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I'm very interested to hear your argument behind this. I'm under the impression that bender and non-bender alike are restricted by their own morality. I'm inclined to agree that air bending is the most powerful of each, however more along the lines of the diversity of actions able to be committed. ie. Sucking the air out of someone's lungs/expanding the air in their lungs, theoretically being able to cause enough friction between air molecules to create fire and move it from there, being able to lift water with air currents, etc. There's not alot an air-bender can't do. Even keeping an earth bender off the ground to neutralize him.

How exactly are air-benders amoral or immoral? And how does that make them more powerful than a non-air-bender with similar moral standings?

Fair warning: I'm getting most of the facts from memory, and I haven't watched the original series for quite a while.

My argument: An airbender that is not taught according to the traditional views of the Air Nomads would be significantly more powerful than every other elemental bender (except the Avatar).

First, I'll explain why the airbenders in the series cannot make full use of all that airbending has to offer.

From the information available in the series, it seemed that the Air Nomads all held a similar spiritual belief: specifically, that the airbender must not act violently by intent, unless acting in self-defense. We see in The Southern Air Temple (correct me if I'm wrong), the extent of a single airbending master's capabilities: the ability to decimate a sizable portion of a firebending army, backed by Sozin's Comet.

We also observe that:
The Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation are capable of innovation. The world, in the span of one Avatar-cycle, moved from what was essentially a high-fantasy setting to a Roaring Twenties-esque setting. Manipulation of lightning, once regarded as a difficult and grand art, is now used by the working class to provide energy for generators. Metalbending, once unknown, can now be used to take advantage of the specific properties of metals.

Hama, pushed to her limits, was able to discover bloodbending. I'd imagine that this particular ability remained a secret, so we cannot determine if an average waterbender needs the presence of a full moon to be able to bloodbend. Apart from this, we also see that water is naturally the most fluid bending form, in that it is not bound by specific techniques, but rather, has the most versatility.

Airbenders are an interesting case. We know from Aang that during his training, he was required to learn a set number of previously known techniques (thirty-six tiers, with an unknown number of specific moves for each tier). We also see, from numerous examples, that airbenders employ the use of weaponry into their bending (fans, glider-staves, a sword hilt with which to channel air through, etc.). Logically, these weapons would not increase bending abilities; I believe that they are used because of adherence to tradition. These facts lead me to believe that airbending is the most underdeveloped element.

Next, what air might be able to do:

While every other element has a special subcategory of bending (lightning generation/redirection for fire, bloodbending & other forms involving living organisms, especially healing for water, metalbending for earth), the subcategory of airbending is never shown. I would like to believe that this is because the logical subcategory of airbending would be vacuumbending (or pressurebending).

Naturally, this particular concept would not be embraced by the Air Nomads. I am unsure of what the element of air signifies in Eastern philosophies (as I know the five Chinese classical elements to be water, fire, earth, wood, and metal), but the Western concept correlates strongly with the Magic colour blue. Rather than emphasizing balance, pressurebending would make use of imbalance. Air would not be viewed as a whole, but rather, would be seen as a collection of gases, each with different properties that can be exploited.

Fun things to do with non-traditional airbending:
-cause asphyxiation (of course)
-cause an individual's lungs to explode
-introduce air bubbles into the bloodstream, to induce decompression sickness
-extinguish fires and/or prevent firebending by manipulating inert gases
-make use of pressure differences to change the state of water at will
-briefly create a vacuum inside an object, and watch it crumble under pressure
-as mentioned, keep earthbenders away from their element
-et cetera ad nauseam

So to make it simpler, I would pose this question:

In a fanfiction set in an alternate universe, (where airbenders were taught from birth with an alternate bending form) if the alternate airbending nation replaced the Fire Nation in an attempt to conquer the world, who would be able to stop them?

I skipped through most of that, but to answer the last question, it would be defined by which bender can affect their own element the farthest. If Water bending has twice the range of Air bending, they could easily make all opponents drop dead.

The second factor would be whether Air benders would be able to set aside their humanity to do such things, and would they be powerful enough to bend air within someone, or to restrict air and oxygen all around of a person. Fire benders had the drive and desire to cause such mayhem. Air benders do not.

It would also be reasonable to presume that bending so precisely and thoroughly, not to mention within or around an organism, would require immense focus, power, and training. Air benders would be completely engrossed on their target and powerless to any other nearby opponent. Their hold wouldn't be in effect for so long; Katara could not blood bend endlessly.

I was also going to make this thread but my computer died :c thanks for making it Xi. You've said a lot of very interesting points that I haven't considered in ATLA and are very knowledgeable.

Water boils at lower temperatures at higher altitudes (lower atmospheric pressure). An army of airbenders could easily accomplish this on a large enough scale.



The assumption is that the airbenders in this scenario are taught using a more scientific view, rather than a spiritual view of air.


Gyatso managed to defeat a roomful of firebenders at the height of their power. I was under the impression that he bent all of the air out, and sealed the room. This was done by one airbender. Imagine one hundred.

That was a rare occasion. Master Gyatso was like is said, a master. Not all could achieve that power, many more must be flat out weak at airbending, until being masters themselves.

That was also a unique situation, where all the firebenders would rush into the rooms of the Air Temples to massacre the people. This was Gyatso's trap, in which he sealed the room probably by the use of a built in contraption. If they were to conquer the rest of the world, especially the water tribes and the large open earth kingdoms, they wouldn't be in concealed rooms. They would also only manage to defeat there enemies by killing themselves. Doesn't work out to well in the invader's point of view.

Oh and lastly, firebenders can't bend fire without air. In a sealed off room at the top of the mountain while the Grandmaster Airbender was limiting the oxygen, it wouldn't matter how powerful they are.

Like Vrad says, only the most adept are able to command air in such a devastating fashion.

I admit that this is a problem, as we do not know what an "average" airbender is capable of. I do know, however, that unlike the other three territories, every single person born into the Air Nomads are benders. The tattoos that are unique to native airbenders are given when one becomes an airbending master. So, proportionally, there is a larger percentage of masters among airbenders than every other type of bender.

We also know that bending is influenced by the ideology of the bender. A firebender fueled by anger and passion produces fire which is more powerful, but also more difficult to control. Airbenders that are taught in a scientific worldview, would likely produce a form of airbending which is more precise, and would thus allow for such actions as bending a vacuum to become second nature. (I'd also like to point out that depriving someone of air is not the only way to kill them. I mentioned it because it completely disables firebending. Your point was that a single airbender could not easily deal with multiple opponents, and you'd be right, if only the traditional form of airbending was considered.)

In a situation where the airbender is fighting in a large, open space, then the problem disappears. There would be no need to bend air away from their opponents, as an airbender army could create cyclones.

I dunno... Meelo is pretty adept with his fartbending.

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