Avatar: The Last Airbender 3x19 UNEDITED REACTION (all access)

This conversation is why I believe Iroh was 100% right in his advice to Aang at the end of season 2. Many airbenders were able to be truly enlightened and cut free from worldly attachement (what guru was trying to have aang do) but the Avatar doesn't get to do this because the Avatar's duty is to the world first and foremost. Aang made the right choice and the moment he tried to turn his back on his worldly attachments he was literally killed. Who saved him? the person who symbolizes his attachment to this world and the love he has for it. The Guru was coming from a place of pure airbender philosophy and he may not have been wrong on how to achieve enlightenment but it wasn't the correct path for an Avatar.

Laura D

Yeah, so I guess I am against that philosophy, as it would die out without the existance of others to fight for peace instead of them. Also, just because something has value doesn't mean you cannot kill. To respect in fact implies you should protect it

Alright, so here is exactly what Avatar Yangchen: "Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the world." I don't think she's saying to do whatever you want for peace, but whatever is necessary to protect the world. So if killing someone is necessary to protect the world, it should be done. I think you are being a bit hard on Aang. You seem to be coming from the perspective that in some circumstances, killing someone is necessary for the greater good of the world, or at least better than not killing them, which I personally don't really disagree with. However, Aang is someone that has been raised to believe that killing is never okay. So I don't think it's as simple as telling him "this guy is really bad, killing him is the only way to stop him" to convince him to change such a core belief. I'm sure if you can think through some of your core beliefs, you'll find that there are things you couldn't easily be convinced against. It's why I think Avatar Yangchen was the perfect one to give him the advice. She would have also been raised by the monks, and so she would have also been raised with the same beliefs. I imagine that with time, she learned to make hard decisions. At Aang's age, she wouldn't have even known that she was the Avatar yet. Again, I'm not arguing against the idea of killing Ozai, since I do believe that killing someone bent on literally burning down a good chunk of the world isn't a bad idea. My point is just that this is an important issue to Aang and it makes sense for him to resist going against this belief. If you were to talk to people who are against the death penalty in every circumstance, I'm sure it would be difficult to convince them to kill someone, even if it is the most evil person on the planet.

Luis Garcia

Ahh almost the end! So exciting! I always cry on that scene with Suko and Iroh as well as when Iroh sings to his son in Tales of Ba Sing Se

Azu✨