The title says it all. If we take a look back in Katara's family, we can notice that they are all non-benders, with the exception of Pakku, but he joined the family later. Then how did Katara gain waterbending abilities?
The title says it all. If we take a look back in Katara's family, we can notice that they are all non-benders, with the exception of Pakku, but he joined the family later. Then how did Katara gain waterbending abilities?
Dominant & recessive have nothing to do with rarity, they describe how the gene is expressed. A recessive gene requires 2 copies to be expressed while a dominant gene requires only 1.
It is entirely possible to have a rare dominant or a common recessive allele. For instance, if the dominant gene results in a genetic disorder with a high rate of mortality early in life, obviously it won't be passed on as much.
As an aside, there is also incomplete dominance, where you get a mixture of the 2 genes' effects, & codominance, where you get bits of Gene A & bits of Gene B.
So imagine a flower with genes for red & white. If the genes are incompletely dominant, you'll get a pink flower. If they're codominant, you'll get a flower that has both red & white parts.
It is entirely possible to have a rare dominant or a common recessive allele. For instance, if the dominant gene results in a genetic disorder with a high rate of mortality early in life, obviously it won't be passed on as much.
As an aside, there is also incomplete dominance, where you get a mixture of the 2 genes' effects, & codominance, where you get bits of Gene A & bits of Gene B.
So imagine a flower with genes for red & white. If the genes are incompletely dominant, you'll get a pink flower. If they're codominant, you'll get a flower that has both red & white parts.
That's just what I was taught from an actual biologist, so idek
Well, no need to take my word on it, I can find more official sources that can explain things. I've narrowed it down to what I think are the 3 best sources I could find on the subject.
On the dominance, codominance, etc. patterns.
There are cases where genes can jump generations. The common theory is that sometimes traits "jump a generation", and others where you can trace the genetic history because you have a trait that one other person in your family line has.
Of course, this genetic trait theory is all speculation. Of course, there could also be a randomness to the selection of benders. Like the spirit world chooses characteristics, or just randomly chooses, people to be benders. Think what you want, but that's my unfounded theory.
On the dominance, codominance, etc. patterns.
Thank you for clarifying this :-)
Overpowered females is kind of the shows 'thing'. If you're a male in the series you either better be the Avatar or you're just a support character at best or the punching bag
What about Zuko? he was a master, and his father?
I don't understand how you think that when two of the fandom's most favorite characters include Zuko and Sokka, both male characters. Also, we see that "breaking the bonds of patriarchy" or some shit is important, but in this show, it's done really well. We also see that regardless of gender, everybody has some insane strength that contributes to helping the team overall.
Do you honestly think that there are no good and important male characters? Let me list some for you:
- Iroh
- Sokka
-Zuko
-Ozai (The bad guy of the first series)
- Roku (Aang's spiritual mentor throughout the whole series)
- Bumi (Aang's friend from 100 years ago who is now the King of Omashu)
- Jeong - Jeong, Piandao, Pakku (Masters of fire, swordsmanship and water, respectively)
Do you need any more?
To a lesser extant, this same argument could be applied to the Harry Potter universe. While there are many instances of magic running in the family- Weasleys, Malfoys and MacMillians, among others- characters like Hermione Granger and Colin Creevy were the first ones in their family bloodlines to have magical powers. On the other side of the coin, Argus Filch is a squib- born into a wizarding family but with no powers of his own- so the reverse can just as easily be true.
In all fairness, I doubt the people of the Avatar world would think in terms like genetics, but it would explain how bending can show up in unexpected palces. If you remember from the episode "The Fortuneteller", there were twin brothers in Makapu Village, but only one of them had earthbending abilities. It's not somthing that can be gaurenteed or even easily predicted in some cases.
That is proof that genes are not the deciding factor on when someone will be a bender or not. They are a factor, but if two people with the same genetic make up are not both benders or both nonbenders, genetic isn't the main one. We need now to discover what is. Spirituality? Aren't the AN the ones with most percentage of benders[100 percent] in the four nations because of it? But what spirituality is it? The baby's spirituality, the parent's spirituality, the spirituality of the baby's past life, the spirituality in wich the kid is brought up[since they only start showing bending signs when they are not babies anymore], or the general spirituality of the place they live in? In the last case, how does it affect each and every baby that is born in the place?
Maybe Katara is a waterbender just for plot conveniency and we will never get an answer, but trying to argue this using genes makes no sense. As far as we know, everyone has the bending gene[we did see everyone in a line getting the power from the Lion Turtles, maybe nonbenders only appeared later on], it's just dormant and need something specific to awaken it.
I think that it didn't need an explanation to how bending came to be, and that by doing that in LoK they shot themselves in the foot. It would be better iff it was just something some people have and others don't, this way the equalist thing would work better in my opinion.
Uh, with the exception of clones & identical twins, there's no such thing as "2 people with the same genetic makeup."
Now, people would often point to the twins in 1 episode where 1 is an earthbender & the other is not, but there are certain epigenetic effects that do result in differences even between identical twins.
However, just as far as a trait skipping generations, that happens a lot & indicates a recessive genetic pattern.
Toph's parents weren't benders, so it doesn't matter. Non-bending parents can children who are benders. Katara and Aang's eldest son Bumi wasn't born a bender.