My impression is that the Air Nomads are raised communally by the temple as a whole. Aang doesn't know who his parents are or mention them specifically because the concept of "parents" as we think about it was irrelevant to him.

>>84732

Still, you'd think he'd have some kind of reaction whenever he sees someone get reunited with their parents, like when Haru reunited with his dad or when Katara and Sokka reunited with theirs.

Maybe when everyone is whining about their moms being dead he'll say something like "I've never even met my parents".

For that matter, where the hell are Suki's parents?

>>84732

That seems to roughly be the case. It seems that for the Air Nomads, they separate the boys and girls early. There was one fic, though, called Aang the Brave (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2702379/1/bAang_b_the_bBrave_b) that was making a sort of backstory for Aang shortly after he became an Air Master, and he and four other child monks-in-training are tagging along with him to a big Sky Bison Polo tournament for the Air Nomads. It had the concept that some monks leave the temples to settle down and raise families and the like, and that they send their children there to learn Airbeding, or they teach them Airbending if they don't want to send them.

The thing's ancient, the author started during Season one or two, and hasn't really touched it since, which is kind of a shame, but aside from that, I thought it was pretty believably adding fluff to the Air Nomads. In particular the start of one of the chapters, dealing with why Aang was the last Airbender. Spoiler'd, just because it was the opening for the most recent chapter, and I figure it might as well do to cover it up:

Sozin's strategy was brilliant. Sadly, even today, there is no denying that fact. The Fire Lord barely had to lift a finger until the final assault. He, like so many others, relied on the Nomads' innate kindness as momentum for his plan. The Airbenders fought back, betraying their beliefs and killing the men who were killing them. They fought knowing defeat was certain.

After the Fire Nation's first major victory, the siege of the Kwita Seaport, and subsequent takeover of ports along the east coast of the Earth Kingdom, isolated battles and skirmishes took on the dark shape of war. Worldwide, this news captured the minds and lips of people almost instantly, thanks, in a large way, to the Nomads who carried and dropped it like seeds on the wind. As Sozin's troops barraged the shores of the Earth Kingdom and the fleets of the Water Tribes, the Nomads felt themselves apart from the fighting, segregated from this world at war. But they didn't lull themselves into thinking they were safe. Stay out of the Fire Nation, they warned their brothers, if you value your life.

Realizing that there was no safe place for their people, the monks made the decision to open the Air Temples as havens. Nomad families from all over the world flocked to the temples. The hills were blanketed white with giant herds of bison as the stables overflowed. Hallways and courtyards were cramped with hundreds of families. Pupils complained as they were crowded six and seven to a room while strangers slept in their beds.

Sozin's army of Firebenders, collected and trained for years before the war and now strengthened by the comet's passing, was inexhaustible, endless. They attacked the Air Temples simultaneously so that no warnings could be sent. But the Fire Lord sent a warning to the world. You see what I've done to them. I can do it to you. I will.

Those few who escaped the massacre fled to the Earth Kingdom, abandoned their bison, and shed their robes. The Airbenders, fearing discovery, refused to bend. Any who were later born were forbidden to use their talents, and soon none were born at all. The spirit was gone.

The last bison died, the walls of the temples crumbled, the bones of the uncountable dead dissolved into dust. The last Air Nomad drowned in garments of green, and melded with the people of the Earth Kingdom until he became one of them.

>>84734

I honestly have wondered that, too, since I've been using her as one of the main protagonists for my comic.

They couldn't all be monks.

I suspect many of them were merchants.

>>84751
This. While all Air Nomads were Airbenders, I don't think it was ever said that all Air Nomads were monks. It'd be weird to have a culture of "nomads" constantly at the Air Temples; on the contrary, I think that most just traveled with their herds of bison around the world. I do remember hearing something about how the Temples were sort of "rest stops" for the nomads during their wanderings, and that the Nomads would congregate at the Temples during certain festivals.

>>84731
Pretty much what >>84732 says. When they first meet, Zuko says to Aang "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks." but in a way, he was wrong. Gyatso was a very good father-figure to Aang. I believe his real parents weren't that important to him as long as he had Gyatso.

>>84734
It's entirely possible they're still alive and living on the island. Do we have to see everyone's parents to know they're alive?

>>84735
I'm surprised, that actually sounds like a good fic so far. I may have to check it out later. I rarely read fanfiction, but this may be an exception to the rule.

>>84752
Yep, rest stops, festival centers and schools for the kids.

>>84733
Thing is, Gyatso _was_ his parent for all intents and purposes. He knows the Lost Parent thing real well, it is just that the man who sired him and the woman that gave him birth were non-issues.

>>84751
You presume an either-or situation. I suspect that the Air Temples were effectivly communes that traded for anything they needed or even hard currency. A fair number probably did wander about seeing the world and doing good deeds (and perhaps picking up fresh blood, as celebacy vows are not part of the deal) but is is quite possible that the title 'nomads' is a holdover.

HIS PARENTS ARE DEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!

here is my hipotesis: once the female monks from the Western Air Temple travel to the others air temples to... let the child monks be chosen by a sky bison meanwhile the adults monks are chosen by the female monks have some quality time together to harvest the seed of the life ...

>>85416

>>85418
we'll never know

>>85418 7 years like the vulkans?

>>85418
Where did the idea that Air Monks were chaste come from?

>>85529
Males and women live in separate temples.

Besides, MOST monks are chaste or are otherwise required to be. Its part of their religion and everything.

>>85530
Well, some Japanese monks are allowed to marry and have kids.

Honestly, I think if they're whole culture was centered around a monastic tradition, they probably have a little leeway on the issue of celibacy.

>>85536
And while Tibetan monks seem to be mainly celibate, this isn't always the case, as sometimes monks (lamas in particular) were married.

On a somewhat related note, look some stuff up about drombos in Tibetan culture. I'm surprised the concept hasn't found its way into the few Aang/Gyatso fics out there. <:|

>>85530
Boys and girls often live in different dorms in college, too. Doesn't mean there's not sex happening.

>>85542

College dorms tend to be on the same facilities, they aren't built into mountains in the four corners of the globe, separated by thousands of miles.

>>85546
But a Sky Bison can fly across the whole world in a couple of hours.

>>85549
Thus explaining why "Air Nomad Road Trip" is an Earth Kingdom euphemism for sex.

>>85542
The main reason for this whole chaste thing, is because of their religion.
If their religion is anything like Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. then monks practicing the religion will not have sex.