Appa

Lore & Background

The show's creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have described Appa's appearance as a cross between a buffalo and a manatee, although his body plan does resemble that of a water bear. According to an interview with the artists involved with creating the show, Appa's design was based on Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro, as they found it difficult to create a six-legged mammal. The first drawing of the creature that would become Appa was made alongside the second drawing of Aang.

Early concepts by Konietzko, coming off work on Invader Zim, showed Aang shepherding a herd of flying bison. The concept was scaled down for practicality, first to a family group and finally to the single companion, Appa. His six-legged design was a direct homage to the Catbus from Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro. Konietzko defined Appa as a bison-manatee hybrid, studying their anatomy to refine the design for hand animation.

Early design elements like spiral horns were simplified for animation. The creators envisioned Aang and Appa suspended in a hollow pocket of energy within the iceberg, rather than frozen solid, though depicting this proved too complex. Later production details include the episode "Appa's Lost Days" winning a Genesis Award for its depiction of animal cruelty. For the series finale invasion, Appa was given armor derived from unused toy design submissions.

The creators joked about a potential series ending where Appa would be revealed as female, having restored the flying bison population, an idea celebrated in a 2009 Comic-Con poster.

Reader's Guide

Appa is featured prominently throughout the franchise, not only in the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series, but also in the film The Last Airbender, various video games, and comic books. Dee Bradley Baker voices Appa in both the TV series and the film. Appa is in almost every episode of the animated series, having appeared in 58 of the 61 episodes of the three seasons. Much of the back-story about the character comes from the episode "Appa's Lost Days", "in which the most under-explored member of the team gets his very own episode."

The first meeting between Aang and Appa is seen during a flashback sequence in Appa's Lost Days. It is tradition with Air Nomads that each young Airbender is given a sky bison calf once they come of age to be the Airbender's lifelong animal companion. In a flashback on Appa's Lost Days, Appa's herd flies down to an Air Nomad Temple where Aang and other young Airbenders are waiting. Aang brings Appa an apple as a sign of friendship, which Appa accepts, sealing their bond as well as giving Appa his name, after the word "apple".

Almost immediately, the two became friends and would remain close, Appa being the one thing aside from his staff and robes from Aang's home that Aang took with him when he fled the Southern Air Temple. Appa remained in suspended animation along with Aang for 100 years until their discovery by Katara and Sokka. Since then, Appa has been the group's main form of transportation in their quest, as well as occasionally assisting in battle. Appa was a consistent part of the group throughout the series until his capture by the Sandbenders in "The Library".

Appa became lost for a short time when the group was traveling in the Earth Kingdom. He was kidnapped by Sandbenders in the middle of the vast Si Wong desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and their winged lemur Momo were trapped in a vast underground library. It is later revealed that he was eventually sold to a Fire Nation circus where an animal tamer attempted to make him part of the show. Appa later escaped and journeyed throughout the Earth Kingdom until he encountered the Kyoshi Island Warriors, who attempted to heal the various wounds he had sustained in his travels and escort him back to Aang.

Appa was forced to leave after an attack by Azula and her allies, ushered away by Suki while the warriors tried to delay the three Fire Nation girls. On his journey he encountered a sadhu named Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple, to which he had fled. Being healed of his personal turmoil and directed to Aang by the sadhu, Appa flew to Ba Sing Se, where he was captured by Long Feng. Appa was kept in a secret location at Lake Laogai until his rescue by Zuko, who was initially planning on utilizing him to capture the Avatar.

Appa eventually returns to the main group in the last scenes of Lake Laogai. Appa still accompanies Aang and his group even after they enter the Fire Nation. However, in order to make sure that he does not give away Aang's identity when flying, Aang covers Appa with clouds as a disguise while in flight. At the Western Air Temple, he was among the first members of the group to accept Zuko as Aang's firebending teacher, as he is still grateful for Zuko freeing him in Ba Sing Se.

He flew Aang and Zuko to the Sun Warrior Temple in order to learn the origin of firebending. He also flew Zuko and Katara to the Southern Raiders ship, so Katara could confront the murderer of her mother. After the search for Aang in the finale failed, the group was forced to divide their efforts to prevent the Fire Nation from wiping out the Earth Kingdom. Appa flew Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation capital where they fought and defeated Azula before she could assume leadership of the throne. Afterward, Appa is last seen outside of Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, listening to Iroh play a horn.