In the Kyoshi books the Head of the temple is called Abbot (and probably Abbess when its a female)
The Beginnings are some of my favorite LoK episodes!
Bolin can indeed melt the ground, but Mako can still actually make it burn. I also think Mako does not use lightning that often because a direct hit is very deadly. Mako usually uses it (1) when hitting a machine or vehicle (2) to intimidate or (3) as a last resort. Bolin uses lavabending in the same way
Second, Mako is seen both dodging attacks threwout the show and literally blocking lava (s3e8).
I dont say Bolin would loose perse. Im saying that it wont be as easy as just “making the ground burn”
@252469b You could literally say the same thing reversed haha. If Mako makes the first move, Bolin would be fried.
That is, if both of them wouldn't block or dodge the attack.
I think they are pretty evenly matched!
The four nations are the four original sovereign states who have an overlapping ethnicity, culture, history, bending art, etc. (At least officially) these cultural entities were the only sovereign nations. E.g. Even though the Southern Water Tribe kind of acted independently, they were officially ruled by their Northern counterpart. Some for Omashu and Ba Sing Se.
After the 100 year war this all changed. A fifth sovereign state was recognised (the United republic). Even though it is sovereign, it is not part of the original historical cultural groups the world of Avatar. It is a melting pot of the four original cultures. Same happened with the split of the Water Tribes (share same history culture and bending art, but are now ruled seperately): they are sovereign, but still share the same old Water Tribe culture.
If king Wu’s plan is caried out, the number of sovereign states will increase immensly, but those sovereign state still are part of the larger cultural earth bending group.
So the four nations more a less refer to cultural groups of people, while sovereign states refers to the political entities that have a status as a sovereign country
@Razzas again makes some good points imho. He's clearly not creating a better version on the spot, but rather just interpreting source material. Not everything has to be said out loud to be true.
One part of people in the avatar world does have literal superpowers, while others dont. This doesn't mean that there are never poor benders, or powerful non-benders, just that non-benders are pretty much at an disadvantage, so it is not improbable that they suffer from inequality. There is a reason why the avatar is regarded as the most powerful person on the planet. It is because she/he has the sole privilage to bend all 4 elements. From the set-up of the whole world, non-benders are at a big disadvantage. The episode Sokka's Master is e.g. (partly) about Sokka admitting that he is not a powerful bender, and therefore not really of use (which is of course nonsense. but he really feels this way).
Furthermore, during episodes like: S1E1, S1E8 (in my opinion) it is clearly shown that that non-benders are treated way worse than benders.
I think what differs between the two of us, is how we define "bending". I define it as not the ability to move around the elements, but using it to its full potential by understanding the philosophy behind it. I believe you define it as having the ability to bend (but not actually "learned" it).
So to the story of Oma and Shu: Yes, there were people before them , like Wan, who could manipulate earth. Oma and Shu were merely the first humans to learn from the badger moles, thereby unlocking the full potential of earthbending.
That the creators intended this explanation can be seen in the fact that Wan's abilities of firebending are truly unlocked after he learns the Dancing dragon.
Actually, I think Bumi is a great example of neutral jing and earthbending philosophy. He lets himself be imprisoned for months. He waits, just so he can strike at the right moment. He even tells Aang he does this because of neutral Jing (in S2E3)
Im not saying it is not good, but it is no: neutral jing, seismic sense, using earthbending as extension of your senses. It is not "philosophical earthbending" as you will.
So I do certainly not agree that "LOK left a plot hole, period". ;)
The story of Oma and Shu is legend after all, so could be somewhat distorted. We just don't know how old Omashu exactly is.
But my point is: Yes, Wan could "earthbend", but he never learned to use it like he learned with firebending. Don't forget that every form of bending has some kind of philosophy behind it. If the legend is to be believed, Oma and Shu were the first "earth benders" because they learned how to properly use the skill of earthbending.
An example: a few hundred years ago a lot of people were not able to read and write, while now almost everybody can. Why? Was this because people did not have the capacity to read and write? No, of course not. It was because these skills were never taught to them. Nowadays kids are taught how to read and write.
So: Lion Turtles gave people the ability to bend, but did not teach them how to use it. The legends that we hear about in ATLA tell us how people were taught by the original sources on how to use their power to its fullest potential. For Earth Bending this neutral jing, waiting and listening to the earth. Toph is freakishly good at this because she personally learned from the original source.
You are right, for all we know Wan never learned bending from the other original sources. That being said, that does not disprove that the true form of bending is learned from the original sources.
Wan's firebending (in my opinion) was superior to that of the other elements. As is said during The Beginnings Part 1: "the way Wan moves fire, it's like nothing I've ever seen. He uses it like it's an extension of his body." This is said after he learned the Dancing Dragon (from the original benders). He is not merely throwing fire, but he is using his ability as an art.
For earthbending, we know of the legend of Oma and Shu. They are said to be the first Earthbenders (read: first people to properly use bending, instead of throwing rocks). They probably lived close to Wan's time. In the Firebending Masters episode, it is shown that Toph learned earthbending from badger moles, which leads her to use it as an extension of her senses (pretty similar to Wan right!). Also: she is insanely powerful. Same with Iroh, who was taught by the dragons. Even Zuko's bending seems way stronger after the Dancing Dragon episode.
@Bonnyonlylikesrarepairs in the beginnings 1 episode of Korra, we see a Shaman who reads Korra's chi by using firebending. This technique seems pretty similar to healing.
In the Shadow of Kyoshi, we learn that Nyahitha, a fire sage, uses this same technique to heal spiritual damage. Kuruk was battling dark spirits and the damage of these battles led to a depression. By using fire reading/healing, Nyahitha was able to lessen Kuruks pain. You can find more info about them on this Wiki I believe.
@Bonnyonlylikesrarepairs its funny that you say that you all made them up except for Glassbending, because in the Kyoshi novels both glassbending and spirit healing (by using firebending) are somewhat explored. Also, Aang and Tenzin are seen increasing sounds with their airbending (which is close to soundbending).
1: The fact they are criminals does not mean that there is no oppression by benders. It just happens to be outside of the regular government structure
2: Even though there are non-bending heads of state, as I argued in my earlier post, they still mainly rely on bending to stay in power. Think about the Earth Queen and the Dai Li. This is also observed in the United Republic, Water Tribes, etc.
3: Tarrlock is responding to them, but also clearly abusing his bending power to repress non bending innocent civilians.
4: There are countless of bender-only clubs in the World of Avatar/jobs that require you to bend: The metal bending policy force, the Dai Lee, healing practitioners, power suppliers (mako in S1E3), The Imperial Firebenders, all the United Forces soldiers we see besides Bumi are benders, etc.
Yes Amon is a populist in a way, but being a populist does not mean that the problems that you as populist observe in society aren't real. It means that you offer oven ready, way to simplistic solutions, usually by also pointing to an "other", "outsider" or "enemy". This is what Amon does by arguing that bending and benders are the root of all evil and that the simple solution is that it needs to be eradicated.
P.S. In my view, Tenzin admitting that inequality and social unrest is already a problem for a long time in Republic City is giving the problem context
Razzas makes some good points.
I like to add that the revolution does actually bring on some actual change, mainly in the form of elections for the office of President.
Raiko is a nonbender. Even though some rulers in the ATLA world are nonbeders, they are usually tied to one the elemental cultures which are defined by their element/bending art. (like the Earth King or the Councilmembers of the United Republic) Raiko is clearly not defined by this, you can even see this in his clothing colors (which are in "neutral" purple, instead of blue, red, green or orange).
Voting gives nonbenders a way better representation as opposed to the council which is dominated by benders, or at least people who represent their country of origin,( again: which is defined by its corresponding bending art) It even gives them a numerical advantage in the voting process.
Also, the revolution fails because Amon is essential to the cause of the revolution. Amon argues (and shows) that he has abilities, given to him by spirits (in other words: Gods) to take bending away. He turns out to be a fraud. This means that the divine argument for the revolution is no longer valid. A hypothetical example: if Budda, Jesus or Mohammed were effectively exposed as frauds during their liftime, do you think that the corresponding religions would be around today?
The Avatar state is not really a plothole. Roku told Aang what he needed to know, which is that the Avatar State is defense mechanism (1), which empowers you (with the knowledge and power of all your past lives) (2) and that the cycle is broken when you are killed in the Avatar State (3). Aang did not need to know how this was possible and what the Avatar sprit constitutes.
Through the beginnings, we see that Wan fuses with Raava and that in the Avatar State he taps into her Energy. Since Raava is like a USB, during the Avatar State an avatar taps into past lives knowledge and power through Raava. This also explains why the Avatar cycle breaks if the Avatar is killed in the Avatar state, because USB-stick Raava gets destroyed as well.
Also: as suggested by others: the origins of bending are not plotholes either. People got the ability to bend from the Lion Turtles, but they learned how to use their bending by the original sources (Bagermoles, Dragons, etc.) It is even shown in the Beginnings episodes that Wan learns how to use his firebending by learning the Dancing Dragon from a Dragon (in other words: the original source of his BENDING, not his ability to use fire).
It is like being a sword master. You can own a sword, but that doesn't mean you know how to use it. In this analogy the sword was given to people by the lion turtles, but how to use the sword was thought by the Moon spirit, Sky bison, etc.
You also should consider that the origins of bending are thousands of years in the past and that the Lion Turtles kind of disapeared, which means that is quite logical that their part in the story kind of was forgotten in history and that the stories on the origins of bending are somewhat distorted.
Well first of all, firebenders have power over how much power the lightning contains (think e.g. About how Mako stunned Amon with lightning, but did not kill him because he couldnt really charge), there is also evidence in the comics in which Azula only shocks Sokka with a small “lightning shock”. So the lightning that the power plant workers create does probably not have as much energy as natural lightning
Second, they could store the energy by electrolysis of water
I agree that the separateness of the elements is not perse rigid, they flow over into each other so to speak. But even though they are connected, they are not the same, they are parts of the same whole. In this case, air is the part that encompasses the sky and thus flying. Thats why I still believe only air benders are truly capable of flight/gliding.
I loved them both!
Lets look at the 'evidence" that Avatar universe has given us.
I think flying with fire is shown to be more of making big jumps than real flying (except during Sozin's Comet).
Of the others, we know earthbenders are bound to the ground. e.g. if the go up, they do it via walls or by bringing the earth up under themselves, but it still touch the ground/stone. They are never shown to levitate themselves while disconnecting from the earth (which makes sense given their element is literally earth, so they are bound to that element). The same goes for waterbending, it is never show to levitate a bender without touching the ground or a water surface.
What comes closest is dust & mist stepping, as explained in the Kyoshi novels. But in these techniques, benders still "levitate" themselves by making columns of their respective element, and thus are bound to the ground. (this even is a part of the plot during the final confrontation that Kyoshi & the flying opera company have with Yun)
What I would like to point out, is that bending and the elements are bound to a certain philosophy. The abilities of the element overlap with this philosophy. It would be weird if earthbenders could just fly around on the boulders they bend, because that would mean they would literally loose their connection to the earth! Air is the only element that is truly linked to the sky, while fire creates their energy/power, so it makes sense that these elements could fly (or at least come close to flying, as in the case of fire).
I would say that only airbenders can truly fly at any given time (which makes sense, given their element is about freedom and the sky). This is also in line with what is shown to us in the Avatar universe