The Last Airbender Series: The Spirit World and the Trope of Outnumbering

One of the most common tropes in film and television is that the good guys are always outnumbered. It is not a necessity to be a good guy, but people just tend to root for the outnumbered party. Think of some recent movies that use this cliche. Zombie movies are one of the essential movies with an outnumbered group, a small, ragtag gang of survivors against the monstrous mob of zombies.  300 is blatant about the outnumbered Spartans, going so far as to tell us how many there are. But Iroh makes a very good point. While you may be outnumbered, that does not necessarily mean that you are outmatched.

The scene is set with Uncle Iroh and Prince Zuko ready to face off against 5 Earth Nation soldiers. These soldiers remind the two firebenders that they are outnumbered. Iroh accepts this fact, but rebuts saying that they are outmatched. This is the essential definition of this trope. The good guy has to be outnumbered or visibly outmatched in order to be the good guy. No one wants to cheer for the person who does not have to go through any conflict. Winning is supposed to be an uphill climb, even if it is a story about a winner. Many sports movies about winning teams have them overcoming another obstacle outside of the game. People do not want to see movies about a person that never faces any difficulty. You have to be outnumbered (or visibly outmatched) in order to win in movies. Or at least in order to be considered the good guy.

What does this quote imply about the rest of the series? Up until now, we are supposed to root against Zuko and Iroh. But Zuko is the ultimate antihero. He is always clearly outmatched. When compared to Zhao, he lacks the resources and manpower (and the respect). Against these Earthbenders, he lacks the numbers. But he finds a way to overcome these obstacles. While outnumbered, he is never outmatched. This solidifies him as a hero (or at least anti-hero) in this story. He has to be a good guy because he is never given any victories. Everything he has is hard-earned, and the only way to regain his honor is to overcome all obstacles that get between him and the Avatar, despite the hardships that will certainly face him.