| 1 | [[WMG:[[center:[-''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' '''[[Characters/TheLegendOfKorra Main Character Index]]'''\ |
| 2 | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraNewTeamAvatar New Team Avatar]] ([[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Avatar Korra]], [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAsamiSato Asami Sato]]) | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraTenzinsFamily Tenzin's Family]] | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraBeifongFamily Beifong Family]] | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAllies Allies]] ([[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraVarrickAndZhuLi Varrick and Zhu Li]]) | '''Seasons 1 & 2 Enemies''' | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraEnemiesSeasons3And4 Seasons 3 & 4 Enemies]] ([[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]]) | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraPastCharacters Past Characters]] | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraComicCharacters Comic Characters]]-]]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | !!This is a partial character sheet for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the [[YMMV/TheLegendOfKorra YMMV page]]. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | !!Equalists |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 11 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/equalists_icon.png]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:300: "For too long, the bending elite of this city have forced non-benders to live as lower class citizens!"]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | A faction created by Amon in reaction to Bender criminals (particularly the Triads) abusing their power to pick on the non-benders. They serve as the major antagonists in Book 1. |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | * AntiMagicalFaction: Or more accurately, Anti-Bending Faction. |
| 17 | * BilingualBonus: Their seal features the first character in the Chinese word for 'equality'. |
| 18 | * BrokenPedestal: They do ''not'' take it well that their leader all along was a [[YouAreWhatYouHate bender]]. |
| 19 | * CapeBusters: This is their purpose, with supers in their case being benders, and also have the training and weapons that are designed to be used against benders. |
| 20 | * CombatPragmatist: The organization as a whole uses many terrorist tactics in their pursuit of Amon's goal, including hiding among civilian populations, bombings to tie up emergency services, and avert taking on enemies one at a time. |
| 21 | * DirtyCommunists: As a mass movement that aims to tear down the privileged and powerful minority that has unfairly dominated society and make everyone equal by any means necessary, the Equalists take more than a few cues from real world anti-Communist fears. |
| 22 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: According to the creators, the Equalists were written as a "Majority Rights" populist revolutionary movement, fighting the superhumanly powerful minority (the Benders) that dominates the Republic. While thus not a direct analogue to any real-life political ideology, aspects of their rhetoric and tactics are reminiscent of various groups, from authoritarian socialists to right-wing religious crusaders and even the Nazis. Their uniforms and Amon's charismatic leadership style also have a more overt touch of PuttingOnTheReich. |
| 23 | * FantasticRacism: Their movement claims that benders are oppressing the non-benders of the world, [[VillainHasAPoint which is true]], but a lot of their members extend this into a categorical hatred of all benders. |
| 24 | * FantasticTerrorists: {{Inverted|Trope}}; they're a group of {{Muggle}} terrorists promoting the equality of benders and non-benders, usually in a violent way. Amon himself even knows a technique [[PowerNullifier that makes benders powerless]] and his members utilizes chi-blocking and various technologies. |
| 25 | * {{Hypocrite}}: While Amon and Hiroshi Sato qualify for their own reasons, the Equalists as a whole qualify for the fact that despite saying benders are oppressors who abuse their powers on non-benders, they use their technology and Amon's abilities to do the same to benders and any non-bender not associated with them, culminating in an attempt at wiping out Airbending entirely by de-bending Tenzin and his children. |
| 26 | * TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar: They make heavy use of the technology provided by Sato to make up for their lack of Bending. |
| 27 | * JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: They start out by targeting only benders who use their powers to hurt, threaten and abuse others, namely the criminal triads, but as time passes they become more and more extremist in their methods and beliefs; carrying out blatant terrorist attacks on public places, attacking law enforcement, officials and even non-benders who aren't on their side and declaring bending illegal with all benders rounded up and forcibly de-powered by Amon, ironically becoming just as oppressive as those they claim to oppose. |
| 28 | * MugglePower: The whole point of their existence. |
| 29 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: With heavy use of industrial grays and occasional stark whites making them clearly distinct from the Fire Nation that [[DarkIsNotEvil continues to use this color scheme]]. |
| 30 | * TheRemnant: They still exist after Amon's defeat to the extent Korra fought them again [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfKorra just after the Unalaq Crisis]], but they've become too weakened and disorganized to be a serious threat anymore. WordOfGod [[WhatCouldHaveBeen even stated they would've shown what's left of them if they had time in Book 2]]. |
| 31 | * VillainHasAPoint: Though they discredit it by being [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope too extreme]] about their proposed solutions, the Equalists' basic complaint--that the power structure in the Republic unduly favors the benders--is shown to be correct, with the benders monopolizing most government positions and people like Tarrlok abusing their powers in various ways. This is implicitly acknowledged in the later books, where the all-bender ruling council retire and are replaced by a popularly elected president. |
| 32 | * WithUsOrAgainstUs: They seem to hold this viewpoint regarding non-benders who don't actively support them; poor Shiro Shinobi and the [[TheGreatBritishCopperCapture unarmed police station communications staff]] find this out the hard way. |
| 33 | * YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Though they claimed to be the latter, they certainly had no problems kidnapping innocent children or blowing up a sports stadium full of people. |
| 34 | * WouldHurtAChild: Tenzin's family are marked as high-priority targets for capture and de-bending; the fact that three out of four of them are preteens doesn't seem to raise any moral qualms. |
| 35 | [[/folder]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Amon]] |
| 38 | !!Amon |
| 39 | |
| 40 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SteveBlum, Creator/JacobBertrand (6, 8, and 10 years old), Alexander Martella (14 years old) |
| 41 | !!!'''Voiced by (German):''' Torsten Michaelis |
| 42 | !!!'''Voiced by (Italian):''' Pasquale Anselmo |
| 43 | [[quoteright:332:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Amon_5948.jpg]] |
| 44 | [[caption-width-right:332: "I am the solution."]] |
| 45 | [[caption-width-right:332:[[labelnote:Click here to see Amon unmasked]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1635d92c22d56e2d83b037bcbe4ef39f.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | The leader of the Equalists and the primary antagonist of the first book. A man shrouded in mystery, Amon seeks to rid the world of benders and usher in a new era of equality. He seeks to destroy Korra, whose presence in Republic City threatens his anti-bender agenda. He claims to have been burned by a firebender and can remove people's bending. He is eventually revealed to be Tarrlok's brother Noatak who came to see bending as the source of evil due to his father's abusive treatment of his brother and him. |
| 48 | ---- |
| 49 | * TheAce: In many ways. |
| 50 | ** Amon is exceptionally intelligent, proving himself capable of extraordinary strategic organization, and his challenge to the Council in "And the Winner Is..." is a near-flawless XanatosGambit, creating a situation in which it is nearly impossible for him not to advance. |
| 51 | ** He's a charismatic public speaker, winning over huge numbers of non-benders to his side and gaining their trust, all while playing himself up as a tragic and noble figure. |
| 52 | ** He's a master of a dangerous martial-arts style that allows non-benders to challenge benders. |
| 53 | ** And to top it all off, he's a prodigy waterbender--one of the strongest non-Avatar benders in the entire franchise--who can bloodbend with his mind, outside of a full moon. Even without his bloodbending he is arguably the best waterbender ever seen, bending simply by thought and not relying on his hands. |
| 54 | * AccidentalPublicConfession: Non-verbal one. After being blasted out of a window into the ocean, he reflexively waterbends himself back out to avert drowning, exposing himself as a waterbender and washing off the paint used to fake a firebending scar. |
| 55 | * AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Moments before Amon's brother Tarrlok blows up their boat, he alludes to their abusive childhood. Amon then sheds a single tear. For bonus points, it's hinted that he could tell through his bloodbending and Tarrlok's statement that his brother was about to kill them both, and he allowed it to happen]]. |
| 56 | * AloofBigBrother: [[spoiler:He was this to Tarrlok as children, though he was much more openly affectionate before his father's abuse.]] |
| 57 | * AmbiguouslyEvil: While Amon is unquestionably a villain, to what degree is another matter. Even after the reveal of his actual back story, his exact motives for his revolution are not made clear, though Tarrlok thinks Amon truly believed his own rhetoric. |
| 58 | ** WordOfGod confirms that Tarrlok's assessment of Amon's motives is pretty close to the truth. He came to hate bending for what it did to his life and the lives of others, and wanted to eradicate it. |
| 59 | * AntagonisticOffspring: He Bloodbended his father when Tarrlok was yelled at for not wanting to use his abilities. |
| 60 | * AntiVillain: |
| 61 | ** Wanting equality and to help lower class citizens isn't bad... but doing so by trying to eradicate bending is extreme. He only targets benders who use their abilities for evil, at least until he's built up enough support to get away with more ambiguous targets or full-on public servants. He has also told Korra to her face (while his men held her down) that the only reason she still has her bending is that he is saving her for later. For all purposes, he does appear to have a moral code. It's just that he is pragmatic enough to take more amoral or even outright immoral actions to see his plans come to fruition. |
| 62 | ** It's revealed in the finale that he's actually Yakone's son and a bloodbender, and, according to Tarrlok, came to the conclusion that bending was the root of all evil due to his father's [[AbusiveParents abusiveness]]. The fact that bloodbending is known to get people DrunkOnTheDarkSide probably didn't hurt. |
| 63 | * BackFromTheDead: In Varrick's latest Mover pitch, anyway. In the Mover, he reanimates as a zombie and joins a LegionOfDoom led by Zaheer in order to take down Bolin. HilarityEnsues. |
| 64 | * BadassBoast: |
| 65 | -->'''Tarrlok:''' [[WhatTheHellAreYou What... what are you?]]\ |
| 66 | '''Amon:''' I am the solution. |
| 67 | * BadassLongcoat: A bit shorter than some other examples, but no less badass. |
| 68 | * BadPowersBadPeople: Zig-zagged. A WellIntentionedExtremist with the ability to take away people's bending. He's actually a [[BloodMagic bloodbender]], but he's a villain of the KnightTemplar flavor, so he's bad in a rather unorthodox way. |
| 69 | * BelievingTheirOwnLies: Tarrlok theorizes that while the Amon's identity and following were built on lies, Amon genuinely believes benders are the source of the world's woes. WordOfGod confirms that Amon indeed bought into his own anti-bending rhetoric. |
| 70 | * BeyondTheImpossible: He is one of the greatest waterbenders alive, capable of using bloodbending (which was always thought to only be possible on the night of a full moon, when a waterbender's power is at its peak) in the middle of the day. In fact, he's so good, he doesn't even need to move his hands; Tarrlok calls this "[[ThoughtControlledPower psychic bloodbending]]." |
| 71 | * BigBad: He is the main villain of Book 1 as the leader of the Equalists, seeking to eliminate all Benders in the world. |
| 72 | * BigBrotherBully: He had figured out that [[spoiler:Tarrlok was his little brother, and had become the corrupt politician of Republic City. Amon still had to de-bend him when capturing Tarrlok, who was on the lam]]. |
| 73 | * BigBrotherInstinct: Tarrlok claims Amon always looked out for him when they were kids. In "Out of the Past" he does the grunt work of taking Tarrlok to the truck himself while the Lieutenant and some mooks try to nab Korra. He even gives him a special cell to separated him from everyone else. In the finale, Amon tells him he's all he has left in the world. |
| 74 | ** During a flashback in the season finale, he was shown to be very doting to his brother. He did things like play with him, made sure that he never got hurt, and protected him from their father. |
| 75 | * BloodMagic: Amon was a master of the rare and outlawed art of bloodbending. Under Yakone's tutelage, he mastered the technique to such an extent that he could perform it at anytime, without the aid of a full moon, by the age of fourteen. At the same time, he also learned his father's special skill of [[ThoughtControlledPower psychic bending]], allowing him to perform his bending skills not only through physical movement, but also solely through sheer focus and strength of will. His bloodbending techniques consisted of body manipulation and torture with minimal effort, levitating targets, throwing them around, subduing them, and knocking them unconscious. With his skill in psychic bending, he could also bloodbend one or multiple targets into submission while able to freely move in for other measures to finish other opponents. Additionally, he exhibited the ability to resist bloodbending with little effort, even against his brother, Tarrlok, who had also mastered the skill to a similar level. |
| 76 | * BondVillainStupidity: Even though he has Korra completely at his mercy at one point, he decides to let her go. Justified because taking her bending too soon would only make her a martyr, and damage his cause. Plus, he also reasons that it may convince the other nations of the world to make a move against him, something he wants to avoid before he has enough supports to resist them. |
| 77 | * BoomerangBigot: He's a bender himself, using bloodbending to nullify the powers of other benders. |
| 78 | * BreakingSpeech: He delivers one so effective and intimidating that Korra suffers a complete breakdown afterwards. |
| 79 | * BrokenAce: Amon is an incredibly intelligent and charismatic bender who, through the majority of the season, managed to manipulate and control everyone around him to his whim and only loses at the last moment [[EleventhHourSuperpower due to Korra gaining Airbending]]. However, all of his charm and intelligence hides the fact that he is a self-loathing individual whose skills were a direct result of his father's abusive treatment of him and his brother which caused him to hate all benders in the first place. |
| 80 | * CainAndAbel: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Amon takes away his brother's bending, and his brother ultimately kills him. But Amon still loves him regardless. |
| 81 | * TheCameo: During Korra's MushroomSamba in the Book 3 finale, Korra watches Zaheer's face morph into Amon's mask. |
| 82 | -->'''Amon:''' "I told you, Korra; the world doesn't need you anymore." |
| 83 | * TheChessmaster: His actions in episode 6 sealed his status as one. See XanatosGambit below. |
| 84 | * CombatPragmatist: |
| 85 | ** Uses ambushes, greater numbers, weapons the opposition has no defense against, and psychological warfare to lead the Equalists to victory. He also subtly uses bloodbending to gain the edge in fights with other benders without exposing himself. |
| 86 | ** In one case Tarrlok has already captured Korra and locked her in a metal cage. When Amon caught up to them, he told the Equalists to shock the cage and knock her out before moving her. Fortunately, Korra overheard and used some rudimentary physics to avoid the electric shock. |
| 87 | * ChildProdigy: He was shown effortlessly mastering physical waterbending techniques by the age of seven and began bloodbending at age ten. He would later mature into a TeenGenius, mastering his father’s psychic bloodbending at age fourteen, making him the youngest pyschic bloodbender in history. |
| 88 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Ozai from the previous series. While Ozai was the hereditary ruler of a nation, Amon is a populist revolutionary with no official power. Also, while Ozai was continuing an agenda begun by his father and grandfather, Amon actively rejects following in his father's footsteps. Additionally, Ozai was simply an EvilOverlord that just wanted to take over the world because he could and spent most of the time being OrcusOnHisThrone leaving the dirty work to his army and children while recognizing [[PhysicalGod The Avatar]] as a threat to be eliminated regardless of [[WouldHurtAChild age]], Amon [[CombatPragmatist with or without]] [[FlunkyBoss his minions]], isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and is a WellIntentionedExtremist that even the heroes admit has a [[VillainHasAPoint point]] to solving a social ill while seeing The Avatar as an outdated ''concept'' that's obsolete and needs to be replaced by him. |
| 89 | ** Interestingly, he also shares traits with Azula. A fourteen year old prodigy in an art who took to it like fish to water. Also, both children have had their abilities exploited to the point where it caused obvious mental distress on the two while both hid it well with their poker faces. However, unlike Azula whose desperation for love and attention drove her closer to Ozai; Noatak's stronger moral code allowed him to rebel against Yakone. |
| 90 | * CoolMask: It resembles a [[http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Opera/color-yellow.html Chinese opera mask]], and has the spook factor of one. |
| 91 | * CoverBlowingSuperpower: After being knocked into the sea, he uses waterbending to recover. Unfortunately for him, a large number of people witness this, causing him and the Equalists to lose all credibility. |
| 92 | * CrazyPrepared: The finale reveals that he wears fake firebending scars just in case a situation might arise where he'd have to show them. Too bad he didn't think to make them waterproof. |
| 93 | * CreepyChild: Not at first, but as he began bloodbending more and more often, he became aloof and detached, not just from his brother but from people and emotions in general. Specifically, it’s his creepy stare (only further enhanced by his IcyBlueEyes) when he psychically bloodbends and his willingness to bloodbend his brother and father that really drive this home. |
| 94 | * CreepyMonotone: He maintains a level tone in all situations. |
| 95 | * CulturePolice: Desires to end pro-bending as means to end "bending worship". |
| 96 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: According to [[UnreliableExpositor Amon himself]], he was a simple farm boy before his family was murdered and he was disfigured by a firebender. His true backstory is even darker. |
| 97 | * DarkMessiah: He's set himself up as a Messiah figure to the Equalist movement, and his ultimate goal is to replace the Avatar as the world's savior. Though the Equalists are not a religious movement, he does claim that his exceptional abilities were granted to him by the spirits that protect the world, and that it is his destiny to be the savior of non-benders by bringing them into balance with those who can (or could) bend. |
| 98 | * DeathGlare: Gives quite a potent one to Korra as seen in episode 4 when he confronts her underneath Aang's statue. It's especially notable since he can give quite a DeathGlare even behind that mask. |
| 99 | * DecoyBackstory: Amon reveals to his supporters at a rally that he is a non-bender from the Fire Nation whose parents were killed and his own face, horribly disfigured by a power-tripping firebender, setting him on the path to discovering a way to DePower benders. [[spoiler:At the end of the season, it is revealed that Amon is actually from the Northern Water Tribe, and his bending-severing technique is an advanced form of [[BloodMagic bloodbending]], which he learned from his father, the ex-crime lord Yakone.]] |
| 100 | * DePower: Amon can use his bloodbending to take away other people's bending. It works on the same principle as chi-blocking; striking specific points on the body to close off meridians and block the flow of chi. The difference is that because Amon's attacks are internal rather than external, the damage is more precise and thus, permanent; only Korra's energybending was able to reverse the effect. |
| 101 | * DiabolicalMastermind: Amon is really good at manipulating others and organising a military movement. |
| 102 | %% Amon is not a DiscOneFinalBoss. That's when a character is set up as the BigBad, but there's actually someone higher. Amon is the BigBad of season one, and each season is a self-contained story. There is no one higher then Amon within his story arc. |
| 103 | * DissonantSerenity: The cargo bay of his [[CoolAirship zeppelin]] being filled with flame by Korra [[UnflinchingWalk doesn't even break his stride]]. He is also almost unfazed by Tarrlok's bloodbending. While he is affected, he is able to push through and maintain his composure without faltering. The mask definitely helps with the effect. |
| 104 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: On ''multiple'' levels. |
| 105 | ** His ideals parallel the development of Communism and Fascism, (particularly the former given the "equality" rhetoric) which rose to compete against the democracies of the early 20th century. His rhetoric also is reminiscent of the Taiping Rebellion, as he fashions himself as a messianic figure and tries to replace the Avatar. Besides, the way his followers cover their faces in ''And the Winner Is...'' and the way he argues for the complete reformation of the society kinda reminds one of Anarchist movements which were responsible for a lot of terrorist acts of middle 19th - early 20th centuries in Europe, Russian Empire and other parts of the world. |
| 106 | ** That he names his movement the "Equalists" further calls to mind cults that promise equality [[AllTheOtherReindeer for those "in-groups" of theirs, while demonizing others.]] |
| 107 | ** The way in which he blames "every war" on bending, after several episodes in which its spiritual side has been stressed by Tenzin, is uncannily similar to the misapprehension that religion is the cause of over 90% of the world's wars. |
| 108 | ** Ironically, he also has several aspects of fundamentalist evangelism to him: besides his supposed [[MissionFromGod "mission from the spirits"]], he lays down his hand on his victims' foreheads in order to "cleanse" them. More darkly yet, most of said victims end up with severe depression and loss of identity. Add in the British meaning of the word bender, [[CureYourGays and there you go]]. |
| 109 | ** The white version of his flag calls to mind Japan's history of ultra-nationalist, xenophobic anti-government terrorists, particularly just prior to the Meiji restoration and in the 1920's and 30's, the latter of which gave rise to the UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII infamy. |
| 110 | * DontCreateAMartyr: It's the reason he doesn't take away Korra's bending when they meet for the first time. It would just make her a martyr for benders to rally behind. |
| 111 | * TheDreaded: He terrifies Korra to the point that she breaks down into tears after one confrontation with him, and his encounter with Bolin left the earthbender with nightmares for at least a week. Additionally in Korra's case, she ''still'' fears him years later despite fighting everything from other terrorist groups to the GodOfEvil. |
| 112 | * DrunkOnTheDarkSide: While his brother tried his best to swear off bloodbending, Amon took to it at a young age and embraced it. Tarrlok even comments that Amon seemed to enjoy having the power. |
| 113 | * EmpoweredBadassNormal: Although he subtly uses Bloodbending to give him an edge in fights, he is still a capable and highly trained fighter and Chi-Blocker in his own right. Indeed, the fact that he integrates the two so well that nobody picks up on it is a ''testament'' to his skill, not a detraction from it. |
| 114 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He does seem to still love his younger brother, even though he rejected him when they were children. |
| 115 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He takes great offense when he is framed for a crime. He prefers AtLeastIAdmitIt. |
| 116 | ** After removing the bending from [[TheBully Tahno and the other White Falls Wolfbats,]] his speech at the Pro-Bending Tournament makes it clear he has great disdain for those who bully others and cheat their way to victory and decries those who cheered for them that night (as it was ''very'' clear the game was rigged). While he uses it as a metaphor for non-benders being oppressed by benders, he does (in a roundabout way) defend the Fire Ferrets (Korra, Mako and Bolin), because while they're benders, they fought ''fairly'' and with honor. |
| 117 | * EvilCounterpart: He is established as one to the Avatar, a human given mysterious power by contact with the spirits, as opposed to the Avatar, who is the physical reincarnation of a NatureSpirit. After the reveal of his true origins, he becomes one to Korra herself. Both are benders of immense skill, both had fathers who were shamed, both fathers moved elsewhere to start a new life, and said fathers eventually ended up siring successors who would change the world. While Avatar Korra took it as her responsibility to bring balance to the world through her bending, due to her status as the Avatar, Amon believed he could bring balance by removing bending itself. |
| 118 | * EvilerThanThou: Amon ends up pulling this on every villain not working for him. Even Tarrlok can't compete. |
| 119 | * EvilSoundsDeep: What else would you expect from Creator/SteveBlum? Evil's as deep as the ocean. |
| 120 | * ExpressiveMask: On occasion, there are subtle illustration changes to the mouth on his mask and his eyes and tone do the rest. |
| 121 | * TheFaceless: He wears a mask due to FacialHorror he received from a firebender. This turns out to be a lie. |
| 122 | * FacialHorror: He cites this as the reason he wears his mask, and reveals a large scar once he removes it. That turns out to be a lie, however, and the scar is fake. Underneath, he's actually quite good looking. |
| 123 | * FantasticRacism: Amon sees bending as an "impurity" and his goal is to get rid of bending altogether. |
| 124 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He plays up the idea that he's actually a nice guy just doing a dirty job. He [[WouldHurtAChild usually]] gives his victims the chance to fight for their bending, and he's quite polite when speaking, but he's still the leader of a terrorist organization seeking to create an upheaval against all benders and he's still crazy and wants to destroy all bending because his father was extremely abusive. |
| 125 | * FightsLikeANormal: His ability to remove bending isn't really immediately useful in a fight, so he has to subdue his opponent using normal methods first. Subverted when we find out that he's actually been using bloodbending to subtly influence the movements of his opponents, giving himself a edge in his fights. |
| 126 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 127 | ** To Korra. His debending powers make him a sort of anti-Avatar. He styles himself in the same vein as an Avatar, claiming to be a savior sent by the spirits. He is a very calm, controlled individual who claims to be sent by the spirits, while Korra is a BoisterousBruiser who has ''major'' difficulty with the spiritual side of bending. Finally, it turns out they're both native waterbenders and bending [[ChildProdigy Child Prodigies]]. In a geographical sense, Korra was born and raised in the south pole while Amon originates from the north pole. Not to mention his young self looks strikingly like a male version of Korra. |
| 128 | ** His fabricated backstory is similar to Mako and Bolin. They all had parents killed by a firebender. But while the brothers eventually learned to live with their loss, he took it in a completely [[FantasticRacism different direction.]] In reality, he is truly a Foil to Mako on a much deeper level. Mako is fiercely protective of his younger brother and protected him throughout their bad childhood, while Amon abandoned his and left him to deal with their abusive father alone. Both are also very talented benders, and the more talented of their brothers, which Amon goes out of his way to compliment Mako on. Both are the TheStoic in their SiblingYinYang relationship to their more emotionally sensitive younger kin too. The fact that Amon lied about their similar-sounding backstory only drives the point home further that Mako is the anti-Amon. |
| 129 | * FreudianExcuse: His family getting killed by firebenders. Though that turns out to be a lie, he does have a real one courtesy of his father [[spoiler:Yakone,]] who forced him and his brother into [[spoiler:bloodbending.]] |
| 130 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: He claims to have been a simple FarmBoy until his family was murdered. Now he's a DarkMessiah revolutionary trying to bring down bending and replace the Avatar. [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] in the finale with his real backstory. His father was [[spoiler:Yakone, who fled Republic City after being depowered by Aang, who then raised Amon and Tarrlok as tools for revenge]]. No one knew about Amon's actual origins, but he nevertheless hails from more auspicious beginnings than he first claimed. |
| 131 | * FullCircleRevolution: When the Equalists took over Republic City, they proved themselves every bit as oppressive as the benders they rallied against. |
| 132 | * GeniusBruiser: Really good public speaker, social leader, and [[TheChessmaster master strategist]]; expert chi-blocker, [[spoiler:prodigy waterbender and bloodbender.]] |
| 133 | * GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: An unusual case in that said color pattern is confined to his mask. |
| 134 | * GoodColorsEvilColors: |
| 135 | ** His mask is white and gold, noble colors, which are his ''mask'' which he hides behind, his red circle on his head could be his "evil" ambitions poking through his veneer of righteousness, and the fact that this is surrounded by black seems to mean he is the one noble being surrounded by darkness "benders" his point of view. |
| 136 | ** When viewed through the lens of [[http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-messages-meanings/color-around-the-globe/china-the-colorful-masks-of-the-chinese-opera.html Chinese opera]], Amon's mask takes on considerable symbolism. Its white/silver and gold color scheme immediately places the character in the realm of the mystic, with the gold/yellow coloration also playing into the character traits of treachery and ferociousness. The red circle on his forehead evokes a hint of Buddhist symbolism, referencing his spiritual connection, and also carries some connotations with intelligence and cleverness. |
| 137 | ** White is the color of death in Asian cultures, which fits well with the symbolism often attributed to the WhiteMaskOfDoom. Red and gold are generally considered positive colors in Chinese culture, making their use [[LightIsNotGood ironic]] in this case. |
| 138 | ** The gold on his mask can also be seen as green. Another [[http://atla-annotated.tumblr.com/post/19671786341/amons-mask-analyzed-through-beijing-opera analysis]] through that lens holds that the white symbolizes cunning, treachery, and craftiness, the green is violence and lack of self-restraint, and the red dot is both spirituality and the mocking of it. |
| 139 | * HeroKiller: More like Hero De-Bender. Anyone he can lay his hands on is effectively neutralized since they can no longer bend. His first confrontation with Korra also implies that he plans to kill her after taking away her bending, though that may have been poor use of the phrase "untimely demise" as a metaphor. He fully enters into this trope after de-bending [[spoiler:Lin Beifong ''and'' Korra]], though doing so to Korra ultimately backfired. |
| 140 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Amon had a severe abhorrence toward benders and was a staunch believer in what he viewed as equality. Amon sincerely believed in his rhetoric, having striven to be fair and treat everyone equally since he was a child. Ultimately, it was this misguided desire for justice as well as a latent lust for power that led him to start the Anti-bending Revolution. |
| 141 | * HiddenAgendaVillain: After TheReveal, his true motivations were cast into doubt. WordOfGod eventually stated that Amon was indeed being truthful about his motivations, and that he truly hated bending as a source of great evil. |
| 142 | * {{Hypocrite}}: He wants to get rid of benders for making non-benders live in terror, while his own strategy consists of doing exactly that. Not to mention that he is [[BoomerangBigot a bender himself]], using bloodbending to fake spiritual powers. While Tarrlok thinks [[YouAreWhatYouHate Amon is none too proud of this]], he still uses it subtly to fight, rather than fighting like a BadassNormal. In the end, the Lieutenant is not at all happy to realize this. |
| 143 | * HunterOfHisOwnKind: A villainous variation. Amon is a waterbender who was taught the ways of one of the most amoral practices of it - bloodbending - and dedicated his whole life to use his abilities for the goal of ridding the world of bending. |
| 144 | * IAmTheNoun: "I am the ''solution''." Also printed on some of his posters, though that's a [[BilingualBonus Readers Of Chinese Bonus]]. |
| 145 | * IcyBlueEyes: Once his mask comes off, Amon's eyes are revealed to be a light blue. Fitting, considering his cold, calculating personality and water tribe parents. |
| 146 | * IdiotBall: He can clearly see and presumably sense (see below) Mako aiming a lightning bolt at him [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe despite being bloodbent]] yet still let himself get hit anyway and is just lucky he was durable enough to tank it. |
| 147 | * ImplacableMan: No matter what you throw at him, he won't stop coming. |
| 148 | ** When [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] tries to use bloodbending on him, Amon just shrugs it off and keeps advancing. [[spoiler:Turns out Amon was also bloodbending to counter Tarrlok's.]] |
| 149 | * InconsistentColoring: In his youth, he had dark skin [[spoiler:like most Water Tribe characters and like his brother]]. As an adult, his skin has lightened several shades. |
| 150 | * InternalizedCategorism: According to [[spoiler:his brother Tarrlok]], Amon believed bending to be the source of all evil in the world [[spoiler:despite being a waterbender himself. He went so far as to hide all his abilities from the public and only used his powers in the pursuit of his revolution.]] |
| 151 | * InTheHood: Wears a hooded robe. |
| 152 | * JustToyingWithThem: Amon makes a show out of tying up [[ElementalPowers bending]] members of a crime syndicate (and one of the heroes who got mixed up with them) and removing their powers in front of a huge crowd of [[AntimagicalFaction Equalist]] sympathizers. This trope comes into play when, as part of his show, Amon lets the crime boss loose and offers him the chance to fight to protect himself. It's all the more impressive when Amon wins. [[CurbStompBattle Rather easily]], in fact. [[spoiler:It's later revealed he uses bloodbending to get them to move somewhat predictably without revealing his ability, making his defeat of them inevitable.]] |
| 153 | * JustYouMeAndMyGuards: How Amon eventually responds to Korra's mano-a-mano challenge to him. Could be justified because Tarrlok had his soldiers watching Korra in case she lost, and Amon is smart enough to suspect something like that. |
| 154 | * KarmicDeath: In the first season finale, [[spoiler:Tarrlok]], one of the individuals he de-bended, blows up their boat with an electric glove (a signature weapon of the organization that he founded). Tragic, but nevertheless karmic. |
| 155 | * KickTheDog: After his plans have advanced far enough that he doesn't need the good press anymore, he has no problem attacking benders who haven't done anything to deserve it. The Metalbending police, the entire Republic City Council (save Tenzin), the last airbenders (who escaped), and Lin Beifong. Not to mention bombing the crap out of Republic City. In the finale, he has benders lined up execution-style, captures Tenzin and his family to eliminate airbending altogether (despite the Air Acolytes being altogether peaceful, and Tenzin supporting non-bender rights more than anyone else). |
| 156 | * KneelBeforeZod: Forces a pack of wolves to do this as a child. |
| 157 | * KnightOfCerebus: The first couple of episodes are relatively lighthearted and upbeat. Then Amon takes center-stage in the third episode and every episode proceeds to get darker and darker. In the end, Amon is the only major villain in the entire franchise who is not EVER used for laughs. Even Ozai, after he was defeated, was the butt of jokes from other characters. But even after his defeat, Amon still left enough of a mark on Korra that the season very nearly had a DownerEnding. |
| 158 | * KnightTemplar: Amon definitely invokes this in his rhetoric, and follows up rather well, rapidly escalating the stakes from vigilantism to terrorism to an open revolt which temporarily succeeds in deposing the government of Republic City. |
| 159 | * LaserGuidedKarma: Any doubt [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope he was over the line was removed]] once he treated to "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything rid the world of Airbending]]" despite the airbenders [[FinalSolution suffering worse than anyone at the hands of bending]] nor done the wrongs Amon accuses benders of. Guess what bending leads directly to his final defeated and [[BrokenPedestal ousting]] shortly thereafter. |
| 160 | * LightIsNotGood: Though Amon invokes certain heavenly archetypes with his [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine white and gold]] sun mask, Egyptian sun god name, and [[MessianicArchetype possible mystical connections]], he's still the leader of a terrorist organization. [[spoiler:He's a waterbender, and while a bloodbender, his method is essentially a reversal of [[HealingHands waterbending healing]], manipulating chi regardless. Thus, arguably WhiteMagic.]] |
| 161 | * LightningBruiser: Extremely agile and nimble fighter with the strength to take down even the most skilled benders with no sweat. |
| 162 | * MadeOfIron: Mako shot him in the chest with a bolt of lightning, several seconds long at that, and Amon ''walked it off''. Though Mako can fire non-lethal shots, there's no indication he intended this to be anything less than fatal. |
| 163 | * MageKiller: Not surprising, given that he's the leader of [[AntimagicalFaction the Equalists]]. |
| 164 | * MakingASplash: [[spoiler:Drilled relentlessly by his father in waterbending, Amon displayed a natural talent for bloodbending, quickly impressing Yakone and ultimately mastering the art under his father's tutelage. He was capable of launching himself out of a body of water on a gigantic waterspout and rapidly propelling himself over the surface.]] |
| 165 | * MalevolentMaskedMen: Like the lower-level Equalists, although they're GasMaskMooks and his is more of a traditional mask. |
| 166 | * MaskingTheDeformity: Subverted. Amon, the leader of the anti-bending extremists in season one, wears a full-face mask at all times to conceal the extreme facial scarring from his futile fight against a firebender who killed his family. It is later revealed that [[spoiler: the firebender story is a lie, as Amon is a bender himself, and his scars are actually painted onto his skin and dissolve under water]]. |
| 167 | * MeaningfulName: "To cover", which is on the nose for a MalevolentMaskedMan. |
| 168 | * MetaPower: Amon is the leader of the Equalists, who feels that people with ElementalPowers have an unfair advantage, and that the world would be a better place if no one could bend at all. Amon himself can't bend, but has the power to remove other people's bending ability. [[spoiler:Naturally, he's a hypocrite: he's actually a very good waterbender, and his PowerNullifier is actually bloodbending.]] |
| 169 | * MissionFromGod: He claims that he was chosen by the spirits to bring down bending and replace the Avatar. [[spoiler:This isn't true.]] |
| 170 | * MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: The only way to explain how he could sense a silent, hidden Korra is that like a number of spiritual characters, he can sense people's energy and/or the water in their body. |
| 171 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Amon" has plenty of possible meanings. |
| 172 | ** To start, it's the name of an [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian god]]. It is a borderline MeaningfulName as Amon ([[InconsistentSpelling or Amun, Amen, et cetera]]) not only is associated with the unseen and mysteries, but also with the ''poor and the oppressed''. |
| 173 | ** He also shares a name with a demon from the ''Literature/ArsGoetia'' who is associated with [[UnstoppableRage Wrath]] of the TranquilFury variety. |
| 174 | ** The word or root "Amen" means "what is hidden", "what is not seen", "what cannot be seen" and the like. |
| 175 | ** One of the worst Nazi criminals was [[Film/SchindlersList Amon Leopold Goeth]], a Nazi who was so crazy and sadistic, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the other Nazis thought he was a psychotic nutjob]]. |
| 176 | ** [[http://masterarrowhead.tumblr.com/post/21546778935/hawkfeather-atla-annotated-energybending-a Amon is also the name of an acupuncture point on the back of the neck.]] Amon was shown pressing onto that point as well as the forehead. |
| 177 | ** A fan [[http://atla-annotated.tumblr.com/post/21979689321/amon-is-the-answer-interesting-choice-of translated his name written in Chinese characters]]. 阿蒙. 'cover; ignorant; suffer.' |
| 178 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: |
| 179 | ** While he had his reasons, [[spoiler:debending Tarrlok gave his little brother the much-needed HeelRealization about what they have become. Tarrlok told Korra the truth about Amon and would later kill his brother and himself]]. |
| 180 | ** Debending [[spoiler:Korra]] ultimately only served to make her even stronger and upend his entire revolution. |
| 181 | * NoSell: When [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] uses bloodbending to incapacitate his mooks, Amon shrugs it off. Even when [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] redoubled his efforts, it just barely slowed Amon down. [[spoiler:Since Amon can bloodbend with his mind, he was able to counteract Tarrlok's powers without moving.]] |
| 182 | * NotMeThisTime: He is framed for abducting Korra in "Out of the Past". He does try to take advantage of her being locked in a metal cage to kidnap her anyway. |
| 183 | * NotSoStoic: |
| 184 | ** When he takes off his mask to "disprove" Korra's revelation of his backstory, Amon is suddenly much more enthusiastic and emotional in his speech. Considering that he was lying, it's most likely an act. |
| 185 | ** Amon loses his composure after he inadvertently reveals his backstory to his followers, and during his reunion with [[spoiler:Tarrlok]], is far more emotional than he had been up to that point, even shedding a tear just before dying. |
| 186 | * ObviouslyEvil: He looks pretty dang evil, but looking at him through the lens of Asian Culture (which Avatar takes heavy cues from), he looks a ''lot'' more evil. |
| 187 | * OutsideContextProblem: While previous villains in the franchise had established bending disciplines that could be matched or countered by other forms of bending, Amon has the power to negate the ability outright. |
| 188 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: Invoked in his early targets for de-bending, since he wanted to portray himself as targeting benders using their power to oppress non-benders (the Triple Threat Triad, an organized crime syndicate, and the Wolfbats, who cheated their way into winning the pro-bending tournament). This is also why he refuses to de-bend Korra at first. |
| 189 | * PoliticallyCorrectVillain: He wants to strip benders of their bending abilities to make the playing field more equal for nonbenders. In addition, his voice actor Creator/SteveBlum posted an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS-h4Fk2v4E in-character video]] after the show finished its run where Amon makes it clear that while he remains opposed to Korra and Asami, he is supportive of their relationship. |
| 190 | * PragmaticVillainy: When Korra challenges him to a duel, he has his mooks ambush her. Rather than remove her bending, however, he lets her go with a BreakingSpeech, reasoning that removing her bending now wold only serve to martyr her. |
| 191 | * PreAssKickingOneLiner: "It is time for you to be Equalized." |
| 192 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: He prefers not to fight, but when he does, he almost never loses. |
| 193 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: He never does this personally, but quite a few of the Equalist powers depict him this way, probably for RuleOfDrama. |
| 194 | * RebelLeader: He is the leader of the anti-bending movement. |
| 195 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Once the Equalists took over, it's subverted. |
| 196 | * TheRunaway: In his ''real'' backstory, he fled from his abusive father. |
| 197 | * SelfDisposingVillain: A case where the hero isn't even aware of it. Korra never has the chance to take care of him, since he escapes. [[spoiler:[[MurderSuicide Tarrlok takes care of that.]]]] |
| 198 | * ShadowArchetype: To Korra, as essentially the anti-Avatar. He's also one to Bolin and Mako, as they've all lost their parents to firebenders. However, Amon now wants to destroy all benders, while Bolin and Mako are making the best of their situation. |
| 199 | * SiblingYinYang: With [[spoiler:Tarrlok]]. Amon's more calm, collected and is on the side of non-benders. [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] is more prone to anger and is firmly on the side of benders. |
| 200 | * SingleTear: Sheds one right before his death. |
| 201 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: Amon may have been the BigBad of the first book, but compared to later foes like [[GreaterScopeVillain Vaatu]] or [[KillTheGod Zaheer]], he ends up almost paling compared to them since his goals are simply for equality as opposed to anarchy or the extinction of humanity. The detached nature of Book One also means he leaves much less of an impact on the remainder of the series than his successors[[note]]Bryke made the first book as a standalone miniseries before being picked up for more books[[/note]]. However, he's by no means forgotten (having the odd cameo here and there and still causing Korra trauma in the later books), and his first major appearance in "The Revelation" introduces one of the main themes of the series: [[ArmorPiercingQuestion is the Avatar obsolete in the rapidly changing world?]] |
| 202 | * TheSocialExpert: Amon can expertly predict what people will do and how best to exploit them. |
| 203 | * StarterVillain: As the primary villain of the first season, he would be the first of many Korra would contend with. |
| 204 | * StrangerBehindTheMask: His true identity turns out to be Noatak, a character who had never been mentioned or seen before. He wears the mask both for dramatic effect and because there happens to be ''one'' single person in the Republic City government who would recognise him and blow his story. Otherwise, he is a total stranger to both the audience and to every other character in-universe. If his brother was not a factor, he probably would not have needed the mask at all and could have just come up with a different fake-reason for hating Benders other than "I was scarred by a Firebender". |
| 205 | * StrawHypocrite: Was speculated to be such after the reveal, [[spoiler:being a secret waterbender who leads a crusade against bending while using bloodbending himself to both fight and remove other people's bending,]] but WordOfGod eventually stated that his anti-bending beliefs are sincere. |
| 206 | * TheStoic: Always calm and collected, even in the midst of battle. |
| 207 | * StrongerSibling: To [[spoiler:Tarrlok.]] |
| 208 | * SubtleSuperpowering: Amon subtly uses [[spoiler:[[PeoplePuppets bloodbending]]]] during his fights to maneuver his opponents to his advantage. [[spoiler:This allows him to [[CultOfPersonality maintain his image as a Non-Bender crusader]].]] |
| 209 | * SuperPowerLottery: [[spoiler:He's a master waterbender, can bloodbend without a full moon, and his control is such that ]]he can remove bending from his victims. |
| 210 | * TallDarkAndHandsome: All of which come standard for members of the Water Tribes. |
| 211 | * TeenGenius: By the age of 14, he was [[spoiler:at least as good at bloodbending as his father, Yakone.]] |
| 212 | * TellMeHowYouFight: [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] identifies Amon as his brother, despite Amon's appearance being concealed, by the distinctive feel of [[spoiler:his bloodbending.]] |
| 213 | * TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Amon, whose creepy mask, unexplained AntiMagic powers and mysterious backstory made for a truly terrifying villain. Under the mask [[spoiler:and scar makeup, he looks like a completely normal Water Tribe man in his thirties]]. |
| 214 | * ThisCannotBe: When he debends Korra only for her to use airbending against him. |
| 215 | * ThoughtControlledPower: [[spoiler:His psychic bloodbending technique lets him paralyze people at a glance or subtlety control their movements during combat.]] |
| 216 | * TooPowerfulToLive: You've got a [[spoiler:bloodbender who can manipulate his enemies' blood simply with but a thought, NoSell other people's bloodbending, ''and'' can remove the bending of others. Adding his increasingly myopic actions fueled by his self-hatred, it was necessary for him to be taken out from the story for good.]] |
| 217 | * TouchedByVorlons: Amon claims that the Spirits bestowed him with the power to take away people's bending so that he could succeed in his mission to bring a new balance to the world. [[spoiler: It's subverted when it turns out this a lie that Amon was using to conceal the ''true'' source of his DePower ability: bloodbending.]] |
| 218 | * TragicBigot: He claims that his parents were murdered and his face disfigured by a firebender when he was just a child, but that all turns out to be a lie. His real backstory however is ''even more'' sympathetic. [[spoiler:His father was an extremely [[AbusiveParents abusive parent]], and forced him and his brother to learn bloodbending so he could use them to exact revenge on Republic City and the Avatar. Ultimately, this mistreatment put Amon on the path to darkness. When his father made him and his brother use bloodbending on each other, Amon turned on his father, ran away from home, and grew to despise bending as a source of evil and oppression.]] |
| 219 | * TragicVillain: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Amon is actually Tarrlok's older brother, Noatak. He and Tarrlok were forced by their [[AbusiveParents father Yakone]] to learn bloodbending, so that he could use them to exact vengeance on Republic City and the Avatar. After being forced to use bloodbending on each other, Noatak turned on his father, incapacitated him with bloodbending, and ran away from home, taking up the identity of Amon years later. According to both Tarrlok and WordOfGod, Amon truly believed bending to be the root of all evil in the world, despite being a bender himself, though Tarrlok also implies Amon enjoyed the power bloodbending gave him. As children, he wanted Tarrlok to run away with him, but Tarrlok didn't want to leave their mother behind. After he's exposed as a fraud, Amon still cared for his younger brother and wanted to escape Republic City together. Tarrlok joined his brother this time, though as they fled from the city on a speedboat to start a new life together, Tarrlok used an electrified glove to ignite the fuel tank on the boat, causing it to explode, killing them both.]] |
| 220 | * {{Tykebomb}}: [[spoiler:His father Yakone tried to turn him and his brother, Tarrlok, into this in a plot for revenge on Republic City and the Avatar. While he ''did'' turn on his father, he ultimately ended up fulfilling what Yakone wanted him to do anyway.]] |
| 221 | * TheUnfettered: He will eradicate bending by any means necessary. |
| 222 | * UnflinchingWalk: |
| 223 | ** Pulls this off in the face of a fireball that blasts most of his {{Mooks}} away. |
| 224 | ** Also, when up against [[spoiler:Tarrlok]], he walks through [[spoiler:Tarrlok]]'s attempt to bloodbend with only minimal flinching. |
| 225 | * UnreliableExpositor: His given backstory is a lie in order to gain support and sympathy. |
| 226 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Tarrlok stated that he used to be a sweet kid in their youth...Until his father forced him and his brother to [[spoiler:learn bloodbending]]. |
| 227 | * VigilanteMan: Early in the story, he appears as a vigilante standing up for the masses of non-benders against the superpowered crime gangs of Republic City. This part of his campaign culminates in his public depowering of the crime lord Zolt. |
| 228 | * VillainExitStageLeft: After being defeated and uncovered by Korra, Amon asks his younger brother to escape together and rebuild their lives as brothers. [[spoiler:He agrees, but has [[MurderSuicide ulterior motives]] for doing so.]] |
| 229 | * VillainHasAPoint: He claims that benders dominate society through their powers and lord it over non-benders. He's right (to a point), especially once Tarrlok started implementing extreme measures, and is able to build a mass movement around himself until he's exposed. This was probably intentional on his part. |
| 230 | * VillainousBreakdown: After Korra manages to use airbending despite having been debended. He ''really'' gets this once he's unmasked, and his "scar" is washed, revealing him for who he really is. |
| 231 | * VillainousRescue: Rescues Korra from Tarrlok, though he didn't plan on letting her go free after taking down Tarrlok. |
| 232 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: Invoked. His EvilPlan requires popular support, so he avoids actions that could negatively impact his reputation. While officially considered a terrorist, he has amassed a modest army, enough to threaten all of Republic City. |
| 233 | * VisionaryVillain: Amon's goal truly was equality for all. He just got off message. Way way off message. |
| 234 | * WalkingSpoiler: Look at all the spoilers on this sheet! |
| 235 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: He wants to make the world more equal for non-benders, but to that end he'll go to some pretty extreme lengths. [[spoiler:Despite being a bender himself,]] WordOfGod says Amon was indeed sincere about his goals, which Tarrlok also points out. |
| 236 | * WhiteMaskOfDoom: The only known Equalist to have one. |
| 237 | * WhyDontYouJustShootHim: He makes it clear that he could have easily taken away Korra's bending when he ambushed her. He also makes it clear that doing so would have made her into a martyr, which is why he didn't take Korra's bending. |
| 238 | * WillfullyWeak: It is revealed that Amon is [[spoiler:a powerful bloodbender. However, he consciously refrains from using his powers and instead relies on martial arts and chi blocking to conceal that he is a bender, only using minor applications of bloodbending to alter his opponents’ moves.]] |
| 239 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The abuse Amon suffered at his father's hands led him to bitterly despise bending, eventually leading a revolution intended to purge all bending from the world. |
| 240 | * WorldsBestWarrior / WorldsStrongestMan: Described as [[spoiler:one of the most skilled and powerful benders ''ever'', and certainly the strongest waterbender shown so far. He's possibly the strongest non-Avatar bender to ever live. The only thing ever shown to be able to break his psychic bloodbending is the [[SuperMode Avatar State]].]] |
| 241 | * WorthyOpponent: As he prepared to take away Mako's bending, Mako was able to counter by electrocuting him having prepared to do so as he resisted Amon's bloodbending while Amon was distracted. Amon mused over the fact that no one else had been able to get the better of him, and that it was almost a shame to take bending away from one so talented. |
| 242 | * WouldHitAGirl: He knocks Korra unconscious when he ambushes her. |
| 243 | * WouldHurtAChild: In the finale, he has captured Tenzin and his family and plans on debending them. |
| 244 | * XanatosGambit: Pulls one off in "And the Winner Is...". He makes [[DoNotAdjustYourSet a public demand over the radio]] that the city government shut down the Pro-Bending arena and cancel the championship match. If the pro-bending championships are not stopped, then he and the Equalists have an audience for the demonstration of their power and he gets to begin his war. If the tournament is canceled the government has given into Amon's demand and showed that it will not challenge him. |
| 245 | * YoungestChildWins: [[spoiler:{{Inverted|Trope}}. He is ''far'' more superior in bloodbending talent than his younger brother.]] |
| 246 | * YouWillBeSpared: When he captures Lin, he makes the offer to let her keep her bending if she will tell him where the Avatar is hiding. [[spoiler:However, she rejects him, and so he de-bends her anyway.]] |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Hiroshi Sato]] |
| 250 | !!Hiroshi Sato |
| 251 | [[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13841d7c1d08084970c304180084048b.png]] |
| 252 | [[caption-width-right:333:"They took away your mother, the love of my life. They've ruined the world. But with Amon, we can fix it and build a perfect world, together. We can help people like us, everywhere!"]] |
| 253 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see Hiroshi after imprisonment]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8f3726b26cdb17618a12493d50980cf7.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 254 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DanielDaeKim |
| 255 | !!!'''Voiced by (German):''' Lutz Riedel |
| 256 | |
| 257 | Descended from the first Fire Nation colonists, Hiroshi came from a poor background but rocketed himself to riches through investment in and development of the consumer automobile (or the "satomobile"). His wife was murdered by a Firebender when Asami was young. Her murder prompted him to join the Equalists, as he believed they could make a better world for non-benders like himself and his daughter. He is responsible for their technological advantages, supplying them with taser gloves, weaponry, platinum MiniMecha tanks, and bipanes. |
| 258 | ---- |
| 259 | * AcePilot: He can pilot anything he makes, extremely well at that. |
| 260 | * ApologeticAttacker: He asks his daughter's forgiveness several times, to all seeming in earnest. Even after Asami has betrayed and stun-shocked him and helped Korra escape, thereby showing that she sides with the benders, he is reluctant to fight her, apologizing for having her incarcerated (so that she will not be able to sabotage his work) and expressing hope that she will change her mind when she sees the new future the Equalists are building. |
| 261 | -->"Asami, I know I have hurt you ... and I am sorry. But I believe that one day, you will come to your senses, and we can be a family again." |
| 262 | * ArchnemesisDad: To Asami. |
| 263 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler:It's revealed in Book 4 when Asami comes to visit him in prison that he's deeply ashamed of his past crimes and how he tore their family apart, and now he truly wants to make amends. Though at first Asami is determined to never see him again, she reconsiders and does visit him again in prison, admitting that, while she's not sure if she can forgive him, she'd like to try.]] |
| 264 | * AxCrazy: The death of his wife at the hands of a firebender drove Hiroshi so insane with hate that he would not only order the mass genocide and oppression of benders, but also tried to kill his own daughter for calling him out. |
| 265 | * BackForTheDead: After two books of only mentions, [[spoiler:Hiroshi gets a redemption arc in Book 4, admitting the shame and guilt that had tarnished his daughter's and company's name. And then, in the finale, he dies. However, because of the [[GodzillaThreshold circumstances]], he ''[[HeroicSacrifice chose]]'' to die]]. |
| 266 | * BeardOfSorrow: He's grown one in [[spoiler:Book 4 when Asami comes to visit him in prison, suggesting that he's deeply ashamed of his past crimes]]. |
| 267 | * BerserkButton: Do not say his actions would be condemned by his late wife. He ''will'' go off on you for that, even if you're his daughter. [[spoiler:Although, after his HeelRealization, he probably wouldn't argue about that]]. |
| 268 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: His true thoughts about Mako and Asami's relationship are downright hateful. |
| 269 | * BoomerangBigot: He is disgusted that Asami is dating a "firebending street rat" (Mako), despite himself having been as dirt poor at the same age, if not more so--though it would seem it's mostly the "firebending" part that he dislikes. It can also make sense from another point of view: While Sato was poor, he was by all accounts an honest citizen who supported himself through thrift and hard work, and proud of that. Whereas Mako and his brother, though never quite felons, drifted around in shady and half-criminal circles and had connections in the Triads. |
| 270 | * BreakTheBeliever: [[spoiler: In Season 4, his time in prison was presumably unpleasant enough to eliminate whatever prejudice and zealotry was stirring in him; and he reappears as a broken and miserable fellow]]. |
| 271 | * BrokenAce: Hiroshi managed to become a self-made millionaire due to his ingenuity, but his wife's death drove him insane. |
| 272 | * BrokenPedestal: Asami's idealized image of her father is shattered once she learns he's with the Equalists. |
| 273 | * BrutalHonesty: His second line in the series says it all, after asking Mako's opinion on the factory. |
| 274 | -->'''Hiroshi:''' ''(To Mako)'' "So, I understand you're dirt poor." |
| 275 | * TheBusCameBack: Hiroshi returns in Book 4, when Asami visits him in prison. The years have not been kind. |
| 276 | * CoDragons: With the Lieutenant, both are Amon's right-hand men. |
| 277 | * ComicBookFantasyCasting: In Book 4, his graying hair causes him to strongly resemble Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. |
| 278 | * ConspiracyTheorist: He believes an international conspiracy of benders rule the world, have "ruined" it through their misrule, and use their bending to oppress the ordinary people without powers. In reality, while all powerful states in the setting ''are'' ruled by benders, needless to say the rulers of the nations are ''not at all'' in agreement with each other most of the time, as the devastating world war still in living memory ought to prove. |
| 279 | * CoolOldGuy: As a front. [[spoiler:By Book 4, years of regret have turned him into one for real]]. |
| 280 | * CoolPlane: He designed one. |
| 281 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: He supplies the Equalists with weapons on the side, then framed Cabbage Corp for manufacturing them after the Equalists first revealed their electrical weapons. |
| 282 | * CycleOfRevenge: His thirst for revenge at the death of his wife utterly consumed him to the point he finally tries to kill his ''own daughter'' and can't see the monster he's become. |
| 283 | * TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: While his intentions are arguably pure to begin with, his bitterness over his wife's death and his long-term association with the Equalists have left him incapable of seeing that his wife would never approve of what he's done in her name. In the depths of his hatred, he attempts to kill his ''own daughter'' (who has a StrongFamilyResemblance to his wife) because she disapproves of his association with the Equalists and chose to act against him. Though granted, only after she attacked him first. |
| 284 | * DisproportionateRetribution: In response to the death of his wife in a home invasion by the Agni Kai [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] gone wrong, he intends to eradicate the world of all bending. |
| 285 | * DragonWithAnAgenda: His main concern while following Amon was to avenge the death of his wife, more than anything. |
| 286 | * DyingDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Gives a melancholy one to Asami before he pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save her]]. |
| 287 | * DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:He stays behind on the Colossus to finish cutting open a breach in its armor. Kuvira kills him for his efforts, but Hiroshi's sacrifice is what allows the heroes to take the tyrant down for good.]] |
| 288 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Lin Beifong temporarily released him so that he can help his former enemies against Kuvira. Unfortunately, he doesn't last]]. |
| 289 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all his faults, his love for Asami is genuine. At least until he gives up on her in the Season 1 finale. [[spoiler:In season 4 it's revealed he still loves her dearly and is completely ashamed of what he's done to her. After long consideration, Asami decides to try to give him a chance]]. |
| 290 | * EvilAllAlong: He sponsored the Fire Ferrets specifically with the intention of diverting suspicion away from him. |
| 291 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: A reason he was obsessed with eradicating benders as well as wanting to kill his own daughter was because he cannot comprehend the idea of someone not wanting revenge after what firebenders did to his wife, whom he insisted he still loved. [[spoiler:It took a few years for him to change his mind, after a stint in jail]]. |
| 292 | * EvilCounterpart: To Asami. Both are talented {{gadgeteer genius}} {{muggles}} who lost the same loved one to a firebender. While Asami managed to overcome her grief to not hate every bender, Hiroshi couldn't and became just as bad as the people who killed his wife. |
| 293 | * EvilGenius: He is responsible for the Equalists's technological advantage. |
| 294 | * EvilGloating: Does this to General Iroh when he imprisons him. |
| 295 | * EvilOldFolks: His choice in life led him here. |
| 296 | * EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Downplayed. He wanted to keep Asami out of his Equalist activities for as long as possible, so she could have the best childhood and youth he could give her without the weight of this burden, but still expects her to join him once the Equalists come into power. |
| 297 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: |
| 298 | ** He keeps up his appearance in public. After he's revealed as an Equalist supporter, he gets knocked around inside one of his MiniMecha, messing up his hair and knocking off his glasses. The result is far more fitting for his [[AxCrazy new demeanor]]. |
| 299 | ** [[spoiler:By the time he returns in season 4 his hair has gone completely gray, as fitting his thoroughly broken demeanor]]. |
| 300 | * FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:He's crushed to death by Kuvira just as he finishes cutting a hole in the Colossus's armor]]. |
| 301 | * FantasticRacism: He hates benders. A firebender took his wife, [[RunningGag and the loved ones of other characters]]. Too bad it never occurred to him that firebenders took the family of one of his enemies as well. In the fourth book, however, [[spoiler:he is nothing but civil to the benders of the main cast when he's called in to help fight Kuvira, though it's unclear if he's completely lost this trope]]. |
| 302 | * FatBastard: He's rather overweight in Season 1. By Season 4 he's lost his fat due to being in prison. |
| 303 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He is a kind, loving father with high standards for work but an empathy for the lower class. It is these characteristics which first hide his true side and then make him an excellent spokesman for the Equalists. |
| 304 | * FluffyTheTerrible: Sato is Japanese for sugar and it doesn't prevent him from trying to kill his own daughter. |
| 305 | * FourEyesZeroSoul: Wears glasses and is revealed to be a bigoted, EvilGenius. |
| 306 | * FreudianExcuse: His wife was murdered by a firebender. He truly believes that the world would be better off without benders and therefore follows Amon. |
| 307 | * FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Asami understands that his hatred for benders comes from her mother's death. However, she tells him that after everything he's done, she can't even considered themselves family and her mom would hate him for what he's become. He doesn't take that well. |
| 308 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: He used to be a dirt poor shoe shiner before someone gave him the funds necessary to build the first Satomobiles and found an immense industrial empire. Due to his wife's death, he went on to use his vast mechanical intelligence and newly acquired resources to build death machines for Amon and the Equalists, which probably killed dozens if not hundreds of innocent people as a result. |
| 309 | * GadgeteerGenius: Hiroshi is a brilliant man who was able to figure out how to mass produce automobiles to the point his name was in the idiom. He later designed the Equalist technology, from the small shock-gloves, to mecha-tanks made of a rare metal, and finally biplanes. |
| 310 | * HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Despite being willing to kill his only daughter, and unrepentant for his crimes, he later repents, and reconciles with Asami, then makes a HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 311 | * HeelRealization: [[spoiler:It seems being in prison for years has given Hiroshi time to reflect on his actions. When Asami visits him in prison in Book 4, he tells her that he deeply regrets his actions and understands that he will never be forgiven for them.]] |
| 312 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Upon realizing his and Asami's Hummingbird can only finish cutting open the breach into the Colossus if it stays in place long enough to be destroyed, he ejects Asami from it and stays himself.]] |
| 313 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: He cannot see he has become just as evil and dangerous as the firebending gang which took his wife. He is so far gone, he nearly [[OffingTheOffspring kills Asami]] in his rage; Asami herself tells him point-blank that her mother would ''hate'' him for what he's become. His time in prison manages to give him some perspective on that. |
| 314 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: |
| 315 | ** Was finally defeated and captured by his daughter using the anti-bending technology he designed and used to help the Equalists take over Republic City. |
| 316 | ** When he originally had the main characters pinned, and offered his daughter to join him, she shocked him with the gauntlet he gave her. |
| 317 | * HonestCorporateExecutive: Built his company up from a small loan. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Then it's revealed he's actually working for the Equalists]]. |
| 318 | * {{Hypocrite}}: His hatred of benders stemmed from a firebender killing his wife, yet he tries to kill his own daughter for siding with benders against him and calling him out on dishonoring his wife. |
| 319 | * IgnoredEpiphany: Sure, he realized that he hurt his daughter, but he ignored the bigger picture behind it--he refused to see that his actions against benders were wrong, and doesn't even show any regret for losing what he cared the most due to his actions: his own family. [[spoiler:However, while in jail he has time to reconsider his actions and is able to at least get Asami to speak with him]]. |
| 320 | * KnightOfCerebus: Especially when he reveals his true colors, and later when he wants to kill his own daughter, it is NOT played for laughs. When Asami thinks of him, she's more than ready to put him down once and for all. |
| 321 | * KnightTemplar: This is how he sees himself as he helps Amon bring in a new world order. The struggle for greater equality of opportunity in the Republic and against the oppressive bender crime gangs is something even the main characters generally agree is a good thing, but like the other organized Equalists, he goes much too far with his revolutionary methods.[[spoiler: By Season 4, his ordeal in prison has shattered this mentality from him]]. |
| 322 | * LateArrivalSpoiler: Both his role as an Equalist supporter and weapons manufacturer and his incarceration are off-handedly mentioned several times in the following season. |
| 323 | * LoveMakesYouEvil: Everything he did was for his daughter Asami and in the name of his wife, or rather, it started that way... |
| 324 | * MadScientist: When he wasn't an HonestCorporateExecutive. |
| 325 | * ManBehindTheMan: Not in the sense that he's the true mastermind behind the Equalists, but Hiroshi's financial and scientific support was key in turning the Equalists from a political movement with a charismatic leader into a regional military power capable of seizing Republic City and defeating the United Forces navy. Without him, the Equalists would be far less of a threat. |
| 326 | * MidSeasonTwist: When his Equalist associations come out into the open. |
| 327 | * MiniMecha: He designed them, and pilots one. |
| 328 | * MirrorCharacter: His background is very similar to Mako's, both being impoverished lower-class Republic citizens of Fire Nation origins who had loved ones murdered by firebender criminals. He invokes this himself when he sponsors the Fire Ferrets, comparing this to the modest loan that once got his own business started many years ago. The similarities go further, from their shared concern for justice and the good of the nation (though they interpret these causes quite differently) to (more sadly) hurting Asami despite caring greatly about her. |
| 329 | * {{Muggle}}: He is a non-bender but still politically and financially influential in Republic City, before he was outed as an Equalist. |
| 330 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When Asami says she never wants to see him again [[spoiler:in season 4, he is saddened and guilty. Hiroshi freely admits it was his own fault for putting her through hell for a senseless grudge]]. |
| 331 | * NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Averted in Book 4 as he says it's his fault for ruining his family and their business]]. |
| 332 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: |
| 333 | ** Sato is a fantasy equivalent to Henry Ford. Ford's production innovations and model T automobile brought cars to the masses and made him a millionaire, a legacy which he tainted by subsequently using his platform to espouse antisemitic propaganda and conspiracy theories such as the ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion''. Sato invents the Satomobile and becomes a powerful captain of industry, but believes that there's a global conspiracy of benders controlling all the world's governments and gives covert support to the Equalist revolution. |
| 334 | ** Sato also has parallels with Japanese shipping magnate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwasaki_Yataro Iwasaki Yataro]], who would later found Mitsubishi. Iwasaki was known as a lower-ranking samurai who eventually rose through the ranks of Japanese business and society[[note]]for civil administration during the backdrop of the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration--and he would later take the resources of his home domain to found Mitsubishi[[/note]]. Decades later Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was one of the largest suppliers of military vehicles to UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, including airplanes, which are another one of Sato's warlike inventions in ''Korra''. |
| 335 | * NotSoSimilar: |
| 336 | ** It turns out that he is also this to Mako, due to how they handle their personal tragedies. Both rebuild their lives, achieving success in their respective fields and devoting themselves to their surviving kin; but whereas Mako manages to rise above his resentments, Sato allows his bitterness to warp his aims and pull him into violent revolutionary politics. |
| 337 | ** In another way, to Amon. They share the same background as nonbenders from simple origins whose loved ones were murdered by firebenders, who now fight for social justice ([[MotiveDecay and/or mere revenge]], depending on who tells the story)--except Amon's backstory turned out to be thoroughly fraudulent. |
| 338 | * NumberTwo: In contrast to the [[MookLieutenant Lieutenant]], who is more of a mere enforcer, Sato is a more obvious leader figure among the Equalists who shares Amon's place as the public face of the revolution once he reveals his true colors, even holding a major NewEraSpeech to the masses. |
| 339 | * OffingTheOffspring: Was quite willing to go through with this in the depths of his hateful mania. Thankfully, a volley of boulders thwarted him. |
| 340 | * OpenMindedParent: Zig-zagged. He is clearly tolerant of Asami's unusual, "masculine" interests like auto racing, and also doesn't seem to mind her seeing a poor and uneducated young man. However, he later makes clear that he really ''doesn't'' approve of her dating a ''bender'' like Mako. Then, in his final appearances (some years of in-story time later), he appears to have forgiven her, and does not offer any further comments on her relationships. |
| 341 | * ParentalBetrayal: Asami finds out Hiroshi has been supplying the Equalists with weapons and technology. Her response? Willingly accepts the electrical glove that Hiroshi offers... and then promptly shocks him. |
| 342 | * ParentheticalSwearing: The way he stresses ''benders'' in his MotiveRant makes it sound like almost a slur, though the word as such is not usually pejorative in the setting. |
| 343 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: His bigotry against the benders serves to make him this in-universe, and [[FantasticRacism by way of analogy]] to the audience. It comes across most clearly when he is [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything disgusted with Asami seeing a firebender]]. |
| 344 | * RagsToRiches: His back-story. |
| 345 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Double Subverted. He wears black and red colors on his suit and comes off as an affable guy. Then, it's revealed he's an anti-bender and is all for Amon's plans. |
| 346 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:He forces Asami to eject from their hummingbird mecha so he can finish piercing a hole in the Colossus, despite being crushed in the process.]] |
| 347 | * {{Revenge}}: His main reason for joining the Equalists, since a Firebender killed his wife. |
| 348 | * RevengeBeforeReason: He hates benders enough to actually try to kill his own daughter for siding with them. |
| 349 | * RousingSpeech: His public address on the eve of General Iroh's invasion, as the First Division is sent in to suppress the Equalist revolution in Republic City. |
| 350 | -->'''Hiroshi Sato:''' "One day soon, bending will no longer exist, and we will live in a world where everyone is finally equal. The United Forces are on their way right now to try and stop that dream. [[RightMakesMight But we will prevail!]]" |
| 351 | * SelfMadeMan: Born to a poor family from the city's Dragon Flats district, he worked hard to make ends meet. His company, Future Industries, started out selling Satomobiles, the first cars marketed to the common man. By twenty-five, he'd made his first million yuans. |
| 352 | * SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Hiroshi wears glasses and is a GadgeteerGenius. |
| 353 | * StaticStunGun: Designed and uses the Equalist chi-blocking lightning gloves. |
| 354 | * StartOfDarkness: His wife's murder. |
| 355 | * ThisIsUnforgivable: |
| 356 | ** Between Sato and his daughter Asami, when they choose different sides in the Equalist revolution. [[spoiler:Subverted, in that they do reconcile eventually, but it takes years of in-universe time, and in the heat of the moment they very much appear to mean the words as they speak them]]. |
| 357 | ** At first, Sato is reconciliatory, hoping that she will return to him when she sees the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans new, more just world]] the Equalists are building. However, Asami rejects him completely for siding with someone like Amon and trying to destroy her friends' bending. |
| 358 | --->"How can we be a family after everything you've done? Mom would hate you for what you've become!" |
| 359 | ** Later, when Asami is destroying their airplanes while the Equalists are fighting for their lives against the United Forces, he, too, finally accepts that she isn't coming back. |
| 360 | --->"I now see there is no chance to save you!" |
| 361 | * TragicBigot: An Agni Kai Gang firebender killed his wife 12 years ago, and this more than anything seems to have propelled him into the Equalist movement. |
| 362 | * TroubledSympatheticBigot: Apart from his extremistic Equalist ideology, Hiroshi Sato is by all accounts a sympathetic, hard-working, caring, generous, brave and even unselfish man, as shown not least by [[spoiler:his HeroicSacrifice to save the Republic, benders included, from the tyranny of Kuvira in Book 4]]. Also, he claims to be fighting strictly for the betterment of the common man and against an oppressive elite, and seems to believe this himself--though Asami [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech ridicules]] his beliefs; in her view, he is simply being blindly hateful. |
| 363 | * UglyGuyHotWife: Downplayed with Yasuko. Hiroshi isn't an ugly man but is less conventionally attractive than his wife. |
| 364 | * UnclePennybags: Agrees to sponsor the Fire Ferrets on the spot when told that they need the financial aid, the only condition being that they wear his logo. While it is arguably good press, especially if they win, he does it because he got his big start in the same way. It later turns out that he did so merely to deflect suspicion of any Equalist ties. |
| 365 | * UniversalDriversLicense: Justified since he designed and likely field tested the Equalist vehicles. |
| 366 | * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Like Amon, he believes that bending is the root of most of the social evils in the Republic, and that removing the benders' supernatural abilities will bring about a better world. As he tells Asami, his great ambition is to help the common people everywhere, and he is prepared to sanction Amon's methods if that is what it takes to bring down the bender oligarchy. [[spoiler: Season 4 reveals that his prison sentence has drained this mindset from him]]. |
| 367 | * VillainExitStageLeft: Defied by Asami. When all his plans have failed, and he's been beaten in a Mecha-Tank battle, he fires off his last grappling hook to distract her, and then he physically runs away. Asami hits him with a bolo. |
| 368 | * VillainHasAPoint: When Korra calls him a coward for not fighting her face to face without weapons, he calmly points out that since she has superpowers and he doesn't, it will in fact be more of a fair fight if he ''does'' use his mecha to even the odds. Korra does not dispute this. |
| 369 | * VillainousBreakdown: He completely ''loses it'' when Asami tells him his wife would have hated him for what he has become. |
| 370 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: At first, though he's since been exposed. |
| 371 | * VisionaryVillain: Like Amon, he honestly believes in the Equalist dream (his word) of the advancement of the common man through technology and a better, bending-free tomorrow without tyranny, wars and oppression. As he sees it, the benders may have ruined the world, but ordinary men working together can mend it and create a more just social order. |
| 372 | * WalkingSpoiler: Initially, due to how big of a twist his villain status was when Book 1 was still fresh. |
| 373 | * WeCanRuleTogether: To Asami, when he finally reveals his Equalism to her. It goes badly for him. |
| 374 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Perhaps moreso than Amon, he believes that the world would be a better place without benders. However, he has been slipping into selfishness as time went on. [[spoiler: In Season 4, his ordeal in prison has vanquished whatever extremism he had left]]. |
| 375 | * WithUsOrAgainstUs: When the revolution is underway and it really is a fight to the death between the Equalist militia and the Republic's armed forces in the last episodes. As Asami sides with the latter, he is shattered that she would join with "the very people who took [her] mother away" against him and the downtrodden masses of ordinary men he claims to champion--forgetting that it was criminals who did this, not the United Republic government that he is trying to bring down, even if both were benders. |
| 376 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Well, considering the loss of his beloved wife was the main reason why he's a hate-filled wreck right now, he applies. However, given his attitude and downright spiteful actions towards people who did nothing to him, this can fall flat. |
| 377 | * WoundedGazelleGambit: He tries pulling this in the Season 1 finale, on Asami. |
| 378 | * YouKilledMyFather: A Triple Threat Triad firebender murdered his wife. This was his original motive for joining the Equalists and overthrowing the government before his hatred for benders consumed him. |
| 379 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Life in prison was not kind to his physical health. He's only 54 years old in Book 4 but looks like he's in his seventies. |
| 380 | [[/folder]] |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[folder:The Lieutenant]] |
| 383 | !!The Lieutenant |
| 384 | [[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2d9ca66d72bdd5a9246eac459095a186.png]] |
| 385 | [[caption-width-right:336:"You benders need to understand... there's no place in this world for you anymore."]] |
| 386 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see the lieutenant unmasked]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f3aa021cb777d2e5473773e6de69805e.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 387 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/LanceHenriksen |
| 388 | |
| 389 | Amon's second-in-command. Little is known about him, except that he believes quite strongly in the Equalist cause. |
| 390 | ---- |
| 391 | * AlasPoorVillain: The way he was quite literally [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness thrown aside]] by Amon generated a lot of fan sympathy for him. Coupled with the fact that he was actually ''[[http://armstrong-family-sparkles-blog.tumblr.com/post/25759337769/connor-kenways-hot-ass-acidicfacepaint crying]]''. |
| 392 | * AmbiguouslyEvil: While there's no doubt he's one of the bad guys, his reasons for doing the things he does remain unknown, as is whether he would qualify as a straight up villain or an AntiVillain. |
| 393 | * AmmunitionBackpack: Since it's a generator and he wields electrified weapons. |
| 394 | * AwesomeBackpack: He carries a power generator on his back to supply power for his weapons. |
| 395 | * BadassNormal: No bending abilities but has the martial arts abilities and modernized weapons to fight and defeat professional benders like Mako and Bolin in battle. And he remains, to date, the only non-bender who's actually [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu taken down a Beifong (Lin) in battle]]. |
| 396 | * BrokenPedestal: Let's just say that he didn't take learning the truth about Amon well. |
| 397 | -->'''Lieutenant:''' You traitor! I dedicated my life to you! |
| 398 | * CoDragons: With Hiroshi Sato, both are Amon's right-hand men. |
| 399 | * {{Determinator}}: Always back up and ready for another fight, no matter how much of a beating he takes. |
| 400 | * DiminishingVillainThreat: He appears very threatening early on, soundly defeating Bolin and Mako in "The Revelation," but every time he is encountered thereafter, he is usually either attacking a helpless or outmatched opponent or he loses. |
| 401 | * TheDragon: Amon's primary right hand man, almost always at Amon's side, ready to dispatch or fight any benders that come their way. |
| 402 | * DualWielding: Electricfied kali sticks in both hands. |
| 403 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He is just called the Lieutenant, by everyone up to and including Amon. Bolin, however, nicknames him Mustache Guy. |
| 404 | * EvilSoundsDeep: His voice actor, Lance Henriksen, has a very deep voice. |
| 405 | * GlassCannon: Very agile and deadly in combat. He hits as fast as lightning, and he's very powerful. However, he goes down after one hit. |
| 406 | * GogglesDoNothing: They don't seem to do very much. |
| 407 | * GoodHairEvilHair: He has a Fu Manchu mustache. |
| 408 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Asami once beat him by electrocuting him with his own weapon. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the point where he stopped being a serious threat. |
| 409 | * ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: He wields a pair of electrified kali sticks, because his opponents are metalbending cops, and electricity works pretty well on all benders. The fact that an industrialized city like Republic City has conductive metal ''everywhere'' doesn't hurt, either. |
| 410 | * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Starts to shade into this as the DiminishingVillainThreat kicks in. Poor guy can't do ''anything'' right. |
| 411 | * IronButtmonkey: No beating really seems to stop him. |
| 412 | * ItsPersonal: |
| 413 | ** When Korra's trapped in a metal cage, he shows a certain satisfaction in getting to shock her unconscious as payback. Unfortunately for him, she was one step ahead. |
| 414 | ** He also takes realizing that he'd been played by Amon pretty badly. |
| 415 | ** Otherwise averted. It's suggested that he feels eradicating bending is a ''logical conclusion''. |
| 416 | * MadeOfIron: Has been sucker punched with a boulder, knocked off a building, blasted over a roof, and smashed into the ground from midair by a polar bear dog. And each time, he has dusted himself off and returned ready to fight again. |
| 417 | * MookFaceTurn: He turns on Amon when he finds out about his bending, though as usual he didn't do that well in the ensuing "fight". |
| 418 | * NightmareFace: While he doesn't actually look that bad with his mask off--he still gives off a quick wince of fear in his appearance when he was disguised as the exterminator. |
| 419 | * NobleTopEnforcer: While the Lieutenant comes off as sadistic and cruel, he truly believes in the Equalists' agenda and dedicated his life to it. |
| 420 | * NoNameGiven: He's just "the Lieutenant". |
| 421 | * NoPeripheralVision: Maybe it's the goggles, but the Lieutenant has had an unfortunate tendency to be taken out by surprise, typically by someone new showing up from behind or the side while he's fighting another opponent. |
| 422 | * PsychoElectro: While he is serious in wanting to end bending like all other Equalists, he seems to actually enjoy inflicting pain on benders with his electric arsenal a bit ''too much''. |
| 423 | * RagsToRiches: He isn't exactly rich but he definitely comes from some poor background. He is seemingly doing much better than before and has something to live for ever since then. He even says ,"You Traitor! I dedicated my whole life to you!" when confronting Amon that gives off that hint. |
| 424 | * ShockStick: The Lieutenant fights with [[StaticStunGun electrified kali sticks]]. |
| 425 | * SpannerInTheWorks: His [[CurbStompBattle "battle"]] with Amon gave Mako the time to muster up the energy to fire off his lightning. |
| 426 | * StaticStunGun: How his electrified kali sticks are used. |
| 427 | * TallDarkAndHandsome: He actually doesn't look that bad unmasked. Seen [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5q76pCfDJ1qa7n5e.gif here]]. |
| 428 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Amon. That is, until he discovers that Amon was a bender too, and was only using the Equalists for his own goals. The Lieutenant was noticeably heartbroken about this revelation. |
| 429 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: He really did believe in Amon's message and felt that the world would be better off without bending. He was enraged when he saw that Amon was a liar and a fraud. |
| 430 | * TheWorfEffect: His role in a lot of episodes is essentially "Equalist more dangerous than a mook but less than Amon." Him being the only person in that niche means he shows up a lot to show things are serious, but the heroes can beat him without Amon suffering a loss. |
| 431 | ** The first and still most notable of these is the when Asami easily takes him out when she turns on her father and saves Team Avatar. Prior to this, every encounter with him had him taking the upper hand. This arguably ended him as genuine threat to Team Avatar. |
| 432 | * WouldHitAGirl: He disguised himself as an exterminator and showed up at the councilwoman's house to electrocute her. He fought the police cheif, Lin Beifong and has no problem fighting the Avatar while the fact that she is a teenage girl. |
| 433 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Amon tries this after he walks in at a ''very'' inconvenient time. WordOfGod is that he survived, however. |
| 434 | [[/folder]] |
| 435 | |
| 436 | [[folder:The Chi-blockers]] |
| 437 | !!Chi-blockers |
| 438 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chi_blockers_6466.jpg]] |
| 439 | [[caption-width-right:350:"Officers down, electrocuted! Chi-blockers and Equalist convicts are still at large, armed and dangerous!"]] |
| 440 | |
| 441 | The foot-soldiers of the Equalist cause, trained in chi-blocking to nullify the powers of benders. |
| 442 | ---- |
| 443 | * AirplaneArms: They use the further back, ninja-like variation. |
| 444 | * BadassArmy: BadassNormal GasMaskMooks trained specifically in a PressurePoint-striking fighting method designed to temporarily [[PowerNullifier disarm]] and [[TheParalyzer disable]] the wielders of ElementalPowers. Later armed with electric weapons that achieve similar effects to chi blocking without needing special training, and eventually equipped with heavy firepower in the form of mecha tanks, airships and bomber airplanes. |
| 445 | * BadassBiker: The chi blockers are excellent motorcyclists. |
| 446 | * BadassNormal: They completely dominate Korra and Mako in their first fight, due to clever use of their gadgets and their martial arts. |
| 447 | * CombatPragmatist: They take any advantage they can get. Aside from their grenades, they use bolas, tripwires, whips, and do not obey MookChivalry, for the most part. |
| 448 | * CripplingOverspecialization: They've been trained to fight against fire, water and earthbenders in a city with a healthy amount of them, but are unprepared for battles against airbenders, of which there are precisely four, not including the Avatar. Tenzin's children easily overpower them in their first encounter. Additionally, they're so used to fighting ''benders'' that they're just as unprepared against a fellow [[BadassNormal non-bender]] and close-range fighter in [[LadyOfWar Asami]], who has a ''perfect'' record in combat against them that none of her allies could boast. |
| 449 | * ElectiveMute: They apparently use verbal silence as a psychological tactic, as their near-absolute silence in battle, communicating and coordinating only through gestures and reading each other's body motions, accentuate the inhumanity their faceless masks lend them. It's almost jarring when we hear them speak in episode 9 during unguarded moments. |
| 450 | * EliteMooks: They're an army of them. Even just a few of them can put up a hell of a fight against very powerful benders. |
| 451 | * EnemyMine: In the game, they fight alongside the Triple Triads under Hundun, partly because they were hired as mercenaries and partly because they were swayed by promises of equality. |
| 452 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: Their figures show that more than a few are [[DarkActionGirl women]]. The ladies fight alongside the men. Also we can't be sure with their masks, but they seem to be non-benders from any of the three nations. |
| 453 | * GasMaskMooks: Since they use gas grenades, this is a necessary aspect of their outfit. Also helps when being knocked down by airbending. |
| 454 | * KickTheDog: |
| 455 | ** Electrocuting Shiro Shinobi, the announcer, who is a non-bender and wasn't fighting back. |
| 456 | ** Using bolas and attacking the non-bender communication-staff at the police station. |
| 457 | * KungFuProofMook: The Equalists' MiniMecha are made from platinum, metal so pure metalbenders are incapable of manipulating it. |
| 458 | * MageKiller: Their combat training specifically targets benders. |
| 459 | * MiniMecha: Their platinum mech-tanks. |
| 460 | * MookChivalry: Averted for most of the first book, but played straight in "Turning the Tides" when half a dozen stand still and let themselves be knocked over by a slow attack, and they back away when the Lieutenant fights Lin. |
| 461 | * {{Ninja}}: They seem to take loose inspiration, focusing on pragmatic fighting and using chi-blocking. |
| 462 | * TheParalyzer: Their blows cause temporary (and apparently painful) paralysis in addition to serving as a... |
| 463 | * PowerNullifier: Even after the paralysis wears off, a chi-blocker's strike will render their target temporarily unable to bend. |
| 464 | * PressurePoint: The centerpiece of their fighting style, featuring extremely rapid strikes. |
| 465 | * SamusIsAGirl: A minor variation; some of the chi-blockers are clearly women, but you [[FreezeFrameBonus have to be paying attention]]. |
| 466 | * ShockAndAwe: A favored tactic of theirs, in various flavors: |
| 467 | ** The less skilled among them use electricity-generating gloves. The ones in full attire never do. |
| 468 | ** The MiniMecha have built in tasers and can fire bola disks which shock the recipient unconscious. This same weapon is used by hand occasionally. |
| 469 | * SmokeOut: They use grenades that release a greenish, slightly unpleasant gas to dissuade pursuers. |
| 470 | * TheWorfEffect: Though initially appearing very formidable, they become less so as the series progresses. In episode 10, several of them were quickly defeated by Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. (Granted, most of them had probably never fought an airbender before.) |
| 471 | * ZergRush: They performed this quite often, though also mixed smart tactics and gadgets with it, making them very dangerous. Probably the best example would be when they ambushed Korra with about two dozen attacking her at once. |
| 472 | [[/folder]] |
| 473 | |
| 474 | [[folder:The Protester]] |
| 475 | !!The Protester |
| 476 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Screen_Shot_2012-04-29_at_11_27_37_AM_9261.png]] |
| 477 | [[caption-width-right:350:"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists!"]] |
| 478 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/CarlosAlazraqui |
| 479 | |
| 480 | He's a protester who comes into the Republic City park to preach about Amon's ideals. |
| 481 | ---- |
| 482 | * AttentionWhore: He promotes the Equalists for this reason, according to the official website. He attempts to get said attention by taking the unpopular position on any given issue (in this case, bending rights). His parents were evidently supportive of benders. |
| 483 | * BackForTheFinale: He appears in the first episode or two, then disappears. He comes back in a brief scene later. |
| 484 | * BigWhat: He lets one out in the finale when Amon outs himself as being a waterbender. |
| 485 | * BrainsEvilBrawnGood: The protester is just a little old man that Korra could probably beat up easily ''without'' bending, but he is also wily, and manages to win their little debate rather solidly, turning the crowd against her. |
| 486 | * BullyingADragon: Invoked. He deliberately insults any benders that come by, because goading them into attacking him would prove his point. |
| 487 | * HotBloodedSideburns: Which also point to Fire Nation parentage. |
| 488 | * JerkassHasAPoint: While his sentiments may be offensive to her, Korra's first instinct (to shut him up by physically kicking him off his soapbox) isn't really the right way to deal with him. Nor is threatening him, as she actually proceeds to do after fighting down that urge. As a free citizen, he ''is'' entitled to air his views, however bigoted, in public, as long as he does not advocate violence, and her trying to bully him into silence ''is'' a sort of oppression. |
| 489 | * NoNameGiven: He's just "the protester". |
| 490 | * PlayingTheVictimCard: Enjoys goading benders, and when they are about to beat him up always shouts about how the benders are oppressing him and other non-benders. He does this at least once when Korra was about to beat him up so he'd tell her and Mako where Bolin might be after he was kidnapped by Chi-Blockers; but he's probably done it more than once. |
| 491 | * SoapboxSadie: Played with. He is a political activist and rabble-rouser who demands equality and justice for the [[{{muggles}} non-powered ordinary citizens]] in the setting, and can come across as annoying in this way (which is certainly how Korra perceives him). However, the Equalist movement he supports also has more than a touch of PuttingOnTheReich, subverting the stereotype. |
| 492 | [[/folder]] |
| 493 | |
| 494 | !!Politicians |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[folder:Tarrlok]] |
| 497 | !!Tarrlok |
| 498 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Screen_Shot_2012-04-28_at_3_33_24_PM_2946.png]] |
| 499 | [[caption-width-right:350:"Avatar Korra has bravely answered the call to action. With the two of us leading the charge, Republic City has nothing to fear from Amon and the Equalists."]] |
| 500 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DeeBradleyBaker, Nicholas Braico (3, 5, and 7 years old), Creator/ZachCallison (11 years old) |
| 501 | |
| 502 | The representative of the Northern Water Tribe on the United Republic Council, and chairman of that same body. Ambitious and manipulative, Tarrlok seeks to exploit the crisis Amon is fomenting for his own ends. He is Tenzin's primary political rival. |
| 503 | ---- |
| 504 | * AgentPeacock: He wears fancy clothing, has long, elaborately beaded hair, and is stated by Ikki as "smelling like a lady". He's also a ruthless and manipulative SleazyPolitician as well as a master waterbender who can bloodbend without a full moon. |
| 505 | * {{Ambadassador}}: For the Northern Water Tribe, and can fight Korra on equal terms. |
| 506 | * AntiVillain: Initially, once he's revealed as a BitchInSheepsClothing, he appears to be a straight up villain. However, in the first half of the finale, when Korra and Mako find him locked up on Air Temple Island, he reveals his backstory, which is exceedingly tragic. It was established in episode 8 that he was Yakone's son, and, it turned out that Yakone was an [[AbusiveParents absolutely terrible father]], and after his fate at Amon's hands, he becomes TheAtoner. |
| 507 | * AssInAmbassador: He has his own agenda and will be a pain to everyone, use every fault or failure he can find to make them bend to his will. And if they do not bend, he will break them. |
| 508 | * TheAtoner: He realises that what he was doing was wrong, and he became the very weapon against the Avatar his father wanted him to be. In repentance, he tells Korra the truth about Amon, tells her not to release him (as that'll risk Korra's newfound advantage), and later kills both himself and his brother as his brother tries to escape the city with him. |
| 509 | * BadassBureaucrat: His manners at the council suggest a DeskJockey, but he quickly proves to be a competent martial organizer. |
| 510 | * BadPowersBadPeople: He's a bloodbender, just like his father, though not quite as bad (he wanted power and was prepared to do anything to get it, but it's indicated that he genuinely felt he would be a good leader). However, subverted in his backstory. He was a kind-hearted kid who ''hated'' blood-bending, and tried his best not to use it. However, his father's manipulations and his own desperation made him the very thing he hated, as he comes to realise. |
| 511 | * BigBadWannabe: He stands out as a major secondary threat to Amon's Equalists in the first season, but his constant antagonization of Korra sets off a chain of events that leads to him being exposed as a bloodbender, and when he's finally confronted by Amon when he subsequently tries to go on the run his bloodbending proves to be [[spoiler:vastly inferior]]. |
| 512 | * BigGood: Subverted. He at first appears to be the leader of all the good guys in opposing Amon, but it's a stretch to call him a good person. It soon becomes clear that he has his own agenda, which involves taking over Republic City and turn it into a dictatorship. |
| 513 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: To the public, he's considered a fair-minded and likable guy. Behind closed doors, well... |
| 514 | * BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Reveals this side to himself after Hiroshi Sato's affiliation with the Equalists is known. You are either with the Terrorists or against them. You even slightly sympathize with them and he will not hesitate to detain you without trial. Plus, he's quick enough to arrest Mako and Bolin just for defending Asami, whose relationship with her father Hiroshi is nothing ''but'' hostile. |
| 515 | * BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Heavily {{Downplayed|Trope}}; the most prominent signifier of his roots is his elaborately triple tailed, beaded hair. |
| 516 | * BreakTheCutie: He used to be a sweet child, but was put through hell when Yakone made him learn bloodbending. He felt the pain of the animals he was forced into practicing on, saw his brother's StartOfDarkness, and was a wreck by the time Yakone passed away. |
| 517 | * BrokenAce: He's a smooth and charismatic politician (if not a particularly likeable one once you get to know him), an extremely powerful waterbender (and bloodbender), and he can deliver a decent HannibalLecture too. He's also a psychological wreck, shaped to be a LaserGuidedTykeBomb from early childhood by his abusive father, and as he later realised, he became exactly what his father wanted despite trying to avoid it. In the end, he's resigned to his de-bended fate, and kills himself and Noatak to end the legacy of Yakone. |
| 518 | * BullyingADragon: He increasingly antagonizes [[PhysicalGod Korra]] from mockery to manipulation until she finally presses ''his'' BerserkButton, gets into a physical fight with her and almost ''dies'' because of it. |
| 519 | * CainAndAbel: Zig-zagged. His brother takes away his bending, but he ultimately ends up killing both himself and his brother. |
| 520 | * CharacterDevelopment: It comes late, but it's potent. After being forced to use bloodbending, having his bending taken by Amon, then learning that Amon is actually his brother, Tarrlok becomes a lot less self-serving, having gotten some perspective on his and Amon's actions - and realised that for all both of them tried to break free of their father's conditioning, they both became exactly what he wanted anyway. While Amon decides to run away with Tarrlok, believing they could turn over a new leaf and live as a family, Tarrlok is much more realistic and skeptical. Instead, he decides to repent for his and Amon's actions and prevent further damage. Tarrlok blows their boat up and ends both their lives and legacies, even as his brother smiles over thoughts of their new life. |
| 521 | * ChekhovsGunman: Makes a brief appearance in a newspaper photo in episode 2. |
| 522 | * TheChessmaster: He frames the Equalists for kidnapping Korra, planting appropriate evidence and ''electrocuting himself'' to make it stick. He also sends Tenzin and Lin on a SnipeHunt for Korra while he's at it. |
| 523 | * ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: Steeples his fingers over his desk when Korra confronts him in his office. |
| 524 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: His clothes are the [[BrightIsNotGood palest]] shade of blue among waterbenders seen in the Avatarverse, almost silver in tone, [[LightIsNotGood which fits well]] with his BitchInSheepsClothing personality. |
| 525 | * CompositeCharacter: WordOfGod is that Tarrlok was intended as a cross between Azula and Long Feng from the previous series. |
| 526 | * ControlFreak: Especially evident in how frustrated he gets at Korra when she leaves his task force. |
| 527 | * CorruptPolitician: He browbeats the Council into going along with his plans, all of which only serve to make him more powerful. |
| 528 | * CoverBlowingSuperpower: [[spoiler:His bloodbending is what leads Korra to discover he's secretly the son of one of the worst crime lords the city has ever known]]. |
| 529 | * TheDandy: He is mocked by Ikki for "smelling like a lady" when he joins Tenzin's family for dinner. |
| 530 | * DeathByFlashback: Before his MurderSuicide, the audience gets to learn about his past. |
| 531 | * DePower: And richly deservedat the time. |
| 532 | * DevilInPlainSight: As everyone panics over Amon, they ignore the ambitious, amoral politician who's been using that threat to further his own agenda. |
| 533 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 534 | ** His actions of arresting non-benders under the pretense of them being Equalists, simply because they were protesting having their power cut off, are highly reminiscent of Joseph [=McCarthy=] and the Communist phobia (or Red Scare) that infected North America during the 1950's. |
| 535 | ** His rise to power mirrors that of Mussolini and to a lesser extent [[GodwinsLaw Hitler]], persuading the democratic and monarchic power structures to give him more and more power, supposedly in order to counter the threat of the Equalists/Communists. |
| 536 | * DramaticIrony: He's all too aware that he and his brother's striving to not follow in their father's footsteps with Tarrlok in particular choosing to rule Republic City "from the top-down instead of from its rotten underbelly" yet both brothers ended up on the exact same path [[YouCantFightFate anyway]] right down to fighting The Avatar. |
| 537 | * DrivenToSuicide: He kills both himself [[MurderSuicide and his brother]] by blowing up the boat they're in. |
| 538 | * EmergencyAuthority: Tarrlok's whole plan involved using the Equalist uprising as a justification for the Council to give him broader executive authority, which he uses to have control over the power grid, arbitrarily declare curfews and order arrests without due process. From there, he continues to degrade the rule of law and the ideals of freedom that the United Republic was built on, hoping that the Council would eventually vote him into absolute power. |
| 539 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: He's genuinely fond of his mother. His concern for her is the reason he didn't run away with his brother. |
| 540 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He may be using the Equalist threat to advance his goals, but he's genuinely disgusted by Amon. He also considers Yakone's methods to be beneath him, and only uses bloodbending as a very last resort (though [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide he has fewer qualms the more he uses it]]). Of course, he will cross these lines if his patience is tested. |
| 541 | * EvilAllAlong: His goal was to use the Equalist threat to become a legitimate sole ruler over Republic City. |
| 542 | * EvilOverlord: By all accounts, Tarrlok's in charge of Republic City, with the police in his pocket and the rest of the Council (sans Tenzin) being his [[YesMan Yes Men and Woman]], which was his goal all along. Then the Council learns he's a bloodbender. Then Amon debends him. |
| 543 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Much like Hiroshi, his meticulously coiffed hairdo is dishevelled after his revelation as a bona fide villain and a tangle with Korra, which he won only because of [[PeoplePuppets bloodbending]]. He is far less unkempt when speaking to the police, even though he's pretending to have been attacked by the Equalists, only further emphasizing this trope. |
| 544 | * FallenHero: He could have been a good man, a great one even. However, his pride blinded him to the fact he had become just like his father and a scourge to Republic City. Post his BreakTheHaughty experience at Amon's hands, he recognises this and ultimately commits suicide, taking his brother with him, to end Yakone's toxic legacy. |
| 545 | * FauxAffablyEvil: |
| 546 | ** Whenever he seems to act polite, it's usually accompanied with a smug voice tone, so take his "friendliness" with a grain of salt. |
| 547 | ** From the DeathGlare Tenzin got from Pema when Tarrlok invites himself to their home for dinner (due to [[SacredHospitality airbenders never turning away a hungry guest]]) in "The Voice in the Night", it appears that not even ''Pema'' likes him. |
| 548 | * FreudianExcuse: He was trained by Yakone to take over Republic City. |
| 549 | * FriendlyEnemy: While he and and Korra are nominally on the same side, he has an almost inhuman patience for her flouting the law and undermining his efforts. He also has an open offer of re-employment for Korra in his task force after the arena was closed. All this despite having pressured Korra into joining him for his own efforts near their first meeting. He's later shown to be more "enemy" and less "friendly" in episode 8. |
| 550 | * FrontlineGeneral: Tarrlok did personally lead one of the raids against an Equalist hideout. |
| 551 | * GeneralRipper: Evident when he shuts off the power in the Dragon Flats District, drawing many innocent non-benders out of their homes, only to brand them as an Equalist rally and arrest them all. The causes and reasons for his treacherous actions are magnified after we learn his past of being subjected to his own father's treachery. Tarrlok needed an excuse to exercise the might of Republic City, and made the Equalists his Enemy X, bent on capturing Amon by any means necessary. |
| 552 | * HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: After losing his bending, Tarrlok realizes the error of his ways and decides to help Korra defeat his brother by telling her that he is a secret Waterbender. He ultimately kills himself and Amon, ending Yakone's family line of bloodbenders and the possibility of their powers being used for future evil.]] |
| 553 | * HeelRealization: After losing his bending and learning that Amon is his brother, he realizes that he had become the very thing his father wanted, which he had been trying to avoid. |
| 554 | * HeroicSacrifice: At the end of the first season finale. |
| 555 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Played With. He was always a villain, and his excessive actions in response to the Equalists are just him trying to exert more control over the city. However, it's ambiguous whether or not he had decent intentions; he seems to think he could do a decent job in charge, and unlike his brother, only uses bloodbending as a last resort. He comes to recognise this after [[BreakTheHaughty he loses his bending]], and it drives him to both help Korra (by giving her valuable information about Amon), and be resigned to deserved imprisonment until his brother breaks him out. When he does, he kills them both to end their father's legacy of this. |
| 556 | * HumiliationConga: ''Everything'' goes to shit for him from "When Extremes Meet" onwards. First, Korra's team shows him up by capturing Equalists before the police can then Korra beats him so badly he has to use [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique bloodbending]] to save his life then despite a ''well''-crafted cover-up, his page outs him and he has to bloodbend everyone to escape meaning his political career's over [[RuleOfThree then]] his plan to go on the lam with Korra is interrupted by the very enemy he framed who No-Sells said DangerousForbiddenTechnique and ends up getting De-Powered and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment then]] remains a prisoner like the very people he used to harass with his political power while reflecting on both his [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone failures]] and the fact that Amon's the very long-lost brother he grew up with. In just becomes truly [[TraumaCongaLine sad]] after that. |
| 557 | * IAmNotLeftHanded: Who needs water when you've got blood? |
| 558 | * IAmNotMyFather: While they were both bloodbenders, Yakone ruled the underbelly of the city as a crime lord, and Tarrlok believes that's why he failed. Tarrlok decided to take Republic City as a sleazy politician, instead. |
| 559 | * AnIcePerson[=/=]MakingASplash: He's a waterbender, and an exceptionally powerful one. |
| 560 | * InTheBlood: The only thing separating Tarrlok from his dad is he chose to be a politician, not a crime lord. |
| 561 | * JerkassHasAPoint: It's practically his hat. |
| 562 | ** In episode 4, Tarrlok is using his task force to score political points, but the Equalists ''are'' a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized militant revolutionary group]] openly advocating the violent overthrow of their country's government and the extermination of bending. Some sort of official response is necessary to that existential threat and Tarrlok is the only council member offering a plan. |
| 563 | ** In episode 7, Tarrlok's opening narration is politically self-serving yet accurate: the Equalists ''are'' warring on benders under the guise of fighting for equality, Chief Beifong ''did'' utterly fail to protect Republic City during the arena attack, and new leadership was needed for the police considering how ineffective Chief Beifong had proved against the Equalists. Lin herself even comes to agree with the latter two points. |
| 564 | ** In episode 8, he brings up how Korra is only a "half-baked Avatar in training" because she has yet to master airbending. When Korra later barges into his place trying to intimidate him into releasing her friends, she accuses him of oppressing people exactly like Amon says benders do, and he points out that she's used force to oppress and intimidate people before, so in that respect they're similar. |
| 565 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: |
| 566 | ** At first, it seems that Tarrlok wants to close down the Pro-Bending arena to spare innocent lives. But when Lin Beifong enters the picture, he realizes someone else can take the responsibility (and the rap) of others, thus relinquishing him from any blame if anything happened. Then, when Korra approaches him about abusing his power to arrest innocent civilians, he kidnaps her using bloodbending. |
| 567 | ** Subverted in the finale, where he is genuinely repentant for everything he's done, having had time to reflect, and helps Korra unmask Amon then sacrifices himself to put an end to both Amon and Yakone's evil legacy. |
| 568 | * KickTheDog: After already imposing a [[FascistsBedTime curfew]] on non-benders in Republic City as a response to anti-bending revolutionaries, he also shuts off the electricity to a whole district just to goad them outside, where he can accuse them of breaking curfew and have them rounded up. |
| 569 | * KnightTemplar: While personal paranoia is a major factor, Tarrlok definitely invokes this with his rhetoric, claiming that his actions are a righteous crusade against Amon. Though it's later revealed to be a front--nothing was beyond the pale to achieving his ends. |
| 570 | * LamarckWasRight: Inherited his father's extraordinary bloodbending talent. |
| 571 | * LaserGuidedKarma: He goes after everyone who isn't a bender, using a "if-you're-not-one-of-us-you're-against-us" philosophy. And then he gets reduced to a non-bender, himself. |
| 572 | * LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: His entire crusade against the Equalists isn't really to protect the benders of Republic City; he's only taking advantage of the crisis to consolidate his own power. |
| 573 | * LetsGetDangerous: His demeanor makes him out to be just an AttentionWhore, but his waterbending isn't half bad - in fact, he's arguably stronger than the likes of Katara. Then there's his bloodbending... |
| 574 | * LetThemDieHappy: Tells his brother that things “will be just like the good old days” before blowing them both up. |
| 575 | * LongHairedPrettyBoy: Whenever his hair is down. |
| 576 | * ManipulativeBastard: Very good at manipulating others into furthering his goals. Even knowing that he's up to something won't help you. Goes into the realm of [[PeoplePuppets physical]] manipulation, since he's a bloodbender. |
| 577 | * MeaningfulName: "Tarlock" is a name of Irish origin that means "instigator" or "abettor," which is certainly fitting for his status as a ManipulativeBastard. |
| 578 | * MirroringFactions: His approach to dealing with dangerous non-benders is, if anything, more indiscriminate than the Equalists' actions toward elitist benders. Korra calls him on this, [[NotSoDifferentRemark likening him to Amon]]. It turns out they really aren't that different, being ''brothers'' and both blood-benders who use their powers to nefarious ends, though Tarrlok had no idea who Amon really was until well after Korra calls him out. |
| 579 | * MurderSuicide: With his brother by blowing up the boat they're in. |
| 580 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Seems to have this feeling towards his crimes done after some time held by his brother. Leads to his RedemptionEqualsDeath. It also happens to a lesser extent after bloodbending a group of people in episode 9. Two episodes later, we see exactly why. |
| 581 | * NotSoStoic: "When Extremes Meet" shows that he has a pretty short fuse. |
| 582 | * OpeningNarration: Replaces Shiro Shinobi in the PreviouslyOn recap for "The Aftermath", giving a speech about Lin's failure to stop the Equalists in the previous episode and calling for her to be replaced. |
| 583 | * OverlordJr: He's the son of Yakone, the master crimelord of Republic City during Aang's time as the Avatar. He ends up following much the same path, just as Yakone intended, though he doesn't realise it until it's too late. Once it dos, he has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment. |
| 584 | * PeoplePuppets: It is revealed during his fight with Korra in "When Extremes Meet" that he is a bloodbender, one good enough that he can do so on a whim, rather than only during a full moon. His father, Yakone, could do the same. |
| 585 | * PersonalityPowers: The power hungry politician can control people? What a shock! |
| 586 | * PowerNullifier: His bloodbending ''shut down'' Korra's fire blasts before she could roast him in "When Extremes Meet". |
| 587 | * PsychopathicManchild: |
| 588 | ** Has shades of it in episode 8. He has a lot of power in the city but comes off as a spoiled brat who will do anything to get what he wants and won't listen when others try to reason with him. |
| 589 | ** He ultimately grows up some in the Book One finale, while his big brother Amon ironically takes on a few PsychopathicManchild traits himself. Amon thinks that everything will be flowers and sunshine now that he's reunited with his baby brother, while Tarrlok is more somber and, in repentance and to head off further harm, quietly kills them both. |
| 590 | * PsychoticSmirk: In "The Voice in the Night". |
| 591 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: He is the Northern Water Tribe's council representative, and one of the most powerful waterbenders ever shown onscreen in either series. If Korra weren't the Avatar, he probably could have beaten her in a straight fight. Since Korra has multiple elements to bend, he's forced to fall back on his bloodbending once she deprives him of a water source. |
| 592 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: After realizing what he and his brother had become, he blows up the boat they're in, killing them both and ending Yakone's bloodline. |
| 593 | * TheRival: To Tenzin, in the political arena, and to Korra in dealing with the Equalists. |
| 594 | * SiblingYinYang: His brother is Amon. |
| 595 | * SleazyPolitician: Everything he does is for his own personal agenda. |
| 596 | * SmugSnake: His regular attitude gives off this vibe, though it's subverted by the end of the series. |
| 597 | * TheSocialExpert: Besides his fighting, this is his most dangerous skill. He can generally read a person and knows how to play them so they follow his lead. His only misjudgement was thinking Korra would be his by showering her with gifts. Then he wises up and just attacks her pride by having reporters berate her. |
| 598 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Tarrlok looks similar to his father, which might clue viewers in to their relation before the reveal. |
| 599 | * TakingYouWithMe: How he ends Yakone's bloodline by killing both himself and his brother. |
| 600 | * ThisCannotBe: When his bloodbending fails to stop Amon. |
| 601 | * TogetherInDeath: With his brother. |
| 602 | * TragicVillain: [[spoiler:Tarrlok's father Yakone forced him and his brother Noatak to learn his bloodbending techniques so that he could use them to exact revenge on Republic City, even going so far as to force Tarrlok and Noatak to bloodbend each other during practise. Yakone became furious when Tarrlok refused to do so, and Noatak turned on Yakone and ran away from home. Ultimately, this was the StartOfDarkness for both of the brothers; Noatak went on to become [[BigBad Amon]], while Tarrlok decided to become a politician. He originally wanted to do good for the people of Republic City, and prove to himself that he was better than his father. But he wound up becoming the SleazyPolitician we see in the present day, inadvertently fulfilling his father's dream of ruling Republic City through underhanded, but still legal means. Later as the reunited brothers flee from Republic City, Tarrlok sits at the back of the boat navigated by Amon and notices that it was filled with Equalist electrified gloves. Realizing the madness would never end, he states that everything would be "just like the good old days", reiterating a statement made earlier by his brother. Amon sheds a single tear before Tarrlok ignites the fuel tank behind him, killing them both in the resulting explosion]]. |
| 603 | * {{Tykebomb}}: His father tried to mold him and his brother into this to take his revenge on Republic City and the Avatar. Tarrlok [[WhatHaveIBecome becomes horrified when he realizes]] that he became what his father tried to make him. |
| 604 | * TyrantTakesTheHelm: He implements a city-wide curfew to all non-benders and a law that makes it illegal to even be associated with Equalists (i.e. Hiroshi Sato, which is what Tarrlok uses to rationalize arresting his daughter). He shuts down the power to their homes, which forces them to break that curfew by going outside to protest, and arrests all those that don't follow his new law, claiming that they're Equalists for not doing so. |
| 605 | * TheUnfavorite: Yakone favored Noatak more than him, although given how they were both treated that's not saying much. |
| 606 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Flashbacks into his childhood revealed he was genuinely sweet kid. Then, the combination of his abusive father's bloodbending training and only brother's disappearance, made him into the smug jerk he is in the present. |
| 607 | * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: He desires Republic City to be led by a powerful leader, so that threats such as the Equalists may be eradicated. Ego comes into it to a degree, of course. |
| 608 | * VillainousBreakdown: He starts freaking out as his plans unravel. He manages to regain his cool after his HeelFaceTurn. |
| 609 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: Until he's exposed as the man who kidnapped Korra. |
| 610 | * WeHaveBecomeComplacent: He considers this for the Benders against the Equalists. He feels Benders need to take back the power and when they to, they end up becoming the very monsters the Equalist supporters are told Benders are. |
| 611 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Seems like it at first, with his heavy-handed but arguably reasonable responses to the Equalist threat. Except it's not so well-intentioned; that part's a front... mostly. His real desire is power, but he does at least partly believe what he's saying. |
| 612 | * WhatHaveIBecome: Is genuinely horrified by the fact he became the soldier of vengeance his father wanted him to become. |
| 613 | * TheWorfEffect: Tarrlok's bloodbending, which is demonstrably strong enough to incapacitate at least eight people simultaneously, has only a limited effect on Amon, and Tarrlok is taken out in seconds. Semi-subverted when it's revealed Amon is [[spoiler:his brother, the more powerful Water/Bloodbender of the two, which allowed him to NoSell Tarrlok's bloodbending much like Katara did with Hama's]]. |
| 614 | * YouCantFightFate: Somberly realizes this as despite their best efforts, both he and Noatak became the very things their father wanted them to be and sees only [[MurderSuicide one]] [[MercyKill way]] [[DespairEventHorizon out]]. |
| 615 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Tries this on Korra and the rest of Team Avatar when Korra no longer follows his orders. Then to Saikhan later on. |
| 616 | [[/folder]] |
| 617 | |
| 618 | !!Triads |
| 619 | |
| 620 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 621 | The gangs that run the Republic City streets. Most of them are benders, which set up much of the bender/non-bender conflict that the Equalists capitalized on. |
| 622 | ---- |
| 623 | * AscendedExtra: After spending most of the series acting as one off threats or a GoldfishPoopGang before disappearing from the series entirely post Book 2 the Triads return with a vengeance in ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfKorraTurfWars'' with their escalating MobWar becoming one of the big threats of the book. |
| 624 | * ButtMonkey: The Triple Threat Triad gets this treatment, and nothing usually goes right for them. Korra easily handles them in the pilot, and Amon's Equalists kidnap their leader and several others to have their bending removed. This is averted when Varrick hires them as part of a trap set for Mako, which succeeds in being a distraction even though he figured it out. This is also averted in ''Turf Wars'' where they become a genuine threat [[spoiler:thanks to their new leader Tokuga]]. |
| 625 | * GoldfishPoopGang: The Triple Threat Triad is this, mostly serving as recurring side villains. They usually pale in comparison to the BigBad(s) of the season, and are a laughable threat to the heroes. When they're working for Varrick, however, they actually manage to get the job done. By ''Turf Wars'', they've finally risen above this status, and they along with their rival gangs are treated as serious threats. |
| 626 | * MobWar: They are constantly in this, as Skoochy pointed out. |
| 627 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: |
| 628 | ** In Book 1, they were more of a laughable joke, often getting served. In "The Sting", they manage to put up a decent fight against Mako and Asami. The laughable tone that encompassed their villainy from the first Book vanishes in this episode. |
| 629 | ** ''Turf Wars'' brings them back into prominence as Kuvira's attack made everything chaotic enough for them to exploit from the collateral damage to the stretched-thin police force [[spoiler:and not to mention the confiscated Earth Empire weaponry the Triple Threats stole]]. |
| 630 | * PsychosForHire: On a regular basis, they extort people for their money. Of course, they can take tasks for hire as well. |
| 631 | * StatusQuoIsGod: No matter how many times they are imprisoned, they'll end up being out of prison the next time they are seen or heard. |
| 632 | * TheTriadsAndTheTongs: A combination of this and the stereotypical [=1920s=] American gangster. |
| 633 | [[/folder]] |
| 634 | |
| 635 | [[folder:Lightning Bolt Zolt]] |
| 636 | !!Lightning Bolt Zolt |
| 637 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightning_bolt_zolt_126.png]] |
| 638 | [[caption-width-right:350: "You're gonna regret doing that, pal..."]] |
| 639 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson |
| 640 | |
| 641 | The firebending leader of the Triple Threat Triad at the start of the series. He is deposed after losing his bending to Amon, the first person to suffer that fate. |
| 642 | ---- |
| 643 | * AntiVillain: If the ''Republic City Hustle'' shorts are anything to go by, he's seemingly a NobleDemon. Of course, he's still a murderous crime lord. |
| 644 | * AssholeVictim: He is a major power in organized crime, who has used his bending powers for a career oppressing and extorting helpless citizens. Amon exploits this: by making the first person he officially takes away bending from a hated and previously "untouchable" crime lord, he [[SlaveToPR cements his following among the non-bending masses]]. |
| 645 | * DePower: Stripped of his bending by Amon, the first example of his power. |
| 646 | * TheDon: Formerly. |
| 647 | * EvilMentor: According to supplementary materials, he taught Mako how to bend and redirect lightning. |
| 648 | * EvilOldFolks: Zolt is the oldest-appearing of the various villains in ''Korra'', being an old don with gray hair (growing white at the temples). Though he is still a powerful firebender, as his lightning-bending demonstrates. |
| 649 | * KillItWithFire: He's a skilled firebender. |
| 650 | * NobleDemon: In the ''Republic City Hustle'' shorts, he is shown as a somewhat honourable figure, protecting the brothers from Shady Shin's wrath, being pissed off at Tousa ''specifically'' for not fulfilling his part of the deal after "what they've done for him", and respecting Mako's wishes. |
| 651 | * OffstageVillainy: His own crime activities are not shown (though his subordinates in the Triad are prominently featured during a shakedown, [[BigDamnHeroes which Korra interrupts]]). However, they are related by Amon, and neither he nor anyone else protests Amon's description. |
| 652 | * PutOnABus: In Book 2, he's apparently stepped down, been imprisoned or overthrown after losing his bending, with Viper having replaced him as the Triad's leader. |
| 653 | * ShockAndAwe: He's a skilled lightningbender, hence the nickname. |
| 654 | * {{Supervillain}}: A somewhat downplayed example. In most settings, a crime boss with his name and powers would be playing the trope entirely straight, but in this series, firebending is so common that he does not stand out quite as much as he would in other places. However, to the ordinary, non-powered people he certainly comes across as one. |
| 655 | * WouldntHurtAChild: In the ''Republic City Hustle'' short he tells Shin not to fight Mako and Bolin, stating that fighting children is "undignified". |
| 656 | [[/folder]] |
| 657 | |
| 658 | [[folder:Viper]] |
| 659 | !!Viper |
| 660 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/viper_6733.png]] |
| 661 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Michael Yurchak |
| 662 | |
| 663 | A Water-bending member of the Triple Threat Triad. |
| 664 | ---- |
| 665 | * BadassLongcoat: A grey one. |
| 666 | * BeardOfEvil: Has a small beard. |
| 667 | * ChekhovsGunman: Was one of the gangsters Korra beat up in her first episode. |
| 668 | * DragonAscendant: Since Zolt lost his bending; Viper has either taken over, or leads a section of the Triple-Threats. |
| 669 | * FauxAffablyEvil: All of his dialogue is polite, and delivered in a sleezy mocking tone. |
| 670 | * AnIcePerson[=/=]MakingASplash: Like all water-benders. |
| 671 | * {{Irony}}: The guy he vouched for to join the Triple Threats is also the guy who literally beat him for the position [[spoiler:and killed him]], making it a take on "The Farmer and the [[IncrediblyLamePun Viper]]". |
| 672 | * {{Jerkass}}: Slimy and smug through and through. |
| 673 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Subtle, but the fact he still has his bending meant he likely avoided Amon's mass debendings during the time he controlled Republic City. Whether or not this was luck or being good at avoiding the Equalists has still yet to be explained. |
| 674 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: His debut had him threaten a business. |
| 675 | * SmugSnake: He's smug and contemptuous, it's what makes him over-confident. |
| 676 | * SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: In the comics. In ''Turf Wars'' he has been murdered and replaced by [[spoiler:Tokuga]]. |
| 677 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: Justified. He didn't know Korra was [[PhysicalGod the Avatar]] at the time before getting his ass handed to him. |
| 678 | * UnexplainedAccent: Inexplicibly has an Italian-American accent. |
| 679 | [[/folder]] |
| 680 | |
| 681 | [[folder:Shady Shin]] |
| 682 | !!Shady Shin |
| 683 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shin_acting_cool_380.png]] |
| 684 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Fisher Stevens |
| 685 | |
| 686 | A Waterbending member of the Triple Threat Triad. |
| 687 | ---- |
| 688 | * BeardOfEvil: He has a small brown beard, and he considers shaving it for a date he has. |
| 689 | * DePower: After Amon debends him; as a bribe, Mako lies and offers to have Korra give it back. |
| 690 | * TheDragon: He may have been it to Zolt, and he seems to be it for Viper. |
| 691 | * EvilMentor: To Bolin, sort of. He taught him a "fast-paced, street version" of Pai Sho. |
| 692 | * GracefulLoser: Despite the brothers costing the Triple Threats a lot of money by getting Toza to not throw a fight, after Zolt calms him down, Shin leaves amicably even wistfully saying maybe they can fix a fight together someday. He's even willing to hire the brothers out for a job, like when Bolin was trying to find cash. |
| 693 | * AnIcePerson[=/=]MakingASplash: Formerly. |
| 694 | * MeaningfulName: He's a shady figure who's offer of "legitimate" work should be taken with a grain of salt. |
| 695 | * NotSoBadassLongcoat: He wears a blue coat, not as long as Viper's, but he was depowered before we saw him demonstrate any combat feats. |
| 696 | * ThrowTheDogABone: He's not a threat again after being De-Powered until Part Two of ''Turf Wars'' where [[spoiler:he gets a hold of a mecha suit, the same in fact that Kuvira used to invade Republic City]]. He's absolutely ''ecstatic'' over this. |
| 697 | * WouldHurtAChild: In Republic City Hustle, he and two other gangsters go after Bolin and Mako after they cost the group a lot of money, saying they're going to have a "talk" when they all get home. Zolt tells him to stand down because fighting kids is undignified. |
| 698 | [[/folder]] |
| 699 | |
| 700 | [[folder:Two Toed Ping]] |
| 701 | !!Two Toed Ping |
| 702 | [[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/two_toed_ping_6351.png]] |
| 703 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Richard Epcar |
| 704 | |
| 705 | A fire-bending member of the Triple Threat Triad. |
| 706 | ---- |
| 707 | * AffablyEvil: Very polite and happily strikes up a conversation with the heroes even when pulling the wool over Mako and Asami's eyes. |
| 708 | * AgonyOfTheFeet: Implied. Mako pulls a flame dagger and threatens to turn him into "No Toed Ping" if he doesn't say who hired the Triple Threats. Ping's information, while not useful, is genuine because he'd never lie with his lucky toes on the line. |
| 709 | * BullyingADragon: By the time Ping decided to pick a fight with Korra, it was abundantly clear that he was dealing with the Avatar. He tries anyway and gets thrown into a building window for his efforts. |
| 710 | * ButtMonkey: Is often beaten in hilarious ways. |
| 711 | * ChekhovsGunman: He was one of the three gangsters who Korra first encountered in Republic city. |
| 712 | * ExtraDigits: He has 12 toes. |
| 713 | * FriendlyEnemy: In ''Turf Wars'', a newly deputized Bolin just personally arrested him yet he's talking as casually as reuniting with old relatives. It's not even a trick this time, he's just ''that'' happy to see Mako and Bolin. |
| 714 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Has a scar over his left eye. |
| 715 | * MeaningfulName: He has two extra toes. He would have gone with "Twelve Toed" but another gangster claimed that nickname. |
| 716 | * MotorMouth: From toes, to dating, to strong-arming, Ping likes to talk. And an advantage is he rarely talks about anything ''useful.'' He can go on for hours about the said categories just to waste time. |
| 717 | * NiceGuy: For a gangster anyway. |
| 718 | * OneSteveLimit: He wanted to be called "Twelve Toed Ping", but some other guy already had the nickname. |
| 719 | * PlayingWithFire: Like all firebenders. |
| 720 | * ScarfOfAsskicking: A small red one. |
| 721 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: His debut has him firebend a phonograph to show what they could do to a business. |
| 722 | * SoProudOfYou: [[SincerityMode Yes, really]]. In ''Turf Wars'', Bolin personally arrested him yet is talking up Mako and Bolin to [[DishingOutDirt Mushi]] like his own children that made it big. |
| 723 | * YouAllLookFamiliar: He's the basis for the every firebending member of the Triple Threat Triads in the game. |
| 724 | [[/folder]] |
| 725 | |
| 726 | !!Spirits |
| 727 | |
| 728 | [[folder:The Dark Spirits]] |
| 729 | !!Dark Spirits |
| 730 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_spirit_3953.png]] |
| 731 | |
| 732 | The main antagonists of Book Two. |
| 733 | ---- |
| 734 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: With the exception of those who lead them (Vaatu and Unalaq), the Dark Spirits are not malicious or evil in their invasion and attacks on human beings, they just don't have any concept of morality beyond "everyone who defiles the spirits must be killed". Even if this is their nature, their allegiance is only to those who are allies of Vaatu. |
| 735 | * CombatTentacles: Some of them fight using this style. |
| 736 | * TheCorruption: "The Beginnings" reveals that dark spirits are in fact a product of Vaatu's influence. A failed battle with a larger spirit also leaves a bit of corruption in Korra, threatening to destroy her Avatar spirit if it isn't cleansed. Negative human emotions in the spirit world can also corrupt them, as demonstrated by both Korra and Unalaq. The latter can even control the corrupted spirits, even if they were once friendly to his enemies. |
| 737 | * DarkIsEvil: A combination of this and DarkIsNotEvil. Being dark spirits, they are inherently destructive, primal beings. However, this is only because they're extremely angry, similar to Hei Bai's rampage in the previous series. Much like Hei Bai, they can be calmed down and convinced to leave peacefully. If the former is the case, it usually means Vaatu is controlling them. |
| 738 | * EldritchAbomination: An army of them. However, they are nothing compared to Vaatu, their master. |
| 739 | * EliteMooks: When working for Unalaq (who serves their master, Vaatu), they easily overpower the the Southern rebels and later Korra's group, whereas the Northern soldiers were defeated without much trouble. |
| 740 | * FusionDance: The smaller spirits are capable in a fight, but can be taken down by a skilled bender. However, they can combine into larger spirits to increase their strength and durability. These fused spirits can also reform into their original smaller forms if the big form is blasted apart. |
| 741 | * GaiasVengeance: Focused on Tonraq, who desecrated one of their forests in the past. Later revelations about Unalaq's hand in things indicate that he likely made them attack humans as part of his plans. |
| 742 | * GripingAboutGremlins: The imp-like spirit that sabotages Bolin's snowmobile in "The Southern Lights" seems to be invoking this trope. |
| 743 | * TheHeartless: They're vicious, dangerous spirits who were apparently formed by the Southern Water Tribe being spiritually thrown out of whack for over the past century. The reality, however, is that Unalaq is behind the attacks. |
| 744 | * TheImp: The smaller spirits give of this vibe. |
| 745 | * {{Intangibility}}: In the same sense as a cloud of gas. They can still be barred by physical barriers, but can manage to slip through cracks. |
| 746 | * InvincibleMinorMinion: Physical or bending offense has almost zero effect on them. They can be blasted apart by a strong enough bending attack but may reform if the dark spirit was made up of smaller ones fused together. The bigger ones can be almost unstoppable, at least for any bender not experienced at fighting spirits. |
| 747 | * LightningBruiser: Strong enough to toss humans around like ragdolls but fast enough that it's very hard to land a solid hit on them. Even then, bending is practically useless on the bigger ones. |
| 748 | * MadeOfAir: They are difficult to harm via conventional means, though strong bending attacks are seen to blast apart weaker ones with little trouble. |
| 749 | * MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: They have way too many teeth when they roar. |
| 750 | * MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: Bumi manages to calm one down with some flute playing. It only worked on that one, though; the rest got mad and attacked him. |
| 751 | * NoSell: They can (sometimes) laugh off even Avatar State-boosted bending assaults without even trying. |
| 752 | * UnstoppableRage: Unalaq explains that they aren't evil, just ''pissed off'' at the spiritual imbalance and desecration. At their core, they are chaos personified. |
| 753 | * VillainDecay: A somewhat different from normal example, as the weaker dark spirits are different from the ones that appear early on, and even then they are still dangerous. However, the fact remains that the first two dark spirits to appear (the giant squid and the one at the festival) appear almost invulnerable, while at the end we see whole groups of dark spirits being blasted apart with normal bending and no sign of them regenerating. |
| 754 | * WouldHurtAChild: A corrupted Furry-Foot condemns Jinora's spirit to the [[PsychologicalTormentZone Fog of Lost Souls]] after Korra opens the Northern portal. |
| 755 | [[/folder]] |
| 756 | |
| 757 | [[folder:Vaatu]] |
| 758 | !!Vaatu |
| 759 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_img_vaatu_6662.jpg]] |
| 760 | [[caption-width-right:300:"I lived ten thousand lifetimes before the first of your kind crawled out of the mud."]] |
| 761 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Jonathan Adams |
| 762 | |
| 763 | The spirit that embodies darkness and chaos, counterpart of Raava, the spirit of light and peace. |
| 764 | ---- |
| 765 | * AffablyEvil: He zig-zags between this and FauxAffablyEvil - on the one hand, he's genuinely gleeful about wiping out humanity, and enjoys taunting Wan about what he's unleashed. On the other hand, he does seem genuine (if smug) when he thanks Wan for freeing him, and he does honour his deal with Unalaq, performing a full FusionDance rather than just DevourTheDragon whole. |
| 766 | * AncientEvil: Vaatu is a being who represents all evil and has been around since the beginning of time. |
| 767 | * AnimalisticAbomination: Like his counterpart, he resembles a giant flatworm. |
| 768 | * TheAntiGod: As the evil opposite of Raava, who is the spirit of light and peace and the Avatar Spirit, he qualifies as this for this universe. |
| 769 | * ApocalypseHow: If Vaatu wins the conflict between himself and Raava, he would probably cause a Species Extinction event. When working with Unalaq, it might not have been that bad, though certainly a Societal Collapse at the very least, but the result is cataclysmic nonetheless. |
| 770 | * ArchEnemy: To Raava, being her polar opposite and the one she must duel every ten thousand years to determine the fate of the world. After Raava's merger with Wan, he's practically this to the Avatar, and won't stop until he gets a shot at him/her. |
| 771 | * AsLongAsThereIsEvil: Light and Darkness cannot exist without each other, so they exist in all living beings. Vaatu can thus never truly die. If destroyed, he'll slowly be reborn over the next 10,000 years and emerge once more to continue the cycle. |
| 772 | * BadassBoast: Delivers a pretty great one to Wan. |
| 773 | -->'''Vaatu:''' I lived ten thousand lifetimes before the first of your kind crawled out of the mud! It was I who broke through the divide that separated the plane of spirits from the material world! To hate me is to give me breath. To fight me is to give me strength. Now prepare to face oblivion! |
| 774 | * BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Battles his counterpart once every ten thousand years, unless he is contained. Light and darkness cannot exist without each other. Even if one of them wins the victor can't destroy the other, as their counterpart will emerge from within their self again after ten thousand years. Though if Vaatu wins, humans aren't going to be there by the time the next battle rolls around. |
| 775 | * BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: 10,000 years prior during Harmonic Convergence Vaatu was defeated when the human Wan merged with his GoodCounterpart Raava and created the first Avatar who proceeded to seal him away in the Tree of Time. During the next Harmonic Convergence Vaatu decided that two could play that game and fused with his herald Unalaq to form the Dark Avatar spirit. It almost worked but he ultimately underestimated Korra to his peril. |
| 776 | * BigBadDuumvirate: With Unalaq for the second season. After Vaatu serves as the primary antagonist of the "Beginnings" flashback two-parter, "The Guide" reveals that Unalaq has been working for him in the present to bring eternal darkness and lay waste to the mortal world. Despite Unalaq being a mere mortal and technically subordinate to Vaatu, they are roughly equals as far as plot relevance goes, and [[spoiler:when the two fuse in the finale they appear to share control of their {{Kaiju}} form.]] |
| 777 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: Averted, unlike the Dark Spirits. He noticeably takes ''considerable'' thrill in taunting humanity and trying to wipe them out. Though he does honour his deal with Unalaq. |
| 778 | * TheCameo: During Korra's MushroomSamba in the Book 3 finale, wherein Ming Hua's body contorts and stretches out into Vaatu's -- and he then proceeds to taunt her: |
| 779 | -->'''Vaatu:''' "You are too weak to resist, and ''I'' am stronger than ever! There's no use fighting. '''Let go.'''" |
| 780 | * CardCarryingVillain: It's quite understandable, as he ''is'' evil and destruction itself. |
| 781 | * ChaosIsEvil: Is the chaos spirit and revels in death and destruction. |
| 782 | * CharacterDevelopment: It's subtle, but his internment in the Tree of Time for 10 millennia has made him more patient and open to compromise in the present day, as seen by him willingly enlisting Unalaq as his [[TheDragon Dragon]] despite his own FantasticRacism against humans. |
| 783 | * ColdHam: Even at his most dramatic, Vaatu is one to never lose focus of his ultimate goal or devolve into panic, even when in the face of certain defeat. |
| 784 | * CombatTentacles: Has these which he employs in his fights against Raava and Wan. |
| 785 | * CompleteImmortality: As Raava explains to Wan in "Beginnings", neither she or Vaatu can ever truly be destroyed. One defeating other results in the defeated party regrowing in the victor over the next ten thousand years. And they are both immune to most damage like ordinary spirits are. Even though Korra used her uncle's spirit pacification technique on him, he will still return if there is still darkness remaining. |
| 786 | * TheCorrupter: Can turn normal spirits dark by preying on their negative emotions and throwing them out of balance. |
| 787 | * CrystalDragonJesus: As an addition to the Avatar universe Raava and Vaatu really lend themselves more to stereotypically western ideas of good and evil (hiding behind [[InformedAttribute a thin veneer]] of OrderVersusChaos) than the duality aspect that was played up in other major spirits like the Moon and Ocean. |
| 788 | * DarkIsEvil: He's a gigantic shadowy being and he wishes to plunge the world into darkness. Really, Wan should have known he was trouble just by looking at him. |
| 789 | * DeathByIrony: He looks upon humans as meaningless, refusing to even recognize the Avatar as anything more than Raava. It should go without saying that the Avatar ends up being his undoing. Twice. |
| 790 | * DevourTheDragon: Averted. Both he and [[TheDragon Unalaq]] mutually agreed to fuse together with the purpose of making each other more powerful. When this happens, both their personalities co-exist as opposed to Vaatu consuming Unalaq entirely. |
| 791 | * TheDreaded: Vaatu isn't just some villain, he is the evil of all evils. If you hear anybody not working for this guy talk about him, then they're terrified of him. Even Korra doesn't deny that she's afraid of him. |
| 792 | * DroneOfDread: Heard when he fires his EyeBeams like a [[Franchise/MassEffect Reaper]]. |
| 793 | * DudeNotFunny: In one of the comedic shorts where [[VillainousFriendship all the Big Bads in the series are friends]] he criticices one of Zaheer's friendly jabs with this gem: |
| 794 | -->'''Zaheer''': Glad I caught you at home, Ha Ha Ha.\ |
| 795 | ({{Beat}})\ |
| 796 | '''Vaatu''': ''Ha'', Very funny, like I can leave [[SealedEvilInACan this stupid tree]]. |
| 797 | * DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: His goal is to bring a rule of darkness and chaos to both worlds. |
| 798 | * EldritchAbomination: His minions are practically insects in comparison. |
| 799 | * EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The result of him winning during a Harmonic Convergence. |
| 800 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: Played with. On one hand, he has no qualms using both spirit and human servants. However, he has nothing but disdain for humans barring Unalaq and doesn't really care for spirits, as they are only beings he can control as dark spirits. |
| 801 | * EvilCounterpart: Serves as this to Raava, the spirit of light, peace and balance. |
| 802 | * EvilIsNotAToy: Surprisingly averted. Despite being the personification of chaos and having a great [[HumansAreBastards hatred for humans]], his arrangement with Unalaq is entirely on the level. He could've betrayed Unalaq during the fusion and still achieve the result he wanted, but presumably, their mutually beneficial goals kept them on the same page. |
| 803 | * EvilLaugh: He gives a particularly hideous one after he is released. |
| 804 | * EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: Justified. While the ten thousand year cycle between him and Raava is endless (unless, of course, he remains imprisoned in the Tree of Time while the portals are closed), no matter who wins, humans certainly would not survive ten thousand years under his rule, and the world will be damaged beyond repair. |
| 805 | * EvilOverlord: He definitely proves himself to be one. He has great power enough to destroy civilizations either through his own or through his enormously large Dark Spirit army. |
| 806 | * EvilPlan: To bring eternal darkness to the whole world, remaking it in his image. |
| 807 | * EvilSoundsDeep: As to be expected from Jonathan Adams. His voice even [[VoiceOfTheLegion reverberates every time he talks]]. |
| 808 | * EvilTwin: Is exactly similar to Raava in appearance, but with a red and black color scheme. |
| 809 | * EyeBeams: He can fire a massive purple beam from his diamond-shaped "eye". |
| 810 | * FalseInnocenceTrick: He begged Wan to free him from 10,000 years of torment at the hands of Raava. Being a kindly soul that didn't like tyrants, Wan separated them. |
| 811 | * FantasyCounterpartReligion: As Raava is based on the [[UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} Zoroastrian]] God Ahura Mazda, Vaatu is Angra Mainyu. Like the Zoroastrian evil god, Vaatu is a primordial being of darkness, chaos and lies opposing a light of order (though not necessarily truth), revelling in wickedness for its own sake, and just as powerful as his competitor. He also corrupts spirits into shadows of their former selves, and seeks the utter annihilation of all life. As if that wasn't enough, he bears distinctively Vedic patterns on his body. Just like Angra Mainyu, he will always lose to his good counterpart in the end. |
| 812 | * FatalFlaw: Fittingly for an anti-God, {{Pride}}. Believing that Raava was too weak, and that no mere human could hope to defeat him, he was taken by surprise when Wan became Raava's Avatar and sealed him away. Ten thousand years later, he and Unalaq paid Korra no heed after destroying Raava, evidently believing that they had nothing to fear with Raava's power out of the equation. Vaatu paid for that oversight with his utter destruction. |
| 813 | * FemaleAngelMaleDemon: He is male and the spirit of darkness and chaos. This is actually a bit ironic, since most Asian symbolism actually assigns darkness to femininity rather than masculinity. |
| 814 | * ForTheEvulz: |
| 815 | ** Seems to be his primary motivation. He never gives any reason for wanting to bring about ten thousand years of darkness ([[TakeOurWordForIt whatever that even means]], but it's pretty safe to assume that it'd be ''really'' abysmal) other than because it's just what he does. |
| 816 | ** Interestingly, ten thousand years of imprisonment and his dealings with Unalaq seemed to have softened his views to some extent, as he's willing to join with Unalaq and become the Dark Avatar to create a new world order (albeit a dark and chaotic one) for humans and spirits rather than just kill humans off. Of course, this may have simply been a pragmatic compromise, given how Raava doing the same put him in that tree. |
| 817 | * FromASingleCell: If defeated in the previous battle, he will regenerate from within Raava over ten thousand years, as light and darkness cannot exist without each other. His consciousness exists in even the smallest fragment of darkness - WordOfGod is that he is now in Raava (and therefore within Korra) and too weak to do anything, but will be giving whoever's Avatar in the next ten thousand years trouble. |
| 818 | * FusionDance: As he was defeated through a fusion of a human and Raava, he decided to mimic the arrangement with Unalaq, becoming the Dark Avatar. |
| 819 | * GoodColorsEvilColors: He is black and red, to contrast [[HeavenlyBlue Raava]]. |
| 820 | * GodOfChaos: Again, he's a god of chaos. |
| 821 | * GodOfDarkness: Vaatu is the spirit of darkness. |
| 822 | * GodOfEvil: He's the embodiment of chaos and darkness and is evil. |
| 823 | * GodzillaThreshold: Once Vaatu enters the picture, all bets are off. Since the president was still not of any help, this situation was so dire for Team Avatar, that [[EnemyMine they had to seek Varrick's help]]. |
| 824 | * GreaterScopeVillain: As the embodiment of chaos, he serves as a GreaterScopeVillain for the Avatar franchise as a whole. He's certainly more powerful than any other villain could be and all the turmoil done by other villains, as well as the Avatar Cycle can be traced back to his influence. Also in regards to the trope, he only steps down to become a direct threat in Book 2 of ''The Legend of Korra''. Even after his defeat in Book 2 his influence continues in the next two Books. His plan to open the Spirit Portals led to the release of cosmic energy that gave nonbenders around the world airbending including the ArcVillain of Book 3, Zaheer. And the spirit vines he left behind in Republic City ended up being used by Book 4's ArcVillain Kuvira [[spoiler:to create an energy weapon powerful enough to threaten the entire world]]. |
| 825 | * GreenThumb: Can make vines and other spirit plants grow by shoving his tentacles into the earth. |
| 826 | * HealingFactor: Like any spirit, it doesn't matter what happens to his physical form. It'll regenerate almost instantly. |
| 827 | * HeroKiller: He ripped Raava out of Korra and destroyed her, leaving Korra unable to rely on her past lives again. |
| 828 | * {{Irony}}: Despite being a spirit of chaos, he's actually a [[AffablyEvil very calm]] and [[TheStoic stoic entity]]. |
| 829 | * {{Jerkass}}: There's no denying it. Even if it's in his nature as a GodOfEvil (well, chaos and darkness), Vaatu is a huge jackass. |
| 830 | * KickTheDog: During the "Beginnings" two-parter, he attacks innocent human villages for no good reason, then tops that by corrupting Wan's spirit friends, forcing them to fight Wan's human friends. When the humans are slaughtered, he then has the gall to gloat in Wan's face about their deaths. |
| 831 | * KnightOfCerebus: Much like the previous BigBad Amon, Vaatu has no comedic quirks and anything involving him is guaranteed to be played much more seriously. When he's finally freed from his prison, it's a true cause for alarm. He also serves as one to the ''Avatar'' franchise in general, his presence bringing an air of menace previously unseen in either show, so much that it makes Ozai pale in comparison. Whenever he shows up, bad, ''bad'' things are in store. |
| 832 | * LegionOfDoom: Spoofed in Varrick's latest Mover pitch, he teams up with Amon and Zaheer in order to take down Bolin, though he's still stuck in the Tree of Time until Harmonic Convergence when he's accidentally merged with the Evil Unalaq, much to everyone's displeasure. |
| 833 | * LightningBruiser: His size definitely doesn't reflect his speed, just like other spirits. |
| 834 | * MadeOfAir: Like the other spirits, attacking him does nothing. Only by using bending to restrain him can humans hope to fight him. |
| 835 | * MadeOfEvil: As the spirit of Chaos and Darkness itself, this is a given. |
| 836 | * MakeMyMonsterGrow: Gets larger with every spirit he corrupts. |
| 837 | * TheManBehindTheMan: Not to the Dark Spirits, which are just regular spirits corrupted by his influence, but to Unalaq. |
| 838 | * ManipulativeBastard: He tricks Wan into freeing him from Raava by playing on Wan's desire to help. |
| 839 | * MultiversalConqueror: He was the one who broke through the barrier between the spirit and physical worlds, and he plans to conquer both. |
| 840 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: By leaving Wan alive, he allowed him to become the first Avatar, leading to his defeat. The battle will inevitably come again, of course, but Vaatu would have had ten thousand years of freedom instead of being stuck in a tree, plus the Avatar still exists in the present day to stop him again...but also to free him too. |
| 841 | * ObviouslyEvil: He is a gigantic, shadowy being with a deep booming voice. Despite this, Wan takes his word over Raava's, [[JustifiedTrope since Vaatu was more convincing than her]]. |
| 842 | * OmnicidalManiac: Plans on plunging the world into suffering and darkness for ten thousand years should he win his duel with Raava. |
| 843 | * OrderVersusChaos: He represents chaos, Raava represents order. |
| 844 | * OutsideContextProblem: Prior to his appearance in "The Beginnings", there was no hint of his existence or the eternal struggle between peace and chaos. Heck, until after Book 2, only a few people knew of his existence. |
| 845 | * PowerGlows: His eye beams are preceded by the red lines on his body turning purple and glowing. |
| 846 | * PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler:Never betrays Unalaq -- not because Vaatu cares for him, but because Vaatu needs a FusionDance host]]. |
| 847 | * PunyEarthlings: |
| 848 | ** He doesn't seem to give two damns about humans or their existence, which backfired spectacularly when Wan sealed him up. |
| 849 | ** It seems he didn't learn his lesson as, once he returns in the modern day, he assumes that Korra is only a threat as long as Raava is inside of her and, after destroying her, completely disregards her attempts to stop him. This backfires on him hard when Korra accesses the cosmic energy of the Tree of Time, travels to Republics City, frees Raava, and destroys him with her spirit bending and the help of Jinora's own soul. |
| 850 | * PurpleIsTheNewBlack: His "essence" is mostly reflected by a purple glow, most notably when he fires his "laser" beams and when the Dark Avatar is assuming its monstrous giant form. |
| 851 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: His color scheme is black and reddish-orange in comparison to Raava's white and blue. |
| 852 | * ReviveKillsZombie: Unlike normal Dark Spirits, who are simply rendered docile by Unalaq's spirit pacification technique, Vaatu is destroyed by it. Being the embodiment of chaos, it would seem there's nothing left after the technique is finished purifying him. |
| 853 | * SealedEvilInACan: |
| 854 | ** The only way to defeat him and not have him cause trouble is to trap him somewhere. Wan sealed him in a tree in the Spirit World, then sealed the portals at the north and south poles so Vaatu could not escape, even during Harmonic Convergence. Then Unalaq arranges for his escape in the present day. |
| 855 | ** By the end of Season 2, he is trapped yet again... within Korra, and all of her successors for ten thousand years. Neither Raava nor Vaatu can exist without the other. |
| 856 | * SmugSuper: He's very arrogant, but his boasts are not unfounded: he is an immortal and powerful spirit. |
| 857 | * TimeAbyss: He claims that he has lived ten thousand lifetimes before humans first "crawled out of the mud". |
| 858 | * TokenNonHuman: Vaatu is the only BigBad in the series not to be human. |
| 859 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: As an immortal and powerful spirit, he believes Wan, a mere human, is no threat to him. Then Wan fused with Raava and sealed him in a tree for 10,000 years. After all that time passes, he wouldn't underestimate the Avatar a second time, because he has new allies. |
| 860 | * UnknownRival: To an extent with Korra. While he acknowledges her as a threat Vaatu seems to believe that it is more because she has Raava inside of her and as such always refers to Korra by Raava's name instead of her own. After destroying Raava he completely turns his back on Korra and believes that she poses no threat to him anymore. She proves him wrong. |
| 861 | * WoundedGazelleGambit: He convinces Wan to release him by pretending that Raava's a bully who's been oppressing him for ten thousand years. [[MetaphoricallyTrue He's not wrong about her standing against him for that long]], but he also neglects to mention ''why'' she's so dead-set on keeping him contained for good reason. |
| 862 | * YouHaveFailedMe: Subverted; when Unalaq believes Korra has been killed and they no longer have the means to free Vaatu, Vaatu calmly explains that he can sense Raava's essence and thus Unalaq hasn't failed. |
| 863 | [[/folder]] |
| 864 | |
| 865 | [[folder:Hundun]] |
| 866 | !!Hundun |
| 867 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hundun_3063.png]] |
| 868 | [[caption-width-right:350:"I am known by many names ... but you may call me Hundun, Master of the Chaotic Attack. In my time, I was a king."]] |
| 869 | [[caption-width-right:302:[[labelnote:Click here to see under his cloak]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hundun_and_his_brother.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 870 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SteveBlum |
| 871 | |
| 872 | An ancient enemy of the Avatar, who was defeated by an incarnation that preceded Aang, and has lived in the Spirit World ever since. Now with the Spirit Portals open, he seeks to bring chaos to the world and destroy the Avatar. |
| 873 | ---- |
| 874 | * AmbiguouslyHuman: He's been living in the Spirit World for a thousand years, and his appearance as an old man has a few inhuman traits. |
| 875 | * ArcVillain: He is the main villain of the video game, uniting several old enemy factions in order to destroy Korra. He plans to steal her chi for himself so that he can become whole. |
| 876 | * AristocratsAreEvil: He claims to have been a king during his life in the physical world. The treasures that he still had in the physical world allowed him to hire both the chi-blockers and the Triads as his personal army. |
| 877 | * BadassBoast: |
| 878 | -->'''Hundun:''' "Now you will truly face the Chaotic Attack!" |
| 879 | * BaldOfEvil: Not Hundun himself, but [[spoiler:his brother]]. |
| 880 | * BarrierChangeBoss: He'll occasionally throw up elemental barriers to protect himself. They can be broken by using the corresponding element, stunning him momentarily. |
| 881 | * BarrierWarrior: He has placed barriers to guard his treasure all over the world. The barriers can only be destroyed by using the corresponding element. |
| 882 | * BattleAura: A red one when he goes OneWingedAngel. |
| 883 | * BeamSpam: One of his ranged attacks has him firing several [[AbnormalAmmo serpentine Dark Spirits]] at Korra like a machine gun. |
| 884 | * BeardOfEvil: Has a long, white beard and is the villain of the game. |
| 885 | * TheBeastmaster: Is able to control Dark Spirits. |
| 886 | * BodyHorror: The sight of [[spoiler:his malformed, scarred Siamese twin]] is not a pretty one. |
| 887 | * CastingAShadow: Like Vaatu, he wields dark powers. |
| 888 | * ChaosIsEvil: He's a force of chaos out to give the world a good serving of it and is the self-proclaimed "Master of the Chaotic Attack". |
| 889 | * CompositeCharacter: Of Vaatu (a being of chaos with a low opinion of humans and a personal grudge against the Avatar), and King Bumi (an elderly king and powerful earthbender whose hunched-back appearance belies his true power and massive physique). |
| 890 | * ConfusionFu: Hundun's fighting style is varied and unpredictable and mainly consists of fighting in tandem with [[spoiler:his brother]] and mixing up his movements to throw opponents off. Sometimes he might charge at Korra only to leap into the air to either punch the ground or deliver a diving kick. Other times he might move from side to side while charging to make it hard to predict where he'll attack. He may leap into the air to perform a diving kick only to suddenly stop and punch the ground while in midair. His ability to create clones of himself that attack independently only add to the confusion. All in all, Hundun's fighting style is a constant guessing game guaranteed to keep you on your toes. His RedBaron of the 'Master of the Chaotic Attack' isn't just for show. |
| 891 | * ConjoinedTwins: [[spoiler:He's a conjoined twin whose brother is hidden behind his cloak]]. |
| 892 | * CrazyPrepared: Though he was defeated by a previous Avatar and forced to escape into the Spirit World, Hundun had vast treasure hidden in the physical world and protected by spirit barriers in case he would need it later. |
| 893 | * DarkIsEvil: Wields dark powers and is out to plunge the world into chaos. |
| 894 | * DishingOutDirt: He is an earthbender, and during the final boss fight, one of his ranged attacks is to levitate a massive boulder and pitch it at Korra. Korra can deflect it back at him to momentarily stun him. |
| 895 | * DopplegangerSpin: He can create copies of himself during the second phase of the battle. |
| 896 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:Part of his grudge with the Avatar stems from his brother being grievously injured during a fight with a previous Avatar and part of his plan is to use Korra's chi to heal him and become whole]]. |
| 897 | * EvilCounterpart: To Iroh. Iroh decided to move into the spirit world after he felt he could do no more in the land of the living. Hundun entered the spirit world to escape death and plans to regain his physical form by draining Korra's chi. |
| 898 | * EvilIsBigger: Once he sheds his cloak, he grows to several times Korra's size. At his new height, Korra is the same size as his knee. |
| 899 | * EvilLaugh: Gives these out frequently. |
| 900 | * EvilOldFolks: His appearance is that of a hunchbacked, wrinkly old man. |
| 901 | * EvilSorcerer: Possibly the closest thing the ''Avatar'' world has to one. |
| 902 | * FauxAffablyEvil: He seems cordial and somewhat whimsical, but he's a deranged monster out to kill Korra. |
| 903 | * FinalBoss: Of the video game. |
| 904 | * FlunkyBoss: The first round of his battle has him summon Dark Spirits to attack you before entering the fray himself, and he does it a second time after you've done some damage. |
| 905 | * ForegoneConclusion: He will be defeated by the end of the game, considering he's nowhere to be seen two weeks later at the start of Book Three. |
| 906 | * GenericDoomsdayVillain: Similarly to Vaatu, Hundun has little characterization beyond being a being of chaos with a grudge against the Avatar and a desire to plunge the world into chaos. |
| 907 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: [[spoiler:His brother has a scar on his eye similar to Zuko's thanks to the Avatar]]. |
| 908 | * IHaveManyNames: He states this when he introduces himself to Korra, then tells her that she can call him "Hundun". Unlike most cases of this trope, it's never revealed what his other names or titles are. |
| 909 | * KungFuWizard: Possibly the most straight up example in the ''Avatar'' world. |
| 910 | * LastVillainStand: With his army of Equalists, Triads, and Dark Spirits defeated, Hundun decides to fight Korra one on one. |
| 911 | * LightningBruiser: Despite his age and massive build, Hundun moves around the arena with surprising speed. He also possesses immense strength and is capable of swatting Korra across the arena like a ragdoll and deal out heavy damage. If you're ill prepared, Hundun can and will wipe the floor with you. |
| 912 | * MasterOfIllusion: A little mix of this and RealityWarper. Hundun can cast powerful illusions and in the penultimate chapter, he drags Korra through several illusions and forces her to fight various enemies. One notable illusion has her in a pro-bending match against three dragonfly bunny spirits with bending and another has her fighting Mecha Tanks and Equalists while in her giant spirit form. |
| 913 | * MeaningfulName: "Hundun" is the Chinese word for "chaos". |
| 914 | * ObviouslyEvil: He was designed to look as creepy and evil as possible. |
| 915 | * OneWingedAngel: Of the "behold my true form" variety. [[spoiler:For the final battle with Korra, he reveals his conjoined twin under his cloak]]. |
| 916 | * PowerEchoes: When he goes OneWingedAngel. |
| 917 | * PunyEarthlings: His opinions on humans are rather low to say the least. During the Heart of Chaos chapter, he gives two [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speeches]] about how easy it was to manipulate the Equalists and the Triads with promises of equality and wealth, respectively. [[JerkassHasAPoint And he's not entirely incorrect]]. |
| 918 | -->'''Hundun:''' "These Equalists are so simple. Sprinkle in a few words about the equality they crave, and they dance in the palm of your hand. Pathetic humans."\ |
| 919 | '''Hundun:''' "These fools. They hear the jingle of coins and forget their own mothers. They have no idea what they are doing, or they do not care." |
| 920 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Wears Fire Nation style clothing. Though he is actually an [[DishingOutDirt earthbender]]. |
| 921 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: He gains glowing, red eyes when he goes OneWingedAngel. [[spoiler:His brother's one eye glows blue instead]]. |
| 922 | * {{Revenge}}: Against the Avatar [[spoiler:for injuring his brother]]. |
| 923 | * RubberMan: He [[spoiler:and his brother]] can stretch his limbs Dhalsim-style. |
| 924 | * SealedEvilInACan: He meditated into the Spirit World to escape death, but was trapped there since the portals were closed. Thanks to Korra opening the portals, he's able to influence the land of the living again. |
| 925 | * SiblingTeam: [[spoiler:He fights in conjunction with his conjoined twin]]. |
| 926 | * ShirtlessScene: During the final battle. |
| 927 | * ShockAndAwe: One of his attacks is to rain down purple lightning bolts. |
| 928 | * SurprisinglyCreepyMoment: Hundun being an old man with supernatural powers is creepy enough. But him being [[spoiler:a conjoined twin who's scarred brother is horribly emaciated]] is all different shades of unsettling. |
| 929 | * ThisCannotBe: His reaction to Korra unlocking her Avatar State and tearing apart his army. |
| 930 | * VillainTeamUp: He's employed some Equalists who are still around after Amon's defeat, the Triads, and the Dark Spirits. |
| 931 | * VillainTeleportation: Does this liberally, especially during the final battle. |
| 932 | * WhamLine: A minor one, but still counts. |
| 933 | -->'''Hundun:''' "But Korra, you haven't had a chance to meet [[spoiler:my brother]] yet. The one you wounded ''all those years ago!''" |
| 934 | * WhiteHairBlackHeart: His hair is white from age and he's the main villain of the game. |
| 935 | [[/folder]] |
| 936 | |
| 937 | !!Northern Water Tribe |
| 938 | |
| 939 | [[folder:Unalaq]] |
| 940 | !!Unalaq |
| 941 | [[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unalaq_9534.png]] |
| 942 | [[caption-width-right:333:"I have spent my life studying spirits and learning their ways. All of this knowledge is lost in the South. But I could teach you everything I know."]] |
| 943 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AdrianLaTourelle |
| 944 | |
| 945 | Korra's uncle and the chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe. He serves as her spiritual mentor early on in Book 2, before his less than noble intentions come into the light and drive a wedge between them. |
| 946 | ---- |
| 947 | * ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The North may obey him out of duty to the crown, but '''nobody''' misses him after he's gone. Korra may briefly express regret that it came to that, but otherwise has more hallucinations of him as evil and not even his own kids shed a tear over his loss and instead are more awkwardly concerned about explaining it to their mother. The South utterly fear and despise him, especially after he starts taking over it by having his soldiers put blockades around the south to prevent any citizen of the Tribe from escaping, nor for anyone else to enter the South Pole. Unalaq is this is to the rest of his family, especially his older brother Tonraq. To put all this in context. Even Ozai, asshole supreme in the original series, has an organization in the comics dedicated to his reclamation of the throne. Unalaq doesn't even get that. If anything, him serving the dark lord Vaatu to bring about the End of The World, automatically erases what little respect anyone has had for him. |
| 948 | * AbusiveParents: He's not physically abusive, but he's definitely [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] and emotionally abusive. When Desna was injured during their joint attempt to open the northern spirit portal, Unalaq ignored his plight and pressed on. |
| 949 | * AlwaysSecondBest: He was like this to his brother. Tonraq was oldest and next in line to become chief, so to subvert this Unalaq got him banished. But during his banishment, Tonraq sired Korra, the Avatar, double subverting it. |
| 950 | * AmbitionIsEvil: It's made clear that Unalaq cares for power beyond all else except his goal of bringing back the spirits and desires to gain more for himself no matter the cost. He also can't stand the idea of someone having power that he doesn't which is the main reason he hates his brother, who was to become chief of the North Pole and later fathered the Avatar, and is implied to be one reason why he merged with Vaatu. |
| 951 | * TheAntiChrist: He acts as [[SatanicArchetype Vaatu's herald]] and merges with him to become the new Dark Avatar, the equal and opposite to the Avatarverse's MessianicArchetype. |
| 952 | * ArchEnemy: To his brother Tonraq, given he how stole his rightful place as the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe and tried to turn his own daughter against him. |
| 953 | * AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: After fusing with Vaatu and destroying Raava, the two transform into a massive humanoid version of Vaatu's spirit form. |
| 954 | * AxCrazy: He takes [[SlasherSmile a savage joy]] in destroying Raava. |
| 955 | * TheBadGuyWins: Because Korra renounced the role of the Avatar to act as a bridge between humans and spirits by choosing to leave the spirit portals open, he technically accomplished his goal of intermingling humans and spirits. |
| 956 | * BadassPreacher: He's the Avatar-verse equivalent of a high priest and a very skilled waterbender. |
| 957 | * BaitTheDog: He takes Korra's advice and agrees to let the rebels who just tried to kill him have a fair trial. In his very next scene, he arrests Korra's parents. And the trial turned out to be rigged anyway. Hell, this could be considered his whole character arc. |
| 958 | * BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: He's a deconstruction stating why this philosophy is ''not'' a good thing. He plans to release Vaatu and bring human-spirit balance to the world on his terms. Secondly, he becomes a Dark Avatar in contrast to the previous Light Avatar who has existed without an evil opposite for thousands of years. Thirdly, Vaatu's EvilPlan will create a balance of nothing by destroying everything. |
| 959 | * BeliefMakesYouStupid: Subverted. Unalaq is strongly religious, even TheFundamentalist, and comes across as an otherworldly formalist at first, but he is also a canny manipulator and politician. Played true in another way, however, since his religion is the reason he serves the evil spirit Vaatu, and eventually [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil suffers the consequences]] of this. |
| 960 | * BigBadDuumvirate: With Vaatu for Book 2. Unalaq seeks to conquer the Water Tribes and open the Spirit Portals to release the dark spirit, becoming a "Dark Avatar" by fusing together. While he's [[TheDragon technically in service to Vaatu]], Unalaq is far more prominent and is the one orchestrating the Dark Spirit attacks due to his master being imprisoned, and shares control over their fused state. |
| 961 | * BigLittleBrother: Looking at Tonraq and Unalaq, you wouldn't peg Tonraq as the older brother. The difference is made more apparent by flashbacks, where Tonraq looks almost identical to his present-day self, while Unalaq looks much more youthful. |
| 962 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: After the reveal of his true nature in "Civil Wars", Part 2", and Varrick was the only one who caught on. Though even then it isn't until "The Guide" and "A New Spiritual Age" that the full extent of his evil is revealed. Before he just came across as a jerk. After "A New Spiritual Age" it's pretty clear the guys pure evil. |
| 963 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: In his last appearances, his own goals are completely subsumed in Vaatu's, so that his motivations are no longer remotely human. |
| 964 | * BrokenPedestal: |
| 965 | ** Korra realizes he's just power-hungry and spiteful once she learns that he deliberately rigged her father's trial and orchestrated his banishment from the Northern Water Tribe. |
| 966 | ** His children eventually let go of their devotion to him when it becomes clear that he doesn't care for them at all. In the end, they admit to Korra they hold no grudge for her defeating him and that they won't miss him. |
| 967 | * CainAndAbel: The Cain to Tonraq's Abel, as he intentionally discredits and screws over his brother at every turn. |
| 968 | * TheCameo: During Korra's MushroomSamba in the Book 3 finale, she witnesses Ghazan's head twist around 360 degrees and turn into Unalaq's. He mocks her plight: |
| 969 | -->'''Unalaq:''' "The time of the Avatar is over. Give up." |
| 970 | * ChestBlaster: In his OneWingedAngel form, Vaatu's EyeBeams are fired from his chest. |
| 971 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: His only loyalty is ultimately to himself, or rather to Vaatu whom he doesn't betray. He secretly betrayed Tonraq in order to become chief, [[spoiler:hid his involvement with the Red Lotus after they failed to kidnap four-year-old Korra and even worked with his enemies, the White Lotus to imprison P'Li]], and in addition to screwing over his brother a second time, abused Korra's trust while using her to further his own ends. |
| 972 | * ClassicVillain: Shows signs of Ambition, Pride, and Envy. Ultimately somewhat zig zagged, however, since he consistently remains a KnightTemplar, though his projects of uniting with Vaatu do invoke classical villainous traits of Satanism. |
| 973 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Whereas Amon of Book 1 was a populist revolutionary MugglePower leader of humble origins, Unalaq is an EvilReactionary nobleman with a religiously motivated agenda. Also, while Amon struck fear in others and tried to terrorize and break Korra, Unalaq is ([[TheReveal at first]]) a LightIsNotGood VillainWithGoodPublicity who wants to win her cooperation and trust. Additionally, Amon was a protective, loving older brother to the extent of defying their father and was ultimately happy to be with him again while Unalaq was a power-hungry elephant-rat-bastard who framed his brother to take the throne then ''kept'' antagonizing him one way or another to his dying day. |
| 974 | * TheCorrupter: Within the spirit world, his presence is enough to turn normal spirits dark. |
| 975 | * CurbStompCushion: While Unalaq completely held the upper hand in his battle with Tonraq, his brother came seconds from landing a decisive blow before Unalaq was able to knock him away. Judging from Unalaq's brief OhCrap expression and his sweating afterward, it's implied that Tonraq would've turned the fight in his favor had Unalaq not reacted fast enough. |
| 976 | * DarkIsEvil: A variant of his healing technique, characterized by [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack purple]] instead of [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine yellow/gold]], allows him to corrupt (in the case of spirits) or destroy whoever mortal he uses it on, as he attempted to do on Jinora and Korra. |
| 977 | * DarkMessiah: Even more so than Amon--his ambition is to become the new "Dark Avatar" and he is willing to sacrifice anybody, even his own children, to do this. |
| 978 | * DarkShepherd: He'll bring unity whether his flocks want it or not. To this end, he set Tonraq up to destroy the spirit forest in the North so he would be banished and Unalaq would be first in line, and worked to free Vaatu, the universe's equivalent of {{Satan}}, so they could fuse and become the equivalent of the AntiChrist. |
| 979 | * DeaderThanDead: Both he and Vaatu were purified by Korra and turned into nothingness. While Vaatu will be reborn, it seems unlikely Unalaq will be joining him. |
| 980 | * DeathByIrony: He's beaten (along with Vaatu) when Korra uses his own spirt pacification technique against him. His previous advice to Korra to "find the light in the dark" is also echoed when Korra meditates in the Tree of Time to connect to the cosmic energy of the universe. |
| 981 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Telling Korra he doesn’t need her to open the Northern Portal was a lapse of judgment on his part, since at the time he only said that to prevent Korra from rescuing Tonraq. As a result, he went through a lot trouble trying to rectify this, and only through sheer dumb luck that Korra was heading to the Spirit World. |
| 982 | * TheDragon: To Vaatu prior to their merging, wherein they officially settle into a BigBadDuumvirate. |
| 983 | * DrivenByEnvy: Korra speculates that the real reason why he arranged his brother's banishment is because he envied his brother's position. She also suggests that his desire to train her stems from further envy that Tonraq sired the Avatar. Even if any of this was true, it ultimately had no bearing over his larger goals. |
| 984 | * DrunkOnTheDarkSide: He enjoys his merger with Vaatu, since it gives him so much power. |
| 985 | * EvilCounterpart: By fusing with Vaatu, he becomes the Dark Avatar. |
| 986 | * EvilFormerFriend: Amusingly enough, it's hinted that he's considered this by [[spoiler:Zaheer, who was his comrade in the Red Lotus when they were both teenagers. In season three, he considers Unalaq a traitor who perverted their cause for his own selfish goals]]. |
| 987 | * EvilIsNotAToy: Invoked by Tonraq, but averted; despite many warnings that Vaatu is too powerful to be trusted, their arrangement ultimately goes exactly as planned. |
| 988 | * EvilIsPetty: While Unalaq has higher goals, he still manages to go out of his way to ruin his brother's life just out of envy and spite. He framed him despite ''knowing full well'' that Varrick was the one who masterminded the assassination/kidnapping attempt. |
| 989 | * EvilMentor: To Korra, briefly, before she realized he was evil and called him on it. |
| 990 | * TheEvilPrince: Arranged his brother's banishment so he would be next in line as Chieftain. And that's just step one. Thing is, the throne of the Water Tribe was of very little value to him as he stated his intention to make even the Water Tribes irrelevant. Thus, Unalaq could never settle for the throne unless it served a bigger purpose, so taking the throne was the only way he could get closer to opening the spirit portals and releasing Vaatu. |
| 991 | * EvilUncle: He set his brother up to be banished so he could become chief, uses Korra's trust in him to manipulate her into furthering his goals, and ultimately plans to fuse with Vaatu and become the Dark Avatar. |
| 992 | * ExactWords: Unalaq tells Korra that it was her father's and Tenzin's decision to keep her secluded in the White Lotus Compound. Korra even chewed them out, especially her father on it. It turns out Unalaq wasn't lying, but that was only half the truth; [[spoiler:they did so in reaction to the Red Lotus trying to kidnap her when she was four. Unalaq was the one that suggested the idea]]. |
| 993 | * ExtremityExtremist: Downplayed given the nature of the series, but still notable as he only attacks using his arms and has little in the way of legwork. When he has lot of water to play with, [[spoiler:like in his fights against Tonraq and later against Mako and Bolin]], he pretty much stays in the same spot for the entire fight. |
| 994 | * FauxAffablyEvil: To the world, he presents himself as a strict but sincere religious believer, as well as a fair-minded political reformer seeking unity for his people and balance for the world. And to Korra, as a warm and understanding mentor figure who believes in her. Privately, however, he is cold and calculating to the point of LackOfEmpathy. |
| 995 | * {{Flanderization}}: InUniverse. Varrick's moving pictures have him portrayed as an over-the-top villain with a waterbending doomsday machine. Strangely, the actor looks a lot like Actor Ozai from "The Ember Island Players". Funny thing is, the propaganda films [[AccidentalTruth weren't that far off, apart from hamminess of the actor of course]]. |
| 996 | * FluffyTamer: A rare villainous example, as he is able to corrupt and control Dark Spirits that he either creates himself, or that Vaatu corrupts. He leads an army of his corrupted spirits against the Southern Water Tribe's LaResistance and curbstomps them. |
| 997 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 998 | ** To Varrick -- Both are callous, untrustworthy villains who are out for themselves alone and deceive the heroes for their own ends, only to betray them later on. However, Unalaq keeps his treachery almost well-hidden, whereas Varrick is pretty open about his selfishness, yet it goes far beyond anyone's notice. Additionally, while Unalaq's perceived help only seeks to benefit himself at the expense of others, Varrick's actions have a touch of sincerity that he's willing to go out of his way to help the heroes get what they want in spite of ulterior motives. |
| 999 | ** To Jinora -- Unalaq is an adult man with years of training himself in spiritual matters, while Jinora is a preteen girl whose natural affinity with spirits makes up for her lack in experience. Jinora befriends spirits; Unalaq only pretends to be a friend of spirits and will use force to control them to reach his own goals. And while Unalaq practically, but smoothly forced his way into becoming Korra's spiritual mentor, Jinora didn't and only became her Guide when things got serious. There's also the kind of the relationship they have with Korra: Unalaq is her distant uncle who only wants to use her, but Korra and Jinora have close sibling relationship (along with Ikki and Meelo). |
| 1000 | * TheFundamentalist: He does not compromise with his view of Water Tribe spirituality and practices. Because of this he comes off as a jerk. It's later revealed that he actually is a jerk, as he manipulates Korra to get her on his side when he takes control of the South, and uses his position to settle a personal grudge against his brother on the side. It comes off as a subversion, he's working on freeing the evil Vaatu for the Harmonic Convergence, and plans on destroying the Water Tribes and every nation afterwards so that there is only one world where spirits and humans are under one banner. |
| 1001 | * GenreBlind: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Despite being called on how unwise it is to work with [[GodOfEvil Vaatu]], everything went according to plan and Vaatu never betrayed him, though that was more due to [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]] on Vaatu's part rather than any genuine care for him. |
| 1002 | * GodhoodSeeker: His ultimate goal is to fuse with Vaatu and become the Dark Avatar, ushering in ten-thousand years of darkness with himself as the ruler of humanity. |
| 1003 | * GoodPowersBadPeople: Not as pronounced as Zaheer, but still, he is a Waterbending master with an affinity for the spiritual, who specializes in appeasing and purging Dark Spirits. Doesn't prevent him from working with this universe's GodOfEvil and trying to become TheAntichrist. |
| 1004 | * GoodShepherd: He's the verse's equivalent of a priest and he's big on fasting, meditation, and other self-discipline practices and he can calm angry spirits and send them back to the Spirit World. However, all thus turned out to be an excuse for executing his final plan. |
| 1005 | * TheHeavy: While the Dark Spirits and Vaatu are the overriding {{Big Bad}}s of the season, Unalaq is the more direct threat. Since Vaatu can't do anything until he's free, the leg-work is left to Unalaq. Although Vaatu was more powerful than him, Vaatu couldn't do much while being trapped. After Vaatu was released and they merged as one being, Unalaq commanded most of Vaatu's power even though their personalities coexisted at the same time. |
| 1006 | * TheHighKing: Unalaq is technically Chief of both tribes, but the South sees him as a mere figurehead to their council of elders. This creates quite a bit of friction when Unalaq decides to assert his authority by force. |
| 1007 | * HijackedDestiny: Manages to do this indirectly to Korra, by virtue of killing the spirit that gives the Avatar their power and merging with the spirits opposite spirit. |
| 1008 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: He's ultimately defeated by his own spirit-bending technique. More subtly, it is also Unalaq's own previous advise to Korra to "find the light in the dark" that makes her realise she can extract Raava from within Vaatu. |
| 1009 | * HolierThanThou: Gives off vibes of this when he is ranting about the Southern Tribe lacking in spirituality. Then he calls in the troops to take over the Southern Tribe in order help them spiritually, though his subsequent actions end up belying that claim. This extends to the entire world in general, as he believes that the Avatar has failed in maintaining balance by keeping spirits out and intends to personally rectify that problem. |
| 1010 | * HostageForMacGuffin: Forced Korra to open the portal by threatening to destroy Jinora's soul. |
| 1011 | * HumanoidAbomination: After becoming the Dark Avatar by fusing with Vaatu, then destroying Raava, they go OneWingedAngel and become a giant, humanoid Vaatu. |
| 1012 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 1013 | ** Talks about spiritual balance, yet he caused a spiritual imbalance in the North in order to get Tonraq banished so that he could be chief. He also plans on releasing and merging with Vaatu to become the new Avatar, but in this case he still believes he can bring balance, just [[AmbitionIsEvil under his tyrannical rule]]. |
| 1014 | ** He had also treated his children coldly, yet he had the nerve to call Tenzin a bad father for letting Jinora be Korra's guide into the spirit world. Jinora calls him out on this. To be fair to him, his children are adults when he sends them on risky assignments, whereas Jinora is just a little girl (though leaving his son to die made things less fair). |
| 1015 | ** He accuses Korra of causing chaos when he's trying to release the spirit of chaos and is deliberately corrupting spirits to further his plans. |
| 1016 | ** Book 4 reveals that the spirits were forced to serve him thanks to Vaatu, showing that despite his supposed respect for spirits, he has no problems enslaving them for his goals. |
| 1017 | * InformedAttribute: He's treated as having been genuinely well-intentioned before his flaws and Vaatu's influence twisted him into the NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist he was. Given the earliest we see of Unalaq was him betraying his bother by baiting him into destroying a spirt forest, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite Unalaq's reverence for spirits]], using the disaster to usurp the throne, we don't have much to support that. |
| 1018 | * {{Irony}}: He sought to fuse with Vaatu and break down the barrier between the spirit world and material world so humans and spirits could coexist. After Korra beat him, she decided he had a point and left the portals open, allowing the two worlds to connect once more. |
| 1019 | * ItsAllAboutMe: Unalaq doesn't just want to see his ideals realized, he wants to be the one to realize them, and if he has to use and hurt even his own family and the very spirits he claims to respect, so be it. [[spoiler:While the Red Lotus shared his goals, fusing with Vaatu was not part of the plan. Ultimately, they were just one more step to achieving what he believes is his destiny. Zaheer himself calls it a selfish goal]]. |
| 1020 | * IWantThemAlive: When he sends [[CoDragons Desna and Eska]] to capture Korra he explicitly reminds Eska that he needs Korra ''alive''. Given Eska's [[AxCrazy current]] {{Yandere}} [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge state]] this is a very smart move. He was none too pleased when he found that the Avatar was presumed dead. |
| 1021 | * {{Jerkass}}: When you take the opportunity at a Southern Water Tribe festival being held in your honor to complain about their lack of spirituality, and ultimately lying about it, you qualify for this. [[spoiler:That and also betraying comrades to your mortal enemies]]. |
| 1022 | * JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: All his supposed compassion and care is an act put on to keep Korra from turning on him. |
| 1023 | * KarmicDeath: After countless atrocities, Unalaq is finally done in by the own spirit pacification technique. |
| 1024 | * KnightOfCerebus: A case where a villain gets darker as the season progresses. He started off as a {{Jerkass}} HolierThanThou at the outset of the season, but as his true colors are revealed, the season begins to take a darker turn. And when he fuses with Vaatu, things really get dire. |
| 1025 | * KnightTemplar: Initially, he was showed as a fundamentalist antagonist who wanted to unite the water tribes and bring balance... at any cost. Indeed, the last part of his goal is actually true. He plans to fuse with Vaatu to become the Dark Avatar, then use that power to rejoin the human and spirit worlds, restoring balance to both. He sincerely believes in his rhetoric, even if to a truly horrifying extreme. |
| 1026 | * LeanAndMean: To contrast his brother's HeroicBuild. |
| 1027 | * LeaveHimToMe: When Desna and Eska move to engage Tonraq, he tells them to back off, wishing to fight his brother himself. |
| 1028 | * LightIsNotGood: Is a self-righteous preacher that can infuse water with bright golden light and appease spirits... who launches a mass scale invasion to force his ideals on his Southern brethren, and who set his brother up to be banished, and framed him as having taken part in an assassination attempt on Unalaq, using a judge who was working for him to ensure Tonraq got a conviction. His powers most certainly don't reflect his personality, aside from his spirituality. |
| 1029 | * LightningBruiser: As befiting a master waterbender, Unalaq moves fast (when he does move) and hits very hard. |
| 1030 | * MakingASplash: He is a master waterbender. |
| 1031 | * ManipulativeBastard: |
| 1032 | ** He plays on Korra's uncertainty in her role as the Avatar, using a mixture of flattery and guilt to convince her into going along with his plans, even when she doesn't agree with them. After an attempt to kidnap him is traced back to Korra's parents, the ''de facto'' leaders of the loyal opposition, he rigs their trial so that her father is (incorrectly) found guilty and sentenced to death. He then "convinces" the judge to reduce the sentence to life imprisonment, thus appearing reasonable and merciful. |
| 1033 | ** He also does this to [[spoiler:the Red Lotus, giving them the idea to kidnap Korra and train her themselves. Though they share the same idea of balance, Unalaq has greater plans and is simply using the Red Lotus to realize them]]. |
| 1034 | * TheMentor: To Korra in Book Two... at least for the first few episodes. |
| 1035 | * MomentKiller: He has a bad habit of cutting into otherwise heartwarming moments. |
| 1036 | * MookMaker: He can corrupt spirits, which will then do his bidding. |
| 1037 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Korra learns to copy his spirit pacification technique after watching him perform it a few times, which proves to be his undoing when she uses it to defeat him and Vaatu in their OneWingedAngel form. In addition, his needless attempt to screw over Tonraq only served to alienate Korra before she had opened both spirit portals, causing him a whole lot more grief than he needed to deal with. |
| 1038 | * NoOntologicalInertia: Subverted. As part of his new world order, Unalaq covered Republic City in spirit vines. Though he's stopped, these vines continue to be a problem in Book 3, since not even Korra can figure out how to get rid of them and their presence is seriously affecting city infrastructure. It's not until ''years'' after he's gone that they've been incorporated into the architecture by [[MegaCorp Future Industries]]. |
| 1039 | * NotEvenHuman: After his monstrous transformation after fusing with Vaatu. This is probably why the show got away with killing him. |
| 1040 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: The outset of the season portrays him as a fundamentalist {{Jerkass}} with a HolierThanThou attitude towards things, but not outwardly malicious. The rest of the season, however, sees him jump off the tracks and head into OmnicidalManiac territory real fast. |
| 1041 | * NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: The only BigBad of ''The Legend Of Korra'' who qualifies (not including Vaatu, who is evil incarnate itself). He wants to unleash the spirits and is willing to cause a civil war and destroy any relations with his family to do it. Korra rightfully calls out that he doesn't truly care about uniting the material and spirit worlds. It seems any point or good intention he ever had became a sham when his desire for more power got the better of him. Even his [[VillainHasAPoint point]] is more incidental to his thirst for power compared to the other villains who still [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely believed in their cause]] no matter how DrunkOnTheDarkSide they got. If Zaheer, an actual Well-Intentioned Extremist, is calling you selfish, you know he's subverted. |
| 1042 | * NotWorthKilling: It would be trivially easy for the North's forces to wipe out the Southern resistance, but Unalaq is content to leave them bottled up in one area while he dedicates the majority of his resources to securing the spirit portal. He doesn't kill Tonraq after beating him down since he's not worth killing and he wants to gloat. With few exceptions, he doesn't resort to killing his enemies [[FateWorseThanDeath because he'd rather keep them around suffer by watching him bask in victory]]. |
| 1043 | * ObviouslyEvil: He has a LeanAndMean VillainousCheekbones appearance and shares a lot of traits with Tarrlok and Fire Lords Sozin and Ozai. This made TheReveal as an enemy a lot less surprising as a result, except everyone pretty much underestimated how cruel he could get. Even in-universe, Tenzin was wary of him, but didn't think he would go so far. |
| 1044 | * OhCrap: Has this expression when Tonraq is only inches away from punching him in the face. He manages to waterbend Tonraq away before the hit lands, though. |
| 1045 | * OmnicidalManiac: His entire endgame is to fuse with Vaatu and become the Dark Avatar to plunge the entire Earth into darkness for the next 10,000 years to remake it in his image. |
| 1046 | * OneWingedAngel: When Raava is destroyed, he and Vaatu turn into a giant, humanoid version of Vaatu. |
| 1047 | * OneWorldOrder: He plans to fuse with Vaatu and create a world where there are no nations, just humans and spirits united under his "new world order". |
| 1048 | * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: He orders his children to stop attacking Tonraq so he could beat him himself. |
| 1049 | * OpenMindedParent: Unalaq might be a jerk in any number of ways, but he is at least unexpectedly tolerant of his children's eccentricities for such a generally conservative guy. He obviously allowed Eska to study combat waterbending (which is [[StayInTheKitchen not the norm for girls]] in their society), and never mocks or otherwise troubles Desna for his [[DudeLooksLikeALady unconventional style]]. |
| 1050 | * ParentalNeglect: He isn't openly or outright abusive, but his children seem afraid of him and he cares very little for them beyond their usefulness to him. When trying to breach the Northern portal with their help, he shows no concern when Desna is injured by the backlash from a failed attempt, though to be fair, part of it was due to Unalaq knowing [[YouHaveFailedMe Vaatu might kill him for failing to produce results]]. Tonraq's attempt to appeal to Unalaq's PapaWolf mentality likewise falls on deaf ears. |
| 1051 | * PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler:He was well aware of how dangerous P’Li is, and knew darn well she could easily jeopardize his his whole plan. Considering he sold the Red Lotus out to the White Lotus, he had every reason to believe she’d have it out for him and could threaten his position, so he made sure she’s locked up far up the Tundra to ensure she’d be no threat to him]]. |
| 1052 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: He's no slouch in combat, easily besting his brother one-on-one and later handily defeating both Mako and Bolin in 15 seconds. |
| 1053 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Though his decisions fell more into PragmaticVillainy. Years ago, when the Red Lotus were causing trouble, he helped Zuko by creating the secret prison to hold P'Li. He even kept it a secret from everyone, including his own children. [[spoiler:Then it turns out he was just using them for his own ends, and it was in his best interests to keep them locked up]]. In the present, he tries to invoke this to stay on Korra's good side, but it falls apart quickly. |
| 1054 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He chews out the Southern Tribe for its spiritual decay and decadence in the middle of a banquet in his honor, saying it is their fault the spirits are attacking. Ultimately, his words were nothing but excuses for his real cause. In fact, [[SubvertedTrope he was actually behind the attacks. He's not trying to stop them, but rather, the opposite]]. |
| 1055 | * RebelliousRebel: In a sense. [[spoiler:The Red Lotus was itself a RenegadeSplinterFaction of individuals who rebelled against the Order of the White Lotus and whose purpose was in direct opposition to them, but Unalaq had greater goals which the Red Lotus wouldn't have approved of, and he used them as so to achieve this. When they failed, he then left them to rot.]] |
| 1056 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: As the Dark Avatar, his eyes glow in a fiery red light when he uses his version of the Avatar State. |
| 1057 | * ReligiousBruiser: Unalaq is deeply in tune with spirituality and unlike his brother has a deep respect for the Spirit World and their culture's connection to it. He's also one of the most skilled and powerful waterbenders and martial artists in the series, rivalled only by the likes of [[spoiler:Amon]], Tarrlok, Ming-Hua, Katara and Korra herself. Even up against seasoned benders like his brother Tonraq, Mako and Bolin, he can easily kick their asses. |
| 1058 | * TheResenter: His brother was next in line to become Chief, so he set him up to be banished in order to take the position for himself. |
| 1059 | * ReviveKillsZombie: On account of being fused with Vaatu, when he fell prey to it. |
| 1060 | * SiblingYinYang: Unlike his older brother, Unalaq is ambitious, focused on spiritual concerns, and feels driven to lead his people. |
| 1061 | * SlasherSmile: Shows a nasty one often after freeing Vaatu, and displays it again when beating Raava to death. Even before that, he's smirking like a madman when he threatens Jinora. |
| 1062 | * TheSociopath: Another trait he shares with Fire Lord Ozai: Unalaq displays a distinct lack of empathy towards anyone, including his own brother and children, callously manipulates anyone he needs to, is completely self-centred and arrogant, and has virtually no regard for the lives of anyone beyond their usefulness to him. |
| 1063 | * StupidEvil: Unalaq might have succeeded were it not for his petty desire to screw over Tonraq. Doing that turned Korra against him before he could complete his plan. His heavy-handed invasion of the south didn't do him any favors, either. If the intent was to make sure no one entered the portal and found Vaatu, he could have easily sent his men to guard just the portal, or summon dark spirits from the portal, as opposed to a full-blown occupation. |
| 1064 | * SuperMode: As the Dark Avatar, he has his own Avatar State which has glowing red eyes. |
| 1065 | * ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil: This appears to be the explanation for why his villainy increased so dramatically over the course of the story. Initially, he was at least a sort of well-intentioned KnightTemplar, whereas the end showed him a rampaging OmnicidalManiac, as his association with Vaatu gradually drove him insane. |
| 1066 | * TheUnfettered: He will bring about unity between spirits and humans by any means necessary, no matter who or what he has to sacrifice to do so. |
| 1067 | * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Desna and Eska (in "Peacekeepers") draw such a reaction from him at a meeting. Desna betrays nothing out of the ordinary, but Eska appears in a disheveled bridal gown and with [[YourMakeupIsRunning her usual makeup badly smeared]]. You'd think her father would at least ask her what happened. |
| 1068 | * VillainHasAPoint: Korra agrees with him that the Avatar wasn't meant to be a bridge between the spirit and human worlds and that Wan may have made a mistake when he sealed off the spirit portals, so she leaves them open after he and Vaatu are defeated and resolves to find a way for humans and spirits to live together in harmony. |
| 1069 | * VillainousCheekbones: Has very pronounced cheekbones, and he's not the nicest guy. |
| 1070 | * VillainousBreakdown: Has one when Korra reawakens Raava and extracts her. |
| 1071 | * VillainousLegacy: Despite being the BigBad only in Book 2, almost every event in the entire ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' series can be traced back to him. |
| 1072 | ** He tricked Tonraq into becoming a disgrace with his family, resulting him becoming chief of the Northern Water tribe despite not being his birthright (this would allow him to gain territorial control over the Spirit Portals en route to his encounter with Vaatu). |
| 1073 | ** Then, [[spoiler:he aligns with the Red Lotus and orchestrated the kidnapping of Korra when she was a child in hopes of bringing her to Vaatu, but was able to avoid capture after he betrayed Zaheer and co. and ordered their imprisonment]]. |
| 1074 | ** Still, [[spoiler:his attempted kidnapping]] is what led to Korra's family and the White Lotus being overprotective of Korra and keeping her in the South Pole. |
| 1075 | ** Then, the events of Book 2 happens, with Unalaq playing a critical role in Harmonic Convergence by releasing Vaatu — which leads to a series of events where a vast amount of spiritual energy results in non-benders suddenly able to receive the power of airbending — including Zaheer. |
| 1076 | ** And finally, there's the domino effect of Zaheer's campaign culminating in the Rise of Kuvira. |
| 1077 | * VisionaryVillain: He intends to change the world. He plans to do this by releasing Vaatu and fusing with him to become a Dark Avatar, in order to create a world where there is no barrier between the spirit world and the material world. |
| 1078 | * WhiteMagic: Engages in a holy form of waterbending that allows him to pacify spirits by turning negative energy into positive energy. The water also glows with golden light. Becomes a case of GoodPowersBadPeople after TheReveal. He has a BlackMagic variation on this ability which infuses dark energy instead of light, which can kill human souls if used on them. |
| 1079 | * WouldHurtAChild: |
| 1080 | ** Threatens to wipe out Jinora's soul in the Spirit World to force Korra to open the Northern portal, and then condemns her to the [[PsychologicalTormentZone Fog of Lost Souls]] after said portal is opened. |
| 1081 | ** [[spoiler:As part of the Red Lotus, he was the one to suggest the plan to kidnap Korra as a child. While they (seemingly) were genuine in their desire to train her under their ideals, his plans for her would have brought harm to her eventually.]] |
| 1082 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He tells Korra this when she thinks he needs her to open the northern spirit portal because she was needed to open the southern one. He's actually lying, but he thinks it will help him control her, which backfires. Later played straight in "A New Spiritual Age": as soon as Korra opens the second portal, Unalaq tries to erase her soul. [[spoiler:He also did this to the Red Lotus, leaving them to rot in jail after they failed to kidnap Korra.]] |
| 1083 | * YoungestChildWins: Was second in line for the North's chieftainship, but became first in line for the throne after Tonraq's banishment. Turns out that this case of the trope involved cheating on the part of the youngest child, however. |
| 1084 | [[/folder]] |
| 1085 | |
| 1086 | [[folder:Desna and Eska]] |
| 1087 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/desna_and_eska_56.png]] |
| 1088 | [[caption-width-right:350:"We will never turn on our father."]] |
| 1089 | [[caption-width-right:350:Eska is on the left ([[IdenticalTwinIDTag note hair decs]]) and Desna on the right.]] |
| 1090 | |
| 1091 | Korra's twin cousins and Unalaq's children. Desna is the boy and Eska is the girl. |
| 1092 | ---- |
| 1093 | !!Tropes that apply to both twins |
| 1094 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: |
| 1095 | ** When they are pressed into trying to open the spirit portal and Desna is injured, Eska shows she cares more for him than she does for aiding her father's ambitions. |
| 1096 | ** Not quite love but definitely a better relationship then before: in the finale, Eska uses Bolin's name ("NOT MY BOLIN!") and when they part she calls him "my turtle-duck" instead of "my '''feeble''' turtle-duck". |
| 1097 | * BigDamnHeroes: When Bolin was getting swarmed by dark spirits, he gets a timely rescue from the twins. |
| 1098 | * BigGood: After their father's death, they become the chiefs - and this trope - of the Northern Water Tribe. |
| 1099 | * BreakTheHaughty: Eska gives this impression at the end of "Civil Wars, Part 2" when we see her chasing the boat Bolin is on looking like she is about to kill him. |
| 1100 | * CannotTellAJoke: Eska appears to think an insincere statement followed by an [[DontExplainTheJoke explanation of how it is insincere]] is side-splitting sarcasm. Desna apparently agrees with her. The sarcasm itself arguably works; it's her delivery that fails. |
| 1101 | * CharacterDevelopment: |
| 1102 | ** Eska maturely decides that she and Bolin were not meant to be together at the end of Book 2. |
| 1103 | ** It takes a while, but Desna finally manages to realize what type of person his father is, and [[BlindObedience lets go of his blind loyalty to him]] just in time to help protect Korra in the finale. |
| 1104 | * CharacterFocus: Out of the two of them, Eska has gotten the lion's share of character development, while Desna was mostly there for CreepyTwins jokes and to act as extra muscle for the bad guys. |
| 1105 | * CoDragons: They become this to their father in "Peacekeepers". "Harmonic Convergence" reveals that he also leaves the minutiae of organizing his army to them when he knows that a battle is coming. |
| 1106 | * TheComicallySerious: Both of them are hilariously deadpan to everything. |
| 1107 | * CreepyMonotone: How they both talk. As a result, it's even hard to tell if they are sarcastic or serious. It's even present when they ''[[TheUnsmile laugh]].'' |
| 1108 | * CreepyTwins: They're described as "androgynous creepy twins" by the writers. Korra echoes this sentiment. |
| 1109 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Desna and Eska look like they stand around and do nothing but be creepy, but in "Peacekeepers" they're able to fight Korra as a team and hold their own (before a Dark Spirit interrupted). |
| 1110 | * CulturalRebel: Given that the Water Tribe has otherwise been shown to have the strictest sex roles and division of labor of all the major nations, their androgyny qualifies for this. Made explicit with Eska and her courtship of Bolin, with Korra commenting that in their culture, it's usually the ''boy'' who is supposed to do the proposing. |
| 1111 | * DanceBattler: Their fighting style includes a lot of acrobatics. |
| 1112 | * EmotionlessGirl: They don't seem to be given to emotion. Even when jealous of Bolin hugging Korra, Eska doesn't break from her usual [[CreepyMonotone monotone]] (though she does raise her voice ever-so-slightly). |
| 1113 | * EasilyForgiven: Despite being accomplices to their father's plans and even attempting to murder their cousin, both of them are forgiven by Korra and the others fairly easily. On the other hand, ''they'' also forgive Korra for ''actually'' killing their father, so at least it's mutual. |
| 1114 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: |
| 1115 | ** When Desna gets injured during Unalaq's attempt to open the Spirit Portal without the Avatar, Eska defies her father's order so she can take him back to the real world and have him healed. |
| 1116 | ** They also apparently [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas really care about their mother]], seeing as the only thing bugging them about their father's death is how they'll break the news to her. |
| 1117 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 1118 | ** Despite being eager to kill her first cousin, Eska does seem to care a lot about her brother. She thought he was much more important than trying to help her father. |
| 1119 | ** Averted with Desna; when he does find out about his father's plan to release Vaatu, he believed his father even when Eska seemed to be having doubts. Later on, he and Eska decide that there was nothing to gain from serving Vaatu. |
| 1120 | * EvilDuo: After Eska goes crazy, she and her brother become this trope, with Eska as the Id and Desna as the Superego. |
| 1121 | * FlechetteStorm: They use a version of this with ice needles in their battle against Ming-Hua. |
| 1122 | * HalfIdenticalTwins: One is a boy and the other a girl, but they still look very similar. Bolin even thinks they're ''both'' girls at first. |
| 1123 | * HeelFaceTurn: The two show slight hesitation and reluctance to some of their father's orders, but still believe he was doing what is best for all. Bolin's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove turns Eska around, at which point they let Mako and Bolin escape. They swear Unalaq off for good when they witness his transformation into the monstrous Unavaatu, and don't even care when he dies. In Book 3, they aid Tonraq and Zuko in trying to prevent P'Li's escape. They're beaten, but at least they tried. |
| 1124 | * IdenticalTwinIDTag: A few. |
| 1125 | ** Desna's coat has a straight hem. Eska's has a V shape. |
| 1126 | ** Desna has wide leggings, while Eska has narrow ones. |
| 1127 | ** Eska has blue hair ties and eye makeup, neither of which Desna wears. |
| 1128 | ** Eska's jaw line is an angular V-shape, whereas Desna's is a flatter U-shape. |
| 1129 | ** Eska's hair is just ''slightly'' longer than Desna's, and she wears beads on each side of it. |
| 1130 | * IncestSubtext: In Republic City, a hotel staff member apologizes to them, believing that there has been a mistake: they've been booked for a single room with [[ThereIsOnlyOneBed only one bed]]. Eska tells him that no mistake has been made. (She follows it up by saying that Desna sleeps in the tub but glances at the [[FourthWall fourth wall]] immediately after.) |
| 1131 | * InformedAttribute: According to the promotional material, Desna and Eska look down on Korra for her unspiritual Southern Water Tribe culture. This is never even hinted at in the show, where they always treat her courteously.[[note]]Well, except when Eska is briefly [[GreenEyedMonster crazy with jealousy]] for thinking she stole her boyfriend from her, but this is obviously unrelated to any cultural pretensions.[[/note]] |
| 1132 | * {{Jerkass}}: They come across as condescending, but Eska especially rubs people the wrong way, due to her insistence in bossing Bolin around. |
| 1133 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Both do have a human side, which they show only to each other. Plus, before they make an official HeelFaceTurn, the twins did have misgivings about their father's demands. |
| 1134 | * KarmaHoudini: Well, they [[EnemyMine joined the good guys]] for the fight against the dark spirits, but from what we see in later episodes, they never really dropped their LackOfEmpathy and assorted villainous characteristics, nor did they appear sorry about any of it. Still, they became the rulers of the Water Tribe, and remained in that position when last seen. They ''do'' at least suffer a humiliating defeat against Ming-Hua, who [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] them despite being outnumbered. |
| 1135 | * ALighterShadeOfBlack: In comparison to [[spoiler:Vaatu]]. |
| 1136 | * LightningBruiser: They hit hard, they hit fast, and when on large stretches of water like the ocean or the snow-covered South Pole, they can use a waterbending technique that makes them go faster than a speed-boat or a plane. |
| 1137 | * MakingASplash: They're both Waterbenders. |
| 1138 | * MoralityPet: Eska and Desna are this to each other. They listen, respect, and genuinely love each other, while acting like jerks to others. |
| 1139 | * NoSocialSkills: It's implied very heavily that they don't know how to interact with other people other than family members. Eska actually ''hissed'' at Bolin when he first talked to her. |
| 1140 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: Especially Eska. She was first shown as merely a creepy {{Jerkass}} princess with comedic flaws. After Bolin ditched her, she later works up to becoming one of the most dangerous villains, as Korra finds out in "Peacekeepers". In the final act of the season, they (besides Vaatu's Dark Spirits) tend to be key to Unalaq's plans by removing threats that neither him nor his army could take out. |
| 1141 | * PsychoticSmirk: They share one at the royal audience in their third season episode. |
| 1142 | * RoyalBrat: Both of them look down on Korra's Southern Water Tribe heritage, thinking she is a "rube", despite being the Avatar (and their cousin). After Harmonic Convergence, they're square. |
| 1143 | * RunOrDie: As they lack their father's training in the spiritual arts, when they see a dark spirit coming after Korra over open water, they keep away from the fight until it is over. |
| 1144 | * SiblingsShareTheThrone: In Book 3 they're shown to rule the Northern Water Tribe as co-chieftains after Unalaq's death, and they're kind of bored with it. |
| 1145 | * SingleMindedTwins: Both have the same emotionless and snarky personality. |
| 1146 | * SlouchOfVillainy: When they are reintroduced as co-rulers of the Water Tribes on their thrones in Book 3. Played with, in that they are more anti-heroic than strictly villainous by then. |
| 1147 | * SpockSpeak: They frequently engage in this. In fact, most of their lines are delivered in a eerie monotone. |
| 1148 | * StealthHiBye: They're good enough to pull this on Bolin and Mako at the end of Book 2. |
| 1149 | * ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: Since it takes ''very'' serious business to disturb their perpetual deadpan, they sometimes have to spell out their emotions to make themselves understood. |
| 1150 | * ThemeTwinNaming: They are named after rivers. Desna is a river in Russia and Ukraine that flows into the Dnieper. Eska is a river in southern Alaska. |
| 1151 | * TokenEvilTeammate: Among the world's leaders, after becoming the new chiefs of the Northern Water Tribe. Their reaction upon learning they have a secret ice prison is to be chagrined they didn't know about it sooner so they could be throwing people into it. |
| 1152 | * TwinTelepathy: The two of them are able to communicate from just glances without speaking. |
| 1153 | * UndyingLoyalty: To their father, whom they followed loyally (albeit with increasing doubts) even after his villainy became overt, to the point of defending him before Korra. It took him being literally possessed by a demon to cut their bonds of loyalty. |
| 1154 | * VictoryIsBoring: Now that they both rule the Northern Water Tribe, neither of them enjoys their new positions and would rather be fighting. They're more than willing to drop everything when they learn Zaheer is on the way to break P'Li out. |
| 1155 | * TheWorfEffect: In Book 2, Tonraq loses to them, and they manage to beat Mako and Bolin. In Book 3, new villain Ming-Hua beats both of them with practically no effort, proving to be the superior waterbender. |
| 1156 | |
| 1157 | !!Eska |
| 1158 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AubreyPlaza |
| 1159 | |
| 1160 | * AllTakeAndNoGive: Eska takes advantage of Bolin's attraction to her and turns him into a servant for herself and her brother. Deconstructed, as he quickly wants out of the relationship. Eventually, Eska stuck out for him in the end. |
| 1161 | * AmicableExes: Eska and Bolin decide to be this at the end. By ''The Coronation'', Eska apparently does not mind Bolin finding another girlfriend (actually that was his boss, but it's the same for her). |
| 1162 | * AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Eska tries to force Bolin to marry her when even she recognizes that he wants out of the relationship. |
| 1163 | * AxCrazy: Eska's insanity rivals ''Azula's'' after being rejected. Though she seems to have calmed down by the episode "The Sting". However, she still maintained a grudge towards Bolin. |
| 1164 | * BattleCouple: {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Bolin. They fought together after briefly rekindling their relationship, but both decide to amicable break-up. |
| 1165 | * TheChiefsDaughter: Eska is the daughter of the chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe and thus essentially a princess like Yue. |
| 1166 | * ClassicVillain: Eska has come to represent Envy, Wrath, and Lust after Bolin "rejected" her. |
| 1167 | * ClingyJealousGirl: Eska. Her reaction to Bolin hugging Korra was to restrain him in ice and drag him back to her. She later remarks that Korra "stole" Bolin from her, blaming her cousin for the entire thing. |
| 1168 | -->'''Eska:''' "Why are you initiating physical contact with another woman?" |
| 1169 | * CompositeCharacter: Eska can be seen as a mix of Mai and Azula from the previous series. A regal princess who is completely socially inept to the point of stoicism. She's completely deadpan quiet and monotone until she's furious in which she'll use her amazing mastery of waterbending to avenge slights against her ala Azula did in "The Beach". |
| 1170 | * DarkActionGirl: One of the CoDragons to the BigBad and a very lethal waterbender in her own right. |
| 1171 | * DeclarationOfProtection: Eska tells Bolin she will protect him after he becomes afraid of dark spirits... in her own way. |
| 1172 | -->'''Eska:''' "I will protect you, my feeble turtle duck." |
| 1173 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Eska, pun intended; it happens when Bolin apologizes for ditching her during her wedding. Bolin's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove caused Eska to defrost -- both literally (she had trapped him in ice) and figuratively. |
| 1174 | * DomesticAbuse: She treats Bolin like a servant. |
| 1175 | * {{Dominatrix}}: She considers "boyfriend" and "slave" synonyms, while her engagement gift for Bolin is a BDSM collar. |
| 1176 | * TheDreaded: To Bolin, who is terrified of her. |
| 1177 | * FourthDateMarriage: Eska forcibly makes Bolin her fiancé and declares they will be married at sunset. Bolin runs. Very fast. |
| 1178 | * {{Irony}}: Female waterbenders before Eska's time were traditionally restricted to being healers and not fighters. Eska herself can fight, but doesn't know how to heal. |
| 1179 | * LaughWithMe: Eska's idiosyncratic humor will be understood without prompting by Desna, but few others. Once, she has to instruct Bolin to laugh along. |
| 1180 | -->"Bolin! Laugh at my humorous quip." |
| 1181 | * {{Leitmotif}}: Not so much of Eska's alone, but her and Bolin's. A ScareChord is heard whenever Bolin's scared of her. Which is to say, often. |
| 1182 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Eska is the Masculine Girl (a domineering, fearless, take-charge girl) to Bolin's Feminine Boy (emotional, sensitive, kind of wimpy boy). |
| 1183 | * MathematiciansAnswer: When Eska said she would make Bolin hers, he asked if as a boyfriend or slave. She just said yes. Turns out there's little distinction between the two in her eyes. |
| 1184 | * MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Eska is the one we've seen speak more frequently and the one more likely to make demands. She's also the one more prone to hunting down men who break up with her. It is, however, possible that Eska only seems more verbose than her brother because she's given more attention, being the one dating Bolin. Both seem to be equally competent fighters. |
| 1185 | * NeverMyFault: She drives Bolin away from her pretty quickly with her overly controlling and abusive behavior, something she does not acknowledge or take responsibility for. After Bolin dumps her in "Civil Wars", she immediately blames Korra for stealing her boyfriend from her in "Peacekeepers", since they escaped on the same boat together, and goes after her in a jealous rage. Even after her HeelFaceTurn in Book 3, she describes their break-up to Lord Zuko as Korra ruining her wedding. |
| 1186 | * NightmareFace: Eska gets a rather terrifying one after Bolin tries to ditch her. Even Unalaq's commander was freaked out. |
| 1187 | * NightmareFetishist: she claims to enjoy the sweet scent of desperation. |
| 1188 | * NotSoStoic: Eska takes Bolin breaking up with her... poorly. In a more down-to-earth example, when Desna is injured while they're trying to open the Northern spirit portal, she shows immediate concern, even ignoring Unalaq's orders so she can get Desna to a healer. |
| 1189 | * OppositesAttract: Bolin attempts to start a relationship with Eska, Despite the fact that Bolin himself is BigFun (in every sense of the trope) and that Eska has all the warmth and charm of a glacier. Though the "attract" part disappears rather quickly. [[{{Yandere}} At least, from Bolin's side.]] Reconstructed in the Book 2 finale, where he admitted he always loved Eska, but just felt too overwhelmed by the thought of marriage. |
| 1190 | * PitbullDatesPuppy: Eska quickly shows herself to be domineering, possessive and insensitive to Bolin's feelings. Bolin, for his part, is too intimidated by her to ever stand up for himself or breakup with her. This hits its peak when Eska tries to bully Bolin into marrying her with Bolin only responding by sobbing at the prospect then fleeing as soon as the opportunity presented itself. |
| 1191 | * PowerBornOfMadness: After becoming an AxeCrazy {{Yandere}} Eska comes off as far more vicious and dangerous than her brother. |
| 1192 | * PsychoExGirlfriend: Eska already showed {{Yandere}} tendencies before Bolin broke up with her and left her at the altar, but after the break up she completely drops her emotionless personality and becomes a full-blown AxCrazy WomanScorned out for her cousin for "stealing her husband". |
| 1193 | * PsychopathicWomanchild: Eska's behavior after Bolin's leaving her (and her behavior before when you realize she seems to have actual feelings for him) has revealed that underneath her icy exterior she does have something in common with him--she is a rather sheltered individual with a fairly childish view of the world. Unfortunately, where Bolin's [[ChildrenAreInnocent childishness is sweet and innocent]], [[ChildrenAreCruel hers is domineering and insane...]] |
| 1194 | * RedOniBlueOni: Eska has shifted into being the Red Oni after being rejected by Bolin, leaving Desna as Blue Oni and OnlySaneMan. |
| 1195 | * TookALevelInKindness: After Bolin apologizes to Eska for ditching her, Eska and Bolin were able to reaffirm their feelings for each other, and she and Desna join the heroes later on (albeit late to the party), and commend their cousin for defeating their father. Then they both reach the conclusion that the whole thing was just something caused by the heat of the moment; Eska breaks up with Bolin on good terms, saying he's still special to her. |
| 1196 | * UptownGirl: Bolin starts pursuing a romance with Eska, who, as the daughter of the chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe, is essentially a princess. |
| 1197 | * ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: When she protects Bolin from dark spirits. |
| 1198 | * WellExcuseMePrincess: Eska sees Bolin as an uncultured man and by the way she treats him, he wonders whether she sees him as a boyfriend or slave. Eventually deconstructed, as the relationship is unhealthy, Eska treats Bolin like an object (and plans to take him home to the Northern Water Tribe without asking), and Bolin wants out desperately. |
| 1199 | * WomanScorned: Bolin skipped town on his wedding to Eska and [[UnstoppableRage she is pissed]]. Granted, he didn't want to get married in the first place, but he still ran away without confronting her, so you can kinda see how that might upset someone. |
| 1200 | * {{Yandere}}: Eska is one woman you ''don't'' want to see scorned. She informs Bolin that should he try to break-up with her, she will freeze him in a block of ice and feed him to dolphin-piranhas. And when he does break up with her... [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/615/147/f98.gif she looks ready to commit murder.]] Later, when their father tells the twins he wants Korra found alive, Eska showed visible disappointment. But by the episode Harmonic Convergence, she seems to have gotten over it. |
| 1201 | * YourMakeupIsRunning: Eska while pursuing Bolin after he breaks off their engagement and it stays that way, until the episode The Sting. |
| 1202 | |
| 1203 | !!Desna |
| 1204 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AaronHimelstein |
| 1205 | |
| 1206 | * AgentPeacock: He is almost as pretty as his sister, Eska, to the point that Bolin develops a brief crush on ''both'' of the "lovely ladies" before Korra clarifies that one of them is, in fact, a young gentleman. He is also interested in fashion and fastidious about his clothes, which tend to be robe-like, and wears his hair long with a blunt fringe. Despite this, he is one of [[TheEmperor his father's]] most fearsome lieutenants once the gloves come off. |
| 1207 | * BlindObedience: Desna is confident that, no matter how bad his father's plan sounds, it can't possibly be for anything other than the greater good on the grounds that Unalaq is the wisest man Desna knows. He changes his mind after seeing part of it executed, though. |
| 1208 | * DeadpanSnarker: Desna shows some skill at this in "Civil Wars, Part 2". |
| 1209 | * DisproportionateRetribution: PlayedForLaughs. When they find out about the super secret ice prison, Desna comments that he wants to throw his tailor in there for messing up the sleeves on his coat. |
| 1210 | * DudeLooksLikeALady: Desna and Eska have nearly identical clothing and hairstyles, and at a glance, the only main difference is that Eska wears makeup and has hair decorations. Bolin even mistakes Desna for a girl in "Rebel Spirit". |
| 1211 | * HiddenDepths: According to supplemental material, Desna is a skilled tailor. |
| 1212 | * MeaningfulName: Desna means "right hand" in an old Slavic language. He's one of his father's right-hand men alongside Eska and he's very often placed on the right of his father whereas Eska tends to be on the left. |
| 1213 | * AnOddPlaceToSleep: In "The Coronation" we are told he sleeps in the bathtub. We aren't told if it's normal for him, or if it's just Eska claiming the only bed in the room for herself. In either case, it seems to suit his character. |
| 1214 | * OnlySaneMan: When compared to his dad and his sister, who are [[OmnicidalManiac trying to bring about the end of the world with Vaatu]] and [[{{Yandere}} is psychotically obsessed with Bolin]] respectively. |
| 1215 | * PrettyBoy: Desna is a definite pretty boy, so much that he's mistaken for a "lovely lady" by Bolin in "Rebel Spirits". |
| 1216 | * RealMenWearPink: It turns out that Desna happens to be good at tailoring. |
| 1217 | * SatelliteCharacter: Desna doesn't have much characterization outside of a couple snarky one-liners and that he is, at first, unfailingly loyal to his father. He's mostly just there to be the creepy twin along with his sister to make them both CreepyTwins. |
| 1218 | * TemptingFate: Desna dryly exclaims there's no way anyone could break out of his father's secret ice prison that he just found out about. Zuko cautiously warns him not to underestimate Zaheer and his cabal, reminding them of their breakouts. Desna learns this the hard way in the next episode. |
| 1219 | * WellDoneSonGuy: {{Implied|Trope}}. He thinks his father is the wisest man he's ever known and uses this as his reason for helping Unalaq fuse with Vaatu. However, he realizes his mistake in the end. |
| 1220 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Characters / TheLegendOfKorraEnemiesSeasons1And2
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
