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I'm not sorry I met you, I'm not sorry it's over
When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.
Stars, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead"
Note: All Spoilers Under Cut.
Avatar is not a series that needs me to recommend it, and I don't think I'm going to sway anyone's opinions no matter how convincing my praise. Nevertheless I feel compelled to talk about the last episode. So many promising series fall down in the end, piling disappointment upon confusion, showing either contempt for the viewer, or a lack of follow-through and insight on the part of the creator.
Not so, for Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Great ideas often have implications that even the creator doesn't realize at first. Some stories are plotted out from the start; some evolve with the telling. But no meaningful story ends well if the creator never took a step back from his work to do the hard work of understanding his own creation.
And trust me, it IS hard work.
In the Case of Azula.
One of my favourite poems is "Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle," by Rumi. The idea that you can judge someone's worth by looking and what he loves is powerful to me. But I think this idea can also work in reverse.... you can also judge a candle by the beauty of the moths it attracts. And in such a case, the "moths" do not have to be lovers. Azula is the moth to both Zuko and Aang, their most persistant and flawless tormentor throughout the series, and she goes after them as arduously as any lover might. Despite being less putatively powerful than her father, and less central to the final battle, she truly is the main villain.
To me, Azula's descent is the end game, the domino that in falling makes the collapse of the empire possible. If Aang had defeated Ozai only to have to face Azula in the end, I do not think things would have turned out so well... because Azula at her height was flawless. A prodigy of battle, who very likely surpassed her own father in both skill and ambition.
I believe that the main reason that Ozai left Azula behind was because he did not trust her. It is clear to me that SHE interpreted it this way, and I think this was the ultimate reason for why she crumbled. To Ozai, Azula was a direct threat to his own power and prestige, and I think he felt that there would always be a stain on his victory if it were to have been gained with the help of his child. He cut her out not for reasons directly related to trust, but rather to insecurity... but the end result was the same. Because in his insecurity, he chose not to take along the sure key to ensuring his victory, and ended up destroying the very legacy of Fire Nation dominion he left for her to protect.
She wasn't someone who was given a lot of angst. The issue with her mother was relatively minor for her while things were going well, and certainly not responsible either for her choice to be a "monster," or her final downfall. This is not to say that I think her mother was a minor influence in her life: her edge of visciousness was sharpened by the belief that she had been hated by her mother, and when she distanced herself from all of the support systems she had built throughout the years, the idea that her mother might be the ONLY one to actually love her was nothing but the cruelest insult.
If Azula had faith in anything besides her own power, it was in the fact that her mother rejected her. To doubt even that was the final unsettling straw.
My feelings for Azula throughout the series were not overly complicated. I was in awe of her. I respected her as a character, and liked her very much as a villain. But through everything, I never felt compelled to relate to her... not even during the beach episode, when everyone was opening their hearts and she was arguably at her most relaxed and honest.
But when she cut her hair, my heart ached for her, not as a character but as a person. It was as if she was real.
Could Aang have defeated her? In this state, yes. But before?
No. No, because she was too clever and too cautious to actually carry out a plan like the raizing of the Earth Kingdom which she proposed to her father. She made the suggestion to her father, in fact, to make sure that HE would be the one to bear the brunt of the Avatar's wrath. Aang could never have attacked her with so much anger and conviction, because she would not knowingly chose to do radical things that would force him to show his hand.
Azula's only flaw, really, was that she had no flaw. None that she saw, anyway. Unlike almost everyone else in the world, she really believed in herself and her choices. For good or for evil, she was committed to following things through to the end, and never took a step without being confident that the earth would rush to hold her up. In yoga terms, she had a "stand." She didn't even have to think about the support that was holding her up: she took for granted that the world existed primarily for this very purpose.
As long as she believed in her stand, she was the immovable object to Aang's irresistable force. At best such a contest would always end in stalemate.
The first sign that the world might not exist primarily for her convenience was when Mai and Ty-Lee turned on her. This shook her, but in and of itself was not sufficient to unsettle her to the point of stumbling. Losing the idea that her father believed in her was what did it. Losing the idea that her mother hated her simply sealed it, because that was an invention of her own delusional mind and had no relation to anything that really happened.
So she cut her hair. And as with Samson, this seemingly inconsequential act broke the spell of belief that she had cast over herself. No longer was she a flawless agent of war.
Suddenly, she was just a girl.
In the Case of Aang
I'm sure there are going to be people who think that Aang's spiritual revelation brought to him courtesy of the sea lion was completely random and therefore a cop out. I can see how it is possible for someone who was not paying enough attention to think this, because the precendent was somewhat subtle. And yet, it was one of the clear revelations of this season that Bending originally was a power that belonged only to ancient lineages of mystical animals, and that the only way to understand the true nature of power was to go to those who originated it. Toph was Aang's only master who was qualified right from the start, and she learned everything she knew from the giant underground moles, who used bending primarily as a way to see. Zuko came to Aang throttled, his skills under tourniquet. It was only when he and Aang together went to see the "ancient masters of firebending" did he learn that firebending originally was taught to humans by the supposedly extinct race of dragons... and that for dragons, fire was breath, and therefore life. His skill was renewed by this encounter, and Aang in turn was able to benefit... both from direct teaching, and in having Zuko finally "finished" for him in terms of being ready to teach.
Aang had two important levels of truth to learn before he was ready to face Ozai. First was through his encounter with the previous Avatars of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Air. But in life, no one can move forward who depends entirely on one vision of the past. By speaking to the sea lion, Aang was able to learn something very very old and turn it into something radically new.
What is given can also be taken away.
This was as true of Ozai's powers as it was of his life... and Aang needed the ruthlessness and resolve that the previous Avatars urged, all of it, because in many ways what he did was far more cruel than outright killing Ozai. And I am sure he was completely aware of this.
He dodged the bullet of being compelled to take a life, but he was NOT able to dodge the responsibility he had to the world. As the last Air Bender advised, he embraced his duty to the world and forsook his desire to pursue a higher spiritual path.
Furthermore, the sea lion represents Water, right? The last lesson comes from the last type of mystical animal, and brings the story full circle. Because we started with the water tribe; fitting for Aang's last truth to come from an animal that represents the most ancient master for the tribe that was responsible for his rebirth.
In the Case of the World
In the end, there was victory, but no balance. Two key points have been left unresolved: one is the fact that the Air Benders of the world need to be restored in order to guarantee the cycle of reincarnation for the Avatars. The other is the fact that Azula, the main villain, remains unredeemed, and yet for the first time has become someone who is potentially redeemable.
So many good and necessary things happened in this 4-episode finale, things that I honestly yearned for. All along there was nothing I wanted more than for Zuko and Iroh to reconcile, and this happened, in a way that was all the more beautiful for being simple and understated. This event alone was enough to ensure that I would feel at least some sense of fulfillment, and I believe this was true for most viewers.
Zuko learned to believe in himself, at last. Katara learned how to forgive. Sokka carried off an ambitious plan with both intelligent tactics and excellent battle skills, and proved his worth as a true warrior of the Water Tribe. Toph... oh Toph. She is so uncomplicated that I can't say that she had any big revelations, except to say that she stands as the true counterpoint to Azula, as someone who has found a stand that is TRULY invincible.
I love Toph so much. She was a master from the start.
Anyway. Although so much happened, with those two major things unresolved, can I really say that this was a good and appropriate ending for Avatar?
Yes. So much, yes.
Because those things? Those are a new story. Not just another chapter, but another book.
Whether they actually are told will be a matter of the marketplace and the appetite of TV executives for continuing a series that they appeared all too willing to kill. But that is not as important as the fact that the writers discharged their duty: they finished this story, while making it clear that the world continues on, and there are more stories to be had.
If we are lucky, perhaps there will be an official followup. But I don't consider it unfortunate to be given a complete story that presents opportunities for the imagination.
A good story has an ending that is both predictable and startling. Everyone knew that the Avatar had to defeat the fire nation, and he did. HOW he did was what made the story of Avatar: The Last Airbender so gripping.
Oh the blood and the treasure--
and the losing it all--
the time that we wasted--
and the place where we fall.
Will we wake in the morning
and know what it was for?
Up in our bedroom, after the war?
Stars, "The Beginning After the End"
Stars, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead"
Note: All Spoilers Under Cut.
Avatar is not a series that needs me to recommend it, and I don't think I'm going to sway anyone's opinions no matter how convincing my praise. Nevertheless I feel compelled to talk about the last episode. So many promising series fall down in the end, piling disappointment upon confusion, showing either contempt for the viewer, or a lack of follow-through and insight on the part of the creator.
Not so, for Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Great ideas often have implications that even the creator doesn't realize at first. Some stories are plotted out from the start; some evolve with the telling. But no meaningful story ends well if the creator never took a step back from his work to do the hard work of understanding his own creation.
And trust me, it IS hard work.
In the Case of Azula.
One of my favourite poems is "Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle," by Rumi. The idea that you can judge someone's worth by looking and what he loves is powerful to me. But I think this idea can also work in reverse.... you can also judge a candle by the beauty of the moths it attracts. And in such a case, the "moths" do not have to be lovers. Azula is the moth to both Zuko and Aang, their most persistant and flawless tormentor throughout the series, and she goes after them as arduously as any lover might. Despite being less putatively powerful than her father, and less central to the final battle, she truly is the main villain.
To me, Azula's descent is the end game, the domino that in falling makes the collapse of the empire possible. If Aang had defeated Ozai only to have to face Azula in the end, I do not think things would have turned out so well... because Azula at her height was flawless. A prodigy of battle, who very likely surpassed her own father in both skill and ambition.
I believe that the main reason that Ozai left Azula behind was because he did not trust her. It is clear to me that SHE interpreted it this way, and I think this was the ultimate reason for why she crumbled. To Ozai, Azula was a direct threat to his own power and prestige, and I think he felt that there would always be a stain on his victory if it were to have been gained with the help of his child. He cut her out not for reasons directly related to trust, but rather to insecurity... but the end result was the same. Because in his insecurity, he chose not to take along the sure key to ensuring his victory, and ended up destroying the very legacy of Fire Nation dominion he left for her to protect.
She wasn't someone who was given a lot of angst. The issue with her mother was relatively minor for her while things were going well, and certainly not responsible either for her choice to be a "monster," or her final downfall. This is not to say that I think her mother was a minor influence in her life: her edge of visciousness was sharpened by the belief that she had been hated by her mother, and when she distanced herself from all of the support systems she had built throughout the years, the idea that her mother might be the ONLY one to actually love her was nothing but the cruelest insult.
If Azula had faith in anything besides her own power, it was in the fact that her mother rejected her. To doubt even that was the final unsettling straw.
My feelings for Azula throughout the series were not overly complicated. I was in awe of her. I respected her as a character, and liked her very much as a villain. But through everything, I never felt compelled to relate to her... not even during the beach episode, when everyone was opening their hearts and she was arguably at her most relaxed and honest.
But when she cut her hair, my heart ached for her, not as a character but as a person. It was as if she was real.
Could Aang have defeated her? In this state, yes. But before?
No. No, because she was too clever and too cautious to actually carry out a plan like the raizing of the Earth Kingdom which she proposed to her father. She made the suggestion to her father, in fact, to make sure that HE would be the one to bear the brunt of the Avatar's wrath. Aang could never have attacked her with so much anger and conviction, because she would not knowingly chose to do radical things that would force him to show his hand.
Azula's only flaw, really, was that she had no flaw. None that she saw, anyway. Unlike almost everyone else in the world, she really believed in herself and her choices. For good or for evil, she was committed to following things through to the end, and never took a step without being confident that the earth would rush to hold her up. In yoga terms, she had a "stand." She didn't even have to think about the support that was holding her up: she took for granted that the world existed primarily for this very purpose.
As long as she believed in her stand, she was the immovable object to Aang's irresistable force. At best such a contest would always end in stalemate.
The first sign that the world might not exist primarily for her convenience was when Mai and Ty-Lee turned on her. This shook her, but in and of itself was not sufficient to unsettle her to the point of stumbling. Losing the idea that her father believed in her was what did it. Losing the idea that her mother hated her simply sealed it, because that was an invention of her own delusional mind and had no relation to anything that really happened.
So she cut her hair. And as with Samson, this seemingly inconsequential act broke the spell of belief that she had cast over herself. No longer was she a flawless agent of war.
Suddenly, she was just a girl.
In the Case of Aang
I'm sure there are going to be people who think that Aang's spiritual revelation brought to him courtesy of the sea lion was completely random and therefore a cop out. I can see how it is possible for someone who was not paying enough attention to think this, because the precendent was somewhat subtle. And yet, it was one of the clear revelations of this season that Bending originally was a power that belonged only to ancient lineages of mystical animals, and that the only way to understand the true nature of power was to go to those who originated it. Toph was Aang's only master who was qualified right from the start, and she learned everything she knew from the giant underground moles, who used bending primarily as a way to see. Zuko came to Aang throttled, his skills under tourniquet. It was only when he and Aang together went to see the "ancient masters of firebending" did he learn that firebending originally was taught to humans by the supposedly extinct race of dragons... and that for dragons, fire was breath, and therefore life. His skill was renewed by this encounter, and Aang in turn was able to benefit... both from direct teaching, and in having Zuko finally "finished" for him in terms of being ready to teach.
Aang had two important levels of truth to learn before he was ready to face Ozai. First was through his encounter with the previous Avatars of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Air. But in life, no one can move forward who depends entirely on one vision of the past. By speaking to the sea lion, Aang was able to learn something very very old and turn it into something radically new.
What is given can also be taken away.
This was as true of Ozai's powers as it was of his life... and Aang needed the ruthlessness and resolve that the previous Avatars urged, all of it, because in many ways what he did was far more cruel than outright killing Ozai. And I am sure he was completely aware of this.
He dodged the bullet of being compelled to take a life, but he was NOT able to dodge the responsibility he had to the world. As the last Air Bender advised, he embraced his duty to the world and forsook his desire to pursue a higher spiritual path.
Furthermore, the sea lion represents Water, right? The last lesson comes from the last type of mystical animal, and brings the story full circle. Because we started with the water tribe; fitting for Aang's last truth to come from an animal that represents the most ancient master for the tribe that was responsible for his rebirth.
In the Case of the World
In the end, there was victory, but no balance. Two key points have been left unresolved: one is the fact that the Air Benders of the world need to be restored in order to guarantee the cycle of reincarnation for the Avatars. The other is the fact that Azula, the main villain, remains unredeemed, and yet for the first time has become someone who is potentially redeemable.
So many good and necessary things happened in this 4-episode finale, things that I honestly yearned for. All along there was nothing I wanted more than for Zuko and Iroh to reconcile, and this happened, in a way that was all the more beautiful for being simple and understated. This event alone was enough to ensure that I would feel at least some sense of fulfillment, and I believe this was true for most viewers.
Zuko learned to believe in himself, at last. Katara learned how to forgive. Sokka carried off an ambitious plan with both intelligent tactics and excellent battle skills, and proved his worth as a true warrior of the Water Tribe. Toph... oh Toph. She is so uncomplicated that I can't say that she had any big revelations, except to say that she stands as the true counterpoint to Azula, as someone who has found a stand that is TRULY invincible.
I love Toph so much. She was a master from the start.
Anyway. Although so much happened, with those two major things unresolved, can I really say that this was a good and appropriate ending for Avatar?
Yes. So much, yes.
Because those things? Those are a new story. Not just another chapter, but another book.
Whether they actually are told will be a matter of the marketplace and the appetite of TV executives for continuing a series that they appeared all too willing to kill. But that is not as important as the fact that the writers discharged their duty: they finished this story, while making it clear that the world continues on, and there are more stories to be had.
If we are lucky, perhaps there will be an official followup. But I don't consider it unfortunate to be given a complete story that presents opportunities for the imagination.
A good story has an ending that is both predictable and startling. Everyone knew that the Avatar had to defeat the fire nation, and he did. HOW he did was what made the story of Avatar: The Last Airbender so gripping.
Oh the blood and the treasure--
and the losing it all--
the time that we wasted--
and the place where we fall.
Will we wake in the morning
and know what it was for?
Up in our bedroom, after the war?
Stars, "The Beginning After the End"
Re: *MAKES INANELY OBVIOUS PHILISOPHICAL OBSERVATION*