Every type of sub-bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender

In the Avatar universe, some people can control, or "bend," each of the four elements: air, earth, water and fire. But there also various inventive sub-bending techniques.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ken Leung as Zhao in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ken Leung as Zhao in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024 /
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Other: Energybending

Energybending is the ability to bend another person's life force. According to the lion turtle that appears in the Avatar series finale, energy bending predates the Avatar and the ability to bend the four elements, making it possibly the oldest form of bending ever.

When Sozin's Comet was about to appear, Avatar Aang was struggling to face the fact that he would probably have to kill Fire Lord Ozai in order to defeat him. His friends, allies and own past lives told Aang this was the only way for him to restore peace to the world. However, an ancient lion turtle came to Aang at the last minute and showed him a different path.

Just as the lion turtles taught humans how to bend long ago, this one passes on the ability to energybend to Aang, giving him the option of using it to defeat Ozai. After a gruesome skirmish where Aang almost dies several times, he's able to regain control of the Avatar state and subdue Ozai. But instead of killing the tyrant, he used energybending to permanently take away Ozai's bending.

Although this event physically took power away from Ozai, I feel like Aang being the only one on the planet capable of taking bending away from someone else did a lot to calm the Fire Nation. Besides Ozai, The Legend of Korra reveals that an adult Aang also energybends the bloodbender Yakone to take away his dangerous powers. In that series, the villain Amon permanantly blocks Korra's chi, which takes away her ability to bend. However, Aang appears to her and transfers his energybending abilities to her from beyond the grave. This allows her to restore the bending of others that Amon had affected.

Energybending is potentially dangerous, since the user runs the risk of potentially corrupting and destroying themselves. The lion turtle tells Aang that his spirit must be "unbendable" in order for the process to work.

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