The nature of the adventures in Avatar: The Last Airbender ensures that its main characters are constantly embroiled in conflict, whether with antagonists, each other, or even themselves. Team Avatar is on the move for two reasons: to help Aang master the elements before the return of Sozin's Comet, and to keep him from being discovered by the Fire Nation.
Over the three seasons, most Avatar characters are pushed to their limits, forcing them to make fight-or-flight decisions on the spot. As such, they occasionally reach points where they could have been killed, but survive either through external assistance or by pure luck.
10 Katara Saves Aang And Sokka From Hama's Bloodbending
Katara is excited to learn the subtleties of waterbending from an unexpected mentor: Hama, who lives in a Fire Nation village. Sadly, the older woman bears an uncontrollable hatred for those who abducted her, taking her anger out on innocent villagers.
Katara tries to stop Hama, but her upper hand is lost when Sokka and Aang are controlled through bloodbending. Right before Hama can have the two boys kill the other, Katara bloodbends her opponent into submission.
9 Aang Prevents Team Avatar From Drowning In The Ocean
Aang undergoes a major epiphany in "The Storm," recalling the events of his life in the Eastern Air Temple and his subsequent "defection."
However, the roiling ocean engulfs Appa, Sokka, Katara, along with a local fisherman, leaving Aang to do the rescuing. He manages to manifest the Avatar State, airbending a bubble around his loved ones and lifting them out of the choppy waters to safety.
8 Toph Single-Handedly Prevents Wan Shi Tong's Library From Sinking
Toph is outside Wan Shi Tong's library when the ancient spirit decides to punish the others for stealing information for wartime usage. The lone minaret above the desert's surface begins to sink into the sand, which is when Toph exerts every ounce of her earthbending to keep the structure from disappearing forever.
That said, she's unable to save Appa because she's distracted by a greater crisis, leading to the Sky Bison's capture by a group of marauding sandbenders.
7 Appa Is Discovered By The Kyoshi Warriors
Appa endures a series of horrible experiences after his abduction, starting with a Fire Nation circus where he's made to perform demeaning tricks and starved to ensure his compliance. He escapes with a kind boy's help, although he's unable to find anyone he recognizes.
Eventually, Appa makes his way to a cave, where he is discovered by the Kyoshi Warriors, who offer him food and give him a much-needed cleaning. The poor Sky Bison may not have been strong enough to fly to Ba Sing Se if Suki hadn't found him in time.
6 Azula Would Have Killed Mai After Her Betrayal If Not For Ty Lee
Sokka, Suki, and Zuko help Hakoda escape from the Boiling Rock in a gondola, but the prison guards intend to sever the cable and send all of them to their scalding doom.
Mai chooses to betray Azula at this point and defeats the guards, allowing "the jerk who dumped" her to escape. The Fire Princess is understandably furious and prepares to attack — and presumably kill — her oldest friend, but Ty Lee chi blocks Azula in Mai's defense.
5 Combustion Man Nearly Kills Team Avatar — Four Times
Combustion Man might be one of the strongest benders in the series, but fails to assassinate Aang despite having four separate chances to do so.
Team Avatar survives the first attempt because of Aang's clever distraction, the second is thwarted by Katara and Toph, and the third, seen in an Avatar graphic novel, takes place on a train. It takes the bullseye precision of Sokka's trusty boomerang to finally defeat Combustion Man for good.
4 Sokka Is Almost Trampled By An Angry Saber-Tooth Moose Lion
Sokka wanders off during Aang's earthbending training, getting himself trapped in a crack in the ground when he tries to catch a saber-tooth moose lion cub for his next meal.
Aang reaches the scene around the same time as the baby's enraged mother. She rejects the Avatar's reassurances and charges at the boys. Aang uses his airbending to knock the gigantic animal out of the way three times, forcing her to retreat and averting a gruesome death for Sokka.
3 Suki Saves Sokka And Toph From Falling To Their Deaths
Team Avatar volunteers to split their tasks for the final mission, with Toph, Sokka, and Suki given the job of handling Ozai's new airships. Toph and Sokka succeed in their mission, only to find themselves hanging for dear life on a ledge.
Before firebenders can blast the two of them into ash, Suki smashes into the airship with another, allowing her friends to jump off. It's quite a close shave, too, considering Sokka even states that "it looks like this is the end."
2 Zuko Is Severely Injured In His Agni Kai With Azula
Zuko slowly overpowers Azula during their Agni Kai, making the latter direct her lightning at Katara in order to gain the advantage. Before the attack could reach its target, however, Zuko shields Katara from the blast with his body.
Though his injuries are severe, the heroes win the day when Katara successfully captures Azula with a spectacular waterbending move. The fact that his sister's lightning strike misses Zuko's heart by a whisker is a stroke of pure luck.
1 Aang Spares Fire Lord Ozai After Great Contemplation
Ozai is wanted dead by everyone, including the previous Avatars, which clashes with Aang's code of nonviolence. The young Avatar meditates on what he needs to do to end the Hundred Year War, eventually learning the secrets of energybending from a wandering Lion Turtle.
Rather than outright murder Ozai, Aang deprives him of his firebending, thereby preventing any kind of counter-measure from the Fire Lord.