We all know about the Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra from their respective TV Series. But did you ever think about the background of Avatar? And how the Avatar got its powers? Avatar Aang was the lead character of Avatar: The Last Airbender while Avatar Korra was the main lead in The Legend Of Korra.
Both of these shows received critical acclaim and a huge fan-following. Avatar: The Last Airbender showcased the Avatar universe that was engulfed in war. Because the Fire Nation had started a war against the rest of the nations. And was slowly inching towards victory with each passing day. Avatar Aang was the only person who could defeat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world.
And likewise, The Legend Of Korra revolved around the life of Avatar Korra and her adventures in a world after Aang. Most of the show was centered around Republic City. The Capital of the United Republic of Nations. This united republic was formed by Aang himself where all the people from different kingdoms could converge.
The people that belonged to the very first colonies of the Fire Nation in other Kingdoms. Became a part of these kingdoms and had married in those kingdoms as well. So they opposed the idea of disbanding the colonies as they considered themselves a part of the kingdoms where they were living. To solve this issue Aang, Zuko, and Kuei lay the foundation of a democratic republic where Korra ultimately was born.
But in this article, we will focus on the background of how The Avatar got his powers and came into existence. And how did he evolve into becoming the link between spirit and the human worlds?
Background Of The Avatar
In the Human World of the Avatar universe, an avatar is a person that has the ability to bend all four elements. And his primary role is to maintain a balance between all these kingdoms. An avatar also serves as the link between the human and spirit worlds. But about 10,000 years before Korra the world was a very different place. Spirits roamed the human world freely and humans were very few in number. Both of these entities were always at odds and competed for the resources of the world.
Humans were very few in number and did not live on the mainlands where spirits were mostly found. Humans were living in the sea-turtle cities situated on the backs of huge sea turtles. The sea turtles protected the humans from these wandering spirits. In one of these cities, a person named Wan was born. Who later went on to become the first Avatar over the course of his lifetime. And was the first human to master all the four elements.
History Of Wan
Wan was born in a city situated on the back of a fire lion. He was very poor and his only mission in life was to steal food from the ruling Chou family and give it to his friends. He was caught one day and could not get the food so gave them whatever little he had remained. But after this encounter, he was extremely demoralized and questioned the imbalance of the world. Afterwards, he was recruited by a group of hunters who were going onto the mainland to look for food.
But before they went on their journey the fire lion gave them the ability of firebending so that they could survive in the wild. But they were to return the firebending on their return. Wan did not do so and used his ability to steal from the Chou family after returning to the city. He attacked their food supplies while using a mask but was uncovered by the Chou’s. This led him to be presented in front of the Lion turtle for his crime. He was banished to the wild but was allowed to keep the power to protect himself in the wild.
Wan’s Banishment
The initial days were very troubling for Wan as he was constantly fighting the spirits and was famished. He could not find anything to eat. He discovered an Oasis but was refused entry by the aye-aye spirit because he was human. After being refused entry into the oasis he set out in search of other cities. But encountered a trapped cat deer spirit and helped it out of the net that hunters had put to capture it.
After this the aye-aye spirit was convinced that he is not like other humans and allowed him entry into the oasis. He stayed with the spirits for some time and mastered firebending by the dragons. He used his abilities to protect the spirits and drive off hostile humans.
Encounter With Raava
After two years Wan left the oasis behind in search of other turtle cities. While on his search he encountered two spirits fighting. When he tried to intervene Raava told him that this fight does not concern him. He intervened nonetheless on pleas of Vaatu who asked Wan to help as he had been facing torture for 10,000 years. And freed Vaatu from Raava. To which Raava rebuked him and introduced herself as the spirit of light and Vaatu as the spirit of Darkness.
Wan was ashamed of his actions and offered his help to Raava but she rejected him. Wan then went to a city where people had the ability of Airbending. He met them and told them of their exploits, but Vaatu appeared and turned all the spirits into their evil form. After which the spirits started to attack the humans. Right at that time Raava appeared and chased Vaatu away.
Background Behind Wan Becoming The Avatar
After this encounter, Wan noticed that she has grown weak and offered his help again. Raava accepted his help and they went to the lion turtle to ask for the ability of Airbending as well. The creature gave him the ability on the condition that Raava will hold it till he masters it. Raava then passes through Wan while bonding their energy in the process. And gave him the Airbending ability. Both of them traveled to other cities and helped Wan master the remaining elements as well.
On their travels, they met Wan’s old friends that were very hostile towards the spirits. Wan tried to explain to them that not all spirits are bad. But at the same time, Vaatu appeared turning all the surrounding spirits evil. Wan used his ability of all four elements but was defeated so Raava had to fuse herself with Wan, but Vaatu escaped and told them that he will fight Raava on the day of harmonic convergence.
Formation Of The Avatar Spirit
On the day of harmonic convergence, both the southern and northern portals to the spirit world converged into one. Wan fought Vaatu at the day with Vaatu easily avoiding all the attacks on him. So Wan asked Raava to bond with him to defeat Vaatu. Both of them fought bravely but were no match for Vaatu.
Wan even risked his life by allowing Raava to bond with himself for very long without even caring for his life. Desperate to defeat Vaatu, Wan placed his hand on the portal which bonded him with Raava permanently, giving rise to the Avatar spirit and Avatar form. This bonding provided him with huge strength due to which he was able to defeat Vaatu and trap him inside an elemental cage. And imprisoned him inside the Hollow Tree Of Spirit.
Aftermath
After defeating Vaatu, Wan asked all the spirits to return to the spirit world and closed the portals afterward. Wan became the bridge between the spirit world and started to teach the world to respect the spirits. His other job was to keep a balance between the people of different turtle cities with different powers. He spent his life doing this and died while striving for this balance as well. After his death, Raava bonded with his incarnation making him the new Avatar.
All the Avatars are actually the incarnation of Avatar Wan and have the same purpose which is to maintain the balance of the Avatar universe. All the different incarnations spent their life while trying to do this task.
Each Avatar could also connect with his past selves with the help of the Avatar spirit and ask them for guidance. Each new Avatar improved the abilities of the previous incarnation making them more powerful with each passing incarnation according to this look into the background of the Avatar.
Conclusion
In this article, our team has tried to summarize the complete background of the Avatar and how the Avatar spirit was formed. If you liked this article, then you should definitely visit our website www.avatarfactor.com to read other popular features on Avatar as well.