Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) tells the story of Aang, the avatar who returned to the world after a century to finally bring balance. The series is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
The four elemental nations of fire, air, water, and earth lived in harmony until Firelord Sozin decided to conquer the rest of the world.
The avatar is the one person who has the power to bend all the elements and maintain balance in the world.
When one dies, they are reincarnated into the next nation in an endless cycle. After eliminating Avatar Roku of the Fire Nation, Sozin targeted the Air Nomad Tribe.
Aang, a 12-year-old boy of the air nation was the next avatar, but his teacher Gyatso wanted to wait as long as possible to let him know of his duties.
When he finds out, Aang decides to fly out to think, but the fire nation attacks to wipe out the Air Nomads and ensure the avatar is not a threat to their conquest.
While his people are being massacred, Aang and his sky bison Aapa are caught in a storm but the avatar within him emerges and traps him in ice to save his life.
100 years pass as the fire nation wages war with the rest of the world. Sokka and Katara, siblings from the southern water tribe come across the block of ice Aang is trapped in.
Katara uses her water-bending powers to free Aang and they take him back to their village.
Prince Zuko, the son of the erstwhile fire lord Ozai, is traveling the world in search of the avatar. He travels with his uncle, General Iroh, who advises him on most matters.
He spots the light emerging when Aang is freed and heads toward the water tribe village. Aang learns that his people are no more and he’s been trapped for 100 years.
Zuko arrives at the gates of the village and threatens to burn it down unless they hand over Aang. Aang gives himself up to save the village, but Sokka and Katara go after them.
They save Aang and then help him figure out what he needs to know about being an avatar.
They first travel to Kyoshi Island, a place dedicated to Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom. While Aang learns he is connected to the spirits of his past selves, Sokka learns something else.
He meets Suki, a Kyoshi warrior, an elite force modeled in the style of Kyoshi. Sokka learns more about being a warrior from Suki, while she gets her first taste of the outside world.
Zuko enlists the help of a commander named Zhao to track down the avatar, but Zhao is ambitious and hopes to capture the avatar himself.
Zhao gains a valuable ally in Azula, Zuko’s sister who is willing to undermine her brother to gain favor with Ozai.
Sokka is always worrying about Katara and Aang because he was given the responsibility of protecting his village at a very young age.
His father traveled with the other warriors to seek out the firebenders who ravaged their tribe.
Katara was with her mother when she was killed by a fire-bender and she is haunted by that memory often.
Kyoshi shows Aang a vision of the Northern Water Tribe facing an attack and tells him that the fate of the water benders is at stake.
They have to head north and make several stops along the way. Aang meets his old friend Bumi, who is now the old king of Omashu, one of the last Earth Kingdom strongholds.
Bumi is angry with Aang for disappearing all those years ago but eventually, they make peace.
Zuko continues in his pursuit of the avatar but his blind determination often proves to be a crutch.
The reason for his determination is deeply personal, as he was banished by his father and given an impossible task as the condition for his return.
When Zuko stood up against his father and his ruthless plans to sacrifice their men in war, Ozai challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai.
Zuko gained the upper hand but stopped in a moment of compassion that Ozai considered a weakness. Ozai scarred his son for life and then sent him away to prove himself.
Along their journey, Aang and his friends come across a forest razed by the Fire Nation. They travel to the spirit world to save some villagers but Sokka and Katara are trapped by a primal spirit called Koh the Face Stealer.
Aang meets Gyatso there and asks him for advice, then visits the shrine of Avatar Roku to find out how to defeat Koh and save his friends.
In between all of this, Aang is briefly captured by Zhao, but Zuko disguises himself to help Aang escape and for a moment they share a connection.
They eventually reach the home of the Northern Water Tribe, who are aware of the impending attack and welcome the assistance of the avatar.
Zhao attempts to kill Zuko but the young prince escapes and goes undercover with only Iroh aware of his survival.
Katara finally has teachers to help her hone her skills, but when she discovers that women aren’t allowed to fight in the Northern tribe, she confronts Master Pakku.
She challenges him to a fight and holds her own until she is eventually defeated. However, everyone else gains much respect for her.
Sokka forms a bond with Princess Yue, who is a priestess and can travel the spirit world because she was saved by a piece of the moon spirit when she was a child.
She met Sokka when he was stuck in the spirit world, but she took on a different form. The previous avatars tell Aang that he must do it alone and put the world’s needs above his own.
Sokka and Katara remind him that he doesn’t need to be alone and that he can do things differently.
Ending explained:
Thorough preparations
Pakku is pushed to his limits against Katara and commends her bending ability. However, he still doesn’t agree to let her fight.
When the enemy arrives, Katara insists on helping and even gathers the other women to support her.
With her worldly battle experience, Pakku relents and asks her and the other women benders to assist.
Sokka is also relied upon for his strategic mind and battle expertise. He is given the task of protecting Yue as she insists on helping as well.
Defying the spirit world
Zhao has specific plans for the attack but waits until the final moment to share them with Iroh.
He attacks on the night of the full moon when water benders reach the peak of their powers. However, this was intentional as he hoped to rid them of their power forever.
Zhao learned that that particular night was a cosmic event where the moon spirit and the ocean spirit descended to Earth as mortals in the oasis beneath the water nation.
He plans on killing the moon spirit and stripping the power of bending from the water tribes completely.
Iroh warns him against this but Zhao is blinded by his ambition and will not anything stand in his way.
Bringing balance
Avatar Kuruk of the water tribe warns Aang of Zhao’s plan so he and Katara go looking for Yue and Sokka, who are already at the oasis.
Zuko shows up to capture Aang but Katara holds him back while Aang goes to save the moon spirit.
Zhao’s mind remains unchanged as he stabs the moon spirit and brings chaos into the world.
Aang blames himself for this and goes into the avatar state before letting the ocean spirit use his body as a vessel for their rage.
Aang begins controlling a monster that attacks the fire nation, but Yue says that he will be lost to the spirit world forever.
When Sokka says that there must be some way to save the moon spirit, Yue remembers that she has a small piece of the spirit in her.
She sacrifices herself to bring the moon spirit back to life, and after some calm words from Katara, Aang, and the ocean spirit are soothed.
Iroh and Zuko are escaping the destruction when they see Zhao. Zuko fights Zhao and talks about fulfilling his destiny.
Zhao tells Zuko that Ozai used him to fuel the fire within his sister, and he was never meant to return and claim his birthright as heir.
Zuko is overcome with grief and turns his back, but before Zhao can attack, Iroh kills him.
Fulfilling his duty as the avatar
With the attack repelled and the water tribe still standing, Aang knows that he has much more to learn.
He must master the other elements, and Katara is now a master bender who can start teaching him water bending.
Ozai is given an update on the attack but he is unfazed by news of the loss. He says that it was a distraction, as Azula led an army to their true target.
She is seen outside Omashu as King Bumi is put in chains. Her next target is Ba Sing Sae, the last holdout in the Earth Kingdom standing in the Fire Nation’s way.
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