Avatar: The Last Airbender/Headscratchers/The Day of Black Sun

• After they lost use of the Earth Kingdom army, why didn't they just ask the Northern Water Tribe army to help invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun?
  • The Earth Kingdom has a much larger standing army and is much closer. Those at the North Pole, who constitute a mere city's worth of people, wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Plus there's the matter of even getting all those benders across the border in five little submarines.
  • Also given the lack of intelligent tactics showed by the Northern Water Tribe earlier it might have looked like a much more intelligent option to go with the sneak attack.
    • More than that, the Northern Water Tribe gains their power from the fact that water is everywhere in the North Pole. Oh sure, they can carry some water with them, Katara-style. But that's nothing compared to what a firebending army can do.

• Why is it that about half of the invasion during The Day of Black Sun arc weren't wearing shirts and/or pants?
  • Because those were the swamp-born waterbenders.
  • Because pants are an illusion.
  • And so is death.
  • Also, clothes catch fire more easily than skin. Applying oil to their bodies would actually have been better protection than clothes against firebenders, so we've actually found an enemy that the Spartans from 300 are perfect against.

• Why doesn't Sokka put on his war paint when they attack the Fire Nation during the eclipse?? He's very set on his props, so it seems odd that he wouldn't do it. Also, if that paint is so traditional, how come we never see any other members of the water tribe wearing it?
  • If you watch closely during "The Siege of the North", some of the warriors are wearing face paint that at least looks similar (it never really shows them up close or for more than a second). Otherwise, I was wondering about that too...more so why we never see Sokka use it again rather than why nobody else does, but I guess since he left the South Pole in kind of a hurry, the paint might have been left at home.
    • Maybe the paint is only worn for the warriors first battle?
    • Maybe its funeral paint, only worn if a warrior thinks he'll die?
  • Maybe the face paint is for apprentice warriors, or those that haven't officially become "men" of the tribe yet. The Siege of the North and the Invasion both happen after Sokka passes the Ice Dodging rite of passage, meaning now he is a "man" in the tribe, and doesn't have to wear the face paint.
  • It's camouflage. That's why they only use it when it in the Northern and Southern poles. It wouldn't hide anything in the Fire Nation.
• Ok, end of the invasion. They're picking people to escape on Appa and decide to put the youngest people on. Fine, I get that. What I don't get is why didn't they take the Mechanist? He is the only one among the people left behind who could cause serious damage if captured, as he could be forced to make more weapons. If he refuses, I don't see it as a stretch that they would kill him. The entire rationale behind half the invasion force surrendering was that they'd get to live to fight another day, but for the Mechanist, that's only an option if he chooses to cooperate, even begrudgingly.
  • By this time, Ozai was already planning for the world to end in flames. They didn't need to build anything else.
  • Besides, the Fire Nation already had many of the Mechanist's inventions, and the entire reason he was working for them was because they were going to destroy his village if they didn't. Since the Fire Nation was driven from his village and didn't show any intention of returning, that threat to coerce him is gone. Besides, the Fire Nation already has schematics of the Mechanist's greatest weapons, and dramatically improved upon them anyway, and it still took them a significant amount of time to make the war balloons. Also, keep in mind that the Fire Nation was able to built The Drill on their own. Giving them one more engineer when they've already been shown to build something big enough to give modern engineers trouble isn't going to mean much.
  • The Fire Nation found the balloon in season one. They use Zeppelins in season three. So whatever the Mechanist draws, there won't be time to launch mass-production before the Comet.
• Hand in hand with the above, why the hell did they bring Teo on the invasion? His whole schtick in a fight is gliding, but the conditions at the Fire Nation Capital are not right for that and, indeed, he is never shown doing so. Why would they bring a tourist, let alone the son of one of the fighters, on this very dangerous invasion if he could not fight?
  • Teo helped build the contraptions. He knows how to drive them.
  • If you look closely, you can see Teo both driving a tank and piloting one of the submarines. To quote Joker, "I don't fly with my feet." He can pilot and drive just fine.
    • I suppose that makes sense, but I thought the subs and tanks were driven by the waterbenders and earthbenders, respectively, similarly to the boats at the Northern Water Tribe and the trains in Ba Sing Se. I guess they just powered them, then.
    • Given the Mechanist's involvement, it's possible the tanks and subs had actual engines, and only needed benders for their fanciest tricks.
    • The subs and tanks were moved by benders. They were steered by other people.

• One part of the Eclipse that literally makes no sense is that it seems to be a world-wide event. How does it fully eclipse Omashu and the Fire Nation Capitol at seemingly the same time?
  • Granted, I'm not familiar with how eclipses work, but I'm pretty sure that the Avatar world isn't as large as our own. With that in mind, the eclipse was able to cover more ground. Plus, it seems to be a spiritual thing, so science may not be fully applicable.
  • According to Bryke in their Audio Commentary, Bumi's escape in Omashu happened a few hours before the invasion; the eclipse wasn't all over the world at once, it just moved.
  • The Gaang knew that the Ba Sing Se generals had been captured, and they knew that those generals had been busy planning on how to exploit the solar eclipse. They never consider the possibility that those plans have been compromised. Even though the generals weren't responsible for Azula knowing of the invasion plan, the fact that they and their knowledge are in Fire Nation hands was a threat to the plans' secrecy.

• Oh, no! The Fire Nation has an air force of balloons and zeppelins. Well, we can poke holes in the balloons to stop them, but those zeppelins are protected by a metal coating. Shucks, if only we had someone who could bend metal...
  • One, they did that in the finale. Two, it requires said individual into melee with the balloons, which can be a bit difficult.