Characters / The Legend of Korra - Past Characters

The Legend of Korra Main Character Index
New Team Avatar (Avatar Korra, Asami Sato, Mako, Bolin) | Tenzin's Family | Beifong Family | Allies (Varrick and Zhu Li) | Seasons 1 & 2 Enemies (Amon) | Seasons 3 & 4 Enemies (Zaheer, Kuvira) | Past Characters | Other Characters | Comic Characters

This is a partial character sheet for The Legend of Korra. Visit here for the main character index. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

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Original Team Avatar

Avatar Aang

Avatar Aang

Voiced by: D.B. Sweeney

"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."

The Avatar directly preceding Korra. It was by his hand that Fire Lord Ozai was defeated and the Hundred Year War ended. He founded the United Republic of Nations from the former Fire Nation colonies with its oldest and most ethnically-culturally mixed Fire Nation/Earth Kingdom ex-colony of Yu Dao becoming its capitol, in the hope that it could become a nation where people of the three remaining nations could live in peace, harmony, and prosperity.

Though Aang accomplished much, he passed away at the relatively early age of his mid-sixties; due to the century spent in an iceberg in the Avatar State draining much of his life energy.

For tropes applying to the Avatar entity in general, go here.

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See this page for more information.

Katara

Katara

Voiced by: Eva Marie Saint

"The mind can be a powerful ally, or your greatest enemy."

Widow to Avatar Aang, Katara is a master waterbender. She directly helped to win the Hundred Year War of the original series and maintained peace afterwards. A native to the Southern Water Tribe, she personally oversaw Korra's training, and developed a strong bond with her. She sees a lot of herself reflected in the young Avatar and encourages her to start her journey to Republic City.

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Toph Beifong

Toph Beifong

Adult Policewoman Toph voiced by: Kate Higgins
Present Day Toph voiced by: Philece Sampler

"Nice to see you again, Twinkle Toes."

^{Click here for her Metalbending Police Chief appearance}

Creator of metalbending, founder of the Republic City police force, and current matriarch of the Beifong family. Though blind from birth, she used earthbending to sense the world around her, which led to the ability to bend metal—something earthbenders had never been able to do before. Fought alongside Avatar Aang and his companions to end the Hundred Years War. Mother of Lin Beifong, the current Chief of Police of Republic City, and Suyin Beifong, matriarch/governor of the city-state of Zaofu. She eventually left the force on a search for enlightenment, ending up living in the Foggy Swamp in the Earth Kingdom.

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Zuko

Zuko

Voiced by: Bruce Davison

"The Avatar must be protected."

During his reign as Fire Lord, Zuko worked with Avatar Aang to transform the former Fire Nation colony regions in the Earth Kingdom into the United Republic. He shared the Fire Nation's advanced technology with the rest of the world. Zuko stepped down from the throne three years ago at age 84, and his daughter Izumi is now Fire Lord, while his grandson Iroh is general of the United Forces. He also has a granddaughter who’s never been seen or named. She was in the original outline of Book 4 but got cut out of a lack of time. He is currently a wandering ambassador for peace and balance. He is honored in Republic City with a large statue in front of Central City Station.

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Sokka

Sokka

Voiced by: Chris Hardwick

"I once bested a man with my trusty boomerang, who was able to firebend... with his mind."

Katara's older brother. While he is not a bender himself, he fought alongside the Avatar to help win peace, directly helping to win the Hundred Years War in the original series. He later became the Republic City representative for the Southern Water Tribe and its chairman. And later in his life became one of the chieftains of the Southern Water Tribe's Council of Chieftains and Elders.

Sadly, old age took its toll, until like Aang, Sokka's time in this world also came to an end, hopefully reunited with his mother again.

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Yakone's family

Yakone

Yakone

Voiced by: Clancy Brown

A man who threatened Republic City during Avatar Aang's adulthood. According to Tarrlok, he was such a serious threat that Aang had to deal with him decisively. He was capable of performing bloodbending at any time without the need for hand motions, and used his powers to rule Republic City's criminal underworld.

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• Abusive Parents: Was one to Tarrlok and Noatak once he discovered their abilities. He rivals Ozai at this, possibly exceeding him when he made his two sons bloodbend each other. Tellingly, the reason Tarrlok gave for him dying a broken old man wasn't regret for his actions, but the thought that his plans for revenge had failed.
• Age-Gap Romance: Their exact ages aren't given, but Yakone was already in his thirties when he met his future wife, while she looked like a teenager. Their characters designs as they age reflect this; when he looks fifty or so and has gone gray haired, she has only put on a little weight and is otherwise still twenty-looking.
• All for Nothing: He spent years molding his sons to master bloodbending all to get his revenge on Avatar Aang. His eldest son would use that same bloodbending against him, telling him that no, bloodbending isn't the most powerful thing in the world, the Avatar's ability to take bending away is. After that, thinking his eldest son dead, Yakone gave up his quest. His sons never would come into conflict with Avatar Aang, but while they were threats to his successor, they did not work together and went about it in different ways. The most damage the son he thought dead did was use bloodbending to render benders powerless permanently, but Korra would use energybending to restore it to those who were innocent, so the one most damaging thing Yakone indirectly caused was undone.
• Archnemesis Dad: Downplayed. While Yakone was definitely abusive to both Tarrlok and Noatak, they weren't enemies in the strictest sense.
• Ax-Crazy: Frequent use of bloodbending turned him into this.
• The Bad Guy Wins: While he never lived to see it and ironically died a broken man thinking he was a total failure, his attempts to raise his sons into his instruments of vengeance on Republic City and the Avatar succeeded. Though they too ultimately failed, their actions had far-reaching consequences for Republic City.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Yakone doesn't do it personally, but he forced his children to bloodbend helpess animals as part of their training, something Tarrlok couldn't bring himself to do.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: A particularly evil bloodbender.
• Beyond the Impossible: His ability to bloodbend without a full moon is considered this, and for good reason as both Hama, the dark art's own creator, and Katara, one of the single most skilled waterbenders in the world, were only able to do it during that period.
• Cardboard Prison: He used his connections and wealth to break out of prison quite easily.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Namedropped by Tarrlok early on, and later appears in Korra's visions before we finally learn he's Tarrlok's father, and Amon's.
• De-power: Aang, seeing how dangerous he was, took away his bending for good to defeat him.
• Despair Event Horizon: When Noatak ran away and seemed to have died out on the tundra, he felt his desire for revenge would never be fulfilled. He died a few years after that.
• The Don: Was the king of the Republic City criminal underworld.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Stalin, Hitler, and Mao all had horribly abusive fathers whom they hated, and kind mothers whom they adored. Considering the dualism between Yakone and his wife and what their kids grow up to become...
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he was awful to his sons and his affection towards his wife may have not been true love, she never appeared to have been mistreated or unhappy because of Yakone specifically, and he treated his sons kindly until they learned to water-bend.
• Evil Mentor: To his sons, whom he taught bloodbending.
• Evil Laugh: Chuckles evilly as he bloodbends Sokka and Toph.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He's voiced by Clancy Brown, that's a given.
• Gone Horribly Right: Yakone is bloodbent by Noatak when he calls the old man out.
• Hate Sink: A total scumbag who callously abuses his sons, and is the reason why Noatak/Amon is the bending-hating Knight Templar he is today.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Fitting his cold and sociopathic personality.
• Jerkass: Aside from his wife, he always talked with an air of smugness, treated his children like crap and is up there with Ozai and Unalaq for being one of the worst parents in the franchise.
• Lack of Empathy: He subjects his sons to Training from Hell to become master bloodbenders at the cost of their psychological well-being. The reason? Revenge against the Avatar.
• Love at First Sight: Astonishingly enough for a character as dark as Yakone, he and his future wife do manage this when he sees her sewing outside her house and stops walking, unable to think of anything to say. They lock eyes and she looks away, blushing and smiling.
• Love Redeems: Subverted. It seems like he might have, but once he discovered the truth about his children's abilities, he showed he hadn't changed all that much. One might suspect that he married his wife specifically so she could have children that could carry on his legacy. On the other hand, he did try to find Noatak when he ran away, and he stopped trying to train Tarrlok afterwards. Whether he stopped the training out of guilt, a lack of faith in Tarrlok, or just depression over his failure is questionable.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: He gets plastic surgery after fleeing Republic City.
• Making a Splash: One must be a master waterbender in order to bloodbend.
• Manipulative Bastard: Without even fully realizing it. Despite both his sons having seemingly rebelled against his influence, they both ended up doing exactly what he wanted, as Tarrlok eventually realizes.
• Meaningful Name: His name means "blood in the snow" in an Inuktitut dialect, hinting at his bloodbending ability. It also sounds passingly similar to the famous American gangster Al Capone.
• Oh, Crap!: Has one when Avatar state Aang overpowers his bloodbending effortlessly and was about to take his bending away.
• People Puppets: His bloodbending is so powerful that he can restrain dozens of people by thought alone, which he calls "psychic bloodbending".
• Posthumous Character: He died about twenty years before the start of the series.
• The Power of Blood: Not only is he a bloodbender, he doesn't even need a full moon to do it.
• Predecessor Villain: Tarrlok establishes him as Amon's predecessor as Big Bad of Republic City. He's also the father of Tarrlok and Amon, making him indirectly responsible for the conflict in Book One.
• Refuge in Audacity: He was able to use his bloodbending to gain power without being arrested because the idea that he could bloodbend outside of a full moon was considered impossible, even being Invoked by his attorney as a defense tactic. He even made it a point to not bloodbend during a full moon, further reinforcing the impossibility of it. It worked until he bit off more than he could chew, leaving enough witnesses that the overwhelming testimony swayed the jury in spite of the lack of evidence. So he escapes by bloodbending everyone in the courtroom.
• Retired Monster: Tried it after he was defeated and depowered. For a while he made good on it, but his ambitions were rekindled when he discovered his sons were waterbenders.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Upon discovering his sons were waterbenders and therefore could learn bloodbending, he trained and conditioned them to become his instruments of revenge on the Avatar and Republic City.
• Smug Snake: He doesn't have a problem with confidence, that's for sure.
• The Sociopath: A picture perfect example. Again, because of his bloodbending.
• Story-Breaker Power: His ability to bloodbend without the need for hand movements nor a full moon is seen as this, having come the closest since Azula in taking out Aang in his prime. This is why Aang chose to strip him of his bending.
• Super Mob Boss: He was not only the biggest crime lord of his time but also mastered Bloodbending to the point that he was capable of disabling an entire courtroom (including an adult Aang) in broad daylight with his mind alone.
• Superpower Lottery: Won the grand prize short of being Avatar by having a knack to bloodbend in the daytime and with his mind. Of course, Noatak has a better ability by virtue of taking bending away.
• Thought-Controlled Power: His bloodbending is so powerful that he doesn't need to move at all to use it, even when bending large numbers of people. It seems he reserves hand movements and such for more precise or forceful maneuvers.
• Tyke-Bomb: Tried to do this with his sons to take his revenge on Republic City and the Avatar. Even though Noatak betrays him, he ultimately succeeded, since both his sons became the biggest threats to Republic City since him.
• Villainous Breakdown: A subtle example. Noatak's Calling the Old Man Out caused him to give up his dream of revenge, and he would later die a broken man. Mind, his breakdown during the Calling the Old Man Out sequence wasn't so subtle.
  Yakone: I MADE YOU WHAT YOU ARE! YOU'RE MINE!
• Villainous Legacy: While he was long since dead before the start of the series, his actions have profound impact on the lives of both his sons, both of whom unintentionally carried out his legacy and his quest for revenge on the Avatar and taking over Republic City.
• We Will Meet Again: Threatens this after his plan falls through. Unfortunately for him, that plan also fell through when Aang proved to be too much for him to handle, and their next meeting proved to be far sooner than Yakone anticipated.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Gets these just as he bloodbends the entire courtroom.
• You Sound Familiar: Is voiced by Clancy Brown, who also voiced Long Feng in the original series.

Yakone's Wife

Yakone's Wife

The wife of Yakone and mother to his two sons, and the least developed of the family's four characters. A simple, warm hearted and caring Water Tribe woman and non-bender, she is a sharp contrast to her husband in just about every way.

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• Age-Gap Romance: Their exact ages aren't given, but Yakone was already in his thirties when he met her, while she looked like a teenager. Their characters designs as they age reflect this; when he looks fifty or so and has gone gray haired, she has only put on a little weight and is otherwise still twenty-looking.
• Good Parents: Tarrlok has fond memories of her, and doesn't view her as at all accountable for Yakone's abuse.
• Locked Out of the Loop: As Tarrlok mentioned, she had absolutely zero idea of her husband's past, or the absolute hell he put their sons through, so that they could master bloodbending for the sake of his revenge.
• Love at First Sight: Astonishingly enough for a character as dark as Yakone, they do manage this when he sees her sewing outside her house and stops walking, unable to think of anything to say. They lock eyes and she looks away, blushing and smiling.
• Nice Girl: A warm and caring woman, according to Tarrlok.
• No Name Given: Egregious example considering even unseen characters like Unalaq's wife (Malina) or Mako and Bolin's grandfather (Bohai) got named in post-series family trees yet as of this writing, she's simply "Yakone's wife."
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Seen sewing and cooking and not going on hunting trips. This is how Inuit society worked, and since the Water Tribe were based on the Inuit, it's a case of Shown Their Work.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Yakone wasn't ugly per se, but even before and after he looked very old and with noticeably mean features, from his wrinkles, sharp eyes and triangular eyebrows pre-surgery to pronounced chin and more slender face post-surgery. His wife, on the other hand, looked like an older Katara with violet eyes.
• The Voiceless: She never speaks during Tarrlok's recapping of his life to Korra and Mako, despite himself, his brother and father having their voices heard to the audience.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Tarrlok never mentioned what happened to her after his brother's disappearance, only that she was never the same again. His wording suggests she has more than likely already passed away.

Era Before The Avatar

Avatar Wan

Avatar Wan

Voiced by: Steven Yeun, Stephen Stanton (old)

"This is my mission: to use Raava's light spirit to guide the world toward peace."

The very first Avatar. 10,000 years before Korra's time, Wan was a Street Urchin who, through some trickery, was given the power of firebending and used it to steal food from nobles. However, he was apprehended and forced into exile, eventually befriending the spirits. When he intervened in a great battle of forces he did not understand, he set out to correct his mistakes and went on a journey to become not only the most powerful being in the universe, but a legend in his own right.

For tropes applying to the Avatar entity in general, go here.

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• The Ace: Wan went from a complete non bender to becoming the original Avatar. He was one of the first humans to survive the Spirit Wilds. He was the first man to not only wield multiple elements, but the first to use true bending rather than simply throwing the elements around haphazardly. He acquired the four elemental powers from the Lion Turtles and became proficient in them in one year. At the age of twenty, Wan became the most powerful bender of his time. He created the Avatar State by becoming a Willing Channeler for Raava, eventally merging with her permanently to become the Avatar and defeat the evil spirit Vaatu. Wan's rise to power established the era of the Avatar, and his eventual death started the Avatar Cycle. Since then, no one else has been able to acquire more than one bending, except his reincarnations.
• Action Hero: Evolves into one from Guile Hero.
• All-Loving Hero: He grew into one, rivaling even Aang. He was the first person who cared for both humans and spirits, which was always considered alien and impossible.
• Anime Hair: Had tall, spiky hair when he was younger.
• Anti-Hero: He starts as a savvy Street Urchin who essentially steals firebending from the Lion Turtle. He eventually develops into a more proper hero.
• The Atoner: Spent his entire life trying to make up for his mistakes and restore balance. His reincarnations are the manifestation of Wan's desires to atone for his mistake in releasing Vaatu.
• Badass Boast: "Haven't you heard the legends? I'm not a regular human anymore."
• Beware the Nice Ones: Don't think just because of Wan's peaceful nature that it automatically means he's a pushover. Peaceful or not, he's still the Avatar.
• Big Good: He became the first Avatar and his lifelong goal was to restore balance to the world with Raava's help.
• Broken Ace: Wan was able to master the art of controlling fire better than any human before him, but ended up unknowingly releasing the most powerful dark spirit, Vaatu, from confinement, almost resulting in The End of the World as We Know It and, in the end, dies believing he failed Raava and couldn't save the world.
• Call-Back: The first avatar seen in the entire series was Roku, a firebender. The first avatar ever was also a firebender.
• Character Development: Wan went from being a petty but well meaning thief to the enduring Big Good of the whole world.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Gives one to Vaatu after entering the Avatar State.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Fusing with Raava gives him access to all four elements at once, but, as with all spirits who fuse with a human, prolonged fusion can put a strain on his body and eventually leads to death. His first time truly fusing with her causes him to pass out, and he only does marginally better the second time. When they're exposed to the energy of the cosmos during Harmonic Convergence, the fusion is made permanent and stable, starting the Avatar Cycle.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Wan was a thieving Street Urchin struggling to survive prior to becoming the first Avatar.
• Deity of Human Origin: By permanently merging his soul to Raava, he became the first Avatar.
• Death Is a Sad Thing: Even after defeating Vaatu and becoming the first Avatar, Wan was unable to bring world peace. Shortly before his death, an aged Wan rues his failure and believes that the rest of his life was his punishment for unwittingly splitting Raava and Vaatu in the first place. Raava assures him of reincarnation and Wan dies a bittersweet death.
• Doomed Moral Victor: At the end of his life, he failed to bring balance, but he was only the first in a long line of Avatars who would continuously fight for that balance. The reason why Wan was unable to bring peace was that the whole world was too chaotic even for the Avatar due to humans constantly waging wars for supremacy.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Started as a normal person, but slowly starts acquiring each element.
• The Exile: He was banished from his Lion Turtle City after stealing the power of fire and trying to rob the Chu family food stores.
• Foil: To Korra. Korra is the current Avatar, continuing to maintain balance in the world, and as of the Book 2 finale, is the first Avatar of a new cycle. She was born into the Southern Water Tribe, and is thus a Waterbender initially. Avatar Wan is the first Avatar, who unknowingly disrupted balance in the world, and was the first Avatar of the old cycle. While there were no nations established at the time, his first element was fire, which technically makes the very first Avatar a Firebender.
• Friend to All Living Things: He even gives up the bread he stole to a few animals. Wan saved Mula from other humans, even when he was starving and had the option of eating her.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Heroic version: He went from an everyday street urchin, and eventually became the first Avatar.
• Fusion Dance: Eventually merges with Raava, explaining how the Avatar can be the only person to bend all four elements.
  Raava: We are bonded forever.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: Avatar Wan counts as this, as the very first Avatar who separated the human and Spirit Worlds and sealed the spirit of darkness Vaatu inside the Tree of Time for 10,000 years. By the time of The Legend of Korra, so much time has passed that nobody except the Red Lotus and later on Korra herself even know of his existence.
• Guile Hero: He had his city's Lion Turtle grant firebending to him when he joined a hunting party. He pretended to chicken out, and returned to the city, now armed with firebending, to steal food from the nobles.
• The Hero Dies: Wan's story had a Bittersweet Ending, with the Avatar spending his final moments as a lone warrior on an unknown battlefield. Wan regrets not being able to achieve his purpose as the task of bringing world peace was impossible in his time. It is debatable whether Wan died of old age or illness or because of sustaining fatal wounds in battle.
• Insult of Endearment: His spirit friend calls him "Stinky".
• Irony: The Avatar cycle starting with a firebender, centuries later it's the nation based on his element that tried to put an end to it.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: The first in a long line of Avatars who would all qualify as this. Wan's hairstyle also resembles that of Jesus.
• Legacy Character: Not himself, but he begins the Avatar cycle. Wan laid the groundwork for the succeeding Avatars.
• Legacy of the Chosen: The rich history of the Avatar begins with him.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Has a cat-deer named Mula he saved from human hunters. After Wan first freed her from a trap, saving her life from the humans who tried to eat her, Mula became close friends with Wan, accompanying him on many of his travels.
• The Maker: Wan was the human who created the Avatar entity in the first place. All the other Avatars originate from him and Raava.
• Meaningful Name: "Wan" means "ten thousand", which is the number of years separating his time from Korra's. It can also be taken as a pun on "one", since he's the first Avatar.
• Messy Hair: He started with Spiky Hair prior to his exile. As he grew up with the spirits, though, his hair fell to his shoulders and became more disheveled.
• Muggle: Starts out as one, until he's given elemental powers by the Lion Turtles.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He regrets his actions after Raava tells him that he freed Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos.
• Nice Guy: A kind, heroic, selfless, and all-loving human being.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He accidentally broke the balance of light and dark by freeing Vaatu from Raava. Even after becoming the Avatar and defeating Vaatu, Wan was unable to stop the consequences of his mistake, thus he reincarnated several times as the Avatar to bring about world peace.
• Old Soldier: Wan continued to fight wars, well into his old age. It's implied that Wan died of old age, on a desolate battlefield. Although he was wearing black armour, he was not wounded, implying his prowess.
• Pals with Jesus: He slowly ends up befriending many spirits, but eventually does this with Raava, the spirit of light and peace, after some time together.
• Parental Abandonment: When we first see him, he appears to be a teenager, and his parents aren't shown or mentioned.
• Physical God: The Avatar State, like all the other Avatars.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Raava. There's no romance but they form a deep friendship that lasts throughout multiple lifetimes.
• Playing with Fire: The first element he acquires is fire, so technically, the Avatar Cycle started with a Firebender.
• The Pollyanna: By the time he confronts Vaatu, all of his human friends from his hometown have been slaughtered, his spirit friends have been turned into Dark Spirits, and his only hope to fight an Eldritch Abomination is with the help of a teapot-sized Raava. Nevertheless, he never loses hope that they can win. Even when Raava outlines the possible consequences of her losing, he still tries to fight a ray of hope in it.
• Posthumous Character: Wan has been dead for a little shy of ten millennia.
• Precursor Hero: Korra fought Vaatu, the most powerful and the most dangerous foe of the Avatar. 10,000 years prior to Korra, the First Avatar Wan defeated Vaatu and imprisoned him in the Spirit World.
• Punny Name: Avatar Wan is the first Avatar, i.e. Avatar One.
• The Quest: His quest to bring peace between humans and spirits leads to him becoming the first Avatar.
• Reconcile the Bitter Foes: Concerned about the destruction of the environment, Wan approached two raging spirits, oblivious to their identity, and ordered them to stop. Raava told him the fight did not concern him. However, when he objected, telling her that it was his concern when the lives of spirits and animals were at stake, Vaatu begged him for help. Upon hearing that the dark entity had been tortured by his counterpart for ten thousand years, Wan used his firebending to break the hold Raava had on Vaatu. It was only after Vaatu had already fled that Wan learned the error of his actions, as Raava explained who she was and what her purpose was.
• Reincarnation: In Wan's dying moments, Raava assures him that they would reincarnate again and again to bring balance to the world as the Avatar. All Avatars, including Aang and Korra are essentially the reincarnations of Wan himself.
• Shonen Hair: During his Street Urchin days, at least.
• Shout-Out: Many elements of Wan's story are reminiscent of an ancient Greek tragedy and Greek myths. Like Prometheus, Wan stole fire for the benefit of humans and was punished for it. Also like Prometheus, Wan's actions inspired people of his time to advance their civilization. Like Pandora, Wan unwittingly unleashed troubles and sorrows on humanity by freeing Vaatu. Although, Wan was able to seal Vaatu away for ten millennia, he couldn't bring about peace.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Zigzagged. Wan achieved a lot during his lifetime, although most of the details have been lost. Although Wan just appeared for two episodes, he had the largest impact on the Avatar Universe. Without him, the other Avatars would have never existed in the first place.
• Spanner in the Works: By stealing fire alone and surviving in exile, Wan ends up causing a chain of events that causes people to become benders and explore outside the turtles. He even ends up triggering many changes with Vaatu and Raava.
• Standing Between the Enemies: Between the humans and spirits and later on between different human tribes in his attempt to stop wars. Naturally he is the first Avatar that laid the foundation of the Avatar's role to settle disputes.
• Street Urchin: Started out as one in the city he grew up in.
• Superhero Origin: All other Avatars have their origins from Wan and Raava.
• Super Mode: Wan is the very creator of the Avatar State, as well as the first one to use it.
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from an ordinary Street Urchin to the Avatar.
• Tragic Hero: In the end, despite wanting peace and unity for the world, he was unable to prevent war and violence from occurring and died on some random battlefield.
• The Unchosen One: Wan was not born the Avatar and was not subject to destiny. He simply refused to accept the way the world worked. By going against what humans and spirits believed, he became the first Avatar and changed the world. Wan's reincarnations, the future Avatars, were born with the ability to bend all four elements and the destiny to keep the world in balance. But Wan won that power and forged that destiny by his own efforts, and the other Avatars only inherited it from him.
• World's Best Warrior/ World's Strongest Man: Wan was the most powerful human of his time, thanks to being the first Avatar. Sadly, his powers were insufficient to prevent wars between humans.

Raava

Raava

Voiced by: April Stewart

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

A great spirit of light and peace. Her fusion with Wan is what created the Avatar spirit and allows the Avatar to wield all four elements.

For tropes applying to the Avatar entity in general, go here.

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• Above Good and Evil: Her emphasis was more on preserving order and peace, not having any concern for the safety of humans, be they good or evil, who could potentially end up collateral damage from her battle with Vaatu. Because of her view of Humans Are the Real Monsters, humans who die as a result of her winning the battle were acceptable losses. All this changed when Wan came along and convinced her that humanity is worth protecting.
• Always with You: Says this to an elderly and dying Wan and is the embodiment spirit to many other Avatar incarnations.
  Raava: Don't worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes, and we will never give up.
• Animalistic Abomination: Like her counterpart, she resembles a giant flatworm.
• Arch-Enemy: Vaatu, the spirit of darkness.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Battles her counterpart once every ten thousand years, unless either one of them was permanently 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.
• Big Good: Within the Spirit World. A half of the Big Good for ten thousand years in the material world as well, as the spirit of the Avatar.
• Born-Again Immortality: As the spirit half of the Avatar, Raava doesn't die when the current Avatar does. She merely reincarnates in the next one, taking along the soul of the deceased Avatar. Even if the Avatar were killed in the Avatar State, she would eventually reform as her original self.
• Call on Me: The Avatars can call on her for advice too, but many have forgotten they can do that. Even Korra didn't think to do it until Book 4, where trying to connect with Raava becomes a plot point.
• Character Development: Raava had a low opinion of humanity and thought she had to protect the world on her own. Bonding and traveling with Wan had her drop her former bigotry and actually continue to bond with other humans to keep balance in the world.
• Clingy Macguffin: Once Raava reincarnates into a new host, she cannot leave even if she wanted to, but beings like Vaatu can forcibly destroy the link between her and her host, and the process is VERY painful.
• Complete Immortality: As she 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. Add on to that the fact that they are Made of Air and only vulnerable to spiritually-empowered attacks.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: As an addition to the Avatar universe Raava and Vaatu really lend themselves more to stereotypically western ideas of good and evil (hiding behind a thin veneer of Order Versus Chaos) than the duality aspect that was played up in other major spirits like the Moon and Ocean.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: As she works with Wan, she becomes softer and kinder, impressed by his nobility, and eventually pledges to stay with him for all his lifetimes.
• Eldritch Abomination: An example of a benevolent one.
• Fantasy Counterpart Religion: She is similar to the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda in that she is the god of light and peace, and she is locked into battle with her inherent evil opposite Vaatu (Angra Mainyu) yet both are equal in power.
• Female Angel, Male Demon: She is female and the spirit of light and peace, in spite of Asian symbolism assigning light to masculinity.
• From a Single Cell: Even if she's destroyed, she will regenerate from within Vaatu over ten thousand years, as light and darkness cannot exist without each other.
• Fusion Dance: Fuses with Wan, creating the Avatar cycle.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: She is white and blue, to contrast Vaatu.
• God of Good: She is the spirit of light and peace, although she had a Good Is Not Nice attitude towards humans before Wan gave her faith in humanity. At the end of "Beginnings", it is revealed that she essentially is the Avatar Spirit (along with all the other humans she has reincarnated with).
• God in Human Form: As mentioned, the Avatar is her incarnation in the physical realm, which she brought on by bonding to Wan as her host.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Subtly, but whenever her "essence" is emphasized, it is coloured gold or bright yellow (examples include the Avatar State glow on Korra after she motivates her, when she is ripped out of Korra (where her usual white is replaced by yellow), and in the refusion between her in Korra, which glows with gold.
• Good Is Not Nice: She is openly disdainful of Wan and other humans (at least at first).
• Greater-Scope Paragon: She is the creator of Avatar state and the spirit of light and harmony.
• Heavenly Blue: Even when she was firmly in Good Is Not Nice territory, she was still a partially blue life and order spirit.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: She had a negative attitude on humans for a while, until she learned how Wan was different.
• Light 'em Up: Although not seen doing this to battle Vaatu, she does glow brightly and makes Wan glow with a white aura.
• Light Is Good: She is the spirit of light and peace and her job was to stop her Dark Is Evil counterpart and prevent him from annihilating the world. Even so, she was also initially not really any better than your average spirit in her attitude towards humans. Only after she spent time with Wan did she come to see value in humanity.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite the story pinning all the blame on Wan for accidentally releasing Vaatu, she also holds some share of responsibility. Whereas Vaatu wasted no time deceiving Wan with a sob story about being tormented for ten thousand years, Raava went into Fantastic Racism and utterly dismissed Wan's presence, only telling him the truth when it was too late.
• Order Versus Chaos: She represents order, Vaatu represents chaos.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Wan. She spent years with him helping him control the elements and fighting with him in his quest to restore balance. Despite being together for years, their relationship is platonic rather than romantic.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  Raava: We are bonded forever.
• Sealed Evil in a Duel: She has trapped Vaatu in battle for millennia to keep him from spreading darkness. Wan ruins this.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She has this kind of relationship with Wan at first.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While aggressive and furious at Wan for releasing Vaatu, she becomes kinder since they start travelling together and seeing that not all Humans Are the Real Monsters.
• Time Abyss: Vaatu claims to have existed for ten-thousand lifetimes before humanity came to prominence; the same likely applies to Raava, given their dual nature. Despite this, Raava still refers to the Lion Turtles respectfully as "Ancient One(s)".
• What the Hell, Hero?: She was furious with Wan for accidentally releasing Vaatu and lets him know. Wan understands this and promises to help her restore the balance.
• You Are Not Alone: She says this to comfort Wan as he dies.

Mula

Mula

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

Wan's cat-deer companion and the first spirit guide for the Avatar.

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• Androcles' Lion: Mula formed a bond with Wan when the latter rescued him from a trap when he could've ate him.
• Cute Kitten: Mula is an adorable animal that also happens to be part cat.
• Familiar: The first in a long line of them. He was Wan's spirit guide.
• Horse of a Different Color: A cat-deer hybrid that also acts as Wan's mount.
• Meaningful Name: "Mula" is Indonesian for "beginning" or "first". Fitting since Mula was the first animal companion of the first Avatar.
• Mega Neko: Downplayed. Mula is a cat deer hybrid; having the head of the former but the average body size of the latter.
• Mix-and-Match Creatures: Mula is a cat deer hybrid.
• Undying Loyalty: Mula became incredibly close to Wan when they first met and traveled with the latter for most of his life.

Vaatu

A great spirit of darkness and chaos; Raava's antithesis. For tropes pertaining to him, refer to the "Enemies" page.

Aye-Aye spirit

Aye-Aye spirit

Voiced by: Jason Marsden

"You have a good heart, Stinky, but these fire tossers aren't like you."

A spirit resembling an Aye-aye living during Wan's time. He begrudgingly took Wan in as a "pet" after Wan was banished by the Chou brothers and allowed him to learn further bending techniques from the spirits and forest animals, forming a close friendship despite his dislike of humans.

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• Deadpan Snarker:
  Aye-Aye Spirit: (after he possessed a human and changed his anatomy) I don't see what he's screaming about, he's better looking now.
• Defrosting Ice King: Towards Wan, not so much towards any other human.
• Fantastic Racism: He hates humans with a passion and is initially willing to let Wan starve in the forest rather than allow him to rest in his spirit oasis. It's only after Wan saves an animal from a trap that had been set up by other humans that the aye-aye decides to give him a chance.
• Insult of Endearment: He calls Wan "Stinky", claiming it suits him better than his real name.
• Jerkass: Even his friendship with Wan doesn't really absolve him of his status as one. He's blatantly prejudiced against humans, doesn't spare a second thought when possessing a human soldier (coming close to killing him and radically changing his anatomy in the process), initially refused to allow Wan even a brief haven in his oasis while Wan was weak and persecuted by everything in the forest, and refuses to consider any compromise when it comes to blows between his band of spirits and the other refugees from Wan's lion turtle city.
• Nature Spirit: It seems the biggest reason he hates humans is because of how they treat nature.
• No Name Given: Wan lives with him for months at least but we never learn his name.
• Pet the Dog: Even before he was friends with Wan he was shown to be at the very least civil towards the other spirits
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite appearing in a few scenes in the series, the Avatar cycle would have very likely never begun had he not trained Wan the way of the spirits.
• Superpowered Evil Side: He becomes a dark spirit under Vaatu's influence, growing larger and near-demonic looking while battling Wan's human friends. He returns to normal after Vaatu's imprisonment, though.
• Teleportation: Used this ability when he first encountered Wan and later used it to rescue him from the fire powered hunters.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: In his book, Wan is an exception to the rule that humans are inherently bad, mainly due to how Wan was able to protect and coexist with the spirits by himself. However, such a view does not extend to any other of the humans he encounters.
  "You have a good heart, Stinky, but these fire tossers aren't like you."

Spirit World

Wan Shi Tong

Wan Shi Tong

Voiced by: Héctor Elizondo

"You may have a look around. But don't. Break. Anything. I'll know."

The all-knowing owl spirit from the first series makes his return in Book Two, and meets Jinora. His view of humans is even more skewed following his encounter with the Gaang decades ago.

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• Ancient Keeper: Of the Library.
• Berserk Button:
  • Seeking knowledge for destructive purposes is not a way to get on his good side.
  • Judging by how angered he sounds when bumping into Jinora, he's obviously not terribly fond of humans either.
• The Bus Came Back: As mentioned, this is his first appearance since the middle of The Last Airbender Book Two, which means not having a major appearance or role for at least half a decade.
• Everyone Has Standards: As he whole-heartedly admits, he despises humans, but even he is genuinely devastated by everything that happened in the Hundred Year War, seeing it as the darkest of times, and freely admits that even by his standards, the many lives and knowledge lost to mortals because of the war was something he would never see as deserved for any human. Mind you, despite Team Avatar having stolen his knowledge, he doesn't bother to hide the fact that their story of rebelling against the odds was an admirable one.
• Flanderization: By Legend of Korra, he’s made to act more like an owl than the previous series, such as his ability to turn his head 180 degrees.
• Horrible Judge of Character: For a creature who knows ten thousand things, he believes Unalaq is a friend to the spirits and Jinora claiming to have come with the Avatar was enough for him to betray her to Unalaq. There is reason, though- the Avatar's last visit to his library resulted in rules being broken, and Unalaq is a friend to a spirit (it's just that said spirit is Vaatu.)
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: For a time, he becomes firm in this mindset due to what happened with Aang. When Jinora tries to cite the old rules for entry, he says that the rules changed since the last time. He makes an exception for Unalaq, whom he believes to be a true friend to the spirits. However, after the Spirit Portals were opened entirely, he tones down this belief, allowing humans to enter his library again, though he still is wary of them and keeps a regular eye on their activities.
• Karma Houdini: Seems to have gotten away scot-free, despite the fact that he led Unalaq to Jinora and allowed him to capture her, which almost enabled Unalaq's plans with Vaatu to succeed. Granted that's mainly because Korra and her friends had more important things to worry about, and punishing an ancient knowledge spirit would prove to be difficult task anyway. It's later revealed that he did have a change of heart after seeing how his actions nearly lead to Unalaq completely overthrowing the balance of the world and reopens his library, allowing humans to enter and use his knowledge once again, so it's more like he's had a Heel–Face Turn rather than remaining a villain, which would explain why Korra and Team Avatar didn't see any point in punishing him.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: In a sense. He gives the most childish and stupid explanation for how radios work (little men inside playing the music) as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Of course, it turns out he was misinformed by one of his fox familiars. Even after finding out, he’s far less interested in human inventions.
• Magic Librarian: He was in charge of a massive library in The Last Airbender, and fills the same role here.
• Meaningful Name: "Wan Shi Tong" means "He who knows ten thousand things". Taken a step further, "ten thousand things" is a Taoistic expression for all of creation; by introducing himself as "he who knows ten thousand things" Wan Shi Tong calls himself all-knowing.
• Noble Bigot: Despite everything that has happened between him and humans, Wan Shi Tong in the present seems to have taken more of this approach rather than straight up seeing mortals as just hopeless bastards, due to Korra saving both worlds from complete chaos restoring some of his faith in humanity, being willing to praise humans who have earned it. In his opinion, the Daofei may be nearly criminalistic, but their approach and intentions still have to be acknowledged as noble, and he admits that despite the horrors of the Hundred Year War, the fact that ultimately humans managed to successfully restore peace and order to the world is quite admirable, which is especially notable, considering that both groups have offended him at certain times in history. Notably, despite what Aang did, he still shows a surprising amount of fondness for the Air Nomads because they respected Spirits, and was pleased to see someone fight to preserve their culture.
• Ominous Owl: When he's mad.
• The Omniscient: Claims to be "all-knowing", though he's pretty easy to fool for someone who claims they know everything. As shown with his description of a radio's inner workings, he's reliant on his fox helpers to gather knowledge for him and doesn't actually have accurate information on certain topics.
• The Owl-Knowing One: A knowledge spirit, so it comes with the territory. However, he is woefully misinformed when it comes to human technology within the last 70 years.
• Pride: Is so secure in his knowledge, that he constantly makes stupid mistakes by underestimating or misjudging the actions of others.
• Sanity Slippage: His library is now extremely dilapidated, and being cut off from the physical world has left him with out of date or with nonsensical information which he doesn't question. His behavior is also more agitated, and he willingly supports Unalaq.
• Scary Librarian: He owns a library that collects all the knowledge in the world, and he doesn't take kindly to visitors after a firebender set fire to a section, destroying many of his books.
• Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Because of the Gaang's actions from the previous series, he relocated the library to the Spirit World and forbade all humans from ever having access. When he finds out Jinora is Aang's granddaughter, he happily hands her over to Unalaq. It seems he never did quite forgive Aang for "misusing" the knowledge of the solar eclipse. Ironically, it is this action that leads to Unalaq doing exactly what Wan Shi Tong abhorred humans for, and knowing this leads to him changing his mind, subverting this trope.

Iroh

Voiced by: Greg Baldwin

"You have light and peace inside of you. If you let it out, you can change the world around you."

The late uncle of Zuko and namesake of Zuko's grandson. Thanks to his trip to the Spirit World in his mortal life and his large amount of spirituality in general, he transcended to live in the Spirit World since about 30 years after the original series. Now he helps guide Korra whenever she is in the Spirit World.

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See his page.

Zhao

Admiral Zhao

Voiced by: Jason Isaacs

"I am Zhao The Conqueror. I am the Moon Slayer! I will capture the Avatar!"

A former Fire Nation commander that killed the Moon Spirit in the previous series. He was condemned to the Fog of Lost Souls, a Spirit World Prison-Entity that slowly drives its prisoners insane.

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• Berserk Button: Anything related to Aang is this, as he absolutely flips out when he sees his son Tenzin.
• The Cameo: His only role is to provide fanservice and demonstrate what happens to prisoners of the Fog of Lost Souls.
• Dragged Off to Hell: What essentially became of him courtesy of the Ocean Spirit is revealed here. The Ocean Spirit dropped him in the Fog of Lost Souls to be tormented by his worst memories and fears forever.
• Driven to Madness: As is the fate of everyone who becomes prisoner to the Fog of Lost Souls, the fog drove him insane. His worst memories and fears were inflamed, causing them to completely shatter his mind.
• Evil Is Hammy: Insanity has only made him hammier.
• Fate Worse than Death: Technically, Zhao isn't dead. He might wish he was, though.
• Irony: Zhao boasted that his killing of the Moon Spirit would make him a legend, whom students of strategy and history alike would then study for thousands of years to come. Just seventy years later; Kya, Bumi (a former military commander), and Tenzin (who studied his father's history thoroughly) have no idea who he is.
• Madness Mantra: "I am Zhao The Conqueror. I am the Moon Slayer! I will capture the Avatar!"
• Older Than He Looks: He's over a hundred at this point, yet his only sign of ageing is grey hair. And that can easily be chalked up to his mental state, which the Fog probably has something to do with.
• Talkative Loon: He's now a gibbering maniac, wandering the Fog hopelessly in search of Aang.
• Villainous Legacy: In regards to Book Two. Burning down a section on the Fire Nation was a major catalyst in Wan Shi Tong's hostility towards humans, and leads to the owl handing Jinora over to Unalaq and Korra unlocking the Northern Spirit Portal, paving the way for Vaatu's release during Harmonic Convergence and Korra deciding to leave the portals open.

Other

Yasuko Sato

Yasuko Sato

"Clear my schedule for today. Asami and I have big plans for Republic City."

The deceased mother of Asami Sato and wife of Hiroshi Sato.

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• All There in the Manual: Her name was revealed on a website by the creators.
• Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: Inverted. In life, Yasuko was quite lither while her husband was still fat.
• The Lost Lenore: Hiroshi deeply loved her and her murder destroyed him.
• Missing Mom: To Asami, as she was murdered when her daughter was a child.
• Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Hiroshi supported the Equalists because a bender killed her, but his thirst for vengeance has gone to the point where he loses all capacity for love and has become no better. In "Endgame," Asami calls him out on his actions, telling him point-blank that Yasuko would hate him for what he's become. Hiroshi is completely unmoved.
• Muggle: Like her husband and daughter, she was a nonbender.
• Posthumous Character: Was killed before the start of the series.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Yasuko is only mentioned and not fully seen alive, but her death at the hands of firebenders put her husband on a dark path.
  • She finally makes a physical appearance in the short comic "Skycrapers", where it's shown she was the one who inspired her daughter to become an engineer.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Downplayed with Hiroshi. She is a stunner like her now grown up daughter but her husband wouldn't be considered straight up "ugly".

Guru Laghima

Guru Laghima

Empty, and become wind.

^{Click here to see Laghima in flight}

An Air Nomad that lived 4,000 years ago, Guru Laghima is said to have discovered the secret of weightlessness, living the last forty years of his life without ever touching the ground. Zaheer is an avid follower of his work.

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• Ambiguously Evil: This guy did inspire Zaheer's philosophy and some of his recorded sayings imply a rather dark outlook on life, but at the end of the day all that we hear is coming from a highly biased person.
• Blow You Away: Was an airbender.
• Famed In-Story: Zaheer proclaims him to be the wisest airbender to ever live.
• Flight: He is said to have learned how to permanently float, which is effectively this. Recent recorded history has mostly dismissed this as embellished myth, until Zaheer unlocks the ability himself.
• Levitating Lotus Position: His locket depicts him doing this because he is a monk known for levitating.
• Meaningful Name: Laghima is the name of a magical ability believed to come from spiritual practices, such as meditation or yoga. In particular, the ability of laghima is being able to become almost weightless.
• Posthumous Character: Long dead by the time mention is made of him, but obviously factors into Zaheer's motivations in some form.
• The Power of the Void: The verse in his locket alludes to this, though it's speaking of emotional attachment rather than a literal place.
  "Let go your earthly tether,
  enter the void,
  empty, and become wind."
• Shrouded in Myth: As Zaheer himself notes, Guru Laghima's legend may be exaggerated, but such tales often have some kernel of truth to them. As Zaheer proves in the end, at least one of the myths about him was true, and unaided weightless flight is definitely possible.
• Straw Nihilist: Possibly, assuming Zaheer isn't twisting his words out of context. For example, he believed that civilisation should be purged in order to make room for new growth and the aforementioned void poem was only accomplished by getting rid of a loved one.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Inspired Zaheer when it came to airbending long after his death.

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