Why California Would Have the Strongest Earthbenders
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- Firebenders rise with the Sun and waterbenders draw energy from the moon, so where do earthbenders get their power from? Well... obviously the answer is California, USA.
Today we're looking into the literal worldbuilding of Avatar and The Legend of Korra. To understand the SCIENCE of earthbending, we're consulting the Avatar Bible, vacationing to the West Coast, and working with cartography experts to study the fascinating geographical field of plate tectonics.
As far as Avatar Theories go, this video has it all! Who is the best earthbender? How did Toph invent metalbending? What secret lore was lost to Avatar history? Realistic Avatar maps, the San Andreas Fault, the Rise of Kyoshi, and world-ending earthquakes... Matpat would be proud!
#babylionturtle #atla #worldbuilding #avatartheory
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:32 - The Avatar Bible
03:01 - California's Deadly Fault
07:57 - Who are the Strongest Earthbenders?
11:00 - Avatar's Plate Tectonics
13:40 - The Four Nation's Earthbending Faults
17:54 - Toph's Seismic Sense
#avatarthelastairbender #avatar #avatarexplained #avatarlore #filmtheory - Krátké a kreslené filmy
To my lovely Chilian viewers: the Atacama Fault _is_ the world's most powerful, but it last ruptured in 1960. As such, the Californian Fault (which hasn't popped since 1906) has more energy stored up.
This video tied together so nicley, actuslly amazing job making this
Valdivian Migthy Earthbenders > Californian Gringuito Sandbenders
Bro, here in Chile we somewhat accurately guess the richter magnitude of an earthquake right after feeling it, and call anything below 6 "a little shake", most of the times not even bothering standing for something that small 💀we are already the strongest earthbenders by enviromental exposure alone, sorry (Japan would beat us on metalbending tho, I'd give them that).
But if you take that point Chile is more powerfull by simple mathemathics, California fault need +100 years to be a earthquake magnitud 8 (haha lovely) meanwhile Chile has energy enough to pop that energy in short cycles between 15 to 60 years max to get earthquake above 8,5. So maybe you are good (5 place) earthbender in this fictional world, but Chile will be the most powerfull place to give birth earthbenders, lavabenders and sandbenders, Japan will be the second with earth, lava and metalbenders and Indonesia will be 3 place with a lot o lavabenders. Is all about geographic and geoseismic base, even chilean peolple has a sense not that comon they can tell the magnitud of a tremor or earthquake and even know when will be one , so they are more related to Toph Beifong seismic see
@BabyLionTurtle I noticed in the video "12:12" the sound Colors of the Wind was playing.
I would imagine earthbenders near a fault line would also potentially make that fault line more likely to rupture
Strangely, I couldn't find a single reference to a genuine earthquake occurrence in all of Avatar's history. But I'd assume you're right... maybe a topic to explore in future movies/shows!
@@BabyLionTurtle Maybe tapping into the potential energy of the fault lines and switching it to kinetic energy through earth bending makes them less likely to result in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes?
@@HUNarutofan19 Ooh I like that thought! Also, it's the sudden jolt of movement that causes major earthquakes. Maybe because with earthbenders around the ground is always shifting, there's never much opportunity for friction to build up over dozens of years. I think IRL scientists are like drilling hole into various faults to try to release the potential energy in smaller, controlled amounts (not entirely sure though).
That was my first thought. It'd be dangerous to have strong earthbenders in somewhere like that.
Southern Utah/Northern Nevada would be more appropriate. spread around Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, Canyonlands, Glen Canyon etc. Surrounded by rock and desert.
@@BabyLionTurtle wouldn't earthbenders be able to neutralize the earthquakes?
The thing about Toph inventing metal bending right next to a massive fault line is too perfect, I wouldn't be surprised is this was actually intentional.
If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t even be disappointed if they made it canon later on
I think this is completely right and it was internacional. Because early in the series Toph tried to metal bend, unsucssesseful, but there se was abble to nitice something diferent, microscopics and little pieces of rock that was infused with the unpure iron during the casting. If there was something there she would spoted early in her life, cause that wasnt her first time, but when she tries that time she notice something different happenjng, so she focus some more and see the Earth in the metal that she could bend, so she tries some ways of do it until it happens.
To them, she had done that because they challenge her do it and it gave her motivation, but, as theres no Earth bend cities in that location, it mens that people doesnt even know that there is the most powerful place in the world to a earthbender. So, what really happens is they challenge the most prodige eartghbender that has the original earthbenders as masters to do one impossible thing on the ONLY place in the planet that this could be done.
I think the same way she needed to be there to Discovery this, one fire bender invented lightning during the comet, just like one water bender learns how to bloodbend during the full moon, and one monk learn how to free fly probably by the convergence (as air connects with life and that make the Air benders have spiritual connection, and in the futuro zahir learns how to do it by following the instructions from the first one as same a society of metalbenders rise from toph discovery). I really think it was intencional,
considering that the avatar bible itself literally talks about earthbenders drawing energy from fault lines, I would definitely not put it past the creators to have had a sense of where the fault lines are and either somewhat or fully intentionally did this on purpose
Its actually wild that all of the locations with high tectonic activity have powerful earthbending feats or cities there. It goes beyond coincidence, it makes me think the writers REALLY knew what they were doing when they built this world, down to the fault lines
Litteraly
Before this video, the show was the number 1 on my favourite shows. Now it is number 0
@@theflashgirl2057 😂 I haven’t heard this one before I’m so using that
@@theflashgirl2057 what a cs fan?
It's not uncommon for (non-lazy) world builders to figure out tectonic plates and their movement before world building. It is totally plausible that the writers and world builders _did_ knew all of these, especially since avatar has some of the best world building the industry has ever seen
Iroh being a double agent would have been painful
Not as painful as that love triangle
@@mgag2349 they're different kinds of painful
@@mgag2349 What's weird is that it's Aang not Sokka that the love triangle was built around...Like seriously?
@@flamesofchaos13 ummmm sokka and katara are siblings
@@mayalackman7581 Not like that. As in that if anyone would be caught in a love triangle it would be Sokka...Honestly even a triangle isn't enough angles.
In an alternative world instead of Sozins comet we'd have Bumis earthquake
The first earth bender was hun gar so it would be more like hun gars meteor
@@user-lh5op4he2t hun gars meteor? You mean Hun gars Earthquake?
@@user-lh5op4he2t the metor wasn't named after Sozin because he was the first Firebender, it was because he started the 100 Years War and used it to destroy the Air Nomads. In an alternative timeline, Bumi could have started it.
Damn. That’s actually well thought out. It’s small stuff like this that keep my imagination running when it comes to magical systems like this.
Yeah, I thought the video would be ranting that Californians were really stubborn
I think that earthbenders can sort of feel their strength increasing in those locations subconsciously. When she was at the fault line near her academy she must've just looked around and went "yep, this is the place" without necessarily knowing why at first.
she certainly didn't look anywhere
@@Rain0T right :-I SHES JUST SO COOL I FORGET SHES BLIND MAN
@@nonnegaardtoph and katara are the definition of girl power. It’s such good writing when they’re strong and a woman instead of strong because they’re a woman
@@bardockssj708 I liked the ba sing sei episode where they tried on makeup, truly impactful to strengthening their relationship
@@bardockssj708oh really? Because Netflix thinks the definition of girl power is cringey tv shows with op girls
It looks like a lot of work went into this one, and I really appreciate it. This idea could make earthbenders OP inside of mountains or on fault lines the same way that waterbenders are more powerful when it's raining or during full moons. I like that it's much more specific than just "underground" or "near lots of rocks." Any ideas on some more specific times or places that firebenders might be more powerful? Comets are too infrequent and the sun rises everyday, so it's not exactly a buff (unless it's been raining or overcast, i suppose).
A warm climate and great sources of heat will naturally increase Firebender's power. Hence the reason they rise with the sun and the comet is due to their heat and energy.
That’s an easy one. Firebenders would be strongest at the equator. The equator gets the full brunt of the sun while the rest of the planet get “glancing blows”… ,hence why SoCal down through to South America as well as most of the east coast to the Caribbean is Hot As Fuck.
In an outer space civilization, I imagine the greatest source of firebending would be a supernova, the dying burst of a massive star. It could definitely buff up firebenders from light years away, I’d imagine. Heck, I could totally see multiple independent scenarios where a supernova charged up every firebender on a planet to the point where they glassed their own civilizations to extinction by accident.
Summer or a Dry Season equivalent is their strongest time of year.
A drought. And not all hot weather would be good for water benders because i'd imagine humidity with weaken them but boost steam bending for water benders
I have another theory along this fault line theory: since the fault lines of California (along with Japan, Indonesia etc.) are very active, this would also be place of powerful firebenders because of the magma and tectonic plates being related.
We have basically added real world geological logic to a fantasy concept that is amazing... based on that, we can determine where in the world certain benders would exist.
Why would magma make fire benders more powerful?
@@joshuasgameplays9850 why wouldn't it? Firebenders draw there power from the Sun, yet they become more powerful from a comet. Magma coming up from Earth's core is basically firebenders getting closer to the power of the Sun within Earth. Basically; magma from fault lines brings firebenders to the original source of Earth itself.
Heat
Earthbending empires would also naturally rise and fall near these areas due to the strength buff, creating more long term earth civilizations in those areas. Honestly i need the ck2 avatar mod to add a tectonic buff to earthbending armies in the respective areas
@@oakuvalentine7734 As much as i like that mod, it's kind of a mess and it was abandoned 2 times, there is a skeleton crew working on it, if you know someone that knows how to mod they are accepting everyone
As a Californian, I used to want to be a firebender. Now, I want to be a earthbender.
Imo, Alaska would have the most OP Earthbenders since they have huge earthquakes.
There's a VR game called Rumble out there for you. :p
@heatherhuynh1630 I agree
Why would you want MORE fires?
@@kiwigummies I just thought it’s be cool because I’m a Leo and it’s a fire sign
Every other Avatar youtuber should be directly threatened by this video lol
a rising tide :)
@@BabyLionTurtle keep up the amazing work!
@@BabyLionTurtlelifts all boats
Tangent: it makes no sense that Azula was able to evade Toph in the caverns under the Fire Nation Palace.
You fail to remember Azula isn't just an ordinary being, that's a fire bender prodigy
She probably practiced there or in harsher conditions... She even evaded Aang
Plus it's a volcanic island. Magma moving through lava tubes all around would mess with her sonar.
This was surprisingly educational. Genuinely appreciate the geology lesson disguised as an Avatar video. 🤔😁
Imagine if Iroh actually wanted to teach zuko bad techniques. " No no no. Zuko you have to hold your breath when shooting fire. It comes from the muscles, not the air. That's why we're firebenders and not airbenders"
I wonder if they could use earth bending to keep the fault from snapping, while at the same time keeping it in a state of high stored up kinetic energy. Like they could literally farm earth bending energy by using fault lines. Maybe in extreme occasions with enough earth benders they could literally make fault lines on defensive positions against invaders.
I'd imagine that the constant earthbending around these faults would release some, but not all of the energy. When fermenting stuff, it's important to 'burp' trapped gas, or else the vessel will pop. Meaning that there would never really be a 'big one' like in real life, except for the one off the fire nation's coast, explaining the earthquake resistant japanese architecture.
Would you be able to post your colleague’s explanation on how he hypothesized where those tectonic plates were?
You can find sites online marking the tectonic plates
One could also say Florida would have the best Waterbenders. The entire state used to be swamp; the reason Florida lacks basements is that if you dig down 5 feet you hit water. Waterbenders would never be separated from their element.
Louisiana got them beat
Nah they be the first ever crack benders or chaos benders 😂
no exaggeration when I say that this is one of the best atla videos ive seen in recent memory. A take with good sources, good arguments, and good research and thought put into it, and its just really fun! I hope you had as good of a time making this video as I had watching it.
This video hit too close to home
1. Live in California
2. According to birthday I'm an earth bender
3. My name is ALEX
when you said that I immediately freaked out the algorithm went crazy today idk
haha but your Alyx is spelled much cooler
Some clarifications for the tectonics bits (to the best of my knowledge). In subduction zones one plate generally doesn’t weigh that much less then the other but an oceanic plate will usually subduct as it is thinner and denser. Also at strike slip boundaries the pressure builds up as the rock locks together as you mentioned furthermore the spot in which the rocks shatters becomes the focus of the earthquake from which point all the energy is released this is interesting for the Californian fault line as these focuses tend to be very shallow relatively speaking making the energy released from these greater on the surface and thus the earthquakes become even more intense. Hope this was interesting (no other way for me to use my GCSE geo lmao) also I loved the vid keep it up
I have thoughts...
The plates are not floating. While they do share many similarities with ice jams on a river, they do not properly float. The mantle is not liquid. It is in a state of plasticity; mostly solid-like, but not so much that it crystalizes (freezes). The lithosphere is the uppermost portion of the mantle plus the crust. Because of the mantle's plasticity, it's easier for the pieces of the lithosphere to glide across the lower mantle. But when they're not moving, they're simply sitting, much the same way you sit on a mattress or a bean bag chair.
Transform boundaries are far from the most devastating. True, because they tend to produce very shallow earthquakes, the intensity of those quakes is much higher in proportion to their moment magnitude than deeper quakes of the same magnitude. But the moment magnitude scale represents a tenfold increase in the amount of energy released in an earthquake for every whole point increase on the scale. So an M6 is ten times more energetic--and arguably more powerful--than an M5. The San Andreas is capable of an earthquake of M8.3 or so; certainly not above M8.5. Earthquakes of that magnitude are called megaquakes, and they happen at one type of fault and one type only: Megathrust subduction boundaries. This is why the only inland megaquake on record happened in the Himalayas. It is the only active subduction zone between two continents, with the Indian plate sinking beneath the Eurasian plate; all other subduction processes are currently happening between oceanic crust and lighter (usually continental) crust. The largest earthquake ever was the 1960 Valdivia, Chile quake. It registered 9.5, and was caused by the subduction of the Nasca plate beneath the South American plate. Because the Nasca plate is subducting rather quickly compared to many other plates, the earth above it is much more dynamic, experiencing more earthquakes, orogeny and volcanism than anywhere else in the Americas. The Andes are so exemplary of earth's dynamic crust that their style of construction is routinely referenced by geologists when comparing all other mountain building events. Earthbenders in the Andes would be much stronger than earthbenders in California.
Going by the logic of the show bible, earthbenders would be at their weakest far away from plate boundaries, such as out on the open ocean where there are no boundaries, or over the top of a continental craton. Cratons tend to form flat, low basins on continents, and these are often semi-arid to arid places. The Earth Kingdom is currently splitting into at least six different pieces, but it seems pretty clear to me that there is a craton beneath the southern portion of the Si Wong Desert, and another centered somewhere north of Ba Sing Se--likely the largest craton in that world. It is in these two places in the Earth Kingdom that an earthbender would be weakest. Similarly, earthbenders living around the southern shore of Hudson Bay would be weaker than any others in North America. This is the approximate center of one of the largest cratons in our world. Where it's exposed, it is called the Canadian shield. It covers most of Canada, over half the US, and nearly all of Greenland.
While it is plausible--likely, even--that Kyoshi manipulated an existing divergent plate boundary, she still would have had to create an entirely new microplate in order to effectively push her new island out to sea without pushing whole continents and oceans apart. Something that she would never be able to do without ripping open a new spirit portal anyway. This also means that her new plate--the Kyoshi plate--is subducting on its southern end beneath the plate to its south. We know it's subducting because there is land there that is older than the Kyoshi plate. Continental sprint such as this would've generated massive tsunamis and a supereruption of a new volcano. So yeah, the ten years of cold and famine that certainly followed were 100% Kyoshi's fault. Pun fully intended. She is so lucky Chin committed suicide in the name of pride, or the avatar would've been the world's sworn enemy for the next four generations.
While I admire the work put into the map you found, it's incorrect on multiple points. a) The elephant's trunk on the Fire Nation is SOUTH of a SUBDUCTION zone, not north of a rift zone. If you look at real world tectonic plate maps, overriding oceanic plates bow OUTWARD, not inward, and volcanic island arcs form purely as a result of this subduction, NEVER as a result of rifting. b) Andean style orogeny happens primarily due to offshore subduction zones, with Alaska being the only real exception in our own world, and even then it's only a partial exception. So the boundaries cutting beneath Andean style mountains are quite inaccurate. They need to all be offshore along at least 2/3 of their length. c) Since all sea-to-sea "rivers" represent straits where two continents are dividing, the divergent boundary separating the southern EK from the northwestern EK/URN needs to be directly beneath that strait, not beneath the mountains to the south. Those mountains are equivocal to the Ethiopian plateau. They are the result of rifting, but they do not sit directly on the rift. d) I will forgive the fact that there are so few plates, as the work is clearly only partway done, and minor and microplates are not shown. I am working on my own tectonic plate map, which will include microplates and speculative hotspots. But in the meantime, I am disappointed that the Kyoshi microplate was not shown, since that one is the center of your essay. e) Tectonic plates are named according to their most prominent geographical feature. For example, the Pacific plate is so named because it's beneath the Pacific Ocean. When Africa splits, the plate to its east will gain the name Somali plate, after Somalia, the tip of the Horn of Africa. So your plate names should likewise be named after their most prominent geographical features. The plate beneath the Mo Ce Sea would thus be named the Mo Ce plate. f) Oceanic triple junctions represent places where three plates are ALL diverging. Yet your plates show them converging at those points.
Toph's metalbending academy is in Yu Dao, the oldest colony. That colony is on the coast, not far from the edge of the Fire Nation. So no, it's not on any inland transform boundary far north of Republic City. Now, according to MY map, there IS a triple junction near Yu Dao. But more importantly, there is subduction happening to the south and west of that junction, and rifting happening to its north--and rift zones nearly universally come with transform faults along their margins. Even the San Andreas itself is the result of rifting that is opening the Sea of Cortez. So Yu Dao features all three plate boundary types, making it a very geologically dynamic area.
For more information on how to worldbuild from the cratons up, visit Artifexian's CZcams page and watch his series of videos on how to map tectonic plates and use G-Plates to literally build your world.
Wow, this is amazing actually! Thanks so so much for the write up and corrections (even for the Avatar lore like my Yu Dao mistake, which I realized soon after hitting upload). You're clearly the atla superfan/geology expert I should have consulted... shame I only get to hear your thoughts after the fact!
As for the Chilian Atacama Fault being the actual answer, I did come across it in my research. I reasoned, though, that since it experienced a major rupture so recently in 1960 that the San Andreas Fault has more friction energy stored up. I used the same reasoning for all the other prominent surface-level, strike-slip faults: the North Anatolian Fault (Turkey) last ruptured in 1999, the Philippine Fault was 1990, the Dead Sea Transform (Israel) was 1927, the San Andreas (near SF) was 1906, the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Fault (Japan) was 1858, the Alpine Fault (New Zealand) was 1717, and San Andreas (near LA) was 1690.
"The longer the interval between ruptures, the more devastating the big one will be." This is likely a pretty elementary understanding of the geologic, but it was a good enough explanation for my little video. And it of course helps that I know most of my audience is US based and that Wendover Production's California video had just gone viral.... Additionally, the last time I learned about any of this was in 7th grade earth science class so I'm honestly happy you found only a few brazen mistakes.
As for the map, I really had to trust u/AbyssalMapper with that one since I truly was out of my depth. Also, I added all the arrows myself since I was on a bit of a crunched timeline towards the end, so the divergence rather than subduction around the Fire Nations Islands was truly my own fault. Same with the Kyoshi island minor plate, but that would've been too in the weeds for the purposes of this video. AbyssalMapper did end up refining his map after our conversations ended and I think it addresses many of your concerns. Definitely have a look at it and maybe even reach out to him if you wanna be able to talk with someone who's at your same level. reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/13d4f4m
Once again, this comment was awesome (and props for being the first person to call me out for mixing up Yu Dao and Cranefish Town). I'll likely add to this series at some point with the other forms of bending, so if you know anything about lunar standstills or the geospatial regularity of passing comets then please lmk (via twitter/insta DM ideally)! Have a good one :D
@@BabyLionTurtle dude about the "recent" release of energy of the earthquakes on Chile, one important matter is that we have a very big earthquake somewhere on Chile every 10 to 20 years. And we are kind of afraid right now because we are do the next one.
Yes we had Valdivia in 1960, but we also had the 8.9 of Concepcion in 2010, and that's only 50 years. Earthquakes are so common in Chile that people not really care much about anything under 7.5, and we don't even acknowledge earthquakes under 5.5 (the ones between 5.5 to 7.5 we just meme them)
I mean is so common for us that know in September we celebrate the start of the process of our independence, we make a special drink (granadine, white wine and pineapple icecream) called "terremoto", terremoto means earthquake
OMG I love this. I wrote ATLA fanfic just to explore what earthbending would do to soil microbial activity.
If you want to explore the biophysics of Firebending reply to this and I can walk you step by step through the real world physics, chemistry, and biochemistry from sunlight, photosynthesis, mitochondrial metabolism, and the fantasy leap to Firebending.
oooh that sounds interesting! Would probably be easier to DM me on Twitter though (youtube comments kinds suck)
@@BabyLionTurtle I'm not on twitter. I'm technically on Instagram, if you count an an account I set up a couple months ago and never got around to more than 4 posts about my favorite tropical orchids.
@@hilarymajor3983 also there @BabyLionTurtle
But also you can share here if it's easiest!
YO I WANNA LEARN THIS BIOPHYSICS
@@lucysolomon5338 Ok basic breakdown. Plants use the energy in light, usually sunlight, to break apart the water molecule. Then the energy released in this reaction is used to combine carbon dioxide into sugar. The energy that is released is then stored in the carbon bonds in sugar, which is 6 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 6 oxygen. Stuff stuff stuff biochemistry - this basic molecule can then be turned into a lot of other types of molecules. If you want all the dirty details on photosynthesis, look it up on the Khan Academy tutorial youtube videos.
Have you heard the phrase, plants breath in CO2 and breath out O2, but we breath in 02 and breathe out CO2? and that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell? That's basically what is happening. When wood is burned, the energy in the carbon structure of the wood is released, as fire. When we 'burn calories' the energy in the sugar we eat is released, but in a very controlled way so that it can be used to create other molecules. This happens in the mitochondria using oxygen - breath. As in, 'power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles.' But both burning wood and burning metabolic calories is releasing the energy stored in the carbon bonds - energy that originally came from sunlight. 'You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun.'
So firebending would be taking this one step further - the energy released wouldn't just be used by the body for metabolism, but externally processed as fire.
Assuming all the types of benders are one word each (e.g. Earthbender, Waterbender), then Greatest Earthbender of All Time written as an acronym spells "GEOAT," which just so happens to have the letters Golf, Echo, and Oscar all written adjacently and in that order. Those letters form the English prefix "geo," which means "rock." It is of Greek origin.
Mad at myself for not recognizing that now haha
Rather than saying the strongest earthbenders would be in California I'd say the earthbenders are at their strongest while in California. Also having grown up near a fault line and thus having greater bending output wouldn't necessarily make you a great bender IMO (17:01). But I imagine starting out learning how to bend anything at all would be way easier there, especially with metalbending or, actually, any sub-bending.
But thanks for the GREAT video! I find it amazing that even after so many years there's still more to learn about the universe (I know you ended saying it's a theory but this is canon to me now 🙂)
I think growing up with access to so much power would help later on even in areas without fault energy. Like an athlete who gets to learn in the best gym with the best equipment has a lifelong advantage over others who had to rough it out from the start. And thanks so much for the kind words! This video's one of my favorites and I love that it's connecting with others too :D
@@BabyLionTurtle Really? I actually think quite the opposite. When you learn and get used to do something where/when it's easy to do you will probably falter when that element that makes it easier gone. And if you learn and develop a skill where/when it's hard to do you will probably perform that skill better than people that were always practicing it while it's easy on equal terms. Think about farmers physique. Most farmers has better physique and has greater strength and stamina than most people (natural of course) who's going to gym. Because they're working all day on harder conditions than people in the gyms with best quipment.
Toph was already a really great bender when she was captured. So when she was near the fault line, her abilities got amplified and allowed her to invent metal bending easier than anywhere on the nation. (Not saying she couldn't invent metal bending anywhere else, just saying it made it easier.)
Amazing content btw. I love it when people still talking about this show in passion after all these years.
Also interesting how Omashu which is Bumis home is also near the Zaofu fault line
Yes! And he too is a powerful earthbender! It's so fascinating how much it lines up, almost making it seem like it's not actually just a coincidence. So cool!
Wait if toph and katara were supposed to be in a love triangle with aang, then do u think that period after toph joined the group when her and katara would butt heads all the time was originally gonna be over aang? Im kinda glad they took that out because i cant see toph constantly butting heads with katara over a boy 😂 that definitely would have been out of character for the badass toph we know and love
Toph just woed everyone. Nobody was safe.
🤨
If it's true, than probably Netherlands, Poland and another mostly flat plains that are really far from any earthquakes can be place to prison earthbenders
I don't think it'd be a prison, but rather a shackle to their bending. A water bender is not striped of their bending because of a new moon, it only affect the amount of output you have in your bending.
@@minecomp8773 what op meant (probably) is that it would be easier to jail them there
@@user-op5gr7vr7e you are so right. Feel kinda stupid now, haha. Thank you for pointing it out
The perfect spot would be in the center pf an oceanic plate on a platinum boat
As a Californian, we'd also have the strongest Firebenders. Maybe tied with Australia.
Really? I'd think Indonesia would have the strongest ones, seeing as it's the region with the most volcanic activity in the world.
@@ThatWolfArrow our state is constantly on fire. There’s always some big wildfire happening.
Volcanic pacific islanders are laughing right now
@@kevinolmedo675 volcanic is more earth than fire
Arizona might be a fighting chance too in the fire bending world, although we might be sand benders who knows lol
Cali would also have strong waterbenders since they're on a coast and as another comment said, it'd also be a good firebender location. The east coast would trade the firebendering strength for airbending though (tornado alley, plenty of hurricanes) and maintain earthbending (appalacian mountain ranges) and waterbending (atlantic). Imagine the rivalry, the south complaining about about cali and they sprinkle in "and it's always on fire, those damn arsonists lovers" along with high taxes lol.
Best fan theory I think I've ever seen. It expands on the Canon story, makes complete sense, and only highlights one of the greatest characters/GREATEST Earthbender in the World (Don't you two dunderheads ever forget it).
Stop, you're gonna make me tearbend :')
toph in modern Avatar would definitely be an LA nepo baby
California's geological and volcanic terrain is so abnormal that anthropologists and archaeologists often have to use arbitary layering rather than layering techniques. This doesnt neccsarily mean that the layers arent there, but to differentiate them for time releated reasons,it is much easier to go straight to arbitary layering
I live in California. Before seeing this I wanted to be an earthbender now I REALLY want to be an earthbender! Also small earthquakes here are so common that I don’t even tell anyone anymore.
As an Earthbending/Metalbending fan (my favorite element by far) who lives in CA, this gives me hope
13:55 There’s an Avatar Bermuda Triangle, just look at the Hinokoku plate, the Chutuktang plate, & the Southern section of the Dzagbo-Nuin Plate.
Underwater fracture lines shall make a new island someday.
i legit always have had an affinity for earthbending, i have a great explanation now. living in chile finally has it's advantages
This is so underrated, you taught me more about the avatar world, toph, and tectonic plates than my school did. You're the goat, dude.
As a Californian of most of everyone who clicked this video, I can see myself as an earthbender. I live up in Northern CA which may also have airbenders since so many residents are connected with spirituality. Even as a Blue state we do have some red counties, and I can see Rupublican counties having the highest earthbender population while the blue counties have airbenders
Connected with spirituality? I didn't think a mini-nation of corporate simps and deluded weirdos had any real spirituality.
I see it the other way around.
Eh, it is not about how spiritual you are, it is essentially what kind of spirituality you have.
Air - Sky, free and unbounded, if an Airbender becomes too bound to earthly desires, their bending suffers
Water - Moon, changeable and adaptable
Fire - Sun, energetic and passionate, if a Firebender has no drive, their bending suffers
Earth - Land, grounded and enduring
@@theraven.4yeah, I don’t see any reliable way to make any of the bending types left or right wing.
E.g.
Air left - unbounded compassion, caring for all
Air right - unbridled freedom, all the way to the freedom to enforce your will on others (libertarian)
Earth left - we’re all people here, do good work get good treatment
Earth right - conform to society or else
Water - frankly this doesn’t have to do with any side, they’d just be pragmatic, vote with their family, and overall be much more likely to be corrupt
Fire left - fighting for the right to make your own life better
Fire right - fighting to enforce rigid societal rules for the sake of a stronger nation
I did not to expect to learn so much about tectonic plates and geography. School should show this video
It's not uncommon for serious worldbenders to start their worldbuilding from tectonic plates actually, and given how serious the Avatar team was with their worldbuilding, it's not farfetched to say they probably actually knew where those faultlines are and chose those locations for that reason. The city, the metal bending academy, and the place Toph invented Metalbending all being basically right on top of fault lines, with the place Toph invented mental bending being just miles at most from the biggest faultline on the planet, are highly unlikely to be coincidences. Thrice is a pattern.
dont forget Omashu being miles from one as well maby that is y king bumi is strong enough to go tow to tow with Toph
We know. Most Californian schools make it a point to let us know that we’re living on a sneeze waiting to happen.
The coincidences are insane… unless the series bible actually was that in-depth.
Also as a Californian, we all await the day the big one hits, we are way overdue. Hopefully we are avidly prepared for it v:
Its crazy how well the lore fits this theory
Phoenix Wright, Attorney of Japanafornia, has already been shown to be a powerful airbender through the anime adaptation. With this new information, we can understand why he could be an immensely powerful earthbender, as well as the rest of the attorneys.
This begs the question:
What would the bending rules be in the Ace Attorney world?
Something about slamming desks and tables really hard, I feel.
I LOVE this kind of content. You are doing amazing work here!
the writers some how made this geographic map work with toph getting her metal bending while connecting aang and saka trip back to save everyone and meeting back. Im just seeing this and think man this show is the best one of all time for a reason.
4:53 It has nothing to do with weight and everything to with density. The denser plate sinks beneath the less dense one.
Huh, this was pretty cool! I wonder where it'd be for the other elements?
I vote Iceland for waterbending. Their land naturally features both liquid, solid, and gas forms of water through the geysers, (and it's an island nation, obviously.) And waterbending is a lot about flowing and changing states. Though they don't got much of a connection to the moon, I guess.
Or maybe polynesia, though they also got a bunch of volcanoes and culture around them, so fire would probably fit well too. Idk
I really hope someone at avatar studios sees this and puts it in the new earth avatar's series, even if it's an off-hand comment from some academic type saying something akin to "They didn't know this at the time, but Toph inventing metal bending was likely assisted by her proximity to a major fault line"
I thought you'd have like 10x the amount of subs you have. You're insanely good
Uploading videos helps and I've been lacking there 😅
@@BabyLionTurtle Quality over quantity I say; animator youtubers live by that rule. You put so much effort into this video that honestly? The wait is more than worth it. Even if you stay a hidden gem, you won't be hidden from me anymore :) flameo, sir!
@@rainbowsuplex6057👆🏾
@@BabyLionTurtle I'm 10 months late and still agree with the above commenters, keep up the good work
Bro 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Man what kind of show is this?! I know there are some creative liberties taken here but it all works so well.The amount of nuance and understanding that can be extracted from this show is ridiculous. I can be in a therapy session one moment, to international relations and political science the next, then geography, or tech & innovation. It so easy to overlook the efforts in world building in this show but if you have a keen eye there is so much there. These guys came up with a gem, we are lucky to have all these brilliant minds mining the depths of this show, great job sir. It would be awesome if Mike and Bryan saw this.
Good to see my fun contribution here)
You helped turn the idea from good to GREAT!
what a legend
This is really fascinating! Though i was actually hoping the strongest place for earthbending was at the Great Divide, for the comedy of it.
This was a REALLY good video! Thank you for putting in the effort to research it!
I can't believe how good this video is. hats off! This is exactly why I'm subscribed!
Finally, one good thing to come from my state
Yeah, California for life.
Same!!
Do you think sandbenders could bend salt into people and like dehydrate them kind of like reverse water bending where you would draw water out from someone
The Swamp is also really close that fault line near Zaofu, and it's where Toph decided to go live out the rest of her retirement in.
Perhaps that helped enhanced her ability to sense things going on in the world, along with the trees in the swamp themselves.
I was 6 minutes into the video and i almost forgot this was an avatar video, your explanation on tectonic plates is very well researched as i see, i like it
As a Californian and a student who got a decent grade ( B) on geo course I agree this is true
Plate tectonics aside, the video glosses over a major aspect of bending as a whole. The mentality of each bending form and how it manifests in those that use it. Earth bending requires a hard, rigid way of focusing and dealing with issues head on; this is why an emotional person like Aang had so much trouble with it. Now, when you think of a group of people who are highly focused on tradition, uncompromising views, and a rigid social system, does California spring to mind. Yes, the geography "could" create strong earth benders, but the culture in the area would severely hamper the ability to utilize that power.
Yes actually. Especially the areas where the San Andreas is located. Sorry California doesn’t fit into your stereotype.
You know nothing of the local culture of the inland areas of California,you speak out of your ass. Like the man said,THE BEST Earthbenders would come from California.
I really just like the imagery of what would West Coast style earth bending be
I hope you make more of these! I would love to see which countries can be waterbenders, airbenders, and firebenders too!
Wow! Amazing breakdown! I'm officially mind-blown : )
I'm sure they didn't think this through that much when designing the world but these coincidences are amazing, and this video was really fun to watch
There's too many coincidences to say they didn't think this through when designing the world
I love the attention to detail and research that you put into this!
It had to have been a lot of work. Even if it coincidentally worked out the amount of thought that went into this series when creating this world is astounding.
such a cool video man! didn't think I would enjoy 20 minutes of this but I did every minute!
This is actually nuts
Philippines, Indonesia, IndoChina, China, Japan and Korea will be more of Fire Nation since there's tons of Volcanoes here especially in Indonesia and Philippines.
Liked this video! Since we're talking about potential energy.... Some geologically active areas that come to mind are Iceland - for its active spreading, the Himalayas... continental plate compression, and the Yellowstone Caldera - lots of potential energy there!!!
Absolutely excellent video. Loved the methodical breakdown of your thought process and research you did. Top quality video essay.
Much appreciated!
Does that means that Indonesia would have an insane amount of strong benders and most likely where the first Avatar will be born since Indonesia have all the things that makes any bender strong?
Earth Bender = Indonesia is in one Huge Fault Line
Fire Bender = Indonesia is in the Equator
Water Bending = Indonesia is a Rainforest Archipelago
oooh, maybe! How's the elevation... that's the secret for air!
@@BabyLionTurtleI mean, the Tibet is "kinda" close, if you ignore the actual distance.
Maritime south east Asia is practically perfect for an avatar like setting to be honest
Toph being Californian somehow makes a lot of sense, it's also really badass, some of my most wild friends are Californians
This is a very well put together video. I could tell alot of work went into it, earned a sub!
Nice!
I love how it all lined up well at the end.
Would this also mean that America would have the strongest fire benders as well because of the Yosemite super volcano?
Most likely the Volcanic Arcs from East Russia to Indonesia
Firebenders are powered by the sun. They'd be strongest on the equator.
@@Gaswafersmexican fire be ders
@zedant451 Mexico isn’t even close to the equator. More like Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia (with equator and volcanos, quite possibly best spot for firebending), etc.
@@TheNerd781Mexico is the closest you can get to the equator whitout being on the equator.
Since Mexico is a high elation country while being a dry and hot climate, wouldnt that make fire bender stronger aswell?
Would airbenders be more powerful in things like windstorms and tornados? Where would the most powerful airbenders be created at? Pls do another one this style for air bending c: subbed and liked
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma... "Tornado Alley," it's sometimes called.
Could also pick anywhere by the sea or with strong Monsoons. Chinook winds might work too.
@@normanclatcher I know Georgia has to worry about tornadoes, and while I haven't seen one myself the amount of watches and warnings are crazy.
@@DeezNuts-ju1rj there's your answer.
The island of South Georgia.
@@normanclatcher The state, not the country, nor the south American Island in the pacific.
Any high places, or places with naturally high winds.
Airbenders are obviously based on Tibetans, so the Himalayas are an obvious pick. Any major mountain ranges, really.
New Zealand’s a good pick - the area around the Cook Strait is one of the windiest in the world, and then you have the Southern Alps nearby.
The cliffs of Ethiopia just _look_ like airbender territory.
I’d say there’d be good airbender pickings along the south and east of the Appalachians, since even though the mountains aren’t that high, it’s in fairly close proximity to Tornado Alley, and there’s the odd hurricane as well.
Much of the South American Plateau - Argentina, Bolivia, Chile… all with extensive mountainous terrain, high winds, etc.
_Switzerland._ High in the Alps, isolated, completely unwilling to play by anyone else’s rules… Monaco and Luxembourg as well, for that matter.
Your videos affect me in the strangest ways. 2 weeks ago, I had a dream that me and my friend drove into a ravine/chasm in the middle of a highway. Now 3 days after watching your video I'm researching tectonic plates. I haven't done anything like this since high school (geography is not my jam). Let's see where this goes
P.S. Bonus points - recently got 2nd place in a trivia night because of a random fact I recalled from one of your 30-minute videos I watched a while ago. So, thanks! Also, I'm loving the updates on the upcoming LA show & the animated movies. You are the main source for this stuff, and I love watching your videos. Keep up the good work, man!
Strange stuff indeed! If you end up becoming a trivia champion now you better send me a check haha (jk jk.... unless?)
Okay this is one of my favourite videos, this is amazing
Iroh as a bad guy is just a weird concept to me, I mean he technically was a bad guy when he was younger but only in the same way Zuko was in the sense that he was indoctrinated but you know what I mean. Besides being a double agent like that is more like Azula levels of evil.
Also wow, what a scientific breakdown of this fictional world and system
i thought this video was gonna be cool until you reminded me that i could die from a devastating earthquake in california :)
Kinda interesting that both avatar and FMA has some form of tectonic plates thing where these powered folks draw their power from there.
"airbenders cannot fly like peter pan"
baby lion turtle: *fake cough* zaheer
me: *fake cough* guru laghima
Imagine fighting an army of tophs and they all talk with valley girl accents and have dyed hair
Next up, why Hawai would make the best fire bender. Why Colorado will make the best air benders, why Florida will make live under water
Honestly Florida probably would make the best water benders, since it has a lot of swamp but also a lot of coastline, and it rains a lot in the summer.
What a great video! I love that you did a lot of research for it which doesn't go unnoticed. I enjoyed the creativity behind this as well as the artwork from the amazing artists featured within! Awesome job!
Because of its unique location, under the side of a cliff, do you think the Western Air Nuns or Air Nomad Council commissioned or enlisted Earth benders to help build the Western Air Temple?
The amount of work here is insane i love it. These Avatar content are harder to come by
❤️
the part where he said "Or maybe Toph just reads the bible" I was like . . . SHE CANT READ!
its funny because of how many blind jokes Toph makes at her own expense and others stupidity is played off of by Toph by constantly having to remind them that she is infact blind.
Fire Nation = America/Europe
Air nomads = Asia
Water tribes = Africa/Antarctica
Earth kingdoms = Australia
It's very hard to categorize these landmasses into different groups for the fact that they are so big and different bending types probably differ even in the same landmass, like how greenland would have water benders even though living in North America and such. Also, I don't see some of these landmasses having the majority benders that you have picked, Air nation as Asia? Seriously? I think I would pick fire nation if I had to. Is this even based on locations or is there something different?
(I shouldn't have laughed when the water element was categorized with Africa, I'm so sorry)
As practical as Australia containing earth Kingdoms, the country lies neither on, nor near any fault lines, so we don't experience earthquakes. if anything, fire bending would be more common as we have the worst, and some of the most consistent wildfires in the world, along with dry heats and constant cases of droughts.
This is based on stereotypes of the people and not landmasses or geographical locations
Your video made me realise how happy I am that I took geography this year. Would have loved to have watched your video before my paper 1 exam that included tectonic hazards. Finally have a reason to have chosen geography.
Ive actually thought about this idea of benders in the real world and where they would most likely reside. For water benders that choose not to be in the Artic or Antarctic regions or an island in the middle of the ocean. They'd stick close to either ocean coastlines or living in lake or river towns. Firebenders would stick to hot dry climates like desert regions. Earthbenders would most likely live in places that are prone to earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. And airbenders would choose mountain regions since they can live in the high altitudes without much issue. I can imagine cities like Denver or villages in the Himalayas being full of airbenders since they are high altitude settlements.
BLT is back babyyyy
and better than ever!
@@BabyLionTurtle awesome! Love to have you back. Can we get a suggestion/speculation video concerning all the new info we got on the new AtLA movie (like maybe an in-depth analysis on the leaked image we've seen so far?l) Love your content!
If California has the best Earth Benders, Does that make Florida the best crackbenders?
I have this playlist where I just stock up on really interesting video essays or discussions.
I don't get too many videos into that playlist.
This one's DEFINITELY going there.
This is the best compliment
As a Californian with the earth nation Symbol tattooed on me, just the title of this vid is enough for me
The science mixed with worldbuilding stuff was all great, but I think your most compelling point is that Toph would be a trust fund nepo baby from LA. And she'd definitely develop a coke addiction in her twenties.
Californians boutta overthrow the firelord
This was a long video to explain what we already knew. That Toph is the GOAT. Seriously though, this was a great deep dive.
Glad to know my "hypothetical" earthbending would be insano style in comparison to other people. I'm putting this knowledge to good use.