Sozin

Sozin

The animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender features a list of characters created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. Taking place in a fictional universe composed of four sovereign nations, the Avatar--a being who represents the bridge between the physical and the spirit--alone holds the power to master all four elemental powers but has been mysteriously missing for the past 100 years. During this absence, a war started by the Fire Nation's belligerent attempt to conquer the world resulted in the Air Nomads' genocide, the Water Tribes' near extinction, and the Earth Kingdom's extensive colonization which thus sets up the world in which the characters of the series live.

The original series starts when main protagonist Aang, the recent incarnation of the Avatar and the last airbender, is released from an iceberg after being frozen for 100 years. With Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka and later Earth Kingdom citizen Toph Beifong, Aang sets out to master the three unlearned bending arts and end the war that has ravaged the world during his absence. The series also focuses on crown prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

Character designs were originated from a series of drawings by one of the show's creators, Bryan Konietzko. The main sketch depicted a middle-aged monk with an arrow on his head and later included a flying bison as his pet. Konietzko's partner, Michael Dante DiMartino, was interested in documentaries related to the South Pole at the time. They combined these ideas and created the concept of an "air guy" and "water guys" trapped in a snowy wasteland, with "fire guys" invading them. Additionally, the writers based the characters' different bending abilities on distinct styles of martial arts.