The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Agent Richard07, Mar 23, 2012.

  1. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    Neither of Katara's parents were benders.
     
  2. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for the clarification. I remember a bit of that. Looks like he channeled chi from the fire chakra too, the solar plexus. Fire in the belly.
     
  3. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Fair point.
     
  4. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Maybe Amon IS Combustion Man...come to claim his revenge! He got his chi blocked by a boomerang, and now he wants to block everyone else's chi! He wears a mask because his face is deformed from when his forehead exploded.
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    It hasn't been specified, but it seems unlikely. Tonraq and Senna are both from the Southern Water Tribe, and as far as we know, Katara was the last surviving waterbender in the South, and only had one waterbender child, Kya. It's probable that there's been immigration from the Northern Water Tribe to help replenish the waterbender population, but in the 53 years between Sozin's Comet and Korra's birth, the bender population couldn't have grown that much.
     
  6. Takeru

    Takeru Space Police Commodore

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    Nope, they're both waterbenders, according to the family tree we got the pictures of Kya and Bumi from. :)
     
  7. OmahaStar

    OmahaStar Disrespectful of his betters Admiral

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    You mean Kia was wrong? lmao awesome.

    And why are people calling that one dude "combustible man?" His name is Sparky Sparky Boom Man! :guffaw:
     
  8. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Combustion Man. It is also his name.
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I see. Then I wonder if they're immigrants from the Northern Tribe, or the children of same. Although if Katara was the child of two nonbenders, I suppose they both could've been as well.

    Hm. If benders can be born from non-benders, then Amon's crusade to wipe out benders is probably doomed. Even if he exterminated them in one generation, more would still be born in the future.

    But then, it might be interesting to see a series set in a future where the Equalists had won and bending was believed extinct, with a next generation of benders having to keep their powers secret.
     
  10. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    I suppose it's possible bending ability can skip a generation or two, so once the fire nation stopped rounding them up as they manifested others were born who had grand parents or great-grandparents who were benders. After three generations or so and some north to south tribe immigration their numbers could have swelled. Indeed, I don't think either of Katara & Sokka's parents were benders, nor was their Gran-gran.

    On a slightly different topic; has it ever been established if there was such as thing as non-bender air nomads, or where they unique in the four nations by being an all bender culture?

    My money is still on him having something to do with Koh. Yeah, the evidence is tenuous, but name one other character with a connection to the spirit world, has a thing for masks *and* a motive for indirectly going after the Avatar.
     
  11. 1001001

    1001001 Serial Canon Violator Moderator

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    Wow.

    You guys are really knowledgable about this stuff.

    I was just going to comment on the fart bending...

    :lol:

    I definitely think the army general guy is related to the fire kid from the original series.
     
  12. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I think Amon is probably not using energybending as he claims. He is probably doing a variation of Tarrok's bloodbending, but manipulating the chakras in some ways to block the bending.
     
  13. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    There was a collection of comics called "The Lost Tales" in which one of the characters could "shadow bend" (manipulating shadows to act as physical constraints). Granted, it was mostly played as a quick gag, and we can argue over whether or not it's canon. Still, it's interesting to think what sort of bending capabilities that might imply.
     
  14. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I'm sure there were non-benders among the Air Nomads. We just never got a chance to see any because, ya know, all the Air Nomads are dead.

    At this point I'm getting a little disappointed by Amon's character development. I realize this was only intended to be a 12-episode story, but so far we've basically just had to take it on faith that Amon has this crazy anti-bending power. He says he got it from a spirit, but how and why? What's the point? What spirit wants to take away bending? I'm afraid that we'll get an explanation at the very end of the season and that it will sort of feel shoehorned in. We've had very little build up about Amon's motives.
     
  15. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    I'm pretty sure that it was stated somewhere that all of the Air Nomads were benders.


    Also, Koh the Face Stealer is a viable spirit.
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    But we know from Tahno (the leader of the cheating team that won the pro-bending championships) that after Amon took his bending, he'd been to the best healers in the city and they were all convinced the loss was permanent. I'd think that skilled healers in the Avatarverse could recognize a mere chakra block.

    Besides, I don't think there's any evidence that chakras are involved in physical bending. They only came into play where the spiritual side was concerned. Having his chakra blocked meant that Aang couldn't enter the Avatar state, but it didn't affect his ability to bend. The one thing that implies any connection between chakras and bending is the placement of Combustion Man's "third eye," and that may mean they're only involved in advanced techniques.


    That's a non-canonical story that was the result of a "design your own character" contest in Nickelodeon's magazine. There was also a character who could bend cookie dough.

    After all, a shadow isn't a thing; it's just a portion of a surface that's less brightly lit than adjacent portions. There's nothing there to bend. Sure, there could be such a thing as a lightbender, but I think they call those lenses.
     
  17. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I know Koh is a viable spirit. I was actually the first person to mention Koh in this thread back when Amon was introduced. I'm just saying that we haven't heard anything more about Amon'd past or where his powers came from since that episode. I wish we had been getting more information about him along the way.
     
  18. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    That's just what got me wondering though. Why would the fire nation wipe out all of non-bender air nomads? Genocide wasn't the point of the war, it was a means to an end (the end being to unite the world as one nation, ironically.) The only reason they went after them in the first place was specifically to take out the next Avatar. With the other nations they were happy to just imprison their benders, making the non-bender population that much easier to conquer.

    So if there were non-bender air nomads did any of them survive the air temple sieges? Does the presence of the air acolytes on air temple island mean that some did indeed escape and remained in hiding until after the war? it would certainly explain where all the sky bison came from.

    I know this hasn't been addressed in the show, I'm just wondering aloud.

    Like I said, 'Koh the Face Stealer' is the only one I can think of with anything close to a motive. Mind you, we've only been introduced to a small handful spirit characters, so it could be one we haven't heard of before.

    But yeah, it is a bit worrying that we've only two episodes left and still know next to nothing about Amon. Perhaps they decided to hold that stuff back for season two? It would be consistent with the whole "Book 2: Spirit" theory.
     
  19. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Well, with the Air Nomads, the next Avatar could have been ANYONE. Fire Lord Sozin did not want to take the risk that he would survive and challenge him, so it was just easier to wipe them all out.

    I suppose it's possible that there were non-benders that escaped. I almost wonder if the Air Nomads had other villages other than the Air Temples. Perhaps the Temples were just where the Air Benders went to study, and the rest of the Air Nomads lived in other places. They are nomads, after all. I'm sure some of them didn't stick around.
     
  20. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    Ah, okay. I wasn't aware it was just part of a contest.

    That's why it would be interesting to think about what capabilities it would imply. Essentially, the bender would be creating substance out of that which lacks substance (a reality-bending power).