AWKWARD ZOMBIE

True, but the council is set up with one from Earth, Fire, and wind. And the Water Tribes have two representatives. The total is five, which mean they can't come to a split vote. Adding in one more person would ruin the current system.

Well then take one dude from the Water Tribe away from the Council and add in a Republic City person. Tarrlok has a case of the dead right now, so it wouldn't be that hard. Compromising for the sake of balance and equality would help out the non-benders a lot and prevent another Equalist uprising.

But now one of the Water Tribes isn't represented, and as they're separate nations that proves to be an issue.

Besides Republic City is a Fire Nation territory right? Wouldn't they be covered, by like, the fire nation council member?

or even by the fact that all the council members live in republic city

Republic City isn't a Fire Nation territory. It is part of the United Republic of Nations, meaning it isn't part of any of the nations.

It was originally a Fire Nation dominion of Earth Kingdom land.
Tenzin isn't just an Airbender, his mom is Katara. That had to influence his upbringing quite a bit. I doubt he spent all his time as a hermit while his brother and sister did other things. I'm surprised he's as reserved as he is considering he learned all his Airbending traditions from Aang. I notice his girls don't shave the fronts of their heads. Tenzin represents quite a few nonBenders as well. The Air Nomads currently comprise himself, his family, and the entire community on the island who seem to be people who have adopted the ways of Airbenders. Perhaps descendants of displaced refugees from the war.

The issue is that all of these council members represent groups that are part of the United Republic of Nations and there is no person that represents the city itself. Sure, Tenzin lives in Republic City but he represents his own part of the United Republic.

The Air Acolytes are non benders that study Airbender philosophy. The story about how they began and how Republic City was formed are explained in The Promise trilogy comic books. And most likely explained more in the next trilogy, The Search.

So then it's co-owned by every nation?

...

So then what is the issue with having a person from every nation run the city? Especially if they live there, which they seem to, and especially if the whole point of the city is to be a hub for every nation. Which means they would need a representative for every kind of person, and not just people in general.

Honestly the way they have it worked seems exactly the same as how it would work in real life so like seriously i'm not seeing the big problem.

There are people who have lived in Republic city for all of their lives who have not even been to the other nations. I'm pretty sure the council members wouldn't know the day-to-day life of the city like someone who's lived in it all of their life, so it would help to have someone on the council who has had a higher level of first-hand experience.

There are a lot of cities in the world, should they have representatives from all the cities? Even just the other major cities of the URN would be impractical, decisions would never be made with that many people.
And it is the job of the counsel members to know the day-to-day going ons of the cities.

We have no idea how these council members are chosen though. They could be nominated by a governing body from their respective nations and then voted in by the citizens of the city. We don't know enough. The system does seem to be a bit antiquated. It made sense when the city was essentially an experiment, when the biggest clashes were between the four nations. We also don't know what powers the council possesses. Tarrlok may have stepped outside the boundaries of law and simply never been challenged by his fellow members, save Tenzin.

I'm not sure how it is aniquated. You have territories with citizens of all nations, so you have representatives from those nations governing the territories.

And Tenzin could very well be the representive for Republic City, I'm sure he's lived there his entire life as he still lives on the Island that Aang lived on. Besides it isn't like the Air Nomads need representatives, because the only ones are him and his family, and the small group of acolytes.


We should just make a new thread dedicated to the politics of the Avatar universe.

I think the .5% increase on destruction of property taxes on benders goes too far!

I think the .5% increase on destruction of property taxes on benders doesn't go far enough!