Avatar: The 15 Saddest Moments In The Last Airbender, Ranked

Although it is an animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender has never hidden away from tackling mature topics. The series itself has gone to some seriously dark emotional places, which is surprising considering it came from a network such as Nickelodeon.

Over the course of the series’ three-season run, Avatar has given moments and stories that have caused shock, elation, and tears. Looking back over the course of the entire series, there are plenty of heartbreaking and tragic events that come to mind. They can’t all be listed here, though, so here are our picks for the saddest moments in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Updated By Amanda Bruce On June 10, 2020: For those who love their adventures with a healthy dose of drama, Avatar: The Last Airbender remains a go-to animated series. For every hilarious one-liner the characters offer up, there’s also a heartbreaking realization, which is why this list couldn’t just stop at the 10 saddest moments. It’s been updated since its original publishing to include even more moments that might have brought fans to tears.

15 Aang Discovers Appa Was Muzzled

Finding out that Appa is stolen while Aang and his friends are in the middle of a desert is hard enough for Aang. Further hearing that the people who stole Appa muzzled him makes Aang more than simply angry.

Appa might be giant and capable of defending the group against other animals, but he’s also incredibly gentle with the friends that rope him into their journey. At this point, the audience hasn’t seen the details of just what happens to Appa when Toph reveals that the Sandbenders “put a muzzle” on him, and the audience is just as angry and heartbroken as Aang.

14 Sokka Admits He Doesn’t Remember His Mother

The episodes focusing on the conflict between Toph and Katara’s different styles of being a team player aren’t always the most well-received by fans, but sometimes, they provide us with insights into the other characters as well.

When Toph and Katara get into yet another argument, Katara overhears Toph and Sokka talking about her after the fact. While Sokka agrees with Toph that sometimes Katara acts too much like a mom to the team, he reveals that for years, Katara has filled that role in his life. He appreciates that she’s been trying to keep him in line, even if he doesn’t always act like it. Sokka also admits that it’s been so long that he can’t even remember his mother’s face anymore. It’s a moment that makes you forget that Sokka is almost always there for comic relief.

13 Azula Hallucinates Her Mother

Just as Azula is getting ready to be crowned the new Fire Lord – seemingly getting everything she wants – the audience gets to see beneath her cruel and powerful veneer. She chops her hair short when she can’t get it to cooperate right before she hallucinates her mother’s presence in the mirror.

Considering this is a hallucination, we know that this is Azula’s own mind, but through Ursa, she tells herself that she controls people with fear instead of trusting them. Azula points out that even her own mother is afraid of her, and when her imaginary Ursa assures her that she loves her, Azula breaks down in tears, destroying the mirror. While it’s hard to feel any kind of sympathy for Azula, it’s also easy to remember that Zuko was clearly his mother’s favorite as she taught him to be gentle, while Azula shunned gentleness in favor of being powerful. The scene makes her feel more human.

12 Hakoda Leaves For War

A lot of the saddest moments in the series come to us via flashback. Moments that tell us about Sokka and Katara’s childhood remind us just how much the two of them went through at a young age.

In one of those flashbacks, Sokka discovers his father is shipping out with most of the village’s male members to head to war. With the Fire Nation conquering the world, the Southern Water Tribe decides they need to stand up and fight. Sokka begs Hakoda to take him with him, but Hakoda won’t allow him to come, relying on him to help protect the village instead. As Sokka’s eyes fill with tears, so do the audience’s.

11 Kya Takes Katara’s Place

Katara is the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe because the Fire Nation has systematically raided their village for decades. Every time there’s a rumor of a waterbender, soldiers show up and find them.

We learn via flashback that when she’s just a little girl, Fire Nation soldiers show up again, one interrogating her mother. When Katara tries to hide with her mother as soldiers attack, Kya sends Katara to find her father and tells the soldier that it’s her, not her daughter, who is the tribe’s last waterbender. The decision to take her daughter’s place gets her killed, and makes every scene where Katara speaks about her mother that much more heartbreaking.

10 Aang Is Forced Into The Avatar State

Being the Avatar means wielding power unimaginable to most. The most frightening use of such power comes to fruition when the Avatar enters the Avatar State: a powerful trance-like experience where all the bending powers of past Avatars accumulate into the current iteration. Though powerful, it is a traumatic experience for both witnesses and the Avatar.

In the Season Two opener, Earth Kingdom General Fong tries to forcefully trigger such a state in Aang after their victory at the North Pole. To do so, he entraps and threatens to murder Sokka and Katara. This moment is incredibly disturbing and distressing to watch. The emotion conveyed in Aang is one of pure desperation, and it is hard to see if you’re a fan of the character.

9 Momo Missing Appa

When it comes to deep-rooted and tragic characterization, Momo the lemur is not the first Avatar character to come to mind. Granted, for most of the series, Momo is mostly just comedy relief. He is there as a fun sidekick and to help out in fun and creative ways. But, like many of our characters, even Momo has had a moment of beautiful tear-jerking emotion.

In “The Tales of Ba Sing Se,” Momo gets his own vignette of an episode among the six shown. Set while Appa is missing, the entire episode centers on Momo looking for him throughout Ba Sing Se. Whether it is Momo mistaking a cloud for his friend or falling asleep in Appa’s footprint, the short will leave you sobbing.

8 Princess Yue’s Death

The finale of Season One is one of the most impressive episode arcs of the whole series. Full of awe-inspiring moments such as Aang’s use of the Avatar State, the murder of the moon spirit, or the journey into the spirit world, the finale held some of the biggest moments of the whole show. One moment in particular, though, is incredibly heartbreaking.

Princess Yue, whose life had been saved by the moon spirit, sacrifices her life force to bring the spirit back to life. In doing so, she ascended into the spirit world (presumably). To have such a great character and powerful love interest for Sokka leave was devastating, but the way Yue bowed out was equally beautiful.

7 Katara Bloodbending

When Team Avatar is journeying through the Fire Nation, they came across an innkeeper woman who claims to have been a lost water bender from the Southern Water Tribe. Hama, the innkeeper, had been kidnapped by Fire Nation soldiers and imprisoned. During this time, she discovered she could control the water inside humans, titling the ability, bloodbending.

This horrific act appalls the team, but Hama demands that Katara use it. Finally, after threatening the lives of her friends, Katara is forced to use it against Hama herself. This moment is disturbing in that Katara’s agency was ripped away from her.

6 The Finale Of Season 2

While the Season One and Season Three finales were major jaw-dropping battles, the second season’s ending was far more tragic and horrifying. After attempting to master the Avatar state, Aang, Toph, and Sokka return to Ba Sing Se only to find that Katara has been kidnapped. Not only that, but Iroh comes to them begging for help in finding Zuko, who has also been kidnapped.

As the episode comes to an end with a battle in the underground city, Zuko, who had hinted at turning sides, betrays Katara and joins Azula against the team. As Aang attempts to enter the Avatar state, he is shot down by Azula and nearly killed. The entire team is nearly destroyed, and the capital city falls to the control of the Fire Nation.

5 Appa’s Abduction And Journey

When animals are put through the wringer, it creates some of the most heart-wrenching storytelling imaginable. This exact scenario happens to everyone’s favorite sky bison: Appa. Midway through Season Two, Appa is kidnapped by raiders in a desert while Team Avatar investigates the Spirit Library. This sets off a journey that is emotionally harrowing for the viewers, let alone for Appa.

After his abduction, Appa is sold to an abusive circus owner for a short period, is attacked by Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai, harassed by wild animals, and eventually captured by the Dai Li in Ba Sing Se.

4 Aang Learning The Fate Of The Airbenders

A very early moment in the series, but a crucial one, is Aang’s discovery at the Southern Air Temple. Only the third episode in, The Southern Air Temple instantly solidified Avatar as a more mature series than anything Nickelodeon had previously produced. Aang, Katara, and Sokka travel to Aang’s former home in search of the other Airbenders. Sadly, what they discover is a horrifying example of the Fire Nation’s inhumanity.

Apart from the decay and ruin of the temple, the human cost is even more terrifying. In an effort to weed out the avatar, the Fire Nation committed genocide against the Air Nomads, killing all of Aang’s companions and his mentor Monk Gyatso. This triggers the Avatar State within Aang for the first time. This traumatic and heartbreaking sequence is a turning point for the characters and the series as a whole.

3 Ursa’s Backstory

When it comes to tear-jerking tragic backstories, no-one has it worse than Prince Zuko. While the Prince is still a privileged imperialist who is the son of the most powerful individual in the entire world, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have problems too.

There are two incredibly heartbreaking moments for Zuko. First is the disappearance of his mother Ursa. Ursa was the only family member, apart from Iroh, who connected with Zuko on a healthy or positive level. Unfortunately, she was forced to leave the palace and abandon her children after learning of her husband’s intentions to kill Zuko. It’s one of many tragic instances in Zuko’s life.

2 Zuko’s Scarring

While Ozai never followed through and murdered his son, he did eventually traumatize him emotionally and physically. Upon being invited to a war meeting, Zuko defiantly speaks out in regards to the lack of empathy for civilian lives. As punishment, his father challenges him to Agni Kai, a firebending duel.

Being only a boy, Zuko has no chance against his father. When faced in battle, Zuko pleads with his father to show mercy. Instead, Ozai permanently scars him, resulting in the signature fire shaped scar across his face.

1 The Tale Of Iroh

The single most heartbreaking and tear-jerking moment of the entire series lasts barely a few minutes, but its impact has reverberations beyond the narrative of the series. In the anthology episode “The Tales of Ba Sing Se,” Uncle Iroh’s story, “The Tale of Iroh,” is the strongest piece of storytelling in the entire series.

Iroh spends a day traversing the city and interacting with multiple citizens. Throughout this day, he gathers supplies for what he calls “a special occasion.” By the end of the episode, it is revealed that this is Iroh’s late son Lu Ten’s birthday. He remarks on his grief and ends the story singing a lullaby. The final shot is bookended by a memorial for Iroh’s original voice-actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who had recently passed.

About The Author

Matt Berger
(214 Articles Published)

Matt Berger is a writer, comedian, actor, Paddington enthusiast, and Corgi dad. He currently writes for Screen Rant, has written for Bloody Disgusting, hosts the Film School Sucked podcast, and co-hosts the Macabre podcast. Matt is an alumni of Portland State University with a degree in English and Film Studies.

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