Airbending

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Airbending is a mystical martial art featured within the fictional universe of the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. As members of the Air Nomads race, Airbenders, as the practitioners are called, are heirs to the aerokinetic ability to control currents of air.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Origin 2 Fighting style 3 Elemental Symbol 4 Techniques 5 Spirituality and Airbending 6 Airbender genocide 7 Notable Airbenders 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Origin

Human Airbenders first learned their bending art from the Flying Bison, ancient, sacred creatures native to the Air Nomad culture. The Bison possess the ability to fly, utilizing their wide tails to steer through air currents. The Airbenders also emulated the natural, arrow-shaped markings of the Flying Bison for their tattoos.^[3] These light blue, full body tattoos symbolize a person's mastery of the airbending discipline.^[4]

On Aang's wanted poster in "The Blue Spirit" and Sozin's scroll in "The Avatar and the Firelord," the word, 'Airbending', is written as 截氣神功 (jié qì shén gōng) which translates as "the Divine Ability to Halt Air", while the word 'Airbender' is written as 風脅功師 (fēng xié gōng shī) which translates as "wind coercing master".

[edit] Fighting style

Airbending is based on the Ba Gua style of martial arts. These martial arts feature swift, evasive maneuvers, drawing energy from the center of the abdomen. Ba Gua, which utilizes circle walking, is known for its constantly circular movement, which makes it difficult for opponents to attack directly. Ba Gua, with its soft, flowing movements and method of turning an opponent's energy against him, bears some resemblance to T'ai Chi, but tends to be more spontaneous and dynamic overall. The style lacks fatal finishing moves, being an almost entirely defensive art.^[5]

Airbenders enhance their movement in battle, and can run with incredible speed by decreasing wind resistance, jump high and far by conjuring gusts of wind, slow falls by creating cushions of air, and even sprint across or up vertical surfaces by generating a wind current behind themselves.^[6] Master Airbenders can create vortices to entrap and disorient opponents, as well as massively destructive whirlwinds.^[7] Airbenders commonly incorporate their staffs to augment their attacks and defenses in battle.^[8] Metal fans can also be used in combination with airbending.^[9]

Another aspect, important in Airbending, was alluded to in The Northern Air Temple: the concept of spirit. Airbending is the most passive of the four arts, as many of its techniques center around evading and eluding the opponent and is the opposing bending art to Earthbending; while an Earthbenders absorbs an attack or overwhelm their opponent with superior force, the Airbender will avoid or deflect oncoming attacks.^[10] Like all of the bending arts, Airbending is balanced out as to not be more or less powerful than the other arts. The series has repeatedly illustrated that it's the skill and prowess of the user that determines victory.

[edit] Elemental Symbol

The symbol for Air and Airbending is a closed, clockwise, inverted triple spiral triskele which bears a resemblance to a tomoe. This symbol is seen on the pendant on Monk Gyatso's prayer beads. The breath of air can be either huge gusts or mild swifts.

[edit] Techniques

The signature tool of an Airbender is a wooden staff that can transform into a small glider, hand-carved and crafted by Air Nomad monks.^[11] In glider form, they resemble an upside-down Asian folding fan. An Airbender is able to use the tool in conjunction with bending to control air currents, resulting in the ability to hover and even sustain flight over limited distances so long as he has the strength to maintain his airbending. As a normal staff, it can be used as a weapon in battle, to aid in bending, and even as a levitation aid when spun above the head like a helicopter propeller. When not in use, they resemble a Chinese/Japanese staff weapon.

One of Aang's signature techniques is the Air Scooter. It works by creating a spherical "ball" of air that one can ride by balancing on it like a top.^[12] It was Aang's invention of this move that subsequently earned him his tattoos and title of a master at such a young age.^[13] As his signature technique, Aang has made use of the Air Scooter in countless episodes, usually to either overcome vertical surfaces or temporarily levitate in the air.

[edit] Spirituality and Airbending

According to reports from Comic Con 2005, the Eastern and Western Air Temples are exclusively female. However in "The Storm", it was decided that Aang would finish his training at the Eastern Air Temple, and it was at the same temple where he, along with several other young boys, was first introduced to his animal companion, Appa. Airbenders who have mastered the element are marked as such by blue tattoos striping along the head and limbs, terminating in an arrow on the forehead, backs of the hands, and the tops of the feet, all the while running along the chi paths of the body.^[14] Male monks sport completely shaven heads, and female Airbenders shave their foreheads, but leave the back of their hair uncut. In "Appa's Lost Days", through a flashback, an Airbender nun, Sister Iio, is shown to be in charge of the Female Airbenders of the Eastern Air Temple.

Though this ritual is probably not exclusive to Air Nomadic culture, when the Avatar reincarnation is to be an Air Nomad, the Air Monks test Airbender children to see if they are the reincarnation of the Avatar by asking them to select toys out of thousands. If the child selects the toys used in previous incarnations, the Avatar has been found. This same test is used by Tibetan Buddhist monks when a reincarnated Dalai Lama is expected. Traditionally, knowledge of his or her identity as Avatar is kept from the child until age sixteen.

[edit] Airbender genocide

A century before the time of the series, the Airbenders were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Fire Nation. All the Airbender monks were slaughtered in an effort to break the Avatar's cycle of reincarnation and ensure the Fire Nation's victory in their imperialist war. Ironically, the only known survivor of the massacre is the very person the Fire Nation sought to kill in its quest for supremacy: the twelve-year-old Airbender and Avatar, Aang. He had run away from home shortly before the war began in earnest and became trapped in suspended animation. The last known vestiges of Airbender culture include one surviving Flying Bison, Appa, and one winged lemur, Momo, both of whom are Aang's pets. The abandoned Western Air Temple remains undisturbed while the Northern Air Temple has since been colonized by displaced Earth Kingdom citizens, led by The Mechanist. The Eastern Air Temple is inhabited by Guru Pathik, who claims to be an old friend of Monk Gyatso.

[edit] Notable Airbenders

• Avatar Aang
• Monk Gyatso
• Avatar Yangchen

[edit] See also

• Air Nomads
• Waterbending
• Earthbending
• Firebending
• Aerokinesis

[edit] References

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