I've just realized something big

[u/Ravleshony]

Hello! I've just realized what I think is a big incoherence in the lore of Avatar. From the series of Aang we learn that the original source of bending were the flying bison, the dragons, the badgermoles and the moon and ocean spirits. But in Korra's series we learn instead that humanity not learned, but acquired bending, and not from the original sources listed above but from the lionturtles.

Do you know if is there an official link between the two things or is a mistake made by the creators?

I've realized this after watching both series after 4 times.

[u/Jiang_Rui]

It’s not a mistake. The way it works is that the Lion Turtles granted humans the ability to manipulate elements, and air bison, badger moles, dragons, and the moon taught the techniques/combat styles for bending. Kind of like how for example, a blacksmith is the one who crafts a sword, and a warrior is the one who teaches you how to fight with that sword.

We see this in action when Wan is honing his firebending by performing the dragon dance, and the huntsman remarks that he uses the element as an extension of his own body (whereas others just tossed fire around willy-nilly).

[u/Ravleshony → u/Jiang_Rui]

This makes much more sense. Thanks for the clarification

[u/myumisays57 → u/Jiang_Rui]

Best explanation. Toph also is a great example as well. Given that she was blind, she was taught how to use bending as an extension of herself in order to navigate the world. Just like the badger moles, blind but still having to survive the earth elements.

[u/Pm7I3]

That's not a mistake it's just new information

[u/Ravleshony → u/Pm7I3]

How does the two things coexist? How does bending come from two different sources? How humans learned them first? Because looking at both series there seems two be 2 different answers

[u/Repulsive_Airline_86 → u/Ravleshony]

The elements were given by the lion turtles. The bending arts were learned from the animals.

[u/Ok_Explanation_5586 → u/Ravleshony]

If say, a Badger Mole, invents the pot, and later a Lion Turtle gives you a pot, did the Lion Turtle invent the pot?

[u/Ravleshony → u/Ok_Explanation_5586]

that's not how they explain it in the series

[u/Ok_Explanation_5586 → u/Ravleshony]

No, that's a metaphor I just came up with to help you reconcile your cognitive dissonance.

[u/ThatEcologist]

This has been talked about to death on this thread. Lion Turtles gave bending, while badger moles, dragons etc. taught humans how to bend. This is shown in Korra when Wan is learning fire bending from the dragons.

[u/Numerous-Hotel-796]

Even though technically there is no direct contradiction, i really dont like Wan’s back story (lion turtle cities + the binary nature of spirits (being either good or bad ) etc) in TLOK book two.

[u/Sonicrules9001]

I mean, nothing about Wan is consistent with the lore of ATLA. The Lion Turtle Aang means literally says "In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves." and yet before there was an Avatar here are people bending elements and there is no excuse for this as the Lion Turtle should know that he can just poke people and give them elements and that's how humans got the ability to bend but nope.

[u/Important-Contact597]

It’s a retcon.

The official “answer” is that the Lion Turtles gave humans the power to bend, but animals/the moon (who already had the power to bend) were the ones that taught humans the bending forms that turned bending into a martial art.

But ultimately, it’s just a retcon.