#𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖 : the past can be a great teacher

[bndair]

on this mothers day , i'd like to take a moment to remind you that aang never knew his mother or father. though many air nomad kids were raised communally , most still knew their parents. some spent a lot of time together with their families , others not so much. aang just had gyatso. and they never talked about his parents so aang does not and will not ever know anything about them.

that usually doesn't bother him much —-- he had a great childhood !! but seeing his friends with their families , listening to them share memories of loved ones sometimes makes him wonder about his own parents. did they die ? could they not take care of me ? was i taken away from them ? did they not want me ? was it because i'm the avatar?

[bndair]

no but for the nine type of intelligence, give us a good insight in his intrapersonal vs interpersonal intelligence 🤲

nine types of intelligence meme. // accepting

intrapersonal   ⸺   the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directioning one’s life. not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition. interpersonal   ⸺    the ability to understand and interact effectively with others: effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives.

do you want me to write a novel on this boy ? bc i'll do it !!

tldr : these two almost come down to a nature vs nurture thing for aang. naturally , he has higher interpersonal intelligence which greatly helps in his role as the avatar , but his intrapersonal intelligence is nurtured by the monks , air nomad culture in general , and his past lives. he can strike up a conversation with a rock wall , make friends anywhere , and is very good at actively listening and empathizing with people. however , introspection is a constant challenge for aang with some of the heavy topics and situations he deals with as both the avatar and the last air nomad.

let's start with nature aka interpersonal intelligence. aang is the very much an extrovert , people person , social butterfly , etc. he loves people ! people are great ! we're talking about a kid that actively tries to make friends with " the enemy ". and. he. succeeds ! aside from this innate happiness that he carries , he's just good at reading and relating to people.

when he's young , that manifests as making friends everywhere , making people smile and laugh. he doesn't know why he does it , that's just how aang is. he writes it off as just wanting to people to have fun and get along. the understanding that comes later is while that is partly true , he also has this drive to fix problems , mediate disputes ( we can thank intrapersonal intelligence for that revelation ! ). so he uses this innate intelligence to help him in this quest.

to be blunt , a lot of the problems he deals with are heavily influenced by the resentments that have built up during the 100 year war. watching that destruction happen real time , living it day in and day out , seeing the effect it has on your loved ones , on your self . . . has understandably changed the way the world views each other. but aang doesn't have that. yes , he's obviously lost a lot too , but he hasn't spent 100 years being steeped in this resentment. that makes seeing both / all sides a lot easier. usually. like anyone , he has his blind spots ( most air nomad related ) that will quickly and dramatically overshadow his natural peacemaker / joy-bringer role.

he tends to be sensitive to the moods / temperaments of others too. both a good and bad thing. he feels very deeply ( this plays a role with both inter and intra ). wears his heart on his sleeve and all that. boy is a marshmallow. so with interpersonal , he picks up on the subtle emotions in others —-- catching an odd look on someone's face for a brief second and checking in on them later "are you okay? you seem off." --— but can also react very strongly to others mood swings —-- bursting into tears when katara snapped at him over the waterbending scroll. he gets better at keeping his own emotions in check later , but is always conscious of others' moods / temperaments and definitely uses that to his advantage. case in point : the way aang so quickly figured out how to push zhao's buttons and get him to destroy his own ships with just a little well worded teasing.

another great interpersonal example is the great divide. first, aang gets very frustrated with these two groups constant bickering and stubbornness even a the cost of their safety. the resentful, hateful environment that surrounds that whole adventure wears on him —-- though he does a good job of keeping it to himself because he's busy being the avatar. he has a job that focuses him making it easier to tamp down his own irritation. second , he jumps on the opportunity to end their dispute as soon as he sees it. as soon as the groups' leaders mention names , aang is feigning recognition and concocting that beautiful lie. by that point it's obvious neither group is interested in truly working through their problems. removing the problem is the easiest way to ensure peace so that's what he does. partly because he genuinely wants them to stop fighting , partly because he himself is so sick of hearing them fight.

meditation is the single biggest example of his intrapersonal intelligence. so much so that he depends very heavily on regular meditation to maintain the calm and caring , fun and nurturing demeanor he's known for. cracks will eventually form if he is unable to meditate for extended periods of time. he needs that time to work through things.

he also has a nigh unshakable sense of self and because of that he sometimes relies on good ol' fashioned gut feelings. he'll make a decision because it feels right. that's it. because doing anything other than that chosen course of action elicits a negative feeling ranging from general unease to visceral rejection. in that moment , he may not necessarily know why he feels that particular decision is right. he just knows it. he'll figure out the intricacies of why later , when he meditates on it.

gut feeling decisions are something he makes a lot of as a kid , must less so as a teen after the war ends , and it builds back up in frequency after that. he goes through this period of uncertainty when he fully steps into those 'day-to-day' avatar duties , so to speak. he's faced with a lot of challenges that are new to the whole world. people look to him for answers as the avatar , as this balancing force and he doesn't know what to do ! he feels the pressure , the weight of any potential consequences of his actions and decisions and that pushes him towards roku , kyoshi , yangchen , kuruk , any other past lives or spirits that could help him. it's really in his early teen years that he gains this deep appreciation for that connection and learns to use it to help not only with avatar challenges , but also with his own personal introspection.

one of the intrapersonal things he struggles with the most is regulating his emotional state. aang feels things very deeply. if he's happy , he's elated. if he's angry , he's furious. if he's sad , he's desolate. there's no halfway with him. add in the fact that he's a survivor of genocide who carries that anger , grief , and sorrow with him every day of his life. then add that the avatar is often placed in very emotionally charged situations. he's very aware that as a powerful bender ( in his own right and as the avatar ) and a public figure , he has to keep himself in check and temper these strong emotions. we've seen what happens when he doesn't.

though i talk about intrapersonal like it's a weakness for aang , that's probably more of his own perception than anything else. anyone who shoulders the kinds of burdens aang does and still remains kind and joyful and open is exceptionally strong. aang tends not to see that about himself though. he was shaped by the air nomads , by the monks who he remembers to be much better at these things than he is. though others may look at them and see a wise monk , they do not share the same frame of reference to which aang measures himself. there's always part of him that feels like he's not good enough at the intrapersonal stuff.

so that's 4 / 9 intelligence types answered. bodily-kinesthetic is coming soon.

[bndair]

tiny meta that aang's marble trick is actually very difficult to master and that's part of why he's so proud of showing it off ( he also just thinks it's cool ). the thing is that obviously there are no more airbenders so nobody realizes how hard it is , or really comprehends when he tries to explain " this took me 3 years to master. it's so precise and so delicate. even some of the monks couldn't do this ! " " yeah, yeah. spinning marbles. nice... anyway "

[bndair]

thinking about how a decent chunk of the gaang's early adventures were just because aang wanted to do a fun thing. penguin sledding , riding elephant koi , riding the omashu mail delivery system ( there's a bit of a theme here ) . . . and i just want you all to know that he does not grow out of that. the boy will always be down to clown

[bndair]

existential   ⸺   sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, and how did we get here.

nine types of intelligence meme. // accepting

@asaemi this one's for you too , babe ! 🧡

oh , man. a lot of people expect him to have the answers to all these big existential questions. and while aang does have answers , he will never say they are the answers. he hopes what he says will resonate with people , but if it doesn't... well , then it doesn't.

though some many people think that being the avatar gives him answers to these grand questions , it doesn't. the avatar is fundamentally human. aang doesn't have some cosmic library of knowledge to look up the answer to any question big or small. he has largely inaccessible ghosts that are free to choose how much or how little they share with him when asked a question. does it help ? yeah , absolutely. but it's not a cheat sheet. being the avatar is not a guarantee that he can answer any question , nor is it the cause of his capacity to and sensitivity in exploring these topics. that's all aang

as i've said 398742 times before , the air nomads were the most spiritual / philosophical of the nations so should come as no surprise that they thought about these kinds of concepts a lot. aang was too young to be involved in the really complex stuff and a decent amount of what he was exposed to went over his head at the time. ( he was a little kid ! between old geezers waxing existential poetry and playing air ball with his friends , which one you think he was picking ? air ball. every time. ) but all that is to say he grew up in an environment where these question were warmly welcomed and readily explored. the result is that he's very comfortable trying to tackle these topics.

that comfort extends to discussions with / for others too. he will tell you his thoughts if you ask. he will talk through things with you if you ask. you just have to ask.

aang's personal views reflect his culture. he's a product of air nomad beliefs and that is what still shapes most of his world view. he believes each life has a purpose even if it's not abundantly clear , in reincarnation outside of the avatar cycle , that the greatest skill you can develop is compassion , and that so many of the answers to these questions are deeply , uniquely personal. he believes there is no one size fits all answer to any existential question.

that last part is a belief he develops through the arc of the series and his early teen years. before that , you likely would've gotten answers that were little more than parroting back of what he'd heard the monks say. before that aang didn't have a need to address these questions. he honestly hadn't thought about it. but traveling the world with the gaang starts to instill this idea in him. he is put in situations where he is fundamentally at odds with how others see things and as that progresses to " you have to kill fire lord ozai " and no one understands what that means for him ... that's when it starts to become more of a general belief for him.

aang's belief that these are personal hurdles and questions is part of what makes him so great at talking through things with others. he's sensitive to the fact that these are hard questions to answer because he's been there himself. finding those answers can be a long , painful process of discussion and introspection. add that sensitivity to some impressive emotional maturity and aang is honestly a great person to help someone through that process. you just have to tell him if you want him to lead or follow. are you wanting his answers ? or to find your answers ?

aang has the (dis)advantage of being able to talk things through with his past lives. on one hand , he can literally talk to himself about it. on the other hand , his past lives rarely seem to say what he wants to hear. but sometimes that opposition is what can lead to an epiphany. sometimes hearing a wrong answer is what prompts a gut reaction of "no, that's not right" within a person. and sometimes aang will be that wrong answer , intentionally or not.

for those keeping score at home , this is 2 of 9 intelligence types. and we have two more in the inbox : intrapersonal and interpersonal.

[bndair]

musical and/or existential!

nine types of intelligence meme. // accepting

musical   ⸺   the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. recognizing, creating, reproducing, and reflecting on music, hearing sounds others may miss.

honestly , the boy probably sits at about 40-50% on a sliding scale of innate musical intelligence. he has some , but he has to work at it. he loves music and is a good dancer ( when he wants to be ) , but the instruments he can play are exclusively of air nomad origin. understandably many air nomad instruments are woodwinds and most have been lost to time. he's only been able to find two air nomad instruments : an airbender's flute ( aka pan flute. found by air acolytes ) and a dungchen ( found in a fire nation trap laid to catch/kill air nomads ). luckily , the flute was always his best instrument and the dungchen is primarily a ceremonial instrument rather than something you'd pick up for an entertaining tune.

the only songs he knows are things he was taught. he has a pretty good memory so he can recall other tunes , but it takes a lot of trial and error for aang to figure out how to play them on the flute. he's practically the opposite of those people who can play a song after hearing it once or make one up on the spot. he knows the mechanics of playing certain instruments , but music theory generally escapes him. the monks tried to teach him , but ... well , aang was never a very studious pupil and it just never clicked for him. to be fair , gyatso always spiriting him away for fun and games didn't help either.

he has good hearing and he has rhythm but those come from being an airbender and the years of training he's had more than any true musical intelligence. he can hear the intricacies of a song and appreciate the complexity. he can bob his head along or dance to the beat well enough to help others keep tempo. he couldn't go much deeper then that on the technical / music theory side of it though. anything he plays that hasn't been formally taught is something that just come from his soul , ya know ? there's no planning , no composing , just feelings turned to sound. sometimes it's good. sometimes it's not.

aang is also not a singer. he can chant like no ones business , but true singing ? it's not a particularly pleasant experience for the listeners. he's not the worst , but his singing is usually best described as enthusiastic , loud , and pitchy. ( does he get better with time ? i don't know. we'll have to see. could go either way )

his own perceived lack of innate musical intelligence leads to a very deep appreciation and admiration for those that do possess such skills. it doesn't take much to impress him tbh. can you play the simplest of tunes ? he's all ears. singing too ? enamored. he knows how difficult music can be and anyone who makes it ( and makes it look easy ? ) has him with hearts in his eyes. he's a sucker for a musical performance of any kind and will make time to attend those events if at all possible. he'll often say that these appearances are due to his obligations as the avatar , but that's only about 30% of the reason.

music is something that reminds him of the past , of traveling to the different nations for festivals , of parties with friends , of air nomad celebrations and ceremonies. he has so many memories tied to music that certain songs have evoked very emotional reactions for aang. it's bittersweet , but he wouldn't trade it for the world. he sees these songs ( and music as a whole ) as a bridge through time , something that can and will live on to connect generations of people. and that's beautiful.

p.s. i'm gonna do the existential one too. i have another ask in my inbox for that one so it's coming. soon.

[bndair]

on today's episode of poppins rambles about aang : it's the way aang airbends so casually. all the time. for the littlest of things. standing up , grabbing his glider staff , entertaining momo , etc. it's not just something he can do , it's a huge part of who he is.

part of that is by default. he's an air nomad by birth and all air nomads were benders. that means that what are typically two separate identities ( nationality vs bending ability ) are intertwined into one singular thing for them. air nomad = airbender. airbender = air nomad. that creates people and a culture that thoroughly incorporate bending into daily life. it runs as deep as slightly different bending techniques being the secret ingredient in someone's fruit pie recipe. so , for a long time , airbending his way through life is the only way he knows how to be. as he masters the other elements , they too become part of daily life but there will always be a bias towards airbending. a bias of which he is only somewhat cognizant. it's intentional in that he wants to ensure he preserves as much as possible ... though aang doesn't realize the extent to which he favors airbending.

i fell down a youtube rabbit hole the other day and one video tallied up all of aang's bending in book 3. most common element was air with a total something like 115. second place was like 43 ? he closes that gap some over the years , but yeah. when i say a bias for airbending i mean a BIAS for airbending.

on top of that , he grew up before war ravaged the world , before bending was a tool of destruction or something that would send you to the front lies of battle ( by volunteer or conscription ). there was no taboo , no reason to hide. bending was celebrated ! not just by air nomads , but all nations. healers of the water tribes were sought out for their aid with the sick , injured , their comfort of the dying. the finest architects were earthbenders , consulted for any major construction effort. and the fire nation had fantastic entertainers with show-stopping displays of firebending as early pyrotechnics. though 100 years of war can sour even the sweetest of fruit. so aang tries to find little ways to use his bending around others , to soften the stigma that developed in his absence , to encourage the idea of bending as tools of creation , of healing , of fun and joy.

[bndair]

the notion that aang doesn’t lie due to his monastic upbringing is... ha ha.    no ,  he definitely lies.   just not very often and never with any malicious intent.   he’ll lie to protect people ,  to resolve or avoid conflict ,  when playing pranks ,  and he’ll even lie to just avoid hurting someone’s feelings  ( only about little things though.  and if you ask for the brutally honest truth ,  he’ll give it to you. )

he absolutely uses the whole   “ but i was there ! ”   or   “ i know them ! ”   thing to resolve conflict / get himself out of trouble if at all possible.   and he even feels fairly comfortable doing so.   king bumi is the only other person alive that even could call aang out for lying about what he did or did not do as a kid 100 years ago.  and aang knows he won’t.

when he does lie...  aang rationalizes that the lies he tells aren’t in his own self interest so they’re not that bad.  he’s lying to help people and that cancels out the badness of the lie.  it doesn’t really and he knows that ,  but it eases his conscious to tell himself that.

[bndair]

((Been reading your writing and am now geeking out about Aang. Hope you don't mind me letting it all out in this ask lmao. But like, I just thought about that one scene where Roku was like "yo gimme the phone" with Jeong Jeong, and I got to thinking. Would Aang ever do that? Because I do agree with you about his less direct approach to guiding future Avatars.

And then a possibility came to mind. What if the continuing Air Nomads started warping into something more...fundamentalist, for lack of a better word? To the point that some future Avatar down the line is being refused airbending teachings due to not being an Air Nomad by blood. The Avatar. And the scene in my head was Aang making an appearance to be like "Am i enough of an Air Nomad for you?" because that sentiment just singlehandedly popped the top off of his "how much bullshit I can take" meter. I got a little carried away there, but what do you think?))

first things first , you're precious ! thank you for this. and i'm so glad you enjoy my rambling about our lil glowy marshmallow bc here's some more !!

oh , if he found out about something like that ? abso-fucking-lutely he'd go roku on them. he'd probably even use the same line !! "i have mastered the elements 1,000 times in 1,000 lifetimes. now, i must do it again. you will teach the avatar airbending." it'd likely be less aggressive / confrontational than roku was , but that also depends on the airbending master he needs to talk to and their reaction to him.

depending on the reception he gets , i think there's a few possibilities of how he'd approach it. 1) how dare you try to dictate air nomad beliefs to me. you know nothing. 2) the avatar is me , is every avatar that came before me. they are more air nomad than you. 3) i don't care what they are. the avatar must master the elements and you will teach them.

aang didn't devote a very large chuck of his life to preserving and teaching air nomad culture just to see it warped into something so exclusionary. air nomads were definitely isolationist with their temples , but i don't think of them as being an isolated people , ya know ? aang had friends all over the world before he was turned into an ice cube. the monks definitely traveled ! and , as far as i'm concerned , they were happy to share many of their thoughts, beliefs, customs, etc with interested parties. ( minus a few exceptions. they're a nice people, not a stupid people. they wouldn't knowingly teach someone who harbors ill intentions. ) so that kind of gatekeeping knowledge to anyone , but especially the avatar , double especially an air avatar would strike a cord in him. that's an immediate , visceral "oh, no you don't." catch kyoshi in the background "tell 'em, aang!"

he'll concede that there are some things that should not be shown/taught to outsiders , that should remain exclusively air nomad/air nation. so this hypothetical master is not wrong in that sense. but that does not apply here. this is not an outsider. this is the avatar. so get teachin', buddy !