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"Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Each nation has a distinct society, wherein people known as Benders have the ability to manipulate the eponymous element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show's creators based each Bending style on an existing martial art, leading to clear visual and physical differences in the techniques used by waterbenders (T'ai chi ch'uan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (Baguazhang).[20]

At any given time, there is only one person alive in the story's world capable of 'bending' all four elements: the show's eponymous Avatar, the spirit of the planet in human form. When an Avatar dies, this spirit is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle, in the order of the seasons, and must master each bending art in seasonal order, starting with their native element. Additionally, the Avatar possesses an ability called the Avatar State, which briefly endows it with the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars as a self-triggering defense mechanism, which can be made subject to the will of the user by extensive trial and training.[21] If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle is broken, and the Avatar entity will cease to exist.[22] Through the ages, the succeeding Avatars have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order.[20] The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the spirit world, allowing each to solve problems that normal benders cannot.[23]
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Backstory

The events one hundred years before the beginning of the show are revealed gradually and out of order throughout the series.

More than a century before the beginning of the series, the ruler of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Sozin, hatched plans for world subjugation. Knowing that Avatar Roku, a fellow Firebender and Sozin's best friend, would oppose these plans, Sozin waited for Roku's death, and the Avatar was reincarnated as an Airbender named Aang. Aang was initiated into the truth of his status years too early, the needs of the ongoing world war outweighing that of his childhood, despite the protests of his mentor Monk Gyatso. Aang, fearful of his new responsibilities, and of separation from his Monk Gyatso, fled his home on his flying bison Appa; they were subsequently forced by a storm into the ocean, and Aang's protective Avatar State encased them in an iceberg, in suspended animation. Fire Lord Sozin then carried out a genocide of the Air Nomads; the entire people were wiped out, leaving Aang as the eponymous last Airbender.

The war continued for a hundred years. Sozin passed away of natural causes, and was succeeded by first Azulon and then Azulon's second son Ozai, the ruling Fire Lord at the time of the series.
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Season One (Book One: Water)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 1)

Katara, a fourteen-year-old Waterbender girl, and her brother the fifteen-year-old Sokka, find Aang and Appa in the iceberg. After Aang is revealed to be the Avatar, the three travel to the Northern Water Tribe from whom Aang and Katara can learn Waterbending. En route Aang and friends visit the Southern Air Temple, where Aang discovers the genocide of his people and encounters the spirit of his predecessor Avatar Roku. Throughout their journey, the trio are pursued by Prince Zuko, the exiled son of Fire Lord Ozai, who seeks to reclaim his honor by capturing the Avatar. Zuko travels with his uncle Iroh, a legendary Fire Nation general and the older brother of Ozai. Competing with Zuko for the Avatar is Admiral Zhao, who leads an attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Zhao's rather megalomaniacal attack plans, which include slaying the physical incarnation of the Moon Spirit and wreaking havoc on the entire world, are stopped by Aang and his friends, with assistance from Iroh and Zuko. As such, the Fire Lord orders his daughter Azula to capture Zuko and Iroh, who are now considered traitors to the Fire Nation.
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Season Two (Book Two: Earth)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 2)

After leaving the Northern Water Tribe, Aang masters Waterbending under Katara's tutelage. Searching for an Earthbending teacher, the group meets Toph Bei Fong, a blind Earthbending prodigy, and recruit her as such. Zuko and Iroh, now fugitives from the Fire Nation, attempt to lead new lives in the Earth Kingdom, where Zuko, with the help of his uncle, tries to let go of his troubled past and his obsession with capturing the Avatar. Aang and his friends discover that an upcoming solar eclipse will deprive Firebenders of their eponymous ability, leaving them open to invasion and giving Aang his chance to defeat the Fire Lord; but in learning this Aang's Sky Bison is lost to a group of Sandbenders. Azula and her two friends Mai and Ty Lee pursue the protagonists, who struggle to reach Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom's capital, and tell the Earth King of the eclipse. Disguised as the Kyoshi Island Warriors (disciples of a previous Avatar), Azula persuades Ba Sing Se's secret police, the Dai Li, to instigate a revolution, allowing the Fire Nation to capture Ba Sing Se. Both Zuko and Katara are captured during the coup, and though Katara offers him redemption, Zuko sides with his sister. Aang attempts to activate the Avatar State, an act he had formerly avoided because it requires him to abandon his love for Katara, but Azula hits him with lightning as he powers up, killing him. Iroh, furious and disappointed in Zuko's choices, intercedes, allowing Katara to escape with Aang; she is able to revive him, but he can no longer re-enter the Avatar State, depriving him of one of his strongest weapons just as Ba Sing Se, the strongest bulwark against Fire Nation conquest, has fallen.
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Season Three (Book Three: Fire)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 3)
See also: Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle

Aang recovers to find his allies disguised as Fire Nation soldiers on a Fire Nation ship, while Zuko has been restored to the position of crown prince and Iroh is imprisoned as a traitor. Sokka has planned a small-scale invasion of the Fire Nation to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, taking advantage of the solar eclipse, staged by various allies encountered in previous episodes. After initial success, the invasion ultimately fails, and only Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph escape. Zuko, in a change of heart, defies his father and decides to teach Aang Firebending; though it takes a while to make up for a year's worth of dogged pursuit, he eventually manages to prove his change of heart and is adopted wholeheartedly into the Avatar's party.

In the four-part series finale, Aang and his friends confront Fire Lord Ozai, who plans to use the power of Sozin's Comet to destroy the other nations and rule the world as the Phoenix King. Iroh, after breaking himself out of prison, leads the Order of the White Lotus (an international society of martial-arts masters, including himself and Aang's allies King Bumi, Master Pakku, Master Piando, and Jeong Jeong) to liberate Ba Sing Se. Sokka, Toph, and Kyoshi Warrior Suki disable the Fire Nation's airships, preventing them from burning down the Earth Kingdom, while Zuko challenges Azula. Initially, Zuko gains the advantage; but when Azula fires a lightning bolt at Katara, Zuko intercepts the bolt to save her, injuring himself in the process. Katara then restrains Azula and heals Zuko. Aang, contending with Ozai, is reluctant to kill him, and is able to overcome him by permanently stripping him of his Firebending. Zuko is crowned the new Fire Lord and, with the help of the Avatar and his friends, begins rebuilding the three nations. After Zuko is crowned he goes to confront his father in prison and demands the location of his banished mother. The team meets at Iroh's tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, in Ba Sing Se to celebrate their victory. Aang and Katara kiss as the sun sets, ending the series.

Characters
Main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters
Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) is the 12-year-old, fun-loving, airbending protagonist of the series. Although averse to fighting, Aang is fiercely protective of his friends, particularly Katara and Appa. He is the current incarnation of the planet's psyche, and is therefore required to act as arbiter among the various people. [24] According to the show's creators, the arrow-like tattoos on his forehead and arms mark Aang as an airbending master, whereas he is the youngest airbender in history to earn them. His mentor was one of the greatest airbenders who had ever lived, Monk Gyatso. Through out the series Aang develops a crush on Katara. He attempts to tell her so but fails continuously.
Katara (Mae Whitman) is a 14-year-old Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. With her brother Sokka, she accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord and, eventually, becomes his Waterbending master. Katara is the only surviving waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe and one of only two Waterbenders able to control human bodies by bending the water therein (an ability used twice in the series). Katara is usually kind-hearted and generous, but is deeply hurt and often angered by treachery. In an earlier version of the pilot episode, Katara's name was Kya; the name was later given as her mother's name. Katara then begins to have feelings for Aang.
Sokka (Jack DeSena) is a 15-year-old warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. With his sister, Katara, he accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord. Sokka describes himself as "meat-loving" and "sarcastic"[25], and is often a source of comic relief. At the end of Season 1, Sokka was in love with Yue, the princess of the Northern Water Tribe; and later shifted his affections to Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Island Warriors. Unlike his companions, Sokka does not have any bending ability; his skill lies largely in mechanics, and his chief weapons are a metallic boomerang and a black jian created from the metals of a meteorite.
Zuko (Dante Basco) is the 16-year-old exiled prince of the Fire Nation and original antagonist of the series. He is determined and strong-willed, and rarely shows compassion until the third season. Over time, Zuko struggles to deal with his anger, self-pity, and complex familial relationships, as well as the choice between good and evil. He is obsessed with regaining his lost honor, only to discover its true meaning at the end of the series. He takes on the vigilante identity of "the Blue Spirit" at the end of season one and beginning of season two. In season three, he defects from the Fire Nation to join the Avatar. At the end of the series, he is crowned ruler of the Fire Nation, in which position he ends the war and promises aid in rebuilding the other nations. He is deeply in love with Mai, his girlfriend.
Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower) is a 12-year-old blind female Earthbending prodigy [20] who first appears in the second season of the show, in which she is Aang's Earthbending instructor. Though blind, Toph "sees" by feeling vibrations in the ground through her feet using Earthbending. This ability also enables her to feel the pulses of one's heart, allowing her to tell if someone is lying. She is later shown developing a method of 'Metal-bending' by detecting impurities in the metal.
Appa (Dee Bradley Baker in both the animated series and the live-action film)[26][27] is Aang's flying bison, who serves as the protagonists' mode of transport around the world. He remains in suspended animation with Aang for 100 years, and shares a very strong bond with him.[28] He possesses the ability to fly and can use his tail to create powerful gusts of air. According to Aang, flying bison were the first Airbenders.[29]
Momo (Dee Bradley Baker in both the animated series and the live-action film)[26] is an intelligent and curious winged lemur, discovered by Aang at the Southern Air Temple [29]. He often picks fights with other winged and smaller creatures and with Appa over food. He is capable of understanding Aang's speech; but less so of understanding others. In "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Momo’s name was written as 模模 (mó mó) meaning "peach" in japanese.
Iroh (Mako Iwamatsu in season one and two; Greg Baldwin in season three) is a former Great general of the Fire Nation, known as the Dragon of the West, and Prince Zuko's paternal uncle and mentor. Iroh was the heir to the Fire Nation throne until his brother usurped the throne after Fire Lord Azulon's death.[30] On the surface, Iroh is a cheerful, kind, optimistic, eccentric old man; but remains a powerful warrior and a devoted surrogate parent to Zuko. Iroh is a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of men from all nations. Unlike most Firebenders, Iroh does not use anger as the source of his strength, relying instead on Firebending secrets learned from the Dragons.
Azula (Grey DeLisle) is the princess of the Fire Nation. She is Zuko's younger sister and one of the major antagonists of the series. Azula is a Firebending prodigy and is one of the few living Firebenders capable of casting lightning. She is a master at manipulation and a great leader, using fear to control her subjects and friends alike, reserving loyalty solely for her father. She is seen to be extremely capable and resourceful, bringing down the entire Earth Kingdom in her ruthless pursuit of the Avatar. She is meticulous and calculating, but also a megalomaniacal perfectionist. At the end of season three, she loses her sanity altogether due to deep rooted psychological problems and a fragile mental state broken by the betrayal of her friends and is subsequently defeated by Zuko and Katara. She is the primary antagonist of the second season.
Suki (Jennie Kwan) is the leader of the young (and exclusively female) Kyoshi Island Warriors, a sect established by Aang's predecessor-once-removed. She is an exceptionally skilled fighter and staunch ally of the protagonists. She was imprisoned by the Fire Nation after the Kyoshi Warriors were defeated by Azula, but was ultimately released by Sokka, Zuko, Hakoda, and Chit-Sang. She remained with the protagonists thereafter and fought with Toph and Sokka to disable the Fire Nation's air force. She was Sokka's love interest immediately following the end of the War.
Mai (Cricket Leigh)[31] is Zuko's love interest and on again off again girlfriend and the friend of Ty Lee. Mai herself lacks bending, but is agile, swift, and skilled in dart-throwing and knife-throwing. She assists Azula throughout most of her role; but later abandons Azula.
Ty Lee (Olivia Hack)[27] is an acrobat who fights alongside Azula against the protagonists, notable for her appearance of vivacity, innocence, and youth and for her ability to disable element-benders by obstructing the chi from their limbs. Having abandoned Azula, she joins the Kyoshi Island Warriors, whom she had earlier impersonated.
Ozai (Mark Hamill) is the father of Zuko and Azula, the much younger brother of Iroh, and ruler of the Fire Nation. Although he is the primary antagonist for the series, he does not appear regularly until its third season, in which he is defeated by Aang.
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Production

Michael DiMartino, one of the co-creators of the show, at the 2008 New York Comic Con.

Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. Animation work was mostly done by three animation studios in South Korea: JM Animation, DR Movie, and Moi Animation. According to Bryan Konietzko, the program was conceived in the spring of 2001 when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man and re-imagined the character as a child.[1] Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky, and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole. Konietzko described their early development of the concept:“ We thought, "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them..." ”


The co-creators successfully pitched the idea to Nickelodeon vice president and executive producer Eric Coleman just two weeks later.[32]

The series was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004,[33] and aired February 21, 2005. In the United States, first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event. A second twenty-episode season ran from March 17, 2006 through December 1.[9] A third and final season, beginning September 21, 2007, featured twenty-one episodes rather than the usual twenty.[10] The final four episodes were packaged as a two-hour movie.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is notable for borrowing extensively from East Asian art and mythology to create its universe. The series' character designs are heavily influenced by anime as well as Chinese art and history, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism,[34] and Yoga.[2] Traditional Chinese calligraphy styles represent nearly all the writing in the series.[35] For each instance of calligraphy, an appropriate style is used, ranging from seal script (more archaic) to clerical script.[35] The show employed a cultural consultant, Edwin Zane, and calligrapher Siu-Leung Lee as consultants for the series' cultural influences.[2][36] The choreographed martial art bending moves were affected by Asian cinema.[1] In an interview, Bryan revealed that, "Mike and I were really interested in other epic 'Legends & Lore' properties, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but we knew that we wanted to take a different approach to that type of genre. Our love for Japanese anime, Hong Kong action and kung fu cinema, yoga, and Eastern philosophies led us to the initial inspiration for Avatar: The Last Airbender."[37] The show's character designs are influenced by anime; but the show is not considered an example of such.

All music and sound used in the series was done by Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who formed The Track Team. They experimented with use of a wide range of different instruments, such as the guzheng, pipa, and duduk, to compose background music.[38]

The term "Avatar" comes from Sanskrit (अवतार), wherein means "descent"; its roots are ava, "down," and tri, "to pass". In the Hindu scriptures, avatar signifies the mortal incarnation of a god (usually Vishnu). The Chinese characters apparent at the top of the show's title card mean "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world".[35] According to the plot, Aang unknowingly revealed he was the Avatar when by choosing four toys out of thousands, each of which were the childhood toys of previous Avatars. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a similar test for reincarnations of a Tulku Lama. In Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel writes that "a number of objects such as rosaries, ritualistic implements, books, tea-cups, etc., are placed together, and the child must pick out those which belonged to the late tulku, thus showing that he recognizes the things which were theirs in their previous life"[39]. Each successor is expected to show signs of continuity with the previous Avatar, such as being born within a week of the death.

Avatar: The Last Airbender draws on the four classical elements for its bending arts: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Although each has its own variation, most ancient philosophies incorporate these four elements: examples include the classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek elemental traditions. In the show’s opening, each element is accompanied by two Chinese characters: an ancient Chinese seal script character on the left representing the element being shown and a modern Chinese character on the right describing some feature of the element. The character 水 (pinyin: shuǐ), which stands for water, is shown with 善 (pinyin: shàn), which means benevolence and adaptivity. The character 土 (pinyin: tǔ), which stands for earth, is shown with 強 (pinyin: qiáng), which means strength and stability. The character 火 (pinyin: huǒ), which stands for fire, is shown with 烈 (pinyin: liè), which means intensity and passion. Finally, the character 气 (pinyin: qì), which stands for air, is shown with 和 (pinyin: hé), which means peace and harmony.[40]

In addition to the use of four classical elements in the series, the fighting styles associated with each element are derived from different styles of Chinese martial arts, for which the film-makers employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a consultant.[41] Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected. T'ai chi was used for "Waterbending" in the series, which focuses on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. Hung Gar was used for "Earthbending" in the series, and was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes to present the solid nature of earth. Northern Shaolin, which uses strong arm and leg movements was used to represent "Firebending". Ba Gua, which uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes, was used for "Airbending".[20][42][43] The only exception to these styles is Toph, who can be seen practicing a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style.[44]
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Reception
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Ratings

When the series debuted, it was rated the best animated television series in its demographic;[45] new episodes averaged 3.1 million viewers each.[45] A one-hour special showing of "The Secret of the Fire Nation" which aired on September 15, 2006, consisting of "The Serpent's Pass" and "The Drill", gathered an audience of 5.1 million viewers. According to the Nielsen Media Research, the special was the best performing cable television show airing in that week.[46] In 2007, Avatar: The Last Airbender was syndicated to more than 105 countries worldwide, and was one of Nickelodeon's top rated programs. The series was ranked first on Nickelodeon in Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Colombia.[47]

The series finale, Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, received the highest ratings of the series. Its premiere averaged 5.6 million viewers, 95% more viewers than Nickelodeon had received in mid-July 2007.[48] During the week of July 14, it ranked as the most-viewed program for the under-14 demographic.[49][50] Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle also appeared on iTunes' top ten list of best-selling television episodes during that same week.[51] Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle's popularity affected online media as well; "Rise of the Phoenix King", a Nick.com online game based on Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, generated almost 815,000 game plays within three days.[52] IGN listed the complete series as 35th in its list of Top 100 Animated TV Shows.[53]"

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