I think we should, at the very least, rethink the whole "every avatar created problems for their successor/their mistakes affect their successor" as a thematic analysis.
I get why it's used but the examples within usually tend to be reductive of the issue (Yangchen&Kuruk), presumptuous with little evidence (Szeto), or relying on ignoring larger problems (Kyoshi and the Dai Li).
Like I get the whole blaming Roku for not killing Sozin, but I feel like it all connects to a larger issue of ignoring the fact that many of these issues are less about the Avatar and more just human conflict/flaw.
The Avatar isn't an "organic" existence, as in, the avatar didn't "naturally evolve" into that position. It was an error Wan made and tried to rectify, then took on as a duty, reincarnating as said duty. The Avatar is not an inherent social leader for humans, they're just culturally constructed that way by their means of power. In the most reductive sense, they're a human merged with a powerful spirit.
Of the Avatars we have met, we know they're expected to handle human and spirit matters, and the world operates with this in mind. It means criminals (on all scales) operate with the Avatar as a known variable. Crime goes up during the first 16 years of an Avatar's life. We saw this with the Earth King who committed a Sage massacre when Roku was a child, the White Lotus facilitating the 'Platinum Affair' when Yangchen was 8, and the literal hell that broke loose when Kuruk died.
These are world leaders, the white lotus, etc up to absolute shenanigans or ignoring bubbling issues in their own nations, they too have a responsibility in managing this. Often, they made things worse lmao. It's the natural tide of life, Avatars aren't omnipotent nor omniscient.
We have no actual proof that the 3 nations suffered during Szeto's era. He was a highly revered Avatar until Kyoshi's era by the 4 nations. What we do know is that the Fire Nation was an absolute disaster and that Szeto spent much of his time there, enough that other nations can comment on it, but unless it's mentioned in the TTRPGs, we don't have any proof that the 3 other nations suffered in his era. The conflict Yangchen faces at 17 is a system that was created after Szeto died, not one born of desperation on the other nations' ends, but opportunity.
Yangchen's deal with the spirits is much of a human problem than it was her own neglect. The problem (as far as we have seen) was that humans ignored the boundaries set by Spirits, were attacked, called Yangchen, then disregarded the boundaries she put in place as a response. She created sacred spaces for air nomads to maintain to keep spirits content, which created difficulties for the human refugees who had to vacate those spaces. So many disregarded the boundary. Or the case of the Saowon clan, who just ignored her. Yes, Yangchen blames herself, but the responsibility can't lie solely on her feet, she can't dictate and control people, she can't erase and create new borders, or force people into other countries. When she sets a boundary, it's also humanity's responsibility to listen. And they consistently did not.
It's honestly weird to see Kuruk used as an example when textually, we're told that his companions did actually handle conflicts just fine when he was alive. The issue was that people used the fact that he was dead to go on their little murder sprees and raids. His companions tried, but Kuruk dying early didn't cause this, this would've happened either way. The structure of the 4 nations made this possible. Nobody was interested in aiding the Southern Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom.....moving on. Corruption is what caused that, mass poverty is what caused that. The 4 nations did have the means to handle this, very often it was just financially beneficial to not.
I mean, 🤧 in all seriousness, no, Kyoshi, the third-party militaristic force was not a good idea in any capacity. Keeping things as Watsonian as possible, in my babygirl's defense, I don't think she was anticipating anyone slaughtering all the Sages she put in place, that could've been a counter-measure against the Dai Li.
In general, I think the framing of the lens doesn't really allow for the exploration of anything, especially not the avatar as a socio-political construct. It's, in essence, a normal person burdened with immense power and responsibility, expected to wield knowledge and strength against world problems. But what happens when world leaders are the problems? Nobles? The fuckass white lotus? We've seen on several occasions the way the Avatar can be/is used as a political tool, how easily they can be groomed and manipulated, they're still human, at the end of the day. We can interpret Kyoshi in her later life as becoming "more spirit-like", until we get more concrete evidence of what her perspective was during those years. Aang and Yangchen show us how culture impacts their decision making and philosophy.
I get the thematic analysis, and I get the intent, but when you have to twist events to make it fit, I feel like the analytical lens just doesn't work. It's grimey to me, to disregard the fact of humanity's hand in this. They're not mindless and they sure as hell weren't powerless, a lot of them were just dicks that made things harder for everyone. And like, the Avatar as a concept in-universe is a step away from torture lmao. It's not to say they weren't flawed, ofc they were. They made plenty of mistakes, but I keep seeing that sentiment and those specific examples and I feel like it does a poor job of actually engaging with what made certain eras the way they were. It's a myriad of shit. I don't think Kyoshi would've made the Dai Li if she knew the earth kingdom had mind control technology 😔 I'm sure she was too busy trying to figure out how to get them to break down those walls in Ba Sing Se without getting "authoritarian" allegations thrown at her.
Anyway, I wrote all of this to say please stop saying Szeto let the other 3 nations just burn to the ground. At least until some new media says he did, it seems generally unlikely given that he's still highly respected outside of the Fire Nation, and the Fire Nation and Water Tribes were still doing well enough to start funding coups.
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