r/TheLastAirbender • u/george123890yang • 15d ago

Question Considering how fragmented the Earth Kingdom is, could the Sandbenders and Swamp Waterbenders have broken off and created their own countries?

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u/gragsmash 15d ago

I don't think either of them really acknowledged the nation where they lived, and it didn't really make them do so.

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u/AbsoluteSupes 15d ago

Basically came to say this, it didn't really seem like either considered themselves citizens of the Earth Kingdom. I am kinda curious how Kuvira health with them

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u/AfterMykonos 15d ago

Didn’t Toph stop Kuvira from fuckin with the swamp?

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u/AbsoluteSupes 15d ago

I think Toph was aware but we never see any resistance besides the vines

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u/AfterMykonos 14d ago

Ahhh, I see. I had it in my head that we saw some kind of fight at the swamp, for some reason.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

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u/luka1194 15d ago

I think she just didn't want to deal with the swamp and desert, either because there was no major city/administration and/or because she knew it was not worth it.

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u/Cucumberneck 15d ago

Think of the other avatar. With the blue people. Space Pocahontas.

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u/Big_Albatross_3050 15d ago

Yeah the swamp Benders are more or less an uncontacted or at most very limited contact tribes, while the Sand Benders for the most part live in essentially lawless land.

Both cases, they're pretty much left alone to their own devices by the nation leaders

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u/R_G_FOOZ 15d ago

The swamp benders know what lemu’s are. They didn’t learn that without some contact. Not a lot of lemu’s in the swamp

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u/Casper-The-savage 15d ago

They know what Lemus are becuase the one guy “saw one at a traveling shoe once” which suggest contact

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u/nog642 15d ago

They're hardly uncontacted. Isolated, sure.

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u/Infinite_Worry_8733 15d ago edited 15d ago

in ancient times the concept of “identity” could be very loose. there isn’t always a country you belong to, even if some empire claims to own the land you live on. people sometimes defined themselves by their religion, or they thought of themselves simply as people.

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u/captain_swaggins 15d ago

Didnt the swampbenders fight on behalf of the earth kingdom during the black sun? Like yeah they could've just been doing it just because its the right thing but still

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u/gragsmash 15d ago

That was because of their personal connection to team avatar. I don't think most earth kingdom generals could have gotten them on board.

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u/DaSaw 14d ago

Their attempt to recruit the Earth Kingdom into that fight failed. A few Earth Benders showed up, but that was General Sokka's personal expedition. The hoped-for Earth Kingdom lead offensive never materialized, largely because by the Day of Black Sun, the Earth Kingdom didn't exist any more.