formerlyfreedom May 30, 2014 Share May 30, 2014 Discussion of which element is the strongest goes in this topic! Link to comment
Brn2bwild June 28, 2014 Share June 28, 2014 I would say water. It can become ice, and the strongest water benders can even bend blood. Link to comment
Kromm October 9, 2014 Share October 9, 2014 I suppose it's all in how you use what you've got. Water bending would seem to be pretty viscous IF and when you can use it to bend the liquid in someone's body ("blood" isn't the only moisture in a body, so it's odd it's even labeled as blood bending anyway). But it's clear that only a small percentage of water benders can do this--their catchall explanation seems to be that it's too subtle/targeted vs. making big blocks of ice, or water run uphill or whatever. Earth seems overtly strong (I'm not really convinced metal bending is any STRONGER though) but the more subtle ways it can be used isn't really as explored. It's not even totally clear what defines "Earth". When does wood, for example, decay enough to be movable by an Earth bender? Does the clay pot sitting on the mantle count as Earth? The plaster walls (if they aren't stone)? Can an Earth bender real solidify things properly, or is moving things always going to break it? Fire bending actually seems inconsistent in some ways. In theory fire could beat most things. It can melt the rocks. Vaporize the water. Only air can really win, because fire needs air to burn. But in practice maybe the water can quench the fire instead of being vaporized, and maybe the Earth can smother it. Then there's electricity bending/manipulation. I can't say I'm 100% sure on the science here, but I don't think it requires oxygen the way fire does. So a lightning thrower could be pretty powerful. Air in an interesting one. Going immediately to the subtle, one way it could be powerful in a fight is if the bender can draw the air out of an opponents' lungs. Seems like you can't beat that one if you are fighting it, unless the person you are fighting can boil your blood, or toss you around like a ragdoll by dragging your body liquid around. Air I suppose can also move the other elements without having the overt power of bending them. While bending seems to allow gravity to be overcome to move bits of Earth, or streams of water, AIR can be used as well to move those things--although I can't say I have any idea of the relative force involved for blasts of air to move those things vs. the mental force from bending and/or the force of gravity also on them. Link to comment
Recommended Posts