EDIT: Parts of this video around 12:30 and 42:40 were claimed, so I had to cut those bits out sadly. Basically, I talked about how Kyoshi learned immortality from a philosopher called Lao Ge, and how Amon = Bathroom (fun dumb theory). But that's why it jumps weirdly. What else would YOU put on the iceberg? Your own theories? Little known things about the show? Tell me down below! Stay nerdy! ~ Tim
cabbage merchant is an unwitting important informant of the white lotus, and they fund his business a way to use him to infiltrate and trade via cabbage spy techniques, and he became a chain of busineses to fully become a front for the white lotus spy activities.
i disagree that gyatso sucks the air out of the firebender. that method is too slow. i think he did the opposite, rupturing their lungs with high pressure air.
There are 2 weird theories I remember hearing. One saying all composting benders are reincarnations of the same person who merged with a spirit and one who says that Avatars have the face of the loved ones for the Avatar right before them. By the way amazing video. My favorit of the ones you showed is the one who said that Sky Bisons have human intelligens. My least favorit is the one about the twin Avatars.
The idea that each Avatar is doomed to fix the mistakes of the previous simply makes sense from a simple cause and effect perspective. Whenever an Avatar dies, it's another 16ish years until a new Avatar takes the stage. Anything left undone or mistakes made by the previous Avatar are going to have all that time to fester and grow.
Even just a normal cause/effect, passing of power thing. I mean you see it with presidents (or other country leaders). Leader one messes up the economy -> Leader 2 tries to fix it but ends up ruining international relationships -> Leader 3 has to try and repair those relations but neglects another area; and so on and so on. It’s not destiny or purpose, it’s just normal progression
I kind of see it as that the problems are too large and complex for the Avatar to actually fix all at once, so no matter what the Avatar accomplishes... It's like that stage act with the spinning plates on poles, and there are too many poles, and the plates too heavy, for the Avatar to get everything spinning nicely at once, much less keep them going. It is for this and other reasons that I expected the resolution of LoK to be that either Korra would end up Vessel to both Raava and Vaatu (thereby giving her a power boost and/or restoring balance), or that Asami would become a (non-evil) Dark Avatar, who would work together with the Light Avatar, allowing them to get a better handle on everything.
One thing I LOVE about Kyoshi living so long is the effect it has on the next nation in the cycle. The Fire Nation under Sozin probably felt a bit miffed that they hadn’t gotten to have THEIR Avatar. So when it finally passed to Ruku, that probably plays in to why Sozin expects Ruku to basically work for him. It’s their TURN, after that unnaturally long time with the Earth Kingdom having their turn. Even if Kyoshi never did anything to favor the Eatth Kingdom, Sozin probably heard from his father about how she DID and how it wasn’t fair that an Earth Bender got this office for so long.
Maybe not because before sozin the fire nation was self contained and flourishing (the avatar and the firelord) maybe Sozin wasn't taught that philosophy about the Avatar. Also that projects the idea that the fire nation was always evil which is subjectively false.
@@jonathangamboa8605 I don’t think it means that the Fire Nation was evil all along, just that some resentments built up over time. And they the Fire Lords may have felt this more, being the group that would see themselves as the possible beneficiaries of having an Avatar. It’s probably more a Fire Lord thing until Sozin starts the war, he probably stokes resentments on purpose.
In the Kyoshi’s novel, it is revealed that the previous Fire Avatar DID kind of work for the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord to bring the conflicting factions together. Sozin probably presumed it would be like this again.
Personally, I just think Aang omitted from memory that Boomie was of royal blood, because monks don't really care about such things. That's the justification my head came up with when I watched the episode, and I've never really questioned it. It's not an unusual portrayal of young princes to treat their home turf as a playing grounds either, since what guard wants to get in the way of a royal? Aang remembers the important parts only: He met a goofy kid, and they had a blast.
I never thought over much of who young Bumi was, but I assumed his character informed his rule. He was a good person in his heart of hearts, an unapologetic jokester but a nice guy. I find it hard to believe he ruled by conquest. I feel if he was not already in line to rule, then probably he ruled because the people asked him to. If people need leadership and someone displays the talents and ideas that will help them, they will follow that someone traditions be damned.
That's what I always assumed too, but I like this idea of Bumi taking the throne much better. And thinking about it now, he wasn't exactly dressed as a royal was he? He looked very much like a scraggly commoner. And Aang never asks if the King knows/knew Bumi, which does suggest that Bumi wasn't connected or a royal. So there's definitely a lot of space for the idea that Bumi wasn't a royal. Imo Bumi as a revolutionary actually makes sense--it adds to how impactful his character is, how larger than life his impact was, etc. And he did seem well acquainted with how to take a city...and with all his talk of patience, it makes you wonder what he'd waited for before, when was the last time he'd found the right moment to strike. I kinda love this theory now.
My favorite fun fact about ATLA is that Toph is the only earth bender who uses a style inspired by the southern prey mantis kung fu style. When the creators picked this style for her they didn't know that the legend was that a blind woman came up with the style.
@@Benn1to First of all, there's no need to make it racial. Second, Sokka's dad was around. Sokka felt loved, respected his father while he was gone, and got to be with him in the end. Katara was the one that was hurt by his absence, but she got better.
@@riceball1093 Although Toph as a parent wanted her kids to have a free life meaning she wouldn't have to boss them around because Toph didn't wanna be like her parents like being very very strict, and because of that her kids wanted to have attention from their own mother because they felt her distancing from her own family (Correct me if I'm wrong but thats what I know or at least assume)
I have a slightly odd headcanon about the death of Iroh's son. My read is that Iroh's army surprised Ba Sing Se and had a good chance to take it, but the Earth Kingdom was able to shore up the defenses and close off the opportunity. The battle was lost, and a wise man would have ordered his army to retreat and tried again in a few years. But Iroh was not yet wise. Unwilling to return home in shame and convinced of his destiny to take the city, he ordered a risky assault that was guaranteed high casualties, but had a tiny sliver of a chance of success. The assault failed, his son was killed, and the grief-stricken Iroh called for the march home that he should have ordered at the start. What I like about this interpretation is that the son's death is not a random consequence of battle, but a direct result of Iroh's choices. He knew that retreat was both the rational and the moral thing to do, but his pride and fear of dishonor caused him to throw away other people's lives and lose his son in the process. It fits very well with what he becomes and how he treats Zuko, because he knows that "honor" isn't worth sacrificing your loved ones.
the only problem i see with this is that in the tales of ba sing se, iroh says "if only i could have helped you" right before the 3 am depression hits, which wouldn't add up if iroh could have actually prevented it, and chose not to for his country.
The Azula's servant not being real makes so much sense... It would be interesting if there were more scenes with azula hallucinating in some way that we haven't found yet.
It's actually somewhat canon that not following the airbender ways can weaken their bending; Kyoshi's mother was a bandit and because of her life style her airbending was weak to the point she had to use the iconic fans her daughter would go on to use just to use her bending. So it's likely the other forms of bending would have the same problem.
The same happened to Zuko after he joined Team Avatar. His firebending became severely weakened because he lost sight of his inner fire which orignally was hunting Aang
Rather than twin avatars, I think it would be interesting to explore twins where one of them is the avatar. One of them had all of this expectation and attention put on them and the other one was basically left in the wayside, maybe even was a non-bender. I think that would be a really interesting dynamic to explore.
Id rather it be the Avatar has a twin who is really good at their element but, in fact better than the Avatar at that particular one, however is always overshadowed.
If Ty Lee has air nomad heritage, I think it actually adds narrative poignancy and tragedy to the story. It means that she's raised without knowledge of her heritage by the very people who tried to destroy it and who may admire it, but only a watered-down version. Being away from air nomad culture deprives her of the ability to manifest airbending powers. She then spends almost the entire series under the thumb of the Fire Nation's knife (Azula) and has to minimize any potential perception of being a threat by maintaining an image of being a harmless novelty. That she's able to non-violently and without use of bending change the course of the war and disable Azula, the active heir to the throne, is pretty powerful and her act of agency in defying Azula parallels Aang's decision to stay true to himself and not kill Ozai.
During Aangs time every air nomad was an airbender so no Ty Lee has no connection to air nomads at all, the only reason for this is literally the fact her face looks like Aangs.
I also think her having air nomad heritage would be interesting because she’s an incredible acrobat and spent most of her career ‘flying’ through the air
It reminds me of how cultures can become “novelties” (for lack of a better word) such as Japonisme in 19th century France that influenced art and culture immensely. The people of France at that time knew the origins of the art and clothing and materials, but follow the generations long enough and the cultural ancestry can be lost. Now think of this in the context of a colonial or imperial invasion, and the products, techniques, knowledge may survive to be integrated, but the spirituality that grew these cultural touchstones are forgotten or actively discarded. Obviously, there are a lot of examples of both cultural evolutions throughout history, Japonisme is just one I happen to be familiar with and have experienced that spiritual disconnect. (I love the Impressionist & Post-Impressionist movements and am fascinated by Japanese art and culture, but didn’t know for years that they were inherently linked.) Anyway, I find it fascinating that even if Ty Lee isn’t a descendant of the Air Nomads, she may have a cultural heritage that was heavily influenced by elements of them.
The theory about momo being Gyatso is so cute cause the whimsical little song they play when momo is being silly is the same one from the time Aang tells us about the pies they'd make to toss on to the other monks. ❤❤❤ Also, with Tai Lee, the show is The Last AirBender. Not The Last Air Nomad Decendent, so that totally makes sense. She looks like a female version of Aang. Literally
There’s a couple other characters that look a lot like Aang too. The girl with the braids on the fortuneteller episode and the dusty boy in the painted lady episode come to mind. Very round faces and bigger than average eyes. Also maybe The Duke from Jett’s crew?
@@DropIt56also that Tai Lee and Aang are the only people with gray eyes (if I remember correctly) while the majority of fire nation civilians have yellow eyes, it would be a cool detail for Tai Lee to have ancestry with Air Nomads
Also one of the best theories I don’t think you covered is the theory that zuko was trained to be an assassin. He has a large number of unusual skills that many other people either don’t know about, or never comment on. For example, his extraordinary stealth skills, and skill with his broadswords. Zuko is an incredibly skilled broadsword fighter, something that even in the fire nation must have been remarkable, and yet nobody knows this, admiral zhao for example does not.
Zuko and Azula both seem to have a significant amount of non-bending combat training, given how well Azula held up against Aang, Toph and Sokka during the Eclipse. Sure, she had Dai Li agents, but she still did pretty damn well. Also, when they were kids, we see Zuko play fighting with the knife Iroh gave him, and we see Azula humiliate Zuko multiple times by being the better firebender. I think Zuko sought out more training because he was desperate to be better than Azula at *something,* but was too ashamed to admit it. Although the assassin idea does have some interesting merit given that neither Ozai or Azula (or Zhao) had already used Combustion Man as a tool in the hunt for the Avatar or the war. You'd think they wouldn't want that weapon to go to waste. So how is it that Zuko was the only one who seemed to know about him?
@@wafflingmean4477 i feel like that gives additional merit to the theory as it suggests that zuko has some connections allowing him to find assassins/ bounty hunters like combustion man Just saying though the skills line up remarkably well, I also do not think azula has really any non bending training, it’s just that bending being a martial art imparts a certain level of nonbending martial skill
Everyone in the capital city is well-trained...remember Azula, Ty and Mai attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. I assume Zuko attended the boys academy. In the Kyoshi novels they tell us that the curriculum includes everything from combat/weapons to politics and diplomacy, the customs of every nation.
@@wafflingmean4477 Yeah, a Combustion Bender doing his own thing is interesting and odd in the Fire Nation where the military would've showered him in honor for joining them. So yeah, probably just a Bounty-Hunter or League of Assassins sort of thing, or he just keeps a low profile and so it takes a sneaky guy like Zuko and those who know how to keep quiet in order to pill him for a contract. Maybe the Fire Nation DID have him help military options at some point but he was merely a Mercenary for tougher battles. Not sure why not keep him but... well actually, with his abilities, best not to anger him.
Alright so the blue fire has been touched on by the creators themselves and here's the actual reason. They decided to make her fire blue for a number of reasons, one being to distinguish between the two main firebenders being Zuko and Azula. Second they used the blue fire because that shows it's hotter. They wanted to show how much pure rage and hate she had. Which paired well with her whole unraveling at the end of season 3. They also planned the big anime battle between her and her brother and they decided before it even was made that it would be cool to have a good distiguish of clashing colors. All of this information was revealed in the original Avatar disks with the creator commentary.
@@bruhincarnate5431 I don't know, I only know the directors wanted a main clash along with to show the strength of the fire. It also could be a reference to the dragons as there's a blue dragon that up until the sun masters episode was azula in zuko's dream. So that could have something to do with it. I just know they chose blue to show a contrast and to show how much pure hatred she had.
“yea i think your friend just said that genius. and since u cant see i should tell you im rolling my eyes”. like he literally made a joke about ur first point and said all the rest with his other points
44:20 hold on, I cannot believe that Koh the Facestealer only showed up for one episode. He's so memorable, I for sure thought he appeared in at least 3 episodes
He showed up in flash backs only and episode recaps... but his only speaking line was at the end of Chapter One. They did some pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing in that episode when flashing over the faces of those who would be lost to the water tribe... I was hoping for more of Koh myself because let's face it... he's creepy scary and his voice actor was spot on. (And I realized I did an unintentional pun there! lol)
Fun fact: Air nomads can eat meat, they're taught not to raise much of a fuss when eating at another's table. So if meat cannot be separated out its no big deal. So it's entirely possible Aang just didn't wanna raise any issue in those circumstances.
@@CluelessCarter yes, all aur nomads are vegetarian. Eating meat occasionally when it's inconvenient otherwise wouldn't change that for them. It's in Dawn of Yangchen, she says so to put others at ease.
Yangchen states that it is taught at the western air temple that eating meat is okay if it’s all that’s available for sharing, but aang is from the southern temple which may not have engaged in this teaching. I think it was a teaching specific to the western temple bc yangchen specifies it that way (otherwise she would’ve just said it’s something air nomads believe but she specifically says it’s something the western temple believes)
It would make a lot of sense in a world where food takes a lot more effort to produce. Also, wasting food would be a much bigger no-no in times like that.
One that would be pretty high up on the iceberg is that Zaheer was supposed to be Korra's airbending teacher. Recall that the initial plan of the Red Lotus was to kidnap Korra as a child to raise her, indoctrinating her into being an avatar that follows their view of the world. Raising the avatar would require a teacher for each element, and the core red Lotus group fits that perfectly: one waterbender, one earthbender, one firebender and... Zaheer. Zaheer clearly having extensive knowledge about airbending culture and teachings, it suggests that he was meant to be Korra's airbending teacher. This also explains why he was able to pick up on airbending so much faster than the other new airbenders (the second best probably being Kai, far behind) since he would have already been exposed to the theory behind airbending, as a martial art. This one is almost textual, but many people still miss it.
@Grim he wasn't an air bender before harmonic convergence. the idea was that he was so well educated on air bender history, culture and technique that he would have been able to teach Korra himself, despite not being an airbender
The sky bison don’t just simply fly with airbending, they aren’t blasting air currents, bending an air ball or generating lift under winds like aang does. They float, just like we see Zahir do in LoK. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, rather a reflection of their worldly/spiritual connection as you say.
Playing devil’s advocate, as I mostly agree with this theory, but it does leave one snag: The bison that live with the nomads absolutely have “earthly tethers” in the form of their partnered nomad. This bond very well recognized, as one of the nuns told Aang “Choose well, a sky bison is a companion for life!” and we see how distressed Appa is when separated from Aang (in brutal, heart-wrenching detail) I’m willing to look past that and say bison just circumvent the rule of “no earthly tethers” somehow, but yeah. Not exactly a perfect fit.
@@clintonjefferson6494 A dragon should be able to lightning bend in Avatar. The moon should also be able to blood bend. Badger moles should be able to metal and lava bend. Airbison flying with attachments is peak airbending.
@@starkid910 Air Bison Start unattached and adapt to having connections. Even then they namely partner with kindred spirits, so Airbenders are far less of an attachment than normal people.
16:34 I take issue with "Gyatso is a Murderer". Gyatso may be a killer, but not a murderer. He killed in self-defense which makes his many kills not murder.
@@HelloFutureMe I'm at 1:12:27 and I have a similar issue with "Aang is a Murderer" too I guess... of course the Aang-OceanSpirit fusion killed a bunch of fire nation invaders, but those were invaders and it was self-defense (also Aang wasn't himself there but whatever). Same at the Northern Air Temple and other Fire Nation attacks, those were invaders and it was self-defense. (This might fall under suspension-of-disbelief but I do believe there were no people there at the factory when they destroyed it). The only time I can think of where Aang, as himself, killed anything and it wasn't self-defense, was when he probably killed a Buzzard-Wasp in the Desert that was just trying to fly away and escape. But... I don't think of that as murder because that Buzzard-Wasp wasn't a person. So similarly to Gyatso, I'd be willing to say Aang might have killed but it wasn't murder.
@@zeallust8542 The only one that seems wholly unnecessary to me (not defense) is the one on the Buzzard-Wasp which was just trying to fly away. What other ones do you think?
One thing I like to think about Gyatso and the dead fire benders is since he's an air nomad and doesn't do violence is that he bended the air in a way where anybody in that room could not breathe including himself. Leaving a way for the fire benders to leave but they wanted to invade and kill every air bender so they wouldn't leave and suffocated there with him. I think this because of the way he's posed just sitting or even meditating there without any signs of being attacked
Not only that, but if he somehow created a vacuum inside that room, firebending would be impossible. Fire needs oxygen to fuel it so it would make sense why there's no singe marks on his body
2 ปีที่แล้ว +9203
Iroh is actually not a war criminal. Can't break the Geneva conventions if they don't exist in your world! ;)
Ahhh I love this absurd line of thinking, especially when applied to Star Wars characters lol. Like they (not just the Empire, some Jedi actions actually count) sure as hell are breaking *something* even if it's not explicitly named. "Good taste" maybe?
I see Aang resolving the situation with energybending (thematically rather than nominally) is a refusal for him to let Ozai take the last of his culture. Air benders were pacifists who valued all life, and the Fire Nation wiped them all out... Aang is not just an air nomad by blood but his culture. Also re: blue fire - blue fire it hotter because it's complete combustion, so it absolutely is gonna be because Azula is perfect lol.
@@robertharris6092yep and yet she's revered as one of the best avatars and Kuruk was shamed for doing nothing in the mortal realm (despite the fact he had to patch up things in the spirit world specifically because of Yangchen's neglect of it)
@@X-SPONGEDin tier lists i'd put kuruk at S when it comes to doing his avatar job along with aang (ended 100 year war and founded republic city), kyoshi (basically 200 years of stability), and maybe korra since she was able to bring peace between humans and spirits existing in the same world
Damn, that moment in the comics when Ozai flatout told Zuko that he nearly just threw the infant Zuko into the ocean, that his sister didn't need that luck and then say "She was born lucky, you were lucky to be born". No wonder he turned out like he did. Just imagine hearing your father that your sister was born lucky, but that you were lucky to have even been born without being immediately thrown off a cliff.
The short: Ursa thought Ozai was reading her letters to her hometown sweetheart, and so put something in the letter that would be so shocking Ozai would show his hand- that she was pregnant with her sweetheart's child, not Ozai's. Ozai was reading her letters, and was extremely pissed, and even after confronting Ursa for the truth, he takes it out on Zuko.
It always gets me how people are so confused about Sozin's "weird firebending." Even as a kid, it was blatantly obvious to me that he was merely siphoning the heat to cool the lava down.
Can we please talk about how he put a whole different series in this, that’s js like comparing Elmo in it and saying it’s js a shittier adaptation to the avatar the Airbender
I’m pretty sure the reason Aang died at 60 was more to do with him already having lived a century frozen in ice, not the Avatar State. I think the Nickelodeon website even had a Korra web game where she says “his time in the iceberg caught up with him”.
The avatar state is incredibly powerful though, and probably did some damage being stuck in it for 100 years. The older he got, the less his body was able to compensate
In season 3 episode 4,Tenzin Says "luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka and I were there to stop them": referring to Zaheer, pi'li Gazen, and Minua. Meaning Sokka was there when the red lotus tried to kidnap 3 year old Korra.
Okay ngl, I completely misread the quote and thought Tenzin was talking with Fire Lord Izumi for some reason because of "your father, Lord Zuko." Then I saw Korra mentioned and for a split second had the thought of a massive, completely nonsensical twist...that Korra is the daughter of Zuko 😅
I'd like to add a fantheory: the bending in original atla is smaller because of the war. People don't get the opportunity to practise their bending in the same way due to the brutal fire-nation suppression.
@@tanner201x8 Soldiers would have time to train, but how many armies are active when looking at the show? Omashu, Ba Sing Se, that one army camp where the avatar state episode happened, and Kyoshi are the only ones I can think of outside of the fire nation. Plus, basic training for an army grunt wouldn't be the same as the type of development that would take place when bending is explored as an artform during peacetime.
Okay. I have to add something. On the "Sokka and Suki boned" theory, the joke here is that, when Zuko walked into the tent, Sokka accidentally ate a flower, symbolizing "deflowering," and then the next morning, the necklace he's wearing is called a Lei, which is pronounced as "lay," and so, he got "leied."
its just a coincidence bro "lei" could just be some random pinyin syllable that means smth even though it is pronounced the same as "lay" does not mean it got "layed"
I definitely think Mai was Zukos wife or at least the mother of Izumi. Izumi translates to spring or fountain in Japanese and one of the beginning moments in Zuko and Mai's childhood relationship was when Azula tricked them into falling into a fountain together
i think understanding and accepting that iroh has done bad things is exactly the point of avatar, one of the grand lessons it tries to teach you. doing something bad is not inherently evil, but not learning from that mistake is. such as aang running away from the temple before the war started, but then fighting ozai in the end. iroh was a war criminal, he killed people and conquered nations. but by the time we see him in avatar, he has already taken his journey to become better. we wouldn’t have uncle iroh as such an important mentor to zuko without him having been a general.
"iroh was a war criminal, he killed people and conquered nations" - Being a general and fighting a war is not a war crime. There is no evidence of Iroh committing or condoning war crimes. A war crime is something like pretending to be the enemy by wearing their colors/flag/insignia. (Geneva Convention, Article 39(2) 1997 Additional Protocol I) -- You know, like Sokka does in the Mechanist's war balloon. Chemical warfare is also a crime. (1925 Geneva Protocol) -- You know, like when Sokaa and the Mechanist dump chemicals out of their war balloon onto the enemy.
@@Andlekin no way you’re defending fire nation rn 💀💀 okay, maybe i can give you that “war criminal” is incorrect by modern political application as per the geneva convention, but iroh was not in the right whatsoever. yes, he was a hero to the fire nation. the dragon of the west, the only one to get close to penetrating ba sing se before Aang’s return as the avatar. all are exceptional merits if you’re thinking in terms of him being a fire nation general. but the simple fact is- the fire nation is the oppressor. they’re the aggressor, the ones who started the war over greed and a lust for power. the fundamentals of fire nation are inherently corrupt and immoral when compared to the ethics of the rest of the A:TLA world. though unconfirmed, it goes without saying that iroh probably commanded his armies to pillage and/or burn earth kingdom villages for supplies and information, he may have even had a hand in some of the first raids on the southern water tribe, as was usual with war before this modern era of the UN or NATO. the fire nation system at the time iroh was a war general would have been focused on oppressing uprisings and chipping away at major earth kingdom cities left after the first years of the war. (Omashu, Ba Sing Se, etc.) which means that anyone who had any information on these cities, or any villages that they found on the way, would have been taken under fire nation control as iroh pressed his armies further into the earth kingdom. quite literally- if not a war criminal by modern standards, iroh was most certainly responsible for an uncountable amount of deaths during his time as general, as well as colonizing an unknown amount of villages under the oppressive regime that the fire nation army had become. what i was saying in the original post was that all of this is fuel for the man he becomes later. he knows he was wrong, he knows he shouldn’t have pride for his nation because of what he’s done. it’s why he chooses pacifism in every scenario unless Zuko is in direct trouble. him having this history of being the very thing he now despises is what makes him wise. it’s what makes him a good mentor to Zuko. if he had just been some guy- never in line for the throne, never a general, nothing- then his wisdom would feel unearned. unwarranted. but the fact that he had this life of a very successful general and threw it away when he realized he was wrong (only by losing his son, by the way), makes him one of the most well-rounded and empathetic characters in media (to me at least).
@@EMMCNE Bruh. Not you going on a whole ass rant over nothing. They were just saying there is no evidence Iroh was a war criminal. They never said he was a good person for participating in the war. They never said the Fire Nation was in the right. All they said was that Iroh was not a war criminal, which is true.
What I think helps the cherry pit servant not being real theory is that, when we see Azula in Book Three Fire, Chapter Nine where her hair is being combed, we see only two servants... and those two servants look exactly like the ones that looked concerned and shocked, and at first we might think it's shock because another servant is being banished, but it could also be shock because no one is there.
I‘ve always know that Avatar is great, but this video opened my eyes to more subtext. Your observation is even another one. I don‘t get this Easter egg thing in e.g. Marvel movies. But observations like this cherry pit scene make me feel so satisfied.
I was actually thinking about Zuko stepping down. What if it links to the promise he made Aang make. After his passing nearly 20 years ago, Zuko still being Zuko wouldn't fully trust himself even after decades of ruling like a good Fire Lord. Suddenly his friend is gone that promised to remove him and not trusting he wouldn't start acting like his father or more closely as his great grandfather Sozin, he steps down and passes it peacefully to his daughter. The past constantly plagues Zuko so in this single act, he removes himself from power to potentially do harm and peacefully passes the title to his daughter, unlike how its passed down the last few generations. He keeps a promise to a dear and loved friend while in a single move ends a horrific cycle that almost is a second rebirth of the Fire Nation, with the first being Zuko ending a 100 year war. Think it would be a nice canon.
I like to believe that. It also gives extra agency to why his daughter (or was it granddaughter?) chose to opt out of that signicant political decision in LOK on behalf of the Fire Nation. She seemed to have a deep understanding of her nation's history and past consequences, which I reckon was personally passed down to her from Zuko himself.
@@K11NNGG Counterpoint- Aang stopped the Fire LORD, but someone ordered the Fire Nation military to cease hostilities... and I'mma guess that was Zuko.
@@Sephiroth144 Correct. Most soldiers would comply due to loyalty to the Royal Family and the threat of the new Fire Lord + Avatar coming for you if you didn't. It is also likely that regular grunts would feel pity/respect for Zuko, knowing he earned his scar thanks to intervening in a meeting that would have sent hundreds of soldiers to their deaths. Finally, he kept up with, and even surpassed, the legendary Azula. Everyone would know that Zuko isn't a pushover and challenging him directly would lead to a perfect case of FAFO.
Gyatso being White Lotus... Sounds rather logical. He was able to look out for the Avatar who they knew Aang was because of the whole toy thing and he was able to defeat what Ten(?) Fire Benders at their strongest. All of the White Lotus members we see in _Last Airbender_ are rather strong individuals. So Gyatso playing the White Lotus, being a powerful Bender, having a strong connection with the Avatar... I think it works rather well.
Another thing to point out is the high ranking officials in the White Lotus each represent not only the four nations, but also the bending spectrum. Pakku is a waterbender from the Northern half of the Water Nation, Bumi is a earthbender from the Earth Nation, Iroh and Jeong Jeong are firebenders from the Fire Nation, and Piandao is a nonbending master swordsman from the Fire Nation. It’ll make sense that prior to the genocide there was a high ranking member of the WL that was an airbender, and that airbender was Gyatso. If three of the four types of bending were represented, why would air be excluded prior to the genocide?
I'd add that Aang's biggest mistake was disappearing for so long that colonization happened and war technology developed too much, and this post-war world that lost so much of its cultural heritage led to many people giving up their spiritual roots to rely on modern technology, and Korra's big "fix" was bringing back the spirits (and as a side-effect, the Airbenders). She literally blows a giant spirit hole in the middle of the world's major metropolis.
I agree. It's funny you put fix in quotations, because in my opinion the spirits being plopped in the middle of human civilization or humans in the spirit world isn't the same as teaching them how to be respectful and understanding of them. If I had an opportunity to write that kind of story, I would argue Aang or Korra could've taught them their heritages, histories, and old bending philosophies by starting academies or temples.
@@ThreadBareHope1234 While that's a nice idea, I don't see it being realistic. We see a loss of culture and heritage in the series, like when we see the Fire Nation children don't even know their cultural dances anymore, and while Aang knew some of those dances you can't expect a twelve year old to remember all the culture that was lost during the 100 year war just because he was a nomad. The sad truth is, it might be impossible to open an academy as you suggest because there may be no one alive who knows enough to teach these things. Some things, when lost, are lost forever.
@@vannalaws1692 I’d argue Aang tried to do that with the air nomads, and that was certainly his biggest achievement. Preventing his people from being totally forgotten was a bigger ask than even helping put together the United Republic. I would say that, to some degree, he succeeded. I can’t speak much on Korra, though, since her story isn’t entirely done yet nor have I seen it all.
@@GuiSmith Aang definitely tried to preserve his people's culture, but I think his success in doing so is not directly stated. I could be wrong because I haven't finished the comics yet, but I think he was only partly successful. I also think there's a difference between Aang preserving his own culture as best as he is able and Aang being able to preserve all the cultural heritage that was lost over the 100 year war. I think he was capable of restoring some cultural relics, like Fire Nation dances, but I think it's impossible to restore everything that was lost since the war began.
@@ThreadBareHope1234 The spirit portal was an accident she never meant for it to happen and after that, she was kinda more focused on making sure her Girlfriend and eventual Wife was happy and taken care of and you know caring about her Mentel State which is Kinda Important
The Energy Bending was the perfect ending to the conflict; throughout the entire series Aang was always himself. He walked through a war torn land and met so many enemies on the way and turned most of them into his allies, just by being him. Even in the final battle Aang was himself the entire time, he is allowing his enemy to start a new a see the world in a different way. It is a really beautiful ending, especially for a kids' show, Aang's character is a great representation of resilience and kindness even in the face of darkness. The Lion Turtle is one of my favorite beings in the show, Aang loves riding animals and it was awesome he got to end the show by riding the biggest animal in his world. The Aang as Amon theory is silly, it makes sense if you ignore everything about ATLA and Aang's character. The point of Aang's energy bending was not because he saw it as an impurity but that one person had abused their bending to the point where they didn't deserve it anymore. To think he would attack and harm innocents is really wild. I get it, it was a different time, but to say it is still a solid theory is pretty insane.
On the Kyoshi being 230 years old I always believed it to be a reflection of the next life having something the last didn’t or making up for something in the previous life so as Kuruk died so young, in the next life as Kyoshi she lived so long. Its all about balance
Good catch! I like that one. Would you think then maybe that korra would live a long life? Not really the same as kuruk, but aang seemed to have died young, even though he "lived" for 100+ years. Now that I wrote it, maybe she'll pass away younger, since aang "lived" as long as kyoshi almost. Idk. Fun to think about
That's a nice thought, but it's confirmed in the book that she just decided to live longer. She discovered that through bending, she could essentially recreate the very fiber of her being, her D N A over and over to counter the natural cycle of our cells. If you think about it, Kyoshi is just as much to blame for the loss of the Air Nomads as Roku. Perhaps more so. If she hadn't lived so long, Roku wouldn't have been born during the same time as Sozin. Much less share a birthday or friendship. Kyoshi wouldn't have had such a deep connection to him, been able to do what needed to be done. Too many people give Roku so much flack but forget that Kyoshi herself tried talking Yun down before and during their fight. I wonder then what kind of advice she'd give Roku regarding the situation.
To add onto the "The Cherry Pip Servant Was Never Actually There" theory, I think what could make it dark is that it represents Azula's descent into madness being catalyzed by Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal back at the Boiling Rock. Azula is furious with herself for not seeing the betrayal coming and partly blames herself for not being "aware enough" or whatever to see it coming and prevent it. This is especially impactful because of how much it escalated. Azula and Mai were literally both about to murder each other as Mai had her daggers ready, while Azula's stance and form she took right before Ty Lee chi-blocked her seemed to be the stance and form used for generating lightning. So when Azula is scolding the servant for leaving the cherry pip in the cherry, risking her choking to death, Azula is really scolding herself. She is scolding herself out loud for not being more aware of her surroundings or the dynamics between her and Mai and Ty Lee, allowing Ty Lee to sneak up on her to deliver the chi-block and thereby "choking" in a confrontation she otherwise could have and likely would have won. ( I think this also fits into how much of Azula's descent into madness towards the end of the series involves Azula becoming her own worst enemy.)
@@yveltalsea technically, it is pit, but linguistically, a pip is basically anything small and roundish. Orange seeds are commonly referred to as pips, as are the dots on dice, so referring to a cherry seed as a pip is not incorrect, just unusual.
One of my favorite theories that probably isn't true is that Azulon wasn't going to have Zuko murdered, but rather have him adopted by Iroh. Azulon has just lost his second in line heir to the throne, so why would he have the person who's now third in line murdered? Not only that, but surely he could probably pick up on the fact that Ozai obviously didn't care about Zuko. What better punishment for your second born demanding to be made the heir but to take him out of the line all together? Because even if with the new line up he would be third in line once Zuko had kids they'd be in front of him. We also never actually hear what Azulon was going to do to Zuko. Azula says that he ordered Zuko's death, but Azula is also like nine and sometimes cruel (espically if she's hearing that Zuko is going to manage to somewhat escape their bad home life and leave her behind) and Ozai could have used that lie to manipulate Ursa or simply would plan to have Zuko assassinated, using Ursa to assassinate Azulon and banishing her.
This has been a pet theory of mine for ages! Neatly ties in "Azula always lies" with Ozai's ambition for the throne and faking a will to get Iroh out of the line of succession.
Plus, Azulon told Ozai off for not having sympathy with his brother's loss and the loss of his grandchild. Indicating that he actually valued his grandchildren so killing another one of them would be kind of a faulty conclusion wouldn't it?
I read a fanfic once where they actually played this out. Lots of Fire Nation court intrigue, with Zuko being Zuko and having basically no idea what's going on, it was pretty great.
I always headcanon'd Amon's ability to remove bending as him using blood bending to jam his victims' chakras. Like in the episode where Aang trains with Guru Patik to open his chakras, each one is related to a particular element. And this would explain why Amon didn't take Korra's airbending. He had never tried to remove someone's airbending before, so he didn't think to target that specific chakra. Just an idea :)
Katara's mum's name is Kya. That's why she names her daughter Kya, after her mum. It wasn't just an unused name they finally got to use in lok. In The Southern Raiders, Katara runs to her dad for help and he yells "Kya!"
The twin idea would suck to have the avatar split in 2, but imagine twins and only one of them was the avatar and the other wasn’t a bender at all. Oh my god the drama, the scenes that could happen, the relationship and character developments, imagine an episode where they get along and they have the non-bender pretend to be the avatar for the lolz - I would be down for that
Or perhaps their parents wanted to pretend they’d had two avatars, so the children were forced to always be together, with the true avatar performing bending for the both of them. And the twins having a complicated relationship with their parents because of it, wanting to love them but also detesting them for putting so much pressure on them to keep up a rouse they hardly benefit from.
If, say, the twins were in a royal family it would be cool. The Avatar as Avatar and the non bending twin automatic heir to throne. It would equalise them but create an unholy dynamic for everyone else I'd like to see.
Not to go into crazy detail but I like the idea of Yue sending the meteor because Sokka was searching for purpose after she became the moon. If she loves him, of course she wants to encourage him on his new path. And knowing how he thinks, a meteorite was the perfect gift. It’s unique, strong and the coolest thing he couldve asked for. It would be a beautiful little note.
So what was her thought process? That the meteor would start a fire, and the Gaang would go to put it out, at which point Sokka would feel useless, which would lead to them going shopping to cheer him up, which would lead to him finding a sword he thought looked cool, which would lead to the shop keeper mention its Piandao's sword and mention where he lives and that he's a sword master, which would lead to Katara suggesting Sokka go learn from him, which would lead to Sokka creating his own sword, at which point he would go back to the meteor to get the material? I don't know, it seems highly unlikely she would be able to predict all of that. Not to mention the only thing connecting the meteor and Yue is that they're both from space. We don't even know if she has the power to influence meteors.
@@uncroppedsoop What an intelligent rebuttal. You're right. I can't believe I never thought of it like that. You must be such a genius. P.S.: If you can't tell, this is sarcasm.
So with Zuko as the prince that was promised, I think it goes deeper. The Dragons we see when he regains his fire bending are very clearly the last Dragons in the world. But earlier in that very same episode Zuko is drawn to a golden egg, decades later we see Zuko riding his own dragon that's clearly very different from any dragon we've seen in the series before now. Waking Dragons from stone is zuko bringing back the first new dragon in generations.
@@CyanideOwl Cloning, of course. At the rate the technology's going, I'm sure that'll happen by the next Avatar or two. The dragon will probably be alive by then.
I kind of always liked the idea that because of the way Bumi was unquestioned in his authority that was simply the way Omashu always worked and the previous monarch just really liked Bumi. Like he got brought before the previous monarch for causing trouble in the town and he said "Why don't we play a game? If I win, not only will you let me go free but you'll declare me your heir" monarch laughs and plays the game, Bumi through the game shows his bizarre brand of cunning and the monarch caves out of entertainment
Katara didn't want zuko because she had already crushed on jet and saw what that problem was. Zuko grew *a lot* but she recognized the similarities and cordoned herself off explicitly after his betrayal in the catacombs of ba sing se. Zuko had to work the hardest with her to become even friends (literally zero motive for him, and being willing to back her up with *any* decision she chose). Any passion they could have had was quelled after all of that trauma and work together. And they were both OK with it, bc they had both grown.
@@automatic5 I’m genuinely curious, why do people think the Katara and Zuko ship is better? I’m not asking this as a Aang and Katara shipper, I don’t care for the romance in Avatar/Korra, I’m just genuinely curious. Is it narrative reasons, or is it just for fun?
@@thatoneguy5343 for me it's mostly because katara does like 99% of the emotional work on the relationship with aang . She behave a lot like a mother with a lot of people, but she cover aang a lot . The few time she was angry, aang try to make the peacemaker by dissming what katara said or feel( like at the northern water tribe when she was rightfully angry at paku, aang said " she didn't mean that " when she 100% meant it or when he compare his lost of appa (even if really important, its a pet) to the loss of katara's mom. Or just when he compare the trauma of his people being genocided . He had katara to help with his trauma.( She was there for sokka, taking their mother place ( he said so basically season 3 in the episode they joke about katara behaving like a mom, i don't have the name right now ).) It's something that don't happen with zuko. She can be honest and direct with him . ( he even do a little co-parenting like the time sokka when in appa's mouth ). When she his mad at him, he can see the unresolved trauma , and know that it can help her to work throught it, whatever it means for her . And also because i'm a big lover of enemies to lover trope with a little bit of angst in it . And it's rare to have on that go with theme of a non romantic serie ( forgiveness, balance, or the idea here that the separation of the tribe are an illusion , wich mean that with the zutara, it would be a great step in that direction) that more of narratives reason . I won't go more into it here, but there is a great video about it that can explain it fully ( but it's a two hour video ). She also made a video explaining why would some people ship kataang, when other would ship more zutara . it's half an hour : Zutara and Kataang - Exploring the A:TLA ships i also found a tumblr thread that explain the zutara ship . it's quit similar, but there is a few more things in it - and some angry comment.
I think the reason why bending is faster in Korra is because it’s supposed to represent more modern bending styles than the traditional styles in The Last Air Bender that were based on real martial arts
Regarding the way Avatars look being defined by their most important moment, this is actually adressed somewhat in Shadow of Kyoshi. In the conversation between Kuruk and Kyoshi, she notes that Avatars choose how to present themselves when they appear before another Avatar. There is a line that indicates that Kuruk would have looked a LOT worse for wear by the time he died, and that he chooses to present himself as he was before the spirit wounds consumed him completely.
"Avatars appear as they do in their most important memory" makes it extra sad when Tenzin sees a vision of Aang, and Aang is all aged and raspy. This was likely how he looked in his last days, and Tenzin's strongest memory of his father was when he was dying and Tenzin was about to become the last airbender himself.
But imagine how that would make his other two (older) kids feel? lol. I guess their births were a non-event. Thats why bumi and kya have that resentment towards Tenzin when they're older
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" isn't just a show; it's a journey I've embraced repeatedly, discovering new magic in bending and the strength of friendship with every episode. Each rewatch unveils deeper layers in characters, relationships, and the intricate world they inhabit. From Aang's self-discovery to Zuko's redemption, I've laughed, cried, and cheered alongside them. Sokka's wit and Appa reuniting with Aang are pure joys. The show's seamless blend of humor, action, and heartfelt moments is sheer brilliance. It's not just a series; it's woven into my story, reminding me of balance, resilience, and the power of change. This isn't just a three-time watch; it's an adventure I'll gladly revisit.
There's another accidental goodie from Kyoshi living a very long life. Whereas the rulers of nations would take power, grow old, and die, Kyoshi was this immortal God-Queen, forever in her prime. This status would give her a lot more leeway to brutally enforce her ideal of justice unopposed (executing Qin the Conqueror, instating the Dai Li).
I've never heard anyone say that they didn't like the bending in Korra because it was 'big and flashy'. It's always been because of the physical body movements of the characters performing the bending. In ATLA, the four elements had their physical body movement based on real-world martial arts, but in Korra, everyone just does the same simple punches and kicks. THAT is the problem. Not the spectacle of what element pops out.
I mean, it depends on characters. A lot of the characters in Korra aren't martial artists, so the distinct style isn't visible. For Tenzin, it's visible because he's a martial artist. Mako and Bolin have a specific style that's not a martial art. Korra has parts of both. Builds the world more, imo
In ATLA, the bending is based on traditional martial arts, but in TLOK, the bending is more based on modern fighting techniques such as kickboxing. It’s not that they are just punching and kicking, it’s just that they are fighting in a simpler style. These techniques also lean into the pro bending found in LOK
@Ruben and the rest of the pro benders. Also, many of the other characters such as chief beifong have fighting styles based off of more modern fighting styles
@@TechnoArpan I feel like most characters in ATLA weren't martial artists either, they just learned bending which happened to be one martial arts fighting style + spirituality. So it makes no sense that korra took alot of both of those aspects away and was like "nah its just fighting in general now" 😅 (I will say I haven't watched all of korra so I'm not making an argument for whether or not they ACTUALLY changed it that much, i just didn't agree with your comment about how they need to be martial artists...)
I was always under the impression that the reason combustion man was missing his arm and leg was because of perhaps disasters relating to his bending, especially if you consider that either way you lookm at it, it coule be a result from the newly unlocked or rare powerful form of bending. Either he was born and grew up with it, or he was tortured to unlock it, but regardless, because of its volitile nature, learning to harness and properly apply that power would be extremely dangerous and difficult.
On the "The Fire nation royal family is inbred to keep its strength" you can add that we never see another royal or court firebender if i remember correctly! Like Mei's family aren't and they are given Omashu. Ty lee's aren't mentioned a lot but she isn't one and she hangs out with the princess. The twins old ladies with Azula aren't benders. Not even generals appear as a unique "minibosses" or something. You might say it's so it doesn't complicate the story but what if all other firebenders are stuck in low recognition military duties while non benders are elevated so that the loyal family aren't threaten by a schism in power!!!
Zhao is promoted to Admiral before his death at the North Pole, and Jeong Jeong was a leading General before he defected. We might not see that many examples of firebending nobles and military leaders, but they are there. I mean think about the concept of the Agni Kai. This isn't just some way for commoners or rank and file soldiers to settle disputes. It's almost a sacred ritual, and it's revered enough by the Fire Nation to settle issues of royal succession. But it's not just practiced by the royal family. Zuko fights Zhao in an Agni Kai, and he thought he was going to Agni Kai the General he spoke out against in his father's war meeting, which means that General was also a firebender. Plus if you think about it, Nobility in the Fire Nation probably means you're descended from some pretty prominent firebenders, even if you're not one yourself. Historically, nobility has correlated with the power and wealth you were able to bring to bear in your regent's name, in this case the Fire Lord. That means that at one point, the noble families of the Fire Nation had to be able to subjugate and bring order to their domains. In all likelihood, the people able to do this would have been powerful and skilled benders, or otherwise exceptional Warriors.
@@JakeConrad666 the examples I gave are high ranking military officers, who would be present at court, along with the nobility. Assuming they weren't themselves highborn. As for the nobility themselves, I explained why it's likely they would be largely descended from, if not comprised of powerful fire benders.
1:14:39 broke me. I was sitting there thinking “but Aang was *12* when he ended the war, why does he look like an adult in his spirit form?” And you took the air out of my chest with your theory. You are absolutely right. The return of his people, even if it’s just a couple of his own babies, would’ve been his most important accomplishment
Cabbage man is a water bender. He actually freezes the cabbages from the inside so it stays fresh for longer, so he sells it for an astonishing price but people are willing to pay
He's the most powerful water bender of all time who has lived for thousands of years but he only really cares about his cabbage business and that's why he didn't interfere with the 100 year war This is canon now and I reject anybody else saying otherwise
i had to take a double take when tim said "zuko was the prince that was promised" when that was followed by "there's this thing called azor ahai-" i burst out laughing
I never read or followed any GoT or Song of Fire and Ice stuff, so he had me going for a bit like “Did I miss a lore dump somewhere?” And then laughed at myself when he explained the meme
I was so ready for something crazy at the bottom of the iceberg, but I couldn't have predicted that, I was sure it's a joke building up to the actual thing, but damn he got us XD
Even if Korra’s bending is more what the creators had in mind, I personally still prefer the martial arts of the first series. I feel like the restriction made it more interesting.
I think Energy Bending would have been great if we had more Aang scenes debating what would he do when fights Ozai BEFORE the Finale as well as him meditating on this while finding the common threads between all four types of bending, since Energy bending is supposed to be the original one. Instead of getting it from a Lion Turtle at the very end.
33:33 without stepping on anyone's toes, I knew from the first episode why Zutara would be popular. Nothing much to do with the plot specifically, but one of the most common fangirl ships is "Whichever the fan identifies with" + "Whichever guy the fan finds most attractive". Toph feels very young, so fans gravitate to Katara. Aang is/acts young, and isn't exactly a dreamboat guy character (and Soka is, well, a sibling) so the same fan gravitates to Zuko.
I think it's also just more of the fact that a lot of people seem to like the whole "enemies to lovers" dynamic in a lot of ships. I'm not a fan of it myself, tbh, but it can be done well, but, in the case of Zutaara, it definitely wasn't done well. Which, is fine, considering it was never supposed to happen. After what happened in Ba Sing Se, Zuko was lucky to be considered a friend, much less a love interest.
From the first episode fans thought Zuko was ugly. They thought he was ugly until he grew hair. I think people like the bad boy good girl, enemies to lovers, opposites attract thing. Zuko being hot couldn't have been the reason for Zutaras from the first episode but in s2 on for sure.
I think it's quite obvious that the Avatar has to fix the mistakes of the previous Avatar, their purpose is to bring balance after all. What's REALLY fascinating to me is how the Avatar's circumstances, character, weaknesses and how they die...are in direct contrast with the previous Avatar.
I actually did think that the blue flames are because they're hotter, it makes sense with how they explained Azula being a prodigy and master fire bender.
Clearly all of you never looked into space and stars. Simply the hottest biggest stars 🌟 are blue color. Our sun is considered a yellow/orange star surprisingly the coolest smallest stars are Red.
My only issue with this explanation is why Ozai's weren't also blue then. Like, if Azula is such a master she can easily generate hotter fire, then why can her father, the most powerful firebender in the world, not do the same?
I love the idea of Gyatso just defeating so many firebenders letting go of his airnomad ways and eventually the firebenders notice Gyatso is the most powerful so they surrounded him thinking they’d win At that point Gyatso really let go, he pushes all the airbenders helping him away and as the firebenders start attacking The air begins to swirl so hard that even the most powerful lost their footing and than he removes it all and they all die All airnomads notice this because this is basically the opposite of what they represent However all of them were grateful
I have long theorized that the sand benders were actually air benders, pretending to be earth benders. Their movements are more like air bender forms, and using the air to pickup sand is apparently a good ruse; Aang basically used the same trick in the Imprisoned episode. When the convergence happens, we don't have any new air benders from them, because they already use air bending, and they don't join sooner because either hiding is part of of their culture, and/or they genuinely believe that they are not bending air. The second series is all about sub types of bending, but sand is conspicuously absent.
It could also be that they were originally a small isolated community of Earthbenders who were joined by Airbender when the war came, as refugies. And they learned to bend earth the way Airbenders bend their own element, this would add to the "There is so much to learn from the other elements" spiel.
@@tsukiche5939 While there is still that connection to the airbenders, which is the core of the idea, the style and life style seems far more air, than earth.
@@RyuuKageDesu you should give it a look. Going by your comment above, I think you might enjoy it. It's ATLA fan fiction by an author called Vathara. The worldbuilding is just incredible. It builds on the established Avatar lore in ways that thematically fit the world perfectly. For instance there are a few air nomad offshoots in the other nations, who split off from the air nomads before they were technically the air nomads as we know them. They basically live secretly among the other people's of the world because after Sozin's genocide, nobody is admitting to being an airbender. One such people are a desert nomad tribe of both sandbenders and airbenders, hiding from the rest of the world. The spirit world and the way spirits interact with humans is also done amazingly. That's actually only a minor plot point in the grand scheme of things but it's absolutely worth a read.
I recently read Embers, and the one fan theory from that fanfiction I think still applies to the canon is that the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom knew that the Fire Nation was preparing war against the Air Nomads, but didn’t care and never thought the Fire Nation would go after them as well. There is no way the military build up for the attack on the Air Temples went unnoticed. It’s even mentioned in canon that ‘war is brewing.’ But the Air Nomads were so detached from the other nations they had no treaties, no allies, nobody who had a political reason to risk taking on the Fire Nation to aid them. Also if they weren’t careful about where and when the sky bisons grazed they could push a village to the point of starving. A bunch of nomads with 10-15 sky bison could destroy a harvest in a day or two, leave, and never think about the consequences to the people left behind. So if someone promised that ‘look the other way and they won’t bother you again’ that could happen easily. This isn’t saying that the Air Nomads *deserved* what happened, but explains how cultural conflict could set up a situation for it. And Aang loosing all connection to his elders as a child would have no idea of the broader conflicts his people ignored or dismissed as ‘not their problem.’
I also prefer Zuko and Katara as friends. I don't know, it makes their relationship more... mature, I guess? The story between them to me was about how war hurts children from both sides in similar ways, and about having the strength to move past those hurts in spite of the differences that should divide them, not melodrama.
On the topic of Zuko (and Iroh’s) hair. The top knot was a symbol of loyalty in imperial Japan, especially among the samurai. While Zuko is a banished prince, he has his iconic ponytail (a half-done topknot), reflecting that he wants to pledge his loyalties to the Fire nation, but cannot fully. When he becomes a fugitive of the Fire nation, he doesn’t wear a top knot at all. When he first returns to the Fire nation, he wears his top knot even at times when others don’t (eg when he questions Azula about her lie to Ozai) The longer he lives in the Fire nation and the more conflicted he feels, the less he wears the top knot. When he leaves to join Team Avatar, he doesn’t wear it again until he becomes the new Firelord. After cutting off his topknot, Iroh doesn’t wear one again until he regroups with the White Lotus, and it looks different than the one he wore when he considered himself loyal to the Fire nation, indicating that his loyalties have shifted.
So my contribution to crazy avatar theories is that Bumi was the Omashu heir and the elder air nomads, seeing how bad things were headed, purposefully set Aang up to be friends with royalty around the world. All in the hope it could lead to peace or at least give Aang strong allies against the Fire Nation. My only proof is 1. Bumi is king. 2. The only other friend we know of is Kuzon from the fire nation who... Wait for it... Reminds him of Zuko. What if Kuzon was a fire nation prince. Sozen had Azulon crazy late in life for a guy obsessed with legacy. What if Kuzon was actually his eldest child closer in age to Aang or Zuko's age during the series. However through his friendship with Aang didn't agree with his father's imperialistic ideals and when he learned of his father's plan for air nomad genocide he pulled a Zuko. Unfortunately he was less successful and lost his life paving the way for Azulon. Would also fit with the fact that each generation of fire nation royalty seems to have one child that buys into the propaganda and one that doesn't.
I like the idea that Aang needed to learn Firebending last, to have a concept for dealing with energy (in a way that's not connotated negatively) that helped him understanding Energybending at the end.
Tai lee being an airbender makes a ton of sense because she's not a firebender, and there's lore where if you aren't raised like a nomad, you won't be an airbender. And plus, in the episide with the fortune teller, there's a pair of twins and only one is an earthbender so she could be the only one of septuplets and maybe its part if why she left her family
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She worked at the circus, ergo she was a kinda nomad, and that's when she developed her skills.
my theory for Boomy was he was always the first in line to the throne, but was not the royal and pompous type, so he pretended to be a streetrat to mingle with the kids, and Aang was not discovered to be the avatar by that time, and his nomad tribe was passing by when they meet
I am under the impression that the monks knew Aang was the avatar ever since he was able to play toys because of that one scene where he had chosen the same toys that the previous avatars played with. With that logic, my head cannon is the nomads wanted aang to meet the leaders and royalties (and their kids lol) wherever they traveled to because they thought that’s what the avatar should do even if they’re unaware. That’s how Aang meet Bumi.
I mean, dragons clearly understand human speech, they can litterally lead aang through the spirit world. The Badger moles we see can understand songs at least, and the koi fish can at least communicate with humans. Im pretty sure lion turtles litteraly talk at some point. Its not that big of a leap that sky bison can also understand human speech, since they clearly fit in this set of animal benders
I know I'm not the first one to put this together, but I really think Energy Bending could have been handled better. They had decent enough pieces put in place and spread throughout the series (Ty Lee taking away bending, the Lunar and Solar Eclipses taking away bending, and the spiritual path-finding ability Aang learns in the swamp, the same one Guru Pathik uses to give Appa directions in Appa's Lost Days.) They could have simply tied those together into a cohesive (enough) finale, where Aang figures out, on his own, (Path finding, like Chi paths, and removing bending like Ty Lee) how to remove someone's bending by putting those two things, and remove the Lion Turtle in the finale or change the Lion Turtle's narrative purpose. I think that could have been a more satisfying ending.
Heck even Guru Pathik blatantly said in that episode "...even the separation of the elements is an illusion", they couldve just shown a lion turtle shillouette when that line came or made Aang reply with "lol you sound like a lion turtle" or whatever throwaway lines in that direction. Sometimes it bothers me how they were only *thiiiis* close to perfectly wrap everything up in the finale.
@@dinowibisono99 the way Aang unlocks the Avatar state in the finale was a gigantic ass-pull as well. He'd already been told by Pathik that he needed to let go of worldly attachment, particularly his attachment to Katara, or he would never be able to master the Avatar state. But Michael DiMartino wanted his self-insert character to get the girl, so all Aang actually had to do was hit his back on a conveniently placed rock, and away he went.
Oh, I love this. Have the fight be exactly the same, right up to the tremorsense imprisonment, right up to the firebreath deflection and hand on head, then give Aang a brief moment of Avatar state followed by flashes back through scenes like Jeong Jeong handing him the leaf to control, Pathik telling Aang he must open all his chakras, Katara blood bending to save him, his own being struck by lightning, loosing control over Appa, maybe something poignant from Gyatzo... theres a lot of negativity in those scenes so possibly the 'we cant concern ourselves with what was, we must focus on what is' line alongside the Dragon Dance, maybe Iroh telling him to keep moving forward, then we have the classic moment of him truly gaining control of the Avatar state and using its power to lock off Ozai's firebending, but this time it's less about him being corrupted by Ozai's strong will and more about him finding the lesson in the times he felt powerless or out of control. He knows what it means to have your ability taken away, and he's been shown how to do it mulltiple times, he just needed to make that connection
I like your idea better. I heard people speculate, similar to Tim's theory, that the Lion turtle is a higher power rewarding the hero for their fortitude, which reminds me of Russian Cinderella's doll finishing her chores for her late at night, or Jesus being consoled by angles after his time in the wilderness. I thought it was a cool explanation, but isn't grounded within the physical limits of Avatar enough to be believable.
i like the giant god like turtles, i like the ideia of energy bending as a primordial bending tecnique that "gives birth" to the other bendings.. if just missing something, it could be so much better
My headcanon about Bumi being king is that he was born into power and just didn’t tell Aang when they were young. He doesn’t seem like the bragging type and he probably just wanted to make a genuine friendship with someone who wasn’t in it for the status or put off by the fact that he’s royalty (like how Aang’s classmates were put off by him being the avatar). Bumi is a weird dude and likely wouldn’t get along with stuffy rich kids. It makes the most sense in my head and idk why people get so confused by this.
I absolutely love the theory that aangs greatest moment was his child's birth but then we see it's his greatest failure because he neglects his other children because they are not airvenders themselves. Very poetic in nature
the hama theory makes sense as they were originally capturing waterbenders in the hope of finding the avatar reincarnation and killing him would just repeat the cycle. But after Hama used bloodbending they realised waterbenders were too strong to be captured and started killing them
I don’t know why but I thought Toph’s daughters had different dads. And Sokka was Suyin’s. For some reason I thought the separate dads thing was canon.
I believe it is said outright they have different dad's, and Lin calls Su her "half-sister" while still angry with her when we meet Suyin. It's never been confirmed that Sokka is either's father, to my knowledge
1:11:22 “I know what you’re gonna to say: She’s my sister and I should be trying to get along with her..” “No, she is crazy and she needs to go down” You sure Iroh would encourage Zuko to protect her and be a happy family after that quote? Cause I think this is 100% Zuko’s decision mildly influenced by his mother Ursa. She encouraged him to spend more time with her when they were little, never seen Uncle Iroh doing that or even suggesting it. He was realistic about their relationship
I think the thought that each avatar fixes the mistakes of the last one is shown very strongly in the death scene of the first avatar "I'm sorry Rava, I failed. Even with Vatu locked away, darkness surrounds humanity, I failed to bring peace, there wasn't enough time." "Don't worry we will be together for all of your life times, and we will never give up". Implying that the job of the avatar is to continue that mission, but by fixing the mistakes of the last avatar since the last one failed to bring about world peace
I think it's especially interesting that Sozin is the one shown using that heat redirection which is similar to lightning redirection because Sozin is also shown to want to understand all 4 types of bending and does a maneuver representing each in the earlier part of that episode with Roku after Roku is told he's the Avatar.
This seems obvious, but I think Zhao knew it was Zuko under the blue mask 100%. It was a situations where he felt his only option was to let them walk, even if he used the archers afterwards. IMO he’s a genius for how ruthless he is, so I think he worked out that the only person who would risk everything to free the Avatar, only to threaten to kill them when things got hairy.. was Zuko.
Timestamps! ABOVE THE ICEBERG 1:15 Kyoshi made the Dai Li 2:23 Zuko’s mum 3:48 Gyatso is Momo 4:03 Zuko’s hair evolution 5:21 Azula’s blue flames 6:01 Some air benders survived 7:41 Sozin’s fire bending 9:01 Fire nation is imperial Japan 9:06 Original Toph TIP OF THE ICEBERG 9:27 Sokka is white lotus 10:49 Glass bending 11:29 Guru Pahtik is Lao Ge 13:57 Appa understanding human language 16:25 Gyatso murdered firebenders 17:36 Twin Avatars 17:57 Aang’s parents episode and Iroh backstory episode 18:47 Original benders 19:56 Kyoshi 230 years BELOW THE WATER 21:02 Dragons are spirits 22:29 Iroh is a war criminal 24:02 Jianzhu 25:09 Yue was meant to be avatar 26:37 Yue sent the meteor 27:22 Sokka and Suko boned 27:40 Kya is Katara 28:12 Sokka died fighting the Red Lotus 29:19 Aang is Amon 31:07 Toph and Sokka babies INTO THE ICEBERG 32:52 Zutara was better 34:17 Energy bending was bad 37:43 Iroh is half dragon 38:33 Ty Lee secret air bending 40:06 Gyatso is White Lotus 40:42 Iroh is half knowledge seeker 41:38 Katara’s mum died because of Hama 43:08 Aamon is in the bathroom DEEP IN THE ICEBERG 44:00 Koh killed the blue spirit 45:22 The avatar fixes mistakes 47:33 Lion turtles are gods 51:45 Sponsor segment 52:40 The dropped 4th season
Still against saying Gyato "Murdered" them even if it played out this way. Murder is typically unjustified. Self defense and direct vengeance are typically considered justified.
That's one he's showing how basic he is for me. Zukos mom wasn't a random women the lord just chose. Come on dood. She was off avatar ancestry and they wanted her as part of their family to have a bloodline of strong firebenders. Bros also showing a bit of laziness if it took him a year to make this video and half ass if he can't even do the lore right.
6:12 I really didn’t believe that ALL airbenders were gone. From how the air bison can move, to sheer determination of a survivor, there has to be at least 60 people survived.
There’s a complete difference between air benders and air nomads surviving, even in legend of Korra aangs son and grandkids were the only air benders. Yet there were plenty of air nomads, you could consider the bison as air benders which is true but for humans it truly was only aang until legend of korra
Ang is the last airbender like Luke is the last jedi - it is true in the context of the story where it is told. Is it true in a wider context? Depends on that story's needs.
I think this 'letting go of earthly attachment" thing is a a little strangely explained. In the eastern spirituality, there is a thing called vairaag. Which is what most of the time is translated as detachment. But vairaag has the meaning of not becoming addicted. Such as so much lost in the taste of food that we overeat, or so lost in the love of our child that we cheat and sabotage others for them, ultimately leading them to become dishonest or disrespectful and causing harm to their future. Also, loving someone "more than the world and trying to protect them from everything." and forgetting that the state of the world and a persons relationships in the world is also very necessary for there growth and happiness. It is that these types of feelings will naturally happen when we have someone or some goal we care about. And to be vigilant to net let our good wishes, of all things, become a source of sorrow for our loved ones. That's the Indian philosophy. This says, when you truly love something you love the world they are in . Thus parents sometimes stop drinking. etc when they have kids. Me growing up hearing this is why when Aang is asked to let go of Katara, I always took it as - let go of your dependency on Katara so that you are ready to give what is needed even even if you two are separated, even if you don't get anything in return not even her company. you can still do good for the world that the people you love live in knowing that this will reach them and positively effect them as they area part of this world. That's just my understanding and I thought Aang may have been too alone and too scared to loose someone he cares about when his entire people was gone, as far as he knows, thus couldn't think like that and fully grasp what guru Patik said. Great video as always. Big fan. Thanks.
I'm going to pause for a moment and say, Yes, of course Sokka is White Lotus. How could anyone have missed it? It's possible Sokka himself might not have understood the invitation in the moment he recieved it, but I have every reason to believe Piandou or Iroh would eventually clue him in. Ok. Back to the video.
Regarding the fourth season: Mike and Bryan confirmed that 3 seasons was always the plan, but I just don't buy that. Why? Because season 3 feels like two seasons crammed into one. The day of black sun seems so much like it was supposed to be a season finale, with everything building up to it and culminating with Zuko changing sides. Then after that, we only have 6 episodes left before the series finale, and 100% of that time is spent trying to speed run Zuko bonding with the gaang. It really felt like they meant to have an entire season with Zuko being a part of the team, but they just didn't have time to do it at a more organic pace.
47:23 I think a better example of what mistake of Aang's Korra fixes is the situation in Republic City. Aang and the others left behind a city that was culturally split in two, where benders had power and influence and non-benders didn't. This leads to Amon and his Equalists. After they are defeated, Korra helps implement reforms that lead to a more balanced distribution of power in this new and different world. Not to mention reversing some of the "anti-spiritual" trends that Republic City was experiencing.
My favourite explanation about Bumi being Earth King is that he was adopted into royalty. If the previous monarch had no eligible heirs or other satisfactory candidates to appoint as their follower, they would have looked into adopting one. An orphan from the streets may seem an odd pick, but Bumi was obviously both a natural talent in bending, and intelligent in his special way. Having no ties to a family is a massive benefit, both before and after he'd assume the throne, and having lived experience about, and ties to, the common folk would help him rule sustainably and successfully. Another plausible way would be that Bumi was in fact born royalty, but due to his less than dignified mien and personality, he was allowed much more freedom than his siblings and cousins. He'd have spent many a day messing around with other kids in the city, and his eccentricity and the fact his royal family was not exactly keen on parading him around as a prince, they would not have had much reason to think he was anything special. He would not have wanted to make his status known, and he also seems to have a gift for making himself unassuming. Again, the monarch ended up with a shortage of good options for heir, so ended up electing Bumi.
EDIT: Parts of this video around 12:30 and 42:40 were claimed, so I had to cut those bits out sadly. Basically, I talked about how Kyoshi learned immortality from a philosopher called Lao Ge, and how Amon = Bathroom (fun dumb theory). But that's why it jumps weirdly.
What else would YOU put on the iceberg? Your own theories? Little known things about the show? Tell me down below! Stay nerdy!
~ Tim
Nukes ☢️😂🤣
@@pyeitme508 ???
cabbage merchant is an unwitting important informant of the white lotus, and they fund his business a way to use him to infiltrate and trade via cabbage spy techniques, and he became a chain of busineses to fully become a front for the white lotus spy activities.
i disagree that gyatso sucks the air out of the firebender. that method is too slow. i think he did the opposite, rupturing their lungs with high pressure air.
There are 2 weird theories I remember hearing. One saying all composting benders are reincarnations of the same person who merged with a spirit and one who says that Avatars have the face of the loved ones for the Avatar right before them. By the way amazing video. My favorit of the ones you showed is the one who said that Sky Bisons have human intelligens. My least favorit is the one about the twin Avatars.
The idea that each Avatar is doomed to fix the mistakes of the previous simply makes sense from a simple cause and effect perspective. Whenever an Avatar dies, it's another 16ish years until a new Avatar takes the stage. Anything left undone or mistakes made by the previous Avatar are going to have all that time to fester and grow.
That is a very good point.
Even just a normal cause/effect, passing of power thing. I mean you see it with presidents (or other country leaders). Leader one messes up the economy -> Leader 2 tries to fix it but ends up ruining international relationships -> Leader 3 has to try and repair those relations but neglects another area; and so on and so on. It’s not destiny or purpose, it’s just normal progression
Yeah I agree. I heard this and just said, "ok....so avatars regularly fix shit that is wrong?"
I kind of see it as that the problems are too large and complex for the Avatar to actually fix all at once, so no matter what the Avatar accomplishes...
It's like that stage act with the spinning plates on poles, and there are too many poles, and the plates too heavy, for the Avatar to get everything spinning nicely at once, much less keep them going.
It is for this and other reasons that I expected the resolution of LoK to be that either Korra would end up Vessel to both Raava and Vaatu (thereby giving her a power boost and/or restoring balance), or that Asami would become a (non-evil) Dark Avatar, who would work together with the Light Avatar, allowing them to get a better handle on everything.
So that means....the next avatar will reconnect with the past lives :)
One thing I LOVE about Kyoshi living so long is the effect it has on the next nation in the cycle. The Fire Nation under Sozin probably felt a bit miffed that they hadn’t gotten to have THEIR Avatar. So when it finally passed to Ruku, that probably plays in to why Sozin expects Ruku to basically work for him. It’s their TURN, after that unnaturally long time with the Earth Kingdom having their turn. Even if Kyoshi never did anything to favor the Eatth Kingdom, Sozin probably heard from his father about how she DID and how it wasn’t fair that an Earth Bender got this office for so long.
Maybe not because before sozin the fire nation was self contained and flourishing (the avatar and the firelord) maybe Sozin wasn't taught that philosophy about the Avatar. Also that projects the idea that the fire nation was always evil which is subjectively false.
@@jonathangamboa8605 I don’t think it means that the Fire Nation was evil all along, just that some resentments built up over time. And they the Fire Lords may have felt this more, being the group that would see themselves as the possible beneficiaries of having an Avatar. It’s probably more a Fire Lord thing until Sozin starts the war, he probably stokes resentments on purpose.
I see your point that makes more sense.
In the Kyoshi’s novel, it is revealed that the previous Fire Avatar DID kind of work for the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord to bring the conflicting factions together. Sozin probably presumed it would be like this again.
"Mom says its *my* turn to have an Avatar"
Personally, I just think Aang omitted from memory that Boomie was of royal blood, because monks don't really care about such things. That's the justification my head came up with when I watched the episode, and I've never really questioned it. It's not an unusual portrayal of young princes to treat their home turf as a playing grounds either, since what guard wants to get in the way of a royal? Aang remembers the important parts only: He met a goofy kid, and they had a blast.
This is always exactly what I thought
Agreed. That was my head-canon, too.
Bumi was Jasmin in Aladdin. Just checking out the city in disguise.
I never thought over much of who young Bumi was, but I assumed his character informed his rule. He was a good person in his heart of hearts, an unapologetic jokester but a nice guy.
I find it hard to believe he ruled by conquest. I feel if he was not already in line to rule, then probably he ruled because the people asked him to. If people need leadership and someone displays the talents and ideas that will help them, they will follow that someone traditions be damned.
That's what I always assumed too, but I like this idea of Bumi taking the throne much better. And thinking about it now, he wasn't exactly dressed as a royal was he? He looked very much like a scraggly commoner. And Aang never asks if the King knows/knew Bumi, which does suggest that Bumi wasn't connected or a royal. So there's definitely a lot of space for the idea that Bumi wasn't a royal. Imo Bumi as a revolutionary actually makes sense--it adds to how impactful his character is, how larger than life his impact was, etc.
And he did seem well acquainted with how to take a city...and with all his talk of patience, it makes you wonder what he'd waited for before, when was the last time he'd found the right moment to strike. I kinda love this theory now.
My favorite fun fact about ATLA is that Toph is the only earth bender who uses a style inspired by the southern prey mantis kung fu style. When the creators picked this style for her they didn't know that the legend was that a blind woman came up with the style.
thats so cool
Toph is so badass she wrote herself.
I don’t think Sokka would ever be an absentee father, not after his dad had to leave
There is always the possibility that tooth just never told him. Or that they agreed it’s best she didn’t know and silks stayed in her life. Who knows.
@@simplythatguy-o6n Tooth, the food bender!
@@georgecataloni4720 lol my bad. Damn autocorrect
@@Benn1to First of all, there's no need to make it racial. Second, Sokka's dad was around. Sokka felt loved, respected his father while he was gone, and got to be with him in the end. Katara was the one that was hurt by his absence, but she got better.
@@riceball1093 Although Toph as a parent wanted her kids to have a free life meaning she wouldn't have to boss them around because Toph didn't wanna be like her parents like being very very strict, and because of that her kids wanted to have attention from their own mother because they felt her distancing from her own family (Correct me if I'm wrong but thats what I know or at least assume)
I have a slightly odd headcanon about the death of Iroh's son. My read is that Iroh's army surprised Ba Sing Se and had a good chance to take it, but the Earth Kingdom was able to shore up the defenses and close off the opportunity. The battle was lost, and a wise man would have ordered his army to retreat and tried again in a few years. But Iroh was not yet wise. Unwilling to return home in shame and convinced of his destiny to take the city, he ordered a risky assault that was guaranteed high casualties, but had a tiny sliver of a chance of success. The assault failed, his son was killed, and the grief-stricken Iroh called for the march home that he should have ordered at the start.
What I like about this interpretation is that the son's death is not a random consequence of battle, but a direct result of Iroh's choices. He knew that retreat was both the rational and the moral thing to do, but his pride and fear of dishonor caused him to throw away other people's lives and lose his son in the process. It fits very well with what he becomes and how he treats Zuko, because he knows that "honor" isn't worth sacrificing your loved ones.
It makes sense. I also think that as a reward for acknowledging the spirits, Iroh's spirit was allowed to rest in the spirit.
the only problem i see with this is that in the tales of ba sing se, iroh says "if only i could have helped you" right before the 3 am depression hits, which wouldn't add up if iroh could have actually prevented it, and chose not to for his country.
It seems a bit too short
You know that this fits well with sokka and aang's decision to not retreat during the day of the black sun, not retreating eventually lead to failure
Your headcanon is wrong lol
The Azula's servant not being real makes so much sense... It would be interesting if there were more scenes with azula hallucinating in some way that we haven't found yet.
Agni kai for lu and lei was perfection 😂
It's actually somewhat canon that not following the airbender ways can weaken their bending; Kyoshi's mother was a bandit and because of her life style her airbending was weak to the point she had to use the iconic fans her daughter would go on to use just to use her bending. So it's likely the other forms of bending would have the same problem.
The same happened to Zuko after he joined Team Avatar. His firebending became severely weakened because he lost sight of his inner fire which orignally was hunting Aang
Nah, I think it’s made pretty clear that air bending is the only power directly tied to cultural/religious adherence
I don’t see how
@Bonnabell they said her mother struggled, not Kyoshi herself?
Wait, Kyoshi's mom was an Airbender?
Rather than twin avatars, I think it would be interesting to explore twins where one of them is the avatar. One of them had all of this expectation and attention put on them and the other one was basically left in the wayside, maybe even was a non-bender. I think that would be a really interesting dynamic to explore.
Kinda like Sokka and Katara?
this would fit so well in a comic
@@zie233 In a way, I'd see it more like Sozin and Roku. They grew up like brothers and even shared a birthday, just like twins.
it would be funny and interesting having then switch places specially for diplomatic stuff
Id rather it be the Avatar has a twin who is really good at their element but, in fact better than the Avatar at that particular one, however is always overshadowed.
If Ty Lee has air nomad heritage, I think it actually adds narrative poignancy and tragedy to the story. It means that she's raised without knowledge of her heritage by the very people who tried to destroy it and who may admire it, but only a watered-down version. Being away from air nomad culture deprives her of the ability to manifest airbending powers. She then spends almost the entire series under the thumb of the Fire Nation's knife (Azula) and has to minimize any potential perception of being a threat by maintaining an image of being a harmless novelty. That she's able to non-violently and without use of bending change the course of the war and disable Azula, the active heir to the throne, is pretty powerful and her act of agency in defying Azula parallels Aang's decision to stay true to himself and not kill Ozai.
During Aangs time every air nomad was an airbender so no Ty Lee has no connection to air nomads at all, the only reason for this is literally the fact her face looks like Aangs.
I also think her having air nomad heritage would be interesting because she’s an incredible acrobat and spent most of her career ‘flying’ through the air
It reminds me of how cultures can become “novelties” (for lack of a better word) such as Japonisme in 19th century France that influenced art and culture immensely. The people of France at that time knew the origins of the art and clothing and materials, but follow the generations long enough and the cultural ancestry can be lost. Now think of this in the context of a colonial or imperial invasion, and the products, techniques, knowledge may survive to be integrated, but the spirituality that grew these cultural touchstones are forgotten or actively discarded.
Obviously, there are a lot of examples of both cultural evolutions throughout history, Japonisme is just one I happen to be familiar with and have experienced that spiritual disconnect. (I love the Impressionist & Post-Impressionist movements and am fascinated by Japanese art and culture, but didn’t know for years that they were inherently linked.)
Anyway, I find it fascinating that even if Ty Lee isn’t a descendant of the Air Nomads, she may have a cultural heritage that was heavily influenced by elements of them.
It Also means that the convergence gave her air BENDING abilities!!!🤯🤯🤯
@@chocomojo9552 She's probably dead by then
The theory about momo being Gyatso is so cute cause the whimsical little song they play when momo is being silly is the same one from the time Aang tells us about the pies they'd make to toss on to the other monks. ❤❤❤
Also, with Tai Lee, the show is The Last AirBender. Not The Last Air Nomad Decendent, so that totally makes sense. She looks like a female version of Aang. Literally
I thought the same thing. I've always thought thay her and aang looked alike and this would be a cool way of explaining why
There’s a couple other characters that look a lot like Aang too. The girl with the braids on the fortuneteller episode and the dusty boy in the painted lady episode come to mind. Very round faces and bigger than average eyes. Also maybe The Duke from Jett’s crew?
@@DropIt56also that Tai Lee and Aang are the only people with gray eyes (if I remember correctly) while the majority of fire nation civilians have yellow eyes, it would be a cool detail for Tai Lee to have ancestry with Air Nomads
Also one of the best theories I don’t think you covered is the theory that zuko was trained to be an assassin.
He has a large number of unusual skills that many other people either don’t know about, or never comment on.
For example, his extraordinary stealth skills, and skill with his broadswords. Zuko is an incredibly skilled broadsword fighter, something that even in the fire nation must have been remarkable, and yet nobody knows this, admiral zhao for example does not.
Zuko and Azula both seem to have a significant amount of non-bending combat training, given how well Azula held up against Aang, Toph and Sokka during the Eclipse. Sure, she had Dai Li agents, but she still did pretty damn well. Also, when they were kids, we see Zuko play fighting with the knife Iroh gave him, and we see Azula humiliate Zuko multiple times by being the better firebender.
I think Zuko sought out more training because he was desperate to be better than Azula at *something,* but was too ashamed to admit it.
Although the assassin idea does have some interesting merit given that neither Ozai or Azula (or Zhao) had already used Combustion Man as a tool in the hunt for the Avatar or the war. You'd think they wouldn't want that weapon to go to waste. So how is it that Zuko was the only one who seemed to know about him?
@@wafflingmean4477 i feel like that gives additional merit to the theory as it suggests that zuko has some connections allowing him to find assassins/ bounty hunters like combustion man
Just saying though the skills line up remarkably well, I also do not think azula has really any non bending training, it’s just that bending being a martial art imparts a certain level of nonbending martial skill
Everyone in the capital city is well-trained...remember Azula, Ty and Mai attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. I assume Zuko attended the boys academy. In the Kyoshi novels they tell us that the curriculum includes everything from combat/weapons to politics and diplomacy, the customs of every nation.
@@wafflingmean4477
Yeah, a Combustion Bender doing his own thing is interesting and odd in the Fire Nation where the military would've showered him in honor for joining them.
So yeah, probably just a Bounty-Hunter or League of Assassins sort of thing, or he just keeps a low profile and so it takes a sneaky guy like Zuko and those who know how to keep quiet in order to pill him for a contract.
Maybe the Fire Nation DID have him help military options at some point but he was merely a Mercenary for tougher battles. Not sure why not keep him but... well actually, with his abilities, best not to anger him.
Iroh (?) gave Zuko a dagger as a gift. Was he in on his sister-in-law's plan to assassinate Azulon??
“Who was Zuko’s wife? … It could have been Sokka, who knows.” I laughed out loud.
Which was the sacrifice required to forge lightbringer more proof that Zuko is Azor Ahai
That's rough, buddy
Their weeding votes where "I hope u don't turn in to the moon." "I wont, buddy"
It was azula
@@Somthingliminal It's entirely possible that Ozai groomed Azula because of his obsession with breeding superior firebenders
Alright so the blue fire has been touched on by the creators themselves and here's the actual reason. They decided to make her fire blue for a number of reasons, one being to distinguish between the two main firebenders being Zuko and Azula. Second they used the blue fire because that shows it's hotter. They wanted to show how much pure rage and hate she had. Which paired well with her whole unraveling at the end of season 3. They also planned the big anime battle between her and her brother and they decided before it even was made that it would be cool to have a good distiguish of clashing colors. All of this information was revealed in the original Avatar disks with the creator commentary.
Blue flame signifies proper control as well. It means it's burning "pure" and no excess carbon etc is getting away, a more efficient burn.
Possible Red Oni and Blue Oni symbolism?
@@bruhincarnate5431 I don't know, I only know the directors wanted a main clash along with to show the strength of the fire. It also could be a reference to the dragons as there's a blue dragon that up until the sun masters episode was azula in zuko's dream. So that could have something to do with it. I just know they chose blue to show a contrast and to show how much pure hatred she had.
Soooo basically what he said in the video
“yea i think your friend just said that genius. and since u cant see i should tell you im rolling my eyes”. like he literally made a joke about ur first point and said all the rest with his other points
44:20 hold on, I cannot believe that Koh the Facestealer only showed up for one episode. He's so memorable, I for sure thought he appeared in at least 3 episodes
He showed up in flash backs only and episode recaps... but his only speaking line was at the end of Chapter One. They did some pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing in that episode when flashing over the faces of those who would be lost to the water tribe... I was hoping for more of Koh myself because let's face it... he's creepy scary and his voice actor was spot on. (And I realized I did an unintentional pun there! lol)
@@anastacia81able he is most creepiest,dangerous spirits ever,I also want to see him in the next Avatar show
Fun fact: Air nomads can eat meat, they're taught not to raise much of a fuss when eating at another's table. So if meat cannot be separated out its no big deal. So it's entirely possible Aang just didn't wanna raise any issue in those circumstances.
That’s true but aang really doesn’t seem the type especially with how normally unwavering he is about it
aang said to avatar yangchen that he was a vegetarian
@@CluelessCarter yes, all aur nomads are vegetarian. Eating meat occasionally when it's inconvenient otherwise wouldn't change that for them. It's in Dawn of Yangchen, she says so to put others at ease.
Yangchen states that it is taught at the western air temple that eating meat is okay if it’s all that’s available for sharing, but aang is from the southern temple which may not have engaged in this teaching. I think it was a teaching specific to the western temple bc yangchen specifies it that way (otherwise she would’ve just said it’s something air nomads believe but she specifically says it’s something the western temple believes)
It would make a lot of sense in a world where food takes a lot more effort to produce. Also, wasting food would be a much bigger no-no in times like that.
One that would be pretty high up on the iceberg is that Zaheer was supposed to be Korra's airbending teacher. Recall that the initial plan of the Red Lotus was to kidnap Korra as a child to raise her, indoctrinating her into being an avatar that follows their view of the world. Raising the avatar would require a teacher for each element, and the core red Lotus group fits that perfectly: one waterbender, one earthbender, one firebender and... Zaheer. Zaheer clearly having extensive knowledge about airbending culture and teachings, it suggests that he was meant to be Korra's airbending teacher. This also explains why he was able to pick up on airbending so much faster than the other new airbenders (the second best probably being Kai, far behind) since he would have already been exposed to the theory behind airbending, as a martial art.
This one is almost textual, but many people still miss it.
He also eventually helps Korra get into the spirit world
I missed it...but yeah, now it's so obvious
@Grim He didn't
@Grim he wasn't an air bender before harmonic convergence. the idea was that he was so well educated on air bender history, culture and technique that he would have been able to teach Korra himself, despite not being an airbender
@@alexgustavus7822 so kind of like how Azula's firebending teachers weren't firebenders themselves...
The sky bison don’t just simply fly with airbending, they aren’t blasting air currents, bending an air ball or generating lift under winds like aang does. They float, just like we see Zahir do in LoK. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, rather a reflection of their worldly/spiritual connection as you say.
They're probably such empty-headed and carefree animals that they don't have any "worldly connections" to let go of in the first place
Playing devil’s advocate, as I mostly agree with this theory, but it does leave one snag:
The bison that live with the nomads absolutely have “earthly tethers” in the form of their partnered nomad. This bond very well recognized, as one of the nuns told Aang “Choose well, a sky bison is a companion for life!” and we see how distressed Appa is when separated from Aang (in brutal, heart-wrenching detail)
I’m willing to look past that and say bison just circumvent the rule of “no earthly tethers” somehow, but yeah. Not exactly a perfect fit.
I like that. If you go by that logic, couldn't dragons shoot lightning?
@@clintonjefferson6494 A dragon should be able to lightning bend in Avatar. The moon should also be able to blood bend. Badger moles should be able to metal and lava bend. Airbison flying with attachments is peak airbending.
@@starkid910 Air Bison Start unattached and adapt to having connections. Even then they namely partner with kindred spirits, so Airbenders are far less of an attachment than normal people.
16:34 I take issue with "Gyatso is a Murderer". Gyatso may be a killer, but not a murderer. He killed in self-defense which makes his many kills not murder.
Aha fair I didn't really think that much about the term but fair
@@HelloFutureMe I'm at 1:12:27 and I have a similar issue with "Aang is a Murderer" too I guess... of course the Aang-OceanSpirit fusion killed a bunch of fire nation invaders, but those were invaders and it was self-defense (also Aang wasn't himself there but whatever). Same at the Northern Air Temple and other Fire Nation attacks, those were invaders and it was self-defense. (This might fall under suspension-of-disbelief but I do believe there were no people there at the factory when they destroyed it). The only time I can think of where Aang, as himself, killed anything and it wasn't self-defense, was when he probably killed a Buzzard-Wasp in the Desert that was just trying to fly away and escape. But... I don't think of that as murder because that Buzzard-Wasp wasn't a person. So similarly to Gyatso, I'd be willing to say Aang might have killed but it wasn't murder.
And it might killing himself in the process. As last stand.
@@AlexKnauth Aang has definitely delivered lethal blows unnecessarily before tho tbh. Most cases were self defense, some were just unnecessary
@@zeallust8542 The only one that seems wholly unnecessary to me (not defense) is the one on the Buzzard-Wasp which was just trying to fly away. What other ones do you think?
One thing I like to think about Gyatso and the dead fire benders is since he's an air nomad and doesn't do violence is that he bended the air in a way where anybody in that room could not breathe including himself. Leaving a way for the fire benders to leave but they wanted to invade and kill every air bender so they wouldn't leave and suffocated there with him. I think this because of the way he's posed just sitting or even meditating there without any signs of being attacked
Not only that, but if he somehow created a vacuum inside that room, firebending would be impossible. Fire needs oxygen to fuel it so it would make sense why there's no singe marks on his body
Iroh is actually not a war criminal. Can't break the Geneva conventions if they don't exist in your world! ;)
I meant even if the did we have no reason he believe he broke them
He was just doing a p by the books siege
Ahhh I love this absurd line of thinking, especially when applied to Star Wars characters lol.
Like they (not just the Empire, some Jedi actions actually count) sure as hell are breaking *something* even if it's not explicitly named. "Good taste" maybe?
"It ain't a warcrime if It ain't wartime"
-Sun Tzu
Pretty sure he is highly wanted in the earth kingdom thou till the end of the series.The earthbenders kidnapping him really hate him.
You guys are not getting that this is a joke lmao
I see Aang resolving the situation with energybending (thematically rather than nominally) is a refusal for him to let Ozai take the last of his culture. Air benders were pacifists who valued all life, and the Fire Nation wiped them all out... Aang is not just an air nomad by blood but his culture.
Also re: blue fire - blue fire it hotter because it's complete combustion, so it absolutely is gonna be because Azula is perfect lol.
Wow interesting take I like this a lot
And then you have yangchen just killing anyone that questioned her or tryed to start shit.
@@robertharris6092yep and yet she's revered as one of the best avatars and Kuruk was shamed for doing nothing in the mortal realm (despite the fact he had to patch up things in the spirit world specifically because of Yangchen's neglect of it)
@@X-SPONGEDin tier lists i'd put kuruk at S when it comes to doing his avatar job along with aang (ended 100 year war and founded republic city), kyoshi (basically 200 years of stability), and maybe korra since she was able to bring peace between humans and spirits existing in the same world
Damn, that moment in the comics when Ozai flatout told Zuko that he nearly just threw the infant Zuko into the ocean, that his sister didn't need that luck and then say "She was born lucky, you were lucky to be born".
No wonder he turned out like he did. Just imagine hearing your father that your sister was born lucky, but that you were lucky to have even been born without being immediately thrown off a cliff.
Ozai was on that Mishima shit, legit nearly went full Heihachi only with somehow *less* good intent
Tekken referenc?
why did he thought that exactly?
The short: Ursa thought Ozai was reading her letters to her hometown sweetheart, and so put something in the letter that would be so shocking Ozai would show his hand- that she was pregnant with her sweetheart's child, not Ozai's. Ozai was reading her letters, and was extremely pissed, and even after confronting Ursa for the truth, he takes it out on Zuko.
It always gets me how people are so confused about Sozin's "weird firebending." Even as a kid, it was blatantly obvious to me that he was merely siphoning the heat to cool the lava down.
Theres a lot of people out there with basicly 0 comprehension of physics.
Same.
@@robertharris6092we've simply have been lucky to be born in a place where we could go to school.
I always thought he was bending the smoke, although thinking about it now, that would probably be airbending or earthbending.
Can we please talk about how he put a whole different series in this, that’s js like comparing Elmo in it and saying it’s js a shittier adaptation to the avatar the Airbender
You didn't mention the cabbage spirit, the spirit who tries to thwart the Avatar but has been defeated at every turn
MY CABBAGES!
My Cabbages!!
So that's why the airship broke, because the cabbage spirit lives on inside the cabbage corp
@@antokarman2064 Yes, obviously.
I’m pretty sure the reason Aang died at 60 was more to do with him already having lived a century frozen in ice, not the Avatar State. I think the Nickelodeon website even had a Korra web game where she says “his time in the iceberg caught up with him”.
I remember seeing it explained as he used up a lot of his 'avatar time' in the iceberg
like the iceberg didn't like freeze time for Aang in more like just stopped him from aging so it would make sense for him to die at 160 years old.
The avatar state is incredibly powerful though, and probably did some damage being stuck in it for 100 years. The older he got, the less his body was able to compensate
In season 3 episode 4,Tenzin Says "luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka and I were there to stop them": referring to Zaheer, pi'li Gazen, and Minua. Meaning Sokka was there when the red lotus tried to kidnap 3 year old Korra.
Okay ngl, I completely misread the quote and thought Tenzin was talking with Fire Lord Izumi for some reason because of "your father, Lord Zuko." Then I saw Korra mentioned and for a split second had the thought of a massive, completely nonsensical twist...that Korra is the daughter of Zuko 😅
@@Mrryn Probably doesn't help that I didn't set the scene. I just gave a quote and an episode.
Also, I always thought "CHIEF Sokka" meant he took over the Southern Water Tribe at some point...
@@Sephiroth144 It makes sense
I reckon Sokka died in that final showdown where the core group of the Red Lotus were captured.
I'd like to add a fantheory: the bending in original atla is smaller because of the war. People don't get the opportunity to practise their bending in the same way due to the brutal fire-nation suppression.
The bending in the original was so much more powerful than in korra. Korras bending was so weak
@@Jackson-qi4rwWhat is this clown talking about?
Uh… you’re saying during war time soldiers wouldn’t have time to… train?
@@tanner201x8 Soldiers would have time to train, but how many armies are active when looking at the show? Omashu, Ba Sing Se, that one army camp where the avatar state episode happened, and Kyoshi are the only ones I can think of outside of the fire nation. Plus, basic training for an army grunt wouldn't be the same as the type of development that would take place when bending is explored as an artform during peacetime.
@@xenasBS
I just don’t agree, sorry. Feel like Bryke made up this excuse to not seem as incompetent as they are when it comes to Korra
Okay. I have to add something. On the "Sokka and Suki boned" theory, the joke here is that, when Zuko walked into the tent, Sokka accidentally ate a flower, symbolizing "deflowering," and then the next morning, the necklace he's wearing is called a Lei, which is pronounced as "lay," and so, he got "leied."
Haha omg that's hilarious
its just a coincidence bro
"lei" could just be some random pinyin syllable that means smth
even though it is pronounced the same as "lay" does not mean it got "layed"
@@telamont12mc It's Hawaiian, not Chinese.
@@telamont12mc Also, you seem to be struggling with the concept of a pun.
not a coincidence bro it is a pun@@telamont12mc
I definitely think Mai was Zukos wife or at least the mother of Izumi. Izumi translates to spring or fountain in Japanese and one of the beginning moments in Zuko and Mai's childhood relationship was when Azula tricked them into falling into a fountain together
They broke up
i think understanding and accepting that iroh has done bad things is exactly the point of avatar, one of the grand lessons it tries to teach you. doing something bad is not inherently evil, but not learning from that mistake is. such as aang running away from the temple before the war started, but then fighting ozai in the end. iroh was a war criminal, he killed people and conquered nations. but by the time we see him in avatar, he has already taken his journey to become better. we wouldn’t have uncle iroh as such an important mentor to zuko without him having been a general.
"iroh was a war criminal, he killed people and conquered nations" - Being a general and fighting a war is not a war crime. There is no evidence of Iroh committing or condoning war crimes.
A war crime is something like pretending to be the enemy by wearing their colors/flag/insignia. (Geneva Convention, Article 39(2) 1997 Additional Protocol I) -- You know, like Sokka does in the Mechanist's war balloon.
Chemical warfare is also a crime. (1925 Geneva Protocol) -- You know, like when Sokaa and the Mechanist dump chemicals out of their war balloon onto the enemy.
@@Andlekin no way you’re defending fire nation rn 💀💀 okay, maybe i can give you that “war criminal” is incorrect by modern political application as per the geneva convention, but iroh was not in the right whatsoever.
yes, he was a hero to the fire nation. the dragon of the west, the only one to get close to penetrating ba sing se before Aang’s return as the avatar. all are exceptional merits if you’re thinking in terms of him being a fire nation general. but the simple fact is- the fire nation is the oppressor. they’re the aggressor, the ones who started the war over greed and a lust for power. the fundamentals of fire nation are inherently corrupt and immoral when compared to the ethics of the rest of the A:TLA world. though unconfirmed, it goes without saying that iroh probably commanded his armies to pillage and/or burn earth kingdom villages for supplies and information, he may have even had a hand in some of the first raids on the southern water tribe, as was usual with war before this modern era of the UN or NATO. the fire nation system at the time iroh was a war general would have been focused on oppressing uprisings and chipping away at major earth kingdom cities left after the first years of the war. (Omashu, Ba Sing Se, etc.) which means that anyone who had any information on these cities, or any villages that they found on the way, would have been taken under fire nation control as iroh pressed his armies further into the earth kingdom. quite literally- if not a war criminal by modern standards, iroh was most certainly responsible for an uncountable amount of deaths during his time as general, as well as colonizing an unknown amount of villages under the oppressive regime that the fire nation army had become.
what i was saying in the original post was that all of this is fuel for the man he becomes later. he knows he was wrong, he knows he shouldn’t have pride for his nation because of what he’s done. it’s why he chooses pacifism in every scenario unless Zuko is in direct trouble. him having this history of being the very thing he now despises is what makes him wise. it’s what makes him a good mentor to Zuko. if he had just been some guy- never in line for the throne, never a general, nothing- then his wisdom would feel unearned. unwarranted. but the fact that he had this life of a very successful general and threw it away when he realized he was wrong (only by losing his son, by the way), makes him one of the most well-rounded and empathetic characters in media (to me at least).
@@EMMCNE Bruh. Not you going on a whole ass rant over nothing. They were just saying there is no evidence Iroh was a war criminal. They never said he was a good person for participating in the war. They never said the Fire Nation was in the right. All they said was that Iroh was not a war criminal, which is true.
@@en4833 bro i’m just having fun let me cook 😭😭
fam
@@en4833
What I think helps the cherry pit servant not being real theory is that, when we see Azula in Book Three Fire, Chapter Nine where her hair is being combed, we see only two servants... and those two servants look exactly like the ones that looked concerned and shocked, and at first we might think it's shock because another servant is being banished, but it could also be shock because no one is there.
Timestamp please
I‘ve always know that Avatar is great, but this video opened my eyes to more subtext. Your observation is even another one.
I don‘t get this Easter egg thing in e.g. Marvel movies. But observations like this cherry pit scene make me feel so satisfied.
I was actually thinking about Zuko stepping down. What if it links to the promise he made Aang make. After his passing nearly 20 years ago, Zuko still being Zuko wouldn't fully trust himself even after decades of ruling like a good Fire Lord. Suddenly his friend is gone that promised to remove him and not trusting he wouldn't start acting like his father or more closely as his great grandfather Sozin, he steps down and passes it peacefully to his daughter. The past constantly plagues Zuko so in this single act, he removes himself from power to potentially do harm and peacefully passes the title to his daughter, unlike how its passed down the last few generations. He keeps a promise to a dear and loved friend while in a single move ends a horrific cycle that almost is a second rebirth of the Fire Nation, with the first being Zuko ending a 100 year war. Think it would be a nice canon.
I really wouldn’t say zuko ended the war to be fair. Maybe the actual paperwork of ending a war but aang stopped the fire nation
I like to believe that. It also gives extra agency to why his daughter (or was it granddaughter?) chose to opt out of that signicant political decision in LOK on behalf of the Fire Nation. She seemed to have a deep understanding of her nation's history and past consequences, which I reckon was personally passed down to her from Zuko himself.
@@K11NNGG Counterpoint- Aang stopped the Fire LORD, but someone ordered the Fire Nation military to cease hostilities... and I'mma guess that was Zuko.
@@Sephiroth144 Correct. Most soldiers would comply due to loyalty to the Royal Family and the threat of the new Fire Lord + Avatar coming for you if you didn't.
It is also likely that regular grunts would feel pity/respect for Zuko, knowing he earned his scar thanks to intervening in a meeting that would have sent hundreds of soldiers to their deaths.
Finally, he kept up with, and even surpassed, the legendary Azula. Everyone would know that Zuko isn't a pushover and challenging him directly would lead to a perfect case of FAFO.
SO TRUE ACTUALLY I LOVE THAT
Gyatso being White Lotus... Sounds rather logical. He was able to look out for the Avatar who they knew Aang was because of the whole toy thing and he was able to defeat what Ten(?) Fire Benders at their strongest. All of the White Lotus members we see in _Last Airbender_ are rather strong individuals. So Gyatso playing the White Lotus, being a powerful Bender, having a strong connection with the Avatar... I think it works rather well.
There was way more than ten skeletons in that room.
Also Gyatso could most likely started the white lotus by first initiating Bumi after Aangs disappearance
Another thing to point out is the high ranking officials in the White Lotus each represent not only the four nations, but also the bending spectrum. Pakku is a waterbender from the Northern half of the Water Nation, Bumi is a earthbender from the Earth Nation, Iroh and Jeong Jeong are firebenders from the Fire Nation, and Piandao is a nonbending master swordsman from the Fire Nation.
It’ll make sense that prior to the genocide there was a high ranking member of the WL that was an airbender, and that airbender was Gyatso. If three of the four types of bending were represented, why would air be excluded prior to the genocide?
@@Slender_Man_186 yeah, but not all Fire Nation Soldiers were Firebenders, so I doubt all of them were
I'd add that Aang's biggest mistake was disappearing for so long that colonization happened and war technology developed too much, and this post-war world that lost so much of its cultural heritage led to many people giving up their spiritual roots to rely on modern technology, and Korra's big "fix" was bringing back the spirits (and as a side-effect, the Airbenders). She literally blows a giant spirit hole in the middle of the world's major metropolis.
I agree.
It's funny you put fix in quotations, because in my opinion the spirits being plopped in the middle of human civilization or humans in the spirit world isn't the same as teaching them how to be respectful and understanding of them.
If I had an opportunity to write that kind of story, I would argue Aang or Korra could've taught them their heritages, histories, and old bending philosophies by starting academies or temples.
@@ThreadBareHope1234 While that's a nice idea, I don't see it being realistic. We see a loss of culture and heritage in the series, like when we see the Fire Nation children don't even know their cultural dances anymore, and while Aang knew some of those dances you can't expect a twelve year old to remember all the culture that was lost during the 100 year war just because he was a nomad. The sad truth is, it might be impossible to open an academy as you suggest because there may be no one alive who knows enough to teach these things. Some things, when lost, are lost forever.
@@vannalaws1692 I’d argue Aang tried to do that with the air nomads, and that was certainly his biggest achievement. Preventing his people from being totally forgotten was a bigger ask than even helping put together the United Republic. I would say that, to some degree, he succeeded. I can’t speak much on Korra, though, since her story isn’t entirely done yet nor have I seen it all.
@@GuiSmith Aang definitely tried to preserve his people's culture, but I think his success in doing so is not directly stated. I could be wrong because I haven't finished the comics yet, but I think he was only partly successful. I also think there's a difference between Aang preserving his own culture as best as he is able and Aang being able to preserve all the cultural heritage that was lost over the 100 year war. I think he was capable of restoring some cultural relics, like Fire Nation dances, but I think it's impossible to restore everything that was lost since the war began.
@@ThreadBareHope1234 The spirit portal was an accident she never meant for it to happen and after that, she was kinda more focused on making sure her Girlfriend and eventual Wife was happy and taken care of and you know caring about her Mentel State which is Kinda Important
The Energy Bending was the perfect ending to the conflict; throughout the entire series Aang was always himself. He walked through a war torn land and met so many enemies on the way and turned most of them into his allies, just by being him. Even in the final battle Aang was himself the entire time, he is allowing his enemy to start a new a see the world in a different way. It is a really beautiful ending, especially for a kids' show, Aang's character is a great representation of resilience and kindness even in the face of darkness. The Lion Turtle is one of my favorite beings in the show, Aang loves riding animals and it was awesome he got to end the show by riding the biggest animal in his world.
The Aang as Amon theory is silly, it makes sense if you ignore everything about ATLA and Aang's character. The point of Aang's energy bending was not because he saw it as an impurity but that one person had abused their bending to the point where they didn't deserve it anymore. To think he would attack and harm innocents is really wild. I get it, it was a different time, but to say it is still a solid theory is pretty insane.
On the Kyoshi being 230 years old I always believed it to be a reflection of the next life having something the last didn’t or making up for something in the previous life so as Kuruk died so young, in the next life as Kyoshi she lived so long. Its all about balance
Good catch! I like that one. Would you think then maybe that korra would live a long life? Not really the same as kuruk, but aang seemed to have died young, even though he "lived" for 100+ years. Now that I wrote it, maybe she'll pass away younger, since aang "lived" as long as kyoshi almost. Idk. Fun to think about
That's a nice thought, but it's confirmed in the book that she just decided to live longer. She discovered that through bending, she could essentially recreate the very fiber of her being, her D N A over and over to counter the natural cycle of our cells. If you think about it, Kyoshi is just as much to blame for the loss of the Air Nomads as Roku. Perhaps more so. If she hadn't lived so long, Roku wouldn't have been born during the same time as Sozin. Much less share a birthday or friendship. Kyoshi wouldn't have had such a deep connection to him, been able to do what needed to be done.
Too many people give Roku so much flack but forget that Kyoshi herself tried talking Yun down before and during their fight. I wonder then what kind of advice she'd give Roku regarding the situation.
@@ribottostudioI don’t think it’s reasonable to blame people for things that happen after they die and that they had no way of knowing would happen.
It's just a high-level earthbending technique. Bumi used it too, since he was the same age as Aang
@@ribottostudioYou can’t really blame someone for something that happened after they died…
To add onto the "The Cherry Pip Servant Was Never Actually There" theory, I think what could make it dark is that it represents Azula's descent into madness being catalyzed by Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal back at the Boiling Rock. Azula is furious with herself for not seeing the betrayal coming and partly blames herself for not being "aware enough" or whatever to see it coming and prevent it.
This is especially impactful because of how much it escalated. Azula and Mai were literally both about to murder each other as Mai had her daggers ready, while Azula's stance and form she took right before Ty Lee chi-blocked her seemed to be the stance and form used for generating lightning. So when Azula is scolding the servant for leaving the cherry pip in the cherry, risking her choking to death, Azula is really scolding herself. She is scolding herself out loud for not being more aware of her surroundings or the dynamics between her and Mai and Ty Lee, allowing Ty Lee to sneak up on her to deliver the chi-block and thereby "choking" in a confrontation she otherwise could have and likely would have won. ( I think this also fits into how much of Azula's descent into madness towards the end of the series involves Azula becoming her own worst enemy.)
am i crazy or is it "pit" instead of pip? Im confused
@@yveltalsea
Maybe it is pit, but I just said "pip" because he said it. But then he and I could both be wrong, so idk.
I'd continue this theory by the thing I noticed that these girls servants actually look very similar to her but more, like, innocent or something
@@yveltalsea technically, it is pit, but linguistically, a pip is basically anything small and roundish. Orange seeds are commonly referred to as pips, as are the dots on dice, so referring to a cherry seed as a pip is not incorrect, just unusual.
One of my favorite theories that probably isn't true is that Azulon wasn't going to have Zuko murdered, but rather have him adopted by Iroh. Azulon has just lost his second in line heir to the throne, so why would he have the person who's now third in line murdered? Not only that, but surely he could probably pick up on the fact that Ozai obviously didn't care about Zuko. What better punishment for your second born demanding to be made the heir but to take him out of the line all together? Because even if with the new line up he would be third in line once Zuko had kids they'd be in front of him.
We also never actually hear what Azulon was going to do to Zuko. Azula says that he ordered Zuko's death, but Azula is also like nine and sometimes cruel (espically if she's hearing that Zuko is going to manage to somewhat escape their bad home life and leave her behind) and Ozai could have used that lie to manipulate Ursa or simply would plan to have Zuko assassinated, using Ursa to assassinate Azulon and banishing her.
This has been a pet theory of mine for ages! Neatly ties in "Azula always lies" with Ozai's ambition for the throne and faking a will to get Iroh out of the line of succession.
Plus, Azulon told Ozai off for not having sympathy with his brother's loss and the loss of his grandchild. Indicating that he actually valued his grandchildren so killing another one of them would be kind of a faulty conclusion wouldn't it?
I read a fanfic once where they actually played this out. Lots of Fire Nation court intrigue, with Zuko being Zuko and having basically no idea what's going on, it was pretty great.
@@aquiamorgan2416 What's the fic? Do you have a link? I neeeeed!
@@aquiamorgan2416 show da link
I always headcanon'd Amon's ability to remove bending as him using blood bending to jam his victims' chakras. Like in the episode where Aang trains with Guru Patik to open his chakras, each one is related to a particular element. And this would explain why Amon didn't take Korra's airbending. He had never tried to remove someone's airbending before, so he didn't think to target that specific chakra. Just an idea :)
I always thought of it as because she had barely attempted airbending, that chakra wasn’t open yet for it to be closed
I always thought about it as korra's airbending chakra just wasn't open yet so he didn't have anything to sever
Katara's mum's name is Kya. That's why she names her daughter Kya, after her mum. It wasn't just an unused name they finally got to use in lok. In The Southern Raiders, Katara runs to her dad for help and he yells "Kya!"
Yes it was used. but not for a main character. that would have been problematic.
For real! I was rolling my eyes hard at that part
I’m confused how an another IP can have rights over a name? Lmao
it was used for katara in the unaired pilot
The twin idea would suck to have the avatar split in 2, but imagine twins and only one of them was the avatar and the other wasn’t a bender at all. Oh my god the drama, the scenes that could happen, the relationship and character developments, imagine an episode where they get along and they have the non-bender pretend to be the avatar for the lolz - I would be down for that
Or perhaps their parents wanted to pretend they’d had two avatars, so the children were forced to always be together, with the true avatar performing bending for the both of them. And the twins having a complicated relationship with their parents because of it, wanting to love them but also detesting them for putting so much pressure on them to keep up a rouse they hardly benefit from.
I think the "each one bends 2" thing could be amazing if it had a good writer
If, say, the twins were in a royal family it would be cool. The Avatar as Avatar and the non bending twin automatic heir to throne. It would equalise them but create an unholy dynamic for everyone else I'd like to see.
i thought by "twin avatars" it meant one was raava and the other vaatu, but they i remembered that that kinda already happend lol.
Thats basically Hercules story, he has a twin brother but he dosnt have godly blood in him, SO is a normal dude
Not to go into crazy detail but I like the idea of Yue sending the meteor because Sokka was searching for purpose after she became the moon. If she loves him, of course she wants to encourage him on his new path. And knowing how he thinks, a meteorite was the perfect gift. It’s unique, strong and the coolest thing he couldve asked for. It would be a beautiful little note.
So what was her thought process? That the meteor would start a fire, and the Gaang would go to put it out, at which point Sokka would feel useless, which would lead to them going shopping to cheer him up, which would lead to him finding a sword he thought looked cool, which would lead to the shop keeper mention its Piandao's sword and mention where he lives and that he's a sword master, which would lead to Katara suggesting Sokka go learn from him, which would lead to Sokka creating his own sword, at which point he would go back to the meteor to get the material? I don't know, it seems highly unlikely she would be able to predict all of that. Not to mention the only thing connecting the meteor and Yue is that they're both from space. We don't even know if she has the power to influence meteors.
@@en4833 you sound like sheldon. I heard the laugh track play after I read every sentence
@@uncroppedsoop What an intelligent rebuttal. You're right. I can't believe I never thought of it like that. You must be such a genius.
P.S.: If you can't tell, this is sarcasm.
@@en4833okay i don’t think that’s the point of the theory
I think Yue just sent the meteorite to try and help the Gaang in some sort of way
@@dumflame Ok, help how. Because the meteor only helped to highlight Sokka's insecurities.
56:48 I can imagine a yo mamma roast in the avatar world, “YO MOMMA SINGS SO BAD THE BADGER MOLES LOVE HER!”
So with Zuko as the prince that was promised, I think it goes deeper. The Dragons we see when he regains his fire bending are very clearly the last Dragons in the world. But earlier in that very same episode Zuko is drawn to a golden egg, decades later we see Zuko riding his own dragon that's clearly very different from any dragon we've seen in the series before now. Waking Dragons from stone is zuko bringing back the first new dragon in generations.
Daenerys Game of Thrones vibes
How do you propagate one last dragon tho?
@@CyanideOwl Cloning, of course. At the rate the technology's going, I'm sure that'll happen by the next Avatar or two. The dragon will probably be alive by then.
Zuko is basically a Targaryen? Sweet
I kind of always liked the idea that because of the way Bumi was unquestioned in his authority that was simply the way Omashu always worked and the previous monarch just really liked Bumi. Like he got brought before the previous monarch for causing trouble in the town and he said "Why don't we play a game? If I win, not only will you let me go free but you'll declare me your heir" monarch laughs and plays the game, Bumi through the game shows his bizarre brand of cunning and the monarch caves out of entertainment
i love that theory! i'm gonna make it may head-canon now
Katara didn't want zuko because she had already crushed on jet and saw what that problem was. Zuko grew *a lot* but she recognized the similarities and cordoned herself off explicitly after his betrayal in the catacombs of ba sing se. Zuko had to work the hardest with her to become even friends (literally zero motive for him, and being willing to back her up with *any* decision she chose). Any passion they could have had was quelled after all of that trauma and work together. And they were both OK with it, bc they had both grown.
Still a better ship than Kataang
this whole comment was stupid and makes 0 sense. and also its still a better ship than kataang.
@@automatic5 I’m genuinely curious, why do people think the Katara and Zuko ship is better? I’m not asking this as a Aang and Katara shipper, I don’t care for the romance in Avatar/Korra, I’m just genuinely curious. Is it narrative reasons, or is it just for fun?
@@thatoneguy5343 I don't ship people, but it's better bc Aang had ugly kids in Legend of Korra. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk
@@thatoneguy5343 for me it's mostly because katara does like 99% of the emotional work on the relationship with aang . She behave a lot like a mother with a lot of people, but she cover aang a lot . The few time she was angry, aang try to make the peacemaker by dissming what katara said or feel( like at the northern water tribe when she was rightfully angry at paku, aang said " she didn't mean that " when she 100% meant it or when he compare his lost of appa (even if really important, its a pet) to the loss of katara's mom. Or just when he compare the trauma of his people being genocided .
He had katara to help with his trauma.( She was there for sokka, taking their mother place ( he said so basically season 3 in the episode they joke about katara behaving like a mom, i don't have the name right now ).)
It's something that don't happen with zuko. She can be honest and direct with him . ( he even do a little co-parenting like the time sokka when in appa's mouth ). When she his mad at him, he can see the unresolved trauma , and know that it can help her to work throught it, whatever it means for her .
And also because i'm a big lover of enemies to lover trope with a little bit of angst in it .
And it's rare to have on that go with theme of a non romantic serie ( forgiveness, balance, or the idea here that the separation of the tribe are an illusion , wich mean that with the zutara, it would be a great step in that direction) that more of narratives reason . I won't go more into it here, but there is a great video about it that can explain it fully ( but it's a two hour video ). She also made a video explaining why would some people ship kataang, when other would ship more zutara . it's half an hour :
Zutara and Kataang - Exploring the A:TLA ships
i also found a tumblr thread that explain the zutara ship . it's quit similar, but there is a few more things in it - and some angry comment.
I think the reason why bending is faster in Korra is because it’s supposed to represent more modern bending styles than the traditional styles in The Last Air Bender that were based on real martial arts
yeah, korra actually says something similar in book 1 when she talks about pro bending to tenzin iirc
Regarding the way Avatars look being defined by their most important moment, this is actually adressed somewhat in Shadow of Kyoshi. In the conversation between Kuruk and Kyoshi, she notes that Avatars choose how to present themselves when they appear before another Avatar. There is a line that indicates that Kuruk would have looked a LOT worse for wear by the time he died, and that he chooses to present himself as he was before the spirit wounds consumed him completely.
"Avatars appear as they do in their most important memory" makes it extra sad when Tenzin sees a vision of Aang, and Aang is all aged and raspy. This was likely how he looked in his last days, and Tenzin's strongest memory of his father was when he was dying and Tenzin was about to become the last airbender himself.
Oh wow. The idea that Aang's greatest moment was the birth of Tenzin got me. I teared up.
that scene in Seinfeld "are you crying?" "the ["the moment he was no longer the last air bender"] really got to me"
But imagine how that would make his other two (older) kids feel? lol. I guess their births were a non-event. Thats why bumi and kya have that resentment towards Tenzin when they're older
Aang when Tenzin was born: 😭
his two older kids: 🗿🗿
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" isn't just a show; it's a journey I've embraced repeatedly, discovering new magic in bending and the strength of friendship with every episode. Each rewatch unveils deeper layers in characters, relationships, and the intricate world they inhabit. From Aang's self-discovery to Zuko's redemption, I've laughed, cried, and cheered alongside them.
Sokka's wit and Appa reuniting with Aang are pure joys. The show's seamless blend of humor, action, and heartfelt moments is sheer brilliance. It's not just a series; it's woven into my story, reminding me of balance, resilience, and the power of change. This isn't just a three-time watch; it's an adventure I'll gladly revisit.
There's another accidental goodie from Kyoshi living a very long life. Whereas the rulers of nations would take power, grow old, and die, Kyoshi was this immortal God-Queen, forever in her prime. This status would give her a lot more leeway to brutally enforce her ideal of justice unopposed (executing Qin the Conqueror, instating the Dai Li).
I've never heard anyone say that they didn't like the bending in Korra because it was 'big and flashy'. It's always been because of the physical body movements of the characters performing the bending.
In ATLA, the four elements had their physical body movement based on real-world martial arts, but in Korra, everyone just does the same simple punches and kicks. THAT is the problem. Not the spectacle of what element pops out.
I mean, it depends on characters. A lot of the characters in Korra aren't martial artists, so the distinct style isn't visible. For Tenzin, it's visible because he's a martial artist. Mako and Bolin have a specific style that's not a martial art. Korra has parts of both.
Builds the world more, imo
Yeah that and they get rid of most of the philosophy and spirituality of bending that made it special and not just some superpower.
In ATLA, the bending is based on traditional martial arts, but in TLOK, the bending is more based on modern fighting techniques such as kickboxing. It’s not that they are just punching and kicking, it’s just that they are fighting in a simpler style. These techniques also lean into the pro bending found in LOK
@Ruben and the rest of the pro benders. Also, many of the other characters such as chief beifong have fighting styles based off of more modern fighting styles
@@TechnoArpan I feel like most characters in ATLA weren't martial artists either, they just learned bending which happened to be one martial arts fighting style + spirituality. So it makes no sense that korra took alot of both of those aspects away and was like "nah its just fighting in general now" 😅 (I will say I haven't watched all of korra so I'm not making an argument for whether or not they ACTUALLY changed it that much, i just didn't agree with your comment about how they need to be martial artists...)
Lightbringer isn't the twin broadswords, it's the dagger Iroh gave him that was the impetus for him accepting who he was in that pivotal episode.
Source?
@@PrimordialKrishna The source is that it's a fucking joke we made up, the prophesied prince is from Game of Thrones.
I was always under the impression that the reason combustion man was missing his arm and leg was because of perhaps disasters relating to his bending, especially if you consider that either way you lookm at it, it coule be a result from the newly unlocked or rare powerful form of bending. Either he was born and grew up with it, or he was tortured to unlock it, but regardless, because of its volitile nature, learning to harness and properly apply that power would be extremely dangerous and difficult.
The fact that people keep making videos about this show so many years after it ended really is a testament to how good it was 😊
It helps it's a serialized show with worldbending so you actually can formulate theories. What SpongeBob theories are there that fit in universe?
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 have you heard about skin theory
@cmalol Yes but even the guy making it seemed aware it was silly
My theory is Omashu has a trial by combat for every King every few years, and Bumi was just so good no one could challenge him
That has to be.
On the "The Fire nation royal family is inbred to keep its strength" you can add that we never see another royal or court firebender if i remember correctly! Like Mei's family aren't and they are given Omashu. Ty lee's aren't mentioned a lot but she isn't one and she hangs out with the princess. The twins old ladies with Azula aren't benders. Not even generals appear as a unique "minibosses" or something. You might say it's so it doesn't complicate the story but what if all other firebenders are stuck in low recognition military duties while non benders are elevated so that the loyal family aren't threaten by a schism in power!!!
Zhao is promoted to Admiral before his death at the North Pole, and Jeong Jeong was a leading General before he defected. We might not see that many examples of firebending nobles and military leaders, but they are there.
I mean think about the concept of the Agni Kai. This isn't just some way for commoners or rank and file soldiers to settle disputes. It's almost a sacred ritual, and it's revered enough by the Fire Nation to settle issues of royal succession. But it's not just practiced by the royal family. Zuko fights Zhao in an Agni Kai, and he thought he was going to Agni Kai the General he spoke out against in his father's war meeting, which means that General was also a firebender.
Plus if you think about it, Nobility in the Fire Nation probably means you're descended from some pretty prominent firebenders, even if you're not one yourself. Historically, nobility has correlated with the power and wealth you were able to bring to bear in your regent's name, in this case the Fire Lord. That means that at one point, the noble families of the Fire Nation had to be able to subjugate and bring order to their domains. In all likelihood, the people able to do this would have been powerful and skilled benders, or otherwise exceptional Warriors.
@@optimisticnihilist3417, Those examples are both within the military.
@@JakeConrad666 the examples I gave are high ranking military officers, who would be present at court, along with the nobility. Assuming they weren't themselves highborn. As for the nobility themselves, I explained why it's likely they would be largely descended from, if not comprised of powerful fire benders.
i need more hints that zuko might have anemia to support this theory
@@JakeConrad666 I mean the fire nation is a military state…
High ranking military officials will correlate with nobility
1:14:39 broke me. I was sitting there thinking “but Aang was *12* when he ended the war, why does he look like an adult in his spirit form?” And you took the air out of my chest with your theory. You are absolutely right. The return of his people, even if it’s just a couple of his own babies, would’ve been his most important accomplishment
Cabbage man is a water bender.
He actually freezes the cabbages from the inside so it stays fresh for longer, so he sells it for an astonishing price but people are willing to pay
Oof. Soggy cabbage rotting away from the inside out.
Brillant
He's the most powerful water bender of all time who has lived for thousands of years but he only really cares about his cabbage business and that's why he didn't interfere with the 100 year war
This is canon now and I reject anybody else saying otherwise
i had to take a double take when tim said "zuko was the prince that was promised"
when that was followed by "there's this thing called azor ahai-" i burst out laughing
I never read or followed any GoT or Song of Fire and Ice stuff, so he had me going for a bit like “Did I miss a lore dump somewhere?” And then laughed at myself when he explained the meme
I was so ready for something crazy at the bottom of the iceberg, but I couldn't have predicted that, I was sure it's a joke building up to the actual thing, but damn he got us XD
Even if Korra’s bending is more what the creators had in mind, I personally still prefer the martial arts of the first series. I feel like the restriction made it more interesting.
I think Energy Bending would have been great if we had more Aang scenes debating what would he do when fights Ozai BEFORE the Finale as well as him meditating on this while finding the common threads between all four types of bending, since Energy bending is supposed to be the original one. Instead of getting it from a Lion Turtle at the very end.
33:33 without stepping on anyone's toes, I knew from the first episode why Zutara would be popular. Nothing much to do with the plot specifically, but one of the most common fangirl ships is "Whichever the fan identifies with" + "Whichever guy the fan finds most attractive". Toph feels very young, so fans gravitate to Katara. Aang is/acts young, and isn't exactly a dreamboat guy character (and Soka is, well, a sibling) so the same fan gravitates to Zuko.
I think it's also just more of the fact that a lot of people seem to like the whole "enemies to lovers" dynamic in a lot of ships. I'm not a fan of it myself, tbh, but it can be done well, but, in the case of Zutaara, it definitely wasn't done well. Which, is fine, considering it was never supposed to happen. After what happened in Ba Sing Se, Zuko was lucky to be considered a friend, much less a love interest.
From the first episode fans thought Zuko was ugly. They thought he was ugly until he grew hair. I think people like the bad boy good girl, enemies to lovers, opposites attract thing. Zuko being hot couldn't have been the reason for Zutaras from the first episode but in s2 on for sure.
I think it's quite obvious that the Avatar has to fix the mistakes of the previous Avatar, their purpose is to bring balance after all. What's REALLY fascinating to me is how the Avatar's circumstances, character, weaknesses and how they die...are in direct contrast with the previous Avatar.
I actually did think that the blue flames are because they're hotter, it makes sense with how they explained Azula being a prodigy and master fire bender.
Blue flames use less oxygen so it shows how perfect her fire is
Clearly all of you never looked into space and stars. Simply the hottest biggest stars 🌟 are blue color. Our sun is considered a yellow/orange star surprisingly the coolest smallest stars are Red.
@@memoofjacoboarbenzjuanarev9724 You sound like Trump lmao
My only issue with this explanation is why Ozai's weren't also blue then. Like, if Azula is such a master she can easily generate hotter fire, then why can her father, the most powerful firebender in the world, not do the same?
@@BillytheCorgi He's more aggressive over precise
I love the idea of Gyatso just defeating so many firebenders letting go of his airnomad ways and eventually the firebenders notice Gyatso is the most powerful so they surrounded him thinking they’d win
At that point Gyatso really let go, he pushes all the airbenders helping him away and as the firebenders start attacking
The air begins to swirl so hard that even the most powerful lost their footing and than he removes it all and they all die
All airnomads notice this because this is basically the opposite of what they represent
However all of them were grateful
I have long theorized that the sand benders were actually air benders, pretending to be earth benders. Their movements are more like air bender forms, and using the air to pickup sand is apparently a good ruse; Aang basically used the same trick in the Imprisoned episode. When the convergence happens, we don't have any new air benders from them, because they already use air bending, and they don't join sooner because either hiding is part of of their culture, and/or they genuinely believe that they are not bending air. The second series is all about sub types of bending, but sand is conspicuously absent.
It could also be that they were originally a small isolated community of Earthbenders who were joined by Airbender when the war came, as refugies. And they learned to bend earth the way Airbenders bend their own element, this would add to the "There is so much to learn from the other elements" spiel.
You read Embers, huh?
@@optimisticnihilist3417 Actually, I haven't.
@@tsukiche5939 While there is still that connection to the airbenders, which is the core of the idea, the style and life style seems far more air, than earth.
@@RyuuKageDesu you should give it a look. Going by your comment above, I think you might enjoy it. It's ATLA fan fiction by an author called Vathara. The worldbuilding is just incredible. It builds on the established Avatar lore in ways that thematically fit the world perfectly. For instance there are a few air nomad offshoots in the other nations, who split off from the air nomads before they were technically the air nomads as we know them. They basically live secretly among the other people's of the world because after Sozin's genocide, nobody is admitting to being an airbender. One such people are a desert nomad tribe of both sandbenders and airbenders, hiding from the rest of the world. The spirit world and the way spirits interact with humans is also done amazingly.
That's actually only a minor plot point in the grand scheme of things but it's absolutely worth a read.
I recently read Embers, and the one fan theory from that fanfiction I think still applies to the canon is that the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom knew that the Fire Nation was preparing war against the Air Nomads, but didn’t care and never thought the Fire Nation would go after them as well.
There is no way the military build up for the attack on the Air Temples went unnoticed. It’s even mentioned in canon that ‘war is brewing.’ But the Air Nomads were so detached from the other nations they had no treaties, no allies, nobody who had a political reason to risk taking on the Fire Nation to aid them. Also if they weren’t careful about where and when the sky bisons grazed they could push a village to the point of starving. A bunch of nomads with 10-15 sky bison could destroy a harvest in a day or two, leave, and never think about the consequences to the people left behind. So if someone promised that ‘look the other way and they won’t bother you again’ that could happen easily.
This isn’t saying that the Air Nomads *deserved* what happened, but explains how cultural conflict could set up a situation for it. And Aang loosing all connection to his elders as a child would have no idea of the broader conflicts his people ignored or dismissed as ‘not their problem.’
Embers is ..... special, but I like a lot of the political and cultural ideas it brings up. Just a lot of shit mixed in with the good stuff.
Embers is probably the best fanfic I've ever read. I love it and the ideas it brings up
I also prefer Zuko and Katara as friends. I don't know, it makes their relationship more... mature, I guess? The story between them to me was about how war hurts children from both sides in similar ways, and about having the strength to move past those hurts in spite of the differences that should divide them, not melodrama.
Yeah same. I love them as friends (and all the friendships in this show).
On the topic of Zuko (and Iroh’s) hair.
The top knot was a symbol of loyalty in imperial Japan, especially among the samurai.
While Zuko is a banished prince, he has his iconic ponytail (a half-done topknot), reflecting that he wants to pledge his loyalties to the Fire nation, but cannot fully.
When he becomes a fugitive of the Fire nation, he doesn’t wear a top knot at all.
When he first returns to the Fire nation, he wears his top knot even at times when others don’t (eg when he questions Azula about her lie to Ozai)
The longer he lives in the Fire nation and the more conflicted he feels, the less he wears the top knot.
When he leaves to join Team Avatar, he doesn’t wear it again until he becomes the new Firelord.
After cutting off his topknot, Iroh doesn’t wear one again until he regroups with the White Lotus, and it looks different than the one he wore when he considered himself loyal to the Fire nation, indicating that his loyalties have shifted.
So my contribution to crazy avatar theories is that Bumi was the Omashu heir and the elder air nomads, seeing how bad things were headed, purposefully set Aang up to be friends with royalty around the world. All in the hope it could lead to peace or at least give Aang strong allies against the Fire Nation.
My only proof is 1. Bumi is king. 2. The only other friend we know of is Kuzon from the fire nation who... Wait for it... Reminds him of Zuko.
What if Kuzon was a fire nation prince. Sozen had Azulon crazy late in life for a guy obsessed with legacy. What if Kuzon was actually his eldest child closer in age to Aang or Zuko's age during the series. However through his friendship with Aang didn't agree with his father's imperialistic ideals and when he learned of his father's plan for air nomad genocide he pulled a Zuko. Unfortunately he was less successful and lost his life paving the way for Azulon.
Would also fit with the fact that each generation of fire nation royalty seems to have one child that buys into the propaganda and one that doesn't.
I like the idea that Aang needed to learn Firebending last, to have a concept for dealing with energy (in a way that's not connotated negatively) that helped him understanding Energybending at the end.
Tai lee being an airbender makes a ton of sense because she's not a firebender, and there's lore where if you aren't raised like a nomad, you won't be an airbender. And plus, in the episide with the fortune teller, there's a pair of twins and only one is an earthbender so she could be the only one of septuplets and maybe its part if why she left her family
She worked at the circus, ergo she was a kinda nomad, and that's when she developed her skills.
my theory for Boomy was he was always the first in line to the throne, but was not the royal and pompous type, so he pretended to be a streetrat to mingle with the kids, and Aang was not discovered to be the avatar by that time, and his nomad tribe was passing by when they meet
I am under the impression that the monks knew Aang was the avatar ever since he was able to play toys because of that one scene where he had chosen the same toys that the previous avatars played with. With that logic, my head cannon is the nomads wanted aang to meet the leaders and royalties (and their kids lol) wherever they traveled to because they thought that’s what the avatar should do even if they’re unaware. That’s how Aang meet Bumi.
I mean, dragons clearly understand human speech, they can litterally lead aang through the spirit world. The Badger moles we see can understand songs at least, and the koi fish can at least communicate with humans. Im pretty sure lion turtles litteraly talk at some point.
Its not that big of a leap that sky bison can also understand human speech, since they clearly fit in this set of animal benders
Appa definitely understands English
Sokka possibly being everyone's father killed me 🤣🤣
I know I'm not the first one to put this together, but I really think Energy Bending could have been handled better.
They had decent enough pieces put in place and spread throughout the series (Ty Lee taking away bending, the Lunar and Solar Eclipses taking away bending, and the spiritual path-finding ability Aang learns in the swamp, the same one Guru Pathik uses to give Appa directions in Appa's Lost Days.)
They could have simply tied those together into a cohesive (enough) finale, where Aang figures out, on his own, (Path finding, like Chi paths, and removing bending like Ty Lee) how to remove someone's bending by putting those two things, and remove the Lion Turtle in the finale or change the Lion Turtle's narrative purpose. I think that could have been a more satisfying ending.
Heck even Guru Pathik blatantly said in that episode "...even the separation of the elements is an illusion", they couldve just shown a lion turtle shillouette when that line came or made Aang reply with "lol you sound like a lion turtle" or whatever throwaway lines in that direction. Sometimes it bothers me how they were only *thiiiis* close to perfectly wrap everything up in the finale.
@@dinowibisono99 the way Aang unlocks the Avatar state in the finale was a gigantic ass-pull as well. He'd already been told by Pathik that he needed to let go of worldly attachment, particularly his attachment to Katara, or he would never be able to master the Avatar state.
But Michael DiMartino wanted his self-insert character to get the girl, so all Aang actually had to do was hit his back on a conveniently placed rock, and away he went.
Oh, I love this. Have the fight be exactly the same, right up to the tremorsense imprisonment, right up to the firebreath deflection and hand on head, then give Aang a brief moment of Avatar state followed by flashes back through scenes like Jeong Jeong handing him the leaf to control, Pathik telling Aang he must open all his chakras, Katara blood bending to save him, his own being struck by lightning, loosing control over Appa, maybe something poignant from Gyatzo... theres a lot of negativity in those scenes so possibly the 'we cant concern ourselves with what was, we must focus on what is' line alongside the Dragon Dance, maybe Iroh telling him to keep moving forward, then we have the classic moment of him truly gaining control of the Avatar state and using its power to lock off Ozai's firebending, but this time it's less about him being corrupted by Ozai's strong will and more about him finding the lesson in the times he felt powerless or out of control. He knows what it means to have your ability taken away, and he's been shown how to do it mulltiple times, he just needed to make that connection
I like your idea better.
I heard people speculate, similar to Tim's theory, that the Lion turtle is a higher power rewarding the hero for their fortitude, which reminds me of Russian Cinderella's doll finishing her chores for her late at night, or Jesus being consoled by angles after his time in the wilderness. I thought it was a cool explanation, but isn't grounded within the physical limits of Avatar enough to be believable.
i like the giant god like turtles, i like the ideia of energy bending as a primordial bending tecnique that "gives birth" to the other bendings.. if just missing something, it could be so much better
My headcanon about Bumi being king is that he was born into power and just didn’t tell Aang when they were young. He doesn’t seem like the bragging type and he probably just wanted to make a genuine friendship with someone who wasn’t in it for the status or put off by the fact that he’s royalty (like how Aang’s classmates were put off by him being the avatar). Bumi is a weird dude and likely wouldn’t get along with stuffy rich kids. It makes the most sense in my head and idk why people get so confused by this.
I absolutely love the theory that aangs greatest moment was his child's birth but then we see it's his greatest failure because he neglects his other children because they are not airvenders themselves. Very poetic in nature
the hama theory makes sense as they were originally capturing waterbenders in the hope of finding the avatar reincarnation and killing him would just repeat the cycle. But after Hama used bloodbending they realised waterbenders were too strong to be captured and started killing them
I don’t know why but I thought Toph’s daughters had different dads. And Sokka was Suyin’s. For some reason I thought the separate dads thing was canon.
I believe it is said outright they have different dad's, and Lin calls Su her "half-sister" while still angry with her when we meet Suyin. It's never been confirmed that Sokka is either's father, to my knowledge
@@davidbeer5015 I thought I was going crazy. I was like maybe I imagined it
They do canonically have different fathers. Apart from anything else, they have different skin tones.
The official family tree indicates that Lin is the daughter of Kanto, and Suyin's father is unknown
Knowing Toph, this is probably true. I can’t imagine Toph staying with one parter
I always thought Zuko's mom offered herself to be killed as punishment instead of Zuko, to know to pain of losing a firstborn son
1:11:22
“I know what you’re gonna to say: She’s my sister and I should be trying to get along with her..”
“No, she is crazy and she needs to go down”
You sure Iroh would encourage Zuko to protect her and be a happy family after that quote? Cause I think this is 100% Zuko’s decision mildly influenced by his mother Ursa. She encouraged him to spend more time with her when they were little, never seen Uncle Iroh doing that or even suggesting it. He was realistic about their relationship
I think the thought that each avatar fixes the mistakes of the last one is shown very strongly in the death scene of the first avatar "I'm sorry Rava, I failed. Even with Vatu locked away, darkness surrounds humanity, I failed to bring peace, there wasn't enough time." "Don't worry we will be together for all of your life times, and we will never give up". Implying that the job of the avatar is to continue that mission, but by fixing the mistakes of the last avatar since the last one failed to bring about world peace
I think it's especially interesting that Sozin is the one shown using that heat redirection which is similar to lightning redirection because Sozin is also shown to want to understand all 4 types of bending and does a maneuver representing each in the earlier part of that episode with Roku after Roku is told he's the Avatar.
“It’s just behind this door”
“What is”
“MY HONOR”
MY SIDES IM SCREAMING
This seems obvious, but I think Zhao knew it was Zuko under the blue mask 100%. It was a situations where he felt his only option was to let them walk, even if he used the archers afterwards. IMO he’s a genius for how ruthless he is, so I think he worked out that the only person who would risk everything to free the Avatar, only to threaten to kill them when things got hairy.. was Zuko.
Timestamps!
ABOVE THE ICEBERG
1:15 Kyoshi made the Dai Li
2:23 Zuko’s mum
3:48 Gyatso is Momo
4:03 Zuko’s hair evolution
5:21 Azula’s blue flames
6:01 Some air benders survived
7:41 Sozin’s fire bending
9:01 Fire nation is imperial Japan
9:06 Original Toph
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
9:27 Sokka is white lotus
10:49 Glass bending
11:29 Guru Pahtik is Lao Ge
13:57 Appa understanding human language
16:25 Gyatso murdered firebenders
17:36 Twin Avatars
17:57 Aang’s parents episode and Iroh backstory episode
18:47 Original benders
19:56 Kyoshi 230 years
BELOW THE WATER
21:02 Dragons are spirits
22:29 Iroh is a war criminal
24:02 Jianzhu
25:09 Yue was meant to be avatar
26:37 Yue sent the meteor
27:22 Sokka and Suko boned
27:40 Kya is Katara
28:12 Sokka died fighting the Red Lotus
29:19 Aang is Amon
31:07 Toph and Sokka babies
INTO THE ICEBERG
32:52 Zutara was better
34:17 Energy bending was bad
37:43 Iroh is half dragon
38:33 Ty Lee secret air bending
40:06 Gyatso is White Lotus
40:42 Iroh is half knowledge seeker
41:38 Katara’s mum died because of Hama
43:08 Aamon is in the bathroom
DEEP IN THE ICEBERG
44:00 Koh killed the blue spirit
45:22 The avatar fixes mistakes
47:33 Lion turtles are gods
51:45 Sponsor segment
52:40 The dropped 4th season
Still against saying Gyato "Murdered" them even if it played out this way. Murder is typically unjustified. Self defense and direct vengeance are typically considered justified.
@@RyuusanFT86 I agree, I just wanted to make it easier to find.
Not all heroes (heroines?) wear capes; and if they still are, Edna would like a word.
I though I heard him wrong "aamon is bathroom"
I was like ?????
Honestly I could listen to Tim talk about ATLA for hours and never get bored
That's one he's showing how basic he is for me. Zukos mom wasn't a random women the lord just chose. Come on dood. She was off avatar ancestry and they wanted her as part of their family to have a bloodline of strong firebenders. Bros also showing a bit of laziness if it took him a year to make this video and half ass if he can't even do the lore right.
"Miyouki is a war criminal" immediately followed by "Barbie is so more than that" probably the first time an ad made a better experience.
6:12 I really didn’t believe that ALL airbenders were gone. From how the air bison can move, to sheer determination of a survivor, there has to be at least 60 people survived.
No way. I could buy 52 Air Nomads surviving, but 60? That's absurd
There’s a complete difference between air benders and air nomads surviving, even in legend of Korra aangs son and grandkids were the only air benders. Yet there were plenty of air nomads, you could consider the bison as air benders which is true but for humans it truly was only aang until legend of korra
Ang is the last airbender like Luke is the last jedi - it is true in the context of the story where it is told. Is it true in a wider context? Depends on that story's needs.
@@B-Que-Walker52! I could believe there being 39 but 52 is crazy
I think this 'letting go of earthly attachment" thing is a a little strangely explained. In the eastern spirituality, there is a thing called vairaag. Which is what most of the time is translated as detachment. But vairaag has the meaning of not becoming addicted. Such as so much lost in the taste of food that we overeat, or so lost in the love of our child that we cheat and sabotage others for them, ultimately leading them to become dishonest or disrespectful and causing harm to their future. Also, loving someone "more than the world and trying to protect them from everything." and forgetting that the state of the world and a persons relationships in the world is also very necessary for there growth and happiness. It is that these types of feelings will naturally happen when we have someone or some goal we care about. And to be vigilant to net let our good wishes, of all things, become a source of sorrow for our loved ones.
That's the Indian philosophy. This says, when you truly love something you love the world they are in . Thus parents sometimes stop drinking. etc when they have kids. Me growing up hearing this is why when Aang is asked to let go of Katara, I always took it as - let go of your dependency on Katara so that you are ready to give what is needed even even if you two are separated, even if you don't get anything in return not even her company. you can still do good for the world that the people you love live in knowing that this will reach them and positively effect them as they area part of this world.
That's just my understanding and I thought Aang may have been too alone and too scared to loose someone he cares about when his entire people was gone, as far as he knows, thus couldn't think like that and fully grasp what guru Patik said.
Great video as always. Big fan. Thanks.
Best comment on explaining the crown chakra thing
yeah, wow. thank you for explaining this.
I'm going to pause for a moment and say, Yes, of course Sokka is White Lotus. How could anyone have missed it? It's possible Sokka himself might not have understood the invitation in the moment he recieved it, but I have every reason to believe Piandou or Iroh would eventually clue him in.
Ok. Back to the video.
The Lion Turtles being everywhere reminds me of how Eragon established early that dragons grow indefinitely with age,but save energy by going dormant.
Regarding the fourth season: Mike and Bryan confirmed that 3 seasons was always the plan, but I just don't buy that. Why? Because season 3 feels like two seasons crammed into one. The day of black sun seems so much like it was supposed to be a season finale, with everything building up to it and culminating with Zuko changing sides.
Then after that, we only have 6 episodes left before the series finale, and 100% of that time is spent trying to speed run Zuko bonding with the gaang. It really felt like they meant to have an entire season with Zuko being a part of the team, but they just didn't have time to do it at a more organic pace.
47:23 I think a better example of what mistake of Aang's Korra fixes is the situation in Republic City. Aang and the others left behind a city that was culturally split in two, where benders had power and influence and non-benders didn't. This leads to Amon and his Equalists. After they are defeated, Korra helps implement reforms that lead to a more balanced distribution of power in this new and different world. Not to mention reversing some of the "anti-spiritual" trends that Republic City was experiencing.
My favourite explanation about Bumi being Earth King is that he was adopted into royalty. If the previous monarch had no eligible heirs or other satisfactory candidates to appoint as their follower, they would have looked into adopting one. An orphan from the streets may seem an odd pick, but Bumi was obviously both a natural talent in bending, and intelligent in his special way. Having no ties to a family is a massive benefit, both before and after he'd assume the throne, and having lived experience about, and ties to, the common folk would help him rule sustainably and successfully.
Another plausible way would be that Bumi was in fact born royalty, but due to his less than dignified mien and personality, he was allowed much more freedom than his siblings and cousins. He'd have spent many a day messing around with other kids in the city, and his eccentricity and the fact his royal family was not exactly keen on parading him around as a prince, they would not have had much reason to think he was anything special. He would not have wanted to make his status known, and he also seems to have a gift for making himself unassuming. Again, the monarch ended up with a shortage of good options for heir, so ended up electing Bumi.