| “ | The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all. | „ |
| ~ Piandao |
Master Piandao is a supporting character in the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He was a Fire Nation bladesmith, master swordsman, calligrapher, and sifu. A former member of the Fire Nation Army, he was also a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus. Piandao was also notable for his teaching of both Zuko and Sokka in swordsmanship and his participation in the liberation of Ba Sing Se.
He was voiced by Robert Patrick, who also voiced Hawkman in The Batman and DC Universe Online, and played John Doggett in The X-Files.
Overview[]
A legendary swordsman/smithy of the Fire Nation, Piandao grew tired of the Fire Nation's ways and went into retirement. He regards swordsmanship as an art, and often paints as a way of honing it. Although he had been approached by many other students and dismissed them, he made an exception for Sokka due to his modesty and honesty. Supportive of his student even after learning of Sokka's Water Tribe status, he taught Sokka the way of the sword. He's also a member of the White Lotus.
Personality[]
Piandao shows a great deal of patience with Sokka's antics during his training, partly because he sees the potential in Sokka's capacity for lateral thinking. He also reveals that he knew Sokka was from the Water Tribe, not the Fire Nation, the whole time, yet he trained him anyway. Likewise, he never actually shows Sokka any swordfighting techniques, instead teaches philosophies that allow Sokka to incorporate his intelligence into his fighting style.
Biography[]
After Sokka concluded that he did not openly contribute to the group, he sought out Piandao and traveled to the swordmaster's castle. During the interview, Sokka humbly admitted his own unworthiness to the master, much to Piandao's surprise. Having grown accustomed to potential students bragging about their own worth, Piandao found Sokka's humility not only refreshing but exactly what he was looking for. He decided to properly train Sokka. He was set about to do tasks such as landscape painting, rock gardening, and calligraphy, as well as practicing against one of the master's underlings. Piandao believed him to be worthy enough to choose a steel to make his sword. Sokka made a sword out of a meteorite.
When Piandao gave Sokka the sword, Sokka initially refused the blade and confessed the truth about actually being from the Southern Water Tribe. The master attacked him, and they engaged in a duel. As the duel between Sokka and his master transitioned outside, Sokka used the techniques he had learned to get the upper hand, something the master pointed out several times.
However, the swordmaster finally gained the upper hand but sheathed his sword before delivering the final blow. He subsequently revealed that he had known Sokka was from the Water Tribe all along just from his name, and also noted that Aang was the Avatar. Nonetheless, he claimed that the art of the sword did not belong to any one nation, and gave Sokka his sword back. When the group left, they were given a bag with a Pai Sho piece, the white lotus tile.
Several months later, when the group went to find Iroh, they ran into Piandao. They found him near the destroyed Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, along with Master Pakku, Jeong Jeong, and King Bumi. It turned out that they were all members of the Order of the White Lotus, and were summoned there by a Grand Lotus, Iroh. The masters took the group to their camp, and Piandao showed Iroh's tent to Zuko. Piandao took part in the fight to reclaim Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth Kingdom, along with the rest of the Order.
Abilities[]
Swordsmanship[]
While training Sokka, Piandao demonstrated his skills as a legendary swordsman.
Piandao was an extraordinarily accomplished master swordsman, with a vastly versatile fighting style from having accumulated many techniques of benders, warriors, and artisans and incorporated it into his swordsmanship. Perhaps the most powerful and skilled nonbender in the world, Piandao is easily the best swordsman in Fire Nation's history, having single-handedly won countless battles while in the army, made more impressive by how he was not a bender but his swordsmanship alone proved more than enough to make him the greatest fighter of the time, and having defeated a hundred Fire Nation soldiers so decisively he was left in peace afterward. His age and retirement did little to decrease his swordsmanship skills and he displayed outstanding swiftness and agility as well as physical strength. When testing Sokka, Piandao, although he was challenged by Sokka's ingenious use of tactics, ultimately displayed his superior level of swordsmanship and physical capability, as he was able to easily pressure Sokka in swordplay and counter all of his attacks and outright blitzed his student before he could react and overpowered him in strength quickly by forcibly throwing Sokka away several feet with his sword locked downwards with Sokka's, eventually fairly quickly disarming the young swordsman even despite being temporarily blinded, as his acute sense of hearing was able to ascertain Sokka's position by hearing him step on a twig and then attack and swiftly outfight and knock him down. Piandao is very aware of his surroundings, quickly able to remember their layout and his current location to better handle the situation at hand. He is able to catch a thrown sheath perfectly on his sword even when blinded. In the battle of Ba Sing Se, he disabled several soldiers with the aid of Pakku. Considering he was the tutor for Prince Zuko, it is implied that he was highly skilled in dual dao swords in addition to his skills with the Jian.
Other skills[]
In additional to his undeniable prowess in wielding a sword, Piandao was equally renowned for his skill in forging and repairing them with high quality and great artistic design. Many of his works became regarded as prized possessions of high price value. His skill could effectively use any form of material to create his swords, even a meteorite. Piandao was also a masterful artist, primarily in calligraphy, which further refined his precision and dexterity for swordsmanship.
External Links[]
- Piandao on the Avatar Wiki
