#sandbenders

[sapphicseymour]

i know it's been 20 years but i'm still mad about the sandbenders who stole appa even if aang destroyed their sandsliders in consequence

[splosh-crime]

Unanswered Questions + Worldbuilding Ideas from ATLA/TLOK

The Joo Dee’s from Lake Lao Gai in Ba Sing Se. These are the tour guides assigned to the Gaang and likely other elite/rich refugees entering Ba Sing Se. Questions include: Who are all these near-identical women? Where did they come from? Who knew/reported them missing? Were they able to reverse the brainwashing post-war? How many psychologists are there and what quality is their care? Clearly there are enough that Sokka knows about them despite growing up super isolated.

Zuko’s Metamorphosis. Man had an existential crisis so strong that he went into a high fever coma for like 2 days and no one questioned it?? Uncle Iroh acted like this was a perfectly normal response. Did he go through this after his son died and he went soul-searching? Is this just a common response for firebenders with existential crises? Was there a massive pandemic of this after the war ended and practically everyone in the Fire Nation was forced to reevaluate their worldview?

The Sandbenders of the Si Wong Desert. Do they have any folklore/ghost stories around the Spirit Library? Do they know who’s in it? Do they have designated sages that visit the library for knowledge? How do you think they felt about it mysteriously disappearing one day? Do they think Aang buried it in his anger about Appa’s kidnapping/trafficking?

Combustion-Bending. What happened to the other combustion-benders? Is there a community of them? Do they need the tattoo for it or is that decorative/symbolic like it is for Air Nomads? Does this firebending style have any connection to airbending in the way that lightning-bending connects to waterbending?

The Nuns of the Abbey in the episode where Bato and June the Bounty Hunter are introduced. Made a post with more questions here (link) but main questions include: Do they worship the Spirits or someone/something else? Knowledge & traditions? What’s their relationship to the Airbender nuns and monks? The Abbey nuns wear clothes similar to Christian nuns whereas the Airbenders are based on Buddhism. Are they different sects of the same religion? Different religions entirely?

Dai Li Reform or Disbandment. Never happened in canon but definitely needs to. Their crimes include multiple counts of human/child trafficking, mass brainwashing, use of child soldiers (see: TLOK), kidnapping, conspiracy, and treason. If they’re reformed, they’d need tons of oversight/transparency.

The Foggy Swamp Tribe of the Earth Kingdom. Did Southern Water Tribe members settle the Foggy Swamp with nearby Earth Kingdom citizens? Do they have any spiritual practices regarding the Swamp? Do many of them share Huu’s views? Is he seen as a spiritual leader? Do the visions people in the Swamp receive of dead loved ones affect their funerary practices? How does Foggy Swamp style bending differ from North/Southern Water Tribe style bending beyond a focus on plant matter?

Princess Yue’s Deification. She sacrificed her life to replace/merge with(?) Tui as the Spirit of the Moon. She is, as far as I know, the only human to have ever become a Spirit apart from maybe the Painted Lady. Did Yue replace or merge with Tui? Is Yue also the Koi Fish in the Spirit Oasis or is that Tui resurrected? Does the Northern Water Tribe know that Yue’s a Spirit now? Is there a day of mourning for her? Do they consider her their patron Spirit?

Reminder that all my posts double as invitations for discussion! I love talking to anyone who loves this media like I do. I love building ideas off each other. I love questions about the content. I appreciate constructive criticism too!

[biconickyoshi]

anon is prefacing this by saying that they are swana:

I think that cutting the sandbenders was good because the original interpretation showed them as bandits who stole stuff in the desert. it really shows the "this was made post 9/11" bad arab rep. natla should have done more.

thoughts?

Yeah I totally agree with that anon - it was not a good look even if it wasn’t intentional. I think that the Kyoshi novels did a much better job with portraying the sandbenders in a more culturally respectful way at least iirc.

The one good thing about NATLA is that they have specific cultural consultants working on it, so if they had included sandbenders, then hopefully they would have portrayed them in a respectful light. But of course they just cut the Si Wong Desert entirely… so who knows if we’ll ever see it or the sandbenders in the show

[gorey-gorella]

I now remember Aang killed a wasp in the desert when Appa was missing with his airbending.

People still, in 2025 think Aang won't hurt a mayfly. Those people miss the point and don't understand his character.

He didn't even need to kill the buzzard wasp, he did it for sadism purposes. He already rescued Momo, it was still heading forwards and didn't turn back to him. It was very far away already. Aang should just be relieved.

But no, he got all murderous, he softened when he looked at Momo gliding by his side, but then he looked back to the wasp and got all serious and narrowed his eyes.

He calculatingly and knowing killed it. This isn't by accident. He purposely did so with a precise air slice that hit EXACTLY it and made it fall on the desert floor.

He didn't even soften and realise what he did was so bad and against his beliefs. He just looked bitter and pissed with his eyes still shadowed and walked away.

He wanted to DESTROY. He wanted to kill. He wanted to harm.

The wasp is bigger than him, even with his glider, so it's not some random small insect. No, it was large.

He wasn't being an implusive idiot. No, he was calculated, in control, quietly pissed.

He KNOWS he has Momo back safe and sound, as he literally turned to him and softened. But then he turned back to the fucking wasp anyways.

He didn't have to, as it was already far enough that it was shadowed and not coming back to hurt them.

This isn't like his indirect kills where he buries people in snow and stuff at the very least.

This is direct, intentional, not impulsive and not accidental.

Aang isn’t just capable of violence, he’s capable of enjoying it too when the right emotional wound is hit.

Aang killed the buzzard wasp for emotional gratification.

It was intentional, controlled, calculated violence.

It was not an outburst, it was a message.

It wasn’t about defense. It wasn’t about instinct.

It was about punishment.

And he didn’t even blink.

This was not Aang breaking his values by accident.

This was Aang violating them on purpose.

And not giving a single fuck.

It wasn’t even efficient. He didn’t need to do it.

He wanted to inflict pain.

He wanted to destroy.

He chose to kill something bigger than himself, just because he could.

He didn’t look shocked afterward.

Didn’t break down.

Didn’t whisper, “What have I done?”

That was sadism. That was for the sakes of it. That was calculated anger. That was personal.

There’s no “oops.” There’s no hesitation.

There’s calculation. Bitterness. Control. Precision.

That wasn’t “a loss of control.”

That was Aang reclaiming control.

Same guy who says he doesn't kill animals. Made by the same creators who say he doesn't kill animals, lmao.

Btw, I don't mind him killing or being a pacifist. I hate him being a hypocrite about it.

He didn't almost cross the line. He crossed the damm line, so many times already. The only line he hasn't crossed yet is killing a human directly, and he almost crossed that line with the sandbenders and if it wasn't for Katara? He would cross that line too.

And the only way he doesn't kill Ozai? He might as well kill him anyway with how brutal and depressing it is. He doesn't even check on Ozai in his cell and at the very least give a peachy, cold message or ask Zuko about Ozai or tell Zuko to lighten up a bit on his cell. No, he doesn't even give a fuck at all.

Aang is not a pacifist by nature, he is one by nurture.

[0bscvr1ty]

ⓘUndertale and Deltarune OST that remind me of ATLA

ـــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ــــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ــــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ــــــــــــــــــــﮩ٨ـ

UNDERTALE:

"Once upon a time" Avatar Aang

"Fallen down" Avatar Aang or Princess Yue

"Ruins" Katara

"Anticipation" Jet

"Unnecessary tension"  Prince Zuko

"Enemy approaching" Toph Beifong

"Home" Appa

"Heartache" Momo

"0.15 sans" Sokka

"Nyeh Heh Heh!" King Bumi

"Snowy" Princess Yue

"Uwa!! So holiday" Princess Yue

"Mysterious place" Avatar Yanchen

"Benetrousle" King Bumi

"Premonition" Jet

"Danger mystery" Sandbenders

"Undyne" Hama

"Waterfall" Princess Yue

"Quiet water" Princess Yue

"Memory" Avatar Aang

"Dummy!" Sokka

"Pathetic house" Mai

"Chill" Avatar Roku

"Spear of Justice" Princess Azula

"Alphys" Earth King Kuei and his pet bear Bosco

"It's Showtime!" Ty Lee

"Metal Crusher" Toph Beifong

"Another Medium"  Wan Shi Tong

"Stronger Monsters" Toph Beifong

"Confession" Kataang

"Spider Dance" Hama

"Wrong Enemy !?" Sokka

"Oh! One True Love" Yuekka

"Oh! Dungeon" King Bumi

"It's Raining Somewhere Else" Katara

"Death By Glamour" Ty Lee

"For The Fans" Avatar Aang

"The Choice" Princess Yue

"ASGORE" Earth King Kuei and his pet bear Bosco

"You Idiot" Princess Azula

"An Ending" Jet

"Dont Give Up" Uncle Iroh

"Hopes And Dreams"  Jet

"Burn in Despair!" Princess Azula

"SAVE The World" The Gaang

"Final Power" Fire Lord Ozai

"Reunited" Appa and Avatar Aang

"Respite" Prince Zuko

"Bring It In, Guys!" Jet and the Freedom Fighters

"Last Goodbye" Jet

"But The Earth Reduced To Die" the Avatar State

"MEGALOVANIA" Toph Beifong

"Good Night" Katara

DELTARUNE:

"ANOTHER HIM" Avatar Aang

"Beginning" Original Trio (Aang, Katara, Sokka)

"The Chase" Princess Azula

"The Legend" Avatar Aang

"Lancer" Sokka

"Rude Buster" Toph Beifong

"Empty Town" Song

"Weird Birds" Jet and the Freedom Fighters

"Fields of Hopes and Dreams" Haru

"Lantern" Jin / Jinko

"I'm Very Bad" Prince Zuko

"Checker Dance" Avatar Aang

"Quiet Autumn" Jet

"Scarlet Forest" Jet

"Vs. Lancer" Sokka

"Basement" Hama

"Vs. Susie" Toph Beifong

"Card Castle" Ursa

"Gallery" Tui and La

"Chaos King" King Bumi

"Darkness Falls" Tui and La

"The Circus" Tyzula

"Friendship" The Gaang

"A Town Called Hometown" Katara

"You Can Always Come Home" Katara

"Before the Story" Monk Gyatso

"Faint Glow" Princess Yue

"Girl Next Door" Jin

"My Castle Town" Teo

"Queen" Katara

"A Simple Diversion" Sokka

"Smart Race" Sokka

"Faint Courage (Game Over)" Yuekka

"Spamton" Sokka

"NOW'S YOUR TIME TO BE A" Sokka

"Elegant Entrance" Ursa

"Bluebird of Misfortune" Jet

"Pandora Palace" Mai

"Acid Tunnel of Love" Maiko

"It's Pronounced 'Rules' " Joo Dee

"Lost Girl" Song or Smellerbee

"Attack of The Killer Queen" June

"Knock You Down !!" The Duke

"The Dark Truth" Hama

"Deal Gone Wrong" The Pirates

"Dialtone" Wan Shi Tong

"Chill Jailbreak Alarm to Study and Relax to" Chit Sang

"Until Next Time" Yuekka

"Flashback (Excerpt)" The Spirit World

"Sandy Board" - Professor Zei

"Adventure Board" Uncle Iroh

"Query?" Uncle Iroh

"Pushing Buddies" Tui and La

"Welcome to the Green Room"  Ba Sing Se

"Raft Ride" Katara

"Raise Up Your Bat" Jet and the Freedom Fighters

"Glowing Snow" Princess Yue

"Metaphysical Challenge" Wan Shi Tong

"TV WORLD'" Ty Lee

"It's TV Time!" Ty Lee

"Black Knife" Long Feng and the Dai Li

"Crickets" Koh the Face Stealer

"SWORD" Sokka

"NORTHERNLIGHT" Tui and La

"GLACEIR" La (Koizilla)

"BURNING EYES" Princess Azula

"Old wooden rafters" Jet

"Hymn" The Avatar State

"Another day in hometown" Katara

"The distance between two" Yuekka

"ATRIUM" Wan Shi Tong (+His library overall)

"Dark Sanctuary" Wan Shi Tong (+His library overall)

"Gyaa Ha ha!" Ty Lee

"Fireplace" Avatar Aang

"Mysterious Ringing" The Spirit World

"Even Higher" Teo

"Wise words" Uncle Iroh

"Hammer of Justice" Princess Azula

"12am" The Spirit World

"The Second Sanctuary" Appa

"Ripple" Jet / The Dai Li

"Dark Place" Azula and Zuko

"Heavy Footsteps" Fire Lord Ozai

"Crumbling Tower" The Fire Nation

"SPAWN" Princess Azula

"Need a hand?!" Sokka

"The place where it rained" Monk Gyatso

"The Ol' Jitterbug" Monk Gyatso

"Neverending Night" Princess Yue

"The LEGEND...?"  Avatar Aang

"With Hope Crossed On Our Hearts" The Gaang

"Catswing" Momo

"Air Waves" Avatar Aang

"Pirate Dojo" The Pirates

"Festival" Ty Lse

"I guess I'm in love" Jinko

"Quiet Glade" Appa

"Who might you be?" Kuzon (Aang)

"Petal Dance" Ty Lee

"Violet Tactics" Haru

"Flower King" Prince Zuko

"Flower Foyer" Air Nomads

"I'm Telling!" Princess Azula

"Stop, Criminell!" Jet

"Pink" Ty Lee

"Flower Man" Haru

"That Day" Sokka, Aang and Katara

"Dreamwatchers" Tui and La

"Weak Flowers" Princess Azula

"Walking Home" Appa

"Goodnight, Sweet Prince" Prince Zuko

[porcelainaang]

Is there any canon explination why the sandbenders avoided Wan Shi Tong's Library? Like one would think that it would be a pretty significant thing for them. They are able to move sand(post sunk) or they know the Desert well enough(pre sunk)

[whimsicallywiddershins]

ATLA Theory: Some air benders fled the massacre to the Si Wong Desert. They intermarried Earth Kingdom people and their descendants are the Sandbenders.

There is no way a bunch of people who can travel by air were completely taken by suprise by ground troupes. C'mon. Some had to have escaped. They just had to find a place where the Fire Nation couldn't find them. What better place than a desert no-one ever visits?

Sand is the perfect mix of Earth and Air. It doesn't move like earthbending, it moves like air or water. The relationship between air and sand is strong: sandstorms, wind eroding rocks into sand, wind sculpting sand dunes, ect... All things you find in a desert.

Also, it's very likely the Sand People are nomadic. Most desert peoples are. This would fit perfectly with the Air Nomad lifestyle. Sand Ships would replace Air Bison. Also, the Si Wong Desert is a great place to hide, especially if you ally with the locals. The Earth Kingdom government doesn't interfere with the Desert, people don't usually travel through it, and those that do probably would interact heavily with the Sand People, so rumors wouldn't travel about new arrivals. The Fire Nations definitely never went there.

If any new air benders were born, it would be incredibly easy to hide them. Airbending could be disguised pretty easily as Sandbending, all you have to do is pick up sand with the wind as you bend. I bet there is a mix of airbenders and earthbenders in the Desert.

[piichivii]

ray & gold dust // tuyaa, the rogue