Avatar:Guiding Wind: Difference between revisions
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Latest revision as of 17:41, 20 October 2025
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<infobox theme-source="nation"> <image source="image" /> <title source="name"><default>Guiding Wind</default></title> <group> <header>General information</header> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Notable members</label> <label>Founder(s)</label> <label>Headquarters</label> <label>Affiliation</label> <label>Purpose</label> <label>Engagements</label> <label>Status</label> </group> <group> <header>Chronological information</header> <label>First appearance</label> <label>Last appearance</label> </group> <header></header> </infobox> The Guiding Wind was a renegade group of Air Nomads and an international revolutionary movement that operated during the life of Avatar Roku.[1][2] The group was founded on the belief that the Air Nomads had grown complacent in their search for enlightenment, and that they were seeking too much cooperation with the corrupt and exploitative wealthy citizens of other nations.[1][3] The Guiding Wind sought to eliminate class differences across the world,[4] replace traditional monarchical and oligarchic systems with democratic as well as egalitarian ones,[3][2] and revitalize spiritual beliefs.[3] As a result of its anti-nobility stance, the Guiding Wind also recruited non-Air Nomad members who supported its aims.[2]
Many Air Nomad elders denounced the Guiding Wind for its disruptive actions,[1] and the group was also strongly opposed by Fire Lord Sozin.[4] Though the Guiding Wind was generally committed to pacifism, it contained a more peaceful current under Khandro and a more militant section headed by Zeisan.[2][5]
History
Foundation and early struggles
During the era of Roku, the teachings of the Air Nomads had become influential in the other nations, spreading far and wide. Much of this was due to the direct support and involvement of political families within the Fire Nation. This relationship was celebrated with the construction of the Fire & Air Center of Learning, made possible through the funding and management of Fire Nation nobility.[6] The growing connections between the Air Nomads and the world's elites were contentious, with the popular philosopher Khandro seeing it as the wrong path. He argued that the Air Nomads' efforts were hypocritical, as they sought to improve the lives of others by supporting nobility despite nobles often being responsible for the suffering which the Air Nomads tried to reduce. As Khandro urged for more direct and even militant actions, the elders chastised him and stated that the Air Nomads could not just remove corrupt Earth Kingdom governors or hunt pirate fleets across state borders without causing major diplomatic incidents.[3]
Eventually, Khandro concluded that the only way to change the Air Nomads' perspective was by gathering a group of like-minded individuals to demonstrate that his plans were feasible and morally just. He thus founded the Guiding Wind as a youth movement to depose nobles across the world, improve the lives of the poor, and facilitate a cultural shift among the Air Nomads. Ultimately, Khandro hoped that both Air Nomads as well as non-Air Nomads would thus be able to cast off the oppression of wealth and pursuit spiritual lives.[3] The new movement first rose to prominence as it argued against the continued construction of the Fire & Air Center of Learning, with Khandro demanding an end to Air Nomad affiliation with any nation's ruling classes. He and his followers also announced their opposition to Avatar Roku calling on the Air Nomads to aid the other nations. Although the temples often gladly offered diplomatic support and charitable aid, the Guiding Wind claimed that the Avatar was overstepping by asking that they involve themselves in politics.[6]
Master Youdron, an Elder of the Air Nomads, continued to support the Air Nomads' relationship with the Avatar and the elites of the other nations as a way to help the world and reach more people. The conflict between Youdron's perspective and the upstart Guiding Wind sparked an internal discourse within the Air Nomads on whether they should turn more inward or continue to help the rest of the world. Part of the tension came from whether the Air Nomads should embrace those with lots of wealthy prosperity (like the nobility) or reject them and any trappings of wealth altogether, because working with other nations also meant working with those unwilling to cede power or wealth.[6]
Ultimately, the Air Nomads' elders largely declared their opposition to the Guiding Wind, denouncing the movement as a "rogue group with no official standing". Khandro was deeply disillusioned due to this development. He recognized that his dream of popular mass support emerging for the Guiding Wind, sweeping away nobility across the world, was unfeasible if even his own nation largely rejected his approach. Regardless, he and his loyal followers remained committed to their ideals, yet began to operate more strategically to gradually increase their international support and find allies across the four nations.[3] In this way, the group started to recruit non-Air Nomads of diverse backgrounds into their ranks, including ex-Fire Nation military soldiers and Water Tribe merchants.[2][7]
Growth and Zeisan's membership
The greatest tension between the Guiding Wind, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation began when Princess Zeisan of the Fire Nation proposed to Khandro – for political marriage, as she truly loved Sister Rioshon – wishing to renounce her titles and wealth in favor of a spiritual life.[8] Fire Lord Sozin was blindsided with his sister's relationship with Khandro, and nearly could not control his rage when Zeisan proposed to him. He saw the Guiding Wind's anti-nobility beliefs as a direct threat to him, and was determined to stop his sister by any means necessary.[4] This announcement led a coalition of nobles in the Fire Nation Capital who bought into the propaganda machine to contract Tiger-Monkey, an independent investigator. The spy was tasked with finding any evidence that proved that Air Nomads in the city were plotting against the throne.[9]
Later, another Fire Nation citizen, Michi, the son of a famous general and forsworn the wealth of his family, expressed his desire to live with the Air Nomads and join the Guiding Wind. Michi's father was strongly against it and did not let him go without a fight, for which he hired mercenaries to catch up with him.[10]
Like all other Air Nomads, the Guiding Wind was opposed to violent acts on principle. However, there began to be reports of members of the Guiding Wind committing violent acts across the Fire Nation, and Khandro began to suspect possible involvement from the Fire Lord or his supporters.[11]
Involvement on Jasmine Island
In the 50s BG, Jasmine Island council member Tsenten - an old friend of several Guiding Wind members - asked for the revolutionary group's aid. The councilman suspected that the Earth Kingdom civilian representative on Jasmine Island, Magistrate Emerald, was engaged in illegal operations. Guiding Wind members Fengying and Sakuru responded to the request,[5][12] viewing Emerald as the kind of corrupt, pro-monarchy figure who they had sworn to oppose.[12] The two revolutionaries infiltrated the local Earth Kingdom outpost, discovering evidence of extensive corruption as well as creeping coup covertly led by Emerald who planned to annex the island into the Earth Kingdom.[5][13] However, they were caught by the magistrate's guards and thrown into the outpost's prison. Emerald resisted calls by Tsenten for a fair trail,[5][13] whereupon Khandro and Zeisan personally ventured to Jasmine Island to help their imprisoned followers.[5][12]
While Khandro unsuccessfully sought a diplomatic resolution, Zeisan secretly allied herself with the Jasmine Island protectors, the local security forces which also opposed Emerald for a variety of reasons.[5][12] The protectors managed to free Fengying and Sakuru,[12][14] causing a full crisis as Emerald unleashed the armed troops under his command to still achieve his goals. Regardless, the islanders and Guiding Wind members foiled Emerald's plans and secured Jasmine Island's continued independence.[15]
Wedding preparations
Eventually, Zeisan and Khandro's royal wedding was being planned in the Fire Nation Capital, just as Sozin was spreading propaganda about the Guiding Wind and their radical beliefs.[16][17] With Zeisan being able to schedule events, she planned a pre-wedding symposium in Hari Bulkan Square, inviting high-ranking nobles, military officials, the royal court, and also left it open to members of the public. The event would allow Zeisan to deliver a lesson on the Guiding Wind's teachings, as well as a refutation of Sozin's xenophobic propaganda. Well aware of his sister's plans, Sozin tacitly gave his approval for Minister Zianda to orchestrate a plot to discredit the Air Nomads in the Fire Nation. Zianda worked with Mio to assemble a team of firebenders who would attack the event disguised as Air Nomads, while spreading anti-nobility and xenophobic anti-Fire Nation propaganda. They also planned to use firebending-powered gliders and canisters that could release hot air to simulate a real airbending attack on the nobles.[18][19][9]
Suspecting that there was a plot after learning that Air Nomads had had their clothes stolen in the city, Sister Rioshon wished to warn Zeisan, but could not do so herself, as she was being watched by another group of soldiers. Instead, the Air Nun tried to stop the plot through her allies: Nyanchi, Boin, Ezra, and Zeebee.[17][20]
Organization
The Guiding Wind was a small order, not officially recognized by the four temples of the Air Nomads. The Eastern Air Temple viewed them as too disruptive, the North as too extreme, and the West as too opposed to tradition, though the South did not at first take an official stance.[11]
They wanted autonomy over both their physical and spiritual life, and aimed to undermine the controlling power of the elites. Their leader was the philosopher Khandro.[6] New members were primarily recruited as young Air Nomads, usually those who felt that the Air Nomads had spread too thin, or those who worried about their culture and way of life being influenced by the other nations.[11]
Despite their opposition to nobility and wealth, they gladly accepted Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribe nobles who wished to give up their wealth and join their order. To the Guiding Wind, these pupils were the ultimate fist to the ideal of nobility, as these youths gave up their wealth and power for enlightenment, whereas the nobles supporting the Fire & Air Center of Learning did not.[11]
Notable members
Trivia
- "Guiding Wind" was also the name of Gyatso's basic attack in the mobile game Avatar: Generations.[22]