u/Rude_Distance_7899

With the whole rumors about an animated series with Avatar Kuruk it got me thinking about the fifth nation and how long did the organization has been around.

Like the only thing we know about their earliest point in their history is Yangchen have to signed a treaty with Tulok's grandfather (and Tagaka's great-grandfather,) securing that the corsairs would stay in the Eastern Sea and not attack the coastline of the southern Earth Kingdom. The Fifth Nation honored the treaty for three generations. But that’s about it we don’t know if they were formed during Yangchen’s era or maybe they were formed during Szeto’s era. Ultimately, it would be nice to know how long they have been around and which era they were founded in?

I do think it’s interesting that we don’t hear about the fifth nation in the Yangchen novels granted the focus  is always the Shang Cities and they are treated as sort of semi-independent from the four nations themselves.

But still given what happened after the Platinum Affair where trade is only regulated with four shang cities. Although I’m no economic expert, I’m pretty sure that the whole trade relegation would lead to the increase of piracy kinda like what happened to the Spanish war of succession, which led to the golden age of piracy. So you probably think there would have been a mention or two about the issue of piracy within the era but apparently not?

Again  I understand that the Yangchen books are mostly focus on the big geopolitics of the world while the stuff with the fifth nation and piracy is more micro lens in terms of the political state of the Yangchen era with the Four Shage Cities. But still, it would be nice to know more about them and whatever or not they were formed during Yangchen era or maybe in Szeto era or maybe they were formed in an older Avatar era either way, it would be nice to know more about their timeline of their formation?

Now this isn’t my ranking list this is more of the order they are in chronologically at least that we know currently in canon than a list of deeds obviously there’s a lot to cover hence why I go with the chronological individual list of the monarchs and the time periods they are from. regardless, I would love to hear you guys insights and your own personal ranking list?

For an example, I always keep hearing that Hou-Ting is ranked as the worst Earth Monarch in earth kingdom history for what she did to poor Bosco the bear now don’t get me wrong Hou-Ting is a piece of shit in fact like Aerys II “the mad king” Targaryen she was so bad that the Earth kingdom literally collapse after 5000 years. But still I feel that Jialun from the Roku’s era and the First Earth King from the Sonam’s era also should be considered the worst. Obviously for the first earth king his actions is what led to Tagah going insane eventually, his imprisonment and the events of the film that we saw.

Now for Jialun I feel that he’s worse than say The First Earth King whereas at least you could argue that the only great thing that he did was unify the tribes into one  kingdom whereas like Hou-Ting Jialun has no redeeming qualities after all, he launched the night of silenced sages which led to the extinction of the earth sages and his reign is basically the reason why the Earth kingdom was so unprepared for Sozin and the Hundred Year War in general. Ultimately that is just my personal opinion on who is really the worst earth monarch.

now, when it comes to say who is the best earth monarch obviously I would’ve place Wu (after his character development throughout book 4 of Korra.) and Kuei (after the original series, so his second reign as king.) but the number one place has to go to Feishan from the Yangchen books. Yes the guy is paranoid but let’s be fair compared to say the other earth monarchs like say Hou-Ting and Jialun he is the most competent earth monarch in this entire franchise. Plus his paranoia was entirely justified by the world leaders and the White Lotus who backed his rival General Nong and keep in mind by the time of The Battle of Llamapaca's Crossing. he was 20 years old While the main story in the Yangchen Novels happen eight years after the battle.

Like I said I would love to hear your own personal rankings or as popular in YouTube your own tier rankings?

1. The First Earth King (Era Of Sonam granted we don’t know much about him really but given the fact that Sonam refer the kingdom as kingdom, not something else it wouldn’t make sense that there would be an earth king at the top even if they are likely unmentioned in the film itself?)
2. Earth King Feishan (Era Of Yangchen)
3. Earth King Yi Ming (Era Of Kyoshi)
4. 46th Earth King (Era Of Kyoshi mostly already Earth King during the Kyoshi Novels.)
5. Earth King Jialun (Era Of Roku)
6. Earth King Kuei (72-Unknown AG/Era Of Aang)
7. Earth Queen Hou-Ting (Era Of Korra)
8. Earth King Wu (171-Present AG/Era Of Korra, this is difficult since Wu is still new so I think we have to wait and seen although given what we know about the Earth Kingdom throughout the Different Eras of the Avatar I think it was probably for the best to replace the Earth Kingdom with a republic or a federation.)

SIDENOTE: to be honest, I really would love to see more earth monarchs that are useless or terrible so far we only have two which is Feishan and the First Earth King from Sonam’s era yes he break the balance and killed the air nomad emissaries that lead Tagah going same time, he did founded a nation and it is most likely that the Earth kingdom is one of if not the first of the four nations to formed (the next has been the air nomads the ones that we know after the fall of their city where they’ve established the four air temples, the Fire Nation and Water Tribes probably at first and North I assume the south came later.) Afterall we have historical rulers like Sargon the Great or Qin Shi Huang (part of me wants to assume that the first earth king might be based on but then again Chin the Conqueror is clearly inspired by Qin Shi Huang so maybe another inspiration otherwise that would be redundan.) founded empires and civilizations that while brutal and ruthless did accomplish things that lay the groundwork for human civilization. So despite his posthumous actions in the new Aang movie at least I do respect the grind for someone who is able to unite the Earth tribes into one kingdom.

Ultimately, for the future of the franchise, I would love to see each earth king or monarch stand on its own like imagine one earth king is similar to Emperor Wu of Han or Emperor Gaozu of Han or even Emperor Taizong of Tang. We could have Jaehaerys Targaryen style Earth King or even a Henry VIII/Aegon the unworthy type character for an earth king. Heck, I would love to see an Earth King who is similar to Vlad the impaler or even a Commodus type Earth King or Ivan the Terrible. I would also love to see on earth king, who is similar to Marcus Aurelius or Antoninus Pius.

we know that in the Yangchen novels that there was an earth king named Zhoulai who died 300 years before Yangchen‘s childhood. He was a companion of a past life avatar. I would love to know more about this earth king the fact that he was a companion suggest that he was mostly didn’t spend time that much in the palace and travels with the avatar more often.

I also think there’s a lot of potential on giving more details on the earth kingdom from Sonam’s era hopefully the novelization of the Aang movie could expand that aspect like if Tagah is meant to be a dark mirror to Aang. Heck even the War from Sonam era could be seen as a mirror to the hundred year war. So I could see the first earth king being a mirror to Fire Lord Sozin albeit there are differences one involves colonialism and imperialist, whereas the other involve expansionism.

In the awakening of Roku which takes place in 63 BG we get an interesting lore drop for the Backstory for Minister Pushi of Peace from Ba Sing Se.

“Thank you, thank you," said Minister Pushi, who had the grizzled sound of an old soldier. Which-according to the information she'd gathered-he was. A former Dai Li agent, and one of Ba Sing Se's top military officials. Years ago, he had unraveled the Sandbenders' rebellion before it even had a chance to truly begin. — Chapter Eleven, "Ministers of Peace". The Awakening of Roku. Amulet Books.

Basically  In 63 BG, Ta Min described the sandbenders' rebellion as having occurred "years ago". but wait a minute I thought the Si Wong Desert was independent meaning no Earth Kingdom army garrisons or something like that given how Jianzhu rants about it in 296 BG to Kyoshi.

"The Earth Kingdom," Jianzhu said. "It's kind of a mess, don't you think?"

I mean, look at us," he said. "We have more than one king. Northern and southern dialects are so different thev're start-ine to become separate languages. Villagers in Yokoya wear as much blue as green, and the Si Wong people barely share any customs with the rest of the continent."

"Did you know that the word for daofei doesn't really exist in the other nations?" he said. "Across the seas, they're just called criminals. They have petty goals, never reaching far beyond personal enrichment.

"But here in the Earth Kingdom, daofei find a level of success that goes to their heads and makes them believe they're a society apart, entitled to their own codes and traditions. They can gain control over territory and get a taste of what it's like to rule. Some of them turn into spiritual fanatics, believing that their looting and pillaging is in service of a higher cause." Jianzhu sighed. "It's all because Ba Sing Se is not a truly effective authority," he said. "The Earth King's power waxes and wanes. It never reaches completely across the land as it should.

— Chapter Eight, "The Fracture". The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.

Otherwise I’m curious on the Earth Kingdom presence or relationship with the Si Wong Desert, Sandbenders, and Misty Palms Oasis over the course of the previous Eras and did the Hundred Year War had some impact on the Si Wong Desert or lack there of at least by the time of we see in the original series granted we only see one Sandbender group (the one that kidnapped Appa although to be fair, it was only Ghashiun and his buddies his tribe seems to be the opposite given the way his father acted in the desert episode who I believe is the Chieftain of the tribes.)  one could make the argument that the rebellion is what led to the current economic conditions for the Sandbenders that got so bad it lead them to become Raiders and scavengers, but then again it could be that they were always viewed that way historically kind of like how The Tusken Raiders are treated as Raiders from the perspective of the settlers on Tatooine historically before the Prequel Era of Star Wars?

I wonder when do you think the rebellion happened or at least why and what cause the rebellion in the first place? Do you think it was before or after Sozin trip in the desert from the first Roku novel since the tribe he was with is portrayed as more desert guides that led him to The Library of Wan Shi tong. There is also a fact that The Queen of Omashu has a Sandbender elder either the Elder that Ta Min meet in her POV chapter is a political refugee fled to Omashu  under the Queen protection or something else entirely going on here despite the rebellion.

Also if we get a story about the Sand bender rebellion which takes place likely c. 70s/60s BG what format would it be at a book a short story/novella or a comic and how should the story be like what interesting to me is Pushi himself we know that by 63 BG he is described as an old man in the same chapter from Awakening of Roku. 

So either the timeline I stated earlier or maybe given “Years ago.” Is vague maybe it take place either Late Kyoshi era or shortly after Kyoshi’s death if it later on say during the 70s or 60s BG then wow the Dai Li become corrupt under Jialun so fast. (If he lived during late kyoshi era that mean Pushi was a good guy but for some reason after Kyoshi’s death he become corrupt by Jialun despite being old enough to know and likely understand Kyoshi polices despite being the avatar.) Heck I wonder how important on the crushing the rebellion was for Jialun or it just you standard you the tribes are united you know kinda like the tribes from the steppes united against an empire it sometimes succeeded (like Genghis Khan and his descendants.) or failed (Like Attila the Hun.) either way I do wonder when do you think it Jialun begin his plans was it the rebellion or the the whole conspiracy of 63 BG from Awakening of Roku is the first step from Jialun not the Sandbender rebellions especially given in the first book while we don’t hear about the night of silenced sages (that was likely later after the Roku novels.)  the fact in the first book that Sozin tried to frame him despite likely not involved with the Western Earth Kingdom Trading Company is a key detail worth mentioning as this is 3 years before the Atka poison conspiracy of the second book.

"You're not so old yet," Huaji said generously. "But let me know if you change your mind. Anyway, how was the journey?" And that was what they talked about. At length. Minister Pushi was as long-winded as a lonely grandfather, generous with descriptions of everything he saw and ate along the way, every change in the weather, every minor inconvenience he suffered. It was woefully uninteresting, and by the time the servants entered to serve the meal, he had only just begun to describe how hed crossed the Great Divide.”

So it’s very likely when he was younger, he probably encountered Kyoshi or something like that otherwise it does make one wonder how he went from a Dai Li which, if I recall are train from birth or at least begin to be recruited or trained at age 13. to a military commander or General because that is a interesting switch going from black robes from the Dai Li to the green armor of the Earth Kingodm military.