Avatar: The Last Airbender

Toph went real back to basics when she learned from the badgermoles.

She also taught Aang how to do it.

And then she threw Aang into the advanced stuff right away.

TBF,

a) he's the Avatar

b) they're on a bit of a schedule crunch

Toph's slightly more patient when she teaches regular students in her academy in the comics. Slightly, since she's still Toph.

Edited by M84 on Apr 26th 2024 at 4:34:07 PM

We also see Lin do it, its how she finds Sato's hideout.

That earth-sense is also the whole basis of metal bending in the first place. Being able to sense the impurities in the metal and bending said impurities is how metal bending works. So any metal bender can do it.

Judging by what Toph says to Bolin in Korra, she's also of the mindset that if a student fails to learn it's more the teacher's fault. She thinks that Bolin not being able to learn metal bending wasn't because he lacked the potential but because Suyin wasn't a good enough teacher.

Edited by M84 on Apr 26th 2024 at 4:35:42 PM

Well yeah, but Toph obviously taught Lin, and that was decades later. At the time of the first series, no other earthbender was using that technique. Hell, I'm not sure regular earthbenders are doing it during Korra's time. But then, most of them wouldn't really need it.

I'm not sure I take Toph at her word for that, she was kinda of a dick to her kids.

Edited by dcutter2 on Apr 26th 2024 at 9:44:45 AM

Well, yes, Toph is a perfectionist who expects nothing less from her children. She'd be just as hard on herself if one of her own students failed.

Part of it is also because Bolin's a lava bender. She's pretty impressed by that, noting it's a rare talent and thinks it's a sign that he's a very capable earth bender. And Toph is not easily impressed.

Edit:

Lava bending is one of those rare bending abilities that no one has figured out how to teach yet. It's a true talent, not unlike the psychic blood bending of Yakone and his sons. The regular blood bending can be taught to others, but not the kind they can do.

Only three non-Avatar lava benders are shown in any Avatar material. Sun from the comics, and of course Ghazan and Bolin. The Unanimity Project that resulted in the first combustion benders and chi-blockers tried to find a way to make earth benders into lava benders, but that part of the project ended in dismal failure with all of the trainees dead.

Edited by M84 on Apr 26th 2024 at 6:12:38 PM

The Kyoshi novels show that lightningbending has also gotten more common over time. In Kyoshi's day, it was thought to be impossible, to the point where Xu Ping An, who's crimes would normally have gotten him executed, was kept alive so his lightingbending could be studied, because no one else was known to have done it. Then in ATLA it's rare and difficult, but not unheard of or mythical. And by Korra it seems pretty common. No one remarks on Mako being able to do it and you can apparently make some money by generating extra electricity in a power plant.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Apr 26th 2024 at 7:58:48 AM

My theory is that Bolin learned lavabending intuitively by incorporating waterbending techniques from his acting career. That seems like a very natural way to learn it.

Bolin and Ghazan do Hung Ga forms when they lavabend so probably not.

Oh, I guess. I can't tell one martial art from another.

I like my theory better, though, a shame they didn't go for that, it was right there.

Why? Water has fuck all to do with lava.

It world make more sense to suggest Bolin’s familiarity with fire bending is why he can grasp lava bending.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:09:12 PM

... Because lava is a liquid, like water? Because combining earthbending and waterbending would logically allow you to bend rock like a fluid, which means lava?

Why are you always so immediately dismissive, man? It's really not that hard to imagine.

Lava is not a liquid.

Shit, the old lore was that lava bending was a blend of fire bending and earth bending. It was later established that it is a specialized form of earth bending.

Think about it, to even make lava you have to heat up earth somehow. Water bending cannot do that.

If any form of earth bending would have more in common with water bending it would be sand bending. Ironic I know.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:34:34 PM

What are you talking about? Lava is molten rock. Of course it's a liquid.

And waterbenders have no problem freezing water, so I don't see why they couldn't boil it as well.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 27th 2024 at 11:34:14 AM

Look it up. Lava being a liquid is not really that straightforward depending on how you define liquids and wetness.

But just look at lava. It acts nothing like most things we consider liquids.

And it ignores the point I made earlier that the original lore was that lava bending is a mix of fire and earth bending.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:40:24 PM

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

Wikipedia is not a valid source.

We should not dismiss a bending form being inspired by real life martial arts just to support a headcanon. The bending arts taking inspiration from real life martial arts is a big part of what makes this series great.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:46:09 PM

From National Geographic:

And really, it is pretty easy to spot the differences between water and earth bending forms even if one is not familiar with martial arts.

It shows the creators did their research.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:48:59 PM

Will you just admit that you were wrong, and lava is defined as a liquid?

The only canon example of one bending form being incorporated into another bending art is lightning redirection. That is explicitly something Iroh devised by studying water bending.

Lava bending is simply a rare form of earth bending.

Edited by M84 on Apr 27th 2024 at 5:58:12 PM