Neo Bahamut wrote:
All he said was that "in the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves." The fact that fans interpreted that as referencing humans is just anthropocentric bias: surely "we" would refer to other lion turtles & *maybe but not necessarily* other animals, like humans. That said, Tenzin also claims in Book 2 that "the ancients" energybent below the Tree of Time & doesn't specify further, so it's possible there were human energybenders after all--but again, still not necessarily. Also, we didn't know that lion turtle could bend an element, that doesn't preclude him from being able to.
I've heard that (more or less) before, but even if that "we" is only the Lion Turtles or "Lion Turtles and humanity," it still creates more problems that makes me think Bryke really didn't have this origin story as firmly thought out as they should/claimed especially if the idea was around from the get-go yet that LT and the concept of energybending showed only at the last minute as a Deus Ex Machina (even Wikipedia calls it as such)*.
(turns out that Lion Turtle was Fire, so it's not the "Non-Elemental" I thought it was but my other points still stand).
1. The (barely-audible) talk about not succumbing to darkness (or whatever) makes more sense in the struggle to de-bend Ozai, (whose spirit/whatever) nearly consumed/corrupted Aang's if energybending really was the original style that was too dangerous to initially use because it messed people up spiritually compared to the elemental styles that are safer derivatives, plus it would go back to the "unity" theme that like people, all the elements used to be one, (namely how spiritbending/chi path-severing of water and the Bhanti Shaman using fire to sense chi paths are spiritually closer to the Ur-element).
2. It really feels like it'd be more important that Wan be told of/know this while collecting elements whether as a warning because having all 4 is eerily close to the original, (which explains the pain in switching) and/or considering he's going after the ultimate evil spirit, plus would've been helpful as a threat to neuter the warring benders yeeeet Aang gets it just to take out one super-Evil Overlord that he doesn't want to kill because he's apparently the only Avatar in 10,000 to have than conundrum.
3. They've been inexplicably (both why and especially how) hunted to the brink of extinction yet they seem neither capable of using their own elements, (I'm reminded of the Tailed Beasts from "Naruto" in destructive capability) and/or again, neutering benders of their elements.
and 4. If the LT did energybend below the Tree of Time instead of ancient humans then why didn't they hide out in the Spirit World even if it was just to hide out from hunters?
So overall, the original Lion Turtles was not only a Deus Ex Machina, but the entire species is a Voodoo Shark (I'm tempted to outright compare them to midichloreans) when it comes to the lore because trying to figure them out bothers me even more now then five years ago!
Also I'm reminded of another dislike I had of that season: Jinora's spirit-Asspull that even Bryke went, "We dunno either" not only because that initial thing, but also because it reminded me of the Lion Turtle Deus Machina and how Bryke habitually plan ahead as much as they should/Doylist problems with Book 3 and 4 (because censorship) being exceptions.
- Earlier today I amused myself by imagining how Bryke came up with Raava/Vaatu as randomly as Korra being named after a dog.
Bryke: People are expecting the Avatar Spirit to look like a Hindu god, but we need something... weirder..
- One looks down at rug pattern at the same time the other stumbled across a biology book then look at each other like the Reese's Pieces commercial*
"We got it!"
Inton Raiha wrote:
People hate on book 2 so much when it was Nickelodeon who messed up and people who are driven by nostalgia sees TLoK as only Book 2.
While Book 2 definitely had production problems, this doesn't change the facts that Bryke admitted dialing back the characters into the messes they were, namely the sexism to the extent of killing their own theme/message of gender equality and the latter books taking pot shots at it to basically say, "yeah, we're not too proud of this one, either."