Chi blocking



Chi blocking is a special ability that Ty Lee uses on her enemies. When she blocks one's chi it renders their muscles useless and disables one's bending abilities, which earned her Katara's fear and spite after Ty Lee blocked her Chi in Omashu. This ability is even capable of taking down a platoon of earthbenders and bending masters.

Method
Chi blocking is used by hitting pressure points with "quick jabs", Ty Lee hits these pressure points with quick jabs using her fingers and knuckles. It seems she can use any finger of her body like in "The Guru" when she disabled Katara with her thumb.

Effects
Chi blocking blocks the victim's chi and renders their muscles useless and disables one's bending abilities. It is unknown how long it takes for people who had their chi blocked to recover, but it's been shown that Ty Lee can control the damage she does: when she first attacked Katara, she was still able to move, though not able to bend. When attacking the Terra Team, they could barely move, were powerless and felt pain afterwards, Katara was unable to heal them, stating that their chi was completely blocked. And later in "The Guru", Ty Lee struck down Katara who was paralyzed from head to toe and fell motionless. It is possible that Ty Lee can use her chi blocking ability to kill or seriously injure an opponent.

History


Chi blocking was first shown by Ty Lee in "Return to Omashu" when she disabled Katara's Waterbending with a series of jabs in her arms and back. It was seen later in "The Chase", when she rendered Sokka's muscles useless, numbing his arms and one of his legs. Ty Lee made good use of it during "The Drill" when she took down the entire Terra Team with some cover from Mai.

The concept of Chi blocking was used by Team Avatar to destroy the Fire Nation Drill by striking its pressure points, causing the Drill to collapse upon itself. She also defeated many Kyoshi Warriors in "Appa's Lost Days" with this ability. Katara was once again immobilized by Ty Lee in "The Guru", who later also surprised and immobilized Sokka and Toph when Azula threatened the Earth King in point blank position.

Very little of it was seen in Book 3, Fire. It was used when Ty Lee was cornered by several boys, who were repeatedly questioning her who she liked best during "The Beach". It was repeatedly attempted when Ty Lee and Suki fought and, later, it was used to paralyze Azula and strip her of her bending, when she was about to strike Mai in "The Boiling Rock, Part 2". It was also used on Combustion Man, though it did not render his bending useless. By hitting Combustion Man's third eye, his chi would become partially blocked, causing his eye attack to explode back at him.

In "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang", Ty Lee made friends with and joined the Kyoshi Warriors after giving them Chi blocking lessons in prison. This probably means the Kyoshi Warriors are capable of doing this now like Ty Lee. It is unknown if there are others who use this fighting style.

Connections

 * Chi Blocking seems to be a more elegant form of the martial art Dim Mac (sometimes spelt Dim Mak) which does not need as much motion as Ty Lee uses.
 * Chi Blocking may have a slight similarity to "Gentle Fist", shown in Naruto.