Talk:Earthbending/@comment-4220745-20120123143355/@comment-76.24.189.176-20120206071010

Actually, I thought another suggestion I saw on another page would be even more interesting for earthbending in some ways. It was Muay Thai. Karate certainly has it's advantage for earthbending, and you know how I feel about that. However, Muay Thai was an interesting idea. I wish I had originally thought of it. The more I think about it, the more it screams earthbending. Now I'm not as qualified to compare Muay Thai as I never actually took it. But I've seen real fights between professional Muay Thai users, and I know enough about it to say that it would be interesting to compare to earthbending. (I'm kinda a martial arts junkie.) This martial art has the kind of firm and strong style that would relate nicely, so I can see most of the moves translating well to an unusual earthbender style, much in a way like Toph's Southern Praying Mantis style was superior to the average Hung Gar style. But beyond the style, there are two major reasons I find Muay Thai interesting when related to earthbending.

The first is due to how many fighters in Muay Thai train to harden their bones through a process of repeatedly striking a hard object, or cortical remodeling. Other martial arts do this, or have their own ways to make the body tougher. But in Muay Thai it is considered part of the basic training for many professional fighters who use the discipline. As a result, I think the two things go hand and hand. Anyways, earthbending is the most defensive element so I wondered how the effect of hardening bones could effect an earthbender's defense. It might also improve the power of their strikes. Earthbending is also described as a good two way element (albeit maybe a little slow), and in real life hardening bones not only helps in blocking and defense, but in the damage of an attack. Obviously, it would have to translate in a unique way to the earth the bender is bending for it to be a factor in the earthbending itself. But it's interesting to think about. I for one had a few thoughts about this, particularly as it relates to earth armor and blocking certain moves.

The other thing I find interesting is how Muay Thai uses something called "8 points of contact". What this means is that the martial art focuses as much on elbow and knew strikes as it does punches and kicks. This could create a strength in earth bending that was a major weakness in Hun Gar Kung Fu. In the original style, it often simply took too long for earthbenders to bend the earth the needed to fight. With elbow and knee moves added into the mix in addition to just controlling the earth with hands and feet, an earthbender would have more options available. They would have twice as many, to be precise. The result is probably a more effective, quicker, and less predictable style. There would also probably be less openings. King Bumi was revealed to be able to earthbend using solely his head. Therefore, it should be possible to use arms and elbows. It would probably require a more advanced earthbender, as well a more control. It still would be worth learning. To be able to use 8 points to bend instead of the normal 4 would be an advantage for any bender, but particularly when it comes to bending heavy and solid mass like earth.