#Air Nomad!Ty Lee

[sillybillylulu]

Part 2 of all my atla screenshot redraws

Part 1 here

[polls4you]

Avatar The Last Airbender: Choose your favorite character! (Round 3)

[zuko-always-lies]

Historically Accurate Polyamory and ATLA?

One thing that's inexplicably on my mind right now is that East Asian royal families were generally historically polygamous, so if you wanted to have Azula or Zuko or King Kuei or some other Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom royal or noble take multiple partners, that would actually be reasonably historically accurate. It seems like the Fire Nation royalty has avoided polygamy in recent decades (or you would expect the royal family to be much, much bigger), but isn't the point at the end of the series that they are supposed to return to old ways?

Interestingly, some of this applies to the Water Tribes as well. Although I don't know nearly as much about this subject as I know about East Asian royalty and I don't want to say anything too confidentially, I know some Inuit groups sometimes practiced polygamy. I also know that some groups sometimes practiced "spouse exchanges" where two couples would temporarily exchange spouses in order to create fictive kinship between them. Although the SWT is not identical to historical Inuit groups and the NWT in particular seems very, very different with it's city and state, I think you could definitely justify polyamory being in the tradition of both Water Tribes.

While the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Water Tribes might have traditions of polygyny (where one man marries multiple women), the Air Nomads might have a very different traditions. They are inspired at least in part by Tibetan Buddhism, and Tibet has it's own traditions of plural marriage. Historically, the most common type was fraternal polyandry, in which two or more brothers would take the same wife. However, apparently polygyny, conjoint marriages, and of course monogamous marriages were also historically acceptable in Tibetan society. Of course, there were specific economic reasons why fraternal polyandry made sense in Tibet, which might not apply to the Air Nomads and we really don't get a sense of how their marriages and family life might look like, but it's another reminder not to force their culture into "Western marriage norms, circa 2007."

With all the various forms of plural marriage that would theoretically be culturally appropriate, I think you can culturally justify just about any form of polyamory you are interested in writing.

[metellastella]

It’s so funny to me that we got art of the grown-up Gaang so late after the series ended.

Because in those intervening years, I pictured Aang and Toph being small adults. I mean they’re both literally based on Chinese people (and Tibet).

So Toph would continue to be this force to be reckoned with, but look unassuming- the Pint-Sized Powerhouse trope, or Cute Bruiser.

And Aang would always be this dainty-looking airbender who was maximally enabled to fling himself in the air and flip and stuff

as it goes,

He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease

A daring young man on the flying trapeze

His movements were graceful, all girls he could please

So now I’m reflecting on the fact that I’ve just written a passage that references almost-sixteen year old Aang’s ‘canon’ height, and reminiscing about when I wrote older!Toph as a moderately-muscly-but-still-small woman.

[theduckeminence]

Yk a part of me wonders why the Fire Nation is often more explored and well-liked by the fandom than other nations like the Water Tribes or Air Nonads.

Like yeah, the Earth Kingdom has its fair share of interest among the fandom but my point still stands

I just wanna know why so many people gravitate more towards the Fire Nation than any of the other nations.

[kyoshi-lesbians]

hi anon 👋 i'm not going to respond directly to that post (there's a lot there) but I will go into why I personally find ty lee & suki interesting!

the fun part of tysuki for me is that they would not get along at first. it would take time for both of them to trust each other and significant growth, especially for ty lee. (also, to note for this analysis, I interpret ty lee as having air nomad heritage and being aware of this in some way. that’s just sort of the base for any post-war imaginings I have for ty lee. an interpretation of their relationship where ty lee is not an air nomad is interesting for how it is a sort of microcosm of the decolonization and reconciliation that must take place after the war, but I won't delve into that.) what makes their dynamic compelling to me is suki’s justified distrust of ty lee and ty lee striving to become worthy of suki’s trust −  because she would respect suki, who leads the warriors with love and compassion and without competition, unlike any group ty lee has been part of before (including the circus, the cruelty of which we see through the eyes of appa). 

first step would be ty lee sincerely apologizing to suki for her role in the war. no matter the circumstances ty lee was operating under, she caused immense harm to the world and suki personally. ty lee may have earned the trust of the other warriors but suki wasn't there for that - that suki doesn't advocate to kick her out of the warriors is a testament to the level of trust between suki and her sister warriors, and probably the structure of decision making in the group as well (consensus or majority rule). 

but as an ongoing practice, ty lee would struggle to let her guard down around the leader of a powerful warrior group, while some honest vulnerability is a part of what suki would need to trust ty lee after the war. their skills and personalities complement each other, but only after they understand the logic the other operates under. 

as intelligent as ty lee is, as much as she can recognize and appreciate that the kyoshi warriors have a unique culture that is nothing like the fire nation, ty lee has been operating under (cultural) threat for her entire life in the fire nation and direct physical threat from azula for several years (childhood, with a break from her time in the circus, to being back under her thumb in more danger than ever.) her way of navigating the world wouldn’t completely change, but I do think it will take time, energy, and a lot of healing for ty lee to develop a ways of relating to people (other than mai) that are more emotionally honest and healthy.

but ty lee could. as a part of the warriors she would start using her people skills for group cohesion instead of solely her default state of personal protection (and, even more important to her, protection of mai). she starts to consciously consider it her social role/ responsibility within the warriors to manage the tense moments that come up in any large group −  even a tight knit, disciplined sisterhood like the kyoshi warriors. once suki recognizes ty lee is actively choosing to do this for the group, only then does she fully emotionally accept ty lee as one of the warriors. suki (to her own surprise) even starts to rely on ty lee's perceptiveness for group dynamics during difficult situations.

however to suki's dismay, ty lee can read her too, including when suki is struggling but not showing it for the sake of the other warriors. initially suki would be deeply uncomfortable with this, offended even when ty lee attempts to support suki personally (how dare she question suki's leadership? suki is fine. she's a teenager leading an elite warrior group while reconstructing her village, their island, other towns in the earth kingdom, providing advice to the fire lord to maintain world peace, she's fine, she even got a full 4 hours of sleep last night. she doesn't need ty lee telling her to take a nap while ty lee takes over leading afternoon training) but suki grows to accept the support, eventually recognizing that she has a responsibility to her girls to take care of herself.

I'm oscillating on whether they would develop a leader/second-in-command type dynamic. it's a role ty lee could slot into comfortably, hopefully now in a healthy way. either way, the work they go through to trust and understand each other would, i think, create something beautiful. 

and maybe, after some time (and a visit from aang) ty lee would open up about her heritage to suki. and suki, who as a kyoshi islander exists on the margins of the earth kingdom and whose home was destroyed by colonial powers, would understand. (this shared personal understanding is maybe the one thing that mai can't provide ty lee. and I think mai would recognize this and be grateful for the people in ty lee's life who can, like suki.)

ty lee wouldn't stay on kyoshi island forever… maybe a year or so before moving on to the most important mission for herself and the most meaningful she could do in the service of kyoshi: rebuilding the air nation with aang and her own family. but when she or suki need some rest or some fun, kyoshi island is just a bison ride away.

[the-badger-mole]

Do you believe in the “Ty Lee is an Air Nomad” theory? I think it would work with your thoughts on how Air Nomads treat non-benders.

"Believe" is the wrong word for it. I find the idea interesting, and I think it adds depth to Ty Lee's background and history, but do I think that was the canon intent? Probably not, but only because I don't think the writing team put that much thought into her. That being said, the lack of care given to her development means that pretty much anything goes, as long as the story is compelling enough.

[elijones94]

🌸 Is Ty Lee an air nomad? 🔥

[horroraceman93]

An overprotective Azula holding Ty Lee back from anyone would take Ty Lee from her.

That's a Femslash February 2024 Fanart all right!

[echothelover]

Sure ATLA canon says Aang is the last air bender, but that's not going to stop me from writing about an Air Nomad diaspora in every single one of my fics

[greenmoons]

How Ty Lee learned chi-blocking?

Yes, I know about all of the of airbender ancestor theory or she is an airbender herself, but I don't like it, I think it's stupid. This ability is ancient one, part of the history, was known in all four nations, airbending is not related. Maybe they invented it long time ago, but regardless, it's not related. The water tribe learned about chi in healings and all of that so they might have invented it themselves. We do not know. So yes Ty Lee has grey eyes, who cares. The eyes are the only hint for a possible ancestor, which could be logical because we know from avatar legends that's a lot of airbenders lived in the Fire nation in Roku's era. But it's still not an explanation for her abilities.

What I want to talk about is how she learned this secret technique. We saw in the Avatar comics chi-blockers from the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom, but only now in the roleplaying game we got information about chi-blockers besides Ty Lee.

Fai Lan was a gang member in the Fire's nation capital city who knew chi-blocking. He was active few years before the series begin. Now a little reminder, Ty Lee had a hard time with her sisters, it wasn't easy for her in her house. So, she could have meet him at some point in the street of the city, even though it's not a place for a nobleman daughter to be, Ty Lee doesn't seem one who care. So, she could learn it from him, even before the circus she was good in acrobatics, so he could be impressed by her.

I know it can be sound weird that a criminal will notice Ty Lee and won't hurt her. So I have another direction but it less solid. There was another person from the Fire Nation who knew chi-blocking, it was Zeisan, Sozin's sister. Maybe she taught the technique to someone and this person was there to teach Ty Lee or someone else this person taught the chi-blocking. If Ty Lee's knowledge indirectly related to Sozin's sister it could be really interesting and ironic.

[polls4you]

Avatar The Last Airbender: Choose your favorite character! (Quarterfinals)

[smokenpoptarts]

Does anyone else remember the post someone made about air nomad refugees fleeing during the war? There were benders and non-benders that called the air temples home, just like every other nation. There has to be descendants of their people even if they aren’t airbenders. Obviously the people born with air bending capabilities were taken by fire nation.

I bring this up because that same person mentioned Ty Lee and her family. Ty Lee is a very spiritual person and her overall demeanor screams air nomad descendant.

The war went on for 100 years…Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were all born during the last 15 years of war. I need more on what happened when the war started and Aang first froze.

[did-we-imagine]

Actually, the very proof that Aang is a prodigy is in the show (very subtle, but QUITE there):

A. He learned waterbending easier than even Katara who was a native waterbender (ik ik she didnt get training at the start, but normally, you'd expect the avatar to have more difficulties with the other elements they weren't native to). Not only this, but my personal hypothesis is that Aang learned that easily because both air and water are fluid elements so he was smart enough to transpose some airbending concepts to waterbending (and he might even use his air bending to enhance manipulation of water, as logically, air bending probably allows for some measure of telekinesis 😆).

B. What OP said, the tattoos as well as him inventing the 36th form. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but I think that Toph and Aang are more prodigious than Azula (not dunking on her by any means, so pls take no offense Azula stans), by virtue of them inventing a new bending form (for Aang), and a new SUB bending (for Toph).

C. My dude learned 4 elements in 01 year when most avatars take a long time to (Korra was like 16-18 and yet she couldn't airbend very well if my memory serves me well??? The other avatars learn of their status at 16 whereas my boy did this at 12...OK 112, but you get the idea, and Roku spent like 12 years learning apparently). He also pulled energybending and lightning redirection correctly on the first try (mind you energybending was UNHEARD of until he came !!! NOT EVEN YANGCHEN, the other air nomad avatar knew of it).

D. Zuko compared him to Azula, probably because he got the vibe or whatever.

E. My dude beat up the one craziest firebender on fucking steroids whom even the seasoned war veteran general (aka Iroh) wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole. To put things into perspective, everyone else was terrified of the guy, to the point where no talented adult bender ever tried their luck with him.

I will probably be stirring the shitpot, but arguments aside, I don't think that prodigiousness or bending prowess should factor in how we judge characters (i mean dure appreciating skill is 200% valid but using it as an anti-character X argument is stupid LOL), so even if Antis use this, it's not...The scale-tipping argument that will somehow make people dislike Aang or whatever.

And regardless of prodigiousness vs hard work stances, what matters the most is the progress and the heights that one reaches (i.e: Katara is a very zigzagged example which I believe to be a mixture of both, though ppl have diff opinions, BUT either way, she is fucking fabulous).

Getting really tired of all the Aang hate/criticism (honestly I can't even call it criticism because it's just that stupid) that I've been seeing on my dash lately. Mainly by people who for some reason, don't think that Aang is an airbending prodigy/master because we are only "told and not shown that he is one". Like....guys. The literal airbending tattoos on his body prove that he is a master:

The only way for an airbender to get his or her tattoos is by becoming a master, as was stated in the show. Not to mention that Aang was also the youngest airbender to have received his. Also, saying that we don't see him practicing his airbending is so dumb. Seriously, why would they show us that, when he literally did that 100 years prior to the show starting, hence the tattoos? Throughout the show we see Aang doing amazing things with his airbending that proves he is indeed a prodigy. Denying this just proves that you didn't watch the show at all, but rather you saw a version that you made up in your head.

And if you really want to go there with the whole "we aren't really shown how or why Aang got his prodigy status" you wanna know who else fits that bill? Toph and Azula. With Toph, we're given the flashback of her learning from the badger moles when she was lost in the cave.

But outside of this moment? Nothing. We aren't shown her training to hone her skills or anything like that. When we meet Toph in book 2, we are told that she is an earthbending prodigy and the perfect person to teach Aang earthbending. The only reasons we are given for this is that she "waits and listens for the right moment to strike", something that Bumi told Aang was key to mastering earthbending, and because she's blind but can still earthbend and kick ass like it's nobody's business. Same thing with Azula. When we first meet her, we see her bending lightning.

This is quite obviously a powerful technique. But are we given a reason as to when and how she learned and eventually mastered it? No. Azula's firebending is blue, and as we know, she is the only firebender who's fire is this color.

We aren't given an explanation as to why this is in the show, however. Nobody in universe really comments on it, Zuko and Iroh don't bring it up either. Which, considering the fact that in her childhood, her firebending was the same color as every other firebender's, you'd think that would be a conversation at some point.

And yet it isn't. In fact, the only explanation for this, as far as I know? Comes from the art book. Mike and Bryan wanted Azula's firebending to look different from Zuko's in their final fight, which is why they decided to make her firebending blue. Much like with Toph, we aren't shown Azula training throughout the years to perfect her bending, or throughout the present timeline. So this whole stupid argument against Aang does not hold up at all. Stop hating on his character just because you prefer a different ship to the canon pairings, I'm begging you.

[illycanary]

What Aang’s Relationship With His Kids Tells Us About His Relationship With Katara

Bumi: “Oh, boo-hoo. Must've been real hard for you, flying around the world with dad, riding elephant-koi all day.”

Tenzin: “Oh, so that's what this is all about.”

Kya: “That's what it's always been about. You think you're some savior who has to carry on dad's legacy.”

Tenzin: “Who else is going to do it?”

Kya: “How about all of us?”

Bumi: “Yeah, we're Aang's kids too.”

The whole problem with this family is, Aang didn’t believe that.

Aang has a long, undeviating track record of never questioning anything he believes about the Air Nomads. Who the hell has a perfect and complete understanding of their society, government, international relations, education system, religion, morality, genetics, and reproduction at age 12? According to Aang? He does. 

The entire lynchpin of Aang’s Book 3 arc is all about how Air Nomads are pacifists and cannot ever under any circumstances harm a life. (We’re going to ignore the body count Aang’s already wracked up over the first two seasons for the sake of preserving his feelings because those were soulless NPCs or something.) 

And yet Aang never questions this…

Monk Gyatso’s bones surrounded by a pile of Fire Nation soldier bones. The picture doesn’t fit Aang’s image of Air Nomad peace and harmony, so he ignores it entirely. It NEVER comes up despite its overwhelming relevance to Aang’s internal conflict and the sorts of advice he seeks from authority figures in the third season (despite Monk Gyatso being the penultimate authority figure in Aang’s life).

Another thing Aang never questions?

There’s no such thing as a non-airbending Air Nomad. They’re just all born that spiritual. And spirituality is the golden key that unlocks bending. (Because Bryke said so.)

Despite Guru Pathik not being a bender. Despite the fact that Zhao, literal spirit murderer, is one. Despite Toph—the most un-spiritual, cynical, feet-on-the-ground-head-nowhere-near-the-clouds member of Aang’s friend group—being the most powerful bender of the lot. Despite Hama being a waterbender equal to none but Katara while completely cut off from her culture and turning her back on everything we believe about water bending’s inherent ties to community, connectedness, and love (Iroh’s words). Despite Azula mastering the god-tier lightning technique BECAUSE she’s practically dead inside and values life least of all things. Despite the fact that Princess Yue has the literal MOON SPIRIT THAT IS THE SOURCE OF ALL WATERBENDING living inside her, and yet she still somehow manages to not be a bender.

Despite the fact that Air Nomads roam all over the world, sewing their wilds oats throughout every nation, yet no airbending toddlers ever crop up in Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom preschools. 

Despite the fact that non-monogamous societies where men have multiple partners father more children and boost the population faster than in societies that favor “attached” relationships, yet the all-airbending Air Nomads still somehow have the smallest population of any ethnic group in the world. 

Despite the fact that Aang’s twin, Ty Lee, is RIGHT. THERE. with her unparalleled aura-seeing, chakra blocking spirituality and her GRAY EYES in a world where color coding is ~totally~ not a thing… *sigh* 

But nope. Air Nomad parentage = airbending child. Always.

So when Katara births a child that is… not an airbender? Not any kind of bender at all, in fact. There’s only one logical conclusion (in Aang’s mind). 

That is not Aang’s child. 

Aang never had a problem traveling with non-airbenders before. He was non-exclusionary by nature. Katara and Toph and Zuko were welcome. Sokka and Suki were welcome. The more, the merrier, in fact. Because Aang loves nothing as much as he loves an adoring audience.

Yet Bumi never travelled with Aang.

Bumi’s as old in this picture as Aang was in the first series. He had an entire decade in which he should have been the most important thing in his parents’ lives. His personality was already more or less formed (not completed, but the groundwork was laid) by the time Tenzin came along. Bumi’s inferiority issues began long before there were any airbending children around to siphon Aang’s attention for training purposes. 

Aang and Katara didn’t have another child until Bumi was on the verge of adolescence because Aang was convinced that Katara cheated. And I’m guessing it took Mr. “Let Your Anger Out, And Then Let It Go” about ten years to forgive his wife and give her the chance to get it right. (Which is at least four years longer than he gave her to forgive her mother’s murderer, in case you forgot.)

Acolyte: “Sorry, I thought you were the servants.”

Bumi: “We’re Tenzin’s brother and sister!”

Acolyte: “Avatar Aang had other children? The world is filled with more airbenders?!”

Kya: “We’re not airbenders.”

Acolyte: “Oh… I’m so sorry.”

The Air Acolytes—whose whole identity, purpose, lifestyle, and religion center around every detail of this man's life and beliefs—didn't know Aang had more than one child.

The best case scenario here is that Aang simply pretended his older children didn’t exist because he was ashamed of them and made Katara keep them shut away at all times. 

And maybe that could have worked… If Aang and Katara had ever had any privacy in their relationship. But they didn’t.

The Air Acolytes have been following Aang and Katara since the comics. They’ve been there at every step of Aang and Katara’s life together. Observing. Fangirling. Emulating. Diefying. Looking for weaknesses in the relationship because Katara was only his “first girlfriend.” 

Yet, somehow, they didn’t know Aang had three children. 

I can’t imagine a way for them not to know unless Aang actively told people, “Those aren’t my kids,” and let Katara bear the shame and stigma of having the world believe she was unfaithful. 

All because Aang couldn't entertain the idea that he was wrong about some facet of a society he never understood clearly.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Perfect argument! I agree 100%. LOK really highlighted some of ATLA's flaws. I was ok accepting all the airbenders were gone as a kid until that dumb harmonic convergence happened.

Especially when I read the headcanon about Ty Lee being an airbender descendant, it made way more sense that airbenders had mingled with fire nation and earth kingdom people and had mixed race kids.

I wish we had book 4: air where Aang found hidden airbenders. That would have been a way more satisfying payoff that Korra messing up and being dumb for the millionth time and accidentally bringing back the air nomads. Curious that all the new airbenders were from the earth kingdom...I wonder why... :(

Even though the genocide is dumb in hindsight, I don't mind putting my disbelief aside since it does send a sad message about the horrors of war. Sometimes cultures are lost and it takes decades to somewhat recover. I wish LOK had committed to that sad reality of the burden being on Jinora, Ikki and Melo to continue air nomad tradition. See how Korra and they navigate the world. But no! Bryke are crap writers!

The Airbender Extermination Is Dumbo and I Refuse to Accept It

So I’ve been thinking about re-watching and finally finishing The Legend of Korra, weighing the pros and cons of subjecting myself to that frustrating jumble of half-baked ideas all over again. And while I was doing that, I remembered the precise moment when I went “no, you know what, fuck it, you people lied to me, the show in fact doesn’t get better, it’s doing the exact same thing it’s always done and I’m fucking tired of it.”

“Oh, why would you ever say the protagonist is a static reactive disaster who never learns or progresses or stops being jostled around by the actions of others while the narrative keeps praising her as a wise empathetic person who eventually makes the right decisions? BTW, the last decision Korra made with no thinking whatsoever was a doomsday level of apocalyptically bad but it did bring airbenders back, somehow, outside of anyone’s control or intentions. I mean, it’s not like this was ever on the table and Korra had to purposefully think about whether to bring back airbenders in exchange for infesting the world with uncontrollable spirits, or keep it as was, with no spirits and only three elemental nations. But in case you were wondering how in the hell can airbenders returning be chalked up to Korra being a good Avatar and not a monumental fuck-up, here’s Tenzin praising her for the umpteenth time!”

And as I was rage-quitting the show, I kept thinking, “Man, they really screwed themselves over with the worldbuilding all the way back in ATLA if this was the only way they could think of to bring airbenders back.”

Because while the majority of ATLA’s problems is rooted in the developments of Book 3, there’d been some questionable stuff baked into the show’s fabric right from the beginning.

Like the idea that there having been a complete extermination of Air Nomads bar Aang is totally plausible and shouldn’t be treated by viewers as a red herring for an eventual revelation there’ve been pockets of them hiding around the world the whole time.

So let’s run down the list of things which needed to happen in order for the notion to be even remotely acceptable, shall we?

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