Throughout the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, the Air Nomads endure some of the most devastating tragedies of any of the Four Nations. After Fire Lord Sozin hunts the Air Nomads into extinction during the Hundred Year War, Aang is cursed to live as the last Airbender until the birth of his youngest son, Tenzin, who plays a prominent role in rebuilding Air Nomad civilization in The Legend of Korra.

In the new Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender movie, which officially debuted on Paramount+ on July 25 after leaking online in full earlier this year, the saddest Air Nomad tragedy of all time quietly reveals itself in a scene that flies under the radar for most viewers. However, knowing what comes next after Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender — which is set between the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra — completely flips the lost Avatar Sonam’s happy ending on its head.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Introduces The Most Tragic Avatar of All Time

“Fire. Air. Water. Earth.”

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender takes a special interest in the Avatar Cycle by introducing Sonam, a ‘forgotten’ Avatar who severs her connection to the cycle after a shameful tragedy and remains lost until Aang becomes the first to connect with her.

Avatar Sonam, born an Air Nomad, acquires a powerful spiritual staff and uses it to create a Golden Age of Airbenders by empowering non-benders with her innate element. Unfortunately, Sonam’s decision triggers a war with the Earth Kingdom that ultimately throws the world out of balance once again. After losing numerous Airbenders to the war, Sonam seals the staff away, cuts herself off from the Avatar Cycle, and fades away for thousands of years until Aang finally rediscovers her.

In Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Aang’s faith in the return of the airbenders despite both of their mistakes inspires Sonam to restore her connection to the cycle. Aang deeply empathizes with Sonam’s instinct to abandon the cycle because he understands what it’s like to want to run away from the responsibility of being the Avatar.

While Sonam’s backstory is undeniably tragic, her role in the new movie gives her character a seemingly happy ending when her place in the Avatar Cycle is restored. However, The Legend of Korra holds the key to understanding what makes Avatar Sonam’s story so tragic in Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Makes Korra’s Lowest Point Even Darker in Retrospect

During The Legend of Korra’s Season 2 finale, Korra’s uncle Unalaq becomes the first ‘Dark Avatar’ by joining forces with Vaatu, the Darkness and Chaos Spirit who serves as the evil counterpart to the Light and Peace Spirit, Raava. When a rare event known as Harmonic Convergence amplifies the world’s spiritual energy, Unalaq forcibly extracts Raava from Korra’s body and slashes the Avatar’s spiritual companion to shreds. With each blow, Korra watches every Avatar before her vanish until none of her past lives remain.

Korra eventually reunites with a reborn Raava, allowing the Avatar Cycle to continue, but her connection to her past lives is never restored.

Watching Korra lose her connection to every past Avatar is easily one of the most devastating and emotional scenes in the entire animated franchise, and it gets even darker with the introduction of Sonam’s character. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender introduces the lost Avatar and restores her rightful place in the cycle, only for Korra’s connection to every past Avatar to be severed in the very next lifetime. With The Legend of Korra in mind, Sonam’s happy ending in the new movie becomes a devastating exercise in dramatic irony.

In fact, this problem consistently hampers the story throughout Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. It’s painfully clear to those who have already watched The Legend of Korra that the new movie doesn’t try very hard not to contradict the events of the sequel series. Many of the movie’s most prominent elements are directly borrowed from The Legend of Korra, yet they fail to properly bridge to Korra’s story without severely undercutting it.

Key concepts in Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender — the return of the Air Nomads, evil airbenders, non-bending radicals, the spectrum of light and dark spirits, and more — have already been explored in depth in The Legend of Korra. Whether or not it meant to, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender definitively declares Sonam the most tragic Avatar of all time.

That is, until Avatar: Seven Havens arrives on October 9, 2026, to flip the script on the franchise once again.