An Avatar Temple is a sacred building dedicated to honoring the Avatar Spirit. Each nation had at least one temple connected spiritually to all past Avatars. The Fire Temple was located near a volcano on Crescent Island. Avatar Roku struggled to control the Avatar State during meditations at the Fire Temple, accidentally triggering the volcano. Later, when Aang needed to speak with Roku, he traveled to the ruined Fire Temple during the winter solstice and was able to communicate with his past life through a spiritual connection. Avatar Korra also visited the Southern Water Tribe Avatar Temple to meditate and try to access the Avatar State.

1. Avatar Temple
English
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The Fire Temple was located near a volcano on Crescent Island.
An Avatar Temple is a shrine built in honor of the Avatar. Each
building bears a spiritual connection with the Avatar Spirit and all of its
past incarnations, and as such is regarded as a sacrosanct dwelling.
Some nations take this reverence for the Avatar Temple to an extreme,
only permitting their respective religious authority to have regular
access. For example, the Avatar Temple of the Air Nomads was open
exclusively to the elder monks,[1] and only Fire Sages resided in
the Fire Temple.[2]However, the Avatar is exempt from these
restrictions.
Each of the original nations had at least one Avatar
Temple,[3] though Roku destroyed the Fire Temple while manifesting
himself in the body of Aang in order to save his young reincarnation.[2]
Contents
History
Avatar Roku's recession
Around the winter of 58 BG, Roku spent five months on Crescent
Island's Fire Temple when he was attempting to master the Avatar
State with the help of the Fire Sages. Under the guidance of Fire
Sage Kaja, Roku tried a variety of meditation exercises in an attempt to
develop control over the state. However, despite his efforts, the Avatar

2. struggled to concentrate and exclaimed that mastery over the state
through meditation was impossible.
The winter solstice sun aided in triggering the Avatar State.
In hopes of hastening the process, Roku decided to use the spiritual
energy from the sun on the winter solstice to push himself into the state.
He triggered it immediately, but only to find himself unable to control
his abilities; he ended up destroying the upper portions of the temple and
accidentally sparked the eruption of a nearby volcano before Kaja
managed to free him from the Avatar State.
Roku eventually mastered the Avatar State and rebuilt the temple
pagodas. He went on to carve passageways in the island's magma
underneath the temple.[4]
The return of Avatar Aang
After being encased in an iceberg for a century, Avatar Aang returned to
the Southern Air Temple with Katara and Sokkalate in 99 AG. Aang and
his friends were able to reach and enter the temple's sanctuary. Inside
were statues of all the past Avatars, aligned in a circular pattern which
extended to the ceiling. Aang felt a sense of familiarity with the statues,
especially to the statue of Avatar Roku, his immediate predecessor.
Though the two had never met and there was no inscription identifying
the statue, Aang immediately stated Roku's name, mentioning that he
"just knew it somehow".

3. A mural of past Earth Kingdom Avatarsglowed in response to Aang's
return.
The group later came across a part of the temple that sustained severe
damage during the Fire Nation attacks nearly a century prior. Inside,
Aang discovered the corpse of Gyatso, his airbending mentor, the sight
of which triggered the Avatar State. Simultaneously, the eyes of the
statues in the inner sanctum began to glow, as well as those of the
statues and tapestries in the other Avatar Temples around the world,
signaling the return of the Avatar.[3]
The winter solstice
Later that year, Aang accidentally entered the Spirit World for the first
time and was greeted by Avatar Roku's dragon, Fang. Fang had been
sent by Roku to lead Aang on a spirit journey to Crescent Island, in
order to convey the message that the young airbender had to travel there
in order to communicate with Roku during the winter solstice.[5]
Aang arrived at the temple on time but was surprised to find that the Fire
Sages were attempting to apprehend him. Fire Sage Shyu, who was the
last to abide by the Sages' original purpose of serving the Avatar, aided
Aang and his friends by guiding them through the temple's secret
passageways and explained that Aang's apparent disappearance
prompted the sages to pledge allegiance only to the Fire Lord. The
sages, with the help of Prince Zuko, endeavored to stop Aang from
meeting with Roku, though their efforts ultimately failed as Aang was
able to enter the sanctuary, prompting Avatar Roku to instantaneously
seal the doors shut.

4. Aang entered the Fire Temple sanctuaryto contact Avatar Roku.
Inside the sanctuary stood a statue of Avatar Roku, and as the light of
the winter solstice reached its eyes, Aang was able to communicate with
his predecessor. Roku explained to Aang that he must end the Hundred
Year War before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, as the consequences of
Aang's failure to do so would be devastating to the world's balance.
Meanwhile, Commander Zhao arrived and readied himself to apprehend
the young Avatar with the help of his soldiers and the Fire Sages the
moment Aang emerged from the sanctuary. However, Avatar Roku had
sensed the looming danger and provided protection for Aang; the doors
of the sanctuary opened to reveal Avatar Roku manifested through
Aang's body. Roku exhibited his firebending prowess, defeating the
opposing forces and freeing Sokka, Katara, Shyu, and Zuko from the
chains that bound them. The Avatar destroyed the temple permanently
by bending the magma from underneath the structure. As the winter
solstice passed, the connection between Aang and Roku was broken,
and Team Avatar escaped while the temple was consumed by the
lava.[2]
Southern Water Tribe Avatar Temple
Avatar Korra and several of her friends and allies visited the Southern
Water Tribe Avatar Temple after the end of the Anti-bending
Revolution in 170 AG. In front of the stairs to the sanctuary, Korra
used energybending for the first time to restore Lin
Beifong's earthbending. After Lin showcased her reacquired bending by
levitating all the menhirs surrounding the temple, Tenzin recognized
Korra to be a fully realized Avatar.[6]
In the two years that she stayed at the South Pole to recover from
her mercury poisoning in 171 AG, Korra meditated at the temple in an

5. attempt to enter the Avatar State, as Katara believed her inability to do
such stemmed from a mental block.[7]