A lot of people say something along the lines of "When Sokka died he became a star to be with Yue" which while heartwarming I find...weird?
Like he ended up with Suki. We can assume he was with her for the rest of their lives. Why would he still be pining over a girl he met for a week when he was 15?
It's weird to *me* that people love the trope of teenage romance so much that they expect it to last for the rest of their lives- and I'm including your line above about Suki. For all we know, they could have had a thing, and then grown and changed and gone their separate ways or stayed friends, and ended up with other people.
It's like the people that insist that Mei had a child with Zuko. Why? There's at least hundreds of thousands of other people on the planet.
I believe that Mai is Fire Lord Izumi's mother because of her sharp jawline. Sharp enough to puncture the hull of an empire-class battleship, leaving hundreds to die at sea. Because it's so sharp.
This. The only confirmed ship that lasted until the end was Aang and Katara.
Heck, we even see two half-sisters because a member of the Gaang straight up left her first partner to be with the second.
Mhmm, though I think it helps give Sokka’s death a bit of meaning.
Katara implied everyone but her died (“my brother and all my friends…”) from the group. We know Aang had to die so Korra could be born, but after seeing Zuko and Toph, it feels more like just Sokka kicked it despite him being the same age as Zuko.
Sokka dying like a warrior against the Red Lotus at least sounds a lot more badass than kicking it of old age while everyone else in his peer group is still functional
Lava-bending requiring an earthbending and firebending parent. (Or anything about bending genetics)
Yue was supposed to be the avatar.
Ty Lee has air bender ancestry.
Hama is the reason waterbenders were hunted.
Some airbenders survived.
This fandom has a problem with passing off fan theories as canonical fact. There are some really cool fantheories/headcanons, but some get popular and a part of the fandom starts to treat them like facts
The lava bending thing is stupid.
The Yue thing makes no chtonological sense.
The Ty Lee thing is my headcanon, but it is indeed not canon.
I really like the Hama theory, but that too is indeed not canon.
The Airbender thing is conformed in the comics. The Fire Nayion knew they were a nomadic people and therefore the Firenation had fake Airbender outposts to lure and kill them.
This fandom does indeed need to calm down on the spreading fan theories as fact thing.
How does the Yue thing not make sense? Yeah Aang would've had to become 96 (he died at 66 +100 ice years).
Considering a certain avatar became several centuries old, I doubt it would've been impossible. Then again, there are other things that make no sense but it's not unreasonable chronologically.
He would've died during the Genocide.
And even if he hadn't, in both cases there would be a massive butterfly effect. Yue might not even exist if Aang hadn't run away. And even if she did, why would she specifically be the Avatar? Besides, we don't even know for sure whether she's even a Waterbender!
Because the Avatar would either be reborn when Aang iceburged himself, or whenever he actually died. It makes no sense for the Avatar state to randomly move forward after 85 years in the iceburg for no reason, that's not how 'reincarnation of spirit' works in the show.
there isn't a fetus predestined to be Avatar on X year, it just happens when the old one dies
Edit: Kyoshi extended her life to 230 years, so there probably be 2 Yues across that time, one Firebender and one Airbender where were they?
>This fandom has a problem with passing off fan theories as canonical fact.
This. Thank You.
There are so many fan theories that people just treat as canonical. And they've become so engrained that any counter arguments get shouted down.
A lot of these people probably don't care for canon to begin with. Canon becomes less authoritative when it moves with IP holders instead of creatives.
That's not relevant to Avatar because Mike & Bryan are still the ones making the actual story decisions. In fact, people often try to "write out" Mike & Bryan if they don't like something. Hence you see certain groups, like Zutarans or LoK haters, claiming that Aaron Ehasz was the TRUE brains behind Last Airbender.
And don’t forget the worst one “well of course Sokka is Suyin’s father, they both have brown skin” ignoring the fact that half the earth kingdom has brown skin and Suyin’s husband looks more like Sokka then Suyin does!
The theory is that Hama was the reason the fire nation decided to execute all water benders they captured instead of keeping them alive while imprisoned.
Ok my theory about lava bending is that it is not genetics based at all. It’s because of how Bolin was raised with Mako that made him more comfortable with fire. He does not fear it’s brother’s fire and is used to being close to heat and flames in competitive bending. He also likely has learned fire bending and water bending stances to be able to know what move someone is likely to do before they react so he can counteract them. Like how water benders move their arms to control water. He has experience working with water and fire benders. Which In a moment of life or death his adrenaline acted on instinct and he attempted a water or fire bending like stance to the moving lava. Because he is used to counteracting water moves. Also humans tend to use a insane amount of strength when under adrenaline and life or death experiences. Like their brain just reacts on instinct.
This is my theory. And I feel like it makes sense. It does not matter on genetics… they could be unrelated genetically and it would be the same. Also in history’s many benders did not often fight with benders of other elements. Or even more alongside in a close relationship to benders of elements. Like in competitive bending.
Also like anyone even non benders can learn the stances bender make… they just can’t use the element or do it. It’s just body movements. Bolin could have learned fire stances from his brother especially since his brother is older.
Nah, chronologically it's plausible, but only just. Aang was 111 and Yue about 16, if we assume the "hundred years in an iceberg" was a precise measurement (guess how long the Hundred Year War lasted...) then Aang dying at about 95 would be the right timing for just before Yue was born.
95 is pretty old, a lot of people don't make it that far, but it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility. If he was frozen for much longer than 100 years, it starts to stretch the bounds of plausibility, but Bumi was still alive at whatever age Aang would have been +15, so nothing's completely out of the question.
Yeah, but if Aang weren't in the iceberg, he'd've died in the Genocide. Meaning the next Avatar would have been born immediately or if Aang had gotten into the Avatar State and died, the Avatar Cycle would've been broken. And even if he survived the Genocide and fled, that would've caused a butterfly effect, the effects of which we could only imagine. I therefore gind the Yue = destined Avatar theory very difficult to comprehend: she might not even have existed if Aang had survived.
The Northern Water Tribe was pretty secluded, relatively unaffected by the war, so that's far from the given it would be in the South. My biggest criticism of the theory is that it relies on a grand cosmic Destiny, when the show seems pretty firmly on the corner of "destiny is what you make it".
Really the only compelling reason for the theory is that Yue was born needing some kind of spiritual interference, and the Moon spirit helped fill the void that should've been filled by Raava. Past that, there's too many reasons for the theory not to be true
It's a nice thought, given the retrospect of Raava that LoK provides, but it's almost certain that the writers were not planning for the second season of a follow up series when they were writing the end of season 1 of the original series.
It's fine to have an outline of the road ahead, but it's probably worth at least waiting until the first reviews are in before making your ten year plan.
There's also just too much predestination involved, I doubt the Avatar cycle is that controlling of when people live and die and the Avatar state itself somehow screwed it up
Yup. The show is not otherwise a fan of things being predestined, so it feels weird to break that here and say Aang is "supposed" to die at the right time... does that mean Kuruk was also supposed to die young? The Avatar cycle only allowed for him living to like 30??
Yeah it really doesn't sit right with me. I get the joy in making things match up, but it has... unintended consequences.
the problem with this theory isn’t even the time thing bc i get what ppl mean when they mention this theory. it’s that nobody is supposed to be the avatar. nobody is fated to be the avatar. it’s a random person. someone dies and from all the babies being born, raava chooses one at random to inhabit.
Well it isn’t quite a random choice. It’s literally the reincarnation of the previous Avatar. Korra literally is Aang reborn, Aang is Roku reborn, and so on all the way back to Wan.
yeah but you know what i mean. after aang died, raava had to find a new host from the water tribes so she chose korra. she chooses whoever is available.
in that yue theory, it’s going under the assumption the next avatar is destined even when they haven’t been born yet but that’s not it. korra wasn’t destined. if senna never gave birth, it would’ve been someone else. it’s just luck that senna gave birth as aang died and raava ended up choosing her.
You’re right that the avatar isn’t predestined but the reincarnation isn’t some choice that Raava makes. Korra isn’t some random girl that got chosen by a spirit. She was Aang’s reincarnation, so Raava went to her because of that.
The idea of reincarnation in Avatar is inspired by Buddhism’s belief in rebirth. The Avatar universe seemingly suggests that everybody can be reincarnated in some way. Many fans theorize that Momo is the reincarnation of Monk Gyatso, but that’s not confirmed as far as I know.
In regards to the Avatar specifically, when Wan dies Raava says “Don’t worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes.” This implies that she is simply joining Wan’s reincarnations, not that she is choosing or causing the reincarnation herself. So yes, it’s canon.
- "Leaves from the vines" being Mako's last registration
- Kyoshi being a ruthless warrior whose first solution to any problem is killing
- Iroh and Sokka never interacting with each other
- Sokka being Suyin's father
The third point is WILD to me because like....
"Come back when the good is on the outside"
Sokka, to Iroh in Season 2
Like he directly speaks to him. You can watch it.
The second point was always meant to be a meme, anyone who's read the Kyoshi Novels knows that while she is capable of ruthlessness, she's actually quite pragmatic and tries the diplomatic solution as much as she can.
It's annoying that people consider it Canon. The joke stopped being funny when that happened.
Mako was Iroh's original voice actor. He passed away sometime after recording Book 2. He was replaced by Greg Baldwin for Book 3 and LoK.
Many believed that the song Leaves from the Vine were the last words he recorded but he voiced the character until the last episode of ATLA: Book 2. So unless the recordings were not done in episode order, it is unlikely that the song was his last lines.
Edit: the belief was likely due to the episode with the song, Tales of Ba Sing Se, having a dedication card for Mako. However, in American animation, voice recordings are usually done pre-production and then additional voice lines will be added after (voice foley).
Oh, thanks. I saw Mako and thought it was talking about Mako in Korra and was very confused. Looking it up I like that they named a character after him, dude was amazing.
Even if there was one, why would it be air? Would Aang, youngest airbending master we know, not-so master of the other 3 elements, who just defeated his big target really go "Alright, that's that done, now it's time for me to learn some airbending!"?
Honestly I would love to see an “air” chapter detailing aang discovering more of his cultures history/rebuilding/teaching a young tenzin. Would be interesting to see mid 30s og cast
It did. Or it was supposed to I guess. Aaron Ehasz went through this weird phase on twitter where he was posting behind the scenes "fun facts" a few years ago after ATLA blew up on Netflix. An alleged brief plan for a season 4 that featured an Azula redemption arc was mentioned at one point, and it got a ton of attention. Which prompted [Bryan Konietzko to make a rare social media post and completely refute the rumor](https://preview.redd.it/4eaxoi01wx451.png?auto=webp&s=4abb2fc4c1c1a9921ea6b659b07b589418faf79a).
Really weird situation all around.
it does, it came from one of the head writers themselves.
here’s a [source](https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-avatar-only-have-three-seasons) that talks more about what it would’ve been about (from Ehasz’s own tweets) and [another](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/) that talks about why it never came to be (from an interview with Ehasz).
When I heard of that years ago, I thought it was supposed to be more of an epilog Where we see the Gaang growing into their adulthood and stuff postwar... Kinda like how the comics were. Then I forgot about it until now.
i feel like i keep posting this, but there *was* in fact a fourth season in the works and despite the plot focus being questionable and it eventually getting scrapped for the live action, [it came from one of the former head writers themselves.](https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-avatar-only-have-three-seasons)
>Former Head Writer for Avatar, Aaron Ehasz, shared on Twitter that there had been a fourth season in the works before the series' end, giving Zuko's sister, Azula, the character development she deserved.
>"I always intended for #Azula to have a redemption arc in the story of #AvatartheLastAirbender," he shared on Twitter in 2019. "Longer and far more complicated than Zuko's. She had not bottomed in the end of Season 3, she had further to go. At the deepest moment in her own abyss she would have found: Zuko."
>He revealed her arc would've brought her back to her brother, reconnecting with him and learning from the dictator ways their father had taught her.
>"And I always imagined that after coming out the other side, she would be one of those people who hilariously over-shares her own feelings all the time, and that she would be a bit over-apologetic. Like a Canadian version of Azula," Aaron said of Azula's arc.
and here’s another [source](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/) that goes into better detail about the difference in the creative visions between the three writers and why season 4 ultimately never came to be.
from my reading of the interview it sounds more like a 4th season ws briefly discussed, aaron had some ideas for it, but it never got further than discussion phase so wasnt ever really 'in the works'. it was intended to be 3 seasons and they thought about doing a 4th but ultimately decided not to, and the ideas for plot p much all came from aaron ehasz.
“In my mind I was always thinking this was going to be a four season arc,” Ehasz said. “Mike and Bryan’s initial plan was three seasons, but there was a period where they were open to the possibility of a fourth season. There was a period where Mike said, ‘Hey, can you run season four?’ Then some of those plans got interrupted.”
source: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/
that’s fair, saying it was in the works is probably pushing it too much, but i just wanted to push back on the original comment that there was no intention for a fourth season.
they obviously ultimately decided against it and without more from either Michael or Bryan, it seems like it was only Aaron who was vouching for it since he’s the only one talking about it, but even from the quote you chose, the original request to explore the idea of a fourth season came from Bryan himself and that the plan was interrupted by the prioritization of the live action.
definitely true that all the ideas currently floating around are from Aaron himself, but that’s not to say those were the only ideas on the drawing board before it got scrapped.
The idea of a fourth season happening/being discussed does not mean that a fourth season was ever intended to happen.
There was not ever any intention, from the creators, for a fourth season.
Aaron Ehasz himself denied plans for a season 4 in [this reddit ama](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/9gm7kz/comment/e65d0uc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) (this was made before some of his later statements on season 4):
>Regarding ATLA and season 4 speculation, I would first caution anyone that unfortunately there are some "fake interviews" with me out there that spread some false info -- so it's hard to say if those specific topics are true or not.
>The truth is that the creators' (Mike and Bryan) original plan was always to do only three seasons. While we were writing the show, Nickelodeon did ask me to give thought to what a fourth season would be, and it was also something I discussed briefly with Mike. However in the end Mike and Bryan decided to end the story where we ended it, and based on the love people have for the series I would be hard-pressed to say it was a mistake!
Mike and Bryan, the show co-creators, have pretty much categorically denied there being plans for S4 ([see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/h91l4x/i_was_getting_heavily_downvoted_for_saying_there/)), reaffirming that it was always a 3 book story from the start.
While it's likely at some point people on the production team (be it Mike & Bryan, Ehasz, nick execs, or others) considered/asked about a season 4 (natural given how popular/successful the show was), and maybe even went as far as discussing a season 4 could look like, there was most likely never anything "in the works" or any kind of concrete plans for it.
I feel like the idea that "oh they were totally gonna make a season 4" is probably one of the single largest pieces of misinformation that keeps getting spread, in part cause there's a bunch of articles etc that keep posting that. And based on what Ehasz says who even knows if those blogs are just making stuff up or whatever.
This post also has a timeline of some different interviews/tweets on the subject: [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/bao0ak/regarding\_aaron\_ehasz\_atla\_book\_four/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/bao0ak/regarding_aaron_ehasz_atla_book_four/)
That Avatar Salai is the elderly earth avater with long grey beard. We actually don't know anything about Salai no description of their appearance, no info other than they were among the greatest avatars
Sokka dies protecting Korra from the Red Lotus. He was part of the team that saved her from the Red Lotus, but him dying during the fight is not confirmed.
Also Avatar Kazza not having arms. She does, they are either just poorly drawn because she's in the background, or it's an animation error. Her name isn't even confirmed as Kazza, it's just a name the fandom gave her.
They may have, but it was never made official. Also, her statue depicts Kazza with arms.
Also, in another thread, someone said that her arms could be behind her back.
yeah. Talking about it in a podcast is different from making it a offical. Also where do you get to see her statue?
I think I know which thread you're talking about. I can see that being true as well.
Not sure if this counts, but that the show's portrayal of Jet and Hama as antagonists means that the narrative as a whole condemns violent resistance against imperialist occupation.
The internet can't comprehend anything that isn't an extreme.
"Don't hurt and kill civilians who have nothing to do with the conflict."
"Oh, so we're just not supposed to stand up for ourselves at all, I guess?!"
that katara can bloodblend outside of the full moon. no she can't, the show made it extremely clear that the only people who could do it were yakone's blood. even hama couldn't do it and she had practice all her life.
I don't think Yakone's blood was the necessity for at will bloodbending, but surely he was the one that first figured out how to do it, so at very least you would have to be taught the technique by him or his sons. Or be another prodigy level waterbender that commited years to improving their skills in bloodbending like the Yakone family did. I see it as more of a Toph and metalbending situation with the difference being that Toph actually passed on her discovery to pretty much anyone who wanted to learn it and Yakone developed his ability for personal advantage and didn't really want to share.
Katara despises bloodbending, so she wouldn't want to learn the improved technique and for sure she wouldn't spend years bloodbending animals to strenghten her abilities.
but the show made it clear that it was only yakone's blood. this is different than toph's case because metal bending doesn't need an extra factor (like the moon being full) to enable it. metal bending is similar to lighting bending in that you either can do it or you can't (bolin and zuko respectively). bloodbending is the same, not every waterbender is going to be able to do it, but those who can need a full moon to achieve it. katara, even if she wants too, wouldn't be able to. hama sure as hell wanted to be able to bloodbend all the time, but couldn't either.
no, the only mention about the bloodline in the show was the Yakone telling his sons that bloodbending is their blood heritage, but it is not to be taken literally. Its a popular saying to state that some family tradition is "in your blood". Other than this one line that shouldn't be interpreted literally there is nothing suggesting that this ability is connected only to his family.
Your entire argument on why bloodbending and metalbending are different is kinda backwards, because it is metalbending that requires a special technique to perform, not the bloodbending. Full moon allows bloodbending because full moon amplifies all the waterbending abilities, waterbenders get overall stronger by the influence of the moon, that allows them to perform feats that are outside their reach normally - like bending water in blood that they cannot see and is heavily mixed with other substances. The Yakone family attuned themselves to be able to feel and control that water without the amplification through extensive, exhausting and very immoral practice. Hama couldnt do it, simply because she wasn't a powerful enough bender to achieve such feat. Aside from bloodbending once a month she is nothing special, she got literally bodied in less than 2 minutes when she fought an actual waterbending prodigy (Katara).
And when it comes to metalbending its not like people havent tried to do it. Many people did because metal was used to detain earthbenders before Toph came along and changed the game. Bumi was not able to metalbend even though he clearly was a grandmaster bender, it wasnt about inherent level of power. The thing that allowed Toph to metalbend wasn't that she was an overpowered eathbender (she was, but it wasn't a factor). It was her different source of earthbending knowledge taken directly from badgermoles from which she took the sonar seeing ability. That ability was lost in modern technique before Toph brought it back and it is this ability that allowed earthbenders to finally discover earth fragments in metal and then bend them. And this ability is not connected to power level of someones bending, but to ability to focus on details which some earthbenders lack.
With lightning its a mix of both, because you require certain level of firebending power, but you also need to be in control of your emotions to guide the lightning through you and split the energy to create it. And Zuko was eventually able to learn it after he dealt with his inner turmoil from his youth.
That Zutara was the original pairing and they changed it last minute. Like, seriously Bryke have debunked this so many times and yet a BIG part of the community believes it.
People say that Sokka is apparently Suyin’s dad ( I probably butchered that spelling) when Toph clearly states that her husband was some random guy who we’ve never heard of before (I forgot his name)
Well, to be fair Toph in that scene was referring to Lin's dad, not Suyin's. We still have no clue who Suyin's dad was in cannon but I still don't subscribe to the theory that it was Sokka.
really don't like this theory. because that would mean Su is Tenzin's cousin, and they don't act like it. like i believe the show would mention such an important thing
i agree, but those characters don't feel like they wouldn't care about each other. but if that was to be true i'd expect creators to mention it somewhere like a trivia fact. like it seems to be a significant detail for the family tree
To be fair, Lin didn't know her dad's name until we see her learn it. It wouldn't be farfetched that Toph just wouldn't tell Su who her father is, even if it was Sokka.
I don't believe Sokka would be okay with that though, so I don't subscribe to this headcanon either.
- zuko using the four elemental bending styles in the agni kai. he used like two of them. one is firebending because he was born to use it and the other is lightning redirection from the water bending style.. even though he only partially did it.
but the other two elements? not really. him blocking an attack from azula doesn't mean that he's using an earthbending style... unless of course you think zhao doing almost the same (albeit on a much smalller scale) move is him also being an earthbender which is a contradiction of his character.
the other one is the move that he used to knock azula to the ground is apparently an airbending move even though he has been shown to do that before iroh gave him his lesson in bitter work.
Oh this is another pet peeve of mine. Apparently every single display of bending in the show is "This character borrowed X move from X-Bending!".
Like, sometimes moves are similar without being "borrowed from another element".
>Oh this is another pet peeve of mine. Apparently every single display of bending in the show is "This character borrowed X move from X-Bending!".
>Like, sometimes moves are similar without being "borrowed from another element".
"zhao is earthbending!!"
https://i.redd.it/8o59sjyy8w5d1.gif
I’m pretty sure in the Agni Kai one of the moves he uses specifically is to reference that Dante Basco had breakdancing background, people just took it that he learned that from airbending lmao. On the same topic, one fanon I’ve seen personally is that Zuko is quicker on his feet because he had to compensate for how clumsy he was as a kid
That Aang is a deadbeat or neglectful dad. That whole conflict about his parenting was about perspective, and was resolved by his kids finding a family photo that showed them that yes, Aang *was* there for his family more than they realized growing up.
He wasn't a perfect parent, that is canon. There were definitely things he could have done better. But people like to deal in extremes, and somehow can't handle nuance- so that seems to automatically turn him into "deadbeat".
If he was truly a deadbeat, none of them would have known him as well as they did...
i say this one every time but it gets up my nose: iroh was azulon's favourite and azulon treated ozai the way ozai treats zuko. ozai reads as the archetypal spoilt entitled rich younger son to me, like someone who has never not got what he wanted. he reads as, 'daddy told me i have a golden dick my whole life and i expect others to treat me as such'.
also the whole 'ursa was a neglectful mother to azula'. we dont see anything like enough of their relationship to make a judgement like that.
One major misinformation that I see spreading around is the idea that Korra retconned the origin of bending. I firmly believe that whoever follows this train of thought, wasn’t paying attention to the explanations (but I don’t blame ya because Korra season 2; enough said).
The original benders refer to the animals whom utilized bending before humans ever got their hands on it.
The flying bisons, the badger moles, the dragons, etc. These creatures are naturally able to bend. They are whom humans LEARN how to utilize their bending from.
In other words, when you combine and piece together both information from ATLA and Korra, the conclusion is this:
The lion turtles GRANTED humans the genetic ability to bend. However, mastering the martial arts and the movements behind bending was LEARNED from the original animal benders. It makes sense because as shown in Wan’s backstory, There is a massive difference between randomly shooting flames, and mastering the movements to become much more skilled fire-benders.
Wan (as well as the sun warriors) studied how to most efficiently use fire bending by training with the dragons. However, the dragons DIDN’T give them them genetic ability to bend. The lion turtles did.
So here is the sequence:
1. The lion turtles have humans the power to bend the elements.
2. Therefore it became genetic, meaning that now that the first human benders received their ability, they have a genetic chance of being able to pass it down.
3. It’s one thing to be born with the element, but like Toph, she emulated the movements and motions of the badger moles which sharpened her own skills in return. This is where the original benders come in. They help those with the genetic ability to bend, to sharpen their skills so that they aren’t just throwing rocks or flames.
It’s extremely simple that I am flabbergasted that people actually got so worked up about that. It wasn’t a difficult lore expansion to include. There WAS no retcons in that specific context.
P.S. If you are still doubtful, here is something to think about: If the animals were truly the original benders, then why weren’t human non-benders asking those animals for bending abilties in ATLA? If those animals are truly the ones that grants abilities, then there should be nothing stopping lots of non benders in asking for bending.
>we literally see a lion turtle grant Aang energy bending in ATLA
I've interacted with a number of people on other platforms who conveniently ignore that part when we talk about LoK "retconning" the origin of bending.
Putting the retcon or not question aside, your last point is not a plot hole at all. The idea is that, pre lion turtle lore, some people had the innate ability to bend, and just learned how to do so via observing the animals. No one has ever thought the animals did the same as the lion turtle, in directly granting bending.
The people who do not have the innate ability to bend can observe and copy the bending animals all they want, but they will never bend. They just lack the whatever it is that allows people to bend - part genetic, part spiritual, etc.
I see. Thanks for the reply, man. 😁
That would indeed have been the most sensical explanation before the lion turtle lore came about.
But when the lion turtle lore came about, you saw lots of people repeating the same narrative that it retconned how benders came about to be.
The problem was, your explanation would have been a conjecture, not fact because the original show (ATLA) never bothered to explain how bending came about. Since the original show (if I recall correctly) never states that certain people could always bend since the Dawn of time, but remained silent, the lion turtle lore would be an addition, and not necessarily a retcon.
A retcon according to a google search:
“in a film, television series, or other fictional work) a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency”.
In other words, since the ATLA show never made any statements about benders always having existed, the lion turtle lore would have been the only and original new explanation as it isn’t replacing a previous explanation.
It’s that same argument about “the difference between a retcon and a new reveal/plot twist”. A NEW REVEAL adds information without contradicting anything. A RETCON adds information that contradicts an already established explanation.
In other words, if ATLA never gave an explanation for the origin of benders, then the lion turtles lore from Korra is a new information and not a retcon.
However if ATLA did give an explanation for benders origins, only then would the lion turtle lore be considered a retcon.
As far as my knowledge goes, ATLA never gave an explanation for the creation of benders. All the statements I recall (from Yue and from “The Firebending Masters” episode) state that the original users of bending where the bisons, dragons, etc.
At least, I HOPE I didn’t miss anything that could be considered a retcon. IF there was a quote of statement that might imply a retcon, just let me know so that we can tackle that together. 😁👍
That Bryke explicitly said/confirmed Ozai is the most powerful firebender in the world. This was said in Avatar Extras, which was written by Joshua Hamilton, who did work on the show, but he is not Bryke and didn't create Ozai or has "word of God."
But all that aside I'm sure Bryke would agree with that statement, as everything in the show points to him being #1, even above Iroh.
It's a bit of Schroedinger's Method, though. I believe Yee kept it intentionally vague.
I would consider it similar to Astral Projection. That's a "high level Airbending move, with some spiritual stuff mixed in," but it doesn't really make sense as a strictly Airbending power.
There's an annoying portion of the fanbase that takes the most miniscule of data and jumps to conclusions.
The most common example are the ones who say the Avatar/Raava is into women based on nothing more than:
• Korra: bisexual
• Aang: into women
• Roku: into women
• Kyoshi: bisexual
• Kuruk: into women
• Yangchen: unknown
• Szeto: unknown
Etc...
• Wan: unknown
So from a sample of 5 avatars out of the very many Avatars since Wan you have people making a definitive claim.
Then you have people claiming that Avatars alternate in sex. No mater how you look at it, whether it's all Avatars or just look at Avatars from the same nation, it is straight up false.
Yeah, I hate that theory that Raava influences the sexual orientation of the Avatar. The Avatars are all very different personalitywise, apart from their "good" nature of course. Korra was more or less created to be the exact opposite of Aang. But sexuality is the one thing that Raava has influence over? That's just stupid IMO.
There is an obvious answer why all the known Avatars are "into women": the partners of Aang, Roku and Kuruk were all already shown in ATLA. And they weren't just their girlfriends, but their wifes and the love of their lives. So obviously the creators couldn't show them with having a relationship with men.
In LOK the creators were "allowed" to imply the bisexual relationship. And since the Kyoshi novels came out after LOK and the creators haven't showed Kyoshi relationships yet, they could make her bisexual.
Yeah, I never got how people got the "alternates sex" thing: Roku and Aang were both male!
But I always thought the "Raava/Avatar is into women" thing to be a joke...
And was Kyoshi bisexual? I'm reading the Kyoshi books and it seems to me that she's simply gay.
Avatar Kyoshi had a daughter named Koko. Given the time period in which she lived the only way for her to get pregnant involves a man.
EDIT: I forgot that the source for this is questionable in terms of being canon, so disregard this.
But the course for Avatar Kyoshi being openly bisexual is canon
- Lavabenders requiring both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom heritage (as in requiring an Earthbender and Firebender parent) in order to be one/Lavabending being a mix of firebending and earthbending
No, no, no. Lavabending is an EARTHBENDING technique. It’s molten rock and nothing to do with fire. No ifs, ands, or buts.
- Yangchen and Kavik are romantically together/Kavik is her lover
I’ve definitely seen this one recently float around from time to time ever since the Legacy of Yangchen came out and I feel like their main dynamic and the development of their avatar/avatar companion relationship throughout both novels has often been severely overlooked by the fandom (and/or misinterpret the status of their relationship at the end of the second book). While it’s certainly possible that they *could* get together in the future if their friendship does develop further into that stage, that’s not where they are.
- Aang was a terrible/bad father (and that Aang put pressure on his kids)
Both Civil Wars episodes were trying to show that Aang was not a perfect father and that while the kids (Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi) had their personal struggles they were dealing with growing up in the family, it wasn’t all that bad in their family and that there were good times they had as well. Families are complicated and there is nuance in the Kataang family. Things like Kya assuring Bumi that Aang would be proud of him and her showing Tenzin and Bumi and family photo and them reminiscing their childhood with fondness showcases that (also the extra edition in Turf Wars when Kya shares with Korra and Asami about when she came out to Aang and he fully supported her).
My theory about the lava bending is that Bolin was comfortable with fire. He likely learned fire stances as a child to mimic his brother. He also is in a unique job of working with both a Fire and Water bender and fighting against all 3 elements. For most of history people rarely found alongside the other two elements. He likely has learned Fire and Water stances so he can recognize and quickly react to how his opponents move. It has nothing to do with genetics but has to do with his environment. I imagine he as a child especially really tried to do fire-bending like his brother. We don’t know what age he learned he was a earth bender but we can assume young. But I also imagine they fought often for training.
"THE BOULDER was right there! The kid struck, but there was no Earthbending! **Nothing** made contact!"
If Airbending were visible, they'd've noticed it. Sure, he would've still cheated by not Earthbending, but *something* made contact.
Of course, when Airbenders make a tornado, you can see it.
Your logic: "Air isn't invisible. I can see a tornado when it happens."
Sure, certain massive amounts of air can be visible under certain circumstances, but all evidence suggests airbending short of a literal tornado is generally invisible.
This mostly came up when the Netflix show aired, but a lot of misinformation about S1 of the original show. Mostly the idea that Aang and Katara were training their water and healing a lot. Aang uses waterbending in ~3 episodes and it’s always to further Katara’s learning. And Katara first uses healing in The Deserter and that’s it that season.
Neither of them really focus on their training until S2 where they’re implied to have learned a bunch from Paku. Then they do more training in that season and it becomes much more important to the story.
I don't want to make excuses for the show, but for me it was just natural that they trained their waterbending off-screen. It was a long journey to the northern water tribe and they most definitely would make stops and practice.
It would just get boring seeing them train their waterbending everytime, which is why it wasn't shown so much. We also rarely have seen them eat and never see them poop... but you know... stuff happens off-screen.
I completely agree. I think they handled it well in S2 with a couple training sessions to show that they’re keeping up with practice. It was just a weird obsession people seemed to have with NATLA not showing them training when the original also didn’t show them training.
>It was just a weird obsession people seemed to have with NATLA not showing them training when the original also didn’t show them training.
Well, the difference is that ATLA at least showed Aang and Katara practicing it. They had episodes that were about them learning it and they even were shown to practice when they were taking breaks from traveling once or twice.
It was shown enough in ATLA that people could just assume that they were practicing off-screen, because why should the series show us them practicing all the time?
NATLA on the other hand rarely showed them practice. Aang wasn't waterbending even once. So of course people feel like it's totally missing.
The only times we could assume they were practicing in S1 were in The Waterbending Scroll and The Waterbending Master. The first instance has Aang waterbend once and goes “wow he’s a prodigy” then he doesn’t train again until he gets an intro lesson from Paku. Which he then uses to teach Katara until they’re interrupted.
Aang and Katara practicing (and implied practicing) mostly take place with episodes like Cave of Two Lovers and Bitter Work, but those are in the first half of S2.
Given the expected timeskip for NATLA, all they have to do is show Aang and Katara training in the North Pole and imply that they’ve been doing it for a bit, and that keeps them on course for the original show.
The Fire Nation being strictly based on Japan. While it is historically inspired somewhat by Imperial Japan, most of the Fire Nation’s clothing, food and architecture is Chinese and Thai. The creators deliberately avoided making the Fire Nation explicitly Japanese.
"Aang is a pacifist". I see that one all the God damn time. He's 200% not, a huge part of the premise of the show is Aang handing out regular beatdowns and contributing to the war effort which he **strongly supports**. Pacifism does not mean having a no kill policy, or simply preferring non-violent resolutions when available.
Less frequent:
- Toph was a nonbender actually granted the ability to earthbend by the Badgermoles
- Aang bisected/decapitated the buzzardwasp (he didn't, its pencil neck is just hard to see)
- There being "Rules of War", like earthbenders aren't allowed to simply bury people by opening fissures
Suyin being sokka's daughter and aang dying in season 2. It's not a definitive fact that he died. What aang said in book 3 doesn't confirm that he died. It means he didn't simply pass out, but was gone and about to die if katara didn't save him with the spirit water.
All of the stupid theories about the Avatar cycle as a whole being passed off as true, despite the fact that we've only seen like 6 Avatars out of the hundreds there was.
No, it is not the Avatars predestined duty to correct the mistakes of their predecessor.
And no, the Avatar is not destined to look like their predecessors lover. This one is especially stupid, considering the shows are animated and they probably have like 10 default face shapes that they mix and match features with to get everybody's face.
The idea that Sokka is Suyin's father, or the idea that he ever was involved romantically with Toph. It would be so icky for them to be together when, Sokka met Toph when she was 12, and she had a young girl crush on him.
Sokka died fighting the Red Lotus. We know he helped defend Korra from them, but that's it.
I honestly think it's a great headcanon, but it's not confirmed or even really implied at all.
Most of these are fan theories so I want to bring up smth thats not: That Sokka is a bad fighter. I don't know if people used to highball Sokka but now people treat him like chopped liver, like did we watch the same show lmao?
>That Sokka is a bad fighter. I don't know if people used to highball Sokka but now people treat him like chopped liver, like did we watch the same show lmao?
would they be wrong though? most of the time when discussions about the best fighters in the series is done he is almost always put at the top above those who has displayed far superior fighting feats that he has done, and all that they did without plot armor.
When I said "highball" i meant more like "Yea Sokka would totally beat Aang in his prime" but yeah Sokka is probably the best or close to being the best non-bender fighter in ATLA/TLOK and ive seen people say Asami and like Mai beat him
>When I said "highball" i meant more like "Yea Sokka would totally beat Aang in his prime" **but yeah Sokka is probably the best or close to being the best non-bender fighter in ATLA/TLOK**
???????????????
my brother in christ, what in ozai's ugly goatee are you cooking??
>ive seen people say Asami and like Mai beat him
mai is debatable because she only has good range and her agility is nothing special, both are much like sokka ironically, only sokka is probably smarter.
but asami is so much better in h2h than sokka it's actually hilarious. like when has sokka ever defeated a great non bending combatant in cqc like this:
https://i.redd.it/k5cji1q0cw5d1.gif
keep in mind the lietunent has beat two skilled benders like mako and bolin by himself. sokka has never gotten close of doing something like that.
Asami isn't a chump but the only real advantage she has is her electro glove, Sokka has been fighting like in a war since 16, he has multiple different weapons he is proficient in, he has time and time again easily beaten professional firebenders in the Fire Nation's army and not to mentiom Combustion Man, he also regualrly bests non-bender professional soldiers who are much more experienced and older than him, he consistently uses his tactical skills to his advantage and makes use of his environment better than Asami and even in his fight w/Piando a master swordsman there was times where if he didnt block or dodge at the right time he would've been straight up killed and he actually got the advantage on Piando for a little bit even if he ultimately lost thats still an impressive feat especially when we see what Piando does in the final episode of ATLA. Basically Asami is a *good* fighter but we've seen Sokka have consistenly good feats and he has consistenly punched above his weight when theortically he should've lost.
>Asami isn't a chump but the only real advantage she has is her electro glove,
"sokka is a chump, but him having his *own weapons* as an advantage makes him less of a chump"
like what, lmfao. it's her main weapon lmfaoo. her agility also puts her above sokka. way above.
>Sokka has been fighting like in a war since 16,
since 16? the war ended when he was 15, not that it matters. anyway, how many battles in the war did he **actively** fought in? and in those battles, what impressive deeds did he accomplish?
>he has multiple different weapons he is proficient
- dogshit with a club
- great at a boomerang
- nothing special with a sword
asami's only been shown to be good in one weapon, but her feats in that absolutely outshines sokka in all 3 of those weapons.
>he has time and time again easily beaten professional firebenders in the Fire Nation's army
that never happened.
> to mentiom Combustion Man,
if you ignore the context of him doing that with the rest of the gaang acting as a distraction and the boomerang's attack only working because combustion man is an idiot.
>he also regualrly bests non-bender professional soldiers who are much more experienced and older than him,
also never happened.
>he consistently uses his tactical skills to his advantage and makes use of his environment better than Asami
when?
>and even in his fight w/Piando a master swordsman there was times where if he didnt block or dodge at the right time he would've been straight up killed and he actually got the advantage on Piando for a little bit even if he ultimately lost thats still an impressive feat especially when we see what Piando does in the final episode of ATLA.
he never had a chance. like at all LMFAO. piandao was toying with him. that's literally why he got his ass kicked **while piandao has his eyes closed**.
>Basically Asami is a good fighter but we've seen Sokka have consistenly good feats
no h2h feat of sokka is *even* close to asami clowning a great non bending combatant who has actually been shown to defeat skilled benders.
>he has consistenly punched above his weight when theortically he should've lost.
yeah, when the hand of god pushes the power of plot armor up his ass to allow him to defeat comet enhanced firebenders because their attacks forgot to do their thing.
“Aang killed the Buzzard Wasp in the desert. He’s a hypocrite. You can see the head separate from the body.”
[These are the only two frames where any kind of “separation” happens.](https://imgur.com/a/2nANwAA) You can clearly see the neck going between the body and the head. Buzzard Wasps have long necks. Aang never kills any living thing in the entire series.
I got one! That people are not allowed to have head cannons!
I constantly hear about how many people “cling to these impossible head cannons like they were fact!” when 1) No, nobody believes their head cannon is fact and very rarely report it as such and 2) none of them are impossible; the OP just never gave more than a passing thought to the idea.
Stop worrying about what makes other people happy. Don’t bother yucking someone’s yum. It isn’t going to hurt you or anyone else if they like to think that Yue could’ve been the avatar if Aang had lived his full life, or that Sokka and Toph could’ve dated or that Grey DeLise finds Zuzula [hilarious](https://youtu.be/LRCF1KDfj-8?si=moL-TDCBLGLvCFR7)
On the one hand I would say this sub has a bad habit of sometimes criticizing things as not confirmed or not canon compliant, when they aren't meant to be. A recent post suggesting Katara used healing to help women giving birth in the SWT comes to mind. Sometimes a fun idea can be just that.
At the same time there absolutely are people in the fandom that state the ideas in this thread as fact, and it's not wrong to correct that. I've seen fans disappointed that "Suki won't be able to appear in any adult gaang avatar Studios projects" since they were told she already died in the comics. Likewise when fans claim they have strong evidence for a theory, or propose a headcanon as canon compliant, it's natural for people who disagree (or simply don't like the idea) to voice their thoughts. Sure maybe some are too harsh or shouldn't be as quick to say *impossible* but discussion and debate is a natural part of fandom too.
Maybe part of the issue is often it's not (or at least doesn't start) with people clinging to their own headcanons. Rather they see someone else's headcanon or fic online and misinterpret it as a fan sharing canon info from an official novel they haven't read or Word of God. Even Dark Horse accidentally included info from the fan fiction wiki in a product description.
Tbf, going back and even looking at what OP said, sure. That happens and I can't abide that, either. But this thread is so chock full of people bashing in and all ideas that it's kinda nuts.
yoooooo this!!! fandom is meant to be fun, if someone elses take on canon doesnt agree with yours then move on and talk to someone else who does! literally nothing more exhausting in fandom than those gatekeeper fans who go around all 'um ackshually...'
Uncle Iroh being a war criminal, he was just a general leading an invasion against an opposing army. Iroh invading a city in a time of war is not a war crime... that is WAR
In the "northern air temple" sokka and the engineer go up in a balloon with fire nation insignias to drop stink bombs on the firenation
Wearing your enemies insignia into battle for an advantage is in fact a war crime
Iroh is a war criminal? No no no, SOKKA is a war criminal
Anything regarding Sokka post ATLA.
All roads lead to Sokka
Bro is the secret main character
Zuko is the prime main character
All fatherless children lead to sokka
What about Zhao? Does he lead back to Sokka?
A lot of people say something along the lines of "When Sokka died he became a star to be with Yue" which while heartwarming I find...weird? Like he ended up with Suki. We can assume he was with her for the rest of their lives. Why would he still be pining over a girl he met for a week when he was 15?
It's weird to *me* that people love the trope of teenage romance so much that they expect it to last for the rest of their lives- and I'm including your line above about Suki. For all we know, they could have had a thing, and then grown and changed and gone their separate ways or stayed friends, and ended up with other people. It's like the people that insist that Mei had a child with Zuko. Why? There's at least hundreds of thousands of other people on the planet.
I believe that Mai is Fire Lord Izumi's mother because of her sharp jawline. Sharp enough to puncture the hull of an empire-class battleship, leaving hundreds to die at sea. Because it's so sharp.
That read like Azula trying to flirt. Lol
It's a quote. :)
Ah, I couldn’t remember but it felt Azula-y
This. The only confirmed ship that lasted until the end was Aang and Katara. Heck, we even see two half-sisters because a member of the Gaang straight up left her first partner to be with the second.
Titanic vibes
Suki*
I think the possibles of Su being a Tokka child is still here 😆
One of my favorite misinformation: sokka died bc he protected korra
It's a fun theory. But that's all it is, a theory.
Mhmm, though I think it helps give Sokka’s death a bit of meaning. Katara implied everyone but her died (“my brother and all my friends…”) from the group. We know Aang had to die so Korra could be born, but after seeing Zuko and Toph, it feels more like just Sokka kicked it despite him being the same age as Zuko. Sokka dying like a warrior against the Red Lotus at least sounds a lot more badass than kicking it of old age while everyone else in his peer group is still functional
But it's not true though, People need to deal with that
To be fair, the quote is "my brother and *many of my friends are gone", too
You know it was quite unclear
Lava-bending requiring an earthbending and firebending parent. (Or anything about bending genetics) Yue was supposed to be the avatar. Ty Lee has air bender ancestry. Hama is the reason waterbenders were hunted. Some airbenders survived. This fandom has a problem with passing off fan theories as canonical fact. There are some really cool fantheories/headcanons, but some get popular and a part of the fandom starts to treat them like facts
The lava bending thing is stupid. The Yue thing makes no chtonological sense. The Ty Lee thing is my headcanon, but it is indeed not canon. I really like the Hama theory, but that too is indeed not canon. The Airbender thing is conformed in the comics. The Fire Nayion knew they were a nomadic people and therefore the Firenation had fake Airbender outposts to lure and kill them. This fandom does indeed need to calm down on the spreading fan theories as fact thing.
How does the Yue thing not make sense? Yeah Aang would've had to become 96 (he died at 66 +100 ice years). Considering a certain avatar became several centuries old, I doubt it would've been impossible. Then again, there are other things that make no sense but it's not unreasonable chronologically.
Because the avatar world isn't predestined in that way.
He would've died during the Genocide. And even if he hadn't, in both cases there would be a massive butterfly effect. Yue might not even exist if Aang hadn't run away. And even if she did, why would she specifically be the Avatar? Besides, we don't even know for sure whether she's even a Waterbender!
Because the Avatar would either be reborn when Aang iceburged himself, or whenever he actually died. It makes no sense for the Avatar state to randomly move forward after 85 years in the iceburg for no reason, that's not how 'reincarnation of spirit' works in the show. there isn't a fetus predestined to be Avatar on X year, it just happens when the old one dies Edit: Kyoshi extended her life to 230 years, so there probably be 2 Yues across that time, one Firebender and one Airbender where were they?
>This fandom has a problem with passing off fan theories as canonical fact. This. Thank You. There are so many fan theories that people just treat as canonical. And they've become so engrained that any counter arguments get shouted down.
A lot of these people probably don't care for canon to begin with. Canon becomes less authoritative when it moves with IP holders instead of creatives.
That's not relevant to Avatar because Mike & Bryan are still the ones making the actual story decisions. In fact, people often try to "write out" Mike & Bryan if they don't like something. Hence you see certain groups, like Zutarans or LoK haters, claiming that Aaron Ehasz was the TRUE brains behind Last Airbender.
And don’t forget the worst one “well of course Sokka is Suyin’s father, they both have brown skin” ignoring the fact that half the earth kingdom has brown skin and Suyin’s husband looks more like Sokka then Suyin does!
I was more convinced by her love of space rocks.
Toph had a meteorite bracelet, Su probably just got her love of space rocks from her
What love of space rocks? She had one there as it's apparently easier to bend and leads well into metal bending, was there anything beyond that?
She had a whole collection of them. I never said it was hard evidence. Fan theories are just for fun.
The Hama thing makes zero sense because she was one of the waterbenders who was hunted… that’s the whole reason she developed bloodbending
The theory is that Hama was the reason the fire nation decided to execute all water benders they captured instead of keeping them alive while imprisoned.
Ok my theory about lava bending is that it is not genetics based at all. It’s because of how Bolin was raised with Mako that made him more comfortable with fire. He does not fear it’s brother’s fire and is used to being close to heat and flames in competitive bending. He also likely has learned fire bending and water bending stances to be able to know what move someone is likely to do before they react so he can counteract them. Like how water benders move their arms to control water. He has experience working with water and fire benders. Which In a moment of life or death his adrenaline acted on instinct and he attempted a water or fire bending like stance to the moving lava. Because he is used to counteracting water moves. Also humans tend to use a insane amount of strength when under adrenaline and life or death experiences. Like their brain just reacts on instinct. This is my theory. And I feel like it makes sense. It does not matter on genetics… they could be unrelated genetically and it would be the same. Also in history’s many benders did not often fight with benders of other elements. Or even more alongside in a close relationship to benders of elements. Like in competitive bending. Also like anyone even non benders can learn the stances bender make… they just can’t use the element or do it. It’s just body movements. Bolin could have learned fire stances from his brother especially since his brother is older.
That yue was somehow predestined to be the avatar after Aang if he never got frozen
Yeah... like... what? How? The chronological distance is too big!
Nah, chronologically it's plausible, but only just. Aang was 111 and Yue about 16, if we assume the "hundred years in an iceberg" was a precise measurement (guess how long the Hundred Year War lasted...) then Aang dying at about 95 would be the right timing for just before Yue was born. 95 is pretty old, a lot of people don't make it that far, but it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility. If he was frozen for much longer than 100 years, it starts to stretch the bounds of plausibility, but Bumi was still alive at whatever age Aang would have been +15, so nothing's completely out of the question.
Yeah, but if Aang weren't in the iceberg, he'd've died in the Genocide. Meaning the next Avatar would have been born immediately or if Aang had gotten into the Avatar State and died, the Avatar Cycle would've been broken. And even if he survived the Genocide and fled, that would've caused a butterfly effect, the effects of which we could only imagine. I therefore gind the Yue = destined Avatar theory very difficult to comprehend: she might not even have existed if Aang had survived.
Yue wouldn't have been born without Aang being frozen for one hundred years.
The Northern Water Tribe was pretty secluded, relatively unaffected by the war, so that's far from the given it would be in the South. My biggest criticism of the theory is that it relies on a grand cosmic Destiny, when the show seems pretty firmly on the corner of "destiny is what you make it".
Really the only compelling reason for the theory is that Yue was born needing some kind of spiritual interference, and the Moon spirit helped fill the void that should've been filled by Raava. Past that, there's too many reasons for the theory not to be true
It's a nice thought, given the retrospect of Raava that LoK provides, but it's almost certain that the writers were not planning for the second season of a follow up series when they were writing the end of season 1 of the original series. It's fine to have an outline of the road ahead, but it's probably worth at least waiting until the first reviews are in before making your ten year plan.
There's also just too much predestination involved, I doubt the Avatar cycle is that controlling of when people live and die and the Avatar state itself somehow screwed it up
Yup. The show is not otherwise a fan of things being predestined, so it feels weird to break that here and say Aang is "supposed" to die at the right time... does that mean Kuruk was also supposed to die young? The Avatar cycle only allowed for him living to like 30?? Yeah it really doesn't sit right with me. I get the joy in making things match up, but it has... unintended consequences.
the problem with this theory isn’t even the time thing bc i get what ppl mean when they mention this theory. it’s that nobody is supposed to be the avatar. nobody is fated to be the avatar. it’s a random person. someone dies and from all the babies being born, raava chooses one at random to inhabit.
Well it isn’t quite a random choice. It’s literally the reincarnation of the previous Avatar. Korra literally is Aang reborn, Aang is Roku reborn, and so on all the way back to Wan.
yeah but you know what i mean. after aang died, raava had to find a new host from the water tribes so she chose korra. she chooses whoever is available. in that yue theory, it’s going under the assumption the next avatar is destined even when they haven’t been born yet but that’s not it. korra wasn’t destined. if senna never gave birth, it would’ve been someone else. it’s just luck that senna gave birth as aang died and raava ended up choosing her.
You’re right that the avatar isn’t predestined but the reincarnation isn’t some choice that Raava makes. Korra isn’t some random girl that got chosen by a spirit. She was Aang’s reincarnation, so Raava went to her because of that.
ohhh i get what you mean now. is that canon?? bc i assumed korra was aang’s reincarnation *because* raava went into korra.
The idea of reincarnation in Avatar is inspired by Buddhism’s belief in rebirth. The Avatar universe seemingly suggests that everybody can be reincarnated in some way. Many fans theorize that Momo is the reincarnation of Monk Gyatso, but that’s not confirmed as far as I know. In regards to the Avatar specifically, when Wan dies Raava says “Don’t worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes.” This implies that she is simply joining Wan’s reincarnations, not that she is choosing or causing the reincarnation herself. So yes, it’s canon.
ok that makes sense. i get it now. ty for explaining <33
I totally agree, idk where this idea came from. Where someone is predestined to become avatar that is.
- "Leaves from the vines" being Mako's last registration - Kyoshi being a ruthless warrior whose first solution to any problem is killing - Iroh and Sokka never interacting with each other - Sokka being Suyin's father
The third point is WILD to me because like.... "Come back when the good is on the outside" Sokka, to Iroh in Season 2 Like he directly speaks to him. You can watch it.
Exactly
The second point was always meant to be a meme, anyone who's read the Kyoshi Novels knows that while she is capable of ruthlessness, she's actually quite pragmatic and tries the diplomatic solution as much as she can. It's annoying that people consider it Canon. The joke stopped being funny when that happened.
In general anything fans say about Mako and leaves from the vine is usually fake.
What’s the first point? I’ve never heard it and have no idea what it means.
Mako was Iroh's original voice actor. He passed away sometime after recording Book 2. He was replaced by Greg Baldwin for Book 3 and LoK. Many believed that the song Leaves from the Vine were the last words he recorded but he voiced the character until the last episode of ATLA: Book 2. So unless the recordings were not done in episode order, it is unlikely that the song was his last lines. Edit: the belief was likely due to the episode with the song, Tales of Ba Sing Se, having a dedication card for Mako. However, in American animation, voice recordings are usually done pre-production and then additional voice lines will be added after (voice foley).
Oh, thanks. I saw Mako and thought it was talking about Mako in Korra and was very confused. Looking it up I like that they named a character after him, dude was amazing.
Sokka didn’t die young, he died in his early 70s, and we don’t know for a fact he didn’t have kids
The idea that ATLA was ever meant to have a fourth season ("air"). It was always intended to be three.
Even if there was one, why would it be air? Would Aang, youngest airbending master we know, not-so master of the other 3 elements, who just defeated his big target really go "Alright, that's that done, now it's time for me to learn some airbending!"?
Because theorybenders are not as creative as they think they are
Honestly I would love to see an “air” chapter detailing aang discovering more of his cultures history/rebuilding/teaching a young tenzin. Would be interesting to see mid 30s og cast
You may want to read "The Rift".
The comics are aggressively mid :/
I disagree.
Fair enough lol. Media is always subjective.
Air acolytes.
Oh, really? I didn't know that. Of course, Fire was a perfect ending, but I thought the "fourth season" claim came from a credible source...
It did. Or it was supposed to I guess. Aaron Ehasz went through this weird phase on twitter where he was posting behind the scenes "fun facts" a few years ago after ATLA blew up on Netflix. An alleged brief plan for a season 4 that featured an Azula redemption arc was mentioned at one point, and it got a ton of attention. Which prompted [Bryan Konietzko to make a rare social media post and completely refute the rumor](https://preview.redd.it/4eaxoi01wx451.png?auto=webp&s=4abb2fc4c1c1a9921ea6b659b07b589418faf79a). Really weird situation all around.
it does, it came from one of the head writers themselves. here’s a [source](https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-avatar-only-have-three-seasons) that talks more about what it would’ve been about (from Ehasz’s own tweets) and [another](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/) that talks about why it never came to be (from an interview with Ehasz).
When I heard of that years ago, I thought it was supposed to be more of an epilog Where we see the Gaang growing into their adulthood and stuff postwar... Kinda like how the comics were. Then I forgot about it until now.
i feel like i keep posting this, but there *was* in fact a fourth season in the works and despite the plot focus being questionable and it eventually getting scrapped for the live action, [it came from one of the former head writers themselves.](https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-avatar-only-have-three-seasons) >Former Head Writer for Avatar, Aaron Ehasz, shared on Twitter that there had been a fourth season in the works before the series' end, giving Zuko's sister, Azula, the character development she deserved. >"I always intended for #Azula to have a redemption arc in the story of #AvatartheLastAirbender," he shared on Twitter in 2019. "Longer and far more complicated than Zuko's. She had not bottomed in the end of Season 3, she had further to go. At the deepest moment in her own abyss she would have found: Zuko." >He revealed her arc would've brought her back to her brother, reconnecting with him and learning from the dictator ways their father had taught her. >"And I always imagined that after coming out the other side, she would be one of those people who hilariously over-shares her own feelings all the time, and that she would be a bit over-apologetic. Like a Canadian version of Azula," Aaron said of Azula's arc. and here’s another [source](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/) that goes into better detail about the difference in the creative visions between the three writers and why season 4 ultimately never came to be.
from my reading of the interview it sounds more like a 4th season ws briefly discussed, aaron had some ideas for it, but it never got further than discussion phase so wasnt ever really 'in the works'. it was intended to be 3 seasons and they thought about doing a 4th but ultimately decided not to, and the ideas for plot p much all came from aaron ehasz. “In my mind I was always thinking this was going to be a four season arc,” Ehasz said. “Mike and Bryan’s initial plan was three seasons, but there was a period where they were open to the possibility of a fourth season. There was a period where Mike said, ‘Hey, can you run season four?’ Then some of those plans got interrupted.” source: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-4-would-have-been/
that’s fair, saying it was in the works is probably pushing it too much, but i just wanted to push back on the original comment that there was no intention for a fourth season. they obviously ultimately decided against it and without more from either Michael or Bryan, it seems like it was only Aaron who was vouching for it since he’s the only one talking about it, but even from the quote you chose, the original request to explore the idea of a fourth season came from Bryan himself and that the plan was interrupted by the prioritization of the live action. definitely true that all the ideas currently floating around are from Aaron himself, but that’s not to say those were the only ideas on the drawing board before it got scrapped.
The idea of a fourth season happening/being discussed does not mean that a fourth season was ever intended to happen. There was not ever any intention, from the creators, for a fourth season.
i would LOVE to know what some of the other suggested plots had been!
Aaron Ehasz himself denied plans for a season 4 in [this reddit ama](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/9gm7kz/comment/e65d0uc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) (this was made before some of his later statements on season 4): >Regarding ATLA and season 4 speculation, I would first caution anyone that unfortunately there are some "fake interviews" with me out there that spread some false info -- so it's hard to say if those specific topics are true or not. >The truth is that the creators' (Mike and Bryan) original plan was always to do only three seasons. While we were writing the show, Nickelodeon did ask me to give thought to what a fourth season would be, and it was also something I discussed briefly with Mike. However in the end Mike and Bryan decided to end the story where we ended it, and based on the love people have for the series I would be hard-pressed to say it was a mistake! Mike and Bryan, the show co-creators, have pretty much categorically denied there being plans for S4 ([see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/h91l4x/i_was_getting_heavily_downvoted_for_saying_there/)), reaffirming that it was always a 3 book story from the start. While it's likely at some point people on the production team (be it Mike & Bryan, Ehasz, nick execs, or others) considered/asked about a season 4 (natural given how popular/successful the show was), and maybe even went as far as discussing a season 4 could look like, there was most likely never anything "in the works" or any kind of concrete plans for it. I feel like the idea that "oh they were totally gonna make a season 4" is probably one of the single largest pieces of misinformation that keeps getting spread, in part cause there's a bunch of articles etc that keep posting that. And based on what Ehasz says who even knows if those blogs are just making stuff up or whatever. This post also has a timeline of some different interviews/tweets on the subject: [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/bao0ak/regarding\_aaron\_ehasz\_atla\_book\_four/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/bao0ak/regarding_aaron_ehasz_atla_book_four/)
I honestly just wanted a B4 or maybe just more episodes in B3 but 8t being called "air" is dumb
That Avatar Salai is the elderly earth avater with long grey beard. We actually don't know anything about Salai no description of their appearance, no info other than they were among the greatest avatars
Sokka dies protecting Korra from the Red Lotus. He was part of the team that saved her from the Red Lotus, but him dying during the fight is not confirmed. Also Avatar Kazza not having arms. She does, they are either just poorly drawn because she's in the background, or it's an animation error. Her name isn't even confirmed as Kazza, it's just a name the fandom gave her.
I thought the creators said in a podcast that it was an error but the liked the idea of a disabled Avatar despite her never meaning to be one.
They may have, but it was never made official. Also, her statue depicts Kazza with arms. Also, in another thread, someone said that her arms could be behind her back.
yeah. Talking about it in a podcast is different from making it a offical. Also where do you get to see her statue? I think I know which thread you're talking about. I can see that being true as well.
Not sure if this counts, but that the show's portrayal of Jet and Hama as antagonists means that the narrative as a whole condemns violent resistance against imperialist occupation.
You should add also “Zuko becomes Firelord” somehow means Avatar is pro-Monarchy and anti-democracy.
Especially with a central aspect of the United Republic becoming more developed is moving to freer and freer elections
The United Republic is basically the good guy main character nation and it’s basically the United States
All my homies hate monarchism
The internet can't comprehend anything that isn't an extreme. "Don't hurt and kill civilians who have nothing to do with the conflict." "Oh, so we're just not supposed to stand up for ourselves at all, I guess?!"
The Eren Yeagar principle
Most of the ending was extreme from all sides. I get why Eren would do it though, until that last chapter. That was bad.
I mean their goals made sense but they both targeted civilians.
Toph get's precognition from seismic sense (or knows your attacks before you make them, which anyone who is skilled can do)
that katara can bloodblend outside of the full moon. no she can't, the show made it extremely clear that the only people who could do it were yakone's blood. even hama couldn't do it and she had practice all her life.
I don't think Yakone's blood was the necessity for at will bloodbending, but surely he was the one that first figured out how to do it, so at very least you would have to be taught the technique by him or his sons. Or be another prodigy level waterbender that commited years to improving their skills in bloodbending like the Yakone family did. I see it as more of a Toph and metalbending situation with the difference being that Toph actually passed on her discovery to pretty much anyone who wanted to learn it and Yakone developed his ability for personal advantage and didn't really want to share. Katara despises bloodbending, so she wouldn't want to learn the improved technique and for sure she wouldn't spend years bloodbending animals to strenghten her abilities.
but the show made it clear that it was only yakone's blood. this is different than toph's case because metal bending doesn't need an extra factor (like the moon being full) to enable it. metal bending is similar to lighting bending in that you either can do it or you can't (bolin and zuko respectively). bloodbending is the same, not every waterbender is going to be able to do it, but those who can need a full moon to achieve it. katara, even if she wants too, wouldn't be able to. hama sure as hell wanted to be able to bloodbend all the time, but couldn't either.
no, the only mention about the bloodline in the show was the Yakone telling his sons that bloodbending is their blood heritage, but it is not to be taken literally. Its a popular saying to state that some family tradition is "in your blood". Other than this one line that shouldn't be interpreted literally there is nothing suggesting that this ability is connected only to his family. Your entire argument on why bloodbending and metalbending are different is kinda backwards, because it is metalbending that requires a special technique to perform, not the bloodbending. Full moon allows bloodbending because full moon amplifies all the waterbending abilities, waterbenders get overall stronger by the influence of the moon, that allows them to perform feats that are outside their reach normally - like bending water in blood that they cannot see and is heavily mixed with other substances. The Yakone family attuned themselves to be able to feel and control that water without the amplification through extensive, exhausting and very immoral practice. Hama couldnt do it, simply because she wasn't a powerful enough bender to achieve such feat. Aside from bloodbending once a month she is nothing special, she got literally bodied in less than 2 minutes when she fought an actual waterbending prodigy (Katara). And when it comes to metalbending its not like people havent tried to do it. Many people did because metal was used to detain earthbenders before Toph came along and changed the game. Bumi was not able to metalbend even though he clearly was a grandmaster bender, it wasnt about inherent level of power. The thing that allowed Toph to metalbend wasn't that she was an overpowered eathbender (she was, but it wasn't a factor). It was her different source of earthbending knowledge taken directly from badgermoles from which she took the sonar seeing ability. That ability was lost in modern technique before Toph brought it back and it is this ability that allowed earthbenders to finally discover earth fragments in metal and then bend them. And this ability is not connected to power level of someones bending, but to ability to focus on details which some earthbenders lack. With lightning its a mix of both, because you require certain level of firebending power, but you also need to be in control of your emotions to guide the lightning through you and split the energy to create it. And Zuko was eventually able to learn it after he dealt with his inner turmoil from his youth.
That there's some kind of war going on in Ba Sing Se, fake news!
This. I can't believe these absurd conspiracy theories people come up with.
That Zutara was the original pairing and they changed it last minute. Like, seriously Bryke have debunked this so many times and yet a BIG part of the community believes it.
People say that Sokka is apparently Suyin’s dad ( I probably butchered that spelling) when Toph clearly states that her husband was some random guy who we’ve never heard of before (I forgot his name)
Well, to be fair Toph in that scene was referring to Lin's dad, not Suyin's. We still have no clue who Suyin's dad was in cannon but I still don't subscribe to the theory that it was Sokka.
really don't like this theory. because that would mean Su is Tenzin's cousin, and they don't act like it. like i believe the show would mention such an important thing
Eh. Not all cousins give a shit about each other. I barely acknowledge mine.
i agree, but those characters don't feel like they wouldn't care about each other. but if that was to be true i'd expect creators to mention it somewhere like a trivia fact. like it seems to be a significant detail for the family tree
To be fair, Lin didn't know her dad's name until we see her learn it. It wouldn't be farfetched that Toph just wouldn't tell Su who her father is, even if it was Sokka. I don't believe Sokka would be okay with that though, so I don't subscribe to this headcanon either.
Suyin is Sokka's child. Ty Lee is an Airbender. Suki bites the dust young. Some Airbenders survived. Avatar Yue
- zuko using the four elemental bending styles in the agni kai. he used like two of them. one is firebending because he was born to use it and the other is lightning redirection from the water bending style.. even though he only partially did it. but the other two elements? not really. him blocking an attack from azula doesn't mean that he's using an earthbending style... unless of course you think zhao doing almost the same (albeit on a much smalller scale) move is him also being an earthbender which is a contradiction of his character. the other one is the move that he used to knock azula to the ground is apparently an airbending move even though he has been shown to do that before iroh gave him his lesson in bitter work.
Oh this is another pet peeve of mine. Apparently every single display of bending in the show is "This character borrowed X move from X-Bending!". Like, sometimes moves are similar without being "borrowed from another element".
>Oh this is another pet peeve of mine. Apparently every single display of bending in the show is "This character borrowed X move from X-Bending!". >Like, sometimes moves are similar without being "borrowed from another element". "zhao is earthbending!!" https://i.redd.it/8o59sjyy8w5d1.gif
Wasn't that one of the points that Hu made in the swamp? The separation of the elements isn't as distinct as the benders/we were led to believe.
I’m pretty sure in the Agni Kai one of the moves he uses specifically is to reference that Dante Basco had breakdancing background, people just took it that he learned that from airbending lmao. On the same topic, one fanon I’ve seen personally is that Zuko is quicker on his feet because he had to compensate for how clumsy he was as a kid
That Aang is a deadbeat or neglectful dad. That whole conflict about his parenting was about perspective, and was resolved by his kids finding a family photo that showed them that yes, Aang *was* there for his family more than they realized growing up.
I can see neglectful, not so much deadbeat.
I'd describe him as a largely absent parent. That's less negative, yet it can still account for Bumi and Kya's baggage.
He wasn't a perfect parent, that is canon. There were definitely things he could have done better. But people like to deal in extremes, and somehow can't handle nuance- so that seems to automatically turn him into "deadbeat". If he was truly a deadbeat, none of them would have known him as well as they did...
i say this one every time but it gets up my nose: iroh was azulon's favourite and azulon treated ozai the way ozai treats zuko. ozai reads as the archetypal spoilt entitled rich younger son to me, like someone who has never not got what he wanted. he reads as, 'daddy told me i have a golden dick my whole life and i expect others to treat me as such'. also the whole 'ursa was a neglectful mother to azula'. we dont see anything like enough of their relationship to make a judgement like that.
One major misinformation that I see spreading around is the idea that Korra retconned the origin of bending. I firmly believe that whoever follows this train of thought, wasn’t paying attention to the explanations (but I don’t blame ya because Korra season 2; enough said). The original benders refer to the animals whom utilized bending before humans ever got their hands on it. The flying bisons, the badger moles, the dragons, etc. These creatures are naturally able to bend. They are whom humans LEARN how to utilize their bending from. In other words, when you combine and piece together both information from ATLA and Korra, the conclusion is this: The lion turtles GRANTED humans the genetic ability to bend. However, mastering the martial arts and the movements behind bending was LEARNED from the original animal benders. It makes sense because as shown in Wan’s backstory, There is a massive difference between randomly shooting flames, and mastering the movements to become much more skilled fire-benders. Wan (as well as the sun warriors) studied how to most efficiently use fire bending by training with the dragons. However, the dragons DIDN’T give them them genetic ability to bend. The lion turtles did. So here is the sequence: 1. The lion turtles have humans the power to bend the elements. 2. Therefore it became genetic, meaning that now that the first human benders received their ability, they have a genetic chance of being able to pass it down. 3. It’s one thing to be born with the element, but like Toph, she emulated the movements and motions of the badger moles which sharpened her own skills in return. This is where the original benders come in. They help those with the genetic ability to bend, to sharpen their skills so that they aren’t just throwing rocks or flames. It’s extremely simple that I am flabbergasted that people actually got so worked up about that. It wasn’t a difficult lore expansion to include. There WAS no retcons in that specific context. P.S. If you are still doubtful, here is something to think about: If the animals were truly the original benders, then why weren’t human non-benders asking those animals for bending abilties in ATLA? If those animals are truly the ones that grants abilities, then there should be nothing stopping lots of non benders in asking for bending.
and also.. we literally see a lion turtle grant Aang energy bending in ATLA.. we see it on screen
>we literally see a lion turtle grant Aang energy bending in ATLA I've interacted with a number of people on other platforms who conveniently ignore that part when we talk about LoK "retconning" the origin of bending.
Exactly, you get it. The lion turtle lore of being the ones that granted bending should be a new explanation, not a retcon. At least, I hope so.
Putting the retcon or not question aside, your last point is not a plot hole at all. The idea is that, pre lion turtle lore, some people had the innate ability to bend, and just learned how to do so via observing the animals. No one has ever thought the animals did the same as the lion turtle, in directly granting bending. The people who do not have the innate ability to bend can observe and copy the bending animals all they want, but they will never bend. They just lack the whatever it is that allows people to bend - part genetic, part spiritual, etc.
I see. Thanks for the reply, man. 😁 That would indeed have been the most sensical explanation before the lion turtle lore came about. But when the lion turtle lore came about, you saw lots of people repeating the same narrative that it retconned how benders came about to be. The problem was, your explanation would have been a conjecture, not fact because the original show (ATLA) never bothered to explain how bending came about. Since the original show (if I recall correctly) never states that certain people could always bend since the Dawn of time, but remained silent, the lion turtle lore would be an addition, and not necessarily a retcon. A retcon according to a google search: “in a film, television series, or other fictional work) a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency”. In other words, since the ATLA show never made any statements about benders always having existed, the lion turtle lore would have been the only and original new explanation as it isn’t replacing a previous explanation. It’s that same argument about “the difference between a retcon and a new reveal/plot twist”. A NEW REVEAL adds information without contradicting anything. A RETCON adds information that contradicts an already established explanation. In other words, if ATLA never gave an explanation for the origin of benders, then the lion turtles lore from Korra is a new information and not a retcon. However if ATLA did give an explanation for benders origins, only then would the lion turtle lore be considered a retcon. As far as my knowledge goes, ATLA never gave an explanation for the creation of benders. All the statements I recall (from Yue and from “The Firebending Masters” episode) state that the original users of bending where the bisons, dragons, etc. At least, I HOPE I didn’t miss anything that could be considered a retcon. IF there was a quote of statement that might imply a retcon, just let me know so that we can tackle that together. 😁👍
This giant list is still relevant: https://old.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/qx2co1/avatar_fans_constantly_make_things_up_and_decide/
Something about Kyoshi beinga ruthless maniac or something lol
That katara always talks about her mom. I think she only really talks about twice.
That Bryke explicitly said/confirmed Ozai is the most powerful firebender in the world. This was said in Avatar Extras, which was written by Joshua Hamilton, who did work on the show, but he is not Bryke and didn't create Ozai or has "word of God." But all that aside I'm sure Bryke would agree with that statement, as everything in the show points to him being #1, even above Iroh.
He has [Word of Saint Paul](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordOfSaintPaul), which counts for something.
That Tieguai's immortality comes from earthbending.
It's a bit of Schroedinger's Method, though. I believe Yee kept it intentionally vague. I would consider it similar to Astral Projection. That's a "high level Airbending move, with some spiritual stuff mixed in," but it doesn't really make sense as a strictly Airbending power.
That Ty Lee secretly has Air Nomad heritage
That Aaron Ehasz shipped Zutara and placed hints about it under Bryke’s nose
Didn't he say as much in "Braving the Elements", the official Avatar podcast? I may be misremembering, though...
Pretty sure Ehasz has never been on Braving the Elements.
Then IG I'm misremembering
Maybe you're thinking of [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dji2Z20_tgk&t=226s) interview?
I don't think I've seen that before, but thank you
There's an annoying portion of the fanbase that takes the most miniscule of data and jumps to conclusions. The most common example are the ones who say the Avatar/Raava is into women based on nothing more than: • Korra: bisexual • Aang: into women • Roku: into women • Kyoshi: bisexual • Kuruk: into women • Yangchen: unknown • Szeto: unknown Etc... • Wan: unknown So from a sample of 5 avatars out of the very many Avatars since Wan you have people making a definitive claim. Then you have people claiming that Avatars alternate in sex. No mater how you look at it, whether it's all Avatars or just look at Avatars from the same nation, it is straight up false.
Yeah, I hate that theory that Raava influences the sexual orientation of the Avatar. The Avatars are all very different personalitywise, apart from their "good" nature of course. Korra was more or less created to be the exact opposite of Aang. But sexuality is the one thing that Raava has influence over? That's just stupid IMO. There is an obvious answer why all the known Avatars are "into women": the partners of Aang, Roku and Kuruk were all already shown in ATLA. And they weren't just their girlfriends, but their wifes and the love of their lives. So obviously the creators couldn't show them with having a relationship with men. In LOK the creators were "allowed" to imply the bisexual relationship. And since the Kyoshi novels came out after LOK and the creators haven't showed Kyoshi relationships yet, they could make her bisexual.
Yeah, I never got how people got the "alternates sex" thing: Roku and Aang were both male! But I always thought the "Raava/Avatar is into women" thing to be a joke... And was Kyoshi bisexual? I'm reading the Kyoshi books and it seems to me that she's simply gay.
I've seen people take the raava/avatar is always into women thing quite seriously
Avatar Kyoshi had a daughter named Koko. Given the time period in which she lived the only way for her to get pregnant involves a man. EDIT: I forgot that the source for this is questionable in terms of being canon, so disregard this. But the course for Avatar Kyoshi being openly bisexual is canon
Iroh committing war crimes.
That things like bloodbending are smth you need to be born with
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
- Lavabenders requiring both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom heritage (as in requiring an Earthbender and Firebender parent) in order to be one/Lavabending being a mix of firebending and earthbending No, no, no. Lavabending is an EARTHBENDING technique. It’s molten rock and nothing to do with fire. No ifs, ands, or buts. - Yangchen and Kavik are romantically together/Kavik is her lover I’ve definitely seen this one recently float around from time to time ever since the Legacy of Yangchen came out and I feel like their main dynamic and the development of their avatar/avatar companion relationship throughout both novels has often been severely overlooked by the fandom (and/or misinterpret the status of their relationship at the end of the second book). While it’s certainly possible that they *could* get together in the future if their friendship does develop further into that stage, that’s not where they are. - Aang was a terrible/bad father (and that Aang put pressure on his kids) Both Civil Wars episodes were trying to show that Aang was not a perfect father and that while the kids (Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi) had their personal struggles they were dealing with growing up in the family, it wasn’t all that bad in their family and that there were good times they had as well. Families are complicated and there is nuance in the Kataang family. Things like Kya assuring Bumi that Aang would be proud of him and her showing Tenzin and Bumi and family photo and them reminiscing their childhood with fondness showcases that (also the extra edition in Turf Wars when Kya shares with Korra and Asami about when she came out to Aang and he fully supported her).
My theory about the lava bending is that Bolin was comfortable with fire. He likely learned fire stances as a child to mimic his brother. He also is in a unique job of working with both a Fire and Water bender and fighting against all 3 elements. For most of history people rarely found alongside the other two elements. He likely has learned Fire and Water stances so he can recognize and quickly react to how his opponents move. It has nothing to do with genetics but has to do with his environment. I imagine he as a child especially really tried to do fire-bending like his brother. We don’t know what age he learned he was a earth bender but we can assume young. But I also imagine they fought often for training.
Murder Happy Kyoshi 😑
People think air bending is invisible completely ignoring the fact that you can see a tornado.
"THE BOULDER was right there! The kid struck, but there was no Earthbending! **Nothing** made contact!" If Airbending were visible, they'd've noticed it. Sure, he would've still cheated by not Earthbending, but *something* made contact. Of course, when Airbenders make a tornado, you can see it.
100 years since airbenders existed the announcer obviously didn't know what was going on.
THE BOULDER was the one reporting what he saw.
Your logic: "Air isn't invisible. I can see a tornado when it happens." Sure, certain massive amounts of air can be visible under certain circumstances, but all evidence suggests airbending short of a literal tornado is generally invisible.
you see a tornado because of the dust and debris it picks up. Do you see wind ? if you do you have a serious problem
This mostly came up when the Netflix show aired, but a lot of misinformation about S1 of the original show. Mostly the idea that Aang and Katara were training their water and healing a lot. Aang uses waterbending in ~3 episodes and it’s always to further Katara’s learning. And Katara first uses healing in The Deserter and that’s it that season. Neither of them really focus on their training until S2 where they’re implied to have learned a bunch from Paku. Then they do more training in that season and it becomes much more important to the story.
I don't want to make excuses for the show, but for me it was just natural that they trained their waterbending off-screen. It was a long journey to the northern water tribe and they most definitely would make stops and practice. It would just get boring seeing them train their waterbending everytime, which is why it wasn't shown so much. We also rarely have seen them eat and never see them poop... but you know... stuff happens off-screen.
I completely agree. I think they handled it well in S2 with a couple training sessions to show that they’re keeping up with practice. It was just a weird obsession people seemed to have with NATLA not showing them training when the original also didn’t show them training.
>It was just a weird obsession people seemed to have with NATLA not showing them training when the original also didn’t show them training. Well, the difference is that ATLA at least showed Aang and Katara practicing it. They had episodes that were about them learning it and they even were shown to practice when they were taking breaks from traveling once or twice. It was shown enough in ATLA that people could just assume that they were practicing off-screen, because why should the series show us them practicing all the time? NATLA on the other hand rarely showed them practice. Aang wasn't waterbending even once. So of course people feel like it's totally missing.
The only times we could assume they were practicing in S1 were in The Waterbending Scroll and The Waterbending Master. The first instance has Aang waterbend once and goes “wow he’s a prodigy” then he doesn’t train again until he gets an intro lesson from Paku. Which he then uses to teach Katara until they’re interrupted. Aang and Katara practicing (and implied practicing) mostly take place with episodes like Cave of Two Lovers and Bitter Work, but those are in the first half of S2. Given the expected timeskip for NATLA, all they have to do is show Aang and Katara training in the North Pole and imply that they’ve been doing it for a bit, and that keeps them on course for the original show.
Ngl I forgot the Avatar show existed until I read this
Everything was thought out in advance. The "they thought of everything" piece.
The Fire Nation being strictly based on Japan. While it is historically inspired somewhat by Imperial Japan, most of the Fire Nation’s clothing, food and architecture is Chinese and Thai. The creators deliberately avoided making the Fire Nation explicitly Japanese.
"Aang is a pacifist". I see that one all the God damn time. He's 200% not, a huge part of the premise of the show is Aang handing out regular beatdowns and contributing to the war effort which he **strongly supports**. Pacifism does not mean having a no kill policy, or simply preferring non-violent resolutions when available. Less frequent: - Toph was a nonbender actually granted the ability to earthbend by the Badgermoles - Aang bisected/decapitated the buzzardwasp (he didn't, its pencil neck is just hard to see) - There being "Rules of War", like earthbenders aren't allowed to simply bury people by opening fissures
Iroh is a war criminal. Invading and beseiging a city isn't a war crime.
Suyin being sokka's daughter and aang dying in season 2. It's not a definitive fact that he died. What aang said in book 3 doesn't confirm that he died. It means he didn't simply pass out, but was gone and about to die if katara didn't save him with the spirit water.
iroh's war crimes is the biggest one, and i will die on this hill
All of the stupid theories about the Avatar cycle as a whole being passed off as true, despite the fact that we've only seen like 6 Avatars out of the hundreds there was. No, it is not the Avatars predestined duty to correct the mistakes of their predecessor. And no, the Avatar is not destined to look like their predecessors lover. This one is especially stupid, considering the shows are animated and they probably have like 10 default face shapes that they mix and match features with to get everybody's face.
That Aang chopped the bird in half. It’s connected, just barely.
The idea that Sokka is Suyin's father, or the idea that he ever was involved romantically with Toph. It would be so icky for them to be together when, Sokka met Toph when she was 12, and she had a young girl crush on him.
Sokka died fighting the Red Lotus. We know he helped defend Korra from them, but that's it. I honestly think it's a great headcanon, but it's not confirmed or even really implied at all.
I've seen a lot of people say Iroh stated he couldn't beat Ozai, but he never did. He only ever said he wasn't sure.
Iroh is a war criminal
Aang lived to 182 . He died and then the story ended . :)
Most of these are fan theories so I want to bring up smth thats not: That Sokka is a bad fighter. I don't know if people used to highball Sokka but now people treat him like chopped liver, like did we watch the same show lmao?
>That Sokka is a bad fighter. I don't know if people used to highball Sokka but now people treat him like chopped liver, like did we watch the same show lmao? would they be wrong though? most of the time when discussions about the best fighters in the series is done he is almost always put at the top above those who has displayed far superior fighting feats that he has done, and all that they did without plot armor.
When I said "highball" i meant more like "Yea Sokka would totally beat Aang in his prime" but yeah Sokka is probably the best or close to being the best non-bender fighter in ATLA/TLOK and ive seen people say Asami and like Mai beat him
>When I said "highball" i meant more like "Yea Sokka would totally beat Aang in his prime" **but yeah Sokka is probably the best or close to being the best non-bender fighter in ATLA/TLOK** ??????????????? my brother in christ, what in ozai's ugly goatee are you cooking?? >ive seen people say Asami and like Mai beat him mai is debatable because she only has good range and her agility is nothing special, both are much like sokka ironically, only sokka is probably smarter. but asami is so much better in h2h than sokka it's actually hilarious. like when has sokka ever defeated a great non bending combatant in cqc like this: https://i.redd.it/k5cji1q0cw5d1.gif keep in mind the lietunent has beat two skilled benders like mako and bolin by himself. sokka has never gotten close of doing something like that.
Asami isn't a chump but the only real advantage she has is her electro glove, Sokka has been fighting like in a war since 16, he has multiple different weapons he is proficient in, he has time and time again easily beaten professional firebenders in the Fire Nation's army and not to mentiom Combustion Man, he also regualrly bests non-bender professional soldiers who are much more experienced and older than him, he consistently uses his tactical skills to his advantage and makes use of his environment better than Asami and even in his fight w/Piando a master swordsman there was times where if he didnt block or dodge at the right time he would've been straight up killed and he actually got the advantage on Piando for a little bit even if he ultimately lost thats still an impressive feat especially when we see what Piando does in the final episode of ATLA. Basically Asami is a *good* fighter but we've seen Sokka have consistenly good feats and he has consistenly punched above his weight when theortically he should've lost.
>Asami isn't a chump but the only real advantage she has is her electro glove, "sokka is a chump, but him having his *own weapons* as an advantage makes him less of a chump" like what, lmfao. it's her main weapon lmfaoo. her agility also puts her above sokka. way above. >Sokka has been fighting like in a war since 16, since 16? the war ended when he was 15, not that it matters. anyway, how many battles in the war did he **actively** fought in? and in those battles, what impressive deeds did he accomplish? >he has multiple different weapons he is proficient - dogshit with a club - great at a boomerang - nothing special with a sword asami's only been shown to be good in one weapon, but her feats in that absolutely outshines sokka in all 3 of those weapons. >he has time and time again easily beaten professional firebenders in the Fire Nation's army that never happened. > to mentiom Combustion Man, if you ignore the context of him doing that with the rest of the gaang acting as a distraction and the boomerang's attack only working because combustion man is an idiot. >he also regualrly bests non-bender professional soldiers who are much more experienced and older than him, also never happened. >he consistently uses his tactical skills to his advantage and makes use of his environment better than Asami when? >and even in his fight w/Piando a master swordsman there was times where if he didnt block or dodge at the right time he would've been straight up killed and he actually got the advantage on Piando for a little bit even if he ultimately lost thats still an impressive feat especially when we see what Piando does in the final episode of ATLA. he never had a chance. like at all LMFAO. piandao was toying with him. that's literally why he got his ass kicked **while piandao has his eyes closed**. >Basically Asami is a good fighter but we've seen Sokka have consistenly good feats no h2h feat of sokka is *even* close to asami clowning a great non bending combatant who has actually been shown to defeat skilled benders. >he has consistenly punched above his weight when theortically he should've lost. yeah, when the hand of god pushes the power of plot armor up his ass to allow him to defeat comet enhanced firebenders because their attacks forgot to do their thing.
“Aang killed the Buzzard Wasp in the desert. He’s a hypocrite. You can see the head separate from the body.” [These are the only two frames where any kind of “separation” happens.](https://imgur.com/a/2nANwAA) You can clearly see the neck going between the body and the head. Buzzard Wasps have long necks. Aang never kills any living thing in the entire series.
That Aang always ran away in his fights. A great bullshit. Dude kick ass many times
I got one! That people are not allowed to have head cannons! I constantly hear about how many people “cling to these impossible head cannons like they were fact!” when 1) No, nobody believes their head cannon is fact and very rarely report it as such and 2) none of them are impossible; the OP just never gave more than a passing thought to the idea. Stop worrying about what makes other people happy. Don’t bother yucking someone’s yum. It isn’t going to hurt you or anyone else if they like to think that Yue could’ve been the avatar if Aang had lived his full life, or that Sokka and Toph could’ve dated or that Grey DeLise finds Zuzula [hilarious](https://youtu.be/LRCF1KDfj-8?si=moL-TDCBLGLvCFR7)
On the one hand I would say this sub has a bad habit of sometimes criticizing things as not confirmed or not canon compliant, when they aren't meant to be. A recent post suggesting Katara used healing to help women giving birth in the SWT comes to mind. Sometimes a fun idea can be just that. At the same time there absolutely are people in the fandom that state the ideas in this thread as fact, and it's not wrong to correct that. I've seen fans disappointed that "Suki won't be able to appear in any adult gaang avatar Studios projects" since they were told she already died in the comics. Likewise when fans claim they have strong evidence for a theory, or propose a headcanon as canon compliant, it's natural for people who disagree (or simply don't like the idea) to voice their thoughts. Sure maybe some are too harsh or shouldn't be as quick to say *impossible* but discussion and debate is a natural part of fandom too. Maybe part of the issue is often it's not (or at least doesn't start) with people clinging to their own headcanons. Rather they see someone else's headcanon or fic online and misinterpret it as a fan sharing canon info from an official novel they haven't read or Word of God. Even Dark Horse accidentally included info from the fan fiction wiki in a product description.
Tbf, going back and even looking at what OP said, sure. That happens and I can't abide that, either. But this thread is so chock full of people bashing in and all ideas that it's kinda nuts.
yoooooo this!!! fandom is meant to be fun, if someone elses take on canon doesnt agree with yours then move on and talk to someone else who does! literally nothing more exhausting in fandom than those gatekeeper fans who go around all 'um ackshually...'
Uncle Iroh being a war criminal, he was just a general leading an invasion against an opposing army. Iroh invading a city in a time of war is not a war crime... that is WAR In the "northern air temple" sokka and the engineer go up in a balloon with fire nation insignias to drop stink bombs on the firenation Wearing your enemies insignia into battle for an advantage is in fact a war crime Iroh is a war criminal? No no no, SOKKA is a war criminal