r/ATLA Mar 18 '25

Discussion Yeah why did she become one anyway

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7.8k Upvotes

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591

u/ValeWho Mar 18 '25

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

259

u/Creeperkun4040 Mar 18 '25

It doesn't even need to be halfway round the world. I have cousins that live ~3 hours away yet I see them twice a year at most.

It's not just the distance, it's also how much time you have to spend

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25 edited Jul 04 '25

subtract resolute groovy toothbrush quack engine judicious future grey nose

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Professional_Sky8384 Mar 18 '25

While working a full time job running a monastery, no less.

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u/Mysterious_Detail_57 Mar 18 '25

And trying to rebuild a whole nation and culture

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u/jaiteaes Mar 19 '25

And serving as a member of your country's executive council

9

u/ZeinDarkuzss Mar 19 '25

To be fair at that time his "whole nation and culture" were him and his children so it's a bit redundant to bring it up.

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u/Mysterious_Detail_57 Mar 19 '25

Weren't there some non-bending monks at the temple?

2

u/ZeinDarkuzss Mar 19 '25

Acolytes yes, basically fanboys who cosplayed as Air nomads, but they can't really partake in the culture since they can't Air Bend.

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u/Mysterious_Detail_57 Mar 19 '25

I guess all of them could bend before they were wiped out. But idk what you said seems a bit harsh

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u/Mathies_ Mar 19 '25

Basically what they were, but they started officially honoring the culture. In ATLA comics Aang met some of these, at the time still unofficial acolytes, and he got understandably mad that they took it upon themselves to tattoo their heads with arrows without being airbending masters. They started out as an overzealous fanclub.

6

u/Mathies_ Mar 19 '25

A government*. Im sure the monastery is fine without Tenzins guidence, but man was on the council lol

1

u/EuSorrow Mar 19 '25

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.

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u/mormagils Mar 21 '25

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.

86

u/Mavvet Mar 18 '25

My cousins live 40 minutes away and I've seen them twice in my life, while the cousins who live 3000 kilometers from me I saw 6 times

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u/AndyTheWitch7 Mar 19 '25

I see my sister once a week... she lives on the other side of the street

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u/jameZsp0ng3y Mar 19 '25

Go see your Sister

7

u/Arcane_As_Fuck Mar 19 '25

Maybe her sister sucks?

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u/jameZsp0ng3y Mar 19 '25

Then I'll be visiting her too

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u/AndyTheWitch7 Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25

akakakkakakakaka the problem isn't that, we just don't have time

I work all day and go to college at night, so I leave at 7am and get home at 12PM she works the whole day too, so we only see each other at weekends

edit: I just noticed I wrote 12PM. It's 12AM aka midnight, if I managed to work and do college in 5 hours my life would be doneđŸ˜©

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u/jameZsp0ng3y Mar 19 '25

I hope things get easier for you

2

u/lunarson24 Mar 19 '25

That's just sad

1

u/jameZsp0ng3y Mar 19 '25

Go see your cousins

0

u/Mavvet Mar 19 '25

Why, I don't know them

1

u/jameZsp0ng3y Mar 19 '25

Going will help

1

u/Bobyyyyyyyghyh Mar 19 '25

That isn't really saying anything meaningful about the distance more than it is your relationship with them.

5

u/Arthamel Mar 19 '25

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.

2

u/Hydrasaur Mar 19 '25

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.

1

u/AchyBreaker Mar 19 '25

Sure but flights cost money in our world.

In their world you have a giant pet bison that flies you there for belly scratches and carrots. 

20

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

Air bison airline tickets must have gone up after Aang died.

8

u/Dyldo_II Mar 18 '25

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

2

u/ValeWho Mar 19 '25

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

2

u/Imconfusedithink Mar 19 '25

Tenzin and katara have the same problems. They're both working. Katara is overseeing the avatars training and tenzin is busy with the council work.

4

u/DungeonsandDoofuses Mar 19 '25

My in laws live a day of flying away from us and have never met our three year old in person.

4

u/madmaxjr Mar 19 '25

“I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth. Then I ask myself the same question.” -Harun Yahya

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u/Notquite_Caprogers Mar 20 '25

I haven't seen my older brother in two years, we live on the other side of the country from one another. (California and Alabama) 

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u/PenguinTheYeti Mar 18 '25

Yeah, but it costs a lot more for us to fly on a plane then it presumably does in a sky bison...that they use for transportation anyway

1

u/Needassistancedungus Mar 19 '25

Yeah but I bet it doesn’t cost as much or require as much pre-planning in ATLA

1

u/Angryfunnydog Mar 19 '25

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

2

u/ValeWho Mar 19 '25

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

1

u/Angryfunnydog Mar 19 '25

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?

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u/DungeonsandDoofuses Mar 20 '25

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.

1

u/ValeWho Mar 21 '25

Since when can airbenders fly by themselves? I mean slow down their fall maybe but they at least need a glider to fly

0

u/Angryfunnydog Mar 21 '25

I think that toddler had glider, and even not - the fall isn’t deadly for them anyways

1

u/ValeWho Mar 21 '25

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

1

u/Angryfunnydog Mar 21 '25

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

1

u/Agile-Emphasis-8987 Mar 20 '25

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.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '25

Flying bison are free whereas flying across the world is a week+ of lost pay and $5000

-13

u/Koolco Mar 18 '25

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.

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u/ValeWho Mar 18 '25

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.

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u/DrainianDream Mar 18 '25

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”

5

u/Consistent_Oil3428 Mar 18 '25

Dude
airbenders are nomads, they DO spend 12+ hours on a bison with 4 children, thats the WHOLE PREMISE of being a nomad

10

u/Mountain-Resource656 Mar 18 '25

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?

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u/100Fowers Mar 18 '25

The airbenders were nomads.

It kind of seems Tenzin spends most of his day at the monetary or the office. Plus he has a pregnant and sedentary wife

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u/Digit00l Mar 19 '25

Technically they kept the children at the temples for the most part

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u/Koolco Mar 18 '25

I mean, yea. Summer roadtrips with a stuffed car is like, an entire trope.

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u/Rabbulion Mar 18 '25

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

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u/DementedJ23 Mar 18 '25

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.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

That would make tenzin the one who is choosing not to visit his mother.

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u/IJustWantADragon21 Mar 18 '25

Good point. He has the bison! He could have made the trip sometime in the last 4-5 years!