What Happened to the Lion Turtles?

Let's discuss the fall of the lion turtles and the nature of their benevolent power.

#avatar #tla #lok #thelastairbender #thelegendofkorra

***

New to the channel? Check out my channel sampler playlist:

Join my e-mail list for updates on my writing and early access to my videos!

Disagreed with the video? Was there something missing? Join my beta reader team here:

Want to share with your non-English speaking friends? Contribute translations!

***

FOLLOW ME

P.O. Box 56225
Los Angeles CA 90056
United States

***

CREDITS

***

MUSIC

"Power of the Elements"

"Master of the Elements"

***

FAN ART

***

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[crumblemuffin]

Bro imagine Iroh and the Lion turtle having a conversation. So much tea and wisdom would be shared

[sesereddead]

Answer: they went into the sewers and became crime-fighting ninjas

[halacron]

I don't think humans killed them, I think they left the world to make another and one stayed behind.

[yoyoyoUnplugged]

Small correction: lion turtles didn’t give people _bending, _ they just gave the power of an element. Shooting fire and firebending are different things. There were people that could use fire before the sun warriors, but other than Avatar Wan, nobody truly knew how to _firebend_ until they learned the art from the dragons like Wan did.

[awildymarcappeared]

*Could there be a possibility that the lion turtle that Aang met wasn't one of the lion turtles that originally gave Wan the 4 elements? What if the lion turtle he met was actually the fifth one and what it bestowed was the fifth bending form -- energybending? It would explain why energybending was largely unknown. The lion turtle didn't get hunted down probably because no one knew of its existence as we saw in ATLA that there was no remnants of a civilization on the lion turtle.*

[erisisthename]

I love the Lion Turtles. I wish they were more involved in the series. And yes, your idea of power structure is one I’m on board with. It’s so much more nuanced.

[laureng]

I totally agree. I was talking to my son about the power of change and he said he doesn't have super powers. So that opened up a dialogue about the nuances of power etc

[legoharry]

They were wiped out by Phoenix King Momo.

[Ablekeo]

What other cartoon transcends time like this?! The world building in Avatar The Last Airbender is amazing.

[Princess-Sajah]

When watching the legend of Korra, when she lost her memory and was on an island with firesages I I think . There was a scene with an island which seemed to have moved there thinks it's an easter egg, idk if I'm the only one who saw this

[cdanteh]

If you are familiar with the lord of the rings, the elves willingly gave up their life’s and let man have domain over middle earth. Maybe that was the lion turtles way of crossing over to the spirit world.

[erihhh]

There are a lot of questions though like how the lion turtles reproduce and if they even can or there were a limited number of lion turtles and if they die that s it don t know maybe the creators will show much more of this in future comics or novels or maybe another show

[StarWarssMania]

the "last one" said they were hunted down but even if that is canon i feel like they are so big and powerful BUT they are not immortal gods. I always thought just like the dragons that the earth lion turtle disguised their deaths to protect his race, i thought the lion turtles went back to the spirit world or went in hiding disguised as a village but i used to think they were way to big to be killed.

[Nevil_Samnauth]

Did you ever notice that the first time the lion turtle was seen was in the episode with the library and the sandbenders? Really briefly, Aang was looking at a book saying, "hey look at this lion turtle thing!"

[csave]

I love your power breakdown! I’ve never thought of it in terms of destructive vs benevolent power!

[andreyandrov]

If a creature is on the path of enlightenment or has already reached it, it would never take another life, for that will drag it away from that path of light. So it is very likely that the Lion Turtles chose to remain in the light even if it meant losing their lives.

[Vortex-qbse]

In my opinion the lion turtles created the material world, but raavaa and vaatu gave beginning of the spirit world. So therefore they're equally ancient and respect each other, but the lionturtles are mortal just like everyone in the material world.
That's why the Avatar keeps the balance between the both worlds. He is a representative of the material world, but has Raava inside himself.

[beardedpanda]

But the lion turtles can use the power. You see it in the episode with Wan with the floating lion turtle. The lion turtle that gave Wan Earth bending. So the lion turtles definitely have the power to use the elements and at a much larger scale

[aravagarwal]

What is the whole "be water my friends" thing about?

[ishayagam]

I think the reason the lion turtles were killed by the benders was because after won became the first avatar there was a war between a lot of different benders from different lion turtles cities and for example the fire benders didn’t want the water benders get the “power of fire” so they killed the fire lion turtle, because they didn’t want to share their power with other people, only with their people... what do you think about this explanation?