Avatar & The Four Elements

A brief explanation

I first encountered Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender a few years ago while watching Sponge Bob with my niece and nephew. At the time, the show hadn't yet had its debut, so all I saw were a few promotional commercials. I immediately dismissed it as tripe because a) it's on Nickelodeon, and I'm an adult. The days of SNICK are long gone, I'm afraid. and b) it struck me as being shamelessly Pan-Asian. As Asiaphilic as I am, I take great umbrage when producers decide to slap a bunch of clashing motifs together because they seem to convey a cheap Oriental mystique.

However, as internet buzz persisted, and a few of my fellow anime nerds chimed in on the matter, I decided to give it a go. After all, I do watch a lot of cartoons, so playing the adult card is a no-go. And I do like PF Chang's, so I have to give a little slack on the whole Pan-Asian thing.

Point being: I'm glad I decided to watch the show. Not only because it's a quality cartoon in its own right, but because it jibes quite nicely with two of my other areas of nerddom. First off, martial arts nerdery - all the fighting styles in the show are based on real Chinese martial arts. Sweet, I love Chinese Martial Arts. Secondly, I got into Avatar at the same time that I was starting to learn Astrology, the same time that I was exposed to Four Element Theory.

You see, Avatar is a show where fighters have an innate elemental type: Fire, Water, Air, or Earth. And there are four seperate martial arts that were chosen by the show's creators, each allocated to one of the four elements in a way that makes archetypal sense. Exciting!

Super quick synopsis: In our Asian-themed fantasy world, there are four "nations": The Fire Nation, The Earth Kingdom, The Water Tribes, and The Air Nomads. They all lived in relative peace until the Fire nation started doing what fire does – they tried to conquer everything. Now, in times of great duress, The Avatar – the only person capable of wielding all four elemental styles, reincarnated every generation – is supposed to step in and restore balance.

But a freak accident caused Aang (our protagonist, an Airbender, and the current incarnation of The Avatar,) to be trapped in a block of ice for 100 years. Kind of like Captain America. Since he didn't actually die, the avatar was not reborn, and the Fire Nation continued its blitzkrieg unchecked. One day, a couple of Water Tribe kids find Aang, frozen in an iceberg, and help to thaw him out. Now, with their help, he's trying to master the other three elements and save the world from the Fire Nation, who have put a flag down just about everywhere they could.

Also, the kids ride a flying buffalo.

Without further ado, let's do some elemental archetyping!

WATER

Water is yin - negative, feminine. It is dynamic and insubstantial. Dynamic because it can change or destroy the substantial; insubstantial itself because, as Bruce Lee said, "You cannot grasp it or punch it." And yin because it shows no independent expansion - when a droplet of water hits a napkin, it looks as though there is more of it; in truth, it has merely decompressed.

Or, as Mr. Lee was known to expound, "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

Water is indicative of emotional depth and intuition.

The style chosen to convey hydrokinesis is Taiji Quan. (You kids may know it as "THAI CHEE," or hopefully, "Tai Chi.") Taiji is a very appropriate choice indeed, as it utilizes the "water" inherent in the body - the chi, ki, prana, life-force, whatever you want to call it. This martial system's method of power generation deals with complete relaxation of the muscles so that there are no "kinks in the hose" and the chi may flow more freely. In other words, so there are no blockages in the system of waterways within the body.

Water, dealing primarily with the emotional, is notorious for distortion of the truth. True to form, many people don't regard Taiji as a martial art at all, assuming that its only benefit is the elimination of stress and the promotion of internal health. In truth, these are means to an end, and another way of "defending oneself."

Waterbending is modeled after Taiji. The Water Tribe folks' methods of attack are wide and varied, just like the applications of martial Taiji. Most of the time, Katara (the show's main Waterbender - and Aang's teacher for this style, and his love interest) will simply slam an enemy with a tendril of water after having drawn it up from its source; essentially, directing it like a whip. The same theory is prevelant in Taiji, though at a much shorter range.

Taiji is not only a striking art - it can be used to subdue an opponent through joint-locks and throws, and, as most people know, has tremendous benefits to the seasoned practioner's health. Waterbending, again, follows suit. Waterbending can be used to subdue through freezing water into ice, hardening it around an arm, a leg, or the whole frame. Waterbending can also be used to heal injuries, though much more quickly and reliably than real Taiji would be able. It is a cartoon, after all.

This too, speaks of our Hermetic water's yin qualities. Formless and adaptive, water can take any number of diferent approaches to defeating an obstacle, sometimes opting to simply work around the conflict altogether, or to manipulate the water within others through fear and paranoia. However, it is also feminine and nurturing, and needn't be applied martially even in a martial discipline. Healing the wounded, acting as a means of support and growth - these are also irrefutibly connected to water.

The Water Tribe is modeled loosely after the Inuits, a people surrounded by water.

Taiji Applications


A Water Bending AMV (with really weird music.) Interesting approaches to root and neutralization.



EARTH

Earth is also a yin element, though it acts more as a place wherein things are nurtured. It does not actively nurture because it cannot actively do anything. It is not dynamic, but static. It cannot change or destroy, it can only be. If you put a clump of dirt on a napkin, you will only get a dirty napkin. That didn't change the napkin structurally, it just got some earth on it. It is substantial because it embodies substance. Earth is redundant like that.

Earth is concerned with the essentials: food, shelter, health, sex. To this end, Earth tends to favor practicality and routine.



Earth Bending, our geokinesis, is modeled after Hung Gar, a popular Southern style of Kung Fu. If you've seen an old 70's Kung Fu movie, it probably has some Hung Gar guys in it, or practicioners from a close relative of the style. A more modern pop-culture reference would be the dude with the rings on his arms from Kung Fu Hustle.

The allocation of Hung Gar to Earth was, to me, the most troubling of the four. For one thing, Hung Gar itself was modeled after the Chinese Five Elements, linking each of their five elements to an animal style - Tiger/Fire, Snake/Water, Crane/Metal, Dragon/Wood, and Leopard/Earth. This certainly complicates things.

Therefore, let's zoom out and look at Hung Gar superficially - that's the way Earth would want it, after all! Hung Gar employs rigid, rigid, rigid stances. Its ardent practioners are known to be able to squat in a low horse stance for upwards of a full hour. What's more, Hung Gar employs a lot of strength training exercises. Its students are not always slim, but they are always solid. And though there is internal power training in the system, most of the attacks look terse and powerful. Traditional Karate is derived from a Southern Chinese discipline which shares these qualities with Hung Gar.

Just like our powerful-looking Kung Fu style, Earth Benders adopt low, strong, and tense footwork. However, when they stomp into place, they actual manipulate the earth under their feet, usually popping a boulder up so that they can strike it, send it flying towards their opponent. Earth may also be reinforced around an Earth Bender's body in order to ensure a harder strike or a more powerful defense, or around an opponent in order to trap them.

Though Hung Gar is more dynamic than Earth should be...it's something that can't really be helped if an allocation is to be made at all. The fact that it is martial implies dynamism. The fact is though, Hung Gar tends to stay practical, keeping a low center of gravity from which to generate force. There's very little in the way of acrobatics or "risky moves" - any unnecessary flash or glamour is cut. Practicality and not taking risks are very Earthen concerns, indeed.

Earth is yin like Water. It isn't dangerous unless the one who wields it "carves" it into a vicious tool. It is not shapeless like Water is, but it can be sculpted. And just as Water can be used for non-martial purposes, the grunts in the Earth Kingdom tend to use their bending for industry, highlighting Hermetic Earth's need to satisfy a work routine and profit.

Within the Earth Benders is an exception, a character who actually has a martial style all to herself. Toph Bei Fong (the coolest character in the show, and Aang's Earth Bending instructor) is a blind fighter who "sees" through vibrations in the Earth. It's kind of like Daredevil, only she can't see it if it isn't touching the ground.

Anyhow, Toph's Earth Bending is modeled after Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. In this way she represents a synthesis between Earth and Water. Her sensitivity to vibrations is Water's intuition acting through Earthen means. Her Scorpionic fighting style is loaded with the potency of "shocking power," so that the substance vs. substance mindset of Earth Bending is now modified, as her strikes are loaded with potency cultivated in the mingling of a source of nourishment (Water) and a vessel for life (Earth.) This is the source of her Uranian striking style. This same potency and intuition eventually leads her to percieve the raw Earth inside of metal, something which the Hung Gar Earthbenders can't do. This makes her the only character in the show that can bend metal.

The Earth Kingdom, the largest country in the show, seems to be mostly modeled after the industrious Chinese, the "foundation" (dur hur hur) of all Kung Fu.

Hung Gar applications. Just picture this with boulders and shit.


Toph pwning everything, set to shitty pop punk. (Sweet roll-over backfist around 1:04.)


Southern Mantis rocks you like a hurricane

FIRE

Fire is yang, male and positive. It is dynamic and substantial. If we put fire on the napkin, we can say bye bye to the napkin and hello to some blackened cinders. We may even synge the dinner table. More than any other element, fire has the power to expand, destroy, and remake in its own image - more fire. In this way, it is both destructive and creative.

Unlike our afforementioned yin elements, Fire needs fuel to survive. It needs to consume another element in order to keep going, which explains the Fire Nation's drive to conquer. It burns up Earth (such as wood or other kindling,) Air (needs oxygen to work, and may ignite when reacting with certain gasses,) or, in rare instances, Water (napalm or similar flammable liquids.)

Fire is all about vision, ambition, will.



Our little pyrokinetic antagonists' fighting style is based on Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, a recent favorite in the public eye, and apparently, the preferred style of the show's martial arts consultant.

A testament to Fire's substantiallity, Northern Shaolin also seems to favor a "meet force with force" approach. Fire wants to overpower anything that is not Fire, and to consume it. However, unlike Earth, Fire is not as concerned with things like strong stances or practicality. Where an Earth-type fighter might focus on the most realistic way to get you on the ground while keeping themselves out of harm's way, a Fire-type fighter might leap at you with a whirlwind kick or something else out of the Street Fighter II playbook.

Northern Shaolin isn't quite like that, but it does employ a number of acrobatic-looking displays. Its footwork looks very similar to Hung Gar at times - but only for an instant - as its dynamic nature has the feet leaping, shifting, shuffling into new positions rapidly. The stances do not look as solid, but they don't have to.

Fire almost always indicates a striking type of fighter, whether it be with feet, hands, head, shoulders, or any extremity available. This is because Fire does not give a crap about Water's need for subtlety, nor for Earth's desire to be practical. Thus, it has no tolerance for namby-pamby joint-locks or throws or take downs or wrestling. Fire wants to destroy by hitting things. Northern Shaolin, from what I know of it, is mostly concerned with striking. Fire Bending certainly is.

Fire also likes to be the center of attention. Northern Shaolin Kung Fu has been one of the most well-known styles inthe world ever since monks figured out that people will pay a lot of money to see them flip around and shit. Thus, a showman is born from this style. Thus, Fire builds a rep for itself.

Given Fire's lack of adaptability, Fire Bending is actually kind of the dullest form, at least from an elemental point of view. Unlike the yin elements, no one ever shapes it into anything cool. It's all just punches with fire, kicks with fire. There's no alternate use for it like Water's healing or Earth's industry - the closest it comes is when a character uses his power to heat up a cup of tea.

The only adaptation it is given is when it takes on the form of lightning. Only the most powerful Fire Benders can generate lightning, which is really just a more intense and focused type of fire. It only ever gets more martial and destructive.

No one is teaching Aang how to Fire Bend yet, as almost all the Fire Benders in the show want to capture or kill him. But the show often splits its focus off from our group of heroes in order to follow the exploits of Prince Zuko, the Aries-esque anti-hero. Though he's the heir to the throne, he's been dishonored and exiled due to an argument with his father. Now he's on a mission to capture The Avatar in order to restore his position.

The Fire Nation seems like it might be modeled after Japan. On the world map, it appears to be a small archipelago that tries to conquer the world. There's also the penchant for conformity and over-the-top displays of vibrancy and raw power.

Some Northen Shaolin Kung Fu


A video dedicated to Zuko, the series' angsty Aries anti-hero. Again, pop punk. These kids and their music.


AIR

Air is yang, insubstantial, static. It is yang because it is as expansive as the breeze, insubstantial because it cannot be grasped or held (only bottled or contained,) and static because it cannot change or destroy the material. If a gust of wind hits our napkin, it'll probably just blow away.

But what about storms, you say? Part of Air's yang nature is its ability to move things...things like the yin elements, Earth (tornadoes,) and Water (Hurricanes.) The Air isn't destroying anything, it's just carrying things, rearranging them. There've been stories about a cow getting picked up by a twister only to be set down unharmed far away from where it left the ground. It was merely Earth rearranged!

Air is most concerned with the intellectual process, curiosity, freedom of thought.



Air is also the natural element of our protagonist, Aang The Avatar. He's the titular "Last Air Bender" because the rest of the Air Nomads were slaughtered by the Fire Nation during his century-long slumber. Fire eats up Air, after all. His aerokinesis is modeled after Baguazhang, a beautiful, menacing, and complex style of Kung Fu.

Air Benders tend to try and use their brains to solve a problem, given to Air's intellectual nature. When force to confront a problem their first response will be to get the hell out of its way. Just like Baguazhang favors circular footwork in order to avoid an opponent's attack and flank them from the rear - it is the smartest place to attack from, after all.

Air is also very curious, and likes to try a bit of everything. Though it never stays very long, it can get into a lot of places and see a lot of things that the substantial elements cannot. As such, Bagua employs striking, throwing, joint-locks, some groundwork, and footwork based on a geometric concept - the circle. Bagua also has an extensive Eastern Hermetic association, as it is rooted not only in elements and animals, but in the triagrams delineated in the divinatory Taoist text, the I-Ching.

And although it calls upon a melange of different fighting concepts, it exclusively utilizes the empty, open-palmed handshape. No fists, no strange looking animal claws or grasping talons, just palms. This handshape is often used to chop in some styles, and is thus known as a "knifehand." Interesting that in our Tarot, Air is represented by another edged weapon, the Sword.

Air Benders use the circular footwork of Bagua, but since many of the battles are long-range, they don't often get to flank their opponent in close quarters..with the exception of a really great fight between Aang and Zuko in Episode 2, where Aang just out outmanuvers him again and again. The footwork is usually used as a windup for a huge blast of Air, or as a means to ride on updraft to float on. The use of Air allows them to do a lot of non-Bagua-ish fantasy things, like running up walls or riding around on a swirling ball of air.

Though it contains strikes and locks, Bagua tends to throw a lot This aligns well with what Air does, and what Air Benders will usually do. After all, Air is an element that rearranges rather than changes. Bagua arranges the opponent's body in a way that makes them eat dirt; Air Benders use gale-force winds to knock people down or deflect incoming threats.

While Water can be used to heal, and Earth can be used for industry, and Fire can be used to...burn things...Air Benders don't really focus on a serious application of their bending. They just use it to play games and have fun, which sounds like par for the Hermetic Air course to me.

Aang was taught to bend Air by the other Air Nomads. They don't seem to be modeled after any particular nationality or ethnicity, but after the Eastern monastic tradition in general. They don't have a specific land of their own, but live high up in the mountains, philosophizing and having fun all the live long day. After all, Sustained Air (code for Aquarius,) is all about the ideal life, the Utopia. Which is all well and good until someone comes along and lights you on fire.

Here is some great Bagua footage that You Tube won't let me embed.

And some more, detailing applications of the form. (And naughty language.)

And one that they will let me embed. I don't think this style suits me martially, but goddamn do I love watching some Bagua.


Finally, Air Bending. Video is repetitive, but I kinda like the song. Besides, Air deserves some rap.


The Avatar State

And finally, a word or two on spirit, or aether.

Some say there is a 5th element. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese each have different systems based on five elements. The Chinese sytem was briefly examined in the Earth section, so for posterity's sake, here are the Japanese elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Void. Nearly the same as the Greek system, with a single addition.

It turns out that this concept is pretty prevalent. Aristotle included a fifth element, which he called "Aether" in his system of classical elements.

Here's what Wikipedia tells me a bunch of people said: "...the four terrestrial elements were subject to change and moved naturally in straight lines while no change had been observed in the celestial regions and the heavenly bodies moved in circles. In Aristotle's system aether had no qualities (was neither hot, cold, wet, or dry), was incapable of change (with the exception of change of place), and by its nature moved in circles."

In any case, all mention made of this fifth element implies a connection to the divine. According to Webster, our word "quintessential," means "the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form." The word is derived from "quintessence," or "fifth essence." Yes? Yes.

Turns out, Avatar is cool enough to have an allocation for aether, too!

The Avatar is the one who keeps the balance in the world, and the only one who can bend all four material elements. But The Avatar's powers are not limited to bending alone. The Avatar is intimately connected with what the show calls the "Spirit World," a realm for all manner of non-corporeal spirits, whether benefic or malefic. He can use this connection to communicate with his past-life incarnations, all of the Avatars that came before him.

Lastly, he can tap into a well-spring of pure strength in the earthen realm. This is simply known as "The Avatar State." Often not wielding any specific element, The Avatar's eyes glow blue as they are surrounded by a torrent of power. In the beginning, this is something they can only tap into under extreme duress or emotional torrent. But throuh deep meditation (a means to connect to a higher power, or to connect to the purest essence within oneself, or both,) they can control this state at will.

Given that the word "avatar" usually refers to an incarnation of a higher spiritual being, it only makes sense that our hero has easier access than most to this aether.

So even if you aren't particularly religious, the search for aether might show the immense benefits in searching for spiritual purity and exultation. Or, you know, the power to glow blue and go rip-shit crazy. Whatever creams your twinky.

Aether in action?

Copyright 2007, Nerdcore Astrotypes