Archived Discussion WMG / AvatarTheLastAirbender

• Arguably, she won the Agni Kai.
  • Arguably, considering that if Zuko hadn't taken the lightning for her, she'd be dead.
  • Also, Azula cheated by attacking an outsider so, arguably, she'd be disqualified.
    • No 'arguably' about it. Deliberately attacking a bystander violates the proprieties of a formal duel. Azula forfeited the Agni Kai the instant she shot at Katara.
    • Plus, earlier that episode, the twins protested that they couldn't engage in an Agni Kai, since they weren't firebenders, so presumably, neither could Katara since she's a waterbender.
    • Lo and Li are non-benders; Katara isn't. Katara took full advantage of the fact that she's a waterbender. Nice spot for an open storm drain, too.
    • I don't know about you, but if I were designing an arena for firebending fights, I'd ensure ready access to plenty of water in case of accidents.
    • Not to mention that any enclosed stone courtyard that large that didn't have really good drainage would become a reservoir after the first thunderstorm.
• Whatever happens, there is a decent chance of Fire Lord Katara down the line... if you think Zuko is not going to name at least one daughter (even chance of it being his firstborn) thus after all that bonding....
• Agni Kai is a personal honour duel, a third party can't "win" it, they're not part of it.
  • By many cultures' rules of dueling, she was Zuko's second. He asked her to come along and watch his back, and she witnessed the duel and stepped in to finish it when he fell to foul play. That makes Katara the legitimate winner, albeit in Zuko's name. So she won't be claiming the crown, but she might have dibs on it if anything happens to him?
    ^ A debate — wrong place.

I saw two of them! When Ozai was beaten, and Katara and Sokka were looking their father, there was one Haru with his father and another Haru with Hakoda. This changes everything!

• This is obviously because Sexyfine molecules reproduce by mitosis.
  ^ Not an Epileptic Tree — this is like mentioning animation errors under It Just Bugs Me! (which I have only seen for Avatar, too!).

It ended exactly the way Kim Possible did. Both series were extremely popular. So there's only one logical explanation: There will be a fourth season, and it will be awesome beyond words.

• Jossed time and time again, so no.
  • Bleh.
    ^ Not an Epileptic Tree — wishful thinking, forum-type message.

The amount of tropey awesomeness will lead to a massive amount of adding examples to various pages, and thus the server will crash.

• Jossed by the fact that we only added about thirty example. Still enough to push Avatar from Trope Overdosed to Overloaded though!
  ^ Not an Epileptic Tree.

Even though it is possible to ues ideas from other bending styles (Iroh learning lightning redirection from applying waterbending techniques to firebending) and it's possible to use your own unique skills bending (Toph can bend Metal by using her "radar" to discover impurities), noone except the Avatar can actually learn another element.

• Alternate theory: In order learn how to bend more than one element, one has to learn from the source of the elements: Firebending from Dragons, Earthbending from Badgermoles, Airbending from Sky Bisons and Waterbending from The Moon and The Ocean.

Lale: It's Canon that no one besides the Avatar can bend more than one element.

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• Let's face it, at the time, Zuko could barely match Aang in his normal form, and in Siege of the North Aang was full-on Spirit merged Avatar-State. He realized that Zuko's attempt to save Zhao was probably going to get them both killed. Remembering Zuko's mercy, and seeing Zuko's attempt to save him despite everything he tried, made him realize that Taking You with Me was not worth it, and performed what was Zhao's only noble action in the series.

Lale: ^ Alternate Character Interpretation, not a Wild Mass Guessing.

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This will probably be covered in one of the Direct-to-video things but there are only so many possibilities to work with.

• Internal Exile, AKA the Siberian Option:
  • Face it, there were probably a whole lot of cells, fortresses, prisons, isolated islands, even manors befitting one of palatine rank in Fire Lord Azulon's domain where those who needed to be disappeared but for some reason were to be left alive can be stored well out of sight. Doubt she is anywhere in the capital, and the Boiling Rock was far too high profile, but some isolated provencial camp far off the beaten path could easily contain any number of officially nameless persons.
• Earth Kingdom (Biggest and closest target, with a large and heterogenous population):
  • She did not do the high-level defector thing (if she did, word of Zuko's banishment would have reached her and she would have at least tried to get in touch with Iroh) and going by her own name/title otherwise would have gotten her imprisoned or lynched, but with the number of refugees a woman with a plausably vague tale of being some poor soul's half-breed bastard (presuming she needed to explain the eyes at all) could have readily blended in to a number of towns/settlements/slums. She might even get away with a partial truth of fleeing the Fire Nation ahead of a noose for murdering a man of influence to protect her son.
    • Of course if she settled down for a new life, the end of the War and rise of the new Fire Lord will turn it upside down as soon as the news hits.
  • Many have speculated that Ursa is either an impressive firebender in her own right or skilled at fighting. If she fell prey to desperation or dispair as her son did, she too may have used these abilities and resorted to bandity. If this is the case she could well have ended up a brigand, a common sellsword/assassin, or a bounty hunter.
    • No, I doubt she is Jun. They could well know of each other though, indeed they may know each other... well.
  • Alternately, she may have been right under everyone's nose.
    "I am Joo Di, welcome to Ba Sing Se...."
• Southern Water Tribe:
  • BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA... hey, this is less improbable than one would think. Said tribe was split up among a number of tiny villiages right around the time of That Fateful Night(tm), so one of them holding an outlander as a captive/guest/thrall/adoptee is not to be dismissed out of hand. Still, Hakoda was in contact with all of them and even if she was under an alias once he heard Zuko's story the timeframes would match up enough for the man to would at least pass the information to him.
• Northern Water Tribe:
  • Pretty unlikely. There is next to no chance of her fading into the background there, and while she could be under an alias and avoided imprisonment as a spy the place seems small/insular enough for an immigrant that looks like a Fire Nation noblewoman to be at least mentioned in passing while the place is being invaded.
• A shallow grave in the hills above the Fire Nation capital. What, would you actually put that past Ozai?

The war, and their biggest adventure, is over. The team separating and going at their own ways is what always happens after these kind of things. (Spoiling the whole thing just to be certain.)

• Aang will go to the Northern Air Temple, thinking that maybe he could by now find two or three fellows there who could airbend - but to his surprise, everyone can. It is also possible that the bunch in charge make a certain Card Game card, Malu the Ghost Witch, canon - and with an airbender hiding at Ba Sing Se in secret, there's probably now an entire family of airbenders there. Aang might even have to tattoo one or two. He'll be accompanied by Appa and Momo, which goes without saying.
• Katara and Sokka will, of course, want to visit their Gran-Gran, now that she's married and everything. Katara will go right away, but Sokka will want to look for his sword and boomerang first.
• Toph will first help Sokka looking for his precious things, then go to visit her parents, who will still have mixed feelings about her. Then she might walk the earth.
  • Actually, given how crazy her parents seem like, it wouldn't surprise This Troper to find out that they've decided that she's not their daughter anymore, she's not welcome there, and that her mother's pregnant for another doll.
    • Depends on the degree Lao's ambition for the wealth/power of House Bei Fong outstrip his issues about his kid. Recall who has connections coming out her ears any merchant lord would wet himself over.
  • Eventually, Bumi will name her sucessor to the throne of Omashu. She's not quite his brand of crazy, but close enough.
    • She did figure out the "impossible". How is that not "Thinking like a mad genius"? She's his kind of crazy, all right.
• Zuko will go and find his mother, and then return to the Fire Nation and start ruling things. Mai could accompany him, at the very least in the last one.
  • I'm not sure that Zuko has time to personally search for his mother. He has to confer with retooling the tank and airship factories; basically get an entire national economy onto a peacetime footing for the first time in a hundred years- don't forget, tens of thousands of returning occupation troops need jobs too. Zuko won't have the luxury of a personal life for quite some time.
    • This is his mother we're talking about. I'm sure he can find some personal time for her search, and I'm sure he can find someone to rule for a while in his stead.
    • Why does he need to search for her personally? All he has to do is have it become widely known throughout the lands that the exile of Lady Ursa is hereby lifted by decree of Fire Lord Zuko, please come home, if you still don't feel safe coming home right away then please leave a message c/o Gen.(ret.) Iroh, Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop, Ba Sing Se. Its not like Ursa wanted to leave, after all.
    • Or, once Aang and Katara are ready to go adventuring again, as per below, he might ask them to search for her.
    • Or, he could just ask Jun again. She mistakes Ursa for another girlfriend. Hilarity Ensues.
• Suki will return to the Kyoshi Island, along with the other Kyoshi Warriors (and Ty Lee).
• Once their respective businesses are over, Katara will return for Aang, and Sokka for Suki, and everyone will live happily ever after. Some more Walking the Earth might ensue, especially with Aang and Katara, with all the Avatar business, and the wanderlust that's set in the Air Nomad genetics by default.

If You Know What I Mean. Also, this is the very same reason Toph is so excited of being portrayed as a guy. Commence Totara.

• Jossed, in a damn big way, by the season finale. Toph's so boy-crazy that she was going after Zuko, even knowing that he liked Mai, and as for Aang and Katara... Well...

If so, Katara (and perhaps Sokka) will have a spotlight episode about coming to terms with their mother's death, and Chit Sang will show repentance for his past.

• Jossed by The Southern Raiders.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Appa, Momo, Suki, The Duke, Teo, Haru, Hakoda, and Chit Sang. You know what this means, don't you? The first to rise from the table after the next dinner... Will die!

• Barring a medical miracle, that rules Teo out, I guess.
• Alternately, everyone after Suki could be considered killable by the writers... and we're not sure about Zuko and/or Toph. The Three Amigos should be safe, at least (unless Aang pulls a Buffy on us)
• As of The Southern Raiders, we're back to a Five-Man Band.
• Everybody Lives

A few of us already know that Fire Lord Ozai is going to declare himself Phoenix Lord. He may mean this in a very literal sense; Ozai may try to pass himself off as "the real Avatar," in the hopes that Azula will permanently eliminate Aang before any cries of protest can be made from those who know the truth. He will then attempt to grant all present and future "meritocratically chosen" descendants of the Fire Nation royal bloodline "Rule by Divine Right", giving himself, Azula, and those who would come after them absolute power.

• But how's this going to affect to Aang's destiny? The Phoenix Lord part, I mean? Does he now have to go after Azula?
  • Aang and the gang would've had to take down Azula before getting at Ozai no matter what, but think about the sociological and psychological ramifications. If Ozai declares himself a God-king, it makes the Avatar seem like less of a threat to him, and it makes the Fire Nation seem more powerful than they actually are. Basically, it would be a way for Ozai to increase his grip on the entire world, wringing every last drop of hope out of the populace. Also, it's an effective way to show just how bloated Ozai's ego has become.
    • All to set him up for a Humiliation Conga, of course.
• If the rumours are true of the comet actually being on an impact course, (and it does look very close in the trailer), the "Phoenix Lord" might be a literal concept, Ozai could be planning to influence or even cause the comet to impact the earth, and somehow attempt to fully absorb the power it grants firebenders entirelty for himself in a ploy that requires his death and rebirth as some kind of ultimate firebender
  • So Ozai is Sephiroth...that would explain everything.
    • It also has it's fingers on the launch controls of a number of other Checkov's Weapons Of Mass Destruction that haven't been used yet, because a death and rebirth like this in Avatar would involve the spirit world, and thus the Avatar as the bridge between worlds, the hinted at return of Koh the face stealer, Iroh's knowledge of the spirit world....
• Confirmed He tries to destroy the Earth Kingdom, presumably to Ethnically Cleanse it

Aang needs to face the Firelord before the comet, and he won't do it alone. Though pretty much the entire attack team from the Black Sun got caught, he'll be sure to find more allies for the second assault. Here's my list:

• Mai and Ty Lee. The former comes for Zuko, and the latter for Sokka. Turns out neither of them never liked Azula that much.
• Iroh will have a pretty good idea of where the Gaang is right now, and he'd still like to be around with his nephew. He doesn't have any other place to go, anyway. Probably already on his way to the Western Air Temple.
• Princess Ursa was only exiled, as revealed a while ago, and would love to see her son again. It will also turn out that she's an extremely powerful firebender, thanks to the Avatar blood that flows within her.
• Jeong Jeong and his gang. He'll have visited the Sun Warriors and learned the Dragon Dance by now - he might've done that already when he met the Gaang for the first time, but it's unlikely since he was still talking about fire as a destructive force, which goes against the Sun Warrior philosophy.
• Guru Pathik saw a vision of himself helping the Avatar. Until now, he's only helped Aang to purge some of his inner demons and to better accept himself, so the old guy's still got a job to do. At this point, Katara will also learn the truth of why Aang didn't master the Avatar State - she'd be angry with him if not for the Bloodbending.
• By now, Omashu has been liberated from the Fire Nation, and as such, king Bumi will also join the fray, along with some of his most loyal servants. There will be some conflict between him and Toph, culminating in a massive earthbending battle.
• Kuzon turns out to be alive and well, but is by now too old and weak to be much use of the battlefield. Instead, he helps the Gaang in his own way from behind enemy lines - a high-ranking Fire Nation leader should help a lot. He's a member of the White Lotus, as well.
• Hama will escape the prison or whatever she was thrown into, and will attack the Fire Nation forces from behind in a critical moment. She'll probably die thanks to this, but will be redeemed in the eyes of the good guys.
• The rest of the Freedom Fighters. Not only will the Longshot and Smellerbee escape from Ba Sing Se, but they will take the charge of the entire bunch after Jet's death, and they will all come and help the heroes.
• Suki and her two buddies will also be freed from the infernal Ba Sing Se prison by the Freedom Fighters, and along with them will come the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors - surely, there were more than three of them at some point?
• Master Pakku and some other waterbenders. Turns out he's married to Kanna now.
• Master Piandao, and his servant/butler/squire guy.
• Oh and, the entire rest of the White Lotus. They'll have plenty of important members high above.
• And the Sun Warriors, of course. Including the dragons.

In short... Well, pretty much every good(ish) guy who's ever appeared in the show.

• Not implausible, certainly, for some of these people, but... We've already seen Gondor Calling for aid. That was the entire point of the first invasion. The way I see it, it'll be a much smaller force this time, with the goal, most likely, to put Zuko on the throne. That'll be a help, I think. Based on speculaion based on a nick game released on their website about "The Boiling Rock" prison (Also the title of the next 2 episodes after "The Western Air Temple" and "The Firebending Masters"), I'm inclined to think that Suki's getting out of prison, and possibly the leaders of the invasion force (Hakoda, the Mechanist, Haru's dad are about it- everyone else is pretty much a bit character), but I really think that the core force is going to be on Appa- Aang, Katara, Sokka Zuko, Haru, Suki, The Duke, and wheelchair-boy (can't remember his name). They may also have Zuko's balloon as well. Ooh! Idea strikes! Appa disguised as a balloon! I can totally see Sokka come up with something like that. But Iroh showing up is a given (he'd better, he's the coolest character on the show). Mai and Ty Lee pulling a Heel–Face Turn wouldn't surprise me, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they don't (or at least Mai won't before Zuko shows up). I'd like for Zuko to find his mother, but I wouldn't count on it. The rest of them seem way too much like Deus Ex Machinas for my taste.
  • I wouldn't quite count Jeong Jeong out, with all the Foreshadowing and all: "Yeah right, like we ran into Jeong Jeong again" or whatnot. And as said, Pathik still has a work to do. Both of them were, in my opinion, just a bit too developed characters anyway just to be dropped out like that.
    • Recent trailer spoilers: Suki's joining the Gaang. Hakoda's apparently getting busted out of prison, but no knowledge of what the actual invasion force will be.
• Post Boiling Rock: Mai and Ty Lee told Azula where she could stick her "minion" job, in defence of Zuko, and got imprisoned for it. If the Gaang can bust them out, then they might be up for it.
  • This troper suspects that Mai will be used in the finale as Zuko-bait to lure him into a one on one encounter with his sister.
    • This troper suspects that if that is indeed the case Zuko and Mai will take turns kicking Azula's ass before riding off into the sunset.

Given how he treated Zuko, his least favorite, for simply talking out of turn, we can expect that Azula actively lying to him will get him pretty pissed. He needs her enough not to kill her over it, but he won't let her get away with it either. Therefore, he will blast her face the same way he did Zuko's. Next time we see her, her face will have a horrific scar on it that resembles Zuko's. And she will be looking for revenge on the Gaang.

• With any luck, they'll let us see him do it. Azula in horrific pain. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm,yeah. I'd look at that and think, "Thank you, karma!". Heh.
  • Mostly Jossed by "The Boiling Rock". Though if it's any consolation it ends with a defeat from her that may send her spiraling into Ax-Crazy territory.
    • I wouldn't readily discount an impending mutilation. Ozai's patience must be running very low by now.
    • Though What we've seen in the trailer suggests that Azula is going to get the chance to go crazy all by herself
    • Jossed. All of Azula's damage was sustained to her psyche. Possibly the most epic and disturbing Villainous Breakdown in Western Animation history.

Dunno about you guys, but I'm pretty certain that, sooner or later, Aang will find a way to master the Avatar State without giving up on Katara. It might be because he'll need that power to face the Firelord, or it might be because every other Avatar has (probably) mastered it as well. The only important question is how he's gonna do it. Here's my theory: Feel free to debate, debunk the whole thing with your surgically accurate blows, or make up your own better speculations.

• 1) Aang will meditate and go to the Spirit World for help from Avatar Roku. He tells him that most Avatars opened their chakras and mastered the State before finding their true love, but that there were some who found the girl (or boy) of their life before that - and that none of them opened the thought chakra when they were supposed to. Instead, they took an alternate path - a much more dangerous one, obviously.
• 2) Roku will explain Aang the method: Basically, he's supposed to pick up his earthly attachment (Katara) from his thought chakra, and dump it to the air chakra, where it'd have loads of room for itself. He could demonstrate with a bunch of pools like Pathik did. Then he will take Aang to his chakra pools - which turn out to be these massive lakes, separated by waterfalls. Aang's earthly attachment, then again, is this massive blob of disgusting black slime, blocking the way out of the thought chakra.
• 3) Aang jumps to the chakra, beat the resisting blob into submission, grab it, and drag it up two long waterfalls, through his light and thought chakras, and finally reach to his destination and dump his load (Oh ha ha, very funny). At this point, the blob will turn into something more pleasant - a swan would be a pretty good guess. Then it'd swim around for the rest of his life, not blocking anything from passing through to the other chakras, possibly feeding upon the small bits of random grief that'd fall to it every once in a while.
• 4) With his mission over, Aang will return to the mortal world and immediately ask Katara out. Good times for all.

Now it's your turn. Speculate. Debate. Debunk.

• One thing to add. Since we can practically guarantee we'll see Koh again, he will show up at some point in the process to try and wreck it. Aang will defeat and kill him (possibly with help from his fellow Avatars, that'd be badass to watch). His past life's love interest will get her face back, along with all the other people whose faces Koh has stolen.
  • 5) Aang ran away when Pathik began to talk about "letting Katara go." Pathik will eventually explain to Aang that this means that no matter how Aang feels, he must take into account Katara's feelings as well: love without reciprocity is merely possessiveness. Aang has to let Katara go, to recognize that she has a heart and mind of her own and to give her the freedom to make her own mistakes and decisions, in order to make a relationship with her work. He also will learn that "letting Katara go" doesn't necessarily mean that Katara will leave him: By doing so, Aang is giving Katara the choice to love him. Aang will ultimately learn that what matters in a relationship is the freedom to choose love.
    • While that'd perhaps make sense in any other setting, I'm fairly certain that's not what Pathik meant at all. To embrace the higher level of existence, you must leave behind everything that binds you to your old self, including your love: This is not just in the Avatar world, it's exactly how it goes in the Hindu philosophy from which the whole chakra thing was taken. Besides, I don't see Aang as being selfish enough to not taking Katara's feelings into account. If she chose not to love him (though she probably does), I'm sure he'd understand, and leave it at that.
    • Only some schools of Buddhism (like Theravada) promote complete detachment. Mahayana, for example, is far more liberal, and could well endorse the scenario proposed above.
    • Something still tells me that's not what Pathik meant. You're just being optimistic to the point of self-betrayal.
• On another note entirely, about how Katara's going react when she hears he gave up Avatar State for her: Unlike what everyone else has guessed until now, she will not be pissed at him. Take a look at her reaction to Hakoda leaving for war: Even though she knew he did it all for the world's peace and general good for mankind, she was mad at him simply because he left her. This heavily suggests that behind all that Messianism and helping people, there's a selfish side of her. Therefore, when she hears about what Aang did, she'll try her best to be pissed at him, but just can't do it. Cue to a sweet declaration of love and a hug.

Jossed. Aang gets help from his previous incarnations, a giant turtle, and a good hard whack to the back.

We don't actually find out why Zuko would side with Azula despite his loathing of her and impassioned pleas from Iroh, Katara, and his own better half. While the lure of restored honor from his family is undoubtedly strong, this did come on the heels of Iroh insisting that Zuko define his honor his way. It's possible he did what he did to serve the greater good: if Zuko had sided with the Avatar, they'd still be trapped in Ba Sing Se with the Dai Li and Azula surrounding them, and even if they got out, they'd all be fugitives. Now, the Avatar, his companions, and the Earth King are safe, and Zuko is presumably in a powerful and trusted position in the Fire Nation again. What better position for a Reverse Mole?

• Thoroughly Jossed by Word of God and the events of Season 3.

• With the black sheep of the family around, everyone will have a scapegoat after the Fire Lord suffers an "unfortunate accident". After Zuko is executed for treason, poor Azula will just have to accept the throne all by herself. This would also explain why in the magazine comic "Going Home" she was so insistent on Zuko going back to the Fire Nation.
• Alternatively, Zuko already told Ozai everything. We know everything he's done so far has been to get back in the Fire Lord's good books. Why stop at the final hurdle? At the very least, Zuko may have mentioned that Azula was the one who "slew the Avatar".
• Or better yet, Ozai already knows that the Avatar is still alive, without either Zuko or Azula knowing, and the only reason he keeps Zuko alive is to figure out what exactly Azula is planning. Azula is still alive because Ozai is pretty fond of her, and he feels she is the only person worthy of being heir to the throne. This is all because Ozai is played by Mark Hamill, who played the Joker, who is a crazed psychological and tactical genius. So Ozai probably is nothing less than a crazed psychological and tactical genius.
  • All Jossed by "The Day of Black Sun" — Azula not only passed up the perfect chance to have Ozai killed and pin blame on either Zuko or the Avatar, she loyally informed Ozai of the eclipse in advance and worked with him to stop the Avatar's assassination attempt on the Fire Lord. She would seem to entirely be Daddy's little girl, in a lovely dark mirror of the Iroh/Zuko parental relationship.

Because TV Tropes Has Ruined My Life. It is also likely he'll be a part of a Gondor Calls for Aid scenario, leading an army of freakish normal animals like "lions" and "cows". Well, you were right about Gondor Calls for Aid, only Bumi was a part of the Ba-Sing-Sei raid, not it's leader.

Aang and Katara will be sending their son, "Jet Gyatso" off to the International Bending Academy, while Zuko also sends away his son, "Prince Fang Spider Zhao", and the parties exchange significant nods.

• Alternatively, it'll end with Zuko and the Gaang sitting down to a meal together, Journey music playing, Zuko looks up and-
• Or, then again, there's the possibility that it's All Just a Dream , and just as Aang is about to face down Ozai in the final battle, he wakes up in fifth period math class.
• Jossed. It ends with Sokka mentions that they should go to Cleveland as there's another Hell- Sorry, wrong Jossed!

• As seen in the second season finale, Azula already knows about the Gaang's strategy, since the Earth King blabbed it to her when she was disguised as Suki, although she may be refraining from telling Ozai for reasons known only to her. Also, the Gaang only has an eight-minute window to work with, so any mistake could be potentially disastrous. Not to mention the fact that after "The Day of Black Sun" airs, there will still be ten episodes left.
  • With "The Day Of Black Sun" having aired, time to round up the guessing here...spoiler-protected, of course. So. Main theory: Confirmed. The Fire Nation was ready for the eclipse, and once the sun was back, they launched a devastating counterattack which left only Aang and company uncaptured.
• Alternatively, the attack will be a partial success. Though Aang and the Gang will be outnumbered and outgunned, a lot can happen in eight minutes. Among the things that could:

Iroh and Zuko will stage a jailbreak, after Zuko finally completes his Heel–Face Turn.

• Almost confirmed. Iroh broke out on his own before Zuko got there, and they haven't run into each other yet.

• The Gaang will defeat Azula with the help of Mai and Ty Lee.
  • Nope. Mai and Ty Lee didn't even appear.
• Yue will arrive, and bring a world of pain for the Fire Nation soldiers.
  • Nope. Would have been fun, though.
• A Man Behind the Man will be revealed, and all heck breaks loose.
  • No. Azula doesn't qualify as a MBTM.
• The Gaang will rescue Iroh and Zuko, etc, etc, etc.
  • Not as such.

As seen on the Season 3 trailer, Zuko will go on a walkabout at some point. Azula doesn't see this coming, and will take her frustration out on Ty Lee and Mai, breaking the cutie in the process. Mai, characteristically bored of everything now that Zuko isn't around any more, persuades Ty Lee into leaving Azula and finding him instead. At the same time, Suki is found and Toph, jealous of her close relationship with Sokka, manages to throw herself off the Gaang. She accidentally finds Zuko and the two decide to bust Iroh out of prison. Mai probably needs to get killed at some point. The series will end in a massive three-way battle royale between the Gaang, Iroh's Angels (plus Zuko) and a cometically-powered Azula. Jossed.

This may involve the use of a really big artifact, like some hitherto unseen bending lens. Less likely, the source of power will be her own death.

Katara has always been temperamental, and was ready to excuse herself for theft, and as the show progressed she's getting more and more shades of Well-Intentioned Extremist, such as destroying the factory which polluted the river-town seen in "The Painted Lady". She also recently had a taste of The Dark Side in the form of Bloodbending. Her opinion on this questionable method in particular, as evidenced by her willingness to draw the water out of flowers (living things after all is said and done) went from "I'll never use it" to "I'll use it when I need to," really fast. My guess is that she won't react well to Zuko joining the group, have a Freak Out and kill Combustion Man with Bloodbending (not necessarily in that order). Additionally, during the Day Of Black Sun Part 1, Katara starts wearing her hair in a similar style to Hama, loose with two dangling braids in front, instead of her traditional "hair loopies". In the scene in "The Western Air Temple" where she's giving her death threat to Zuko, Zuko's surrounded by white light, while Katara's in shadow. Some very obvious symbolism there.

• Alternate/Related Theory: Katara's Freak Out will mirror those of Aang's. Katara will have a blow up similar in emotional intensity to Aang's. It may begin when she decides to antagonize Zuko by doing just enough Bloodbending on him to scare him. Aang and company will witness this little display, and temporarily shun Katara, who will be given A Day in the Limelight episode to work out her issues. This will culminate in Aang giving her some much needed Epiphany Therapy, (as Katara has done for Aang) and Katara working through the worst of her Messiah Complex.
• A fairly large part of me actually suspects, that the speech she gave to Zuko will play no significance whatsoever to the oncoming plot. Kinda like, a bit of a warning for him that never needs to be carried out. It's happened before.
• All pretty much Jossed by now. Katara will have another brush with the dark side, due to encountering her mother's killer, and it will be Zuko that pulls her back.
  • You'll pay for not spoiler tagging that!
    • Unless it gets Jossed in turn. Wild Mass Guessing, remember?
    • Jossed. Zuko helps to hunt down Kaya's killer, and though Katara listens to Aang's advice about revenge being deadly, she decides that his speech on forgiveness is overrated.

"Day of the Black Sun" sets us up to feel like everything is hopeless, but we know the heroes will win, and we know it doesn't look like they have the power to beat the Fire Nation at full strength. The solution: attack them when their powers are shut off again, but this time, make sure it goes right. Yue is now the Moon, and it seems that she is still able to perceive and interact with mortals (the Avatar, anyway), so it should be quite simple to convince her to block out the sun for an hour, a day, or even longer. Heck, it might be enough just to prove that you could "turn off" Firebending for as long as you needed, and order them to cease all aggressive actions on penalty of powerlessness.

• Jossed they defeat Azula and Ozai during the Comet.

Alternatively: Given that Checkov's Gun guarantees that the comet will come, IT will block out the sun. As the comet approaches, the firebenders' power becomes huge, and when all hope is lost, it shuts off, because an amplifier isn't much use without a source.

• To combine this with a WMG listed above: Toph will bend the comet to block the sun.
• Nope, the comet'd have to come REALLY close to earth in order to being able to block the sun all by itself. I mean come on, it's just a small dot in the sky.
  • We shouldn't underestimate Ozai's power and ambitions, though.
    • Jossed.

• Toph: She was the fourth member to join the core team a season later than everyone else, and was never added to the title sequence, significantly decreasing her Contractual Immortality. Aang first saw Toph in a vision in the Foggy Swamp, a Genius Loci where visitors see visions of "people we've loved, people we've lost," and people they haven't met yet but will meet in the future are included. Katara and Sokka both saw someone they "loved and lost" — her mother, and Yue. Aang correctly concludes, "I saw someone I'm going to meet." — Toph. It logically follows this is also someone he's going to lose.
  • Alternatively, those who the Gaang saw in the swamp are those they are soon to meet. Toph has joined the Gaang. Yue has recently appeared to Aang to offer advice and help him out of a bad scrape; she might well pay a visit to Sokka in the future. As for Katara and Sokka's mother, she may reappear as a spirit. Or it may be a form of Prophecy Twist and turn out to be Katara's future self rather than her mother.
  • Or, Toph is the reincarnation of Souzin. Not only would this make her a friend the Avatar had loved and lost, but it might give her a useful affinity with a certain comet...
  • Okay, having seen the return of Zuko/Mai and Sokka/Suki in The Boiling Rock, this troper now admits against all hope that Toph, the only main character not involved in an Official Couple, is incredibly probably going to die. Unless she takes a sudden interest in Haru or something (Sokka's a lost cause, though Zuko/Suki would be kind of...hey, stop that!). Oh well, she'll bend the comet, and die with a smile on her face, happy to have had the chance to live and all that schmaltzy crap. Still, why can't they kill off Aang or Katara or Mai (ha, Zuko/Toph) or anyone else?!
    • So, what's Toph/Teo, here, guys? Chopped liver? And for that matter, why the assumption that Single Equals Death?
• Azula: Zuko has outed the Evil Overlord's Dragon as a liar who works first and foremost for herself. Failing to kill The Hero, lying about it to the Evil Overlord, allowing his son and rival to be praised and hailed as a war hero, and now calmly allowing the Turncoat and The Hero and his allies to just escape? This has "You Have Failed Me for the last time!" written all over it.
  • Only if Ozai is not merely sociopathic (which he is), but also retarded and a paranoid schizophrenic. One, Azula didn't know Zuko was a turncoat at the time she made her decision not to pursue, so she can't be blamed for letting him go. That is information she will have only after getting back to the ground and having a chance to speak to Ozai. Two, her reasoning was sound — she can't hope to catch Appa in that lumbering sky dreadnaught, and also didn't appear to have enough forces onboard to beat the entire Gaang, plus kid Earthbending reinforcements, in a fight. So she'd have to turn around and land anyway, even if just to load up more troops. And three, she confronted the Avatar and Toph without her Firebending, at genuine risk to her life, to prevent them from reaching Ozai and killing him. You'd think that would prove her loyalty... if she was working only for herself, she had to do absolutely nothing except stay in her room, eat chocolates, and let them remove the Fire Lord for her, thus allowing her to be the heroine who comes in just one tragic second too late and captures (or at least drives off) the Fire Lord's assassins and then took up the mantle as Fire Lady and rallied the troops to victory. (Or arrived just in time to watch Ozai finish char-broiling Aang to a crisp and applaud her father while looking very sincerely cute, depending.) Add in that Ozai needs Azula. Who else does he have left in the Evil Lieutenant department that's even halfway as competent as her? And with both the Avatar, and his renegade son, and his Grand Master Badass older brother out there, Ozai has a serious manpower crisis going on right now. So, while I entirely expect she's going to get in some kind of trouble for her little omission, she's still got a lot more failure to go before Ozai should put her down.
• Of course, this show is a trope fest, so there's a damn good chance that Azula will die trying to redirect lightning. Iroh invoked Chekhov's Gun in "Bitter Work", when he explained that lightning redirection is fatal if not done properly. Azula doesn't know this little piece of info, she's arrogant enough to just assume she could pull it off, and it would deliver an irony-loaded Karmic Death for her.
• Zuko will be the one that bends the lightning at her. He's gotten over the "inner turmoil" that was keeping him from doing it, so it's only natural for him to bend lightning properly now.
  • Alternate theory: Azula will attempt to redirect lightning and pulls it off perfectly, leading to a major character being Killed Off for Real, possibly by throwing themselves in the path of the lightning.
    • Heck, how about "all of the above?" Azula will fire a bolt of lightning at one of the main characters. Zuko will block it, in a successful redirect. Azula will attempt to copy the move and will succeed in her own redirection back towards Zuko and whoever he is protecting —at the cost of her own life. With no time to act, Zuko and friend will be seemingly doomed... until Iroh throws himself in front of both of them, in a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Bah, have you learned nothing from Star Wars? If anyone is going to make a Heroic Sacrifice by throwing themselves in the way of Lightning, then it's going to be the father of the guy portrayed by Mark Hamill. This means that Zuko's grandfather Azulon will be the one to make the Heroic Sacrifice. Nevermind the fact that he's been dead for decades, He's Just Hiding.
    • All of this will happen during a massive lightning battle between Zuko and Azula, in which , In addition to firing his own new fancy lighting, Zuko will do multiple redirects of Azula's lighting, forcing her to be really quick on her feet. Then she'll try and redirect, and get killed. Alternately, Ozai will be the one to die trying to redirect Zuko's attempt to off Azula, making her the Fire "Lord". Then, Aang will stop screwing around and instantly return Azula the favor from the end of Season 2.
    • What is left of Azula's tenuous hold on sanity will snap like a dry twig, ultimately ensuring her own doom. Things were going just peachy for Azula until her subordinates "friends" Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her; Mai by stopping Azula from killing Zuko, and Ty Lee by stopping Azula from killing Mai. Sociopaths like Azula generally react to alien concepts like love, friendship and mercy by wholeheartedly embracing more familiar ones... like unstoppable rage. Azula has, to date, let Zuko get away three times. If Ozai isn't mad at her now, this editor will eat her hat. Ozai will, in a future episode, create the title of "Phoenix Lord" for himself, while still retaining the title of "Fire Lord" for his daughter; which sounds a heckuva lot like the title of "vice-president," a historically not very fulfilling U.S. political position. Azula, having been robbed of her "rightful" rulership, will A. attempt to kill her father, B. Let her emotions overpower her, leading to a drastic slip-up when fighting the gang, or C. Kill herself out of rage and frustration...possibly taking Ozai with her in the attempt.
• Ozai: Azula has previously demonstrated that she can pull off spectacular coup d'etat. Having learned from the best, she may yet try for Ozai's throne, aided by the Dai Li. She may have helped Ozai hide because she fancies herself The Only One Allowed To Defeat Him. If she succeeds, then she, not Ozai, will be the Fire Lord that Aang must battle before summer's end.
  • She could've killed him during the eclipse. Her pet earthbenders could easily kill a depowered Ozai in a way that could be blamed on the Avatar. And we know that Azula is not Genre Blind enough to pass up a good takeover oppertunity. She simply had no interest in it.
    • But, if the above theory about Ozai "cheating" Azula out of her birthright holds true, Azula will have a perfect motive to try and kill him, and may do so after Aang, whether out of mercy or to ensure that the Fire Nation will not have a martyr, withholds the killing blow.
    • In fact, Ozai will do a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the series, and his life, as he dies in Zuko's arms. With Mark Hamill as a voice actor and the authors' noted love of all things tropey, it's likely they'd be unable to resist the Shout-Out.
    • Ursa will kill Fire Lord Ozai. As established by "Day of Black Sun", Zuko's mother Ursa is most likely still alive somewhere.
    • Ozai will die because of the comet. I think it would be a funny yet ironic karmic death for Ozai if, just after he has beaten Aang, is killed because the comet came so close to the world this time that it got caught in the planet's gravity. I picture the scene as going something like this.
      Ozai: Now it's time to end you, Avatar, once and for all. *Ozai notices Aang staring up. He looks up too and sees the comet about to squish him*
      Ozai: Crap.*Ozai is squished like an insignificant bug by the comet*
    • [Morbo]'COMETS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!'[/Morbo]. A comet...kinda devastates everything within a several mile radius. If it's at all similar to the meteor in "Sokka's Master"(And that was dramatically understating its effects), Aang's pretty much screwed.
    • The Laws of Cartoon Physics assure the survival of the hero in 99.9% of American cartoons. They sneer at physical impossibilities like Aang's survival.
    • Aang could survive by Omnibending the impact shockwave of the comet away from himself and the others.
    • Comets are made of minerals, ice and gases. Elementally speaking, everything BUT fire. Sokka will be the one to point this out to Aang and the rest. Ozai will find out they use the comet against him.
    • Joke theory: Ozai's abuse of the comet will enrage the firebending spirits so much that they would unleash their power on Ozai and the Fire Nation army, culminating in Ozai's face melting.
• Zuko: For obvious reasons...
  • Obvious reasons gone. And someone has to become firelord.
• Sokka: Just to piss everyone off. After all, The universe has a sick sense of humour when it comes to him.
• Aang: For even more obvious reasons. He'll be reincarnated, after all and repetition of this important fact, as well as a flash foward to the birth of the next Avatar— a happy, healthy water tribe girl— while the spirit of Aang watches on approvingly, will soften the devastating impact.
• Suki: Now that Sokka has found her once again, what could be more heart-rending for him than losing another one of the people he loves? It's almost enough to make you want to hug the poor guy.
• Iroh: In a stirring Heroic Sacrifice, he faces down his brother, buying Aang time or distracting Ozai just long enough for Aang and co. to pull off critical maneuvers. He dies in Zuko's arms, appointing a reappeared Ursa as Fire Lord, Zuko as her heir, expressing final sentiments of affection and happiness that he'll see Lu Ten in the hereafter. Also because it would break the adult periphery demographic's hearts.
• All Jossed. None of these people die. Everybody Lives.

Now that Aang can no longer enter the Avatar state, there is simply not enough time for him to gain enough power to take Ozai head on before the comet returns. Rather, he will fulfill his destiny to restore balance to the world by providing Iroh with the opportunity to take on his brother and reclaim his birthright as leader of the Fire Nation. Additionally, Zuko will defeat Azula in battle and be named Iroh's heir, ensuring that the Fire Nation has a new, benevolent dynasty that will undo the damage the old regime inflicted on the rest of the world. Jossed.

Toph has already done "the impossible" with her bending, this is only a step further. First of all, there have been several hints in the show that the separation of the people (and thus, symbolically, the benders themselves) is an illusion, or self-delusion. "Bringing it all together" is a major theme, especially obvious where Iroh teaches Zuko about the other elements. The Avatar has a very holistic mindset. Aang has never seen Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom people. He has only seen people. What better way to prove that there will no longer be a need for an Avatar after Aang, than to show the people this. And what better way to show Zuko truly being on the good side, than to allow him access to water-bending, which focuses on healing and subtlety, as opposed to Fire-bending, which has been described by one of it's most talented practitioners as a "curse".

• Jossed, now that Zuko has learned the original, "source" firebending, and as Aang aptly put it, "Firebending isn't just destruction; it's life. " Also, Hama has doubly proved that Waterbending, like any other Bending, can be used for evil.

• The series can't end properly without her death. I predict she will go to Hell but use Firebending (the place is full of fire) to bust out and seek revenge.
  • 'Break out!?'' There are...other things I'd worry about if she went down there.
    • Oh she's going. I'm scared too. I hope old Lucifer loaded up on fire extinguishers.
    • She was last seen alive, chained, and sobbing hysterically, no doubt too pitiful to kill.

The stances and moves involved in sandbending more closely resemble those of airbending than earthbending. Possibly, some Air Nomads escaped the Fire Nation's attack by fleeing into the Si Wong Desert, where they adapted their bending techniques to sand. Jossed. As Toph illustrated, sandbending is a special type of Earthbending.

Consider the facts:

• Roku, the only source for information for the heroes on the matter, is explicitly the Obi-Wan, who has that famous "certain point of view" line. Whether Aang isn't ready for the full story or Roku just likes messing with the boy is irrelevant, the point being that he wouldn't be above using a metaphor to describe whatever the Fire Nation used at the start of the war. Even the "comet" that Roku showed Aang in his vision is obviously a giant fireball heading towards the planet and/or an obvious metaphor of impending doom, not a comet.
• The Fire Nation is shown in "The Headband" to manipulate history in order to make itself look better, therefore it is probable that Fire Nation historians at the time, either under duress or by their own initiative, altered the source of Sozin's power to make him look better compared to his appearance if they had recorded the actual source, which could have been considerably less impressive than being powered-up by a friggin' comet.
• The comet supposedly arrives every century, but with the incredible power it supposedly imbues firebenders with, it stretches suspension of disbelief that Sozin would be the first Fire Lord to think "hey, this might be good for conquering the other nations with". With the general attitude of firebenders and particularly the Fire Nation royal family, you'd expect a new war every hundred years.

But if it isn't a comet, what gave the Fire Nation such an advantage to lead "a devastating first strike against the other nations" and complete genocide of the Air Nomads? It would have to have been something they couldn't access before, and something that either dissappeared, was destroyed, or they were restricted access to after the first months/years of the war at the very most. If Roku is telling the truth about the Fire Nation ending the war using the same thing that began it, it also has to be something they could rediscover, rebuild or regain access to. It could be a device that gave them great power, or a particulary powerful war strategy they're only recently rediscovering, or better yet it's an actual strategist that was killed and now their descendant is becoming an equally brilliant strategist. Or something completely unrelated that I simply can't think of.

• One problem; Sozin's secret memoirs refer to it as a comet.
• But that's just the thing; just because everyone refers to it as a comet doesn't mean it is actually a comet. Erwin Rommel was continually referred to as "The Desert Fox" but that didn't mean he was a small canine with brown fur and big ears.
• Jossed. It's a comet.

Come on, nobody sucks up that hard and really means it. It has all the earmarks of protesting too much. (Contrast the way she sounds whenever she butters up Azula with the heartfelt sincerity she displayed telling Zuko "I know you" in "The Beach.") We also know that she had to be severely threatened into accompanying Azula near the beginning of Season 2. She's no obedient lapdog—she's scared, and doing what she has to in order to stay out of the line of (literal) fire. That means playing brainless, following orders, and throwing in some extra boot-licking from time to time. If offered a clear opportunity to go back to the circus with no risk of reprisal from Azula, she'd take it in a heartbeat.

• Partially confirmed, and that goes for Mai as well. Though we don't know at this point whether Ty Lee would head back to the circus (especially now that events have spiraled far beyond her and Mai's control), Ty Lee leapt to Mai's defense when it became abundantly clear that Azula was crazy enough to attempt to kill both Zuko and Mai, though it seemed to take all of her courage to do so.
  • The bit about the circus has now been Jossed; she got the opportunity and decided instead to join the Kyoshi Warriors.
    • So Suki and all her girls will now have the chance to learn Ty Lee's pressure point martial arts? If this troper ever becomes an evil bender, he definitely intends to stay the hell away from Kyoshi Island.

As in, instead of reincarnating to the next nation when he dies, he'll learn to regenerate on the spot. He'll be killed by Ozai, but then he'll become some random Water Tribe guy - with darker skin, traditional Water Tribe clothes and haircut, slightly different personality, but all the memories, emotions, and abilities of the original Aang. Then he'll promptly beat the crap out of the stunned and defenseless Ozai. He'll repeat this a few times during his lifetime (always regenerating into the next nation), until at the end of his original lifespan - in a century or so - even though he could carry on pretty much forever and be immortal, he'll join all his dead friends and commit suicide, finally reincarnating for real. C'mon, it'll make total sense!

• This would mean, of course, that Aang is the first Time Lord, and the series takes place on a primitive Gallifrey.

Jossed.

... as part of a Broken Aesop about how you don't need superpowers to save the world.

• Sokka, the Badass Normal, will be appointed leader of the new world order.
  • The Broken Aesop actually went in the other direction. Apparently superpowers are the only thing that matters, and taking them away from the political master Big Bad with a country that worships him, renders him completely tame and ineffective.
• Alternately, the Gaang will all get together and alter the magic that gives them their Bending powers, so that all the potential slayers everyone in the world gets the power to Bend all four elements.

Jossed.

The Gaang will retake Omashu at great expense of life, and they will lead an earthbending army against an over extended fire nation. They will be largely victorious, though they split apart to lead multiple armies. Zuko and Aang will be one team. They will lead the army that pins down Azula and Ozai's personal army beneath a hill. Zuko looks across and sees his relatives and believes that he cannot kill his family. Aang will explain that he has to kill his family, Because Destiny Says So. This explanation will be in song form, and Zuko will be swayed by the awe of Aang's Avatar state. It is entirely coincidental that this would be the basic plot of the Bhagvad-Gita, of course. Jossed.

We have seen numerous times that benders can join forces to perform a big task, and a quad-bender can join everyone's forces. (Plus, it keeps Aang busy so that Iroh can take down Ozai.) Jossed.