Avatar:Wheel of Punishment

"The accused will now spin the Wheel of Punishment to determine his sentence."

— A Chin Village guard.

Aang was required to spin the Wheel of Punishment after being found guilty for Kyoshi's murder of Chin.

The Wheel of Punishment was an object used in the Chin Village penal system to decide the sentence of prisoners that were found guilty.

History

Avatar Aang was subjected to the Wheel of Punishment to determine a sentence for a crime committed by one of his past incarnations, Avatar Kyoshi, based on the claim that she murdered Chin the Conqueror, known to the villagers as "Chin the Great". Despite the appearance of Kyoshi's spirit explaining Chin's tyranny and the evidence acquired by Sokka and Katara to support Aang's innocence, Mayor Tong decided that the accusation still stood because Kyoshi technically did kill Chin, as she herself confessed. Aang spun the wheel and was to be boiled in oil, but it was promptly changed to community service by Mayor Tong following the arrival of the Rough Rhinos, requesting that Aang "serve the community" by stopping them from destroying the village.

During the attack, a komodo rhino thrust its horns into the wheel in an attempt to impale Mayor Tong, who was hiding behind it.

Punishments

The crude images painted on the wheel represent the possible sentences.

• Bed of nails
• Whipping post
• Boiled in oil
• Eaten by shark
• Razor pit
• Mauled by platypus bear
• Burned alive
• Community service

Design

Approximately six or seven feet high in total, the Wheel of Punishment was an upright free spinning disc most likely made of a light wood. It was set in motion by the accused and only brought to a stop by natural friction. Crude images painted on the face of the disc were used to depict the available forms of punishment, while the fixed pointer at the top showed which one had been selected.

Uses

The wheel was used to determine punishment for the guilty while incorporating a form of entertainment and serving as a deterrent to future would-be criminals.

Trivia

• The drawings for each of the panels on the wheel were made by Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko.

See also

• Chin Village
• Law and order in the World of Avatar