#toza

i forgot about the hug and the things implied about their past such as:

After Naoki and San died the still lived in their home for a bit before they were thrown on the street when mako says "You didn't see any probenders crying for us when mom and dad died and we got dumped on the street"

Shin was the one who found them and fixed them up with jobs

And Shin also being the one they had to defer to

Considering the EK’s neutral perspective of earthbending and the Republic City’s origins with FN settlers having more privilege over the EK residents, the abilities of earthbending may be deemed as menial in comparison to other forms of bending (the stereotypes in regards to firebenders and earthbenders being interconnected to Fire Nationals & Earth Civilians is a whole other case in it of itself). Like I said before on a reblog, earthbending can be well utilized in manual labor, but overall it may not appear as anything special if not honed, used for something such as entertainment (pro-bending), or a sort of gateway to a subset of bending (metalbending & lavabending).

With that being said, I find it intriguing how Bolin seems to be, at least somewhat, proud to be an Earthbender — and it’s perhaps due to figures like Toph Beifong (who he looks up to a whole lot) that he’s proud of being who he is as an earthbending. Furthermore, I think this can add onto how Bolin kind of has a hard time nailing down who he is as a person — trying to figure things for himself as someone who is often a follower.

In some way, I can see how the perceptions of earthbenders within both the RC and the Earth Kingdom can impact Bolin when examining such intersections.

You make a lot of good points! I think Bolin's relation to his earthbending is so interesting, because a lot of people seem to downplay his bending abilities. Bolin is a highly capable earthbender, honestly probably on par with Toph, in my opinion. He utilises both earthbending and firebending techniques in his bending, and actively nerfs himself while lavabending. Like he opts for the lava disk, because if he pulled shit like this?

He'd be a murder machine. Bad guys in the tlok universe should thank their lucky stars that Bolin is a cinnamon roll.

He's able to bend with little to no contact to the earth, he's physically strong even without his bending, he has incredible accuracy, he's incredibly agile on his feet, being one of the only earthbenders to backflip like why does he do that

And I honestly don't find it surprising that Bolin is so skilled. His bending skills are probably one of the things that kept him and Mako alive on the streets, not to mention that his and Mako's income also depended on his bending ability in their probending days.

So I'm not surprised that Bolin has some level of pride in his skills, despite also being a little insecure about them too.

Knowing the love for bending in the Fire Nation and the neutrality towards it in the Earth Kingdom, I wonder about the difference between San and Naoki's approach to their kids bending. We know that a child begining to firebend is a reason to celebrate in the nation.

And I could certainly see Naoki celebrating Mako's bending. But I can also see that sentiment carrying over to Bolin too. We don't know much about Naoki, but she seemed to be a good mother, so I can't really picture her being too biased towards firebending over earthbending.

So it's very likely that, even if Bolin's abilities weren't celebrated outside the home, they were celebrated by the family.

I can see Bolin kinda getting slapped by the harsh reality of people's approach to Earthbending. Of course, I mentioned how Lighting Bolt Zolt could've favoured Mako due to his firebending, plus the City's potential disdain toward earthbenders.

One thing I find interesting is Bolin's hero worship of earthbenders who seem to have elvated over the status quo, and particularly earthbenders who have somehow innovated earthbending. Toza is a probender, which seems to be a relatively new sport, which lead to new techniques developing. And Toph is Toph. She revolutionised the bending art. She's an icon She's a legend and she is the moment.

Bolin: Mako! Do you know who that is? It's Toza, legendary earthbending captain of the Boar-q-pines. He's my hero. What do you think he's doing here?

Bolin: Because it's embarrassing. This isn't the first time I've tried, and I've been wanting to metalbend ever since I heard about Toph. Your grandmother is my biggest hero!

It's possible that Bolin percieves these two as having elevated themselves above the typical stereotype of earthbending being an uncreative, rudimentary bending style that is only based on brute strength and throwing rocks.

Bolin desperately wanting to metalbend is a very interesting and telling part of his character. Beacuse I'm sure that a lot if earthbenders would feel dissapointment over not being able to metalbend, but Bolin is like, genuinely distraught over it. He's ashamed and very uncomfortable on the subject.

It maybe leads me to wonder if he had been pressured to learn to metalbend at some point in his life, maybe by the triple threats, and was unable to do so.

One thing from Bolin that I've always been fascinated by is when Bolin calls metalbending 'not normal'. Because it's such an odd way to phrase it. Also, really funny thing to say right in front of Wing and Wei who eat sleep and breathe metalbending.

Bolin: Mako, metalbending is extremely difficult. No one gets it right away, if they can get it at all! It's not normal!

Of course, it could just be Bolin lashing out or deflecting, but the idea that Bolin doesn't consider metalbending as 'normal' has been latched in my brain. Because it potentially implies that Bolin sees metalbending as a trait that isn't normal. Maybe a trait that is 'above average'.

I think it wouldn't be too out of the blue for Bolin to want to metalbend due to his perception of metalbenders as 'special'. To elevate himself over the potential demeaning he faced as an earthbender. Bolin struggles with his self esteem throughout the show, some of which may come from his role as an earthbender.

I believe Bolin loves his bending, loves earthbending, loves the martial art of earthbending, but he also wants to surpass the stigma of earthbenders being menial labour, or something of the sort. He was excited to connect with his Earth Kingdom Heritage when heading to Ba Sing Se, and downright giddy when in Zaofu. His identity as an earthbender is important to him (let's remember that he had nightmares about his encounter with Amon for days afterwards) but he has incredibly high expectations of himself. I think he sees himself as 'one of the dirteaters', and he wants to evolve past that. Adding to this is his struggle with finding his own identity and his desire to 'find himself'.

°:. *₊ How the gentle wind

Beckons through the leaves

---

“Man, the rain sure is coming down, huh?”  Bolin stated as he stared through one of the many windows of the probending arena. 

“It’s really picked up since I came over for practice, the wind too.” Korra propped her arm up on Bolin’s shoulder, joining him in watching the rain pelting against the glass. They only stood for a moment before Mako interrupted the silence as he walked by.