Why was he so conflicted about killing literally Fire Hitler?

Because he was a very young monk+2 of his enemies had already been redeemed before, not counting Jet+He got to see his trajectory to evil through Roku's flashbacks which certainly humanized him.

>would mean the true death of his culture as he was the last of his kind.
It was technically endangered since Aang was still alive. I assume you don't have to be an air bender to be an air nomad.

>Yangchen

She was a murder machine, so she may not be the best example.

Aang and Yangchen's circumstances are different. One airbender breaking the no-killing rule for the greater good wasn't a huge deal during Yangchen's time. Aang is the last of his kind and does his damnedest to preserve what little of his people still remain. Betraying the air nomads' teachings means killing those philosophies, since he's the only left practicing them. And Aang just isn't willing to do that.

They address that in the comics. The Air Nomads were an all-airbender culture and Aang gets fucking pissed when a bunch of normalfags try to carry on the teachings. The show itself also sorta touched on it with the guys occupying the norther temple.

>I assume you don't have to be an air bender to be an air nomad.
That's the point. His ethnicity and his religion are inseparable, even if the show doesn't explicitly call it a religion. He is its last member, and if he betrays his own credo, then that religion is over. Doesn't matter if he lives on.

being a pacifist that focuses on spiritual enlightenment isn't unique to the air nomads. literally anyone could do this.

any example of an airbender is a valid one. the question is one of maturity and being able to make responsible choices. Aang wasn't supposed to know he was the Avatar at that age and his decision making shows it, he wasn't ready. Aang is in a unique situation sure but that doesn't change the fact that he's the Avatar.

I never really read the comics but that sounds dumb. I thought Aang more pissed that they were polluting and industrializing the air temples thus erasing his people's history. I doubt he'd care if someone wanted to live in them as long as they respected it.

it's more of a set of cultural principles than a religion which he could totally just instill into his kids while raising them in a monk style environment. I don't think they just cease to exist because he breaks them even if he's the last member, doesn't prevent him from teaching it to the next generation. I don't think anyone would put him at fault or say that his philosophy is bogus because he adhered to his responsibility as the Avatar.

ethnicity I can understand though, that's basically fucked.

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>doesn't prevent him from teaching it to the next generation
This is a question of morality and ethics. Would you listen to the teachings of a hypocrite? Or, if you were in Aang's position, would you continue to preach a religion whose cardinal rules you've violated?

Because Sozin was right.

>I never really read the comics but that sounds dumb. I thought Aang more pissed that they were polluting and industrializing the air temples thus erasing his people's history. I doubt he'd care if someone wanted to live in them as long as they respected it.
In the comics, it was more a kneejerk reaction on his part (he was mostly offended by the fact that they were giving themselves air nomad tattoos). Once he had some time to think it over, he realized that someone wanting to carry on his culture is better than nobody doing it (granted, the whole thing was a thinly veiled excuse to explain the non-benders living on Air Temple Island in Korra).

>being a pacifist that focuses on spiritual enlightenment isn't unique to the air nomads. literally anyone could do this
And yet he is the last Air Nomad remaining, meaning that if he stops doing it then ALL Air Nomads stop doing it.
Aang’s logic is this: as long as he survives and continues his traditions the original Air Nomads live on, but the moment he abandons his principles his people will finally disappear from the world.

Because that life style focuses on selfish principles that pertain to enlightenment. Being the Avatar takes precedence over that, that doesn't immediately render your culture obsolete or incorrect. The role of Avatar forgoes those sorts of things. Your responsibility literally becomes "I am the arbiter of humanity and the spirit world". It just doesn't mesh well with being an Air nomad unfortunately. That's not really something you can put Aang at fault for, he was just a victim of cruel circumstance. It doesn't invalidate his culture or his teachings.

The role just goes beyond personal principles and individual hook ups. That's partly why it's such a burden. Avatar Roku threatened to kill his childhood best friend in cold blood because he threatened to throw the world off balance, I doubt Roku even wanted to do this but his role as Avatar called for it.

>the whole thing was a thinly veiled excuse to explain the non-benders living on Air Temple Island in Korra
makes sense

He can raise more Air Nomads and teach said principles to them. I get what you're saying but the in-lore logic just isn't very logical. Probably because it's coming from a 12 year old.

>Being the Avatar takes precedence over that
Yes, it should. I wasn't arguing about this, I was explaining his motivation and why the show ultimately failed itself in my eyes.
>It doesn't invalidate his culture or his teachings.
That's not the point. His culture flat out forbids killing. If he kills, he loses membership in that culture. As the last surviving member, it would be the end of that culture.
This shouldn't be hard to understand. I'm not taking a position for or against here. That's just the conflict as it is framed in the show.

Ah, I understand the point you were making now. I wish the lion turtle never showed up and that they maybe gave some hints earlier in the show for energy bending.

Because he was in Love with him

On top of him being a child, He was from a culture of pacifism. A big part of why the air nomads were so easily defeated was because they didn't even have a formal military.
I dislike that they allowed a bullshit excuse so that he didn't have to kill in the end, but its perfectly believable for him to be uncomfortable with killing someone, even if they're hitler levels of awful.

>why would a twelve year old buhddist avoid the idea of taking a life

imagine being this dumb

Lion Turtles and Energy Bending would have been fine if they had take more time to set both things up.

I know this is a bait thread since anyone who watched the show could answer this question but I like to point out how out of place it would be if aang actually killed him. Can you even imagine, kids show aside, what a message that would sent. The avatar, the most powerful being on the planet, kills the firelord that although was a monster even worse than hitler still looks like the whole world is by the hand of that one person. If you do something that would provoke him, he can just nuke you instantly with his avatar state. He's practically a god with his powers and you all normal people are being judged, oh and he's also a 12 year old kid.
Like legit there were people who were mad that he didnt kill him lmao

The Avatar has been murdering people for centuries. Even Aang points out Kyoshi didn't technically kill that one asshole since he fell to his death and she just goes "nah, I'd have still killed his ass if he hadn't".

its a kids show

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The thing that throws me for a loop is the claim that Aang and company definitely killed people throughout the show. I'm certain they would have drawn attention to that, if it were the case.

Aang only ever killed the Buzzard Hornet on purpose, but he clearly wasn't going around murking fools. Likewise, while the others were apparently ready to kill, nothing in the show would lead us to believe that they actually did.

It's such a weird point where people are acting like Aang not killing came out of nowhere by the finale. It took him 115 episodes to start directly fighting Zuko instead of deflecting/avoiding him for most of their fights.

Literally everybody Aang talked to told him to kill the guy. None of the good guys had any issue with it, they believed it was the only proper way to end things. Even the last Air Nomad avatar before him said "yeah shit sucks but what can you do, man up".

This

You all forget this so damn often. There's so many plot points in the show that operate on kid logic completely removed from reality.