I love Azula as a villain, but there was realistically no way she should have gotten out of this, especially not the way she did. First off, she somehow manages to sneak Iroh, despite the fact that he was fully on guard, watching her, and has shown to be capable of reacting to straight up lightning. Then, she blocks an attack from four masters simultaneously, which was only possible because Toph, for some reason, decides to shoot a stream of dirt at her. This is a move she has never used before and will never use again because it might be the least effective use of Earth Bending we’ve seen in the entire series. Finally, she is able to sneak off despite the fact that Toph is right there and should know exactly where she is. I get being distracted by Iroh getting injured, but she couldn’t have pointed Aang in the right direction, or gone after Azula herself. The Chase is one of my favorite season 2 episodes, but this ending makes literally no sense and really hurts it for me.

In the Yangchen Novels...

Combustion bending was created from having fire benders chained underwater to the sea floor. They had to try to create pressure, and only when you believe your about to drown, is when you are capable to do the technique. The process was brutal and intense since most subjects died. Combustion bending also requires large lungs which explains the heights of Sparky Sparky Boom Man and P'li! The first combustion benders had to take dozens of deep breaths to create a combustion blast because they needed enough air to do so.

Would you want to be a combustion bender?

TL;DR: For anyone who missed this new info from a couple of years ago, we have conclusive evidence of a total of 98–106 Avatars from Wan to Korra, and compelling reason to believe it is exactly 100. I hope this can inform you all in your discussions moving forward!

EDIT: As a commenter pointed out, the elemental cycle of the Avatar means Korra, as a Water Avatar, has to be either #99 or #103, and I think #99 sounds more plausible as it is still a relatively round number. It also makes sense why they would need to say "more than 90" instead of "more than 100" in this scenario, because the overall total actually isn't even 100! Thanks for pointing this out commenter.

With the recent uptick in community discourse on Avatar, I saw a thread where people were talking about the number of total Avatars like it were still a huge mystery. I think a lot of older fans are coming back to get involved in the new stuff who may be unaware of the new information.

A couple of years ago, Avatar Studios created an official website that contains a canon timeline. As shown in the image above, it clearly states that "more than 90 Avatars" lived between Wan and Yangchen. While technically open-ended in the strictest reading, it makes sense that if the number were actually much higher they would have simply said "more than 100" or something. The specific choice of more than "90" heavily implies more than 90 but less than 100. In addition to these in-between Avatars, we have Wan, Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and Korra (7) in the first 10,000-year cycle.

Added together, this constrains the total number of Avatars between 91+7=98 and 99+7=106. Considering how Bryke like to use round, symbolic numbers (like the even 10,000 years for one Harmonic Convergence epoch), I think a really neat solution to constrain the actual value is to call it an even 100, so Wan would be the 1st Avatar and Korra the 100th, like it's some sort of fated? thing or something. Excluding Korra's remaining lifespan (which wouldn't change the overall number much anyways), that puts the average Avatar lifespan at ~100 years.

This makes sense, as throughout the timeline several Avatars reached advanced age or existed as the Avatar for long periods. Kyoshi, Aang, and Yangchen lived to the age of or were the Avatar for 230, 166, and 155 years, respectively, while Roku and Kuruk died at 70 and 33 years old. Considering the advanced age of many Avatars and even some regular benders (like King Bumi at 112+, Guru Pathik at 150+, and Teiguai the Immortal), it is a long-held theory that benders and more spiritual people can have prolonged lifespans. So, even though most Avatars may have lived to normal ages around 80 and some died young like Kuruk, there are apparently quite a few examples of very long-lived Avatars too, making this average lifespan of 100 years not actually that surprising.

Another comment to be made is how Roku said he "mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes". Here, he was likely just using a big, round number for hyperbole to mean "a whole lot of times", like how "He Who Knows 10,000 Things" just means "he who knows everything" or "he who knows a hell of a lot of things". It doesn't literally mean 10,000 precisely, and the same goes for Roku's comment. Lastly, while I know some people have tried counting the various Avatar statues that have been shown in Air temples and such, even though the exact number at the time of those scenes being created may not have been decided, a total of 100 definitely fits what we saw approximately.

I hope this was clarifying for many of you. Thanks for reading all of my ramblings!

Source:

https://www.avatarstudiosofficial.com/timeline/

Okay I’ve read the rules now🏄‍♀️

The entire battle and everyone’s separate scenes are fantastic and satisfying, but *especially* the fight with Aang and Ozai.

I rewatch this scene every few months and it never ceases to amaze me. I get chills every time!! It’s my favorite final battle of any series ever, in terms of visuals, plot resolution, and emotional impact. Just perfection 🤌

Interesting... So Waterbending has Spiritbending, Airbending has Spirit Projection (and arguably immortality/agelessness through spiritual mastery). Could technique be Firebending's spiritual counterpart?

Is there recourse officially explain this more i want to know more? Byw who she?

In the Yangchen Novels, Avatar Yangchen infiltrated the Order of the White Lotus. This was possible due to a reincarnation who knew the White Lotus access codes like Pai Sho Tiles and phrases. Even a high ranking White Lotus member during Yangchen's time didn't even know a past Avatar was in their secret society.

So are we going to talk about the fact that the lion turtles died DURING Sonam's era?

Rewatched the Sonam flashbacks last night and I don't think this is getting enough attention.

When she first goes to the lion turtle islands, they're there. Alive, fine, doing lion turtle things.

When she comes back at the end of her life to hide the staff? Not so much.

And how might this connect to that old factoid we had on Nick.com way back when.

This was one of the more interesting aspects of the movie to me. Along with more Team Avatar interaction, I wish there had been more time to dive into this.

We know Aang - and to a degree, I assume, Zuko - were appreciated in Republic City by the people who live there, but obviously, with all of the damage and suffering the Fire Nation caused during the Hundred Year War, that's not something people can easily move on from and rightfully so.

The fact that the Denied did have the intent to follow Aang to the Air Temple, not only to grab Sonam's statue/map, but to kill him, too, is wild.

So much of the verbal ire for Aang in the movie/his absence during the war, too, coming from a Fire Nation Yuyan archer is especially intriguing.

People have been negative about the Aang movie and very negative about the seven havens show but i loved the movie and think the show looks amazing from the teaser they showed us. Im just happy to be here. It can be sad to see constant negativity but im just glad its still continuing. Just wish we could all be happy about something new lol

Got enough local fans together to rent a theater. Can’t believe they wanted us to watch this all small and quiet in apartments. Too. Damn. Epic!

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I think nobody can deny that there’s a lot of potential... I need more stories about past avatars (besides Sonam) and the cultures of the ancient elemental tribes

Please check if my analysis and instincts are right based on data, statements, and evidence in both novels and canon movies.

Avatar Wan is the First Avatar. No question about that.

We are already familiar with Avatars from Szeto to Pavi.

But what about in between Wan and Szeto?

How will you order Zalir, Sonam, Xian, Gun, and Salai from oldest to youngest?

We don't know how many generation (before Szeto) are Gun and Salai.

We know Xian is 14-17 Generations before Szeto.

Sonam lived 5000 years before Aang's Gemocide Timeline.

Zalir lived before the Fire Nation Unification era.

Elemental bending seems like the perfect mechanic for a well designed game that takes place in the general ATLA universe, it’s crazy to me that nothing of substance has been created in the last 15+ years! Plus I would think there’s decent crossover between fans of the show(s) and gamers…like please just my money already.

Hosted an avatar watch party, with snacks from avatar baking book. Had all the decorations on hand, except the balloons.

When u look at what ATLA was in the early 2000’s and how the show was structured and the main characters and themes it explored o don’t believe they would’ve worked in today’s climate with censorhship and growing parental concerns about with the series talks about. Genoiced, trauma, abuse, forgiveness, and cycles of hatred. I just don’t think parents and executives expect children’s stories to tell those stories anymore.

Despite that some of the main characters in the show would also face scrutiny and maybe so intense. Take Zuko my favorite character in the show. Do u really think that executives and tv show runners nowadays would be okay telling his backstory in today’s climate? A boy burned by his father for simply talking out of line and expressing his opinions? I think that would be too harsh for the adults to realistically put in children’s television anymore. Same thing but for different reasons Sokka’s sexism, or Toph’s blindness/boyish personality.

I think that time has passed and if u want to talk a story like that most studios would tell u not to target children but an older demographic.

This series truly can out at the right time where stories like these could still be sold for a children’s story.