Avatar: The Last Airbender is a light-hearted series that magically speaks to the inner depths of your soul as you travel with Aang and Team Avatar to fight the Fire Nation (*insert dramatic doomsday music*). It is a cultivation of imagination, research and passion that has surprisingly teaches audiences of all ages universal lessons that we should keep in heart.

Here are a few of the lessons I learnt from Avatar that gives reason as to why I love this fictional world so much.

1. I'm f@*king awesome. 

My baby Sokka <3 <3

Look at this fool.

Ideas constantly being put down, living in a world where benders are the fighters and non-benders barely amount to much... This dude, among several other minor characters, is an inspiration to all.

As kids, and even adults, we all wanted to be blessed with divine talent and to be the cool kid, the one who could do anything. In reality, not everyone is born with the same talents and let's face it - some talents are better than others (or, as society seems to think).

Sokka is that think-he-knows-it-all, goofy non-bender that no one takes seriously. And yet, despite the shit that gets tossed at him and being the butt of bending jokes (lol), he is able to pick himself up and become a pivotal part of Team Avatar as a navigation and strategic dude, sword-master, inventor and yada yada. He helped invent the f*cking hot air balloon in the Avatar-verse and made a sword out of "space earth" and united everyone with his humour and goofiness.

So it goes to show that just because you weren't born with the same gifts as everyone else, it doesn't mean you're nothing,

And you know, if you examine every character properly and track their development throughout all three books, you will see how individuality is so important.

2. If it's meant to be, it's up to me

Take destiny by the horns, give it a little spin and toss it in the paddock with the greenest grass. I totally made up this idiom but seriously, Avatar teaches you to pursue what you love, what you want, and what you need because otherwise, what's the point of living?

And sometimes it doesn't work out and that's okay.

Key episode: The Fortuneteller (S01E14)

Aang knows what he's supposed to do. He has to defeat the Fire Lord before he takes over the world for good. He's in this giant battle of good and evil. But what does little 12-year-old Aang wonder about? Love.

The fortuneteller sees no love in his giant destiny, but she basically tells him its one thing to follow your destiny, but its another thing to create your own. And if our boy hadn't listened to these wise words, he definitely would not have won over the love of his life and have three babies.

[I would also like to fangirl about this episode because Katara is so happy on learning that her true love is "a powerful bender" and when little patootie Aang extinguishes mounds of lava before it can reach the village and Sokka just gasps in awe and says "Sometimes I forget that kid's a powerful bender" she's like "Wait... A powerful bender?" as if finally she's considering Aang in that light. Foreshadowing is on point y'all. Then it cuts to their point of view as they watch Aang's back and the brilliant burning haze post-volcanic eruption as the world shifts around Aang and he stands there between it all, because he is the Avatar and this is the world he is born to protect and oh, I think I died at that point.]

Even in the final episodes before the giant battle where he's destined to kill the Fire Lord (totally out of his moral values but whatever) he cannot. Even when he's practicing for the kill.



SEE? He can't even defeat the Melon Lord. Yet he does it, in his own way,  by finding a loophole and in a destiny he creates for himself without sacrifice of who he is.

*happily sighs*

3. It's never too late

omg (cackles maniacally)

This ties in with Lesson #1 and #2. Nevertheless, Zuko's redemption arc is one of the most powerful and moving plots I've ever witnessed. Spanning over the series' whole course, we watch him transform from evil, moody ponytail Prince Zuko to good (hot-af, would totally marry) good-hairstyle Emperor Zuko.

I think this is the first show I've watched that introduced a complex villain. It would have been so easy to make him the 2D detestable character to hate for all our childhoods but NOOOOO.

His story is so heart wrenching, so painful that it stands out the most to me when watching Avatar.

Proper and fascinating extra reading material here: http://www.screwattack.com/news/whitly-analyzes-fire-wthin-zuko-firebender

Toph expressing her love for Zuko is the cutest thing ever FML THEYRE SO CUTE AND THAT TIME SHE HUGGED HIS ARM LIKE "IM GOING WITH ZUKO ON A LIFE CHANGING ADVENTURE NOW K BYE" AND HE JUST BLUSHED LIKE "OHGODNO HUMAN CONTACT AND AFFECTION FROM A NOT-AFFECTIONATE LITTLE MONSTER" OMG THEY MAKE EACH OTHER MUSHY ITS SO CUTE THEY"RE THE SWEETEST SET OF FRIENDS I SWEAR

I cannot say much about his lest I want to go on for another 1000 words, but Zuko was a good guy drenched in pure evil and malice and anger at first. He's a guy torn in two directions:

1. To become part of the Fire Nation again and regain his 'honour' so he can look out for his nation's best interests - achieved by capturing the Avatar and being, well, bad. 
2. Let his sense of justice prevail and be the good guy that he is. And trust me, the good guys were always doubtful that he would ever help them and kept pushing him away (for good reason) but ahh... Look at Team Avatar now :') 

P.S. The first picture makes me shed tears.