Avatar: The Last Airbender FAQ (Updated 2/17/11)

[Snake of the South]

Due to sheer amount of the same questions being asked in the chat and sometimes in the forums, I have resolved to make a FAQ in order to stop the same questions from being asked over...and over again. So here we go.

Q: Will there be a Book 4?

A: No, Mike and Bryan have repeatedly stated that "Avatar: The Last Airbender" was always meant to be a show with three seasons. There might be minisodes, but there will not be another "Book"/season of the show, "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

Scavenger Hunt: The password is "bass-ackward" Just drop the quotations. PM me if you have any trouble as I might have set the password wrong somehow.

Q: So ATLA is over for good?

A: That seemed to be the case until Dark Horse announced a new ATLA comic series set to come out 2012 that takes place after the season three finale. Mike and Bryan are of course involved with the project. The series is said to follow the adventures of the Gaang after the war as they try to rebuild the world. Not much else besides these general facts are known.

Q: Where's Ursa/What happened to Ursa/Is Ursa dead?

A: What happened to Ursa is this. She plotted with Ozai to make him the Fire Lord instead of Iroh for the safety of Zuko (since Ozai was going to kill him since Fire Lord Azulon told him he must suffer what Iroh suffered). According to Ozai, she did "vicious, treasonous" things that night (implying that she killed Azulon in some manner and then forged some documents or whatever to make it to where Ozai would be crowned instead of Iroh) when Zuko last saw Ursa and as punishment for what she did, she was banished. This was all explained/shown in the episodes "Zuko Alone" from season 2 and "The Day of Black Sun Part Two: The Eclipse" from season 3. As for her where she went after she was banished, there is no answer to that. In the very last episode of the show, Zuko asks Ozai where his mother is, but we don't see the answer. Keeping Ozai's character in mind, he's a very devious man and more than likely does indeed know if Ursa is alive and well or not. But alas, we do not know where Ursa is or if she's even alive.

Q: Well what about Korra and/or this new comic series? Will we find out about Ursa in them?

A: Since "Legend of Korra" is set mainly in Republic City 70 years after ATLA, I would imagine that Mike and Bryan will focus more on Korra and her world rather than the ATLA-y things. As for the comics, I'd say the chances of an Ursa story are pretty good since they are a continuation of ATLA after the war. Of course, when it comes to Ursa, nothing is confirmed so there's still a chance we may never find out.

*For more on Korra if you're just joining the Avatar world, go here!

Q: What happened to Azula?

A: Well if you go to the Avatar webpage on the nick.com site, you'll find out, but I'll tell you anyway. As we all saw in the finale when we last saw Azula, her mind was shattered. Because of that, she ended up in an insane asylum rather than being imprisoned as Ozai was or executed.

Q: Will the Air Nomads ever come back?

A: No. This is something else that Mike and Bryan themselves have touched upon several times in interviews. The Air Nomads are gone. The society and culture will never return to what it once was. Bad things just happen in history sometimes.

Q: If Aang and Katara had children, could their children bend both water and air at the same time?

A: Again, something Mike and Bryan have said. No, only the Avatar can bend more than one element. If Aang and Katara were to have a child, their child would either be a non bender, a waterbender, or an airbender. In fact, their son, Tenzin, will be featured in Legend of Korra as Korra's airbending teacher!

Q: How will the next Avatar after Aang learn airbending without the Air Nomads?

A: There's several solutions to this actually. Aang could write down the instructions to airbending and such on scrolls and leave them to someone spiritual who teaches Avatar-y things like Guru Pathik for that person to teach to the next Avatar. It's possible that someone spiritual, again like Guru Pathik, knows how to teach airbending, yet can't do it himself. Lastly, Aang and Katara could always have a child that can airbend. That child would be taught by Aang and when Aang passed on and the child was older, he could teach the next Avatar to airbend. Of course, the latter seems to be the case in the upcoming mini-series, Legend of Korra as stated above.

Q: Who were the original benders of the elements/the first ones to bend the elements?

A: The original airbenders were sky bisons (thus why when an Air Nomad mastered airbending, he got arrow tattoos that resembled the sky bison's arrows).
The original earthbenders were the badger moles who taught Oma and Shu, the first humans to earthbend, how to earthbend.
The original firebenders were the dragons.
Lastly, the original waterbender was the moon, not the koi fish. The koi fish are merely the earthly forms of the moon and the ocean.

Q: MINISODES!?!?!?! Someone said there would be minisodes sometime after the show ended! Where are they?!?!?

A:Back around Avatar's final months "on-air" (meaning it wasn't all just reruns), there was this scan of a promotional flier for Avatar (I mentioned this in my "After the 19th...." thread I made long ago). It basically outlined all of Nickelodean's business and marketing plans for the franchise. Among the things mentioned in the flier were the live action movie, the 3D MMORPG game (which did indeed come out and was called Legends of the Arena or something like that), and lastly, mini-episodes that were set to air both online and on television in Spring of 2010.

Regardless, since 2010 has come and passed and now we know about "Legend of Korra" and the fact that it will be a mini-series, I think that there's a good chance that Korra might have been the minisodes originally talked about. Of course, this is just speculation. But as for ATLA, it will be continued in the form of a comic series as I said above. So there will probably not be any minisodes for ATLA, but you never know.

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So feel free to comment if you're confused about anything or have a question you feel is asked alot and that should be added here.

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MOVIE FAQ

How many Movies will there be?

A: There are scheduled to be three films. The first comes out in July of 2010. For trailers and more information about the film, Go here ----->>>>> http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/

When does the First Movie get released in my area of the world?

See this website page for the release dates: http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/intl/releasedates/

As a quick reference:
North America is July 2nd, 2010
Latin America is July 22/24 of 2010
Everywhere else are varying dates from July 1st (Russia) to as late as October 28th (Greece)

*For more information on the movies, go here!

[Renori Fa]

We should put this link in the rules. That way, we avoid any of the "WHEN IS BOOK 4 COMING OUT!?!?!?!?!??!"


nice job.

[Levy Halmen]

Very nice job. Most of these questions are common sense or can be inferred but still it is nessesary.

[monkgyatso]

Okay so this may be answered in the show, or it may just be obvious, but how do you tell who the next avatar is? I know that the person is born on the same day the previous avatar dies, but if theres more than one person born on that day, how do you tell who it is? Do the spiritual people just know?

And also, how do people tell if they are benders? That's probably obvious but if you can answer please do.

[Snake of the South]

Okay so this may be answered in the show, or it may just be obvious, but how do you tell who the next avatar is? I know that the person is born on the same day the previous avatar dies, but if theres more than one person born on that day, how do you tell who it is? Do the spiritual people just know?

And also, how do people tell if they are benders? That's probably obvious but if you can answer please do.

Sorry for the 2 month and 13 days-late response.

Basically, each nation has its own way of telling who the Avatar is. With the Air Nomads, it was determining what toys the candidates picked. With the Fire Nation, it was something to do with the sages. Now of course, lots of people are born each day and you can't screen every single one of them. So the people who got put through the "Avatar tests" were more than likely people who were very adept at the bending they initially learned.

As for your second question, well it's just a matter of seeing someone bend. Obviously you're not going to see a very newborn baby bend an element, but as children get into their toddler years of kiddy years, they'll start to show whether they're a bender or not. Hopefully that makes sense.

[monkgyatso]

Yeah it does! thanks!

[avatar schutz]

my question is this.(its probably obvious like alot of the questions on here) how much is the avatar movie going to cover? is it a one time thing that covers the whole series but condenses it, or will there be a second and/or third movie (one for each book?). get back to me whenever. thanks

[#tag]

It'll be a trilogy. So the first movie will be about Book One, the second about Book Two, and the third and final about Book Three.

[scarletcougar]

New edit in the first post to include the new movie release dates ... YAY!!! *throws confetti*

[avatar schutz]

so i know that there will not be a book 4. however I have heard that there is a possibility of a mini-series or something like that. people are very unclear about it. so is there going to be one or not?

[Snake of the South]

so i know that there will not be a book 4. however I have heard that there is a possibility of a mini-series or something like that. people are very unclear about it. so is there going to be one or not?

You must be talking about the minisodes which I just joked about in the live chat not too long ago. Back around Avatar's final months "on-air" (meaning it wasn't all just reruns), there was this scan of a promotional flier for Avatar. It basically outlined all of Nickelodean's business and marketing plans for the franchise. Among the things mentioned in the flier were the live action movie, the 3D MMORPG game (which did indeed come out and was called Legends of the Arena or something like that), and lastly, mini-episodes that were set to air both online and on television in Spring of 2010. However, with barely any mention of them since that flier and the fact that a similar flier that was going around on the internet beforehand had some wrong information, people believe that the mini-episodes will never come. We really don't know for sure if they will be a reality or not as of now. If you were to ask me, if Nick indeed made those minisodes, they won't mention them to the public at least until the second trailer for The Last Airbender hits theaters and they start their TLA marketing campaign in full throttle.

[avatar schutz]

thanks. i didnt hear it off the chat though. i heard it over some other blog sites and stuff. but yeah i guess we just have to wait and see if nick did make them.

[scarletcougar]

so i know that there will not be a book 4. however I have heard that there is a possibility of a mini-series or something like that. people are very unclear about it. so is there going to be one or not?

You must be talking about the minisodes which I just joked about in the live chat not too long ago. Back around Avatar's final months "on-air" (meaning it wasn't all just reruns), there was this scan of a promotional flier for Avatar. It basically outlined all of Nickelodean's business and marketing plans for the franchise. Among the things mentioned in the flier were the live action movie, the 3D MMORPG game (which did indeed come out and was called Legends of the Arena or something like that), and lastly, mini-episodes that were set to air both online and on television in Spring of 2010. However, with barely any mention of them since that flier and the fact that a similar flier that was going around on the internet beforehand had some wrong information, people believe that the mini-episodes will never come. We really don't know for sure if they will be a reality or not as of now. If you were to ask me, if Nick indeed made those minisodes, they won't mention them to the public at least until the second trailer for The Last Airbender hits theaters and they start their TLA marketing campaign in full throttle.

Hey jon,

Can you update some of this great info into the first post?

[Snake of the South]

so i know that there will not be a book 4. however I have heard that there is a possibility of a mini-series or something like that. people are very unclear about it. so is there going to be one or not?

You must be talking about the minisodes which I just joked about in the live chat not too long ago. Back around Avatar's final months "on-air" (meaning it wasn't all just reruns), there was this scan of a promotional flier for Avatar. It basically outlined all of Nickelodean's business and marketing plans for the franchise. Among the things mentioned in the flier were the live action movie, the 3D MMORPG game (which did indeed come out and was called Legends of the Arena or something like that), and lastly, mini-episodes that were set to air both online and on television in Spring of 2010. However, with barely any mention of them since that flier and the fact that a similar flier that was going around on the internet beforehand had some wrong information, people believe that the mini-episodes will never come. We really don't know for sure if they will be a reality or not as of now. If you were to ask me, if Nick indeed made those minisodes, they won't mention them to the public at least until the second trailer for The Last Airbender hits theaters and they start their TLA marketing campaign in full throttle.

Hey jon,

Can you update some of this great info into the first post?

Sure thing.

[avatar schutz]

so after watching the day of black sun i had a thought. If firebenders can't bend during an eclipse, when is it that airbenders and earthbender's cant bend. do they just not have a day when they can't bend?

[i<3zukotaylorlautner]

Hey I know you had a question similar to this but I was wondering.....if Aang is the last airbender what will happen to the avatar cycle? Will it just not include airbenders anymore?

[Snake of the South]

so after watching the day of black sun i had a thought. If firebenders can't bend during an eclipse, when is it that airbenders and earthbender's cant bend. do they just not have a day when they can't bend?

Well all the bending arts have their weaknesses. Firebending and Waterbending are the most blatant ones. Earthbending is useless if you're in a wooden cell or deep at sea. If you think about it, Earthbender's "moon" or "sun" is actually the Earth itself. As for Airbending, although never shown in the show, I'd imagine the times they can't bend are when they're somewhere that has no air at all. You also have to take into account that Airbending is the most spiritual bending of all four arts. If you were an Air Nomad, you were an Airbender. It was just the way their culture was. Thus why Airbenders just don't have a day where their bending goes away. As for Earthbenders, well the Earth itself is as much as a strength as it is a weakness if that makes any sense. It's not that Firebending and Waterbending are the weaker of the two, it's just that Firebenders can blast Fire whenever and Waterbenders, as Hama said, can find Water anywhere, so the ways they can lose their bending balances everything on a grander scale.

Hey I know you had a question similar to this but I was wondering.....if Aang is the last airbender what will happen to the avatar cycle? Will it just not include airbenders anymore?

This is kind of a fun, yet confusing one to explain. Think about this. Aang and Katara are in love right? They'll probably get married and such because they've been through so much and have that special bond the Guru touched upon toward the end of season two. Now, Aang and Katara naturally will get romantic one night and will have kids eventually as a result. Aang's children have the chance to be Airbender, Waterbender, or just a nonbender. Let's say one of his kids is an Airbender. Aang realizes this eventually and teaches his kid the way of Airbending. Eventually that kid grows up, finds a nice wife/husband (pending on the kid's gender), and they have kids and those kids have the chance to be Airbender, whatever bender the spouse is, and nonbender. Let's say one of his kids turns out to be an Airbender. Rinse and repeat basically.

People in Avatar tend to live for a way longer time than we are accustomed to here in our world. So basically, by the time Aang had died and the next three Avatars had died as well and it was Air's turn, potentially there could be dozens to hundreds of people in the world with the Airbending gene. Now, the Air Nomads will never come back, but hypothetically, Airbending could never die. Since the world of Avatar has a strong destiny thing going on, destiny would most likely have it that the situation I explained in the previous paragraph would unfold so that Airbenders would always be around.

Sorry for the 11-ish day-late response. ^_^;

[Juerga_de_Agua]

OKay so after reading this I and DEVASTATED to know there will know be a book 4, but does anyone know WHY there isn't going to be a book 4?
and that bugs me in like and OCD way, why can't you just make and Air book?! it's gona bug me that they just did three of the four! it was/is a REALLY good show!

[Snake of the South]

OKay so after reading this I and DEVASTATED to know there will know be a book 4, but does anyone know WHY there isn't going to be a book 4?
and that bugs me in like and OCD way, why can't you just make and Air book?! it's gona bug me that they just did three of the four! it was/is a REALLY good show!

Everyone yearns for a "Book of Air" whether it be episodes consisting of life before the war and Aang's misadventures during them or the quest to find Zuko's mom. Anyway, simply put, there isn't going to be a book 4 simply because the creators never planned for there to be. They left things open on purpose to make the show keep you guessing and so it would ALWAYS be deep down in your mind.

[Fiction foREVer]

Q: Where's Ursa/What happened to Ursa/Is Ursa dead?

A: What happened to Ursa is this. She plotted with Ozai to make him the Fire Lord instead of Iroh for the safety of Zuko (since Ozai was going to kill him since Fire Lord Azulon told him he must suffer what Iroh suffered). According to Ozai, she did "vicious, treasonous" things that night (implying that she killed Azulon in some manner and then forged some documents or whatever to make it to where Ozai would be crowned instead of Iroh) when Zuko last saw Ursa and as punishment for what she did, she was banished. This was all explained/shown in the episodes "Zuko Alone" from season 2 and "The Day of Black Sun Part Two: The Eclipse" from season 3. As for her where she went after she was banished, there is no answer to that. In the very last episode of the show, Zuko asks Ozai where his mother is, but we don't see the answer. Keeping Ozai's character in mind, he's a very devious man and more than likely does indeed know if Ursa is alive and well or not. But alas, we do not know where Ursa is or if she's even alive.

I know you already talked about Ursa and everything (As I can see from your post which I quoted....*Facepalm*) but I gotta ask...
I know that next year we're getting the Adventures of Korra(That's the name right?) and I must admit, I'm excited but I gotta ask.. I know you said we have no clue what happen to Ursa, but in the new show, will we ever find out if Zuko did in fact find his mom?

[Snake of the South]

I know you already talked about Ursa and everything (As I can see from your post which I quoted....*Facepalm*) but I gotta ask...
I know that next year we're getting the Adventures of Korra(That's the name right?) and I must admit, I'm excited but I gotta ask.. I know you said we have no clue what happen to Ursa, but in the new show, will we ever find out if Zuko did in fact find his mom?

Welp, sorry for yet another late response. Anyway, it's actually "Legend of Korra." As for Ursa, here's some good news that the whole fandom has only received recently. ATLA is not actually over anymore. Mike and Bryan are going to continue the story in the form of a new comic series that shall be published by Dark Horse. It will be set after the season three finale and will follow the Gaang's adventures to try and rebuild a world torn apart from the 100-year war. Will we find out what happened to Ursa? I say the chances of that are pretty good. Perhaps this is the entire reason Mike and the Ursa scene that was story-boarded for the finale pulled at the last minute. You can find more information about the new comic series here.

[altrock17]

i think you should also add that there's no new episode this weekend, haha

[mJacobsensl]

I realize that after korra, the avatar cycle goes Earth then Fire and that can take a couple of hundred years. so if Tenzin is Aang and Kataras son and he is the only Airbender what will that mean when the avatar cycle gets back to the air nomads?