Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rift

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rift
Date March 5, 2014 (Part 1)
July 29, 2014 (Part 2)
November 18, 2014 (Part 3)
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
Creative team
Writers Gene Yang
Artists Studio Gurihiru
Pencillers Chifuyu Sasaki
Inkers Chifuyu Sasaki
Letterers Comicraft
Colourists Naoko Kawano
Creators Michael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
Chronology
Preceded by The Search (comic)
Followed by Smoke and Shadow (comic)
The Legend of Korra (TV series)

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rift is a graphic novel in three parts written by Gene Yang and illustrated by Studio Gurihiru. It is a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender and a prequel to The Legend of Korra, both animated TV series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Part 1 was released on March 5, 2014, Part 2 was released on July 29, 2014, and Part 3 was released on November 18, 2014. It takes place after the events of the graphic novel Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search. It is followed by the Smoke and Shadow trilogy.

Overview

The Rift shifts the focus back to 114-year-old Avatar Aang as he begins the process of creating Republic City, in contrast to The Search, which is more focused on the story of the Fire Nation royal family. Yang also plans to give a larger role to Toph, who was absent from The Search trilogy. It is followed by Smoke and Shadow.

Part One

The story opens in the village of Yu Dao, where Aang, Toph, Sokka and Katara have met up with Iroh. Aang is slightly disappointed that Zuko couldn't be with them there, due to him taking his mother and her new family for a visit to the capital of the Fire Nation. Iroh is happy that his temporary tenure as the Fire Lord is now over, as he will be able to return to his tea place in Ba Sing Se. Kori Morishita announces to everyone that Yu Dao now has officially appointed a new coalition government, with two representatives for both ethnic populations. The crowd cheers, but Toph is unsure if it will work out. Aang assures her that the new government will have to, if they want others to follow Yu Dao's example.

Later, everyone is walking to a celebration banquet. Aang notices a figure wearing a concealing Air Nomad robe waving to him across the hallway. Aang asks Xing Ying, one of the Air Acolytes if it's a late friend of hers, but she tells him all the Acolytes, that were coming, came on time. Aang promptly rushes out after the figure, sure that she is one of the Acolytes that he hasn't met. The woman takes down her hood, revealing her face as that of Avatar Yangchen, the Air Nomad Avatar before Aang. For some reason, Aang can't hear her speak. She fades away, leaving him in panic.

In the banquet hall, Sokka is stuffing himself with meat dishes and asks another Acolyte, Yee-Li, if she wants to have some. Yee-Li explains that the Air Acolytes practice vegetarianism like the ancient Air Nomads. Katara asks Toph how things are going at her Metalbending Academy. Toph states that she has many students now. So many, that she might need to expand the building, but doesn't have the money for it. Sokka wonders why Toph doesn't charge tuition, but she refuses the notion. Katara leaves the table to look for Aang.

Katara finds Aang outside, where he is attempting to meditate. He tells her about Yangchen and how she appeared to him earlier, but know can't contact her with his meditation beads. Katara tries to remind Aang that the celebration is also important, which gives Aang a sudden idea.

Aang announces to the Acolytes that he is taking them on a trip the next day with the others. The Acolytes are excited to go, but Sokka wanted to go shopping in town.

In the morning, the gang are riding on Appa with Xing Ling, Yee-Li and a young male named Jingbo. Aang happily tells everyone about an Air Nomad festival, that honors Yangchen, that falls on that same day. There, the Nomads would bow to a statue of a beautiful woman, before playing traditional music as they walked to a secluded meadow. Yee-Li is excited for the music, since she brought some noisy little cymbals. Aang further details that the nomads would then have a ceremonial meal, which Toph cynically points out consists of unsalted vegetables and tofu. Monk Gyatso would then take the younger Nomads like Aang to an island, where they would fly kites with their bending. Xing Ling thinks it all sounds great, to which Aang quietly says it will be like things used to be, if only for one day.

They arrive at the statue, where Sokka wonders who the statue is of. Aang himself doesn't know, because he was off flying the kites with Gyatso. Sokka thinks it is weird for Aang to bow to the statue, but Aang says "That's just how it's done."

Aang's words cause Toph to remember terrible memories of her father making her bow to a grave, wear an uncomfortable dress, drink in small sips from her cup, and not letting her play outside at all. Everytime she questioned him, he would respond with the same words Aang had just said, showing little sympathy.

Toph refuses to bow to the statue with the others. Katara tries to tell her that it is important to Aang, but Toph snaps back that Aang doesn't know who the statue is of and that it probably isn't important whatsoever. Aang tells the Air Acolytes to not let Toph bother them from feeling peaceful and to not allow her insults to bother them. He displays hypocrisy by saying it is time for people who aren't "stubborn dunderheads" to bow, angering Toph. The entire party sans Toph bow to the statue, which makes the Acolytes amazed and ecstatic. Sokka is confused why they all feel so great about it. Aang leads the group in their musical walk.

While walking, Toph grows severely annoyed by Yee-Li's cymbals, and bends them with her Metalbending, angrily asking why she can't play softer. Katara attempts to calm Toph down, but she bursts out her discontent with rituals like the ones her parents made her do while growing up. Aang ignores Toph and says they are almost at the meadow. Xing Ling asks Aang if they need to pass the town ahead to get there. Aang is dismayed at the sudden revelation that a town in front of them is where the meadow used to be, having been built over completely.

Aang is horrified as they walk through the town, seeing that it is modernly industrialized, among other things like a restaurant, where Sokka and Toph go to get meat. Then, Katara is suddenly greeted by Niyok, a girl from the Southern Water Tribe. Niyok explains that she and her sister Nutha came with others to work at a refinery in the town. Katara calls out to her, but Nutha glares at Katara and yells at Niyok to return to where they are sitting. Katara is rather put off by this.

Aang sees Avatar Yangchen appear again near a gated-off area behind the refinery, before she disappears again quickly. Aang leads them over to the sealed off place, where they all find the stench to be awful. Aang uses Earthbending so he, Katara, and the Air Acolytes can hop over it. The Acolytes are excited, but the smell is worse behind the fence. Aang sees that a river has become heavily dirty and disgusting and comes to the conclusion that Yangchen wants him to know that the sacred land of the Air Nomads has been defiled and ruined. Several armored guards charge out and Aang tells them he is the Avatar and must see whoever is in charge. The guards don't care at all and attack them with stone slabs, even the Acolytes. Katara wants to retaliate, but Aang makes the guards collide with each other when they attempt to clobber him with stones by jumping upward.

The group is then greeted by Satoru, who is impressed and honored to meet Aang and Katara. Satoru lets Aang know that he is the engineer of the refinery, which is a joint venture of his uncle with another businessman. Aang begins to ask if they can come inside to talk but the young man becomes incredibly star-struck. Not because of Aang but because Toph has just come by with Sokka, both of them having gotten some snacks for themselves. Satoru begins to praise Toph excitedly, to which she takes pleasure. He over-dramatically invites Toph for a tour of the refinery. She agrees, calling Satoru by name, delighting him even more. Satoru lets Toph have her friends "tag along", having forgotten about Aang. Aang notices this is feeding Toph's ego somewhat. Sokka makes a joke about vegetarians not being able to enjoy his meat kabob.

Satoru begins his tour, explaining how his uncle discovered that the area was rich in natural resources but couldn't develop it, due to being from the Fire Nation. But his uncle's partner is from the Earth Kingdom and they made it work together after the war ended. Aang attempts to bring up the historical importance of the area to his late people, but Satoru doesn't even seem to notice, because he's too focused on Toph. Satoru is proud to state that the refinery is the first joint business partnership between Earth and Fire nation companies and that people all over the world have come to work in the refinery. He shows everyone a production line worked by Water-, Fire- and Earthbenders. Sokka and Jingbo are impressed with the operation.

Satoru then takes them to a newer production line, that uses even more machines, operated by non-benders. Aang questions why anyone would want a new process like that, but Sokka is impressed even further by the machinery. Satoru explains that this way, anyone can work in the factory, and less training will be required of the employees. Katara finds bending to be more elegant, but Satoru insists that it will be efficient when the new line is improved even further.

Satoru allows Sokka to drive one of the forklifts. Toph is impressed by the way the factory works. Sokka tries to make the forklift go fast, causing it to break. Satoru shrugs it off, but says he will have to stop the tour to fix it. Toph uses her metalbending to fix the engine for him, and when Satoru is told by her of her metalbending academy, he tells Toph she's amazing.

Satoru proposes to Toph that her students could work on the machines. Toph and Satoru figure out that Satoru's uncle could sponsor a new building for her academy and that it can be a partnership. Toph agrees, and lets it begin to slip out that she has a growing affection for Satoru. Sokka mentions that the two are giving him "oogies", but Katara thinks their attraction is sweet.

Aang sees Yangchen once more and receives a vision of a strange stone-metal giant covered in energy, destroying what could be the refinery. Aang is unsure if this vision is of the past or is something that is yet to come.

The Acolytes ask Aang if he's okay and Aang is sure that Satoru has to hear him out. Aang tells Satoru that the refinery and town are not meant to be in the sacred lands. Toph is still sour about Aang's traditions and gets angry and annoyed, when she learns that he doesn't know all the details. Katara agrees with Aang and notes the river as evidence. Satoru knew about the ruined river, but insists that it isn't the refinery's fault to Katara. His uncle thinks it's a natural phenomenon. Sokka sides with Aang on the matter. An angered Toph then uses her abilities to check if Satoru is lying. He again states the river isn't being destroyed by the refinery. The Acolytes learn about Toph's truth test ability. Toph is now sure that Satoru is being honest. Sokka abruptly sides with Toph and Satoru due to his faith in her ability.

Aang then drags Toph off, so he can talk to her in private. Aang seems convinced that Toph has developed a crush on Satoru and is only supporting his story, because it's blinding her. Toph is clearly upset by Aang's choice of words and even though he apologizes, Toph accuses his Air Nomad traditions of messing with his own perception of things. She points out that the business represents what Aang wants for Yu Dao: people from all over the world working together. Toph says that Satoru is right and that the refinery is the future. But Toph hits Aang's breaking point when she calls his ways and Yangchen's festival stupid and backward. The pair begins to furiously shout at the other, when everything begins to violently rumble.

The rumbling stops and no one is sure what caused it. Sokka and Katara think Aang and Toph caused it in their anger, when Satoru says none of the Earthbender employees there are strong enough to do it. Aang says his traditions keep him from doing such a thing and blames Toph for being unreasonable. Toph is insulted that her own former student would accuse her of having so little control of her bending.

Then, an even larger rumble causes more damage. Satoru thinks everybody should probably leave, because his uncle will be returning soon. Toph angrily insists she has nothing to do with the quakes, but Satoru considers fixing things his responsibility. One of the machines starts a collapse, making rocks fall and cause more harm. Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph help the workers escape. An old male employee is trapped under some debris and Aang goes to help him. Satoru tells him to unplug it, but Aang is distracted by a falling boulder, which Toph saves him from. Aang gets the employee out safely and Toph smashes the machine.

Aang and Toph question each other more calmly. Toph thinks Aang may be trying too hard to hold onto his past and Aang thinks Toph is trying too hard to run from her own. Aang apologizes to Toph for accusing her of the rumbling, because he was so angry that he wasn't thinking straight. Toph feels she has too, if she wants to live her life.

Then the Rough Rhinos show up, and Colonel Mongke mocks the Avatar with their new position as private security for the refinery. Satoru's Uncle Loban comes in and chastises Satoru for the damage. Loban continues to belittle him to his business partner, whom he refers to as Lao. He himself walks in and he's stunned to see Toph, who recognizes him as her father; whom she has not seen or heard from in two years.

Part Two

In the Earthen Fire Refinery, Toph Beifong tries to speak to her father, Lao Beifong, but is dismissed to be a confused young lady rather than his daughter. When Satoru asks her if she really is Lao's daughter, he is chastised by his Uncle Loban to mind his own business and get the production lines back up and running as they have deadlines to meet. Toph tries to address her father once more, though he asks the Rough Rhinos to escort Team Avatar off the refinery's premises, resulting in a violent confrontation between the mercenaries and Team Avatar, as Aang and Toph refuse to leave before they have talked about the refinery's location and to Lao Beifong respectively. During the fight, Aang notices that some members of the Rough Rhinos are new and learned that Utor has joined the group after the end of the Hundred Year War, as he had previously been a soldier in Ozai's army. When Aang notices Toph catapulting her opponent into the air after nearly being hit by his chain-knives, he catches the guy and gently places him on the ground, protecting him from a painful crash. When the man attempts to stab him, Aang sinks him in the ground and turns to Toph, arguing that she has to be more careful. Noting that the mercenary nearly cut her in half, Toph rebuffs Aang's plea to fight with an inner calm by pointing out that she is not one of his Air Acolytes and that she will fight however she deems fit.

Meanwhile, Sokka takes on Colonel Mongke, though his machete proves to be ineffective against the soldier's armor and, switching tactics, he ends up running away. As he passes Katara fighting Yeh-Lu and an ax-wielding soldier, he grabs her and runs toward the end of the refinery's ground, running into a dead-end as they reach a fence. As the three Rough Rhinos charge them, they jump out of the way, causing the komodo rhinos to run down the fence, and they resume the battle on the bank of the river.

Meanwhile, Xing Ying and Yee-Li are cornered by Ogodei, though are saved when Jingbo rides in on a forklift, chasing the Rough Rhino away. His charge is cut short, though, as he is reprimanded by Xing Ying, who deems his behavior to be unfitting for an Air Acolyte. Their conversation enables Ogodei to strike back and capture them all, though they are saved by Toph, who used her metalbending to tie Ogodei down with his own metal bolo. She reprimands the Acolytes, telling them that they had to concentrate on what was happening at that moment instead of "worshiping the past". When Aang appears and asks the Acolytes why they are still there, Xing Ying reminds him that they came to learn about Air Nomad traditions and that they are not leaving before they have properly celebrated Yangchen's Festival. Aang asks Toph if she would like to join them, but his offer is shot down and she leaves them to go talk to her father.

Aang and the Air Acolytes make their way back to town toward the tree Aang and Gyatso used to sit under to enjoy their meal. After discovering it had been cut down, Aang chooses to celebrate inside the restaurant that had been built on same spot. The owner, the cabbage merchant, recognizes Aang immediately as a source of bad things to happen to his cabbages, though agrees to let Aang have his ceremonial meal there under the condition that he orders at least one dish from the restaurant's menu.

Inside the factory, Toph is walking in the direction Satoru pointed her to find her father's office. The young engineer catches up with her, offering to walk her there as it can be otherwise hard to find, but Toph questions if he is sure, stating that she does not want him to "have to grovel again" to his uncle. Hurt by being called a "sniveling flunky", Satoru calls her out, telling her that she does not know his situation and that since Loban had been there for him when he needed it the most, he would always be grateful to his uncle. He subsequently leaves Toph in front of Lao's office, which she enters.

Having had the advantage of an ample water source, Katara managed to encase the three Rough Rhinos in ice, only leaving their heads free. Sokka makes fun of Yeh-Lu, who is holding a live explosive in his hand. Sokka takes his time to remove the explosive, but fails to make the wick go out, eventually opting to throw the bomb away. It explodes on the other side of the river, revealing a secret passageway, which they immediately investigate.

At the restaurant, Aang and the Air Acolytes join hands and the young Avatar starts to recite the ritual blessing. By the time he has finished, he has crossed over to the Spirit World, where Yangchen is sitting with him. She explains that all Avatars are connected to one another like a chain, so by severing his connection to Roku, Aang had also damaged his connection to all the Avatars preceding him. It is only due to ritual of the ceremonial meal, which serves as a temporary conduit, that they are able to communicate. Meanwhile in the physical world, the Air Acolytes wonder to whom Aang is talking, guessing it could be Yangchen or even the lady from the statue to whom they bowed earlier.

As Toph enters her father's office, Lao quickly slides the family photo he was looking at underneath other papers and tells Toph once again that she is not his daughter and that she should leave the premises. When he is told to stop lying, he says that he has a daughter whom he raised to be a poised, demure, obedient young woman, though when he looks at the girl standing before him, he only sees a rude and ungrateful "thing". He demands Toph to show him that he is mistaken and that she is his daughter by greeting him properly like a child of their class should greet their parent.

Illuminating their path with glowing crystals, Sokka and Katara make their way deeper into the shaft and discover an underground mine which is the source of the river's pollution. Before they can do anything, however, they are discovered by Kahchi and Vachir and a scuffle ensues, during which one of the mine's support beams is heavily damaged, causing a minor earthquake. Katara ends the fight by freezing Vachir after Sokka takes care of Kahchi and they attempt to get every worker to evacuate, to no avail. Nutha and Niyok approach them and explain that they need the job to survive, so without their boss's order, no one would leave, prompting Sokka to run back to the refinery to find their boss.

In the Spirit World, Yangchen clarifies that the Avatar's past lives are meant to guide the current incarnation to prevent the repetition of their mistakes. She emphasizes that she too has made mistakes, ones Aang cannot repeat. She recalls the memory of her first mission as the Avatar, a week after she had become a master of all four elements. Together with Boma and her two winged lemurs, Pik and Pak, she traveled to the city to which she was summoned. There, she learns about a prediction of "vengeance from the sea" and takes up guard on a cliff overlooking the water. Just past midnight, a giant spirit appears, which knocks her down and moves on to the city to destroy it when she tries to talk to him.

Meanwhile, Toph explains that the quiet little girl her father thought she was had never been more than an act to please him. She continues by pointing out that the real her, while not prim and proper, is the greatest earthbender in the world, who trained the Avatar, and helped to end the Hundred Year War. Without saying a word, Lao turns his back on Toph. She wipes her eyes as she turns toward the door, concluding that coming to him had been a mistake and that she would never bother him again. Before she could exit, though, Sokka bursts through the door, being chased by Satoru who tried to stop him from entering. The Southern Water Tribe warrior walks up to Lao and tells him to order his employees to evacuate the mine as it could collapse at any moment. Lao rebuffs the order, stating that the crystal mine is regularly inspected, and is surprised to learn that Sokka is talking about an iron mine, as he was under the impression the refinery solely processed crystals.

Yangchen continues her story, recalling how Boma evacuated all the citizens while she battled the spirit throughout the night, leaving the city in ruins. At the break of dawn, the spirit communicated his story with her, revealing to the young Avatar that his name was General Old Iron and he lived in that area centuries earlier with Lady Tienhai, whom he protected. When one day a group of humans made their home there as well, Tienhai became their guardian, though Old Iron, having heard of other humans destroying spirits, wanted to kill them. When he was about the destroy the tribe, Tienhai stopped him and he left. However, since he had felt Lady Tienhai die a few nights before meeting Yangchen, he had chosen to exact his revenge and finish the plan he had made so long ago. The king of the city corroborates the spirit's story, claiming responsibility for Tienhai's death, causing Old Iron to attack the people directly.

Back in the physical world, Sokka, Lao, Toph, and Satoru arrive in the iron mine, where Lao is shocked to learn that it does, in fact, exist. He was under the impression that he and Loban had agreed not to mine the iron ore as the area was too dangerous. At that moment, however, Loban appears, stating that no such agreement was ever made, and that due to the unnaturally high iron ore concentration, he had chosen to mine it in secret without Lao's knowledge. Toph blames Loban for caring more about money than human lives, which prompts Satoru to come to his uncle's defense.

Lao orders every worker to evacuate, though his order is negated by Loban, who vows to fire anyone who dares to leave. Kahchi uses the ensuing confusion to attack Sokka once more and throws his weapon at him. Sokka ducks, causing the weapon to shatter a nearby support beam.

In the Spirit World, Yangchen nears the end of her story. Upon witnessing Old Iron attacking the people, the Avatar State welled up unbidden in Yangchen and she forced the venomous spirit to stop. They came to an agreement, where the spirit would leave the people alone as long as the conditions of the deal where honored for eternity. To uphold her end of the bargain, Yangchen established the ritual that would become Yangchen's Festival. Due to the Hundred Year War, the specifics of it had become lost, though Aang urges Yangchen to reiterate the terms of the agreement to him. Before she can do so, however, an earthquake interrupts the ceremonial meal, and forces Aang to return to the physical world, where he can no longer connect with Yangchen.

Deducing that the earthquake had been much stronger than any previous one and that people would need their help, Aang and the Air Acolytes hurry back toward the refinery, where they find Sokka supporting Niyok, who has a broken arm. The Air Acolytes immediately start to tend to the wounded, while Sokka briefs Aang on the situation. Learning that the earthquake was caused by the cave-in of the iron mine which left several people, among them Katara and Toph, trapped underground, Aang wastes no time and uses his earthbending to dig a tunnel. Katara calls out to him, however, urging him to stop. She reveals that everyone is all right, though the earth is mixed with iron ore as well, making Toph's metalbending the only reason why they had not been crushed already, and if Aang were to earth/metalbend the wrong way, he could cause the cave to collapse on top of them.

Part Three

Toph's unique metalbending abilities continue to uphold the crumbling iron ore from crushing her and her allies, which is putting a strain on her body. Katara gives Satoru the last of water to help Toph keep her strength up. Satoru praises Toph's bravery for facing her own father and that he was a runaway like her and lived on the upper ring of Ba Sing Se until he was taken in by his Uncle Loban. At that moment, Lao Beifong walks up to Toph, finally acknowledging her as his daughter. He reveals that after Toph had left, her mother and father had drifted apart and become divorced. His own wife,Poppy, had blamed him for losing their only daughter and did not want anything more to do with him. Lao agreed that it had been his fault and started a new life. But he finally says to Toph that there was not one single day where he hadn't thought about her and how sorry he was for everything. Toph forgives him and says that his real problem had been that he never gave himself time to see the real her; the greatest earthbender of all time.

Elsewhere, Avatar Aang mends his intense spiritual connection with Avatar Roku that he had severed in The Promise, Part Three and asks for the spirit/soul of Avatar Yangchen to continue her tale and tell him about the deal she had made with General Old Iron so many centuries ago. Yangchen had explained that she had promised to prove to General Old Iron that humans were indeed capable of perversion and change; as such she had erected a statue as tribute to his good friend, Lady Tenhai, and assured the spirit that it would never be defiled as long as she was alive. After her eventual death, the Air Nomads had renamed her tradition "Yangchen's Festival" and had kept the traditions faithfully until they were all nearly eradicated. Aang then realized that because of the one hundred-year war all had been lost to history; therefore breaking Yangchen's vow with Old Iron. Aang wonders if returning the meadow its natural state would make things right again with General Old Iron, and Avatar Yangchen agrees. She then says to Aang that his friends need him now.

Upon returning to his physical body, Aang and Sokka run to where Katara and Toph are trapped underneath the earth. Sokka decides to go and get Toph's students ('lily livers") and have them metalbend everyone out.

See also

References