Meelo is the grandson of Avatar Aang and is one of the last surviving Airbenders in the Avatar universe. Meelo is also one of the most interesting characters on The Legend of Korra TV Show. He is the primary character that provides comic relief in the series throughout the four seasons. He is the son of Tenzin. Tenzin himself is the son of Avatar Aang. Aang married Katara and had three children in total. Two sons and one daughter. One son was named Bhumi and was a non-bender but developed the Airbending ability later in life. The other was Tenzin, who is also amongst the main leads of The Legend of Korra, along with his children, including Meelo.
The daughter of Avatar Aang was a Waterbender just like her mother and was named Kya. Both Bhumi and Kya were not shown to have any families on the show. But it is possible that they had families of their own which were not featured on the show. But in this article, we will focus on Meelo and how he developed on the show.
History
The first time we see Meelo is when Tenzin arrives at her mother’s place, where Korra is staying. We see Meelo when he is sucking on Tenzin’s head for the first time in the series. Katara picks her up, but Meelo gets uncomfortable and starts playing with her sisters joking that he is a snow bender.
We again see Meelo when Korra runs away from Katara’s place to come to Republic city at the Air Temple Island, where Tenzin lives with his family. Tenzin reluctantly agrees to train Korra so that she can master her last remaining element. And during her training, Meelo is always present there. Even when she struggles to pass through the air-bending gates, Meelo advises her to be the leaf.
Meelo was also a part of the meditation exercise in The Legend of Korra. During this exercise, Korra could not focus while meditating, at which Tenzin pointed toward Meelo, saying that her focus should be more like Meelo. While in reality, Meelo has just fallen asleep, which Tenzin mistakes for his focus while meditating.
Fart-Bending Event
Fartbending is a slang term for Meelo’s ability to use farts to his advantage while in battle. We got to see this ability of Meelo for the first time when Equalists attacked the Air Temple Island, and Lin was fighting against them. When she is about to be defeated, all of Tenzin’s children jump into the fight to help Lin. And it was Meelo who outperformed them all by annihilating six of the equalists.
He not only used Airbending to neutralize the threat but also used the deadly farts he had been harboring to defeat the attackers. He jumped on each one of them and farted on their faces. This use of farts was termed Fartbending by the fans.
In a later episode, when Korra is going on a covert mission with the rest of the Team Avatar. Meelo wants to join in and is angry with the team for ignoring him. Korra then consoles little Meelo that this mission requires stealth and silence. And although he is an excellent Airbender, he is not that discreet in referring to his farting habit. Meelo agrees and understands why he is not a part of this stealth wanting mission.
Trainer For Young Airbenders
When Tenzin and his family relocated to Southern Air Temple with some new Airbenders for training, Meelo was put in charge while Tenzin was absent. He is an excellent trainer but is very strict and dictatorial in his approach, which develops even more with passing the time as he also bosses over his sisters all the time as well.
When they first reached the temple, Meelo found a lemur and named him Loki. And started training him, but Tenzin did not like his approach. And ultimately, Meelo failed in preparing the lemur as he had rewarded him too much. Then Tenzin offered to teach him to become a master trainer, to which he agreed. And to Tenzin’s surprise and appreciation, not only does Meelo train poki but all other lemurs on the temple and orders the by using a whistle.
Future Appearances
Meelo has always been a regular character on The Legend of Korra and have been shown to grow older as the series progressed. The first time we saw him he was just five years old sucking on his dad’s head while towards the end of the series he was an active Airbender and played an important role in defeating Kuvira and her forces that attacked Republic city. But as he grew older he developed a self-centered personality placing himself incharge of everything.
Conception and Design
Meelo was originally designed to be a charming kid with a very different personality than what we got to see in the series. This change resulted from the last change in character designs and conception that made Meelo more of a naughty child with the cuteness toned down a little. Additionally, the creators cited that instead of making him physically cute, they loaded his comic relief and joke with cuteness. Hence, the greater he does the funny thing, the more attractive he becomes to the audience.
Conclusion
Meelo is one of the best characters in The Legend of Korra because he does what nobody else can. And that is to do stupid things and mix it up with his incredible talent to entertain everybody. If you liked our article on Meelo, visit our website to read other similar features on other characters from the Avatar Universe.
