Avatar: The Last Airbender

TV Show
STUDIOParamount
RELEASED2005

The world is divided into four elemental nations: The Northern and Southern Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. The Avatar upholds the balance between the nations, but everything changed when the Fire Nation invaded. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, can stop them. But when the world needs him most, he vanishes. A hundred years later Katara and Sokka discover the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. Together they must help Aang master the elements and save the world.

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Avatar: The Last AirbenderSource

A Goodbye Hidden Inside a Filler Episode

In 'The Tales of Ba Sing Se,' Iroh spends the whole episode quietly helping strangers before we find out why: it's his son Lu Ten's birthday, and Lu Ten died taking the city years earlier. Iroh sings 'Leaves From the Vine' through tears, and the segment closes on a dedication to Mako, who died just before the episode aired. It's considered by a lot of fans to be the saddest moment in the whole show.

Avatar: The Last AirbenderSource

One Guy Choreographed Every Fight

Martial arts consultant Sifu Kisu worked on all 61 episodes of the original series. He'd physically act out each fight so the animators had real reference footage to draw from, which is a big part of why the bending choreography still holds up so well.

Avatar: The Last AirbenderSource

Iroh Lied to Save the Species

For years, everyone in the Fire Nation believed Iroh when he claimed to have killed the last dragon, a story that made him a war hero. It turns out he made the whole thing up to protect Ran and Shaw, the two remaining dragons hidden away by the Sun Warriors, letting the world think the species was extinct.

Avatar: The Last AirbenderSource

The Score Uses Instruments You've Probably Never Heard

Composers Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn deliberately avoided the usual animation-composer playbook, instead learning to work with instruments like the guzheng, the pipa, and the duduk to match the show's Asian-inspired world. That's a big reason the soundtrack sounds nothing like a typical 2000s Nickelodeon show.

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