The Lore of Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Characters of ATLA
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
Hello, and welcome to the third of four parts of lore articles for Avatar: The Last Airbender in preparation for the Magic: The Gathering Standard set that is being released soon. These articles are geared at giving those who are unfamiliar with the lore of this amazing series an understanding of the world, the bending, and the characters that make up the Avatarverse.
Main Characters
Avatar Aang
I wasn’t there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I’m gonna make a difference this time.
Aang was born into the Air Nomads in 12 BG (Before the Genocide of the Air Nomads) prior to the Hundred Year War. As the Avatar, he succeeded the previous Avatar, a man named Roku from the Fire Nation. As a small child, Aang was given a task of selecting from a wide array of toys things that could possibly be familiar to him from a previous life, as all children born after the death of the previous Avatar were subjected to. Aang selected what is known as the Avatar relics, items that belonged to previous Avatars, confirming his status as the new Avatar.
Aang was taken to the Southern Air Temple where he was raised under the guardianship of monk Gyatso. At some point during his childhood, Aang was taken to the Eastern Air Temple to choose a sky bison. It is there that Aang met Appa, marking the beginning of a spiritually deep and lifelong friendship.
Aang was one of the most powerful airbending prodigies of his age. At six he was already better than children twice his age. At ten, he had outperformed his teachers. Aang earned his airbending tattoos at the age of twelve, making him the youngest airbending master in recent history.
As a young child, Aang also spent time outside of the Air Nomad temples and visited various cities within both the Earth Kingdom as well as the Fire Nation. It was in these places that he developed several friendships such as Bumi of Omashu or Kuzon of the Fire Nation.
At the age of twelve, due to growing concerns of the possible war on the horizon, Aang was told that he was the Avatar, four years earlier than the traditional age of sixteen. Aang felt burdened by his position as the Avatar, and became distanced from the other children around him. He spent most of his time training with Monk Gyatso, becoming closer to the monk as Gyatso attempted to guide Aang.
Sometime later however, Aang discovered that he was going to be sent to the Eastern Air Temple away from Gyatso, who the other monks thought was too soft on the young Avatar. Aang fled the temple with Appa, scared and confused, until a massive storm caught the two. Aang saved both their lives by semi-consciously entering the Avatar State for the first time and froze both him and Appa in a sphere of ice. The Avatar State kept Aang alive, but not fully conscious.
Aang awoke in 99 AG (After the Genocide of the Air Nomads), freed from his iceberg by two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka. Aang befriended the two, and helped turn back Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation who arrived shortly after. With Katara and Sokka, Aang set off to master the other elements and bring balance to the world. During their adventures, Aang came to terms with his role as the Avatar and the destruction of his people at the hands of the Fire Nation.
Aang eventually met with his past life Avatar Roku, where he learned about the impending threat of Sozin’s Comet returning. The comet would give the Fire Nation the power to win the war completely.
Throughout the course of Aang’s journey as the Avatar, he met and made many new friends and enemies, and even connected on a personal level with the former Prince Zuko, who defected from the Fire Nation to teach Aang firebending. As Aang prepared for the final conflict with Ozai, the young airbender felt strongly about not killing Ozai to end the war. As he sought a new path, he met a lion turtle who taught Aang the method to energybend.
During the final battle, Aang fought Ozai to a standstill and then utilized energybending to strip him of his bending, so that Ozai could appropriately pay for his crimes in being served justice. With the war over, Aang and Zuko vowed to bring peace to the world together.
Also during his travels, Aang grew romantic feelings for Katara, and eventually their relationship blossomed into marriage later in life.
Aang in his childhood and even during his adventures always exhibited a fun loving and goofy nature. His fascination with riding things often took to an extreme, from penguins to large sea serpents. At his core, Aang always remained uncompromised however, never seeking violence and always respecting life as he was taught by the Air Nomads to do.
Katara
I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me.
Katara was born into the Southern Water Tribe to her father Hakoda and mother Kya. Times were hard on her tribe, after nearly fifty years of repeated Fire Nation raids that were intended to capture and imprison the tribe’s waterbenders to keep them from rising up against them. At the age of eight, the Fire Nation arrived once more, seeking out the last remaining waterbender in the tribe.
Katara’s mother protected her daughter, giving herself up to the Fire Nation soldier Yon Rha. In doing so, Katara’s mother was killed. Her death had a profound impact on the young waterbender, leaving her with a deep hatred of the Fire Nation.
In her mother’s absence, Katara took on many of the domestic responsibilities that women of the Southern Water Tribe were responsible for. When she was twelve, her father left to fight in the Hundred Year War, leaving both her and her brother Sokka in the care of her grandmother.
In 99 AG, during a fishing trip, Katara and Sokka discovered a mysterious figure trapped in a large spherical iceberg. This ended up being Avatar Aang. Upon learning that he is the Avatar, Katara offered to help Aang find a waterbending master in the Northern Water Tribe, hoping to learn alongside him as well.
After a long journey, the group found their way to the Northern Water Tribe, where Katara was prohibited from learning combative waterbending by Master Pakku due to her gender, as women were only taught the healing arts. Katara challenged Pakku to a duel and although she was defeated, Pakku discovered that her grandmother was a woman he had intended to marry and decided to accept Katara as a student. Katara would later duel Prince Zuko during the events of the Siege of the North, defending Aang for as long as she could before being defeated with the rising of the sun.
Pakku later assigned Katara as Aang’s waterbending master and fully acknowledged her skills as a teacher.
After the fall of Ba Sing Se, Katara utilized her healing abilities with spirit water from the North Pole to heal a mortally wounded Aang. She also came into contact with a waterbender named Hama who taught her the forbidden art of bloodbending. Katara only used the art once against Hama to save Aang and Sokka, and would later in life rally against making the practice illegal.
Katara’s final test came as Prince Zuko appeared, offering to assist Aang in learning firebending. Although their relationship was tense due to their history and Katara’s hatred of the Fire Nation, Zuko was able to help Katara find closure on what happened to her mother by locating the Fire Nation soldier who killed her mother. After this, Katara left her grudge behind against the defected Prince, and assisted him in confronting Princess Azula in the Fire Nation capital while the rest of the team moved to intercept Ozai’s new airships.
Katara was instrumental in assisting Zuko in defeating Azula, and after Aang defeated Ozai, the team celebrated their victory.
Much as Aang had for her, Katara also exhibited romantic feelings for the young Avatar. The two eventually married, and Katara was renowned as both one of the fiercest waterbending masters of her time, but also as one of the greatest healers in the world.
Katara was protective of those she cared about, always seeking to keep her friends safe if she could. Although she had experienced much trauma in her past, she found a way to move past that trauma and not allow it to define her.
Sokka
That’s all I got. It’s pretty much my whole identity. Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy.
Sokka was also born to Hakoda and Kya, the older brother of the waterbender known as Katara. During the time between Hakoda leaving to fight in the War and finding Aang, Sokka was the oldest male in the village and the defacto leader of the tribe. After discovering Aang, Sokka left with the team to help Aang bring balance to the world.
Despite not being a bender like his sister, Sokka’s greatest strengths lay in his very strategic mind. His abilities are being able to plan and strategize, balanced by his comedic relief and jokes. Sokka proved multiple times throughout their journey that he could be serious and longed to prove himself a warrior just like his father.
Sokka’s first challenge came in the form of the Kyoshi Warriors, a group of all female warriors devoted to the ideals of Avatar Kyoshi. Due to his upbringing, Sokka held very traditional views on gender roles and combat, but was able to push past those views thanks to Suki, one of the members of the Kyoshi Warriors.
Sokka also would go on to fall in love with Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, and Yue, despite being bethrothed to another, reciprocated those feelings. However, during the Siege of the North, Yue was forced to give up her life to save the Moon Spirit Tui, becoming the reincarnation of the spirit, leaving Sokka with one final kiss before fading away.
Later on in their travels, Sokka became apprenticed to a swordsman named Piandao in the Fire Nation, who helped Sokka learn the art of the sword and even helped the young warrior forge his own sword using ore from a recently fallen meteorite. Sokka became exceptionally proficient with the blade, being proclaimed a master by Piandao.
Once Zuko joined Team Avatar, both he and Sokka infiltrated a prison known as Boiling Rock in order to locate Sokka’s father, Hakoda. Instead he found both Suki and Hakoda, and helped them both escape. Sokka and Hakoda later separated as both were needed in different places within the final battle. Sokka’s quick thinking and planning helped defeat the Fire Nation airship fleet.
Sokka balanced the team’s mood with a penchant for one-liners and jokes, often being seen as comedic relief, but by the end of their journey the young warrior had become not only a master swordsman, but a capable leader.
Toph Beifong
I am the greatest earthbender in the world! Don’t you two dunderheads ever forget it!
Toph was born into the affluent Beifong family. Blind since birth, the young girl was treated condescendingly and constantly felt too rigid by the rules set by her overprotective parents.
At a young age, Toph discovered badgermoles, the original earthbending masters, and learned how to utilize earthbending as a natural extension of her own senses. She gained something of an ability to see using the vibrations that pass through the ground (not echolocation, Ember Island Players!).
Due to her rigid family life, Toph preferred to run off and used her time competing in underground earthbending tournaments under the moniker the Blind Bandit. She became the champion of the Earth Rumble more than once, and it’s at one of these tournaments that she originally met Aang and the rest of Team Avatar. Toph used the opportunity to escape her parents and teach Aang how to earthbend.
Her presence on Team Avatar initially caused much friction between herself and Katara, which nearly led to Toph leaving. In addition, Toph struggled with Aang as he himself struggled to learn to earthbend due to his own nature as an airbender. However, Toph managed to show Aang how to approach situations like an earthbender, and the young Avatar began to learn.
During the coup of Ba Sing Se by the Dai Li, Toph was tricked into being captured in a metal cage by Xin Fu and Master Yu (her old earthbending teacher), who had been hired by her parents to retrieve her. However, Toph began to figure out how to see the earth fragments within the metal and performed the art of metalbending for the first time ever in the history of the art.
Toph was instrumental in helping to mediate Prince Zuko’s introduction to the group, despite a rocky start. She was also directly responsible for destroying a number of the Fire Nation’s airships by using metalbending.
Toph was brash, confident, and direct. All things an earthbending master should ascribe to. She is widely regarded as the best earthbender in the world, and the inventor of metalbending. Despite her blindness, Toph was free and fiercely independent but also led to some difficulty in understanding how to accept help from others.
Prince Zuko
I used to think this scar marked me - the mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I’ve realized I’m free to determine my own destiny, even if I’ll never be free of my mark.
Prince Zuko was born to Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa in 83 AG. At a young age, his father was disdainful of his son, indicating that he lacked the spark in his eyes typical for a firebender. Despite this, the young prince had a happy life that involved vacations, a relationship with his sister, and much more. He was schooled in firebending and taught the art of fighting with dual broadswords later on.
Over time however, Zuko and his sister Azula grew apart, and tensions in his parent’s marriage caused Ozai to lash out more at his son. Zuko faced increasing emotional abuse by both father and sister. In these times, Zuko grew close to his Uncle Iroh, and the two spent much time together.
When he was eleven, Zuko’s cousin and Iroh’s son Lu Ten, died in battle, causing Iroh to abandon his siege on the city of Ba Sing Se. This series of events resulted in the death of his grandfather, Azulon, the enthronement of Ozai and the disappearance of his mother. Zuko felt isolated and at the mercy of Azula and Ozai.
At thirteen, Zuko was invited to take part in a war council with his father. After speaking out of turn against one of his father’s generals, Ozai demanded the prince participate in an Agne Kai to atone for his outburst. Zuko quickly realized he was to duel his own father, and tearfully begged for forgiveness. Ozai responded by permanently scarring the left side of Zuko’s face with fire. Furthermore, he stripped Zuko of his birthright and ordered him exiled from his home until he had captured the Avatar, accompanied by his uncle, Iroh.
Zuko would later go on to discover the Avatar’s existence, and relentlessly pursued the Avatar to the Northern Water Tribe, where he would attempt to capture Aang. He nearly succeeded but instead was spared by the young Airbender, who claimed the two could maybe have been friends.
Due to their actions at the Siege of the North, both he and Iroh were branded as traitors and Princess Azula was sent to bring them to justice.
Zuko and Iroh would eventually separate due to Zuko believing he had nothing to learn further from his uncle. He would eventually track Azula and assist Aang, Katara, Iroh, and Toph in attacking his sister, but she escaped. Rejoining up with Iroh, he learned the basic techniques of how to redirect lightning.
The two arrived at Ba Sing Se, where Iroh started a tea shop, and it seemed for a time that Zuko could let go of his past and be happy. The presence of Azula in Ba Sing Se ruined that chance, as his sister convinced him to betray his uncle and the Avatar. Azula was able to deal a fatal blow to the Avatar (who was later revived with spirit water), and Iroh was arrested as a fugitive to the throne. Zuko returned home, having been assured he’d restored his honor, but the young prince was still conflicted.
Despite being hailed as a hero, Zuko felt uneasy. In visiting his uncle in prison, he learned that his maternal great-grandfather was none other than Avatar Roku, the previous incarnation of the Avatar. Guilt-ridden over his betrayal of his uncle, Zuko confronted his father on the Day of Black Sun, using his uncle’s teachings to redirect his lightning attack. He left afterward, intent on seeking the Avatar, but not to capture him. Instead, he sought his destiny as the Avatar’s firebending teacher. His uncle escaped at the same time, disappearing.
Despite initial suspicions and a rocky start, Team Avatar did eventually welcome Zuko into their ranks. Zuko and Aang both learned the true essence of firebending by visiting the fabled Sun Warriors and Zuko began to teach the Avatar. In this time, the two began to form a true friendship that would last for a lifetime.
On the day of Sozin’s Comet, while the rest of the team (sans Aang, who had disappeared) went to deal with the Fire Nation’s airships, Zuko reunited with Iroh and learned that he would have to deal with Princess Azula in the Fire Nation in order to seize power once his father was defeated and ensure a peaceful stable end to the war. Zuko was joined by Katara and fought Azula in a Comet-Enhanced Agni Kai. In the end, it was Katara who managed to defeat Azula with her quick thinking.
After Ozai’s defeat, Zuko was crowned the new Fire Lord, promising to usher in world order and harmony with the aid of Avatar Aang at his side.
Uncle Iroh
In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.
Iroh was formerly the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, in addition to one of the nation’s greatest generals. He had the ability to breathe fire and claimed to have slain the last dragon, which earned him the title “The Dragon of the West”. However, that claim was false, as Iroh had actually studied with the Sun Warriors and the last dragons. In addition, Iroh was a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, an organization devoted to peace in the world.
Iroh was more than just a firebending master, but a study of all of the elements in bending, giving proper respect to each one. In fact, he developed a technique for redirecting lightning based on movements typically associated with waterbending.
Iroh was forced into a military career by expectation of his father, Fire Lord Azulon. He served as a general in the army. His son, Lu Ten, desired to serve in the army but Iroh implored his son to reconsider service. Despite this, his son did serve, eventually coming to serve under Iroh’s direct command.
It was during this time that Iroh would begin one of the Fire Nation’s most ambitious battles, the siege of the Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se. The campaign lasted for six hundred days and even breached the Outer Wall of the kingdom. However, his son was killed on the front lines, and Iroh, in his grief, pulled back his army and ordered a retreat. He realized that the war was throwing away senseless lives for nothing. The Siege of Ba Sing Se would come to be a great source of dishonor and failure for Iroh.
Returning home, he found his father had died and had named his brother, Ozai, the new Fire Lord. Having no desire for the throne despite being the Crown Prince, Iroh allowed Ozai to take the throne.
He left the Fire Nation, going on a journey that eventually led him to the Spirit World in search of his son. He never found him, but his journeys showed him the true nature of the world and of himself. He discovered that his fall from power had been a gift and not a curse, that it was exactly what he needed in life.
Eventually he returned home and began to mentor his nephew, Prince Zuko. After the Prince was scarred by his father in Agni Kai, Iroh accompanied him on his journey to locate the Avatar.
During their travels together, Iroh and Zuko had many ups and downs, with the retired general never once giving up on his nephew, even when he was betrayed by him. He attempted to teach Zuko the technique of lightning redirection, a lesson that would later save his nephew’s life.
After Zuko’s betrayal, Iroh was imprisoned in the Fire Nation prisons. Despite seeming like a crazy old man to the guards and silent to his nephew, he secretly trained his body and became more fit and ready for escape. In this time, he managed to communicate to his son the truth of his maternal heritage as the great-grandson of Avatar Roku.
Iroh broke out of the prison during the Day of Black Sun and found his way to the Earth Kingdom and the Order of the White Lotus. After discovering Zuko with Team Avatar in Ba Sing Se, the old man embraced his nephew, stating that he was never angry with him, just sad that he had lost his way. He told him that he was happy he had found his way again.
Iroh was instrumental in the battle that reclaimed the city of Ba Sing Se. Iroh understood the irony that he had once been trying to break the walls to claim the city, but now sought to liberate it from the Fire Nation. He told Zuko to go to the Fire Nation and deal with Azula in order to become the new Fire Lord once Ozai was defeated.
After Ozai’s defeat and Zuko’s coronation, Iroh settled down at his tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, and celebrated life.
Side Characters
There are absolutely tons of side characters in the Avatarverse, so I'm just going to touch on some of the more popular ones in the series.
Suki, Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors
Suki was one of the leaders of the Kyoshi Warriors on Kyoshi Island. She was the leader of this band when Team Avatar arrived on Kyoshi Island. She and the other warriors captured Aang and his friends, believing them to be Fire Nation spies, but let them go after realizing he was the Avatar.
Suki and Sokka became intertwined as Suki challenged Sokka's generational sexism that women couldn't be warriors. Sokka had grown up in a largely patriarchal society where the men were soldiers, and he initially treated Suki with this same chauvinistic attitude. However, Sokka began to understand and learn from Suki, even humbly admitting that he had been wrong and asked to train with her. Suki taught Sokka, wearing the same traditional garb that the Kyoshi Warriors adopted, and she became attracted to him.
When Zuko attacked the village looking for Aang, Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors held off the young Prince's forces, giving Team Avatar time to escape. Before leaving, she gave Sokka a kiss on his cheek.
Suki crossed paths again with Team Avatar when she helped escort the group through the Serpent's Pass. This time it was Sokka who was reluctant to pursue her due to him feeling unable to protect her after what had happened with Yue at the North Pole. However, the two reconciled quickly and began dating before leaving.
She and the other Kyoshi Warriors discovered Appa, who had become separated from Aang. However, before she could help return him to Aang, the Warriors were confronted by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, who made quick work of the Kyoshi Warriors as they allowed Appa to escape before being captured themselves. Suki was imprisoned in Boiling Rock, a high security prison.
She was later found by Sokka when he and Zuko came to Boiling Rock to originally locate Sokka's father, Hakoda. The two rekindled their relationship and escaped the prison, with Suki officially joining Team Avatar. She was present with the team during the final battle of Sozin's Comet and helped Sokka and Toph take down the Fire Nation airships.
Yue, Princess of the Northern Water Tribe
Yue was the Princess of the Northern Water Tribe capital city, born to Chief Arnook. At birth she had a severe illness and was unable to be cured by the healers in the tribe. Her father prayed to the Moon Spirit, who in turn gifted Yue part of its own life force, which turned her hair white.
Prior to Team Avatar's arrival in the North Pole, Yue was arranged to be married to a warrior named Hahn, as was customary of the Northern Water Tribe. However, Yue did not love him. After meeting Sokka, the two began to spend more time together and fell in love with him. Sokka was ordered to act as her bodyguard during Admiral Zhao's siege of the city, and Yue helped Aang to the Spirit Oasis where he could find the Ocean and Moon Spirits.
When Zhao killed the Moon Spirit's mortal form, Yue, acting dutifully to her tribe, sacrificed herself to return the portion of the life essence that the Moon Spirit had given her back to it in order to revive the Spirit and become one with it.
Even after becoming one with the Moon, Yue would later appear to Aang in the Spirit World to assist him in many ways. She became a central figure of worship to the Northern Water Tribe over time due to her sacrifice.
Jet, Freedom Fighter
Jet was the leader of a group of refugees in the Earth Kingdom known as the Freedom Fighters. As a young boy, his parents died at the hands of Fire Nation soldiers. Jet fueled his rage and anger at the Fire Nation, becoming a vigilante who would go to extreme lengths to exact revenge.
Team Avatar initially met Jet after an ambush on a group of Fire Nation soldiers, using their presence as a distraction to take out the troop. Katara became smitten with Jet initially, while Sokka distrusted him. This distrust came to a head when it was revealed that Jet intended to destroy a damn that would sweep away a Fire Nation settlement, taking innocent lives in the process. Jet argued that it had to be done. After discovering the plot, Aang and Katara attempted to stop him but was unable to stop the dam from being destroyed. However, Sokka had managed to warn the settlement and evacuate everyone in time.
Jet, defeated and remorseful, traveled to Ba Sing Se with his two friends Longshot and Smellerbee. After an initial encounter with Zuko and Iroh, who were traveling as refugees to get away from Azula, he deduced that they were firebenders and became intent on proving them to be Fire Nation spies. However, Jet ran afoul of the Dai Li, who took him to their headquarters under Lake Laogai and brainwashed him.
Jet was later used as a ploy to draw the Avatar and others away from Ba Sing Se, in order to keep the hidden peace that the Dai Li had crafted in the city around the topic of the war. After trying to attack the group on Long Feng's prompting, Jet finally regained his senses and attempted to attack the leader of the Dai Li. Long Feng retaliated with a blow that was ultimately fatal, and Jet perished from his injuries with his friends by his side.
Bumi, King of Omashu
Bumi was once a young boy and close friend to Aang of the Air Nomads, the boy who would eventually become the Avatar. Bumi was known as a "mad genius" by Aang, someone who always kept his mind open to the possibilities. Bumi later became King of Omashu as well as a member of the Order of the White Lotus.
Bumi would later see Avatar Aang again in Omashu as an old man, and while Aang did not recognize him, Bumi was aware of who he was. He tested the Avatar in multiple different tests, designed to not only make Aang thing and approach each test differently and to also realize who he was and keep his mind open to the possibilities. He had hoped to instill in Aang that facing the Fire Lord would take thinking like a "mad genius" and not just strength and bending alone.
At some point, Bumi became imprisoned within Omashu's walls after having told his military captain to do nothing about the encroaching Fire Army. Team Avatar attempted to rescue him but Bumi refused to leave Omashu, telling Aang that he had been waiting for the proper time to strike against the Fire Nation from within. He instructed Aang to find an instructor skilled in neutral jing (listening and waiting) to teach the young Avatar how to earthbend.
Bumi's chance came during the Day of Black Sun, when the Firebenders lost their powers. Bumi, despite being encased in metal, earthbended his way into an escape using his face. He single-handedly liberated Omashu and then joined with the rest of the Order of the White Lotus to liberate the city of Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation, where he successfully assisted in taking back the city.
Despite being mad, Bumi was one of the greatest strategic minds of his time, and one of the most powerful earthbenders of his age.
Princess Azula
Azula was the younger sister of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. A highly manipulative and power-obsessed individual, Azula was deeply unstable mentally as she believed her own mother loved her brother more than she loved her. After the disappearance of her mother and her father's ascendance to Fire Lord, she was molded into a perfected weapon by Ozai.
In 100 AG, Ozai tasked Azula with capturing Zuko and Iroh, having deemed them both traitors after the events at the Northern Water Tribe. Initially attempting to befriend her brother and uncle to bring them in, Azula was forced to pursue them as enemies. Recruiting her old friends Mai and Ty Lee, the three attempted to capture Team Avatar, Zuko, and Iroh for over several weeks.
Azula also attempted to breach the walls of Ba Sing Se with a massive drill, and also captured the Kyoshi Warriors. Under this disguise, she and the others infiltrated the Earth Kingdom and plotted a conspiracy to overthrow the king with Long Feng, the leader of the Dai Li. Azula was successful in overtaking Ba Sing Se, and supposedly mortally wounded Aang in the Avatar State. After this, she arranged travel back to the Fire Nation with Zuko returning as a hero who had helped kill the Avatar.
Azula was able to warn her father of the Day of Black Sun in advance and helped stall Team Avatar from finding him before the eclipse ended. The eclipse ended in Zuko leaving to join Team Avatar. When he and Sokka were imprisoned in Boiling Rock to find Sokka's father, Azula and the others went to the prison to deal with him. However, Mai's love for Zuko won out and she prevented Azula from killing him. Azula, betrayed by her own friends, had them imprisoned.
The loss of her friends and the pressures of their betrayal left Azula's mental health in shambles. Ozai named her as the new Fire Lord and left to take his rightful place as the Phoenix King. During this time, Azula began to see betrayal everywhere. She banished many of her servants from the kingdom in the process and even banished her own personal advisors.
Before her official coronation, Zuko and Katara arrvied at the palace to stop her. In a Comet-enhanced Agni Kai, Zuko and Azula battled nearly to a standstill until Azula turned her tactics onto Katara. Zuko was injured in saving Katara, who in turn was able to defeat and chain down Azula by taking advantage of her mentally imbalanced state. In a fit of rage and anguish over having been defeated, Azula broke down and roared before sobbing and screaming.
After the War, she was committed to a mental health asylum on a nearby island, as Zuko sought to help his sister get better rather than imprison her for her crimes.
The Cabbage Merchant
What's not to love about the Cabbage Merchant?! He just loves his Cabbages!
Fun fact, by the time we get to Legend of Korra, the Cabbage Merchant managed to found his own company called Cabbage Corp that produced automobiles and other technologies! My Cabbage Corp!
Chong and the Nomads
This one is just worth watching. :)
Wrapping Up
And that wraps up the third part of this lore deep dive into Avatar: The Last Airbender! I hope you enjoyed the articles, and I hope this gets you to sit down and watch the show! It's a wonderful series that is incredibly smart and powerful in so many ways, and it's still engaging new viewers twenty-five years later!
Enjoy your week, and yip yip, Appa!
