Is glassbending possible? EXPLAINED [Avatar The Last Airbender l Legend of Korra] 

Glass in nature is actually a thing! Lightening sometimes strikes a beach and makes cool looking tubes of glass.

Bruh glass is just cooked sand, and sand is bendable. I don't see why not.

_Firebenders:_ I can bend lightning and combustion _Earthbenders:_ I can bend sand, metals, crystals, and lava _Waterbenders:_ I can bend vine, mist, ice, and blood. And on top of that I can heal. _Airbenders:_ *You can what?* EDIT: Didn't expect everybody to take this seriously. 😂😂 I have watched ATLA and LoK before so I do know how powerful the airbenders are.

Reason #4859 why Kyoshi is a badass, from "The Shadow of Kyoshi" novel published on July 21st, 2020: "The shards of glass in her skin plucked themselves out under the force of her [Kyoshi's] earthbending and balled into a floating clump that dropped to the floor when she switched her focus to a nearby pitcher."

"Glass and Crystal are very similar!" Geology is turning in it's grave

We need a third series on an "earth" Avatar who's special skill is glass bending, or a really cool villain.

It's official now, glassbending is cannon. Kyoshi did it

Wouldn't it have been dope to see earth benders in Ba Sing Se making pottery or vases with earthbending? Reminds me of air benders whipping their fruit pie topping in terms of ingenuity.

Funny thing to me, when AtLA was still new, and I had friends making fan characters... I came up with a guy that was a glassbender. My instant thought was that "Hm, no one else is doing this. Seems interesting and complex." And I'd decided that he was extremely up tight, detail-oriented, and considered his bending skills to be an entire art form on its own that he refused to teach to others. Absolute dick, but a fun anti-hero type. lol

I feel like the clear reason that I’ve bending is so common is that 99.9% of water benders live in places that are extremely cold and snowy/icy to the point that they make all their buildings are made of ice and snow. It’s arguable that snow/ice is more common than water

Air benders can alter the temperature of the air too. That's how Aang doesn't freeze to death when he's visiting the Water Tribes. He's creating a hot pocket of air around himself.

So in Shadow of Kyoshi, we see her demonstrate that glassbending is possible when she bends glass from the back of her neck after an encouter with a triad gang in Ba Sing Se.

The avatar: ooh I can use all 4 elements Also the avatar: Wait, there’s more bending?

I read this as “Grassbending” and I was like... “Yes... Yes they can... Why is thi- Oh...”

I want a third Avatar show set in the modern day that follows an Earthbending Avatar who is obsessed with chemistry and learns how to bend all kinds of seemingly unbendable materials based on their chemical composition. I want Korra's successor to be Bill Nye the motherfucking Science Guy.

"Nobody has done it before" *laughs in Kyoshi* I do like that this was being discussed long before these books appeared though

Remember that Iroh only discovered lightning redirection from studying waterbenders. He was still within his element, but the technique was completely different from any form of firebending. It's possible that alternative bending styles are all about thinking outside the box and using techniques vastly different from traditional bending of that element. Perhaps glass has too fluid of a structure for traditional earthbending techniques, and certainly from crystal and metalbending, so a technique more akin to watebending would be required. Perhaps airbenders could manipulate the breath within their bodies to enhance their physical abilities and endurance if they were to focus on their metabolism like firebenders do (looking at some of Aang's acrobatics, he very well might). Also, similarly to how metalbending was taught and passed down, given the arctic climate of the water tribes, it's entirely possible that when icebending was first discovered it was simply so useful that it was taught to the point of being ubiquitous, while it may not actually be inherently easier than plantbending which, although incredibly useful for swamp-dwellers, is basically not even an option in the ice caps. Edit: Upon reading the comments, I'm going to add that if an airbender were to study ripples in water and try to apply it to bending they probably could develop soundbending, and that would be rad as heck.

legend of korra book 75: rise of the drywall benders

7:32 well no one bended metal before, and then toph was just like "hey, there's rocks in this" *bends metal* ...wack

The shadow of kiyoshi just confirmed that earthbenders can bend glass :D

For icebending, also notable is that most waterbenders live on the pole. They are by their homeplace as experienced with icebending as they are with waterbending. The first waterbending we see in the series is Katara bending a bit of water to catch a fish. The second is to break apart an iceberg. The diversity is there from the beginning. The swamppeople don't have this advantage, but I don't recall them ever icebending. What do you guys think about this?

waiting for airbenders to be able to fluctuate airwaves and soundbend

I can’t remember seeing a window made of glass in atla i think glass is just not as accessible

It's funny how in the kyoshi comic that we see an Earth bender who absolutely cannot bend sand. Kyoshi was super tall and stocky, pretty much as close to someone with giantism as you can get in the series, and she could not bend small earth. She couldn't do the delicate maneuvers required for sand bending

Blood Bending is an Avatar rabbit hole. It makes me wonder if there could be such a thing as bone bending. Bone is collagen but 70% of it is actually mineral in nature. Do minerals count as something that could be manipulated by an Earth bender? The crust of the Earth is 90% minerals so I would say yes. Also Fire benders can manipulate lightning. Lightning is pretty much a really strong electrical pulse. Does this mean they could manipulate the electrical impulses in your brain, or muscles? How about air benders bending the air in your lungs? Wow, that question sounds like it shouldn't make sense but it does. My point is, when you start looking at the implications of blood bending, all bending gets pretty dark pretty quick.

It should be noted that Lightning was more of a rare skill because of how the secrets were kept by the royal family and the fact that a screw up is dangerous rather than it being difficult for being so far... Metal Bending seems to actually be hard for tons of people to do on the other hand... Fire and lightning are just naturally more dangerous among bending arts... dangerous for those around and the user itself... Also, you forget that many earth benders might not even know that glass is sand or they might not even think about bending it since it's so fragile and that kinda goes against the very philosophy of Earth Bending...

Fun fact: Lightning can turn sand into glass (sort of, it's just not as clear as man-made glass). It is a very rare occurence.

“That’s why Zuko looks so hot and sexy wait what” U Ain’t Wron-

KING BUMI MADE GLASSBENDING ILLEGAL! because stepping on glass sucks. KingBumi loves strutting his stuff barefoot so he probably just Shimmied shook and broke the 1st glass factory/benders down 6ft under Omashu. The city originally named after people that would constantly step on glass and shout OH MY SHOE!!

7:25 “Sand is just superheated and supercooled sand”

Tbh I think lava bending and stuff is less about temperature and more about being strong enough to apply enough pressure to change its state. Therefore you need to have a certain level of strength to bend it .

Good news everyone! Glass bending was confirmed to be possible in Shadow of Kyoshi! Bad news, it only showed up in one scene briefly.

"That's why Zuko looks so hot and sexy" Finally someone who understands my crush.

Just a random thought, but bloodbending could actually be really helpful in the medical field of Avatar.

"Sand is just superheated and supercooled sand" -Hello Future Me, 7:27

This video didn't age well in the new Avatar kyoshi novel it was confirmed that earthbenders can bend Glass Avatar kyoshi is the only earthbender known to do it

Glass is just solidified molten sand. Sand is earth. Case closed.

I think that hypothetically, anything and everything in the world of Avatar should be bendable by someone, and by who is arguable, based on how you want to break it down.

"Too soon?" It's been 15 years but it's still too soon.

It's been confirmed in the Kyoshi Novels that yes Glass bending is another Earth sub bending skill.

Also we have to remember that water IS the element of Change, whereas earth is the element of stability or "staying the same".

No, because glass is of tier 7 hardness It dont bend, it break

Please update the video adding the glass bending from The Shadow of Kyoshi. Since the line from the novel reads, "The shards of glass in her skin plucked themselves out under the force of her earthbending and balled into a floating clump that dropped to the floor when she switched her focus to a nearby pitcher."

Well it’s just been confirmed the answer is yes! You just have to be Avatar Kyoshi levels of strong

i feel like air is at a disadvantage Fire : Fire + Lightning Water : Water + Blood + Ice Earth : Earth + Metal + Lava Wind : Wind

7:50 Glass is actually naturally occurring. Volcanos can produce volcanic glass, although it is quite different from what most people would think of as glass.

Tim in 2018: "Nobody has done it before" Learning casually from The Shadow of Kyoshi in 2020: "No problem"

1:23 Where’s Flight, Seismic Sense, Mudbending, Vinebending, Sweatbending, & Soupbending?

"The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same... Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole." I believe Guru Pathik is telling us that all elements can be bent, and by any bender, or maybe even non-benders.

He just called zuko “hot and sexy”

"Sand is just heated and supercooled sand" Ah yes, the sand cycle

I think Bo Linn lava bending did make sense because even though he’s an earth bender he has fire bending blood in him so he would have a better ability to heat the earth he is trying to bend

"The temperature doesn't need to be changed much from water to ice" Don't neglect the amount of energy you need for phase changing materials. Heat capacity is one thing, phase change capacity is a whole other beast. Of course if the water bender finely controls the molecules, they need only slow them to a standstill, which would lead to some funky energy discharges and absorptions with the air around the water.

If a water bender is strong enough to blood bend and ice bend could he/she turn another humans blood to ice, instant pro bending win Edit: Like this if you want Tim to do it

you are a massive nerd and I love you, thank you for brightening up my day withboyur videos!

Somehow the thing that distracted me the most at the beginning was flowey in the background

5:54 - There is no turning back. Let's face it, everyone thinks Zuko's sexy, even straight males.

I’m Just thinking of how blood bending could be used with healing bending

I'm curious if the Avitar would have an easier time doing alternative bending from the base element because they could incorporate other elements to help like fire to heat up the rock easier or if there's some things that you can only bend if you're an avatar because you have to bend multiple elements at once

This is a really cool video, thanks for making it! I think with glass bending it would be interesting to see how the movements required to bend it would change (the way we see that Bolin needs to use more fluid moves akin to waterbending when he's lavabending) because glass is really weirddd, like, you could look at it as a supercooled liquid so maybe the same rule of more fluid movements would apply to bending glass

6:40 I am actually fascinated by him talking about atoms and molecules when discussing a show where fire, air, water and earth are the basic elements XD.

For glass, in order for it to be malleable, it would have to be re-heated. Certain metals can be worked cold. Metals are heated and annealed in order to be made more workable, but that's a matter of relaxing the crystaline structure of the metal. For instance, when steel is heated to between 1450-1500°F (788-843°C) it changes from ferrite to austenite, and then when quenched, it changes from austenite to martinsite. Fresh quenched carbon steel is as brittle as glass, and so must be tempered by re-heating (to 400-500F/200-260 C), relaxing the structure a bit to make it more durable. For copper or brass or bronze, when heated and quenched, they get softer, not harder. The way to harden it is by working it, compressing the structure. Overwork it, and it starts to tear, or even crumble. That's all the impurities stacking up and not being held in place any more. Kinda like pressing gravel out of play dough. Now, if you're a bender that can manipulate metal on the particulate level, theoretically you could just arrange the impurities in whatever way you wanted, making it ductile and malleable, or tough and unyielding. whether that act of manipulation generates heat, or if heat is needed beforehand I don't know. You could potentially do the same with glass, but it would be interesting, seeing as how glass doesn't have a cold working state as far as I know. It would likely be like this glowing red taffy substance being manipulated into shape. And if used in combat? That would be some nasty stuff... It has the potential to stuck as it burns, like napalm... Ouch...

So what about water benders being able to bend steam, that’s water, we have only been able to see air benders do that, but water benders should be able to do that

0:45 we learned this (earth benders bending of molten rock) in ATLA, when Avatar Kyoshi comes to confess about the killing of Chin. In the scene showing her splitting off from the mainland to create Kyoshi island, she is seen bending the lava up to fully separate the pieces of land.

5:53 "That's why Zuko looks so hot and sexy" you are my new favorite person

compared to water, I think earth just progresses slower in the terms of bending transmutated materials. I mean, water can easily be bent on pure water, ice, vapour, liquids, mud... while earth took a leap just to bend sand, a bigger leap to bend metals, a massive leap just to bend lava, which is just molten earth, so I can imagine it would take a massive amount of time for earthbenders to consider glass, which is also a very rare element in avatar since we only saw glass in industrial level, with all buildings in modern cities like Republic city still having paper windows. We would not only need earthbenders to study it, but also glass to be more numerous around'em to be considered worth the problem. Plus, there is one thing: would be probably much easier for a "glassbender" to bend pre-existing glass than turn sand into glass in the spot.

I like to think as kids with different bending parents are born they'll find new affinities in their own element. Like my headcannon is that Bolin had a talent for lava in part due to the fire bending heritage of energy and heat on top of his dominant earth element

I've just read "shadow of kyoshi" in the first few chapters she gets cut with a glass ended sword on her neck and when she's done with the fight, she just bends it off. so not only is it possible, it seems common almost

I feel like it would be possible for an earth bender(more specifically a lava bender) to create glass from sand through heating it but after its cooled and refined idk if it would still be bendable, no evidence just my thoughts 🤔

Couldn’t air benders Bend every base element besides fire By picking it up with air

The 2nd Kyoshi novel: "Allow me to introduce myself"

Finally someone talking bout that ( i had a dream abt it a few months ago and couldnt stop to think abt it)

Is glass really that powerful though?🤔 Edit: YES, glass can hurt you BUT compared to Metal,Lava, and bloodbending or taking the air out of someones lungs its not that great

60% of the different bending styles come from earth bending. Seems like someone has a favorite element.

Made Me go threw the most traumatic thing in my child hood, "appa getting kidnapped".

7:25 "Sand is just super heated and super cooled sand." -Hello Future Me

Maybe we'll see glassbending in a 3rd avatar series where they would be an earthbender according to the avatar cycle.

im seeing lots of comments about how glass bending would be pointless compared to lava and normal earth bending, but you should think circumstantial. if an earth bender is in a room with no earth, but a massive window, they could glass bend that window into sharp cones or even change their shape into swords. the use of most bending techniques are circumstantial.

I think it's interesting to take into consideration that bolins father was an earth bender and his mother a fire bender.

Thanks for the content.

7:58 Glass naturally occurs in deserts or beaches when lava or a meteor strike collide with the sand

I miss avatar I wish they would bring I️t back

I like how he was a little flowey in the backround

Gotta love that dalek t-shirt

I believe that in avatar things have the energy of the four base elements, and is less about the composition of the material in a scientific sense but the way it its energy is percieved and interpreted by the bender. Like how Toph couldnt bend metal until she understood that it was just refined earth. Bending is about understanding and energy, so I think the same would be true of glass.

Which is your favourite holiday of the year? Christmas? Saint Patrick's Day? Leif Erikson Day? Let me know down below. I should also probably let you know that I'm away for the next three weeks, BUT I have several videos pre-prepared that I've worked on since like last October to make sure I didn't just vanish for a month. There's some HTTYD, some Avatar, some Elder Scrolls, and some Tolkien. Hope you enjoy at least one of those :) Stay nerdy, ~ Tim

The reason I think water bending can switch states is because water bending relies on the push and pull of water (as states in the show). There's an idea of movement within the bending itself that ice to water, and water to ice, becomes a part of. It's the fluidity of water that they can bend, rather than changing temperatures. Just a thought. :P Great video!

What about *bonebending* ? Perhaps a highly proficient earthbending master with incredible mineral detection skills can bonebend.

on the topic of limits of bending, i wonder, in avatar Wan's time period, could there have been undiscovered lion turtles with other elements?

I literally just got my brother and sister Avatar pendants for their elements. And the people who I ordered the pendants from gave me water as well just to complete the set XD

Love the Shirt and the vid

I think something also relevant is how often the bender interacts with said variations of the element. Ice is all around the water tribes but magma is pretty rare if you're in the earth kingdom.

For me this explanation "Platinum is too refined and has no traces of earth anymore." is just something added by the authors to keep a balance in power, to give metal-benders a limitation. Because, if you follow this path and look at all you find in a pile of dirt, you will come to the question: "WHAT is earth? And what's not?" Platinum as well as every other metal, is earth, just like the guru said "a purified form of earth". So, when we come to glass, I think it would be interesting to look at the possible usages. Solid: a brittle club/ball/blade/arrow/hook etc. Liquid: a badass torture device (and possibly a device for creating artistic burning scars^^)

I'm just curious... would you rather a new Avatar series set after Korra, or Before Aang? (Open question. Feel free to discuss.) Personally, I kinda would rather go back to a more simple time, before Aang. I'd love to see the world before the Fire Nation attack, where Airbenders roam free and have adventures. Where the nations are all relatively friendly. I do want to see what happens after Korra... but I just feel like the world would get too advanced and not as interesting. Korra had the perfect level of advancement for me, just enough technology and bending to remain very interesting. You wanted to learn more about the world and how bending was involved in day to day lives of more modern people. But I really really want to see what the world was like before Aang.. maybe even a Kyoshi series!

Azula's fire does not actually burn at a higher temperature than other fire bender's fire. The creators said her fire is blue so it can be distinguished from other bender's fire during fight scenes with multiple fire benders (such as whenever Azula fights Zuko).

I was thinking about this

"2200 Fahrenheit for you heathens." This is my favorite line in the entire video.

I have a really weird theory as to why Bolin can super heat earth. What if the reason why he can super heat earth and most earth benders can’t is because he has fire bending genes, his mother was a fire bender, but then you might ask well republic city probably has a lot of people that are half earth kingdom and half fire nation so why shouldn’t they be able to do it? Well that comes down to these three things: they either never tried to, they didn’t inherit the fire bending gene (so if both the P are fire benders so the F1 are fire benders as well but if one of the P is a fire bender and the F1 only inherited one fire bending gene then they can fire bend but when they marry someone who is not a fire bender and the F2 get one fire bending gene and one earth bending gene the result will be an offspring who can lava bend BE IT AN EARTH BENDER OR A FIRE BENDER wich means that there could even be a fire bender that can lava bend) or they’re simply not skilled enough to do it. But honestly this would also confirm why fire lord Sozin could bend smoke wich is what air benders can do as well.

also what i would like to point out bolin was a child of both a earth bender and a fire bender, so it could give him a edge in learning lava bending

im pretty sure another reason icebending was so common in waterbenders was because both water tribes are in a location made mostly of ice, so they would have learned the techniques pretty early on, which is also why the swamp waterbenders don't seem to be able to bend ice or even know that they can.