#avatarsymbolism

[mewcedes]

Repost, sorry can’t find original!!

[linsbeifong]

oh...

[id: two screenshots of the wiki transcript for avatar, the first from ‘the southern raiders’ and the second from ‘the avatar returns’. the first is spoken by kya, and reads

“If I tell you, do you promise [She lowers her head and closes her eyes to make a decision.] to leave the rest of the village alone? [Cut to a side view of Yon Rha who nods.] It's me. [Cut to Kya who looks up.] Take me as your prisoner.”

the second is spoken by aang, and reads

“If I go with you, [He holds his staff in front of him as an offer, making sure Zuko understands that he does not wish to continue fighting.] will you promise to leave everyone alone?”

both are referring to katara and sokka’s village. end id]

[sokkas-bitch]

I've been inspired by a gifset from @zuzuthefirelord to write this quick lil meta, so I wanted to credit them for the gifset. it should be the post right under this one. anyway, let's get started!

when iroh taught zuko about the elements and their specific qualities he said: "fire is the element of power,earth is the element of substance,air is the element of freedom,water is the element of change."

looking at the prominent villains of avatar, this can be applied to them as well. what do we know about these villains?

fire is the element of power. it can be dangerous, even deadly. ozai was a typical imperialist. he wanted to conquer the earth kingdown and turn it into his empire. he simply sought power. (I think you can see where I'm headed with this.)

earth is described as the element of substance. earthbenders are often characterized as being stubborn. earth is harsh yet stable. this reminds me of kuvira. she's someone who wanted nothing more than to bring peace to the earth kingdom after it was left in chaos. yet the way she chose to find that peace, through tyranny, was wrong. she wanted stability and control.

the air nomads have always been the most tolerant people. they lived in harmony with nature and each other. they believed in freedom for everyone. the way that zaheer turns the philosophy of the air nomads on its head is really interesting. he trusts in their core beliefs, he wishes for freedom. zaheer doesn't believe in institutions. he doesn't believe certain people should have power over others. he wanted freedom but he wanted it through chaos because in his mind, chaos IS freedom. chaos is the natural state.

so we are left with water. waterbenders are known to both, evade and attack. just in a different way. they use the attacks of their opponents against them. water is always moving, it's the element of change. let's look at amon. his father taught him how to bloodbend when he was a little child, which turned amon into a cold and isolated individual. after learning these things, amon realised that benders shouldn't be oppressing non-benders. he believed they shouldn't be able to bend at all. he essentially used what his father taught him (to control living beings through bloodbending) and turned it against him (he literally bloodbent his father). but he took it one step further. amon used his bending ability to suppress other people's bending ability. amon wanted social change, equality for benders and non-benders. and he believed that they could only ever be on an equal playing field if all benders became non-benders. this is a direct parallel to socialism (in some core ways). crush the bourgeoisie, overthrow the ones who oppress you.

these little things all shape these characters. the way how they are all reflected in their element just shows how beautiful the writing for these two shows was. everything is connected, everything has a purpose. i just love avatar so much okay.

[poolsidescientist]

au + 5 hc - ASOIAF but with bending

@avatarsymbolismsblogs

1. Jousts are often fought with bending, as our battles. The Mountain is an earthbender and can move actual mountains, but he is an extreme example. Benders are often less skilled than they would be in ATLA.

2. Due to bending, better infrastructure exists in Westeros. Cities are stronger, travel is easier but so is combat and wars are deadlier as a result.

3. Robert and Renly Baratheon are earthbenders but Stannis is a non-bender and this annoys him to no end. Other non-benders include Davos Seaworth, Samwell Tarly, Margery Tyrell, Catlyn Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and Arianne Martell. Worth noting is that the Lannisters are firebenders.

4. The faith militant wants to ban bending and are the ASOIAF equivalent of the Equalists. 

5. The Starks are waterbenders. All of them. Most notably Arya can bloodbend and Bran has spirit powers. Sansa can heal. Jon lives his entire life thinking he is a non-bender until one day he lights his sword on fire…

[justfirelordizumithings]

Idea by @avatarsymbolism

[linsbeifong]

sokka + southern water tribe traditional warpaint

[linsbeifong]

Lin cradling her scars at the end of Metal Clan,

[linsbeifong]