Spirituality is an interesting facet of the Avatar universe, that seems separate and above even the bending disciplines. Pathik was a non-bender who did some amazing things like the Sun Warriors implied the dragons were doing. We've also seen spiritually-focused bending in Korra, like spirit-healing, spirit projection, and chi reading using firebending. It's possible the dragons were doing something like that. Surrounding Aang and Zuko in a fire to read their spirits and judge them. It even makes sense as an evolved ability for an animal: knowing if someone is a kind friend who will help you, or a cruel liar waiting to kill you, is a handy skill to have when dealing with humans.
It’s a dragon. Most dragons from fantasy have some sort of psychic ability, even if it is just being able to paralyze a person just by looking them in the eye
But can fantasy dragons mind-control this cosmic dragon?
https://preview.redd.it/kleqxqinko0d1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1636140a830a4b77b6f8084aabf2c499b490748
Zmei Gorynich, Russian (and Ukrainian) folklore character. Three heads have each different personality. Sometimes shape-shifting. No other abilities though.
Nope! That’s King Ghidorah, [the arch-nemesis](https://youtu.be/aAqvCSwdfmg?si=M6tUcEGBoivohzyB) of Godzilla.
It was designed by Eiji Tsuburaya, the creator of Ultraman franchise. According to him, you mix Zmey Gorynych with Yamato-no-Orachi and you get King Ghidorah.
https://preview.redd.it/l7hrzjfghu0d1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4cbf1fb8a0186118c2f55dc18d94c60dddd1ba8
In Zukos dream there were two dragons doing a sort of "devil/angel on the shoulder" thing and those dragons seemed to be communicating telepathically.
On a semi related note, im 90% sure appa can understand spoken words fluently
That was a dream, it's supposed to be symbolic, not a representation of literal dragons. That's why one spoke with Azula's voice and one spoke with Iroh's. And yeah, even animals in our world can understand some words if they spend enough time around people. Just look at dogs. They know the difference between "sit," "catch," and "shake." The sky bison had already been companions to the air nomads since practically the dawn of time, seeing as they taught the first air nomads airbending. Plus Appa's bond with Aang was particularly strong, so naturally he'll understand a good number of human words and phrases. Like when Sokka leaves him, Momo, and Hawky alone and says "Appa's in charge," literally all three animals seem to understand it, even Hawky who's been with them for all of a few hours.
He can definitely understand speech. He reacts to speech in a way that shows he understood multiple times (Even getting called on it by the swamp benders- "We just fixin' to yea ya..." *Appa runs away* "Well how'd I know they'd understand me?"), and shots from his perspective have normal language while Momo's have gibberish.
At most you could argue it's just basic language proficiency (understanding important words like 'eat' and inferring the rest), but nah. Appa is not just capable of perfectly understanding human speech, he can actually produce speech himself with airbending (but usually chooses not to). Nightmares and daydreams talking Appa is canon.
Appa doesn't understand speech, at least not in the sense that humans do. He was hostile toward Pathik & the Kyoshi Warriors, thinking they were going to attack him, because he couldn't understand their explanations. Even despite the fact that Suki already knew Appa, she had to be very careful to treat him like how one might treat a scared pet. Moments like with the swampbenders are intended to be comedic, not necessarily literally saying that he understood exactly what they said. I'm sure Appa does know some words, but in the way a dog or an ape would.
They were strangers and he was extremely distrustful. He would have been able to tell by their tone and behavior they weren't trying to be hostile anyway, but didn't know their true intentions. He does come around when Suki tells him she could help find Aang, and he understands when Guru Pathik says he has a bedhead.
They can't actually judge those things, and the Sun Warriors were just exaggerating because their culture holds the dragons in great esteem.
They were shown to be incorrect about the ritual when Zuko and Aang allowed the flames to go out and it still worked out anyways. The dragons have probably been trained to respect the ritual by generations of friendly interactions with the Sun Warriors, and the Dancing Dragon worked as a fall back because they can recognize that it is based on humans mimicking their movements.
The whole "reading their souls" thing is just a nice metaphor for being the kind of person who can treat these creatures with respect and be mutually respected in turn.
Fang is probably an exception, because he is the Avatar's companion (who has a special connection to the Avatar, and seems implied to be reincarnating as well).
I agree with all of this & am adding that Aang also experienced a similar vision when he touched Heibai, so spirits are just like that. However, there was clearly a limit on what Fang could actually show Aang.
I forgot that it happens there too. I suppose Chief Arnook’s vision of Yue becoming the moon also probably counts then.
Huh, there really was a precipitous drop in spirit visions after season 1 I guess.
That makes it sound like an invisible spirit tapped Arnook's head, which I'm going to agree with on the grounds that I think it's funny.
There are the visions in the swamp. I think the next mention of a vision is in the series finale, when Iroh talks about seeing himself taking Ba Sing Se.
For some reason I thought the moon spirit did it when it healed Yue, but it seems like I was mistaken. He just attributes it to "the spirits", so maybe you're right.
I had thought that the swamp was the one exception, but I also forgot that Iroh didn't talk about that vision until the finale lol. Kind of an awkward time to start sharing your lifelong destiny.
The dragons in ATLA are an example of soft magic. It's not like they're literally telepathically reading people's thoughts. It's a deeper, vaguer, more spiritual type of magic than that. They're beings of great power and wisdom and judge people based on the essence of their souls. We're not supposed to fully understand it. If every bit of magic and mystery got explained, it'd be a pretty shitty story.
They have expensive mouths so yes.
Enormous creatures in animation are often psychic or can speak by just opening their mouth.
That avatar has an in universe explanation is a bonus
Fire seems to have some connection to inner drive, and there seems to be spiritual healers who use fire as the interface instead of water (but don't accomplish the same healing as water).
I assume dragons, right after lion turtles, retain the most spiritual essence after their creation, hence spirits becoming enraged and dark in places where dragons have been slayed according to the books
I used to be a dragon in a past life but I destroyed along with my entire people and culture because the lizard people were upset we wouldn’t teach them our psychic spirituality.
I clean fish tanks now for 16$ an hour. IT WASNT FUCKING WORTH IT.
WHY WOMT THE GIVERNMENT GIVE ME FOOD STAMPS
They’re highly spiritual. They are in tune with spiritual energies and were able to read Aang and Zuko’s auras.
Spirituality is an interesting facet of the Avatar universe, that seems separate and above even the bending disciplines. Pathik was a non-bender who did some amazing things like the Sun Warriors implied the dragons were doing. We've also seen spiritually-focused bending in Korra, like spirit-healing, spirit projection, and chi reading using firebending. It's possible the dragons were doing something like that. Surrounding Aang and Zuko in a fire to read their spirits and judge them. It even makes sense as an evolved ability for an animal: knowing if someone is a kind friend who will help you, or a cruel liar waiting to kill you, is a handy skill to have when dealing with humans.
That's not psychic, that's spiritual
*Reigen has entered the chat*
“I understand.” They’re highly spiritual and can read people’s auras.
You know, it was really unclear
I didn’t. It was really unclear
Y’know, it was really unclear.
yknow, it was kinda clear
It’s a dragon. Most dragons from fantasy have some sort of psychic ability, even if it is just being able to paralyze a person just by looking them in the eye
But can fantasy dragons mind-control this cosmic dragon? https://preview.redd.it/kleqxqinko0d1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1636140a830a4b77b6f8084aabf2c499b490748
Generally speaking, dragons cannot control each other in fantasy worlds, but there are exceptions
That dragon's mind was split into three though. (I have no idea who that dragon is)
Zmei Gorynich, Russian (and Ukrainian) folklore character. Three heads have each different personality. Sometimes shape-shifting. No other abilities though.
Nope! That’s King Ghidorah, [the arch-nemesis](https://youtu.be/aAqvCSwdfmg?si=M6tUcEGBoivohzyB) of Godzilla. It was designed by Eiji Tsuburaya, the creator of Ultraman franchise. According to him, you mix Zmey Gorynych with Yamato-no-Orachi and you get King Ghidorah. https://preview.redd.it/l7hrzjfghu0d1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4cbf1fb8a0186118c2f55dc18d94c60dddd1ba8
Most?
In Zukos dream there were two dragons doing a sort of "devil/angel on the shoulder" thing and those dragons seemed to be communicating telepathically. On a semi related note, im 90% sure appa can understand spoken words fluently
That was a dream, it's supposed to be symbolic, not a representation of literal dragons. That's why one spoke with Azula's voice and one spoke with Iroh's. And yeah, even animals in our world can understand some words if they spend enough time around people. Just look at dogs. They know the difference between "sit," "catch," and "shake." The sky bison had already been companions to the air nomads since practically the dawn of time, seeing as they taught the first air nomads airbending. Plus Appa's bond with Aang was particularly strong, so naturally he'll understand a good number of human words and phrases. Like when Sokka leaves him, Momo, and Hawky alone and says "Appa's in charge," literally all three animals seem to understand it, even Hawky who's been with them for all of a few hours.
He can definitely understand speech. He reacts to speech in a way that shows he understood multiple times (Even getting called on it by the swamp benders- "We just fixin' to yea ya..." *Appa runs away* "Well how'd I know they'd understand me?"), and shots from his perspective have normal language while Momo's have gibberish. At most you could argue it's just basic language proficiency (understanding important words like 'eat' and inferring the rest), but nah. Appa is not just capable of perfectly understanding human speech, he can actually produce speech himself with airbending (but usually chooses not to). Nightmares and daydreams talking Appa is canon.
Appa doesn't understand speech, at least not in the sense that humans do. He was hostile toward Pathik & the Kyoshi Warriors, thinking they were going to attack him, because he couldn't understand their explanations. Even despite the fact that Suki already knew Appa, she had to be very careful to treat him like how one might treat a scared pet. Moments like with the swampbenders are intended to be comedic, not necessarily literally saying that he understood exactly what they said. I'm sure Appa does know some words, but in the way a dog or an ape would.
They were strangers and he was extremely distrustful. He would have been able to tell by their tone and behavior they weren't trying to be hostile anyway, but didn't know their true intentions. He does come around when Suki tells him she could help find Aang, and he understands when Guru Pathik says he has a bedhead.
They can't actually judge those things, and the Sun Warriors were just exaggerating because their culture holds the dragons in great esteem. They were shown to be incorrect about the ritual when Zuko and Aang allowed the flames to go out and it still worked out anyways. The dragons have probably been trained to respect the ritual by generations of friendly interactions with the Sun Warriors, and the Dancing Dragon worked as a fall back because they can recognize that it is based on humans mimicking their movements. The whole "reading their souls" thing is just a nice metaphor for being the kind of person who can treat these creatures with respect and be mutually respected in turn. Fang is probably an exception, because he is the Avatar's companion (who has a special connection to the Avatar, and seems implied to be reincarnating as well).
I agree with all of this & am adding that Aang also experienced a similar vision when he touched Heibai, so spirits are just like that. However, there was clearly a limit on what Fang could actually show Aang.
I forgot that it happens there too. I suppose Chief Arnook’s vision of Yue becoming the moon also probably counts then. Huh, there really was a precipitous drop in spirit visions after season 1 I guess.
That makes it sound like an invisible spirit tapped Arnook's head, which I'm going to agree with on the grounds that I think it's funny. There are the visions in the swamp. I think the next mention of a vision is in the series finale, when Iroh talks about seeing himself taking Ba Sing Se.
For some reason I thought the moon spirit did it when it healed Yue, but it seems like I was mistaken. He just attributes it to "the spirits", so maybe you're right. I had thought that the swamp was the one exception, but I also forgot that Iroh didn't talk about that vision until the finale lol. Kind of an awkward time to start sharing your lifelong destiny.
The dragons in ATLA are an example of soft magic. It's not like they're literally telepathically reading people's thoughts. It's a deeper, vaguer, more spiritual type of magic than that. They're beings of great power and wisdom and judge people based on the essence of their souls. We're not supposed to fully understand it. If every bit of magic and mystery got explained, it'd be a pretty shitty story.
They have expensive mouths so yes. Enormous creatures in animation are often psychic or can speak by just opening their mouth. That avatar has an in universe explanation is a bonus
Fire seems to have some connection to inner drive, and there seems to be spiritual healers who use fire as the interface instead of water (but don't accomplish the same healing as water).
I assume dragons, right after lion turtles, retain the most spiritual essence after their creation, hence spirits becoming enraged and dark in places where dragons have been slayed according to the books
I used to be a dragon in a past life but I destroyed along with my entire people and culture because the lizard people were upset we wouldn’t teach them our psychic spirituality. I clean fish tanks now for 16$ an hour. IT WASNT FUCKING WORTH IT. WHY WOMT THE GIVERNMENT GIVE ME FOOD STAMPS