Talk:Firebending/@comment-110.55.0.205-20120213161225/@comment-76.24.189.176-20120214004357

The other elements are much more innovative then you give them credit for. Fire is innovative it is true, but the other elements are just as much so in their own unique ways. Also, all the elements including fire have their limits. I'm afraid there were also two errors with your analyses.

1. Freezing and cold goes under waterbending. Firebenders were not shown to be able to absorb heat and keep it. They were only shown to be able to absorb it briefly solely to redirect it. The same is true with lightning in that a firebender can't absorb it for long and must therefore use that absorption only as a means to redirect it, or they would take the brunt of the bolt. Even if a firebender could absorb heat (without redirecting it), it would be unlikely they would be able to absorb enough of it to freeze something. I suspect waterbenders can control heat to a certain degree when it pertains to water, or else they would not be able to change ice back into water or water into steam. Waterbenders also might be able to temporarily absorb heat to turn water they are freezing into cold ice. You might want to look for water temperature manipulation and other skills on the waterbending page for more details on that. But just as it would be unlikely that a firebender could absorb enough heat to freeze something, it would be unlikely a waterbender could manipulate enough heat to melt something that wasn't water, even if they were using steam to do it. However, it is still an interesting thought.

The other mistake you said was creating wind gusts by manipulating air pressure. That is airbending, and no other benders can control air pressure. While I suppose firebenders could create very minor wind with extreme heat, they wouldn't have much control over it. And if firebenders can do that with their heating powers, than water benders can do that with their cooling powers. But again, it would be limited and not able to be controlled as anything but a very basic breeze form. We saw an example of waterbending doing this with the breath of ice technique (again look up breath of ice under waterbending for more details). But even the more advanced version had the air in a slow breeze and would not be able to effect anything without the freezing mist that accompanied it. All of the techniques the airbenders do with the air that are beyond a basic breeze form are, as a result, beyond the reach of firebenders or waterbenders. Again, it was still an interesting thought.