The Secret Earthbending Ability Nobody Talks About
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2023
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Tim
What's a new bending ability you think they should add??
~ Tim
Idk 😐. Maybe something NSFW.😏
I would like to see more of the fire fortune telling, I also think some micro-lightning therapy or something
hey we already have bloodbending@@pyeitme508
@@HelloFutureMeyour avatar videos are AMAZING!
Maybe something like smoke bending or gas bending as a branch of air bending focused on assassination or support?
Her 230 year lifespan is/was definitely just a continuity error, but I fully support them doubling down on it and saying no y'know what, yeah, she's literally immortal cuz she's just THAT badass.
I remember there was an avatar game on the nickelodeon website where aang has to escape the spirit world and facts about previous avatars woukd show up and Kyoshi's fact was that syes the longest lived avatar and dued at 230
It super works!
@@raydonahue8304I remember playing a bunch of those Nick games on ATLA and LOK. Would spend forever playing those games. Wish i could still play them see if they were actually good or I was just a kid having fun
It's not, Kyoshi was always said to have 200+ yrs old
@@BobectorGamesBobectorthere are a lot of nickelodeon and cartoon Network games I wish I could still play. The old games were so good.
I like the idea that Kyoshi at 230 decides she wanted to change. She willed herself to flow onwards from her stagnation. But in doing so, those 230 years of life caught up with her and she died just as she decided to truly live.
Well, she did live- just as another person, another Avatar, Roku
I think if you have willed yourself to live for 230 years just to see that the war for balance is never going to be won, you just have to admit that it might be someone else's turn.
@@IAmTheAce5 Rose Quartz move, really.
I prefer to think that Kyoshi decided to die, because she has lived for too long
@@IAmTheAce5wrong
I like to think that Kioshi not just *die*, but she made a whole big sacred ceremony while her body disintegrated in ashes through Kioshi's Island because she is a badass
"Alright, everyone! I'm leaving; so bye, all!" >self-emolates
Dude, her name is in the title, how'd you spell it wrong?
"My time has come" *turns into flower petals*
Oogway moment
No, she is the statue on Kyoshi Island.
I remember doing calculations based on what we see of past Avatars in the Air Bender temple, and taking the ten thousand years of the Harmonic Convergence cycle as literal, to show that the average lifespan of an Avatar was under 50 years - suggesting they usually die violent deaths.
Makes sense i guess. Being expected to travel the world alone is dangerous and difficult. Add in that they are traveling to maintain peacecand balance and its a miracle they get to 50 without being killed by something dangerous they fight.
@@colonagray2454 Or assassinated. Lest we forget that Aang's head was wanted on a platter for basically his entire series, and the assassination attempt(s) made on Korra as well.
The Avatar is the most powerful and famous person in the world. They have many allies, but just as many enemies who would see them dead. The Avatar is the friend of every lawful citizen and the bane of anyone with grand plans.
10,000 is also the chinese (?) word for 'a long time' so don't need to take it too literally, much like wan shi ton, he who knows 10,000 things, it's meant to mean a sort of uncountable amount.
@@hitchikerspie If you don't take the ten thousand years literally, estimating based on real-world pre-history would put the earliest cities at... about ten thousand years ago. Structures that have been continuously occupied (like the air temple with the statue room) only go back about five thousand years.
Of course, it's also possible to argue that the active presence of spirits, the existence of Bending and the activities of the Avatar between them caused development to run more slowly in the Avatar world, making it significantly more than ten thousand years since the last harmonic convergence.
That would still leave the question of how far back the line of Avatar statues actually goes - is every Avatar back to Wan present (and do we see the full extent of the queue in the episode) or have there been more Avatars than the minimum we deduce from what's shown?
There's also a point that, since Harmonic Convergence is marked by a planetary alignment, and orbital resonances tend to involve relatively simple ratios, it's unlikely to be exactly ten thousand years since any collective resonance that recurs precisely after ten thousand years would also recur after two thousand years (and probably shorter periods too) - ten thousand and ten years is rather more plausible.
"Avatar Kyoshi refused to die, both because she was too good for death, and because she decided not to, but in the end death only found her because she went knocking at his door." was exactly where I thought this would end up, but it was still very satisfying to see it happen.
I believe the improv rule of "yes, and" applies to retconning as well. The creators could have said "no, Kyoshi was not born that long ago, ignore that line". But they instead said "yes, and this is what it means for the worldbuilding".
Except they've gone with the "ignore that line" plenty of times. Like when Roku says in Episode 1x16 "I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes." And then they were later like 'just kidding, there have actually only been about 200 Avatars.'
@@jasonschuler6882 well, that line I would never have read as strictly literal. Like if I really like a movie I might say "I've seen this movie like a thousand times" when in fact I have no idea how often I've seen it and it's probably way lower
@@jalapenoofjustice4682 Ok, another one for you: In Episode 1x20 Koh says, "How could I forget _you?_ One of your previous incarnations tried to slay me! Nearly eight or nine hundred years ago." This is later confirmed to be Kuruk, who lived less than 450 years ago. The best the creators came up with was 'Uhh, Koh just made a mistake. Silly old Koh, ignore that line.'
I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
@jasonschuler6882 characters making mistakes or being grandiose isn't really that convincing of an argument for your case. I think if you can bring up a case where you're not relying on what a character is saying, and instead rely on cases where two objective facts directly conflict, it would be far more compelling.
@@thetheory6159 So if the creators had, instead of creating this grand retcon of Lao Ge, just said, 'oh the leader of Kyoshi Island just made a mistake on how many years ago Kyoshi was born' what would your stance here be? How is that literally any different from them going 'oh, Koh just made a mistake on when he fought Kuruk"? The whole point of the OP's comment was that the creators added their mistakes to the lore instead of ignoring them, and I gave you two examples where there was a clear ontradiction in the timeline, and their reaction was, "just ignore that line", which invalidates the OP's statement.
I'll leave you with one more before muting this thread: In Episode 2x7, at Ozai's coronation, the Fire Sage says, "Azulon, Fire Lord to our nation for twenty-three years..."
If Azulon was only Firelord for the 23 years preceding Ozai, then that means Sozin would still be Firelord 50 years after he canonically died. The creators' response was... 'oh, ignore that line, Azulon was Firelord for 75 years.'
I like this because it comes with consequences, its not just a miraculous solution. And it also continues something mentioned in the show: that Kiyoshi's sense of justice did not match the opinion of the people. Her heroic act was judged negatively by the citizens. A conquerer that upsets the status-quo is to her, the representation of the old, stagnant, a bad thing. for the people it might be positive, the possibility for change. This being-out-of-touch or having a biased point of view fits very nicely with someone who has stagnated herself, who the world has outgrown. The island she created herself is a representation of how she encased herself in a bubble.
Or, y'know, the Dai Li.
The bureaucratization of stagnation. Double whammy leading to Communist and Socialist-style repression.
Awesome stuff I kinda like how it mirrors Aang and his retreat into the iceberg. And it also kinda fun to think that he used a technique from Kiyoshi.
There was a flash game for Avatar called Escape from the Spirit World where Aang once asked Avatar Yangchen why the Avatar has to reincarnate instead of being an immortal god-king on the mountain, and Yangchen explained that Avatars need to experience being mortal in order to understand and ultimately empathize with the people they are trying to protect, which I thought was an interesting explanation for the Avatar Cycle.
It also gives a good explanation as to why Roku didn’t follow through with Kyoshi’s immortality technique even though he definitely could have had her teach him it. We know from the books that Rangi meant the world to Kyoshi and that even the thought of Rangi breaking up with her was enough to give Kyoshi a panic attack, so the fact that Kyoshi decided to live over a 100 years in a world where Rangi was dead must have been agonizing for her.
I imagine in one of the upcoming Roku books there’ll be a scene where Roku asks Kyoshi to teach him the secret to immortality and she’ll warn him of the great cost it comes with. Then upon hearing what it was like for Kyoshi to live without her loved one, Roku look towards his wife and choose to not go through with immortality.
I sponsored this video, and I approve this message.
Commander Shepard?
I seriously thought that was a picture of the Almighty Supreme Leader Mishka lmao.
I spomsored this video emotionally but might sponsor financially very soon
I can see Toph learning the immortality secret.
nah. Toph would hate it.
To be honest I can't imagine Toph creating DNA Bending 😂
I could see a spirit or something trying to teach her, and her just responding, "Nah, I'm good."
@@hansoskar1911 I could see her learning it, going "huh, that's interesting." and then never using or bringing it up ever again.
@@thatonewriter8043no I imagine Tolph and iro having tea in the spirit realm
This really fits how Earth Kingdom peoples general cultural perceptions have them have less benders and their stubbornness is tied to their bending styles. It actually fits a ton of how they use earth bending but just extended out to the physical body.
11:44 the fact that Sozin and Roku share a birthday and the second Kyoshi book sets up the fire Nation uniting under the shadow of Kyoshi keeping them in line makes me think that Sozin being born when she died might not have been an accident and might’ve been an attempt at getting a fire lord avatar
Nice theory
There are probably a fire lord avatar long before the era of Yangchen, or a water tribe chief avatar, or an earth king avatar
@@edba1.037that's actually not that far fetched since Korra was born as the daughter of the chief of the southern water tribe. She probably wouldn't be chief now since times have changed and they'd probably elect the next chief, but if Korra had been born a hundred years earlier she probably would've inherited the position of southern water tribe chief from her dad
An attempt by who or what?
@@Seetiyan probably by Kyoshi herself, since Roku was born on the same day as Sozin
I like to think Earthbenders can sustain themselves physically since they are so connected to the physical. Whereas, Airbenders may keep their spirit in a body at a near death state.
i always assumed everyone lived over 100 years in avatar because Zuko expected Aang to be an old man who trained for 100 years. Also, the old guy that killed Katara's mom has an even older mom. Also King Boomy is basically what Aang would have been in that scenario. A super old but powerful master.
I assumed everyone was like that
Well to be fair, a hundred years is possible to reach.
@@ursidae97 But the hundred year olds are super active
Like Bumi
Or that one guys mom
@@tirramasu7948I don’t think that one guy’s mom was very active
@@garrettcooper58she was active for being the mother of an old man. She wasn't doing backflips or bending or anything like that but she could still walk and didn't look that frail.
@@Markus2E5I6 he said super active and compared her to people like bumi
I like your idea for her death, I can see her realising that the world is changing around her and yet she has not. With that realization she accepted deaths embrace and allowed the next avatar to be born
This just made me really want a dark, brooding story similar to “The Death of King Arthur” about the end of Kyoshi’s life.
Lao ge is my top pick for a villain in a future Avatar project.
I'd die to see the story of Kyoshi's death.
But I very much doubt Lao Ge would kill his own student, much less the Avatar herself. But he could be a villain as menacing as Zaheer.
@Mediados Why not? He's seen the deaths of potentially hundreds of Avatars before Kyoshi. Also, there's no guarantee he's dead in Korra's era. Lao ge could have died fighting Roku over his handling of the hundred year war, could conflict with Aang in the upcoming movie, could even meet the next earth Avatar in their upcoming series. There are so many possibilities.
You might be on the money here.
@@BuThUb I really hope the new series doesn't go further into the future. Avatar is asian fantasy, I really don't want it to become modern/sci-fi.
@@Mediados I thought the new series was just rehashing the original series? Are they doing something different?
It also makes sense that, since other benders have thematic abilities related to their element, earth benders might be able to tap into immortality easier. Earth, or stone, is typically rigid and immutable. Focusing on treating their body much like a mountain, they could theoretically train to resist outside influence to their physical form the same way they resist being crushed by boulders.
Going by the logic of "crystalizeing themselves", Anng was, at one point before the show started, immortal.
Also, as a Zelda fan, you can see this exact logic of having an unbreakable and unchanging will come up ALWAYS with characters who live for longer than they should.
Perhaps a physical symbol of the stagnation the entire Avatar cycle has fallen into that Aang began the process of shattering
your theory of kiyoshi choosing to die is very interesting and possible. A suspicion ive had for a long time is that something really emotionally upsetting happened to kiyoshi and unbalancing her and stopping herself from being able to keep herself stagnant. The immortality technique requires allot of emotional control, serenity and self asuredness. So i think if you managed to make someone using it really conflicted and emotionally upset that might end them.
Foe your theory to work, her daughter dying before she did would be the only thing that would unbalance her that much that she chose to dye.
Or she watched her daughter grow, and change, and see the world, that is when she realizes that she has grown stagnated
@@DucklynStarkshe lived for over 200 years, her daughter must have already passed away
@@edba1.037 might be a double tap, daughter and then her grandchild
@@edba1.037 Ignoring the legitimate question of whether her daughter is even official canon or not for a second, there is absolutely zero information as to when in her 230 year life she had her daughter. She could have had her when she was 229 for all we know. The only thing said about Koko is that she was the next leader of Kyoshi island after Kyoshi herself.
The fact that Kioshi is the only Avatar that achieved this is important in itself, as it could have been her communing with previous Avatars that led her to make the decision to "move on".
Imagine you managed to live that long and your previous lives started complaining you were hogging the body
“In the time before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves.”
The way you wove this dark immortality narrative made me think of terrariums - beautiful to watch, but if you open the lid, the smell of rot comes out pretty quickly.
Gotta say, wasn't expecting the plot twist here to be "the creators made a mistake" 😂 good stuff!
Characters who choose to die are a really powerful archetype - hope that we get to see Avatar Kyoshi's spiritual let go one day.
Great video, Tim!
@@DontReadMyProfilePicture.185good one now leave and take all your idiot bot friends with you 😂
Not the only time that a philosophy creates a very extremely specific version of bending. Zahir being able to fly freely using air bending is an air-bending specific version of this. I forget if combustion bending had something like that or was experiments or whatever.
It’s special trials to create thay. I’m pretty sure it’s something about being dropped into the ocean lol
This made me think about Marceline in adventure time, and how scary it would be to be immortal and stuck in the mental patterns you had when you became immortal
The way you described immortality in the Avatar universe gave me some serious “stagnation caused by the rejunivating waters” vibes from Sekiro.
I really like this idea ... the stronger resolve you have, your body decays slower,
If you are truly stagnant of mind, truly unwaivering resolve, stubborn, you stop ageing completely and become immortal.... and so comes the disadvantage to immortality ...
I always thought Kyoshi's and Bumi's long life had to do with bonebending. Since our bones are made of calcium, I always figured that self bonebending could be an Earth style.
I feel like we can see it used when Bumi first introduced. He all hunched over, and then his his posture changes extremely while his bone make cracking sounds when he goes to fight aang.
I have also imagined that a form of musculoskeletal, or arthritic, pain relief could be achieved this way.
He wasn't bending his bones. He was just straightening his back. Being hunched over for as long as he likely has you would hear the bones as he straightens up.
Also, Earthbenders don't bend Calcium.
I like this theory. It, again, give the contrast between how earthbender and airbender's ideology about the cycle of life and death. While earthbender's ideology immortalised themselves by stagnated their body and mind, the airbender's ideology immortalised themselves by giving up the body and set free their soul to live at spirit realm, like what iroh did.
I respect the hell out of anyone who makes a timeline error in production and goes "screw it, shes immortal now"
I’ve been loving the novels specifically for their world building and how they’ve expanded the lore. These books are so packed with references to the most random and specific things from the shows and comics, and the stories that take place are all compelling and interesting.
If you haven’t read them and you’re an Avatar fan, do yourself a favor and check them out.
Did you read the Legacy of Yangchen?
@@s-wo8781 Yes! I had just read it a few days before my comment.
@@sspearss9112the combustion bending and chi-blocking origins blew my mind
1) We don’t know how long Yangchen lived. 2) It’s pronounced Lao Guh. 3) love your videos
He wrote that it was an estimate next to Yangchen's age
@@justforfun9780 We don't have enough information about Yangchen's life to make an estimate on her time of death, not even with her novels because she was only 17-18 years old during them.
@@zimonzieclown1633 Ok, Sorry.
@@zimonzieclown1633It's really weird . I wonder if Bryan made F.C. Yee have Kyoshi and Yangchen be teenagers in their books. Yangchen in no way acts like a 17 year old in her books. That is a 30 year old woman.
@@s-wo8781 I'm guessing being aware of her status as the Avatar at a relatively earlier age than usual (she already knew she was the Avatar as a child) and being raised among Air Nomads caused her to be more mature by the time she was 17.
I definitely subscribe to the idea of the avatar recognizing, even if they stagnated, that they could not/should not break the cycle of the avatar and willingly surrendering instead of pursuing immortality. Especially if Kyoshi began to see that her stagnant ways were not leading to a better world. Stagnant or not you can still recognize patterns and even if you can't change your ways your perception of those ways can change, especially if you commune with the prior avatars for some feedback.
I can sort of see Earthbending providing some kind of internal enhancement, related to how Waterbenders can heal. It would also fit the endurance of the combat-oriented Earthbenders we see. Not just toon physics, but their bodies are just tougher?
And yeah, Kyoshi deciding to meet death on her terms is cool, and fitting as the Avatar.
Immortality and stagnation kinda fit as the dark side of the immovable and stalwart earth benders
I really like the idea of this being earthbending-specific. The bender becomes like a mountain or another large piece of rock, immovable and eternal, at least compared to human scales. And it would be an example of a very spiritual earthbending technique, which shows that airbending and waterbending aren't the only bending styles with spiritual techniques. Yes, historically airbending has been "the spiritual one" and waterbending has healing (as a relatively common skill, too), but earthbending having a spiritual technique shows that even the elements with historically less spiritual practice have techniques the bender can learn through spiritual practice. Which makes me want to explore the possibilities for spiritual practice in all bending styles, but especially earth and fire since those are the less explored ones.
That’s interesting. “Immortality” is a HUGE thing in Daoism!
The Chinese have been studying herbology, physical exercise (from martial arts to more subtle exercises like chi kung), nutrition and acupunture for thousands of years now :)
Oh man I remember I first started watching you right when you were phasing out "Nightfurries" :D your books are cool. Can't wait for the Netflix series regardless of quality, but we all hope it's good.
Kioshi being born 400 years before the series is one of the coolest oversights and lore quandary :D
This channel has long been one of my favorites on RUclips. I used to have strong preferences when I was reading but I couldn’t articulate why one novel or short story was so much more engaging for me than another. I used to write extensively in my teens but it tapered off when I wasn’t replicating the depth and complexity of what I read from other people. Watching your videos has expanded my enjoyment of the stories I consume. And your voice is steady and soothing, which makes it great to have on in the background while I do chores or if I’m in bed for the night trying to fall asleep. Would LOVE if you did a series on video game stories, which are a more interactive medium than books and movies and TV. I think it would be fascinating to explore what has worked really well, what bombed and why, and it could be an opportunity to raise support for writers in the industry.
Side Note: the show writers could easily have hand-waved the error in the Kiyoshi island episode by saying the Mayor was either lying, or just repeating a local legend that wasn’t true. They could have. Local legends are often exaggerated or outfight falsified. Instead they invented ATLA’s version of midichlorians. A mystical something to bridge the gap. I both love it and roll my eyes at it
Thank you Tim! I connected about two thirds of the points you made in this video (the oldest characters in the show all being earth benders, Kyoshi's age, her choosing to die after realising it was sort of a curse)
But you just connected everything that little bit more that made it all fit together so much neater, massive props. The only real difference is I suspect Guru Patik IS Loa Gee, and that eventually, if Aang hadn't chosen Katara, he would've taught him the technique just like he did Kyoshi. Though I think Aang would've objected again on similar grounds
I'm really glad the Kyoshi novels are finally getting some attention. They're so great.
So I always did agree with the idea that Kyoshi chose to die, but because of this video I actually have a different theory: You talk about how this is likely related to Guru Pathik's way of life. Well Aang is never able to fully unlock his chakras because he is too connected to the world and the people in it. As much as I love Rangi, I wonder if perhaps she died around the time Kyoshi is middle aged and because of this Kyoshi, much like Zaheer in 'Enter the Void', lost the last thing tethering her to the world and preventing her from clearing that final chakra. She goes on to live however many years, but then perhaps down the line, she falls in love again; she becomes connected to the world again; she no longer stagnates.
I feel there's something very poetic about being imortal, until such time that you're able to feel love and feel human.
I hate that this is semi applicable to twilight werewolves
I love that this skill is so uniquely related to earth-bending. Being calm and steadfast, mastering neural jing, waiting, listening, excerting total control over one's mind and body; all of these things sound like they'd be the PERFECT ingredients for immortality. And they also happen to be core values of, and skills needed for, earth-bending. I just love how they managed to give us such a satisfying explanation for a mistake. A happy little accident if ever I saw one :)
It seems a part of said stagnation to become inmortal is staying away from other people.
Meeting others it what makes humans want to learn to change and grow, so the easier way to keep that focus on keeping everything together in your body and mind is isolating themselves so no new thoughts or ideas taints them.
Therefore another bad side effect of searching inmortality in the Avatar world is loneliness.
I feel each one of the bending disciplines can learn the ability to live long in different ways by mastering the “elements” of their elements. Earth benders through keeping their body orderly and stable. Water benders by allowing each of the cells in their body to change, but heal. Air benders by preventing the stress of the mortal world to weigh on their bodies. And even fire benders by maintaining the energy within their bodies keeping them lively. In all, every bender has the ability to live forever but the techniques are specific to the style.
Kyoshi is the definition of the perfect avatar. 👌🏽
Kyoshi: Death can have me When it earns me.
honestly i’d always assumed that Kyoshi passed away at the time of her choosing. i don’t see it making sense any other way
Like Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. His Numenorian ancestors lived for centuries and could choose when to pass. Aragorn inherited that ability and willingly passed away over a century after the War of the Ring
When I read the kyoshi novels and the line about bending the tiny elements in the tiny parts of your degrading body i immediately thought of Tim and how he must be maulding about it
I actually see this as highly related to Blood Bending.
It's the Earth people's interpretation and lens through which they express their will over the human body. The philosophies of the Water tribes around change and adaptation translate to literally manipulating another person's will and changing how they move. For Earthbenders, the same principle applies but with their own philosophies of stubborn rigidity and resilience against change, so when the notion of "bending the body" is approached, it produces something more like immortality than puppeteering. I think it makes sense that regardless of how you're doing it, attempting to bend the human body comes with dire spiritual consequences that thematically echo the likes of Fullmetal Alchemist and the Philosopher's Stone.
Balanced, in a word.
Ooo, and for the Airbenders this would be Laghima and Zaheer’s flight, where they reach such a point of spiritual enlightenment that their body “becomes wind”!
dude iwas here since u were a kid and i was one too love seeing ur chanel grow
I really like the idea that it's not bending but a whole new magic system based on the idea of mental focus and self-perspective, which anybody (theoretically) could achieve. Opens up a lot of possibilities for the future. Another ability in this new magic system could be Laghimas flight.
I always thought her 200+ year life span was coz the writers dropped a random number (400) before the present day, then realised "shit, we want her directly before Roku"
That's exactly what happened.
Perhaps you could use this technique as a sort of emergency resort in a life-or-death situation. When you think about it, what distinguishes a living organism from a dead one is the internal order. A bullet to the head, an impaled stomach, a frozen heart, a body overrun by a viral or bacterial infection, or one riddled by parasitic worms, these are all cases of how that internal order can be disrupted or destroyed.
But what if you could freeze or crystalize your body right as something was about to happen? Say you crystalized your brain and skull for a split-second before the bullet hit? Or your stomach before the spear penetrated your gut? Would that allow you to survive otherwise fatal happenings?
I always views the prolonged life as a secondary ability of Earth Benders. It’s something that all Earth Benders can have, and maybe do have. That they can draw power, strength snd longevity from the Earth itself, slowing their aging, and promoting their life. Kyoshi and Bumi were both unimaginably powerful Earth Benders, alongside Toph, all three of which are, if not long lived, are extremely spry in their old age. Bumi and Toph being the direct examples.
i LOVED this video!! thank you!!
A Kyoshi show would be everything. I love her big messy boots. She feels regal and sharp; extremely calculated. In a different universe, a big ol' Slytherin💚; no doubt.
I think part of the earth bender thing comes back to what toph says when she talks about needing to be stubborn and to face it head on and I also think that bumi didnt follow that cuz he grew old and did die
Love the idea there is a more spiritual and less direct side to each type of bending, earth benders live longer like water benders heal or air benders do that spirit projection stuff
Idk what the fire bender version of this is tho
Banana _and_ onion juice! Onions are key!
Seriously: Neal Stephenson explores this theme with a “Thousander” character named Fraa Jad in his novel _Anathem_ . If you haven’t read it, I bet you would enjoy it.
Great vid, always nice to see new avatar content!
The attribution of Stanation seems a little strange when applied to Guru Pathik, but I suppose if you can stall something you can also slow it to a crawl and that would seem to fit his rather relaxed approach to life.
I think she did use this stagnation technique for a few decades in order to bring balance to the world and only when she was satisfied with how the world was, she allowed her own flow to start again. Going by what we know Roku's life, it was mostly Sozin that caused issues and who posed the biggest threat to the balance of the world and even he only became a real problem near the end of Roku's life. So Roku likely inherited a very peaceful world from Kyoshi and this is due to her living 200+ years working on this peace and likely gave up her immortality at a point that she felt: the world will be fine for a few decades, so I can let go. So maybe, at the age of 200 or so, she allowed her body to pick up where it left off, stopping to keep her "inventory" (which likely also took its energy) lived for a few more decades, before going out peaceful so the Avatar cycle could continue. As another important part of the Balance in the world, the Avatar has to be reincarnated every few decades in a different nation for the peace to hold.
But I also think, she didn't die before "taking care" of her old mentor, it is unnatural for people to live that long and this might as well disrupt the balance of the world.
Always love your content! Excited whenever I get the ding!
Thanks for pointing out the beautiful esoteric knowledge in these powerful shows...
You mentioned stagnation and I'm surprised you didn't pivot into the implications of the avatar cycle stagnating as well. Either eay, great video!
Toph also being the last living member of Team Avatar also reinforces this idea that particular powerful (and stubborn) Earthbenders can access this technique. It doesn’t have to be bending per se, the way that Waterbending can move chi in the body to heal but you’re not… using Water to stitch wounds per se. There’s precedent for bending to extend past its element in allegorical was.
Weekends are always a little better when a new Hello Future Me video comes out.
It seems like earthbenders have a strong tendency for this longevity too. When you look at the list of people who lived way too long, up at the top you got this immortal dude, you got Kyoshi, Guru Patik, King Bumi, and Toph.
Lots of old people living happy lives in the earth kingdom too. Quite a large kingdom it is, in fact. Not like these people are making earthquakes in the bedroom more often than everyone else, so longevity likely plays a role in their population.
Great video as always!
A video about Avatar?
On the _Hello Future Me_ channel?
Who would have guessed?!
I kind of like the idea that earthbenders have a semi spiritual connection to the 3arth that at the most extreme end allows the most powerful and determined individuals to live forever
At the cost though of being unable to change and grow for that time
The Kyoshi thing being 400 years I remember thinking was weird, but also when aang talks to face-stealer he says a previous avatar tried to kill him 800/900 years ago, which I always thought was the waterbending avatar before kyoshi
Loved this video!!
Yay these are some of my favourite books I’m so happy there is a video on this.
A project I’m working on has a similar immortality! So cool that they came up with a similar idea.
This reminds me very much of the Bene Gesserit who learn to control the molecular structure of their bodies using training and a healthy addiction to spice.
Great video! That is quite an interesting idea!
I definitely perceive this ability as earthbending-related. I see it as the counterpart to flight or astral projection for airbenders - a high-level ability accessible at the purest spiritual form of your element. The freedom and worldly detachment of air, and the worldliness and unmovable mindset of earth.
I would love if you did a video on Yangchen and the confirmed "forbidden technique" in her first book.
And the origins of combustion bending and chi blocking we get in her books too
Your conclusion is amazing 😂👏 this is such a great answer for the pickle the creators out themselves in
Nicely done of them. :)
Your content is awesome man 😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
Yay!!! Will be back to comment but got so excited when you posted!!
The Kyoshi age mistake reminds me of a mistake one of my favourite authors made and turned into a plot point. Christopher Paolini.
Basically, he made a grammatical mistake in his own language and rather than retconning it, he made it so the main character had made the mistake and the spell he just said curses the child he was trying to bless rather than well, blessing the child.
Kyoshi probably chose her point of death, and after all of her friends themselves died of old age, did not wanted to go on, meaning everyone she would know would die before her. And I think Toph will find the secret to immortality herself.
There's a character in the Mahabharata named Bishma that is granted the boon of immortality. He only dies when he chooses to. It was a cool concept and it's cool to see it possibly applying to Kiyoshi
thanks for the upload, my man
I would really like to see crystalbending as a new earth bending subset. Yes earth benders can move crystals we've seen this in the series. But I don't think we've heard of earth benders crystallizing anything themselves (someone please correct me if I'm wrong!). It would be neat if it was a technique developed with the help of water benders since water benders can easily create ice which is just a lattice structure of water. I don't think it gets too scientific. Plus I love when we can loop back to Iroh's speech about how learning about other benders techniques can improve your own bending.
Hey Hello Future Me! Lore question for you. How did the air Nomad build/carve there temples on mountains tops and on the side of cliffs(western temple)? My theory is they may have used some advanced type of sound bending or airbending to levitate and carve the stones into the positions and shapes they desired. What are your thoughts?
I like to think it’s because of their connection with nature. You see the vine benders in Kora and thof’s (idk how to spell her name) ability to see through the vines.
Now I’m starting to think the vine benders are water benders, and Kora’s ability comes from spiritual bending. :/
It’s been a second.
What an interesting question for Kyoshi to ask. It's such a change based question that comes out a seeming concern out of always staying the same which seems off base for Earthbenders who are stereotypically resistant to change. I wonder if that's the influence of the other Avatars
Nice Video !!
Involving the real world... in theory, bending could be utilizing solids, liquids, gasses, and plasma. Earth, Water, Air, and Fire respectively.
If that is the case, then it could be that anyone could bend any actual element but the element would have to be in the form they can manipulate.
So an Earth bender could extend their life by manipulting their solid bits while a water bender would need to melt first.
Problem being:
- Lavabending is an earthbending technique
- icebending is a waterbending technique
- metal bending requires impurities in the metal, so it cant be any solid.
Ultimately, the spiritual nature of bending rules out over any other explanation, in Avatar, but I think each respective style bending matter based on its phase could be a neat idea in its own IP.
I was about to write a comment about how the passage from the book sounded similar to Daoist 'internal alchemy' (tai chi, qigong, neidan), but you did it for me :)
Ha! Now THAT is a good retcon. I love it 🤣
Kyoshi beeing the Chuck Noris of the Avatar world is just to funny.
Death was to afraid of her and even age feared her, that´s why she stayed beautifull.
Until the time Kyoshi started to hunt down Death, because how does he dare to ignore her.
Love the Avatar chronicles content. Would you be interested in making a review with your general thoughts on these 4 books?
I just noticed Levi chilling next to Korra in the background lol
While I agree with you on being mostly against the idea of body-bending, this immortality/neutral jing/molecular crystallization is now the another bodily bending. First was water: blood bending. Then, we have fire spiritual-healing and the common water bodily-healing. Then, we have the air bending special technique of astral projection of the spirt.
To me, it seems like we're being built up to body-bending being the ultimate Avatar exclusive technique requiring complete mastery and control over: the physical body (earth), the life-force or energy of life (fire), the freedom of the spirit (air), and the ability to consistently flow your energy from mental to physical and back (water). Fire is described as life to Anng and Zuko after they are judged by the dragons, air nomads have been connected to mastery of the spirit, and water has been a connection to the rest throughout the franchise - being our introduction to bodily healing, providing life in the physical world, and taming spirits via bending or spirit-world relations (the rains that will heal Heibai's (spelling?) forest, the spirit oasis not only holding the physical bodies of the moon and ocean spirits, but also its ability to heal near death injuries, and how Korra learns to start taming/calming spirits). It being a special bending requiring intense mastery and some type of dire need to perform, to the point where Kioshi is the only avatar to have even come close and even then not have succeeded, would make it balanced. These specialized bending techniques could all be pieces able to imitate the full process, but not actually do the real thing, just like how Amon gave the appearance of energy bending via chi blocking with blood bending.
Excellent video!
I think I see an alternative to your reading on the statement, here. 6:44
I see what you are saying, but it doesn't seem like the only possible interpretation.
I think that he could be warning her against exactly that stagnation, and at the same time opening up the path to shape shifting.
I.e. "You are correct, stagnation is a terrible fate that one can easily slide into. _Those who live_ are a clear flowing river, dying an uncountable number of deaths. If you want to live, you must allow for change and for parts of you to die." (But not necessarily the whole. You could change, yet continue to be you, and in rejuvenation change things a little, shifting your form over time and changing your experiences along with them.)
"But, I try to teach you of the mind. Here, too, lurks that danger - however, the fields of the mind are vaster by far than those of the body, and as you continue to experience, you can continue to grow in mind as you do with your body, more even. For while the body naturally decays, the pure spirit only follows this decline. If you have the time, and stay vigilant against stagnation, you may surpass many would-be explorers."
In this interpretation, I think Kyoshi would have understood it the way you portrayed in the video, at least at first.
I could imagine her later realizing this, and then choosing to stop, seeing that she wasn't able to regain what she had unknowingly lost.
I'd be curious to hear your take on this, I'm way less versed in the lore than you ^^