Avatar:Dakou

"No Zhang worth his salt would pass up an opportunity to humiliate a Gan Jin."

— Jianzhu reflecting on the consistency of Dakou's character with his tribe's dislike of the Gan Jin.

Dakou

Nationality	Western Earth Kingdom
Ethnicity	Zhang
Died	296 BG
Gender	Man
Pronouns	He/him
Affiliation	Zhang
Profession	Earth Sage
Allies	Zhang, Earth Sages, Hui
Enemies	Gan Jin, Jianzhu
First appearance	"The Ambush" (only appearance)

Dakou was as an Earth Sage from the Zhang tribe during the era of Kyoshi.

History

Upon learning from his double-agent Saiful that Jianzhu had withheld the full truth about losing Yun, Hui immediately began plotting how to use this information to ruin Jianzhu's reputation. Working faster than Jianzhu anticipated, the chamberlain quickly assembled the necessary number of Earth Sages to challenge Jianzhu's status as the Avatar's master, handpicking those he knew he could count on or bribe to stand with him against Jianzhu. Consequently, Dakou was among the attendees chosen, given his Zhang heritage and known bias against the Gan Jin.

Intent on taking Jianzhu by surprise, Dakou arrived at the Avatar mansion unannounced in a caravan filled with the rest of Jianzhu's political rivals a little over a week after Hui learned the partial truth of Jianzhu's farce. Like the rest of the Earth Sages present, he appeared ready to support Hui's narrative that Jianzhu was no longer fit to serve the Avatar, gathering with the others in the grand reception hall of the Avatar mansion and declining to answer when Jianzhu accused Hui of bribing them with the promise of money or power. However, before Dakou or the others could cast their votes to strip Jianzhu of his duties, they succumbed to his poisoned tea, vomiting and dying where they sat in 296 BG.

Dakou and the other Earth Sages' mass murder had a crippling effect on the leadership of the Earth Kingdom, leading to aftershocks that altered the landscape of the western coast for generations to come.

Personality

As an Earth Sage from the northwestern coast of the Earth Kingdom, Dakou held a leadership role of considerable prominence, with Jianzhu noting that he and the rest of the surprise conclave comprised about a fifth of the most important people in the nation at the time. Like other typical members of the Zhang tribe, Dakou also held substantial disdain for Jianzhu by virtue of his Ganjinese ethnic background, not above taking an opportunity to exacerbate the tensions between their people.

Trivia

• Contrary to the indication in "The Great Divide" that the feud between the Gan Jin and Zhang began in 0 AG, the introduction of Dakou into Avatar media suggests that hostilities between the two tribes had been ongoing for centuries prior.