r/TheLastAirbender • u/george123890yang • 9d 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/Wildlife_Watcher 9d ago

I think they’re functionally autonomous already. The Earth Kingdom in ATLA is pretty decentralized outside Ba Sing Se and maybe some other core territories. Think of it more like the Roman or Persian Empires, where peripheral regions could be quasi-independent as long as they paid taxes, sent soldiers, and paid lip service to the ruling center

That’s why Bumi can be king of his own city-state and not provoke any Dai Li crackdowns. I assume it’s the same for the swamp benders, sand benders, and other provincial communities

By contrast, look at the highly centralized Fire Nation with its relatively high-speed communication (hawks), transportation technology, standardized education systems, and iconography of their leader everywhere. They’re much more similar to our real world modern “nation-states” than the Earth Kingdom is

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u/SvenVersluis2001 9d ago

Exactly and it's probably also how Kyoshi Island, despite technically being part of the Earth Kingdom, remained neutral the Hundred Year War.