Since its release, Avatar: The Last Airbender has, developed a reputation for having a deeply complex and at times tragic story. While ATLA’s tragedies are easy to forget due to the often whimsical nature of the show, the world of ATLA has been immersed in a constant state of war since the first fire nation attacks a hundred years earlier.
Due to living in a war-torn world, many of the show’s characters have grown up with tragedy and loss and have no way to escape their difficult circumstances. As a result, it’s very easy to start thinking that a lot of these characters really deserved better in their lives, be it because of tragedy or simply because they’re just kids.
10 Katara
Katara and her brother Sokka were both dealt an incredibly unfair hand in life but in very different ways. Due to the Fire Nation’s attacks on the Southern Water Tribe, Katara has had to step up and look after her whole tribe.
Keeping in mind that Katara is only a young teenager at the start of ATLA, having to look after an entire village is an incredibly heavy responsibility. Granted, it’s a duty that Katara steps up to commendably, but still, it is not a burden any child should carry.
9 Sokka
Similar to his sister Katara, Sokka is left with the responsibility of looking after the tribe. After their father takes all the fighting-age men in the tribe to go fight the Fire Nation, Sokka is left alone to feed and protect the village.
Sokka, just like Katara, is hardly a teenager during the events of ATLA, and being trusted with the lives of dozens of his fellow people had to be an unimaginable burden. Sokka fulfilled his duty admirably, but it is a burden that’s clearly taken a toll on him throughout the series.
8 Kya
Kya is Katara and Sokka’s mother, who was killed by Yon Rha during a Fire Nation raid on the Southern Water Tribe. Hunting for the last water bender in the entirety of the southern tribe, Yon Rha corners Kya and demands to know where the bender is.
Knowing that Yon Rha is hunting Katara, Kya lies and says she is the bender and is ruthlessly killed by Yon Rha. Kya truly deserved better, and her death weighs heavily on her children for the entirety of ATLA.
7 Princess Yue
Princess Yue continues a theme of lost innocence and youth seen throughout the show. The young princess grew up in a city essentially constantly under siege; the Northern Water Tribe’s fleets had been long defeated, and they had retreated within the safety of their walls.
During the events of ATLA, Princess Yue has to sacrifice herself to save her tribe and city, restoring life to the Moon Spirit killed by Admiral Zhao. Her sacrifice saved the city, but there’s no doubt that her death is one of the series’ greatest tragedies.
6 Iroh
Despite once being a powerful Fire Nation general and heir to the nation, after the death of his son, Iroh was greatly humbled and slowly began to withdraw from his position. Between the suspicion that his brother Ozai had killed their father and the loss of his son Lu Ten, Iroh was a broken man.
Iroh long strived to make amends, going into exile with his nephew Zuko and teaching him to be a better leader than his father Ozai. Ultimately Iroh would go on to live a peaceful life as a tea shop owner after ATLA, but his story is still deeply marred by loss and tragedy.
5 Zuko
Much of Zuko’s early upbringing is defined by the incredibly conflicting parenthood between his mother and father. Ursa, his mother would love and care for him, and ensure he thrives. Ozai, meanwhile, was cold and cruel and would strive to break his son.
After his mother disappears, Zuko and his sister Azula are left alone with their father, something that has a profound, deeply troubling impact on both of them. Under the insistence of his uncle Iroh, Zuko sat in on a general’s assembly alongside his father. After naively speaking out of turn, Zuko was brutally scarred and banished by his father during their Agni Kai, eventually leading to Zuko turning on his father alongside Aang.
4 Azula
While Zuko eventually works past the troubled upbringing Ozai inflicted upon him, Azula did not. Ozai similarly oppressed and strove to break both his children, as though in a twisted desire to make them more like him. For Azula, this worked in spades.
Azula was arguably driven mad throughout the events of ATLA, something that her father is at least in part responsible for. Throughout several moments, however, viewers get an insight into the true Azula as a scared little girl—something that makes her normally unhinged and cruel self all the more profoundly tragic.
3 Ursa
Ursa is Azula and Zuko’s mysterious mother who remains entirely vanished for the events of ATLA. Disappointingly, her story is mainly told through a series of comics. In these comics, it’s revealed that she fled to save Zuko’s life, and later had her mind wiped by a spirit.
Zuko helps her remember her past, and the two are joyfully united. However, considering her weight in the events of ATLA and the importance she has to Zuko and Azula, the fact that her story was told near-entirely through a series of comics was greatly disappointing. Such an interesting storyline deserved a more direct highlight in the series.
2 The Cabbage Man
The Cabbage Monger is a fan-favorite character who reoccurs throughout the series. Near-every time the Gaang can be seen in the same scene as the merchant, he suffers a business loss, as his only cart and entire stock of cabbages are destroyed constantly.
It’s worth remembering that the world of ATLA is in a constant state of war. Food is tough to grow reliably in such a scenario, and owning a stock of food to sell as a merchant is a significant investment. Realistically speaking, the Cabbage Merchant takes a crippling financial loss every time the Gaang destroy his cart and cabbages throughout the series.
1 Aang
Aang is arguably the ultimate tragic figure within the series of ATLA. He suffers a brutal internal crisis, fearing death in the face of an impending Fire Nation invasion, and so flees and hides away in the South Pole for a hundred years. Upon his return, he’s confronted with constant reminders of his failure.
Even worse, Aang has to face the fact that running away form his duty directly resulted in the death of his entire tribe, as well as the death of every single other air bender, something revealed in a scene as shocking to viewers as it was to Aang. All these burdens are near-overwhelming for Aang. It can be really easy to forget that, even while dealing with all this, Aang is still just a child.
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