earth is also associated with stubbornness, and honestly metal bending was invented bc toph was just too stubbon to accept she couldn't. its not exactly a deep analysis of the subject but i think its neat
@Lilac Cloud this makes a lot of sense, toph is blind and she can only 'see' through earthbending. Metalbending to her must make sense if she knows there are minerals on them for the longest of time
When Aang learns earthbending the show shows us in a very literal way, that earthbending is about facing your problems head-on. It's about taking a stand and being decisive. Yes, as Bumi says, a good earth bender knows how to wait and do nothing, but they also know how to wait for the right time to take action and do so decisively. Honestly, I think carefully choosing a course of action and the right time for it and then going through with it by facing the problem head-on can be an important thing to know how to do.
I always loved earth bending because of the way toph MADE earth bending spiritual. To most of the people it was just moving stone, but to her it was understanding, sight, the way she communicated with the world, and I thought that was awesome
Toph said it best. It was her way of interacting with the world. And that's why she was so great at it, it wasn't just bending, it was her way of being in the world.
I think people often forget that blood-bending isn’t actually bending blood, per se, but the water inside a person. It’s basically swamp-bending but more sadistic.
We know bloodbending is possible, but it’s only accessible to waterbenders. Fleshbending is asking if an Earthbender can do the same thing through a different method.
As an artist, Earthbending has always been by far what I'm most passionate about. The ability to so directly create and sculpt the world around you, it's practically all I've ever longed for. It just vibes with me. The other elements are flashy and dramatic, but they're temporary. Bent earth is real, it's tangible. That makes it feel so much more significant for everyday life use, especially if you could hone your skills with it to a fine degree, like the metalbenders in Korra. Not to mention the metal-web-slinging the metalbenders do is super rad.
Agreed, earthbending is so tangible and it makes a swift and lasting difference: you can build homes for people, infractructure for them to use, it truly is both artistic and extremely practical, and that's why I love it the most.
@Ikluk Maui Probably is like bending water to ice or reverse. Waterbenders do it, so solidifying or hardening substances is possible in the avatar universe. Souzen actually did that when he helped Avatar Roku defeat a vulcano, before he left Roku to die. Theoretically yes, but none has ever done it (of what we know of). I can't stress enough though how *insanely* good you would have to be as a firebender though. Lightning-bending is probably the closest anyone has ever got to it.
If you think about it - and this still being in the fantasy world of avatar - bolins mother is from the fire nation and his father is from the earth nation. This coild contribute to his ability to lava bend.
that was very tightly connected to his morals and ideals though. So I guess you have to decide whether an objective born from moral or ideological reasons, is that the same as just "I want to kill this person"? If Korra was not the Avatar Zaheer would have no reason to kill her. If the avatar wasn't a symbol of authority as he discussed in an earlier video, even if Korra was the avatar he wouldn't want to kill her. I think it's definitely a gray area, but I guess you just have to decide if morals and ideals are earthly or spiritual. At least thats what I reasoned together just now lol :P
Its overlooked a lot, but that Fire Sage in LoK using fire to read her chi and her pain was one of my favorite moments. Like yes, firebending is powerful and can be destructive, but this woman used it to "shed a light" and help heal. Almost like an X-Ray. I think about how fire is often portrayed as the "evil" element, not just in Avatar, but other media as well. But looking at fire in real life, it can cause a lot of pain. It can be used irresponsibly. But it also keeps people alive. Gives us warmth, light, and cooks our food. The fact Avatar showed this just makes me so happy.
I never even thought of lightning as a sub element. I always saw it as superheated air - just really hot and focused firebending. In book one of Korra, as Lightning-Bolt Zolt is getting his firebending taken from him, he's shooting an arc of lightning into the air. As that power dwindles, it transitions to fire, then nothing. Lightning, or plasma, can originate from superheating air. That's always how I thought firebenders did it.
That’s how I saw it like, and that’s why I don’t understand why firebenders can’t lavabend, when it’s the same as lightning bending but instead of superheating air you superheat earth.
@marccalveras5112 lightning isnt superheated air tho? Although the principle is similar, clashing particles together so fast they release energy, but lava is still essentially rocks, while lightning is just the byproduct of the friction created when air particles bumming into each other.
@Marc Calveras Firebenders 100% can make lava, they just can't move it. They can't do anything with it. They could make fire hot enough to melt the stone, but they still can't bend the stone.
Sometimes the banality of company lawyers acting against the company's own economic good just drives me nuts. Content like this PROMOTES the show, merchandise and interest in their IP. Its free advertising. I just watched 20 minutes of content making me more interested and likely to word-of-mouth promote their IP, introduce it to my kids, buy merch, re-buy the shows on different platforms, etc.
@Freezingred2 Hufflepuff are know for being loyal and other friendship things meaning they are inherently stubborn when it comes to protecting their friends meaning that they are stubborn Griffindors are just very very Brave.
Here's why toph is so powerful. Almost nobody has experience fighting someone who sees like she does. Making her react differently than literally anyone else they have fought before
One thing I've noticed though is while Toph is always given the title of greatest earthbending fighter ever a title she rightly deserves that only applies when she is fighting other earthbenders hell the only one who can even match her is Bumi and he has almost a century's more experience on Toph but in her first encounter with an airbender(aang) he knocks her out of the ring almost by accident she is entirely dependent on her seismic sense and all other forms of bending have ways around this especially (obviously) airbending
@@boneybaron2508 I think aang just caught her off guard. She assumed she was fighting another earthbender. She has fought many fire benders just fine. She knows when someone is bending, because they do certain stances for each move. If the airbender is aware of how this works and attacks her from Thier glider, then yeah she would be totally defenseless.
Bone-bending as an earth-bending equivalent to water-bending's blood-bending makes a lot more sense. Nothing is more grounded than them skeleton-bones.
Reinforce the calcium in their bones and levitate them a bit to help accelerate them. It also would help explain how Toph can read people that make contact with the ground. She's not just seeing foot placement, but their entire being and actions. She and Aang do similar with the vines in the swamp.
Fun lil fact if you wanna use calcium in someones bones to bend as earth you could instead put them in unimagineable agony by bend the potassium in the nerves :)
Fire bending: Life and Emotion Feelings like happiness, anger, sadness, and love have an effect on bending ability. Earth bending: Body and Character Traits like pride, laziness, perseverance, and greediness have an affect on bending ability. Water bending: Soul and Nature Attributes like calmness, rashness, bravery, and gentleness have an affect on bending ability. Air bending: Mind and Spirit Ideas like righteousness, faith, truth, and peace have an affect on bending ability.
Fire: Wrath(Fire is commonly associated with destruction) Envy(Fire benders are associated with a jealous and envious passion for power) Earth: Sloth(Using benders for heavy lifting and automaton of cities) Pride(Prideful usually building the largest cities and are cock) Water: Gluttony(idk I was struggling for water let's just say the water takes up a large portion of the planet? Sure let's go with that) Air:Lust (Their temples and life style where beautiful) Greed( ang being the last bender could of been seen as greedy for the amount of want for his elements rebirth) SEVEN DEADLY SINS!?!?!
The most powerful firebenders are the most passionate diciplined and determined ones, they thrive to succeed and that explained why there were more fire bender prodigies in the show. Also explains why the firenation was way more advance technologically.
Complete breakdown of Elements and Sub-Bending: Air - Spirit Fire - Lightning - Plasma Water - Healing - Blood - Ice - Plants/Vines Earth - Metal - Sand - Lava - Crystal/Gem All benders have the ability to work with/sense energy. Toph used it to see everywhere in LoK, Water Benders use it for healing, Air Benders for spiritual stuff like sensing one's presence, Fire Benders use it to sense what ails the body.
@@benjaminstephenson166 spirit work in ATLA is just another form of working with energy and in my comment i did state every element has some form of energy bending that they do. Its just that Air Benders are the closest to working with them. Iroh knows about the Spirit realm mostly in his research of the 4 nations along with working for/with the White Lotus
@@shiekahfan01 I was a bit off in what you were meaning maybe. I see spirit as a separate set of skills than the bending traditions that it seems many have learned. In such we are not directly aware if non benders could learn spirit, as we don't know when Zaheer could start to. Though he was aware Awei could and hoe to meet him prior to be imprisoned i believe.
What about combustion bending.Idk if thats the title ,but theres a firebender who can shoot nukes out of his head from season 3 of ATLA.Correct me if im wrong
@@LucidOpticLab that is EXACTLY why kyoshi lived for over 300 years. For bumi and toph...i mean toph wasnt actually that old. Plus i should note it was said that youd basically retain your appearance you had the moment you started doing that forever, so if kyoshi started doing it at 30 shed look 30 forever
@@LucidOpticLab its a really good book. It Is considerably darker than either of the tv series giving off a vibe that THIS is closer to what the creators wanted tone wise
Waking up to having to my video taken down was incredibly frustrating. I think it's one of the best Avatar lore videos I've ever done, and it was doing really well for my channel. I realise it won't get the views it had last time, but it'd really help just to comment anything/like the video if you have a second. Thanks to the RUclips copyright system, I guess I'll just need to be more careful in the future. Thanks everyone, and I love you all. *Give me your most ridiculous idea of "[x] is made of [y], that must mean that a really powerful [z]bender should be able to bend [x]."* ~ Tim
It is a shame the original one was taken down. And as you said it was one of your best Avatar lore videos maybe even one of the best Avatar lore videos out there.
Is this because of Artical 13, because I found out (on other videos) that if something that was in public domain is now not so. I might not miss hierd.
Tim, I like/love the lore of ATLA . My son was just the right age to enjoy it so I watched with him. There was only one episode that I didn’t like . The one where Katara steals the water stance scroll. That episode just didn’t work with their other episodes.
Mitra Pooranalingam That probably would be a good place to start when it comes to earth bending. Similar to how Korra was being taught metal bending. Either that or because the grains are so small, it’s actually tougher, like how Toph has a tough time seeing when she’s on sand.
it's hilarious that even though the ran and shaw part was edited out, I could still recognise it because I've probably seen the ATLA series over a hundred times
How about Sound bending? Increasing or decreasing the vibrations in the air. makes the science fans happy If the bender who discovers it is a musician it could still play into the spiritual aspect air bending, as music is the sound of the spirit.
@@gauchesymbiote1039 Yep. In fact, now that I think about it, an airbender could probably be very effective in stealth by controlling the surrounding air to prevent sound waves from escaping and revealing his or her location.
And you know, they could send compressed air into ears nose and mouth, could explode someones ears, lungs, stomach and couse a brain trauma, and possible brain death. it's nice that most of the airbenders are peaceful monks. 🙃
i also really like the idea of sending vibrations into air, to make music and such but i dont think an airbender can control timbre, one of the most important aspects of music and sound. So the music would sound the same from all the vibrations they're making
14:40 - Late to the party here, and someone may have already brought this up, but the idea that in LOK the Equalists use Palladium and hyper refined/pure metals to prevent the "metal benders" on the city's police force from fighting back also is a supporting point to the idea of metal and earth being distinct elements in the Chinese framework you discussed.
@@MegaAgamon can you please give timestamps where toph is shown to be capable of bending pure palladium as well as other metals which are stated to be pure. Statements that said metal being bended is pure should have their own timestamps. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
@@doigt6590 When she mentions to be able to bend the poison out of Korra a poison so pure that not even her talented daughter who bends very pure metals as her city is full of them wasn't able to bend it out of Korra.
@@MegaAgamon I don't think you understand what Douglas is saying if that is what you understand as pure. There MUST be some earth in the metal for it to bend because metal bending isn't metal bending, it's earth bending used to alter the shape of impure metals. The poison in Korra's body may have a high level of purity, but it is still impure. It is still not true metal bending. Only the avatar can bend more than one element anyway.
I wonder if the introduction of new sub-types of bending - particularly lava - have some relation to how Avatar's world is becoming more modern and materialistic as time goes on, and this is reflected in how bending techniques are becoming a little more influenced by scientific understanding rather than spiritual? I don't think this is making things less spiritual, to be clear. I would say that Lava is closer to Fire in terms of the philosophical connection: It is explosive, powerful, and destructive, but also can create life-giving volcanic soil that is really good for growing crops. And yet, it falls under Earth Bending because it is... well... made of *earth.* But what if a Fire Bender could learn to bend Lava AS WELL by somehow making use of the spiritual/philisophical connection to it? Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I hope it's an interesting idea, and it could begin to explain things a little. Like... you could say that most of the apparent rules of Avatar are spritualism-based more than scientific, but what I'm suggesting is that a LITTLE of scientific (or adjacent) understanding is beginning to creep into how Bending rules work, and that this is reflected in the increasing modernity of the world in Season 2. Perhaps it's sort of both? Perhaps this relates to what was said about all of the elements being one back in Season 1? Though, of course, there aren't really any strongly set rules anyway. But this is fun to think about.
Wow I really like this take. It could also be the reason as to why there is a lack of respect for the Avatar in this new world as well. In a science - based world spirituality is on the decline.
Lava bending has existed for a long while in the universe of avatar, it appears as early as book one atla, when Roku causes the collapse of the fire temple.
"Earth bending is the least spiritual of all elements" Precisely. Each of the 4 elements represent one of our states: Fire - spiritual Air - mental Water - emotional Earth - PHYSICAL Earth is the physical representation of the elements, it represents our connection to our bodies, our connection to the earth, our natural instincts (gut feeling) and the root of our very existence. To be the avatar, is to master all 4 elements: all 4 states of being. This is why the avatar is the resolve of all conflict in the series, because they have mastered themselves to the point of healing everything.
@Ak47 C i mostly went through zodiac sign's representation of the elements just because it was a more well known one. But that isn't the point. The point is that earth is still the physical aspect of the 4. The others are mostly up for debate, i agree i even took a while to see what is what. But i stuck to the zodiac representation for the sake of simplicity
Ak47 C I feel like water as emotions makes sense. It’s the flow of emotions, both harsh and soft like water. Fire on the other hand is often a symbol for soul and energy. It’s mostly always intense. Even the softest flames have intensity strength which to me is more spiritual. Water can be subtle without getting overbearing, much like emotions.
Suell Costa and yess I whole heartedly agree that earth lovers or earth signs are very physical in their connections with the world and people and beliefs.
Ak47 C well no one told Aang to control his mentality or Toph to control her physicality..controlling ones emotions is a human thing. Uncle Iroh didn’t want Zuko’s strength to come from his rage. Also his rage was getting in the way of his focus which is why he was told to control his emotions. What we are talking about here is what these elements are connected to. If any element bender looses control of their emotions they will probably not be the best at their skill. This also relates to emotional control in our lives. It is natural. It is human.
Honestly, the reason I love earth bending is because of the potential. I realize that other elements also have great potential and so on and so forth, but earth bending really gets shafted by almost anyone who is neither Bumi nor Toph (Kyoshi also does cool stuff in the past though). Even Aang doesn't really do anything particularly interesting other than in the avatar state. Bumi shows that he is basically able to level a city within a few minutes. Imagine the things you could build with earth bending too. What do you for the most part see in the show? Stomp to make rock jump. Punch to make rock fly. Stomp to make a shield. The Dai Li also do some cool stuff with their rock gloves and wall running abilities, so it's not like we only see these things. But compared to the amount of earth bending we see, I feel you could do so much more.
I think you have earth bending wrong in some regards. I personally feel like it gets screwed over in most fantasy settings, but avatar was actually able to present it in a beautiful way. Earth spirituality is about staying still and mediating on the large picture of spirituality. Earth is all-encompassing. Earth spirituality asks you to connect to other people, your community, your world. To connect to this one has to let go of their individuality and see how they are just one part of this larger sum. Earth spirituality is seeing yourself as a grain of sand, that builds into the tallest mountains and into the core of the earth. That is why lava bending is earth bending. Its about taking what is at our cores and being completely open to the world. Bolin has an open heart which is why he connects with this bending style. Earthbenders have the largest continent for a reason. They teach being a part of a community and caring about each other as a whole. That is why when the earth benders are put on a boat in ATLA they lose their sense of community and look inwards. They don’t know how to connect with each other even though they have the numbers. The idea of family and together-ness is important to earth spirituality. The beifongs in both series struggle with family-ties as it connects them to what is at the core of their culture. Suyin creates a place in the world for her people, and Lin protects people keeping her community safe. Its where the other three spiritual concepts are dissimilar to earth. Air asks one to seek enlightenment by letting go of the body and self. Earth asks that you ground yourself in reality and acknowledge that you are a part of the world. What connects you to others is important and valuable, and caring about the world is important as every action you make can cause a land slide or earthquake leaving a permanent scar. Metal bending is finding something familiar within something that that is different or foreign. It symbolizes finding the common-ground that people share. Which is why the fire nation is able to connect so easily with the earth kingdom. They share that sense of gathering around the hearth. Toph’s ability to feel the vibrations in the earth connects more to this inner connectivity than it does to actually being able to feel other people’s shape via actual vibrations. If it were just vibrations she would only see their location. Yet she is shown to see their faces and clothes. She can make out the shape of who they are. I think that enlightenment is useless without this sense of reality. Thats why earth is my favorite element. Edit: In Korra Toph says: “Im more connected than you’ve ever been. The roots and vines, they run all over the world. I can see Su and Lin, Z and republic city. I see everything.” Edit 2: Because now im really interested in this topic. In looking it up the ATLA IP bible states that earth bending is strongest near fault-lines meaning that they have a connection to tectonic plates which adds to their connection with the earth’s core.
I love this explanation. I always thought that earth bending to be somewhat more to it. I have something in mind like this, but I just cant connect the dot between sensing others and etc
I loved your comment because my favourite bending is earth and the video made such poor analisys on it. You can describe the very thing that make us humans, whitout community the human kind would never have existed.
I wonder how your thoughts around the elements changed since the Kyoshi novels, which do seem to give more depth to a lot of different lores. Particularly, Kyoshi witnesses two expert firebenders in close combat without any actual fire - they say firebending is fundamentally a concussive force, not fire, and really good firebenders can separate the flame from the force. It certainly makes more sense in how they depict firebending, more like an explosion blasting out rather than a wave of heat and plasma. But then how does it really fit into the more spiritual aspects of firebending? It feels like a totally different interpretation of fire than a source of heat and life. I’d also just love to see you talk more about lore from the Kyoshi novels! Especially with Father Glowworm (and its merger contrasted with that of the Avatar) and Kuruk’s story.
Since Agni is the Sun, and also the original firebender that taught the dragons, who then taught people, and since higher forms of firebending include lightning (i.e plasma) manipulation, it's pretty safe to say that a sufficiently powerful and/or suicidal firebender is a walking fusion bomb.
I wouldn't say earth is the least spiritual element, but rather the most stoic. In the words of Mulan's Emperor: "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it." Earth and stone are these stalwart entities that take the longest to change and remain the most persistent, no matter what the other elements have to say about it. The storm may howl against the mountain, the sea might clash against the cliffs and Ozai might burn everything to a crisp, but earth remains.
My favorite hypothetical bending was what one of my friends called "rage bending". You get one of each bender, have the Water Bender use blood bending to accelerate the Earth Bender's pulse, Air Bender pumps more air into the Earth Bender's lungs, and Fire Bender uses electricity to heighten the Earth Bender's reflexes. More air pumps more oxygen into the blood, faster blood flow delivers the surplus of oxygen to the muscles and brain faster, all feeding the faster reflexes with energy to use them. Finally the Earth Bender can bend rocks and metal into armor making the ultimate warrior
You'd use 3 benders just to have 1. How would you even make sure that the earthbender keeps his/her supply of blood, air and energy bending up? He/she would have to wait for them to constantly be within a few meters of him/her.
It's a fun theory but also quite dangerous. Too much oxygen, also known as hyperoxia or hyperoxemia, can cause injury to the eyes, lungs, heart, brain, and GI and can also cause seizures as well as other cardiovascular complications.
I always thought that Bolin can Lavabend because it’s earth (duh) which is his natural ability, but also fire as something he kind of got from his family. Mako is firebender so in my head it made sense that their bond would make Bolin able to bend lava which is a mix of the two (both hard to control and very grounded) more than metal which is more refined (which Bolin definitely isn’t). It made so much sense to me I never really questioned it and thought in the detail. Thanks for the video!!
Earth to me is the bending without compromise. fire is called upon, if you have a strong inner chi your energy calls to the fire and it responds if you call with enough passion to spark it (pun intended for you lightning bender out there) hence the method it's a lot of fighting, your literally attacking your surroundings to show the fire your eagerness you want to glow and shine. Water is guided, not called. you don't summon water, you simply give it a correction and doing what water doe it moves as you give it a path, it's a little heavier than water, so it takes a little more effort to motivate it, but it's equally as malleable, but try and force it along a path and all you will get is ice. Air is freedom and enlightenment, as you yourself have stated, to let go and be free like the wind, the wind is literally everywhere yet you can't see it, it's not like earth water or fire, it's a void. It's a faith that as we saw in this video, if you fall the wind will catch you, but if you show little faith it will drop you like a stone. the burdens of what lies at the ground doesn't matter, it's all a matter of faith and willingness to move on, Inge like grudges and vengeance is baggage, that weighs you down, the wind is held back by nothing, simply let go. Earth to me is the most human element, a life energy, peace and freedom are all very, very tranquil and admirable life choices. But down in the earth life's a bit rougher. We earth benders don't ask our element or even call upon the earth to come to us, nah we kick the hell out of it forcing it to move for us. We stomp on the earth, the earth is pushed up, it's tectonic. Our force matches it's force and one has to give way. It's a bending of wills, the earth doesn't respond to anyone. Even those most attuned to the earth only know how to talk to it by blows struck to the earth and the ripples that sends across it, the earth itself hasn't moved once in that action, it doesn't have to. The earth is stubborn and singular, fores dance around each other, water and air are combined forces, the earth fights itself, plates below the planet hit and clash at one another for room pushing each other around causing earthquakes as they tussle. Two of the worlds greatest benders King bumi and toph both show great strength in their bending, and both show great pride in their strength. They are immovable objects that the other elements can not move. To use two quotes from completely different media this is how I see earth, it's an element of will stubbornness and internal fortitude, to not move or backdown, to not act but to not be pushed back. "No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain can not bow to it" "Our bond is iron, our will unbreakable, who will stand against us?"
if we look ANATOMICALLY and not atomically (because we all know avatar is 100% anatomically correct what with the flying and breathing fire), bending of literal blood is impossible. the suspension of blood would stop its circulation throughout the body, and whoever was being controlled would die after so many minutes, and at the very least pass out within a minute. the name bloodbending probably isn't meant to be taken literlly. hama even says that it's simply "controlling the water in another body". most likely, bloodbending is controlling the fluids in the skeletal muscle, since that is what actually allows bodies to move. so in a sense, fleshbending
@@presto7028 Plus you would have to be careful to bend only the capilar blood, if you try to bend arterial blood you might give instant heart attack to your target (maybe on a spiritual level, the closer the blood is to the heart the stronger is its chi so it's harder or even impossible to bend arterial or heart blood)
One of my main problems with Korra is that they seemed to dismiss the spiritual nature of bending. So many people could lightening bend, or metal bend. Where as it should have been only true masters of themselves who could achieve that
@@minatoaudiph7883 Such a bad way to teach airbending. She destroys a priceless airbending training area with fire when she doesnt get her way, shows flagrant disrespect to tenzin, and then she suddenly knows how to airbend because plot when the writing wrote themselves in a hole? It would have been an excellent way to segway to learning humility and spirituality but no
Korra even used Avatar State in Air Scooter competition with Tenzin's kids just to win it. Avatar duty should have been about dealing the balance of world, life and pain of person, cycle of war and spirituality but Korra series just turn Avatar into a political duty of the world and good versus evil's spirit, when combining this concept with Ying Yang created a whole uneccecary debate about the concept about dark avatar and how Avatar Wan and subsequent avatar was wrong about peace since Vaatu as chaos and dark spirit is essential to balance Raava. Infact by the end of Korra series, the spirit just hated Avatar making the whole "The Bridge between Human and Spirit" useless term. Korra was unresponsible avatar, at the end the series she left the unorganized Republic City which had many people homeless with the problem everywhere with distrust of spirit and human was there for a date with Asami in the spirit world and when complaint to her, she lash out "ohh i was never intended on a vacation (date) to avoid it, it was kuvira destroy the city" when infact the she only focusing on Asami the whole date. When she decide to open the Spirit Portal, despite the reappereance of Air Bender in effort of the Spirit World and Energy to balance cause a bunch of problem namely the bad relationship between human and spirit, the veins spirit that appear in the city and destroy building and home and also the fact that Kuvira use the the Spirit World energy to destroy the Republic City and form the Earth Empire thanks to the Spirit Portal the spirit energy were easy to extract and it just matter of time until another person try to use it again, in the comic try to use the spirit portal for its own wealth and gain.
I personally think that time and circumstance has a lot to do with it . Toph discovered metal bending and started a school which lead to more metal benders . Same thing probably happened to lighting bending especially since it was in demand and would provide for a motive for people to learn it . Whereas lava bending was only ever performed by the red lotus member and it was confined to him until he attacked Bolin and in a matter of life and death he learned the ability .
@@marwanali4878 lightning bending is far harder than metal bending. Zuko didnt even learn how to do it in the original 3 books, and he was a great fire bender. The whole reason why it was scary was because few knew how to do it, it was hard. Now the spiritual element is gone to be replaced with steampunk engineering.
Sub-elements: Blood bending Combustion bending Metal bending Mudbending Flight Lightning bending Snowbending Sand bending Swamp bending Healing Energy bending Ice bending Lavabending Spiritual projection Lie detecting? Seismic sense Body temperature control Condensesation Cloud manipulation Spirit bending Fog bending (Let me know if I missed anything)
I disagree. Earth is grounded, yes, but also unmovable. Earth benders stand their ground. Instead of moving out of the way of the boulder earth benders move the boulder. Science, on the other hand, challenges conventional thinking. The scientific method itself is inherently about questioning what you believe to be true, ie your hypothesis. I think earth benders would actually be the most resistant to the changes that scientific breakthroughs bring. Air benders seem like they would be the most drawn to science in my opinion. Taking Aang as a "typical" air bender, as far as personality goes, they seem curious, flexible, insightful, and reflective; all traits that lend themselves well to scientific disciplines.
I agree with Zeus. The act of standing one's ground is a challenge "move me if you can" so to speak. While techniques of science changes from time to time, the information we seek to find with those techniques does not.
You are getting both wrong, guys, the firebenders are the ones that are most science driven, followed by water benders. Fire is the element of permanent change and of light (aka knowledge) It's not coincidence that the Fire Nation is the most advanced of the four.
I disagree @androkguz because at the time of the last air bender the fire nation had long left the ideology of fire's true nature. Also I believe that the fire nation being more technologically advanced than the others is due to the fact that they had been at war for the last hundred years. War drives industry. Industry drives innovation and innovation drives technology. don't forget they did have a little help from the earth nation mechanist.
@@androkguz I could see that. When I said I thought air benders would be the most likely to be drawn to science I was thinking in terms of the more lofty, almost philosophical, side of science. The ask a lot of questions, test hypotheses, search for higher understanding kind of science. I always thought of the fire nation as industrial with a focus on military advancements, especially in ATLA where most of its technology was used for war. But you can't really have advancements in industry and technology without scientific breakthroughs first, so I can definitely see where the fire nation would be very invested in science, maybe not for the sake of science itself but for its results. I'm unsure why you would say water benders would be though. They seem to be based off of various tribal cultures where their cultural focus is on family and community and, to a slightly lesser degree, on preservation of traditions and heritage. The only thing I can think of is their healing ability but their healing seems more about balancing the body rather than understanding its systems (you don't have to know anything about biology or chemistry to know a tea made of willow bark can sooth pain and fevers).
With the bloodbending part, it goes back to the healing powers they are known to have. Waterbending can heal but as shown by bloodbending, this power can be twisted crudely. It's the dark shadow of medicine, when things go horribly horribly wrong.
I'd want sand bending as a sub-form. Earth and air are the most patient elements. Sand is a symbol of the passage of time, patience is a kind of time-wisdom.
I think earthbenders needed to become sandbenders in order to adapt to the environment you have the ability to bend Earth and you're in a mostly Sandy environment chances are you'll will learn to adapt.
I made a comment to this effect on the original video, but I'll restate it here. If an earthbender was determined to do body manipulation, their best shot would probably be bone bending. Since bones are the hard, rigid framework of the body, they have a strong philosophical tie to the earth element.
My body comes from the Earth and when I die my body will go back to the Earth. Everything comes from the Earth and is part of it, so once I understand that I am a part of everything and lose my sense of individuality, I will be the Earth. Like Toph in Legend of Korra who could see the entire world at once and bend platinum.
Bones are mainly unrefined minerals in protein matrix. They also fosilize. Blood had dissolved minerals and salts that are Earth. Bone bending should easily be a thing.
I was surprised not to see more of things like earth bending used to move clay pots or water benders washing dishes with it. I would love to see more day-to-day stuff
I cast BONES OF THE EARTH. Though many creation myths have people of flesh created from earth or mud, like the native americans. So I guess an avatar could do it. Then again, I don’t think they'd be able to bend living people, just corpses.
Due to the fact that your skeleton has a lot of the same spiritual properties as earth, and 5here are many mythologies that speak of "the bones of the earth"
Earthbending has a spiritual side,it is just not as flashy as the other ones.When Toph is teaching Aang to earthbend she teaches him inderectly to be solid and stand firm as a person,physically and spiritually.
Part of me feels like the Spiritual side of earth bending isn't as easy to spot precisely because of its "groundedness" (pun intended). Whereas the "spiritual" is often viewed as something like "transcendence", earth could probably represent parts of different beliefs that see the value in being in the present, as well as any that value that need to stand firm, and "be".
As I see it the difference between earth bending and bending other elements; is that in bending the other elements you have to transcend and look outward of your self; and from doing that you grasp and connect to what you are bending whether that be fire,water, or air. It is the same with earth bending but instead of transcending and reflecting from things outwards of your self you have to look with in your self and become firm and strong both mentally and physically. For the mind has to be firm in it’s ability to shape and control what it is shaping and creating or simply just moving things that are earth. The body must be strong physically because of the toll and strain it puts on the body to move such things; and it is from this that I believe is what makes a strong earth bender is from ones connection to there mind and body.
I think earth is about confidence, being solid, and more than anything staying connected to the body. The body contains the spirit and is fundamental to living, otherwise our spirits would have no container.
True but unlike other bending types it was more rare to see EarthBenders achieving spiritual enlightment, as far as we know only Toph and Bumi reached spiritual enlightment as Earthbenders.
My list of all the elements I consider to be sub-elements of a particular bending we've seen in the show/comics/novels Air Bending - Flight Fire Bending - Lightning Bending - Combustion Bending - Smoke Bending Water Bending - Ice Bending - Steam Bending - Snow Bending - Plant Bending - Blood Bending Earth Bending - Sand Bending - Mud Bending - Crystal Bending - Glass Bending - Lava Bending - Metal Bending
Fleshbending actually makes a lot of sense when you consider this: many cultures conceive of human flesh as made of clay by our creators. Even the word "human" can be traced to an old word meaning 'children of the earth,' and is cognate with humus. Anyways if people are coming at this with a modern understanding of physics, its because bloodbending and metalbending opened these questions up. Even with an antique philosophical understanding, the ancient greeks at the very least conceived of the human body as made of all 4 elements.
It also makes sense because Vaatu in LoK said that humans crawled out of the mud which is made of earth and water. Waterbenders can bloodbend so who's to say an earthbender can't fleshbend?
How is the concept of patience and being one with your environment less spiritual than Waterbending or even air bending? Hell, actually it's pretty much the same thing only focused on persistence rather than change. Really it's a shame that we didn't have an earthbender avatar, because if any element is intrinsically linked to protection and coexistence, it's earth. The element of patience, the element of standing your ground, no matter how harsh the tide. I think what you mean is that it's not philosophical, but that is kind of the core: Earth doesn't question. Earth merely listens.
THIS, this is my understanding of earth as an element! It doesn't constantly change, it doesn't hesitate, it doesn't remove itself from others; it listens to the world around it, listens to itself and its abilities, and knows the right time to strike.
Exactly. Earth is the element of connection. Toph is the most spiritual bender. There are no trees or life without the earth from which it grows. When I think of Earth, I think of the Buddha becoming one with the universe.
Metal bending is probably the most useful and practical in everyday life in our world, but in avatar world lightning bending would make you an incredible mercenary
I think this always made sense to me because I read Tarot. Each suit in the Tarot has a related element (fire, water, earth, air) and this is also the case in western astrology. But in the Tarot, it's interesting because the element acts as a lens through which the same card, the same number, the same archetype gets filtered through in each suit. I didn't watch ATLA until I'd already been reading tarot for years and so the spiritual framework was already there for me while watching it. It's also extremely fascinating how the style of martial art they chose for each bending style fits so beautifully with each element. The amount of attention to detail in this show makes me the good kind of insane
Love the spiritually oriented scheme for bending, it follows the show's intent much more closely. Also, geologist here. Earth is dope, I would be an earth bender. I would add on to patience, fortitude and groundedness: tradition/context, community, and "salt of the the Earth". This mostly pertains to Earth Kingdom culture. Earth can tell a story, a rock is its own unique record of how it formed; perhaps that's just my take as a geologist but there you go. The Earth Kingdom as setting is the first place where we really see what many would consider to be "common folks" or "salt of the Earth" type people. They're communal, and it is the first kingdom where we really see how poverty plays out in this world. I interpret this in part, as humbleness and context. You have to be sure of who you are in the moment to Earth bend, sure of what you are doing and why you are doing it; and furthermore who you are to be motivated to earth bend in that instance. One's fortitude must be unmovable in order to move the rock. As for lava... well, lava is untamed and immature. It isn't sure what its going to be yet. Literally as lava begins to solidify different minerals begin to crystallize and differentiate depending on composition and temperature, thus its identity isn't known and is being created as it solidifies. Perhaps lava bending is less associated with technique, and more so the character traits linked with mixed identity or volatility. Bo-Lin finds his lava bending when he's going through a crisis of where he belongs in the world, having had his friend group essentially break apart and having the organization he worked for, an organization he pored his young adult life and passion into, essentially turn out to be evil threw him into create confusion. But through this identity crisis, despite not understanding the technique of mettle bending (finding those impurities) he is able to connect spirituality of lava bending, thus unlocking the rare ability. I would even go so far as to say its so rare among earth benders because many of the spiritual aspects of lava appear, at least superficially, to be the antithesis to Earth's spiritual side. Even still, perhaps it is the act of solidifying and melting (making fluid) one's personality that allows them to connect with the fresh (magma) earth in this way. Two sides of the same coin, foundation old unmovable earth, and fresh (literally new rock), malleable, earth that is still in the process of creating its identity. Just a fan theory.
As someone who studied geology as part of geography and didn't enjoy it (I'm more into the social workings of the world) I can still concur - this is an amazing theory
I find the difference between the two versions of fire very interesting. On one hand theres the power, the energy, and passion usually associated with it. But on the other, theres also Cleansing, Healing, Purification aspects, seen in things like Zoroastrianism or R'Hollor and the Lord of Light in Game of Thrones, and just the idea of "Burning away impurities."
Completely agree with your point about the spiritual and philosophical aspect of bending, the problem arises when the shows themselves contradict their own idea of it. Metal, blood and lava bending are abilities strictly on a technicality. Even the show portrays them as such. If those are bendable, then everything is bendable. You can't reshape steel by bending the dirt molecule remnants within it. It doesn't work that way. They would have a much better argument if they actually bent metal as opposed to pieces of dirt still stuck inside. When you earth bend, what exactly are you bending? Earth consists of many different elements, which of them are you bending? You have sand benders and rock benders, why shouldn't you just straight up bend steel? Same way with blood bending. You cant dangle someone in the air by bending their blood, as Amon did. "Well blood is technically liquid, so you can bend it." Well water is technically gas, so a water bender is really just a very skilled air bender. What moves water? Air does. Whether it's *wind* creating waves or difference in *air* pressure creating currents. You may say: They're not using air to move water. They're using energy. Well what moves air? Energy does. The same thing that moves air, also moves water through moving *air*. What freezes water and melts ice? *Air* temperature does. There's no such thing as water bending. A water bender is simply an advanced air bender.
If the water benders learned it from the moon moving the tides, and the tides move because of gravity, Then wouldn't a reeeally skilled water bender bend gravity?
imagine if instead of bending elements, they actually all bent the fundamental forces of nature. It'd be so cool seeing earth benders splitting the atom or water benders bending space via gravity to create a warp bubble. Darn, now I want a sci fi / fantasy future ATLA world.
@@intelligencecube6752 On that note, how would air benders react to space, as in vacuum? Because whilst there is technically no air, the free floating and perpetually in motion nature of orbital mechanics does feel philosophically close to the idea of air benders being free and unattached to the world. Given this, I could imagine the air benders taking to the void most strongly (Imagine for instance if they used their air bending to keep and recycle their air without a suit or other life support systems).
@@intelligencecube6752 actually think it was matpat or someone worked out that water bending is electromagnetism, and would actually work irl too Earth bending is gravity :P Fire and air can fight over the weak and strong forces lol
*But then everything changed when that dumb Viacom attacked* Lol! But that is quite a shame that the original video got taken down, but then again, this video was so awesome and amazing I actually quite loved to see it in my notifications again! But anyway, what I said in the original upload is still (of course) rather true here. I never really looked at the Elements as something to be predicted and calculated ether tbh, and I feel that to look at them that way really overlooks their true and more deeper meanings in their concepts and how spiritual they really are, and this video explains why perfectly!!!! :)
I would argue, separately, that the idea of earthbenders bending flesh misses how complex biochemistry is. Earthbenders aren't bending elemental components of earth, they are bending minerals, and sometimes mineralized/crystalized elements (metal). Cells are mostly bags made of oil, and we don't see anyone bend oil. I would, however, argue that earthbenders might be able to bend bone, which is a mineral of calcium and phosphorus.
Guitar music is fire, so any fire bender can bend guitar music. Memes are dank, and dank means damp and wet, so water benders can bend memes. EA is the first two letters of earth, so Earth benders can bend micro transactions. Longhair cats have airy and poofy fur, so an airbender can bend...Mishka?!!?! No, that's not possible.
Dude as you analyze this show more and more it continues to have links and Easter eggs per se. It’s absolutely amazing and I love this show above all. It’s just so well done.
From watching Avatar: The Last Airbender I also started thinking about how the different bending techniques work, what's really bendable and where they draw their power. My understanding of it is really similar of the one in this video, but I don't fully agree with how you approached earth. But let me start with water. Waterbending is mainly just pushing and pulling the water, just like the moon does. I would even dare to say that waterbenders are just amplifying or concentrating the pushing and pulling of the moon, because without the moon, the waterbenders can't exert a large enough push and pull to bend the water. The movements to bend water is also the same as the movement of water itself, that is going with the flow. And I think that's necessary to keep control with the water. Water can easily flow away, so to keep control of the water waterbenders need to flow with the water. Now the life aspect of water is in itself also very interesting, and very deadly if you think about it. Water is the source of all life and has healing properties just like described in the video. But it is also contained in all life what is visible in the bloodbending of Hama. But blood isn't the only water in our bodies. Cells are primarily made out of water and that water can be extracted out the cells just like we saw Hama do with the firelillies and the swampbenders do with the vines and seaweed. But animal cells and thus human cells have a thinner membrane than plant calls and it should hypothetically be easier to extract the water out of human cells. And this scares me. Waterbenders could wield the power to just made dried jerky out of every living organism, unless there is some spiritual force that keeps waterbenders from bending the water inside of animal and human cells. Airbending is, according to me, the changing of the pressure in the air. All air currents are all generated by a difference in pressure in the atmosphere, which in turn is caused by the uneven warming of the Earth and its atmosphere by the sun. I don't think that airbenders are heating and cooling the air since the bended air doesn't seem to become extremely hot or cold, but I do think airbenders alter airpressure by guiding the aircurrents to form these pressure zones. Not like in the sense of actually moving the air with their mind, but guiding the air with their arms to a position which will cause the desired effect. Or they are just creating a magical or spiritual pressure, I'm not sure about that one. But the movements of their bodies, and the usage of a glider seems to resemble airplanes. And airplanes fly by just slightly distorting aircurrents under the wings which creates a pressure field. So it could be that airbenders are just better planes. Why the airbenders are monks is also very interesting. We see them flying around and jumping around a lot which would be easy by creating a high pressure down low and a low pressure up above. And to deal with these pressure one must have good control of mind and body which monks are famous for. But this is a bit of a stretch. Firebending is the control of energy. It is bringing your internal energy, the combustion in the cells of the food from the stomach, to the outside of your body. The reason why the firebenders of the firenation fuel their bending out of anger is because anger, or any internal drive, speeds up the combustion in the cells. I, for one, breath more heavily when I'm angry or driven by something. The sun is the ultimate source of all energy on earth, so that's why firebenders lose power when the sun is blocked. Lighting is also a form of energy, just more concentrated than fire. Technically lighting is caused by a immense buildup of charge, but let's not go into the details. Who knows, maybe lightingbenders truly create an immense charge in their fingertips. The movement of firebenders is full of passion to really get the combustion going and create a bigger flame. Breathing technique is also very important because oxygen is a prime component in the combustion. Earthbending is the control of solid minerals, the building blocks of all rocks. Now minerals are also in water, and life, but these are in small quantities. Metal is also made of minerals, so that's why earthbenders can also bend metal. The reason why metalbending is harder than earthbending is familiarity. Earth was all around the early earthbenders, while pure metal was rare. Earthbenders bend the earth by brute concentrated force. They really just push and pull the earth. You could say that earthbenders and waterbenders both push and pull, only do waterbenders so it with something liquid and earthbenders with something solid. Earthbenders can bend earth further away by sending a shockwave through the earth. That's why Toph can see by sensing the shockwaves in the earth. Earthbenders always contact the earth to bend it, so earthbending is basically like throwing a pebble, only a large pebble with much more force. A few things still question me about the series though. Waterbenders are strongest with full moon at spring tide because the tides have the greatest effect than due to the interaction between moon, earth and sun. But this same effect should than also occur during the new moon since it is spring tide then as well. Also the sun isn't the only source of energy on earth. There is also such a thing as accretion heat, left over heat in the inner layers of the earth from the forming of the earth. It is this energy that fuels vulcanism and plate tectonics. So firebenders could maybe tap into this energy during a solar eclipse, al be it a much weaker source of energy. So to summon things up: Waterbending = flowcontrol - pushing/pulling Airbening = pressure control - guiding Firebending = energycontrol - leading Earthbending = mattercontrol - force
I spent about twenty minutes last night thinking about how the Lion Turtles could have altered the genetics of their city's citizens when giving them bending powers. Though bending seems to be dominant in most areas, it doesn't work as a completely dominant gene considering that fact that Katara's parents aren't benders but she is. The closest comparison that I could think of is how right-handedness is a sporadic but dominant trait that isn't entirely based on genes but probability. This is why I have trouble sleeping. 😫
I find the paradox inherent to Earthbending really interesting now that you mention it. It definitely is the most grounded/least spiritual, but also inherently has the greatest connection to the Earth and that spiritual concept of Gaia. The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin deals with a kind of similar magical ability to manipulate rocks, the earth and seismic ability, but in a very different way. It's a very good series, especially if you enjoy elemental and "hard" magic systems.
Argh, this is so frustrating! I’m really sorry Tim; I know how hard you work on these, and it sucks so much to have your work taken down like that. I myself made a comment on the original video about why I like earthbending, and I was actually pretty proud of it, so it’s frustrating personally too. I hope this reupload gets a decent number of views, and that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. Stay nerdy, man.
Earth does also, in spirituality, tend to be a connection between physical and spiritual, a way of keeping our souls grounded. In reality, our flesh and bone is what actually does this for us. So, personally, I do think fleshbending might be possible, if you think about it this way.
Not at all surprised you were proud of this video, it literally gave me goose bumps a couple times when i thought about the elements the way you explained them
That's terrible, you could tell that a lot of work went into it. At least you are able reupload and edit out the parts that they didn't like. Curse viacom, and all hail Mishka.
To repost my comment from the first upload: something interesting to note about lava benders is that, while we only know the lineage of one lava bender, Bolin's mom was a fire bender. Perhaps this allows him to control earth even when it's energetic rather than grounded.
One influence that is often overlooked is how African cultures influenced Avatar. The architecture in the desert for the taverns is of Malian design it is also made of Adobe or mud bricks or earth. The earth kingdom is a stand-in for Africa geologicaly but with a predominant Chinese culture. But some African influences remain. The Library in the desert is like the Library of Timbuktu in the Sahara desert and the rings around Ba sing se reminds me of the large walls of Benin which was the largest earthworks humans every made. They used more material than what is found in the Great wall of China. The way avatars can speak to their past lives is similar to the concept of Sankofra which means "go back and get it" meaning to talk to your ancestors and learn from the past. This was in Black Panther to. Finally African like Eastern societies relate fire and lightning. Shango is an Orisha God of fire, lightning and storms. He is also described as energetic with a fire temper and nature and as such he is also the God of sex. I'm not saying that this is where they get it from but it's worth mentioning. Most lightning gods are really weather gods like shango and Thor. Agni is primarily a fire diety but Indra is the true Hindu God of lightning. You see when Lightning hits a tree it causes a fire. This is why some societies relate the two and why Trees often is a big part of African lightning gods myths.
Midori Dad here is another piece of info Indar and Thor is technically the same God. India and Europe is connected historically by their ancestor Culture called Proto-indo-european. The Proto- Indo-European God of thunder was Thonar. And he became Thor is Europe and Indar in India. There are many other gods that share history like this. Like "Deus Pitr" aka Zeus Pitr or Ju-Pitr. So because Europe has connections to India they could have put some European influences if the wanted to.
I feel like fire is portrayed as bad and destructive but it’s the same as water earth and air and every element is the same thing it just controls different fundamentals of the universe
I mean firebendings destructive potential makes sense as Iroh pointed out firebending philosophically represents energy and life, meaning it is something with dominion over life in a metaphysical sense, it is something that can give life, but also take it away. There is also the fact that energy can be channeled for both helpful and harmful purposes. Think of it this way even though the sun is vital for virtually all life on earth it is still capable of giving you both sunburn and cancer.
Gamn firebending is northern shaolin kungfu, waterbending is tai chi, airbending is bagua kungfu, and earthbending is hung gar, the writers confirmed IT dont make things up by yourself
If earth bending did have a healing sub bending, I think it should be crystal healing. Especially since acupuncture shouldn't have developed until after Toph discovered metal bending.
I imagine it would be something similar to chiropracticty or maybe it's about vibrations. Vibrations travel faster through solids than through air or liquids. Toph is literally able to see the world through her sense of the vibrations traveling through it. So maybe earth healing is related to vibrations. We believe in crystal healing because of the vibrations. We associate sound and resonance with the stones. Certain frequencies of vibrations have been shown to promote tissue growth. Maybe it involves promoting muscle regrowth and regeneration. Water healing is related to healing in a similar way but they relate to healing the whole body as a unit, they sooth and stabilize. Earth healing would be about regainging strength, its grounded in the physical, on being able to return to working the earth.
The limits of bending is something I've had my mind on too, and here's the way I see it as of now. My viewpoint might change in the future based on another show released or plain youtube dispute if that happens but I feel bending has been labeled wrong they say air, water, earth, fire but I think that their powers are really solids, liquids, gasses, and this might sound wierd but tempature. I chose tempature for fire because I think they just influence variations in tempature to create fire or lighting, and I think there's an even wider scope of powers their able to do like possibly freeze things. It might sound wierd but there is such thing as a cold flame so idk thanks for the vids Hello Future Me Edit:plasma works
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earth is also associated with stubbornness, and honestly metal bending was invented bc toph was just too stubbon to accept she couldn't. its not exactly a deep analysis of the subject but i think its neat
@Lilac Cloud this makes a lot of sense, toph is blind and she can only 'see' through earthbending. Metalbending to her must make sense if she knows there are minerals on them for the longest of time
Yes, and I am so stubborn I can move planets
Everything is a reflection of the self friend
When Aang learns earthbending the show shows us in a very literal way, that earthbending is about facing your problems head-on. It's about taking a stand and being decisive. Yes, as Bumi says, a good earth bender knows how to wait and do nothing, but they also know how to wait for the right time to take action and do so decisively. Honestly, I think carefully choosing a course of action and the right time for it and then going through with it by facing the problem head-on can be an important thing to know how to do.
the philosophy of metalbending: let me out of this box, I need to pee.
If anyone tries to bend my cabbages, I'll have my revenge!
F
Get over it man, you're an investor now not cabbage merchant anymore!
Cabbage man is a boomer
There is no war *that can harm local commerces* in Ba Sing Se
My cabbages 😂😂
In my opinion, lavabending is like ice bending: it's just manipulating the same material in a different state of being.
Liquid rocks
then why is it an earthbending technique
Gina Sannino Because lava is just melted rock
Marília Ishida
Technically no
Danny Gaming & Stuff technically yes
I always loved earth bending because of the way toph MADE earth bending spiritual. To most of the people it was just moving stone, but to her it was understanding, sight, the way she communicated with the world, and I thought that was awesome
I mean maybe i just didn't pay attention but. Toph was the least spiritual of the gang?
@@clitatits6653 well yeah, but Earth bending is also the least spiritual of the elements, the most grounded in reality
@@clitatits6653 I’d actually say Sokka was the least spiritual but Toph is a close second
Toph said it best. It was her way of interacting with the world. And that's why she was so great at it, it wasn't just bending, it was her way of being in the world.
It's the element of Connection
This comment's sole purpose is to force RUclips to promote this video.
KillItW/Fire, this response’s sole purpose is to convince the algorithm that this video generates community interaction.
this comment convays the prior comment's sentiment
These are just meaningless words.
The algorithm must obey the flood of comments. #numberoneonhotplease
Great, amazing. This video is the best. I agree. We all love everything.
(Does the algorithm recognize these words?)
I think people often forget that blood-bending isn’t actually bending blood, per se, but the water inside a person. It’s basically swamp-bending but more sadistic.
Most of the water in your body is blood, its the same thing.
Actually bend just the blood would destroy the veins and arteries
@Zwenk Wiel Blood bending is probably just bending all the water in the body
Take me to the bed now 🥵🥴
Dev Alphamon so blood bending is bending red water
Video title: "Is fleshbending possible?"
Bloodbending: "Am I a joke to you?"
Yes
We know bloodbending is possible, but it’s only accessible to waterbenders. Fleshbending is asking if an Earthbender can do the same thing through a different method.
@@huntersnyder4358 Bonebending?
@@Revtiva bonebending is theoretically possible if you consider the minerals that make bones earth.
jayzee bloodbending isn’t actually the bending of the blood in the human body. It is the bending of the water that makes up the human body.
As an artist, Earthbending has always been by far what I'm most passionate about. The ability to so directly create and sculpt the world around you, it's practically all I've ever longed for. It just vibes with me. The other elements are flashy and dramatic, but they're temporary. Bent earth is real, it's tangible. That makes it feel so much more significant for everyday life use, especially if you could hone your skills with it to a fine degree, like the metalbenders in Korra. Not to mention the metal-web-slinging the metalbenders do is super rad.
That's why i love the idea of bending ink (kyoshi novels)
Cable-bending is like Doc Ock with miniaturized tentacle tech :D
imagine all the movers Varrick could've made with earth-imation (claymation, but with earthbending)
Then I think you would like the VR game rumble. It’s an earth bending game. An avatar fans wet dream (me 😅)
Agreed, earthbending is so tangible and it makes a swift and lasting difference: you can build homes for people, infractructure for them to use, it truly is both artistic and extremely practical, and that's why I love it the most.
Lavabending makes sense because it's just 100% melted, hot stone. And stones can be moved by earthbenders.
Speed up the molecules very quickly so that the earth melts into molten rocks, at least my theory
@Ikluk Maui Probably is like bending water to ice or reverse. Waterbenders do it, so solidifying or hardening substances is possible in the avatar universe.
Souzen actually did that when he helped Avatar Roku defeat a vulcano, before he left Roku to die.
Theoretically yes, but none has ever done it (of what we know of). I can't stress enough though how *insanely* good you would have to be as a firebender though. Lightning-bending is probably the closest anyone has ever got to it.
I don't they can physically make lava or transform rocks to lava. They just pull it from the ground, using the earth's core to their advantage.
@Thomas Meehan The same way waterbenders turn water into vapor or ice
If you think about it - and this still being in the fantasy world of avatar - bolins mother is from the fire nation and his father is from the earth nation. This coild contribute to his ability to lava bend.
Zaheer learned to fly by letting go of his earthly tethers,
well except for his very earthly desire to kill a person.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
lol yup
Yep make of all the sense
that was very tightly connected to his morals and ideals though. So I guess you have to decide whether an objective born from moral or ideological reasons, is that the same as just "I want to kill this person"? If Korra was not the Avatar Zaheer would have no reason to kill her. If the avatar wasn't a symbol of authority as he discussed in an earlier video, even if Korra was the avatar he wouldn't want to kill her.
I think it's definitely a gray area, but I guess you just have to decide if morals and ideals are earthly or spiritual. At least thats what I reasoned together just now lol :P
forget about Korra... can we agree that shit has never happened???
Its overlooked a lot, but that Fire Sage in LoK using fire to read her chi and her pain was one of my favorite moments. Like yes, firebending is powerful and can be destructive, but this woman used it to "shed a light" and help heal. Almost like an X-Ray.
I think about how fire is often portrayed as the "evil" element, not just in Avatar, but other media as well. But looking at fire in real life, it can cause a lot of pain. It can be used irresponsibly. But it also keeps people alive. Gives us warmth, light, and cooks our food. The fact Avatar showed this just makes me so happy.
I never even thought of lightning as a sub element. I always saw it as superheated air - just really hot and focused firebending. In book one of Korra, as Lightning-Bolt Zolt is getting his firebending taken from him, he's shooting an arc of lightning into the air. As that power dwindles, it transitions to fire, then nothing.
Lightning, or plasma, can originate from superheating air. That's always how I thought firebenders did it.
That’s how I saw it like, and that’s why I don’t understand why firebenders can’t lavabend, when it’s the same as lightning bending but instead of superheating air you superheat earth.
@marccalveras5112 lightning isnt superheated air tho? Although the principle is similar, clashing particles together so fast they release energy, but lava is still essentially rocks, while lightning is just the byproduct of the friction created when air particles bumming into each other.
@Marc Calveras Firebenders 100% can make lava, they just can't move it. They can't do anything with it. They could make fire hot enough to melt the stone, but they still can't bend the stone.
fire and lightning are both forms of energy/plasma, so makes sence that they come from the same kind of bending.
@@marccalveras5112 Because lava isn't energy
Firebrand isn't bending hot things, it is, in fact, bending any firm of energy
Viacom/RUclips copyright logic: "I say what happened, then you say what happened, and then I say who's right."
TheMilitantHorse justice
"Just-us"
Unkempt Fro I was just about to post that 😂
dont mind this message this is a test fpr ytb filter
i am from turkey a former muslim
Sometimes the banality of company lawyers acting against the company's own economic good just drives me nuts. Content like this PROMOTES the show, merchandise and interest in their IP. Its free advertising. I just watched 20 minutes of content making me more interested and likely to word-of-mouth promote their IP, introduce it to my kids, buy merch, re-buy the shows on different platforms, etc.
Earthbending is like the engineering set in star trek and Hufflepuff. Everyone's mocking them until you need something practical done
Good point
Which makes sense because Hufflepuff corresponds to the element of earth
unless you're surrounded by earthy types, then everyone else is dismissed as flighty, mushy drama-queens, so impractical!
LOL yea
@Freezingred2 Hufflepuff are know for being loyal and other friendship things meaning they are inherently stubborn when it comes to protecting their friends meaning that they are stubborn Griffindors are just very very Brave.
Here's why toph is so powerful. Almost nobody has experience fighting someone who sees like she does. Making her react differently than literally anyone else they have fought before
Another reason why airbenders are also OP since they were all wiped out almost nobody has experience fighting them
@French Bryan well, i mean have you not seen how easily the CHILDREN dealt with firebenders during the 100 year war?
@French Bryan I'm just saying that all the elements are kinda broken just like you said
One thing I've noticed though is while Toph is always given the title of greatest earthbending fighter ever a title she rightly deserves that only applies when she is fighting other earthbenders hell the only one who can even match her is Bumi and he has almost a century's more experience on Toph but in her first encounter with an airbender(aang) he knocks her out of the ring almost by accident she is entirely dependent on her seismic sense and all other forms of bending have ways around this especially (obviously) airbending
@@boneybaron2508 I think aang just caught her off guard. She assumed she was fighting another earthbender. She has fought many fire benders just fine. She knows when someone is bending, because they do certain stances for each move. If the airbender is aware of how this works and attacks her from Thier glider, then yeah she would be totally defenseless.
Bone-bending as an earth-bending equivalent to water-bending's blood-bending makes a lot more sense. Nothing is more grounded than them skeleton-bones.
It's probably how they launch people with stone without killing them, aside from Avatar sometimes borrowing Looney Toons physics for humor.
Reinforce the calcium in their bones and levitate them a bit to help accelerate them.
It also would help explain how Toph can read people that make contact with the ground. She's not just seeing foot placement, but their entire being and actions. She and Aang do similar with the vines in the swamp.
Bone-bending sounds metal af
@@watema3381 No it's earthbending, not metalbending, get it right
Fun lil fact if you wanna use calcium in someones bones to bend as earth you could instead put them in unimagineable agony by bend the potassium in the nerves :)
Viacom, how dare you take down such a wonderful video. This video was really great, though, and I don't mind re-watching it one bit.
+
All hail lord mishka
Looks like I shall take the role of earth bender.
Ice Lily what is viacom? And why did they take down an avatar video?
Viacom are just idiots who fail to understand the concept of fair use. They also don't understand that these videos actually help them...
Fire bending: Life and Emotion
Feelings like happiness, anger, sadness, and love have an effect on bending ability.
Earth bending: Body and Character
Traits like pride, laziness, perseverance, and greediness have an affect on bending ability.
Water bending: Soul and Nature
Attributes like calmness, rashness, bravery, and gentleness have an affect on bending ability.
Air bending: Mind and Spirit
Ideas like righteousness, faith, truth, and peace have an affect on bending ability.
Fire: Wrath(Fire is commonly associated with destruction) Envy(Fire benders are associated with a jealous and envious passion for power)
Earth: Sloth(Using benders for heavy lifting and automaton of cities) Pride(Prideful usually building the largest cities and are cock)
Water: Gluttony(idk I was struggling for water let's just say the water takes up a large portion of the planet? Sure let's go with that)
Air:Lust (Their temples and life style where beautiful) Greed( ang being the last bender could of been seen as greedy for the amount of want for his elements rebirth)
SEVEN DEADLY SINS!?!?!
@Super Greyflash thats because bending lightning was invented by studying water
Well said 👌🏽🔥
The most powerful firebenders are the most passionate diciplined and determined ones, they thrive to succeed and that explained why there were more fire bender prodigies in the show. Also explains why the firenation was way more advance technologically.
HikerMichael Not gonna lie but earth bending is most definitely me. Lmaoo
Water? Change.
Earth? Substance.
Fire? Power.
Air? Freedom
Blame? Viacom
Hotel? Trivago
Julius Pleunes this need more likes
Covid-19? Panic
1300? 655506
@@marleyyes ???
@@Bucket-Rat it's a straya thing
Complete breakdown of Elements and Sub-Bending:
Air
- Spirit
Fire
- Lightning
- Plasma
Water
- Healing
- Blood
- Ice
- Plants/Vines
Earth
- Metal
- Sand
- Lava
- Crystal/Gem
All benders have the ability to work with/sense energy. Toph used it to see everywhere in LoK, Water Benders use it for healing, Air Benders for spiritual stuff like sensing one's presence, Fire Benders use it to sense what ails the body.
Bubble burst to spirit as air only. What about Iroh seeing spirits and passing into spirit realm? Also Aiwei, who I think is an earthbender.
@@benjaminstephenson166 spirit work in ATLA is just another form of working with energy and in my comment i did state every element has some form of energy bending that they do. Its just that Air Benders are the closest to working with them. Iroh knows about the Spirit realm mostly in his research of the 4 nations along with working for/with the White Lotus
@@shiekahfan01 I was a bit off in what you were meaning maybe. I see spirit as a separate set of skills than the bending traditions that it seems many have learned. In such we are not directly aware if non benders could learn spirit, as we don't know when Zaheer could start to. Though he was aware Awei could and hoe to meet him prior to be imprisoned i believe.
What about combustion bending.Idk if thats the title ,but theres a firebender who can shoot nukes out of his head from season 3 of ATLA.Correct me if im wrong
Water is actually spirit
Air doesn’t actually have a sub bending
Air Nomads just happen to be spiritual
According to the rise of kyoshi novel: yes. A strong enough earthbender can fleshbend. Its the secret to immortality in fact
Hahahahahha, fleshbend. Imagine trying it and turned into slenderman.
And that kids is how the slenderman was born.
is that why Kyoshi lived so long? Also Bumi to a bit, and probably toph too eventually. Toph will just keep going
@@LucidOpticLab that is EXACTLY why kyoshi lived for over 300 years.
For bumi and toph...i mean toph wasnt actually that old.
Plus i should note it was said that youd basically retain your appearance you had the moment you started doing that forever, so if kyoshi started doing it at 30 shed look 30 forever
@@ConnorNotyerbidness Kyoshi is awesome. I gotta read the novel
@@LucidOpticLab its a really good book. It Is considerably darker than either of the tv series giving off a vibe that THIS is closer to what the creators wanted tone wise
Waking up to having to my video taken down was incredibly frustrating. I think it's one of the best Avatar lore videos I've ever done, and it was doing really well for my channel. I realise it won't get the views it had last time, but it'd really help just to comment anything/like the video if you have a second. Thanks to the RUclips copyright system, I guess I'll just need to be more careful in the future. Thanks everyone, and I love you all. *Give me your most ridiculous idea of "[x] is made of [y], that must mean that a really powerful [z]bender should be able to bend [x]."*
~ Tim
Hello Future Me ugh that’s so irritating
It is a shame the original one was taken down. And as you said it was one of your best Avatar lore videos maybe even one of the best Avatar lore videos out there.
Is this because of Artical 13, because I found out (on other videos) that if something that was in public domain is now not so. I might not miss hierd.
Its cool bro i love u videos i watch em all. Their all amaziing
Tim, I like/love the lore of ATLA . My son was just the right age to enjoy it so I watched with him. There was only one episode that I didn’t like . The one where Katara steals the water stance scroll. That episode just didn’t work with their other episodes.
"Why do you like rocks?..."
*GODDAMNIT MATE, THEY'RE MINERALS.*
Walt is a earthbender, stubborn prideful individual, also he could bend his meth.
Iroh said it
Don't bend the elements bend the energy inside them
Imagine earth bending clay in art class
Mitra Pooranalingam That probably would be a good place to start when it comes to earth bending. Similar to how Korra was being taught metal bending. Either that or because the grains are so small, it’s actually tougher, like how Toph has a tough time seeing when she’s on sand.
@@IchiroFuma So if the opponent swallowed sand beforehand, the earth bender still wouldn't have much of an advantage
Jay Den Huh?
@@natsumiyuzuki The hell?
@@natsumiyuzuki why would he do that in the first place? I dont see anything good coming out of that.
it's hilarious that even though the ran and shaw part was edited out, I could still recognise it because I've probably seen the ATLA series over a hundred times
How about Sound bending?
Increasing or decreasing the vibrations in the air.
makes the science fans happy
If the bender who discovers it is a musician it could still play into the spiritual aspect air bending, as music is the sound of the spirit.
Wouldn't that just be a special bending skill of an air bender though?
@@gauchesymbiote1039
Yep.
In fact, now that I think about it, an airbender could probably be very effective in stealth by controlling the surrounding air to prevent sound waves from escaping and revealing his or her location.
And you know, they could send compressed air into ears nose and mouth, could explode someones ears, lungs, stomach and couse a brain trauma, and possible brain death. it's nice that most of the airbenders are peaceful monks. 🙃
i also really like the idea of sending vibrations into air, to make music and such but i dont think an airbender can control timbre, one of the most important aspects of music and sound. So the music would sound the same from all the vibrations they're making
Aang uses it, but not to it's full potential like the things @Ryan Park said.
when Aang yells he yells LOUD and i'm pretty sure that is sound bending
Me: (moves my finger.)
Me: “Le gasp! I’m a flesh bender!!!”
Aren’t our hearts all technically blood-bending all the time?
@@rashotcake6945 OMG Bonebenders are so real, I just saw a group of them walking down the street!
Why I love Earth bending
One Word TOPH
drops mic
King Water she’s rlly one of the only interesting earth benders in the entire series 😭😭
Are names even considered words or are they in a whole nother category?
@@soumia117 and BUMI
@@Wolfbane1677 when it comes to toph, anything counts
@@Wolfbane1677, names are proper nouns which are nouns that refer to specific people, places, or things. Since nouns are words, names are also.
Fire benders can bend lightning and lightning is electricity so does that mean Aang can bend the internet?
All of his money problems in the first season would go away
Oh no
Yeah...good point. Firebenders make *excellent* electricians.
He can bend bitcoin
Firebenders don't lightning bend, they can only generate and redirect it.
14:40 - Late to the party here, and someone may have already brought this up, but the idea that in LOK the Equalists use Palladium and hyper refined/pure metals to prevent the "metal benders" on the city's police force from fighting back also is a supporting point to the idea of metal and earth being distinct elements in the Chinese framework you discussed.
Toph was confirmed in the third season to bend all kinds of metals even the most pure ones such as the remnants of Korra's poison.
@@MegaAgamon can you please give timestamps where toph is shown to be capable of bending pure palladium as well as other metals which are stated to be pure. Statements that said metal being bended is pure should have their own timestamps.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
@@doigt6590 When she mentions to be able to bend the poison out of Korra a poison so pure that not even her talented daughter who bends very pure metals as her city is full of them wasn't able to bend it out of Korra.
@@MegaAgamon I don't think you understand what Douglas is saying if that is what you understand as pure. There MUST be some earth in the metal for it to bend because metal bending isn't metal bending, it's earth bending used to alter the shape of impure metals. The poison in Korra's body may have a high level of purity, but it is still impure. It is still not true metal bending. Only the avatar can bend more than one element anyway.
it's platinum, not palladium
I wonder if the introduction of new sub-types of bending - particularly lava - have some relation to how Avatar's world is becoming more modern and materialistic as time goes on, and this is reflected in how bending techniques are becoming a little more influenced by scientific understanding rather than spiritual? I don't think this is making things less spiritual, to be clear.
I would say that Lava is closer to Fire in terms of the philosophical connection: It is explosive, powerful, and destructive, but also can create life-giving volcanic soil that is really good for growing crops. And yet, it falls under Earth Bending because it is... well... made of *earth.* But what if a Fire Bender could learn to bend Lava AS WELL by somehow making use of the spiritual/philisophical connection to it?
Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I hope it's an interesting idea, and it could begin to explain things a little. Like... you could say that most of the apparent rules of Avatar are spritualism-based more than scientific, but what I'm suggesting is that a LITTLE of scientific (or adjacent) understanding is beginning to creep into how Bending rules work, and that this is reflected in the increasing modernity of the world in Season 2. Perhaps it's sort of both? Perhaps this relates to what was said about all of the elements being one back in Season 1?
Though, of course, there aren't really any strongly set rules anyway. But this is fun to think about.
Wow I really like this take. It could also be the reason as to why there is a lack of respect for the Avatar in this new world as well. In a science - based world spirituality is on the decline.
Lava bending has existed for a long while in the universe of avatar, it appears as early as book one atla, when Roku causes the collapse of the fire temple.
You already know I'm rewatching this
Same.
+
Same
"Earth bending is the least spiritual of all elements"
Precisely. Each of the 4 elements represent one of our states:
Fire - spiritual
Air - mental
Water - emotional
Earth - PHYSICAL
Earth is the physical representation of the elements, it represents our connection to our bodies, our connection to the earth, our natural instincts (gut feeling) and the root of our very existence.
To be the avatar, is to master all 4 elements: all 4 states of being. This is why the avatar is the resolve of all conflict in the series, because they have mastered themselves to the point of healing everything.
FINALLY!! I didn’t have the right words to say it! Thank you!
@Ak47 C i mostly went through zodiac sign's representation of the elements just because it was a more well known one. But that isn't the point. The point is that earth is still the physical aspect of the 4. The others are mostly up for debate, i agree i even took a while to see what is what. But i stuck to the zodiac representation for the sake of simplicity
Ak47 C I feel like water as emotions makes sense. It’s the flow of emotions, both harsh and soft like water. Fire on the other hand is often a symbol for soul and energy. It’s mostly always intense. Even the softest flames have intensity strength which to me is more spiritual. Water can be subtle without getting overbearing, much like emotions.
Suell Costa and yess I whole heartedly agree that earth lovers or earth signs are very physical in their connections with the world and people and beliefs.
Ak47 C well no one told Aang to control his mentality or Toph to control her physicality..controlling ones emotions is a human thing. Uncle Iroh didn’t want Zuko’s strength to come from his rage. Also his rage was getting in the way of his focus which is why he was told to control his emotions. What we are talking about here is what these elements are connected to. If any element bender looses control of their emotions they will probably not be the best at their skill. This also relates to emotional control in our lives. It is natural. It is human.
I just like to think of it as...
Water gives life
Air sustains life
Earth holds life
Fire lives in life itself.
Thought of the day!
Fire is energy.
@@bungercolumbus no, fire IS life
@@obochickenboisawsome you mean life right?
So fire is the freeloader of the group
Honestly, the reason I love earth bending is because of the potential. I realize that other elements also have great potential and so on and so forth, but earth bending really gets shafted by almost anyone who is neither Bumi nor Toph (Kyoshi also does cool stuff in the past though). Even Aang doesn't really do anything particularly interesting other than in the avatar state.
Bumi shows that he is basically able to level a city within a few minutes. Imagine the things you could build with earth bending too. What do you for the most part see in the show? Stomp to make rock jump. Punch to make rock fly. Stomp to make a shield.
The Dai Li also do some cool stuff with their rock gloves and wall running abilities, so it's not like we only see these things. But compared to the amount of earth bending we see, I feel you could do so much more.
I think you have earth bending wrong in some regards. I personally feel like it gets screwed over in most fantasy settings, but avatar was actually able to present it in a beautiful way. Earth spirituality is about staying still and mediating on the large picture of spirituality. Earth is all-encompassing. Earth spirituality asks you to connect to other people, your community, your world. To connect to this one has to let go of their individuality and see how they are just one part of this larger sum. Earth spirituality is seeing yourself as a grain of sand, that builds into the tallest mountains and into the core of the earth. That is why lava bending is earth bending. Its about taking what is at our cores and being completely open to the world. Bolin has an open heart which is why he connects with this bending style. Earthbenders have the largest continent for a reason. They teach being a part of a community and caring about each other as a whole. That is why when the earth benders are put on a boat in ATLA they lose their sense of community and look inwards. They don’t know how to connect with each other even though they have the numbers. The idea of family and together-ness is important to earth spirituality. The beifongs in both series struggle with family-ties as it connects them to what is at the core of their culture. Suyin creates a place in the world for her people, and Lin protects people keeping her community safe. Its where the other three spiritual concepts are dissimilar to earth. Air asks one to seek enlightenment by letting go of the body and self. Earth asks that you ground yourself in reality and acknowledge that you are a part of the world. What connects you to others is important and valuable, and caring about the world is important as every action you make can cause a land slide or earthquake leaving a permanent scar. Metal bending is finding something familiar within something that that is different or foreign. It symbolizes finding the common-ground that people share. Which is why the fire nation is able to connect so easily with the earth kingdom. They share that sense of gathering around the hearth. Toph’s ability to feel the vibrations in the earth connects more to this inner connectivity than it does to actually being able to feel other people’s shape via actual vibrations. If it were just vibrations she would only see their location. Yet she is shown to see their faces and clothes. She can make out the shape of who they are. I think that enlightenment is useless without this sense of reality. Thats why earth is my favorite element.
Edit: In Korra Toph says: “Im more connected than you’ve ever been. The roots and vines, they run all over the world. I can see Su and Lin, Z and republic city. I see everything.”
Edit 2: Because now im really interested in this topic. In looking it up the ATLA IP bible states that earth bending is strongest near fault-lines meaning that they have a connection to tectonic plates which adds to their connection with the earth’s core.
I love this, thank you❤❤❤ you can't be enlightened without being grounded or else you're just a philosopher that doesn't apply their knowledge.
Andrea Baker Well said.
Andrea Baker I really like this analysis of earth as connection and it fits in well with air it’s opposite being free and untethered.
I love this explanation. I always thought that earth bending to be somewhat more to it. I have something in mind like this, but I just cant connect the dot between sensing others and etc
I loved your comment because my favourite bending is earth and the video made such poor analisys on it. You can describe the very thing that make us humans, whitout community the human kind would never have existed.
0:31 Mishka: LOOK AT MY TOE BEANS SO YOU ARE NO LONGER SAD
0:37 "Did you hear me?"
Welcome to the club brother. They did the same to my Korra Review. Real scumbags
Aw, sucks man. Don't understand why they bother with us.
~ Tim
rantoni scaponi how you danoni today? found ur channel recently. u make good stuff brother.
I wonder how your thoughts around the elements changed since the Kyoshi novels, which do seem to give more depth to a lot of different lores. Particularly, Kyoshi witnesses two expert firebenders in close combat without any actual fire - they say firebending is fundamentally a concussive force, not fire, and really good firebenders can separate the flame from the force. It certainly makes more sense in how they depict firebending, more like an explosion blasting out rather than a wave of heat and plasma. But then how does it really fit into the more spiritual aspects of firebending? It feels like a totally different interpretation of fire than a source of heat and life.
I’d also just love to see you talk more about lore from the Kyoshi novels! Especially with Father Glowworm (and its merger contrasted with that of the Avatar) and Kuruk’s story.
Since Agni is the Sun, and also the original firebender that taught the dragons, who then taught people, and since higher forms of firebending include lightning (i.e plasma) manipulation, it's pretty safe to say that a sufficiently powerful and/or suicidal firebender is a walking fusion bomb.
I wouldn't say earth is the least spiritual element, but rather the most stoic. In the words of Mulan's Emperor: "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it."
Earth and stone are these stalwart entities that take the longest to change and remain the most persistent, no matter what the other elements have to say about it.
The storm may howl against the mountain, the sea might clash against the cliffs and Ozai might burn everything to a crisp, but earth remains.
nice
When the fire's burned, when the wind has blown, when the water's dried, you will still find stone...
My heart of stone
Water erodes the stone not by force, but by perseverance
And yet a steady stream can burrow through the biggest mountains.
I wanted to se blind air nomad tribes who uses sound bending
I know I'm late
But that would be sooo sick!!!!
Imagine the blind nomads forming their own swarm using echolocation gliding through the night catching bugs n shit
@@verislie exactly.. think of all the possibilities ... very missed opportunity
Toph in the play
@@katzy3798 lol yeah I cant believe I forgot that XD
My favorite hypothetical bending was what one of my friends called "rage bending". You get one of each bender, have the Water Bender use blood bending to accelerate the Earth Bender's pulse, Air Bender pumps more air into the Earth Bender's lungs, and Fire Bender uses electricity to heighten the Earth Bender's reflexes. More air pumps more oxygen into the blood, faster blood flow delivers the surplus of oxygen to the muscles and brain faster, all feeding the faster reflexes with energy to use them. Finally the Earth Bender can bend rocks and metal into armor making the ultimate warrior
it's essentially hardcore doping
Bro you guys should get jobs at fucking Nasa lmao this is some real shit
You'd use 3 benders just to have 1. How would you even make sure that the earthbender keeps his/her supply of blood, air and energy bending up? He/she would have to wait for them to constantly be within a few meters of him/her.
It's a fun theory but also quite dangerous. Too much oxygen, also known as hyperoxia or hyperoxemia, can cause injury to the eyes, lungs, heart, brain, and GI and can also cause seizures as well as other cardiovascular complications.
i always wanted to see some sort of storm bending
I always thought that Bolin can Lavabend because it’s earth (duh) which is his natural ability, but also fire as something he kind of got from his family. Mako is firebender so in my head it made sense that their bond would make Bolin able to bend lava which is a mix of the two (both hard to control and very grounded) more than metal which is more refined (which Bolin definitely isn’t).
It made so much sense to me I never really questioned it and thought in the detail. Thanks for the video!!
I have seen this video. No problem watching it again. You have the best avatar content. Keep up the good work.
Earth to me is the bending without compromise.
fire is called upon, if you have a strong inner chi your energy calls to the fire and it responds if you call with enough passion to spark it (pun intended for you lightning bender out there) hence the method it's a lot of fighting, your literally attacking your surroundings to show the fire your eagerness you want to glow and shine.
Water is guided, not called. you don't summon water, you simply give it a correction and doing what water doe it moves as you give it a path, it's a little heavier than water, so it takes a little more effort to motivate it, but it's equally as malleable, but try and force it along a path and all you will get is ice.
Air is freedom and enlightenment, as you yourself have stated, to let go and be free like the wind, the wind is literally everywhere yet you can't see it, it's not like earth water or fire, it's a void. It's a faith that as we saw in this video, if you fall the wind will catch you, but if you show little faith it will drop you like a stone. the burdens of what lies at the ground doesn't matter, it's all a matter of faith and willingness to move on, Inge like grudges and vengeance is baggage, that weighs you down, the wind is held back by nothing, simply let go.
Earth to me is the most human element, a life energy, peace and freedom are all very, very tranquil and admirable life choices. But down in the earth life's a bit rougher. We earth benders don't ask our element or even call upon the earth to come to us, nah we kick the hell out of it forcing it to move for us. We stomp on the earth, the earth is pushed up, it's tectonic. Our force matches it's force and one has to give way. It's a bending of wills, the earth doesn't respond to anyone. Even those most attuned to the earth only know how to talk to it by blows struck to the earth and the ripples that sends across it, the earth itself hasn't moved once in that action, it doesn't have to. The earth is stubborn and singular, fores dance around each other, water and air are combined forces, the earth fights itself, plates below the planet hit and clash at one another for room pushing each other around causing earthquakes as they tussle. Two of the worlds greatest benders King bumi and toph both show great strength in their bending, and both show great pride in their strength. They are immovable objects that the other elements can not move.
To use two quotes from completely different media this is how I see earth, it's an element of will stubbornness and internal fortitude, to not move or backdown, to not act but to not be pushed back.
"No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain can not bow to it"
"Our bond is iron, our will unbreakable, who will stand against us?"
Yesssss
Olivander Salamander damn that was deeeeeeeeep
Mulan?
well said
I love the philosophy behind the other elements but earth had always called to me.
Thanks for sharing
Im in the earthbender camp, it just seems practical. I'd make myself a house wherever i want and demolish it the next day
Funny thing is: That would be a earth bender mentality. lol
It really is one of the most useful forms of bending from an everyday use perspective. The others are more situational.
Yes and any metal tools would be multi tools quite literally.
@@ralexcraft990 Isn't purified metal not bendable?
@@ratgirl34 What about water? When your thirsty you could get water from plants and you could make shelter with ice.
“I like capital ‘E’ Earth, it’s where I keep my stuff”
if we look ANATOMICALLY and not atomically (because we all know avatar is 100% anatomically correct what with the flying and breathing fire), bending of literal blood is impossible. the suspension of blood would stop its circulation throughout the body, and whoever was being controlled would die after so many minutes, and at the very least pass out within a minute.
the name bloodbending probably isn't meant to be taken literlly. hama even says that it's simply "controlling the water in another body". most likely, bloodbending is controlling the fluids in the skeletal muscle, since that is what actually allows bodies to move. so in a sense, fleshbending
Thanks. I took in the entire video for something like your comment. And it makes total sense that way.
Its never used for a long period of time in the show. No more than a minute has ever happened.
@@presto7028 Plus you would have to be careful to bend only the capilar blood, if you try to bend arterial blood you might give instant heart attack to your target (maybe on a spiritual level, the closer the blood is to the heart the stronger is its chi so it's harder or even impossible to bend arterial or heart blood)
@@Netherdan who knows at this point xD
To be fair,bloodbending does sound more intimidating.
4:49 Sokka also has a fetish for the moon. 🌙 🌔 🌖 🌛 🌜 🌕
That’s rough buddy
Oh no
you don't?
How does Suki feel about that?
One of my main problems with Korra is that they seemed to dismiss the spiritual nature of bending. So many people could lightening bend, or metal bend. Where as it should have been only true masters of themselves who could achieve that
just like how Korra doesn't give a shit with spiritual aspects of bending which made it hard for her to learn airbending...
@@minatoaudiph7883 Such a bad way to teach airbending. She destroys a priceless airbending training area with fire when she doesnt get her way, shows flagrant disrespect to tenzin, and then she suddenly knows how to airbend because plot when the writing wrote themselves in a hole? It would have been an excellent way to segway to learning humility and spirituality but no
Korra even used Avatar State in Air Scooter competition with Tenzin's kids just to win it. Avatar duty should have been about dealing the balance of world, life and pain of person, cycle of war and spirituality but Korra series just turn Avatar into a political duty of the world and good versus evil's spirit, when combining this concept with Ying Yang created a whole uneccecary debate about the concept about dark avatar and how Avatar Wan and subsequent avatar was wrong about peace since Vaatu as chaos and dark spirit is essential to balance Raava.
Infact by the end of Korra series, the spirit just hated Avatar making the whole "The Bridge between Human and Spirit" useless term. Korra was unresponsible avatar, at the end the series she left the unorganized Republic City which had many people homeless with the problem everywhere with distrust of spirit and human was there for a date with Asami in the spirit world and when complaint to her, she lash out "ohh i was never intended on a vacation (date) to avoid it, it was kuvira destroy the city" when infact the she only focusing on Asami the whole date. When she decide to open the Spirit Portal, despite the reappereance of Air Bender in effort of the Spirit World and Energy to balance cause a bunch of problem namely the bad relationship between human and spirit, the veins spirit that appear in the city and destroy building and home and also the fact that Kuvira use the the Spirit World energy to destroy the Republic City and form the Earth Empire thanks to the Spirit Portal the spirit energy were easy to extract and it just matter of time until another person try to use it again, in the comic try to use the spirit portal for its own wealth and gain.
I personally think that time and circumstance has a lot to do with it . Toph discovered metal bending and started a school which lead to more metal benders . Same thing probably happened to lighting bending especially since it was in demand and would provide for a motive for people to learn it . Whereas lava bending was only ever performed by the red lotus member and it was confined to him until he attacked Bolin and in a matter of life and death he learned the ability .
@@marwanali4878 lightning bending is far harder than metal bending. Zuko didnt even learn how to do it in the original 3 books, and he was a great fire bender. The whole reason why it was scary was because few knew how to do it, it was hard. Now the spiritual element is gone to be replaced with steampunk engineering.
Sub-elements:
Blood bending
Combustion bending
Metal bending
Mudbending
Flight
Lightning bending
Snowbending
Sand bending
Swamp bending
Healing
Energy bending
Ice bending
Lavabending
Spiritual projection
Lie detecting?
Seismic sense
Body temperature control
Condensesation
Cloud manipulation
Spirit bending
Fog bending
(Let me know if I missed anything)
Lie detecting is more a derivative of extremely powerful seismic sense.
Hyper sensitivity and jet propulsion
BOOMERANG!
Plantbending
Isn't fire a sort of a type of energy/radiation? Which emits emits heat and light energy
Water: Flow
Earth: Patience
Fire: Emotion
Air: Freedom
The ultimate summary, thank you
Fire: energy
Hotel:trivago
Water: Change
Earth: Substance (Although I like patience better)
Fire: Power (Or as Aang says, energy and life)
Air: Freedom
I’d say earth is strength
My least favorite thing about ATLA/LOK is that it is owned by Viacom.
Earth bending is much more "grounded" and logical. Therefore they embrace science. They approach things in the way of stability.
I disagree. Earth is grounded, yes, but also unmovable. Earth benders stand their ground. Instead of moving out of the way of the boulder earth benders move the boulder. Science, on the other hand, challenges conventional thinking. The scientific method itself is inherently about questioning what you believe to be true, ie your hypothesis. I think earth benders would actually be the most resistant to the changes that scientific breakthroughs bring.
Air benders seem like they would be the most drawn to science in my opinion. Taking Aang as a "typical" air bender, as far as personality goes, they seem curious, flexible, insightful, and reflective; all traits that lend themselves well to scientific disciplines.
I agree with Zeus. The act of standing one's ground is a challenge "move me if you can" so to speak. While techniques of science changes from time to time, the information we seek to find with those techniques does not.
You are getting both wrong, guys, the firebenders are the ones that are most science driven, followed by water benders.
Fire is the element of permanent change and of light (aka knowledge)
It's not coincidence that the Fire Nation is the most advanced of the four.
I disagree @androkguz because at the time of the last air bender the fire nation had long left the ideology of fire's true nature. Also I believe that the fire nation being more technologically advanced than the others is due to the fact that they had been at war for the last hundred years. War drives industry. Industry drives innovation and innovation drives technology. don't forget they did have a little help from the earth nation mechanist.
@@androkguz I could see that. When I said I thought air benders would be the most likely to be drawn to science I was thinking in terms of the more lofty, almost philosophical, side of science. The ask a lot of questions, test hypotheses, search for higher understanding kind of science. I always thought of the fire nation as industrial with a focus on military advancements, especially in ATLA where most of its technology was used for war. But you can't really have advancements in industry and technology without scientific breakthroughs first, so I can definitely see where the fire nation would be very invested in science, maybe not for the sake of science itself but for its results.
I'm unsure why you would say water benders would be though. They seem to be based off of various tribal cultures where their cultural focus is on family and community and, to a slightly lesser degree, on preservation of traditions and heritage. The only thing I can think of is their healing ability but their healing seems more about balancing the body rather than understanding its systems (you don't have to know anything about biology or chemistry to know a tea made of willow bark can sooth pain and fevers).
With the bloodbending part, it goes back to the healing powers they are known to have. Waterbending can heal but as shown by bloodbending, this power can be twisted crudely. It's the dark shadow of medicine, when things go horribly horribly wrong.
I'd want sand bending as a sub-form. Earth and air are the most patient elements. Sand is a symbol of the passage of time, patience is a kind of time-wisdom.
Lam-Ben-Yam sandbenders do exist! Su lin learnt from them
Deepta Suresh he means he’d want it
... I kinda thought that air was a bit sudden and impatient. Part of why Aang was so good at it. Plus he's a super free kinda spirit.
I think earthbenders needed to become sandbenders in order to adapt to the environment you have the ability to bend Earth and you're in a mostly Sandy environment chances are you'll will learn to adapt.
How about earth benders being time benders?
I made a comment to this effect on the original video, but I'll restate it here. If an earthbender was determined to do body manipulation, their best shot would probably be bone bending. Since bones are the hard, rigid framework of the body, they have a strong philosophical tie to the earth element.
Bone bending sounds painful as heck
Angela Hsiao If you bent your own bones, definitely. If you bent someone else's, also definitely... for them.
Here's the question.
Are your bones or is your body itself made of carbon?
Ethan T Carbon is one of the requirements for a molecule to be considered "organic", so every part of your body has carbon in it somewhere.
That's quite interesting. I just wanted to know because im much younger than most people think
My body comes from the Earth and when I die my body will go back to the Earth. Everything comes from the Earth and is part of it, so once I understand that I am a part of everything and lose my sense of individuality, I will be the Earth. Like Toph in Legend of Korra who could see the entire world at once and bend platinum.
did toph really bend platinum
XD Wtf tho…
Ok Mufasa
Bones are mainly unrefined minerals in protein matrix. They also fosilize. Blood had dissolved minerals and salts that are Earth. Bone bending should easily be a thing.
marcus rattray I think you missed the point of the video
I was surprised not to see more of things like earth bending used to move clay pots or water benders washing dishes with it. I would love to see more day-to-day stuff
Water? Change.
Earth? Substance.
Fire? Power.
Air? Freedom.
Blame? Viacom.
Hotel? Trivago. (ik im not funny. 😬)
@@crsvee I was so tempted to add that but I didn't want the joke to become dry. lol
Desire? Sex.
Hotel: Trivago
Hotel? Trivago.
I feel like Bone Bending would make more sense than flesh bending for earth
SkaiaSkull bc of calcium?
@@jellybean1528 Because bones are more spiritually and mythologically associated with the earth.
I cast BONES OF THE EARTH. Though many creation myths have people of flesh created from earth or mud, like the native americans. So I guess an avatar could do it. Then again, I don’t think they'd be able to bend living people, just corpses.
Due to the fact that your skeleton has a lot of the same spiritual properties as earth, and 5here are many mythologies that speak of "the bones of the earth"
*Holds Mishka for comfort*
All hail Mishka the cat emperor
If air surrounds everything then could a skilled airbender effectively control all elements?
Earthbending has a spiritual side,it is just not as flashy as the other ones.When Toph is teaching Aang to earthbend she teaches him inderectly to be solid and stand firm as a person,physically and spiritually.
Tulio Bednarczuk Pecine Misko Soler I agree. He did a really good job with the other elements, but I wish he had a similar stance to your comment.
Part of me feels like the Spiritual side of earth bending isn't as easy to spot precisely because of its "groundedness" (pun intended).
Whereas the "spiritual" is often viewed as something like "transcendence", earth could probably represent parts of different beliefs that see the value in being in the present, as well as any that value that need to stand firm, and "be".
As I see it the difference between earth bending and bending other elements; is that in bending the other elements you have to transcend and look outward of your self; and from doing that you grasp and connect to what you are bending whether that be fire,water, or air. It is the same with earth bending but instead of transcending and reflecting from things outwards of your self you have to look with in your self and become firm and strong both mentally and physically. For the mind has to be firm in it’s ability to shape and control what it is shaping and creating or simply just moving things that are earth. The body must be strong physically because of the toll and strain it puts on the body to move such things; and it is from this that I believe is what makes a strong earth bender is from ones connection to there mind and body.
I think earth is about confidence, being solid, and more than anything staying connected to the body. The body contains the spirit and is fundamental to living, otherwise our spirits would have no container.
True but unlike other bending types it was more rare to see EarthBenders achieving spiritual enlightment, as far as we know only Toph and Bumi reached spiritual enlightment as Earthbenders.
When he said "It's pouring with rain - in November!" I was like "duuhh, dude?"
at first...
ALL HAIL MISHKA
At first when he said he couldn't go outside, I thought it was because of the rona...
It's a supposed to rain in November
Yeet southern hemisphere
:,) It’s like water is kind of physically healing, while fire is kind of spiritually healing.
While air is air
@@Sl33py124 Air is spiritual enlightenment
Reed Ashton and earth is boring
Earth is...earthly...attachment
@@adeeta5701 lol earth as the the coolest sub-bendings
My list of all the elements I consider to be sub-elements of a particular bending we've seen in the show/comics/novels
Air Bending
- Flight
Fire Bending
- Lightning Bending
- Combustion Bending
- Smoke Bending
Water Bending
- Ice Bending
- Steam Bending
- Snow Bending
- Plant Bending
- Blood Bending
Earth Bending
- Sand Bending
- Mud Bending
- Crystal Bending
- Glass Bending
- Lava Bending
- Metal Bending
Fleshbending actually makes a lot of sense when you consider this: many cultures conceive of human flesh as made of clay by our creators. Even the word "human" can be traced to an old word meaning 'children of the earth,' and is cognate with humus.
Anyways if people are coming at this with a modern understanding of physics, its because bloodbending and metalbending opened these questions up. Even with an antique philosophical understanding, the ancient greeks at the very least conceived of the human body as made of all 4 elements.
Turd bending
According to the bible yeah possible.But its western.
Ralexcraft piss bending
It also makes sense because Vaatu in LoK said that humans crawled out of the mud which is made of earth and water. Waterbenders can bloodbend so who's to say an earthbender can't fleshbend?
@@uraverageskeleton6480 No just no
How is the concept of patience and being one with your environment less spiritual than Waterbending or even air bending? Hell, actually it's pretty much the same thing only focused on persistence rather than change.
Really it's a shame that we didn't have an earthbender avatar, because if any element is intrinsically linked to protection and coexistence, it's earth. The element of patience, the element of standing your ground, no matter how harsh the tide.
I think what you mean is that it's not philosophical, but that is kind of the core: Earth doesn't question. Earth merely listens.
THIS, this is my understanding of earth as an element! It doesn't constantly change, it doesn't hesitate, it doesn't remove itself from others; it listens to the world around it, listens to itself and its abilities, and knows the right time to strike.
Exactly. Earth is the element of connection. Toph is the most spiritual bender. There are no trees or life without the earth from which it grows. When I think of Earth, I think of the Buddha becoming one with the universe.
Metal bending is probably the most useful and practical in everyday life in our world, but in avatar world lightning bending would make you an incredible mercenary
I think this always made sense to me because I read Tarot. Each suit in the Tarot has a related element (fire, water, earth, air) and this is also the case in western astrology. But in the Tarot, it's interesting because the element acts as a lens through which the same card, the same number, the same archetype gets filtered through in each suit. I didn't watch ATLA until I'd already been reading tarot for years and so the spiritual framework was already there for me while watching it. It's also extremely fascinating how the style of martial art they chose for each bending style fits so beautifully with each element. The amount of attention to detail in this show makes me the good kind of insane
Love the spiritually oriented scheme for bending, it follows the show's intent much more closely.
Also, geologist here. Earth is dope, I would be an earth bender. I would add on to patience, fortitude and groundedness: tradition/context, community, and "salt of the the Earth". This mostly pertains to Earth Kingdom culture. Earth can tell a story, a rock is its own unique record of how it formed; perhaps that's just my take as a geologist but there you go. The Earth Kingdom as setting is the first place where we really see what many would consider to be "common folks" or "salt of the Earth" type people. They're communal, and it is the first kingdom where we really see how poverty plays out in this world. I interpret this in part, as humbleness and context. You have to be sure of who you are in the moment to Earth bend, sure of what you are doing and why you are doing it; and furthermore who you are to be motivated to earth bend in that instance. One's fortitude must be unmovable in order to move the rock.
As for lava... well, lava is untamed and immature. It isn't sure what its going to be yet. Literally as lava begins to solidify different minerals begin to crystallize and differentiate depending on composition and temperature, thus its identity isn't known and is being created as it solidifies. Perhaps lava bending is less associated with technique, and more so the character traits linked with mixed identity or volatility. Bo-Lin finds his lava bending when he's going through a crisis of where he belongs in the world, having had his friend group essentially break apart and having the organization he worked for, an organization he pored his young adult life and passion into, essentially turn out to be evil threw him into create confusion. But through this identity crisis, despite not understanding the technique of mettle bending (finding those impurities) he is able to connect spirituality of lava bending, thus unlocking the rare ability. I would even go so far as to say its so rare among earth benders because many of the spiritual aspects of lava appear, at least superficially, to be the antithesis to Earth's spiritual side. Even still, perhaps it is the act of solidifying and melting (making fluid) one's personality that allows them to connect with the fresh (magma) earth in this way. Two sides of the same coin, foundation old unmovable earth, and fresh (literally new rock), malleable, earth that is still in the process of creating its identity.
Just a fan theory.
Amazing theory! But perhaps that's a biased opinion, since I'm also a geologist :D
As someone who studied geology as part of geography and didn't enjoy it (I'm more into the social workings of the world)
I can still concur - this is an amazing theory
Wow that is an amazing theory, I agree.
so basically, how to lavabend: Have an existential crisis.
16:59 cat be like: "You left out all my secondary titles and didn't even call for three 'huzzahs' after saying my name. Is this some joke?"
yeah! how dare he insult supreme leader mishka in such a way?
I find the difference between the two versions of fire very interesting. On one hand theres the power, the energy, and passion usually associated with it. But on the other, theres also Cleansing, Healing, Purification aspects, seen in things like Zoroastrianism or R'Hollor and the Lord of Light in Game of Thrones, and just the idea of "Burning away impurities."
Completely agree with your point about the spiritual and philosophical aspect of bending, the problem arises when the shows themselves contradict their own idea of it. Metal, blood and lava bending are abilities strictly on a technicality. Even the show portrays them as such. If those are bendable, then everything is bendable.
You can't reshape steel by bending the dirt molecule remnants within it. It doesn't work that way. They would have a much better argument if they actually bent metal as opposed to pieces of dirt still stuck inside. When you earth bend, what exactly are you bending? Earth consists of many different elements, which of them are you bending? You have sand benders and rock benders, why shouldn't you just straight up bend steel?
Same way with blood bending. You cant dangle someone in the air by bending their blood, as Amon did.
"Well blood is technically liquid, so you can bend it."
Well water is technically gas, so a water bender is really just a very skilled air bender. What moves water? Air does. Whether it's *wind* creating waves or difference in *air* pressure creating currents.
You may say: They're not using air to move water. They're using energy.
Well what moves air? Energy does. The same thing that moves air, also moves water through moving *air*.
What freezes water and melts ice? *Air* temperature does. There's no such thing as water bending. A water bender is simply an advanced air bender.
If the water benders learned it from the moon moving the tides, and the tides move because of gravity, Then wouldn't a reeeally skilled water bender bend gravity?
imagine if instead of bending elements, they actually all bent the fundamental forces of nature. It'd be so cool seeing earth benders splitting the atom or water benders bending space via gravity to create a warp bubble.
Darn, now I want a sci fi / fantasy future ATLA world.
@@intelligencecube6752 On that note, how would air benders react to space, as in vacuum? Because whilst there is technically no air, the free floating and perpetually in motion nature of orbital mechanics does feel philosophically close to the idea of air benders being free and unattached to the world. Given this, I could imagine the air benders taking to the void most strongly (Imagine for instance if they used their air bending to keep and recycle their air without a suit or other life support systems).
@@intelligencecube6752 actually think it was matpat or someone worked out that water bending is electromagnetism, and would actually work irl too
Earth bending is gravity :P
Fire and air can fight over the weak and strong forces lol
@@tophatsurgeon7469 question, what happens when theyre sleeping
that is going way too deep lmao
This was one of my favorite vids from you. It sucks that it was taken down. So we must all make up for that by putting double the likes on this video!
*But then everything changed when that dumb Viacom attacked*
Lol! But that is quite a shame that the original video got taken down, but then again, this video was so awesome and amazing I actually quite loved to see it in my notifications again!
But anyway, what I said in the original upload is still (of course) rather true here. I never really looked at the Elements as something to be predicted and calculated ether tbh, and I feel that to look at them that way really overlooks their true and more deeper meanings in their concepts and how spiritual they really are, and this video explains why perfectly!!!! :)
Luke Skywalker the 2nd Nummer 66! Completed!!!
I would argue, separately, that the idea of earthbenders bending flesh misses how complex biochemistry is. Earthbenders aren't bending elemental components of earth, they are bending minerals, and sometimes mineralized/crystalized elements (metal). Cells are mostly bags made of oil, and we don't see anyone bend oil. I would, however, argue that earthbenders might be able to bend bone, which is a mineral of calcium and phosphorus.
8:00 How did you not mention Appa and other Sky Bison for true flight.
Yooo, I was thinking the same thing. Flying Bisons Mastered Flight
@@idkman1195 sky bisons are very protective of their young. doesn't that conflict with letting go of all attachments?
@@nanoblast5748 u could say Aang's mentor is "protective" of aang.
Nanoblast Inc maybe they fly with air ending like aang with his glider
@@wheybig2972 it would explain why they flap their tail. Lachima's levitation requires no significant movement.
Guitar music is fire, so any fire bender can bend guitar music.
Memes are dank, and dank means damp and wet, so water benders can bend memes.
EA is the first two letters of earth, so Earth benders can bend micro transactions.
Longhair cats have airy and poofy fur, so an airbender can bend...Mishka?!!?! No, that's not possible.
Mishka is unbendable. 😤
I would like to bend micro transactions.
Andrew The Mighty omg that ea shade
and Avatar can bend all of them
@@lindenlynx so Mishka is an earthbender?
Every element has an extra bending form
Earth - metal
Fire - lightning
Water - blood
Air - .............
Am I dump ur doesn't air have an extra one
Flying maybe? I mean like Zachir did in The legend of Korra
@@nothanks1485 Yeah but the earth benders did too only not with airbending. And flying isn't really a bending form u know..
@@l.v1473 What do you mean by earthbenders flying? And I think that you need to be an airbender to fly like Zachir, so it kind of is...
Was weather changing air or water? Cause I swear aang could make it foggy and move weather clouds. So maybe weather bending?
Spirit. Airbending is the most connected to spirtuality and Jinora's astral projection is part of that.
Dude as you analyze this show more and more it continues to have links and Easter eggs per se. It’s absolutely amazing and I love this show above all. It’s just so well done.
"I like Earth, that's where I keep my stuff" lmao
From watching Avatar: The Last Airbender I also started thinking about how the different bending techniques work, what's really bendable and where they draw their power. My understanding of it is really similar of the one in this video, but I don't fully agree with how you approached earth.
But let me start with water. Waterbending is mainly just pushing and pulling the water, just like the moon does. I would even dare to say that waterbenders are just amplifying or concentrating the pushing and pulling of the moon, because without the moon, the waterbenders can't exert a large enough push and pull to bend the water. The movements to bend water is also the same as the movement of water itself, that is going with the flow. And I think that's necessary to keep control with the water. Water can easily flow away, so to keep control of the water waterbenders need to flow with the water. Now the life aspect of water is in itself also very interesting, and very deadly if you think about it. Water is the source of all life and has healing properties just like described in the video. But it is also contained in all life what is visible in the bloodbending of Hama. But blood isn't the only water in our bodies. Cells are primarily made out of water and that water can be extracted out the cells just like we saw Hama do with the firelillies and the swampbenders do with the vines and seaweed. But animal cells and thus human cells have a thinner membrane than plant calls and it should hypothetically be easier to extract the water out of human cells. And this scares me. Waterbenders could wield the power to just made dried jerky out of every living organism, unless there is some spiritual force that keeps waterbenders from bending the water inside of animal and human cells.
Airbending is, according to me, the changing of the pressure in the air. All air currents are all generated by a difference in pressure in the atmosphere, which in turn is caused by the uneven warming of the Earth and its atmosphere by the sun. I don't think that airbenders are heating and cooling the air since the bended air doesn't seem to become extremely hot or cold, but I do think airbenders alter airpressure by guiding the aircurrents to form these pressure zones. Not like in the sense of actually moving the air with their mind, but guiding the air with their arms to a position which will cause the desired effect. Or they are just creating a magical or spiritual pressure, I'm not sure about that one. But the movements of their bodies, and the usage of a glider seems to resemble airplanes. And airplanes fly by just slightly distorting aircurrents under the wings which creates a pressure field. So it could be that airbenders are just better planes. Why the airbenders are monks is also very interesting. We see them flying around and jumping around a lot which would be easy by creating a high pressure down low and a low pressure up above. And to deal with these pressure one must have good control of mind and body which monks are famous for. But this is a bit of a stretch.
Firebending is the control of energy. It is bringing your internal energy, the combustion in the cells of the food from the stomach, to the outside of your body. The reason why the firebenders of the firenation fuel their bending out of anger is because anger, or any internal drive, speeds up the combustion in the cells. I, for one, breath more heavily when I'm angry or driven by something. The sun is the ultimate source of all energy on earth, so that's why firebenders lose power when the sun is blocked. Lighting is also a form of energy, just more concentrated than fire. Technically lighting is caused by a immense buildup of charge, but let's not go into the details. Who knows, maybe lightingbenders truly create an immense charge in their fingertips. The movement of firebenders is full of passion to really get the combustion going and create a bigger flame. Breathing technique is also very important because oxygen is a prime component in the combustion.
Earthbending is the control of solid minerals, the building blocks of all rocks. Now minerals are also in water, and life, but these are in small quantities. Metal is also made of minerals, so that's why earthbenders can also bend metal. The reason why metalbending is harder than earthbending is familiarity. Earth was all around the early earthbenders, while pure metal was rare. Earthbenders bend the earth by brute concentrated force. They really just push and pull the earth. You could say that earthbenders and waterbenders both push and pull, only do waterbenders so it with something liquid and earthbenders with something solid. Earthbenders can bend earth further away by sending a shockwave through the earth. That's why Toph can see by sensing the shockwaves in the earth. Earthbenders always contact the earth to bend it, so earthbending is basically like throwing a pebble, only a large pebble with much more force.
A few things still question me about the series though. Waterbenders are strongest with full moon at spring tide because the tides have the greatest effect than due to the interaction between moon, earth and sun. But this same effect should than also occur during the new moon since it is spring tide then as well. Also the sun isn't the only source of energy on earth. There is also such a thing as accretion heat, left over heat in the inner layers of the earth from the forming of the earth. It is this energy that fuels vulcanism and plate tectonics. So firebenders could maybe tap into this energy during a solar eclipse, al be it a much weaker source of energy.
So to summon things up:
Waterbending = flowcontrol - pushing/pulling
Airbening = pressure control - guiding
Firebending = energycontrol - leading
Earthbending = mattercontrol - force
Rien B. Underated comment
Srry bro couldn’t be arsed to read
I read the whole dam thing
I don’t regret reading the whole dam thing
I read it all smh
You explain it quite well, this makes sense.
I spent about twenty minutes last night thinking about how the Lion Turtles could have altered the genetics of their city's citizens when giving them bending powers. Though bending seems to be dominant in most areas, it doesn't work as a completely dominant gene considering that fact that Katara's parents aren't benders but she is. The closest comparison that I could think of is how right-handedness is a sporadic but dominant trait that isn't entirely based on genes but probability.
This is why I have trouble sleeping. 😫
And don't forget that the bending is also tied to spirituality and faith (in Katara's case, which would explain why Sokka can't bend at all).
I find the paradox inherent to Earthbending really interesting now that you mention it. It definitely is the most grounded/least spiritual, but also inherently has the greatest connection to the Earth and that spiritual concept of Gaia. The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin deals with a kind of similar magical ability to manipulate rocks, the earth and seismic ability, but in a very different way. It's a very good series, especially if you enjoy elemental and "hard" magic systems.
Argh, this is so frustrating! I’m really sorry Tim; I know how hard you work on these, and it sucks so much to have your work taken down like that.
I myself made a comment on the original video about why I like earthbending, and I was actually pretty proud of it, so it’s frustrating personally too. I hope this reupload gets a decent number of views, and that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
Stay nerdy, man.
Earth does also, in spirituality, tend to be a connection between physical and spiritual, a way of keeping our souls grounded. In reality, our flesh and bone is what actually does this for us. So, personally, I do think fleshbending might be possible, if you think about it this way.
"from dust you were made and to dust you shall return"
Jeff B
Does that means Christians can control humans
Jk I’m Christian too .3.
Not at all surprised you were proud of this video, it literally gave me goose bumps a couple times when i thought about the elements the way you explained them
That's terrible, you could tell that a lot of work went into it. At least you are able reupload and edit out the parts that they didn't like. Curse viacom, and all hail Mishka.
hettyscetty 97 all hail Mishka!
Very nice
To repost my comment from the first upload: something interesting to note about lava benders is that, while we only know the lineage of one lava bender, Bolin's mom was a fire bender. Perhaps this allows him to control earth even when it's energetic rather than grounded.
I guess some of the ancients may have thought lava was liquid earth or fire? It seems reasonable enough
One influence that is often overlooked is how African cultures influenced Avatar. The architecture in the desert for the taverns is of Malian design it is also made of Adobe or mud bricks or earth. The earth kingdom is a stand-in for Africa geologicaly but with a predominant Chinese culture. But some African influences remain. The Library in the desert is like the Library of Timbuktu in the Sahara desert and the rings around Ba sing se reminds me of the large walls of Benin which was the largest earthworks humans every made. They used more material than what is found in the Great wall of China. The way avatars can speak to their past lives is similar to the concept of Sankofra which means "go back and get it" meaning to talk to your ancestors and learn from the past. This was in Black Panther to. Finally African like Eastern societies relate fire and lightning. Shango is an Orisha God of fire, lightning and storms. He is also described as energetic with a fire temper and nature and as such he is also the God of sex. I'm not saying that this is where they get it from but it's worth mentioning. Most lightning gods are really weather gods like shango and Thor. Agni is primarily a fire diety but Indra is the true Hindu God of lightning. You see when Lightning hits a tree it causes a fire. This is why some societies relate the two and why Trees often is a big part of African lightning gods myths.
Wow. Now that's in depth and astute. 👏👏👏
I really wish the earth Benders we're black
@@thegigadykid1 same
@thegigadykid1 now that'd be interesting
Midori Dad here is another piece of info Indar and Thor is technically the same God. India and Europe is connected historically by their ancestor Culture called Proto-indo-european. The Proto- Indo-European God of thunder was Thonar. And he became Thor is Europe and Indar in India. There are many other gods that share history like this. Like "Deus Pitr" aka Zeus Pitr or Ju-Pitr. So because Europe has connections to India they could have put some European influences if the wanted to.
The main video content might be good but like... your cat at the beginning!!! It's so frickin cute and fluffy i wanna hold it
Take shot every time he says spiritual philosophical and conspetual.
I feel like fire is portrayed as bad and destructive but it’s the same as water earth and air and every element is the same thing it just controls different fundamentals of the universe
Gamn Waterbending is actually closest to Tai Chi (in fact, that's the martial art they drew from for waterbending).
@Gamn Ah; okay.
I mean firebendings destructive potential makes sense as Iroh pointed out firebending philosophically represents energy and life, meaning it is something with dominion over life in a metaphysical sense, it is something that can give life, but also take it away. There is also the fact that energy can be channeled for both helpful and harmful purposes. Think of it this way even though the sun is vital for virtually all life on earth it is still capable of giving you both sunburn and cancer.
Nowhere in Avatar do they say fire is bad, they even relate fire to life. It's just when it isn't controlled, then you get destruction.
Gamn firebending is northern shaolin kungfu, waterbending is tai chi, airbending is bagua kungfu, and earthbending is hung gar, the writers confirmed IT dont make things up by yourself
If earth bending did have a healing sub bending, I think it should be crystal healing. Especially since acupuncture shouldn't have developed until after Toph discovered metal bending.
Earthbending is used to give people calcium and strong bones
Planting someone in soil, and using pressure to close wounds or set bones.
I imagine it would be something similar to chiropracticty or maybe it's about vibrations. Vibrations travel faster through solids than through air or liquids. Toph is literally able to see the world through her sense of the vibrations traveling through it. So maybe earth healing is related to vibrations. We believe in crystal healing because of the vibrations. We associate sound and resonance with the stones. Certain frequencies of vibrations have been shown to promote tissue growth. Maybe it involves promoting muscle regrowth and regeneration. Water healing is related to healing in a similar way but they relate to healing the whole body as a unit, they sooth and stabilize. Earth healing would be about regainging strength, its grounded in the physical, on being able to return to working the earth.
Acupuncture definitely existed before metalbending.
Toph mentioned acupuncture in the episode before the eclipse invasion
The limits of bending is something I've had my mind on too, and here's the way I see it as of now. My viewpoint might change in the future based on another show released or plain youtube dispute if that happens but I feel bending has been labeled wrong they say air, water, earth, fire but I think that their powers are really solids, liquids, gasses, and this might sound wierd but tempature. I chose tempature for fire because I think they just influence variations in tempature to create fire or lighting, and I think there's an even wider scope of powers their able to do like possibly freeze things. It might sound wierd but there is such thing as a cold flame so idk thanks for the vids Hello Future Me
Edit:plasma works