阿柏
AppaBiographical informationNationalityEastern Air TempleEthnicityAir NomadPhysical descriptionEye colorBrownSkin colorWhite and brownSkin typeFurPersonal informationPronounsHe/him[2]AlliesTeam Avatar, Air Nomads, Kyoshi Warriors, Pathik, more ...EnemiesAzula, Ozai, Combustion Man, Zhao, Long Feng, the Dai Li, Shuzumu, circus trainer, Ghashiun, Si Wong tribes, beetle-headed merchants, more ...Weapon of choiceAir, body bulk, tailFighting styleAirbendingPolitical informationPositionAang's sky bison (animal guide)PredecessorFang (as previous animal guide of the Avatar)SuccessorNaga (as next animal companion of the Avatar)Affiliation
When Appa was still a young calf who lived around the Eastern Air Temple, young airbenders were allowed to meet their future companions, who would bond with them for life. The herd's mother willingly directed her calves to meet the young monks. Aang came forward and offered an apple to Appa, and the two became best friends almost immediately afterward.[1]
Just before the Air Nomad Genocide, Aang heard that the monks were going to separate him from Monk Gyatso and subsequently decided to run away, using Appa as his mode of departure. Appa did not know where he was going, only that he was leaving the air temples.
Aang flew Appa over the ocean, at which point they were caught in a vicious storm which pushed the two underwater by stirring up the wind and the waves until Aang lost consciousness. Faced with a life-or-death situation, the young Avatar entered the Avatar State and froze himself with Appa in an iceberg,[5] the latter was stuck in hibernation along with Aang for one hundred years.
The pair were discovered by Katara and Sokka.[2] After this, Appa became the group's main form of transportation in their quest to help Aang master all four elements throughout the world.[4] He appeared in most of Sokka and Princess Yue's dates, tried to steal food with Momo in the Foggy Swamp, and became a beloved friend for all members of Team Avatar.
Appa became lost for a short while when the group was traveling through the Earth Kingdom, having been kidnapped by a group of sandbenders in the middle of the vast Si Wong Desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Momo were trapped in an underground Spirit library.
It was later revealed that Appa was eventually sold to beetle-headed merchants, who in turn sold him to a Fire Nation circus where a sadistic trainer attempted to make him part of the show. Encouraged by a sympathetic boy, he later escaped and hurried back to the Si Wong Desert where he last saw Aang. Understanding that his friends weren't there anymore, Appa journeyed throughout the Earth Kingdom until he encountered the Kyoshi Warriors, who healed his various wounds, physical as well as emotional, that he had sustained on his travels. They wanted to escort him back to Aang, but they were soon thwarted in their attempt when Azula and her allies attacked. He was forced to flee, ushered away by Suki while the warriors tried to delay the three Fire Nation girls.
On his journey, Appa encountered Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple, where the Guru was able to tell Appa of Aang's location by reading his energy. Consequently, he flew to Ba Sing Se, where he was captured by Long Feng[1] and kept in a secret location under Lake Laogai until his rescue at the hands of Zuko, who was initially planning on utilizing him to capture the Avatar until he talked with his uncle Iroh, deciding to do the right thing and set the bison free.
Appa found the group cornered by Long Feng and the Dai Li and was instrumental in their defeat, biting Long Feng on the leg when confronted by him. Once safe, Aang welcomed him in a tearful display of affection.[6] Appa took part in forcibly entering the Royal Palace of Ba Sing Se, providing the first key piece of evidence to King Kuei of Long Feng's subterfuge since Long Feng's bite mark still lingered.
When the Dai Li's cover-up efforts left the Earth King skeptical of Team Avatar's claims, Sokka made a last-ditch effort to show the king the ruined Fire Nation drill by enticing him with a ride on Appa. Since his saddle was lost during his capture, the group was forced to ride bareback on him and there was little to no time to regain it.[7] After the fall of Ba Sing Se, Appa was seen spiriting Team Avatar, including a near-fatally wounded Aang, the Earth King, and his pet, Bosco, out of the now-captured city.[8]
Appa stayed with the group as they found their way aboard Hakoda's commandeered Fire Navy vessel and finally had a new saddle constructed for him. After Aang ran off into a storm, Appa and the rest of Team Avatar split with Hakoda's crew and chased down Aang, regrouping on Crescent Island.[9] As they traveled through the Fire Nation on the team's second but Aang's first time riding on the new saddle, Appa was forced to stay hidden until he did have to fly, while Aang and Katara created a cloud around him so that he resembled a cloud to any Fire Nation civilians.[10] When they left him and Momo alone, the gang had to cover Appa up with some form of camouflage.
After the invasion of the Fire Nation failed on the Day of Black Sun, Appa took Aang's friends and all of the younger members of the invasion force to the Western Air Temple in search of refuge.[11] Unbeknownst to Team Avatar, Zuko abandoned the Fire Nation during the invasion and followed them to the temple. When he arrived, Appa immediately welcomed and licked him, a direct result of him remaining grateful to the prince for freeing him from his imprisonment in Ba Sing Se. Despite Appa's obvious welcoming of Zuko, the group did not accept the latter's proposal of teaching Aang firebending until he saved the group from an attack conducted by Combustion Man.[12]
In the final days of the Hundred Year War, Sozin's Comet's arrival, Appa helped Team Avatar, excluding Aang, travel to the Earth Kingdom,[13] where they had June and her shirshu, Nyla, try to track Aang. Unsuccessful, they instead tracked down Iroh, using his sandal, who was residing outside Ba Sing Se with the rest of the Order of the White Lotus.[14] Appa later escorted Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation Capital for their confrontation with Azula.[14]
After the Hundred Year War's end, Appa was seen in Ba Sing Se with the gang as they celebrated their victory at the Jasmine Dragon, seemingly enjoying Iroh's tsungi horn music from the doorway of the tea shop.[15] After this, the team decided to take a ride on Appa before Earth King Kuei's celebration in announcement of the Harmony Restoration Movement to the kingdom.[16]
One year following the failure of the Harmony Restoration Movement, Appa once again embarked on a mission and transported Team Avatar to Hira'a in search of Zuko's mother, Ursa. However, he was visibly upset that Azula would be accompanying the team on the trip. On their way there, the party was attacked by a wolf spirit, so Appa aided in the battle against the beast.[17] Once the team learned about Ikem's flight up Forgetful Valley, he stayed behind and later flew back to Hira'a along with the remaining members of Team Avatar and the Mother of Faces.[18]
Though Appa was believed to be the last of the flying bison following the Air Nomad Genocide, Aang discovered a new herd during his adventures after the Hundred Year War, with colonies of healthy bison coming to reside at the air temples.[19] Appa was still serving as Aang's animal guide as of 124 AG. The Avatar reminisced about the time they met one another in a book that he passed down to his son Tenzin.[20]
In the mid-130s AG, Aang flew Appa to the police headquarters in Republic City after Tenzin was arrested for fighting some vandals. After Aang offered to take charge of both Tenzin and the vandals, Aang ushered Tenzin and the vandals onto the animal guide, so they could fly back to Air Temple Island. Tenzin was worried that the criminals might harm Appa, but Aang explained there was a difference between vandalism and harming a living being.[21]
Appa seemed to have a reasonably trusting attitude, as he did not take long to accept the apple offered to him by Aang - to whom he became incredibly loyal -[1] and took an immediate liking to Sokka when he first saw him.[2] However, this trait was damaged due to his experience with the circus trainer[1] and the sandbenders.[1][22] In these difficult moments, he seemed to have similar feelings toward humans when he missed Aang and his family in the Eastern Temple[1] while he tried his best to find Team Avatar.
Appa might have had some degree of intelligence, yawning after Aang prompted him [23] and apparently "scolded" Hawky and Momo when the two fought due to Sokka's order that himself was in charge.[24] His intelligence was further shown when he was taking the team and Professor Zei to Wan Shi Tong's library, responding with a groan when Zei asked him a question.[22]
Being a sky bison, Appa possessed airbending and apparently used his tail as the main driving force behind his bending,[27][28] but he also had shown the ability to accomplish it with his mouth.[1] He mainly used his ability to fly at extreme heights and avoid attacks. Despite the tranquility related to his personality and species, Appa had shown himself to be capable of fighting whenever necessary,[1] creating powerful gusts of air with just a flick of his tail and gaining an advantage over his opponents by hovering.[29] He even defeated Long Feng,[7] Ty Lee, and Mai.[28]
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