r/ATLA • u/BlitzFade • Jun 25 '25
Question If there was a fifth element what would it be ?
I think I would enjoy the concept on time bending
1.) they would live underground 2.) only a few 3.) limited time powers
Edit : spirit or energy don’t count cuz I want the element to have their own civilization or something.
Time powers
1.) regeneration : heals or restored damaged relics or items
2.) foresights : shows you want happened at a particular place in the past
3.) pause : you get to completely freeze time in your radius ( let’s say 10 meters ), this also freezes you but everyone is still conscious and it lasts for as long as you can hold it
4.) age shifting : can change the age of anything or anyone by touching them : lasts for a really short period of time
5.) temp recall : look at past memories of someone by touching their heart
Advance moves
Reset : this move can be only done by the times keeper ( the strongest time bender) it resets time within the past 24 hours
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u/simplyfloating Jun 26 '25
maybe Light Bending. would be able to cast oneself in shadow, superheat objects, distort the image around oneself
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u/lochodile Jun 26 '25
In terms of substances you find in nature, this is the best idea so far. Light doesnt fit into any of the other ones except maaaaybe fire
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u/NumberVectors Jun 26 '25
yes! 😁 my siblings and i love pretending to be benders and we always come up with new bending types. i "invented" light bending lol
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u/Pytagoras_squared earthbender. Jun 26 '25
That's cool but I don't know about superheat objects because can't fire bending already do that.
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u/simplyfloating Jun 27 '25
this would be like microwaving something without fire. you could say magma bending is another heat source for a non fire bender 🤷♂️
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u/Takamurarules Jun 27 '25
Then as it’s opposite, you can have Shadow Bending.
Now that I think about it, that’s the crux of Yin and Yang energy in Naruto
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u/Efficient-Tie-4233 Jun 26 '25
maybe wood? fits the chinese elements since metal is looped in with earth
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u/Nolear Jun 26 '25
I don't see how wood wouldn't be included in water bending just as plants in general already are.
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u/Lord_Derpington_ Jun 26 '25
Plant bending is really just bending the water within vines etc. Bending the substance of wood itself would probably be different enough to be its own element
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u/starfire92 Jun 26 '25
I mean there’s water in air as well and it is its own element.
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u/Nolear Jun 26 '25
That's not following the logic of the show, though. I think the idea is to brainstorm based on the show lore.
Plant-bending is inside water-bending.
Air-bending is its on thing, and "there's water in the air" is not something coming from the show, you are retrieving this from real life.
Clouds are composed by water and then are bended with water bending. This is something from the show.
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u/imonmyphoneagain Jun 26 '25
I’m pretty sure it is within the show. Doesn’t Hama mention they kept the air dry in the fire nations prisons for the water benders as to make sure they couldn’t bend anything? She’s also seen pulling water out of air. Also (and it’s been a while since I’ve seen the show so correct me if I’m wrong) but during a scene where Katara confronts Jet she pulls water out of the air?
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u/Nolear Jun 26 '25
I don't think Katara does that when confronting Jet because she learn that only in book three, but you are correct for the rest from the show.
They pull water from the air, and that's very different from bending air with water in it.
I think Katara does bend vaporized water at some point but, again, that might be interpreted as just bending the water within the air, not bending the air with the water (the text is getting very confusing but I think you can get the idea I am trying to get through).
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u/JustAnArtist1221 Jun 26 '25
Plant bending isn't its own thing. Toph and Katara can bend mud because they're controlling half of the material in it. Aang made ice with air bending. The show openly acknowledges that you can exploit chemistry to do unique tactics. Aang controlling clouds was a mix of water and air bending. We literally see air nomads in Wan's time manipulating clouds of some kind.
The swamp benders are not controlling plants. They manipulate the water found in the vines just like metal benders control the earth found in metals. If you remove the earth impurities, you can't bend it. Same with the plants and water.
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u/DanceWonderful3711 Jun 26 '25
I don't know if you've ever watched any Turkish films, but this is a joke in a parody film called G.O.R.A. they're making fun of the 5th Element and he keeps thinking one of the elements is wood.
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u/TroyBenites Jun 26 '25
Organic bending would be very OP. Wood and plants I think it is pretty balanced and well thought.
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u/CooCooCachoo312 Jun 26 '25
If you’ve watched Naruto I feel like there’s some good examples of what wood bending wood look like there
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u/runnytempurabatter Jun 27 '25
If I'm not wrong alchemically wood is just a combination of Earth and water?
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u/luxafelicity Jun 26 '25
I would say "spirit" would be the other element. Like maybe a subset of benders besides the Avatar that have a deeper connection to the spirit realm than the average bender, but not as connected as the Avatar. I could see them being almost apostles of the Avatar, helping them resolve minor conflicts with spirits (but of course if it's major the Avatar would deal with it instead). Iroh would count since it's canon that he's been to the spirit realm. As far as I know, we don't hear about anyone else but Iroh and the Avatar doing this (though I haven't seen Korra or read the comics so I could be wrong).
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u/gannmonahan Jun 26 '25
without spoiling much, spirit bending is in korra, it’s a subset of water bending used to pacify dark spirits, or the inverse and antagonize regular spirits.
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u/randubis Jun 26 '25
Leeloo Dallas multipass
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u/Swimming_Peacock97 Suki best girl Jun 26 '25
THANK YOU. I was gonna comment this if I didn't find it, lmfao.
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u/Early_Bag_3106 Jun 26 '25
I came here to write this, and I just did before seeing your comment hehehe
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u/The-Mythical-Phoenix Jun 26 '25
There already is a fifth element.
The elemental system follows the western classical elements, with the use of air, water, earth, fire, and energy substituting the fifth element: Aether.
The thing is, energy as the fifth element doesn’t behave like the others and is mostly exclusive to the world, spirits, and the avatar. It’s how Aang and the Lion turtles are able to remove and take away bending.
Now if one wanted to, they could expand upon energy bending’s capabilities, but I honestly rather not. The beauty in this world is the fact that the magic system is so simple yet so complex. There’s so many layers you can still play with in interesting and fun ways, and there’s little reason to develop the tool that’s already exclusive to your strongest character. If anything, developing it would make writing fights harder.
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u/BlitzFade Jun 26 '25
That’s that’s what I meant I want a new element that comman people can master and acts like fire water air and earth not like the purple energy bending sorry if it wasn’t clear enough
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u/Strange-Bottle-6518 Jun 26 '25
The Element of Surprise
https://tr.rbxcdn.com/180DAY-54f903a7f15d3c09a66f35f967b40da8/420/420/Hat/Webp/noFilter
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u/Duke-Countu Jun 26 '25
And fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.
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u/Itchy-Mix2173 Jun 26 '25
Either gravity or “Void”, the power of “nothingness”
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u/Agent_Radical Jun 26 '25
I feel like this would be a subset of air bending, it reminds me of the theory that gyatso created a vacuum when he died and suffocated all those fire nation soldiers
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u/Living_Murphys_Law Jun 26 '25
Well, there's a lot of Chinese/east Asian references in the show, and Chinese culture has a system of 5 elements called Wuxing: Fire, earth, metal, water, and wood.
Obviously this doesn't quite line up with the Avatar elements, which are taken more from the Western elements model. Wood and metal are the ones that Avatar doesn't already have, and metalbending is kinda a thing anyway. So it'd make most sense for it to be woodbending.
Of course, we have the swamp guys who can bend vines around, but that’s not quite the same as woodbending.
So yeah, I think wood would make sense as the fifth element
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u/The-Mythical-Phoenix Jun 26 '25
I don’t agree. If it takes from a western model, then it should go all the way, especially when the idea is to combine east and west ideas and cultures to create something new.
The elements are the western influence, and their symbolism is heavily influenced by eastern philosophies like Taoism.
With this in mind, we already have a fifth element that’s very reminiscent of the west’s 5th element Aether. It’s called energy bending. The avatar and so far the avatar alone is capable of bending the energy within themselves and others.
Plus, as others have pointed out, wood bending would also be redundant, as the water in plants can lead to plant bending already.
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u/haizydaizy Jun 26 '25
Pretty sure its spirit. We have spirit bending already.
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u/Mr_Squeaky_Voice Jun 26 '25
No, spirit bending is just another sub-bending within water bending.
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u/haizydaizy Jun 26 '25
I mean like what Aang did to Ozai to take away his bending. That's what I called it before Korra came out anyway.
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u/rzezzy1 Jun 26 '25
The name I usually see for that is energy bending. The lion turtle said something like "before the avatar, we bent the energy within ourselves"
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u/haizydaizy Jun 26 '25
That's what it was! My mind logged it as spirit bending because his spirit had to overcome Ozai's
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u/davidtwk Jun 26 '25
How didn't anyone think of light yet?
They would be able to create light, take it away (create darkness), bend it to disrupt vision or if the bender is skilled enough even create false visions for people. An add-on power could be focused light like laser or something, or turning the light ultraviolet or even stronger so it's radioactive. Also being able to see in the dark
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u/Agent_Radical Jun 26 '25
plasma but it would only be relevant in a more modern / developed city type of world
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u/MartianGovernor Jun 26 '25
The team actually considered using the Chinese five-element system but decided against it because Western audiences were more familiar with the four elements of ancient Greek origin. Plus, the Chinese system is far more complex. If this were anything but Avatar, one could view this decision as lazy or underestimating the intelligence of the audience. Obviously, that's not the case. I see it as a wise application of the KISS principle.
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u/Early_Bag_3106 Jun 26 '25
There is actually a 90s movie about it. It was love. Pretty good sci fi film.
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u/demeter1993 Jun 26 '25
I'm thinking light bending. I know fire is technically light bending, since zuko had that realization about it, but I'm talking about having the ability to take away all light in a room, blind people with a flash of light, bend light to make someone look invisible, make it look like it's day when it's really night.
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u/spazz54163 Jun 26 '25
Sorry but I had to.
As to contribute to the conversation. It would be hard to think of another element as most things would be a blend of two or more bendings. Ie wood bending would be a combination of water bending and earth bending to control the water and minerals in the wood or other plants.
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u/Altruistic-Repeat231 Jun 27 '25
The thing is the series is so perfect with just 4, everything else can fit as a sub bending of something else. Regardless there already is a fifth element, Energybending.
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u/DoubleFlores24 Jun 27 '25
Wood. Legit that was the plan for the original series since China has five elements, earth, air, fire, water, and wood. But they streamlined it to four elements to make it more simpler to Western audiences.
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u/silvermoonbeats Jun 27 '25
I mean i feel like there kinda is a fith bending style in energy bending that we see anng do. Macey in a more defined sense it would become like Tai Lee's chi manipulation and blocking just at range.
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u/Jazzlike_Air_5042 Jun 27 '25
5th element would probably be something along of the lines of talking to/being able to control animals, manipulating plants and trees not through water but through “life”
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u/ErikEatsStuf Jun 26 '25
Spirit bending. Kinda like Pokémon, but before you are born, you appear in the spirit realm and choose a spirit to be your companion. Then the spirit and you would work like one body for the rest of your life, and you get a free pass to the spirit realm instead of death.
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u/TheUnaturalTree Jun 26 '25
I have thought of a time traveling avatar setting for a ttrpg. One where the avatar has mastered time travel and now there's an 'avatar force' made up of avatars from different eras. They select avatars from eras of peace and teach them how to keep balance across the timeline. I'm not sure if I would have done that with time bending but it seems similar enough to mention. :3
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u/Aeon1508 Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
We already have a 5th element. Energy bending.
So far the only thing we've seen it used for is to take away people's bending.
But I think if you really just tried to harness the peer energy you could do some DBZ style stuff. I mean what was it that the spirit cannon in legend of Korra that the giant death robot was firing? Spirit Energy right? Imagine that just coming from a person. Honestly seems pretty close to what sparky sparky boom man does
If we're going by the classical five elements then the fifth one is aether in Greek or void . Aether is what the heavens and stars are made out of so space.
And since space and time are kind of the same thing then you're spot on that it would be time. Warping space and time. lots of teleporting and weird mind fuck stuff like from inception.
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u/Lyberatis Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
There isn't a 5th whole element.
The four elements are based on early alchemical ideas about the most basic elements that all things are made of: Earth, water, fire, and air
Alchemy was widely recognized and studied until the ideas of modern chemistry were developed because the 4 basic elements of alchemy were simple, yet reasonable to attribute to all known matter. Even if you used states of matter like solid, liquid, gas, and plasma, you could still attribute all of them to the four elements in alchemy and in ATLA.
After alchemy we developed (pre-)modern chemistry, which involves the periodic table of elements which makes the number four look like a joke, and all of them are so specific it would be impossible to make a story world based off of it without feeling like you're just cramming them all in to make a point while half of them would be functionally useless
A "5th bending" in ATLA is "energy" bending, which is solely in-universe; bending the equivalent of a "soul".
That's the extent of it. Everything else can and would be a sub-type like electricity, sand, metal, blood, vines, vacuum, etc.
Time is a completely different branch of science than the elements in ATLA are derived from, and would be unequivocally broken in the ATLA universe. Literally nothing could compare. In the MCU it would be like the Human Torch vs a reality warper. Simple fire doesn't do much when the opponent can bend the laws of space and time.
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u/Voidgazer24 Jun 26 '25
5th element according to ancient greeks was void. 4 elements idea originates with them.
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u/Winter_Soldier05 Jun 26 '25
I kinda feel like energy bending is already the fifth element, even if it’s unique to only the Avatar though.
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u/Crash_Sans Jun 26 '25
I like the concept of sound bending. Idk how it would work but I'm kinda on the ideas of like pitches that disrupt your chakras or can stun you.
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u/Guard_Dolphin Jun 26 '25
I remember reading a fanfic where there was energy bending (not its actual name I just forgor) and they could re-direct elemental attacks sent at them. It was more of a defensive strategy as if they didn't attack you, then you couldn't attack them and the attacks deflected were less powerful. I thought it was pretty balanced, maybe even weaker than other attacks, and only being able to direct energy allows the power of the avatar to stay on top.
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Jun 26 '25
Aether. Basically the element of time and space that encompasses the entire universe. It has been recorded as a third element, especially within the philosophical words of ancient Indian and Greek cultures.
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u/Altruistic-Ruin1765 Jun 26 '25
probably something related to nature and greenery, like life bending, being able to control how fast a plant grows or move greeneries.
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u/AppearanceAnxious102 Jun 26 '25
There is one. It’s called Spirit bending. How Aang takes away Ozai’s bending.
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u/ZadriaktheSnake Jun 26 '25
I mean you could make it more Eastern from the ground up and go fire/water/air/wood/metal
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u/Crunchy_Biscuit Jun 27 '25
Well in reality IIRC correctly, there were 5 elements:.
Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, Wood.
Pathfinder has a class called the Kineticist that does things with these elements
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u/lovethenewfs_03 Jun 27 '25
i read a book recently, curious tides by Pascale Lacelle, that actually utilized a similar idea of time bending. i highly suggest reading it, it was good!
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u/StriveToTheZenith Jun 27 '25
OP was not born when this show aired, y'all. Yes, this is a bad idea.
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u/FleurCannon_ Jun 27 '25
if we're following Buddhist ideas of the elements, it's aether. which is pretty much covered by energy bending imo
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Jun 27 '25
I think a more likely 5th and 6th bending would be Light and Dark, like being able to bend, create and shape light or darkness at will without a light source. Time, although cool in concept, feels too cosmicly overpowered and would be a whole other category of bending.
Another type of bending could be just Matter bending, like being able to bend matter to transmutate it into something else, like Coal into gold, though how it would work with the "Bending" where it's not just FMA in Avatar would need to be developed.
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u/Zestyclose_North9780 Jun 27 '25
Typa shit ATLA fic writers would give their OC (its a self insert and Zhao turns out to be a pedo that wants them for some reason)
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u/tyler_durden_3 Jun 27 '25
Akasha, the element of space or ether, would allow a bender to manipulate the void - creating portals, warping space, communicating across realms, sensing cosmic energies, controlling sound vibrations, and even altering consciousness through astral projection.
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u/Lucifer_Crowe Jun 27 '25
I remember in Korra at first thinking Amon was the first of a new breed of Energy Benders, that he was just doing what Aang did to Ozai and that was all he could do (and maybe open Chakra's in others?)
Though I guess that's obviously the intentional misdirect
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u/President__Pug Jun 27 '25
Cabbage Bending. Then the nations would bow to the one true lord. CABBAGE MERCHANT!!!
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u/MedicalAd5084 Jun 27 '25
This conversation reminds me of black clover. There's a lot of people that use the "4 elements" but also stuff like time and light.
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u/Desperate-Meal-5379 Jun 27 '25
If we add ANY elements, they would have to fit the “water, earth, fire, air” theme. Personally in my book that I’m working on, it’s elemental magic with elemental kingdoms corresponding and that’s where the similarities to AtLA end. After the standard 4, I added Wood and Lightning.
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u/mannisbaratheon97 Jun 28 '25
Honestly I think lightning should be its own element and not a subset of fire. In most other fictions, lightning is its own thing. Also lightning and fire are two totally different things. The former is a displacement of electrons and the latter is a chemical reaction. Uncle Iroh calls it the cold blooded fire and that makes sense metaphorically but not if we’re talking strictly elements. Like metal and earth make sense because metal is just refined earth so to speak. Ice, vapor and blood make sense to be water subsets because they all are comprised of water. But lightning and fire are too different
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u/BrickBuster11 Jun 28 '25
.....so you said foresight but then you said that you can see the past.... That isn't what foresight is chief.
Foresight is seeing something before it happens
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u/No-Stop-5637 Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
If we consider the earth’s core and mantle to be encompassed by fire, crust to be earth, oceans and seas water, and atmosphere air, what’s left are light and life: humans, animals, plants, fungi. Some people are saying wood which makes sense, I would lump that in with life. Others are saying energy which also makes sense, I’d lump that with light. Darkness is also an alternative.
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u/Additional-Claim7344 Jun 28 '25
There already is a 5th element and Sokka is the master of it. It’s called rizzbending for the younger crowd (and back bending for the older crowd)
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u/LightEarthWolf96 Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
Time bending especially as you describe it would be completely out of place with the rest of the atla world. It wouldn't make any sense at all.
It would be pretty hard to come up with a fifth element that actually fit in with the rest of the atla world
Edit to add: the four elements balance each other and weren't just four things picked at random. The concept of the four elements and them being earth, fire, water, and air (or wind) has been around forever and a day.
There is nothing to balance time bending. It's just a completely broken ability that doesn't fit in with the themes of the show
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u/s0rtag0th Jun 29 '25
because Avatar has a lot of Chinese influence, i think a 5th element would be wood.
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u/RF_91 Jun 29 '25
If Captain Planet and The Fifth Element have taught me anything, the answer is "love", and I will accept no substitutes. Do I know how it would work? Absolutely not. But all evidence I have points to this being the answer.
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u/Final-Advice4812 Jun 29 '25
Light.
Peak lightbending would be turning yourself invisible by bending the light around yourself.
Fighting skill is blinding your enemy with a lot of light.
Daily use is bending light into houses or any other places where some light is useful, without starting a fire.
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u/Kiss_Lucy Jun 30 '25
There already is one, it’s energy, spiritual energy, it’s just that the only person who can use it is the avatar since aang got it from the lion turtle
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u/ReverendLoki Jun 30 '25
The Fifth Element is the element of Surprise.
Or Lesser T'Phon if you want a deep cut.
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u/Dodger7777 Jul 02 '25
Light.
We already have air, fire, earth, and water.
Fire already allows for lightning bending.
Water allows for Ice bending and blood bending.
Earth allows for metal bending.
We see lava bending, a mix of fire and earth bending. There are other combos too.
Light would allow for darkness bending. It'd be a higher form. Neither one would have any physical form. They'd be a kind of illusionist sect. Maybe light magic could make lasers?
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u/Pytagoras_squared earthbender. Jun 26 '25
I honestly have no idea and time bending feels just a little bit OP