The concepts of fate and free will are tossed around in society. Fate is the notion that everything that happens happens for a reason, and free will is the idea that our decisions impact what happens in the future. Herein lies the paradox. How could the world be based on both fate and free will? If the world is based on fate, then the choices we make are already decided, therefore there is no free will. If the world is based on free will, then our choices affect what happens, therefore there is no fate. So it seems that there cannot be a world where fate and free will coincide. But Avatar: The Last Airbender gives us a new look on what we can consider fate and free will. It could be that fate is merely luck by another name, and what we know as fate is actually destiny. It is our destiny that is essentially a function of both fate and free will.
I seem to be taking a very mathematical approach to these concepts, but with good reason (I like math). But it does help elucidate these concepts. Let's look at fate, free will, and the end result of destiny in context of Avatar, and more specifically this second episode. It is implied that fate has brought Aang into Katara and Sokka's lives. Not everyone gets the chance to encounter any actual person enclosed in an iceberg, much less someone with such importance and power like the avatar. This is fate. Fate is this chance encounter with the avatar. But while Katara seemed willing to follow Aang and put her trust in him, Sokka was more skeptical. This is where free will comes in. When Aang is captured by Zuko, Sokka and Katara are given a choice. They very well could continue living in the Southern Water Tribe, or they could save Aang and help him become the avatar. Both decided to join Aang in his journey, even though they did not need to. Aang successfully showed that he could defeat Zuko and his army, so Sokka and Katara did not exactly add much in that equation. But they freely decided to join Aang. Even Gran Gran said that Sokka and Katara's destiny is intertwined with that of the avatar. Fate intervened and free will allowed them to change their destiny.
This episode does not consider the most important and troubling case of free will, fate, and destiny. That would be Aang. He was thrust into the position of avatar. But his case seems to be an outlier. Most people would experience these phenomena like Katara and Sokka. This shows that there is no fate and free will paradox, just a misinterpretation. Fate is not deterministic, but in my opinion, probabilistic. Fate is essentially luck. We consider fate as deterministic because fate is something we consider in hindsight, which puts it at odds with free will. There is no illusion of free will. There is simply free will. Fate gives us the options that free will chooses. This function acts as our destiny.
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