- Posts:
- 8
- Group:
- Admins
- Member
- #1
- Joined:
- Jul 29, 2008
|
Earthbending is one of the four Bending Arts, primarily used by people of the Earth Kingdom. It is a geokinetic ability that is a combination of martial arts and the power to move rocks and the earth. The Earthbending season is the spring, and most Earthbenders are born in the springtime.
Origin
Source: Earth Learned From: Badgermoles Humans first learned earthbending by observing and imitating the geokinetic powers of Badgermoles that naturally inhabit the mountains in what is now Earth Kingdom territory. According to legend, known widely as "The Legend of the Two Lovers," two star-crossed lovers named Oma and Shu (à la Romeo and Juliet), who came from separate villages that were at war against one another, learned the art to meet within the mountain that divided them. To make sure that no one could ever find them, they used their new abilities, in which they learned from the badgermoles, to create a labyrinth of tunnels inside this mountain where they knew they could only find their way to one another. One day, after many meetings in the series of passageways, the man did not come to see his lover, as he had died; a casualty of the villages' quarrel. His lover showcased a devastating assault of her powers and ultimately proclaimed the feud over. Then, the villages collaborated to construct a city, Omashu, in their honor. The pathways they made by earthbending became known as "The Cave of Two Lovers." 'Earthbending' is written as 運土術 which in literal terms actually means 'move earth art' in Chinese.
Fighting Style/Levels
Trainee-
Spoiler: click to toggle Earth & Stone Levitation: The most common attack, involves levitating nearby earth and stone of numerous sizes (more powerful benders can move larger masses), and propelling them at foes by punching or kicking motions.
Rock Shield: A levitated slab of rock can also double as a shield when positioned in front of a Bender. This can also be performed as a slab or sheet of bedrock thrust out of the earths surface.
Earth Sinking: More advanced Earthbenders, such as Master Yu and General Fong, can forcibly sink their opponents into the ground, imprisoning them or even suffocating them in earth.
Earthquakes/Fissures: Striking the ground with feet, fists, or hammers creates localized earthquakes or fissures to throw opponents off-balance. This same process can be used to sculpture a landmass or to slice large chunks of rock clean of a surface to create avalanches or rockfalls.
Quicksand: By turning the ground to quicksand to immobilize an enemy, or catapult into the air and soften the earth to ensure a safe landing. They can also do the reverse of this, compacting sand together to create harder projectiles or a firmer grip on the ground.
Rock Slide: If an earthbender is near a cliff or mountain, he or she can cause many rocks of a multitude of sizes to fall down on his or her opponent.
Earthen Column: A more powerful version of rock projectiles, involving forcing columns of rock out of the ground. Using a similar principle an earthbender can shoot a stream of small ruts and protrusions from underground at their opponent. This can also be used to enhance the benders jumps. It is however limited to the ground and does not have the same range as a rock projectile.
Earth Material Manipulation: Earthbending is not limited to rock or soil alone. An Earthbender can also manipulate coal, gems, crystals, and other earth-based material, like meteorites.
Rock Hanging: Earthbenders also possess limited magnetic capabilities, allowing them to grasp vertical surfaces and cling unsupported to earthen structures. The Dai Li are the only ones that have demonstrated this ability, although it may be that they are using their earth gloves to cling on the surfaces. Master-
Spoiler: click to toggle Earth Tunneling: Earthbenders can move through the earth to out-maneuver their foes either by opening tunnels or by pulling the earth past them, literally swimming through the ground.
Earth Armor: Earthbenders can bring rocks, dusts, pebbles or crystals around them and mold them to fit their body and create something similar to armor. They can also hide inside the earth by bending the rock around them as a shell. Later, it is demonstrated by Toph that metal can be used as armor as well.
Earth Wave: The Earthbender creates a wave of earth that they ride on and use as a form of transportation. They can also force a wave of earth outwards, and use it as an extremely powerful offensive attack.
Earth Launch: While Earthbenders like being routed to the ground some like Toph can't see in the air they can quickly move rock beneath them and launch several tens of feet into the air whether to catch airbourne opponents or to travel faster.
Remote Earthbending: If an Earthbender is suspended from the ground, but is aware that there is earth somewhere near, the Earthbender can focus his energies and bend that earth out of his physical reach out of sheer concentration.
Earth Compression: It is possible for Earthbenders to compress large chunks of rock into smaller, denser chunks, or to compress several smaller chunks into one big piece of rock. In "Imprisoned", Haru and his father Tyro used this technique, compressing several small pieces of coal into one big coal boulder. The fact two Earthbenders were required to perform it suggests that this technique is quite hard, possibly causing too much strain if used by a single Earthbender. Avatar-
Spoiler: click to toggle Greater Earth & Stone Levitation: With their greater power and stronger connection to the earth (being the reincarnation of the planets spirit itself) The Avatar can move hill-sized statues at will.
Tectonics: The Avatar can create crevasses so deep they even fracture landmasses as shown by "Avatar Kyoshi" in "Avatar Day when she separated Kyoshi island from the mainland.
Powered Compression: This much more powerful version of the Earth Compression technique. Instead of bending large chunks of earth into a single projectile, he/she gathered boulder-sized rocks and simultaneously compress each fragment into smaller, denser and harder rocks, essentially keeping the rocks under-pressure for more volatile attacks if needed. Lastly, the rocks are directed to orbit around until they are put to use.
Earth Hail: Aang took one of his compressed rocks from his Elemental Sphere and sent shrapnel like pieces of it with great speed, in a bullet like fashion. Due to the speed and density of these rocks, they made great damage to the landscape. It is similar to the Rock Glove technique used by the Dai Li.
Special Techniques
Sandbending: Sandbenders are Earthbenders who have adapted to live in the Si Wong Desert. They use Earthbending in a specialized style, which emphasizes the manipulation of sand. They move quickly in the desert on specialized wooden catamaran sailers that are propelled by bending miniature, localized sandstorms behind their sails. Because sand is sediment which travels in flows, their style resembles Air and Waterbending more than earthbending. It is displayed that most, if not all, Earthbenders are capable of easily bending sand, but because of the loose shifty nature of sand it is not an easy transition for the average earthbender, the Sandbenders of the Desert are especially proficient with it due to their particular habitat.
Mudbending: It has been seen that earthbenders can bend earth in mud as well.
Rock Gloves: The Dai Li have mastered a rock glove technique. Similar to earth armor, they cover their hands in small rocks then project them at a target as bullets or compacted fists to blugden the opponent. A more refined and favored method however is to use them as detachable hands, maintaining the hand shape and literally grabbing and restraining the opponent from a distance.
Detection: A technique originally used by the blind badgermoles, skilled Earthbenders are able to sense vibrations through the ground, "seeing" by sensing their surroundings and making a mental image of it. It is also the basis of the unique ability of Metalbending.
Metalbending Most Earthbenders are unable to affect processed metals. Usually, the trace amount of earth still present in metal is so minute that it goes undetected even to the best Earthbenders. However, due to her ability to "see" earth, Toph is able to locate the small fragments of earth in metal, target them, and utilize them to "bend" the metal portion, although not with the same power or ease seen in normal earthbending.
|