Bending: Gentics or Spirts?

kemary

Jul 7, 2006 9:35:07 GMT -6

I was pointing out, Joychi, that bending didnt follow any genetic "rules" as such. If it did, one type of bending would be dominant over the others, like brown eyes over the other kinds. So, assume that was firebending. Any mix with any other bending would have a greater chance of bending fire(50% as opposed to 25%, with a 25% chance of no bending) Thats assuming the firebender was heterozygous(two different genes: one for firebending, one for no bending) If the firebender had two firebending genes, the child would be a firebender no matter what.

Thats what led me to conclude bending follows no dominant/recessive traits, and instead I think the spirits only grace the bloodlines of the first benders with bending(not because of just genes)

This user is a guest

airmasterkane

Jul 8, 2006 10:27:09 GMT -6

I say it's Genetics. this year we covered genetics in science and learned about the punnet squares and every thing like that. lets put it this way: a capital letter is dominant and a lower case letter is recessive. so B=brown eyes and b=blue eyes. if your eye gene is Bb (which means you have brown eyes, but you carry the recessive bule gene also) and your partner's eye gene is bb (which means he/she has blue eyes and doesn't carry the brown gene) so if you two were to have four children half of them would have brown eyes and the other half would have blue. if that didnt make since just look at this site for more info www.athro.com/evo/gen/punexam.html

This user is a guest

kemary

Jul 8, 2006 10:40:38 GMT -6

ahh, fourth grade science.....
good year

You failed to connect it to bending, however.

If its genetics, then therefore, bending has to have dominant and recessive genes, therefore implying that one bending style dominates the otheres genetically, making one type of bender more common than others, at least in mixed partnerships. Then theres the problem of bending by necessity being a recessive to non-bending being a dominant (else there would be many more benders.) So, it creates all kinds of problems as to why there arent fewer(for example) waterbenders than airbenders(just an example I know their dead, but you get me)

This user is a guest

airmasterkane

Jul 10, 2006 22:21:07 GMT -6

well that's a good way to put it, but i would nessesarly call non-bending dominant or recessive. like, if you mix a non-bender and a bender (doesn't matter what element), their children would most likley be benders. But then you also have to consider a mix between the two. Like if you mix two dominant hair genes(black and brown) it would be a mix of the both (dark brown/light black). Just mix the dominant non-bender and the bender, and you would most likley get a person who can bend but not very good. then to just mix things up, since the half bender carries the non-bending gene and the bending gene, if that was to have a child by a non bending person odds are the child would be a non-bender,or if the half bender was to have a child with a pure bender(any element) the child would most likley bend the element of the pure bender, or if the half bender was to have a child with a nother half bender (any element) the child could be any of the "nationalites" their parents have.

This user is a guest

kusari

Jul 10, 2006 22:38:42 GMT -6

Actually, wouldnt the Bender Gene be recessive. There arent many benders in the Avatar world. Most of them are ordinary people. Otherwise, if the Bender Gene was dominant, there would be like 4 times the amount of Benders. It makes sense to me...

This user is a guest

airmasterkane

Jul 10, 2006 23:03:23 GMT -6

well that's a good point. but the bender gene could be dominant, there might just be a lot of "cross breeding" (breeding between different nationalites) which could be wiping out the bender gene. example: take a pure bender and a pure non-bender and you get a half bender. then take that half bender and a pure non-bender and you mostlikley get a non-bender that carries the bender gene. then take the non-bender that carries the bender gene and a pure non-bender and get a non-bender that most likley doesn't carry the bender gene. then take the almost pure non-bender and a pure nonbender and get a pure non-bending child, thus eliminating a whole line of benders. granit, this would take a few hundred years to do, but is still could be the reason why there arn't many benders.

This user is a guest

dosho

Jul 13, 2006 8:20:23 GMT -6

AHHH!! NO CHIT CHAT!!!

I think that an alternitive theory is that if the two benders were to bend, then they would have no bending children. It would be a stop gap for the spirts.

This user is a guest

Gia

Jul 16, 2006 13:41:58 GMT -6

Thread cleaned up. Remember, keep all posts over 200 characters, and on topic at all times.

This user is Mod

ichigo

Jul 28, 2006 14:41:41 GMT -6

Um, I have a question...All the members of nations who dont bend- Is this because they can't, or they simply dont wish to? As for genetic or spiritual, I'm undecided. The logical part of me believes it to be a genetic trait of kinetic abilities, be it geokinesis, hydrokinesis, pyrokinesis or aerokinesis. But the whole idea of the avatar, and when the moon's absence caused a lack of water bending, pushes me towards it been a more spiritual matter.

This user is a guest

akailen

Aug 5, 2006 4:45:22 GMT -6

My opinion depends on what we are defining as "spiritual." If we are talking in terms of religions that the 4 nations follow (or tend to follow rather) then I would propose that bending is more genetic as Jeong Jeong would be considered a heretic not only for his opposition to the Fire Nation, but also for his view of fire bending as a curse and therefore should have lost his power.

However, my thoughts on the matter is that bending is spiritual in this sense: We know that the avatar reincarnates after he/she dies. It is entirely possible that the spirits of the elemental benders do the exact same thing and so whether or not you are a bender depends upon whether or not you were a bender in a former life. The type of bender you become would also be dependent upon which element you have in a sense "always" bended via the previous lives.

There would also be a genetic or bloodline component as well, but in this sense. If the spirits in Avatar are half as jealous and territorial as the gods of ancient Greece, then it would make sense for the spirits of the various elements to "claim" certain peoples, bloodlines, etc. as their own. Since the Air Nomad bloodline was eliminated, the spirits of the Airbenders have no one to be reborn into (at least until Aang starts having descendants). Intermarriage would probably result in the children being considered the bloodline of the father as has already been discussed.

I will also add that I think there has to be some sort of genetic or bloodline component associated with bending (though how that association manifests itself is up for debate) as if it was purely spiritual, the airbending spirits would have been reborn in non-Air Nomad children, or if it was religious in nature, some group of people would have learned about the Airbender "faith" so to speak and taken it up as their own, thereby marking themselves the heirs of the airbending talents.

Copper for your thoughts.

This user is a guest

The Avatar RP

Previously, on Avatar...

The Moderation Team

Latest TARP News