Itâs time that we had a real conversation about AangâŚ
For the main character of a television series, Aang somehow almost always finds himself under-rated and dismissed in fansâ posts. You see all these posts and, when they do reference him, itâs usually accompanied by the phrases âimmatureâ and â12-year-old boy.â I mean honestly, in some ATLA fans posts, it seems as if Aangâs name is almost synonymous with the word immaturityâand itâs been that way for years. Iâve always wondered why people discredited him. Was it because they saw his age and immediately ruled him out? Is it an excuse for Katara and Aang to have never happened? Was calling him the most immature character a way to bring up their favorite characters? Or did they simply get conditioned to think Aang was immature because everyone just⌠said he was? Well, I think Aangâs the most mature character (from start to finish) on the show, and Imma tell you why.Â
I think that Book 1 Aang is the Aang that everyone has stuck in their head. We get introduced to Aang in a strange way: heâs a boy frozen in an iceberg, and the first thing he asks is to go penguin sledding. Then he boldly explores a fire navy ship after being told it might not be a great idea. This kidâs kinda stupid, we think. Why does he care about penguin sledding? Why does he explore something he is told not to? Then he stops at Kyoshi Island to ride the Unagi, then he stops at Omashu to ride the delivery service, and then he lets the gang stop at other locationsâhaving mini adventuresâwithout worrying about learning waterbending on any sort of timeline. Why does he choose to explore all these different places at first rather than master the four elements? Doesnât he even care about being the Avatar? Ah⌠thatâs right. Heâs only 12.Â
Except surmising his entire maturity (or lack thereof) to the fact that he stops for these adventures means that you are ignoring one glaring detail of the show: Airbender and nomad culture. Aang asking Katara to go penguin sledding instead of what year it was and taking his friends to all those random stops in B1 so that he can explore can not be chalked up to immaturity. Because then you are ignoring an entire culture. We donât get to see a lot of airbenders, and I think that plays into the problem, but from what we do know, we learn that a critical part of their culture is that they travel. A lot. And experience different cultures. A lot. Think about all the different places heâs referenced going to 100 years ago in the series. Then think about all the friends heâs talked about having in these obscure placesâand it always sounded like he visited them more than once. Traveling, experiencing different cities, and meeting new people was a part of him and a part of his culture. He wasnât being a 12-year-old when he stopped to ride the Unagi or the delivery shoots in Omashu, he was being an air nomad
On a similar note, one of Aangâs most notable traits is saying, âHey, check this out,â excitedly while doing some air bending trick that seems juvenileâlike spinning marbles around or doing an air scooter.  People look at him doing this and his previously mentioned traits and go, âOh, what a kid.â But hereâs the thing: we canât roll our eyes at his persistent need to show people marbles floating in the air or his air scooter. In the episode âSouthern Air Temple,â we see Monk Gyatsoâan extremely old, wise air benderâthrowing cakes on other monksâ heads, and then weâre told throughout the series that Airbenders were known for their playful nature. Airbenders didnât use their bending the same way other benders do. For example, Waterbenders might show off their skills by creating a giant wave and being like, âLook how cool!â (See: Katara, like every time she learns a new move.) We know Airbenders have some pretty powerful movesâweâve seen the tornado Aang created, the air body imprint of Aang that slammed Zuko backâbut they donât show off those moves because theyâre so combative and not so fun. They show off the good-natured side of air bending (ex: Gyastoâs staff surfing when he was a child).  So those marble/air scooter tricks canât be watered down to 12-year-old immaturity. Because heâs not being a kid when he does those things, heâs being an Airbender. People also tend to look over the fact that he is a survivor of a genocide. You need to keep in mind that he is a living relic and the only example left of what his race was. So even later in the series when he continues to show people those tricks, heâs showing them not just for fun, but to keep his culture alive. And what do you think heâs going to show them: a tornado with random objects flying around in it or two marbles flying in his hands? Which is a better representation of Airbender culture?
Also, do not forget that Aang earned his arrows. Airbenders are not just regular benders; they are known for being especially enlightened. You donât just need to be a master at airbending to get your arrowsâyou also need to be a master at their culture. Aang was an enlightened boi. Look at all the speeches that he gave as the series continued. He didnât just magically become wise in the course of a few months because he had to fight the Firelord, he just tapped into what was always there and never showed. The maturity was always there, and the receipts are in the arrows.Â
So, Iâve gone over why heâs not as immature as everyone thinks, but why do I think heâs the most mature on the show? Itâs because his emotional maturity is freaking through the roof. Heâs part of a genocide, his culture is mocked, the few thingsâhis clothing and gliderâthat he had left from his home were completely destroyed, and he had to do something that severely went against what he believes in. And he almost never loses his shit. In fact, we only ever see him get actually upset (weâre not counting the Avatar state cause thatâs a whole different thing) 3 times in the series: when he was telling Katara about how the monks wanted to take him away from Gyatso, the episode when Appa was stolen, and when he was explaining that no one understands the position he is in (in terms of killing Ozai). Think about how much we saw everyone else freak out over the course of the show? About even smaller things.
Katara and Zuko are generally accepted as the two most mature characters of the series. But why? Zuko is continuously snapping at everyone, and, yes, he matured. But he is not completely there yet. He still somewhat believes in revenge (See: Southern Raiders), and itâs only at the last episode of the series that he understands violence is not the answer. And Katara? She acts very mature towards everyone else, but when it comes to her own emotions? Sheâs a whole basket full of mess. (See: Southern Raiders, again. Or anytime she uses anger as her way to show sheâs âpassionate.â) A good way to showcase the difference between Aang and these two is realizing that all of them lost a parent from the war and analyzing at how they handled it. (For Zuko letâs focus on the idea that he never really had a father) Katara lost her mother, Zuko his father, and Aang his father, Gyatso. Throughout the series, losing their parent was a huge topic point for both Katara and Zuko so much so that it was as if they thought no one else had ever suffered. (Katara, we see you telling Sokka that he didnât love your mom the same). Aang, however, acknowledges his pain, tells stories of Gyatso and uses him as an example of what he wants to live up toâ eventually coming full circle at the end wearing Gyatsoâs beads and an identical outfit. I canât imagine a more mature way to handle what happened than that.
Basically, what Iâm trying to say is, maturity isnât based on how you have fun, itâs based on how you react to hard situations. And nobody, nobody reacted better in those situations than Aang. So if you watched Avatar and thought it was a story about a young boy maturing, then you misjudged. It wasnât a story about an immature boy growing up. It was a story of an Airbender becoming an avatar.Â
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