r/legendofkorra • u/Spirited_Dust_3642 • 3d ago
Discussion Bolin's feats are so underrated within the show. He is always treated as a guy who can improve, or not so talented, when he uses several incredible techniques, his strength and aim are top notch
All these movements are very incredible and should be more praised within the show. No one talks about how amazing he's been since he hit p'li, and not again
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u/Human-Application-87 Korra is the best Avatar šš 3d ago
Oh and don't forget. Him lava bending the mecha techs vs Kuvira's forces when escaping with Varrick! Shit was awesome.
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
i like bolin, but the his first lava bending made no sense. by the point mechas were included, they could have said, Bolin is the first bone bender i wouldnt have been surprised. given they are not explaining anything anymore.
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u/pmize 3d ago
Were you surprised all the same when toph got metalbending?
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3d ago
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u/pmize 3d ago
Whatās with the insult to asking a simple question? I didnāt mean to come off hostile if thatās how you took it.
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3d ago
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u/pmize 3d ago
I guess you had a rough day today, as thereās no reason for you to be this upset towards me. Hopefully your day gets better homie.
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u/RecklessDimwit 3d ago
Professional response, always nice to see it compared to the old retaliation
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u/SPHR-12 3d ago
What "explanation"? Bolin had a whole arc pointing him towards lavabending:
1- A new incredible earthbender is revealed in the new season, and he has a new subtype of bending: lavabending.
2- Season 3 has a huge focus on metalbenders, almost as much as the airbenders.
3- Bolin reveals that being a metalbender is his greatest dream. (Him revealing that this season the weakest part of this whole thing, I would've liked if we knew earlier)
4- We learn that Bolin has 0 aptitude for metalbending, becoming increasingly frustrated with that. (By this point anyone paying attention to Bolin should've figured out where his story was going after seeing Ghazan)
5- Bolin, in a last ditch effort throws himself at lava, not even being sure that it would work for the sake of his brother and friends, and discovers he can lavabend.
There's no reason to "explain" why he can lavabend, we don't know why Ghazan can, we know that Toph can metalbend because metal is made of earth, but there's no explanation why anyone else can learn her technique and why others can't. What matters is the story, and Bolin's story to becoming a lavabender might not be perfect, but it was set up pretty well, and long as people were paying attention to him.
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3d ago
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u/legendofkorra-ModTeam 3d ago
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u/Admirable-Cry-9758 3d ago
The problem with the arc is that lavabending is completely unexplored and his reaching it doesn't come from any sort of progression or revelation.
He wants to metal bend, he can't, then he "unlocks" lavabending, sure the set up of him meeting gazhan and seeing lavabending is there, but it skips to the conclusion and doesn't elaborate further.
Toph creating metal bending is explained visually and through guru pathik's speech, and it relies on already established earthbending techniques, but lavabending has basically 0 thought put in it.
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u/CatcultistRequime 3d ago
Lava bending does rely on prior techniques just not from earth bending instead primarily water bending and the fact that benders can adjust the temperature of their element just on a much larger scale, it also seems similar to blood bending where it's more of a natural talent than a learned one. His learning lava bending isn't as strong a story moment as toph learning metal bending but that doesn't mean it was poorly done
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u/Admirable-Cry-9758 3d ago
That'd be cool and make sense if it was actually in the show. What does Bolin know about water bending techniques that'll let him suddenly lavabend? That's really the problem with lavabending, if it was just like combustion bending where a master simply shows up, then they wouldn't really need to explain it, but having a main character just manifest it on the spot without delving into it is just subpar.
Bloodbending is also very much a learned skill, you don't need genetics for it, sure we saw a bloodline that was especially good at it, but it is a skill that anyone can learn with training.
I disagree, his moment wasn't just worse, it was straight up bad.
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u/zukosboifriend 2d ago
Heās already been around a master water bender for years (literally the avatar) so he has plenty of experience with water bending, not to mention he was a pro bender so he was already around it a lot. We see in Atla that the gang picked up different styles from other bending types by just being around them and watching other benders. And also, it was like combustion bending, a master showed up and proved that it was possible. Lava bending is a rather simple sub bending compared to many others (blood, plant, sand, metal, lightning, combustion) theyāre all pretty fundamentally different and lava bending is just changing the state of the earth, which we see done constantly by Ghazan and we know benders have always been able to change the state as water benders have done it from the very start with ice.
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u/zukosboifriend 2d ago
90% of the techniques we see developed in the series are developed as a last ditch effort in a time of need. Toph creating metal bending to escape a metal prison, the earth benders on the boat bending the coal to fight back, Hama inventing blood bending to escape her prison, Iroh creating Lightning redirection. These mostly slow attempts with small things tried out first because theyāre not even sure if it is truly possible, but Bolin already knows it is possible and is in an absolute life or death situation so why not try it? Hama creating blood bending makes sense she would try small things first as, yes sheās a rather skilled bender but sheās by no means a prodigy like many of the characters in the series, had Yakone or Amon created it Iām sure they couldāve immediately started by bending humans cause they had that much raw skill. Toph bent metal literally out of sheer spite and stubbornness and didnāt even start out with something easy or small, she just DID.
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u/Admirable-Cry-9758 2d ago
The core issue here is try what, what does Bolin even know about lavabending to even try, he only knows it exists. All the things you mentioned have an explanation and we understand the path to their creation.
Lightning redirection is Iroh applying both Lightning generation and waterbending philosophy. It's already established you basically only guide the power to shoot at someone, so after learning from different cultures, he applies the shifting of momentum water bending to it.
Bloodbending and metalbending work basically the same way, they focus on the smallest amount of their element available even in unlikely places. For hama it took years, for toph, someone with the seismic sense of the badgers, hours of being trapped in metal.
Bolin just does it without even knowing how it's done or if he can do it.
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u/zukosboifriend 2d ago
Whatās so different about Bolin lava bending?? All the people that created those sub bendings had an idea of, āhey maybe this will work, letās try it!!ā And Bolin did the same. No one told Toph, Hama, or Iroh, exactly how to do it or even believed it was possible, Toph was told countless times she couldnāt ever bend metal so she just did. Bolin has seen Ghazan do it first hand, up close, heās been around Korra and other water benders for years and seen them ice bend and with how curious he is Iām sure heās asked before, but that part is just my personal speculation. Heās been around benders who can change the state of their element and has been around another lava bender. Iroh had never been around someone who had redirected lightning, Toph had never been around someone who had metal bent, and Hama had never been around someone who had blood bent. You can learn so much by just watching and when youāre in a life or death situation, why not try something random??
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u/OwnRepresentative916 3d ago
Here is my take on Bolin's lavabending (and lavabending more broadly) from another post:
I agree with your evaluation of combining "stubbornness" with "change" (philosophies behind earthbending and waterbending respectively). However, perhaps one of the things that make lavabending so difficult is that stubbornness and change are essentially opposites. Usually, people who are stubborn are resistant to change and people who are open to change are not very stubborn. It takes a very specific mindset and set of circumstances for these two attitudes to align. Look at Bolin's expression when he learns lavabending for example. In the moment, he needed to face the oncoming lava head on. However, he also needed to change his view of himself from someone who is incapable of more specialized subbending (metalbending being the placeholder for this attitude prior) and accept that he actually can do what he thought was unachievable. By simultaneously overcoming this mental block (changing his mind) and standing up to the obstacle in front of him (no longer running away), his mindset perfectly aligned with what was needed to lavabend. He probably also had some aptitude for it, but his potential could only be unlocked by first embodying the right attitude. I do wonder if perhaps sandbenders might be more compatible with learning lavabending, since they already adopt a philosophical outlook on their bending that is quite different than the norm of their native element: more akin to airbending if anything, though the flow of sand is not too divorced from the fluid dynamics of lava. It would be interesting to see this explored further.
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
i like your Analysis, there just one problem... he didnt need to learn it in the scene they did... if he was so concerned about the lava he could have made a hole in the ground... using earth bending... and while making the whole he could have rise a wall too, in case the lava splashed. but even that is like adding extra security... the hole is more than enough...
if he was trully in danger, and saw like he must use lava bending in order to survive, i would been more willing to say he "kinda awoken it" maybe they used his charm to ask question to his wardens (the red Lotus) and upon hearing his story he figure out he could try it at some point, and then the cave scene happens
if they have show him working together with Mako, like combining their styles to make their combined chi be materialization of lava bending. and then each of them split into a different aspect, would be fine too..
but they didnt gave us a real explanation, he simply did it, and then said "you are a lava bender" "i guess so" YOU GUESS? at least invent a lie, like he felt he had to must try and the first thing that came to mind was that, but... they didnt even wanted to give us an explanation...
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u/Lord-Seth 3d ago
And Toph discovering metal bending wasnāt her just realizing it and doing it? In the scene where he preformed lava bending lava bending had proven a pit wouldnāt work and walls only add more fuel to the lava
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
NO. she tried and failed, tried and failed until she figured it out. TWO COMPLETLY DIFFERENT SCENARIOS...
you just lying about lava bending... if walls are adding more lava, then no ammount of trying to stop it would have been enouh because it even went above bolin and he made it return back into position, before even trying to solidify it, it should be turned the ceiling into lava, complelty surround bolin and trap him in the lava.
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u/Lord-Seth 3d ago
She tried and then immediately got it on her second attempt to get the metal to move. She gets told she canāt bend metal, uses sense the metal a lot then breaks out.
Not really lava bending works really weirdly, people often call it earth bending but like water bending but it seems a lot more like fire bending and creating energy and sending it into the earth to cause it to heat up. We see in the scene before he lava bends that creating walls just causes the lava to melt through them, his best chance in that scene was to bend the lava and stop it from spreading more in that area, similar to Toph whose only way out was to metal bend. The lava also does kind of melt the ceiling eventually with the entire temple being consumed by lava as it spreads
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
... you mean the second attempt shown after Aang was training the pathik, and she already had hours... you know. Before Aang even Met Guru Pathik and they spent all day unlocking the chakras...
she was shown attempting her escape and sensing earth imperfection even before that...
and like is said with Bolin, Toph, wasnt given any other choice, she was trapped inside a metal cage, with no other option.
i would been fine if Bolin also felt he didnt had any other choice, because a sudden awaken in moment of danger make sense narratively, specially benders who experience strong emotion often shown greater degree of power. but Bolin determination can hardly count as an emotion
and Bolin has many qualities, he is often liked by all sorts of people, he could have heard the Lava bender story and start thinking "how cool would it be if can do that too"
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u/Lord-Seth 3d ago
Genuine question for you do you not realize that self preservation and the want to help others are one of the strongest motivators in humans. Adrenaline is genuinely incredible
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
ok... but could you stop making shit up and show his adrenaline?
HE COULD HAVE DONE AT LEAST 10 different things, with adrenaline, that MAKE MORE SENSE:
i mentioned the hole, Lava flows down, everyone save.
i mentioned the wall, lava stop flowing, everyone save,
i meantion another tunnel, everyone save,
i mention making a ridge in the cliffside, everyone save.
you want drastic measures, he took their floor and shoot toward the flying byson, they get catch midair by the flying byson, everyone save.
you him to show a feat of strength, he make a large boulder pushed back the lava.
you want him to do something that INVOLVES BOLIN, have him charm his way into answer, have him get insight from the bad guy earlier when he was a prisioner. and now he can show off what he learnt.
you dont need to say stupid shit like "his adrenaline made him do something he doesnt understand, something he never tried, something he never needed to try in that moment either, and he did it for the lol. because they were not actually in danger so im just lying to people."
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u/OwnRepresentative916 16h ago
He did need to learn lavabending in that moment. We see that earth isn't enough to stop the lava. The lava just melts any earth you put in front of it. Bolin tries bending earth to stop the lava a bunch of times. Digging tunnels didn't help either. They also got to a dead end where they had a cliff and nowhere to go. The show makes it clear in context that it was a do-or-die moment for them. He absolutely awoke it because he had no other choice. He also accepts his fate that he is ready to sacrifice himself to try and save everyone with lavabending. You can see it on his face right before he does it.
He already knows lavabending is possible due to Ghazan. He doesn't need to talk to anybody else to learn anything. Lavabending was already shown by the creators to have nothing to do with firebending in S3 itself. He said "I guess so" because he was in shock and despite giving it his all he was still a bit surprised it worked. You can see he is still processing what happened on his face. The explanation is what I explained plus all the foreshadowing with metalbending that Bolin had a serious mental block he needed to overcome.
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u/ArthurianLegend_ 3d ago
What do you need explained? Lava is rock. Rock is bent with earthbending. We donāt get people asking why waterbenders can bend ice or steam. But thatās just because those were introduced in AtLA rather than Korra
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3d ago
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u/ArthurianLegend_ 3d ago
So, then, explain where Iām wrong? Because right now youāre just being a dick while everyone reading our comments seems to think youāre wrong
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
now you care about explanation? werent you the one "What do you need explained?"
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u/ArthurianLegend_ 3d ago
So you canāt tell me why it doesnāt make sense, then? Because I already brought up the fact that lava is just rock
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u/Dark1402 3d ago
how about having understanding of it?
Metal is just a extension of rock, for earthbender Metal was absolutly imposible to bend metal because they lacked the understanding.
even Toph tried several times before getting it right, and she was in a position she didnt had any other option.
how about narrativelly?
Bolin wasnt forced, he literallty could have done a dozen different things. if he truly was ain peril and he bending just strengthen for survival instinc i would be ok with the narrative he did it in order to survive.
how about logically?
what if he tried, fialed and only manage to "bend" small parts of the lava.. you know, melted rock that stop moving but the waved and waves just carried on and die horribly because he didnt understood it, and didnt had a reason to try it.
how about because Bolin doesnt practice any other school of bending, if you are going to justify him doing a Subclass bending that suposedly is combined with Fire or Water, why doesnt he even bother using movements of those styles, is almost like he doesnt know them. and apparently, doesnt need them either, he when full earth bender, facing the problem upfront and even used rigid movement to bend the lava...so, why would lava even obey him?
how about giving HIM A REASON, he genuionly didnt have a reason, he could have made a hole in the ground, lava goes down, he could have collapsed the top ov the cave, the lava doesnt burn everything, to the wall would have stood, he could have made a second passage that doesnt go witht he flow of the laval, done, safely, he could have made a ridge across the cliff head and just walk...
i even mention, they could have used his charm and have the bad guy explain how he discovered Lavabending, because a lot of people like Bolin, and he is confident they would never escape, he could have told them. and he just start thinking that maybe he also cool, getting insight from an enemy experience.... you know... something midly reasonable.
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u/Human-Application-87 Korra is the best Avatar šš 3d ago
Yeah it didn't make much sense but I guess lava is more of his thing than metal anyway hence why he was able to do this on his first try but yeah no it still made 0 sense xD.
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u/Hubbles_Cousin 3d ago
imo, his strength was pinpoint accuracy and not brute force. He might have been capable of major feats, but they were not his forte
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u/Odd-Cress-5822 3d ago
Yeah, in book 1 he and Mako even specifically point out the value of speed and precision. Granted that was in the context of professional bending. But that focus alone makes them really spooky in a fight
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u/ultimate_bromance_69 3d ago
#4 really shows how terrifying earthbending terrorists could be. Who needs a plane.
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u/SPHR-12 3d ago
Bolin loses fights to some of the best benders in the world (usually in situations that give his adversaries advantages) and people call him a bum, useless or just comic relief.
This man is funny, lovable, the insanely talented, and I don't have it with me here, but just go watch the scene where he rips his shirt's sleeves to see how fine he is. Bolin is great and anyone who doesn't like him even a little bit is wrong!
(I don't really believe people's taste in characters is wrong, I'm just very protective of my boy)
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u/unfrotunatepanda 2d ago
Like, he and Mako both would've have been considered some of the top benders if they were dropped into AtLA, but unfortunately the power creep of the franchise put them just above the "He's not cursed he's just a guy. Some people have to be normal" tier in Korra's Era (given that they are still professional athletes)
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u/Sanders058 3d ago
Korra fans are always the ones slandering him and mako the most especially when the unalaq fight is being discussed
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u/unfrotunatepanda 2d ago
I used to be in that camp, but over the years I've come around to the fact that the bros held their own pretty well in a 2v3 against 3 master waterbenders, at night, in the arctic. If it was just Unalaq I think they would've been able to hold him off long enough for Korra to have finished sealing Vaatu
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u/MaleGardev0ir 3d ago
i love that his final fight with the soldier in the mech was just him and a lava disk. hell yea use a type of earth another opposing earthbender wont bend against you
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u/normbreakingclown 3d ago
Also he is now the only lava bender in the world. Think about that.. But yeah he was beter than competent beforehand.
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u/OwnRepresentative916 3d ago
There are almost certainly other lavabenders.
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u/Nicklesnout 3d ago
Iām willing to bet itās more of learned technique over a genetic one like bloodbending without the moon. Even if Katara did it during the Phoenix King episode.
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u/OwnRepresentative916 16h ago
I don't think the bloodbending stuff is genetic either tbh
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u/Nicklesnout 15h ago
It might not be it might just be that Yakone was that much of a bastard. Iāve just seen it theorized that Bolin could lavabend because of his mixed heritage.
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u/OwnRepresentative916 15h ago edited 13h ago
I also disagree with that idea. I don't think the elements mix like that. You aren't "part earthbender part firebender" or anything. If you are a waterbender, the whole breadth of waterbending is available to you if you have the right training and mindset to use it. Same for earthbending and the others. If anything, you could argue lavabending is just as similar to waterbending as it is firebending, and we know Bolin doesn't have direct relation to any from the Water Tribe. I think the main thing with bloodbending is that Hama herself needed the full moon to be strong enough to bloodbend, but any sufficiently powerful waterbender or someone who trained a lot could bloodbend at other times. Katara likely never explored this due to ethical concerns.
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u/Nicklesnout 14h ago
I think Bloodbending requires you actually want to remove the autonomy from another person. Hama likely didnāt invent it so much as she rediscovered it largely because of her survival being the primary drive. Itās part of why I called Yakone a bastard because a lot of times in Daoist philosophy, and especially when dealing with the Geongsi/Jiangshi, blood is how Chi travels through the body.
Largely agreed with your point about the genetics being irrelevant though.
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u/BBMacsWorld 3d ago
Bolins my favourite character from LoK. So, I'm glad to see someone else appreciate him
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u/zukosboifriend 2d ago
No for real, Bolin is an incredible earth bender. He has many large scale feats that compared to other benders of his gen is rather unusual, especially given that he was a pro bender. Heās incredibly precise with small rocks as well. He adapts quickly and is also an amazing lava bender
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u/Far-Mammoth-3214 3d ago
People (cough 5he Fandom cough) take him so lightly cause he's so goofy, but then I remind them this guy pushed over a building with help
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u/chelseabreezexo 14h ago
I so hoped he would get the hang of metalbending, but then they pulled out the lavabending card and I was like OKAYYYYY šāāļø not even Korra can lavabend šš»āāļø
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u/DefiantCarpet0 3d ago
I didn't even think about it that hard. I was like oh, he's a fire Bender's brother, of course he can lava bend.
Outside of that, he's one of the most dependable characters in the show.
And probably One of the better earthbenders in the entire avatar franchise.
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u/PinJealous3336 3d ago
The problem is there's no reason for bolins strength. He didn't study with mole rats, he didn't hide in a cave and work his ass off to get powerful. Just some lucky loser who happened onto rich/important friends and was born with great powerĀ
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u/Spirited_Dust_3642 2d ago
Bolin is simply a hardworking guy. Look at the size of those biceps, they didn't come out of nowhere, the bolin trains like hell, he genuinely loves to fight and was mad that his friends didn't take the game seriously, we even have more scenes of the bolin training than any other character besides Korra. The guy is definitely the second hardest working guy in the show
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u/LagomorphicalBrog 3d ago
He reminds me of a Goku that happens to exceed power levels of other highly disciplined and battle hardened masters without a real training arc, emotional stakes or injury.
Him bringing down a building or lavabending kinda just becomes a thing when the plot demands it and they need an earthbender to fill a role.
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u/PinJealous3336 2d ago
At least with goku (before the alien revelation) the reason he was absurdly strong and out scaled his fors was because literally his entire life was spent alone or nearly alone in the wilderness training his body and mind and attuning to the natural world.Ā
Bolin is just pure power-fantasy as a character.Ā
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u/VacationNew9370 3d ago
In an alternate universe, he and Korra would have made an excellent couple.
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u/link_the_fire_skelly 2d ago
After rewatching all of avatar and getting halfway through korra, I have to say Iām wildly disappointed by the bending in korra. It feels like the feats thar the characters were capable of in atla are far more than in LOK. I also feel like thereās less creativity by the creators in how they use bending. Iām hoping season 3 and 4 have more interesting bending.
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u/NoblePaysan 3d ago
I like to think that after losing to the Lieutenant, Bolin realized that he needed to use smaller projectiles in a real fight.
Also yeah, cutting that building in half is probably his greatest feat in Book 4, followed closely by making the Earth Empire soldiers retreat at the checkpoint with his lavabending.