Avatar: The Best Charater Development

Welcome back to Channel Surfin'!

Today I will be talking about one of my favourite kid's show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Debuting in 2005, it was well received with loveable characters, an amazing setting with a terrific storyline premise that garnered a sequel, The Legend of Korra, after it's initial end. One of the great features of this show is the character's progress over the series. Each one embarks on a different and unique journey within themselves that molds who they become. Bear in mind, that if you haven't seen it yet, Spoiler Alert.

Starting at the beginning of the show, we are introduced to the main characters, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko, each one possessing destinies bound to Aang, the Avatar. Over the course of the series, we witness these characters go through a great change in their abilities. Aang starts off as a goofy kid, but develops into a battle hardened kid who understands his true calling to the world. Katara is a hopeful girl who goes on to become the group's grounding anchor to keep them all together. Sokka begins as a boy trying to follow in his father's footsteps in becoming a war chief. Over time, he soon becomes the group's main leader learning to be more strategic in their travels, which helps them out in the most difficult stiuations. Later on in the show we are also introduced to Toph, a blind girl with the power to earthbend. We are introduced to her as a strong, independant girl who is held back by her parents. As the story moves, she continues to keep this personality and becomes more battle hardened, just like the rest of the gang. But, the most prominent person to show development is Zuko.

Left to right: Toph, Aang, Sokka, Katara

Zuko is a banished prince who has been assigned a seemingly impossible task, to capture Avatar Aang. Because of this reason, he becomes one of the shows main antagonists. As the show progresses though, we soon discover that Zuko is not doing it for himself, but rather for his father. He struggles to find his place in the world, because he has always been assigned tasks that he believes are his true purpose. Conflicted and torn about his place in the world, Zuko is constantly angsty, displaying the signs of a typical teenager. Over time though, he soon discovers his true place and changes from the once moody, annoying antagonist to the likable hero, fighting alongside the Avatar.

Zuko Season 1

Zuko Season 3. See the difference?

While there are other characters within the show that sums up Avatar's truly amazing character development, these are the four standout characters. These are the characters that we can all learn from. And these are the characters that are a perfect example of amazing storywriting.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my brief insight into the wonders of the character development in Avatar: The Last Airbender. If you are a fan of good storytelling, fantasy and you haven't actually seen it yet, I do recommend watching it. Then follow it up with the sequel, The Legend of Korra. It is much more action based. Stay tuned for more posts to come, later on in the future.

Davo. Out