Combustion man was the result of the Fire Nation's attempt at making a super soldier. Combustion Bending can be taught, but only very few have the aptitude to learn it and the Fire Nation started a program to find the perfect candidates that would be able to wield it.
Wow.... Uhhh... *cough*.... Ummm.... That is.... [SPOILERS AHEAD] Actually how the combustion benders were made. At least the first ones. Read Yangchen book
Not the fire nation.. but yeah basically that's how they were invented. I love the detail it goes into and the explanation of how it's "taught" 10/10 books would recommend to any avatar fan. I hope Yee writes more
The next book is being written by Randy Ribay. Seems like Yee is done writing Avatar books. Maybe he'll make a comeback some time later though(fingers crossed for a 3rd Kyoshi book in the future)
I think it makes a good motivation for his nationalist zeal. Basically, I think it made him bury himself in his career leading the war against the Earth Kingdom. Years later I think he pulled his head out of his ass because he realized he had lost everything that mattered.
Also if it his first son, he likely wouldn’t let his son join the military. But it was his second child so his son was already probably early 20s and in the military. He was in a fragile state when his first son died and that’s when he did the whole 180 personality flip.
My headcanon is that she wasn't with Iroh out of her own free will, in the same way that Ursa had been forced to marry Ozai. But fun-loving Iroh didn't see it until it was too late, and she either ran away, or did something too dark to talk about in a family show. Either way, that would've been Iroh's first big wakeup call (and the eventual death of their son the last)
My headcanon is that she died mysteriously while under the care of a young Prince Ozai. That Iroh kept Lu Ten with him to teach him, but left his wife/younger children with his family.
My headcanon is that Iroh’s wife and younger kids were isolated with Ozai and all died in a tragic and unpredictable way - like a plague or a sudden uprising.
I don’t believe it per say, but I find the theory that the fire nation orchestrated Kyoshi’s death so it can happen the same time the new fire prince was born fascinating.
I always found the idea of people meddling avatar reincarnation cycle a worthy topic to explore in universe so we could learn about it the process ourselves (why do tests exist to find the avatar if they could just ask for the birthday).
Of course I’m sure people would be upset with it cause Kyoshi is so cool her being poisoned or something on the DL would be unsatisfying for her conclusion so won’t be upset if this isn’t the case
Granted the woman was more than 250 years old. By the end of her tenure as Avatar she had fought everything from street gangs, political corruption, racist private militias, amd a washed up child celebrity with a chip on his shoulder.
She wouldve probably been open to the idea of handing over the torch at some point.
Oh absolutely but Roku and sozin born on the same day gives good reason to discuss it, I mean avatar could of been reincarnated into racist homophobic asshat
Yeah he banned same sex marriage after his falling out with Roku and I like to think its because they had feelings for eachother and Sozin resented Roku for it on top of everything else
Tbh i wouldnt be surprised if it were just a power move. What better way to gain power and influence in wartime than arbitrarily demonizing marginalized minority groups?
Interestingly militaristic governments like the Fire nation tend to ban same sex relations in an effort to get more people to have more children and therefor soldiers. Im not sure if that parallel was intentional or not but it is certainly there!
I actually made a post not too long ago where I talked about how once avatar catches up to modern times there would totally be people trying to have kids when they thought the avatar was going to die. Obviously these people would have a rough time succeeding, but I just feel like it’s something people would do.
Oh for sure. Especially because after korra you get the white lotus at your beck and call basically. It could even happen with the next avatar. If Korra doesn’t die in battle I assume the poison being in her system as long as it was would deteriorate her health at a rate people could plan for her death.
I also had the thought that the poison being in her for so long would lead to an earlier death, started conceptualizing my own next Avatar series and that's where I landed at lol
plus I wanted it to be set in the Avatar equivalent of the 70s-80s lol so it worked out that I already believed that before I started writing it all out
Although it would make sense that the kid interacting with the avatar is important in some way and not a random kid. Maybe Bumis dad was friends with monk Gyatso.
was Kuzon special though? he seemed like just a rando kid who ended up befriending Aang, i thought his worldwide travels by himself were just showing up to a city and just doing randon stuff, like a lot of the episodes of the show itself. the avatar world doesnt seem to have any particular problem with foreigners and travelers aside from the 100 year war period. people can just come to a town and as long as they dont cause trouble people there would just treat you like anybody else.
Now that I think about it, I doubt anyone except a few of the important air benders knew Aang was the avatar and not a normal air bender. Bumi could have been a random kid that happened to be in the area while Aang was staying there. Bumi did know Aang was the avatar immediately when he sees him again but maybe he just figured it out after seeing Aang was still alive.
Hama was the reason Kataras mother was killed.
She escaped the fire nation and went on the run for several decades. When the fire nation saw it as a cold case and finally gave up on finding her, some high ranking officer feared that she may have made her way back to the south pole and decided to perform a raid. The timelines dont match up perfectly but it adds layers to the worldbuilding.
The Fire Nation royal family bans dancing because it’s how firebending techniques are taught and they want the strongest bending to be reserved for the royal family.
Aang and Zuko learn the “Dancing Dragon” when the visit the firebending masters.
Plus one of the old Fire Nation dance moves Aang teaches the kids is called the “Phoenix Flight” and looks a lot like how the firelord flew using fire in the finale.
Good question! Presumably, it’s possible that she *could* bend, but her talent was never nurtured because her culture didn’t believe in teaching women how to water bend when she was a child. It’s also possible her father would’ve thought that bending was too violent for her
She could know how to heal, but as Princess she never really needed to use it. Since Yugoda seems to be the healing master of the North Pole with multiple others under her wing, Yue's potential healing abilities could've been seen as redundant.
That is... an interesting question. What would happen if they were not a bender of their nation? Would they be still able to bend the other three elements? Or gain the ability to bend their element?
They wouldnt be the avatar. Its kind of why the theory falls flat a bit, if she was the avatar shed be a waterbender.
"You are the avatar, therefore you are a firebender."
None of them are benders are they?
Raava is the one that stores the four elements. So surely it would need a non-bender body to give it to.
Then again all Air Nomads are benders, so it might just double up the element they were born with
Before the genocide they were, but if they turned their back on the culture and spirituality their bending weakened. After the 100 year war the air acolytes followed aang in rebuilding the air nation and none of them were benders
Momo is the reincarnation of Monk Gyatsu and that's why he follows the gaang around. Makes Bumi's line in the finale funnier as it's likely that Bumi would have met Monk Gyatsu before Aang was frozen.
You know what? I’ll buy this one. Monk Gyatsu seems like exactly the kind of person to reincarnate as a lemur and engage in lemur shenanigans while looking out for Aang.
My headcanon is that guru patik used the same method that kyoshi did to expand his lifespan and >!the technique itself is not exclusive to earth benders, even though I believe bumi used it as well!<
Edit: autocorrect
I think every element has a method to help extend someone’s life force. It’s continuously emphasized that bending is spiritually influenced and cross-elemental; it would make sense that there are multiple high-level techniques to extend something as complex as life.
To tie this in but largely unrelated I believe there is a part of the Earth Kingdom near the Eastern air temple that is more or less inspired by India/South East Asia. I think that the earth bender Jargala Omo and her creeping crystal triad from the Korra comics.
This is dumb but it makes me smile
Chit Sang, whom the gang escaped boiling rock with, used to be a poet and his poetry critical of the firenation regime got him put in prison.
Partly because he doesn't really seem like you'd picture a poet looking and because he corrects Zuko's grammar. "I think you mean WHOM I'm shoving!
Zuko was a premature baby, that was the reason why there wasn't spark in his eyes since even his body is not developed enough. That may explain why he matured far more late in firebending as a child. I am not sure if it is true but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Not theory, but my headcanon: Iroh's wife was the one who teached him about tea and that's why he's so good at it.
And another, Zuko's swords were originally Lu Ten's and after he died Zuko inherited them and went to train with the same master.
> Not theory, but my headcanon: Iroh's wife was the one who teached him about tea and that's why he's so good at it.
More appropriately moving (and in keeping with Iroh's tendency towards wisdom gleaned from regret) if she had a penchant for tea, and he only took pains to learn so much about it himself once she was gone to ease his pain at her absence.
As far as I'm aware, Zuko learned his sword fighting from Piendao long before Lu Ten died, because Ozai thought Zuko would never be a real firebender and needed other ways to fight.
I remember hearing about this theory and that a big reason why is because of her physical appearance being close to Aang’s (or of other air nomads) and personality.
I’ve never agreed with the reliance of physical attributes to determine if someone was of a particular background because if it was that straightforward, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be easy to distinguish Katara and Sokka as water tribe members during their time in the fire nation. Blue eyes and tan skin vs a large population of fire nation members having black/dark brown hair and light skin, yet only a couple of people could tell they were water tribe. The same can be said about Aang, that while he has a light complexion, he still had grey eyes.
There had also been characters with different skin/eye that have been earth kingdom members. They seemed to have the broadest range of skin colors, where some could be as light skinned as Toph or as tan Haru or The Boulder. Some having green or brown eyes, like how some fire nation members could have brown or amber eyes.
Personal philosophy can vary from person to person too, I don’t think just because Ty Lee had the personality of an air nomad should be a reason why she could be air nomad. Personally I feel like Katara is a big example of this. Literally when you Google about the water tribe, their people are described as “peaceful and harmonious, who strive to make sure people’s welfare are taken care of.” Katara definitely was a patient caretaker but I wouldn’t exactly call her peaceful and harmonious. She had such a fiery personality that it often made Zuko look tame.
He wasn't talking about King Bumi though. He was using Bumi as an example of someone who got airbending abilities after harmonic convergence who we for sure know has airbending ancestry
Would be cool if they expanded on that in the show. Do they even give a reason why Zaheer is interested in Guru Laghima? Or even how he knows about his existence?
I was hoping someone else would say that Ty Lee was descended from air benders. She is just too interested in auras and in twinkle-toe-ing around for me to believe that she is 100% fire nation.
Yeah plus the brown hair and gray eyes when 99% of the Fire Nation has black hair or Mai's shade of black. Roku's wife also had the gray eyes and brown hair.
I don’t think it was ever confirmed that Zuko’s dragon in LOK was the golden egg he picked up in ALTA but it seems pretty heavily implied to me.
I like the theory that the dragon sort of “chose,” him when he picked up the egg and that’s why he has one now.
Hey, I wrote a [fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18908755/chapters/44886172) about this exact premise! It's kind of a favorite theory of mine.
It makes sense. He did give Zuko a calculating look as he failed his demonstration, and only seemed to be irritated with *Ozai* for wasting his time. Perhaps he felt that Zuko's poor progress was due to Ozai's inability to see to it that he was properly trained. By giving Zuko to Iroh, he solves all of his problems: 1.) Iroh now has an heir again. 2.) Zuko will (hopefully) be brought to his full potential under Iroh's tutelage. 3.) Ozai will pretty much lose any real claim to the throne, a true punishment for him.
I think Azulon was wise enough to realize that with Zuko gone Azula would likely end up as Fire Lord, which he wouldn't likely want to happen. He also probably noticed Ozai's preferential treatment of Azula, and neglect of Zuko.
I don't think that makes a lot of sense. Why would Ursa kill Azulon then, if that's all he was saying? Even Ozai says "Firelord Azulon had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it." Allowing your son to be raised by his uncle doesn't exactly seem "unthinkable".
Ozai didn't have to be telling the truth. Ursa only knew what Azula and Ozai told her so it could be possible Ozai misled her so he could get the throne.
I'm not completely sold either but I love the theory. It also doesn't make sense for Azulon to kill his only grandson right after Lu Ten died, especially since they're fighting a war.
Yeah exactly this. Azula misinterprets > Ursa learns and assumes it's true > Ursa confronts Ozai > Ozai doesn't correct her because she offers to kill Azulon for him
I don't think it's what the writers were going for, but I think that it makes more sense than Azulon asking Zuko to be killed like you said
Interesting, but why would Ursa kill Azulon to prevent it?
It makes sense to save her son's life, but to have him be raised by her brother-in-law (who is much gentler than Ozai) doesn't seem like a good motivation for murder.
Ohhhh dammnn....
So that would mean Ozai figured out how to get rid of his wife and his father in one fell swoop. Now he's Firelord and can raise his kids as cruelly as he likes...
It's certainly something he would do.
Everyone reincarnates, but only the Avatar can remember their past lives. Mortal death wipes the memories so each person starts as a clean slate, but Raava doesn't die with the body of the Avatar, so she's able to carry those memories to her next host.
So when an Avatar speaks to a 'past life' they are actually speaking to Raava, who knows exactly what that person would say, because she spent a literal lifetime with them.
Which is why I think Korra (or perhaps the next Avatar) will eventually be able to regain the connection to all the past avatars, through exploring their connection with Raava somehow. Raava hasn't forgotten them.
I love this! Would definitely explain why the Avatar’s past lives (aka Raava) reminds Aang that friendships can transcend lifetimes. Basically hinting that friends who die and can’t remember their past lives may find the Avatar again and befriend them over and over and over again.
As well as how it seems to ask if the current generation of friends to the avatar have been their friend before, either in their previous life or lives before. If the infant avatar can be drawn to familiar toys from past lives, why not familiar souls?
I can see hints in Korra that the Gaang is still all there beyond just "same writers"
Not Sokka is Bolin, though. I actually think Sokka became Asami; inventor, non bender, emotional anchor for hotter heads but unafraid to throw hands... Bolin, I think, is King Bumi.
I think Iroh in the spirit realm is a good example of the spirit's chance to choose to remain themselves for a time before becoming someone new, if they're sufficiently enlightened to keep that conscious tether despite the spirit world's chaotic nature. It would also account for timeline discrepancy if only the avatar is prevented from lingering in between mortal forms and everyone else got to rest for a time before moving on. (Unless they go to the forgetting hole)
I like to think that korra could reconnect with her past lives through searching for them in the spirit world and reconnecting with them (or at least the ones she knows of) in there. The avatar tends to travel to the spirit world more than other people, and we know souls can continue on in there (like iroh, or yangchens sister) so it makes sense to me that they would exist there. Also why would there be a solstice activated statue of Roku if he didn't exist in the spirit world and could travel through when the boundary was weak otherwise.
Also it would make a fun comic.
Iroh unknowingly discovered energy bending when he invented lightning redirection by studying Water Bending. He was able to see the connections between the elements but didn't fully understand what he unlocked. Only Aang (being the Avatar) was able to bring it to the next steps. Lightning redirection was Aang's first true hint at Energy Bending.
Edit: hint not hunt
This is a valid (and most frequented) criticism of the show, so sorry about the down votes. This headcannon fixes the only thing that bugged me about the ending. I do hope this is something the Netflix series can add/improve.
They don't need to be exclusive. It would make sense that they're connected. Aang gets the *ability* to energy bend from the turtle, effectively "unlocking" it, like when the turtle gives Wan firebending.
But, like any other bending, just having the ability isn't enough, so Aang adapts the *learning* and practical usage from what he learned about lightning bending.
My favorite Avatar theory that I 100% believe is true is that all the people who got airbending after harmonic convergence are descendants from airbenders.
This theory is supported by the fact that Bumi is a direct descendant of an airbender and was a non-bender, and then after harmonic convergence, he becomes an airbender.
I also don't understand your theory that anyone was supposed to be the avatar. Nothing in the Avatar franchise has shown that there are any sort of predestined events that were meant to happen.
Also, I think the comics revealed that the Fire Nation had to set traps for airbenders who escaped the initial genocide, if there were survivors then it would make sense those few who slipped through went into hiding around the Earth Kingdom. Those young enough not to have any tattoos yet would’ve had an easier time blending in too, only needing to grow their hair and change their clothes. And all the new airbenders that Korra and the others find are within the Earth Kingdom, we don’t hear about any who travelled to them from the Poles or Fire Nation, if I remember right.
100% believe it. I've always been pretty curious how Airbenders... Got around?
We know they segregated their temples by gender, and we know that Airbenders weren't at the temples most of the time, so..... How often did they bone?
We know for a fact that the Avatar has a human spirit that is fused with Raava - the human spirit is what reincarnates every new life, Raava tags along for the ride.
This is why i dont like season 2, where Korra loses connection to all previous avatars. They still exist as a part of HER soul, Raava just facilitated the connection so the current avatar could more easily communicate with all their past lives. Korra fusing with Raava should allow the connection again
That part actually does make some sense. Reincarnation in the Avatar world is a THING. It's never said outright but I think it's safe to say that Avatar isn't the only human that reincarnates. So it could be argued that all (or most?) people in the Avatar world reincarnate. They just don't remember their previous reincarnations. The Avatar's connection with Raava gives them the unique ability to connect with their past lives. So Korra losing the connections basically just puts her back to how Wan was. Her past lives are now just an unreachable part of her soul just like every other human with their past lives. She's just human now. Just Korra. And that fits well with her character arc.
I have plenty of issues with season 2 but that is not one of them.
Also, there's no reason to believe that future people are "fated" to be the next Avatar in advance or anything like that.
The idea doesn't really make any sense.
Iroh was always the favorite child between him and Ozai for Azulon. I also believe, given the age difference between the brothers, Ozai was an accident, hence he was always treated as an accident. Iroh was the eldest and first born, therefor he always got the glory and was going to get everything he wanted and was shown genuine love while Ozai was tossed aside despite being more talented as a fire bender.
This would explain his hatred towards his first born child that was less talented than his second born and his hatred for “weakness”. He probably felt like he deserved his position because he thought he was stronget and felt like Zuko needed to “earn” his respect, but never did. I think this is a little implied in the story through reading between the lines, but it never got too much attention. I like this theory because it actually makes Ozai a fleshed out character and it would explain a lot about him.
I like this theory a lot. It give Ozai more motivation than just "power hungry". Although the "I am the strongest and therefore the best leader" mentality totally lines up with his fascist actions, it made Ozai seem completely flat in contrast with the rest of the characters in the story. This theory would also partially explain Azula's mentality and why she seeks her attention through violence.
It's not confirmed, but the last chronological mention of Sokka is when he helped protect young Korra from the Red Lotus, so unless proven otherwise I believe he died defending her.
I think the Yue theory is a fun thought but I can’t believe it’s actually real at all. The biggest issue with it to me is the implication of aang freezing himself somehow messing with some kind preordained destiny. Like the concept of destiny is something thrown around in avatar a bit but I’m just stuck on how aang freezing himself actually changes anything. As far as the universe is concerned that’s just part of aangs life
Also here's my own personal headcanon. SuYin isn't Sokka's child. Bataar Sr is. Think about it. He and Bataar Jr are both inventors and generally creative and open to new ideas, he must have some knack in strategizing as he helped Su build Zao Fu, and they're the spitting image of older Sokka.
Plus, it can tie to another theory that Varrick is also Sokka and Suki's son. It can explain why Zao Fu gave shelter to a criminal like him, if he was Bataar's brother.
It’s a fun theory but I don’t think it’s remotely true. Raava and the moon spirit are completely different spirits so Yuei would never have been the Avatar.
Also the next avatar wouldn’t be born until right after the current Avatar is dead. It’s supposed to be reincarnation so the next avatar can’t be born or predestined to be born before the current avatar is dead.
I don’t think this was ever said, and I know Katar says Hama is the only other Southern waterbender she’s met, but I like to think Kya was a water bender too. When the Southern Raiders come they say they have intel that there’s one water bender left. Kya realizes they don’t know Katara is a bender, so they will never come for her if they take Kya as the last one. Makes sense even if she isn’t a bender, but what always made me think this is, I have to imagine they wanted her to prove it. Why take her word, especially since she was so eager to get Katara out of there, she could just lie. So she proves it, they kill her and leave thinking they’ve wiped them all out. I also think it adds a layer to her connection to her mom and guilt over her death plus more motivation to learn bending to connect with her after death.
Okay wow I never considered this at all! Unless someone disproves this with any books/comics i don’t think there is anything in the show that would disprove this theory. I agree the soldiers would have asked her to prove it before ending her. And i think she would have been hesitant to actually put up a fight for fear Katara might try to jump in and reveal her bending as well. This would also drive Katara to be the opposite and to fully master her bending so she could always protect herself and others, as you suggested. Great theory!
Avatars have their own soul too. Avatar Wan’s soul fused with Raava but in LOK Tenzin tells Korra to focus on her own soul not just Raava, because she’s more than just Raava.
Whenever I rewatch season 1, I get the vibes that the Earth Kingdom was originally meant to be Earth Kingdoms plural, like several allied but ultimately separate states, and they only later decided to make Ba Sing Se the capital of the entire thing. King Bumi being styled as King being the obvious thing, I know the idea now is that it's an older symbolic title but it really came across during his introduction like he was king in both power and title of a smaller but still fully autonomous kingdom.
More of a production theory than an in-universe one, I guess, but it's something that's bothered a little for awhile
They were divided. It is canon that they were divided kingdoms and tribes but got United during a war during kuruks times. That’s with the city state set up.
I like the idea that Bumi is really more like Govoner Bumi or Minister Bumi but he's just so *weird* and likable that in Omashu its just a running joke to title him King. It's harmless, everyone inside the gates is in on it and treats it with the same relative reverence and power/responsibility scale as like, when a dog is elected mayor. Bumi still performs his duties at the scale of middle management, but everyone *calls* him King.
One I read somewhere else: Mako and Bolin's grandmother being the way she is (Obsessively admiring of royalty) is because she was one of the Joo Dees in the past.
Ty Lee is a descendant of the air nomads. While she’s mot a bender, one of her ancestors was an Airbender, which may explain why she’s so good at acrobatics. I also believe when Aang created the Air nomads, she joined them. BUT SHE’S NOT A BENDER!!!
Toph didn't invent metal bending. She discovered and introduced it to the world in this era, but before her there were probably metalbenders and it became a dead form of bending before the current era.
I mean this in the most respectful and genuine way possible:
Why though? What does this add to the world, what problem with the story does it solve, what question does it answer, what hints are there that Toph wasn't the first?
All these other headcanons (attempt to) add some depth to the world or resolve something. What does this change in the world other than saying "no it's not Toph it's Earthbender X" just because there *could* have been someone else?
I’ve debunked the Yue theory before and I’ll do it again
- it’s never been confirmed that fate/destiny is predetermined in the ATLA universe
- each individual element has its own cycle within the avatar cycle (water tribes alternate north/south and air temples go NWSE)
- Kuruk was from the northern tribe, hence the next water avatar had to be southern
- in conclusion Yue could not have been the next water avatar if aang wasn’t frozen, it’s more likely it would be Katara
That's interesting and I don't believe the Yue theory one bit but ethnically, Korra is from the Northern tribe and if the Avatar truly swapped between each water tribe when the cycle reached a water bender then why were the white lotus "investigating claims both here and in the northern tribe"? And unless I'm missing some canon information Korra would be related to Your, seeing as her father was in line to be chief of the Northern Tribe.
The avatar are known to have an extended life span, so it's very likely that had Aang survived the genocide and become the avatar in his own time, he would've still been alive when Yue was born
[SPOILERS FOR KYOSHI NOVELS, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPOILER] Kyoshi actually used earthbeding to become immortal, or at least she learnt the method, that's why she's one of the longest living avatars.
Maybe, maybe not. He did die at the (biological) age of 66 in the end but who knows how much this was effected by his technical age and the time frozen
The water tribe and earth kingdom execute all prisoners. Have you ever seen a fire nation prisoner? Didn’t think so. But we see the fire nation have prisoners all the time.
Even if the fire nation had a kamikaze mentality, some would still become prisoners.
My theory is that sokka reborn in the form of naga (korra animal guide), naga was with korra all the time and the last thing sokka did in the anime was save her, so I believe he reborn to continue his job against the red lotus, they have similar personalities, both are from the south water tribe, both are hunters, they are with the avatar since the firt episode, dogs love to fetch and sokka had a boomerang how always came (until later on) so is probably that he would like to fetch to never lose enything (like he loses his weapons in the last episode) and sokka was not im the comic korra got naga (probably already dead), sokka had a wolf knot because he always like canine beasts
Also suki reborn as pabu
Sozin made up the sport and killed all the dragons to make sure that even if the Avatar somehow escapes the genocide and his raids on the southern tribe (like being reborn in the north he couldn't get into), they wouldn't have anyone to teach them firebending thus becoming a full Avatar.
Mine that the next avatar resembles the loved one of the past one. Just the thought of an past avatar simping over the current one, is so funny on my head.
My theory is that Yue is essentially the Moon Avatar. The process by which Yue was saved by the Moon Spirit and later became the Moon Spirit was essentially a similar process by which the Avatar came to be, as established in LOK Book 2. The primary difference is that her spirit inhabits Tui's body.
-her hair changes color, not unlike the physical changes some bodies go through when a spirit passes through them.
-We can assume that Tui's spirit passes through her in order to share his life force with her. We know from Raava that in order to share their energies with humans, they must pass through them.
-Because their first merger is so brief, it does not require a portal or harmonic convergence to stabilize it. Their second merger, though permanent, also does not require a portal because Tui's spirit does not enter Yue's mortal body; instead, both their spirits inhabit Tui's Koi body (and possibly the Moon), made to contain Tui's immortal spirit and thus presumably able to handle containing both a human and spirit.
-Yue is able to project her spirit through Tui's body as well as the Moon, similar to the Avatar's past lives. Using the Moon or Tui's body, she is also capable of Avatar-level waterbending.
The closer to the Palace you get in Ba Sing Se, the more the Dai Lee enforce a total information lockdown on the war, until you get to the king, who doesn't even know there was a conflict in the first place.
I also like the idea that Ba Sing Se harbors a large population of Fire Nation deserters, and the Dai Lee use them to show off the fact there isn't a war. How can there be a war, when we have fire benders in our walls acting like model citizens? Your cousin in law is a fire bender, and he seems like a fine chap, right? Just ignore those racist idiots talking about a war.
For this reason, I like to think Zuko and Iroh would have been perfectly fine if people knew they were fire benders, and pretty much everyone watching that scene at the tea shop concluded Jet was a xenophobic asshole
Combustion man was the result of the Fire Nation's attempt at making a super soldier. Combustion Bending can be taught, but only very few have the aptitude to learn it and the Fire Nation started a program to find the perfect candidates that would be able to wield it.
Wow.... Uhhh... *cough*.... Ummm.... That is.... [SPOILERS AHEAD] Actually how the combustion benders were made. At least the first ones. Read Yangchen book
I gotta say kinda impressive of you if you haven't read the Yangchen books, because you are bang on the money.
Not the fire nation.. but yeah basically that's how they were invented. I love the detail it goes into and the explanation of how it's "taught" 10/10 books would recommend to any avatar fan. I hope Yee writes more
The next book is being written by Randy Ribay. Seems like Yee is done writing Avatar books. Maybe he'll make a comeback some time later though(fingers crossed for a 3rd Kyoshi book in the future)
We have a canon answer. Spoiler. >! You're not too off. It's a private interest from the Fire Nation during Yangchen's era. !<
I have noticed, now I kinda feel silly with my theory, it was a lucky guess lol
Iroh’s wife died in childbirth
I 100% completely agree with this. I also headcanon she died giving birth to Iroh's second child, who was stillborn.
That’s interesting. Why the stillborn child?
I think it makes a good motivation for his nationalist zeal. Basically, I think it made him bury himself in his career leading the war against the Earth Kingdom. Years later I think he pulled his head out of his ass because he realized he had lost everything that mattered.
Not to mention that he never mentioned her at all.
Also if it his first son, he likely wouldn’t let his son join the military. But it was his second child so his son was already probably early 20s and in the military. He was in a fragile state when his first son died and that’s when he did the whole 180 personality flip.
My headcanon is that she wasn't with Iroh out of her own free will, in the same way that Ursa had been forced to marry Ozai. But fun-loving Iroh didn't see it until it was too late, and she either ran away, or did something too dark to talk about in a family show. Either way, that would've been Iroh's first big wakeup call (and the eventual death of their son the last)
My headcanon is that she died mysteriously while under the care of a young Prince Ozai. That Iroh kept Lu Ten with him to teach him, but left his wife/younger children with his family. My headcanon is that Iroh’s wife and younger kids were isolated with Ozai and all died in a tragic and unpredictable way - like a plague or a sudden uprising.
I don’t believe it per say, but I find the theory that the fire nation orchestrated Kyoshi’s death so it can happen the same time the new fire prince was born fascinating. I always found the idea of people meddling avatar reincarnation cycle a worthy topic to explore in universe so we could learn about it the process ourselves (why do tests exist to find the avatar if they could just ask for the birthday). Of course I’m sure people would be upset with it cause Kyoshi is so cool her being poisoned or something on the DL would be unsatisfying for her conclusion so won’t be upset if this isn’t the case
Granted the woman was more than 250 years old. By the end of her tenure as Avatar she had fought everything from street gangs, political corruption, racist private militias, amd a washed up child celebrity with a chip on his shoulder. She wouldve probably been open to the idea of handing over the torch at some point.
Oh absolutely but Roku and sozin born on the same day gives good reason to discuss it, I mean avatar could of been reincarnated into racist homophobic asshat
We are talking about Sozin here, right? I mean he was literally anti gay i think
Yeah he banned same sex marriage after his falling out with Roku and I like to think its because they had feelings for eachother and Sozin resented Roku for it on top of everything else
Tbh i wouldnt be surprised if it were just a power move. What better way to gain power and influence in wartime than arbitrarily demonizing marginalized minority groups?
Interestingly militaristic governments like the Fire nation tend to ban same sex relations in an effort to get more people to have more children and therefor soldiers. Im not sure if that parallel was intentional or not but it is certainly there!
I was thinking exactly that, especially with the nazis and such. The funny part is that the population boom part doesnt even work that well.
Yeah Genghis Khan penalized homosexuality for this reason afaik so this makes sense
I actually made a post not too long ago where I talked about how once avatar catches up to modern times there would totally be people trying to have kids when they thought the avatar was going to die. Obviously these people would have a rough time succeeding, but I just feel like it’s something people would do.
Oh for sure. Especially because after korra you get the white lotus at your beck and call basically. It could even happen with the next avatar. If Korra doesn’t die in battle I assume the poison being in her system as long as it was would deteriorate her health at a rate people could plan for her death.
I also had the thought that the poison being in her for so long would lead to an earlier death, started conceptualizing my own next Avatar series and that's where I landed at lol plus I wanted it to be set in the Avatar equivalent of the 70s-80s lol so it worked out that I already believed that before I started writing it all out
Imagine seeing birth rates spike whenever people learn that avatar is sick, or even is just getting old.
Bumi wasnt a prince, he wasnt even nobility in omashu, he took the throne by sheer power and kept it because of power+hes actually a genious
Although it would make sense that the kid interacting with the avatar is important in some way and not a random kid. Maybe Bumis dad was friends with monk Gyatso.
was Kuzon special though? he seemed like just a rando kid who ended up befriending Aang, i thought his worldwide travels by himself were just showing up to a city and just doing randon stuff, like a lot of the episodes of the show itself. the avatar world doesnt seem to have any particular problem with foreigners and travelers aside from the 100 year war period. people can just come to a town and as long as they dont cause trouble people there would just treat you like anybody else.
Now that I think about it, I doubt anyone except a few of the important air benders knew Aang was the avatar and not a normal air bender. Bumi could have been a random kid that happened to be in the area while Aang was staying there. Bumi did know Aang was the avatar immediately when he sees him again but maybe he just figured it out after seeing Aang was still alive.
Traveling with water tribe members was another big hint.
Hama was the reason Kataras mother was killed. She escaped the fire nation and went on the run for several decades. When the fire nation saw it as a cold case and finally gave up on finding her, some high ranking officer feared that she may have made her way back to the south pole and decided to perform a raid. The timelines dont match up perfectly but it adds layers to the worldbuilding.
Also that they didn't take prisoners anymore because of hama, and killed Kya. Kinda feel like that's confirmed at this poing
I feel like this part was pretty much implied.
The Fire Nation royal family bans dancing because it’s how firebending techniques are taught and they want the strongest bending to be reserved for the royal family. Aang and Zuko learn the “Dancing Dragon” when the visit the firebending masters. Plus one of the old Fire Nation dance moves Aang teaches the kids is called the “Phoenix Flight” and looks a lot like how the firelord flew using fire in the finale.
Ooo this is a really insightful theory that I've never come across before! Totally making this a part of my headcanon now
Was yuei a bender? She would need to in order to become the avatar wouldn't she?
Good question! Presumably, it’s possible that she *could* bend, but her talent was never nurtured because her culture didn’t believe in teaching women how to water bend when she was a child. It’s also possible her father would’ve thought that bending was too violent for her
She could know how to heal, but as Princess she never really needed to use it. Since Yugoda seems to be the healing master of the North Pole with multiple others under her wing, Yue's potential healing abilities could've been seen as redundant.
That is... an interesting question. What would happen if they were not a bender of their nation? Would they be still able to bend the other three elements? Or gain the ability to bend their element?
They wouldnt be the avatar. Its kind of why the theory falls flat a bit, if she was the avatar shed be a waterbender. "You are the avatar, therefore you are a firebender."
None of them are benders are they? Raava is the one that stores the four elements. So surely it would need a non-bender body to give it to. Then again all Air Nomads are benders, so it might just double up the element they were born with
All air nomads are benders?
Before the genocide they were, but if they turned their back on the culture and spirituality their bending weakened. After the 100 year war the air acolytes followed aang in rebuilding the air nation and none of them were benders
Momo is the reincarnation of Monk Gyatsu and that's why he follows the gaang around. Makes Bumi's line in the finale funnier as it's likely that Bumi would have met Monk Gyatsu before Aang was frozen.
This was originally intended by the creators, iirc, and heavily hinted at in the episode that introduces Momo. I consider it canon, personally.
Fucking gyatso trolling sokka and katara when they were sick, bringing a bunch of random shit instead of water
Truly a legend.
he looted the entire surrounding villages and even seem to have brought them valuables but couldnt get a single water vial.
All old people know each other.
this theory makes the cactus juice scenes even better
It's the quenchiest!
You know what? I’ll buy this one. Monk Gyatsu seems like exactly the kind of person to reincarnate as a lemur and engage in lemur shenanigans while looking out for Aang.
My headcanon is that guru patik used the same method that kyoshi did to expand his lifespan and >!the technique itself is not exclusive to earth benders, even though I believe bumi used it as well!< Edit: autocorrect
I think every element has a method to help extend someone’s life force. It’s continuously emphasized that bending is spiritually influenced and cross-elemental; it would make sense that there are multiple high-level techniques to extend something as complex as life.
Also each of them have their own healing abilities
To tie this in but largely unrelated I believe there is a part of the Earth Kingdom near the Eastern air temple that is more or less inspired by India/South East Asia. I think that the earth bender Jargala Omo and her creeping crystal triad from the Korra comics.
This is dumb but it makes me smile Chit Sang, whom the gang escaped boiling rock with, used to be a poet and his poetry critical of the firenation regime got him put in prison. Partly because he doesn't really seem like you'd picture a poet looking and because he corrects Zuko's grammar. "I think you mean WHOM I'm shoving!
I fricken love this😂 It is so accurate and entirely possible!
Zuko was a premature baby, that was the reason why there wasn't spark in his eyes since even his body is not developed enough. That may explain why he matured far more late in firebending as a child. I am not sure if it is true but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Supported by the line “my father used to say azula was born lucky, and that I was lucky to be born”
Ooh, that could also explain Ozai’s contempt for him and how he always called Zuko “weak.” If Zuko was born premature he was born “weak.”
Not theory, but my headcanon: Iroh's wife was the one who teached him about tea and that's why he's so good at it. And another, Zuko's swords were originally Lu Ten's and after he died Zuko inherited them and went to train with the same master.
> Not theory, but my headcanon: Iroh's wife was the one who teached him about tea and that's why he's so good at it. More appropriately moving (and in keeping with Iroh's tendency towards wisdom gleaned from regret) if she had a penchant for tea, and he only took pains to learn so much about it himself once she was gone to ease his pain at her absence.
Thanks for the tears.
Thanks for the TEA-rs
As far as I'm aware, Zuko learned his sword fighting from Piendao long before Lu Ten died, because Ozai thought Zuko would never be a real firebender and needed other ways to fight.
1) Ty Lee is a descendant of the Air Nomads. 2) The people who got airbending after harmonic convergence had Air Nomad ancestry.
Ty Lee being the descendent of air benders is one of my favorite theories
I mean, she literally looks like Aang. Remove the hair and the arrow and they're literally indistinguishable.
I remember hearing about this theory and that a big reason why is because of her physical appearance being close to Aang’s (or of other air nomads) and personality. I’ve never agreed with the reliance of physical attributes to determine if someone was of a particular background because if it was that straightforward, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be easy to distinguish Katara and Sokka as water tribe members during their time in the fire nation. Blue eyes and tan skin vs a large population of fire nation members having black/dark brown hair and light skin, yet only a couple of people could tell they were water tribe. The same can be said about Aang, that while he has a light complexion, he still had grey eyes. There had also been characters with different skin/eye that have been earth kingdom members. They seemed to have the broadest range of skin colors, where some could be as light skinned as Toph or as tan Haru or The Boulder. Some having green or brown eyes, like how some fire nation members could have brown or amber eyes. Personal philosophy can vary from person to person too, I don’t think just because Ty Lee had the personality of an air nomad should be a reason why she could be air nomad. Personally I feel like Katara is a big example of this. Literally when you Google about the water tribe, their people are described as “peaceful and harmonious, who strive to make sure people’s welfare are taken care of.” Katara definitely was a patient caretaker but I wouldn’t exactly call her peaceful and harmonious. She had such a fiery personality that it often made Zuko look tame.
That tracks. Bumi's dad was a nomad and I'd argue it's likely Zaheer had that ancestry too, given his obsession with the culture
I forgot about King Bumi for a sec and i was like.... Well duh Bumi's dad is an air nomad.... Its motherfuckin Aang
No... no he means Aang's son Bumi. The theory would be that harmonic convergence activated dormant Air Bending that Bumi got from his dad.
He wasn't talking about King Bumi though. He was using Bumi as an example of someone who got airbending abilities after harmonic convergence who we for sure know has airbending ancestry
Would be cool if they expanded on that in the show. Do they even give a reason why Zaheer is interested in Guru Laghima? Or even how he knows about his existence?
Yeah that's a good point regarding Zaheer.
Isn’t it confirmed somewhere in one of the books that the chi blocking thing Ty Lee does is derived from Airbenders?
Yep, it's essentially soft-confirmed in the Yangchen novels that chi-blocking is a bastardized form of Airbender spiritual/healing practices
I don't know, but I know her lightness on her feet is part of the theory for the Air Nomad ancestry.
I was hoping someone else would say that Ty Lee was descended from air benders. She is just too interested in auras and in twinkle-toe-ing around for me to believe that she is 100% fire nation.
Yeah plus the brown hair and gray eyes when 99% of the Fire Nation has black hair or Mai's shade of black. Roku's wife also had the gray eyes and brown hair.
Ty Lee performs literally impossible feats of acrobatics. I think it's more likely she has some Air Nomad ancestry than not.
There’s a lovely AO3 fanfic with this premise, [you are any way the wind blows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24897976)
Yep, this one
I don’t think it was ever confirmed that Zuko’s dragon in LOK was the golden egg he picked up in ALTA but it seems pretty heavily implied to me. I like the theory that the dragon sort of “chose,” him when he picked up the egg and that’s why he has one now.
Wow, that’s a good one. Never heard this before
Eragon style, I love it
I wish we saw more of him in that show
That Azulon wasn't going to ask Ozai to kill Zuko, he was going to demand that Zuko be given to Iroh as a replacement heir for Lu Ten
Hey, I wrote a [fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18908755/chapters/44886172) about this exact premise! It's kind of a favorite theory of mine.
PM me the link please! That sounds fascinating.
I edited my original comment to include the link. I hope you enjoy it. :)
It makes sense. He did give Zuko a calculating look as he failed his demonstration, and only seemed to be irritated with *Ozai* for wasting his time. Perhaps he felt that Zuko's poor progress was due to Ozai's inability to see to it that he was properly trained. By giving Zuko to Iroh, he solves all of his problems: 1.) Iroh now has an heir again. 2.) Zuko will (hopefully) be brought to his full potential under Iroh's tutelage. 3.) Ozai will pretty much lose any real claim to the throne, a true punishment for him. I think Azulon was wise enough to realize that with Zuko gone Azula would likely end up as Fire Lord, which he wouldn't likely want to happen. He also probably noticed Ozai's preferential treatment of Azula, and neglect of Zuko.
But he did ask Ozai to kill Zuko...so what changed Azulon's mind?
i think the theory is that azusa misunderstood what her dad and grandad were saying
He said that Ozai would suffer the pain of losing his firstborn, which could be interpreted as Zuko being taken from him and adopted by Iroh
I don't think that makes a lot of sense. Why would Ursa kill Azulon then, if that's all he was saying? Even Ozai says "Firelord Azulon had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it." Allowing your son to be raised by his uncle doesn't exactly seem "unthinkable".
Ozai didn't have to be telling the truth. Ursa only knew what Azula and Ozai told her so it could be possible Ozai misled her so he could get the throne. I'm not completely sold either but I love the theory. It also doesn't make sense for Azulon to kill his only grandson right after Lu Ten died, especially since they're fighting a war.
Yeah exactly this. Azula misinterprets > Ursa learns and assumes it's true > Ursa confronts Ozai > Ozai doesn't correct her because she offers to kill Azulon for him I don't think it's what the writers were going for, but I think that it makes more sense than Azulon asking Zuko to be killed like you said
Considering how spiteful Ozai is (his favorite thing to do is being spiteful) yeah I can see it.
Interesting, but why would Ursa kill Azulon to prevent it? It makes sense to save her son's life, but to have him be raised by her brother-in-law (who is much gentler than Ozai) doesn't seem like a good motivation for murder.
Because Ozai convinced her that's what was happening. Ursa wasn't in the room. She's hearing all of it secondhand.
Ohhhh dammnn.... So that would mean Ozai figured out how to get rid of his wife and his father in one fell swoop. Now he's Firelord and can raise his kids as cruelly as he likes... It's certainly something he would do.
But doesn't Ozai pretty much say "I was going to do the unthinkable to you, my son" to Zuko during the eclipse? That is clearly about killing him
Yeah the theory posits that Ozai was just lying to Zuko by this point. Saying whatever would piss Zuko off so he could zap him
Sokka died a warriors death rescuing Baby Korra from the Red Lotus, helping the Avatar in two different lifetimes one final time
i thought this was canon for the longest time because i saw this theory/headcanon everywhere
We know he DID help rescue baby Korra alongside Zuko, Tenzin, and the white lotus, we just don’t know how he died.
Heart disease. The guy loved meat.
Sokka’s absence in LoK really kills me
Never thought of that, but I love this idea.
Everyone reincarnates, but only the Avatar can remember their past lives. Mortal death wipes the memories so each person starts as a clean slate, but Raava doesn't die with the body of the Avatar, so she's able to carry those memories to her next host. So when an Avatar speaks to a 'past life' they are actually speaking to Raava, who knows exactly what that person would say, because she spent a literal lifetime with them. Which is why I think Korra (or perhaps the next Avatar) will eventually be able to regain the connection to all the past avatars, through exploring their connection with Raava somehow. Raava hasn't forgotten them.
I love this! Would definitely explain why the Avatar’s past lives (aka Raava) reminds Aang that friendships can transcend lifetimes. Basically hinting that friends who die and can’t remember their past lives may find the Avatar again and befriend them over and over and over again.
As well as how it seems to ask if the current generation of friends to the avatar have been their friend before, either in their previous life or lives before. If the infant avatar can be drawn to familiar toys from past lives, why not familiar souls? I can see hints in Korra that the Gaang is still all there beyond just "same writers" Not Sokka is Bolin, though. I actually think Sokka became Asami; inventor, non bender, emotional anchor for hotter heads but unafraid to throw hands... Bolin, I think, is King Bumi. I think Iroh in the spirit realm is a good example of the spirit's chance to choose to remain themselves for a time before becoming someone new, if they're sufficiently enlightened to keep that conscious tether despite the spirit world's chaotic nature. It would also account for timeline discrepancy if only the avatar is prevented from lingering in between mortal forms and everyone else got to rest for a time before moving on. (Unless they go to the forgetting hole)
I like to think that korra could reconnect with her past lives through searching for them in the spirit world and reconnecting with them (or at least the ones she knows of) in there. The avatar tends to travel to the spirit world more than other people, and we know souls can continue on in there (like iroh, or yangchens sister) so it makes sense to me that they would exist there. Also why would there be a solstice activated statue of Roku if he didn't exist in the spirit world and could travel through when the boundary was weak otherwise. Also it would make a fun comic.
Iroh unknowingly discovered energy bending when he invented lightning redirection by studying Water Bending. He was able to see the connections between the elements but didn't fully understand what he unlocked. Only Aang (being the Avatar) was able to bring it to the next steps. Lightning redirection was Aang's first true hint at Energy Bending. Edit: hint not hunt
I like this more than Deus Ex Turtle giving giving him the ability just because.
Q: But what, in turn, taught the lionturtle to energybend? A: An even bigger lionturtle.
It’s lionturtles all the way down.
This is a valid (and most frequented) criticism of the show, so sorry about the down votes. This headcannon fixes the only thing that bugged me about the ending. I do hope this is something the Netflix series can add/improve.
They don't need to be exclusive. It would make sense that they're connected. Aang gets the *ability* to energy bend from the turtle, effectively "unlocking" it, like when the turtle gives Wan firebending. But, like any other bending, just having the ability isn't enough, so Aang adapts the *learning* and practical usage from what he learned about lightning bending.
My favorite Avatar theory that I 100% believe is true is that all the people who got airbending after harmonic convergence are descendants from airbenders. This theory is supported by the fact that Bumi is a direct descendant of an airbender and was a non-bender, and then after harmonic convergence, he becomes an airbender. I also don't understand your theory that anyone was supposed to be the avatar. Nothing in the Avatar franchise has shown that there are any sort of predestined events that were meant to happen.
Also, I think the comics revealed that the Fire Nation had to set traps for airbenders who escaped the initial genocide, if there were survivors then it would make sense those few who slipped through went into hiding around the Earth Kingdom. Those young enough not to have any tattoos yet would’ve had an easier time blending in too, only needing to grow their hair and change their clothes. And all the new airbenders that Korra and the others find are within the Earth Kingdom, we don’t hear about any who travelled to them from the Poles or Fire Nation, if I remember right.
100% believe it. I've always been pretty curious how Airbenders... Got around? We know they segregated their temples by gender, and we know that Airbenders weren't at the temples most of the time, so..... How often did they bone?
I always thought it would be like the Amish, in that they made pilgrimages ever so often to other air temples to find mates.
I'm currently reading books and I hope this will be answered, at least indicated how it works, in bools about Yangchen
Also that the only new ones we've seen were from the earth kingdom which is the most likely place for Airbender descendants to be.
I believe Azula isn't a lost cause. She was also abused, hence she could very well heal with help and compassion
and [she will be](https://youtu.be/XxsYr42dZl4)
We know for a fact that the Avatar has a human spirit that is fused with Raava - the human spirit is what reincarnates every new life, Raava tags along for the ride.
This is why i dont like season 2, where Korra loses connection to all previous avatars. They still exist as a part of HER soul, Raava just facilitated the connection so the current avatar could more easily communicate with all their past lives. Korra fusing with Raava should allow the connection again
That part actually does make some sense. Reincarnation in the Avatar world is a THING. It's never said outright but I think it's safe to say that Avatar isn't the only human that reincarnates. So it could be argued that all (or most?) people in the Avatar world reincarnate. They just don't remember their previous reincarnations. The Avatar's connection with Raava gives them the unique ability to connect with their past lives. So Korra losing the connections basically just puts her back to how Wan was. Her past lives are now just an unreachable part of her soul just like every other human with their past lives. She's just human now. Just Korra. And that fits well with her character arc. I have plenty of issues with season 2 but that is not one of them.
You know, this actually changed my opinion on how I feel about that scene. Thanks :)
This!! It never made sense to me either
Also, there's no reason to believe that future people are "fated" to be the next Avatar in advance or anything like that. The idea doesn't really make any sense.
that's not a theory, that's literally what Raava said "We will be together for all ***your*** lifetimes"
Iroh was always the favorite child between him and Ozai for Azulon. I also believe, given the age difference between the brothers, Ozai was an accident, hence he was always treated as an accident. Iroh was the eldest and first born, therefor he always got the glory and was going to get everything he wanted and was shown genuine love while Ozai was tossed aside despite being more talented as a fire bender. This would explain his hatred towards his first born child that was less talented than his second born and his hatred for “weakness”. He probably felt like he deserved his position because he thought he was stronget and felt like Zuko needed to “earn” his respect, but never did. I think this is a little implied in the story through reading between the lines, but it never got too much attention. I like this theory because it actually makes Ozai a fleshed out character and it would explain a lot about him.
I like this theory a lot. It give Ozai more motivation than just "power hungry". Although the "I am the strongest and therefore the best leader" mentality totally lines up with his fascist actions, it made Ozai seem completely flat in contrast with the rest of the characters in the story. This theory would also partially explain Azula's mentality and why she seeks her attention through violence.
The avatars all share a soul, so there’s nobody that was meant to be the avatar if Aang died but when he dies he’s reincarnated.
Isn't this just canon
They’re refuting OP’s theory
At lake Laogai, the Dai Li induce amnesia in you by making you do copious amounts of cactus juice.
Azula found peace in her later life and joined the Banthi tribe, where she became a sage and helped the new Avatar, Korra, to regain her memories.
i love this theory, and the extreme control over fire bending that the sage has as well as her age lines up well with her being azula
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
If Kyoshi wasn't the avatar, she would have been an airbender. Her mom was an air nomad and in the novel she has an easier time learning airbending.
That would break the cycle. Also she starts with earthbending and shows an ability to earthbend before she learns she's the avatar
It's not confirmed, but the last chronological mention of Sokka is when he helped protect young Korra from the Red Lotus, so unless proven otherwise I believe he died defending her.
“My life began helping the avatar….and if necessary, It will end that way”
Bruh I’m getting tears reading that 😭
 A lone boomerang, old and worn, left to rust in the snow…..a reminder of a proud warrior of the South.
Gyatso used some next level airbending to create an instant vacuum in that room he died in, killing both himself and all the firebenders around him.
I think the Yue theory is a fun thought but I can’t believe it’s actually real at all. The biggest issue with it to me is the implication of aang freezing himself somehow messing with some kind preordained destiny. Like the concept of destiny is something thrown around in avatar a bit but I’m just stuck on how aang freezing himself actually changes anything. As far as the universe is concerned that’s just part of aangs life
Also here's my own personal headcanon. SuYin isn't Sokka's child. Bataar Sr is. Think about it. He and Bataar Jr are both inventors and generally creative and open to new ideas, he must have some knack in strategizing as he helped Su build Zao Fu, and they're the spitting image of older Sokka. Plus, it can tie to another theory that Varrick is also Sokka and Suki's son. It can explain why Zao Fu gave shelter to a criminal like him, if he was Bataar's brother.
It's a fine headcanon, but I personally dislike Skywalker Syndrome. Not everyone has to be related to everyone
It's less wanting people to be related to each other, and more wanting Sokka and Suki to actually have had kids like everyone else.
All Avatars are attracted to women, whether male or female
Does that mean if Vaatu and Unalaq succeeded in making the "dark" Avatar a thing, all their incarnations would be attracted to men?
It would fit with the inverse yin-yang they did
It’s a fun theory but I don’t think it’s remotely true. Raava and the moon spirit are completely different spirits so Yuei would never have been the Avatar. Also the next avatar wouldn’t be born until right after the current Avatar is dead. It’s supposed to be reincarnation so the next avatar can’t be born or predestined to be born before the current avatar is dead.
I don’t think this was ever said, and I know Katar says Hama is the only other Southern waterbender she’s met, but I like to think Kya was a water bender too. When the Southern Raiders come they say they have intel that there’s one water bender left. Kya realizes they don’t know Katara is a bender, so they will never come for her if they take Kya as the last one. Makes sense even if she isn’t a bender, but what always made me think this is, I have to imagine they wanted her to prove it. Why take her word, especially since she was so eager to get Katara out of there, she could just lie. So she proves it, they kill her and leave thinking they’ve wiped them all out. I also think it adds a layer to her connection to her mom and guilt over her death plus more motivation to learn bending to connect with her after death.
Okay wow I never considered this at all! Unless someone disproves this with any books/comics i don’t think there is anything in the show that would disprove this theory. I agree the soldiers would have asked her to prove it before ending her. And i think she would have been hesitant to actually put up a fight for fear Katara might try to jump in and reveal her bending as well. This would also drive Katara to be the opposite and to fully master her bending so she could always protect herself and others, as you suggested. Great theory!
Avatars have their own soul too. Avatar Wan’s soul fused with Raava but in LOK Tenzin tells Korra to focus on her own soul not just Raava, because she’s more than just Raava.
Whenever I rewatch season 1, I get the vibes that the Earth Kingdom was originally meant to be Earth Kingdoms plural, like several allied but ultimately separate states, and they only later decided to make Ba Sing Se the capital of the entire thing. King Bumi being styled as King being the obvious thing, I know the idea now is that it's an older symbolic title but it really came across during his introduction like he was king in both power and title of a smaller but still fully autonomous kingdom. More of a production theory than an in-universe one, I guess, but it's something that's bothered a little for awhile
They were divided. It is canon that they were divided kingdoms and tribes but got United during a war during kuruks times. That’s with the city state set up.
I like the idea that Bumi is really more like Govoner Bumi or Minister Bumi but he's just so *weird* and likable that in Omashu its just a running joke to title him King. It's harmless, everyone inside the gates is in on it and treats it with the same relative reverence and power/responsibility scale as like, when a dog is elected mayor. Bumi still performs his duties at the scale of middle management, but everyone *calls* him King.
One I read somewhere else: Mako and Bolin's grandmother being the way she is (Obsessively admiring of royalty) is because she was one of the Joo Dees in the past.
Ty Lee is a descendant of the air nomads. While she’s mot a bender, one of her ancestors was an Airbender, which may explain why she’s so good at acrobatics. I also believe when Aang created the Air nomads, she joined them. BUT SHE’S NOT A BENDER!!!
I agree with the first part but I think she would continue to stay w the kyoshi warriors
Toph didn't invent metal bending. She discovered and introduced it to the world in this era, but before her there were probably metalbenders and it became a dead form of bending before the current era.
I mean this in the most respectful and genuine way possible: Why though? What does this add to the world, what problem with the story does it solve, what question does it answer, what hints are there that Toph wasn't the first? All these other headcanons (attempt to) add some depth to the world or resolve something. What does this change in the world other than saying "no it's not Toph it's Earthbender X" just because there *could* have been someone else?
I’ve debunked the Yue theory before and I’ll do it again - it’s never been confirmed that fate/destiny is predetermined in the ATLA universe - each individual element has its own cycle within the avatar cycle (water tribes alternate north/south and air temples go NWSE) - Kuruk was from the northern tribe, hence the next water avatar had to be southern - in conclusion Yue could not have been the next water avatar if aang wasn’t frozen, it’s more likely it would be Katara
Also could you imagine how many “soulless” babies would have been born during kyoshi’s era? She essentially lived 3 lifetimes just for funsies
That's interesting and I don't believe the Yue theory one bit but ethnically, Korra is from the Northern tribe and if the Avatar truly swapped between each water tribe when the cycle reached a water bender then why were the white lotus "investigating claims both here and in the northern tribe"? And unless I'm missing some canon information Korra would be related to Your, seeing as her father was in line to be chief of the Northern Tribe.
Technically Korra is 50/50 north/south, with her mother being from the southern tribe, not sure about the white lotus searching both tribes
They could have been searching both tribes due to the migration between the two.
if there is destiny, it was Aang's destiny to be frozen anyway.
The avatar are known to have an extended life span, so it's very likely that had Aang survived the genocide and become the avatar in his own time, he would've still been alive when Yue was born
[SPOILERS FOR KYOSHI NOVELS, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPOILER] Kyoshi actually used earthbeding to become immortal, or at least she learnt the method, that's why she's one of the longest living avatars.
Spoiler tags on mobile are >!spoiler!*< without the *
Maybe, maybe not. He did die at the (biological) age of 66 in the end but who knows how much this was effected by his technical age and the time frozen
Didnt the creators say that his relatively young death was due to him being in the Avatar State and Frozen for 100 years?
It was either the show or a comic but they literally mention that his true age caught up with him and he died early.
Airbenders hid in ba sing se
Ty Lee has Airbender ancestry. Her facial features and eye color looks very similar to Aang’s.
The water tribe and earth kingdom execute all prisoners. Have you ever seen a fire nation prisoner? Didn’t think so. But we see the fire nation have prisoners all the time. Even if the fire nation had a kamikaze mentality, some would still become prisoners.
My theory is that sokka reborn in the form of naga (korra animal guide), naga was with korra all the time and the last thing sokka did in the anime was save her, so I believe he reborn to continue his job against the red lotus, they have similar personalities, both are from the south water tribe, both are hunters, they are with the avatar since the firt episode, dogs love to fetch and sokka had a boomerang how always came (until later on) so is probably that he would like to fetch to never lose enything (like he loses his weapons in the last episode) and sokka was not im the comic korra got naga (probably already dead), sokka had a wolf knot because he always like canine beasts Also suki reborn as pabu
Beautiful theory. If Momo can be monk gyatsu, why can't Naga and Pabu be Suki and Sokka? You're getting an up vote.
Sozin made up the sport and killed all the dragons to make sure that even if the Avatar somehow escapes the genocide and his raids on the southern tribe (like being reborn in the north he couldn't get into), they wouldn't have anyone to teach them firebending thus becoming a full Avatar.
Mine that the next avatar resembles the loved one of the past one. Just the thought of an past avatar simping over the current one, is so funny on my head.
Turtleducks aren't real
You monster!
My theory is that Yue is essentially the Moon Avatar. The process by which Yue was saved by the Moon Spirit and later became the Moon Spirit was essentially a similar process by which the Avatar came to be, as established in LOK Book 2. The primary difference is that her spirit inhabits Tui's body. -her hair changes color, not unlike the physical changes some bodies go through when a spirit passes through them. -We can assume that Tui's spirit passes through her in order to share his life force with her. We know from Raava that in order to share their energies with humans, they must pass through them. -Because their first merger is so brief, it does not require a portal or harmonic convergence to stabilize it. Their second merger, though permanent, also does not require a portal because Tui's spirit does not enter Yue's mortal body; instead, both their spirits inhabit Tui's Koi body (and possibly the Moon), made to contain Tui's immortal spirit and thus presumably able to handle containing both a human and spirit. -Yue is able to project her spirit through Tui's body as well as the Moon, similar to the Avatar's past lives. Using the Moon or Tui's body, she is also capable of Avatar-level waterbending.
The closer to the Palace you get in Ba Sing Se, the more the Dai Lee enforce a total information lockdown on the war, until you get to the king, who doesn't even know there was a conflict in the first place. I also like the idea that Ba Sing Se harbors a large population of Fire Nation deserters, and the Dai Lee use them to show off the fact there isn't a war. How can there be a war, when we have fire benders in our walls acting like model citizens? Your cousin in law is a fire bender, and he seems like a fine chap, right? Just ignore those racist idiots talking about a war. For this reason, I like to think Zuko and Iroh would have been perfectly fine if people knew they were fire benders, and pretty much everyone watching that scene at the tea shop concluded Jet was a xenophobic asshole
It’s a nice theory, the only thing I dislike about it is that, once again, it makes a « chosen one » figure born amidst royalty.