Tropes A to H (Big Bad, Chekhov's Gun, Deconstructed Character Archetype, Foil, Foreshadowing, Hidden Depths) | Tropes I to P | Tropes Q to Z (Red Oni, Blue Oni, Running Gag, Ship Tease, Shout-Out, Shown Their Work, Wham Episode)
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Animation
Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Fire Lord Ozai is the overall Big Bad of the series, reigning as the supreme leader of the Fire Nation during the twilight of the Hundred Year War upon the Avatar returning from his 99-year sleep. He continues Sozin's and Azulon's legacies of Fire Nation imperialism, eventually coming close to world domination upon the arrival of Sozin's comet. While he doesn't play an active role until Season 3, his influence remains strong, with the first two seasons' Big Bads being his strongest subordinates who carry out the Fire Nation's conquests in his name. It's only fitting that he becomes the Final Boss for Avatar Aang, and his defeat marks the end of the Fire Nation being a ruthless empire and the beginning of a new era of peace with his son, Zuko, as the new Fire Lord.
- Season One: The exiled Prince Zuko is The Heavy as the most persistent member of the Fire Nation hunting the Avatar. However, his lack of favor with his father severely handicaps his efforts, putting him in a Big Bad Ensemble with the higher-ranked Admiral Zhao. Though Zuko more than makes up for the disparity in power through sheer determination, Zhao's greater resources mean he is a much more dangerous threat, culminating in him upstaging Zuko in the finale by attempting to assassinate the prince and kill the Moon Spirit in an invasion of the Northern Water Tribe.
- Season Two: Princess Azula takes over the hunt for the Avatar, her disgraced brother, and her treasonous uncle on top of leading the attack on Ba Sing Se. Long Feng, the leader of the Dai Li and the true power behind the Earth King's throne, is a secondary threat who schemes to maintain his control by keeping Ba Sing Se oblivious to the ongoing war, but he proves to be a Big Bad Wannabe when he loses the Dai Li to Azula after working with her to pull a coup.
- Season Three: Ozai finally enters the limelight, planning to use the power of Sozin's Comet to wipe out the Earth Kingdom. Azula remains The Dragon who foils the Gaang's invasion of the Fire Nation and personally clashes with them up until the Grand Finale, when she's made the new Fire Lord—although it's a title immediately made irrelevant when Ozai crowns himself Phoenix King. Fittingly, the climax of the series features dual confrontations with the two overarching villains of the show, with Aang facing down Ozai while Zuko and Katara challenge Azula.
- Season One: Amon is the mysterious leader of the Equalist movement working to rid the world of bending. Tarrlok, the son of the powerful bloodbending criminal Yakone, is a Corrupt Politician who exploits the Equalist threat to gain more power, but he's ultimately a Big Bad Wannabe whose schemes are quickly unraveled before his bending is taken by Amon. Amon's true identity is Tarrlok's brother Noatak, and his ability to remove bending is truthfully a specialized technique using the unique bloodbending inherited from their father.
- Season Two: Unalaq, Korra's Evil Uncle, is The Heavy who orchestrates the Dark Spirit attacks as an excuse to take over the Southern Water Tribe. Vaatu, the Evil Counterpart of the Avatar Spirit Raava, is his master whom he seeks to free and merge with into a "Dark Avatar". However, while Unalaq is ostensibly subordinate, his greater prominence in the plot and shared control over their fused state makes their alliance an informal Big Bad Duumvirate. Acting as a brief Arc Villain in the midst of this is Varrick, a businessman who starts a civil war between the Water Tribes for profit and tries to drag the United Republic into the conflict by kidnapping their president.
- Season Three: Zaheer is the leader of the Red Lotus, a group of anarchists out to remove world leaders and spread chaos across the world; they had previously sought to kidnap Korra as a child and use her to release Vaatu before being betrayed by Unalaq. Upon gaining airbending after Harmonic Convergence, Zaheer frees his three compatriots to capture Korra and destroy the Avatar Cycle for good. Earth Queen Hou-Ting is a Big Bad Wannabe forcibly conscripting the new airbenders in the Earth Kingdom into her service, but she's killed by Zaheer when she fails to deliver Korra to him in exchange for the location of the new Air Nomads.
- Season Four: Kuvira is a ward of Suyin who becomes a tyrannical dictator in her efforts to reunite the shattered Earth Kingdom in the aftermath of the Earth Queen's death, seizing power from Prince Wu to rechristen the nation as the Earth Empire. Kuvira goes on to weaponize spirit vines, ordering the construction of the Colossus mech to conquer the land "stolen" by the United Republic.
Comics
- The Last Airbender:
- The Promise: Ozai, of sorts; while the main conflict is a Good Versus Good situation between Zuko and Earth King Kuei, it's the fear of Zuko becoming like his father in his defence of the Fire Nation colonies (not helped by an imprisoned Ozai's "advice") that leads to the severe escalation of tensions.
- The Search: Azula, having gone off the deep end after her defeat, aids Zuko in his search for their mother only for the chance to kill her, intending to then usurp the Fire Nation throne using a letter that (falsely) proves Zuko isn't Ozai's true heir. Meanwhile, Ozai serves as the primary villain in the Flashback B-Plot that details how he forced Ursa into marrying him before exiling her, acting as the catalyst for all the comic's events.
- The Rift: General Old Iron is an ancient spirit who blames humans for the death of his fallen friend, Lady Tienhai, and seeks to destroy the local populace in retaliation. Although pacified centuries ago by Avatar Yangchen, the pollution from Corrupt Corporate Executive Loban's new refinery defiles the land while his illegal iron mine unearths the spirit's armor, angering him into returning to complete his revenge.
- Smoke and Shadow: Azula is the one behind the fake Kemurikage, usurping Ukano's New Ozai Society and kidnapping numerous children to create unrest and mold Zuko through conflict into becoming the Fire Lord she wants him to be.
- North and South: Gilak, a former friend of Hakoda, now leads a group of extremists out to drive foreigners from the Southern Water Tribe and kill those who would collaborate with them.
- Imbalance: Liling is the leader of a bender supremacist movement out to ruin nonbender-owned businesses and drive them out of Cranefish Town, fearing their growing prosperity and technological advancements will render benders obsolete.
- The Legend of Korra:
- Turf Wars: Tokuga is the new head of the Triple Threat Triads, initially hired by Corrupt Corporate Executive Wonyong Keum to intimidate the Air Nomads defending the new spirit portal. However, after getting mutated by a spirit he decides to take over Keum's company and use its resources to conquer Republic City.
- Ruins of the Empire: Commander Guan, a former subordinate of Kuvira, seizes power after her and Wu's abdications and plans to brainwash the kingdom into electing Earth Empire officials back into power.
Literature
- Kyoshi:
- The Rise of Kyoshi: Jianzhu, one of Avatar Kuruk's former companions, took up the slack of managing world affairs due to his friend's perceived laziness, and after his death becomes a Control Freak who will do anything to prevent the next Avatar from falling into Kuruk's failings. He puts Yun through grueling training after misidentifying him as the Avatar before leaving him to die to Kuruk's Arch-Enemy, the malevolent spirit Father Glowworm, and hunting down a runaway Kyoshi once he realizes his mistake.
- The Shadow of Kyoshi: Yun, driven insane after his near-death experience and subsequent consumption of Father Glowworm, sets out to kill everyone who supported Jianzhu and lied to him about being the Avatar, fanning the flames of a Civil War between Fire Lord Zoryu and his treacherous half-brother Chaejin as part of his schemes.
- Yangchen:
- The Dawn of Yangchen: Henshe is the Zongdu of Bin-Er who unleashes the three Unanimity combustionbenders (Yingsu, Xiaoyun, & Thapa) to intimidate the Earth King into submission on behalf of his masters, Bin-Er's corrupt shang merchants. However, Henshe's incompetence leads to the Unanimity quickly establishing themselves as far greater threats once they make their debut in the climax—though they're defeated before they can acclimate into proper Big Bads.
- The Legacy of Yangchen: Zongdu Chaisee of Jonduri is the creator of the Unanimity and several other unique fighting styles (such as lavabending and chi-blocking), employing Thapa to assassinate the leaders of the Four Nations and ensure she maintains her position for life.
