Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. It is set in a world where some humans can manipulate the classical elements through bending arts. The story follows Aang, the last surviving Airbender and Avatar, and his friends Katara and Sokka who must master the bending arts and bring peace to the world by defeating the Fire Nation. Over the course of the series, Aang learns waterbending, earthbending, and firebending to fulfill his duty as the Avatar.

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender
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This article is about the TV series. For the 2010 film, see The Last Airbender.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender
Also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang
Genre
Action/Adventure
Fantasy
Comedy-drama
Format Animated series
Created by
Michael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
Written by
Michael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
Aaron Ehasz
Tim Hedrick
John O'Bryan
Elizabeth Welch Ehasz
Joshua Hamilton
May Chan
Matthew Hubbard
James Eagan
Directed by
Lauren MacMullan
Dave Filoni
Giancarlo Volpe
Ethan Spaulding
Joaquim Dos Santos
Voices of
Zach Tyler Eisen
Mae Whitman
Jack DeSena
Jessie Flower
Dee Bradley Baker

2. Dante Basco
Mako
Grey DeLisle
Cricket Leigh
Olivia Hack
Jennie Kwan
Jason Isaacs
Greg Baldwin
Mark Hamill
Composer(s) Jeremy Zuckerman
Country of origin United States
Original
language(s)
English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 61 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)
Michael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
Aaron Ehasz
Running time 22 minutes
Production
company(s)
Animation:
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
DR Movie
JM Animation
Moi Animation
Broadcast
Original channel Nickelodeon
Picture format NTSC 4:3 (480i)
Original run
February 21, 2005 –
July 19, 2008
Chronology
Preceded by Zuko's Story (comic)
Followed by
The Promise (comic)
The Search (comic)
The Legend of Korra (TV
series)
External links
Official website
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Avatar: The Legend of Aang in Europe) is an American animated
television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was

3. created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as
executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an Asian-
influenced world[1]
wherein some are able to manipulate the classical elements by use of
psychokinetic variants of Chinese martial arts known as "bending". The show combined the
styles of anime and American cartoons, and relied on the imagery of various East-Asian, Inuit,
Indian and South-American societies.[2]
Due to this style, the series regularly enters the
conversation regarding its consideration as an anime work.[3]
The series follows the adventures of protagonist twelve-year-old Aang and his friends, who must
bring peace and unity to the world by ending the Fire Lord's war against the other three
nations.[4]
The pilot episode first aired on February 21, 2005[5]
and the series concluded with a
widely praised two-hour episode on July 19, 2008.[6]
The show is obtainable from various
sources, including DVD, the iTunes Store, the Zune Marketplace, the Xbox Live Marketplace,
the PlayStation Store, Netflix Instant Play (formally), and the Nicktoons Network.[7]
Upon release, Avatar: The Last Airbender was universally acclaimed by audiences and critics
alike.[8]
Praises went to the art direction, humor, cultural references, and themes. It was also
commercially successful, garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving
high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 12–18-year-old demographic.[4][9]
The
series has been nominated for and won awards from the Annual Annie Awards, the Genesis
Awards, the primetime Emmy awards and a Peabody Award among others. The first season's
success prompted Nickelodeon to order second[10]
and third[11]
seasons. In other media, the series
has spawned a critically panned but financially successful live-action film, titled The Last
Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, scaled action figures,[12]
a trading card game,[13][14]
three video games based on the first,[15]
second,[16][17]
and third seasons, stuffed animals
distributed by Paramount Parks, and two LEGO sets.[18]
An art book was also released in mid-
2010.[19]
A sequel series, The Legend of Korra, premiered on April 14, 2012.[20]
Contents
1 Series overview
o 1.1 Backstory
o 1.2 Season one (Book 1: Water)
o 1.3 Season two (Book 2: Earth)
o 1.4 Season three (Book 3: Fire)
2 Characters
3 Production
4 Reception
o 4.1 Ratings
o 4.2 Awards and nominations
5 Other media
o 5.1 Art and comic books
o 5.2 Promotion and merchandising
o 5.3 Video games
o 5.4 Film
o 5.5 Sequel

4. 6 References
7 External links
Series overview
Main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes
A map of the four nations. The characters at the top, 群雄四分, mean "Powers are divided into
Four". The characters of the four lands are 水善 (Water is Benevolent), 土強 (Earth is Strong),
火烈 (Fire is Fierce), and 氣和 (Air is Peaceful). The phrase at the bottom, 天下一匡, reads
"The world (all under heaven) is guided by one".
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world home to humans, hybrid animals, and spirits.
Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, 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 and control the 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).[21]
In addition to these four types of
bending, there are several minor subcategories of bending within them, including but not limited
to: Metalbending (Earth), Lightningbending (Fire) and Bloodbending (Water). Energybending is
a lost, fifth form of bending that makes its only appearance in the series finale.
At any given time, there is only one person in the world capable of bending all four major
elements: the Avatar. The Avatar is the divine spiritual entity of the world continuously reborn
and reincarnated in human form. When an Avatar dies, this spirit/soul is reborn and reincarnated
into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle, according to the implied correspondence of seasons to
the nations' cultures (Winter/Water Tribe; Spring/Earth Kingdom; Summer/Fire Nation; and
Autumn/Air Nomads) and must master each bending art in seasonal order, starting with their
own native/birth element. Additionally, the Avatar possesses an immensely powerful spiritual
ability called the Avatar State, which briefly endows them with all of 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 in total chakra energy harmony. Being killed in the
avatar state can cause the Avatars to cease to continue.[22]
If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar
State, the reincarnation cycle is broken, and the Avatar identity will cease to exist.[23]
Through

5. the ages, the succeeding Avatars have served to keep a relative equality among the nations,[21]
however, since the Avatar connects the material world to the spiritual world, and vice versa, the
Avatar also must strive to keep balance between the worlds.[24]
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, planned a world war to expand his territory; however, the Avatar at the time, Roku,
prevented him from doing so. He waited for the Avatar's death, whereupon the latter would be
reincarnated as an Airbender named Aang. Aang's Avatar status was revealed to him while still a
child, despite the protests of his mentor Monk Gyatso. Aang, fearful of his new responsibilities
and of separation from Gyatso, fled his home on his flying bison, Appa. The two were
subsequently forced into the ocean by a storm, and Aang's protective Avatar State encased them
both in an iceberg, in suspended animation. Fire Lord Sozin, in an attempt to kill the new Avatar,
carried out a genocide of the Air Nomads, leaving twelve-year old Aang as the eponymous "last
Airbender".
The war continued for one hundred years. Sozin was succeeded as Fire Lord by his son Azulon,
and Azulon by the younger of his two sons, Ozai, the current ruling Fire Lord at the time of the
series. The older son is Iroh, who laid siege to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se for over
600 days when he was younger.
Season one (Book 1: Water)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 1)
Katara, a fourteen-year-old Waterbender girl, and Sokka, her fifteen-year-old brother, find Aang,
a twelve-year-old boy, and Appa, a flying bison, in an iceberg near their home at the South Pole.
The two quickly discover that the boy knows nothing about the century-long war with the Fire
Nation, and therefore must have been encased in the ice since before it began. After Aang is
revealed to be the Avatar, the three begin to travel to the Northern Water Tribe at the North Pole
so that Aang and Katara can learn Waterbending from a master. En route, Aang and friends visit
the Southern Air Temple, where Aang discovers the genocide of his people and is visited by the
spirit of his predecessor, Avatar Roku. Aang also finds the last winged lemur of the Air Temples,
Momo. At the winter solstice, Aang has another encounter with Avatar Roku, who informs him
that the destruction of his people was made possible by a comet, which greatly enhanced
Firebending abilities. This same comet will return at the end of summer and allow the Fire
Nation to win the war. 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. However,
competing with Zuko for the Avatar is Commander Zhao, a powerful and cruel Firebender who
craves the Fire Lord's favor. Shortly after the trio reach the Northern Water Tribe, Aang and
Katara learn advanced Waterbending from the wise Master Pakku. Zhou follows them and leads

6. a massive invasion force to capture the Avatar and destroy the last great Water Tribe stronghold,
which is well defended. To overcome them, Zhao had discovered, in a hidden library in the Earth
Kingdom, the existence of the Moon and the Ocean Spirits in the mortal world and he plans to
eliminate the Moon Spirit to remove the source of the Waterbenders' power. He lays siege to the
Northern Water Tribe, who guard the mortal forms of the Ocean and Moon in a secret oasis, and
manages to kill the Moon Spirit after a fight with Aang and his friends. This causes a kind of
lunar eclipse and takes away Waterbending. Aang, enraged, goes into the Avatar State and bonds
with the, also, enraged Ocean Spirit to create a huge creature reminiscent of the koi fish that was
the spirit's earthly form. This entity defeats the Fire Nation fleet and kills Zhao. Meanwhile,
Princess Yue, a beautiful girl who had fallen in love with Sokka, gives her life and becomes the
Moon Spirit, restoring the ability to Waterbend.
Season two (Book 2: Earth)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 2)
After leaving the Northern Water Tribe, Aang masters Waterbending under Katara's tutelage.
While searching for an Earthbending teacher, the group meets Toph Beifong, a twelve-year-old
blind Earthbending prodigy, and recruit her as Aang's master. She was also known as the "Blind
Bandit" in an underground fighting arena, and her Earthbending prowess is so great that she
eventually invents Metalbending by bending the scattered particles of 'earth' in the metal. Zuko
and Iroh, now fugitives from the Fire Nation, attempt to lead new lives in the Earth Kingdom.
Zuko, with the help of his uncle, tries to let go of his troubled past and his obsession with
capturing the Avatar. As they travel around the Earth Kingdom while Aang learns Earthbending,
the group finds a hidden library in the desert (the same library Admiral Zhao discovered) and
learn that an upcoming solar eclipse will deprive Firebenders of their Firebending ability. The
eclipse will leave the Fire Nation open to invasion and give Aang a chance to defeat the Fire
Lord. While they are in the library, a group of Sandbenders kidnap Appa, complicating their
travels. Princess Azula, Zuko's sister and a gifted Firebender, and her two friends Mai and Ty
Lee, pursue the protagonists. Without Appa, Aang and his friends struggle to reach Ba Sing Se,
the Earth Kingdom's capital, to tell the Earth King, Kuei, of the eclipse. Disguised as the Kyoshi
Island Warriors (disciples of Avatar Kyoshi, who preceded Roku), Azula persuades Ba Sing Se's
secret police, the Dai Li, to instigate a coup d'état, allowing the Fire Nation to capture Ba Sing
Se. Both Zuko and Katara are captured during the coup, and although Katara offers him
redemption, Zuko sides with his sister. Aang attempts to willfully activate the Avatar State, an
act he had formerly avoided because it requires him to let go of his deep love for Katara, but
Azula hits him with lightning, killing him and ending the Avatar's reincarnation cycle. Iroh,
disappointed and sad at Zuko's choices, intercedes, allowing Katara to escape with Aang. She is
able to revive Aang using magical water from the North Pole Spirit Oasis, but he can no longer
enter the Avatar State at all, depriving him of one of his strongest and most powerful weapons
just as Ba Sing Se, the strongest bulwark against Fire Nation conquest, has fallen.
Season three (Book 3: Fire)
Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 3)
See also: Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle

7. Aang recovers from a long coma to find his allies disguised as Fire Nation soldiers on a Fire
Nation ship. 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 and staged by various allies encountered in previous
episodes. After initial success, the invasion ultimately fails, as Azula had foreknowledge of the
eclipse from her time undercover in Ba Sing Se. Only Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and a few
others escape, though some prisoners are eventually rescued. Zuko has a change of heart; defies
his father; and decides to teach Aang Firebending. He is, initially, mistrusted, but he eventually
manages to prove his change of heart and is adopted wholeheartedly into the Avatar's party.
Katara initially does not accept him but later, he helps her to find the man who killed her mother.
After that, she accepts Zuko and hugs him.
In the four-part series finale, Aang and his friends confront Fire Lord Ozai, who plans to use the
tremendous power and energy of Sozin's Comet to destroy the other nations and rule the world.
Iroh breaks out of prison and leads the Order of the White Lotus (an international society of
martial-arts masters, primarily now consisting of old men and including himself and Aang's
allies, i.e. King Bumi, Master Pakku, Master Piandao, and Jeong Jeong) to liberate Ba Sing Se.
Sokka, Toph, and Suki disable the Fire Nation's airships, preventing them from burning down the
Earth Kingdom. Zuko challenges Azula, who is suffering a nervous breakdown after being
named Fire Lord, to single combat. Initially, Zuko gains the advantage; but when Azula fires a
lightning bolt at Katara, Zuko intercepts the bolt and is severely injured. Katara defeats and
restrains Azula in chains and uses her Waterbending to heal Zuko. Aang, after an intense fight
with Ozai, is about to be destroyed when he inadvertently re-establishes his connection to the
Avatar State and defeats the Fire Lord. Aang is reluctant to kill him, and is able to overcome him
by permanently stripping him of his Firebending with an ability called "Energybending" he
learned from an ancient Lion Turtle prior to the battle.
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 embrace in a loving hug and
kiss passionately as the sun sets