While The Lord of the Rings and Avatar: The Last Airbender might be very different stories, they are both popular fantasy series with unique, interesting worlds that many fans have come to love. Because they are both fantasy franchises, it’s a fun thought exercise to imagine how characters from one story would act in a different story.
So, similarly to how other fictional characters are often sorted into their Hogwarts houses, we’ve collected a list of the main Lord of the Rings characters and matched them with their bending element based on their personalities and other factors.
Eowyn: Water
Eowyn has many personality traits that could fit with some of the other elements, but since her driving goal in the narrative is to help and protect those she cares about, it makes the most sense that she’d bend water.
This element is about healing, but it’s also extremely powerful as water can do a lot of damage over time. This matches well with Eowyn’s caring but tough and fierce personality.
Merry: Fire
While it can be easy to imagine Hobbits as earth benders, it doesn’t really make sense to take the analogy that far. Instead, it’s easier to think about elements somewhat like zodiac signs and look at the personalities of the character.
Merry has a very fierce streak that matches well with fire, and he is much less goofy and focused only on having fun as Pippin is.
Pippin: Air
While Merry becomes more of a passionate warrior type, Pippin’s personality and journey is a little different.
He has a personality somewhat similar to Aang’s where he loves to goof around and have fun, and he has a hard time taking life seriously. While he does learn to harness his personality to help protect Middle-Earth, he has the more lighthearted feel of an air bender.
Elrond: Healing
Elrond definitely gives off the vibe of a wise water bedding master, but since all of the elements have subsets of bending within them, it makes the most sense that he would focus on healing. Elrond is a very old elf who has some element of magical ability.
Given that Rivendell is known for being a place where people go to find relaxation and recuperation, Elrond can easily be thought of as a great healer.
Legolas: Air
Air as an element is an interesting one because while it can be flippant and lighthearted it is also associated with the mind.
This matches Legolas rather well as he is both literally light on his feet and also has a less emotional personality than some of the other members of the Fellowship.
Gimli: Metal
While in some ways Gimli’s personality matches more with the intense element of fire, given his background and durability it makes the most sense that he would be a metal bender.
Metal is an element that seems to be connected with both earth and fire in a way, so this is a good combination for him. He’s also very grounded and dwarves have a special connection to the weapons they mine.
Aragorn: Water
Aragorn is another character who is a bit hard to match with an element because he has some strengths. He is grounded and steady like an earth bender, but overall, he fits the best with water bending. This is because he’s intuitive, caring, and a protector which are all traits that water benders have.
He’s also very strong, but his main motivation is that of protecting people he cares about, and he seems to lead with his heart.
Gandalf: Air
Gandalf is a wizard, so he’s the main character on this list who could possibly harness the power of the elements even in the Lord of the Rings.
Overall, he seems to go best with air bending because he has rather frenetic and intense energy with an underlying serenity to him. He can be a bit hot-headed at times, but his personality goes best with air benders.
Samwise Gamgee: Earth
Samwise is a rather easy character to assign an element because he is so connected to the earth. As a gardener, he loves spending time in the dirt and even has a special affinity for soil.
His personality also matches earth bending as he’s loyal, grounded, and stable. He definitely represents some of the best traits of an earth bender.
Frodo Baggins: The Avatar
While Frodo might originally and personality-wise match best with water or air, he would function as an Avatar-like character in the story.
He’s the main protagonist and hero who is given a mission to destroy a Dark Lord, so it would make sense that he’d need to be able to control all of elements in order to achieve that mission. However, he does have an overall softer personality and is rather cerebral and intellectually based.
