Kinda along these lines but most airbender survivors just would've chose not to have kids to avoid bringing them into such a dangerous world. Fire nation also could've had spies and assassins out for any airbenders which would deter them from having kids even more
Of course, you are leaving out the ones who are bold and might try and keep their bloodline and the element going. Air Nomads’ culture on the other hand, well…. a few might try and keep it going while in hiding.
@@Forgivefull Most people today aren't dealing with a cultural and ethnic genocide... and unless the world ends, you deciding to not have kids only for the works to potentially get better, means you ended your family's bloodline all because you didn't have the resolve to raise a kid the best you could in a rough spot. In their universe though, Air Benders would've had to deal with at least 100, if not more years of persecution and annihilation so, them not having Kids makes a lot more sense
@arjusarauis9901 Very true. Some Airbenders would've tried to keep up the culture, as well as their elemental practices and bloodlines, but overall, Fire Nation was very diligent in their Purge. Still, secret air nomad families that may have had a small handful of members left would've been interesting to see, like once the was over. But yeah, would've raised the question as to why they didn't start popping up when they hears Aang was alive so, probably best they didn't go down that route... Still would've been better than the Harmonic Convergence situation.
Even within the avatar series we see other examples of a certain awareness that spirits have in terms of what is going on in the physical world and the changes that they make to maintain some sort of balance. Aang was an airbending master and was trapped in the avatar state for 100 years. Literally airbending for 100 years straight and never having learned any other bending. The world had no avatar for all that time. To restore the balance, when Korra was born, she manifested earth, fire and water as a toddler but couldn’t air bend at all. That was Raava’s attempt at correcting what must have been wrong with the previous avatar. It makes sense that the “source” of airbending might pull back because it’s not safe to be an airbender. Also, the genetic aspect of it plays a factor as well. If you kill off the airbenders, there is no one around to spread their genetic potential. There must have been some people who were descended from airbenders who maybe hadn’t mastered it so didn’t have tattoos and could hide, provided they don’t airbend. So those few people went out in the world and had kids that still didn’t actualisé bending perhaps because the air spirit knew it wasn’t safe. Also, since airbending is so linked to spirituality, if you kill the airbenders, that would have a psychological effect on someone. If your religion isn’t safe, you may not practice…then the next generation doesn’t get taught because it’s not safe to be an air nomad. Taking all of that into account, it’s no surprise that Aang would give birth to the first airbender AND that Boomi would have to genetic potential to manifest airbending after harmonic convergence. The ultimate battle between good and evil had been won and balance was restored including the lack of airbenders. That’s why so many appeared in the earth kingdom. That is where survivors went. They wouldn’t have gone to the fire nation and if they went to the water tribe they got killed there too. The earth kingdom resisted so it is likely air. Omar’s were among the refugees, this starting families in the earth kingdom spreading their genetic potential.
Why would Ravaa attempt to block Korra's ability to Air Bend for "balance"? Cause Aang mastered it as a kid? That makes little sense to me, in my honest opinion
I always thought that the air benders in Korra were decadents of the air nomads. This theory fits into the ideas in the world. My question would be if there is an "air spirt" are there spirts for earth, fire, and water too?
The only thing I have to say against this theory would be the way the lion turtles are explained to have originally gifted humans with bending. But that retconned a lot of things we learned previously too, so maybe that's retconnable also. @@AntoineBandele
Tui and La were the ocean and moon spirits respectively. Both of whom are still alive, thanks to Yue. She didn't replace the moon spirit, she became a part of it permanently.@@samalexx5835
great theory but i would like to add that the 'Air Spirit' as you call it could have possibly supress the airbending in those born. since in Harmonic convergence normal people started gaining bending out of nowhere. i think that they were born in the airbender lineage only that there skills were dormant.
I agree in part. I believe there must be an air spirit. And that is intrinsic with the domination of the element. Just like Tui and La. When Tui was killed the benders lose their ability. In addition to the initial connection with the lion turtles, people received domination before the portals were closed. With them open, spiritual influence would be greater and old connections could be reborn, not just from thin air. But it's evident because there weren't many before. Therefore it is not a choice of the air spirit. But going further, I believe that every elemental spirit like Tui has a human counterpart to save himself in the destruction of his spirit. Not necessarily a bender, example Yue.
In Korra, it is CRAZY that non benders were complaining about being oppressed, but non benders and benders alike would snitch out Air benders during the 100 years war.
@lasagna1055 That's cool and all, but there would've been people still alive from back then who may have snitched. After all, the Cabbage corp. President was around since then. So, really, the older people at least, would've gotten a taste of what they once did themselves.
In my game I'm running with avatar legends one of my players is an Airbender and we are doing the aang era. I made it so that his family fled and hid among the earth kingdom completely severing their connection to anything air nomad related. They hid their bending, and didn't air bend. There were a few generations that didn't get Airbender until his character in a fire nation colony. He hid among the common folk until aang's era, and now he seems out sang for guidance and teaching.
That elephant fact is actually so cool. It makes sense too if all the elephants with tusks are killed the ones without tusks are more likely to be born and survive.
I feel like the souls of those who could bend are the “descendants” of all those who were left with the ability to bend during Won’s time. Remember, the Lion Turtles would give them the ability, but they would need to return it after coming back from the Spirit Wilds. What I’m saying is, yes it’s spiritual but also genetic (bending ability). Interesting theory. I still feel genetics is a major factor. However, air bending lay dormant in ppl up until Harmonic Convergence so it’s beyond genetics and is also spirituality/cosmic energy.
I feel like it would have less to do with danger and more about the potential airbenders being born into less spiritual communities. If they grow up in somewhere like the earth kingdom they would have a lot less spiritual awareness. Also it would greatly limit them to be in a place that is the opposite of airbender philosophy
I like this theory, the only thing is that tenzin was actually struggling communicating with the spirit. Non the less he was trying. I like it coz without devotion of something the bending(any of the elements) will be dormant coz it’s not being use or recognized. Therefore no air bender Arrive until the harmonic convergence
You know... Thinking about it, I always found the Air Nation genocide a strange event. I would believe you if you said not even Brian, Mike and the writing crew have it figured out. Like, you're gonna tell me ALL of the nomadic, world-dwelling airbenders were ALL home at the exact same time and ALL got killed (safe from Aang) and not a single renegade/refugee lived to tell the tale... [Come to think of it, maybe the Fire Nation isn't so stupid after all and they purposefully planned to sneak attack the Air Nomads during a national holiday...]
I have a theory that will have a bunch of questions and more theories behind it avatar and Korra is a documentary of 200 + years of lost human history IRL
A theoretical air spirit wouldn’t be needed for this, airbenders probably didn’t have kids with other air benders during the genocide as being in communities of airbenders would be dangerous at the time, so they likely bred with earth nation people mostly, and since the kids could be either earth air or non benders due to have parents of two nations, the amount of airbenders being born would decline, and as time goes on less and less airbenders would be born + since their community aspect is gone their spirituality may be disconnected thus making even less airbenders be born. And by the time we get to Atla the airbender genetics have just been diluted so much that no natural airbenders are born until Aang has kids with katara where they have a chance for an airbender baby since aang is fully air, and then harmonic convergence just awakens the diluted airbender genetics of non bender citizens of the earth kingdom and activates their dormant air bender genes, in order to restore balence to the elements
Tenzin fathered 3-4 airbenders with a non-bender, so I don't think this quite holds up. There would have been airbender survivors and those survivors would have been knocking boots with other people eventually. And yet... we hear next to nothing about airbenders during the 100-year world. To me, that means something spiritual is going on, especially when airbenders specifically are so tied to spirituality (almost to a fault).
Very interesting theory! I wonder if it’s less of a distinct, singular air spirit consciously controlling it, and rather more that the overall spirituality of the surviving Air Nomads and the world as a whole declined. The survivors who didn’t get lured most likely would have suppressed their abilities and also their heritage, abandoning much of their spirituality. If the loss of spirituality can weaken 1 airbender, then the near complete destruction of their culture could likely destroy the spiritual faith of the survivors. Their abilities would weaken, and their children would be less likely to be born benders. It’s also known that the 100 year war unbalanced the spirituality of the whole world, as shown with how the spirits were in Korra. If the spiritual alignment of the world was off, then there would be essentially less spirituality for new airbenders to be born into, explaining why reintroducing the spirits created new airbenders. This also ties into a theme I saw once on tumblr, that the world lost something when the airbenders died. That post talked about how the world lost fun, the first thing to die in a war, but it also lost its most spiritual culture, and as a result the overall spirituality of the worlds people declined. So, long comment short, I agree that there was a spiritual effect that prevented new airbenders, but I’m not sure it was a conscious air spirit deciding this but rather the loss of spirituality among the survivors and the whole world made it harder for new airbenders
My thoughts are that any potential "air spirit" would not deliberately be manipulating airbending manifestation. In my mind, it's automated. Baked into the hardware.
Something ive always wonder but ive never saw a theory on why haven't there been people able to bend more than one element. Yes, only the avatar can master all four but why cant there be people who can bend two or three elements? There seems to be some in-betweens like sand bending, Which looks like a cross between earth and air. Or lava bending, which looks like a cross between fire and earth and it acts like water. It would add quiet a bit of variety and act as a point of conflict/confusion when finding the next avatar.
Ultimate example of non benders being born to bending families is Sokka. Bro had tye BEST water bending master as a sister, and was NEVER able to bend any elements. This should mean tye opposite can be true. Benders born to non bending families. A prime example of this is Korra. Korra had parents that were not benders and she ended up being the next Avatar. So i think if air benders were around during the war, they HAD to live as non benders. Never showing their powers or heritage even in secret.
I was the 930th viewer, but thats not important. When I saw this I thought, "well, the Fire Nation basically did "Blitzkrieg" so good, they didn't have a chance to get more airbenders be born, because everybody would be, well, dead. Or it's just bad luck, if some airbenders DID escape, there wouldn't be a large enough of a population of airbenders in the same place to even have 1 kid."
Love your theory! I hope that the creators make that canon someday. I also don't buy that every airbender but Aang was killed, because after all they're nomads. And they aren't stupid at all: of course some of them would hide into Ba Sing Se, Omashu or even Agna Qel'a (Northern Water Tribe Capital).
Great video as usual! I have a video idea! How would Aang have handled Korra’s main villains? Who would’ve given him the biggest problems, the toughest fight etc. would Aang have come out on top as Korra did? Think it could be interesting analysing how Aang confronted these threats as his personality and tactics are so different to Korra’s.
This would fit in beautifully with the theory that Ty Lee is a descendant of Air nomads and Zeisan (Firelord Sozin sister ) yes she’s canon lol started practicing air nomad practices she probably also had a strong spiritual side like uncle Iroh would it be farfetch to think her descendants become air nomads or the firebenders ladies that helped to heal Korra when she lost her memory ? Maybe I’m thinking too deeply lol
Imagine if airbending didn't go extinct but rather ppl just didn't try cuz the art was essentially lost after a few generations for fear of being targeted. That's just me applying the most straightforward logic, not what I believe necessarily lol
If it’s all due to spirituality, this theory makes sense. Tenzin and his kids grew up with the air bending culture passed from their parents, so they had spirituality. New airbenders born during the 100 year war likely had little exposure to air bender culture. After the war, it’s unlikely that people with air bending genetics would suddenly be able to bend. A event like harmonic convergence could take all the non-bending airbenders and give them the ability to airbend, like Bumi. But if that were the case, it’s surprising that it wasn’t nonbenders of all nations getting the ability to bend.
That thing with the elephant and how you relate that to the air nomads is some next level research, also the way that you made it short but understandable is another point. Good job 👍 More power to your channel
Here’s a crazy theory… that just might work. The world of Avatar is linked to our world, the world we inhabit. But not in the way you think it is. The energy force that benders use have to come somewhere right. And energy cannot be crated or destroyed. Only redirected. So what’s the energy that allows bend to bend. Us. More specifically our souls. I’m this theory, after we die, our souls crossover to the world of Avatar and is used whenever we see someone bend an element. That, my friend, is how bending is possible. Now if this crazy theory sounds familiar, that’s cause it should. Because that ending to Fullmetal alchemist. This was just made for fun.
You're onto something...that is if the creators knew of this phenomenon. Thats not to say they couldn't incorporate this if their knowledge of what happened isnt fully fleshed out yet. Still i think its just lack of spirituality.
My own theory of this begins when you look at how bending existed before the Avatar, though it's not perfect. The Lion Turtles used to give and take the power of the elements when people went into the wilds, and ceased to give the elements after humanity left their protection. However, if the Lion Turtles stopped giving the elements, we don't have an explanation of how people continue to have bending after that. Since the Avatar has all four elements because Raava fused with Wan's spirit while holding them, I think it's possible this is an aspect on the spirituality factor of bending inheritance, the elements were still tied to their souls. If other people also reincarnate (for example, the unused concept of Momo being Gyatso's reincarnation), it could be that benders are more likely to be benders if they're reincarnations of people who were benders in their previous life. I don't put this as a definitive because the power and soul weren't bonded so strongly for everyone else like it was with Wan because they didn't stick their hands in spirit portals during Harmonic Convergence. And since souls finding each other in several lifetimes is a concept (Gyatso and Roku were friends, so when Aang was born, he was taken to the Southern Air Temple, where his friend was from), this could also explain why the elements generally stay within their own nations, they want to stay close to friends and family, sort of explaining why lineage has some effect on bending inheritance. This could be why Air Nomads, with the smallest population and high spirituality were all benders, while Earth Kingdom had the biggest population, but smallest percentage of benders. The overall number of benders would be around the same as they were when Lion Turtles last gave the elements, benders remain a minority compared to nonbenders. World population would have skyrocketed after the spirits left, specially Earth Kingdom considering its territory. When the Air Nomad genocide happened, there were no more "kindred souls" for past airbenders to reincarnate close to, or maybe did so without airbending because the non Air Nomads they reincarnated into weren't as spiritual. Aand was frozen for a century, and only got an airbender son with in his third child. The power of airbending would still have to exist somewhere, and I think that's how Harmonic Convergence figures in. With it happening and the portals remaining open, I think that had an effect on the world kinda like opening a person's chakras. Spiritual energy was able to flow and wash over everyone, so all the "suspended/unused" airbending was able to flow back into the world, regardless of previous "soul affinity".
What if there was something called paining? It can be something water benders can do. it’s basically the opposite of healing. It can be an used as a tool of torture and a rare advanced ability like blood bending
Piggybacking on your theory, here’s a lengthy mess. I'd speculate that just like the spirit of the moon and the ocean guiding and keeping the Water Tribes safe, the Air Nation would have at least one spiritual guide and one guardian as well. Even the Fire Nation was guided by the Sun and the Dragons for a period of time before they deviated from their guidance. If deviation from the guidance of these entities result to the need of finding another source of power, hence, leaving the bending proficiency to raw talent, natural-born affinity, and chance rather than profound understanding, skill, and spiritual connection, it's obvious that it must be the case for all bending nations, even the Airbenders to some extent. If Air Nomads were guided by wild bison herds for several millennia to learn Airbending just like the Water Tribes were guided by the Moon pushing and pulling the ocean, there must be an equivalent spirit for Airbending or as you called it, "Air Spirit". We already know that if Airbenders deviate from their spiritual oath, they will gradually lose touch of their bending. But how come they lose their bending prowess unlike other bending nations that only have to rely on finding another source of power (leaving the bending proficiency to talent, natural-born affinity, and chance) and can still bend despite deviating from guidance as I mentioned above? It could be because of the spiritual connection to this "Air Spirit". Unlike other bending nations, Airbenders are the most spiritually connected to their spirit guardian. If they lose this connection, their bending weakens, perhaps losing it entirely. Unless this Air Spirit has a physical form as some form of backup. Additionally, recall that nature in Avatarverse is guarded by spirits. Because the portals are closed for the majority of the avatar cycles after Wan, these spirits of nature have to rely on thin boundaries of the physical and spirit world, boosts of energy source during cosmic events (Moonlight, Daylight, Solstices, etc), and Spiritual Rank in order to cross between the two worlds. I included spiritual rank out of observation that, naturally, there are spiritual beings that rank much higher than others based on their spiritual power, strong enough that they wouldn’t need any cosmic events to influence their ability to cross between worlds (i.e Vaatu who was strong enough to break through the divide between two worlds for the first time, Raava who was able to stay in the Physical world through an avatar despite the portals being closed, Tui and La’s physical forms who were powerful enough to stay existing in Agna Qel’a despite the portals being closed by Avatar Wan, Wan Shi Tong who was powerful enough to have absolute control of when to take his library back to the Spirit World, The Sun Spirit, The Earth Spirit, etc.) The second rank of spirits are nature spirits strong enough to cross both worlds with raw spiritual power but cannot cross over if the nature they are guarding is destroyed unless during solstices when their spiritual powers are boosted. These spirits are connected to this body of nature as some kind of a house but not exactly a physical form unlike Tui and La or Raava. Their spiritual power is shared by this body of nature, therefore, damaging their power to cross worlds if nature is also damaged. (i.e The Painted Lady, Heibai, etc) Of course there are lower rank spirits as well that can only cross worlds through the help of cosmic events and if the portals are open. This lower rank includes spirits that can be influenced by those of higher spiritual power and cannot exactly possess a physical form if the portals are closed. They may be able to possess a physical form if the portals are open but only for a brief time without consequences. The lowest rank of spirits are those easily influenced by those of higher spiritual power and can occasionally develop the need to merge or devour other spirits in order to achieve spiritual power more than its original form. Being the lowest rank, these spirits are incapable of possessing a physical form even if the portals are open because they are just too weak. Compared to higher spiritual entities that can control when to manifest physical damage or to pass through physical materials, the lowest rank spirits do not have any control. They can, however, pass through physical materials with the spiritual boost from the opened portals.
[Air guide and guardian notes: Since there is none in the current canon that describes an equivalent spirit guardian for Airbenders, I figured I could just add one for now. Taking from Guru Laghima’s quote, I split the Air Spirit into two, Void and Wind. To become the wind means to enter the Void, to become free like the wind means to be free of attachments, so I chose the Void as some form of Spirit Guardian alongside Wind. If anyone’s wondering, air is static but wind is the motion of air, in simple terms. Air is the element in the atmosphere. Wind is air in motion during earth’s rotation. Air is the element being bent. Wind is air in motion during bending. If waterbenders are the most powerful at night and during full moon nights because the pull of the moon creates high tides and so they can bend large volumes of water or can bend for longer with minimal exhaustion, then Airbenders must have something as well. We know that wind is air in motion, then Airbenders must be stronger in the presence of moving air or strong winds like hurricanes, tornadoes and storms. If we wanna have some fun, recall that when Aang left the Southern Air Temple and Monk Gyatso found his letter, there was a raging storm outside. And if Firelord Sozin attacked around the same time the storm was raging, you can bet the fight must’ve been crazy against the Comet-boosted Firebenders, not even rain can quell nor the Airbenders at their strongest. Oh yeah, ironically, Guru Laghima preaches freedom from attachment yet the existence of air and wind is a product of Earth’s attachment and rotation around the sun under the equilibrium of life. And how hilarious it is that he preaches freedom from attachment yet detaching from airbending teachings weakens your bending. So, under the Void and Wind Spirit during the 100-year war, how come no airbenders were born? It is more like a by-product of hiding. Because the airbenders weren’t free like air nor could they detach from earthly tethers in hiding, they wouldn’t even be able to deeply understand airbending. To achieve absolute understanding and oneness with the wind (Strong connection to the Void Spirit), airbenders must not be bound by earthly tethers. However, in hiding, airbenders were likely unable to deter earthly tethers in favor of blending in, leaving their culture behind. This conformity to a different culture other than their nomadic roots then weakened their connection to the Void Spirit. As they hindered themselves in hiding by avoiding bending and unable to roam the earth as nomads, it weakened their bending because their spiritual connection to the Wind Spirit requires them to bend and be free and moving, not static. The Void and Wind Spirits didn’t necessarily avoid making more airbenders. It was almost an automatic and obvious outcome. An overall result would be the weakening of their spiritual connection and understanding of airbending that trickled down to the survivors who procreated in the Earth Kingdom for several decades with a dormant power that is disconnected and unusable. Only during the harmonic convergence was this spiritual connection restored after a boost of cosmic energy. Although those who refused to adhere to this restored spiritual connection would’ve likely lost their bending as well, the same way the survivors of the genocide lost theirs. Amazingly, air bison kept its bending perhaps solely on the primordial connection to the Wind Spirit and its natural affinity to airbending, much like Aang and Appa at the start of the show. They never lost airbending because they were never spiritually disconnected in the first place.]
I don't think this theory is that good. But to support your idea, maybe that would explain why it was harder for the next avatar to learn air bending too.
Kinda along these lines but most airbender survivors just would've chose not to have kids to avoid bringing them into such a dangerous world. Fire nation also could've had spies and assassins out for any airbenders which would deter them from having kids even more
Of course, you are leaving out the ones who are bold and might try and keep their bloodline and the element going. Air Nomads’ culture on the other hand, well…. a few might try and keep it going while in hiding.
Kinda wish most people had the same mindset instead of selfishly bringing kids in this world
@@Forgivefull
Most people today aren't dealing with a cultural and ethnic genocide... and unless the world ends, you deciding to not have kids only for the works to potentially get better, means you ended your family's bloodline all because you didn't have the resolve to raise a kid the best you could in a rough spot.
In their universe though, Air Benders would've had to deal with at least 100, if not more years of persecution and annihilation so, them not having Kids makes a lot more sense
For a sec I actually thought we were talkin bout Star Wars lol
@arjusarauis9901
Very true. Some Airbenders would've tried to keep up the culture, as well as their elemental practices and bloodlines, but overall, Fire Nation was very diligent in their Purge.
Still, secret air nomad families that may have had a small handful of members left would've been interesting to see, like once the was over. But yeah, would've raised the question as to why they didn't start popping up when they hears Aang was alive so, probably best they didn't go down that route...
Still would've been better than the Harmonic Convergence situation.
Even within the avatar series we see other examples of a certain awareness that spirits have in terms of what is going on in the physical world and the changes that they make to maintain some sort of balance. Aang was an airbending master and was trapped in the avatar state for 100 years. Literally airbending for 100 years straight and never having learned any other bending. The world had no avatar for all that time. To restore the balance, when Korra was born, she manifested earth, fire and water as a toddler but couldn’t air bend at all. That was Raava’s attempt at correcting what must have been wrong with the previous avatar. It makes sense that the “source” of airbending might pull back because it’s not safe to be an airbender. Also, the genetic aspect of it plays a factor as well. If you kill off the airbenders, there is no one around to spread their genetic potential. There must have been some people who were descended from airbenders who maybe hadn’t mastered it so didn’t have tattoos and could hide, provided they don’t airbend. So those few people went out in the world and had kids that still didn’t actualisé bending perhaps because the air spirit knew it wasn’t safe. Also, since airbending is so linked to spirituality, if you kill the airbenders, that would have a psychological effect on someone. If your religion isn’t safe, you may not practice…then the next generation doesn’t get taught because it’s not safe to be an air nomad. Taking all of that into account, it’s no surprise that Aang would give birth to the first airbender AND that Boomi would have to genetic potential to manifest airbending after harmonic convergence. The ultimate battle between good and evil had been won and balance was restored including the lack of airbenders. That’s why so many appeared in the earth kingdom. That is where survivors went. They wouldn’t have gone to the fire nation and if they went to the water tribe they got killed there too. The earth kingdom resisted so it is likely air. Omar’s were among the refugees, this starting families in the earth kingdom spreading their genetic potential.
Why would Ravaa attempt to block Korra's ability to Air Bend for "balance"? Cause Aang mastered it as a kid? That makes little sense to me, in my honest opinion
I always thought that the air benders in Korra were decadents of the air nomads. This theory fits into the ideas in the world.
My question would be if there is an "air spirt" are there spirts for earth, fire, and water too?
Probably not a dedicated "god-like" spirit with consciousness. Just more of an overarching ethereal force that's basically automated.
The only thing I have to say against this theory would be the way the lion turtles are explained to have originally gifted humans with bending. But that retconned a lot of things we learned previously too, so maybe that's retconnable also. @@AntoineBandele
@@JediMasterRevenantMADNESS I’m speaking to something similar. Something even more primordial than the Lion Turtles.
Tui and La were the ocean and moon spirits respectively. Both of whom are still alive, thanks to Yue. She didn't replace the moon spirit, she became a part of it permanently.@@samalexx5835
great theory but i would like to add that the 'Air Spirit' as you call it could have possibly supress the airbending in those born. since in Harmonic convergence normal people started gaining bending out of nowhere. i think that they were born in the airbender lineage only that there skills were dormant.
Correct. Those are my thoughts as well. That this guiding force was actively suppressing airbending.
I agree in part. I believe there must be an air spirit. And that is intrinsic with the domination of the element. Just like Tui and La. When Tui was killed the benders lose their ability.
In addition to the initial connection with the lion turtles, people received domination before the portals were closed. With them open, spiritual influence would be greater and old connections could be reborn, not just from thin air. But it's evident because there weren't many before.
Therefore it is not a choice of the air spirit. But going further, I believe that every elemental spirit like Tui has a human counterpart to save himself in the destruction of his spirit. Not necessarily a bender, example Yue.
Tui and La! That’s a much better analogy I should have used!
In Korra, it is CRAZY that non benders were complaining about being oppressed, but non benders and benders alike would snitch out Air benders during the 100 years war.
Because they were oppressed? The non benders at the time of korra had nothing to do with the actions of non benders of during the 100 year war
@lasagna1055 That's cool and all, but there would've been people still alive from back then who may have snitched. After all, the Cabbage corp. President was around since then. So, really, the older people at least, would've gotten a taste of what they once did themselves.
@@jesussaucedo8133there weren’t any airbenders around the time of Atla except aang, so no one that could’ve snitched is alive during Korras time
In my game I'm running with avatar legends one of my players is an Airbender and we are doing the aang era. I made it so that his family fled and hid among the earth kingdom completely severing their connection to anything air nomad related. They hid their bending, and didn't air bend. There were a few generations that didn't get Airbender until his character in a fire nation colony. He hid among the common folk until aang's era, and now he seems out sang for guidance and teaching.
Airbenders stopped being born because they were simply too pure to be born into a world like that 😭
😭
That elephant fact is actually so cool. It makes sense too if all the elephants with tusks are killed the ones without tusks are more likely to be born and survive.
Right!? Nature is crazy.
I feel like the souls of those who could bend are the “descendants” of all those who were left with the ability to bend during Won’s time. Remember, the Lion Turtles would give them the ability, but they would need to return it after coming back from the Spirit Wilds. What I’m saying is, yes it’s spiritual but also genetic (bending ability). Interesting theory. I still feel genetics is a major factor. However, air bending lay dormant in ppl up until Harmonic Convergence so it’s beyond genetics and is also spirituality/cosmic energy.
I feel like it would have less to do with danger and more about the potential airbenders being born into less spiritual communities. If they grow up in somewhere like the earth kingdom they would have a lot less spiritual awareness. Also it would greatly limit them to be in a place that is the opposite of airbender philosophy
Great possibility as well!
I think they lost the touch with spirituality and their culture so that's why they were non-benders
I like this theory, the only thing is that tenzin was actually struggling communicating with the spirit. Non the less he was trying. I like it coz without devotion of something the bending(any of the elements) will be dormant coz it’s not being use or recognized. Therefore no air bender Arrive until the harmonic convergence
This really makes sense, a God or spirit of the element protecting its students and or children. This is a little brilliant
And very spiritual, which, I feel, most of Avatar should lean on.
You know... Thinking about it, I always found the Air Nation genocide a strange event. I would believe you if you said not even Brian, Mike and the writing crew have it figured out.
Like, you're gonna tell me ALL of the nomadic, world-dwelling airbenders were ALL home at the exact same time and ALL got killed (safe from Aang) and not a single renegade/refugee lived to tell the tale...
[Come to think of it, maybe the Fire Nation isn't so stupid after all and they purposefully planned to sneak attack the Air Nomads during a national holiday...]
Yeah. There had to have been some holiday or something. Some pilgrimage that all Air Nomads adhere to, despite their differences.
I have a theory that will have a bunch of questions and more theories behind it avatar and Korra is a documentary of 200 + years of lost human history IRL
A theoretical air spirit wouldn’t be needed for this, airbenders probably didn’t have kids with other air benders during the genocide as being in communities of airbenders would be dangerous at the time, so they likely bred with earth nation people mostly, and since the kids could be either earth air or non benders due to have parents of two nations, the amount of airbenders being born would decline, and as time goes on less and less airbenders would be born + since their community aspect is gone their spirituality may be disconnected thus making even less airbenders be born. And by the time we get to Atla the airbender genetics have just been diluted so much that no natural airbenders are born until Aang has kids with katara where they have a chance for an airbender baby since aang is fully air, and then harmonic convergence just awakens the diluted airbender genetics of non bender citizens of the earth kingdom and activates their dormant air bender genes, in order to restore balence to the elements
Tenzin fathered 3-4 airbenders with a non-bender, so I don't think this quite holds up. There would have been airbender survivors and those survivors would have been knocking boots with other people eventually. And yet... we hear next to nothing about airbenders during the 100-year world. To me, that means something spiritual is going on, especially when airbenders specifically are so tied to spirituality (almost to a fault).
Will you do a video that will cover the legacy of yangchen novel
Eventually yes. Not a full review, since I didn’t even do that for Book 1, which I didn’t enjoy much. But I will cover the lore!
@@AntoineBandele thanks 👍 that will be ok
😊
Very interesting theory! I wonder if it’s less of a distinct, singular air spirit consciously controlling it, and rather more that the overall spirituality of the surviving Air Nomads and the world as a whole declined. The survivors who didn’t get lured most likely would have suppressed their abilities and also their heritage, abandoning much of their spirituality. If the loss of spirituality can weaken 1 airbender, then the near complete destruction of their culture could likely destroy the spiritual faith of the survivors. Their abilities would weaken, and their children would be less likely to be born benders.
It’s also known that the 100 year war unbalanced the spirituality of the whole world, as shown with how the spirits were in Korra. If the spiritual alignment of the world was off, then there would be essentially less spirituality for new airbenders to be born into, explaining why reintroducing the spirits created new airbenders.
This also ties into a theme I saw once on tumblr, that the world lost something when the airbenders died. That post talked about how the world lost fun, the first thing to die in a war, but it also lost its most spiritual culture, and as a result the overall spirituality of the worlds people declined.
So, long comment short, I agree that there was a spiritual effect that prevented new airbenders, but I’m not sure it was a conscious air spirit deciding this but rather the loss of spirituality among the survivors and the whole world made it harder for new airbenders
My thoughts are that any potential "air spirit" would not deliberately be manipulating airbending manifestation. In my mind, it's automated. Baked into the hardware.
@@AntoineBandele That’s pretty cool
Something ive always wonder but ive never saw a theory on why haven't there been people able to bend more than one element. Yes, only the avatar can master all four but why cant there be people who can bend two or three elements? There seems to be some in-betweens like sand bending, Which looks like a cross between earth and air. Or lava bending, which looks like a cross between fire and earth and it acts like water. It would add quiet a bit of variety and act as a point of conflict/confusion when finding the next avatar.
Same. Especially with the mixing going on in Republic City.
I believe you are on to something here.
Avatar the last airbender will forvever be a classic.....
Ultimate example of non benders being born to bending families is Sokka. Bro had tye BEST water bending master as a sister, and was NEVER able to bend any elements. This should mean tye opposite can be true. Benders born to non bending families. A prime example of this is Korra. Korra had parents that were not benders and she ended up being the next Avatar. So i think if air benders were around during the war, they HAD to live as non benders. Never showing their powers or heritage even in secret.
Korras dad was a waterbender
Korra's parents were benders.
I mean there were survivors but they were hunted and murdered by the fire nation
2:02
That’s a valid theory
wouldnt they be forced to fight to defend ba sing se like in korra
If the airbenders were public, yes.
Hi antione please where can l get the avatar comic book
Always check my sources in the description box 😉
I was the 930th viewer, but thats not important. When I saw this I thought, "well, the Fire Nation basically did "Blitzkrieg" so good, they didn't have a chance to get more airbenders be born, because everybody would be, well, dead. Or it's just bad luck, if some airbenders DID escape, there wouldn't be a large enough of a population of airbenders in the same place to even have 1 kid."
This would make sense if Tenzin didn't father 3-4 airbenders with a non-bender.
Even none of Avatar Roku children
has ability in airbend?
Because bending was originally martial arts and not a hereditary thing
No tin foil here.
I actually assumed the same theory.
Even though the series ended more than 10 years and still people are still talking about this
It’s still continuing. A lot of the information in this comes from the expanded lore 😊
Werent there like traps for the airbender survivors
2:00
So Bending epigenetics lmao
b
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Love your theory! I hope that the creators make that canon someday.
I also don't buy that every airbender but Aang was killed, because after all they're nomads. And they aren't stupid at all: of course some of them would hide into Ba Sing Se, Omashu or even Agna Qel'a (Northern Water Tribe Capital).
Have Malu "ghost witch of the mountain" a airbender "ronin". Maybe have others, but none of them survive 100 years.
Good theory! I never considered a lot of this.This was very well made!
Great video as usual! I have a video idea!
How would Aang have handled Korra’s main villains? Who would’ve given him the biggest problems, the toughest fight etc. would Aang have come out on top as Korra did?
Think it could be interesting analysing how Aang confronted these threats as his personality and tactics are so different to Korra’s.
Neat idea!
@@AntoineBandele Could also throw in how Korra would've handled Aang's villains.
@@bossgaming1717yes all if it!
@@bossgaming1717Korra and Azula would've definitely been a thing 😂 Rangi and Kyoshi 2.0
This would fit in beautifully with the theory that Ty Lee is a descendant of Air nomads and Zeisan (Firelord Sozin sister ) yes she’s canon lol started practicing air nomad practices she probably also had a strong spiritual side like uncle Iroh would it be farfetch to think her descendants become air nomads or the firebenders ladies that helped to heal Korra when she lost her memory ? Maybe I’m thinking too deeply lol
Funny you mention that. Ty Lee will be a topic of discussion for an upcoming video about airbenders.
@@AntoineBandele I’m hype 😮💨👏
Imagine if airbending didn't go extinct but rather ppl just didn't try cuz the art was essentially lost after a few generations for fear of being targeted. That's just me applying the most straightforward logic, not what I believe necessarily lol
If it’s all due to spirituality, this theory makes sense. Tenzin and his kids grew up with the air bending culture passed from their parents, so they had spirituality. New airbenders born during the 100 year war likely had little exposure to air bender culture. After the war, it’s unlikely that people with air bending genetics would suddenly be able to bend. A event like harmonic convergence could take all the non-bending airbenders and give them the ability to airbend, like Bumi. But if that were the case, it’s surprising that it wasn’t nonbenders of all nations getting the ability to bend.
Because of plot convenience, that's why.
That thing with the elephant and how you relate that to the air nomads is some next level research, also the way that you made it short but understandable is another point. Good job 👍 More power to your channel
Glad you enjoyed it!
Here’s a crazy theory… that just might work.
The world of Avatar is linked to our world, the world we inhabit. But not in the way you think it is. The energy force that benders use have to come somewhere right. And energy cannot be crated or destroyed. Only redirected. So what’s the energy that allows bend to bend. Us. More specifically our souls. I’m this theory, after we die, our souls crossover to the world of Avatar and is used whenever we see someone bend an element. That, my friend, is how bending is possible.
Now if this crazy theory sounds familiar, that’s cause it should. Because that ending to Fullmetal alchemist. This was just made for fun.
You're onto something...that is if the creators knew of this phenomenon. Thats not to say they couldn't incorporate this if their knowledge of what happened isnt fully fleshed out yet. Still i think its just lack of spirituality.
I smell Heresy
My own theory of this begins when you look at how bending existed before the Avatar, though it's not perfect. The Lion Turtles used to give and take the power of the elements when people went into the wilds, and ceased to give the elements after humanity left their protection. However, if the Lion Turtles stopped giving the elements, we don't have an explanation of how people continue to have bending after that. Since the Avatar has all four elements because Raava fused with Wan's spirit while holding them, I think it's possible this is an aspect on the spirituality factor of bending inheritance, the elements were still tied to their souls. If other people also reincarnate (for example, the unused concept of Momo being Gyatso's reincarnation), it could be that benders are more likely to be benders if they're reincarnations of people who were benders in their previous life. I don't put this as a definitive because the power and soul weren't bonded so strongly for everyone else like it was with Wan because they didn't stick their hands in spirit portals during Harmonic Convergence. And since souls finding each other in several lifetimes is a concept (Gyatso and Roku were friends, so when Aang was born, he was taken to the Southern Air Temple, where his friend was from), this could also explain why the elements generally stay within their own nations, they want to stay close to friends and family, sort of explaining why lineage has some effect on bending inheritance. This could be why Air Nomads, with the smallest population and high spirituality were all benders, while Earth Kingdom had the biggest population, but smallest percentage of benders. The overall number of benders would be around the same as they were when Lion Turtles last gave the elements, benders remain a minority compared to nonbenders. World population would have skyrocketed after the spirits left, specially Earth Kingdom considering its territory. When the Air Nomad genocide happened, there were no more "kindred souls" for past airbenders to reincarnate close to, or maybe did so without airbending because the non Air Nomads they reincarnated into weren't as spiritual. Aand was frozen for a century, and only got an airbender son with in his third child. The power of airbending would still have to exist somewhere, and I think that's how Harmonic Convergence figures in. With it happening and the portals remaining open, I think that had an effect on the world kinda like opening a person's chakras. Spiritual energy was able to flow and wash over everyone, so all the "suspended/unused" airbending was able to flow back into the world, regardless of previous "soul affinity".
tbh the real answer to your question is that because the title of the show doesn’t allow it.
Ofc 😊 but the fun of participating in the fandom is coming up with in-world reasons.
Fair enough
ELEPHANTS?!
🐘!
Could be a little bit of both honestly. But yeah, you kinda cookin' on this one.
"Everything changed" always triggers me to quote the avatar intro. I can't help it.
Completely fair 🤣
What if there was something called paining? It can be something water benders can do. it’s basically the opposite of healing. It can be an used as a tool of torture and a rare advanced ability like blood bending
“Paining” is basically “bloodbending”
It’s a good theory.
Piggybacking on your theory, here’s a lengthy mess.
I'd speculate that just like the spirit of the moon and the ocean guiding and keeping the Water Tribes safe, the Air Nation would have at least one spiritual guide and one guardian as well. Even the Fire Nation was guided by the Sun and the Dragons for a period of time before they deviated from their guidance. If deviation from the guidance of these entities result to the need of finding another source of power, hence, leaving the bending proficiency to raw talent, natural-born affinity, and chance rather than profound understanding, skill, and spiritual connection, it's obvious that it must be the case for all bending nations, even the Airbenders to some extent.
If Air Nomads were guided by wild bison herds for several millennia to learn Airbending just like the Water Tribes were guided by the Moon pushing and pulling the ocean, there must be an equivalent spirit for Airbending or as you called it, "Air Spirit". We already know that if Airbenders deviate from their spiritual oath, they will gradually lose touch of their bending. But how come they lose their bending prowess unlike other bending nations that only have to rely on finding another source of power (leaving the bending proficiency to talent, natural-born affinity, and chance) and can still bend despite deviating from guidance as I mentioned above?
It could be because of the spiritual connection to this "Air Spirit". Unlike other bending nations, Airbenders are the most spiritually connected to their spirit guardian. If they lose this connection, their bending weakens, perhaps losing it entirely. Unless this Air Spirit has a physical form as some form of backup. Additionally, recall that nature in Avatarverse is guarded by spirits. Because the portals are closed for the majority of the avatar cycles after Wan, these spirits of nature have to rely on thin boundaries of the physical and spirit world, boosts of energy source during cosmic events (Moonlight, Daylight, Solstices, etc), and Spiritual Rank in order to cross between the two worlds.
I included spiritual rank out of observation that, naturally, there are spiritual beings that rank much higher than others based on their spiritual power, strong enough that they wouldn’t need any cosmic events to influence their ability to cross between worlds (i.e Vaatu who was strong enough to break through the divide between two worlds for the first time, Raava who was able to stay in the Physical world through an avatar despite the portals being closed, Tui and La’s physical forms who were powerful enough to stay existing in Agna Qel’a despite the portals being closed by Avatar Wan, Wan Shi Tong who was powerful enough to have absolute control of when to take his library back to the Spirit World, The Sun Spirit, The Earth Spirit, etc.)
The second rank of spirits are nature spirits strong enough to cross both worlds with raw spiritual power but cannot cross over if the nature they are guarding is destroyed unless during solstices when their spiritual powers are boosted. These spirits are connected to this body of nature as some kind of a house but not exactly a physical form unlike Tui and La or Raava. Their spiritual power is shared by this body of nature, therefore, damaging their power to cross worlds if nature is also damaged. (i.e The Painted Lady, Heibai, etc)
Of course there are lower rank spirits as well that can only cross worlds through the help of cosmic events and if the portals are open. This lower rank includes spirits that can be influenced by those of higher spiritual power and cannot exactly possess a physical form if the portals are closed. They may be able to possess a physical form if the portals are open but only for a brief time without consequences.
The lowest rank of spirits are those easily influenced by those of higher spiritual power and can occasionally develop the need to merge or devour other spirits in order to achieve spiritual power more than its original form. Being the lowest rank, these spirits are incapable of possessing a physical form even if the portals are open because they are just too weak. Compared to higher spiritual entities that can control when to manifest physical damage or to pass through physical materials, the lowest rank spirits do not have any control. They can, however, pass through physical materials with the spiritual boost from the opened portals.
[Air guide and guardian notes: Since there is none in the current canon that describes an equivalent spirit guardian for Airbenders, I figured I could just add one for now. Taking from Guru Laghima’s quote, I split the Air Spirit into two, Void and Wind. To become the wind means to enter the Void, to become free like the wind means to be free of attachments, so I chose the Void as some form of Spirit Guardian alongside Wind. If anyone’s wondering, air is static but wind is the motion of air, in simple terms. Air is the element in the atmosphere. Wind is air in motion during earth’s rotation. Air is the element being bent. Wind is air in motion during bending. If waterbenders are the most powerful at night and during full moon nights because the pull of the moon creates high tides and so they can bend large volumes of water or can bend for longer with minimal exhaustion, then Airbenders must have something as well.
We know that wind is air in motion, then Airbenders must be stronger in the presence of moving air or strong winds like hurricanes, tornadoes and storms. If we wanna have some fun, recall that when Aang left the Southern Air Temple and Monk Gyatso found his letter, there was a raging storm outside. And if Firelord Sozin attacked around the same time the storm was raging, you can bet the fight must’ve been crazy against the Comet-boosted Firebenders, not even rain can quell nor the Airbenders at their strongest. Oh yeah, ironically, Guru Laghima preaches freedom from attachment yet the existence of air and wind is a product of Earth’s attachment and rotation around the sun under the equilibrium of life. And how hilarious it is that he preaches freedom from attachment yet detaching from airbending teachings weakens your bending. So, under the Void and Wind Spirit during the 100-year war, how come no airbenders were born?
It is more like a by-product of hiding. Because the airbenders weren’t free like air nor could they detach from earthly tethers in hiding, they wouldn’t even be able to deeply understand airbending. To achieve absolute understanding and oneness with the wind (Strong connection to the Void Spirit), airbenders must not be bound by earthly tethers. However, in hiding, airbenders were likely unable to deter earthly tethers in favor of blending in, leaving their culture behind. This conformity to a different culture other than their nomadic roots then weakened their connection to the Void Spirit. As they hindered themselves in hiding by avoiding bending and unable to roam the earth as nomads, it weakened their bending because their spiritual connection to the Wind Spirit requires them to bend and be free and moving, not static.
The Void and Wind Spirits didn’t necessarily avoid making more airbenders. It was almost an automatic and obvious outcome. An overall result would be the weakening of their spiritual connection and understanding of airbending that trickled down to the survivors who procreated in the Earth Kingdom for several decades with a dormant power that is disconnected and unusable. Only during the harmonic convergence was this spiritual connection restored after a boost of cosmic energy. Although those who refused to adhere to this restored spiritual connection would’ve likely lost their bending as well, the same way the survivors of the genocide lost theirs. Amazingly, air bison kept its bending perhaps solely on the primordial connection to the Wind Spirit and its natural affinity to airbending, much like Aang and Appa at the start of the show. They never lost airbending because they were never spiritually disconnected in the first place.]
lmao, i wrote a book.. 💀🤣
woahhhh im mind blown!!The creators need to see this@@everjei2
I think u are wrong I think for in air bender to be born both parent need to be air benders and Ang was the only one and he was trapped in ice
Many of the airbenders in LOK came from non-bending families.
I don't think this theory is that good. But to support your idea, maybe that would explain why it was harder for the next avatar to learn air bending too.