The Green Beast of the South (Legend of Korra Quest)
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williams1996
Alba gu bràth
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- Scotland
What rank of earth bending do we need before we can do metal bending?
williams1996
Alba gu bràth
- Location
- Scotland
[X] Train the Strong Fist on my own
[X] Train earthbending on my own
[X] Learning to meditate
[X] Train earthbending on my own
[X] Learning to meditate
Speaking of which, @Astaroh-M can all benders do both metal bending and lava bending, with just a natural inclination one way or the other? Our can they only do one?
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I feel like C because thanks to the police force in Republic city we know that some Metalbenders can me a little meh.
If we follow canon, only one, for Lavabending, here has to be a connection with fire chi in the earthbender, and in case you're wondering, none of Li parents were firebenders.
I interpreted it as more affinity than ability. Bolin was rather quick to quit trying, and everyone was very quick to assume he flat out couldn't, not that he's just bad at it. Korra failed to airbend for years, yet she still figured it out.
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But he was incapable of even a little bit of progress, in Korra case it was her personality crashing againts the element, like with Aang and the earth and fire, and there were metalbenders with all kind of personalities and styles so it wasn't that.
But my point is he barely even tried. Korra tried for weeks maybe years without making even a small puff, Bolin tried for mere days. If he tried longer he might have started to get it. But he didn't. Everyone involved was too quick to assume he physically couldn't, and Mako pulled the explanation of why out of his ass.
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Very well, tell me his excuse:
He was a incredible skilled earthbender, yet never metalbended, not even at Zaofu (surrounded by metal).
Specialization. He can lava bend, he can either spend his time mastering lava bending, or he could work his metal bending to an acceptable level and be mediocre at both.Very well, tell me his excuse:
He was a incredible skilled earthbender, yet never metalbended, not even at Zaofu.
Plus, I have no idea what his background is. He might never had a chance to learn.
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You're are missing a point. All benders can feel their element. They might not realize what it is, but the connection is there from the moment they are born. The element is an extension of them, and why it can be so out of control when any bender throws a tantrum. See episode 1 Katara.
Bolin had no connection with metal. Even the weakest would have felt something, been able to move a pebble sized piece of metal. Bolin had nothing.
Haha, no. Even a tiny bit of it would have been helpful to them. Why break down the door when you can just peel it apart neatly. Even just pull out the screws holding it together.
And the Red Lotus? They had enough support, including at least one guy in the city of metal itself. I very much doubt he was the only one, just the only one to get that high in the chain of command. He would have learned enough metalbending for it to be useful if he was able to.
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Sorry but no, even a little bit of metalbending could had been useful to him, yet he didn't do anything.
My head canon for this (and for the quest) is that, because to metalbend you need to feel the impurities in the metal, a ciertan level of "sensibility" is necessary to find these, so you need a strong connection with the earth, Bolin being the son of a firebender didn't have such a strong connection, but thanks to his heritage he was able to "heat" the earth to lava.
It isn't a perfect explanation, but is the best I have until a canon explanation can be create.
- Location
- Brazil
Personaly I simple can't see us not being able to bend both metal and lava, we are to sttuborn to not bend metal and the FLAMES OF YOUTH burn to hot to not melt the ground.
I also think, however, that it might be a bit more complicated than Astroh-M is giving it credit for. It is likely there may be two, or even three, such branches for each element. The one you can use being dependent on the second strongest Chi in your system.
Lavabending obviously being Earth-Fire. Whether Astroh-M wishes to ignore this and move on with canon only or possibly add in more... Well Lavabending could also be Fire-Earth, or Fire-Earth could be something else altogether.
Lightning is another such specialization. It's hard to say how to do this because it could be Fire-Water (in the sense that it flows), it could be Fire-Earth (magnetism/positive-negative charges and grounding), or it could be a doubling down on one's Fire element (increasing energy density and also how it's so wide-spread in Republic City and why the Royals discovered it first and use it so well/powerfully).
The Royals are also a reason to possibly discount the Fire-Water and Fire-Earth being Lightning ideas.
Lavabending obviously being Earth-Fire. Whether Astroh-M wishes to ignore this and move on with canon only or possibly add in more... Well Lavabending could also be Fire-Earth, or Fire-Earth could be something else altogether.
Lightning is another such specialization. It's hard to say how to do this because it could be Fire-Water (in the sense that it flows), it could be Fire-Earth (magnetism/positive-negative charges and grounding), or it could be a doubling down on one's Fire element (increasing energy density and also how it's so wide-spread in Republic City and why the Royals discovered it first and use it so well/powerfully).
The Royals are also a reason to possibly discount the Fire-Water and Fire-Earth being Lightning ideas.
That's more like Gai going "Yosh! I shall gain the Sharingan and Byakugan today" than an actual learn-able skill.
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Like I said, isn't perfect, but we don't have much information about these "sub-elements".
I know. Which means fan material. *Shrug* It wouldn't matter too much if you left it to canon though. We're Earth, the one that has two out of two or three potential sub-elements already discovered. And these sub-elements took a long time to discover. Maybe roll for certain named characters to try and maybe stumble across one if you want to give it a try?
People who it would make sense for I mean. Like Jinora. With how in touch she is with her Spirit and Element I could see her discovering one.
And I mean they have to roll like a 95+ on a d100 just to get started. And only the visionaries/geniuses like Toph was. And even she only came up with it when she was backed into a corner with no Earth she could use.
It's an idea at least if you want to give it a try. I wouldn't expect more than one though, as I can't honestly think of anyone beyond Jinora who would try and meet the qualifications.
- Location
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I know that it isn't the rulling in this quest , but I personaly still believe it is all learned skills influenced be personality, the whole concept of secondary chi affinitys fells contradictory to the fact bending was gift from the dragon-turtles and is simple not possible for a normal person to contain more than one type of it.
Then suggest another way it works.
My idea is that Chi = Life. All humans inherently have some Chi within them. A little bit of every element as well, as suggested by the first four of the seven chakra gates. In Benders one happens to have a much larger and consciously controllable pool of one of those elements. That there might be other pools that have a smaller increase isn't much of a stretch. Especially with the Avatar World's focus on balance.
If benders can feel their elements that instinctually, then how come no Earthbender before Toph knew how to bend Metal? After all, shouldn't they be able to feel it, and feel it in a way they are unable to feel water or air or wood?
Toph figured it out because of her very high seismic sense, almost no-one else is that naturally receptive to it.
Because Metal Bending ain't that easy. Toph, the greatest metal bender in the world, and the girl who invented the thing, could not bend smoothly like that throughout all of LA. All the time she bent metal (with the exception of the star-metal) it was always ragged and bent and generally not neat at all. And bending the screws specificaly would probably take a good bit of control that also wouldn't be easy to get.
They have the support now a days, but who knows about back when when he was first put into jail (as he wouldn't have had time to learn since he broke out). And who knows when he joined the Red Lotus. It could have been only a couple of months before the attempt to kidnap Korra.
Also, something I didn't think about till I was writting this out, if he physically can not metal bend, why did they put him into a wooden prison rather than a metal one? Metal would be far easier to work with, since they have metal-benders at hand, and it's not like they don't know how to make one, considering they already have one built for the explicit purpose of keeping earth benders far away from any and all sources of non-metal earth.
What could he have done with metalbending that could it have been useful enough that he'd decide that it'd have been better to spend months learning an style he has no talent for, rather than focusing on one he is much better at and no-one else can do?
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I said it in that very post.
And even Toph only found it because she specialized in Seismic Sense.
Because he could still use the earth in the metal to melt it into molten material he could bend and/or because they couldn't take the chance that he might somehow metalbend. Both are very new practices, they wouldn't necessarily know they are mutually exclusive.
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Toph have to work a lot to metalbend at the beginning, then she began to teach it to others and the method got better with time, it was difficult and no something that everyone could do, but thanks to the teachings of Toph the knowledge become more widespread.
He's a dangerus member of a terrorist organization with a new kind of bending that they didn't know how it works, would you risk it?
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- Location
- Tel'aran'rhiod
[X] Train the Strong Fist on my own
[X] Visit the orphanage
[X] Learning to meditate
[X] Visit the orphanage
[X] Learning to meditate
Even if they don't realize what it is, they'd realize it's there. For not only could they feel it, but apparently feel that it isn't not there (cause you are arguing that Bolin could tell it's not there). Thus giving the idea that it COULD be done, and ten thousand years with millions of earth benders to try to figure it out.
If he could bend the earth in the metal, how is that different from metal bending? That is literally how Toph first started doing it, she bended the impurities in the metal.
As for not knowing it's mutally exclusive, you saying that a teenage, self-taught firebender that grew up on the street is more familiar with how Chi and Earthbending works than dozens of Masters with the best teachers available?
Even after it became wide-spread, it doesn't seem like it's something that is easy. It seems like it's harder than Lightning Bending after all. Because look how many fire-benders can do lightning now a days? Tons, they use them to power their cities. Metal Benders though? Not nearly as many.
That wooden prison had to have taken a long while to build, in the time it was done I'd think they'd have tried to figure out how it's done. Trips to the Spirit World to chat up the knowledgeable people there, Waterbending Masters studying his chi-network, Earthbending Masters brainstorming on how it's done, I'm almost certain that if he was physically incapable of doing Metal, they'd have figured that out.He's a dangerus member of a terrorist organization with a new kind of bending that they didn't know how it works, would you risk it?
And honestly, it doesn't seem that hard. We know that Water-benders can heat and cool water at will (can turn it into and back from Ice, and turn Steam into Ice, and I believe Ice into Steam), so why would Earth Benders be inherently incapable? It probably takes a special trick to pull off, but certainly do-able.
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