As the Avatar, Aang controls all four elements (water, earth, fire, and air) and is tasked with bringing balance and keeping the Four Nations at peace.

At chronologically 112 years old (biologically 12), Aang is the series' reluctant hero, spending a century in suspended animation in an iceberg before being discovered and joining new friends Katara and Sokka on a quest to master the elements and save their world from the imperialist Fire Nation.

[11][10] After one hundred years of suspended animation in an iceberg, twelve-year-old Aang was freed when found by Katara and Sokka, yet unaware of the events that occurred during his rest.

[11] His reawakening catches the attention of Prince Zuko, the banished son of current Fire Lord Ozai, and Aang is forced to leave, with Katara and Sokka accompanying him after they learn that he is the Avatar.

[18] The group learns about the Day of Black Sun in a secret underground library, and they attempt to reveal the information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se.

After stopping a Fire Nation drill threatening the safety of Ba Sing Se, they look for Appa only to find themselves dealing with the Dai Li before exposing their leader's deception.

[19] Aang later began to release the seventh chakra in the Crystal Catacombs and entered the Avatar State, but he was unable to complete the process due to being fatally electrocuted by Azula.

Consequently, Aang was prevented from opening the seventh chakra and mastering the Avatar State, leaving his attachment to Katara intact.

Although reluctant with the plan at first, Aang accepts to have everyone think he had died and his remaining allies attack the Fire Nation's capital, but are thwarted by Azula.

[24] During the finale, finding himself on a strange island, Aang is reluctant to actually kill Fire Lord Ozai, despite his four previous past lives (Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen) convincing him it is the only way.

[25] Ozai violently knocks Aang onto a rock, which presses against his scar, opening his chakras and allowing him to accidentally master the Avatar State without needing to let go of his attachment to Katara.

[26] After beginning the Harmony Restoration Movement, an event that was meant to remove Fire Nation remnants from the Earth Kingdom, Aang agrees to end Zuko's life should he go down a path similar to his father, after the latter requests it, being stopped by Katara from entering the Avatar State as he began a later encounter with Zuko[27] and then tries to mediate protestors and the Yu Dao resistance,[28] afterward assembling members of a fan club and forming the "Air Acolytes", a group that he intends to teach the ways of the Air Nomads.

Aang intended for the Order to simply guide and guard Korra, but several mishaps in the aftermath of Aang's death (including a kidnapping attempt by the anarchist Zaheer) and the still-fragile state of relations between the now-Five Nations resulted in Katara and Tenzin sequestering Korra in a compound at the South Pole, bringing teachers to her instead of allowing her to seek out her own.

It is only after she loses her ability to bend that Korra allows herself to listen to her past lives, at which point Aang is able to manifest more directly to her and helps to restore her powers by triggering the Avatar State and teaching her to Energybend.

Aang himself later appears, along with Roku, Kyoshi and Kuruk, before Korra in a vision and encourages her to learn the origins of Wan (the first Avatar) and Raava.

Even though Raava is reborn and fused again with Korra, she discovers, to her dismay, that her spiritual connection to Aang and all past Avatars is presumably gone forever.

[6] In 2010, director M. Night Shyamalan cast 12-year-old Tae Kwon Do practitioner Noah Ringer as Aang in the film adaptation of the series, The Last Airbender.

[48] Aang's character was developed from a drawing by Bryan Konietzko of a "balding human man in his forties wearing a futuristic outfit" based on Michael Dante DiMartino's appearance with an arrow design on his head.

[50][11][12] The creators of the show intended for Aang to be trapped in an iceberg for one thousand years, later to wake up to a futuristic world, wherein he would have a robot named Momo and a dozen flying bison.

Aang was changed to being stuck in a hundred years of suspended animation, his bald head was explained away by him hailing from a culture inspired by Buddhist monks, the robotic Momo became a flying lemur, and the herd of bison was reduced to one.

"[52] As shown in "The King of Omashu"[53] and "The Headband",[54] a notable aspect of Aang's character is his vegetarian diet, which is consistent with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism.

Aang utilizes all elements equally, but heavily favors airbending for crowd control and non-lethal purposes, in accordance with his pacifism principles.

Kendall Lyons stated, "Aang seems to be the lighthearted kid that you can easily familiarize yourself with", and that he "seems to bring comfort in the most dangerous or hostile situations.

[73] At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Dutch windsurfer Kiran Badloe won the gold medal in Men's RS: X while having a blue arrow haircut inspired by Aang's design.