#airbenders

[junipernight]

I redesigned Yangchen's outfit!

... I actually designed a lot of outfits for her, because I am Extremely Normal about these books, and also I like costume design and learning about historical clothing.

Short disclaimer: These fantasy clothes aren't culturally or historically accurate, just historically and culturally influenced. I don't have any expertise in East or Central Asian culture or clothing, I've just been clicking around on the internet a lot the last two weeks learning things because that's my idea of fun lol. If you wanted to talk to people who actually know things you should check out @atlaculture or like @ziseviolet, both of whom's blogs I referenced while drawing.

I only designed two alternates for the outer robes. The first is based loosely off the robes Buddhist monks wear (loosely, because drawing draped fabric is hard ^^') especially the Tibetan zhen robe. This garment is just a long wide rectangle of cloth which can be draped across the body in lots of ways (versatility ftw!).

The other garment I drew is a Chuba, a traditional garment from Tibet and the Himalayas. It's a robe, but it highkey reminds me of kilts and hoodies, in that it a) can be worn over one or both shoulders or just as a skirt and b) it makes a giant pocket over the stomach. The long sleeves can be folded up or tied back btw.

I spent the most time on the middle layer, because I was thinking it has to be something she could comfortably fight in while also being suitable for diplomatic meetings, meditating, espionage, and possibly sleeping.

And like. You can fight and hike and whatnot in loose skirts, but it's annoying how twisted up they can get while sleeping. ALSO, YC does a lot of flying and leaping, so my girl needs pants. My faves are definitely the Xiaolin monk pants and the yellow wrap pants Aang wears. I tried dhoti (Indian wrap pants) because that kind of looks like what the giant statue of Yangchen meditating might be wearing, but I think it looks odd paired with a highwaisted shirt instead of a long tunic. Maybe I'll do some more drawings with her in a tunic and dhoti or a monk's dhonka and shemdap later, idk.

As any good historical fashion nerd knows, foundational garments are everything (◡‿◡✿).

But also, there's a scene where Yangchen and Kavik pretend to be lovers, and are "discovered" by a maid sleeping in the same room, with Yangchen in a state of partial undress (gasp!)

I am living for this fake drama; I need to know how scandalized the maid was lmao.

When the maid walks in, Yangchen immediately wraps herself in a bedsheet before ushering the maid back out the door. Maybe all she did was take off her outer robe... but why would she need to wrap herself in a sheet if she was wearing a long-sleeved high-necked gown? I got the sense from both the book and cursory research about buddhist monks that walking around without your outer robes was socially acceptable, at least in casual settings. I think it more likely she was in her underclothes, which historically (in the west anyway) would also double as sleeping clothes.

"The Aang" is censored because this is Tumblr-dot-com. Its mostly a joke, but also, I know other countries are less uptight about bººbies, so like, maybe it's a valid option ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The ~Water Tribe~ look is based off Sokka's swimwear and not Katara's, mostly because chest binding seems antithetical to airbending.

All the other undergarment designs are based on hanfu neiyi, because that's what I could find reference photos and romanized names for.

I'm tired of typing now. Lemme know if you have questions about something, or want me to post a larger version of a specific outfit. I am open to feedback and tentatively open to requests.

[charlesoberonn]

Avatar headcanon (or AU really since I'm pretty sure it contradicts the lore):

The Air Nomads used to be a lot more violent.

They ate meat too, raising sky bisons and other animals not just for transportation but for food as well. Basically they were more like real nomadic civilizations, except they could fly and (some but not all) were Airbenders.

They waged nomadic warfare as well, raiding settled communities and extorting tributes. And waging war against other tribes of Air Nomads for grazing and raiding territory as well as for revenge of apparent slights. They were extremely loyal to their tribe and kin, above all other loyalties.

Eventually a powerful Air Nomad leader managed to unite the different tribes into one Air nation and he waged a war of conquest across much of the world.

He ruled for many years but after his death his empire was splintered among his descendants and rival warlords. The Air Nomads began to wage war on one another, but this time with a lot more ferocity, with armored Air Bisons and ground armies made up of conquered peoples.

It's during this warring states period that the beginnings of what would become the Air Nomad way developed, as a solution to the never-ending cycle of violence.

The practitioners of the new way adopted pacifism and eventually also vegetarianism. They raised Sky Bison not as property or tools, but as partners and fellow living beings, a sentiment they later expanded to all animals.

The practitioners took in many war orphans as well as babies whose parents couldn't raise them. And when these orphans grew and had kids of their own they often gave them to the temples to be raised there as well. This reinvented the way Air Nomads raised their children, putting harmony and individual growth over ties of blood.

As more and more Air Nomads adopted the new way, eventually the warlords and self-style Air Kings did too. And in time they or their descendants gave up their titles and claims. The now centuries-old way became the way of all Air Nomads.

Though their numbers were smaller, due to their spiritual acuity and their system of mutual aid, the Air Nomad were all much healthier than the other nations and all of them were Airbenders.

[airteacher]

//Just imaging startling an Airbender and them jumping back a 100 feet like a cat.

[aangarchy]

any thoughts on the theory that Ty Lee is distantly descended from air nomad groups that escaped and went into hiding? I've seen it around a few times but the biggest supporting arguments are how she moves and her spirituality as well as her grey eyes

One of the bigger posts with this theory was made by someone i used to be friends with, and we discussed this matter a lot back when that post was doing the rounds

Personally i absolutely support this theory. Ty Lee seems to be a very spiritual person (always talking about auras, she seems to be very in tune with her emotions and how her presence affects others) and is very light on her feet. Combining this with her gray eyes and a similar facial structure to Aang (especially compared to other ppl we see from the fire nation) it gives a very solid footing for this theory.

I've always had this headcanon that Ty Lee's grandfather is one of the kids Aang used to play with at the southern airtemple, or at least just someone Aang knows. In my HC this kid manages to escape and finds a place to hide out in the fire nation, because a lot of simple folk from the fire nation don't agree with the war and what Sozin did, they help him out. Hiding is easy for him because he doesn't have his tattoos, and he hasn't used his airbending since the genocide. The only people that really knew of his bending are his "adoptive" family, but they all die with the secret. None of his own kids or grandkids knew until after the war, when Ty Lee takes an interest in the culture and goes and asks him about it since he's old enough to remember the airnomads, and it turns out that he was one. Ty Lee then goes up to Aang, and reunites him with her grandfather.

[wilcze-kudly]

Call me an idiot for just recently having been hit with how horrific Aang's situation is.

Like, watching the show as a kid, I understood superficially that the airbender genocide was bad and very sad because lots of people died. And Aang being sad about it makes sense because like. All his friends are dead.

But now the gravity of it just sunk into me.

Like, to Aang, this all happened so quickly too.

Everything is as it should be and then one storm later, your entire life is just. Gone.

Your home is in ruins, your people are gone. Air Nomad foods, customs, cultures, stories, music... everything is just gone. And sure you can try to rebuild it but it'll never be the same.

You're alone. You can make all the friends in the world but they'll never replace the feeling of belonging and familiarity you used to take for granted.

[floralcavern]

Started watching the new ATLA show and I’m only a couple of minutes in and I have already have one huge complaint. Why are the Air Nomads considering in getting involved in the war to help the Earth Kingdom? That is literally the complete opposite of that their whole thing was.

The Air Nomads purposefully stayed out of the war and didn’t get involved in global affairs like that. That’s why it was so easy for the Fire Nation to genocide them, since they always stuck to the Air Temples and didn’t go anywhere, plus didn’t have any military training or an army, since they were a peaceful people who didn’t believe in getting involved in any war.

[whimsicallywiddershins]

ATLA Theory: Some air benders fled the massacre to the Si Wong Desert. They intermarried Earth Kingdom people and their descendants are the Sandbenders.

There is no way a bunch of people who can travel by air were completely taken by suprise by ground troupes. C'mon. Some had to have escaped. They just had to find a place where the Fire Nation couldn't find them. What better place than a desert no-one ever visits?

Sand is the perfect mix of Earth and Air. It doesn't move like earthbending, it moves like air or water. The relationship between air and sand is strong: sandstorms, wind eroding rocks into sand, wind sculpting sand dunes, ect... All things you find in a desert.

Also, it's very likely the Sand People are nomadic. Most desert peoples are. This would fit perfectly with the Air Nomad lifestyle. Sand Ships would replace Air Bison. Also, the Si Wong Desert is a great place to hide, especially if you ally with the locals. The Earth Kingdom government doesn't interfere with the Desert, people don't usually travel through it, and those that do probably would interact heavily with the Sand People, so rumors wouldn't travel about new arrivals. The Fire Nations definitely never went there.

If any new air benders were born, it would be incredibly easy to hide them. Airbending could be disguised pretty easily as Sandbending, all you have to do is pick up sand with the wind as you bend. I bet there is a mix of airbenders and earthbenders in the Desert.

[i-put-the-ass-into-sass]

Just thinking about how Lin and Tenzin broke up because he needed to have kids for the Air Nation and she didn't and then a few years later the airbenders came back on their own anyway. Like imagine how that felt for both of them but especially Lin. To know that the major reason your long term relationship failed ended up not even being valid after a while (and its a good thing don't get me wrong I love the airbenders but that has to sting)

[themasterusersblog]

Think about the airbenders escaping and spreading across the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes

Think of the airbenders far from their temples, from their homes, leaving behind their entire culture to stay alive

Think of the airbenders watching their temples and artifacts being destroyed and their companions being hunted down and killed

Think of the airbenders, the most spiritually connected people where all their nomads were benders, hiding and abandoning their bending as they watched all their comrades die because of it.

Think about the airbenders who hid and watched the genocide happen, thinking that the pacifist ideas of the air nomads may have been their undoing

Think of the airbenders moving away from their spiritual connection as they see their culture destroyed

Perhaps the airbenders who survived the first attack started new lives as non-benders hiding in the Earth Kingdom. Maybe one of them had a son, and noticed that this son was a non-bender, maybe even an earthbender. Far away from the temple, from their spiritual connection, the airbenders lost contact to their bending

The airbenders were killed by the Fire Nation, but they weren't extinct because od fireballs

[exxclusiveeditsx]

Who do y’all got ?

[junipernight]

Some air nomad outfits.

[aangsfrogs]

I AM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH

I have always wondered what they would do in the air temples once they got more avatars than the spiral. But today on Facebook I saw this post.

I NEVER considered this. The airbenders were the most spiritually connected people out of the four nations. It’s 100% possible they had folks who predicted the future via spirit shenanigans or access the spirit world to visit a spirit that knew the future.

They predicted that there would only be 10,000 Avatars in this cycle. They knew! Korra was just unfortunate enough to be the 10,000th and there for the last avatar in that cycle. Just because it’s the end of that avatar cycle doesn’t mean it’s the end of the avatar and that there won’t be anymore. She is the Won of the new cycle.

It’s another example of life and death. Something ending and beginning anew.

Something the airbenders talked about.

So once the cycle was over they’d probably make a brand new giant ass temple for the next cycle!

[original-sheepsandwich90]

[pairofcds]

southern air nomads temple poster! i love this piece so much, and wanna do more like this

[sayhoneysiren]

connecting with air spirit

1. advance your verbal communication skills. develop your verbal communication skills (words, speech, writing) and nonverbal communication skills (body language, laughing, crying, etc), to be better understood by others, and to also get a clearer understanding of other people as well.

2. bond. be open to companionship, friendship, harmonizing and building connections with others, as well as yourself. healthy friendships and relationships can truly bring out the chemistry of life.

3. create your reality. your word is the most powerful tool you have that manifest’s your reality. words are spells, so don’t curse yourself. speak of the heaven you wish to experience and you’ll have that.

4. don’t take life too seriously. be playful. be mischievous. be tricky. be experimental. be different. laugh. escape the drama. stay joyous.

5. take a different route. spice your life up by doing something different than you normally do. eat a new meal. drive on a new road. explore a new shop. watch a new movie.

6. learn more. when something peaks your interest, dive a little deeper and learn more about it. (ex: watch the animal channel. read psychology/spirituality books. take a class.)

7. teach. share your knowledge with others in a way that best suits you. (talking, writing, music, etc). being a mentor and sharing your spiritual knowledge and wisdom, can help assist others to a greater path.

8. be elusive. loose your self limiting perception yourself and just be whatever you want to be in the moment.

9. be innovative. forget the box you’re tryna fit into and create your own lane. combine and mix all the things that you love and own it.

10. find a solution. think like a scientist. there’s always a way to find a answer to every problem. try out everything and don’t be afraid of making mistakes, because in the end you’ll always have the solution.

[mamwieleimionstarwars]

So I started watching Avatar the Last Airbender live action series and I was watching the start of the war.

As I watched I realised how similar the Airbenders situation was to that of the Jedi. And how they both were massacred.

The scenes of both massacres were so similar in their shared tragedy I had to pause the movie and write about it.

Because let's see:

Jedi were killed at the end of a war. The Airbenders massacred to start one.

They both were made of mostly people who are supposed to be pacifists.

And they both were brutally killed in their own home, leaving almost no survivors.

From old to masters to babies in their cribs.

Killed because of the greed of an old man.

Killed because of fear and greed and anger and violence.