Dock/Xu/Bushi

This article is about the Fire Nation citizen sometimes known as "Xu". For the lightningbender, see Xu Ping An.

"My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?" "I'm not Dock, I'm Xu. Dock's my brother." "All right, I'm Bushi! Let's get some river cleaning done."

— Dock, Xu, and Bushi each introducing themselves to Team Avatar.[1]

Dock/Xu/Bushi was a Fire Nation citizen who had split his personality between three different people, whom he believed to be brothers. There was Dock, who ferried people across the water and worked at the docks, from which he stated he received his name; Xu, Dock's twin brother, who operated the village's fish market, from which he claimed he also got his name, although he did not know why; and Bushi. Each of his personalities were distinguished by the hat that they wore.^[1] Living in the small fishing village of Jang Hui, his mental dysfunction was caused by drinking the polluted water from the Jang Hui River, into which a nearby Fire Nation Army factory had been spilling harmful toxins until Team Avatar put a stop to this in 100 AG.^[2]

History[]

Dock, who wore a red hat, was the first to meet Team Avatar when they were in need of new supplies and discussing a detour via the town of Jang Hui. After they introduced themselves as Earth Kingdom colonials, he offered to ferry them across the Jang Hui River. He explained that they lived on the water due to being a fishing village, though their existence was being threatened by the river pollution caused by a nearby Fire Nation factory. Dock said his goodbyes to the team upon arriving in the village.

Team Avatar walked up to an outdoor market stall to buy provisions, where they were greeted by Xu, who wore a yellow hat with a red stripe and markings. When Sokka greeted him as Dock, inquiring if worked at the market as well, Xu introduced himself and pointed out that Dock was his twin brother who worked at the docks, hence the name, whereas he got his from operating the market. As Aang noted that he did not understand why, Xu agreed and displayed his produce to the team, offering to give them a free clam if they bought three fish. After examining Xu's clams, Sokka purchased just the three fish and asked him to notify Dock that they desired a ride back to the shore. Xu dropped down below the counter of his shop and when he reemerged, he donned Dock's red hat and told Team Avatar that he had heard from his brother that they were in need of a lift.

When Team Avatar came back to the village the following morning, they instantly noticed the changed atmosphere, as the village was bustling with activity and everyone seemed happier. Xu explained that food had been delivered to the village that night by the Painted Lady, a benevolent river spirit who was part of the town's lore. He had always believed her to be a legend, though, as he placed a miniature statuette of her on the counter, he revised his opinion. As Sokka requested to buy some medicine, Xu apologized as he had none to sell, noting that their entire supply went to the Fire Nation factory, which was why there were so many ill people in the village. When Sokka asked to buy food instead, Xu quickly dove under his counter again to reemerge with a one-headed or two-headed fish to buy.

The following day, Dock was approached by Sokka asking if Xu was around. Dock quickly ran behind the shop's counter and emerged now wearing Xu's yellow hat. As he offered a plate of polluted clams, he sympathised with the team upon hearing they were stuck in the neighbourhood due to a sick friend and pointed out that the Painted Lady could perhaps heal their friend like she had done to most of the sick villagers that night.

After the Fire Nation factory was destroyed the following night, Dock and the other villagers were confronted by an angry General Mung and several of his guards. Dock told Mung that the villagers had not stolen their food and medicine, as the Painted Lady had been responsible for replenishing the villagers' supplies and healing them. As the soldiers began to attack the village, the Painted Lady intervened and drove them away. Although Dock initially thanked her, noting that he and his brothers owed her a lot, he noticed that her facial markings had begun to fade and exposed her as being Katara in disguise, sparking an angry reaction from the crowd. After Katara explained herself, Dock agreed that the villagers needed to start taking action themselves, though he was unsure as to where to start. He enthusiastically agreed with Toph's suggestion to clean the river and thanked Katara, adding that she was not too bad for a waterbender. When Sokka asked to keep Katara's bending abilities a secret, Dock assured him that he was an excellent secret keeper as opposed to his brother Xu, who he labeled to be a real blabbermouth. Katara subsequently asked if he would participate in the river cleaning efforts; though Dock declined, he noted that his other brother, Bushi, loved cleaning rivers. Brazenly switching hats right in front of them, he greeted them all as Bushi. As Aang enthusiastically pointed out that he had known all along that he was the same person as the shop owner and the ferryman, Bushi answered that Aang must be talking about his brothers, Dock and Xu. Annoyed, Aang pointed out that he had seen him switch hats and address himself with a different name, but Bushi remained unfazed by the accusation, telling Aang that his brother Dock, the "crazy one", was known to do that.^[1]

Appearances[]

Avatar: The Last Airbender[]

Book Three: Fire (火)[]

• 303. "The Painted Lady"

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Avatar Wiki has 7 images related to Dock/Xu/Bushi.

• Aang later wore the same hat Xu wore as the shopkeeper to hide his arrow in the Fire Nation.^[3]
• In the Netflix version of the series, Xu was called "Shoe" in the subtitles.
• In the end credits for "The Painted Lady", the name for Dock/Xu/Bushi was given as just Dock, as did his entry in Nickelodeon's old dedicated Avatar site.
• The name Bushi is similar to the Chinese 不適, which means "unwell". This is a fitting reference to his being mentally unwell and is somewhat ironic given that he called his "brother" Dock mentally unstable.
• In the Finnish dub, Dock is named Kippari, which means "skipper" or "captain".

References[]