their enemies’ strength against them. The war fans are used defensively, redirecting the force of the enemy’s weapons. Suki is one of the most prolific war fan users, a pure master. She is also the first non-bender we meet in the series to use another weapon that is not a spear or a sword. This makes her a really formidable opponent.

4. She Is A Patient and Understanding Person

It takes a lot to be able to deal with a person like Sokka, and while we see her man-manage his silly and over dramatic side, our first inkling as to how understanding Suki can be is during a rather tense moment. 

When Suki and Sokka reunite at the Serpent’s Pass, they almost begin a romance. This confirms the fact that they have feelings for each other. But then as she attempts to kiss him under the full moon, Sokka feels guilty and puts a stop to it. He eventually explains that he feels bad moving on from Princess Yue, with whom he had a brief affair when the series first began. Suki does not even take the rejection personally, and allows Sokka to come into his own about his feelings for her. That’s a top level character.

5. Suki is An Important Member of Team Avatar

Although she is mostly forgotten as a member of Team Avatar, Suki actually does play an integral part to the team’s eventual defeat of the Fire Nation. Countless times she proves to be the deciding factor in the team’s fate. Examples of these instances include when she helps Appa during his travails, or when she saves Toph and Sokka from crashing during the war. She is ever ready to do what it takes for the greater cause, even if it means she may not get out of it alive.

6. She Has A Forgiving Spirit

When we first meet Suki in the series, she almost takes Sokka’s head off for his snide and misogynistic remarks towards the Kyoshi Warriors. Despite her initial dislike for Sokka, she eventually shows she has a forgiving heart when she accepts his apologies to her and the warriors. She even allows him to join the squad, teaching him the ways of the Kyoshi Warriors. Thus, Sokka became the very first foreigner to join the Warriors, and the very first male member as well. 

Avatar Suki is a great character in and out. She is loyal to her friends, an excellent warrior, and embodies everything a female heroine should. She’s our top pick for the best female character in the Avatar series, and it’s not hard to see why. 

7. She is Not a Bender

The show tends to glorify benders, but we forget how much courage it requires to fight others and not be a bender. Ty Lee, and Sokka both deserve a lot of credit for this as well. Benders will use all of their bending moves on nonbenders, and these fighters are still able to hold their ground when they need to.

Suki is so good at fighting benders that you begin to forget that she is not

Over the course of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, we meet several characters that further push the show’s story. Some of them appeared as side characters, with bigger roles to play eventually. Others seemed to have bigger implications but ended up just dropping the ball. The Jet Avatar connection cannot be separated because he helped to move the story forward so much.

In this article, we’ll take a look at Jet in Avatar, the leader of the Freedom Fighters, and how such a prominent hero would lose his oath so badly. We’ll also consider reasons why he should be tagged as a hero or tagged as one of the series’ secondary villains.

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Jet (Avatar): Introduction

Jet first appears in Avatar: The Last Airbender in Season One, the Book of Water; Episode 10. In this episode, the team meets a charismatic teenager leading a band of rebels who are fighting against the Fire Nation. This charismatic leader of course is Jet, and although he seems to be on the same side as Team Avatar, Sokka distrusts him from the onset.

Katara, on the other hand, seems to be smitten by the rebel leader.  She was very impressed with Jet’s skills, and Jet was impressed in her waterbending ability. They also sympathized with each other over losing family members to the Fire Nation. 

Jet had a deep-seated grudge against the Fire Nation, particularly a group of raiders named the Rough Rhinos. This was because the Rough Rhinos attacked his village, killing both his parents and burning it down to the ground.

Ever since that day, he would despise the Fire Nation. Jet dedicated his life to stop them in any way he could. But his plans grew to become severe, even attempting to sacrifice innocent lives to fulfill his agenda.

Over the years, Jet formed a ragtag group of young Earth Kingdom refugees who had been displaced by the Fire Nation. He would call them the Freedom Fighters. He and this group spent their days troubling the fire nation and colonials on the outskirts.

They lived in forest treehouses. Jet had the ultimate plan to finally eradicate Fire Nation presence from the entire forest, so he came up with the plan to destroy the town’s dam. This would in turn flood the forest, and the nearby town, and wipe out whoever was in it.

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Jet Meets The Avatar

One day, the freedom fighters looked for a distraction to take out a camp of Fire Nation soldiers. Coincidentally, Aang, Katara, and Sokka accidentally walked into the camp. The soldiers made to arrest Team Avatar, but Jet and the freedom fighters swooped in to save the day. Longshot knocked out the captain with a poisoned arrow, and the Freedom Fighters began fighting the soldiers. 

The rest of his group followed suit, and combined with the bending powers of Team Avatar, were able to take out their opponents.  At one point in the fight, Jet took out a soldier Sokka was fighting and told him that he had to be quicker when Sokka protested. When the fight ended, the two groups introduced themselves to each other. Katara became infatuated with the charismatic rogue, and Aang was happy to make new friends, but Sokka did not like him.

The Duke found barrels full of blasting jelly, and Pipsqueak found crates filled with jelly candy, both of which Jet called great scores and advised his group not to get the two mixed up. He invited Aang, Sokka, and Katara to dinner at his treehouse.

At dinner, Jet gave a humorous account of the battle to his followers. While Aang and Katara quickly grew to like the Freedom Fighters, Sokka’s dislike and distrust of Jet worsened, particularly because Jet painted him in a weaker light. 

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Jet’s Betrayal

Eventually, we find that Sokka was right not to trust Jet. In truth, Jet planned to destroy an entire village to get rid of the Fire Nation, but he was also willing to hurt innocent villagers to do it. Luckily, Sokka was able to warn the villagers before it happened, and Team Avatar left a frozen Jet in disgust and disappointment. 

We would see Jet appear in the second season, coming into the city around the same time that Zuko and Iroh were seeking refuge there. Jet asks Zuko to become a freedom fighter with him, but Zuko turns him down.

Later, Jet sees Iroh heat his tea using firebending and becomes obsessed with exposing them to the Earth Kingdom as firebenders. He ends up fighting Zuko in a swordfight but is arrested by the Dai Li. 

Now, based on everything Jet had gone through, would it be fair to call Jet a villain since he attempted to kill innocents, or would it be fair to say that he was just a victim of the war? Let’s see why Jet is a hero who just lost his way and the reasons he’s not.

Reasons Why Jet is A Hero in Avatar

Here are reasons why Jet Avatar is one of the most pivotal heroes to the protagonists’ quest to change the world.

1. He Went To Ba Sing Se For A Second Chance

After the whole drama with the Avatar, we don’t see much of Jet for a long time until the second book in the Earth kingdom. Here, we see the freedom fighters, particularly Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot, and Duke, head to Ba Sing Se for a fresh start.

The mere fact that Jet realized his wrongdoings and disbanded the freedom fighters so he could refind his path is more than enough to show he was just a messed-up kid. And it may just have worked had he not seen Iroh heat his teacup. 

2. Jet Avatar Overcame The Dai Li’s Hypnosis

After his arrest for attacking Iroh and Zuko at the tea shop, we see Jet try to convince the Ba Sing Se government that there were indeed firebenders in the city. Because Long Feng’s administration intended to make sure everyone within the wall did not know anything about the war, he had Jet brainwashed.

Set on Team Avatar by Long Feng, Jet eventually breaks the villain’s hold on him and turns the tide on his former controller. He even charges at him, attempting to take him down even though he knows the former is an accomplished earthbender. 

3. He Merely Wanted To Defend The Earth Kingdom

All Jet ever wanted to do was make sure the Earth Kingdom was free from the Fire Nation’s abuse. He had already suffered greatly at their oppressor’s hands, so naturally, he wanted to make sure it never happened again. Unfortunately, he got obsessed with his mission, and he lost his way.

4. He Helped Team Avatar Locate The Dai Li’s Base

In Ba Sing Se, Jet proved to Aang and the rest of the team that he was back on their side, helping them find their way through the tunnels and to where the Dai Li operated from. Without him, they would have never been able to locate Appa as well and would have probably been successfully tricked into searching on Whaletail Island. 

5. He Looked Out For Others Who Were Less Fortunate 

The whole reason the Freedom Fighters were set up in the first place was to ensure that people who had no resources to themselves after attacks from the Fire Nation. From the onset, Jet genuinely cared about people, and we see this side of him on the ship taking passengers to Ba Sing Se when he hatches a plan to get good food from the kitchen. He even enlists Zuko in his quest to feed the hungry travelers. 

Reasons Jet Avatar Is A Villain

Here are reasons we consider him a typical bad guy in the series

1. He Attacked Iroh In A Public Setting

This is one unforgivable thing that Jet did. Iroh is a fan favorite, even if he is indeed a Firebender and the former Dragon of The West. But he is also a lovely person, one who does not have a bad bone in his body, and Jet attacking him is just unacceptable. The older man just wanted to serve tea!

Even if he had noticed they were firebenders, he could have gone to the authorities. Instead, he attacks them hoping to force them to firebend. 

2. He Didn’t Try To Avoid Civilian Casualties

The whole point of the Freedom Fighters was the people. However, Jet loses track of that, even going as far as trying to drown the innocent villagers of the town. All of this he does to get the fire nation out. He doesn’t care if the people get hurt or are killed; he is just blinded by hatred.

3. He Was Driven By Hatred

Jet was driven purely by hatred, and that negates any chance of him having a pure heart. He would have resorted to even murdering innocents to get his way. He demonstrates how deep his hatred runs when he attacks Zuko and Iroh. There are several people around, but he does not care about their safety. All he wants to do is get his way.

4. He Attacked The Avatar

Jet attacks Avatar when it is discovered that he is responsible for trying to drown the village people. He had already denied his involvement, but at some point, he attacks Aang so that he can’t be stopped. It doesn’t get more evil than that. 

5. Jet Avatar Lied To Manipulate Others

People lie. Especially the characters in The Last Bender. All through its run, we are faced with a lie upon a lie, a testament that not everyone is honest/ even Aang lied at some point. But if there is anyone who lies the most, then it would have to be Jet.

He lied to Team Avatar, trying to get them to aid him in his vendetta against the fire nation. He also lied to his teammate Smellerbee, a lie that eventually ended in his arrest and even subsequent death. 

However you see it, Jet fits the bill of a typical hero and villain at the same time. While most of his run on the series showed him as a bad person, his final moments held a bit of a redemption for him. He died helping the Avatar out.