[badlander86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRX

According to legend, the original Earthbenders were badger-moles, the original firebenders were dragons, the original Waterbender was the Moon, and the original Airbenders were sky-bison. According to the new episode, Bending was granted to people through lion-turtles.

However, according to the lion-turtle from the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender, energybending was used in the era before the Avatar to grant people Bending. It can be conjectured that, while one could become a Bender through the use of energy-bending, people could have initially learned the other Bending arts through their respective teachers, lion-turtles merely being the way that people with less control over their chi could learn to Bend.

Its an origin lost to time for over 10,000 years at least. Things get forgotten, blanks get filled up with new stuff. It happens in the real world all the time. Founding of Rome, the endless revisions of Greeco-Roman Mythology, overlapping of cultures and religions which in itself leads to new legends and myths.

My take on this is that after the Lion Turtles faded from human memory, what passed as "Bending" back then was more of less guys/girls born with the ability chucking elements at each other. But as time grew passed they got more inspirations of how to use the Elements from the creatures or things around them which is why they showed the scene of Wan refining his Firebending by observing the Dragon. Flashforward thousands of years later as civilizations rise/fall/assimilate/separate some threads of that origin still remain but the rest is lost in translation.