The “humorless Aang” notion isn’t helped by the opposite massive revelations about his grownup life, particularly because it was by the eyes of his children. Whereas airbender Tenzin had a excessive opinion of his father, Bumi and Kya had extra difficult emotions. Aang, already tasked together with his duties because the Avatar, additionally took on the accountability of preserving Air Nomad tradition. This monumental job not solely contributed to his extra critical outlook but additionally had him give attention to Tenzin greater than the opposite kids. It’s no surprise they felt such animosity in direction of him and why their reminiscences of Aang have been considered by such a murky filter.
The Legend of Korra made it clear all through its run that regardless of being the Avatar (and the principle character of the unique sequence) Aang wasn’t good. He did a whole lot of good for the world however like anybody he was deeply flawed. Contemplating he was tasked with sustaining stability, preserving an entire tradition, and taking good care of a household it’s completely comprehensible he couldn’t deal with all of it flawlessly.
This destructive image of Aang rattled followers, taking the tales of Aang’s kids and the transient flashbacks as proof that the writers “messed with” Aang’s character by forgetting about his humor. This, frankly, is followers lacking the purpose and wanting the character to stagnate. Aang grew up and like most individuals he wasn’t the identical particular person he was as a child. For somebody caught in ice for 100 years it’s simple to think about Aang wouldn’t need to sit nonetheless and by no means change. That meant he’d make errors and wouldn’t be good however that’s life. He was additionally in all probability wrestling with the trauma of being caught in ice and saving the world when he was a baby. I can simply think about Aang repressing a lot of this, particularly together with his fixed duties to maintain the world in stability, and that inflicting his extra critical aspect to come back out.
The choice to indicate Aang’s not as nice sides enriched the character, it didn’t detract from it. He was goofy at instances within the authentic sequence, sure, however as he grew up he took his obligations critically and was probably wrestling with a whole lot of inside conflicts.
There additionally wasn’t a lot of a spot for Aang’s humor in The Legend of Korra. It wasn’t his present. Flashbacks that includes him have been stored to a minimal so they may let Korra keep within the highlight. Simply because there wasn’t a lot of an opportunity for his humor to come back by doesn’t imply he by no means made a joke in his entire grownup life.
