My pointless head cannon: Aang the Bloodbender

Aang was good at picking up waterbending from just watching, even if not enough to be a master easily he could still do it. Aang totally picked up bloodbending, or at least thought he did. The idea is not hard to get to once you’ve seen the premise, and Aang both saw and felt the premise in the fight with the puppet master (blanking on her name).

So why doesn’t Aang seem to use it or even know it? Katara. Aang knows Katara wants the practice to end with her so he never tries it, never practices it, never even acknowledges it when he can avoid it.

But I would be surprised if there wasn’t at least one moment, one fraction of a second, where Aang didn’t look at the full moon and think, “I could. I won’t, but I totally could.”

Let me be my own critic here and point out the obvious: Bloodbending is a seriously advanced technique that takes a good amount of prior knowledge even for a master waterbender like Katara. Aang doesn’t have this prior knowledge. Also there are some techniques Aang just doesn’t bother with, like the swampbender’s plant bending, so he could have just ignored bloodbending.

But come on! The Avatar saw and understood arguably one of the strongest bending powers and CHOOSE to not use it out of respect for those around him? That sounds so perfect!

This is really an off my chest moment but when I was in my teens I went out with my aunt and she pulled this. I felt terrible for making the staff do extra work just so she could have fresher and warmer fries. I get it isn’t a big deal to make an extra batch, but what if two people pull this? Five? Ten? More?

A cyborg seems a bit out of place with the others given everyone is just full human. Maybe it is just a prosthetic instead of a full on cyborg so people with missing limbs had a character like them? Regardless it is pretty cool nonetheless!

Hello, someone who went to a manager position here! I’m 100% with you, decreasing responsibility means decreasing stress and so is always a priority! However, there are a few reasons one might shoot for the moon anyway.

1. Ambition. This is the obvious one, some people just want more. More money, more power, more prestige. That is a valid reason to push further but isn’t for everyone.

2. Empathy. Yep you read that right! Ambition isn’t the only driving force to take on more responsibility. Empathy can lead people to see the ways to improve others’ lives, workloads, and more!

3. Accidents. Especially with children but also in other areas, accidents happen and can often leave people with more on their shoulders than expected.

I personally am mostly number 2. I saw the terrible leadership that my team has had in the past and the ways I could assist my team to improve. I knew all the complaints and had ideas to fix them so I took the responsibility bullet so they don’t have to.

I hope this helps you see into the mind of someone who accepts responsibility, even if it means more stress and less freedom!

You mean Zhao the Conquerer?! Zhao the Moon Slayer?!?! Zhao the INVINCIBLE!?!?!?