For the fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Worldbuilding in the World of Avatar
I've been in love with the worldbuilding and opportunity for worldbuilding in this story since I met it.
What about you? Are you fascinated by Water Tribe politics or how bending works on the genetic level or the decline of the Earth King dynasty (not so big on full names, this canon)? Here's a post to discuss worldbuilding topics, like equalist movements and white lotus societies and pro bending and founding an entire city so quickly on a plot of purchased land and founding a clan. Etcetera.




I'm fascinated by the genetic basis of bending. Fascinated by genetics in general, but Avatar provides a rich vein of material to which I can apply my genetics-obsessed brain :)
I think there has to be some kind of genetic component to bending: if you're Fire Nation you can only be a Firebender, not a random Waterbender, etc. But this is possibly the only part of bending that's solely genetically determined.
So:
Whether you're a bender or not - at least part spiritual, perhaps has a genetic component? Which element you bend - entirely genetic How much raw power you have - probably not genetic (think about Zuko during the first part of The Firebending Masters vs. Firebenders during Sozin's Comet) Special talents (combustion bending, lava bending) - who knows? I like to think there is some genetic component.
I also theorise that people who gained Airbending during Harmonic Convergence were predisposed to being Benders in some way (The two new airbenders we know are from families filled with Benders).
Thoughts?
I think you're onto something here, Rissa! I really like thinking about these possibilities as well. It makes me wonder what kind of role genetics play in the avatars body. Since he can manipulate all elements. [SPOILER ALERT] Not only that, but Aang also discovered the power to bend spiritual energy and he took the firelords bending away. So do you think he changed genetic material?
Another thing I'm equally as fascinated about is how the actual bending works. What kind of mechanism and what rules of physics would have to exist/be involved to support such a mechanism.
I haven't actually thought about how bending works. It would be interesting to read a science textbook from the Avatar universe, though.
[SPOILERY THEORY] I don't think Aang changed Ozai's genetic material. After all, Aang also removed Yakone's bending in the same way, but Yakone went on to have two children who were not only benders but had the exact same rare talent he did. Had Ozai had any more children after the end of the war, I'm guessing he could have fathered firebenders. I think it's just extreme chi-blocking.
Well, the lion turtle said that before they bent the elements, they bent their spirits. I think they removed not the physical genetic ability but the spiritual power/ability, which would be less chi blocking (more what Amon did) and more like removing bending from the chi. Firebenders chi burns hot. Other benders probably have some other element of their chi that reflects their bending.
Spirit-bending messes with a lot of my pet theories on bending, especially the way they use it in LoK: Amon takes people's bending away with blood, but Korra gives it back with spirit-bending? Which seems to point towards both of them being the same or similar processes, but the way they do it is demonstrably different (no glowy light for Amon). I really wanted to see what would happen if Korra tried to give someone who was born a non-bender bending abilities, or if she tried to give someone who was a bender but had their bending taken away by Amon a different kind of bending, but I suspect that's a little too mad-science for the show.
Maybe he just blocked the chakras, like how Gyatso was walking Aang through the Avatar state? I never felt the show explained Amon well enough.
The worldbuilding in this series is phenomenal, imo. What really fascinates me most are the varying ideas on how bending originated.
I would LOVE to see more of the Earth Kingdom's history. How did Ba Sing Se become the metropolis we see? How old is the Dynasty? When did the Dynasty collapse into this warlord-y system where you have people like King Bumi?
I'm particularly curious about the fire nation homefront during the war. Was there a draft? An abundance of obnoxious nationalism? If you didn't want to fight in the war were you punished--hell, was there even any vocal opposition to begin with? Also if I were any good at replicating styles, I'd love to make some propaganda posters for the fire nation, but my own style is way too cartoony to make it look effective.
Good questions! I know there was a lot of school age propaganda, so makes you wonder.