Avatar: Why Zaheer Was The Only Airbender Who Could Fly

new growth cannot exist without the destruction of the old let go of your earthly tether enter the void empty and become wind these were the words of the great guru lahima an airbending master from before aang's time it is said he unlocked the power of flight true freedom it is said he spent the last 40 years of his life without ever touching the ground we have had a lot of strong airbenders in the avatar franchise we have aang of course and his family however there's one airbender who stands above them and he has only been an airbender for less than a few months zaheer the radical villain of the legend of korra season 3 embraced air nomad teachings to such a degree that he is the second airbender in the show's history to ever attain flight why is that well let's take a deep dive into the mind of the extremist zahir to understand zahir's unique powers we must look at the organization that fostered his beliefs in avatar the last airbender we learned of a secret society called the white lotus this society was tasked with safeguarding the world and was made up of leaders from all remaining nations to help maintain balance they were responsible for saving bossing say from fire nation occupation during sozin's comet they were also tasked with guarding cora as she trained to become the avatar however for every light there is a shadow and for every white lotus there is a red one the red lotus was an anarchist militant movement that splintered from the white lotus they formed after the 100 years war and were founded by zaibao a person we haven't met in the avatar franchise zabao saw the white lotus actions during the 100 years war as an insult he noted that the white lotus had become nothing more than the avatar's bodyguards to help preserve the integrity of the lotus he formed the red lotus iro a high-ranking white lotus member saw what zabao was attempting to do while he tried to keep the lotus together he ultimately failed he didn't understand zebao's aversion to all forms of government but it would be this anti-establishment sentiment that would fuel the red lotus's actions they existed in secret much like the white lotus forming sleeper cells in all established nations their overall goal was to have humans and spirits co-exist again on the same plane much like how it was back in avatar wands time they would accomplish this goal by systematically overthrowing all government and erasing the concept of nations entirely lastly they would put an end to the avatar cycle to them humanity can only be free if the social constructs of government and social hierarchy are eliminated to create a stateless classless society where it was just humanity and spirit while taking on the nations of the world would be nearly impossible ending the avatar cycle seemed to be the easiest first step when cora was just a child oonalock zahir and his comrades attempted to kidnap korra they were unsuccessful in their plans and any attempt to learn of their full plans with korra were equally unsuccessful though korra did find out eventually that zaheer intended to indoctrinate korra in the ways of the red lotus and aid them in their cause to unite the spiritual and physical world but what does this have to do with zahir's ability to fly well for most of his life he was not a bender and he only received his bending after korra triggered harmonic convergence well any bending teacher will tell you that physical ability is only half of what makes a great bender earthbenders don't have to be physically strong in order to chuck rocks across a canyon it is all about having the mental fortitude and bending the elements to your will zaheer joined the red lotus at a young age he was only a teenager when he planned to kidnap korah zaheer studied the teachings of guru lahima a figure we'll talk more about later on in this video one of his teachings goes as follows new growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old now someone like aang might take this to mean that you can't fully change who you are without first addressing and breaking old destructive habits however taken to its most extreme it can mean that the only way to move forward is to destroy any and all established beliefs or systems radical change demands radical action according to zaheer while he might be right in some respects the ends rarely justify the means after talking about the red lotus zahir's ability to fly becomes a bit clearer from a young age zaheer was indoctrinated with the ideology of the red lotus anarchy and the abolition of the state in order to bring in a new world of balance was all he could think about and he was strong in his convictions but did that necessarily lead him to flight well no not necessarily zaheer did not unlock the power of flight until later the key to his ability to fly is threefold first to have a deep understanding of the spirit world and the willingness to detach from all earthly desires the second was the ability to airbed lastly zaheer possessed a strong conviction and rigidity to his beliefs that makes the first step possible by the end of book three he has attained all three with his goal of a stateless classless society that was one with the spirits within reach the last thing that connected zahir to this world was his love of plea it was an earthly desire that he was not willing to let go of on his own when plea met her end instead of falling into a deep despair zaheer instead entered the void and became wind this was a mantra written by guru lahimah let go of your earthly tether enter the void empty and become wind with plea gone there was nothing on earth zaheer wanted his desire to see the red lotus's new world was not something material or earthly it was an idea but if all it takes is a complete detachment from this world why is zaheer only the second ever airbender to fly why couldn't tenzin or aang or even monkeyatso fly the answer to that question comes from the first requirement a complete detachment of all earthly desires and things materialism in the plainest sense of the word keeps all three of these airbenders from achieving flight we saw this with aang back when he was training with guru patik in order to control the avatar state aang was told he must let go of all his earthly desires including katara he was unwilling to do this at first and because of this could not even enter the avatar state fans of the series will be quick to point out that aang eventually did let go of katara long enough to willingly enter the avatar state while this is true there is still an earthly desire and attachment that kept ang grounded more or less his duty to defeat the fire lord while it's not a desire like love a duty to bring balance to the material world was enough to keep aang away from the power of flight as zaheer explains the power of flight is a symbol of true freedom he is no longer attached to the material world and his desires by that logic the avatar technically can never achieve flight in order to do so they would have to forsake their responsibilities of maintaining peace in the world with tenzin and giazo the explanation is more direct they are unable to let go of their earthly desires of love tenzin driven by duty and a genuine love for pema felt that keeping the air nomad way of life was his mission that and raising a family and bringing more airbenders into this world was a priority for him gyatso similarly was likely unable to let go of his fatherly attachment to aang it might seem like an easy thing to do but letting go of a loved one or forsaking any earthly desires is nearly impossible which is why there have only ever been two airbenders who can fly but what do i mean when i say letting go of earthly desires well it's more nuanced than simply forgetting about any desires letting go doesn't mean forgetting about them entirely or even growing to dislike them detachment is not about love or hate but an understanding that life begins and ends and removing yourself from the path of another sometimes this can involve the removal of carnal emotions like love or lust but ultimately it means that their path no longer interferes with yours even after zahir is defeated and imprisoned again he doesn't lose his ability to fly does this mean he is forgotten about plea and the life that they could have shared well yes but actually no zaheer understands what happened to her and what losing her meant but rather than grieve zaheer entered the void and became untethered from his earthly desires now is this to say that he did all of this happily not at all in fact it's my belief that zaheer never wanted to actually achieve the power of flight with everything that had to be done in order to bring about the new world plus his genuine love for plea the thought of gaining the power to fly most likely never even crossed his mind until he was afforded the opportunity to try when plea met her end he implemented all three of guru lahima's teachings in one moment any normal person would have been saddened and grieved at the loss of a loved one some would say that this is instinct but instinct is a lie told by a fearful body hoping to be wrong he lost the one love in this world but new growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old he had nothing left and as a result he let his earthly tether go entered the void emptied himself and became wind and once you attain that kind of power it takes a lot to maintain it with his ideals dashed and all his allies dead it would have been easy for zaheer to lose his ability to fly the collective grief of losing your loved ones and comrades can ground anyone but zahir still holds firm to his beliefs even after being defeated by korra he doesn't harbor any ill will and even agrees to help korra deal with kuvira later on in the series despite being an airbender for a very short time compared to the other airbenders in the series zaheer displays an unusually high proficiency for the martial art his background and philosophy helped make him not only a formidable villain but also a principled and powerful airbender it was because of his conviction that he was able to achieve flight and become the only living airbender to achieve this power even with all of his power aang could never really achieve that level of course achieving this power might not be worth it in the long run most are not willing to give up practically everything in order to experience this true freedom even if you can soar to the highest mountaintops you'd be pretty lonely flying high above everyone else [Music] so that is why zaheer is the only living airbender who can fly before we end the video let me give you one last factoid did you know that in yoga laghima is a supernatural power attained through a spiritual practice known as a city it specifically deals with becoming almost weightless this explains guru lakima's character and how he attained weightlessness before death

Channel: CBR

Views: 387,224

Keywords: Avatar the Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, The Red Lotus, Guru Laghima, Airbenders learning to Fly, Avatar Aang, Enter the void and become wind, Zaheer learns to fly, P’li dies, Anarchy in Legend of Korra, Red Lotus Ideology

Id: DH2v90-7dpY

Length: 10min 55sec (655 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021