So if bending can be taken away...(SPOILERS)

[Appayipyip the Klingon]

I warned you about the spoilers.


So anyway, if bending can be taken away (like Aang/Ozai and Amon/Lin Bei Fong) and given back (Aang/Korra and Korra/Lin Bei Fong), can it be given to non-benders?
As in, someone who was never a bender in any way (Sokka, Suki, Asami, Pema, etc) can be given the ability to bend in the same way that Korra restored Lin's bending.

It may sound stupid, but it's just speculation.

[Paraiba Ocean]

According to Bryke (as far as I remember them saying), bending is a combination of spirituality and genetics, the genetic component being pertinent to the element (ie, Air Nomads give birth to airbenders, Water Tribespeople give birth to waterbenders, etc.) The rest of it is spiritual, which means that they have to have some sort of connection to that part of their brain or whatever it is in order to bend.

So theoretically speaking, I don't think Korra could activate that because in Korra and Lin's case, it was like rebuilding a bridge. To quote Katara, "The connection has been severed." In Suki, Sokka, Pema, and Asami's case, they never had that connection so the Avatar in question would have to completely construct that bridge.

[ILZ]

I don't really think that it would be possible to give bending. I think without the genetic component, a person can't be a bender no matter how spiritual they are. Like Para said, there needs to be a connection. Reestablishing is quite different than actually creating it. I also don't think that anyone would be given that power since the Avatar world is all about balance and non-benders are part of that balance.

[Paraiba Ocean]

I feel like the whole idea of bending is so very convoluted and Bryke just literally flip a coin when deciding if someone is a bender or not. I believe we've seen identical twins in the series where one could bend and one couldn't, and as far as I've known, all Air Nomads were airbenders.... so I guess based on that theory, genetically (with respect to the appropriate 'ethnicity' which seems rather ambiguous now that I think on it) all people have the potential. Just something about their spirit or w/e lets them. I don't really understand it and I don't think Bryke does either lol.

But I still stand by the fact that rebuilding a bridge v. constructing a bridge entirely is different when it comes to restoring or giving bending in the first place.

[nandireya]

It's supposed to be spiritual...but Toph had no real spirituality at all..."You know what I just heard? Blah blah spiritual mumbo jumbo blah blah something about space."...and she was one of the best benders who ever lived.

But, no, I don't think a non-bender could be spiritbended into a bender. You've either got it or you don't.

[Leaf]

I would assume that since Noatak was only able to block access to Korra's earthbending, firebending, and waterbending yet not airbending. This should mean that non-benders have the capability to learn a bending form even if it takes them their entire lives to master. Toph's students had a hard time with metalbending.

In before bending has a sort of equivalent to midichlorians.

[Paraiba Ocean]

Jun 24, 2012 1:55:31 GMT -5 nandireya said:

It's supposed to be spiritual...but Toph had no real spirituality at all..."You know what I just heard? Blah blah spiritual mumbo jumbo blah blah something about space."...and she was one of the best benders who ever lived.

But, no, I don't think a non-bender could be spiritbended into a bender. You've either got it or you don't.

I wouldn't say you have to believe in meditating 2934802039483920 hours a day, or enjoy a good cup of tea and a round of paisho in order to be a bender. It has to do with the spirit/soul of a person, I think. Like I said, identical twins weren't both benders, so it's obviously not genetic since identical twins share the same DNA.

Jun 24, 2012 5:29:40 GMT -5 Leaf said:

I would assume that since Noatak was only able to block access to Korra's earthbending, firebending, and waterbending yet not airbending. This should mean that non-benders have the capability to learn a bending form even if it takes them their entire lives to master. Toph's students had a hard time with metalbending.

In before bending has a sort of equivalent to midichlorians.

eh, possibly since the original benders learned to bend from animals/and or the moon, but I wonder how possible that would even be.

Like I said before I literally think Bryke flips a coin to decide if someone is a bender and they really don't have a rhyme or reason to it lol.

[Horyo]

The twin argument doesn't hold water, as there are known genetic differences between even identical twins that shape their development through a complex series of on/off switches.

[asian malaysian]

My take is that it is theoretically possible because of what we know from the Lion Turtle about the essential elements of bending that predates even the Avatar.

[Leaf]

In before some form of bending midiclorians are announced or perhaps better known as "spirit bugs".