Aang fulfilled his destiny as the Avatar
by defeating the Fire Lord and ending the Hundred Year War.
All of his friends and past lives told him
to kill Ozai, and honestly, maybe they were right.
This should be interesting.
It's an unpopular opinion
but Aang should have finished Ozai.
Just to be clear, we're not saying
Aang was wrong for sparing Ozai.
Aang was raised by monks who taught him about peace
and that all life is sacred.
And he still managed to defeat the Fire Lord
and put a stop to the war without ending him.
Having said that, if Aang finished off Ozai,
it would have prevented several major conflicts
in the future.
Come on out, Avatar! You can't hide in there forever!
In case you forgot, Fire Lord Ozai was one
of the most evil characters on the planet.
He scared his first born son in a duel,
banished the mother of his children
and not to mention was going
to single-handedly burn down the entire world.
So, it's safe to say he needed to be stopped.
I have all the power in the world!
The final battle was everything Aang's training
was leading up to but it didn't end
how most people expected.
Instead of killing Ozai, Aang took away his firebending
and threw him in prison.
I am the Phoenix King. [groaning]
Fire Lord Ozai sans firebending is thrown in prison.
What happened next?
Prince Zuko became Fire Lord and vowed to work
with the Avatar to rebuild the Four Nations.
The road ahead of us is challenging.
A hundred years of fighting
has left the world scarred and divided.
But with the Avatar's help,
we can get it back on the right path
and begin a new era of love and peace.
Being Fire Lord came with a lot of pressure and responsibility.
Zuko's biggest fear was not let the pressure
turn him into his father.
Aang promised Zuko, he would be his safety net.
If Zuko ever went full Ozai,
Aang would end his reign for good.
Yeah, I'll just do that.
There were several instances where Zuko
visited his father in prison.
At first, it was to find out where his mother was,
but Ozai gave him nothing.
What Ozai did give his son was advice.
Zuko wanted to be a good Fire Lord,
but that proved harder than it sounded.
At times Zuko needed to make tough decisions,
and without his Uncle Iroh around,
he turned to his father for advice.
Little did the new Fire Lord know,
Ozai was slowly manipulating him.
And once again, conflict had begun to stir
between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation.
Zuko was now pitted against the Avatar,
and another war was on the verge of starting.
[chattering]
Avatar Roku's advice to Aang was to fulfill his promise
to Zuko and take his life.
Roku stated, "The fate of the world was more important
than Aang's friendship with the Fire Lord."
I offer you this wisdom, Aang. You must be decisive.
But Aang couldn't finish of Zuko
the same way he couldn't kill Ozai.
Aang is the last member of not just the Air Nation
but the Air nation philosophy.
Betraying their past misways
could lead it to disappearing altogether.
Many great and wise Air Nomads have detached themselves
and achieved spiritual enlightenment.
But the Avatar can never do it
because your sole duty is to the world.
Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice
your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes
to protect the world.
Once again Aang intervened in the battle
by going full fledged Avatar.
He was able to end the conflict peacefully
and didn't have to fulfill his promise to the Fire Lord.
That said, Roku knew Zuko was his great grandson
and still advised Aang to finish him off.
Aang couldn't keep Roku in his head,
claiming his philosophy was outdated.
Aang!
The Avatar severed his connection
with his past life, and now, Aang was on his own.
Clearly Ozai's just as dangerous in a cell.
Had he not been around to begin with,
this whole conflict
could have been avoided entirely.
Again, we're not saying this was morally the right call,
but Aang finishing Ozai would have solved
a lot of problems that never would have even existed.
So let's say, Aang actually went through with it.
How would that have even happened?
We have to go back to one particular moment
in their fight. Right there, the lightning.
Let's say, Aang doesn't hesitate here
and unleashes the full lightning bolt
on the Fire Lord.
Do you think Aang would have stopped at Ozai?
In a timeline where Aang kills Ozai,
he might have also killed another dark bender.
Tarrlok!
You'd better shape up, or you'll be out here
in the cold all night until you get it right.
Yakone, the infamous bloodbending crime lord.
This time, I'm gonna put you to sleep for good.
[groaning]
As the first person to bloodbend without a full moon,
Yakone was too dangerous.
Just like Ozai, Aang took away Yakone's bending permanently.
Yakone escaped prison
and passed down his bloodbending teachings
to his two sons, Noatak and Tarrlok.
Our family has the strongest line
of bloodbenders in history.
You boys have this power inside of you
and I will teach you to master it.
You too will become bloodbenders of the highest order.
When the time is right, you will claim Republic City
and you will destroy the Avatar.
You must avenge me.
That is your purpose in life.
It's possible that Aang's actions
could have prevented this.
If Aang had finished of Ozai,
he might have finished off Yakone, as well.
If Yakone was killed upon his escape,
he never would have had two sons to begin with
and the Equalists never would have rose to power.
Look, we can't say for certain
all this would have been avoided had Aang finished Ozai,
but it goes to show how one decision
can have a ripple effect that lasts forever.
Look at Avatar Roku,
he believed his decisions lead to consequences
Aang needed to deal with.
His decision to spare Sozin led to his own demise
and the start of a war.
It makes you wonder if Aang felt the same way about Korra.
Did he feel guilty
about the world he left behind for her?
I have done my best to guide Republic City
towards the dream my father had for it.
It has fallen out of balance since he passed.
Most Avatars would not have shown mercy.
Yep, we're looking at you, Kyoshi.
[screaming]
But Aang stuck to his gut on this one,
and you have to give the kid credit.
He would not compromise what the monks taught him
all those years ago.
The monks always taught me that all life is sacred,
even the life of the tiniest spider fly
caught in its own web.
Yes, all life is sacred.
I know, I'm even a vegetarian.
I've always tried to solve my problems
by being quick or clever.
And I've only had to use violence for necessary defense.
And I've certainly never used it to take a life.
Even when he was going full Avatar State,
he made a conscious choice to not kill Ozai.
No, I'm not gonna end it like this.
At the end of the day, the war still ended
and Sozin's Comet passed.
Still, there's no denying how different things
would have been if Ozai wasn't just kept
in a prison cell.
But all we can do is sit here and think, what if?
Maybe one day, the Avatar will be able to bend time
and space itself and see into alternate realities.
That's the only way we can know for sure
whether or not Aang should have killed Ozai.
[music playing]
[groaning]
What... what did you do to me?
I took away your firebending.
You can't use it to hurt
or threaten anyone else ever again.
Do you have any hot takes or unpopular opinions?
Let us know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe
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