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ALL POSTSIs this really Mercury?
<p>isn't Mercury a fairy pure element? wouldn't it fall under the same idea as platimum? the stuff isn't refined afterall unlike iron so there are no tiny particles of earth in it, if there was wouldn't the mercury just fall away from them if someone attempted to bend it?
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(Edited by ScottaHemi)
<p>It's not the question of what poison Zaheer used. (although that's important too) but the inconsistancy in the fact that platium can't ben bent but murcury can.
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</p><p>my answer is that if it was murcury, then it was impure murcury. After all, the members of the red lotus had to bend the poison in order to apply it to the avatar. Since poison was metalic, if waterbender was to use water as a medium to carry the metal over, then metal (being heavier) will just fall. so it won't work. It had to be a metalbender that apply the poison. Therefore red lotus must've given impure murcury so that their metalbender can actually bend it </p>
</p><p>my answer is that if it was murcury, then it was impure murcury. After all, the members of the red lotus had to bend the poison in order to apply it to the avatar. Since poison was metalic, if waterbender was to use water as a medium to carry the metal over, then metal (being heavier) will just fall. so it won't work. It had to be a metalbender that apply the poison. Therefore red lotus must've given impure murcury so that their metalbender can actually bend it </p>
(Edited by Hespia Klarerin)
<p>I believe it is mercury poisoning. Korra even suffers the symptoms:
</p><p>Minamata disease (Japanese: 水俣病 Hepburn: <i>Minamata-byō</i><sup class="t_nihongo_help noprint" style="line-height:1;"><span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color:rgb(0,0,238);font-weight:bold;font-size:9px;line-height:normal;padding-right:0.1em;padding-left:0.1em;">?</span></sup>)<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease </span><span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">(チッソ水俣病 <i>Chisso-Minamata-byō</i><sup class="t_nihongo_help noprint" style="line-height:1;"><span class="t_nihongo_icon" style="color:rgb(0,0,238);font-weight:bold;font-size:9px;line-height:normal;padding-right:0.1em;padding-left:0.1em;">?</span></sup>)</span><span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, is a </span>neurological<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;"> syndrome caused by severe </span>mercury poisoning<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">. Symptoms include </span>ataxia<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, </span>numbness<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;"> in the hands and feet, general </span>muscle weakness<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, narrowing of the </span>field of vision<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, hallucinations, and damage to </span>hearing<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;"> and </span>speech<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">. In extreme cases, </span>insanity<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, </span>paralysis<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, </span>coma<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, and </span>death<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;"> follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. </span>
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(Edited by SpiritsofOld)
<div class="quote"><i>Hespia Klarerin wrote:
It's not the question of what poison Zaheer used. (although that's important too)</i></div>
<p>No, that's not important at all. And it's spelled as "mercury", not "murcury". </p>
It's not the question of what poison Zaheer used. (although that's important too)</i></div>
<p>No, that's not important at all. And it's spelled as "mercury", not "murcury". </p>
(Edited by ~Boggy B~)
<p>of course it's important, why wouldn't it be?
</p><p>@hespia
</p><p>exactly
</p>
(Edited by Intelligence4)
<p>HOW is it important? It's simply metallic poison and that's really all we needed to know, and it already has been confirmed to be mercury anyway. So we don't really need to discuss the poison any further.
</p>
(Edited by ~Boggy B~)
<p>So, how did they figure out that it would force Korra into the Avatar State?
</p>
(Edited by Iggey)
<p>i agree, that's a good point. i don't think it was a property of specifically that poison, but that any poison would have done the job just fine.
</p><p>the fact that a poison causes the avatar state to activate really makes no sense, and imo, is a flaw in the finale's logic: wouldn't the avatar try to preserve itself, and <i>not</i> go into the avatar state to ensure (s)he could reincarnate, instead of trying to stay alive and then die forever? or at the very least, exit the state when they're going to be killed? (like when zaheer was suffocating her: why would the state stay activated?)
</p>
(Edited by Intelligence4)
<div class="quote"><i>Intelligence4 wrote:
i agree, that's a good point. i don't think it was a property of specifically that poison, but that any poison would have done the job just fine. <p>the fact that a poison causes the avatar state to activate really makes no sense, and imo, is a flaw in the finale's logic: wouldn't the avatar try to preserve itself, and <i>not</i> go into the avatar state to ensure (s)he could reincarnate, instead of trying to stay alive and then die forever? or at the very least, exit the state when they're going to be killed? (like when zaheer was suffocating her: why would the state stay activated?) </p> </i></div>
<p>That's my thinking as well, although I suppose that once Korra learned how to control the Avatar State, her subconcious defence mechanism could not take over anymore (as explained by Guru Pathik in Legend of Aang). I therefore assumed that it was a property of that specific poison that kept her from leaving the Avatar State again. Otherwise it would be pretty easy to kill the Avatar, which doesn't seem like a vulnerability the Avatar Cycle could have withstood all those centuries. </p><p>But if it had to be that poison, the series, as usual, fails to explain how they discovered it. It's not like they had Avatars to test it on. If it did occur before, then they could have just said so with one sentence, like secret White Lotus knowledge. Things like these really disappoint me about the Legend of Korra. So many novel things happen all the time, but only few attempts are made to explain them. </p>
i agree, that's a good point. i don't think it was a property of specifically that poison, but that any poison would have done the job just fine. <p>the fact that a poison causes the avatar state to activate really makes no sense, and imo, is a flaw in the finale's logic: wouldn't the avatar try to preserve itself, and <i>not</i> go into the avatar state to ensure (s)he could reincarnate, instead of trying to stay alive and then die forever? or at the very least, exit the state when they're going to be killed? (like when zaheer was suffocating her: why would the state stay activated?) </p> </i></div>
<p>That's my thinking as well, although I suppose that once Korra learned how to control the Avatar State, her subconcious defence mechanism could not take over anymore (as explained by Guru Pathik in Legend of Aang). I therefore assumed that it was a property of that specific poison that kept her from leaving the Avatar State again. Otherwise it would be pretty easy to kill the Avatar, which doesn't seem like a vulnerability the Avatar Cycle could have withstood all those centuries. </p><p>But if it had to be that poison, the series, as usual, fails to explain how they discovered it. It's not like they had Avatars to test it on. If it did occur before, then they could have just said so with one sentence, like secret White Lotus knowledge. Things like these really disappoint me about the Legend of Korra. So many novel things happen all the time, but only few attempts are made to explain them. </p>
(Edited by Iggey)
<p>Was the guy bending the poison a waterbender, or metalbender? Or was the poison mixed with water to make it bendable?
</p>
(Edited by MovingOnAngel)
<p>Try this perspective: Suppose the Avatar state is akin to a normal person's "fight or flight" reflex. Regardless of whether or not it would do more harm than good, the Avatar state surfaces and attempts to protect the (for lack of a better word) host by any means necessary.
</p><p>As for how they know this, I believe it to be just an educated guess.
</p><p>@RaidenRadio: I believe him to be a metalbender because of the similarities between the way he and Suyin bent (bended?) the poison. Plus, metalbending is a much more popular skill these days.
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(Edited by FoggyMoor)