>>2814>>2816>consistent aspect of his characterTrue, but again, some things need a little more fleshing out for this to work. ATLA repeatedly points out that Spirits & other parts of the world of Avatar are not just magic, they are puzzles, with certain limits & rules. Aang didn't stop Hei Bai by just saying
"stop, I'm the Avatar, bridge to the Spirit World" He had an entire adventure exploring and understanding the spirit while also finding a clue as to how to contact Roku.
Moreover I would say that while this third position IS consistent and admirable, simultaneously it has its own issue of being very pacifistic. As the Roman proverb goes,
Si vis pacem, para bellum - "If you want peace, prepare for war". In some ways Aangs need to either kill or incapacitate the Fire Lord was a final test of his resolve to help the world. If he did not he would damn it to more war & suffering, thus it would be his burden to bear - the taking of a life in return for peace, because most things worth fighting for do not come without a price and consequences. The third position was an interesting aspect in terms of "forging your own path" but simultaneously it also
- Roku: Be decisive, because when I was not, my best friend killed your entire ethnicity and embroiled the world in 100 years of war
- Kyoshi: Only justice will bring peace, because some people only respond to hard action
- Koruk: You must actively shape your own destiny and the destiny of the world
- Yang Chen: The Avatar can never be fully detached because he has his duty to the world
4 Avatars of different times, ethnicities & experiences essentially implied that he must make the hard decision and thus mature fully as the Avatar. Hell part of the episodes prior was a Baby picture of Ozai where Zuko firmly states that the happy little child wold grow up to be a monster, and his innocence then cannot influence the decisions in the now. From the start of the series it has been implied that to stop the Fire Lord Aang would have to fight him and likely kill him considering his unashamed fascism. This isn't even a Darth Vader situation, where Aang is somehow related to him, and can find a small spark of good in the villain's black heart, because really the true villain was the Emperor/Fire Lord.
Additionally the story provided a way out for Aang with the Solar Eclipse taking away Fire-Bending, so they form a grand invasion plan around this. They fail. They don't take out Ozai before the comet, forcing them to face him during the comet. This means that Aang has to do the one thing he dreaded from the beginning. Killing someone.
This isn't petty,
"Yeah be the cool guy and kill the villain!" action hero crap. It's a serious, realistic choice to be made; you can't always win completely. If Aang had killed Ozai, it would have shown that the Avatar’s debt is really a heavy burden: Sometimes you have to sacrifice your principles for the salvation of the world and loved ones. By rejecting this Aang is special, sure… but it smacks of american
"Everything is fine in the end" story telling, which undercuts the grittiness of much of the prior story. Like, imagine when after Toph implied that Jet was dying, he appears a few episodes later in perfect health; fuck that. Hell in the comics they even undercut this with the New Ozai Society, who cause mayhem in the name of the still living and influential Ozai. Its a similar problem as to why the Ural Soviet decided to execute the Czar and his family.
>Inb4 defeat =/= killIf you pay very close attention to their choice of words throughout the show, you notice that they try to refrain from using “kill” or “murder”. Those words are too vulgar for a kids show (atleast back then). They always substitute it with something else. Ex.
1) “We don’t even know if Bumi’s still around” Sokka to Aang talking about Bumi instead of “we don’t even know if Bumi is alive”
2) “I’m about to celebrate becoming an only child!”Azula to Zuko instead of “I’m about to kill you”
3) Jet’s whole death scene which was made to be ambiguous although we knew he would die thanks to Toph
4) “And you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there, permanently.” Katara to Zuko instead of
“And you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I'll murder you right then and there”5) “I did a bad thing. I know I did, and you deserve revenge. So why don't you take my mother? That would be fair.” Yon Rha to Katara instead of “So why don’t you kill my mother also”
6) “You will know the pain of losing a firstborn son." Azulon to Ozai instead of “you must kill your firstborn too”
7) “I'm sparing you, Sozin. I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship. But I warn you. Even a single step out of line will result in your permanent end.” Roku to Sozin Instead of “even a single step out of line and I’ll murder you”.
So as you can see, they won’t outright say, “you have to kill/murder him”.