Avatar

Typically, a person born into a certain nation may have the ability to bend said nation's element (i.e., one born into the earth nation may have the ability to hurl boulders and dirt using nothing but a telekenetic power focused through a type of martial art). However, in each generation, one bender in the world is capable of controlling all four elements. That Bender is deemed the Avatar. The Avatar is the spirit of the world manifested in human form. When the Avatar dies, it reincarnates into the next nation in the cycle (air, water, earth, and fire), the cycle based on the four seasons (fall, winter, spring, and summer, respectively). Starting with the mastery of his or her native element, the Avatar learns to bend all four elements in the order of the cycle. Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony.

The most recent Avatars known of (in the order of current to oldest) are:

• Aang (Air Nomads)
• Roku (Fire Nation)
• Kyoshi (Earth Kingdom)
• Kuruk (Water Tribe)
• Yangchen (Air Nomads)

Speculation

• If Aang truely is the last airbender (which is what is fact, unless there is another airbender out in hiding), then the cycle will be broken. If Aang dies before having a child (whether that child being an airbender or just carrying the trait), then after the Avatar reincarnates through the Water, Earth, and Fire Nations, there will be no one in the Air Nation for the spirit to choose.

Quick Answers

What is the origin of the Avatar in the "Avatar" franchise?

The Avatar came to be when Wan permanently fused with Raava, the spirit of light and peace, during the Harmonic Convergence of 9,829 BG. When Wan was dying, Raava assured him that they would be together throughout all his lifetimes, heralding the beginning of the Avatar Cycle and ensuring the continuation of the Avatar's role as peacekeeper of both worlds.

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What is the Avatar's duty?

The Avatar's duty is to maintain balance and peace among the four nations. They serve as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, solving problems that normal benders cannot. The Avatar is expected to do what it takes to bring balance to the world, even if it means not conforming to specific cultural norms or allegiances.

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How does the Avatar master all four elements?

The Avatar typically begins their training with the element of their birth nation. For instance, an Avatar born into the Water Tribe would first master waterbending. They would then proceed to learn the remaining elements in the order of the cycle: earthbending, firebending, and finally airbending. However, there have been instances of Avatars learning the elements out of order. Avatars have been know to struggle mastering the element of which the characteristics are opposed to their own mentality.

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What happens to the Avatar Spirit upon the death of the Avatar?

When an Avatar dies, the Avatar Spirit endures beyond death and leads to a reincarnation cycle, allowing the Avatar to be reborn in a new body. However, if the Avatar is killed while in the Avatar State, the cycle would break and the Avatar would cease to exist.

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What is the significance of the Harmonic Convergence in the creation of the Avatar?

The Harmonic Convergence is a supernatural phenomenon that occurs once every ten thousand years when the planets align, causing the northern and southern spirit potal to connact in an arch and spiritual energy to greatly amplify. A human who is temporarily bonded with a spirit can make that bond permanently upon touching the portal arch durung Harmonic Convergence. This is how Wan first fused with Raava to become the first Avatar, how Unalaq fused with Vaatu to become the first Dark Avatar, and how Korra fused with Raava as well.

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The Avatar State

The collective power of the Avatar Spirit is triggered by both its host's emotional outbusts (an example would be in The Southern Air Temple through a fit when it and Aang saw the destrution of his home) and when it feels it's needed (at this time, it will bend the element required to be bent in the given situation, regardless of whether it's host body knows how to bend this element). The Avatar State, as called in the episode The Avatar State is a defense mechanism that activates when in danger. This is seen when Aang and Appa fell into the ocean during a massive storm 100 years previous. When Aang was unable to fight his way out of the currents, the Avatar Spirit took over, allowing Aang to waterbend himself and Appa into an air pocket sealed in ice. Avatar Roku explains that the avatar state is when the knowledge and powers of the previous avatars, such as Kyoshi and Roku, flow through the current avatar freely, activating incredible power and mastery over all four elements.

Meditation
Aang has also entered the Avatar State during meditation and harmony with the spirits around him. In this method, he visited the spirit world with his own spirit, leaving his body a defenseless shell in the real world. An example of this was seen in The Siege of the North (Part 1).

Spiritual Link-up
In the episode The Siege of the North (Part 2), Aang enters the Avatar State in order to aid the frantic Ocean Spirit. Both Aang in his Avatar State and the Ocean Spirit combine their abilities to defend the Northern Water Tribe after all waterbenders are rendered defenseless. This is the second time we hear Aang speak in the State, the first being when he met with Roku during the Winter Solstice. His voice sounds like a cross between a few different voices at once, the main two being his normal, and a deeper, somewhat demonic sounding version.

Weakness of the Avatar State
While Aang is pretty much invincible in the Avatar State, having a millenia of bending experience which can surpass an army of benders many times over, there is one grave weakness. If someone does manage to kill Aang while the Spirit posseses him, the cycle will be permenantly broken, and the Avatar will not reincarnate (learned from Roku in the episode The Avatar State).

Known Times the Avatar State Was Used

• 100 years previously, Aang used it to save himself and Appa from their fall into the ocean. Both were sealed into an ice encrusted air pocket that eventually froze into an iceberg.
• Aang used it in the episode The Avatar Returns to escape another fall into the ocean and to stop Zuko. Waterbends a cyclone.
• In the episode The Southern Air Temple, Aang falls into it the State after witnessing the skeleton of his former mentor and foster father Monk Gyasto. He airbends a small hurricane in his emotional distress.
• In the episode The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part I), Aang is accidentally trapped in the Spirit World while chasing after a rampaging beast. The beast (later found to be an angry forest spirit) changed worlds at sunrise nearing the winter solstice, and Aang was too close when it happened.
• In the episode Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2), Aang meets Avatar Roku in the fire temple. Roku helped him and friends escape by directly taking over Aang's body and activating the volcano underneath the temple.
• In the episode The Storm, Aang enters the state after saving Sokka and a fisherman, rounding up everyone that fell into the ocean and pulling out of the water into the calmness of the storm's eye.
• In the episode Siege of the North, Part I, Aang meditates into the spirit world to find a way to save the North Pole.
• In the episode Siege of the North, Part II, Aang combines power with the spirit of the ocean, La, after all waterbenders are rendered powerless.
• In the episode The Avatar State, Aang enters the Avatar State when Katara is trapped under the earth with Earthbending by a general who qishes to force Aang into the Avatar State. He uses airbending to knock the general to the floor, rises into the air on a tornadoe, and crashes down to the earth, releasing a powerful earthbending attack on the general, his guards, and his fortress. A small air sphere surrounds Aang before the spirit of Avatar Roku takes him to the Spirit World to explain to Aang about the true nature of the Avatar State.
• In the episode The Swamp, Aang enters the Avatar State at the center of the Swamp, and locates Appa and Momo with it.
• In The Desert, Aang enters the Avatar Sate while confronting Appa's kidnappers (a group of Sandbenders). A large air sphere surrounds him, lifting him up into the air, but is brought down by Katara, who grabs his arm and embraces him.
• In the episode The Crossroads To Destiny, Aang finally is willing to give up Katara to open the last chakra to willingly go to the Avatar State, but he is soon struck by lighting from Princess Azula.