WRONG. Momo is actually on the other end of the spectrum. Not only does he want to kill the firelord. He also wants to eat his brains, as displayed by the incident with MELON LORD. Momo, therefore, believes that true power is not only in destruction, but in consumption. Could this be the real message behind your bread consumption at the end? #momoistherealvillain
Aang "But I don't wanna kill him... 'cos you know nonviolence," Lion-Turtle "How do you feel about reaching in to the very heart of someones spirit and ripping at the very core of who they are, such that they wont be able to bend anymore?"" Aang "oh that... that's cool."
Notice how tired and weak Ozai becomes after Aang energy bends him? You can manipulate the chi in another persons body. Like how Korra energy bends Lin in Legend of Korra. All it is is manipulating and controlling someone elses chi, either blocking it, or opening it up. Kind of like Guru Patik taught Aang about opening up ones chi pools.
Yeah. I noticed that the first go round. Actually, didn't bother watching the end of the original series for that reason. Interesting that Aangs Trump card later became a Korra antagonist.
greenguy369 Even if you don’t want to watch the battle between Aang and Ozai, I highly recommend the battle between Zuko and Azula. It’s..... goose bumps.
@@Dwayneff But is it chi blocking or is he removing? I think Aang removes bending with energy bending. Amon can remove it via blood bending. Amon blocks chi.
I always thought the reason he allowed Ozai's energy to engalf him was to learn what he felt. You cant change someone unless you understand them. He had to understand Ozai, why he felt the way he did. When he fully empathized with him was when he found his chi and was able to take his bending away. At least, that's my take.
I like this, it reflects reality: we all have evil in us, and only by understanding the Nature of evil can you overcome it, BUT the process of understanding the evil nature is corruptive in nature, which is why it's scary.
TheLakerFan 24 Sadly, i am not joking. Mishka passed away recently. Check HelloFutureMe’s last video. He is ruling a better place now: a place full of cat slaves.
DJ Cinquegrani sorry dude, I am just saying the truth. I don’t really care about how it looks, because I don’t care if I lose likes for it. I just wanted to thank people, I dunno. If you got a problem with that, it is totally fine, but i dont really see why you should.
Re-watching ATLA recently, it is interesting that none of his past lives explicitly told Aang to kill the Firelord. They said that, whatever he did, it would need to be decisive, that only justice would bring peace (which is an intense line to come back to these days), that he must be active, and that the needs of the world come before his spiritual needs. These are the criteria that outline the way he must act in the finale and, while killing certainly fulfills all of them, other options could as well (such as removing the Firelord's bending). That they don't explicitly say to kill is a minor point, but an interesting one.
Even after 10 years, the symbolism of Avatar keeps surprising me. I never connected Aang energybending with the fact that he stood by his opinion and worldview.
that’s why i’ve always that ending so much. whether or not it would have the right choice for everyone if they’d been in that position, it was the right choice for aang. also, when you think about it, as the last airbender, if he doesn’t stand by his ppl’s beliefs about the sanctity of life, then nobody else will, because there *is* nobody else left alive who shares those beliefs in the same way aang was taught.
For me this line was the best line ever: "The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed." Because it says, that whenever you think that there is only one option left, then there are more. There is always a good solution.
after i saw this episode several years ago, i was really touched by the lion turtle's words. i think you've nailed it's meaning, the only way to avoid cycles of history is to do the hardest thing - forge your own path
There are typically more choices for a person to take than they’ve thought of, but there isn’t always a better way. There are almost always other ways, but there’s no guarantee any of the other choices will be better.
What??? I haven’t watched Tim’s videos in MONTHS and I come back only to find out that Mishka has passed??? :(( All Heil Mishka, best Supreme Leader ever 💔
Turtles are amphibious. Not literally frog-like, they're reptiles of course, but they live on both land and water. They're representatives of the land and water that make up the world. Also they live long, so there's that.
6:31 I'm going to have to fundamentally disagree with you here. Chi (from what I've learned in studying Eastern mysticism) is 'life force energy' that is inherent in all living systems. 'Bending', or in this context elemental bending, is more in line with the idea that Bender is harmonious with a particular element in the Avatar universe. This resonance with an element allows a person to insert their Chi into it and 'bend' said element to their will. This is also why the Avatar is inherently important, because they have the ability to harmonize with all of the elements, and aren't limited to just one. The Chi, then, is the vehicle that is used to facilitate bending in the first place. It's also why TLA uses such heavy handed spiritual themes to describe bending and the Avatar because of the source material said story borrows from. The Chi is different from person to person, and who/how this person is/acts results in what kind of Chi they fundamentally have. When the Lion Turtle speaks to Aang, he's speaking about manipulating the Chi of another, the literal essence of another being. Aang would have to harmonize his essence with the Fire Lord's in order to 'bring his Chi under command'. As we see in the finale, Aang is stripping the Fire Lord's ability to bend by forcibly deharmonizing his Chi with the element of Fire. To me, that's the purpose of Energy Bending as a whole: to resonate and manipulate the energy of living systems in order to 'bend' their essence or nature. This goes back to the very beginnings of the series as well, saying that only the Avatar can stop the Fire Lord, since such a mechanic requires a borderline divine level of mastery of Chi and energy as a whole.
It also was explained by the lion turtle that only those without hatred can master this power and since all the avatars aang spoke to, chose rational hatred over a calm mind it’s obvious why roku failed where Aang succeeded
This also explains why you have to be "unbendable" in your will. As a water bender, when you harmonize your chi with water, you exert your will on it through the chi. Then your will has to overcome that of the water. The water has no will so it moves in whatever way you direct it. But when you're trying to energy bend, you harmonize your chi with the chi of someone else. Then, to control it, your will must overcome theirs or you will be subject to their control like the water is to a water bender.
@@lol2Dlol this is why Jeong Jeong was being so fierce with Aang in regards to teaching him fire bending because as he said a rock will not throw itself. Fire is the only element which is self sustaining and you can lose control of it. Imagine trying to bend the energy of countless fires around the world as opposed to one single rock in the earth kingdom. As a testament to the avatars power he used his mastery over water to extinguish the fires that Ozai started when he tries to burn down the earth kingdom.
Aang: sends 200kg rocks flying at high speed at non benders, something bound to produce internal organ rupture and internal bleeding, something deadly without modern medical assistance. Also, these random non bending soldiers probably just joined for the college money or because of propaganda, without real malice. Also Aang: yo, cant kill the guy who wants to burn an entire continent and takes plasure in that, he still has good in him though
@@Fede_uyz i hate this but another thing sbout the show which bugged me was how quicky people recovered injuries Ozai was lterally thrown through 5 rocks and gets out fine? HIs spine isn't broken nothing happens but ok
@Gabriella Maroney u know, thats not an excuse, its not part of the worldbuilding. Saying "its a cartoon" to 'some' logistc issues isnt an argument or an excuse, its just u using video game logic on a show. Its a minor problem I have with the show cuz ik its nitpicking but it would take me out of the show and make me lose immersion in any fight or scene.
I always thought the heart and mind reflected the chakras. The third eye deals with illusions and could create the illusion of nonbending as it were. While the heart chakra deals with love and sorrow but is center of the chakra systems being the midway point. Idk, just rambling
I always understood energy bending as “will bending” in that you bend someone’s will/soul. In the same way in a debate you need to be firm in your position if you want to be able to convince someone else of your idea. As for taking away bending. We see a few episodes prior that Zuko “loses” his bending because he struggles with his conflicting identities. So in that case Aang didn’t physical make it so Ozi could no longer bend fire he made it so Ozi could mentally no longer bend.
@@HelloFutureMe Which would mean the link isn't a full circle: psychological changes can change your bending but changes in your bending do not result in psychological changes. Depending on whether you studied mathematics at a certain level, it can be acceptable or not.
@@pierreb97 I'm thinking along the lines of independent, dependent and control variables. In a sense, it's not that one factor can affect it, several can, it depends which factors are in play. Meaning that ones ability to bend is linked to emotional stability as well as that little extra bit of one's chi that is involved there, plus potentially other factors too.
@@HelloFutureMe I always felt that it was less about changing him as a person in order to make him no longer bend (which would imply you can do personality-bending, completely overruling character development) but rather hoping to force a change of Ozai's perspective by forcing him to experience powerlessness. Since Ozai's entire worldview is based on utilising power to bend others to your will, to take that away would force a change of perspective. By becoming powerless, he will learn to see other purposes in life outside of power, and simultaneously experience what he caused to the powerless people around him. This, Aang hopes, will either change him or make him harmless enough that he can be left alone. That's how I see it at least.
@@HelloFutureMe i think the energy bending is like a forced change of perspective than a natural change like zuko's. Whenever ozai reaches for the aggression and hatred he used to transform his chi into fire, he finds the desire for peace and non-violence that aang forcefully leaves inside him when they meld together. Like reaching for a sword but getting a cloud instead. I just wish there was a little more setup, but something like this would be hard to setup in a kids show i think.
“It’s not evil that defeats evil, but true goodness”- I think it’s very interesting how that core idea is in direct contrast to Tolkien’s philosophy, as explained in your video. Tolkien believed that, at the end of the day, it isn’t really good acts that can defeat evil, but it is evil that will defeat itself. Idk if someone else has already said that but I felt the need to write this out
@@pancakes8670 They're the same. Evil defeats itself precisely because goodness is good and evil is rebellious to that. Evil is simply a parasite on the good and evil is only temporary because it is not rooted in goodness, therefore it has nothing in which to continue sustaining it.
In real life lions are pridful creatuers while turtles are wise and calm and thats the show creaters wanted a lionturtle in the show i get it clever 😀😀😀
I always appreciated the ending as the triumph of idealism, it fits with Aang’s greatest qualities and plays very well into the idea that the violence of the 100 Year Wars cannot be resolved with the application of still greater force. It’s a virtuous ending if a little clumsy, I got it immediately but I can see how many people shortcut to “Well that was deus ex machina.”
Im fine with a virtuous ending, I just dislike how the act of energybending itself was introduced: nearly at the last episode with little build up that such a feat were possible in the first place
I have a funny story about the ending of this show, I was a kid and most of my friends didn't like/get the ending and I always thought it was amazing because I had predicted it from the ending of season 2. I practiced martial arts and knew what Aang was coming from in terms of his ideology and knew that for the show to end right he couldn't kill the fire-lord. So I always imagined in the last battle Aang would take fire-bending away from Ozai like extracting it from his body, bending it out of him or something, yet the way the writers did it was so much better!
anime1996 Tbh, yeah it kinda is “convenient”, but happenstances do happen. Also, maybe the lion turtle sought the avatar, in the way that Aang energy bent in to forest?
anime1996 he would’ve won without it and chose to spare Ozai 2 times, and THEN used a technique that could’ve cost him the W, it’s a good Plot Devise because it doesn’t ruin the ending, the end goal for the world was to end the war, Aangs personal struggle is what gave way to this plot device, something akin to fate, where it’s going to happen no matter what but through sheer force of will Aang changed the outcome slightly
I remember thinking hmmm why can’t Airbender’s kill someone by sucking the air out of them like a vacuum then it ended up actually happening in LOK And they made it look so much cooler than I by making it into a sphere instead of more of a tornado than like I imagined
Leonardo Da Vinci it’s the kind of show that I have gotten countless friends into, and a show that I won’t shut up about when I meet someone who likes ATLA as well. Hell, I even did my mid-term on it. Hands down my all time favourite
It's been almost 5 months since my dad passed....I understand what he's doing but Tim's body and mind will give out on him if doesn't sleep. I know emotionally and maybe even mentally its going to take time, but Tim if you are reading this please try to sleep
huh, i always thought the forehead and chest touch was to access the heart and mind chakras, a makeshit conduit/physical bridge to ozai's spirit. not much new info for me, buddhist background and a rather passionate love for confounding fantasy novels kinda made the lion turtles message kinda obvious. though spirit bending still kinda came outta nowhere. was expecting aang to, i dunno, fix ozai up with some good ol' compassion and empathy not literally lop off his bending from his spirit. ozai got spiritually castrated, and in that moment, i was so proud of aang, you all have no idea. the cajones on that boy.
This issue of Aang was and still is the strongest emotional connection that I have to this show. Probably because I share a similar moral view to Aang and his dilemma is something that I can relate to in a very personal level. Thanks a lot for the video.
I just bought your book! I'm taking a writing class next month so I'm super excited to crack into it. And this video was awesome. I liked the lion turtle sequence when I was younger (even though I was confused) and basically got the gist of it, but I loved your version. Super impactful message either way.
I was always so upset with my friends who thought Aang was week for not killing the Fire Lord. They completely missed the point. I did catch the meaning of the turtle when I saw it for the first time, and was actually so relieved with how the writers fulfilled Aang’s destiny. I’m glad that this video exists so other people understand the importance of staying true to your morals.
I deeply and fully appreciate all of the effort that goes into each of these videos. You constantly give us wonderful perspectives on a wide variety of interesting topics in a way that both helps us see others’ works more comprehensively and gives us food for thought when creating our own worlds and stories. Keep being awesome :)
I find a lot of novelty in the fact that Aang and Luke Skywalker have similarities in their arcs considering Ozai's voice actor was Mark Hamill. I think his overall arc that gets resolved in Return of the Jedi also has similarities, the way that the Emperor wants him to give into his hatred, and the Jedi consider it his duty to kill Darth Vader, but instead he's like "nope, I won't do that" and throws his lightsaber away to get electrocuted. Little did he know that the act of standing up for what he believed in would inspire Darth Vader, which especially in the context of the prequels, was the first time in a long time that he was convinced doing so was even possible. _Daenerys Targaryen voice_ *Bend the loaf? No, I'm going to break the loaf.*
I was a teenager when I watched the finale, so I actually did get all that, and it's what blew me away about Avatar and cemented it as much favorite TV show... Not only did they deliver an epic finale visually and from a storytelling standpoint, but also quite a dramatic philosophical message that truly resonates with who I am as a person and that you often don't see in a lot of stories... Particularly action-oriented stories.
EM11212 you can buy the show on Amazon video or Hulu or something. You'd need to pay for each season/episode though. Or you can find a website that won't ask for money, but isn't exactly fully sanctioned as an official place to watch the show.
I absolutely adore your channel and actually it’s the reason i got into blogging about avatar so only trying to help here but with that said- I think looking into Traditional Chinese Medicine (5 Element Theory, Chakras, Energy meridians and tsubo point, etc.) would have greatly improved not only this video but your ability to articulate and understand what’s happening in these amazing moments. As much as i love the chi loaf 😂 Ill preface this with I understand none of this is objective but there’s surely a better way to understand what’s happening and ill add in a few pointers I’d add just because i love this topic!! 💜 The heart and the mind are directly related to your heart and third eye chakra, very integral chakras. Third eye: -Vision -Intuition -Perception of subtle dimensions and movements of energy -Psychic abilities related to clairvoyance and clairaudience especially -Access to mystical states, illumination -Connection to wisdom, insight -Motivates inspiration and creativity The heart chakra deals with: Love for oneself and others Relating, relationships Compassion, empathy Forgiveness, acceptance Transformation, change Ability to grieve and reach peace Compassionate discernment Center of awareness, integration of insights So i can only imagine what accessing these and altering them on another being would do, in this case ozai is left powerless but just wow. This show is so deep when you reqlly get down to it which is why we’re all still here today. Thanks for reading peeps 🙏🏽 Glad to see you’re doing well after Mishiii :) love you all!
Great video Tim. you explained the ending well, but I'm one of those people who understood it even when I first watched it, and I think that's because I've been raised as a Buddhist. Avatar is very inspired by Buddhist and Asian philosophy, and so is the ending. In Buddhism we are always striving to be compassionate, humble and kind, and we're always battling against the illusions and hatred in the world. Killing is completely against the religion as we should care for all life, and shouldn't use violence to solve our problems if we can help it. Aang stands by these Ideals And wins by seeing through the illusion of hatred. Not giving in to them and finding a nonviolent solution. Thanks for reading all this. I'm not saying Tim's version of the ending is wrong or anything, this is just my prospective as a Buddhist and a massive Avatar fan.
I find it interesting that a show that makes such a deal out of the moral implications of bloodbending and the ability to take over someone's body casts violating the sanctity of someone's mind and spirit as the good path. I don't particularly object so much as think it's not at all clear that facing someone in a fight and killing them is morally inferior to tampering with the fundamentals of their being against their will. Aangs actions might have worked out right but tooling around with another person's chi seems like a violation of the highest possible magnitude. Setting aside the implications there, I wonder what the reactions might have been if instead of cutting him off from his bending, Aang had gotten the upper hand and broken his hands to ruin his form and prevent him from bending in a more tangible way? Would it be so easy to cast this pacifist character as good to the core of there were more visible signs of him taking something out of Ozai? What if energy bending made him insane or cutting off an ability he's built his life on made him suicidal? It's just interesting to me because lots of material on fiction wants to cast killing as brutal and evil and wrong but resolves the same situations with solutions that are at least on some level equally fraught with temptation and evil.
This is something I seriously have a problem with. Is this REALLY morally better than killing? He reached into Ozai's soul and tore out a fundamental part of who he is. Bloodbending is a perfect comparison as well. Katara chucks potentially lethal attacks at people all the time, but she draws the line at bloodbending, because it's more than just attacking an enemy, it's a total violation of someone's being. And if anything, spiritbending seems worse. Bloodbending just yanks your body around. Spiritbending is actually tampering with someone's soul. And then in Legend of Korra we see how benders react to having their bending taken away, and it's devastating for them. For a bender, bending is such a fundamental part of who they are that having it taken away is like losing a vital part of themselves. Imagine someone refusing to kill you, so instead they cut off your legs and tell you you need to live the rest of your life like that. I personally would not call that mercy.
Aang could bring his bending back, killing him could make the war worse and... well he wouldn't really been alive to think about his actions, being in prison means being restricted, so I don't think it's that different from a normal person being locked in jail.
There is always the possibility of redemption if you are still alive. The difference between this and blood bending is that the latter is not a substitute for killing while the former is a semi permanent way to neutralize a threat. Blood bending is like torturing someone before killing them while energy bending is like imprisoning someone rather than killing them.
For me at least i never saw energy bending as a castration of ozais ability. Aang just forces ozai to go through what zuko went through naturally. Whenever ozai reaches for his hatred that he fuels his bending with, he gets aangs nonviolence instead, so he doesn't get any power. I think a change in perspective would give ozai his ability back, so this is less like breaking an artists hands and making him live life a cripple, but more like forcing an artist to learn how to paint in a surrealist style when they always painted in a realistic style. Ozai has the potential to change his life for the better, even while in prison. Aang views the potential of life as more important than anything, which is why he would rather fight for ozai's potential than become a hero that teaches other the exact opposite of that philosophy. I do agree that energy bending kinda came out without a propper setup, but i also think it would've been kinda hard to set it up properly in a kids show since its more philosophical and its moral implications are hard to delve into. I also think its much less dangerous than bloodbending because blood bending can be done without any outside corruption. Its soley your will forced on another. Energy bending forces you to open yourself up first before any changes can be made. Only the purest of heart can safely energy bend, otherwise they'll be changed first. Of course that also means pure evil could energy bend as well, and probably more easily, but he would have to learn how from the lion turtles. I say all this ignoring the blood and energy bending that happens in korra, because that's just... absurd. For me at least. Side note a super awesome villain in avatar could have been someone so evil they corrupted a lion turtle when it tried to energy bend them, and then gains all its wisdom and power, which he then uses to build his influence. Would be a cool philosophical and physical battle setting, but hard to do in a kids show properly
I have ordered a copy of your book and am now anxiously awaiting its arrival. Your videos have been extremely helpful to my writing, and have actual helped to boost my confidence in what I create, so I'd like to thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. I'm not very good at expressing sympathy, but I would like to say that I'm sorry about Mishy, and I hope that you are doing okay. I've never been through anything like that, so I can only imagine what you must be feeling. Thank you again for all that you do.
Thank you Tim, i think this is one of the most important knowledge about Avatar. Energy bending is exist and this video is inspiring for all of us who practice chi. I hope you already practice it but if not, practice Chigong and you will see and live the truth behind the Avatar teachings. I am eagerly waiting for your detailed Energy bending video. Peace, ~Serkan.
Good video, but if I'm being honest, I think the energy bending stuff took away from the ending. I really enjoyed the buildup, where he talks to people and eventually the avatars. I LOVED the part with Kyoshi especially. She shuts Aang's 'you didn't directly kill him' argument down right away. It makes no difference to her, she would have done whatever was needed. Think about how many times shows/movies have the main character spare the villain, and then they 'die because of their actions' (avoiding the whole moral dilemma). Kyoshi just flat out admits that she did what had to be done, and ended Chin. Aang should have been forced to make a (real) decision. ...Instead he just randomly gets a new power that was never mentioned before, out of the blue and it's all fine. Again, I love the show, but it really felt like the writers just cheated themselves out of having Aang choose. Maybe they wanted to keep the show kid friendly, but I think it was a bad decision. All that buildup... for nothing?
I have to agree. I feel like the writers really cheated themselves out of having Aang make a real decision. I think they still wanted him to be a pacifist, but he had to win SOMEHOW for the show to end, so they pulled energybending out of the air and were like "Here, look, an ending! Take it or leave it."
Personally, I just see it as him finally having an option, a risky one, but an option. Killing Ozai would be a lot easier and safer. But he refused and because of that he succeeded.
I feel the same way. Aang debating whether or not he should kill the Fire Lord with his past lives almost felt like a 4th wall break to me. Like Aang vs Nickelodeon censors LMAO. Even Yang Chan AN AIR NOMAD, said he needs to do what is best for the world. I'm all for holding onto your own values and not changing to please others, but at the same time, sometimes in life you have to do things you don't feel comfortable with
maybe this is why the finale was underwhelming on aang's part, a pointy rock arranging your chakra, a power that was given at the last few parts of the episode, if we will observe aang's training of the elements never really helped him. It could have work with fewer episodes actually, and season 1 is a drag. You like atla fine, but don't call it as masterpiece because it is really not. The amazing universe of avatars is the masterpiece, not aang's story.
We get stuff on chakras in season 2, so it’s possible they are being used here. Aang is touching Ozai’s forehead, the location of his third eye (his ability to sense the world beyond himself) and his chest, location of his heart chakra ( site if his ability to feel compassion and his emotional strength). It makes sense that these are the first things that Aang needs to touch, when energybending.
I just finisher going through your Avatar lore playlist, so this is good timing! Also, have you ever read Incarnate: Last of the Lacers? It's an A:TLA adaption into D&D 5E with all the names changed for copyright reasons.
In Avatar Aang at cave of the lovers we learn that according to legends the first earth bender came from Omashu. In Avatar Korra we also learn that the first earth bender learned bending from the giants lion turtles. Now look at Omashu and the giant lion turtle city.
The two lovers were from 2 different villages that were at war with each other. They both learned from badgermoles. The man died from the war between their two villages and the woman got angry so she demonstrated powerful bending to stop the war. The two village work together to make the city of Omashu. Oma for the woman, and shu for the man.
@@tomer4454 I just corrected your comment mate. The first earth bender didnt came from omashu, They came from two different villages which then made omashu
@@tomer4454 And yet, Aang and Katara literally read about the story off of a memorial plaque while inside the cave chamber that was a burial chamber for Shu and Oma. I wouldn't call that a legend that isn't accurate, that's more like finding historical documentation. And this is why I really hate Wan's story, as it still feels like a complete retcon of already established lore. And I am far from the only one who feels this way; and I feel that scene is very strong evidence that proves this. After all people don't make tombs for people who never existed. On a side note, I always had theories that Oma was an Avatar herself. Before Wan's retcon story, I had theories that she was the first one. My theory is based on how much Earth she bended in her moment of grief to create the landscape of what became the city. That's avatar state levels of bending, and more than likely needed the same forces it took for Kyoshi to create Kyoshi Island.
Hey man, love your videos. Just want to say something about the hand to the chest/forehead. I do meditation and I learn about the function of chakras, how to open, etc. The one on the chest is the last "physical" chakra, it is connect with our desires. when you are meditating, you may feel heavy on the chest when you are ignoring things that you want. I remember to try unlock this chakra laying down and felt like had something heavy holding me in place. When we talk about the forehead (the third-eye 👁️) is the bridge to the spiritual. Is about seeing, is about connections, is about acceptance. It can be read in two ways: 1- Aang is breaking the bridge between the mind and the spiritual energy. 2- he fight the "will" (on the chest) and mark the "action" (on the forehead). Side note: On meditation, a third party can touch you to affect your chakras. He may clean, open and (never heard about, but probably possible) close then. Like muscles that grow and decay, or knowledge that is gain and lost, Buddhism believe that spiritual enlightening is gain really slowly and lost really slowly, but can be transferred between lives (like the avatar state). We know that this is true because the monk that teaches Aang to control the avatar state have gain "powers" over ilumination, so other things can be, too, unlock by meditating.
Ah, the ending is so poetic. It’s analogous to Aang’s story of defeating Ozai, where the world storms and rage at his to use violence outside. But inside himself he is true to who his is, just someone who wants to eat some bread.
It's having the ability of the Lion Turtles. Energybending is different than Elementsbending. Energy/Chi is used to connect to the elements. The connection between the Lion Turtles & the Energy/Chi is what needs to be explored. They were giving or taking the element. Not Chi Blocking. Thats why Wan was able to receive, give back,... a different element at a time to train with. Raava just helped him hold all elements at the same time in his body. Harmonic Convergence made Raava and all the elements become a part of Wan permanently. But are separate; Wan, Raava, Energy/Chi, Elements,... Although it may look like Chi Blocking which is working from outside - in. Energybending is from inside - out. The touch/press on the forehead & heart is for deeply reaching into, connecting to the energy, sync both(giver & receiver) energies. Then if there is resistance than a tug battle takes place. Who ever win take full control of the energy made by both energies that are running through both bodies. Like in Ozai & Aang. But no resistance between the Lion Turtle & Aang. Only reception.
Hey Tim. Thanks for another great video. 😁 Glad to see there are other Elder Scrolls, ATLA, and Tolkien fans out there. I've been thinking about the lines from this part of the series lately. I agree that Aang's character arc resolved when he was able to be true to himself in order to defeat the fire lord. I also like to imagine that the "purifying light" needed to bend the hatred in Ozai's heart/mind was Aang's love. An integral empathy, even for someone who's done so much harm. It would indeed take a wise will to accomplish what Aang did. But I think there are a lot of people in the real world who have found the inner peace to do so.
_Lacer, Velcro, Flip Flop, and Mule._ _The four footwear nations lived in peace and harmony._ _But everything tripped to ruin, when the Velcro nation attacked._ _Only the barefoot Avatar can wear them all and save the world~_
Do you know why people love the "chosen one" stories? Its in order that they can understand and deeply know the real chosen one of the world. th-cam.com/video/3dEh25pduQ8/w-d-xo.html
@@rewrose2838 The matrix has you..The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.The god of this age "Lucifer" created that matrix..Jesus Christ is the only way, the eternal life and the truth..free your mind. The truth shall set you free...you have being deceived by the world since you were a child that you are free but if you don't have Jesus as your lord and saviour you are a slave to this world and finally end up in hell..all you have to do is humbly repent of all your sins(read the 10 commandments)to him in your alone time..believe and trust that he loved you enough to be humbled humiliated beaten and finally killed to pay for your sins so that you won't spend your soul's eternity in hell. But with him in heaven..this might be the last time you read the gospel... He is coming back soooooon. This time not as a the sacrificed lamb of God. But as the King of the universe. The Great IAM. The ultimate judge of man with fire🔥 in his eyes.. look around the end is nigh🔥🔥.. be smart..Your soul is on the line. I won't be telling you if it's not❤
despite how many ppl seem to not get the ending to the series or don’t like it, i’ve always loved it because of the reasons explained in this video. we see in the comics and in the korra series that there will always be more hateful individuals in the world. neither solution - killing the “bad guys” or taking away their ability to do physically harm others - will really change that. what mattered in this case was aang’s ability to stay true to his personal beliefs. i really love the way the comics expand on these ideas actually. not only does katara point out that taking away someone’s bending isn’t exactly nonviolent, she also is constantly telling aang to make sure he’s acting in a considered manner, and not lashing out from anger. interestingly this comes up both when aang is considering killing zuko in “the promise,” and when he’s considering taking away the bending of the bending supremacist leader in “imbalance”. i think this reflects one of the main messages of the series - what your specific way of dealing with a situation is matters less than whether you’ve thought it through and are confident that you’re both acting in a way that’s consistent with your own values, and making a choice that you believe will help resolve the problem rather than just lashing out at a specific individual. it’s also worth noting - as i once read in a post a long time ago that totally changed how i saw the end of the series - that aang is the last airbender. for yang chen for example, if she compromised her airbender ideals, there were plenty of other air nomads who could carry on her people’s tradition of non-violence. but if aang doesn’t carry on his culture (at least at that point in the timeline, before the air acolytes are around) then nobody will. that has to reflect on his decisions as well.
I took it to mean that the Ancient One was telling him in the face of making a decision for the future of mankind and freedom, will you abandon your beliefs or will you hold true to what you know is right in your heart. And I believe the lion turtle having that wisdom with him for probably thousands of years was Surgeon and waiting for the right fender to Gift that kind of bending to . I mean all the other previous avatars before aang (with Roku as the exception), didn’t have to face the same struggles that he had with that war
What I think a lot of people don't think about as well is that Aang being the LAST airbender is also fundamental to his identity (it's literally in the title! lol). He's in a fundamentally different situation even to the previous air nomad avatar he spoke to, because if he lets go of his pacifism a huge part of the worldview, religion and culture he learned from the monks is destroyed (which would have been a tragedy, in a show abt genocide and imperialism). The show could have explored that more, in my opinion, and I get where people are coming from then they say energy-bending was too convenient, but ultimately I think it would have undone a huge part of what made the story meaningful if Aang had agreed to kill the firelord. His holding on to his culture is the only ending I like, and that goes far beyond "hey maybe we shouldn't have the 12 yr old on a kids show KILL someone", it's also that the aspect of air nomad culture that made the fire nation view them as "weak" (pacifism, valuing spirituality over fighting in bending, not having a military etc) is also what ends up defeating them, when Aang uses everything he's learned from the monks and holds true to his values in order to defeat the fire lord with honour. I hate to be the "if he had stooped to their level he's just as bad as them!" person because I don't agree with it in like 90% of stories, but in this case I do think it's important that Aang stayed morally superior, and used his values to prove them wrong.
Thank you for giving light to my personal favorite part of avatar. Its a scene that means a lot to me. Its refreshing for someone to actually give the scene an in-depth review. Nicely done
I did another interpretation on Energy bending a few weeks ago on your Theory: Lion Turtles, Spirits and Creation video What if Energy bending isn't the purest form of bending what it's the 6th explicitly known of the 8 bending types Lion turtles posses. Air is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart Chaos allows for the shattering of physical and spiritual connection and Astral projection Water is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Time which also flows allowing the possibility of time travel and ancient Lion Turtles being the Oroborus at the beginning of time. Earth is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Order which allows the creation of connections and the possibility of teleportation and not being on earth when everyone hunts for Aang in the lion turtle episode. Fire is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Energy which we've seen both as energy bending and spirit lasers. There is some Physical requirement for bending, with the exception of Harmonic convergence you can only get the bending abilities of your parents, but the spiritual bending might be accessible to all with the right sorts of spiritual alignment
I don't really have any real evidence to suggest that these are the 4 spiritual types of bending but I do think thematically they fit. And the two you think are unlikely I have a good reason for why I don't think anyone would naturally learn to use them to time or space travel naturally I started thinking about this as the solution to the "Where does Aang go during the build up to Sozin's comet?" that I hadn't seen a satisfactory answer for, he's explicitly said to not be on earth. And I wondered too about the whole advanced air bending technique of Asteral projection which leads neatly to spirit lasers and suddenly I had 3 mysterious powers, 2 definitely seemed to align nicely with elements, one Explicit, Astral projection is advanced air bending and one that's almost explicit, Fire is Energy Fire is Life. So teleportation? Well that doesn't fit as it is but if I change the perspective to what would be extensions that could fit Water and Earth to allow teleportation? the answer almost became obvious that Space would fit with earth, having a place to stand and if space why not Time, they're usually paired up and they're not opposites they're perpendicular like earth and water in the avatar cycle. Together time, Space, Energy and Spirit are the 4 forces that allow a universe to exist and be experienced, take any one away and well you have a universe with no when, no where, no stuff (matter is energy in our world e=mc2) or no life. But calling them Time, Space, Energy and Spirit they wouldn't have that equal and opposite feeling I get from Water Earth Fire and Air. But alignment between the first 4 and second 4 is pretty strong in my opinion. Water and fire, air and earth are opposite pairs so if I was going to come up with some names for their spiritual counterparts them they'd have to be opposite pairs too, I started with the easier pair, Time and Energy, well they don't have the same ring as Time and Space but they are in balance to make something happen you can either give it enough time or apply enough force, I loosely justified keeping this pair's names the same. But Spirit and Space? I had to rethink a bit. What makes them opposite? with astral projection that's ripping apart the body and spirit while teleportation and the idea of bridging worlds (we have the spirit portals after all) seems to be connecting things together, imposing a rigid structure where none otherwise would be and these fit with Air and Earth too, Air is freedom, while Earth is structure. Air is Chaotic and Earth is Orderly or at least can be ordered. So Chaos and Order might make good names for their spirit bending forms. They don't quite keep the idea of Spirit and Space as the names but I feel they could in a spiritual sense fill the same purposes. On the other video I also commented the connection between Order and Chaos with connection and separation pulling on Raava and Vaatu, Vaatu becomes more powerful when separated from Raava while Raava in her era was more powerful when the two are united and Vaatu is inside her waiting to emerge once more. And so I came up with an Origin for the Avatar universe based on the 4 Physical Elements and the 4 Spiritual ones, it's turtles all the way down: I don't think there was a "before time", I think the elements were made together in the avatar universe, Chaos and Order, Energy and Time, Air and Earth, Fire and Water. And the first 4 reflect the latter 4, Air is turbulent and Chaotic, Earth can be crystalline, structured and ordered, Fire is life and energy, while Time and water both flow inexorably and unstoppably. The Lion Turtles are the Oroborus. They're ancient because they came from the future to guide the earliest eras, to protect and guide the humans that eventually gave rise to them even passing on the spiritual forms of bending to humans as they become useful, since humans will later show them the ways of spiritual bending perhaps when humans have abandoned the physical bending abilities as too volatile for them to handle. I think this preserves a lot of cannon too, for example what the lion turtle says to Aang with the interpretation that before the era of humans (in Raava's era) and before they (the lion turtles) discovered the (physical) elements (from the original benders (fish, bison, dragon, badger mole) and their own ways to use them while remaining at balance) they (the lion turtles) bent not the elements but the energies (the 4 spiritual elements) within themselves. And the Patterns on the Lion Turtles that reflect Raava and Vaatu might be an artefact of the lion turtle's balance and control over chaos and order, while each of them has life they support on their backs trees as representations of the tree of time and animals for their actions represent energy. Life on the backs of the turtles develops it's own balance with the turtle proving the turtle's inner balance. Finally I think that Any one of the spirit powers might be accessible to any person independent of their physical bending abilities and the Avatar can access all four if they are taught how. You don't even need to be a bender to asteral project as Zaher presumably proved by going to the spirit realm before harmonic convergence and elemental alignment doesn't matter since Iroh visited the spirit realm and decided to leave his body to die. The alignment of spiritual elements might change over time for a person maybe leading them to their abilities in spirit matters to change depending on their own balance. Air nomads often detatch themselves from the phyisical so the air/chaos alignment is common. Again this chaotic alignment fits Zaher as a revolutionairy and Iroh after his son's death through him into chaos and he stopped believing that fire is the only source of strength. The other nations are focused on the physical and attachment, any nation or individuals intent on imposing or keeping order is aligned with order, this is true for earth, fire and water nations each maintaining their own order throughout the series or trying to impose it on others but they're so focused on the order physically they might never explore the spiritual side that could lead to teleportation. I think this is why we're never likely to see teleportation to arise naturally, to be so aligned with order that you can use it precludes discovering it by breaking what you believe to be the order of the world. Becoming aligned with time might happen when the people become relaxed, laid back and passive, if this passivity is in spiritual matters too they might be letting the opportunity pass while letting the will of others define them, not having the drive to explore their abilities with time even while they subjectively shorten their own lives by making the times they're subjugated feel smaller. And one of water's physical abilities might be spiritual too using time to heal wounds. There may be another watery element to time too, the most aged people we see I think are GramGram, Paku (both the same generation as Azulon), Katara, Toph, Zuko (in their 90s presumably 75 years after the end of the war) and King Bumi (110 after the war like Aang), I don't think it's mere coincidence that three are water tribe and the fourth lives in the swamp spending her time relaxing and listening to the world, Zuko has passed on his repsonsibilities too taking a back seat in world affairs and Bumi has mastered being passive even when given the chance to be released from the fire nation he prefers to wait. I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to say they might be using their spiritual bending to prolong their time. Though again they're ordered in their thinking, they don't see the possibility for the most advanced time bending. This might also explain how Aang might have remained untouched by time in the iceburg too. This leaves very few people aligned with energy to be able to master that sort of bending, energy maybe connected to personality and spirit by a drive to protect life, only the avatar really has that as an overwelming spiritual drive with their job being to be the bridge between worlds . They protect lives even at the cost of their own, this might be why the Avatar is the only one who's able to be taught how to energy bend and take away bending abilities. (Edit how could I have forgotten King Bumi)
The end is honestly super soothing. Also, fun voice actor fact: the guy who voiced the lion turtle also voiced Gantu in Lilo & Stitch (I think in the series, not the movie? I'm not sure.)
early earl Yeah, that’s actually what appears in the novelization. Go back to the beginning of the video and pause when the pages are displayed from that scene.
After rewatching the series for the 5th time, looking deeply at the hero’s journey, and deeply at my own growth, I get it. There is something very powerful about someone who has a a genuine spirit, by that I mean, someone who embraces virtue but knows the capacity of evil. When in the face of someone like that you feel humbled, because nothing you can say or do will shake that person. In the case of Aang. It is Deus ex Machina because the Lion Turtle intervened and gave him the power. However, I agree that it does carry the theme of the story in that Aang, the last of his kind, wanted to hold onto the beliefs of his people. So the universe sent him an alternative. If we didn’t go on Aang’s journey with the past Avatar’s and him wrestling with the question on if he should kill the Fire Lord then it would have been cheap but because we see him wrestling with it I’d say it’s earned.
Sometimes I'm not sure if Aang really did the right thing here. I mean on one hand he stuck to his guts and didn't let the last relic of Air Nomad culture die but at the same time in some contexts, it's the selfish thing to do. Sometimes you have to concede what you want (of course the extremities of that are being a wuss so maybe not too much.) It's a thonker.
Yeah, that's what Avatar Yangchen was saying in the show - that the Avatar has to sacrifice their own spiritual needs to protect the world. It's quite controversial.
I always thought they were there to show powers older than the avater, maybe even older than humankind itself. A conscience before ours. And a way to explain certain plotpoints like how the avatar cane to be.
Something that I like about energy bending is the implications it has regarding the avatar state. For most of the series, aang entering the avatar state is usually framed tragically. His eyes are flooded with light and his face obscured in shadow, giving him a menacing appearance. He usually appears only partially aware of his actions, sometimes giving over control to a past life or spirit, and often needs someone else to pull him out of the avatar state. He almost always enters the avatar state in response to some trauma or painful event. All of these elements together give the impression that the avatar state is something terrible, and negative, despite how useful it is. How does this tie into energy bending? Well we know the avatar state is a state that allows the avatar to tap into the knowledge and abilities of all previous avatars simultaneously. The avatar essentially has hundreds of other voices whispering in his ear and telling him what to do. Like energy bending, I imagine that mastery of the avatar state requires intense focus and sense of self, in order to avoid being overwhelmed or overtaken by the avatar’s past lives. This is why for most of the series, aang can only enter the avatar state either through the assistance of an outside influence (allowing his chi to be bent by another) or in periods of intense anger (adrenaline increases his focus allowing him to imperfectly bend the avatar state to his will). This is also why guru Pathik’s method of mastering the avatar state is franed negatively. Instead of aang mastering himself and learning to enact his will, Pathik’s method involves aang giving himself over to the avatar state and becoming an instrument of its will. The visualization of this method literally shows aang’s astral form being subsumed by a larger astral representation of the avatar state. When aang defeats Ozai, in addition to mastering energy bending, he also masters the avatar state, demonstrating this by refusing to allow the other avatars to kill ozai, and bringing himself out of the avatar state without draining his chi (aang usually collapses after using the avatar state, but remains stable and calm after sparing Ozai). Granted, the show could have done a way better job communicating all of this, but I do think aang’s arc in sozin’s comet is better then a lot of fans give it credit for.
Mishka has transcended the physical plane, but that does not mean they are gone. Mishka has just risen to become a full deity, rather than a mere supreme leader. #AllHailMishka
"I got to go do lion turtle things. Like meowing at a rock." My cat meows at rocks... is my cat a lion turtle? Also idk why, but that last part of the video of you just eating bread, as the names of all the individuals that support your patreon scroll on through, made me feel so content.
Thank you for all the info you put in the description. Like, obviously thank you for the awesome videos themselves, but I just extra appreciate when people give credit for music and artwork and such [:
The "type" of chi you mention might just be the type of bending you have. And possibly the energy bending might be able to give bending powers to people that didn't have it, like the lion turtles can do.
![What if the Avatar was evil? [ The Last Airbender l Legend of Korra ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wA4QvJISA54/mqdefault.jpg)
![What if the Avatar was evil? [ The Last Airbender l Legend of Korra ]](/img/tr.png)
![What everyone gets wrong about Avatar: Is fleshbending possible? [ ATLA l LOK ]](/img/n.gif)
Bread is love. Bread is life. Buy my book! >>> tinyurl.com/y5mwpyyj
Please make a video about the story of Ghost Recon Breakpoint?
Should be getting my copy in the mail today.
But then God tier Blood bending attacked and found a way to block chi as well
Ever visited germany? If you never tasted german bread you are not allowed to speak about bread love! XD
Man.. are you alright? You look so tired..
WRONG. Momo is actually on the other end of the spectrum. Not only does he want to kill the firelord. He also wants to eat his brains, as displayed by the incident with MELON LORD. Momo, therefore, believes that true power is not only in destruction, but in consumption. Could this be the real message behind your bread consumption at the end? #momoistherealvillain
Momo is a full-on acolyte of Nietzsche - no right or wrong, only the will to power.
I love you guys lmfao.
I AM MELON LORD!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
He believes in the sword logic, that by killing one gains power and becomes stronger
Momo 100% would have killed Ozai without blinking or flinching
Yeah he's a vicious little critter knocking over battle plan pieces and eating a water melon
Well yea but that wouldve been a very unsatisfying ending
@@joshgrabinski That be the greatest ending lmao
@@joshgrabinski A death battle between Momo, and Ozai unsatisfying? I want an entire show build around that premis
Momo is definitely 100% Chaotic in Nature. Whether that is good or neutral, I would need to rewatch the series to be sure about.
Aang "But I don't wanna kill him... 'cos you know nonviolence,"
Lion-Turtle "How do you feel about reaching in to the very heart of someones spirit and ripping at the very core of who they are, such that they wont be able to bend anymore?""
Aang "oh that... that's cool."
Notice how tired and weak Ozai becomes after Aang energy bends him? You can manipulate the chi in another persons body. Like how Korra energy bends Lin in Legend of Korra. All it is is manipulating and controlling someone elses chi, either blocking it, or opening it up. Kind of like Guru Patik taught Aang about opening up ones chi pools.
Yeah. I noticed that the first go round. Actually, didn't bother watching the end of the original series for that reason. Interesting that Aangs Trump card later became a Korra antagonist.
greenguy369
Even if you don’t want to watch the battle between Aang and Ozai, I highly recommend the battle between Zuko and Azula. It’s..... goose bumps.
@@Dwayneff But is it chi blocking or is he removing? I think Aang removes bending with energy bending. Amon can remove it via blood bending. Amon blocks chi.
Yea, I feel like someone would rather die than lose their bending.
Dabbly wabbly have fun with Zuko’s daddy
Should of been the title lol
I want that on a shirt
Sounds dirty
hmm a little too street at the end but ok it's cool and entertaining
OHH I definitely will!!🙃🙃😌
I always thought the reason he allowed Ozai's energy to engalf him was to learn what he felt. You cant change someone unless you understand them. He had to understand Ozai, why he felt the way he did. When he fully empathized with him was when he found his chi and was able to take his bending away. At least, that's my take.
I assumed it was because Ozai’s will was almost too strong for Aang’s.
I like this, it reflects reality: we all have evil in us, and only by understanding the Nature of evil can you overcome it, BUT the process of understanding the evil nature is corruptive in nature, which is why it's scary.
This should have way more likes imo. This makes too much sense it's almost scary
Aang: "I don't want to kill Ozai"
Lion Turtle: "Then don't"
SAY LESSSS!!!!
Kill?
Nah!
And then Aang goes on to unsatisfactorily end the series by replacing the climactic face-off to the death with... face spotlights.
@@lastfirst5863
Face lasers!!!
@@damenwhelan3236 FACE LASERS TO SPACE!!!
"you're saying that when I'm ready I'll be able to dodge bullets?"
"I'm saying that when you're ready... you won't have to"
Hi! Thanks for the new video. Rest In Peace Mishka. I hope you feel better.
TheLakerFan 24 Sadly, i am not joking. Mishka passed away recently. Check HelloFutureMe’s last video. He is ruling a better place now: a place full of cat slaves.
@@slothmasterjack9646 and human slaves. Just waiting for god to get up to do something before he takes his seat while he is up.
AstrosGamer 😂 yeah
Sloth Master Jack eesh. That edit makes your nice heartfelt comment weird lol
DJ Cinquegrani sorry dude, I am just saying the truth. I don’t really care about how it looks, because I don’t care if I lose likes for it. I just wanted to thank people, I dunno. If you got a problem with that, it is totally fine, but i dont really see why you should.
Re-watching ATLA recently, it is interesting that none of his past lives explicitly told Aang to kill the Firelord. They said that, whatever he did, it would need to be decisive, that only justice would bring peace (which is an intense line to come back to these days), that he must be active, and that the needs of the world come before his spiritual needs. These are the criteria that outline the way he must act in the finale and, while killing certainly fulfills all of them, other options could as well (such as removing the Firelord's bending). That they don't explicitly say to kill is a minor point, but an interesting one.
“Have fun with Zuko’s Daddy” - Hello Future Me 2019
Even after 10 years, the symbolism of Avatar keeps surprising me. I never connected Aang energybending with the fact that he stood by his opinion and worldview.
And I never thought of Aang & Ozai battle as a battle of wills.
that’s why i’ve always that ending so much. whether or not it would have the right choice for everyone if they’d been in that position, it was the right choice for aang. also, when you think about it, as the last airbender, if he doesn’t stand by his ppl’s beliefs about the sanctity of life, then nobody else will, because there *is* nobody else left alive who shares those beliefs in the same way aang was taught.
@@nascenticity Agree
That is called being a stubborn child.
@@koobertohumperdink8702 what believing that all life is sacred? Yeah your right that's childish
For me this line was the best line ever:
"The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed."
Because it says, that whenever you think that there is only one option left, then there are more. There is always a good solution.
Nice interpretation. I like these ancient wise sayings
after i saw this episode several years ago, i was really touched by the lion turtle's words. i think you've nailed it's meaning, the only way to avoid cycles of history is to do the hardest thing - forge your own path
@@babynautilus It is an exciting scene. I can't explain it, I felt like a deep connection to the universe back then. Does that sound weird?
@@traywor it's hard to describe but i felt the same way from my own perspective!!
There are typically more choices for a person to take than they’ve thought of, but there isn’t always a better way. There are almost always other ways, but there’s no guarantee any of the other choices will be better.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: **exists**
Hello Future Me: IT'S FREE REAL ESTATE
Anyone who reads it not whispering is not a cool person
@@natpagle2132 :(
It is the first video witout our supreme leder Mishka. It is so sad.
#AllHeilMishka
Watch the german there, its treading on dangerous territory.... But I agree with you there
What??? I haven’t watched Tim’s videos in MONTHS and I come back only to find out that Mishka has passed??? :(( All Heil Mishka, best Supreme Leader ever 💔
From attack on titan?
All hail Supreme Leader Mishka
Dabbly wabbly have fun with zuko’s daddy?
Let the fan art and fanfics be born
All ready on it
Tag me plz
If you are writing it on wattpad let me.know I want to see it now
Oh, no. Oh, nonononono. The shipping portion of the fandom is crazy enough already! Tim, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!
*IGHT IMMA HEAD OUT*
"What are you doing?"
"Watching a man eat bread for 4 and a half minutes."
With soothing rain sounds, no less. Riveting content.
Tbf ive seen far worse content elsewhere. Atleast it was somehow relaxing. Though i now want bread...
@@joshgrabinski It made me want cranberry pistachio bread. Which, by the way, is heavenly.
*When you realize*
Turtles are OP in Fictional stories from Turtle vs. Hare, Kung Fu Panda, and ATLA
Makes sense. Turtles live for a long time, potentially up to a hundred years in some species, so they are often portrayed as wise and ancient beings.
TMNT
Turtles are amphibious. Not literally frog-like, they're reptiles of course, but they live on both land and water. They're representatives of the land and water that make up the world. Also they live long, so there's that.
@@cartoonishidealism582 Sea Turtles live up too 500 years take that what you will
They haven't needed to evolve much. They're as old as sharks but you wouldn't want to seek out a shark for sage advice.
so this is the live action reboot..... wow
I knew Ang was pretty pale but I didn't expect a middle class surban looking white guy :p
Still better than the movie😂
What live action movie ?
@@samarendra109 There is no live action ATLA in Ba Sing Se
@@howdycrusader355 That's what I thought. Because,
"Here we are safe. Here we are free..."
6:31
I'm going to have to fundamentally disagree with you here. Chi (from what I've learned in studying Eastern mysticism) is 'life force energy' that is inherent in all living systems. 'Bending', or in this context elemental bending, is more in line with the idea that Bender is harmonious with a particular element in the Avatar universe. This resonance with an element allows a person to insert their Chi into it and 'bend' said element to their will. This is also why the Avatar is inherently important, because they have the ability to harmonize with all of the elements, and aren't limited to just one.
The Chi, then, is the vehicle that is used to facilitate bending in the first place. It's also why TLA uses such heavy handed spiritual themes to describe bending and the Avatar because of the source material said story borrows from. The Chi is different from person to person, and who/how this person is/acts results in what kind of Chi they fundamentally have.
When the Lion Turtle speaks to Aang, he's speaking about manipulating the Chi of another, the literal essence of another being. Aang would have to harmonize his essence with the Fire Lord's in order to 'bring his Chi under command'. As we see in the finale, Aang is stripping the Fire Lord's ability to bend by forcibly deharmonizing his Chi with the element of Fire. To me, that's the purpose of Energy Bending as a whole: to resonate and manipulate the energy of living systems in order to 'bend' their essence or nature.
This goes back to the very beginnings of the series as well, saying that only the Avatar can stop the Fire Lord, since such a mechanic requires a borderline divine level of mastery of Chi and energy as a whole.
It also was explained by the lion turtle that only those without hatred can master this power and since all the avatars aang spoke to, chose rational hatred over a calm mind it’s obvious why roku failed where Aang succeeded
This also explains why you have to be "unbendable" in your will. As a water bender, when you harmonize your chi with water, you exert your will on it through the chi. Then your will has to overcome that of the water. The water has no will so it moves in whatever way you direct it. But when you're trying to energy bend, you harmonize your chi with the chi of someone else. Then, to control it, your will must overcome theirs or you will be subject to their control like the water is to a water bender.
@@lol2Dlol this is why Jeong Jeong was being so fierce with Aang in regards to teaching him fire bending because as he said a rock will not throw itself. Fire is the only element which is self sustaining and you can lose control of it. Imagine trying to bend the energy of countless fires around the world as opposed to one single rock in the earth kingdom. As a testament to the avatars power he used his mastery over water to extinguish the fires that Ozai started when he tries to burn down the earth kingdom.
Aang: *lights an entire fire nation airship on fire*
Also Aang: I must end this without killing
I thought this like 90% of the show
A "fire nation ship", "on fire".
Do I really need to say anything?
Aang: sends 200kg rocks flying at high speed at non benders, something bound to produce internal organ rupture and internal bleeding, something deadly without modern medical assistance. Also, these random non bending soldiers probably just joined for the college money or because of propaganda, without real malice.
Also Aang: yo, cant kill the guy who wants to burn an entire continent and takes plasure in that, he still has good in him though
@@Fede_uyz i hate this but another thing sbout the show which bugged me was how quicky people recovered injuries Ozai was lterally thrown through 5 rocks and gets out fine? HIs spine isn't broken nothing happens but ok
@Gabriella Maroney u know, thats not an excuse, its not part of the worldbuilding. Saying "its a cartoon" to 'some' logistc issues isnt an argument or an excuse, its just u using video game logic on a show. Its a minor problem I have with the show cuz ik its nitpicking but it would take me out of the show and make me lose immersion in any fight or scene.
That ending mental battle gives me goosebumps every single time, I absolutely love it
I always thought the heart and mind reflected the chakras. The third eye deals with illusions and could create the illusion of nonbending as it were. While the heart chakra deals with love and sorrow but is center of the chakra systems being the midway point.
Idk, just rambling
I'm just so glad that other people out there are as intense and nerdy about ATLA as I am
Facts
I always understood energy bending as “will bending” in that you bend someone’s will/soul. In the same way in a debate you need to be firm in your position if you want to be able to convince someone else of your idea.
As for taking away bending. We see a few episodes prior that Zuko “loses” his bending because he struggles with his conflicting identities.
So in that case Aang didn’t physical make it so Ozi could no longer bend fire he made it so Ozi could mentally no longer bend.
The only problem with this is that Ozai does not change as a person at all.
~ Tim
@@HelloFutureMe Which would mean the link isn't a full circle: psychological changes can change your bending but changes in your bending do not result in psychological changes.
Depending on whether you studied mathematics at a certain level, it can be acceptable or not.
@@pierreb97 I'm thinking along the lines of independent, dependent and control variables. In a sense, it's not that one factor can affect it, several can, it depends which factors are in play. Meaning that ones ability to bend is linked to emotional stability as well as that little extra bit of one's chi that is involved there, plus potentially other factors too.
@@HelloFutureMe I always felt that it was less about changing him as a person in order to make him no longer bend (which would imply you can do personality-bending, completely overruling character development) but rather hoping to force a change of Ozai's perspective by forcing him to experience powerlessness.
Since Ozai's entire worldview is based on utilising power to bend others to your will, to take that away would force a change of perspective. By becoming powerless, he will learn to see other purposes in life outside of power, and simultaneously experience what he caused to the powerless people around him.
This, Aang hopes, will either change him or make him harmless enough that he can be left alone. That's how I see it at least.
@@HelloFutureMe i think the energy bending is like a forced change of perspective than a natural change like zuko's. Whenever ozai reaches for the aggression and hatred he used to transform his chi into fire, he finds the desire for peace and non-violence that aang forcefully leaves inside him when they meld together. Like reaching for a sword but getting a cloud instead. I just wish there was a little more setup, but something like this would be hard to setup in a kids show i think.
“It’s not evil that defeats evil, but true goodness”- I think it’s very interesting how that core idea is in direct contrast to Tolkien’s philosophy, as explained in your video. Tolkien believed that, at the end of the day, it isn’t really good acts that can defeat evil, but it is evil that will defeat itself. Idk if someone else has already said that but I felt the need to write this out
Perhaps a marrying of the two philosophies is possible? When evil defeats itself, the only thing that can be left is true goodness?
tolkien's philosophy is what happens to Azula.
@@pancakes8670 They're the same. Evil defeats itself precisely because goodness is good and evil is rebellious to that. Evil is simply a parasite on the good and evil is only temporary because it is not rooted in goodness, therefore it has nothing in which to continue sustaining it.
@@drednaught608 Well said evil is simply the lack of good. Just as cold is the lack of warmth.
THE ATLA FANDOM NEVER DIES
momo
probably the only one on ang's side about killing the fire lord😂
Not so sure about that, momo can be quite vengeful 🤔 probably Appa would be better
Um actually... it's pronounced Uung. Lol couldn't resist.
In real life lions are pridful creatuers while turtles are wise and calm and thats the show creaters wanted a lionturtle in the show i get it clever 😀😀😀
Blake Jones but written as aang
Momo would've murdered Ozai without hesitation
I always appreciated the ending as the triumph of idealism, it fits with Aang’s greatest qualities and plays very well into the idea that the violence of the 100 Year Wars cannot be resolved with the application of still greater force. It’s a virtuous ending if a little clumsy, I got it immediately but I can see how many people shortcut to “Well that was deus ex machina.”
Im fine with a virtuous ending, I just dislike how the act of energybending itself was introduced: nearly at the last episode with little build up that such a feat were possible in the first place
Quite a good device for a kid's show to avoid death onscreen.
@@dizzydial8081 And also to avoid character Assassinating aang too lol
I have a funny story about the ending of this show, I was a kid and most of my friends didn't like/get the ending and I always thought it was amazing because I had predicted it from the ending of season 2. I practiced martial arts and knew what Aang was coming from in terms of his ideology and knew that for the show to end right he couldn't kill the fire-lord. So I always imagined in the last battle Aang would take fire-bending away from Ozai like extracting it from his body, bending it out of him or something, yet the way the writers did it was so much better!
anime1996 Tbh, yeah it kinda is “convenient”, but happenstances do happen. Also, maybe the lion turtle sought the avatar, in the way that Aang energy bent in to forest?
anime1996 he would’ve won without it and chose to spare Ozai 2 times, and THEN used a technique that could’ve cost him the W, it’s a good Plot Devise because it doesn’t ruin the ending, the end goal for the world was to end the war, Aangs personal struggle is what gave way to this plot device, something akin to fate, where it’s going to happen no matter what but through sheer force of will Aang changed the outcome slightly
I remember thinking hmmm why can’t Airbender’s kill someone by sucking the air out of them like a vacuum then it ended up actually happening in LOK And they made it look so much cooler than I by making it into a sphere instead of more of a tornado than like I imagined
What? This was posted over 30 minutes ago? I only just got the notification 😤
Always excited for any Avatar content ☺️
try using the subscriptions section. No need to ring the bell, you'll see the content instantly always
Best animated series ever created!
Leonardo Da Vinci it’s the kind of show that I have gotten countless friends into, and a show that I won’t shut up about when I meet someone who likes ATLA as well. Hell, I even did my mid-term on it.
Hands down my all time favourite
@@Lissa7557 I also love the legend of Korra!
Glad you're back to putting out content, but you look like you could use some rest mate
@Adam DoesThings if he's anything like me, doing this is probably helping him a lot in being about to focus on something else for a bit.
It's been almost 5 months since my dad passed....I understand what he's doing but Tim's body and mind will give out on him if doesn't sleep. I know emotionally and maybe even mentally its going to take time, but Tim if you are reading this please try to sleep
huh, i always thought the forehead and chest touch was to access the heart and mind chakras, a makeshit conduit/physical bridge to ozai's spirit.
not much new info for me, buddhist background and a rather passionate love for confounding fantasy novels kinda made the lion turtles message kinda obvious. though spirit bending still kinda came outta nowhere. was expecting aang to, i dunno, fix ozai up with some good ol' compassion and empathy not literally lop off his bending from his spirit.
ozai got spiritually castrated, and in that moment, i was so proud of aang, you all have no idea. the cajones on that boy.
You never fail to impress me with your insightful ATLA videos. Thank you for making me love the show more XD
This issue of Aang was and still is the strongest emotional connection that I have to this show.
Probably because I share a similar moral view to Aang and his dilemma is something that I can relate to in a very personal level.
Thanks a lot for the video.
that Lion turtle dialogue is a treasure I must protecc in this world awesome lines Tim
A. Avatar is beautiful.
B. I want what that lion turtle is smokin.
C. I want there to be a lion turtle like how you depicted em. XD
Just 5 minutes of you eating bread. Now THAT'S quality content
I sat there for like 2 minutes looking at the bigger peice of bread hoping he would take a huge chomp of it, but it never happened and im kinda upset.
Absolutely love all your videos about the Avatar world! Thanks for such great content!
"My mind to your mind... my will to your will..." Aang is the first Vulcan!
sauce?
I gotta say your book is really genuinely helpful. I'm creating a mobile text-based RPG and your book is helping me a lot with the story!
I just bought your book! I'm taking a writing class next month so I'm super excited to crack into it. And this video was awesome. I liked the lion turtle sequence when I was younger (even though I was confused) and basically got the gist of it, but I loved your version. Super impactful message either way.
"aang and firelord turns into lightsabers" 😂
I was always so upset with my friends who thought Aang was week for not killing the Fire Lord. They completely missed the point. I did catch the meaning of the turtle when I saw it for the first time, and was actually so relieved with how the writers fulfilled Aang’s destiny. I’m glad that this video exists so other people understand the importance of staying true to your morals.
“Dabbly wabble have fun with Zukoa Daddy”
somewhere out there, there is a FanFic being written at this very moment with that title
I deeply and fully appreciate all of the effort that goes into each of these videos. You constantly give us wonderful perspectives on a wide variety of interesting topics in a way that both helps us see others’ works more comprehensively and gives us food for thought when creating our own worlds and stories. Keep being awesome :)
Interesting, I think people often overlook the meaning of certain moments in Legend of korra, like the kaiju fight in book 2 finale.
That fight was purity vs corruption.
Yeah no korras is terrible
flash gorden Korra is s great show
I agree with flash here it is asssssss
@@annajohnson5814 legend of korra is amazing and just as good as ATLA.
I am so glad you are back and I have been waiting for new content. Rest in Power Lord Mishka
I find a lot of novelty in the fact that Aang and Luke Skywalker have similarities in their arcs considering Ozai's voice actor was Mark Hamill. I think his overall arc that gets resolved in Return of the Jedi also has similarities, the way that the Emperor wants him to give into his hatred, and the Jedi consider it his duty to kill Darth Vader, but instead he's like "nope, I won't do that" and throws his lightsaber away to get electrocuted. Little did he know that the act of standing up for what he believed in would inspire Darth Vader, which especially in the context of the prequels, was the first time in a long time that he was convinced doing so was even possible.
_Daenerys Targaryen voice_ *Bend the loaf? No, I'm going to break the loaf.*
"Dabbly wabbly have fun with Zuko's daddy!" Saturday 29 of June 2019
When you didn't get the notification.
To kill TH-cam is a power that one cannot possibly possess...
The dark side of the like button is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Ive watched and rewatched this show 7 times now, and each time I do, I learn something new
Mishka has acceded to the divine realms, but the show must go on.
He is missed.
I was a teenager when I watched the finale, so I actually did get all that, and it's what blew me away about Avatar and cemented it as much favorite TV show... Not only did they deliver an epic finale visually and from a storytelling standpoint, but also quite a dramatic philosophical message that truly resonates with who I am as a person and that you often don't see in a lot of stories... Particularly action-oriented stories.
Perfect timing! I just rewatched atla last week!
Where? I can't find a way to watch it.
EM11212 you can buy the show on Amazon video or Hulu or something. You'd need to pay for each season/episode though. Or you can find a website that won't ask for money, but isn't exactly fully sanctioned as an official place to watch the show.
I absolutely adore your channel and actually it’s the reason i got into blogging about avatar so only trying to help here but with that said-
I think looking into Traditional Chinese Medicine (5 Element Theory, Chakras, Energy meridians and tsubo point, etc.) would have greatly improved not only this video but your ability to articulate and understand what’s happening in these amazing moments. As much as i love the chi loaf 😂
Ill preface this with I understand none of this is objective but there’s surely a better way to understand what’s happening and ill add in a few pointers I’d add just because i love this topic!! 💜
The heart and the mind are directly related to your heart and third eye chakra, very integral chakras.
Third eye:
-Vision
-Intuition
-Perception of subtle dimensions and movements of energy
-Psychic abilities related to clairvoyance and clairaudience especially
-Access to mystical states, illumination
-Connection to wisdom, insight
-Motivates inspiration and creativity
The heart chakra deals with:
Love for oneself and others
Relating, relationships
Compassion, empathy
Forgiveness, acceptance
Transformation, change
Ability to grieve and reach peace
Compassionate discernment
Center of awareness, integration of insights
So i can only imagine what accessing these and altering them on another being would do, in this case ozai is left powerless but just wow. This show is so deep when you reqlly get down to it which is why we’re all still here today.
Thanks for reading peeps 🙏🏽
Glad to see you’re doing well after Mishiii :) love you all!
Great video Tim. you explained the ending well, but I'm one of those people who understood it even when I first watched it, and I think that's because I've been raised as a Buddhist.
Avatar is very inspired by Buddhist and Asian philosophy, and so is the ending. In Buddhism we are always striving to be compassionate, humble and kind, and we're always battling against the illusions and hatred in the world. Killing is completely against the religion as we should care for all life, and shouldn't use violence to solve our problems if we can help it.
Aang stands by these Ideals And wins by seeing through the illusion of hatred. Not giving in to them and finding a nonviolent solution.
Thanks for reading all this. I'm not saying Tim's version of the ending is wrong or anything, this is just my prospective as a Buddhist and a massive Avatar fan.
I find it interesting that a show that makes such a deal out of the moral implications of bloodbending and the ability to take over someone's body casts violating the sanctity of someone's mind and spirit as the good path.
I don't particularly object so much as think it's not at all clear that facing someone in a fight and killing them is morally inferior to tampering with the fundamentals of their being against their will. Aangs actions might have worked out right but tooling around with another person's chi seems like a violation of the highest possible magnitude.
Setting aside the implications there, I wonder what the reactions might have been if instead of cutting him off from his bending, Aang had gotten the upper hand and broken his hands to ruin his form and prevent him from bending in a more tangible way? Would it be so easy to cast this pacifist character as good to the core of there were more visible signs of him taking something out of Ozai? What if energy bending made him insane or cutting off an ability he's built his life on made him suicidal?
It's just interesting to me because lots of material on fiction wants to cast killing as brutal and evil and wrong but resolves the same situations with solutions that are at least on some level equally fraught with temptation and evil.
This is something I seriously have a problem with. Is this REALLY morally better than killing? He reached into Ozai's soul and tore out a fundamental part of who he is. Bloodbending is a perfect comparison as well. Katara chucks potentially lethal attacks at people all the time, but she draws the line at bloodbending, because it's more than just attacking an enemy, it's a total violation of someone's being. And if anything, spiritbending seems worse. Bloodbending just yanks your body around. Spiritbending is actually tampering with someone's soul.
And then in Legend of Korra we see how benders react to having their bending taken away, and it's devastating for them. For a bender, bending is such a fundamental part of who they are that having it taken away is like losing a vital part of themselves. Imagine someone refusing to kill you, so instead they cut off your legs and tell you you need to live the rest of your life like that. I personally would not call that mercy.
That’s the thing isn’t it. It’s not the best solution it’s just the better. And broken bones can heal can’t they??
Aang could bring his bending back, killing him could make the war worse and... well he wouldn't really been alive to think about his actions, being in prison means being restricted, so I don't think it's that different from a normal person being locked in jail.
There is always the possibility of redemption if you are still alive. The difference between this and blood bending is that the latter is not a substitute for killing while the former is a semi permanent way to neutralize a threat. Blood bending is like torturing someone before killing them while energy bending is like imprisoning someone rather than killing them.
For me at least i never saw energy bending as a castration of ozais ability. Aang just forces ozai to go through what zuko went through naturally. Whenever ozai reaches for his hatred that he fuels his bending with, he gets aangs nonviolence instead, so he doesn't get any power. I think a change in perspective would give ozai his ability back, so this is less like breaking an artists hands and making him live life a cripple, but more like forcing an artist to learn how to paint in a surrealist style when they always painted in a realistic style. Ozai has the potential to change his life for the better, even while in prison. Aang views the potential of life as more important than anything, which is why he would rather fight for ozai's potential than become a hero that teaches other the exact opposite of that philosophy. I do agree that energy bending kinda came out without a propper setup, but i also think it would've been kinda hard to set it up properly in a kids show since its more philosophical and its moral implications are hard to delve into. I also think its much less dangerous than bloodbending because blood bending can be done without any outside corruption. Its soley your will forced on another. Energy bending forces you to open yourself up first before any changes can be made. Only the purest of heart can safely energy bend, otherwise they'll be changed first. Of course that also means pure evil could energy bend as well, and probably more easily, but he would have to learn how from the lion turtles. I say all this ignoring the blood and energy bending that happens in korra, because that's just... absurd. For me at least. Side note a super awesome villain in avatar could have been someone so evil they corrupted a lion turtle when it tried to energy bend them, and then gains all its wisdom and power, which he then uses to build his influence. Would be a cool philosophical and physical battle setting, but hard to do in a kids show properly
The fire lord was on Aang’s side too
... good point...
I have ordered a copy of your book and am now anxiously awaiting its arrival. Your videos have been extremely helpful to my writing, and have actual helped to boost my confidence in what I create, so I'd like to thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. I'm not very good at expressing sympathy, but I would like to say that I'm sorry about Mishy, and I hope that you are doing okay. I've never been through anything like that, so I can only imagine what you must be feeling. Thank you again for all that you do.
Thank you Tim, i think this is one of the most important knowledge about Avatar. Energy bending is exist and this video is inspiring for all of us who practice chi. I hope you already practice it but if not, practice Chigong and you will see and live the truth behind the Avatar teachings.
I am eagerly waiting for your detailed Energy bending video.
Peace,
~Serkan.
Good video, but if I'm being honest, I think the energy bending stuff took away from the ending. I really enjoyed the buildup, where he talks to people and eventually the avatars. I LOVED the part with Kyoshi especially. She shuts Aang's 'you didn't directly kill him' argument down right away. It makes no difference to her, she would have done whatever was needed. Think about how many times shows/movies have the main character spare the villain, and then they 'die because of their actions' (avoiding the whole moral dilemma). Kyoshi just flat out admits that she did what had to be done, and ended Chin. Aang should have been forced to make a (real) decision.
...Instead he just randomly gets a new power that was never mentioned before, out of the blue and it's all fine. Again, I love the show, but it really felt like the writers just cheated themselves out of having Aang choose. Maybe they wanted to keep the show kid friendly, but I think it was a bad decision. All that buildup... for nothing?
I have to agree. I feel like the writers really cheated themselves out of having Aang make a real decision. I think they still wanted him to be a pacifist, but he had to win SOMEHOW for the show to end, so they pulled energybending out of the air and were like "Here, look, an ending! Take it or leave it."
Personally, I just see it as him finally having an option, a risky one, but an option. Killing Ozai would be a lot easier and safer. But he refused and because of that he succeeded.
I feel the same way. Aang debating whether or not he should kill the Fire Lord with his past lives almost felt like a 4th wall break to me. Like Aang vs Nickelodeon censors LMAO. Even Yang Chan AN AIR NOMAD, said he needs to do what is best for the world. I'm all for holding onto your own values and not changing to please others, but at the same time, sometimes in life you have to do things you don't feel comfortable with
maybe this is why the finale was underwhelming on aang's part, a pointy rock arranging your chakra, a power that was given at the last few parts of the episode, if we will observe aang's training of the elements never really helped him. It could have work with fewer episodes actually, and season 1 is a drag.
You like atla fine, but don't call it as masterpiece because it is really not. The amazing universe of avatars is the masterpiece, not aang's story.
@@carmcam1 you're free to dislike it, but it absolutely was a masterpiece.
I'm reminded of my favorite quote from Spider-Man Homecoming: "I like bread."
We get stuff on chakras in season 2, so it’s possible they are being used here. Aang is touching Ozai’s forehead, the location of his third eye (his ability to sense the world beyond himself) and his chest, location of his heart chakra ( site if his ability to feel compassion and his emotional strength). It makes sense that these are the first things that Aang needs to touch, when energybending.
I just finisher going through your Avatar lore playlist, so this is good timing!
Also, have you ever read Incarnate: Last of the Lacers? It's an A:TLA adaption into D&D 5E with all the names changed for copyright reasons.
Another fantastic video!!! I absolutely love your video essays. Also, your book is really impressive!
In Avatar Aang at cave of the lovers we learn that according to legends the first earth bender came from Omashu.
In Avatar Korra we also learn that the first earth bender learned bending from the giants lion turtles.
Now look at Omashu and the giant lion turtle city.
Two lovers
The two lovers were from 2 different villages that were at war with each other. They both learned from badgermoles. The man died from the war between their two villages and the woman got angry so she demonstrated powerful bending to stop the war. The two village work together to make the city of Omashu. Oma for the woman, and shu for the man.
@@michaeljonathan9431 I know that the story, but even in the AVATAR world it is known only as a legend.
And legends most of the time are not accurate
@@tomer4454 I just corrected your comment mate. The first earth bender didnt came from omashu, They came from two different villages which then made omashu
@@tomer4454 And yet, Aang and Katara literally read about the story off of a memorial plaque while inside the cave chamber that was a burial chamber for Shu and Oma.
I wouldn't call that a legend that isn't accurate, that's more like finding historical documentation.
And this is why I really hate Wan's story, as it still feels like a complete retcon of already established lore. And I am far from the only one who feels this way; and I feel that scene is very strong evidence that proves this. After all people don't make tombs for people who never existed.
On a side note, I always had theories that Oma was an Avatar herself. Before Wan's retcon story, I had theories that she was the first one. My theory is based on how much Earth she bended in her moment of grief to create the landscape of what became the city. That's avatar state levels of bending, and more than likely needed the same forces it took for Kyoshi to create Kyoshi Island.
Hey man, love your videos. Just want to say something about the hand to the chest/forehead. I do meditation and I learn about the function of chakras, how to open, etc. The one on the chest is the last "physical" chakra, it is connect with our desires. when you are meditating, you may feel heavy on the chest when you are ignoring things that you want. I remember to try unlock this chakra laying down and felt like had something heavy holding me in place. When we talk about the forehead (the third-eye 👁️) is the bridge to the spiritual. Is about seeing, is about connections, is about acceptance. It can be read in two ways:
1- Aang is breaking the bridge between the mind and the spiritual energy.
2- he fight the "will" (on the chest) and mark the "action" (on the forehead).
Side note: On meditation, a third party can touch you to affect your chakras. He may clean, open and (never heard about, but probably possible) close then.
Like muscles that grow and decay, or knowledge that is gain and lost, Buddhism believe that spiritual enlightening is gain really slowly and lost really slowly, but can be transferred between lives (like the avatar state).
We know that this is true because the monk that teaches Aang to control the avatar state have gain "powers" over ilumination, so other things can be, too, unlock by meditating.
Ah, the ending is so poetic. It’s analogous to Aang’s story of defeating Ozai, where the world storms and rage at his to use violence outside. But inside himself he is true to who his is, just someone who wants to eat some bread.
Those four last minutes just killed me with laughter. Thank you Tim, and great work on your video as always. All Hail Mishka, watching us from above.
20 minute avatar video with Star Wars references? Excuse me while I hide with my morning coffee and watch this 💜💚💙
Hello Tim! I just met your channel and I am astonished. So pleased to meet you! Great work!
Yay for Avatar content!!
Ur on writing series helped me get a better mark in my German exam in which we had to analyse literature. Thanks Man u did me a solid
Big fan. Pls reply. #AllHailMishka, wherever he may be ruling us from. That's some competition-winning bread devouring.
It's having the ability of the Lion Turtles. Energybending is different than Elementsbending. Energy/Chi is used to connect to the elements. The connection between the Lion Turtles & the Energy/Chi is what needs to be explored. They were giving or taking the element. Not Chi Blocking. Thats why Wan was able to receive, give back,... a different element at a time to train with. Raava just helped him hold all elements at the same time in his body. Harmonic Convergence made Raava and all the elements become a part of Wan permanently. But are separate; Wan, Raava, Energy/Chi, Elements,... Although it may look like Chi Blocking which is working from outside - in. Energybending is from inside - out. The touch/press on the forehead & heart is for deeply reaching into, connecting to the energy, sync both(giver & receiver) energies. Then if there is resistance than a tug battle takes place. Who ever win take full control of the energy made by both energies that are running through both bodies. Like in Ozai & Aang. But no resistance between the Lion Turtle & Aang. Only reception.
Can energy bending create illusion by manipulation of ligth. Imagine the strength of energy bending, sprit bending and healing use together
Hey Tim. Thanks for another great video. 😁 Glad to see there are other Elder Scrolls, ATLA, and Tolkien fans out there.
I've been thinking about the lines from this part of the series lately. I agree that Aang's character arc resolved when he was able to be true to himself in order to defeat the fire lord. I also like to imagine that the "purifying light" needed to bend the hatred in Ozai's heart/mind was Aang's love. An integral empathy, even for someone who's done so much harm. It would indeed take a wise will to accomplish what Aang did. But I think there are a lot of people in the real world who have found the inner peace to do so.
_Lacer, Velcro, Flip Flop, and Mule._
_The four footwear nations lived in peace and harmony._
_But everything tripped to ruin, when the Velcro nation attacked._
_Only the barefoot Avatar can wear them all and save the world~_
Do you know why people love the "chosen one" stories? Its in order that they can understand and deeply know the real chosen one of the world. th-cam.com/video/3dEh25pduQ8/w-d-xo.html
@@keyboardevangelist Bro, life doesn't have chosen ones. Everyone's been forsaken 😂
@@rewrose2838 The matrix has you..The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.The god of this age "Lucifer" created that matrix..Jesus Christ is the only way, the eternal life and the truth..free your mind. The truth shall set you free...you have being deceived by the world since you were a child that you are free but if you don't have Jesus as your lord and saviour you are a slave to this world and finally end up in hell..all you have to do is humbly repent of all your sins(read the 10 commandments)to him in your alone time..believe and trust that he loved you enough to be humbled humiliated beaten and finally killed to pay for your sins so that you won't spend your soul's eternity in hell. But with him in heaven..this might be the last time you read the gospel... He is coming back soooooon. This time not as a the sacrificed lamb of God. But as the King of the universe. The Great IAM. The ultimate judge of man with fire🔥 in his eyes.. look around the end is nigh🔥🔥.. be smart..Your soul is on the line. I won't be telling you if it's not❤
despite how many ppl seem to not get the ending to the series or don’t like it, i’ve always loved it because of the reasons explained in this video. we see in the comics and in the korra series that there will always be more hateful individuals in the world. neither solution - killing the “bad guys” or taking away their ability to do physically harm others - will really change that. what mattered in this case was aang’s ability to stay true to his personal beliefs.
i really love the way the comics expand on these ideas actually. not only does katara point out that taking away someone’s bending isn’t exactly nonviolent, she also is constantly telling aang to make sure he’s acting in a considered manner, and not lashing out from anger. interestingly this comes up both when aang is considering killing zuko in “the promise,” and when he’s considering taking away the bending of the bending supremacist leader in “imbalance”. i think this reflects one of the main messages of the series - what your specific way of dealing with a situation is matters less than whether you’ve thought it through and are confident that you’re both acting in a way that’s consistent with your own values, and making a choice that you believe will help resolve the problem rather than just lashing out at a specific individual.
it’s also worth noting - as i once read in a post a long time ago that totally changed how i saw the end of the series - that aang is the last airbender. for yang chen for example, if she compromised her airbender ideals, there were plenty of other air nomads who could carry on her people’s tradition of non-violence. but if aang doesn’t carry on his culture (at least at that point in the timeline, before the air acolytes are around) then nobody will. that has to reflect on his decisions as well.
Hey!
Can you please make a video about if aang ever learned something advanced like lightningbending or metalbending??
It was confirmed that he didnt.
I took it to mean that the Ancient One was telling him in the face of making a decision for the future of mankind and freedom, will you abandon your beliefs or will you hold true to what you know is right in your heart. And I believe the lion turtle having that wisdom with him for probably thousands of years was Surgeon and waiting for the right fender to Gift that kind of bending to . I mean all the other previous avatars before aang (with Roku as the exception), didn’t have to face the same struggles that he had with that war
What I think a lot of people don't think about as well is that Aang being the LAST airbender is also fundamental to his identity (it's literally in the title! lol). He's in a fundamentally different situation even to the previous air nomad avatar he spoke to, because if he lets go of his pacifism a huge part of the worldview, religion and culture he learned from the monks is destroyed (which would have been a tragedy, in a show abt genocide and imperialism). The show could have explored that more, in my opinion, and I get where people are coming from then they say energy-bending was too convenient, but ultimately I think it would have undone a huge part of what made the story meaningful if Aang had agreed to kill the firelord. His holding on to his culture is the only ending I like, and that goes far beyond "hey maybe we shouldn't have the 12 yr old on a kids show KILL someone", it's also that the aspect of air nomad culture that made the fire nation view them as "weak" (pacifism, valuing spirituality over fighting in bending, not having a military etc) is also what ends up defeating them, when Aang uses everything he's learned from the monks and holds true to his values in order to defeat the fire lord with honour. I hate to be the "if he had stooped to their level he's just as bad as them!" person because I don't agree with it in like 90% of stories, but in this case I do think it's important that Aang stayed morally superior, and used his values to prove them wrong.
Thank you for giving light to my personal favorite part of avatar. Its a scene that means a lot to me. Its refreshing for someone to actually give the scene an in-depth review. Nicely done
I did another interpretation on Energy bending a few weeks ago on your Theory: Lion Turtles, Spirits and Creation video
What if Energy bending isn't the purest form of bending what it's the 6th explicitly known of the 8 bending types Lion turtles posses.
Air is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart Chaos allows for the shattering of physical and spiritual connection and Astral projection
Water is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Time which also flows allowing the possibility of time travel and ancient Lion Turtles being the Oroborus at the beginning of time.
Earth is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Order which allows the creation of connections and the possibility of teleportation and not being on earth when everyone hunts for Aang in the lion turtle episode.
Fire is a physical type of bending and its spiritual counterpart is Energy which we've seen both as energy bending and spirit lasers.
There is some Physical requirement for bending, with the exception of Harmonic convergence you can only get the bending abilities of your parents, but the spiritual bending might be accessible to all with the right sorts of spiritual alignment
Interesting theory, even though i do not think the water and earth ones are likely
I don't really have any real evidence to suggest that these are the 4 spiritual types of bending but I do think thematically they fit. And the two you think are unlikely I have a good reason for why I don't think anyone would naturally learn to use them to time or space travel naturally
I started thinking about this as the solution to the "Where does Aang go during the build up to Sozin's comet?" that I hadn't seen a satisfactory answer for, he's explicitly said to not be on earth. And I wondered too about the whole advanced air bending technique of Asteral projection which leads neatly to spirit lasers and suddenly I had 3 mysterious powers, 2 definitely seemed to align nicely with elements, one Explicit, Astral projection is advanced air bending and one that's almost explicit, Fire is Energy Fire is Life. So teleportation? Well that doesn't fit as it is but if I change the perspective to what would be extensions that could fit Water and Earth to allow teleportation? the answer almost became obvious that Space would fit with earth, having a place to stand and if space why not Time, they're usually paired up and they're not opposites they're perpendicular like earth and water in the avatar cycle.
Together time, Space, Energy and Spirit are the 4 forces that allow a universe to exist and be experienced, take any one away and well you have a universe with no when, no where, no stuff (matter is energy in our world e=mc2) or no life. But calling them Time, Space, Energy and Spirit they wouldn't have that equal and opposite feeling I get from Water Earth Fire and Air. But alignment between the first 4 and second 4 is pretty strong in my opinion.
Water and fire, air and earth are opposite pairs so if I was going to come up with some names for their spiritual counterparts them they'd have to be opposite pairs too, I started with the easier pair, Time and Energy, well they don't have the same ring as Time and Space but they are in balance to make something happen you can either give it enough time or apply enough force, I loosely justified keeping this pair's names the same. But Spirit and Space? I had to rethink a bit. What makes them opposite? with astral projection that's ripping apart the body and spirit while teleportation and the idea of bridging worlds (we have the spirit portals after all) seems to be connecting things together, imposing a rigid structure where none otherwise would be and these fit with Air and Earth too, Air is freedom, while Earth is structure. Air is Chaotic and Earth is Orderly or at least can be ordered. So Chaos and Order might make good names for their spirit bending forms. They don't quite keep the idea of Spirit and Space as the names but I feel they could in a spiritual sense fill the same purposes.
On the other video I also commented the connection between Order and Chaos with connection and separation pulling on Raava and Vaatu, Vaatu becomes more powerful when separated from Raava while Raava in her era was more powerful when the two are united and Vaatu is inside her waiting to emerge once more.
And so I came up with an Origin for the Avatar universe based on the 4 Physical Elements and the 4 Spiritual ones, it's turtles all the way down:
I don't think there was a "before time", I think the elements were made together in the avatar universe, Chaos and Order, Energy and Time, Air and Earth, Fire and Water. And the first 4 reflect the latter 4, Air is turbulent and Chaotic, Earth can be crystalline, structured and ordered, Fire is life and energy, while Time and water both flow inexorably and unstoppably.
The Lion Turtles are the Oroborus. They're ancient because they came from the future to guide the earliest eras, to protect and guide the humans that eventually gave rise to them even passing on the spiritual forms of bending to humans as they become useful, since humans will later show them the ways of spiritual bending perhaps when humans have abandoned the physical bending abilities as too volatile for them to handle.
I think this preserves a lot of cannon too, for example what the lion turtle says to Aang with the interpretation that before the era of humans (in Raava's era) and before they (the lion turtles) discovered the (physical) elements (from the original benders (fish, bison, dragon, badger mole) and their own ways to use them while remaining at balance) they (the lion turtles) bent not the elements but the energies (the 4 spiritual elements) within themselves. And the Patterns on the Lion Turtles that reflect Raava and Vaatu might be an artefact of the lion turtle's balance and control over chaos and order, while each of them has life they support on their backs trees as representations of the tree of time and animals for their actions represent energy. Life on the backs of the turtles develops it's own balance with the turtle proving the turtle's inner balance.
Finally I think that Any one of the spirit powers might be accessible to any person independent of their physical bending abilities and the Avatar can access all four if they are taught how. You don't even need to be a bender to asteral project as Zaher presumably proved by going to the spirit realm before harmonic convergence and elemental alignment doesn't matter since Iroh visited the spirit realm and decided to leave his body to die. The alignment of spiritual elements might change over time for a person maybe leading them to their abilities in spirit matters to change depending on their own balance.
Air nomads often detatch themselves from the phyisical so the air/chaos alignment is common. Again this chaotic alignment fits Zaher as a revolutionairy and Iroh after his son's death through him into chaos and he stopped believing that fire is the only source of strength.
The other nations are focused on the physical and attachment, any nation or individuals intent on imposing or keeping order is aligned with order, this is true for earth, fire and water nations each maintaining their own order throughout the series or trying to impose it on others but they're so focused on the order physically they might never explore the spiritual side that could lead to teleportation. I think this is why we're never likely to see teleportation to arise naturally, to be so aligned with order that you can use it precludes discovering it by breaking what you believe to be the order of the world.
Becoming aligned with time might happen when the people become relaxed, laid back and passive, if this passivity is in spiritual matters too they might be letting the opportunity pass while letting the will of others define them, not having the drive to explore their abilities with time even while they subjectively shorten their own lives by making the times they're subjugated feel smaller. And one of water's physical abilities might be spiritual too using time to heal wounds. There may be another watery element to time too, the most aged people we see I think are GramGram, Paku (both the same generation as Azulon), Katara, Toph, Zuko (in their 90s presumably 75 years after the end of the war) and King Bumi (110 after the war like Aang), I don't think it's mere coincidence that three are water tribe and the fourth lives in the swamp spending her time relaxing and listening to the world, Zuko has passed on his repsonsibilities too taking a back seat in world affairs and Bumi has mastered being passive even when given the chance to be released from the fire nation he prefers to wait. I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to say they might be using their spiritual bending to prolong their time. Though again they're ordered in their thinking, they don't see the possibility for the most advanced time bending. This might also explain how Aang might have remained untouched by time in the iceburg too.
This leaves very few people aligned with energy to be able to master that sort of bending, energy maybe connected to personality and spirit by a drive to protect life, only the avatar really has that as an overwelming spiritual drive with their job being to be the bridge between worlds
. They protect lives even at the cost of their own, this might be why the Avatar is the only one who's able to be taught how to energy bend and take away bending abilities.
(Edit how could I have forgotten King Bumi)
The end is honestly super soothing.
Also, fun voice actor fact: the guy who voiced the lion turtle also voiced Gantu in Lilo & Stitch (I think in the series, not the movie? I'm not sure.)
fairycatLJT He does a lot of great work.
Love ur vids
For the longedt time, I thought it was “touch the poison of hatred”
early earl Yeah, that’s actually what appears in the novelization. Go back to the beginning of the video and pause when the pages are displayed from that scene.
After rewatching the series for the 5th time, looking deeply at the hero’s journey, and deeply at my own growth, I get it.
There is something very powerful about someone who has a a genuine spirit, by that I mean, someone who embraces virtue but knows the capacity of evil. When in the face of someone like that you feel humbled, because nothing you can say or do will shake that person.
In the case of Aang. It is Deus ex Machina because the Lion Turtle intervened and gave him the power. However, I agree that it does carry the theme of the story in that Aang, the last of his kind, wanted to hold onto the beliefs of his people. So the universe sent him an alternative. If we didn’t go on Aang’s journey with the past Avatar’s and him wrestling with the question on if he should kill the Fire Lord then it would have been cheap but because we see him wrestling with it I’d say it’s earned.
Sometimes I'm not sure if Aang really did the right thing here. I mean on one hand he stuck to his guts and didn't let the last relic of Air Nomad culture die but at the same time in some contexts, it's the selfish thing to do. Sometimes you have to concede what you want (of course the extremities of that are being a wuss so maybe not too much.) It's a thonker.
Yeah, that's what Avatar Yangchen was saying in the show - that the Avatar has to sacrifice their own spiritual needs to protect the world. It's quite controversial.
Holy crap I’ve been watching your videos for a while, but this video made me subscribe. This is so good, and it makes so much sense
Always was confused about the Lion Turtles and what they represented
I always thought they were there to show powers older than the avater, maybe even older than humankind itself. A conscience before ours. And a way to explain certain plotpoints like how the avatar cane to be.
Something that I like about energy bending is the implications it has regarding the avatar state. For most of the series, aang entering the avatar state is usually framed tragically. His eyes are flooded with light and his face obscured in shadow, giving him a menacing appearance. He usually appears only partially aware of his actions, sometimes giving over control to a past life or spirit, and often needs someone else to pull him out of the avatar state. He almost always enters the avatar state in response to some trauma or painful event.
All of these elements together give the impression that the avatar state is something terrible, and negative, despite how useful it is.
How does this tie into energy bending? Well we know the avatar state is a state that allows the avatar to tap into the knowledge and abilities of all previous avatars simultaneously. The avatar essentially has hundreds of other voices whispering in his ear and telling him what to do. Like energy bending, I imagine that mastery of the avatar state requires intense focus and sense of self, in order to avoid being overwhelmed or overtaken by the avatar’s past lives. This is why for most of the series, aang can only enter the avatar state either through the assistance of an outside influence (allowing his chi to be bent by another) or in periods of intense anger (adrenaline increases his focus allowing him to imperfectly bend the avatar state to his will).
This is also why guru Pathik’s method of mastering the avatar state is franed negatively. Instead of aang mastering himself and learning to enact his will, Pathik’s method involves aang giving himself over to the avatar state and becoming an instrument of its will. The visualization of this method literally shows aang’s astral form being subsumed by a larger astral representation of the avatar state.
When aang defeats Ozai, in addition to mastering energy bending, he also masters the avatar state, demonstrating this by refusing to allow the other avatars to kill ozai, and bringing himself out of the avatar state without draining his chi (aang usually collapses after using the avatar state, but remains stable and calm after sparing Ozai).
Granted, the show could have done a way better job communicating all of this, but I do think aang’s arc in sozin’s comet is better then a lot of fans give it credit for.
Mishka is still in the description 😭😭
Mishka is still with us, now a deity to be worshipped, still our supreme leader.
Mishka has transcended the physical plane, but that does not mean they are gone. Mishka has just risen to become a full deity, rather than a mere supreme leader. #AllHailMishka
good to have you, all hail the even more supreme Mishka
"I got to go do lion turtle things. Like meowing at a rock." My cat meows at rocks... is my cat a lion turtle?
Also idk why, but that last part of the video of you just eating bread, as the names of all the individuals that support your patreon scroll on through, made me feel so content.
Great video man, glad your back at it!
#LongLivetheKing!
I always wondered, why didn't Aang take away the bending from Azula?
I guess he never had to. She was broken by the end of her agni kai.
Thank you for all the info you put in the description. Like, obviously thank you for the awesome videos themselves, but I just extra appreciate when people give credit for music and artwork and such [:
Can I buy it from someplace other than amazon? Book Depository, maybe? I live in New Zealand so postage breaks the bank :)
Same situation in Brazil... Bummer
The "type" of chi you mention might just be the type of bending you have. And possibly the energy bending might be able to give bending powers to people that didn't have it, like the lion turtles can do.