The World of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ was aired from 2005 -2008 on Nickelodeon for three seasons. The show is about a young boy named Aang who is an Avatar, that is, one who can manipulate all four elements, water, earth, fire, and air. The Avatar has to save the world from the tyranny of the Fire Nation against other parts of the world. Here I will talk about the setting of the show and how it helps the narrative.
The setting is the time and place where the story takes place. Avatar has one of the most interesting settings, from its geography to the ongoing war, there’s a lot to look forward to.
From the outset of the show in the first episode, in the opening sequence, we are made familiar with the setting of the story. The story of Avatar is set in a time of war. It is set in a time where the hundred-year-long war is nearing an end, and the Fire Nation that attacked the peaceful lands is coming close to victory.
The setting of a story describes the time and place the story is set in. Hence, The Last Air Bender’s story starts at the near end of a war, which will result in the colonization of other countries under the Fire Nation. This already gives the viewer an idea that there’s an urgency to win against the Fire Nation and the only one who can stop them is the Avatar.
Not only this, but the opening also tells us that the Avatar had been lost for a hundred years, this helps in the timeline of Sozin’s Comet which becomes an important factor in the show.
The Sozin’s Comet appears once in a hundred years, and the last time it appeared Fire Nation started the war and annihilated the Air Nomads. Similarly, this time after a hundred years Sozin’s Comet will reappear “giving power of a hundred suns” to the fire benders. The setting of the time plays an important role in the narrative as the audience is made well aware of the past and current situation and continues the story with the fact in mind that Sozin’s Comet will soon reappear.
The place show takes place in is an alternate universe where there are benders (those who can manipulate any one element) and humans, there are trees and plants but also the spirit world. The setting of the show allows the viewers to believe in bending as not magic, but an art. As Katara says in the first episode “it’s not magic, it’s water bending” to which Soka snarkily replies “yeah yeah an ancient art unique to our culture blah blah blah”. The existence of bending as art and not magic is only possible due to the setting in which the show is taking place.
There are main four elements in the show, Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. In response to these, the geography of the world is built. In the North and the South pole of the map lies the Nothern Water Tribe and Southern Water Tribe respectively. One can find water benders in these regions. These areas like the Arctic and Antarctic of our world, and are covered completely with snow and there’s always winter in these regions. This allows only for water benders to be able to exist in these conditions, as it makes it easier for them to use snow and other water bodies for their infrastructure and bending becomes much more easier and powerful here. Fire and Earth benders will have a hard time bending here due to lack of sunlight (which fire benders draw their power from) and lack of earth which the earth bender can bend.
While Air nomads have the ability to survive in every region, but due to their elemental nature they are more free-spirited and don’t settle in one place, like the air itself. That is why Air Nomads, as the name suggests built four major temples all over this world where they resided. All air nomads were benders unlike other regions that have people without bending skills, and they could easily travel around these four temples with the help of their flying bison.
Fire Nation is the strongest of all the nations, and that is due to their fire bending skills. They were able to reach industrialization quicker than any other nation, with the help of fire bending. They could easily weld and melt metals and create weapons, and other war-oriented objects that helped them during the hundred-year war. Fire benders also can bend lighting which is another boon to their industrialization. The food in Fire Nation is spicy and hot as one would expect and the temperature is usually hot or humid and it’s mostly summer.
Finally the Earth Kingdom, this is the largest out of all of them covering most of the world map. It makes sense as their element is earth and they cover most of it. Earth kingdom is heavily divided into various parts that include deserts, swamps, hilly mountains, etc. Due to so much diversity in the land, the Earth kingdom has so many people of different cultures and beliefs. With the help of their elemental nature, the people of the Earth Kingdom are strong-headed and persistent.
All of these elemental properties are also seen in the people of that particular place. Even the main characters of the show represent the main characteristics of their elements. The appearances of people, currency, food, politics, seasons all vary in the world of the Avatar. This serves a lot to the story and helps create a richer and more believable world. The story wouldn’t have the same impact if everything was similar in the setting.
There’s a lot more to the look in the world of the Avatar and one could only fully relish in its brilliance when they experience it firsthand. I would highly recommend to watch this amazing show and get lost in its world.
