"The Avatar must be compassionate towards all people, and the only way to do that is to live with them. The Avatar must experience sadness, anger, joy, and happiness. By feeling all these emotions, it helps you understand how precious human life is, so you will do anything to protect it."
— Avatar Yangchen to Avatar Aang in Escape from the Spirit World.
The Avatar is the spirit of the planet incarnated in human form and thus, the only physical being with the ability to learn all four bending disciplines. It is considered the Avatar's duty to master the four elements and use such power to keep balance among the four nations of the world. With the death of the Avatar, the spirit is reborn into the following nation, dictated by the cyclic order; water, earth, fire, air. Coincidentally, the cycle of reincarnation corresponds to the cycle of the seasons; each of which is affiliated with a particular nation and element; water and winter, earth and spring, fire and summer, air and autumn. The cycle is also the traditional order in which any one Avatar is to master the elements, beginning at whichever element they were born into. The cycle can only be broken if the Avatar dies while using the Avatar State.The Avatar possesses an innate connection to the Spirit World and uses it as a bridge by which to reconcile the two worlds and ensure harmony. The Avatar is also capable of using this ability to contact the spirits of previous Avatars and harness their combined energy to perform feats of bending beyond that of any other bender. Throughout the ages, countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to maintain harmony in the world. Each nation has a method of recognizing the new Avatar. Among theAir Nomads, this involved presenting all infants with a selection of toys to play with and watching for a child that selected four specific toys that had belonged to past Avatars, called the four Avatar relics. Traditionally, the child is told of his identity as the Avatar on his sixteenth birthday. However, Avatar Aang was told much earlier than this because of Fire Nation aggression, and Korra was discovered as the Avatar when she was still a little girl when she was seen bending three elements without formal training. Avatars also possess the ability to bend energy, though very few Avatars have learned this technique, and even fewer have used it. Avatar Aang learned this technique from a lion turtle and used it to remove Phoenix King Ozai's firebending, thereby ending the Hundred Year War. Korra was also taught this ability after being able to contact Aang when she lost her bending. Aang used this ability to restore her bending and she likewise did the same for Lin Beifong. When the Avatar masters control of the Avatar State, they are commonly said to be a 'Fully Realized Avatar'. However, it has not yet been confirmed whether mastery of the four elements, namely water, earth, fire and air, is required for this status as well. |
Known Avatars
The known Avatars in the order of current to oldest are: |
Simultaneous Bending
Avatar Roku bending all four elements at once.The Avatar is capable of bending more than one element at the same time. Avatar Aang first demonstrated this ability while in Ba Sing Se when he used his earthbending to recreate a zoo while traveling on the air scooter made by his airbending.
During the battle with Ozai, Aang used all four elements while in the Avatar State to make himself nearly invincible and used the elements in a highly destructive attack. This consisted of him first bending air into a spherical shield around himself like he normally does while in the Avatar State, but then using firebending to create flames and then compressing the flames into a ring around the air shield. Next, Aang broke incredibly large chunks of earth using earthbending and compressed these boulders into small rocks and suspended them lined up in a ring encircling him. Finally, he used waterbending and compressed water into the final ring around him. The compression of the elements provided Aang with materials for bending all four elements without sacrificing too much size and speed, thus making this an extremely dangerous attack both defensively and offensively.
Avatar Manifestation
A previous incarnation of the Avatar can manifest themself through the current Avatar. There are two ways to do this.
Full manifestation
Full manifestation is when an Avatar manifests their body into another Avatar's. It can happen by force of another Avatar, or by the current Avatar calling upon another Avatar. This Avatar has their own powers, and the Avatar they are manifesting through is no longer visible.
Partial manifestation
This type of manifestation allows an Avatar to call another Avatar's spirit out of their body for communication purposes, revealing an apparition of the previous incarnation being called for.
Avatar State
"The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars. The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body. In the Avatar State, you are at your most powerful, but you are also at your most vulnerable. If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist."―Roku to Aang in "The Avatar State".
The strongest and most powerful ability that an Avatar can invoke is the Avatar State. It allows the Avatar to channel vast cosmic energies and the knowledge of previous Avatars, enabling them to perform especially powerful and amazing bending feats. The Avatar may unconsciously enter the state in response to perception of mortal danger, utilizing the state as a defense mechanism, or emotional distress. While in the state, the Avatar has access to bending techniques they themselves may not have yet learnt, but have no conscious control over their actions and can cause great collateral damage. An Avatar with full mastery of the Avatar State has conscious control over the state and can enter and exit it at will. For an Avatar with complete mastery, their eyes will glow momentarily, not continuously. It was by entering the Avatar State reflexively that Aang was able to freeze himself and Appa inside an iceberg for a hundred years by using a combination of airbending and waterbending. He did not physically age at all during the century, as he was in suspended animation, but it would take a great physical toll on his body to be in the Avatar State for such an extended period of time.
While in the Avatar State, the Avatar's eyes glow, as do any markings following chi paths along the body, such as Air Nomad tattoos; however, if the body has received an injury deeper than the tattoos, then that specific area will not glow in the state. The glow is the combination of all the Avatar's past lives, focusing their energy through a single body. When Aang spoke in the Avatar State, his voice encompassed a combination of several different voices at once.
Roku in the Avatar State.It is possible for an Avatar to control the Avatar State, as Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and the unnamed Fire Nation Avatar have demonstrated in numerous flashbacks, but this requires great spiritual discipline and concentration. Guru Pathik attempted to teach Aang to control the Avatar State by helping him clear his chakras, but Aang could not let go of Katara in exchange for cosmic power, and Fire Sage Kaja informed Roku to clear his mind, but Roku found emptying his mind of thoughts to be quite challenging and was initially unable to do so. More often, the Avatar State is activated by danger or emotional turmoil. Aang inadvertently entered the Avatar State when he discovered that his friend and teacher, Monk Gyatso, was killed by Fire Nation soldiers. Aang entered the Avatar State when General Fong placed Katara in danger by sinking her into the ground with earthbending. When an Avatar is in complete control of the Avatar State, their eyes glow momentarily, not continuously.
It is possible for an Avatar to channel a specific previous incarnation while in the Avatar State. When this happens, the Avatar briefly takes on the appearance and voice of that previous incarnation. Aang did this on several occasions, channeling Roku twice, and Kyoshi once. The appearance of these incarnations seems to vary as Roku always appeared as an old man while all the other Avatar incarnations appeared youthful and in their prime. It is unlikely the age of the Avatar's death is the deciding factor in their appearance since Avatar Kyoshi lived for 230 years and would not have kept a young appearance at that time. It is possible that those in the Spirit World manifest visually as they see themselves and not as they currently are. Aang sees himself garbed in Air Nomad attire and with a shaved head within the Spirit World, even when he was wearing different clothes in the physical world and had hair.
It appears that the Avatar State is capable of nullifying the effects of bloodbending, as shown when Aang dispels Yakone's bloodbending and then proceeds to strip him of his waterbending.
Ways the Avatar State works
There seems to be two distinct ways to how the Avatar State works:
Continuous
When the State works continuously, the Avatar's eyes, and tattoos in the case of an Air Nomad Avatar, glow white constantly, and the spirits of the past Avatars actively channel their energy, skills, and knowledge through the body of the current Avatar, granting him or her great amounts of strength and power.
The State has been seen to work this way almost exclusively as instinctive unconscious reaction, as the 'defense mechanism' Roku described the State as, when an Avatar is confronted with a threat beyond that they can deal with, or when their emotions, specifically rage and sorrow, reach a breaking point. So it may perhaps be more accurate to describe the State being used this way as 'reflexively' rather than 'continuously'. When the State is triggered this way the combined spirits of the past Avatars seem to take control of the Avatar's body and voice, thus the current Avatar has little to no control over the performed actions and may retain little to no memory of what happened, though this is not always the case.
Aang appeared to use the State this way against Fire Lord Ozai after the scar on his back was forced against a rock unlocking his final chakra. Just as Guru Pathik had said, this event led to Aang being able to control the State himself, and unlike previous times where he entered the State, he was not physically exhausted.
Non-continuous
When the State is used non-continuously, the Avatar's eyes, and tattoos in the case of an Air Nomad Avatar, glow only for a second, and during that time the current Avatar stores the knowledge and energy needed so that it can be released once exiting the State, taking only the power needed for a specific task. This reduces the danger of being killed in the Avatar State and enables a more willful, controlled use of the Avatar State's power. This can only be done by an Avatar who has mastered the State as it is a conscious use rather than an instinctual response. Mastery of this technique is part of what distinguishes an Avatar as "fully realized".
Spiritual link-up
The Avatar State also allows an Avatar to join with certain spirits. This was demonstrated when Aang entered the Avatar State in order to aid the frantic Ocean Spirit. Both Aang in his Avatar State and the Ocean Spirit combined their abilities to defend the Northern Water Tribe after all waterbenders were rendered defenseless. All Avatars can make these contacts by spiritually calling to different spirits.
Weakness
While the Avatar is all but invincible in the Avatar State, having millions of bending experiences, there is one grave weakness - while in effect, every Avatar, or the entirety of the earth's spirit, is present in the physical world while the current Avatar is in the Avatar State. If the Avatar were to be killed while in the Avatar State, every Avatar would die with them. This would break the cycle permanently and the Avatar would cease to exist.
Aang almost bringing about the end of the Avatar Spirit.Aang was fatally wounded by a lightning strike from Azula while entering the Avatar State. As a result, his connection with the Avatar Spirit was jeopardized, resulting in the Avatar Spirit's fall from the plane of existence. Fortunately, Katara was able to use the Spirit Water she received from Pakku to heal Aang, reviving Aang and consequently the Avatar Spirit. The strain of the revival caused Aang to slip into a coma for several weeks, and during that time, he managed to secure his connection to the Avatar State by meeting with the four Avatar incarnations before him. However, it took longer for his connection to his past lives to be completely restored.
Another downside to the Avatar State is the considerable mental strain it can cause to less experienced Avatars. Prior to his tutelage under Guru Pathik, Aang would often leave the Avatar State feeling horrified at what he had done under its influence. Furthermore, use of the state, at least in extraordinary circumstances, can place such a large physical strain on an Avatar's body such that their life span can be affected; thus, Aang's one hundred-year time in the iceberg contributed greatly to his eventual death at sixty-six years of age biologically, and 166 years chronologically.
Avatar Roku bending all four elements at once.The Avatar is capable of bending more than one element at the same time. Avatar Aang first demonstrated this ability while in Ba Sing Se when he used his earthbending to recreate a zoo while traveling on the air scooter made by his airbending.
During the battle with Ozai, Aang used all four elements while in the Avatar State to make himself nearly invincible and used the elements in a highly destructive attack. This consisted of him first bending air into a spherical shield around himself like he normally does while in the Avatar State, but then using firebending to create flames and then compressing the flames into a ring around the air shield. Next, Aang broke incredibly large chunks of earth using earthbending and compressed these boulders into small rocks and suspended them lined up in a ring encircling him. Finally, he used waterbending and compressed water into the final ring around him. The compression of the elements provided Aang with materials for bending all four elements without sacrificing too much size and speed, thus making this an extremely dangerous attack both defensively and offensively.
Avatar Manifestation
A previous incarnation of the Avatar can manifest themself through the current Avatar. There are two ways to do this.
Full manifestation
Full manifestation is when an Avatar manifests their body into another Avatar's. It can happen by force of another Avatar, or by the current Avatar calling upon another Avatar. This Avatar has their own powers, and the Avatar they are manifesting through is no longer visible.
Partial manifestation
This type of manifestation allows an Avatar to call another Avatar's spirit out of their body for communication purposes, revealing an apparition of the previous incarnation being called for.
Avatar State
"The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars. The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body. In the Avatar State, you are at your most powerful, but you are also at your most vulnerable. If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist."―Roku to Aang in "The Avatar State".
The strongest and most powerful ability that an Avatar can invoke is the Avatar State. It allows the Avatar to channel vast cosmic energies and the knowledge of previous Avatars, enabling them to perform especially powerful and amazing bending feats. The Avatar may unconsciously enter the state in response to perception of mortal danger, utilizing the state as a defense mechanism, or emotional distress. While in the state, the Avatar has access to bending techniques they themselves may not have yet learnt, but have no conscious control over their actions and can cause great collateral damage. An Avatar with full mastery of the Avatar State has conscious control over the state and can enter and exit it at will. For an Avatar with complete mastery, their eyes will glow momentarily, not continuously. It was by entering the Avatar State reflexively that Aang was able to freeze himself and Appa inside an iceberg for a hundred years by using a combination of airbending and waterbending. He did not physically age at all during the century, as he was in suspended animation, but it would take a great physical toll on his body to be in the Avatar State for such an extended period of time.
While in the Avatar State, the Avatar's eyes glow, as do any markings following chi paths along the body, such as Air Nomad tattoos; however, if the body has received an injury deeper than the tattoos, then that specific area will not glow in the state. The glow is the combination of all the Avatar's past lives, focusing their energy through a single body. When Aang spoke in the Avatar State, his voice encompassed a combination of several different voices at once.
Roku in the Avatar State.It is possible for an Avatar to control the Avatar State, as Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and the unnamed Fire Nation Avatar have demonstrated in numerous flashbacks, but this requires great spiritual discipline and concentration. Guru Pathik attempted to teach Aang to control the Avatar State by helping him clear his chakras, but Aang could not let go of Katara in exchange for cosmic power, and Fire Sage Kaja informed Roku to clear his mind, but Roku found emptying his mind of thoughts to be quite challenging and was initially unable to do so. More often, the Avatar State is activated by danger or emotional turmoil. Aang inadvertently entered the Avatar State when he discovered that his friend and teacher, Monk Gyatso, was killed by Fire Nation soldiers. Aang entered the Avatar State when General Fong placed Katara in danger by sinking her into the ground with earthbending. When an Avatar is in complete control of the Avatar State, their eyes glow momentarily, not continuously.
It is possible for an Avatar to channel a specific previous incarnation while in the Avatar State. When this happens, the Avatar briefly takes on the appearance and voice of that previous incarnation. Aang did this on several occasions, channeling Roku twice, and Kyoshi once. The appearance of these incarnations seems to vary as Roku always appeared as an old man while all the other Avatar incarnations appeared youthful and in their prime. It is unlikely the age of the Avatar's death is the deciding factor in their appearance since Avatar Kyoshi lived for 230 years and would not have kept a young appearance at that time. It is possible that those in the Spirit World manifest visually as they see themselves and not as they currently are. Aang sees himself garbed in Air Nomad attire and with a shaved head within the Spirit World, even when he was wearing different clothes in the physical world and had hair.
It appears that the Avatar State is capable of nullifying the effects of bloodbending, as shown when Aang dispels Yakone's bloodbending and then proceeds to strip him of his waterbending.
Ways the Avatar State works
There seems to be two distinct ways to how the Avatar State works:
Continuous
When the State works continuously, the Avatar's eyes, and tattoos in the case of an Air Nomad Avatar, glow white constantly, and the spirits of the past Avatars actively channel their energy, skills, and knowledge through the body of the current Avatar, granting him or her great amounts of strength and power.
The State has been seen to work this way almost exclusively as instinctive unconscious reaction, as the 'defense mechanism' Roku described the State as, when an Avatar is confronted with a threat beyond that they can deal with, or when their emotions, specifically rage and sorrow, reach a breaking point. So it may perhaps be more accurate to describe the State being used this way as 'reflexively' rather than 'continuously'. When the State is triggered this way the combined spirits of the past Avatars seem to take control of the Avatar's body and voice, thus the current Avatar has little to no control over the performed actions and may retain little to no memory of what happened, though this is not always the case.
Aang appeared to use the State this way against Fire Lord Ozai after the scar on his back was forced against a rock unlocking his final chakra. Just as Guru Pathik had said, this event led to Aang being able to control the State himself, and unlike previous times where he entered the State, he was not physically exhausted.
Non-continuous
When the State is used non-continuously, the Avatar's eyes, and tattoos in the case of an Air Nomad Avatar, glow only for a second, and during that time the current Avatar stores the knowledge and energy needed so that it can be released once exiting the State, taking only the power needed for a specific task. This reduces the danger of being killed in the Avatar State and enables a more willful, controlled use of the Avatar State's power. This can only be done by an Avatar who has mastered the State as it is a conscious use rather than an instinctual response. Mastery of this technique is part of what distinguishes an Avatar as "fully realized".
Spiritual link-up
The Avatar State also allows an Avatar to join with certain spirits. This was demonstrated when Aang entered the Avatar State in order to aid the frantic Ocean Spirit. Both Aang in his Avatar State and the Ocean Spirit combined their abilities to defend the Northern Water Tribe after all waterbenders were rendered defenseless. All Avatars can make these contacts by spiritually calling to different spirits.
Weakness
While the Avatar is all but invincible in the Avatar State, having millions of bending experiences, there is one grave weakness - while in effect, every Avatar, or the entirety of the earth's spirit, is present in the physical world while the current Avatar is in the Avatar State. If the Avatar were to be killed while in the Avatar State, every Avatar would die with them. This would break the cycle permanently and the Avatar would cease to exist.
Aang almost bringing about the end of the Avatar Spirit.Aang was fatally wounded by a lightning strike from Azula while entering the Avatar State. As a result, his connection with the Avatar Spirit was jeopardized, resulting in the Avatar Spirit's fall from the plane of existence. Fortunately, Katara was able to use the Spirit Water she received from Pakku to heal Aang, reviving Aang and consequently the Avatar Spirit. The strain of the revival caused Aang to slip into a coma for several weeks, and during that time, he managed to secure his connection to the Avatar State by meeting with the four Avatar incarnations before him. However, it took longer for his connection to his past lives to be completely restored.
Another downside to the Avatar State is the considerable mental strain it can cause to less experienced Avatars. Prior to his tutelage under Guru Pathik, Aang would often leave the Avatar State feeling horrified at what he had done under its influence. Furthermore, use of the state, at least in extraordinary circumstances, can place such a large physical strain on an Avatar's body such that their life span can be affected; thus, Aang's one hundred-year time in the iceberg contributed greatly to his eventual death at sixty-six years of age biologically, and 166 years chronologically.