I never saw Gyatso again [Monk] The avatar will be sent away to the eastern air temple Hey Sub Furies! I've always been a fan of alternate history an exploration of fake real history But let's take it to the next level, an exploration of fake fake history What if Aang never ran away? What if Aang was never frozen for those 99 years? How would the hundred year war have turned out? Let's talk our way through two alternate timelines. In this first alternate timeline that could have gone badly But it's important to get some context first It was the Year Zero A.G., just months before the air nomad genocide. If Aang remained in one of the four air temples as - [Monk] The avatar will be sent away to the eastern air temple to complete his training - then come that fateful night, there's a high chance that Aang would have been captured or killed during the assault. The assault being the Fire Nation equivalent of blitzkrieg Interestingly it may have been the case that the Fire Nation knew where the avatar was meant to be during sozin's comet Or as it was known then the great comet. After all taking down the avatar was Sozin's primary objective with the attack as he viewed it as - [Sozin] The fire nation's greatest threat - after his experiences with Roku. In this alternate timeline Aang is sent away to train at the eastern air temple And during the series Aang actually spend some time there with Guru Pathik And there's something interesting to note about what happened to it during the genocide It's the only temple with a lot of structural damage done to it, signs of artillery fire and heavy assault while the other air temples are damaged and aged, they're still largely intact Whereas the eastern air temple has roofs that have collapsed, the walls have crumbled and the towers of the temple themselves have been entirely destroyed. Which is not the case for any of the other air temples and the fact that the Fire Nation focus so much of their firepower on the eastern air temple alone may have been because they had some foreknowledge that the avatar was meant to be there. Now, I've read that some people think this is the case because in the Avatar card game there's a character called Afiko the betrayer, a southern air temple air nomad who helps the Fire Nation plan their attacks on the temples. Being from the southern air temple there's a good chance that Afiko would have known where Aang was sent at the time. But to be clear this card game is not canon. If there was someone who helped the Fire Nation coordinate and plan their attack we don't know who they are. In this alternate timeline Aang is sent away to train there. And it remains true that the heaviest assault by the Fire Nation is on the eastern air temple. It's here during the assault that the Avatar State would come into play. But it's important to remember that this is only a few months after Aang was told that he was the avatar, meaning it's likely that Aang would have around the same level of control of it as we saw he had in the first episode. It's more instinctual than anything else. There we saw that if forced into the Avatar State it made Aang aggressive. If he uses it during the assault it will not be to flee to safety, but to stand his ground and fight. But it wouldn't last for long and would leave him weak and nearly unconscious. Left vulnerable in this alternate world even with the Avatar state protecting him, it's likely that Aang would have been captured, because - [Sozin] See if you die, you'll just be reborn and the Fire Nation will have to begin its search for the avatar all over again. - or even worse killed in the Avatar State, permanently ending the cycle. Oh no, what man can stop the Fire Lord now? Not a man my dear botanical nuisance, but a cat. And the best damn cat you've ever seen. In the case that Aang somehow escaped the attack, as we learn that some nomads did in the short comic Relics, It's likely that history would have played out much like the second alternate timeline. Because what if things happened a little bit differently? While it may appear likely the Aang would get caught up in the genocide, there's a small moment in the episode The Storm that shows us he may have been able to avoid it entirely. In this second alternate reality, Aang and Gyatso ran away from the air temples together. After Gyatso is informed that the two of them will be separated and Aang will be sent to the eastern air temple to complete his training, Aang leaves a note, runs away, and flies into the storm. But Gyatso goes to his room afterwards, and he says [Gyatso] Aang, I'm not going to let them take you away from me. He went to Aang during the night when the rest of the temple was asleep. And I think he did that all for a reason. In this alternate timeline, the two waited for a night with weather where they could safely leave and they departed for the world. For the months following, the war was ever approaching, but they were none the wiser. Gyatso would continue to train Aang and teach him the ways of [Gyatso] When he gets his butt kicked at Pai Sho. All the while ensuring that he still had the opportunity to be a kid. It's likely that they would have taken up residence in the earth Kingdom. It's easier for them to blend in and hide, and it would also help Aang not feel pressure to learn the elements until he was ready. [Gyatso] All I want is what is best for him. Sozin's hunt for the avatar begins. In this timeline it's a darker story of survival, escape, and secrecy. When the hundred year war begins with the air nomads genocide, the two are left broken, devastated, and alone in the world. But Aang is not the last airbender. Then in the summer of that year, when the Fire Nation is at its most powerful, it begins its coordinated expansion into the Western Earth Kingdom. Yet while in our fake real timeline - [Sozin] I wasted the remainder of my life, searching in vain. In our fake fake timeline Aang would eventually be found, or at least he would come out of hiding. Slowly but surely, word would spread of two airbenders who escaped the genocide. And Aang and Gyatso would try and connect and find others who survived. We know from the comics that the Fire Nation used air nomads relics to try and lure survivors into traps throughout the earth Kingdom. But Monk Gyatso, knowing the danger that Aang as the avatar was in, would be unlikely to fall for these. As time moves on, Aang would continue to train with Gyatso. But even as the earth Kingdom lost territory in the early parts of the war, he would not get involved. Gyatso was not against Aang embracing his role as the avatar But he wanted him to adjust and grow into it over time. Because of this, much of the early war would happen in the same way. The Fire Nation would have many of these same victories. Because Gyatso understood that A: Intervening too early would likely lead to failure, and B: It would be bad for Aang personally, forcing him to feel the weight and responsibility of the world on his shoulders when he wasn't ready. Sozin would still win the battle of Han Tui, circa 10 AG. And the Earth Kingdom would be dealt a major blow with the fall of Taku, an important trading center in one of the few large cities outside of Ba Sing Se. It would still fall in much the same way. Now in the finale of the show, team avatar - Coming out in 2019 for just $69.99 with such classic hits as [Iroh] Leaves from the vine Falling so slow There's a- there's a squirtle in my eye :'( But the gang decides that [Aang] I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came. Now Aang was actually forced to face Fire Lord Ozai during the comet. But in this alternate timeline, that pressure isn't there. He doesn't have a deadline. He has time to train. And given that Sozin, after all, was one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful firebender in the world at the time, he would want to. As a believer in tradition and the importance of proper Avatar training, Aang would eventually choose to travel to the Water Tribes to master water bending. Interestingly, the Fire Nation focused almost entirely on the western front in the earth Kingdom for the first part of the war. The Water Tribes weren't directly involved. It was in fear of retaliation that the Water Tribes stayed out of the war for as long as they could. They became isolationists, but they couldn't escape it forever. We know that - [Hama] It was over 60 years ago when the raids started It wasn't until the Year 40 AG, nearly halfway through the hundred year war, that the Southern Water Tribe actually came under attack. In this timeline the Southern Water Tribe is still a thriving water bending city, and likewise it's implied in the show that the Northern Water Tribe wasn't drawn into the war until 85 or more years ago. So they were attacked far before the Southern Water Tribe ever was. Being by far the safest option outside the eye of the Fire Nation, the easiest way to remain secret, and being from the south himself, Aang would have chosen to train with the Southern Water Tribe rather than the northern one. Eventually Aang would need to master earthbending and firebending. While it's impossible to say who Aang would have trained with in this alternate reality it's likely that he wouldn't have been as good an earthbender as he was in the show. Which is saying something, because - [Toph] Your earth bending could still use some work too. Toph told him how to earthbend in a way that no other person could have. In this timeline he may be able to throw rocks and keep a stance, but there's no way that he would be doing this - Likewise without Zuko there's no way that he could have learned lightning redirection, and these two abilities turned out to be crucial during his fight with Ozai. And would likely also be crucial during a fight with, say, Sozin, or Azulan. Lightning is essentially a one-hit kill that Sozin probably would have been able to use as well. That said, having years rather than months to master airbending, waterbending, firebending, and earthbending would over all make him more proficient with the elements in this timeline. It would no longer be true that [Sokka] If Aang tries to fight the fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose. Instead, he would stand a chance. And depending on how long mastering the elements took Aang, the political state of the Fire Nation may be important to deciding when he took down the Firelord. Azuln was born in the year 0 AG, making him ripe for the position of Fire Lord when Sozin died in the year 20 AG. It's at this point, with the change in leadership that military advisors may urge Aang to attack, that his moment may have come. If Aang mastered the elements and killed Fire Lord Sozin before the year 20 AG, then Azulon would have easily ascended to the throne and the war would have likely continued. But if he kills a Azulon after he ascends to the throne then there would be no royal heirs to take his place, and the Fire Nation may fall apart. But how would this battle go down? An all-out assault like originally planned in The Day of Black Sun would likely be impossible without the eclipse. And the fact that the Fire Nation at this point is at arguably its most powerful and with full command of the Avatar State, the Fire Lord would wisely try to avoid a direct confrontation. But it would eventually come. and Aang would face him. Interestingly Aang faced a lot of internal strife nearing the end of the series around whether or not he should kill the Fire Lord. Aang was alone in his beliefs and being pressured on all sides to kill Nobody around him understood his air Nomad values and even the previous air nomad Avatar Yangchen told him - [Yangchen] Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs But in this timeline Aang escaped with Gyatso He would have Gyatso so there as a constant reminder and teacher of air nomad values With Gyatso to guide him, it's likely that Aang would have staunchly stuck by his nomad values in his fight with either Azulon or Sozin Though whether or not Gyatso was truly about the whole non-violence and non-killing thing is kind of up for debate Given how many dead bodies we find around him the southern air temple I mean these guys were all comet powered firebenders It is possible that he may have told Aang to kill the Fire Lord though like with all ideological convictions It's one thing to preach them when you're safe and another thing to preach them when you're being attacked with a hundred comet powered fire benders In the former scenario being a fully realized avatar of age, Aang would likely kill the Fire Lord within the first two decades of the Hundred Year War, ending it and forcing their capitulation, But in this scenario, there's no individual like Zuko to ascend to the throne leaving the Fire Nation in a precarious political position It's likely that, like in many post war scenarios like this, a puppet government be set up And they will be forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles I mean a peace treaty But enforcing this kind of treaty often proves to be difficult let alone keeping a stable government in place In the latter scenario, it's likely that fire lord Azulon would be subdued and imprisoned, but alive and remain a threat personally In the comics, we learned that insurgent groups like the New Ozai Society persisted and rebelled Attempting to restore their imprisoned monarch to the throne The Fire Nation was always fiercely patriotic, yet, no point more than at the beginning of the war and it's likely that a similar situation would arise where they knew Azulon are a new Sozin society per se making the fire nation even more difficult to subdue and control But there are two other incredibly important consequences to this timeline Firstly, with the war ending far earlier in this timeline the world begins to advance at a far slower rate both technologically and culturally. See, war drives innovation as the opposing sides try to outdo one another and the hundred year war is no different. It was only the pressures of the hundred year war that led to the development of mobile steam engines Which are incredibly important industry-wise as well as things like submarines or hot-air balloons Which would eventually lead to flight On a different level, though, it was only the long-term mixing of both Fire Nation and earth Kingdom people's over the hundred year period that led to a distinct, separate, multicultural society that we see in Republic City and the other colonies. Now while there are colonies in this timeline their longevity isn't guaranteed, And they haven't been around for quite as long meaning that it's less likely that they would have developed that feeling of a separate, distinct cultural identity. It was this cultural integration that we see led to revolutionary techniques in industry and in manufacturing as they combined the bending abilities from multiple nations that made it more efficient and assisted in mass production But in this timeline the opportunities there would be very limited. There would still be this distinct feeling of them being four nations with a low degree of cultural integration With manufacturing being slower industry would take a backseat and society would slow down as a whole The earth Kingdom would likely still be stuck in that kind of feudal age for a lot longer and this leads on to my second point Further war. The hundred year war was so devastating that the nations put in place measures to make sure that a war like that could never happen again This is similar to what happened in Europe after World War Two and it's true that European countries tend to have a general aversion to involvement in war at least directly and certainly not against one another. If their war doesn't last as long then this sort of sentiment is far less likely to develop it would just be looked back on in history as another failed war, not the war that defined their era In this timeline the world isn't as shaken meaning the socio-political powers that be at the time wouldn't see any need for any real examination of the issue. And because of this the four nations, including the Fire Nation, would be far less likely to develop any sort of reluctance to go to war with one another in the future. There's no guarantee the Fire Nation would be saying - [Izumi] The fire nation has spent too much of its history fighting nonsense Wars - coupled with the lack of cultural integration in this timeline They would still be strong divisions along the lines of national identity Which inevitably leads to further tensions and where these tensions go we can't say but they would be there, ever building. Either way, in this alternate timeline the hundred year war wouldn't be the Hundred Year War it'll be like the 10 or 20 year war which isn't nearly as impressive. But an interesting question that needs to be addressed is, what happens to the Fire Nation colonies following the war? This was addressed with the harmony restoration movement in the comic books The Promise But it's important to remember that even at this point some of these colonies would have been there for 40 or 50 years That's plenty of time for a whole generation of people to grow up there However, it's still likely that governments would be handed over almost entirely to the earth Kingdom though this said, history has a long record of invaded countries treating established citizens of a foreign power in the post war scenario pretty terribly. In this timeline the earth Kingdom would demand retribution following the war and with no strong Fire Nation central power or a heavily involved Water Tribe to moderate the peace treaty It would mean that the likelihood of expulsion or persecution of Fire Nation citizens either at the hands of the government or the people then the escalating tensions that they would lead to only heightens In this timeline the Southern Water Tribe has likely never assaulted And it's water benders are likely never taken because of this Hama is unlikely to have discovered blood bending But another point is about the Dai Li The Dai Li grew largely in power during the Hundred Year War they were powerful beforehand but they really thrived on the paranoia that the war created. Without it going on for so long, it's likely that they wouldn't have gotten this far. Beyond this, it's difficult to say but let me know what you think would have happened in this war down in the comments below It's a question that the community has a long pondered and these are just my thoughts on some fake fake history That's all from me, and if you like what I do and like to support me and our supreme leader Mishka Then patreon is definately the way to do that Thank you so much to those of you who already support me on patreon your support means the absolute world My question for you today is what is your favorite ancient civilization? Let me know down in the comments below In the mean time you can follow me on Twitter Facebook or email me yourself, you may enjoy some links in the description below stay near Sub Furies And I will see you in the future
This would be possibly worst thing to happen. He'd probably been killed by the attack of the fire nation due to 0 experience in bending all elements or even use the Avatar State. As a result of his death the Avatar Incarnation Cycle would go on and "create" an other Avatar at the Water tribes. Giving the Fire Nation a reason to attack and wipe out the entire Water Tribe to kill the Avatat. This hunt would go on till the Avatar is born in the Fire Nation. And it would go on and on. The result would just be more genocides.
RIP Kataang
Oh Tim, one of my favourite YouTubers. ALL HAIL MISHKA!