Chi blocking



Chi blocking is a special ability that Ty Lee utilizes on her enemies. When she blocks one's Chi it renders their muscles useless and disables one's bending abilities, which earned her Katara's fear and spite after Ty Lee blocked her Chi in Omashu. This ability is even capable of taking down a platoon of earthbenders and bending masters.

Method
Chi blocking is used by hitting pressure points with "quick jabs", Ty Lee hits these pressure points with quick jabs using her fingers and knuckles. It seems she can use any finger of her body, such as, when she disabled Katara with her thumb.

Effects


Chi blocking blocks the victim's chi and renders their muscles useless and disables one's bending abilities. It is unknown how long it takes for people who had their chi blocked to recover, but it's been shown that Ty Lee can control the damage she does: when she first attacked Katara, she was still able to move, though not able to bend. When attacking the Terra Team, they could barely move, were powerless and felt pain afterwards, Katara was unable to heal them, stating that their chi was completely blocked. Later in Book 2, Earth, Ty Lee struck down Katara who was paralyzed from head to toe and fell motionless. It is possible that Ty Lee can use her chi blocking ability to kill or seriously injure an opponent.

History


Chi blocking was first shown by Ty Lee when she disabled Katara's Waterbending with a series of jabs in her arms and back. It was seen later when she rendered Sokka's muscles useless, numbing his arms and one of his legs. Ty Lee made good use of it during a fight when she took down the entire Terra Team with some cover from Mai.

The concept of Chi blocking was used by Team Avatar to destroy the Fire Nation Drill by striking its pressure points, causing the Drill to collapse upon itself. She also defeated at least one of the Kyoshi Warriors in who were protecting Appa with this ability. Katara was once again immobilized by Ty Lee, who later also surprised and immobilized Sokka and Toph when Azula threatened the Earth King in point blank position.

Very little of it was seen in Book 3, Fire. It was used when Ty Lee was cornered by several boys, who were repeatedly questioning her who she liked best. Ty Lee attempted several times to use it on Suki during the Escape from the Boiling Rock, but Suki was on guard against it due to her past experience. Later, in the escape's aftermath, Ty Lee used it to paralyze Azula and strip her of her bending, when she was about to strike down Mai.

Ty Lee made friends with and joined the Kyoshi Warriors after giving them Chi blocking lessons in prison. This probably means the Kyoshi Warriors are capable of doing this now like Ty Lee. It is unknown if there are others who use this fighting style.

Variation
An accidental form of Chi Blocking was used twice against Combustion Man. In two occasions, his eye tattoo was hit (once by a pellet resulting from Toph's attack and once by Sokka's boomerang, deliberatly aimed at him), causing his ability to "misfire". In the second occasion, the explosion was strong enough to demolish a section of the Western Air Temple, which led to his demise.

Connections

 * Chi Blocking seems to be a more elegant and energetic form of the martial art Dim Mac (sometimes spelt Dim Mak) or Kyusho-Jitsu. Both are forms of fighting that trigger pressure points on the body to stun or paralyze the opponent. Dim Mac also has the potential to kill someone if hit in certain parts of the head and neck. This can be avoided if the user triggers another pressure point to awaken the victim, who is unconscious.
 * Chi Blocking may have a slight similarity to the Hyuuga clan's "Gentle Fist", shown in Naruto.