I believe Gyatso was smart enough to take the advice “sometimes you have to forsake your peaceful ideals for the greater good” to heart. Especially when his entire culture was being destroyed.
Everyone in that situation would try go out with a fight I think, it's just how much fight do you have in you until you don't. I wish avatar got way more other shows, I would have loved to see what gyatsu had to go through in order to understand the philosophy of peace in the way he portrayed
Not to be confrontational but "smart enough"? Much of the history of philosophy is the battle between personal ideals and the 'greater good', with not only personal ideals mostly winning in the classroom but, more importantly, showing to be better in the real world. Tyrannies and atrocities throughout history are done in the name of the greater good. Don't get me wrong - I have not (& most likely will never) achieve Gyatso's level of spirituality; I would have acted more brutally to kill as many Fire Nation soldiers as possible; and Gyatso taught Aang so wonderfully that Aang surpassed Gyatso (as evidenced in his fight with Ozai) - and a student surpassing the master is probably the most profound achievements a teacher can have. I just don't think Gyatso was smart to try to achieve the greater good (if that was his motivation). & I have the suspicion that Gyatso would agree.
Guru Laghima's line, "Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind" sounds awfully similar to what Aang was told in order to enter the Avatar state. What if Laghima was the Avatar and used that knowledge of entering the Avatar state to achieve flight? We've seen Avatars fly before, but only in the Avatar state which makes it likely that one of them knew this technique and allows the current Avatar the ability to fly as well. Perhaps Laghima himself or maybe he was close with the Avatar of his time and they taught each other the art of detachment.
@@gavinsmith9871 but like he said the avatar of the day could’ve known Laghima, I’m sure the avatar of any age would’ve made a habit of knowing all the most powerful benders during their time
@@gavinsmith9871 but the way Zaheer interpreted is that he gave up earthly teethers but not his mission so the 2 are separate. The avatar can give up the earthly teethers like loved ones, but still have their objective to protect the world
Lots of people are already saying this but are forgetting something: Firebenders can't bend if there's no oxygen because that how fire scientifically works, but Uncle Iroh says "Firebending comes from the breath..." so even if you took a more magical take on bending then they still can't. Just something not many people were talking about
@Steve they probably get stronger during the day cause its warmer thus easier to ignite, it would also explain why the comet give them a buff, since the comet is simply hot not nuclear. I personally think Fire bender actually bends electrons and neutrons in the air which would explain igniting air and creating lightning by separating them. They also can cooldown stuff like sozin did with the lava in the Volcano while helping roku, tho I don't know how heat as a energy actually work to take a proper look into it
@Steve By this line of logic waterbenders are actually bending moondust, not water. The sun and moon can affect bending without needing to be made of the same substance.
Fire benders would also be taken off gaurd if there was more air being pulled into an area at once. Imagine one of the fire benders goes to fire end and in that moment gyatso pulls all the air he can into the room making the smallest flame into an explosion. The fire benders would have killed themselves with there won aggression
Monk Gyatso: "Can you even fire bend without air?" Monk Gyatso: **uses air bending to create a volume of space without air** Fire Nation Soldiers: **can neither fire bend nor breathe**
No only that, despair from suffocating a side, a room with no air impossible to any flame to ignite, they were literally hopelessly defenseless, that would be darker than anything the show has ever shown to us
I love how people felt the need to explain the joke for you (the joke literally ends with "can neither fire bend nor breathe", like, yes, it takes oxygen for fire to burn since flame is "just" a rapid oxygenation)
I just saw a certain video that assessed Toph's greatest bending moment, and probably the greatest earth bending moment.... When she held up the library that is. We often forget how massive the whole library really was underneath yet she held it as it was being sucked into the spirit world.
@@AntoineBandele Fair enough. I too don't think that it can translate into combat, but it was pretty impressive considering how large that library was, with the books, the observatory room, etc yet she was able to hold it up, and stabilize despite the fact that she was couldn't sense well while performing this.
@@AntoineBandele it technically should be impossible, I mean toph is pretty op but to hold the entire library brick by brick a thing with that size, even is she held a portion of it the rest where she didn't get a hold on to would break apart and sink.
@@meatsweatsland now in combat I think she holds back a lot she has a greater connection to earth then any Earth bender, like she could sink everybody into the ground like that general whatever did to katara
She's not holding up a library, she's holding part of a single spire. The Library was not SINKING. That spire was sinking. The rest of the library was already under the sand and was being returned to the spirit world, not just SUNK. Wan Shi Tong was not destroying his collection, he was taking it back, out of the hands of mortals. Even pushing this as FAR as possible, it's still just part of ONE building. The library is not one massive interconnected building. That's, not really how buildings work. Either way this feat is not as insane as people believe it to be. Some people think she's stronger than characters like Gaara from Naruto, who can catch METEORS.
Rather than possibly creating a vacuum, I wonder if Gyatso didn't do the opposite: create a space with too much air, using the increase in pressure to pop the soldiers' internal organs like over-inflated balloons. Either way, since the room has no scorch marks as you noted, I think Gyatso unleashed his technique as a suicide attack, and wasn't able to escape his own area of effect.
Fire benders would also be taken off gaurd if there was more air being pulled into an area at once. Imagine one of the fire benders goes to fire end and in that moment gyatso pulls all the air he can into the room making the smallest flame into an explosion. The fire benders would have killed themselves with there won aggression
Wasn’t it stated the suffocating technique is the last technique you learn and must show you can do to earn your airbending tattoos, Aang invented the air scooter and that counted for his last technique explaining why Aang never knew about it
Pir que no las dos? no forreal, the answer is both. Mastery is achieved when the Airbender masters all 36 tiers of airebending techniques and/or when they create a new ability.
To earn your tattoos u must master the 36 air bending techniques, and it was mentioned that Aang only mastered 35 yet he got his tattoos cuz he created a new technique ie., the air scooter, thus maybe this is the reason why Aang didn't learn the method.
This video is spot on! I think it's completely plausible, and i also don't think that such an action diminishes Gyatso's status and beliefs as an airbending master. After all, it is none other than Avatar Yangchen who tells us that sometimes you need to look past ideas and morals held dear to defend those you love - and while it is unlikely that the two had any biological relation, Gyatso was absolutely Aang's father. What father wouldn't choose their son over anything else? Particularly since the firebenders were completely exterminating the Air Nomads as a people. In literature, it's a super common theme that pacifistic and pure individuals can still reach moments of rock bottom where they let go of any restraint. Himura Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin became a famous assassin when his nation collapsed into anarchy. Son Gohan became a savage brute when Cell forced out his inner fury. People can absolutely hit points of rock bottom where they can no longer be pushed, and will completely snap.
I personally think he just removed all of the air from the entire room. Without air there cannot be fire. So he suffocated himself and the rest of the fire benders, likely to save more people that were in the temple. Is clothing likely just ribbed from the elements over time, or maybe a firebender managed to stab him.
I love this. On your point about Gyasto being too kindhearted, I think about one of my favorite philosophies. Being a good person requires you grapple with being a bad person. True wisdom comes from understanding both sides and choosing to be better.
Straightforward Airbending skill is highly possible. A super secret or master's technique is even possible. Maybe the main trio of Air Sub element speculation; Vacuum, Sound, Gasbending... But we could consider Spiritualism was at work. It's possible Monk Gyatso used Astral projection and ripped as many Fire Nation solders souls out as he could before dying himself.
@@dystopia4379 Hm. I can't particularly imagine how it'd come about or exactly function. (At least at first glance) Airbending a cloud of deadly fungus spores? Creating an atmospheric environment that makes the decaying process speed up?
It’s not a secret. There’s a reason why the Fire Nation attacked them first and most fiercely, and it’s likely because Sozin couldn’t imagine a genuinely peaceful people in juxtaposition to himself. He was shook.
the fire nation armor looks like it might be lsightly charred. What if Gyatso created a massive tornado in the chamber, with the fire nation soldiers own fire being turned against them? A tornado so strong, Gyatso couldnt survive the ordeal, and collapsed soon after the soldiers were killed
Imagine Monk Gyatso performing the exact opposite of this theory. Instead of pulling the air out of their lungs, he forced a massive quantity back in...
Man, imagine the sick short stories that could be made from all kinds of small details left here and there across ATLA/TLOK. Imagine a Star Wars Visions esc series for interesting world building!
Either Gyatso killed them all knowing it was the best way to help the others flee or he tried to make them faint. But when the firebenders tried attacking it made him suck out more air and the fire expended the remaining oxygen killing them and Gyatso in the process. In any case he was a hero that tried to do his best as a teacher, friend and protector.
Gyatso was pretty special, on the airnomad council. He was incredibly talented and we'll informed, and he was very old and open minded about the rest of the world's cultures and philosophies. He is likely one of the most enlightened characters in atla, up there with Iroh
I've kind of just presumed that Gyatso must have done some vacuum vortex of death. I also don't think this was necessarily a break from his non-violent ideals. It was a way to render the firebender unable to attack without bending. They would panic, speeding up their oxygen use, and knocking them out. Against a small group of firebenders, this would be very effective. Against a very small group of people it could be too. He would be able to maintain conciousness for a little longer, since he could be remaining calm while doing it. Unfortunately, more firebenders kept coming. This caused him to keep up the technique for longer, causing the unconcious to get asphyxiated. It kept up so long, eventually he lost conciousness, at which point someone who might even have been a firebender that was trying to get at him ran up and stabbed him. The reason they still didnt firebend even after he fell unconcious - at which point the vacuum goes away so everyone can breathe - is because up till then they couldn't breathe, so they were so out of breath they couldnt firebend yet. Like when Zuko comes up through the ice, he can't just breathe fire to warm himself up right away. He has to take a few breaths first. Or it was a non-bender. Or a blast caved in the roof on top of him.
My thought is that Gyatso was trying to get out of the temple to go find aang but was ambushed on his way out !! He wanted to find aang and guard him and continue his training but never got the chance !!
The title alone and the fact you said the air nomads had no military and spoke non violence is because the air nomads ARE the most dangerous.....great video
The way to neutralize fire is to remove its fuel… one of them is air, so Monk Queyatzo could be doing that and when you remove air from an area it causes affixation. So by accident killing himself and all the fire nation warriors attacking him. That is my Rated PG description of the event.
@Antoine Bandele - I agree with your opinion and idea : they were asphyxiated to death. Fire cannot prosper in an oxygen free environment. You have connected the dpts well.
Let's be honest though, Aang is too good at fighting with air to have picked it up entirely on his own. He had to have training from airbenders that weren't radically pacifistic; they believed in the rule of self defense and using equal force to your opponent. Thus developing a martial art for airbending as opposed to a purely utilitarian use a wholely pacifist nation would espouse. Though they likely never were seeking to kill unless their enemy was doing so themselves. That's a fairly complex moral code to deal with as a pre-teen so it's likely Aang only got the intro "do no harm" portion of their teachings; the monks thinking other bending disciplines would lead him to gain the aggression he needed to learn the full lesson of "do no harm, unless your inaction directly allows harm to befall yourself or others."
Ive always thought that was exactly what gyatso did but come to think of it, as you mentioned in this video about gyatso's corpse not having any scorch marks, thats got me wondering, what if gyatso committed suicide in shame after killing the fire nation soldiers. I just thought of a theory that maybe gyatso was the last airbender surving, he was the one who lasted the longest in the war, but because he made himself unclean due to getting blood on his hands, he got so disgraced that he decide to kill himself.
@@MasterReaperSID i thought about that too, but im saying yes he cherishes life so much, and as he killed so many soldiers, he may have been disgraced as a result of that and decided to take his own life in repayment for what he's done, get what im saying?
@@chiefcleve1834 From a human perspective and what we know of the character, he would not have killed himself without knowing about what had happened to Aang, at least not in the way your describing. At least that is my thought process, so I cannot follow your line of reasoning.
@@AntoineBandele Not directly, but the situation around him clearly demonstrates that although certain abilities are viewed a certai way in air nomad culture, they are still known.
I think a great name for this branch of Air Bending is Vacuum Bending. By removing all Air, a master Air Bender can shape and control a pocket of 'nothing'.
I've been seeing a few reactions to the series lately and this exact scene always stands out to me as something that would have been interesting to see how it went down.
Compared to a Saint in my religion; I think Gyatso probably killed, but not out of spite or confusion. Basically in both cases I think the plan was to buy time for their brother monks to escape. Though unique to Gyatso he may not have known if he was successful.
I can't see Gyatso or any of the elder monks playing with moral ethics while their people are being slaughtered. Remember, Katara hid some Fire Nation gear she found while they were walking around the temple, BEFORE Aang finds Gyatso's corpse, implying that other fire nation soldiers were killed in the attack. It's silly to think their pacism wouldn't allow them to defend themselves, considering the bending forms are all martial arts, just with elemental magic thrown in.
Maybe he did teach Aang, but told him to only use it as a last resort or as a way to incapacitate an enemy with as little harm as possible. But the line between unconsciousness and death is a thin one. Aang had access to the other bending art forms with a lot less risk such as freezing someone to the ground or locking their feet in the ground. A lot easier and more reliable way to hold an enemy. My guess with Gyatso is that his heart probably gave out. He had to be close to 80 if not a little more. There no telling how long he had been fighting before ending up in that room. And if he used the oxygen deprivation technique (and it seems likely he did) on that many soliders it had to be truly exhausting.
I had always though it was a case of knocking part of he roof down and then being trapped. This way makes more sense for when you and your loved ones are in danger.
Another idea could be the opposite. Gyatso was pinned and was surrounded, he used airbending to maneuver the flames around him, shielding himself from the flames but scorching the soilders. However to pull it off, he had to use all of his strength and air both inside him and outside him. While it could just be the shadows, the Fire Nation soilder's skeletons look darker, like they were burned instead. Maybe Gyatso died from strain, injuries or something more. And knowing he was going to die regardless, took a medative pose to pass on.
I think Gyasto knew more than what he let us know he did . Perhaps there was a time when Air Nomands weren't so peaceful and because of that he wanted the new generations to grow in peace . YES the Air Nomands always looked so peaceful and kind hearted people but *what if* there was a ruler , a person like Laghima that lead them to a bit of a darker path ?! Until someone stood up to him ! There are so many *WHAT IFS* in the universe of the Avatar but we cannot be really sure . All i can say from the hints and facts we have gotten so far ,is that the air nomands could have been a ruthless race for a time . If they weren't that , than why would they have such forbiden deadly old tecnics that can wipe out fleets and armies ? If Gyasto was able to do something like that who tells me that the rest weren't capable of such power ?! There are many loop holes that can be found about this . I believe each and everyone of them are capable of such power but they were never taught this way cause of *reasons* Each nation has its own deadly secrets and am sure earth benders , fire benders and waters benders are very deadly as well . *HOWEVER* i personally believe the air nomands are *THE* deadliest . Imagine been able to control the air of everyone around you . The only *true* enemy they could have possibly had it could be *blood benders* which they are also deadly as f*ck However , there are always way to defeat an apponent . No one is invincble and neither blood benders or air benders . However until a weakness is found your apponent has all the time in the world to prevent you from finding it . Blood benders are very very *few* and given the circumstances air benders are very *few* as well { beside the avatar korra sh*t -__- } There are many things that can be discussed and this is a very interesting matter . You got my attention with this . Imagine if houndereds of air benders created a tornado enough to wipe out countries if not nations . I can't help but think... Great video btw mate , keep it up ! 😎 👌
Could you do Kuvira & her mech vs The Red Lotus. I heard some people say that they couldnt beat her even with unalaq and aiwei. I think the Red Lotus would do well against the mech. Considering the red lotus doesnt care as much about collateral damage, ghazan (lava), unalaq (spirit bender), and pl'i (combustion) would do great against the mech. Ming hua and Zaheer are stealthy enough to get inside undetected and they'd probably just jump her like they did tenzin. Zaheer would be even more bloodlusted considering kuvira is exactly what he hates in the world. What do you think?
Probably not. Pretty one sided. It took a huge team of benders, non-benders, and an Avatar to take down Kuvira’s Mech. It’s unlikely Red Lotus alone could do much, even P’Li.
I would say is kind of the same as blood bending as in “let me take that precious air that you breathing from them lungs and create a vacuum type around you real quick tho”
Even a monk is permitted to fight back. "If a person is shooting at you with a gun, it would be reasonable to shoot back" (more or less) the Dali lama said that
Only thing I have to add. Monk Gyatso may would have talt the technician to Ang when he turned 16 when he thought Ang was old enough to bare the burden of being the avatar
dude that means the master straight up took air away in form of a large spherical vicinity and took out multiple firebenders including himself, and since the soldiers seem like they have fallen next to each other simultaneously, he didn't just suck out the air with individual air pressure spheres like Zehyr, he most of done a large one enough to destroy the building, or at least shatter it from lowing the air pressure in an instant massive ancient technique, i mean I've seen science experiments of when you lower air pressure to get zero gravity, imagine seeing that in an fast motion, mofos lungs would just deteriorate
It's also possible that they could have attacked his building with explosions from the outside, a surprise attack could have killed him, ESPECIALLY between Waves of Enemies. Giving him a False Sense of Security. Not to mention sent it some more Conventional Soldiers. Getting enough Non-Bending Soldiers, in large enough numbers, they could have actually attacked him. An eventually had him bleed to death from enough cuts for instance.
I also think there aren’t any burn marks in the room at all. Even while being asphyxiated They’d be able to throw fire to stop him from choking them. The thing is their aren’t any so that means either they died really really quick, couldn’t produce fire cause their was no oxygen in the area , or just forgot that was a thing
I mean, given that the Monk is also unburnt, he most likely suffocated himself with the rest of them. Given his belief, maybe in his mind taking lives could only be compensated with the loss of his own.
Maybe the reason why airbenders when down the path of peace is because of how overpower their abilities to air bend con paired to other bending styles.
I mean, that is a lot of bodies to be there and for something huge to not go down. My guess that if you think about the sheer lethality of controlling air that any number of abilities could have been used. It may have been something as simple as him deflecting enough fire to turn it on the fire benders or up to straight up creating blunt force trauma through the wind.
In our world violence is necessary we should NEVER pray for it but when it comes prepared to handle it…people who are very PEACEFUL should be capable of extreme violence…to protect your peace ☮️
Oh yeah, bro. We back. Stay tuned. Next one's a big one Prime Aang vs Prime Kyoshi. Check out my community tab. We got discussion going on over there as well.
That's f****** awesome I can't take credit for this idea but my friend had this theory that the reason why the airbenders decided to go the peaceful route is because if they wanted to they could air bend the whole world and take away all the air from the rest of the whole world and kill the entire planet if all the airbenders work together on this it could probably be done
I always thought we'll be cool if the airbending monks separated in there were like most that actually thought about taking lies if we was necessarily. They follow the philosophy of the old gurus during the first few avatars. Toby dope is Aang's youngest grandchild separated started that will be actually really cool and inoac complexity to Aangs Legacy
Hi Antonie, I've seen the video and it was nice and the theory of Gyatso and Zaheer. The thing that bugs me here is that I remember a saying from the series that an airbender should resort to violence if he has no other choice or option. We can see that the skeletons were laying around Gyatso's skeleton. So can I tell that he had no other option and was cornered, so he had to resort to violence. If you find my statement correct or valid, you can comment to this comment.
Idk about you guys but I think if the monks made an air tornado to escape would be a good idea, the fire can’t get through since it would just be flung around. And if you propel yourself up you could possibly escape
When powered up by the comet its quite possible that too many firebenders in one room could kill accidently themselves and each other. This would remove the air from the room quick enough for Gyatso and everyone involved to simply dehydrate and fall unconscious.
see what im guessing he did was suck all the air out of the room, fire can't burn without air and no one can breath, he most likely self sacrificed to try to save the others
I only know that the showrunners promised to show us an Airbending ability that would "blow our minds away". And then they completely dropped promise in favor of cheesy soap opera. My head canon thought they were able to bend energy (maybe Spiritual Energy) at one point but abandoned it because it was too destructive for their beliefs. We saw how powerful a Spirit Energy cannon could be.
I think gyatso finally let go of his earthly tethers while he was injured sitting on the floor he was probably the last air bender to be killed he couldn’t fly away because he was injured so he just took the air from everybody around him because he had nothing else to lose
I like this, but I think in breaking his vow to save his life and try to save the others as well, he may have sat there afterwards and died. Like just sat meditating till he died of malnutrition
This would be the same as a waterbender bending the water out of someone’s body and making their blood think enough to not even flow and die within seconds. If someone can bend their sweat, no reason they can’t do that.
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be" Consider the lesson of the chakras as it was explained to Aang. Remember everything is related as to be one.
A possible explanation for not teaching Aang the peaceful use of this is that he might not have known it. It's a little odd to think of Zaheer as more skilled than a master like Gyatso but he would have actively sought out historical techniques while Gyatso might have been taught partial knowledge that had spent several generations without seeing any real use. If the more widespread version was considered a suicidal method, I doubt many of the monks would have looked deeply enough to learn how to suffocate a single person without tearing that person's lungs up. When using it in short bursts, to avoid killing anyone, it's almost exclusively an anti-firebender technique, so wouldn't be a high priority in Aang's training.
I think monk Gyatso did teach Ang that technique in the form of the air scooter instead of making the air around somebody leave you do it underneath yourself and you can float
I saw something that said one of the writers revealed he never went strictly on the offensive just blocked and sent attacks back essentially having the firebenders take themselves out
4:03 How would he do that? Not only was the roof open to the elements, but so was the door. The building wasn't fit to just have a small opening where all the air could be sealed off from. Not to mention, as soon as your brain is deprived of oxygen for enough time, Gyatso would just pass out, at which point he would stop bending and the air would rush back into the room, reviving everyone again.
It actually makes a lot of sense: maybe monk gyatso removed the air from the area (stoppping the fire benders from bending and causing them to pass out) but ended up passing out from the lack of air himself and eventually dying along with the fire benders
It is this reason why Air benders are at base the Most powerful benders. The only ones I can think of that comes close to them is the Water benders with blood bending. Fire bending has the higher raw power, but Earth bending has the greater utility. I'm not saying air and water are not as useful. Water has a great immobilization and healing factor, and Air has an extremely high mobility rate, and when used creatively like Aang does in ALTA it can be powerful in it's own right. However going off of just the base abilities Air benders are the strongest fighters
Judging by how the skeletons were done it is safe to assume that it was meant to be assumed that he did indeed pull all of the air out of the room in a sacrificial move
I would assume that all air benders would know of this technique through reading about it as it apart of their culture. But since it goes against their beliefs of no killing, they would never use it. Just like how all water benders would know of blood bending in the Korra timeline as it is illegal.
Airbending is based off the real ancient Chinese partial art: Bagua Zheng (Circle walking). Which that specific style itself is meant for defense to force submission. But with the moves required, it can be the most brutal and deadly in the world
I believe Gyatso was smart enough to take the advice “sometimes you have to forsake your peaceful ideals for the greater good” to heart. Especially when his entire culture was being destroyed.
Everyone in that situation would try go out with a fight I think, it's just how much fight do you have in you until you don't. I wish avatar got way more other shows, I would have loved to see what gyatsu had to go through in order to understand the philosophy of peace in the way he portrayed
Tell that to Batman…
War is peace, hate is love
Not to be confrontational but "smart enough"? Much of the history of philosophy is the battle between personal ideals and the 'greater good', with not only personal ideals mostly winning in the classroom but, more importantly, showing to be better in the real world. Tyrannies and atrocities throughout history are done in the name of the greater good.
Don't get me wrong - I have not (& most likely will never) achieve Gyatso's level of spirituality; I would have acted more brutally to kill as many Fire Nation soldiers as possible; and Gyatso taught Aang so wonderfully that Aang surpassed Gyatso (as evidenced in his fight with Ozai) - and a student surpassing the master is probably the most profound achievements a teacher can have. I just don't think Gyatso was smart to try to achieve the greater good (if that was his motivation). & I have the suspicion that Gyatso would agree.
I don’t . He died because he was weak and a bad teacher for aang (why he was so behind on his training the whole series)
Guru Laghima's line, "Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind" sounds awfully similar to what Aang was told in order to enter the Avatar state. What if Laghima was the Avatar and used that knowledge of entering the Avatar state to achieve flight? We've seen Avatars fly before, but only in the Avatar state which makes it likely that one of them knew this technique and allows the current Avatar the ability to fly as well. Perhaps Laghima himself or maybe he was close with the Avatar of his time and they taught each other the art of detachment.
The Avatar can't be free from the world because their duty is to the world. So Lagihma couldn't have been the Avatar.
@@gavinsmith9871 but like he said the avatar of the day could’ve known Laghima, I’m sure the avatar of any age would’ve made a habit of knowing all the most powerful benders during their time
@@willsnider3582 Probably but that's not what OP said.
@@gavinsmith9871 but the way Zaheer interpreted is that he gave up earthly teethers but not his mission so the 2 are separate. The avatar can give up the earthly teethers like loved ones, but still have their objective to protect the world
Makes me wonder what happens if other benders use avatar techniques. We have yet to see spiritual firebenders fight.
Lots of people are already saying this but are forgetting something: Firebenders can't bend if there's no oxygen because that how fire scientifically works, but Uncle Iroh says "Firebending comes from the breath..." so even if you took a more magical take on bending then they still can't. Just something not many people were talking about
@Steve That's because the sun doesn't burn like fire. It's more similar in function to a nuclear reactor, which doesn't need oxygen.
@Steve the sun is made of plasma created through nuclear fusion, not fire itself
@Steve they probably get stronger during the day cause its warmer thus easier to ignite, it would also explain why the comet give them a buff, since the comet is simply hot not nuclear.
I personally think Fire bender actually bends electrons and neutrons in the air which would explain igniting air and creating lightning by separating them.
They also can cooldown stuff like sozin did with the lava in the Volcano while helping roku, tho I don't know how heat as a energy actually work to take a proper look into it
@Steve By this line of logic waterbenders are actually bending moondust, not water. The sun and moon can affect bending without needing to be made of the same substance.
Fire benders would also be taken off gaurd if there was more air being pulled into an area at once. Imagine one of the fire benders goes to fire end and in that moment gyatso pulls all the air he can into the room making the smallest flame into an explosion. The fire benders would have killed themselves with there won aggression
Monk Gyatso: "Can you even fire bend without air?"
Monk Gyatso: **uses air bending to create a volume of space without air**
Fire Nation Soldiers: **can neither fire bend nor breathe**
No only that, despair from suffocating a side, a room with no air impossible to any flame to ignite, they were literally hopelessly defenseless, that would be darker than anything the show has ever shown to us
not only that, but any attempt to firebend would actively hasten their end since fire consumes oxygen
I love how people felt the need to explain the joke for you (the joke literally ends with "can neither fire bend nor breathe", like, yes, it takes oxygen for fire to burn since flame is "just" a rapid oxygenation)
Iroh also says that fire bending comes from the breath not the muscles
@@zspider1778 Gyatso: "pocket solar eclipse go"
I just saw a certain video that assessed Toph's greatest bending moment, and probably the greatest earth bending moment.... When she held up the library that is. We often forget how massive the whole library really was underneath yet she held it as it was being sucked into the spirit world.
I think that feat actually tends to get overrated in the sense of how it translates to active combat.
@@AntoineBandele Fair enough. I too don't think that it can translate into combat, but it was pretty impressive considering how large that library was, with the books, the observatory room, etc yet she was able to hold it up, and stabilize despite the fact that she was couldn't sense well while performing this.
@@AntoineBandele it technically should be impossible, I mean toph is pretty op but to hold the entire library brick by brick a thing with that size, even is she held a portion of it the rest where she didn't get a hold on to would break apart and sink.
@@meatsweatsland now in combat I think she holds back a lot she has a greater connection to earth then any Earth bender, like she could sink everybody into the ground like that general whatever did to katara
She's not holding up a library, she's holding part of a single spire.
The Library was not SINKING. That spire was sinking. The rest of the library was already under the sand and was being returned to the spirit world, not just SUNK. Wan Shi Tong was not destroying his collection, he was taking it back, out of the hands of mortals.
Even pushing this as FAR as possible, it's still just part of ONE building. The library is not one massive interconnected building. That's, not really how buildings work. Either way this feat is not as insane as people believe it to be. Some people think she's stronger than characters like Gaara from Naruto, who can catch METEORS.
Rather than possibly creating a vacuum, I wonder if Gyatso didn't do the opposite: create a space with too much air, using the increase in pressure to pop the soldiers' internal organs like over-inflated balloons.
Either way, since the room has no scorch marks as you noted, I think Gyatso unleashed his technique as a suicide attack, and wasn't able to escape his own area of effect.
more airpressure causes fire to be more violent.
i think it’s a similar parallel to blood bending in a sense being that the air nomads are far more reserved than the other nations
I think exactly the same way, would you say fire and earth has their own parallel to it or they're already broken as it is
Pulling all the air out meant the firebenders would not have oxygen for firebending too
Because the sun is super heated plasma hold together in a nuclear reaction not actual fire
@Steve that’s because there are other gases fuelling the sun. Like helium and hydrogen
Fire benders would also be taken off gaurd if there was more air being pulled into an area at once. Imagine one of the fire benders goes to fire end and in that moment gyatso pulls all the air he can into the room making the smallest flame into an explosion. The fire benders would have killed themselves with there won aggression
The power in firebending comes from THE BREATH. No breath, no fire.
Wasn’t it stated the suffocating technique is the last technique you learn and must show you can do to earn your airbending tattoos, Aang invented the air scooter and that counted for his last technique explaining why Aang never knew about it
i thought the last test for those tattoos was that you have to invent a new technique
@@alexanderzack3720 no you just have to show you can do all the airbending techniques it’s how you show your mastery
Pir que no las dos?
no forreal, the answer is both. Mastery is achieved when the Airbender masters all 36 tiers of airebending techniques and/or when they create a new ability.
Wait really? It's been a while so I forget, but was that actually the last technique that Aang never mastered?
To earn your tattoos u must master the 36 air bending techniques, and it was mentioned that Aang only mastered 35 yet he got his tattoos cuz he created a new technique ie., the air scooter, thus maybe this is the reason why Aang didn't learn the method.
This video is spot on! I think it's completely plausible, and i also don't think that such an action diminishes Gyatso's status and beliefs as an airbending master. After all, it is none other than Avatar Yangchen who tells us that sometimes you need to look past ideas and morals held dear to defend those you love - and while it is unlikely that the two had any biological relation, Gyatso was absolutely Aang's father. What father wouldn't choose their son over anything else? Particularly since the firebenders were completely exterminating the Air Nomads as a people.
In literature, it's a super common theme that pacifistic and pure individuals can still reach moments of rock bottom where they let go of any restraint. Himura Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin became a famous assassin when his nation collapsed into anarchy. Son Gohan became a savage brute when Cell forced out his inner fury. People can absolutely hit points of rock bottom where they can no longer be pushed, and will completely snap.
I personally think he just removed all of the air from the entire room. Without air there cannot be fire. So he suffocated himself and the rest of the fire benders, likely to save more people that were in the temple. Is clothing likely just ribbed from the elements over time, or maybe a firebender managed to stab him.
Would love to see the air benders last stand
I love this. On your point about Gyasto being too kindhearted, I think about one of my favorite philosophies. Being a good person requires you grapple with being a bad person. True wisdom comes from understanding both sides and choosing to be better.
Straightforward Airbending skill is highly possible. A super secret or master's technique is even possible. Maybe the main trio of Air Sub element speculation; Vacuum, Sound, Gasbending...
But we could consider Spiritualism was at work. It's possible Monk Gyatso used Astral projection and ripped as many Fire Nation solders souls out as he could before dying himself.
What about decay as a air sub element?
@@dystopia4379
Hm. I can't particularly imagine how it'd come about or exactly function. (At least at first glance)
Airbending a cloud of deadly fungus spores?
Creating an atmospheric environment that makes the decaying process speed up?
It’s not a secret. There’s a reason why the Fire Nation attacked them first and most fiercely, and it’s likely because Sozin couldn’t imagine a genuinely peaceful people in juxtaposition to himself. He was shook.
No it was because he knew the avatar would be reincarnated as an Airbender
This is such a good theory and it makes a lot of sense
Your speech at 0:25 for our reactions was spot on haha
the fire nation armor looks like it might be lsightly charred. What if Gyatso created a massive tornado in the chamber, with the fire nation soldiers own fire being turned against them? A tornado so strong, Gyatso couldnt survive the ordeal, and collapsed soon after the soldiers were killed
Imagine Monk Gyatso performing the exact opposite of this theory. Instead of pulling the air out of their lungs, he forced a massive quantity back in...
Awesome video! I never made this connection before but now that you explain it, it makes so much sense.
Zaheer also had much less practical airbending experience.
As shown in his fight against Tensen
He just cut a nasty fart
Man, imagine the sick short stories that could be made from all kinds of small details left here and there across ATLA/TLOK. Imagine a Star Wars Visions esc series for interesting world building!
Either Gyatso killed them all knowing it was the best way to help the others flee or he tried to make them faint. But when the firebenders tried attacking it made him suck out more air and the fire expended the remaining oxygen killing them and Gyatso in the process. In any case he was a hero that tried to do his best as a teacher, friend and protector.
Gyatso was pretty special, on the airnomad council.
He was incredibly talented and we'll informed, and he was very old and open minded about the rest of the world's cultures and philosophies.
He is likely one of the most enlightened characters in atla, up there with Iroh
Gyatso did the same thing Zaheer caused to the Earth Queen's death. Suffocating the fire benders and him as well.
I've kind of just presumed that Gyatso must have done some vacuum vortex of death. I also don't think this was necessarily a break from his non-violent ideals. It was a way to render the firebender unable to attack without bending. They would panic, speeding up their oxygen use, and knocking them out. Against a small group of firebenders, this would be very effective. Against a very small group of people it could be too. He would be able to maintain conciousness for a little longer, since he could be remaining calm while doing it. Unfortunately, more firebenders kept coming. This caused him to keep up the technique for longer, causing the unconcious to get asphyxiated. It kept up so long, eventually he lost conciousness, at which point someone who might even have been a firebender that was trying to get at him ran up and stabbed him. The reason they still didnt firebend even after he fell unconcious - at which point the vacuum goes away so everyone can breathe - is because up till then they couldn't breathe, so they were so out of breath they couldnt firebend yet. Like when Zuko comes up through the ice, he can't just breathe fire to warm himself up right away. He has to take a few breaths first.
Or it was a non-bender.
Or a blast caved in the roof on top of him.
We’ll fire bending comes from the breath. Remove the breath remove the fire bending.
My thought is that Gyatso was trying to get out of the temple to go find aang but was ambushed on his way out !! He wanted to find aang and guard him and continue his training but never got the chance !!
The title alone and the fact you said the air nomads had no military and spoke non violence is because the air nomads ARE the most dangerous.....great video
The way to neutralize fire is to remove its fuel… one of them is air, so Monk Queyatzo could be doing that and when you remove air from an area it causes affixation. So by accident killing himself and all the fire nation warriors attacking him. That is my Rated PG description of the event.
Couldnt he just give himself some of that air he's air bending to avoid death
@Antoine Bandele - I agree with your opinion and idea : they were asphyxiated to death.
Fire cannot prosper in an oxygen free environment. You have connected the dpts well.
Let's be honest though, Aang is too good at fighting with air to have picked it up entirely on his own. He had to have training from airbenders that weren't radically pacifistic; they believed in the rule of self defense and using equal force to your opponent. Thus developing a martial art for airbending as opposed to a purely utilitarian use a wholely pacifist nation would espouse. Though they likely never were seeking to kill unless their enemy was doing so themselves. That's a fairly complex moral code to deal with as a pre-teen so it's likely Aang only got the intro "do no harm" portion of their teachings; the monks thinking other bending disciplines would lead him to gain the aggression he needed to learn the full lesson of "do no harm, unless your inaction directly allows harm to befall yourself or others."
Ive always thought that was exactly what gyatso did but come to think of it, as you mentioned in this video about gyatso's corpse not having any scorch marks, thats got me wondering, what if gyatso committed suicide in shame after killing the fire nation soldiers. I just thought of a theory that maybe gyatso was the last airbender surving, he was the one who lasted the longest in the war, but because he made himself unclean due to getting blood on his hands, he got so disgraced that he decide to kill himself.
For a man that seemed to cherish life so much, suicide doesn't feel like the way he would go.
@@MasterReaperSID i thought about that too, but im saying yes he cherishes life so much, and as he killed so many soldiers, he may have been disgraced as a result of that and decided to take his own life in repayment for what he's done, get what im saying?
@@chiefcleve1834 From a human perspective and what we know of the character, he would not have killed himself without knowing about what had happened to Aang, at least not in the way your describing. At least that is my thought process, so I cannot follow your line of reasoning.
Surprised you didn't mention Kelsang, who committed an act shunned by the airbenders by creating a storm.
Kelsang has nothing to do with the main topic of airbending asphyxiation.
@@AntoineBandele Not directly, but the situation around him clearly demonstrates that although certain abilities are viewed a certai way in air nomad culture, they are still known.
I think a great name for this branch of Air Bending is Vacuum Bending. By removing all Air, a master Air Bender can shape and control a pocket of 'nothing'.
I've been seeing a few reactions to the series lately and this exact scene always stands out to me as something that would have been interesting to see how it went down.
In my martial arts training, some of the most nicest people you'll ever meet are the most deadly ones.
Compared to a Saint in my religion; I think Gyatso probably killed, but not out of spite or confusion.
Basically in both cases I think the plan was to buy time for their brother monks to escape. Though unique to Gyatso he may not have known if he was successful.
I can't see Gyatso or any of the elder monks playing with moral ethics while their people are being slaughtered. Remember, Katara hid some Fire Nation gear she found while they were walking around the temple, BEFORE Aang finds Gyatso's corpse, implying that other fire nation soldiers were killed in the attack. It's silly to think their pacism wouldn't allow them to defend themselves, considering the bending forms are all martial arts, just with elemental magic thrown in.
Maybe he did teach Aang, but told him to only use it as a last resort or as a way to incapacitate an enemy with as little harm as possible. But the line between unconsciousness and death is a thin one.
Aang had access to the other bending art forms with a lot less risk such as freezing someone to the ground or locking their feet in the ground. A lot easier and more reliable way to hold an enemy.
My guess with Gyatso is that his heart probably gave out. He had to be close to 80 if not a little more. There no telling how long he had been fighting before ending up in that room. And if he used the oxygen deprivation technique (and it seems likely he did) on that many soliders it had to be truly exhausting.
I had always though it was a case of knocking part of he roof down and then being trapped. This way makes more sense for when you and your loved ones are in danger.
Gyatso wasn't killed by fire benders, he lived through the battle. We find him in a meditation pose, he won and was waiting for aang to return.
He was killed
Another idea could be the opposite. Gyatso was pinned and was surrounded, he used airbending to maneuver the flames around him, shielding himself from the flames but scorching the soilders. However to pull it off, he had to use all of his strength and air both inside him and outside him.
While it could just be the shadows, the Fire Nation soilder's skeletons look darker, like they were burned instead. Maybe Gyatso died from strain, injuries or something more. And knowing he was going to die regardless, took a medative pose to pass on.
I think Gyasto knew more than what he let us know he did . Perhaps there was a time when Air Nomands weren't so peaceful and because of that he wanted the new generations to grow in peace . YES the Air Nomands always looked so peaceful and kind hearted people but *what if* there was a ruler , a person like Laghima that lead them to a bit of a darker path ?! Until someone stood up to him !
There are so many *WHAT IFS* in the universe of the Avatar but we cannot be really sure . All i can say from the hints and facts we have gotten so far ,is that the air nomands could have been a ruthless race for a time . If they weren't that , than why would they have such forbiden deadly old tecnics that can wipe out fleets and armies ? If Gyasto was able to do something like that who tells me that the rest weren't capable of such power ?! There are many loop holes that can be found about this . I believe each and everyone of them are capable of such power but they were never taught this way cause of *reasons*
Each nation has its own deadly secrets and am sure earth benders , fire benders and waters benders are very deadly as well . *HOWEVER* i personally believe the air nomands are *THE* deadliest . Imagine been able to control the air of everyone around you . The only *true* enemy they could have possibly had it could be *blood benders* which they are also deadly as f*ck
However , there are always way to defeat an apponent . No one is invincble and neither blood benders or air benders . However until a weakness is found your apponent has all the time in the world to prevent you from finding it . Blood benders are very very *few* and given the circumstances air benders are very *few* as well { beside the avatar korra sh*t -__- }
There are many things that can be discussed and this is a very interesting matter . You got my attention with this . Imagine if houndereds of air benders created a tornado enough to wipe out countries if not nations . I can't help but think...
Great video btw mate , keep it up ! 😎 👌
Could you do Kuvira & her mech vs The Red Lotus. I heard some people say that they couldnt beat her even with unalaq and aiwei. I think the Red Lotus would do well against the mech. Considering the red lotus doesnt care as much about collateral damage, ghazan (lava), unalaq (spirit bender), and pl'i (combustion) would do great against the mech. Ming hua and Zaheer are stealthy enough to get inside undetected and they'd probably just jump her like they did tenzin. Zaheer would be even more bloodlusted considering kuvira is exactly what he hates in the world. What do you think?
Probably not. Pretty one sided. It took a huge team of benders, non-benders, and an Avatar to take down Kuvira’s Mech. It’s unlikely Red Lotus alone could do much, even P’Li.
I would say is kind of the same as blood bending as in “let me take that precious air that you breathing from them lungs and create a vacuum type around you real quick tho”
Something I never knew I never knew!
Even a monk is permitted to fight back.
"If a person is shooting at you with a gun, it would be reasonable to shoot back" (more or less) the Dali lama said that
Only thing I have to add. Monk Gyatso may would have talt the technician to Ang when he turned 16 when he thought Ang was old enough to bare the burden of being the avatar
Forced asfixiation seems to be very effective against firebenders since the power in fire bending comes from the breath
He just pulled a suicide act. Destroying the "oxigen" in the room.
dude that means the master straight up took air away in form of a large spherical vicinity and took out multiple firebenders including himself, and since the soldiers seem like they have fallen next to each other simultaneously, he didn't just suck out the air with individual air pressure spheres like Zehyr, he most of done a large one enough to destroy the building, or at least shatter it from lowing the air pressure in an instant massive ancient technique, i mean I've seen science experiments of when you lower air pressure to get zero gravity, imagine seeing that in an fast motion, mofos lungs would just deteriorate
air blades are something much simpler, and cooler too
It's also possible that they could have attacked his building with explosions from the outside, a surprise attack could have killed him, ESPECIALLY between Waves of Enemies. Giving him a False Sense of Security.
Not to mention sent it some more Conventional Soldiers. Getting enough Non-Bending Soldiers, in large enough numbers, they could have actually attacked him. An eventually had him bleed to death from enough cuts for instance.
I also think there aren’t any burn marks in the room at all. Even while being asphyxiated They’d be able to throw fire to stop him from choking them. The thing is their aren’t any so that means either they died really really quick, couldn’t produce fire cause their was no oxygen in the area , or just forgot that was a thing
This would make for a great story point addition to a Monk Gyatso movie.
If you think THIS would make a great addition, you should check out this: ruclips.net/video/ZceAyXmv7fw/видео.html
I mean, given that the Monk is also unburnt, he most likely suffocated himself with the rest of them. Given his belief, maybe in his mind taking lives could only be compensated with the loss of his own.
I wish they make chronicles of the world during the Fire Nation invasion to give more insight of the pre-Last Airbender era
Maybe the reason why airbenders when down the path of peace is because of how overpower their abilities to air bend con paired to other bending styles.
I mean, that is a lot of bodies to be there and for something huge to not go down. My guess that if you think about the sheer lethality of controlling air that any number of abilities could have been used. It may have been something as simple as him deflecting enough fire to turn it on the fire benders or up to straight up creating blunt force trauma through the wind.
In our world violence is necessary we should NEVER pray for it but when it comes prepared to handle it…people who are very PEACEFUL should be capable of extreme violence…to protect your peace ☮️
Ur versus series made me obsess over ur channel bro bring it back
Have you not been seeing the VS I've been doing that past few weeks?
@@AntoineBandele ohh damnnnn broooooo I just watched it all sorry great vids as always
Oh yeah, bro. We back. Stay tuned. Next one's a big one Prime Aang vs Prime Kyoshi. Check out my community tab. We got discussion going on over there as well.
That's f****** awesome I can't take credit for this idea but my friend had this theory that the reason why the airbenders decided to go the peaceful route is because if they wanted to they could air bend the whole world and take away all the air from the rest of the whole world and kill the entire planet if all the airbenders work together on this it could probably be done
I always thought we'll be cool if the airbending monks separated in there were like most that actually thought about taking lies if we was necessarily. They follow the philosophy of the old gurus during the first few avatars. Toby dope is Aang's youngest grandchild separated started that will be actually really cool and inoac complexity to Aangs Legacy
The background track is fire
Hi Antonie, I've seen the video and it was nice and the theory of Gyatso and Zaheer. The thing that bugs me here is that I remember a saying from the series that an airbender should resort to violence if he has no other choice or option. We can see that the skeletons were laying around Gyatso's skeleton. So can I tell that he had no other option and was cornered, so he had to resort to violence. If you find my statement correct or valid, you can comment to this comment.
U deserve more likes dude... This is such a great theory
Getting back on the horse. Just might take a little while.
We need answers to these questions through an prequel to ATLA!
Idk about you guys but I think if the monks made an air tornado to escape would be a good idea, the fire can’t get through since it would just be flung around. And if you propel yourself up you could possibly escape
He probably removed all oxygen in the room to
1. Disable firebending. 2 Killing everyone in the process to let the others escape.
I think he made their lungs explode, by expanding the air in their lungs.
When powered up by the comet its quite possible that too many firebenders in one room could kill accidently themselves and each other. This would remove the air from the room quick enough for Gyatso and everyone involved to simply dehydrate and fall unconscious.
see what im guessing he did was suck all the air out of the room, fire can't burn without air and no one can breath, he most likely self sacrificed to try to save the others
The fire nation uniforms look kind of scorched so it's possible he used his air bending to redirect their fire
I only know that the showrunners promised to show us an Airbending ability that would "blow our minds away". And then they completely dropped promise in favor of cheesy soap opera.
My head canon thought they were able to bend energy (maybe Spiritual Energy) at one point but abandoned it because it was too destructive for their beliefs. We saw how powerful a Spirit Energy cannon could be.
I think gyatso finally let go of his earthly tethers while he was injured sitting on the floor he was probably the last air bender to be killed he couldn’t fly away because he was injured so he just took the air from everybody around him because he had nothing else to lose
Since there are no signs of fire I think he drew away all the from the place suffocating every soldier, their flames and him self.
I like this, but I think in breaking his vow to save his life and try to save the others as well, he may have sat there afterwards and died. Like just sat meditating till he died of malnutrition
He was probably using Airbender to deprive the fire of oxygen to offset sozins comet.
This would be the same as a waterbender bending the water out of someone’s body and making their blood think enough to not even flow and die within seconds.
If someone can bend their sweat, no reason they can’t do that.
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be"
Consider the lesson of the chakras as it was explained to Aang. Remember everything is related as to be one.
A possible explanation for not teaching Aang the peaceful use of this is that he might not have known it.
It's a little odd to think of Zaheer as more skilled than a master like Gyatso but he would have actively sought out historical techniques while Gyatso might have been taught partial knowledge that had spent several generations without seeing any real use.
If the more widespread version was considered a suicidal method, I doubt many of the monks would have looked deeply enough to learn how to suffocate a single person without tearing that person's lungs up. When using it in short bursts, to avoid killing anyone, it's almost exclusively an anti-firebender technique, so wouldn't be a high priority in Aang's training.
I think monk Gyatso did teach Ang that technique in the form of the air scooter instead of making the air around somebody leave you do it underneath yourself and you can float
I saw something that said one of the writers revealed he never went strictly on the offensive just blocked and sent attacks back essentially having the firebenders take themselves out
Whats crazy to me is how lethal air benders can make farts. Especially against fire benders😂
After the air benders pressed aang making him run away Gyatso lost his last worldly attachment thus gaining the abilities
Great info!
4:03 How would he do that? Not only was the roof open to the elements, but so was the door. The building wasn't fit to just have a small opening where all the air could be sealed off from.
Not to mention, as soon as your brain is deprived of oxygen for enough time, Gyatso would just pass out, at which point he would stop bending and the air would rush back into the room, reviving everyone again.
I'll dub this forbidden technique Gyasto used vaccum chamber of certain death. Or Vacuum of doom.
I believe some air benders escaped
Desperation drives humans to do inhumane things, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
We need an official monk gyatso story fr
Gyatso went full Sid Meier's Civilization Ghandi
It actually makes a lot of sense: maybe monk gyatso removed the air from the area (stoppping the fire benders from bending and causing them to pass out) but ended up passing out from the lack of air himself and eventually dying along with the fire benders
It is this reason why Air benders are at base the Most powerful benders. The only ones I can think of that comes close to them is the Water benders with blood bending. Fire bending has the higher raw power, but Earth bending has the greater utility. I'm not saying air and water are not as useful. Water has a great immobilization and healing factor, and Air has an extremely high mobility rate, and when used creatively like Aang does in ALTA it can be powerful in it's own right. However going off of just the base abilities Air benders are the strongest fighters
Does firebending need oxygen to combust? Could Giatso have caused a vacuum or close to one to prevent firebending with the side effect of asphixation?
Judging by how the skeletons were done it is safe to assume that it was meant to be assumed that he did indeed pull all of the air out of the room in a sacrificial move
I would assume that all air benders would know of this technique through reading about it as it apart of their culture.
But since it goes against their beliefs of no killing, they would never use it.
Just like how all water benders would know of blood bending in the Korra timeline as it is illegal.
Airbending is based off the real ancient Chinese partial art: Bagua Zheng (Circle walking). Which that specific style itself is meant for defense to force submission. But with the moves required, it can be the most brutal and deadly in the world