The 10 best episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbender, ranked

8. The Storm

The twelfth episode of season 1 is titled “The Storm.” It digs into the backstories of Aang and Zuko. These characters begin the story as antagonists, progress to mentor-student and end as friends. They are arguably the two main characters of the story.

While a violent thunderstorm rages, Aang explains to Katara how the high monks at the Southern Sir Temple told him he was the Avatar. While Aang is playing with his friends one day, the monks summon him tell him the news, and explain that a war is likely coming. After everyone finds out Aang is the Avatar, a messianic figure in this society, he is left out by his friends because they think his powers give him an unfair advantage in their games. The high monks also pressure him to train more in anticipation of an attack. The only person who made Aang feel better was his mentor Gyatso, who was fond of jokes and pranks.

With his old life seemingly over, Aang overhears the monks talking about separating him from Gyatso and sending him to a different Air Temple. Angry and confused and with no one to turn to, Aang runs away from the temple on Appa. The pair fly into a violent thunderstorm and are flung into the ocean. About to drown, Aang’s powers activate and he waterbends a protective sheet of ice around himself. He and Appa remain in this iceberg for the next hundred years, while the Air Temples are wiped out and the Fire Nation wages a nationalistic war against the rest of the world.

Simultaneously, Iroh tells the angry members of Zuko’s crew how the prince got his scar, and why they are on this wild goose chase to capture Aang. Three years prior, Zuko accompanied Iroh to a war meeting held by Firelord Ozai where Zuko questions his father’s strategy. To save face, Zuko’s father forces his son to participate in a duel against him. Caught off guard, Zuko refused to fight back and begs for his forgiveness. The brutal Ozai scolds Zuko and burns the left half of his face. As punishment for not fighting back, Ozai banishes Zuko, telling him to come back with the Avatar or not at all.

This episode tells us a lot about Zuko and Aang, explaining why Aang feels so guilty and Zuko so angry. We also get to know Iroh more, and see how he is more of a father to Zuko than Ozai is. When the prince was banished, Iroh went with his nephew to watch over him, and he tries to teach him restraint and patience. As an added bonus, we also see Iroh lightning bend for the first time.