abstract
| - Badgermoles are large blind mammals who inhabit the various tunnels of the Earth Kingdom. They were the original Earthbenders.
- Utterly blind, Badgermoles nonetheless have no issue navigating their environment, and they appear to possess a "Seismic Sense" similar to Toph Bei Fong. The original users of Earthbending, Badgermoles utilize this art to tunnel through the ground, and are said to have taught humans to use its techniques.
- Oma and Shu were the first humans to be taught earthbending by the badgermoles. The two lovers and the badgermoles created a maze of tunnels through the mountains dividing their two villages, allowing them to meet in secret. The tunnels' ceilings were embedded with crystals that would only glow in total darkness and lead to the tunnels' exit. Toph also learned the bending art from badgermoles. Once, when she was a child, she ran away from home and encountered them in a cave. According to her, their earthbending was not merely centered around fighting, but an extension of their senses and their way of interacting with the world. She learned earthbending through copying the badgermoles' movements while navigating the tunnels. Several years later, Team Avatar met a group of nomads who brought them to the Cave of Two Lovers, a passage under the Kolau Mountains. Eventually, Team Avatar and their companions got lost in these caverns as the badgermoles were using earthbending to alter the layout of the underground network. After being separated from the rest of the group, Sokka, Chong, Moku, and the other nomads encountered these creatures, who initially demonstrated aggressive bending. However, they serenaded the badgermoles with music, pacifying them, and were able to ride them out the other side of the cave. Decades later, Prince Wu established a connection with two badgermoles at the Republic City zoo by singing to them. In 174 AG, when Kuvira invaded the city, the royal freed those badgermoles and guided them with his singing toward Central City Station. Ordered by song, they started to tunnel underneath the city and took down three mecha suits of the military of the Earth Empire when they threatened Prince Wu and several evacuees.
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