sanro
Jul 6, 2007 9:58:17 GMT -6
Post by sanro on Jul 6, 2007 9:58:17 GMT -6
So last time I checked, amount of people who can bend is based on nations spirituality (forget where I read that) but I got to thinking the other day, is bending a genetic trait or completely irrelavant of whether there are benders in your family?
On one hand, we've seen benders with no immediate family members who can bend (Toph), but on the other, we've seen benders who have people in there immediate family who are also benders (Zuko, Haru).
(Katara I'm not sure about because it has never been stated if her mother was a bender or not)
So what do you think, is bending caused by your family, or can someone without a bender in their family for generations still pick up the ability?
zabasaz
Jul 6, 2007 10:42:07 GMT -6
Post by zabasaz on Jul 6, 2007 10:42:07 GMT -6
I think it's totally just a random on/off switch with no genetic aspect, but rather just a randomization type of thing. I doubt the creators put that much thought into it. Of course, you could expect the descendant of great benders to have a natural knack for it, but I wouldn't say it has some complex genetic formula tied to it.
My theory, but it's entirely unproven, is that everyone in the Avatar world has the potential to bend, but just can't open themselves to doing it because perhaps their chakra won't permit it, or is blocked. That's just my guess, I could be wrong.
oyushi
Jul 7, 2007 17:57:10 GMT -6
Post by oyushi on Jul 7, 2007 17:57:10 GMT -6
Personally I think it would be a recessive gene, that explains it quite well. It explains why people with benders in their family have a better chance of being a bender , then it also explais people with no other benders in their family.
With Zuko and Azula, their father is a bender so would have to have two Bender Genes, their mother (being of noble birth and probably having high up warrior ansectors, probably benders) probably had one bender gene, meaning her non bender gene was dominant but she still carried the bending ability. Then no matter which gene their father passed they would get one, and then they were clearly lucky and both got one from their mother also.
With Toph, both of her parents (being of upper class origin) probably carried one recessive bender gene and they were lucky enough that they both passed one on to Toph causing her to be a bender.
This also explains why there are less benders than non benders in the world of Avatar. It doesn't quite make perfect sense with the air benders though, because there would be an even number of male and female air benders, but we haven't ever seen femae air benders in the series (except avatars), which means that possibly females are barred from air bending, but that's another discussion entirely.
In short, I think that Bending is a recessive gene.
