Appa

"air"

- Choose well. A sky bison is a companion for life.

Appa was Avatar Aang's loyal sky bison. Aang and Appa, along with Momo, had a strong family bond with each other because they were each the last of their kinds. Appa was most noted for his ability to fly in spite of his heavy weight, a feat achieved through airbending. This ability made Appa the primary means of transportation utilized by Team Avatar.

Early life


The first time Aang and Appa met, the latter was merely a young calf. Once airbenders reached the age of six, they were taken to the Eastern Air Temple where Sister Iio allowed them to meet their future companions, who would bond with them for life. Not much was explained about the exact nature of the relationship between the Air Nomads and their flying bison, but it appeared that the mother sky bison would willingly direct her calves down to the young monks.

Aang came forward and offered an apple to Appa. Almost immediately, the two became best friends and were together for most of their lives up until Aang's death.

Journey to the North
When Aang heard that the monks were going to separate him from Monk Gyatso, he decided to run away, using Appa was his mode of departure. Appa did not know where he was going, only that he was leaving the air temples. Aang flew Appa over the ocean and they were caught in a vicious storm. The two were driven underwater by the wind and the waves, and Aang lost consciousness. Sensing that death was near, the young Avatar entered the Avatar State and froze himself and Appa in an iceberg, where Appa was stuck in hibernation along with Aang for one hundred years until they were discovered by Katara and Sokka. Since then, Appa had been the group's main form of transportation in their quest to help Aang master all the elements.

Disappearance


Appa became lost for a short while when the group was traveling through the Earth Kingdom. He was kidnapped by sandbenders in the middle of the vast Si Wong Desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Momo were trapped in an underground Spirit library. It was later revealed that he was eventually sold to beetle-headed merchants, who in turn sold him to a Fire Nation circus where a sadistic animal tamer attempted to make him part of the show. Encouraged by a sympathetic boy, Appa later escaped and hurried back to the Si Wong Desert where he last saw Aang. Understanding that his friends were not there anymore, he journeyed throughout the Earth Kingdom until he encountered the Kyoshi Warriors, who healed the various wounds, physical as well as emotional, that he had sustained on his travels. They wanted to escort him back to Aang, however, they were thwarted in their attempt when Azula and her allies attacked. Appa was forced to leave, ushered away by Suki while the warriors tried to delay the three Fire Nation girls. On his journey he encountered Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple. The Guru was able to tell Appa of Aang's location by reading his energy. Consequently, Appa flew to Ba Sing Se, where he was captured by Long Feng.

Appa was kept in a secret location under Lake Laogai until his rescue by Zuko, who was initially planning on utilizing him to capture the Avatar, but after talking to his Uncle Iroh decided to do the right thing and set the bison free. Appa found the group cornered by Long Feng and the Dai Li and was instrumental in their defeat, biting Long Feng on the leg when confronted by him. Once safe, Aang welcomed Appa in a tearful display of affection.

Earth Kingdom
Appa took part in forcibly entering the Royal Palace of Ba Sing Se, providing the first piece of evidence to King Kuei of Long Feng's subterfuge since Long Feng's bite mark still lingered. When the Dai Li's cover up efforts left the Earth King skeptical of Team Avatar's claims, Sokka made a last-ditch effort to show the king the ruined Fire Nation drill by enticing him with a ride on Appa. Since Appa's saddle was lost during his capture, the group was forced to ride bareback. After the fall of Ba Sing Se, Appa was seen spiriting Team Avatar (including a grievously wounded Aang), the Earth King, and his pet, Bosco, out of the now captured city.

In the Fire Nation
Appa stayed with the group as they found their way aboard Hakoda's commandeered Fire Navy vessel, and had a new saddle constructed for him. After Aang ran off into a storm, Appa and the rest of Team Avatar split off from Hakoda's crew after Aang, and they regrouped on Crescent Island. As they traveled through the Fire Nation, Appa had to stay hidden. When Appa did have to fly, Aang and Katara created a cloud around him so that he resembled a cloud to any Fire Nation civilians. Also, when they left him and Momo alone, the gang had to cover Appa up with some form of camouflage.



After the Invasion of the Fire Nation failed on the Day of Black Sun, Appa took Aang's friends and all of the younger members of the invasion force to the Western Air Temple to seek refuge. When Zuko, who had abandoned the Fire Nation during the invasion, arrived at the temple, Appa immediately welcomed and licked him. This was due to Appa remaining grateful to Zuko for freeing him from his imprisonment at Lake Laogai in Ba Sing Se. Zuko then requested that he join the group so that he could teach Aang firebending. Despite Appa's obvious welcome for Zuko, the group did not accept Zuko until later, when he saved the group from an attack by Combustion Man.

In the last days before Sozin's Comet, Appa helped Team Avatar, excluding Aang, travel to the Earth Kingdom, where they had June and her shirshu, Nyla, try to track Aang. Unsuccessful, they instead tracked down Iroh using his sandal who was residing outside Ba Sing Se with the rest of the Order of the White Lotus. Appa later escorted Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation Capital for their confrontation with Azula.

After the Hundred Year War
After the Hundred Year War's end, Appa was seen in Ba Sing Se with the gang as they celebrated their victory at the Jasmine Dragon, seemingly enjoying Iroh's tsungi horn music. After this, the team decided to take a ride on Appa before Earth King Kuei's celebration to announce the Harmony Restoration Movement to the kingdom.

A year later, when the movement was being carried out, Appa helped Team Avatar transport Fire Nation colonials back to their nation.

Personality


There was little said about Appa's personality, as he lacked the ability to speak human language. However, he had displayed an ability to understand human language on several occasions. He was also afraid of going underground and, since his experience in the Fire Nation circus, of fire. Appa seemed to have a reasonably trusting attitude, as he did not take long to accept the apple offered to him by Aang and took an immediate liking to Sokka when he first saw him. However, this trait was damaged due to his experience with the ringmaster and the sandbenders. In these difficult moments, Appa seemed to have similar feelings toward humans when he missed Aang and he tried his best to find the team. In the Eastern Air Temple, he also remembered with sorrow his childhood with his siblings and his mother.

Appa also might have had some degree of intelligence as shown when he yawned after Aang prompted him, and when he apparently "scolded" Hawky and Momo when the two fought due to Sokka's order that Appa was in charge. Appa's intelligence was also shown when he was taking the team and Professor Zei to Wan Shi Tong's library. Zei asked Appa a question and Appa tried to respond, only letting out a groan.

Airbending


Being a sky bison, Appa possessed the ability to fly. He utilized his airbending for this purpose; his tail appeared to be the main driving force behind his bending, but he also had shown the ability to accomplish it with his mouth. Despite the tranquility related to his personality as well as his species, Appa had shown himself to be very capable of fighting when necessary. With his bending, Appa could create powerful gusts of air with just a flick of his tail and could gain an advantage over his opponents by hovering. He even defeated Long Feng, Ty Lee, and Mai.

Stamina
Due to his size and mass, it took a lot of energy for him to stay aloft. As a result, Appa could not fly for an extended time and periodically required stopping and resting. However, there were times when he displayed extreme stamina, such as when Katara stated that they flew two days non-stop, as well as when Appa continually had to fly to avoid Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai for hours on end with only a few minutes of rest each time he stopped. He was also capable of carrying quite a burden on his back; Appa carried seven medium-weight persons once.

Other skills


Being a bison, he was also naturally capable of brute strength and endurance. The best demonstrations of this were in the fight against Nyla in the abbey, and against a fully-grown boar-q-pine in the forest. His strength was so great to the extent of Appa lifting two fire nation tanks simultaneously each by the horn, flipping them over.

He was also shown to be a fairly adept swimmer, although he was more frequently seen flying or walking rather than swimming.

Relatives

 * His mother
 * Unnamed siblings

Appearances
{{Scroll|

The Promise Trilogy
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 * The Promise Part 1
 * The Promise Part 2

Trivia

 * Appa in Korean, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, and several Indian languages is similar to the word meaning father or dad, and it is also an anagram of the word papa. In Inuit, the word 'Aapa', pronounced the same, means dad. In Urdu, the word Appa is used to refer to a female caretaker or a female elder, alluding to an unused idea to reveal Appa as female in the finale.
 * Appa was an herbivore. His flat teeth were indicative of this, and Appa's diet, from what we have seen, was mainly plants and fruits. Like most farm animals, Appa seemed to prefer hay when possible. Appa also consumed honey and attempted to snatch an egg when he was desperate for food.
 * According to his missing posters and Aang's statement, Appa's weight was ten tons.
 * Appa's design is similar to that of the Catbus from the anime film My Neighbor Totoro which was made in 1988. The Catbus also has multiple legs and a large tail.Appa's early concept.png
 * Appa's name is a palindrome, like Kuruk and Ikki.
 * Co-creator Bryan Konietzko described Appa as a manatee-bison hybrid, although the manatee aspect of Appa is extremely subtle. Early development sketches of Appa show him with much more manatee-like facial features.
 * In early episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sokka refers to Appa as a ten ton magical monster.
 * Appa was originally a dog-like animal and much smaller, albeit still larger than Aang. The design was eventually recycled into Naga, Korra's animal guide.
 * Due to Appa being a male and the implications of Appa being the last sky bison, it was speculated that the species would become extinct upon his death. However, it is mentioned that a flock of sky bison was discovered after the Hundred Year War.
 * Appa was claustrophobic, and after the events in the Fire Nation circus, he became pyrophobic as well.
 * It was shown that Appa could sleep on his side with his legs wrapped around his tail.
 * Although Aang is said to be the last airbender in the series technically with Appa being a sky bison he was an airbender too. This means more specifically that Aang was the last human airbender and more so the last Air Nomad.