They are Earthbenders who specialize in Sand, basic really.


Just think of how Waterbenders can also use Ice, it's the same concept, except most Earthbenders can't use Sand all that well at first, like Toph (Who happens to hate it since it's like a "fuzzy vision" for her because of it's instability).

Actually, in an earlier post, I said that air+earth=sand. But yes, it is probably earthbending in the dessert and completely unrelated to airbending, but it could be used similarly. Like bending sand at someone could do about the same as bending air at them, just with more abrasions.

Possibly?

About the only relatable thing between Air and Sand is that if you Block them, they scatter about. Sand is just small grains of dirt, like gravel more or less, there isn't anything involving Air to them.

As far as being hit by Sand being the same as Air...no lol, Okay, think of it this way. When you are hit by Wind, it is just a force, pushing at you, but if someone throws sand at you, it can hurt depending on the amount and force of it, and as far as someone bending sand, that's going to be a lot of hurt lol

Plus no 2 elements can be handled by people, so it definitly can't involve Airbending.

sand bending is earthbending. its just different because its in a softer, more loosely-packed form. in "The Library" when the library begins to sink, Toph tries to hold it up with earthbending, but she begins to sink in the sand. Then she bends the sand into a more solid, rock-like form so she can have a stable ground.

I see where you are coming up with that Air+Earth = Sand, but that is not true. It's really Air+Earth = Sand Storm. This analogy comes from martial arts, where tecniques are classified under Earth, Water, Wind or Fire, and when a martial artist combines this tecniques, they are "combining the elements." The analogies used are such as Water and wind being a hurricane, water and earth being mud (you have to think as to when this would come in handy), etc.

Thanks for the input! I have to go edit a post. Sorry about the less than 200.

So would a normal Earth-bender, like Toph or Bumi, be able to learn to bend sand and still retain the ability to bend rocks and dirt? And thanks for that little clip Kamejei, where is it from? As far as my original question goes, I was wondering more about the sand-nending culture, so your post helped me out.

Also, I understand where you are coming from. I'm sure sand-bending is earth bending, through and through, but through Air-neding your could indirectly use sand as a weapon... you know if you... blow on it... hard. Kind of like bending the clouds in the fortune-teller episode.

Yup. Like that.

Wikipedia, the most wonderful internet sourse.

Yes, they would. It just wouldn't be the style of Toph. She would have the absolute most trouble of any Earthbender, because of her blindness.

I was wondering if anyone agreed with me on something i was thinking about. In Naruto(don't worry it's on topic) the character gaara when he fight Kimimaru Extracts sand from the ground in a field and made his own dessert in turn he used to make a giant sand avalanche. Do you think that a sand bender would accually be able to extract sand from the ground in a place where there is no sand around just grassy ground?

Well, Gaara did use the minerals from the ground, so I think a sandbender could do that...

Speaking of science, sand stops fire right? One pint for me then...or it makes glass. Not quite sure how turning into glass and just stopping the fire work. Culd someone answer that question?

Sand, as well as any kind of earth, when placed on fire, will suffocate it, causing there to be no oxygen for the fire to burn and therefore the fire dies. When sand is superheated, however, it does form a liquid form of glass, which can then be blown or pressed into a variety of shapes. This occurs naturally near volcanoes or by means of lightening.

So then, blue fire or lightning from a firebender would probably turn sand into glass, while normal fire would just be suffocated? And would it be within the rules for a sandbender to learn normal earthbending? Sorry for less than 200 post.

If you fired plain fire at sand, it would do nothing, as the sand is not covering the flame. But if there was a flame burning, and enough sand was thrown on it, it would then snuff out the fire. Lightning would turn the sand into rough glass, and sandbenders could learn normal earthbending, as thier abilities are identical.

However, if a sandbender surrounded fire in a sand sphere, the fire would be snuffed out, no?

(looks over Chiri-s other recent posts)

Yes... if the sand was closed tightly enough, the fire would be snuffed out, though, if not, it would do absolutely nothing whatsoever. And if the sand was compacted like that, then it would most likely be stone anyway.

doesnt the combination of fire and sand create glass?

maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I've always thought. or does the fire have to be at a level that Azula is at? (sorry if this post is under 200 chararcters, but i had nothing else for input)

I do believe I described that in detail earlier, but I will answer your question again, because I love discussing the mechanics of fantasy.

Due to the fact that we have not (with the exception of a few small instances with goggles and gasses) seen much of glass in the AtLA universe, we can assume that they aren't mass-producing it, as there aren't a whole lot of glass windows (None, I believe, but I could be wrong) on the buildings. So we turn to mother nature. Glass occurs naturally in two instances; Volcanic plains and areas of sand such as beaches struck by lightening. Volcanos and lightening are two of the hottest (the two hottest actually) naturally occurring things on earth, with lightening reaching temperatures close to the surface of the sun, and volcanos being nearly as hot as Earth's magma. I think from this we can determine that it takes a lot of heat to turn sand to glass (as proven by any gass-bower alive) So no, regular fire wouldn't do anything. Blue fire wouldn't do anything. Lightening would.