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Just wondering. How can there have been one thousand avatars in the course of 10,000 years. Must have had pretty long lifespans.

Quote to back this up. Jeong-Jeong saying to Aang:

You Are Weak

Avatar Roku says

You think i am weak?

Jeong-Jeong says

No, no. I did not mean that

Avatar Roku says

I have mastered the elements a thousand times and now I must do it again. You will teach the Avatar firebending.

Jeong-Jeong says

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  • If it is i didn't really want it to be since i'm asking how is it possible to have one thousand avatars in the course of ten thousand years.
    – Izumi-reiLuLu
    Commented Jan 16, 2014 at 23:21
  • You want to know how it's possible, but the problem with your question is that it's faulty to begin with. It's not possible, based on available facts. The other question and its answers explains why it's not possible.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jan 17, 2014 at 17:43
  • The fact that my answer is essentially a cut/paste of the one I wrote for "How many Avatars have there been?" should be a clue that it's essentially the same question phrased differently.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 17, 2014 at 19:15

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He's clearly using hyperbole. If there had been a thousand avatars in the last ten thousand years then the average lifespan per avatar would be just ten years.

In my answer to; How many Avatars have there been? I pointed out that in the Avatar episode "Southern Air Temple" we see a chamber containing approximately 130 statues representing prior incarnations of the Avatar. These are tiered in 7 ascending rows plus a further 51 statues at floor level giving a grand total of 181 previous avatars.

Avatar Series Statue Room

In the film "Avatar : The Last Airbender" we see the same temple, but this time with 6 tiers, each containing 30 status (in 5 blocks of 6) plus a larger statue of the most recent avatar; Roku. Again, this gives a grand total of 181 statues.

Given the similarity in numbers, it seems likely that this figure is intended to be the canon figure.

If we assume that the average mortality rate of an avatar is 53 and that the next avatar is born at the moment of the previous avatar's death then there would have been 180(ish) avatars in 10,000 years prior to the events of "The Last Airbender" (10,000 / 54 = 180ish)

Avatar Film Statue Room

On further consideration, it may be that he's describing the fact that he's had to master each element (e.g. of four) each time he's reborn in which case he would have had to learn how to bend the elements a grand total of 724 times, close enough to a thousand that the quote could make some sense.

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    Learning specialized bending practices (lightning, healing, metal, etc) could be included in that total since the episodes all depict benders having to specifically learn/train them. Plus there could be other niche bending practices, like energy bending, that we don't know of. Either way, Roku is indeed making it clear that the Avatar has spent quite a bit of time throughout history learning to bend the various elements.
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 23:39

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