Ru

"I've noticed you are all talented benders, robbed of your chance to use your skills in this city, forced into a life of crime. I was wondering if you'd be interested in a job opportunity. If you do good work, you could become part of a wonderful movement that will benefit benders and their families across the world!"

- Ru attempting to use diplomacy to recruit benders for her cause

Ru is (formerly) one of two secondary antagonists in the Imbalance trilogy, the sixth comic book trilogy taking place between Avatar: The Last Airbender and ''The Legend of Korra. ''She is the non-bending daughter of Liling and sister of Yaling who, as a family, led a supremacist group of benders to drive non-benders out of Cranefish Town.

Origin
Ru and her sister Yaling were born in Ba Sing Se during the Hundred Year War. Unlike her sister, Ru was not born as a bender, instead using her words to get what she wants, though this would later make her feel inferior to her family the more invested they became in their cause. After Princess Azula and the Dai Li led a coup against the Earth Kingdom, Ru fled with her mother and sister, eventually going back to her mother's homeland in the northwestern Earth Kingdom, which had now become Cranefish Town.

Imbalance
Ru and Yaling were first seen approaching benders who had become criminals once many factories started replacing them with machines that could easily be used by non-benders. Ru offered them work for their group to sabotage the factories. The benders at first refused until Yaling beat them up with her earthbending. The thugs relented and agreed to help, delighting Ru.

Ru and Yaling later watched as one of the firebenders they hired was chased towards a cliff by Avatar Aang. Yaling destroyed the cliff to kill the bender and tie up loose ends, but the Avatar flew down and saved him, shocking both Ru and Yaling. They returned home and started arguing about whose fault it was before being reprimanded by their mother, being told they would have to stay united as a family if they were going to succeed.

Ru and Yaling were later formally introduced by Liling to Team Avatar when they visited their home. Ru questioned Yaling's insistence on learning metalbending from Toph before being told Yaling was also using it as a chance to recruit Toph to their cause. Ru later appeared with her family at the secret rally, visibly ucomfortable the more her mother angrily demonized non-benders. When Team Avatar attacked and arrested Liling, Ru was ordered to escape with her sister, who had been chi-blocked by Suki. Yaling angrily lamented losing her bending saying she wound end up like Ru, visibly hurting the latter but still determined to rescue Liling.

Once Yaling brought Liling home, Ru was excited to see her and told her she had started packing their things to run away, but Liling insisted they stay and take down Team Avatar so they could finish what they started. When Ru started questioning her, Liling reminded her daughter that the reason they had to flee in the first place was because the Earth King was a non-bender and therefore too weak to stand up to his enemies, offending Ru who asked Liling if she saw her as a weakness. Liling told her that even though she loved her daughters, non-benders were naturally inferior to benders...the last straw that led Ru to betraying her family. Ru left and informed Team Avatar of her mothers plans and asked them to teach her how to chi-block.

Once Lililng's forces were defeated, Ru revealed her betrayal to her mother. Liling angrily trapped Ru and attempted to kill her before being saved by Aang. Ru told Aang to take Liling's bending as it was the only way she would be stopped, but Aang, recognizing that taking Liling's bending would not stop her bigotry, simply had her arrested for her crimes.

Ru is later seen lamenting she should have been imprisoned with the rest of her family, but Suki reminds her that she still chose to do the right thing and that she had the rest of her life to figure out what she wanted.