Whose hand is that? It has to be Iroh or Azulon.
Ozai’s robes never have three layers before he is Fire Lord. The only people we see with three layers are Azulon, Iroh (back when he was crown prince) and Li and Lo.
Edit: I may also be Lu Ten, but I have no visual data on him. My best guess is Iroh.
Zuko got outvoted. It’s not named after Ursa, is it …. unless her middle name is Republic. Or city.
The boys aren’t the best at naming things. Or getting along.
As you may or may not know, I’ve been working counting the amount of times Zuko’s honor is mentioned, as well as the amount of times that Sokka is captured in Avatar: the Last Airbender. It took a while, but I have finally completed this task!
I must mention for those of you who are unaware, I…
hegel-who asked: Hi! Let me just say that I really appreciate your blog for the historical facts you find in the show. Really awesome. I think I found one though! In the Series finale (I believe it is "The Phoenix King") when Aang is meditating on the porch in Zuko's house, he has some food and candles to offer. This reminded me of prasad in Indian religious culture when they offer food to a deity during prayer. Just a thought! ^3^ Keep up the great work!
Thanks :D
I looked at that scene, and I am not sure that that is an altar at all, but, more likely, Aang’s uneaten dinner and meditation candles.
The candles are set up in the same way Zuko’s Agni meditation table is set up on his ship in first season, and it is safe to assume that they serve the same purpose: Meditation.
The main reason against that being an offering is the casual way Aang steps over it later on. Feet and religious offerings do not mix at all. Feet are considered unclean in Buddhism and Aang grew up in a monastery and does take his religious believes seriously, he knows and respects this. I doubt he’d ever be that disrespectful if that actually was an offering. 
Edited to add: The walking over it with his feet pointed toward it is not just a minor disrespect. Feet are unclean, stepping over a person is considered incredibly disrespectful, now think about what this means if you did that to an offering. This is pretty much like rubbing a pork chop over the Torah. Don’t forget that this was animated in Korea, where roughly 50% of the population is nominally Buddhist. It would be odd for them to animate something so incredibly disrespectful so casually.
But let’s for one second say that it is an offering and that he steps over it in a trance induced by the Lionturtle. By making Aang commit such a disrespectful act, this would be storytelling shorthand for saying that the Lionturtle is evil, which it clearly is not.
Aang’s Wanted Poster - Earth Kingdom Edition
At the end of the season two episode “The Blind Bandit” the Earth Rumble boss says he’s going to turn in Aang, for the reward, to the Fire Nation. The wanted poster he is holding up does not resemble the one we see in ‘The Deserter’, but the one Zhao uses to threaten Zuko in “The Blue Spirit”.
How did Xin Fu get his hands on one of those? Does the Earth Kingdom reproduce them on their own?
There are subtle differences between the one Zhao shows and the one we see Xin Fu having, e.g. Aang’s trouser leg and his sleeves, that point toward it being a re-print.
Selling out to the Fire Nation seems to be a thing. Not that I can blame the EK. Ba Sing Se decided, a long time ago, that it could not be arsed to give a damn about anything/anyone but who lives in their walls, so why should they?
Season Two, Episode: The Swamp
Things I just noticed: The Beijing Opera wagon passing by Uncle and Zuko when they are begging in the street of that little town, is where Zuko steals the Blue Spirit mask from for later use!
Also: That’s the dude he steal his dual swords from XD
Am I the only one who just noticed that?
Episode Four: The Swamp
Chinese villages tend to have communal fish ponds (see picture).
The wagon passing Uncle and Zuko say: Happy Vagrant (Beijing) Opera Troupe.Taunting Zuko we are, animators, aren’t we XD
Ghoooooosts! Run! Don’t take that money! Ghost money is cursed!
Clothes (of the living) are folded left over right, which is reversed for the funeral. Someone just walked off from their own funeral XD That lady is a zombie.
Cuuuuuuursed! Shouldn’t have stolen that ostrich-horse.
Never give up, never surrender!
Translation of the wanted poster:
承烈火君命緝捕艾洛祖寇
二叛賊.艾洛将軍曾為平西
巨龍．祖寇*王子曾為火帝
儲君. 二賊違反國令．
拒絕征剿水族蛮子及捉拿
降世神通.格殺勿論．
By orders of the Fire Lord:
Arrest the rebellious traitors Iroh and Zuko. General Iroh, the Dragon of the West. and Prince Zuko Crown Prince to the Fire Lord.
The (two) traitors disobeyed imperial orders to eliminate the Water Tribe Savages and to capture the Avatar. Deathly force permissible.
The knife:
The knife Uncle gave to Zuko says: 非戰不屈 Never give up without a fight.
The font/calligraphy used is - once again- either Oracle Bone script or Seal script.
For your amusement I present google translate:
Jun Ming Cheng fire
Arrest Yi Luozu Kou two Panzei.
Aiello General who Pingxi dragon.
Royal crown prince who fire ancestral Kouwang Zi.
Erzei violation of state order.
Manzi refused Zhengjiao aquarium and capture incarnate supernatural powers.
Shoot to kill.
The dual blades Zuko is wielding as the Blue Spirit are called dao. Dao just translates as ‘knife’. This weapon is called dan dao 單刀 (single knife) when just one is used.
This weapon is part of the ’18 Legendary Weapons of Gongfu’ i.e. the weapons commonly used in Kungfu.
刀 dāo is a category of single-edge Chinese swords primarily used for slashing and chopping, often called a broadsword in English translation because some varieties have wide blades. In China, the dao is known as one of the four major weapons, along with the Gun (staff), Qiang (spear), and the Jian (sword), and referred to as “The General of All Weapons”.
