Aang - Creation and Conception

Creation and Conception

Aang's character was developed from a drawing by Bryan Konietzko, depicting a bald man with an arrowlike design on his head, which the artist developed into a picture of a child with a flying bison. Meanwhile, Michael Dante DiMartino was interested in a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole, which he later combined with Konietzko's drawing thus:

There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland...and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them... —Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

The plot they described corresponds with the first and second episodes of the series, where the "water people" (Katara and Sokka) rescue the "air guy" (Aang) while "trapped in a snowy wasteland" (the Southern Water Tribe) with "some fire people are pressing down on them" (Fire Nation Troops and Zuko). The creators of the show intended Aang to be trapped in an iceberg for one thousand years, later to wake inside a futuristic world, wherein he would have a robot named Momo and a dozen bison. The creators lost interest in this theme, and changed it to one hundred years of suspended animation. The robotic Momo became a flying lemur, and the herd of bison was reduced to one.

According to the show's creators, "Buddhism and Taoism have been huge inspirations behind the idea for Avatar." A notable aspect of the character is his vegetarian diet, consistent with Buddhism, Hinduism, or Taoism. In the Brahmajala Sutra, a Buddhist code of ethics, vegetarianism is encouraged. In "The King of Omashu", Aang demonstrates his vegetarian beliefs by refusing to eat meat. Furthermore, Aang consistently shows a reluctance to fight and an aversion to killing. In "The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)", Aang encounters an angry spirit destroying a village and kidnapping villagers; but instead of fighting the spirit, Aang negotiates.

Airbending, the martial art Aang primarily uses in the show, is based on an "internal" Chinese martial art called Baguazhang. This fighting style focuses on circular movements, and does not have many finishing moves; traits meant to represent the unpredictability of air and the peaceful character of Airbenders.

In the episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Aang’s name was written as 安昂 (ān áng) in Chinese.