Korra

[crayzz]

I keep on seeing this phrase being used as criticism of Zaheer. Could someone please explain why exactly Zaheer's goal of destroying the ruling elite makes him an edgy teen philosopher?

There's plenty of real world philosophies that have pretty much the same goal, some followers of which have had some massively significant actions and repercussions.

It's not the goal that puts it into edgy teen territory, it's the simplistic thought process, lack of any sort of plan for what comes after, and dismissive attitude to the people his plan will inevitably hurt. That's not necessarily unique to edgy teens, but they are rather famous for it ime.

I still like him. He's a good villain because he's single minded and at peace with the path he's chosen. Those qualities mean he's dangerous, doesn't make many stupid mistakes. And, generally in the AtLA universe, those qualities enable powerful bending, since bending is quasi spiritual and self doubt is tantamount to self sabotage. His philosophy is just utterly unconvincing to me. Which is fine: there's certainly something to be said for sympathetic villains, but it takes talent to write an enjoyable villain who's pants on head wrong about what he's doing, and I appreciate the show for that.

I mean you can make the same criticism of Ozai:

Ozai: we will kill the entire Earth kingdom with FIRE!
Adviser: But we already conquered Ba-Sing-Se
Ozai: So? they still need to die
Adviser: I don't think you through this through
Ozai: how haven't I?
Adviser: you could gain far more resources and power by beginning the process of overtaking their culture with your own through trade, you'd miss out on brainwashing young Earthbenders to your cause while shoving all the menial jobs onto Earth kingdom slaves or servants, plus burning that much land would cause irreparable damage to the environment and the atmosphere will which turn negatively impact your own empire and its lifespan. you basically shooting yourself in the foot when you've already won.
Ozai: you just don't understand my brilliant plan

or say Zhao....

Zhao: I decided to kill one of the moon spirits!
other Ghost: WHYYYY!?
Zhao: well it was a Waterbender thing so.....it was my enemy and had to die.
other ghost: but that would negatively impact the tides of the ENTIRE WORLD screwing up EVERYTHING!
Zhao: Well I succeeded didn't I?
other ghost: and look where that got you
Zhao: you just don't understand how brilliant my plan was.

Avatar villains, not exactly ones with a lot of foresight, kind of a short-sighted lot.

Eh, those were largely failures of tactics, not philosophy. Zaheer's philosophy says the ruling class are bad for reasons, but there's nothing in there about how to build a better world without them. Zaheer was still effectively accomplishing his straight forward goal of enabling anarchy. Ozai was just bad at imperialism, regardless of his philosophy.

Zhao was short sighted, but in the short term his plan wasn't that tactically unsound. Killing the moon spirit took the water bender's powers away, which would have let him win the battle had Iroh not intervened, Yue not sacrificed her life, and Aang not gone full Avatar of Destruction.

[dancrilis]

I mean you can make the same criticism of Ozai:

And I would.

The difference is that Ozai was not portrayed as a deep thinking individual - I was actually more dubious about the fact that it was kindof Azula who proposed it and she was portrayed as being a more clear thinking (but I felt that she was more being flippant rather then proposing 'destroy the continent' as a serious and valid plan).

[LaZodiac]

I mean Zaheer's anarchy's answers to these questions are rather self evident. How do you live without a ruler? You just... do. You live your life as you see fit, and suffer no tyrants. The end. The people who will get hurt in the process are, at least, getting hurt because of their own ability to take care of themselves and not because some idiot with a big hat said "you don't deserve to live". Pain is inevitable in this system but it is at least pain you earned and not pain enforced upon you.

Basically, what comes after his revolution is "whatever you wish".

[Lord Raziere]

And I would.

The difference is that Ozai was not portrayed as a deep thinking individual - I was actually more dubious about the fact that it was kindof Azula who proposed it and she was portrayed as being a more clear thinking (but I felt that she was more being flippant rather then proposing 'destroy the continent' as a serious and valid plan).

Azula?

you mean....the actual edgy teen? raised by an imperialistic philosophy? the one with a lot of mental issues involving her mother? that one? the one who broke down into being a caligulaic mess in the finale? THAT Azula?

Edit: yea Zodi pretty much hit the nail on head: Zaheer is emulating a culture that sees most of what society values as either useless, an illusion or outright harmful to one's own spiritual development. to us society is an important construct we depend on. to Zaheer its a lie we tell ourselves and because of subjectiveness that lie is not considered one because everyone agrees to it-in reality your just obeying a guy because a bunch of made up rules and words made to sound convincing, preserved in symbols on paper and the idea that chaos will ensue if the ruler is taken out, is only true because for some reason people value having a ruler at all, probably because of some leftover pact leader instinct, so much so the idea of "the chaos will happen when they die" becomes "chaos NEEDs to happen" as a self-fulfilling prophecy because people attach so much of their behavior to an outside force telling them what to do.....when you shouldn't be good because of someone else, you should be good because of yourself. society is just the imperfect compromise we accept in the meantime.

If Zaheer killed that earth queen and everyone in the earth kingdom decided to punish Zaheer for it then go back to their lives....he would be the only evil person there. just because Zaheer started the fire doesn't mean others are innocent when they keep it going.

[Peelee]

To sum up my response to all replies to my issues with Zaheer: he's like Amon, but stupid. I liked Amon. I do not like Stupid Amon. I especially do not like Stupid Amon with his Super Special Bender Buddies.

So it stands to reason that I greatly dislike Book 3.

[dancrilis]

Azula?

you mean....the actual edgy teen? raised by an imperialistic philosophy? the one with a lot of mental issues involving her mother? that one? the one who broke down into being a caligulaic mess in the finale? THAT Azula?

At the time she proposed the plan was was fairly calm and rational, and had actually conquered the earth kingdom and had the tools of government on her side - it didn't seem like something she would have bothered with at the time it was proposed, closer to the end of the series sure.
But I see it more as her being flippant about a plan and her father running with the simplest method of following it.

[uncool]

Eh, those were largely failures of tactics, not philosophy. [..] Ozai was just bad at imperialism, regardless of his philosophy.

Zhao was short sighted, but in the short term his plan wasn't that tactically unsound. Killing the moon spirit took the water bender's powers away, which would have let him win the battle had Iroh not intervened, Yue not sacrificed her life, and Aang not gone full Avatar of Destruction.

That is a failure of philosophy, but a deliberate one from a storytelling perspective. The show consistently demonstrates that the worst aspects of a philosophy based on fire are the aspects of consumption, of exhaustion of resources (and of seeing everything as a resource), of advantage in the moment over gain in the future. Ozai doesn't want to rule over a prosperous empire, though he's not averse to it; his aim is to dominate an empire, prosperous or not.

Hence Iroh's "AND THEN WHAT!?" being the turning point for Zuko.

[Lord Raziere]

That is a failure of philosophy, but a deliberate one from a storytelling perspective. The show consistently demonstrates that the worst aspects of a philosophy based on fire are the aspects of consumption, of exhaustion of resources (and of seeing everything as a resource), of advantage in the moment over gain in the future. Ozai doesn't want to rule over a prosperous empire, though he's not averse to it; his aim is to dominate an empire, prosperous or not.

Hence Iroh's "AND THEN WHAT!?" being the turning point for Zuko.

Exactly. Air in some respects is a momentary gust of wind and thus is showing the worst aspect of a philosophy based on Air, because if we didn't get that, we wouldn't have that portrayed at all and that would be quite a loss, as then the air Nomads would just be some dead perfect culture that could do no wrong. we needed this to make sure their philosophy doesn't just solve everything.

[uncool]

Exactly. Air in some respects is a momentary gust of wind and thus is showing the worst aspect of a philosophy based on Air, because if we didn't get that, we wouldn't have that portrayed at all and that would be quite a loss, as then the air Nomads would just be some dead perfect culture that could do no wrong. we needed this to make sure their philosophy doesn't just solve everything.

I honestly don't think the show did a good job of having Zaheer demonstrate the worst aspects of a philosophy based on air.

Air, in its most terrifying form, is a hurricane*, destroying connections, uprooting structures, and turning anything not nailed down into a weapon against anything that is. An air nomad villain should be one that doesn't just drop earthly attachments, but demands that others do, too. In my opinion, Zaheer does this at most superficially - his anarchism is shallow. If anything, Amon, pre-twist, fits that better.

* technically, a hurricane would be a combination of the worst aspects of air and water; a tornado may be a better example, but doesn't reach the same scale - so perhaps a better villain would be an airbender/waterbender pair

[Brother Oni]

If he was actually willing to claim power in order to manage a transition from what he regarded as a tyranny into his ideal form of government (whatever that was) then it would likely be fine - but he wasn't willing to do the work (and it seems that he never even considered the outcomes of his actions).

Except he's an anarchist, as in a true blue, dyed in the wool, reject authority and any form of involuntary cohersive hierarchy one. As La Zodiac said, destroying the ruling elite and letting people just live is his goal - what they do afterwards is up to them, but they're free to make the choice themselves. In his eyes, if the people want to move to a representative republic or any other form of voluntary government, then they're free to do so - Zaheer telling them to transition to a representative republic or another stable form of government, defeats the point of him giving the people the freedom to choose what they want to do.

In any case, it's hard to argue that a hereditary monarchial rule was great for the common people in the long run - you only have to look at Chinese history to see how dynasties fell to get an idea of how corrupt they become.

I honestly don't think the show did a good job of having Zaheer demonstrate the worst aspects of a philosophy based on air.

Air, in its most terrifying form, is a hurricane*, destroying connections, uprooting structures, and turning anything not nailed down into a weapon against anything that is. An air nomad villain should be one that doesn't just drop earthly attachments, but demands that others do, too. In my opinion, Zaheer does this at most superficially - his anarchism is shallow. If anything, Amon, pre-twist, fits that better.

Air could also be expressed as pure freedom, the ability to take any form and do whatever you like (which ties in nicely with the anarchist philosophy). It's even more free than water, which still has to conform to the shape of its container.

It's why I like Zaheer as a villian - he believes that he's doing this for good of the people, not to oppress or rule over them, like all the other antagonists. Severing all earthly ties* is something he comes to realise when studying with the Air Nomads (an example of villian character growth), but the irony is, when he severs his earthly ties and reaches a form of enlightenment, he also knows that he can't impose that on others (as it means that he's concerned about people, ie earthly ties).

Stopping the Avatar cycle is still a goal, as he has to show the way for other people, but in Season 4, he realises he's wrong and makes amends. There's a Buddhist koan that's quite apt for post enlightenment Zaheer, but I can't state it on this forum.


*Incidentally, it's something that Aang isn't capable of doing himself as he realises that he doesn't want to.

[Sapphire Guard]

Airbending Philosophy isn't quite so unattached as that.

Aang is notably extremely upset whenever their culture is disrespected, by refugees living in his sacred places or by fangirls using the tattoos of airbending mastery as their club membership.

Honestly, the Tenzin plotline is kind of odd. He's one of the last survivors of an exterminated people trying desperately to hold on to what's left... and it's played for laughs? Eh? I mean, it's obviously unworkable, but it's not like it's his idle whim.

[LaZodiac]

Airbending Philosophy isn't quite so unattached as that.

Aang is notably extremely upset whenever their culture is disrespected, by refugees living in his sacred places or by fangirls using the tattoos of airbending mastery as their club membership.

Honestly, the Tenzin plotline is kind of odd. He's one of the last survivors of an exterminated people trying desperately to hold on to what's left... and it's played for laughs? Eh? I mean, it's obviously unworkable, but it's not like it's his idle whim.

I love Tenzin's plotline for that exact reason. There's a LOT to be said about the fact that because of Aang's completely understandable respect for his ancient culture, he kinda ended up hurting his children. Tenzin is pushing that hurt forward with the way he acts- and by being such a stick in the mud, he's actually doing more harm than good in the name OF that culture. Would Aang's mentor look at Tenzin's strict, grounded teachings as properly Air? That's unlikely. Tenzin's behavior being played for laughs is what actual Air Nomads would have done to him if they were around, and that's kind of why it is beautiful.

It really speaks to both the good and bad of Air, something that Aang's story never GOT to touch on.

[Peelee]

I never actually got why Aang's tattoos glowed in the Avatar state. It'd be like Kyoshi's makeup glowing. It's something humans decorated their body with.

Imean, I get why they did it from a Doylistic perspective but not from a Watsonian perspective.

[LaZodiac]

I never actually got why Aang's tattoos glowed in the Avatar state. It'd be like Kyoshi's makeup glowing. It's something humans decorated their body with.

Imean, I get why they did it from a Doylistic perspective but not from a Watsonian perspective.

In universe the tattoos are of spiritual significance to the Air Nomads. As such, his big spirit power mode making them glow makes a degree of sense. Does it make TOTAL sense? No. But it makes enough sense.

Also since they are TATTOOS, comparing them to just make up is a bit off. Tattoos are etched into the skin, they become part of your body. You can't just wash a tattoo off like make up.

[Sapphire Guard]

Nah, Gyatsu wasn't such a monster as to mock someone in obvious and real distress.

[Lord Raziere]

I love Tenzin's plotline for that exact reason. There's a LOT to be said about the fact that because of Aang's completely understandable respect for his ancient culture, he kinda ended up hurting his children. Tenzin is pushing that hurt forward with the way he acts- and by being such a stick in the mud, he's actually doing more harm than good in the name OF that culture. Would Aang's mentor look at Tenzin's strict, grounded teachings as properly Air? That's unlikely. Tenzin's behavior being played for laughs is what actual Air Nomads would have done to him if they were around, and that's kind of why it is beautiful.

It really speaks to both the good and bad of Air, something that Aang's story never GOT to touch on.

I mean here is the thing about Aang: he has massive survivors guilt compounded by the fact he is both the Avatar and a child.

in his mind he thinks he is responsible for his entire culture dying. he got the weight of the world placed upon his shoulders, ran away from that weight then found out that everything he knew and love died because the fire nation wanted to kill or capture him, specifically. all in the space of to him is a very short amount of time since he wasn't awake for 100 years. in a way his entire quest can be seen as his attempt to make up for running away from his responsibilities-which ironically what saved him and is a very air thing to do.

he is not a good example of his culture, because he has the whole Avatar thing screwing up the life he thought he was supposed to live: become monk, kill no one, attain enlightenment. the Avatar has to be more than the culture they came from. its no wonder why he foisted the Airbender thing onto Tenzin because there is no longer a conflict of interest: he just be the Avatar and not struggle to both uphold both his culture and the Avatar at the same time, thus escpaing from the responsibility of being "The Last Airbender". its sad, but true. Aang is an interesting character because despite all his goodness, he is a master class in finding ways to shirk his responsibilities and making it look sympathetic or distract you from the fact that he is doing that. its one of his most consistent character traits.

[uncool]

Aang is an interesting character because despite all his goodness, he is a master class in finding ways to shirk his responsibilities and making it look sympathetic or distract you from the fact that he is doing that. its one of his most consistent character traits.

And somewhat ironically, doing so is a perfect representation of one of the failure states of Airbender philosophy - turning avoidance of attachments into avoidance of responsibility.

[Peelee]

In universe the tattoos are of spiritual significance to the Air Nomads. As such, his big spirit power mode making them glow makes a degree of sense. Does it make TOTAL sense? No. But it makes enough sense.

Also since they are TATTOOS, comparing them to just make up is a bit off. Tattoos are etched into the skin, they become part of your body. You can't just wash a tattoo off like make up.

Kyoshi's makeup is, to the best of my knowledge, also of spiritual significance.

I am aware of the issues comparing makeup to tattoos, but it's the only real comparison I have. Regardless of significance, the tattoos are man-made, like the makeup, and it should be odd that the Avatar state incorporates them into its visual effects.

[Yanagi]

It's ambiguous because the show does not sit the audience down and explain the Air Nomad canon versus the specific guru-wisdom that Zaheer keeps quoting, but it's arguable that his political actions stem from non-attachment.

He's making the choice for other people to strip away the largest societal attachments they experience: the quality of subordination by nation and ruler, and the de facto god-like supremacy of the Avatar over the world. His alternative is not a concrete ruling philosophy that everyone must follow...even philosophical anarchists have rules, they're just radically egalitarian ones...but rather an state of "freedom" in which no individual is bound in place by constraining power. His ideology is pure to the point that it's ivory-tower abstraction: he wants to free people but is unconcerned with the reality of those people, how material conditions and context mean that negative freedoms (freedom from) bar positive freedoms (freedom to).

It's a pretty good take on how Air Nomad philosophy, and personality traits associated with "Air," can go wrong. One of the ways that an individual can harm others--treating them as means, not ends--is to penalize the actual person because of their inferiority to the hypothetical better person they could be. The individual becomes the means relative to the putative "better state"--enlightenment, spiritual purity, or just more perfectly conforming to a standard--and is thus diminished and degraded. The more common version of this is good faith spiritual abuse, where a person who authority exercises that power to push their followers into self-mortification to make them "better," but Zaheer is closer to a political zealot engaged in propaganda of the deed.

He's pretty much--spoilers for World War 1--Gavrilo Princip.

To the extent Zaheer has a model of what happens next, it's that individuals with freedom will autonomously pursue their own good, not that new hierarchies will form. It's the sort of base assumption an airbender would make: people as individuals would cope with change by dodging about and staying in motion, not creating new power structures and clashing them together to create a new static power hegemony.

[Rynjin]

Kyoshi's makeup is, to the best of my knowledge, also of spiritual significance.

I am aware of the issues comparing makeup to tattoos, but it's the only real comparison I have. Regardless of significance, the tattoos are man-made, like the makeup, and it should be odd that the Avatar state incorporates them into its visual effects.

Kyoshi's makeup is not spiritually significant in the same way; without her makeup she is still her. The tattoos are what mark an Airbender as truly being a full member of their tribe; they've been wearing them since before they WERE Airbenders or the Avatar even existed. It's also further linked, spiritually, to their connection with the Sky Bisons who taught them bending in the first place, who have the same arrows as a natural part of their bodies.

Believe is a tangible force of power in the Avatar universe, particularly for benders in general, and even more so for the Avatars themselves. Kyoshi wears makeup; she can put it on and take it off. It is not a part of her.

The tattoos the Air Nomads wear are a part of them in belief if not in "truth", and all Airbender Avatars are shown to have the same glow to their tattoos.

...Also, it looks cooler that way.

[InvisibleBison]

...Also, it looks cooler that way.

This might be the actual answer - it could be that Aang's tattoos glow because Raava thinks it looks cool.

[LaZodiac]

Nah, Gyatsu wasn't such a monster as to mock someone in obvious and real distress.

I'm not saying he'd mock him.

But he would absolutely do what he can to undermine Tenzin's position of stuffy, stick in the mud, unmoving wall of a mentor figure. It's good to have respect for these sorts of things, but Tenzin would make a far better Earth bender than he ever was Air bender. He is an unbroken iron will, and that just doesn't gell with air.

I mean here is the thing about Aang: he has massive survivors guilt compounded by the fact he is both the Avatar and a child.

in his mind he thinks he is responsible for his entire culture dying. he got the weight of the world placed upon his shoulders, ran away from that weight then found out that everything he knew and love died because the fire nation wanted to kill or capture him, specifically. all in the space of to him is a very short amount of time since he wasn't awake for 100 years. in a way his entire quest can be seen as his attempt to make up for running away from his responsibilities-which ironically what saved him and is a very air thing to do.

he is not a good example of his culture, because he has the whole Avatar thing screwing up the life he thought he was supposed to live: become monk, kill no one, attain enlightenment. the Avatar has to be more than the culture they came from. its no wonder why he foisted the Airbender thing onto Tenzin because there is no longer a conflict of interest: he just be the Avatar and not struggle to both uphold both his culture and the Avatar at the same time, thus escpaing from the responsibility of being "The Last Airbender". its sad, but true. Aang is an interesting character because despite all his goodness, he is a master class in finding ways to shirk his responsibilities and making it look sympathetic or distract you from the fact that he is doing that. its one of his most consistent character traits.

This is a way better way of saying it, yeah.

[Ramza00]

I'm not saying he'd mock him.

But he would absolutely do what he can to undermine Tenzin's position of stuffy, stick in the mud, unmoving wall of a mentor figure. It's good to have respect for these sorts of things, but Tenzin would make a far better Earth bender than he ever was Air bender. He is an unbroken iron will, and that just doesn't gell with air.

Is Tenzin like an Earthbender? Really? is that Earthbender traits or Tenzin having Trauma?

(echoes Lord Raziere even though she was talking about Aang.)

-----

Tenzin is what? *Counts, followed by a Google* Tenzin is 51 in Book 1, and he is the 3rd born of 3 kids. The only airbender of those 3 kids.

That means for 4 decades the only airbenders in the world was Aang, the Avatar, and the scared 3rd kid of 3 who had the entire world places on his shoulders like Atlas.

And then your dad dies 17 years ago + 9 months (maybe longer, we never learned the mechanics of the Raava / Avatar rebirth when the next one appears) and Tenzin still hasn't had any kids yet! That means there is at least 7 years where Tenzin is the only airbender in the world and he has no kids.

Tenzin's first kid, Jinora is only 10 during Book 1. We do not know when bending typically manifests (lets say ages 4 to 5 since Korra was 4 when she started bending, Meelo was 5 in Book 1. But we can also make the argument those may be exceptional cases and bending may not appear until a later age like 12 to 14 based on ATLA.)

That means with the death of Aang, and the 7 years before the birth of Jinora, plus the intern time where Jinora shows she is an airbender, that means roughly 10 years Tenzin was all on his own with all that pressure, all that trauma, all that weight of the world on his shoulders.

-----

Is Tenzin really like an Earthbender or is he an Airbender who has not had community and freedom until the last 3 years of the show (Between Book 3 and 4) ?

-----

What was the smothering comment that Tenzin "made" about his kids in Book 1?

Act III

(It is sunset on Air Temple Island, and the Sky Bison are once more circling the sky above the grounds. Cut to Tenzin's family's dining room. A low table rests in the center, atop of which is an unused cooking pot. Tenzin is sitting at the table with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. Meelo, Ikki, and Jinora are also sitting at the table, but the latter is reading a book.)

Pema: (walking in with a tray of food) Okay, everyone here? (looks around) Wait, where's Korra?
Tenzin: (puts a hand to his head, and speaks quickly) Honestly Pema, I am at my wits end with that girl. I don't know how to get through to her. (slumps and looks down)
Pema: (going to Tenzin and putting an arm around him) Dear, the best thing you can do right now is to give Korra some space.
Tenzin: (looking across the table to his children) You must promise me that your teenage years won't be like this.

(The view cuts over to center on Jinora. She looks up from her book with lidded eyes.)

Jinora: I will make no such promises.

That is not "earthbending" instincts speaking, that is trauma and trying to control the uncontrollable for you are scared.

This is the previous scene before Act 3 that I just quoted.

(Korra stumbles backwards into another panel, and falls to the ground. She gets visibly angry, and rises into a Firebending attack at the Gates. She throws a flurry of punches that unleash fireballs all around her, then lets out a massive attack that explodes outwards and takes out all the spinning panels. The camera cuts to Tenzin and family, who are staring with shock, before returning to Korra. She is panting for breath, standing in the center of a cloud of smile while the wreckage of the Gates burns around her.)

Tenzin: (shell-shocked) That was a 2,000 year old historical treasure. (furious) What... what is wrong with you?
Korra: (emerging from the Gates, angry and gesturing dramatically) There's nothing wrong with me. I've been practicing just like you taught me, but it isn't sinking in, okay?
Korra: It hasn't clicked like you said it would.
Tenzin: Korra, this isn't something you can force.If you would only listen to me.
Korra: (screaming) I have been! But you know what I think? Maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe the reason I haven't learned Airbending yet is because you're a terrible teacher.(runs off screen)
Tenzin: Ughh.
Meelo: (steps forward and points at Tenzin with a big grin)Yeah, you're a terrible teacher daddy. (runs into the wreckage of the Gates, and starts kicking and throwing pieces around with wild glee) Wahh, ahh, ahhhh!

(Tenzin looks down with defeat, but Ikki and Jinora both move as one to solemnly hug him. Fade to commercial break.)

Training your father, when you are the only hope, and you consider yourself a failure for decades is some true Oedipal stuff. Words that would not have meaning coming from other people have significant meaning with Korra and Tenzin for it is a reversal of the family dynamics of Aang and Tenzin. All the pressure was on Tenzin, he was the only airbender (besides Aang) for 40+ Years!

(And this fact also influenced Tenzin's relationships with his siblings, dysfunctional family dynamics all around. I love this show precisely because of this. That said some of Bumi Season 2 stuff is a little too much.)

[Lord Raziere]

Yes I would agree that with Ramza on all those Tenzin points. he is someone who is carrying a weight that Aang forced on him BECAUSE of Aang's own problems.

[LaZodiac]

I mean, Tenzin's legitimate trauma weighing him down so much that personality wise he feels very Earth is exactly my point. The world and his father have pulled at him so hard that he's lost that degree of lightness Air should have. I'm not saying it's his fault, I'm just saying it's tragic- but also that the best way to do this would be to force him out of that "comforting place of trauma" and get him to lighten up, in a spiritual and personality sense.

Consider that he does start to become less of a stick in the mud when he realizes the people who are, in his eyes, irresponsible and far too care free, start showing that despite his read on them they're actually weighed down by trauma too, they just know how to handle it and still live a breezy life. Tenzin's spiritual journey is one of my favorite parts of the show.

[Rater202]

I never actually got why Aang's tattoos glowed in the Avatar state. It'd be like Kyoshi's makeup glowing. It's something humans decorated their body with.

Imean, I get why they did it from a Doylistic perspective but not from a Watsonian perspective.

Maybe the tattoos are made from a pigment that reacts to large quantities of chi or other spiritual energies?

When Aang enters the Avatar State, he is essentially being possessed not only by Ravanah but also by literally everyone who has ever been the Avatar with all of their power, knowledge, and skill being added to his own... And the Avatar is the most powerful of all four kinds of benders even before accounting for the fact that they can do all four kinds of bending and that's assuming that the previous Avatars aren't becoming more powerful over time now that they're spirits residing in the spirit world instead of physical meat beings restricted by a mortal(long) bot mortal lifespan and the attendant limitations of a meat body.

Aang in the Avatar state probably has more Chi within his body in that moment than the entire rest of the planet. If the pigments in his tattoos glow in the presence of large concentrations of chi?

Of course, I'm just throwing crap at the wall to see if it makes sense, but this?

This is why I tried to do an Avatar game in the free form section. I want to talk about this stuff. I want to speculate on what happens if an Earthbender, Firebender, or Waterbender opens up all of their chakras, or how applying the philosophies of one element affects another.

[dancrilis]

But he would absolutely do what he can to undermine Tenzin's position of stuffy, stick in the mud, unmoving wall of a mentor figure. It's good to have respect for these sorts of things, but Tenzin would make a far better Earth bender than he ever was Air bender. He is an unbroken iron will, and that just doesn't gell with air.

Don't particularly see him as any more strict or unbending then Monks Pasang and Tashi - I think we might not have seen enough of airbender culture to make real analysis of how a 'proper' airbender behaves but we have seen how a number of airbender masters behave and there seem to be few enough universal traits.

[Ramza00]

Don't particularly see him as any more strict or unbending then Monks Pasang and Tashi - I think we might not have seen enough of airbender culture to make real analysis of how a 'proper' airbender behaves but we have seen how a number of airbender masters behave and there seem to be few enough universal traits.

Even Yangchen* to Aang was saying this is your moral obligation, this is your duty, to kill Ozai if it leads to peace between the 4 nations and prevents a genocide.

*Then again the avatars are all part earthbenders.

[Yanagi]

Don't particularly see him as any more strict or unbending then Monks Pasang and Tashi - I think we might not have seen enough of airbender culture to make real analysis of how a 'proper' airbender behaves but we have seen how a number of airbender masters behave and there seem to be few enough universal traits.

Yeah.

Air Nomads are presented as having features of both a monastic order and a gurukal, so there could be a lot of variance depending on your teacher and their interpretative lineage. Same thing that happens with the Jedi: there are formal rules, but also the subtleties of interpreting and contextualizing the rules that are learned through interaction and modeling.

Aang would be trying to re-create a dead culture without most of the intangible components: he was never an adult Air Nomad nor had to navigate "normal" functioning with other Air Nomads, so all he has is the written down material and no framework to sort through it.

And it would be even more stressful to be the person on the receiving end of all that information.

[LibraryOgre]

It did not occur to me on the first watch, but Bumi is 100% a Bard (or, better yet, a Hackmaster Rogue, with a LOT of luck points, that he burned through at an alarming pace in s2e12 Harmonic Convergence).

ETA: Also, just watched the end of the Mako/Korra romance. Korra and Mako break up. Korra leaves, loses her memory, and Mako and Asami kissed. When Korra comes back, Mako doesn't tell her they broke up, so she continues like they were together, and Mako lets her... which upsets Asami.

After the fight against Vatuu/Unalaq, Mako tells Korra about the break up... and then runs away from both Korra and Asami. Korra and Asami hang out and talk about it... and mostly decide that the problem is that Mako is a coward. Korra doesn't blame Asami for kissing Mako... the Korra and Mako weren't a thing at that point. Asami doesn't blame Korra for kissing Mako. They both think Mako is kinda a dink... and get to hang out, as friends, and eventually more.