During the main events of the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon, Avatar Aang and his friends toured the entire world and visited all kinds of exotic locations, from the upside-down Western Air Temple to the remote Kyoshi Island and even the spirit oasis in the Northern Water Tribe. But not all locations were so pleasant to visit, with the Boiling Rock being one of the roughest places any member of the Gaang ever visited.
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In Book Three: Fire, Sokka prepared himself to find his captured father, and demanded that Zuko tell him where Hakoda had ended up as a POW. Zuko revealed the grim truth: that Hakoda was no doubt in the Boiling Rock, the Fire Nation's most secure prison, a place that no one ever escaped. Soon enough, Sokka and Avatar fans saw the Boiling Rock for themselves, and it was equally scary and impressive to see how tough and smart the prison's security measures were. The prison was also home to many notable characters, including inmates, staff, and guests.
The Features, Layout, and Security Measures of the Boiling Rock Prison
Its Remote Location and Boiling Lake Make Escape a Distant Dream
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The Boiling Rock prison was built on a remote volcanic island, which actually served as the prison's first layer of defense. Only a few means of travel could take someone to or from that remote prison, such as the war balloon that Sokka and his redeemed friend, Prince Zuko, used to arrive at the island. On the actual island, the Boiling Rock is situated inside a lake of boiling hot water, inspiring the prison's name. To reach the prison itself, a party will probably take one of the two gondolas that connect the Boiling Rock to a small station on the other side of the boiling lake. The gondolas are fairly large and can hold a handful of people, such as groups of new inmates being sent to the prison. The guards can halt the gondolas at any time for security purposes, such as if a prisoner hijacks one during an escape attempt. In emergencies, the guards can bring out a huge, two-handled saw to cut the cable and drop a gondola into the boiling lake below.
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Since the Boiling Rock holds a large number of Firebender prisoners, the prison was ouftitted with cylindrical holding cells called coolers, which pumped out the heat inside to chill anyone in them. The coolers could not only punish rowdy Firebender inmates with unpleasant cold, but also suppress their firebending, since cold weakens firebending. Something similar was done to P'Li the combustionbender in The Legend of Korra, a member of the Red Lotus organization. As for non-bender prisoners, they were sent to normal solitary confinement cells as punishment for bad behavior. Otherwise, prisoners spend much of their time in conventional prison cells with barred doors, and all the cells could have their doors open simultaneously from the control room.
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The Avatar cartoon depicted several areas of note in the Boiling Rock prison, starting with the guards' supply room, featuring plenty of uniforms and helmets. There is also a guard break room, which features better food than anything found in the prisoners' cafeteria. The cafeteria is a spacious room where prisoners eat, provide with meager and unappetizing food to keep morale low. As an added security measure, there are plenty of backup guards nearby in case there's trouble. And while the cartoon didn't show it, the Boiling Rock also featured a laundry room where prisoners were expected to wash their uniforms.
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One of the main outdoor features was the courtyard, a vast open space with a tiled floor where prisoners could wander freely in alotted time slots. It was, overall, the most bearable part of the prison since none of it is meant to punish or torment the inmates. Aside from that, the Boiling Rock has the warden's office, which was only briefly explored in the cartoon, and an interrogation room.
Notable Staff, Inmates, and Guests at the Boiling Rock Prison
Sokka and Zuko Met Many Allies and Enemies Alike in the Prison
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When Sokka and Zuko took a hot air balloon to visit the Boiling Rock, they snuck in and disguised themselves as guards, then met a remarkable variety of characters, some of whom they didn't expect to see at all. One noteworthy figure was the warden, whose name was not revealed in the Avatar cartoon. He was a middle-aged man with a distinctive uniform and a tough attitude toward his prisoners, having no qualms about verbal and/or physical abuse to demoralize his prisoners and punish even the faintest hint of defiance. The warden took immense pride in his prison and his role, boasting that no one had ever escaped the Boiling Rock, a record he would rather die than see broken. That boast was actually a modest one, since the Boiling Rock was only a few years old, but the warden's proud words about the prison's incredible security were certainly true, at least. The warden was also Mai's uncle.
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Zuko and Sokka met a handful of distinct prisoners, including a punkish Firebender man named Chit Sang, who stood out thanks to his rebellious nature and his defiant firebending. His behavior sent him to both a cooler and the interrogation room, allowing the Avatar cartoon to show viewers those locations. Chit Sang also had a male friend and a girlfriend, both of whom hoped to escape the prison by any means necessary with Chit Sang. Amusingly, the Boiling Rock featured a prisoner with menacing looks but a gentle disposition, since he explained he wanted to keep his intense anger under control. Not even Hakoda's provications could get that prisoner to act up.
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Four major members of the Avatar cast were either shown as prisoners or were about to become inmates during the two-part storyline of the Boiling Rock. Sokka's whole purpose of visiting was to find his father Hakoda, who had gotten captured as a POW during the failed invasion of the Fire Nation's capital city. Sokka saw his father arrive partway through the adventure, with Hakoda being the last fresh arrival to step out out of the gondola and face the warden. Sokka also got a pleasant surprise when he ran into Suki, a member of the Kyoshi Warriors who was doing her best to endure the prison's hardships and maintain her spirits. Suki played a key role in Sokka's and Zuko's escape plan, using her acrobatic skills to reach and capture the warden to gain leverage on the Firebender guards.
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Zuko himself ended up a prisoner in the Boiling Rock early into the adventure, no doubt making him the first member of his royal family tree to end up an inmate in that place. That capture also showed the warden's money-hungry side, with the warden relishing the idea of handing Zuko over to the Fire Lord in exchange for a hefty sum of cash. However, Zuko's prison term lasted only a day at most, with him becoming one of the first people to escape the Boiling Rock. Then, just as Zuko was freed from the prison, Azula's two friends Mai and Ty Lee ended up prisoners themselves, their punishment for turning on Azula during the battle.
The Boiling Rock's Role in the Story of Avatar
It Strained Zuko's and Azula's Relationships and Returned Suki to Team Avatar
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For the most part, the Boiling Rock served as a token example of worldbuilding to reinforce the Fire Nation's advanced technology and brutality, while also serving as the backdrop for one of Avatar's best "adventure of the week" sequences. The prison storyline also helped reinforce Sokka's and Zuko's budding friendship, a counterpart to Aang's and Zuko's expedition to the Sun Warriors city and Zuko's eye-opening trip to find Kya's killer with Katara. Finally, the Boiling Rock prison sequence helped twist certain relationships and returned Suki to Team Avatar.
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While Hakoda's rescue was important to Sokka personally, Hakoda didn't join the Gaang, and instead went off to keep fighting the Fire Nation on his own. That made Suki's rescue from the Boiling Rock the most important development for the Gaang, with Suki joining the Gaang until the cartoon's final episode. Without the Boiling Rock, the odds of Suki finding and joining the Gaang would have been remote, and that would have unfairly excluded Suki from the story.
The Boiling Rock storyline strained Zuko's and Azula's relationships to Ty Lee and Mai, especially the latter. Once again, Zuko was forced to abandon his girlfriend and leave her to her fate, though Mai still fought for Zuko's sake and noted that she loved him more than she feared Azula. No matter Mai's unfair treatment, the Boiling Rock prison still gave her a chance to show her good side, which redeemed her character. That sequence also showed Mai betray Azula alongside Ty Lee, with Mai and Ty Lee deciding they were more loyal to each other than they were to Azula. Their actions helped Sokka's squad escape Azula's wrath, but at the cost of Mai and Ty Lee ending up prisoners at the Boiling Rock. Only later were Mai and Ty Lee freed, with Ty Lee stating that she and the Kyoshi Warriors bonded in prison, inspiring Ty Lee to formally join them.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender
TV-Y7-FV
Animation
Action
Adventure
Fantasy
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
Release Date February 21, 2005
Cast Dee Bradley Baker , Mae Whitman , Jack De Sena , Dante Basco
Main Genre Animation
Seasons 3
Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Franchise Avatar: The Last Airbender
Creator Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Number of Episodes 61
Network Nickelodeon
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