Tenzin is the youngest child of the three children from Katara and Avatar Aang. He is also an Air bending master that lives on the Air Temple. He has two other siblings, Bumi and Kya. At this time, he is head of the makeshift Air Nation. A group of devout and stoic people that have dedicated their lives to preserving the legacy of the Air Nation. These people are known as the Air Acolytes. Tenzin has a wife named Pema and their four children: Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan.

After harmonic convergence, when Air benders began to pop up all over the Earth kingdom, Tenzin and the Acolytes relocated to the Northern air temple to better accommodate the new changes that Harmonic convergence created. 

Tenzin is serious, often referred to as too a serious man. He is also calm and a key figure in the Republic City. A city that was made for the unity of all bending nations. 

Tenzin represented the Air Nation on the United Republic Council in Republic City before its dissolution. He was responsible for educating Avatar Korra in the ways of airbending and spirituality. Being the last airbending master and the son of the previous Avatar, he was the logical choice to guide Korra in the ways of becoming an Avatar even if he didn’t know much himself. 

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Tenzin’s History 

Tenzin being the only Airbender that had been born in over a hundred years and was drilled extensively in the ways of air bending. He was taught the customs, traditions, and many guidelines of the Air Nomads. He eventually grew and earned the traditional air bending tattoos that symbolize being a realized bender. As kids, Tenzin would often be the object of bullying from his older brother and sister. 

After the identity of the new Avatar (Avatar Korra) was revealed, Tenzin pulled resources and joined forces with the Southern Chief Sokka, Fire Lord Zuko, and Korra’s father, Tonraq. They did this to prevent a kidnapping threat that was posed by Zaheer, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and P’Li. These people wanted to capture the Avatar in infancy and hone her to their will.

The alliance was able to defeat and apprehend the criminals and imprison them. They put these people in four separate and specially-designed prisons that would neutralize their combative abilities. Because of this threat, Tenzin and Tonraq decided to move Korra to the Southern Water Tribe compound, where she could safely train. They did this while keeping the information of what had happened away from her, supposedly for her own protection.

Teenage Years for Tenzin (Avatar 

In his teenage years, Tenzin was friends with Lin Beifong, the daughter of Toph Beifong. Toph is known as the greatest Earth bender in the world and was able to create an alternative form of bending called Metal bending. She did this by harnessing the earth particles that are present in refined metal and bend them to her will. Lin was trained in the ways of Metal bending and took after her mother. She succeeded Toph as the chief of Republic city police. 

Tenzin and she, at some point, were a couple. However, their romantic relationship did not last because Tenzin wanted children, and Lin did not. 

As their relationship was slowly falling apart, Pema approached the Airbender and confessed her feelings for him. This caused Tenzin to break up with Lin and start a new relationship with Pema instead. 

Tenzin and Pema eventually married, and by the time Korra had come to Republic City to learn airbending, their family consisted of three children: two daughters, Jinora and Ikki, a son named Meelo, and a fourth child on the way. He succeeded an Air Acolyte in being the representative of the Air Nation on the United Republic Council.

Helping The New Avatar

After Korra had completed training on all the other three elements, Tenzin began her airbending training. When it was time to begin, Tenzin became aware that it would be hard for her as it was her direct opposite. Mastery of the element Air required patience, calm, and cool-headedness as opposed to her hot-headed nature.

He told her that she needed to be patient, which was definitely the last thing she needed to hear. They both soon got frustrated as they would often clash for different reasons. One of these reasons was Korra’s inability to air bend and about how the teenage girl should spend her free time. Which apparently to Tenzin was more quiet and calmer ways such as meditation and other spiritually enlightening activities. 

On one of her many disappearances, Korra witnessed something horrific. It was a man named Amon, taking away a man’s bending. After Korra returned from an Equalist rally and stated how Amon had succeeded in taking away someone’s bending ability, Tenzin stated that the revolution was more dangerous than ever.

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Tenzin On The Council

As a council member, Tenzin tried his best to avoid anti-non bender measures to be taken, though he was unable to prevent Tarrlok from forming his task force to attack Amon head-on. Tarrlok later turned to be Amon’s brother. After Korra publicly challenged Amon to a duel, Tenzin tried to dissuade her, to no avail, and afterward offered her comfort when she cried in fear of Amon.

After this encounter, Tenzin and the rest of the United Republic Council were threatened by Amon to shut down the Pro-bending Arena or face “severe consequences.” 

Despite Tenzin’s disapproval, the rest of the Council voted to keep the arena open, which proved to be a horrible decision as Amon and his Equalists blew up part of the arena in their attack. The Equalists are a group of people who believe that bending should be eradicated because it brings inequality. Their fight is to bring equality to all the nations by cleansing them of its taint, Bending. 

With Lin and Korra’s help, Tenzin discovered that Hiroshi Sato had ties to the Equalists, though the ensuing confrontation nearly led to their capture.

When Korra was kidnapped, Tenzin set out to find her, together with Lin, Asami, Mako, and Bolin. After they discovered an Equalist hideout and rescued several captured Republic City Police officers, Tenzin realized that Tarrlok was the one who was holding Korra captive. They eventually found the Avatar as she was being carried through the city by Naga.

A host of events occurred during Tenzin’s time as the Avatar’s spiritual guide tutor.

Tenzin is a master Airbender, and even though he never succeeded in the aspect of spiritual development like his father, he is still one of the best air benders in the Avatar Universe. 

Rebuilding The Air Nation

One of Tenzin’s biggest roles on the show was helping to rebuild the air nation. He was the son of Aang that could Air Bend and he ended up having kids that could as well. This made his family the last airbenders in the world.

The world naturally tried to find balance again and it started giving people the ability to airbend out of no where. He took it on as his duty to go out and try to rebuild the air nation. It was one of the most noble tasks he could take on because it allowed the world to see true balance once again.

Avatar Yangchen was the Air Nomad Avatar  that succeeded Avatar Szeto and came before Avatar Kuruk. After she mastered all the four elements in her youth, she was quite eager to make a difference in the world, despite  the fact that she was inexperienced.

She would eventually become a respected figure and was hailed for her wisdom, determination, and power. Air Nomad culture placed a lot of emphasis on pacifism and the sanctity of life, but Yangchen was feared for being fierce and willing to do whatever it would take to keep the world peaceful and balanced in her duty as the bridge between two worlds.

Due to this, Avatar Yangchen’s time as Avatar ensured that the world was free of wars for an entire generation even after her death. After dying, she was seen as a holy individual and even the people in the Earth Kingdom would pray to her for protection. However, her actions had a side effect; contributing to a rise in dark spirit attacks during the time of her successor Avatar Kuruk. 

The graphic novel Shadow Of Kyoshi reveals some unknown facts about Avatar Yangchen, which we will now discuss.

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The History of Avatar Yangchen

Avatar Yangchen was born and raised by Air Nuns in the Western Air Temple. She performed her first act of waterbending on a small island in the Mo Ce Sea and, like all Avatars, mastered the elements and the Avatar State in order to maintain world peace.

Over time, she also became well learned and studied many different philosophies, including the writings of Gurus Laghima and Shoken. Avatar Yangchen was also well known for making pacts between humans and spirits, such as in the case of the Heartwalker of Yaoping Mountain, and the phoenix-eel spirits living under Ma’inka Island.

Avatar Yangchen died in 345 BG and was reincarnated as Kuruk of the Northern Water Tribe in accordance with the Avatar Cycle.

Aftermath of Avatar Yangchen’s Death

After her death, Avatar Yangchen became considered as a figure of holy reverence, particularly amongst the Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom. People from these kingdoms, especially the Earth Kingdom, would pray to her to give them luck and protection. They constructed wayside shrines dedicated to her all through the Earth Kingdom. Avatar Yangchen received such devotion that even when people faced Avatar Kyoshi, they would be praying to Yangchen. 

Her legacy as a compassionate person became legendary. In remembrance of how she handled the issue with General Old Iron, the Air Nomads made yearly pilgrimages to the statue of Lady Tienhai. They renamed the ritual as Yangchen’s Festival. Even the island where Avatar Yangchen had first practised waterbending became a holy site, that is until it was accidentally destroyed by Avatar Kuruk. As time went by, the Air Nomads eventually constructed two statues of Yangchen. One was located in the Eastern Air Temple and the other in the Western Air Temple. 

Yangchen’s decisions when it came to politics also had long-lasting impacts. Her time as the Avatar brought a prolonged period of peace, as no threats of war occurred for an entire generation after her death. Scholars also analyzed her decisions, and they wrote treatises on this subject. All of these were studied by the earthbender Yun, who was thought to be the next in line after Kuruk.

Avatar Yangchen and Aang

When Aang needed advice from his past lives on how to handle Firelord Ozai,  each avatar he met encouraged him to choose the path of violence. He surmised that Avatars Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk could not understand his pacifist stance, as they believed it would affect his restoring of balance in the world. Hence, Aang sought out Avatar Yangchen, believing that as a fellow air nomad, She would understand. 

Avatar Yangchen did understand Aang’s hesitation, but her advice was not exactly what Aang wanted to hear. She said “Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the world”. To Aang’s understanding that meant that Avatar Yangchen’s role as the Avatar took precedence over her Air Nomad ways.  Here, we can see what Avatar Yangchen’s character is truly like. It is clear she is far more violent than anyone thinks her to be.

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Avatar Yangchen In ‘The Rift’

Yangchen had a firm hand on the world’s politics, and in the tie-in comic “The Rift”, we can see how it affected her successor, Kuruk. There was an era of peace and much of this can be attributed to her direct and powerful intervention as well as her diplomacy. In her confrontation with the dark spirit General Old Iron, who believed that humans did not consider the spirits and their land with reverence or sanctity, Avatar Yangchen entered the Avatar State, and leveled the surrounding city. After tensions had cooled off,  Avatar Yangchen struck a deal with the spirit, agreeing to start a ritual in honor of Old Iron and that would serve as a testament to humanity’s goodwill.

Those same qualities of brokering deals and diplomacy with spirits were the background for Yangchen’s character in the novel, Shadow of Kyoshi.

Avatar Yangchen In ‘Shadow of Kyoshi’

In the previous novel ‘Rise of Kyoshi’, we do not see very many details about Avatar Yangchen. She is established as a revered figure, and her era of prosperity made her an idol to Kyoshi herself. Kyoshi sought to speak to her, but it wasn’t until she could hone the spiritual connection to her past lives that she could speak with Yangchen personally.

Kyoshi had such a hard time making this connection, owing to the fact that she was still very cross with Kuruk and how he left the world. It blocked her from connecting with him and the rest of the past Avatars. Eventually, she came to terms with Kuruk, after she learnt of his secret missions hunting bad spirits.  However, she learnt of the real reason but it was not until Kyoshi spoke with Yangchen that she learned the reason evil spirits were invading in the first place; Avatar Yangchen.

While Avatar Yangchen was a powerful Avatar and an even greater diplomat, it turns out that she had regrets.In her admonition to Kyoshi, she reveals that she spoiled the Four Nations of humanity,  providing them with everything that they wanted, at the expense of the spirits. Even her broker with General Old Iron may have come a little too late, because her indulging humanity  caused them to mine the world for its resources greedily while paying little homage to the spirits themselves.

Conclusion

The Avatar series and comics have always been crafty with how it weaves its complex characterizations, giving us in depth looks on various characters. This exposure on  Avatar Yangchen reveals a side to one of the most revered Avatars of all time. It is further proof that the Avatar really is just human, and that each Avatar has as many flaws as they do strengths. The novel, ‘The Shadow of Kyoshi’ continues a great trend of fleshing out Avatar’s many characters, and we love to see where exactly the next story takes us.

Team Avatar certainly did a lot of travelling in their day, and this applies to both incarnations of the Team as seen in The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. With the world very vast and hazardous, surely they must have had something to use as a guide. And rightfully so, they did. Right up there is the Avatar The Last Airbender map. 

But this map isn’t just a guide through Aang’s world. It also shows the world he created after the Hundred Year War, as well as various key monuments and locations where important events took place. 

Our version of the map is numbered, but not to worry, it’s to help you pinpoint where is where, and what exactly is what. The known lands in the world are shown here. The specific locations of certain landmarks are marked down as well. Each marking is represented by something. You can find out what is used to mark a location in the map legend below as follows.

Avatar The Last Airbender Map Legend

The legend for the Avatar the Last Airbender map are as follows;

• The zoomed-in square holding numbers 62 to 69 marks the different locations in Republic City.
• The blue circles represent the locations that the original Team Avatar visited in their journeys in the Winter of 99 AG
• The green circles represent all the locations that the original Team Avatar visited during the Spring of 100 AG.
• The red circles are the locations that the original Team Avatar visited in their journeys in the Summer of 100 AG
• The gold circles are a representation of the locations that Korra visits in 170 AG.

Locations On The Avatar The Last Airbender Map

The entire series and the events that transpired therein took place in the numbered locations on the map. Each of the numbers represents a particular place on the Avatar The Last Airbender Map. You can match the number to the location below.

Show Love and Respect to Appa

When you see the map of the world you quickly understand how much Team Avatar had to travel. A lot of the show would not have been possible or as exciting without Appa because they would not have been able to get all over the world so quickly.

Appa really carried the team on his back. There are some episodes where they have to travel from the Fire Nation to the western air temple. They also had to to go from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation which is no small distance. All of these world travels are due to the Appa.

The Earth Kingdom is Massive

The Earth Kingdom is similar to Africa. It does not get enough respect for the size it is. On the flip side of this, you would think that the Fire Nation was this massive set of land but it really was not. It also explains why they were so hungry to expand and take over the Earth Kingdom.

People always want to have the most land to represent the most power. The Fire Nation was not as most would think. In our world Africa is the largest continent by far but many will make it look smaller than it is in order to make more powerful countries look bigger.

Blue Circles On The Avatar the Last Airbender Map

1. Southern Water Tribe
2. Southern Air Temple
3. Patola Mountains
4. Kyoshi Island
5. Omashu
6. Mining village
7. Senlin Village
8. Mo Ce Sea
9. Crescent Island
10. Seedy merchants pier
11. Gaipan
12. Great Divide
13. Harbor town
14. Taku
15. Pohuai Stronghold
16. Makapu Village
17. Abbey
18. Fire Nation colonial village
19. Northern Air Temple
20. Northern Water Tribe

Green Circles On The Avatar the Last Airbender Map

21. General Fong’s fortress
22. Cave of Two Lovers
23. Kolau Mountains
24. Foggy Swamp
25. Chin Village
26. Gaoling
27. Plains village
28. Tu Zin
29. Quarry campsite
30. Library
31. Si Wong Desert
32. Full Moon Bay
33. Serpent’s Pass
34. Outer wall of Ba Sing Se
35. Ba Sing Se
36. Agrarian Zone
37. Lake Laogai
38. Chameleon Bay
39. Eastern Air Temple
40. Earth Kingdom Royal Palace

Red Circles On The Avatar the Last Airbender Map

41. Fire Nation bazaar
42. Jang Hui
43. Shu Jing
44. Ember Island
45. Roku’s Island
46. Fire Fountain City
47. Hama’s village
48. Black Cliffs
49. Great Gates of Azulon
50. Fire Nation capital
51. Fire Nation Royal Palace
52. Western Air Temple
53. Sun Warriors’ ancient city
54. Boiling Rock
55. Yon Rha’s village
56. Wulong Forest

White Circles On The Map

57. Eastern Sea
58. Whaletail Island
59. This was Aang’s favorite spot to ride elephant koi
60. Aang’s favorite spot to ride hopping llamas
61. Represents Aang’s favorite spot to ride hog monkeys

Gold Circles On The Map

62. Air Temple Island
63. Aang Memorial Island
64. Pro-bending Arena
65. Police headquarters
66. City hall
67. Avatar Korra Park]
68. Central City Station
69. Future Industries

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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

The Avatar cycle is a cycle based on the four seasons and the passage of these seasons. It coincides with the order that the first Avatar; Avatar Wan first mastered the elements. It goes thus; fire (representing summer), air representing autumn, water representing winter, and earth standing for spring.

How The Avatar Cycle Works

When the current Avatar dies, a new Avatar will be born, usually into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. For example, Avatar Yangchen was an Air Nomad, died and was reincarnated as Avatar Kuruk from the Northern Water Tribe. Avatar Kyoshi was next, hailing from the Earth Kingdom and then there was Avatar Roku, a Fire Nation indigene.

The Avatar Cycle also determines the order in which each Avatar is supposed to learn the four bending disciplines.

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How The Avatar Cycle Determines the Order In Which Elements Are Learnt

The nation where the Avatar comes from is obviously the first element that they will master, prior to the bender being identified as the Avatar. For instance, an Avatar born into the Water Tribe will learn to master waterbending first, before taking on the next three bending elements in the cycle. In this case, it would be earthbending, firebending and finally airbending. This order is not set in stone however, as there have been  instances where an Avatar has learnt the elements out of order.

Kyoshi’s Avatar Cycle

Having begun with mastering the earth element, Kyoshi started learning firebending with her friend slash bodyguard Rangi. At the same time, she was learning how to bend water from another friend Kirima. However, in a bid to keep the order snake, Rangi made Kyoshi bend a little breeze so she could have a bit of airbending mastery before she would begin waterbending. 

Aang’s Avatar Cycle 

Aang was in a similar situation. As the Avatar, he tried to learn fire under the mentorship of Jeong Jeong, as his second element. Jeong Jeong initially objected to this, considering the avatar cycle of the elements would have been disrupted.  Aang eventually learnt to create fire, but things didn’t go as planned, as he lacked the spiritual maturity to handle firebending.   After Jeong Jeong’s camp was attacked by Zhao, Aang’s firebending training ended. Later in the series, we see him learn the element under Zuko; but only after he had mastered the other elements in the proper sequence

Korra’s Avatar Cycle

Korra had a similar fate as the aforementioned Avatars before her. At a young age of four, she was already able to bend water, earth and fire to some extent. Despite this skill, Korra was discouraged from continuing her bending of the other elements until she had been able to master her native element; waterbending.

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Difficulty of Learning Elements Within the Avatar Cycle

Each Avatar has a peculiar difficulty mastering a particular element during training. They often have a low affinity for that element based on their individual personality. This element can be difficult to learn, sometimes proving impossible to control until faced with a situation in which the Avatar is forced to reach within and manifest power. 

It’s been found that the bending discipline an Avatar finds it hard to learn is the element that is in direct opposition to the Avatar’s birth nation. Avatar Roku for example, found waterbending to be rather difficult. For Avatar Aang, earthbending was his biggest problem. This was due to the fact his personality centered on evading problems or not engaging in fights as much as possible. 

For Korra, however, the case was slightly different. Korra loved firebending, despite the fact that she was  anative waterbender. Her most difficult element was instead air; and she found airbending the most challenging. This was attributed to the fact that she was brash and direct person – a sharp contrast to the airbending philosophy of contemplation, measured action, and avoidance of conflict.

Now let’s take a look at the Avatar Cycle and how it affected every Avatar

How Each Avatar Cycle Influenced The Next Avatar In Line

One interesting thing about the Avatar cycle is that the accomplishments of one Avatar only create some interesting conflict for their successor. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender was full of recurring themes. But one of the most interesting ones was the cycle of change; which we saw embodied in the Avatar cycle. Beyond their ability to master the four elements, the Avatar serves as a balancing force for the spirit and human worlds.

The goal is to keep the four nations in harmony. Now, although all Avatars in the 10000 years of their existence are linked in knowledge and experience in the Avatar state, each reincarnation seems to have world issues to deal with that are a direct result of the strength and failures of their predecessor.  Every generation has its own new conflict, and with each new conflict brings about a redefinition of the Avatar’s role.

Let’s take a look at how this has happened with the known Avatars. 

How The Avatar Cycle Affected Each Avatar

Yangchen

For Avatar Yangchen, the stakes were rather difficult for her. Her conflicts put her spiritual upbringing in great contrast with her duty as the Avatar. Eventually, she put the world’s needs ahead of her spiritual teachings. The result was that she achieved long-term peace for humanity. But it came at the great cost of alienating the spirits, a fact that bled right into Avatar Kuruk’s tenure. 

Kuruk

Kuruk’s case was the exact opposite of Yangchen’s conflicts, possibly a byproduct of her way of handling things. While he leaves humanity much to its own devices, he is more involved with dealing with  the proliferation of dark spirits. Of course, this has dire consequences, such as his fiance Ummi being taken by the malevolent spirit, Koh the Face Stealer. He would spend the rest of his life seeking to bring her back but would only end up dying at a very young age. He left behind a lot of conflicts between the human races; something that spilled into Kyoshi’s time. 

Kyoshi

The militaristic conflicts that formed in the absence of Kuruk thanks to his untimely death would create a world that was nigh chaotic. To rise to the occasion, Kyoshi approaches matters as the Avatar in a manner you could describe as a hardline perception of forceful justice. She was a very brute-ish Avatar, enforcing balance to the world’s conflict. This would in turn create an adverse approach for her successor, Roku.

Roku

Kyoshi’s no child’s play approach in turn influenced Roku in great contrast. As her successor, he seemed to possess a commitment to moderation and mercy. When he handled the world’s problems, he wasn’t particularly soft, but he gave leniency where he deemed it fit.

Aang

When he wakes up from his hundred year long slumber in the iceberg, Aang sees that the world is very different from the one he left behind. 

The world has been thrown completely out of balance by the Fire Nation’s totalitarianism. His people have faced genocide and have completely wiped out. The other nations are also being largely subdued. His mission is pretty clear, with him having to master the remaining elements, taking on the Fire Lord and ending the war. But there’s more. For Aang there is the emotional trauma he faces. This is because he recognizes it is his absence as the Avatar that has led to the state of things.

The interesting thing about this realization is the fact that this failure is something that extends to his past life. With Avatar Roku, there is a huge case of failure, as his long time friendship and near brotherhood with Fire Lord Sozin blinds him from being more decisive when the latter expresses the desire for world conquest. He did not take the necessary actions, and he could have ended the war before it could have begun.

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Korra

Aang’s accomplishments might have been lauded by fans and the show’s characters altogether, but they were not without faults. In fact, just like his predecessors before him, he seemed to have created the same cycle of change for his successor in the Avatar cycle. 

Aang was able to not only unite the four nations so that they effectively co existed with one another, but he also established  the United Republic of Nations. This new republic offers a haven for benders and non-benders. It also boasts of mass industrialization and technological advancements. It was definitely the utopia Aang would have wanted it to be. 

And yet it still had its own problems. Surprisingly, many of them came from the systems Aang and Team Avatar put in place. First things first, Republic City’s bureaucracy was grossly incompetent. The bender inhabitants are obviously recipients to some form of favoritism, creating a divide between classes.

With the older forms of governance like the Earth Kingdom monarchy, there seemed to be more interest in preserving the rule of power than there was in actually helping the people. Where his predecessors have failed in some aspects, Aang’s world was also flawed. It refused to have balance.

We all know that the Avatar state is considered a power-up for Avatars as they gain immeasurable power. You definitely do not want to be close to Aang when he slips into the Avatar state in his early days. Well, there was a time that no one had access to such powers.

The giant turtles were the protectors of the world, so they allowed people to build cities on their backs. When people ventured into the spirit world, the giant turtles would bestow them with powers to navigate through the spirit wilds and protect themselves. Dependent on the kind of turtle they encountered, they were bestowed with the power to bend certain elements. These powers were collected when they get back into the physical realm.

However, something drastic occurred that caused them to turn to sieve their interaction with the human populace; the emergence of the Avatar. Once they turned their backs on the human world, the people scattered and formed the four nations.

Wan, the first Avatar, fixed up the rift between the physical and the spiritual realm after Wan permanently bonded with Raava, the Spirit of Light and Peace. Thence, the giant turtles stopped their interaction with the human world, leaving the responsibility of maintaining balance in the world to the Avatar.

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Understanding the Avatar State

In order to understand a few things about the Avatar state, we have to go to the 2nd book in the Last Airbender series. In the first episode, after the team defeated Prince Zuko, they all venture to the Earth kingdom so Aang could begin to learn earth bending.

However, the meet up with General Fong, who was all too happy to meet with the team. He talked to Aang and offered a solution to end the 100-year war induced by the Fire Nation. His plan was for Aang to get into the Avatar state and face the Firelord. Aang informs Fong that he could only go into the Avatar state at will. The few times he had gone into the Avatar state were triggered by certain emotions. Fong would not be deterred as he promised that he would help Aang find the key to triggering the Avatar State. Sokka was cool with it, but not Katara.

After series of trials and a nightmare, Aang decides that it was wrong to toy with the Avatar state. He told this to Fong, who in turn sends a series of earth bending attacks towards Aang to induce him into the Avatar State. However, Katara gets in the crossfire as Fong captures her and uses the earth bending technique to make her sink into the ground. Aang begs for her life, but Fong is adamant, telling Aang to go into the Avatar State. Katara ends up fully immersed, and Aang goes into the Avatar state, thinking Katara had been killed.

The Misuse of Power

Fong is initially delighted until he experiences the devastating power of the Avatar State. He brings out Katara. Telling Aang that it was just a ploy and Katara was safe. But Aang is far gone and could no longer listen to anyone, leaving destruction in his wake.

During this devastation, Aang is transported into the Spirit realm, where he sees Avatar Roku. Roku tells Aang that the Avatar State is simply a defense mechanism that gives the current Avatar the skills and knowledge of all the previous Avatars. He warns Aang, however, that as powerful as the Avatar state was, it had a weakness. If the Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the Avatar will cease to exist. He later comes to and regains control of himself.

As the series went on, even spilling over to the Legend of Korra, we began to discover a few other things about the Avatar state. Some of which are:

If An Avatar dies In The Avatar State, The Avatar Cycle ends, But Raava will remain alive.
As earlier stated, Roku revealed that the Avatar cycle would cease to exist in the current incarnation is killed in the Avatar State. However, that does not mean that the spirit responsible for the Avatar’s powers would cease to exist.

Viewers assumed that the Avatar spirit would end up dying as well. But that is not the case. In the Legend of Korra, Raava was forcibly removed from Korra’s body by Unalaq, who was possessed by Vaatu, the dark spirit of Chaos. She was killed soon afterward, but we find that she was immediately reborn from a residual light found in Vaatu.

This means that the Avatar Spirit would not have died when Azula shot Aang down in Ba Sing Se. The Avatar Cycle would have just simply ended, and Raava would have ended up being reborn with the then trapped Vaatu in the Tree of Time.

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Aang Stayed In The Avatar State For Hundred Years

Being told you are the Avatar can be a daunting thing to face, especially if you are just a kid. The pressure got to Aang when he got to know that he was the Avatar, causing him to run away with Appa. When he encountered a storm that could possibly take his life, the Avatar state kicked in.

He ended up freezing Appa and himself in a block of giant spherical ice for a hundred years. Most would remember this scene but would definitely have forgotten that his tattoos were still glowing while in the ice. Being in this state for so long was perhaps what caused him to die at the age of 66, which is quite early for any Avatar as it would have taken a toll on his body.

Avatars access the skills of previous incarnations they haven’t learned before in the Avatar state.
As we all know, the Avatar state enables the Avatar to access the powers and knowledge of the past Avatars, causing them to have immense strength and technique they do not possess ordinarily.

An obvious example was when Aang used water bending on Zuko in the Avatar state when he had not even had not learned any water bending yet.

Avatars have the ability to Channel A Specific Past Life via the Avatar State.
It is possible to use the avatar state to channel a specific past life, becoming that person for a specific period. This was obvious in the “Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku” episode, as he accessed Roku and gave him control so as to get Aang and his friends out of a bind with his fire-bending prowess. The enemies, who were of the priests of the Fire nation Avatar temple, recognized Avatar Roku as he rampaged on them.

Only the Avatar State Can Trump Psychic Bloodbending

This technique is up there as one of the darkest and strongest techniques in Avatar. Amon and Yakone were even able Bloodbend with their minds surpassing Katara and Hama, the progenitor of the technique.

Korra saw how Aang dispelled the technique in a flashback by using a short burst of the Avatar state. Even its users did not have a defense mechanism against it when the tables are turned, as Katara used it on Hama.

No Otaku can claim not to have been plagued with this question at least once or twice. Of course, Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest anime series ever to grace our screens. But the question that begs to be answered still hangs over our heads like the sword of Damocles.

Over the years, we have witnessed the evolution of animation. We have seen Traditional animation, 2D animation, 3D animation, Motion Graphics, and Stop motion. Anime adopts 2D animation. There have been a few calls for animes to be created in 3D, but faithful anime viewers have gotten used to being entertained in 2D.

First off, isn’t anime just animation? What is the difference between the two? Well, anime is simply the Japanese word for animation. Japanese call all kinds of animations anime. However, transporting this word to non-Japanese natives, they simply call all animation productions made in Japanese anime.

So, technically, the answer to Avatar: The Last Airbender being an anime is no… and yes. From the non-native Japanese perspective, it has all the characteristics of the average Japanese anime. However, it was not made in Japan, so it fails the ‘right to be called an anime’ test. But from the Japanese standpoint, any animation, irrespective of the nation it was created, is an anime.

However, we understand that the animes (we call Japan-made animation that from now on) have a few characteristics that make them distinct from other anime kinds. We discuss some of these characteristics below.

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Is Avatar Anime? Understanding What Makes Anime!

COMPLEXITY IN ITS PLOTS

We know animes have a distinctive plot type that takes some time for their viewers to grasp. These plots are not like normal animation plots. Typically, it could take 50 to sixty episodes in order to properly exhaustively develop a storyline. Plot development itself takes dozens of episodes before it is adequately developed before the viewers catch a whiff of the direction that the anime is taking.

Also, the anime characters tend to be complex as well. Contemporary animated movies have their characters develop a personality trait or two and lay emphasis on these personalities. On the other hand, the design of anime characters is more complex. They tend to develop these characters in a way that they have different layers. This helps them to present the viewers with a person with various personality traits.

For instance, Yagami Light in Death Note is a very complex character whose character was so complex, a faction loved him so much and wished there was someone like him in reality, while another faction out-rightly condemned his actions and said the world does not need a human being having such powers.

Also, different characters are also introduced to the storyline to make it rich and fascinating. This causes the length of the story to be satisfactorily stretched without it being too excessive.

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FOCUS on Adults

The traditional animations are usually made for both young and old to enjoy. It is the same with anime. There are even anime specifically made for kids. However, the characteristics of the plots in the world of anime reach the adult populace better than the children.

If we take into consideration the attention span of children, they will find it difficult to complete some anime. For instance, the length of the likes of ‘Naruto’ and the almighty ‘One Piece’ (which is yet to be completed, by the way) makes even a few adults grumble. Only adults can easily keep up with the lengthy episodes and engage the plot twists encountered in various arcs properly.

Most anime storylines are adult-themed. Most anime have the ability to reach different kinds of people of various age ranges and cultures. However, anime often places its focus on adults. The humor incorporated into it is majorly enjoyed by the adult populace as it is mostly injected to lighten up the dark theme that only adults can comprehend.

EXAGGERATED PHYSICAL FEATURES

Another distinctive feature of anime is the character’s physical features. While most of the characters may have a normal body outlook, there are a few exaggerations and peculiarities of their facial expressions or reactions. Facial expressions, actions, and the colors used are exaggerated to show the state of mind of a particular character at that moment.

For instance, in some animes, one way to know if an anime character is thinking about something rated 18+ is the blood running down the nose of the individual without physical violence inflicted in them. Another instance is the use of a large teardrop to depict embarrassment.

One of the most visually noticed physical exaggerations can be found in the eyes of the character. Sometimes, these eyes can be depicted on the character’s face larger than usual. To show more emotion, the eyes are the main outlets to depict what the character is going through or what is going through his/her mind.

Another physical feature that anime have that separates them from other animation types is the wide variety of hair types of their characters. Most of the characters have unnaturally wild and colored hair types. For instance, Naruto has spikey orange hair that fits well enough with his outfit, Yuji Itadori from Jijutsu Kaisen has pink hair, Khun Aguero from Tower of God has rowdy blue hair, among others.

LIMITED ANIMATION

One last characteristic of anime is something known as limited animation. Amines are 2D animation productions, so they are created with certain techniques. Unlike other animation types, anime uses Limited animation. The limited animation technique is the utilization of certain pieces of a scene that are reused in the next scene.

This way, all the artiste needs to do is to draw new elements in the former scene instead of creating a new scene every time.
One of the advantages of using limited animation is that it basically reduces cost. It also takes lesser time, unlike other animation techniques.

Having learned what an anime is and what it is not, so we ask the question once again…

Is Avatar an anime?

Even though Avatar tends to have a sprinkle of a few of the characters above, and it borrows a lot of cultural connotations from the Asian culture, it cannot be categorized as what the West calls anime. It is obvious that Japanese anime heavily influenced the creation of Nickelodeon’s Avatar. Here are a few similarities it has with the traditional anime that makes people think it’s anime.

CULTURAL INFLUENCE

As stated earlier, Asian culture heavily influences the creation of Avatar. It didn’t adopt one particular culture. For instance, the Earth Kingdom has its roots in Chinese culture, and the Southern Asian Cultures are sources of inspiration for the Fire Nation.

Most animes come from Japanese culture, so it is no surprise that people think of Avatar as an anime also.

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ARCS AND STORY ELEMENTS

Anime has this similarity in their storylines that their main characters have to go through great trials until they reach the peak of their strengths and stand above all else. Avatar has the same walkthrough as Aang had to overcome a lot of fears and obstacles and to develop into a person strong enough to overcome the fire nation, and of course, not forgetting the place of the power of friendship.

Anime is known for diving into various story arcs that seem of the trajectory of the actual storyline. However, these serve as a sort of a reveal of certain personality traits that will make the viewers understand a few decisions that a character might make that seem out of character. Avatar has that also, and an example is in Book Three, where Zuko, Azula, Tai Lee, and Mai had a whole episode dedicated to them chilling at the beach.

So Why is Avatar The Last Airbender Anime?

The fact is Avatar is extremely similar to anime as it checks most of the boxes. However, people need to understand that anime is an industry. The Avatar franchise was not made in the anime industry. It’s almost like saying an Indian Super Hero movie like Krrish is a Hollywood movie simply because of its similarities to Marvel or DC comic movies. This can be said in the case of Avatar: The Last Airbender.