Avatar Theory: Aang Wasn’t Really The Last Surviving Airbender

Despite the show’s assertions to the contrary, Aang might not have actually been the last living airbender on Avatar: The Last Airbender. The acclaimed Nickelodeon series followed the adventures of the young hero Aang, who must master all four elements in order to stop the Fire Nation’s conquest of the Four Nations and restore the world to balance. The series was followed by The Legend of Korra, and while both shows positioned airbenders as almost completely gone from the world, there is reason to think that this may not have been the case.

Of course, Avatar did a rather thorough job in driving home Aang’s solitude, showing him as the only airbender around following Fire Nation’s attempt to eliminate them all. The airbender population would grow a little bit on The Legend of Korra with Aang’s son Tenzin and his three children Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo, along with the new Avatar Korra herself. They would remain the only living airbenders seen in the world’s present day continuity until new airbenders would inexplicably emerge on The Legend of Korra.

While there was a clear catalyst for this, how the airbending itself was distributed among those who gained it might not be the happy accident that it looked like. In fact, it could actually be a byproduct of some airbenders managing to evade the wrath of the Fire Nation and quietly keeping their culture alive in complete secret.

The Fire Nation Killing All The Airbenders Seems Unlikely

When Aang is thawed out of the ice ball Katara and Sokka found him encased is, he is horrified to discover that not only has he spent the last century frozen, but he is the last living airbender in the entire world due to the Fire Nation’s genocide of the Air Nomads, initiated by Fire Lord Sozin. While the Fire Nation had indeed carried out a purging of airbenders, there is reason to think that not all of them were killed. Much of the evidence against it even comes from the very nature of the Air Nomads.

Airbending itself is the most defensive of the different bending disciplines, with airbenders being the most adept at evasive tactics. While firebenders and especially Fire Nation soldiers are far more aggressive in their approach to combat, a skilled airbender can still easily hold his or her own against a firebender in a fight. Air Nomads are also the most likely, and the most capable, of any different benders to take to the skies if the need to do so arose, with both gliders and sky bison being readily at their disposal. Taking all of this into account, it seems probable that at least a handful of airbenders escaped with their lives during the Fire Nation’s genocide of Aang’s people.

Bending Abilities In Avatar Are Inherited

Adding to the difficulty of the Fire Nation’s efforts to rid the world of airbenders is in how benders themselves gain their powers. Bending abilities were first granted to mankind by Lion Turtles eons in the past, but that simply got the ball rolling on humans having the capability to bend different elements. Avatar itself shows that element bending has long since become a trait that is inherited as opposed to granted through supernatural means.

Arguing for this is the fact that, with the exception of the Avatar, no bender is able to bend any elements outside of the one of the nation in which they were born. This points to the capacity for bending itself being passed on from generation to generation on a genetic level. Of course, if there are no airbenders left besides Aang, that would rule out any new ones being born other than Aang’s own children — but there’s also another angle of the story to consider.

The Airbenders Start To Return In Legend of Korra

The Legend of Korra would bring about a complete reversal of the Fire Nation’s airbender genocide when the Harmonic Convergence greatly amplified the world’s spiritual energy from the spirit portals. This had the effect of granting airbending to people who had previously lacked the ability to bend elements, with airbending Avatar Aang’s previously non-bending son Bumi being among them. In one fell swoop, the world suddenly found itself repopulated with airbenders, but the event also requires a closer examination.

At a glance, the people who suddenly became airbenders out of this appears to be completely random. However, looking back on how the Fire Nation’s attempt to wipe out all airbenders played out, there could be one crucial piece of the puzzle missing that would explain the emergence of newfound airbending within non-benders. It could actually be that the new airbenders might have closer ties to the earlier Air Nomads beyond simply the technique of airbending itself.

Theory: The New Airbenders Are Descendants Of The Original Air Nomads

While there seems to have been no rhyme or reason as to who suddenly became a new airbender on The Legend of Korra, the world’s restored airbender population could actually be descended from surviving airbenders who went into hiding after the Fire Nation’s attempt to eliminate them. If even a few airbenders managed to escape being slaughtered, they might have decided to forsake their airbending while in hiding, either motivated by a desire to remain hidden from the Fire Nation or as a way to mourn their people, or even both. If this took place, then there could be far more reasoning behind who became a new airbender after the Harmonic Convergence.

Bumi himself may have previously been incapable of bending, but being the son of Aang gave him a direct Air Nomad lineage, while the unknown grandfather of Opal, the daughter of the Earth Nation-born Suyin Beifong, may have also been a descendent of an airbender who managed to escape the massacre wrought by the Fire Nation. If a collection of airbenders did manage to survive and gave up their bending in order to remain hidden, then this completely changes the picture of the Harmonic Convergence and the new airbenders that suddenly appeared. Instead of having airbending abilities bestowed upon random people, it might have instead awakened airbending in people who had it within them all along and never realized it.

While the title of Avatar: The Last Airbender clearly emphasizes the idea that Aang is the last of his people, this might have only been the perception that he and the rest of the mankind held as a result of the Fire Nation’s attempt to rid the world of them. Airbenders are tough to pin down in a conflict, and if even a few managed to go into hiding and escape the Fire Nation’s detection, this could completely change the context of how new airbenders appear on The Legend of Korra. Far from be the random fluke of nature they seem to be, the world’s replenished airbender population might instead by descendants of a cluster of airbenders who were able to survive, and at a time when their people appeared to be all but completely extinct, they may have had their hidden lineage unexpectedly revealed.

About The Author

Brad Curran
(716 Articles Published)

See also  Why Assassin's Creed: Black Flag's Story Is The Series' Best

Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

More From Brad Curran