I think it’d be funny if the energy bending thing was given like a final “oh you actually don’t have to kill” but then this power actual fails when the final battle comes… then Aang is like wtf and hesitates but then goes through a bit of internal mental battle and then finally finds the will to kill Ozai anyways and I feel like this would be better character development than a weak-ass oh I didn’t kill anyone, just crippled him for life

Like you know those movie plot where a character is like “oh I’ll be the bait and lure the enemy and you’ll kill them” and promises they won’t be in danger, then like when the plan goes through, it’s revealed that that character’s sacrifice was always necessary but they lied so its easier for that one empathetic character to go along with the plan. Like imagine the lion turtle actually did that instead, it’d be so much better as a plot.