Tumblr crosspost (2 November 2019)
Jun. 9th, 2021 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineA Tumblr anon said:
I think one reason why people look for positive uses of bloodbending is because the previous show stressed that bending is not inherently bad; it's what some benders do with it that's bad. So to have an inherently bad form of bending flies in the face of that.
I replied:
Well, the aside on bloodbending’s maddening effect comes from ATLA, not LOK. It’s in a commentary and not the show itself, so … YMMV there. But it’s not a LOK retcon.
You’re right that bloodbending is unique in its intrinsic ‘dark arts’ status (as far as I recall), so I can see why people would be resistant to that and prefer to treat it like the other elite forms. In that view, it could be used for evil and the most obvious uses of it are, but it theoretically could be used for good if handled with care.
However, at least the intent is that it’s a warped rather than elite form that screws with anyone who uses it. While I do believe people are free to ignore authorial interpretation, I think the depiction in the shows pretty clearly reflects that intent.
I think one reason why people look for positive uses of bloodbending is because the previous show stressed that bending is not inherently bad; it's what some benders do with it that's bad. So to have an inherently bad form of bending flies in the face of that.
I replied:
Well, the aside on bloodbending’s maddening effect comes from ATLA, not LOK. It’s in a commentary and not the show itself, so … YMMV there. But it’s not a LOK retcon.
You’re right that bloodbending is unique in its intrinsic ‘dark arts’ status (as far as I recall), so I can see why people would be resistant to that and prefer to treat it like the other elite forms. In that view, it could be used for evil and the most obvious uses of it are, but it theoretically could be used for good if handled with care.
However, at least the intent is that it’s a warped rather than elite form that screws with anyone who uses it. While I do believe people are free to ignore authorial interpretation, I think the depiction in the shows pretty clearly reflects that intent.