I think its a stretch to assume that Katara has never met any of her three grandchildren before simply because the five year old doesn't recognize her.
Yeah, they do live about half a world away from each other, and with Korra finishing her training at the pole Katara has only just gotten free time to come and visit, of course the five year old doesn't recognise her, she probably hasn't been back the last few years, but the older kids do because of course she visited occasionally
In our world it is also a day of flying, but if you ask someone whose family lives halfway round the world how often they see each other it's probably not that often
Tenzin was also on the council too at the time so he was helping govern Republic City too. Season 2 stated that Tenzin got more free time since they converted to a democracy electing their first president and ge wasn't needed anymore.
Seriously. Tenzin has a whole huge family, is an excellent involved father, has a demanding and high pressure job, and is a pillar of his local community. Tenzin probably doesn't have the time or the energy to go visit mom, and that's before we consider that Katara is also a very involved and busy person in her own corner of the world.
My brother lives 20min away and I see him few times a year. People have their lives, its hard to have time for everyone when your partner/kids have priority and you work 8-10h/day.
I had grandparents who lived two towns over, and I saw and spoke to them less than I did my grandparents who lived in a state on the other end of the country.
I'd argue that's more of a monetary barrier than anything in our world. You have to request off work, buy a plane ticket, find a way to get around, etc etc
Realistically speaking especially when it's only a few hours of inconvenience to get there and you could go anytime, isn't it usually something you think "ah I can just go next week" but next week your kid is sick and then you delay "just until they are feeling better" but the week after that there is trouble in the city and you delay again until a year with no visit has passed.
At least with a plane ticket you will plan regular trips ahead of time and not delay them
Yeah but frankly saying if people didn't have to purchase plane tickets and skip all the hassle of airports by just jumping on the bison - I think they would've travelled much more frequently
Being stuck with your bored hyperactive kids on a bison all day sure sounds like something I would try to avoid doing too often
A Hyperactive Kid in a car has the potential to annoy you but a Hyperactive Kid on a bison has the potential to fall off and die if you are not careful
Plus kids need to pee like all the time and a bison usually has no build in toilet
If peeing kids and necessity to stop every now and then stops someone from seeing their old mother from time to time when they basically have a private jet, then it's another kind of issue I guess
I was saying that in our world it may be simply unaffordable for most people, and even a day of flight will mean lots of other issues, starting from airport hassle (which isn't such a big deal tbh), ending with visas which may not be available or take long and exhausting process to acquire, etc, etc, etc
While you're referring minor inconvenience and annoyance. And are you referring the falling to death of a hyperactive kid who can literally fly by himself?
As someone with young kids, the making your kids sit still for hours is the worst part of traveling. My in laws live on the other side of the world, and it’s the 16 hour plane flight itself that has stopped us from going to see them. We can afford it, there’s no visa issues, the airport part we are totally used to. Two toddlers on a plane for that long is a nightmare. Though I suppose half the stress of it for us is trying not to disturb the other passengers, and the kids can be as loud as they want on the bison.
Do you not remember the serpiants that we know live in the water who knows what else is living in the Avatar ocean. Even if he doesn't die on impact, can he swim? Could he be eaten by whatever lives in the ocean.
Would a parent be willing to risk it
He may not touch the water and glide on his air ball. Dude it's fantasy world where this specific toddler we're talking about beat the shit out of grown up men at some point and casually played in dangerous environment pretty much constantly
I feel like at this point it's the argument just for the sake of arguments. Just look how frequently people with private jests fly around the world - that's pretty much the same if we resume to initial discussion. I don't think there's much to add here
My husband's family lives on the other side of the globe. We see each other every 2-4 years for 1-2 months at a time. And that's without having the pressure of training the Avatar.
Yea but, they’re airbenders, they fly everywhere already. Its also pretty easy to argue at the very least that the planet is much smaller, in atla the gang was flying all over the place, in korra flying basically anywhere takes less than a day, and even by boat republic city to the south pole is only like, a nights boat ride.
Would you like to spend 12+hours on a bison with 4 children under the age of 12? There is a reason the show was mostly set when they landed somewhere. The time flying was probably very boring.
Also unlike long car rides, the stakes of a restless child not being able to sit still goes from “mildly annoying” to “potentially falling out of the sky”
To be fair, airbenders are also all about not having strong family ties. Like, all airbenders are, in essence, orphans. They leave their children at temples to be raised communally and then go on their way
So as a baseline, of course they wouldn’t see much need to go see Katara
Of course, on the other hand, although technically these kids were raised not just communally, but by the entire air nomad culture that existed at that point, they were also a very normal, close-knit family just like any other. Buuut on the third hand, that does also indicate a drift away from standard air nomad practices- like nomadism. Indeed, we see that they don’t actually appear to be nomads at this point. They even dropped that from their name in favor of “nation,” didn’t they?
Yeah, but all the things that happen except the occasional fight (which while entertaining for a viewer is unlikely to be desirable for those involved) happen when they stop somewhere.
If you wanna watch the world from above for hours, sit and watch the Netflix screensaver
Pema is pregnant all the time. constant travel sucks even when you aren't pregnant... but thentrabel times are so wonky that it cuts both ways, it seemed like getting anywhere took forever fighting kuvira, and everyone was basically using contemporary travel methods that don't need to eat or sleep, then. The truth is everyone moved like in star wars, at the speed of plot. And plot required separated families.
It's more than that I feel like. Otherwise it would have only taken three days to go from southern water tribe to northern water tribe, and it took a whole season in the original show.
If we think about the solstice episode, it took a day of hardcore nonstop full speed flying on a bison to get from that earth village to the crescent island in the fire nation, and that's an even shorter distance than republic city (Earth Kingdom area) to the Southern Water Tribe.
I Think in LOK they do have faster travel; modern ships, airships, etc, but I would view a bison like taking a horse-and-buggy to all those.
A modern civilian helicopter usually has a cruising speed of around 100 mph. The north pole is about 120,000 miles from the south pole, which would equate to 120 hours of flying or 5 straight days. I think this would make sense for how fast appa flies, he's not exactly zooming like a modern fighter jet that may only be visible to someone on the ground for a handful of seconds, slow projectiles launched from ships on the ground to pose a real threat in catching him.
You also wouldn't be able to fly 5 straight days in 1 sitting. You have to sleep (especially since your helicopter is an animal), find food, use the bathroom, gather supplies or earn money for more supplies, etc. So from that perspective it'd make sense why team avatar are landing in different places all the time to stock up or camp, and then end up getting involved in some local affairs. That 120 hours of flying may end up as a month and a half long trip at that rate.
Is it?
It took a while to get to the North Pole from the South Pole. While there will be less-stops to go from Republic City to see grandma, it will still be a long journey and the bison needs to eat.
Also my grandparents are a day of flying by plane and I have only seen them a handful of times in my life. So I’m going to give them some credit for not being able to see grandma often
Thats different from our half a world away how? Our flights take half a day. Katara doesnt have a bison herself, so she cant fly the other way, and Tenzin is generally bound to republic city.
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u/MrBKainXTR Mar 18 '25
I think its a stretch to assume that Katara has never met any of her three grandchildren before simply because the five year old doesn't recognize her.