Um, the Fire Nation DOES have temples and some kind of organized religion. The Fire Sages play fairly key roles in several episodes (i.e. 1.08 where Aang needs to talk to Roku and thus has an entire episode at a fire temple, 3.06 where the sages are like "Hey, Roku, you're the new Avatar dawg"). Religion doesn't play as big a role in the Fire Nation as it did with the Air Nomads, who were practically a theocracy, but that doesn't mean that it didn't exist!
You know, that isn't exactly clear! The temple of Roku seems to have been built in his honor, the same way Catholic saints have shrines built to them, and the sages that live there protect his temple and wait for a signal that the Avatar has returned to the world. And while I don't remember this being explicitly stated, I think the Sun Warriors worshipped the dragons to a certain extent, since they were the source of fire.
It could be that in the Avatar verse, elements are the things that are worshipped, or at least highly revered. In the Fire Nation's case, I guess this would mean that they worship fire? Or hell, maybe they all just worship the Avatar! You saw the star treatment Aang gets everywhere he goes. And as a reincarnated spirit with incredible power and infinite wisdom about the earth and the spirits (not to mention the sacrificial lamb imagery in the season 2 finale), it's certainly not much of a stretch to think of him as a deity figure.
(I've actually never really thought about this before, haha. But I love talking
I'm pretty sure that there's some material out there that states that the Fire Nation was originally a theocracy, actually. The Fire Lord was originally a title given to the head of the Fire Sages, but later the Fire Lord became a more secular position divorced from the council of sages
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I'm really intrigued now. What are they a sage of? What do they worship??
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It could be that in the Avatar verse, elements are the things that are worshipped, or at least highly revered. In the Fire Nation's case, I guess this would mean that they worship fire? Or hell, maybe they all just worship the Avatar! You saw the star treatment Aang gets everywhere he goes. And as a reincarnated spirit with incredible power and infinite wisdom about the earth and the spirits (not to mention the sacrificial lamb imagery in the season 2 finale), it's certainly not much of a stretch to think of him as a deity figure.
(I've actually never really thought about this before, haha. But I love talking
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