I Really Love The Changes The Avatar Live Action Series Does To The Bumi Storyline

I really love the changes the Avatar Live Action Series does to the Bumi storyline

Warning Spoilers

So I've been weeding into the discussion about the Netflix Avatar series, and I'm seeing a lot of people talk about how they don't like the changes done to Bumi's storyline and character; when I think it is one of the strongest changes, and really hits home what Aang's role in the world is

First off, I want to say, over a decade since I've been introduced to the series, it never clicked to me that Bumi, being over a hundred years old, has been alive and been fighting the war against the Fire Nation the entire time Aang was frozen. We don't know necessarily how he came to power as King (I don't get the feeling he was born royalty?); but we can maybe assume that he was forced into power at a young age, or at the very least forced to take responsibility and grow up very early and very fast. And that weighs on him, the sacrifices, the choices; something that Iroh in his storyline brings up, the dehumanization that results from war. Both to others and yourself. And when Aang shows up again, young and happy and just the same as he was before the war, Bumi is bitter. And every time he says "You abandoned us" the unspoken thing is "You abandoned me." More than needing the Avatar to fight battles, Bumi needed his friend.

So when Aang shows up again, he decides to teach him a lesson. To toughen him up like he was toughened up. To teach him he was to harden himself, to grow up, to sacrifice others, to not trust his friends, to be ruthless, to kill or be killed. Because that has to be what the Avatar is to win the war.

And Aang says NO

Aang refused, just like in the animated series when everyone tells him he has to kill Ozai and he says he will find another way. He refuses to cut off his feelings. He refuses to become heartless. He refuses to sacrifice others or let his friends die. And what happens? He remains strong and together with his friends, pointedly a bender of another nation and a non-bender, they find another way save everyone; to remind Bumi of their friendship, of what life was like before the war. That there is more than just hate and war and despair.

Bumi is not the teacher. Aang is

Because Aang the Avatar is more than just the most powerful bender. He is a symbol of hope. He is a rejection of everything Ozai says this season: that compassion is weakness, that sacrifice is a part of war, that you must give up the weak to be strong. We see Aang's return brings hope to the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Fire Nation dissidents. He represents and shows them that there is a different way. That they can work together, that they can find joy, find happiness, that the war can be won.