A Guide to Shadow Bending

History:

Shadow bending is a lost element, extinct if you will. Long ago shadow benders were just as prominent as the other benders of water, earth, fire and air. But the shadow benders soon declared war on the Light Benders, another extinct element. Their war started about 10 years before the disappearance of Avatar Roku. 

It was almost a secret war, a private war between the two elements. They fought long and hard, many souls were lost in the war, it lasted about 50 years before both benders finally just ceased to exist. News spread across the four other nations that the war had stopped, but after that no Light Bender was ever seen again, a few shadow benders showed up here and there but pretty soon they disappeared as well. 

The art was soon lost and everyone forgot about the shadow and light benders. 

Until a couple of Shadow Benders showed up in Ba Sing Se, when Aang was looking for Appa. A few people saw these benders get into a fight with an Earth Bender. That's how they found out they were the long lost Shadow Benders. 

The Avatar used to be able to Shadow Bend, but since the extinction of Shadow Bending the Avatar did not have a teacher for the art so therefore only learned the four other elements. 

Shadow Bending cannot be learned it has to be taught. 

Explanation: If you are born a Shadow Bender you can't teach yourself to bend shadows, or bend them just on your own, you have to find a master to teach it to you. You may not even know you're a Shadow Bender at all until you're told. 

Example: Katara is a Water Bender, and even without a master to teach her she still managed to figure out how to bend the water basically, like in the first episode when she bended the water and caught a fish in the water bubble. Shadow Benders can't do that, they can't bend a shadow in even the most basic way, they have to be taught to Shadow Bend. 

When a person is born, how to tell if they're a Shadow Bender is by looking at their back, just below the shoulders, in the very middle of the persons back on the direct center of their spine is what appears to be a precious stone, like a diamond or ruby or emerald, but it's black, this is the mark of the Shadow Bender. It's also very small and is sometimes overlooked. 

       Shadow Bender Tattoos:

Shadow Benders have tattoos, like Air Benders but different, they're tattoos start at the Black Diamond, (the mark of the Shadow Benders) and wraps around the arms all the way to the wrist, also starting at the Black Diamond the tattoos go down the back and wrap around to the stomach stopping at the belly button. The tattoos also wrap around the persons legs and stop in the bottom center of the foot. 

The tattoos design is elegant and complicated. The intricate designs resemble vines and flower-like figures. The tattoos are all black no color. No two Shadow Bender Tattoos are exactly alike. Each persons tattoos are different and unique. Like tiger stripes and snowflakes. 

The tattoos are completely invisible except when bending, they are seen by no one unless the person is bending shadows. 

A Shadow Bender can only control his/her shadow, unless they're walking past, say a tree, and their shadow overlaps the trees shadow, that grants them the power to control both their own shadow and the shadow of the tree. And it doesn't stop at trees if a Shadow Benders shadow overlaps any other shadow he/she can control that shadow as well as their own. 

               The Shadow State:

Shadow Benders can enter a state of Shadow Bending that is very similar to the Avatar State, it is called the Shadow State, in this state a Shadow Bender can become very powerful. His/her tattoos glow like a black light and actually lift off the person and hover above their arms or wherever else the tattoos are laid, the benders eyes also glow black. 

In the Shadow State a Shadow Bender can control any shadow within a hundred feet of the person, the Shadow Benders tattoos are the power of this state, a Shadow Bender could die if he/she is not careful when entering the Shadow State. If it's an emergency and the bender needs to enter the Shadow State quickly they may do so, but the risk of the persons tattoos ripping off permanently becomes greater. And if the benders tattoos are removed the person dies instantly. 

      The Art of Shadow Bending:

The moves which Shadow Benders use to fight are a mixture of Fire Bending and Water Bending. 

The Shadow Bender uses the swift flowing movements of a Water Bender to pick up the shadows and maneuver them, but the Shadow Bender also uses the hard force and strike of a Fire Bender to throw the shadows at another person, and to fight when needed. With the combined movements of both Water and Fire Benders the Shadow Bender becomes a fierce warrior. 

  Types of Moves to Create Shadow Weapons:

Shadow Benders use certain moves to take the shadow and harden it creating something to land hard blows on their opponents rather than just blinding them in darkness. 

                Shadow Sword

Reaching back and grabbing your own shadow then swiftly punching your arm up and around to where your fist is beside your ear creates a Shadow Sword which you can use to slice a victim. Depending on how far you stretch your arm, the sword gets longer the farther up your arm is. 

                Shadow Shield

Bending to your knees and then reaching behind to grab your shadow, then pulling it forward and ducking behind the shadow wall creates the Shadow Shield. The Shadow Shield is hard enough so that even a sharply carved spear couldn't penetrate it. 

If they had guns in the Avatar World the bullets wouldn't be able to penetrate this hard Shadow Shield. 

                  Shadow Bow

To make the Shadow Bow you would take your shadow from behind you and with one hand dangle it in front of you and with the other trace the outline of the bow and then just grab hold of its center to harden it. And that's the Shadow Bow. 

There are many more weapons that can be created from shadows but those are the ones mainly used by Shadow Benders.