History Characters / TheLegendOfKorraPastCharacters

-->See [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong this page]] for more information.

-->See [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSokka his page for more information]].

-->See [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderKatara this page]] for more information.

* {{Foil}}: To Korra -- Korra is the current Avatar, continuing to maintain balance in the world. As of the Book 2 finale and onward, she is the first Avatar of a new cycle and was born into the Southern Water Tribe; Avatar Wan the first Avatar, who unknowingly disrupted the balance in the world. Wan was the first Avatar of the old cycle and was a native of the (future) Fire Nation.

* PlayingWithFire: Technically, the Avatar Cycle started with a Firebender.

* PunnyName: He's the first Avatar, i.e. Avatar One.

* NobleBigot: Despite everything that has happened between him and humans, Wan Shi Tong in the present seems to have taken more of this approach rather than straight up seeing mortals as just hopeless bastards, due to Korra saving both worlds from complete chaos restoring some of his faith in humanity, being willing to praise humans who have earned it. In his opinion, the Daofei may be nearly criminalistic, but their approach and intentions still have to be acknowledged as noble, and he admits that despite the horrors of the Hundred Year War, the fact that ultimately humans managed to successfully restore peace and order to the world is quite admirable, which is especially notable, considering that both groups have offended him at certain times in history. Notably, despite what Aang did, he still shows a surprising amount of fondness for the Air Nomads because they respected Spirits, and was pleased to see someone fight to preserve their culture. Ultimately

* BrokenAce: Wan was able to master the art of controlling fire better than any human before him, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ended by unknowingly releasing the most powerful dark spirit, Vaatu, from confinement]], almost resulting in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and, in the end, [[spoiler:[[DownerEnding dies believing he failed Raava and couldn't save the world]].]]

* ThePollyanna: By the time he confronts Vaatu, all of his human friends from his hometown have been slaughtered, his spirit friends have been turned into Dark Spirits, and his only hope to fight an EldritchAbomination is with the help of a teapot-sized Raava. Nevertheless, he never loses hope that they can win.
* PosthumousCharacter: Wan has been dead for a little shy of ten millennia.

-->'''Raava:''' "Don't worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes, and we will never give up."

* TheAce: Wan went from a complete non bender to becoming the original Avatar. He was one of the first humans to survive the Spirit Wilds. He was the first man to master the art of firebending from a dragon and the first to bend more than one element. He acquired the four bending arts from the Lion Turtles and became proficient in them in one year. At the age of twenty, Wan became [[WorldsBestWarrior the most powerful bender of his time]]. He created the [[SuperMode Avatar State]] and defeated the evil spirit [[BigBad Vaatu]]. Wan's rise to power established the era of the Avatar, and his eventual death started the Avatar Cycle. Since then, no one else has been able to acquire more than one bending, except his reincarnations.

* TheUnchosenOne: Wan was never born as the Avatar and was no subject to destiny. He simply refused to accept there was no way to change his lifestyle and eventually the way the world worked. By going against of what humans and spirits believed, he became the first Avatar and essentially changed the whole world. Avatars are always born with the ability to bend the four elements. Wan was the first and the only Avatar ever who acquired the four bending powers with his own effort. In other words, Wan practically forged his own destiny.

** She finally makes a physical appearance in the short comic [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Skyscrapers "Skycrapers"]], where it's shown she was the one who inspired her daugter to become an engineer.

* AllForNothing: He spent years molding his sons to master bloodbending all to get his revenge on Avatar Aang. His eldest son would use that same bloodbending against him, telling him that no, bloodbending ''isn't'' the most powerful thing in the world, the Avatar's ability to take bending away is. After that, thinking his eldest son dead, Yakone gave up his quest. His sons never would come into conflict with Avatar Aang, but while they were threats to his successor, they did not work together and went about it in different ways. The most damage the son he thought dead did was use bloodbending to render benders powerless permanently, but Korra would use energybending to restore it to those who were innocent, so the only most damaging thing Yakone indirectly caused was undone.

* DaylightHorror: Not him, but rather his ability to bloodbend is this. It was a bending style so horrifying and brutal to the point it could give someone a life sentence and was believed to only be doable under a full moon. Then comes Yakone and is able to easily perform it telepathically, in broad daylight.

* GodOfGood: She is similar to the [[UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} Zoroastrian]] god Ahura Mazda in that she is the god of light and peace, and she is locked into battle with her inherent evil opposite Vaatu (Angra Mainyu) yet both are equal in power. At the end of "Beginnings", it is revealed that she essentially is the Avatar Spirit (along with all the other humans she has reincarnated with).

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: In a sense. He gives the most childish and stupid explanation for how radios work (little men inside playing the music) as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course, it turns out he was misinformed by one of his fox familiars.

* ManipulativeBastard: Without even fully realizing it. Despite both his sons having seemingly rebelled against his influence, they both ended up doing exactly what he wanted, as Tarrlok eventually realises.

* BaritoneOfStrength: Couresty of having Creator/ClancyBrown as his voice actor.

* BadassBaritone: Couresty of Creator/ClancyBrown as his voice actor.

* MeaningfulName: His name means "blood in the snow" in an Inuktitut dialect, hinting at his bloodbending ability. It also sounds passingly similar to the famous American gangster "Capone".

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Her emphasis was more on preserving order and peace, not having any concern for the safety of humans, be they good or evil, who could potentially end up collateral damage from her battle with Vaatu. Because of her view of HumansAreBastards, humans who die as a result of her winning the battle were acceptable losses. All this changed when Wan came along and convinced her that humanity is worth protecting.

* HumansAreBastards: She had a negative attitude on humans for a while, until she learned how Wan was different.

* TookALevelInKindness: While aggressive and furious at Wan for releasing Vaatu, she becomes kinder since they start travelling together and seeing that not all HumansAreBastards.

* HumansAreBastards: For a time, he becomes firm in this mindset due to what happened with Aang. When Jinora tries to cite the old rules for entry, he says that the rules changed since the last time. He makes an exception for Unalaq, whom [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter he believes to be a true friend to the spirits]]. However, after the Spirit Portals were opened entirely, he tones down this belief, allowing humans to enter his library again, though he still is wary of them and keeps a regular eye on their activities.

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Fusing with Raava gives him access to all four elements at once, but, as with all spirits who fuse with a human, prolonged fusion can put a strain on his body and eventually leads to death. His first time truly fusing with her causes him to pass out, and he only does marginally better the second time. When they're exposed to the energy of the spirit portals during Harmonic Convergence, the fusion is made permanent and stable, starting the Avatar Cycle.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Yakone doesn't do it personally, but he forced his children to bloodbend helpess animals as part of their training, something Tarrlok couldn't bring himself to do.

* WorldsBestWarrior/WorldsStrongestMan: Wan was the most powerful human of his time, thanks to being the first Avatar. Sadly, his powers were insufficient to prevent wars between humans.

* WorldsBestWarrior: Wan was the most powerful human of his time, thanks to being the first Avatar. Sadly, his powers were insufficient to prevent wars between humans.

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