Southern Air Temple


 * This article is about the location. For the titular episode, see "The Southern Air Temple". For the location in the film, see .

The Southern Air Temple, located in the remote Patola Mountain Range, is one of the five Air Nomad temples and one of the two that exclusively housed male airbenders, the other being the Northern Air Temple. Although it was believed to be accessible only via flying bison, the Fire Nation managed to wipe out the temple's population during the Air Nomad Genocide, abruptly ending millennia of use by monks and nuns.

History
The Southern Air Temple was the boyhood home of Avatar Aang, and his fatherlike mentor, Monk Gyatso. It was also home to Avatar Roku when he needed a place to master the art of airbending.



The temple was raided during Fire Lord Sozin's genocide on the Air Nomads and instigated the Hundred Year War. The sole known survivor of the massacre was the very person the Fire Nation sought to kill in its quest for supremacy: the twelve-year-old airbender and Avatar, Aang, who had ran away from the Southern Air Temple shortly before the War began, and became trapped in suspended animation. He has since been revived and begun a quest to restore balance and peace to the warring nations.

One hundred years later, the temple was revisited by Aang, with his friends Katara and Sokka. There, he met one of the last winged lemurs in existence, which he named Momo. While there, Aang discovered the fate of the Air Temple and its people, including Gyatso, causing him to realize that all the Air Nomads were wiped out and that he, Appa and Momo were all that remained.

Description


The temple is large and peaceful, has an airball arena, and is also where the "air scooter" was first invented by Aang. Additionally, the massive facility features a sanctuary in which reside numerous statues of past Avatars. The temple itself primarily served as a training ground for airbender students. Once inhabited by flying bison and winged lemurs in the days of the monks, it was left empty and lifeless after the Fire Nation murdered its populace. As a result of being built for and by the monks, several of the temples' doors and mechanisms are operable only through means of airbending. A statue of Monk Gyatso stands at the entrance to the temple. Unlike the other three temples, the Southern Temple boasts blue, elaborately decorated spires rather than green, plainly decorated ones.

Natural resources and foods
As could be determined, air is the main and most significant power source and natural resource of the nomads, as without it they would be rendered powerless. With the power of air channeled under their control, the airbenders were enabled to defend and protect their homes and way of life and travel across the globe.

The Air Nomads were a tranquil and environmentally friendly race of people, and did their best not to leave a mark on the land. Any industry that they engendered, such as farming and gardening, were powered naturally. They also produced their own food, making them a self-supporting nation, independent from others.

Air Nomads are also vegetarians, as are the modern monks of Tibet. This is suggested by Aang's words when he said he did not eat meat.

Trivia

 * The Southern Air Temple is the only original air temple with a blue roof instead of green one.
 * This air temple will be featured in the second book of The Legend of Korra, and it appears to be restored to its former beauty.
 * In early previews of "The Southern Air Temple", Aang referred to this structure as the Jongmu Air Temple.

Notable figures

 * Avatar Aang
 * Monk Gyatso
 * Monk Pasang
 * Monk Tashi
 * Jinju
 * Older air boy
 * Momo