Avatar: The Forbidden Earthbending Technique Explained

While the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korrahas fun ways to use elemental bending (e.g. air scooter), it also features some quite frightening bending abilities. The waterbender Hama introduced Katara to what would become an outlawed practice throughout the world: bloodbending. While she did her best to make it illegal, we have seen an evolved version of the art in the first season of The Legend of Korra, with Amon, who could take away bending through bloodbending.

Another horrifying practice has been seen through the newly awoken airbender Zaheer. Unlike Air Nomads who preach non-violence, Zaheer, the third season’s main antagonist and anarchists the Red Lotus, spread chaos wherever they went. His most notable airbending discovery besides flight, was the ability to take someone’s air from their lungs. This is how he tried to destroy the Earth Kingdom’s monarchy when he attacked the queen.

While bloodbending, and Zaheer’s use of airbending are terrifying arts, there is one forbidden earthbending technique that is even more frightening: bonebending. The secret art has been kept buried way before Aang’s time, but might have been used under noses all along. In today’s video I will discuss the tragic origins of bonebending, how the Earth Kingdom kept it a secret, the possibilities of the technique, and how Toph Beifong has been using it since she left the Metalbending Police Force to roam the world.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:45 The Origins of Bonebending
2:58 Bonebending Abilities
4:37 Toph Beifong, Bonebender

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Written by: AGV
Narrated by: Jacoby Bancroft
Edited by: MA

[Dragonflyjones]

The first person that close to bone-bending is King Bumi. He went from hunchback to a fully grown muscular man in a matter in seconds.

[raymondraptorclaw]

It’s amazing how after all these years, we’re still talking about and discovering new theories about ATLA

[EEGmaghrabi]

King bumi was actually really strong and he cracked his back before a fight with aang. He probably had control over his bones too

[Nertot]

Bone-bending could potentially amount to a form of healing for Earthbenders, like for helping bones/joints heal or re-aligning broken bones from severe fractures.

[SarutaValentine]

As King Bumi said: you’ve got to open your eyes to the possibilities! This is why Bumi and Toph are both respected masters in their own right.

[Juanakas]

I think you’re forgetting to consider the way ancient earth bending techniques that we saw from King Bumi only subtly in ATLA also incorporates bone bending. If you read the Kyoshi novels you should know there’s also Lao Ge who teaches Kyoshi about the ancient earth bending techniques that basically lead to immortality. It involves remaining completely stagnant in growth, like the earth. The results of this are physically evident as you basically don’t age by paying attention to the way your body and bones decay, and then bend them back in places that help extend your lifespan by many years. Mentally you must also remain stagnant, which is probably why Bumi was always so childish. Kyoshi was able to live for 230 years practicing this technique and who knows how much Bumi was able to do with it but at the end of ATLA he was 112. This is mega OP.

[matthewlevinson]

No, the forbidden earthbending technique is when two earthbenders each stand on a boulder and then lift each other's boulder with earthbending, thereby ascending into the stratosphere.

[jamie]

You talked about toph being still active and op at her old age, but you could have mentioned kyoshi and how she lengthen her life to 230years so maybe toph had been doing the safe thing rebuilding the dying parts of her body

[sillyjellyfish]

I like this idea. I also love the possibility of teaching water benders techniques of blood bending for the sole purpose of non-invasive surgeries. Like sure, many things could be healed with the usual water techniques, but should a person develop a tumor or should there be complications while giving birth or some similar event, doesn't it make sense to use the blood to create tiny ice blades, cut the tissue in question from within without damagung any other area, then passing it out by let's say moving it (via blood bending by literally grabbing the chunk of tissue) out by passing it in stool or something, or assisting in the birth by literally dragging the baby out from the uterus? I can see the modern era Avatar world having stuff like bloodbending and bonebending medical licenses.

[jaredhoward]

In the Kyoshi novels there is a legend of an earthbending technique where you keep yourself young forever by earthbending the microscopic elements in your body. It’s actually how Keyoshi was able to live for 200+ years

[RaindropsBleeding]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the line "are you telling me you can't feel metal inside your own body?"
Toph 1000% understood the calcium in her bones and would have applied bonebending to mend them.

[vegitoblue]

tbh bonebending sounds like a double edged sword. It can be lethal while also being used to mend broken bones I guess

[PartigradeCannon]

I'm pretty sure the reason Toph was so spry in her old age compared to Korra was because 1: Korra still had residual mercury poisoning, and 2: people in Avatar age with a lot of grace. Bumi was over 100 and he was incredibly spry, and there was Monk Gyatso's friend who was pushing 150 thanks to his diet of banana onion juice.

[MM-dwir]

If a bonebender is creating more bones in their body, then i feel like this implies that they are creating material, such earthbenders can’t do

[HittingBandy]

Toph: "I opened up a police department, and now am overseeing the populace so that no one breaks the rules"

Also Toph: "Forbidden arts? I ain't Katara"

[freslieslieson]

Has anyone noticed how Bumi turn from a hunchback old man into the strong build earthbender warrior?

[justsomejerseydevilwithint]

4:43 Spiritual Earthbenders seem to have a thing for long lives; Avatar Kyoshi lived to over 400 years, and Toph is still in her prime. I would LOVE To see toph teach the next avatar how to REALLY earthbend. Imagine her hobbling out of the swamps with a Meteoric Iron Cane, only to wipe the floor with a THIRD avatar.

[derianvandalsen]

Not a single mention of Kyoshi and her advanced age...

[georgeuferov]

I was wondering — when Aang learns to open his chakras, guru teaches him about seven chakras — four for Water, Earth, Fire and Air and also chakras of Sound, Light and Mind. Can it mean, that there's theoretically possible to have soundbendind, lightbending and mindbending, but for some reason nobody did

[skipper]

Next, the forbidden fire subset, using lightning bending to control the neurons in someones brain. When used on yourself you could increase your thought capacity, when using it on someone else, you could quite literally make them unable to think.

Edit: or cause a seisure.

Edit 2: Guys this was a joke. I don't actually think this is possible.