Talk:Avatar/@comment-132.216.19.203-20101026134055

Just wondering about something. It says above that Aang is the last Airbender and that if he doesn't sire a child then that would mean that the Avatar cycle is broken (there would be no more Airbenders to teach Airbending).

This leads us to consider the genetic implications of trait acquisition. In the case of Katara and Sokka, it is obvious that having a bender for a father does not guarantee the birth of a bender child. But due to Sokka's genetic background, his children can potentially be benders even if his wife is a non-bender as well (see Mendelian Inheritance on wiki or google). Therefor, through the same logic, we could say that there could be people who are still of the Air Nation who could carry the genetic trait of Airbending, assuming they survived the mass genocide (though it has not visibly manifested in the current generation).

What I'm say is that Aang may indeed the last living Airbender who possesses the Airbending phenotype however, he may not necessarily be the last Air Nation survivor that carries Airbending genotype (as we know from the T.V. series, the Fire Nation is not in the habit of slaughtering non-benders (e.g. the Southern Water Tribe, Haru's Earth Nation Village, etc).

Unfortunately, the Firelord may have considered the genetic implications and had every Air Nation member killed leaving Aang to be the only living person to possess Airbending genetics in the entire world.

We must then also consider the fact that Airbending might NOT actually be a genetically acquired trait. Bending in general is a learned trait and can be acquired through learning the behaviors of nature (badgermole = earth, dragon = fire, moon/fish = water, and most importantly Flying Bison = air). Appa can theoretically pass down Airbending to a willing recipient and perpetuate Airbending. This is indeed a bit of a stretch but we may have to consider the psychological "diathesis-stress model" to the equation as well where the environment and genetics both play interacting roles in behavior acquisition. As in the case of Toph, she initially possessed traits that allowed her to learn Earthbending, therefor this facilitated her learning from the badgermoles. In the same way, we would need a person with a genetic inclination to Airbending to learn from the source of Airbending, Appa. perhaps an organization of peaceful monks or a non-violent organization of people who are open to the ideas and doctrines of Airbending could be predisposed to learn Airbending.

In conclusion, I believe that nature will seek balance and through this force of equilibrium, Airbenders will return from their original source in nature, or else the resulting imbalance will disrupt the ecosystem.