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 This is airbending. Airbending is my FAV! Aang is the last airbender known and the last survior of the air nomads.
Airbenders are known for being peaceful and kind. Thats mostly why all of them got killed by the fire nation. Airbenders are
the only people that can fly, fun very fast, make are balls"and sometimes ride on them", making air cerents, are very flexable,
and make airballs under water" thats how aang got in the ice in the first place to save himself and Appa but it froze over."
Some or all Airnomads are monks. They have arrows and their head,legs going down their feet, arrows going down their arms
to their hands, and down their backs. They are blue and they tatoo them on to represent the markings on flying bison.."like
appa is." They dress in red and yellow and have loose and long cloths and they are bald. They live in the mountains. This
is what Airbending is.
Origin
It is said that Airbenders first learned their Arts from the Flying Bison, a sacred creature in Air Nomad culture. The
Bison seem to typically use their massive beaver-like tail to bend the air.
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Fighting style
Airbending is based on the Ba Gua style of Kung Fu. This martial art features swift, evasive maneuvers that evoke the
intangibility of wind. Ba Gua, which utilizes circle walking, is known for its constantly circular movement which makes it
difficult for opponents to attack directly. Unlike other bending disciplines, airbending lacks fatal finishing moves, being
an almost entirely defensive art. [1]
Airbending is the most versatile of all the bending arts. By using circular, evasive movements, Airbenders build up massive
inertia; this buildup of energy is released with massive power. It also allows for wind-based counterattacks that knock them
off-balance, mimicking the sudden directional shifts of air currents. Attacks vary from simple gusts of wind to miniature
tornados and cyclones. A common defensive tactic is to circle enemies, suddenly changing direction when attacked and deflecting
as needed by throwing up gusts of air as a shield. Airbenders enhance their movement in battle, and can run swiftly by decreasing
wind resistance, jump high and far by conjuring gusts of wind, cushion falls by creating cushions of air, and even sprint
along vertical surfaces. Master Airbenders can create vortexes to entrap and disorient opponents, as well as massively destructive
whirlwinds. Avatar Level Airbenders can create massive tornados and hurricanes at will. Unlike other nations, who only rarely
use weapons with their bending, airbenders commonly use their staffs to augment their powers in battle. Metal fans can also
be used in combination with airbending.
Airbending is the most passive of the four arts, as many of its techniques center around evading and eluding the opponent.
Although airbending can be used to slice through objects, it has never been used against an opponent, as it would go against
an Airbender's principles.
Like all of the bending arts, Airbending has no inherent advantages or disadvantages against the other disciplines. The
series has repeatedly illustrated that it's the skill and prowess of the user that determines victory.
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Elemental Symbol
Airbending Symbol
Airbending Symbol
The symbol for air and airbending is a closed, counterclockwise, inverted triple spiral triskele. This symbol is seen
on the pendant on Monk Gyatso's prayer beads. It also seems to resemble a tomoe.
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The Glider
Airbending Glider
Enlarge
Airbending Glider
Aang possesses a small glider that can fold into a more portable staff. These staffs/gliders are hand-carved and crafted
by airbender monks.
In glider form, Aang can use it in conjunction with Bending to hover and even fly as long as he has the strength to airbend.
As a normal staff, it can be used as a weapon in battle, to aid in Bending, and even as a levitation aid when spun above
the head, like a propeller.
It is assumed that all airbenders had such gliders in Aang's time, or at least airbenders that had reached his level of
mastery.
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Spirituality and Airbending
Young Airbenders are raised in one of the four Air Temples, at each corner of the globe, hidden away atop mountain ranges
on remote islands. The Northern and Southern Air Temples are exclusively male, and staffed by Airbender monks, who instruct
young Benders in their art. According to reports from Comic Con 2005, the Eastern and Western Air Temples are exclusively
female.
Airbenders who have mastered the element are marked as such by blue tattoos striping along the head and limbs, terminating
in an arrow on the forehead, backs of the hands, and the tops of the feet. Monks sport shaven heads, perhaps so the tattoos
may be seen clearly, though even Airbenders who have not mastered the element still have no hair. It is still unknown if female
airbenders had tattoos as well.
Though this ritual is probably not exclusive to Air Nomadic culture, when the Avatar reincarnation is to be an Air Nomad
the Air Monks test Airbender children to see if they are the reincarnation of the Avatar by asking them to select four toys
out of thousands. If the child selects the toys used in previous incarnations, the Avatar has been found. Traditionally, knowledge
of his or her identity as Avatar is kept from the child until age sixteen. (This same test is used by Tibetan Buddhist monks
when a reincarnated Dalai Lama is expected.[citation needed])
Air Nomads generally espouse a philosophy of conflict avoidance and respect for all forms of life. (comparable to the
Hindu/Buddhist concept of Ahimsa [citation needed]) This accounts for Airbending's stress on defensive maneuvers and its apparent
lack of fatal finishing attacks.
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The Last Airbender
A century before the time of the series, the Air Benders were the victims of genocide at the hands of the Fire Nation.
The temples were invaded, and all the Airbender monks slaughtered in an effort to break the Avatar's cycle of reincarnation
and ensure the Fire Nation's victory in their imperialist war.
Ironically, one of the 2 known survivors of the massacre is the very person the Fire Nation sought to kill in its quest
for supremacy: the twelve-year-old Airbender and Avatar, Aang, had run away from home shortly before the war began in earnest,
and became trapped in suspended animation. He has since been awoken from sleep, and begun a quest to restore balance and peace
to the warring nations. The other person was Afiko the Betrayer, who had grown jealous of Aang and helped the Fire Nation
massacre his own people. He helped the Fire Lord Sozin until he died of natural causes.
The last known vestiges of Airbender culture include one surviving Flying Bison, Appa, and one lemur, Momo, both of whom
are Aang's pets. The abandoned Northern Air Temple has since been colonized by displaced Earth Kingdom citizens, led by The
Mechanist.
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Notable Airbenders
* Afiko the Betrayer
* Malu the Ghost Witch
* Monk Gyatso
* The Avatar
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