Firebending is Misunderstood and The Most Misused Element in Avatar!

hey how are you slice of otaku and I know what I'm about to say may sound a little crazy considering pretty much the entirety of The Last Airbender series focuses on the Fire Nation to some extent but I can't help thinking that firebending is easily the most misunderstood discipline in the avatar franchise typically when we think of the worldly ramifications induced by the hundred year war things such as the air nation genocide occupation of earth Kingdom land and desecration of the southern pole immediately come to mind but I also think it's important to consider the changes such a war would have on the primary aggressor as well and I think similarly to how the Southern Water Tribe lacked a grasp on what they were like prior to the war the fire nation suffered a blow to their history as well the reason being that Fire Lord Sozen was a vain man that so deeply believed himself to be making history that he actively rebuked all that predated him and so a history limited to war and conquest with a touch of good old propaganda is what had been believed by the people of the Fire Nation for generations war mongering nationalism became the norm because the concept of an alternative was all but extinguished with the passage of time only further cementing the deception all Fire Nation history prior to fire lord sozin was sealed off within the dragon bone catacombs and the only reason they weren't completely destroyed is because sozin at the very least had enough sense to recognize that history may provide much wisdom and considering his fear of the avatar I wouldn't be surprised if that's where such a sentiment originated from but the point I'm trying to make with all this is that the suppression of Fire Nation history by extension is the limitation of firebending history I mean just the idea of that much knowledge techniques and practices being kept from continuing on is in not to mention the perversion of their culture induced by sozin's reign because of the war just about everything fire nation was made militants including firebending in what was almost like a regression of the art many firebenders wielded their gifts in ways akin to the early fire users of Avatar Juan's time true bending is the extension of one's own being not just pushing out flames and because of this war craze date of mind the discipline was then at large nested in brute force and aggression as opposed to the general cases of the other bending disciplines but fire has always been somewhat of an outlier amongst the elements as fire is of course by default the most destructive of them all often making its inherent lethality a crutch for many unskilled wielders but fire is unique one may see the elements of water earth and air as the facilitators of life whereas fire may be the destroyer of life but another way of seeing things would be that fire is life as master jang gyeongwan said without a bender a rock will not throw itself but fire fire will spread and destroy everything in its path and this is a duality that far too few are conscious of when firebending its what separates the likes of say Admiral Zhao and uncle Iroh firebending at large very much lacks its spirituality fire has for centuries been used destructively by humans disrupting the sanctity of many spiritual sites and practices for instance the fire sages who were once devoted to the Avatar were made into puppets by the fascists Fire Lord Sozen but even still we do get a glimpse at firebending spirituality by means of the body tribes elderly shaman detecting dark energy within avatar Korra the negativity and rage of humans has never really mixed well with the spirits and so I'm sure you can understand why this shift in firebending philosophy would also be a distancing from the spiritual those who held on to the ways of the old were forced into secrecy and hiding as a means of preserving their way of life oh man lightning bending is to me hands-down one of the coolest abilities in all of avatar the cold-blooded fire is often revered as the most powerful firebending technique and for good reason it's fast precise and also deadly one less possessed the ability to differentiate and separate yin and yang energies which of course requires a quite skilled firebender originally this style was limited to the Fire Nation royal family but during the age of Korra had become pretty common and even used in factory jobs which personally I wasn't too keen on as the whole inner peace requirement put forth by uncle Iroh sort of becomes null and void if someone as confused as ma Co can do it I mean he even knows how to redirect lightning despite being a kid from the streets of Republic City but at the very least it is a testament as to how far the unrestricted distribution of knowledge may go and I've always wondered if lightning bending could be expanded upon with new or alternative movements potentially facilitating the lightning for longer periods of time as opposed to sudden releases and maca was actually taught the technique by lightning bolt Zolt so I would have loved to learn more about him and how he attained his level of infamy with the technique but a Mon kinda took his bending so we can't really expect much of him now combustion bending is an ability we still know very little about and is extremely rare combustion man back when he was only a combustion boy now fully understanding his own abilities accidentally blew off his right arm and left leg I mean I was really hoping we would get more depth to the ability and its history with plea from Korra book 3 but it never really happened and now she's dead so yeah we keep getting cut off the art of firebending was taught to man by the mythical creatures known as dragons this is a connection which predates the fire nation itself with the ancient Sun warrior civilization but sadly those who once enlightened man in the ways of true firebending were hunted down towards the brink of extinction in the name of glory imposed by fire lord sozin these people practice a way of the flame not filled by malice or aggression and it is absolutely beautiful the dragon Masters ran and Shao provided us with a wonderous display of fires limitless potential and majesty despite being in the center of pillar in flames avatar aang and presume Oh were awestruck by what they saw colors of fire they never imagined possible swirled around them while also providing spiritual enlightenment the only other case of uniquely colored firebending we've seen in the series comes from princess Azula and her usage of blue flames and I know I already said this about lightning bending but this is just the coolest thing ever and with the coloration being blue her fire was hotter than your typical Orange County part but the Dragons took it to the next level with them we have colors of red yellow orange purple magenta and green now in our world such fires may owe their coloration to the usage of chemicals but in this case I'd more so attribute such colors to spirituality rather than science as for what the purpose or applications of such flames would even be your guess is as good as mine and I know a bunch of people tend to complain when things get expanded upon beyond the last airbender but I'm actually really curious what could be done with all this I mean even the concept of the eternal flame the Dragons first percentage of mankind is incredible I mean just imagine a firebender producing an inextinguishable flame that would be nuts but yeah as it currently stands our understanding of firebending has only just scratched the surface not only am i insanely curious about its covered up history but also its future to come it is a bit unfortunate that the core team had no intention of focusing on the Fire Nation or firebending with their continuation of the story but admittedly it is really understandable considering all that came before please be sure to light it up in the comments with all your thoughts on firebending the support you all showed with the last one on water bending has been absolutely mind-blowing and really inspiring I want to make so many more of these videos so many of you asked for coverage of the other elements so we're doing just that if you've yet to see that video I suggest you check it out and stick around with us for even more avatar greatness thank you all so much for watching and have an awesome day I love you [Music] [Music]

Channel: SliceofOtaku

Views: 1,840,321

Keywords: avatar, avatar the last airbender, avatar the legend of korra, firebending, firebending masters, firebending is misunderstood, firebending misunderstood, firebending explained, fire bending, firebending zuko, fire bending avatar, firebending avatar, firebending korra, fire bending korra, lightningbending, lightning bending, lightning bending avatar, avatar firebending, avatar fire bending, Zuko, Azula, Fire Lord Sozin, sliceofotaku, slice of otaku, fire lord, combustionbending

Id: PpcIUbViX-c

Length: 10min 21sec (621 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 21 2019