Airbending is Underestimated and The Most Inclusive Element in Avatar!

hey how are you moto and airbending is absolutely the most underestimated element in the world of Avatar and this statement is including fans of the series as well as major canonical figures such as Fire Lord Ozai so I'd like to explore not only why this is but also just how flawed this thinking may be for over a century of the world's history airbending had been a lost art from a bygone era and even when avatar aang resurfaced into the world he was the only Airbender for several years but when he did with the exception of those as old as the likes of say earth King Bumi or guru petit nobody in the world had ever faced an airbender in combat and with that the level of unpredictability this now unorthodox style of bending provided was able to get the better of some of the most accomplished combatants in the series and to be real with you this unfamiliarity certainly helps but it's not at all the sole reason why this is the case air is said to be the element of freedom as such air nomads are trained to be crafty a quick finger is capable of implementing a level of ingenuity into everything they do a possible reason for this being the pacifist ways of their people airbenders are sworn to engage in combat as a last resort and as such are masterful in their avoidance and our redirection of incoming attacks just about any overzealous aggressor will have a hard time dealing with an airbender capable of defeating them without dealing even a single blow of their own because of this it's common for those unfamiliar with their ways to see such acts as cowardice rather than cleverness despite never possessing a formal military the air nomads had arguably the most rigid culture of the Four Nations rather than being led by monarchs of any sort the were led by the teachings and wisdom of their elders whom belonged to a council present in each of the air temples to take this a step further it's my interpretation that air nomads culture rebukes the division of households as well as young airbenders rather than being raised by their birth parents with your typical family structure were brought up by the collective eliciting a further sense of unity amongst them this also happened to be the only Society entirely comprised of benders unhindered by concepts such as poverty prejudice birthright or gender inequality airbending was able to progress down an all-inclusive yet unadulterated path more so than any other discipline as such the ascension towards mastery and furthering of such knowledge was to be an air nomads greatest ambition obtained either by contributing to the art by inventing a new technique or the completion of its 36 levels an airbenders accomplishment would be commemorated with the bestowal of their traditional tattoos for instance I only completed 35 of the 36 airbending levels however his invention of the air scooter made him the youngest airbending master in history during his time unfortunately such teachings would at large remain lost for a century following the genocide of the air nomads induced by the Fire Nation [Music] even before the beginning of the Avatar cycle the users of air possess a connection to the spirits unrivaled by any other culture the spirit wilds were at large considered dangerous and spirits themselves deemed malicious by the humans of this world yet the cultural predecessors who the air nomads coexisted peacefully with them with a level of mutual respect which provided them with knowledge of things like the inherent relationship between the great spirits raava and vaatu with season two of The Legend of Korra were introduced to the advanced bending technique of spiritual projection by Jinora requiring a particularly powerful connection to the spirits this technique despite having virtually no offensive potential on its own as far as we've seen is incredibly useful by projecting one's own spirit beyond the confines of their physical body an airbender may Traverse elsewhere in mere seconds completely unhindered by things such as walls climate terrain or solid objects while still retaining the ability to communicate with others in terms of non aggressive deliberation this could very well be considered the greatest airbending technique as it manages to encapsulate so many other principles with its usage alone with Avatar Korra's decision to keep the physical world connected to the spirit world even after harmonic convergence many non-benders found themselves gifted with the power of air and by extension bringing airbending back from the brink of extinction today this second wind of the air nation attempts to cultivate their former presidents loss to the world while also sporting a more active role in worldly affairs as ambassadors of peace and unity whether they be human or spiritual quarrels and because the return of airbending to the world was rather indiscriminate this new generation of airbenders is very culturally diverse with members hailing from all different parts of the world now because the Korra team decided against extensive Fire Nation inclusion these search for new airbenders was limited to the earth Kingdom and oddly enough never reoccurred elsewhere despite Korra being related to the Chieftains of both the northern and southern water tribes but I digress because our origins span a multitude of different financial social and geological backgrounds they can make for some pretty great diplomats sort of emulating the presence of the Avatar however for every formal member of Tenzin's Rakolta vation of the air nomads culture there has to be a ton of unaffiliated airbenders out there which is a bit unfortunate considering what came before but really is such the division certainly allows for more interesting approaches the discipline to spring forth and as Avatar Aang once said when we hit our lowest point we are open to the greatest change with the ideals and practices of airbenders no longer being completely unified as a once were we may now find ourselves with airbending characters failing to adhere to pacifist practices which I believe to be incredibly dangerous the unhinged bending of air is for the most part uncharted territory although it would be rather and missing me to say that it's never happened before as we know monkey otso to have taken several firebenders out before dying himself however it's not something that has ever been at the forefront of their teachings lethality had always been avoided and so the removal of that stipulation is a major change and to that effect Zaheer served to be an incredible display of this having been a formidable martial artist prior to receiving his bending abilities Zaheer was able to concoct a self-taught brand of airbending which both adhered to the major teachings of the great guru laghima an enlightened Airbender of Legend and retained a level of unrestricted lethality now of course a here stands to be a rather impressive individual but I think it's important to remember that at the end of the day he boasted an unrefined and makeshift usage of the discipline concocted over the course of only a few weeks that is kind of terrifying just imagine if he had more time with it now although it may be considered counterintuitive to the points I'm attempting to prove with this video I'd like to talk a bit about Sahir's infamous asphyxiation technique over the course of this series of videos focused on the different bending disciplines a commonality amongst many airbending advocates has been the mention of this particular move and don't get me wrong I do think it's a pretty savage thing to do especially as a contradiction to traditional airbending teachings but I do not think it's this big game changer on par with things like blood bending or anything like that at least not in its current state so here use this technique to kill the earth Queen but in no way were the two engaged in combat with one another remember the earth Queen was a noncombatant of a non-bender one that could by no stretch of the imagination put up any sort of feasible fight against such a man with that being said there was nothing to stop Sahir from conducting this slow suffocation later in the season he attempts to do the same thing to avatar Korra with full urgency to end her mid avatar state and not only is it still a dreadfully long process but he also only attempts to do so after rendering her unconscious which to me isn't all that impressive it's not as if he can swiftly collapse her lungs or cause some irregularity within the oxygenation of her blood which are things I have seen many people speak about by the way which isn't to say it's impossible but it is a facet of airbending that has not only never been explored but certainly requires a level of mastery beyond anything we have ever seen in the series thus far anyhow another example and rather interested in whom actually predates Aang by an entire avatar cycle would be Avatar yang Chen avatar yang Chen was celebrated by the air nomads similarly to how avatar kyoshi is celebrated by the earth Kingdom however when seeking her advice prior to his clash with Fire Lord Ozai Avatar yang Chen expressed to Aang that despite being an airbending master that she considered the duties of the avatar to be paramount even when in contention with the ways of her people I really wish we had some sort of documentation of her doing as such but just knowing her stance is fascinating on its own personally I have a pretty hard time under estimating airbenders at this point I mean just thinking back to book 3 of The Legend of Korra or it took the combined forces of Zaheer a combatant skilled enough to defeat kya a renowned waterbender personally trained by the likes of an adult Katara Ming hua an exception waterbender boasting one of the most unorthodox fighting styles in the entire franchise plea an incredibly precise combustion bender who had trained to be an assassin since childhood and ghazan a lava bender who had toppled the walls of Ba Sing se in mere moments to defeat master Tenzin I am baffled it took a four-on-one handicap match with a pre-established preservation of life handicap for them to take this man out Wow another instance of peculiar intrigue occurs during book 4 of Korra where the combined forces of only two airbenders was enough to keep the entirety of kuvira's great army at bay and had it not been for the presence of mech suits they would have no way of breaking through that to me is very impressive and funny enough there seems to be a trend of Cora's main antagonists being dealt the power of air as a final blow it happened to Amon and he ran away it happened to Anala it happens his ax here and he was done happened to kuvira and she was done not sure if that was intentional but it is what it is as far as cultures and practices go air to me is the most fascinating element of them all not only am I fascinated by what came before but I am also thoroughly engrossed in what has yet to come and so my hope is that at some point were provided with a glimpse at a future comprised of varying airbending paths and I also hope that you have enjoyed this installment in our bending series of videos and have been blown away by the state of airbending both in the past and the present as much as I have been admittedly this video took a while to produce and share with you all due to a combination of circumstances ranging from my recent move to another state as well as the effort and attention to detail that of course goes into creating content that I can be proud of but with that being said I am now in a far more creatively stimulating and healthy environment allowing me to create more of the that I long for and you seem to enjoy so expect plenty more from me both here and elsewhere like my anime channel otaku where my best friend whom I now live with and I cover things like my hero academia with the same level of quality you've come to expect from me over here with this airbending video now being complete we have effectively covered each of the four elements but don't think we're done our bending series is only just the beginning as I have a ton of other avatar topics that I would love to cover and how on earth could I possibly close out a bending series without firstly bringing to attention that which binds them all the avatar thank you all so much for watching and have an awesome day I love you anyone besides otaku who already studied this [Music] [Music]

Channel: SliceofOtaku

Views: 2,425,023

Keywords: avatar, avatar the last airbender, avatar the legend of korra, airbending, air bending, airbender, airbending avatar, airbending aang, air bending aang, avatar airbending, avatar air bending, airbending fight, airbending explained, airbending is underestimated, airbending underestimated, airbending korra, air bending korra, last airbender, airbending slice, airbending sliceofotaku, air nation, air nomads, airbending op, airbending overpowered, sliceofotaku, slice of otaku

Id: VbfWoQt1KHc

Length: 14min 57sec (897 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2019