Oh... so I'm guessing that isn't all feeding the Earth King mercury because he thinks it'll make him immortal, then.
[see. he's making a different reference than LEAD INTO GOLD THAT'S GONNA CAUSE INFLATION TO SKYROCKET AND WRECK THE ECONOMY. he's doing good.]
Anyway, I think they'd probably interact in different ways... an airbender would be able to blow steam around rather than interacting directly with it, while a waterbender would be able to work with the water suspended in the air. I'm mostly theorizing on the airbender end of it, since I only actually know one of them.
Anyway, it's genetic and based on national origin, for the most part. Neither of my parents were benders, but I'm from the Water Tribe, so my ancestry means that I probably inherited it from a grandparent. There are more mixed families than there used to be these days, so you occasionally have families that have, say, one child who's a firebender and one child who's an earthbender because of their parentage.
The Avatar is... complicated. Basically, they all have the same spirit, and when one dies, the Avatar spirit is passed on to the next nation in the cycle. I believe that's the reason why they can bend all four elements, along with the ability to communicate with their past lives. Bending is kind of a spiritual thing in and of itself, so that adds to the whole thing.
no subject
[see. he's making a different reference than LEAD INTO GOLD THAT'S GONNA CAUSE INFLATION TO SKYROCKET AND WRECK THE ECONOMY. he's doing good.]
Anyway, I think they'd probably interact in different ways... an airbender would be able to blow steam around rather than interacting directly with it, while a waterbender would be able to work with the water suspended in the air. I'm mostly theorizing on the airbender end of it, since I only actually know one of them.
Anyway, it's genetic and based on national origin, for the most part. Neither of my parents were benders, but I'm from the Water Tribe, so my ancestry means that I probably inherited it from a grandparent. There are more mixed families than there used to be these days, so you occasionally have families that have, say, one child who's a firebender and one child who's an earthbender because of their parentage.
The Avatar is... complicated. Basically, they all have the same spirit, and when one dies, the Avatar spirit is passed on to the next nation in the cycle. I believe that's the reason why they can bend all four elements, along with the ability to communicate with their past lives. Bending is kind of a spiritual thing in and of itself, so that adds to the whole thing.