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By the time we get to Avatar Aang’s time inAvatar: The Last Airbender, theAvatar Cyclehas gone on unbroken for nearly 10,000 years. We get a glimpse of how the Avatar was created in Legend of Korra, but even then, the world has had a long and varied history that predated the Avatar, where spirits ran free and no human could bend the elements.
From when humans built cities on the backs of lion turtles to constructing their own distinct kingdoms, the timeline is defined through the era before Raava, the Era of Raava, and then the Age of the Avatar.
The Era Before Raava
In essence the beginning of time,there was not much known about the age before Raava, nor is there a detailed explanation of an origin myth of how the world began.
However, during this time,the Mother of Faces gave birth to Koh, the Face Stealer, who eventually became estranged from his mother and went off on his own.The Moon Spirits, Tui and La, also decided to stay permanently in the mortal world, manifesting as koi fish in the North Pole.
But most importantly,Vaatu disintegrated the barrier between the mortal and spirit worlds, which allowed both realms to coexist in the same plane and set up the state of the world we see in the Era of Raava.
The Era Of Raava
The first Harmonic Convergence occurred in this era, with Raava and Vaatu fated to do battle to see whether the forces of light or dark would prevail - the two primordial spirits willbattle again in the next Harmonic Convergence, which occurs every 10,000 years.
With the human and spirit worlds fused into one due to Vaatu’s actions,humans become vulnerable to the mischievous and, at times, malicious natures of spirits and the Spirit Wilds. At some point, humans sought refuge on the lion turtles, who agreed to house and protect them, and slowlyhuman cities began to spring up on the backs of these ancient creatures.
When humans need to hunt or roam about,the lion turtles grant them the ability to bend the element they have an affinity with, as a form of protection against the spirits. As soon as they’ve finished their business outside,the lion turtles will remove their bending abilitiesand the humans will return to the cities.
By the time Wan was grown,humans had lost knowledge of the existence of other human settlements, and we already see the beginnings of the Four Nations taking shape in their culture and traditions.
Towards the end of the Era of Raava,Wan intervenes between Raava and Vaatu and causes Vaatu to escape. Darkness begins to grow unchecked and, as penance,Wan and Raava visit all the lion turtles to obtain all four elements. It wasn’t until the second Harmonic Convergence thatWan and Raava permanently merged into one being, creating the first Avatar, and successfully defeating Vaatu and locking him away in the Tree of Time.
Avatar Wanclosed the portals to the Spirit Worldand the human race, having been permanently granted bending powers by the lion turtles, left to establish their own nations. The lion turtles, no longer acting as protectors of mankind, disperse andthe Age of the Avatar begins.
First Age Of The Avatar
Although wars raged due to various groups of people getting used to each other again, the human race began refining their newly acquired bending bylearning from the original masters of their respective elements: the dragon; the sky bison; the badgermole; the Moon. What soon followed was thebuilding of major cities like Ba Sing Se and Omashu, and the founding of the Four Nations.
In the early stages of this era, despite being called the Four Nations,each nation had tiny disparate kingdoms or tribes and were known to war with each other. Gradually,the nations were unified, resulting in the first Fire Lord and the first Earth King. Although the Fire Lord was more of a spiritual leader - head of the Fire Sages and akin to the Air Nomads - over time,the position turned into that of an absolute monarch.
Interestingly, unlike what it was from the time ofAvatar Yangchenup to Aang’s time,different benders lived in the same community. However,segregation became the order of the day, and it was enforced to the point of violence. Only a single settlement,the Lambak Clan, was able to resist attempts at segregation, as they were able to tap into a spiritual power known as the ‘Yungib’ to defend themselves -it all came to an end after Avatar Roku severed the spirit’s link to the mortal world.
From Szeto To Kyoshi
Each Avatar has a mountain to climb,and flits between the roles of peacekeeper, diplomat and politician. We only know the full stories of several Avatars, such as Szeto. The Avatar from the Fire Nation preceding Roku,Szeto was dealing with an unstable Fire Nation on the brink of collapse.
Szeto devoted his time to strengthening the Fire Nation, working as a low-ranking member of the government and working his way up, refusing to jump hoops due to his status as the Avatar. He was successful in his endeavour, and after his death, it was Avatar Yangchen’s turn.
As hinted in her conversation with Aang,Yangchen had to suspend the Air Nomad disciplines she had been raised inand had to learn and adapt to the seedy world of politics every Avatar eventually becomes involved in.She was involved with stopping the Unanimity project, the first recorded case of combustionbenders in history. She also made deals with spirits to keep the peace, but sadly, this didn’t last and became Avatar Kuruk’s problem to deal with.
After a lifetime of dealing with dark spirits, Avatar Kuruk dies and then comes Avatar Kyoshi.It took until she was 16 that people realised she was the Avatar, after mistakenly naming her best friend Yun as the Avatar instead. Known as a no-nonsense Avatar, Kyoshi not only destroyed the Fifth Nation (a nation of pirates) but she killed Chin the Conqueror and stopped his conquest, as well as establishing the Dai Li and starting the Kyoshi Warriors.
She lived to the age of 230, and the next Avatar, Roku, is a story we know very well.
Avatar Aang And The Hundred-Year War
Avatar Roku’s life was initially spent bridging peaceful relations between other nations and dealing with spiritual conflicts, but laterhe was consumed by Sozin’s unquenchable ambition to conquer the world. Since Roku was best friends with Sozin,he did not have the willingness to kill his frienddespite realising the danger Sozin presented to keeping the balance in the world.
After Roku was betrayed by Sozin and left for dead,Sozin is finally able to kickstart his campaign, starting the Hundred-Year War by using the Comet to annihilate the Air Nation, since they were next in the Avatar Cycle. As we all know, Aang escaped, and with his disappearance,the Fire Nation made great strides over the next century, nearly destroying the Southern Water Tribe and wearing down the Earth Kingdom.
Sozin’s heir Azulon continued his father’s ambition, and this was amplified tenfold byOzai. In 99 AG, Aang broke out of the iceberg and turbocharged his training to be ready to face Ozai within a year. He was able todefeat Ozai in 100 AG, taking away his firebending and finally stopping the Hundred-Year War.
The Aftermath Of The Hundred-Year War
As expected at the end of any war, there are a lot of messes to clean up. Fire Lord Zuko launched an operation to bring to justice Fire Nation officials who committed war crimes during the war. However, the biggest point of contention was what to do with the Fire Nation colonies.
Another war nearly broke out due to an inability to reach an agreement, but eventually,the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom agreed to leave the colonies as an independent state, resulting in the founding of a fifth nation, Republic City.
Avatar Aang continues to work towards peace and the revival of the Air Nation, dying in 153 AG.
Second Age Of The Avatar
Avatar Korra’s career as a fully-realised Avatar didn’t initially kickstart the Second Age of the Avatar until the end of Season 2 of the Legend of Korra. After successfully stopping the Equalists, Korra was tricked into opening the spirit portals and allowing her uncle,Unalaq, to complete his plan to merge with Vaatu as the first Dark Avatar.
The third Harmonic Convergence happens, and Raava and Vaatu do battle once again using their mortal vessels. Although Korra defeats Unalaq and Vaatu,Raava dies momentarily due to being subsumed by the darkness. As a result,Korra’s connection to the past Avatars is lost and a Second Age of the Avatar starts when Raava is reborn.
Korra decides to leave the spirit portals openand the mortal and spirit worlds are one for the first time since Wan closed them thousands of years ago. She fends off the Red Lotus' murderous plot, and stops Kuvira from launching another world war after she announces the establishment of the ‘Earth Empire’.
Although it isn’t established whether it happened before or after Korra’s death,what’s described as a ‘devastating cataclysm’ wrought havoc upon the world.A new Earth Avatar succeeds Korra, but her identity and story remain to be seen until the release of Nickelodeon’s new series, Avatar: Seven Havens.
