Korra Book 2 (ALREADY!)

[Suicide]

From the Comic Con panel we already get a rough sneak peak of Korra in a tad bit of trouble courtesy of a pissed off spirit!



Can't wait!

[Yami]

Oh man and I miss most of season 1.

[Flyingfoxman]

iTunes man. It's the only way to watch TV serials.

Anyway, I'm excited. I was hoping we'd see more of the spirits. I'd always hoped they'd delve deeper into the series mythology. Maybe they'll do a real noir-style mystery involving spirits.

[mutantoverlord]

holy shit cakes batman, i think i called this one. i just knew the spirit world would be involved in this.

i can only imagine what is the motivation of this creature though. normally spirits are neutral entities, even the likes of ko the face stealer, who only act agaisnt humans for necessity or anger; koh's very existence has him to tempt people with knowledge and steal their faces, kind of a sick little game for him. wonder what got a stick stuck up this guy's ass, or if he is even alone.

hopefully we will see a fully bound and gagged korra in this, and perhaps an asami if we are lucky.

[mutantoverlord]

iTunes man. It's the only way to watch TV serials.

Anyway, I'm excited. I was hoping we'd see more of the spirits. I'd always hoped they'd delve deeper into the series mythology. Maybe they'll do a real noir-style mystery involving spirits.

probably not a crime solver mystery, considering this thing might be the equivalent of satan in avatar for all we know; imagines a priest in a giant overcoat monologing to himself and laughs. but this creature has to ahve some kind of motivation, but what is it? is it a manifestation of the darker side of humanity an spirit? or is it a spirit that seeks vengeance against mortals to transgressions ancient and unknown? or maybe it is pissed because they forgot to send him and invitation to that party down south, or maybe pro bending.

korra- sorry, sorry, but all the tickets to the arena were sold out.

demon thingy- oh sure they were. i waited ten thousand years for the sport to be invented in the first place, now i have to wait another month to see the damned thing?

[Suicide]

Yeah the spirit realm is the best direction they could have taken now that Korra has unlocked her spiritual side. There are places she can venture into that weren't much of a problem for Aang's culture. On the path to becoming the fully realized Avatar she'll have to master her connection with the Spirit Realm, not just connect with it.

[mutantoverlord]

it also provides a mess of possiblities for the story. who is the enemy this time? i think, from the looks of it, it might be some kind of naturally wicked spirits, perhaps the avatar world's equivalent to the demonic, though the question is if that monster there is the main antagonist or just a minion, or perhaps not connected to the main enemy but just a sign that shit is going down between the spirit and corporeal world. or maybe the bad guys aren't the spirits, in fact. perhaps humans are the enemy here, some kind of environmental thingy. though i am rather sure it does not have anything to do with oil, as there seems to be other materials that are converted into a variation of gasoline for the satomobiles; they had jelly that blew the hsit out of stuff, and it must have come from something.

[Suicide]

An environmental message seems like a waste. What I'd love to see is a villain that actually does have a strong connection to the Spirit World. Not just fake one for the sake of a movement (not to knock Amon, he's awesome and so was his fake spirit bending ploy). I would also love love LOVE to see an evil Airbender. That'd be something new. Never had one of those before. Imagine a guy that could suck the air out of your lungs.

[mutantoverlord]

we would probably have to wait about a hundred years in universe for an evil airbender. there are only about four, maybe five if the baby displays the ability, in existence after all. unless some of them did survive that is, just still hidden from the world. there desperation could generate some ill willed air benders.
what i really like about amon is that he seemed less evil and just........ misguided. he wanted it to be safe for all people in the world, but he delluded himself that benders are the cause of wars and suffering, when plenty of non benders are like that if not worse, as the equalists themselves showed; damn you sato, you're a bad dad. hell, had he succeeded, just think what would happen now that the spirit world is showing some kind of agitation, and the avatar would not be able to help; thus his plans would have doomed the world.
still, he is more characteristic to an antihero than a true villain.

the avatar guys have strongly shown that most spirits are only agitated and become agressive becuase of environmental things, perhaps they supernatural acts both an act of violence and warning; don't fuck up my trees, though ti seems much more subtle. still, it seems in this case the spirits might be some variety that are naturally aggressive to humans and the corporeal world. something is happening, i saw pictures of a giant crack in the ground emiting blue energy, spirit energy. and to the honor of star wars, i have a bad feeling about this.

from the looks of it, we are gonna have real spirits, thoguh we iwll have to see. perhpas the villain is in fact a spirit, one different than all the others; while most are still, for a better word, bestial and without any ambitions beyond their designated positions and tendencies, such as koh being a source of knowledge and a stealer of faces. though perhaps it is a human hwo is manipulating or controling spirits. oh the possibilities.

actually, amon had no idea that the ability aang and now korra uses is energy bending. no one does, besides perhaps some of his friends, most of whom have already taken the secret to their graves. he would probably not want to mimic it if he knew it was just another form of bending, the first form in fact; his reasoning is that the avatar simply had the ability throgh some spirit's power. i lvoe that awesome yet very cruel touch at the end, showing that amon's efforts were ultimately for not as the avatar's connection opened and she learned energy bending from aang, showing that the mimicry was no match for the true power of energy bending; what it can take it can give.

i guessed that energy bending could easily cure amon's power, but never expected korra to learn it, let alone from aang. though it opens up a lot of strange factors. such as two avatars in a row knowing the power is unheard of. also it raises the question that if it can restore bending, can it in fact give non benders bending? sitll, it shows that the energy bending is a supernatural power, as amon's was purely physical and probably learned from a lot of scientific research. he could only simulate the power and nothing more. sound sa lot like someone who tried to gain the power of god, yet ultimately only could weakly mimic it.

[Suicide]

Not to mention this ability she now has to restore bending to the people it was stolen from raises some very strong social arguments that I'd love to see them delve into on the show (though its a minor factor). The criminals who were using bending to strong arm the people, though using their abilities unjustly had their abilities stolen from them without fair trial or judgement. Would it be fair to keep them depowered while others are granted their bending back like Lin and the other Metalbenders? It raises a good debate within the show.

Also I really hope the Equalists are still around if just a side villain. I wanna see Sato break out of jail, build Cybernetic braces for the Lieutenant's limbs and take charge of the best ninjas ever portrayed in media. Maybe even get some more successful kidnappings going.

[mutantoverlord]

i'd love to see characters that are nods to or descendants of old ones, at leat more than just iroh, who i liked. personally, i want to know if the combustion man had any descendants. now that would make an awesome character and potential foe. a new assassin, younger yet smarter than the combustion man, operating in repbulic city..... it would be bitchin if the first appearance of the character has him being sent by a vague politician to eliminate equalist stragglers, ones korra finds herself protecting against him. could lead into a plot of trying to find the man who sent the hitman.
if i had control of such a plot, i would have the clues lead to Tenzin as being the one who hired the assassin. would be a really shockign thing, and could be preluded by having equalists attempt to attack his wife and daughters before the assassin appears and tenzin, bearing a grudge and lots of guilt of failing to keep his family safe, treads a dark path to protect them. angered and saddened, korra tries to convince tenzin to turn himself in; the sentence would nto be light as it would be shown the assassin had killed a lot of people. howeve tenzin states his deals and plans cannot be delayed, and suddenly uses airbending to pull the very air from korra's lungs, suffocating her and leaving her gasping on the floor before leaving.
that would get you the evil airbender you wanted, and generate a lot of fuckign drama, and would fit the darker tone legend of korra has. and to be honest, it would not be so out of character. he is a man who loves his family, and i think after his children nearly becoming victim's of amon's abilities, because he could not protect him, and to find the equalists still threaten them, he would withotu a doubt go to any lengths to protect them. lengths he never imagined he would go. could go into an emotional conflict and perhaps battle between korra, betrayed and enraged, and tenzin, desperate yet darkened, and perhaps even have fans try to draw comparisons between tarrlok and tenzin and their actions.

i am actually pretty sure the lieutenant is dead. a lot of people think otherwise, but why would amon not kill him when he had found out and, being his second hand and thus a person the followers would believe, could reveal the truth? a man as intelligent and cruel as him would not just throw him into a pile of wood. though i believe he regretted killing the man. pretty sure a lot of people actually die if you look carefully, like those guys tenzin threw onto another bending, or that poor bastard in the mecha tank that tenzin shot into the air.

[Suicide]

He's a devout Buddhist Monk. I doubt he'd ever hire an assassin. Tenzin didn't kill anyone in the series and would never stoop to such an act. It would be shameful to his entire belief system that all life is precious. He and his dad are vegetarians for crying out loud. He doesn't even like violent sports. His family was threatened yes but they came out safe. Someone like Tenzin would see that as a blessing and wouldn't shame it by hiring assassins because "timez iz desperate!"

I'd make it a long forgotten (thought dead) student of Aang and fellow training partner of Tenzin as they were children. He was found to be the great grandson of an Airbender who escaped the slaughter of 100 year war and thus has the potential to Airbend and thus trained by Aang along with Tenzin. But during their travels and adventures he develops hate (or always harbored it) and starts to pollute the airbending art. When confronted by Tenzin and his siblings a battle ensues and he seemingly perishes from his own arrogant actions. Only to return to Republic City.

[mutantoverlord]

that is what would make it more powerful an event. think about it in his point of view. he was bound there, helpless, next to his children, as far as he was concerned about to be forced to watch as their gifts are violently taken from them. and his beloved wife and newborn son imprisoned like a criminal, for no more reason than merely loving him and bearing his children. as far as he knew it, his entire world was falling to pieces in front of him, and that his entire race would fall into true extinction to top it off. however, thanks to korra, his family was saved from this tragedy and amon defeated. the threat apparrently over.
however, say that the equalists attack one of his children, perhaps one of the daughters, who is injured in her attempted abduction. the impact that would have on him i could only imagine, to see his precious daughter wounded by these heathens, and the police are having a hard time tracking these remaining groups of rebels. and lets up the ante. say the equalists had attacked another young woman, a bender, and though the police rescued her, they discovered her violently beaten and nearly dead. the realization by tenzin and police that the equalists, the true power of amon being revealed as blood bending and lackign a way to snatch away bending, is trying to either ruin or kill any benders they can. the revelation that if his daughter's abduction had not been prevented, he may have never seen her alive again.

desperation can lead a person to a dark path. the circumstances presents tenzin with a choice; follow the laws of the world and risk his beloved family to these cowardly and cunning assassins, or use some kind of influence to end the threat permanently. even buddhist monks have committed violence, as shaolin monks have, though only when threatened. and this is a threat of an enormous level for a man like tenzin.
however the situation between him and the assassin have circumstance far more complicated than a mere hitman. the combustion man descendant, he could actually be an acquittance to tenzin. or perhaps owe tenzin everything. perhaps tenzin and his wife saved his life seveal years ago, when he was younger, before any of theri children were born, and the yfound him dying, his arm lsot by an accident with his combustion abilities. they rescue him and managed to get a private doctor to save his life. the boy has immense grattitude, they two soon learn of his violent past. tenzin, in his benevolence, decides to help the boy learn to have a peaceful life, using some funds, under the imrpession of getting a summer home, sets him up far, far away from the cities and people he worked for, away from violence. the boy did not have any words to say, though he suspected tenzin wanted his own personal assassin. tenzin quickly stated no, and the boy believed him. however the boy, viewing himself as only slikghtly more than a weapon now, says that if he ever wanted someone dead, tenzin need only ask.
with that backstory set up, it is free for a desperate and terrified tenzin to approach his old friend, years later, and with the greatest reluctance take the combustion descendant up on his offer. he chooses this person because he trusts him to not go overboard and take more casualties than necessary to end the equalist threat once and for all. and i imagine do to the mechanics of the ability, the equalist will not have and could never have a defense. think about it, a thin, hard to see bolt of energy that blows apart steel and stone. his would easily massacre and equalist base and all of theri technology in a fiery, hellish orchestra of destruction. not ot mention it seemingly bypases most of the p ressure points.

simply put, tenzin became a man with his back against the wall. the equalists turn to sheer violence, after his family, and i will think that he would not dare risk korra's safety in all of this, as i beleive he started to think of her as part of his family, like a daughter. i bet he also held guilt that she lost her bending, if temporarily, because of him. a man without options but one, and an assassin who's grattitude is so deep that he would and will do anything to help tenzin and protect his family. and don't forget, aang had a dark side himself. however he was only a child, if somewhat mature to a point, so the idea of killing was appallant to him and never crossed his mind. however tenzin, a grown man with a family and his very race to protect, both at risk, would have a hell of a lot more pressure than his father did when he lost his bison.

it could also lead into korra being forced to explore the world where the violent combustion descendant grew up in, looking for clues for not only tenzin's whereabouts but also whatever force was near.

[Suicide]

I dunno it ruins a character at his very core for the sake of forced drama. It sounds like Civil War... You also already had (and still have) this same drama with Asami and her father. I like the idea of her having to go up against a former ally but it doesn't fit for Tenzin. He's a Buddhist. He wouldn't hire an assassin. EVER. If she had to deal with a more bitter Asami that'd be something more believable.

But regardless we'll just have to wait and see the fun unfold in the new seasons to come! I have every confidence in the team to produce something amazing again!

[cresent34]

It occurs to me that with all the enmity existing against anything not considered Occidental Christian '"Family Values", if the producers do take this kinda direction, some parents might consider such a direction a threat against their ingrained beliefs.

We've already seen protests against perceived "Satanism" in the 'Harry Potter' franchise, and even 'Airbender' itself had 'conscientious objectors' to its' Eastern-themed background. Who knows what kind of outcry will be made once more of the upcoming 2nd season is revealed?