Wan


 * This article is about the first Avatar. For the spirit, see Wan Shi Tong.

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- My name is Wan, and I will show you how I became the first Avatar.

Avatar Wan was the first Avatar, having lived ten thousand years prior to Avatar Korra's time. As a teenaged explorer, this skilled bender worked to bring balance between mankind and the spirits, a quest that eventually led to him becoming the first Avatar.

History
Living in poverty, Wan had to steal to survive. On one occasion, he stole food from the Chu brothers. After snatching the food, he tried to outrun the three angry brothers by making his way across rooftops and through the streets in town. He successfully evaded his pursuers for a while, but when he stopped to eat, the brothers caught up to him. Wan attempted to escape again, but tripped and was cornered by them, and subsequently cast into a muddy pen with hybrid pigs. Wan eventually returned to his family's treehouse, bringing his father and brother what little food he had managed to salvage in his tunic. He lamented their impoverished lifestyle, wishing they could live like the Chus. His brother cautioned him against stealing from the Chus again, fearing he would wind up dead or be banished into the Spirit Wilds.

Wan later joined a group of hunters who were getting ready to journey into the Spirit Wilds in order to collect food, knowing that the local lion turtle would grant them the power of firebending to protect themselves against the spirits roaming the place. However, after receiving his firebending powers, he pretended to chicken out, and returned to the city. He led his brother and several others on a raid of the Chu estate. However, things went wrong, and though his companions were able to get away, Wan was captured and unmasked. He was brought before the lion turtle, and although the lion turtle permitted him to keep his firebending at his request, Wan was banished to the Spirit Wilds for his crimes.

As he wandered the Spirit Wilds, Wan encountered several hostile spirits, forcing him to remain awake until he collapsed from exhaustion. However, much to his surprise, the ground opened up beneath him and started to suck him in. Before disappearing completely, Wan used his newfound bending ability to propel himself back to the surface. Although exhausted, he decided to venture on, until he came across a tree carrying strange fruit. Hungry, he plucked one of the fruits and attempted to eat it, though before he could sink his teeth in the flesh, the fruit morphed into a swarm of bees that promptly attacked him. Wan fled in a desperate attempt to get away from the angered insects. Too preoccupied by the animals, he did not notice where he was going and fell off a cliff. As he landed, he found himself in a peaceful environment with more fruit trees, in this case a pear tree. Still hungry, he reached for a pear, but before he could reach it, a spirit appeared and told him he was not welcome at the oasis. Wan tried to reason with the spirit, telling the entity that he was hungry and in need of sleep. However, when the spirit would not listen to him, Wan attempted to force the spirit aside by firebending at it. Enraged, the spirit met Wan's challenge, easily evading his attack by teleporting behind him and shoving him in the back. As a crowd of spirits approached the oasis, Wan disguised himself as a bush spirit, briefly managing to fool the oasis guardian, but the latter was able to discover his deception. When ordered to return home, Wan revealed that he was banished. The other spirits suggested he find other lion turtle cities, but the guardian refused to give him directions.

Wan subsequently set out to find these mentioned cities on his own. While traveling through the wilds, he spotted a cat deer caught in a net. He marched to roast the helpless creature, and after some hesitation, he freed it. However, the group of hunters he was supposed to accompany discovered him. Wan ran, leading them away from the cat deer, using the wilds' hazards, such as the vine trap and beehives to slow down his pursuers, though he was captured in the end. However, before the men could do anything, the oasis guardian, touched by Wan's selfless act, intervened by possessing one of the hunters, giving him animal-like qualities, which scared off the leader. The guardian brought Wan and the cat deer back to the oasis, giving the human a bath in the spirit waters, healing him. Deciding that he had had enough of humans, Wan chose to stay at the oasis and learned the ways of the spirits.

As time went by, Wan befriended the spirits and learnt the Dancing Dragon firebending form from a dragon spirit, training himself so it would become an extension of his own body, not just a tool. In doing so, he drove off the hunters whenever they dared to harm the spirits.

Some time later, Wan was disturbed by loud rumblings, and he noticed that several spirits and animals fled from the noise. He investigated and reached a clearing, where he found the source of the disturbance: an ongoing battle between the spirits Rava and Vatu. Concerned about the destruction of the environment, Wan approached the two cautiously and begged them to stop. As he came closer though, Vatu addressed him, begging Wan to free him from Rava's grip, tricking Wan in to thinking Rava was maleficent. Under the impression he was helping, Wan firebent at Rava's arms, freeing Vatu. As the spirit made his escape, Wan was scolded by an angry Rava, who explained to him Vatu's dark nature.

Legacy
A statue of Wan can be found inside the hall of statues in the Southern Air Temple sanctuary. Unlike his reincarnations, his image is enveloped by that of Rava, and is made out of wood, causing it to have decayed over time. Concurrent with Korra's success in bringing back the southern lights, his statue illuminated.

Appearances in Korra's life
In 171 ASC, Avatar Wan appeared to Korra while she was in search of Rava, and he recalled how he became the first Avatar.

Abilities
Wan is both agile and skilled in acrobatics, as he was able to swing off a clothesline, land on an adjacent block, and run across rooftops. He is also able to leap large distances. Due to his time spent learning from the dragons, Wan is very skilled in firebending, being the first human to use fire as an extension of his body being rather than merely a tool.

Trivia

 * In Mandarin Chinese, "Wan" is an allegory to "eternity" and can mean "ten thousand", which is the number of years he lived before Avatar Korra.
 * Wan was the first human to live with spirits in peace.