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?
Last edited by Wight; Sep 13, 2013 at 03:34 AM.