Avatar: What if Aang Never Ran Away?

Avatar: The Last Airbender would have been completely different if Aang had never ran away!

Avatar: The Last Airbender is about as close to perfection as an animated series can get. The masterfully plotted series follows the young Avatar Aang as he masters the four elements, makes strong friendships, and ultimately saves the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai! What’s crazy is that there is one small event that put the entire series into motion. If things had played out differently, who knows what would’ve happened.

That event is, of course, the moment where young Aang ran away from his responsibilities as Avatar when the other airbenders threatened to take him away from his father-figure Monk Gyatso. This moment caused him to become stuck in the very same iceberg that Katara would later find him in. This small act led to the Fire Nation’s aggressive expansion into the rest of the world. Fire Lord Azulon’s brutal rampage across the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes was only possible because there was no Avatar to restore balance to the world.

So what would’ve happened if Aang didn't run away? Well, we here at CBR have put our heads together and have come up with a pretty great alternative journey for the young Avatar. Watch as Aang goes from living with the Air Nomads to completing his training across the war-torn nations. He makes new (and familiar) friends along the way who teach him noble lessons as he works to restore order to the world.

Here is exactly what would happen if Aang never ran away in Avatar: The Last Airbender!

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Written by: Jordan Phillips
Narrated by: Justin Freitas
Edited by: Chris Chan Roberson

[qforitiscute]

CBR: What would have happened if Aang never ran away

Me: What happened if the storm wasn’t there?

[boyboyful]

So many people are asking the question "what if Aang never ran away"? but no one ever asks "what if Aang was never found by Sokka and Katara"?

[TorPido]

the moment "avatar katara" hit me, I was immediately emotional.

[BlackieChanE]

I don't think it would take sang all that long. Part of the reason the fire nation got so strong was because of all the resources they were able to get over time with no opposition from the Avatar. Also with him missing for so long everyone gave up hope and thought he no longer existed. But with him there the fire nation would've never had such a stronghold on the world. Also there probably would've been a lot more fire nation on his side as well. It took a century of propaganda and teaching them fire nation nationalism for everyone in the fire nation to be on board. Originally thought on it were probably divided and once they had opposition from Aang they would've backed down sooner.

[TheRealPAX]

We need a movie of just the air nomads vs the fire nation

[Knighthelmz]

I don’t think Aang would let the war run on until Iroh and Ozai are young adults, that’s still a very long time. Aang being around 25-30 would be a good age tbh. I like the way Aang could battle Azulon though, they will probably be the same age which would be cool.

[diabloakland]

You’re forgetting The third advantage. No one had fought or seen an air bender in 100 years. And no one knew how to combat them

[jamesruz]

If Katara was to become the Avatar after Aang, there's little to no chance that she'd learn airbending from the lack of airbenders

[ace_bean]

Considering Yue was born "without a soul" she was probably supposed to be the avatar. I'd actually prefer this over Katara but it would've been nice to see Sokka and Yue having a lovely relationship and Katara and her training together.
Edit: The avatar is a reincarnation of Wan+Rava but if Aang was still alive no reincarnation would've happened so there was no soul that could've ended up in Yue.
Korra even is a relative of Yue so it makes extra sense

[alex-mscs]

this is absolutely amazing and I agree with everything except for Katara being the next avatar I think that the next avatar would be Yue i think that Yue was supposed to be the avatar after Aang but because he ran away for 100 years she wasn't able to merge with Raava which is why she needed the the moon spirit to survive

[erinisabiscuituwu]

who else just realised metal bending might have never existed because aang never met toph and made her get captured.

[jerryoates]

On the subject of Aangs motivation, you forget the White Lotus. They would probably search him out and move around while training him themselves. He might have generals training him and he’d probably learned actual combat skills and philosophies causing him to make short work of the fire nation once joining the war. Aang himself would probably become a darker character than in the original.

[mranonymous]

Monk Gyatso: "I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict"
Aang: "How many did you see?"
Gyatso: "14 million six hundred and five"
Aang: "How many did we win?"
Gyatso: "ONE...."

[OsamaBinFlyer]

At the end, Aang would meet Gyatso in the spirit world.

[Leon-bczs]

I honestly thought it was gonna end with The Legend of Sokka

[zinc]

I think you’re underestinating how seriously aang would take his training. I think he would face azulon earlier and be more clever with strategies.

[lordvenjix]

If Aang didn't ran away then we could see a different version of Team Avatar.

[SketchG]

In Poland official name of Avatar the last Airbender is literally: The Legend of Aang.

[-ih]

“What if they never ran away” me: then he will be dead

[alistairledoux]

Gyatso wouldn’t have died if aang had stayed because he wanted to leave the temple with aang then he realized aang was already gone