Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has brought a lot of attention to the original series and several details in it. The debates surrounding various Avatar topics also became active on discussion forums and social media platforms. Among them, many fans reignited the conversation about how Aang was responsible for the hundred-year war to last that long. Several defenders of Aang tried to provide a perspective as to why it was not Aang’s fault.
Aang followed in the footsteps of Avatar Roku as the new Avatar of his time, but he had to take over as Avatar at the age of 12. Due to the burden of his duties as an Avatar, Aang ran away and got entrapped in ice for about a hundred years while the war raged on.
Avatar Fans Attempt To Clear The Biggest Misconception About Aang
Avatar: The Last Airbender fans still blame Aang for running away from his responsibility as an Avatar and failing to stop the hundred-year war, thus causing the suffering and genocide of an entire culture. When an X account pointed out the consequences of Aang’s incompetence, several fans came to the defense of the Airbending Avatar.
One fan had to remind these fans that Nickelodeon’s Avatar included a scene where Avatar Roku shows up with a confession to Aang. He tells Aang that the hundred-year war and the consequent genocide were all his fault. Fans argue that Roku who’s much older, wiser, and more experienced than Aang could have easily stopped Fire Lord Sozin.
Fans accuse Roku of giving in to his emotions about Sozin, who was once his best friend. One fan shared that Roku made a clear mess by failing to stop his friend and it was Aang who later cleaned up this mess. Another fan also pointed out that when fans blame Aang, they often forget that he was literally a 12-year-old child burdened with a huge responsibility.
Fans shared that people put unfair expectations on the young Avatar, who later managed to exceed these expectations and went on to revive his tribe, the Air Nation. One fan also commented that the entire franchise was about how the choices made by various Avatars had long-term consequences in other’s timelines. Fan reactions read:
The writers had to include an entire scene where Roku shows up and confesses to Aang that the genocide and the war was all his fault. Despite that, the fandom still has brain dead fans who blame Aang for it. I’m convinced some of y’all never watched the show https://t.co/jhibxoi48J pic.twitter.com/YL8jm1b3tw
— daily aang (@aangdaily) March 17, 2024
That's why it's a script, opinions will always differ, though I also don't blame Aang for what happened.
Emotion made Roku fail and that made it his fault, he should have dealt with Sozin earlier.
— Sportify (@_Sportify) March 17, 2024
They never really understood the whole story. Roku could have ended it but didn't because of friendship
— iceS0S (@IceEndorphins) March 17, 2024
Aang literally cleaned roku’s mess. And y’all keep saying this as if it wasn’t his tribe that was wiped out.
— lucid メ (@lucidwontmiss) March 17, 2024
I would like to add that Aang was literally a child when he disappeared, him being the avatar doesn’t change that fact. People put these unfair expectations on Aang as if he’s a grown adult despite the show making a point to emphasize how young he and the gaang are.
— heather 𓆉 (@heatherrxg) March 17, 2024
I feel like all of you are missing the point of the franchise as a whole:
ALL of the Avatars (at least the ones we know so far) made choices that had long-term consequences in their succesors' lifetimes, and it's a fool's errand to say that one person's mistake was "the worst".
— Immanuel Arriaga (@immy_future) March 17, 2024
While the first season of the Netflix adaptation received a mixed reception, the series was renewed for a second and third season in March 2024 (via EW). Fans of the original series were highly critical of the live-action series, as the storyline was rushed and many interesting elements were omitted from the original. A few also had a problem with Gordon Cormier‘s Aang, who appears to be much softer than the animated version.
Avatar Roku Failed To Stop The Hundred-Year War Due To His Friendship
The predecessor of Aang, Avatar Roku, hailed from the Fire Nation and was best friends with Prince Sozin. Roku worked towards maintaining peace between the four nations at a time of complex political issues. When Sozin finally became the Fire Lord and Roku fully realized his Avatar status, their friendship became strained.
Sozin wanted the Fire Nation to dominate the world but Roku opposed this idea. The two had a confrontation in which Roku defeated Sozin and they never spoke to each other for years. However, Roku’s reluctance to end his friend’s life resulted in his death eventually. Thus began the hundred-year war and the suffering of the three other nations.
Avatar Roku firmly believed that Aang was destined to amend his mistakes, which clearly indicates that Aang was not the one to be blamed for the war and the genocide.
