| “ | It's been a long time since I've added a child's face to my collection. | „ |
| ~ Koh reveals his nature as a face-stealing being. |
Koh, also known as the Face-Stealer, is a minor antagonist in the Avatar series.
He is one of the oldest known spirits and is very knowledgeable and manipulative, as well as malevolent and pompous. Koh enjoys stealing the faces of anyone who expresses emotion in his presence. Because of his frightening and grotesque appearance, Koh also enjoys coaxing fear out of anyone who meets him, thus stealing their faces. Koh only plays a minor role in the story itself, telling Aang about the ocean and moon spirits, but is responsible for causing the grief of at least one of Aang's past lives.
He makes his first appearance after the Avatar, Aang, made his way to Koh's lair with Roku's help.
Physical Appearance
Koh takes a lot of his design inspirations from a centipede. His face is an eye that can show another person's face, mainly someone who met him and then lost their face to his powers. By default, however, he has a white face with red lips. Since his face is mutable, Koh does not have consistent hair colours or eye colours.
History
Past
Koh is the nemesis of Avatar Kuruk, a Water Tribe Avatar and the third Avatar preceding Aang. Because of Avatar Yangchen's extremely successful tenure as Avatar which resulted in multi-generational peace, Kuruk did not have to do any work as her successor, leading to his a casual life and arrogant attitude.
He eventually found a lover named Ummi. She intended to marry him, only for Koh to steal her face as punishment for Kuruk's arrogance. Kuruk spent the rest of his life hunting the spirit, and still hunted him well into the afterlife.
He could not go through with killing the spirit, however, as he realized that Koh's death would also result in the death of his lover.
Confrontation With Aang
When Aang first meditated into the Spirit World, he sought information about Tui and La, the Ocean and Moon spirits. Roku first told him about Koh, since he was old enough to know Tui and La before their crossing into the mortal world. He also warned Aang of his malevolent nature and not to express any emotion in front of him. The ancient spirit would not give a straight answer in their encounter, merely stating that Tui and La were opposites (push and pull), and told the Avatar that he had already met the spirits.
When Aang came to the realization that the spirits were the koi fish in the Spirit Oasis, Koh made his move and attempted to steal Aang's face, but barely missed his brief expression of emotion. Before departing, he told the Avatar they would meet again. Despite this, however, he neither met Aang again in his current life nor his later one as Korra.
Template:Avatar Villains