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Lao Ge

Earthbender Neutral
"I would declare the lowliest peasant is like the Avatar in this regard. All of our actions have an impact. Each decision we make ripples into the future. And we alter our landscapes according to our needs. To keep her crops alive, a farmer uproots the weeds that nature has placed in her fields, does she not?"
— Lao Ge explaining to Avatar Kyoshi why all people are equal in relative terms and murder is not inherently wrong.[1]

Lao Ge, also known as Tieguai, was a nomadic assassin who possessed great spiritual knowledge and claimed to have unlocked the secret of immortality. Pretending to be an old criminal and drunkard to dispel suspicions, Lao Ge traveled around the world and killed those whom he deemed responsible for the suffering of others. Over time, he took in many disciples, one of them being Avatar Kyoshi, whom he taught about assassination and spirituality.

Quick Answers

What is Lao Ge described as looking like? toggle section
Lao Ge is described as an old man with a wispy white beard, long white hair, and boney fingers. He wore ragged clothes that concealed his muscles underneath and often pretended to be a drunkard to dispel suspicions of his activities.
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How does Lao Ge's profession as an assassin align with his philosophical beliefs? toggle section
Lao Ge, an assassin and spiritual mentor, followed a moral code that justified his actions based on the welfare of the majority. He eliminated those he deemed responsible for others' suffering, reflecting his belief in the righteousness of his actions. Claiming to have discovered the secret of immortality, he shared this knowledge with disciples like Avatar Kyoshi. His philosophical beliefs were thus in harmony with his profession.
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What is the relationship between Lao Ge and Avatar Kyoshi? toggle section
Avatar Kyoshi and Lao Ge maintained a respect-filled relationship despite their differences. Kyoshi, considering Lao Ge her sifu, often disagreed with his detached view on life and justice. Lao Ge, on the other hand, was worried about Kyoshi's compassionate nature, believing it could cause her early demise. They managed a fragile reconciliation, with Lao Ge keeping Kyoshi on his watch list for potential assassination, while Kyoshi tried to dissuade him from murdering those she had pardoned.
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How does Lao Ge's philosophy relate to the concept of 'earthbending immortality'? toggle section
Lao Ge, or Tieguai the Immortal, is said to have discovered the secret of immortality, which he taught to his disciples, including Avatar Kyoshi. His philosophy, often referred to as 'earthbending immortality', is centered on preserving order within the body to prevent aging, which he believes is caused by deterioration at the most minute levels. This teaching enabled Avatar Kyoshi to achieve a lifespan of 230 years.
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History

Background

According to legends in the Earth Kingdom's underworld, Lao Ge was at least two hundred years old.[2] He himself hinted at being personally acquainted with Guru Shoken, which would have made him more than four thousand years old. Although he held Shoken's controversial ideas in relatively high regard, he also studied the works of Shoken's rivals, such as Guru Laghima, and developed his own philosophy.[4] Lao Ge had several disciples during his life, most of whom were only interested in learning about the secret of immortality from him.[5][6] He had a relatively low opinion of most of his pupils.[6] At some point, he adopted the moniker "Tieguai" and became infamous in the Earth Kingdom for murdering the 40th Earth King.[2] After the Yellow Neck Uprising broke out in the Earth Kingdom, he passed a village that was completely destroyed by the rebels and discovered that every villager, without distinction to age or gender, had been murdered and had their corpses stacked onto each other.[6]

Lao Ge eventually settled on the name "Lao Ge" and assumed the persona of an old but experienced bandit and a drunkard. He consequently joined the Flying Opera Company, a daofei outlaw group led by Jesa, and used it as a cover for his assassinations. Unbeknownst to him, however, Jesa discovered his true identity and wrote it down in a journal, which she passed to her daughter, Avatar Kyoshi.[2] When the Flying Opera Company began to unravel following the deaths of Jesa and Hark, Lao Ge remained with the group's remnants, along with Wong, Kirima, and Lek.[2][7] By 296 BG, Lao Ge and his comrades were staying at their last hideout in the shantytown at Chameleon Bay, where the old assassin spent most of his days drinking alcohol and sleeping, much to the annoyance of the other Flying Opera Company members.[2]

Meeting Avatar Kyoshi

One day, while Lao Ge was disguised as a homeless drunk on the doorstep of Madam Qiji's Teahouse, the Flying Opera Company was visited by Kyoshi and Rangi, who were on the run and looking for allies.[2] Their conversation was cut short, however, when Governor Deng's men ambushed the teahouse. Wong flung Lao Ge at the guards, who promptly attacked them with a particular type of earthbending, enabling his comrades to escape. Lao Ge too eventually retreated, several guards in tow, to the edge of town, where he hitched a ride on Kyoshi's flying bison Pengpeng.[8] The Company, now with Kyoshi and Rangi, settled on hiding out in the secluded daofei hub of Hujiang in the Taihua Mountains.[7] On the way, Kyoshi joined the company and approached Lao Ge in secrecy with the request to train her to kill someone, as she had learned his true identity as an infamous assassin through her mother's journal.[8]

Upon arrival in Hujiang, Lao Ge left the group without further notice but returned the following morning when the town was besieged by a shirshu, sent by Jianzhu in search of Kyoshi, to inform the others about the creature's infamous history in the Earth Kingdom.[9] After the incident, the Company rapidly deduced that Kyoshi must be someone of importance, and she subsequently revealed herself as the Avatar. Although Lao Ge and the others tried to disconnect from her, believing the Avatar should not be associated with criminals such as themselves, Kyoshi refused to leave, and they began to train her, with Lao Ge tutoring her in the art of assassination.

When the group later prepared to raid Governor Te Sihung's mansion in a group effort with the Autumn Blooms, Lao Ge told Kyoshi that she should help him kill the governor as practice for killing Jianzhu.[1] As such, Lao Ge and Kyoshi separated from the others to track down Governor Te, who turned out to be a 15-year-old who had been imitating his father's leadership style because he did not know any better. Although Lao Ge had no qualms about killing the teenager, he found himself opposed and even attacked by Kyoshi, who blasted him with airbending and helped Te to escape.

Regrouping with the rest of the Flying Opera Company, Lao Ge and Kyoshi discovered that they had successfully freed their target, Xu Ping An, although they were unaware of his identity. They only learned of his true identity upon reuniting him with Mok and the Autumn Blooms, who promptly revealed themselves to be the remnants of the Yellow Necks, much to the Company's shock, as the Yellow Neck's fanaticism and the atrocities they had committed preceded them.[10] Regardless, having absolved themselves of their debt to the Autumn Bloom Society, Lao Ge and the rest excused themselves and retreated from the Yellow Necks' camp.

Back home, the Flying Opera Company debated what they should do next, as they were not willing to let Xu resume his murderous rampage, but they were also realistic about the fact that they could not defeat him and his army in open battle.[6] Although they had settled on staking out the Yellow Necks' activities, Kyoshi ended up challenging Xu to a lei tai duel per daofei custom. Lao Ge watched the duel, during which Kyoshi was initially shot down with lightning though eventually emerged victorious after entering the Avatar State.[11] As Kyoshi fell unconscious after the duel, Lao Ge and the rest of the Company took her to a nearby village where Kirima and an Earth Kingdom healer attended to her. When she awoke three days later, Lao Ge and Kyoshi finally reconciled, and he admitted that she was one of the only pupils he was eager to teach.

Before they could properly get started, however, some members of the group were once again attacked, this time by Jianzhu himself who employed shirshu-spit darts to incapacitate them and kidnap Rangi, during which Lek succumbed to an allergic reaction to the darts.[12] After burying their friend, the Company hatched a plan that involved Kyoshi confronting Jianzhu while Lao Ge and the others would save Rangi.[13] They were successful in their endeavor, but when they regrouped at the Avatar estate in Yokoya, the group disbanded, as Kyoshi did not want to risk her friends' safety after she announced her Avatarhood to the rest of the world. While some decided to travel in pairs, Lao Ge went off on his own.[14]

In the Fire Nation

A year later, Kyoshi intervened in the brewing Camellia-Peony War taking place in the Fire Nation, an attempt by the Saowon clan to usurp Fire Lord Zoryu. Zoryu triumphed, and expressed the intention to have all of the Saowon clan executed, which Kyoshi disapproved. Suspecting Zoryu would carry it out regardless, Kyoshi tasked Lao Ge with warning the Fire Lord against such a thing on her behalf.

Infiltrating the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Lao Ge spoke to Zoryu and delivered Kyoshi's warning, though he himself expressed support for the Fire Lord's ruthlessness. Zoryu was outraged that Kyoshi would send an assassin to threaten him, but Lao Ge informed him that Kyoshi knew her mistake was trying to dabble in politics with the Fire Lord, and that she would only intervene after diplomacy had failed and hostilities could not escalate any further. He prepared to leave through a window, telling Zoryu that Kyoshi was watching over him; when the Fire Lord responded that Kyoshi could not watch over him forever, the old man simply laughed loudly.[15]

Personality

The true personality of Lao Ge was difficult to discern, as he intentionally assumed a variety of personas based on the situation.[5] When confronted by outsiders, he acted like an old, friendly drunkard. In the presence of most of his acquaintances, he shed this persona partially; though he continued to act alcoholic, lazy, and sometimes cowardly, most members of the Flying Opera Company believed him to be an eccentric yet capable fighter and believer in the daofei code.[2] Yet even they did not know him as the assassin. This was a side of himself he only showed his victims and disciples like Kyoshi: To them, he seemed like some kind of demon, ruthless, confident, and intimidating. Lao Ge intentionally used these different personas to conceal his true identity and personality.[5]

In any case, Lao Ge was wise, highly intelligent, and seemingly convinced of the righteousness of his actions. In some ways, he was amoral, such as when he was willing to kill a child (Te) yet spare a mass murderer (Jianzhu). At the same time, he claimed to follow some kind of moral code and believed that his decisions to kill or spare people ultimately contributed to the welfare of the majority. In contrast to this claim, Lao Ge did not stop Kyoshi from killing Jianzhu although he believed that the latter was an effective administrator for the Earth Kingdom. He also seemingly developed genuine sympathy for Kyoshi despite his usual lack of empathy for his comrades or disciples.[6]

In each of his personas, Lao Ge also possessed a sarcastic wit and often acted a bit vain, occasionally complementing his own looks. It was impossible to judge to what extent his jokes and vanity reflected his actual thoughts or were intended as further layers of deception.

Physical description

Lao Ge was described as an old man with a wispy white beard.[2] He wore ragged clothes that concealed sheaves of corded muscle under papery skin. He had long white hair, wiry arms, and bony fingers.[8]

Appearances

Chronicles of the Avatar

The Rise of Kyoshi

The Shadow of Kyoshi

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game

Trivia

  • Lao Ge (老哥) means older brother/older male person in Chinese.
  • His alternate name, "Tieguai the Immortal", resembles that of Li Tiguai, one of the Eight Immortals in Chinese mythology. "Tieguai" means "iron crutch" and Jesa's notes claimed that Lao Ge "fights with a crutch", albeit not a literal one.
  • Lao Ge is one of the only five known persons to have been alive for multiple passings of Sozin's Comet, with an unclear number. The others being Kyoshi with three, and Bumi, Pathik, and Aang with two.
  • His ambiguous immortality makes his fate after the events of The Shadow of Kyoshi unclear. Given how 150-year-old Pathik was described as "probably the oldest person in the Avatar world",[17] it is possible that Lao Ge had passed away by 100 AG. At one point, the old man of the Mining village who outed Haru as an earthbender to the Fire Army was called "oldest man in the Earth Nation", but this was most likely intended to be a joke.[18]
Preceded by
Nyahitha 		Avatar's spiritual mentor
296 - unknown BG 		Succeeded by
Kaja

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty, "The Avatar's Masters". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Fourteen, "The Introduction". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  3. ↑ Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. Core Book, Version 1.0, 2022, p. 36.
  4. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty-One, "Preparations". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty-Three, "Questions and Meditations". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty-Six, "The Challenge". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Eighteen, "The Town". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Fifteen, "Escape". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  9. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Nineteen, "The Beast". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  10. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty-Five, "The Raid". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  11. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Twenty-Seven, "Dues". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  12. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Thirty, "Farewells". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  13. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Thirty-One, "The Return". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  14. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). Chapter Thirty-Two, "Hauntings". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  15. ↑ Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 21, 2020). Epilogue. The Shadow of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.
  16. ↑ AvatarSpirit.net interview: An Avatar Spring Break with Mike and Bryan; April 6, 2007.
  17. ↑ From older Avatar: The Last Airbender official site, originally on Nick.com. Encyclopedia now broken, archived at The Lost Lore of Avatar Aang - Character: Guru Pathik.
  18. ↑ Avatar Extras for "Impisoned" on Nicktoons Network.