Why EARTH is Aang's MOST IMPORTANT Element - Avatar the Last Airbender

Today at the Mystery Shack, we return to the world of Avatar the Last Airbender for a deep dive into Aang's mastery of the four elements and, most importantly, his journey in mastering earth.

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Timecodes
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00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Earth - The “Boring” Element
07:39 - Toph, Stoicism & Bitter Work
15:06 - Grounded
17:47 - Thinking Fast & Slow
22:11 - Standing Against Fear
25:04 - Facing Destiny
29:53 - Outro

#avatarthelastairbender

[clayongunzelle]

I called it in the poll. Being an air bender meant he needed the stability of earth more than anything, no more running stand your ground and get the job done

[Dauerglotzer]

They flawlessly added a strong character to a pretty strong and defined group

[Echo-mgem]

Losing Appa meant losing his strongest connection to his past: they were the only remaining survivors of the Air Nomad culture. Additionally, the Nomads learned air-bending by watching the Sky Bison. When Appa was gone, Aang became disconnected from everything familiar to him and was forced to lean on his new surroundings and knowledge.

[DrTimes]

A Sub-class of bending that gets me is Sand. It's a strange combination of Earth and Air. Despite ultimately being earth, the Sand-benders are nomadic like the air-benders once were. You can't push sand like you do a boulder, it will give and sway. Toph describes looking through it as fuzzy, unable to get a solid picture. She has to practice to improve her control of it by the end of Book 3, which one could see as her embracing a less rigid life. The Sand-benders themselves primarily use it to form miniature sand storms to propel their sand gliders, not unlike air-bending.

[AhmedX]

Great analysis. Aang's pre-Earthbending mentality is why Azula regularly has the upper hand in their clashes: she is too cunning to be misdirected and too focused to be worn down. Aang must confront her directly, but even after his change in mentality, Azula is still too bloodthirsty an opponent for Aang to overcome without him completely mastering himself. If he falters, she will strike him down with all of her hatred... which she does. Fighting Azula is the show's method of training Aang for his fight with Ozai, who is Azula on steroids.

[iri]

The invasion of the earth kingdom palace was just so cool. When that rock came flying at him he just moved his hand. He did not even flinch. That scene was him 100% being focused.

[genovaz]

"To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable"

Which is exactly what tophs first lesson is. Aang didn't just have to stand his ground physically, but spiritually as well.

[WolfofWhite]

This was something I never really thought about until it was mentioned in Korra. I forgot who said it and the exact wording but it was along the lines of “You (Korra) struggle with air just as Aang struggled with earth because it is an element unlike you”

[firecrakcer]

One of my favorite parts of Iroh as a character is how much he uses all the elements in his teachings and forms. He doesn't use air too often, but it wasn't around during his life, so I can't really fault him for that.

[sleeplessmax]

Book two was beautiful. Seeing Aang being more honest and expressive with his emotions was impactful. Toph and Aang are so good for each other. Toph and earthbending grounds Aang. Aang helps Toph be free and never underestimates her.

[Echo-mgem]

Something so great about “Bitter Work” is how all 4 elements are engaged: at the same time that Aang is overcoming a barrier with Earth 🪨 (the opposite of Air 💨), Zuko is confronted with some challenges he faces in Fire 🔥. He cannot bend lightning, but he learns instead how to infuse Water-bending 🌊 techniques into his Fire-bending in order to redirect lightning. (Iroh had mentioned studying Water-benders to create the technique.) Interestingly, we later hear Roku say that he struggled the most with Water-bending, so seeing his great-grandson—who is destined to heal the wounds of the Fire Nation’s war—overcome an obstacle through Water creates some additional closure.

[nishdoctor]

After watching the show for the first time in my high school years I remember hearing people call the finale either a deus ex machina or saying that Aang, as you put it, whimped out of killing Ozai, which made me rewatch the finale to see how much water that argument held to me. With that outlook it immediately caught my eye to see that while the avatar state gave him the edge the element that literaly put Ozai on his knees was earth and I still think that was an incredibly effective way of showing Aang growth as both a bender and a character.
So yeah great video that dug way deeper in that direction

[StonetheDestroyer]

Something I found interesting about Bitter Work is that there's a pretty big difference between how Toph teaches Aang earthbending and how Toph typically earthbends in combat, and I think it's a reflection of her level of mastery that's subtly delivered.

She often uses a narrow stance, and she uses a lot of evasion and redirection compared to other earthbenders we see. She actually kind of moves like a waterbender a lot of the time. Obviously she's still stylistically an earthbender, but her mastery allows her to move a little differently and pull off some more creative and expected techniques that other earthbenders don't typically use.

And I think that might also be a big part of why she ultimately was an effective teacher for him as he moved toward mastery. She had a style which already meshed with his own, so once he ironed out the basics, they were a stylistic match as a student and teacher.

[thatcat]

I think the line that perfectly encapsulates what Aang needed to learn about earth bending was "There's no trickity trick thats gonna move that rock!" The whole time he was trying to get around it or find a way that benefits him. But Earthbending requires him to believe he can headbutt a boulder and win or else it just won't work

[atrumluminarium]

Also, Jeong jeong wanted to teach Aang to restraint and be patient while his firebending style looks a lot like earthbending

[SpammytheHedgehog]

The show became great when Toph joined Team Avatar.

[jayteeblues]

Air and earth seem to be primarily defensive bending. Those nations aren’t on the offensive, they defend. They have formidable skills for defense. However, fire and Earth are offensive skills. Learning the skill of Earth bending taught AAng the subtle nuance of how to move out of defense into offense when it’s necessary. Toph was an excellent and hard teacher. She needed to train some pacificity out of him to get him ready to master Earth and be able to use it offensively against the Fire Lord. Earth changed him and how he thinks!

[crimsonlilyfairy]

this is hands down the best analysis on aang's character arc and final destination i think i've ever seen. (partially cause everyone talks about zuko/iroh, and ignores the rest of the cast, but i digress)

thank you for writing/filming/putting this out where i could see it

[PersonManManManMan]

23:36 Zuko's scar switching was unexpected funny, well done

[marcsoren]

I always loved Aang's growth when it came to Earth bending, not just how he improved in his skills, but in his personality too. I see a lot of myself in Aang (as well as Zaheer from LOK). If I were the Avatar, air and fire would be the ones that come easiest for me while water and earth would be my weak points. I struggle with change (water) and standing strong under great pressure (earth), and seeing Aang have to work on his earth-side helped me identify something about myself I want to improve.