Four elements. In a world of war lords, nomads, and village people, there are benders of these elements, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, harnessing nature itself into their own will. The Japanese – American “anime”, Avatar: The Last Airbender, has once again risen to popularity. Released in 2o05, this 3 season TV show took the world by storm, with its clever humor and creative story line, the show quickly earned ratings, and had become a comfort show for many viewers. Now, the show came back again recently, since the live action series of this show was released. The animated show follows Aang, a 12 year old boy who is the last survivor of his nation, and his quest to save the remaining nations from evil. In 3 great seasons, the complexity of characters, plots, relationships and lore expanded, leaving people with their own distinct opinions. The most popular and debatable question: What element is the best, the greatest, and the single most important?

For years this question has been asked and thought about through every key factor and reasoning, taking in information and scenes from the show itself, to how It could be used today. This question has sparked debate all over the fanbase, with many different perspectives coming from logic and reasoning, or some just strictly following the tv show. In order to get the peoples opinions, I  had to ask around and find out…

“Water. Its the most versatile element and you can do much with it..”, says a fan. Which, is true, since in the show, the so called “Water benders” can be seen not only moving and shaping water, but also turning it completely solid, into ice. Katara, a character who is a master water bender in the show, can be seen manipulating water as ice shards, create and ride waves, and is a water healer, an ability run by  few select water benders that can use water to heal injuries. There is just a versatility with the water element that no one can deny.

“Water bending, because you can blood bend”, says another fan. This fan referring to a highly skilled ability that only the talented and masterful water benders can achieve: blood bending. The bending of water and blood of people and living things for control and manipulation. This skill was created by Hana, an evil “witch” character that taught herself this skill in order to escape prison, and forced Katara to learn and use blood bending as an effort to “pass her knowledge”. This ability absolutely SHOCKED the fandom, as the elemental abilities and their limits expanded even more that anyone could have thought. It’s this ability that is seen as the ultimate power, mentioned through quite a few fans that this ability is proof of the water elements superiority.

Now the other elements weren’t completely pushed to the side, as the second mentioned element, was Earth, Air not even being mentioned.

“As to the best element, it would be Earth. You can do a lot with it, and I mean, water is everywhere, but so is Earth. If your in an ocean, there is going to be Earth at the bottom”, says another fan. Air, to some surprise, was disregarded, as put aside for not being the most versatile and overall “weak”.

Water, to most, is the strongest and best element out of the four. As for my opinion, I one hundred percent agree.