History Literature / TheShadowOfKyoshi

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: {{Deconstructed}}. [[spoiler: The entire world holds up Yangchen as the gold standard of an Avatar while not having very high opinions on Kuruk, but near the end of the novel it's revealed Kuruk made great sacrifices, at the cost of his own reputation, to preserve Yangchen's legacy since he, too, looked up to her. If the world actually had known about how Yangchen's favouring of humans over spirits caused multiple Dark Spirit invasions that Kuruk secretly dealt with at the cost of his own health, the overall picture might have been more nuanced. Kyoshi herself certainly has a higher opinion of Kuruk after learning this.]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Chaejin is obviously power hungry and doesn't care if some of the common people will die in order for him to gain the throne, but he does genuinely believe that the spirits are opposed to his brother's rule (which, considering the world they live in, is not an unfair assumption) and that his becoming Fire Lord will help the Fire Nation. Zoryu wants to keep the peace and prevent a civil war...[[spoiler:and is willing to kill a 'false Yun' and wipe out the Saowon clan to do it, even though he ''knows'' they didn't actually collaborate with the real Yun.]]

While this is currently the planned conclusion of the Kyoshi duology, the novel series, now under the banner of ''The Chronicles of the Avatar'' is set to continue, with the next novel focusing on Avatar Yangchen titled ''Literature/TheDawnOfYangchen''.

While this is currently the planned conclusion of the Kyoshi duology the novel series, now under the banner of ''The Chronicles of the Avatar'' is set to continue, with the next novel focusing on Avatar Yangchen titled ''Literature/TheDawnOfYangchen''.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Father Glowworm turns out to be the underlying cause to almost all the evil that occurs in both ''Rise'' and ''Shadow''. During Kuruk's time, he had been trying to burrow into the human world to feed on people, resulting in dark spirits infesting the tunnels he dug between the realms. Kuruk then had to kill these spirits to protect the world, leading him to die young and leave behind a chaotic power vacuum made worse by the Earth Sages' inability to find his reincarnation, which in turn is a major factor contributing to both [[WellIntentionedExtremist Jianzhu's]] and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Yun's]] [[FaceHeelTurn Face-Heel Turns]]. Ultimately, however, he turns out to be a far lesser threat than Yun, who defeats him after he had been severely weakened by his battle with Kuruk years earlier]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Father Glowworm turns out to be the underlying cause to almost all the evil that occurs in both ''Rise'' and ''Shadow''. During Kuruk's time, he had been trying to burrow into the human world to feed on people, resulting in dark spirits infesting the tunnels he dug between the realms. Kuruk then had to kill these spirits to protect the world, leading him to die young and leave behind a chaotic power vacuum made worse by the Earth Sages' inability to find his reincarnation, which in turn is a major factor contributing to both [[WellIntentionedExtremist Jianzhu's]] and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Yun's]] [[FaceHeelTurn Face-Heel Turns]]. Ultimately, however, he turns out to be a far lesser threat than Yun, who defeats him after he had been severely weakened by his battle with Kuruk years earlier]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Father Glowworm turns out to be the underlying cause to almost awful events that take place in both ''Rise'' and ''Shadow''. During Kuruk's time, he had been trying to burrow into the human world to feed on people, resulting in dark spirits infesting the tunnels he dug between the realms. Kuruk then had to kill these spirits to protect the world, leading him to die young and leave behind a chaotic power vacuum made worse by the Earth Sages' inability to find his reincarnation, which in turn led to both[[WellIntentionedExtremist Jianzhu]] and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Yun]] turning evil. Ultimately, however, he turns out to be a far lesser threat than Yun, who defeats him after he had been severely weakened by his battle with Kuruk years earlier]].

* PetTheDog: Yun doesn't want to kill [[spoiler:Kyoshi. He rightly says that she was innocent of what happened to him]].

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Early on in the book when Kyoshi passes by an island important to Yangchen she gets hit by a violent vision and almost drowns and, as the narration notes, it takes her an embarrassingly long time before she remembers she can just waterbend to safety. Likewise towards the end of the book, when Kyoshi decides to visit said island again, she gets off the boat and swims there the old fashion way for a while before thinking of waterbending herself there.

While this is currently the planned conclusion of the Kyoshi duology the novel series, now under the banner of ''The Chronicles of the Avatar'' is set to continue, with the next novel focusing on Avatar Yangchen titled ''The Dawn of Yangchen''.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome/AvatarTheLastAirbender On the Avatar page.]]

This is the finale of the original plan for the series but the future of it remains uncertain as both books have gotten good reviews and sold very well.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Justified; Yun [[spoiler:died because his so-called mentor left him to be taken by Father Glowworm, and drugged him and his best friend. He already avenged himself by killing Jianzhu but is furious that his teachers led him on about being the Avatar and then supposedly discarding him like trash, so he wants to ensure they pay for the lie, regardless of what they knew. As Kyoshi notes, however, it was a misunderstanding and if it were up to her and Kelsang, they would have saved Yun]].

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Kyoshi keeps forgetting she's able to waterbend; but uses a rather advanced waterbending art to slay Yun and end his rampage. Bonus points for the fact that Atuat had warned Kyoshi earlier in the book of that exact thing happening if she used to much power.]]

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed.]] [[spoiler: The entire world holds up Yangchen as the gold standard of an Avatar while not having very high opinions on Kuruk, but near the end of the novel it's revealed Kuruk made great sacrifices, at the cost of his own reputation, to preserve Yangchen's legacy since he, too, looked up to her. If the world actually had known about how Yangchen's favouring of humans over spirits caused multiple Dark Spirit invasions that Kuruk secretly dealt with at the cost of his own health, the overall picture might have been more nuanced. Kyoshi herself certainly has a higher opinion of Kuruk after learning this.]]

** Hei-Ran having to go to the Northern Water Tribe to heal after she was near fatally poisoned last book and still showing signs of physical weakness two years later, including in her bending, brings to mind [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Korra's]] own struggles to get back on her feet after her mercury poisoning.

** ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSmokeAndShadow'' established a warlord named Toz, who ended several messy clan battles by unifying the Fire Islands under his aegis. This is brought up several times in ''Shadow'', as the clans are still jostling for control and Fire Lord Zoryu looks to Toz's journals for ideas.
** Yangchen cites her fight with General Old Iron, the subject of an extended flashback in ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheRift'' and her first mission as the Avatar, as an example of her [[spoiler: favoring the humans over the spirits, which led to their eventual corruptions and forced Kuruk to fight them off]].

* WasItAllALie: This is Yun's motivation. [[spoiler:He lived and died for the lie that he was the Avatar, and his teacher left him to die on realizing he was a fraud]].

* TragicDream: Both Kyoshi and Rangi want Yun to come back and recapture the simpler moments of their earlier years with Rangi in particular mentioning at one point in the novel that she wants the three of them to return to the mansion in Yokoya and enjoy some of Auntie Mui's cooking again. [[spoiler:By the end of the book it becomes clear that Yun is too far gone and his desire for revenge has made him to different from the boy they once knew forcing Kyoshi and Rangi to fight him to the death. After he dies they can only cry at the loss of their friend and what could have been.]]

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Between the fact that she's fighting corrupt officials and the truth that she honestly is pretty scary, Kyoshi has to deal with most of the Earth Kingdom, including the people she is helping with her every action, being absolutely terrified of her.

* RealityEnsues:
** Kyoshi has been working for two whole years to find Yun at the beginning of the book, but since he's one person travelling in the huge, populous Earth Kingdom continent, it's impossible to really nail down his movements.
** Hei-Ran returns in this book after spending two years recovering from her near fatal poisoning however she isn't completely back on her feet. She needs a cane to walk, she has [[DiseaseBleach visibly aged since the last time she appeared]], and she can barely firebend anymore. Much like in [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Korra's time]] it doesn't matter how strong you are, or how skilled the healer, it can take years for someone to recover from such a debilitating injury.
** [[spoiler: When you're [[TheChosenOne the Avatar]] and are supposed to bring Balance to both the Spirit world and The Human world, favoring one over the other can lead to disastrous consequences, especially for the non favored party. Yangchen favored the Human world, which caused many spirits to become corrupted and leaving her successor, Kuruk, to deal with the consequences. His fate can also be this, as the stress of having to clean up her mess in the Spirit World caused him to die prematurely.]]
** Kyoshi notes that being abandoned by the people you were sworn to protect would leave lasting scars; she can relate all too well from the previous book. [[spoiler:Yun cannot shake off his TraumaCongaLine of being left to die and face a dangerous spirit, seeing an evil mentor drag off his best friend, and having to restore himself to the human world. He understandably snaps when an innkeeper mocks him for claiming to be the Avatar when he just wants a damn sip of water, and cannot turn back after killing everyone in the inn]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Yangchen, despite her amazing reputation, ended up favoring humans moreso than spirits, which made many of them dark and violent in her time and into Kuruk's. Due to Kuruk's own depression and desire not to involve his friends, Kuruk would spend his life beating down and extinguishing spirits at the cost of his own life. Worse, the problem rears it's head during Aang's time, with General Old Iron returning to destroy Cranefish Town, and would be present come [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Korra's]] time in which her uncle is able to find a way to pacify and purify dark spirits.]]

** Kyoshi has been working for two whole years to find Yun at the beginning of the book, but since he's one person travelling in the huge, populous Earth Kingdom continent, it's impossible to really to nail down his movements.