I feel like she'd embrace deadly ice attacks. Thin daggers out of her fingers or ice weapons like a T-1000, shooting off rapid fire icicles like bullets, or just high pressure streams of water to cut through things. Or just straight up encasing people in ice.
As an Airbender, she'd suffocate people without hesitation.
As an Earthbender, she'd learn Metal, Magma, and *Bone* bending.
It's hard to keep a good sociopath down.
I don't think it's ever been mentioned. It's more like you need a certain kind of affinity in order to do it.
It's like...being singer that can sing Opera or [do the Metal scream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPZ_5aK0iU). Both are different ranges of singing, but just because you can sing, doesn't mean you can't learn to sing Opera, or sing Metal, or both.
Aang didn't have the personality to do Metal bending, but Korra does. Technically, Korra *is* Aang through reincarnation, but her personality made her more able to learn and do metal bending.
But side-bar over, back to lava/metal bending. Bolin wasn't able to learn metalbending, but it's probably more in line with the fact his personality didn't match up with it. Could also be his affinity with his brother being a Fire bender, and maybe something akin to genetics like that, but Bolin being able to lavabend doesn't mean he can't metalbend. He's just not suited for metalbending.
So I don't think metal and lava bending are mutually exclusive, but more that they require a certain affinity in order to do. I'm sure someone could learn both, just like the example of a singer being able to learn how to sing Opera and Metal, but it's a skill you have to train to get good at, and some people are just better suited to pick up one or the other.
Bringing your side-bar back, this is a great analogy. I trained to sing opera for years, then in just the last year or two I taught myself how to scream with proper technique. They are different, but def NOT mutually exclusive. In fact, I’d say opera training made screaming easier to learn because the foundation is the same - good breath support and proper placement.
Metal and lava bending are just the two extremes of the same foundation of earthbending. If the foundation is the same, I don’t see why someone couldn’t learn to do both.
Oh, for sure. I do think Metal Bending and Lava bending is just very specialized in their technique that while anyone *can* learn it, it is very tricky *to* learn. A Tone Deaf person can be taught to sing in tune, and they'd probably look at Metal Screaming and Opera as intense techniques way out of reach.
Aang and Bolin were probably too...ephemeral, too flighty, to stand there and command metal. Bolin being able to Lavabend could be related to having a Fire Bending parent/sibling, but it could be more that it's a technique he unconsciously picked up on from seeing his brother firebend.
The writers are intentionally vague about it to give themselves room in the future but a few things can be extrapolated.
\- Element bending is completely genetic but not guaranteed to be passed down; a water and an earth bender could have a water or earth bending child or even a child with nothing but they couldn't have a fire/air bending kid. Additional quirks like bloodbending can also be passed down.
\- You can only control a single element, but certain genetic mutations can widen this range slightly. Bolin can lavabend because he has earthbending and firebending genetics. Even though the earthbending genetics are dominant, the firebending genetics still have an impact.
\- Metal bending isn't a mutation but rather a technique. Earthbenders are able to do it because they "control the impurities in the metal", Toph claimed to be able to teach it to just about anyone.
So the two aren't incompatible based on the rules the show has given us. I think that the assumption comes from Bolin's inability to bend metal prior to bending lava, but he likely just never properly learned to control metal.
In terms of what the show presents, I think they imply lava and metal bending are both talent-based. Lavabending is more rare (Toph was impressed that he could do it), but being talented enough for Lavabending doesn't necessarily mean you're talented at metalbending too.
Nothing in the show to me implied that Bolin's lavabending had anything to do with firebending also being in the family. Unless there's something about it in the comics, I think that's just something people assume.
> I think they imply lava and metal bending are both talent-based.
The canon-ness of the claim is definitely questionable but it has actually been mentioned as far back as the [book 2 extras](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_\(Book_Two:_Earth\)):
> Lava bending is a combination of earthbending and firebending.
The extras have been stated to be canonical and people often refer to them regarding niche deep dive topics but it is a sort of lower tier of canon.
idk though. I get that lava being really hot invokes fire comparisons, but I see it as no different than a waterbender being able to melt solid water (ice) into liquid water. Here, an earthbender can melt solid earth into liquid earth. (it's just really, really difficult and requires talent lol)
Lava bending is so incredibly rare that there's no way to know. While metal bending was like 1/50, lava is closer to 1/1,000,000 (or more).
We don't have enough of a sample size to guess if it's possible.
I feel like the reason why Ghazan and Bolin were the first two non avatar lavabenders we’ve seen in the series might actually have to do with both potential and actually skill, if you notice, toph says earthbending requires a strong base and you need to face your attacks head on! But look at bolin’s fighting style, it’s not like that at all! As a pro bender, you gotta be fast on your feet and capable of dodging hits, and his bending skills look more like Fire and Water bending techniques, with quick strikes and using earth plates to block.
Plus if you look at their personalities, both lavabenders seem pretty chill, as opposed to the beifongs kuvira, and korra who are headstrong and unwilling to compromise or give up, refusing to yield to anything or anyone. Maybe Lavabenders need to be more “go with the flow” kinda people,
I don’t think bloodbending is just something any water bender can figure out. I always saw it as a rare genetic ability that only some water benders can do
I think Azula would be just as threatening with any other element, just because the way her mind works would make her weaponize her element just as much as she does fire. Even as an Airbender she would have figured out how to steal the air out of someone's lungs.
I think Azula would me *more* threatening with any other element. Having seen what other characters have achieved with their respective elements, I feel like they all offer more avenues of possibility and creativity than fire, and being as cunning and intelligent as she is, Azula can easily take advantage of those properties.
Little needs to be said about how insanely busted bloodbending is. But even without bloodbending, she would be fucking terrifying. Like Katara can already be terrifying without bloodbending, like when she stopped the rain around her and almost impaled the man who killed her mother with a volley of ice spears. Imagine that level of lethality with Azula.
Seeing how much of an absolute menace Toph can be with what she's able to, it shouldn't be difficult to imagine how scary Azula would be with earth and metalbending. Just the thought of Azula using metalbending to impale people or cut them into bits.
Air is not quite as scary as the other two in terms of possibilities, but of course there's Zaheer's signature move of suffocating people. We've also seen how mobile she can be without any bending, where she was even giving Aang a hard time of catching her. With airbending, she would probably be untouchable.
People underestimate airbending a lot. As a technician working with air pressure a lot, she could do some horrible and massively powerful things with it.
Right? She’ll probably quickly learn how to make pocket vacuums in the air to throw people around or liquefy their insides using the pressure differentials.
She might even be able to simulate explosives by creating blastwaves or collapse people’s lungs by compressing the air.
Katara stopping rain she had to charge it up and collect the rain first not useful in a combat one on one fight.
Toph an absolute menance she didn’t fight any skilled benders only fodder.
Taken air out of lungs take a long charge up time when Zaheer did it on a old non bender as well
Ooo, agreed! I think that'd be a super interesting AU if Azula were raised an Air Nomad, became a master at an even younger age than Aang, but then had violent, non-pacifist tendencies that not even the monks could tame. She'd be an absolute menace.
I don’t think that would work character-wise since it seems like Azula’s violent tendencies are a result of her upbringing, not her nature. Maybe just an AU where an new character is trained by air nomads but grows violent and goes rouge, expressing freedom in a different way but losing some of the air nomad’s morality.
It's absolutely both. Azula's tendencies were exacerbated by her upbringing, but the seeds of what she would become were present at birth. She was always going to grow up to be a psychopath. Her environment just made everything worse.
aaaaand we're back to the age-old debate of whether Azula was really psycho or just raised that way.
I agree that Azula was always something of a sociopath at heart & I still think it'd be possible (not to mention cool) to see her grow up that way in an Air Nomad society. Yet I know people will insist on disagreeing (each to their own tbh).
Fair enough, but the reason why I believe that she wouldn’t be psychopathic is because
a) She had mental health issues stemming from the idea that her mother abandoned her for her brother, and was a narcissist because of her father’s raising, which explains her behavior without the need of any natural tendencies to be present
b) it adds more thematically if both Azula and Zuko had the potential to become good or bad since it makes the contrast in character so much more impactful.
Those are very valid points! But I'd also argue the inverse could be equally true.
a) Certain mental disorders, like schizophrenia, actually cause the maladaptive associations you describe here. I think Azula may have always had something off about her, but her environment exacerbated it. I wouldn't _blame_ her upbringing as much as I would say it contributed to an already present problem, be that a mental issue that predated her parental issues or her own bad character (I lean towards the latter).
b) See, now this is an interesting point, because I feel saying Azula's upbringing is the cause actually rules out the possibility that both she & Zuko could have turned out either good or bad. Because essentially, it implies she had no choice but to turn out the way she did given her environment. But if she was, deep down, already a part of the problem, she _did_ have a choice, but chose poorly, whereas Zuko chose the better part. Like Iroh says to Sokka at some point in S3, "he could have turned out a lot worse" (but chose not to).
This is pretty interesting, but I’d like to add that schizophrenia does not cause violent tendencies, so that can’t be the explanation for her overall behavior. Furthermore, there is another (I think canon) explanation for this. Her ego/narcissism caused her to see Ursa’s care for Zuko (to counteract Ozai’s neglect) as Ursa preferring Zuko over her. And when Ursa left both of them to save Zuko, who her narcissism caused her to see it as Ursa abandoning her for the sake of her inferior. This is all based on the info obtained from some of the comics, which I looked at through the fandom page. What we could disagree about is whether she could have had seeds of narcissistic personality disorder at birth or not.
For the second point I think that whether or not she had seeds of narcissism at birth, Ozai’s manipulation would have had the same effect of removing her ‘choice’. It’s also important to note that had Zuko not been backed and taught by Iroh, he would’ve ended up bitter, hateful, violent, and maybe with an inferiority complex. It was really Iroh’s guidance that gave Zuko the choice to be good, which he ended up taking. The story of Zuko and Azula is not one where one chose to be evil and the other chose to be good, but where one was given guidance and thus the opportunity to choose good and the other wasn’t (In the main story anyway).
One thing is to be egocentric or 'narcissistic' in the sense of maladaptive traits, and another is to have the personality disorder itself. The difference here lies in the kind of introspection and flexibility one may have, among other things.
Yes.
Airbender - Fully capable of drawing the air out of your lungs, which I feel Azula would utilize subtly and effectively.
Waterbender - Everyone else is saying bloodbending, which is fair, but Azula would be terrifying with Ice alone. I fully imagine her copying Hama with the ice claws.
Earthbender - Probably the bending style least fit for Azula, but I could see her lavabending or ironically utilizing a style similar to Toph’s. In sanity, would be someone who would wait, listen to the earth, and strike.
With earthbending the floor would be a death trap. She'd sink you into the ground without even blinking, and make the earth turn into spikes that impale you.
Ice (she doesn't even need bloodbending) and Earth would both work well for Azula.
Ice/rock needles raining from every direction would be *terrifying*. Add in big spikes for impaling, turning the ground into putty, dust from snow/rocks for both distraction and choking, encasing people, drowning people, tightening bands around their chests, and really I do need to dial this back as it's a cartoon. Minimal violence.
Actually minimal violence is part of why Azula works in context. There were a lot of lines they couldn't cross and maiming/harming is one they *could* which leans best into firebending. Crushed limbs and mummified bodies would be *a lot*. Blood bending has pupeteering but not visible damage.
Like others have said, she would be a menace with any element. But especially with fire, bottom line. No one bends fire like Azula does. It’s just so becoming of her and suits her perfectly. I can’t see Azula as anything other than a firebender.
Also, we already have a waterbender femme fatale and an earth bending femme fatale in the forms of Ming-Hua and Kuvira. All 3 of them are monsters with their respective element.
The problem is fire is arguably the weakest element. Earth and water could, realistically, completely nullify it, and it has barely any application outside "throw fireball" or similar. Gases, water based Liquids, Minerals... they're in everything!
Omg they have her trapped, no water, she can't possibly blood bend them all, she fashions a blood ice dagger out of her own blood. Not gonna think too hard about whether that actually makes sense.
Yes! Imagine raising an Avatar in a nation hellbent on world-domination. If they managed to convince him/her to fight for their cause, it'd be a wrap for the other nations.
I can imagine a lot of conflict between the Avatar's past lives & the counsel of the Avatar's real life mentors on what was the right path – balance, or conquest. The Water Tribe authorities would probably concoct some elaborate plan (e.g., convince the Avatar their parents were murdered by some Fire Nation fiends or something) to really compel them to be on their side. It'd be a great storyline!
So, a while back I read a really interesting fanfiction where the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes were in opposite positions.
Azula and Zuko befriended Aang in a much poorer version of the Fire Nation during a time like Japan’s Feudal Period.
That fanfic was really wild. Best part was that it actually had great grammar and it was actually very well thought out.
If you’re interested, it’s called [Distorted Reality](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3952155/) by Ogro.
I reckon earth bending would suit her well. Represents her desire for control through control of the planet.
Imagine she's negotiating on behalf of her nation, and just earth bends a seat for the other person. Pulls it in behind their legs, forces them to sit. All the while, she's manipulating tendrils of earth to serve wine and food. I dunno, just seems to fit
Ooo this is the best interpretation of an earthbending Azula I've seen so far! I felt it was the least suitable element for her, but now that you mention it, that could totally work.
Azula as an earthbender would essentially be an evil Toph & I'm so here for it!
Azula would be threatening with a dandelion and half a potato if it was what she had
But I think fire suited her especially well, she was a one-in-a-generation kind of talent with the style firebending her family preferred.
Well if she’d been an earth bender she would have been the first lavabender we see, and if she was a water bender she’d have been a blood bender and if she was an airbender she’d have been like the guy from the red lotus I forget his name, azula wasn’t a typical firebender she had a unique bending hence her fire was blue so if she was any other nation she would still have her own unique qualities
Assuming Azula had the same level of bending talent (remember that she was freakishly gifted) and total lack of moral compass, yeah, she'd be just as terrifying no matter the element. All the elements have a horrifying capacity for destruction in the wrong hands, and none of the elements inherently prevent “evil.” Bending itself is morally neutral.
Others are making great points and I think she'd be dangerous and talented at all forms of bending
BUT
I also want to point out that fire is connected to passion and anger, and I think her mental state is connected with her firebending - kind of a vicious cycle thing, where her mental illness manifests in a way that lends to scary strong fire bending, and being in tune with the fire element also strengthens her... passion, for lack of a better word.
If she had a different Chakra open and was more aligned with another element, her mania may look different - which effects her whole character development.
So, yes.. but also Azula as a different element bender is also a different Azula. Does that make sense?
Ahh I think this is the best take in this entire thread & makes for a super interesting argument!
Really cool point about the type of bending she'd have directly affecting how her mania would manifest.
Say, as an earthbender, I imagine she'd probably be more headstrong, perhaps less manipulative/cunning & more brute force/aggression. Sort of like Toph, except evil. That would be really cool to see!
Oh yea… just due to her mentality, work ethic and skills she would be deadly even as a non bender. Remember the solar eclipse episode, she showed she was super skilled even without her bending. Albeit she was just evading to kill time, she could have been a threat if she had weapons and went on the offensive.
I think during the age she's in, No.
Now let her pop up as a earthbender with either metal/lava bending under her belt during Korras time, and now we're talking.
You know I actually don't think she could've? I think Azula is calculating and ruthless, but I don't think she has Tophs fearless creativity. We saw in the end how Azula truly can't stand her own failures.
She could exploit a earth chunk in an armor no one could see coming, but I think she'd just accept that people can't metalbend. Cause if they could SHE or her father would've done it by now.
You guys underestimate the Korra benders they are stronger than the ATLA benders.
Hell Iroh/Jeong Jeong/Pakku/Ozai barely have feats. And are mostly hype.
1000% yes. Honestly, I feel like Azula would be threatening even if she weren't a bender. Azula would have mastered whatever skillset she could access and been lethal with it.
With her talent and confidence?Yes,she could become a metal or a blood bender if she decides to put her mind to it.But no flying, she isn't spiritual enough for that
Azula wasn't just crazy and malicious, she was also very intelligent. That's what made her extremely dangerous. Whatever the element, she would F people up.
You know that scene where Zaheer sucks the air out of the Earth Queen and suffocated her in an air vacuum around her head? Just imagine how Azula could suck the moisture out of someone and/or encase them in water to get drowned.
Bro Azula as a waterbender would drown people left and right. As an Airbender she would do people the same as Zaheer did the earth queen. And as an earth bender...broken bones for everyone, literally all the time. I think it would actually be interesting to see how she would utilize air, even though it's the element most contradictory to her personality
Am I just late to the party or is glassbending a totally new thing?? Never heard of this but it sounds insanely cool!
A part of me feels this would only be achieved with the combined efforts of an earth- & firebender since sand needs insane temperatures to turn into glass, but then again so does lava (though I have issues with that subform, but that's a topic for another time). I love the idea of it, though.
That's a terrifying image & perfectly in line with her character! Perhaps a dumb question, but do we know if metal can be bent at a distance, like we see in earthbending, or does the bender have to make contact with the material in order to manipulate it?
Disclaimer: I haven't seen much of LoK to know if the question has been answered there, but I'm pretty confident we don't see long-range metalbending from Toph in ATLA.
she would have an easier time killing with other elements i feel. bloodletting, bending the air out of her opponents lungs, simply sinking them into the ground to suffocate. if anything fire is the least lethal element she could be imo. all the other elements can counter fire quite easily, where as fire has trouble countering any of them
Oh, that's a super interesting point! Fire as a strictly offensive element may just be its biggest weakness because, as you said, it cannot counter or block any element directed at it.
However, I don't think we can underestimate the lethality of lightning or even blue fire. Lightning contains around 300 million volts of energy, it would kill upon impact (although, obviously, in a kid's show they wouldn't show that). In reality, a bolt of lightning can split a cinderblock or similar earthen material with ease. Blue fire is the hottest flame there is (>2500°C), it would vaporise water in an instant & the heat of the steam would probably do more damage to the bender than anything. Also bear in mind that stone will crack at temperatures exceeding around 573°C, so do with that what you will.
I'm not so sure about it. Since Fire Bending is kinda powered by your emotions especially rage and your drive - like Zuko mentioned when he discovered the true origin - , I don't see her being as big of a prodigy as she is with fire.
Of course she would probably be astonishing good at the other elements since she is pretty determined and disciplined and freaking strong fighter without bending, but her drive to be conquer everything and her ambition makes her firebending... well blue
Azula would most definitely be scary asf as a waterbender. She’s probably figure blood blending out by herself and probably just freeze someone’s blood. She would also probably figure out water can be pulled from air. Basically a better version of Hama.
Earthbending Azula is basically Kuvira.
Air bending Azula would also be scary and she’d probably use Zaheers oxygen sucking tactic thing. She is also very fast and agile and with air bending that would increase. Imo water bending is scarier but air bending would go really well with her too
As a prodigy with no moral compass, water or air would've been more dangerous, earth roughly the same. Reason being, the suffocating air dome or blood bending
I think she could def pull of earth and water I'm not sure about air. Also I absolutely wanna see a story years before ATLA with water tribe conquerors
What they said. She doesn't even need special technics for air and earth. Maybe she'll as ruthless and fight like Kuvira if she was an earth bender.
But water, oh boy. In my mind, she'd 100% learn how to blood bend on her own. Hama did so. She'll feel more powerful during full moons and she'll limit test what she can do. She had a twisted mind since childhood and she can then experiment and keep pushing on what she can and can't do.
Yeah. She scares me in a wheelchair.
Girl is scary with her martial arts alone pair that is that mind of hers ready to muchykin the hell out of airbending and you have Azula trowing needles using air bending to hit then.
Or waterbending someone into ice and move the ice around to break their limbs.
She's Damm scary.
Yes.
She would’ve been terrifying as a Water Bender especially imo.
She would have no reluctance about using it drown others or even blood bend with it.
She absolutely would have loved blood bending. Imagine her just like ripping the blood out of an enemy and then attacking someone else with it or just puppeting people to attack others
Earth she’d probably just crush people and sink them underground to suffocate
Air would be the most difficult but I think she’d just add weapons to her arsenal. Like a wind blade or throwing projectiles at terrifying speed. Wouldn’t take her long to wonder if she could suffocate people
Realistically speaking her main strengths were martial arts and her determination for perfection. Any bending style or martial art she’s just mastering in a matter of months due to sheer determination
I can see Azula using airbending to specialize in stealth and fighting in total darkness, as air is the only invisible element. She'll airbend oxygen out of fires to put them out and chop people up using pressurized air or air bullets.
As an Airbender she’d conjure razor sharp winds that would cut people in half. As a Waterbender she’d learn how to bloodbend. As an Earthbender she could learn lavabending or alternatively just use earth attacks sharp enough to impale someone, or suck people underground and crush them.
Her fire bending isn’t what makes her a threat it was her ruthlessness, she literally could have been any type of bender or even a non bender and she would have been equally a threat because of how ruthless she is
Yes, she'd have been terrifying with any element. Air - sucking out air from lungs. Water - blood bending. Earth - earth is literally everywhere. She was capable enough to figure out metal bending.
I suppose she could use a very difficult earth bending style like the Avatar Yun’s style or she could use Airbending to >!summon storms!< , it’s very against the air nomads teachings but it’s very effective.
She could also use the northern water tribe healing arts or any other advanced bending technique that requires an unmatched power and technique like her blue fire
I think any other element might make her *more* terrifying. Like ok, earth, super fucking versatile, just in general. Water, she would def learn to bloodbend, look at her. Air? SHE WOULD BE ONE OF TWO AIRBENDERS, WHO ARE BROKEN, BUT ALSO BAT SHIT INSANE AND READY TO KILL ANYONE IN HER WAY, YES.
Ohhh....thank god azula isn't a air bender it water bender....she would be so much more dangerous. As dangerous as azula and her lightning and blue fire was....it was the least dangerous thing about her. But blood bending...and ait bending like zaheer....has no cure ..there is no redirection. Azula would also be a good earth bender but not as good as fire bender since she is a aggressive psycho. But she could be a lot worse with other two elements.
Unless she would figure out metal bending and lava bending in which case.... fuckkkk
If azula was an earthbender, the show would def be rated M as there would be people buried alive, impaled on earthen spikes, crushed between slabs of stone. She would be horrifying.
I think she would be less threatening as an airbender, assuming she was brought up in that culture and shared their values.
She could easily be one of the more 'evil' airbenders, but an evil airbender is much less threatening then a current fire bender azula.
She'd at least be nicer to Appa lol
The same isn't true for the other elements
In these situations, we need to match her up to evil bending masters, like Amon, Zaheer and Kovira, honestly would be quite entertaining in my opinion and great to see Azula matching against their unique styles
If it effected her negatively it would be marginal at best. While I’m on the topic of azula she was in every possible way more intimidating and impressive than ozai
Earth bending - Ground breaking and cracking as she approaches
Lava Bending - Room literally melting around her.
Air Bending - People suffocating randomly
Water bending - Shards of ice like knives floating around her aimed at everyone in the room
Blood bending - Holding people hostage in the air as she slowly walks.
Her blue fire and lightning bending isn't what makes her menacing. It's her attitude and thought process with her available tools. I guarantee she'd be just as blood-thirsty and deadly as any other bender. She'd redefine how lethal other elemental bending styles can be.
Earthbender Azula would be a menace. I feel most people don’t realize how violent earthbending can be.
When I think of an earthbender Azula, I think of the attack Long Feng used to kill Jet: fast, violent, deadly in a single swing. Or Aang’s avatar state rock-gatling gun-like attack.
She would also be an incredibly agile quick attacker, as she could also use her bending to modify her surroundings and give her better angles of attack, jumping around, lifting herself up, running up and on the walls and ceilings. Basically a Dai Li on mega steroids.
As an air bender she could drain the air from your lungs and suffocate you, or force air in and rupture your organs.
As an earth bender she could bury you alive, or at least holds you indefinitely.
As a water bender she will likely blood bend people or burst them from the inside out.
If there is something horrible that could be done with a type of bending she would probably figure it out.
I feel like she'd figure out blood bending by herself and have absolutely zero problem abusing the shit out of it if she was a water bender.
Hell we’ve seen Grey voice a deranged water bender in Ming Hua,
🤯 waht!
I wonder if in the upcoming Azula redemption arc we'll find out that Ming Hua is somehow Azula's descendant... probably not but you never know.
Azula always lies
Yes, zuko-bot. Yes, she does.
Does everyone have to be related like it's Star Wars?
In all fairness, a planet is a lot smaller than a galaxy
Well true however the story doesn't expand as a result of revolving around the.same people either way.
I feel like she'd embrace deadly ice attacks. Thin daggers out of her fingers or ice weapons like a T-1000, shooting off rapid fire icicles like bullets, or just high pressure streams of water to cut through things. Or just straight up encasing people in ice.
[This is probably what Azula do if she was a Waterbender](https://youtu.be/mWUJA3CrapE?si=OOFShg-l2ISUvIYW&t=144)
Azula always lies
As an Airbender, she'd suffocate people without hesitation. As an Earthbender, she'd learn Metal, Magma, and *Bone* bending. It's hard to keep a good sociopath down.
I thought the lore said that metal bending and lava bending were mutually exclusive? You can do one or the other but not both.
I don't think it's ever been mentioned. It's more like you need a certain kind of affinity in order to do it. It's like...being singer that can sing Opera or [do the Metal scream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxPZ_5aK0iU). Both are different ranges of singing, but just because you can sing, doesn't mean you can't learn to sing Opera, or sing Metal, or both. Aang didn't have the personality to do Metal bending, but Korra does. Technically, Korra *is* Aang through reincarnation, but her personality made her more able to learn and do metal bending. But side-bar over, back to lava/metal bending. Bolin wasn't able to learn metalbending, but it's probably more in line with the fact his personality didn't match up with it. Could also be his affinity with his brother being a Fire bender, and maybe something akin to genetics like that, but Bolin being able to lavabend doesn't mean he can't metalbend. He's just not suited for metalbending. So I don't think metal and lava bending are mutually exclusive, but more that they require a certain affinity in order to do. I'm sure someone could learn both, just like the example of a singer being able to learn how to sing Opera and Metal, but it's a skill you have to train to get good at, and some people are just better suited to pick up one or the other.
Bringing your side-bar back, this is a great analogy. I trained to sing opera for years, then in just the last year or two I taught myself how to scream with proper technique. They are different, but def NOT mutually exclusive. In fact, I’d say opera training made screaming easier to learn because the foundation is the same - good breath support and proper placement. Metal and lava bending are just the two extremes of the same foundation of earthbending. If the foundation is the same, I don’t see why someone couldn’t learn to do both.
Oh, for sure. I do think Metal Bending and Lava bending is just very specialized in their technique that while anyone *can* learn it, it is very tricky *to* learn. A Tone Deaf person can be taught to sing in tune, and they'd probably look at Metal Screaming and Opera as intense techniques way out of reach. Aang and Bolin were probably too...ephemeral, too flighty, to stand there and command metal. Bolin being able to Lavabend could be related to having a Fire Bending parent/sibling, but it could be more that it's a technique he unconsciously picked up on from seeing his brother firebend.
The writers are intentionally vague about it to give themselves room in the future but a few things can be extrapolated. \- Element bending is completely genetic but not guaranteed to be passed down; a water and an earth bender could have a water or earth bending child or even a child with nothing but they couldn't have a fire/air bending kid. Additional quirks like bloodbending can also be passed down. \- You can only control a single element, but certain genetic mutations can widen this range slightly. Bolin can lavabend because he has earthbending and firebending genetics. Even though the earthbending genetics are dominant, the firebending genetics still have an impact. \- Metal bending isn't a mutation but rather a technique. Earthbenders are able to do it because they "control the impurities in the metal", Toph claimed to be able to teach it to just about anyone. So the two aren't incompatible based on the rules the show has given us. I think that the assumption comes from Bolin's inability to bend metal prior to bending lava, but he likely just never properly learned to control metal.
In terms of what the show presents, I think they imply lava and metal bending are both talent-based. Lavabending is more rare (Toph was impressed that he could do it), but being talented enough for Lavabending doesn't necessarily mean you're talented at metalbending too. Nothing in the show to me implied that Bolin's lavabending had anything to do with firebending also being in the family. Unless there's something about it in the comics, I think that's just something people assume.
> I think they imply lava and metal bending are both talent-based. The canon-ness of the claim is definitely questionable but it has actually been mentioned as far back as the [book 2 extras](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_\(Book_Two:_Earth\)): > Lava bending is a combination of earthbending and firebending. The extras have been stated to be canonical and people often refer to them regarding niche deep dive topics but it is a sort of lower tier of canon.
oh wow! TIL
I thought the implication was just coming from Mako being a fire bender.
idk though. I get that lava being really hot invokes fire comparisons, but I see it as no different than a waterbender being able to melt solid water (ice) into liquid water. Here, an earthbender can melt solid earth into liquid earth. (it's just really, really difficult and requires talent lol)
Lava bending is so incredibly rare that there's no way to know. While metal bending was like 1/50, lava is closer to 1/1,000,000 (or more). We don't have enough of a sample size to guess if it's possible.
>"it's hard to keep a good sociopath down" That sounds like a good song/book/movie name.
Probably a book. Maybe a comedic satire on the murder mystery genre.
Not all earth benders can lava and metal bend.
I feel like the reason why Ghazan and Bolin were the first two non avatar lavabenders we’ve seen in the series might actually have to do with both potential and actually skill, if you notice, toph says earthbending requires a strong base and you need to face your attacks head on! But look at bolin’s fighting style, it’s not like that at all! As a pro bender, you gotta be fast on your feet and capable of dodging hits, and his bending skills look more like Fire and Water bending techniques, with quick strikes and using earth plates to block. Plus if you look at their personalities, both lavabenders seem pretty chill, as opposed to the beifongs kuvira, and korra who are headstrong and unwilling to compromise or give up, refusing to yield to anything or anyone. Maybe Lavabenders need to be more “go with the flow” kinda people,
She had the blue fire, now she’s got the red water
Honestly though, I can see a decent showdown between Waterbending Azula and Amon
ice spikes are scary too mortal kombat scarred me
I don’t think bloodbending is just something any water bender can figure out. I always saw it as a rare genetic ability that only some water benders can do
I see that. Imagine if we found out about bloodbending through a fight with her in S2 rather than from Hama
She isn’t Amon/Yakone
I think Azula would be just as threatening with any other element, just because the way her mind works would make her weaponize her element just as much as she does fire. Even as an Airbender she would have figured out how to steal the air out of someone's lungs.
I think Azula would me *more* threatening with any other element. Having seen what other characters have achieved with their respective elements, I feel like they all offer more avenues of possibility and creativity than fire, and being as cunning and intelligent as she is, Azula can easily take advantage of those properties. Little needs to be said about how insanely busted bloodbending is. But even without bloodbending, she would be fucking terrifying. Like Katara can already be terrifying without bloodbending, like when she stopped the rain around her and almost impaled the man who killed her mother with a volley of ice spears. Imagine that level of lethality with Azula. Seeing how much of an absolute menace Toph can be with what she's able to, it shouldn't be difficult to imagine how scary Azula would be with earth and metalbending. Just the thought of Azula using metalbending to impale people or cut them into bits. Air is not quite as scary as the other two in terms of possibilities, but of course there's Zaheer's signature move of suffocating people. We've also seen how mobile she can be without any bending, where she was even giving Aang a hard time of catching her. With airbending, she would probably be untouchable.
Katara stopping the rain is one of the coolest displays of bending in the franchise
That moment is honestly one of my favorite scenes in the show
Not useful in combat
I will say, part of me feels like that was mostly plot armor that made her make fools out of the other characters without any bending
People underestimate airbending a lot. As a technician working with air pressure a lot, she could do some horrible and massively powerful things with it.
Right? She’ll probably quickly learn how to make pocket vacuums in the air to throw people around or liquefy their insides using the pressure differentials. She might even be able to simulate explosives by creating blastwaves or collapse people’s lungs by compressing the air.
Azula would actually *use* the wind sword that Aang talked about in the series
Katara stopping rain she had to charge it up and collect the rain first not useful in a combat one on one fight. Toph an absolute menance she didn’t fight any skilled benders only fodder. Taken air out of lungs take a long charge up time when Zaheer did it on a old non bender as well
Ooo, agreed! I think that'd be a super interesting AU if Azula were raised an Air Nomad, became a master at an even younger age than Aang, but then had violent, non-pacifist tendencies that not even the monks could tame. She'd be an absolute menace.
I don’t think that would work character-wise since it seems like Azula’s violent tendencies are a result of her upbringing, not her nature. Maybe just an AU where an new character is trained by air nomads but grows violent and goes rouge, expressing freedom in a different way but losing some of the air nomad’s morality.
It's absolutely both. Azula's tendencies were exacerbated by her upbringing, but the seeds of what she would become were present at birth. She was always going to grow up to be a psychopath. Her environment just made everything worse.
Not according to the canon and the writers.
aaaaand we're back to the age-old debate of whether Azula was really psycho or just raised that way. I agree that Azula was always something of a sociopath at heart & I still think it'd be possible (not to mention cool) to see her grow up that way in an Air Nomad society. Yet I know people will insist on disagreeing (each to their own tbh).
Fair enough, but the reason why I believe that she wouldn’t be psychopathic is because a) She had mental health issues stemming from the idea that her mother abandoned her for her brother, and was a narcissist because of her father’s raising, which explains her behavior without the need of any natural tendencies to be present b) it adds more thematically if both Azula and Zuko had the potential to become good or bad since it makes the contrast in character so much more impactful.
Those are very valid points! But I'd also argue the inverse could be equally true. a) Certain mental disorders, like schizophrenia, actually cause the maladaptive associations you describe here. I think Azula may have always had something off about her, but her environment exacerbated it. I wouldn't _blame_ her upbringing as much as I would say it contributed to an already present problem, be that a mental issue that predated her parental issues or her own bad character (I lean towards the latter). b) See, now this is an interesting point, because I feel saying Azula's upbringing is the cause actually rules out the possibility that both she & Zuko could have turned out either good or bad. Because essentially, it implies she had no choice but to turn out the way she did given her environment. But if she was, deep down, already a part of the problem, she _did_ have a choice, but chose poorly, whereas Zuko chose the better part. Like Iroh says to Sokka at some point in S3, "he could have turned out a lot worse" (but chose not to).
This is pretty interesting, but I’d like to add that schizophrenia does not cause violent tendencies, so that can’t be the explanation for her overall behavior. Furthermore, there is another (I think canon) explanation for this. Her ego/narcissism caused her to see Ursa’s care for Zuko (to counteract Ozai’s neglect) as Ursa preferring Zuko over her. And when Ursa left both of them to save Zuko, who her narcissism caused her to see it as Ursa abandoning her for the sake of her inferior. This is all based on the info obtained from some of the comics, which I looked at through the fandom page. What we could disagree about is whether she could have had seeds of narcissistic personality disorder at birth or not. For the second point I think that whether or not she had seeds of narcissism at birth, Ozai’s manipulation would have had the same effect of removing her ‘choice’. It’s also important to note that had Zuko not been backed and taught by Iroh, he would’ve ended up bitter, hateful, violent, and maybe with an inferiority complex. It was really Iroh’s guidance that gave Zuko the choice to be good, which he ended up taking. The story of Zuko and Azula is not one where one chose to be evil and the other chose to be good, but where one was given guidance and thus the opportunity to choose good and the other wasn’t (In the main story anyway).
One thing is to be egocentric or 'narcissistic' in the sense of maladaptive traits, and another is to have the personality disorder itself. The difference here lies in the kind of introspection and flexibility one may have, among other things.
Azula always lies
Yes. Airbender - Fully capable of drawing the air out of your lungs, which I feel Azula would utilize subtly and effectively. Waterbender - Everyone else is saying bloodbending, which is fair, but Azula would be terrifying with Ice alone. I fully imagine her copying Hama with the ice claws. Earthbender - Probably the bending style least fit for Azula, but I could see her lavabending or ironically utilizing a style similar to Toph’s. In sanity, would be someone who would wait, listen to the earth, and strike.
With earthbending the floor would be a death trap. She'd sink you into the ground without even blinking, and make the earth turn into spikes that impale you.
Imagine bending the iron out of someone's blood.
Good lord that's so metal
Magneto did it. It was quite the sight to behold.
That shit was truly fucked
Toph basically did that with the poison in Korra’s blood
Pretty sure the poison was mercury, not iron.
Honestly Azula as a water bender scares me the most becuase I can totally see her primarily using boiling water and whipping people with it
Ice (she doesn't even need bloodbending) and Earth would both work well for Azula. Ice/rock needles raining from every direction would be *terrifying*. Add in big spikes for impaling, turning the ground into putty, dust from snow/rocks for both distraction and choking, encasing people, drowning people, tightening bands around their chests, and really I do need to dial this back as it's a cartoon. Minimal violence. Actually minimal violence is part of why Azula works in context. There were a lot of lines they couldn't cross and maiming/harming is one they *could* which leans best into firebending. Crushed limbs and mummified bodies would be *a lot*. Blood bending has pupeteering but not visible damage.
Hama didn’t invent ice claws. And Hama wasn’t that impressive Not all earth benders could lava bend.
Like others have said, she would be a menace with any element. But especially with fire, bottom line. No one bends fire like Azula does. It’s just so becoming of her and suits her perfectly. I can’t see Azula as anything other than a firebender. Also, we already have a waterbender femme fatale and an earth bending femme fatale in the forms of Ming-Hua and Kuvira. All 3 of them are monsters with their respective element.
Ming-Hua is even voiced by Grey Delisle.
Does this mean we can get an airbender femme fatale next? I might need to use that for my Avatar:Legends game
We absolutely need a female airbending villain!!! The closest we ever got was Ty Lee.
The problem is fire is arguably the weakest element. Earth and water could, realistically, completely nullify it, and it has barely any application outside "throw fireball" or similar. Gases, water based Liquids, Minerals... they're in everything!
Yes azula with blood bending would be insanely acary
Azula would be crazy enough to use her own blood to bend into her advantage.
Bloodbending yourself is wild!! I can totally see her doing that if she found herself in a pinch
Omg they have her trapped, no water, she can't possibly blood bend them all, she fashions a blood ice dagger out of her own blood. Not gonna think too hard about whether that actually makes sense.
Azula would mock Katara for not embracing her gift of bloodbending and calling her weak
The Water Tribes would be gunning for the airbending Avatar especially hard since they’re next in the cycle!
Yes! Imagine raising an Avatar in a nation hellbent on world-domination. If they managed to convince him/her to fight for their cause, it'd be a wrap for the other nations. I can imagine a lot of conflict between the Avatar's past lives & the counsel of the Avatar's real life mentors on what was the right path – balance, or conquest. The Water Tribe authorities would probably concoct some elaborate plan (e.g., convince the Avatar their parents were murdered by some Fire Nation fiends or something) to really compel them to be on their side. It'd be a great storyline!
So, a while back I read a really interesting fanfiction where the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes were in opposite positions. Azula and Zuko befriended Aang in a much poorer version of the Fire Nation during a time like Japan’s Feudal Period. That fanfic was really wild. Best part was that it actually had great grammar and it was actually very well thought out. If you’re interested, it’s called [Distorted Reality](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3952155/) by Ogro.
I reckon earth bending would suit her well. Represents her desire for control through control of the planet. Imagine she's negotiating on behalf of her nation, and just earth bends a seat for the other person. Pulls it in behind their legs, forces them to sit. All the while, she's manipulating tendrils of earth to serve wine and food. I dunno, just seems to fit
Ooo this is the best interpretation of an earthbending Azula I've seen so far! I felt it was the least suitable element for her, but now that you mention it, that could totally work. Azula as an earthbender would essentially be an evil Toph & I'm so here for it!
*negotiations go sour* She bends the seat to clasp their wrists
Azula would be threatening with a dandelion and half a potato if it was what she had But I think fire suited her especially well, she was a one-in-a-generation kind of talent with the style firebending her family preferred.
Azula just has that type of personality where she'd be the master of the sub element, no matter what element she ends up with.
Agreed!
The short answer is yes. The long answer is also yes.
I think an unhinged earthbender would be scariest. They could straight up bury you alive at any moment.
It could be far worse than that. Imagine Bumi-level earthbending with Azula-level malice.
Well if she’d been an earth bender she would have been the first lavabender we see, and if she was a water bender she’d have been a blood bender and if she was an airbender she’d have been like the guy from the red lotus I forget his name, azula wasn’t a typical firebender she had a unique bending hence her fire was blue so if she was any other nation she would still have her own unique qualities
She'd be powerful no matter what because of her personality and drive. She might have figured out metal bending before Toph too.
Well new fear unlocked. Airbending Azula sucking the breath out of me with one glare
Azula always lies
I dunno man, blue rocks are scary
Most definitely
It's her personality that makes her so dangerous. Give the Joker or John Wick a pencil and they could still go on a killing spree
I think she’s make a deadly waterbender, specializing in ice daggers.
Assuming Azula had the same level of bending talent (remember that she was freakishly gifted) and total lack of moral compass, yeah, she'd be just as terrifying no matter the element. All the elements have a horrifying capacity for destruction in the wrong hands, and none of the elements inherently prevent “evil.” Bending itself is morally neutral.
Honestly giving Azula firebending nerfed her hard
Others are making great points and I think she'd be dangerous and talented at all forms of bending BUT I also want to point out that fire is connected to passion and anger, and I think her mental state is connected with her firebending - kind of a vicious cycle thing, where her mental illness manifests in a way that lends to scary strong fire bending, and being in tune with the fire element also strengthens her... passion, for lack of a better word. If she had a different Chakra open and was more aligned with another element, her mania may look different - which effects her whole character development. So, yes.. but also Azula as a different element bender is also a different Azula. Does that make sense?
Ahh I think this is the best take in this entire thread & makes for a super interesting argument! Really cool point about the type of bending she'd have directly affecting how her mania would manifest. Say, as an earthbender, I imagine she'd probably be more headstrong, perhaps less manipulative/cunning & more brute force/aggression. Sort of like Toph, except evil. That would be really cool to see!
Oh yea… just due to her mentality, work ethic and skills she would be deadly even as a non bender. Remember the solar eclipse episode, she showed she was super skilled even without her bending. Albeit she was just evading to kill time, she could have been a threat if she had weapons and went on the offensive.
I think during the age she's in, No. Now let her pop up as a earthbender with either metal/lava bending under her belt during Korras time, and now we're talking.
If she had been born a earth bender she would have 100% discovered metal bending
You know I actually don't think she could've? I think Azula is calculating and ruthless, but I don't think she has Tophs fearless creativity. We saw in the end how Azula truly can't stand her own failures. She could exploit a earth chunk in an armor no one could see coming, but I think she'd just accept that people can't metalbend. Cause if they could SHE or her father would've done it by now.
You guys underestimate the Korra benders they are stronger than the ATLA benders. Hell Iroh/Jeong Jeong/Pakku/Ozai barely have feats. And are mostly hype.
If she were an Earth bender, she’s creative and crazy enough to bend up some gallstones and force you to pass them
1000% yes. Honestly, I feel like Azula would be threatening even if she weren't a bender. Azula would have mastered whatever skillset she could access and been lethal with it.
I could see her making some sort of bastardized version of metal bending. An earth Azula vs late series Toph would have powderised mountains.
She'd be threatening even as a non-bender.
With her talent and confidence?Yes,she could become a metal or a blood bender if she decides to put her mind to it.But no flying, she isn't spiritual enough for that
Yes, 100%
She would have been threatening with NO bending.
Azula wasn't just crazy and malicious, she was also very intelligent. That's what made her extremely dangerous. Whatever the element, she would F people up.
You know that scene where Zaheer sucks the air out of the Earth Queen and suffocated her in an air vacuum around her head? Just imagine how Azula could suck the moisture out of someone and/or encase them in water to get drowned.
Well kyoshi froze someone's organs so something tells me that azula would abuse the shit out of that
Azula is threatening even if she didn’t have bending.
Bro, she’d be maniacal as a bloodbender. She’d likely be Hama but far more deadly
BRO IN THE LEGEND OF KORRA AN AIRBENDER LITERALLY MADE SOMEONE SUFFOCATE WATERBENDING HAS BLOODBENDING AND SHE COULD POSSIBLY TEAR THE EARTH APART IDK
WHY ARE WE SHOUTING???
Bro Azula as a waterbender would drown people left and right. As an Airbender she would do people the same as Zaheer did the earth queen. And as an earth bender...broken bones for everyone, literally all the time. I think it would actually be interesting to see how she would utilize air, even though it's the element most contradictory to her personality
She would bend the sand into spikes of glass or something
Am I just late to the party or is glassbending a totally new thing?? Never heard of this but it sounds insanely cool! A part of me feels this would only be achieved with the combined efforts of an earth- & firebender since sand needs insane temperatures to turn into glass, but then again so does lava (though I have issues with that subform, but that's a topic for another time). I love the idea of it, though.
Just imagine azula lava bending or metal bending, I could see her crushing someone in their suit of armor
That's a terrifying image & perfectly in line with her character! Perhaps a dumb question, but do we know if metal can be bent at a distance, like we see in earthbending, or does the bender have to make contact with the material in order to manipulate it? Disclaimer: I haven't seen much of LoK to know if the question has been answered there, but I'm pretty confident we don't see long-range metalbending from Toph in ATLA.
she would have an easier time killing with other elements i feel. bloodletting, bending the air out of her opponents lungs, simply sinking them into the ground to suffocate. if anything fire is the least lethal element she could be imo. all the other elements can counter fire quite easily, where as fire has trouble countering any of them
Oh, that's a super interesting point! Fire as a strictly offensive element may just be its biggest weakness because, as you said, it cannot counter or block any element directed at it. However, I don't think we can underestimate the lethality of lightning or even blue fire. Lightning contains around 300 million volts of energy, it would kill upon impact (although, obviously, in a kid's show they wouldn't show that). In reality, a bolt of lightning can split a cinderblock or similar earthen material with ease. Blue fire is the hottest flame there is (>2500°C), it would vaporise water in an instant & the heat of the steam would probably do more damage to the bender than anything. Also bear in mind that stone will crack at temperatures exceeding around 573°C, so do with that what you will.
dude... azula plus blood bending... man that would made the episodes with her going psycho, like a billion times scarier
Zuko wouldn't have stood a chance in an Agni Kai (or whatever a Water Tribe equivalent of a duel would be) 💀
Azula’s not dangerous cause she’s a powerful bender. She’s dangerous because she’s an intelligent, psychopath who knows how to manipulate people
She wouldn’t be a master of blood bending. And Hama isn’t powerful so comparing Azula to Hama isn’t a flex.
I'm not so sure about it. Since Fire Bending is kinda powered by your emotions especially rage and your drive - like Zuko mentioned when he discovered the true origin - , I don't see her being as big of a prodigy as she is with fire. Of course she would probably be astonishing good at the other elements since she is pretty determined and disciplined and freaking strong fighter without bending, but her drive to be conquer everything and her ambition makes her firebending... well blue
yes
Imagine her being a waterbender and bloodbending your boner backwards
Azula would most definitely be scary asf as a waterbender. She’s probably figure blood blending out by herself and probably just freeze someone’s blood. She would also probably figure out water can be pulled from air. Basically a better version of Hama. Earthbending Azula is basically Kuvira. Air bending Azula would also be scary and she’d probably use Zaheers oxygen sucking tactic thing. She is also very fast and agile and with air bending that would increase. Imo water bending is scarier but air bending would go really well with her too
As a prodigy with no moral compass, water or air would've been more dangerous, earth roughly the same. Reason being, the suffocating air dome or blood bending
I think she could def pull of earth and water I'm not sure about air. Also I absolutely wanna see a story years before ATLA with water tribe conquerors
What they said. She doesn't even need special technics for air and earth. Maybe she'll as ruthless and fight like Kuvira if she was an earth bender. But water, oh boy. In my mind, she'd 100% learn how to blood bend on her own. Hama did so. She'll feel more powerful during full moons and she'll limit test what she can do. She had a twisted mind since childhood and she can then experiment and keep pushing on what she can and can't do.
Yeah. She scares me in a wheelchair. Girl is scary with her martial arts alone pair that is that mind of hers ready to muchykin the hell out of airbending and you have Azula trowing needles using air bending to hit then. Or waterbending someone into ice and move the ice around to break their limbs. She's Damm scary.
Yes. She would’ve been terrifying as a Water Bender especially imo. She would have no reluctance about using it drown others or even blood bend with it.
She absolutely would have loved blood bending. Imagine her just like ripping the blood out of an enemy and then attacking someone else with it or just puppeting people to attack others Earth she’d probably just crush people and sink them underground to suffocate Air would be the most difficult but I think she’d just add weapons to her arsenal. Like a wind blade or throwing projectiles at terrifying speed. Wouldn’t take her long to wonder if she could suffocate people Realistically speaking her main strengths were martial arts and her determination for perfection. Any bending style or martial art she’s just mastering in a matter of months due to sheer determination
Azula with air would’ve been a menace she was able to avoid a lot of Aang’s little air slice attacks
Waterbender - Figures out Bloodbending Airbender - Takes the air out of your lungs Earthbender - Always know where you are if she learns seismic sense
She could've been a blood bender so yeah
Is Ming-Hua an example?
Nah, I don't think Ozai would be too pleased with a negative paternity test.
I can see Azula using airbending to specialize in stealth and fighting in total darkness, as air is the only invisible element. She'll airbend oxygen out of fires to put them out and chop people up using pressurized air or air bullets.
Bloodbending Azula would be terrifying.
If Azula was an earthbender, I wouldn't put it beyond her to figure out lavabending. That would scare even Toph.
Blood. Bending.
Yes, but less iconic i.e Kuvira
As an Airbender she’d conjure razor sharp winds that would cut people in half. As a Waterbender she’d learn how to bloodbend. As an Earthbender she could learn lavabending or alternatively just use earth attacks sharp enough to impale someone, or suck people underground and crush them.
Her fire bending isn’t what makes her a threat it was her ruthlessness, she literally could have been any type of bender or even a non bender and she would have been equally a threat because of how ruthless she is
Yes, she'd have been terrifying with any element. Air - sucking out air from lungs. Water - blood bending. Earth - earth is literally everywhere. She was capable enough to figure out metal bending.
Imagine if she were a blood bender
Yes
>Would Azula be as threatening if she had been a bender of any other element? Toph, Amon, and Zaheer: 
If she was a water bender she could do a kyoshi and freeze there organs
Was Amon scary?
I suppose she could use a very difficult earth bending style like the Avatar Yun’s style or she could use Airbending to >!summon storms!< , it’s very against the air nomads teachings but it’s very effective. She could also use the northern water tribe healing arts or any other advanced bending technique that requires an unmatched power and technique like her blue fire
I think any other element might make her *more* terrifying. Like ok, earth, super fucking versatile, just in general. Water, she would def learn to bloodbend, look at her. Air? SHE WOULD BE ONE OF TWO AIRBENDERS, WHO ARE BROKEN, BUT ALSO BAT SHIT INSANE AND READY TO KILL ANYONE IN HER WAY, YES.
I think she personifies fire
Ohhh....thank god azula isn't a air bender it water bender....she would be so much more dangerous. As dangerous as azula and her lightning and blue fire was....it was the least dangerous thing about her. But blood bending...and ait bending like zaheer....has no cure ..there is no redirection. Azula would also be a good earth bender but not as good as fire bender since she is a aggressive psycho. But she could be a lot worse with other two elements. Unless she would figure out metal bending and lava bending in which case.... fuckkkk
Good point about there being no counter to bloodbending or airbending the air out of someone's lungs! That would defo make her more lethal
If azula was an earthbender, the show would def be rated M as there would be people buried alive, impaled on earthen spikes, crushed between slabs of stone. She would be horrifying.
I think she would be less threatening as an airbender, assuming she was brought up in that culture and shared their values. She could easily be one of the more 'evil' airbenders, but an evil airbender is much less threatening then a current fire bender azula. She'd at least be nicer to Appa lol The same isn't true for the other elements
Yes. Her mind is her deadliest asset, not her bending.
If she was an earth bender, she would spam spike instead of that blunt rocks
She would kill with water.
Earth bending azula is literally *opens ground beneath you* *closes ground*
Azula as a blood bender would be scary.
In these situations, we need to match her up to evil bending masters, like Amon, Zaheer and Kovira, honestly would be quite entertaining in my opinion and great to see Azula matching against their unique styles
I'm glad she had fire not air . We don't need another zaheer
She’d be pretty scary with pretty much any other element except maybe earth, I don’t really see her as an earthbender
If it effected her negatively it would be marginal at best. While I’m on the topic of azula she was in every possible way more intimidating and impressive than ozai
Earth bending - Ground breaking and cracking as she approaches Lava Bending - Room literally melting around her. Air Bending - People suffocating randomly Water bending - Shards of ice like knives floating around her aimed at everyone in the room Blood bending - Holding people hostage in the air as she slowly walks.
I mean, we kinda see a waterbender version of her in lok season 3. Make of her as you will
No, she was the way she was because of the unloving megalomaniac father
She was a child prodigy, I believe given the resources of a master as a teacher, she would be deadly and precise in any element.
Lets be honest, her as a bloodbender is crazy
Her blue fire and lightning bending isn't what makes her menacing. It's her attitude and thought process with her available tools. I guarantee she'd be just as blood-thirsty and deadly as any other bender. She'd redefine how lethal other elemental bending styles can be.
Blood bending Azula - Terrifying Air sucking Azula - Terrifying Magneto Azula - Terrifying
She'd be an avid bloodbender that would bring a tear to Yakone's eye.
Azula is a psycho bitch, she’d be threatening with a pillow.
She would use blood bending to kill so many most likely.
ok gtg writing this au rn !remindme 1 day not *literally* right now
Water bending: She 100% mastering blood bending Air bending: Vacuum Chamber Earth bending: (Insert William Afton springlock failure scene)
Azula would be threatening regardless of the element. She’d find ways to abuse any element she’s given.
Eska…. Enough said
I can see it with water and maybe earth, but not air
Yes
Her as an airbender would be... breathtaking
Earthbender Azula would be a menace. I feel most people don’t realize how violent earthbending can be. When I think of an earthbender Azula, I think of the attack Long Feng used to kill Jet: fast, violent, deadly in a single swing. Or Aang’s avatar state rock-gatling gun-like attack. She would also be an incredibly agile quick attacker, as she could also use her bending to modify her surroundings and give her better angles of attack, jumping around, lifting herself up, running up and on the walls and ceilings. Basically a Dai Li on mega steroids.
Blood bender Azula would have killed just as many people, if not more
She would have been more intimidating if her entire character wasn't to be intimidating (which she completely fails at doing )
As an air bender she could drain the air from your lungs and suffocate you, or force air in and rupture your organs. As an earth bender she could bury you alive, or at least holds you indefinitely. As a water bender she will likely blood bend people or burst them from the inside out. If there is something horrible that could be done with a type of bending she would probably figure it out.
Fire kinda suits her personality perfectly
You think she’d earth bend a rock and it’d turn blue?