Aang

Aang
File:Avatar-book 1 Chapters 1 And 2 0003.jpg
Voiced by	Zach Tyler Eisen
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Position	Avatar
Nationality	Air Nomads (Southern Air Temple)

Aang is a fictional character voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen in the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the main protagonist of the franchise. Aang first appears in the 21 February 2005 series premiere "The Boy in the Iceberg".

The twelve-year-old Aang is the last surviving Airbender, a monk of the Air Nomads' Southern Air Temple. He is also the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. As Avatar, Aang is the only person who can control all four elements and is tasked with keeping the Four Nations at peace.

Both a comic free spirit and the series' reluctant hero, Aang spends a century in a state of suspended animation before joining new friends Katara and Sokka on a quest to master the elements and save their world from the war waged by the imperialist Fire Nation.

Fictional character biography

File:Aang-baby.jpg

A younger Aang

Aang is the current Avatar in the reincarnation cycle. Despite his twelve-year-old appearance, he is a supercentenarian, born 112 years ago and was raised by the Southern Air Temple monks. Monk Gyatso was his mentor and father figure. At a young age, Aang and the other airbending children traveled to the Eastern Air Temple to choose a flying bison partner by offering an apple to the calf they like. Aang named his bison Appa. Information on Aang's biological parents are unknown.

When Aang was twelve, he was awarded his airbending tattoos which signify his airbending mastery. In a private meeting with the elder monks, Aang was told that he is the Avatar, which he did not receive very well. The other children started to exclude him from their games, as he would exhibit an unfair advantage. The monks soon got agitated, thinking that Aang needed to train more, but Monk Gyatso insisted that Aang should grow up like a normal child. The monks debated Aang's situation and decided that Gyatso was interfering too much, and Aang would be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple. Unbeknownst to them, Aang had been eavesdropping and heard the final decision. Scared, and resentful that the monks have taken away everything he knew and everyone he loved, twelve-year-old Aang wrote a note for Monk Gyatso and flew away on Appa.

While fleeing the temple, Aang was caught in a violent storm and plummeted into water. He unknowingly entered the Avatar State for the first time and used waterbending and Airbending to encase himself and Appa in a frozen air bubble resembling an ice berg. However, the ice berg drifted around the South Pole and could not melt, thus trapping Aang inside for an indefinite time. A hundred years later, two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka, discovered Aang and set him free.

Plot overview

Book One: Water

After one hundred years, Aang and Appa are freed by Katara and her brother Sokka. Aang and Katara board an abandoned Fire Navy ship and accidentally set off a booby trap; this signals to Prince Zuko the location of Aang and the nearby Southern Water Tribe village. Upon returning to the village, Aang is banished by the suspicious Sokka, but returns to save the village from Zuko and his men. Afterward, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Appa set off for the Northern Water Tribe to find a Waterbending master.

First they travel to Aang's former home, the ruined Southern Air Temple. On learning of his people's genocide, a grief-stricken Aang enters the Avatar State. This outrage alerts the Fire Sages to his existence. In "The Winter Solstice", Aang meets his previous incarnation, Avatar Roku, who informs him that he must master all four bending arts and defeat Fire Lord Ozai before summer's end, when the return of Sozin's Comet will empower the Firebenders to finally win the war.

In "The Deserter" Aang receives rudimentary Firebending instruction from rogue master Jeong Jeong. Initially reluctant to train the unready Aang, Jeong Jeong relents after being goaded by a vision of Avatar Roku. Aang begins basic training, and soon becomes impatient, demanding to learn advanced techniques. His lack of control causes him to accidentally burn Katara's hands. As a result, Aang resolves never to Firebend again.

Reaching the Northern Water Tribe in "The Waterbending Master", Aang finds a Waterbending master, Master Pakku, who takes Aang on as a student. In "The Siege of the North", when the Fire Nation attacks the Northern Tribe, Aang journeys into the Spirit World to seek the help of the Ocean and Moon spirits. There he learns of Admiral Zhao's plan to kill the Moon Spirit. He returns to the mortal world too late to stop the murder. Aang then channels an enraged Ocean Spirit in the Avatar State, using their combined might to drive off the invading forces. Balance is restored when Princess Yue gives up her life to restore the Moon Spirit.

Book Two: Earth

In "The Avatar State", Aang learns that if he were to die in the Avatar State, the Avatar cycle would be broken and the Avatar would cease to exist. In "Return to Omashu", Aang encounters a new enemy, Princess Azula. Aang later meets Toph Bei Fong, a blind Earthbender master, who joins the group as Aang's Earthbending teacher in "The Blind Bandit".

While traveling, Aang and his friends discover a hidden spirit library in "The Library". Inside, they find out that a solar eclipse will occur in the summer before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, rendering the Firebenders powerless. Leaving the library, Aang discovers that Appa was stolen by Sandbenders. Filled with anger and grief, Aang becomes uncharacteristically hostile. He enters the Avatar State once again in "The Desert" when confronting the Sandbender responsible for the theft. The group finds out that Appa may be imprisoned in Ba Sing Se. Eventually overcoming his grief, Aang and his friends journey towards Ba Sing Se to inform the Earth King about the solar eclipse.

The group encounters Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and they learn that he has kept the war secret from the Earth King and is planning to overthrow him. They eventually infiltrate Dai Li headquarters and a fight ensues, but Appa, freed by Zuko, arrives and provides means of escape. The team returns to the palace and successfully informs the Earth King of Long Feng's treachery and the reality of the war. The group then separates temporarily and Aang travels to the Eastern Air Temple to find Guru Pathik. In "The Guru", Pathik tells Aang that to achieve complete control over the Avatar State, all seven chakras within his body must be opened. Aang is able to unblock six of them, but has trouble with the seventh, the chakra associated with earthly attachments, as he is unwilling to let go of his love for Katara. In the middle of the ritual, Aang has a vision of Katara in danger and rushes back to Ba Sing Se, with Sokka and Toph in tow.

In "The Crossroads of Destiny", Aang manages to find Katara. When they try to escape, they are confronted and eventually overwhelmed by Azula, Zuko and Dai Li agents. Aang succeeds in entering the Avatar State, but is fatally wounded when Azula strikes him down with lightning. Katara manages to escape with Aang and successfully brought him back from death using water from the Spirit Oasis. As the gang flies away on Appa, Aang slips back into unconsciousness.

Book Three: Fire

After weeks in a coma, Aang wakes up heavily bandaged with a scar on his back and finds out that the world believes him dead. Aang is now unable to enter the Avatar State because Azula's lightning strike blocked his seventh chakra. The gang is on board a captured Fire Nation warship and accompanied by Water Tribe warriors, who inform Aang that despite the loss of the Earth Kingdom armies, all available forces will attack the Fire Nation.

After stealing Fire Nation clothes, the group continues their journey. While traveling, they gain a new enemy, an assassin hired by Prince Zuko, who firebends with his third eye. Aang also learns that Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin were best friends in youth, but became ideological enemies as they grew older.

Eventually, the group reaches the rendezvous point for the invasion. On their way to the Fire Nation, Aang confides in Katara about his worry that he might not come back. He then kisses Katara and takes off on his glider. Aang arrives at the palace to find it deserted, and realizes that Ozai knew of the invasion plan. With Sokka and Toph, he discovers the Fire Lord's secret underground bunker but is stalled by Azula until the eclipse ends, dooming the invasion to failure. With no other choice, Aang, his friends, and the younger members of the invasion force flee on Appa to seek refuge in the nearby Western Air Temple, while their elders stay and surrender.

Aang meets Zuko again in the "The Western Air Temple", and despite the entire group's strong reluctance to let their arch-nemesis join them, Aang eventually accepts Zuko's offer to teach him firebending. Unfortunately, Zuko is unable to firebend properly as he no longer wants to draw into his rage, and thus Aang and Zuko seek help from the Sun Warriors to discover the original way of firebending. After figuring out what blocked them in the first place, the two manage to firebend.

Characteristics

Aang is fun-loving, naive, and adventurous. Michael Dante DiMartino, the show's co-creator, said "We wanted Aang to solve problems and defeat enemies with his wits as well as his powerful abilities." He possesses a deep respect for life and freedom; he does not eat meat and is often reluctant to fight. He craves the stimulation of new people and places; in short, he is the consummate tourist. His frequent off-course detours frustrate both allies and pursuers alike, especially the schedule-oriented Sokka. Yet Aang has always prided himself on a complex social network of friends extending over all four nations, and war will not stand in his way. In addition, he looks forward to playing with all the exotic fauna in each place he visits. Whether it's penguins, hog-monkeys or gigantic eels, no fit animal Aang sees goes un-ridden. Even the largest of predicaments do little to dampen his gregarious personality.

Aang feels a terrible guilt and burden in his duties as Avatar. Very much the reluctant hero, he wishes he had been there to help his people a century ago, but would still rather live a child's carefree life. This initially caused him to conceal his true identity from friends, and he still has a tendency to slack off in his studies of the bending arts, even though he naturally excels.

With his people extinct and few living peers (excepting the aged King Bumi and Guru Pathik), Aang cares deeply for those close to him, even to the point of deceiving others to keep the group together. In "Bato of the Water Tribe", Aang heard that Katara and Sokka might leave the group to visit their father, so Aang hid the map showing his whereabouts and lied about having it in the first place. As well, Aang has developed a love for Katara, which he was unwilling to sacrifice to achieve the control of the Avatar State.

However, events in the Earth Kingdom, such as the theft of his flying bison by sandbenders, have taken a toll on his care-free personality. Aang's attitude changed dramatically after Appa's abduction. He became enraged and hostile, particularly toward Toph, who had been unable to stop the abduction in absence of the others. Despite Katara's attempts to calm him, Aang's anger grew until he flew off to search for Appa alone. On his return, Aang remained visibly upset, even violently lashing out at a Buzzard-Wasp that attacked Momo. When Toph tells Aang that Sandbenders stole Appa, he enters the Avatar State and destroys their sand gliders, only to be calmed down by Katara.

As he infiltrates the Fire Nation, Aang takes delight in a brief stint as a schoolboy in "The Headband", and pulling numerous scams in "The Runaway". However, by "Nightmares and Daydreams", Aang suffers acute insomnia, worried that he is unprepared to fight Ozai, and still knows little firebending.

The loss of the invasion forces in "The Day of Black Sun" dampened Aang's spirits, and ignored his friends' suggestions of the need to find a firebending teacher, thinking that he no longer has the time to find one. By a stroke of luck, Zuko came to the gang offering his services. Distrustful at first, Aang witnessed how Zuko helped them against Combustion Man, and accepted him as his teacher when Zuko told them that fire is a dangerous element. When Zuko's firebending started to weaken, he and Aang went to the ancient ruins of The Sun Warriors. Once there, they found out that the Sun Warrior Tribe was still alive. They met the last two surviving dragons and both learned firebending from them. Aang and Zuko learned a new form of firebending from the dragons, this is known as the dragon dance.

Avatar

Bending

The Avatars (from right to left): Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and others

As the reincarnation of the Avatar, Aang possesses the ability to bend all four elements. Already an airbending master, he has made impressive progress in other elements. Though naturally gifted in the bending arts, Aang's lack of focus has allowed his waterbending friend Katara to surpass him in water manipulating skills. Though it should be noted that for a limited time in "The Siege of the North", Aang was temporarily the only Waterbender left in the world Now he must learn from her, as his former waterbending teacher, Master Pakku deemed her a master. He is extremely skilled at waterbending, and in "Bitter Work", Katara tells Aang he has the reflexes of a waterbending master. That being said, the gap between Katara and Aang in waterbending ability appears to be widening. By Book 3 Katara's prowess in waterbending is seen to be far greater than Aang's, this is mostly due to his limited use of waterbending and her natural prowess in waterbending. Since earth is the opposing element of air, Aang finds earthbending especially challenging.. He had difficulty learning Earthbending's simple offensive techniques from Toph in Bitter Work, preferring his habitual evasive maneuvers. However, when he confronted with a need for direct opposition, rather than avoidance, he successfully stood his ground to defend Sokka, using earthbending in earnest. By the time of "The Drill", his skills have improved dramatically, when he comfortably uses earthbending in combat against Azula. He appears to have achieved mastery in earthbending by the time of "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", creating a giant zoo with his bending, and by fending off hundreds of Earthbenders in "The Earth King". By the time of "The Runaway", he has at least begun learning how to see with earthbending like Toph does. Later, he incorporates his Airbender's staff into his earthbending, much like Avatar Kyoshi incorporates her fans into her bending. It is possible for Aang to bend two elements at the same time, as demonstrated in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se".

He has little skill with fire, but has received a rudimentary object lesson in breath control and firebending. When he was briefly instructed by the fugitive firebending master Jeong Jeong, he ignored warnings to restrain himself and accidentally burned Katara. Newly respectful of fire's destructive power, he has not used firebending since, and has vowed never to firebend again, although, as Guru Pathik said in "The Guru", he will eventually have to in his capacity as Avatar. In "The Western Air Temple", Zuko joins the group and offers to teach him firebending. Aang, at first, rejected him, but when he realizes that Zuko understands that he needs control over his bending or he would hurt other people, Aang accepts him as his teacher. In "The Firebending Masters", Aang, after two dragons teach him the meaning of firebending, is able to shoot out a large blast of fire with no apparent effort.

As the Avatar, Aang is quite possibly the most powerful Bender in the world; in one instance, he used his airbending skills to halt a massive lava flow without entering the Avatar State. His predecessor, Avatar Roku died attempting a similar feat. Additionally, Aang has exceptional natural talent towards all bending, performing waterbending on his first try when Katara took several months to learn the same form, and assuming a perfect earthbending stance on his first try. However, Aang is loathe to use his skills in battle, preferring to solve problems non-violently. Even when forced into combat, Aang typically holds back, fighting defensively and trying to subdue opponents without serious injury, even if they are not human. This attitude is reflective of Air Nomad philosophy, which promoted vegetarianism and nonviolence, and taught that all living things are precious.

The only exception to Aang's pacifism is when his friends are threatened; in which case, he gets very angry and relentlessly attacks his opponents, sometimes even entering the Avatar State.

In The Deserter, Jeong Jeong says that to master firebending, Aang, as the Avatar, will need to first master the other bending arts in their natural order--air, water, earth, and fire--implying that the disciplines of one bending art will support the disciplines of the next bending art in order--'evade and avoid' - 'redirect and turn against the opponent' - 'standing one's ground and enduring' and 'pre-emptive first strike'. In Bitter Work, Iroh comments "It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole...It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful," as he reveals how a waterbender's technique of redirecting energy enabled him to develop his own technique to redirect a bolt of lightning--proving that the disciplines and principles of one bending art support the disciplines and principles of another bending art. During the same episode, Jeong Jeong said in a brief exchanging of words with Admiral Zhao that "I have never seen such raw power", a reference to Aang's bending prowess.

By Book Three, Aang can easily fight and bend blindfolded, similar to Toph's style, in "The Runaway", practicing a three way fight with Toph and Katara. In "The Day of Black Sun", Aang easily dispatches a Dai Li agent protecting Azula using his earthbending, though he had difficulties wearing her down. By "The Western Air Temple", Aang is capable of successfully creating a tornado and directing it at an opponent, as he did with Combustion Man. Aang has begun learning firebending as of "The Western Air Temple", after he, Toph, Sokka, and Katara agreed to let Prince Zuko teach him.

Spirit

Aang is the newest incarnation of the spirit of the planet, which has been continually reincarnated since time immemorial. The passage of reincarnation moves from the population of the Air, Water, Earth and Fire nations in order. The most recent incarnations were Avatar Roku (fire), Avatar Kyoshi (earth), Avatar Kuruk (water) and Avatar Yangchen (air). Aang often receives advice and guidance from Avatar Roku, the previous incarnation. Born into the Fire Nation in life, Roku is a benign force in spirit, serving as Aang's advisor and protector. On the Winter Solstice, after informing Aang of the impending return of Sozin's Comet, he manifested himself to defeat a group of Firebenders holding Aang's friends hostage. (When Roku manifests, his voice can be heard behind Aang's when he speaks.) He has guided Aang several times since, appearing to Jeong Jeong to persuade him to teach Aang, offering critical wisdom in the ways of the spirit world during "The Siege of the North", and most importantly, revealing to Aang the nature of the Avatar State. Roku recently revealed to Aang his past relationship with Fire lord Sozin as was explained in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord". This was so that Aang could have an understanding of how the war began so that he could decide how to end it.

After receiving a letter from Guru Pathik in "The Earth King", Aang journeys to the Eastern Air Temple to learn to control the Avatar State. Guru Pathik reveals that the secret of entering, controlling, and leaving the Avatar State by free will lay in the 'releasing' of seven chakras. Aang has little trouble with the first six, but struggles with the seventh - earthly attachments, namely, love. Aang's love for Katara, accompanied by a vision of her in dire need of help, captured in Ba Sing Se, causes him to leave the Guru and return to Ba Sing Se. Guru Pathik states that Aang's refusal to let Katara go has 'locked the final chakra' and disallowed him to enter the Avatar State at all. Later, in "The Crossroads of Destiny", however, Aang begins to open the Seventh Chakra and enter the Avatar State by doing just as he had been told - letting go of his attachment to Katara, after the realization that he cannot win the fight against Zuko, Azula and the Dai Li. However, moments after entering the Avatar State, the process is interrupted as he is struck with lightning from behind by Azula, nearly killing him to the point where his spirit separated from his body and removing him from the state. Fortunately, after their escape, Katara is able to use the water from the Spirit Oasis to revive him.

However, Aang believes Azula's lightning locked his seventh chakra, cutting off his cosmic energy from the universe. The official site also states that because of this, Aang's feelings for Katara were still left intact.

Medium

Aang also has the capacity to act as a medium, a bridge between the mortal world and the spirit world, the plane of existence where the universe's disembodied spirits dwell. Through inducing a deep meditative state, Aang can separate from his body and travel the physical world's astral plane in astral form, or, with the help of a gateway, travel completely to the spirit world. Once in the spirit world, Aang can travel freely and communicate with beings such as Avatar Roku or Koh the Face Stealer. This position as intermediary also allows him to channel other spirits while in the Avatar State. He once acted as the Avatar of the Ocean Spirit to defeat the Fire Nation during the siege of the North Pole. He has also channeled the spirits of previous Avatars, namely Roku, and Kyoshi.

Powers and abilities

Aang is a master Airbender and is adept in waterbending and earthbending skills. Aang has begun to firebend as of "The Firebending Masters".