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If Avatar Wan lived 10,00 years prior to Korra's lifetime, then how many Avatars have there been?

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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.

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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. This gives a grand total of 181

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

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    So, the answer is 182 (Aang's time) or 183 (Korra's time) then?
    – user1027
    Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 16:15
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    That's an excellent question. 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)
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 16:19
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    Hello, my name in Joo Dee and I have lived all my live in Ba Sing Say, and in my time here I have never heard of an "Avatar : The Last Airbender" movie. Such a thing mustn't exist.
    – user20155
    Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 0:45
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    Avatar Wan was born 20 years before his Harmonic Convergence, and Avatar Korra was 18 when hers took place. This means that from his birth to hers 10.002 years have passed. Divided by the 182 Avatars that there have been from Wan to Aang, this places the average life expectency of an Avatar at 54,95 years. That's not very old. And when you combine this with the old-looking Avatars we've seen that came recent in the line... that must mean that a lot of earlier Avatars did not live to a particularly old age.
    – Thomas Jacobs
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 13:59
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    @Valorum This doesn't take into account the fact that the avatars arent avatars from birth. some become avatars in childhood like Ang, but some become avatars later in life like Korra. so are you counting BA (before avatar) years or JA (just avatar years)
    – Cherubel
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 11:10
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Hard to say, in avatar TLA when in the air temple and when talking to roku about avatar state you see hundreds of avatars, however the first avatar wan lived 10,000 years ago, and avatars live quite long (like Kyoshi who lived about 200 years) so assuming all avatars live between 100 and 200 years, 10,000 / 200 = 50 and 10,000 / 100 = 100, that would only be between 50 and 100 avatars, which would contradict what's seen in the air temple, the math doesn't add up but I seem to be the only person I know who cares

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    This makes a massive assumption that all avatars live almost exactly as long as Kyoshi. What about all the ones who got killed in their 20's and 30's?
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 6:24
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Considering there were 181 avatar statues in the southern air temple when Aang visited it in episode three, book 1. We can say that there are 183 including Korra. That's what most of us got so that should be a close approximation of the real amount of avatars there have been in the full 10000 years from Wan to Korra.

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    Do you have any sources for these numbers? Please note that on this site, we prefer answers that can be backed up by something. If you have any sources, please edit them. Also consider taking our tour. I hope to see you around!
    – Mithical
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 7:00
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Roku once said to Jong Jong after he refused to teach Avatar Aang fire bending, that the Avatar has learned the elements a thousands times in a thousand lifetimes. This means that there are way more then just 183.

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The problem with this is that we don't know the ages of most avatars, the statue of Wan is of when he was young. But at the end of his storyline we see him right before he dies, and he had grey hair in that scene. The temple estimate seems most realistic because there is a statue of the first avatar which suggests they know how many there are between him and Karra/Aang. It seems like the average age is about 55-60 which could fit, seeing as the job is not exactly "safe". There is also a possibility that lots of avatars died at a early age.

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There are approximately 1000 avatars according to roku statement in desert which says"I have lived a1000 years and a 1000 lifetimes it is an exaggeration

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When Roku stated I have lived 10000 lifetimes, a lifetime is not always a hundred years. But if an avatar lived at all (for instance if an avatar died at twenty) that's still a lifetime. He has lived the life of every avatar no matter how short their life was. I say there have been 10,000 avatars but since some of them have died early then maybe it adds up to what he sees as 1000 lifetimes.

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    At least try to use proper punctuation and capitalization.
    – Null ♦
    Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 2:10

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