Aang
Avatar Aang, or simply Aang, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. He is voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen. Aang was the last surviving Airbender, a monk of the Air Nomads' Southern Air Temple, and the youngest ever airbending master.
He is an incarnation of the "Avatar", the spirit of light and peace manifested in human form. As the Avatar, Aang controls all four elements and is tasked with bringing balance and keeping the Four Nations at peace. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, he is chronologically 112 years old, and he died chronologically at age 166 Aang is the series' reluctant hero, spending a century in suspended animation in an iceberg before being discovered and joining new friends Katara and Sokka on a quest to master the elements and save their world from the imperialist Fire Nation. As Aang progresses through his journey, he is joined by Toph, Zuko and Suki.
Aang's character has appeared in other media, such as trading cards, video games, T-shirts, and web comics. Avatar Aang has also been portrayed by Noah Ringer in the live-action film The Last Airbender and voiced by D.B. Sweeney in the sequel series The Legend of Korra. Gordon Cormier portrays Avatar Aang in the Netflix live-action adaptation of the same name.
Appearances
''Avatar: The Last Airbender''
Upon death, Avatar Roku was reincarnated and Aang was born, and later raised by Monk Gyatso, a senior monk at the Southern Air Temple and friend of the late Avatar Roku. Even prior to learning he was the Avatar, Aang distinguished himself by becoming one of the youngest Airbending Masters in history by inventing a new technique. As a result of Fire Lord Sozin's increasingly hostile attitude towards the other nations, the senior monks decided to reveal Aang's nature as the Avatar four years before the traditional age and relocate him to one of the other Air Temples. Learning that he was to be taken from Gyatso caused Aang to flee the monastery on his flying bison, Appa, before being caught by a storm; the life-or-death conditions triggered the Avatar State, encasing the young Avatar and his bison in an air-pocket among icebergs, where he remained suspended for a century. Although Monk Gyatso had snuck into Aang's bedroom late at night to tell Aang that he will not be relocated to the Eastern Air Temple, it had already been too late.Book One: ''Water''
After one hundred years of suspended animation in an iceberg, twelve-year-old Aang was freed when found by Katara and Sokka, yet unaware of the events that occurred during his rest. His reawakening catches the attention of Prince Zuko, the banished son of current Fire Lord Ozai. After a failed attempt to capture him, Aang sets off to the Northern Water Tribe, alongside Katara and Sokka, the former of whom he promises to learn waterbending with. Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple, where they meet a winged lemur whom Aang later names Momo. It is there that Aang learns that the Fire Nation wiped out his people, including Gyatso, which causes Aang to enter the Avatar State, informing the other nations of the Avatar's return. After a series of misadventures, Aang meets his previous incarnation, Roku, who informs him that he must master all four bending arts and end the war before the coming of Sozin's Comet at the end of summer. Upon arriving to the Northern Water Tribe, Aang became an apprentice of Waterbending Master Pakku alongside Katara. After helping the Water Tribe drive off a Fire Nation invasion headed by Admiral Zhao, with Katara as his teacher, Aang and his group journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an Earthbending teacher. Ozai, angered that Iroh betrayed the Fire Nation, sends his daughter, Princess Azula, to hunt down Zuko and Iroh.Book Two: ''Earth''
In the second season, Aang learns Earthbending from Toph Beifong after he has a vision of the blind Earthbender in a swamp telling him to find her. On their journey, they are chased by Zuko’s sister Princess Azula and her friends Mai and Ty Lee. The group learns about the Day of Black Sun in a secret underground library, and they attempt to reveal the information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. However, their flying bison, Appa, is captured by Sandbenders. Aang grows upset and angry and confronts the Sandbenders, learning that Appa has been sold. After stopping a Fire Nation drill threatening the safety of Ba Sing Se, they look for Appa only to find themselves dealing with the Dai Li before exposing their leader's deception. The group reunites with Jet helping them find Appa at Dai Li headquarters. They expose the Hundred Year War to the Earth King, who promises to help them invade the Fire Nation. Soon after, Aang meets a guru who attempts to teach Aang to open his seven chakras in order to control the defensive 'Avatar State'; but when Aang perceives Katara in danger, he leaves before the seventh chakra can be cleared and blocks it, preventing him from entering the Avatar State. Aang later began to release the seventh chakra in the Crystal Catacombs but was unable to complete the process due to being fatally electrocuted by Azula. Consequently, Aang was prevented from opening the seventh chakra and mastering the Avatar State, leaving his attachment to Katara intact and blocking the seventh chakra again. He is later brought back to life by Katara, using the spirit water given to her by the Northern Water Tribe at the start of the second season.Book Three: ''Fire''
In the beginning of third and final season, after he woke after being knocked out by Azula, Aang grew some hair. After that, Aang is unable to use the Avatar State for quite a while. Although reluctant with the plan at first, Aang accepts to have everyone think he had died and his remaining allies attack the Fire Nation's capital, but are thwarted by Azula. However, Zuko has a change of heart, rebels against his father, and offers to teach Aang Firebending. Aang and Zuko also improve their Firebending powers with the help of their world's last two dragons. During the finale, finding himself on a strange island, Aang is reluctant to actually kill Fire Lord Ozai, despite his four previous past lives convincing him it is the only way. But upon learning that he was actually on the back of a Lion Turtle, one of four that made the first benders by manipulating humans' chi, Aang receives the Lion Turtle's Energybending. During the final battle, Aang refuses to let go of his attachment to Katara to enter the Avatar State because he prioritizes his love for Katara over his duty to the world. Ozai violently knocks Aang onto a rock, which presses against his scar, opening his seventh chakra and allowing him to accidentally master the Avatar State without needing to let go of his attachment to Katara. Aang wins the battle, but before he delivers the final blow, he stops himself. Instead, Aang removes Ozai's firebending ability, rendering him harmless and ending the Hundred Year War. Later, in the Fire Nation capital, Aang is seen beside Zuko, the new Fire Lord. The series ends with Aang and his friends relaxing at Iroh's tea shop at Ba Sing Se, where Aang and Katara share a kiss.Graphic Novel Trilogies
After beginning the Harmony Restoration Movement, an event that was meant to remove Fire Nation remnants from the Earth Kingdom, Aang agrees to end Zuko's life should he go down a path similar to his father, after the latter requests it, being stopped by Katara from entering the Avatar State as he began a later encounter with Zuko and then tries to mediate protestors and the Yu Dao resistance, afterward assembling members of a fan club and forming the "Air Acolytes", a group that he intends to teach the ways of the Air Nomads. Aang then participated in a search for Zuko's mother Ursa, successfully finding her and entering the Spirit World to assist in locating the Mother of Faces, convincing her to grant Rafa a new face. After a period of entertainment, Aang is contacted by his former life Yangchen, who tried contacting him about Old Iron's return. Aang also has a fight with the Rough Rhinos when they try to oust him from the Eastern Fire Refinery. Aang then aids in preventing Azula, disguised as the Kemurikage, from stealing any more children.He later returns to the South Pole and reunites with Katara and Sokka during the festival of the rebuilt and newly expanded Southern Water Tribe, with assistance from dozens of waterbenders and healers from the Northern Water Tribe.