Why I believe Avatar: The Last Airbender is the greatest story of all time!

Avatar: The Last Airbender has been a childhood favorite for me ever since I first saw it. It is a masterwork of world building, character development, and ties everything together with a straight forward, yet complex, plot. As one of very few TV shows to have an overarching plot across multiple seasons, Avatar: The Last Airbender is difficult to put down once started. Diving into the world of bending and opening up new doors to be explored around every corner, Avatar brings creativity to a whole new level that many other TV shows can only dream of. Even as a children’s show, it still manages to find a place in older audiences as well through its amazing storytelling.

Simple Yet Complex

Avatar: The Last Airbender starts with a simple plot introduced in the first few episodes that is the basis for the entire show. Defeat the Firelord and stop the fire nation from taking over the rest of the world. This job is entitled to Aang, since he is the Avatar, and his group of friends. The show, however, does not make this a simple task. Many obstacles stop Aang and his friends from achieving their goal and create depth in the story. Between the Dai Li foiling their plans to recruit the Earth Kingdom and Azula outsmarting Team Avatar around every corner, the group struggles to even glimpse the finish line as they dredge forward toward stopping the fire nation and helping Aang master the four elements. The plot flows as smooth as the movements of water benders, and this is due to the writers making sure to put the characters first.

Characters First

Throughout the entire show, Avatar: The Last Airbender puts their characters before the world building and even the plot. This creates depth for the characters that makes it much easier to relate to them and makes them seem more authentic rather than forced. Each main character in the story has strong attributes that portray the character and all of the main characters except for Toph experience drastic character development. If anything can be said about Avatar, it is that it has some of the most memorable and well developed characters of all time. Each one has a large contribution to making the plot progress and they all interact with each other in ways that seem natural. Very few times do any of the character’s actions seem forced by the plot making the characters much more believable and easier to relate to.