to this day i cannot BELIEVE aang called up and blew off like nine avatars just because they didnt offer any vegan options to ending the war
roku: my best friend assaulted me as a senior citizen :(
kyoshi: sometimes some murder is OK
kuruk: just punch people that disagree with you
aang: okay i’m starting to think that none of you took this avatar thing seriously
You're not wrong
Aang when he is told he’s the Avatar at age 12: *has a melt down because he understands the seriousness of this function and the consequences his new responsibilities will have on his personal life*
other Avatars at age 16: I’m the avatar? Cool! Hey look it comes with a glowing eyes feature!
aang: fuck this noise, i’ll get advice from the last air nomad avatar
yangchen: i gave up that hippie bullshit first chance i got, i love murder
I will never not laugh at the bit where Aang is like "finally, an Air Nomad, you get me, right?" and Yangchen just says "sorry bud, I also vote murder".
A close second on that note is of course the trial of Kyoshi in which she manifests in the courtroom just to say "Actually, I did murder him and I'd do it again. But consider: the bitch had it coming".
#tbh I think there's something to be said for the fact that Aang was 12 when he ran away from home#and how there's more than a bit of evidence that the adult airbenders had a less strict pacifistic approach#Aang was purposefully sheltered by Gyatsu to protect his childhood and so he has the ethics of a child#and when he awoke there were no other air nomads around to sit him down and have The Violence Talk#about how yes we're pacifists and murder is bad but there are exceptions#like Gyatsu was a kindly man of the highest order but uh#he didn't just lay down and die on a pile of skulls he just found#man went out taking like 20 fire nation soldiers with him#Aang: ''I could never kill! Gyatsu taught me to abhor all forms of violence“”#Gyatsu: deals out death to attacking soldiers like he's got a side hustle as a claymore mine
And the fact that he figures out a more technically complex and socially stable way to remove Ozai without making him a martyr just shows that he has a lot more skill at the problem at hand than most the previous ones.
To me, that whole scene was very much the previous avatars saying “when all you have is a hammer” and Aang going “okay, but what can I do with this Swiss Army knife?” and they don’t give very useful advice about it.
Personally I also don't think the prior Avatars were all that helpful, but they weren't all saying murder was okay. Aang's there asking for help with Avatar skills because he'd had so minimal training, maybe there's something in the toolbox he doesn't know how to use yet, but they're all trying to make him comfortable with using the hammer he already has and knows how to use. What they were saying was what they thought he needed to hear, based on what they regretted most from how they'd acted as Avatars, and what they thought was most needed here.
Roku regretted not killing Sozin specifically because it gave him the opportunity to come back and kill him, then the Air Nomads. His lack of decisive action led to a lot of tragedy, and so his advice was to make sure whatever he did, make sure it was permanent, or Ozai would come back.
Kyoshi regretted not moving sooner on the threat of Shin the Conqueror and waiting until he was at the very edge of Kyoshi Peninsula before actually doing anything. She allowed a lot of destruction on the continent because she didn't move fast enough. Her advice is to move swiftly instead of allowing Ozai more time to act.
Kuruk basically did nothing as Avatar by his own admission and basically just said that Aang had to do something, and not to back off of his responsibilities because it was hard.
Yangchen is complicated because, well, she isn't talking about one of her own regrets. She's the one trying to give the 'Violence is sometimes necessary' talk to Aang, because she's the best person to tell him his duties as Avatar have to outweigh his duties as an Airbender. Arguably she is the one telling him to murder Ozai, but personally I read that as more 'you need to do what's right for the world, and I am giving you permission to break our cultural rules to do that. Because I am the only person you can ask for absolution.'
They were all trying to offer him spiritual guidance and support, but Aang wasn't looking for emotional support here, he was looking for solutions. Because he had already decided he wouldn't kill Ozai. No advice or absolution was really going to change that he already knew he wouldn't do it.
#this is a perfect addition#they were trying to be advisors#but aang didn't need guidance at that moment#he needed answers#ironically they all gave guidance that aang had needed and could really have used earlier in his journey#but that he already had learned via his travels#important lessons to be had but not what aang needed in that moment#being swift and decisive to act#and not hesitating or taking half measures#or blowing off duties#these are important lessons to learn for an avatar#and yangchen clearly tried to help aang come to terms#with the dichotomy between being a monk and being the avatar#her words on why he can't separate himself from the world like other monks because of his duty to the world#is actually very important for his future growth i think#but they didn't give him the answers he needed#he knew he needed to stop ozai#but he also knew he couldn't look him in the eye and kill him#aang is actually being really mature in that moment#because he knows he can't face an enemy and kill them#and he's trying to find a path to victory despite that#and he keeps looking for that path#despite all options seeming to say there is none#and his persistence is rewarded when he asks the lion-turtle#who teaches him energybending
This, and also I think it provides the lesson of "the adults/elders in your life/community don't have all the answers for every situation. Sometimes you have to find your own answer, and sometimes the answer can be found with someone else, and it is absolutely okay to keep asking to find the solution to your problem. You're not disrespecting anyone or being arrogant; you know your problem better than anyone, and it is your life and your conscience, and only you can decide what's best for it. If the only advice people have for you is to act in a way that contradicts your own values, it probably is wrong for you, and if these are indeed your deeply-held beliefs, you need to hold on to them and instead try to find a way to confront your problem in a way that does not go against those values. Most of our regrets come from letting ourselves act in ways that contradict our inner system of morality. You have every right to act to avoid moral injury, even if what avoids moral injury for you would be a cause of it in others."
