The Team Avatar is a legendary team that started with Sokka, Aang, and Katara, and of course, Appa. The Team grew as the quest and their needs grew.
Team Avatar is the name used to refer to Avatar Aang and his companions. They put together this Team on Aang’s journey to master all four elements and defeat the Fire Lord. Balance was much needed during and after the 100-year war. Aang and his friends started out to restore the balance that the fire nation had upset but wiping out the Air Nation (Nomads), taking Earth nation territory, and waging war on the Water tribe.
Team Avatar consisted of Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Appah but was later joined by Toph, Suki, Zuko, and Momo. The latter members all became equally important as the first set of people in the Team.
The Team’s constituency varied a little bit all through Aang’s journey across the world. This was until the invasion of the Fire Nation when a much larger number of people began to join and leave the group.
By the end of the war, the group was known to have had at least a bending master of all four bending arts. They had at least one member from each of the four nations, which inadvertently spoke balance itself. If they were to bring balance to the world, they had to have balance themselves. The Guru Patik once told Aang when he was trying to open all seven chakras to freely go in and out of the Avatar State.
The balance and mastery of the elements by its individual members made Team Avatar a formidable fighting group. One that was even capable of assaulting even the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace, which they did without much stress or destroying an airship fleet without any outside assistance.
Origin Of Team Avatar
The name of the group Team Avatar was originated by Sokka, who was inspired by a group of elite Earth benders. They were introduced into the scene as the Terra Team. He was inspired by their catchy name and wanted one for Team Avatar as well. He first suggested a few other names. He suggested the “Boomeraang Squad,” a clear merger of “boomerang” and “Aang”; the “Aang Gang”; and the “Fearsome Foursome” before settling on Team Avatar.
Even after he had created the name, Katara would not have it as she told him it would not catch on.
Formation Of The Team
During the Hundred Year War, started by Fire Lord Sozin in 0 AG. AG is is an Avatar timeline representational reference used to refer to before and after the genocide of the Air Nation. AG is After Genocide. BG is Before Genocide.
Sozin used the comet to wipe out the Air Nomads, hoping to kill the Avatar in the process and begin the war. A move, ensuring that no one could stand in his way. He did this so there would be no chance. Not even the infant Avatar could stand against him. It is used to pinpoint and make this reference. He wiped the air nation and then began waging war on the other two great nations.
Pre this genocide of the Air Nomads; Avatar Aang fled the Southern Air Temple shortly before the Air Nomad Genocide occurred.
After being caught in a storm, Aang went into the Avatar State and encased himself in an iceberg. This was a self-imprisonment that lasted for a hundred years.
Eventually, Katara and Sokka discovered the iceberg, and Katara unintentionally used waterbending to release him. A blinding ray of light suddenly shot out from the encased shell, and the two siblings met Aang for the first time. This was the first meeting of the Team Avatar.
They later discovered that the young boy was indeed the Avatar. After he gave himself up to save their village, they went after him and tried to save him from the Fire Nation. After the debacle, they decided to accompany him on his journey to the Northern Water Tribe, where he would master waterbending.
Team Avatar’s First Journey
During their first long journey, Team Avatar met with a lot of people. These people became friends, allies, and trusted backup. People like Suki, a Kyoshi warrior who led a group of elite warriors with a unique fighting style. They were named in honor of the Avatar Kyoshi.
Haru, who Team Avatar helped free their town from the clutches of the fire nation. He was in a town where Earth bending was forbidden, but Aang, Sokka, and Katara helped change that by driving out the fire nation.
The Freedom Fighters, Teo, escaped Zuko a few times on this journey and Zhao. They also visited the Northern and Southern Air Temples. When they visited the Southern Air Temple, they found a winged lemur whom Aang decided to adopt as his pet, naming him Momo.
Team Avatar subsequently took a route up the western Earth Kingdom, meeting many people and visiting several villages. Upon arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, Aang began training with Master Pakku and was later accompanied by Katara.
Recruiting Toph Beifong to Team Avatar
The Team journeyed to Omashu with hopes of having Bumi be Aang’s earth-bending teacher.
When they arrived, they discovered Omashu had been captured by the Fire Nation and renamed New Ozai. When Aang and his friends asked Bumi’s advisors that they found in hiding what had happened, they said King Bumi surrendered before they could do anything.
The Team quickly launched into action and rescued Bumi. He was the one who later advised Aang to search for someone who waits and listens before striking. He explained that he was practicing and honing his Neutral Jin. A jin was employed to minimize causalities. This Jin involved not doing anything but waiting till it was right to strike.
Eventually, traveling to the city of Gaoling, they met Toph Beifong, a powerful blind girl, who joined them in an effort to leave her overprotective parents and save the world. This was not without much drama in itself, but the Team successfully added one more member, growing stronger than before.
Aang began learning earthbending under Toph and continued practicing waterbending with Katara as his master. The Team decided to take vacations leisurely until they arrived at a secret library in the Si Wong Desert. When Toph asked when she would get her own vacation, Sokka casually said, “You have to work here a little longer to qualify.”
In the spirit library, they learned of a solar eclipse that would render all firebenders powerless.
The group decided to bring this information to the Earth King before discovering Appa had been captured. They eventually crossed the Serpent’s Pass, where they reunited with Suki and arrived at their destination: the Earth Kingdom capital, Ba Sing Se.
Getting Appah back was no easy task but with the help of Zuko, even though they didn’t realize it at that time.
Recruiting Zuko to Team Avatar
This was a particularly tricky one for Team Avatar as they had long since their inception all known Zuko to be the hateful prince who would stop at nothing to kidnap the Avatar.
Zuko, after realizing who he is, decided to join Team Avatar.
After the failed invasion of the Fire Nation, Team Avatar and the other younger participants of the invasion, like Haru, Teo, and The Duke, journeyed to the Western Air Temple.
Zuko followed them, resolute on joining them, and helped them take down his father. He attempted to explain to the group that he was better now, but it was only after he saved them from the mind fire bender did they take him in. Sokka named him Combustion Man. It was only when Zuko made a statement, saying, “Fire can be dangerous in the wild and so is a fire bender” did Aang understand that he was meant to be his teacher. Aang understood what it meant to hurt his friends with fire, and Zuko did too, having suffered at the hands of his father.
Zuko joined the Team even with the disgruntled voices of the other members of Team Avatar.
They banded together and efficiently took down Zuko’s father, Fire Lord Ozai.
Team Avatar still stands to be one of the greatest teams ever. When you watch the final episode of Avatar, you see how the team had to work together. Zuko and Katara went to get the Fire Lord title back, Iroh went for the Earth Kingdom, Aang took care of the Fire Lord, and everyone else was dealing with the airships.
Everything they did required teamwork. They needed different bending forms and nonbenders to get the job done and bring peace and balance back to the world.
