How did the Fire Nation let the Air Nomad Genocide Happen? | Avatar: The Last Airbender 

24 hour Charity Livestream for the Child Rescue Coalition on December 4th - sharing this image wherever you can would mean the world imgur.com/gallery/nXOqE5B I hope we do even better than last year when we raised over $22,000! Stay nerdy and vigilant! ~ Tim

"I'm professor Wang fire" Me: the legend is still alive * teary eye *

That awkward moment when a RU-vidr's "lecture" on a fantasy world's made up history is more informative and easier to watch than half the online university lectures I've attended this semester...

"Don't groan, it's only 60 pages" *college flashback triggered*

I can't believe that people still deny the Air Nomad Genocide.

I love that red and blue’s names are just their Japanese equivalents

Page three hundred and ninety four... lmao XD

I am OUTRAGED that the truth of the Fire Nation Genocide was not taught in my high school curriculum. This was one of the greatest history lectures I've ever witnessed.

"I am Professor Wang Fire" And an avid fan of the early-life exploits of General Sokka, apparently.

"And no laptops. The information doesn't stick." Try telling that to my accommodation notice and the disability office

I just took an entire history lesson on a place that doesn't exist...

I love that every "great individual" narrative gets taken down a peg with historical materialism, but Toph is still 'Toph The Great'...

This classroom setting along with the controversial topic is very interesting. Kinda makes me think if this is how a German classroom is when they look back on Hitler in their history class.

I liked the format of this video, given that you're discussing a topic that doesn't have show content, it does feel a bit like a history lesson with secondary sources and accounts. Also, I eagerly await Blue's term paper: Fire Lord Zoryu's Sibling Rivalry - History Hijinks.

I like the idea of the classroom setting, especially making it a fire nation classroom. It's very interesting and important tackling the idea of how a nation teaches it's "uncomfortable" history and does it straight forwardly and not fearing to tell it.

Toph The Great, a title I'm sure would make the lady herself smirk XD .

I’m so glad the Kyoshi novels are being talked about, they are literally the BEST

This presentation style was incredible. It felt like a real, live class. I enjoyed how you paid respect and sensitivity to each nation without sugarcoating historical facts.

Metal bending was not invented until Toph the Great discovered it in 99 AG

When a fictional franchise has better history teachers than real life

A minor point, but one worth making: I appreciate how there is a subtle nod to an entirely seperate stream of historical discussion regarding an Avatar focused Great Man narrative and a trends-and-forces revisionist narrative, in the comment about "those who still use avatar time" and the sidlining of Kiyoshi. Makes the lecture feel so much more alive, since not every detail is abour the subject at hand

I was trying my hardest to remind myself this isn't an actual lecture but then i saw that graphs at 6:50 i started taking notes

I like that Red and Blue are being called Red and Blue in Japanese (Aka and Ao) in this video. Fits in nicely with the Japan-inspired Fire Nation ^-^

Wow that was incredible I’m obsessed with the lore of this show and the fact you could make an entire history class with a tiny bit of details made up but mostly true is amazing.

Growing up in Germany and being a student at University myself right now, this feels very familiar. I also love how you put all those parallels to real life current politics in there!

"It took a long time for our nation to reconcile with this but it's important that we confront these realities." Someone tell Japan

Since Sun Warriors are closer to the original way of firebenders... Shouldn't the common equivalent of "good luck" be... Praise the Sun!

The part where the lecturer emphasises the need to confront the dark parts of their own history really speaks to me, given that my country's only just started discussing the fact that yes, a lot of our people *were* complicit in the Holocaust.

Nice to see Red and Blue paying attention, asking and answering questions, and just participating in general. Most teachers would kill for that. Then again, it is easier to have students participate when there's only four of them.

I really like that you took the ideas from Korra of "the world doesn't need the avatar" anymore and expanded on those to a subconscious level

Sozin's comet passes by the planet. Unknown Fire Nation soldier's journal: What I remember about the rise of the fire nation's empire is, is how quiet it was = during the waning weeks before the arrival of the Sozin's comet, the fire nation's armies were discreetly transferred throughout all four regions of the world at certain areas of importance, we all knew what was about to happen and what we were about to do, did we have any doubts, any private treacherous thoughts, perhaps but no one said a word, not on the way to the air nomad mountains, not when order 66 came down and not when we marched up to the air nomad temples... not a word. Sozin's comet arrives... Sozin by messenger bird: Execute Order 66. Nameless fire nation commander: It will be done my lord. 1 month later, unknown soldier: With the fall of the air nomads and the cycle of the Avatar crippled, Sozin's first stage plans to rise to power was complete, in recognition of our service and loyalty to the fire lord... the fire nation's armies were placed under the direct command of the royal family and their most trusted commanders from the nobility of the capital. Armed with deadly new weapons + blazing new ships and shinning new armour, our presence let the world know that the days of the old world were well and truly over = we were establishing a new era, an era of order and peace.

The Fire Nation: They were sooooooo powerful What the Fire Nation actually did: I didn’t just kill the men I killed the women and children they were animals so I slandered them like animals Anakin: *noding and clapping*

So avatar Szeto unknowingly doomed his next firebender comrade avatar to death by volcano. Ironic.

*Professor:* turn to page three hundred and ninety four. *Potterheads in class:* _snickering madly_

So, are we Fire nation students at a fire nation university?

I believe that a new earth avatar; A seemingly paradoxically quiet, patient metalbender boy, should now be written about. If I do so, I shall include him studying under Professor Wang Fire.

0:54 "Turn to page 394" That's the same page Snape told the class to turn to in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban! lol

I like how subtly this video shows that the world of Avatar it depicts grew to be very disillusioned with the Avatar especially the professor. Because of course he is he's a scholar and the Avatar is basically a spiritual guide and political figure that has been "deified".

I appreciate the historical inaccuracy if we assume Avatar as an objective source, which is fun because history is often a best guess situation where we can gain a lot but miss a lot of context or small details get overlooked.

You just know that there's that one kid in the back etching Phoenix Emperor tattoos on his arm with pencil and thinking the teacher is a traitor.

"That warped belief echoed by our own nationalist parties in the senate in recent years". - Subtle.

Well that was interesting. It was cool that Blue and Red had speaking parts. Any reason for the classroom style this time?

Nice little Wang Fire reference you've snuck in there Tim!

As a German, this really reminded me of how WW1 and WW2 and especially the Holocaust are taught here where they happened.

My mum really walked in while I was watching this and asked "whatcha watching?" and I responded "a history video :)...". She was proud of me for like two whole minutes before she realised it was fake ffs xD

I like the classroom setting, different from what I expect for this kind of video. I remember your previous video on this topic, and I like putting specific year dates on events. That certainly gives a more modern feel. Very nicely crafted and certainly no less than what I expect from my favorite writing RU-vidr/Influencer. You are amazing and I LOVE your work. Please never stop.

Last time I was this early the air nomads were still alive.

You actually sound like a real history teacher. Not only that, but your “class” actually feels like it was talking about real events. I believe that in the future of the avatar world this would actually be how they teach it 😆

So I am an English teacher in Japan and one of my duties is running my school's English club. Avatar never aired here because the Nickelodeon channel was cancelled three episodes into Avatar's initial airing, so it is totally unknown. It's well known that the Fire Nation is largely based on Japan, but the thing is that Japan also does not teach about its own history from the start of its imperial expansion age on. The first half of the twentieth century is usually a few pages in the history book if anything at all. So I was really curious to see if as we started watching Avatar in English club if they would start catching on to the references. And this video here makes it even more apparent how similar Japan and the Fire Nation are in those respective eras. And so far we are half way through season one, and so far I've overheard my students say they think the Fire Nation is based off China. I wonder if they will change their minds when we see more episodes in the Earth Kingdom which has much more Chinese inspiration later on.

I'm exited for Tim starting to look like a camp counselor.

I gotta be honest- In the context of a college classroom, Red and Blue sound like the middle-age adults that are "going back to school" and they're super into every lecture-

Today i learned that the Unnamed Lavabending Avatar (the one before Yangchen) has a name, Szeto, and was also incredibly important to his home nation. I wonder what he would have thought about the war... knowing that he, unknowingly and unintentionally, helped bring it about.

I sugest that you tackle the "theory" that "Flameo" is actually a curse word. Probably tought to Aang by his firenation friend as a joke. ¿The evidence? Chief Beifong upon seeing the aftermath of makorra breakup. "What the *flameo* has hapend here?" Maeby a bit... small for a video. But it can be fun to insert somewhere.

Wow... The class was so good that I dammed the bell ringing!

2:05 "I will be playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the very first time, completely blind [folded]." - Is what I wish he had said.

I came in prepared to learn something new about Avatar and came out wondering how a lot of schools in the world today teach the more... uncomfortable topics in their countries' history.

"Page 394 in your textbooks." I'm not letting you slip that HP reference in without being noticed, Tim.

December 4th is my birthday! I'll look into the charity and likely tell people to donate instead of give to me. I only say likely because as a principle I need to trust any charity I donate to or promote.

Dang. This was an amazing idea! Lectures have always been my favourite way of learning, video essays are great too but the lecture style really made that much better for me. And I love the perspective of a history class from the future looking back on the events we know so well. If this is gonna be a series I want to be signed up for the class. I enjoyed that you went out of your way to make it a collab just for some minor parts as students voices. The whole thing is genius and you went above and beyond I really hope there are more in the pipeline.

Toph the Great I’m amazed she didn’t get like 50 titles Toph mother of metal bending Toph the great metal teacher Damn my historical bias showing she invented a new sub form but maybe it’s not enough to be remembered in history.

Couldn't resist responding "And also with you" to Prof. Fire's closing benediction, darn Catholic conditioning! A fascinating look at what a history class in the far future of the Avatar world might look like, and really solid application of the worldbuilding principles you've laid out in previous videos--no conflict has only one cause, and the dominoes start to fall further back than you think.

Oh hey Red from overly sarcastic. Nice.

...well now I want a fanfic series about this university and Red and Blue's adventures into learning this topic, and Professor Wang Fire's attempts to make sure the truth is known.

As everyone else here, love the lecture format of this video!! Also, as someone who hasn't read any of the comics, I found the information you provided really interesting in terms of understanding the ATLA/LOK world. It makes sense that consolidating power to the Firelord and the royal family, while it may have had some early benefits, would lay the groundwork for a dictator-esque leadership, and as you said a "cult-like following". Also the war with the Fifth Nation as a way to increase naval supremacy without arousing suspicions makes a lot of sense. Overall, just extremely fascinating how the Avatar world was developed so richly, borrowing concepts from our own world, with which we can recognize and attempt to avoid such pitfalls.

i would love to see more of this 'fantasy college lecture' setup

I love that OSP guest starred! I would love to take this course with them! Good topic, seemingly fair treatment of the topic... good world building.

Poor Yun isn't even remembered for helping deal with the Fifth Nation.

What year is this lecture taking place in, Tim? Never mind he said see the Great Comet in a few weeks. It’s 200 AG.

I loved the presentation on this one, didn't expect that, and I loved the OSP collab here! Also, I didn't know / think of how much more there was to the 100 years war... Great video!

That was really interesting, it was very much like learning about WW2 here in Germany, but less removed from it. It is in a way more open than Germany treats the topic, which is weird because, the acknowledgement of being at fault is so much closer to being personal. German education makes WW2 feel like it was marked by institutional changes but this direct acknowledgement of guilt in this fictional story changes my own perspective on reality. This shows how great this video truly is.

Well, this just became my favorite college class. Although I forgot to pick up a textbook so I'm only going off of my personal readings, albeit that is rather expansive readings. I've watched both the docuseries on Avatar Aang ending the 100 year war and the docuseries on Avatar Korra's first three years in the public (though I suppose that one isn't pertinent to this class). I've also listened to the recounts of Avatar Kyoshi's first couple years as the Avatar and read through the available history books accompanying the Avatar Aang docuseries. That being said, I believe it is worth noting that, while war is never a good thing, nor were the tactics used by Firelord Sozin to establish then Firenation colonies, those colonies were the first step in unifying the nations. Take Yu Dao for example. With the help of Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko, Yu Dao established the first joint nation government in history. Or even look to the beacon of unity, Republic City, which was originally a Firenation colony. Would the nations have eventually unified without these colonies? It's very likely, yes, but not certain. It was only some 200 years ago that seeing a member of the Water Republic (The Water tribe) in the Earth Republic (Then Earth Kingdom) was a strikingly rare sight. Not unheard of mind you, but they would certainly stand out. Change does not like to happen quickly unless it is forced to do so, and the Firenation colonies did just that; they forced Fire Nationals to live side by side with Earth Kingdom Citizens. Again, I don't want to come off as an imperialist apologist, but I do believe it is valuable to recognize the good things that come from terrible events.

the guys who made avatar watching this: "woah I'm learning so much!"

0:04 "LAPTOP TM"

It really is fascinating to look at the history of Avatar like this, how it's so complex yet streamlined, showing that while there were definitely black and white moralities at play when the war began, there were so many events no black and white that led to it, showing how it progressed.

Thank you for spreading awareness of this crucial history taught to our children that need to learn this tragic part of history so as to ensure it doesn’t repeat and more importantly so they can properly address their lasting scares in their nation. I can’t believe main stream news channels like Fire Ferret News are so callously misrepresenting this critical bender theory in order to deny our history of racism and facism that lead us to those horrible tragedies and will make us repeat them if not properly addressed

"Only" sixty pages... Yep, that sounds like college.

As a history major in college now. I can confirm this is pretty accurate. I love it, amazing job

You've made some great videos through out the years but this one is my favorite by far. I would love to see more like this in the future.

The immersion in this video is absolutely INSANE holy shit m8 good job. different voices for the students? SO GOOD

"page 394" This seems....familiar

It always confuses me how small the avatar world is. Inatlly I thought it had the same size as earth. But if you look at the travel times for example. In the final episodes appa cruised from the fire nation to a random spot in the earth kingdom to ba sing se and then to the fire nation in what 48 hours? And 150.000 max death in a genocide of the fourth largest nation in the world? Even by medival standards that is way to low

This was actually quite the interesting way to explore the lore of a series... Really would love to see more in this style.

"Beginning with the Air Nomad Genocide" ... Jesus fucking Christ! Can you imagine how heavy it must be to be a citizen of the Fire Nation and your first history class begins with those words??? Certainly adds a sense of gravitas to the class.

I just love how much knowledge the writers clearly have about the history of Japan and history in general.

I love this video so much - thinking about how people in the future of Avatar's universe would discuss and think about their own history is fascinating, and the format fits that perfectly.

This idea of the classroom feel was brilliant! I felt like I was in a legit classroom. And with it being it’s the avatar series we are discussing, I’m paying close attention in class!

"No laptops the information doesn't stick." That one sentence just dredged up a year and half of biochem rage.

So we have Red, Blue, ...uh... Roronoa Zoro... and... Destructoid? Honestly loved this little format here. Hope you do it more. And even in something like this, you're STILL showing world building by example. Not just in the Avatar world in this history, but the little lived-in world this classroom is set in.

Lol at the lecture intro giving me flashbacks to being in a uni class with Tim. Awesome to see you using the things you learned to give other people free education and entertainment dude.

I really like this format for telling lore of avatar, or other series.

Aangs story is an incredible story of survival. He really did change the world, he will always be the best human in that universe and he will always be the best avatar. He brought back the air benders before the harmonic convergence with his children. They were the first after being nearly wiped out

I feel that after the war zuko introduced this in the curriculum

I love how the info is presented it's such a cool frame and you go into great detail!!

I think having this from the perspective of the former fire nation is so important. Acknowledging the impacts of imperialism and genocide in our own histories is so important.

I love that this story has enough depth that you can do this level of detailed analysis of it. Also, the classroom format was fun and worked well for this topic.

dude PLEASE do more like this, I absolutely LOVED this!!! Also, I LOVED the OSP cameo!!

Fire, blood, and steam. I thought blood was a water tribe power?

This was brilliant! I don’t know how much lore around this time the avatar world actually had, but I hope you’re planning on more in this style!

I love how you turned this video into a sort of college-style lecture! With online school, I've been listening to lectures while cleaning my room, etc. This was a super cool way of presenting this information and I'd love it if you made this a series!! :))

MAKE THIS INTO A SERIES I WANNA SEE HOW YOU THINK TEAM AVATAR WOULD BE REMEMBERED