Talk:Fire Lord/@comment-24.191.225.193-20120621132206/@comment-5.206.218.11-20121120123059

Firebending isn't a requirement for ruling the Fire Nation, the Fire Lord has plenty of people to bend for them. Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe was a non-bender and his leadership was undisputed.

The adoption theory is mostly mumbo-jumbo. It has happened in the Japanese Imperial Family. The childless Crown Prince would adopt his distant cousin or nephew (always of legitimate Imperial descent with a legal and hereditary claim to the throne) and prepare them for the role of Empreror.

Commoners usually have very limited knowledge of their family trees, this doesn't go for Royal, Imperial and most noble families. It is important for them to monitor arranged marriages and the results (posterity) of it.

Which brings me to the next point: the Heir(ess) to the Fire Lord would never be allowed to marry a different kind of bender. Imagine: an earthbender for a Fire Lord!