The Air nomad genocide - In honor of the frankensteined corpse that is the avatar franchise

[GoodWinSon]

They tell you the fire benders were burning Air Nomads but they never tell you what kind of Air Nomads were being burned.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Rate me "Late", but after all these years, we have never seen a single "Air Nomad" in any of the cartoons or spin-offs.

We have seen Monks, and monastic practice is sedentary by definition, opposed to nomadic lifestyle. While it can be argued monks could travel in pilgrimage (like Tang Sanzang from "Journey to the West"), pilgrimage is a ritual, not a lifestyle.

So who knows what the actual Nomads looked like, if there were really any true Nomads.

Spoiler: Lore sperging

Also, expanded "Avatar Legends" canon states a subversive sect of Air Monks was actively trying to overthrow foreign authority and provoke division among nations, even going as far as trying to recruit important members of Fire Nation nobility to their cause. Yet Air Monk Elders and Avatar Roku tolerated these renegades and did little to stop them.

It makes sense there would be distrust against Air Monks and it gives an explanation for Sozin's decision to attack the Temples.

TL;DR:
Sozin did nothing wrong.

Didn't they imply the sand nomads were originally air nomads?

 

[Autistic Sandwich]

Didn't they imply the sand nomads were originally air nomads?

Not as far as I can remember, but it's a possibility.
Toph taught herself how to bend sand, so it's assumed to be a sub set of earthbending.