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    Benders

    Concept » Benders appears in 44 issues.

    Benders exist in the world of Avatar: The Legend of Aang (aka Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Avatar: The Legend of Korra. Benders can bend one specific element (Water, Earth, Fire or Air). The Avatar is able to bend all four elements as well as a fifth element.

    Short summary describing this concept.

    Benders last edited by Hyjurocket on 12/02/22 02:31AM View full history

    Firebending

    Iroh’s words of wisdom for the Fire Nation:

    ”Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.”
    Firebending
    Firebending

    The firebenders, hailing from the fire nation, are capable of controlling heat, and are capable of amazing feats of fire manipulation and creation. The first firebenders, the Sun Warriors, were able to discover their abilities by studying the world’s natural fire benders, the dragons. Firebenders have shown themselves capable of using fire from various parts of their bodies, including, the hand, feet, and mouth, but to a rarer extent. Firebending seems to require steady breathing, or else the bender can lose control of their fire. Firebenders have shown shown themselves capable of propelling in the air through use of fire, but in only small bursts, as demonstrated by Azula.

    During Sozin's Comet, firebenders are at their peak. Iroh, by himself, was capable of sending a giant ball of flame to burst a hole in Ba Sing Se's wall. Firebenders ( like Ozai) have themselves to be able to continuously float in the air and propel themselves by using fire coming from their feet. The fire formed by Sozin's comet has a significant reach compared to regular firebending.

    Firebender also have different colors for fires. Traditional fire is red/orange. One exception is Azula's, who's fire is blue ( although it was the traditional color when she was younger.) Her seems to be more concussive as it was capable of busting through a wall of earth created by Aang. Varying colors seem to mean varying strengths.

    The true nature of Firebending was hidden by fire lord Sozin when he began his war against the other nations. He instead began teaching all those under his control that the true power from the fire nation lay in their rage, and began making them angry at the other nations.

    Firebending is based on the martial artist’s style of Northern Shaolin, focusing on strong kicks and long ranged attacks. However, they are also very capable of fighting close range with swift punches and jabs. The true strength of a firebender, though, is in their amazing speed and precision, and prodigal firebenders have been shown to be able to escape from four other capable benders without damage to themselves.

    Lightningbending

    Lightningbending, also known as the Cold blooded fire, is one of the most deadly

    Lightning Bending
    Lightning Bending

    techniques available to a firebender. To bend lightning, a firebender must let go of all of their emotions, and then attempt to separate their good side from their bad side, their yin from their yang. However, due to the fact that the two are connected, they will eventually crash back together, and lightning is created. The Lightning is nearly impossible to survive, but this power is not at the mercy of the user. The user can only guide it out of them, and the lightning shall carve its own path through the air.

    However, it is possible to redirect lightning. The technique for doing so was created by the amazing firebender Iroh as he watched waterbenders. To due so, one must guide the energy that the lightning creates through your hand, down your arm, through your stomach, and then out your other hand, sending the lightning away from you. However, if it were to go through your heart, then it would cause too much damage, making it deadly to the user. This makes this technique impressively deadly, but a true master can do it without fear of harming themselves.

    Earthbending

    Iroh’s words of wisdom on the Earth Kingdom:

    ”Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong.”

    The Story of the earthbenders is the only story that has been explored in detail.

    Earthbending
    Earthbending

    The story is of two warring sides, and two people on each side who discovered one another and fell in love. The two, by observing the badgermoles, learned to earthbend and carved out long elaborate tunnels that connected their two sides, and would meet secretly in the caves.

    Earthbending is based off of the martial arts style of Hung Gar, though the character Toph Bei Fong’s style of earthbending is based off of Southern Praying Mantis style instead. It focus’s on having a strong, solid base that makes it almost impossible to move the earthbender when they are fighting. They are capable of moving unbelievable amounts of earth, making them unbelievably dangerous. Earthbenders have shown they can move through the ground as if it was air, and are more attuned to the air as well. Earthbenders can also bend mud ( since it's earth and water), and sand, but as shown by Toph, it isn't the easiest transition, although she becomes skillful enough in it to create a replica of Ba Sing Se, including some citizens.

    Metalbending

    Metalbending is a subsection of Earthbending that appears to have been created

    Discovering Metal bending
    Discovering Metal bending

    by the blind Earthbender Toph. Due to metal being a purified form of earth, Toph was able to discover the impurities in the metals by using vibrations. Then, by bending these small impurities, Toph was able to bend the metal, effectively becoming the first ever Metal Bender.

    The fact that it is possible to bend metal is of serious danger to those who attempt to imprison such a metalbender, as it used to be thought that imprisoning an earthbender was to keep them surrounded by something they could not bend, namely metal.

    Though Toph does appear to be the only character capable of metalbending, it is very possible that King Bumi can actually bend metal, since he was shown bending while in a metal cage. However, his only comment about bending with his face makes this very unlikely. Aang can possibly bend metal in the future, seeing as though he has the same seismic sense Toph has (from training with her) and knows that even metal has some Earth inside it.

    In the recent Avatar comics by Dark Horse, Toph has created an academy to teach young earthbenders the art of metalbending. She has been successful with 3 students via the help of Sokka.

    Airbending

    Iroh’s words of wisdom on the Air Nomads:

    ”The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns, and found peace and freedom. Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humor!"

    The Airbenders, who lived in a similar fashion as Buddhist Monks, first learned

    Airbending
    Airbending

    how to manipulate air currents by watching the Sky Bison, as well as the winged Lemurs. Eventually, they became Nomads, and lived in one of four temples spread at the four different directions.

    The Airbending style is based off of the martial arts style of Ba Gua, as well as Hsing Yi. An Airbender usually attempts to avoid al assaults sent their way, and will usually attempt to just wait for an opening in their opponent’s defense. The biggest advantage that they held in a fight was their inhuman speed, caused by their ability to manipulate the air around them. They were also able to summon great gusts, and some were even powerful enough to summon giant hurricanes. Airbenders had the capability to be some of the deadliest benders, due to the abundancy of air, their quick movements, and the capability of creating miniature tornadoes/twisters, funnels, slices of air capable of cutting rock etc. However, sue to their pacifistic nature, they don't do such things.

    Airbenders have a great variety of offensive and defensive techniques, such as creating shields of air, concussive blasts shaped like the bender's body, and so on. Passively, they can run on water (because they're so fast) run up walls, and create air cushions to slow themselves down as they're in the air, so they don't the ground hard.

    Unfortunately, the Air Nomads were all killed at the beginning of the war between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world. Only one of them actually survived the attack, The Avatar (Aang).

    Gliders

    Airbenders use hand gliders to fly/glide. They are able to do this by manipulating

    Gliding
    Gliding

    the air currents around their gliders allowing them to do this. The glider is a stick concealing a two fans sort of things, one big one up top, and a smaller one at the bottom. Traditionally, the Airbender holds onto one of the wooden bars used to hold out the fan, and put their feet on a small bar on the bottom.

    The Mechanist and Teo recently created a new glider for Aang. The gliders upper fan was smaller and it contained a bar up either end for Aang to hold onto. It also had a compartment used to store nuts.

    Waterbending

    Iroh’s words of wisdom on the Water Tribes:

    ”Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting too many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”

    For centuries, people have watched the tides caused by the slow push and pull of

    Waterbending
    Waterbending

    the moon. A few people decided to attempt the same feat, and began teaching themselves how to manipulate the water. According to Princess Yue: "Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves... Our strength comes from the Spirit of the Moon; our life comes from the Spirit of the Ocean. They work together to keep balance."

    The style of waterbending is based off of the ancient Asian style of Tai Chi. It encompasses fluid and skillful movements to control the water, and a true master may appear to be in a sort of dance as they fight. They are capable of summoning giant waves, as well as controlling hips of water.

    Healing

    By using the properties of water, waterbenders are able to manipulate the

    Healing
    Healing

    meridians to the point that they can heal multiple wounds, from cuts to burns. This healing has also been shown to help heal mental damage as well, and, with the help from spirit water, it has been shown to be able to bring someone back to life.

    The healing that is taken on by waterbenders was usually taught to the women, who were believed to be useless in a fight, until this practice was stopped by Katara.

    Bloodbending

    Bloodbending is perhaps the darkest aspect of waterbending. Bloodbending can only be performed on the night of the full moon, when a waterbender is at their peek strength. A waterbender uses their increased power to control the fluids within a person, and cause them to do whatever the waterbender wishes. This can only be resisted by another waterbender.

    The Avatar

    Energybending

    Energybending is the ability to bend life energy. It predates the main four bending

    Energybending
    Energybending

    arts, as well as the arrival of the Avatar and the formation of the Four Nations.

    Before the arrival of the Avatar into the world, and the separation of the four elements, people bent the energy within themselves. They discovered the other four bending arts, and over time knowledge of Energybending was almost completely lost. The last known keeper of the art was an ancient Lion Turtle , who later passed it down to Avatar Aang who used it to remove Ozai's firebending forever.

    The capabilities of Energybending are not well understood; what is known is that bending a person's life energy can impart them with knowledge instantly or remove one's bending completely. This bending art is dissimilar to the others because it is so perilous to the user, which is why so few have ever used it.

    Dangers

    Energybending is an extremely powerful and potentially dangerous technique. If the bender's spirit is even slightly weak (bendable), then they will be infected by the spirit of the one they are bending. As a result the bender can be corrupted and even killed.

    Don’t underestimate the avatar

    The Avatar is a special bender, with the ability to bend every element. It is an Avatar's duty to master each element, and keep peace throughout the world. After an Avatar dies he is reincarnated, circling the four nations, in the circle of water, earth, fire and air.

    • In the Avatar State, the Avatars' power is multiplied to an exponential length this usually occurs when the Avatar is in distress or when someone close to that individual is in duress.

    Aang has been shown to be able to take the form of a giant fish monster when he was in this state.

    Also when in this state, the Avatar is extremely vulnerable, which enables an enemy to attack and hurt the Avatar to near death extents.

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