so i want to talk about this
yes, we all know the theory about the avatars faces looking like the person they loved most in their past life. but have you ever noticed they adopted some of their other halves personality as well? of course the avatar is a reincarnation of one person, not the people they love. but i argue that people offset and bounce off each other. we change each others life trajectories and get under each others skin. people change people. and i believe that the avatar’s past loves become a part of who the next avatar is.
korra is a combination of aang’s goofiness and playful personality as much as she is katara’s fieriness and hot headedness. katara and korra are so similar in their reactions, so quick to anger, and so hard to forgive others. they are naive and trusting to everybody they meet, and it leads to any betrayal cutting them deeper than anybody else. they love fiercely and protectively with all that they have, but its easy for them to flip a switch on that love if that person changes for bad. but when those people are good in their heart, they will fight and provide for them for life. they stand firm with strong principles with morality that could never be shaken or corrupted. but hey, a little crime on the side never hurts. they will always help people, and never rest knowing somebody, stranger or friend, is hurt. and yeah, they will never ever turn their back on somebody who needs them.
aang, albeit this being a product of his upbringing as an air nomad, shares with ta min this offer of love and hope. the two believe in forgiveness. there is nobody they can turn their back on and nobody ever left as hopeless, no matter how evil they are or what they’ve done. they are soft, gentle, and forgiving love. a hand that is never ever taken away from you. no matter how badly you mess up, they will never give up on you. forgiveness is not about chances to them, its about compassion with no limits. understanding anybody is capable of good and evil, even the people who seem unbreakable or are closest to you. but they never give up on trusting them, no matter how many times they were crossed. they are unconditional love. a symbol of hope and lasting friendship until the end of the line.
roku, a fierce and loyal fighter who would never leave battle, is reflected in every way on rangi. even to his end, fighting a volcano that he would never win against, he couldn’t leave sozin behind. rangi could never truly walk away from kyoshi, as angry as she made her. even when people changed, even when people hurt them and angered them and they would threaten to leave, rangi and roku would always stay. the morals in their head never matched the love in their heart. they fought and their words were venom, even if their heart could never match that hate. they would make decisions quickly and regret the pain that they caused, but they thought they were doing what was right. they were confused and lost in their own feelings that they didn’t want to sort through. but in the end, their heart always won over anything else, and as much as they fought against it, they refused to abandon those that they love.
granted, we don’t know a lot about ummi. what we do know of her is that she was in love and her human life was taken away just before she could promise it to avatar kuruk. although we don’t know a lot about her personally, i argue that she shares with kyoshi a deep sense of love for one person. not so much the fire and protectiveness that korra and katara had for their friends and the world, but the type of love that bounds people together. every breath of rangi’s was one of kyoshi’s own. for both ummi and kyoshi, what tied their love together was etched far deeper than into each other’s skin. kyoshi’s and ummi’s love was an ache connected in them so deeply that it would echo and live on through lifetimes.
people change people. the avatar’s love changed the world and the avatar themselves in so many ways, lifetime after lifetime.
the sound we all recognize most and connect to the most from avatar, out of every other lesson of peace and pain and loss we see, is called avatars love.
i like to believe theres a reason for that.
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