What evidence is there that Amon really used bloodbending to take away bending of the other characters?

Question

I have watched the first season of The Legend of Korra and as far as I can recall it wasn't made clear whether Amon really used bloodbending to take away bending abilities of the other characters. Korra did say that he used bloodbending but it's not that she can't be wrong. The Avatar Wikia site has had its articles edited to include that bloodbending can be used to take away a person's bending but I can't remember anything happening in the series that confirms this. Or have the creators themselves confirmed this?

IMO, it is possible that the spirits provided Amon with the ability to energybend: evil spirits do exist. Also the next book is named 'Spirits', so what are the chances that this book delves into what really happened when Amon ran away from the Northern Water Tribe? Also, the way Amon takes away bending is very similar to the way Avatar Aang used energybending to take away bending.

The only other thing that I can recall is that Amon's brother, Tarrlok said that he recognized the stance of his brother as his bloodbending stance which I don't think is really evidence as to what he really used: Amon's stance when he takes away someone's bending can be similar to his bloodbending stance because he is so used to the latter.

I don't think this question has been asked before and I will apologize if it has. My main question is that what evidences are there in the series which really concludes that he, in fact used bloodbending?

Answer 1

Whilst your theory has merit, and I am interested in what happens in 'Spirits' but there are some stark difference between what we see Amon do.

When Aang energy bends we see glowing energy around them as their wills battle. As well as this we are given to believe if Aang's loses he will lose all of his bending abilities.

In contrast, as phantom42 points out we see no battle of wits or glowing energy. Furthermore, not all of Korra's bending abilities are taken. Another issue is that to our knowledge no one outside of Aang knew of energy bending.

A simpler explanation is that Amon knew both bloodbending and Chi pressure points, both rare abilities but not as rare as energybending.

The explanation that requires the fewest assumptions is most likely to be the true explanation.

Answer 2

Just going to point out that Tarrlok didn't say bloodbending stance, he said grip. This meant the feeling of the bending, he meant that it felt like his brother's method. This meant that Amon did use bloodbending in the process and since he wanted to conceal it, he just touched their forehead for visual effect. The way Korra had said it implied that the bending in the chi points severed the connections to their bending ability.