Air Nomads
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Air Nomads is a collective term for a nation of people in the fictional universe of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the series' "Four Nations," the Air Nomads were wanderers by definition, but had four Air Temples, one at each corner of the globe, hidden away atop mountain ranges in the northern Earth Kingdom and on three remote islands. The Air Nomads were home to a monastic order of men and women who practiced Airbending, the mystical art of aerokinesis.
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[edit] Appearance
The Air Nomads wear yellow and orange clothing. Aang and other young Airbenders wear orange shawls over long-sleeved yellow shirts, a brown belt, yellow pants with brown on the back, and brown boots that reach the knees. Older monks wear longer robes in shades of yellow, orange, and brown. Most Air Nomads have grey or brown eyes and a light complexion.
Young boys to be trained as monks have shaven heads while monk elders grow beards and mustaches. Airbenders who have attained some level of mastery in the art will be marked with arrow tattoos on their bodies; for male Airbenders, a primary arrow tattoo is placed on their shaven head that extends down their back, along with four others, one on each limb that terminates in an arrowhead at the hands or feet. When an Avatar tattooed in this fashion enters the Avatar State, these tattoos are known to glow along with the Avatar's eyes.
The Airbending Avatar before Aang was female and thus from either the Eastern or Western Air Temple. Female Airbenders do not fully shave their heads, though a nun with a partially shaven head was seen in "Appa's Lost Days". Based on the female Airbenders that have been shown, it seems Air Nomads have naturally dark brown hair.
[edit] Culture
While other nations possess royalty and are run by monarchies, the Air Nomads are led by the monks of the Air Temples, i.e. by a theocracy.
A century before the time of the series, the Air Nomads were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Fire Nation. One of the sole known survivors of the massacre was the very person the Fire Nation sought to kill in its quest for supremacy: the twelve-year-old Airbender and Avatar, Aang, who had run away from the Southern Air Temple shortly before the war began and became trapped in suspended animation. He has since revived and begun a quest to restore balance and peace to the warring nations.
The Air Nomads are the only nation comprised entirely of benders, due to the highly spiritual nature of their lives. [1]
General Iroh has stated that the Air Nomads removed themselves from the affairs of the rest of the world and found peace amongst themselves. Iroh also mentioned that they have a good sense of humor, a fact shown when Monk Gyatso employed a unique teaching method when tutoring Aang with his Airbending skills — accurately blowing fruit pies onto other monks' heads.
The arrow on an Airbender's head means he has mastered Airbending. This is an emulation of the arrow on the heads of Flying Bison, animals revered by the Air Nomads who can naturally Airbend and who are believed to be the inspiration for the first Airbenders. As seen in the episode "The Storm," apprentice Airbenders have no tattoos.
Air Nomads are also vegetarians, as are the modern monks of Tibet. This is suggested by Aang's words when he said he didn't eat meat in "The King of Omashu." As well as other various episodes.
[edit] Air Temples
Although airbenders are primarily a nomadic culture, there are four Air Temples in various remote locations where councils are held and novices are raised. The temples are divided by gender, with the Southern and Northern temples for males and the Eastern and Western ones for females.
In each temple there is a large cylindrical room known as an Air Sanctuary locked behind a door which can only be opened via Airbending. At least one of these rooms has been shown to contain thousands of statues iterating in a spiral formation the previous incarnations of the Avatar. It is unknown if there is an Air Avatar temple or where it might be found.
[edit] Southern Air Temple
Located in the remote Patola mountain range (Air Nomad Territory), the Southern Air Temple, supposedly only accessible via flying bison, was the boyhood home of the current Avatar, Aang, and his father-like mentor, Monk Gyatso. It was raided early in the war during Fire Lord Sozin's genocide on the Air Nomads.
The temple is large and peaceful, has an Air Ball arena, and is also where the "Air Scooter" was first invented by Aang. Once inhabited by Flying Bison and Winged Lemurs in the days of the monks, it is now barren and abandoned by humans and animals alike. A statue of Monk Gyatso stands at the entrance to the temple. Unlike the other two temples, the Southern Temple's spires are blue, instead of green.
[edit] Northern Air Temple
High in the upper reaches of the Earth Kingdom resides the Northern Air Temple. It was home to the Flying Bison polo championships in the days when the monks lived in it. After the extermination of the monks, the temple was rediscovered by the Mechanist and his group of refugees. The Mechanist used the gliders within to give his paraplegic son Teo a new life in the air.
The Northern Temple was modified by the Mechanist to house more people than before, and many of the original structures were destroyed or expanded to help accommodate the new residents. The temple also underwent many technological "upgrades", as the Mechanist added new inventions to help make the lives of the residents easier. The new changes anger Aang at first, who sees it as a violation of the temple's original sanctity, but in the end he decides that the refugees are like the hermit crabs that inhabit the temple's corridors, and is happy that they have found this empty shell and made it their home, and helps to defend them against the Fire Nation.
[edit] Eastern Air Temple
One of the two Air Temples to exclusively house female Airbenders, the other being the Western Temple, it was home to Malu the Ghost Witch. This temple was destroyed by the Fire Nation. When Aang, the current Avatar, was to be separated from his mentor, Monk Gyatso, the elders of the Southern Air Temple had decided to send Aang to the Eastern Air Temple to complete his training without Gyatso's fatherly influence. However, before they could do this, Aang overheard their plans and ran away. As seen in the episode, "Appa's Lost Days", the Eastern Air Temple was where Aang chose Appa for a sky bison partner and probably where Appa was born. In present day it is home to Guru Pathik who has lived there for a couple years because he saw a vision of himself helping the Avatar one day. Interestingly, the Guru wore the same color clothes as the Airbenders did, and claimed to have important information for Aang. There is no hint at what this may be. Unlike the Northern and Southern Air temples, the Eastern Air temple is housed on three mountains.
[edit] Western Air Temple
Nearest the Fire Nation, this Air Temple was probably the first target for the Fire Nation's genocidical attack. It exclusively housed female Airbenders. So far, it has not been seen in the show.
[edit] Air Temple Fauna
[edit] Flying Bison
Air Temples are inhabited by exotic fauna, one species of which is the six-legged, five-stomached, beaver-tailed, three-toed Flying Bison, giant domesticated flying beasts ridden by Airbenders. They are a hybrid species, being a cross between a bison and a manatee. These creatures have brown eyes, shaggy, light grey fur and a brown stripe that runs along their back, from tail-tip to forehead, where it terminates in an arrowhead. In "The Great Divide", Aang reveals that Appa has five stomachs. These creatures are the main source of transportation for Air Nomads.
All Flying Bison can use Airbending to fly with their feet and defend themselves with their large tail. As shown in "Appa's Lost Days", they are able to use their mouths and possibly their noses to Airbend. A fully-grown Flying Bison can easily weigh ten tons. They are revered by the Air Nomads, whose tattoos deliberately emulate these markings, for inspiring the Airbending art in humans similarly to how Badgermoles inspired Earthbending. It was customary for young air nomads to choose an air bison to be their lifelong companion. Aang chose Appa at the Eastern Air Temple, when he was a baby calf, by giving him an apple.
To direct a Flying Bison to take flight, Aang uses the command "Yip-yip." To summon one from a far location, one may use a Flying Bison whistle, which is supposedly only audible to the species it calls, although in the episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se", other animals were seen to react to it too. Though fairly docile, these creatures can be fearsome when aroused to fight. The most notable and possibly last surviving Flying Bison is Appa, Aang's pet and major means of long-distance transportation.
As seen in a flasback in "Appa's Lost Days", Flying Bison are bred at the Eastern Air Temple.
[edit] Winged Lemurs
The Winged Lemur species is also native to the Air Temple mountain ranges. Like the Flying Bison, Winged Lemurs are a hybrid species, being a cross between a lemur and a spotted bat. Sporting giant, bat-like ears and wing-like patagia on their arms, Winged Lemurs can glide and flap their winged arms to fly. It is unknown, however, whether they can actually Airbend in the traditional sense. Momo is the most notable of this species in the series.
[edit] Other animals
A less-known animal species that inhabits the Air Temples is small, land-dwelling hermit crab. They look quite similar to their aquatic cousins, with a similar shell-switching lifestyle, but are covered in a thick coat of black and white hair. They seem to prefer damp, dark places and are apparently very adaptable, as specimens in the Northern Air Temple survived a complete refurbishment of the entire complex, spearheaded by the The Mechanist. It seems fitting and is perhaps not coincidental that a nomadic animal by nature would live among the Air Nomads.
[edit] Influences
In many aspects, the culture of the Air Nomads seems to be a mix of the Monks of Tibet and the nomadic Mongols of Mongolia, as well as the warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple.[citation needed] The slaughter of the Air Nomads is a likely allusion to the alleged brutal suppression of the Tibetans by the People's Republic of China, as well as to the several attacks the Shaolin Temple has endured in its long history.[citation needed]
[edit] Notable figures
[edit] References
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| Information | |||
| Episodes · Media information · Guest voices · Trading cards · Video game Water Tribe · Earth Kingdom · Fire Nation · Air Nomads · Spirit World |
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| Characters | |||
| Aang · Katara · Sokka · Appa · Toph · Zuko · Iroh · Azula Major secondary characters · Minor secondary characters · Creatures Waterbender · Earthbender · Firebender · Airbender |
