Kuruk is basically the dark knight of avatars, he allowed the world to believe he was a bad avatar and neglectful of their duties in order to keep them safe from the dark spirits
I agree with you that avatar unable do everything by itself need to accept help from support of their friends and family just like how Aang and Korra did. Sadly if only Kuruk more open and willing share burden of needing help of responsibility with his loves ones their might be another solution of this that he would not be died so early and misunderstood..
@@angelvan1052 I agree with this. Kuruk's story is an example of why confiding in friends and not taking all the responsibility for yourself is SO important! Aang would be in agony if he didn't have his friends to lean on
@@damia.5974 The short version is he stopped an invasion of dark spirits that were created by Avatar Yangchen's neglect of the spirit world in favor of resolving the problems of the physical world. In battling the dark spirits, it took a toll on his own spirit, mental health, and life span. It's why he indulged in a hedonistic lifestyle, to cope with the pain.
I had no idea about the tragedy and pain Kuruk went through. The fact that he lived his life with all that emotional trauma and turmoil, and didn’t rep any of the benefits of being the true hero that he really was, makes him one of the most worthy Avatar in my eyes. Wise beyond his years.
Not really all of em. Korra hasn't done much that was selfless. Edit: Upon further reflection I have realized this only really applies to Season 1 and 2 Korra. After then Korra pretty much is forced to actually matures and really does a good job of it.
@@neolord1215 if you wouldn't include her giving up herself for the sake of the new Airbenders, opening the portal instead of letting Unalaq destroy Jinora's spirit, yeah.
He said that someday he wished there would be a way to stop dark spirits without killing them. Fortunately his successor Korra learned how to pacify dark spirits
I didn't even know the spirit world needed to be maintained. I thought them being separate would prevent this problem. Edit: I'm stupid. I forgot about the Hei Bai/forest spirit arch. Nevermind
I personally have never hated Avatar Kuruk. After Aang talked to him in ATLA all I thought of him was, "Cool. This Avatar was a Watertibe surfer dude, I guess. Oh! That was his love's face Aang saw on Ko? That's jacked up, dude. That poor couple. She was probably so scared too. Too bad he couldn't save her." And that was that. Now, finding this out I feel even more sorry for him. Dang. I swear, every Avatar's story is so friggin tragic. Hear me out. Roku was pitted against his best friend who ended up leaving him for dead. Kyoshi was overlooked as the Avatar, had a HORRIBLE life before it and when she was acknowledged things just kept going downhill for her even more before she had to kill her insane former best friend. Yang Chen went through some crap at the end of her life too and must feel terrible about leaving Kuruk with such a mess in the Spirit World. And then we all know what went down with Aang from losing 100 years of his life to becoming the last of his people to having to stop a century old world war as a teenager. Man, honestly, being the Avatar seems to kind of suck lifestyle wise in order to make up for all the kickass power you get, lol.
@@richgod9676 i wouldnt say she had it the easiest as she had to go through harmonic convergence, her losing her bending and memory, her being poisoned after being hunted by the red lotus since her being the avatar was out. also she had to stay home her whole childhood cause of the same reason. and she had to learn walking when she got disabled meanwhile being scared of your own reflection, her losing her connections to all past lives.
I feel bad now about laughing at him so much. He was fighting a secret war all alone. And he did it so well that the world never knew it was in danger. That's how good of an avatar he was... What an amazing and sad man.
As someone who is RIGHT NOW isolating myself from friends and family because I dont want to share my mental issues with them... This video got me crying non stop. God please help me defeat my demons and be a normal person again. I miss my friends so much.
Wow, I'm actually in that same zone right now. I kinda just did it without even giving them a heads up. But honestly I feel i know that sometimes its just what I need to get back and organize myself. Its apart of the reason why I made a Zaheer video on getting into a flow of things. Tackle the demons one at a time bro, no rush man. Just remember you're not alone.
thanks for sharing, dude i wish i could give you some words of encouragement to help you get through this path, but i dont know what to say i guess meditate on the bad emotions and accept them for what they are and that it's the past, live your present life without the burden of the past
You should consider not isolating yourself and getting help from a psychiatrists. Isolation can lead to further problems down the line as it does not deal with the root problem of your issues. Consider moving forward at your own pace, but do realize your life matters, just as much as you value the life of others.
Avatar Kurik and Korra are so similar... they both went through alot and both neglected their friends when they needed them the most but very powerful benders. The water tribe Avatars are gravelly misunderstood.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Thanks to her experience in her past life. Don't you think that Kuruk's probably where it came from? Also, it's kind of sad that you need to knock down another Avatar to make your obvious favorite seem better. On another note, you didn't acknowledge that, again, Korra had a whole team and their families on her side, Kuruk had no one due to his feeling the need to protect them. Get outta here with this nonsensical hate on Kuruk.
@@vetarlittorf1807 No. It came from both. Her proficiency in learning this technique could've come from Kuruk. You don't know. And also, you are again ignoring the second point. She wasn't alone like he was. If you can't acknowledge that she had help from a team, while Kuruk had to fight the dark spirits alone, then I guess we're done here. I refuse to argue with someone who can't defend their points against proper evidence.
Wanna know the most messed up thing, the comics have shown what happen to one victim who get their face stolen. This victim had their face stolen and waited for a whole year to get a new one. They couldn’t eat, sleep, or talk so that means Kuruk had to live everyday seeing his wife’s faceless body until she most likely died of old age, or disease, or at least until he had died.
He would literally sneak out at night to fight the dark spirits and would drink and seek worldly carnal pleasures to cope with the pain and encroaching death. What resulted from protecting the human world from murderous spirits during the night was everyone would see him passed out or indulging during the day, which he did to numb the pain from the battles, and then he would resume battling and repeat. But because the only Kuruk humans saw was the indulging, recovering Kuruk, they interpreted it as laziness and disgrace. He lost respect from his love, Hei-ran, because of the secret burden he kept. And when he finally did find another woman to love she was taken from him. I have a deep sympathy for Kuruk after reading the novels, his life was a true tragedy and he is seen as the worst avatar by many fans and fictional people alike, unjustly so.
The thing with Hei-Ran is the worst, because if he had told them what was going on she would have understood. As much as I respect Kuruk, he robbed himself of his future with her.
I’d like to see some attention to Yangchen’s predecessor, he seems pretty unique among the known Avatars being a more public figure and active member of the Fire Nation’s government
He is really interesting! I wish here was a LITTLE bit more info to extrapolate from shows, comics or books other than what we got in Shadow of Kyoshi because I would def cover him right now. We’ll see!
@@4Valentinuswith the Yangchen Novels probably drawing to a close, I think there’s a chance F.C. Yee will write on avatar Szeto next- or maybe he’ll be to busy working on the Kyoshi show lol
Literally just finished the Kyoshi novels today so I could watch this video. And I really hope more people appreciate Kuruk. He was far from lazy and indifferent. He cared TOO much, that's why it hurt
I was indifferent to Kuruk. I didn't like him but I didn't hate him. I only thought him as fortunate to have things easier after Yangchen's efforts, but I felt bad for him when he lost his wife to Ko Learning the truth about him now, I have new found respect for him n safe to say he deserves more credit
I never thought ill of Avatar Kuruk, even before we got to know the reasons behind his choices. Being the Avatar, the one person who can bring peace to the world is a daunting task for one person.
and here I thought Korra was the waterbending Avatar that had a rough time dealing with Dark Spirits. I actually remember the online comics that originally introduced us to Kuruk and Yangchen and seeing them in the series proper was a great treat, even in LOK when Kuruk spoke to Korra Is it weird that Kuruk feels...idk the most relatable of the avatars? who hasn't felt the need to go with the flow, especially during peaceful times? I hope someday we'll get a comic or book about his life in more detail and maybe even have Korra try to save Kuruk's lover from Ko
[ Shana Reviews ] now with this new context in mind, it really makes me sad that we didn’t even get to see Kuruk’s backstory in Legend Of Korra at all. I would have loved for Korra to see visions of him, similar to how Aang’s spirit was trying to warn her about Tarrlok in book 1, and we see Kuruk appear and share his wisdom about the spirits, since they both had to battle them and he has tons of experience with them. Then he gets her to be prepared for all the brutal consequences that come from messing with them. How come this didn’t happen? How come he didn’t show up? It actually makes tons of sense for them to at least have one conversation about this.
@@yitoproductions because Kuruks backstory was made post korra...they probbaly didnt think of it at the time. Same with Kyoshi her backstory wasnt fleshed out in avatar because they didnt really make it yet. Also Id be more interested in hearing Kyoshis opinion of Kuvira..because I think she would have agreed with Kuvira unifiying the earth kingdom and disagreed with aang for creating the united republic in the first place.
One of my favorite avatars. What makes him great is that he is the most human. His tragic story along with the 2 woman is sad. Yangchen also shouldn't have done that with the spirits but it all serves a purpose
A true hero I knew he was misunderstood!My favorite avatar by far and he took it all on alone because of his love for his friends! He let people think bad of him and took it! His wife was taken from him and unfortunately couldn’t even save her spirit and He took it ! Thanks for doing my boy justice with this video !
Every Avatar has their own history which is worth knowing. Tbh I never disliked any avatar. Because I know how much effort they all put into maintaining peace and balance.
It's like every water tribe avatar [as far as we know] has to deal with dark spirits since the previous three incarnations largely focused on the physical world's problems.
@@TheShanicpower I think he'd be thrilled with the purification technique. "Finally! A way to deal with the cockroaches." However, even with the purification technique, I think he'd still be opposed to spirits running wild. " Just because you can deal with mosquito doesn't mean you want to live with them.
I'm a bio major and from to your logic, mosquitos shouldn't be present in our world just like how you said spirits shld be kept seperated. Boy ive got news, if mosquitos weren't "present" , the ecology would get destroyed because mosquitos are one of the keystone in maintaining ecology structure. The exitinction of mosquitos would cause the laws of nature to become chaotic which would lead to an increase of invasive species and even the extinction of other species. Mosquitos were already in the world when we were born, just like spirits. What korra did was just restoring the world as it initially is. Because perhaps Wan's decision was the one that caused the natural laws to be so chaotic (wars and worldly conflict etc) since he removed a keystone of the world. Im not very good with words but i hope i get what im trying to say. Have a good day.
this is why the previous avatars should have a series or animated shorts. I'm too lazy to read a 400-600+ book when I already now parts of what happened
Your avatar videos are seriously underrated, you managed to successfully analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and how some avatars like Kuruk were heavily underestimated. I can't wait to see how you break down Kyoshi, Roku and Yangchen!
Man, I love Kuruk. He's definetly one of my favorite's. Also, can I just point out how Kuruk's advice wasn't neccesarily bad like Roku, Kyoshi, and Yangchen's? By bad I meam against the no killing Aang wanted. He was just like "It is up to you to shape the world." Love that guy.
i love these avatar videos and cant wait to see more. i dont do much reading thanks to my attention span but these do really make me wanna read the comics and such. i usually read a couple chapters and forget sbt it but i love these vids bc i get a little taste. love it
Ouch! Man, that puts even me to shame. Movieflame never covered THIS about him, and supported the known facts. This turn my view of him upside down about him. The scary thing is, this is also happening in RL all the time!
The burden of the pain he suffered because of everything discussed in this video pushed Kuruk to depend on wine and alcohol to numb himself. This is stated in The Shadow of Kyoshi. Neither Khelzan, Jian Zhu or Hei Ran knew it was because of his fights with spirits. They just thought he had lost his way. It's such a sad tale.
Tbh something I noticed between the water Nations currently know avatars is that they’re both know as some what great failures if not within the ATLA or LOK universe but in the real world too and that’s kind of crazy sad and true at the same time
Nice to know, it’s a good plot to justify. And yet those were just dark spirits, imagine how strong was Vaatu and yet Korra (killing) and Wan (imprisoning) managed to hold him back. Sad story for Kuruk having to fight various dark spirits alone all those times.
Since I was a kid, watching Avatar on Nick toons, I always thought he looked the coolest. I found out about him after Aang met Koh, and then I looked up who he was. Everything said he was the worst, he was short-lived and he didn't do anything to save the world. But searching deeper, and seeing these things make me gravitate towards him more. I like how they live on through their reincarnations, so in a way he never really died... But such a tragic story.
That's probably the best representation of chronic pain I've ever seen. People with invisible illnesses are seen as lazy and selfish ALL the time. Because we seem normal, and because most people don't introduce themselves with their medical history, many people think we ARE normal, people expect us (especially when we're young adults) to live up to normal responsibilities and standards. And there's usually no obvious expiation for people who don't know us well when we fall short. You might be a brilliant straight A student but come to school without your homework done or not show up for class. It's not going to be obvious that you were having a pain flare or that your condition is worsening. Even if a teacher knows you have lupus or fibromilagia, for someone who looks young and fit and might have any kind of interesting personality, it can be easy to underestimate suffering and overestimate laziness especially with all that "The only disability is a bad attitude" inspirational discrimination.
As someone who has both mental health issues and chronic illness that nearly killed me several times when I just turnt 23, I couldn't agree more. I'm one of the rare people who were born with GERD, which is basically a chronic version of acid reflux. Physical movement, on my bad days, makes everything worse. I've been singled out in P.E with games like dodgeball so many times, and even when I had a nasty one directly to my chest, causing me to vomit in the showers as I couldn't make it to the toilet in time, they wouldn't let me take a break. Mind you that with GERD, the acid in vomit tends to be higher and causes our body to develop damage such as 1 out of 5 patients develop Asthma, vocal chord damage is known to happen, etc. I managed to vomit enough times to give myself a stomach bleeding once. I literally started skipping P.E class simply because I hated the pain and humiliation my classmates and teachers would put me through. Did the same with cooking class as it was only mandatory in my first year.
Avatar kuruk is amazing his life was a living hell because of yang Chen’s misstates and everyone sees her as the best avatar I like kuruk for more than I like yangnchen
I mean personally I didn’t really ever hate him, in my mind it kind of made sense that here or there there would be an avatar who might be a bit more relaxed with their duties, or even more understandably, they just wanted to try and live as normal of a life as possible(which I feel is a completely understandable thing, if you’ve been reincarnated thousands of times in which you’re always fighting and protecting others, you might want at least 1 lifetime in which you can live relatively in peace and maybe even want to feel protected for once). I really do wonder if the world will ever find out about how much Avatar Kuruk sacrificed, especially considering the fact that he did all that in secret because he didn’t want people to find out about the mess Avatar Yangchen left him because he didn’t want her reputation to be tainted by her neglecting the spirits. This man sacrificed his body, his mind, his heart, his reputation and his life for the sake of protecting his predecessors reputation. I hope the world knows one day that Avatar Kuruk was actually an incredible avatar!
I feel like I can relate to Kuruk. I too battle my demons by myself, away from family and friends. I feel like a piece of soul has been broken and I need to patch it up the best i can before I can really come around them again.
Know that I respect what you did for the world. You sacrificed yourself and your image to make up for the wrongs. I had believed there was more to you even before all the details of your life came out.
I love that we’re getting new content from the avatar world though like even if there were new fans we still have new things to talk about because they’re still making new books and comics and honestly it just feels unreal sometimes
I have recently heard about this and YES i am SO GLAD they realised the fanbase had a disliking for kuruk because we were basically told he did nothing very nice of them to turn around and tell us other wise
It’s cool how his story with the dark spirits was kind of capped off in the Kyoshi novels and Korra. Kyoshi and Yun both destroyed the last remnants of the dark spirit who started it all, and Korra learned how to pacify dark spirits and calm them to balance out their energy. It’s also interesting how it was mainly Kuruk and Korra were the main Avatars to deal with dark spirits, almost as if water is the element most capable of dealing with spirits. As we see from Korra, Waterbending seems to be the only way to calm a dark spirit. Hei Bai in Avatar was angry that his forest burned down but he never turned dark. If that monstrous form was his true dark form he wouldn’t be able to just flip in and out of it in a second like he did in the book 1 finale.
I love the idea of Kuruk being this secret hero doing work only he can do, when no one will know. BUT, I think Kuruk as a party bro is important for the role he plays in ATLA, and for the Avatar universe. If Kuruk shirked his responsibility, it makes the Avatar fallible, more human. It introduces the idea that someone won't be perfect, or even good, JUST because they're the Avatar. That complexity seems like a positive to me. Also, the retconning doesn't make sense when paired with his lines in ATLA.
AVATAR KURUK NEEDS IMMEDIATELY HIS OWN SERIES A.S.A.P.!!!!! HE IS DEFINITELY LIKE BATMAN IN "THE DARK KNIGHT" MOVIE, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY. THE MOVIE AND JUST LEARNING ABOUT KURUK GAVE ME CHILLS & GOOSEBUMPS.
Honestly. We need a show about some of the previous avatars, explore their journeys in depth like what we did with Ang. Coz lord, the older avatars are flawed as hecc, which makes them so much more human, despite their status as powerful beings
Without Kuruk the world literally would be devoured by Spirits. Like it would have been probably worst than the 100 year war. He sacrificed his sanity and loved ones for the sake of the world.
I agree he was a hero he gave his own life to save the world from the dark spirits if only everyone knew the truth and i wish if aang had told everyone the truth he wasn't lazy he was a true hero by defending the world from dark the spirits that man deserves to be acknowledge.
what if some avatar had some free time or was bored one day and just thought, "hey why don't i leave a physical record of my previous incarnation's life behind just in case for the future" which could have been real useful now that the connection to previous avatars is gone
We all have to remember at the end of the day every Avatar is human not some painted image of benevolence and power, Kuruk, Aang and most of all Korra are proof of that through their mistakes and resilience to keep going despite their individual burdens
nope, In the Kyoshi Novels they still DO say he neglected the world and acted as if he didn't care but he secretely did his thing... If they had done the story of Wan instead I would still hate it because IT IS a retcon and i still can't believe how much it makes Roku look like an idiot... Infacts every avatar after wan lol, even the Koi fish Yin and yang made more sense than those floating kites
kuruk died at a young age because fighting with spirits took a toll on his soul. So korra fought the meanest kite that ever flew, that is possibly the strongest dark spirit to deal with, does that mean korra will also die young? Hopefully the larger raava inside her will add years in her life.
I really want to see an anthology Avatar series on Netflix (animated of course) that focuses on a new avatar every season, they could even jump around the timeline
Kuruk’s story reminds me of a quote from another very similar character - “I never wanted to be a hero. I won’t be remembered as one.” C if u can name that character & from what show! 😉
Honestly, Kuruks only mistake was to try and bear this burden all on his own. His companions could have made his job a lot easier and he wouldn't be remembered as the drunken moron.
The story of avatar is essentially shows that the decisions you take leave an impact. Avatar Jafar (the lavabending avatar before yangchen) He stayed in the fire nation, helped build the fire nation into a strong nation. Which eventually became so strong that it became a colonising force. Yangchen being forced to fight the dark spirit, caused the spirit world to be ignored. Which lead to kuruks fate. His engagement with the spirits meant world affairs were ignored. Kyoshi got engaged with world affairs, creating the dai li force... Which created a mafia city
Kuruk inherited an easy physical world with less responsibility and as a result had less agency. This caused him to not be capable enough to save his love from The face stealer. A good lesson for men of today that are being taught to be passive and that they arn't needed in modern society. Keep your agency and self improvement to being a stronger person. Being lulled into passiveness and weakness will come back to bite you in the end. Its ironic that Yangchen, an Airbender (the most spiritual nation) ignored the spirit world.
mI moe also she didn’t ignore the spirit world if you have read the comics a who,e entire town didn’t get destroyed from a spirit and bc of her there was peace for 100 years
Apparently Kuruk was a powerful bender who constantly challenged other powerful benders to see who was stronger. And he never stopped training and constantly questioned his teachers who all stuck to one style while he wanted to incorporate different styles of bending into different bendings. All information I’ve heard about Kuruk is from informative videos and discussions online so I might be a little off as I don’t have the funds to buy the books, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
if i remember avatar kuruk friends help him do his job after his death, and turns out his avatar team were OP too and have cool nicknames after doing amazing work with their bendings
I know Out-Universe they likely didn't come up with this idea until much later, but in Universe, its a shame he didn't talk about this to Aang. Maybe give a counterweight to the other Avatar's telling him to kill Roku, instead warning him that harming other's harms oneself, and that if he does decide to kill Ozai, he must be ready to bear that burden.
Kuruk is basically the dark knight of avatars, he allowed the world to believe he was a bad avatar and neglectful of their duties in order to keep them safe from the dark spirits
Or kinda like Saitama (one punch man)
He’s not a bad avatar
@@jadenchamoun6785 True, but the peoples in his time did think he's a bad one.
That's what I'm saying
@@jadenchamoun6785 that’s…literally what they said
Sometimes l think that this whole "only the avatar can bring balance" is way too demanding for one person.
Well technically the avatar isn't just one person, but a collection of thousands of lifetimes
I agree with you that avatar unable do everything by itself need to accept help from support of their friends and family just like how Aang and Korra did. Sadly if only Kuruk more open and willing share burden of needing help of responsibility with his loves ones their might be another solution of this that he would not be died so early and misunderstood..
@@TheSpartarox around 160 actually if you do the math
@@angelvan1052 I agree with this. Kuruk's story is an example of why confiding in friends and not taking all the responsibility for yourself is SO important! Aang would be in agony if he didn't have his friends to lean on
kiayeoja so truth!
So what your saying is Kuruk was the Avatar that the world Needed but not the One it Deserves
Pretty much
Avatar kuruk is batman
can someone lmk what he did good ? i’m not hating, i just didn’t watch the whole vid
@@damia.5974 The short version is he stopped an invasion of dark spirits that were created by Avatar Yangchen's neglect of the spirit world in favor of resolving the problems of the physical world. In battling the dark spirits, it took a toll on his own spirit, mental health, and life span. It's why he indulged in a hedonistic lifestyle, to cope with the pain.
Patrick Roell ohhhhh. thanks. can you also tell me what avatar Yangcheng did ?
I had no idea about the tragedy and pain Kuruk went through. The fact that he lived his life with all that emotional trauma and turmoil, and didn’t rep any of the benefits of being the true hero that he really was, makes him one of the most worthy Avatar in my eyes. Wise beyond his years.
Mmhm I agree
I think we all resented him at some point to a certain degree. I like they show how the Avatar has great power but is still only human.
Lavi I actually always loved Kuruk
I never did and never understood why others did
Tell that to Korra haters lol
True and now he seems one of the most powerful Avatars
Was hoping to read "the Avatar has great power but also great responsability"
Seems to me that the most hated avatars are those who are selfless and beyond worthy of being the avatar. Respect.
Both are from the water nation too 😤
@@evg2653 ikr?? Haters sucks
Everglow
Water bending poop, fire bending very cool!!
Not really all of em. Korra hasn't done much that was selfless.
Edit: Upon further reflection I have realized this only really applies to Season 1 and 2 Korra. After then Korra pretty much is forced to actually matures and really does a good job of it.
@@neolord1215 if you wouldn't include her giving up herself for the sake of the new Airbenders, opening the portal instead of letting Unalaq destroy Jinora's spirit, yeah.
He said that someday he wished there would be a way to stop dark spirits without killing them. Fortunately his successor Korra learned how to pacify dark spirits
yep
that's beautiful
How ironic, that among all people the next water Avatar after Kuruk would be the one to finish his task.
I didn't even know the spirit world needed to be maintained. I thought them being separate would prevent this problem.
Edit: I'm stupid. I forgot about the Hei Bai/forest spirit arch. Nevermind
@@Mediados It's like poetry
I personally have never hated Avatar Kuruk. After Aang talked to him in ATLA all I thought of him was, "Cool. This Avatar was a Watertibe surfer dude, I guess. Oh! That was his love's face Aang saw on Ko? That's jacked up, dude. That poor couple. She was probably so scared too. Too bad he couldn't save her." And that was that. Now, finding this out I feel even more sorry for him. Dang.
I swear, every Avatar's story is so friggin tragic. Hear me out. Roku was pitted against his best friend who ended up leaving him for dead. Kyoshi was overlooked as the Avatar, had a HORRIBLE life before it and when she was acknowledged things just kept going downhill for her even more before she had to kill her insane former best friend. Yang Chen went through some crap at the end of her life too and must feel terrible about leaving Kuruk with such a mess in the Spirit World. And then we all know what went down with Aang from losing 100 years of his life to becoming the last of his people to having to stop a century old world war as a teenager. Man, honestly, being the Avatar seems to kind of suck lifestyle wise in order to make up for all the kickass power you get, lol.
Luckily the next avatar might be better of
Korra had it the easiest but it was still pretty hard
I NEVER hated Kuruk and I actually liked him more than Kyoshi.
@@richgod9676 i wouldnt say she had it the easiest as she had to go through harmonic convergence, her losing her bending and memory, her being poisoned after being hunted by the red lotus since her being the avatar was out. also she had to stay home her whole childhood cause of the same reason. and she had to learn walking when she got disabled meanwhile being scared of your own reflection, her losing her connections to all past lives.
Nehir Bayin the more I think kyoshi and roku has it easier roku really only had to kill his friend to stop it all
I feel bad now about laughing at him so much. He was fighting a secret war all alone. And he did it so well that the world never knew it was in danger. That's how good of an avatar he was...
What an amazing and sad man.
As someone who is RIGHT NOW isolating myself from friends and family because I dont
want to share my mental issues with them... This video got me crying non stop. God please help me
defeat my demons and be a normal person again. I miss my friends so much.
YOU CAN DO IT! I believe in you
Wow, I'm actually in that same zone right now. I kinda just did it without even giving them a heads up. But honestly I feel i know that sometimes its just what I need to get back and organize myself. Its apart of the reason why I made a Zaheer video on getting into a flow of things. Tackle the demons one at a time bro, no rush man. Just remember you're not alone.
thanks for sharing, dude
i wish i could give you some words of encouragement to help you get through this path, but i dont know what to say
i guess meditate on the bad emotions and accept them for what they are and that it's the past, live your present life without the burden of the past
Keep it strong you can do it
You should consider not isolating yourself and getting help from a psychiatrists. Isolation can lead to further problems down the line as it does not deal with the root problem of your issues. Consider moving forward at your own pace, but do realize your life matters, just as much as you value the life of others.
Born to be misunderstood by people,
Died as a great avatar
Kuruk, you're the man!
Avatar Kurik and Korra are so similar... they both went through alot and both neglected their friends when they needed them the most but very powerful benders. The water tribe Avatars are gravelly misunderstood.
Korra never neglected anything. Korra had a lot more on her hands than Kuruk.
@RonnyLamar KylesJr. Unlike Kuruk, Korra knows how to handle dark spirits.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Thanks to her experience in her past life. Don't you think that Kuruk's probably where it came from? Also, it's kind of sad that you need to knock down another Avatar to make your obvious favorite seem better. On another note, you didn't acknowledge that, again, Korra had a whole team and their families on her side, Kuruk had no one due to his feeling the need to protect them. Get outta here with this nonsensical hate on Kuruk.
@@gaaraxnaru No. It came from Unalaq. He developed a waterbending technique to pacify dark spirits and taught her to do it.
@@vetarlittorf1807 No. It came from both. Her proficiency in learning this technique could've come from Kuruk. You don't know. And also, you are again ignoring the second point. She wasn't alone like he was. If you can't acknowledge that she had help from a team, while Kuruk had to fight the dark spirits alone, then I guess we're done here. I refuse to argue with someone who can't defend their points against proper evidence.
Wanna know the most messed up thing, the comics have shown what happen to one victim who get their face stolen.
This victim had their face stolen and waited for a whole year to get a new one. They couldn’t eat, sleep, or talk so that means Kuruk had to live everyday seeing his wife’s faceless body until she most likely died of old age, or disease, or at least until he had died.
So they didn't have needs and were just emotionless like in a coma? Or would they starve to death?
It’s a Bunnay magical spiritual bs
@@fawnieee
They don't need to eat or breathe. They're just trapped in a husk like state until their natural death.
@@sidicle6537 so it's like a bear in hibernation, only that they're awake/ conscience
Just Some Guy with Sunglasses well they can still walk around and interact with the environment. So its kinda tricky
He would literally sneak out at night to fight the dark spirits and would drink and seek worldly carnal pleasures to cope with the pain and encroaching death. What resulted from protecting the human world from murderous spirits during the night was everyone would see him passed out or indulging during the day, which he did to numb the pain from the battles, and then he would resume battling and repeat. But because the only Kuruk humans saw was the indulging, recovering Kuruk, they interpreted it as laziness and disgrace. He lost respect from his love, Hei-ran, because of the secret burden he kept. And when he finally did find another woman to love she was taken from him. I have a deep sympathy for Kuruk after reading the novels, his life was a true tragedy and he is seen as the worst avatar by many fans and fictional people alike, unjustly so.
The thing with Hei-Ran is the worst, because if he had told them what was going on she would have understood. As much as I respect Kuruk, he robbed himself of his future with her.
I’d like to see some attention to Yangchen’s predecessor, he seems pretty unique among the known Avatars being a more public figure and active member of the Fire Nation’s government
He is really interesting! I wish here was a LITTLE bit more info to extrapolate from shows, comics or books other than what we got in Shadow of Kyoshi because I would def cover him right now. We’ll see!
@@Johnny2Cellos makes sense, maybe you could lump him in with another Avatar to save time
Avatar Jafar😂😂 But yeah it would be interesting to see how Szeto unified the fire clans
If there was an avatar known for neglect, that's him. And the domino effect he made screwed up a lot of his successors
@@4Valentinuswith the Yangchen Novels probably drawing to a close, I think there’s a chance F.C. Yee will write on avatar Szeto next- or maybe he’ll be to busy working on the Kyoshi show lol
Literally just finished the Kyoshi novels today so I could watch this video. And I really hope more people appreciate Kuruk. He was far from lazy and indifferent. He cared TOO much, that's why it hurt
I misread this as “avatar Krunk” And now I am upset that there is no emperors new groove crossover
LMAO
Ferb! I know what we’re doing today!
I’m trying not to laugh at this because my dads next to me and if he asks what I’m laughing at, I’ll have to explain the whole ass atla storyline
I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!! OMFG
@@MrFallenangel2012 Wait a second, where's perry?
I was indifferent to Kuruk. I didn't like him but I didn't hate him. I only thought him as fortunate to have things easier after Yangchen's efforts, but I felt bad for him when he lost his wife to Ko
Learning the truth about him now, I have new found respect for him n safe to say he deserves more credit
Is it ok that this made me tear up and made me happy all at the same time,I'm glad his story was larger and deeper than originally told
I feel you
I never thought ill of Avatar Kuruk, even before we got to know the reasons behind his choices. Being the Avatar, the one person who can bring peace to the world is a daunting task for one person.
Finally, a video about some under rated Avatars
and here I thought Korra was the waterbending Avatar that had a rough time dealing with Dark Spirits.
I actually remember the online comics that originally introduced us to Kuruk and Yangchen and seeing them in the series proper was a great treat, even in LOK when Kuruk spoke to Korra
Is it weird that Kuruk feels...idk the most relatable of the avatars? who hasn't felt the need to go with the flow, especially during peaceful times?
I hope someday we'll get a comic or book about his life in more detail and maybe even have Korra try to save Kuruk's lover from Ko
I mean korra did have to fight vatuu which is like the reason for the evil spirits but yeah. I feel like the waterbenders had it so hard
[ Shana Reviews ] now with this new context in mind, it really makes me sad that we didn’t even get to see Kuruk’s backstory in Legend Of Korra at all. I would have loved for Korra to see visions of him, similar to how Aang’s spirit was trying to warn her about Tarrlok in book 1, and we see Kuruk appear and share his wisdom about the spirits, since they both had to battle them and he has tons of experience with them. Then he gets her to be prepared for all the brutal consequences that come from messing with them. How come this didn’t happen? How come he didn’t show up? It actually makes tons of sense for them to at least have one conversation about this.
@@yitoproductions because Kuruks backstory was made post korra...they probbaly didnt think of it at the time. Same with Kyoshi her backstory wasnt fleshed out in avatar because they didnt really make it yet. Also Id be more interested in hearing Kyoshis opinion of Kuvira..because I think she would have agreed with Kuvira unifiying the earth kingdom and disagreed with aang for creating the united republic in the first place.
One of my favorite avatars. What makes him great is that he is the most human. His tragic story along with the 2 woman is sad. Yangchen also shouldn't have done that with the spirits but it all serves a purpose
A true hero I knew he was misunderstood!My favorite avatar by far and he took it all on alone because of his love for his friends! He let people think bad of him and took it! His wife was taken from him and unfortunately couldn’t even save her spirit and He took it ! Thanks for doing my boy justice with this video !
Kuruk: Ultimate sacrifice for peace
Every Avatar has their own history which is worth knowing. Tbh I never disliked any avatar. Because I know how much effort they all put into maintaining peace and balance.
You know it's going to b a great day when Johnny 2 Cellos uploads!!
It's like every water tribe avatar [as far as we know] has to deal with dark spirits since the previous three incarnations largely focused on the physical world's problems.
*That's, Rough Buddy*
I wonder how Kuruk would feel about the spirit portals being left open.
Considering his encounters with them, I'd say he'd flip out lol
I’m wondering more about how he’d feel about Unalaq’s spirit purification technique.
@@TheShanicpower I think he'd be thrilled with the purification technique.
"Finally! A way to deal with the cockroaches."
However, even with the purification technique, I think he'd still be opposed to spirits running wild. "
Just because you can deal with mosquito doesn't mean you want to live with them.
@Michael Hewitt-Clarke dont be unrealistic
I'm a bio major and from to your logic, mosquitos shouldn't be present in our world just like how you said spirits shld be kept seperated. Boy ive got news, if mosquitos weren't "present" , the ecology would get destroyed because mosquitos are one of the keystone in maintaining ecology structure. The exitinction of mosquitos would cause the laws of nature to become chaotic which would lead to an increase of invasive species and even the extinction of other species. Mosquitos were already in the world when we were born, just like spirits. What korra did was just restoring the world as it initially is. Because perhaps Wan's decision was the one that caused the natural laws to be so chaotic (wars and worldly conflict etc) since he removed a keystone of the world.
Im not very good with words but i hope i get what im trying to say. Have a good day.
He looks like Aquaman,acts like Tony stark in the day,becomes Batman in the night.That’s called a triple threat
triple threat triad
This is why hes one of the best avatars.
this is why the previous avatars should have a series or animated shorts. I'm too lazy to read a 400-600+ book when I already now parts of what happened
Your avatar videos are seriously underrated, you managed to successfully analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and how some avatars like Kuruk were heavily underestimated. I can't wait to see how you break down Kyoshi, Roku and Yangchen!
I love these avatar breakdowns looking foward to more
Man, I love Kuruk. He's definetly one of my favorite's. Also, can I just point out how Kuruk's advice wasn't neccesarily bad like Roku, Kyoshi, and Yangchen's? By bad I meam against the no killing Aang wanted. He was just like "It is up to you to shape the world." Love that guy.
yep, I just realized that too
His advice aligned with Aang’s the most. The rest essentially told Aang do whatever it took no matter the consequences.
I’m glad his story was told I love all the avatars and now I’m happy to say I love him too
i love these avatar videos and cant wait to see more. i dont do much reading thanks to my attention span but these do really make me wanna read the comics and such. i usually read a couple chapters and forget sbt it but i love these vids bc i get a little taste. love it
Ouch! Man, that puts even me to shame. Movieflame never covered THIS about him, and supported the known facts.
This turn my view of him upside down about him.
The scary thing is, this is also happening in RL all the time!
I think Movieflame’s video probably came out before the most recent Kyoshi book that shed new light onto him
@@Johnny2Cellos Ok. When did it come out?
The book came out a little over a month ago!
@@Johnny2Cellos I hope he makes a updated video about this
The burden of the pain he suffered because of everything discussed in this video pushed Kuruk to depend on wine and alcohol to numb himself. This is stated in The Shadow of Kyoshi. Neither Khelzan, Jian Zhu or Hei Ran knew it was because of his fights with spirits. They just thought he had lost his way.
It's such a sad tale.
Tbh something I noticed between the water Nations currently know avatars is that they’re both know as some what great failures if not within the ATLA or LOK universe but in the real world too and that’s kind of crazy sad and true at the same time
Nice to know, it’s a good plot to justify. And yet those were just dark spirits, imagine how strong was Vaatu and yet Korra (killing) and Wan (imprisoning) managed to hold him back. Sad story for Kuruk having to fight various dark spirits alone all those times.
Since I was a kid, watching Avatar on Nick toons, I always thought he looked the coolest. I found out about him after Aang met Koh, and then I looked up who he was. Everything said he was the worst, he was short-lived and he didn't do anything to save the world. But searching deeper, and seeing these things make me gravitate towards him more. I like how they live on through their reincarnations, so in a way he never really died... But such a tragic story.
That's probably the best representation of chronic pain I've ever seen. People with invisible illnesses are seen as lazy and selfish ALL the time. Because we seem normal, and because most people don't introduce themselves with their medical history, many people think we ARE normal, people expect us (especially when we're young adults) to live up to normal responsibilities and standards. And there's usually no obvious expiation for people who don't know us well when we fall short. You might be a brilliant straight A student but come to school without your homework done or not show up for class. It's not going to be obvious that you were having a pain flare or that your condition is worsening. Even if a teacher knows you have lupus or fibromilagia, for someone who looks young and fit and might have any kind of interesting personality, it can be easy to underestimate suffering and overestimate laziness especially with all that "The only disability is a bad attitude" inspirational discrimination.
As someone who has both mental health issues and chronic illness that nearly killed me several times when I just turnt 23, I couldn't agree more. I'm one of the rare people who were born with GERD, which is basically a chronic version of acid reflux. Physical movement, on my bad days, makes everything worse. I've been singled out in P.E with games like dodgeball so many times, and even when I had a nasty one directly to my chest, causing me to vomit in the showers as I couldn't make it to the toilet in time, they wouldn't let me take a break. Mind you that with GERD, the acid in vomit tends to be higher and causes our body to develop damage such as 1 out of 5 patients develop Asthma, vocal chord damage is known to happen, etc. I managed to vomit enough times to give myself a stomach bleeding once. I literally started skipping P.E class simply because I hated the pain and humiliation my classmates and teachers would put me through. Did the same with cooking class as it was only mandatory in my first year.
Something about him was so cool only saw a few seconds of him a minute of so and I love this guy
Given the books we’ve been getting I hope we see one of Kuruk
The second Kyoshi book did break down a HUGE amount of his story, but I hope so too
Thank you for this video, and making it to the point, while enjoyable and not just facts, while also not forcing it to be over 10 minutes.
Hey, glad you enjoyed it! If I had enough to say to fit 10+ minutes I would have, but I think this was the best way to tell his story!
Johnny 2 Cellos it’s fine if a video is over 10 minutes but a lot of TH-camrs are very repetitive in their videos just to add to run time, unlike you.
we need more spinoffs with these past avatars
Avatar kuruk is amazing his life was a living hell because of yang Chen’s misstates and everyone sees her as the best avatar I like kuruk for more than I like yangnchen
What's worse is that kept quite not only for his loved ones but for also saving avatar yangchen's honor and image
I mean personally I didn’t really ever hate him, in my mind it kind of made sense that here or there there would be an avatar who might be a bit more relaxed with their duties, or even more understandably, they just wanted to try and live as normal of a life as possible(which I feel is a completely understandable thing, if you’ve been reincarnated thousands of times in which you’re always fighting and protecting others, you might want at least 1 lifetime in which you can live relatively in peace and maybe even want to feel protected for once).
I really do wonder if the world will ever find out about how much Avatar Kuruk sacrificed, especially considering the fact that he did all that in secret because he didn’t want people to find out about the mess Avatar Yangchen left him because he didn’t want her reputation to be tainted by her neglecting the spirits. This man sacrificed his body, his mind, his heart, his reputation and his life for the sake of protecting his predecessors reputation. I hope the world knows one day that Avatar Kuruk was actually an incredible avatar!
I feel like I can relate to Kuruk. I too battle my demons by myself, away from family and friends. I feel like a piece of soul has been broken and I need to patch it up the best i can before I can really come around them again.
We deserve a kuruk mini series. Dude appeared as a drunk and a hedonist to the rest of the world but dude was out here battling secret battles.
damn, I always thought he looked like a badass too. I was right...
Lmao, same. I instantly loved him as an Avatar even though people kept ragging on him for being the worst. I too was right! :)
Thank you for explaining my legacy to everyone
Know that I respect what you did for the world. You sacrificed yourself and your image to make up for the wrongs. I had believed there was more to you even before all the details of your life came out.
@@wedoliveinasocietydowenot thank you
I love that we’re getting new content from the avatar world though like even if there were new fans we still have new things to talk about because they’re still making new books and comics and honestly it just feels unreal sometimes
It reminds me of Zoro’s “nothing happened” moment-badass
I see some parallels between him and Korra.
I have recently heard about this and YES i am SO GLAD they realised the fanbase had a disliking for kuruk because we were basically told he did nothing very nice of them to turn around and tell us other wise
I'm loving these videos. I'm learning so much more about the past avatars.
It’s cool how his story with the dark spirits was kind of capped off in the Kyoshi novels and Korra. Kyoshi and Yun both destroyed the last remnants of the dark spirit who started it all, and Korra learned how to pacify dark spirits and calm them to balance out their energy.
It’s also interesting how it was mainly Kuruk and Korra were the main Avatars to deal with dark spirits, almost as if water is the element most capable of dealing with spirits. As we see from Korra, Waterbending seems to be the only way to calm a dark spirit.
Hei Bai in Avatar was angry that his forest burned down but he never turned dark. If that monstrous form was his true dark form he wouldn’t be able to just flip in and out of it in a second like he did in the book 1 finale.
I love the idea of Kuruk being this secret hero doing work only he can do, when no one will know. BUT, I think Kuruk as a party bro is important for the role he plays in ATLA, and for the Avatar universe. If Kuruk shirked his responsibility, it makes the Avatar fallible, more human. It introduces the idea that someone won't be perfect, or even good, JUST because they're the Avatar. That complexity seems like a positive to me.
Also, the retconning doesn't make sense when paired with his lines in ATLA.
AVATAR KURUK NEEDS IMMEDIATELY HIS OWN SERIES A.S.A.P.!!!!! HE IS DEFINITELY LIKE BATMAN IN "THE DARK KNIGHT" MOVIE, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY. THE MOVIE AND JUST LEARNING ABOUT KURUK GAVE ME CHILLS & GOOSEBUMPS.
That was a really cool video 👌👏
So he was basically the Itachi of the Avatar universe
Pls don't compare them . They both are very different .
I feel like all water avatars are hated kuruk and korra
I love them both personally
Honestly. We need a show about some of the previous avatars, explore their journeys in depth like what we did with Ang. Coz lord, the older avatars are flawed as hecc, which makes them so much more human, despite their status as powerful beings
Kyoshi goes NOPE when she wants help from the previous Avatar ..
Without Kuruk the world literally would be devoured by Spirits. Like it would have been probably worst than the 100 year war. He sacrificed his sanity and loved ones for the sake of the world.
I agree he was a hero he gave his own life to save the world from the dark spirits if only everyone knew the truth and i wish if aang had told everyone the truth he wasn't lazy he was a true hero by defending the world from dark the spirits that man deserves to be acknowledge.
Yes!! I love your Bojack videos, and so happy you're doing Avatar content too!
"Protecting the world requires sacrifice" :- Howard Stark
Great video, loved this!
what if some avatar had some free time or was bored one day and just thought, "hey why don't i leave a physical record of my previous incarnation's life behind just in case for the future" which could have been real useful now that the connection to previous avatars is gone
So water tribe avatars tend to be seen as failures even when they clearly are not?
We all have to remember at the end of the day every Avatar is human not some painted image of benevolence and power, Kuruk, Aang and most of all Korra are proof of that through their mistakes and resilience to keep going despite their individual burdens
Sad truth is, is this story was included in korra season 2 instead of in a kioshi novel people wouldve said it was retcon
nope, In the Kyoshi Novels they still DO say he neglected the world and acted as if he didn't care but he secretely did his thing... If they had done the story of Wan instead I would still hate it because IT IS a retcon and i still can't believe how much it makes Roku look like an idiot... Infacts every avatar after wan lol, even the Koi fish Yin and yang made more sense than those floating kites
I’ve read the Kyoshi books he was highly underrated and was one of the best avatars ngl.
kuruk died at a young age because fighting with spirits took a toll on his soul. So korra fought the meanest kite that ever flew, that is possibly the strongest dark spirit to deal with, does that mean korra will also die young? Hopefully the larger raava inside her will add years in her life.
I liked Yun's line: "Avatarhood is a curse".
I really want to see an anthology Avatar series on Netflix (animated of course) that focuses on a new avatar every season, they could even jump around the timeline
Kuruk’s story reminds me of a quote from another very similar character - “I never wanted to be a hero. I won’t be remembered as one.”
C if u can name that character & from what show! 😉
Honestly, Kuruks only mistake was to try and bear this burden all on his own. His companions could have made his job a lot easier and he wouldn't be remembered as the drunken moron.
some people just doesn' t like water tribe avatar for some reason....
Or water tribe characters in general do you see the hate Katara gets
He died saving the world🌎
korra probably knows how to deal with dark spirits because of kuruks past experiences
The story of avatar is essentially shows that the decisions you take leave an impact.
Avatar Jafar (the lavabending avatar before yangchen)
He stayed in the fire nation, helped build the fire nation into a strong nation.
Which eventually became so strong that it became a colonising force.
Yangchen being forced to fight the dark spirit, caused the spirit world to be ignored.
Which lead to kuruks fate.
His engagement with the spirits meant world affairs were ignored.
Kyoshi got engaged with world affairs, creating the dai li force... Which created a mafia city
Beautifully said man
I love Kuruk he was a brave and selfless man he gave Aang the best advice in my opinion.
Kuruk is the freshest Avatar🔥🔥🔥
THIS VIDEO IS WHAT I WANTED TO SEE.
"Let's punish you by punishing someone else"
"We don't actually want to punish you, we just want to kill someone. You're welcome.
Kuruk inherited an easy physical world with less responsibility and as a result had less agency. This caused him to not be capable enough to save his love from The face stealer.
A good lesson for men of today that are being taught to be passive and that they arn't needed in modern society. Keep your agency and self improvement to being a stronger person. Being lulled into passiveness and weakness will come back to bite you in the end.
Its ironic that Yangchen, an Airbender (the most spiritual nation) ignored the spirit world.
RonnyLamar KylesJr. ._.
RonnyLamar KylesJr. When did she make them dark?
mI moe also she didn’t ignore the spirit world if you have read the comics a who,e entire town didn’t get destroyed from a spirit and bc of her there was peace for 100 years
RonnyLamar KylesJr. Ok no I didn’t cus I can’t get them
Apparently Kuruk was a powerful bender who constantly challenged other powerful benders to see who was stronger. And he never stopped training and constantly questioned his teachers who all stuck to one style while he wanted to incorporate different styles of bending into different bendings. All information I’ve heard about Kuruk is from informative videos and discussions online so I might be a little off as I don’t have the funds to buy the books, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
if i remember avatar kuruk friends help him do his job after his death, and turns out his avatar team were OP too and have cool nicknames after doing amazing work with their bendings
Good thing the Avatar after Korra can just talk to Kuruk and explain his actions :3
After hearing about how much Kuruk sacrificed, I was so pissed off.
I like the idea of Kuruk being a unrecognized hero but I also liked the original idea of him being a "hands off Avatar" I find that more interesting.
I know Out-Universe they likely didn't come up with this idea until much later, but in Universe, its a shame he didn't talk about this to Aang. Maybe give a counterweight to the other Avatar's telling him to kill Roku, instead warning him that harming other's harms oneself, and that if he does decide to kill Ozai, he must be ready to bear that burden.
The way you said "Hei-Ran" was really satisfying but the way you said "Jianzhu" made me die a bit inside
I TRIED MY BEST
Wouldn’t hei-ran be said as ‘hay-ran’
I never hated Kuruk, he was my favorite avatar because he was not like the rest, I didn't like people who underestimated him
Poor Kuruk 😥
Huge appreciation for a spoiler alert since I plan on reading the Kyoshi novels lmao