Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Ending Explained - How Aang Avoids Being Corrupted

Jul 25, 2026 - 19:09

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Published Jul 25, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT

Joshua Edward Ryan Fox is a freelance writer for Screen Rant with a passion for pop culture. Joshua grew up in Connecticut where he developed an appreciation for writing and entertainment and has earned a Master's degree in professional writing and technical writing. His writing has been quoted by both the anime streaming site Crunchyroll and the anime YouTuber Gigguk.

Warning: Contains spoilers for Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.After years of development, repeated shufflings of the schedule, and an unfortunate leak that forced an early release, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, the long-awaited film sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, has finally had its premiere. Fans can either watch it on Paramount+ or see it in theaters in New York and Los Angeles for about a week, and however they choose to see it, they’ll be in for one of the best experiences in the entire franchise.

Years after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Team Avatar discovered an ancient airbender frozen in ice, Tagah, who told them of the legendary staff of Avatar Sonam and its power to turn people into airbenders. Aang threw all caution to the wind to get the staff to revive the Air Nation, but Tagah, who lived in a time when Air Nomads were victims of war, wanted to use it to create an army and take over the world. It was Aang’s biggest challenge yet, both physically and mentally, and a lot went into how it ultimately played out.

How Aang Stops The Corruption Of The Staff & Why He Breaks It

In the climax of Paramount+’s Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Tagah used Sonam’s staff within the temple of Jharana to transform into a godlike state, one corrupted by his anger and hatred for the world. At first, Aang had no chance of stopping Tagah and saving Republic City, but by using one of Tagah’s moves against him, Aang took the staff and gave himself a similar power boost, one resembling a serene Buddha, and that was enough to overpower Tagah.

With Tagah finally on the back foot, Aang finally let out his frustrations over how Tagah perverted his dream, and he was so lost in anger that he was about to kill Tagah, with his new form even being corrupted as well. Before Aang could, though, a tattered piece of airbender clothing flew into view, and he remembered how much he loved Gyatso and his people, how they wouldn’t want him to do this, and how even in death, they would always be with him. From there, with Aang’s clarity restored, he stopped his assault and destroyed the staff.

As much as Aang wanted to bring airbenders back to the world, Sonam’s staff was far too dangerous, as not only could villains like Tagah use it for evil, but even Aang wasn’t pure enough to use it solely for good. More than that, though, as Gyatso told Aang, as both an airbender and the Avatar, Aang needed to know when to use restraint, and forcing such a massive change on the world was anything but. Even without The Legend of Korra reviving airbenders, there was never a reality where Aang kept Sonam’s staff, so it had to be destroyed.

Why Do The Other Airbenders Lose Their Abilities?

For most of the film’s runtime, the main threat in the story is The Denied, an organization of nonbenders who want to use Sonam’s to fight back against the hardships bending brought them and the world. Tagah, after revealing his true colors to Team Avatar, made them airbenders to help kickstart his Air Empire, and much of the final battle revolved around Team Avatar stopping them from destroying Republic City.

As the fighting went on and Aang finally destroyed Sonam’s staff, The Denied, in turn, lost their airbending, thus finally ending the battle. The exact aftermath of the conflict wasn’t shown, but in the end credits, it’s shown that The Denied were arrested and are now performing community service and cleaning up around Republic City, something none of them are particularly happy about.

The one exception to that seemed to be a younger member of The Denied named Kallik. When Aang saved her life at the expense of his own health, Kallik started questioning their war against benders, and when Sonam’s temple threatened to destroy Republic City, Kallik had a change of heart and helped Team Avatar save everyone. Because of that, Kallik was the only member of The Denied not to be arrested, and she fully changed her ways by becoming one of Aang’s first Air Acolytes.

Why Does Tagah Die?

With Sonam’s staff destroyed, the temple was lifted back into the spirit world, and the only thing left for the film to resolve was Tagah’s fate. As everything reverted to normal, Tagah’s body suddenly started disintegrating until he was reduced to nothing; the film never says why that happened, but it was likely a side effect of being corrupted by Sonam’s staff, with Aang spared the same fate because he was corrupted for a much shorter time.

As much of a villain as Tagah was, not only did he help Aang gain some much-needed clarity about the Air Nomads and his grief over their demise, but Tagah himself finally saw the error of his ways as he realized that it was wrong to try to revive their people at the cost of their ideals. Tagah finally let go of his anger and hatred in his last moments, and that made his entire character nothing short of tragic.

How Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Sets Up The Universe's Future

While Avatar Studios' Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was mostly a one-off story, there were still plenty of moments calling forward to the future of the franchise, mostly The Legend of Korra. Not only did the film reinforce Aang’s desire to rebuild the Air Nation, which would greatly impact Tenzin’s arc in The Legend of Korra, but Aang was also shown building Air Temple Island and establishing the Air Acolytes, both of which were major features of The Legend of Korra from start to finish.

More importantly, though, is the final scene of the movie. Aang led Team Avatar and the Air Acolytes to a hidden valley Sonam told him about, and it was there that they discovered a secret herd of sky bison, meaning Appa was no longer the last of the species. When The Legend of Korra first premiered, it was stated that Aang found a secret herd of sky bison, so that isn’t new, but this is the first time the event has been depicted in a story, and that was a great note to end things on.

With a short runtime that didn’t allow for a lot of character work and an emphasis on action, Avatar Aang might not be right for everyone, but overall, it's an incredibly fun and exciting story that serves as a perfect epilogue to Aang’s story and a worthy continuation of the legendary series. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is the first major project to come out of Avatar Studios, and if Avatar Studios' future projects are of this quality, then Avatar: The Last Airbender’s future will be nothing short of amazing.