This Avatar: The Last Airbender Cabbage Theory Skewers the Fire Nation Harder Than Ozai Ever Did

Every fandom cooks up at least one wild theory that refuses to die, and Avatar: The Last Airbender has a doozy: the Cabbage Merchant was secretly a Fire Nation spy. Yes, the frazzled veggie guy. Stay with me — the receipts are more compelling (and weirder) than you might expect.

"My cabbages!"

Quick refresher: Avatar is set in a world where the Fire Nation is an openly imperialist, fascist superpower determined to erase other cultures. They already wiped out the Air Nomads, and Ozai’s next move was the Earth Kingdom. Meanwhile, one ordinary guy keeps getting crushed under that world — literally — and some fans think that might have pushed him over the edge. The character is best known as the Cabbage Merchant (some sources call him Cai), a running gag across Books One and Two whose livelihood gets annihilated anytime Team Avatar or Earth Kingdom officials cross his path.

The case against the Earth Kingdom (and why the cabbage guy might snap)

The joke is simple: cart shows up, chaos happens, cabbage confetti. But when you trace the specifics, the Earth Kingdom — not just random bad luck — is often the wrecking ball. That’s where the theory starts to feel less silly and more... petty-politics plausible.

• Book One, Omashu: He tries to enter the city and gets denied at the gate. The earthbending guards literally chuck his cart. Minutes later, while Aang and the crew are joyriding the delivery system, the merchant pops up inside Omashu with his cart somehow intact. Mysterious? A little.
• Book Two, ferry to Ba Sing Se: He gets turned away from the ferry, then a platypus bear demolishes his cart for good measure. Team Avatar? They get waved on board.
• Book Two, Tales of Ba Sing Se: He rebuilds (again) only for his inventory to get obliterated (again). Pattern established.

From that vantage point, the fan theory argues the guy had a reason to hate the Earth Kingdom’s bureaucracy more than anyone, and eventually decided to help the Fire Nation tear it all down — by feeding them info on Aang’s whereabouts.

The spy theory, point by point

The series mentions spies in passing but never gives us a confirmed one. Enter the Cabbage Merchant, who fan sleuths argue checks surprising boxes:

- The Ember Island Players in Book Three somehow stage a play with creepily accurate intel on Team Avatar’s journey. The theory pins the merchant as a behind-the-scenes source.

- Cities he appears in have a habit of winding up under Fire Nation control. Is that cause, effect, or coincidence? Depends how tinfoil you want your hat.

- Combustion Man always seems one step behind Aang and friends. Someone had to be pointing him in the right direction. A humble produce dealer no one suspects is a pretty good pipeline.

The unhinged add-on: cabbagebending

Here’s where the theory goes full galaxy brain. Remember Huu from the Foggy Swamp Tribe, who can manipulate vines by bending the water inside them? Apply that logic to cabbages. They’re full of water, so in theory, our merchant could have a plantbending-adjacent skill. That would explain why he’s oddly affectionate with his produce, and it gives him an organic surveillance network: cabbages placed near Team Avatar that he can sense or subtly control, like a mini version of the swamp’s banyan-grove root system connecting everything.

The money trail in The Legend of Korra

The biggest eyebrow-raiser shows up years later. In The Legend of Korra, the man has leveled up into an industrialist: founder of Cabbage Corp, complete with his own statue. Reasonable question: how does a guy whose carts are repeatedly reduced to mulch bankroll a tech empire? The theory’s answer is simple and shady — the Fire Nation paid him for services rendered.

So... is any of this actually true?

Probably not. It’s a fun, overcaffeinated read of a running gag that the writers clearly enjoyed escalating. But the pattern is weirdly tidy: chronic Earth Kingdom harassment, suspiciously timely appearances, inside knowledge surfacing in a certain play, a hitman who always knows where to look, and then a sudden business glow-up in Korra.

I’m not saying the cabbage guy toppled the Earth Kingdom with leafy espionage. I’m saying the dots are there if you want to connect them — and it makes a great rewatch lens.

Who were the spies in Avatar to you? Was the Cabbage Merchant guilty or just the universe’s favorite punching bag? Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix if you want to investigate.