What's Tanggol's temperament like? Also, what was his life in his childhood home/with his family like before he left, and why did he leave (if it's not too spoilery)? Please, give me info about the Man, I miss him T,^T,
What is Tanggol’s temperament like?
Tanggol has what can be described as a sanguine temperament.
He’s a naturally charismatic and optimistic guy. Very outgoing and sociable— always has his arms wide open in hospitality and welcoming, He’s the kind of guy people would refer to when you need help, or the kinda guy who’s there to lend a helping hand— the reliable guy to some extent.
He’s a pretty laid-back airbender who really follows that kinda typical Air Nomad attitude of going with the flow. He’s a pretty flexible with really any sort of chaos or changes in the environment— so much so that it’s a question if he even notices it. Funny enough, there are times when Tanggol is kind of oblivious to his surroundings and others around him XD.
Regardless, people can be frustrated with him, but it’s hard to truly hate him. If anything, his friendly demeanor is pretty infectious :3.
What’s his life in his childhood home/family like before he left?
Okay so this may get a bit long ;w;
Tanggol lived in a tribal town somewhere in the Central Parts of the Solar Islands (ngl I kinda forgot where those parts are). It’s a pretty close-knit community — so a lot of the people in the tribe had always been considered as family Tanggol and his families and vice versa. Tanggol has always been a pretty free-spirited and explorative kid. This sort of mindset of closeness with other people and his free-spirit is further solidified whenever his dad used to take him and his siblings to the Solar Island Air Temples.
In terms of his family, Tanggol grew up with a waterbender mother and an airbender father (who is also a descendant of the original Air Nomads). He’s the youngest of four siblings — two older brothers and an older sister. He had a pretty close bond with his family, like playing and climbing trees with his siblings, or running around in the muddy rice fields or petting the bison-bao (his family owned a farm that had a herd of air bison-carabao hybrids!).
Tanggol always often got into a lot of trouble— mainly going along with whatever stupid kid game or tricks his brothers wanted to get into. One example being the time they scared their dad’s old bison-bao from her sleep, which then resulted in all the bison-bao scattering all over their town. Though as much as Tanggol loved having fun with his brothers, he’s also able to chill with his sister. And due to his softer nature at this age, he was unironically the closest with his older sister (I don’t have names for the family yet if you can tell TvT).
For their parents, their mom has always been a pretty diligent and independent lady. Ever since inheriting her father’s crops and livestock, she’s often been taught to have self-discipline and keep a strong back. She has a little bit of a temper, but nevertheless a loving and hard-working mom who ensures her kids’ care, needs, and wellbeing are met. As for their dad, he’s often not around so much due to following a nomadic lifestyle. He loves his family and ensures to visit whenever he— bringing back gifts and treats for his family. On special occasions, he’s also able to take his kids on trips around the islands and even outside the islands to the other parts of the Hidden World! It was because of his dad, Tanggol wished to follow a nomadic lifestyle — feeling as though it was a fitting future for him than the sort of destiny most boys in his tribe often follow.
Because of his gentle nature and soft-hearted attitude, Tanggol in a way stuck out from the other kids in his tribe. It’s a common rite of passage among the boys in his tribe that when they reach the age of manhood (adolescence), they must go into the wild and perform a hunting ritual involving retrieve an animal of agreeable size (usually a juvenile python-hawk or a scorpion-fish). Following this hunting ritual, they receive their first upper body hunting tattoo, which thus signifies their capabilities of being a strong warrior. I made a post somewhere on my art blog regarding the tattoo rituals and each tattoo symbol means— may try and find it again for reference -w-.
Though going back to this, Tanggol goes about doing the ritual regardless on his uneasiness to kill an animal. He knew the importance this was and that the animal would go on to live a content afterlife if the ritual is done correctly— but nevertheless, he was hesitant about it. He ended up killing a baby gecko-mouse. He then receives his first and ONLY chest warrior tattoos. Because as he grew older, he decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and go about an Air Nomadic lifestyle.
His family is overall pretty protective of one another. Basically, if you hurt one of them, the whole gang’s coming for your ass BDKDJDKD.
Also he gained his love of music from his dad, who even gifted him a kudyapi (filipino boat lute).
As I said before, Tanggol had wanted to become an Air Nomad like his dad.
Though, he doesn’t necessarily pursue that goal for a pretty long while— even after receiving his tattoos in his 20s and when his dad passed away not long after from an illness he failed to treat.
His mom, feeling that because of her husband’s lifestyle leading him to die and failure to treat his long-time illness, pleaded to her youngest to not go along with it. Not wanting to disappoint and make his mother upset, Tanggol made the agreement to never pursue the Nomadic lifestyle.
He becomes a bison-bao herder around his mom’s farm and later on ended up marrying a lovely earthbender lady named Mananambal— or Manana/Mana for short. They were pretty close friends and fell in love so easily that they decided to get wedded sooner than expected— much to the joy of their families.
Though a bit after their marriage, it became clear to Tanggol that as much as he’s more than content with the life he’s living — being a herder and marrying his best friend and lover — he just couldn’t help but look onwards to the skies and seas. Just wondering what it would be like to travel them and see the world beyond his horizons.
And when this feeling never went away, Tanggol knew he had to tell his family— though most of all, Mana.
As much as they truly did love each other, their marriage was impulsive and happened far too wuick for either of them to realize and understand what they really wanted. Tanggol admitted to his wife that like his dad, he wanted to see the world. As for Mana, a part of her still wants to figure out what exactly she wants as well.
As for Tanggol’s family, while his siblings were more than supportive of his decision to leave home, their mom was more than difficult to persuade. It took of a lot of convincing and pleading from Tanggol before his mom lets him go— though of course not without one message.
That no matter what happens to him, no matter where he is, or what he gets into, he is always welcomed back home.
And with this in mind, with his bison-bao companion, Porgie (which I REALLY should’ve mentioned before), he heads off on his new life as an Air Nomad…
…And somehow ended up on the other side of the world where a 100 year war was happening.
Tanggol truly does has some kinda luck XD.