#Winter Solstice: Part 2: Avatar Roku

[juniperhillpatient]

Winter Solstice: Part 2: Avatar Roku re-watch takeaways :)

This is far & away my favorite of the episodes I've watched so far, & I remember it was around this point in my initial watch with my family over quarantine that I went from "sure, I guess I'll watch this with you guys" to "this show is actually really good & I'm invested." This is where the bigger storyline takes off & Aang is given his mission from Roku & it does not disappoint.

Well - this couldn't possibly go wrong :) The gaang is heading for Fire Nation waters & it's appropriately anxiety-inducing. I like that Aang does attempt to get Sokka & Katara to stay behind just about as much as I love that they don't even consider it, even if they try to talk him out of this plan altogether. If there's one thing that is pretty much a must in "chosen one" type stories, it's the Chosen Saviour character trying to talk their friends out of helping & the friends insisting anyway. It makes everyone more sympathetic & it's just fun.

After a nice little adventure in being likable, Zuko is back on his bullshit. I gave Iroh a lot of shit for confusing & inconsistent motives in the last episode & this is a continued critique I have, but I'll give him this - his one consistent motivator is also his most likable trait: he wants to protect Zuko. Zuko is obviously being a major asshole to Iroh & his crew just pressing forward with a doomed mission & it also goes to show how much he still believes he can be accepted again by his father. Iroh meanwhile gives us some important information: Not only did Ozai banish his own son, but he's also unlikely to be very understanding about his son's valid reasons for re-entering the Fire Nation. Not a terrifying & merciless picture they're painting at all :)

Katara & Sokka's banter continues to be fun, & it's a lot more fun now that they're just annoying each other instead of sexism playing into the mix. I also enjoy Appa & Momo adding some levity. Also - if I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - Appa is honestly the real hero of the show. Poor guy legit got shot at with fire, was forced to fly faster than usual to get to the Fire Nation in time, AND rescued the gaang from a collapsing temple in the end! Where is Appa's Nobel Peace Prize, just asking?

Shyu also deserves major props. I like how we're gradually learning more & more about the history of the war. The world-building in Avatar is just so consistently well done. And the history never feels like info dumping, because it comes up naturally in the story, like the fire sages having once been loyal to the Avatar but now being forced to work for the Firelord.

I think this is the first time we get to see Sokka's intelligence when it comes to engineering smart non-bending solutions, with his (admittedly failed) plan to get the doors to the secret Avatar room open. Also, Katara is a genius for thinking of the plan to trick the other sages into thinking Aang's already in the room.

And we finally get to meet this guy!

Aang's meeting with Roku did not disappoint. I'm a huge fan of the line "I know you can do it, Aang, because you've done it before." I feel like the first time I watched this episode really helped me understand how this whole "Avatar" thing worked & drilled in the importance of Aang connecting with his destiny & his past selves. Also - Aang now has a mission & the new big goal has been laid out, so that's very exciting. Our boy has to learn all 4 elements by the end of the summer....no pressure :)

Oh, & another thing that was fun about Aang's little Avatar spirit adventure to talk to Roku - we got our first tiny glimpse of Ozai & he's a scary DILF, so that's fun. One thing that I would change about the gaang visiting the Fire Nation & Zuko & Iroh talking about complicated family dynamics, is that I wish there had been a way to sneak in an Azula appearance. No? Maybe? Okay, look, I just wish there was more Azula content & that we'd seen her more earlier on.

Anyway, far & away this was the strongest & most exciting episode thus far in my opinion. For me, this is where things start getting exciting & I'm looking forward to pressing onward in this re-watch :)

#Winter Solstice: Part 2: Avatar Roku #atla re watch #atla #atla book 1 #ids in alt text

[atlapanoramas]

Season 1, Episode 8 "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku" - part 9

Long break! Here are some more panoramas.

Slightly fuller version of the comet conversation, as well as a shorter version of the last panorama which appeared earlier in the episode, under the cut.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #winter solstice part 2: avatar roku #book 1: water #fire nation #spirit world #my panoramas #id in alt text #zhao messing up my layout #how typical of him

[number1villainstan]

AtLA Analysis Rewatch: S1E8: Winter Solstice Part 2, Avatar Roku

Intro: I've given up on trying to do this specific episode, at least, all in one day. I'll probably lose some of the overarching plot stuff this way but at least I'll actually do it.

Lot of spiritual, Avatar-specific stuff in the Previously section--talking about the Avatar's past lives, and how to connect with them. Also some crucial details about Crescent Island. Perfectly natural for this episode. I expect to pick out a lot of details about the Fire Sages and religion. (Did you know that Agni is a fanon deity, not a canon one?)

Opening scene is Aang trying to drag Appa into flying, without Sokka or Katara. Stubbornness and a sense of protectiveness over his friends; but also, in the same breath, a feeling of invincibility. Although he considers the possibility of his friends dying, he doesn't seem to understand that he could also die. Katara's line "The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation. Neither can I." might foreshadow their later romance, but it also might be taken as purely platonic here.

Mayor (?) guy from last episode says that it's a "long journey to Crescent Island." a) How does he know that? b) How fast can Appa fly? c) How tiring would the journey be for Appa? The geography/pacing of these episodes are weird. Speed of plot and all. I also wonder exactly what's in the pack Mayor gives Aang, and why it's got a stick on top. What fabric is it using and where did they get it from? Is it just big leaves? But where did they get the leaves? Why is it tied like that?

Why was Zuko just...waiting outside Mayor guy's house? Why did he think shoving him back inside would be a good idea?? Also, he jumped straight from "Having trouble sleeping?" to "Seen the Avatar lately?" That's hardly impactful dialogue. Your mother would be so disappointed that you can't even think up proper villainous dialogue. ...Also, naked Iroh riding a Komodo rhino to the side. I had to go back to last episode's analysis to remember the context of that. :P Zuko's shove, I noticed, looks similar to a firebending move, with him drawing his arms back and placing his hands so that the palms face the 'opponent' (using that word pretty loosely here) and the fingers point up and down. Firebending training showing up here?

The sun seems to rise real quick in the Avatar world. Much quicker than in our own. It also seems to come with an already day-blue sky, rather than the red/orange/pink colors that come with sunrises and sunsets in our world. ...yet another case of astronomical inaccuracy.

Iroh actually gets mad at Zuko for daring to sail in FN waters--enough to raise his voice to a yell when he reminds Zuko that "the Fire Lord" banished him. Why is Iroh talking about his brother so impersonally? (I know why, but that's the Doylist explanation. I want the in-universe one, the Watsonian one.) I also believe that this is the first time in the series that someone has said that Zuko was outright banished, and not just dishonored. Right after Iroh yells, he softens his voice and indirectly asks about Zuko's welfare--"What if you're caught?" Zuko says he has no choice (he does, he could plan/strategize and try to predict where the Gaang would exit FN waters without actually entering them, this is just his impulsivity) and that his father will understand. (Zuko, you poor naive little boy.) (Iroh agrees with me here in this scene.) Iroh also refers to Ozai as 'my brother,' and I can't remember if this is another first time or not.

Fire Lord Ozai casts a large shadow over these two characters, even as he hasn't shown up in the show yet in any real capacity, not even as the shadowy figure of the Big Bad Villain. (I checked the wiki; apparently his first appearance is in this episode.) He casts a large shadow on the whole show. But we don't get a lot of canon characterization for him beyond Big Bad Villain, and what we do get we have to infer and debate based on tiny scenes and scraps.

So, Zuko is at the telescope himself during this talk, trying to look for the Avatar. Lack of trust in his crew? Self-initiative? A combo of both, probably, knowing both Zuko's bull-in-a-china-shop character and his royal (classist) upbringing.

So, the flaming ammo for that catapult. And the catapult itself. Are all FN ships outfitted with one? It came up from under the deck--where is it stored? How is it maintained? Who maintains it? Also, for the ammo--we know that the gray flammable gunk smells bad, thanks to Iroh (does he not know how this works, with his preference for 'something more fragrant'?) and we know that the brown fabric-tied stuff underneath is also flammable, but what's in the bundle? And what's the gray gunk supposed to be, oil or something? (Also, on another note, what sort of cultural details can we glean from Iroh using a fan, even a plain red one? I thought that was a feminine thing in Japanese or Chinese cultures, although I may be wrong.

It looks like the smell/fumes of that 'hot stinker,' as Katara calls it, are also a part of the attack. I wonder if the Gaang's eyes are watering?

What's up with the blockade? Why there? Is it specifically around Crescent Island? How much manpower is it using? I wonder what life is like for the soldiers on that blockade.

So, both the Gaang and Zuko decide to run the blockade. How late in the day is it? How far away is Crescent Island? How long would that detour to the North have taken?

And Zhao's back, in all his oily, awful glory. What is he doing on/at the blockade, though? The captain(?) he's talking to is concerned about Zuko's ship, although he doesn't seem to realize that it's Zuko's. Also, why is Zhao calling Zuko a traitor? Is it because he's about to run a FN blockade, or does it relate to The Scar Backstory? (What even was the official public explanation for that? Who even knows about that?? What kind of gossip is going around about Zuko while he's gone?)

(Okay, going to go through the blockade scene and then stop for the night.)

Zhao's ships, which look to be the blockade itself (again, what is he doing there? Inspections? Trying to guess where Aang's going? Does he know about the solstice and Avatar cycles and Crescent Island and whatnot? He does seem to mess with the spirits a lot.) seem to have more than one catapult per ship (three, it seems?); an upgrade to weaponry in the years Zuko's been gone?

Appa's real good at dodging those hot stinkers. (Also, I wonder how much of Appa's grunts Aang can understand, and how much of Aang's commands Appa can understand.)

Zuko's warned by an engineer(? Could just be an experienced crewmember, he looks pretty old) that they need to stop because the engines are damaged, and he still says "Do not stop this ship." Makes me think of Azula's "Do the tides command this ship?" Maybe it's a royal thing, being entitled jackasses even in the face of uncircumventable realities. Also, if the engines are damaged, shouldn't they be slowing down or stopping or turning?

Appa pulled off some serious speed skills to save Sokka. Also, Aang seems to be trying to 'drive' Appa the same way someone would drive a car; dude, Appa's an animal. He can see that Flaming Balls Bad. Appa can dodge on his own.

So, when Aang burst apart that flaming ball it broke into chunks. No fabric, and it looked like dirt? Dirt's not flammable. Although maybe it doesn't need to be? But where are they getting dirt in the middle of the ocean? (Unless...it's not dirt? Solid human waste isn't exactly in short supply. Gross, though.)

Okay, so Zhao's not on the blockade because he knows Aang's headed to Crescent Island.

So it did look like Zuko's engines were stalling, or his ship was slowing down. Although just cutting the engines for Zhao's ships wouldn't immediately stop the ship, would it? I can only imagine what's going through Zuko's head as he's looking up at Zhao. (Zuko's ship is a whole lot smaller than other FN ships, yet again.)

Finished blockade scene. Got 8 min 21 seconds in. Current word count, including this paragraph, is 1458 words. Jesus, this is going to be another long one.

Starting this again, a few days later. I hope I'll finish the rest of it today. That's probably not going to happen, though.

So, it seems the passage of time is being measured by the tint of the sky, not too bad of a choice, and Appa seems to grow more tired--head and legs hanging down. How many hours was that? Where was the blockade supposed to be? What the hell is AtLA geography, anyways?

"I was talking to Appa." "Well I was talking to Momo." God, they're such siblings. Also, does Momo's reaction mean that he can recognize his own name?

That's a long way up. Also, was that balcony constructed? Why? Also, if FN officials knew the Avatar was back, why didn't they put any guards at the temple?

Why specifically five fire sages? I know that Chinese(?) mythology held 5 elements, but this world has four elements and this is a temple dedicated to one element. Also, how exactly did they know that Aang was the Avatar? Did they get a drawing? Did they have some sort of vision during that scene when all of the temples lit up when Aang went into the Avatar state for the first time in the show?

Only three of the sages threw fireballs (too large a chance of hurting another sage if the two in the back fired?) and Aang is apparently so fast in escaping that neither the sages nor the viewer see him go. Impressive.

What on earth is the floor plan for the temple? Because it looks like it's a grid pattern but also a massive maze?? And the walls are made out of metal like it's a military construction?? Or is it wood/paper/actual building materials that I can't tell because the animation didn't put those details in??? Probably the second one tbh

"Firebenders aren't our friends." It's kind of an odd/simplistic way to phrase that, since potentially nonbenders from the Fire Nation/loyal to the Fire Nation cause would also not be their friends--indicative of a simplistic worldview from living in the South Pole and having little contact with the rest of the world?

Okay, the walls sound like metal. Also, how does the mechanism for that secret door work? And why does it lead into the mountain? Again, what is the floor plan here??

The sage says his grandfather knew Avatar Roku, and that he formed passages out of the magma, and that he once called the temple his home. But if Roku was a traitor to the Fire Nation, why would a temple be built on his home? Unless it wasn't? Questions for S3. Also, what was the grandfather's relationship with Roku? Because I'm not sure the timeline works if they were the same age. Also, why did Roku make those magma passages? But if 'many generations of Fire Sages' attended to the temple, that would mean that the temple was built before Roku, so it must have been that Roku lived in the temple for at least some period of time?? And then what about Sozin? There's no way this sage was alive when Sozin declared war on the Air Nomads. NOTHING ABOUT THIS MAN'S TIMELINE MAKES ANY GODDAMN SENSE. FUCK.

How long did they spend inside the temple? It feels like it has to be after sunset by now, but maybe that's just me pausing and unpausing to write this.

Is there any other way into the chamber than the secret passage (or the windows)? IIRC later in the episode Zuko and Zhao will both get into the chamber outside Roku's chamber, likely through other entrances.

Okay, so Friendly Sage's name is Shaiyu. (I think that's how it's spelled? Shy-you, if we're using words.)

"The sanctuary doors! They're closed!" Uh...duh? Why would they be open?

Ended at 12:55, through finding out the sanctuary doors are closed. Not including this paragraph, word count is 2079 words. And I'm only a little over halfway done with this episode.

What's up with those pillars in the background, with the dragons? I mean, I know what's up, they're there for structural support and probably decoration, but who put them there, how did they think up the design, etc etc.

What's the design/functionality of that firebending lock? Also, is there really no firebender powerful enough to create five separate fire blasts? Two feet, two arms and a mouth, that seems enough to me. Would hardly be a dignified move, but if you're alone and/or desperate, it could probably work. Unless a regular firebender couldn't make all five fire blasts powerful enough? (What's the trigger for the locking mechanism dependent on?)

...I bet Ozai could unlock the door alone. Or Azula, with a bit of practice/more and specific training.

The little 'ding' and the zoom out to the lantern above Sokka's head was hilarious. Loved it.

Speaking of lanterns, how did it get that red glow? Probably just through red paper, but what's inside? Is it just a candle flame? Wouldn't that snuff out after a while? Because that lantern looks pretty airtight.

Okay, so I thought Zuko was just being stupid when he decided to let Zhao follow his smoke trail, but no, apparently he's got an actual decent plan. Where did that mini boat come from? What's its capabilities? Is it supposed to be a life boat, a tug boat, a boarding boat? Probably the third, given that this is a military ship. When did the crew find the time to put in the upkeep for that ship?

Lamp oil in an animal skin. It's a good idea (and probably what the lamp shot was referencing before), but I think if they want the fire to go into the lock it's facing the wrong way--it should have the opening going into the hole. Although maybe then the fire wouldn't get enough air?

Would lamp oil really explode like that? (At least now we know how the lamps work.) Seems dangerous for a lamp to have exploding oil. Also, would the twin/rope they tied the bags with really have that sparkler effect? I know they're supposed to be bombs, but the components seem wrong for that.

"Did the definition of genius change in the last hundred years?" lol

I saw from one of the shots that Crescent Island is legit basically erupting. Lava flowing, smoke pouring out. That's...that's not how real volcanoes work, is it? I'm pretty sure we went over that in our geography unit. Generally lava is supposed to stop flowing once an eruption has stopped, since an eruption is from the buildup of pressure in the magma. Like one of Earth's pimples. Anyways.

Aang's tantrum here is...interesting. I don't think we often see Aang angry in the show, but he still reacts with yelling and throwing blasts of air at a door (although, thankfully, not at any person). Clear frustration, one of the few times we see it from Aang in the show iirc.

Sokka is the one to come up with the fake firebending idea, but Katara's the one that realizes what effect the fake firebending's effects on the lock would have. So it's not just Sokka that has ideas. But also, does this imply a difference between the way they both think? Sokka with engineering and things, Katara with people?

...Seriously, with all of those moving parts--how the hell does that lock work??

"Crawled through the pipes?" There are pipes connecting the chamber to the outside, where the doors are?

Those Sages are agile for a bunch of (presumably) old men. Also, how and where did Zuko get in? Is he familiar with the temple and its layout? He'd presumably have the right to be, but it's been three years since he was in the Fire Nation and had access to the temple, and to a sixteen-year-old three years is a long fucking time. When did he arrive on the island? He had to have had time to navigate the temple and get to the chamber.

...speaking of time, when the fuck is the sun going to set? I swear the AtLA planet is rotating at the speed of plot.

So, the Sages are helping Zuko? The banished and disgraced prince? Why? What motivation do they have for that? They're probably pretty high up, socially speaking, unless Ozai and Azulon and Sozin all started discrediting them, as part of the propaganda FN citizens are put through as part of schooling. Even so, why would they not hear about Zuko being banished and disgraced? On the surface, you could say it's because he's a royal, but like...Zhao's actively competing with him, and he gets promoted. What's going on inside their heads? Also, when did they even talk to each other?

Patience, Aang, the sun is (finally) setting. Just wait for a few seconds for the light to match up. Although--why sunset, and why on the solstice (winter, I'm guessing)? As well as the murals on the floor--where are those from, and what do they symbolize? On the other hand, there's kind of the question of why there's a temple at all, much less such a massive and ornate room dedicated specifically to Avatar Roku, when Roku was, what, declared a traitor to the FN by Sozin for not being gay back saying that he couldn't do an imperialism? Possibly it was at first to keep the Avatar sympathizers/more spiritual side of the nation calm, and then possibly it was forgotten about? God only knows.

So, Shaiyu invokes duty as a moral, as in the duty of the Fire Sages. Part of me wants to pick that morality apart and compare it to Zuko's honor. And then Zhao comes in, having somehow spotted and followed Zuko's tiny tugboat, and applauds the guy for his 'heartfelt speech' (that was two sentences long, that's not a speech!). So Zhao at least professes a plan to take Shaiyu to Fire Lord Ozai (although who really knows what's going on in that conniving head of his). Shyu, actually, I looked it up.

I remember one of the character pages a friend shared on a discord saying something about Zhao having the feel of a slimy sycophantic corporate ladder-climber, and...yea. His 'two traitors in one day, the Fire Lord will be pleased' bit really plays into that.

"Sooner or later he has to come out." a) So Zhao is patient when he wants/needs to be in order to achieve his goals. b) There are so many gay jokes you could make with this.

Why the mountainous and foggy setting for the vision? Why that specifically? Is it because it's familiar/like home to Aang?

Oh! Yes! This is the very first appearance of Ozai in the series! Shadowed face, surrounded by fire (even if the lighting would realistically let us see his face), and shirtless. Why is your waist so small, Ozai? So that other men (Zhao and also Hakoda) can grab it? Gayboy. And a drama queen with that mouth fire blast. Now we know where Zuko got it from (if it isn't like...the entire nation).

"Finish the war once and for all" is really fucking vague, my dude.

So Roku outright warns him that if Ozai succeeds (in using the comet) balance will be un-restorable, and yet I remember that at the beginning of the finale the Gaang minus Zuko decide to just wait until after the comet. So did Aang forget that warning? Did he never tell the others?

I believe this is the episode where the time limit is set (summer's end, when Sozin's Comet comes). Also, that (mastering all four elements) is a hell of a task to ask of a twelve-year-old.

I wonder what the choir-chant music is supposed to be (scene switching back to Zhao awaiting Aang outside the door). Zhao commands his soldiers to go full throttle--does he anticipate the Avatar State? More importantly, why do I ask questions that I know will be answered if I just hit play and wait a couple seconds?

Damn, Zuko got chained up too? Rip. Also, spikes on the door. Ouch. On the other hand, with the light, Zuko looks away and I think so do many others, but Zhao doesn't, and the soldiers don't. Wouldn't that hurt their eyes?

Okay, so the chamber is at the top of the temple. And the wall was fucking destroyed apparently. Also, how did Roku heat up those chains without burning anyone severely?

Katara refuses to leave without Aang. I think Aang's going to be fine...although it would be disheartening if he woke up and was alone.

Oh dang, Katara was right to be worried. Also. How the fuck is no one fainting from heat stroke? Did anyone get caught in the lava? This should have a lot more casualties than it does.

Okay, so apparently I was wrong before about the Sages having a high social status, if a commander (which is canonically lower than an admiral) can arrest all of them so easily and with such confidence.

And that's all! Final word count, including this paragraph, is 3,684 words.

#atla analysis rewatch #atla analysis #atla meta #atla #avatar: the last airbender #s1e8 winter solstice part 2 #atla zuko #atla aang #atla katara #atla iroh #cw swearing #atla ozai #atla roku #atla sokka #atla zhao #admiral zhao

[sophieinwonderland]

The Plurality of... Avatar: The Last Airbender

Major Spoilers For Avatar: The Last Airbender ahead! And minor spoilers of related properties.

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

Welcome to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. A world where some people are born with the gift of bending, an ancient art that allows them to control one of the four elements. But only one. Even if they came from parents who were different types of benders, each bender only gets a single element.

But there exists a single exception to this rule. The Avatar. The one person in the world who can master all four elements.

But we're not here to talk about the Avatar's cool bending powers. We're here today to talk about…

The Plurality of The Avatar

Plurality: A state of multiple self-conscious agents, or "headmates," sharing a single body.

The Avatar isn't merely a jack of all trades bender. Simply knowing how to use the four elements is only a small part of their toolbelt. And perhaps one of the least important. Despite the series placing a strong focus on the need to master all four elements, perhaps the actual most important thing about the Avatar is that they reincarnate and are connected with their past selves.

This allows each Avatar to speak to and learn from the experiences of past avatars. This is most prominent in what's called the Avatar State, a sort of super form where their eyes (and downvotes) glow as they channel the skills and abilities of all the past avatars through them.

(Art by @joeyscomics)

Aang's avatar state is a sort of blending of the avatars without a distinct identity of its own.

Additionally, there were also a couple instances through the show where Aang, the current avatar, switches into other avatars.

During the season 1 mid-season finale, The Winter Solstice, Aang first contacts Avatar Roku, his firebending predecessor. Trapped in a temple with no way out, a group stands outside the door prepared to strike as soon as the avatar steps through. They expect to see a small child walk through the doors. But what they see instead is Avatar Roku.

Once the enemies have been defeated and fled, Roku turns back into an exhausted Aang, who drops to his knees.

In season 2, this happens again with Aang switching into avatar Kyoshi. Again, sure to spirit magic, Aang physically transforms into Kyoshi.

(Obviously, real plurals don't physically transform, as cool as that would be. But spirits in the avatar universe do have shape-changing capabilities, being able to alter both their own forms and the forms of others. There are many examples in Legend of Korra and the comics, but one big one we see in A:TLA is Koh The Face Stealer, who as you can guess, steals people's faces, physically transforming their bodies. Simply put, we can accept the Avatar Spirit as having the ability to naturally shapeshift.)

So there's the basics of the Avatar's plurality. We have multiple people sharing a body. We have system-like internal communication. We have switching. And we even have a state that could be best described as blendy.

In the plural community, a system that's formed from past lives is sometimes called Fenigenic or Phoenigenic, drawing its name from the phoenix; The mythical bird that dies and is reborn from its ashes.

From Pluralpedia:

Fenigenic is a system origin that describes systems who formed from past lives in some way. They may believe they left their past life and were reborn again as a system, came into the system from a past life into the body (causing plurality), were a system in a past life and were reborn again with the same one, and/or various other scenarios. This is an intentionally broad label that can describe many different experiences.

With these established facts, without a doubt, the avatar would qualify as a Pheonigenic system.

But I want to delve even deeper. Because at its core, Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't just a story about a kid who happens to be plural. It's a story about plurality. It's a story about dissociation. About connecting with and building connections with parts of yourself. And about taking responsibility for those parts, even when you aren't actually them. And all of this is what make the series so fascinating from a plural perspective!

The Avatar State as a "Self-Defense Mechanism"

At the beginning of season 2, Aang enters the avatar state while scared of losing his friends, and talks to Roku again. Roku explains to Aang what the avatar state is.

The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skill and knowledge of all the past Avatars. The glow is the combination of all your past lives focusing their energy through your body. In the Avatar State, you're at your most powerful... but you are also at your most vulnerable.

At this point, Aang learns that if he dies in the Avatar State, the cycle breaks and the avatar will never reincarnate again.

Let's take another look at that wording though. "The Avatar State is a defense mechanism." It's a word choice that you wouldn't expect to find in a fantasy cartoon. "Defense mechanisms" are more a psychological term, having their origins in psychoanalysis.

Why does this matter?

Because the avatar state, at its core, is a dissociative state. And dissociation has often been described as a defense mechanism itself. From Wikipedia:

In mild cases, dissociation can be regarded as a coping mechanism or defense mechanism in seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress – including boredom or conflict.

And later when talking about traumamatic dissociation, it goes on to explain:

Symptoms of dissociation resulting from trauma may include depersonalization, psychological numbing, disengagement, or amnesia regarding the events of the abuse. It has been hypothesized that dissociation may provide a temporarily effective defense mechanism in cases of severe trauma; however, in the long term, dissociation is associated with decreased psychological functioning and adjustment.

What's interesting about the avatar state is that, while there are some times Aang goes into the Avatar State to protect himself, often he enters it as a response to stress in general.

The first couple times we see Aang go into the Avatar State, it's to physically protect himself. Once to freeze himself. Then again to fight Zuko. But the next time he enters the Avatar State, there's no danger. There's no need to use it.

This is when he's at the Southern Air Temple, and sees his old friend Monk Gyatsu. It's when he really learns and has to process that he's the last airbender and everyone he ever knew is dead.

Aang doesn't use the avatar state as a physical defense mechanism here. Rather, he enters the avatar state as a psychological defense mechanism.

It takes over because he's disengaging. He just learned something traumatic and he can't come to terms with it. He shuts down, and his friends have to reach him through the pain.

This becomes a pretty common theme throughout the series from then on. Sometimes, it's the physical danger that causes him to transform. But other times, he's triggered into this state by his friends being in danger, or from losing Appa.

Time and time again, we see the Avatar State as being triggered by extreme mental stress more often than by any sort of physical stress.

A big part of Aang's journey though the series then becomes learning to master the Avatar State and the dissociation that comes with it. To take control of it instead of letting it control him.

Avatar's Take on System Responsibility

"System responsibility" is the concept in the plural community that if one headmate does something, then the entire system of headmates is responsible for it. Some feel this is unfair, but for practicality, it makes sense. If someone steals something, then obviously you can't send only one headmate to prison. So a big part of being plural ends up having to accept that if someone else you share a body with does something wrong, even if you don't agree with it or don't even remember it, you're responsible for it.

And Avatar has its own form of this, where all Avatars have a single spirit that is reincarnated, and are therefore responsible for the actions of their past lives.

This is most exemplified in the episode Avatar Day.

In this episode, the Gaang wander into a town that's celebrating the titular Avatar Day. They see a parade with massive wooden floats of the past three Avatars. Aang, Roku and Kyoshi.

What appears to be a nice festival that the Gaang is enjoying is quickly turned on its head when a villager sets fires to the figures and the crowd begins chanting "down with the Avatar" while the figures burn.

It turns out, this town believed Avatar Kyoshi murdered their leader, Chin The Great.

In order to prove he wasn't a murderer, Aang volunteers to stand trial. Even though Aang and Kyoshi are separate people in a way... in another, they aren't. And Kyoshi being a murderer is something that would continue to follow Aang around.

So he agrees to go on trial, and refuses encouragement from his friends to escape. And he could escape if wanted to.

When viewed through the lens of a plural system, what we see here is a demonstration of system responsibility, where Aang is showing himself willing to take responsibility for the actions of past Avatars.

Later in the episode, Katara decides that they need to call Kyoshi herself to prove their innocence, and dresses Aang in Kyoshi's clothes to "see if it might trigger something."

And it actually does! This stunt causes Kyoshi to take front! (With a full body transformation because spirit stuff.)

In the end, Kyoshi confesses to killing Chin, who she calls Chin the Conqueror, and Aang is willing to accept the outcome of the trial.

It's not just this one episode though. It's a running theme of the series.

The franchise even.

In season 3, Roku reveals that the whole reason the world was in danger was because of his connection to and weakness in stopping Fire Lord Sozin, who went on to wipe out the Air Nomads. Aang is left with the responsibility of making up for Roku's mistakes.

In the books, it's revealed that Avatar Kyoshi's earliest trials were a direct result of the failings of Kuruk, the avatar before her. And his were a result of Yangchen's mistakes. And in the sequel series, avatar Korra is left to make up for the mistakes of not just Aang, but also Avatar Wan who started the cycle.

The Avatars are people who share a single soul. Each new avatar can be viewed as a new host in the same system. And each one therefore is responsible for making up for the mistakes of those that came before.

This is what the avatar franchise, at its core, is about. A single system making mistakes through life after life, and having to fix those mistakes in the next, hopefully making the world a better place and keeping balance along the way.

A Story of Connection and Balance

With all of this in mind, Aang begins his journey is a system cut off from his headmates.

A central theme of the story is restoring that connection. This story really begins with Aang entering the avatar state in the Southern Air Temple. This is the first time he loses control and nearly hurts the people he cares about.

The avatar state here is something powerful, yes, but also something to be feared, making him a danger to his friends. He doesn't understand at the time what that state is exactly. It's something that leaves him confused and scared.

Through the series, he gradually learns more about the avatar state and his past lives. He begins to learn from avatar Roku. Then from Kyoshi. He learns about their lives, and has to reconcile their past mistakes. He also has to learn to accept himself as the avatar. Something which he struggled with throughout the series, and led to him fleeing his people.

At the end of season 2, Aang nearly dies in the avatar state. In a canon webgame called Escape from the Sprit World, while unconscious, Aang enters the spirit world and goes on a journey where he has to reconnect with the past avatars in order to prevent the avatar cycle from being broken, going back all the way to meet Avatar Yangchen, the airbender before him.

After meeting and learning from all these avatars, he's able to awaken with a new connection to them. (Albeit with no memory of this side quest.) Although he's told he won't be able to enter the Avatar State for the time being.

After this, on the Summer Solstice, he was able to meet with Roku once again to learn about Roku's own past, and his history with Fire Lord Sozin.

All of these events laid the groundwork for a final realization in the series finale. That the past avatars were always with him. He's able to meditate and reach out, and commune with each of them.

Finally, Aang has become a fully-realized avatar, tearing down barriers that kept him separate from the rest of his system!

And in the final battle, Aang is able to access the avatar state with full control over it for the first time.

Some would say that this was because of a conveniently-placed rock. Which, yes, that might have been the literal trigger that unblocked his chi. But narratively, I would argue that it was the connection with the past avatars that truly allowed him to access the avatar state again. That finally connecting with them all was how he truly earned this ability!

Conclusion

So there we have it! The story of Avatar: The Last Airbender is not just an incredible story, but an incredible story of plurality and connection between headmate.

This was really fun to write about, and I enjoyed talking about the plurality of the Avatar.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!

I think with that, I've covered everythi...

Oh... right...

I guess I didn't cover everything about the plurality of the Avatar, did I?

Guess I need to plan for a Plurality of The Legend of Korra in the future! 😁

(And if you're interested in more of my ramblings about plural representations, you can check out my post about the Plurality of Batman. Or you can read about The Plurality of The Hybrid Chronicles: What's Left of Me, where I analyze a novel about a world where everyone is born with two souls.)

#pluralgang #avatar the last airbender #atla #aang #a:tla #avatar state #avatar aang #the last airbender #avatar #avatar last airbender #nickelodeon #plural #plurality #endogenic #pro endogenic #pro endo #sysblr #system stuff #plural representation #actually plural

[azulaang-chakras]

#atla #polls #Aang #Katara #Sokka #Zuko #Iroh #Zhao #Jet #Bumi #Roku #Haru #Kanna #Gyatso #Suki #Momo #Appa

[theeeveetamer]

Avatar the Last Expositionbender: Thoughts on the new Netflix adaptation from a near 20-year-long fan of ATLA (first three episodes)

Disclaimer: I’ve been a huge fan of ATLA since literally the day it dropped on February 21st, 2005. I’ve probably seen the original show at least 200 times all the way through. That said, I absolutely am trying to go into this Netflix show with an open mind. I don’t want to denigrate it just because it’s not exactly the same as the original.

I can't draw any final conclusions because I've only watched through episode 3, but my impressions are... not good. I’m going to try and leave some of the nitpickier stuff to my live tweeting thread and just focus on the big things here.

My biggest takeaway thus far is that the show has decent to great special effects, set design, and cinematography, and it is just ALL completely let down by an atrocious script and bizarre changes to both the plot and characters. I don’t think any one decision is the decision that’s breaking this show for me. I think it’s a death-of-a-thousand-cuts kind of breaking the show for me.

(A lot) more below the cut

Let’s start with the structure. The original ATLA is a serialized show (there is one overarching plot), but each episode is smaller scale with short plotlines that are resolved within the runtime of one or two episodes (leans more episodic). The Netflix adaptation seems to drop this format and centers the main plot in pretty much every episode. Many of the little stories still technically happen, but they’re reframed to be in service to the greater plot. E.g. They no longer visit Kyoshi because Aang just wanted to have a fun little adventure and ride some giant fish, he does so because he needs to learn more about the Avatar from Kyoshi.

This is not an inherently negative change, but it is a negative change in this case and I’ll tell you why: it completely destroys the character building that the original series was known so well for. Let me explain.

I can point to any episode in the series and immediately tell you if it's a Katara-centric episode, a Sokka-centric episode, a Zuko-centric episode, etc. I can tell you exactly what the characters did, what the themes were, and how the characters have grown from beginning to end. I can tell you the threads that were woven in which ultimately serve the larger plot, from huge shifts to tiny threads you wouldn’t even notice.

I’ll take episode 2 from the Netflix series and compare it to the three episodes I believe it’s based on: The Warriors of Kyoshi and The Winter Solstice (parts 1 and 2).

In the original series all three of these episodes are largely Aang-centric, with significant moments developing Sokka as well. Kyoshi is the point at which Aang’s lackadaisical attitude toward being the Avatar is significantly challenged for the first time. He spends significant time in Kyoshi being fawned over and messing around despite realistically having done nothing to earn that praise. It’s the damage to his friendship with Katara + Zuko coming in which ultimately humbles him. The Winter Solstice episodes are where Aang’s determination and goal is solidified and a sense of urgency is developed.

On Sokka’s end, Kyoshi is a significant moment for him as a character. He has some of his core beliefs challenged and not only does it humble him, he apologizes and works to better himself. In The Winter Solstice episodes (particularly part 2) we see, for the first time, glimmers of his ingenuity and his role as the idea/plan guy with how he develops a plan to open the door so Aang can speak to Roku.

In terms of the plot, The Warriors of Kyoshi ultimately doesn’t have much to say at this moment, but it is setup for later payoffs in seasons 2 and 3 (the Kyoshi Warrior ruse Azula pulls in Ba Sing Se, Suki’s presence in The Boiling Rock and subsequently joining the Gaang, etc.) so it’s not wasted. The Winter Solstice is where Aang gets crucial information about the world and solidifies his goal (stop the Fire Nation before the arrival of the comet).

Ultimately we discover something important about Sokka, and Aang has a significant moment of character development where he decides to put aside his own ego, stop messing around, and focus on saving the world.

What do we see in Episode 2 of the Netflix series?

Sokka has a kind of awkward relationship with Suki where she largely just kind of complains about being stuck on Kyoshi and acts like a massive bitch toward him for seemingly no reason (since they completely removed his sexism and thus his entire arc in that episode) but then they kiss anyway.

Aang gets shit on by the people of Kyoshi and then blasted by Kyoshi herself for not being determined enough in his quest and not understanding what it means to be the Avatar (even though in this version of events Aang never ran away from the Southern Air Temple he was just out for a lil fly to cool his head and got yeeted by the storm, and the entire reason he came to Kyoshi in the first place is so he could learn more about being the Avatar).

Katara is, uh, there and plays around with the waterbending scroll Gran Gran apparently had the entire time (so I guess we’re not covering The Waterbending Scroll in this show, aka one of Katara’s early defining character episodes).

None of them develop because they weren’t given any flaws to begin with. There’s nothing for them to overcome. The problems they overcame in the original episodes were taken out from the very start, which means they have nowhere to actually go.

And that might be fine if this wasn’t an Avatar the Last Airbender adaptation. You know, the show that is so well known for its character development that it’s often cited as one of the best examples of a redemption arc in fiction? That Avatar the Last Airbender show? Yeah…

Another problem, and I really can’t overlook this, is the atrocious script this show has. It feels like the characters spend 90% of their talking time either delivering bland exposition that was usually just shown to us in the original show, or monologuing about something. It feels like the writers had no confidence in their audience to actually follow what was happening or understand the themes, which is… embarrassing. This show is clearly not made for children at all based on the levels of violence depicted, and it’s not a great sign when the show made for ten year olds has more faith in its audience's intelligence than this one.

And really, I get that you’re probably going to have to combine episodes and cut out some things to fit a 20 episode season into an 8 episode season, but some of the choices for episodes they combined is just bizarre. Who on earth decided it would be a good idea to combine Jet, The King of Omashu, and The Northern Air Temple into one episode?

The original Jet is largely a Sokka-centric episode, dealing with his own insecurity as well as the group’s lack of confidence in him and his abilities. Yet Katara is almost exclusively the one interacting with the Jet plotline in the Netflix adaptation, and all of Sokka’s best moments from that episode are lost. Instead he spends most of this episode hanging out with Teo’s dad and establishing his interest in engineering (and weirdly shitting on Hakoda for some reason in the process?) which could have been established in an episode which shares a less Sokka-important plotline.

The Northern Air Temple is about Aang reconciling his conflicted feelings about refugees moving into a place that once belonged to his people, changing things, and adopting/adapting some of the Air nomad’s culture (such as the gliders). He ultimately comes to the conclusion that the Air Nomads are gone, but he’s happy new people have come along and carry their spirit. Because this episode takes place in Omashu in the Netflix adaptation, there is absolutely none of that conflict or growth over others using the space which used to belong to his people.

The King of Omashu is just a sweet, Aang-centric episode where he realizes he still has friends in the world, and establishes Omashu and Bumi for the world/later seasons. Bumi isn’t even in episode 3 of the Netflix adaptation physically until the end, and when he’s mentioned he basically gets shit on, treated as completely incompetent, and almost murdered by Jet. Though from what I gather based on the episode blurbs the substance of The King of Omashu is probably contained more in Episode 4, so we’ll see if my opinion changes after episode 4.

The act of combining episodes is not the problem. It’s the episodes they’ve chosen to combine. What they’ve done so far does not in any way take advantage of what the original show gave them to work with.

For example, Why not instead combine the Southern Air Temple, The Storm, and The Northern Air temple? All three episodes connect with the theme of Aang dealing with his loss. Just move Teo and his father to the Southern Air Temple instead of the northern one and keep their plotline the same. In the process Aang can walk the run down buildings and learn more about what happened, and at some point he can find Gyatso’s body and there can be flashbacks to him leaving the Southern Temple and he can talk about how guilty he feels.

(While I’m at it I think they could have more smoothly combined Jet with The Waterbending Scroll. Katara can steal the scroll and as they’re escaping they can run into the merry band of freedom fighters who hide them. Katara practices with the scroll while Jet encourages her which is part of why she takes such a liking to him, and Sokka has his arc with Jet. Maybe Jet could even dangle the prospect of getting rid of the pirates chasing them along with the town to try and bait Sokka to his side/convince him by exploiting his protective instinct, but Sokka still refuses.)

Basically, I wish they’d combined the episodes more on the basis of their interconnected themes rather than… whatever it is they were trying to do here.

Anyway I think that’s the big thrust of my criticisms of the show. Now I’m just going to do random miscellaneous complaining about character changes.

First, Aang is such a bland pile of nothing, and despite the writers claiming he’s more determined and a go-getter he has never, not ONCE stopped getting pushed around in the plot.

He doesn’t intentionally leave the Air Nomads of his own volition, he just happened to be out for a little fly to clear his head when a storm oopsied him into the plot. He gets bullied by Kyoshi for like four minutes straight into doing the thing he was already doing (going to the Northern Water Tribe) because she psychically knows that the Fire Nation is going to attack them later, not because he actually… y’know… wants to learn waterbending/wants to find Katara a teacher.

2) Sokka gives sociopathy with the delivery of some of these lines. The jokes are REALLY hit or miss and the acting is more miss than hit in this show (goes for everyone tbh, not even just the kids). I already complained about them removing his sexism and I can confirm the sexism is indeed gone. He does at least maintain his role in the comic relief department, but I can’t say I’m that thrilled they kept the literal least interesting part of his personality.

3) Katara is genuinely one of my favorite characters in media ever. Seriously I could probably make a whole other post about how much I love her, and I am so disappointed by what a bland ball of nothing she is so far. She has none of her edge.

You’ll notice that they’ve so far covered The Boy in the Iceberg, The Avatar Returns, The Southern Air Temple, The Warriors of Kyoshi, The King of Omashu, The Winter Solstice (1 and 2), Jet, The Northern Air Temple, and if I am being EXTREMELY generous The Waterbending Scroll (as in, there is technically a waterbending scroll and Katara does now have possession of it).

None of which are what I would consider Katara-centric character development episodes, and the moments she does have in those episodes appear to be mostly cut out or overlaid with bizarre PTSD flashback nightmare fuel. I’m not trying to imply that the show won’t get better about her, but I’m not a huge fan of having a lot of her moments stripped out and her characterization reduced to “yeah she’s traumatized”. Honestly depending on how the rest of this season goes you might have to deal with a big long ramble just like this on just Katara. Katara Alone, if you will.

4) I have no idea what’s even going on with Zuko. They covered Aang’s half of The Storm in pretty gruesome detail but completely neglected Zuko’s entire half of that episode. Thus far he feels like he’s getting pushed around by the plot just as much as Aang. And he has to share villain screentime with Ozai and Azula for whatever reason. Also, they wussed out on that scar.

Iroh is in a similar boat to Zuko. It just feels like the Netflix adaptation doesn’t have nearly as much interest in developing Zuko and Iroh as the original show did. Which is really disappointing. One of the things that made Zuko’s redemption so good was because he and Iroh were such a presence in the show from the very beginning. They very frequently, even if they’re not directly interacting with the Gaang, dominate the episode B-plot. His redemption simply does not work if you don’t have that.

5) Zhao is such a dweeb. A dork. A weenie. I don’t even understand why they made this change to him. In the original show he’s ruthlessly effective and ambitious to a fault. He’s an antagonist not just to Aang, but to Zuko as well. Aang is his meal ticket to even greater acclaim and Zuko is a banished princeling who has nothing of value to offer him. He has it made in the Fire Nation and he’s not afraid to flex his power or show it. He is also hot headed and rash, which gets him into trouble on more than one occasion and ultimately probably leads to his downfall. He is not some weenie hut junior loser who slides into the Fire Lord’s DMs while trying to play nice and team up with his banished prince son after failing his Commander Exams™ three times.

6) I’m sensing an Ozai woobie arc with that “don’t pretend to know anything about loss” line he said to those guys trying to assassinate him and I swear to god if they try to give him an uwu sad backstory and/or try to pretend like he gives a shit about his wife or either of his kids I am not only not watching the rest of this trainwreck, I’m never paying Netflix money for anything ever again. Don’t even start with me on that shit.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla netflix #atla live action #long post #critique

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 6 - Masks (2/5)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Aang begging Zuko to let him go save his friends seems naïve of him (it is, kinda) but Zuko's resigned 'no' at Aang's pleas is heartbreaking. He's not gloating, he's not angry at Aang, he's exhausted and beaten down and surely feeling guilty over all the arguments Aang is throwing at him - everyone assumes they know who Zuko is because of the mask he's put on since his banishment, but Aang is the one who can see through it. Aang's naïve belief in the inherent goodness of people extends even to his enemies and is such an important character trait.

The war council flashback is ssooooooo well done! Zuko clearly just happy to be there and not actually paying attention, then desperately fumbling for an adequate answer to his own plan for the attack - all of which any viewer who had been paying attention could see are bad plans. BUT when the general suggests his own plan, Zuko is smart enough to see the flaw in it - he's far from inept, he just wasn't ready to jump in with his own strategy at his first war council. The frustration and disappointment Ozai shows as he tried to prompt his first-born to prove to him he was worthy is much more interesting to me than Ozai just writing Zuko off from the start. Ozai's insistence that 'sacrifice is a part of war' really is a key aspect of why he does what he does - to his people and to his children - and ironically, is exactly what Roku and the other Avatars always advise Aang. While Ozai takes it to the extreme, and it's very important that you know when a sacrifice is going too far, the sentiment is a solid one. Soldiers die in battle - it's when you resign yourself to that and no longer fight against it or you feel a twisted sense of pride and accomplishment for 'bearing' that sacrifice that the issues really come up.

It's a GREAT detail that Ozai doesn’t break eye contact with Zuko as he asks which division it is that will be sacrificed - gauging his son's reaction.

How Zuko stands up against the general is just sooo Zuko. Again, SHOWING his honor, not just having Zuko yell it randomly. The plan is 'unworthy' of the fire nation - it's a dishonorable tactic. In Zuko's eyes, just like fighting with your face hidden and employing mercenaries, it's underhanded and not how the fire nation - as they have positioned themselves to be in the world - should behave. All that propaganda about the Fire Nation being the best and always doing what is right begins to crumble, but he believes, as of now, that it's 'just a few bad apples' and the system is still good. If he can just speak out against the aberrations in the system, then everything will be fine because the system is correct, others just aren't living up to the way 'the system tells you to be' in the Fire Nation. (Oh my god, I knew my current DnD character had a lot of Zuko in her (plus Azula, little bit of Yue, some Darth Vader, and others) but damn, this analysis is hitting very close to home for her).

The Blue Spirit animated episode really shows Zhao's station in the Fire Nation - other leaders think he's just on a vanity project going after the Avatar. This is shown in the live-action all the way at the beginning of the season with Ozai declaring him 'no one of importance'. I think the live action giving us an early look at that, and Azula seeing him as someone she can use to further her own gains, adds depth to Zhao as we're not doing the Jong Jong storyline. Having Zhao take command of Zuko's search for the Avatar lines up with the animated version, and I like how they combine Zuko breaking his banishment by sneaking into the fire nation to capture Aang in the animated series episode Avatar Roku (part 2 of the Winter Solstice) with his infiltration of the prison. In an animated show, you can have many repeats of plot points (Zuko defying the fire nation rules to capture Aang) and meld them into one plotline that gives the moments time to breathe.

As iconic as the Blue Spirit episode is, there's little connective tissue from Zhao capturing the Avatar and Zuko showing up as the Blue Spirit to get him out - for some reason he's on the roof of the building as Zhao gets his promotion, then somehow gets back to his boat and sails off without Zhao realizing he was in the area until his boat pulls up beside his, then there's no indication that Zuko has any informants that would let him know that Zhao has caught the Avatar in a remote location or that he sent him to that particular prison. How does Zuko know any of this? It's established that Zhao is the one with resources, not Zuko. Sorry to poke holes in this beloved episode, but if y'all are going to complain about the live-action, I need to bring up this stuff so I can compare it to how the live-action handled it.

So, how did the live-action do it? Zuko was already employing June to capture Aang, and since we know she's great at it (and succeeded before), she gets him and hands him off. Then Zhao comes and 'takes Aang off Zuko's hands' as he's been given charge of capturing the Avatar and he goes ahead and taunts Zuko with the location he's taking him to: hammering home Zhao's overconfidence and urge to gloat. So in the live-action, there are direct lines from Zuko tracking and capturing Aang, Zhao taking him to the prison, and Zuko showing up as the Blue Spirit. Yes, the vibes of the animated episode are immaculate and I'm sure a lot of the questionable plot holes concerning the spirit are to keep the mystery of who it is until the mask comes off - but according to first-time watchers of the live-action, they didn't call it was Zuko either until the mask came off, so I think, from a storytelling perspective, the way the live-action did it flows better and is more tight storytelling while still maintaining the mystery of the masked man's identity.

Zuko's performance here is so great - Dallas manages to capture Zuko's anger and frustration as well as his vulnerability so well without skewing too hard in either direction. The perfect balance is struck where I think the animated series sometimes fell short of as, even though the narrative was clearly trying to get us to see that Zuko wasn't a flat villain and that there was a chance for him to be redeemed, a lot of his actions were quite one-note in the beginning. There were definitely hints of his softer side like in episode 3 when he asks Iroh if he really meant that he had more honor than Zhao, but I think the live-action, like with many of the character shifts, made him more real and believable rather than a heightened cartoon version of the archetype (after all, cartoons are meant to be heightened).

From the moment we see Aang tied up in the prison, it's almost a complete shot-for-shot remake of the animated version - even down to Zhao dictating to his little note-taker - and it's soo good. Funny enough, Zhao even tells Aang to stop worrying about his past and start worrying about his future. Just as with Ozai's twisting of 'necessary sacrifices', we see Zhao twist the idea of moving on from the past into something darker. Zhao is the epitome of the new Fire Nation ideals taken to the absurd extreme - the hubris, arrogance, and ambition by any means necessary. And unfortunately, despite its absurdity, it's a very very real depiction we see every day (Trump and Elon Musk being prime examples).

The escape is so close to identical even down to Aang's little quip where he questions the masked man, gets no response and says 'IIIII'll take that as a yes' (or the live-action version 'Right, escape now, talk later' which is the same energy so if you had an issue with that, take it up with the animated show). Though I will always mourn the loss of the line "Wait! My friends need to suck on those frooooggss!!!" I understand the need to nix that bit.

The standoff at the gate between The Blue Spirit holding his blades to Aang's throat and Zhao ready to take them out was so well done. No words, but the fact that you can see Zuko's eyes behind the mask, hear his shallow breathing as he's terrified his plan might not work, it adds so much. Aang's confusion, Zhao's cocky assurance, then uncomfortable shifting as he realizes brute force won't work this time - the Blue Spirit isn't afraid of him (he thinks). So many layers of masks and bluffs make the scene so good, even though most of us know how it's going to end. Being introduced to the Yuyan archers with Azula and then having Azula be Zhao's backup was a great way to tie in him getting promotions and more resources than he otherwise would have.

In The Blue Spirit episode of the animated series, Sokka and Katara are benched by getting sick, but I like that the live-action changed it to being captured in the Spirit Realm by Koh - it lets then still do stuff (character building stuff) while out of commission and Aang's reason for being in the place he's captured is a lot more compelling than 'he was looking for frozen frogs'.

<Ok, next posts are going to be very in depth about Zuko and Aang's interactions after the escape and the Agni Kai - I have a LOT to analyze there>

#natla #natla positivity #live action avatar #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar

[zuko-always-lies]

Least favorite episode from the first half of Book 1?

And please reblog and put your reasons in the tags

#ATLA #avatar the last airbender #ATLA poll #ATLA polls #Least favorite Avatar episode competition #Avatar

[oneatlatime]

The Winter Solstice part 2: Avatar Roku

This episode opens with a complete cul de sac of a conversation. I guess it was for character development? We already know Sokka and Katara are ride or die, but I like the idea of Appa getting to express opinions and be understood and listened to.

My thanks to this guy for moving the plot along.

Zuko is back to being an asshole. And he was so much more interesting last episode.

Zuko is only 16? I thought he was at least mid-twenties. He's in charge of a whole ship at 16. That's an alarming notion.

You know I haven't even met this firelord guy yet but something tells me that Iroh is right and Zuko is giving him too much credit. I'm kind of impressed by how much of a shadow the firelord character is casting over the show without even being introduced yet.

I don't get Katara's point here. It's too dangerous is exactly the reason they're there? It's a killer line but I don't think it makes sense? Also what is with their faces here? Sokka's poor teeth.

This asshole. I was hoping he was a single episode character. He's so good at being a villain that he undermines Zuko as the main villain. Although judging by the reaction of the guy on the left, Zhao's villainy is not typical of fire nation military. He's unusually evil. Also since when is Zuko a traitor? And why does Zhao wear a toga outside of his armour?

Going above the cloud ceiling actually made it worse. Did not see that coming. I have no knowledge of meteorology or whatever the relevant science is, but if they're high enough up to be above the cloud ceiling, shouldn't it be getting hard to breathe?

How. You know it's a good thing that airbenders were all monkly before they disappeared because I think they're all secretly one man armies.

Zhao is a butt, but he's a clever butt. Zuko probably would know more, although in this instance I don't know that he does? Unless that villager he kicked through the door told him. Actually that's probably why Zuko was so close on their tail. So yeah, Zhao is a clever butt.

I know the feeling buddy.

I know that feeling too.

Sokka very solidly being relegated to comic relief in this episode.

Surely if the temple was abandoned it wouldn't be so well swept? Or lit?

Airbenders once again being a one man army.

I was about to point out that there was no way they could know where they were going, but the show beat me to it. Points for self-deprecation.

Avatars can bend magma? Would that be earth bending? Or firebending because of the heat? Or waterbending because it's liquid? Actually, can water bending bend all liquids, or only water based ones? Could waterbenders bend oil? Can anyone?

I know as little about vulcanology as I know about meteorology, but wouldn't it be kind of hot walking there?

This sage's speech here is really well done. Worldbuilding, plus one hundred years of historical context, plus real world consequences to both the Avatar's disappearance and the firelords who took advantage of it. Of course the avatar never appearing would have consequences. Things have gotten warped. Also interesting that the sage uses the word 'hope.' What were they hoping for the next Avatar to do? Were the sages originally against a fire nation war? Were they hoping the avatar would appear and defeat the fire lord who started the war before it really got started? Has this 'Aang defeats the firelord' plan been in place for 100 years?

Sokka not being relegated to comic relief after all! I'd love to know the context of Sokka's dad inventing fake firebending and then feeling the need to pass it on to his son too. A party trick? Actually that would be pretty tasteless (or pretty gallows humour) given that they're southern water tribe.

How is this bridge still standing. Also pretty.

Sokka and Katara proving that they share a brain. Both a good plan, and a good save. Seeing them bounce off each other is always fun.

Momo has the most adorable sneeze!

"What took you so long?" Never has a rebuke been delivered in a more friendly way.

What is with the stairs in this temple? First Zuko can sneak up unheard, then Zhao and a whole crew/platoon/brigade/whatever shows up without anyone noticing? Is this temple carpeted?

So Aang has a maximum of about seven months to learn three other elements to a high enough standard to be able to defeat the firelord and whatever armies he brings with him. No pressure.

BADASS!!!!! You guys are screwed!!!!!!

Lava bending! Magma bending? Badass bending!

Momo saves the day! Did not see that coming!

This whole sequence is so good.

Zhao does not see nuance. Kind of satisfying to see that all the Fire sages are royally screwed. That's frankly quite realistic. Remember in school when one kid misbehaved so the whole class had to miss recess? Same energy from Zhao. Makes sense too: dictatorial empires are not interested in mercy or fairness.

I love the lighting on Zuko's boat. Very yummy textures.

And just like the southern air temple, this one also makes the correct decision and ends on silence.

Credits tell me that one of the voices this episode was done by someone with the abominably badass name of Clement von Frankenstein.

Can you believe these two shots are from the same episode? So pretty.

Final thoughts

I honestly forgot that this was part two of a two part episode. It was pretty much 1000% standalone.

This episode is also good. I think I preferred part 1, because the fire nation in general does get on my nerves a little. Part 1 had Zuko and Iroh being alternatively stupid and badass, which was fun to see. But I'm finding increasingly that Zuko and Iroh are not at all representative of the fire nation in general, and the fire nation in general annoys me. This episode is still really good, and it set up a whole lot for the rest of the season, but it also had Zhao the butt, so points off for that.

Sokka fell hundreds, if not thousands, of feet and is totally fine with it to the point where it never gets brought up again. As Sokka, or as Sokka's sister, I would have had to lie down for a bit after that.

Seeing Aang and company with the addition of the fire sage work as a team is fun, and I like how much understated yet important work Appa and Momo had to do this episode. Appa got them there safely through a hail of flaming whatever-those-were, Momo played Aang's shadow behind the firebending door and retrieved Appa when the temple was sinking, and Appa got them out of there again. They would be so lost without Appa.

There really wasn't much Katara this episode. There wasn't much Sokka either.

How are Aang and friends going to get out past the fire nation blockade again? How is Zuko?

The fact that Zuko is only 16 is something I'm going to have to turn over in my head for a bit. Learning that rattled me. I would say at first that he doesn't feel 16, but looking back at previous episodes with the knowledge of his age, I'm going to have to reevaluate all those times I called him an ass. Maybe he was just being 16. It feels crazy to put a 16 year old on a globetrotting manhunt and in charge of a ship, but this is a world where the Kyoshi warrior ladies are led by a girl Sokka's age, and a pair of teenagers are escorting a child avatar across the world with no adult supervision. Some of this is cartoon logic - it's a kids' show, so the heroes will be viewers' ages or close on, but also, every time I catch myself wondering where the responsible adults are, I have to remind myself that the war ate them up. I thought before this episode (when I thought Zuko was older) that it was a reflection of the state of the war that the fire nation had adults fighting while the other nations were reduced to relying on children/teenagers, but finding out Zuko is a teenager too puts a whole different spin on that. Seems this war has been universally destructive.

Zhao was determined to arrest Zuko (again, why is Zuko a traitor suddenly? Is it because he won the duel thing?) but the (bad) fire sages didn't try to stop Zuko; in fact they worked under his command. So I'm guessing Zhao's opinion of Zuko isn't the fire nation's opinion of him? Actually, is there any indication that the fire sages knew who Zuko was when he showed up?

This episode had good fights, lots of pretty heavy plot stuff and exposition stuff, both for what's coming and for the past and present state of their world. Not much in the way of humour, which makes sense given the subject matter. This episode could have devolved into an infodump, but it didn't.

I'm happy to see how consistently this show is sticking to the idea of consequences that can't be handwaved. Avatar disappears leads to fire sages losing hope. Fire nation going to war leads to previously non-partisan group getting twisted into serving the nation, to the point where they become the enemy of their previous purpose, which can be done to them partially because they have lost hope. Related: that one fire sage did not have to go against his fellow sages and his order's bastardised purpose. He could have taken the easy path, especially since the fire sages' purpose was changed long before he was born, probably. That's some impressive strength of character, to be loyal to an idea that basically died out before you were born. Given Zhao's general nature, all of the fire sages would have been arrested at the end of the episode regardless of what happened because Zhao had to have someone to blame, but that one sage couldn't know that. He's had weeks to come to a clear-eyed decision to betray the corrupt principles of his whole order/career/role. And he does! Good for him.

Now we have our ticking clock for the rest of the season. I loved what Roku said about how Aang will be able to learn the other bending styles because he's done it before. It establishes this permeability and connection between Aang and Roku, and maybe other avatars too. It kind of drives home that Aang isn't just a fun kid (although he absolutely is and I hope he never loses that), he's also something greater, bigger, older. He's like a cosmic entity, or a semi-divine being. And thank goodness he is such a goof, because a cosmic entity or a semi-divine being with unmatched and unmatchable skills and power that was also wrathful, or prideful, or any other negative quality, instead of a goofy happy peaceful kid would be apocalyptic.

That being said, this connection to Roku also goes kind of dark: how much of Aang is Aang? How much is an avatar an individual, as opposed to the sum of avatars that came before them? Can you separate the incarnation from the avatar? Will Aang ever get to belong to himself?

The fire sages are mostly quite old, and the last avatar was during their grandfathers' time. Is there anyone alive who remembers what it was like to live in a world where there is an avatar active? Bumi is very old, but he's Aang's age, so assuming becoming the avatar is something that happens when you're born or soon after, Bumi probably won't remember the last avatar. There was the old man from last episode that recognised Aang's airbender tattoos or clothes. Maybe he remembers the previous avatar? How closely do the last avatar dying and the air nomads getting wiped out coincide?

For that matter, even if Aang saves the world and gets reinstalled globally as the Avatar, does anyone know how to operate in a world where he's present? How do you address an avatar? Are you supposed to invite him to political events? Is he supposed to have a say in nations' internal conflicts? What is the avatar office and responsibilities in the human world? Is there even space for, or a need for, an avatar anymore, beyond the obvious 'defeat the fire nation' angle? What if, over the last century, people have taken over covering what were originally avatar responsibilities? Do those get given back to Aang? Are there any jobs that can only be performed by the avatar that have been left hanging for 100 years? How much clean up is Aang going to have to do? How many spirits like the black and white spirit from part 1 have been rampaging unpacified for a century? Are there whole swaths of the world made uninhabitable by unhappy spirits?

All the above questions could apply to a world that hasn't seen an airbender in a century too.

Also imagine how much it would have sucked being alive during the time when Aang originally should have appeared as the Avatar. Every new fire nation atrocity would have you thinking "surely this is the last straw that provokes the avatar into coming out into the open" and then, year after year, fire nation atrocity after fire nation atrocity, no one ever comes. I'd be so bitter.

The fire sage bringing up how long Aang has been gone made me think of something else: are Aang and Bumi the only people still living who know what it's like to live in peacetime? Everyone born in the last 100 years has been born into war. Forget about remembering how to live in a world with an avatar, or any airbenders, does anyone remember how to live in a world at peace?

Which makes it so fitting that it's Aang - one of two people who remember peace - that is being set up to defeat the firelord and if he does (rather, when he does - it's a kid's cartoon, the good guys are going to win somehow), it's going to be Aang, in his role as Avatar, who will be ideally placed to guide the world into transitioning to being at peace. I feel like it would be a different story if an avatar forged in war was being tasked with ending the war - for one, probably a much bloodier story. There's something quite poetic about one of the last people who remembers peace being the one destined to re-introduce/grant/give it to the rest of the world.

Looking back on what I wrote, I think I said more about random tangents that this episode made me think of than I said about the episode itself. Obviously it got me thinking. I guess that means it was good?

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar roku #avatar the last airbender

[wildpokemon]

Aang airbending in (almost) every episode (x) ~~ S01E08: The Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku

#that move in the middle gif was so fast but looked so cool i had to do it lol #atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #atlaedit #airbending every ep #my gifs #mine

[atla-daily]

today's episode is the winter solstice—part 2: avatar roku

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

I know that I've been repeating myself about how I envision the back half of season 2 of Legends of Korra being moved over into Aang's saga in addition to adding Book 4: Air. But I don't want it to be shoe-horned in like it was in LOK. I want there to be build-up like there was with Sozin's comet. Because of that, certain scenes from certain episodes would need to be altered.

Winter Solstice Part 2: By the time Aang meets Roku, gives the expedition about the comet, tasks Aang to prepare to be a fully realized master avatar and defeat the fire lord before the comet arrives. He adds in a warning. If Aang fails, the fire lord's comet-enhanced destruction will cause the divide between the plain of spirits and the material world to break. He doesn't mention Vaatu's name but subtly describes him as an ancient monstrosity who will feed on the imbalance the FN has caused, which causes him to break free and become too strong for even the avatar to handle.

The Library: The gaang find manuscripts of an event called Harmonic Convergence and learn the names Raava and Vaatu but not much detail beyond that.

Season 3 gets two more episodes at the premier while Aang is in a coma. Beginnings parts 1 and 2. Tales of Avatar Wan. Aang finds the time to explain to the gaang about the first Avatar sometime later.

The Avatar and The Fire Lord: A recent fan theory suggests that Vaatu used the approaching harmonic convergence to spread dark energy which ultimately caused Sozin to kill his friend Roku and exterminate the Air Nomads. This has some in-universe basis since a tribe of firebenders attempted to take lands from spirits for themselves and became violent and destructive to achieve this goal. This occurred partly due to Vaatu's malevolent influence growing from the upcoming harmonic convergence. Another theory suggests that Vaatu was manipulating Unalaq into helping him, much like he did to Wan ten millennia ago, by encountering him on a trip to the Spirit World, where Vaatu begs him to free him as he has been "wrongfully" imprisoned for ten thousand years. Well, here, both theories are true but it's only Sozin being manipulated in the case of the second theory. It's revealed that Harmonic Convergence will arrive by the end of Fall, just as Sozin's Comet will arrive by the end of Summer.

Nightmares and Daydreams: During Aang's dream sequences, Vaatu makes appearances and cameos. Sometimes Dream Ozai transitions into Vaatu briefly. Foreshadowing a Dark Avatar Ozai but instead of fusing with Vaatu. Ozai IS Vaatu.

Sozin's Comet Parts 1-4: There's a twist that Ozai never traveled to the Earth Kingdom to level it down. Instead, he encounters the lion turtle Aang met. Ozai battles the behemoth. He struggled at first but Ozai managed to win. He consumes the lion turtle's soul, gaining its abilities and attributes, by using a form of energybending he was secretly studying. It's revealed that the comet is the sun spirit, Agni. Ozai uses his powers to consume Agni's soul, which causes the comet to lose its power and fall to the earth. Ozai could feel where the dragons were hiding, he psychically ripped the souls from Ren and Shaw's bodies and were both under Ozai's complete control. That's how season 3 really ends.

Throughout season 4. Vaatu gains control over the rest of the sources of all bending by consuming the souls of the elemental spirits and original benders who embody them, all within the opposite order of Aang's cycle. He absorbs extra souls too, like Hakoda's, Ursa's, Long Feng's, all members of the white lotus, the fog of lost souls, and its soul prisoners.

It's revealed that the reason Vaatu manipulated Sozin is that his needless war would cause Iroh's mother to be a spiritually attuned sage. Why he'd want that is so he can contact her and manipulate her into setting him free. She does so by astral projecting into the tree, Vaatu fuses with her and when they warp back into her body, Vaatu's dark powers/status are lost until Harmonic Convergence. Ilah shortly becomes pregnant with a second child and dies birthing the child. The child's name was Ozai.

Vaatu's true plan is to steal Raava's power over light/peace/yang for himself, evolving into the spirit of balance and bending themselves. But not until after 10,000 years of pure/eternal darkness, chaos, death, and destruction after Raava's death. With his bending, Vaatu makes sure that he gets stronger as the aspects of Yang regrow instead of weaker, which, in turn, makes Raava keep getting weaker.

Upon learning this plan and understanding that the light side of spiritbending restores the internal balance of spirits and possibly humans, Azula and Aang hatch a counterplan to use spiritbending on Vaatu and Raava at the same time. Vaatu and the fog will be purified into nothingness while Raava becomes the spirit of bending and balance, saving the world and setting all souls free in the process and without even having to wait 10,000 years.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #lok #the legend of korra #raava #vaatu #atla book 4 air #atla au #dark avatar #dark avatar ozai #anti atla comics

[atlapanoramas]

Season 1, Episode 8 "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku" - part 6

Finally getting to the views of the Fire Temple! There is going to be a lot of dark red.

Bonus uncropped last picture:

#atla #avatar the last airbender #winter solstice part 2: avatar roku #book 1: water #fire nation #my panoramas #id in alt text #tumblr continues to hate large images :(

[stitchlingbelle]

Watching Avatar, Part 2

6. "Imprisoned": Daaamn, the guy voicing Haru's dad has the most amazing voice I've ever heard. I would listen to him read the phone book. Again, a great example of Katara as the moral center of the group. I feel like the "the coal that powers Fire Nation stuff is earthbending material" is a detail that's going to show up again.

7. "The Winter Solstice, Part 1: The Spirit World": Intriguing references to Iroh's background, and also just Iroh being a badass. I would love a whole spinoff series just about him. As a climate activist, the spirit of the forest plot was heartbreaking.

8. "The Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku": PLOT PLOT PLOT. God, I LOVED this episode. The whole fire temple corruption plot was amazing. The firebending doors were an amazing bit of worldbuilding. I loved seeing Avatar Roku if only briefly, especially as an example of what the Fire Nation could be before they turned to evil. Possibly my favorite episode so far.

9. "The Waterbending Scroll": Wow, I did not picture Katara stealing stuff, but I do agree that stealing from pirates is fine, so good for her. I didn't love the "Aang is better at waterbending" bit, but it makes sense both in terms of making Aang's mastering all four elements in six months believeable and in terms of him being more thoroughly trained in his own element. Plus characterwise, having Katara deal with this form of jealousy made sense too. I just love getting to watch her shine.

10. "Jet": Ok, this episode was brutal, but absolutely wonderful. Loved the masterclass look at a charismatic leader gone wrong, the moral corruption that war brings, etc. Adored Sokka getting to be the hero, and HOW. Seeing through Jet, standing firm against his cruelty, and creatively saving the people in the valley. Fabulous episode.

#avatar: the last airbender #liveblogging

[theowritesfiction]

'Winter Solstice Part 2'

Wow, this episode was a lot of fun. Running the blockade was just such a thrilling and nail-biting scene. I can't really blame Zhao from giving the order to launch fireballs - he's there to do his job and defend the Fire Nation - but I can blame him for setting Appa's fur on fire. (20 Jerk Points)

We're finally seeing Zuko's worst personality traits emerging during his argument with Iroh. Zuko's stubbornness and single-minded obsession with catching the Avatar are overriding any other considerations. While I think one of the crewmen requesting that they 'stop the ship for repairs' was pretty ridiculous because they were right in the range of fireballs, it is true that Zuko endangered the lives of his crew for completely selfish motives, for which he should get 20 Jerk Points.

I liked the moment where Sokka was plummeting to his death through the air, and then Katara grabbed his hand and pulled him back into Appa's saddle. It reminded me of the same moment where Katara catches Zuko like that late in Book 3. It's often referenced as a 'Zutara moment'. It's not. As you can clearly see, Katara is just very good at catching people when they fall. ;)

Sokka finally gets to come up with his first REAL plan. It seemed like a very promising one, and actually made more sense than some of his later plans, but... it still didn't work. Sokka is currently 0/1 for his plans. But it was a truly genius moment from Katara to use Sokka's failed plan to dupe the Fire Sages.

Aang and Roku meeting finally brought some much needed exposition and made us understand the enormity of Aang's task. It's kind like unlocking the main quest in a video game:

learn waterbending by summer's end

learn earthbending by summer's end

learn firebending by summer's end

defeat fire lord ozai before the comet arrives

enjoy the end credits

Aang unleashing the Avatar mojo on Zhao and his goons at the end was so satisfying. Although I am a bit upset that for some reason he needed to destroy the awesome temple? Not cool, I always hate to see amazing buildings of great historical and cultural value destroyed. But I have to give more Jerk Points to Zhao for trying to burn Aang alive in a rather nasty way and just for behaving like a total asshole. Another 20 for you, Zhao.

Jerk Points:

Bumi - 200 Zhao - 90 Aang - 60 Iroh - 50 Zuko - 40

Hmm, who is going to win Jerk Points for Book 1, I wonder? Cast your predictions! I suspect that Zhao is going to snatch it, because Bumi won't be earning any more points. But who knows, there might be surprises!

#my atla rewatch

[junpeijackflash]

🌻

I guess in relation to my other comment about ATLA: I realized during this binge watch that lavabending used to be considered an extension of firebending, before the creators changed it to an extension of earthbending instead.

Evidence for this: In the season 2 episode, The Avatar State, Aang sees visions of many of his past lives. In all of these visions, the Avatars are bending their birth element (Kuruk makes a giant wave from the ocean, Yangchen blows a massive gust of wind across a field, Kyoshi moves giant statues that I would assume are made of rock). In the last vision, we see the firebending Avatar before Roku bend lava out of several volcanoes at once.

In an earlier episode, Winter Solstice Part 2, the fire sage Shyu explains to the gaang that Avatar Roku built the secret tunnels in the temple out of the magma inside.

The answer to why they changed it from firebending to earthbending is pretty easy to guess: Early on, the creators weren’t focused on the details of lava/magma, other than “hot = fire”. Later on, they realized that since lava/magma is just molten rock, it would make more sense to be related to earthbending instead.

Also I’m 99.999% sure I am not the first person to point this out. I don’t engage with the fandom a ton so this is new to me.

#if anyone else sends me an ask I promise it won’t be abt avatar #unless you specifically want that #asks #🌻 #avatar the last airbender #atla