Talk:Air Acolytes/@comment-98.226.125.1-20120514153211

I am one who believes (not in argument, but for the sake of conversationalism) that the Air Acolytes descendants have the potential to bear airbending children. It has always been my thought that the reason the other three, non-airbending nations have a lower ratio of benders to non-benders is because they lean more towards industrialism and less on the cultural aspects of their nation. For example, the Souther Water Tribe had an overall small amount of members who seemed more concerned with survival (understandibly) than the spiritual side of being a Water Tribe member. This could explain why it took so long (maybe 60 years or so) for a new waterbender to be born. The overall spirituality of the Southern Water Tribe culture was much weaker than that of the Northern Tribe, so it took much longer to manifest in the form of a fully fledged waterbender. So, if the Air Acolytes dedicate themselves to the spiritual aspects of airbending, this energy may manifest itself as an airbending child.

Of course, there is the issue of genetics. Another aspect of my theory is that genetics is a factor that increases, but doesn't completely determine the likelihood of a child becoming a bender. If we turn back to the example of Katara, though we don't know much of her past, at least two generations (Katara's parents and grandparents) weren't benders. There is a chance that bending may be a recessive trait or that one of Katara's unknown grandparents was a bender, but it seems unlikely, given the seemingly dominant aspects of bending. But, we can't ignore the fact that bending children seem to occur most often to benders. I believe that benders represent the incarnated spiritual energy of the nation they were born into. (Or nations, in the case of Mako and Bolin.) Therefore, the lives of benders are closely tied to spiritual energy, and are likely to generate large amounts of it themselves. Finally, the bender will bear (or sire) a child to a large collective of energy, which is likely to manifest itself in the form of bending offspring.

Finally, I'll end my spiel. If the Air Acolytes dedicate themselves to Air Nomad ways, they may add to the hypothetical "pool" of spiritual energy contributing to the ability of benders. With the generations continually adding to the spirituality and freedom of the Air Nation, the essence may seek an outlet. This outlet will present itself in the form of children born into the Air Acolyte culture. And thus, airbenders.

Just a thought. Feel free to add or rebuttle. I like a good discussion.