Avatar:Ta Min

 

"Maybe it's less about being a spirit of no nation, and more about being a spirit of all nations."

— Ta Min to Roku on being the Avatar.

Ta Min

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  66 BG

• 

  12 BG

Nationality	Fire Nation Capital, Fire Nation
Ethnicity	Fire Nation
Pronouns	She/her
Hair color	Dark brown
Eye color	Gray
Love interest	Roku (husband)
Position	* Upper-class Fire Nation citizen Fire Nation emissary to Omashu
Affiliation	Fire Nation
Weapon	Fire
Fighting style	Firebending
Profession	* Diplomat Spy
First appearance	"The Avatar and the Fire Lord" (flashback only)
Last appearance	"Emissary of the Fire Nation"
Voiced by	Grey DeLisle

Ta Min was a Fire Nation noblewoman, diplomat, spy, and the wife of Avatar Roku. Born into an influential and rich family, she pursued a career in international relations, initially working for Prince Sozin as an agent and emissary to Omashu.

Her long family lineage included many renowned figures, such as Fire Lord Zuko, Princess Azula, Fire Lord Izumi, and Iroh, general of the United Forces.

History

Early life and career

Ta Min was born into one of the wealthiest families in the Fire Nation, and was part of the country's traditional noble clans. Her family maintained their standing through their business dealings. As the firstborn daughter of her influential noble parents, Ta Min was raised with the expectation that she would marry into the Fire Nation Royal Family. As she got older, however, she increasingly sought an autonomous life and a proper career instead of just becoming someone's wife.

Eventually, Ta Min decided that she would become a diplomat and shaped her education in accordance with this wish. She thus chose to attend the Fire Nation's prestigious University over the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, even though the latter was the far more common choice for a firebender. As she attended the university, Ta Min spent much time in the Fire Nation Capital, where she also met a young nobleman named Roku. The latter had a crush on Ta Min, but every time he saw her in common social circles of nobility, he would become nervous and never exchange any meaningful words with her. In 66 BG, she was present at Roku and Prince Sozin's birthday when the former learned of his status as the Avatar.

First missions as Sozin's diplomat and agent

After graduating from university, Ta Min wanted to properly start her career as a diplomat, but her father clung to his clan's old ways and thought that his daughter should first focus on securing a marriage for herself. Ta Min's father also set his sights on joining his line to the royal family and viewed Prince Sozin as the perfect candidate. However, Ta Min had no intentions of marrying before she was ready. Furthermore, she had no romantic interest in Sozin, a feeling which the prince shared.

Sozin knew of Ta Min's aspirations, and the pair developed a transactional relationship. He offered to help her apprentice as a diplomat, thus providing her a way to start work without her parents disagreeing. However, his offer was made on the condition that she bring a private message to Roku at the Southern Air Temple. Three months after the Avatar left the Fire Nation Capital, Ta Min arrived at the air temple, and was allowed to see the Avatar. Marking their first real conversation, the two initially made some small talk. Eventually, Ta Min told Roku about the Earth Kingdom efforts to occupy an island in the Sibuyan chain, which was officially within the borders of the Fire Nation. She then informed him that Sozin wanted him to persuade the Earth Kingdom to leave, using his position as the Avatar to avoid turning it into an international incident.

Roku asked for her view on the matter, whereupon she argued that the Avatar should assist the Fire Nation in the dispute as long as no violence erupted, but leave the matter to Sozin if a peaceful solution would be unfeasible. After thinking for some time, Roku decided to decline his friend's request, claiming he needed to focus on his training. While Ta Min was disappointed, she accepted Roku's offer to spend the next few days at the temple. Ta Min quickly involved herself in the lifestyle of the local Air Nomads, taking part in their prayers, joining their meditation sessions, eating their cuisine, discussing various matters with the temple elders such as Disha and Rabten, and playing with the local children. Impressed by the noblewoman's ability to adapt, Sister Disha even gifted Ta Min an Air Nomad robe which she started to wear. She and Roku also spent much time together, enjoying each other's company.

After a week, Disha allowed Ta Min, Roku, and a young Air Nomad named Gyatso to fly her sky bison Amra to the base of the Southern Air Temple to buy provisions at the nearby village, as these were needed for Ta Min's upcoming return trip to the Fire Nation. After landing, Gyatso decided to stay behind as Ta Min and Roku walked to the village. The Avatar complimented her ability to integrate into Air Nomad culture, and the noblewoman responded that she regarded learning about other cultures as necessary to become a successful diplomat in the future. The two also discussed the nature of the Avatar. Suddenly, Ta Min and Roku were ambushed by an earthbending agent who proclaimed his loyalty to Earth King Jialun before trying to bury them alive. Both were saved by Gyatso who had heard the attack from a distance, using his airbending to dig them from the rubble and defeat the agent. After recovering from their shock at the attack, the three tried to interrogate the captured agent, with Ta Min musing that Jialun ordering an assassination attempt on the Avatar made no sense from a political viewpoint. However, the agent escaped before they could make further inquiries.

Furious over the incident, Roku told Ta Min that she should write Sozin a new letter, informing the prince that he had chosen to take the mission after all. When Disha learned of this decision, she promptly forbade the Avatar from leaving the Southern Air Temple. However, Roku conspired with Gyatso and Ta Min to secretly sneak out of the air temple, determined to follow through on his new promise to Sozin. In the middle of the night, the three covertly entered the local stables, saddling Gyatso's flying bison Lola. There, Ta Min reaffirmed that she could not accompany them despite Roku's wishes, as her open involvement in the island dispute might lead to further international tensions due to her status as a Fire Nation noble. After expressing interest in spending more time with the Avatar in the future, she bid her two new friends farewell and stayed behind as they flew out of the air temple.

Following the resolution of the Lambak Island conflict, Ta Min was appointed by Sozin as the Fire Nation emissary to Omashu. Officially a diplomat, she was actually supposed to spy on Queen Guo Xun, though Sozin eventually became suspicious that the Fire Nation noblewoman was sending next to no information to her superiors.

Life in Omashu as a diplomat and spy

Upon arrival in Omashu, Ta Min maintained contact with Roku. Both sent letters to one another using a messenger hawk. In one of these letters, Ta Min explained the difficulties of navigating Omashu's court life as well as the challenges her emissary role sometimes presented despite enjoying certain aspects of it. She wished to ask Roku for his advice on matters relating to the complexities of bureaucracy and its impact on Guo Xun's rule. Ta Min also showed confidence he would master airbending and further encouraged him on his Avatar journey. Meanwhile, she would continually grow closer to Roku, becoming attracted to his persistence, kindness, and intelligence.

While in Omashu, Ta Min observed the ways Earth Kingdom high-ranking officials and dignitaries conducted themselves at gatherings. In addition, she spoke to many people from different nations, learning about their backgrounds and problems. These conversations inspired Ta Min to achieve the ultimate goal of becoming someone who builds relationships and maintains peace across all four nations. Ta Min had the desire to rise from her current diplomatic position to eventually help advocate policies which create better cooperation amongst everyone.

However, despite this dream, her role in Omashu was to find ways to obtain information on Sozin's behalf. The prince continually sent contacts to meet up with her to pass along assigned tasks. Some of these objectives involved eavesdropping on certain conversations, planting new stories, and intercepting messages for the Fire Nation's benefit. To properly perform these missions, Ta Min stayed up late into the night practicing firebending, learning how to pick locks, climbing stone walls, creating unique disguises, and finding ways to get sensitive information from the servants of powerful and rich individuals. Despite Sozin mentioning that it was her choice to accept these missions, Ta Min felt she did not have a choice as Sozin could just remove her from the position. Ta Min did not enjoy doing these tasks and did not tell Roku about them as she worried it would change how he viewed her.

One of the contacts Sozin sent to meet her was Dalisay. Dalisay gave Ta Min the task of discovering information discussed between the peace ministers of Omashu and Ba Sing Se and reporting back about it. Ta Min was intrigued by this given the hostile relationship between Guo Xun and Earth King Jialun. However, she was concerned about how she would be able to get close enough to hear the conversation between them.

Marriage and later life

Ta Min married Roku after he completed his Avatar training.

Roku and Ta Min eventually married each other, with Sozin taking the position of Roku's best man. At the wedding, Sozin asked Ta Min for permission to speak privately with Roku. She replied that it was not traditional, but nevertheless allowed the Fire Lord to do so.

Ta Min acquired a house with her husband on his home island, and the couple later had a daughter, Rina. Years later, in 12 BG, the couple was awoken from their sleep when they felt the earth tremble. Hurrying outside, they were met by huge clouds of ash from an erupting volcano. Roku remained on the island to battle the volcano in order to give his wife and the other villagers time to escape. Ta Min waited anxiously on a boat, watching her husband's attempts to stop the lava.

Her love for Roku persisted even after his death, as she never remarried. Ta Min quietly lived the rest of her life on Ember Island.

Personality

Ta Min was intelligent and carried herself modestly, appearing shy around others when she was younger. She believed in traditions, but was also willing to compromise and break them for good reasons. Unlike most firebenders, she made the decision to attend university. She was eager to help with her clan's affairs and aspired to become a diplomat. She was frustrated by her old-fashioned father who wanted her to focus on marriage, and she had no intention of marrying anyone before she herself felt she was ready.

Despite not knowing him very well, Ta Min playfully bantered with Roku during their first actual conversation, appearing fond of friendly sarcasm. She flirted with him by asking him to take her on a glider flight and stating that she could "do better" than Sozin while meaningfully glancing at Roku. However, she turned more serious while discussing her mission and official Fire Nation matters. She claimed to like people and partook in the customs of different nations with an open mind, being interested in anything that could be considered good practice for being a diplomat. She admired the Southern Air Temple and appeared to genuinely enjoy the Air Nomad food many other Fire Nationals would consider bland. She also liked playing with children. She disagreed with Sister Disha's notion of the Avatar needing to be a spirit of no nation, and instead argued that spending time with each nation was an essential part of Avatarhood to help them care about each nation and understand their value and flaws, aiming to be a spirit of all nations.

Ta Min correctly presumed that Gyatso, who was struggling with his bending, could focus his chi while people were in danger. She would rather things work out peacefully, if it was an option, but she initially worked for Sozin. When Roku told her it sounded like she was afraid of him, she reminded him that he was the future Fire Lord to the rest of them instead of a close friend. Ta Min remained faithful to the people she loved throughout her life, showing great concern for Roku when he faced the volcano, and did not remarry after Roku's death.

Abilities

Ta Min was intelligent, highly adaptable, perceptive, and easily made new contacts. Disha assessed Ta Min as a very capable diplomat.

She was also capable of at least some firebending techniques.

Relatives

Main article: Fire Nation Royal Family

First Fire Lord

Descendants

Yosor

Descendants

Gonryu

Descendants

Huazo

Chaeryu

Sulan

Chaejin

Zoryu

Descendants

Taiso

Hazei

Sozin

Zeisan

Yasu

Roku

Ta Min

Azulon

Ilah

Rina

Jinzuk

Iroh

Ozai

Ursa

Noren

Lu Ten

Zuko

Azula

Kiyi

Izumi

Iroh

Izumi's daughter

Appearances

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Book Three: Fire (火)

Appearances: 1

Trivia

• Ta Min was voiced by Grey DeLisle, who also voiced Ta Min's great-granddaughter, Azula.
• When Ta Min was younger, her hair resembled Katara's Fire Nation disguise hairstyle, and also resembled Ursa's hairstyle.
• Besides her hair, Ta Min looked remarkably similar to her granddaughter, Ursa.
• At her wedding, Ta Min's clothing and hairstyle resembled that of a traditional Korean royal bride.
• Ta Min had a tiny beauty mark just below the corner of her left eye.
• Ta Min was one of the few Fire Nation citizens to not have amber-colored eyes.
• Other than her great-granddaughter, Azula, Ta Min was the only named female firebender to feature in the original series, other than the female Avatars. However, Ta Min was never shown using her element, and was only revealed to be a bender in The Reckoning of Roku.
• In a picture of the Fire Nation Royal Family included in Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legacy of the Fire Nation, Ta Min's name is misspelled as "Tamin".