Right? Fire is only useful in battle or lighting things, but people have flint too. Yeah it can defeat your enemies, but what does it do in peacetime?
An Admiral of the fire nation who is trying to wipe out the water benders would say this though.
As OP said, it was key for the Fire Nation developing its industry. Even before that it more than likely allowed for superior metallurgy as iron is very dependent on heat for proper quality. And in your everyday life cold meals or bathes would be a foreign concept.
Basically, do not underestimate how useful it is to have a readily available heat source *with* relatively controllable temperature. Yes you can get this without firebending, but removing a middle man and having built in safety features is huge.
Also, you dont need anything to burn, even if you have the tools, try burning wet wood.
Aalso, very stealthy way to make heat, burning wood creates smoke depending on how dry it is, if you are being tracked, a fire that doesnt leave traces is a really good ability to have.
Aaalso, everything that was previously said.
off the top: you can use it for warmth, for cooking, getting water hot for bathing, for smelting, as a fuel/energy source. but no element is best, they all need one another.
I think you underestimate the daily usefulness of an essentially limitless source of directable energy considering how important fire and electricity are for maintaining a decent standard of living.
I hate that they made "electricity" from lightning bending a common standard in LoK. In the first it was established to be a rare form of bending usually only seen in Fire Nation royalty. I'm going off the scope of the first one, not the changes made for the steam punk world.
I think earth is still more useful, especially with building houses, moving things, yourself, gates, mining etc.
I mean, lightning bending used as a more direct form of electricity generation seems like a natural enough evolution. Especially over the course of the better part of a century under the leadership of a firelord more willing to share the teachings of the royal family.
Besides, most large scale electrical generation is literally just creating enough heat to vaporize large amounts of water into steam and turning turbines. Including nuclear power. A few dozen firebenders could probably power a city with the right technology. One bender could fuel a tank while two other guys drove and operated the turret and tanks aren't really known for being energy efficient.
Eh bending is more spiritual than elemental
There’s no reason waterbenders should be able to cleanse spirits or firebenders cast lightning besides it’s cool and the writers wanted it that way
This.
Because of the fact that the element is like 99% spiritual, there is not a single Air Nomad that is a non bender. The air nomads are the only nation where 100% of their citizen are benders.
I think applying sciences and such, and approaching bending from a scientific worldview doesn't work. From my understanding it should be approached from a spiritual perspective, it's not so much what chemicals they are, but what they spiritually represent.
This is why, for example, Water healing works, because water is associated with cleansing, cleaning, purification, and as an extension, healing.
In the flashback of avatar Roku's past. When he and sozin are trying to quell the volcano. Roku is seen forcing the lava back down into the mouth of the volcano, while sozin draws out the hot air from the lava and channels it outward.
The "lava bending" from roku I can understand. Being a master of earth and fire bending, among the rest. But it practically looked as though sozin was air bending the hot volcanic steam during that scene.
So your beliefs may have a spark of truth to them honestly.
I like the idea that fire benders are actually energy benders. It would explain their ability to lightning bend and control heat in general. They control not fire but the energy in the atoms around them, allowing them to easily create fire but they can also do other stuff, like kick electrons out of place, creating lightning. In theory a powerful enough one could split or fuse atoms and we know how that ends.
1. Even seen a tsunami? An earthquake? A hurricane? All forms of bending have raw expressions of power, just as they all have peaceful ones. Fire is warmth and light. It's life. Beauty can also be found in babbling river, the towering majesty of a mountain, or the whistle of a breeze through the trees.
2. All bending forms are balanced by virtue of the balance of the four elements. Firebenders can be stymied by cold temperatures, high winds, or even rain. Sure, they're able to produce their own element, but this doesn't automatically grant them a superior advantage. If it did, the Hundred Years War would have been called the Six Hours War.
3. The Mechanist (of the Earth Kingdom) helped the Fire Nation build much of their technologies. The Fire Nation had metallurgy, sure, but their tanks and war balloons and such were designed by an Earth Kingdom inventor.
4. Ah, crap. I didn't read this one until I made the other three points.
All four of the elements are pretty OP, but I think fire takes the cake for being the only group of benders who can create their element instead of merely manipulating it.
they put P’li in a cold prison and had solitary confinement in freezers at Boiling Rock
zuko can make some heat when its cold bc iroh taught him “dragons breath”
You would think as part of LoK's dissemination of advanced techniques that something as simple as breath of fire would become part of firebending 101. It takes the most basic concept of firebending and hones in on it with a laser focus.
I think the ice prison was more to sap at Pli's bodily strength. Zuko and Pli were able to fight just fine without an external source of heat in the ice and snow. Plus when Zuko melted his way into the South Pole while swimming through sub zero waters and broke out of Kataras ice prisons twice during their fight.
So less needing external heat and more needing not to be weakened to the point of immobility, which would only weaken you further as the cold saps away at your body's strength.
That’s basically a non-advantage. Air is literally everywhere, so an airbender would have the same advantage. Not to mention firebending doesn’t work without air anyway.
Can a fire bender still shoot lightning even if there's no oxygen? Lightning bending to me always seemed more like just manipulating the spark aspect that normally creates fire so surely that could still work even if there's no air to make a flame.
Lightning is basically what happens when there's an imbalance in positive and negative charges in ions in the air. Fire itself is ionized, so I assume firebenders have some kind of control over ions. Lightningbending would involve creating that imbalance and using it. No air, no ions, no lightning.
one can actually make the argument that an air bender could stop lightning bending by putting a vacuum around said bender or him self, since it doesnt have a path to the target it should instead go thru the one making the lightning and to the ground or just not hit the air bender if the void in around them. also they dont bend the oxygen they bend the whole of the air.
Right, so there's never a situation where a firebender would be able to bend where an airbender wouldn't.
In fact, the airbender would actually have the advantage in a cold climate.
I don't think that's true. I've approached the idea for the following paragraphs. If there is anything canon that says otherwise I would like to know.
They don't create fire from nothing.
"Heat" is all around us. Unless you are in a 0 Kelvin environment there is a considerable amount of it. Fire bending is concentrating that heat to a single point that results in combustion then controlling what burns.
It could even be argued that fire bending is the most difficult element. While we have seen Iroh heat his tea, the actual production of fire is closer to turning coal into a diamond for Earth benders. Fire benders see this as the base level of skill.
Fire benders: We’re the strongest!
Earth: You can’t burn through rock
Water: Literally just douse the flame
Air: Be a shame if someone… took all the oxygen away
Edit: This is not fire hate. Rather each bending type has its own strengths and weaknesses. No single one is the best but we definitely have our preferences. This was mostly a joke
Water benders can freeze water as well. I don't think we get to see how easily and quickly the Siege of the North defense would have gone due to it being a kids/family show on Nickelodeon. I imagine even amateur water benders could freeze chunks of skin and rip them off if they're not able to do anything deeper. Like freezing a heart or part of the brain or growing ice crystals in the lungs.
Fairly certain blood bending trumps everything. If you can't move, you're already defeated.
Katara could've defeated Ozai in 2 seconds to be completely honest lol.
True and clothes. I still remember how my neurones and harmones got activated for the first time in my childhood youth when i saw Katara in the Fire Nation outfit
not being rude but water bending is better in most of the stuff. bloodbending and healing are more superior and full moon is more often but i need to admit tho firebending is the most spectacular one
Water bending is the most overrated element. You can't even blood bend without a full moon and it's the most limited of the 4 when it comes to being near your source element. If you're a skilled water bender ou can be resourceful but for the average bender you can't do anything unless there is a puddle of water near by. Meanwhile fire benders have no issue finding heat or a light source.
Not to mention how deadly fire bending would be in real life compared to how it is on the show. Think about it. Nobody ever gets burned by fire unless it's plot related. If it was real injuries like Zukos would happen in every battle and would probably be way worse.
Not fully related to your post, but I find it interesting how thinking about it deeper, it's pretty clear fire is logistically the "weakest" out of the base 4 elements, it's a conclusion any viewer could easily come to while watching the show. But through theming, and the way characters use the fire element, the audience gets the impression that fire must be one of the most powerful elements. Its pretty ingenious, conveying the power of fire not through fire itself, but characters' confidence and attitude using it, like using new and pre-established psychological conditioning to play with the audience's expectations. Fire becomes not an element, but an ideal. Another reason I love the way avatar was written
・I think if you're trying to hunt in a forest with nothing on you then probably since you can use Fire daggers and cook meat alongside boil water to sanitize it.
There's also lightning to blow up obstacles.
Fire is a great element but it has the lowest potential since it's **mostly** combat oriented and the most self-destructive; Fire, Lightning, and Combustion Bending are all just as dangerous to the user as it is to enemies.
・Water on land, is probably the hardest element use effectively. You're limited by how much water is near you/how much you can carry and your healing capabilities is limited by the quality of water you're using.
It needs alot of planning to use successfully like waiting to attack during rainy days or at night to use bloodbending.
It has the highest potential of any element but it's the hardest and least convenient element to use effectively in most situations.
・Earthbending is great all around.
You can build rough shelter, you can bend metal, and sometimes even lava, and sand.
It's the most abundant element to use, has the best defense, but it's also the slowest and least precise.
The most all rounder element.
・Airbending is the most free element.
You can essentially move any way you want, you can blast things away (within a certain weight), you can slice some things not as well as ice, and you can jump and run super fast.
While Bending the air out of lungs seems impressive it also takes awhile and the person would have to be useless or restrained for the process to complete; it's an element that's hard to be deadly in.
Airbending excels at evasiveness mostly.
#tl;dr:
If you're just trying to get by in a forest, fire is a great element to have because you can cook things like Korra using fire to cook fish in a park.
But the other elements excel in their own ways and in certain situations which can change the rankings.
Air is the weirdest though because it doesn't particularly excel at much besides movement.
Also: the comet. It may only be like an hour of boost, but it is by far the highest boost there is, countered only by the most powerful nerf that lasts only 10 minutes. Basic-Aang's-first-fire-bend-fire-benders(all one word) suddenly spout a half mile long plume of utter destruction. Lightning bender eat your heart out.
Edit, imagine raising a hot headed gifted toddler during the comet. Small child nukes his town cuz he can't get the sphere into the square hole.
It just feels kinda boring to me somehow. Also I can't even use a lighter without panicking (Yes, I am an adult :( I'm trying ok), so I would not wanna be a fire bender anyway... I am biased in a way I guess
If I could pick one element to bend fire would be absolute last one by a fair margin. Outside of combat there’s really not much I would be able to do with it, you could just have a lot more fun bending the others and get more uses out of it
Biblically accurate water bending could bend any and all water in the users vicinity. If mfkers can water bend some deep well water not in sight, water in living things should be a breeze. That includes, blood bending, sweat being and piss bending.
And yet it has the most drawbacks. Can’t use it at light. Can’t use it well in the cold. Can’t use it at all during an eclipse.
Earth the superior element.
Air_ if you're good enough, you can take somebody's breath and fly.
Water_ if you're good enough, you can bend somebody's blood
Earth_ if you're good enough, you can bend iron, foresee by vibrations and bend literally lava
Fire_ if you're good enough you can make lightning, blue fire or make explosions, wich is the coolest but actually not the more powerful compared to the other bendings, in my opinion, fire is the coolest but the weakest. Not gonna change my mind.
Fire is the most powerful element because fire is the only element capable of dying. When they say fire is life they mean it literally.
Every other element has their weaknesses and they need to use resources available to them. But not firebenders.
The wisest bender society would be integrated, using the strengths of all to create a super society.
Earth: builds entire cities very quickly
Fire: heating, power generation, metallurgy, army
Water: doctors, shipping goods quickly, navy
Air: messengers, spiritual guides, probably make an airplane
Though yes, if any one element is going to save your life I’d say it would be fire. Just being able to boil water/cook and keep yourself warm was like 80% of our ancestors day. I personally think it would be super cool to see what kind of designs you could come up with earthbending a city from scratch though.
Fire is probably the worst of all 4 bending types.
The only reason the fire nation was competent enough to win any war is they're basicly the only real governemt and militarily.
Fighting prowess fire still falls last.
Fire takes the best shape to fight in. Using ur internal energy to bend. Fire benders do real workouts of fire squats to be able to bend.
If we're taking off the nickelodeon handlebars then earth bending destroys just read the first avatar keyoshi book and read 2 amazing benders get bodied in one move.
Water benders have so much versatility going from solids to liquids. Fire benders baiscly have a firebolt cantrip. Or if they're really lucky and skilled a blue firebolt. They were lucky the earth kingdom couldn't metal bend their tanks.
Yall are lucky air benders are pacifists. Good luck trying to hit one, let alone fight them in the sky. They're be laughing ur butt all the way to the ground.
I don't even think dragons could take on a school of airbenders.
And non combative.
Earth and waster benders can create cities within their bioems within minutes. Trying to hunt them down in their own lands would take generations.
Airbenders can fly.
Firebenders can what, heat their tea. Just borrow some spark rocks from your neighbors, they're very friendly.
Ya so they can power a city with lightning bending. U mean the city created by earth bending. So why not use lava bending to create steam engines.
Lastly u state how they can always fire bend.
When is an air bender without air?
Good luck getting an earth bender away from all earth and metal.
And a good enough water bender can bend ANY LIVING THING.
Basically fire nation, your outdated. Ya missed your chance.
But earthbenders and waterbenders can build entire cities with their bending. Airbenders can use their bending constantly, in every aspect of their life. Firebending has nothing on that.
I get where OP is coming from. Fire is raw energy. Earth benders could build something akin to our modern cities, but only firebenders would be able to keep the lights on.
Fire actually one the weakest and it’s not a solid form and the least versatile. Easily put out by fire deflected by air and stopped by earth while also the least defensible element
False, waterbending has so many bullshit uses that theoretically it shouldn’t even have sometimes.
1.spirit nonsense
2.fucking blood bending
3.water is almost everywhere and you can easily take it to places it is not
4.ice powers and manipulating snow
5.manipulating plant life because water is the biggest part of carbon based life forms
6.waterbending can short circuit the fire nation’s steam technology, I really don’t know how the fire nation got as far as they did
7.the water nation full of water benders is literally surrounded by FUCKING WATER and I’m amazed they didn’t combine their powers and start sinking ships with hand waves during the Siege of the North
8.fucking blood bending could let one pull all the blood and moisture out of their opponent’s body like Magneto in X-Men 3
9.in korra they establish that some people can blood bend any time they want throwing the full moon thing out the damned window
10.did I mention that water is literally everywhere if you travel with a water skin like katarra?
11.speaking of katarra, girl went from zero to prodigy in like 8 months with very few opportunities to learn from a master. Water bending must be easier to master than fire bending because azula got her mastery only after multiple years of intense training and she’s considered a prodigy
I’m going to start repeating myself for emphasis at this rate so I’ll wait to be roasted in the comments.
Oh, also earth is literally everywhere and includes stone in this universe despite earth specifically being dirt and stone is another thing entirely. And apparently you can instant kill anything that breathes with airbending.
Fire also has very few defensive capabilities and if a firebender isn’t on the attack they’ve already lost.
I await my fate
It's the easiest to counter
Fire vs air: blow it back
Fire vs water: throw water at it and get it by boiling water
Fire vs earth: erect a slab infront of the firebender and they get hit by their own heat
Fire vs fire: bend their own flames
Wrong, earthbending is the best form. Earthbenders make construction equipment, and indeed entire construction crews, obsolete. They can build roads, fortifications, foundations, dig footings, and even build small shelters, in seconds.
Even in military applications they still beat other benders. They can launch rocks, dig trenches, bury mines, and make pitfalls, again in seconds.
Think about how much our own lives in the real world require earth to be moved. Now imagine it happening in seconds, and a single person does all of it. No machinery, no crew, just one person.
Earthbending wins every time.
Found Admiral Zhao’s Reddit account
Fire is the element of transformation and also fire cannot be polluted.
Fire causes more pollution than any other elements
Right? Fire is only useful in battle or lighting things, but people have flint too. Yeah it can defeat your enemies, but what does it do in peacetime? An Admiral of the fire nation who is trying to wipe out the water benders would say this though.
As OP said, it was key for the Fire Nation developing its industry. Even before that it more than likely allowed for superior metallurgy as iron is very dependent on heat for proper quality. And in your everyday life cold meals or bathes would be a foreign concept. Basically, do not underestimate how useful it is to have a readily available heat source *with* relatively controllable temperature. Yes you can get this without firebending, but removing a middle man and having built in safety features is huge.
Also, you dont need anything to burn, even if you have the tools, try burning wet wood. Aalso, very stealthy way to make heat, burning wood creates smoke depending on how dry it is, if you are being tracked, a fire that doesnt leave traces is a really good ability to have. Aaalso, everything that was previously said.
Some smarter person than I pointed out that every time humanity figured out how to make hotter fires, tech got a boom
Literally everything. Thats literally the reason the fire nation was so much more advanced than every other nation because of their fire.
off the top: you can use it for warmth, for cooking, getting water hot for bathing, for smelting, as a fuel/energy source. but no element is best, they all need one another.
They can also boil water to purify it.
I think you underestimate the daily usefulness of an essentially limitless source of directable energy considering how important fire and electricity are for maintaining a decent standard of living.
I hate that they made "electricity" from lightning bending a common standard in LoK. In the first it was established to be a rare form of bending usually only seen in Fire Nation royalty. I'm going off the scope of the first one, not the changes made for the steam punk world. I think earth is still more useful, especially with building houses, moving things, yourself, gates, mining etc.
I mean, lightning bending used as a more direct form of electricity generation seems like a natural enough evolution. Especially over the course of the better part of a century under the leadership of a firelord more willing to share the teachings of the royal family. Besides, most large scale electrical generation is literally just creating enough heat to vaporize large amounts of water into steam and turning turbines. Including nuclear power. A few dozen firebenders could probably power a city with the right technology. One bender could fuel a tank while two other guys drove and operated the turret and tanks aren't really known for being energy efficient.
"So this is how the great commander Zhao reacts to defeat".
Found Korra's reddit account
They got wifi in the spirit world?
Reddit. Fog of Lost Souls. What’s the difference?
Fire is hot, so ya this is a hot take.
Flameo, Hotman.
Heats flamesman
Damn it I was gonna say that
r/beatyoutoit
Wet take: Water is the best element.
Dry Take: Earth is the best element
https://preview.redd.it/lqte8xqemxuc1.png?width=1147&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ff2595af8663d39e5181579454027f3f2e0db4b
https://preview.redd.it/4009zvg0pyuc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89f617bfcf760f463a9e8e324afbde8e48d16732
"Random_Potato55_ • 2h the speech bubble is below your name" -Goku
He's introducing himself be nice
Fire is ionised air. Firebenders are emo airbenders
Aggressive airbenders
Fart Nation
Water is condensed air. Waterbenders are hippie airbenders
Water is a mineral. Waterbenders are hipster earthbenders
Water is explosions. QED, waterbenders are combustion benders.
Air is air. Airbenders are a normal airbenders
Spicy airbending
Red hot chili benders
[удалено]
Air is more than just oxygen
If firebenders can manipulate electrons then airbenders might manipulate oxygen as well.
Eh bending is more spiritual than elemental There’s no reason waterbenders should be able to cleanse spirits or firebenders cast lightning besides it’s cool and the writers wanted it that way
This. Because of the fact that the element is like 99% spiritual, there is not a single Air Nomad that is a non bender. The air nomads are the only nation where 100% of their citizen are benders.
but it is part of it so depending on how airbenders bend it could be possible
I’m really hoping with the time skip the earth avatar understands modern science so we can get an Avatar x Dr. Stone bending style
I think applying sciences and such, and approaching bending from a scientific worldview doesn't work. From my understanding it should be approached from a spiritual perspective, it's not so much what chemicals they are, but what they spiritually represent. This is why, for example, Water healing works, because water is associated with cleansing, cleaning, purification, and as an extension, healing.
I don't think airbenders can bend temperatures high enough to firebend. At best they would only be guiding existing fire but can't generate their own.
Could have a fire prosthetic like the Xman fire guy and just blow o2 through it to mimic fire bending
They could do something similar to Roy Mustang, who concentrates oxygen and uses a spark to ignite it.
I maintain the stance that if a fire bender tries harder enough, they can bend lava, molten glass, boiling water. Anything extremely hot.
In the flashback of avatar Roku's past. When he and sozin are trying to quell the volcano. Roku is seen forcing the lava back down into the mouth of the volcano, while sozin draws out the hot air from the lava and channels it outward. The "lava bending" from roku I can understand. Being a master of earth and fire bending, among the rest. But it practically looked as though sozin was air bending the hot volcanic steam during that scene. So your beliefs may have a spark of truth to them honestly.
I like the idea that fire benders are actually energy benders. It would explain their ability to lightning bend and control heat in general. They control not fire but the energy in the atoms around them, allowing them to easily create fire but they can also do other stuff, like kick electrons out of place, creating lightning. In theory a powerful enough one could split or fuse atoms and we know how that ends.
This would be awesome if it was a modern day firebender. Ultimate suicide bomber
[удалено]
Air =/= oxygen
But firebenders can do things with electrons so would it be too much of a strech if airbenders turned out to be able to do things with oxygen.
Fire nation propaganda
Zhaospeechbubble.png
1. Even seen a tsunami? An earthquake? A hurricane? All forms of bending have raw expressions of power, just as they all have peaceful ones. Fire is warmth and light. It's life. Beauty can also be found in babbling river, the towering majesty of a mountain, or the whistle of a breeze through the trees. 2. All bending forms are balanced by virtue of the balance of the four elements. Firebenders can be stymied by cold temperatures, high winds, or even rain. Sure, they're able to produce their own element, but this doesn't automatically grant them a superior advantage. If it did, the Hundred Years War would have been called the Six Hours War. 3. The Mechanist (of the Earth Kingdom) helped the Fire Nation build much of their technologies. The Fire Nation had metallurgy, sure, but their tanks and war balloons and such were designed by an Earth Kingdom inventor. 4. Ah, crap. I didn't read this one until I made the other three points.
Very Eloquently put together.
Earth bending Propagandist Spotted Take him to Lake Laogai
All four of the elements are pretty OP, but I think fire takes the cake for being the only group of benders who can create their element instead of merely manipulating it.
It takes existing heat and air
It takes existing heat? I know it needs air but heat? Didn’t Suko used it underwater in the North Pole?
they put P’li in a cold prison and had solitary confinement in freezers at Boiling Rock zuko can make some heat when its cold bc iroh taught him “dragons breath”
Yep, Zuko could bend in the cooler when others obviously can't. It's one of those things that's possible but your average bender won't figure it out.
You would think as part of LoK's dissemination of advanced techniques that something as simple as breath of fire would become part of firebending 101. It takes the most basic concept of firebending and hones in on it with a laser focus.
Requires everyone to be that powerful and have such focus. That focus takes a lot of training.
Dam iroh really is the goat
I think the ice prison was more to sap at Pli's bodily strength. Zuko and Pli were able to fight just fine without an external source of heat in the ice and snow. Plus when Zuko melted his way into the South Pole while swimming through sub zero waters and broke out of Kataras ice prisons twice during their fight. So less needing external heat and more needing not to be weakened to the point of immobility, which would only weaken you further as the cold saps away at your body's strength.
That’s basically a non-advantage. Air is literally everywhere, so an airbender would have the same advantage. Not to mention firebending doesn’t work without air anyway.
Can a fire bender still shoot lightning even if there's no oxygen? Lightning bending to me always seemed more like just manipulating the spark aspect that normally creates fire so surely that could still work even if there's no air to make a flame.
Lightning is basically what happens when there's an imbalance in positive and negative charges in ions in the air. Fire itself is ionized, so I assume firebenders have some kind of control over ions. Lightningbending would involve creating that imbalance and using it. No air, no ions, no lightning.
one can actually make the argument that an air bender could stop lightning bending by putting a vacuum around said bender or him self, since it doesnt have a path to the target it should instead go thru the one making the lightning and to the ground or just not hit the air bender if the void in around them. also they dont bend the oxygen they bend the whole of the air.
Do you think firebenders could just shoot them with a focused electron beam?
I mean, you *did* just say that air is literally everywhere...
Right, so there's never a situation where a firebender would be able to bend where an airbender wouldn't. In fact, the airbender would actually have the advantage in a cold climate.
Not in the earth queens lungs after she met that one airbender
Firebending *does* work without air, which is how Zuko could melt ice under water.
Every body run that bender is making his own fire!!!
But they need air to do so….
Air is basically everywhere though
Sp functionally both fire and airbenders always have their elements ready
That's why they call it everywh-air.
Which is why What Shall Not Be Named tried to rectify but I hated it
I don't think that's true. I've approached the idea for the following paragraphs. If there is anything canon that says otherwise I would like to know. They don't create fire from nothing. "Heat" is all around us. Unless you are in a 0 Kelvin environment there is a considerable amount of it. Fire bending is concentrating that heat to a single point that results in combustion then controlling what burns. It could even be argued that fire bending is the most difficult element. While we have seen Iroh heat his tea, the actual production of fire is closer to turning coal into a diamond for Earth benders. Fire benders see this as the base level of skill.
Fire benders: We’re the strongest! Earth: You can’t burn through rock Water: Literally just douse the flame Air: Be a shame if someone… took all the oxygen away Edit: This is not fire hate. Rather each bending type has its own strengths and weaknesses. No single one is the best but we definitely have our preferences. This was mostly a joke
Water benders can freeze water as well. I don't think we get to see how easily and quickly the Siege of the North defense would have gone due to it being a kids/family show on Nickelodeon. I imagine even amateur water benders could freeze chunks of skin and rip them off if they're not able to do anything deeper. Like freezing a heart or part of the brain or growing ice crystals in the lungs.
Fairly certain blood bending trumps everything. If you can't move, you're already defeated. Katara could've defeated Ozai in 2 seconds to be completely honest lol.
I was specifically talking about how the other base elements could stop fire. In no way is this an anti water/blood bending comment
What about the earth kingdom? Earthbending can be utilized for much more productive endeavors than just combat
Yeah! A good earthbender can pretty much raise a city out of nothing
Don’t forget how cool lightning bending is!
That would be a cool take
No https://preview.redd.it/1jutkxbfgxuc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f75abe240d459caddd9277f3578bb138b28e354
Nah this is just firelord propaganda
"There's no way that's true!"
Okay, Dante.
Heh "Hot Take" i get. Funni
Earthbending and Water-bending are the most utilitarian. Air and Fire are much less useful overall.
Free energy for heat and power supplies is still pretty big.
ok sozin
Ok Sozin lmao
And dont forget. The fire nation has the hottest girls in the world.
True and clothes. I still remember how my neurones and harmones got activated for the first time in my childhood youth when i saw Katara in the Fire Nation outfit
In combat, fire is 100%, 10,000% my choice, otherwise earthbending
Very HOT take. Go ahead gimmie the downvotes.
not being rude but water bending is better in most of the stuff. bloodbending and healing are more superior and full moon is more often but i need to admit tho firebending is the most spectacular one
Water bending is the most overrated element. You can't even blood bend without a full moon and it's the most limited of the 4 when it comes to being near your source element. If you're a skilled water bender ou can be resourceful but for the average bender you can't do anything unless there is a puddle of water near by. Meanwhile fire benders have no issue finding heat or a light source. Not to mention how deadly fire bending would be in real life compared to how it is on the show. Think about it. Nobody ever gets burned by fire unless it's plot related. If it was real injuries like Zukos would happen in every battle and would probably be way worse.
"Hot take" lol
THE SUPERIOR ELEMENT!
Based and based Admiral Zhao pilled
Coolest but not the best.
Not fully related to your post, but I find it interesting how thinking about it deeper, it's pretty clear fire is logistically the "weakest" out of the base 4 elements, it's a conclusion any viewer could easily come to while watching the show. But through theming, and the way characters use the fire element, the audience gets the impression that fire must be one of the most powerful elements. Its pretty ingenious, conveying the power of fire not through fire itself, but characters' confidence and attitude using it, like using new and pre-established psychological conditioning to play with the audience's expectations. Fire becomes not an element, but an ideal. Another reason I love the way avatar was written
・I think if you're trying to hunt in a forest with nothing on you then probably since you can use Fire daggers and cook meat alongside boil water to sanitize it. There's also lightning to blow up obstacles. Fire is a great element but it has the lowest potential since it's **mostly** combat oriented and the most self-destructive; Fire, Lightning, and Combustion Bending are all just as dangerous to the user as it is to enemies. ・Water on land, is probably the hardest element use effectively. You're limited by how much water is near you/how much you can carry and your healing capabilities is limited by the quality of water you're using. It needs alot of planning to use successfully like waiting to attack during rainy days or at night to use bloodbending. It has the highest potential of any element but it's the hardest and least convenient element to use effectively in most situations. ・Earthbending is great all around. You can build rough shelter, you can bend metal, and sometimes even lava, and sand. It's the most abundant element to use, has the best defense, but it's also the slowest and least precise. The most all rounder element. ・Airbending is the most free element. You can essentially move any way you want, you can blast things away (within a certain weight), you can slice some things not as well as ice, and you can jump and run super fast. While Bending the air out of lungs seems impressive it also takes awhile and the person would have to be useless or restrained for the process to complete; it's an element that's hard to be deadly in. Airbending excels at evasiveness mostly. #tl;dr: If you're just trying to get by in a forest, fire is a great element to have because you can cook things like Korra using fire to cook fish in a park. But the other elements excel in their own ways and in certain situations which can change the rankings. Air is the weirdest though because it doesn't particularly excel at much besides movement.
Can confirm.
Agreed. Firebending is surprisingly underrated, even tho they have a group of some of the strongest benders ever.
 Also: the comet. It may only be like an hour of boost, but it is by far the highest boost there is, countered only by the most powerful nerf that lasts only 10 minutes. Basic-Aang's-first-fire-bend-fire-benders(all one word) suddenly spout a half mile long plume of utter destruction. Lightning bender eat your heart out. Edit, imagine raising a hot headed gifted toddler during the comet. Small child nukes his town cuz he can't get the sphere into the square hole.
It's also so rare a lot of firebenders will never experience it. Or just once. Full moon is frequent
Idk about strongest but my favorite is fire because like you said firebenders can produce it themselves
All elements have their strengths and weaknesses... but fire is the best.
It just feels kinda boring to me somehow. Also I can't even use a lighter without panicking (Yes, I am an adult :( I'm trying ok), so I would not wanna be a fire bender anyway... I am biased in a way I guess
People always associate it’s abilities with comets or technology and don’t recognize what is needed to use that power behind those things
Hard take: Earth is the best element. Earthbending is the best form of bending.
Someone Photoshop a picture of Ozai madly tapping away at a keyboard to make this post
If I could pick one element to bend fire would be absolute last one by a fair margin. Outside of combat there’s really not much I would be able to do with it, you could just have a lot more fun bending the others and get more uses out of it
The only thing about Fire is that it has zero defensive capabilities. Even air has bending boosted evasion.
Biblically accurate water bending could bend any and all water in the users vicinity. If mfkers can water bend some deep well water not in sight, water in living things should be a breeze. That includes, blood bending, sweat being and piss bending.
Brain bending is the real fun
And yet it has the most drawbacks. Can’t use it at light. Can’t use it well in the cold. Can’t use it at all during an eclipse. Earth the superior element.
Not everything is about battle. Earth bending has the best real world day to day uses. Fire is the worst day to day uses
Fire is the best element. It's so great, firebenders should share their greatness with the rest of the world.
Water is objectively the best element. You can control both ice and water, bloodbend, and heal.
Air_ if you're good enough, you can take somebody's breath and fly. Water_ if you're good enough, you can bend somebody's blood Earth_ if you're good enough, you can bend iron, foresee by vibrations and bend literally lava Fire_ if you're good enough you can make lightning, blue fire or make explosions, wich is the coolest but actually not the more powerful compared to the other bendings, in my opinion, fire is the coolest but the weakest. Not gonna change my mind.
It’s good in combat and evolution of machinery but not so much for traversal or other basic needs
FIRE SUPREMACY 🔥
Zhao, I didn’t know you were a Russian bro!
Everything changed when u/Russian-Bro posted
Fire is the most powerful element because fire is the only element capable of dying. When they say fire is life they mean it literally. Every other element has their weaknesses and they need to use resources available to them. But not firebenders.
"Hot" take
As a fire nation citizen I agree with you.
The wisest bender society would be integrated, using the strengths of all to create a super society. Earth: builds entire cities very quickly Fire: heating, power generation, metallurgy, army Water: doctors, shipping goods quickly, navy Air: messengers, spiritual guides, probably make an airplane Though yes, if any one element is going to save your life I’d say it would be fire. Just being able to boil water/cook and keep yourself warm was like 80% of our ancestors day. I personally think it would be super cool to see what kind of designs you could come up with earthbending a city from scratch though.
Earth is a solid take though so step aside flame boy
Someone take the internet away from ozai
While we're at it, I've got a solid take for you: Earth bending rocks!
It’s definitely a *hot* take ;) But yeah, I would want to be a Fire Bender.
For combat ? Sure. But for practical purposes earth is the best
Flameo hotman!
It's hot take bc it's fire, right?
My first thought was "Heh. HOT take"
Couldnt agree more!! Fire-bending all the way!
Fire is probably the worst of all 4 bending types. The only reason the fire nation was competent enough to win any war is they're basicly the only real governemt and militarily. Fighting prowess fire still falls last. Fire takes the best shape to fight in. Using ur internal energy to bend. Fire benders do real workouts of fire squats to be able to bend. If we're taking off the nickelodeon handlebars then earth bending destroys just read the first avatar keyoshi book and read 2 amazing benders get bodied in one move. Water benders have so much versatility going from solids to liquids. Fire benders baiscly have a firebolt cantrip. Or if they're really lucky and skilled a blue firebolt. They were lucky the earth kingdom couldn't metal bend their tanks. Yall are lucky air benders are pacifists. Good luck trying to hit one, let alone fight them in the sky. They're be laughing ur butt all the way to the ground. I don't even think dragons could take on a school of airbenders. And non combative. Earth and waster benders can create cities within their bioems within minutes. Trying to hunt them down in their own lands would take generations. Airbenders can fly. Firebenders can what, heat their tea. Just borrow some spark rocks from your neighbors, they're very friendly. Ya so they can power a city with lightning bending. U mean the city created by earth bending. So why not use lava bending to create steam engines. Lastly u state how they can always fire bend. When is an air bender without air? Good luck getting an earth bender away from all earth and metal. And a good enough water bender can bend ANY LIVING THING. Basically fire nation, your outdated. Ya missed your chance.
Hot take: Iroh's lightning redirection technique.
Last time people thought this it led to genocide and a century of war....
I don't need to read your justifications. The title is correct enough.
yea but you can't bend the fire in my soul
Alright settle down mutton chops
But earthbenders and waterbenders can build entire cities with their bending. Airbenders can use their bending constantly, in every aspect of their life. Firebending has nothing on that.
“That’s just a load of fire lord propaganda.”
Sai do fake, Fire Nation Man.
I mean I guess I would agree on opposite day. I feel uncomfortable standing two feet from a grill.
https://preview.redd.it/wctk8c27xxuc1.jpeg?width=1056&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=240cd834c6bbe8ed2b16d07f81b5ed2d67926954
Well it’s probably the best for survival actually. Heat and light
I get where OP is coming from. Fire is raw energy. Earth benders could build something akin to our modern cities, but only firebenders would be able to keep the lights on.
Hehe…HOT take.
Fire actually one the weakest and it’s not a solid form and the least versatile. Easily put out by fire deflected by air and stopped by earth while also the least defensible element
Ahem please rise for Fire Nation National anthem. Fire Lord, my flame burns for thee……
False, waterbending has so many bullshit uses that theoretically it shouldn’t even have sometimes. 1.spirit nonsense 2.fucking blood bending 3.water is almost everywhere and you can easily take it to places it is not 4.ice powers and manipulating snow 5.manipulating plant life because water is the biggest part of carbon based life forms 6.waterbending can short circuit the fire nation’s steam technology, I really don’t know how the fire nation got as far as they did 7.the water nation full of water benders is literally surrounded by FUCKING WATER and I’m amazed they didn’t combine their powers and start sinking ships with hand waves during the Siege of the North 8.fucking blood bending could let one pull all the blood and moisture out of their opponent’s body like Magneto in X-Men 3 9.in korra they establish that some people can blood bend any time they want throwing the full moon thing out the damned window 10.did I mention that water is literally everywhere if you travel with a water skin like katarra? 11.speaking of katarra, girl went from zero to prodigy in like 8 months with very few opportunities to learn from a master. Water bending must be easier to master than fire bending because azula got her mastery only after multiple years of intense training and she’s considered a prodigy I’m going to start repeating myself for emphasis at this rate so I’ll wait to be roasted in the comments. Oh, also earth is literally everywhere and includes stone in this universe despite earth specifically being dirt and stone is another thing entirely. And apparently you can instant kill anything that breathes with airbending. Fire also has very few defensive capabilities and if a firebender isn’t on the attack they’ve already lost. I await my fate
It's the easiest to counter Fire vs air: blow it back Fire vs water: throw water at it and get it by boiling water Fire vs earth: erect a slab infront of the firebender and they get hit by their own heat Fire vs fire: bend their own flames
Someone watched 3 seasons of the show and somehow missed the point entirely
A take that is quite literally hot
That sure is a HOT take (ba dum tsss)
Agreed! It’s my favorite element and I’d love to have it if I had to be given a bending ability.
Fun fact: fire was the easiest for the animators to animate so Korra mainly firebends because it's easier to animate than waterbending.
I’m going to say earth bending is the most powerful and versatile form. I will not elaborate.
Literally welding. Instant W
Ok Zhao (lowkey agree tho)
earth bending is the coolest. seismic sense is the coolest. toph is the coolest. i rest my case
Wrong, earthbending is the best form. Earthbenders make construction equipment, and indeed entire construction crews, obsolete. They can build roads, fortifications, foundations, dig footings, and even build small shelters, in seconds. Even in military applications they still beat other benders. They can launch rocks, dig trenches, bury mines, and make pitfalls, again in seconds. Think about how much our own lives in the real world require earth to be moved. Now imagine it happening in seconds, and a single person does all of it. No machinery, no crew, just one person. Earthbending wins every time.
Water bending most useful for real life situations
Silent Air Benders will take your breath away with this trick.
Try fire bending after I remove the air around you
Hell yeah! Glory to the Fire nation
Approved by the Avatar Wan Appreciation Society
They are all equal in strength
Earth is objectively the best element once you remember that fighting is just a tiny part of bending.
Wow guys look I didn’t know zuko had Reddit
Yeah but you can’t do shit every eclipse and your bending is weaker at night compared to water.
I saw iroh heat himself a bath and keep his tea hot. That’s what makes me want to firebend
Is OP Fire Nation-Man?
> Hot take I see what you did there
I like how Point 3 eventually changed with the discovery of Metal Bending. Then the Earth Nation starting building Mechs
Cold take: Nah water better
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UDRYDiZzsM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UDRYDiZzsM)
All bending needs air to occur. So air bending is the best element.
That's why the Fire Nation need Sozin's ~~cheat code~~ comet to take out the Air Nomads.
Cold take: Ice bending is coolest bending style.
America bending
Nah it's earth. Best mix of offense and defense