How Amon Really Took Bending Away | Legend of Korra

[HelloFutureMe]

He uses bloodbending + reverse water healing. also, my pet theory is that Amon wasn't lying about the spirit giving him the ability. that would've been way cooler. What's YOUR theory?

~ Tim

[TheBookNerd]

I assumed he did whatever chi-blockers like Tai Lee but “permanently, ” using the blood to constantly hit those pressure points/block those chi channels

[MasonMakesStuff]

I just thought he collapsed the blood-flow to the theoretical part of the brain that controls bending

[KingFlameHawk]

Given that this ability seems to require both the ability to blood bend and place his hands directly on the victims forehead, I have always assumed that it involves blood bending the brain in some way. Like it doesn't actually take the bending away, it just prevents the brain from being able to do the actions necessary to bend.

[Poke-ladd]

Would blood bending be the opposite of water healing? Since it’s aggressive and the exact opposite to the original teachings of water bending

[KuroOokami]

I mean Chi blockers exist and they do the same thing by hitting pressure points, though since it's a body striking technique it's only temporary, but I imagine they can mess someone up enough to do serious, maybe even permanent damage. I think Amon is just the first after Aang to discover how to wreck the Chi pathways through bending. Even the Lion Turtle said that before bending the elements people learned to bend the energy within themselves so maybe it's actually an older technique than even we realize. I'm not so sure it takes more power as much as it does understanding, and understanding is one of the biggest struggles anyone can face, even the struggle to understand yourself. It's the difference between using a knife and using a scalpel. Both require the ability wield a blade but the difference is in how you apply it.
Honestly, with the OG Avatar series I kinda thought we'd get more stuff about the power within since people were said to have learned how to bend, implying that bending could technically be a skill as opposed to something inherited as we later learn bending was entirely a gift from Lion Turtles... I mean, cool, but it kinda ruined a lot of potential, and mystique for me. I am glad though that people later turned out to be air benders, so maybe there is something to unlocking the energy and potential within. I think that's why Zaheer got his powers, not by chance, but by diligent study aided through that Harmonic Convergence. At least, that's my own explanation and head canon. Honestly, Korra had quite a few problems with its writing, but I blame Nickelodeon, the company, more than I do anyone that worked on the show.
Definitely gave us some interesting talking points though.

[bloodtingeproto]

This is an interesting theory, but idk if it holds water (hehe). It's been a while since I've seen the show, but I remember that Katara had specifically said she could not restore Lin's bending, and she was known for being very good at the water healing technique. If Amon's version of removing someone's bending was just the "reverse direction" of water healing, I would think that you could just undo it by using water healing in the "correct direction", right? I had always thought Amon specifically was using his blood bending to block the chi flow at the critical nodes, like how a chi blocker hits the pressure points to block chi flow and "turn off" bending, but in a more "permanent" way. Maybe you could even say it's even similar to how Aang's chakras were blocked, preventing his access to the Avatar state.

[Truck-kun]

Simple, it uses the same logic as chi blockers but at a much more extreme level with the use of bloodbending, which prevents the body from recovering and makes the effect permanent.

[hyperdreamer]

I mean it was said by Tarlock that he’s somehow using Blood Bending to do so since it was only after Tarlock lost his bending did he recognize his brothers Blood Bending grasp

[Ктоя-ьм]

I always thought that he just clocked the veins of his victims with his super mega freaky bloodbending abilities

[anstrengthkobold]

Water healing + blood bend + knowing how chi works via chi blocking

[SiriusGalilei]

I’m glad someone else thought of this theory as well, I always thought that since the healing abilities waterbenders use require using the body’s chi pathways, and the way chi blockers stop people from bending is by hitting specific pressure points that correspond to the chi pathways that control a person’s bending, Amon using Bloodbending to take another’s bending away must be by messing with a person’s chi path. In my personal theory, Amon messes with the chi pathways so irrevocably that it removes their ability to bend, and is also why afterwards the person in question looks so physically weak, because messing with with their chi paths has such a negative effect on the body, like how we see Tahno after the probending tournament. But also by that logic, theoretically it could be possible for a waterbender to repair those chi paths so the person could regain their bending. But again that is only a theory

[johnnydarling]

I don't know if canonically he's the only one who can, just that he's the only one who is doing it.

I mean, theoretically anyone can physically cripple anyone else, but there's probably not many who are going out of their way to purposefully do that.

[stygiansage]

There are very scary forms of bending that haven't been seen yet we are talking horror film levels.
Every element has scary forms, blood bending is just the top of a scary iceberg.

[jodashi]

This also power scales him over Katara who was not able to heal Korra and undo his damage

[hirshtveria]

Must be why he described this ability as being bestowed upon him by the spirits despite the show never explicitly depicting as being able to meditate into the spirit world, having had contact with spirits, etc.

[mister_r]

I just thought it was some kind of lobotomy, or otherwise messing the part of the brain that controls bending.

[MasterSpartan]

Bruh the bots filling this comment section like wildfire

[Gronmin]

He's the only one that can do it, cause the writers needed it to be that way cause they got lazy and needed a way to make the villain arbitrarily fit into their box

[TheBookNerd]

If water healing is just reverse whateverthefuckAmonwasdoing, then can we expect a new “class” or role for waterbenders who support teammates directly through supporting the chi pathways? Maybe they could also help smooth over fatigue and minor injuries from strain.