As the main character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang is a figure that gets talked about a lot in the show’s fandom. While he might be the main hero, he’s also quite young at only 12 years old when the events of the series happen. Because of this, Aang makes a lot of mistakes even though he’s fundamentally a very good person.
Just like all well-written characters, Aang has some personality traits that are positive as well as some that are negative. These traits make him interesting and nuanced and also contribute to why some fans love him and others don’t.
Worst: Easily upset
Given Aang’s young age, it’s not a big surprise that he doesn’t have total emotional control. While he did group up as an air nomad and was taught a lot more about self-control than most children, he was still young.
Because of his age and his baseline personality, he would easily get upset about things that bothered him. Often he got upset about awful things such as injustice, so it wasn’t always a bad thing except when it clouded his judgment.
Best: Fun
While there are some negative things about Aang being so young, there are also some positives. He is overall a light-hearted and fun character who liked to enjoy himself and have a good time.
Of course, he could sometimes get a bit lazy about having fun and not focus on the task at hand, but his playful spirit was overall a positive thing. He definitely wasn’t overly serious.
Worst: Needs Coddling
Aang is a character who doesn’t respond well to toughness or harshness. While he’s good at water bending right away, he struggles more with earth bending, and he doesn’t take well to Toph’s more direct approach.
While different people learn better under different circumstances, Aang needed a lot more encouragement and coddling than was always necessary. But, once again, it’s worth noting that he’s barely more than a child.
Best: Wise
Despite being so young in years, Aang had a lot of wisdom. This doesn’t mean he was just some introverted loner like a sage upon a mountaintop, but it does mean that he was observant and insightful. He obviously had a lot of growing up to do and many things to learn, but he was rather wise compared to his age.
Aang had a lot of wisdom to offer in regards to things like forgiveness and pain, and while he wasn’t always the best at following his own advice, he did try to help and support others.
Worst: Immature
One of Aang’s worst overall traits was definitely just how immature he was. This wasn’t his fault, and he obviously would have grown out of this as fans can see in Legend of Korra. However, going off how he is in The Last Airbender, he could have been a bit more mature given the dire circumstances he was in.
This doesn’t mean he always had to be doom and gloom, but his immaturity meant he didn’t always handle situations with control. His immaturity could also make him annoying at times.
Best: Egalitarian
Given Aang’s personality as well as his upbringing, he learned that all beings were connected. The fact that he respected all life whether it was plants or animals was a great thing about him.
He was a person who understood the value of equality and of respecting living things, even those beings that others might not consider or worry about. This eye for equality definitely contributed to him fighting so hard to bring balance to the world.
Worst: Sensitive
Another of Aang’s worst traits is that he was overly sensitive. He clearly didn’t have the emotional control yet to handle when he felt insecure or upset, and this means he would often react too strongly. Some examples of this include when he would get jealous of Katara getting attention from others or when he overreacted to being told to let go of his attachment to Katara.
It’s hard to blame him too much for these directions because he was learning about relationships and life, but he overall had a sensitive spirit.
Best: Gentle
While being sensitive is a trait Aang had that he could take too far, this also contributed to him being very gentle. This was a good thing about Aang as it made him take others seriously and respect them.
He didn’t want to hurt people, and he wanted to give others, even those in a fire nation, a fair chance to prove themselves on an individual level.
Worst: Avoidant
Perhaps the bad trait that had the most negative impacts was Aang’s tendency to be avoidant. He was gentle and sensitive, so he didn’t always want to have to fight. This was especially true when he didn’t want to have to face killing the Firelord.
He also often avoided training when he needed to and put off planning even when the fate of the world was at stake.
Best: Compassionate
While in some ways Aang’s refusal to kill the Firelord was a bad thing, in other ways it was good. Aang’s nature was overall quite compassionate, and he was also so young.
It makes sense he didn’t want to have to take someone’s life at such a young age, and he was able to find a different way to stop Ozai and save the world.