Although Avatar: The Last Airbender started with four basic elements to make up the bending arts, by the time of The Legend of Korra, several sub-skills had developed that further expanded the repertoire of its most powerful characters. Some even criticized Korra for what they felt was a proliferation of sub-skills that made them feel less special.
One of the most special of all of these was the airbender Jinora's development of spiritual projection. However, the Avatar Legends core book recently revealed that spiritual projection has a history that traces back to long before Jinora's time.
Although Avatar started by introducing the elemental martial arts that controlled four building blocks of the world -- fire, earth, air and water -- the original series gradually introduced sub-skills within those arts that provided greater talents to their users. Firebenders could also generate and redirect lightning, earthbenders could learn to bend metal and waterbending could control the flow of energy or blood in their targets to startling effect. It seemed as though airbenders were the sole benders left out of access to any sub-skills -- that is, until The Legend of Korra came along.
The Legend of Korra actually introduced two talents unique to airbenders that arguably qualify as sub-skills. The most straightforward one was Zaheer's unassisted flight, gained through his study of the ancient Laghima's own mastery of the ability, but what felt far newer was the young Jinora's power to project her spirit across vast distances.
Jinora's spiritual attunement allowed her to commune with spirits and guide Korra through the Spirit World, but she took those abilities to the next level when she proved she could meditate and manifest her spirit outside her body. She could track down those she was connected to or provide reconnaissance in dangerous territories. It felt like a bold addition to the Avatar franchise at the time, but it's since been integrated into the past of the Avatar world.
Avatar Legends includes extensive details about past eras in the Avatar world, and during the Era of Kyoshi, the core book introduced a new character named Mangal. As a Monk of the Nothern Air Temple, Mangal is described as sharing in Jinora's natural attunement with spirits. Also like Jinora, and notably for the franchise, Mangal is likewise capable of spirit projecting. The information comes as confirmation that the technique was not invented by Jinora alone, and that it existed centuries prior to her birth.
It also sheds new light on Jinora's training in proving that she deserved the airbender tattoos that later marked her as a master. The arrow-shaped tattoos of the airbenders have been said to only be earned after mastering a specific number of techniques in the Air Nomads' tradition, and Aang was known earlier to create his signature air scooter technique that helped concretize his mastery. Jinora's spiritual projection was said to be like the air scooter was for Aang; proof that she could also develop unique skills never seen before. Avatar Legends comes as an exception to that assumption, proving that the history and lore of Avatar is far deeper than fans previously imagined.
The revelation also serves as counterevidence against critics who believed Korra changed too much about the world of Avatar too quickly. The presence of spiritual projection previously in the history shows that not all innovations in the show were completely new developments. Instead, the world and history of Avatar is richer than ever. If both Mangal and Jinora could perform the ability to spiritually project, there are doubtless droves more airbenders throughout the series' mythos capable of performing similar feats. The ability only proves more interesting than ever, and as always, digging into Avatar lore yields fruitful rewards.
