History AvatarTheLastAirbender / TropesAToH

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Without getting into the differences in characterization, the original pilot episode gives Zuko the ability to use flame jets as {{Reverse Grip}}ped daggers and has Aang consciously activate the Avatar State for a quick boost despite the episode ostensibly taking place sometime during the equivalent of the beginning of the first season. Fire Nation soldiers wear SpikesOfVillainy galore and Katara is also named Kya.
** On the other hand, pilot episodes tend to be like this, and given the differences, the canonicity of the original pilot is questionable at best. (Also, Zuko uses the reverse-gripped daggers in Book 2's "The Avatar State").

* HeartSymbol: In "The Boiling Rock". Sokka exhibits it when he realizes [[spoiler:Suki]] is a prisoner there, so his mission [[spoiler:with Zuko]] is not in vain, ''and'' he gets [[spoiler:his LoveInterest back.]]

** More like a Jerk realization. After Pakku defeated Katara, he didn't seem to change his machist ways until he discovered that she was Kanna's granddaughter, and then Katara gave her speech, in that moment Pakku realized that were this Machist ways that costed him the love of his life.

* HeldGaze: the series has a few of these. One with Mai and Zuko in the Boiling Rock episodes after being forced to lock the cell door on her [this one is more of deep hurt though], one with Suki and Sokka on the Serpent's Pass leading to an AlmostKiss. Then finally the one between Aang and Katara which leads to the BigDamnKiss and end of the series.

* HighVoltageDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted. Azula uses lightning bending and strikes Aang in the back as he is entering into the Avatar state, threatening to end the avatar cycle for good. It at least looks like he died until Katara revives him with water from the Spirit Oasis, subverting a permanent version of this.]]

** It also grants Aang the power to MindRape Ozai, [[SoulessShell rip out his soul]], and [[FateWorseThanDeath take away his bending.]]

* HypocriticalHumor: When Team Avatar are frustrated in their initial attempts to warn the Earth King above the war, they switch to searching for Appa and their government-appointed handler Joo Dee seems finally supportive but won't let them go out without her. She promises not to get in the way and ''immediately'' gets in Toph's way when she tries to leave the house. The squeaky noises used with her footsteps really sell it.

* GameChanger: Learning about Sozin's Comet and the utter destruction the Fire Nation could use it for was a game changer in that it gave the heroes a limited time frame to accomplish the premise of the series, learn the four elements and defeat the Fire Lord.

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Sokka does this to an Earth Kingdom general in "The Drill", no less. Spoken word for word.

** This is how Toph grew up. She lived in luxury and had the run of the whole estate. But she wasn't allowed to travel outside the estate or exercise her incredible potential at Earthbending--her parents thought this was too dangerous for their "[[SarcasmMode helpless]] [[CuteBruiser little]] [[DisabilitySuperpower blind]] [[LittleMissBadass girl.]]" Nobody other than her family and her Earthbending teacher even knew that she existed, though she was able to get out enough to lead a secret double life as a pro wrestler

** The Gaang's experience in Ba Sing Se. They were allowed to indulge in all the luxury they wanted, as long as they didn't try to leave, or break the rules, or evade the constant surveillance, or search for Appa, or tell anyone about Long Feng's GovernmentConspiracy or the war with the Fire Nation...

** Subverted with [[spoiler:Meng]], to whom he doesn't give the time of day.

* GoodAngelBadAngel: Zuko's uncle and sister in the Season 2 finale; in the episode before, Zuko goes into an AngstComa and dreams about a Red dragon that speaks with Iroh's voice and a blue dragon with Azula's. [[spoiler:This is a neat foreshadowing of Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin being his implied historical and psychological GoodAngelBadAngel in ''The Avatar and the Fire Lord'' - Roku (Ursa's grandfather) owned a red dragon and Sozin (Ozai's grandfather) owned a blue-green one.]]

* GrandFinale

** However, it was subverted when the Gaang first meets Teo and The Mechanist.

*** Coinciding with the above statement, although Muggles Smash, Benders Shoot ''is'' the better descriptor. In terms of the Gaang this really only applies to Katara who is not at all versed in hand to hand combat and really is at a bad disadvantage when she can't bend or has no water to draw from. Generally however, the more talented benders seem to be rather capable at handing out beatdowns or at least getting by without their element; Zuko [as noted above), Aang (a rarity, but can go on a really good dodging defensive), and Iroh for sure and ''highly possible'' for Azula and Toph.

* HandsplayInTheater:(regular theater, here)in the episode "Ember Island Players". Played straight with Sokka and Suki (his arm around her shoulders), and averted with Aang and Katara (Zuko sits between them.).

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Subverted. It looks as though Aang learns waterbending faster than Katara (which would at least be justified by being the avatar), but when Katara and Aang get an actual instructor instead of relying on self-teaching and the scroll, Katara masters it even faster than Aang. Furthermore, Aang has trouble with earthbending since that [[ElementalRockPaperScissors is the counter to air]]. Of course Aang is shown goofing off during the waterbending lessons.

* HazyFeelTurn: The corrupt [[spoiler:Dai Li go from serving Long Feng to serving the Fire Nation]].

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The series provides two examples of this in Jet and Hama, two individuals whose hatred of the Fire Nation blinded them to the point where they could no longer distinguish between friend and foe. Hama was even worse than Jet, because he at least tried to justify it as [[WellIntentionedExtremist doing the right thing]] by making sacrifices, and he did redeem himself [[RedemptionEqualsDeath in the end]]. Hama was treated so badly that she targeted anyone within reach, mostly civilians. Both of them served as a warning to Sokka and Katara about what they could become if they continued to hold on to their own prejudice and anger.
* HesAFriend: Sokka needs to do this for Zuko. Twice.

** And '''then''' Zuko and Katara in "The Southern Raiderns"; she comes to forgive him after he helps her find her mother's killer. (Zuko, in case you haven't noticed, gets this a lot.)

** The [[SuperpowerLottery Avatars]] themselves often encounter this as well. [[PlayingWithFire Fire-native]] Avatars often find learning [[MakingASplash Waterbending]] to be the most difficult bending art to learn, and vice versa for Water-native avatars.

** TheLancer: Katara, who also counts as TheChick. [[spoiler:Zuko fills the role of TheLancer perfectly once he joins the group, however.]]

** TheSixthRanger: [[spoiler:Zuko, after two and a half seasons of chasing down the Avatar and working on his CharacterDevelopment, he officially joins the group halfway through Book 3.]] [[spoiler:Suki also counts, for making several appearances throughout the show, and finally joining the group halfway through Book 3. Suki also counts as a GuestStarPartyMember.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "The Storm" alone, we have [[spoiler:Zuko caring about the lives of his people more than his father, Master Gyatsu messing around with Aang with a White Lotus tile, and Iroh redirecting lighting.]] Bear in mind this is halfway through Book 1: Water. Also, that blimp that gets shot down in "The Northern Air Temple"? [[spoiler: The Fire Nation takes its tech to build a much larger one in the finale.]] An ''extremely'' subtle example; in "The King of Omashu", Bumi warns Aang that defeating Ozai will take extremely out-of-the-box thinking. See TheCloudCuckoolanderWasRight, above, for how thinking like a mad genius helped Aang in his adventures.
** Zuko's dream in "The Earth King" can be interpreted as this, illustrating [[spoiler: having to make a choice between his uncle, the red dragon (good), and Azula, the blue dragon (evil)]] two episodes later.

* FreudianTrio: Aang is TheKirk, Sokka is TheSpock, and Katara is TheMcCoy.

** In Season 2 the Gaang starts getting chased by Zuko's much more competent sister, Azula, and her two friends who can throw knives and block bending. Then they make enemies with the government (Dai Li) of Ba-Sing-Se and the Fire Nation captures the city by the end of the season. Then in Season 3, the Fire Nation successfully captures the entire invasion force.
** You could begin with season 1: in the first episodes, the plot is: the only hope to restore peace is a young, untrained boy. But a few episodes later, we learn that in a few months, the bad guys' powers will be multiplied by 100 for enough time for them to destroy all remaining opposition single-handedly.

** And was a source for the Ember Island Play.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Subverted by Azula, but definitely played straight by Yue.

** [[RunningGag The Cabbage Merchant]].

** Azula became this toward Zuko in Season 3. Both suffered ParentalAbandonment, [[spoiler:although in Azula's case, it may only be from her perspective]]. Zuko however was able to get a ParentalSubstitute in Iroh while Azula was shaped by other parent, the super-evil Ozai.

* EvilIsBurningHot: The Fire Nation is initially played up to be this, but it's later subverted in that some become allies to Aang.

* ExhaustedEyeBags: Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph all have bags under their eyes when they go without sleep due to being chased for days by Azula and her QuirkyMinibossSquad. Later Aang gets this when he goes three days without sleeping due to nightmares of the coming battle.

** Fire Lord Ozai in Books 1 and 2.

** Ozai's receiving CruelMercy can be considered one after losing his ability to firebend.

* {{Filler}}: Not in abundant amounts, but present.

** Not abundant in the first two books, but jarringly common in Book 3. It's especially odd feeling because many filler episodes are put right in the middle of what would normally be the darkest arc of the series (or even worse, right before the finale like 'Ember Island Players').
* FindTheCure: "The Blue Spirit".

** Also Zuko and Katara; she comes to forgive him after he helps her find her mother's killer.
*** Momo and the three alley cats in "The Tale of Momo" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se."

** Also, the Mechanist's son Teo is paraplegic, but has a glider attachment to his wheelchair that lets him fly almost as well as Aang. Though unlike Toph, this flight ability is never overtly suggested to be ''because'' of his handicap.

* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech: Sokka's courtroom defense of Aang in "Avatar Day", and his attempt at briefing the invasion plan in "Day of Black Sun".

** when Appa and the Porcupine-Boar raise hell with their fight in "Appa's Lost Days"

* DoIReallySoundLikeThat: Comes with the territory in "The Ember Island Players". Katara is particularly defensive.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In "Nightmares and Daydreams" Aang has dreams about facing off against the Fire Lord, dressed as Goku from DragonballZ and the title character from Naruto

* DontTouchItYouIdiot

* DorkKnight: Most of the young, sympathetic main characters have their moments of this. Katara's more [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Knightly]], Sokka's more [[{{Adorkable}} Dorky]], and Aang's heavy [[{{Keet}} on]] [[{{MessianicArchetype}} both]]. [[spoiler: Even Zuko qualifies post HeelFaceTurn.]]

* DuelToTheDeath: The Agni Kai among firebenders is often treated as such.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Without getting into the differences in characterization, the pilot episode gives Zuko the ability to use flame jets as {{Reverse Grip}}ped daggers and has Aang consciously activate the Avatar State for a quick boost despite the episode ostensibly taking place sometime during the equivalent of the beginning of the first season. Fire Nation soldiers wear SpikesOfVillainy galore and Katara is also named Kya.

** However, played straight Iroh when the Gaang meets him in Ba Sing Se. Though Toph's testimony probably helped.
* EatTheDog: Sokka offers up Momo to a sea monster as a "humble and tasty" sacrifice.

* DaydreamSurprise: "Nightmares and Daydreams"
* DayInTheLife: "Tales of Ba Sing Se"
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Zuko Alone", "Appa's Lost Days", "Sokka's Master", "The Boiling Rock".

* DeadlyDodging: several examples, like Aang vs Zhao in "The Deserter", but the one taking the cake would be that scholar being attacked by the platypus-bear in the beginning of "The Fortuneteller". Aunt Wu wasn't that far off.
* DeathFakedForYou: [[spoiler:Iroh claimed to have killed the last dragon, but he instead found them and didn't tell anyone, so they could live in peace.]]
** Also [[spoiler:Aang, sort of. He actually does die but is healed by Katara and remains unconscious for some weeks after. The rest of the team think it's best that they don't draw attention to the fact that Aang isn't dead and eventually convince him to reluctantly go along with it]]

--> Zuko: How am I supposed to convince these people that I'm on their side? What would Uncle do? [Impersonating his Uncle, pacing and holding up his finger] ''Zuko, you must look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself''. [Dropping the impersonation and getting frustrated] Even when I'm talking for him I can't figure out what he means!

* {{Depower}}: [[spoiler:Fire Lord Ozai in the finale.]]

** In ''The Cave of Two Lovers'', Aang jokingly says that he wouldn't want to kiss [[LoveInterest Katara]]. When she understandably takes it pretty bad, he "clarifies" that if he had to chose between death and kissing her, he would chose the kiss.

** Zuko lets drop that he was the one who sent Combustion Man after them, which he thought they had figured out already. Oops.

** It's also somewhat ironic since Zuko got noticeably and progressively more powerful throughout season 1, It just became more and more apparent as the season went on that he had inadequate resources facing effectively impossible odds. From the very first episode, the only reason he was a threat to Aang at all were his cunning, [[VillainousValor desperation]], [[{{Determinator}} and absolute refusal to give up.]]

** In a broader example, the fire nation in particular evokes Japan in the years before and during World War II, and the cult of personality surrounding the Fire Lord has echoes of China under Chairman Mao.

* HypocriticalHumor: When Team Avatar are frustrated in their initial attempts to warn the Earth King above the war, they switch to searching for Appa and their government-appointed handler Joo Dee seems finally supportive but won't let them go out without her. She promises not to get in the way and ''immediately'' gets in Toph's way when she tries to leave the house.

* HypocriticalHumor: When Team Avatar are frustrated in their initial attempts to warn the Earth King above the war, they switch to searching for Appa and their government-appointed handler Joo Dee seems finally supportive but won't let them go out without her. She promises not to get in the way and ''immediately'' gets in Toph's way when she tries to leave the house.

** Of course in Avatarverse, bears that are just bears are the exotic creature that nobody seriously believes in.

* CharacterDevelopment: This happens to all the characters, but especially Sokka, who [[TookALevelInBadass developed]] from PluckyComicRelief to a {{badass}} over the course of the adventure.

** ''Tales of Ba Sing Se'' has virtually nothing relevant to the story arc happening and mostly just shows the various characters leading normal (for them) days in their lives.

* CryForTheDevil

** By Season 3 Zuko's unscarred eye become wider and less menacing.

* ArtEvolution: In a short series like this, and an animated one to boot, one normally doesn't find art evolution. However, it does occur; for instance, compare the size and shape of Katara's eyes (They shift from a noticeably Tibetan (or maybe Inuit) appearance to the more standard large anime eyes) in the first few episodes to the last few episodes, Sokka's entire facial structure and even Aang's face changes somewhat.

* ArtShift: The flashbacks in Season 1, Episode 11, "The Great Divide". Specifically the Zhang tribe's is done in as style reminiscent of Hiroyuki Imaishi's work (e.g. ''DeadLeaves'', ''PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'', ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'').
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Princess Yue becomes the [[spoiler:Moon Spirit.]]

* AssholeVictim: All signs point to [[spoiler: Fire Lord Azulon]] not being a very nice person. WordOfGod and background material show him as [[spoiler: ruling the Fire Nation with an iron fist and carrying out the war against the other nations with brutality only matched by Ozai. Like the genocide carried out against the Southern Water Tribe's Waterbenders and the raids carried out against said tribes. (These raids eventually resulted in the death of Katara's mother.) He was willing to have his innocent grandson killed just to prove a point to Ozai.]] Other than possibly Iroh, [[spoiler: it's unlikely anyone really missed him when Ozai and Ursa killed him.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Zuko]] after his HeelFaceTurn, and before as well. [[spoiler: Before, he's trying to atone for the event that led to his dishonour and banishment. After, he's trying to atone for betraying his uncle Iroh in his attempt to get back into his father's good books]].

* AtTheCrossroads: The Season 2 finale is ''The Crossroads Of Destiny'' where Zuko and Aang make their tough choices.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Sokka [[spoiler:defeats Combustion Man by throwing his boomerang into the center of CM's eye tattoo. This causes it to malfunction and explode when he tries to fire his lasers again.]]
** Also, the Gaang use this tactic against the drill attacking Ba Sing Se, in the episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Drill]].

** Any Grandmaster of the White Lotus. Even Piandao, the only known non-bender member of the order, is incredibly powerful with a simple sword. Note: Though you could describe a few of the members as 'grand masters' of their martial arts, only Iroh was a 'Grand Lotus' in the Order.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: I believe it goes, [[spoiler:"ALL HAIL FIRE LORD ZUKO!"]]

** While not quite the Finale, Day of the Black Sun has an equally impressive list of minor characters return

* {{Badass}}: Several characters; [[LittleMissBadass Toph]], [[BadassGrandpa Iroh]], and [[BadassPrincess Azula]] being the biggest ones.

* BadassAdorable: Toph, Aang, Ty Lee, Suki, Appa and Katara can kick ass or do something awesome one minute, and make you go "awww" the next.

* BadassGrandpa[=/=]CoolOldGuy: Iroh. [[spoiler:See him break out of jail and you'll know what I mean.]][[http://darkkenjie.deviantart.com/art/Iroh-Dragon-of-the-West-116834344 Fanart example]].

*** In addition to retaking his own city (and escaping captivity with only ''his face'') Bumi used this to his advantage when he first met Aang after the 100 year time skip. Knowing Aang would try to outsmart him, Bumi put himself in a position where Aang can try to LoopHoleAbuse his way into fighting a frail old man instead of his two large and muscular guards. Aang learned the hard way why Bumi was king.
** Aang's mentor, Gyatso, counts as this. When his corpse is discovered by Aang, it is found in a tent that is completely littered with Fire Nation armor and skeletons. Despite the Air Nomads "All Life is Sacred" vow, it's clear that Gyatso was extremely powerful and took down dozens of Fire Nation benders and soldiers who's firebending was amplified from the effects of Sozin's Comet, and the only way they managed to kill him was by sending wave upon wave against him until sheer number finally broke him down. Badass indeed.

* BadGuyBar: Seen in "The Library" and "The Desert."
* BadOmenAnecdote: In the episode about the cave of two lovers, the hippie nomad who tells the Gaang about the secret cave, sings to them a song about it. The song ends with "...aaaand diiiiiiiiiiie!".

---> '''YOU MUZZLED APPA?!'''

*** Harm to Aang is her second berserk button.

-->'''Iroh''': ''(to Zhao)'' Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold! Let it go NOW!
** Jet and absolutely anything having to do with the Fire Nation. His inability to let go of his intense FantasticRacism is what inadvertantly leads to [[spoiler:his death.]]
* BerserkerTears: When Sokka discovers [[spoiler:Azula captured Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors (including referring to Suki as "[her] favorite prisoner")]] during Day of Black Sun, Sokka gets these and flips his shit.

* BigNo: [[spoiler:Zuko]] pulls off one in the finale, when [[spoiler:Azula]] attempts to [[spoiler:strike Katara with lightning]]. Also, Actress Aang in "The Ember Island Players".

** Also Sokka in ''"The Cave Of Two Lovers"'', when he finds he's stuck in the titular caves with a bunch of hippies.
** Also Aang in the desert [[spoiler:when he's looking for Appa after he was stolen]]

* BilingualBonus: All the calligraphy in Avatar is real Chinese.

* BizarreAlienSenses: Toph's ability to "see" using Earthbending. It is very unusual when you think about it since it requires forming "images" through contact with the ground. The closest equivalent in real life would be how snakes and elephants can detect low-frequency sounds through vibrations in the ground as well.

** Sokka's Space Sword. The sharpness of the sword actually works against Sokka in the finale. When he tries to slow himself and Toph down by [[BladeBrake stabbing into the hull of an airship]], it shears through the metal until they reach the bottom and keep falling.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zigzagged. It's mostly played straight but with a few major exceptions. If someone's an aversion, you can bet they're [[spoiler: a member of the Order of the White Lotus.]]
* AerithAndBob: The names for most cultures seem to be Chinese and Japanese mixed together, with a few other things thrown in (Zuko, and Iroh look like Japanese names, Zhao and Ozai are Chinese; they're all from the Fire Nation). This trope happens if you're Chinese or Japanese - names that sound normal to you mixed with names that really don't. There are also a few names that seem "normal" to Western audiences, like Lee, Mai and Jet.

*** Azula's name ''looks'' Japanese, except for the fact that it contains the letter 'l'. Her name was originally to be "Zula" (to mirror Zuko), but was changed to Azula to capture the Spanish word Azul (blue) and create a MeaningfulName for the girl slinging blue fire around, albeit one which is left-field in a world that is obviously South and East Asian-themed. Alternative, in keeping to the Japanese language, you can use the r/l switch and get yet another MeaningfulName for "blue".

** One of the partygoers in "The Beach" is named "Ruon-Jian". It's pronounced [[https://www.ronjonsurfshop.com "Ron Jon".]]

* AnAesop: Lots of them. Many, many episodes have morals to impart, such as "The Kyoshi Warriors" ("sexism is bad"), "The Fortuneteller" ("we make our own destiny") and "The Deserter" ("impatience is bad"). Few of them are [[BrokenAesop broken]], [[LostAesop lost]], or otherwise faulty—or so {{Anvilicious}} as to feel like being on the receiving end of a sermon.
* AffectionateParody: The Boulder, a paper-thin parody of [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestlers]] Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, HulkHogan, and RandySavage. And he's voiced by another wrestler (and friend of The Rock) Mick Foley, who you can tell was [[LargeHam having a grand olde time]] providing the voice. The creators even wanted The Rock to do the voice acting, according to Avatar Extras.

* AirAidedAcrobatics: The entire point of [[BlowYouAway air-bending]] is basically this trope.

** Azula is a terrible, terrible person, and while it's possible to feel sorry for her, usually she's such a {{magnificent bitch}} that you temporarily forget those feelings. [[spoiler:Then she spends the whole series finale going steadily crazier and crazier, with her FreudianExcuse coming to the surface. Then she finally snaps after she loses to Katara and the last shot of her in the series is her sobbing uncontrollably, with Zuko and Katara themselves looking sad about it]].

* AliceAllusion: "The Swamp"
-->'''Aang:''' I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress.
-->'''Sokka:''' Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!
* TheAlcatraz: The Boiling Rock
* AllDesertsHaveCacti: in the entire episode "The Desert", we only see ''one'' cactus… the one responsible for Sokka and Momo's MushroomSamba.

** The Avatar comics which appeared in various Nickelodeon publications throughout the run of the series also fill in some important details, particularly the ones set between Seasons 2 and 3, which reveal [[spoiler:what happened to Ba Sing Se after Azula conquered it, and how Zuko and Mai got together.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The rest of the world's general opinion of firebenders, along with BadPowersBadPeople.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Ty Lee shows unusual interest in Azula, which goes almost to the point of obsession. On Ember Island, several boys took interest in Ty Lee on the beach, to which she was completely oblivious and preferred the company of Azula. She also had a brief interest she took in Sokka.

* AndZoidberg: Sokka once in a while. "Three on Three plus Sokka".

* {{Angrish}}: Sokka's reaction towards Toph waking him up in "Bitter Work." After considering the sleepless marathon he had to go through in the previous episode, his frustration is well justified here. The Avatar Extras note that the writers did have actual dialog for Sokka, but the voice actor improvised the grumbled angrish instead.

* [[invoked]] AngstWhatAngst: Aang tries to invoke this in "The Serpent's Pass," after [[BerserkButton completely freaking out]] in the previous episode over losing Appa. Don't worry, he snaps out of it.

* {{Animesque}}: Asian setting, multi-national cast, art style similar to {{Anime/FLCL}}, face faults, etc.

* AngstComa: In Season 2, Zuko undergoes a severe fever and enters a coma in which he has vivid dreams in which his uncle and sister appear as dragons and argue over his life choices. Iroh says that this is "not a natural illness" and the whole thing is apparently caused solely by Zuko's [[spoiler:premature HeelFaceTurn.]]
* AnxietyDreams - An episode is devoted to these. It's mostly PlayedForLaughs, but at least one can reach serious NightmareFuel territory.

* ArcWords: "I must regain my honor." There are story sequences built around this phrase for Zuko, Aang, and Sokka ("the Boiling Rock")

* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: A more kid-friendly variation is used in "The Waterbending Scroll." When some pirates attack the camp looking for Aang, Aang and Sokka try to fight. Aang quickly gets snared in a net, and they start to carry him off. Sokka looks all offended. "Aww, What? ''I'm'' not good enough to kidnap?" [[SubvertedTrope And then they turn and throw a net over him too.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Who are you and what do you want?" Iroh to Zuko. [[Series/BabylonFive Vorlon and Shadow]] in one sentence.

** Also, chronologically first, Kanna (Gran-Gran) and Pakku.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the Season 2 episode "Avatar Day", the punishment wheel is an excellent example, showing the Torture machine, boiled in oil, eaten by sharks, [[NightmareFuel several other fates equally painful and fatal]], and... community service.
** Lampshaded by Katara crossing her fingers and repeating "communityservice". Gotta love it.

-->'''Earth King:''' You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, ''break down my fancy door'', and you expect me to ''trust'' you?!
-->'''Extras Popup:''' And he ''loved'' that fancy door!
-->And do I even need add "the malicious destruction of cabbages?
* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Sozin's "Comet" is something of a misnomer. Comets are seen for days or possibly weeks as they take their sweet time to fly around the sun, are made of much more ice and earth than fire, and ''rarely'' intersect the atmosphere and live to tell their tale again. There is a class of objects that do--Earth-grazing fireballs--but "Sozin's Earthgrazer" isn't anywhere near as poetic, and doesn't carry that ancient "comets are harbingers of doom" mystique. In addition, the distinction wasn't always as clear in our world, either, so a culture with no advanced astronomy could easily just call any flying space object comets, and the word "comet" comes from Ancient Greek, the language of a culture in which people also thought the world consisted of a total of four (guess which) elements.

** Mai's daggers should not cause people to go flying back into walls unless she's somehow [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Gambit]] in disguise. Also note that at the speed she throws them, they should just cut right through the clothes instead of dragging people with them.

** Practically required to be in the Order of the White Lotus. [[spoiler Five very old men retake the impenetrable Ba Sing Se (which was taken through espionage and trickery) in a full frontal assault on the day when the fire benders are strongest.]]

** Practically required to be in the Order of the White Lotus.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "The Storm" alone, we have [[spoiler:Zuko caring about the lives of his people more than his father, Master Gyatsu messing around with Aang with a White Lotus tile, and Iroh redirecting lighting.]] Bear in mind this is halfway through Book 1: Water. Also, that blimp that gets shot down in "The Northern Air Temple"? [[spoiler: The Fire Nation takes its tech to build a much larger one in the finale.]] An ''extremely'' subtle example; in "The King of Omashu", Bumi warns Aang that defeating Ozai will take extremely out-of-the-box thinking.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: In the Siege of the North Part 1, when talking about getting the Ocean and Moon Spirits' support, Aang says that, "Maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation." Both Yue and Katara give him weird looks. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Guess what happens]] [[CurbStompBattle next episode?]]
* CucumberFacial