The Avatar franchise’s titular hero is defined by more than just their ability to wield the abilities of all four elements; beyond their martial and spiritual prowess is a transcendental link to previous inheritors of the mantle stretching across thousands of years of history. But as we prepare for the news of a new Avatar show—and with it, the next incarnation of the Avatar—we’ve learned that they’re going to be facing a very different world and reputation, as well as a ramification that has changed the cycle of their ancestors forever.
The First Avatar
While it’s never been explicitly acknowledged just how many Avatars there have been—the young female protagonist of Seven Havens will be just the 10th we know of by name, but the implication is that there have been over a hundred—we do know that the first, Wan, ascended to the Avatar state roughly 10,000 years before the events of The Last Airbender.
Wan did so at the climax of an untold conflict between two spiritual forces: Vaatu, an entity of darkness, and Raava, a symbiotically and spiritually connected entity of light. Ten thousand years prior, during a rare planetary alignment known as a Harmonic Convergence—a cyclical event where the world is enveloped in spiritual energy, and Vaatu and Raava traditionally battled over the fate of the world for the next 10,000 years—Raava had managed to successfully seal Vaatu within the spirit realm, creating balance in the world. But Wan, deceived by Vaatu’s own machinations, managed to inadvertently sever the connection between Vaatu and Raava, unleashing chaos upon the world.
Hoping to make up for his grievous mistake, Wan journeyed with the spirit of Raava as he took on the task of learning to manipulate the four primary elements in the bending arts, so that he could fight alongside Raava in the next Harmonic Convergence. When the time came to fight Vaatu once more, Wan and Raava’s spirits merged, leading to the creation of the Avatar state, and Wan’s ability to wield all four elements at once. Victorious over Raava and once again sealing the dark spirit in the spirit realm, Wan resolved to return spirits from the physical world to their own and close the portals between them, so only he could act as the bridge between planes of existence.
How the Cycle Works…
Although the Avatar’s connection to Raava could grant an extended lifespan, they were still mortal beings. When Wan’s life was at an end, Raava ensured him that the tasks he’d set out to achieve as the balance between the physical and spirit worlds would be inherited across generations of future bearers of the mantle, beginning a cycle of spiritual reincarnation over the next 10,000 years known as the Avatar Cycle. Simply put: when one Avatar died, they would reincarnate, being born in another physical body that carried a connection to their past lives as well as Wan’s mastery of the four bending elements.
Raava and Wan’s own journey together prior to their battle with Vaatu dictated a key part of the cycle. In order for the Avatar to represent a need for harmony not just between the physical and spirt worlds, but also among the four primary kingdoms of the world that had risen up around the bending arts, the Avatar would reincarnate in a cycle that went through descendants from each of the nations. The order of reincarnation was based on the order in which Wan mastered the elements: Fire, then Air, then Water, then Earth.
Although the Avatar would be born with their connection to Raava and the generations of Avatars that came before them—as well as their inherent ability to wield multiple elements—they would not be fully realized until they gained control over the Avatar state, something that would only come with their mastery of all four elemental bending arts. Traditionally, the Avatar would journey between the four nations in the same order Wan had before them to learn the ways of each respective bending art, acting as part pan-national diplomat, and part spiritual leader.
… And How It Was Broken
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