Avatar: The Last Airbenderand its sequel,The Legend of Korra, introduced audiences to a fantastical world inspired by various Asian and Indigenous cultures. In a rare move for family animation, the franchise takes its worldbuilding very seriously, and it hasunusually deep lore for a Nickelodeon cartoon. The central conceit of the story revolves around the Avatar, a figure of great spiritual importance. The Avatar is known for being able to bend all four elements; most people in the world ofAvatarare unable to bend even one element, and those who can bend are limited to only having power over Water, Earth, Fire, or Air.
Avatargenerally follows the titular chosen one of their world. The Avatar is responsible for keeping the balance of the planet: spiritual and worldly matters are often deferred to the guidance of the Avatar. And like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar begins anew when an Avatar dies, and they are immediately reborn into the next elemental in the cycle. For instance, a Water Tribe Avatar would be reborn into the Earth Kingdom, and a Fire Nation Avatar would be reborn into the Air Nomads. Eventually, the Avatar can even commune with their past lives and enter the Avatar State, gaining all the knowledge and power of 10,000 years.
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The First Avatar
In the era before the Avatar (approximately 10,000 years before Aang’s time), the mortal world was beset by spirits. Humans were driven to near-extinction, and took refuge on giant creatures known as Lion Turtles. These Lion Turtles protected humanity, and, when humans needed to hunt, they would bestow upon them the gift of bending to protect themselves. It was this world that Wan was born into.
Unbeknownst to Wan, the world was in disarray due to an eternal battle between Raava, the Spirit of Light and Order, and Vaatu, the Spirit of Darkness and Chaos. Every 10,000 years, the two spirits battledfor dominance over the cosmic energy of the universe. Whoever won would determine what the next era would be like. Unfortunately, Vaatu had triumphed over Raava, which is what had caused the disharmony between humans and spirits. Raava had held Vaatu captive for all that time, but Wan’s foolish actions freed him from her grip, making Raava too weak to fight him.
The two teamed up, and during the next Harmonic Convergence, they merged their spirits permanently. Wan became the first Avatar and defeated Vaatu, separating the spiritual and mortal realms for the next 10,000 years. He never did manage to bring peace to all of humanity, but Raava promised him on his deathbed that she would stay with him for all of his lifetimes - and that their job would never end.
Interim Years
Over the next few thousand years, the Avatar would go on to become revered and venerated across the globe. Ages passed, and knowledge of Wan’s time faded: Lion Turtles were hunted to extinction, spirits became far-off entities in remote places, andEnergybending became a lost art. Most of these Avatars have yet to be named or explored, and what little is known about them comes from expanded universe materials like the comics and novels.
Three Avatars in particular existed hundreds of years before Aang did: Gun, Salai, and Szeto. Gun’s ethnicity and gender are not known, but at some point, they failed to save a town from a tsunami. Their companion, Mesose, died in the ensuing flood, and Gun considered this one of their worst failures: they took a sabbatical from their Avatar duties for some time. They were eventually reborn as Salai an unknown amount of time later. Salai’s gender and ethnicity are also not known, but they are recorded as one of the greatest Avatars ever. What they did to earn that title is also not yet known.
Szeto has a bit more of a backstory: he is the Fire Nation Avatar before Yangchen. Szeto was not a martial Avatar: he preferred to work in diplomacy and bureaucracy. The Fire Nation was nearly falling apart during his tenure, but he became a bureaucrat in Fire Lord Yosor’s court, quickly rising through the ranks and saving the country. Before the Fire Nation came to shun the Avatar, Szeto was revered by them and his legacy was remembered during a commemorative holiday.
Avatar Yangchen
Yangchen is something of adeepcut in the lore. She made only a few appearances in either series, but her story has recently been expanded in a novel:The Dawn of Yangchen.Yangchen was born in the Western Air Temple, and as a child she faced a unique challenge: she continued to have horrific, realistic visions of her past lives. Her sister, Jetsun, protected her from these as best she could, but she could not stop these visions. Yangchen eventually lost Jetsun to a spirit on her first trip to the Spirit World, and her sister unfortunately died.
As she grew into womanhood and became a fully realized Avatar, Yangchen had to face challenges across the globe. She came into conflict with rich merchants in the Earth Kingdom, who were ruling unjustly. Known as a decisive Avatar who would do anything to keep the peace, she eventually resolved this crisis, and established peace for generations to come. Her tenure as the Avatar is remembered fondly, with some even continuing to pray to her - her epithet was known as “Great Yangchen”.
Avatar Kuruk
Kuruk had something of a reputation for being a bad Avatar in the fandom before his story was fully explored. According to Kuruk himself, he was a “go with the flow” Avatar. In the era of peace established by Yangchen, Kuruk had very little reason to become in worldly affairs. He was known to slake his physical needs to excess, and would frequently challenge other benders to feats of strength. Unfortunately, Koh the Face Stealer went on to steal the face of Kuruk’s love, Ummi, and Kuruk still continues to hunt Koh to this day.
Everyone loves anAvatar: The Last Airbenderredemption arc, however, and the full story was revealed during a series of novels about his successor, Kyoshi. Yangchen, despite being an Air Nomad, actually tended to side with humanity more often than she did with the spirits. As a result, the spirits became enraged when the deals she brokered with mortals were not honored, and would frequently turn “dark”, lashing out and causing much damage to the world.
Kuruk had to kill these spirits to stop them. This would take a heavy toll on his spirit, and would eventually lead to his early death at 33. Kuruk threw himself into a life of excess in an effort to feel something - anything - other than this pain. He also refused to publicly explain this chain of events: he did not want to harm his predecessor’s opinions. Even within the world of Avatar, he is not remembered all that fondly.
Avatar Kyoshi
Todive deeper into the story of Avatar Kyoshi, fans don’t have to look very far. Kyoshi is a fan favorite: many consider her to be their favorite Avatar, and she’s one of the more deeply explored Avatars. She was born to an Air Nomad mother and an Earth Kingdom father. Her parents were career criminals, however, and fearing the law, they left Kyoshi on the outskirts of Yokoya at a young age. She was found by a companion of Kuruk, Kelsang, who was an Air Nomad. Though Kelsang and his fellow companion Jianzhu were looking for the Avatar, they did not realize Kyoshi was their reincarnated friend.
Kyoshi then grew up under Kelsang’s watch, working as a servant of the “Avatar”, Yun. Once Jianzhu realized Kyoshi was the true Avatar, he set aside Yun, who was brutally taken away by a mysterious and ancient spirit. Kyoshi fled with Yun’s bodyguard, Rangi, and the two escaped Jianzhu’s grasp. Eventually, Yun returned and killed Jianzhu, but Kyoshi’s reputation was left in the gutter (Jianzhu was a prominent and powerful man). She faced many challenges in her lifetime, and became known for her fortitude, though she loathed having to resort to violence.
Kyoshi isa landmark in LGBT+ representation: she’s the first known Avatar to be bisexual, and Rangi eventually became her girlfriend. Unfortunately, she couldn’t change the Earth Kingdom’s homophobic views, and her sexuality was not a well-known fact by Korra’s time. She did become known as one of the greatest Avatars ever, though, and she lived a staggering 230 years, establishing an era peace and prosperity.
Avatar Roku
Avatar Roku was featured prominently inAvatar: The Last Airbender.He served as a mentor to Aang - and his greatest failure had great repercussions for the balance of the world (it wouldeventually lead to the rise of Fire Lord Ozai). Born into a Fire Nation noble family, Roku was a close friend of Crown Prince Sozin. In fact, the two were nearly brothers. On his sixteenth birthday (which he shared with Sozin), things would change irrevocably: Roku was revealed to be the Avatar. He would then leave the Fire Nation to travel the world and master the elements.
He did so over several years. During that time, however, Sozin grew increasingly power-hungry. Eventually, Roku had to stop his friend from establishing colonies in the Earth Kingdom, but he could not bring himself to kill his friend. In his old age, he retired to a volcanic island, which eventually erupted. While trying to stop the lava, his old friend returned to him and helped him battle the blaze. Unfortunately, Roku was injured, and rather than help his friend, Sozin betrayed him and left him for dead.
Roku had married a woman named Ta Min, however, and they had a daughter named Rina, who would go on to have a daughter named Ursa: the mother of Prince Zuko and Princess Azula. His bloodline thus became entwined with Sozin’s, and this fact was one which contributed to Prince Zuko’s turn away from the dark.
Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra
The tale of the last Airbender and the legend of Korra are covered extensively within the franchise. Aang would go on to save the world from the Fire Nation, while Korra would have to navigate the increasingly complex political system brought on by industrialization. Aang became a figure of reverence in the years following the war, eventuallysettling down with Katara: they would have three children: Bumi, a nonbender, Kya, a Waterbender, and Tenzin, an Airbender. Tenzin would eventually become Korra’s Airbending master.
Korra herself would later bring back Airbending from the verge of extinction, and her character also underwent a watershed moment in family animation: in the final episode of her series, she entered into a relationship with Asami, becoming the first bisexual main character on a children’s network. The two characters are near mirrors of one another: Aang is pacifistic and spiritual, Korra is worldly and does what must be done.
Untila futureAvatar: The Last Airbenderseries expands the lore, Korra and Aang are the last known Avatars. Korra will inevitably die and be reborn into the Earth Kingdom, but it is unknown who she will be reborn into.
