Summary

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of
Avatar: The Last Airbender
stirs divisiveness among fans due to numerous changes from the original series.
Zaheer becomes the first airbender in the franchise to naturally fly, a power achieved through self-sacrifice and spiritual freedom.
Zaheer’s extremist anarchist beliefs about freedom challenge the Avatar’s role and may require significant reworking if adapted in future seasons.

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has made numerous changes to the original show and, as a result, has received incredibly divisive reactions from long-time fans. While the changes are nowhere near as bad as M. Night Shyamalan’s unforgettable, shocking live-action feature film adaptation, Netflix’s alterations will have some lasting effects on the future of the franchise.

Many of the changes found in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender are the show’s developers (led by Albert Kim) reorganizing the chronology of the original series. Much of Netflix’s first season is actually taken from Book (Season) 2 of the original Nickelodeon show and crammed together with plot points from Book 1 to help extend the runtime of individual episodes. However, there is one key change Netflix has made to Aang, which drastically affects the potential of one of the best villains in the future of the franchise.

Zaheer Was the First Airbender to Naturally Fly

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It may seem like a given that airbenders should be able to fly, given the very nature of their powers, and, for new audiences, Aang being able to fly from the first episode makes perfect sense. Aang was among the most gifted airbenders because he was the Avatar and could quickly develop the skill. However, Aang never actually flew in the original series – at least not without the help of his glider or Appa. Natural flight is a complicated and ancient power within the franchise that very few have been able to achieve, and it wasn’t until after Aang that an airbender would develop the skill on screen, a big change for the franchise.

The first airbender to develop natural flight on screen wasn’t Aang, his son Tenzin, or any of the other new air nomads found in The Legend of Korra (the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender). It was actually Zaheer, the main antagonist from the third season of The Legend of Korra, who would develop the power. Zaheer, like many other civilians at the end of The Legend of Korra’s second season, was granted the power of airbending. However, instead of joining Tenzin to help reform the air nomads, Zaheer was part of a self-proclaimed anarchist group called the Red Lotus – a breakaway faction from the White Lotus.

Zaheer used his airbending powers to further the cause of the Red Lotus – whose overall goal was a world without authority, free from the control of the White Lotus, the Four Nations, and the Avatar (in true anarchistic style, Zaheer was voiced by punk music icon Henry Rollins). In doing so, he freed various prisoners from the White Lotus group, including his partner, P’Li, and killed the Earth Queen, leaving the city of Ba Sing Se in chaos. Zaheer even left Korra with PTSD-like symptoms after she managed to defeat him, resulting in Korra having to face Zaheer a second time to confront her fears and bring balance back to herself.

In the lore of Avatar: The Last Airbender, flight was first discovered by Guru Laghima, an ancient philosopher thousands of years before the time of Aang as the Avatar and the Hundred Years War. Zaheer was a keen philosopher and a long-time student of Laghima’s notes and teachings. Through Zaheer’s study of Laghima’s lessons, he developed the incredibly rare and powerful ability.

Zaheer’s Powers Relate to His Sacrifice

Flight isn’t just a normal skill that any airbender can learn with practice and a good teacher, its technique is in spirituality and requires a great deal of self-sacrifice. Aang had the potential to learn the skill when he visited Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple in Book 3. Pathik helped Aang to recover his ability to enter the Avatar state after allowing him to open his six blocked chakras.

However, for Aang to become truly powerful, Pathik instructed him that he would need to let go of all Earthly attachments, which included his feelings for Katara, to open the seventh chakra. Aang refused and returned to the gang, able to enter the Avatar state at will but not as powerful as he could have potentially been.

This attachment to earthly possessions inhibits Airbenders from being able to fly. Zaheer was never able to let go of his Earthly attachments until the death of his girlfriend, P’Li. Upon her death, Zaheer truly gave himself to Laghima’s teachings and became spiritually free, enabling him to fly at will and become the first airbender to do so in over 1000 years. His newfound ability also made Zaheer one of the most dangerous characters in the history of the franchise, given his ideological beliefs.

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Unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender, which saw Aang attempting to reconcile the Hundred Years War, The Legend of Korra saw four villains come and go over its four seasons, each representing and testing a different aspect of the Avatar. Zaheer was the embodiment of freedom, which, through his extreme methods, diverged into anarchism.

Freedom is one cornerstone of what the Avatar represents – with Aang having fought for the freedom of the world from the Fire Nation. Zaheer’s extremist beliefs about freedom pushed Korra’s understanding of what the Avatar actually represented and stood for. His ability to release himself from any and all attachments and achieve true freedom, resulting in his flight abilities, is a testament to that.

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is yet to be officially renewed for Season 2, and there has been no word about adapting The Legend of Korra in the same manner. However, if Netflix decides to adapt both shows in their entirety, they will have to drastically rework Zaheer’s character and arc for him to be a meaningful villain again. Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix.