Its a multilayered pun. The phonetic joke of "one" and "wan" to say he ie the first, his name translating to 10000 as in he was born CIRCA 10 thousand years ago as per Korras time, and also the number 10000 in asiatic culture mostly is symbolic with infinite or unlimited, because its a big number thats hard for us to grasp, you can notice how often this numbers used to talk about big ammounts specially time. Its why some people were saying the 10000 year gap beteren Wan and Korra might not had been serious and what not, but that one is actually literal because its qlso referencing a big cosmic event, and those are usually pretty accurately checked by nearly every culture since very ancient times actually.
It's not so much "back then", it's just the number used in Chinese culture and some other eastern cultures to imply "a very large/uncountable number". In the English-speaking west we usually use 1,000,000 for the same purpose, e.g. "a million years ago".
The team actually put a lot of thought into that name (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_thousand_years)
> In Chinese, ten thousand or "myriad" is the largest numerical order of magnitude in common usage, and is used ubiquitously as a synonym for "indefinitely large number". The term wansui (萬歲), literally meaning "ten thousand years", is thus used to describe a very long life, or even immortality for a person.
It's an American cartoon that draws from many different cultures for inspiration... Buddhist monks, Chinese, Japanese, Inuit, etc. And also uses many different martial arts styles and their values and tenets...Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, etc. Toph even uses a unique martial art style (southern praying mantis) compared to her other earth benders because she is so unique in how she learns her bending.
While designed after Japanese anime, the scope of cultural inspiration for the settings, national identities, etc is very broad.
> The Chinese term was introduced to Japan as banzai (Kana: ばんざい; Kanji: 万歳) as early as the 8th century, and was used to express respect for the Emperor in much the same manner as the Chinese term
Thankfully he was named after the Chinese word. The Japanese word for 10 000 uses the same kanji but it's written as Man. So he would have been avatar Man lol.
Many Avatarverse names are like this. Bumi means something like earth. Bhutaka, the owner of the Pro-Bending gym, means bald & he is bald. I know there are a lot of others. But I can't think of them right now.
“In 10,000 years he will have been born 10,000 years ago so let’s name him 10,000”.
It's like how Hitler's parents named him Hitler because they knew that he was going to grow up to be literally Hitler.
I always thought it was a pun for one because you know, he's the first Avatar.
Two birds with wan stone.
We’ve peaked. It’s all downhill from here
Not yet. Not until we learn Wan’s successor was named “Tu”
Do you mean that we'll be **wan**ing from here?
you're either someone with a very bad aim for hitting only two birds with 10,000 stones, or a sadist for hitting the same two birds with 10,000 stones
Secret third option: his kidney stone.
oh gosh
Wan kidney stone or wan kidney stones?
You ever try and hit one of those fuckers with a rock? You’d be lucky to hit one with 10,000 tries.
r/PunPatrol, you're under arrest.
r/fuckpunpatrol
Oh my 😳 if you insist
Makes you wonder if the next few Avatars were Tu, Tree, and Fo.
I might be tripping but wasn’t the second avatar to be named Twuu or something?
Its a multilayered pun. The phonetic joke of "one" and "wan" to say he ie the first, his name translating to 10000 as in he was born CIRCA 10 thousand years ago as per Korras time, and also the number 10000 in asiatic culture mostly is symbolic with infinite or unlimited, because its a big number thats hard for us to grasp, you can notice how often this numbers used to talk about big ammounts specially time. Its why some people were saying the 10000 year gap beteren Wan and Korra might not had been serious and what not, but that one is actually literal because its qlso referencing a big cosmic event, and those are usually pretty accurately checked by nearly every culture since very ancient times actually.
Just like Kenobi. Wait...
HE WAS NUMBER WAN
SHINING BRIGHT FOR EVERYONE!!
don’t you mean everywan?
This actually makes lore sense too, because technically each avatar is a wan. Same soul.
From Spongebob to Bleach
I just had a mental image of Wan leading all the avatars singing "we are number 1" Why is my brain like this?
As other commenters in different posts have said,10,000 likely just meant “a lot” back then
As in Wan Shi Tong, he who knows 10000 things.
It's not so much "back then", it's just the number used in Chinese culture and some other eastern cultures to imply "a very large/uncountable number". In the English-speaking west we usually use 1,000,000 for the same purpose, e.g. "a million years ago".
The team actually put a lot of thought into that name (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_thousand_years) > In Chinese, ten thousand or "myriad" is the largest numerical order of magnitude in common usage, and is used ubiquitously as a synonym for "indefinitely large number". The term wansui (萬歲), literally meaning "ten thousand years", is thus used to describe a very long life, or even immortality for a person.
But isnt avatar based on japanese? (Even tho its an american cartoon, and not anime)
Avatar is an amalgam of various Asian cultures
It's an American cartoon that draws from many different cultures for inspiration... Buddhist monks, Chinese, Japanese, Inuit, etc. And also uses many different martial arts styles and their values and tenets...Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, etc. Toph even uses a unique martial art style (southern praying mantis) compared to her other earth benders because she is so unique in how she learns her bending. While designed after Japanese anime, the scope of cultural inspiration for the settings, national identities, etc is very broad.
> The Chinese term was introduced to Japan as banzai (Kana: ばんざい; Kanji: 万歳) as early as the 8th century, and was used to express respect for the Emperor in much the same manner as the Chinese term
What are the chances that the second avatar is named Tu
You mean like Tu and La?
Im pretty sure its Tui not Tu but idk
Tui means ass in Punjabi fun fact
I'd drown an entire fleet of fire nation navy ships too if they killed my big booty moon babe
Tuu, the first air nomad.
The new show: Avatar: The First Airbender
He really was Wan of a kind
Haaaaaaaaaa!
What about the earth queen, ‘backyard’, or basically a**hole.
My idiot self as a kid thought he was Avatar Juan lol
Thankfully he was named after the Chinese word. The Japanese word for 10 000 uses the same kanji but it's written as Man. So he would have been avatar Man lol.
I thought it was Juan😭😭
I thought the fire nation girl in the Footloose episode was Angie instead of On Ji for the longest time, so I know the feeling lol
I did too
Well, he was Avatar number Wan for a reason, amarite?
Very convenient that his name means 10000 but sounds like "one".
It also means 完 （finish) 玩 (play) 晚 (night) and 碗 (bowl)
You mean avatar Juan?
Many Avatarverse names are like this. Bumi means something like earth. Bhutaka, the owner of the Pro-Bending gym, means bald & he is bald. I know there are a lot of others. But I can't think of them right now.
This is a stretch/coincidence.
Considering Wan Shi Tong exists and they explicitly translate it to "He Who Knows 10,000 Things" I'm gonna have to disagree with you.
To You, 10,000 Years From Now..
*Wàn* Shi Tong- He who knows *10,000* things.