Talk:Avatar/@comment-4352658-20120503222011/@comment-1971058-20120515062459

The discovery of the identity of the new avatar (for Aang at least) is similar to the Dalai Lama. Where the child selects four toys from thousands of others and the right person selects specific ones that belonged to previous incarnations.

Basically Aang chose the toys that belonged to his previous lives, which is apparently because they were "familiar".