Avatar the last airbender's weird demography

I love this show!! Korra? not so much, didn't enjoy the few episodes I watched.
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#atla #avatar #avatarthelastairbender

[@wylerXL]

the demographic you discussed here was the main story plot of book 4 air that was only released in comics. look it up and you will find your answer.

[@Sergio1Rodrigues]

On the topic of people in different cultures there's an anedot I find funny, When Vasco da Gama, the portuguese navigator that found the way to India around Africa, came to Calicut he was greeted in castillian by a Polish Jew with spanish parents. In India. Before the fucking great navigations

[@Rrash_VA]

yep, that sums up everything, people move around!

[@goreaalex3413]

It's probably just a lack of lore. I mean we onpy see what we are shown. As someone said Kyoshi's mother was a airbender and father was earthbender. Probably there will be more such instances in the new stories of avatar studio. Also if you look at the last short made by "hellofutureme" he talks about a "fifth" nation where people from all around the world lived together.

[@BBarNavi]

is it not the United Republic?

[@goreaalex3413]

@@BBarNavi it was before the 100 year war. Something like a pirate/rogue nation

[@appa609]

The Earth Kingdom has all sorts of people. Jeong Jeong and his posse, Zuko and Iroh, Swamp Benders, Desert nomads, Fire nation is an fascist ethnostate . Water tribes are in places otherwise inhospitable to humanity, and there were only ever a few hundred air nomads.

[@Rrash_VA]

I'm talking about bending types being restricted to each nation, zuko and iroh are from the fire nation, plus, I'm talking before the war, I mentioned the swamp people they're one of the few exceptions, and desert nomads are earth benders, the fire nation being an ethnostate doesn't make sense to me, what happened to the whole "avatar keeps the peace" deal. If you've seen the end of the video you will get what I mean, this world is very old, and if bending is passed down like genes, then all you need is a few instances of emigration, and they'll be all sorts of benders in the fire nation for example.

[@TheJuiceDidNineEleven]

The benders of specific elements seek out environments best suited for them that give them them greatest advantage over non-benders of that element. I feel like you're essentially asking why there're so few programmers in cities without tech sectors.

[@Rrash_VA]

you're not looking deeply enough, what about republic city? there are all sorts of benders there, the earth element is everywhere where there is land what's deference between the earth kingdom and the fire nation for an earth bender in terms of how suitable the environment is.

[@_KRYMZN_]

This was such a fun, thought provoking video that I had to write 2 paragraphs 💀 I Love this show

[@OneOfTheNinjaTurtles]

alot of it would likely have to do with how they lived vastly different ways of life. the air nomads were, well, nomadic, and they were constantly moving between different mountainous areas around the world. they werent just staying in one place. the water tribes lived at the north and south poles, so it makes sense why most folk wouldnt be so interested in moving there. but even then, im fairly certain that there were a variety of different peoples in different nations than their own. right away, we know that there were travelling merchants all over the earth and fire nations, and there were many fire nation colonies throughout the earth nation. the earth and fire nation peoples also didnt look very different, so its possible that they travelled and simply just blended in. zuko was able to do that when he was in the earth nation

[@Rrash_VA]

I see what you mean, but I'm specifically referring to bending, the world of atla is very old, and all you need is a few instances of emigration for every nation to have all four types of benders, if even 5 earth benders settled in a fire nation city and blended in as you said, a few centuries later you'd have quite a few earth benders in that fire nation city, unless they're not allowed to bend. If the conditions are harsh in the poles why not emigrate, the ancestors of the swamp people did it, clearly it's possible. Again as I said at the end of the video, why don't we have cities like republic city from tlo korra, where bending is like a genetic trait you have, as oppose to a whole ethnic identity

[@xxLivingMyWayxx]

I always saw the airbendimg universe as 1890s east Asia and they were notoriously xenophobic so it made since to me.

[@Aneurin_Hunt]

Kyoshi's mother was an airnomad. Every airnomad is an airbender. It seems that is because they are more spiritual and they can weaken their airbending if they lose touch with their spiritual side. That does bring up more questions about non benders. Environment us another factor. water benders would want to be in an environment that has a lot of water. So at the very least they'd want to be near a coast. Being in icy places maximise the amount of water around. The earth kingdom is much larger and diverse than all the others. Earth is basically wverywhere so they have a lot more variety in location. The airnomads travel around a lot they're nomads. Fire Nation doesn't really seem to have as clean cut limited environment. They produce fire rather than using their element around them. But volcanic environments fit them iguess. The enivorment each bending type is in is a factor. Ultimately you could also use some spiritual reason too. Edit: the yangchen books do have a few cities with water tribe, eaeth kingdom and fire nation around. It's the only places they trade at this time since they are being extremely isolationist.

[@_KRYMZN_]

I think a simple solution to this is just the general philosophy of the people in the nations. It relates to bending, but would have an affect on how regular ppl (benders & non-benders alike) see things. Air and water are fluids. They will fill whatever container they’re in but won’t randomly jump out unless acted upon. Earth/stone is sturdy, stable and similarly immobile until acted upon. Fire, on the other hand is everything but immobile. From the moment of its creation, a fire is pure energy - and if you allow it it will slowly consume everything in its path.

[@koboldgeorge2140]

An interesting point, and one that's not so easy to address as I thought at first! By raising and considering this question carefully, i think we get a better picture of the care the creators took in creating their setting. You dismiss it, but your last explanation actually feels bang on to me. We see pretty clearly that each nation has its own ethnic identity, and typical benders embody their element in a typical way. Bumi, iroh and the other guy (i never watched korra) are all masters, which i take to mean not just mastering their element but mastering their emotions. Makes good sense to me. The question i see you driving at repeatedly is why we dont see evidence of colonialism. Fire nation port towns, or air nomad exclaves. I get the sense that all the nations are pretty conservative. The fire nation's conquest is treated as an unprecedented thing, and we dont really see much evidence for warfare beyond tribal or citystate level skirmishes. The earth kingdom is large enough that SOMEONE must have conquered it and set up a central monarchy (an in universe qin shi huang?), but we dont really hear about that. Other than them all the other "nations" are essentially just big islands with a unified culture. Maybe its the case that international travel was historically limited for everyone EXCEPT the avatar. The east asian countries the series is based on have a tradition of what we would call isolationism, where individuals ocassionally go long ways away (zheng he and his treasure fleets, for instance), but we rarely see large scale migrations or conquests. By portraying a world woth ancient, rarely changing borders it feels as though the creators are evoking not just the cultures of the show, but their governing philosophies as well. So finally, if we consider that emigration is rare not just for practical but cultural and military reasons, and that bending is genetic, then it stand to reason that any group which does emigrate is genetically subsumed into the population rather quickly. This doesnt require any government control, only that there's interbreeding between the immigrants and the native population. If we assume that this was historically rare, then we can understand why there wouldn't be homogenized populations like you suggest there ought to be

[@Rrash_VA]

yeah, I agree with most of what you laid out here, even without conquest and "illegal settlements" if some people emigrated, their bending "genes" would proliferate in the population, and even if they were assimilated, the bending is still there, for example, we'd have a fire nation that has fire benders and earth benders all living under the same culture, and we'd see that unless earth bending is outlawed

[@koboldgeorge2140]

@@Rrash_VA maybe that's how lavabending started

[@Rrash_VA]

I'm just finding out about lava bending hehe, technically earth benders would be able to lava bend since its just molten rock, just like water benders are able to ice bend, and for that matter, water benders would be able to bend water vapor as well ¯\(ツ)/¯

[@hexdiqoreprime7974]

@@Rrash_VA Katara has made and controlled water vapor/clouds in the show a couple times.

[@Rrash_VA]

@@hexdiqoreprime7974 oh wow! i must've forgotten about that, I'm rewatching the show for the fourth time, I'm at ep2 s3, still no water vapor, unless I missed it, but maybe later on s3

[@markcruz359]

Earth benders need earth, water benders need water, fire benders need fire( im sure the volcanoes make them stronger)

[@_KRYMZN_]

I do think people emigrated, I just don’t think we saw it. There wasn’t going to be much happening during the 100 year war but there could’ve been people before then (the earth nation guys in the air temple come to mind). They probably just had the last 100 years to naturalise and their descendants are considered part of the nation. We can’t tell whether “Fire nation extra #233” had a grandma from Ba Sing Se or not

[@gangsterholla179]

Or maybe you need to have the genes and be around people with that bending skill. So you can be born with the fire bending skill in a water tribe, but since no one is around to activate it, and you are a non bender. This would explain republic city and the swamp ppl.

[@jakeb3849]

I think the answer is a lot simpler and has to do with your earlier explanation. I think in the story, bending type is more akin to a ethno-nationality, and the original avatar series takes place in a setting where there is a lot less inter-nation migration and a lot more ethnic homogeneity within-nation. I don't that is unbelievable. There is a good point that definitely benders could be very valuable in places with low supply of their bending style (e.g. water benders in the fire nation), but it's easy to imagine that the economic incentives don't necessarily overcome the social frictions of immigration.

[@Rrash_VA]

i see what you mean, but my point is, all you need is a few people bending a different element to settle somewhere else, and that could diversify the bending within the population they emigrated to, you just need a couple centuries, and given that the world is very old, and the avatar keeps the peace, I think there should at least be a few instances of that happening over the course of centuries or even thousands of years. Republic City is only around 100 years old and has all 3 types of benders, and I think it doesn't make sense that something like that didn't exist before the 100-year war

[@dianacosta2302]

Imperialism and colonialism only became a reality in the avatar world by the 100 y war

[@Rrash_VA]

I would beg to differ

[@txr_565]

يا اخ راش ترا نتفلكس مُقاطعه

[@cringebrudi]

3:16 The people are bound to their respectiv nation and bending because of reasons. Even if one from the fire nation joins the air nomads his desendens will be 100% air benders.

[@Rrash_VA]

i'm not so sure about that, what about the foggy swamp tribe, they're in the earth kingdom, they still bend water, and if you say that they formed an identity and a tie to the swamp, what about republic city that's in the earth kingdom, and there are a lot of benders born there that are not earth benders ¯\(ツ)/¯

[@cringebrudi]

@@Rrash_VA The swamp people are very much distinct from the earth kingdom. Just because they live in the same continent does not mean they are one. The republic is also not in the earth kingdom. They are both outside the reach of the king or queen of the earth kingdom. But what about the spirituality?

[@Rrash_VA]

yeah but people in republic city still bend deferent elements from one another, meaning the culture and land don't really dictate whether you can bend a certain element or not, or are you saying that a fire bender or a water bender would never be allowed in the jurisdiction of the earth kingdom authority? in the peaceful post war World of ATLA? the nations should be at peace with one another, what if a fire bender wanted to live in ba sing se, are you saying that he will be barred from doing that, or are you saying that his children would not be able to fire bend if born there?

[@ThePariahDark]

I will not state my opinion on what you said but instead ask an additional question - why do all people of one nation wear the same colors? So the kids can easily identify them, right? Yet it is highly unrealistic. Do all americans wear blue white and red? No. Do all germans wear black, gold and red? No. Yet in the Avatar world it is like your location dictates what colors you are _allowed_ to wear. Think about it.

[@Rrash_VA]

yeah i concluded with something similar at the end, i said maybe the creators wanted to give the world some structure, doesn't keep me from talking about it and saying that doesn't make sense, it's just a criticism of the world building, no world building project is perfect, it's gotta have some holes in it, it'll be boring otherwise, i still like the world of ATLA it's a great world

[@dianacosta2302]

People had no reason tô migrate they were happy not harming other cultures END of the vídeo. Tell me you live in a imperialist coutry without telling me you live in a imperialist country by not realizing something só simple

[@Rrash_VA]

buddy I'm from Morocco, I was born in Morocco and I live in Morocco, so as my great grandfather, so I didn't really tell you anything without telling you anything, I said in the video that the avatar would never allow invasion, although occupation could happen in the world of ATLA and did happen, in the case of the 100-year war and the earth kingdom general that was stopped by Kiyoshi, I was referring to the diversification of bending abilities in the populations of the world ATLA through emigration and cohabitation, people form the earth kingdom that is earth benders settling among the fire nation people in peace, making a life for themselves, or people from a water tribe that are water benders, making a life for themselves in ba sing se for example, if that happens only a few of times throughout the centuries, we would have huge populations that are diverse in their bending abilities, siblings, cousins, and in-laws all bending deferent elements from one another.

[@dude7883]

If you see, the Water Tribes live in the poles (no one migrates there), the air temples are basically hidden (so it is quite difficult to migrate there). That leaves us with the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation: Earth Kingdom looks similar to what was the "known world" (Europe, Africa and Asia), as they are the biggest territory they have a greater variety of culture, bending styles and even migrants (remember the swamp benders). The Fire Nation looks like the United States (pun intended) and I would argue they were extremely poor and dangerous, kinda like a barbaric nation until they industrialized. After that, they became rich...and dangerous. That's why migration to and from there was strongly limited. Republic City is just New York City, the world capital the dangerous empire built after using his power to opress the rest of the world.

[@hamadalbabtain4546]

Avatar universe is based on Japan as the fire nation and china as the earth nation ,so it not about the whole world.

[@quinnbeiersdorff1244]

swamp people 🙁

[@Rrash_VA]

They're alright, don't know why I made it a gag ¯\(ツ)/¯