Avatar the Last Airbender

OK, I just had to post again today. I finished watching Avatar about 1 minute ago.
HOOWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only more so!
I can't believe it's actually over. Some people say that they're sad when a good book, or series ends. But I always get really excited and feel happy.
YAAAYYYY!!!
Can you tell?
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
^-^
OK, it's official. I loves Zuko. Zuko is awesome. My favorite character. (And his hair near the end looks really fluffy! Hahaha!) But there's a ton of awesome characters!
And I did some research. Well, sort of. It's all off Wikipedia.
Some of the mythology and culture behind Avatar.


The term "Avatar" comes from the Indian language of Sanskrit. The word Avatāra, (Sanskrit: अवतार), which means "descent"; its roots are ava, "down," and tri, "to pass." In the Hindu scriptures, avatara signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh. One who attains union with Spirit and then returns to earth to help humanity is called an avatar. The Chinese characters that appear at the top of the show's title card mean "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."
When Aang was young, he unknowingly revealed that he was the Avatar when he chose four toys out of thousands, each of which were the childhood toys of the previous Avatars. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a similar test for reincarnations of a Tulku Lama. In Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel writes that "a number of objects such as rosaries, ritualistic implements, books, tea-cups, etc., are placed together, and the child must pick out those which belonged to the late tulku, thus showing that he recognizes the things which were theirs in their previous life." Each successor is expected to show signs of continuity with the previous Avatar, such as being born within a week of the death.


Avatar draws on the four classical elements common to most ancient philosophies (rather than the five classical Chinese elements) for its bending arts: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Although each has its own variation, most ancient philosophies incorporate these four elements in some way: examples include the classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek elemental traditions.
In the show’s opening, each element is accompanied by two Chinese characters: an ancient Chinese seal script character on the left, and a modern Chinese character on the right:
Water (Chinese: 水; pinyin: shui) is associated with benevolence and adaptivity (Chinese: 善; pinyin: shan).
Earth (Chinese: 土; pinyin: tu) is associated with strength and stability (Chinese: 強; pinyin: qiang).
Fire (Chinese: 火; pinyin: huo) is associated with intensity and passion (Chinese: 烈; pinyin: lie)
Air (Chinese: 气; pinyin: qi) is associated with peace and harmony (Chinese: 和; pinyin: he).


The fighting choreography of the show draws from martial arts; the fighting styles and weaponry are based on Chinese martial arts, with each bending art corresponding to a certain real-world style. The creators referred to Ba Gua for Airbending, Hung Gar for Earthbending, Northern Shaolin for Firebending, and Tai Chi for Waterbending. The series employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a martial arts consultant.
Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected:
Tai Chi focuses on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. This technique is the foundation of "Waterbending" in the series.
Hung Gar was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes to present the solid nature of earth. This martial art is the basis of "Earthbending" in the series.
Northern Shaolin Kung Fu uses strong arm and leg movements. This technique is the foundation of "Firebending" in the series.
Ba Gua uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes.[22] This technique uses centripetal force to generate power, and uses nearly constant circular movement to create angles between the combatants. This martial art is the basis of "Airbending" in the series.
The only exception to this is Toph, who can be seen practicing a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style. Its distinguishing movements and unique footwork give her the ability to overcome her blindness and defeat more muscular Masters of Earthbending. It also makes sense when one considers she is mostly self-taught.


And this stuff kind of relates, but I thought it was interesting.


The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son", and an overcoming or destruction (剋/克, kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-nephew", of interactions between the phases.
Generating
The common memory jogs, which help to remind in what order the phases are:
Wood feeds Fire;
Fire creates Earth (ash);
Earth bears Metal;
Metal carries Water (as in a bucket or tap, or water condenses on metal);
Water nourishes Wood.
Also:
Wood absorbs Water;
Water rusts Metal;
Metal breaks up Earth;
Earth smothers Fire;
Fire burns Wood.
Other common words for this cycle include "begets", "engenders" and "mothers."
Overcoming
Wood parts Earth (such as roots) （or Trees can prevent soil erosion ）;
Earth absorbs (or muddies) Water (or Earth dam control the water);
Water quenches Fire;
Fire melts Metal;
Metal chops Wood.

This cycle might also be called "controls", "restrains" or "fathers".