Talk:Air Acolytes/@comment-72.229.178.70-20120429172100/@comment-168.26.185.245-20120501173326

We're all wondering that, too. My personal hypothesis was that benders gained the ability to bend when the world was at a different state- literally more entwined with the Spirit World than it is today, and people were physically (read: genetically) transmuted by thier experience. Groups learned how to bend (but others didn't). As the worlds became more separate, the benders mixed with the nonbenders, and it's been that way ever since.