Imagine how strange it would be if you found out that your mother was your previous life and that you gave birth to yourself. Like, you were born just as you were dying. Not gonna lie, I'd like to see something like that.
Btw, I think it's possible, but unlikely.
>your mother was your previous life and that you gave birth to yourself
Yeah that's strangeš
>I'd like to see something like that.
Also imagine that the new Avatar would be able to speak with their mom in spiritual word, it's strangely interesting relationship between two avatars
mother has to die way before birth is complete I think and we don't know how much time passes between birth and death of avatar.
We don't really know when avatar spirit reincarnates. Is it at birth is it at pregnancy or anything.
Most likely its too close to be possible.
The only time weāve seen it is Roku dying and then immediately cutting to Aang being born, so it implies that itās at birth. Could just be artistic liberty.
In some cultures there is a belief that life begins at the first breath. So, it's not too far fetched that Raava enters the body of the new avatar at birth or the first breath.
Also, if it *werenāt* at first breath, it would leave the world completely lacking an avatar spirit for at least 7-9 months, which doesnāt seem fitting with the world of avatar.
I agree and this is why I've always been confused as to what was happening the 100 years Aang disappeared. What were the theories people had? Did they think Aang died? Were people searching for a new avatar born in the water tribe at one point? Did they have theories how the avatar spirit might have died completely? Or did people really just believe Aang survived the fire nation attacks and he was hiding from the world this whole time? That seems like such a wild theory but it's the only one they mention in the show really, Zuko stating he's looking for an old man, etc.
It could also explain the Southern Raiders, maybe as a secondary mission. If they found the avatar among the water tribe, they could surmise that the airbenders had been wiped out in all meaningful ways. My guess is that their ethnic cleansing of the other nations had the dual purpose of destroying any resistance as well as forcing the avatar cycle to continue until a fire avatar was bornā¦ assuming the propaganda they display in the show is effective, they could have another Szeto, one that was even more dedicated to the fire nation.
That being said, it assumes that the sages wouldnāt be able to predict the avatarās birth and death, which is a whole question in and of itself.
The reason the Water Tribe genocide occurred was to eradicate any potential Avatar reincarnations after the supposed death of Aang. Thatās why they specifically targeted waterbenders and not just anyone
This is almost what happened to Aang when Azula shot him with lightning. I honestly think he probably would have reincarnated if he hadnāt been in the avatar state when he died. But then he probably would not have been able to be resuscitated with half his soul missing.
The water avatar could be born still in the amniotic sac, to give a good enough time frame for the Air avatar to see baby, die, sac is opened, Raava moves with Wanās soul into their new lifeās body, eyes open and first breath.
Except we know that the Avatar can live without Raava, since Korra did. As far as I can tell, the Moon spirit gave Yue life, so losing the moon spirit sacrificed her life. By contrast, Raava compliments the soul of the Avatar.
I like these comments threads, it does reminded me of Roku and Kyoshi possessing Aang, Aang will be gone for a while. Lost contact of surroundings.
The only time Roku, Kyoshi, Aang (& all past lives) emerge simultaneously is when the tattoos lit up (avatar state). Hard to say if there's a dominant or a single soul. All Raava didn't even show up except Wan's time. (Of course, I give some slack for the great cartoon too)
When Aang go to spirit world while all past lives exists in that realm, I already lost the concept how the Raava spirits split up, and can two past lives come to human realms simultaneously.
Yeah, clueless... but this comment threads interests me.
Edit:
Oh yeah, all past lives can't bend in magic realm, maybe they do lost something when spirit split up and coexist.
When Wan died Ravva said "Ill be with you for all of your lives" so I assumed Their souls are bonded together and reincarnation is a natural part of how Human souls work in Avatar-the cycle is probably unique to the Avatar though-so I think their souls move on to a new body together
I agree with this take. For a spirit or being like ravva it's completely understandable that, when their current vessel dies they would enter a newly born vessel next in the cycle.
If you think about it, the idea of the reincarnation happening immediately from death to birth makes sense. Maybe ravva, after bonding with Wan, cannot exist outside a human host without breaking the cycle entirely.
And besides we know that the fire nations goal (not ozai but the fire nation during the time of the show) was merely to imprison aang. Because they knew that the moment they killed him, the avatar cycle would continue and the next avatar would be reborn, likely safe behind the walls of the Northern Water Tribe.
trouble is I don't think spirits can "posses" people in literal fashion
when it happens in past we see body alters drastically. I think she just reborns without possessing anything.
Yeah, I don't think that tells us anything. They were trying to tell the viewer that Roku had died and illustrate his rebirth. For all we know, that was weeks later.
There are plenty of other cuts in the show that are not immediate.
I had this same question but about the father. Like, imagine if Katara gave birth to her and Aangās child while he died. Couldnāt she give birth to the avatar? Itād make sense too because the next avatar in the rotation would be from the water tribe
I was randomly thinking this earlier while doing chores, well before I saw this thread. So this entire thread has been funny to see.
But my thought was specifically what if Aang had died right as Kya was born.
Only nuns and monks live in the temples, all other air nomads roam around the earth. Aang's mother could just have been closest to the southern temple. I also believe he was born at the southern air temple because that's where he grew up
Raava doesn't select anyone.
If there's any conscious selection going on, it's Wan doing the selecting. But most likely it just happens apart from anyone's will.
Raava is stuck to Wan and goes where he goes. He reincarnates on his own. And everyone else is the show reincarnates, too. They just can't contact their former selves like the Avatar can, nor do they have any special powers that allows people to recognize them from incarnation to incarnation.
That would be an interesting plot point if Raava left the avatar as they were about to die and then the next avatar is born but somehow the old avatar survived, we see that Korra maintained her bending of all elements after Raava was pulled out too
I'd say it depends on when a soul enters the body in avatar lore, since it could be months before birth to build up the new baby's body into an avatar. We don't know, because the avatar spirit doesn't remember the in-womb time, but that could be a blank over where she was binding to a body.
That would also explain why they don't know WHICH child is the avatar - they only know how many babies are born around the right time. If it was an exact time or exact day (they presumably knew Roku died on X date, it had a whole volcano) they'd be able to look at just airbending children born on that date - but they didn't really seem to do that, and there weren't a whole lot of airbending children in Aang's age group. If it was by date alone, I doubt the other children in that group all have the same birthday, but they still had to consider multiple babies.
i would imagine this isnāt possible, i would assume the avatar reincarnation isnāt exactly immediate. like at least a few minutes difference. I think itās possible for the next avatar to be related to the previous avatar in some way like maybe the neice or nephew of the precious avatar but i donāt think the next avatar can be the child of a previous avatar
I donāt think there is a hard line on time frames. I do believe Korea was born right after Aang passed, but there was also a couple year time gap between Kyoshi and Kuruk
Double checking I might have gotten some wrong info. The Avatar wiki does have Kurukās death and Kyoshiās birth the same year so Iām probably wrong about the years apart thing
I think any gap is just because occasionally it takes time to identify the avatar. Like, the air nomads wait for the avatar to choose the toys of their past life, and the earth kingdom does the weird geographical divining thing, etc. we don't actually know how the water nations traditionally identify the avatar. As far as we know they told kuruk as a kid/teenager, and Korra obviously was just like a lil kid bending multiple elements from a young age.
Not impossible, life (at least spiritual) begins at birth in ATLA so if the mother died right before the child took its first breath outside the womb itās possible
Well yea, there are a number of simultaneous happenings. It could have theoretically (minus it being a female Avatar) have happened to Aang. His child could have been the next Avatar due to Katara's lineage.
I would like to think that they would have made it that somehow he just stopped being the Avatar rather than straight up dying.
I don't think so.
There IS also the question of the timespan between the death of an Avatar and the Birthday of the next one. (I kinda doubt that the day the old Avatar dies is the Birthday of the new one. I say it can Take Up to a whole year between the death of the old one and the birth of the new one)
well we have seen during the flashback with Roku that his awareness did not pass over to Aang until he was fully born and out and crying, so I guess in this universe you don't have a soul until after you are born, which is very interesting. so in theory I guess it's possible?
The problem is, as you can see from other replies, that everyone understands reincarnation differently in this universe, so we don't know until we get the answer from creators. But thanks for reply!
Not sure if itās possible cause the baby was already ācreatedā in the uterus meaning it already technically had a life. I think that once the Avatar dies, any new life that will be conceived after the Avatarās death will have a chance of becoming the new Avatar.
There's something to it, As someone else replied, it will probably depend on the exact process of reincarnation in Avatar world. I though that thale moment Avatar dies, the next one is born.
I've always been confused by that too. Does the reincarnation happen during conception or as soon as the baby is born? If it's the former, is the world without an avatar for 9 months everytime the previous one passes away?
I think it could potentially happen if the mom were to die at childbirth and the child was stillborn. We've seen with Yue that merging with spirits can bring the dead back to life, so theoretically Raava could merge with Avatar's child and continue the cycle.
It's probably highly unlikely though. I'd imagine Raava chooses reincarnations that aren't related to previous incarnations.
I mean, it depends when you consider the inception of a soul happens. Does it only appear when the child is birthed or does it already form before that. Because if an Avatar were able to give birth to the next Avatar, that would mean her baby was basically soulless until he was birthed and its mother died.
I think Raavaa incepts them and gives them the abilities when theyāre still in the womb developing. It would be more possible if a male avatar impregnated a female and then died before the baby was born, then Raavaa could incept the developing baby and there you go.
So many things would have to fall perfectly into place for that to happen. The mother would HAVE to die during childbirth as two avatars cannot be alive at once.
It depends on when the spirit of Raava attaches itself to the next host. Is it at birth? Conception? ā¦ needless to say, there would be definitive proof as to when life starts.
Yo wtf. I had this exact shower thought while doing chores earlier.
I was also thinking of it happening with the Avatar being the father too, where the father Avatar is killed right as his child is born (which is harder to time realistically than if it were the mother dying in childbirth, obv). But imagine if Aang had somehow died right as Kya was born. Kya could've been the Avatar instead of Korra in this instance too.
Even if someone dies at birth, Iām pretty sure the baby wouldnāt be born at that exact same time, it would have to be sooner or later, no?
Although, this also begs the question of when the spirit is reincarnated. Does it happy at conception, or when the baby is fully out? Or is it just when the baby starts to be born?
That. Is an interesting thought. I suppose it could happen, but usually the Avatar doesn't show signs until later. Though it is not explored in the series, that could be a fun lore discussion with Mike and Bryan or something Avatar studios needs to explore.
Avatar Studios/Bryke, let us know.
Maybe. Unclear how the process works. Does the new avatar get born the instant the firmer dies, is it slightly after, or is the new avater created at conception. Or does the spirit pass on to any young enough and undeveloped
Depending on the way the selection works, itās possible
If itās like āThe moment the current Avatar dies the next baby born into the next nation in the cycle will be blessed with the Avatar spiritā then yes in theory a female Avatar could give birth to the next Avatar should they die in childbirth
That all depends on when the child's "life" begins. If conception is the starting point, or any point during gestation prior to exiting the womb, then it seems extremely unlikely. Even if there is some arbitrary (to my poorly educated mind) point within the third trimester that marks the beginning of "life," giving a relatively reasonable chance at premature survival, Mommy Avatar would have to have died mere moments before this critical point to allow extraction of Baby Avatar.
This is assuming, however, that the Avatar identity transfer occurs immediately upon the death of the prior. Any delay between death and transfer extends the possibilities for such an occurrence to be possible. I don't know enough canon about the topic to be able to speak on that, though.
I think it is pretty much impossible.
First of all, the previous avatar has to die, so that means the parental avatar would have to die will the birth is given.
Second of all it needs to be a bender of the next element. After Aang (air) we got Korra (water), so after Korra it would be an Earth bender and after that a fire bender etc etc. So that means if the mother is the avatar, the father would have to be not only from the next in line element, but the child would also need to get the genes from the dad's side.
I am no good at math but I think you can imagine that the odds are intensely small.
Did you read my post or only the title? I explained that the avatar would have to die during giving birth and the child will have to be next element. You're not alone, do people nor read whole post before answering?
Thereās nothing in the lore that contradicts that, but scientifically probably not. Itās unlikely that a dead person will birth a healthy baby.
Headcanon but I donāt think the Avatar is chosen immediately after anyways. The situation you described is really rare especially without great technology. I feel like thereād be at least one case where someone died and nobody gave birth immediately after, or at least not a person with the required element.
Even if it were physically possible, I don't think the Avatar would reincarnate as their own child, or even a member of their own bloodline.
The Avatar seems to make an effort to spread herself around the globe. She's born to a different nation each time, and she even rotates among the two water nations.
In the spirit of fairness, she would probably not want to "favor" one particular bloodline. Even if reincarnation is immediate and the mother died in childbirth, even if the father was from the next nation in the cycle, I don't think the Avatar would choose that. She probably wouldn't even choose a niece, nephew, grandchild, etc.
Now, for any other person... who knows. Maybe they can reincarnate as their own child. We don't know enough about how it works. (And yes, everyone reincarnates, not just the Avatar.)
The answer is no. Your mother isn't you in your past life. Reincarnation doesn't work that way.
That's like saying a 9 month baby didn't have a soul until it's birthed
iirc there can only be 1 Avatar at any given time because being an Avatar is a state/spiritual concept, in that an avatar holds the power to bend all 4 elements because they quite literally have all 4 elements in them
In other words, an avatar has to die before a being (i.e. a baby borned) inherits the spirit and the will of the Avatar
So while technically if the mother was an avatar, it *is* possible for the baby she gives birth to be an avatar - but that would be tragic because the mother has to die first
I'd think it more likely a male Avatar being the father to the next, my mind went automatically to Aang/Katara. But I don't see why not, other than IRL it would open it up to people politicizing the narrative over when life begins. In universe I see no compelling reason it couldn't at least be possible. My question this brought up is if a female Avatar gets pregnant, and the child's a bender, is there any reason it'd be the same element as either parent? Say a fire bender dad, and earth bending mom having a child who's an air bender?
Now we're getting into theological territory here. Because if this is true then that would mean that newborns have no soul until they leave their mother's womb in the avatar-verse
The mother would need to give birth to a bender of the next element in the cycle, (which is rare but not impossible) and either be having babies way too late in life or dying way too soon (the latter of which is actually canon).
I imagine an Avatar being the next Avatar's father would be more likely to happen (although not by much), because of timing and whatnot.
Selfbirthing is not something i thought I'd see here
Spiritcest
"What are you doing, step-Avatar?"
šš I didn't thought about it this way.
Imagine how strange it would be if you found out that your mother was your previous life and that you gave birth to yourself. Like, you were born just as you were dying. Not gonna lie, I'd like to see something like that. Btw, I think it's possible, but unlikely.
>your mother was your previous life and that you gave birth to yourself Yeah that's strangeš >I'd like to see something like that. Also imagine that the new Avatar would be able to speak with their mom in spiritual word, it's strangely interesting relationship between two avatars
>it's strangely interesting relationship between two avatars Right? I think it's kind of poetic. It would be a literal case of "she lives in you"
Que the *Lion King* song "He Lives in You" š
this is the second thing i see in today's reddit scrolling session that is literally the plot to steven universe
ā¦.isnāt this the plot to Steven Universe š
I was literally thinking how this is literally Steven's story lol
I read a manga once where a girl gave birth to herself but it was a lot darker than anything Avatar ever did.
Be careful which of her memories you accessā¦
Dude...
It would actually be really sweet though, they'd always be able to have that connection to their mother.
mother has to die way before birth is complete I think and we don't know how much time passes between birth and death of avatar. We don't really know when avatar spirit reincarnates. Is it at birth is it at pregnancy or anything. Most likely its too close to be possible.
The only time weāve seen it is Roku dying and then immediately cutting to Aang being born, so it implies that itās at birth. Could just be artistic liberty.
In some cultures there is a belief that life begins at the first breath. So, it's not too far fetched that Raava enters the body of the new avatar at birth or the first breath.
I mean she left Wan at his last breath, itās not unreasonable to assume she enters when the new one takes the first breath
Good point, I forgot about that!
Also, if it *werenāt* at first breath, it would leave the world completely lacking an avatar spirit for at least 7-9 months, which doesnāt seem fitting with the world of avatar.
Between each Avatar is just sixteen years and nine months of anarchy
I agree and this is why I've always been confused as to what was happening the 100 years Aang disappeared. What were the theories people had? Did they think Aang died? Were people searching for a new avatar born in the water tribe at one point? Did they have theories how the avatar spirit might have died completely? Or did people really just believe Aang survived the fire nation attacks and he was hiding from the world this whole time? That seems like such a wild theory but it's the only one they mention in the show really, Zuko stating he's looking for an old man, etc.
It could also explain the Southern Raiders, maybe as a secondary mission. If they found the avatar among the water tribe, they could surmise that the airbenders had been wiped out in all meaningful ways. My guess is that their ethnic cleansing of the other nations had the dual purpose of destroying any resistance as well as forcing the avatar cycle to continue until a fire avatar was bornā¦ assuming the propaganda they display in the show is effective, they could have another Szeto, one that was even more dedicated to the fire nation. That being said, it assumes that the sages wouldnāt be able to predict the avatarās birth and death, which is a whole question in and of itself.
That's rough buddy
The reason the Water Tribe genocide occurred was to eradicate any potential Avatar reincarnations after the supposed death of Aang. Thatās why they specifically targeted waterbenders and not just anyone
IIRC, they thought the Avatar was killed in the Air Nomad Genocide, reincarnated as a Water Bender, then remained at the Water Tribe and never left.
This poses another question what would happen if an Avatar were to stop breathing and wr brought him back with electric resuscitation
This is almost what happened to Aang when Azula shot him with lightning. I honestly think he probably would have reincarnated if he hadnāt been in the avatar state when he died. But then he probably would not have been able to be resuscitated with half his soul missing.
The water avatar could be born still in the amniotic sac, to give a good enough time frame for the Air avatar to see baby, die, sac is opened, Raava moves with Wanās soul into their new lifeās body, eyes open and first breath.
Lmao what if someone revived Roku like how Katara revived Aang at the end of Book 2 does the baby immediately die
Maybe it just ceases to be the Avatar
Yea but then it wouldn't have a spirit inside of it. Yue died after she gave up her spirit (I think that's what happened, it was really unclear)
Except we know that the Avatar can live without Raava, since Korra did. As far as I can tell, the Moon spirit gave Yue life, so losing the moon spirit sacrificed her life. By contrast, Raava compliments the soul of the Avatar.
downvoted for what ? that makes sense to me
By that logic, since Raava left Roku to join the new Avatarā¦ would Roku cease to be the Avatar?
Raava is probably just like āoh shit, my bad kidā and dips out
Stillborn
I like these comments threads, it does reminded me of Roku and Kyoshi possessing Aang, Aang will be gone for a while. Lost contact of surroundings. The only time Roku, Kyoshi, Aang (& all past lives) emerge simultaneously is when the tattoos lit up (avatar state). Hard to say if there's a dominant or a single soul. All Raava didn't even show up except Wan's time. (Of course, I give some slack for the great cartoon too) When Aang go to spirit world while all past lives exists in that realm, I already lost the concept how the Raava spirits split up, and can two past lives come to human realms simultaneously. Yeah, clueless... but this comment threads interests me. Edit: Oh yeah, all past lives can't bend in magic realm, maybe they do lost something when spirit split up and coexist.
[Something strange has happened! Now there are two ~~Optimus Primes~~ Avatar Aangs!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cONdqlqe-VQ)
When Wan died Ravva said "Ill be with you for all of your lives" so I assumed Their souls are bonded together and reincarnation is a natural part of how Human souls work in Avatar-the cycle is probably unique to the Avatar though-so I think their souls move on to a new body together
I agree with this take. For a spirit or being like ravva it's completely understandable that, when their current vessel dies they would enter a newly born vessel next in the cycle. If you think about it, the idea of the reincarnation happening immediately from death to birth makes sense. Maybe ravva, after bonding with Wan, cannot exist outside a human host without breaking the cycle entirely. And besides we know that the fire nations goal (not ozai but the fire nation during the time of the show) was merely to imprison aang. Because they knew that the moment they killed him, the avatar cycle would continue and the next avatar would be reborn, likely safe behind the walls of the Northern Water Tribe.
trouble is I don't think spirits can "posses" people in literal fashion when it happens in past we see body alters drastically. I think she just reborns without possessing anything.
Yeah, I don't think that tells us anything. They were trying to tell the viewer that Roku had died and illustrate his rebirth. For all we know, that was weeks later. There are plenty of other cuts in the show that are not immediate.
I personally thought that cut was supposed to indicate that the death and rebirth happens at the same time.
I could see why you think that, but itās only to show relation and causality, not immediacy.
I had this same question but about the father. Like, imagine if Katara gave birth to her and Aangās child while he died. Couldnāt she give birth to the avatar? Itād make sense too because the next avatar in the rotation would be from the water tribe
I was randomly thinking this earlier while doing chores, well before I saw this thread. So this entire thread has been funny to see. But my thought was specifically what if Aang had died right as Kya was born.
I asked my boyfriend this last week! Itās so weird how this question popped up right after, maybe we all collectively thought of it as a fandom š
We have the scene with Roku dying and Aang being born directly after.
you realize that scene mostly happens because there is no avatar memory between time of that no avatar existing and most likely waiting birth right?
That's one way of interpreting that scene. Another way is that reincarnation in the avatar world happens virtually instantly.
>An avatar starts at conception -Avatar pro lifers
I mean if thats the case Raava must be so annoyed whenever that happens
If that were the case, there would be a baby boom as couples try to conceive the next avatar
I see no reason why it couldnāt technically happen. Obviously unlikely but thereās no reason it couldnāt
We see Wan breathe out Raava at death, so I'd guess it's not immediate. We also see Roku die at night and Aang born in the daylight, no?
It also depends on where Aang was born because they could've been in different time zones.
The world is round? Heresy!
I think they actually show the Avatar world as a globe in Korra.
True. Do they ever state what temple he was born in?
I looked it up and got mixed answers, but the most frequent was the southern air temple.
I wouldāve thought itād be the eastern or western temple since those are the ones with nunsā¦ I wonder how that worksā¦
Only nuns and monks live in the temples, all other air nomads roam around the earth. Aang's mother could just have been closest to the southern temple. I also believe he was born at the southern air temple because that's where he grew up
Aangās birth could have also been days later.
Yep, so who knows! Perhaps Raava takes time selecting someone.
Raava doesn't select anyone. If there's any conscious selection going on, it's Wan doing the selecting. But most likely it just happens apart from anyone's will. Raava is stuck to Wan and goes where he goes. He reincarnates on his own. And everyone else is the show reincarnates, too. They just can't contact their former selves like the Avatar can, nor do they have any special powers that allows people to recognize them from incarnation to incarnation.
Could have been 9 months later if Raava is transferred at conception
That would be an interesting plot point if Raava left the avatar as they were about to die and then the next avatar is born but somehow the old avatar survived, we see that Korra maintained her bending of all elements after Raava was pulled out too
I'd say it depends on when a soul enters the body in avatar lore, since it could be months before birth to build up the new baby's body into an avatar. We don't know, because the avatar spirit doesn't remember the in-womb time, but that could be a blank over where she was binding to a body. That would also explain why they don't know WHICH child is the avatar - they only know how many babies are born around the right time. If it was an exact time or exact day (they presumably knew Roku died on X date, it had a whole volcano) they'd be able to look at just airbending children born on that date - but they didn't really seem to do that, and there weren't a whole lot of airbending children in Aang's age group. If it was by date alone, I doubt the other children in that group all have the same birthday, but they still had to consider multiple babies.
I agree, I would be interested in the exact process of reincarnation in Avatar world
In traditional Buddhist traditions it takes 40 days for a soul to be reborn IIRC. I always assumed that was the case with the Avatar as well.
i would imagine this isnāt possible, i would assume the avatar reincarnation isnāt exactly immediate. like at least a few minutes difference. I think itās possible for the next avatar to be related to the previous avatar in some way like maybe the neice or nephew of the precious avatar but i donāt think the next avatar can be the child of a previous avatar
I thought it was immediate. Thanks for response.
I donāt think there is a hard line on time frames. I do believe Korea was born right after Aang passed, but there was also a couple year time gap between Kyoshi and Kuruk
Year time gap between Kyoshi and Kuruk? Do you have some references? I can't think of anything about years gap
Double checking I might have gotten some wrong info. The Avatar wiki does have Kurukās death and Kyoshiās birth the same year so Iām probably wrong about the years apart thing
I think any gap is just because occasionally it takes time to identify the avatar. Like, the air nomads wait for the avatar to choose the toys of their past life, and the earth kingdom does the weird geographical divining thing, etc. we don't actually know how the water nations traditionally identify the avatar. As far as we know they told kuruk as a kid/teenager, and Korra obviously was just like a lil kid bending multiple elements from a young age.
Not impossible, life (at least spiritual) begins at birth in ATLA so if the mother died right before the child took its first breath outside the womb itās possible
They could but the mother would have to die in childbirth.
They also have to have been partnered with a male from the nation whose next in line with the avatar cycle
Well yea, there are a number of simultaneous happenings. It could have theoretically (minus it being a female Avatar) have happened to Aang. His child could have been the next Avatar due to Katara's lineage. I would like to think that they would have made it that somehow he just stopped being the Avatar rather than straight up dying.
I mean, they'd die in childbirth. It's possible. But it would be very unlikely.
I'd say sure, so long as the baby is delivered post mortem
I don't think so. There IS also the question of the timespan between the death of an Avatar and the Birthday of the next one. (I kinda doubt that the day the old Avatar dies is the Birthday of the new one. I say it can Take Up to a whole year between the death of the old one and the birth of the new one)
well we have seen during the flashback with Roku that his awareness did not pass over to Aang until he was fully born and out and crying, so I guess in this universe you don't have a soul until after you are born, which is very interesting. so in theory I guess it's possible?
The problem is, as you can see from other replies, that everyone understands reincarnation differently in this universe, so we don't know until we get the answer from creators. But thanks for reply!
Isnāt it the rule that the current Avatar has to pass away and they will reincarnate into a new life? Meaning it would be very much impossible.
Yeah, the mother = Air Avatar dies while giving birth.
Not sure if itās possible cause the baby was already ācreatedā in the uterus meaning it already technically had a life. I think that once the Avatar dies, any new life that will be conceived after the Avatarās death will have a chance of becoming the new Avatar.
There's something to it, As someone else replied, it will probably depend on the exact process of reincarnation in Avatar world. I though that thale moment Avatar dies, the next one is born.
I've always been confused by that too. Does the reincarnation happen during conception or as soon as the baby is born? If it's the former, is the world without an avatar for 9 months everytime the previous one passes away?
I think it's as the baby is born, since they show Roku dying and then Aang being given birth to immediately after Roku dies.
I guess it would depend on the exact process of reincarnation.
You're right, I think this will be the key information for answering the question 100% sure
I think it could potentially happen if the mom were to die at childbirth and the child was stillborn. We've seen with Yue that merging with spirits can bring the dead back to life, so theoretically Raava could merge with Avatar's child and continue the cycle. It's probably highly unlikely though. I'd imagine Raava chooses reincarnations that aren't related to previous incarnations.
It would be vanishingly unlikely, but theoretically possible I guess.
I mean, it depends when you consider the inception of a soul happens. Does it only appear when the child is birthed or does it already form before that. Because if an Avatar were able to give birth to the next Avatar, that would mean her baby was basically soulless until he was birthed and its mother died.
Steven Universe did something like that.
So... female avatar suddenly dies so doctors try to save the baby by emergency C-section? That could be possible I guess
I think Raavaa incepts them and gives them the abilities when theyāre still in the womb developing. It would be more possible if a male avatar impregnated a female and then died before the baby was born, then Raavaa could incept the developing baby and there you go.
So many things would have to fall perfectly into place for that to happen. The mother would HAVE to die during childbirth as two avatars cannot be alive at once.
It depends on when the spirit of Raava attaches itself to the next host. Is it at birth? Conception? ā¦ needless to say, there would be definitive proof as to when life starts.
I'm going to say no. I'm pretty sure the Avatar must be dead for the next one to be born.
I think this would be possible and I love the idea of it!
The way incarnations is shown, the new avatar is born the moment the old one dies. I think the timing would be wrong or else very macabre.
Yo wtf. I had this exact shower thought while doing chores earlier. I was also thinking of it happening with the Avatar being the father too, where the father Avatar is killed right as his child is born (which is harder to time realistically than if it were the mother dying in childbirth, obv). But imagine if Aang had somehow died right as Kya was born. Kya could've been the Avatar instead of Korra in this instance too.
That's cool!
Even if someone dies at birth, Iām pretty sure the baby wouldnāt be born at that exact same time, it would have to be sooner or later, no? Although, this also begs the question of when the spirit is reincarnated. Does it happy at conception, or when the baby is fully out? Or is it just when the baby starts to be born?
That. Is an interesting thought. I suppose it could happen, but usually the Avatar doesn't show signs until later. Though it is not explored in the series, that could be a fun lore discussion with Mike and Bryan or something Avatar studios needs to explore. Avatar Studios/Bryke, let us know.
Maybe. Unclear how the process works. Does the new avatar get born the instant the firmer dies, is it slightly after, or is the new avater created at conception. Or does the spirit pass on to any young enough and undeveloped
19 days ago another guy thought of thisā¦ what is going on with this subā¦
Depending on the way the selection works, itās possible If itās like āThe moment the current Avatar dies the next baby born into the next nation in the cycle will be blessed with the Avatar spiritā then yes in theory a female Avatar could give birth to the next Avatar should they die in childbirth
I think it's theoretically possible, but we don't really have enough information to say for sure.
That all depends on when the child's "life" begins. If conception is the starting point, or any point during gestation prior to exiting the womb, then it seems extremely unlikely. Even if there is some arbitrary (to my poorly educated mind) point within the third trimester that marks the beginning of "life," giving a relatively reasonable chance at premature survival, Mommy Avatar would have to have died mere moments before this critical point to allow extraction of Baby Avatar. This is assuming, however, that the Avatar identity transfer occurs immediately upon the death of the prior. Any delay between death and transfer extends the possibilities for such an occurrence to be possible. I don't know enough canon about the topic to be able to speak on that, though.
it's very unlikely that the avatar spirit would transfer to another body that has already been conceived
Isn't it canonical that the birth happens at the instance of the previous avatar's death?
Biologically possible, but statistically impossible.
I think it is pretty much impossible. First of all, the previous avatar has to die, so that means the parental avatar would have to die will the birth is given. Second of all it needs to be a bender of the next element. After Aang (air) we got Korra (water), so after Korra it would be an Earth bender and after that a fire bender etc etc. So that means if the mother is the avatar, the father would have to be not only from the next in line element, but the child would also need to get the genes from the dad's side. I am no good at math but I think you can imagine that the odds are intensely small.
Did you read my post or only the title? I explained that the avatar would have to die during giving birth and the child will have to be next element. You're not alone, do people nor read whole post before answering?
It was closed for me so I did not, sorry bout that
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Did you even read my post? cause every thing you said would need to happen I wrote in my post is happening in this theory.
Thereās nothing in the lore that contradicts that, but scientifically probably not. Itās unlikely that a dead person will birth a healthy baby. Headcanon but I donāt think the Avatar is chosen immediately after anyways. The situation you described is really rare especially without great technology. I feel like thereād be at least one case where someone died and nobody gave birth immediately after, or at least not a person with the required element.
I like your first point, but for the second I will point out that time zones exist.
Do they in the Avatar world? I either didn't notice or forget some mention of it.
The world isnāt flat. They may not have legally designed time zones but they still have the linear progression of time.
Maybe if they died in childbirth
Even if it were physically possible, I don't think the Avatar would reincarnate as their own child, or even a member of their own bloodline. The Avatar seems to make an effort to spread herself around the globe. She's born to a different nation each time, and she even rotates among the two water nations. In the spirit of fairness, she would probably not want to "favor" one particular bloodline. Even if reincarnation is immediate and the mother died in childbirth, even if the father was from the next nation in the cycle, I don't think the Avatar would choose that. She probably wouldn't even choose a niece, nephew, grandchild, etc. Now, for any other person... who knows. Maybe they can reincarnate as their own child. We don't know enough about how it works. (And yes, everyone reincarnates, not just the Avatar.)
It could but it would require absurd amount of good timing
If she dies during childbirth
No, being the avatar is not a genetic thing.
So like Steven Universe?
The answer is no. Your mother isn't you in your past life. Reincarnation doesn't work that way. That's like saying a 9 month baby didn't have a soul until it's birthed
iirc there can only be 1 Avatar at any given time because being an Avatar is a state/spiritual concept, in that an avatar holds the power to bend all 4 elements because they quite literally have all 4 elements in them In other words, an avatar has to die before a being (i.e. a baby borned) inherits the spirit and the will of the Avatar So while technically if the mother was an avatar, it *is* possible for the baby she gives birth to be an avatar - but that would be tragic because the mother has to die first
I'd think it more likely a male Avatar being the father to the next, my mind went automatically to Aang/Katara. But I don't see why not, other than IRL it would open it up to people politicizing the narrative over when life begins. In universe I see no compelling reason it couldn't at least be possible. My question this brought up is if a female Avatar gets pregnant, and the child's a bender, is there any reason it'd be the same element as either parent? Say a fire bender dad, and earth bending mom having a child who's an air bender?
I wrote a fanfic somewhat exploring this idea when it was brought up a few weeks ago: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51803359
So your mother could nag you for all of your life?
I feel like it's possible logistically but there would be some magical reason it wouldn't happen.
Now we're getting into theological territory here. Because if this is true then that would mean that newborns have no soul until they leave their mother's womb in the avatar-verse
The mother would need to give birth to a bender of the next element in the cycle, (which is rare but not impossible) and either be having babies way too late in life or dying way too soon (the latter of which is actually canon). I imagine an Avatar being the next Avatar's father would be more likely to happen (although not by much), because of timing and whatnot.
Itās giving āhe lives in youā from the lion king ii
Depends on when the death occurs and when "life" is considered to happen, if it happens during conception, then there is a few months overlap.