List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters
This is a list of significant characters from the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra, co-created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, as well the live-action Avatar series. This list also includes characters from the comic continuations as well as the Kyoshi, Yangchen and Roku prequel novels by FC Yee, Michael Dante DiMartino and Randy Ribay.Overview
In The Last Airbender, a fictional universe composed of four sovereign nations, some people are "benders" and can control air, fire, earth or water. Only the Avatar—a being who represents the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds—can master all four elements and thus bring balance to the world, but has been missing for the past 100 years. During this absence, a one hundred year-long world war started by the Fire Nation resulted in the Air Nomads' genocide, the near extinction of the Southern Tribes' waterbending population, and the Earth Kingdom's extensive forced displacement and colonization.Character conception
Character designs were originated from a series of drawings by one of the show's creators, Bryan Konietzko. The main sketch depicted a middle-aged monk with an arrow on his head and later included a flying bison as his pet. Konietzko's partner, Michael Dante DiMartino, was interested in documentaries related to the South Pole at the time. They combined these ideas and created the concept of an "air guy" and "water guys" trapped in a snowy wasteland, with "fire guys" invading them. Additionally, the writers based the characters' different bending abilities on distinct styles of martial arts.
The characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender were designed by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the co-creators of the series. The anime-styled character art was inspired by Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and FLCL of Gainax. The original character conception was derived from a sketch by Bryan Konietzko that depicted a middle-aged balding man with an arrow on his head. Studios such as Studio 4°C, Production I.G, and Studio Ghibli, which produced anime-styled cartoons, were also sources of inspiration.Influences
The greatest influences on the series were Asian art, culture and history; the characters' various personalities and traits are based on philosophical teachings such as Taoism and Buddhism. In the show, some characters have the ability to manipulate one of the four classic elements of ancient philosophy: Water, Earth, Fire and Air, although the Avatar has the ability to control all four. Each of these employ a different form of martial arts in their fighting choreography: for Waterbending, Hung Gar for Earthbending, Northern Shaolin for Firebending, and for Airbending.
The cultures of the four nations are also greatly influenced by East Asian and indigenous cultures. The Water Tribe is based on Inuit, Yupik, and Sirenik cultures; the Fire Nation on Imperial China and Imperial Japan; the Air Nomads on Tibetan Buddhist monks, Tibetan culture, Buddhism and Hinduism; and the Earth Kingdom on Imperial China with Korean cultural influences.Personalities
Many of the recurring characters of the series have received traits based on the respective element. Aang is carefree and childlike, as is commonly attributed to "wonder" of the unknown, or the "freedom" of the wind and the air. As a spiritualist, a pacifist and a vegetarian, he is very Yin, hyper-attuned to the spirit world, and prefers non-violent alternatives to solving problems. Toph, despite being blind, is extremely perceptive of the world around her due to her connection to the Earth. Unlike Aang, she is extremely brusque when criticizing others, as attributed to Earth's toughness.''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' main characters
Overview
Avatar Aang
Avatar Aang or simple Aang is the main protagonist of the original series and the current Avatar, a cyclically reincarnating being who maintains world balance. Aang often acts in a fun-loving, carefree manner. His pacifism and vegetarianism are primary traits of Buddhism. The creators intended Aang to "defeat enemies with his wits" and be a "trickster hero". Though Aang is often frivolous and enthusiastic, he becomes serious during a crisis. In the original series, Katara and Sokka rescue Aang from a century of suspended animation due to being frozen in an iceberg. Having already mastered his native Airbending, Aang learns Waterbending from Katara and later Pakku at the North Pole in Book One, Earthbending from Toph in Book Two, and Firebending from Zuko in Book Three. Throughout the series, Aang aids the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, whom the Fire Nation has oppressed. Unwilling to kill Fire Lord Ozai despite the past Avatars insisting on it, Aang ultimately learns the ancient Lion-Turtles' technique of energybending, which allows the user to give or take away a person's bending, and uses it to render Ozai a non-bender. In The Legend of Korra, it is revealed that Aang, with the help of his friends, created the United Republic of Nations. He also married Katara and had three children, with his youngest son Tenzin restoring the Air Nomads while instructing the next Avatar, Korra. Like Roku before him, Aang appears at times before his reincarnation Korra, serving as a spiritual advisor, prior to their connection being destroyed by Unalaq.Appa is Aang's male giant sky bison, animal guide and spirit companion. He is Aang's best friend and serves as the group's mode of transport around the world. He can fly and can use his tail to create powerful gusts of air. According to Aang, flying bisons were the first Airbenders. The show's creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, have described Appa's appearance as a cross between a bison and a manatee. He is known to shed his coat at the end of winter.Momo
Momo is the only known Winged Lemur. Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creator Bryan Konietzko admits that Momo is his favorite character to draw and that his body language is derived from memories of his childhood cat. Momo was introduced when Aang finds him at the Southern Air Temple and then keeps him as a pet. Although Momo has been in many dangerous situations while traveling with the protagonists, he has also been of aid to them and a source of comic relief throughout the series. According to the creators, Momo was intended to represent the spirit of Monk Gyatso, Aang's mentor. Momo is a cross between Bat and a Lemur and is the last of his kind in the show much like Appa. Momo was introduced in the episode "The Southern Air Temple". In the episode, Aang finds Momo at the Southern Air Temple and then keeps him as a pet. After Momo eats a peach, Aang decides to name him Momo, which is Japanese for "peach" and the name of Tibetan dumplings.Katara
Katara is a 14-year-old Waterbending girl from the Southern Water Tribe, best friend and later wife of Avatar Aang, and Sokka's younger sister. In the original series, Katara is known to be very caring and compassionate while also having a strong determination to stand up against systems of oppression and injustice. While she may have been a relatively inexperienced Waterbender at the start of the series, by the end of Book One Katara manages to claim the title of "Waterbending Master" surpassing the skillset of Avatar Aang. Having left the Northern Water Tribe at the beginning of Book Two Katara continues to train Aang's as his teacher. In the episode "The Deserter" Katara learns that she possesses healing abilities, which she often uses to help her friends throughout the series. In addition to healing, Katara's abilities as a Waterbender range from temperature control, using streams of water to grab onto people and platforms, being able to manipulate the water in clouds, creating pockets of air in large bodies of water, being able to pull water from the air and plants, and the ability to control the water inside another living organism also known as Bloodbending. In The Legend Of Korra, Katara is revealed to have married Aang and had three children with him. It is also revealed that she becomes Avatar Korra's Waterbending teacher after the death of Aang.Sokka
Sokka is a 15-year-old warrior boy of the Southern Water Tribe, a cool joker and Katara's older brother. With no bending power of his own, Sokka relies largely on a metallic boomerang, a blunt metal club, a machete, and later a black jian, or sword, created from the metals of a meteorite. Surprisingly in an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka is an engineer and something of a jack-of-all-trades, in which respect he is easily able to understand the Fire Nation's advanced technology, and perfects the design of the hot air balloon. In addition, he is both heterodox and resourceful in his endeavors, and a source of comic relief throughout the series. Sokka was in love with the Northern Water Tribe princess Yue at the end of Book One and later shifted his affections to the Kyoshi Warriors' leader Suki in Books Two and Three. In the sequel series, flashbacks reveal Sokka was the first representative of the Southern Water Tribe to sit on the Republic City Council, and possibly its first chairman. He died a few years after Aang, when the next Avatar, Korra, was still a child.