We have seen what Amon was capable of doing with waterbending. We know what Ozai and Azula could do with fire. We know how powerful earthbending is, and of course, you can figure out what can be done with air (beyond what Aang and Tenzin have demonstrated).

What do you guys think the most dangerous form of bending is and why?

I definitely think that air is. Fire has lightning, earth has metal, water has blood, air... obviously oxygen. Taking the oxygen from things completely destories them. No fire, earth would crumble, metal would oxidize, water would vapor because the sun's rays would be much stronger, blood wouldn't even exist. lol

Air is definitely the strongest element. For obvious reasons. This can explain it a little better:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/03/19/what_would_happen_if_oxygen_were_to_disappear_for_5_seconds.html

Air.

In this instance, I'm going straight to my headcanons on the four nations.

What happens when a baby or a small child bends and element?

In the Water Tribe, the most that might happen is some property damage.  Small children cannot bloodbend, period.  There is only a minor risk of them drowning someone or freezing someone, and that's extremely unlikely and easily fixable (in the case of freezing someone else).  

In the Earth Kingdom, a small child probably can't do much more than throw a few rocks or ripple the Earth enough to make someone trip.  Creating a sinkhole would be the most extreme sort of terrible accident (or hitting someone hard in the head with a rock), but almost everything is controllable and dodgeable from a very small child.  When the kid gets older, they probably enforce structure and discipline more and more as their bending grows stronger.

Fire Nation babies might burn themselves or other people, but I doubt that the Fire Nation doesn't have general ideas of reasonable safety precautions.  Burns can be treated, and the most terrible thing that could happen that might be irreparable is accidentally burning down a residence or a public building.  

In each of these three nations, it would be easy enough for a non-bender to take care of a bender child with a little bit of common sense and decent observation skills.  

And then there are Airbenders.  Who fanon has declared are taken to the temples at birth, OR that all Air Nomads are benders.  (I personally don't believe that.)  Given how the Air Temple children are shown to play (past and present), I can easily see a baby accidentally suffocating their caregiver, if that caregiver isn't an Airbender, or feeding a fire enough to cause an inferno, or some other horrible accident.  I can imagine parents giving up their children to the temples so that their children can be kept from accidentally killing themselves, or other people.  

At least, that's my headcanon.

good point. i can see where you're basing your ideas from. however, i'm going to disagree and say that water bending is the most dangerous element. air bending is up there, but due to the air nomads being pacifists and their penchant for avoiding and solving conflicts through peaceful measures, it is not as dangerous. 

also, you mentioned that in young, untrained children who are on the cusp of discovering their bending abilities that air is the most dangerous. and while that can be true, benders eventually grow up, and it is what you learn and how you use it that determines the dangerous capabilities. 

also, the fact that air bending is mainly used as a defense mechanism rather than an offensive tool is another reason why i believe it not to be the most dangerous form of bending.

water bending, much like the element itself, is versatile and graceful and highly variable. not only do water benders have more defensive and offensive techniques in battle, they can also switch fluidly from one to the other, changing a defensive move to an offensive one. this speaks to the danger that water bending presents, because it can take one's own force and turn their strengths back to bite them.

also, let's not forget bloodbending. i know there's already a topic in the forum for this, but i can't talk about water bending being the most dangerous form without at least mentioning it. i know it's not a widely spread ability between benders, and that you need the full moon to practice it. but that doesn't take away from the fact that biologically we are 70% water and that lends water benders an extreme and deadly advantage.

You have the question all wrong. It's which element is the most dangerous. The user has absolutely nothing to do with this question.

EDIT: Also, bloodbending is illegal, so if we went the route you have chosen then water would most definitely not be the most powerful.

I believe Air Bending is the most dangerous bending element if used in an offensive way. Since it's a kid's show, they'll never bend the air like how I imagine it. If they wanted to, I can bet you that they could pull all the oxygen out of another person's lungs to kill them. Also, if skilled enough, they should be able to move the air around the person's head of oxygen, suffocating them to death.

true. but water has the ability to suffocate as well.

CPKallady wrote:

You have the question all wrong. It's which element is the most dangerous. The user has absolutely nothing to do with this question.

EDIT: Also, bloodbending is illegal, so if we went the route you have chosen then water would most definitely not be the most powerful.

i guess if you look at it that way, yeah. i thought we were talking about which form of bending was the most dangerous, i.e., canonically as used in the show. i suppose if we were talking potentiality of the element with bending itself, i might change my answer haha.

(Don't double post unless necessary, please. :] Thanks, CPK)

Looks at the votes, then looks at the input... This thing is rigged! Haha.

Well, you would be correct if we were saying which nation was stronger, but even so then it would just be a fight between earth and fire... Seeing as Bloodbending is illegal.

Hands down, Air. Someone please convince me otherwise. Just don't say some stuff like "the World of Avatar doesn't have oxygen because it's a cartoon." Wrong. CARTOONS HAVE OXYGEN TOO. Most of the time... lol

true enough; i suppose water needs oxygen to exist as water lol.

That it does. If there were no oxygen it would just float into space. lol

Yeah air can be the most dangerous. Airbenders can probably bend the oxygen out of you, but they wont seeing how their peaceful society. 

But in away doesn't each bending have something dangerous about it?

Firebending=burns
Earthbending= being crushed
Waterbending= drowning and bloodbending
Airebending= suffocating

Airbending doesn't just equal to suffocating, though. No oxygen means no fire, no earth, no water.

Well, an Airbender cannot take away like, the atmosphere of the planet. Not even a group of them. Maybe a contained room, but even that would be difficult, because then they'd have to also airbend in a manner to make sure they have oxygen.

The most I can see happening on that would be an airbender extinguishing a fire. And even then, it would have to be contained or rather advanced, controlled, airbending.

The airbender would simply have to make a large wall, or dome around him that would extinguish anything that came at it. No?

Well then I guess air bending winds then yes?

Not exactly, the debate is still open. Please, prove me wrong. ;]

LOLs

I really can decided which is the most dangerous. So I can't vote yet. >.>

This short fits this topic nicely: