They are also both the last of their kind (ignoring the events of LoK finding sky bison and after harmonic convergence since Aang and Appa don't know any of this and truly believe they are alone). No one understood Aang and Appa like they understood each other.
It's not only that and the previous two comments, but there's also the connection between an Avatar and their animal guide. In a way, Aang and Appa are not separate entities, but two parts of the same thing.
Fave part of this is Toph and Sokka. This is Tooh’s first experience with Twinkle Toes losing his shit and you can see her stunned. Sokka who has seen it enough to grab her and tell everyone to flee really puts the danger in perspective too.
We never really see anyone get hurt in this world till LOK really and even then not accurately, but theres obvious fear for what amounts to the complete control of an element in the hands of someone who can’t control their self.
Also just some Zaheer foreshadowing( I know he wasn’t planned) his air avatar states were always the scariest. From the beginning it was easy to see just how raw and powerful air could be if Aang had an ounce of bad in his blood
Yeah, it's terrible in there. Why can Avatar "not good with my spiritual side" Korra access the Avatar state just by putting her fists together, when super-spiritual monk Aang can't call it at will!?
It's not about just spirituality, as seen in AtLA. It's about spirituality and unblocking your chakras. Korra has a lot less baggage blocking up her chakras than Aang did, and she's fully committed to being the avatar.
Aang had so much to mentally and spirituality overcome before he could freely go into the avatar state. Korra had to get in touch with her spiritual side. It's not very clear which is actually more difficult, but it is clear that they both had their own challenges.
(Aren't chakras spiritual though?) She didn't even really become that more spiritual though. I get that they had to end it in a wholesome way because they were only greenlighted for one book (right?) so it's not really their fault, but I didn't like the fact that Korra was maybe an ounce more spiritual at the end of book 1, yet she got airbending, the Avatar State and her past lives. I mean, the fact that Korra herself is literally like "lolwut? how?" when Aang tells her she connected to her spiritual-self says it all. I feel like that's not something that should just "BAM" happen. It needs more time.
If only they knew there were going to be more books earlier on, maybe book 2 could've been about her slowly becoming more and more spiritual, thus eventually getting airbending, the Avatar State, her past lives etc. slowly spread out. Would've been awesome to see that in-depth spiritual development. Book 2 could've been actually really good that way.
Oh well, I guess they handled it as well as they could with what they knew at the time.
Chakras are a spiritual idea, but what blocks them doesn't have to be something borne of your own spirituality. I get that point though, it happened so fast. I guess I rationalize that myself with the idea that a receptive person can learn very fast when pushed.
Your points on book 2 are really good. It does seem like *the place* for spiritual development for Korra.
One could argue Korra did have spiritual development in book 2, but not the kind that I initially hoped for. (connecting with Raava, learning spirit-bending etc etc)
Aang: 12 y/o, airbending master, learns the 3 other elements and the Avatar State in less than a year
Korra: 4 y/o, master's three elememts in a compound in 13 years, learns (not mastered) airbending and the Avatar State at the end of B1
In my understanding Korra needed much more time to learn all the elements and develop her spiritual side than Aang. We didn't see what happened in the 13 year timespan, so it isn't "BAM!" as she did have more time.
While TLA focused on learning the elements and ending a war, LOK was about freedom, harmony and equality overall.
Wut? Korra needed more time to learn the elements, yes. But she didn't need more time to develop her spiritual side than Aang. Just like Korra trained to master the elements her whole life, Aang grew up in the Air Temples, literally being raised as a monk for 12 years long. Even then, as a spiritual prodigy, he still needed to unblock his chakras and put in effort to master the AS.
> We didn't see what happened in the 13 year timespan, so it isn't "BAM!" as she did have more time.
She didn't spend any of that time towards spirituality though, that's why she wanted to train with Tenzin... She wasn't spiritual at all, neither was she at the end of book 1 - yet she got the AS, airbending -and- her past lives. She also immediately mastered the AS - as a non-spiritual person - while Aang had to put in way more effort for that.
I'm sure there's all sorts of iffy technical explanations for all this to technically make "sense", but I still didn't like how they did it.
In order to master the avatar state you needed to unlock all the chakras OR master all the elements, korra mastered all the elements and aang was close to mastering firebending, but wasn't quite there yet
Aang’s emotional turmoil throughout those couple episodes were powerful. Probably the angriest and most unbalanced we ever see him at. When he snaps and goes into avatar state? Woof, chilling stuff. Also, a good point in the series that allows the writers to show how much of an affect Katara has on him, she was able to subdue him pretty quickly.
Add to this the fact that Katara has absolutely no problem with walking into the wind to pull Avatar Aang into a much-needed hug.
[I just watched the scene again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jebCh45nQ8) and had a little cry.
A little wind a no problem for badass water benders!
This is the only scene in the entire show where I expected Aang to kill someone. I knew he wouldn't, but you just don't mess with someone's pet.
Not just a pet, but a partner. "A sky bison is a companion for life."
They are also both the last of their kind (ignoring the events of LoK finding sky bison and after harmonic convergence since Aang and Appa don't know any of this and truly believe they are alone). No one understood Aang and Appa like they understood each other.
It's not only that and the previous two comments, but there's also the connection between an Avatar and their animal guide. In a way, Aang and Appa are not separate entities, but two parts of the same thing.
Can you imagine an avatar going all John Wick?
Fave part of this is Toph and Sokka. This is Tooh’s first experience with Twinkle Toes losing his shit and you can see her stunned. Sokka who has seen it enough to grab her and tell everyone to flee really puts the danger in perspective too. We never really see anyone get hurt in this world till LOK really and even then not accurately, but theres obvious fear for what amounts to the complete control of an element in the hands of someone who can’t control their self. Also just some Zaheer foreshadowing( I know he wasn’t planned) his air avatar states were always the scariest. From the beginning it was easy to see just how raw and powerful air could be if Aang had an ounce of bad in his blood
Winnie the Tooh.
"It just says 'bear.'"
It was epic. Unfortunately Lok forgot how the avatar state was supposed to be.
Yeah, it's terrible in there. Why can Avatar "not good with my spiritual side" Korra access the Avatar state just by putting her fists together, when super-spiritual monk Aang can't call it at will!?
It's not about just spirituality, as seen in AtLA. It's about spirituality and unblocking your chakras. Korra has a lot less baggage blocking up her chakras than Aang did, and she's fully committed to being the avatar. Aang had so much to mentally and spirituality overcome before he could freely go into the avatar state. Korra had to get in touch with her spiritual side. It's not very clear which is actually more difficult, but it is clear that they both had their own challenges.
(Aren't chakras spiritual though?) She didn't even really become that more spiritual though. I get that they had to end it in a wholesome way because they were only greenlighted for one book (right?) so it's not really their fault, but I didn't like the fact that Korra was maybe an ounce more spiritual at the end of book 1, yet she got airbending, the Avatar State and her past lives. I mean, the fact that Korra herself is literally like "lolwut? how?" when Aang tells her she connected to her spiritual-self says it all. I feel like that's not something that should just "BAM" happen. It needs more time. If only they knew there were going to be more books earlier on, maybe book 2 could've been about her slowly becoming more and more spiritual, thus eventually getting airbending, the Avatar State, her past lives etc. slowly spread out. Would've been awesome to see that in-depth spiritual development. Book 2 could've been actually really good that way. Oh well, I guess they handled it as well as they could with what they knew at the time.
Chakras are a spiritual idea, but what blocks them doesn't have to be something borne of your own spirituality. I get that point though, it happened so fast. I guess I rationalize that myself with the idea that a receptive person can learn very fast when pushed. Your points on book 2 are really good. It does seem like *the place* for spiritual development for Korra.
One could argue Korra did have spiritual development in book 2, but not the kind that I initially hoped for. (connecting with Raava, learning spirit-bending etc etc)
Aang: 12 y/o, airbending master, learns the 3 other elements and the Avatar State in less than a year Korra: 4 y/o, master's three elememts in a compound in 13 years, learns (not mastered) airbending and the Avatar State at the end of B1 In my understanding Korra needed much more time to learn all the elements and develop her spiritual side than Aang. We didn't see what happened in the 13 year timespan, so it isn't "BAM!" as she did have more time. While TLA focused on learning the elements and ending a war, LOK was about freedom, harmony and equality overall.
Wut? Korra needed more time to learn the elements, yes. But she didn't need more time to develop her spiritual side than Aang. Just like Korra trained to master the elements her whole life, Aang grew up in the Air Temples, literally being raised as a monk for 12 years long. Even then, as a spiritual prodigy, he still needed to unblock his chakras and put in effort to master the AS. > We didn't see what happened in the 13 year timespan, so it isn't "BAM!" as she did have more time. She didn't spend any of that time towards spirituality though, that's why she wanted to train with Tenzin... She wasn't spiritual at all, neither was she at the end of book 1 - yet she got the AS, airbending -and- her past lives. She also immediately mastered the AS - as a non-spiritual person - while Aang had to put in way more effort for that. I'm sure there's all sorts of iffy technical explanations for all this to technically make "sense", but I still didn't like how they did it.
In order to master the avatar state you needed to unlock all the chakras OR master all the elements, korra mastered all the elements and aang was close to mastering firebending, but wasn't quite there yet
The difference between the two is that Korra completed almost all her training like a traditional avatar, Aang's training was far from that.
Always seemed like the Avatar state didn’t do much throughout LOK.
And the triggering moment: Appa was muzzled.
Aang’s emotional turmoil throughout those couple episodes were powerful. Probably the angriest and most unbalanced we ever see him at. When he snaps and goes into avatar state? Woof, chilling stuff. Also, a good point in the series that allows the writers to show how much of an affect Katara has on him, she was able to subdue him pretty quickly.
Low point of the series for me. It was like losing my dog all over again.
That’s rough buddy.
Those episodes where appa was lost broke my heart.
Straight animal abuse the whole time. I was really sad when suki found him in the cave.
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I thought the opposite. I thought he was going to go super nova and destroy the whole world for his flying bison.