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Named Character - General

  • Absent father, no sign of mom, the first born son who always tries to prove himself, but can't because his sister has the skills that are admired, and he tries to be someone his dad would be proud of, and the second child and only daughter are known to be skilled at their bending powers. Now, does this describe the Ozai/Ursa family or the Hakoda/Kya family?
  • The members of the Gaang by the finale include a waterbender (Katara), a firebender (Zuko), an earthbender (Toph), an airbender (Aang), a non-powered warrior from the Earth Kingdom (Suki), and a non-powered tactician from one of the Water Tribes. (Sokka) They not only represent the balance between the elements and nations, but also the many people in the nations who can't bend any of the four elements. Essentially, they represent the balance of the world that they're aiming for.
  • Somewhere up-page, someone made a joke about Captain Planet, but let's run with that for a second:
    • Aang is Wind
    • Katara is Water
    • Toph is Earth
    • Zuko (or, briefly, Uncle Iroh) is Fire
    • Which leaves Sokka as Heart. As evidenced by Sokka's Master, which showed that in Sokka's absence, the Gaang is reduced to listlessness and boredom, compared to their previous drive to complete their mission or being distracted by various adventures on the way.
  • For the first half of season 3, the members of the Gaang and the Fire Kids mirror each other. Observe:
    • Aang and Zuko. Obviously this has been pointed out in canon and in analysis several times.
    • Katara and Azula. They're both extremely gifted, the more talented sibling in their respective families despite being younger than their respective brothers. They also hold the team together, but in different ways: Katara is the Team Mom, whereas Azula controls people through fear and intimidation.
    • Toph and Mai. Both were repressed during childhood and found freedom and expression through their friends. Also, they're both snarky and awesome, and aren't afraid to tell people off when they need to cut the shit.
    • Sokka and Ty Lee. Sometimes seen as goofy, but they both bring unique skills to the table that neither group would be able to function without. Also, both of them felt overshadowed in their families, Sokka by Katara, and Ty Lee by her sisters.
    • It goes further than that, just look one generation above. You have a son who desperately wants approval from a father figure they haven't seen in years, with he and his sister's mother being gone since they were young children because of the Fire Lord. Now, is that Sokka and Katara, or Zuko and Azula?
  • Yet more things that make the Hakoda/Kya and Ozai/Ursa families diametrically-opposed mirror images of each other: Kya died and Ursa disappeared at about the same time. Furthermore, Hakoda went to war and Zuko was banished at about the same time.
  • If you look at all the masters in the Order of the White Lotus, Bumi, Piandao, Pakku, Jeong Jeong, Iroh, and what Bumi says by "All old people know each other...don't you know that?" you can't help but think that proper practice of the bending arts makes you wise and spiritual, which was perhaps the ultimate purpose of all forms of bending. Remember that kung-fu masters see it not just for combat, but as a way of life and enlightenment? Bumi, you're a master of this trope!
  • The masters of the Order of the White Lotus are all counterparts to the main characters, with the Gaang set to carry on their legacy:
    • Piandao and Sokka: Badass Normal swordsmen known for their creativity and intelligence.
    • Pakku and Katara: Master waterbenders, driven by love for their community and people.
    • Bumi and Toph: One-Man Army earthbenders who are understerestimated for their seeming physical weakness.
    • Jeong Jeong and Zuko: Hated "traitors" who turned on the Fire Nation because of its cruelty and seek to wield fire-bending as a positive force not of death and destruction.
    • Grand-Master Iroh and Avatar Aang: The fun-loving, moral heart of the group who brought them all together and whose apparent goofiness hides great power.
  • As this youtuber points out, mistakes are an integral part of the series and they mark how our characters grow and develop. Zuko is pretty much explained, but he's not the only one who gains character development from mistakes.
    • Sokka starts out as a misogynist who thinks women are only good for cooking and sewing pants. As a result, he acted too cocky for his own good in the Kyoshi Warrior dojo before Suki reminds him what happens when one messes with a Kyoshi warrior. Because of that, it humbled him into realizing he needed to be more open-minded. If it hadn't been for his mistake, he wouldn't have learned to be sensitive and kind, and therefore confront Han about treating Yue like a prize in "Siege of the North". Also as a result of his experience on Kyoshi Island, he's humble enough to admit to Piandao that he had much to learn about sword-fighting in "Sokka's Master", setting him apart from most boys who came to him claiming they were the best.
    • Aang playing with fire (literally) in "The Deserter" highlights one of his biggest mistakes. Because he went ahead with bending fire before he was ready for it, Katara was badly burned (and would've been permanently scarred if not for her healing powers). However, it is notable that Aang had to make that mistake in order to humble himself from misusing fire ever again, and it even helps him relate to Zuko in "The Western Air Temple".
    • Katara has always been prone to holding a grudge against those who wrong her, even when it's made apparent that they've turned over a new leaf, like Zuko. In "The Southern Raiders", she makes the mistake of assuming a fire nation sailor was her mother's killer, and bloodbends him before realizing he's not the right one. Although it's a tragic look at how low her hatred has taken her, it was a mistake she had to make. Because it helped teach her second-hand how hatred and revenge were destroying the sweet water tribe girl she used to be. So it was because of her mistake that she found the restraint not to kill her mother's murderer and take the high road.
    • This even applies to Toph. Initially after joining the team in "The Chase", as a result of her parents' smothering, she was very standoffish to the others, insisting that she would only "carry [her] own weight", refusing to help the others with setting up camp, and being extremely dismissive towards Sokka for being unable to bend ("Okay, three on three plus Sokka"). However, her way of interacting with the others leads them to initially dismiss her assertion that Appa's fur was leading Azula straight to them and yell at her, and Sokka proves to be the strategic center of the group later on. The character development is made especially clear in the series finale, where she ends up needing to rely entirely on Sokka, who she initially dismissed, as they dangle from an airship together.
  • Before locking himself in the iceberg, Aang was shown to particularly love the Fire Nation, more than the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribes. It's still present even if after he's been released from the iceberg. It's quite jarring considering that Fire Nation is responsible for the deaths of his people so it's pretty understandable if he ends up getting embittered over it like Katara and Sokka, who hated the Fire Nation due of being responsible for the death of their mother, leading to their father to reluctantly abandon them in order to fight them off, and their systematic raids at their tribe. It might be his pacifistic nature working, but Aang's most recent life was Roku, an Avatar from the Fire Nation, so he would have still felt a connection to Roku's native culture.
  • In a symbolic way, over the course of the series, Sokka could be considered the non-bender equivalent of the Avatar. He learned how to fight with clubs and boomerangs, along with later develop prototype submarines, influenced from the Water tribe teachings, took on Earth kingdom-style training from the Kyoshi warriors, learned Fire nation swordsmanship from Piandao, and invented the first type of airship for the world using inspiration from Air nomad principles. It also further proves Iroh's speech to Zuko that all the nations could all learn from each other, as while benders can learn from each others' different styles, non-benders can do the same in a number of different ways as well.
  • During the Opening Sequence, it feels a bit odd who they chose as the characters to represent the various Nations. In order, Pakku for Water, The Boulder for Earth, Azula for Fire, and finally Monk Gyatso for Air. One would think that they would pick the main characters to represent the elements (using Katara, Toph, Zuko and Aang in place of these), which would make more sense. But consider this, the characters chosen aren't due to plot importance, but rather how they represent their nations during Aang's time:
    • Pakku best represents the Water Tribe because as a whole; the Water Tribe places its value in tradition and strength, but it comes at the cost of bigotry and arrogance. While they are amongst the best suited to fight the Fire Nation, they haven't taken a more active role in the war, content in believing that the Fire Nation won't be able to harm them. It fits even better when one considers how Pakku had eventually lost out on his engagement to Kanna due to his arrogance and sexism, causing them to drift apart as she left for the Southern Water Tribe. This mirrors the Southern Tribe Waterbenders were captured by the Fire Nation and locked away, eventually causing the North and South Water Tribes to lose contact with one another and resulting in a divided nation.
    • The Boulder best represents the Earth Kingdom because while the Earth Kingdom is mostly stable in fighting the war, it also heavily engages in Bread and Circuses to appease the people while hiding the true details and horrors away from them. The Boulder is a very capable earthbender, and it's plausible that he could serve as a warrior. But he instead uses his Earthbending in the Earth Kingdom equivalent of Wrestlemania, both to entertain the masses as well as winning money and glory for himself. This ultimately mirrors how the Earth Kingdom, while competent against the Fire Nation, ultimately cares more about itself and its own prosperity over actually ending the war.
    • Azula is an odd choice when it comes to representing the Fire Nation. She is a budding psychopath, is mercilessly cunning and cruel, and seeks to get whatever she wants by any means necessary. Surely she'd best fit...until Book 3 comes in. We see the Fire Nation is full of good people and citizens leading normal lives as much as it has bad ones burning down villages on the front lines. We see how the Fire Nation schools indoctrinate their children to believing the Air Nomads had started the war first and somehow made the Earth Kingdom get in on it as well. We see how well they hold the Earth Kingdom, until capable benders are able to repel them from their city. Finally, we see Azula's characterization during The Beach and after Mai and Ty Lee betray her, and it all fits together. Azula's domineering and psychopathic visage fits how the Fire Nation appears to the world, while on the inside, the Fire Nation is incredibly deluded and indoctrinated to where it is today. It's incredibly damaged by years of its elders indoctrinating them to the point where trying to deal with others seems almost alien, and yet the damage is still potentially treatable, but still just one step away from crossing the Moral Event Horizon. After all, if the Fire Nation was truly irredeemable, would they not use Ozai instead?
    • Finally, there's Monk Gyatso. The reason he befits the Air Nomads is actually quite simple and sad. Aang represents the Air Nomads best because he is truly the last airbender, however whilst it looks like Aang in the Title Sequence it’s actually his mentor Monk Gyatso which is something few actually notice due to the only Air Nomad we see for most of the series being Aang. Until Aang had children of his own, the Air Nomad culture is mostly dead and gone, only remembered by those who were there or who were able to pass it along such as Monk Gyatso. Like the empty Air Temples that still bore all the reliefs and carvings that showcased the Air Nomad way of life, Monk Gyatso befits representing them because he is one of the memories Aang has of his past culture and acted as a father figure to Aang instilling the principles Aang bore to as the Avatar.
  • Zuko's path to redemption can be traced back to his banishment. Away from the corrosive influence of Ozai and Azula, he is instead guided by Iroh, who nurtures his nephew's nobler qualities. Though Zuko ultimately makes the choice to turn his back on what the Fire Nation has become, Iroh no doubt plays a key role. But how did Zuko get banished? He spoke out against a callous We Have Reserves plan during a strategy meeting, a meeting he was barred from... until Iroh brought him in. A coincidence, or did the brilliant strategist known as the Dragon of the West tip the first domino on purpose? His nephew might have got a burned scar, being dishonored, and exiled by that act, but at least it's better than letting Ozai influencing Zuko and snuffing out whatever kindness and moral compass he has. Because Iroh knows that the Fire Nation is about to destroy itself by the imperialistic ambitions of his forefathers, and if he wants to save his country, then having the crown prince with him will be a good start to save their country, if not the entire world. Zuko's strong moral compass, compassion, empathy, alongside his The Determinator personality to do the right thing are some of the things that Iroh sees in him that will enable the Fire Nation to redeem themselves and to the eyes of the world if Zuko becomes the Fire Lord. Even before his nephew's exile, he sees his nephew as The Chosen One to lead Fire Nation to salvation because of his personality and attitude. It really takes three years full of twist and turns full of fun, heartwarming, and tearjerking moments throughout their journey, but it's clear that Iroh's Long Game bears fruit. If anything, this disaster of a meeting is a blessing in disguise, since this also leads to Zuko's eventual realization that his father doesn't care about him at all and his discipline is nothing but straight-up abuse.
  • Aang and Zuko's names. They're initially presented as opposites who are supposed to have more in common than meets the eye. As Doug Walker puts it, "While one hides behind fun and games, the other hides behind ruthlessness and discipline... Confused, wide-eyed innocence [vs.] confused, emotional anger." Think about A and Z in the English alphabet, but if you loop the alphabet like the cycle of the seasons, that puts A and Z right next to each other, like fire and air for Zuko and Aang respectively.
    • The circumstances Aang finds himself in during the first half of Book 3 mirror that of Zuko in Book 2. Both are forced to grow out their hair in order to hide out in a nation their people are at war with and both now have a scar from a member of the Fire Nation Royal Family.
    • The circumstances leading to Aang being scarred by Azula contrasts how Zuko got his scar from Ozai. Zuko spoke out of turn in a war meeting in defense of Fire Nation soldiers whom he didn't know personally, leading to Ozai burning and banishing him. Aang is shot in the back by Azula while in the Avatar State, which he enters by discarding his attachment to Katara whom he has known for years.
    • Even the circumstances under which they redirected lightning for the first time mirror and contrast each other. Both redirect lightning for the first time when it is shot at them by Ozai. But while Zuko redirected Ozai's lightning when the latter had just gotten his powers reactivated after the eclipse ended, Aang redirected lightning from an Ozai who was at his strongest thanks to the comet.
  • Upon rewatching, the moment when hope has returned to the world isn't when Katara and Sokka broke Aang out of his sphere but rather Lu Ten dying in the Siege of Ba Sing Se, resulting in Iroh's Heel–Face Turn. Why? Because if he didn't die, Iroh wouldn't have underwent his Heel Realization, meaning that he would have continued the siege and eventually returned to the Fire Nation as the legendary war hero that fulfilled his vision of conquering Ba Sing Se. He would have supplanted Ozai but that is little comfort as he is still evil. With the fall of the Earth Kingdom as a result, Aang being released matters little as he would have difficulty finding teachers for the other bending arts. The Northern Water Tribe can be easily blockaded and starved out now that more war resources can be diverted from the fallen Earth Kingdom. Bumi and Toph are definitely inaccessible, with all the earthbenders taken away (Bumi) or in hiding (Toph) in the years of occupation. With Iroh as Fire Lord and Zuko as unbanished royalty, both are under the sway of their society meaning that there are no firebending teachers available. Jeong Jeong's elusiveness makes it hard to find him, requiring the connections of the White Lotus to do so. In summary, Lu Ten's death saved the world.
  • The five bendable elements in the show do not correspond to the Five Phases of Chinese culture. Many will know them as the Five Classical Elements of ancient Greek philosophy; however, the Five Elements of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space form an essential part of Vajrayana Buddhist thought, which is the bedrock of Tibetan Buddhism.note  Aang, master of the elements and guardian of the balance of the world is from a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Tibet.

Named Character (and How They Use Their Power) - Specific

  • Toph points out that she never got to go on a life-changing field trip with Zuko. This is true, except she did get to go on a field trip with Iroh that resulted in her getting great life advice. Who did Zuko go on his life changing field trip with?
    • Iroh. For 3 years.
  • When the Avatar enters the Avatar state, all the Avatars work together, right? Which means that every successive Avatar's Avatar state is stronger than that of the last. This page has mentioned how Crazy-Prepared the Avatar is, and this is another layer to that: it makes itself stronger every time it's born.
    • This also means that Korra, over the course of her series, manages to be both the strongest Avatar who ever lived... and the weakest...
  • Aang's greatest character flaw is that he goofs around instead of training hard, in part because he doesn't want to be the Avatar and in part because he's still a kid. Aang's teachers (Katara, Toph and Zuko) help him overcome this flaw, as well as master all four elements, because all of them have mastered their own element through sheer determination. Katara had to learn her element by herself, Toph had teachers in the form of badgermoles but had to keep it a secret from her overprotective parents, and Zuko had teachers, but all of them up to Iroh pushed him too far, too soon, in order to improve him. Iroh may be a good teacher but Zuko's training is hindered by his search for the Avatar, and now he pushes himself too much. Indeed, Katara is told at the first book that she has sufficiently mastered water enough to teach Aang, because while he has more raw talent, he lacks the discipline that she has. Not to mention that whatever little Katara knew at the beginning is self-taught. Students that self-teach out of necessity sometimes end up with a great knack for intuitiveness, as they had to work hard for everything they got right.
  • Zuko's swords foreshadow his ancestry. Subtly lampshaded in Zuko Alone.
    Zuko: You're holding them all wrong. Keep in mind, these are dual swords. Two halves of a single weapon. Don't think of them as separate, because they're not. They're just two different parts of the same whole.
  • It's interesting what was planned for Azula's character and what wasn't. In the very beginning of season 2 she seems like a 'older sister' archetype (even though she's younger). The perfect, older sibling who wins all of Daddy's approval, the one thing Zuko ever wanted. It's great how much they developed her, from being the epitome of everything Zuko needed, to her own, flawed character. She and Ozai both have an obsession with control and perfection. When she unhinges, we see her going into a more 'animalistic' instinctive nature. Killing a "weak" sibling (we always knew Azula was fine with Zuko dying, even early in season 3, something she might even actively pursue herself) and displaying more of her real nature. They really play with the idea of her being a sociopath throughout the series. Zuko couldn't beat her in her normal state. Anything else than the breakdown would have been undermining her character, if Zuko had just merely defeated her, it wouldn't have been enough. If she'd 'reformed' or been humiliated, it wouldn't have been enough. She had to die or 'break down' until she couldn't be her former self. Because any other Deus ex Machina or decision wouldn't have been a fair treatment of her character.
  • Referencing Azula's Villainous Breakdown, her first full appearance where she does some crazy firebending and then is all upset about her hair like a perfectionist? Definitely foreshadows the hair-chopping Ax-Crazy in the finale. Also, her line when Li and Lo tell her about it: "Almost perfect isn't good enough!" Azula has spent her life being perfect. Her firebending is perfect (nobody else bends blue flames like she does, and she can do lightning), she is a perfect leader, and perfectly executes her coup. When her record becomes "almost perfect" with Ty Lee and Mai's betrayal, she loses it, and she has a terrible success record through the rest of the show (fails to kill Zuko, her reign as Fire Lord is a disaster, she loses to Katara, she ends up in an insane asylum). When she's not perfect, she's...nothing. Without the veneer of perfection that she maintained through most of the show, she's just an abused kid who missed out on what she really wanted (her mother's love), and no more. She isn't the firebender prodigy who never lost a match (loses to both Zuko and Katara), she isn't the amazing leader who conquered Ba Sing Se in 2 days due to force of personality (she's over-paranoid and not quite in touch with reality during her reign as Fire Lord), and she isn't even the girl who had perfect control over her life (Mai and Ty Lee betray her). That one line foreshadowed, long before Azula lost it, that she had to be perfect or nothing. She didn't have any middle ground.
  • Azula was born lucky, and Zuko was lucky to be born. Such a true line, but not in the way one would think. While Ozai meant it as a putdown for Zuko, the reality is that this is Zuko's greatest strength and Azula's greatest weakness. Yes, life is constantly kicking Zuko to the curb and spitting on him for good measure; but as a result of his suffering, he has learned how to deal with failure: he picks himself up and keeps on going, no matter how many times he has to do so. Being The Determinator is practically his defining character trait. Azula, on the other hand, was too used to things simply going her way: she's a prodigy, she was constantly outperforming her brother, earning the praise of her father and the whole Fire Nation, and just generally kicking ass. But as soon as things went wrong for her - not just a little wrong, but hugely, disastrously wrong, like losing her only friends and getting Kicked Upstairs by the very father who "favors" her - she has no idea how to deal with it emotionally, and she completely falls apart. In the end, it's Zuko's fortitude and Azula's lack thereof are what put Zuko on the throne and left Azula a broken, sobbing wreck.
  • It seems a little weird that Zuko just went on quests with everyone is such an almost formulaic way (it's even lampshaded by Toph.) But it actually makes perfect sense that Zuko accompany everyone on quests that played huge parts in building up to the climaxes of their respective character arcs, because his arc was the first to be resolved! When you think about it, Zuko's arc is pretty much done in Day of the Black Sun when he has his epic Calling the Old Man Out moment and goes to join Aang. Not that important things don't happen to him post-DOTBS, but his main character development from Point A to Point B was pretty much concluded. Even more important when you remember that Zuko spent years (including most of the show) traveling with a Cool Old Guy who played the exact same role in his life - helping him along with his character development because Iroh's own had already been done!
  • Iroh, the bumbling old man who travels with Zuko and is constantly trying to get him to take it easy, suddenly turns out to be badass. If you look at the rest of his family, you realize that if he wasn't badass, he wouldn't get to be an old man. Also, the only way to convince his family he wasn't a threat was to be a bumbling old man. The 'bumbling' persona is actually a protective measure.
  • We all know how Sokka can't draw, right? Well, he's a Southern Water Tribe peasant. Of course he can't draw! He never went to school, and before traveling with the Avatar, his only experience with drawing would have been pictures in the snow; also, it's very difficult to use ink brushes, even if you know how to use a pen/pencil. He draws on the level of a preschooler because he IS on that level.
  • Another Sokka one: We all know how the universe loves to torture Sokka, right? Well remember when Toph was training Aang, how quickly Sokka gave up meat and sarcasm, and then he went right back to eating meat and being sarcastic? The Avatar verse is paying him back for breaking his promise!
    • In addition to that, the speed in which he gave up meat and sarcasm means he's probably done it before. He might not have been in another situation like that while with Aang, but I would bet it's really easy to get lost in a blizzard in the Southern Water Tribe or get into another situation where you desperately need help, especially if you're the kid who manages to do something like get two fishhooks in your thumb. He's probably made that promise before and broken it, and the universe just keeps pwning him because of that.
  • I wonder if this counts: We all heard Iroh tells Zuko that he is the representation of the battle between good and evil due to being the great grandson of both Roku and Sozin. Many viewers wondered afterward "yeah, but what about Azula?" for quite a while. A lot of them came to the simple conclusion that Zuko is the good great-grandchild while Azula is the evil one. Then, at the end, Azula's Villainous Breakdown happened. Azula's inner turmoil means that both she AND Zuko have great potential for BOTH great good AND great evil. The siblings are inverses: while Zuko is a basically good person struggling with bad influences and emotional turmoil caused by said influences, Azula, while outwardly psychopathically evil, struggles with emerging hints of humanizing qualities, such as small amounts of warmth for Mai, Ty Lee, and especially Zuko, and a deep desire for true, unconditional love, particularly from her mother. That's a big part of the reason why Azula snaps, and why, unlike Ozai, she is quite tragic and sympathetic, and has at least some chance for redemption.
    • There's a small parallel between Zuko and Azula in that regard. Zuko temporarily had the "sickness" when he gave up capturing Appa after Lake Laogai, and went into deep turmoil since Iroh's Armor-Piercing Question made him rethink what he wanted, not what his father did. Azula likewise had a similar breakdown when she realized that being the Fire Lord wasn't what she wanted and the betrayal of her friends made her question herself as well. Unlike Zuko though, Azula's Parental figure Ozai did nothing to help her, instead discarded her to what amounts to being a regent. Zuko, with the help of Iroh, passed his test of character, while Azula failed.
    • Also, both children were the favorites of their parents; Zuko to Ursa, who was Roku's grandchild, and Azula to Ozai, who was Sozin's. Just like with firebending itself, their roots were what really determined who they turned out to be.
  • Some could argue that Iroh was holding an Idiot Ball (or just being a Horrible Judge of Character for a moment) when he seriously thought that Zuko, who Iroh knows damn well is stubborn, proud, desperate for recognition, determined, and driven to try and reclaim his place in the Fire Nation for many reasons (including a desperate need to have the love of his family as well as a yearning to return things to "normal" and stop being the disgraced, dishonorable, worthless exile), would happily agree to spending the rest of his life meekly denying everything he was and pretending to be a humble waiter in a teashop. Which leads to Fridge Brilliance in its own right; a further emphasis of the subtle message in the show that all beings are fallible. Nobody, no matter how wise or powerful they may be, is totally immune to making mistakes or learning from those mistakes.
    • However, it's also possible that Iroh wanted him to learn humility and kindness, and believed the best way for that was for him to live amongst the commoners, particularly commoners from another nation, who Zuko would have initially had great disdain for. He was taking him off the path of hunting the Avatar, and intended for Zuko to eventually embrace his good side so that he would eventually join the Avatar. He also knew that when the Avatar defeated Ozai, that Zuko must take the throne (as he stated at the White Lotus camp before the comet arrived) and lead the Fire Nation into a new era of peace and kindness, and to do that, he would have to be able to think about and care for commoners and the other nations to be a good leader. This lesson is evident when Zuko expresses concern for the people of the Earth Kingdom during his last war meeting, and horror upon hearing his sister and father discuss burning down the Earth Kingdom.
    • This actually gives new meaning to Iroh's refusal to speak with Zuko while in prison. Initially, it just seems like Iroh is still angry at his nephew for betraying him at Ba Sing Se. However, he may have realized by then that, even though he could help Zuko make the right choices, being together didn't make Zuko into his own person, it just made him more like Iroh. In order to make sure Zuko's decisions after that were completely his own, he refused any sort of contact with him until he knew the whole story about his past.
    • It's possible Iroh was enabling Zuko's choice. By siding with Azula and rejecting all Iroh had to teach him, he was rejecting Iroh as a teacher. And so, Iroh was silent, because by siding with Azula over Iroh's advice, he had chosen to not have Iroh to advise him. And so Iroh didn't, subtly showing Zuko some of the consequences of his choice.
  • Azula and Ozai think in fundamentally different ways. Whenever you see Ozai's reaction to something, he's reacting as the problem comes along, usually with more harshness than necessary. ("Son speaking out of place? Agni Kai! Refuses to fight? Burn half his face off and banish him! Rebels in the captured Earth Kingdom? Burn the entire continent to the ground!") Azula plans way ahead, acts on opportunities, plans for every possibility, and manipulates people and events to her advantage. Her train of thought is more like, "I'll dress up like a Kyoshi warrior to get into Ba Sing Se, and since Long Feng wants to manipulate me, I'll let him think he's manipulating me, while really manipulating him. This gives me control of the Dai Li, so I'll use them in a complicated plan to take over the city. I'll instill fear in the Dai Li, so that when Long Feng eventually tries to betray me they'll still be on my side. I won't be able to beat the avatar and his friends, even with the Dai Li on my side, unless I also have Zuko. So I'll easily emotionally manipulate him and take it from there." In the end, Azula's Villainous Breakdown is shown, besides the paranoia and hallucinations, by her losing this methodical logic and becoming more like Ozai. Her decisions are now just like his. ("Servant left a pit in my cherry? Banish her!) Her complete loss of control and planning comes in her final fight with Katara. She was able to out reason Zuko, but Katara sees a grate with water running under it, lures her onto it, and uses the water to be able to defeat her. Under normal circumstances, Azula would be the one pulling a trick like this, and would have probably known about the water in advance and prepared for it.
    • During Zuko's worst, he also made similar decisions like his father (The Avatar is in the North Pole? Capture him immediately!, Ostrich-horse can be useful? Steal it!, The Avatar's bison is in the Dai Li compound? Kidnap him!, Azula, the Consummate Liar is telling me to betray Iroh? Do it!) which Iroh immediately caught up on. It's not a coincidence these decisions are the ones that disappointed Iroh because he could sense his brother's influence on the budding impressionable boy, which was outlined in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and outright requests him to think for himself rather than attempt to emulate Ozai. No wonder Zuko considers jumping into decisions and not thinking things through as his biggest weaknesses after his Heel–Face Turn, and advises Sokka not to do the same if he doesn't want to regret it.
  • In one of the scenes where we first meet Azula, she's practicing her lightning. Afterwards, Li and Lo comment that she was "Almost perfect" with a single hair out of place, which Azula found unacceptable. Cut forward to the finale, just before she hallucinates her mother, she poorly cuts her hair. Her hair was also probably a large indicator to Zuko that she wasn't at her best.
    • This is seen elsewhere in the series, Azula's hair being cut by Katara in the season two finale, and falling loose signified she was losing. Furthering the importance of Zuko's side switch.
  • Another for Azula's breakdown. We never see Azula being taught much about actual ruling or ever taking an interest in what's happening at the lower levels of the Fire Nation except when it directly impacts her. All we ever really see of Azula is her exceptional combat skills or using fear and misdirection to ruin her enemies and increase her power. The one time we see her at a war meeting, her contribution is to suggest genocide. Compare that with Zuko, who isn't nearly as good as Azula at firebending and he's incompetent at manipulation, but he is shown to grow to genuinely care about his people, he does listen to other people sharing their problems and at the same meeting his contribution is to analyze the problem and show an understanding of the Earth Kingdom. In other words all there really is to Azula is her abilities as a conqueror and nothing to her as a ruler. From the start the series foreshadowed that Zuko would be a decent ruler while Azula would be a disaster even if Mai and Ty Lee had stayed.
  • The order of which the Avatar-in-training must learn the elements:
    • Why was firebending so dangerous for Aang (or any Avatar from the Air Nomads)? Precisely because he started as an airbender, and air enhances fire! So firebending would seem easy for him at the start, making it even more likely for him to get himself into trouble with it. However, the opposite was not true for any Avatar from the Fire Nation like Roku, as he learned airbending first after firebending, and found it easy. And that is probably because mastering firebending requires mastery of controlling breath, and breath is air. In a similar vein, Aang (or an Avatar from the Air Nomads) found waterbending easy, probably because since gases and liquids are both fluids, many techniques he mastered for controlling air probably applied with only minimal modification to controlling water. An Avatar from the Water Tribes will find earthbending easier to learn due of their ability to create ice, a solid form of water, and adapting a sturdy and tougher stance with physical conditioning can get them into mastering earthbending in no time. Water naturally lends itself to both air and earth, with experience using ice being an easy way to start learning to use earth. And if they realize the composition of the earth, they might even pull lavabending, which is a subskill of earthbending, that materializes in a form of a liquefied rock. Applying principles of waterbending can be used in lavabending as well by changing its states with ease. An Avatar from the Earth Kingdom will find firebending easier for them due of the two bending arts having the same direct and forceful approach. Their existent physical conditioning while learning their native bending art will be helpful building enough stamina to sustain themselves in using firebending for longer periods of time.
    • Looking at the other elements, one can see how this works if an Avatar skips learning the first two elements and/or the fail to grasp the basics of the last element that they're learning like what Aang did: An Avatar from the Earth Kingdom trying out waterbending for the first time before learning anything else, would naturally resort to using it as ice, which behaves similarly enough to earth. But where both earth and water are blunt, ice is brittle and sharp, and one badly-handled earthbending impact motion or misjudged attack can risk maiming someone or even themselves. For the Avatar from the Fire Nation, the same direct, forceful approach earthbending teaches works well with their native firebending. Firebending, in turn, with it's direct motions, works well with earthbending, but the repeated and hard physical impacts with the earth, without the conditioning to handle it, run the risk of concussions and broken hands. Fire is not solid unlike earth. An Avatar from the Water Tribes will think that air, while superficially similar, is everywhere. Waterbenders pull water from sources before manipulating it. Pulling air at the wrong time leads could suffocate someone.
    • The order Jeong Jeong wanted Aang to master the elements (air -> water -> earth -> fire, not unlike fall -> winter -> spring -> summer) directly mirrors the Avatar cycle itself, and the pattern is a general one for all Avatar: 1) the element immediately after that Avatar's birth element shares enough in common that the Avatar will find learning it very easy, and so will always learn it second after the birth element and thus giving the Avatar-in-training a good start of using two elements at once, 2) the next element will be in some way opposite and therefore counter-intuitive and difficult to master due of being against to every thing that they've learned about their native bending art which was taught to them since they were young, and 3) the final element will be easy on theory but deceptive and/or dangerous in some way when applied on practice, and so should be mastered last.
    • Applying the logic from above bullet to the in-universe version of Rock–Paper–Scissors, it makes sense that fire beats air, air beats water, water beats earth, and earth beats fire because these are the first elements that an Avatar-in-training should learn and master, and it is easy for them due of the similarities of those elements with their native art (example: Roku learning and mastering airbending, and Aang with waterbending, which both aced without problems like how fire beats air and like how air beats water). Opposite elements (fire vs water, earth vs air) just cancel each other out not unlike two people choosing the same handsign. The reason why air loses to fire, water loses to air, water loses to earth, and earth loses to fire is because of seemingly similarities between the two elements in theory, putting it into practice will make them realize how different those two bending arts are (example is Aang's lack of discipline is what enables him to botch up his firebending training, the last element that he should learn and master like how air loses to fire, and later Korra's struggle of learning airbending is due of her lack of spirituality like how water loses to air).
    • Iroh describes air as the element of freedom. What does Aang do when he first firebends? Allows it too much freedom. An Avatar from the Fire Nation (ex. Roku), who knows how to control their breathing in addition of their self-control, can pick up airbending easier because of that. They can control how powerful their emitted air will be. They know better how air is important to the human body. Culturally, the people of the Fire Nation are noted to be disciplined and responsible people which any of their Avatars are geared to wield what is probably the most dangerous element if it used by a non-pacifistic and amoral Air Nomad. An Avatar from the Air Nomads (ex. Aang) live their childhood with stress-free life and somehow detached view in the world, thus their Avatars easily let go of their bending art into boundless levels, producing too much air, and thus can cause uncontrollable flames if they ever attempt to learn firebending without knowing its fundamentals like breath control and self-control, which Aang should have already know back in his waterbending training, which despite being firebending's opposite art, have the same in requirements like the bender should be disciplined enough to use those aforementioned bending arts.
    • This would also explain why the Air Nomads were so easy for the Fire Nation to conquer, but then faced difficulties conquering both Water Tribes, and even more with the Earth Kingdom.
  • Aang and Zuko have been portrayed as not so different since "The Storm". Remember how Zuko had a Vision Quest of sorts throughout "The Earth King", and Aang has one the next episode to unlock his seventh chakra? Aang rejected his at the last second, despite all the progress he had made to reach spiritual peace and enlightenment, because he chose another person's love over his own empowerment or what was right for the world. Going by the previous parallels, this was broad and subtle Foreshadowing to Zuko's impending betrayal.
  • Rewatching the first season shows that Iroh never actively attacks the Avatar, except once, where he lent his strength to Zuko's fireball (which missed). The reason? Even now, Iroh knows that the Avatar must win and that Zuko must eventually join forces with him. But if he openly tells Zuko that, Zuko will send him away. He helps Zuko hunt the Avatar, because right now that's what Zuko needs. But the entire time he plays up his own weaknesses to try to slow Zuko down. Second season, when he has a better excuse, Iroh starts actively pushing Zuko away from hunting the Avatar and tries to convince him to have a normal life while he can.
  • Zuko and Azula's relationship with their father is a perfect example of the dark side of filial piety, specifically filial cannibalism. In Chinese history, respect for ones' parents and ancestors was and still is very highly regarded, so much that during the Qing period, loved ones would actually commit cannibalism by cutting off parts of their bodies to feed to their deathly ill parents as an ultimate act of devotion. Zuko and Azula spent their entire lives sacrificing their happiness, friendship and sanity (in Azula's case) for their father's prosperity and respect. While Ozai may not be "deathly ill" in body, he certainly is so in mind, specifically his megalomania, paranoia and sadism. In many ways, Zuko and Azula's attempts to please their father is in some way an attempt to free him of his mental illness so that he may show them love and respect for their efforts. Yet, despite these sacrifices Ozai never reciprocates the devotion of his children and continues to feed off them until he has no more use for them, with Zuko betraying the love of his Uncle and reconciliation with Aang and his gang in season 2, and Azula losing her best friends and being given the crown for a now-useless title.
  • Take notice of Aang's element choices when in combat, he actually mirrors what Korra herself would do much later. After Aang unlocks his ability to earthbend he steadily uses it more and more over the course of the series to the point where it's arguably his second element of choice when his native airbending isn't a viable option. Why? Earthbending although direct and forceful by nature, also allows a firm and planted defense, which is what he tends to tap into when he makes use of it. Although it's his natural opposite, it has a built in compliment to his skill set by allowing him to tank hits when he can't evade them. This also reflects in his Character Development that he can't run away from his destiny forever and he must soldier on, like how earthbenders absorb incoming attacks and remain on position instead of evading it like airbending and switch positions. Furthermore, he also realize that he can be decisive, while still maintaining his pacifistic beliefs, similarly to how earthbending is known to have a balance between offense and defense.
    • Further down the line, Avatar Korra would then later show an affinity for firebending as its powerful offensive capability bolsters her natural waterbending which though powerful, can't dole out the kind of straight forward damage that she likes to employ (plus having constant access to both types of bending regardless of location and timing). And now, Korra unlocks and masters airbending; it's her secondary element after firebending because, as much as Korra loves to engage in combat, there are times where enemies will possibly overwhelm her, so she needs to disengage before she tries again. This also reflects her Character Development into how she uses diplomacy to reach peaceful resolutions and tries her best to understand others' motivations before making her own judgment. If it fails, she will not hesitate to bring her interests on the table with her usual force. And sometimes there are conflicts and fights that are not worthy of her time. Not to mention, blasts of air will increase her firebending's power, which will make her usual firebending attacks pack more punch than usual. This reflects on the fact that Korra embracing pacifism, being calm and levelheaded, and utilizing gentle hand in dealing with others and problems around her ironically makes her more powerful because she is less likely to make mistakes now and becomes more certain of her decisions, and her allies and her enemies finally start to take her presence and authority seriously because they know that she is not all talk anymore.
    • In sum, the element that an Avatar-in-training struggles the most, if mastered, will cover his/her primary choice of element's weakness, giving them more edge than usual since their weakness is now being addressed. Also, aside for opposing bending philosophies like Aang's dilemma in learning his native element's opposite bending art, personality and spirituality are also a factor in learning and mastering an element like in Korra's case as firebending is airbending's spiritual opposite due of the former emphasizes aggressiveness and activeness while the latter emphasizes peacefulness and passivity. If anything, Aang and Korra's respective favored tactics in combat become more effective because they learned and utilized the very elements that they struggled with.
  • Regarding Azula, and what she thinks her mother thinks about her: Azula spent most of her childhood being praised and worshipped, either for being a recognised prodigy by the age of ten, or just for being princess. But Ursa gets on better with Zuko, the useless half-wit of an older brother, and Ursa scolds Azula for misbehaving. So in Azula's perfectionist mind, the fact that she doesn't receive unanimous praise and love means momma doesn't love her properly. And Azula can't figure out why, because the reasons she and Ursa don't connect don't register with her.
    • This could also explain why Ozai had Ursa banished. He knew that she was having a negative (read: motherly and strict) influence on Azula and interfering with his ability to gain complete control over his children. Ozai's solution? Get rid of the one interloper in Azula's life and make her feel perfect.
  • Sozin (Zuko's paternal great-grandfather) and Roku's (Aang's past life and also Zuko's maternal great-grandfather) friendship and Zuko's and Aang's friendship at the end of the series are strong Generation Xerox parallels with slight modifications. Sozin's and Roku's friendship ended on a tragic note with Sozin betraying him, so in essence, that means their friendship got torn down. Then their descendants, Zuko and Aang, come along and not only restore the peace in the world; they also patch up things with each other, fixing what their ancestors ruined.
  • As mentioned in the Fridge Horror section, Aang had a great fondness for the Fire Nation prior to waking up from the iceberg. This is fitting since his last incarnation was from the Fire Nation. It's possible Aang had nostalgia that transcended lifetimes but wasn't consciously aware of it, much like how he chose toys belonging to previous avatars without consciously remembering he owned them in past lives.
  • Zuko's firebending was so weak as a child, but he was able to match Azula towards the end. The firebending that Zuko learnt at first had to be fueled by rage and hate, which Zuko was too soft for; unlike Azula or Ozai, it isn't in his nature to be so heartless or evil to work well. Well, until he got banished and dishonored, he didn't have a source of rage and angst to fuel his fire. He got much better after he learnt the "Fire is Life" approach, because that is more in tune with his real character.
    • Another reason he got stronger might be because he finally got over his shame at not living up to his father's expectations (both because of his weak firebending as a kid and his banishment), since it was said when Aang was studying under the guru that the fire chakra has to do with willpower and is blocked by shame. This means that he was getting a boost from more than just Sozin's comet in the finale—he had finally gotten over both his old problems and been forgiven by his uncle. That helped give him the boost that put him on Azula's level.
    • This is true on a more technical level. In an earlier episode we see Iroh being uncharacteristically stern regarding Zuko's firebending, stressing that he needs to breathe. If you see his fights you can see that he moves too much and rarely does anything besides big fireballs. Per his personality, Zuko always tries for direct and powerful, despite having issues with the basics. Obviously this affects his technique. At his duel with Zhao, he finally improves. Look closely how he fights. He uses simpler movements against Zhao's unnecessary display of power. All throughout Season 2 Zuko goes Back to Basics in his firebending, and by the Season Finale he's a much more credible threat to the Avatar than ever, making use of impressive techniques. Once he learns the "Fire is Life" approach, and with his revisited technique, by Season 3 Finale he's finally one of the most powerful firebenders in the show.
    • Keep in mind that Azula lost her sanity when she became Fire Lord, so her Firebending became more erratic and unpredictable. Zuko perfected his Firebending with Aang so he was much stronger in terms of power and technique.
      • However, Zuko and Azula's first clash happened when she attacked the Western Air Temple, before Ozai discarded her and she broke down, and they were evenly matched in their short duel there as well.
      • Even before that, they battled on the prison gondola at the Boiling Rock, and Zuko was able to match her blow for blow. The only reason neither could go all-out was because of the cramped battlefield and their nearby allies: Zuko was covering Sokka (and vice-versa when available), and Ty Lee was in Azula's line of fire.
  • After Fire Lord Sozin betrayed Roku he started the tradition of killing dragons for fame and glory despite having a dragon mount before and during the betrayal. Roku also had a dragon and it was basically his symbol, so it is possible that Sozin started the tradition of hunting dragons because they reminded him of Roku and the friendship he had to destroy in order to fulfill his dream of conquest.
  • The way Zuko and Azula firebend is fundamentally different. While Azula relies on practice and precision , Zuko firebends using raw power. This is illustrated by the way they use their hands, Azula uses the tips of her fingers while Zuko shoots fire from his fists, thin, calculated strips of fire versus wild blasts.
    • Also a reason why Azula realized Zuko would eventually win in the finale (and why Zuko thought he could win when he challenged her); Zuko had her beat in both control and raw power. Evidenced in that Zuko barely moves from his spot while Azula was expending large amounts of energy zapping around the dueling grounds. Sure Zuko did some fancy break dancing, but he was basically in the same spot. The only time he moved was to take the hit meant for Katara.
  • The show's three seasons correspond with whatever element Aang is learning, obviously. But they also correspond with what Zuko is doing, proving once again that they're not so different! In the Water season, he lives on a ship out in the middle of the ocean. In the Earth season, he wanders around on land pretending to be an Earth Kingdom peasant. In the Fire season, he's a Fire Nation prince again, and then teaches Aang firebending.
  • Why is Roku the one to introduce recaps of previous episodes at the start of each episode? Because he's the previous life of Aang.
  • The fact that Zuko is the descendant of both Roku and Sozin, and that this lineage gives him a pointedly evil and a pointedly good side is somewhat sneakily foreshadowed throughout the series. The first is when Azula snarks, "remember to remind the portrait painters to get your good side." But this is exactly why he can learn to redirect lightning. At the point in the story when he learns the skill from Iroh, he's told he must separate the negative and positive energies to create lightning. He can't manage this because at this point, his good and evil sides are in conflict - i.e., his negative and positive energies. He also has an evil (scarred) and a good (unscarred) side of his face. In shots, where he's doing something noble, such as the first time he approaches Aang and asks to join the group, his unscarred side is highlighted.
  • Toph's personality doesn't lend itself well to expressing any kind of love towards others (which she herself points out after punching Zuko on the arm). This makes sense when you consider the element associated with the Heart Chakra, which deals with love; Air. Air, obviously, being the opposite element to Toph's Earth. Additionally, the chakra associated with Earth deals with fear, something that would obviously stop a person emotionally opening up.
  • Ozai was completely right when he says to Zuko, "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher." At first it seems like a line that just proves his cruelty, and that's probably what he meant it to be. But here's the thing: Zuko didn't learn respect until he had suffered for a while, particularly throughout season 2. Watch as his pride is slowly broken down and he starts being less of a jerk, culminating in his Heel–Face Turn in season 3, which was preceded by half a season of intense inner conflict. There is something Zuko did "learn" from his father there. Consider: Zuko surrendered, and got in a world of hurt for it. As Sokka observes in the season 1 finale, "If there's one thing we know, it's that Zuko never gives up". Up until "The Western Air Temple" halfway through season 3, Zuko was the only one of the "core cast" who had never surrendered to someone who wanted to fight him. That he can offer himself as a prisoner is a sign of how far he has moved out of his father's influence, particularly since getting a bending attack in his face again for the attempt does not work to deter him for long.
    • The problem with this is, Zuko was a respectful person, by most standards, before Ozai burned him and banished him. Yes, Zuko did learn respect and humility on his long and painful journey—but he only had to learn them because Ozai twisted his personality in the first place. Zuko started demanding respect and generally trying to act the way his father and sister would only after the Agni Kai.
    • Or, looking at it another way, Zuko suffered and learned to respect the other nations, the balance which was required, and the true nature of firebending. While he did learn respect through his suffering, it was exact opposite kind of respect that Ozai wanted him to learn.
  • For all of the claims of Ozai being the strongest firebender in the world, it seems strange that he only fully showcases it at Sozin's Comet (granted we do know a bit of his power during "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse", when we see him trying to lightningbend his son just when the eclipse is barely over, which gives some sense of power), which makes it difficult to tell how powerful he really is without the Comet. But then again, it's in line with Ozai's character. He suffers from an Inferiority Superiority Complex and thus the series only shows Ozai's firebending in a manner that Ozai would want the audience to see, at the absolute height of his power. This ironically makes him appear weaker against Aang because Aang showcases both his normal firebending and his Comet-enhanced firebending, giving the audience a real measure of power. Ozai never respects his normal capacity of firebending, which is fitting for Aang to permanently take that firebending away from him for good.
  • The order of elements Aang has to master ties into his personal growth during the seasons. At the opening of season 1, Aang doesn't realize at first that there is a war going on and that the world as he knows it isn't the same. Only after visiting the ruins of what used to be his home temple and seeing the skeleton of his mentor does Aang realize that he has a responsibility to the world and can't go back to his old life anymore. Throughout season 1, he has to deal with the duty of being the Avatar. What element does Aang have to master for this season? Water, the element of change. Then next in season 2 is earth, the element of substance, whose discipline requires firmness and strength. Halfway through the season, Aang loses his animal companion and living relic of his old life, Appa and almost loses hope. Also the Gaang has to deal with delivering crucial info that could end the war to the Earth King past Obstructive Bureaucrats, the Dai Li. Finally, Aang learns fire, the element of desire and decisiveness in the last season where he faces off against Fire Lord Ozai. In the last first episodes he struggles against killing the Fire Lord due to his pacifist nature despite everyone telling him he must do it. Also in the last episode Aang and Katara kiss, thereby confirming their relationship, something both of them had desired to do.
    • Furthermore, the amount of difficulty it takes for Aang to master each element mirrors how difficult it is for him to get each of the four nations on his side:
      • Air is Aang's native element, and the Air Nomads have been loyal to Aang since his birth. No problem there at all.
      • Water is next, and Aang adapted to it fairly quickly. Likewise, the Northern Water Tribe, who adapt to change quite well, were quick to pledge their loyalty to him.
      • Next came earth, the polar opposite of air. As this is the case, it was noticeably more challenging for Aang to master earthbending. Rocks just seemed to be too stubborn to be manipulated. And when he got to Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li caused quite a bit of trouble by being similarly adamant with their regime. But as Aang showed determination, the Dai Li eventually yielded just like the rock.
      • Finally, fire. Aang made a mistake trying to learn the elements out of order in "The Deserter," and immediately concluded that firebending was too dangerous for him. This makes fire the toughest element for him to master. And it's also really tough to get the Fire Nation to be on your side when they're constantly trying to kill you.
    • The way in which Aang meets his respective teachers also mirrors this: Katara takes a liking to Aang almost immediately, Toph is a bit more stubborn and only gives her due to him when he finally gets her lessons, and Zuko spends most of the series trying to kill him (and after his complete Heel–Face Turn, he is strict as Toph in teaching Aang firebending).
  • There's another good reason Toph's blind. All the in-universe written text in the series uses Chinese or Japanese characters. Having someone around who can't read gives the rest of the Gaang an excuse to read things to her, and by extension to the audience. Not to mention making it hilarious when someone (usually Sokka) tries to show her something written/drawn (like a picture of Appa).
  • Regarding Zuko and Agni Kai: In season 1, Zuko manages to defeat Zhao, a potent firebender, early on by "breaking his root" - i.e., upsetting his stance, specifically using an ankle sweep. This is fairly rudimentary principle - as Iroh had been drilling him on the basics in the first few episodes - but it works. Fast forward to season 3: Zuko's dueling Azula for the crown, and it's (gasp) evenly-matched. She's jetting around and throwing huge walls of flame, but he's wearing her down. She circles him, looking to engulf him, and he break-dance-firebends a fire wheel at ankle height. He breaks Azula's root and she tumbles to the ground, pretty much beaten. Zuko bested his nigh-unbeatable prodigy sister, during Sozin's comet, using a basic firebending principle.
  • The Lion Turtle at the end of the third season isn't drawn like the other characters and creatures, instead, he is done with the more detailed style and coloring used for the backgrounds. It makes perfect sense: he is one of the oldest creatures on the Airbender universe's earth. He is old enough to have a large, thriving forest growing on his back and the only creature we know of that's old enough to know energy-bending. He is drawn in the same style as the earth itself because like the earth, he is ancient.
  • A few episodes after Iroh's White Lotus tile is featured, but well before the true significance of it is revealed, we see another Old Master using the tile in a game: Monk Gyatso. Old people really do all know each other!
  • If you pay attention, Lion Turtles are everywhere— statues in the Air Temples, door knockers in the Earth Kingdom, the front of the Fire Nation war zeppelins, and in the library episode, Aang pulls out a scroll and commented on the HUGE lion turtle on it. The Producers Really Do Think Of Everything.
  • Jeong Jeong doesn't firebend like most. His technique, from his stance to his movements and bending, more visibly resembles water and earthbending. Most notably, his signature firewall/firewave ability, is far more common among the other two elements than his native firebending. He even tells Katara outright that he envies waterbenders and wishes he were one; it's very likely he emulates waterbending and earthbending techniques in a rejection of standard firebending.
  • Toph and Bumi are both orthodox and unorthodox Earthbenders.
    • Toph's fighting style is based on the Southern Mantis style, unlike other earthbenders who use the Hung Gar fighting style. However, Toph still has the stubborn and direct attitude of a typical earthbender.
    • Bumi uses the standard Hung Gar stance and movements when bending earth but in terms of personality is very different from the typical earthbender. However, Bumi is the exact opposite of direct. He always seems to have some trick up his sleeve and his tests in "The King of Omashu" are all about getting Aang to "think like a mad genius". Despite mocking Aang for using the typical "avoid and evade" Airbender tactics in their fight, Bumi is arguably more like an Airbender than an Earthbender, favoring flexibility and unpredictability in overcoming obstacles.
    • Both Bumi and Toph have unusual earthbending abilities: Bumi can bend earth without moving his limbs, while Toph is the first metalbender. However, Bumi's special bending is still using traditional earthbending powers while Toph became a pioneer for a new form of earthbending.

Bending and Nation - General

  • The season of fire is said to be summer: well, the Fire Nation is located in a region where it's always summer. The season of water is winter: the Water Tribes are located on the poles where it's always winter. Air and earth don't properly fit into this idea, though. Although, the Air Temples are all between a pole and the equator, like autumn is between summer and winter. The Earth Kingdom still doesn't apply since it is partly on the equator too... but then again, if you look at what parts of Earth Kingdom fall on the equator: The Chameleon Bay and the Desert, two naturally scarcely inhabited areas. (Although, so does Omashu.)
    • Well, autumn is often the windiest part of the year in a lot of places, and Spring is when plants and the like start growing in the earth, so there's a bit of seasonal connection.
    • Think of it along with the order the Avatar learns the element and to which tribe he is born. It goes fire air water earth, in other words summer fall winter spring. Also there is the line in the beginning of The Legend of Korra where it says "Like the cycle of the seasons the cycle of the avatar begins again. It makes sense!
    • The Air temples were all built in places that were very windy. Mountain tops, canyons, and the like.
    • Each of the four classic elements were associated with a particular season: water with winter, earth with spring, fire with summer, and air with autumn. Each "Book" of ATLA occurred during the corresponding season: The winter solstice (the middle of winter) occurred in the middle of book 1 (water); Roku said the comet would come at the end of summer, and the comet came at the end of book 3 (Fire).
  • If you think about what the different bending abilities would be used for in real life, it becomes clear how perfect the characterizations for the different nations are.
    • Airbending seems like it would be useless in combat, and though the air-benders shown are really strong, none of their attacks can be used to seriously hurt or kill people. Just knock them down or blow them away. This is why the air-benders are all peaceful monks. They only use their air-bending for self-defense, and only when they have to, and usually just avoid fighting altogether. Also, the movements are based on kung-fu, which like airbending, has no purely offensive attacks.
      • They can move better (or Aang does, at least) than anyone else, and his superior movement tends to win him a lot of fights. Also, air can be really, REALLY powerful (hint: It's called a Tornado). They're peaceful because if they weren't, they'd be in conflict all the time.
      • Also, they're peaceful because if they actually wanted to kill someone they'd just have to suck the air from their lungs: the world needs them peaceful because if they weren't nothing could stop them. Kind of explains the losses taken by the Fire Nation during the Airbenders' genocide: some of the airbenders must have gone desperate enough to try and take down as many Firebenders they could, and as soon as one of them started sucking air from the attackers' lungs...
      • Forget sucking the air out of someone's lungs - overpressure is all you need. Normal atmospheric pressure is 16 pounds per square inch (psi). It requires as little as 3psi of overpressure to cause serious injuries or fatalities. Even given the general Made of Iron nature of people in the Avatar universe an angry airbender would be a killing machine, one capable of ignoring armour or cover. The Fire Nation may have chosen to attack the Air Nomads during the arrival of Sozin's Comet simply because without it they couldn't have actually won; certainly, you'd expect them to use the comet to take out the greatest threat.
      • To put it simply, if it had been the Airbenders who aimed for world conquest, it probably wouldn't have taken 100 years. All they have to do is either use the above methods listed, or, on a larger scale, possibly use their airbending to create tornadoes, which would cause all sorts of destruction. And the fact that they frequently ride gliders or flying bison means that they could more easily stay out of harm's reach. Especially if they're experienced in flying in those conditions.
      • The Chinese term qi means both life force and air; thus, the ability to bend air comes with the ability to control your life spirit. This could explain why there are virtually no non-bender Air Nomads. It also betrays a darker side of airbending to mirror bloodbending, that is, the bending of the life force within a person, i.e., soulbending. And this is what Aang does to Ozai in the finale.
    • Earth-bending fights always leave giant walls of rock all over the place. This would be an annoying mess to deal with in real life, because every time there's a fight, you would have rocks and craters to clean up. If someone was to focus their earth bending constructively, they would be able to do anything with them. They could build houses, fences, statues, virtually any structure really. And in the show, they do just that. All of the earth nation cities are shown to have large elaborate structures, and the largest city is surrounded by a giant stone wall. At one point, Aang even uses his bending to build a zoo for a man in Ba Sing Se.
    • Fire bending seems like it would be the most useless one to have in real life, because you really can't use it for much besides combat, and it would be difficult to use without burning something. This would explain why the Fire Nation is so war-like. But if you think deeper, you realize that there's much more to it than that, even beyond the basic uses of fire like cooking and warming. Fire can be used in any number of industrial processes, metal forging, engines, ships, factories, etc. And the fire-nation does just that. In the flashbacks with Sozin and Roku, Sozin mentions that the fire-nation has been going through an extremely prosperous era, it's because they were having an industrial revolution! Some firebender must have created a steam-engine of some sort. This also means that they will likely never leave steam power, because they have total control over it. Firebenders basically have an infinite supply of coal shooting out of their hands, so it makes complete sense that the new series will take place in a steam-punk themed city. It's why firebenders have so much engineering and technology, while the rest of the tribes are relatively primitive.
    • Waterbending is the most obvious one, you can use it to move boats around, and maybe even use it to catch some fish. Their location makes sense because someone who had control over ice and water would want to live somewhere that they were never far from it. But the Water Tribes’ presence at the north and south poles also gives the Gaang an excuse to travel over the entire world, before the show ever has to stop in one point for too long.
    • Also, the Fire and Air. The Fire Nation is taking over the entire world, growing larger and larger - you know, like a metaphor for fire spreading? Also, the Air Nomads have four different temples scattered around the world, like real wind scatters.
  • Each pair of naturally opposing elements/Bending Arts actually share common ground that the other does not; Both Fire and Water gain boosts in power in accordance to time of day through celestial bodies (Sun and Moon during Day and Night respectively) as the penultimate source of their bending comes from those sources - and yes, Firebending may have been passed down from Dragons but its power is driven by the Sun. In turn, both Air and Earth on the other hand, don't receive such bonuses from...any known celestial bodies or spirits and as such don't have any perks dependent on time (as shown so far anyway). They gain their power from the same celestial body - the Earth. It's just really hard to take away from them. Amusing how the two opposite pairs share a basic thread.
    • Expanding on this a bit, it also helps to clarify the originators of each bending art.
      • The first Earthbenders and Airbenders learned their abilities from animals. Not only does this pay homage to their sources being connected more to nature, it references the start of kung fu itself. The original kung fu masters were people trying to protect their homes and themselves by developing a fighting style based on the tactics and movements of animals to empower themselves.
      • Whereas the first Waterbenders and Firebenders learned their skill from the Moon and dragons, both heavily associated with celestial energy and mysticism.
  • The Lion Turtle basically says that all bending styles were derived from the energy bending Applied Phlebotinum that Aang used in his fight with Ozai; perhaps this means benders can absorb and then use energy from their respective element. This means that waterbenders can give or take (usually take) heat energy from the water they're bending and make it ice or steam and firebenders create fire from nothing by transferring energy into the air. With that logic, it makes sense that the ultimate form of firebending is lightning. It would just be weaponizing the electrolysis firebenders always use.
  • Waterbenders are the only ones who can logically be caught without their element. Air and earth are pretty much ubiquitous, and firebenders can conjure flames from essentially nowhere. But waterbenders have to carry those skins around if they're battling on enemy territory and don't have the home field advantage of tons of ice and snow (or, in the swamp tribe's case, mud). However, waterbenders are also the most versatile. We've seen them bending ice, water, and vapor, as well as any other liquid (soup, for instance); no other element has that much variation in its power. Waterbenders have both an innate advantage and an innate disadvantage, and are therefore pretty much balanced.
    • It makes sense that waterbending is incredibly versatile, and waterbender's power vacillates with the phases of the moon? That's because water itself is the most versatile of the other four elements, and the tides can change with the moon.
      • Iroh said that Water is the element of change and adaptation. Waterbenders are creative by design, because more often than not they have to go without their element. They have to be creative as a survival need. This also makes it obvious why it has to come after Airbending, but before Earthbending. Airbending is about peace and avoidance. Water is about adaptation and creativity, which acts as a buffer to the stoic and head on earthbenders, since it lets the avatar explore before going back to their strict ways.
    • Of course, having to carry water with you to waterbend doesn't seem like such a huge disadvantage when you consider that soldiers have to carry water around with them anyways, especially if going into battle, or else face the crippling effects of dehydration and heat stroke. The Firebenders, if facing a lengthy fight, would logically have to carry as much water as the Waterbenders just to deal with the negative effects of being exposed to so much heat for an extended period. This could potentially make the Waterbenders even more dangerous a foe.
    • Talking about the versatility of waterbending, imagine what would happen if waterbenders studied the basics of the other bending forms (using similar principles to Iroh's lightning defense).
      • Waterbenders could bend ice, like earthbenders bend stone. In the show, waterbenders generally switch ice into liquid water and back again to use it. But using earthbending form, they could bend the ice directly and go as far shoot solid projectiles at enemies. To make it worse given the nature of water they can form the projectiles into shapes the earthbenders cannot.
      • They could also bend water vapor, like airbenders bend air. Consider that fact that water vapor is literally everywhere except in arid climates (like deserts or tundras), a waterbender with an understanding of airbending form could draw water from the air and never be without water. Taking it further, a waterbender could use the water vapor to attack similar to (though significantly weaker than) an airbender making for a better defense.
      • They could also use a firebending form to bend scalding hot, high pressure steam.
  • Bloodbending makes perfect sense when you take Waterbending healing into consideration. It likely works with the same principle, bending fluids inside the body for things such as stopping internal bleeding or ensuring proper circulation. Add the Waterbending amplification effect, and what normally works on a small scale suddenly becomes possible on a large scale.
    • It should be noted that the Bloodbending depicted in the show can be more accurately described as Musclebending. Bending just the blood in one's body would probably kill that person. The fact that it's called Bloodbending is probably indicative of the cultural importance of blood in the Avatar world.
  • Guru Pathik implies that some had already performed Metalbending in the past, but why was that skill lost? They couldn't figure how to teach it. That is Toph's greatest achievement: she managed to teach it to less awesome benders.
  • Lava bending when shown in The Last Airbender looked drastically different to how it was in The Legend of Korra. In TLoK it amounted to just breaking holes in the ground which then became lava pits whereas in TLA they caused actual eruptions of Lava. Of course Lavabending in TLoK was always seen performed by Earthbenders whereas the only two people who were ever seen bending lava in TLA were Avatar Roku and Avatar Kyoshi, and only an Avatar could perform that type of lava bending. While lava is a form of earth, to cause a controlled eruption they would need to also know how to control the flow of moving liquid as well as relegating the heat and the fumes so it doesn't harm the bender or anyone it wasn't aimed at. The lavabending seen in TLoK is the limit of what an earthbender can do with lava but the lavabending seen in TLA demonstrates what happens when an Avatar bends all four elements at the same time.

Bending and Nation - Fire

  • Firebending has a Dark Side that would make you evil because it's the only way to master it. No wonder the Fire nation military and industry commits the atrocities they do with no conscience, they've all been influenced by The Dark Side of firebending.
    • And why Jeong Jeong hates being a Firebender so much.
    • Considering that said Dark Side of firebending is fueled but anger and/or hate, how much anger and hate do you think Azula harbored to make her fire freakin' blue?
    • Considering that Ozai himself acts like an Ax-Crazy Psychopathic Manchild in the finale, it might even mean that this approach to Firebending also makes you insane after a point. Perhaps, among other things that contributed to her insanity, Azula went too deep in that direction.
    • And why Iroh acts like he's One of the Kids so much, he's full of life and youth by mastering the true form of Firebending. Good Firebending makes you more spiritual. In one of the flashbacks in Zuko Alone we see Iroh writing a letter where he makes a joke about burning down Ba Sing Se. So he has always had a sense of humor, it was just darker before his spiritual revival.
    • Thanks to the Masters, he learned that Firebending can be creative and full of color, which is why he pretended to be a dragon slayer to preserve the secret for his nephew.
  • Iroh knew the non-corrupt form of fire bending. And early in the series he's shown instructing Zuko in the art; specifically, drilling Zuko in the basics. Zuko was too angry to catch on; a very different show would have resulted if he had.
  • Why is breathing so important for Firebending? Fires need Oxygen, and the original firebenders were dragons, which breathe fire.
  • Fire Nation troops don't usually fight in formation. This is particularly noticeable in the assault on the Northern Water Tribe. If you replaced the Fire Nation troops with, say, WWII soldiers and replaced the tanks with WWII tanks, they'd look very similar to the FN's loose formations, with squads of troops moving among the tanks. And that makes sense, because firebending would render most pre-gunpowder formations useless anyway, and every firebender (which makes up the majority of the FN's army) would be capable of long-ranged attacks at will - exactly like modern firearm-equipped infantry. The Fire Nation has, quite literally, pioneered combined arms tactics on a parallel with modern mechanized armies. The Fire Nation's entire army parallels Germany during this period. Their favourite method of attacking is a quick strike before retreating (blitzkrieg), had utilized awesome but impractical weaponry (a giant fleet of zeppelins, a gigantic, almost looney-tunes esque drill) and moved to heavily industrializing the mainland for the war effort.
  • The Fire Nation military was the most gender equal of all the four nations, but all the women seen were young women. There were no older women seen among the Fire Nation generals, and no older Fire Nation women seen in the Order of the White Lotus. And in the flashback to Roku and Sozin's youth, the women that were seen were all in more traditional roles. This suggests that the gender equality seen in the present is a recent phenomenon, possibly spurred by the exigencies of war to make up for manpower shortages (how else could the Fire Nation prosecute a 100 year war against the vastly larger Earth Kingdom?). Which would mean that it had to be one of the three Fire Lords (Sozin, Azulon, and/or Ozai) who introduced gender equality into the Avatar world. Warlike nations usually have greater gender equality, if only for economic reasons. Western gender equality has been greatly helped by war, although in that case it promoted more women into industrial positions than as soldiers. A good long world takeover campaign would almost necessitate encouraging women to take traditionally masculine roles simply to have enough soldiers and industrial producers.
    • That makes sense, the Water Tribe was probably less populated than the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads were nomads, but the Earth Kingdom has the advantage of being living terraformers, and having a larger amount of land (just land period, in terms of agriculturally useful land they probably dominate) than any other kingdom. The Earth Kingdom probably had a massive population advantage over the Fire Kingdom throughout the war.
  • Episodes in the third season like "The Beach", "The Painted Lady", and "The Headband" aren't just Padding or Breather Episodes (though they serve that last purpose too). Up to now, the Gaang (and the audience) has seen the Fire Nation through the royal family and the army. These episodes let us see that the Fire Nation citizens also have kids in school who make pasta art and sneak out to go dancing. They have beach parties and go to the theatre. The lower classes struggle to make a living. In other words, they're not Always Chaotic Evil. The average Fire National is no worse (or better) than anyone else in the four nations. The goal is not to defeat the Fire Nation; it's to defeat Ozai and restore the "living in harmony" between the nations.
  • Iroh always said that firebending came from the breath, and what did Combustion Man do before firing (pun intended)? He took a deep breath.
  • The reason firebenders wear shoes with metal soles is because, otherwise, they'd literally burn their shoes off every time they shot fire out of their feet.
  • We learn in Book 3 that the Fire Nation's version of firebending is fueled by rage and hatred, and once Zuko joins the Gaang and gives up on hunting the Avatar, the loss of his drive leads him to lose his firebending. This means that when his father challenged him to an Agni Kai, a firebending duel, all those years ago, he refused and surrendered not only because he didn't want to hurt his father but also because he instinctively knew that he wouldn't be able to fight it, just like how master firebenders can sense when the solar eclipse is over. He might not have known why, but since he is somewhat of a firebending prodigy (and only The Un-Favourite because he was overshadowed by Azula) he could have sensed that the duel was a bad idea.
  • The most common hairstyle in the Fire Nation is the topknot, which keeps the hair tied back tight at the top of the head. Makes sense considering long, loose hair is a fire hazard.
  • Iroh tells Zuko lightning is fueled by an absence of emotion. However, we see Ozai and Azula generating lightning when they're visibly enraged. The Fire Nation had been corrupted from the true meaning of Firebending. Firebending is about life and energy, not just destruction and when Zuko lost his drive his bending became weak. It's possible that lightning generation isn't about an absence of emotion but a complete focus on a single task. When Ozai and Azula bend lightning while enraged they're completely 100% focused on killing their targets. The reason Zuko can't do it when Iroh's teaching him isn't that he can't let go of his emotions, but that his mind is focused on too many things at once (surpassing Azula, finding the Avatar, getting his father's praise) his mental focus is all over the place. And an even bigger bit of Fridge Brilliance is that Iroh knew the true secret of Firebending and yet he told Zuko what would have been in keeping with the Fire Nation's philosophy at the time. He kept the secret from him until he was ready to know the true way of Firebending. Lightning may be a true expression of Firebending but it is a true and pure expression of firebending in the sense of being the absolute pinnacle of a Firebender's drive.
    • It could also be that lightning bending requires complete focus on something, but "nothing" qualifies as a focus. Learning it that way, as Iroh did, grants an advantage: lightning (or firebending for that matter) based on, for instance, hatred for an individual is rendered powerless if that hatred fades. Power based on meditation and serenity, though, can't ever be lost.
    • This actually brings up another fridge brilliance. Bumi talked about how there's over 50 something types of Jing, with three of them being Positive (offensive), Negative (defensive) and Neutral (doing nothing). Bumi said that the best earthbenders were those who listened and waited, using Neutral Jing. Since both him and Iroh were part of the White Lotus, it's not out of the question that Iroh learned this from earthbenders and applied it to his lightning, much in the same way as how he learned about redirecting lightning from the Waterbenders.
    • Also, they are sociopaths. They are strongly in control of their own "temperaments" even when they seem to be enraged - that frustration and rage is detached from themselves. Even in the final Agni Kai, Azula is clearly not temperamentally alright, but she can use lightning because she doesn't "feel".
    • My personal theory is that you need to focus 100% on the lightning itself. Lightning doesn't care what you're going through personally, it WILL be the ONLY thing on your mind if you think you can handle it. Iroh is peaceful and all-around pleased with the way of things, so he has no distractions to prevent him from making a clear path for lightning to follow. Zuko had a lot on his mind, so with nowhere to go, any lightning he made simply backfired by default. Azula, being such a prodigy, was powerful enough to simply force it into being without a care in the world as to how you're supposed to do it, just like with everything else she's ever done. This ended up being her downfall during the finale, because while she was super powerful, Zuko had been instructed in proper technique. All the power in the world will never compare favorably to actually knowing what you're doing, and Azula learned this the hard way.
  • A classic case of Pure Is Not Good.
  • At first Fire Nation's abduction of Benders from other nations seems simply like a systematized way of Kicking The Dog and showing what bastards they were. Once one comes to understand how the Avatar's cycle of reincarnation works in the series that it suddenly made complete sense: the Evil Overlords are trying to effectively contain a threat to their schemes before it is even born!
    • Even if he didn't know that, he would be pleased because the next Avatar would be born either in the easily conquered South Tribe, the highly isolated North Tribe, or the Foggy Swamp which was in the Earth Kingdom he had control over. After that it would take at least 12 years for him to become an effective Waterbender and there's no way for him to become a fully realized Avatar because there's no one to teach him Airbending and it is very unlikely that anyone from the Fire Nation will be willing to teach him Firebending. An Avatar with a 2 maybe 3 element mastery would be useless against a largely consolidated Fire Empire.
    • Keeping the other bending cultures alive would also greatly benefit the Fire Nation in the long run. They could easily kill a young Avatar, hastening the cycle until the Fire Nation got the Avatar again. Then they could easily indoctrinate him/her and force their captive Water and Earthbenders to teach the Avatar their skills. The Fire Nation winds up with a powerful weapon that they can still theoretically control as a fully realized Avatar is impossible (a Fire Lord should be able to defeat a rogue Avatar with only 3 elements). After that Avatar, the cycle will break but by then the Fire Nation should rule the world with or without Sozin's comet. The eugenic potential also does not seem to escape them with Ursa's grandfather in mind. Try not to think too hard about an Avatar mentored by Fire Lord Azula and married to one of Azula's children.
  • The Fire Nation seems stupid for capturing and not killing the waterbenders, in case they escaped with a grudge. Especially since Zuko didn't stake out the Water Tribes in his search for the Avatar. However, they thought the Avatar was a waterbender and were just letting Zuko roam around the world searching for a nonexistent(or so they believed) airbender to keep him out of their hair. That way, the Avatar wouldn't be born into the Earth Kingdom, a huge and not-as-easily weeded out place as the Water Tribes. At least, until the waterbenders died of old age, which I think Ozai was betting on happening after he won the war. Also, even though they don't have the waterbenders from the south pole, even if the avatar was there, it isn't likely they can master earth and fire, there is absolutely no chance of them mastering air, and so they aren't much of a threat to the Fire Nation. There's also a bit more fridge brilliance to this considering Aang's successor as Avatar, Korra. She could already bend three of the four elements much younger than any previous Avatar, Aang included, only having trouble with Airbending because it was opposite to her personality. Ozai's plan was pretty much doomed to failure from the start.
  • Fire Nation had pride in its benders, and might be losing touch with nature. However, look at what they were doing. All of their machines could be firebender operated. However, they were paving the way for non-benders to have equal power as their benders. Why dedicate a bender who could be used for fighting (gunpowder isn't around yet so Benders still have superiority in fighting) to keeping your vehicle moving when you could have anyone do it by using coal engines?
  • So, the Fire Nation can develop tanks, giant drills, massive factories, etc...but no hot air balloons? Odd. Until you realize what happens when you kill everyone in the world whose specialty is manipulating air. Of course the Fire Nation didn't realize that hot air would allow flight; all of the accumulated knowledge of flight and moving with the air was lost when the Airbenders were wiped out!

Miscellanous

  • China could have built a world spanning empire instead of Europe. They even sent out massive ships called "floating dragons" as a show of power; some think the expeditions might have reached Hawaii. After Zheng He, the emperor's friend who was leading the expedition, died, bureaucrats called Mandarins burned all the records of the voyages, including the ships and how to build them. The Mandarins were followers of Confucius who emphasized knowing your place. They were also very traditional and cautious of change, thus burning the records. The similarities to the Dai Li seem far too strong for this to be a coincidence, given that the Earth Kingdom was based off of China.
  • Chronologically, the story begins with the Avatar and the Fire Prince as best friends, and when they part ways it causes the loss of balance in the world. The series ends with the Avatar and Fire Prince as enemies, and balance is only restored after they become friends.
    • Legend of Korra implies that Zuko became Aang's best (human) friend.
  • Aang is the Last Airbender, and Appa is an Sky Bison, the first Airbender.
  • Why did the Gaang let Ozai, Azula, Yon Rha, and others live rather than just killing them? If Zuko is an example of the Fire Nation, Firebenders hold a high sense of honor (this is why out of the four nations, the Fire Nation has the greatest royalty). Killing a Firebender would be an easy decision, but an even better solution is through humiliation. Ozai, the ruler of the Fire Nation, is beaten by a child and imprisoned and his throne was taken by the son he personally branded and banished. Furthermore, this defeat came in the form of being held virtually at gunpoint and then spiritually castrated. Azula loses her "friends" and her once-ruthless personality, and Yon Rha is bluntly told by Katara that he isn't even worth killing.
    • Even Ozai found it more disgraceful when Zuko refused to fight him in the Agni Kai, partly because he's a Social Darwinist and partly because of Values Dissonance within the Fire Nation - he might have looked terrified when Aang almost shot him in the finale, but he was pissed when Aang refused to kill him when he had the chance. Also ... that makes it funny when you consider that Zhao actually had the most honourable death in the series, of all noteworthy villains - he refused to degrade himself by taking Zuko's hand to survive, and so although he died with everyone considering him a monster, he at least felt he went out how he wanted. Not to mention, this places some interesting ideas on the level of morality afforded by the 'good guys' to the 'bad guys', and how it became more complicated as the series went on. To add another level to that, his choice was be saved by a teenager, one that was considered an embarrassing failure by his nation, or be killed by what was basically a pissed off god. Still crazy from a modern standpoint, but Fridge Brilliance if you think like a Firebender.
  • Ba Sing Se can be considered a parallel of New York. Why? It's seen as a very secure location and immigration hub, with a symbol that everyone immigrating to the city will see which is a symbol of safety and freedom, it has distinct sections each with different class of citizenry, and if said symbols fell many would consider it the end for that city. Also, the ferry that takes immigrants to Ba Sing Se is comparable to the ships that took immigrants to America from Europe.
  • Whoever thought of designing the Avatar State mechanism must have Batman levels of Crazy-Prepared. On one hand you would do well to have the power and skill of all the past avatars, but on the other hand, Aang has access to all their experience. If ATLA and Korra is something to go by, once people find out a child or teenager is the Avatar, then their expectations skyrocket and they want them to be like their fully realized predecessors, who have lived for decades, even centuries. Now that is about as unreasonable as it can get, in fact it's dumb, as Sokka points out when he says Aang is just a goofy kid. No child or teenager has the experience, wisdom and Character Development of a fully realized Avatar who has lived a full life. Unless there was a way by which they could contact the previous Avatars and get their guidance. The Avatar's spiritual link up comes prepared just in case this sort of situation was to happen, and according to Roku, it has happened many times before.
    • Further Fridge Brilliance: Why does Aang go into the Avatar state to energybend Ozai, Yakone and Korra? Because nobody can overcome the spiritual strength of a thousand fully realized Avatars and the spirit of the whole planet acting through you. This allows the Avatar State to have offense and defense capabilities at a spiritual level too. Crazy-Prepared all right.
  • In Season 1, Katara tells Aang she's sure that he ended up frozen for a hundred years for a reason. What reason would destiny have for wanting to put the Avatar on ice for a century? Well, imagine what would have happened if Aang (or, if he had been killed, the new Avatar) had grown up and faced Fire Lord Sozin. Even if he had won, there would have been no one fit to succeed Sozin as Fire Lord. Azulon wasn't much better than his dad, and certainly would have continued the war if he thought his father had been killed by the Avatar. True peace couldn't be achieved until someone could lead the Fire Nation back to its original path and atone for Sozin's killing of Roku. So Aang had to wait until Zuko showed up, because only together could they restore balance.
  • Sky Bison aren't like mascots that just happen to have convenient arrow-like markings. Master Airbenders tattoo themselves that way precisely because Sky Bison have them. Since they are the 'original airbenders'.
  • For all of Aang's searching of an Old Master to teach him about the elements (Pakku, Bumi, Jeong Jeong), in the end the ones who become his teachers are the ones of his own age (Katara, Toph, Zuko), all of whom have been forced to pretty much work against the current and, as a consequence, become stronger for all of it - Katara had to learn waterbending on her own as all other Southern waterbenders had left or died, Toph struggled against her overprotective parents and blindness and not only became one of the strongest Earthbenders in the planet but also ended up developing Metalbending on her own, and Zuko had to fight tooth and nail for every step of his way and became one incredibly powerful Firebender that was also very capable in multiple other arts. In the end, the Avatar becomes what he is not just because of his past lives, but also because he manages to accept new ideas, as the new generation replaces the old ones.
  • Tying in to the above fridge about old ideas vs. new ideas, each of Aang's initial note  teachers had ideas that were, for lack of better words, outdated. But his new teachers each taught him a new way to look at things. Paku formerly believed that women shouldn't be allowed to waterbend, as it went against tradition. But Katara taught Aang that gender shouldn't matter: if someone has the gumption and determination to want to learn bending, they should be allowed to do so. Bumi taught Aang to always see things from a new angle if there's a problem. While it's a very good moral, Toph does point out that not all problems can be solved by being tricky. Sometimes, you've got to face a problem head on. Jeong Jeong had the right idea that one must have discipline before they can bend fire, but he also thinks being a firebender makes him a monster because he sees fire as an inherently destructive force. But through Zuko's determination, he and Aang learned about fire-bending's true nature as an element of life and energy.
  • I was just at the gym looking at the weights used for barbells. Some of them are circular while others are multi-sided. All have a circular hole in the middle, to slide the barbell into. I realized these were nearly identical to the earth coins the Earth Kingdom uses as weaponry. It made perfect sense that the Earth Kingdom soldiers and benders, ostensibly the physically strongest of the 4 kingdoms, would use as weapons what we in the real world use for weight lifting. Additionally, each time an earth coin disk is used, they are essentially working out, since they are essentially bending exercise equipment.
    • They're actually based on a real-life type of coin, the ban liang. It was the first standardized coinage of Imperial China. The outer circle represents the heavens and the square in the middle represents the earth, which is pretty fitting.

    Book One Episodes 

The Boy In the Iceberg

  • At first, it may seem strange that Aang was trapped in an iceberg for 100 years due to the Avatar State, when later episodes (Specifically, "The Avatar Returns" and especially "The Storm") show Aang falling under water in similar situations, but then entering the Avatar State and emerging, rather than creating an iceberg and being refrozen. But the answer to this is: Raava. Raava, having spent nearly 10,000 years living among the mortals, likely would have determined the average age lifespan of a human to be around 70-90 years. Why is this important? She also knew that only 171 years later, Harmonic Convergence would reoccur. Factoring in a typical human's lifespan, she could have realized that it would be highly likely that if both Aang and his successor lived to be around that age before dying, the next avatar would quite possibly be too young to take on Vaatu, perhaps too young to even be discovered yet. If, during this interregnum, someone managed to free Vaatu and Harmonic Convergence occurred, there would be no Avatar to stop him. Vaatu would be free to find the Avatar and destroy Raava, with nobody standing in his way. So what did she do? Raava took advantage of the storm and Aang drowning to trigger the Avatar State and take control of Aang (who had never once entered the Avatar State in his life at that time), freeze him in an iceberg, and keep him alive with her own power until an appropriate time for Aang to reawaken, to ensure that there would be an Avatar around to stop Vaatu. This puts both Raava and Aang's time frozen in an ENTIRELY different light.
    • Not entirely. Avatars are known to live more than twice as long as normal people; Avatars who die from external events certainly can die "young" like Kuruk, but Avatar Kiyoshi lived to be 230 before she died. Word of God says that the reason Aang died so early (when he was chronologically 167, but biologically 66) was because he strained himself by spending 100 full years in the Avatar state. If Raava had wanted an Avatar alive, it would have made more sense to allow Aang to die and then have an Avatar presumably fully realized and ready in their prime to face Vaatu instead of 17 year old Korra, who's still a child compared to what an Avatar during peacetime could be. The Legend of Korra explains that the Avatar State is the natural response of an unrealized Avatar in a near-death situation, so rather than Raava triggering it in Aang, it's probably the Avatar Spirit realizing he was on the verge of death and inducing it as a stress response.
      • The Kyoshi novels seem to establish that Kyoshi's longevity is unrelated to Raava. Aang died too soon, suggesting her plan was flawed, as she likely didn't know the toll it would take (after all, she doesn't seem to be entirely aware of how she affects a human; she had no idea what would happen if she passed through Wan to give him the element) but it ultimately worked out as Korra was able to take on Vaatu.
    • Raava is the Avatar Spirit, though, which means she did it to save Aang from getting frozen and to wait out the Air Nomad Genocide, so that Aang can face the Fire Nation once they let their guard down, and to prepare for the Convergence.
    • She probably realized the last time she was with a waterbender, he died young. So her having Korra young to deal with Vaatu might been a way to somewhat mitigate that.

The Southern Air Temple

  • Monk Gyatso's skeleton is surrounded by only around ten dead firebenders, and while an impressive number for a peaceful monk it seems small for the person who taught Aang. But after watching Sozin's comet, and realizing the full extent of the increase to the firebenders' power, a non-Avatar taking out that many uber powered firebenders seems much more impressive.
    • If you look closely in that scene, his wooden medallion is completely unburnt: he wasn't killed by the firebenders.
  • When Aang goes into the Avatar State, Katara tries to calm him down by saying "Aang, I know you're upset... and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family! Sokka and I, we're your family now!" Guess who he ends up marrying after the series ends.

The Warriors of Kyoshi

  • When Aang gets carried away with his fangirls, it looks like typical childish immaturity - fame going to his head. But re-watching the series, with an awareness of his pre-iceberg life seen in "The Storm"? How All of the Other Reindeer ostracized him because it wouldn't be "fair" for the Avatar to compete with normal benders? This is the first time since he learned he was the Avatar that he has been able to play with kids his age. Also a bit of Fridge Horror in that Katara thought it was typical childish immaturity that she had to discipline.
    • Re-watching the episode again, one can also pick up that Aang has an ulterior motive to showing off - he was trying to impress Katara. The Ship Tease between these two truly is rampant.
      • That's not really Fridge Logic, the episode makes that part really obvious.
  • The resolution of the episode oddly parallels Aang's journey and ultimate mastery of the Avatar state:
    • Aang's guilt over the destruction of Kyoshi Island and needing to run away parallels his guilt over running away from being the Avatar and not preventing the war in the first place.
    • Katara reassures him here, as she will in "The Storm", that what happened wasn't entirely his fault, and that only by running away now can they ultimately save everyone in the end.
    • Just as Aang uses the Unagi to put out the fires on Kyoshi, he later finally masters the Avatar state in order to put out the fires caused by Ozai's attack in the finale.
    • Both episodes end with Katara showing affection to Aang after a period of conflict.
  • Why is Avatar Kyoshi so prominently demonstrated to use paper fans? She was born to the Earth Kingdom, and thusly started learning Earthbending first. Given how much difficulty Aang had learning Earthbending, it's plausible that the fans were a tool to make it easier for her!
    • Aang only struggled with Earthbending because it was the opposite of Airbending. Kyoshi, having been taught Earthbending first, wouldn't have had these issues. The fans would've likely been more useful in helping her to learn airbending.
      • According to the book The Rise of Kyoshi, Kyoshi’s mother was an air Nomad and Kyoshi got her fans from her.

The King of Omashu

  • Why did Bumi try to teach Aang to think differently than he usually would? Simple, he wanted to mentally prepare Aang for the from airbending fundamentally different approach to earthbending.
    • Adding to that, let's consider the tests Bumi put Aang through. A key in the middle of a vicious waterfall, distinguishing what Flopsy actually looked like as opposed to what he was and finally facing Bumi in a one on one challenge. Now go back and re-examine the settings of these tests, location, color patterns, etc. Bumi not only recognized it was Aang to begin with but was testing him to see if he can achieve what was to become expected of Aang's entire elemental growth through the series. In Book 1: Water, he has to not only accept the ferocity and weight of the world in front of him but he must also become the key to saving it. Book 2: Earth, he has to find an Earthbending master, namely in Toph, and learn that some of the most powerful and threatening forces could become allies like Toph and Zuko. Finally, in Book 3: Fire, he had to face down a Bending Master with proper decisiveness. Notice that Bumi gave Aang the decision of whom his enemy would become. Also notice how the two selected individuals Aang would've fought somewhat resemble Zuko (scar on face and young swordmaster) and Sparky Sparky Boom Man (large and frighteningly powerful in appearance). You can also take into account how Katara and Sokka being encased in crystal is a mirror to their future captivity in the crystal caves and the Boiling Rock. In short, Bumi knew EXACTLY what Aang would be up against and actually took the time to prepare him for it way before Aang even knew the weight of what was to come. Bumi, you ARE a Mad Genius!!
      • It's worth noting that at the end of the third challenge, Bumi tells Aang, "You have fire in your heart.". It makes sense Bumi would invoke some smuck bait. The whole point of the tests is for Aang to think outside the box. Any other situation Aang picking the middle target would work, but after the previous tests, it was the most obvious attempt someone could make, so Aang needed to not only open his mind to the possibilitie, he needed to see the possibilities only HE could see.
    • The crystal thing was also a metaphor for the return of Sozin's Comet, ie "you have to do all that crap, and FAST".
    • Also, Bumi (albeit when he was just a kid, so this might not be so much intentional on the characters part) told Aang something along the lines of "see it in a different light, don't think about it how they want you to." Everyone, even Iroh, keeps telling Aang he'll have to kill Ozai, which he's very much against. During the finale, at the last minute, he "thinks about it in a different light" and finds a way to defeat Ozai without killing him.
  • Why didn't Aang simply march up to the city gates and announce he's the Avatar like he did on Kyoshi, instead choosing to disguise himself and use a pseudonym? Because he didn't want a repeat of Kyoshi, and risk the Fire Nation finding out where he was again and attempting to invade like Zuko did on the island.
  • The reason for Bumi’s prolonged stare at Aang when he and his friends were presented to face judgment on destruction of property. Not only did Bumi immediately know who Aang was, but he was probably wondering how it was possible that Aang was still a kid instead of an old man like Bumi.
  • Bumi offering Aang chicken to eat was an Impostor-Exposing Test, since Bumi knows a real Air Nomad would immediately refuse (which Aang does), while an impostor might not.
  • Bumi using jennamite to force Aang into his tests actually mitigates his apparent ruthlessness somewhat. Yes, the rock will keep growing until it completely encases Sokka and Katara and suffocates them, but it's later revealed that the substance is totally edible. Should Aang not finish the trials in time before his friends are completely entombed, Bumi was likely counting on them getting a taste of the jennamite when they inevitably start gasping for air and either chew or lick a little airhole for themselves. The crystal however would still grow faster than Sokka and Katara can eat away at it, so Aang would still have to complete the tests to get Bumi to remove the jennamite completely with Earthbending, least his friends succumb to the fate of having terrible cavities for the rest of their lives (which would probably be considered pretty horrific in Bumi's crazy mind).

Imprisoned

  • Tyro and the other Earthbenders were more or less accepting of their situation and collectively decided to just wait it out. It wasn't like they were being starved or beaten relentlessly while in prison (it was downright pleasant compared to the Boiling Rock). Tyro implied that the guards could be reasoned with, and Katara wasn't even punished for attempting to incite a prison riot. You'd think they'd be more aggressive towards their captors, even without the use of bending, rather than doing nothing more than waiting it out. However, it relates to what Bumi told Aang about Neutral Jing, and how the strongest Earthbenders are those who have mastered it. It makes sense that the imprisoned Earth Benders would be okay with waiting, as their apparent inclination towards Neutral Jing calls for them to do so. Suddenly the Earth Bender prisoners are far stronger than they seem. Even though they were unable to practice the physical aspect of their bending, they kept practicing the spiritual side of it. Another thing to mention is that earth doesn't move unless an outside force acts upon it.
The earthbenders are the earth, the Gaang is the outside force!
  • Initially Aang doesn't seem to be taking the plan to get Katara arrested seriously, even calling it "fun stuff", and is seen playing around with a butterfly instead of paying attention for his cue. However, shortly after, as he and Sokka follow Katara, he seems distraught and worried about her. Suddenly, it paints his nonchalant attitude in a different light; rather than "fun", he was actually incredibly worried about Katara the whole time, but didn't want to show it, so he acted like he didn't take it seriously. And his "distraction" from his role? He was actually just trying to delay the inevitable, masquerading his reluctance as distraction. In other words, he'd been apprehensive about the plan the whole time, and just acted like it was fun to hide his true feelings about it.
  • The Old Man who Haru saves - and is promptly sold out by - may have done what he did out of desperation. Earlier in the episode a tax collector from the Fire Nation visits Haru's mother, who came to collect again due to the tax having just been doubled (with the implication that your home would be destroyed by fire (or worse) if one weren't to comply). It's possible that there was a monatery bounty on any earthbenders in the settlement, and that the old man did what he did to keep up with his own taxes. Granted, he's still an Ungrateful Bastard, but it shows a possible motive for his actions.

The Winter Solstice, Part 1

  • Aang's short-lived Heroic BSoD seems kind of over-the-top, but the Avatar is the spirit of the earth. Even the tree-huggiest twelve-year-old probably wouldn't go into a depression over a burned-down forest, but the spirit of the planet is another story...
    • This also may explain the Fire Nation's Steampunk thing. Another brilliant troper said that the Fire Nation became out of touch with the natural world, reverting to Steampunk. This could also be why - because the Spirit of the World wasn't there for the balance.
  • It is noted, under Early-Installment Weirdness that the spirit world is portrayed as just the regular world, just with it's inhabitants hidden from view to normal people, but there is an additional explanation; a major piece of lore introduced in this episodes is that during Solstices, the walls between the world and the spirit world are thinned to the point of non existence, perhaps this is reflected in it's appearance in this episode.

The Winter Solstice, Part 2

  • Shayu—the good Fire Sage—tells Aang and co. that the door with the 5 fire-bending necessary locks could only be opened by 5 firebenders or a fully realized avatar. Now flash forward to the very last episode of the entire series. Aang in the Avatar State against Ozai, during Sozin's comet. Look carefully throughout their battle, Aang uses 5-pronged blasts of fire twice during the fight. Over the course of the entire fight, Ozai, supposedly the greatest firebender in the world could not ever manage more than three blasts of fire at once. More than 2 seasons after the fact, the finale of Avatar proved an inconvenient plot device to be completely true.
    • It's likely that the only thing stopping normal Firebenders from using 5 blasts of flame at once is due to the fact that Firebending jets of flame is a form of propulsion. Ozai only used 3 at once because the mouth blast counteracted the 2 hand blasts just enough to keep him on the ground, whereas the Avatar could use Airbending to balance out the 5 flame jets to unlock the temple door. Obviously, any Firebender who tried blasting 5 jets of flame would propel him/herself into the walls.
  • When Roku emerges from the room at the Fire Nation temple in The Winter Solstice, he obviously has no qualms about fighting the Fire Nation; he rebukes Zhao and the Fire Sages, while freeing Katara and Sokka. Why, then, does he also free Zuko? At that point in the series, Zuko is the Avatar-hunting Fire Nation loyalist. It's because Roku is Zuko's great-grandfather! That plot twist, which doesn't occur for another two seasons, is foreshadowed in the way that Roku not only recognizes Zuko, but recognizes that he has good in him and deserves to be freed. Zuko, of course, doesn't realize this, and runs away from his genetic destiny instead of staying to find out what's going on.
  • At the Fire Temple, Sokka attempts to open the doors by rigging bombs. Why does this plan fail? The doors require a constant stream of fire to unlock.

The Waterbending Scroll

  • Remember when Iroh was obsessing about his lost lotus tile? At the time the episode aired, it came off as simply a joke. But...considering the events of Sokka's Master, giving someone a lotus tile seems to be the general way of initiating someone into the Order of the White Lotus. The lotus tile Iroh was looking for was probably the one he was given when he first joined. Plus, the way members identify each other is based on the use of the lotus tile, as seen in "The Desert." Without the tile, Iroh could not identify himself to other members if the need ever arose. He really did lose something important.
    • It's also possible that he was just trying to further hinder Zuko's mission to capture the Avatar because he knows he's better off as far from his father as possible. Consider that when all is said and done, he finds the tile in his own sleeve.

Jet

  • Sokka's claim to have kissed a girl is treated like a lie, but he did in fact kiss a girl, as in Suki in her introductory episode. It's foreshadowing Sokka telling the truth and not being believed.
  • Remember when Aang thought Pipsqueak was the one called the Duke? Maybe he should have paid attention to the animation (Pipsqueak is the one moving when Jet says 'Pipsqueak').

The Storm

  • When Aang feels guilty about running away from the Air temple, the fisherman's wife says he was meant to stay away to save her husband. Moreover, if Aang had stayed, he'd likely have been killed. While the Avatar themself is born again, no one would have been able to teach the next Avatar airbending, thus crippling any future Avatars. So it was ultimately a good thing he escaped, despite the century of war.

The Blue Spirit

  • Zhao's insists on capturing Aang alive, even though it's obvious that everyone else in the Fire Nation doesn't care whether he's alive or dead. In that same episode, it was strongly implied that Zhao is just after Aang as a vanity project. And what's more vain than keeping your foe around as a trophy? Also, Zhao does say that were he to kill Aang, the Avatar would simply be reincarnated into the Water Tribe, meaning the search would start all over again. Capturing the Avatar is a vanity project for Zhao to curry favour with Ozai, but keeping him alive also serves a practical purpose, at least from their point of view.
  • Aang asks Zuko if it's possible that they could have been friends if they'd known each other 100 years ago. This is also the show starting to set up that that the Fire Nation citizens aren't Always Chaotic Evil, but also serves another purpose. Zuko responds to Aang's query by attacking him, but as Aang leaves, Zuko watches with an almost longing expression on his face. And finally (here's the brilliance) in the closing moments of the episode, Zuko is seen laying in his bed on the ship, with a Fire Nation banner on the wall - he shifts restlessly, and specifically turns away from the banner - Foreshadowing his eventual defection from the Fire Nation.
    • "We could have been friends if we'd known each other 100 years ago" Roku is his great-relative and there was a lot of comparisons between Roku's friendship with Sozin to Aang and Zuko and we only learn that seasons later. Going full circle with this one, Aang and Zuko fix Roku and Sozin's mistakes. As stated in the "Avatar and the Fire Lord", some friendships truly can transcend lifetimes.

The Fortuneteller

  • When Aang makes Katara a new necklace, going by Northern Water Tribe traditions, he was actually unknowingly proposing to her. It's also in that episode that Katara first has a flash of realization that Aang might be the one for her.
  • This episode ties in to Avatar Roku's backstory, where he also ends up fighting to keep a volcano from destroying a village. At one point, Aang exclaims "You're fighting a volcano - and winning!" Except Roku doesn't win; as a matter of fact he ends up dying, due to Sozin's betrayal. Aang, by contrast, actually does manage to conquer the volcano in spite of not yet being a fully realized Avatar, because he has his loyal friends beside him helping him out.
  • An early Fridge Brilliance sign of Aang's collective Avatar wisdom? When confronted by the specter of a volcano erupting and destroying a village, Aang, true to his airbending nature, saves the village by simply diverting the lava. We later find out that his previous life ended when he tried to confront a volcano eruption (albeit a MUCH bigger one) head-on, like a firebender would.

The Deserter

  • Why does Roku threaten Jeong Jeong? Roku knows Aang very well, and must realize that Aang isn't ready. That is the exact reason he does it! Roku knows that, if Jeong Jeong didn't begin by teaching Aang restraint, Aang wouldn't learn the dangers of firebending, and therefore would never visit the Sun Warriors. Roku rebukes Jeong Jeong for thinking that he couldn't learn firebending again, because Aang's mastery of firebending is directly connected to his teachings.
    • At the same time, it's also important that Jeong Jeong didn't actually become Aang's firebending teacher. Jeong Jeong certainly knows a lot about how to use firebending, but for all he says about discipline, he doesn't really have any. He suffers the opposite problem from the former student he mentions; instead of using his fire recklessly, he hates and fears it, and he would have taught Aang to do the same. It was good for Aang to learn the lesson about how dangerous fire could be early on, but also important Jeong Jeong didn't teach him any more.
  • After Aang accidentally singes Katara's hands, Sokka shouts at him and tackles him to the ground. While it seems unnecessarily harsh for a clear-cut accident, after Aang's deception in the previous episode, Sokka could have mistook that Aang lashed out at her in an argument. Furthermore, if Katara's hands were seriously injured, it might prevent her from waterbending, which for a practical standpoint, will be a serious loss for their group's effectiveness and overall war effort since Katara has access to healing in addition to combat waterbending.
    • Meanwhile why does Katara discover healing with waterbending now instead of years ago? Simple, she put her hands in water, something she'd never do in the frozen waters of the South Pole.
  • Zhao calls Aang a coward for using evasive maneuvering, and thinks that it's Jeong Jeong who taught him how to "duck and run." Had Zhao fought Aang before this episode, he would have known that avoiding and evading is just the usual tactic used by airbenders.
  • Jeong Jeong has a Signature Move in the form of creating a wall of flames, using it here to block Zhao's boats and escape, and later on during the finale. This fits with his view of firebending as nothing but destructive; he despises his element for how dangerous it is, so he only uses defensive forms where the chance of harm is minimal.
  • Jeong Jeong refused to teach Aang because he believed he wasn't ready; notably, he never explicitly said he never would. As the only firebender defector from the Fire Nation at that time, he had to know it would be his duty to teach him and had probably accepted he would need to do it eventually. He simply refused to do it until he thought Aang was ready.

The Northern Air Temple

  • Teo is said a few times to have "the spirit of an airbender." Well, considering that the Avatarverse appears to use reincarnation, all the spirits of those dead airbenders have to go somewhere, and there aren't any new Air Nomads for them to go into. Perhaps Teo literally does have the spirit of an airbender.
  • The Mechanist builds amazing steel weapons and technology, but can't build a hot air balloon. Seems silly, until you consider the implications of how bending has shaped the process of technological development. Technological advancements between societies reflect the kinds of bending they havenote , and automated technology that doesn't use bending almost always has a similar bending-reliant piece of equipment seen elsewherenote . In short, bending of this world is essential to the early stages of scientific and technological progress, with non-bending equipment usually being adapted laternote . In building a flying machine without the help of airbenders, the Mechanist is skipping a major step in his world and time's version of the scientific process. No wonder it took so long!

The Waterbending Master

  • While it might seem like Sokka was just trying to impress Yue by claiming he was like a "prince" back home in the Southern Water Tribe, he wasn't entirely wrong. Despite living much more modest lives than other royal families in the world of Avatar, and not actually using royal titles, as the children of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, he and Katara are the closest thing the SWT has to a "prince" or "princess".
  • When Pakku realizes Katara's necklace is the one he carved for Kanna, all of a sudden he's willing to break tradition to teach a female waterbender. Why? Because seeing that necklace forcibly reminded him of what those traditions had cost him, an entire lifetime with the woman he loved. It's probably not something he tried to think about often, but the combination of Katara proving her talent and having that element of his past thrust back into his face must have made him see that holding to those traditions had cost him already more than he realized.
    • What's more, it could be Pakku's realization that if only those traditions hadn't chased away Kana, in another life, Katara could've been his granddaughter.
  • Why Pakku was so eager to accept training Aang and his friend when asked the first time? He initially thought Aang was referring to Sokka.
  • Sexism aside, there is another reason why women are not taught waterbending combat in the Northern Water Tribe that is very easy to miss. Notice that there are no male healers shown, despite being able to heal and fight in the heat of combat would be a massive advantage. Local society didn't consider their women oppressed in that regard because they are learning something exclusive to them! The real divide was the idea of exclusivity between combat and healing in the first place, which kills the versatility and options among the benders.
  • Why didn't Roku (or any past Avatar) show up to intimidate Pakku like he did with Jeong Jeong after Pakku's declaration that Aang is not his student anymore, given that Aang has just been denied learning waterbending from the only master available and the fate of the world is put into jeopardy as a result? A couple of reasons:
    • Pakku being of the Water Tribes cannot be convinced the same way as Jeong Jeong, as he is not from the Fire Nation and wouldn't hold Roku to high regard. If anything, he might blame Roku for not stopping Sozin in the first place and double down on his decision.
    • While good intentioned and doing the supposed right thing, Aang still disobeyed his teacher. Not to mention, Katara would still need proper guidance rather than sneaking in classes to properly hone her skills.
    • Kuruk was the last Avatar from the Water Tribe, and was from the Northern Water Tribe specifically, but he was not well respected in his time and after it. An endorsement from him might had the opposite effect.
    • If Pakku is intimidated into teaching, he would clearly not teach to the best of his ability due to being forced to, leaving both Aang and Katara unprepared for the future. Ultimately, Pakku has to realize what tradition cost him by himself, only then can he teach for real and become a better person.

The Siege of The North, part 1

  • When Zuko sneaks in under the ice to get to the Spirit Oasis, he seems unusually good at holding his breath for a long time while he was swimming. The key to firebending is in breath control. So Zuko probably is really good at holding his breath. In the first episode, Iroh told Zuko to master his breathing first, before continuing to the next lesson. Apparently he listened after all!
  • When Chief Arnook defended Sokka from Hahn's insult, he calls him "a capable warrior" which is odd when he never saw Sokka fight but has enough faith in his skills to have him protect Princess Yue. But it makes sense since Sokka is escorting the Avatar; he probably assumed anyone who is good enough to travel with the Avatar and able to make a journey from the south pole to the north must be a great warrior.

The Siege of the North, part 2

  • One of Koh's faces looks almost exactly like the Blue Spirit mask. This means it's possible that the Blue Spirit actually existed, and was the inspiration for Zuko's mask.
    • It is. Zuko got the mask from the Earth Kingdom, because one is being sold on a cart in the episode, The Swamp. It is likely after he escaped with Aang, Zhao sent men to ask about him. A random Earth Kingdom villager must've said the mask looked like the Blue Spirit, an Earth Kingdom Deity.
  • "Yue" is Japanese for children who are stillborn or die very early. It also means "moon" in Chinese.
  • Aside from "Escape from the Spirit World", Koh's line about meeting with Aang again is more or less a gun that never fired. Except he doesn't necessarily have to be talking about Aang. Throughout their conversation, Koh clearly shows that he doesn't care about the individual holding the title, all Avatars are the same to him, and he talks about things that Avatar Kuruk did as though Aang was the one to do them. That statement wasn't to say that Aang would come back, Koh knows that sooner or later, another Avatar would come to him for guidance just like Aang did. For him, meeting Aang again is just a matter of waiting for his knowledge to be needed again. He sees the Avatar as a spirit just like himself, as a single entity. To him, the Avatar's incarnations are just like him changing faces.
  • The Fire Nation attack on the Northern Water Tribe is very reminiscent of the Spanish Armada in themes, attacking a geographically small area with a truly excessive number of ships which are pretty well defended by hit and run attacks by the numerically smaller, but more powerful individually enemies. What really clinches the comparison though, is the fact that in real life, the only thing that actually damages the fleet enough to leave is a storm that decimates their ships, in the show it's a ocean spirit, but saying the spirit of the ocean wrecked your vessels is pretty much saying "we got beat by a storm"
    • Also, another thing to consider, Zhao may have been one of the only ones to actually know of his plan to kill the moon spirit, because Iroh expressed disbelief at the idea of killing what amounts to a god, and other soldiers may object to it like he did, Zhao probably kept his plan to himself to keep unity. By the way, consider another, unrelated question, why did the Fire Nation never invade the Northern Water Tribe again? Clearly they had the numbers to keep invading, there were dozens of ships left, but the rest of the series focuses on the Fire Nation's Earth Kingdom campaign. The reason is that because Zhao died, nobody had any clue what his original plan was for beating the Northern Water Tribe. From their perspective, they were on the verge of winning, and the moon went out and the ocean killed a quarter of their fleet. The Fire Nation likely assumed it was a defense mechanism and never tried to attack again because they believed as soon as they were close to winning they would get hammered again. Even if they knew that this was likely a once in a lifetime occurrence (and sidenote, the firebender on the front lines were the ones most likely to have been told the plan, in case they got to the temple before Zhao, and the episode makes it very clear every one of them was taken out) they couldn't risk losing that many ships (or airships, the monster would bat them out of the sky) again (remember, the only reason the monster stopped was because the moon came back, had the moon stayed dead, there is no telling how long the monster would've raged for. So, what does the Fire Nation do? Ignore the event like it never happened, and devote all of it's resources to conquering the Earth Kingdom, which looks like a far more appealing target.
    • Another sidenote, another reason the Fire Kingdom never attacked the Water Tribes again is that they didn't have any reason to. The Northern Water Tribe is built on the ice cap, there are no natural resources worth taking (unlike the Earth Kingdom, which has iron, agriculture etc.) and the main reason they attacked it at all was because Zhao wanted to kill the moon spirit (which turns out to be a stupid idea) and take out all the waterbenders, as water is the strongest element against fire. Basically it's the level of effort of fight an unstoppable juggernaut vs the reward of...fish?(btw, even without the Water Kaiju, the city is made of ice and snow, uncaptured waterbenders could disappear into walls and floors. The Fire Nation has enough problems with holding the Earth Kingdom, good luck trying to hold the Northern Water Tribe, let alone conquer it.) And the extremely difficult task of killing or extremely expensive task of imprisoning waterbenders from the battle (the bloodbender episode proves that it is really hard to hold waterbenders alive as water is everywhere, so they have to dry out every inch of the prison, which takes time, effort, and money the Fire Nation doesn't care to waste).
    • The primary reason that the Fire Nation attacked the water tribes at all was to exterminate the reincarnated Avatar and speed up the cycle of getting a new Fire Nation Avatar. While before, Zhao and Zuko were essentially the only two people who were really after the (thus far extremely non-threatening) Avatar before the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe, Aang's attack both revealed to the grander Fire Nation that the Avatar was without a doubt alive and not the obsessed of a few loonies and told the Fire Nation that he was already a massive threat who had, from their perspective, mastered waterbending. Since the Water Tribe was staying out of the war for the most part, the Avatar no longer had reason to be there, and they were more concerned about the current Avatar than the next one, it made sense to just budge off and leave them alone.
    • Finally, not even Zhao or his men ultimately knew what restored the moon. All they know is that after they retreated, something brought he spirit back to life. Iroh was the only Fire National to witnessed what had transpired, and he was in no hurry to let anyone else know of the moon spirit's mortality. For all the Fire Nation knew, the Moon Spirit really was immortal and hurting it would be, at best, a temporary setback and, at worst, end up with Koizilla coming for the actual Fire Nation this time.
  • How did Zhao know with such certainty that Zuko was the Blue Spirit? Recall in Book 3, Master Piandao required Sokka to make his own sword, as an "extension of himself," so all of his students have their own unique swords. Zuko also studied under Piandao as well, so it stands to reason that his swords would be unique as well. How does Zhao know this? Well, we know from his experience at Wan-Shi Tong's Library that he does his research on his enemies. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Zhao has done his research on Zuko, knows that he studied under Piandao, and was able to conclude based on the swords that Zuko had to be the Blue Spirit, because nobody else would have had swords like that.
    • At what point is it shown that Zuko trained under Piandao? It made more sense to me that he disliked Zuko already, saw the familiar swords in his room and made the connection, as was shown earlier in the season.
      • It's confirmed in the comic 'Swordbending' (though the comics' status in canon is a bit unclear) that Zuko had trained under Master Piandao since he was young.
      • The volume of comics containing 'Swordbending' is all canon (except for two special stories at the end). The Avatar Wiki has a list of which comics are canon and which are not.
    • Also, after Zuko claims his swords are antiques what does Zhao do? Run his fingers along the edge to see if they're sharp. If they really were decorations just hanging on the wall then the edge would've been dull.
  • Why was La and Aang's "Koizilla" form made of both water AND light? Because the form is a combination of both La AND Raava. While La represents the ocean, or water, Raava represents light.
    • Raava's existence also explains why Aang and Tui were able to merge like that; spirits and humans can merge their essences together, as Avatar Wan did with Raava nearly 10,000 years before. Typically, this takes a toll on the human body, but when Harmonic Convergence bonded Wan and Raava's spirits, it also stabilized the union, and allowed the Avatar to temporarily merge with other spirits without much consequence. The combined power of Raava and Tui also enabled them to form a massive Kaiju form, not unlike Dark Avatar Unalaq's Kaiju form with Vaatu, which was powered by both Harmonic Convergence and by the destruction of Raava, both of which empowered Vaatu.
  • Look carefully at how "Koizilla" attacks the fire nation navy when it waterbends. It seems to only do pushing motion without any pulling motion. With the moon dead (at least until Princess Yue sacrifices her physical self to become the moon), any sort of pulling would be impossible.
  • If indeed it's possible for the current avatar to be influenced by their past lives even without going into the avatar state (as stated in the fridge brilliance of the Legend of Korra Season 1: Aang nudging Korra to save both his son and grandson from Amon from debending them), then it could be possible that it wasn't just because of Aang's monk upbringing or trying to be friends with Zuko that he wanted to save Zuko from the blizzard. It could also be possible that it was Roku nudging Aang to save his great-grandson.
  • Zuko challenging Katara to a rematch in the middle of a blizzard under a full moon wile he was close to freezing to death seems like he's Too Dumb to Live at first, but makes more sense after "Zuko Alone" shows that when he was younger Iroh gifted him a knife which read "never give up without a fight". Zuko was following this philosophy when he asked for a rematch.

    Book Two Episodes 

The Avatar State

  • Azula's first scene with dialogue in the series has her threatening to kill the captain of her ship, just because he wanted to wait for favourable tides before entering harbour. This establishes her both as a Bad Boss and a Control Freak, but it's also a hint of how she fails to understand how the greater world and people function, and how she'll eventually become a paranoid mess as Fire Lord. Anyone who works with boats and ships knows that you do not disregard the tides unless you want a damaged or sinking craft on your hands; for sailors, the tides are god. But Azula refuses to even countenance this natural law or accept reality, and is perfectly willing to risk the ship running aground or even being wrecked and people dying simply so her orders can be obeyed.
    • Furthermore, compare Azula's behaviour to Zuko's in ''The Storm". The incident that resulted in Zuko being dishonored, mutilated and banished was speaking out against a general who was far too cavalier with the lives of Fire Nation troops; and even in the present day he gives up the chance to capture Aang in order to save one of his ship's crew. By contrast, Azula is clearly indifferent to the lives of her subordinates.
  • Azula is caught off guard when Iroh redirects her lightning, to the point when he can kick her off the ship. Since Iroh created the technique of lightning redirection himself she likely didn't even know it was possible until that point.

The Cave of Two Lovers

  • Iroh drinking the poisonous plant because he thinks it might be tea looks like an Idiot Ball at first. Then you realize: he was doing it deliberately to try to distract Zuko from his self-pity.

The Return to Omashu

  • Mai was completely apathetic to her baby brother being kidnapped, which has several possible reasons:
    • She saw Tom-Tom happily asleep in Sokka's arms. He was with Katara and Aang who looks about as threatening as a turtle duck (unless he's in the Avatar State). She realised that they won't going to hurt him (she grew up with Azula... she could probably pick that sort of thing) and trading King Bumi for a two year old is a bit silly. Mai just didn't count on being beaten by a giant, flying ball of fur that was supposed to be extinct.
    • It was a test of her loyalty to Azula, and, like a certain professor in Harry Potter, Mai had to play along if she wanted to scam Cthulhu.
    • Or Mai could have gone along with it because, really, it was a lose-lose situation. Mai has been Azula's "friend" for many years, and so she knows exactly just how ruthless Azula is; if Mai had chosen to make the trade of Bumi for Tom-Tom, then Azula's reaction would not have been pleasant. At the very best, Azula would have passed on that Mai's family willingly handed over a powerful enemy figure for their son (who got lost because of their carelessness) to her even-more-ruthless father, Ozai; likely punishments would have been either stripping them of everything they had or execution. At the worst? Azula would have had them all executed personally. Somewhere in the middle of the scale? Azula would have killed Tom-Tom herself right there and then so that there's no reason to make the trade — remember, this is a girl who, at the age of nine, grinned with delight while watching her own brother get half his face set on fire. Killing somebody else's baby isn't that much of a step down — "It's not my baby" and all that. On one hand, Mai had the despair of her parents and possible death of her baby brother (and, as noted above, Aang, Katara and Sokka look pretty harmless and are clearly taking good care of Tom-Tom already). On the other hand, Mai had the very real wrath of Azula, a ruthless individual if not a budding psychopath, and in turn the almost certain death of her baby brother and her parents along with herself. Siding with Azula is the least dangerous option there.
      • Mai's initial primary trait was being apathetic, which is later proven to be untrue about her. She shows she's got a good poker face in this scene (her main intro episode) and also, I think you could argue it shows she TRUSTS Azula's direction/tactical planning. Because Mai willingly goes with Azula's plans, the writing in the episode showed us a LOT about them as a team, and Azula as a leader of a team. They're hardcore, and also unwaveringly loyal introductions.
  • Azula’s reaction to Mai’s father setting up the prisoner exchange.
    • Since she was raised by Ozai and had been taught that love and mercy are weakness, she could have seen the governor offering the ruler of Omashu in exchange for his infant son as being weak. She may have been disappointed that his paternal love allowed him to offer up Bumi instead of being more ruthless. So when she decided to take charge of the prisoner exchange, it was to ensure that they didn’t lose Bumi who she saw as a valuable prisoner. She suspected the governor would have easily surrendered Bumi so he could have his son back.

The Swamp

  • As Zuko and Iroh sit by the road begging for coins, a cart of masks passes them. If you pay close attention, one of the masks is identical to the one Zuko wore as the Blue Spirit. You can even hear the Blue Spirit's leitmotif as it passes by! But this isn't just a Freeze-Frame Bonus. The end of the episode reveals that Zuko is using his Blue Spirit identity again. However, he and Iroh had to leave quickly to escape Azula, with no chance to pack any belongings. It's highly unlikely he kept the mask with him. So where did he get the mask at the end of the episode? The cart from earlier!
    • It's so cool that they foreshadowed Blue Spirit's return while also explaining where Zuko probably got the mask in the first place!
    • In the comics, we learn that the mask is part of the Love Amongst The Dragons play, which is a fairly popular one and widespread. Hence it's perfectly logical that Zuko would be able to find a random merchant selling that specific mask so easily. Not only is the character represented by the blue mask personally significant to Zuko, the fact that it's so widely available makes it harder to deduce who this "blue spirit" would be, and likely influenced him choosing that specific mask (imagine in the modern day trying to find a robber where the only identifying thing about him is that he wore a Darth Vader mask).

Avatar Day

  • If you look at the expansion of Chin the Conqueror's empire across the Earth Kingdom in Kyoshi's flashback, it expands across the entire continent - except Ba Sing Se.
  • Just as Aang is about to be proclaimed guilty for murdering their 370-year-ago leader (and sentenced to almost-certain death in the process), Avatar Kyoshi herself steps in, admitting to the crime. This is often noted as a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment, but really, he was just about to be proven guilty anyway, so she did nothing other than stall the villagers... just long enough for the upcoming Fire Nation attack, allowing Aang to save them in time, and a reason for the village to let him live in response. Pretty damn smart of her, if you ask me.
    • Just like how she dealt with Chin the Conqueror, she waited until just the right moment to strike. Bumi would be proud.
  • The villagers burn the Avatar statues. Aang stops the fire when the left eye of his statue has been burnt off, leading to an episode-length quest for his Avatar honor, mirroring Zuko almost literally!
  • The Rough Rhinos invading Chin's village i Chin's posthumous karma. While he died when he fell off that cliff centuries ago, he only died in body. So long as his village remembered him as a "great" man through his statue and temple (and so long as his legacy as a conqueror existed), he would live on through the history of his people. But then along came the Rough Rhinos, who destroyed his legacy in a two-fold way. First, his legacy as a conqueror was wiped out because somebody worse (Ozai and the Fire Nation) came along. Second, his people's memory of him as a lauded hero was eclipsed by Aang's good deed of protecting the village.
  • The meeting between Chin and Kyoshi has an extra layer to it: Chin doesn’t look like he’s doing anything, but that is perfectly in tune with Neutral Jin where an Earthbender waits for the perfect moment to strike. Chin was looking for an opening. Which itself adds a further Layer of fridge awesome for Kyoshi: her bending feat while in the Avatar State didn’t open up for any moment to strike, Kyoshi showed no sign of weakness, in essence being impenetrable. Especially impressive considering that The Avatar State leaves the Avatar highly vulnerable.

Zuko Alone

  • The ending. Because Zuko was from the Fire Nation, he was automatically the bad guy. Even against corrupt soldiers who crossed the line by trying to send a child into a war. Never mind how polite, unassuming, law-abiding or honorable he was. All of Zuko's heroic actions and qualities are instantly forgotten in light of his birth-place. It seemed horribly unjust, even for a case of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. That's exactly what real prejudice is.
  • There are a couple mentions on this site about how plum stupid it is for Zuko to have a My Name Is Inigo Montoya moment, given the hatred the people in that episode have for the Fire Nation. But put that moment in context with Zuko for the rest of the season: just setting Appa free instead of using him to capture Aang is in so much conflict with his normal self that he spends a whole episode in an Angst Coma, he uses the Blue Spirit around Ba Sing Se as noted above, he can't bend lightning in "Bitter Work"... Zuko in season two still at a core level wants to be accepted by his father and taken back into the Fire Nation fold, and sees that as the only way to regain his honor, so it makes perfect sense for him to declare his Fire Nation heritage at what he sees as a Moment of Awesome— and this foreshadows his inability to Heel–Face Turn at the end of the season.
    • Alternately, of course Zuko declared his name when he saved the villagers. He just did something worth being praised and honored for. He wanted recognition that he'd done something righteous and just and correct - and the villagers' rejection of Zuko served to highlight to Zuko just how badly the Fire Nation was ruining the Earth Kingdom, that they would hate him in spite of doing something so good for them. Remember how Iroh told Zuko that pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source? That slap in the face was what Zuko needed to realize that one should do the right thing not to achieve fame and praise, but simply because it is the right thing, and doing it is its own reward.
    • It's also important because it highlights (along with the rest of the episode) just how terrified everyone is of the Fire Nation and the war, especially because of Sozin's rationale (given later in "The Avatar And The Fire Lord") that the war, or rather the occupation, would enrich and improve the other nations. Zuko remembers to throw this in Ozai's face during his defection.
  • In the flashbacks, Ozai makes a grab for the throne immediately after learning that Lu Ten died. At first glance, this seems doomed to end badly, but that meeting likely went exactly as Ozai planned it. If Azulon agrees to Ozai's request, Ozai gets what he wants. If Azulon flat out refuses, it's not like Iroh is going to take the throne anyway after Lu Ten's death, meaning Azulon will have to name Ozai as heir. Since Azulon ordered Ozai to kill Zuko, Ozai gets a legal opportunity to off his 'worthless' son, and proves his loyalty and worthiness as heir. And then Ursa finds out and interferes and Ozai gets everything he wants, except for the fact he's still stuck with Zuko. And that will resolve itself in a few years.
  • When Zuko is asked his name, he stutters for a second before giving it as Lee. Later in the series, we are informed that Lee is a common Fire Nation name. Zuko was scrambling for a common name and picked a Fire Nation one because that's what he was used to. Iroh picks up on this and presumably chooses a more Earth-Kingdomy name.
  • After Azula reveals to Zuko that Ozai's been ordered to kill his firstborn son, she jokes that "maybe a nice Earth Kingdom family will adopt you." Ironically, that's exactly what happens when Zuko rides into town in the present-day timeline.
  • It may seem strange that Ozai's punishment, simply for trying to usurp Iroh's birthright, of having to kill his own son, is a little odd, given that Iroh's son died in battle; Iroh didn't kill him. But if you think about it, he kind of did, or at least, he would have seen it that way. Iroh was the general in charge of the siege his son was killed in. He likely felt personally responsible for Lu Ten's death, because it was his siege and he couldn't protect his own son. We even get a hint of this in "Tales of Ba Sing Se," when Iroh says "If only I could have helped you," while mourning his son. In his mind, he might as well have killed Lu Ten himself. Also counts as Fridge Horror, because of Iroh's likely mental state after the siege. It's no wonder Iroh underwent a massive character change afterwards.
  • Zuko giving Lee the knife Iroh gifted him could be seen as an apologetic gesture on behalf of the Fire Nation. The knife was given to Iroh by an Earth Kingdom general as a token of surrender during Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se. By giving the knife to Lee, an Earth Kingdom citizen, Zuko was technically returning the knife to its rightful owner.

The Chase

  • Momo is notably the only member of Team Avatar who shows no signs of sleep deprivation. This isn't too far off if one bears in mind that, despite being one part bat and one part lemur, Momo has a lot of cat influence. Which connotes that Momo must've taken cat nap in between.
  • Toph's distrust towards accepting favors doesn't just stem from her desire for independence, but also from her upbringings. Coming from a wealthy family, she probably witnessed second-hand that when you're rich, people always expect something in return for something. "Pampered" may not be the right word for her, but it took Iroh for her to see that the world doesn't always have to work like that.
    • Katara's frustration with Toph can also be drawn from her upbringing; the water tribe, particularly the southern tribe very much functions on an all for one, one for all everyone contributes to the group effort, concept that the Gaang are operating on, Toph's "carry my own weight" approach would be completely alien to her.

Bitter Work

  • Iroh teaches Zuko about the four elements and how they operate in balance, and how different approaches to different bending arts can be implemented. Zuko comments that "all this four elements talk sounds like Avatar stuff." While Iroh's explanation on how the four elements and the four nations operate in harmony makes sense, it becomes even more relevant in hindsight when it is revealed in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" that Zuko is the descendant of Avatar Roku and Iroh tells him he has the power to bring balance to the world - which leads ultimately to Zuko's final turn to the good guys. Even in the middle of the second season, they were already laying the groundwork for the revelation of Zuko's ancestry.
  • Iroh also devises a firebending ability using a waterbending stance to redirect lightning, the ultimate form of firebending.
  • Iroh tells Zuko that lightning-bending is fueled by the separation and recombination of positive and negative chi. This is similar to the way lightning actually works: by separating negatively charged electrons and positively charged cations, and then allowing the former to violently seek out the latter.
  • Iroh tells Zuko that Azula is crazy and needs to be stopped. Even Zuko is surprised that Iroh is okay with him having to fight his own sister. But it does make some sense- Azula is like Ozai, who used underhanded tactics to take his older brothers spot on the throne. Iroh is probably trying to make sure Azula doesn't repeat history and do something bad to Zuko, her older brother.
    • Additional Fridge Brilliance, Zuko loves Azula, as much as they may be in conflict. Zuko bringing up fighting Azula to Iroh could almost be seen as him looking for Iroh's approval that it was okay to care about her, and Iroh's cold rejection of that is what surprises him. It's a pretty good foreshadowing for the inevitable conflict Zuko goes through in the season finale, stuck between Azula and Iroh's paths.
    • Even more Additional Fridge, Zuko is a victim of his father's abuse and, by extension, his sister's abuse. One could interpret that his "she's my sister and I should be nice to her" comment is asking for validation of Azula's behavior. Iroh saying otherwise could be seen as him telling Zuko "No, that's not what family is all about."
  • Aang calling Toph “Sifu” but not Katara makes sense when one considers their respective histories with him; Katara met Aang as a waterbending novice, who joined him on his journey to find a master, with the pair initially fellow students, indeed in “The Waterbending Scroll” conflict came from Aang being superior to Katara. It was not until she finally got a master that Katara's prodigious skill emerged, allowing her to surpass Aang and become his teacher. As a result, Aang still sees her as a peer, and struggles to redefine their relationship as student and teacher. By contrast Toph comes to the team as an earthbending master, who is obviously superior at earthbending to Aang, for the explicit purpose of being his teacher. As such he is far better able to internally classify her as a teacher, because that’s what she has always been for him.

The Library

  • Why does the Knowledge Seeker help Sokka get information on stopping the Fire Nation, even though it knows that they plan using it for warfare? Well, for one thing, it's implied that Wan Shi Tong doesn't leave his library, and only sends the foxes out to get new information. He's only seen humanity as the Fire Nation, destructive, cruel, and thoughtless. The Knowledge Seekers, constantly being outside and seeing the destruction the Fire Nation is causing to the rest of the world firsthand, have a better grasp of the situation, and understand that Team Avatar is looking to minimize the destruction rather then intensify it. Thus, they're more reasonable towards them and actively help get the info they need, even if it's going to be used for pragmatic means.
  • In Western folklore, owls are associated with wisdom and arcane knowledge. In Eastern folklore, owls are associated with fear, nighttime horrors, and death. Wan Shi Tong, the demonic owl librarian, is both.
  • The scholar who attends the library with the Gang decides to stay buried highlights what kind of person Wan Shi Tong wishes humanity was more like. The Fire Nation wanted to use the library to aid in the invasion and eventually destroyed part of it to empower themselves. The Gang, while fighting for a noble cause, are still trying to utilize the library to defeat someone. The scholar, on the other hand, quite literally only came to the library for the wonder of knowledge, with no ulterior motives, since he's not a fighter or high ranking official, but a man who loves to read.
  • Wa Shi Tong at first dismisses Sokka's knot even saying Sokka is not very smart. While at first is mostly a joke at Sokka's expenses and his apparent lack of academic material, it also reveals the spirit's biggest weakness. He sees his knowledge as a great treasure, but he's not really the kind of guy who wants to use said knowledge for anything, not just for war but also creating benefitting instruments or making new administration tactics to help other people. He's knowledgeable but also unable to actually do something with the information he has gathered overtime. Sokka's knot is a demonstration of practical knowledge, something that allows him to be The Smart Guy of Team Avatar not because he's a living encyclopedia but because he knows how to apply what he knows into actualy useful applications. Knots are a necessary skill for navigation and carrying important things during trips, something Wa Shi Tong wouldn't really appreciate by being isolated inside his library for too long merely reading about navigation without actually being anywhere near the sea. That's also why Sokka was the one who managed to knock him out: Sokka ACTS smart despite looking like a goofball whereas Wa Shi Tong merely flaunts being smart.

The Desert

  • The cactus juice that Sokka drinks makes him hallucinate, because the cactus contains mescaline.

The Serpent's Pass

  • At first, one wonders why the couple would name their newborn daughter "Hope" when they said they wanted to name her something "unique". But then, it becomes clear: Aang told them that seeing them together as a family inspired him to be hopeful again. That might've changed their minds to name her "Hope", not just because it's meaningful, but because the story behind it is unto itself unique. How many people can say their daughter's birth inspired hope in the Avatar, the one who inspires hope in others?

The Drill

  • Why did Jet want to recruit and assist Zuko? Not just to help Zuko, but also because Jet finds he somewhat identifies with him. He makes a remark about Zuko's scar, inferring that Zuko was a victim of a firebender (which was true) and related to his situation.
  • When the slurry starts to pour out, but before the drill is broken, Azula and Aang both loosen their grip and start to slide off the edge of the drill. While Azula struggles and eventually stops herself, it's a long climb back up. When Aang is falling, Momo helps him on his feet. In other words, Aang is helped up by a friend while Azula takes a harder, solo route.
  • Team Avatar quickly realizes that the drill is impenetrable from the outside, so they have to sabotage it from the inside. And this comes back: after Team Azula fails to penetrate the defense of Ba Sing Se from the outside, they sabotage it from the inside.

City of Walls and Secrets

  • Aang at one point says he doesn't like Ba Sing Se, because they don't live how the monks taught him people are supposed to live (contrast the slum Zuko and Iroh were living in and the wealthy neighborhood the Gaang was staying in, complete with state appointed "helpers"). You could almost say Ba Sing Se has a caste system in place. The Airbenders appear to be heavily based off of Buddhist monks, and one thing which separated Buddhism from the Hindu beliefs its founder originally had was a rejection of the caste system.
  • During the Ba Sing Se arc Zuko get's quite a few scenes with the character Jet. During that time Zuko was going under the name Lee or Li. And who does he end up fighting? Jet. Jet and Li. Jet Li.

Tales of Ba Sing Se

  • After Zuko lights those candles for Jin, it seems like Zuko was incredibly stupid for doing that, and she was even stupider for not realizing he was a firebender. But it's possible Jin DID know he was a firebender, she was just acting coy and clueless because she thought he didn't want her to know. Why was she not scared? Why, because there IS no war in Ba Sing Se! Though since Zuko didn't know that, he was still stupid for firebending in front of her, "close your eyes" or no.
    • To his credit, though, Zuko checked to make sure that there were no witnesses who might squeal on him.
  • Near the end of Zuko's date with Jin, Zuko gives her a coupon for the teashop, courtesy of Iroh, for being their most valuable customer. At first glance, this might just be one of Iroh's tea obsessed idiocies, but when thinking about it, it could actually be a heartwarming moment; The reason why Iroh sees Jin as their most valuable customer is because he thinks Jin could help Zuko become a happier person.
  • Toph's unpleasant experience at the foot masseuse isn't just because it's (likely) her first time. She "sees" through her feet, making them extremely sensitive to compensate for her normal sight. To her, they might as well be scrubbing her eyeballs. Can you blame her sending that poor attendant flying?
  • Sokka shaving with the sharp edge of his weapon is probably common among the water tribe's men. Using the blade of a weapon or tool as a razor would let them shave and cut their hair without the need to carry one around.

Lake Laogai

  • Jet and Katara's storyline foreshadows and parallels Zuko and Katara's storyline in Season 3. Jet and Zuko both set off on a quest of honour and do what they think is best for themselves/their people, even if it's detrimental to other people. They each end up earning Katara's trust, betraying it and then coming back for a second round. The only difference is that when both are mortally wounded, Jet dies, and Zuko lives. Why? Because even after promising to start a new life in Ba Sing Se, Jet couldn't let go of his old obsession with the Fire Nation, while Zuko gave up everything to embrace his new life with the Gaang and makes up for past wrongs.
  • Iroh's speeches to Zuko after his Angst Coma are channeling the Vorlons and Shadows. ("Who are you? What do you want?") It doesn't end there, of course; his insistence that Zuko find "his own path" mirrors Sheridan and Delenn's epic speech to the First Ones ("find our own path between order and chaos").
  • In China the word laogai is used to refer to prison for political dissidents, where they attempt to reform them. This is exactly what the Dai Li are doing in the facility under Lake Laogai.
  • How did Sokka figure out that Jet was brainwashed so quickly? Well, throughout the series, Sokka has consistently been able to pick out bad guys and liars, with only one real slip-up. So it would make perfect sense that Sokka would realize that Jet is being sincere. He is also shown to be good at connecting two and two, as exemplified in "Avatar Day", so of course he would understand exactly why Jet's claims are contradictory to what he knows about him - the mysterious Joo Dees also contradict each other, and Sokka and his friends are already aware of the Dai Li and how they are capable of pretty much anything. Keeping this in mind, it's entirely believable that Jet is brainwashed.

The Earth King

  • Toph brought down the house.
  • Long Feng accused Team Avatar, a group of four people from different nations, of being an "anarchist cell plotting to overthrow him". About 70 years later, The Red Lotus, an anarchist group closely fitting that description, does just that to his daughter, Hou-Ting.
  • During his recovery, Zuko has a nightmare where he looks in the mirror, only to see himself outfitted with no scar and an airbending tattoo, as if he himself were Aang. This is a subtle foreshadowing for the reveal that Avatar Roku is his mother's grandfather. It can also be considered foreshadowing how Aang grows out his hair and starts wearing Fire Nation clothing in the next season.

The Guru

  • Guru Pathik believed Aang had to give up his worldly attachments to access his final chakra and gain control over the Avatar State. The past Avatars, most blatantly Yangchen, believe Aang should permanently ground himself for the good of the world. The Lion Turtle helps Aang find the middle ground: "The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed."
    • In a way, Pathik was right. In a bit inspired by Star Wars' own Fridge Brilliance entry, what Aang really needed wasn't to sacrifice his connection to Katara, but to be prepared to subordinate it to his duty as the Avatar, exactly the way Kuruk didn't. When, as in the finale, he has to split the party, or when Katara is in danger, he has to know what his priorities are. It would help if he realized that, as an extremely powerful bender, she can handle herself a lot better than he tended to think, as evidenced by the very next episode once she is set free.
    • At first, the combination of the previous Air Nomad Avatar, Yangchen, telling Aang that he cannot distance himself from the world seemed like it went directly against what Guru Pathik said, since the Guru told him to let go of his worldly attachments. Then it became clear: the Avatar is about balance, not just between the elements but also between the spirit world and the physical world. Aang cannot detach himself from the world, but he has to know when to let go.
    • Furthermore: Roku's trip through time in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" shows that being the Avatar didn't exactly hurt his chances in love, yet he was able to control the Avatar State perfectly to the point of accessing it at bursts. At first this would make it appear that Pathik was talking out of his ass when he said Aang needed to let go of Katara. However, looking back at said Avatar State bursts, they were Roku's most powerful, decisive striking moments in the entire flashback. He neither looked nor acted the part of a man who was distracted by romance, bitterness, belongings, or anything else, but rather one who was fully focused on the task at hand, with nothing else in mind. Roku didn't disprove anything Pathik said, nor was the Guru just kinda right; his story was in fact the first sign of just how on the money Pathik truly was the entire time.
    • Essentially, the whole mess came about because Aang thought that 4th and 7th chakras are contradicting one another due to a misconception. How do internal conflicts often come about? Because you don't know whether to listen to your heart, which is the location of the 4th chakra and the representative of a moral choice or your head, which is the location of the 7th chakra and the representative of a logical choice.
  • Toph inventing Metalbending, a form of bending no one in the world could do before, in a matter of minutes seems impossible, right? Well, what's her family insignia? That's right, a flying pig.
  • If there was any person in the world who was capable of inventing Metalbending, previously thought impossible, it was Toph, who has used seismic sense basically all her life. No other Earthbender would have gained a look as thorough at metal as her and notices the tiny impurities of Earth left in it, ready to be abused.
  • During the war-games Katara attends, in preparation for the Day of Black Sun, Momo jumps onto the board and knocks over all the Earth Kingdom pieces. It seems like a bit of subtle foreshadowing, given the results of that invasion.

The Crossroads of Destiny

  • Zuko's subverted Heel–Face Turn:
    • It might seem disappointing that the writers had spent an entire season setting up this beautiful redemption story, only to get cold feet and default back to black-and-white, heroes and villains kiddie fare. However, what would it prove if he switched sides at that point? As far as he knew at the time, he had nothing to lose. It wouldn't have been a personal sacrifice. But after going home and being hailed a hero and praised by his father, he knew exactly what he was choosing between, making his eventual genuine Heel–Face Turn that much more meaningful.
    • If Zuko and Iroh had joined the Avatar and his friends, they would have defeated Azula, taught Aang Firebending, and invaded the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun with the full might of Ba Sing Se on their side, thus ending the war. Such a scenario could probably play out in about the length of a movie. Since they were planning another whole season, they had to have Zuko join Azula and betray Iroh just to draw things out.
    • Zuko's redemption at that point is what truly would have made for kiddie fare. His choice showed him to be a truly complex character with truly complex motivations, not one who makes decisions based on fiction conventions. Throughout season 3, he's unsettled but has trouble reasoning out exactly why; that's because real people don't think along the lines of "I'm bad and I should be good."
    • Moreover, the failed Heel–Face Turn of season 2 was perfectly in character for that Zuko. He may have shown character development to the point that he is now somewhat of a good guy, but he's still obsessed with the redemption of his honor and returning home. Remember how he used the Blue Spirit mask when he was stealing? That was because he was afraid of his name being tarnished even further. So when Azula offered him a chance for the redemption that he had been seeking for years, he had to take it.
    • Along with the reasons mentioned above, there is another that becomes apparent after watching season 3. Zuko has spent his whole life trying to be what his father wants him to be. At the end of season 2 he has all but let go of his father and the Fire Nation. Does he then become his own person? No! He immediately latches onto Iroh and tries to become what he thinks Iroh wants him to be. Compare his behaviour at the end of season 2 to his behaviour at the end of season 3. In the latter, he is a slightly friendlier version of the Zuko we have become familiar with, but at the end of season 2, he is almost unrecognizable, he reacts to everything with a sort of bland optimism, with a forced smile constantly plastered on his face. Any decision to join the Gaang at this point would have been empty because he would only be doing what he thought Iroh wanted. In Season 3, Zuko has been removed from Iroh's influence, making his turn all the more meaningful. As Iroh tell him in the series final "You lost your way, but you found it again. And you did it all on your own."
    • Adding to that, think of who was the most important person in Zuko's life prior to Iroh. His mother. Her last words to him were: "No matter how much things may change, never forget who you are." This is why Zuko obsesses over regaining his honor. He is really trying to regain his identity as the Fire Nation prince. It isn't until season 3 that he realizes that the prince his father wants him to be is not who he truly is and what his mother really meant was to not let his father (or anyone else) change him into someone he wasn't. When he discovers that what he truly believes is that his father is a tyrant and needs to be stopped, his decision to join Aang is clear.
  • Iroh's discussion with Aang when they were making their way to the caves. When Aang was mulling over his refusal to let Katara go in favor of mastering the Avatar State, Iroh said this: "Perfection and power are overrated. I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love." There's a good chance that this may have been relating to Iroh and Ozai. Ozai always sought power and was willing to sacrifice family in order to get what he wanted. Iroh, on the other hand, chose his family and pursuit of happiness over his birthright as Fire Lord.
  • While Katara is able to put out Azula's flames with water, Zuko's flames prove tougher to extinguish. Seems odd, since Azula's established as the firebending prodigy between them... but both siblings' firebending, like most of the rest of the Fire Nation, is fueled by rage and hatred. While he never says it outright, it can be easily inferred that Zuko's main source of fuel was his internalized self-loathing - which, given that he'd just betrayed Uncle Iroh before joining the fight, was probably stronger than it had ever been.

    Book Three Episodes 

The Awakening

  • The Reveal of the previously faceless Ozai as a Pretty Boy seems a bit of a cop-out, because the build up would make one think that his appearance would be disturbing or intimidating. However, it makes sense on multiple levels if you think about it.
    • Prior to then, we only see Ozai in Zuko's flashbacks. Given his relationship to his father, it would make sense that he would imagine him as a distant and intimidating figure, beyond the reality of the man.
    • Ozai, like Azula, is obsessed with perfection. Given that, it would make sense for him to keep his appearance strong and attractive so that he can be the epitome of his own ideals.
    • Having some kind of disfiguration on Ozai to symbolize his evil is unnecessary. We've had such a symbol from day 1, not on his own face, but on Zuko's. Ozai's evil is symbolized on his son far better than it could be by any flaw in his own appearance. Throughout the series, Zuko is really the strongest evidence for why you should despise and fear Ozai, and most of Ozai's characterization is secondhand through his effect on other people. Having an arch villain that wants to take over the world is standard, but seeing the damage he did to his own kid (psychological as well as physical) makes him a lot scarier than any genocide plot could have.
    • The "Avatar Extras" mention that Ozai was designed to look like an older Zuko— which explains why he's so pretty— and also makes a lot of sense; Ozai and Ursa (descended from Sozin and Roku, the two sides of the Fire Nation "at war in Zuko") are the extreme "what ifs" for future Zuko, not only in temperament but reflected in their looks.
    • The Pretty Guys Are Stronger. He's the boss because he's the prettiest.
    • Ozai looks like Zuko, grown up and beautiful, without the scar. Of course his appearance is surprising and shocking. He is what his son could have looked like, but also like what his son never could look like. His reveal truly shows how dark of a man he is.
    • The above makes even more sense when one considers the importance that Ozai places on physical appearance, given his obsession with perfection in all its forms. (This is further reflected in Azula's first appearance, where she is angered that a single hair fell out of place despite the perfection of her form.) This also reveals the lie behind Ozai sending Zuko to find the Avatar: Zuko will never recover from his scar, and so will NEVER meet Ozai's definition of perfection, no matter what he does for the rest of his life. Note that it was only after Zuko was again confronted with Ozai's physical perfection that he realized that Ozai would never restore his honor, and that he had to look within himself (or, literally, beneath the surface, beyond mere physical appearances) to restore his own honor.
    • It also makes the audience rethink as to which side represents Zuko's inner goodness. Before The Reveal of Ozai, the scarred eye was played up as the evil side of Zuko since it was unpleasant to look at, especially in Season 1. But once Ozai reveals his perfect face, it becomes clear that the scar wasn't a sign of Zuko's evil but rather his potential to be good. If Zuko had never received that scar for making his stance to protect the young soldiers in the war room, chances are he would have turned out like his father, possibly even meaner and more detached from the suffering of the world because of the emotional abuse he had received in a vicious cycle of parenting.
  • Starting from here until the episode "Sokka's Master", Sokka seems different from before. He is more playful, less responsible, and closer to the 'comic relief' that he seemed in the beginning of the series. At first this seemed like it might have been a deliberate regression so that they could create in him the need for a master, but upon second thought it makes total sense - in the Season 2 ender, for the first time since the series began, he was reunited with his father. He didn't have to be 'the man of the house' (or, as it was, the 'man of the entire Southern Water Tribe') anymore.
    • It's also the sign of being a good, strong leader when someone is able to keep things upbeat and lighthearted, even in dire situations. Sokka could be trying to keep the rest of the team's spirits up now that they've lost the support of the Earth Kingdom for the invasion. That's the kind of person you want people to have their faith in.
  • The pond where Zuko feeds the turtle-ducklings is the same one as from the flashback in Book II's ''Zuko Alone.'' In that episode, Zuko shows his mother how Azula (supposedly, according to him) torments the ducklings, and Ursa chastises him for it. Fast forward to after Zuko's political rehabilitation, and he's returned to the same spot to feed the ducks. The writers could have chosen anywhere for this scene, but Zuko returning to the pond indicates that even after he finally regained his honour, he's still conflicted. His mother's influence (a sense of right and wrong) prevents him from being happy after choosing to help Azula over Iroh in Ba Sing Se.

The Headband

  • One character mentions that people in the Fire Nation don't dance. At the end of the series, Zuko beats Azula using a breakdancing move. That is some subtle Foreshadowing.
    • Even more subtle that it demonstrates how foreshadows the original form of Firebending, the Dragon's Dance taught by the Sun Warriors. The corrupt form of Firebending is a reflection how the Fire Nation culture disregarded the very roots of their civilization and the appreciation of their element's place in the world. Without that connection, without dancing, the Fire Nation upset the balance.
    • It would also explain WHY they outlawed dancing. They needed to keep public opinion in favor of the war, and a part of that is making sure everyone stays on the Sozin brand dark-side firebending. But if kids danced, they might accidentally stumble on this other aspect of firebending, and then you'd have a bunch of firebending hippies protesting the war.
    • The Legend of Korra reveals that the Dancing Dragon was a firebending form first developed and used by Wan, who was both Fire Nation (or at least its equivalent during his time) and the first Avatar. They aren't just keeping firebending's original source hidden from the public, but also the person who first discovered it.
  • Better yet? Everything about this episode actually happened in real life — http://www.koryu.com/library/kfriday2.html — most people aren't aware that the majority of what's recognized as "Japanese culture" was the result of government propaganda in the years leading up to the Second Sino-Japanese War. Everything Aang tried to teach those kids is what the Fire Nation has been trying to erase a hundred years in the making, to turn the people he loved to play with into a Proud Warrior Race.
    • And worst of all, as this fic mentions in passing - Aang loves the Fire Nation. Not only was his best friend Kuzon from the Fire Nation, but he loves their dances, their music, their slang, their food (at least the stuff without meat, like fire flakes)... it's as if he was a repeat trader with Japan in the 1890s who went into a coma and woke up in the 1930s - "Hey, those people you love hanging out with so much? They're hell-bent on conquering the world, they've committed countless atrocities, and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, including not only your family but your entire culture" Oh-damn-it-all-to-hell.

The Painted Lady

  • The Painted Lady only shows up after the village's problems are solved. Why? She's the spirit of the river, she couldn't do much for the village when the thing she is connected to was polluted.
  • Why did the Gaang openly discuss their plans at their campsite, without worrying about a villager or soldier finding them and listening in? Because if anyone had been nearby, Toph would have sensed them coming.

Sokka's Master

  • At the end of the episode Piandao gave Sokka a White Lotus tile, on two levels it shows that Piandao is a member and that Sokka became an initiate. Taking it one step further: If Sokka is an initiate to the White Lotus, then that means that not only is Piandao the titular master, but so is Iroh. And who else did that episode focus on?
    • Piandao's affiliation is hinted even earlier when you can see the Lotus on the pommel of Sokka's sword, and the gate to his castle.
  • The episode's title can be taken another way: Sokka's Master = Sokka Is Master. He did complete his training, after all.
  • Bare feet can be symbolic of childhood innocence. This episode pretty much concluded Sokka's coming-of-age arc from foolish young boy to stalwart young man. Notice how Aang, Toph and Katara spend the day barefoot - and lazing around like children would (they still are children), without a caretaker watching over them - while Sokka is undergoing his apprenticeship? When Sokka returns, dressed in formal robes and boots, the other three kids are still barefoot as they greet him cheerfully. They are still children - underaged and reliant on the caretaker and the only adult in their group - Sokka.
  • When the rest of the Gaang prepare to back Sokka up against Piandao, Aang can be seen taking what seems to be an earthbending stance. Had he taken an airbending stance he would've risked word getting out that the Avatar was still alive.

The Beach

  • The Beach, while it had some bits of deeper stuff, seemed to be mostly a Breather Episode. But after the finale, it shows that Azula's awkwardness and desperate behavior was hinting at her deeper emotional problems. In retrospect it's rather disturbing to see her making strained attempts at being "normal". Additionally, at the end, the others each have a sort of a breakthrough but not her. And at the end... They've all Heel Face Turned, but not her.
    • She makes light of her past ("My own mother, thought I was a monster… She was right, of course, but it still hurt!") and dismisses it as unimportant, but in the end, that's how her Villainous Breakdown manifests, as a hallucination of Ursa.
    • Even better than that, Azula downplays her own issues in response to everyone else agreeing on how perfect her life is. They all dismiss her as not understanding what it feels like to struggle before she ever does it to herself (not that she would have admitted to it anyway). In hindsight, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee were all relatively well-adjusted. Azula was the one who was about two steps away from a mental breakdown.
    • Apart from that, her failed attempts at flirting, and the way she lashes out at Ty Lee when she can't get it right make a lot more sense, after The Search revealed just how insecure she is about her (mistaken) belief that she's impossible to love. Granted she may not have been as insecure about it at the time, considering this episode came before Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal, Zuko's Heel–Face Turn, and the revelation that Ozai was only using her, but judging by how she mentions that her mother thought she was a monster, the underlying issue was definitely there already.
  • Azula's other attempts to be normal also show a rare Pet the Dog moment with Zuko, when she gently leads him away from their old summer home and then presses him into admitting his issues around the campfire. Despite wanting Zuko under her thumb, controlling him with blackmail about who really killed the Avatar, she really wants a normal family and possibly wants their idyllic childhood back. That self-sabotage undoes her much later.
    • She's also really calm when asking Zuko if he's angry with her, but not dismissive. You can argue that she's trying to assess if he would ever turn on her which he later does, but not because of anger, but she seems honestly concerned if he hates her. Which he would have a good reason to do.
  • When Ty Lee laments that growing up with her sisters was like she didn't have her own name, she's referring to the fact that "Lee" is an extremely common name in the setting, so unlike her sisters she was given the most basic, effortless name by her parents.

The Avatar and the Fire Lord

  • When Zuko visits Iroh in prison, he is still in the dark, while Iroh is in the sunlight
  • Sozin's scroll is set up as some truth the Fire Nation wants to hide, but doesn't seem to reveal that much. However, if you think about it, the scroll reveals a great deal. Firstly, it proves that Sozin's genocide of the Air Nomads was a deliberate and unprovoked attack, and we saw three episodes before that the Nation's propaganda says otherwise (and while Aang can testify for their culture, he wasn't there during the actual war, making that scroll the only concrete evidence of the Fire Nation's lies). But more importantly, the scroll irectly contradicts Azula's version of the story. Azula tells it as if Sozin planned to wait for the comet before striking it, but we see that he was actually intimidated by Roku into waiting around twenty years after his first attack (and, noticeably, he didn't even need to go full avatar to do that). Knowing that, Sozin waiting until the comet's arrival to strike seems more like he was afraid of incurring the Avatar's wrath again. In other words, the praised strategy of the Fire Nation's glorious leader was actually a result of fear and weakness: that's the truth they can't allow to be known, and that's why they hide it.
    • In addition, Sozin's scroll is not told in the manner of a man who is proud of what he has accomplished. He tells the story on his deathbed with a longing for the "brighter days" before the war, regret for Roku's death and for spending the rest of his life on a futile search for "the last airbender." In fact, one could say that it is reading this scroll which eventually leads to Zuko joining the Gaang. Imagine if other Fire Nationals read this account and were presented with a different perspective on their hundred-years war.
  • Sozin was technically right when he commented on how it was an amazing stroke of fate that he and Roku know each other so well. In the Kyoshi Novels, it’s revealed Kyoshi had threatened to murder Sozin’s ancestors. Since Avatars appear to be the opposite of their predecessors, it’s only fitting that Kyoshi would be reborn as Sozin’s best friend.
  • Roku only uses air and earthbending to fight Sozin, using earth to restrict him, and air to destroy his palace. The Earth Kingdom is the nation that gives the Fire Nation the most difficulties during the war (blocking them from fully conquering the rest of the world), and an Air Nomad will be the one to finally lead a Fire Lord to change his way and end the war for good (figuratively shattering Sozin's legacy).
  • Zuko assumes that the great-grandfather whose demise he must learn from is Fire Lord Sozin, until Iroh reveals that it's actually Avatar Roku. But Zuko did have something to learn from Sozin, as well - Sozin had his life saved by the Avatar multiple times, but when the opportunity came to repay the favor and help Roku, he chose to betray him in pursuit of another, more personal goal, only to conclude near the end of his life that it wasn't worth it. Zuko's betrayal of Team Avatar in Ba Sing Se very nearly leads him down the same path, and it was going to bring him to the same tragic end unless he did something to change that.
  • During the flashbacks, both Roku and Sozin ride dragons: Roku's dragon is red, while Sozin's is blue. Now, go back to "The Earth King" and Zuko's dream with the dragons: the blue dragon spoke with Azula's voice, while the red dragon spoke with Iroh's voice. As Iroh tells Zuko later in the episode, the fact that he is the great-grandson of both Sozin and Roku is the sign of his inner conflict between good (Roku, with Iroh as the biggest influence) and evil (Sozin, with Azula as the biggest influence).
  • Roku mentions to Aang how being the Avatar helped him out with the ladies, and goes on to expand on the beginnings of his relationship with Ta Min, who later became his wife. In fact, Roku is clearly seen unlocking the Avatar State at will and adeptly using it at several points in the story, none of which includes any sort of falling out with Ta Min; to wit, Zuko and Azula's very existence is testament to the fact that Roku and Ta Min did create a family. This all goes directly against what Guru Pathik was telling Aang as far as letting go of Katara — at least, if one assumes the obvious "don't love her/don't be with her" meaning like Aang obviously did. Prior to meeting Pathik, Aang was constantly dragged into the Avatar State through emotional anguish which overtook his every move, and even when he "let go" of Katara for the first time to consciously access the Avatar State at the Crossroads of Destiny, it was an agonizing decision that he slowly and demonstratively entered as if part of him was resisting becoming a human nightmare, all the while leaving himself wide open to be shut down by Azula's lightning. Now closely examining Roku, who, again, lived to be a Happily Married man with at least one child, in all of his Avatar State scenes, he was always clear-headed and laser-focused on doing whatever it was that had to be done. Seeing this is when Aang finally understood that "letting go" of Katara to become a fully-realized Avatar clearly did not mean what he initially thought. This might also be another reason why Roku would show Aang his story.

The Runaway

  • The guards in the town used a wooden cell on Toph. Considering it was a Fire Nation jail, anyone they threw in there might be able to just burn their way out. The town's guards, through investigating Toph's scams, figured out that she was an earthbender. Thus, they knew what cell to use, especially after Spark Sparky Boom Man showed up to help set the trap. Also, it only makes sense that a Fire Nation jail would have a cell specially designed to contain an earthbender, considering they're at war with the Earth Kingdom and thus they might have to worry about earthbending agents.
    • Alternatively given the century long war, metal might be too valuable to the war effort to waste it on civilian jails more than absolutely necessary. Odds are they have a few individual metal cells, one big one for overflow, all specifically for bending prisoners (also worth noting is that there aren't likely to be many benders around, given their utility they've probably all been drafted into the military) and the rest of the prison would be made of significantly cheaper wood cells. Since stone isn't that easy to work with, and the islands are volcanic, some might not be the most reliable building material in the Fire Nation either, compare historical Japan, which uses as little stone as possible in their buildings, with some castles being exemptions to this. On the other hand, even some castles were made almost entirely from wood, and the Fire Nation does have a fairly strong Japanese aesthetic.
  • Taking it one step further, Combustion Man was probably given extensive intel on the Gaang...including the fact that Toph can metalbend.
  • By scamming people out of their money and running away, Toph became a literal "Blind Bandit".

The Puppetmaster

  • The fire lilies are actual real-world flowers. In Hanakotoba, the Japanese language of flowers, the fire-lily symbolises hatred and revenge.
  • Hama's speech about why she did what she did was almost identical to the speech Jet gave in his first episode, which is why Katara quickly realised she was the real villain- past experience.
    • Why did the Fire nation repeatedly raid the Southern Water Tribe to seek out Water Benders, and not just anyone that could pose a threat? They were trying to get the Avatar, who would have been born in to one of the Water Tribes if it turns out they already killed the Air Nomad one. That also explains why they usually took them and the Earth Benders they capture alive - they are trying to avoid another reincarnation if they can help it.
  • Much is made of Katara essentially Earthbending water to stop one of Hama's attacks, leaving Hama visibly shocked. One of Iroh's lessons to Zuko in Season 2 is that all Benders, not just the Avatar, should study all four elements. By Season 3, Katara has spent enough time with Aang and Toph to know quite a bit about Earth and Air even without actively studying them, while Hama has restricted her studies to her native Water. Katara's knowledge of three elements puts her at a distinct advantage against Hama's knowledge of one.

Nightmares and Daydreams

  • During the second half of the episode dealing with Zuko, he's upset about not being invited to the upcoming war meeting Ozai is having with his generals, and eventually confronts Azula about it, asking if she was invited. She responds with a yes, and responds that she was the Princess. This makes perfect sense. As the Princess (as a woman), and second born, she isn't expected to show up, and has to be invited, as protocol. Zuko however, has no reason to be invited, as he's the first born child, the Crown Prince. he's expected to be there by default as he's technically the heir to the throne already. The entire reasoning for Zuko getting upset was that he was made unaware that he doesn't have to be invited to these sorts of things, he's expected to show up regardless. Which is the kind of thing that Iroh would have been able to tell him if he wasn't in prison. And it is in fact what Azula told him, but in a way she knew would leave him confused and upset.
  • Aang's nightmares might not all be stress-induced. The Avatar gets visions about the future, and Aang was currently headed into a premature battle that was destined to fail. The dreams were trying to tell him not to go ahead with it.
  • This is more of a Gutter Brilliance. At the end of the episode where Aang dreams of retorting to Ozai not wearing pants. He screams that his "royal parts" are showing. The the other euphemism for "royal parts" is "wang". "Wang" in Chinese ears sounds like their word for king. Ozai is sort of a king, and his "Wang" is showing.

The Day of Black Sun, part 1

  • A very minor one. The submarines have surfaced and everyone is stretching, and The Duke washes his helmet. This seems like a pretty normal thing, until you realize that he offered it to Toph because she had motion sickness.
  • Why Iroh dismissed the girl (Ming) serving him. He tells her take the rest of the day off because she doesn't want to be here, but this is only half the story. Without her there, he wouldn't have to hold back.

The Day of Black Sun, part 2

  • Azula's "I am a 400-foot-tall purple platypus-bear with pink horns and silver wings" line, which she uses to demonstrate that Toph's Living Lie Detector abilities won't work on her, doesn't initially seem like a good demonstration of Azula's consummate lying abilities. After all, she's not trying to fool anyone into thinking she is a 400-foot-tall purple platypus-bear with pink horns and silver wings. But on a subtler level, this actually is a good demonstration of Azula's deception skills, since she threw out a bogus line without Toph realizing it was a bluff.
  • During the chase scene, Azula was going towards the Fire Lord's chamber, so that when Aang and crew realized that she was leading them on a wild goose chase, they would go in another direction anyway. Made even more brilliant by her quote to Sokka, Toph and Aang when they decided to ignore her.
    Azula: It's a trap.
    • Also, may double as a little bit of Fridge Horror too, but think about what could have happened if they'd ended up following Azula all the way to Ozai. Azula had wasted enough time that, by the time they would have gotten to Ozai, he'd have his firebending back. Therefore, he could have beaten the Gaang right then and there.
  • The details of Iroh's escape are left somewhat ambiguous, but the scorch marks indicate he began his escape before the eclipse began. There is also a large, gaping hole in the bars of the cage. How did Iroh get out of prison? Probably the same way he got into Ba Sing Se a month later. His prison time wasn't just conditioning his body to be ready for the comet. He was also devising a strategy, and his breakout provided the perfect opportunity to test that plan. If he can breach a prison door without a comet and in the face of an oncoming solar eclipse, taking out Ba Sing Se's inner wall with the help of the comet is easy.
  • It may seem a bit weird that Ozai chooses to hide inside a bunker so close to his palace, where the invasion force could potentially find him, even though Azula found out about the invasion months earlier. But the heroes only find the bunker because Toph's "earth vision" allows her to see it, and they only get inside because Toph is able to metalbend a hole into the gigantic bunker door. Both of these skills are something Ozai and Azula did not know about, so as far as they know, no one should be able to get into the bunker. When the heroes do get inside, Azula is forced to improvise to stop Aang from finding Ozai.
  • In hindsight, the Earth Kingdom getting conquered in "Crossroads of Destiny" saved thousands of lives. Even if Azula was defeated and the Fire Nation weren't made aware of the eclipse, the airships that would have been developed and deployed anyway would have laid waste to the Earth Kingdom's armies.
  • The Day of Black Sun reveals that even when deprived of their natural firebending, the members of the Royal Family can still kickass. Zuko has enough sword skills to force a full grown man into submission, Azula's agile acrobatics allow her to avoid the attacks from the Gaang, and Iroh is described by the guards as a One-Man Army when he broke out of prison during the eclipse. The sole exception is Fire Lord Ozai himself, who hides in the safety of his bunker and begrudgingly sits down when Zuko points his swords at him, evidently not willing to physically beat his son while he's armed. The most powerful Firebender in the world is actually weakest member of the Royal Family during the eclipse. And it foreshadows the solution to Aang's dilemma over killing the Fire Lord.
  • Another reason why Zuko went bust Iroh out during the eclipse is because it would help having someone to vouch for him turning good for real to the Gaang, as he could tell that they trust Iroh during the fall of Ba Sing Se. He could also offer Iroh as Aang's backup firebending teacher if they still don't trust him.

The Western Air Temple

  • When Zuko practices his people skills (or lack thereof) on a badger-frog, pay close attention to the badger-frog's behavior. Its first reaction is to hop away from Zuko, but it comes back later. This directly foreshadows the Gaang's reaction to hearing he wants to join - they turn him away at first, but eventually accept him.
  • Zuko can only manage a truly pitiful fireball when trying to stop Combustion Man from attacking the Gaang, which is not the best showing for someone who thinks they're good enough firebender to train the Avatar, to say the least. However, the very next episode has Zuko unable to properly 'fuel' his firebending due to lacking his old rage and hatred. It's likely that Zuko, who was determined to be a better person by this point, was running on fumes for this episode and thus unable to properly firebend, with the bending he was able to do only made possible from the anger and frustration he felt from having blown his one chance to join the Gaang and accidentally hurting Toph.

The Firebending Masters

  • When seeing Aang and Zuko 'dance' alongside Ran and Shaw, it seems fitting that Zuko danced with the red dragon Ran. After all, it resembles the good dragon in his dream from "The Earth King". But what of Shaw? Isn't the blue dragon supposed to be the bad dragon? Actually, no. Because Aang is dancing with them, and the only significant blue dragon from his adventures was the spirit of Fang, Avatar Roku's dragon.
  • How does some rainbow fire impart knowledge of a whole new bending style to Aang and Zuko? It doesn't. However, this was two people who have been brought to see fire as a nothing but source of destruction. This is the first time in the past 100 years for Aang and Zuko's whole life fire was shown as a thing of beauty.

The Boiling Rock, part 1

  • Somehow, Sokka managed to sneak past all his friends in order to run off and save his dad from the Boiling Rock. Most of the Gaang aren't exactly known for their powers of observation, but Toph should have been woken up by someone walking around in the middle of the night. Problem? Actually, no—the creators snuck in some brilliance by drawing Toph propped up on her bundled-up bedding in such a way that she's more sitting than lying, and her feet are off the ground. Further brilliance comes into play when you realize that Toph probably sleeps like that as much as she can to avoid seeing all kinds of distractions—she can't just close her eyes the way everyone else can.
    • Further brilliance is that despite Katara's healing abilities, Toph's feet are likely still numb from when Zuko burned her feet two episodes ago, meaning that she is also keeping them elevated to help alleviate any pain while she is resting.
  • Chit Sang seems a lot more affected by his stay in the cooler than Zuko is later in the episode, shivering and huddled together when Zuko did not shiver and was able to let out a burst of fire. because Zuko used his breath to stay warm, a technique taught to him by Iroh when they were in the North Pole. Supplementary worldbuilding material says that Airbenders were able to stay warm using their breath, which is why Aang never wore a coat while traveling through the Water Tribes. One more point for Iroh's philosophy that every element can learn something applicable from the others.
  • The Warden could've easily handed in Zuko for the reward money for a traitor prince, but kept him because he's Mai's uncle, possibly the only adult who cares about her, and Zuko broke up with Mai. It's odd that he puts Zuko with the other prisoners, but then Mai arrives in the next episode; he was waiting to see what she wanted to do with him.

The Boiling Rock, part 2

  • It seems odd that Azula, Ty Lee and Mai come when they find out Zuko is in the Boiling Rock but Mai only wants to confront Zuko for breaking up with her via note. Mai wanted to know what was wrong with her boyfriend to have him turn traitor after they spent a long time bonding together, especially after "Nightmares and Daydreams". She probably wanted to make sure that Azula didn't fry Zuko either.
    • It probably mollified her that Zuko said he broke up with her because of his need to save the Fire Nation from itself, and not because of her. To expand that, he didn't take her along so that she'd never end up in the runaway lifestyle against her will, as he explained to Sokka on the air balloon. Mai realized, especially after he locked her up during the prison riot, that he pulled off Break Her Heart to Save Her. She then decided to save "the jerk who dumped me" anyway.
    • We see that Mai and Zuko are good for each other because during said talk she calls him out on how he broke up with her, while trying to find out why. They each treat the other like an equal during their argument, and it's clear that they still care.
  • Why did the Warden help Mai after her arrest, considering she aided in ruining his record of having no prisoners escape the Boiling Rock? He indicates that she's his Morality Pet, and he could have argued that she stopped the guards from cutting the line so as to save his life, not Zuko's, in a case of good intentions gone wrong.
  • Azula clearly gets more frustrated during her battle with Zuko on top of the gondola - not just because they're more evenly matched since Zuko learned a new way to centre himself in "The Firebending Masters", but because Sokka is tag-teaming Zuko and keeps driving her back with his sword. A non-bender mucking up her perfect battle with her traitorous brother...who's also clearly being protected by Zuko, and is returning the favour. The former is something Azula would likely never do for a companion or subordinate, and the latter is something Azula loses very shortly afterwards when first Mai, then Ty Lee, turn utterly against her.

The Southern Raiders

  • In "Crossroads of Destiny" Zuko chose to aid his sister Azula against Katara. Quite fittingly, the episode where he finally redeems himself in Katara's eyes is the same one where he and Azula become Cain and Abel.
  • Katara seems to have tolerated Zuko for about three episodes, while keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't betray the Gaang again. Why does she blow up in this episode and not trust him? Because Azula's ambush caused her to get separated from her father— again— after reuniting with him for an episode. Azula also made it clear that she was targeting Zuko, so Katara blames him by proxy for breaking up her family again. To add to this, it probably stirred strong memories of Ba Sing Se where Zuko betrayed Katara, hence why she becomes hostile.
    • Azula and Katara are also polar opposites in how they treat people: Azula uses fear to control her loved ones, while Katara uses compassion and power to protect her loved ones. Azula is suffering a Villainous Breakdown while Katara gets closure for her mother's death.
  • Katara's quest in the episode fits the pattern of the honor quest Zuko, Aang, and Sokka had. Avatar follows the old concept of honor, not as some ambiguous, positive virtue like it is to us but a tangible possession that could be lost or taken away. This is obviously what happened to Zuko in the flashback in "The Storm." The Fire Lord stripped him of his honor, which would be restored to him when he brought back the Avatar. As a result of Sokka losing his honor when he lost the battle on the day of Black Sun, he had to restore it by rescuing his father. I knew this! So why didn't I see that Katara (appropriately) felt the murder of her mother was a blot to her honor and she had to restore it by avenging herself on the killer?! This is where the concept of the "blood price" comes from — someone who killed someone else would pay the victim's family a monetary "blood price" to make up for the loss. And, if someone didn't pay, a hero would be justified in killing whoever killed his wife or sister or whoever. The blood price is apparently not a foreign idea to Katara, or Yon Rha when he suggests "you take my mother" instead.
    • More than Honor, it's Pride, Zuko, the weak son of a warrior society, needs to take a life, Sokka, the genius, needs to validate his stratagems, and Katara, the maternal character was unable to protect someone (her own mother, at that). They were all humiliated and need to get their mojo back. Toph doesn't need a real 'life-changing excursion with Zuko' because she's quite comfortable and confident in who she is and what she can do. While just to round it out, Aang's quest with Zuko is mainly for him to not only learn to get along with Zuko, but to overcome his distrust of and hate for Firebenders in general, and to realise he needs to save the Fire Nation as well.
  • Zuko shows a lot of Character Development in this episode, notably when Katara tells him that she doesn't trust him because the one time she did, he betrayed her. Instead of going for a Never My Fault angle, he acknowledges it and asks what he can do to make it up to her.
    • He's also learned that when a person gives an Impossible Task that it's best not to follow it to the letter, but to figure out what the person really wants. Ozai as an Abusive Father wanted to get rid of his "embarrassment" of a son, and if Zuko had realized that he wouldn't have spent two years searching for the Avatar. Thus when Katara offers him the choice of recapturing Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King or bringing her mother back to life, he was able to figure out that she associates him with her mother's death.
    • Why does Zuko choose to offer closure for Katara and find her mother's killer? Because that was the one thing they connected over, the Fire Nation taking both their mothers away. Also practically speaking, it's easier to find a Fire Nation soldier in the Fire Nation than to go back to the Earth Kingdom and fight a never-ending battle.
  • The Fire Nation had had a policy of capturing and imprisoning the waterbenders, which was clearly what Kya expected to happen. However, after the horrifying way Hama broke out, capturing the waterbenders would seem like much more of a bad idea.
    • Also, the Fire Nation seemed to have systematically hunted down the Waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe previously, which is how they knew that there was one waterbender left in the tribe. The Fridge Horror is that they probably wiped out the previous benders just like they wiped out the airbenders. (Not to mention that Hama's bloodbending was indirectly responsible for Kya's death).
  • The fact that Katara was willing to use bloodbending halfway through on the man she believed (in error) was her mother's killer, compared to her sparing the real killer by the end is an excellent indication of how much character growth she went through in that single episode.
  • Katara's status as the Last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe mirrors that of Aang, the Last Airbender of the Air Nomads. Both are responsible for continuing to preserve their nation's respective Bending Arts, the Southern Waterbending Style, and Airbending.
    • Not to put a damper on this, but Katara is self-taught. Most of her skills she made up, or learned on the way to the Northern Watertribe. It's more accurate that they are both redefining their bending styles.
    • Katara does have some knowledge of Southern Waterbending Style. Hama taught her briefly during The Puppetmaster so she at least has some idea. Plus, she was in Wan Shi Tong's Library and since the Spirit mentioned he knew Southern Waterbending Style as well as Northern, it's likely there were books in there on the subject and Katara might have had a chance to skim through them.
  • Katara forgives Zuko after their "fieldtrip", and that's incredibly sweet to say the least. Though one wonders how and why Katara found it in herself to forgive him after all this time. What did facing Yon Rha have to do with it? Then it occurs that there's a reason, aside from Zuko's contribution in finding him. When she used bloodbending on that one Fire Nation sailor, you can see realization in her eyes as she finds he isn't her mother's killer. That marks the instant she has an epiphany of how needlessly cruel and shrewish she's been acting towards Zuko when he had nothing to do with her mother's death, the core reason she hates firebenders. Because just as she's blaming him, she sees she's also hurting this (relatively) innocent sailor who had nothing to do with murdering her mother either.
  • Just after Katara leaves the shaking, sobbing Yon Rha after her "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Zuko looks at him too, but his expression before following Katara is angry contempt. Why? Because as Zuko learned recently, his mother chose exile to save his life, and just now he learned Katara's mother had protected her daughter in a similar manner... while this man offered up the life of his mother to plead for his own life, after Katara stopped her killing blow.

The Ember Island Players

  • Kataang is foreshadowed in Ember Island Players, in that one could say that the situations are reversed. Actress!Katara is attracted to Actor!Zuko, saying that Actress!Aang is like a brother to her. At the start of the play, Katara teases Zuko about his character and he response with annoyance and bewilderment. The whole exchange is rather reminiscent of siblings teasing each other.
    • Conversely, it's also a neat foreshadowing of the finale where Katara and Zuko defeat Azula.
  • Katara acting "confused" when Aang confronts her on whether or not she loves him? More like fear about getting close to Aang and losing him all over again. The last time she was open about her love for him before a big battle, he died in her arms (The Day of Black Sun notwithstanding, because Aang was the more open one about their romance there, while Katara was trying to keep him and herself focused on the task at hand). Karata doesn't want either herself or Aang to be emotionally destroyed in the very possibly case that the other dies in the fight against Ozai.
  • Also foreshadowed (or middleshadowed/is just ordinary Fridge Brilliance, since the process started in The Boiling Rock pt 2) in Ember Island Players was how Azula would go completely insane. Look at Player!Azula's facial expressions at the climax of the play; they're the same exaggerated ones that Real!Azula has during her breakdown during the climax of the show. Also, at one point (I think it's when she says "you are no longer my brother"), she makes a face that's very similar to Real!Azula's expression when she says: "No! You miscalculated! You should have feared me more!", the line that marked the beginning of her breakdown. Quite a similar play...
  • There are several possible reasons why Zhao was only represented as a doll in the Ember Island Play.
    • It's a case of fridge Irony, since what Zhao wanted the most was to be remembered in the history books as a hero for killing the moon spirit. However, all he was remembered for was the ocean spirit taking him to his "watery grave", making it a post-mortem mockery of his actions.
    • The playwright just didn't see him as that important. The more characters you have, the more hard your play is to put on, so a lot of playwrights merge characters together to save on things. The playwright of The Boy in the Iceberg saw Zhao as basically an extra Zuko since they both wanted to capture Aang alive, and so merged Zhao's role into Zuko's, creating the funny moment when the Blue Spirit takes Aang from Zuko, even though in reality the Blue Spirit is Zuko.
    • The play is propaganda. What Zhao did, while somewhat awesome, was very stupid, and resulted in a quick curbstomp of the fire navy. And, given the amount of ships seen, that was probably a good chunk of the Fire Nation's naval forces lost in one go. That, combined with the inherent stupidity of killing the moon, meant that either Ozai or his minister of propaganda (or both) felt that what Zhao did was so stupid/embarrassing that it warranted being erased from history, and indirectly interfered to wipe Zhao's role out of a lot of things, like the play.
    • Zhao killed the moon spirit and nearly destroyed the world. In the deeply spiritual world of Avatar, he committed a very heinous crime, akin to heresy, especially since he harmed a vital and non-malicious spirit for his own personal glory, killed the Water Tribe princess and, once again, nearly destroyed the world. Everyone pretty much agreed to erase Zhao and what he did from history, which would explain why Tenzin, Kya and Bumi don't recognize or guess who he is when they meet him in the Fog of Lost Souls; remember, Aang is from a deeply spiritual nation and he was forced into the Avatar State and killed thousands (nevermind the fact his best friend lost his girlfriend) because of what Zhao did. Zhao angered him in different ways and got himself killed before Aang could get even, so Aang decided to erase the Glory Seeker from history out of spite.
    • Alternatively, given that Iroh was officially blamed for the loss at the North Pole, it might be that the playwright didn't want to seem like he was badmouthing a fallen Fire Nation hero.
  • The exaggerated personalities of the characters in the play were based on the usual Flanderization of the characters in fanfiction, but in context, the playwrights could have easily asked Ozai and Azula for information on the Gaang (especially since Azula has fought against them personally). However, the play is Fire Nation propaganda. Of course they are going to make the Gaang look as harmless as possible! It's also a moment of Fridge Brilliance to the Gaang as well, since even the ones who were enjoying the play realize its intention when it depicts Zuko and Aang being brutally killed. They are, of course, horrified.
  • Why does Zuko look so shocked at the end of the Ember Island Players' show? He's never been shown to be nervous about dying before—he just keeps fighting not to die, even sacrificing himself without question. It's not his death that has him worried, it's the audience's reaction. Everyone in the theater cheers at Zuko's death, even though it isn't even the end of that scene. These are the people he has to rule when he inherits the throne! He's not afraid of dying, it's the thought of being hated by the people he's supposed to protect that leads to his shocked reaction.
  • Zutara being portrayed in the play may have an explanation other than "The creators wanted to troll the fans": Aang was played by a woman in the performance, and his and Katara's respective actresses may have been unwilling to act out a romance scene. So of course they made Zuko Katara's love interest. He's the only male main character beside Aang (who can't be the love interest for the reason above) and Sokka. And what was the EIPs' other play? "Love Among the Dragons". They have an affinity for (badly written) love stories.
    • Another possible reason they didn't go with Kataang is that in the Legend of Korra sequel comics, Sozin is revealed to have banned same-sex marriage, so the actresses playing Katara and Aang may have been forbidden from portraying the romance even if they were willing.
    • Alternatively all of this, even down to using a female actress for Aang and thus legally precluding any chance of a Kataang performance, may also be part of the infantilization campaign involved with the film. After all, portraying the Avatar as little more than a childish and subtly effeminate boy with no sense of purpose or responsibility to his power, one who can be completely written off as even a love interest, plays well to the sensibilities of a captive audience that believes the Fire Nation's imperial propaganda while helping to reinforce said beliefs.
  • Remember how Toph was portrayed as a huge, muscular man? The creator of the play got all the information secondhand, and it's quite plausible that people said she was a big guy, so as not to admit that they got beaten up by a "little helpless blind girl".
  • The play ends with a Fire Nation victory, despite the fact that it's written by a playwright from the Earth Kingdom. Why would this be? If he wrote it with Aang winning, then the play would likely not be permitted to be seen in the Fire Nation, and there's also the possibility of him being executed for rebelling in such a way. By ending it with a Fire Nation victory, he's essentially sucking up to the Fire Nation! Obviously, the real world has plenty of examples of authors having to comply with censorship to even see their works published, even if it meant ruining their original intent. This instance has an amusing parallel in Mikhail Bulgakov's play The Purple Island. The play shows the rehearsal of a fictional play which is about to get banned by Soviet censorship, but the author saves it at the last minute by tacking on a cheesy ending where the local Communist-stand-in tribe successfully organizes a world revolution.
    • Also, notice how in the final two episodes, both the Zuko vs Azula and the Aang vs Ozai battles nearly had the endings happen to them? The play might have been a flanderized recap, but it predicted the possible endings and would have come true if there weren't the changes to the battles (namely, Katara being there with Zuko, who has mastered lightning redirecting and the true meaning of firebending and Aang unlocking the Avatar State and energybending).
    • Having such an ending would also have acted as a wake up call for the Gaang to focus on training to take down the Fire Nation's conquest of the world, as we can see how in the next episode, they were all pressurizing Aang to train harder to the point of pushing him to run away.
  • The play depicts Jet's brainwashing as the work of the earth king, not the Dai Li. It seems like just another bit of information dropped by the writer but there is some logic here. The Dai Li are, at that point, loyal to Azula and therefore are considered allies to the Fire Nation. It doesn't play into the play's purpose to show the Fire Nation in a heroic light if they show that they're allied with a group that specialize in brainwashing.

Sozin's Comet, part 1

  • When Aang shows reluctance about killing Ozai, Zuko gets pretty angry. This is less about doing what is necessary and more about the fact that Zuko knows firsthand what will happen if Aang hesitates. He was the same age as Aang when he faced his father in Agni Kai. He doesn't want his friend to get burned.
  • It's also incredibly obvious why Zuko kept his mouth shut during the War Council in regards to the Earth Kingdom Genocide as opposed to trying to change their minds. He spoke up once against his father's callous plans and was horribly burned for it. He's not going to do it again, best case scenario would be Ozai crippling him (if Ozai just didn't kill him outright). Instead he just begins quietly planning how to get the hell out and join the Avatar to stop them.
    • Also, while is true Zuko did the right thing calling out the general for his horrible tactics, he did it by speaking out of turn quickly without minding his words, just in place in front of a father who probably was already looking for an excuse to get rid of Zuko. While brave, this action was also reckless and impulsive, traits that caused Iroh to call him out in the episode "The Lake Laogai", pointing out Zuko's impulsivity and unability to plan ahead constantly hinders him in the long run. Zuko now has grown mentally and emotionally and started to take Iroh's lessons at heart. He knows sadly that the "brave" choice here is simply not the most pragmatic one, so instead he decides to swallow his thoughts and actually make an strategy to take down his father and save the world and help Aang. He actually thinks ahead for once and manages to live and help Aang.
  • The "Roar like a Dilo-lion" move could actually form the Fire Nation symbol if the two fists of fire rebounded off the ground just right.
  • While undoubtedly Poor Communication Kills there is likely a good reason Zuko kept mum about Ozai's true plans. Having spent time with the Gaang, and possibly even before that, he likely had come to recognize the weight already on Aang's shoulders. With the assumption that Aang was still going to face Ozai before the comet, Zuko likely felt that there was no benefit in putting the additional stress of "If you don't beat him then he will commit Genocide against the Earth Kingdom." on Aang.
  • The true opposite of love isn't hatred, it's apathy. And this is what Ozai's relationship with Azula really is. The irony is that for all of daddy's praises for her talents and accomplishments, Azula is not as important to Ozai as Zuko is. Ozai hates Zuko, but it's clear that his hatred stems from his desire to make Zuko into the son he always wanted. He wants Zuko to be like him and his abusive behavior, in his mind, is just a form of Tough Love to burn out "sins" of peace and kindness. When Zuko supposedly killed the Avatar, Ozai gave everything back to his disgraced son, no strings attached. While Ozai does not hate Azula, he does not see her as anything but a useful asset to achieve world domination. And the fact he so casually tells Azula to stay behind and inherit a useless title as Fire Lord without emotion (aside from a stern outburst when Azula talks out of turn) showcases just how much she really meant to him.
  • The way the Team Avatar split up for training simulation actually foreshadows the way they are split up for the final battle: Katara and Zuko are given one task, Suki and Sokka another, while Aang attacks on his own (Toph acts as the enemy forces). In the subsequent episodes Aang disappears on his spiritual journey and then faces Ozai alone, while Katara and Zuko go off to fight Azula, and Toph, Suki and Sokka go to sabotage the airships.

Sozin's Comet, part 2

  • Remember when Azula told Ozai all about how Zuko killed the Avatar just in case he was still alive, then Zuko outright exposed that lie on the Day of Black Sun? Many people believe that Ozai casting Azula out of the "burn everything to the ground" plan, tasked her to protecting the homeland as Fire Lord instead, then openly declared himself the Phoenix King right in front of her, was a punishment for this. This is true, but at the same time maybe that wasn't all there was to it. Let's not completely dismiss the fact that Ozai not only bothered to placate her, but did so by verbally emphasizing the importance of the role he was giving her. Also, Ozai, not only as Azula's father but as the head of a militaristic propaganda state, had to have known about the betrayal of Mai and Ty Lee stopping her from killing Zuko along with several friends and members of the Gaang. It wasn't just a punishment; it was a Secret Test of Character. Could she recover from her recent disappointments, both deception and failure? Could she effectively lead the fortification and defense of the Fire Nation both as a warrior and as a commander? Was she strong enough both physically and mentally to truly be a worthy part of his dynasty? The Social Darwinist that he is, it just makes sense. And the answer was no.
  • When Aang is talking to his past lives while on the Lion Turtle, he is distraught that they keep telling him to kill the Fire Lord. But they didn't! Not a one. They gave advice like "Be decisive", "Be attentive", "Bring justice". But they never said "The only way is to kill the Fire Lord". Aang was too confused to notice that. Aang actually applies the advice of all his past lives ... just not in the way they intended. Even though they never explicitly direct him to kill, that is their obvious implication. Nevertheless, what Aang actually does IS decisive, it DOES bring justice, it IS an active means of shaping his own destiny, and it IS a sacrifice of his own spiritual well-being for the greater good. It simply doesn't involve mortal violence.
    • It's actually Kyoshi, despite Aang's misunderstanding her, who demonstrates through refusing to sidestep her responsibility in Chin the Conqueror's death that she understands and sympathizes with his moral quandary. Taking into account the events in her own novels, Kyoshi knows very well how it can hurt a person when they're forced to substitute execution for justice. More than any of the other past lives, in her own way, Kyoshi is trying to tell Aang that he's right. Typically for Kyoshi, of course, she's terrible at it. Still, despite Aang's frustration, when you listen to her actual words, Kyoshi is more openly nudging him toward Take a Third Option than even Yangchen.
  • Iroh taking Zuko back into his arms and even accepting him as suitable for the Fire Lord, despite the fact that Zuko betrayed Iroh personally at the end of season 2 can look a bit unrealistic, perhaps even Easily Forgiven territory. However, Iroh has certainly had time enough to think on the matter and realise that, ultimately, Zuko did exactly what Iroh told him to do under Lake Laogai. Iroh's lecture was for Zuko to find his own path, rather than to let others tell him how to live his life... ironically, Iroh was telling Zuko how he should live his life, trying to force Zuko into the quiet, hidden, refugee tea shop worker existence of "Mushi's" nephew/surrogate son. As painful as it was for Zuko to betray Iroh the way he did, it ultimately was for the best, as it was an act by Zuko to choose his own path in life (plus, he then went on to realize that he should turn against Ozai on his own accord, which certainly helped redeem him).
    • Not just that, Zuko is Iroh's son in every way but blood. He outright admits it. Parents have HUGE blindspots when it comes to their children. Iroh has no doubt heard of everything Zuko's done since Day of Black Sun. Zuko has abandoned Ozai's ideals, learned true Firebending (from Dragons no less), taught the Avatar Firebending, and is now more or less leading the Avatar's Ragtag Bunch of Misfits in the absence of the Avatar himself. Everything that Zuko has accomplished since fleeing the Fire Nation has no doubt softened the blow and coupled with Zuko's very real and desperate apology, would have been more than enough for Iroh to welcome back his adopted son.
  • When talking about killing Ozai, Zuko refers to him as the Fire Lord and deliberately distances himself. His amusing slip up (calling Ozai the 'Fatherlord') suddenly becomes a Tear Jerker.
  • The episode's name, "The Old Masters", initially seems to refer to the revelation of the White Lotus society and how all those Old Masters knew each other and would form the backbone for the resistance against the fire lord. But it also refers to the past Avatars that Aang seeks for advice while on the Lion Turtle. He needed the wisdom of the Oldest Masters he knew. But the true moment of Fridge Brilliance comes with realizing that the Lion Turtle is in fact THE Oldest of all Masters and that only his advice and teachings are what truly set Aang on the path of defeating Ozai without compromising his ideals. In a season two episode of Legend Of Korra, it has been shown that the Lion Turtles are in fact the ORIGINAL Masters who first gave humans the ability to bend elements.
  • For many years, Iroh's supposed hypocrisy regarding the idea over siblings fighting for the Fire Lord's position seemed rather off for a wise old man like him. But when you compare the siblings in question, there are key differences that changes the context entirely:
    • Why Iroh defeating Ozai is wrong is mainly due to Ozai being at that time, the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation. Iroh was already considered a traitor, if "The Ember Island Players" blaming him for the failure of the Fire Nation's defeat of the Northern Water Tribe has anything to say about it. In the long run, history will just consider him the Lesser of Two Evils even if Iroh pulls the "birthright" card, which is something he himself gave up the moment Azulon died.
    • As for why Zuko defeating Azula is right, it is because the transfer of power hasn't happened yet. Not only that, Azula's reputation would have no doubt painted a very negative picture of her even before the coronation, as shown by the lack of an audience. Thirdly, it is Zuko who is next in line for the throne, so as far as history is concerned, he is simply stopping his younger sibling from seizing power while he was training the Avatar.

Sozin's Comet, part 3

  • It's hard to deny just how poetically appropriate Azula's breakdown truly is - she is someone who has been taught to use fear as a weapon. It has what kept her feeling secure during her whole life. When Ty Lee and Mai turned on her, her sense of security vanished. Eventually, she is consumed by paranoia. She has been psychologically hoisted by her own petard.
  • Azula's world rested on pillars. That she would always be the best warrior, especially over Zuko, that she had friendship in which she was the dominant one, and that her father loved her for how much like him she was. It was not the breakdown itself that was rapid, it was the pulling away of the pillars. In short order Zuko and Aang's group moved up to within striking distance of her, her captive friends said "no, we're not friends" and turned, and she found out, as Zuko had, then Ozai's only love is for himself. With all that gone, the master warrior and strategist became just a teenage girl with no one who loved her. Remember, up until the finale, she had never suffered the kind of definitive defeat our heroes took as their stock-in-trade.
  • There's an ulterior reason Azula aimed to shoot lightening at Katara. Not just to prey upon Zuko's compassion, but also something else: Katara bears a passing resemblance to Ursa. No, this isn't because she was hallucinating, but simply to spite Zuko and/or bait him with something that reminded him of their mother. And in a way, it worked. But it also backfired on her later when she sees Katara (the image of Ursa) aid Zuko after his injury.
  • Zuko realized Azula was going to attack Katara (basically forfeiting the Agni Kai), and jumped in front of the lightning. However, he could've just as easily let Katara get hit, and taken advantage of the opening. In fact, as far as he knows, it's the best tactical decision. He is, after all, ostensibly the person best equipped to fight her. Not only did he sacrifice himself to save his friend, he also trusted Katara to save them both.
    • Zuko was trying to goad Azula into using the lightning on him deliberately. He may have intended on winning the duel by redirecting her own lightning back at her, since he knows that defending against lightning is the one thing he can do that she cannot. So he may have been also motivated by a sense of personal responsibility when he realized that he had miscalculated and Azula was aiming at someone else.
    • It's interesting how that's been foreshadowed for seasons, Azula is constantly looking off to the side when about to attack and usually it's to find a distracted person to aim at, she does it at least twice in S2. Once, to take out Iroh who would have been the only one in the group who could have stopped her from escaping.
  • Toph managed to stick to the metal ceiling Spiderman-style when she donned the Instant Armor? Magnetism. Greatest earthbender in the world, indeed. It's likely she got the idea in the desert. Remember the big vulture-wasp hive? Hematite.
  • In the Grand Finale, Azula is ranting at the mirror that "trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way". Azula, who believes in fear, is bested by Katara, who had accompanied the Fire Lord's son, and a former hated enemy, to the Firebender infested capital of the Fire Nation all alone. Trust in your friends won the day.
  • All through the show, Sokka has had to struggle with being solitary in a culture that values togetherness and community. But he still has that Water Tribe background that one's family is everything, the pack always hunts together. So of course, on the day of the comet, he would figure out at once how to take down the fleet, because he knows how quickly a group can fall apart when one member breaks away.
  • Right before Azula's breakdown begins, Sozin's Comet enters the sky and begins to augment firebending, and Azula's breakdown is complete before it ends. Given that the kind of Firebending Azula employs corrupts its wielder, is it possible that this effect was augmented by the comet right alongside Firebending?
  • By the end of Book 3 Zuko probably had the advantage on Azula in a one-on-one combat: Azula may be more skilled, but Zuko is physically stronger and faster and has more stamina and combat experience, and Azula's hotter blue flame become a liability when you consider that they exhaust her faster and Zuko not only has more stamina but has mastered a form that wastes as little movements as possible, thus increasing his advantage. By the time Zuko learned the Dragon dance, the only reason he still considered Azula a danger was was her ability to plan ahead and outsmart her foes... That she had lost in her Villainous Breakdown. At which point he proceeded to mop the floor with her.
  • Azula tells Zuko to stop acting like a paranoid child, while getting the spa treatment for the war meeting. Then when she has her spa session before her coronation...the boomerang comes back for her.
  • Zuko saved Aang's Love Interest while he was in Aang's element: The Air.
  • Under What Happened to the Mouse? it is noted that despite the reported rebellions in the Earth Kingdom, prompting the plan to burn the whole place down, the earth kingdom army is no where to be seen. However really this makes perfect sense; the comet provides firebenders with a massive power boost. Much like the Fire Nation halting the attack on the Northern Water Tribe at night, due to the moon boosting the Water Benders power, or the invasion on the Day of Black Sun intended to take advantage of the eclipse depowering the Fire Benders, the Earth Kingdom soldiers were taking cover to avoid facing the boosted Fire Benders.

Sozin's Comet, Part 4

  • At first Ty Lee joining the Kyoshi warriors seems an odd bit of Pair the Spares (so to speak)... but for a girl whose neuroses all stem from how she spent her life seeking attention and individual acclaim to distinguish herself from her identical sisters, that she has found happiness as part of a team whose members all dress and act alike shows great personal growth. At the same time, it's not as though she had to subordinate her uniqueness to the group in order to get her happy ending. They let her join because she had an unusual skill that she was willing to teach the rest of them, and teaching is a leadership role. For once she was able to be a trendsetter rather than a follower, and that's how she was able to reconcile her desire to stand out with her psychological need to overcome that neurosis.
  • Aang being shot In the Back as Katara watched almost completely mirrored Zuko's near-death experience. So, it was because Katara saw Zuko get shot that she came to love Aang: she was able to compare the two occurences and realize that her feelings of losing Aang were stronger than if the same exact thing happened to any of her other friends, such as Zuko.
  • It's really intriguing that Katara ended up with Zuko in his final showdown, away from Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki. It may have partly been because, Katara is "the mother" of the group and while she was needed to help restrain Azula in the end and to also give some sort of "weakness" for Azula to aim at (which was foreshadowed repeatedly in the series, Azula looking away and then hitting a target) it's also because she really represents everything Azula isn't.
    • Further Fridge Brilliance stemming from the above: Katara is absolutely the Team Mom, and the only other member of the Gaang present at the royal siblings' Final Battle. Who is the most significant person in Zuko's and Azula's lives? Ursa.
    • Katara being at the fight also helped Azula's final breakdown. After Katara tied up Azula and healed Zuko they had a sweet moment together that showed they grew as friends and could trust each other. Who was watching this? The same girl who’s friends betrayed her, basically felt abandoned by her mother and father, and had no other person she could trust or rely on. Azula sobbing uncontrollably was not only her insanity but extreme depression and loneliness from watching the friendship she wished she had.
    • What's more is that Katara appears to be Azula's Good Counterpart: motherly, but in a caring, gentle way as opposed to a manipulative, controlling way, holds the team together with love and trust, not fear, the naturally talented bender in a sibling pair. Azula trying hitting her can be seen as a metaphor for Azula killing (so to speak) any chance of a normal life with friends or even people genuinely who care about her- she has no one left on her side so she attacks the girl with tons of loyal, supportive friends. And once again, Zuko got in her way; he got mommy's love, a dependable father figure, and friends who actually like him- things Azula desperately wants but can't have- and Zuko is the one who stops her attack.
    • There's also the sibling angle to consider; throughout the series we've seen that even though Katara and Sokka can drive each other up the wall they still love and care for each other. By contrast ever since they were kids Zuko and Azula have been at odds and never really got along, culminating in their Agni Kai in the finale. Katara's presence seems superfluous until you realize what the writers are doing: they're comparing the two sibling pairs. When Azula is chained to the grate at the end, sobbing and screaming, and Katara and Zuko are watching her silently, you know that both of them are thinking about the other's sibling (Zuko-Sokka, Katara-Azula) and wondering how their relationship with their own could have turned out differently.
    • Speaking of which, Zuko betrayed the Gaang in Ba Sing Se but he goes back to them they accepted him...eventually. Afterwards Azula is betrayed by her friends and they don't come back to her. They're opposites in every way.
  • Aang killing the Fire Lord in the wrong way (basically any way that would have made Ozai the least bit of a martyr in the eyes of anyone in the Fire Nation who sympathized with him) would not have helped the world, but instead trigger a civil war within the Fire Nation, creating even more chaos and suffering in the world. So discrediting Ozai's warmongering by defeating him, neutralizing him and sparing his life may in fact have been the only way for the Avatar to restore the balance of the world.
  • Azula's dismissive reaction to the position of Fire Lord makes perfect sense. With Ozai declaring himself the Phoenix King, it has become nothing more than an empty title. She doesn't care about becoming Fire Lord anymore because it doesn't matter. And the outcome of the Agni Kai in itself didn't matter (at least not to her). Whichever of them won, Ozai was still in a position of power over them. Azula might have been coming apart at the seams, but she hadn't completely lost her senses. On top of that, agreeing to the Agni Kai was a good strategic move on her part. This way, she could try to take both opponents out one at a time instead of both at once (though in her normal, collected state, that might have been unnecessary).
  • The symbolism of Aang using waterbending, rather than another discipline, to put out the fires during the finale. He uses a gigantic version of Katara's "push and pull" cantrip - and the very first bending in the entire series (opening titles exempted) was Katara practicing the same move to pass the time while fishing.
  • Some fans feel the whole Energybending thing was a huge Ass Pull, but perhaps they were subtly foreshadowing it. First of all, Aang has to master all four elements to take down Ozai despite the fact that (though Ozai is more powerful), Aang was able to take on Zuko with only Airbending before he started to master the other elements. Iroh also mentions to Zuko much later that all four elements are individual pieces of the same whole. Perhaps Energybending is the reason why an avatar needs to master every element, because, other than the avatar state, that's the true power of an avatar (also, let's face it, the avatar state was just pulsating with energy, so it's possible).
    • There's also that the show has heavy (South) East Asian and Inuit influences, but Earth, Air, Fire, Water is the typical Western element set, the Japanese set has those four plus Void/Heaven/Spirit. Energybending completes that five element set.
      • So if the Spirit is a 5th element that unites the other elements, in other words, Aang also controls the element of Heart.
    • Note that Ty Lee does exactly the same thing earlier in the series, only non-permanently, and with physical force and deft accuracy rather than elemental ability. Aang, too, needed to touch Ozai to Energybend him. Maybe said touch was augmented with really subtle Water/Airbending to make it more or less permanent (And Korra may well have learned this ability from him while in the Avatar State in her season finale, enabling her to later 'cure' it.) Hell, maybe chi-blocking was a lost art, and one of the previous Avatars Aang melded with knew it!
    • The cultures in Avatar are a mix of religions. Now let's take a look at Catholicism - most evident in the way that Aang is a Messianic Archetype. At first, gaining complete control of the Avatar State may seem cheap that Aang was basically jabbed by a rock, but if that rock impaled a vital organ something else that was important to the body, Aang would have been killed. Ozai could've killed Aang, but no matter what, Aang still stuck with his pacifistic, idealistic beliefs - the kind of thinking that allowed Jesus to triumph over the powers of Hell.
      • And then there's the complaint that Aang unlocked the Avatar State without letting go of Katara…except that he was able to prove that he could let go of her back in "The Crossroads of Destiny", only that Azula shot him down before he could act any further. Aang's lightning scar on his back was probably literally just a physical block that Ozai fixed.
      • And going back to Catholicism one last time, if one still feels that Aang didn't and couldn't let go of Katara during Season 3, remember that in Catholicism, choosing what's right over what your friends and family want for you is letting go of earthly attachments for the greater good. Now, remember how Katara agreed with all of Aang's allies and friends that he should kill the Fire Lord? Aang refusing to take Ozai's life was just putting the hammer down over the fact that, yes, if ever need be, Aang can let go of Katara to do what is right.
      • Actually, "The Crossroads of Destiny" was him letting go of Katara in the wrong way, taking the base value interpretation of Pathik's advice and thinking this meant he had to make himself stop caring about Katara. Notice how slow and overly-demonstrative he was in even accessing the Avatar State. He was still in turmoil. He thought he was having to become some sort of human-nightmare. This is what left him wide open to get shot in the back. Now, if you look at him from the moment he stands waiting for Ozai at Wulong Forest all the way through their entire fated duel, he is completely focused on the task at hand just like Roku and all the previous Avatars he'd seen at the height of their powers before him. He's finally "letting go" in the right way; not by becoming loveless and aloof, but by becoming able to set aside all concerns besides the right action to take at a critical time.
  • Aang was convinced that he was forced to kill the Fire Lord. There is an old Buddhist saying that goes "If you see the Buddha (an idea about Nirvana) in the road (the path to Nirvana), kill him (destroy the idea)". In the end, that's exactly what Aang did. He killed the idea of the Fire Lord.
    • Ozai called the Airbenders weak when he was fighting Aang. The war started with the Fire Nation killing the Airbenders, essentially arguing against the idea of their peaceful ways. By defeating Ozai without killing him, Aang re-asserts his people's beliefs.
  • When confronting Ozai, the Avatars speaking through Aang specifically say that for Ozai's crimes, he will be made to pay "the ultimate penalty". Well, if you think about it, for someone like Ozai, death is not the ultimate penalty, but losing his bending and being made a Soulless Shell is.
  • At the beginning of Aang and Ozai's fight, Ozai claims to have "all the power in the world!" By the end of the fight he says to Aang, "You have all the power in the world, but you're still weak." Furthermore, he's just as wrong with the second statement as with the first. Aang has rendered him powerless yet spared his life, avoiding the soul-changing act of cold premeditated murder while refusing to crown Ozai as a martyr. Because of this and other results, like Zuko and Katara ultimately subduing Azula, the Gaang and friends now have the authority and the rightful presence of mind to declare the war finished and stand the Fire Nation down without destroying it, preserving the Four Nations. That virtuous victory was a greater power move than any conscious decision someone setting out to be a glorious leader could ever make, yet Ozai can't see it because his Proud Warrior Race Guy and The Social Darwinist mindset still clouds his judgment.
  • Iroh setting fire to the Fire Nation banner hanging over the palace at Ba-Sing-Se, causing it to burn away. The element of Fire itself is rejecting the acts of Ozai and the Fire Nation.

Fridge Horror

    General 
  • When you analyze Azula's behavior, a chilling story of abusive parenting unfolds. When she tries flirting, it comes out like a threat. When Ty Lee doesn't want to come with her to find the Avatar, she threatens her. But she still clearly cares about her and Mai, as seen when she goes into a depression after they betray her. Then you consider that Azula is only a teenager. Also, Ozai values power and intimidation more than anything. When you look at this, you realize that Ozai trained Azula to be the perfect killing machine, leaving her unable to function in normal society. She instinctively starts acting evil even when she doesn't want to because that's all she was ever taught. She has No Social Skills because she has no social life. Her friends were people she was only allowed to be around because they were powerful, and out of desperation for actual friends, she forces them into her life because she doesn't know how to achieve anything without force and her father never taught her anything else. She does care about her friends but doesn't know how to show affection, so it doesn't seem like she cares. All of her behavior is a result of how Ozai raised her.
    • While Azula's life is deeply tragic, her breakdown beginning with Mai and Ty Lee turning against doesn't necessarily show she cares about them, just that she is psychologically dependent on them. Many abusers are psychologically dependent on their victims. Their turning against her also broke her illusion of control, which contributed to her breakdown as well.
  • All bending disciplines have plenty of Fridge Horror, considering things like how Airbending can induce instant suffocation and Earthbending can bury people alive. And even though Firebending is demonstrated to incinerate anything, there is still the implication that with enough practice a Firebender can create flames anywhere.
    • What about all of the environmental destruction left by bending fights? It's not like they show teams of benders going out to the forests that were burnt or mountains demolished to do rehabilitation work.
  • You know those funny old monks and cute little kids Aang is playing with in the flashbacks? They all get burned to death shortly afterward.
  • Airbenders are raised by nuns and monks from birth. There were infants in the Air Temples. What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?
  • While it's never directly addressed in the series, the Fire Nation's attack on the Air Temples was entirely for the purpose of killing a 12 year old child.
  • You remember how Sozin started that whole dragon hunt game just so Firebenders can boast about how they've killed the original masters of fire? You remember that dragon Sozin was riding on in the flashback episode? The guy probably friggin' killed his loyal steed and decided to make it a national sport.
  • How horrible Ozai was to BOTH of his children (mostly after Ursa left)? What else had Zuko been through before he got half his face napalmed merely for calling BS on sending good men to their pointless deaths. As for Azula, it's possible that her blind loyalty to her father might include more than a little Stockholm Syndrome? Zuko probably also has some Stockholm Syndrome, considering that he still wanted Ozai's favor.
    • The inside of Azula's mind is scary when you try to imagine how it must feel to actually BE her. She is possibly the unhappiest and most lonely fourteen-year-old ever animated. Keeping up that ultra-competent facade just to keep Ozai (and Azulon before him) happy must have taken a lot of willpower when you see how quickly she snapped. Zuko at least managed to get better on his own after three seasons of therapy.
    • Speaking of Ozai, Word of God says that he was at least a decent husband and father during the first few years of his kids' lives. Was it all an act? Or was it a horrible story involving a huge fall due to hunger for power?
    • Zuko's mom, Ursa, had two kids with Ozai, who's clearly disturbed. That means they had sex at least twice. What do you think fucking a genocidal maniac (who you were forced to marry) would feel like? And considering her reluctance to be with Ozai and that Ozai probably isn't against the idea of forcing her to bear his children, it's even more horrifying.
    • There are quite a few inheritable psychological disorders which, before setting in, the person seems/is normal, but afterwards... It is possible that the Fire Nation royal family has some mental disorder that runs in their family and, unfortunately, until Zuko, every single one of the Fire Lords since Sozin inherited it. Think about it; Sozin was best friends with Roku, but within a few years, Sozin apparently decided conquering the world was in the world's best interest and refused to listen to his friend (the Avatar's) advice and started a war over it. Azulon ordered his son to kill his own son. Ozai apparently was at one time a "decent husband and father" but then suddenly decides that killing his son is an acceptable thing (if it gives him power) and when Ursa objects, finds killing his father and banishing his wife a great way to get power, when he probably could have been made heir over Iroh and just waited 5 years tops anyway. This is of course, not touching on everything Ozai does during the series itself (Phoenix King anyone?). The pattern fits very well; the person is normal, and then, within 2 years or less, they suddenly go postal
    • And the fact that genetic disorders often run strong in royal families because of all the inbreeding. (Like in Hamlet how his madness was considered reasonable because he was the prince and that happens to some of 'em)
      • Actually, the idea that there is a mental illness that is strong in the royal family makes sense. We don't know who Sozin married, and whether or not she was distantly related to him, or if Azulon's spouse was related as well, but we do know with reasonable certainty that Ursa wasn't related to the Fire Nation royal family, so an inheritable illness could've been negated by her infusion of new genes. However, that may not have been enough, as Azula shows sign of this "Fire Madness" and appears to be almost as bad as her father. Zuko could've just lucked out and not gotten because of his mother, which actually contradicts the "Azula was born lucky, I was lucky to be born" comment. He could've been literally born lucky as opposed to his sister. Luckily, there is fridge hope here, as Zuko ended up with Mei, who, while in a powerful family, would be far enough from the royal family tree for their children to be safe. The only thing that messes with this theory is the fact that Iroh seems sane, but his son was also killed, so we don't know if Lu Ten would've displayed any symptoms.
      • Also, Iroh could be insane himself, but in a different way. At one point in the show he expresses surprise that being on a piece of driftwood for days with no food or water could make you tense. This is just one example of how Iroh is often too calm about what is happening around him. Could this be a harmless version of Azula's creepy and calculating behavior?
    • Regarding disorders and diagnoses, Azula, at least, displays pretty clear signs of sociopathy/psychopathy: pathological lying ("Azula always lies..."), lack of empathy, easy emotional manipulation of others, inability to feel remorse, and an inflated sense of self-importance. The childhood flashbacks in particular lend weight to this theory; read a few written accounts by parents of sociopathic children, and the confusion and horror Ursa expresses at Azula's cruelty will seem chillingly familiar. It's debated whether sociopathy is inheritable, but a lot of the criteria are present in Ozai as well (although it's usually observable from childhood, so it seems Ozai just had some kind of psychotic break as an adult). It should be noted though, while Azula's behavior in the series falls in line really well with psychopathy, The Search makes it clear that Azula is well aware that she's a monster and believes, as an extension of that, that no one will ever be able to love her. Furthermore, she's shown to be very insecure about her perceived inability to be loved. This is a little out of character for psychopathy, as psychopaths (and narcissists) don't generally believe there is anything wrong with them. That's what makes the condition impossible to treat.
    • Another underlying factor to the "mental disorder" theory is that Firebending is noted to be fuelled by rage and hate in the Fire Nation as opposed to the "Fire is Life" version of the Sun Warriors. As many of the Royal Family are some of the most powerful Firebenders on the planet, a lifetime of using such a corrupting power might have pushed a succession of Fire Lords over the edge. Sure when they're young they can still function as human beings, love and show affection to their families and generally are mentally sound despite any inherited tendencies. After enough years of using Firebending to the degree they do, restraint eventually snaps and they give in to the disorders plaguing them. Iroh and Zuko are two of the more mentally sound members of the Royal Family and they both have Sun Warrior training.
  • There is an excellent chance that Zuko is blind in one eye. Corneal burns don't tend to heal without surgery, and it's never mentioned that he had any such surgery. So he is probably working with one good eye.
  • Think about it for a second: the whole world was at war for a hundred years. Besides all the horrible things that happened in the canon, imagine all the horrors endured off-screen. What if people like Jet, Azula, Hama, and Ozai are more common than we think and they've been doing this for decades?! Imagine how gruesome this show would be without its TV-Y7 rating.
    • It could always be interpreted to be like the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the initial period of campaigning the Fire Nation/Japan ends up overextended and unable to advance further while The Earth Kingdom/China is too divided and weak to strike back effectively. This makes things a lot worse when you consider what happened during that war...
    • Now that you mention it, we did see Sozin slowly start taking control of the Earth Kingdom decades before he used to commit to wipe out the Air Nomads. It's what his argument with Roku was all about. And I doubt the Earth Kingdom gave up their land willingly. That just adds a fresh new layer of horror.
  • Bumi is over a hundred years old. Aang at some point would have had to watch his childhood friend die decades before him. Depending on how strong Bumi is, Aang would have either had this happen in his late teens or early thirties.
    • Perhaps not. Avatar Kyoshi, also an earthbender, lived to be 230. Perhaps Bumi can do the same, or at the very least stay around for another 50 or so years until Aang dies.
  • Aang has done many horrifying and awesome things in the Avatar State, the season one finale where he singlehandedly destroyed the Fire Nation fleet being a prime example. It's the previous Avatars who have control of Aang's body for the duration of the Avatar State. Aang's bonding with the koi fish in the season one finale pushed this further, seeing as it was likely the koi fish did all of the destruction itself and left Aang only mildly aware of his actions before the koi fish exited his body. Aang obviously wasn't in control because as seen in the season two premier, he has nightmares about all of these actions, implying that himself in the Avatar State is completely separate from his normal self and scares the hell out of him. It wasn't horrifying that the Avatars before Aang couldn't control him when he got angry and was close to killing people. It's horrifying that they force him to do it.
  • In season 3, Aang suddenly mentions his reverence of life and how it's essential to Air Nomad mentality to add drama about how he's going to stop Ozai. Think about a couple of episodes in season 1, specifically The Northern Air Temple and the second part of The Siege of the North. In The Northern Air Temple he's dropping large amounts of snow on soldiers marching up very narrow paths. In The Siege of the North Aang (as Koizilla) is ripping apart Fire Nation ships. In very cold waters, near the enemy and at night and that's not even getting into what might have happened to Zhao. It's safe to say that he unconsciously killed a lot of people.
    • If you combine that with the ten or so Fire Nation skeletons Aang found around that of Monk Gyatso at the Southern Air Temple, it probably sinks in that Aang's huge moral philosophical hang-up wasn't with the mere fact that killing and death altogether is a reality of war; in fact, seeing those skulls was the moment he realized the passed century and the ongoing war were indeed real. No, his issue was the actual mission of setting out to attack and murder a man. This would kinda bring us back to Fridge Brilliance a little bit, except not only does that assessment contain an implied slighting of the lives of ordinary soldiers who would never be explicitly marked for death that way, but let's also think about the above example involving the people Aang has killed while under the influence of Unstoppable Rage, his past lives, and other spirits in the Avatar State. Combine all those deaths, probably the one thing that HASN'T happened yet in that department was Aang himself actively making the conscious decision to stop someone at all costs, including murder, and going through with it to that very point. Now just think: if he had allowed his principles to be compromised into breaking that last plateau, most of the world would've been praising him at war's end just the same. He would be called a monster by a minority, but hailed by the majority as a WAR HERO, for something he could only bring himself to think of in terms of "What a Senseless Waste of Human Life."
  • Another potentially nasty use of waterbending: Making a mixture of poisons and bacteria, then bend the water into a mist straight into a room. Also, one could manipulate the water that is used in liquid poisons and launch into others, acting like injections into their bloodstream (worse than needles). Yeah, it is a very good thing the Water Tribe and Air Nomads in the series were the passive ones because their elements gave off a creative element to being deadly.
  • Air is actually the most powerful and the most deadly of the elements. The defensive practices that the Monks show is not because Airbending is lacking in offensive maneuvers, but it's because it is the only way to keep balance. If the Airbenders began to wage a war, and use their bending offensively, there wouldn't be much of a war, but a slaughter (and probably a particularly messy one, since it would likely involve changes in pressure in someone's lungs. Couple that with Aang's sentiment that there's the potential for good or bad in anyone, all it would take is for the "bad" to show up in enough Air Nomads, and you've got a much more horrific scene than the Century long war. In Season 3 of The Legend Of Korra, this is shown to be at least partially accurate. The Big Bad is a non-pacifistic airbender and the most dangerous member of the Red Lotus — an organization that also includes a magma bender, a woman with Combustion Man's powers, and a waterbender able to use water as a Shapeshifter Weapon. Just as theorized, he even has the power to pull the breath out of an enemy's lungs to suffocate them to death.
  • Somewhat related is that the Avatar has incarnated into every nation over and over again since the beginning of the world. Over the millennia, Avatars have married, begun lineages. It's thus pretty much a certainty that many humans are descended from an Avatar. How must it feel for a compassionate, family-focused Avatar when they think of this and think about how often they hurt each other?
  • So Bloodbending is the dark side of Waterbending which works by using your body fluids. But if you know your anatomy and/or chemistry, it's not just Waterbending alone that has such potential. Eastern philosophy states that all the elements are present in the human body. When you think of the possibilities, it suddenly dawns on you that the doors open for horrific variations in any of the four bending styles. Do not read below if you're of the faint hearted.
    • Firebending: hypothermia, hyperthermia, heat stroke, spontaneous human combustion...
    • Airbending: diver's bends, suffocationnote , explosive decompression, being flayed alive...
    • Earthbending. For one, Earthbenders can definitely bend carbon if they can bend coal with ease. Our body has no shortage of carbon either. Let's not think too much about the possibilities? Not to mention the most likely use for the Sand Bending variant of Earthbending when used offensively: being flayed alive....
  • ...has it ever been stated that the blood has to still be circulating in order to be Bent? On other words, is Katara potentially a necromancer?
  • Aang had a friend in the Fire Nation before the war, Kuzon. Kuzon must have felt pretty awful when the Fire Nation army massacred the Air nomads. He might not even have known Aang was the Avatar, in which case he would just think he got murdered with the rest of the Airbenders. And if he did know Aang was the Avatar, the Fire Nation probably told their country that the Avatar ran away like a coward. Kuzon would be happy Aang was still alive, and assume that he would eventually come out of hiding and fix everything. He probably died before Aang came back.
    • Not only that, but it seems as if people from different nations and tribes were often friends before Aang went into the ice - how many people knew that their friends were being murdered by their own nation and were completely powerless or too afraid to do anything about it?
    • An even more horrifying thought: What if Kuzon had ended up being slowly indoctrinated by his nation until he not only came to believe it as necessary, but outright embraced it in the belief that what the Fire Nation was doing was a GOOD thing? And what if he happened to know one of Aang's other friends like Bumi, who could have ended up bearing witness to Kuzon being turned into a xenophobic patriot of a murderous empire, maybe even being forced to fight him? What if that friend had to live with the knowledge that one of Aang's own friends has turned to the dark side, likely to never be redeemed due to probably dying out before the end of the war?

    Book One Episodes 

The Avatar Returns

  • Sokka was fully prepared and geared up to face Zuko's ship alone, knowing full well that he was outnumbered and outmatched. If it hadn't been Zuko who arrived, and instead a more callous Fire Navy commander, it's not unthinkable that the pathetic remnant of the Southern Water Tribe would've been on the receiving end of a final purge.

The Storm

  • Zuko's face getting burned and his subsequent banishment all happened because he spoke out of turn to object to sending new recruits to their deaths. Given his objection was seen as an insult to the Fire Lord and Zuko obviously had no involvement in any strategy meetings after the Agni Kai with his father, it is entirely possible that those soldiers who Zuko defended ended up being sent to their deaths anyways after Zuko's banishment.
  • The moment the Agni Kai was set, Zuko is pretty much doomed.
    • His opponent is the head of state meaning that attacking Ozai is essentially treason. Even if we assume that any social and political status is pushed aside for the duel, Zuko wasn't just pleading to not fight his father out of basic human decency. It is also because he knows he is no match for his father. Combined with the knowledge of being The Un-Favourite, he knows he is scorched to a crisp for sure if he fought back. Pleading into a surrender was really the only option he can do. Even if by some miracle Ozai didn't fry him if he fought back and acknowledged Zuko's honor, there is no way an incident like this will be swept under the rug for the royal family, painting Zuko as a rebellious threat to Ozai and Azula.
    • However from Ozai's point of view, this retroactively makes him look like an incompetent parent to the entire Fire Nation top brass that were part of the audience. Zuko's pleas just embarrassed him again in front his own subjects much like what happened in the war room earlier and gave the impression that the next Fire Lord is a complete antithesis of the ideal Fire Nation. No wonder he went to that extreme.

The Siege of the North

  • Zhao's death is being dragged to his doom by a vengeful spirit. That's bad enough, but then you realize it's dragging him back towards a portal to the spirit world. It's very possible it didn't kill Zhao but instead sent him to a Fate Worse than Death for killing its counterpart. Terribly confirmed in the sequel series, where in the spirit world Tenzin runs into Zhao, who is eternally stuck in a mental state where he believes he is chasing the Avatar. Drowning is painful and horrific, but at least it ends. Zhao's punishment in the spirit world won't.
    • When we saw Iroh and Zuko sailing that raft past all those sunken warships, there were no bodies in the water, implying that either they got taken to the Spirit World, too, or they just sank due to wearing full body armor, meaning almost everyone in an entire fleet of ships probably drowned. Even worse when you consider that they were firebenders drowning in icy water. They would have been struggling to swim to safety, but they would be weighed down as their bodies slowly went numb and their air ran out.
    • La (the ocean spirit) seems generally a benign spirit, with its attack on the Fire Nation being its reaction to the murder of its mate. And even then it showed mercy to the members of the Water Tribe. However some of the other spirits we meet are shown to be amoral or even outright vindictive. And it's been confirmed that at least one of these less-than-benevolent spirits stole away a previous avatar's fiancee into the spirit world. And since Koh has more than one face at his disposal, its unlikely she was either his first or last victim. Which raises the question: how many other people have just disappeared from the world, judiciously or not, and never come back? And in The Legend of Korra we see that Zhao isn't the only person mindlessly wandering in the Fog of Lost Souls. Even Jinora, who was Korra's spirit guide, and wasn't even physically in the spirit world, got trapped in there and could have been lost forever.
  • Imagine what would happen if the Northern Water Tribe forgot to feed the physical bodies of the Ocean and the Moon Spirit... Could they just die of starvation? As shown in The Legend Of Korra, The Avatar themselves is a spirit vessel, and the Avatars do experience hunger and the need to eat, so it is possible. Then again, the koi fish vessels seem to be immortal and didn't reincarnate into a new vessel immediately upon death, so maybe the rules are different.
    • Also, the Moon and Ocean Spirits are held immensely sacred by the Northern Water Tribe. There's probably someone assigned to look after their physical bodies, which would include food.
  • Zuko's crew was conscripted into Zhao's armada right before the Fire Nation's attack. They were therefore most likely part of the casualties of the ocean spirit's rampage.
  • No one sent from the chief's mission were shown after they volunteered. It is likely they died infiltrating the Fire Nation ships in an ultimately futile effort to assassinate Zhao.

    Book Two Episodes 

The Avatar State

  • Considering that Azula didn't hesitate to subtly threaten the captain with being thrown overboard and smashed against the rocks by the waves, we can imagine that Azula probably wasn't feeling merciful with how very badly the guard screwed up by letting slip what they were trying to do... Tellingly, said captain never appears again afterwards.

Avatar Day

  • The Avatar's role is supposed to be to stop conflict; however, all of the evidence from that episode is that Avatar Kyoshi did absolutely nothing to stop Chin the Conqueror from rampaging across the Earth Kingdom until he finally closed in on Kyoshi Village. And, as far as we know, if he hadn't ended up being killed when she split the landmass off to become an island, she would have just blithely let him continue leading his army to conquer everything in his path. Moral Myopia? Somebody Elses Problem? In the Kyoshi Warriors episode the leader outright states they're avoiding the current war. Avatar or no, maybe the village and she (much like Aang and the Avatars before him) was reluctant to accept the call until she could no longer wait? Aang didn't want to fight/kill Ozai, even if it meant saving the world (and would've waited until the decimation of the Earth Kingdom, were it not for Zuko), Roku didn't want to fight his friend and lost his life for it (and let the 100 year war begin in the first place), Koh took the face of a Waterbending Avatar's lover due to his "go with the flow" personality and arrogance... Noticing a pattern here?
    • Of course Kyoshi did nothing to stop him, that is the way of the Master Earthbender. In this case, she had to wait until he had unified the Earth Kingdom (minus Ba Sing Se) under his banner in order to bring peace. Killing him sooner would have just fractured the Earth Kingdom even more.
  • This is also Fridge Brilliance but the proof that Chin the Conqueror was an evil warlord? He most likely set up the Kangaroo Court system that condemned Aang. It also has the wheel which probably included the community service part just to provide a cruel Hope Spot to the convicted. Another element of Fridge Horror is that when Aang gets thrown into prison he talks to the rest of the prisoners and finds that they're pretty nice guys. How many other good people were thrown in there?

Zuko Alone

  • Iroh comes home with a dead son to find his father is dead, his brother has ascended to the throne, and his sister in law has disappeared, then watches Ozai abuse the shit out of his kids.
  • Before that, Iroh had casually mocked the Ba Sing Se defenders in a letter to home, which was sent along with several pieces of looted treasures, including an Earth Kingdom doll. Think about how Iroh must have felt when his own son died: He just realized that the pain he felt from losing his son is what he'd been doing to thousands of families, whose sons and fathers have been fighting on the front lines against him. No wonder the guy became a comical old fool, he's probably trying to avoid all the horrible memories he lived.
  • Supposedly, Iroh got the dagger he gives to Zuko as a gift from a surrendering Earth Kingdom general - except the dagger's inscription reads "Never give up without a fight". Anyone else see the obvious contradiction there? We know that Iroh was a lot more ruthless in his younger days, it's entirely possible he got the dagger under less dignified circumstances and simply lied to Zuko in his letter.
  • Zuko has a flashback to Azula telling him that Ozai is going to kill him. After she leaves he chants "Azula always lies" and when the flashback ends, he's still chanting it. He's chanting because he believes her and he's never had any reason not to. Every since that moment he's never been sure whether Ozai was going to kill him or not and some part of him believes that he was. For years he's been haunted by the idea that his father was probably totally ok with killing him for almost no reason. So imagine what he's thinking when Ozai walks into the ring for their State Sanctioned Death Match.

Bitter Work

  • Aang tries to airbend Sokka out of the hole he's stuck in, throwing Sokka's weapons into the air, which then comically strike him on the head...but those things were sharp, and unsheathed. They were only a fraction of a revolution from SPLITTING SOKKA'S HEAD OPEN.
  • Iroh learned how to redirect lightning from studying waterbenders. But, the only waterbenders who aren't at either pole are Katara, who encountered Iroh long after he'd have developed the technique, or Hama, who was taken from the Southern Water Tribe. So, in order to study waterbenders, he'd have to been part of a raid at one of the poles...
    • This Horror evaporates with the reveal that Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe is a member of the White Lotus society. Iroh probably studied with him.
      • Another non horrifying possibility; it is known that Iroh has been on spiritual journeys, presumably after losing his son, where is one of, if not the most spiritual place on earth? The Foggy Swamp, complete with it’s own tribe of water benders, it’s entirely possible that Iroh encountered them, and that’s where he learnt how to apply waterbending techniques to his Firebending, particularly as it is in the swamp that the Gaang are told how everything is connected together, a philosophy front and centre in lightning bending.

The Desert

  • The Gaang finds a bumble buzzard nest where intoxicated Sokka tastes a sticky substance on the walls. Subsequently, he finds that it tastes nasty. Remember, these critters are a cross between vultures and bees. He probably tasted their honey, which was likely made from rotting meat!
  • Aang sends a wave of wind towards a fleeing buzzard-hornet-thingy. Look closely, and you can see its silhouette split in two as it falls. All those times he gusted Zuko and Azula back, and he could have sliced them like a watermelon.
  • Aang’s rage about Appa’s disappearance. Most of the main characters in the show have suffered loss (Zuko and Iroh have each other, Katara and Sokka do as well, and they still have their father, Bato, Gran Gran), but they still have something, whether they appreciate it or not. Aang? He has lost more than anyone else, he lost everything, and the only thing he has left of his whole life? Appa. Aang hadn’t just lost his beloved companion, he lost the last link to a home he will never get back.

The Drill

  • As pointed out in the Radar page, "The Drill" is essentially one big metaphor for sex. Except... not exactly. It's forced, so it's also rape, making it an allusion to a historical event: when Japan invaded Nanking in 1937, the atrocities the soldiers committed were so great that a common nickname given to the massacre is the Rape of Nanking. Building off of this, and the rest of the war analogies already discussed on this page, imagine what the Fire Nation would have done when they entered Ba Sing Se. To back that up there is a shot where the Fire Nation soldiers march past Iroh's old tea shop. The shop owner has an epic Oh, Crap! face and Zuko's one-shot girlfriend, Jin is hiding inside. The next shot is that family with the baby, you can tell how worried the father was for his wife and child just doesn't help.

Appa's Lost Days

  • If the Guru wasn't at the Eastern Air Temple to point Appa to Aang, Appa would likely have spent the rest of his days barely getting by, alone, either a hermit or constantly attacked by humans, and with little hope of finding his friends again.

Lake Laogai

  • The Dai Li have an Elaborate Underground Base which was used as a brainwashing facility. A couple episodes later, we find out Long Feng had it destroyed to eliminate any evidence of his misdeeds before the Earth King could see it... and all the people who were being brainwashed (whom you could probably consider evidence) are never mentioned again.
  • The Joo Dees. A bunch of brainwashed female Stepford Smilers who will obey the (presumably all-male) Dai Li's every command. You do the math. That is, assuming the Dai Li aren't eunuchs (which would make sense given the setting's Imperial Chinese influence), but that would fall under a whole different type of Fridge Horror.
    • We never learn what happened to the Joo Dees. It is possible that the Earth King freed them once he returned to power... but it is just as likely that he didn't, and the women are permanently brainwashed.
    • Since Azula gained control of the Dai Li, what couldn't she have done with the brainwashing techniques?
  • Just how many villages have the Rough Rhinos destroyed? And how long did it take for them to use “kinder methods” like they used in Chin village in "Avatar Day" and only go for the village leader, rather than the whole village like they seemingly did when they attacked Jets’ home?

The Guru

  • Unless someone would've gone by that road eventually, Yu and Xin Fu would be trapped for the rest of their lives in a cramped metal box while most likely starving to death. While Yu needs to go to the bathroom.
    • Yu and Xin Fu escaped and ended their search for Toph. Horror averted.

    Book Three Episodes 

The Headband

  • Sokka and Katara manage to convince a Fire Nation school's headmaster that they have a twelve year old son, and that Katara is pregnant. Seriously how common is teen pregnancy in the Fire Nation?
    • Maybe the headmaster just assumed that Katara was older than she looked, Sokka had a beard that obviously fooled him so why should he think that Katara was anything other than a young-looking woman?

The Beach

  • Remember those two guards who saw Aang and sent a messenger hawk to warn the Fire Lord. Combustion Man intercepted the message, and the world still believes the Avatar is dead. But wait, who's to say the guards didn't spread the word the next time they went to town or realized their message was intercepted? As a trained assassin, Combustion Man would not hesitate to kill the two guards.
  • Also, the messenger hawk that Combustion Man's bird tied up is pretty much doomed considering it can't fly.

The Puppetmaster

  • With Plantbending, which can be done during a normal day, you can either draw the water out of the plant or bend the plant itself. With Bloodbending, you can bend the body itself during the full moon. Using the connections these techniques share, a sufficiently powerful waterbender, under a full moon, could draw the water out of their enemies and use it to slaughter others.
  • You know what waterbenders can do with normal water in the series? Turn it to ice or steam in an instant, use it to cut steel or smash with incredible force. Yeah, a bloodbender can do that inside your body! The implications are so horrific that if the creators had dealt with any of the uses of bloodbending other than the People Puppets one (such as being dehydrated to a mummy, boiled alive, frozen alive, ripped apart by blood ice crystals, body fluids ripped out of the body, etc...), the age rating on the series would have had to have been revised WAY upward.
    • Who's to say none of that happened off-screen? Hama is nuts enough to do that. Hama's been bloodbending for years; she probably kills most of the time and imprisons people she want to torture longer. It makes so much sense, it's terrifying.
    • Backed up by the fact that Toph specifically mentioned that people were screaming in that dungeon... only to say that it stopped a few seconds later. Toph very well could've heard someone get murdered.
    • Then there's the realization that, between bone mineral and the not insignificant quantities of iron in the bloodstream, Toph is probably capable of something close to bloodbending, herself.
  • The Gaang meet Hama at night, on a full moon, as Katara has finished telling a scary Water Tribe story. Later it becomes obvious that she must have been hunting for victims, but it's worse than that: Hama shows up right after the story. She was there all along, in the dark, listening. If the kids had been talking about anything else - the weather, the cooking, Toph's feet - they would not have been recognised as Water Tribe and would have become her next prey.
  • Hama's flashback shows that she wasn't the only Waterbender captured and imprisoned. Yet, when she escapes, she's alone. Given her personality and her obsession with keeping the Southern Water Tribe's culture alive, we can assume that she would have broken them out of prison too if she could. So, given the fact that the prison has been described as hellish, it's probable that by the time Hama escaped, she was the only prisoner still alive. It really puts her Start of Darkness into another perspective. Not only was she imprisoned and mistreated, she may even had to watch her friends die.
    • That, or she was unable to get her friends out. Or driven so mad that she was unwilling. Both unpleasant possibilities.
  • Given what happened the last time Hama was locked up, it's very unlikely that Hama is going to go back to jail. It's far more likely that she'll get the death penalty. Maybe they'll simply lock her in an isolated area and make sure no one goes into the area on the night of a full moon, but given how dangerous the bloodbending technique is if she were to get a new victim... Her chances aren't good.

The Firebending Masters

  • It's revealed that dragons are almost extinct because Sozin started the practice of dragon hunting. "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" showed that Sozin used to have a dragon of his own, which means it's possible that he killed his own loyal dragon for no reason other than glory!

The Boiling Rock

  • During Chit Sang's first escape attempt, he had his girlfriend and best friend escaping with him too. On the second attempt, he doesn't even seem to bother looking for them. Combine that with the Warden's fixation on his prison's record, and you can probably guess what happened.
  • The guards at the Boiling Rock torture prisoners for information in canon. Suki was the leader of the group of warriors found in the company of the avatar's primary means of transportation, so it makes sense she would have some idea of his whereabouts, information that would have been very useful to the Fire Nation. This is made even worse by the fact that we see an apparently hardened criminal fold to these interrogation techniques in a matter of hours. Suki is fifteen years old, and she was at the Boiling Rock for several months. That being the case, she clearly didn't give Aang up, which might merit a sort of off-screen Moment of Awesome.
    • The hardened criminal didn't actually fold, just pretended to in order to get revenge on a guard.
      • But surely others have before, because he successfully fooled the Warden. Giving in much easier than other inmates had would've given the lie away.
  • Chit Sang ended up escaping with Sokka and Zuko, but he is a firebender. The prison is not designed to just hold war criminals, it's to hold their most violent prisoners. Sokka and Zuko may possibly have released a notorious, violent criminal back into the world.
    • Avatar Extras says that Chit Sang is innocent and claims he was framed.
  • When Sokka forgets about his disguise and tries to kiss Suki, she immediately and confidently kicks him in the gut hard enough to slam him into the wall. This may not have been the first time that this happened to her.

The Southern Raiders

  • Katara and Hakoda discovered Kya's body together after she was killed by Yon Rha. We don't actually see it, however - because Kya was killed by a firebender, and her face (or even her whole body) would have been a burned, blackened, featureless hunk of cooked meat, smell and all. And her daughter, nine years old at most, saw it. Good luck watching that episode without feeling sick ever again.
  • The reason why Yon wasn't taking prisoners wasn't because he was cruel, but it was because Hama had escaped by using bloodbending. Hama's escape likely caused the Fire Nation to deem all Southern Waterbenders to be too dangerous to keep alive, so Yon was given orders to kill on sight.
    • As stated in an entry under The Puppetmaster, Hama escaped alone. The Fire Nation likely killed all the remaining prisoners.
  • Then again, if it had been revealed that the last waterbender of the South was Katara instead of Kya, Yon Rha might have had second thoughts about murdering a child and instead may have taken Katara prisoner and locked her up in the hellish prisons designed for waterbenders. At this point in her young life, Katara came very close to either getting murdered or getting imprisoned and tortured.
  • Yon Rha said he had a source who claimed that one waterbender who remained in the Southern Water Tribe. The very implications of this mean that there was someone willing to sell out a young girl no older than 9 to the Fire Nation. What's worse, is that it's likely a citizen of the Water Tribe, who likely did it for money.
  • In Legend of Korra, Amon’s Father somehow knew Bloodbending and it’s apparently known enough for Katara to make it illegal. Katara wouldn’t teach it to anyone and her friends wouldn’t spread her use of it. However When looking for Yon Rha, She used bloodbending on Yon Rha’s successor. Did HE report what happened? Or did Hama’s victims report it?

The Ember Island Players

  • The play mentioned the village that was visited by the Painted Lady and Piandao, who taught Sokka how to use a sword despite the fact he is an outsider. These people collaborated with the Avatar, wouldn't this be seen as treason once the authorities are notified?
    • The village from painted lady is possible, but it's unlikely Piandao was referenced, the only people who knew about Sokka training under him were Piandao himself and his butler and they was unlikely to have told anyone about it. Given how much major battles like the siege of the North and the Day of Black Sun were cut down, it’s probable that either the play just showed Sokka stumbling upon the sword, or, given that it’s Fire Nation propaganda intended to show the gang as the bad guys, it is possible that the play showed Sokka stealing the sword from some Fire Nation noble, possibly even Piandao himself.

Sozin's Comet, Part 1

  • There's a cruel Irony to Ozai going with the plan of wiping out the Earth Kingdom with the power of Sozin's Comet. A century ago, Sozin sent the colonists to occupy Earth Kingdom land to share the Fire Nation's "greatness". As misplaced as the gesture was, it was still with good intentions, though that doesn't excuse him using the comet's power against Aang's people. A hundred years later, his grandson Ozai maliciously wants to use his amplified fire bending to not only kill Earth Kingdom men, women and children, but also their own colonists. The war began because Sozin sent those colonists, and it almost ended with those colonists being burned alive.
  • During the war meeting, Ozai only mentions using the comet against the Earth Kingdom, but how would this affect the Water Tribes if the Fire Nation wins? Good news is, the comet would only last long enough for the Fire Nation's airship fleet to raze the Earth Kingdom, and the climate of both polar water tribes is unfavorable for Fire Nation people. However, if the Fire Nation does win, the Water Tribes would remain intact, but become vassal states to the dominant Fire Nation.

Sozin's Comet, Part 2

  • On the topic of Zuko, a kind of form of Fridge Tearjerker; when he finally finds Iroh in the third season, Zuko is crying and tearfully apologizing for betraying him. When Iroh suddenly grabs him, Zuko seems to let out a little yelp...the last time Zuko apologized to a family member for a perceived slight, said family member burned and horribly scarred his face. Zuko has no idea how families are supposed to work. Given that he expected Iroh to be "furious" with him, in that second, did Zuko think Iroh was going to hurt him?
  • It's a really understated moment but right before the Gaang notices that Aang is missing, they're loading up onto Appa. We're not really told what they're doing but given the context of the previous episode, they were about to fly straight to Caldera, the Fire Nation Capital, and attempt to assassinate the Fire Lord. First of all, that is some dark stuff but the desperation of war has made it the only real option. This was almost certainly a suicide mission, even with the Avatar so thank goodness they called it off to go and look for our hero.

Sozin's Comet, Part 3

  • When Azula hallucinates seeing her mother during her Villainous Breakdown, she isn't surprised, and before she breaks down some more she seems more irritated than genuinely upset to see her. Does this mean that she's so far gone that she can't even realise the strangeness of the meeting, or does it mean this has happened before? The speed with which she deteriorates shows that her sanity was pretty fragile anyway, and that it takes comparatively little to push her too far, so maybe this isn't the first time her grip on reality has slipped. Suddenly her Cry for the Devil factor gets even higher.
    • There's also the consideration that since Ursa in this bit is a figment of Azula's own imagination, all the things Ursa says about how she thinks Azula is just confused and that she truly loves her are things that Azula knows already, but just won't let herself accept. It's not that she truly doesn't understand that her mother loves her or that she doesn't need to rule through fear, she is actively rejecting that way of thinking, presumably because Ozai has.
    • Overlapping a bit with Fridge Brilliance, but Azula tells Ursa that "Fear is the only reliable way [of controlling people]". You can read quite a lot into that rather desperate declaration, because she's already been proven wrong on that count; during Mai's betrayal, Mai says "I love Zuko more than I fear you". Azula didn't actually lose her temper until Zuko's name comes up. She's not terribly upset about losing Mai until she realizes she's lost her to Zuko. Alternatively, it's possible that what she is really upset over is the fact that someone she trusted, considered a friend even, is choosing Zuko over her, which would suggested that her firebending prowess and ability to control through fear and manipulation aren't enough. As much as she looks down on him, Zuko has something she doesn't, and that "something" has cost her one of the only people she could rely on. She responds with "You should have feared me more", essentially putting the blame for her "miscalculat[ion]" on Mai being stupid rather than her philosophy of fear being wrong. It really emphasises that fear is all Azula has, and she dare not let herself think differently or she'll lose everything.
    • Azula also proves herself wrong in fear being "the only reliable way"; she follows it with "Even you fear me". From what we saw in Zuko Alone, Azula couldn't control her mother, and had to resort to manipulation rather than bullying with her, and frequently got rebuked. Azula is far too clever not to spot the holes in her logic if she really looked at it carefully, so knows her philosophy is flawed, but is too insecure to admit it to herself, and rejects the part of her mind that tries to tell her this.
  • The poor servants in the royal palace. Look at the reaction of the young girl Azula accuses when she finds a simple stone in her cherry. She was honestly expecting Azula to kill her, over a mistake. And this is before Azula's clearly gone too far off the deep end. That's a typical working day for a royal servant: One mistake, and unless the boss feels merciful, you're dead.

Sozin's Comet, Part 4

  • One of the first things Iroh warns Zuko about when teaching him to redirect lightning is to make sure he does not send the lightning through his chest, as opposed to his stomach, as it could stop his heart. In the finale, when Zuko takes the lightning for Katara, it hits him in the chest. It's entirely possible he nearly stopped his own heart by taking that blow.

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