25 False Facts About Avatar: The Last Airbender That Everyone Actually Believed
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Nickelodeon’s famous Avatar: The Last Airbender knew how to enthrall fans, but there were things we never quite understood about the show…
You Are Reading :25 False Facts About Avatar The Last Airbender That Everyone Actually Believed
Its original series has been gone since 2008, but we still feel the benders’ impact up to this point: Avatar: The Last Airbender is the best Nickelodeon series by far.
The marvellous story revolves around the quest for the seemingly evasive peace and harmony of a world that is in the midst of a war. It has a unique twist: a twelve year-old boy Aang gets released and wakes up after being stuck in an iceberg for a century, only to find out that his entire race has been annihilated. During the course of his undertakings, he will unravel his destiny – the fate of the entire civilization is in his hands.
He is the Avatar, the only one who can harness the elements of water, earth, fire, and air. Notwithstanding these abilities and the fact that his people was wiped out, he embraced the role being an instrument of peace rather than a weapon of destruction.
The series has a distinctive beauty of more than just physical strengths and attributes – it is about hurdling the gigantic challenges and responsibilities regardless of age, friendship despite differences in backgrounds, and an account of hope in times of confusion and despair.
Inside this sensational series is the 25 False Facts About Avatar: The Last Airbender That Everyone Actually Believed.
25 It’s Not True Avatars Are Chosen Based On Their Bloodline
Some might think that it is ancestry alone that entitles an individual to be the Avatar, but classifying one as the bender of all four elements requires more than what is contained in his blood. Aang, together with his predecessors, were identified as the Avatar after they chose four specific toys out of thousands; a reimagined version of the famous Tibetan choosing of reincarnated Dalai Lamas.
The reason behind this process is that since an Avatar is the same soul inhabiting a different body, he recognizes the same childhood toys.
The franchise partly adopted the identity selection process of the Tibetan Buddhist Monks, to reinforce the connections between the show’s characters and classic Buddhist atttributes.
24 The Movie Adaptation Was Clearly Less Than Perfect
The 2010 live-action film version of The Last Airbender was deeply subpar. The casting sparked a controversy with the fair-skinned actors played the roles of the Asians and darker-skinned characters in the TV series.
Most of the fans were baffled when there were Indian actors who portrayed the roles of Caucasians for those belonging in the Fire Nation. The flaws with name pronunciation did not go unnoticed as well. Plus, the storyline did not remain faithful to that of the cartoon’s – to name a few of the criticisms liberally launched at Shyamalan’s “oeuvre”.
If there were some who claimed that it was seamless or at least close to it, then it was more likely that those were not followers of the series. The disastrous movie was a far cry from the brilliant tale that its fans adored.
23 Team Avatar Was Really That Young
In the show’s story, Zuko was 16, Katara was 14 and her brother Sokka was 15. Toph and the legendary Aang were both just 12 years old. Truly, there is no growth in the comfort zone; the maturity of these kids was accelerated by the hardships of the war area.
There is nothing to suggest that a young age should take away from the capacities of a great hero, and Team Avatar proves just that.
These juveniles constantly crossed the hostile paths so often, that we often forget that they were just children that were born in the shades of armed conflict. As formidable and as impressive as they may seem, Team Avatar was composed of pretty young people.
22 The Fighting Style Is Unrelated To The Element Chosen
While it is generally true that fighting styles depend upon the chosen elements, this is by no means absolute. Water-bending was originally based on Tai Chi, Earth-bending was derived from Hung Gar Kung Fu, Fire-bending stemmed from the Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, and Air-bending was developed from the Baguazhang.
There were some special forms of martial arts that the characters used, regardless of the elements that they harness.
This is super important to note, as it liberates the show’s fighting style from any weird elitism. An example was Toph, who was an Earth-bender: she was proficient with the Southern Mantis Technique of Kung Fu that was dissimilar from the usual Earth-bender style.
Art by Genzoman.
21 Avatar Was Not Inspired By Only Eastern Cultures
Although the Last Airbender was primarily based on Eastern cultures, it was strongly influenced by the novels of Harry Potter, as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This means that Avatar: The Last Airbender is an outcome of the intersection of both Eastern and Western influences of the world.
Perhaps LOTR influenced the TV show in its division of the Earth (or Arda) into three; the Middle Earth, The Dark Lands, and the Undying Lands. Furthermore, Sauron seems to love fire, is a conqueror and has dragons in his disposal – all of which reflects a resemblance to Fire Lord Ozai.
For the Harry Potter series, maybe Hogwarts and its four Houses provided guidance: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin suggest the division of 4 elements. As the calligraphy in the map on the intro sequence translates: “Power are divided into four, the world is guided by one.”
20 Katara’s First Kiss Was Not Aang
Avatar Aang was a presence in her life from the beginning of the story, but Katara was captivated by Jet from the moment that she laid her eyes on the young freedom fighter. Jet provided a distinct air in the chronicle, leaving our Water-bender a little lost for words.
He has the bad boy appeal that magnetized Katara along with his tall height, physical strength, courage, and suave charm. And those traits clearly made the lady fall for the young charismatic lad.
According to the “Avatar Extras,” Jet was Katara’s first kiss even if there is no kissing scene shown in the series, which we are certain made Aang more than a little jealous.
Art by Biorn-21.
19 Yin And Yang Was Never Going To Happen
“You rise with the moon, and I rise with the sun.” These were the words spoken by Zuko to Katara, suggesting a much deeper connection between them. They belong to the opposite sides; the yin and yang. They could have made a delightful balance, but the show never seemed to consider that particular direction for these two opposing characters.
A number of fans thought that there will be a Zutara love team that would have brought a special kind of affection in their world of darkness and war.
The writer and creators of the show themselves flirted with the idea of a Zutara romance, but such concept was eventually set aside. As much as we love Aang, the idea of fire and water together really intrigued us.
Art by Nymre.
18 Aang Had To Shave His Head Every Day
Some people thought that Aang did not have the natural capacity to grow his hair, but this concept was incorrect. Airbenders cut their hair to its end to have a better feel of the air around them, and we are shown this strange sight when Aang returns to the team after a brief exile. Aang shows up with a surprisingly intense crop of black hair, and reveals he simply neglected to shave it.
This totally means that Aang does not just remove his hair to show off his cool head tattoo.
It all traced back to the Monk influence of this global phenomenon. Although it did not usually show in the series, the Avatar trimmed his head clean everyday.
17 The Fire Prodigy’s Mentors Knew More Than Fire
Fire nation Zuko’s sister Azula has a profound desire for power and on top of that she is one of the strongest and fiercest Fire-benders. But despite her outrageous skills, she displayed mental weaknesses; she is bound by extreme jealousy towards her brother Zuko for their mother’s love.
She is also manipulative and displayed psychological instability as well.
Instrumental to Azula’s rise to power were her two teachers, Lo and Li. Both of them taught her to master the art of fire bending but unknown to many was that neither one of them was a fire bender. The show spends a woefully short amount of time on these masters, and we wish we had seen more.
16 Dead Or Alive?
The last episode with Jet left us with an unresolved enigma, as it is strongly suggested that he met his end. Some people like to think that Jet still lives. During his final moments, he was engaged in a lethal struggle and was not seen since then.
Nickelodeon does not want to show a child or young person in such intense danger, especially under explicitly threatening situations. On the other hand, Toph made a cryptic statement in that part, saying that Jet lied about him being okay in that battle.
Eventually, to clear up the air, it has been confirmed in numerous times that Jet had already met his demise.
Art by Olivietta.
15 A Tetralogy Was Never The Plan
Everyone anticipated a fourth installation of the series and when it was not released, gossips circulated that it was cancelled.
There were three books in the series that were in relation to the elements that Aang mastered in each season; Initially, the Book of Water, then, the Book of Earth, and lastly, the Book of Fire. Most of the avid fans expected that the Book of Air will be next in line but sadly, there was none, and it resulted to the disappointments of some.
Since Aang was already an Air Bender at the beginning of the story, there was no necessity to make a fourth one, much to the dismay of loyal fans.
14 Avatar Aang Was Indeed As Strong As The Previous Avatars
Avatar Aang is an extremely powerful Avatar compared to his predecessors, despite the childish insecurities Aang himself may feel. Let us take a comparison between Avatar Roku and our teenage hero; the former was able to master the bending of the four elements in a span of 12 years, while Aang did it in less than 12 months.
Now, let’s evaluate the youngest Airbender in terms of age; an Avatar usually receives his title in the age of 16, Aang got his status by the age of 12.
It is easy to judge Aang’s weakness due to his tender age, yet, at that moment he was battle tested and ready – even mastering the deadly art of energy bending, lightning redirection, and seismic sense on top of the four basic elements. Go Aang!
13 Benders Learned Their Mastery Exclusively On Living Things
The thought that the controllers of the elements gained their bending techniques through other living beings was false. This is a strange fact that, while it does hold some truth, it’s not specific to all classes.
While the Earth-benders absorbed their earth control with badger-moles, The Air-benders acquired their skill from sky bisons, and the Fire-benders studied the dragons to attain their knowledges.
The Water-benders, however were different from the rest, for they have secured their talents from the moon. Perhaps the explanation goes with the moon’s effect on the ocean tides.
Art by Zarory.
12 Always The Same Music In The Credits?
The closing theme of Avatar: The Last Airbender seems to be the same for its credits from the first episode up to its last, as loyal fans have been sure to pick up on by now. We were so used with a flute-dominant melody during each ending, so it’s easy to assume the show has no other musical themes up its sleeve.
But then, they used a different tune in its final episode, “Sozin’s Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang.”
In its finale, a more heroic orchestra harmony was utilized instead of the usual one. Perhaps it is their way of bidding farewell to all its fans and followers. We don’t know about you, but we shed a tear.
11 There Are More Than Just Four Elements To Bend
A number of people might think that only the basic elements such as water, earth, fire, and air are the ones that can be manipulated in the story. But that belief goes against what the show illustrates. As we end up seeing, an Earth-bender has gained lava and sand bending, a Water-bender can use healing and blood-bending, and Fire-benders can control lightning, if they wish.
With proper training, all classes of basic elemental bending can sway the natural order to gain control of derivations on their original skillset.
These features make the Avatar distinct from the rest, they were the only ones who possessed a terrifying ancient ability known as Energy-bending. These sub-levels of bending show that with a higher degree of mastery comes a stronger technique.
10 Nations Don’t Dictate The Element An Individual Bends
As it turns out, it was the lineage that determined what element a bender can utilize. Also, it was not an entity’s membership to a particular nation that classified what features of nature he can employ. Thus, not all the people who belonged to a particular territory had the capacity to bend, which many viewers overlook.
In fact, some characters in the story had no capability to channel the natural forces to their advantage. In those cases, those personas used conventional weapons in order to attack or defend themselves in battles, as during the battle of the Moon Spirit.
9 Mai’s Name
Some people or even some of the followers of the international hit might be guilty with mispronouncing Mai’s name. It just goes to show that even the most popular characters, celebrities, and brands can be victims of mispronounced names.
Mai was a character that enchanted a lot of people because of her peculiar allure, although she has been a villain to some in the chronicle. This weapons specialist was not a bender, nonetheless, she can defeat several element users at the same time in a combat. Her notable qualities include being impassive and getting easily bored. She was also a passionate young lady that had strong feelings with Zuko.
Her name was consistently said in a correct manner all throughout the series, however, people still called this privileged warrior “My” instead of “Mei.”
Art by RisQ55.
8 Ozai Had Reasons For Disliking Zuko
In the graphic novels, Zuko’s mother Ursa was secretly sending letters to her former lover that she had before marrying Fire Lord Ozai. Eventually, the servant who delivered the letters was caught by the Fire Lord’s men, who then interrogated him.
During the confrontation with Ozai, Zuko’s name was mentioned as “their son,” referring to Ursa and the said lover. Despite being a man of strong spirit, the Emperor still suffered the pain of what he discovered.
The absolute ruler of the Fire Nation punished Ursa and Zuko, albeit, in his heart, he knew that Zuko was actually his son. He held on to the agony anyway for he sees Zuko as the epitome of that betrayal. From that point on, the conqueror groomed Azula as his heir and treated his only son coldly.
7 The Unknown Four Chinese Characters On The Title Screen
We are all familiar with the title screen, as the theme song we love so much is heard. The title card always includes four Chinese characters, located right above the word “Avatar”. Now, many have often mistaken those foreign letterings to signify the titular elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air.
However, it turns out that those figures hold a totally different meaning.
Actually, those characters translate into: “The Divine Medium who descended upon the mortal world,” which actually provide for the definition of the term “Avatar”. This helpful phrase would actually have provided some much needed context for casual fans, if only we knew how to read it!
6 Mai And Zuko, Happily Ever After?
Regardless of the grand expectations by the admirers of both Mai and Zuko in spending the rest of their lives together, they did not share forever in each other’s embrace. Mai adored Zuko so much that she made a pivotal change of alliance for Team Avatar – when she saved the future Fire Lord from Azula at the Roiling Rock. She was then imprisoned for such action and the Zuko freed her when he claimed his throne.
However, during the post-war era, Mai got tired of Zuko’s secrets when she found out that her partner was constantly visiting his father in prison without her knowledge. Those faults prompted Mai to break up with Zuko, and nothing was heard about them since then.
It was ironic that the love that they have had during those challenging times did not last long enough in times of peace.
Art by Genzoman.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/25-false-facts-avatar-last-airbender-everyone-actually-believed/