He would be great at defending you, but you are right he wouldn't kill you either if he was against you. But also just getting all 3 avatars is an instant win
Yeah, get Ozai for 2 Dollar and you have possibly the best Firebender ever, who can probably even beat Mako in lightning bending, even though Mako did that as a hustle and then you can also afford the 3 Avatars in this list and if we exclude Roku, they're also the most recent Avatars.
I'd wager every earth bender on this list is a better defender than Aang. He struggles with the defensive earth bending style and relies much more on his evasion, which isn't too useful for protecting others. The only time I can think of where that wasn't completely true was vs Ozai and he did farely well in that aspect... Except he didn't throw any counter punches and nearly boiled to death.
Avatar state wasn't said to be off the table. The three avatars out scale the rest of the board so bad it isn't even funny. Aang, Korra, and Kyoshi can handle this by themselves, the leftover two dollars are just for whoever you want.
Avatar state barely changes the persons fighting style though, it would rather allow Aang to play it a bit more offensively, which is also good, put for pure protection values... It's almost useless.
Avatar state allowed Aang to bring the whole ocean up to put out the fires Ozai caused. Kyoshi made an island. Korra deflected the spirit laser and opened a new spirit portal. The Avatar State once fully entered puts the Avatar so far out of reach that the other characters don't really stand a chance.
Almost all of that isn't useful for protecting someone else in a fight. Yes they're stronger and yes those skills can be useful, but the Avatars aren't the target. Sure Kyoshi can create us an island to make us harder to reach, but assume the hitmen already got there, there now is a volley of projectiles of every element hurling towards you, possibly from multiple directions.
You'll probably want an earth bender creating a barrier around you and yeah, an Avatar might be able to cast the elemental shield Aang used vs Ozai on someone else, but that is already speculation and Aang lacked control over the Avatar state too long for me to confidently say he can protect someone.
Aang shows full control over it right after he beats Ozai when he picks up the ocean. Plus, if Aang for some stupid reason can't make a barrier around you, Kyoshi or Korra can. The important thing is not having someone with the Avatar State attacking you. The only people who would be able to go toe to toe with Aang are Kyoshi and Korra, sapping your team of a lot of strength. There's just nobody besides Korra and Kyoshi who provides more value to the team than Aang does.
Exactly, thats why toph is on my list. Best earthbender oat. Id have her purely on defensive, she can tunnel us underground and keep us moving, and can see people bc her seismic sense is great. I have kyoshi, korra, and ozai on my team as well, and they can clear everyone else. Kyoshi and korra can team on aang, then join ozai in wiping the others
Do people forget that the avatar state is every lifetime and every bender you’ve been flowing through you? You’re literally a master of every kind of bending in that state.
You’re like, why have an entire lineage of earth benders protecting you when you can have an earth bender protecting you.
Aang lacked control over the Avatar State and during the shows runtime I got the impression, he turns basically into a beast. Fiercer, but also "blinder", not aware of his surroundings and that'd mean not aware of you. That might go from ignoring their job to protect you all the way to accidentally killing you.
Him being able to control this state only came during his fight vs Ozai and he still was running wild a bit there, almost killing Ozai.
My understanding was it was a huge spiritual journey he went on throughout the show to control his avatar state, with the chakras and coming to terms with his nature as the avatar and combined nature of the elements and all that.
Up until he fought ozai, he didn’t even know a way to beat him during the comet, let alone beat him without killing him. He only figured it out in the last minute and with energy bending.
So I guess it makes a huge difference what part of his journey he’s on. After Ozai? Yeah I’d pick him in a heartbeat. At the start of his journey? Fuck that
if anything that makes it more terrifying. it very clearly says that aang will try to kill you. in the ATLA finale he was very clearly holding back. you will not get that luxury.
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u/Nytheran Jun 09 '25
The rest will try to kill you.
Anyone taking Aang is wasting money