Is Bending Genetic? - Avatar: The Last Airbender

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[@HelloFutureMe]

HIS LOINS HOLD THE FUTURE OF OUR PEOPLE. ~ Tim

[@slightlyembittered]

Aang you are called upon to multiple and replenish the air temples.

[@7thouzad]

Hehe

[@_somerandomguyontheinternet_]

“Pants? Where we’re going, you don’t need... pants.” -Doc Aang, Back to the Avatar

[@siggi-4416]

Oh my gosh yess x’DDD

[@peterwang5660]

Let Sparkling water save the air nomads! (air + water)

[@DarkLordGanondorf190]

"...resulting in incredibly gifted benders like Azula and Iroh and Ozai." *Zuko standing teary-eyed in the background* Am I a joke to you?

[@ncheck3000]

Hahaha i thought so too, but when you really look at it, Zuko really wasnt a skilled bender at birth. And i think if it wasnt for all his training, he would never have become as good as he is. Especially without Iroh, or his journey with Aang when they learned from dragons.

[@c-seoul]

@@ncheck3000 Sadly, that is true. Zuko is skilled because he had put hard training in his bending. He wasn't naturally talented, compared to Azula who was a prodigy. Zuko never will be as skilled as Azula was at her peak. But that does not mean he isn't one crazy-good bender.

[@ncheck3000]

@@c-seoul true. He is a proof that hardwork and determination will payoff in the end LoL

[@laszlofedor3463]

Yes (Zuko) you are

[@drizeanbustee]

I mean the bending’s strength and power at the time came from anger and hatred, Azula and Ozai were pretty much the angriest at the time. Zuko couldn’t bend fire that good because of the morals he learned from his’ mother. His 2 moral sides clashed together causing him to bend in a less powerful way. Something similar happened to him when he changed sides to be on team Avatar. He lost his’ source of power, he changed his’ power source from anger and hatred to Breathing and peace of mind. Iroh learned to switch his’ firebending’s source of energy to breathing, he also was well known for being able to breath fire like a dragon very well. He got his’ bending’s source from his’ breathe and peace. He tried to teach this to zuko. But zuko was too angry to learn this at the time.

[@emeryrachelle224]

I think the only reason Tenzin was so uptight and had a non-typical-airbender personality was how he was raised. He grew up knowing he was literally the entire future of airbending, with the weight of destiny and the expectations of his father, the Avatar himself, on his shoulders. There's a reason the air nomads didn't tell Aang he was the Avatar until he was like 10, and wanted to wait even longer. That kind of knowledge messes with a kid.

[@KingNefiiria]

His kids certainly embody the spiritual lighthearted prankstery kind of Air Nomad culture that used to exist, so I think he was probably self sacrificing to ensure his children could carry on, in a sense.

[@Ray_D_Tutto]

@@KingNefiiria Tenzin is the hero of an entire culture. Talk about selfless. History should sing his praises.

[@captainwaffles940]

Not to be that guy but they told him when he was 12, not too long before he ran away and got froze in the iceberg

[@BungieStudios]

Same thing with John Connor's character. It's all one big existential crisis. Trained since childhood to conduct war, never knowing his father or having a real father figure. Mother was arrested and he was told it was all a psychotic lie by the world. 10 years old, the system that took his mom away throws him to neglectful foster care. It seems the world doesn't care about him and nor he it. John finds out his mother was right when the future war comes knocking at his door. He uses the confidence his mom instilled in him to work with her and his new machine guardian to strike back at the future antagonist. Mom and son think they stopped the future war. John realizes that his future self left the T-800's chip set to read only to allow young John the chance to learn more about Terminators and continue learning hacking. Future John had memories of the Terminator as a boy (based on two deleted scenes and modified ending). Both him and his mom want to believe it's over but internally accept that the war was only postponed. His stockpiles weapons before dying of Leukemia. John falls into an existential crisis, struggling to accept his responsibility to the world and the role he will fill. Depending on the timeline, they encounter other infiltrators from alternate futures. John doesn't know whether to continue fighting, kill himself, or let the machines kill him.

[@migaud7789]

In the show, they actually tell him earlier than intended though? They tell him when he's 12, but they make a point in the show that he wasn't supposed to know until 16

[@MrPF]

Remember that in the cannon Kyoshi's mother was a air nomad and a air bender But she separated herself from the nomads and spirituality as a whole, which made her air bending way weaker, to the point that she needed to use fans to help her bend air

[@agentbaguette1519]

This also was happening in Legend Of Korra aswell. Bending was becoming a whole lot less of a practice and expression and more combative. Losing touch with some of the meaningful traditional and spiritual side seems to effect bending drastically, diminishing and dwindling it out. Kuvira is a very big example of a bender that's all progressive and efficient. I would say all thanks to Korra that without the Spirit Portals or the New Air Nation, bending in an alternative future, would gradually die out in a few more generations because of the lack of spirituality and respect afforded to the world. It'll be like The Beginnings all over again...

[@tuananhdang7385]

@@agentbaguette1519 not really. Korra did bend air after her powers were taken. And also she punched not bended. I think the problem with Korra was her patience rather than how she was taught the element. She was natural at earth, fire and water while was struggling with air. The same with Aang he was good at airbending, but was bad at everything else. Also the avatar spirit Raava was stronger in ATLA rather TLOK. And also she didnt like airbending. She even said why need air when she can perfectly control others.

[@agentbaguette1519]

@@tuananhdang7385 I'm addressing the entire magnitude of bending around all the nations. They just seems so...lesser, I might be comparing it to masters like Pakku, Iroh & Bumi but they're masters for good reasons. With how much the World has advanced with technology at the fore front, bending is losing the purity and power it ones possessed in the Last Airbender, it was a main theme with the comics, The Rift and North & South where the lack of cultural appreciations of spirits, traditions and The world affected both people and spirits alike. Beginnings showed us of how the world was like, Lion Turtles gave people the elements so that they can protect themselves but when people like Wan, Oma & Shu, The Waterbenders that copied the Moon started to try and understand and think about the world around them is when bending started to become something you can be born with. If a futuristic and sci-fi Avatar series were to exist where technology has out-weighed traditions, spiritual balance and worldly respect than bending would be near to extinction, people won't be born with bending because they aren't taught to think about the world around them, Unalaq a terrible villain that he is raised this issue. And now, Korra has opened three spirit portals, one smacked on the United Republic of Nations where advancements and progression is most central. The New Air Nation while also facing threats could express and guide other people to understand the importance of respect to the spirits and their own world.

[@tuananhdang7385]

@@agentbaguette1519 my theory was that spirits gave people element bending. Back then in avatar spirits were balanced and gave out bending in their own order.(by race) i mean fire nation would get fire element and the same goes to other elements. But in TLOK the spirits were corrupted?.. And because of that it changed. Then again just my theory. And yeah, i do agree the world is less spiritual, but it wasnt spiritual in ATLA either. It didnt change honestly. In ATLA you would see iroh and aang spiritual and maybe some others, but not everyone.

[@agentbaguette1519]

@@tuananhdang7385 A majority of Spirits seems to embody The Material World, they are what holds humankind accountable, Kuruk experience the ugly side of it. It would make sense that some spirits also taught humans element bending in the past, in the comics General Old Iron for some reason is very precious of iron. He often "bends?" it so that he is armored. What this could offer is the existence of Agni, Great Spirit of Fire but I don't know how that could be when Ran and Shaw, supposed Great Spirits of Sun & Sky are in existence. It's nice and exciting to think about. I agree, I kinda...overlooked the whole 100 year war thing that happened...which backs my theory of Progression killing Bending but...I kinda overlooked. The roots of this theory seems to go back to Salai's time as Avatar, then it's just a whole thing snowballing in The Hundred Year War, The United Republic of Nations and everything else.

[@SylviaRustyFae]

"His loins hold the future of our people" "Where we're going we wont need any pants" is just such a perfect combination and makes me cackle endlessly

[@HighMageCallum]

I was not prepared to hear that 😂

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@HighMageCallum "You cant just say Legend of Korra aint Canon; it is." Nah, buddy, i think theres lots of Reasons to diffienciate it so much that 'non-canoN' is worth arguing about. I dont take it as Canon and i do have valid reasons for that.

[@mertensiam3384]

@@loturzelrestaurant nah, only the creators of the show can say if it's canon or not

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@mertensiam3384 Hahaha.

[@NotSoWickedMystic]

Can confirm cackle level 💯 Accidentally woke up my family at 7 a.m. cackling at this line delivery 😅😂😮😊

[@demonetization6596]

“Honey, why is our baby a fire bender when we are air nomads.” Fire bender milkman: *Sweats profusely

[@TheDrexxus]

When the fire nation attacks. :(

[@simonhailom2477]

Nice.

[@harikiran4339]

😂

[@demonetization6596]

@@TheDrexxus they stealing our babies

[@ervandrafadhlil403]

Uh oh

[@arnoldtabor3767]

I think Tenzen is only as uptight as he was ... because he was the only airbending master who had kid students, and tried to hold them to a high standard and being the only person who could instruct the avatar in airbending

[@dustinmccollum7196]

Ya I feel Tenzen was only uptight because of the huge burden was place on his shoulders by Aang. So he's been stressed out sents he was a kid.

[@dasauce9147]

@@dustinmccollum7196 makes sense since Aang was the last airbender and Tenzen was the only air bending child of Aang

[@Spherrum]

Well... Aang was the only airbending master who had a kid student (Tenzin), and tried to hold him to a high standard and being the only person who could instruct the avatar in airbending. And Aang wasn't uptight.

[@MommahKat]

@@Spherrum There is a difference between holding yourself to your own goals and responsibilities and having them put upon you by a parent.

[@samynator0904]

I mean this is adressed in TLOK, Tenzin feels the burden of the air nomads lineage and he tries really hard to live up to that standard but when he encounters Aang in the spirit world he's like "don't, you're not me" so yeah, and maybe he's uptight cause Katara was a little uptight too, Bumi is the one with Aang's personality haha

[@TinyTyranitar95350]

At the end of the day the answer is "bending is a soft magic system" It was never intended to be quantified and defined in all aspects. It's a nebulous spiritual connection to the primordial aspects of the world.

[@seangoldman6833]

3:13 I've always figured that all of the 'Air Nomads' were airbenders because they turned out children that couldn't bend. The temples themselves are kind of death traps waiting to happen for children that can't airbend to save themselves from falling to death especially when you consider all of the other kids running about that can throw mini-tornados when they get upset. Its not intentional eugenics but it makes sense from a health and safety point of view to leave non-bending children with the mother if fathered outside the Nomads or given up to a family with more flat living accommodations if the mother was a Nomad. Aang being twelve at the time of his freezing and having only lived in the male temples wouldn't have known about that and thus could be considered an unreliable narrator in that case and Ty Lee, the only other character in AtLA to have grey eyes, coming from the Fire Nation where one of the female temples was located makes sense.

[@Shadamyfan-rs8xc]

😳

[@typo1345]

did I miss something that says the temples were gender seperated?

[@nicolas._.2294]

@@typo1345 oh, it has been stated somewhere that they are, so basically there are 4 airbenders temple where 2 are only were the male airbender lives and 2 are only were female lives

[@juliandacosta6841]

Nah

[@ZoruaHunter]

"Hey let's make an upside down temple?" "Shouldn't we make our living space accessible for kids born with disabilities (non-benders)?" "Heck dem kids"

[@racool911]

Airbending is spiritual Earthbending is physical Waterbending is a spiritual action with your physical self Firebending is a physical action with your spiritual self

[@soljan2984]

Can you explain how it is deferent between Fire and Water?

[@karnewarrior]

@@SnailHatan Iroh literally says as much about firebending early on in the series...

[@theemperor1379]

@@SnailHatan Well...Yes. This is fiction after all. What'd you expect? A scientific answer lol?

[@everythingiscool6228]

nice

[@Aboriginal_American_Hebrew]

Earthbending is just as spiritual connection with the earth

[@dripdoriya1707]

They didn’t give Sokka bending cuz that would make him too powerful. He’s already a backbender and a sword master. But if he could actually bend the show would be called The amazing Sokka and his buddy Aang

[@jp3813]

If he could bend, he wouldn't have bothered to train in swordsmanship to begin with.

[@gekozilla7339]

@@jp3813 Zuko could bend but still decided to train in swordsmanship but Im not so sure Sokka would do the same considering how he acts but him bending doesn't mean he wouldn't master swordsmanship. And there's his boomerang which he likely still would use the boomerang

[@jp3813]

@@gekozilla7339 His motivation to learn swordsmanship was based on his jealousy of his teammates' bending. An entire episode was dedicated to it.

[@gekozilla7339]

@@jp3813 I forgot that I ment that he would still use a sword but be adaquit with it

[@jp3813]

@@gekozilla7339 Katara didn't need one. Sokka didn't pick a sword until his jealousy in that episode.

[@iddoboomgaard353]

I like your answer, but hear me out: Epigenetics. Though this field of genetics is still very unfamiliar to us, long story short our body can activate or deactivate certain genes at times. For example the gene we use to make an enzyme that digests milk as babies gets turned off in some people, who become lactose intolerant, while in others it stays active, these people aren't lactose intolerant. The odds of this happening are influenced by your heritage, for example if one of you're parents is lactose intolerant you're more likely to also be. I think bending works much in the same way: Each element has a few genes connected to it and if one or multiple of your ancestors can bend it, it means you're more likely to be able to as well, just like with lactose intolerance. The only difference with lactose intolerance would be that in humans the bending genes would naturally be shut off not on, because babies can't bend all 4 elements. If you're ancestors have a "pre-activated" gene of sorts it might even allow you to bend as soon as you can mentally activate the power, so from when you're a child. However if you don't have anyone in your family, so you don't have one or a few pre-activated genes, you might still be able to learn to bend, because you're body "just" needs to activate one or multiple of the "bending genes". This might be done via the spiritual element you named, if you're "spiritual enough" more genes get activated and you become stronger. At the same time it also explains why Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula are quite powerfull, they all have a lot of "pre-activated bending genes" thanks to their bloodline. This might be what happened en masse during harmonic convergence: Some type of enzyme got spread all over the continents of Avatar, and some people got a gene for airbending activated. This in combination with possible other activated genes would cause them to be able to bend air and this would make a few "random" people air benders. It even explains the avatar, hear me out: If these genes really did exist and they'd have to be activated for the bending to take place. Once they're activated they'd also make an inhibiting enzyme, a fancy word for something that stops other genes from working. This is why we never see a 2 or 3 element bender, only a 1 element bender and the avatar. In the case of the avatar it's possible that something big and "magical" like some sort of "will of the world" could activate a final gene that stops all these inhibiting enzymes, allowing the avatar to bend multiple elements at a time, this way causing there to be a single avatar who can bend all elements and "normal" benders who can only bend one. Now last but not least dragon turtles, how do they fit in here? The dragon turtles don't do genesplicing, that'd be quite dangerous and might even have a chance of killing people, what they might be doing however is activating the respective genes in the assigned benders until they return to hand back in their powers, at which point the dragon turtle turns them off again. This sounds quite hard to explain, but in reality it's kind of easy: They once again use enzymes. These enzymes would then activate the gene, but once the humans return the turtle gives of, or inserts, like a type of poison, another enzyme that then supresses the gene again. This way turning it on or off. The earlier mentioned "Avatar gene" might create similiar enzymes to this one that turns off bending powers that can resupress the genes and that'd explain why Aang can take away the bending powers of benders. So it is in part genetic, however in some cases you'll have to activate other genes and other circumstances could play a big role, even your spirituality. This could also explain how (twin) brothers can have different elements, or even one might have bending powers and another might not. They both have the same "pre-activated" genes, but they activated other "extra" genes causing different bending types So long story short I agree with your statement: "Is bending genetical? Well yes, but actually no." (BTW I have to stop here, because I'm making this up as I go and this thing is already way to long, if you're interested in this send me an e-mail [e-mail])

[@tyarahernandez9291]

Really very interesting it really seems like something that is plausible. But I’d ask then how do you think Amon was able to take away peoples bending? I think the show mentioned something about blood bending having to do with it but I’m curious how you’d think this could possibly be related to epigenetics in some way.

[@iddoboomgaard353]

@@tyarahernandez9291 Interesting question, not sure. It could be because his mental state activated part of the "avatar gene set", namely the part that allows him to take away bending (like the avatar and the dragon turtles) via the enzymes they toss into the air. The other option is it's a mutation, which makes it so he can (in a similiar way to the avatar and dragon turtles as well), but this sounds like a weak explenation. Lastly it could be that he takes extremely precise control of water molecules to block the genes that allow bending, which would technically be possible (and also have something to do with blood bending), but sounds very hard. It's also very rare though, so it's possible.

[@pendragon0905]

So... midichlorians weren't such a terrible idea for Star Wars after all? Midichlorians exist in all living creatures in the Star Wars galaxy, but only those with a high M-count are capable of bending the Force.

[@ckl9390]

@@iddoboomgaard353 I think it was explained as Amon using blood bending as a "reverse water healing" to damage the to the point of inoperability the Chi pathways (read nerve conduits) that are necessary for bending. Yes, one could cause serious non-bending nerve damage that way. I wouldn't be surprised if Amon caused paralysis in some of his early victims. As to The Avatar being able to reestablish bending capability with Spirit Bending, part of activating the necessary genes may be establishing the necessary nerve conduits.

[@lovetobe6118]

Epigenetics is my favorite science. I almost chose it for my career. In the end I still delved into it's study to heal my chronic disease by turning to what ancient people and traditions say about healing. They lived and ate so differently from us. What you eat and your environment do influence your genes for good and for bad. That is why I eat such strange food and now live so bizarrely. Yes spiritual state is healing as well. I learned that the hard way. You can use your mind to accelerate healing or further damage your body from disease.

[@builderphill1361]

My favorite thing about having only one of the twins bend is that it could also mean that every being has a different spiritual component that's inherently unique even if everything humans can measure they are 99% identical

[@duchi882]

*Video Summary* (Is Bending Genetic?): - Yes, but actually No - A Wizard did it - Its Spiritual - Its Mysterious - A Turtle Wizard did it

[@S3verance]

Thank you

[@duncanwells0088]

DUH DUHDUHDUH DUH DUH

[@ollie2111]

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🎶

[@mareczek00713]

I'd say it's like a test - answer 5 gene questions, answer 5 spirituality questions, answer 5 personality question, 1 gene question has an insta-fail answer, 10% of best scores get the bending (answering why air benders resurfaced, top 10% scores were killed off do it flew towards 81-90% scores).

[@4deemi]

6th option: its quantum mechcanics affecting it.

[@EYang-hl6hv]

"My fellow Americans.." Wait a minute...

[@dawidwojacki5049]

American fellas

[@alexricky87]

Tim for President! ...Wait

[@ArtemisWasHere]

Somethings not right....

[@syystomu]

As the great American poet Till Lindemann once said: We're all living in Amerika.

[@timcrimson]

@@syystomu ist wunderbar

[@emeralddarkness]

I always lowkey assumed that, like the monks that the air nomads draw inspiration from, that the air nomads were more of a commune than a tribe - that air nomads would go out into the world and have children with people of other tribes (or potentially other air nomads) and any children able to bend would be brought back to and raised in the temple as an air nomad, while any non bender children erm. Wouldnt be. The gifted are chosen and taken off to be trained, non benders live a normal non bender life as earth or water or fire nation non benders, children of two air benders would maybe be brought up in some separate location but were not properly considered air nomads because air nomads have to be able to bend by definition. This means that air bender children might have been born to non bender parents, since air genes would still be out in the population after the purge, but I assume they were killed if discovered by the fire nation (on the off chance they were the avatar, who *was* still missing), and regardless wouldnt have had any teacher in the ways of the air bender until aang got unfrozen.

[@lilichong7941]

This also fits in with the whole thing that they never knew their parents.

[@xGrifo]

there were women air nomads tho

[@emeralddarkness]

@@xGrifo ..... yeah I know but what does that have to do with this?

[@xGrifo]

@@emeralddarkness it doesn’t make sense for them to go out into the world to procreate when they could yk, do it themselves? air nomads are benders not purely bcs of genetics but bcs of how spiritual they are.

[@xGrifo]

also, there’s a scene showing aang being born inside of an air temple, how would they have known to bring him back based on your theory?

[@joeschianodicola1810]

My own headcanon/rationalization for random people being bestowed airbending after Harmonic Convergence was that those individuals were the new lifetime for souls lost in Ozai's genocide. Reincarnation is mentioned so much in both ATLA and ALOK, and the idea of souls or connections spanning across lifetimes is a recurring theme. The way I see it, the Air Nomads were indeed wiped out, but the souls of those people went on to new lifetimes, being reborn as new members of the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Water Tribe, etc. Eventually, those souls are affected by the Harmonic Convergence to express the bending ability the souls have always carried, just never able to express. This idea ties in with the relationship between spirituality and bending ability.

[@Applemangh]

My crazy theory: The universe exerts a subtle pressure that tries to balance the number of benders of each element. The earth kingdom has the highest population, but the lowest percentage of benders, while the air nomads had the lowest population and the highest percentage of benders, and the fire nation and water tribes fall somewhere in between. Normally, this "pressure" still had to work within the confines of lineage (a direct line to that elements original benders), so there was no way for the universe to create more air benders without any air nomads. That's why Tenzin (married to a non-bender with no other elements to interfere) had all airbending children (I might be wrong about Rohan, I think it was kind of vague). The lineage rules lined up and the universe was able to exert it's pressure to try and balance out the benders by introducing more airbenders. Harmonic convergence changed the rules however, as the increase in spiritual energies in the world made it possible for the universe to enforce it's balance more directly. If any of the other bending population were super low at the time, I think it might have possible for seemingly random people to become those types of benders as well. It's just that airbending was the only type that needed that "boost" at the time.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

That's exactly what I thought was happening

[@jjaa_joyjoyartist]

That makes alot of sense.

[@kenb2957]

The problem with your Tenzin children theory is that Bumi and Kya are not airbenders. If the universe was trying to balance out the number without regards to ratio, then how was Bumi, the first born, and Kya, the second born, both not airbenders. If the eldest was, maybe that could count, and I really like your theory. Just that the Bumi and Kya throw a wrench into everything, from your theory itself to the classically held notion that "Airbenders only birth other Airbenders"

[@kevinpineda3081]

@@kenb2957 then we get the "personality" requirement to be a bender. Bumi's personality, with no intention to offend, deserves no kind of bending. He's somewhere else closer to Sokka's ability on strategy and planning. Kya gets the same conclusion: her personality fits better with water, also, let's remember that Katara was the last water bender from The southern water tribe. If I were the universe, I would assume that, being the last air nomad also THE AVATAR, he would have a very higher chance to reproduce and keep air benders alive than Katara would have to keep Southern Water Tribe benders population alive.

[@mateusabreu7309]

I think the rule is this that you said, one of balance between bending population. The harmonic convergence boosted it and the airbending power was “clicked” with a bunch o people. But I think that it would slowly happen, with or without the harmonic convergence. The fact that the right benders are born in their respective nations I think it was just more convenient and made more sense, maybe the proximity with the element in that group of people makes the spiritual/genetic “click” more easy to occur, dunno.

[@shay6755]

"You can't choose what is canon" Laughs in Star Wars

[@MathMasterism]

I know this is a dig on Disney but this also applies to salty Star Wars fans.

[@ioanamaria2709]

Laughs in Mulan II

[@sophiavincent7785]

Laughs in Harry Potter

[@TheLegend-sh8ix]

Soy

[@T.H.0601]

The legend of Korra season 2 is to Avatar what TLJ is for Star Wars. Change my mind.

[@knate44]

I would like add that "hereditary" can also include things like environmental, economic, spiritual, and personality traits too. It could be that the reason bending is passed down through the generations is that you tend to pick up things from your parents, maybe you grew up with cats, you had a parent who smoked, or baked a lot. We pick up these things from our parents. But this isn't the only way to do things, as people are (such as toph) picked up earth bending from nature, and it also makes means that the Kora version isn't entirely incompatible with TLA's more than natural version. The dragon turtle initially granted the basics of bending through manipulating a person's spiritual energies, but post dragon turtles people had to learn the craft from observing creatures that had these natural abilities. Bending is a spiritual practice, a martial art, and a personal affinity for an element, so all the dragon turtles or harmonic convergence did was amp up those other parts so people could do it more intuitively.

[@Yourolderbubba]

"Incredibly gifted benders like Azula, Iroh and Ozai" *sad zuko noises*

[@jackalzirson2631]

He is the product of an affair

[@zzedd0501]

@@jackalzirson2631 no he's not. ursa literally says she was trying to get a reaction out of ozai

[@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735]

​@@jackalzirson2631 At the end of the comic, ursa told zuko that whatever she wrote was a lie.

[@keirorin]

I always saw it as genetics decides whether you CAN BEND or not, and spirituality/training decides whether you DO DEVELOP that inherent ability or not. That’s why the Avatar can inherently bend every element, but can’t do it until they consciously learn it.

[@keirorin]

*Likewise, genetic mutations, really far back recessive genes or environmental evolution may grant the exceptions

[@youtubeisstupid1952]

Like how people can be born with the ability to have diabetes(like me) but only certain food choices can activate it? That's actually a really good way of describing it. Good post OP

[@BrullenLive]

I remember when they had the acrobatic girl able to basically shut off bending by like blocking chi in certain points of the body what if genetics determined this in the body whether your chi was capable of flowing correctly or not? Like blood vessels. I could be just remembering this all wrongly however

[@freewind6368]

@@BrullenLive I think she was literally blocking your nerves as well because people couldn’t move right after being chi blocked, and I think that applies to normal people as well, but if not, every bender who was chi blocked couldn’t move correctly or bend, so it could be that chi blocking is not just blocking your bending but nerves(different from permanently closing your chakras, which permanently blocks your bending, chi blocking is temporary)

[@igorcheglakov333]

@@youtubeisstupid1952 You are Diabender Harry

[@PristinePerceptions]

"You don't get a choice in what's canon" - well, there's canon and there's "canon".

[@laartje24]

I still ban the cursed child from being canon and you can't stop me!

[@captainfiri7619]

@@laartje24 Me too! I can write an essay about how people constantly overrating the importance of "the canon" and how we DO get a choice whether something is canon or not. Someday I will. I'm NOT letting Korra/Cursed child/Star wars' sequels/every crappy sequel on Earth ruin my enjoyment of the original.

[@elizabethgouverneur2972]

Captain Fiera still stuff is canon especially when you speak factuality it would be ignoring information

[@laartje24]

@@captainfiri7619 Well spoken. The story we interpret and enjoy is more important than what is technically cannon.

[@captainfiri7619]

@@laartje24 Thanks❤

[@shadowscorner9798]

I noticed that Mako and Bolin both inherited one of their parents bending abilities. Like how Mako got fire bending from their mom and Bolin got earth bending from their father. My theory about that is that if two benders that have different bending abilities have a child it raises the chance of that child to have a being ability. The reason I think this is because instead of having genetics, spirituality, etc from one kind of bending the child would have 2. Let's say one of the parents is a fire bender and the other is a water bender, the child would inherit the genetic and spirituality of both elements but is only able to do one because of either personality or one element happens to be more apparent in the childs genes than the other.

[@isaac_aren]

In the case of Toph, she learned directly from the badgermoles. She likely gained the ability that way. This could also explain how she was capable of inventing metalbending

[@ibrahimvicks8254]

There’s a case to be made that Bolin’s ability to lavabend is due to being an earth bender with a mother from the fire nation.

[@cheesecakelasagna]

What about cases for Sand benders? Were they a subgenre of Earthbenders alongside other element?

[@vision531]

Any earthbender can bend sand, just as any waterbender can bend ice. It's just one of those things.

[@shenyioh6441]

Yknow how water can freeze in water bending? I think it’s just the same thing as that but just melting ;/

[@defsouul3127]

Vision ? but toph wasn't able to see when in the desert so i doubt she could bend

[@vision531]

I don't know if you remember the beach episode, but she made a replica of Ba Sing Se out of sand.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

3:44 "Avatar was always religious propaganda" Avatar IS my religion.

[@ayaduhh]

Lmao- same.

[@royalflush5228]

@Arigato Senpai avatar is an exception

[@nekrouni8497]

Arigato Senpai well technically ATLA is Anime.

[@mr_valor3903]

Jordan Rodriquez what do you mean

[@makchot3263]

@Arigato Senpai avatar is an anime

[@christinefarrell6438]

I wonder if Harmonic Convergence giving Airbending to people was more of a "sometimes it's random, but if you ARE descended from air nomads you probably will get it" kind of deal?

[@mylord4679]

"you can't just say legend of Korra isn't Canon" Watch me

[@s6r8h]

i just like to pretend after aang, there is another avatar who doesnt break the cycle and tried to repopulate the air nomads without the universe simply giving it to random people

[@avish878]

Well you said it but it still happened and the show was created by the creators who make the lore of the series..

[@mylord4679]

@@avish878 I choose to ignore that which is inconvenient to my happiness. Namaste 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@CreeperOnYourHouse]

@@avish878 one of the creators, not both.

[@avish878]

@@CreeperOnYourHouse with the approval of the other creators

[@evo_is_confused]

The return of A Wizard Did It makes me very happy

[@mantisqueen964]

I always smile and have myself a good laugh whenever it happens

[@fairelvenlady]

I was quite happy also!

[@kojoosei7850]

Been way too long lol

[@alanshanelewis]

Love The Simpsons

[@petrsevcik5044]

"A lion turtle wizard literaly did do it" makes me even more happy

[@turtle3527]

“Some people equate bad world building to not knowing everything” *flashback to Tim pointing out that guy on twitter who was really upset with the fact that we had no idea why the war in Howl’s Moving Castle was happening and thought that the movie was bad as a result

[@Rainbowthewindsage]

I mean if he doesn't like that part of the movie, he should just read the book, war is barely in the orginal book.

[@Fyrebrand18]

Pink Buninja Yup.

[@nidohime6233]

That's because the movie barely explained anything on what is going own. On one moment they said the Northen Witch has something agaisnt Howl but doesn't get anywhere, and that high witch of sorts seems to have some kind of deal with him but it wasn't explained either, even there is a part where she says that she created the war for teach Howl something... Being barely based on the book didn't helped either.

[@andrewp6738]

@@nidohime6233 The movie didn't explain anything because it didn't matter. It didn't improve the story.

[@nidohime6233]

@@andrewp6738 Is not like I've asking to have the same story or the movie isn't enjoable to watch, but it was very confusing none the less.

[@Andrew-xv5tf]

Hey, this video helped clarify things I wanted within my own magic system but couldn't find a way to express it concisely in my notes. Thanks for making this video. Plus I'm also obsessed with Avatar so its always great to see these videos :)

[@ForgedinPrint]

I think one of the best ways to have an amazing world is always have an explanation, but some of it's never explained. This leaves a mystery while still allowing the writer to know their own rules and regulations on it.

[@SephonDK]

"Where we're going you won't need any pants!" Ahahahaha omg im dying

[@wafflingmean4477]

"Tenzin inherited airbending." Understatement of the century. Tenzin was the most skilled badass in either show besides Aang or Toph. The guy nearly won a 4v1 against a semi psychic waterbender, a lavabender, a combustion bender and an airbending protege that combined his element into decades of martial training.

[@princessthyemis]

Oh yeah....that fight was pretty epic, I forgot!

[@443TRELL]

No no no 4v1 was too much for him. But 3v1 he would've won.

[@rhettmitchell]

Tyrrell yeah but he held them off for a long ass time

[@Cybo-18]

He would’ve won against Zaheer had he not gotten jumped.

[@coralmaynard4876]

He wasn't even close to winning, what are you talking about? The second that there was more than 1 red lotus member, he was DONE!

[@tspopstar512]

I’m back after months and your enthusiasm for speaking about avatar and fantasy match mind so well and just makes me smile man, keep up the great work!!

[@brodgrouckstonespear1191]

thanks for this video, really enjoyed it. I also loved the background music that was playing too

[@phoenixshadow6633]

“you don’t get a choice in what’s canon or not” Clearly, you have never met enough Star Wars fans who try to outright fight the truth.

[@daanwilmer]

Well if Disney can classify all the books as "legends", then why can't I classify the sequel trilogy as "bullshit"? (only partly sarcastic. I really don't like how the sequels' story came to be.)

[@1sdani]

Or the Protestants who came before them, and the Catholics who came before them, and the Christians who came before them, and the Jewish who came before them

[@wt4629]

1SDAN lol Abrahamic religion doesn’t equal Star Wars

[@1sdani]

@@wt4629 Abrahamic Religions are *the* most famous example of a fanbase disagreeing over the meaning of their texts and whether new books are canon. Also Islam is an Abrahamic religion too and would fit very well into my original message if it weren't for the fact that I was listing the string of schisms in the Abrahamic fanbase and Islam was kind of more of a branch Also, Abrahamic may not be the best name for this situation, as I included Judaism specifically because there may or may not have been a Schism between it and Canaanite belief.

[@1sdani]

@Brennon Beecher Are you talking about Legend of Korra, one or more of the Abrahamic Religions, or all of the above? EDIT: Then again, in the defense of all but Judaism, there's been some really horrible mistranslations and fan theory that've plagued people's understanding of the works. To the point that the New and Old Testament alike never suggest that Satan is a villain, but rather hints that he's YHWH's most trusted prosecutor.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

Earthbending probably has an interesting spiritual side; toph could project her earthbending sight through interconnected plant networks by her -old- ripened age; imagine the spiritual prodigy the next earth avatar might be. A spirit portal right next door, and theoretically a calm, patient demeanor, if you accept the theory that each avatar has traits that counteract the last one's regrets. Aang's regret of running away from his people translating to korra's headstrong refusal to back down. What is Korra's greatest regret? Letting the avatar cycle/ connection with the past end. It haunts her as she recovers from the metal poison. I think the next Avatar will be a seemingly paradoxically calm, and patient earthbender. Calmness seems unrepresentative of earthbenders, but remember; "Earthbending is about waiting, and listening" (Earth King Bumi) If a relaxed, calm, patient earth avatar comes about, raised almost adjacent to a spirit portal, who knows what spiritual earthbending he/she/they might invent.

[@peterparker8462]

Oh, I really like that theory! Too bad it will probably never happen. However, couldn't you argue that Toph's apparent spiritual abilities are more due to the tree itself? Then again perhaps connecting to it is what counts?

[@xohgnoshebhn]

WOW THATS AN AMAZING THEORY ❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏👏🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@ividboy7616]

Seems weird though that Roku's greatest regret is that he didn't off Sozin when he needed to since he was a friend, and yet the next avatar is a pacifist.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@ividboy7616 Roku's greatest regret was not being wise enough to see what was happening. Aang was intuitive from the beginning.

[@maem7462]

I love that idea

[@zayaweight9579]

that quote at the end hit hard man, I got full body goosebumps & even teared up a bit, what a wonderful thing

[@Yellowgamer-ss1hr]

I have a theory that explains how Aang grandchildren are a combination of all 4 elements we already know that Aang grandchildren have air and water in them from Aang and Katara’s son Tenzin, but their mom Pema is the daughter of ty lee. (which you can search up). Ty lee was from the fire nation, then all we need is earth, my theory is that ty lee married a person for the earth kingdom. One thing that proves this is at the end of avatar the last air bender we see her join the Kyoshi warriors so they most likely went back to the earth kingdom. This explains how all four of Aang grandchildren have all the different eye colors from each nation. Jinora has brown for fire, ikki has grey for air, meelo has blue for water, and Rohan has green for earth.

[@spacegay9309]

"Where we're going we don't need any pants!" hits differently now

[@danieltilson4053]

It's funny even in the show, as they land on the island full of beautiful warrior women. Though Aang didn't consciously know that.

[@Triumph263]

@@danieltilson4053 But his past life would have known meaning he may have unconsciously known thus meaning it was no accident.

[@gaara4667]

Triumph263 🌚🌚🌚

[@emimimimimimimi]

"No, fire lord ozai. yOU'RE not wearing pants"

[@theresachacon1122]

@@emimimimimimimi "MY ROYAL PARTS ARE SHOWING!"

[@manicmechanic28]

Coincidence that he released this video the day the Avatar writers announced they had left the production of the live action ATLA? Thanks for making this day easier on us

[@Electru522]

Is that good news or bad news? Also, where did you hear this?

[@manicmechanic28]

@@Electru522 It's definitely bad news. And Mike DiMartino himself made an announcement.

[@manicmechanic28]

@@Electru522 www.michaeldantedimartino.com/an-open-letter-to-avatar-the-last-airbender-fans/

[@wreckitremy]

Could have been posted today because LoK is up on netflix today

[@fatimaansari744]

Wh-wha-?

[@cornman8728]

I view bending as a bit more of a genetic thing, like how it’s passed down through the years. And then the power is amplified by energy from the spiritual aspects. So zaheer could have that recessive gene from a great great great great great great grandparent who was an air nomad, and had the spirituality down, but never had the energy to let him do it. That’s why i think he was so good at airbending right out of the gate. Same thing but opposite with bumi, he had the energy and genes but not the spirituality, where tenzin and kya had all three.

[@emmetthowell899]

It's such a small thing but I love the arrows tim included when reading the big block of text at 9:07 because I have dyslexia and weak eyes so i was actually able to follow what he was reading

[@dragoncat3499]

“You can’t say LoK isn’t cannon for you.” *laughs in Harry Potter*

[@f_f_f_8142]

Are you talking about the Fantastic Beasts movies, the cursed child or Rowlings Twitter?

[@dragoncat3499]

F_F_F_ All of it

[@user-pm2zv9fs5r]

@@f_f_f_8142 Rowling? who's that?

[@petrsevcik5044]

@@dragoncat3499 Movies are not cannon to the books basicaly by definition and so is twitter. As for The Cursed child, I don't know much about it (only that it exists), so I can't say.

[@_somerandomguyontheinternet_]

Petr Ševčík I consider Harry Potter to have two canons. The first includes books 1-7, the other movies 1-8. The other works are where things get tricky. Fantastic Beasts is canon to the movies by virtue of being one, but it is based of the fact that Newt Scamander wrote the Fantastic Beasts book that is canon to the novels. Therefore, I would expect that Fantastic Beasts and its events are canon to both the books and the movies until otherwise indicated. As for the Cursed Child, it is neither a novel nor a movie, so again I would expect it to be canon to both until otherwise indicated.

[@caitwebb]

I have a head cannon where every time a air nomad makes a non bender they yeet the baby off the cliff

[@Sammyoed]

i bet they do that with every baby to see which ones fly

[@OneLastNerd]

So they're Spartans?

[@nevergivingup3434]

@Caitlin, the airbenders are pacifists and vegetarian so I think your theory's got some holes.

[@dasnogood2051]

Mine is that every nation can have air benders, so when a baby shows air bending they just come in "yea, that kid belongs to us now 🤷"

[@yummydragon8533]

naw, all air nomads are air benders, Guru Pathik is not an air nomad... Plus, airbenders are pacifist and vegetarian...

[@joshdunne8792]

"The Air nomads were known for their entire population being benders. Not due to any vigorous eugenics.. *that we know of* .. WE WILL CREATE A PURE AIR NOMAD RACE" Caught me off guard 😂😂😂

[@kofiopam5828]

I just want to praise you again for your writing skill, Tim! That last line gave me chills. "When we wonder about these questions, there's something left in that gap - wonder."

[@kidagirl99]

That last quote was just. Perfect. I miss wonder in our media and art. I miss it in our lives. It's such a beautiful thing.

[@rat-wc7wj]

This is from like 19 seconds ago wahhhh?

[@7thouzad]

@@rat-wc7wj she / he has early access

[@Nalon.1242]

23 hours = 28 mins

[@tornadochaser2457]

...not as beautiful as the snow.

[@revan0890]

I wonder why you feel this way?

[@adsfornothing3146]

It's always good to surprise me with my favourite franchise in a video about my other favourite franchise.

[@TheRazeryan]

This is a great piece of content dude! Found it randomly. I will do what I can to increase algorithm support. I love the edits. My favorite is the cut of Aang saying"you won't need pants" 🤣🤣🤣

[@potatoheadpokemario1931]

Honestly Air benders coming from the harmonic convergence being descendant of airbender from before the genocide is entirely possible as Bumi, Aang's son was one person who got that power, and Avatar Kyoshi is the daughter of an airbender so it's possible others air nomads left the order too

[@homanism6438]

So it's like mutation in X-men? When korra open the spirit world, it activated the gen of Air Bender?

[@harbingerofsarcasm2510]

Toph is also a very spiritual earth bender by The Legend of Korra. She taps into the vines which represent the spiritual aspect of the earth.

[@fabiangutierrez148]

She also learnt from the badger moles (I think they were called like that)

[@fabiangutierrez148]

Ronny Jr nah I know, I referred to bending ways, so maybe learning from them could’ve done something like zuko with dragons,

[@loturzelrestaurant]

"You cant just say Legend of Korra aint Canon; it is." Nah, buddy, i think theres lots of Reasons to diffienciate it so much that 'non-canoN' is worth arguing about. I dont take it as Canon and i do have valid reasons for that.

[@aarkproductions]

The ending to this video is both well thought out and yet Slightly eery, I love your take on how we perceive the unknown

[@Commander_Appo]

Conspiracy theory I thought of last night: What if there are no non-benders, and that “non-benders” can just bend elements that haven’t been discovered/known to be bendable. Like, maybe Sokka is a plastic bender.

[@lordtigress1270]

Tim: "A WIZ--" Me: *is already bobbing my head intensely*

[@DarkKing009]

Tenzin had like 4 small children so no he is not relaxed. And the second becomes the second founder of his Nation and Society.

[@tipsy634]

...you mean the first? Jinora is the eldest.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

It is possible to have small children and be relaxed. We can see him flip from relaxed and meditative to my child just entered the area.

[@Matj1804]

I really love your channel ❤️ and all the knowledge that I learn from you

[@quietwolf644]

I remember waaay back while the third season of ATLA was airing someone asked how bending was inherited and the answer was "a mix of genetics, spirituality and geographic location" and that it WAS possible for very spiritual people living in the right place to spontaneously gain bending

[@emorybriddell9909]

Now we need to breed lions with turtles so we can gain the ability to bend

[@coagulatedsalts4711]

i'm down for that, i'm studyingt o be a genetic engineer so catch me 5 years down the line with a lion turtle and the abilities of an avatar.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@coagulatedsalts4711 it needs a brain larger than an entire elephant, at maturity. Large as an underground cavern, larger than a house. Perhaps you should take a side of neuroscience as well.

[@YOSSARIAN313]

@@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606 lion turtles are low key gods

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@YOSSARIAN313 yep.

[@gavinforsyth7240]

And make it godzilla sized.

[@evo_is_confused]

Using a dog for likes? That is sneaky.

[@sethkeown5965]

And effective!

[@ceci9570]

That dog is soooooooo cute.

[@seandabest4329]

It's the perfect trap! You see it from a mile away, but that only makes you run into it faster.

[@WanderingWriter]

What happened to Mishka?

[@sethkeown5965]

@@WanderingWriter she died a number of months ago

[@apollon6870]

reminds me on the rules in harry potter were muggles gave birth to magics, another interesting question is, can non benders became fire lord?

[@bananabanana484]

I think that the epigenetics explanation makes sense, as some people have said. Individuals who grew in different areas would develop bending associated with their surrounding.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

My Theory: What matters is Chi. Your chi is flavored by actions, environment and mindset. Also from whoever was a parent of you. If you have a big enough chi, or chi flavored a certain way, you can learn to use it for bending. And the more development you go through, the bigger Chi you get. Just so happens you do that through personal growth, mental work and experience with the spiritual, as well as understanding of the spiritual.

[@CheezyQq]

So do you think that the lion turtles were giving those people a lot of chi or giving them more flavoring and would you say aang stole a lot of the fire lords chi.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

@@CheezyQq Yeah basically: The lion turtles either provided the necessary early boosts of Chi to give people bending, or shaped the Chi to make it amenable to bending. What Aang would have done was either remove Chi, or make it less able to bend. Which theoretically means that Ozai could have gotten around his block on firebending much like we see Korra do so with her other 3 elements after being bloodbended on. Also, why can Bloodbending fuck up your bending? Cause its literally a person forcing your blood through your veins to move in specific ways, and potentially even forming blood clots in specific places. Blood and Chi had connections in the myths that feature Chi, and quite frankly I think we'd All be traumatized after experiencing something like Bloodbending, which would shape our Chi to be less balanced towards a particular element. Why can't people learn more than one element? Cause the average human doesn't have enough Chi to hold more than one element inside it. Why can some people seem to control their elements in specialized ways, and some even learn to do so? Their Chi is either strong enough to start becoming multifaceted (if not a dual bender yet) or they are manifesting a particular form of their Element in their Chi. This is also why I think Bolin was able to magmabend: He had the passion of a firebender, but the stubbornness of an earthbender being the foundation of that passion. Plus, his dad was a fire-national, and fire-nationals are obviously predisposed to having more fiery Chi since their benders were around to have kids and therefore shape their kid's Chi, or because they were around to teach the people who needed some instruction to make the jump to a powerful/aligned enough Chi to bend.

[@Ghost_with_Bow]

That's such a cool theory

[@HayatoByakurai]

@@ShadaOfAllThings Bolin's father was actually not from the Fire Nation.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

@@HayatoByakurai okay but he was still descended from fire-nationals wasn't he?

[@Sheuto]

To sum things up ATLA: It's genetic/hereditary LOK: The wizard did it Overal Score: Wibbly Wobbly Bendy Wendy

[@botflyguy7814]

Great video! But that very last part with the dog reminded me of that one scene in the fortune teller episode when a character was like "Can science explain why it rains?!"

[@drawingkupfer6967]

The title got me hooked and now I have high expectations. We will see. Awwww there is a dog. You convinced me. I‘m gonna watch all your avatar videos.

[@slightlyembittered]

Personally, I like the idea that LOK airbenders were descendants of past airbenders, purely because it sounds better than A COSMIC WIZARD DID IT. (Fantastic 4 style)

[@matthewleisure6710]

That’s been my head canon for a while as well.

[@skair5425]

It doesn't make sense though, because the Air Nomads were monks, right?

[@matthewleisure6710]

Gagan Umesha if by that you mean that they were celibate, they definitely weren’t. That’s an aspect of real life monks that wasn’t adapted into the Avatar universe. If that were the case, the Airbenders would have died out centuries before the show started at most.

[@erickmoczulski1582]

@@skair5425 Yes but they made kids. They were just rise by volective and not by thier patents.

[@skair5425]

@@matthewleisure6710 I see. I thought they were celibate. How do we know this? I never saw any female monks in the flashbacks, either.

[@HVLLOWS1999]

"Now I hope that you can see that all elements have their own strengths and weaknesses... but FIRE is the best." - Uncle Iroh

[@jmarcus0101]

Hey, Zuko here

[@no_i_dont_want_no_slugs]

I think the "wizard did it" is the best answer. It's soft worldbending, it's more a magical power thing. There's no science-understanding it, just feeling it off pure vibes.

[@YayaAniNbek]

You forgot the original benders like the sky bisons, dragons and badgermoles. you could learn bending from them to

[@NobodyXChallengerYT]

There’s so much chaotic energy in this video, I like it

[@that1blindkid146]

Why would Azulon marry his at the time non-heir son to the avatar’s granddaughter for strong children?

[@LynzArts]

maybe iroh was already married

[@margauxvirra]

I think that’s the point the grandchildren of the avatar would never be the rulers but would contribute to the strength of the fire nation with great bending abilities

[@rhinoceros2469]

He might not have known about ursa before iroh married

[@rhinoceros2469]

Brennon Beecher that’s actually wild. But they were first cousins.

[@Daesma999]

who knows.. maybe because she's Roku's granddaughter, so.. some genetics could get into the next generation

[@Pinetar10]

You are very intelligent and an excellent researcher. Keep up the great work

[@CShellStudio]

3 years late, but listened to the entire outro. Great track!

[@Jolamprex]

New Zealander: “My fellow Americans”

[@Banana_Zach]

All countries are just not American states yet.

[@plasmawolf7960]

“It is not your blood that makes you a true son of America, but the blood you are willing to spill to defend her!” -Donald Stormcloak

[@joshuamanjarrez6321]

Every English-speaking country will br part in of America, the question it is not how but when.

[@powerist209]

Except Stormcloak had good reason for that cloak if you are trying to be topical. Like a group of Elf Nazis trying to ban your religion (Also implying that Talos proofing out as god would destroy the world), and Empire’s major disappointment of losing a war while the breakaway (Or giveaway) province of Redguards managed to fight them.

[@jaymiecooper8340]

We perfer "kiwi" or "better than Australia " not new zealander that sounds dumb

[@matsw6863]

Technically u could interpret the lion turtles just bending the energy within the humans and therefore unlocking their chakras so they could use their genetic element and then locking it again when they came back the humans simply thought they gave it to them while it was actually already within them

[@weirdchris3560]

I like this theory. Hell, we've seen with tLoK that once someone's bending is taken away, it could be given back as well. What if we could take that a step further and give bending to select non benders that have the Genes and the appropriate personality? I almost said something about Sokka but now that I think about it Idk if he'd have the right personality, but what if?

[@Rawteeth]

Punctuation, please.

[@cheesecakelasagna]

I support this theory!

[@Blueslyfox]

Well this is cant be considering it was shown different lion turtles had different elements which is why they yielded different elements to Wan

[@matsw6863]

The lion turtles didnt necessarily know that he was the avatar and they just unlocked the chakra for the element their citizens used

[@RoxasOnSummerVacation]

Any decendant with a bender in their ancestry has the ability to develop bending skills since the lion turtles gave the ability to do bending to humans. The only issue is if they learn it or not. It's possible but hard to do without extreme dedication. It came easier for the earliest benders because they had creatures connected with the spirit world teach them. The earthbenders had the badgermoles, the firebenders had dragons, the airbenders had flying bison, and the water tribe had the ocean and moon spirits. Each of these creatures can bend. Zaheer was able to teach himself airbending with dedication just by studying. I feel like what type of bender you are isn't entirely up to your nation or blood. The only reason the benders have different abilities is because of the creatures that taught them only knowing that ability. I honestly believe that you could teach yourself multiple bending types if you're spiritually tuned enough and become essentially an Avatar just without the Avatar state and the ability to travel between the spirit world. This would also be a cool inclusion in a future story where someone does this and pretends to be the Avatar.

[@rinthewolf]

I always thought of bending as heriditary spirits. Like the Lionturtles were imparting part of their own spirit on the humans, and that little chunk of a soul now travels down the family line looking for people who fit whatever criteria it has for them to be a bender. It can sometimes split apart to make multiple,, slightly weaker benders, but there is a limit. That's why mixing bloodlines can cause powerful benders like Toph. She has several little soul fragments that were laying dormant in her family until they all met up and said "Yes, this girl would make a great bender" and combined into a more powerful bender ability. This would also explain all the new airbenders during the convergence. The small pieces of airbender spirit that had been too weak to make benders suddenly got a dose of power. This let them suddenly be able to cause the small changes needed to let them bend. Like trying to light a fire with an empty lighter, then suddenly remembering to refill it. Of corse, this would also mean that there would be a finite number of possible benders, at least until someone meets a lionturtle again, which could totally happen after Kora left the worlds connected.

[@c.smidgeon2847]

Because, just remember: when we wonder about these questions, there’s something left in that gap - A giant turtle wizard.

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

A giant turtle wizard who did it.

[@ProfessorZoom2140]

The lion turtles didn't grant people "bending", they gave them "an element", their is a difference.. Bending is a form of martial art that the people learned later on from the first benders. Notice how they were just throwing small flames at each other without any rhyme or reason before they learned bending. It is only later on that people started using the word "bending" for both the basic ability to manipulate an element and the martial art. The beginnings episodes show us where did the ability to manipulate an element came from in the first place. In my opinion, the harmonic convergence simply balanced out the elements, it busted the air bending energy since there were only about 5 of them before hand. And I like how random it was, the people who received air bending I mean, some of them are related to air benders like Bumi, others are just very spiritual like Zaheer and obviously all the others. It's random but also consistent with the mysterious nature of bending as mentioned in the video.

[@Louielasorsa1]

This is false .. in the OG avatar the bending came from learning from dragons,the air bison , badger moles, and the ocean/moon. The lion turtles was lazy writing ... Rava being that avatar state makes nooo sense “The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body.” -Avatar Roku ... you can’t change the storyline just for lazy writing . Korra is terrible because Aaron Ehasz wasn’t there to tell them how bad their idea was ... he is the head writer of the OG avatar .. Thanks to him the OG avatar is a Classic .

[@ProfessorZoom2140]

@@Louielasorsa1 I don't agree.. Just because they added stuff to the mythos doesn't mean it's contradictory to the OG avatar, I'll explain why. -Rave technically being the avatar state makes a lot of sense. Roku said that the avatar state is designed to empower the avatar with the knowledge and skills of the previous avatars. Think of Rava as a sort of a hard drive that contains all the previous avatars and all the elements. The glow is the combination of all of the avatars past lives, and they're channeling their energy to the body THROUGH RAVA. Rava is the connective tissue. It explains why it's forbidden for the avatar to die while in the avatar state, because then Rava is in the forefront, if she's gone then the avatar will not reincarnate. Why do you think Korra lost her connection to the past avatars after Unalaq destroyed the original Rava? Because all her previous lifes were connected to the first rava, the new one is a clean slate. Nowadays Korra simply receives a power boost from Rava and that's it..she doesn't even has the freaky voice.. -And now about the bending, the original benders are the dragons, moon, badgermoles and sky bisons, that is correct. But when Yue (for example) tells how their people learned waterbending from the moon, that's just the history of their tribe.. Those are fact, but they're flat surface.. The events of "beginnings" took place WAY before the formation of the 4 nations, it's obvious they wouldn't know that the ability to control an element came from the lion turtles...it's called "lost history". In the avatar finale, the lion turtle told Aang how before the avatars they used to energibend, and then we see Aang literally using the same technique on Ozai that lion turtle used in the past to give and take elements.. it's all connected. A non bender wouldn't have been able to learn waterbending just by staring at the moon.. because he lacks the ability to manipulate water in the first place. The legend of Korra isn't perfect, and if you don't like it that's one thing.. but saying it had lazy writing is kinda unfair..a lot of care and hard work went to it.

[@Louielasorsa1]

professor zoom 21 Saying the creators changed everything to fit the Rava episodes when originally Rava never existed ... it was writing that has so many contradictions from the original Avatar . Especially when the Fishes in the northern water tribe were suppose to be the original “yin and Yang “ as ko the face stealer one the oldest spirit said . And why would roku mention Rava to ang since he should already know about Rava ... yin and yang are suppose to balance each other not fight each other’s as the fish swimmed in circles balancing each other because one cannot work without the other .... Rava and vattuu literally live with out one another for 10,000 years ... Rava was literally just added to make some content even tho it contradicts the og avatar .... just like many things in korra blood bending without the moon ... lava bending which make no sense ..... 70 years later technology tremendously increase just because on of the writter had a hard on for 1920 New York era. Amon taking bendning away from blood bending but a blood bender can’t unblock .... Lazy writing in the sense they didn’t if it contradicted from the OG avatar, Korra had potential but without Arron ehasz made sense that it went to shit . I’m glad Netflix kicked the writers off the only thing they were for was the concept of avatar but story telling they are not gifted

[@ProfessorZoom2140]

@@Louielasorsa1 Most of your problems with TLOK are nitpicks at best and are really easley explainable. - I'm sure you heard of the term "the avatar spirit", well, Rava IS the avatar spirit, she was mentioned back in the OG avatar, just not by name, what they did in TLOK is just giving the avatar spirit a name and a backstory. The reason nobody knew her actuall name is because Wan was the only avatar who knew her personally, it seems that the avatars learn her name after they die or if there's a special reasons they need to learn it, like in korra's case. - The fishes are not the spirits of yin and yang, they're are the spirits of the moon and ocean respectively, same goes for Rava and Vaatu, they are the spirits of light and darkness respectively, "yin and yang" is a very broad term and it stands for many things: Light and dark, life and death, push and pull, good and evil. The fishes are representing only one of the "yin and yang" aspects, and I'm positive that they are more spirits that represent the other aspects like Rava and vaatu for example. The face stealer just used that term so Aang could understand the whole concept of duality and how the fishes can't live without each other. And yes, Rava and Vaatu got separated, creating an imbalance in the world, WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE FIRST AVATAR. - I don't understand what's the problem with Amon being able to bloodbend without the full moon...it was established that in the avatar universe some people are born with unique bending abilities, it's rare but it happens, it's not even that special, Amon's bending is simply strong enough to not need the aiding of the full moon, in the OG avatar we had a guy who could firebend with his mind for crying out loud.. And nobody complained about that... And what's wrong with lavabending? ..we literally see it in the opening of the OG avatar, toph said that this ability is rare and it is! The reason the avatar can use it is because it's a combination of fire and earth bending, the reason Bolin can use it is probably because he had earth and fire bending genes, which was very uncommon during the war. Also changing the temperature of an element is something every bender can do, in Bolin's case, thanks to his firebending genes he can heat up the earth to such a degree that it turns to lava. - Technology spiking after after 70 years is crazy to you? ..Ever heard about the "Industrial Revolution"? Not to mention that in the OG avatar they already had air blimps, steam powered ships, tanks and giant drills..in the comics they're even using forklifts, the technology was already there. Also, republics city isn't New York, it's actually based on 1920's Shanghai. there are a few concepts taken from the US tho, like the fact that people from all nations live there together and Aang's statue resembling the statue of liberty..but that's really it..and who cares? I really don't understand what's the big deal, it's a FANTASY world dude.. Just because Arron ehasz wasn't one of the writers on the show doesn't make it automatically bad, the creators of the show are very talented and they wrote some of the best episodes from both shows. If you don't like TLOK that's totally fine, heck, I have my own issues with it sometimes, it's obviously not perfect.. But as I said before saying it just had lazy writing is really unfair.. I suggest not to watch these dumb rant videos since they never give solid criticisms and only crying about how it wasn't just a rehash of avatar.

[@rebeccaearley6917]

@@ProfessorZoom2140 I agree with everything! except lava bending isn't a fire+earth ability, it's just a rare thing that some earth benders can do. lava is molten rock, it's not fire it's just really really hot earth

[@toastcrunch3728]

I like to think that the lion turtles didn't grant bending, but rather opened people's spirits to nature

[@vutthefrog8871]

love these videos

[@Enuelle]

I actually loved the story of the first avatar. It makes perfect sense, someone ho lives in the moment, was a free spirit, sly/cunning like a fox, understood the state of the human world and had empathy. He was a very noble yet grounded character and sometimes simple is charming and vice versa.

[@Shadamyfan-rs8xc]

I like Wan too ☺️

[@nestormendoza9708]

"a wizard did it" (ta, taatarara taa) is the solid stuff why i always comback, keep pointing at great things that a wizard did please

[@ollie2111]

Same. Its my favorite lil Tim meme. I want him to post a long version of the Wizard did it quote just as a video by itself cause we enjoy it (even one of those silly 8 hr compilation loop things for fun)

[@nestormendoza9708]

@@ollie2111 i would hear the s*** out of "a wizard did it" song, Tim! Please make it happen

[@ollie2111]

@@nestormendoza9708 right?! :D

[@ollie2111]

@@nestormendoza9708 hey wait I found one! Of course it doesn't have "a wizard did it!" just the music 🎶. Hahaha kzbin.info/www/bejne/ema1gpR9rZhsatU

[@nestormendoza9708]

@@ollie2111 it's a great place to start, but that's just 50% of the greatness, we could have 30 hours if "a wizard did it" it's included. It's rigth there for the taking.

[@Rocketsnail1000]

I always thought that it would make sense if the children of an avatar had the possibility of inheriting any of the four elements

[@qwertyasdfghzxcvb8012]

I fight with everyone on this, but I hate the idea of bending being more or less powerfull in people. I think ATLA did a great job of showing its a matter of skill and experience, not who your parents were. The royals were powerfull because they went to some fancy schools and had great teachers ( like Mae and Tylee )

[@TobiasFangorIsntCis]

Toph said she learned earthbending from the badgermoles, so maybe living with so many air bison contributed to the high percentage of benders among the Air Nomads?

[@comicfan1939]

Question: If bending is something a non-bender can simply learn by observing and learning from animals/spirits, why didn't Fire Lord Sozin have all the non-bender fire nation citizens learn fron dragons in order to strengthen his army? Instead he started the tradition of hunting them for sport. People bash LOK lore because they think it "ruined" "ATLA" lore of benders leaning bending from animals/spirits when thats not true. In the LOk we see that although the lion turtles gave humans the power of the elements, they still learnes the Art of bending from the animals/spirits. This can be seen when Wan, the first Avatar, is seen doing the dancing dragon with a dragon in the spirit wilds. There are definitely flaws in LOK and overall I do prefer ATLA but I just feel some people are way too hard on it. I once saw a comment saying LOK was worse than the The Last Airbender live action movie. LOK is flawed for sure but the amount of hate it gets is just hyperbolic at this point.

[@princessthyemis]

Actually that's an EXCELLENT point. But I seem to remember the fire sages in The Firebending Masters saying dragons were rare or hunted to almost extinction and iron spared the last one, so raising an army that way would have spoiled the secret. But then again, it's an excellent question. But then again...wonder.

[@13KuriMaster]

Super Cartlin Brothers actually posted a video explaining there theory as to why The dragons were hunted down. The short answer is that that he didn't want the Avatar to become a fully realized one by taking away his options to learn fire bending.

[@_kalia]

It's also possible they restricted access to the dragons to a particular group (as a sport of the warrior class) in order to restrict the more powerful bending of the dragons to that class, while keeping 'regular' firebending for the army and the masses, so that those in charge would always be the most powerful firebenders (and thus *obviously* be the rightful leaders).

[@lollalofi3933]

imbatman you forget one thing.A lion turtle gave aang the ability to energy bend

[@petrsevcik5044]

With the exception of Toph, we only have legends about people learning bending from these "original benders" and Toph is one of the most powerful/talented earth benders ever, which leads me to believe it's not something just anyone can do. Also there's no evidence that those people didn't have a "potential for bending", meaning they couldn't learn from a human teacher, if they had one, or in other words that they realy were non-benders. LoK is definitely nowhere near as bad as TLA movie. It's ok at least, it just looks realy bad in comparison.

[@ninjay204]

I havent watched this channel in a while, then my friend sent me this video, now I gotta get caught up

[@DeeFig66]

Yeah... I doubt personality really effects bending potential since Boomy (Aang's eldest) is loose and adventurous personality-wise, especially compared to Tenzin. If that's true, it should have gone naturally to Boomy first.

[@LionlordEbonfire]

Genes make it more likely, culture makes it more likely, learning a mindset makes it more likely and having a compatible personality (mentally and Spiritually) makes it more likely. It is never certain but it just could be more likely or more powerful if it happens. And in that case things like the convergence may have been a booster shot that gave those that were just not getting it one more shot at it. But anyone could have it.

[@MrShadowThief]

I mean, spiritual energy (chi) is clearly a resource that exists inside a persons body and allows them to bend. I can't see why the harmonic convergence helped create new benders as a surge of chi in the world.

[@ollie2111]

Yes Harmonic convergence *no*

[@LionlordEbonfire]

Malpighia emarginata Chi is an eastern concept that says that it is a part of all things. Chi may be a “power source” of bending but not the ability *to bend*.

[@MrShadowThief]

​@@LionlordEbonfire what's the difference

[@friend_trilobot]

Best explanation. And shows the problem with so many critiques of lore - they deal only in absolutes. (They are sith.)

[@austinblades8903]

trust me you don't want a solid, definite answer as to where bending comes from, ask star wars fans

[@the11382]

I agree. I think they made bending too materialistic in Korra. They could use the spiritual component more. Earth is materialistic sure, but even earth has spiritualistic components. You could argue that earth is the element of connection, similar to how old Toph in Korra says she can see the whole world from her seismic sense.

[@gabrielreed1096]

The "Beginnings" episodes of LoK was like a 46 minute explanation of Midichlorians.

[@elizabethgouverneur2972]

GabrielReed except it actually makes sense and fits with the story

[@gabrielreed1096]

@@elizabethgouverneur2972 No it doesn't. They retconned the how people learned bending. Originally, people learned bending by studying the sky bison, badger moles, dragons, ocean and moon. In the "Beginnings Episode", the Lion Turtles gave bending to humans and took it away whenever they ventured into the wild and returned. They also retconned energy bending. The Lion Turtle told Aang that in the era before the Avatar, mankind bended the energy within themselves, not the elements. In "Beginnings", mankind was bending the elements before the Avatar arrived. They also introduced the spirit Rava. Now, instead of the Avatar being a human, and therefore fallible, the Avatar is basically a God. The spirit of goodness and order is fused with the Avatar. The Avatar can literally do no wrong when in the Avatar State. They are morally infallible by the standards of their own universe. Another retcon was the origin of the spirit world. Avatar Roku, when speaking to Aang told him that Tui and La ( Moon and Ocean Spirits) crossed over into the human world near the beginning, implying that the spirit world and human world have always existed separately since the beginning of time. "Beginnings" retconned this into the worlds only being separated for 10,000 years, having existed as a single world before then . Lastly, they retconned dark spirits. Originally, spirits were corrupted when the environment was damaged, or they were somehow wronged by mankind. In this episode, spirits become objectively evil whenever Vatuu influences them. The show created an objective evil in Vatuu, and an Objective good in Ravaa (and the Avatar since they are one). This episode robbed the world of Avatar of a lot of it's nuance. It's the equivalent of a whole Star Wars movie dedicated to explaining midichlorians, the origins of midichlorians, the origin of the force, and how the Jedi were chosen by the objective force of goodness and peace to uphold order in the universe.

[@meo8414]

GabrielReed One thing I’m still confused on is, if these animals taught people how to bend, why are there non benders? Shouldn’t it be as easy to just LEARN bending? I’ve had this question since ATLA and I feel I got a better answer in Korra. I also liked how Korra gave more of a background with the first Avatar (I was getting really bored of Aang)

[@AnnabelleAndBensAntics]

I've been binge watching your videos lately and LOVE them however may I ask what has happened to mishka the great and powerful cat who rules all things?

[@novaq3632]

What I’ve always been confused about is they talk about the dragons, koi, air bison, and badgermoles being the first benders but the little were the first in Korra? Is that just like a they don’t know definitively at the time of atla?

[@mon0lithic629]

I actually read the title as "Is Bending Generic?" and wanted to watch the video about that, but oh well

[@magmarok8209]

Lmao same

[@ondatracze4582]

Answer: no

[@rafaela00002]

Same 😂

[@zombiedemon1762]

@Magmarok. Are the lion turtles genetic? They look alive but not flesh and blood.

[@Celestia282]

I mean, in a way, it is. Doesn't get more generic than element powers. On the other hand, the intrinsic philosophy and spirituality gives it a new spin that makes it truly unique among the various magic systems in fantasy. So, it's both.

[@colinthomas5836]

I think whether you get bending or not and how powerful you are (in terms of your potential) is like rolling a dice but you can increase the odds by doing the things mentioned in the video

[@jacobspath1641]

I always assumed it was a gene that everyone had, but the spirituality decides if that gene manifests, which is why the air nomads have the most benders and the Earth Kingdoms have the least.

[@makkoi4478]

The creator: people need to “wonder” about the magic system and world bending. Same person: GIAnT tUrTlE gIvE pOwER

[@eggsnspam]

no... more like: The creator: people need to “wonder” about the magic system and world bending. Same person: Season 2 Avatar Wan episodes of TLOK

[@0927kira]

a giant turtle literally gave aang powers

[@ivanlagrana878]

Creator: Giant Turtle give Bending Power Same Person: ENERGY EXPLOSION GO BRRR, Now there's more Airbenders because yes, and only airbenders to look more suspicious