Hello! I've always felt confused about the whole Aang letting go of Katara for the Avatar State thing. Did that mean he'd stop loving her or that he'd give up on ever being with her? And since he got locked out of it but mastered it in the finale, does that imply that he mastered it without opening that last chakra, or that he did open it in some other way?

i’ve talked about aang and the avatar state before, so you can find your answers in this meta here. but sort answer: yes, aang let her go. that’s why he was able to enter the avatar state in the s2 finale and why he says “i’m sorry katara” and completes the spiritual path he hadn’t before. the chakra was successfully unlocked.

second: i don’t have the background in buddhism to like, answer fully and possibly trip over myself, however. look at the first chakra aang has to unlock. it deals with fear for his own survival, and aang lets that go. that doesn’t mean aang isn’t scared to die or won’t fight to survive, but it means accepting that control or guarantee of his survival isn’t something he can control.

so it doesn’t mean that aang no longer deeply loves katara, or that he doesn’t want to be with her, but that, in a way, he has to put his duty to the world above his attachment to her.

in some ways the katara and survival parallel have the most in common, because aang sacrifices ‘control’ of both of those things in a way, and yet katara restores both to him. she’s the one who brings him back to life and begins their romantic relationship. it’s a very nice lil storytelling bow if i do say so myself