Talk:Avatar/@comment-201.42.181.113-20121031033351/@comment-98.31.18.86-20121110154951

They clearly say the avatar is the spirit of the planet in human form.That means like Tui and La the koi fish at the northern water tribe, the avatar was a spirit who decided to cross over into the human world, why? who knows.The past Avatars are not memories, they are infact human host who now live in the Spirit World.Just like Yue was a human host for the spirit of the moon.When Spirits cross over they have no power except the Avatar, but when the Avatar is the spirit world, it has no power, because it is the spirit of the human host in the spirit world and the avatar has crossed over in the human world and can't go back.It's not speculation it clearly states all this in the show.The first Avatar was the first human host the spirit chose to inccarnate in to, the first Avatar was not the planet spirit because it was just a spirit.The avatar is an energy that gives it's host power over the elements.

If they were just memories then there would be no need for Aang to have waited on those special days to contact them.He could just go inside his mind and talk to the them, but he doesn't.