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2 reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender

redirected from Main.AvatarTheLastAirbender

alt title(s): Avatar The Last Airbender; Avatar The Legend Of Aang; The Last Airbender
Left to right: Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara.

Katara: Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?
Aang: Because ... I never wanted to be.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang) is an American animated children's television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world of Chinese martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show draws on elements from East Asian, Japanese and Chinese culture, brilliantly fusing the visual style of anime with a more Western approach to storytelling.

And it's a work of genius.

Avatar takes place in a world divided into four nations: the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads. Each have created a fighting style to control or "bend" the element that is their namesake. Only the Avatar, one person born every generation, is capable of mastering all the elements and serving as peacekeeper and protector.

This is the story of a 12-year-old Avatar (chronologically 112), the Airbender Aang, and his quest to master the four bending arts so that he can save the world from Fire Lord Ozai and end the century-long war that he spent trapped in an iceberg. Oh, and just to make things more interesting, he only has until the end of summer to do it!

Luckily, he has found himself in good company with the waterbender Katara and her brother Sokka. As they embark on this journey, they gain more allies. Take a look at the character sheet to get to know more about the characters.

The show is known for its references to Eastern religion and mythology, earning an A+ on the Bechdel Test, aggressive fantastic battles, and well written characters, which is likely why the series nabs strong Ratings across many different demographics (comedy for the kids, deeper stuff for the adults, furiously thrilling action for both).

The Season 1 finale is considered an exceptional work of art for its incredibly epic story and execution. As for Season 2, a list of all the tropes and traditions the writers broke or subverted in the finale could be a page all on its own. And the third, and final, season finale? Let's just say the HSQ was through the roof.

The first season is currently being made into a live-action film The Last Airbender, which will be the second Shyamalan film to be inspired by a Nickelodeon show. While the original creators are still involved with the storyline, it seems that almost every announcement is either warmly received or violently hated. This has already led to some Fan Disillusionment. The first two trailers are out and can be viewed here and here. At the moment, opinions are split as to whether it's too Darker And Edgier, or just right; you should probably make up your own mind.

In another take-off of LittleKuriboh's parody style, Avatar The Abridged Series by GanXingba has become fairly popular.

Not to be confused with the recent movie Avatar, or other meanings of the term 'avatar'

Avatar: The Last Airbender provides examples of:

  • The Abridged Series: by GanXingba. The Ember Island Players is a Show Within A Show example in the best way possible.
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sokka's Space Sword and, to a lesser extent, Zuko's sabres. Also Mai's throwing daggers, being capable of nailing people to solid metal just by throwing them.
  • Abusive Parents: Zuko's father, Ozai.
    • Toph's parents are mostly just neglectful, sheltering and coddling their girl instead of respecting her awesome earthbending skills, and sending bounty hunters after her when she runs off.
  • Action Girl: More often than not, any A and B character who has two X chromosomes is an action girl.
  • Actor Allusion: The 'four elements' wizard in the first episode of Book II: Earth is based directly on Akiro, Mako's early role in the movie Conan The Barbarian.
    • When Piandao tells Sokka to think of the sword as "a part of your own body", it may come to the mind of certain viewers that his voice actor, Robert Patrick, has also played a character in Terminator who actually has swords as a part of his body.
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Katara. She's even in the page picture.
  • Affectionate Parody: The Boulder, a paper-thin parody of pro wrestlers Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage. And he's voiced by another wrestler (and friend of The Rock) Mick Foley, who you can tell was having a grand olde time providing the voice.
    • "The Ember Island Players," has the gang attend a play based on their adventures, with Character Exaggeration of the traits of all characters.
  • The Alcatraz: The Boiling Rock
  • All Monks Know Kung Fu: Every single one of the Air Nomads knew airbending due to their culture's high level of spirituality. Also, the Fire Sages are all master firebenders.
  • All There In The Manual: The main purpose of the Nickelodeon site is to provide supplementary information while not using up valuable air time.
    • As of 11/01/09, the manual appears to be gone.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: The rest of the world's general opinion of firebenders, along with Bad Powers Bad People.
  • Always Save The Girl: Aang decides saving Katara is more important than finishing opening the chakras for the Avatar state
    • Which was something that Iroh fully agreed with.
  • Amazon Brigade: The Kyoshi Warriors
  • And Then What: Uncle Iroh's confrontation with Zuko over trying to kidnap Appa in season 2.
    • Sokka's escape plans from the boiling rock in season 3.
  • And Zoidberg: Sokka once in a while. "Three on Three plus Sokka."
  • Angels Pose: Ozai's Angels during the play in Ember Island Players, playing on their nickname.
  • Angst Coma: 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 premature Heel Face Turn.
  • Angst What Angst: Aang tries to invoke this in "The Serpent's Pass," after completely freaking out in the previous episode over losing Appa. Don't worry, he snaps out of it.
  • Ancient Keeper: Wan Shi Tong.
  • Ancient Tradition: The Order of the White Lotus.
  • Animation Bump: The Grand Finale has a few shots of a much higher quality, though the series itself is already unusually high quality.
  • Animesque: Asian setting, multi-national cast, art-style similar to Cowboy Bebop, face faults,...wait, this is an AMERICAN cartoon!? I thought this is from Singapore!
  • Anti Villain: Zuko
  • The Aragorn: Uncle Iroh, when he leads the forces of the Order of the White Lotus to retake Ba Sing Se.
  • Arc Words: "I must regain my honor." There are story sequences built around this phrase for Zuko, Aang, Sokka ("the Boiling Rock"), and Katara ("The Southern Raiders") in that order.
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Prince Zuko, especially in the first season; Zhao; Xin Fu, the tournament runner tracking Toph with Master Yu; and to a certain extent Toph herself.
  • Arranged Marriage: Hahn and Yue, and according to Word Of God, Ozai and Ursa.
    • Also, chronologically first, Kanna (Gran-Gran) and Pakku.
  • Art Shift: The flashbacks in seasone one, episode 11, "The Great Divide."
  • Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Existence: Princess Yue becomes the Moon Spirit.
  • Ass Pull: Energybending.
  • The Atoner: Zuko after his Heel Face Turn.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Sokka 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.
  • Aura Vision: Ty Lee has the ability to see other people's auras. Hers is pink and Mai's is gray. No word on the other characters, though.
  • Awesome Moment Of Crowning: The end of the series gives one to Zuko
    • Subverted to Hell and back for Azula.
  • Badass Family: The Fire Lord's family, and Hakoda's family.
  • Badass Grandpa/Cool Old Guy:Iroh. Just Goddamn Dragon of the West Uncle Iroh. See him break out of jail and you'll know what I mean.Fanart example.
    • Practically required to be in the Order of the White Lotus.
  • Badass Normal: Sokka, Hakoda, Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Jet and his freedom fighters, Piandao.
    • It's worth at least a brief mention that numerous benders retain an impressive measure of badass even when their access to their bending is denied, Azula and Zuko being possibly the best examples.
      • Considering that bending is actually a martial art, this is not surprising. A good example of this would be Toph. Even though she has the smallest frame of the group, it's possible that she is actually the strongest of them. Remember the desert? when Sokka and Toph are glued, Sokka couldn't free himself. Toph did with a Offhand Backhand.
  • Badbutt: Toph, especially while training Aang.
  • Bad Powers Bad People: The overall public opinion of firebenders.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Quite a few ladies in the show.
    • Pretty much every non-main character female soldier in the show is an example of this trope.
  • Beach Episode: Fittingly named "The Beach", although in a variant, the Beach Episode is given for the villains.
  • Berserk Button: Aang is very attached to Appa, and putting Katara in danger is a very good way to have him go Avatar on your ass.
    • Sokka loses it when Azula taunts him with descriptions of his captured girlfriend. For context, he knew she was taunting everyone to get them to run out the clock and he still lost control. Granted, Azula's just that good at manipulation.
    • Anything that reminds Katara of what happened to her mother is enough to send her flying out of control, to the point where she bloodbends a man whom she thought was the murderer. She eventually learns to rein in this part of herself.
  • Beta Couple: Sokka & Suki, Zuko & Mai
  • Better Than It Sounds - Go ahead, try and justify to your friends why you're watching a kids Tv show. One which might be mistaken for anime. See what that does for your social status.
  • Beyond The Impossible: Done in-universe when Toph invents metalbending.
  • Big Bad: Fire Lord Ozai
    • The first and second seasons had Zuko, Zhao and Azula as their main antagonists.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: "There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
  • Big Damn Heroes: This is Appa's main role, seriously.
    • Not to mention Suki and Mai.
  • Big No: Zuko pulls off one in the finale, when Azula attempts to strike Katara with lightning. Also, the actor playing Aang in "The Ember Island Players".
    • Iroh gives one of these as well, though it's played more for laughs than anything the one time he does it.
  • Big Shadow Little Creature: Momo in his first appearance.
  • Bilingual Bonus: The background text contains a number of Easter Eggs for viewers who know Chinese.
  • Bizarrchitecture: The Western Air Temples
  • Blade Brake - twice
  • The Blank: The victims of Koh the Face Stealer
  • Blatant Lies: Played very straight with Azula
    "I am a four hundred-foot tall purple Platypus Bear with pink horns and silver wings."
  • Blush Sticker
  • Brain Bleach: Zuko, after seeing uncle Iroh hit on a large woman in "The Drill": "I'm gonna forget I saw that." Complete with Face Palm!
    • Very much the same reaction from Zuko when Uncle Iroh stands up from the hotspring in his birthday suit.
    • When Li and Lo try to do the same pose they did when they were young women. Zuko practically throws up.
  • Brainwashed And Crazy: Jet. Which also falls into the Manchurian Agent and Mind Control Eyes tropes (see their entries for more information).
  • Break The Haughty: Zuko, Azula
  • Breather Episode:
  • Broken Base: the debate over the movie casting.
  • Bullet Time: In "The Beach."
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Bumi, and how!
  • Butt Monkey: Sokka, on several occasions, particularly during the first half of the series.
  • Cain And Abel: Ozai and Iroh; Zuko and Azula
  • The Caligula: Azula as Fire Lord assumptive
    • Arguably, Ozai also turns into this. At least after declaring himself the Phoenix King.
      • You could call Sozin and everyone after him, at least before Zuko this. None of them appear to be particularly sane.
  • Call A Smeerp A Rabbit: "Penguins".
    • Played for laughs and subverted with the Earth King's pet bear; the crew goes on to name various animals that could be combined, but are left perplexed as it just says 'bear'. This trope is pulled throughout the entire universe of Avatar, which lends more humor to the situation.
  • Calling The Old Man Out: Katara to Hakoda, and more significantly, Zuko to Ozai.
  • Call To Agriculture: Subverted. The man who killed Katara's mother has a garden and it is implied that he spends quite some time on it, but he is still the cold and heartless man he was when he committed murder.
  • Cannot Tell A Joke: Zuko, Katara
  • The Caretaker: Iroh
  • Cast Calculus: depends on the season
  • Catapult Nightmare: Both Aang and Zuko
  • Cat Smile: Jin, who owns a lot of her popularity thanks to this.
  • Character Witness: The old Fire Nation man in the episode "Jet"
  • Chase Scene: "The Waterbending Scroll"
  • Chekhovs Gun: Schematics for a drilling machine, a prototype war balloon, Katara's amulet of water from the North Pole oasis, the Lotus tile, Iroh's sandal, the scroll with the Lion Turtles at the Library...
  • Chekhov MIA: Koh the Face Stealer's parting words to Aang are "We'll meet again..." SPOILER ALERT: They don't, though given that Koh doesn't differentiate between individual Avatars, he probably meant eventually.
  • The Chick: Katara qualifies.
  • Chick Magnet: Sokka and Zuko, enough said
  • Chirping Crickets: Except with a cough.
  • The Chamberlain: Several different takes on this trope, including Long Feng.
  • The Chosen One: Aang, although the reincarnation system makes it a bit muddled whether he's chosen or just following all his lives.
  • Cincinnatus: Iroh turns down the offer of Fire Lord if his brother was defeated, since he knew Zuko would have to do it.
  • City Of Canals: The Northern Water Tribe's capital city.
  • Clear My Name: "Avatar Day"
    • Subverted in that Avatar Kyoshi actually did do what the angry villagers accused her of doing. But when Fire Nation soldiers attack, the villagers decide that justice can take a back seat to not having their village burned down around them.
  • Cliff Hanger: Zuko confronts his father and demands to know where his mother is, but the answer is never displayed on screen for the viewer...hmm...
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Iroh is setup to be one of these but turns out to be a case of Obfuscating Stupidity. Bumi is legitimately one of these, but no less badass. The greatest example of this, however, is Ty Lee.
    Ty Lee: Hey, look at that dust cloud. It's so... poofy. Poof!
  • Color Coded For Your Convenience: The clothing styles of Four Nations: red for the Fire Nation, blue for the Water Tribes, yellow of the Air Nomads and green for the Earth Kingdom.
    • Also, Azula's blue fire (presumably to indicate her cold, cruel detachment) vs. Zuko's red (to indicate his heated emotional nature). Strangely, ignoring Azula's ruthlessness and superior skill, they are shown to be fairly equal, despite blue fire being many times hotter than red. Interestingly, the color combination was reversed for Aang and Ozai when they were energybending in the Finale.
  • Color Coded Patrician: Princess Yue wears purple, when everyone else in the water tribes wear blue, including her father.
  • Comet Of Doom: Sozin's Comet, although the prediction of doom is hardly mystical; its arrival increases the Firebenders' power by a hundredfold. Fire Lord Sozin, for whom the comet was named, used it to launch a first strike against the Air Nomads, which completely eradicated them. His grandson, Fire Lord Ozai, attempted something similar in the finale.
  • Companion Cube: Sokka's Boomerang and later, Space Earth Sword. Complete with "death".
    • To be honest, practically anything significantly shiny has a potential to become a companion cube for Sokka.
  • Complete Monster: Fire Lord Ozai qualifies big time. When his son disrespected one of his generals (who deserved it), he responded by burning his face, then banishing him and telling him he wouldn't be allowed home until he captured the Avatar. Three years later, when Zuko mouths off again, he tries shooting him with lightning. The whole reason he got the throne in the first place was by manipulating his wife into killing his father for him, because his father ordered him to kill Zuko as punishment for suggesting that he give the throne to him instead of Iroh. And he was going to do it. And then he spends half the finale trying to kill a twelve year-old boy. He feels no remorse for any of this, which shows just where Azula got her sociopathy.
  • Consummate Liar: Azula
  • Continuity Nod: Many, many examples. The umbrella from "The Fortuneteller" is found in Appa's luggage by sandbenders in "Appa's Lost Days". The eye-patch wearing Fire Nation commander from "Jet" shows up again in "The Cave of Two Lovers". The tsungi horn and ruby encrusted monkey statue Iroh buys in "The Waterbending Scroll" appear several times. War Minister Qin turns up at least once a season, usually prior to or during the unveiling of a new Fire Nation war machine. And so on. There's also a tiny mistake: Sokka writes with his left hand in season two and with his right in three. Ambidexterity?
    • Sokka switches between hands frequently (watch his swordfighting as well), so ambidexterity is a decent guess. It's worth noting that he can't draw no matter which hand he's using, though.
  • Convection Schmonvection: Inconsistently played straight and averted.
  • Creepy Child: Flashback-Azula
  • Creepy Twins: Li and Lo. That is until "The Beach", when they only creep Zuko out.
  • Cross Dressing Voices: Not used in the show itself (12 year old Aang is voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen), but Lampshaded in the play in The Ember Island Players, where Aang is played by a (visibly adult) woman (voiced by Rachel Dratch).
  • Cruel Mercy: One of the most memorable aspects of the Grand Finale.
  • Cue Cullen: People started taking the movie adaptation a lot more seriously once the series' creators signed on as executive producers. And when they replaced Jesse McCartney with Dev Patel to play Zuko.
  • Culture Chop Suey: Sokka carries a boomerang, despite his water tribe culture being based off of the Inuit people.
  • Cursed With Awesome: Aang never wanted to be the Avatar, and ran away when the monks tried to separate him from Gyatso.
  • Cultured Badass: Many examples, but Iroh is undoubtedly the greatest.
  • Daddys Little Villain: Azula
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Bloodbending. While it's not officially forbidden, Katara flat out refuses to use it, and only does so twice: once to save her friends, and once when she thought a man was the one who killed her mother.
  • Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: The Avatars are supposed to be told about their identity on their sixteenth. Aang didn't get that luxury.
    • Sixteen is also the age in which Northern Water Tribe girls become eligible for marriage, much to poor Yue's dismay. It is unclear whether the same custom carries on to Katara's tribe.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Azula is very cunning, and has absolutely no reservations about resorting to the most dirty, underhanded tactics available if it will help her win. Case in point: in the second season finale, she sneaks up behind Aang while everyone else is busy staring in awe at his Transformation Sequence and sends a bolt of lightning into his back. After Zuko tells her that there's no way he could have survived, she assumes he did... and is summarily proven right. This is one of the main reasons that she's so popular.
  • Dawson Casting: In an aversion rare for a multi-season televised cartoon, Aang and Toph are voiced by actors of about the correct age. The actors who play Katara and Sokka are not much older than their characters, either.
  • Daydream Surprise: "Nightmares and Daydreams"
  • Day In The Life: "Tales of Ba Sing Se"
  • A Day In The Limelight: "Zuko Alone," "Appa's Lost Days," "Sokka's Master," "The Boiling Rock"
  • Death Faked For You: Iroh claimed to have killed the last dragon, but he instead found them and didn't tell anyone, so they could live in peace.
  • Deep South: All the swampbenders have hillbilly accents and seem adamantly opposed to wearing pants/shirts/shoes.
  • Defanged Horrors: Koh
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Mai in season 3. She still acts plenty frosty, but is actually capable of showing emotion when Zuko is around.
  • Development Gag
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: The one in The Cave of Two Lovers is a classic.
    • Zuko lets drop that he was the one who sent Combustion Man after them, which he thought they had figured out already. Oops.
  • Disability Superpower: Toph's enhanced senses and earthbending prowess as a result of her blindness.
    • Often lampshaded and parodied with lines such as "Your feet need their eyes checked and "I'll tell your feet what's going on."
    • Also, the Machinist's son Teo is paraplegic, but has a glider attachment to his wheelchair that lets him fly almost as well as Aang.
  • Disturbed Doves: Zuko manages to summon them just by taking off his shirt. While overly dramatic theme music plays in the background. See the picture on that page.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: A Justified Trope for Toph, since she "sees" through her feet.
    • Drawn to the forefront when they steal Fire Nation clothes, she punches her feet through the shoes to remove the soles.
  • Doing It For The Art: The creators didn't have to go through the insane lengths that they did to ensure the series' quality, especially all of those little details many viewers wouldn't even notice unless they were specifically looking for them. But they did, which is why the series is so great.
  • Do I Really Sound Like That: Comes with the territory in "The Ember Island Players". Katara is particularly defensive.
  • Doomed Hometown: The Southern Air Temple for Aang. The Northern, Western, and Eastern ones did not fare too well either.
  • Double Consciousness: Being both the son of the Fire Lord and the destined ally of the Avatar has got to be tough.
  • Downer Ending: Several episodes of season two, most significantly the season finale.
    • Also, an in-series example: The ending of the Ember Island players' play (where the Avatar is killed, the Fire Nation wins the war and Ozai and Azula take over the world) was a downer ending for the Gaang.
  • Draco In Leather Pants: Zuko (before his Heel Face Turn), Zhao, Azula, Jet and Ozai.
  • The Dragon: Princess Azula; she was even portrayed as a blue dragon within a hallucination her brother was experiencing.
    • ...while their uncle was portrayed as a red dragon.
      • And later Aang and Zuko discover two dragons - one red and one blue...
  • Drama Bomb: The second season finale is infamous because of this. There had been a gradual build up of conflict and drama in the episodes leading up to it, but it all came to a head in that episode with the force of a nuclear explosion.
  • Dramatic Thunder: Second type in "The Storm" and "The Southern Raiders"
  • Dressing As The Enemy: Done in all three seasons.
  • Dual Wielding: Both Zuko and Jet prefer dual wielding style (and of course, they end up in a dual-wielding duel in one episode)
  • Early Bird Cameo: Guru Pathik makes a short appearance in 'Appa's Lost Days' well before meeting Aang.
    • Also, Azula is seen in the Storm flashback of how Zuko got his scar.
    • The benders seen in the opening credits (aside from Aang) are not introduced for some time: the waterbender is Pakku, the earthbender was the original design for Toph before the creators decided to make her a girl instead (which got reused for Avatar Roku's earthbending teacher), and the firebender is Azula. Roku also appears in the opening credits despite not being named until three episodes in, and he didn't even get any lines until four episodes after that.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: The entire third season, especially the invasion arc and the finale.
  • Egopolis: Omashu, renamed as New Ozai, to be fair it was his daughter's idea
  • Elaborate Underground Base: One situated beneath Lake Laogai, plus a war bunker under the Fire Nation capital.
  • Elemental Baggage: Primarily the firebenders because they can create their own fire, the other bending styles require the appropriate amount of their element to use.
    • Airbenders could be considered as well, since their element is so abundant.
    • Earth is a pretty commonly-found element as well, frequently found underfoot in convenient throwing-sized blocks. Katara is the only one who actually has to carry her element around with her.
    • Eventually, Katara learns how to get water from pretty much anywhere, starting mainly in the third season. She uses her own sweat to escape the wooden cell keeping her and Toph locked up and in the episode "The Puppetmaster" she learns to blood bend and to draw water from nearby plants and even the air itself.
  • Elemental Powers
  • Eleventh Hour Superpower: Energybending. Some say an Ass Pull, but either way, it definitely came in handy.
  • Elite Mooks: The Dai Li and Yu Yan archers.
  • Emo Teen: With one exception, the main characters are between 12 and 16 at the start of the series; the protagonist freaked out when told he was The Chosen One and his happy childhood was over starting the next morning. His Nakama include two siblings whose father has been deployed in combat for years in the war their mother was killed in and a girl whose parents all but wrote her off due to her disability. The Anti Villain lost his mother when he was ten, had half his face burned off by his father and was banished three years later, So Yeah, you're going to see some adolescent angst. The writers did seem to make a conscious effort to validate and justify their reasons for acting this way, so if it still bothers you, go watch The Golden Girls.
  • Enemy Mine: "The Blue Spirit."
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Quite a few, but most notably Suki, who becomes the sixth ranger of the group, Jet, Mai, and June.
    • Though a member of the main group, Toph gets a vastly disproportionate amount of fanart. For some reason, people like to see her aged up. And not just "barely legal"; full grown woman.
  • Ermine Cape Effect: Bumi wears his robes all the time, unless he's showing off how great an earthbender he is]].
    • For the Fire Nation, the fancy robes are often war armor, so it often makes sense to wear them a lot.
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait: Zuko. Just...Zuko.
  • Et Tu Brute: Azula starts to lose it after Mai and Ty Lee do their Heel Face Turn.
  • Everythings Better With Penguins: Incidentally, they're also otters.
  • Everythings Better With Princesses: Not really Azula, but definitely Yue.
  • Everythings Cuter With Kittens: If it counts, cats make up the SMALL group of "normal" animals on Avatar.
  • Everythings Worse With Bears: Averted with Bosco, who is pretty nice. Platypus-bears on the other hand are not so nice.
  • Evil Foreigner: Parodied expertly as part of a pro-wrestling send-up.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Azula.
    • And Ozai.
      • And Zhao (mainly during the Agni Kai with Zuko)
  • Evil Prince: Ozai was a classic example of this trope before he became Fire Lord. Subverted with Zuko, who ends up trying to overthrow his father not to seize power for himself, but to end the war. Azula is a complete aversion of this, because despite being evil, she remains completely loyal to her father.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Zuko was plenty threatening during the first season, but Azula is superior in just about every way (except, you know, morals). She also manages to completely outmaneuver Long Feng in the season two finale.
  • Evil Me Scares Me: Aang actually says, "I was scary" when reflecting on the Avatar State. A little different since the Avatar State isn't evil but rather an implacable force of nature.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Zuko's hair changed from an exotic, samurai-inspired shaved-with-a-topknot look in season one to a standard Emo Teen mop by the end of Season 2 while his character becomes less and less the villain and more and more three-dimensional (and angsty).
  • The Faceless: Fire Lord Ozai in books 1 and 2
  • Fanart: Gotten to the point where some of the directors have set up their own active DeviantArt accounts. The staff has managed to compose an impressive fan art wall◊. One particular fanartist came to be hired as a storyboarder for the show.
  • Face Palm: "Hey, Sokka, how'd you get that mark on your forehead?"
  • False Start: The Earth King See Moment Killer.
  • Fan Community Nicknames: Due primarily to one certain "megafan"'s infamous, longrunning satire comic of the Avatar fandom, fans have come to almost unanimously accept the term, "Avatards".
  • Fandom Rivalry: "A couple more years, and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge." (For the record, we were. "Yes! We have defeated you for all time! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!")
  • Fangirl: Zuko got a whole collection of them in the 3rd season, probably a Shout Out to the Estrogen Brigade.
  • Fan Nicknames
  • Fan Preferred Couple: Zutara (Zuko/Katara) is the biggest example— about 22% of the fanfics at FanFiction.net alone list the two as main characters. Other couples like Aang/Toph, Sokka/Toph and Sokka/Azula also attract large numbers of shippers.
  • Fan Service: in full force by Season 3
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture - Although each nation has other elements mixed in, the main parts of the cultures are derived from:
    • Air Nomads: Tibet, some elements of the Shaolin Temples of China
    • Water Tribes: Inuit, with a little Pacific North West Indian.(Northern Tribe)
    • Earth Kingdom: Qing (Manchu-dominated) Dynasty China with a little bit of Korea (Song's family from The Cave of Two Lovers) and Japan (Kyoshi Islands) in the mix
      • Peasant Clothing in the rural parts of Earth Kingdom is predominately Korean hanboks.
    • Fire Nation: Tang Dynasty China/Taisho (Imperial) Japan/Mongolia
      • An offshoot of the Fire Nation, the Sun Warriors, borrow from Native American cultures, specifically Aztecs and Mayans.
  • Fantasy World Map: The official Avatar site at nick.com has a nice world map documenting the Gang's travels during the series.
  • Fetish Fuel: Good lord! There's so much of it, the fuel caught fire!
  • Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Toph and Zuko can run an entire FF station. EACH.
  • Fiction 500: Toph's family.
  • Find The Cure: "The Blue Spirit"
  • Finger Poke Of Doom: The stronger a bender is, the more they can do with a little physical action. Toph in particular loves this.
    • Bumi can earth bend with just his face (and his face looks as though he learned that the hard way).
    • Also, in "The Beach," Zuko sends Ruan-Jian flying backward into a vase with a mere palm strike. He may look scrawnier than he did in the first season, but he's certainly not any weaker.
  • Fire Forged Friends: Aang and Zuko, literally.
  • First Girl Wins: Three times over.
  • Fish Out Of Temporal Water: Aang's entire culture is extinct, he's unaware of the war that's been going on for the past century, and his attempts to blend in in the Fire Nation are a mix of Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe and Totally Radical.
  • Five Man Band: See the Character Sheet for more info on them
  • Fluffy Tamer: King Bumi
  • Fluffy The Terrible: King Bumi's beloved goat-gorilla, Flopsie.
  • Foot Focus: Toph, very uncomfortably so of her dirtied feet.
  • Forgot I Could Fly: (Sokka when he's high on cactus juice)
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: In the episode "The Swamp", Aang was able to track Appa's location via their spiritual link. That sure would have come in handy when the sandbenders kidnapped Appa, eh? Of course, it may be that he's just not trained well enough in it, since Guru Pathik was able to perform it later, citing their "unbreakable bond" as the reason he could.
    • Justified by the fact that Aang was taking advantage of the fact that the swamp was essentially a single giant organism, something that the desert lacks.
    • There's also the little matter of Katara forgetting that she had been carrying Spirit Water since the very beginning of the second season. If she remembered it, she could have saved Jet.
  • Freudian Excuse: Definitely Zuko, and it seems Azula as well.
  • Freudian Slip: Zuko asking Iroh for help in defeating the Fatherlord.
  • Fridge Logic: Throughout the series, benders are rendered helpless by constricting their limbs, although firebenders can use their nostrils and airbenders their mouths. Aang doesn't move his limbs or use his mouth when he's using his glider, which is supposed to achieve true flight through airbending. Er, how does that work...?
    • That is justified, but what about Azula in the Grand Finale? She was chained, but not, if I recall correctly, at an angle to prevent her from melting her chains off. Plus, the girl who bust out of Toph's earthcuffs with just her fingers should be able to do the same with improvised metals rings during Sozin's comet.
    • Aang has shown on numerous occasions that he can manipulate wind without the fancy flips and what have you, additionally he should be more than able to guide the thing into air currents. If a kid in a wheelchair can do it, why can't a master airbender like Aang?
    • We're told that lightningbending requires a state of calmness/inner acceptance/Zen/whatever, hence why Zuko couldn't do it for quite a while. But Azula totally loses her shit in the finale and is still able to do it. The implication is that you don't need to be good or evil to bend lightning, just able to accept where you are on the spectrum.
  • Fruit Cart: The Cabbage Merchant, who manages to be the Fruit Cart regardless of where the main gang go.
    • Lamp Shaded in a couple of episodes where he mentions that the new city is worse than the last place the gang encountered him.
    • And was a source for the Ember Island Play.
  • Full Boar Action: Appa's battle against the JavelinaPine in "Appa's Lost Days."
  • Full Contact Magic: Bending is something between this and Supernatural Martial Arts.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: When Aunt Wu offers to tell Iroh's fortune in "Bato of the Water Tribe", Iroh says that for a man of his age, there was only one great surprise left and he preferred that to remain a mystery. A year later, Iroh's voice actor Mako was dead.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Sokka does this to an Earth Kingdom general in "The Drill," no less. Spoken word for word.
  • Get A Load Of That Square: Aang's use of outdated Fire Nation slang to fit into a school doesn't impress anybody.
  • Getting Crap Past The Radar: Has its own page.
  • The Gift: Azula and Toph
  • Gilligan Cut
  • Girl Of The Week: Jin and Song for Zuko. On Ji for Aang.
    • Subverted with Meng, to whom he doesn't give the time of day.
  • Glowing Eyes Of Doom: Aang whenever he is in the Avatar State.
  • A God Am I: While Sozin was more or less an Evil Overlord and nobody saw enough of Azulon to know what went on with him, Ozai fits this during the finale, just by crowning himself Phoenix King before he's even won. The hammiest example of this, however, was Zhao at the North Pole:
    Zhao: I am... a legend now. The Fire Nation will for generations tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon! They will call me Zhao the Conqueror! Zhao the Moon Slayer! Zhao, the INVINCIBLE!
  • Good Is Dumb: Lampshaded when, Right after getting into Aang's group, Zuko finds his firebending suddenly lacking and guesses, "I bet it's because I changed sides." He had been using anger to fuel his bending up to that point and had learned to let go of it, temporarily leaving him without a proper conduit.
  • Gondor Calls For Aid: "The Invasion"
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Zuko's backstory in "The Storm"
  • Good Angel Bad Angel: Zuko's uncle and sister in the Season 2 finale; foreshadowed an episode earlier in a dream. Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin become his implied historical and psychological Good Angel Bad Angel in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord".
  • Good Eyes Evil Eyes: Zuko's scar shows that the writers and character artists are well aware of this trope
  • Good Scars Evil Scars: Zuko's facial burn actually covers 2 variations of this trope. When he is evil, it makes him look that much more menacing, but in the episodes where he is good(ish), it makes him look more noble — it is actually taken as a cue by Song and Jet that he is a fighter against the Fire Nation.
    • One of the things that makes it look much more menacing is it's jagged edge and his shriveled ear. When he starts his journey towards being good, he grows his hair out, covering the jagged edge and drawing attention away from the ear.
  • Government Conspiracy: "There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
  • Grand Finale
  • Great Escape: "The Boiling Rock"
  • Green Aesop: The Fire Nation's industrialism seems like this, but it was most clear in "The Painted Lady".
    • However, it was subverted when the Gaang first meets Teo and The Mechanist.
      • The creators have even said the Fire Nation has the lowest ratio of benders-to-non-benders of the four nations because of their industrialism and the decline in spirituality among the Fire Nation population. By contrast, the Air Nomads had a 100:0 bender-to-non-bender population because of their intense spirituality.
  • Halloween Episode: "The Puppetmaster" was meant to be one and was supposed to be shown on Halloween.
  • Hands On Approach: Katara teaches Aang the Octopus form this way.
  • Happy Ending: Basically the entire finale.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: To Katara's initial frustration, Aang picks up the basics of waterbending instantly, whereas it took her two months to figure out how to draw and recede a maybe three-foot stretch of water.
    • Partially averted in that Katara's determination means she quickly outstrips Aang when she gets an actual teacher, to the point where she's eventually made his teacher.
    • To be fair, Aang has countless previous Avatar incarnations unconsciously making him a natural at bending.
  • Heart Symbol: In "The Boiling Rock". Sokka exhibits it when he realizes Suki is a prisoner there, so his mission with Zuko is not in vain, and he gets his Love Interest back.
  • The Heavy: Azula in Book 2
  • Heel Face Turn: If you watch the first season you will not be too surprised by Zuko turning. But it is played with and at least initially subverted in several instances, the second season finale being the most infamous.
  • Hero Killer: Azula.
  • Hes Just Hiding: Jet and Zhao
    • Most fans still believe this of a number of Air Nomads.
    • Heck, Jet's was lampshaded with Sokka's line in "The Ember Island Players." Word Of God is that Executive Meddling forced them to make the fact that he was Killed Off For Real more ambiguous.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: So Jolee Bindo is an earthbender, huh?
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Koh the Face Stealer, for starters.
    • Azula. Especially when she has her breakdown at the end of the series.
    • Bloodbending. And Hama as well.
    • Wan Shi Tong, the spirit of the library, was pretty damn scary as well. Especially when angered.
  • Hidden Depths: The series itself, from a feminist perspective.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes: They started out with three. They ended with a lot more.
  • Ho Yay: Mostly Aang/Zuko, Jet/Zuko, Ty Lee/Azula, Roku/Sozin, Katara/Toph.
  • Hoist By His Own Petard: Zhao
  • Honor Before Reason: A least a thousand times.
  • Hook Hand: Jet in "The Ember Island Players".
  • Hope Spot: Happens in the second season finale when Aang enters the Avatar State intentionally for the very first time and looks ready to wipe the floor with everybody... only to be electrocuted by Azula.
  • Hot Amazon: Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors, but their namesake took it to the extreme, being both beautiful and extremely tall.
  • HSQ: The entirety of the last two episodes.
  • Human Popsicle: Aang, in the iceberg.
  • Humiliation Conga: Ozai, quite literally near the end.
  • I Am Legion: Avatars speak with all the voices of their previous incarnations when in the Avatar state. Gets rather creepy with a pissed-off Aang demanding to know where his Bison is with a voice usually reserved for Demons.
  • I Am Spartacus: "The Headband"
  • I Call It Vera: Boomerang, and Space Sword.
  • Ice Cream Koan: Zuko ends up doing one of these when he asks himself, "What would Uncle do?"
    Zuko: "Zuko, you must look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself."
    • Also from Hue:
      "Pants are an illusion, and so is death."
    • Zuko does it again in "The Boiling Rock".
      Zuko: "Clouds have a light side and a dark side, and a silver lining in the middle. So it's kind of like a silver sandwich. So when life gets you down, just take a bite out of the silver sandwich!"
  • Iconic Item: Sokka's Boomerang, Katara's "hair loopies"
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The majority of the episode titles are "The" then whatever the episode is about. Every episode title card from premier to finale has also been a simple white screen then "Book X: Element X — Chapter X: The Whatever."
  • I Just Want To Be Normal: Aang... at least comparatively.
  • I Just Want To Be Special: Sokka sometimes, especially in "Sokka's Master".
  • I Know You Are In There Somewhere Fight: Aang to Jet in "Lake Laogai"
  • Impairment Shot: The Xerxhu in "Bato of the Water Tribe" after Sokka has the sisters and Katara overwhelm its scent-sight with perfume.
  • Important Haircut:
    • The usually shaven-headed Aang grows some hair between Seasons 2 and 3, and later gives himself an Important Haircut when he's about to face off with the Big Bad.
    • Also Zuko and Iroh cut off their topknots when they are marked as traitors.
    • Happens again in the Season 3 Finale, only it isn't a turn for the better for the character, who's suffering from a bad case of Sanity Slippage.
    • Though not literally a haircut, some of the characters' hair grows out throughout the series (such as Katara's, Sokka's, and Zuko's). While this is a way of showing time passing, it also signals character development and gives the character a more mature air (notably Katara).
  • Incredibly Lame Pun - King of Omashu, lots of them
    Katara: Let us leave!
    King: [Picking up bit of his salad] "Lettuce leaf ... ?"
    • The Gaang.
    • Actor Sokka, at the real Sokka's insistence.
  • Indy Ploy: Prince Zuko's efforts to capture the Avatar.
  • Instant Armor: Frequently used by earthbenders, and once by a metalbending Toph.
    • Also used by Aang in the second season's finale.
  • Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons: Guess who the first firebenders were?
  • Instant Expert: Katara masters waterbending in a few weeks, an act that normally takes a lifetime. Aang pulls this with water and earth (which he becomes an expert in mere episodes after he's shown unable to earthbend at all)and to a lesser extent air, which he manages to master by the age of twelve, before he gets frozen, with the caveat that he's learned it all before in past lives. Sokka becomes pretty good with a sword in a single episode. For bonus points, it's implied that this episode was actually only two days. One in which he learned how to use a sword well enough to give a decent fight to a grandmaster, and one in which he forged his own sword out of a meteor. So he became an instant expert in swordsmanship and blacksmithing.
    • Sokka swordsmanship almost makes sense; his master doesn't teach him very much about how to swing a sword and even says out-loud that Sokka has very little in the way of literal skill; his seemingly bizarre exercises like painting the landscape teach Sokka about state of mind, exemplified when they fight at the end and his comments are exclusively geared towards how Sokka has learned to adapt to the unpredictable nature of combat with improvisation instead of relying on a fixed set of moves that can't possibly account for every, or even many specific situations. It's still pretty crazy because students under teachers who teach this philosophy often take quite a long time to understand it and think of their movesets as a starting point instead of rules set in stone.
      • Sokka was told by his father at a very young age that he was now the man of the tribe, something he undoubtedly took very seriously and spent lots of time teaching himself. Even though it's likely he never had any "formal" training, what with all the men off to war, he likes to call himself a "great warrior" and when push comes to shove, you know what, he kinda is. (e.g. being able to fight Suki to a standstill after only a short time training with her.) It's not entirely unreasonable to assume that with his lack of actual training he would have no preconceptions and only needed a short time to get used to a sword as a weapon to use with his own eclectic fighting style. Even so... two days?
  • Insult Backfire: With most of the characters having absurdly sharp wits, this happens quite a bit.
    Zuko: I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating. You're just a child!
    Aang: Well, you're just a teenager.
  • Internet Backdraft: Cases of Ship To Ship Combat being a large offender, but mention this as an Anime and you'll set a forum ablaze for days.
  • In The Blood: Zuko, revealed by Iroh in Season 3, has inherited his paternal great-grandfather Sozin's "evil" and his maternal great-grandfather Roku's "good".
    "Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy."
  • I Surrender Suckers: Azula
  • It Got Worse: The second half of the second season.
  • I Uh You Too:
    Mai: (Watching the sunset together at a romantic picnic): Orange is such an awful color.
    Zuko: You're so beautiful when you hate the world.
    Mai: I don't hate you.
    Zuko: I don't hate you, too.
  • I Was Quite A Looker: Lo and Li. Zuko is... less than thrilled when they tell him this.
  • Kangaroo Court: "Avatar Day"
  • Karma Houdini: Fire Lord Sozin
  • Karmic Death: Admiral Zhao, to avoid an Embarrassing Rescue. Given a rather contemplative ethical Lampshade Hanging in Kyoshi's flashback in the finale.
  • Killed Off For Real: The Moon Spirit and Princess Yue had to take its place, Admiral Zhao, Jet and Combustion Man.
  • King Of All Cosmos: The lion-turtle from the finale, while probably not God, is the oldest, largest, and wisest living thing in the world.
  • Knife Outline: Mai's signature trick. Katara pulls this trope off with ice.
  • Koan: Half the things that Iroh says to Zuko, to Zuko's annoyance.
    • Also Hue: "Time is an illusion, and so is death."
  • Lady For A Day: Katara and Toph in "City of Walls and Secrets" (though arguably this does not apply to Toph as she is already a member of the upper class, she just doesn't ordinarily dress like one).
  • Lampshade Hanging: It's hard to see what's going on in The Ember Island Players for all the lampshades.
  • Last Of His Kind - Aang. He happens to be The Last Airbender.
  • Leitmotif: Many, many.
    • Aang's theme is most pervasive.
    • Momo has one which serves as a Mood Motif to lighten the mood.
    • Ba Sing Se, the City, has one, which varies in instrumentation and style, doing double duty as multiple Mood Motif.
      • Regal for the king's presence
      • Tinkly and creepy for the Joo Dee situation
      • Dai Li too
      • Regal with a subtle note of creepy for Team Azula pretending to be the Kiyoshi warriors
    • The Fire Nation has a Leitmotif
    • Zuko has one specifically
    • Azula has one, far more sinister.
  • Lemon Wacky Hello: Sokka in the desert episode
  • Lets Get Dangerous: For the first few episodes of the show, Iroh was primarily a comedy relief character. When he got kidnapped by earthbenders, however, he showed them exactly why he used to be feared as the Dragon of the West. At the end of the second season, after spending most of his time making tea and serving as his nephew's conscience, he shows us exactly how he got that nickname.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Subverted and played straight: The kids have a variety of outfits depending on where there are, what they're doing, and what season it is, but if they can get away with it they'll just wear the same thing for as long as possible before being forced to change.
  • Limp And Livid: Used as a sign of Azula's progressing insanity.
  • Live Action Adaptation: A movie has been announced; the scriptwriter and planned director is M. Night Shyamalan. With the decision not to use animation and the lackluster level of Shyamalan's most recent movies, the news did not intially sit well for a majority of the fans. The creators, however, recently have voiced their enthusiastic approval. Though still in its early stages, this comes as an enormous relief to many fans, who feared that the movie would diverge significantly from the storyline and that the co-creators would be left completely out of the creative process.
  • Locked In A Room: Subverted: Katara and Zuko get trapped in a cave, but no moral is learned and no loyalties change.
  • Love At First Sight: Aang towards Katara; Sokka and Yue
  • Love Dodecahedron - Mostly due to the massive shipping opportunities the fans exploit. In the show itself it doesn't get in the way except for the occasional Ship Tease. This was actually parodied at Comic-Con with a list of every possible pairing and the associated Portmanteau Couple Name. (Lo-Iroh-Li? (Li-roh-lo?)
  • Luke I Am Your Father: Roku, Aang's spiritual predecessor, was Zuko's great grandfather on his mother's side, which might explain why his mother felt something was wrong with Azula.
  • Machiavelli Was Wrong: "I love Zuko more than I fear you."
  • Mac Guffin: The frozen frogs in The Blue Spirit were mostly a method to separate Aang from the group and give the episode a race against time.
  • Madden Into Misanthropy: Toph.
  • Made Of Iron: Pretty much everyone, to some degree or another; especially when earthbending gets involved, or after falling 50 feet.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: Even though bending isn't exactly realistic with the way it portrays elements behaving, it is at least consistent.
  • Magical Girlfriend: Arguably, Princess Yue.
  • Magitek: The use of bending as industry and as a proxy for modern technology. The Fire Nation still has some very advanced technology in comparison to what the rest of the world is using, though.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Azula, the firebending prodigy everybody loves to hate.
  • Making A Splash: Waterbenders
  • Malfunction Malady: Aang's sneezes launch him 10 feet into the air, though this is arguable; Aang is known for being playful.
  • Mama Bear: Ursa. Katara has moments of this (her threats to Zuko in season 3).
  • Manchurian Agent: The brainwashing done by Dai Li is activated by saying "(name), the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai." to which they respond by gaining Mind Control Eyes and saying "I am honored to accept his invitation."
  • Manipulative Bastard: Surprisingly not Azula, given that she's mostly willing to do things herself, and only manipulates others into doing things for the sake of her plan, which puts her more in the realm of Magnificent Bastard. She learned everything she knows about manipulation from her father, Fire Lord Ozai. There is a reason that just about everybody in the show has their life affected by the guy, even though most of it is offscreen. Perhaps the greatest example is when he managed to manipulate his wife into killing his father for him, for which he banished her as his thanks. This allowed him to assume the throne despite his brother Iroh being the first born and the favored son.
  • Manly Tears: Uncle Iroh, indisputably a Bad Ass, but also completely unafraid to weep openly for his lost son in "Tales of Ba Sing Se".
  • Market Based Title: Avatar: The Legend of Aang in the UK, where "bender" is derogatory slang for a male homosexual.
  • Martial Pacifist: Iroh. He only fights when he has to, but when he does, it's clear that he is the most skilled character on the show. Pity anybody foolish enough to corner him.
  • Master Of The Mixed Message: Katara. Good lord. Katara.
  • Melee A Trois: the end of "The Chase"
  • Memetic Badass: Iroh, Toph, "Wang Fire", Melon Lord.
  • Mentor Ship: Aang got shipped with all 3 of his bending teachers — Katara, Toph, and, yes, Zuko.
  • Metaphorgotten:
    Suki: The king of... guys... who... don't win?
    Toph: ...leave the nicknames to us, honey.
  • Mexican Stand Off: The end of "The Chase"
  • Milky White Eyes: Toph
  • Mind Control Eyes: The Manchurian Agents
  • Minion Shipping: Zuko and Mai
  • Missed Moment Of Awesome: Iroh's escape from the Fire Nation prison in Season 3 was never seen (although there was plenty of action in the invasion arc already). We're just told he was a One Man Army. And this might have even happened during the eclipse, when he couldn't firebend. This is largely why the fans consider him so awesome.
  • Mix And Match Critters: Started off for fun by Bryan Konietzko, but it wasn't long before the writers caught on. Now he and the character designers are mostly trying to keep up with their crazy ideas. Lampshaded when it was mentioned a certain character wanted to exhibit his bear. The characters who weren't reading the announcement immediately assumed Katara meant some hybrid animal.
    • And let's not forget that after listing a few possiblities, when it's confirmed to be a regular bear, the characters remark "this place is weird."
  • Moment Killer: Quite a few. Then again, this is a series with an unusual amount of Ship Tease.
  • Mood Swinger: Katara, to the point of a meme about how "it must be her time of the month."
    • Doubly interesting due to waterbenders' close connection to the moon.
    • If anything, Zuko is worse about this (See The Warriors of Kyoshi for a great example.)
  • Moral Event Horizon: An interesting pattern in the series is that in each season finale, this gets crossed by the main villain of that season. Zhao crosses it by killing the moon spirit, Azula by shooting Aang in the back with lightning, and Ozai by going forward with a plan that involves using the power of Sozin's comet to burn an entire continent.
  • Multiple Demographic Appeal
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: For example, when Jun defeats some huge guy at arm wrestling.
  • Mushroom Samba: "Cactus Juice; it'll quench ya."
  • Narm: Seriously, you cannot watch Zuko shouting at the sky without picturing Bruce Almighty in your head.
  • Narm Charm: Despite being somewhat narmtastic, Zuko's comment on Mai's beauty ("You're so beautiful when you hate the world") comes across as being rather sweet and romantic, albeit in an awkward, emotionally repressed teen sort of way.
  • A Nazi By Any Other Name: The Fire Nation was heavily inspired by Imperial Japan, which conquered almost all of the islands in the Pacific and launched several invasions into China, eventually becoming one of the Axis powers in WWII.
  • Never Say Die: Averted with everyone that died before the series started, as well as death threats. On the other hand the fate of the four three named characters that died during the show was systematically pussyfooted around (though all three were confirmed by Word Of God). They even managed to lampshade the ambiguity without actually saying that the characters died.
  • Never Trust A Trailer
  • New Age Retro Hippie: the "nomads" the Gaang run into during "The Cave of Two Lovers"
  • New Old Flame: Mai
  • Nice Job Breaking It Herod: Sozin's extermination of the Air Nomads in order to prevent the Avatar from being reborn.
  • Nice Job Fixing It Villain: In the finale, Ozai manages to break through Aang's protective shell and proceeds to slowly walk towards him, ready to finish him off. However, all he managed to do was unblock Aang's seventh chakra, allowing him to enter the Avatar State. Much asskicking ensues.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The spirit Koh from Book 1, Episode 20. "You've come to me...with a new face." *shiver*
  • Ninja Log: Zuko pulls this in "Lake Laogai" as part of an Indy Ploy to gain access to the Dai Li's headquarters.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: several Professional Wrestlers in "The Blind Bandit", most obvious "The Boulder"
  • No Conservation Of Energy: Bending itself. Noether is spinning in her grave.
  • No Guy Wants An Amazon: Happens to Azula in "The Beach"
    • Inverted with Sokka and Suki. Maybe guys just don't want the bat-scat psychotic type with no social skills beyond domination and manipulation who think of the deaths of thousands is a pick-up line.
  • No One Could Survive That: After Aang's apparent death by lightning in the second season finale, Zuko claims, "There's no way he could have survived"... but he's lying, and the Dangerously Genre Savvy Azula knows this. He actually did die, but Katara revives him with the spirit water.
    • Also Lampshaded in "The Southern Raiders"
      Azula falls off the blimp.
      Zuko: She's not gonna make it.
      Azula saves herself from falling to her death.
      Zuko: ...of course she did.
  • No Rest For The Wicked: Aang in "Nightmares and Daydreams"
  • Non Lethal Warfare: Somewhat averted by the fact that lots of violent death is explicitly mentioned, though never shown on screen.
  • Nothing Can Stop Us Now: Horribly invoked by Sokka in "The Earth King". And just a minute short of the credits too.
  • Not So Different: Aang and Zuko
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Iroh in "Sokka's Master"; King Bumi pretty much all the time.
  • Official Couple: Aang and Katara, Zuko and Mai, Sokka and Suki.
  • Old Master: Bumi, Iroh, Pakku, Gyatso, Roku and others.
  • The Ojou: Mai, and Toph might fit. She at least acted like one before she revealed her skills to her family.
  • Ominous Walk: Azula engages in this on top of the Drill in season two after pummeling Aang into near unconsciousness.
    • Ozai does it as well in the finale. It must run in the family or something.
  • The Only One Allowed To Defeat You: In the first season, Zuko needs to capture Aang to regain his honor, and will go as far as invading a prison and breaking Aang out when somebody else from his nation catches him.
  • Only Sane Man: Sokka in The Cave of Two Lovers.
  • Open The Iris: Sokka's Mushroom Samba a la Cactus Juice in "The Desert"; people who have been to Lake Laogai.
  • Opening Narration
    Katara: "Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar — an airbender named Aang. Although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world."
  • Orifice Invasion: "Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka." It Makes Sense In Context.
  • Orphaned Punchline: At one point Zuko tells Iroh's favourite joke. Trouble is, Zuko can only remember the punchline.
    "Leaf me alone, I'm bushed!"
  • The Other Darrin: Iroh's voice actor, Mako, died, and was replaced by Greg Baldwin.
  • Overprotective Dad: Toph left the Bei Fong family's Big Fancy House for a reason.
  • Pale Skinned Brunette: Mai, Azula, Zuko, Toph, June.
  • Panda-ing To The Audience: A terrifying black-and-white spirit-monster early in the series turns out to be a very large, very angry dead panda. After being placated it goes back to looking like an actual panda and helps out Aang when he returns to the spirit world later on. Pandas are also one of the few animals that are not Mix And Match Critters.
  • Paper Thin Disguise: Also done in all three seasons.
  • Parental Abandonment: A good number of heroes and bad guys, but especially Zuko, whose father practically disowned him.
    • Disappeared Dad: All the adult males in Katara and Sokka's entire village, Aang's father-figure, Gyatso.
    • Missing Mom: Katara and Sokka. Zuko and Azula. Yue. Just for starters.
  • Parental Substitute: Iroh ends up being a better father figure for Zuko than Ozai.
  • Parenthetical Swearing: In fine examples of Getting Crap Past The Radar:
    Sokka: [season 1, episode 1] Leave it to a girl to screw things up!
    Aang: [season 2, episode 7] I've been training my arrow off!
  • Periphery Demographic: Despite being initially targeted at elementary school-age kids, the show become quite popular (possibly likely even more popular) among preteens and teenagers.
    • And young adults in their twenties. And not-so-young adults.
  • Person Of Mass Destruction: Some benders, more often than not earthbenders, can be quite destructive. And a fully realized Avatar is like this with all the elements... and that's before they go into the Godlike Avatar State.
  • Pieta Plagiarism: Katara holding Aang's lifeless body after Azula "kills" him in the Book Two finale.
  • Playing With Fire: Firebenders, obviously.
    • And Aang, who thought it was cool at first, until he learned better.
  • Posthumous Character: Monk Gyatso, Avatar Roku, Fire Lord Sozin, Fire Lord Azulon, Lu Ten, and Kya.
  • Power Floats: Aang when in the Avatar State. Justified, because he's airbending.
  • Power Glows: Again, Aang when in the Avatar State. In the second season premiere, Roku explains that the glow is the combined power and experience of every Avatar that came before him being channeled through his body.
  • The Power Of Love: See Machiavelli Was Wrong, above.
  • Power Tattoo: Aang.
  • Power Trio: Azula, Mai and Ty Lee.
  • Praetorian Guard: Azula has one when she's introduced, but they're not too useful.
  • Precision Guided Boomerang: Sokka's boomerang always comes back. Lampshaded frequently:
    Sokka: Boomerang! You really do always come back!
    • Subverted in the Grand Finale, when it doesn't. And subsequently lampshaded
    Sokka: I don't think boomerang's coming back.
  • Pretty In Mink: The Water Tribes. Justified, considering where they live, but their coats seem to be made for style as much as warmth.
    • Mai has a fur trimmed robe.
    • Toph's Earth nation outfit has two white furry puff balls on her head.
  • Prisons Are Gymnasiums: Iroh working himself back into shape in "Sokka's Master."
  • Professional Wrestling: Brilliantly skewered in "The Blind Bandit," complete with Kayfabe and a guy who talks like Macho Man Randy Savage.
  • Psycho Electro: Azula and Ozai.
  • Psychotic Smirk: Azula does this a lot, as does her father Ozai and Long Feng. Joo Dee is somewhere between this and Stepford Smiler.
  • The Purge: A century before the start of the series, Firelord Sozin massacres the Air Nomads, largely in hopes of killing the new Avatar. (Unbeknownst to Sozin, Aang was frozen underwater in his Avatar State and thus remained unharmed.) As the series draws to a close and Sozin's Comet returns, Sozin's grandson Firelord Ozai attempts an even larger-scale massacre of the vast and powerful Earth Kingdom, with the ambition of thereby becoming ruler of nearly the entire world.
  • Put On A Bus: Zuko's ship crew, The Earth King and his Bear, and Sokka's one-episode pet Hawky.
  • Putting On The Reich: Toyed with and subverted. In the first season, the Fire Nations uniform is very Mongolian in design and basically screams 'We Are The Bad Guys.' The uniforms are shown to be but one design of many as the culture itself opens up and they and the people wearing them are given a bit more depth as the series progresses.
  • Pyro Maniac: Azula, especially post-VBD
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.
  • Race Lift: The show has an East Asian feel but The Movie has so far casted people of either caucasian or Indian ethnicity.
  • Rage Against The Reflection: Azula.
  • Ragnarok Proofing: Subverted. A city looks like it's in perfect shape despite being abandoned for centuries, but it turns out people are still living there.
  • The Rashomon: "The Great Divide". The real story is actually just made up by Aang, in order to get the people to make peace.
  • Ready For Lovemaking: Sokka. Yes, they got away with this.
  • Real Is Brown: The wardrobe color pallette of the Live Action Adaptation compared to the original. Night likes him some beige, we guess.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Aang is literally 112 years old, but spend one hundred of those years as a Human Popsicle.
  • Rebel Leader: Jet ... and a rather extremist one at that.
  • Rebel Relaxation: Jet is fond of this, complete with a piece of straw in his mouth much like a cigarette, effectively wooing Katara (in the episode 'Jet') because All Girls Want Bad Boys.
  • Recap Episode: "The Legend So Far" mini-episode, shown right before the penultimate episode of the first season, and narrated by the voice of Spirit Advisor Avatar Roku.
    • And "The Boy in the Iceberg".
    • And then subverted by the second-to-last episodes of Seasons 2 and 3, "The Guru" and "The Ember Island Players".
  • Redemption Equals Death: Jet
  • Redemption Quest: Zuko, trying to earn his father's approval. Inverted, however, in that he's trying to prove himself evil.
  • Redundant Researcher: Professor Zei (from "The Library")
  • Reformed But Rejected: Jet in "Lake Laogai," Zuko in "The Western Air Temple."
  • Refuge In Audacity: While most kids on TV Cant Get Away With Nuthin, in the episode "The Runaway", the crew pull a series of schemes that includes Toph pulling a Flopsy on a nobleman. Seriously.
  • Refuge In Cool: Even after accepting the bending powers, it's still loads of using Rule Of Cool.
  • Regent For Life: Long Feng
  • Relationship Writing Fumble: Azula permanently sounding like she's trying to seduce her brother.
    • This is Azula, maybe she is.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: The Fire Nation's crowns are extremely low key, but still elegant.
  • Retired Badass: Iroh used to be the highest General in the Fire Nation army, and personally led a siege against the Earth Kingdom capital city of Ba Sing Se that lasted six hundred days. He even managed to break through the outer wall, something that no one else had ever done before or since. But you wouldn't know that if you just met him. He's perfectly happy to spend his life enjoying tea and being a surrogate father to his nephew, after the death of his own son in the aforementioned siege had a profound effect on his worldview.
  • Royally Screwed Up: The Fire Nation nobility.
  • Runaway Fiance: Part of Kanna's backstory.
  • Running Gag: Several.
    • Zuko's ship suffering major damage every few episodes — losing the miniboat over a waterfall, a Shirshu ripping a hole in the deck, being buried under an avalanche, being set on fire by a catapult, being struck by lightning, and finally being blown up entirely in a failed assassination attempt by Admiral Zhao.
    • Frequent sightings of an unfortunate cabbage merchant in the Earth Kingdom, whose cart and produce are inevitably destroyed during every appearance. "My CABBAGES!!!"
    • People forgetting that Toph is blind, and thus can't read or recognize people's faces. This reached the point where someone asked her what was on a piece of paper twice in one episode.
      Toph: I don't know! I mean, seriously, what's with you people?! I'm blind!
      • Not to mention the episode where the Gaang is looking for Appa. At one point they're putting up posters, and suggest Toph tags along with Sokka.
        Toph: You think I can't hang a poster up on my own?! *takes a poster, slathers the front of it in glue, and slams it on the wall* ...it's upside down, isn't it? ...I'll just go with Sokka.
    • Sokka's fake beard and his "skill" with art.
  • Sand Is Water: The sandbenders sail around on it.
  • Scary Impractical Armor: Spoofed, with the creators admitting they just thought stuff like that was stupid.
  • Scooby Stack: Katara and Aang in "Sokka's Master".
  • Scenery Porn: Seriously, the background art is gorgeous.
  • Sealed Good In A Can: Aang, for 100 years.
  • Sealed With A Kiss: Aang and Katara's kiss is the last scene of the finale.
  • Send In The Clones: "Joo Dee" is not so much a person as it is a job title and the Dai Li have dozens of similar-looking brainwashed women ready to step in and take over should the current Joo Dee ever slip up.
  • Serious Business: Azula's reaction to winning a game of, essentially, beach volleyball in "The Beach":
    Azula: Yes, we defeated you for all time! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation! (pause) Well that was fun.
    • Seriously? She embodied this one in that episode, especially given her speech to the Admiral's son about how they could conquer the world together... which came after a "I think I like you" exchange.
  • Sexy Back: The Painted Lady, according to the little statue Shu brings out. Katara noticeably averts this by wearing her Fire Nation dress under the robe. The REAL Painted Lady, who appears at the end of the episode, does not.
  • Shadow Archetype: Katara and Azula.
  • Shadow Discretion Shot: Inverted in the Flash Back that explains how Zuko got his scar. We got a bright light discretion shot showing Iroh's wince and Azula's Psychotic Smirk.
  • Shipper On Deck: June, the Patron Saint of Zutara.
  • Shipping: Egads, the shipping rivals that in the Harry Potter fandom.
  • Ship Sinking: They sink ships with nukes on this show.
    • In-story, during "The Ember Island Players": Aang is dismayed to see his and Katara's actors gleefully sink their ship by agreeing to be "just friends", as they were playing the moment that actually was his love confession.
  • Ship Tease: The writers of this show are absolute masters of this craft; in addition to the nigh-constant ship teasing actually in the show, the creators ... oh, just read the Troll entry.
  • Shirtless Scene: Every major male character eventually; one of Zuko's came complete with Disturbed Doves, with a following shot of a gaggle of instant Fangirls.
  • Shock And Awe: Experienced firebenders are able to bend lightning.
  • Shoot The Dog: Avatar Yangchen was a proponent of this, and advised Aang to kill Ozai, claiming that his own spiritual needs would have to be sacrificed for the greater good, because she believes his role as the Avatar supercedes his teachings as an airbender.
    • Kyoshi has shades of this as well, though not to the same extent as Yangchen. When Aang consults her about what to do about Ozai, she takes responsibility for the accidental death of Chen the Conqueror, claiming that although she didn't kill him, she was prepared to if necessary.
  • Shout Out
    • Aang disrupts a band lesson by getting carried away.
    • Sokka is annoyed to tears by a drugged-out hippie named Chong.
    • Toph morphs meteor rock into the trademark Nickelodeon splash.
    • One extremely circuitous example occurs in Ba Sing Se. Zuko disguises himself with a mask that's actually Pazuzu, as seen in The Exorcist. However, that film actually used a Japanese hannya Noh mask, which is in fact Asian. Thus, it's the Fantasy Counterpart Culture's equivalent foreign face.
    • The episode Zuko Alone. Shades of Shane can be detected. Zuko is a cowboy!
    • Both of June's appearances feature a guy that looks like Ryu.
    • Iroh calls Zuko out by asking him, "Who are you, and what do you want?"
    • Toph, in the episode with the library in the desert, says, "...sinking... The library is sinking!" She then tries to haul it out of the sand.
    • In the same episode, Katara is on the run from the giant owl, whose neck has elongated and is peering around the corners of the bookshelves. It looks a LOT like THIS.◊
  • Shown Their Work: The creators went to notoriously painstaking detail to shape the entire series.
  • Shut Up And Save Me: A restrained-by-pirates Sokka, to Aang and Katara, in "The Waterbending Scroll."
  • Shut Up Kiss: Sokka and Suki in "The Serpent's Pass"; Aang and Katara in "The Invasion"
  • Silent Bob: Longshot
  • Single Palette Town: In fact, single palette continents: Nearly all Earth Kingdom residents wear a green & brown motif, Fire Nationers wear red, Water Tribers wear blue. Presumably, air nomads wore yellow, but we don't see too many, what with Aang being the last and all.
  • Slasher Smile: Azula's Psychotic Smirk becomes this after her Villainous Breakdown.
  • Slobs Versus Snobs: "The Great Divide."
  • Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter: Zuko's rant at the storm in "Bitter Work". Unusually, played for drama.
  • Smug Snake: Admiral Zhao. Seriously, when your Establishing Character Moment is getting your ass handed to you by both a teenager and an old man in the same ten minute interval, you should start considering the possibility that maybe you're not as awesome as you think you are.
  • Snipe Hunt: The terms of Zuko's banishment. Track down someone not seen for 100 years and you can come home again? Riiiight.
    • Except that the Avatar re-emerged...
  • Soft Water: In the finale, when the crew members on the airship are dumped into the water.
    • To be fair, the airship was fairly low when they were dropped.
    • Averted in the same episode when Aang uses waterbending to break the surface tension after being flung into the air.
  • Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped: This series is anything but subtle with its messages, and it's that much better for it. See the example page for more details.
  • Sorry I Left The BGM On: "The Blue Spirit" and "The Painted Lady".
  • Spell My Name With A The: The Duke in "The Western Air Temple".
  • Sphere Of Power: Whenever Aang enters the Avatar State, he bends the air around him to create a bubble of high-speed wind. In the finale, he combines this with rings of water, earth, and fire.
  • Spirit Advisor: All previous Avatars become this to the current one. Roku is the one to whom Aang speaks the most often.
  • Split Personality: Dock/Shu/Bushi in "The Painted Lady." He doesn't try to hide it either.
  • Spoiler Recap: Episodes will often open with a recap of anything from an earlier episode that is related to the current one in any way; if Jet shows up in the recap, don't be surprised about Jet suddenly showing up. The Order of the White Lotus was given obvious importance extremely early because of this, for one example.
  • Spoof Aesop: "The Waterbending Scroll." Katara steals and justifies it by saying that it isn't wrong as long as you steal it from pirates.
  • Stay In The Kitchen: The Northern Water Tribe only trains men in combative waterbending; women can only learn healing techniques.
  • Stepford Smiler: "Welcome to Ba Sing Se!"
  • Stuff Blowing Up: A mountain full of methane pockets. And one of them is right underneath the fire nation invading force. Guess what happens.
    • Azula seems to think a volley ball-like game called Kuai Ball requires explosions.
  • Stylistic Suck: In "The Ember Island Players"
  • Subverted Trope: Several of 'em.
  • Super Mode: The Avatar State
  • Supernatural Martial Arts
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Bending is partly genetic, though mostly random. See: Katara, the only bender in an otherwise non-bending family; Zuko and Azula, two powerful firebenders who come from a long and storied line of firebenders; and the twin brothers of "The Fortuneteller", one is an earthbender, the other isn't.
  • Surrogate Soliloquy: Aang and Momo
  • Sword Fight: The much looked forward to dual dao sabers vs. twin tiger-head hook sword face-off; overlaps with Evasive Fight Thread Episode.
  • Sword Over Head: After Zuko defeats his arch rival, Commander Zhao, in an Agni Kai (one-on-one firebender duel), Zhao expects Zuko to kill him with a Finishing Move, but to his surprise, Zuko spares him, blasting the ground near his head.
  • Survival Mantra: "Azula always lies, Azula always lies..."
  • Survivor Guilt: Aang
  • Take A Third Option: Aang energybends Ozai to rob him of his firebending rather than kill him or be killed by him.
    • Also: Ozai could either kill Zuko, or give up his claim to the throne. Instead Ursa took a third option for him, assassinating Azulon and setting Ozai up as heir, then fleeing into exile.
    • In an early episode, Aang is presented with two armed men to duel against. He, instead, chooses King Bumi, the doddering old guy who's been running the Test Of Character. Much to the audience's delight, Bumi reveals himself to be a Badass Grandpa...
  • Taking The Bullet: Zuko to Katara, from Azula.
  • Tasty Gold: Trope Namer
  • Tear Jerker: "The Tale of Iroh." (Made even more poignant for being dedicated to the character's voice actor, who had just passed away.)
    • "How could you forgive me so easily!?"
    • "Appa's Lost Days". Your Mileage May Vary, depending on your feelings towards animal cruelty.
  • Tempting Fate: Sokka is to blame for 70% of instances relating to this trope.
    • Lampshaded in 'The Awakening'.
      Sokka: The Universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?
      Toph: You make it too easy!
  • Tired Of Running: Zuko chooses to fight Azula rather than run in the Season 2 Finale.
  • Thats No Moon: The Lion-Turtle Island.
  • The Nicknamer: Toph, and also Sokka.
  • The Purge: Fire Lord Sozin's first strike against the Air Nomads that caused their extinction. Also Fire Lord Ozai's plan during the finale, which was to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground.
  • They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot: The Storyline concerning Toph, with her Parents believing Aang kidnapped pretty much dropped off the radar after season 2. It was handwaved in season 3 with a throwaway episode focusing on how Toph acts the way she does because she missed her parents.
  • This Is Something Hes Got To Do Himself - The Final Battle
  • This Is SPARTA: Sokka: "WHERE?! IS?! SUKI?!?!" Zuko: "Where. Is. My mother?"
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Aang
  • Throw It In: Sokka's humor and mannerisms were derived from the improvisations of his comedian voice actor.
    • Additionally, in the episode The Ember Island Players the entire show was parodied hilariously by a play. The actor parodying Sokka was rather Unfunny and so Sokka tried to fix it by substituting his own jokes with even more hilarious results.
  • Thunderbolt Iron: Sokka's sword.
    • Also the left-over meteor metal he gives to Toph, which she wears as an armlet.
  • Tomboy And Girly Girl: The Ladette-in-progress Toph and the Team Mom Katara.
  • Tongue On The Flagpole: Only with Aang's glider.
  • Took A Level In Badass: Sokka in the third season. Katara at the end of season 1.
  • Total Eclipse Of The Plot: Used by the group to attack the Fire Nation.
  • Totally Radical: Book 3, Episode 2, with in-universe slang.
    Sokka: 'Flame-eo?'
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Iroh loves his tea.
  • Training Montage: In "Sokka's Master", which is, in essence, one episode-long Training Montage
  • Training From Hell: For Aang, earthbending tutelage under Toph.
  • Transformation Is A Free Action (Azula is Dangerously Genre Savvy in this regard.)
  • Traveling At The Speed Of Plot
  • Troll: The creators themselves.
  • Trope Overdosed: Go ahead, try and count the number of examples on this entry. In fact, this was the original inspiration for that page.
  • Troubled But Cute: Zuko practically embodies this one.
  • TV Teen: Both played straight (everyone's skin is perfect, and some of the VAs are well past 30) and wildly subverted (see Getting Crap Past The Radar for an exhaustive list of implied offscreen teen sex...)
    • UNDERAGE implied offscreen teen sex.
  • Twist Ending: Prominent throughout Season 2, in contrast to the usual "ride off happily into the sunset" endings of most episodes in season 1. One episode in which it was played with contained several plot twists at the end. The episode later received an Emmy Nom.
  • The Unfavorite: Zuko
  • The Unreveal: "Where is my mother?" Not in the finale.
  • Unpronounceable Alias: The page quote for this trope comes from the episode "The King of Omashu".
  • Unstoppable Rage: The Avatar State
  • Useful Notes on China: "Laogai" is actually a phrase referring to reformative training, usually associated with Communist China.
    • Pay attention to the dinner scene in 'The Blind Bandit'. That's an actual traditional Chinese tune playing in the background. It's called 'Mo Li Hua' or Jasmine Flower, and crosses into Suspiciously Apropos Music when you consider that Toph's parents see her that way.
  • Vapor Wear
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: Aang, in a sense. He and Katara haven't known each other from childhood, but he was plagued with all the psychological baggage that comes with this trope for the entire series. Also, in a more traditional example, Mai.
  • Victory Gloating: Azula turns it into an art.
  • Victory Is Boring: Although not a usual case, Mai's declaration after beating Katara and Sokka is the Trope Namer.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Smellerbee.
  • Villain Episode: "Zuko Alone"
  • Villainous Breakdown: Azula practically embodies this trope.
  • Voice Of The Legion: While in the Avatar State, Aang speaks with the voices of every Avatar that came before him. Whether this is terrifying or not depends on what all those voices are saying.
  • Walking The Earth: Season 1; overlaps with Stern Chase
  • Wangst: Zuko occasionally; Aang more intermittently.
  • Watching The Sunset: Usually done at the end of certain episodes. It's also the last scene in the series.
  • Well Done Son Guy: Guess who.
  • We Can Rule Together: Azula's unsuccessful pickup line for boys. In a more serious example, Fire Lord Sozin's offer to Avatar Roku.
  • We Will Meet Again: Said by Koh to Aang. They don't, albeit in the time frame the series covers.
  • Wham Episode: "The Crossroads of Destiny"
  • What An Idiot: Delectable tea or deadly poison, anyone?
    • A group try to force Aang into the Avatar State. It works, but Aang almost destroys the complex and everyone inside.
  • What Could Have Been: See also Cliff Hanger above. The production staff even planned a storyboard for it and everything...
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome: Shows up a few times, usually played for comedy.
    • "It's called Sokka-style, LEARN IT!"
  • What Happened To The Mouse: What happened to Smellerbee and Longshot after the season two finale? Or Long Feng, for that matter? Just who ended up ruling Ba Sing Se after the war was over if the Earth King was still off exploring the world? And who did the Fire Nation choose to govern it after Azula went back home? That must have been one huge bus.
  • What Kind Of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway: Lampshaded, when Sokka calls out the elemental powers of the Gaang, in the style of Captain Planet, and ends with "fan and sword" (Suki's and his respective skills).
  • What The Hell Hero: Sokka (and later, Aang and Katara) call Jet out when he tries to destroy an Earth kingdom town in order rid the valley of the few Fire Nations soldiers posted there.
  • What The Fu Are You Doing: Sokka just before he went badass.
  • What Would X Do: "What would Uncle do?" is a question Zuko frequently asks himself when trying to do the right thing in season 3.
  • Whip It Good: A frequently used waterbending technique.
    • Firebending, as well: Zuko in the second finale against Katara's water ones, along with A stage magician and a Circus animal trainer. Plus, don't forget June.
  • White Haired Pretty Girl: Princess Yue, and it's for a reason. Aunt Wu's assistant.
    • Aunt Wu's assistant? Whom do you mean? Her main assistant is Meng◊, whose hair is very dark.
  • White Mask Of Doom: Koh, the face stealing spirit wears one.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: "The Storm", "Appa's Lost Days", "Zuko Alone", "The Avatar and the Fire Lord"
  • Who Would Want To Watch Us: "The Ember Island Players"
  • Why Dont Ya Just Shoot Him: As Ozai points out, Zuko has just cornered him during a solar eclipse (i.e. no firebending) and has a pair of swords pointed at him. Zuko states that that's the Avatar's destiny.
    • Because the result would be essentially the same as if Iroh did the same thing. It will just be considered as an internal dispute and wouldn't really lead to ending the war. I mean, see how people don't even trust Zuko, they'd see him as taking after his family and the war would go on, except it would be on his hands and there wouldn't be anyone to teach Aang Firebending.
    • Also, Zhao actually captured Aang in the first season, but didn't kill him because then he'd reincarnate. Into one of two possible locations (practically all the Southern Water Tribe's men of reproductive age are off fighting), one of which he had planned to take over by the end of winter and likely would have actually succeeded at if he had killed Aang, and the other, while unknown to him, full of rednecks. Not to mention that the new Avatar would be, at absolute best, learning to sit upright by the time Sozin's Comet arrived.
    • The second season premiere is actually an extended examination of this question, as General Fong straight up asks Aang why he doesn't just go into the Avatar State and defeat the Fire Lord right then and there. The only problem is that Aang doesn't know how to trigger the State at will, much less how to control himself when he reaches it, since it only activates when he is in genuine danger. And as Katara points out, seeing him go so completely out of control that he doesn't even resemble himself anymore is really scary and painful to watch for the people who love him. It also turns out that there's a drawback to the Avatar State: since it is triggered by channeling the strength and experience of all the past Avatars, if the Avatar is killed while in the State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Azula and Ozai at the end.
  • With My Hands Tied: In the first episode, Aang tells some guards that he could take them with his hands behind his back (which, he proceeds to actually do). King Bumi also manages to show his skill while trapped in a solid metal box.
    • Aang explicitly asks how Bumi is able to earthbend while in said box, with his body locked in place. Bumi's response: "They didn't cover up my face!
      • And he does the same trick twice, breaking out of the box using only his face during the Day of Black Sun and proceeding to take Omashu back on his own.
  • Woman Scorned: Mai, in The Boiling Rock
  • World Of Badass: Take your time trying to name the characters that aren't benders. You'll notice that practically all of them are listed under Badass Normal at the top of the page.
  • World Of Cardboard Speech: Zuko's Calling The Old Man Out
  • You Cant Go Home Again: Zuko for the first two seasons. Aang... well, check the U.S. title.
  • You Dont Want To Catch This: Pentapox.
    • I think I've heard of that!
      • Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?
      • I'm going to go wash my hands!
      • I'll go burn our clothes!
  • You Fail Physics Forever: Fire does not have a concussive effect unless it is part of an explosion, and even then it's the rapidly expanding gases (fire is a form of plasma) that cause the person or object to be pushed back. Also, Mai's daggers should not cause people to go flying back into walls unless she's somehow 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. Not that this affects the enjoyability of the series any.
  • You Wouldnt Like Me When Im Angry: The Avatar State.
  • Your Costume Needs Work: Twice. Aang tries to get his group free passage on the ferry to Ba Sing Se, and the woman taking tickets doesn't find his Avatar costume any more believable than those in the nearby group of Aang cosplayers impersonators. Later, "The Ember Island Players," a kid tells Zuko his "Zuko costume" is great, but his scar's on the wrong side of his face.
  • Yuppie Couple: The Cabbage Merchant
  • Zeppelins From Another World: The single biggest Oh Crap moment in the series after Azula ambushing Aang with her lightningbending.
    • Granted, there had been foreshadowing at the end of the episode introducing the war balloon, with the Fire Nation officer finding it after the battle. So they showed a fleet of war balloons for the initial Oh Crap, and THEN came the zeppelin armada.

...Water Triiibe!

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