Its not a movie. Its a whole new series based upon a future avatar, it looks like it will be based upon tension between benders and non benders. There’s also a comic book coming out set a couple of years after the finale dealing with the effects of the war, the fire nation colonies etc.
Also they find some new wild air bison -so more Appa’s! No new air nomads though…
No, Azula had real character, and I’ve heard that they originally wanted her to have an arc similar to Zuko’s, but couldn’t work it in.
She’s not a true sociopath (though she like to play one on tv) because she does care; if Azula didn’t, she wouldn’t have been so hurt when Mai and Ty Lee turned on her. Sure, she could have been angry, but not knotted up inside, if she were completely bad.
Likewise, she could have eliminated Zuko cleanly and left herself as the sole heir. She didn’t, even though she desperately wanted Ozai’s approval. Azula actually handed Zuko the honors for it, brough him back to her family. Yes, she messed with him afterward, but even that didn’t really come to anything, and there’s little evidence to suggest that she was trying to undercut him otherwise.
Azula just can’t separate her love and her hate and her manipulation. She seems to enjoy poking and poking and poking at the people she loves. Meanwhile, she utterly adores Ozai, and her reaction to him is more akin to worship than familial love. And I don’t believe for an instant that Ozai didn’t deliberately create that. Note that Ozai rejects his son (like Azulon rejects him); he may have feared that Zuko would one day kill him.
Basically, when I see Azula, I see someone who is very, very much like Zuko… but with no Uncle Iroh to help show him the path. Nobody ever really cared about Azula… except her mother. Ozai viewed her as a disposable tool. Zuko could never entirely trust her. Only her mother .
On the subject of love, hate, and manipulation, note what Azula does as a child - she sees that Mai has a crush on Zuko. She puts an apple on Mai’s head, lights in on fire, and thus forces Zuko to . In one moment she demonstrates that she understands both of them very well, and simultaneously humiliates them and pushes them together. Later on, she has a delusion (probably) of Ursa, and sees Ursa saying what Azula knows she would say and what she wants Ursa to say… but she still can’t believe it.
Azula at her best is a classic “trickster” figure, who does good by doing a lot of evil (somehow). Her darker side is the domination of others, which to me reflects Ozai. From her mother, she has strength of will, deception, and desperation; from her father, hatred. Sure, she has her own personality, but she’s she’s just like Zuko - torn between her Father’s corruption and her Mother’s purity.
And Azula’s hatred is self-hatred, exactly like Zuko. Ozai pushed his evil outward, but both Zuko and Azula can’t do that. They know there is real good, so they internalize it. But neither one can contain that much anger, and so they lash out.
There is no explanation for Sparky Sparky Boom Man. Supposedfly he’s a super-specialized Fire Bender with a unique talent, although he acts more like a Boddhisatva of Destruction to me. He evidently blow off some of his own limbs and uses Firebending to work the cyborg parts or something.
This is a great post, you’ve really nailed Azula’s character. I think one important elaboration should be pointed out. Azula is not a sociopath, but Ozai is, and Azula, desperate to win his affection and approval, tries to act like him. And that’s enormously damaging to a normal psyche.
I suspect Azula’s habit of poking at people was learned directly from her dad. I imagine any show of love from him was always a disguised loyalty test: “If you love me, you’ll do this.” And you just have to look at Zuko’s face to see what happens if you fail one of Ozai’s tests. Azula may be his favorite, but there’s no way she made it through childhood without taking some major abuse from her father. I suspect one of the subconscious reasons she’s so ambitious to become Fire Lord is that succeeding her father to the throne necessarily means that her father is finally dead. One of the reasons she snaps when she does is that she’s finally Fire Lord, and she’s still not free of her old man.
I don’t see that at all. I mean, the idea of the Avatar state was introduced in, what, the second episode? Maybe the third? I figured all along that the whole point of the story was the get Aang near the Firelord and have him go full-on Avatar state. I mean, if you’re not going to use the Avatar state, why do you need the Avatar in the first place? Mastering the four elements was part of learning how to enter the Avatar state at will, and not just when he was desperate.
I disagree with that, as well. The idea that bending powers are influenced by celestial objects is central to the entire run of the show. The effects of the moon on water bending is explicitly tied into blood bending. They didn’t use the time of day as a tactical element again in the series, but there weren’t very many places where it would have made a difference. The siege of the Northern Water Tribe was unique in that it featured a large number of fire benders versus a large number of water benders, so the effect was basically twice as strong as usual: when one side weakened, the other surged. (The only comparable scene was the attack during the solar eclipse, which featured a bunch of swamp benders - but that had to take place during the day, to take advantage of the solar eclipse) In a fight between, say, fire benders and earth benders, the fire benders would be weaker at night, but the earth benders wouldn’t be any stronger, and the strength difference could be easily outweighed by other factors, such as it being really dark at night, and your enemy can make its own torches at will.
Roku explained this in season 1. A good reason not to enter the avatar state is because if you’re killed there won’t ever be another avatar. Aang didn’t master all four elements, and he couldn’t enter the avatar state at will during his battle with Ozai. So he either had to win it on his own, or the writers could have him enter God Mode like before. It wasn’t unreasonable given the series history, but it just felt kinda cheap to pull that rabbit out of the hat yet again.
Now that you mention it, I do remember the moon being mentioned in the blood bender episode, so point taken. But you do realize the moon can be in the sky at the same time as the sun, right? And during an eclipse the moon blocks the sun but is still in the sky. And I don’t see that you need large groups of earth/water benders for it to matter; in the season 1 finale, Katara and Zuko fought one on one and the moon/sun thing made plenty of difference. Anyway, I think my point stands pretty well – the writers came up with that device and probably weren’t sure how to use it later, but I wish they could have worked it in more consistently.
I don’t think Roku’s explanation was intended to be a reason not to use the Avatar state, but rather, to establish that the Avatar state isn’t really “God mode.” It’s possible to defeat an Avatar even in the Avatar state, and doing so has disastrous repercussions.
I think you’re wrong about Aang not mastering all four elements, or the Avatar state. Sure, he’s not as good an Earthbender as Toph, and likewise with Kitara and Zuko, but by the final showdown with Ozai, he’s able to bend all four elements simultaneously. And while he’s still blocked from the Avatar state at the start of the fight, when he finally clears his chakra and goes all glowy-eyed, for the first time he’s in control of himself. He’s not acting out of rage or panic the way he was earlier in the series when he accessed the state. He acts deliberately, and chooses not to kill Ozai, instead of just lashing out at him and crushing him. And having defeated him, he remains in the state to fix some of the damage Ozai caused, instead of just blacking out as normal.
In our sky, sure. Not sure if it works the same way in the Avatar-verse. Certainly, our understanding of celestial mechanics doesn’t seem to apply: a comet is a big ball of ice, but in the Avatar-verse, it somehow makes Firebenders super powerful. A solar eclipse is just the shadow of the moon crossing the sun, and this completely depowers Firebenders, despite the fact that all an eclipse means is you can’t see the sun for a few minutes, same as if you were inside a building. And killing a fish can make the moon disappear altogether.
Suffice to say, I’m pretty sure we’re not dealing with a Copernican model of the solar system, here.
The number of benders is significant because if you’re planning a fight and you’ve only got one water bender on your side, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to pursue a strategy that makes one of your members a little stronger, while disadvantaging everyone else in the group. If Waterbenders make up a significant percentage of your fighting strength, then it becomes a more appealing tactic.
I think this is just flatly contradicted by the actual content of the show. The season one finale established that astrology has some sort of effect on bending. The rest of the series consistently played with this idea in a variety of different ways, eventually tying it directly into the series finale.
I mean, if there’d ever been an episode where Firebenders being weaker at night would have specifically resolved their problem, and everyone “forgot” about it for the purposes of that episode, you’d have a point. But that didn’t happen - the idea of Firebenders being stronger during the day and Waterbenders stronger at night wasn’t used again because it wasn’t applicable to the stories they wanted to tell. Except, of course, when it was, as with the blood bending episode.
Fair enough. And if the Avatar is undefeatable, where’s the tension in that, right?
Well, I guess it depends what “master” means. Katara had declared Aang had “the reflexes of a water bending master” during the episode “Bitter Work”. And he was obviously a master air bender. But Zuko and Toph said at the start of the finale that his fire and earth bending needed a lot of work, which implies less than mastery.
As for mastering the Avatar state itself, I think Aang really didn’t do that until after (or during?) the fight with Ozai. Aang couldn’t summon the avatar state at will and its not clear to me he was entirely in control of it or what his super-ego did at the time. When he relinquished the avatar state, refusing to kill Ozai outright, that’s when he gained control of events and of his and ultimately Ozai’s destiny. There’s been some buzz in avatar forums that the fact he could bend the ocean at the end while only going all glowy for and instant showed that he finally controlled the avatar state. That seems murky to me, but it may have been the intent – he was now, finally, a “fully realized” Avatar
So is it assumed that getting stabbed in his wound by that rock opened his chakra? I’d never heard that, but sure, maybe. I thought the final activation of the avatar state was just like all the others – Aang gets butt-wooped, then subsequently hulks out. It was really unclear to me thoughout season 3 what had become of the avatar state, and if Aang could access it again in light of disregarding the guru and getting “killed” at the end of season 2.
I thought moon and sunrise were explicitly mentioned as when the water/fire benders gain strength, not day and night (although sun == day is obvious true). I’ll have to go look.
Fair enough.
It’s fun talking Avatar trivia, since the show’s been over for a while. I hadn’t thought much about what made Azula’s tick, beyond agreeing with Iroh’s observation that’s she’s crazy and needs to go; the discussion of that upthread was pretty cool.
Maybe we can fan-wank the comet helping fire benders because the long tail of the comet reflected more sunlight to increase fire bending power? But probably not, since the moon only shines by reflected sunlight, so there’s no reason a dim comet tail would either outshine it nor help only the fire benders.
OK, then, how about this: the moon is inhabited by a water spirit (who has decided to live on earth in carp form). The sun is a fire spirit we never meet that helps fire benders. So the comet is another fire spirit, and the proximity of that spirit, not the properties of comet ice or sunlight or whatever, is what helps the fire benders. Which explains not at all where dragons come into the picture re firebending.
/wank.
Yeah, “master” is kind of a squidgey term. Intuitively, it doesn’t seem correct to me that at eleven, Aang would have an equivalent status and knowledge of fire bending that a master like Iroh would have, if for no other reason than, “What does the Avatar do with the next eighty years of his life?” I think that, for Aang, “mastering the four elements,” means “Can use them well enough on his own without needing someone to look over his shoulder to make sure he’s not screwing up,” and not, “He’s about as good at this as anyone could possibly be.”
I think that’s definitely the intent. I just rewatched this scene. Aang seems to be in control of the Avatar state throughout the fight. He’s very canny in the fight, acting tacticly, and using his abilities in novel ways. Previously, when he was in the Avatar state, he was clearly out of control, an almost primal force of elemental energy, brutally smashing his enemies. In this fight, he seems to have a lot more agency. He also clearly chooses to exit it for the first time, as opposed to having to be shocked out of it. When he spirit bends Ozai, his whole body goes glowy, but his arrows are especially bright. And, of course, his eyes and arrow glow again when he, calmly, raises the ocean to put out the forest fires. It’s well established in the series that “glowing eyes and arrow” means Aang is in the Avatar state, so his ability to switch it on and off as needed is clearly meant to indicate that he finally has total control over it.
I don’t really think there’s a question about it. Aang’s fighting, and losing. He gets knocked back towards one of the rocky pillars. Close up of the rock spur. Close up of the scar on his back. Sloooow motion shot of the scar getting closer and closer to the rock spur. It hits, and his eyes light up like he’s been wired by PG&E. Flashback of all of his ancestors standing in a line off into infinity. Big choral swell. Shit proceeds to get very real.
This idea was seeded in season two, with the introduction of Ty Lee. She was able to temporarily paralyze someone’s bending ability (as well as their limbs) by punching them in certain pressure points. When Aang was wounded at the end of the season, he was wounded in a similar pressure spot, this one associated with his ability to summon the Avatar state. The jab in the back cleared the blockage, and allowed him to regain his powers. Kind of an impromptu deep tissue massage.
Yeah, there’s no question that hitting his back on the rock cleared his Chakra; that’s why he was unable to use the Avatar state at all in season 3 (before the finale). Once he had been cleared, he was then able to active it. However, this time it did not control him.
Also, Sokka rocks and deserves better. I was kinda miffed about him learning swordsmanship, but then not using it and losing his space sword. The more I think about it, the more this does make sense, though. Sokka’s always been dumped out by the unverse, it seems. But he also doesn’t need it. It’s not the swordsmanship or the blade which makes him a hero, it’s Sokka’s mind and will and always has been. You could probably replace anyone else in the Avatar’s entourage, and the plot would still go on… except Sokka. Everyone else uses their powers, but Sokka uses his mind.
He’s the only character in the series I’d give even odds could actually kill Aang at the end of the show.
I imagine Aang explaining how he beat Ozai after the battle:
Sokka: So, all this time, all you needed to master your avatar powers was to have someone punch you in the back?
Zuko: I could have done that for you.
Interestingly, though, the stars in the sky are our stars. They’re organized into different constellations, of course, but they’re recognizably the same stars. Avatar is the only TV show I’ve ever seen that did that, even though they’d have been perfectly justified not to.
I have a slightly different read on this. I agree that Aang+Avatar State (AS) in that fight was pretty capable and not totally out of control as in previous times he was in the AS (although you could make the case that Aang+ocean spirit was pretty controlled and purposeful). But it seemed to me that Aang was not totally in control either, and his wishes weren’t foremost when the AS pronounced sentence and proceeded to execute Ozai, which was very narrowly averted when Aang reasserted control by leaving the Avatar state completely. If Aang were in total control of the AS, he could have not executed Ozai while remaining in that state. So QED, he wasn’t entirely himself until he left the AS.
That doesn’t seem indicative to me that Aang is in the AS. His whole body glowed and his eyes and mouth turned into headlamps. But Ozai did the same, and he was surely not in an AS.
Right, I agree with this. But it seems like the first and only time we see Aang truly in control of the AS, when he bends the ocean. I don’t know if this is because he restored balance, or maybe spirit-bending helped him control his own spirit and the Avatar spirit (I kind of like that theory, but I have no evidence for it).
Just to elaborate on this scene: Aang starts spirit bending, and they both go all glowy. However, at first, Aang’s tattoos aren’t discernible through the glow. Aang start’s losing, and his body is almost covered by Ozai’s red glow. Then he rallies, drives Ozai’s spirit color back, and wins the fight. When he rallies and forces the red glow off of him, suddenly his tattoos are very distinct. So I think he wasn’t in the Avatar state when he started spirit bending, but tapped into it when he realized he wasn’t strong enough to spirit bend Ozai on his own.
OK, I went back and looked at that scene, and I see what you mean. When he first starts in the Lion Turtle State, he’s normally lit (if blue). but when he comes out of it having won, he’s lit up like the Avatar State for just a sec. I like your interpretation that that’s how he found extra stamina when he was obviously losing to Ozai’s spirit – by rallying all his past lives to the task. Neat.
In case anyone’s still interested, I just finished a HUGE kind of discussion page on Avatar on TVtropes. This page put to rest any lingering doubt I had on the series and some of the characterizations, and pointed out a ton of things people might have missed, little nuances about the series, that really showed how well this was made and how much detail they put into it. Definitely worth a read if you’re an Avatar fan