In the original Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the world is divided into four nations: water, fire, earth, and air. Some people of these nations have the ability to bend one of the four elements. There is one person, the Avatar, who has the ability to bend all four elements. It is the Avatar’s duty to keep balance within the four nations, thus keeping balance in the world. When the series begins, there is a one-hundred-year war going on with the fire nation trying to take control. Katara, who is a waterbender, and her brother Sokka come across a frozen icicle and find someone frozen inside. To their surprise, it’s Avatar Aang–who had been missing for one-hundred years.
Katara, Sokka, Aang, and Toph (who is introduced later in the series), travel the world to help Aang cease the plans of the fire nation. Not only does the audience witness the fun and light-hearted moments from the team of four, but they also see how many important life lessons are addressed. Many great conversations between the two of us have emerged from discussing the plots of certain episodes. We thought it would be a good idea to share some of the things we’ve learned from watching the series.
(Warning: There will be spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender from here on out.)
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The power of a mother’s love
It is never explained in the series (though it is explained in the comic books) what Zuko’s mom did to protect him from his father’s punishment. But what is clear is that the love she had for him and his sister, Azula, was evident. There are a few episodes where the audience witnesses some of Zuko’s earliest memories with his mother. While his father is more stern and aggressive, his mother is more soft and warm, which was how Zuko was when he was younger (if you’ve only seen the first few episodes, you probably find that hard to believe). The theme stems well when we find out what Katara and Sokka’s mom did to protect Katara. When the fire nation invaded their home in the Southern Water Tribe, they were looking for the last known waterbender. Reluctant to reveal to them that the one they were looking for was her own daughter, Katara’s mother took the fall.
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It is important to forgive others and yourself.
It’s evident, especially in season one, that Aang feels some sort of guilt for disappearing for so long. He admits that once he found out that he was the Avatar, he felt like he couldn’t deal with the pressure that came with keeping the world in balance. When he overheard the monks talking about it, he chose to run away, knowing his twelve-year-old life would not be one that he knew anymore. Though, in all fairness, he didn’t know he would end up frozen in the sea for so long. It took encouraging words from Katara to help Aang realize that even though he had not made the best decision, it was important to forgive himself for what he had done. The tables turned when Zuko informed the team that he wanted to stop fighting them and start fighting alongside them. After all the damage that Zuko had done to them, everyone definitely was not on board with this offer, especially Katara. Though, Aang reminded her, as she once did for him, that we all make mistakes. But if we show genuine promise to do better, and be better, as Zuko did, we deserve the chance to shine our light and be given a second chance.
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The necessity of friendship
Being one unit is one thing that the team of four struggle with, but never fail to get back to. Of all the things we learned from watching this show, it is that companionship is always important. Each of them represented characteristics that we all need: compassion and understanding, which came from Katara; humor and honesty, which came from Sokka; insight and perspective, which came from Toph; and determination and leadership, which came from Aang. Even after Zuko had been banished from the fire nation, he still had his uncle, Iroh, as a guide and friend to him during his rough time.
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You have to be content with yourself, or you will struggle to find inner peace
Zuko spends most of the show attempting to capture the Avatar in order to regain his honor. However, his standards of what is “honorable” come from outside himself – he listens to what his abusive father tells him. It is not until he has regained honor in his father’s eyes that Zuko realizes that this was never what he wanted. In order for him to truly be happy, he has to listen to himself and what he believes is honorable. Likewise, Toph never would have found peace if she had followed the life laid out for her by her parents. She knew that being blind didn’t make her weak, and she didn’t let other people’s presumptions about who she was holding her back.
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Everyone has regret
Many of the characters in Avatar take actions they later regret. The chief among them is Aang, who feels that he failed in his duties as the Avatar for disappearing for so long and letting the Fire Nation wreak havoc. His regrets come to the forefront in the episode “The Storm” from season one. In the third season, Zuko regrets how he spent so long attempting to capture Aang for his father. Katara regrets giving into the impulse to blood-bend, even if it was necessary to save herself and her friends. But all of these characters come to realize that stewing in their regret gives them nothing. They have to acknowledge the mistakes they made and move forward, working to correct them.
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Masculinity does not have to be toxic.
During the beginning of season one, Sokka is bound to his very deep rooted, and very sexist, ideas about girls. There is an episode where the gang meets the Kyoshi Warriors, a badass group of female fighters who are basically fangirls of one of Aang’s past lives, Avatar Kyoshi. Sokka goes to be trained as a warrior when they arrive at Kyoshi Island. To his surprise, his trainers are girls. He is reluctant to be trained by them at first, but once he gets tied up (literally) and ultimately shamed by one of the warriors, Suki, he returns to the dojo to receive further training. He even ends up fighting alongside the warriors in the official Kyoshi attire which includes the traditional warrior robe and makeup. As a further analysis, Aang’s overall character brings light to a non-typical kind of masculinity. It could have been due to the fact that Aang was raised by air monks, and that this group of people was more pacifist than the other people of other nations. But this part of Aang definitely showed during the final episode of the series where Aang met his destiny to battle with the Fire Lord Ozai. Throughout the series, the goal is to “defeat” Ozai. It is arguable that most people would probably think that defeating him would mean killing him. But after connecting with himself through spiritual guidance, Aang discovered another way to defeat Ozai; taking away his ability to bend. By doing this, Aang was able to hold to his values of preserving life and still save the world. Just as the Avatar should.