Avatar The Last Airbender
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Elements

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Avatar: The Last Airbender
In a lost age, the world is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Within each nation, there is a remarkable order of men and women called the "benders" who can learn to harness their inborn talent and manipulate their native element. Bending is a powerful form combining martial art and elemental magic. In each generation, only...

Calligraphy

An example of Chinese calligraphy
An example of Chinese calligraphy

Chinese characters done in traditional East Asian calligraphy styles are used for nearly all the writing that appears in Avatar. For each instance of calligraphy, an appropriate style is used, ranging from the seal script (more archaic) to the clerical script. The show employs calligrapher Siu-Leung Lee as a consultant and translator.

Fighting styles

The fighting choreography of Avatar draws from martial arts, and the fighting styles and weaponry are based on Chinese martial arts, with each bending art corresponding to a certain real-world style or styles. The creators use Tai Chi for waterbending, Hung Gar for earthbending (although Toph employs Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style), Northern Shaolin for firebending, and Ba Gua for airbending. The show employs Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a martial arts consultant.

Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected:

  • Tai Chi creates flowing, fluid movements to represent water.
  • Hung Gar was chosen for its firmly rooted stances to represent solid earth.
  • Northern Shaolin uses fast and swift strikes to mimic the power of fire.
  • Ba Gua's soft, circular movements were chosen to represent air's tranquility.
  • Chu Gar Praying Mantis' distinguishing movements and unique steppings complement Toph's blindness to give her an anomalous style of Earthbending.

The flow of chi is the engine behind the bending arts. Benders require chi to flow from the breath as form of energy derived from breathing and oxygenation, and then extend it past their body to manipulate or manifest their element. This chi is stored in the abdomen of the bender, known among martial artists as the Dantian. Different choices of directing energy are referred to different kinds of Jing (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: jìng), a concept akin to momentum in martial arts.

The ability to bend stems from a compound of genetics and spirituality. As stated by the creators, all Air Nomads are benders as a result of their increased spirituality compared to other nations. Civilization reduces spirituality and thus every nation has a different percentage of benders.

Stars

 
Zach Tyler Eisen
Role: Aang

Zach Tyler Eisen is a talented American voice actor. He has played roles on many Nickelodeon cartoons such as Avatar the Last Airbender (Aang), Backyardians (Pablo), and Little Bill (Andrew). He also voiced a characters on the animated film The Ant Bully (Lucas). He goes to Cloonan Middle... Read More

Dee Bradley Baker
Role: Appa/Momo/Various Others

Dee Bradley Baker was born in Indiana. His family moved to Greeley, Colorado, soon after his birth and he grew up there. Baker started performing at the age of nine, and steadily worked in musicals, operas, plays, and stand up, up to college. In college, he attended Colorado College and double... Read More

Grey DeLisle
Role: Princess Azula

Grey DeLisle was born into a family that loved music, though problems soon occurred and her father left the family, which caused her mother to get addicted to drugs. Grey DeLisle was raised by her grandmother, Eva Flores Ruth, who was once a vocalist who worked with several famous individuals.... Read More

Makoto Iwamatsu
Role: Uncle Iroh (Seasons 1-2)

Was raised by his grandparents in Kobe while his parents worked with the Office of War Information after the start of WW2. Moved to New York at the age of 15 and became a citizen at age 23. He studied to become an architect but switched to acting. Made his screen debut in "The Ugly Dachshund" but... Read More

Jessie Flower
Role: Toph

Jessie Flower was born August 18,1994 in Southern Indiana. She now lives with her mom in Los Angeles and moved there when she was four. Her work as an actress started when she wanted to be in a commercial. Now she has been in many including a Barbie commercial and a Mitsubishi commercial.... Read More

Jack DeSena
Role: Sokka

Jack DeSena -- actor, comedian. He was born on December 6, 1987 in Boston, Massachusetts. He is most recognized from the Nickelodeon shows, All That and Avatar: The Last Airbender. He also voiced in the movie The Wild.

Greg Baldwin
Role: Uncle Iroh (Season 3+)

Greg Baldwin is a talented American Voice Actor. His voice has been featured in numerous video games and he has also worked on Broadway. He lives in CA with his wife and two kids and has recently been selected to take over the role of Iroh on Avatar the Last Airbender after the late Mako died.

Cricket Leigh
Role: Mai

Cricket Leigh is an actress as well as a voice-actress. She has appeared in Terra and The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down , in Avatar the Last Airbender as Mai, and Red Factor II as the voice of Tangier. She also is a freelance make-up artist in Los Angles and has many famous clients... Read More

Dante Basco
Role: Prince Zuko

Dante Basco is a talented American Actor. He was born in 1975. His hometown is Pittsburg, CA. In his earlier years he was part of a dance team called The Street Freaks. Later he got into acting and starred in Steven Spielberg's Hook . Where he played the memorable character Rufio. Since then he... Read More

Olivia Hack
Role: Ty Lee

Brought her role as Cindy Brady into the Wings episode "A House to Die For." But she also does other types of work. From shows for younger audiences, like Hey Arnold, to more adult shows, like Family Guy, she appears in different types of shows. Recently Olivia has been voice acting on... Read More

Mae Whitman
Role: Katara

Mae Whitman has been acting since the age of three, when she first starred in a commercial for Tyson's Chicken. Since then, she has appeared in several movies and television shows, including summer blockbuster 'Independence Day' and hospital drama 'Chicago Hope'. She has also lended her voice to... Read More

Release Date & Box Art for Book 2, Volume 3 DVD Unveiled!

Nick releases the date which the 3rd Volume of the Season 2 set will go on sale, as well as it's box art. Read more »

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