The Last Airbender: Why Are Fire-Benders the Only Ones Who Can Create Their Own Element?

gamerant.com:

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the many iconic shows of our generation. On the surface it is a fantastical children’s story full of magic, mythical creatures, and amazing adventures around a new and exciting world. But underneath, the show has very real messages in its hard-hitting themes of genocide, war, and loss. At the center of it all is Aang, who is no stranger to these awful things, and, as Avatar, is tasked with fixing them and bringing the world back into balance.

This is a lot to place on the shoulders of a 12-year-old boy, but luckily he has his group of friends, one from each bending nation, to help teach him all that he needs to know. He also has his connection to the past Avatar cycles, who guide him along the many struggles and triumphs of his journey. Aang is already raised with the gift of Air-bending, growing up with the nomads in the monastery, and slowly over time, learns to harness the other elements, moving through water and earth until he reaches fire. Fire is the last, and arguably hardest to control, as the Nickelodeon-turned-Netflix show demonstrates.

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Fire is difficult to control because it is more unpredictable than the other elements, but also because it must be generated within and around oneself — unlike the other elements, which are more readily available. Earth can be found in the very soil beneath one's feet, in the rocks and the mountains and the sediment that goes right down to the core of the earth. Likewise, water can be found in all the rivers and the streams, from the vast oceans to the tiniest beads of condensation in the air all around them. And air is self-explanatory, for it is everywhere, in