Laghima


 * This article is about the Air Nomad guru who discovered the secret to weightlessness. For other similar uses, see Guru (disambiguation).

"air"

- New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old.

Guru Laghima was an Air Nomad guru and renowned poet who lived at the Northern Air Temple around 3,829 BG. He discovered the secret to weightlessness, which allowed him to unlock the airbending ability of flight. This essentially allowed Laghima to become untethered from the earth and live the last forty years of his life without ever touching the ground.

Achieving flight
Guru Laghima grew up at the Northern Air Temple, where he began writing poetry about subjects such as instinct and illusion. Although the details of Guru Laghima's life have become unclear in the face of the disappearance of Air Nomad culture from public knowledge, it is known that he discovered the secret to weightlessness forty years prior to his death. By relinquishing himself from his earthly attachments, Laghima achieved flight and was able to live the last portion of his life untethered from the earth.

Legacy


During his lifetime, Guru Laghima became a renowned poet with writing so influential that it survived the Hundred Year War. In his honor, a mountaintop near the Northern Air Temple known as Laghima's Peak was named after the guru. In addition, several caves located two miles from the Northern Air Temple are adorned with statues of Laghima, along with other influential monks. Over time, however, the truth about his achievements was lost and his abilities were dismissed as children's stories and legends. Even Tenzin, himself a renowned airbending master, did not believe in Laghima's ability to fly.

Nevertheless, Laghima's literature profoundly impacted Zaheer, who used his poem about the false nature of instinct to realize that basing expectations of reality on what was immediately observable blinded oneself from the possibilities of something new coming to light. Consequently, he believed that the guru had truly discovered the ability of flight, and after gaining airbending, Zaheer attempted to obtain the ability himself.

Zaheer also recited excerpts from Laghima's poems several times, such as to several White Lotus sentries outside his cell prior to his escape, and to Ikki while on Air Temple Island after finding a locket bearing Laghima's image. While presenting the mission of the Red Lotus to Avatar Korra in Xai Bau's Grove, Zaheer quoted Guru Laghima and stated that new growth cannot exist without the destruction of the old.

Following P'Li's death, Zaheer was able to let go of his final earthly tether, unlocking the ability of flight on top of Laghima's Peak. As a result, the guru's abilities were no longer dismissed as legends.

Trivia

 * Laghima is one of two known airbenders to have achieved flight, the other being Zaheer.
 * Laghima is the first and only Air Nomad from the Northern Air Temple ever introduced in either series.
 * In yoga, "laghima" is a supernatural power attained through spiritual practice known as a siddhi. It specifically deals with becoming almost weightless, which corresponds to Guru Laghima's character as he attained weightlessness prior to his death.