Katara’s Waterbending is so elegant.
I always thought of Waterbending as the most graceful and artistic discipline, demonstrating gentleness and majesty far more frequently than any of the others.
I have this sneaking suspicion that this will not be the case in Korra. Already the three or four instances of her Waterbending seen thus far have been surprisingly direct and power-based. I am loath to believe this simply because of her personality. Rather, I believe Waterbending, and all of the disciplines, must have been revolutionized with the advent of multi-cultural society in The United Republic, providing the opportunity for polymerization of bending styles and forms between elements.
I also wonder if our favorite masters from the former series worked to change their disciplines. Obviously Toph did with her standardization and structuring of Metalbending as its own disparate discipline. I wonder if Aang too pushed the limits of Airbending, making Tenzin a far greater Master of the nearly forgotten art than was to be expected of a typical Airbending Master before the war.
As for Waterbending, I expect Katara attempted to reinstitute Southern Water Style in the Southern Water Tribe in an effort to restore her Tribe’s culture. Perhaps this style is slightly more direct and less flourishing than Northern Water Style?
Glad to know I’m not the only one who noticed that waterbending seems to have lost its elegance.
Hoping for an episode in which Katara corrects Korra’s use of waterbending.
Let’s be fair here. We can not generalize Korra’s traditional (non-pro-bending) waterbending based on what we’ve seen so far.
Let’s just appreciate the beauty of Katara’s waterbending as shown in this photoset.
