When Aang wakes up in an iceberg at the beginning of Avatar: The Last Airbender, he discovers that only a few other people have lived through the entire Hundred Year War. After he is thawed, Aang discovers he must become the Avatar so that he can defeat Fire Lord Ozai and put an end to the war. Aang also must come to terms with the chaos that he left behind when he disappeared, and the brand new world that he now finds himself in.

Avatar: The Last Airbender followed Aang's journey to become the Avatar, the only individual capable of manipulating all four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. The 12-year-old Aang belonged to the Air Nomads, a nation that was wiped out by the Hundred Year War shortly after he found himself frozen in an iceberg.

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Although the world completely changed while Aang was missing, a few characters lived through the reign of the Fire Nation and made it to the end of the war. Most of those characters knew Aang before the war and were able to help him adjust to his strange new world — as he prepares to save it.

Aang & Appa

Aang and Appa managed to live through the Hundred Year War because they were frozen in the iceberg together. Aang was overwhelmed by the pressures of being the Avatar when he wanted to be a normal kid, and he ran away from the Air Temple before it was destroyed by the Fire Nation. Because of that, he and Appa were frozen for almost the entire war before teenagers Katara and Sokka discovered him in the ice.

Guru Pathik

Guru Pathik was a personal friend of Aang's mentor, Monk Gyatso. Pathik managed to hide in the Eastern Air Temple after the Fire Nation attack, where he waited for almost a hundred years for Aang to re-appear. Pathik sensed Aang's awakening when he emerged from the iceberg, and waited for him at the Temple so he could help him master the Avatar state.

King Bumi

Prior to the start of the Hundred Year War, Bumi was a close personal friend of Aang's and was his only remaining friend when the Avatar re-appeared. The eccentric king of Omashu was a brilliant earthbender, and he and Aang bonded as kids when Bumi taught him to use the Omashu chute delivery system as a super-slide. When Aang returned, Bumi and Aang reunited and Bumi later helped liberate Ba Sing Se as a member of the White Lotus.

The Lion Turtle

Aang Encounters A Lion Turtle

The Lion Turtle is the largest known animal in the world. The Lion Turtles initially carried human cities on their backs to protect them from the spirits, but they relinquished that role after the first Avatar was created. After all but one Lion Turtle was hunted to extinction, the last survivor of the species traveled far from human civilization — until finding Avatar Aang on the shores on Ember Island. The Lion Turtle was alive long before the start of the Hundred Year War, and will likely continue to live long after.

Not many characters made it through the entire Hundred Year War, but the ones who did helped Aang acclimate and supported him on his journey to defeat the Fire Lord. Aang's journey as he acclimates to a new world with the help of his fellow survivors is one of the best parts of  Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Next: Avatar: Why Korra Could Bend In The Spirit World When Aang Couldn't