Fanon / Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, due to its largely implied and All There in the Manual worldbuilding, has a lot of this, along with a multitude of different character interpretations.

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General

• Some people insist that bending ability and talent is inherited from one's parents' training and/or down to Superpowerful Genetics. This is shown to be believed by the Fire Sages in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search, who felt that the offspring of the Fire Nation Royal Family and Avatar Roku's descendants would produce powerful firebenders; the resulting children were Zuko and Azula. Word of God says that bending manifests due to a mix of genetics, spirituality, and training.
  • It's shown in Korra that the ability to bend was originally bestowed on some humans by the Lion Turtles, and that the aforementioned animals taught them the art of bending, that is, how to actually control and use their abilities to their full potential.
• A popular notion in fanfiction is that citizens of the Fire Nation worship the Sun Spirit as a god and call it Agni. Several factors contribute to this bit of fanon: 1) As waterbenders are empowered by the moon, and the Northern Water Tribe worships the Moon Spirit, so firebenders are empowered by the sun, therefore it seems logical that the Fire Nation would worship a Sun Spirit. 2) Agni is the name of the god of fire in Hindu mythology, and the Fire Nation has a custom of firebending duels called "Agni-Kai." 3) You get to give Fire Nation characters something to say when they feel like swearing.
• Saying "Oh, Spirits!" (or any variation thereupon) to express frustration is extremely common in fanfiction. This seems to have become Ascended Fanon as of The Rise of Kyoshi, in which a waterbender uses the expression "Tui's gills!" to indicate shock, and Kyoshi claims to have sworn an oath of vengeance "by the spirits that turn this world on its axis."
• Female Fire Lords being referred to as "Fire Ladies" is pure fanon. "Fire Lord" is a unisex term in-series and Izumi is referred to as such numerous times, including by her own son. The title of "Fire Lady" does exist, but it specifically refers to the wife of a reigning Fire Lord, i.e. a queen consort. Though given that fanon also used that term for a Fire Lord's wife long before such a title was used in canon, this may be a case of Ascended Fanon.
• In a large number of fan works, both the Northern and Southern Water Tribe use betrothal necklaces. In the series itself, this custom is only shown to be true among Northerners. The only time a Southern Water Tribe engagement has been shown, a wedding ring was used.
• An Indian Fantasy Counterpart Culture exists somewhere. This is because at least one character with an Indian-inspired design (Pathik) has appeared.
  • Related, many assume said counterpart to have been the setting's original energybenders, their apparent rarity explaining why the bending of spiritual energy is a lost art, and Pathik's teachings being all about altering the chakras within oneself.
• That everyone reincarnates. The Avatar reincarnates, but it's unspecified in canon what happens to other characters when they die. A specific case that comes up in fanfiction is Momo as a reincarnation of Gyatso, which was originally intended but never stated in the show.
  • Building on the above, some fans believe that everyone reincarnates in the Avatar cycle (Water>Earth>Fire>Air>Water), and the only reason no one knows is because the Avatar is the only person whose past lives visibly empower them. This is somewhat supported by "Beginnings", as reincarnation was never stated to be one of the benefits of merging with Raava, implying that Wan's spirit has been reincarnating this entire time without any help from the Avatar Spirit.

The Last Airbender

• Jet's Freedom Fighters going by nicknames assigned by their leader Jet.
• The idea that Kyoshi solved all her problems with violence and bathed in the blood of her enemies tends to be really common, all because she readily accepted responsibility for the death of Chin the Conqueror and counselled Aang to kill Ozai.
• It is widely accepted fanon that Azula is 100% lesbian; any contention about the matter is likely to be about whether she's also into men. She is shown attempting, and failing, at heterosexual dating in-canon, so the main argument is whether this is due to actual attraction or out of a desire for power/fitting in.
  • It's pretty well accepted in the fandom that Azula and Ty Lee are together and the writers managed to sneak it under the radar, to the point where they are often listed as a canon pairing. This despite the fact that there is a scene in Season 3 where Ty Lee gives Azula advice about flirting with boys, which Azula promptly puts into motion. That being said, there is a lot of subtext between the two (but both Azula and Ty Lee have some subtext with pretty much everyone), it is pretty clear that Azula cares about Ty Lee more than she cares about anyone else, and Ty Lee seems absolutely devoted to Azula, up until "The Boiling Rock". Word of Saint Paul would at one point confirm that Azula has such feelings, bolstering this pairing.
  • Going hand-in-hand with the above point, the idea that Ty Lee is bisexual has become quite well-accepted. She makes passes at both Sokka and Zuko, but her behavior toward Azula also raises eyebrows. Indeed, she will flirt with anyone.
• Smellerbee (a member of Jet's Freedom Fighters) being a trans girl, based on a scene in which Iroh mistakenly calls her a boy, which causes her to have a breakdown and need to be comforted by one of her comrades, in a way that implies that this is a common occurrence.
• When first introduced Toph and Aang were 12, Azula, Ty Lee, and Katara were 14, Sokka, Suki, and Mai were 15, and Zuko was 16, and by the end of the series about three seasons had gone by. Any other exact ages are fanon.
• Zuko's Season One hairdo is called a "phoenix tail," apparently. Maybe because "ponytail" sounded too fun and perky. It does seem likely, as Sokka's ponytail is properly called a "warrior's wolf tail." On the other hand, the scene in which this is revealed makes it clear that the word "ponytail" does exist in their world.
• Toph only referring to people by nicknames she gives them. While she does it a lot in the show, she more usually uses their real names.
• While Ozai is shown to be physically (towards Zuko) and emotionally (to both Zuko and Azula) abusive, fanon enjoys tossing in sexual abuse into at least Azula and Ozai's relationship. He's also made physically abusive towards Azula. This was made worse when Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search revealed that Ursa was forced into an Arranged Marriage with Ozai against her will, with all the implications of Marital Rape License that come.
• Most fanfic authors also agree that Suki was tortured during her time at the Boiling Rock. This idea isn't unfounded. She was the leader of the group of warriors found in the company of the avatar's flying bison, so it makes sense that she might have some information on his whereabouts, and the guards at the Boiling Rock do torture prisoners for information in canon. However, some fans take Azula's infamous "favorite prisoner" comment to mean that Azula personally raped Suki, though others interpret the remark as trying to get a rise out of Sokka. Suki's behavior after her rescue doesn't seem to reflect that occurrence either.
• Ty Lee has characteristics that are considered very un-Fire Nation (a round face, grey eyes, a very bubbly personality, an affinity for gymnastics, etc.), but do match up with Air Nomads. This has caused fans to speculate that she has Air Nomad ancestry going back to or even predating the genocide. This often ties into the larger fan theory that not all Air Nomads were killed off, either living in hiding in a secret village or subtly integrating into Fire Nation or Earth Nation communities. The Legend of Korra depicts no Airbenders being known to exist besides Tenzin's family at least until Book 3, though proponents of this theory argue that it just means none of the survivors' descendants had bending abilities.
• There is a theory bandied about with various levels of seriousness that Jin, the girl who asks Zuko out on a date in "Tales of Ba Sing Se", was paid to do so by Iroh, in an attempt to cheer up his nephew at a difficult time.
• Zuko gets mocked by Azula telling him he was "lucky to be born." Many fans interpreted this as Zuko having been an ill or premature baby.
  • In addition, it's common in fanfics that Zuko was born in the middle of winter, more often than not on the winter solstice. This is seen as a bad omen to the Fire Nation. This is based on the canon fact that Firebenders are born more frequently in the summer.
• Iroh's wife died in childbirth.
• As children, Mai gave Zuko a heart-shaped rock, which he kept with him during his banishment. This actually comes from a scrapped element from "Going Home Again," a short Nickelodeon Magazine comic that shows how they got together between seasons.
• It's generally assumed that Toph's parents and Ursa are nonbenders. In-series, it's never clarified either way if they're nonbenders or if they're benders who just aren't depicting bending on-screen.
• Many fan works portray Zuko as being blinded on his left eye due to the severity of the burn around his eye, which admittedly adds another layer to all the stunts Zuko pulls throughout the series.
  • It's also not uncommon to see Zuko portrayed as having lost some or all of his hearing in his left ear as well, due to how severely burned it was. This isn't unfounded, considering it looks like a good portion of his outer ear was burned clean off.
• Speaking of Zuko's scar, there have been a few theories and fan works that note that the burn is shaped a little like a hand print, and theorize that Ozai placed his hand on Zuko's face before blasting fire at him. Some speculate this could partially explain why the burn looks much more serious near the center, though the more delicate skin immediately around a person's eye could contribute.
• While Zuko's ship from Book One doesn't have a canon name, numerous fanfics refer to it as the Wani. This seems to have been popularized by Embers (Vathara).

The Legend of Korra

• The third season of Korra doesn't explain why these particular non-benders became Airbenders after the Harmonic Convergence, but a popular idea is that they have Air Nomad ancestry. This idea was given more weight when Rise of Kyoshi revealed that Avatar Kyoshi had an Earth Nation father and an Air Nomad mother, with the implication that others like her have always existed and that Kyoshi's own line of descent could have contributed to the new Airbenders.
  • Another speculation holds that all of the new airbenders were born in autumn (the season associated with air). The fact that Opal Beifong is named for the real-world October birthstone is occasionally cited as a clue.
• Shippers were quick to create the very common fanon that Asami likes Korra, not Mako. Some have even gone far enough to say she smashed into him with the purpose to meet Korra (though that's more typically Played for Laughs). As of the final episode, the idea that, at some point, Asami did start liking Korra and not Mako is actually canon.
• The idea that Kya is a lesbian caught a lot of traction. Some fans used this to ship with her with Lin, while others just liked the idea. A few fans also think that she has a wife because her necklace bares a resemblance to a Northern Water Tribe betrothal necklace, although she's single in canon. This is possibly a case of Ascended Fanon, since the creators have confirmed that Kya is an LGBT+ individual, along with Aiwei, Korra, and Asami. The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars later clarified that Kya is attracted to women.
• Similar to the above example, the idea that Kuvira is either a lesbian or bisexual has really spiked in popularity since the start of the fourth season. Bisexuality seems plausible, as the fact that she has a male fiance suggests that she is probably attracted to men.
• The identity of Izumi's mother hasn't been revealed, but fans almost always assume that it's Mai. This is probably in part because she was Zuko's only canon love interest in the original series who lasted longer than one episode, and in part because her only major rival shipping-wise is canonically paired with Aang. It does seem probable. Even though Mai broke up with Zuko in the comics, they are both shown to still love each other. Izumi's resemblance to Mai has not helped matters. Gene Luen Yang (who used to write the comics) confirmed at a con in 2017 that the two of them would eventually get back together as well.
  • Before Izumi's name was revealed, one popular theory was that she would be "Ursa," after Zuko's beloved mother. Her main Fan Nickname, however, was "Honora." Obviously this was meant to be a joke on Zuko's obsession with honor, but it became so popular that a lot of people actually wanted it to become Ascended Fanon. By the time her canon name was revealed, a large handful of presumably newer fans had no idea that "Honora" wasn't her actual name. These days Izumi's unnamed, unseen daughter has inherited the nickname.
• Many Korrasami shippers have come up with the theory that Asami was the one who commissioned that Republic City Park be renamed Avatar Korra Park and had the statue of Korra built. This is due to the fact that Asami helped redesign the city and therefore would be in a position to have this done.
  • Related to this is the theory that Meelo was not the one who drew the picture of Korra, but that he borrowed it from Asami who made it. While this is admittedly possible, "The Battle of Zaofu" does indicate that Meelo has artistic talent of his own.
• The show never specifies if Sokka had any descendants, a fact which fans simply won't tolerate. Some of the prime suspects for Sokka's Secret Kid:
  • Suyin. It bolsters the popular Tokka ship, and she has darker skin than either Toph or Lin (and looks a bit like Kya). That said, Suyin explicitly grew up not knowing her father, while we know that Sokka lived at least until Korra was a toddler; naturally, many Tokka fans are reluctant to imply that he was a deadbeat dad.
  • Alternatively, Suyin's husband Baatar Sr. He, and especially their son Baatar Jr., look quite a bit like Sokka, and both are non-benders with skills in science. Some fans even think that "Baatar" could be an Earth Nation spin on "Bato." One piece of evidence against this is that Suyin says that she and Baatar Sr. didn't meet until they were adults, while one would suspect for Sokka and Toph's kids to know each other as children.
  • Varrick, another non-bending Ditzy Genius from the Southern Water Tribe.
  • Zhu Li. There's no really much evidence for it, aside from her being another smart non-bender, but her past is pretty much a blank so there's not much to contradict it.
  • Another theory is that Sokka did have a kid with Suki, but that the child died at some point long before the events of Korra, and that the rest of the family doesn't like bringing it up. While not as popular as any of the above theories, it also has the least risk of running into Fridge Logic or contradicting the show.
• Many fans also believe that Sokka was a Cool Uncle to Bumi, with the two of them having a strong bond due to both being non-benders.
• The idea that the Fire Nation Shaman who helped an amnesiac Korra get back on her feet is an older and redeemed Azula has some popularity, because of their similar hairstyles, the Shaman being about the same age as Toph and Katara, having the same eye colors, and the Shaman's obvious Firebending prowess. On the other hand, the Shaman lacks Azula's signature blue flames and claims to have been helping raise Sky Bisons since after the end of the War, while the comics establish Azula continued her political ambitions at least three years after the war's end.
• Regarding certain lousy evocative villains, as far as the fanbase is concerned:
  • Zaheer is a fallen Air Acolyte and/or has distant Air Nomad ancestry, probably a vegetarian and/or even more Straight Edge Evil than implied in canon, and had been completely single-target for P'Li since the day they'd met.
  • P'Li was the Team Mom of the Red Lotus and was hiding multiple burn scars under her high-necked and long-sleeved outfit to go with her canonical Dark and Troubled Past. P'Li being a Big Eater is also a common fanon — primarily on the grounds that someone of her height would require a lot of calories to begin with, but partly on the grounds that certain symbolism concerning the ajna chakra suggests that combustionbenders would probably have blast-furnace metabolisms. (It's also an example of a humorous quirk which she can be given while still written completely in-character... and, as of The Dawn of Yangchen, combustionbenders being Big Eaters is Ascended Fanon.)
  • Ming-Hua was the group's healer, was fairly skilled at manipulating things with her toes, probably hailed from the Foggy Swamp Tribe, and had an absolutely hellish childhood.
  • Ghazan was in love with Ming-Hua, although whether or not it was requited is a matter of debate (in fact, guessing that she was probably dead is thought to have played into his decision to drop a cavern on himself); he's also often speculated to be either of sandbender heritage, the son of an Earth Kingdom/Fire Nation union like the one other confirmed lavabender in canon, or both.
• Prior to The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Kuvira's and Suyin's relationship was somewhat vague. Suyin mentions in the show that Kuvira was "like a daughter" to her, but that phrase can mean multiple things ranging from Kuvira being her protege to Kuvira being her surrogate daughter. Most fans interpreted it as meaning that Suyin adopted — or at least fostered — Kuvira, but didn't treat Kuvira like a daughter, which amplified Kuvira's abandonment issues and stirred her Start of Darkness. The comic Jossed this argument with the reveal that Suyin raised Kuvira in her house as one of her daughters, though Kuvira never truly identified as a Beifong, hence why she fell for and became engaged to Baatar Jr.. And while Suyin and Kuvira did have their issues, Kuvira herself refutes the idea that Suyin was responsible for how she turned out, putting the blame squarely on herself for not appreciating Suyin more.
• Many fans assume that Kuvira and the Earth Empire had a far higher kill count than what is shown on screen, in line with real life fascists and military dictatorships.
• Fan art often depicts Korra with a Raava tattoo on her back that glows when she is in the Avatar State.
• Pema being either Ty Lee's late-in-life daughter or her niece via one of her many sisters is at least relatively popular. It's even worth knowing that the original design for Pema's daughter Jinora had her looking more like Ty Lee.
• To explain the lack of Suki in The Legend of Korra, fans often have her as having died at a relatively young age. This often goes with the idea that Sokka is Suyin's father, with the recently widowed Sokka falling for his childhood friend Toph.
• An uncontested piece of fanon based on something that is all but stated in canon is that Korra was poisoned with mercury. The substance is a metallic liquid and her symptoms greatly resemble that of mercury poisoning, however the series itself never states that it was mercury.
• Many fans were speculating that Kyoshi was either lesbian or bisexual long before she was confirmed to be the latter in The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars.
• To explain why Amon's skin tone is so different between his youth and his adulthood, fans cite that either using his mask so much made his his face lighter or that he bleaches his skin.
• Many fans are under the impression that Korra is much shorter than she actually is. The closest we have to a canon height are unconfirmed claims that Bryan Konietzko put it at 1.70m (5'7"), which would put her at least on the edge of Statuesque Stunner territory, and official comic artist Heather Campbell putting it at 1.65m (5'5"), which would make her absolutely average. It's not that Korra is short, Asami is just tall. Still, many fan works portray Korra as a Pintsized Powerhouse, and it's common to see jokes about Korra being insecure about her height, which she never is in canon.
• Prior to the series, Asami already knew she was bisexual. Frequently, she's even had ex-girlfriends.
• There is a popular fanon theory that Korra is related to Princess Yue, due to the fact that her father Tonraq was next in line for the Northern Water Tribe royalty before his younger brother Unalaq became chief after he was banished along with that the NWT is a hereditary monarchy than an elective monarchy like the Southern Water Tribe.

The Rise of Kyoshi

• A lot of fanon assumes that Hark and Jesa left Kyoshi in Yokoya because they somehow discovered that she was the Avatar, despite there being no proof this ever happened. The fans in question tend to claim that Hark and Jesa could have figured it out due to being constantly pursued by Earth Kingdom authorities searching for the Avatar, but this theory ignores that the two of them would most likely be regularly running from the law anyway, given how they were notorious career criminals. There's also the question of why Jesa — at the very least — didn't write anything about her daughter being the Avatar in her journal if she knew about it, given that she was willing to record her suspicions about Lao Ge, as well as confidential information about her outlaw group.
• The longevity technique practiced by Lao Ge and Kyoshi is thought by some to be an earthbending technique. While the two individuals in question are certainly noteworthy Earthbenders, at no point is bending specifically mentioned as being part of the technique. The closest thing it has to a connection with earthbending is when Kyoshi thinks about her training with Lao Ge while using her bending to keep the Qinchao teahouse from collapsing, but if anything, her earthbending stems from the longevity technique during the moment in question, rather than the other way around.

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