Talk:Avatar/@comment-24.214.192.136-20111017194545/@comment-4521003-20111024030014

I imagine that the reason no one has is each element requires a certain way of thinking and using chi, and it's been mentioned that genetics also play a role. Once you've learned one element, that is how your body bends. The only reason the Avatar can bend all four, I'm guessing, is because of the past lives allowing the current Avatar to utilize his/her chi properly for any element.

I've always wondered if any bending prodigies tried to learn other elements, too. If I lived in that world, I probably would have tried to learn more than one, even if I wasn't born a bender. The first benders weren't born benders, they learned, so theoretically it's entirely plausible. But the Avatar wouldn't be so special if everyone could bend multiple elements, so it is assumed for the sake of the story that you can only learn one element.