Earthbending is an elemental bending discipline capable of manipulating the Earth element. Stone is the prototypical earthbending material, and is considered easiest to work with by most practitioners, but dirt, clay, soil, silt, mineral dusts and sand are all valid substrates for earthbending. The manipulation of fine particulate inorganic matter - sandbending - is a kind of specialized bending. The manipulation of metals considered is a theoretical possibility, but as yet, no one is known to have invented metalbending.

Earthbending is, unsurprisingly, the forte of the Earth Kingdom, who employ it extensively in architecture, transport and war. Ethnic Earth Nationals in other states (including minor states of the Earth Nation that are not part of the Earth Kingdom) may also have earthbending, though opportunities for formal training in it are mainly found in the Earth Kingdom.

Earthbending Traditions

Befitting a country as large as the Earth Kingdom, there are many styles of earthbending with different emphases and traditions. The great majority of earthbenders with formal training are only familiar with one.

Middle Way

The most prestigious bending schools of the Earth Kingdom are those espousing the Middle Way, associated with the Earth Sages, the Royal Earthbending School, and the royal court of the Hao Ting dynasty. However, the Middle Way encompasses a variety of rustic traditional schools in the countryside of the central plains of the Earth Kingdom, the rural regions surrounding Ba Sing Se and forming the ancient heartland of the Kingdom.

Court School

The Court School is a form of Earthbending that emphasizes precise and aesthetically pleasing stances and forms over practical results; it is even practiced by non-benders as a form of exercise or performance art. It is considered to nourish and strengthen the qi, promoting longevity and a calm nature through careful, smooth, coordinated movements and breathing exercises. Practices often involve many practitioners. Although practical bending is deemphasized in the Court School, practitioners who are actual earthbenders can use its techniques to create extraordinarily precise effects. The Court School's development was associated with the Hao Ting, who were, from the start, a mainly nonbending dynasty; before them, the great majority of Earth Kings had been earthbenders, and some modicum of bending talent was seen as requisite for a crown prince. Developments in the Court School allowed nonbender members of the dynasty to participate in court traditions involving earthbending, with any actual bending being done by the actual earthbenders participating in the ritual.

Orthodox School

The Orthodox School is the form of Earthbending taught by the Earth Sages. Like the Court School which it influenced, it emphasizes internal martial arts and spiritual development, as well as ritual practice in groups, as it is the responsibility of the Earth Sages to orchestrate state religious praxis. However, unlike the Court School, the Orthodox School is also a practical martial art. It is very conservative, with the foundations of the school being a reconstruction of Ting dynasty Earth Sage practices; the modern orthodox school was founded alongside the Hao Ting, as the Earth Sages who participated in the dynastic transition deliberately purged state religious practices of Yonggan, Abka and Air Nomad influences accrued under the Ri Dynasty.

As a practical art, the Orthodox School emphasis a balanced approach and the development of endurance, wearing down enemies by attrition and solid defense. Teaching methods involve spiritual exercise and learning techniques in the context of their usually-allegorical mythological origins.

Royal Army School

The Royal Army school is the school in which the Earth Kingdom's military earthbenders are trained. It is essentially eclectic in nature and draws from many schools, but the foundation is the Orthodox School, stripped of its mysticism. The school aims to reliably and quickly train militarily useful earthbenders. Although it includes some basic internal martial arts, the main focus is on drilling practical techniques. In the past, the school was more open to including new ideas and free-styling moves, but it now tends to emphasize rigid adherence to forms and techniques which are known to work and to be easy to teach, even if these aren't the best. Drilling routines with other practitioners and cooperative bending to e.g. move large objects or rapidly build defenses is emphasized. Training often crosses over with military engineering and fortification techniques.

Many small public bending schools are run by veterans of the Royal Army Earthbending Corps, and teach a version of this school, adapted for small group or individual practice and the needs of civilian earthbenders.

Rustic School

Rustic schools represent the indigenous earthbending traditions of the Central Earth Kingdom, and are the matrix from which the preceding schools emerged. Rustic masters operating small schools or just taking a few disciples preserve the traditions of their bending lineage. Many of them are in the countryside and emphasize bending that is of practical use to the farmer or village guardsman. They tend to be practical in nature and to be taught without much philosophical talk or emphasis on spiritual development, though there are exceptions. In particular, the traditions of many minor Earth monasteries not affiliated with the orthodox Earth Sages are classified as "rustic schools" by the government.

Southern Way

The schools of the Southern Way are diverse and storied, and sometimes bitter rivals of the Middle Way, reflecting the centuries of strife between the empires of Ba Sing Se and Omashu. Much as Middle Way practitioners boast of the walls of Ba Sing Se, the Southern Way lays claim to the great city of Omashu, second city of the now-unified Earth Kingdom.

Omashu Martial School

The earthbending traditions of Omashu are embodied in its Martial School. Perhaps the strongest Earthbender in the world is and the greatest living practitioner of the Southern Way is King Bumi, who was previously Grandmaster of the Martial School. (And indeed, the Grandmaster of the Martial School is ex officio Crown Prince of Omashu, making the current government of Omashu an elective monarchy, with the earthbending masters of the Martial School effectively choosing the crown prince.)

The Martial School, as its name implies, has its origins in Omashu's famed earthbending corps. However, civil earthbending is also included. The Omashu Martial School emphasizes well-timed, powerful strikes; practitioners must learn to wait for the optimal moment and then act definitively. Although Martial School earthbenders in the service of the Omashu military do group drills, more emphasis is placed on individual action than in the school's Northern counterpart.

Gaoling School

The Gaoling School, though grouped in the Southern Way, is significantly different from the Omashu Martial School. It has in common an emphasis on timing, but whereas the Omashu school urges few and powerful strikes, the Gaoling school favors fast, rapid-fire attacks. Practitioners often practice coordinating their attacks and developing an innate sense of timing with the use of music, and this "earthbending practice music" has had an influence on the musical culture of the region. Spiritual practice receives more attention than in the other Southern Way schools. The Gaoling school has been influenced by cultural contact with the Fire Nation in centuries past, and incorporates some adaptations of firebending forms.

Eastern School

The Eastern School is something of a synthetic category, encompassing various and sundry traditions of the Southeast. This is a diverse region with many unique traditions. As with the Rustic School in the Central Earth Kingdom, the Eastern School is mostly taught by small local schools and monasteries. Eastern masters are often eclectic and widely-traveled, with few generalizations being possible, though the cultures in which it exists tend to agree on the importance of timing and to draw upon the techniques of the Omashu Martial School for self defense.

Northern Way

Yonggan School

Ganjinese School

Sandbending

Northern Sandbending Style

Southern Sandbending Style

Other Earthbending Schools

Southern Mountain Way

Cabbage Sprout Way

Forest Way

Rivers-and-Lakes School