The following contains major spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Dawn of Yangchen, available now.
The latest installment in the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise is The Dawn of Yangchen, a novel exploring the adventures of Avatar Yangchen in a time centuries before Aang became the last Airbender. The novel's author, F.C. Yee, first began the Chronicles of the Avatar series with his Kyoshi novels, and the latest installment represents a new direction for the franchise.
In an exclusive interview, F.C. Yee spoke with CBR about the new novel. The spoiler-free half of the conversation included exciting information for fans, but in this second half of the discussion, Yee delved into spoiler territory for readers looking for more information after finishing the new novel.
CBR: A lot of the fun in The Dawn of Yangchen comes in the discovery of where it goes and the revelations it makes. How do you hope readers pitch the story to their friends without spoiling the plot elements that enrich that experience?
F.C. Yee: The simplest pitch is the logline that I first started with: "Avatar Yangchen as a spymaster." Hopefully, that spurs a response of "Wait, what? I have so many questions!"
What about the Era of Yangchen that you feel most distinguishes it from other time periods seen in previous Avatar stories? Were there aspects of the Era glimpsed previously in the canon that really stuck out to you as deserving expansion?
The differences in Yangchen's era were based on a couple of things. First, the fact that there was at least one instance of a giant spirit (Old Iron) destroying a city until the Avatar put a stop to it, and what the downstream implications might be -- people seeing it, believing it/not believing it, the effect such an incident might have on the Avatar, etc. The second is the fact that human relations expand and contract along different dimensions as time passes. So in Yangchen's era, communications between the Four Nations are much more closed and tense than they are in Kuruk's time.
The relationship between Yangchen and Kavik is one of the most engaging parts of the story, and all the more so because it never quite blossoms into romance. Is Yangchen intended to be asexual?
This is an important topic, so I want to make sure [that] I answer as honestly as possible. The following things are all true: 1) Before I started writing, I decided not to feature romance in the book because I didn't think it would necessarily fit the kind of story the book would end up being. 2) Books should have more aromantic and asexual representation; publishing should feature more aro/ace authors.
It's wonderful to see fantastic books like Loveless by Alice Oseman get the attention they deserve. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire is another great read with an asexual protagonist. After having reviewed what's on the page, I think Yangchen being asexual is an extremely valid and fitting interpretation. I just don't want to lie by saying I intended that from the beginning.
In the book's finale, Yangchen utilizes an airbending technique that pulls the air from a room to suffocate its inhabitants. Fans long theorized that Monk Gyatso used a similar technique during his final stand on Sozin's Comet. Is it safe to say there's a connection between the two?
*wink*
Obviously, it's hard to talk about plans for the future with any degree of certainty, but what sorts of directions would you like to see Chronicles of the Avatar go? Would you want to delve further into the past, or flesh out the lives of the Avatars we already know?
I'm not sure [that] I have what it takes to write additional books about Avatars beyond the ones Aang and Korra talk to. It might be fun to do short stories and bonus content that takes place within that window of Avatar generations. Between the thriving fan communities, the stories that the RPG players will craft, and the continued work being done by Avatar Studios, I think it's safe to say the universe will continue to expand and flourish no matter what.
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Dawn of Yanchen is available now wherever books are sold.