Avatar:Taliriktug
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"I was nothing before I joined the Fifth Nation. Nothing. An outcast from my family, fighting for scraps. Now I'm Taliriktug! I have a new family, and a purpose among the pirates."
— Taliriktug about his life.[1]
Taliriktug was a waterbender pirate who was part of the Fifth Nation.[5] He led a group of pirates who posed as traders in order to extort people in Yokoya Port,[6] and later one of the Fifth Nation's remnant groups after the corsair force was shattered in battle with Yun's party.[4]
History
In his early life, Taliriktug was cast out by his family, leaving him to fight for survival. His bitterness about these events inspired a lasting loyalty to the Fifth Nation[1] and Tagaka,[4] after the pirates took him in and gave him a new place to belong.[1] At one point, he began writing a journal.[3]
First encounter with Yun's party
Taliriktug led a group of Fifth Nation pirates who posed as suspicious traders when they tried to extort the people of Yokoya Port, demanding "discounts" on their wares. One of Taliriktug's underlings was trying to intimidate a fisherman while Avatar Kyoshi was doing her chores for Mui, accompanied by Rangi and the false Avatar Yun. The incident came to Yun's attention, and he, Rangi, and Kyoshi managed to defeat two of Taliriktug's pirates.[6]
The three friends discovered that there had been a pattern of locals being forced into terrible trades under the threat of violence. While Rangi wanted Jianzhu to hire more security for the village, Kyoshi pointed out that the locals were too proud to accept outside help. However, Yun noted that they were happy to accept help from the Avatar, and so he personally investigated the situation on the boardwalk with Kyoshi and Rangi. The team identified Taliriktug as the leader, and made their way to the center of the port where a crowd was starting to form, with a fisherman declaring that the Avatar was coming to bring the scoundrels to justice. Taliriktug asked where the Avatar was, before Yun declared that he was present and ready to bring the pirate to justice. Taliriktug declared it would be an honor to defeat the Avatar, and started to fight Yun, Kyoshi, and Rangi with four of his men. The supposed Avatar and his friends managed to defeat Taliriktug, who told the other pirates to retreat and scatter. While Yun doubted the pirates would return, Taliriktug and his pirates would regroup and return to Yokoya Port.[6]
After the Yokoya clashes, Taliriktug was involved in operations to scout the South Pole's coast. In the process, he discovered a cave full of ancient treasures. Before he could loot them, he was informed that Tagaka was collecting forces for an encounter with Yun's party on an iceberg near the South Pole. Taliriktug thus wrote down the cave's location, and then hurried to reach his superior.[3]
Fall of the Fifth Nation
Taliriktug arrived at the iceberg in time to take part in Tagaka's plan. He and another of her pirates came to the pirate queen's defense after Kyoshi managed to destroy several warships by raising earth from the seafloor. However, he and the other Fifth Nation pirates were defeated in the skirmish with Kyoshi and Rangi.
Unlike many of Fifth Nation corsairs, Taliriktug avoided death and capture during the battle which ultimately resulted in the destruction of the pirate fleet and Tagaka's capture. Alongside a few other surviving corsairs, he hid on the iceberg until the fighting had ceased, and then waited for the arrival of a ship which he and his men could capture to flee the battlesite. Taliriktug hoped that he could somehow rescue Tagaka once he got off the iceberg.
An opportunity presented itself when a group associated with the Avatar mansion, including one of Jianzhu's guardsmen, came to the iceberg to seek and aid any of the Fifth Nation's victims. Just as this group attempted to leave with two rescued slaves, Taliriktug used his waterbending to cover the area in fog before launching an ambush. He and his followers desperately attempted to capture the ship, but the rescue party fought them off. Even as the other pirates became willing to retreat, Taliriktug refused, threatening his own followers with death if they tried to flee. At this point, one of the former slaves, Hua, raised her voice and pleaded with Taliriktug to not throw away his or his followers' lives, as they had at least survived the defeat of the Fifth Nation unlike many others. These words moved the pirate, and he grudgingly ordered a retreat, claiming that "Tagaka still needs us. We're of no use to her dead".
Still without any watercraft to get his group to safety, Taliriktug retreated to the destroyed Fifth Nation camp on the iceberg. There, he waited for another chance, even as some of his followers slowly went mad, deluding themselves into seeing the entire iceberg as a "mighty sea vessel".[4]
Legacy
Taliriktug's journal survived for four centuries, eventually coming into the possession of a collector named Fan who delivered it to Wen the archaeologist. However, Wen was then captured by Fire Nation military troops under Mamushi's command. As Mamushi was already interested in the Fifth Nation's secrets, she eagerly read the journal and was able to roughly identify the location of the treasure cave Taliriktug had once discovered.[3]
Abilities
Taliriktug was a waterbending master who excelled in the defense, especially in combat against other waterbenders. His signature fighting style was to encase his arms in ice to use them as ad hoc combat gloves and shields. If the opportunity presented itself, he could quickly split his ice gloves, turning them into an offensive hailstorm of icicles. Taliriktug struck fear into his opponents with a physical style "reminiscent of a seasoned brawler".[2]
Appearances
Avatar games
Trivia
- Taliriktug's name is of Inuit origin and means "strong arm".