Avatar: The Last Airbender built much of its world around the astounding elemental talents of its benders, but in both the original series and the sequel The Legend of Korra, plenty of nonbenders proved their own martial talents. Even without the elements aiding them, the skills and weaponry of the Four Nations stood out in the franchise.
However, it wasn't until recently that one of the Four Nations had any nonbenders at all. Although there were notable nonbending fighters from the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, Avatar Legends proves why nonbending Air Nomad warriors could be the fiercest fighters of all.
While bending could be an immense boon to a fighter's talents, the Avatar franchise often went out of its way to demonstrate that even nonbenders could punch above their weight class with the use of weapons and skills that helped level the playing field. From the very beginning, the series introduced Sokka as Katara's nonbending brother, and over the course of the series, he honed his expertise with his boomerang, club and machete to deadly effect. By the end of the series, he even became a master swordsman, keenly capable of utilizing his environment to his advantage and joining the likes of his father Hakoda as one of the Water Tribes' greatest nonbending combatants.
Yet even Sokka's skills were exceeded by others throughout the Four Nations. The Kyoshi Warriors who Sokka learned from on the isolated island of the Earth Kingdom fostered an elite band of nonbending warriors whose metallic fans, shields and armor made them fierce fighters in their own right. Jet and his Freedom Fighters proved similarly capable, with the teenagers using ambushing tactics and weapons like hook swords to harry Fire Nation forces. And yet even still, some of the greatest innovations in nonbending fighting styles came from the Fire Nation, developing over time to define how such combatants would level the playing field throughout the rest of history.
Mai's use of projectile weapons and the electrified weaponry designed by Hiroshi Sato provided firm counters against bending abilities that could quickly incapacitate benders in a scrap. Equalists would even use bolas to incapacitate their foes at range, and Hiroshi's daughter Asami improved on the designs of her father's taser glove to combine with her martial talents in combat. Most revolutionary of all were the chi-blocking techniques the Equalists utilized to paralyze their foes, first seen in the series used by the Fire Nation's Ty Lee. However, it was not until Avatar's latest addition that the Air Nomads had any nonbending fighters to speak of, and Legends reveals that it was not the Fire Nation that first developed the chi-blocking techniques at all.
Avatar Legends' sourcebook introduces a new character to the franchise from the Era of Roku named Rioshon -- an Air Nun from the Western Air Temple famed for her prowess at chi-blocking. Rioshon passed her talents on to the Fire Nation's Princess Zeisan, possibly explaining the early origins of chi-blocking in the Fire Nation, but since Rioshon herself was an airbender, the opportunity to explore Air Nomad's nonbenders remains unexplored. The explanation for that at first seems simple, as originally, all Air Nomads had the ability to bend. However, the Air Acolytes that helped revive the nation changed that, and the franchise has yet to prove what they could do in a fight.
Airbending techniques could be deadly when utilized in combination with a nonbender's fighting style. Zaheer proved as much when the nonbending student of Air Nomad philosophy gained a fearful reputation, but since the audience of Korra only ever saw him after he gained airbending from Harmonic Convergence, there was never really the chance to show his former skills off. While Harmonic Convergence brought countless other airbenders into the Air Nation, becoming the focal point of the country's legacy from that point forward, the Air Acolyte nonbenders who fostered that legacy between Aang and Korra's Eras remain largely ignored.
Such Air Acolytes should have the chance to show off their skills in the future, particularly if it means exploring their roots with chi-blocking that until now were so primarily associated with the other nations. An evasive and agile nonbender armed with the ability to paralyze their foes on contact, and who used the signature staff of the Air Monks, could be a deadly friend or foe for a future Avatar to face.
