Okay, so how do like, genetics for bending work in Avatar? Because in the Avatar universe...

Okay, so how do like, genetics for bending work in Avatar? Because in the Avatar universe, the implication seems to be that only benders can give birth to other benders, that's why the fire nation's genocide on airbenders worked in the first place. So would it not be very imperative for benders to only have children with other benders, to ensure the child is also another bender? Unless, that is, a bender having a child with a non bender would still result in all the children being guaranteed benders, because I don't believe we've ever seen an instance of children in the same family not all being benders. Also, where the fuck do Airbenders come from if they don't seem to have a society like the other nations? WHATS GOING ON

>because I don't believe we've ever seen an instance of children in the same family not all being benders

Who is Sokka

I'm pretty sure two nonbenders could give birth to a bending baby (Toph), just like two benders could give birth to a nonbender (Bumi). It's completely random if you'll get your nations bending ability, more spiritual than biological.

The Air Nomads are all benders because they're naturally the most spiritual people.

How does that explain the success of the Fire Nation though? What stopped airbenders from being born in the 100 year period between Aang's disappearance and his re-emergence?

What about those twins in season 1? One of them was a bender while the other wasn't. How does that work? Aren't twins supposed to have exact replicas of the same DNA?

The fact that it's not genetic and it's a choice.

Becoming a bender is like becoming a priest.

You guys forget, Toph was never born a bender. She learned it from the Badger Moles.

Bending is a martial art. It's a state of mind, and a way of life, it has nothing to do with genetics. Imagine it like a language. Children born in America will have an easier time learning English, just as a Chinese baby will have a easier time learning Chinese. A fire nation child will find it easier to learn firebending because it is how their society functions

What's the point of having an Avatar then if anyone can theoretically bend any element?
In neither universe of the show are there examples outside Toph of someone bending when they genetically shouldn't be able to

dont you guys remember its all turtle magic it was always turtle magic remember

...

It's part genetic part spiritual

There were those Earth Kingdom identical twins early on in ATLA, one was an Earthbender and his brother wasn't. So we know that being a bender isn't entirely genetic.
Katara and Toph both came from nonbender parents. Although we don't know enough about their grandparents to know if maybe it was just a recessive trait in one their parents.

The Nation you come from (presumably which Lion turtle city you're most directly descended from) decides which type of bending you can get.
Your own personal spirituality and potential determines whether you are a bender or not.

Mixed couples like Aang and Katara can have children who are Airbenders or Waterbenders or neither. Tenzin only had Airbending children so presumably they will only have Airbending children of their own unless they also have mixed race unions. (Side note this may be why Tenzin chose Pema over Lin, he didn't want no Earthbending kids.)

Sozin spent the years after the war hunting down any surviving Airbenders who escaped the Genocide.
If they managed to hide and assimilate into another culture they probably didn't teach any of their kids with the potential for Airbending out of fear of being discovered. And those kids probably had mixed race unions until they completely forgot where they came from and lost their connection with their Air Nomad heritage and spirituality

She only learned it fromthem. That does not mean that she diddn't have the ability to do so in the first place

>You guys forget, Toph was never born a bender.
Yes she was. Not everyone knows how to bend elements right away.

>inb4 korrafags shit up the thread with "magically making more airbenders was good actually!" bryke dicksucking

Bumi the 2nd having no bending made no sense, it was done for the sake of drama to make aang look like a bad parent. The way they described how air bending works than bumi should of been an air bender at very minimum. The way he got bending after the portal made even less sense. Was it based on dormant air bending ancestry or completely random? If he had the spirit for it all along the air control should of followed naturally. Was his chukra simply stuck? Did they bother to teach him how to open his chukra? Bending just a lottery

I think it works like Sky High. Great film btw

This is my hypothesis from ATLA because TLOK messed everything up
The first benders were not humans, but the moon, badger moles, dragons, and sky bison. This suggests that bending is a learnable trait. The twins in the fortune teller's village also hints at bending not being genetically based. Such an example is shown by the Air Nomads, who are all airbenders and very spiritual. Along with the fact that for the Avatar to bend the elements he needs to learn a different way of thinking, bending seems to be a more mental thing. There's also the Foggy Swamp people, who are waterbenders in the middle of Earth Kingdom territory and the Sun Warriors who look noticeably different from the default benders of their respective element. And let's not forget Toph, who learned directly from a Badger Mole. Oh yeah, and when Zuko became good and his firebending didn't work it was because of his mental state. And Azula was so good at it because she was psychologically imbalanced with more adult philosophies that fueled Ozai's firebending. Any way you spin it, bending is based in the mind. I mean, how else would you explain even Katara's ability to waterbend when no one else in her family can? Really, even what element a person is able to bend has more to do with the environment than ancestry, as shared cultural ideals and mentalities shape someone's mental state more than genetics.

Bending has more to do with spirituality' than genetics. Airbenders literally popped out of nowhere in the Earth Nation.

SO many people saying so many fucking wrong things holy shit.
>Because in the Avatar universe, the implication seems to be that only benders can give birth to other benders
This has never been the case, Katara's mother was a non-bender. She's literally the first bender you see.
>that's why the fire nation's genocide on airbenders worked in the first place
No, they killed the entire air nation, not just the benders.
>So would it not be very imperative for benders to only have children with other benders
I can't remember if there was an example of this in ATLA I'm pretty sure there was though, and Korra changed the rules a lot, but, Boomy (Aang's son) is a nonbender born of two benders. No reason to believe having bender parents makes you more likely to be a bender.
>I don't believe we've ever seen an instance of children in the same family not all being benders
Literally the first two people we see in ATLA are a pair of siblings one a waterbender and the other not. What made you think this?
>Also, where the fuck do Airbenders come from if they don't seem to have a society like the other nations
They did have a society, they all got murdered, you even mentioned this earlier in your post. Did you write this out without thinking?
Everyone in the air nation was dead, bender or not, how could anyone of the air nation give birth to an airbender if they are all dead? Are you daft?
>The fact that it's not genetic and it's a choice
You're making shit up.
>Toph was never born a bender
Yes, she was, she just learned to control it from the badger moles.
>Bending is a martial art. It's a state of mind, and a way of life
True
>it has nothing to do with genetics
False
>Imagine it like a language
Anyone can learn any language. An earthbender cannot learn to waterbend, and a nonbender cannot learn to earthbend.

>Children born in America will have an easier time learning English, just as a Chinese baby will have a easier time learning Chinese
No. Children have an easier time learning language than adults. It's not about where they're born, any adult who knows a language can teach it to their child. Bending is fundamentally different. As a waterbender cannot teach a non-bender to waterbend.
>In neither universe of the show are there examples outside Toph of someone bending when they genetically shouldn't be able to
Why would Toph NOT be able to earthbend? She was born an earthbender. Literally nothing at any point of the show says she wasn't. You are equating mastering a inherent power with gaining it, and that is simply not the case.
But, yes, in Korra non-benders are given the ability to airbend.
>Bumi the 2nd having no bending made no sense
It makes complete sense because it was established in the first series that there is a chance of having non-bender children or bender children in the same way you can have a boy or a girl.
>t was done for the sake of drama to make aang look like a bad parent.
Aang could have done nothing to make Bumi a bender, this had nothing to do with Aang's parenting.
>The way they described how air bending works than bumi should of been an air bender at very minimum
There is quite literally nothing to suggest this.

>The way he got bending after the portal made even less sense
You're right, but that's completely irrelevant.

>Was it based on dormant air bending ancestry or completely random?
Random mostly, they explained this.

>If he had the spirit for it all along the air control should of followed naturally
Having spirit doesn't make you an airbender, you might be referring to the episode with the people living in that air temple, but none of them were benders, Aang's statement about them not having spirit wasn't about the actual power to bend. This was plainly obvious.
>Was his chakra simply stuck
Irrelevant

>not just the benders.

they were ALL benders

Midichlorians

Its both inherent and spiritual. What's so difficult to get?

It did prove the point they were trying to make that bending is something spiritual and not genetic. That so many people get butthurt is hilarious.

>Boomy
Bumi!

And apart from ur mistake in canon of not knowing that all air nomads were benders due to their high level of spirituality, it's nice to FINALLY see someone on this thread with a lick of sense

it doesnt make sense for a CHILD'S spirituality to dictate their ability to bend - that can change with age, flip like a dime!

considering the alleged 100% bending population of the air nomads, the environment the child was conceived and prenatally formed in must have some effect on whether or not it can bend

i personally have a problem with the idea of all the air nomads being benders. it just doesnt make sense to me from a logistics perspective - the spirituality of the environment ... what the hell does that mean? it's so nebulous - is it a surplus of old praying dudes? is it the lack of chaos? the lack of economic activity?

it can't be lack of chaos, as all the fire royals are expected to be benders, and the fire court is as far from the peaceful atmosphere of the air temples as the amsterdam pride parade is removed from a nun's convent

on a sunday

>butthurt
isn't the word

the problem of bending being more of a spiritual thing than a genetic thing is more of a logical and logistics issue than an emotional one

it's the difference between calling someone butthurt over the portrayal of a character in a movie adaptation and calling someone butthurt over how a spreadsheet was organized

aang looked like a bad parent because he spent virtually all his time with tenzin due to him being an air bender, the other 2 felt neglected and resent that part of thier child hood. but at least kaya had katari to bond with.