The One ‘Avatar The Last Airbender’ Storyline We Need To See in Live-Action

The Big Picture

• Aang’s pacifist nature is tested when Appa is abducted, revealing a darker side to his character that hasn’t been seen before.
• Aang’s internal struggle between peace and violence is reflected in his battle against Fire Lord Ozai in the series finale.
• The live-action adaptation should accurately capture these complex storylines to maintain Aang’s character depth and moral dilemmas.

Avatar: The Last Airbender follows a protagonist that’s extremely strong, not just in terms of physicality, but in terms of morality as well. Aang’s (Zach Tylor Eisen) pacifist nature is one of his strongest qualities, a value of his that is just about unbendable. He makes a point to never hurt anyone intentionally, and his fighting style is to avoid and evade rather than throw a direct punch. Having grown up among the Air Nomads, he has taken their spirituality to heart and made it a defining quality of his personality. He doesn’t hurt anyone if he can help it, whether it’s a person or an animal, and his lighthearted approach to life stems from the freeing aspect of his philosophy. That’s why one particular storyline stands out from the story as a whole and begs to be told in the live-action adaptation as well. There is a time over the span of a few days when Aang toes the line between pacifism and a pattern of violent outbursts that threaten to upend his outlook on life.

Appa Is Abducted in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’

Book 2 sees generous change and growth in Avatar’s characters, and the events of the second season place them in situations they could never have imagined. With Omashu taken over by firebenders, Princess Azula (Grey DeLisle) out for blood, and earth being the hardest element for Aang to bend, there’s a lot of struggle to go around. But the most hopeless moment happens during “The Library” and extends into the following handful of episodes. Hoping to discover a way to defeat the Fire Nation by using the knowledge of the Great Library, Sokka (Jack DeSena) discovers that the firebenders lose their bending during the next solar eclipse. Armed with this new information, Aang, Katara (Mae Whitman), Sokka, and Toph (Michaela Jill Murphy) escape with knowledge of the Fire Nation’s weakness — only to find that sandbenders have kidnapped Appa (Dee Bradley Baker) and taken him away.

This is a defining moment for Aang, who immediately reacts with shock and tears. Appa has been his spirit guide and companion since they were both little, and his sky bison is one of the few things left from his home and culture after the Fire Nation’s genocide of his people. Aang’s love for Appa runs deep, and their connection to each other is so strong that, even while apart, they share the same dream, as seen in “Appa’s Lost Days.”

In a more practical sense, Appa is also their only means of travel; without him, Team Avatar is stuck in the middle of the desert with little water (other than hallucinatory cactus juice and Katara’s bending water) or shelter. Flying in and out of the vast desert was easy for the team to do without a second thought, but without Appa, they are left to their own devices, battling the elements and trying to survive the heat and attacks from vulture bees. With the sand clouding Toph’s echolocation style of earthbending and Sokka loopy from cactus juice, it falls to Katara to lead the group out of the desert and be the emotional support for Aang — unfortunately, Aang is the most upset he’s ever been, the loss of Appa revealing a deep sense of hurt and anger in the Avatar.

Because Toph stood watch outside the library with Appa, Aang at first blames her for “wanting him gone,” when in reality Toph did everything she could to both fight off the sandbenders and keep the magical library from sinking with everyone else still inside. But Aang isn’t at his most rational — he snaps at his friends and even abandons them for a time to go looking for Appa by himself. This is very unusual for Aang’s character. In some episodes, Aang even considers himself a spiritual guide and mediator for disagreement (“The Great Divide”) and a bridge between the spirit world and this one (“Winter Solstice,” Parts 1 and 2). Now, he is the one acting out, only thinking about Appa and his own pain.

Aang Doesn’t React to Appa’s Abduction Like an Avatar Should

The most chilling moment in the desert comes when, during a fight against a swarm of vulture bees, Momo (also Dee Bradley Baker) is snatched up by one of the creatures and carried away. Aang reacts immediately and flies after them with a determined but terrifying look at his face. As soon as Momo is free, Aang sends a gust of air and shoots down the vulture bee. The scene ends without knowing for sure if the creature is dead or just injured, but Aang shows zero regret and walks off before finding out.

Later, Aang will claim to have never harmed any living creature (“Sozin’s Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters”), but this moment shows that, when his friends are in danger, he is capable of violence, despite his gentle nature. In previous episodes and following ones, Aang is shown to be a dangerous force when provoked into the Avatar State, but up until the finale, he can’t control what he does when he’s in that state and is actually afraid of hurting anyone when it happens. Here, however, Aang even faces off against the sandbenders and intends to fight them too. He is only stopped by snapping into the Avatar State when he can’t handle his emotions anymore, and Katara steps in to calm him down. It’s a heavy episode that shows a depth to Aang’s character that hasn’t been seen before, even when he was faced with the extermination of his people.

In the following episodes, Aang remains relatively calm but still wrestles with the idea of having hope in dark times. Slowly, he is able to prioritize other conflicts and duties, like fighting Azula and her team at the wall of Ba Sing Se and uncovering a deeply rooted conspiracy in “City of Walls and Secrets.” But he isn’t whole again until he is reunited with Appa in “Lake Laogai.” The storyline introduces the idea that Aang is capable of violence if the circumstances lead to it, and this is a darkness to his character that is tested again in the finale of Book 3.

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Explores the Balance of Aang’s Peaceful and Violent Sides

The core of Aang’s entire character arc lies in the balance between his pacifism and what he must do to ensure the safety of his loved ones. In the four-part series finale, Aang is adamant about not using violence to resolve the Hundred-Year War. Zuko (Dante Basco) emphasizes the importance of killing Fire Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill), a plan that Sokka also wholeheartedly supports. And while Katara and Toph don’t outright say it, it’s clear that they also believe killing Ozai is the best and safest course of action. Fighting him during Sozin’s Comet, when he will be at his strongest, is challenging enough for Aang, who just learned the final element to become a fully-realized Avatar; adding mercy into the mix was a recipe for disaster. And even though every single past Avatar, even Avatar Yangchen (Tress MacNeille), who shares Aang’s Air Nomad upbringing, advises him to kill Ozai, each one bringing their own unique perspective and argument.

Throughout the series, Aang has wrestled with his relationship with conflict and violence. His fear of the Avatar State, his vow never to firebend, and his love for keeping people working together all stem from his gentle spirit, but he is also afraid to give in to the darker side of his character. His values and morals are in conflict with his need to protect the people he loves and fulfill his duty as the peacekeeper for the entire world. And the central external conflict, his battle against Fire Lord Ozai, reflects that internal struggle.

Aang is a unique Avatar, not just because he is the youngest to master all four elements (until Korra in the sequel series), but because he finds a way to appease both sides of the issue and keep balance: saving the world from Ozai without casting aside his morals and killing him. Aang takes away Ozai’s bending, making it impossible for him to continue his destructive path, and instead of dying at the end, Ozai spends his life in prison while his disowned son becomes the next Fire Lord. Even though Zuko was very much in favor of killing Ozai to bring about peace, the action by Aang leads to a new opportunity for Zuko to regain even more peace in his own life — it gives him a chance to question Ozai about the whereabouts of his mother.

The end of the Hundred-Year War, as well as the end of each person’s character arc, turn out to be the best version of events possible. Aang’s adherence to his moral code, and his determination to find a way to both protect his loved ones and remain a peaceful person, led him to create an era of peace that hasn’t been experienced in the world of Avatar for a hundred years.

Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Needs To Accurately Portray the Complexity of Aang’s Character

The morality of killing for a cause is a heavy subject to include in a children’s show (as if the series hadn’t already tackled war, child abuse, and genocide), but Avatar treats the subject with the respect and gravity it deserves; the battle between peace and violence is an ever-present theme in the show, and its presence in Aang’s personality strengthens the depth of his character. It’s extremely important, then, that the live-action adaptation is able to capture moments like this storyline in order to tell a complex, mature story. Challenging Aang’s gentle nature through the disappearance of Appa is an important setup for the final decision he has to make.

Although live-action adaptations (or adaptations of any sort) should make the necessary changes to stand on its own, keeping the disappearance of Appa not only retains some maturity from the original series but also helps to stay true to the spirit of the original as well. Changes are essential and unavoidable — it should be noted that the original creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, parted ways with Netflix over creative control and major changes — but keeping the complexity of Aang’s character intact is crucial. His growth throughout the series could not have happened if he hadn’t felt the temptation to cast aside his morality, and his final decision is strengthened by being tested beforehand.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) is available to stream on Netflix while Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) will be available to stream February 22.

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