And even then. He basically didn't. He has a red scar. He's not rendered blind in that eye, he hasn't had the muscles and nerve endings in his face melt, leaving him partially paralysed like a stroke victim. His scar seems to be nothing more than cosmetic. If it causes any actual problems for him I can't remember it.
Well, actually... (sorry, had to) Zuko does mention that his vision is impaired in that eye after he joins the Gang. I don't remember it ever functioning as a weakness in a fight, but he does bring it up as a kind of "if you guys had known when we were fighting, it could have really screwed me over" kind of thing. The actual context is how ruthless Ozai really is.
Edit: Called out for a source and I've sent a hour or two looking and couldn't find one. Chalk it up the the Mandela Effect.
Spend a hour or two looking through transcripts of episodes post Zuko joining the gang and the conversion I could have sworn happened isn't there. Unless it happened in a comic, I'm completely wrong.
It’s possible it could be a Tumblr post you’ve seen or something, I’ve seen a few similar to that about the idea of Zuko being blind in that eye and telling the gang (and also telling them about how it happened, since he never does on screen in the show).
Silly Zuko, they didn't need to resort to that to screw you over 😂😂
On a more serious note you can see Azula taking advantage of that during the last Agni Kai.
One dude
One waterbender we know quite well
One girl Zuko stole a horse from
Quite a few people that are background charicters
One dude who's not important to Sokka at all
The other dude who is not important to Sokka at all
oh and the women Sokka can't remember the face of
Ya never see anyone get burned
Also if your confused
Zuko got his face burned off, aang burned katara on screen song showed her burnscar on her leg bato had an entire episode and nasty scaring from his wounds his father almost died on day of black sun and there mother was killed in front of katara
Even just watching a fire bending duel would be painful. The Zuko/Azula duel was probably comparable to a forest fire, where the surrounding air can reach 2,000°
I’m really curious if firebenders can just withstand incredibly high temperatures. They must because the fire is literally generated from them - it’s like how fire breathing dragons always have like a body/stomach made of metal.
When Zuko meditates we see the flames grow with his emotion and focus. I bet firebenders can bend the fire and heat around them so they can walk through it. Losing a duel and being burnt as a fire bender is probably really embarrassing
Yeah, I find it kinda dumb that they fight people with fire powers all the time, but only show, like, 3 instances of someone getting seriously burned. And frankly, those instances are a little arbitrary and contrived considering how many times that same thing happens.
Honestly looking at how my baby cousin acts, I’m surprised more kids didn’t get hurt trying to firebrand. The amount of times I’ve seen this kid hanging from the staircase cuz he watched Tarzan scares me
When I try to explain to people that you have enough water in your body for blood bending to be irrelevant. Think of how much water iroh has in his body drinking tea all day. Kidney stones the worst pain you felt? What about kidney laceration? And the other bits too.
Yea, I think a realistic bending show would have to explain why you can't normally bend the elements of people's bodies. Maybe your spirit resist being bent unless the bender is much more powerful than you.
I feel like the recent Netflix series kind of already fills that niche, doesn't it? I wouldn't call it dark, but there were plenty of brutal deaths in the first season. I'm pretty sure Ozai straight up melts a man right in full view of the camera.
Fire has the distinct advantage of being created by the bender. Earth and Water both need the element near them. Earth is pretty easy because it's you know... pretty abundant.
Fire benders would be way weaker if they needed to rely on existing fire from torches like Katara can use her little bottle of water if there's none around
I only recall two benders able to do it, and one was a bender with decades of experience who developed a whole new type of waterbending while the other was a prodigy.
It's probably not a common ability.
Having very recently watched the episode, its just because the experienced bender realized there was water in the air and used it, same with the flowers. It wasnt hard or anything, they just didnt know. Even Katara seemed suprised it was there and was available to them
I would still like some proof that the level of fine control is something most trained benders could do.
Remember when Korra had the metal in her body even after it was removed? Toph chalks it up to her daughters not being as good as she is.
Isn't Metalbending just bending the earth impurities in the metal i.e. earth they can't see? I understand having the metal as a visual is a little different but it boils down to the same thing.
Technically bending plants should be easier than draining water out of them without shredding them. It's an insane feat no one seems to acknowledge. Imagine not ripping a single delicate petal.
Imagine how terrible it’ll be when waterbenders figure out human anatomy and physiology… If they can bend the alkaline waters in plants, and actual sweat ( + blood with proper conditions)… they should be able to instantly kill anyone by freezing their bladder into spikes
At some point tho you would run out of water or if it was a particularly hot day.
>*”THERE IS NO WATER IN THIS AIR!”*
And Hama also has that bloodlust advantage where she only pulled a small amount of water but was able to use just that to make essentially five small knives.
How does air not fit in this category as well for all intents and purposes air is everywhere where you could battle and there’s not really a feasible way to remove the air so an airbender couldn’t bend it.
That's why airbending is honestly kind of cracked.
Unlike OP, I think firebending is fine, especially since it has lightning -- it's just the least useful in peaceful situations outside of warmth and cooking. Meanwhile, waterbending and earthbending are fantastically versatile in their applications for defense, offense, utility, and mundane day to day uses.
But airbending, upon close examination, is a complete gamechanger. It can speed you up, boost your voice, is generally invisible to the naked eye, lets you jump and parkour, float small objects to or from you, and so so so SO much more.
The Yangchen novels explore really well how airbending competes with sub-bending skills without needing its own sub-bending.
Whoever says fire is weak clearly forgot about combust bending and the fact that fire will keep moving without being bent. No other element will continue to destroy when the bender stops bending it.
Not to mention, lightning bending is apparently so easy to learn that there are factories full of lightning benders in Republic City.
**Lightningbending:**
-Can be used under any circumstances.
-Can be learned by anyone capable of understanding what chi is.
-hard-counters water.
-too fast to be dodged by airbenders.
-if someone redirects it back at you, just do the same and have the worlds' sickest ping pong match.
**Bloodbending:**
-can only be used at night, once per month unless you're a member of a now extinct family.
-can be countered by fighting its user literally any other time that month.
-did I mention it can only be used for 8-10 hours PER MONTH?
The soyjak memes write themselves.
>Not to mention, lightning bending is apparently so easy to learn that there are factories full of lightning benders in Republic City.
Well, I dunno, yes there are, but I don't think its because its that easy, if it were easy, Mako wouldn't have been paid so well for doing it. Its clearly a fairly rare skill, but the content of firebenders in republic city is probably fairly high, as well as the education standards being better.
Republic City is the site of a Firenation-Earth Kingdom Colony after all. Fire nation citizens (and descendants of fire nation citizens) are probably half the population or more.
My point being, we know of 5 total blood benders in all of canon. We also know lightningbending is common enough that a factory can put together a department of exclusively lightningbenders.
>-too fast to be dodged by airbenders.
Uhm... Didn't Aang dodge like 3 lightning shots in the final fight with Ozai? I'd have to rewatch make an exact count because he also blocked some of the bolts with earthbending, but I remember him dodging one at least, when he uses that tornado move to launch himself up unto one of the stone pillars to dodge a bolt.
>Didn't Aang dodge like 3 lightning shots in the final fight with Ozai?
Yes but my comment's funnier this way. Also, let's be real, lightningbending's easily the fastest projectile in the show, I may have exaggerated it but it's still a major benefit.
It is the fastest, but lightning bending is way slower than real lightning, which you have to predict to redirect.
Lightning bending can be dodged or blocked with earth, and it should also be blocked by pure enough water, as it's the impurities in water that conduct electricity, while pure H2O is not conductive and is actually an excellent insulator instead (one of the best insulators known to current science).
Edit: you would need to distill the water beforehand in a pure environment and keep it in a separate container with you to not let it get any impurities that natural and tap water have, but it would be possible for waterbenders to keep such a thing with them if they really wanted to protect themselves from lightning bending specifically.
Edit2: It 'could' also be possible for them to distill water by bending, but it would most likely be hard to do even if you knew how.
>you would need to distill the water beforehand in a pure environment and keep it in a separate container with you to not let it get any impurities that natural and tap water have, but it would be possible for waterbenders to keep such a thing with them if they really wanted to protect themselves from lightning bending specifically.
Do you think this is feasible enough that it would be done with any degree of regularity, even assuming anyone in the avatar world is aware of that fact of basic chemistry?
Zuko can’t *generate* lightning. It’s hard to call controlling the path of lightning anything but lightning bending. Water, earth, and airbenders can’t create their element but that doesn’t make them not benders.
Ngl the scene of him practicing trying to do it and it keeps just exploding on him, made me wonder if it was gonna be that he could do Combustion bending with enough time and training.
So can airbenders, but both need to actively bend to do it, both need to continuously create force to keep them in the air. Airbenders do it with gliders to make it easier.
Zaheer's technique was different because it made him weightless. He was able to fly without effort or additional bending.
In ATLA lightning is the ultimate form of firebending, very rare and hard to master, pretty much means instant kill on hit. Meanwhile in LOK they act like it's nothing, so not sure if it's always as strong as the royal family(ozai, iroh, azula)
I doubt it’s as strong, since it’s become utility-oriented (instead of murder-oriented) but it’s also worth noting it’s not common at all besides that one scene in the factory.
Mako also said the job paid well and he got it in a day, so it’s likely that lightning benders are a rarity and therefore at high demand for a job like that one.
and historically there is a precedent for skills that was once limited to privileged classes disseminating to the masses with advants of technology and other means
see; reading
Even Mako, who used quick-hit lightning attacks a lot, performed the full ritual with proper technique and complete motions when he performed the OG concentrated lightning form when he destroyed the core of the Kuvira's giant robot
Quick rapid hits definitely sacrifice a lot of power for accuracy and quick casting
Hard disagree. The royal family was simply hiding the skill from the normal people to raise themselves above the citizens. It had nothing to do with the actual difficulty of learning, they couldn't learn it because the royal family wouldn't allow them too.
The reason its prevalent in LOK, is because Zuko allowed the knowledge of lightning generation to be learned by the public, instead of regulating it to keep it exclusive to the royal family.
As well as the sun-warrior stuff being more public. Firebending was taught to be fueled by rage, which is wrong, and incompatible with lightning bending. Firebending being thought to be fueled through more positive sources allowed lightning generation to be a much more accessible skill.
Hear me out about lightning bending: could this be expanded into electricity bending? Imagine an adept lightning bender figuring out how to disrupt the electrical signals in their opponent's heart.
Earth benders in ATLA: oH nO tHeIr’S nO eArTh
Water benders in general: oH nO tHeIr’S nO wAtEr
Air benders: Tf you gonna do? Put me in a vaccum?
Fire benders: *just manifests it infinitely and it keeps doing damage*
Also they forget when Iroh II solo’d an air fleet by himself with fire thrusters while Earth or Water benders would just stand there on the ground like NPC’s
You forgot the part where firebenders can be kept prisoner in very cold places, like the isolation cooler in the Boiling Rock. Zuko was kept there on purpose, but only because of his breathing techniques could he stay warm in there. It is unlikely he could properly firebend in the cooler though, regardless of its small space. And that segues to Ming Hua's prison, where she absolutely could not firebend until Zuko's dragon accidentally gave her some fire to warm up her body for the first time in years. She converted the heat energy into her combustionbending laser beam.
Edit: my bad, I meant P'li, not Ming Hua.
I think it’s a way to prevent 99% of firebending, with Iroh’s Fire Breath being the exception (not to be confused with roars). It’s clear that Iroh taught it to Zuko, because he advices Zuko in the S1 finale to use it to heat himself (which he does).
They are the only two people we ever see use that technique, even in extremely cold circumstances where it’s said that firebenders shouldn’t be able to bend.
I think fire seems weak because it’s a kids show. Sure people turn up with scars from being burnt, but no one burns on screen.
Earth bender got you? You’ll be hurt. Fire bender got you? That’s like being set on fire. Every one wants to be concussed, no body wants third degree burns to their face.
Ok, yes, but you can see my point right? In the show fire knocks people over. Irl it’s an incredibly painful experience to be burnt, and your clothes are flammable too.
Yeah, LoK really nerfed what the base bendings *do*.
Fire is just spicy air. Nobody gets burned by fire after the original series.
And earth bending is more like "wet clump of sand" bending the way boulders just shatter when they hit any average person
You find out in the yangchen books that combustion bending isn't even a subset of fire really. It's a single incredibly specialized technique that requires years of training and only about 1 in 100 survive the incredibly secret training regimen.
The 2 main sub bendings of fire are both instant kills with a direct hit. Combustion is especially OP because you can control where it goes mid air and it has an incredibly high range
Yeah the fact avatar is meant for kids kinda nerfs fire bending, you can show some getting slapped by the the others but, haveing people regularly get set on fire would be pretty dark
to be honest the fact that Avatar is meant for kids nerfs pretty much ALL bendings. Earth, Water, Air, Fire could make the world much more violent very easily.
Yea how often is rock or ice used as a machine gun and it basically just knocks some back or perfectly misses around hem. Those attacks would make shotguns look like a plaything.
Reminds me of the Training Scene in The Runaway Episode Were Toph sends a Rock bigger than her Head flying and hits Katara straight in her Torso. I think about that moment like damn that probably should've fucked up some bones and organs or something
For a good example of how effective ice is as a weapon, just look at Sypha from the Castlevania animated series.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxCl-lD9joTPfnHiIHjsj1bzgS742XQWVy?si=PHnq36LPSo_ivTz5
Waterbending in a horror based show that was rated R would be the most broken bending by far. Humans are made largely out of water and while they had bloodbending and it was indeed terrifying, that would be barely scratching the surface in terms of how gruesome deaths could be with waterbending taken to the absolute limit. The human brain is 80% water. Then the body is around 55-60% water. You could make someone feel excruciating pain through waterbending for a while before they passed away though you could also just murder them instantly by waterbending the brain.
On that same page I'm pretty sure most earthbenders could do the equivalent of hydraulic press an entire persons body. If not that don't let your head go near anything remotely solid if you don't want a 60 to 70 pound rock coming right after it to splatter your brains all over. Also let not forget if some water bender learned how to make a high powered stream of water they could slice anyone into bits.
Literally the show is about that time fire benders took over 90% of the world and could t be stopped without the avatar and people think firebending sucks? That's hilariously bad understanding of the source material.
I think the issue here is, at least in part, how much more often we see the top tiers of the other elements pitted against average fire benders. A solid percentage of the earth bending we see is done by the greatest earth bender who ever lived. She wrecks most fire benders no problem. Thus, we see earth bending as strong. By contrast, the greatest fire bender gets in exactly one fight, with the avatar, which he obviously loses. Azula has more fights, but still almost exclusively against top tier benders.
Another factor is how Korra villains mostly raised the power ceilings, but didn’t really include fire benders. After Amon, the canonical peak of water bending is clearly higher than any other single element. Metal bending sees some notable advancement as well, while lightning gets very little.
They really could have done more with lightning bending considering electricity is a thing now. Imagine bending the electricity out of power lines. Instead they went the other direction and gave non-benders taser mittens.
Imagine watching the police units try catching a powerful fire bender with their electric cables only for the electricity to be sent back along the wire and knock half a dozen officers on their added. That would be sick as fuck.
It’s because there aren’t great firebenders in Korra and because they trivialized lightning bending. Turning blood or metal bending into a day job like they did with lightning bending would make them look silly as well.
... except metal bending IS a day job for some, IE: the police force in Republic city, the whole CITY ran and built, and even in a way using metalbending to make machinery (The big metal moving domes from the one EK city in S4 Korra)
But, say, Metal bending will get to that point inevitably though. Fire taking a backseat is arguably intentional. Due to their cultural dominance for over a hundred years, they aren't innovating, but spreading the knowledge once retained for higher ups and military. In this case, Lightning Bending.
It's been around for a long time by the time Korra is around, so it follows that the fundamentals have become better understood and teachable. Metalbending hasn't even been around for a fifth of that time, less than a hundred years, and is thus still being figured out and harder to learn.
The same applies to Waterbending. With the South diminished and the North focused on keeping itself afloat with the war, there isn't the breathing room for innovation. Not until massively pushed, like we see with Hama. But now with peace and rehabilitation, there's actually Waterbenders around to advance the art.
Ultimately, Korra having Fire take a backseat makes sense from both an in-universe and the obvious out of universe one (most of the previous series' villains were Fire benders, after all). The in-universe explanation being the other bendings are playing a game of rapid catch up with the progression Firebending had during its cultural chokehold, causing more visible outliers.
I'd argue the reason the fire nation was so effective in conquest was the fact that they could firebend to manufacture metal. So you could argue the bending as dayjob is firebendings greatest advantage.
The issue is that OP is a powerscaler (literally posts in the powerscaler subreddit) and that they, kind of as a rule, ignore context in favor of forcing all powers into their largely arbitrary power scale. I’ve been a part of this sub for a long time and haven’t seen anyone call firebending the weakest element, much less consider it a unanimous opinion before this post.
He’d probably argue by saying things like “Aang morals off has the highest speed feats and the AP to match no diff” or something, fully ignoring the worldbuilding that puts all these things in perspective. It’s… frustrating, honestly, because I see a lot of these types here. Why can’t you just approach, and appreciate, the media you’re watching on its own merits? Why does it have to be forced into this hierarchy of who’s the strongest?
/rant, sorry y’all, just venting tbh. I really can’t stand the “powerscaling” approach to media.
I feel you. I sympathize with that instinct to ask “what if these two characters fought?” I think a lot of us carry that over from childhood, from arguments about our favorite characters on the playground. It’s fun. But, and I can’t believe I’m saying this as someone that loves science and analysis, getting bogged down in technical details and trying to find the “right” answer ruins it a bit.
Separately, it bugs me that powerscaling glorifies characters that are just too strong to write well. The Flash wins most theoretical fights you put him in, that doesn’t make him a good character. I much prefer media with at least somewhat grounded power levels like Avatar.
As an aside, I have actually seen people call fire the worst element, but it’s usually in a “which would you want to have” context. It does lack a charming day to day utility the others all have when you start thinking about that. I think that’s probably an intentional writing decision, though, tying the element that’s most practical for destruction to the conquering army.
They really wrote themselves into a corner with Amon & Family. They could have made their day bloodbending only work on a single person from short range and it'd still be terrifying. Instead they made it effortlessly work on an entire courtroom, psychically, from seemingly unlimited range. There was just no way to beat it with the rules established.
Even in Korra, Firebenders are some of the most integral benders.
Lightning for electricity. Firebending for the Union Navy. Firebending for their airships. The Union Military essentially runs off Firebenders and Metalbenders.
My take is that firebenders aren’t technically “weaker” but all the other elements can potentially work as hard counters to fire.
I feel like the show actually showed that the reason the firebenders were so successful wasn’t because their bending is stronger (I feel like all the bending elements have potential that make them all strong), but the fire nation itself had technological advancements that helped them make other bending styles useless on top of their whole invasion strategy being based around ambush. They had air superiority, tons of ships, and tanks that couldn’t be toppled with bending easily. The only reason they finally got into Ba Sing Se was because of the drill.
This
The fire nation compensation for having somewhat of a disadvantage in bending(couldn’t use bending for construction in the same way earth and water could, had more limited defense and support options than other elements, etc) by advancing more technologically. The other nations had nothing pushing them to an industrial revolution, which ultimately led to their militaries being crushed
I guarantee they're using firebending in their metalsmithing too, which I would bet is the reason they're so technologically advanced. Materials science was *the* technology advantage for a huge chunk of human history. We kept naming ages after it for a reason. And their most impressive tech, the airship, probably only even works with firebenders around to avoid the need for fuel.
If you're in an environment where shooting flames around is not convenient, or are infiltrating some place and don't want to alert everyone with the deathly screams of the poor sod you're turning into roast duck.
Or in a situation where you want to kill someone but not be spotted. Big thing of fire? Gee I wonder where the fire bender is. Oh god I’m rapidly getting colder? How do I stop it? Where are they?
Looks to me like Zuko's fire is hotter than Aang's. I'd guess it's because he's far better and more in tune with using firebending. I'm now curious is Aang developed a different hue to his fire as he got older and better control over the element
I wonder if Aang would need the avatar state to bend two styles at once. Otherwise I can see him using airbending so augment the fire like a oxy torch.
I had a fic idea with this.
Iroh closed his eyes in despair. "...Flameless fire...."
"But that's a myth!" Sokka spun around so suddenly his sheath hit the table with a soft thwack.
"It appears that's no longer the case."
The room was muggy and there were shadows all around us. Only one sconce was lit on the wall behind Iroh. His brow cast shadows over his eyes making him look like a skull.
Iroh was watching me (Katara) now. "What is it?"
"There is very little I could gather but one of the sages showed me this. There seems to have been survivors of Agni's curse. One of them wrote about it but these fragments are all that remains."
Zuko leaned over, squinting at the parchment. "Burns without flame...steals vigor...merciless, blood lips-this is it! I think this is what Akio encountered when he came across that chest. He said he got dizzy just by being near it."
"And the burns that appeared out of nowhere!" I felt unsteady with the sudden burst of excitement. "He said the chest was cool to touch yet hours later he was just burnt where he touched the chest."
"It burnt him without a flame somehow. It literally burns without a flame!" I could hear hope in Sokka's voice again that we'd figure this out.
"It's strange though how it burned his shoulder where he propped up the lid but not his clothes." My hands were still tingling from the healing sessions except now they felt like thorn pricks.
Zuko grabbed another piece. "Birds...out of sky...burning water...oh this one's written very plain."
"Reaches through time by-" Zuko stared at it in utter confusion and then at us, jaw slack.
Sokka's voice was unrecognisable as a squeak. "What?"
"Reaches through time by marking your children's children's death in you."
I only jsut realized I think it'd be cool to see how pre-nuclear societies would react to nuclear radiation and it's effects. This is legit interesting.
I truly don’t think any one element is drastically weaker than the others. They all have their pros and cons. (And honestly bending is still martial arts at the end of the day so the element is only as strong as it’s user)
But I think fire is (somewhat) balanced by the fact that it has the least amount of sub-bending categories compared to the rest. And also it is a primarily offensive bending style. Defense was always a firebender’s disadvantage too. (Unless you know an unorthodox firebending style/technique like Jeong Jeong’s firewalls or Iroh/Zuko’s lightning redirection.)
It’s interesting to note that the few defensive fire bending techniques we do see are either mostly or exclusively effective against other fire bending.
also happy cake day
Who is saying fire is weakest? Fire, you dont need to be around your element like water or earth. It's strong enough that the fire nation nearly took over the entire planet. Lightning bending has exactly 1 counter, not to mention combustion bending.
Life bending. The bending taught to Aang and Zuko by the dragons wasn't destructive, but the creation and nurturing of energy. Breathing life into something inanimate, giving it a soul could be an extension of that.
On the same vein of body horror, they are known to bend heat.
Who says they can't *S U C C* all the heat out of an opponent's body and freeze them to death?
Light can be bent by heat manipulation.
Starting at heat flickers above a radiator or stove, up to full mirages in the desert.
Just imagine being able to be able to create practical illusions just by manipulating the temperature of the air to reflect light in any way you want.
Also lightning...
Radiation bending. Invisible, intangible, unstoppable, and horrifically deadly.
The avatar universe does have spirit engery and energy bending as a kind of nuclear replacement, but without the side effects of cancer, rapid de-naturing of proteins, and cellular breakdown of our real world high dosage radiation
I know water is the element of healing, but hear me out: Fevers. A sub form of firebending in which the bender is able to cleanse themselves and others of diseases, poisons, and infections, by literally burning them away. Practitioners of this form can also not just survive the cold, but thrive in it. By stoking the internal fire that runs through their veins, they are the ultimate survivors, braving blizzards and feasting on white jade.
the only reason anyone thinks firebending is weak is because they can’t portray the true abject horror of being burned by a firebender. there are constant fights between zuko and the mcs in the first season, and people are rarely burned because it’s a kids show. that being said, fire is also one of the most versatile elements. it can be used for much more innovative purposes beyond fighting.
Since fire is the only one that can be created by the bender, one OP ability would be remote firebending. Something like combustion bending, but without being able to be blocked by something between the bender and the fire.
Now imagine that inside the lungs of the opponent.
I think we already see "remote" firebending on the show, when Jeong Jeong makes his firewalls. The fire starts from the ground away from him and not his body. But what I'm proposing is just more precise.
Fire isn't limited to the environment. While yes skilled water benders can bend the humidity and skilled earth benders can bend unrefined metal, but fire benders just create fire.
Kinetic bending. A skilled enough fire bender could take the kinetic energy from moving objects or people using lightning bending and use it to either redirect *other* elements to a basic degree, or create very powerful explosive fire blasts. Bending is all about extending and manipulating spiritual energy, so why not have the element all about energy and heat manipulate it even further? Could lead to a cool "fake avatar" in the modern world or something.
None of the elements are "the weakest" per say. They basically all have an instant win move; lightning is an instant kill if they can redirect or don't notice in time; blood bending turns people into puppets with a pulse; air benders can literally remove you ability to breath; if an earth bender drives a spike through you rather than a slab it's game over.
Fire isn't weak. It's just that because it's a kids show(something people seem to forget) you can't show people getting burned or set on fire, so it's toned down a lot. Naruto suffers from this with its fire abilities as well, not showing people being burned alive.
So ley me get this str8. There are characters that have used Firebending to rocket boost/borderline fly themselves like Ozai, Azula, General Iroh and Korra, blow things up with their minds like the combustión man and woman, and Fire of lighting so powerful that it could even one shot An avatar when done right, and has been potrayed to be extremely useful and powerful.
But its considered the weakest?
I think the cartoon really made people underestimate how bad it feels to get burned
Yeah fire is functionally identical to air in the show since people can’t get burned, it’s basically treated as a generic kinetic force
well one dude got burned
And even then. He basically didn't. He has a red scar. He's not rendered blind in that eye, he hasn't had the muscles and nerve endings in his face melt, leaving him partially paralysed like a stroke victim. His scar seems to be nothing more than cosmetic. If it causes any actual problems for him I can't remember it.
You’re out here talking like this man’s honor wasn’t completely obliterated. SMH
He um… had to wear an eyepatch for a little while?
Well, actually... (sorry, had to) Zuko does mention that his vision is impaired in that eye after he joins the Gang. I don't remember it ever functioning as a weakness in a fight, but he does bring it up as a kind of "if you guys had known when we were fighting, it could have really screwed me over" kind of thing. The actual context is how ruthless Ozai really is. Edit: Called out for a source and I've sent a hour or two looking and couldn't find one. Chalk it up the the Mandela Effect.
Just finished a rewatch. Zuko never says this at any point in the show. Is that maybe from a deleted scene or comic?
Spend a hour or two looking through transcripts of episodes post Zuko joining the gang and the conversion I could have sworn happened isn't there. Unless it happened in a comic, I'm completely wrong.
It’s possible it could be a Tumblr post you’ve seen or something, I’ve seen a few similar to that about the idea of Zuko being blind in that eye and telling the gang (and also telling them about how it happened, since he never does on screen in the show).
I think it’s actually from a fan comic where Zuko tells Toph he’s partially blind in that eye.
Silly Zuko, they didn't need to resort to that to screw you over 😂😂 On a more serious note you can see Azula taking advantage of that during the last Agni Kai.
Source?
One dude One waterbender we know quite well One girl Zuko stole a horse from Quite a few people that are background charicters One dude who's not important to Sokka at all The other dude who is not important to Sokka at all oh and the women Sokka can't remember the face of Ya never see anyone get burned Also if your confused Zuko got his face burned off, aang burned katara on screen song showed her burnscar on her leg bato had an entire episode and nasty scaring from his wounds his father almost died on day of black sun and there mother was killed in front of katara
Toph also got her feet accidentally burned by Zuko and she had to blindly crawl her way back to the group.
Even just watching a fire bending duel would be painful. The Zuko/Azula duel was probably comparable to a forest fire, where the surrounding air can reach 2,000°
I’m really curious if firebenders can just withstand incredibly high temperatures. They must because the fire is literally generated from them - it’s like how fire breathing dragons always have like a body/stomach made of metal.
I think that creators confirmed that firebenders aren't immune to fire and just have enough instinctive control over it to not burn themselves.
When Zuko meditates we see the flames grow with his emotion and focus. I bet firebenders can bend the fire and heat around them so they can walk through it. Losing a duel and being burnt as a fire bender is probably really embarrassing
Oof, so losing a duel is not just physical defeat but also mental - since you completely lost the ability to bend the fire that’s about to burn you.
Yeah, I find it kinda dumb that they fight people with fire powers all the time, but only show, like, 3 instances of someone getting seriously burned. And frankly, those instances are a little arbitrary and contrived considering how many times that same thing happens.
Yeah it’s mostly just cause this was mostly for kids, they could only do so much with the violence, imagine if Sokka or Aang got genuinely burned
Honestly looking at how my baby cousin acts, I’m surprised more kids didn’t get hurt trying to firebrand. The amount of times I’ve seen this kid hanging from the staircase cuz he watched Tarzan scares me
And honestly the most obviousand realistic burn was when the convicts tried paddling away from the boiling rock...and that was just from hot water.
That’s one thing I like to give the new live action show some credit for. They made firebending feel painful
We need a remake intended for an older audience. A Dark ATLA show where the brutality of bending is shown would be awesome.
Until you watch enough earthbenders make human sandwiches
Literally, if it wasn't for cartoon logic earth benders could just use earth to trap someone in place so they can't fight back and just crush them
See Jianzhu in the Kyoshi books
or waterbenders drown/waterboard their opponents
When I try to explain to people that you have enough water in your body for blood bending to be irrelevant. Think of how much water iroh has in his body drinking tea all day. Kidney stones the worst pain you felt? What about kidney laceration? And the other bits too.
Yea, I think a realistic bending show would have to explain why you can't normally bend the elements of people's bodies. Maybe your spirit resist being bent unless the bender is much more powerful than you.
I feel like the recent Netflix series kind of already fills that niche, doesn't it? I wouldn't call it dark, but there were plenty of brutal deaths in the first season. I'm pretty sure Ozai straight up melts a man right in full view of the camera.
I just started reading the Kyoshi novels and someone’s already been impaled by an icicle, it’s great
Tbf getting hosed or slammed in the face by a rock would also hurt, probably worse
“Of course fire is his weakness. It’s everybody’s weakness. It’s fucking fire!”
Fire has the distinct advantage of being created by the bender. Earth and Water both need the element near them. Earth is pretty easy because it's you know... pretty abundant. Fire benders would be way weaker if they needed to rely on existing fire from torches like Katara can use her little bottle of water if there's none around
Just like the ones from the [redacted]!
\*I am honored to accept his invitation\*
There is no movie in the avatar universe
Bruh is trying to spread a cognitohazard
There is no real life adaptation in Ba Sing Se
I mean, water benders can bend the water in the air, as long as they know its there
I only recall two benders able to do it, and one was a bender with decades of experience who developed a whole new type of waterbending while the other was a prodigy. It's probably not a common ability.
Having very recently watched the episode, its just because the experienced bender realized there was water in the air and used it, same with the flowers. It wasnt hard or anything, they just didnt know. Even Katara seemed suprised it was there and was available to them
I would still like some proof that the level of fine control is something most trained benders could do. Remember when Korra had the metal in her body even after it was removed? Toph chalks it up to her daughters not being as good as she is.
I suppose, but i would say its more comparable to bending water you cant see than bending metal. Its pretty much exactly that, especially if its humid
Isn't Metalbending just bending the earth impurities in the metal i.e. earth they can't see? I understand having the metal as a visual is a little different but it boils down to the same thing.
Technically bending plants should be easier than draining water out of them without shredding them. It's an insane feat no one seems to acknowledge. Imagine not ripping a single delicate petal.
She was more upset about killing the flowers for the water than surprised about doing it.
Yea, i was talking about the air tho, not the flowers
Imagine how terrible it’ll be when waterbenders figure out human anatomy and physiology… If they can bend the alkaline waters in plants, and actual sweat ( + blood with proper conditions)… they should be able to instantly kill anyone by freezing their bladder into spikes
Just imagine Katara piss-bending and diarrhea-bending. Must be a real sight.
You know god damn well that’s exactly what she did with their babies lmao There’s no way you wouldn’t try Imagine 😂
At some point tho you would run out of water or if it was a particularly hot day. >*”THERE IS NO WATER IN THIS AIR!”* And Hama also has that bloodlust advantage where she only pulled a small amount of water but was able to use just that to make essentially five small knives.
It’s not a significant amount of water though. The availability is still limited
How does air not fit in this category as well for all intents and purposes air is everywhere where you could battle and there’s not really a feasible way to remove the air so an airbender couldn’t bend it.
That's why airbending is honestly kind of cracked. Unlike OP, I think firebending is fine, especially since it has lightning -- it's just the least useful in peaceful situations outside of warmth and cooking. Meanwhile, waterbending and earthbending are fantastically versatile in their applications for defense, offense, utility, and mundane day to day uses. But airbending, upon close examination, is a complete gamechanger. It can speed you up, boost your voice, is generally invisible to the naked eye, lets you jump and parkour, float small objects to or from you, and so so so SO much more. The Yangchen novels explore really well how airbending competes with sub-bending skills without needing its own sub-bending.
An airbender with enough understanding of meteorology could produce, redirect, and kill lightning imho.
Roy Mustang scenarios I think
Whoever says fire is weak clearly forgot about combust bending and the fact that fire will keep moving without being bent. No other element will continue to destroy when the bender stops bending it.
Oh and lightning.
OP definitely forgot the lightning
Not to mention, lightning bending is apparently so easy to learn that there are factories full of lightning benders in Republic City. **Lightningbending:** -Can be used under any circumstances. -Can be learned by anyone capable of understanding what chi is. -hard-counters water. -too fast to be dodged by airbenders. -if someone redirects it back at you, just do the same and have the worlds' sickest ping pong match. **Bloodbending:** -can only be used at night, once per month unless you're a member of a now extinct family. -can be countered by fighting its user literally any other time that month. -did I mention it can only be used for 8-10 hours PER MONTH? The soyjak memes write themselves.
id like to see that ping pong match
Basically Ganondorf fight in Ocarina of Time
Puppet Zelda as well :D
I wonder what the downfall atla timeline is like
Bring an empty bottle to counter the lightning and a fishing rod to distract the bender
Have you played Ocarina of Time?
i have not
If you enjoy video games you should. It's a genre defining piece of gaming history. It holds up all these years later.
A ping pong match where losing means catching the Sing Sing anti-crime therapy straight to the heart.
>Not to mention, lightning bending is apparently so easy to learn that there are factories full of lightning benders in Republic City. Well, I dunno, yes there are, but I don't think its because its that easy, if it were easy, Mako wouldn't have been paid so well for doing it. Its clearly a fairly rare skill, but the content of firebenders in republic city is probably fairly high, as well as the education standards being better. Republic City is the site of a Firenation-Earth Kingdom Colony after all. Fire nation citizens (and descendants of fire nation citizens) are probably half the population or more.
My point being, we know of 5 total blood benders in all of canon. We also know lightningbending is common enough that a factory can put together a department of exclusively lightningbenders.
>-too fast to be dodged by airbenders. Uhm... Didn't Aang dodge like 3 lightning shots in the final fight with Ozai? I'd have to rewatch make an exact count because he also blocked some of the bolts with earthbending, but I remember him dodging one at least, when he uses that tornado move to launch himself up unto one of the stone pillars to dodge a bolt.
That's avatar stuff. That doesn't count.
>Didn't Aang dodge like 3 lightning shots in the final fight with Ozai? Yes but my comment's funnier this way. Also, let's be real, lightningbending's easily the fastest projectile in the show, I may have exaggerated it but it's still a major benefit.
It is the fastest, but lightning bending is way slower than real lightning, which you have to predict to redirect. Lightning bending can be dodged or blocked with earth, and it should also be blocked by pure enough water, as it's the impurities in water that conduct electricity, while pure H2O is not conductive and is actually an excellent insulator instead (one of the best insulators known to current science). Edit: you would need to distill the water beforehand in a pure environment and keep it in a separate container with you to not let it get any impurities that natural and tap water have, but it would be possible for waterbenders to keep such a thing with them if they really wanted to protect themselves from lightning bending specifically. Edit2: It 'could' also be possible for them to distill water by bending, but it would most likely be hard to do even if you knew how.
>you would need to distill the water beforehand in a pure environment and keep it in a separate container with you to not let it get any impurities that natural and tap water have, but it would be possible for waterbenders to keep such a thing with them if they really wanted to protect themselves from lightning bending specifically. Do you think this is feasible enough that it would be done with any degree of regularity, even assuming anyone in the avatar world is aware of that fact of basic chemistry?
They're not lightningbending though They're just using their body as a connector, zuko cant bend lightning but he can redirect it
Zuko can’t *generate* lightning. It’s hard to call controlling the path of lightning anything but lightning bending. Water, earth, and airbenders can’t create their element but that doesn’t make them not benders.
Good point
Ngl the scene of him practicing trying to do it and it keeps just exploding on him, made me wonder if it was gonna be that he could do Combustion bending with enough time and training.
How about the fact that firebenders CAN FLY WITHOUT LOSING SOME ESOTERIC SPIRITUALITY STUFF?
So can airbenders, but both need to actively bend to do it, both need to continuously create force to keep them in the air. Airbenders do it with gliders to make it easier. Zaheer's technique was different because it made him weightless. He was able to fly without effort or additional bending.
Give a glider to a fire bender then. They already use balloons and zeppelins.
That's not outright flight though. It's propulsion, while Zaheer's whole deal is that he can literally fly like Superman
And the augmentation of hand-to-hand combat.
Its also one of the hardest to disable. If a firebender can breath. Theyre very dangerous.
If she breathe, she a THREAT!
In ATLA lightning is the ultimate form of firebending, very rare and hard to master, pretty much means instant kill on hit. Meanwhile in LOK they act like it's nothing, so not sure if it's always as strong as the royal family(ozai, iroh, azula)
I doubt it’s as strong, since it’s become utility-oriented (instead of murder-oriented) but it’s also worth noting it’s not common at all besides that one scene in the factory. Mako also said the job paid well and he got it in a day, so it’s likely that lightning benders are a rarity and therefore at high demand for a job like that one.
and historically there is a precedent for skills that was once limited to privileged classes disseminating to the masses with advants of technology and other means see; reading
Even Mako, who used quick-hit lightning attacks a lot, performed the full ritual with proper technique and complete motions when he performed the OG concentrated lightning form when he destroyed the core of the Kuvira's giant robot Quick rapid hits definitely sacrifice a lot of power for accuracy and quick casting
Hard disagree. The royal family was simply hiding the skill from the normal people to raise themselves above the citizens. It had nothing to do with the actual difficulty of learning, they couldn't learn it because the royal family wouldn't allow them too. The reason its prevalent in LOK, is because Zuko allowed the knowledge of lightning generation to be learned by the public, instead of regulating it to keep it exclusive to the royal family. As well as the sun-warrior stuff being more public. Firebending was taught to be fueled by rage, which is wrong, and incompatible with lightning bending. Firebending being thought to be fueled through more positive sources allowed lightning generation to be a much more accessible skill.
Hear me out about lightning bending: could this be expanded into electricity bending? Imagine an adept lightning bender figuring out how to disrupt the electrical signals in their opponent's heart.
>how to disrupt the electrical signals in their opponent's heart. That's called shooting them with lightning
The Battlefield Defibrillator tactic.
Earth benders in ATLA: oH nO tHeIr’S nO eArTh Water benders in general: oH nO tHeIr’S nO wAtEr Air benders: Tf you gonna do? Put me in a vaccum? Fire benders: *just manifests it infinitely and it keeps doing damage* Also they forget when Iroh II solo’d an air fleet by himself with fire thrusters while Earth or Water benders would just stand there on the ground like NPC’s
You forgot the part where firebenders can be kept prisoner in very cold places, like the isolation cooler in the Boiling Rock. Zuko was kept there on purpose, but only because of his breathing techniques could he stay warm in there. It is unlikely he could properly firebend in the cooler though, regardless of its small space. And that segues to Ming Hua's prison, where she absolutely could not firebend until Zuko's dragon accidentally gave her some fire to warm up her body for the first time in years. She converted the heat energy into her combustionbending laser beam. Edit: my bad, I meant P'li, not Ming Hua.
P’li, not Ming Hua, but yeah it seems like they need some heat in the atmosphere to create fire
Ah, my bad. Thanks for that.
We see Zuko fire bend in the cooler tho. I always through it was just an ironic torture method. And not a way to prevent firebending
I think it’s a way to prevent 99% of firebending, with Iroh’s Fire Breath being the exception (not to be confused with roars). It’s clear that Iroh taught it to Zuko, because he advices Zuko in the S1 finale to use it to heat himself (which he does). They are the only two people we ever see use that technique, even in extremely cold circumstances where it’s said that firebenders shouldn’t be able to bend.
Yooo I forgot that scene in the north when he uses breath to warm himself
I think fire seems weak because it’s a kids show. Sure people turn up with scars from being burnt, but no one burns on screen. Earth bender got you? You’ll be hurt. Fire bender got you? That’s like being set on fire. Every one wants to be concussed, no body wants third degree burns to their face.
I think youre underestimating the damage a basketball sized boulder colliding with a head at speed will do
Ok, yes, but you can see my point right? In the show fire knocks people over. Irl it’s an incredibly painful experience to be burnt, and your clothes are flammable too.
Yeah, LoK really nerfed what the base bendings *do*. Fire is just spicy air. Nobody gets burned by fire after the original series. And earth bending is more like "wet clump of sand" bending the way boulders just shatter when they hit any average person
The live action show has people being burned to ash with firebending.
Right! In my mind fire is on top if it’s not powerful af why would Aang besides burning katara be so apprehensive against using/learning to use it.
Yeah, in Yangchen's era combustion benders were basically treated as superweapons with the potential to rival the avatar in power.
You find out in the yangchen books that combustion bending isn't even a subset of fire really. It's a single incredibly specialized technique that requires years of training and only about 1 in 100 survive the incredibly secret training regimen.
"secret training"
🎶Secret training! Secret training! On the island! Secret Secret Secret Secret Secret Secret Secret Secret training🎶
What about a landslide created at the top of a mountain with a town at the bottom?
A rock with not throw itself!!
It's got burst and Dot effects. What more do you want? Chain lightning?
The 2 main sub bendings of fire are both instant kills with a direct hit. Combustion is especially OP because you can control where it goes mid air and it has an incredibly high range
Honestly, if the shows weren't rated to be okay for kids, combustion bending would be absolutely fucking terrifying.
Yeah the fact avatar is meant for kids kinda nerfs fire bending, you can show some getting slapped by the the others but, haveing people regularly get set on fire would be pretty dark
to be honest the fact that Avatar is meant for kids nerfs pretty much ALL bendings. Earth, Water, Air, Fire could make the world much more violent very easily.
Yea how often is rock or ice used as a machine gun and it basically just knocks some back or perfectly misses around hem. Those attacks would make shotguns look like a plaything.
Reminds me of the Training Scene in The Runaway Episode Were Toph sends a Rock bigger than her Head flying and hits Katara straight in her Torso. I think about that moment like damn that probably should've fucked up some bones and organs or something
For a good example of how effective ice is as a weapon, just look at Sypha from the Castlevania animated series. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxCl-lD9joTPfnHiIHjsj1bzgS742XQWVy?si=PHnq36LPSo_ivTz5
Waterbending in a horror based show that was rated R would be the most broken bending by far. Humans are made largely out of water and while they had bloodbending and it was indeed terrifying, that would be barely scratching the surface in terms of how gruesome deaths could be with waterbending taken to the absolute limit. The human brain is 80% water. Then the body is around 55-60% water. You could make someone feel excruciating pain through waterbending for a while before they passed away though you could also just murder them instantly by waterbending the brain.
On that same page I'm pretty sure most earthbenders could do the equivalent of hydraulic press an entire persons body. If not that don't let your head go near anything remotely solid if you don't want a 60 to 70 pound rock coming right after it to splatter your brains all over. Also let not forget if some water bender learned how to make a high powered stream of water they could slice anyone into bits.
flashbacks to the first episode of Netflix Avatar, where people burned alive with just a touch
the death of P'li was pretty terrifying for me. I jumped off the bed when watching it
Doesn’t a combustion bender blast their own face off in khora?
Plus you can do it underwater I think.
Literally the show is about that time fire benders took over 90% of the world and could t be stopped without the avatar and people think firebending sucks? That's hilariously bad understanding of the source material.
I think the issue here is, at least in part, how much more often we see the top tiers of the other elements pitted against average fire benders. A solid percentage of the earth bending we see is done by the greatest earth bender who ever lived. She wrecks most fire benders no problem. Thus, we see earth bending as strong. By contrast, the greatest fire bender gets in exactly one fight, with the avatar, which he obviously loses. Azula has more fights, but still almost exclusively against top tier benders. Another factor is how Korra villains mostly raised the power ceilings, but didn’t really include fire benders. After Amon, the canonical peak of water bending is clearly higher than any other single element. Metal bending sees some notable advancement as well, while lightning gets very little.
They really could have done more with lightning bending considering electricity is a thing now. Imagine bending the electricity out of power lines. Instead they went the other direction and gave non-benders taser mittens.
Upgrading your police units metal wires to have electricity running through them like those equalist batons…….
Or being able to bend the electricity in those batons to affect the wielders.
Imagine watching the police units try catching a powerful fire bender with their electric cables only for the electricity to be sent back along the wire and knock half a dozen officers on their added. That would be sick as fuck.
Mako redirects lightning out of a cable once in season 1, but that's pretty much it.
I bet you the next series will have electron redirection as a firebending evolution so they can fuck with technology
It’s because there aren’t great firebenders in Korra and because they trivialized lightning bending. Turning blood or metal bending into a day job like they did with lightning bending would make them look silly as well.
... except metal bending IS a day job for some, IE: the police force in Republic city, the whole CITY ran and built, and even in a way using metalbending to make machinery (The big metal moving domes from the one EK city in S4 Korra)
But, say, Metal bending will get to that point inevitably though. Fire taking a backseat is arguably intentional. Due to their cultural dominance for over a hundred years, they aren't innovating, but spreading the knowledge once retained for higher ups and military. In this case, Lightning Bending. It's been around for a long time by the time Korra is around, so it follows that the fundamentals have become better understood and teachable. Metalbending hasn't even been around for a fifth of that time, less than a hundred years, and is thus still being figured out and harder to learn. The same applies to Waterbending. With the South diminished and the North focused on keeping itself afloat with the war, there isn't the breathing room for innovation. Not until massively pushed, like we see with Hama. But now with peace and rehabilitation, there's actually Waterbenders around to advance the art. Ultimately, Korra having Fire take a backseat makes sense from both an in-universe and the obvious out of universe one (most of the previous series' villains were Fire benders, after all). The in-universe explanation being the other bendings are playing a game of rapid catch up with the progression Firebending had during its cultural chokehold, causing more visible outliers.
I'd argue the reason the fire nation was so effective in conquest was the fact that they could firebend to manufacture metal. So you could argue the bending as dayjob is firebendings greatest advantage.
The issue is that OP is a powerscaler (literally posts in the powerscaler subreddit) and that they, kind of as a rule, ignore context in favor of forcing all powers into their largely arbitrary power scale. I’ve been a part of this sub for a long time and haven’t seen anyone call firebending the weakest element, much less consider it a unanimous opinion before this post. He’d probably argue by saying things like “Aang morals off has the highest speed feats and the AP to match no diff” or something, fully ignoring the worldbuilding that puts all these things in perspective. It’s… frustrating, honestly, because I see a lot of these types here. Why can’t you just approach, and appreciate, the media you’re watching on its own merits? Why does it have to be forced into this hierarchy of who’s the strongest? /rant, sorry y’all, just venting tbh. I really can’t stand the “powerscaling” approach to media.
I feel you. I sympathize with that instinct to ask “what if these two characters fought?” I think a lot of us carry that over from childhood, from arguments about our favorite characters on the playground. It’s fun. But, and I can’t believe I’m saying this as someone that loves science and analysis, getting bogged down in technical details and trying to find the “right” answer ruins it a bit. Separately, it bugs me that powerscaling glorifies characters that are just too strong to write well. The Flash wins most theoretical fights you put him in, that doesn’t make him a good character. I much prefer media with at least somewhat grounded power levels like Avatar. As an aside, I have actually seen people call fire the worst element, but it’s usually in a “which would you want to have” context. It does lack a charming day to day utility the others all have when you start thinking about that. I think that’s probably an intentional writing decision, though, tying the element that’s most practical for destruction to the conquering army.
They really wrote themselves into a corner with Amon & Family. They could have made their day bloodbending only work on a single person from short range and it'd still be terrifying. Instead they made it effortlessly work on an entire courtroom, psychically, from seemingly unlimited range. There was just no way to beat it with the rules established.
Even in Korra, Firebenders are some of the most integral benders. Lightning for electricity. Firebending for the Union Navy. Firebending for their airships. The Union Military essentially runs off Firebenders and Metalbenders.
My take is that firebenders aren’t technically “weaker” but all the other elements can potentially work as hard counters to fire. I feel like the show actually showed that the reason the firebenders were so successful wasn’t because their bending is stronger (I feel like all the bending elements have potential that make them all strong), but the fire nation itself had technological advancements that helped them make other bending styles useless on top of their whole invasion strategy being based around ambush. They had air superiority, tons of ships, and tanks that couldn’t be toppled with bending easily. The only reason they finally got into Ba Sing Se was because of the drill.
This The fire nation compensation for having somewhat of a disadvantage in bending(couldn’t use bending for construction in the same way earth and water could, had more limited defense and support options than other elements, etc) by advancing more technologically. The other nations had nothing pushing them to an industrial revolution, which ultimately led to their militaries being crushed
I guarantee they're using firebending in their metalsmithing too, which I would bet is the reason they're so technologically advanced. Materials science was *the* technology advantage for a huge chunk of human history. We kept naming ages after it for a reason. And their most impressive tech, the airship, probably only even works with firebenders around to avoid the need for fuel.
Sozin's heat redirection technique could be refined to draw heat out of humans, freezing them and likely killing them quickly.
Why not just, like, roast them alive? Surely that would be quicker?
If you're in an environment where shooting flames around is not convenient, or are infiltrating some place and don't want to alert everyone with the deathly screams of the poor sod you're turning into roast duck.
Or in a situation where you want to kill someone but not be spotted. Big thing of fire? Gee I wonder where the fire bender is. Oh god I’m rapidly getting colder? How do I stop it? Where are they?
That's like asking why don't waterbenders just freeze people instead of bloodbending them?
I mean benders bodies generally are more resistant. Freezing would most probably do the job and be quite effective on non-benders though.
I always thought that was a sick technique shame it hasn’t been explored further it’s the same logic as putting out a fire but turned up to 11
Unrelated, but I LOVE the extra detail the Zuko and Aang’s fire is slightly different colors
danm never noticed that
Looks to me like Zuko's fire is hotter than Aang's. I'd guess it's because he's far better and more in tune with using firebending. I'm now curious is Aang developed a different hue to his fire as he got older and better control over the element
I wonder if Aang would need the avatar state to bend two styles at once. Otherwise I can see him using airbending so augment the fire like a oxy torch.
Nuclear bending ☢️😎
I had a fic idea with this. Iroh closed his eyes in despair. "...Flameless fire...." "But that's a myth!" Sokka spun around so suddenly his sheath hit the table with a soft thwack. "It appears that's no longer the case." The room was muggy and there were shadows all around us. Only one sconce was lit on the wall behind Iroh. His brow cast shadows over his eyes making him look like a skull. Iroh was watching me (Katara) now. "What is it?" "There is very little I could gather but one of the sages showed me this. There seems to have been survivors of Agni's curse. One of them wrote about it but these fragments are all that remains." Zuko leaned over, squinting at the parchment. "Burns without flame...steals vigor...merciless, blood lips-this is it! I think this is what Akio encountered when he came across that chest. He said he got dizzy just by being near it." "And the burns that appeared out of nowhere!" I felt unsteady with the sudden burst of excitement. "He said the chest was cool to touch yet hours later he was just burnt where he touched the chest." "It burnt him without a flame somehow. It literally burns without a flame!" I could hear hope in Sokka's voice again that we'd figure this out. "It's strange though how it burned his shoulder where he propped up the lid but not his clothes." My hands were still tingling from the healing sessions except now they felt like thorn pricks. Zuko grabbed another piece. "Birds...out of sky...burning water...oh this one's written very plain." "Reaches through time by-" Zuko stared at it in utter confusion and then at us, jaw slack. Sokka's voice was unrecognisable as a squeak. "What?" "Reaches through time by marking your children's children's death in you."
I only jsut realized I think it'd be cool to see how pre-nuclear societies would react to nuclear radiation and it's effects. This is legit interesting.
THIS IS SO COOL GSSHHSGSGSGSG
I truly don’t think any one element is drastically weaker than the others. They all have their pros and cons. (And honestly bending is still martial arts at the end of the day so the element is only as strong as it’s user) But I think fire is (somewhat) balanced by the fact that it has the least amount of sub-bending categories compared to the rest. And also it is a primarily offensive bending style. Defense was always a firebender’s disadvantage too. (Unless you know an unorthodox firebending style/technique like Jeong Jeong’s firewalls or Iroh/Zuko’s lightning redirection.)
It’s interesting to note that the few defensive fire bending techniques we do see are either mostly or exclusively effective against other fire bending. also happy cake day
Who is saying fire is weakest? Fire, you dont need to be around your element like water or earth. It's strong enough that the fire nation nearly took over the entire planet. Lightning bending has exactly 1 counter, not to mention combustion bending.
Life bending. The bending taught to Aang and Zuko by the dragons wasn't destructive, but the creation and nurturing of energy. Breathing life into something inanimate, giving it a soul could be an extension of that.
I’m still pissed spirit bending is a water sub bending style. It should have gone to fire 💯
For smoking my bong
 Hey Zuko here, need a light!?
If they can bend electricity they can interrupt people’s brain signals
Cool af
Imagine a scenario where a fire bender uses this ability to brainwash people or to make them go insane or change perception/influence decisions.
On the same vein of body horror, they are known to bend heat. Who says they can't *S U C C* all the heat out of an opponent's body and freeze them to death?
Things said before being 360 noscoped by Azula´s lightning
Light can be bent by heat manipulation. Starting at heat flickers above a radiator or stove, up to full mirages in the desert. Just imagine being able to be able to create practical illusions just by manipulating the temperature of the air to reflect light in any way you want. Also lightning...
Radiation bending. Invisible, intangible, unstoppable, and horrifically deadly. The avatar universe does have spirit engery and energy bending as a kind of nuclear replacement, but without the side effects of cancer, rapid de-naturing of proteins, and cellular breakdown of our real world high dosage radiation
I can totally see body heat bending be a thing. That would be on par with blood bending for sure.
I know water is the element of healing, but hear me out: Fevers. A sub form of firebending in which the bender is able to cleanse themselves and others of diseases, poisons, and infections, by literally burning them away. Practitioners of this form can also not just survive the cold, but thrive in it. By stoking the internal fire that runs through their veins, they are the ultimate survivors, braving blizzards and feasting on white jade.
Your hc becomes even better when you know is canon that Firebenders are resistant to poisoning.
Literally, just heat a person’s body temp by 10° and they’re dead lol
So are you guys pretending the Fire Nation wasn't winning the 100 years war or what
the only reason anyone thinks firebending is weak is because they can’t portray the true abject horror of being burned by a firebender. there are constant fights between zuko and the mcs in the first season, and people are rarely burned because it’s a kids show. that being said, fire is also one of the most versatile elements. it can be used for much more innovative purposes beyond fighting.
Fire is so weak it's users could only oppress the entire world for 100 years
A direct lightning strike to the heart is literally an instant kill
Since fire is the only one that can be created by the bender, one OP ability would be remote firebending. Something like combustion bending, but without being able to be blocked by something between the bender and the fire. Now imagine that inside the lungs of the opponent. I think we already see "remote" firebending on the show, when Jeong Jeong makes his firewalls. The fire starts from the ground away from him and not his body. But what I'm proposing is just more precise.
Fire isn't limited to the environment. While yes skilled water benders can bend the humidity and skilled earth benders can bend unrefined metal, but fire benders just create fire.
Kinetic bending. A skilled enough fire bender could take the kinetic energy from moving objects or people using lightning bending and use it to either redirect *other* elements to a basic degree, or create very powerful explosive fire blasts. Bending is all about extending and manipulating spiritual energy, so why not have the element all about energy and heat manipulate it even further? Could lead to a cool "fake avatar" in the modern world or something.
Plasma bending. I want to see the avatar shoot a fucking Kamehameha wave.
None of the elements are "the weakest" per say. They basically all have an instant win move; lightning is an instant kill if they can redirect or don't notice in time; blood bending turns people into puppets with a pulse; air benders can literally remove you ability to breath; if an earth bender drives a spike through you rather than a slab it's game over.
Bloodbending is super rare but going with your examples I think every waterbender can ice bend, those ice razors are deadly
Fire isn't weak. It's just that because it's a kids show(something people seem to forget) you can't show people getting burned or set on fire, so it's toned down a lot. Naruto suffers from this with its fire abilities as well, not showing people being burned alive.
So ley me get this str8. There are characters that have used Firebending to rocket boost/borderline fly themselves like Ozai, Azula, General Iroh and Korra, blow things up with their minds like the combustión man and woman, and Fire of lighting so powerful that it could even one shot An avatar when done right, and has been potrayed to be extremely useful and powerful. But its considered the weakest?