WMG / Korra Plot Book 1

Tensions in the United Republic Council will come to a head, and directly stem from issues of representation

The Council is a Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering that will soon become A House Divided, perhaps even to the point of Blood on the Debate Floor. Lets see what complaints we could theoretically level at the Five-Person Council, the sort of issues they and those they serve might snipe about behind closed doors. At least three of the Council Members are Benders, once again marginalizing a majority nonbender populace and stoking Equalist suspicions of a Fantastic Caste System. The Four Nations are represented, but what about Republic City as an entitity unto itself? Tenzin has too much influence as head of a micronation only four (soon-to-be-five) people strong, plus some acolytes. Though the Council represents four nations, the Water Tribes exert undue influence by insisting on two-person representation when the much more heterogeneous, (and inferentially populous) Earth Kingdom should receive extra consideration. Wait just a moment, gentlemen, ladies, what is our representative system? Proportional or equal?(*Insert gavel banging here*)

• Five seats on the council with representation based on the nations, so both water tribes get a seat. It's really extremely undemocratic
  • Republic City was never billed as a democracy though. So accusations of "undemocratic" practices aren't all that relevant.

A Bender with Equalist parents will be introduced.

This character (who will come later and be part of the main cast) grew up with Equalist parents and was always forced to repress their abilities. The parents were always upset at having a bender child and the other anti-benders treated them poorly for it. The character will be upset and make a failed attempt at murdering Korra to prove that they're loyal to the Equalist cause. Korra will eventually tell them that being a bender is part of who you are and you shouldn't lie to yourself or hate yourself. This sets the character on the right path, while still being doubtful, and spends the rest of the series trying to accept themself. By the finale they will have not only accepted but embraced their bending abilities.

• You Can't Fight Fate as an Aesop in a children's show?
  • More like Be True To Yourself And Don't Let People Tell You What You Are. A pretty common aesop for children (Harry Potter and the Dursleys for example).
    • Or it could be a person who disapproves of the way non-benders are treated and happens to be a bender themselves, or maybe just a Boomerang Bigot.

Korra is unsuccessful, and there's a shocker ending.

Korra works incredibly hard to master airbending and the avatar state leading up to a huge battle with the Equalists on the scale of Aang's battle against Ozai, but when she goes into the Avatar state - BOOM. Someone kills her with a gun, a bomb, or some other sort of man-made weapon that even bending can't adequately counter. The Avatar cycle is broken, and the Equalists take power, somehow, leading to bending eventually dying out, and humans becoming much more focused on industrializing instead. And then... it becomes the world as we know it today.

• Going further (and preventing this from being a TOTAL downer ending) many years later a young earthbender is told about the old Avatar cycle by his master, an old Earthbender who's gone into hiding since Korra's time. He tells the young earthbender that the world is dying as a result of the death of the cycle and somehow it must be restored. He then tells the boy (Or girl, it doesn't really matter at this point) about a mysterious lion-turtle who may know how to restore the cycle that's been spotted in the waters outside of Republic City and reluctantly asks his pupil to go find it. Thus begins a new series about an earth-bending Avatar focusing on how bending originated and how the cycle of the avatar began.
  • And for added fun, the previously-unnamed master tells his pupil that if by chance he/she ever finds avatar Korra, to tell her that Bolin says hi.
• Jossed for book 1.

DOWNER ENDING!

Korra will undergo a slow Face–Heel Turn, her powers will increase anti-bender sentiment, and once she goes into the avatar state, she'll be killed by a descendant of the cabbage man in a Mini-Mecha in a hail of missiles. Anti-Magic will be discovered, and weaponized, and the elitist benders, fearing extinction will initiate a police state. Muggles will devolve into Morlocks, and all will not be well.

• And then Bryke wake up with the worst hangover ever and decide never to chug half-a-keg of beer each ever again. ;P
  • Half a keg? Pssh...lightweight.

The series will end with a growing multiple front movement towards democratizing the Bending arts

Three forces, the pro-bending league, Tenzin's family and his acolytes, and what remains of the genuinely progressive arm of the Equalists will begin teaching not only bender culture, but bending forms to non benders. The pro-benders will see monetary potential in new non-bender athletic leagues that both open up entertainment avenues and get low-income kids off the streets and into their gyms. The Equalists will like the utility of these...these "martial arts" both for self defense (Turns out, with some disciplines, if you make a bending form rapidly and accurately enough with your bare fists and it connects, it can really hurt somebody! Go figure!) and exercise, and Tenzin will, after some nudging from his family, the Avatar and his associates, begin letting his acolytes have a go at the training gates, if he hasn't been at least teaching them meditation already. After all, having just a handful of Airbenders puts the nations out of balance, and the forms should be spread even if the innate capacity is lacking. Even the Spirit World might decide that Tenzin's line simply isn't enough to revitalize the Air Nation into counterbalancing the other three, so eventually, sufficiently dedicated, culturally reverant nonbender Air Novices will be stunned to find they can make the gates spin, all on their own...possibly after having vivid dreams about Sky Bison, a Lion Turtle or an Airbender man who wants to teach them a neat trick where you make a marble spin in midair.

Team Avatar will find a way to counter Chi-Blocking techniques from the Gaang's muggle pupils. A cure for Amon's Energybending will also be found

Actually this has already been discovered by the last series and might even be a Chekov's Gun, if not this time round than maybe Season 2. Sokka's frequent Face Palming made his head immune to Chi Blocking by Ty Lee, not to mention how he managed to dodge all her moves at Ba Sing Sae. And Suki's clearly developed the martial arts technique to fend of Ty lee's chi blocking attacks. Nothing has worked better against the Chi Blockers close quarters style of combat. Now here's how it goes. Ty Lee joining the Kyoshi warriors would have taught them all about Chi-Blocking's secrets, but Suki and co. would have also gone on counter attacks to render the Chi blocking ineffective. Surely they must have taught the art to their students.

And while we're at that, I'm guessing that Aang's son Bumi has learnt how to Energybend from Aang and might actually know how to restore a person's bending, because it appears that the secret to being able to bend or not is all about manipulating the energies in people's systems. He'll probably make and appearance sooner or later to help Tenzin and Team Avatar out. Bonus points if he also learnt from Sokka and Suki and knows how to make the body immune to Chi Blocking.

• Yes please! Is not fair that Lin gets forever de-bended.
• Korra learned Energybending from Aang himself and re-powered Lin in book 1's finale. So partly confirmed.

Korra will learn from Spirit Aang that fighting in this case is not the answer.

Her attitude is obviously a fight first, talk later one. Once she finally establishes spiritual communication with Aang (and come on, she will) he will teach her that fighting won't solve everything, and she'll make massive diplomatic progress towards true bender/non-bender equality like putting a non-bender on the council or something. Of course, the finale needs an epic fight, so once this completely undermines Amon's extremist policies and he loses support, he'll go berserk and we'll see him one-on-one against Korra. Or maybe he'll pilot that giant mecha and the City's only hope is Korra going into the Avatar state.

• Half-jossed. She learned from Aang, but it wasn't about "fighting isn't everything", and it was after Amon's defeat.

Amon doesn't actually have the ability to permanently take bending away.

No one's actually seen the long-term effects of Amon's chi-blocking. For all we know, he just temporarily takes bending away and the gang members at the demonstration were killed soon afterwards. The result is a city full of benders who fear the Equalists.

• It's entirely possible. When Aang utilized Spiritbending in the series finale of TLA, he pressed upon two specific chakra on Ozai's body: his heart and his head. The heart chakra deals with love and is blocked by one's guilt. In accessing Ozai's spirit through that chakra, Aang could have made him feel guilt from the hurt he and his forefathers put upon the world with their war(this could be why Ozai seems to be brooding the whole time afterward). This act then sealed Ozai's Air chakra, while Aang's simultaneous sealing of his Thought chakra ultimately removed his ability to bend through actual manipulation of Ozai's soul. As for Amon, his method of bending removal involves him deliberately(seen with how he methodically turns Zolt around to access his neck) paralyzing his opponent through a pressure point strike and then simply sealing their Thought chakra. The difference here is that Amon's method merely blocks bending, meaning that such attacks could be healed if Korra ever learns Spiritbending herself, while Aang's method outright removes one's ability to bend.
• Partly jossed. The pro-bending champions who Amon debended were still depowered the next day. It is conceivable though that the process can be reversed.
  • What about a few weeks of months?
    • Korra can re-power them, as of the book 1 finale. She hasn't been shown doing so, but she could do it.

The statue of Aang will get blown up at some point.

Most likely during the Darkest Hour before the season/series finale.

• Possible that Korra's Destructive Saviour tendencies will play in that destroying a good portion of Republic City and restoring it from scratch might be what they need too. Perhaps Aang's rebuilt statue will include one for Korra too.
• That statue is the size of a Skyscraper. It would take something huge to blow it up. Any ideas?
  • A Freeze-Frame Bonus in the first episode implies Amon is working on a giant steampunk robot.
• A clip of the season finale reveals that Amon has decided to vandalize the statue instead of destroying it.

• It doesn't get blown up, but it is torn down by a Dark Avatar State Unalaq in Season 2. Do we want to call it close enough for a "Confirmed"?

  • Maybe not. It's back where it was AGAIN by Book 3, which, by the way, takes place only a few weeks later.

Tahno will have his bending taken away by Amon...

Then he will go through a Heroic BSoD (Or Villanous?) and then join Korra's Krew.

• Partially confirmed. Tahno is shown to lose his bending.
• Confirmed as of And The Winner Is...

Team Avatar will fight the Metalbender Cops in order to protect the Equalists.

Our heroes will come to learn that not every Equalists is an Amon-level creep, just like there were good people fighting under Ozai's banner. Afterward there will come a point where Chief Beifong's officers will attempt to crack down on the Equalists, and their overly wide net is going to round up some people who don't deserve to be arrested. Korra will attempt to stand up to this injustice, at first non-violently, having learned from her first run-in with the law, but after something bad happens — the cops get too rough, someone throws a punch, whatever — the situation will escalate. At that point Korra will jump in and forcibly defend the Equalists, but end up at the center of a battle royale where extremists on both sides try to attack her. It'll be a special moment in Republic City's history: bender and non-bender band together to take on the Big 'A'. It'll also earn Korra some street cred with the Equalist rank-and-file.

• I was setting an episode to record and the description talked about Korra getting pulled into a violent scheme to get rid of the Equalists.
• Not exactly, but "When Extremes Meet" has Korra oppose the police force to defend non-benders being illegally imprisoned under Tarrlok's orders. It's not much of a stretch that Tarrlok's MUCH more extreme methods lead to Korra actually having an Enemy Mine situation with Amon.

There will be a battle/chase on a motorcycle

Why? Because it would be AWESOME, that's why! I mean who doesn't want to see bending on motorcycles?!

• I...wow. This...needs to happen. It just...it just does.
• I support this theory. So much.
• BENDING ON MOTORCYCLES!!!
  • It'd be weird if they didn't do that.
• Confirmed.
  • And it was amazing. I wonder, are they called Satocycles? Did we ever hear them refer to them as "motorcycles"?

There will be a particular band of pirates/smugglers hanging around Republic City consisting of:

• A massive, dark-skinned, middle aged soldier with a shaven head.
• A scrawny little gearhead
• A female tattooed Badass Normal with paired dao and a visible Axe-Crazy streak.
• A mild mannered guy who looks and acts like a petty clerk from Ba Sing Se.

Part of Asami's role in the group is to provide additional transportation.

She gives the group a Cool Car so everyone doesn't have to rely on Naga for getting around.

• Confirmed!
• Incidentally, wasn't that the same extravagant car Tarrlok had sent to Korra to curry favor with her? Nice Chekhov's Car, if that's so.
  • It's Asami's car, not Korra's. Proof: she turns on the crime scanner and says that now she knows why one was installed in every family car.

Korra will take off Amon's mask while they're fighting

In "The Voice in the Night" she'll unmask Amon mid-battle. It would make really bad Nightmare Fuel, especially if Amon's face really is disfigured because of a firebender

• Or it will turn out that all those theories about Koh being responsible for Amon losing his face were right...
  • Partly confirmed! He's not disfigured - it's just makeup. His mask actually comes off twice - first when he removes it himself, second after Korra blasts him into the water and it comes off, along with the makeup.

The Reason why Tarrlock and Noatak look like their father's post operation face is because:

His face wasn't just completely made up. It took physical aspects of deceased and or unknown relatives like grandparents or even parents. Those physical treats just happened to be passed on.

The cure for Amon's style of de-bending is....

...Bloodbending. It's considered a very dark, taboo art, and bloodbenders are considered Always Chaotic Evil. One of the major themes of the show is that Equalists think bending is always bad, when it isn't. Bloodbending will get the same treatment: Someone will figure out that it can, in fact, be used for good. Since Amon used bloodbending to take away other people's powers, the only option to re-gain bending is bloodbending. Why couldn't Tahno regain his bending, despite being treated by the best healers in the city? None of the healers were bloodbenders. Why couldn't Katara restore Korra's bending despite being a bloodbender herself? Because Katara was the person who outlawed bloodbending in Republic City, and believes it is inherently harmful. In one of the later seasons, Korra (or another sympathetic waterbender) will discover how to use bloodbending to heal, and possibly restore bending.

• Jossed. It's not shown whether or not Katara could bloodbend Korra's bending back, but it seems unlikely she'd try after her prior experience with Hama in TLA's Book 3. Also, a Deus ex Machina in the form of the awakened Avatar State restores Korra's bending, which allows her to use Energybending to restore Lin's bending, presumably doing it for Amon's other victims except the Triad members, who are still bendingless by Book 2

Amon did not die but is truly scarred now.

Both physically and mentally.

Amon will debend Zuko.

Zuko will sacrifice his bending as a plan of some sort. Funny Moment of Awesome for when he doesn't care and attacks Amon with swords immediately after.

• Jossed. Zuko doesn't appear until Book 3.

Amon didn't actually care about where Korra was when he depowered Lin

, he only wanted to break her in some way, shape, or form.Amon didn't even react in the slightest when Lin said no. He just went "ok" and took her bending away. It seems like his intent wasn't to get information, but rather to just make her turn on her friends, to take away her spirit. When he couldn't do that, well...

Aang's attempt to play back his own memories wasn't just to warn Korra about Tarrlok's true nature.

• What does Korra see in those flashbacks? Of course, she sees how Yakone had the power to bloodbend without need for augmentation from optimal lunar phases, cluing her in on Tarrlok's true nature. But what else does she see? Aang's debending technique. Which is distinctly different from Amon's. Aang was also attempting to show Korra that something is off about Amon's debending technique.

The whole Yakone/Bloodbending situation isn't done yet. It will come back in the season finale as a major plot point

In fact, it could very well open a plot entrance for Season 2.

• CONFIRMED! Amon turns out to be a bloodbender named Noatak, Yakone's son, and that's how he was able to take away bending and take on literally every bender without fear of being defeated.

Amon's plan and possible next season

Since "The Avatar" is the incaration the planet, I think when Amon tries to spirit bend Korra, he'll try to remove all the bending abillity in the world. I think he will be successfull, with Korra the only bender left. The next season (Book 2: Spirit) would be Korra learning the spiritual side to being the Avatar, trying to find a way to reverse the damage, while Equalists around the world grab power. When bending is restored, it will cause some Nonbenders to become Airbenders, making it easier for the revival of the Air Nomads.

• The Equalists did not return for Book 2, and most of the good guys' bending was already restored by then. However, strange true prediction on the Airbenders, since the events of Book 2 gives Airbending to many people, including Book 3's Big Bad and Aang's oldest son, Bumi.

Being energybent is fatal for the Avatar.

Korra's fear of Amon is a deep instinctual response to his abilities. While it merely removes the bending for ordinary people, it would kill the Avatar instantly. This may be the real reason it was so dangerous for Aang to do.

Non-Bender characters will pull a Big Damn Heroes.

Characers like Gommu, Shiro Shinobi, Tahno, Lin, and Cabbage Corp Merchant. Shiro is already Memetic Badass and Gommu and Lin are/ is former military, and Tahno and Lin have scores to settle so it would fit.

Gommu: Took me a while to procure a club this beauteous. *whack*

• The most recent preview clip for "Skeletons in the Closet" shows Team Avatar hiding underground with Gommu, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a brief cameo in the climactic battle.

Amon has been sparing Korra so that he can kill her in the Avatar State.

The real reason why Amon has spared Korra's life so far is not what he said in "The Voice in the Night". Regardless of what Amon's ultimate goal is, the existence of the Avatar is a threat to it. killing Korra would solve that problem for now, but within 16 years or so a new Avatar would come back to bother Amon. However, Amon has somehow learned that killing the Avatar while she's in the Avatar State would completely end the Avatar reincarnation cycle. Amon is waiting for Korra to enter the AS for the first time, so he can kill her then. That's also the reason why he didn't debend Korra when he had the chance: doing that would stop Korra from ever going into the AS. The attacks Amon has made against Korra have been attempts to scare Korra into entering the Avatar State, but so far it hasn't worked. In the preview for the season 1 finale we see Amon about to debend Korra: this is probably his final attempt to intimidate Korra enough for her to go into the AS.

• I've held this theory to be Amon's ultimate plan since the beginning. Think about it: According to the Lion Turtle, there was a time "before the Avatar" in which the people "bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves." If that's anything to go off of, the Avatar and the Cycle could be the Cosmic Keystone for bending upon the entire world! If that's true, then that means debending Korra in the Avatar State and then killing her would completely eradicate bending as a whole.
  • As further support for the theory, consider that Zhao's attack on the moon in ATLA had precisely that effect on waterbenders.

Amon Will Try To De-bend Korra in the final and It Will Backfire horrendously

Korra will fight Amon, where he nearly defeats her and tries to energybend her. Now remember how the Lion Turtle said that Energy Bending can cause the Energy Bender's spirit to be taken over or destroyed? Korra's going to go into the Avatar State just as he's about to de-bend her and the interruption will either obliterate Amon or give Korra time to defeat him.

• Or Aang will teach Korra about energybending or assure her that the previous avatars know the art and will come to her help if Amon takes her down. Amon's attempt to debend Korra will be the only one that won't go as per plan, and it will be his last.
• Confirmed, but not as the original guesser planned it. De-bending Korra unlocks her airbending powers.

Everyone close to Korra on Team Avatar will have their bending removed by Amon. Except when he tries it on Korra.

The damn climax. From what little we've seen of the Heartwarming Moment in the Lin-Tenzin clip of episode 10, Lin will be the next one to be taken out by Amon, possibly with a Dying Moment of Awesome equivalent, maybe Defiant to the End (It's LIN we are talking about).

• CONFIRMED. Lin got de-bended by Amon.

Tenzin may be the next (though that raises the question of how Korra will learn Airbending then). I doubt if Amon will be able to capture the children because of Improbable Infant Survival (here it means not having their bending removed), they'll probably escape on the sky bisons when Amon attacks the island. The Council of the city will be taken down. The rest of the police force, including Saikhan will be out as well.

Next up may be Republic City's benders, all arrested by the equalists and brought to Amon for debending. Then the Order of the White Lotus (they do live on that island). Bolin may be next (if that finale promo clip is any hint), then Mako and Korra alone will be left to go after Amon.

The forces of the other nations (or the United republic's own armed forces, if they have an army), will be called out to help (well, you do call out the army if it's a national emergency). Korra may contact Aang again and learn the secret of Energybending or at least an assurance that the past avatars know it and will use it if needed, or maybe deduce it herself. Finally Amon's location may be discovered, a plan will be hatched out for the Avatar to infiltrate and attack his base.

A plan that usually goes on the lines of the Armed forces attacking the Equalists (that's when we actually see the sheer size and power of Amon's forces), hoping to distract Amon and co.'s attention. If that happens, Amon may capture their generals and strip them of their bending as well, perhaps defeating them with his planes (Bonus points if they are called SATOPLANES or similar) and the mechs. If the amry too gets into a losing battle, it's all going to be a matter of buying time for Korra (and Mako and even Asami probably) to track and fight Amon in a Death Match.

Mako, Korra and Asami will disguise themselves as Equalists (probably using some Mook disguises - (did you their clothes in the finale promo) to infiltrate the base, find out Amon's latest plans and hopefully take out the next big ass stuff he wants to unleash on the city, if it exists. Eventually only Amon and Korra will be left standing - Amon will take out Mako and eventually corner Korra, before using his energybending on her...

Then it all goes wrong for him. Either the Avatar state kicks in or the past Avatars will turn his energybending against him, or Asami might do a sneak electrocution on him...Amon's attempt at debending the Avatar will go horribly wrong because of something no one anticipated and the rest of the plot will be all about how he's defeated probably with some epic ass kicking if the Avatar state is involved. His forces, mecha...whatever. The whole city will see the power of the Avatar in full blast if that happens. Maybe eventually Amon will be stripped of his energybending and will definitely be unmasked, which may hold even more surprises. It will end with most of Republic city in rubble or flames.

General Iroh II is built up for The Worf Effect.

He reminds me too much of Zuko who hasn't learned humility or restraint. I'm not saying that he's a bad guy, but he seems like someone who has more courage than sense, someone who was promoted for PR reasons, and is itching to prove himself in a real conflict. Amon is likely to manipulate him into doing something stupid, like bombing at his blimps when they are in front of civilian targets, or something like that.

• Given that he's likely the Crown Prince or second prince, it would be more nepotism than PR.
  • I said PR rather than nepotism, since the United Forces don't belong to the Fire Nation, and any VIPs from the Four Nations working in the UF are likely to be there as a symbol of international cooperation.

Korra will learn energybending and use it to restore all the bending Amon's taken.

I honestly just don't believe they have the balls to leave Lin de-bent for good. Mike and Bryan are good, but that seems daring even for them. They obviously have a ton of love for the character, she's very much a fan favorite, she has a really unique fighting style, and I'm just not buying it for now. That more than anything leads me to believe Amon's damage will eventually be undone.

• Partially confirmed. Lin's actually the first person who Korra restores bending. Whether she can restore everybody's bending is still left to be shown in the next season.
  • From the looks of it, she did so for all of Amon's victims, minus the Triad thugs.

Korra will counter Amon's Energybending by finally understanding the Airbender mindset

Over the next few episodes, she'll start trying to get in touch with Aang, who will let her know how Energybending works, namely that it requires an unbendable will. When Amon goes to Debend her, she focuses on this, instead of fear or anger, calming herself down, clearing her mind, and fighting back with her own will power. Amon, not used to having to struggle with energybending, will lose his head and fail to debend her. Because she's got the moves down but not the spiritual side of Airbending, this will also give her the key to finally utilizing Airbending, which she will use to take down Amon, as the Equalist's anti-bender fighting style has repeatedly shown to be nearly useless against Airbending.

Tarrlok's de-Bending was a scam.

I got no idea what the purposes or motivations behind it might be, but the whole scene seems to be built to hide something vital. Note how Tarrlok bloodbends the Equalists, forcing them into ground with no clear line of sight, and then the camera pans away just when Amon is about to take his Bending away. And if this wasn't emphasized enough, right afterwards Korra uses a deception, pretending to scream in pain when the Lieutnant electrocutes her cage, just like Tarrlok screamed off-screen right before that. It all feels far too convenient, when you stop to think about it. For some reason Amon spared Tarrlok who joined the act.

Korra will have to fight Amon with nothing but Airbending in the Avatar State

Based on a promo, it looked like Amon was about to take Korra's bending. For unknown reasons, she still has her airbending powers and has to rely on those to defeat Amon and the Equalists.

• Alternatively, Amon can only take Bending powers away that his victim has already mastered at least to some degree. Amon will take Korra's bending powers before she has learned Airbending, and so she will still be able to learn it afterwards.
  • Completely confirmed(except for the Avatar state).

Amon will have a Villainous Breakdown when the nonbenders support Korra instead of him.

Remember when Korra protected the nonbenders from Tarrlok's men? Amon will seemingly unbend Korra or otherwise capture her and present her to the masses. To his surprise, instead of cheers, he gets stunned silence and boos. Leading to this:

Amon: She's the Avatar! She's everything we should be against! She's their Avatar! Why do you support her?!

Random Nonbender (or the same nonbender from "When Extremes Meet"): She's their Avatar!...But she's our Avatar too!

Cue the crowd turning against Amon and the Equalists. If he appeared to Debend Korra, it'll be revealed she took precautions to prevent him from doing so or was otherwise uneffected and was pretending to be effected. Amon loses his cool and Korra defeats him in his enraged state.

• I so want to see this happen. Bonus points if Amon tries to de-bend Korra again, but it backfires and physically breaks him apart.
• I was guessing either this or a bridge will be dropped on Amon, seeing as he can't be stripped of bending like Yakone or Ozai.
  • Energybending is still bending - Korra could still (possibly) take Amon's powers away, unless Amon really isn't energybending...

Korra will gain the peace of mind needed to accomplish airbending at the same time that Amon loses his cool

Airbending requires peace of mind and a spiritual connection. Korra will finally get it when Amon loses it, resulting in the normally calm Amon falling into Unstoppable Rage and the normally Boisterous Bruiser Korra fighting with Tranquil Fury.

Korra will order Tenzin and his family to evacuate the city before things really go down.

Realizing that when Amon starts his endgame plan, the Airbenders would be his first target due to their small numbers and get them out of his reach before he can.

Tarrlok's secretary is an Equalist spy.

Why she didn't inform Tenzin and the police earlier? Because she wanted to hand Korra over to Amon. She followed them to the hideout, and then went to make her report, before appearing to give her testimony to the authorities just the right time — the right time for Amon to get to the hideout first, wait for Tarrlok who would most likely retreat there after being outed, and capture Korra with one fell swoop. The timing is too good, especially since Amon appears to know exactly where Tarrlok's cabin is, and when he would get there, even though it's far from the city and any other habitation.

The series finale.

It turns out Amon is Korra's true father, the waterbenders he grew up with were just foster parents. The reason Korra wasn't told this was because Amon had been corrupted by Ozai. Ozai taught Amon energybending, which he had learned by osmosis when Aang used it on him. It turns out Ozai is still alive, and Amon is The Dragon. Ozai wants to rid the world of bending, because if he can't do it anymore, why should anyone else? So he uses Amon and the Equalists as a tool to achieve this. At some point in the series, during a heated fight between the two, Korra learns the truth from Amon, who tells her he is her father. This obviously leaves Korra confused and conflicted. In the series finale Korra faces Ozai and Amon, and she tries appeal to his father's better nature, but Amon appears to be untouched by her pleas. Ozai and Amon defeat Korra in a battle, and Ozai is about to energybend Korra's powers away, when all of a sudden Amon interrupts the process, saving his daughter. This interruption causes Ozai's energybending to backfire, killing him and mortally damaging Amon. Just before he dies, Amon asks Korra to remove his mask, so she will finally see the real face of her father. Amon then dies in peace.

Oh, and Mark Hamill will obviously return to play Ozai.

• Jossed.

Koh taught Amon Energybending

So Koh who showed up one time for five minutes in the Season 1 Finale, and brought up again in webcomics will return. He told Aang they would meet again, but this could easily mean in the next reincarnation. Besides what spirt besides Wa Shi Tong wants to get back at the Avatar? Wa Shi Tong is cool and knows 10,000 definately including Energybending but I am going to focus on Koh. Koh is mad that the last Water Tribe Avatar Kuruk wants to kill him, so who will have to take up his mantle the next Water Tribe Avatar Korra, which will be really hard due to the loss of bending in the Spirit world. But i think somehow Amon found his way into the Spirit World and was taught energybending by Koh, what is Koh's modus operandi, stealing faces! Man behind mask is so lying about the firebenders burning his face five bucks!!! Its to gather sympathy and to blame a familiar enemy firebenders. So Amon once showed emotion in front of Koh who took his face or it was the price to learn energybending. And about how he can operate in real life, i don"t know about breathing and eating, but he just be fighting blind like Toph, hell he could just be an earthbender whose whole Equalist movement is facade to gather power. And we have only seen Amon's eyes on posters and not when he shows up, and even on the posters they look like sequins that are part of a inner layer of the mask. And thats how you wild mass guess.

• Jossed. He was using Bloodbending.

Korra will use the Avatar State.

With disastrous results and massive colateral damage to Republic City.

Mako will use his past to undermine Amon.

Mako is a firebender who lost his parents to firebending. His bending allowed nim to earn a decent living and survive along with Bolin. He's realized that it wasn't the bending itself that was evil and that it's no different than a sword in someone's hands, and will make this clear to the anti-bending activists and supporters.

The series' plot and Korra's Character Development will deal with the unlocking of chakras.

The resolution of Korra's apparent lack of spirituality will undoubtedly be one of the key plot elements, but interwoven with her overall development will be many of the same difficulties Aang faced. Throughout the show, Korra is going to be faced with situations which generate those negative emotions which block the chakras. Let's run down the list: her fear of Amon and his abilities will prevent her earth chakra from functioning; her guilt for putting her friends in jeopardy will block her water chakra; her shame over not living up to everyone's expectations will block her fire chakra; she will grieve for the loss of one of her friends, sealing her air chakra; she will lie during the inevitable relationship struggle, thus blocking her sound chakra; she will have to dispel the illusion surrounding Amon and his abilities to unlock her light chakra; and the thought chakra will be her biggest hurdle, much as it was for Aang.

These are, of course, only guesses, but similar situations could easily arise over the course of the show's run, and Korra's tackling of these issues in her life will cause her to grow as a person, and will ultimately allow her to fulfill her destiny as the Avatar.

• "The Voice in the Night" dealt specifically with Korra's fear, and we learned in "The Guru" that fear is what blocks the first chakra. So that's one bit of indirect evidence in favor of this WMG.

Yakone was...

• ...an evil bending supremicist.
  • Yes.
• ...an Anti-Villain who made friends with Tenzin before his defeat.
  • No.
• ...an early Anti-Bender.
  • No.
• ...Amon's father.
  • As of Episode 8, Tarrlok's father. Seeing as how they look similar and are both blood benders.
  • As of the finale, yes.

In Order to defeat Amon...

• Korra will have to master fighting without bending. If Amon turns out to be a master chi-blocking fighter besides a Diabolical Mastermind, then he is a master at dodging ranged attacks, which most bending is based on. And what better way to out-perforr the villain than the heroine defeating him on his own specialty? Besides, the show already borrows a lot from martial arts movies, this would be an even more direct homage.

Tarrlok is...

Related to Hahn.

• Hopefully this means that he too will end up getting thrown off a boat.
  • And so he was in a manner of speaking.

Mako and Amon's stories are congruent and one of them is a lie

• Amon is the villain and may well be an unreliable narrator, Mako's story has been done time and time again and seems oddly vague as though he intentionally left a part out to conceal something; both stories cannot be true for the sake of having an interesting plot. The two accounts also have the same factor of a rampaging firebender and may well be part of the same story, again in the name of a good plot.
  • Not necessarily. Sometimes, the interesting thing is the difference in how both the Hero and Villain dealt with the same situation. On the other hand, you may have a point, and the truth of the matter could be (see next WMG)...
    • Confirmed. One of them is a lie: Amon's. He made it all up as an appeal to sympathy, playing on the residual distrust of firebenders due to the Hundred Year War.

Amon is a bender

• Specifically, he's the firebender who killed Mako's parents. He came to feel immense guilt over what he had done, and blamed it on his bending, then from there came to see all bending as evil.
  • Half right. Amon is a bender, but a waterbender not a firebender. Also he sees bending as evil because of the bloodbending which he was taught by his father Yakone and forced to use.

Who says Energybending can only take away bending?

• Korra will enter the Avatar State in her final battle with Amon and, perhaps by accessing some of Aang's memories, use energybending to give him bending powers- probably firebending. What would destroy a man who so fervently hates bending more than becoming that which he hates the most. It's also a nice bit of karmic justice, and as much of a psychological mind rape as his mind games with Korra. He will probably echo the "what have you done to me?" line upon discovering his new abilities, just for a nice bit of synchronicity.
  • Yeah, I think this ties in with the idea that the second season will be Book Two: Energy. Before elemental bending existed, Energybending was the only sort of bending that existed; it could make sense than benders only came into existence from people energybending themselves and others; but somewhere along the way they lost the knack. So I think at the end of the first season every major bending character will have lost their abilities, and Korra slowly begins to give them back as she masters Energybending.
• Partly Confirmed: Energybending can give powers back, as of the Season Finale; not necessarily "give" bending powers. Everything else is jossed. Amon is a waterbender already.
  • Very much confirmed in "Beginnings". Energybending can be used to give bending abilities to people.

Korra will have her first spiritual encounter with Avatar Aang very soon and he will assist her in conquering her fear of Amon.

The ending of Voices In The Night sort of foreshadows that Korra will encounter Aang's spirit soon. Not only does her vision show Aang, but as Tenzin rushes to help her, she even mistakes him for Aang and whispers his name. It seems that her encounter with Amon has left Korra with her predecessor on her mind, perhaps wondering how the great peacemaker Avatar Aang would have dealt with Amon and the Equalists, and this will result in a dream sequence where she meets Aang in the spirit world so he can help her deal with her fear of Amon; after all, he went through a similar situation himself in Nightmares and Daydreams with his fear of confronting Ozai. He'd probably pass on a few words of wisdom about that which will help Korra start to learn how to deal with her fear of Amon.

• In the Winner is, Korra has another vision of Aang, Toph and possibly Yakone.
• In the Season Finale, the opposite actually happens. She mistakes Aang for Tenzin.

There will be a flash-forward episode to the return of Sozin's Comet

Although I think it's unlikely, it would be interesting to see how its arrival would affect the world when there is no war.

Tahno will join the Gaang/Krew in a future episode.

The way I figure it, when Amon invades the Championship tournament, he will attempt to take Tahno's bending away and Korra will begrudgingly rescue him. If the leaked episode title Tahno's Love Triad is legit, it will have something to do with him thanking her somehow.

• Jossed. He never joins Team Avatar at all in Korra. As a matter of fact, he doesn't appear again until the third to last episode of the series, Kuvira's Gambit, and that and the series finale were non-speaking cameos.

An Airbender will join the Krew

Similarities between the original Gaang and the Krew have been drawn, such as there being an initial trio (Aang, Katara, Sokka to Korra, Mako, Bolin) and having Benders of all nations present. Currently, the only Airbenders are Tenzin and his children, with no one in Korra's age group represented (excluding herself). However, a young man or woman from an isolated village will come to Republic City hoping to learn Earthbending. He/she is not very good, and the Krew will soon realize that he/she is actually Airbending dirt and that one of his/her parents was the child of an Air Nomad who went into hiding. This will allow Korra to have a peer in Airbending who is equal in ability to her (instead of a master or a young child) and more hope that the Air Nomad culture is still growing strong.

After The Legend of Korra is over, there will be a spinoff set in the early days of the Republic City.

It will star the adult Gaang and their children, and revolve around their conflict with Yakone. Come on, who doesn't want to see teenaged Tenzin and Lin, among others, or what members of the Gaang are like, all grown up?

Yakone and whatever he did will end up having some actual relevance to the plot

• All the flashbacks of the adult Gaang look as though they were getting ready for something big,like Yakone, and said flashbacks must be relevant to something.
  • Confirmed.

Lightningbenders will be called to serve in the Republic City Police en masse, and Mako will join in.

The Equalists have established electricity as their primary weapon against Benders. The police force will need effective ways to counter this weapon, and turn it against its wielders. Lightningbenders can absorb and redirect the current, making it a liability for the Equalists. We've seen that Mako can do Lightningbending, and he's going to need a new job, now that the Championship Tournament has been lost, and Pro-Bending Arena is likely to remain closed for the time being, due to a national crisis. Plus, he definately wants to help Korra against Amon. Bolin might try and learn Metalbending too, for the same purpose.

Amon's character is building up for The Worf Effect

Well they did say he will be replaced in the 2nd season...

Tahno will learn Chi-Blocking.

Eager for revenge for losing his Waterbending, Tahno learns that Chi-Blocking can also be used to inflict paralysis, and this aspect also works on nonbenders. He studies the art, and when/if he becomes part of Team Avatar, this is how he keeps up with the heavy-hitting Benders.

Lin Beifong will learn how to bend platinum

Because 1) it will be awesome and 2) The fastest way to get your ass kicked by a Beifong is to tell them they can't do something, only for them to go ahead and do it.

• 3) it will make for a delicious Ironic Echo. "Even your Reowned Mother couldn't bend platinum." Imagine her crunching Sato's mecha and replying, "Yes, she could."

The masters of the Order Of The White Lotus will help Korra and the Krew against Amon

This is more me hoping they can show of their skills and power for pure awesomeness.

• That, and not everyone in the group suffered Badass Decay.
  • Jossed.

Asami is Mako and Bolin's sister.

The Firbender that killed Mako and Bolin's parents, Amon's family, and Hiroshi Sato's mother are the same person.

They've said "A Firebender killed this person" too many times for this to be a coincidence. It's the same person, and will be the Big Bad of the next season.

• Forget Amon. His backstory about a firebender killing his family was completely bogus. The firebender murderer also never appears in the show.

In the finale of the first season Korra will take compensated chi-blockers from the metalbenders, and distribute them to the non-benders of Republic City.

It would be the perfect way to get them on her side: Show them she understands that there are times when people need to defend themselves, and they have a right to bear arms. She'll likewise get many people to turn against Amon by apologizing for her attacks against non-violent protesters, and addressing the entire city on the importance of absolute free speech. Of course this will lead to...

The series will end with Korra helping to author a new Constitution for the Republic.

...strongly modeled on the US Constitution.

• That would be rather heavy handed. Even Ridley Scott couldn't make that kind of development anything but corny. Though it is likely that non-Benders will get proper representation before everything is said and done.
  • Korra's universe is sino-centric. That would make no sense.

Amon will take Korra's bending.

However, this will trigger the Avatar state, revealing that Amon can't truly take bending away. His supporters will turn on him and then the final battle will begin.

• Alternately, he will take her bending, and she will need to master spiritbending to get her powers back.
• Partly Confirmed. He did take her powers away(the one's she had unlocked)

The last two episodes of Book 1 will act similarly to The Siege of the North episodes.

Korra will enter the spirit realm and search for Aang and the spirits Amon supposedly gained his de-bending power from. While this is going on, the Equalists make their way to Air Temple Island and fight through White Lotus Guards, Air Acoylte Monks, and the Krew. The second half will involve the fully-developed mechas (and one giant one piloted by Amon), wrecked havoc, even targeting the statue of Avatar Aang. Once Korra comes back and sees the devastation, she'll go into the Avatar State and show Amon how severely outclassed his entire group is by curb-stomping the mechas. The difference is where his movement is crushed when Korra informs everybody what she found out while roaming the Spirit World.

• Jossed. Jossed. Jossed. Jossed. and Very slightly confirmed. He did go to the air temple and she does enter the Avatar State, but she never fights in it.

Amon was the firebender who killed Bolin/Mako's parents and Hiroshi's Wife.

Adding to my above theory of a single "Evil Firebender Murderer" in the pasts of Amon, Mako/Bolin and Asami/Hisoshi, could it not also be possible that Amon was simply using the story of a crime he inflicted on someone else as his cover?

Close ups of his eyes in Episode 4 show him to have the amber colored fire nation eyes that are the mark of a firebender, and of course it would have the value of both

a) Dark Irony, given both the revolution is motivated by evil benders, and that Sato is a loyal follower due to the "Evil Firebender Murderer" killing his wife

b) Making Amon a truly evil villain due both to his crimes, and due to his using the Revolution against his own crimes to further his own power

• But Koh could be involved in knowing the details about Amon's doings and the spirit(s) he conversed with.
  • Jossed. He's a waterbender/bloodbender.

The Equalists, Amon especially, will be reminded how much the Avatar is out of their league when Korra enters the Avatar State.

The previous Avatar demolished entire naval fleets and made a master firebender charged by a comet flee. Giant mechas made of platinum aren't going to fare any better.

• Ozai never fled. The only time he fled was during the Eclipse, when he didn't have any power at all.

Theories of Out Of The Past...

• ... will involve Korra going to the Spirit World She will meet Aang there. Also, I remember a trailer saying we will learn why bending is not possible in the Spirit World. I hope the last sentence happens in this episode.
  • From what we saw with Aang, being in the Spirit World makes the Avatar pretty much comatose in the real world. Amon would take advantage of this. Also, I don't think she'll meet with Aang yet, but maybe someone else from ATLA.
• ...will clear up some questions of what happened between Aang's time and Korra's. There was The Promise, but there's still more that we don't know, like how Sokka and the rest died. We also haven't seen Zuko or the new Fire Lord yet. We don't know what happened to Ursa. We don't know about Azula's fate. We'll find out in Out of the Past. Or at least some of it.
• Since Tarrlok forced her out of Republic City, Korra will be be forced to think and look within herself long to get in touch with the spiritual side she was struggling with. And she will be able to airbend, unlock the Avatar State, and return back to the city to set balance. In other words, Nice Job Fixing It, Villain.
• Remember how Korra left Naga outside to wait for her? I suspect Naga will get anxious about Korra and go look for her. Not only that, but since she's a very large animal, Tarrlok won't be able to blood bend her effectively, so Korra can go back and rescue everyone.
  • On a similar note, it's also possible that Tahno, who was just walking by, comes across her and the two go on the mission together, eventually becoming really close buddies.

The war goes Three-Way

With the events of "When Extremes Meet", neither side is looking particularly good. It is quite possible that all these events are leading up to a third faction forming... one made of a mix of benders and non-benders working together and pooling resources to combat the extremes of both sides while trying to make meaningful changes. Tarlok is feeding Amon political ammo and Amon is well... Amon, so eventually people sick with both sides will start to find each other and eventually a third faction forms, likely with Korra, a rescued Krew, Tenzin, Beifong (from what we know, she applied the laws as equally as possible), and some non-Equalist non-bender leaders and characters. Then the war ends up going three way, Amon calling the third faction Bender manipulation, Tarlok calling them renegades, and the third faction basically telling both that they are too extreme. Maybe even some foreign support for the third faction; IE, the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Fire Nation all agree that both sides have gone over the top and they need to work quickly to restore order. Not neccesarily troops as politics may not allow it, but supplies, training, etc.

Korra will end up joining the Equalists

After the events of Episode 8, having witnessed the horrific abuse of non-benders by benders, Korra will approach Amon and ask to help the Equalist's cause. She may either refuse to bend, or even voluntarily haveher bending taken away, or she may act as a bridge between benders and non-benders, as the Avatar is the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds. Team Avatar may reject her for this, seeing her as a traitor, or they may join with her, having experienced the oppression non-benders are facing first-hand. Tenzin will probably not approve, however.

• Jossed.

Korra's flashbacks were a warning about Tarrlok, not Amon

The three flashbacks Korra has experienced so far all took place during episodes where Tarrlok made some sort of political power play. And we now know that Tarrlok and Yakone are both bloodbenders. So many of the flashbacks take place in the Council chamber that they must have something to do with politics in Republic City. There has to be some connection there...

• Combine this with the other WMGs of Tarrlok possibly being the head of the Red Monsoons and Yakone's son, it could be that Yakone was the previous head of the Monsoons and presented a very lethal threat, and his death at the hands of the Gaang led to his son's grudge and lust for power and vengeance.
• This is the conclusion Korra came to in episode 9. However, as of the finale, it seems like Aang really was trying to warn her about Amon after all since he was also a bloodbender and Yakone's son, Tarrlok's brother. Perhaps Aang was trying to warn her about both of them.

Tarrlok plans to hand Korra out to Amon.

If this wasn't a children's show, the implications of Episode 8's ending would be that he intends to take Korra to a quiet spot in the countryside and kill her. But since murder is off the table in this series, he does the next worse thing: try and get Korra de-Bended forever, and left as a prisoner of the Equalists. This way he can both get rid of a dangerous rival, and use her as a martyr to justify his extreme methods. His Bloodbending should keep the Chi-blockers and Amon himself at bay, and let him make a safe retreat, even if he can't make a brief truce with them using Korra as a bartering chip.

• Alternate theory: Amon is legitimately disgusted when Tarrlok tries this, saying he won't accept it and later has Chi-blockers get him by surprise to de-bend him.
  • Jossed. Tarrlok intended to take Korra with him as a hostage, but Amon finds his safehouse. And Tarrlok is able to incapacitate the Chi-Blockers, but not Amon, who was also a Bloodbender. Amon debends him, and Korra escapes.

Republic City is Kirkwall

Tarlok and the metal benders are Meredith and the Templars, The Equalists are the mages, Tenzin is the Viscount: a Reasonable Authority Figure who tries to mediate with nominal power but no political base and hence no real power. Team avatar is team Hawke: a team of powerful individuals who try to find a way to make peace between the factions only to fail time and again until ultimately the situation falls apart entirely leading to a worldwide revolution.

• So who will be the Arishok analogue that will kill Tenzin and, in the process, pave Korra's rise to power and exacerbate the conflict?

Tarrlok will dump Korra/Korra will escape into the countryside

We know that the village from The Fortuneteller is near Republic City. Its a nice piece of trivia, but why else would they bother revealing it if Korra doesn't end up there?

• Korra did escape, but she returns to Republic City.

Chief Beifong will save Korra.

She's pretty much announced that she will become Batman to protect the city from the Equalists. It would make sense for her to patrol near the Council building just in case. She might first assume that the Equalists have kidnapped Tarrlok, but will soon figure out what's actually going on after she runs into Naga.

• Jossed. Amon locates the house that Tarrlok took Korra to and takes his bending, and Korra escapes in the aftermath and makes it back to Republic City.

Korra's first successful use of airbending will happen during a climactic fight with Tarrlok.

Narrative convention says that it must happen in the most awesome way possible. As for why Tarrlok, just for the irony of it. After all, Tarrlok is the one who really pointed out Korra's inadequacies through her inability to airbend. (Amon is a possible alternative, granted. But Amon never brought up Korra's inability to airbend, nor does he really seem to care.)

• Jossed. She doesn't get airbending until Amon debends her in the Book 1 finale, and that unlocks her airbending, which she promptly uses to defeat Amon.

Naga's Undying Loyalty and dogged (no pun intended) determination are what gets Korra out of her kidnapping predicament

.She did ride Naga there, and Naga was probably witness to the 'napping.

Tarrlok and Amon are both pawns of one who wishes to use the chaos and conflict the two create for his/her own ends, and has been planning this since Aang's Era

.First of all (and kinda unrelated, but bear with me) when the "Evil Flashback guy" (or EFG for short) was seen in the "everybody gets bloodbent" flashback, despite near the entire court getting disabled including Toph, Sokka and Aang, the EFG merely remained standing without moving at all. Also, notice the time of day it seems to be.

It seems likely from what was seen in the flashback that

a) EFG was not doing the bloodbending

b) there were multiple bloodbenders striking (as it is unlikely any one person could bloodbend a room packed with powerful benders)

c) these bloodbenders were able to do this during the daytime, which suggests they may have been specially trained to do so

However, EFG was still clearly in on this attack, given he merely kept standing and evilly laughing as it happened, so he was likely the one who ordered it. However, EFG was also likely a firebender given his eye colour, which would mean that whatever faction/organisation he is a part of is also a multi bender one if he was able to get a number of elite waterbenders to rescue him.

Now, several decades later when Tarrlok uses it on Korra, she gets this flashback, and he seems to enigmatically hint he was linked to it, and thus likely part of this same Faction. However, he also revealed that he REALLY hates Amon as shown by his reaction as when Korra compared the two and his quick psychotic breakdown afterwards. This hints at a deeper and more complex relationship between the two than merely Tarrlok using Amon's attacks for his own political advantage.

My theory is that they both were once in EFG's faction/organisation, and Tarrlok for unknown reasons utterly despised Amon. Not only that, but whomever was in charge of this faction decided to set them both against each other and ensured both were placed in powerful circles within the prototypical Equalists, or the City Council, so that they would ensure a vicious cycle of conflict and repression between Benders and Non Benders. This would be an Ideal way for whomever is working behind the scenes to seize power after Benders and Non Benders had nearly annihilated each other.

• Confirmed. Their antics were spurred on by their childhood with Yakone.

Tarrlok is Really 700 Years Old and wants to take revenge on Korra for something Aang did to him.

This is completely a guess, but judging from the fact that the guy the original Team Avatar is fighting in Korra's flashback in "When Extremes Meet" looks suspiciously like Tarrlok, and the fact that Tarrlok is crazy powerful and can bloodbend even when it's not a full moon, he's either somehow part-spirit or has somehow given himself extended life/made himself immortal.

• Jossed. He's Yakone's son, and had a childhood. And he dies at the end of Book 1.

Amon will rescue Korra

Think about it: what was the last major thing the Avatar did before her mysterious disappearance? She challenged the most powerful member of the Council and tried to defend a group of innocent non-bending civilians from his unjust actions. It's the kind of press that is the complete opposite of what Amon is trying to sell about benders in general. And he said he wants to save her for last: Tarrlok has upset his plans in that regard. So he finds out where Tarrlok took her, rescues her and de-powers Tarrlok for good measure. Bonus points if Tarrlok takes Korra somewhere remote, and Amon finds them easily: it'll show that Amon's message is not just confined to Republic City anymore, and the Equalist sentiment has spread far and wide.

• Confirmed. This is exactly what happens.

We'll have some reference evil Airbenders impact the story at some point in the show

Most likely in a flashback but in the show we've already gone through the gamut of evil Firebenders (much of the Fire Nation in the old series, the assorted Triads), Earthbenders (Dai Li, assorted Triads), Waterbenders (assorted Triads, Tarrlok). Might as well go for broke. Maybe they'll bring in that traitor dude from the card game.

• Legally confirmed, but not until Book 3, when a newly awakened airbender named Zaheer is the Big Bad.

We've already seen the Red Monsoons

They were Tarrlok's "task force" in the fourth episode. Note that the members of the task force were referred to as "deputies", implying that they weren't regular law enforcement officers. Tarrlok is likely the leader of this Triad, which is the most dangerous because they seek political power in Republic City rather than simply extorting money from small businesses. The Earthbenders on the task force may have been borrowed from another Triad, and the other members of the City Council may also be bribed or threatened into supporting Tarrlok. And think about the timing: Tarrlok launches an attack on Amon right after he depowers the leaders of the other Triads. He's going after Amon because he feels personally threatened. Not only that, but with the power vacuum at the top of the Triads following Amon's "revelation", Tarrlok will be in a position to be Republic City's cappo di tutti capi, leader of all the gangs as well as the city council. Total power in the legitimate world *and* the underworld.

Tarrlok didn't do anything to get the new Chief of Police on his side.

The Chief was already on his side, and Tarrlok just hooked up one of his supporters with the job as soon as there was an opening, in order to secure his control over the police force.

• Or, in the same vein, the majority of the police actually already support Tarlok. We already know that even Beifong considered Tenzin a coward for the way he was handling the equalists, the rest of the cops don't have her personal reasons to sympathize with Tenzin or to oppose Tarlok so they probably see Tarlok as someone who is standing up to the equalists while Tenzin is an appeaser.
  • Plus Cheif Saikhan send metalbender cops after Tarrlok after finding out he's a bloodbender and seemed non-corrupt before his capture in Turning the Tides.

Zuko will be called upon in Out of the Past to hunt the Avatar

Think about it: he has the most experience in the Avatar Tracking department, and he probably has a not-insignificant amount of authority in the city due to the whole 'original founder' thing. He would be the perfect candidate to find Korra and give Tarrlok a stern talking to about the ups and downs of running an oppressive regime. And he would knock some sense into the other council members too(the firebender comes to mind)

• Bonus points if he wears the Blue Spirit mask while freeing Korra, or says some variation on "I'm getting too old for this."
• This needs to happen. If not in show, then in fanfic.
• Zuko will rescue Korra and give Tarrlok the pwning he deserves. He will then fail at giving Korra advice and they will do the Dancing Dragon. And Tenzin will say "Uncle Zuko!"
  • Jossed. Zuko doesn't even appear until Book 3.

Yakone is the reason why the Equalist Movement exists.

Whatever he was on trial for, it was something bad enough to tick off the Gaang, and potentially bad enough to kill Sokka and/or Toph, if those WMGs are proven to be correct. Anyway, Yakone's crimes were mostly directed towards non-benders, possibly out of a sense of superiority. It's possible then, that Yakone was a Fire Kingdom national bent on trying to bring down Republic City, and the Agni Kai gang were/are his supporters. They wreaked havoc in the city, ruining who knows how many lives in the process, Amon and his family among them.

• The theory is wrong, but the exact words of the WMG are true. Yakone was Amon's father. His abuse towards Amon/Noatak regarding bloodbending is what fueled Amon/Noatak's hatred for benders (despite the fact that he is one.) So he is the reason why the Equalist movement exists, both literally since Amon wouldn't have been born without him and figuratively since he was the evil bender, or ex-bender, that made Amon so angry.

Out of the Past will end with a She's Back moment for Korra.

Turning the Tides will be a Mêlée à Trois between Team Avatar and friends, the Equlaists, and Tarrlok's forces.

• This is what should have happened, that would have been awesome.

Tenzin finds Korra.

Tarrlok stashed Korra away somewhere where no one would find her... No one except someone who knows the "Everything Is Connected" technique that Aang learned from Huu. Aang taught it to Tenzin, and then Tenzin uses it to divine Korra's location.

• Jossed. Amon finds Korra instead. He takes Tarrlok's bending, but Korra is able to get away.

In the finale, there will be a huge windstorm during the Equalists' attack to foreshadow Korra's arrival to Republic City

And it will foreshadow her ability to airbend too.

• O_o How can something that already happened be foreshadowed. She's already in Republic City.

When Korra fights the Lieutenant, she'll say, "Your weapons are just those Kali sticks; mine is all the water in the atmosphere!"

It's a great Shout-Out and downright awesome.

At one point, Tarrlok and Amon will have a big battle with one another

Tarrlok's Bloodbending and skill with Waterbending will even the playing field and the battle will end with the two evenly matched and in a draw, but Amon, being the Magnificent Bastard he is, uses this to reveal Tarrlok to Republic City.

• And break his concentration long enough to close a gap and chi-block him, followed by de-bending.
• Oh, they had their confrontation in Episode 9, but it wasn't much of a fight...Amon proved to be immune to bloodbending, and proceeded to easily defeat and de-bend Tarrlok.

Korra will finally access the Avatar State in the Season Finale and actually meet Aang.

As the promos have shown, Amon is going to try and take Korra's bending in the season finale at some point. What better way for her to access the Avatar State for the first time than Aang, who is supposed to be her mentor to the job in this series, coming to her as he tries and using it to save her the same way Roku used it to save Aang the first time they met?

The Southern Water Tribe will recall their representative.

The chief of the Southern Water Tribe is Tenzin's cousin (assuming, of course, that Sokka had kids, otherwise the chief would be Kya or Bumi). It's unlikely that he's pleased with the SWT's Councilwoman voting in lockstep with Tarrlok on every issue. Time to appoint someone who is more sympathetic to non-benders, or at least more considerate of the concerns of the Southern Water Tribe. Someone like Kya or Bumi.

• Actually, I think the SWT representative is male. The councilwoman looks like she's from the Fire Nation.
• The chief of the Southern Water Tribe isn't necessarily Tenzin's cousin: nowhere in the original series is it stated that the position of the chief is inherited. It's possible that the chief is chosen by a tribal meeting, or by some other process that doesn't involve inheritance.

The Gaang statues around Republic City are a secret defense mechanism.

We've seen three so far - Aang's, Toph's and Zuko's. Statues that large are almost certainly made from metal rather than stone. And what is the City police force known for controlling? That's right...

• Combining this with the designs for a humongous mecha present in a Freeze-Frame Bonus here◊, an important episode, perhaps even the finale, will have an Equalist Humongous Mecha threatening an important part of the city (but avoid harming civilians). The animated statues will attempt to hold it off, but it's too powerful and can only be stopped by Korra entering the Avatar state, forming a Kaiju-like monster like in the episode "The Siege of the North". She'll have difficulty triggering it, either because she's Chi-blocked or perhaps even energy-bended, or just because the Avatar state is difficult to trigger. However, once she's entered that state, she's not in full control of her actions, so she causes excessive damage to the city while battling the Equalist mecha. The Equalists are defeated temporarily, but Amon will escape, and Korra will have caused enough damage that the Equalists actually gain popular support, perhaps even taking control of the city. Korra may be exiled, setting the stage for a second season where she learns energybending, or if she was energy-bended herself, she may be Depowered permanently and search for a way to regain her powers. If the latter is the case, the lack of an existing Avatar may cause an unbalance in the world, allowing spirits to cross over into the physical world, with Amon revealed to be Koh's agent, and the final battle will be between Korra and Koh/Amon.
• Perhaps Korra can spiritually link to one of the statues (most likely Aang's) and we can have something similar to Koizilla, except with a giant statue.
  • This Whovian cringes at that thought.

Tarrlok will join the Equalists

What other options, other than life in a prison or on the streets? Amon has taken him as his prisoner and might probably point out his current position and convince him he has nowhere else to go, and that he has an opportunity to take revenge on Team Avatar and the Council.

• You know, we never actually see Amon debend Tarrlok. What if he can still bloodbend and joins the Equalists anyway?

Republic City will face World War 1 (with plenty of elements from WW2) followed by a Great Depression

Just how does Amon plan to debend the whole world? The easiest option would be to gather most of the world's benders in one place - a World War would be just the kind of mass participation scenario he would need. We've had a Roaring Twenties scenario without the WWI that came before it, so it's probably what will happen soon. I guess when the Equalists attack with all their fancy toys, if the season finale promo gives us any hint, biplanes, then Republic City will become the center of a World Conflict - Equalists vs rest of the world (cue Fire Nation battle destroyers, Earth Kingdom tanks and vehicles and what not). The Aang statue might be replaced by Amon's or would have to be repaired after the fight is over.

Even the order of the white lotus will join in the fight, but all will be defeated one after another. Until Amon gets beaten by Korra in the Avatar state, followed by some epic One Woman Army ass kicking against all the Equalists' military. The city will be mostly brought to the ground, along with mass de-bending by Amon of all his POWs in the process. Since Sato, the biggest industrialist is on the side of the enemy, his empire will collapse in the process. Unless the Krew can find a solution to Amon's energybending, the whole industry whose backbone is benders (most of whom might have lost their bending), would fall next and the city enters a Great Depression, with criminal gangs loose everywhere, forcing the Krew for some mass clean-up in Season 2. A scenario like the one in the Deus Angst Machina page might set in if natural disasters and earthquakes set in, and we have the City's Darkest Hour.

• Was there a Chinese equivalent to the Great Depression? As far as this Troper can tell, Korra is pretty much based squarely on Chinese history. The Great Depression is American.
  • Um... what? The Depression was global and affected virtually every country.

Amon accidentally unlocks the chakra on Korra's forehead

In a sense of Irony, Korra unwittingly unlocked six of the seven chakras with the front head one still locked/clogged. Amon, unaware of this, accidentally helps him unlocks it and she goes into the Avatar State for the first time.

• This would work quite well, especially if it turns into a battle of wills like what happened between Aang and Ozai.
  • OR It turns into a battle of wills, and Korra INTENTIONALLY loses it, restoring the bending abilities to everyone around her in exchange for giving up being the Avatar (and her bending with it). Basically, Korra would shatter the Avatar spirit and use it to restore the bending to everyone else.
    • A possible variation on the above: Amon absorbs part of the Avatar Spirit with his energybending, and in addition to getting its power, he also gets its knowledge and spirituality, leading him to a My God, What Have I Done? moment. He then uses the Avatar powers he took to give bending to all non-benders in Republic City (or even the entire world), and in doing so, he uses up all of his chi and dies.
    • It is also possible that Korra intentionally loses, and her acceptance of her fate activates the Avatar State in a one-time-only Wave-Motion Gun blast of energy that takes out Amon, leaves Korra out cold, and creates a pretty pillar of light similar to what happened when Aang was freed from the iceberg. Book Two will then focus on Korra achieving the Avatar State at will in order to restore people's bending.

Korra will not defeat Amon by going into the Avatar State.

There have already been plenty of speculation (see the WMG above, for example) that Korra will finally enter the Avatar State in the season 1 finale, and will thus defeat Amon. There was even some slight foreshadowing of this in "Out of the Past", when Aang was able defeat the otherwise undefeatable Yakone in the Avatar State. However, throughout the first season Amon has been depicted as a Crazy-Prepared villain. The existence of the Avatar State is not a secret; plenty of people have witnessed it, and there are even some (like the Earth Nation general in the AtLA episode "The Avatar State") who have learned how it works. Therefore, it's perfectly possible Amon knows about the Avatar State, and has prepared a way to counterattack it. On a more meta level, the Avatar State has already been used as a Deus ex Machina in the season 1 and season 3 finales of the original series. To use it in a similar manner in TLoK would be a bit anticlimactic, and the writers probably know this. It's possible that Korra will enter the Avatar State just as Amon is about to kill/energybend her, and everyone (including the audience) will expect this to turn the tables against Amon, only to find out Amon has found a way to counter it. Korra will then have to figure out another way to defeat Amon, and to season 1 will have a more satisfying conlusion than a totally predictable Deus ex Machina.

• I'm pretty sure, considering there's a second season in the works, that it won't be over in the season 1 finale if Korra goes into the Avatar State to stave off Amon's Spiritbending. And while it is "predictable", there's a point to the Avatar State's ability to kick in at the most opportune time. Roku did say that it's a "defense mechanism designed to empower [The Avatar] with the knowledge of their past lives." You say Deus ex Machina, I say "It only makes sense, considering that the first book is about Korra's spiritual journey to connect with her past lives." Plus, you mind telling me how Amon is going to have a plan for the Avatar State? We've already seen it completely curbstomp Yakone, who was a powerful bloodbender capable of bending without the use of his hands, as well as Firelord Ozai, the strongest firebender in the world who was ALSO superpowered thanks to Sozin's Comet.
  • From what I've gathered, the second season was commissioned so late that the first season had already been animated, hence the Amon arc will end with this season... But if that's not the case, and Korra will defeat Amon with the Avatar State but not completely, and Amon will be back for season 2, then I guess that'll be more satisfying than merely seeing a reprise of "The Siege of the North" and "Sozin's Comet". As for how Amon might be able to counter the Avatar State... From what we know, the AS is nothing more than a form of "super-bending": the Avatar using the knowledge and experience of past Avatars to make his bending extraordinarily powerful. Aang was able to curbstomp Ozai and Yakone because they fought with bending, and Aang's bending was stronger than theirs in the Avatar State. But there are some strong implications that Amon is a totally different beast, that his power doesn't come from (regular) bending. In episode 6 huge firebending blasts didn't bother him at all, and in episode 9 he was able to shake off Tarrlok's bloodbending. If Amon's power is (as it has been speculated) that he can neutralize/counter any form of bending, then possibly this applies to the super-bending of the Avatar State as well, and that's how he'll be able to fight Korra even though she's in the AS.
    • Amon's ability to stave off Tarrlok's bloodbending could very well just be him counterbloodbending Tarrlok. After all, Amon could still be a bender(it would add onto the Hitler parallel), and the only people we've seen able to resist Bloodbending were Katara, herself a bloodbender, and Aang, who simply went mega-overpowered to overwhelm Yakone.
    • The Avatar State theory is confirmed. She doesn't even access it until after Amon is driven away.

"Skeleton in the Closet" will reveal Amon's backstory and the fact that he is actually capable of bending

Well what else has he to be ashamed of?

• Confirmed.

Korra will show off her newly acquired Guile Hero traits by blocking Amon's energybending...

By simply placing something in the collar of her armor to prevent him from accessing her Amon pressure point.

We'll see what the consequences for failing to energybend will be.

In the Season Finale preview, we see Amon is about to attempt to de-bend Korra. While it seems obvious she will have her bending anyways, there will be an instance where either the first (to see how spiritual Korra got) or the second (she gets it back somehow and he tries it again) will fail and it affects his body or soul. The Lion Turtle mentioned it was possible the person's spirit could fact heavy damage for it, which either means it will be shown or it has happened before. In fact, the Turtle never said it was immediate destruction, so we could see it occur throughout the remainder of the finale and be a leading cause to his plans falling apart.

Attempting to remove Korra's bending will trigger the Avatar state.

And then Amon will be on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle for the first time in the series.

• Second that. There's a tumblr pic floating around in Russian that is either a real leak or really convincing fake showing Korra bending the three elements she's already mastered in a Sphere of Destruction against Amon who's casually using a similar sphere of air around himself right down to the Air Nomad symbol being under him as they Battle in the Center of the Mind.
  • Those pics have been confirmed as fake. Doesn't disprove the WMG, though.

Amon and Tarlokk survived the explosion.

To actually begin a new life, they had to stage their deaths so no one would come after them. Tarlokk wasn't being ironic when he said "Just like old times," he really meant it. Given that both of them were arguably the most skilled waterbenders in both of the shows, and the fact that they were surrounded by the ocean, it would have been very easy for either of them to surround themselves with water (or freeze it to ice) and start a new life outside of Republic City.

Amon has a twisted sense of humor.

Maybe the original message for Korra in ep.4 was "If Korra comes alone, the Equalists will send 'no attack' against her." No attack. Noatak. Whoever relayed the message didn't seem to care about the precise wording, meaning that the whole thing was a covert threat to attack Korra.

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