When trying to craft the perfect horror movie or show, fear is always at the top of the list. It’s always a horror genre’s goal to incite terror in the hearts of the audiences. Yet, oftentimes, other genres can embody the feeling of fear just easily as any horror based movie or series, such as with Avatar: The Last Airbender.
While this beautifully animated series has woven its way into audiences’ hearts, there have been plenty of episodes and moments that have made them shiver in fear. Episodes that while may seem innocent on the surface, contain horrors within, quite like the live-action film adaptation.
The Southern Raiders
Now, something to keep in mind with ATLA is that it was made for kids. Adults can watch it with no problem which is something most shows today can’t pull off. However, horror in episodes was either light or more of a mental terror.
After spending nearly three seasons with Katara, it was shocking to see her full of a vicious streak as she went after “The Southern Raiders” who killed her mother. Her ferocity and the way she stopped the rain allow for terror to reign in one of the series best episodes.
The Storm
There are definitely moments, especially in a kid’s show, when the creators go over the line. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to go over the line, to delve into dark and heavy themes. It’s how the creators handle them that can make or break the episode.
When both Aang’s team and Zuko’s war party are waylaid by “The Storm”, it leads to Uncle Iroh, who many consider being the best character of the show, sharing how Zuko got his scar-from his own father, a time when fans really felt sorry for the character. That one scene alone made the episode so intense and even a bit scary, not to mention adding to Zuko’s amazing character arc.
The Library
Ok, technically speaking, “The Library” doesn’t have a lot of terror elements to it at least, none that get in your face. Despite there not being any real spooky moments though, there is a spooky character: the Owl.
A guardian of the Library and its secrets, the Owl is the size of a house, speaks in an unnerving voice, and is all around freaky. Not to mention that when Sokka tries to run off with some knowledge, the Owl sinks the tower. Quite a frightening image for a kid’s show.
Nightmares And Day Dreams
Again, horror doesn’t always work in the form of a kid’s show like ATLA. The series has for sure had plenty of horrific bits and beats but at the same time, some scary moments only truly appear for brief moments in a few episodes.
A few days before the attack on the Fire Nation, Aang finds himself plagued by “Nightmares And Day Dreams”(considered to be one of the series worst episodes). Although many are harmless, like Appa and Momo anime sword fighting, Aang had a nightmare that was truly shocking, showing his friends in danger and even dying.
The Swamp
Hallucinations are always capable of inducing great levels of fear and terror into any audience member. Whether it be brief, long, or in whatever form, the hallucinations can be disturbing in places.
So when Aang, Katara, and Sokka ventured into ATLA‘s version of Florida, the effects from “The Swamp” were devastating. Each member of the group was hit by a vision of some kind that messed with their minds and played some spooky tricks on them, allowing a sense of terror to flow freely.
City Of Walls And Secrets
Something about ATLA that separates it from a great number of other series was its ability to dive deep into mature themes and ideas, such as with the city of Ba Sing Se. On their quest, the Gaang encountered the walled city.
What appeared to be idyllic quickly became a nightmare when the group discovered the city was under the belief that there was no 100-year war, an effort the Da-Li pulled off through hypnosis. Seeing someone like Jet succumb to the “City of Walls And Secrets” was truly spooky.
Lake Laogai
If audiences thought Jet falling prey to the Da-Li was horrifying enough, then the next episode, “Lake Laogai”, raise the terror tenfold. After finding Jet had been turned to the Da-Li’s cause, the Gaang ventured beneath Lake Laogai, where the horror continued.
Discovering a veritable army of zombie-like Joo Dees doing the Da-Li’s bidding, along with the agents crawling about the caves and a hypnotized Jet, the horror may not have been as intense as others but it was still pretty scary for younger viewers and perhaps older ones too.
The Spirit World
Given the nature of the world ATLA exists in– a universe full of elemental benders– the series was always bound to venture into supernatural stuff. Eventually, the series did, making a trip into the realm of Spirits and “The Spirit World”.
With Aang traveling into the Spirit realm, and meeting with Avatar Roku, and encountering a monstrous spirit, the episode had a great deal of intense and scary bits, even if the monster ended up being nothing more than just a really angry and dead panda in the end.
The Siege of The North, Part 1
While Aang didn’t dive incredibly deep into the Spirit World in the previous episode, he eventually did in search of answers. When “The Siege Of The North” began, Aang went in search of the moon spirit from the spirit world.
In order to do so, Aang was forced to encounter Koh, a spirit who stole people’s faces if they showed an ounce of emotion. Aang may have been able to do so but if audience members were in front of the spirits changing face, they’d be screaming in terror.
The Puppet Master
Every series has it. An episode that invokes the feel of Halloween with some amazing themed episodes. Halloween oriented episodes can truthfully be the most creative of episodes but can be more than enough to instill fear in anyone’s heart.
From the Gaang telling scary stories to their encounter with Hama the blood bender twisting people to do her bidding, the episode serves as a fantastic little scary episode that steps outside the norm and sees the Gaang pushed to their limits by the horrifying nature of ” The Puppet Master”.
