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ALL POSTSWTF backstory?
<p>I'm very curious right now, and I wonder if somebody can straighten out some confusion I'm having regarding the backstory/lore of the Avatar universe.
</p><p>In Korra's book two, there was a set of episodes that covered the origin of the Avatar and its first incarnation, Wan. Those episodes also revealed the origin of element bending as a gift granted by lion turtles to their inhabitants when those inhabitants needed to venture beyond their cities, in order to protect them. The lion turtles did their magical energybending and bestowed element bending on the humans.
</p><p>However, throughout the entirety of Aang's story, there are several instances where it is either implied or explicitly stated that humans <i>learned</i> elemental bending by observing creatures or entities in nature that innately possessed the skill. First, we learned at the end of book 1 that waterbending was learned by humans from studying the moon and ocean. Later, it was revealed that the very first earthbenders developed their skill by studying the blind badger-moles, which is also how Toph became an earthbender, despite neither of her parents evidently posessing the skill. We learned that the first firebenders, the Sun Warriors, learned their skill from dragons, and both Aang and Zuko learned (or re-learned) firebending directly from the last two in existence. Finally, at some point Aang mentions that the very first Air Nomands became airbenders by observing the flying bison.
</p><p>I may be missing something here, but it seems to me that this is a pretty serious backstory/lore conflict. Does anybody know what's really going on here?
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(Edited by administrators)
<p>There's nothing to directly explain the discrepancies between series, but from what I've seen, I think it comes down to the difference between simply manipulating an element and "bending". In the time of the lion turtle cities, people were able to manipulate the elements, but it was very simple and unsophisticated, simply referred to as "the power of (insert element here)". When Wan came around, he took that elemental manipulation to a new level, much more similar to the bending we know today. Thus, I think the term "bending" originally referred to advanced manipulation of the elements, and simply took a different meaning (namely elemental manipulation) as time went on. When people "learned" bending from the animal or celestial teachers, they didn't acquire the ability to manipulate the elements, but rather the advanced techniques that allowed for greater power and flexibility.
</p><p>Also, I'm fairly sure Toph was born an earthbender, like every other bender in the series. She simply acquired the ability of "seismic sense" from the badger moles.
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(Edited by The Air Nomad Critic)
<p>Here's another question. If lion turtles were the only one's who could bestow the power of bending, then how did those animals gain the ability to bend? Why would the lion turtles bestow bending on animals?
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(Edited by WilliamsonKnox)
<p>My theory is that the animals had bending before the lion turtles gave it to humans. They were almost like a spirit animal. Badger moles, dragons, and air bison were all animals with a little bit of spirit in them. Their spirits gave them bending abilities. Through the years, benders would learn techniques from these animals.
</p><p>This is just my opinion. the avatar world doesn't always make sense, but we still love watching it!
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(Edited by Order white lotus)
<p>How's 'bout this...The Lion Turtles gave the "Power" of the element to the individual via energy-bending. Learning to use the element, however, may have been the domain of the animal/spirit guides.
</p><p>Spirits I can see as benders. But I also wonder if the Lion Turtles got happy and gave the power to animals such as the blind badger moles so that they could see. To the noble dragons...simply because they were noble.
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(Edited by Snarky-O'Snapper)
i was thinking that the history was lost for a long time untill korra was revealed the history by wan himself just saying.
(Edited by Gsmith1030)
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The key story might lie in the reasoning behind the lion turtles giving refuge to the humans. I really want to know why they did that and where they went after the spirits left.
(Edited by Kubernes)
<p>I like Snarky's-O Snappers theory. The animals were worthy of possessing this power. And people knew about Wan's story it just wasn't the most well known story. How else would Unalaq have the knowledge of the portals and Vaatu.
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(Edited by Order white lotus)