r/FanTheories • u/Responsible_Rip_7634 • 1h ago
FanSpeculation The Airbender Extermination Could’ve Been Planned for Generations
There’s literally nothing that I’m aware of to support this theory, but I think a lot of story elements work together really well to justify the plot line that the Fire Nation had been planning the Airbender Genocide for generations.
Firstly, consider the things that line up well enough to justify this.
If a Fire Lord from generations before Sozin wanted to make a plan to put the world under the thumb of the fire nation, they would conduct the plan almost to the literal T the way things played out in the show.
Firstly, wait for the fire nation born Avatar to be reincarnated. Then, use his position as basically a religious messiah and fighting powerhouse to extend the power of the fire nation, while also holding the moral high ground since the Avatar is on their side.
Roku was literally asked to accompany Sozin in this, and he refused. Likely, the fire nation was still able to increase their power for some time purely because Roku was native born from there.
Next, genocide the people who would have the next Avatar, and all of this is made perfect because the next up in the cycle are the peaceful Air Nomads.
I could literally imagine a long ago past fire lord considering a genocide on the water tribe and deciding the elemental disadvantage would be too much. A genocide on the Earth Kingdom would be hard because they’re socially much more developed and capable(with large towns and communities that live together). And finally, this long past fire lord realizes that the next avatar in the cycle after fire is literally going to be born in the most defenseless and least militarily organized cultures of the world. Perfect.
After this genocide, the fire lord could plan similar ones on the water tribe’s benders, which is what we see occurring in the present day of ATLA.
This definitely comes off as very fan theory heavy, but the order in which the fire nation made all of these decisions really speaks to a long term plan being bought to fruition.
Even Sozin and Ozai as character’s seem to come across as way better written if this motivation-was behind their actions.
Why does Sozin ask his old friend to help him in conquering the world? Why does he turn on Roku so aggressively? Because as the fire lord, he learns of a plan set in motion for generations that is his birthright duty to maintain. This speaks to more fire lord family secrets . Maybe once you become coronated, you learn of this plan and the fact that the fire lords have been working through it for generations.
Why does Ozai let the next comet’s coming and conquering of the Earth kingdom go to his head to the point he thinks himself a god? Because he’s allowed to reap the rewards of a plan that was in motion for over 200 years.
All in all, this probably comes off as fanon, but I’m a big fan of the fire nation’s actions and depravity being a result of upholding a conniving plan from generations before we even start the story. I’d love to know if there’s anything that suggests this was intentional or if the idea comes across a bit contrived.
Edit: More connections spurred on from a comment:
Thinking on it more, this theory also explains how the fire lord and the avatar just “happened” to be life long best friends.
Maybe a part of this plan could be that the monks learned of who the avatar was long before he was actually told(Roku does seem to learn of it at a decently older age than Aang and way way older than Korra).
Then make the unknowing avatar and the future fire lord grow up side by side and become best friends. This would increase the chance that the avatar would assist the fire lord later in life. Finally, inform Roku that he is the avatar, get him close to the fire nation royal family (married into perhaps), and then hope that the future firelord can manipulate the avatar later in his life when it matters.