What Do Aang's Tattoos Mean in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'?

The Big Picture

• Aang's airbending tattoos symbolize his connection to the history of airbending and Air Nomad spirituality.
• The tattoos align with chi lines, representing energy flow like Hindu chakras, and are respected inspirations from real-world cultures.
• The glow of Aang's tattoos reflects his ties to the Spirit World, changing designs in adaptations; Netflix honors the original's simplicity.

Avatar: The Last Airbender succeeds in many areas of storytelling, from satisfying character arcs or mature themes handled with care. But one of the most impressive parts of the show is the worldbuilding. Avatar’s magic system is simple and easy to follow, with each specific bending group including many subsets—not to mention the rules of the Spirit World and how spirituality interacts with characters. One prominent example of effective worldbuilding in relation to both the magic system and the Spirit World is featured in nearly every episode: Aang’s airbending tattoos. At first glance, it can be easily assumed that the arrow tattoos are just for looks and for a unique character design, and the show doesn’t linger too much on an explanation for them. The writing sprinkles in details about Aang’s tattoos and shows the deeper meaning behind them.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)

A young boy known as the Avatar must master the four elemental powers to save the world and fight against an enemy bent on stopping him.

Aang’s Airbending Tattoos Connect to the History of Airbending and Air Nomad Spirituality

Aang’s tattoos are far more than just blue arrows that glow. When an airbender masters all forms of airbending and achieves proficiency in them, a ceremony is held during which they are named official airbending “masters.” Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen in the animated show) received this honor at a very young age, as he is shown to be particularly gifted when it comes to airbending (in “The Storm,” he explains to the other Air Nomad children how he invented the “air scooter,” his own unique form of airbending).

The sequel series, The Legend of Korra, shows that years later, Aang’s granddaughter Jinora (Kiernan Shipka) receives the same honor at an even younger age, after demonstrating an incredibly strong connection to her spirituality. Sadly, Aang isn’t around to witness it, though he is there in spirit, as part of the reincarnations existing within his successor Korra (Janet Varney). Airbenders who aren’t at the level of mastery required to get their tattoos typically still have shaved heads. As explained in The Legend of Korra, shaving the head heightens the senses of an Air Nomad and allows them to form a deeper connection with their element and aid in their defensive fighting style. it usually takes many years to master airbending, so the tattoos come after.

The tattoos are meant to symbolize an airbender’s connection with the first airbending masters, the sky bison, who taught the skill of airbending to the Air Nomads. (Similarly, firebenders were taught by the dragons, waterbenders by the moon, and earthbenders by the badger moles.) To honor the source of their craft, an airbending master will wear their tattoos proudly, as the tattoos are an important and revered part of Air Nomad culture. This is why Aang is so upset in Book 3, when he is forced to go undercover in the Fire Nation — he grows his hair out and wears a headband to cover up his tattoos, which he is adamantly against at first. Aang’s tattoos are one of his very few reminders of his culture, which was wiped out by the Fire Nation one hundred years ago. Besides Appa and Momo, Aang doesn’t have many symbolic things left from his childhood living with Monk Gyatso (Sab Shimono) and his people. The tattoos don’t just serve as connections to the genesis of airbending; they symbolize a reverence for Air Nomad culture as well.

Aang’s Tattoos Are Inspired by the Flow of Chi

What isn’t mentioned in the show is that an airbender’s tattoos run along the bender’s chi lines: from the top of the head, flowing down the spine, and down each arm and leg. In Avatar, chi represents the flow of energy, much like Hinduism’s idea of chakra and moving energy through the body. An entire episode in Book 2, “The Guru,” focuses on Aang attempting to open his chakras in order to access the Avatar spirit at will. Before he can connect with the Avatar spirit, Aang must open all seven chakras, including chakras located at the base of the spine, in the stomach, in the heart, in the throat, in the center of the forehead, and at the crown of the head (the location of the second chakra, the water chakra, isn’t mentioned in Avatar, but it is located in the lower stomach). All of these locations in the body are either along Aang’s tattoo lines or are indicated by where the arrows are pointing.

Although Avatar uses simplified versions of Hinduism ideas of chakras and opening/cleansing them, especially in relation to the world’s magic system, the basics of chakras are fairly accurately represented. The creators and writers of the show respectfully pulled from cultures and philosophies that made sense within their created world. Even though it isn’t a one-to-one comparison, Avatar’s magical system has its roots in many different cultures, not just in concepts borrowed from Hinduism. Rather than appropriating other cultures’ ideas and philosophies solely for their aesthetics, Avatar uses its inspirations as carefully as possible, tying everything together in a way that both makes sense within the story world and inspires viewers to delve into research about the real-world cultures it links to.

As Ty Lee (Olivia Hack) demonstrates (much to the frustration of several benders and non-benders in the show), the chi pathways can be blocked by applying pressure to the right areas of the body, which relaxes the muscles and temporarily disables bending. When someone utilizes the chi blocking technique successfully takes another person’s bending away, they usually strike somewhere along similar chi lines represented by Aang’s tattoos.

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The Glow of Aang’s Tattoos and How Their Design Changes Depending on the Adaptation

Aang’s connection to the Spirit World is more powerful than the average Air Nomad, both because of him being naturally in tune with spirituality and because of his status as the reincarnated Avatar. When he accesses the Avatar State (whether purposeful or accidental) or interacts with the Spirit World (such as his merging with the ocean spirit La in “The Siege of the North, Part 2”), his eyes and tattoos glow with the energy that’s flowing through him. According to Avatar Roku (James Garrett), Aang’s predecessor, “The glow is a combination of all your [Aang’s] past lives, focusing their energy through your body.” Aang is an intensely spiritual person, so when he bends, he is using the energy in his body, his chi, and when his tattoos glow, he is using not just his own energy, but the energy of his past lives. Whereas previous Avatars who were not airbenders don’t have the tattoos that glow like Aang does, the glow from the eyes is a recurring detail.

The 2010 adaptation of The Last Airbender chose a more intricate design, trading the solid blue lines and arrows for what looks to be script in an unknown language, along with geometric drawings. A professional tattoo artist, Joshua Lord, was hired to design the tattoo for the film. Because 2010’s adaptation was live-action, the goal was to create tattoos that looked more detailed and realistic. Netflix’s adaptation chose to draw more on the original show for inspiration, keeping the solid blue lines and arrows. Despite its simpler style, the tattoos work effectively for the adaptation and, despite other confirmed changes from the original, this bodes well for the Netflix series. Avatar: The Last Airbender handled its story with care and respect in all areas, so it only makes sense for the adaptation to do the same.

Avatar: The Last Airbender will be available to stream on Netflix on February 22, 2024.

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