Avatar the Last Airbender is better than Game of Thrones

There are some Game of Thrones spoilers here so...

Remember when Games of Thrones was good? Like real good, like when you scrambled to your television waiting to see who got poisoned next by Cersei or who Danny fed to her dragons, hoping with wide innocent eyes to see the bloody conquering of Westeros, only to be sickeningly disappointed by a disaster ending? Let’s face it, the directors got lazy as in astronomically lazy. Sure, Danny stopped for a quick Starbies via drive-through before meeting up with Jonny at the Winterfell after they randomly hooked up in the icy snow. Lazy. Dragons thought it was chill though.

We wanted vengeance, but we got collapsed buildings and the dumbest Jaime Lannister. A man that left a real queen for his potato sister, who we all wanted to see Arya face-voodoo her way to murdering.

If you were left with an unholy amount of bitterness stinging your tongue, then I’ve got a sweet remedy for you:

The Avatar series: Avatar the Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra.

Don’t be a fool. Don’t let the beautiful animation immediately make you think “kid’s show.” Because it’s not. The world is designed for everyone, and it does everything Game of Thrones does but times ten.

I will avoid any spoilers about Avatar, but let me say here and now--the endings in the Avatar world leave you satiated. And honestly, if you haven’t watched them, please just go, change your life. Dive into a world full of rich wonderful characters with amazing writing and depth. Sink into a fantasy world Game of Thrones couldn’t dream of touching.

Reasons why I know you’ll love the Avatar World, even if you only enjoyed a little bit of Game of Thrones:

Both deal with serious politics, genocide, and war. Avatar does it better, which ends in a wild epic battle between the hero and villain. GOT gave us Cersei’s ambiguous building death, Jon Snow running around with a sword looking slightly confused, the Night King pooping over everyone before getting stabbed. (He wasn’t even on Arya’s list. He doesn’t even go here.)

The reveals in Avatar are thought out and timed. We’re not being crammed with last-minute character revelations that are utterly pointless. We’re all looking at you, Jon Snow...you really know nothing. Absolutely nothing. Also, Bran, what was the point? If you give a character cool unique abilities, then they should probably use them at some point. Instead, for some reason, big Bran Stark became an emotionless robot raven and unlike Jon, he knows a lot of stuff. But that apparently also means nothing. Let’s not forget Hodor. Poor Hodor. He should have been the third eye raven.

Avatar’s long redemption arc is fire, both literally and figuratively. Prince Zuko learns the true meaning of honor and isn’t making trash decisions at the last minute for no reason. If you were like me, you thought Jaime was going back to King’s Landing to stab his sister. We were wrong.

Do you long for strong female characters? Yeah, me too. I loved the power of some GOT women: Sansa, Arya, Daenerys, Cersei, Olenna—I mean come on! But you know what, Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra have strong bad-ass women both evil and good. And Avatar’s princess’ descent into madness makes sense. When Azula (resident psycho princess) is introduced the cracks are already formed, and her obsession with power takes hold, dragging her down. Meanwhile, the mother of dragons, who has spent her whole life dedicated to protecting and saving innocent people suddenly snaps with no warning because Jon Snow won’t sleep with his aunt anymore? And in the Avatar world, the powerful warrior women are in healthy relationships with men and women who truly love them.

In Avatar, the animal sidekicks are useful, interesting characters. Aang’s flying bison and pet monkey are cute and necessary. The giant white canine? Korra’s pup remains a fixture in the world. They aren’t lost and slowly forgotten about. Jon was just like, “Peace out, Ghost. I got dragons now, which apparently are now easy to shoot out of the sky?!” The GOT directors were like, “Eh, just shoot em.”

The funny character stays funny and witty. Sokka’s place as the show’s main comedian doesn’t wane. He only becomes more loveable and goofy. He develops with the heroes and earns his rightful place. Meanwhile, our beloved Tyrion, the last light of season eight, loses all spark and starts to develop serious mope vibes.

Zuko’s a far superior edge lord than Jon.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Game of Thrones. Westeros is near and dear to my heart, but the love only made the fall harder. Avatar the Last Airbender took a fantasy world and gave it the characters and story it needed to succeed. Then with its sequel, Legend of Korra, shaped the world even further. And even though Avatar didn’t get nearly as much hype, it deserves more to this day. Avatar has the same amount of complex mythology and dynamic plot as Game of Thrones, but it ends in such a better way.

Plus Uncle Iroh’s song “Leaves from the Vine” is something you’ll be listening to over and over, versus the one diddy Ed Sheeran did. Arya should have stolen his face then, saved us all.