| "I never told you how far I fell within the Southern Air Temple as a result of that day. [...] I violated my beliefs as an airbender. I let my teachers down. I let my entire people down." |
| — Kelsang telling Kyoshi how he destroyed a Fifth Nation fleet to save an Earth Kingdom village.[1] |
Kelsang was an Air Nomad monk hailing from the Southern Air Temple who served as a later airbending teacher of Avatar Kuruk and became one of his best friends. After Kuruk's death, Kelsang tried to keep the peace in the world while searching for the next Avatar.
He was originally one of the most respected masters among the Air Nomads and the designated heir to Abbot Dorje of the Southern Air Temple, though stealing the Avatar relics to help his search and decimating a Fifth Nation's pirate fleet caused him to fall from grace and become an outcast among his people.
After years of searching, he and Jianzhu initially misidentified Yun as the next Avatar, though Kelsang eventually met and became the de facto adoptive father of Avatar Kyoshi. After it was revealed that she was the true Avatar, Kelsang confronted Jianzhu and ultimately gave his life to protect her.[2]
History
As Kuruk's companion
Kelsang grew up in the Southern Air Temple, where his reputation quickly preceded him to the point where he became the designated successor for Abbot Dorje. He once visited the Spirit World unintentionally, and described the beauty of the other realm to the temple's monks. This upset many of his elders, who imagined the Spirit World as a plane of blackness, mirroring the detachment of the visitor.[3]
One day, Kelsang caught Kuruk and Jianzhu sneaking into the bison pens for a joyride, and pinned them to a wall with blasts of airbending. The abbot reprimanded Kuruk, and assigned Kelsang as a companion to him despite the airbender's protest that he wished to have nothing to do with two bison thieves. Though Kuruk intially considered Kelsang to be a grump, the airbender soon became close friends with the Avatar and Jianzhu. When Hei-Ran coldly denied Kuruk's advances in First Lord's Harbor, Jianzhu and Kelsang laughed to each other about Kuruk's brutal rejection.[3]
Despite Kuruk having already mastered the four elements, he asked his companions for further instruction, believing that the greatest Pai Sho players never stopped learning. Kuruk's companions kept correcting each other's mistakes and bad habits, and worked to improve their bending.[3]
After Kelsang admitted his journey to the Spirit World, Kuruk was determined that Kelsang would guide him there. Kuruk's companions traveled to a meadow near Yaoping where Yangchen liked using the Avatar State to practice their bending, and the pair crossed over to the Spirit World. After Kelsang returned to the physical world, the Avatar was nowhere to be seen. Kuruk's friends found the waterbender crawling through the streets of Yaoping, foaming from the mouth. Some days later, Kelsang and his friends walked into Kuruk's room at the town's inn, and found him surrounded by broken bottles of wine, and having slept with the inn's maid, but the airbender did not judge him.[6]
Kuruk and his companions went their separate ways around 316 BG. The first time Kelsang saw Kuruk in months was after Hei-Ran's wedding, and found that Kuruk had composed a love poem to the firebender. Kelsang berated Kuruk for trying to destroy their friend's relationship, and made the Avatar destroy the poem right in front of him. Shortly after this, Kuruk fell in love with Ummi, a woman whose face was stolen by the spirit Koh. This turn of events made Kelsang wonder if he did the right thing in stopping his friend from confessing his feelings to Hei-Ran.[6][7]
Searching for Kuruk's successor
After Kuruk's premature demise, Kelsang blamed himself for not having been a better mentor to the Avatar. This feeling of failure motivated Kelsang to take it upon himself to track down the next Avatar. He was joined on his quest throughout the Earth Kingdom by his good friend, and Kuruk's earthbending teacher, Jianzhu.[4]
After years of fruitless searching, a desperate Kelsang stole the Avatar relics from Abbot Dorje after a night of drinking with Jianzhu in the hope of expediting their search. In 305 BG, seven years after Kuruk's death, the quest for the new Avatar took Kelsang and Jianzhu to the remote Yokoya Port, where they presented the relics to a number of Earth Kingdom seven-year-olds, including Kyoshi, to find the Avatar. After choosing the clay turtle, Kyoshi ran off with the relic, and Kelsang let her, figuring it would return to where it belonged sooner or later.[4] Kelsang ultimately followed Kyoshi, discovering that the girl was homeless and living amid garbarge. Horrified, the monk decided to care for the girl who gradually began to trust him.[8] Over the next years, he paid the locals to care for her and repeatedly stayed at Yokoya to look after Kyoshi. However, he often had to leave the area to go on various missions, and was often upset to return to find Kyoshi having been neglected by the caretakers he had paid. He thus began to personally spend more and more time with her, and Kyoshi began to view him as a kind of adoptive father.[9][10][11]
At one point, Kelsang performed a one-man assault against a Fifth Nation fleet off the southern end of the Earth Kingdom attempting to raid the seas. From the back of his flying bison, Kelsang used his airbending to create a massive cyclone, with the ensuing high waves and winds destroying much of the fleet, drowning or maiming many of the pirates, and earning Kelsang the feared title "Living Typhoon" amongst the surviving daofei. This act coupled with his theft of the Avatar relics rendered Kelsang an outcast to his fellow Air Nomads and he was banished as punishment and forbidden from returning to the Air Nomad temples.[1]
Seeing the world drift toward chaos and deeply regretting his own path, Kelsang ultimately despaired that the Avatar's line had ended. However, he and Jianzhu visited Makapu Village to survey the local volcano in 298 BG. By chance, the two encountered a boy, Yun, who was playing Pai Sho on the village's streets. To the two masters' amazement, Yun displayed Avatar Kuruk's unique Pai Sho strategies. As the chances for this being mere coincidence were tiny, Jianzhu promptly declared Yun the reincarnated Avatar. Kelsang supported his friend in this regard, and was designated as the Avatar's airbending teacher. Thus, when Jianzhu subsequently decided to build a fortified mansion to train Yun, he agreed to the monk's request to erect the structure in Yokoya and to hire Kyoshi as a servant, thus ensuring that the latter was safe and could remain under Kelsang's care.[9][10][12]
Doubts about the Avatar
However, Kelsang's view of Yun's Avatarhood began to change over time. Though the boy easily mastered earthbending and proved to be an extremely talented as well as devoted student, he was unable to bend any element aside of earth. As Jianzhu and Hei-Ran, now Yun's firebending master, resorted to ever more extreme methods to get Yun to firebend, Kelsang made his displeasure known. The monk began to believe that Yun might not be the Avatar after all. Sometimes he mused about how his own de facto adoptive daughter, Kyoshi, had been partially successful at the Air Nomad Avatar test. As he voiced his concerns, however, Kelsang was increasingly sidelined by the other masters, especially Jianzhu. Officially, he was removed from the training proccess as he allegedly distracted Yun.[9][10]
Frustrated but powerless, Kelsang instead concentrated on being the best caretaker he could be for Kyoshi.[10][7] All changed one day in 296 BG, however, when Kelsang was helping out at the Avatar mansion's kitchen. At the time, head of kitchen staff Mui ordered the other servants to recite some ad hoc poetry as she regularily did. After Lee made a quite poor attempt, Kelsang jokingly recited a raunchy work shanty much to Mui's horror. Then, it was Kyoshi's turn. To the monk's shock, Kyoshi recited Kuruk's long-lost love poem to Hei-Ran. In his excitement, Kelsang loudly demanded that she told him where she had heard this poem.[10] As soon as he noticed that he had screamed at her, however, the monk took Kyoshi into an empty study and spent half an hour tearfully apologizing for having lost control. After calming down, Kelsang explained his doubts about Yun's identity and his suscpicion that Kyoshi might be the true Avatar.
The girl took these news badly, refusing to believe Kelsang. The monk then asked her to walk with him to her room as he explained the story of Kuruk's poem. After finishing his tale, Kyoshi still felt his arguments remained unconvincing. Kelsang admitted that there was still more evidence for Yun's Avatarhood, yet pointed out that they had to consider not just the poem but also Kyoshi's personality traits which he believed matched the Avatar. He then expressed frustration at never having met Kyoshi's parents as their knowledge might had helped to clear up the situation. Either way, Kyoshi asked him to keep his beliefs a secret until she had gotten her "bearings". Even as his eyes drifted to the clay turtle, the Avatar relic which Kyoshi had still kept on a shelf in her room, Kelsang reluctantly agreed to her request.[12]
Facing the Fifth Nation
Soon after the poem incident, Yun and his companions went on a mission to the South Pole region. The purpose of this expedition was to meet Tagaka, pirate queen of the Fifth Nation, and to sign an agreement between her and the "Avatar". The meeting took place on an iceberg at sea, as this was supposedly neutral ground where neither side could hide strong armed forces. Kelsang accompanied the mission, and at an evening dinner was singled out by Tagaka as the "Living Typhoon", one of several murderers in Yun's entourage. Shaken at being reminded of his past actions, the Air Nomad quickly left the dinner. Kyoshi followed him, and the two shared an emotional moment as Kelsang apologized for being such a shameful figure, whereupon his ward responded that he had "never let me down. Do you hear me? Never." The two hugged, and Kelsang asked Kyoshi to return to camp as he would try to mediate between Jianzhu and Yun who were loudly arguing nearby.
The next day, Yun's party and Tagaka gathered to sign the agreement. Unknown to Kelsang and his friends, the pirates had lured them into a trap, as waterbenders had hidden under the ice to ambush them. When the battle began, most of Yun's allies were dragged into the ice. Thanks to his extraordinary reflexes, Kelsang avoided this fate by jumping into the air and using his airbender staff to fly away. He then attempted to save Yun who was locked in a duel with Tagaka, but the purported Avatar urged him to try stopping Tagaka's pirate fleet instead of helping him.[1]
Accordingly, Kelsang changed course, but was thwarted by Tagaka. The pirate queen targeted him with a storm of tiny icicles. She thus destroyed his glider, whereupon the monk fell into the sea.[1] His allies rescued him, but he was badly hurt and forced to recover at the Avatar mansion. When he learned that Kyoshi had saved the group from the pirates through a feat of nearly impossible earthbending, he became convinced that she could be the Avatar. He subsequently revealed his belief to Jianzhu, Yun, and Rangi. Kyoshi was extremely upset when she learned that Kelsang had told the others about her possible Avatarhood, as she regarded this as impossible, and considered the monk's suspicions a threat to her friendships and safe life. Kelsang attempted to reassure her, only to be angrily rebuffed by his adoptive daughter.[13]
Death
In course of the subsequent time, Jianzhu put Kyoshi's abilities to the test, but she failed just as Yun had. One day, the Earth Sage finally took Yun and Kyoshi on a secret journey to determine who was the Avatar. Kelsang had long suspected that his old friend had become too extreme in his methods, and suspected the worst upon learning that he had taken the two teenagers away. The monk broke into Jianzhu's office, and his fears were confirmed upon reading the documents there. As Jianzhu had taken Kelsang's sky bison, Pengpeng, the desperate airbender had no other option than to follow him using his airbending staff. Traveling for many miles exhausted the wounded monk, and his wounds reopened; regardless, he pushed on.[2]
Kelsang eventually arrived at the deserted mining village where Jianzhu had taken the teenagers, finding his old friend holding Kyoshi in an earthen gag, which the earthbender promptly released at his appearance. After telling Jianzhu how he came after him, Kelsang demanded to know Yun's whereabouts, only to be told that Kyoshi just firebent, proving her identity as the true Avatar. Though Jianzhu attempted to claim that their attempt to commune with a monstrous spirit went awry, resulting in Yun being taken, Kyoshi blurted out that Jianzhu actually sacrificed Yun to the spirit. The monk believed his adoptive daughter and, after a moment of hesitation, ordered her to get behind him. He told Jianzhu that he and Kyoshi would leave peacefully and that Jianzhu should stay away from them for good, declaring him unfit to serve the Avatar. When an enraged Jianzhu attacked, Kelsang intended to just blast him away and knock the madness out of him, but he was wounded, a weakness Jianzhu readily exploited by slitting his throat with a tiny slice of earth he bent.[2] The trauma of his death caused Kyoshi to go into the Avatar State, incidentally obliterating Kelsang's body.[11]
Legacy
Kelsang had been reduced in status in the Air Nomads' regard due to the numerous deaths for which he was responsible. When Kyoshi discovered this during her visit of the Southern Air Temple, she forcibly ordered the temple's leaders to restore Kelsang's position, as well as put the monk's likeness in a spot of great honor.[14]
Personality
Recognized for his gentle nature, Kelsang was a prominent Air Nomad, as well as a kind-hearted, compassionate, and wise airbender.[15] Despite his former lofty status as a companion of the Avatar and a prominent monk within his order, he was an incredibly humble and caring individual to people of all stations and backgrounds, interacting with laborers and children with a genuine air of understanding and patience. His compassion was so great that upon meeting Kyoshi when she was a child, a stranger to him that had ran off with one of his people's most sacred artifacts, he not only let her keep the toy, but took her under his care after he found her living alone and neglected.[4][10] Over the next nine years, he would make repeated stops at Yokoya to see to Kyoshi's physical and emotional well-being, ensuring that the villagers were feeding her properly, taking her out on recreational activities, and giving her a source of employment at the Avatar's mansion.[9][10][11] It was because of his strong moral fiber that Jianzhu and Hei-Ran did not involve Kelsang in certain facets of Yun's Avatar training, the two knowing their friend would never consent to the torturous, gruesome regimens they put the youth through.[16][10][17]
Like most other Air Nomads, Kelsang also had a fairly pronounced sense of humor. Even when dealing with stressful events, Kelsang would frequently make teasing remarks about the situation or people involved, much to the aggravation of his more serious-minded contemporaries.[4][10][12]
Beyond his easygoing, jovial nature, however, Kelsang was incredibly melancholic and self-conscious about his perceived mistakes and flaws, only airing them out at personal breaking points. Kelsang viewed his failure to guide Kuruk to a better path as one of his greatest mistakes,[1] and agonized how, if he had not been so harsh with his friend after he denounced Kuruk's feelings for Hei-Ran, the Avatar might still be alive.[12] Having been raised with the Air Nomads' strong beliefs in peace and non-aggression, Kelsang regretted the lives he took when he decimated the Fifth Nation's fleet. Though he justified his actions were to protect lives and maintain balance in the world, in private, Kelsang viewed himself as a disgrace and a stain on his people's reputation.[1]
While Kelsang loved and cherished his friends, he was willing to put their feelings and concerns aside to ensure the world's balance. Despite promising Kyoshi not to reveal the evidence of her potential status as the Avatar,[12] Kelsang felt he had no choice to after her near-death experience and Avatar-level feat of bending at the South Pole.[13] As his concern over Jianzhu's desire to control the Avatar became more pronounced, Kelsang reached his tipping point after learning how the Earth Sage had callously sacrificed Yun and Kyoshi to a spirit, refusing to surrender Kyoshi to his custody.[10][2]
Abilities
Airbending
An airbending master,[13] Kelsang was a formidable practitioner of the bending art, his skills viewed in high esteem by friends and enemies alike.[1][18] Even from a young age, Kelsang was capable of completely incapacitating opponents with a blast of air. As a companion of Avatar Kuruk, Kelsang received unorthodox training from his companions, improving his own abilities by testing them against different styles of combat.[3]
One of Kelsang's greatest airbending feats was during his one-man assault on a Fifth Nation fleet off the southern end of the Earth Kingdom. From the back of his flying bison, Kelsang used his airbending to create a massive cyclone, with the ensuing high waves and winds destroying much of the fleet, drowning or maiming many of the pirates, and earning Kelsang the title "Living Typhoon" amongst the surviving daofei.[1]
Despite such repute, Kelsang's casual use of airbending belied his gentler nature. Frequently, the monk would use his abilities to support his friends and loved ones, whether he was pranking Kyoshi by bending a miniature whirlwind at her while she was lost in stressful thought,[10] gently soaring through the skies on his glider as his adoptive daughter's makeshift kite,[11] or buoying along a ship carrying his allies with a gust of wind.[1]
Other skills
Beyond his martial abilities, Kelsang demonstrated remarkable physical resilience and endurance. During the battle against the Fifth Nation, Kelsang survived plummeting into the freezing waters of the South Pole after his glider was damaged by Tagaka.[1][13] Despite being in recovery from the blood loss he incurred from his fall, Kelsang was able to fly across a large swath of the Earth Kingdom on his glider, even after the journey reopened his wounds.[2] Kelsang also had great reaction speed, being the only member of Yun's party to avoid being dragged underneath the iceberg by Tagaka's men.[1]
Kelsang showed great spiritual acumen, being able to meditate into the Spirit World in several instances, and perceive it in a unique way antithetical to Air Nomad doctrine.[3]
When the situation arose, Kelsang gleefully displayed a wit for improvisational singing, quickly developing rhythms and lyrics tailored to his audience's interests. Furthermore, Kelsang's culinary skills were on par with the rest of the mansion staff, being able to fit in by contributing to the preparation of dumplings.[10]
Appearances
Chronicles of the Avatar
The Rise of Kyoshi
- 101. "The Test"
- 104. "Honest Work"
- 105. "Revelations"
- 107. "The Iceberg"
- 108. "The Fracture"
- 110. "The Spirit"
The Shadow of Kyoshi
- 214. "The Message" (flashback, no lines)
- 224. "Lost Friends" (flashback, no lines)
Avatar games
Trivia
- Kelsang shares his name with the 7th Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso.
- He spoke with a booming rumble.[4]
- Kelsang is noted to be a very tall man.[4]
- Kelsang's favorite dish was Tofu Curry.[21]
- Kelsang and his role as Kyoshi's surrogate father is referenced in written documents seen during the episode "Aang" of the Netflix adaptation of Avatar.[22]
| Preceded by Kuruk's first airbending master |
Avatar's airbending master Unknown BG - 312 BG |
Succeeded by Disha[5][23] |
References
|