Fanlistings: None The Mechanist is a crazy, off-beat kind of character. He may look insane to you, but really, he is one of the greatest inventive minds of the Avatar world. He ruined, I mean transformed the Northern Air Temple into a house-o-innovation. The mechanist has been inventing and building stuff at the temple for years. Ya know those gliders you saw in The Northern Air Temple episode? The mechanist built those. But not all his inventions are for the greater good. When Aang opened the doors to the sanctuary of the Northern Air Temple, the entire group was shocked that the mechanist was constructing weapons for the Fire Nation. “How can I be proud of you when your inventions are being used for murder,” a disappointed Teo asked his father shortly after finding out this news. And he was justified. The mechanist was not proud of his actions, but said the only reason he was doing it was because the fire nation was going to destroy the Northern Air Temple if he didn’t offer them something. So he offered his services. On one hand, he thought he was doing his son a favor. But in reality, he was providing the “bullies” with the means necessary to the take over the rest of the world. He built tanks, war balloons, among many other things for the fire nation. He even put the shiny fire nation insignia on each of the weapons. This man currently has no name. (at least not to our knowledge) He led his people in a search for a new homeland several years ago after a flood destroyed their town, and killed his wife. Upon arriving at the Northern Air Temple, the mechanist began producing the gliders the residents (including his son) use. (as mentioned above) He has also concocted many other inventions to “improve” the quality of life of his people.
When Aang arrives at the Northern Air Temple, he notices it is vastly different from the one he used to visit one hundred years ago. There are pipes coming out of the walls, among other things. This was all the mechanist’s doing. At the end of the episode (The Northern Air Temple) Aang came to terms with the fact that the temple was not what he remembered, and not the symbol of his people it should be. He in fact thanked them for being there. While everyone else was cheering at the end of that episode, the mechanist was, well, not so happy. He knew that the fire nation could still use the war balloon, as it hadn’t been damaged that much, and is apparently very durable. He also could have known that as soon as Aang and the team left, the fire nation would be back again, asking him for more weapons. Ultimately, the mechanist helped save the temple, which is good and all. But in all fairness, if he had just left in the first place when the fire nation originally came knocking, they wouldn’t have been in that position.
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