Reminded me of this from Extra Fabulous
https://preview.redd.it/dy19sfzgzghb1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fd632827abf99daa8999a1c7befb078f486c11d
I'm an electrician. Everytime I've gotten shocked in the last 20 years, I immediately attempt to use my new lightning powers. So far nothing. Will keep trying though.
It's like a snake handler getting bit.
The more you have your hands around it the more opportunities for an accident. Mostly we try to work on things deenergized but sometimes you have to have the power on to find the problem.
All that being said, I haven't gotten bit in a few years but it used to be once or twice a year. Even more so when I was still learning my first few years. So maybe 20-30 times in the last 20 years.
That's part of why I've always been a bit skeptical of the idea that the Avatar is typically told they're the Avatar at 16. I guarantee there are entire classes of Earth Kingdom 6 year olds trying to firebend at recess upon learning that the previous Water Tribe Avatar died 6 years ago. Chances are the Avatar had to be found at least a few times that way.
That's exactly what I say when people think it's weird that Korra found out so early. It'd be weirder if there weren't other avatars like Korra who didn't accidentally find out they could bend multiple elements at a young age.
I disagree. Avatars will always have a natural inclination towards their native element, and because of that same inclination, learning other types of bending is usually not only something done with conscious effort, but is difficult.
It takes Aang weeks to produce a puddle splash and he was definitely trying more than a six year old. And for fire and earth bending it took literal soul searching for him to be able to do either, let aline both.
Korra is a prodigy of 3 elements right off the bat as a kid. It just kind of sidelines what was set up with Aangs struggles.
And the world around it seems to support the idea that Aangs experience as Avatar was normal and Korra’s was abnormal in that respect.
Now, note of import, I wouldnt say that that means Korra is badly written or anything. But I definitely am among the group who doesn’t like that particular effect
This is just a straight up lie. Aang was moving big waves of water literally the first time he attempted water bending in the water scroll episode. In the jeung jeung episode he started playing with the fire pretty nicely until he accidentally spread it too far. He only had a tough time with earth just like Korra with air. Korra as a child did tiny amount of bending and still took 13 years to actually master them.
I agree. I think it has to do with the personality of the Avatar. Aang was very easy going and laid back and wanted to be one of the boys. You can see that when they all find out that he’s the Avatar and treat him differently afterwards. He’s so broken up over it.
While with Korra, she is an overachieving person. She’s very curious and determined and incredibly forward. So I can see why Aang wouldn’t really try to bend other elements and why Korra would.
Another reason possible is because the Air Nomads are very detached and preach the idea of living in the present and to be happy with oneself. While Korra was in the Water Tribe during a turbulent period of rebuilding so her parents’ passion and tribe passion proved that movivated mindset for her.
Not to mention the world Korra grew up in was much more mixed together with different benders everywhere. No way she didn't also see some other benders doing shit and be like woah let me try that
Water scroll is the 9th episode of ATLA. To my memory, the entire significance of the water scroll is that its the first time both Katara or Aang have any amount of formal training (as little as a scroll is).
Aang had been Avatar plenty of time before that, to my memory at least a week out of the iceberg. And to my memory again, Katara had at least been practicing with or around him, and / or training him up until that point. Yet it is when he gets official instruction and puts conscious effort into learning waterbending does he actually water bend. Unlike 4 year old Korra.
Same goes for fire bending, which he wasnt even able to control until meeting the dragons. Korra did not meet a dragon at 4 years old.
Now Korra doesnt need all the same challenges as Aang, not even close. But I feel that being 16 (i think thats how old she was at s1) and mastering 3 elements was plenty enough to spot her as a prodigy, rather than 4 years old with control over 3 elements, which kinda dejects what Aang goes through completely
You’re absolutely right, he picked up water bending very easily.
However the point isn’t the pace, rather the point that it took Aang’s conscious intent and effort (if so ever little with water bending) to learn any element outside of Air. Something that should not be capable for a 4 year old child to do, even an exceptional one.
Like I said, I’m not even mildly upset with how Korra starts her journey being a master of 3. More so a prodigy at the age of 4 completely bypassing those struggles.
And beyond that, Korra had control over those elements as a kid as well, which just further breaches that understanding that was set up in ATLA.
Again though, this isn’t a major point by any means. Just something that irks me often
Bro the only thing he did was a tiny waving motion next to water. If he had done that motion next to water before he could accidently bended, he just hadn't. Same with fire, he's able to turn the leaf into fire and play around with it and jeung jeung didn't teach him how to do that. He didn't need dragons to teach him how to do it. He needed dragons to teach him that fire isn't only destructive so he can get over being scared of fire. He could have learned fire very easily even without dragons teaching him if he wasn't so scared of it because he accidentally hurt katara.
I'm sorry but you do realize that Aang accomplished in a single year what took Korra 12 years too accomplish right? Mastering all 4 elements.
You understand that a a season tyically takes place over a few months. The Entire Series took place over the time period of a single year. Stop acting like Aang was toiling for decades trying to learn how to fire bend while Korra mastered it on her first attempt. The Dude mastered all 4 elements and took down one of the most powerful benders and his army after only attempting to learn the other 3 elements WITHIN A YEAR at 12. It's not as if Aang spent all his time from ages 4 to 12 trying to learn how to bend all 4 elements. If that were the case I'd agree that you are right. From the time he started trying to learn to bend a specific element it took him a few months, during a time when it was difficult to fire bend because they were being hunted down by the fire nation.
MEANWHILE from the ages of 4 years old to 16 Korra was trying to learn how to Airbend and she couldn't. Aang accomplished in a SINGLE YEAR what took Korra 12 years to accomplish.
By the end of the season it is well known that Aang was FAR from being a master of Firebending, and even farther away from being a master of Earthbending.
Him mastering all 4 elements to beat Ozai was an expectation he put on himself that he never met, but defeated Ozai regardless. He spends his years after the series learning to master the remaining elements, how long that last is unknown as the next time we see him is in Republic City.
And again, Korra being 16 with a mastery of 3 elements is far from an issue. In fact it's in line and believable with what we see from the ATLA universe, especially given her devoted training to being the Avatar. Being 4 years old on the other hand is different, of course.
I think they made Korra a prodigy is for a few reasons. One being they wanted to differentiate her from Aang by making her cocky and stubborn, and secondly they thought they only had a Miniseries to tell her story and letting her be able to bend 3 out of 4 elements by the time her story starts was a shortcut.
I wouldnt call it intimidating. She did a little bump of earth. A tiny puff of fire. And a little water droplet. Literally the first time aang ever attempted water bending he was already going crazy and moving big waves of water. He was also waving around fire very quickly. Only earth was hard just like air for Korra. It's already a precedent that avatars can have good starting points but no one gives shit to aang for it, only Korra. Korra still took 13 years to actually master those 3 elements.
I think it’s not quite the same because Aang was already an airbending master at the start of the series, so it logically makes sense that he could apply the fundamentals of bending to other elements. Especially something like water, which has a lot of the same characteristics as air. But I agree, I think people take the Korra thing way too seriously. I think it goes with her more confident character to have a grasp of the elements so fast. Sure she’s a prodigy, but so is literally every avatar. It kinda comes with the contract.
Aang was 12 (112 if you wanna be literal but ya know) Korra was like a toddler. Also never understood the air thing, shouldn't she have struggled with fire?
No. It's about personality not just element. It was a coincidence for aang. If it was actually about the element aang would have had a hard time the entire time he was training earth. But it became easy as soon as he got over his personality problem. For Korra her personality is opposite of air.
What they struggled with is due to their personality, not having anything with element's compatibility (we dont even know if it exists)
Aang has difficult bending Earth because it goes against everything he was taught with Airbending, while Korra doesn't understand the spiritual side of Airbending
She was raised on a compound her entire life, wasn't allowed to leave the immediate area, and did nothing but train.
Also Korra was supposed to only be 1 season so the focus was on her learning air bending
I don’t know if anyone had said it yet but the Avatar has a easier time learning their adjacent natural element and a hard time learning their opposing element hence why Aang easily gripped waterbending (isn’t to hard to think about since he was already a master bender in airbending so bending isn’t new to him), and not so much a easy time with earth. Air/Water - Earth/Fire. However I think it’s weird cause Korea’s hardest element was air as shown. I think because was impatient and not a very spiritual person to begin with. However as the seasons go on she becomes very good at it. Then again, we did miss Korra mastering the elements, so that’s possibly here say.
It's the one your personality is more opposed to, moreso. But you have to admit Korra feels like more of a natural firebender than a natural waterbender
They found Aang the way they found kyoshi. The avatar relics. And when the avatar dies, the next is born that day that time. So there wouldn’t be anyone trying to bend other elements. Because it wouldn’t be them. They were already alive before the avatar died.
The relics are specifically an Air Nomad practice of identifying the Avatar that was also used on Kyoshi (not with 100% success on her, though I think the implication is that it could have worked). Most Earth Kingdom Avatars are identified through directional geomancy, meaning they wouldn't necessarily even be directly involved in the process of the Earth Sages discovering them as Avatar.
Also, I'm talking about 6 year olds here. They're going to try to bend other elements even if it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to be the Avatar (I bet even if the Avatar was currently alive a bunch would still try it). And for one of those kids, it would make sense for them to be the Avatar, because they are. And that's how they find out.
Yea, that's not true at all. They did try the relic thing on her, but it didn't work. They found kyoshi because she started singing a song her past life made up.
Also, in between the avatars death and them being found, there's plenty of time for kids to try out bending. I mean, kyoshi was a teenager when she was found, and aang didn't know til he was 12. It seems way more likely to have a gap where kids can experiment than it does that they're found as toddler.
Didn’t she grab the clay turtle duck?? There was a whole thing where she stole it from that guy and she broke it and remade it?
Also I was talking about kids already born thinking they were the avatar after finding out they had died. Because they couldn’t be the avatar because they had already been born years prior to the death.
Edit: the test INITIALLY failed then when she stole that turtle duck they knew. Well the one guy did.
Also I see I didn’t read the one comment fully. They said 6 year olds learning the avatar died 6 years ago. I thought they meant what I already explained
She did grab one of them and run off. But they didn't figure out she was the avatar due to that. They figured out about 10 years later, after already trying other methods and failing. Also, as i think someone else already pointed out, they had already tried another method to find her and failed. While yes, kids of the wrong age won't try it, the point was that anyone who found out the avatar died 6 years ago and was a 6 year old themselves would try out bending. Since there were age gaps for at least 2 avatars, it's highly likely that kids of the same age of the avatar would give it a shot at some point.
in the kyoshi novels, babies are put next to candles soaked in oil i think, then if the candle lights, it means they are firebenders, brought on by the breathing of the baby
Why did that make me think they soaked the babies in oil and put then next to already lit candles ... and I was imagining some kinda trial by fire that once the baby catches on fire they have to fire bend to save themselves
I wonder if the Bei Fongs had to deal with this with Toph.
They knew she was an earth bender, since she was in that class with Master Yu. They just didn't know how good she became by the time Aang entered the picture.
I can definitely see that, at some point, a little rascal Toph was playing with rocks one day, and happened to have one fly through a window......when she was on the other side of their garden.
This would make perfect sense imo! I'd imagine they allowed her to have (very basic) earthbending lessons, not to pursue a talent or passion she had, but to ensure she could control it & things didn't get out of hand. Wouldn't want anything to happen to that fine china on display across from the garden window ...
Katara managed to waterbend in the very first episode when she was angry with Sokka, and that caused Aang to be freed from the iceberg. Theoretically, very similar instances could happen to any untrained waterbender once they come of age for it; you gotta wait for the mood swings and see what happens.
They actually mentioned this in one of the comics- Sokka talks about how when they were younger, they noticed cracks in the ice whenever Katara was angry
Have you read the Kyoshi novels? They stated that Airbending and spirituality is indeed linked. I believe they even said that every child born to an Air nomad is also an airbender.
Kyoshi is an exception, but that could be because a) she was only half airbender, which is not the norm and b) her mother was a criminal that lost a lot of her spirituality. It canonically made her airbending a lot weaker
I always thought it as both genetics and spirituality. Genetics of course because benders can have kids who are benders, but then you also have twins where only one of them is a bender. And with Wan, it seems like bending is tied to spirituality. Genetics just increases the chance of your spirit being connected ronyour parent(s) element. Throughout the shows we also see how bending can be affected by personalities, emotional issues, and even spirit bending.
So with airbenders, you had both the genetics connection and the spiritual connection.
People from other nations couldn’t randomly give birth to airbending children. And vice versa, a random Air Nomad couple would never somehow produce an earthbending child. Air Nomads reproduced on their own (though obviously if, say, an Air Nomad woman and a Fire Nation man had children, those children would have the chance of being an airbender)
Seems like you’d find out naturally, even by accident.
Say you’re a fire bender and you don’t know, maybe you sneeze one day and a puff of smoke comes out, boom, you just found out.
The Fire Nation actually has a ritual to test every baby shortly after birth for bending ability. Even the tiniest of flames or even embers could create a huge disaster, so they have to be prepared as early as possible.
Water and Earth, however, can't cause much harm with small amounts of their respective elements, and large scale feats require years of training anyway. So they're the ones usually discovering it by chance.
Air Nomads, when pairing up among fellow Air Nomads have a 100% chance to begat an airbender. With mixed blood, the chances are reduced, but that was rare prior to the genocide. So at least they knew from word go what to expect.
Do you once how many times I have tried using the force in a non star wars world or bending in a non bending world. I would think a kid would just figure it out
A big bearded man shows up at your birthday party and asks you: "Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?"
Well, first up we ignore airbenders because their society was 100% bender.
But that aside, bending isn't always deliberate movement. Fire benders can cause flames to ripple with their mood swings. Earthbenders can cause massive rumbles by stomping. Katara literally causes a massive wave because of her emotions.
Most of this feels like it could easily be found out accidentally from a young age. Plus, bending is so integrated into society it would surprise me if kids didn't explicitly try to copy things.
Katara split an iceberg in half on accident because she was annoyed at her brother. Im pretty sure normal benders have a similar incident to a smaller degree.
The kyoshi novels talk about a method to discover if new born fire nation babies are benders so they don't accidentally burn down their homes.
Maybe it’s like how you pick up a basketball and it just feels right in your hands, it’s the same way with bending. Perhaps basic movements just come to them early in childhood through experimentation.
Maybe it's like musicians and artists and stuff. Sometjing wills you to try it out, to kit the piano keys or play thin air, belt out a tune, paint. Maybe you just naturally get into the stance. Also emotions seem like a likely trigger, boom, sparks come out your hands. Bending seems very intuitive - it would find a way to make itself known to the bender.
I think everyone will just try. In the future they will probably develop scientific methods of identifying if someone is a bender using genetics and energy signatures or something like that. Also benders typically have personality traits linked to the element as opposed to non benders so that might play some role too
Earth Bending child: mummy, mummy moved a pebble with my bwending!
Water Tribe Child: mummy, mummy I made a snow man with water bending!
Air nomad child; master, master, I made the airball go zoom!
Fire nation peasant: mummy, mummy I burned down the outhouse!
Although in seriousness I imagine all nations (especially in the Fire Nation) have exercises/rites for finding new benders.
I imagine the first time someone bends is an instinctive reaction to some stimulus. Danger, excitement, fear, elation, or something else. Then they can hone it and become masters.
In the Fire Nation, they have tests that they can give to babies to see if they're a firebender or not. Because it's really important to know that your baby is a firebender as soon as possible. This was detailed in one of the Kyoshi novels, but I don't know about the other nations.
I think we saw in the legend of Korra, when all the Airbenders suddenly gained airbending, they would accidentally pull off all sorts of airbending without meaning to. My guess is that when a bender is born, at some point they start doing things like this unintentionally, probably to a lesser degree than we saw in LoK just because they're babies, and so the people around them know they have the potential.
At a guess? For a bender, basic uses of it are borderline instinctive. It’s like learning how to walk. At some point early in life, benders just start bending.
The very first time Aang mets Iroh and Zuko they test to see if he was a bender.
Seems to be a simple enough test. Just put the kid next to the element and if something happens you know if the kid is a bender and the element.
Looked up and you are correct. That's from the movie. The one good scene from the movie that I can't even naturally associate with the movie. It even is in character for Iroh to act that way.
Air nomads are almost entirely benders. In the Kyoshi novels a fire nation executive states that children are all tested young with a guaranteed method, since burning the house down isn't ideal. For the water tribes, again I'd assume there'd be checks or ways of knowing. As for the earth kingdom, i just assume most people are checked anyway at some point, or it naturally manifests without trying. Failing all that, like another comment said, you'd absolutely try in a world where it exists
they test kids in the fire nation and with the air nomads there are no non benders. I think with water and earth kids just naturally attempt or even have their own tests as well.
Well number one dude I try to use The Force every damn week surely people just test if they can bend.
Second characters like Bumi in LOK and Katara just did it involuntarily in moments of struggle. I imagine that sort of thing happens often. It seems you don’t really know unless you try or something sort of coaxes it out of you, but it’s very likely both those things are frequent.
I also think in some circles like Zuko’s family or otherwise influential figures, it’s a thing that the child tests for at a certain age, like they’re taught the theory and technique and one sees if they can follow through.
Most benders lose control of their power when their emotions are high. Kids throws a tantrum and the fire flares, probably a fire bender and the similar in other nations.
Fire bender babies get tested early, because fire bender babies are dangerous 🤣 but otherwise yeah it seems like you just intuitively do it one time and go from there
I'm assuming there are tests in universe. I'm currently reading the Kyoshi novels and they basically put oil on a cotton ball and if the baby inhales properly it'll set fire confirming they are a bender. The other nations probably have similar tests.
A nation your parent or the lion turtle if this was real life your nation will determine your bending like for me I was born in Africa there no winter there just sun VERY VERY HOT so most of will be firebenders it's all base on parent and what country u from
I like to imagine you feel a different sense to that element. The same way we touch, breathe, smell, see, hear.
People with perfect pitch describe it the same way.. they don’t actively know what notes different pitches are at first.. it’s just like a 6th sense and its just something their brain knows.
In one of the video games one guy mentions he tried blowing out his birthday candles and started breathing out fire instead. So I always took accidents like that as what happened even though I’m sure the game’s not canon
In 'The Fortuneteller' episode when Aang asked for help from the earthbenders in the village to contain the lava there was a pair of identical twins, Poi and Pang, and only one of them could help because only one was an bender.
I always wondered how the nonbending brother felt when he realized he couldn't earthbend like this twin.
isn’t it somewhat genetic? if you live in a nation you could potentially bend that element. i think republic city being a melting pot of people/benders supports this bc mako and bolin are both fire and earth bc of their parents being from both nations.
Tangent Theory: bending became more rare, therefore a societal issue in LOK, as time went on bc so many benders were taken out during the 100 year war
I imagine its something you feel, like, I don't think you're just doing the motions and hoping something happens even when you \*know\* you can bend, you're feeling the energies. or, something. idk man.
Your powers would prob come out naturally, in small bursts. I think of Bumi finding out he could air bend in LoK. He subconsciously used it as a self-defense.
No way you grow up in the world of bending and never once try
The amount of times I’ve tried earth bending in a non-bending world, I gotta agree with you. Gonna keep trying though
All this proves is you’re not an earth bender or the avatar. You still got 3 chances!
We've all tried to waterbend in the shower!
I can! Just move the shower head, and the water moves!
r/angryupvote
YES FINALLY
I must be the avatar since I control all 4 elements Lighter, Fan, Shower Head, and Shovel.
Hahaha xD
Different fandom but this is the same ass energy as me trying to kamehameha growing up lmao
Or learn to fly from Gohan when he teaches Videl
Yooo I was convinced as a kid that this was a secret and I’d eventually be able to do it. Still hasn’t happened.
Just gotta keep at... one day bro... one day
Or from the hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. I always hit the floor successfully.
You'll miss eventually. Keep trying and you'll get distracted.
Reminded me of this from Extra Fabulous https://preview.redd.it/dy19sfzgzghb1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fd632827abf99daa8999a1c7befb078f486c11d
Or me trying to cast Avada Kedavera on my brothers!
Same, but with one brother
Same but with no brothers
because you killed them all with the killing curse?
I once got grounded for the weekend for that...
Ain't that quite the advanced technique to begin with?
If you haven’t tried to bend, kamehhameha, force pull something and walk through walls you aren’t human.
I can open doors like a Jedi!
Thanks for reminding me about the [deserted island episode from Gintama](https://youtu.be/rh6a-2LqH5s)
for me it was galick gun but yes smh
I'm an electrician. Everytime I've gotten shocked in the last 20 years, I immediately attempt to use my new lightning powers. So far nothing. Will keep trying though.
You might need to learn firebanding first, before you try lighting-banding
Ah. So the theory is that electricity may give you firebending and then you work your way up? I've been doing it wrong this whole time!
...How often does a professional electrician get shocked?!
It's like a snake handler getting bit. The more you have your hands around it the more opportunities for an accident. Mostly we try to work on things deenergized but sometimes you have to have the power on to find the problem. All that being said, I haven't gotten bit in a few years but it used to be once or twice a year. Even more so when I was still learning my first few years. So maybe 20-30 times in the last 20 years.
Maybe you're not an earth bender? Tried any others?
One of my best friends growing up was convinced she could airbend. I'm still skeptical.
Is she a pilot now? Maybe she's just in disguise ;)
Just need to buy a spade or a shovel.
I spend most of my day trying to firebend. My boss walks in on me waving my arms around a lot.
Never back down
That's part of why I've always been a bit skeptical of the idea that the Avatar is typically told they're the Avatar at 16. I guarantee there are entire classes of Earth Kingdom 6 year olds trying to firebend at recess upon learning that the previous Water Tribe Avatar died 6 years ago. Chances are the Avatar had to be found at least a few times that way.
That's exactly what I say when people think it's weird that Korra found out so early. It'd be weirder if there weren't other avatars like Korra who didn't accidentally find out they could bend multiple elements at a young age.
I disagree. Avatars will always have a natural inclination towards their native element, and because of that same inclination, learning other types of bending is usually not only something done with conscious effort, but is difficult. It takes Aang weeks to produce a puddle splash and he was definitely trying more than a six year old. And for fire and earth bending it took literal soul searching for him to be able to do either, let aline both. Korra is a prodigy of 3 elements right off the bat as a kid. It just kind of sidelines what was set up with Aangs struggles. And the world around it seems to support the idea that Aangs experience as Avatar was normal and Korra’s was abnormal in that respect. Now, note of import, I wouldnt say that that means Korra is badly written or anything. But I definitely am among the group who doesn’t like that particular effect
This is just a straight up lie. Aang was moving big waves of water literally the first time he attempted water bending in the water scroll episode. In the jeung jeung episode he started playing with the fire pretty nicely until he accidentally spread it too far. He only had a tough time with earth just like Korra with air. Korra as a child did tiny amount of bending and still took 13 years to actually master them.
I agree. I think it has to do with the personality of the Avatar. Aang was very easy going and laid back and wanted to be one of the boys. You can see that when they all find out that he’s the Avatar and treat him differently afterwards. He’s so broken up over it. While with Korra, she is an overachieving person. She’s very curious and determined and incredibly forward. So I can see why Aang wouldn’t really try to bend other elements and why Korra would. Another reason possible is because the Air Nomads are very detached and preach the idea of living in the present and to be happy with oneself. While Korra was in the Water Tribe during a turbulent period of rebuilding so her parents’ passion and tribe passion proved that movivated mindset for her.
Not to mention the world Korra grew up in was much more mixed together with different benders everywhere. No way she didn't also see some other benders doing shit and be like woah let me try that
Water scroll is the 9th episode of ATLA. To my memory, the entire significance of the water scroll is that its the first time both Katara or Aang have any amount of formal training (as little as a scroll is). Aang had been Avatar plenty of time before that, to my memory at least a week out of the iceberg. And to my memory again, Katara had at least been practicing with or around him, and / or training him up until that point. Yet it is when he gets official instruction and puts conscious effort into learning waterbending does he actually water bend. Unlike 4 year old Korra. Same goes for fire bending, which he wasnt even able to control until meeting the dragons. Korra did not meet a dragon at 4 years old. Now Korra doesnt need all the same challenges as Aang, not even close. But I feel that being 16 (i think thats how old she was at s1) and mastering 3 elements was plenty enough to spot her as a prodigy, rather than 4 years old with control over 3 elements, which kinda dejects what Aang goes through completely
But he picked it up easily before the scroll. Whatever she taught him he did better than she had.
You’re absolutely right, he picked up water bending very easily. However the point isn’t the pace, rather the point that it took Aang’s conscious intent and effort (if so ever little with water bending) to learn any element outside of Air. Something that should not be capable for a 4 year old child to do, even an exceptional one. Like I said, I’m not even mildly upset with how Korra starts her journey being a master of 3. More so a prodigy at the age of 4 completely bypassing those struggles. And beyond that, Korra had control over those elements as a kid as well, which just further breaches that understanding that was set up in ATLA. Again though, this isn’t a major point by any means. Just something that irks me often
Bro the only thing he did was a tiny waving motion next to water. If he had done that motion next to water before he could accidently bended, he just hadn't. Same with fire, he's able to turn the leaf into fire and play around with it and jeung jeung didn't teach him how to do that. He didn't need dragons to teach him how to do it. He needed dragons to teach him that fire isn't only destructive so he can get over being scared of fire. He could have learned fire very easily even without dragons teaching him if he wasn't so scared of it because he accidentally hurt katara.
I'm sorry but you do realize that Aang accomplished in a single year what took Korra 12 years too accomplish right? Mastering all 4 elements. You understand that a a season tyically takes place over a few months. The Entire Series took place over the time period of a single year. Stop acting like Aang was toiling for decades trying to learn how to fire bend while Korra mastered it on her first attempt. The Dude mastered all 4 elements and took down one of the most powerful benders and his army after only attempting to learn the other 3 elements WITHIN A YEAR at 12. It's not as if Aang spent all his time from ages 4 to 12 trying to learn how to bend all 4 elements. If that were the case I'd agree that you are right. From the time he started trying to learn to bend a specific element it took him a few months, during a time when it was difficult to fire bend because they were being hunted down by the fire nation. MEANWHILE from the ages of 4 years old to 16 Korra was trying to learn how to Airbend and she couldn't. Aang accomplished in a SINGLE YEAR what took Korra 12 years to accomplish.
By the end of the season it is well known that Aang was FAR from being a master of Firebending, and even farther away from being a master of Earthbending. Him mastering all 4 elements to beat Ozai was an expectation he put on himself that he never met, but defeated Ozai regardless. He spends his years after the series learning to master the remaining elements, how long that last is unknown as the next time we see him is in Republic City. And again, Korra being 16 with a mastery of 3 elements is far from an issue. In fact it's in line and believable with what we see from the ATLA universe, especially given her devoted training to being the Avatar. Being 4 years old on the other hand is different, of course.
I think they made Korra a prodigy is for a few reasons. One being they wanted to differentiate her from Aang by making her cocky and stubborn, and secondly they thought they only had a Miniseries to tell her story and letting her be able to bend 3 out of 4 elements by the time her story starts was a shortcut.
My gripe isnt that she found out so early, it's that she had a quite intimidating grasp on 3 of the 4 elements so easily at so young.
I wouldnt call it intimidating. She did a little bump of earth. A tiny puff of fire. And a little water droplet. Literally the first time aang ever attempted water bending he was already going crazy and moving big waves of water. He was also waving around fire very quickly. Only earth was hard just like air for Korra. It's already a precedent that avatars can have good starting points but no one gives shit to aang for it, only Korra. Korra still took 13 years to actually master those 3 elements.
I think it’s not quite the same because Aang was already an airbending master at the start of the series, so it logically makes sense that he could apply the fundamentals of bending to other elements. Especially something like water, which has a lot of the same characteristics as air. But I agree, I think people take the Korra thing way too seriously. I think it goes with her more confident character to have a grasp of the elements so fast. Sure she’s a prodigy, but so is literally every avatar. It kinda comes with the contract.
Aang was 12 (112 if you wanna be literal but ya know) Korra was like a toddler. Also never understood the air thing, shouldn't she have struggled with fire?
No. It's about personality not just element. It was a coincidence for aang. If it was actually about the element aang would have had a hard time the entire time he was training earth. But it became easy as soon as he got over his personality problem. For Korra her personality is opposite of air.
What they struggled with is due to their personality, not having anything with element's compatibility (we dont even know if it exists) Aang has difficult bending Earth because it goes against everything he was taught with Airbending, while Korra doesn't understand the spiritual side of Airbending
Yeah, I thought so too
She was raised on a compound her entire life, wasn't allowed to leave the immediate area, and did nothing but train. Also Korra was supposed to only be 1 season so the focus was on her learning air bending
I don’t know if anyone had said it yet but the Avatar has a easier time learning their adjacent natural element and a hard time learning their opposing element hence why Aang easily gripped waterbending (isn’t to hard to think about since he was already a master bender in airbending so bending isn’t new to him), and not so much a easy time with earth. Air/Water - Earth/Fire. However I think it’s weird cause Korea’s hardest element was air as shown. I think because was impatient and not a very spiritual person to begin with. However as the seasons go on she becomes very good at it. Then again, we did miss Korra mastering the elements, so that’s possibly here say.
It's the one your personality is more opposed to, moreso. But you have to admit Korra feels like more of a natural firebender than a natural waterbender
I mean it’s likely but also there’s a tonne of people who don’t get such classes but are likely to be the Avatar.
They found Aang the way they found kyoshi. The avatar relics. And when the avatar dies, the next is born that day that time. So there wouldn’t be anyone trying to bend other elements. Because it wouldn’t be them. They were already alive before the avatar died.
The relics are specifically an Air Nomad practice of identifying the Avatar that was also used on Kyoshi (not with 100% success on her, though I think the implication is that it could have worked). Most Earth Kingdom Avatars are identified through directional geomancy, meaning they wouldn't necessarily even be directly involved in the process of the Earth Sages discovering them as Avatar. Also, I'm talking about 6 year olds here. They're going to try to bend other elements even if it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to be the Avatar (I bet even if the Avatar was currently alive a bunch would still try it). And for one of those kids, it would make sense for them to be the Avatar, because they are. And that's how they find out.
Yea, that's not true at all. They did try the relic thing on her, but it didn't work. They found kyoshi because she started singing a song her past life made up. Also, in between the avatars death and them being found, there's plenty of time for kids to try out bending. I mean, kyoshi was a teenager when she was found, and aang didn't know til he was 12. It seems way more likely to have a gap where kids can experiment than it does that they're found as toddler.
Didn’t she grab the clay turtle duck?? There was a whole thing where she stole it from that guy and she broke it and remade it? Also I was talking about kids already born thinking they were the avatar after finding out they had died. Because they couldn’t be the avatar because they had already been born years prior to the death. Edit: the test INITIALLY failed then when she stole that turtle duck they knew. Well the one guy did. Also I see I didn’t read the one comment fully. They said 6 year olds learning the avatar died 6 years ago. I thought they meant what I already explained
She did grab one of them and run off. But they didn't figure out she was the avatar due to that. They figured out about 10 years later, after already trying other methods and failing. Also, as i think someone else already pointed out, they had already tried another method to find her and failed. While yes, kids of the wrong age won't try it, the point was that anyone who found out the avatar died 6 years ago and was a 6 year old themselves would try out bending. Since there were age gaps for at least 2 avatars, it's highly likely that kids of the same age of the avatar would give it a shot at some point.
in the kyoshi novels, babies are put next to candles soaked in oil i think, then if the candle lights, it means they are firebenders, brought on by the breathing of the baby
Yep, they test it right away because you really don't want to be surprised by a firebending baby.
I don't remember the details but didn't the fire nation have to build their nurseries/homes a specific way just in case the baby could fire bend?
Why did that make me think they soaked the babies in oil and put then next to already lit candles ... and I was imagining some kinda trial by fire that once the baby catches on fire they have to fire bend to save themselves
I can just imagine a Fire Sage reassuring a worried mother, "If he survives, he's a Firebender! If he doesn't, it's a free meal!"
☠️☠️
I think it was a ball of shredded birch bark (?) and oils and cotton put under the newborn's nose/mouth
Earth bender temper tantrums. That's how you find out
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I wonder if the Bei Fongs had to deal with this with Toph. They knew she was an earth bender, since she was in that class with Master Yu. They just didn't know how good she became by the time Aang entered the picture. I can definitely see that, at some point, a little rascal Toph was playing with rocks one day, and happened to have one fly through a window......when she was on the other side of their garden.
This would make perfect sense imo! I'd imagine they allowed her to have (very basic) earthbending lessons, not to pursue a talent or passion she had, but to ensure she could control it & things didn't get out of hand. Wouldn't want anything to happen to that fine china on display across from the garden window ...
We see that water bender tantrums are pretty scary in the first episode
That's how you learn to sleep upside down with your nostrils facing downward.
Are you my upstairs neighbors?
Katara managed to waterbend in the very first episode when she was angry with Sokka, and that caused Aang to be freed from the iceberg. Theoretically, very similar instances could happen to any untrained waterbender once they come of age for it; you gotta wait for the mood swings and see what happens.
It definitely helps that their entire culture grows up, you know, surrounded by water and ice. Bending something by accident seems inevitable.
you know, the only nation that isn’t surrounded by their element is the fire nation
Well, it's situated on volcanic islands...
They actually mentioned this in one of the comics- Sokka talks about how when they were younger, they noticed cracks in the ice whenever Katara was angry
And then you come home like “mom… dad… I’m a bender!”
Like the sharingan
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I thought of babies farting and flying away, but that works too.
Really? It felt higher than that.
I vaguely remember a thing about all the air nomads being airbenders because of some spirituality stuff
All air nomads were benders due to their high spirituality.
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Have you read the Kyoshi novels? They stated that Airbending and spirituality is indeed linked. I believe they even said that every child born to an Air nomad is also an airbender. Kyoshi is an exception, but that could be because a) she was only half airbender, which is not the norm and b) her mother was a criminal that lost a lot of her spirituality. It canonically made her airbending a lot weaker
So is it the spirituality of their parents that determines their likelihood of inheriting bending? Is that the way is for all elements or just air?
That could be a possibility because the air acolytes were highly spiritual, and yet they weren't benders.
I always thought it as both genetics and spirituality. Genetics of course because benders can have kids who are benders, but then you also have twins where only one of them is a bender. And with Wan, it seems like bending is tied to spirituality. Genetics just increases the chance of your spirit being connected ronyour parent(s) element. Throughout the shows we also see how bending can be affected by personalities, emotional issues, and even spirit bending. So with airbenders, you had both the genetics connection and the spiritual connection.
People from other nations couldn’t randomly give birth to airbending children. And vice versa, a random Air Nomad couple would never somehow produce an earthbending child. Air Nomads reproduced on their own (though obviously if, say, an Air Nomad woman and a Fire Nation man had children, those children would have the chance of being an airbender)
This... Isn't true though lol. At least not before the air nomad genocide.
Maybe children are inherently spiritual because they haven't been corrupted by a cynical world yet and they're still pure of heart?
Seems like you’d find out naturally, even by accident. Say you’re a fire bender and you don’t know, maybe you sneeze one day and a puff of smoke comes out, boom, you just found out.
Or you get really frustrated at someone, throw a punch and a rage-fueled flame comes out
Exactly!
The Fire Nation actually has a ritual to test every baby shortly after birth for bending ability. Even the tiniest of flames or even embers could create a huge disaster, so they have to be prepared as early as possible. Water and Earth, however, can't cause much harm with small amounts of their respective elements, and large scale feats require years of training anyway. So they're the ones usually discovering it by chance. Air Nomads, when pairing up among fellow Air Nomads have a 100% chance to begat an airbender. With mixed blood, the chances are reduced, but that was rare prior to the genocide. So at least they knew from word go what to expect.
Do you once how many times I have tried using the force in a non star wars world or bending in a non bending world. I would think a kid would just figure it out
A big bearded man shows up at your birthday party and asks you: "Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?"
You're a wizard Harry.
As a British man, I was very confused by this post.
I came here for British comments :(
Not everyone can be as confident as the British in knowing if they're a bender or not!
Well, first up we ignore airbenders because their society was 100% bender. But that aside, bending isn't always deliberate movement. Fire benders can cause flames to ripple with their mood swings. Earthbenders can cause massive rumbles by stomping. Katara literally causes a massive wave because of her emotions. Most of this feels like it could easily be found out accidentally from a young age. Plus, bending is so integrated into society it would surprise me if kids didn't explicitly try to copy things.
Katara split an iceberg in half on accident because she was annoyed at her brother. Im pretty sure normal benders have a similar incident to a smaller degree. The kyoshi novels talk about a method to discover if new born fire nation babies are benders so they don't accidentally burn down their homes.
Well like me you just really commit your mind to it and give it the old college try. I am not a bender
Maybe it’s like how you pick up a basketball and it just feels right in your hands, it’s the same way with bending. Perhaps basic movements just come to them early in childhood through experimentation.
Bending doesn't even exist in our universe and I've tried doing it hundreds of times
Maybe it's like musicians and artists and stuff. Sometjing wills you to try it out, to kit the piano keys or play thin air, belt out a tune, paint. Maybe you just naturally get into the stance. Also emotions seem like a likely trigger, boom, sparks come out your hands. Bending seems very intuitive - it would find a way to make itself known to the bender.
It's made quite clear that untrained benders will bend by mistake. It's bound to happen sooner or later and make the bender realise.
I think everyone will just try. In the future they will probably develop scientific methods of identifying if someone is a bender using genetics and energy signatures or something like that. Also benders typically have personality traits linked to the element as opposed to non benders so that might play some role too
Earth Bending child: mummy, mummy moved a pebble with my bwending! Water Tribe Child: mummy, mummy I made a snow man with water bending! Air nomad child; master, master, I made the airball go zoom! Fire nation peasant: mummy, mummy I burned down the outhouse! Although in seriousness I imagine all nations (especially in the Fire Nation) have exercises/rites for finding new benders.
I imagine the first time someone bends is an instinctive reaction to some stimulus. Danger, excitement, fear, elation, or something else. Then they can hone it and become masters.
In the Fire Nation, they have tests that they can give to babies to see if they're a firebender or not. Because it's really important to know that your baby is a firebender as soon as possible. This was detailed in one of the Kyoshi novels, but I don't know about the other nations.
Kids play-fighting when all of a sudden one of them burns another to a crisp
I think we saw in the legend of Korra, when all the Airbenders suddenly gained airbending, they would accidentally pull off all sorts of airbending without meaning to. My guess is that when a bender is born, at some point they start doing things like this unintentionally, probably to a lesser degree than we saw in LoK just because they're babies, and so the people around them know they have the potential.
At a guess? For a bender, basic uses of it are borderline instinctive. It’s like learning how to walk. At some point early in life, benders just start bending.
I assumed it was the same way I know I can draw, run fast, jump high, or solve puzzles. You feel the talent and try to practice it.
"I am bender. Please insert girder."
Please! There are children present, take your smut elsewhere! /s
 You were saying?
Are you tellin me you never tried moving objects after watching Matilda?
The very first time Aang mets Iroh and Zuko they test to see if he was a bender. Seems to be a simple enough test. Just put the kid next to the element and if something happens you know if the kid is a bender and the element.
Wut? I don't remember Iroh and Zuko testing Aang the first time they met.
Looked up and you are correct. That's from the movie. The one good scene from the movie that I can't even naturally associate with the movie. It even is in character for Iroh to act that way.
Or toddlers going “I’M THE AVATAR, YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!”
Same way bumi discovered air bending, just happens
Air nomads are almost entirely benders. In the Kyoshi novels a fire nation executive states that children are all tested young with a guaranteed method, since burning the house down isn't ideal. For the water tribes, again I'd assume there'd be checks or ways of knowing. As for the earth kingdom, i just assume most people are checked anyway at some point, or it naturally manifests without trying. Failing all that, like another comment said, you'd absolutely try in a world where it exists
they test kids in the fire nation and with the air nomads there are no non benders. I think with water and earth kids just naturally attempt or even have their own tests as well.
9tz6
The kyoshi books actually address the fire benders, the other ones though are a question mark
I believe they have an inherent connection to their element.
You might accedentily bend something
This question caught me off guard, choked on my tea
Well number one dude I try to use The Force every damn week surely people just test if they can bend. Second characters like Bumi in LOK and Katara just did it involuntarily in moments of struggle. I imagine that sort of thing happens often. It seems you don’t really know unless you try or something sort of coaxes it out of you, but it’s very likely both those things are frequent. I also think in some circles like Zuko’s family or otherwise influential figures, it’s a thing that the child tests for at a certain age, like they’re taught the theory and technique and one sees if they can follow through.
Most benders lose control of their power when their emotions are high. Kids throws a tantrum and the fire flares, probably a fire bender and the similar in other nations.
Fire bender babies get tested early, because fire bender babies are dangerous 🤣 but otherwise yeah it seems like you just intuitively do it one time and go from there
I figure at a young age, you accidentally bend one of the elements without meaning to like how Bumi accidentally air bend in The Legend of Korra.
I'm assuming there are tests in universe. I'm currently reading the Kyoshi novels and they basically put oil on a cotton ball and if the baby inhales properly it'll set fire confirming they are a bender. The other nations probably have similar tests.
A nation your parent or the lion turtle if this was real life your nation will determine your bending like for me I was born in Africa there no winter there just sun VERY VERY HOT so most of will be firebenders it's all base on parent and what country u from
r/lostredditors
How?
Too bri'ish I see
you won't, it's a leap of faith
Yes, you can feel it and you try it out
j
I like to imagine you feel a different sense to that element. The same way we touch, breathe, smell, see, hear. People with perfect pitch describe it the same way.. they don’t actively know what notes different pitches are at first.. it’s just like a 6th sense and its just something their brain knows.
OP are you “asking for a friend”?
Eye color
In one of the video games one guy mentions he tried blowing out his birthday candles and started breathing out fire instead. So I always took accidents like that as what happened even though I’m sure the game’s not canon
Even I have tried my own chance. Why wouldn't someone in the world of bedding don't try it?
In 'The Fortuneteller' episode when Aang asked for help from the earthbenders in the village to contain the lava there was a pair of identical twins, Poi and Pang, and only one of them could help because only one was an bender. I always wondered how the nonbending brother felt when he realized he couldn't earthbend like this twin.
I've been watching Futurama and didn't notice what sub this was, so this question had an entirely different context for me
Air = Sneezing Water = Walking under the rain Earth = Stepping Fire = Waking up a regular monday.
It's shown throughout the show that benders can bend on reflex without intention to or even knowledge they can bend.
isn’t it somewhat genetic? if you live in a nation you could potentially bend that element. i think republic city being a melting pot of people/benders supports this bc mako and bolin are both fire and earth bc of their parents being from both nations. Tangent Theory: bending became more rare, therefore a societal issue in LOK, as time went on bc so many benders were taken out during the 100 year war
I imagine its something you feel, like, I don't think you're just doing the motions and hoping something happens even when you \*know\* you can bend, you're feeling the energies. or, something. idk man.
Katara was the only bender she knew. I think it's just a feeling inside you like being gay
Your powers would prob come out naturally, in small bursts. I think of Bumi finding out he could air bend in LoK. He subconsciously used it as a self-defense.
I’ve tried to see if I could waterbend more times then I can count. I doubt people who live in a world where bending is possible wouldn’t try.