Dodge This!

Protective Lal ❤️

Throughout The Rise of Kyoshi, Kyoshi convinces herself that her value lies in what she can endure for everyone else. In one of her most vulnerable moments, she immediately replies with, “Yun would have been much better,” because she still sees herself as a replacement. A substitute. Someone who took the life that should have belonged to someone better.

Rangi won’t let her think that way.

She doesn’t comfort the Avatar. She comforts Kyoshi.

“You, Kyoshi! Not the Avatar, but you!”

That line gets me every time because it cuts straight through Kyoshi’s self hatred. To Kyoshi, the Avatar is what matters. To Rangi, it isn’t. She doesn’t love the title or the power. She loves the awkward servant girl she grew up with.

But then, the line that completely reframes their relationship:

“The Avatar can be reborn. But you can’t. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

The world needs the Avatar. Rangi needs Kyoshi.

I also love that the emotional climax of this scene isn’t actually their first kiss. It’s everything that comes before it. Rangi spends pages trying to dismantle Kyoshi’s belief that she only exists to suffer. That peace and happiness are things meant for everyone except her.

And ultimately tells Kyoshi that she deserves peace. A home. Teachers. Protection. To be loved. And when Kyoshi brushes those things off, Rangi’s response is essentially, I wish I’d done a better job, because you should have only ever known love.

That’s why the kiss hits so hard. It doesn’t happen because they’ve finally admitted they’re attracted to each other. It happens after Kyoshi finally says:

“I do feel loved.”

For perhaps the first time in her life, Kyoshi allows herself to believe that she is worthy of love simply because she is Kyoshi, not because she is the Avatar.

This is one of my favourite lines in the Kyoshi novels because it completely reframes who Kyoshi is.

People love reducing her to “the violent Avatar,” but that’s not what Lao Ge is saying. He’s saying Kyoshi is what happens after every peaceful option has failed.

She isn’t diplomacy. She isn’t politics. She isn’t compromise.

She is the point where diplomacy has already died.

“There is no escalation of hostilities beyond her” isn’t saying Kyoshi enjoys violence. It’s saying that if the Avatar herself has decided to intervene, you’ve already reached the absolute limit. There is nothing left to negotiate.

It’s also why I think people misunderstand Kyoshi so often. Throughout the novels she repeatedly tries to reason with people, show mercy, and restore balance without unnecessary bloodshed. But once she concludes that someone cannot be reasoned with, she acts decisively.

Bonus:

Ownership meant a physical copy. Now you own nothing and can't find what you want across multiple streaming platforms.