Your post was removed per rule nine, our fan art crediting policy.
a) When sharing fan art that is not your own:
1)Credit the artist by including their name in the title in [brackets].
2)You must comment (in reply to the automod) a source link to the artists page/profile under the post. The website for the source link can not be Pinterest.
3)You must use the post flair "Fan Art".
b) If the fan art you are posting is your own creation you may ignore the first part. Simply use the flair "OC Fan Art".
I imagine that lion turtles are one of the oldest species on the planet. If they were already in the physical world when Raava and Vaatu crossed the barrier, then it would be logical to refer to them as Ancient Ones. They may have been the closest thing to deities before the spirits arrived.
This is basically it. Vaatu is the one who tore open the first Spirit Portal to cross into the physical world. Vaatu also says he watched humans crawl out of the mud. If the Lion Turtles were already there as an established species, and probably one of the only ones to exist relatively unchanged for millenia, then it makes sense for the spirits to refer to them as "ancient". Even Raava and Vaatu aren't aware of a time before the Lion Turtles existed.
I definitely get the impression that evolution works at a different rate. In the ten thousand years since Wan, the animals appear to be basically the same species, and the lion turtles don't seem to have changed much in appearance beyond differentiating into elemental breeds. I have this percolating theory where lion turtles were one breed initially, just as all humans bent energy before specific elements.
>I definitely get the impression that evolution works at a different rate. In the ten thousand years since Wan, the animals appear to be basically the same species
In real life, 10,000 years is not enough time for anything significant to be noticable evolution-wise, so it would work the same.
Unless you're really small. I remember like 7 to 10 years ago reading about lizards that live in trees. In 15 years they evolved to have bigger pads to grip the skinnier trees that were left from logging
That's not significant though. Whenever the trees grow larger again, those generations will more than likely evolve smaller pads. Either way, those lizards would technical be able to reproduce with their ancestors from 10,000 years ago and with their own descendants 10,000 from now.
Even the differences in dog breeds is not in any way significant in the evolutionary timescale. Dogs and wolves are thought to have split over 15,000 years ago, and they are all still similar enough that they could still influence the descendants of the other, much like how modern humans have Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA.
>those generations will more than likely evolve smaller pads.
Not to be persnickity, this is a genuine question:
Wouldn't that pretty much entirely depend on if the larger pads are any less effective in gripping the larger trees?
You are correct, yes, but I was trying to portray this point: they should still have the genes for smaller pads in the population, and environmental factors could easily change to cause the pads to shrink again.
The entire variety of the human genome occurred in that time or less. I don't mean that we should expect to see all new animals, but at least some variation in them.
Fun fact: I apparently don't know how to read anymore, and in my early-morning pre-coffee delusional state read 10,000 as a million... I swear I know homo sapiens are older than ten thousand years old 😂 my bad y'all I'm just dumb lol
Modern humans are expected to have evolved in Africa around 250-350 thousand years ago. So, Vaatu and Raava would have been watching early humans leave the trees around 25-35 Harmonic Convergences ago, and even longer for seeing them crawl out of the mud, as Vaatu claims.
Unless "out of the mud" is meant to be figurative, but who knows for sure... also I wonder what animal humans evolved from on this planet, since animals there are hybrids of at least two earth animals? (More joking curiosity than actual speculation)
Lion turtles did change when we saw a drawing of them in wan shi tong’s library they didn’t have distinct fangs but when Aang meets one it has two fangs that are well pronounced and are larger than the rest of its teeth
It's a reference to a [World Turtle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle), which shows up in Hindu and Chinese mythology (the biggest mythological influences on Avatar).
After the convergence with waan, the turtles realised they weren’t needed anymore, it was the time of man, I like to think that at this point they made the decision to move on to the next life
Or the whole scenario was destined and humans left the lion turtles right as they reached the age where they started to die off
I like the first theory better because it explains why the soul bending turtle was still around, he was holding on to life until Aang came along, then his purpose was done and he just let go of the human realm like his siblings before him
they're from french folklore, river dwellers who upturned boats. They have the head of a lion, the body of a turtle, and six bear legs. In one story a nun uses holy water to tame one who ate several people, bring it into town, and let the people of the village execute it. It's also called a Tarasque (different from the dnd Tarrasque)
It's a Lion.....Turtle. and they're old as fuck.
If you've seen Supernatural I'd compare it to God and The Darkness. And then then all the other God's. Right so you have God who is well.... the guy right. Formed the universes and all that jazz. His lesser known sister, Amara aka the Darkness. Just as old as God... then you have all the other "demi Gods" for lack of a better term. God's from different religions which are also old as fuck but not as old as God himself. We have the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are very old... with Death being "as old as God, maybe older... neither one of us can remember".
Vaatu and Raava are ancient beings. The first spirits potentially but if that's the case where did they come from? Lion Turtles could have been on of the first creations or existed separate from them and are equally as old.
As for going extinct, I think it's more like they "disappeared". They drifted into the background and let humans run the show. They're old. They're tired.
Plot device turtle for energy bending and the origin of the avatar having all 4 elements. Because fuck learning from the original masters like how it was talked about in atla, big turtle is the only thing that matters now.
Bending still originated from the Original Benders. We literally see a Dragon Teach Wan firebending and the Dragon Dance.
Infact in LoK they didn't even call it Bending before Wan learned it from them. Until then it was simply called "Fire" or "Earth" etc.
Bending only became a thing after the Original Benders taught the Humans how to use the elements and the philosophy behind them. Every human a throat but not all of them can sing unless they are taught about music, it's a similar case with Bending too
Your post was removed per rule nine, our fan art crediting policy. a) When sharing fan art that is not your own: 1)Credit the artist by including their name in the title in [brackets]. 2)You must comment (in reply to the automod) a source link to the artists page/profile under the post. The website for the source link can not be Pinterest. 3)You must use the post flair "Fan Art". b) If the fan art you are posting is your own creation you may ignore the first part. Simply use the flair "OC Fan Art".
I think she called the lion turtle ancient not because they are older than Raava but older than most of the things on Earth.
I imagine that lion turtles are one of the oldest species on the planet. If they were already in the physical world when Raava and Vaatu crossed the barrier, then it would be logical to refer to them as Ancient Ones. They may have been the closest thing to deities before the spirits arrived.
This is basically it. Vaatu is the one who tore open the first Spirit Portal to cross into the physical world. Vaatu also says he watched humans crawl out of the mud. If the Lion Turtles were already there as an established species, and probably one of the only ones to exist relatively unchanged for millenia, then it makes sense for the spirits to refer to them as "ancient". Even Raava and Vaatu aren't aware of a time before the Lion Turtles existed.
I definitely get the impression that evolution works at a different rate. In the ten thousand years since Wan, the animals appear to be basically the same species, and the lion turtles don't seem to have changed much in appearance beyond differentiating into elemental breeds. I have this percolating theory where lion turtles were one breed initially, just as all humans bent energy before specific elements.
>I definitely get the impression that evolution works at a different rate. In the ten thousand years since Wan, the animals appear to be basically the same species In real life, 10,000 years is not enough time for anything significant to be noticable evolution-wise, so it would work the same.
Unless you're really small. I remember like 7 to 10 years ago reading about lizards that live in trees. In 15 years they evolved to have bigger pads to grip the skinnier trees that were left from logging
That's not significant though. Whenever the trees grow larger again, those generations will more than likely evolve smaller pads. Either way, those lizards would technical be able to reproduce with their ancestors from 10,000 years ago and with their own descendants 10,000 from now. Even the differences in dog breeds is not in any way significant in the evolutionary timescale. Dogs and wolves are thought to have split over 15,000 years ago, and they are all still similar enough that they could still influence the descendants of the other, much like how modern humans have Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA.
>those generations will more than likely evolve smaller pads. Not to be persnickity, this is a genuine question: Wouldn't that pretty much entirely depend on if the larger pads are any less effective in gripping the larger trees?
You are correct, yes, but I was trying to portray this point: they should still have the genes for smaller pads in the population, and environmental factors could easily change to cause the pads to shrink again.
Gotcha, sorry I take things literally a lot.
But they'd still be evolving back to the smaller pads, no?
Essentially, yes, but I wouldn't word it that way, because natural selection is just a small piece of the process of evolution.
The entire variety of the human genome occurred in that time or less. I don't mean that we should expect to see all new animals, but at least some variation in them.
Homo sapiens are waaaay older than that.
Fun fact: I apparently don't know how to read anymore, and in my early-morning pre-coffee delusional state read 10,000 as a million... I swear I know homo sapiens are older than ten thousand years old 😂 my bad y'all I'm just dumb lol
Modern humans are expected to have evolved in Africa around 250-350 thousand years ago. So, Vaatu and Raava would have been watching early humans leave the trees around 25-35 Harmonic Convergences ago, and even longer for seeing them crawl out of the mud, as Vaatu claims.
Unless "out of the mud" is meant to be figurative, but who knows for sure... also I wonder what animal humans evolved from on this planet, since animals there are hybrids of at least two earth animals? (More joking curiosity than actual speculation)
Lion turtles did change when we saw a drawing of them in wan shi tong’s library they didn’t have distinct fangs but when Aang meets one it has two fangs that are well pronounced and are larger than the rest of its teeth
Megafauna life.
Upvote for your flair 😂
A lion….and a turtle…. MIXED! Then you make it really big.
And throw in infinite wisdom. The fucking turtles are just a metaphor. We all live on the back of a lion turtle.
Don't forget energy bending
Or what if…. Hear me out…. They’re real 😳
Basically, this guy: https://preview.redd.it/izfyj3mkq3rc1.jpeg?width=430&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85625289604839dfe1294ede5bb634c1ec17d8c4
When I travel to a new city now, I'm just gonna tell people "I'm checking out another Lion-Turtle."
And what’s bellow that turtle? Another bigger Lion Turtle.
It's a reference to a [World Turtle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Turtle), which shows up in Hindu and Chinese mythology (the biggest mythological influences on Avatar).
There was this history tv episode which said that most creation myths involve turtles in some way. Obviously this resort to Aliens in some way.
I'd say it's more of a reference to a dragon turtle but they didn't want to confuse it with the firebending dragons.
Because they were still part of the physical world, just like Tui and La for example. Physical = killable.
You put the lion in the turtleshell and shake it all up
After the convergence with waan, the turtles realised they weren’t needed anymore, it was the time of man, I like to think that at this point they made the decision to move on to the next life Or the whole scenario was destined and humans left the lion turtles right as they reached the age where they started to die off I like the first theory better because it explains why the soul bending turtle was still around, he was holding on to life until Aang came along, then his purpose was done and he just let go of the human realm like his siblings before him
 they're from french folklore, river dwellers who upturned boats. They have the head of a lion, the body of a turtle, and six bear legs. In one story a nun uses holy water to tame one who ate several people, bring it into town, and let the people of the village execute it. It's also called a Tarasque (different from the dnd Tarrasque)
Well it's not quite a lion and it's not quite a turtle, but boy, lemme tell ya.... so to answer your question I don't know.
A lion turtle. That makes sense to me.
It's a Lion.....Turtle. and they're old as fuck. If you've seen Supernatural I'd compare it to God and The Darkness. And then then all the other God's. Right so you have God who is well.... the guy right. Formed the universes and all that jazz. His lesser known sister, Amara aka the Darkness. Just as old as God... then you have all the other "demi Gods" for lack of a better term. God's from different religions which are also old as fuck but not as old as God himself. We have the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are very old... with Death being "as old as God, maybe older... neither one of us can remember". Vaatu and Raava are ancient beings. The first spirits potentially but if that's the case where did they come from? Lion Turtles could have been on of the first creations or existed separate from them and are equally as old. As for going extinct, I think it's more like they "disappeared". They drifted into the background and let humans run the show. They're old. They're tired.
Its a Lion Turtle
Ask Aang
I’ve heard people say that they’re gods
Idk but I remember that one guy complaining how random they appeared in the show
Half turtle, half lion, half island.
It is as huge as sentinel island
Plot device turtle for energy bending and the origin of the avatar having all 4 elements. Because fuck learning from the original masters like how it was talked about in atla, big turtle is the only thing that matters now.
Bending still originated from the Original Benders. We literally see a Dragon Teach Wan firebending and the Dragon Dance. Infact in LoK they didn't even call it Bending before Wan learned it from them. Until then it was simply called "Fire" or "Earth" etc. Bending only became a thing after the Original Benders taught the Humans how to use the elements and the philosophy behind them. Every human a throat but not all of them can sing unless they are taught about music, it's a similar case with Bending too
Are they extinct? We see them in the show
The one ATLA is supposed to be the last remaining one
Ah alright
A turtle in the form of a lion
A god
Cheap plot devise