For theories about other subjects, see The Legend Of Korra Wild Mass Guessing Index.
- This makes perfect sense! Minus the fact that if Aang was dead there wouldn't be a new avatar...
- Maybe Aang knew enough to pass on the Avatar Spirit itself to maintain the cycle. That way he could work on a non-bender revolution while his duties as Avatar would be taken over by another. Come on, look at his fight with Lightning bolt Zolt - the way he does the sidestepping with the hand movements - how many times have we seen Aang do that against Zuko? Also remember Amon is only targeting criminals; and we've already seen that taking away a criminal-bender's powers instead of killing him is a solution Aang favours...
- Whut? The Avatar Spirit isn't some parasite that sets up shop in hosts that are otherwise unrelated. Each Avatar is the physical incarnation of the Avatar Spirit. Aang is Korra's *past life*.
- Additionally, there is the possibility that Aang somehow energybended himself. While this would logically remove himself of his bending, it might also pass on the Avatar state to someone else. Plus, energybending seems so far removed from normal bending it might not be able to affect itself. This would allow Aang to truly fake his death, while allowing for the passing of the Avatar state. Alternatively, this is an unaffected side affect. Perhaps he WANTED to stop the Avatar state from continuing.
- Here's an idea to add to this: Aang kept the Spiritual part of being an Avatar. Why didn't Korra go into the Avatar state when Amon attacked the Pro-Bending arena? It's not like it was a minor cut and then she was tied up.
- Because it's not like Aang didn't get into fights and captured all the time without slipping into the Avatar State? That's a pretty weak guess.
- Maybe Aang knew enough to pass on the Avatar Spirit itself to maintain the cycle. That way he could work on a non-bender revolution while his duties as Avatar would be taken over by another. Come on, look at his fight with Lightning bolt Zolt - the way he does the sidestepping with the hand movements - how many times have we seen Aang do that against Zuko? Also remember Amon is only targeting criminals; and we've already seen that taking away a criminal-bender's powers instead of killing him is a solution Aang favours...
- Perhaps when Aang energybent Yakone, some of Yakone's inner corruption found its way into him, like it almost did with Ozai. It took a while, but that corruption overtook Aang and he became Amon. The Avatar, the champion of purity and peace, was then no more in a spiritual sense, and so Korra was born.
- The evidence for this WMG is mounting:
- Aang was pretty pissed about Yakone's bloodbending and the harm it caused, and probably realized how underrepresented and how defenseless non-benders were as he saw more and more events like this. He pretty quickly resorted to energybending Yakone, with a pained expression that can be interpreted as him thinking 'perhaps bending is not a force of good in the world. perhaps it is more trouble than it's worth'. Bending having brought about the genocide of his people, the Hundred-Year War, etc. etc. too.
- Amon's mask and outfit completely conceal Aang's airbender tattoos so that their glow when Aang energybends or when he breaks bloodbending attacks cannot be seen.
- Except that his eyes don't glow through those holes.
- He could simply be closing his eyes to make it appear that way.
- Amon's sidestepping-dodging fighting style and energybending are indeed both Aang traits.
- Given the esoteric nature of energybending, it is entirely possible that Aang faked his death, and took away his own airbending, waterbending, earthbending and firebending abilities, and forced the Avatar spirit to pass on to Korra.
- ^ Exactly. He might actually have kept his airbending - in the scene where Amon bursts through the snow-cloud which Korra throws at him; the snow curves a bit just before he appears, and it has a clear likeness to an air-scooter/airbending sphere.
- In the trailer to the season finale The large statue of Aang has an Amon mask on it. This symbolizes him taking over, and him becoming the new savior, but it could also foreshadow him being Aang
- The only argument that effectively opposes this theory is that it's difficult to imagine Aang doing the things Amon has done; especially taking away Lin's powers like that in episode 10. Would he really do that to Toph's daughter, no matter what the circumstances? Oh well, we'll know on the 23rd, one way or another.
- It would explain his vendetta against the Avatar, bloodbending resistance. Maybe his ability to take bending away isn't chi blocking or energy bending but advanced bloodbending
- Jossed. But being his son's close enough, wouldn't you say?
- Related to the above, the biggest objection to Aang being Amon is that Aang has to have died in order to have reincarnated as Korra. You could try and explain how Aang may have triggered the next cycle of the avatar without dying... or it could be that Aang is still the current avatar.
- Why? Because Aang realized that in order to bring balance, he needed to go undercover, and to do that effectively he needed to fake his death. But everyone knows that when the avatar dies, a new avatar will be born. He needed a fake avatar to allay suspicions, since everyone would take the appearance of the new avatar as proof positive that Aang was truly dead. Then he would be free to continue his plans.
- How then to come up with a convincing fake avatar? Anyone who could bend more than one element should do the trick. And just as energybending can take away someones bending, perhaps it can be used to grant a non-bender bending, or to grant additional bending powers to someone who is already a bender. Perhaps people only ever get one bending power hereditary, but can be granted additional powers through energybending?
- So Aang finds a watertribe girl and an opportunity to energybend her the power to warter-, earth- and firebend... not airbend though. Perhaps energybending can only transfer powers, so every power Aang gives he has to give up, or perhaps he just wants to make sure that he has an edge if they ever end up in a fight. He's quite an old man by this point after all.
- Aang also takes this opportunity to plant key memories that will be unlocked at the appropriate time.
- As a result, Korra is a bending prodigy at everything by airbending, having been artificially granted the powers rather than developing them naturally. It also explains why she is completely unable to airbend and has no spiritual abilities. The only thing she gets is the occasional glimpses of Aangs memories he left in her mind.
- Since the girl is an innocent victim in this whole scheme, Aang wants to do what he can to protect her from coming to harm as a result of her unwitting role in his deception. Before he faked his death and went undercover to enact his plan, he instructed the White Lotus that they should take extra protective measures for the next avatar. Ideally Aang wanted Korra kept safely at the compound away from all the action until his plan was over Korra coming to Republic City threw a wrench in his plans, meaning they had to be accelerated before Korra got hurt.
- As promised, when everything is over, Aang will take Korras bending away... the artificial bending powers he gave her in the first place. Most likely he'll take away fire and earthbending, leaving her as the waterbender she would have been naturally. Aang will then reveal himself and reclaim his title as avatar, after having brought balance back to the world as Amon.
- The biggest flaw in this theory is the question why Aang, who's a powerful bender, who's best friends (not to mention his wife, kids, and grandkids) are mostly powerful benders, who as the Avatar is personification of the forces that give birth to bending, would feel the need to go undercover and start a movement that wants to get rid of all bending? What sort of balance is he trying to bring about? Why would a pacifist whose entire culture was wiped out by war think starting another war is an effective way of solving problems?
- See the arguments in favour of the above WMG for that.
- It's also possible that, because of all the mixed-culture marriages, ANY powerful bender can now control more than one element, and Korra is the first of these. But these benders cannot master since airbending, since it requires a certain level of spiritual enlightenment. Although, yes, as far as we know Korra's not from a mixed-culture lineage...but who knows?
- Jossed. Amon (birth name Noatak) is Yakone's son and Tarrlok's older brother.
- This theory has added plausibility, for unlike the above two theories, it explains accurately why Korra would have had such powers (I mean c'mon, wouldn't the parents have seen some weird masked guy hanging about their village if he'd given them out? Obviously, the reincarnation cycle went through, but something has gone wrong) and why Amon is trying to work counter to Aang's original plans. Also it explains why Amon is immune to bloodbending, he doesn't have a living body with blood in it! If it were simply Aang, he would have fallen victim, as he did before in the flashback.
- The Face Stealer is also the only character who wouldn't be terribly aged at this point and unable to do much more than limp around, being a creepy immortal being from the Spirit World. Chekhov's Gun is a given here, and this is one of the few beings (besides the lion-turtle who gave him the powers in the first place, ruled out because the personality type is wrong), who might be able to carry this out 75 years later.
- Knowing that Hiroshi employs benders as the backbone of his workforce and has a monopoly in the city's industry means Amon has good reason to dispose of Hiroshi too. It would start the collapse of the city's bender powered industry. Are we looking at a great Depression on the horizon? Good heavens, what a Magnificent Bastard Amon is!
- Which raises the possibility that Amon is Tenzin's first or second cousin. Scary.
- A: It would be implied that Azula was raped during her mental care.
- There is no way that would even be implied.
- B: She raised her children to hate benders.
- Or how about this: Amon IS Azula.
- It doesn't help that he has yellow eyes like someone from the Fire Nation.
- Though if Amon IS telling the truth, he could have been given away for adoption and may not quite no or accept his heritage, which is also why the first bender we see lose his bending is a firebender.
- yeah, cause actually ruling his kingdom is such a bad idea.
- He was also rescued by benders, remember? Trusting his bear's "keen animal instincts" besides, he's quite the Reasonable Authority Figure. He doesn't seem the kind to be involved in a Fantastic Racism movement.
- And how do we know that he's not a bender?
- Knowing Bryke's love of the Chekhov's Gun and Continuity Nod, her showing up is definitely not outside the realm of possibility. And some minor character who was considered good, or at least neutral, in ATLA being the Big Bad in Korra also seems to fit with their sense of storytelling.
- If I recall, there was a bit of fandom backlash over her name. Bryke have shown themselves to be pretty in-tune with what the fans don't like, as evidenced by the reference to "The Great Divide" in "The Ember Island Players", so this troper doubts Hope will play a major role. It's certainly possible we might see a minor character implied to be her, however.
- First, Aang favored his own son, Tenzin, over Amon, because Tenzin could airbend
- Second, Aang set up benders in positions of power over no-benders to develop the new world.
- Third, Aang made it clear that his successor would only be the new avatar, not anyone else, and especially not a non-bender.
Amon became increasingly bitter and resentful about this, and the bitterness turned to a hatred of benders in general. As Amon saw the rising corruption among benders and Aang's own complacency, he began to plan. He paid attention to Aang's abilities as a bender and read numerous books that Aang had written on bending. Through tireless study and patience, Amon learned the most secret art of all: energybending, the only power that everyone is capable of using. After learning all he could from Aang, he will brutally try to kill him, using Aang's weakened constitution due to the iceberg event against him, and will even try to use his new found powers to destroy the Avatar forever and stop the cycle of reincarnation. However, Amon, not being an Avatar and incapable of using the powers as effectively, failed. Aang dies anyway due to his shortened lifespan, and Korra was the result. Angered, Amon went on a rampage and possibly killed Toph, Sokka, Suki, Mai, Ty-Lee and assassinated Zuko, destroying the biggest threats to him (he more than likely would have trained under them and knew them personally if he knew Aang). Katara disappeared and went into hiding after Aang's death. Despite the setbacks, Amon used the deaths of the old Gaang and the chaos that caused to found the non-bender movement, using the connections he had acquired under Aang to do this, and set about to create his own perfect vision of the "new world".
- Partially CONFIRMED AND DEBUNKED. Amon is an energybender (or appears to be), but he did not kill Zuko, who is still alive. That said, most of this remains unconfirmed.
- Tenzin is completely shocked when Korra tells him that Amon can take away bending, mentioning that only the Avatar alone has shown this ability. This means that, while Tenzin knows his dad had the ability, he does not think anyone else had the capability of doing it, let alone Aang teaching it to anyone. Amon might very well by Aang's ONE regret from his living days: the one student he taught Energybending to, but who abused his power.
- Bumi is mentioned as being 'less uptight' than Tenzin, but it's just another one of the masks that he wears. Furious that he was unable to bend like his siblings, and forced to live in the shadow of his father, he started the Equalist movement as his form of revenge.
- This has my vote - Bumi was the only non-bender of that family. Worse - his father was the Avatar, his mother an incredibly famous master waterbender, his elder sister Kya followed their mother as another master waterbender, and his younger brother is a master airbender revitalizing that nearly wiped-out group. Seriously, he could very easily be extremely resentful for being the "non-bender" in such a well-known family.
- While his official picture looks rather shifty, I'm more inclined to believe that he will be introduced as a blatantly villainous character, only to be revealed to be perfectly reasonable and friendly at the end of the episode. Remember who he was named after?
- Also, who better to learn Energy Bending from than dear old Dad, the expert, who taught it to him as a way to make up for not being as talented as his siblings?
- On the other hand, there are a lot of people who say that Amon's energy bending is a farce he's using to get more support. I direct you to this tumblr post for more evidence on that theory.
- And another vote for this theory after looking at Amon's hands, particularly in the profile pic on this page. His hands are pretty dark compared to someone like Tenzin, maybe about the same tone as Korra. Tenzin's brother Bumi has dark skin as well.
- However, in "A Voice in the Night", Amon's eyes can clearly be seen, and they're yellow, which is indicative of Fire Nation ancestry, which casts this theory into doubt.
- "Out of the Past" lends a little more symbolic credence to this. Yakone was a bloodbender who was trying to control Republic City, as is his son Tarrlok. However, their methods of controlling are opposite: Yakone did it as a criminal overlord, while Tarrlok is doing it technically-legally as a politician. Both were stopped by having their bending taken away from them: Yakone by Aang, Tarrlok by Amon. In a twisted way, Aang and Amon both seek balance, but with opposite means: Aang wants to do it legally, while Amon wishes to destroy bending and create equality among everyone. Following this symbolism, the balance-seeking father energybent the control-seeking, bloodbending father, and the balance-seeking son energybent the control-seeking, bloodbending son.
- This has my vote - Bumi was the only non-bender of that family. Worse - his father was the Avatar, his mother an incredibly famous master waterbender, his elder sister Kya followed their mother as another master waterbender, and his younger brother is a master airbender revitalizing that nearly wiped-out group. Seriously, he could very easily be extremely resentful for being the "non-bender" in such a well-known family.
- Energybending was around before bending the elements, so it's unlikely that it's a specialized version of airbending.
- Related to the above. One Aang and Katara's children, in addition to Kya, Bumi and Tenzin, was a non-bender. He/she still felt all the pressures of living as the only non-bending child of the Avatar and his master waterbending wife, plus having three siblings as benders and eventually left home, never to be heard from again. All the resentment he/she had for his/her family lead him/her to create the anti-Bender movement. Katara has since stopped talking about this child as the memory of his/her leaving is still too painful. Aang and Katara did try to search for him/her, but the more they tried, the more resistance they felt from him/her and eventually decided to hope he/she would return on his/her own.
- Except that Bumi has been confirmed already to be a non-Bender. The unmentioned, hypothetical fourth child wouldn't have been the only non-Bender of the family as you suggest.
- Perhaps Aang and Katara had another non-Bender child? It would set up for a nice comparison: Bumi, the child who was proud of his non-bending and the mystery child who resented it. Either way, it's really disheartening to imagine the leader of the Equalist movement is not only Aang's child, but named after his best friend. But considering the series is supposed to be a lot darker...
- Mako knows this because he'll recognize his father's voice; Bolin was too young to remember when he abandoned them and their mother. Oh, boy, does he remember. Amon will become Mako's Berserk Button and he try to take him out whenever he gets the chance. To top it off, Amon will have an adopted non-bender child he trained as his successor and that will cause even more problems.
- My theory is that Amon is Mako and Bolin's father, but he doesn't know they're still alive. In "The Revelation", Amon and Mako both describe an incident where a firebender killed their family. That was the same incident, and both Amon and Mako & Bolin did actually survive (so only their mother, and possibly other unmentioned family members, died), but for some reason the boys thought the father had died, and vice versa. Mako doesn't recognize Amon's voice in "The Revelation", maybe because it's been so many years since he heard it, or maybe because the burns Amon received to his face and the mask he wears change his voice. However, at some point Amon will realize Mako and Bolin are his kids (he didn't seem to recognize Bolin when he saw him in "The Revelation", but this is probably because he last saw Bolin as a kid, and because he thinks Bolin is dead), and this will lead to a Luke, I Am Your Father scene. It's even possible Amon will undergo a Darth Vader style Heel–Face Turn... Amon probably didn't know Mako and Bolin were benders before their "death" (they were too young to show any bender potential), but once he realizes his sons grew up to be benders and yet they're still decent people, he can't hate benders anymore with the same vigour he used to.
- Kind of jossed? Amon describes himself as a young boy when this incident occurs, and also specifically mentions that his father dies, then mentions his family. It's a bit more plausible to think they might all be brothers instead, but even then a few details don't match up, like Mako and Bolin both being benders when Amon said he came from a non-bending family.
- In a lot of Asian cultures, when a man gets married, he continues to live with his parents with his wife and kids. That helps explain why Amon specifically mentioned his father. As for the other factors, as another poster said above, it's possible that Mako and Bolin hadn't shown signs of being benders yet. There's also Unreliable Expositor to consider.
- Kind of jossed? Amon describes himself as a young boy when this incident occurs, and also specifically mentions that his father dies, then mentions his family. It's a bit more plausible to think they might all be brothers instead, but even then a few details don't match up, like Mako and Bolin both being benders when Amon said he came from a non-bending family.
- Why would Zuko have ever done something as stupid as letting his father out of prison for even a moment?
- Unlikely seeing as he would be a hundred something years old by then, and the only characters to have that kind of longevity are earthbenders like King Bumi and Avatar Kyoshi
- It has been stated by the creators (IIRC of course) that the long living is because of their chi power, not their nationality.
- If that's the case, Ozai surely wouldn't have lived that long since Aang took away his bending and (I assume) his chi power with it (since, ya know, bending comes from chi).
- Or maybe Aang simply sealed off his chi so that it couldn't be used for bending. Giving him an even more unnatural lifespan instead.
- Guru Pathik wasn't a bender, but he was still able to live for over 100 years using whatever method. This is the Avatar universe we're talking about, anything can be possible.
- It has been stated by the creators (IIRC of course) that the long living is because of their chi power, not their nationality.
- All that doesn't leave out the possibility of Ozai being the guy who started the Anti-Bender sentiments that would eventually give rise to the Equalizers. ESPECIALLY considering that Ozai would probably have found some way to continue to use his martial art skills(while he couldn't bend fire, he could still use his fighting skills), being Ty Lee's chi-blocking attacks that would later go on to become a bane upon all benders.
- That's why Amon hides behind a mask, the creators don't want anyone (including the viewers) knowing it's him.
- Just saw the trailer and their voices are clearly the same. Take that as you will.
- While similar in timbre, (and this is likely intentional) Steve Blum and Mark Hamill are different people.
- Alternate Theory: In the Avatar universe, a lot can happen. Ozai escaped from prison and disappeared, after many years was presumed dead and people stopped looking. He discovered some way to keep himself young and live for a long time. (possibly forever) He started to spread anti-bender philosophy under the new name "Amon". He decided that if he can't be powerful, no one should and thus wants everyone to turn against the benders. If everyone is against benders they will be against the Avatar, the most powerful one, and will do anything Ozai/Amon tells them if he says it's in the name of getting rid of benders.
- The man was in his forties by the time he was defeated. Korra takes place seventy years later; he'd be at least 110 by the time the new series started. There's no way he's lived that long.
- That's why the WMG theory SAYS he found a way to keep himself young and live longer. This is the Avatar universe. There's chakras and controlling the elements, it wouldn't be surprising if there was some spiritual method to stretch out the lifespan. Remember, Guru Pathik was friends with Monk Gyatso, who died about 100 years ago in the story universe.
- Except that no one that we have seen that made it to that age had anywhere close to the physique Amon has. Ozai did back in the day, but the only person that's been shown having never aged is Aang.
- Which may explain why all the Equalists wear masks.
- And Tenzin is Reed Richards!
- Related Theory: Amon is this guy. This guy, right here.◊ He looks to be an important figure; a noble or industrialist, maybe?
- Nooooope. That's Tahno, an effeminate male pro-bender. An image of him was revealed during the Korra Nation Pai Sho game that went on while the 100K likes were still going.
- That doesn't really exclude him from consideration, does it?
- I would put money on Tahno being a don of the Triple Threat Triad.
- It also appears that Tahno and Amon appeared in a trailer together at the same time, so that might rule it out as well.
- Jossed. Amon took Tahno's bending away in episode 6.
- That doesn't really exclude him from consideration, does it?
- Alternate theory: Amon is a bender, which is how he can energybend, but is merely using the equalist movement to further his own goals.
- Partially confirmed in the finale.
- Partially confirmed in the finale; Amon is Tarrlok's brother, and was forced to learn bloodbending by his father Yakone. His father's abuse ultimately led him to believe that bending was the root of all evil, and he ran away from home.
- Warning: Possible massive spoiler. So I'm not sure if this◊ is real or not, but given we don't know how this scene will play out or what's happening here, it could be a case of Trolling Creator.
- The character in that pic looks remarkably like an older version of Tenzin. Now, which character would have airbender tattoos and look like an older Tenzin, but his father? Even the nose shape and the eye colour match those of Aang. The pic could be a fake, or it could be real one that depicts a dream or fantasy sequence instead of actual events, but if it's neither of those, we're in for the mother of all plot twists.
- Well Korra's existence is proof positive Aang is dead, but who else could look like an older version of Tenzin? His older brother Bumi.
- Sorry, but this is totally Jossed. Bumi's face has already been revealed in the official art, and he's inherited more features from his mother than his father, and most certainly doesn't have a bald head or tattoos.
- Shouldn't the eyes be brown or golden, as several frames of Amon in the series imply? They look grayish-blue in the image.
- The character in that pic looks remarkably like an older version of Tenzin. Now, which character would have airbender tattoos and look like an older Tenzin, but his father? Even the nose shape and the eye colour match those of Aang. The pic could be a fake, or it could be real one that depicts a dream or fantasy sequence instead of actual events, but if it's neither of those, we're in for the mother of all plot twists.
- Or he could be a time traveling Meelo or even Pema's and Tenzin's 4th child from the futrue.
- Or, if that really is Aang, he took the mask OFF of someone or was giving it to someone, rather than himself. Just because he is holding it doesn't mean that it's his. For all we know, the mask was, for instance, a gift to someone who would become Amon- at the time it was given to him, the mask wasn't sinister at all.
- Or, my personal headcanon, using flashback, Aang was using the mask to act as himself rather than the Avatar. Look how the people treat Korra - constant pressure, paranoia over safety and high expectations -being the Avatar kinda sucks. He got the idea from Zuko and the Blue Spirit. Amon started using this identity because, with someone else already having used it, it was known and trusted more than if he'd start up something as himself.
- They both have yellow/Fire Nation eyes, the protester was the only "minor character" given a bio but not a name in the online game....
- The bio also says that his parents were bending supporters and thought highly of the Avatar, which doesn't quite fit together with Amon's farming backstory of being extorted by Firebenders. Unless Amon is proven to be lying, this appears to be Jossed for now...
- Because the story told by the masked man up on stage to rile the masses is bound to be gospel truth. Conversely, at least part of the protester's backstory may have been disseminated by Amon to support a nonthreatening "civilian" guise.
- I don't know if it's going to be anything more than a gag but "Cabbage Corp" is implied to be this world's equivalent of Apple so that either disproves the revenge-angle or shows how "Amon, son/grandson of Cabbage Guy" has enough money to spend on weapons, fancy outfits, and a fleet of dirigibles.
- More proof for this theory: look at Amon's gloves◊. He probably needs his fingers and palms to be ungloved so that he can do his energybending, but the shape of his gloves quite handily covers the back of his hands, where an Air Nomad would have his tattoos. We have seen that the current day Air Acolytes don't have the arrow tattoos, so if Amon has them, he must be an original Air Nomad. Also, in "Our of the Past", when Korra battles Amon in the snow, we see Amon jump through the steam Korra creates, and it's slightly whirling around him, as if Amon is airbending it away.
- In "A Voice in the Night", sometime after Korra and Amon's one-sided showdown, Tenzin got fed up waiting on the shore with Tarrlok and went out to the island, where he found Korra just as she was waking up. Believable enough, but one could also see it this way: Amon knocked Korra out, dismissed his chi-blockers, made his way over to some secluded spot on the other side of the (rather tiny) island, quickly changed clothes, and ran back around as Tenzin to "check on" Korra.
- Wasn't there already a WMG of this at the top of the page?
- The confrontation with Amon triggered Avatar-flashbacks in Korra. One of this flashbacks include Sokka.
- Sokka and Amon have huge interests in futuristic superweapons. Sokka in submarines, Amon in Mechas
- Sokka had Through Ty Lee and the Kyoshi-warriors access to the teaching of chi-blocking.
- Sokka is a very good strategist by the end of the original series—consider how far he would have developed that skill over time.
- Unlikely. Amon and Sokka have different skin tones and eye colors, so unless Sokka is using contacts (assuming those exist in the show's universe) and body paint, it's probably not the case.
- He could certainly use body paint, but this troper doesn't think they have contacts in the Avatar universe at that time. Although that does raise the question of why Amon's eyes are so weirdly colored. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't his eyes sort of a greeny-yellow color?
- And The Lieutenant is Lockdown.
- Jossed in episode 6. Pabu and Amon are in the same place at the same time. Though Amon could always be another, evil Fire Ferret.
- Plus, Amon's gravelly bass voice sounds rather "electronic" if you listen to it a certain way, and it's quite possible that he doesn't have blood, seeing how easily he resisted Tarrlok's bloodbending. Though he wasn't completely immune, so there had to have been something for Tarrlok to bend in there. A fuel tank, perhaps?
Amon is not, but his father is.
- Or alternatively he is TOM, who also has his face covered. It's too much of a coincidence the same week Toonami returns while there is no new Korra episode. Amon made it into Space. Oh sh--.
- Under the mask is the face of TOM 4. We are all doomed.
- Additionally, Zuko had a predilection for mask-wearing antics. His time as the Blue Demon may have inspired his non-bending son.Maybe he even told his normal son the stories of the Blue Demon, who was a total badass without bending at all.
- It also wouldn't be too out of character for Zuko to favor his other son, Iroh.
- Maybe Zuko helped inspire his non-bending child with Tales of the Blue Demon, but still obviously preferred Iroh. This pushed his normal son to the extreme, causing him to take up a mask, becoming Amon. When Zuko discovered this, and the lengths to which he would go, he attempted to duel, burning his face, just like Ozai before him.
- The History Books on the website also indicate that Zuko was very concerned with equality during the reorganization of the nations following the end of the 100 Years war. In fact there was an Earth Nation equality movement that Zuko was extremely sympathetic to.
- This theory is also consistent with the mask (he's famous), his eye color (gold), and parts of his claimed backstory (scared by a firebender).
- It's also said that Zuko is currently working in the world acting as an "ambassador of peace". An ambassador is someone who represents something like a nation or a political body, and what's written on every Equalist poster? 平, which happens to mean '''peace'''.
Hope's first cousin once removed.
Tahn and Ying were the refugees who traveled with the Gaang though the Serpent's Pass. There was a girl with them as well. In the DVD commentary, she's revealed to be the sister of Hope's father, Tahn.
Years pass and Tahn's sister falls in love in Ba Sing Se. She and her husband settle down in the countryside and start a farm. They have a son, who they were expecting to be a girl. They name him Noma. In Japanese, the characters used to represent the name mean Beautiful correction. A rather haunting foreshadowing for his future endeavors. He's raised with his parents telling him about the old days, back when the war was their present, how the Fire Nation took control of Ba Sing Se, and they met each other at a special camp created for the citizens... What they don't tell their son is that after getting to know her well and sneak some food in for her, he prevented her from being raped by one of the guards, using a spear. Who was this guard? A fellow officer. In the midst of the final battle between Aang and Ozai, as well as the attack by the main members of The White Lotus, the incident was swept under the rug. Iroh was always the understanding type.
Amon is 13, and an escaping war criminal crosses their path. His parents decide it best to turn the man in, as his father knows fully well the crimes committed by him. The escaped convict overhears their conversation and kills them to keep them silent. Little did he know that they had a son who watched everything. Maybe it was a means to scare or disable him into silence. Maybe it was an attempt at murder that he unconsciously threw too gentle a strike to be fatal. But he burned their son's face. This young man traveled to a local justice department and informed them of the escaped convict. As a reward issued by Firelord Zuko, who looked over the case, instead of being sent to a local facility for orphans, he was sent to the recently established School of Hard Knocks, in Republic City. Halfway through his stay, and intense study inside his room, hiding from the ostracization of his classmates, their sports department is given a healthy donation. The school became centered on Probending, a sport which he, as a non-bender, was not suited for. The benders at the school climbed even higher on the social ladder, and he was pushed ever lower. While they were being given scholarships for their skills, he was forced to work on the streets to make money. Whereas in the average social world in which he was faltering, in the gang world he was triumphing. Then came the new rules. And it was time for initiation. He wasn't a bender, so he was already at a disadvantage, but now he had to kill people. Innocent nonbenders who he was equipped to take down with his martial arts prowess. He refused. The institution which had finally provided for him had become a slaughterhouse. One does not simply 'leave' a gang. So he started his own. He took the victims of the other gangs, victims who were defenseless that he and his gang had helped, and assured them that they could defend themselves, and he would teach them how. They would get security, and he would get a group of people who'd stand a chance against his gang. Noma, ever being the master of words, managed to make a peaceful leave. But he was now strong. Seventy members strong. With extra associates.
The benders ruled the streets, earned the money, gained the status, climbed up the social ladder, got off the streets through entertainment industries, and controlled the government. His entire life was spent being used and manipulated by the system. He'd attack its core.
That's when Aang knew there was going to be a problem on his hands. Things were escalating. Gangs were cropping up throughout the city and innocent citizens were endangered. He was on his deathbed and the epidemic he thought he'd cut at the root by defeating Tarrlok was cropping up again. So he wanted to ensure the safety of his reincarnation.
The Avatar Spirit had some plans. They would either be perfect or immensely flawed. The Avatar Spirit needed someone skilled who could take on the city's problems, a city which Aang had spent the majority of his life creating, helping and using as an inspiration and symbol for the future of peace in the world he had longed for. The Avatar Spirit needed someone who could hold the fort while the Avatar was gone. Someone who could defeat the gangs, by any means necessary. So the Avatar Spirit gave the ability to energybend away, severely hindering its connection to the Spirit World. These abilities were given to Noma. It needed someone skilled, but a nonbender. A bender who could energybend would be more dangerous. The Avatar Spirit gave instruction to remove the bending from those who were dangerous and oppressive. The problem was, it was expecting its wisdom to be passed on as well. It didn't know how vague and flexible these characteristics facetiously were. Nor did it realize just how dangerous they were in the hands of this man. In the week after, it had realized its mistake. And as Katara left for the South Pole, it followed her there. It knew that the next Avatar had to be powerful and prepared. And so she was. The youngest consciously aware Avatar in history. But because its spiritual core was given away, it had difficulty providing skill in the most spiritual of all elements, air. The most effort was forced into the remaining three.
The Avatar Spirit created a strong, tough, independent young woman; one who was slightly abrasive, stubborn, hot-headed, and passionate in her beliefs and convictions.
When Korra decided not to fight Amon when Hasook barged in the door, the Avatar Spirit knew it needed more control of the spiritual side before it could take on someone so powerful in that area. But when brought into the public's view and questioned about Amon, it was overwhelmed and angered. It had caused so much pain and struggle and it was all its own fault. It did what it had always intended to do. It called out Amon and called him out on his cowardice... Because it was ashamed of its own.
When Korra was captured and looked Amon in the eye, she was staring at the demon she created. The Avatar Spirit was captured and restrained by the creature it trusted to do the right thing with the gift it gave away. It was about to be murdered by the demon it created. But the demon was detached and twisted in a way it couldn't currently understand. It was calculating, methodical, strategic, almost diplomatic, in a way that drove it up the wall. The traits it had given away, lost contact with, we're being twisted and used in such horrifying ways.
Amon was going to let the spirit that empowered him watch as he achieved the goal it set him out to do. Whether it currently knew it was the correct way or had since forgotten.
After doing what the Avatar Spirit had set him out to do, taking away the bending of local gang lords, Amon ambushed and destroyed the pinnacle of the institution that drove him out onto the streets, the Probending Arena.
This isn't just Korra's 'Ozai situation'. It's her own problem. Which is why it's taken such an obvious psychological toll on her that Aang was slightly more detached from, as a more spiritual person. Not only does she lack the calm and slight detachment, she's dealing with the monster she created before she was born.
More interesting still, when Tenzin looked to his right after being informed of Amon's ability to take bending away, it was more of a shifty knowing glance.
- If this were true, why did Amon cry while speaking about his and Tarrlok's past when they were in the boat? And why would he have come to get Tarrlok from the prison to his boat in the first place? What reason would Amon have had for pretending to be Tarrlok's brother? He had already taken away Tarrlok's bending, and Tarrlok's political career had been ruined too, so he would've been of no use to Amon. Also, Amon's resistance to firebending (and other forms of bending) is explained by Tarrlok in "Skeletons in the Closet": he was subtly using bloodbending to weaken the other benders' attacks towards him.
- Not likely, given both the show's already established mythology and the primary purpose of his/her organization.
- Its possible that Amon is a bender, but impossible that he can bend more than one element, and improbable that he can energybend,
- Partially Confirmed as of "The Revelation" Amon makes a large show of explaining his past and background, capping it off by energy-bending
- Energybending is a battle of wills. Perhaps he wants Korra to learn Energybending and use it on him so that he can use his willpower to destroy the Avatar spirit without knowing any Bending at all.
- Related: Amon's entire Origin Story as told by him is a calculated lie. Born a young man of humble ubringing... just like Sokka! Oppressed by benders... just like Aang! Unjustly attacked and scarred... just like Zuko! Chosen by the gods... just like Korra! A new Avatar, for a new age? Bull. Amon's got a hidden agenda, and part of that agenda involves a carefully crafted false identity and Chi-blocking faux energybending... until, that is, he is able to eliminate or conrol the one person who can actually energybend...
- The story is very likely to be a partial or a complete lie, considering that it follows the fabricated lifestory of almost every self-styled dictator in the 20th century, but that doesn't mean that the energybending itself is a lie. It's visually all but identical to Aang's, minus the flashy effects since we don't see the act from the viewpoint of either Amon or his victims, and literally nobody but Ozai himself witnessed Aang's deed in The Last Airbender. Not all spirits are nice, and one might well have granted Amon power for its own reasons.
- This tumblr post explains one theory as to how he's doing it and why it might not be real.
- Which may explain his actions when he didn't take Korra's bending away. Maybe he knew he really couldn't, or maybe he can, just not to the Avatar, and so he settled for psychologically destroying her instead, which would remove her as a threat without exposing himself as a fraud.
- His whole speech about taking away her bending making her a martyr is clearly bunk; surely he's already got a 0% Approval Rating among benders and bender-supporters. If anything, it'd just make everyone more afraid of and subservient to him, which seems to be exactly what he wants...so why didn't he do it? Even if he can Spirit-bend, attempting it on the Avatar is probably pretty dangerous; Aang nearly killed himself trying to de-bend the Fire Lord. But the secret-Vulcan-Death-Grip chi-block technique seems more probable, what with his hand-wavy explanation of how he supposedly got this power.
- Yeah, he's already the bad guy to benders, but if he takes away the bending of someone who isn't out extorting hardworking businessmen, then he might lose a lot of support from the people who casually support him or only kind of agree with him. And then there's the fact that he probably wants to make all non-benders support his anti-bending cause and taking bending away from the avatar would definitely not win him any new support. She would be a martyr because it's not all black and white and not everyone's firmly on one team or another.
- But Amon sees the situation as black-and-white, even though it isn't. He wants to remove the powers of all benders, not just criminals, because he thinks bending powers are inherently unfair and evil (and also because he's kind of an egomaniac); he made this intention pretty clear at the rally, so he's not trying to make anyone think he's just a vigilante hunting down benders who abuse their powers. It may be true that stealing the Avatar's powers would drive this point home a little better, but it would also prove his power beyond any doubt, remove a potentially serious threat, and probably convince a lot of non-benders to join his cause to avoid ending up on the losing side.
- He doesn't necessarily see it as Black and White. He's trying to gain support. The easiest way to rally support is by painting it black and white. While he doesn't exactly see it as one way or the other, it's much easier to simplify the issue to garner support(because people don't like complicated stuff). Politicians do this all the time.
- Seemingly Jossed by "... And the Winner Is." He took the Wolfbats' bending, and they definitely lived. I had assumed that they had simply killed off the Triple Threat Triads (or at least planned to) before whatever bending blocking he had done wore off, but it doesn't look like that's feasible with the Wolfbats.
- That doesn't Joss it. He still might be just using some ultimate chi blocking technique that lasts for a long time. Several months, a year maybe? But it's still missing everything that separates Spiritbending from regular chi blocking, such as flashy lights, a battle of wills and a chance to fail. All we really have on the point of permanently taking away bending is Amon's word.
- Those effects in the original series were quite explicitly visual representations of the spiritual battle between Aang and Ozai, not physical events that visibly happened around them. Amon is clearly unusually strong-willed, while the people he de-Bends are overconfident fools. While its true source remains unknown, there is so far nothing to indicate that his work isn't real Energybending.
- The preview for "The Aftermath" seems to lend credence to Amon's energybending being legit; Tahno explains that he spent days visiting the best healers in Republic City, and not a single one of them was able to help him. He himself certainly believes that whatever Amon did was permanent.
- His whole speech about taking away her bending making her a martyr is clearly bunk; surely he's already got a 0% Approval Rating among benders and bender-supporters. If anything, it'd just make everyone more afraid of and subservient to him, which seems to be exactly what he wants...so why didn't he do it? Even if he can Spirit-bend, attempting it on the Avatar is probably pretty dangerous; Aang nearly killed himself trying to de-bend the Fire Lord. But the secret-Vulcan-Death-Grip chi-block technique seems more probable, what with his hand-wavy explanation of how he supposedly got this power.
- Confirmed. He isn't using energy bending to do it, he is using BLOOD BENDING to much the same effect.
- This videoexplains it pretty well. Seems legit.
Amon taking away Lin's bending I think is one of the signals that this is the case, since I find it HIGHLY unlikely that such an important character will have her bending stripped away permanently.
- Wow, that is a terrifying thought. Seconding this theory.
- His equalis movement may actually be a cover for this. He wants to de-bend enough benders and absorb enough power until he can rival the Avatar state. Then he will have the combined powers of thousands upon thousands of benders and would be very difficult to defeat - The Avatar spirit is the total power, knowledge and skill of the Avatar Spirit and the spirits of all the past Avatars. Maybe that's how he got his ability to resist Firebending and Bloodbending.
- Go watch the season finale promo . Starting at 0:15, Amon is CLEARLY bending ... something. Then you see Korra already in the de-bending position without Amon touching her, and Mako convusing on the ground. Amon is blood bending them both.
- If Aang grabbed onto he Light and Air chakras, Korra would have to grab onto the Light and Water chakras. The Water chakra is tradionally located in your underpants (They didn't give away the location of the Water chakra on the show for censorship reasons). Naturally, this would lead to some very awkward moments.
- Sadly, this was Jossed. Crotch-grabber Korra will have to wait.
Someone calm and unafraid won't be affected by Amon's technique.
- This goes well with the fact Energy Bending requires an unbendable will. Someone who is already frightened would be easier to use it against that someone that isn't.
- To support that, he touches the forehead and neck, which are the locations of two chakras Sound and Light, which are respectively blocked by fear (such as fear of him and of losing bending) and illusion (such as thinking your bending's gone when it's actually blocked off). Bryke are usually smart about these things, so...
- Actually, the sound chakra is blocked by lies.
- Also, since only Aang and the Guru knew about chakras in the original series, maybe not many healers know now so they can't diagnose it.
Think back to episode 6, when Korra sent a gigantic fireball barreling after Amon as he boarded his airship. All of his mooks were cast aside, but Amon barely felt a ruffle. He was absorbing the chi-generated fire, or at the very least dispersing it around himself.
In episode 9, we see that bloodbending has little to no effect on him. Bloodbending works by using one's chi to exert influence over the water in the victim's system, but that doesn't work when the victim can absorb your chi.
And finally, this offers an explanation as for how he takes peoples' bending: he literally sucks the chi out of them. This is why his victims seem so weak and bereft of energy, both immediately afterward (Zolt) and some time after the fact (Tahno, the metalbending police).
It all fits: Amon is basically a chi vampire.
- He'll steal Korra's bending — but perhaps not her airbending, as she hasn't activated that yet — but won't be able to take the Avatar State and its might for himself. Why? Because the Avatar State is an integral part to Korra. It's basically her soul. She'll use the Avatar State, even without any bending to power up, to defeat Amon's stolen bloodbending. So Amon will never become the same as the Avatar. The finale will be an ironic reversal of the status quo: super-bender Amon verses a non-bender Korra.
Found this theory on youtube and decided to put it here.
- To further predict how it goes down, Korra finds this out from... Aang. We see that Amon gets his hands on Korra and does the debend on her. Unknown to Amon, this infliction on the current Avatar's body allows Spirit!Aang, who knows the *true* way to debend, to finally see the true workings of Amon's technique, and tells Korra that it's an illusion. Bam, Light Chakra unblocked, Amon gets a boulder/flame gout/water smash in the back and a heaping helping of incredulity, and Korra *FINALLY* gets the upper hand on Amon.
- Also, this explains why he always terrifies his victims before debending them, it makes it easier to plan the illusion if they're honestly terrified of it and him. Perhaps some of his earlier demonstrations were just plants to plant the fear of it in people so he could do it at all. By convincing them he has the power, then he's more able to use it.
- He might actually be using the Amon pressure point to temporarily immobilize the victim to give him enough time to block the chakra. Otherwise it is not the main key to his ability by itself. That's why all his victims drop down almost half paralyzed. The Amon pressure point is along the neck, and chi blocking the spinal cord can cause temporary and partial paralysis.
- Waterbender healers are in fact manipulating energy. Katara was trying to release the twisted energy that Aang had begun to harness just before he was shot. Amon might have realized that the opposite is also possible. Bloodbending after all bends the water in the body, so bloodbending may be used to move the person's energy and twist it up so that the energy or energy paths get "locked".
- Actually Episode 11 is titled "Skeleton in the Closet" and Korra finds out a secret, most likely about Amon that is the key to defeating him. Now Skeletons in the closet means hiding a secret one would be ashamed of, and the only thing that Amon could want to hide is the fact that he is in fact a waterbender, which also explains how he could resist Tarrlok's bloodbending. He also dodged Tahno's water slice with the same sidestepping move that Korra used to dodge the same attack by Tarrlok. This might be when Korra realizes that Amon in fact cannot truly energy bend like Aang and it is possible to reverse the consequences. This would give her the confidence she needs to face Amon, forcing him at one point to use bloodbending to hold Korra and Mako down as shown in the promo.
- OMG!! Confirmed almost word for word. Especially part 1 and part 2. He is a bloodbender. With bloodbending, he uses the water in the person's body to twist and lock up the energies! Tropers, this is threading the bull's eye!
- WHOA, WHOA, SLOW DOWN— those last few things you said? Complete speculation. The only things said for sure in the episode itself are that Amon is a bloodbender and that he takes away others' bending. When Korra puts forth the theory that he's using one to achieve the other, Tarrlok quickly interjects and says that he has no idea how it truly works. The implication here seems to be that there's still a lot we don't know about Amon, specifically what happened in the years he and Tarrlok spent apart...there's a possibility he somehow picked up a new ability in that time. Remember, not even Katara, who's been bloodbending since before Amon and Tarrlok were even born, could do anything to fix the effects of Amon's debending, and his technique still looks and acts a whole lot more like energybending than any kind of bloodbending, and by Occam's Razor, the most likely answer is probably right one. Furthermore, the only thing that finally undoes Amon's de-bending is energybending, as taught and performed by Aang himself. That's right, only the freaking Avatar can fix what this guy does. I think it's safe to say that it's not bloodbending...what it actually is, though, is a mystery.
- It's strongly implied, though, that Amon did advance his bloodbending powers in such a way that he can block bending. It's never stated exactly how it works, but again, it's strongly implied. This technique is brand new and he is the only known person to use it, and the technique is little understood. On that basis, Katara (who probably didn't practice bloodbending much and thus didn't really advance in the technique) wouldn't have been able to use the technique. Furthermore, Amon is an extremely powerful bloodbender, far, far more powerful than even Katara. He's not only able to do it at any time, he's able to do it psychically. His power is far beyond anything that had ever existed. Also, when energybending is used, it emits a sort of glow. Not just when the Avatar uses it, but when the Lion Turtle used it as well.
- There was no glow when Aang energybended Yakone.
- Right; the only glow present was on Aang, and it was only his eyes and tattoos, which we know are a result of him using the Avatar State.
- OMG!! Confirmed almost word for word. Especially part 1 and part 2. He is a bloodbender. With bloodbending, he uses the water in the person's body to twist and lock up the energies! Tropers, this is threading the bull's eye!
- Considering the amount of ambiguity surrounding the revelation of his true abilities, there's still a possibility that this could have happened— offscreen, during the many years Amon/Noatak spent traveling alone after abandoning his family. Tarrlok himself admits that he has no clue how he actually goes about taking away people's bending, and not even Katara— herself a bloodbender— was able to undo its effects, which would seem to point to it not being some kind of hyper-advanced bloodbending. Korra herself referring to it as such is hardly concrete proof. After all, she's a headstrong lass, and prone to jumping to conclusions. The only thing that was ultimately able to reverse Amon's debending was energybending, which in and of itself proves that the technique works both ways.
- Jossed
- Elaborating on this, Amon takes away a person's bending by damaging the parts of the brain that control certain emotions. Each bending discipline requires the bender to have a certain mental and emotional state. By taking away those emotions, Amon takes away their bending. This would also explain why losing one's bending is so traumatic.
Notably, throughout both the original series and Legend of Korra, the only airbenders we see in action have never been chi blocked, due to their impressive evasion, so it's not clear what would happen if chi blockers made contact. Given that Tenzin and his family were captured, perhaps chi blockers can take down an airbender with a bit of luck. It's likely that airbenders would be temporarily unable to bend, but probably because they would have difficulty moving. The connection between the points that a chi blocker targets and the spiritual energy of a person is vague, and while the other three elements are affected, the spirituality that airbending harnesses may not be linked.For this reason, when Amon debends a person using bloodbending, he is using a physical means to remove bending. This may not truly affect the spiritual self and therefore the capability to airbend. Perhaps Tenzin and his kids were never able to lose their bending in the first place...
- Easy; he stuff food through that hole. As for washing the face, he probably just needs to put water inside the mask; if the mask has silver in it, it's instant purification.
- Confirmed. It's a lie to cultivate a cult of personality through a tragic backstory.
- not that his actual backstory isn't still pretty tragic.
- Confirmed. It's a lie to cultivate a cult of personality through a tragic backstory.
- Confirmed.
- As nice as it would be to have that to tie into the old series, it's still oddly funny to think that such a character that was centered on comedic relief would produce such a creepy and dangerous antagonist. If he goes into his fathers crops and Steve Blum manages to drop the word "cabbages" I'll probably lose it and just laugh.
- Equalist tech-guy Hiroshi Sato framing Cabbage Corp seems to point to "no"... probably.
- Jossed. He's the son of Yakone.
OK, I admit that this is mostly due to personal preference. I understand the appeal of the "Amon is lying to gain followers" idea, and if you support it, then all power to you. However, I personally believe that Amon's story gives him character depth and makes him a good villain with a bunch of interesting possible routes for him. In my mind, turning him into a liar just wastes a great deal of potential and turns Amon into a kung-fu evil televangelist. Which is less interesting then it sounds.
- Wow, you must have hated how it actually turned out, then— he really was lying about virtually everything, up to and including being a non-bender.
- OP here. I was actually pretty satisfied with how Amon's backstory turned out, mostly because they took an angle I hadn't considered.
- Bolin was present in a Triad meeting. Amon would have no reason to assume him anything but a Triad enforcer.
- Jossed. His whole tragic "assaulted by Firebenders" backstory was a lie.
- A possible extension of this is that his family was killed by a firebender—and that firebender was Amon. He may have burned them to death accidentally, or in a fit of rage; either way, this would go a long way towards explaining why he seems to hate bending itself, rather than just the benders who killed his family.
- Jossed. His parents weren't killed by firebenders.
- Jossed. He's a waterbender.
- Now that's WILD.
- He seems way too young for that to be possible. Judging Amon's demeanour, voice and body build, he's at least in his thirties, and could potentially even be a well preserved fifty-year old. General Iroh on the other hand seems to be at his late twenties, judging his face and voice.
- Or it could have been his foster parents.
- Hey, Aang did die for a short time during "The Crossroads of Destiny," and it was only by the extraordinary luck of having a healer on hand with a rare vile of Spirit Water that he was revived. Maybe the second Avatar is the Kendra to Aang's Buffy. Only instead of being able to tap into phenomenal cosmic power, the Second Avatar can only access the knowledge of their past lives. So Amon can't bend at all, but he knows, say, all the tessenjutsu that Kyoshi knew. Multiply that by a few hundred lifetimes and Amon is simply, by inborn skill and archived knowledge, the single greatest non-bending fighter on the planet. And Korra? She gets the unrivaled bending power but no access to her past lives. That's why she's such a spiritual dunderhead; that aspect of the Avatar Spirit, the whole of which had been damaged by Azula's killing strike, split off following Aang's final death to form the Second Avatar. So to continue the Buffy analogy, Amon is the Harth to Korra's Fray.
- That would indeed help explain why she states she has such trouble with the spiritual side of the Avatar thing. Furthermore, I am going to guess right now that Koh has something to do with this
- Related Theory: Aang's "death" at the end of Book 2 messed with the avatar cycle and at that time another person was born with the potential to bend all four elements. Although given the circumstanced surrounding his birth, he doesn't have access to the avatar state or the spirits of past Avatars. Training and amassing forces in secret for 70 years, Amon plans to eliminate the competition before taking over the world.
- There's only one Avatar spirit, and since Aang was killed in the Avatar State, the spirit would've died with him. When Katara revived Aang, she revived the Avatar Spirit as well.
- Jossed. The Avatar Cycle was repaired while Aang was unconcious and recovering from Azula's headshot, detailed in the online game: Aang meets some of his previous incarnations for the first time (Yangchen and Kuruk) and reacquaints himself with Yue and Koh, and there is only one Avatar.
- Not so fast kids! This has been partially confirmed on a remarkably metatextual level. Amon wants to set himself up as a Dark Messiah and self-styled saviour of the Muggle classes, a deliberate Anti-Avatar. Then there's that apparant energy bending.
- This could also explain Korra's difficulty with airbending. Usually, Avatars have difficulty with the element opposite to their natural element. Aang had difficulty with earthbending, the opposite of airbending, and Roku had difficulty with waterbending, the opposite of firebending. Given her difficulty with airbending, it would make more sense for Korra to be a earthbender, and if Amon is really a waterbending avatar created by the first death of Aang, then Korra could be an earthbender, provided she had a grandparent or great-grandparent from the Earth Kingdom.
- Alternatively, explaining the presence of two waterbending avatars is not impossible, it could be that the death of an airbending avatar triggers the birth of a waterbending avatar, so two Aang deaths could explain two waterbending avatars.
- Also, anyone notice the first time Korra had a vision/flashbacky thing it was after meeting with Amon.
- And if Amon is a waterbending avatar, Tarlok could be his son; he'd be about the right age for the son of a 70 year old man, and he has been acting awfully suspicious.
- In "When Opposites Meet", Tarrlok seems to know there's something wrong with Korra's airbending, as she's still not able to do it. Now, if the other Wild Mass Guesses about Tarrlok and Amon being connected are true, the explanation for his knowledge could be the following: When Aang was killed in "The Crossroads of Destiny", that messed up the Avatar spirit reincarnation cycle somehow. Most of the Avatar spirit was reborn with Korra, but a part of it, the airbending part, was reincarnated earlier with another person, Amon. Amon is a secret airbender, and because he has part of the Avatar spirit, that explains why he can energybend. If Tarrlok is somehow connected to Amon, then it could be Tarrlok knows the reason Korra can't airbend is because Amon has that part of the Avatar spirit, and he uses that knowledge to taunt Korra. If all this is true, then Korra can't learn airbending until Amon dies and the part of the Avatar spirit he had moves to Korra. This will probably happen in the Season 1 finale (the season is called "Air", so airbending will have to pay a more significant part than it has done so far), and Tarrlok (or someone else, possibly a man behind the man who has been manipulating both Amon and Tarrlok) will become the Big Bad for Season 2.
- Koh didn't strike me as evil. He was more as a form of balancing factor. Punishing Avatars that disregarded their duties. What if there i
- Worse when you consider the waterbender avatar before Korra isn't on good terms with Koh, and he did say to Aang they would meet again.
- Furthermore, Koh's whole schtick is taking away people's faces... Makes the mask all the more creepy.
- On an even more subtextual level, Amon's defining character trait is his apparent ability to deprive benders of their bending. This has very similar parallels to what Koh does; remove your identity, the thing that makes you who you are. The idea that Koh and Amon are in cahoots is a frightening thought indeed.
- Koh only takes your face if you show some emotion... Has Amon ever taken someone's bending without first being directly attacked by them? If it holds, its another parallel.
- Works for me. Koh explicitly has a bone to pick with the Avatar spirit about not doing its job properly of maintaining the balance (it's not unlikely that an immortal spirit wouldn't understand/care about little things like "each new Avatar is a different person, even if the spirit is the same"). One imagines Koh and like-minded spirits would look at the "modern" world of the series and decide that mortals no longer have any respect for the forces involved and need to be put back in their place. All they need is someone willing to act on their behalf...
- Koh didn't strike me as evil. He acted as a kind of a neutral agent. Punishing Avatars that disregarded their duties and his services came at a price (he stole your face if you showed emotion). But he was "fair". Something doesn't sit right with Koh giving someone powers. What if there is a more malevolent entity. A real anti-Avatar (a Yin to Aang's Yang) of sorts that would stand to gain from people losing their bending. Perhaps he was released when Airbenders were temporarily all wiped out (moment when Aang was struck by Azula).
- I feel Koh is evil, but he's got a code. It's less punishing Avatars who neglect their duty and more takes advantage of the situation. If the Avatar is neglecting his duties, he knows he can get away with more crap than if the Avatar doesn't, but he also has a vendetta against the Avatar, so he's going to go antagonize him whenever he can. That being said, he's got a desire for faces but unless he's got something people want, he's going to be stuck in a spiritual quarantine zone. So he'll hold up his end of the bargain to prove that he's not a double-dealing bastard, but he does enjoy what he does too much for it to be simply amorality.
- True, but what would deal with Amon give him? Spirit that gave Amon powers knew Amon would depower their opponents. And massively. Koh likes faces not taking away bending (unless he is really powerful, which he doesn't seem to be, can't even manifest properly). Koh isn't a nice spirit but he isn't black as people here paint him. He eats faces. He likes eating them. He can only eat your face if you show emotion. Most people here eat meat and like eating it. They can only kill a animal if they are vulnerable. Are they evil because they eat meat? Only an entity that would gain power from taking away bending would stand to gain. Plus the whole "Servants, I am the night" hidden doesn't sound like Koh. He is more a worm that hides in the night than an entity that would cast a night.
- I feel Koh is evil, but he's got a code. It's less punishing Avatars who neglect their duty and more takes advantage of the situation. If the Avatar is neglecting his duties, he knows he can get away with more crap than if the Avatar doesn't, but he also has a vendetta against the Avatar, so he's going to go antagonize him whenever he can. That being said, he's got a desire for faces but unless he's got something people want, he's going to be stuck in a spiritual quarantine zone. So he'll hold up his end of the bargain to prove that he's not a double-dealing bastard, but he does enjoy what he does too much for it to be simply amorality.
Furthermore, it could be that the whole "face disfigured by a firebender" is just a writers and producers' trick. They can avoid showing his face for character-building reasons (the face doesn't matter), while avoiding the wrath of the fans by saying "We're trying to keep the rating."
- This doesn't make Amon the Evil Counterpart of Ozai, but Eviler than Thou.
- How can anybody be more eviler than Ozai?
- Possibly. Katara could have cooled her jets in the 70 years between ATLA and LOK, wishing to seek justice rather than revenge like Aang would have wanted, and wouldn't approve of her children trying to avenge him... though this is partially Jossed. Tenzin early on didn't seem to think Amon was much of a threat, and he certainly didn't appear to be, and Tenzin was more than likely referring to the poverty and crime plaguing Republic City when he said his duties to the city were more important. Tenzin seems to have inherited Katara's more serious, mentoring personality anyway, and being an airbender and mentored by Aang, he would probably seek justice before revenge. Anyway, this theory is further Jossed by the fact that Word of God and the side materials all say that Aang died naturally, though rather young for an Avatar.
- Logically, wouldn't he starve to death? Or suffocate?
- That monkey outside the cave seemed fine.
- That monkey outside the cave was in the Spirit World. The fate of Avatar Kuruk's wife clearly implied that people whose faces are stolen by Koh will die, hence how she was taken from Kuruk.
- Koh stole Iroh's face and Iroh survived it. The implication behind Koh isn't that he's a malevolent spirit, he's an manifestation of the depersonalizing nature of enlightenment.
- Woah, woah, woah. What?! When did Koh steal Iroh's face?
- Before the show began. Iroh talks about how he had an encounter with the spirits that changed his life, and one of the faces Koh shows is a young Iroh. On the avatar wiki, it is the face on the bottom right row with the black mustache and hair. That's young Iroh.
- The above theory is fanon. The only confirmation we had from the stagnant Nick.com site is he was a Fire Nation Soldier. Ummi, Kuruk's wife, whose face Koh stole, is treated as though she herself remains in Koh's custody when Aang tells Avatar Kuruk "He still has her" in Escape from the Spirit World. Kuruk then presumably runs off to metaphysically retrieve her soul in some fashion.
- Somewhat debunked by the fact that Amon's eyes are clearly visible in numerous shots.
- Not necessarily. Remember, Koh stole the former avatar's wife's face and used it to enter the physical world. If Koh is wearing a face, it might be him under that mask. Also, he's immune to bloodbending (spirit, not real body, therefore no blood), and people have said he waits until people are afraid to take bending away (the whole showing emotion thing).
- That monkey outside the cave seemed fine.
- He got the scars from a waterbender.
- Confirmed in Amon's own words in "The Revelation"....but the man could be lying...
- Confirmed in the season finale until it was washed off!
- Now that we know Amon has the manliest voice known to humankind, AKA that of Steve Blum, this is proven false.
- We can only hope.
- Maybe it'll put off a lot of his followers too, and maybe even prompt a Heel–Face Turn in Lieutenant.
- My guess is that he'll plan to KILL the benders after Amon takes away their bending. After all, I doubt the Equalists will let them go afterwards.
- Or that he'll start attacking other non-benders for not supporting the cause, Shinobi not counted.
- Oh crap this actually seems likely given the darker direction the show seems to be heading. Plus attempting to exterminate an entire bender faction this way would definitely fit into his plan to screw over the avatar cycle as well as benders
- This might actually be foreshadowed, since in the first episode, Pema wishes that her next child will be "normal" like her, thus making it a case of Be Careful What You Wish For.
- Partially done, if you count him taking away Lin's bending.
- Just like Filch!
- Just like Petunia!
- Just because...
- Interested?
- Well if the fans are to be believed, he's already interested in a few people.
- Interested?
- Expanding on this WMG, the Equalists want all people to be just that, equal, and not have the privilege of "bending". This also prevents a retrace of Ozai's genocidal plan to eliminate all the other nations, simply replacing "Ozai" with "Amon" and "the other nations" with "benders". This is why they utilize Ty Lee's chi-blocking techniques in their fighting: it takes away a bender's abilities and puts them on equal footing with the foe that the bender was fighting. However, this technique is not permanent and once the bender's chi channels are unblocked, he/she can use their bending again. Only the Avatar, specifically Aang, has been recorded to truly and permanently take away a person's bending. It's been stated in the leaked promotional material that Korra struggles with the spiritual side of bending, even though she excels at the physical part. Amon will play on this weakness of hers and get her to question her beliefs, and make some fair arguments to trick her into thinking that his viewpoint is correct, hoping that she will make a Heel–Face Turn and use Energybending to take away benders' abilities the whole world over.
- Aang died young because of his decreased lifespan, thanks to his time in the iceberg.
- Why hello there Ghetsis!
- Just like Hitler did with the Jews!
- Possible, but more likely he's an expy of Mao (hell, their names are similar enough already). He's a savvy and charismatic leader dedicated to bringing equality to the downtrodden masses who may or may not go completely off the rails and/or drop his facade, depending on how cynical the show gets. On the other hand, Lin Beifong is the Chiang Kai-Shek figure, the nationalist military leader who keeps the peace with an iron fist, who may or may not be a fascist and who lets the Triads operate with impunity, again, depending on how cynical the show gets. Lin's efforts to exterminate the Equalist movement whilst ignoring their legitimate grievances (as well as her possible massive corruption) will send the legitimate Equalist sentiment spiraling out of control into full-blown revolution.
- ...Except that in Real Life Mao had almost zero charisma, didn't give a rat's ass about the downtrodden masses and didn't really have any strong idealogical convictions beyond an ironically Ayn-Rand like philosophy of complete self-absorption. The person you're describing is a lot more like Ho Chi Minh than Mao.
- Dunno where you got your sources but would a non charismatic, low in ideology, and totally ruthless guy take over China with at their least 8000 men? What Mao did after he came into power is strictly irrelevant to what he was perceived before he did so. To be fair, no one would've supported him if they know what he would end up doing in the 60s and 70s. Which does make sense to see a plot where Amon did succeed in taking over the city and start to implement all kinds of cruelties.
- Possible, but more likely he's an expy of Mao (hell, their names are similar enough already). He's a savvy and charismatic leader dedicated to bringing equality to the downtrodden masses who may or may not go completely off the rails and/or drop his facade, depending on how cynical the show gets. On the other hand, Lin Beifong is the Chiang Kai-Shek figure, the nationalist military leader who keeps the peace with an iron fist, who may or may not be a fascist and who lets the Triads operate with impunity, again, depending on how cynical the show gets. Lin's efforts to exterminate the Equalist movement whilst ignoring their legitimate grievances (as well as her possible massive corruption) will send the legitimate Equalist sentiment spiraling out of control into full-blown revolution.
- More evidence to support this. The Internet is a wonderful thing, isn't it?
- If the Triads' de-powering was staged then Amon improved his technique by the time he met the Wolf-Bats.
This WMG can also be combined with the WMG that Amon is Bumi, Aang's non-bender son. In that case Aang taught Bumi energybending for aforementioned reasons, but he didn't realize Bumi had begun to resent and envy all benders, having grown up as a non-bender in the most famous bender family of them all. In that case Amon's story of his family getting killed by a firebender is obviously a lie Bumi concoted to gain sympathy from the other Equalists.
- It's unlikely that Amon is Bumi. Bumi has dark skin, and as we can tell from his hands, Amon has light skin.
- This might actually hold some water since Tarrlok's bloodbending doesn't affect him.
- No, the bloodbending definitely affected him, as evidenced by how he moved noticeably slower when Tarrlok stepped up his game. He was just able to resist it.
- That may have just been an act. If bloodbending had actually affected him, he wouldn't be able to resist, as it's not a matter of how strong a person is, or the Avatar would have been able to do it too.
- No, the bloodbending definitely affected him, as evidenced by how he moved noticeably slower when Tarrlok stepped up his game. He was just able to resist it.
I'm inclined to believe that Tarlakk is one of the Amons, and uses his authority to take down small fish in the organization, convincing the rest of the reality of the Bending threat while simultaneously giving the general populance an impression that everything is under control, but his goals clearly can't involve Bending equality; the Energybending Amon is much more dangerous and driven to this goal.
- This could be, but in all of Amon's appearances so far we've seen that he has the yellowish eyes and fair skin of a Fire Nationer, which would seem to rule out Tarrlok, Bumi, and some of the other suspects, due to them having a different eye and/or skin colour. (Unless, of course, the Avatar world has some equivalent to our coloured contact lenses and body paint.) So far, the only important character with the same eye and skin colour that we've met is Hiroshi Sato.
- So, Amon is Anon(ymous)? Mind = blown.
B. Lightning Bolt Zolt or someone directly related to him, like a son or brother or something.
C. ...if we want to suspend the willing disbelief, Zuko. But much less likely.
Note that none of these are particularly exclusionary.
- Koh
- The most probable. He has a precedent for dicking around with Avatars.
- Wan-Shi-Tong
- Unlikely. He couldn't give a flying feather about the mundane world and all its caprices.
- Yue
- Also unlikely. She is now mantling a central spiritual figure for Waterbending. Why would she want to dispense with her disciples? She's not a vindicative sort like that either.
- The spirit of the land/nature of Republic City, now overrun by technology - think Hei-Bei.
- Possibly, given that Tarrlok's Bloodbending doesn't effect him, he could just be a bender in disguise.
- Going into a litte more detail, let's assume that Koh did, in fact, steal Amon's face and taught him energybending. Anyone remember the previous Water Tribe avatar, who didn't take his responsibilities seriosuly enough? And remember how Korra's having a tough time connecting to the Spirit World? The Spirits saw this coming and decided to pre-emptively give her a kick in the ass to get in gear.
- Koh manipulates a boy who may or may not be an orphan from a firebender attack. He lures him into the Spirit World and steals his face. Since the boy can't eat now (no face=no mouth), Koh says that he knows a way to keep him alive- feeding on the energy of benders. That's why we never get a lightshow with him- he's an energy vampire.
- Koh tells Amon that they need a new balancer to manipulate him into uniting the nonbenders. This brings attention to an imbalance in the Avatar world- the fact that nonbenders have no real power, giving the benders far too much. That's what Korra has to fix but, being a bender, she needs to realize that it's a problem.
- Amon will get Korra thinking about the rights of nonbenders and connecting to the Spirit World. And he will never realize- or maybe he will, at the end- that he was only a Cosmic Plaything.
- Evidence seems to be leading up to that. When Korra has been knocked out, both times during an encounter with Amon and his minions, she had flashbacks to the Gaang while they were older, even calling Aang's name when Tenzin came to check on her. During the raid on the Arena, it seemed like Korra was going to have a flashback of the whole thing involving Yakone. And the creators never put anything in by accident, especially in an animated show.
- Confirmed, at least if what Tarrlok says is true, in that Tarrlok is Amon's brother.
- He IS.
- Amon wasn't keeping Avatar for last, he is simply terrified of Avatar.
- Alternately, attempting to de-bend Korra inadvertently triggers the Avatar State... with predictable consequences. And Amon gets an unpleasant reminder of the nature of the forces he's playing around with.
- Possibly Episode 7 because Shiro was knocked out the episode prior?
- Well not for episode 8, at least. Shiro is back.
- The Wolf Bats had to know about the bribery, though, or otherwise they wouldn't have used those illegal moves. It seems more likely that the Wolf Bats simply had a habit of bribing the judges, Amon found out about it, guessed (or knew) that they would do that in the final match, and decided to use their cheating as a propaganda tool.
- Or Tahno made some kind of deal with Amon so he could keep his bending and Amon went back on his word.
- That could be. Everything is about perspective, and the kind of person that would start a movement like this wouldn't be above seeing himself as the victim of his on folly. He could have been minding his own business mugging people and didn't realize he was going after Fire Lord Zuko. Maybe he challenges people to agni kai all the time, and he raged like Zhao after losing.
- In the episode where he attacks the Bending arena, a blast of fire gets launched into his blimp, knocking some minions around; but it mysteriously flows around Amon, leaving him untouched. He may have been bending it away from himself.
- Maybe Amon paid attention to what was happening when Aang took away his bending, and learned how to do it himself from that one experience.
- To add more to this theory, Amon's Equalist revolution relies on the cruelty of benders in order to appeal to followers and attract them. If Korra acts on her Water Tribe nature and heals his scarred face after defeating him, in front of everybody, people will realize not everyone that is a bender is cruel and start changing the agenda or ditching him.
- Well, in episode 7, we met one guy who initially supported the cause but left because he didn't like the violent direction things were going in. It's likely that he isn't the only Equalist (or former Equalist) who feels that way.
- Except that Equalist was a plant by Amon to lure the metalbending cops to the underground factory so he could capture them. I'm not saying your theory is invalid, but the guy we saw probably wasn't dissatisfied with the Equalists.
- Amon could have caused Mrs. Sato's death to get Future Industries' resources, though he clearly doesn't care that much about publicity anymore, as he destroyed a sports stadium and eliminated Lin's entire police force.
- That could tie in with an above WMG that Amon was the one who bribed the referees in the pro-bending championship match.
My dreams are weird.
- Nah, Amon is made of tiny versions of mysterious, vengeful masked plotter ever: he's "someone of no importance" like Tobi, he wants to take over the world (or at least influence it) like Friend, he claims his face is disfigured like Calendar Girl, he's got a legion of followers like V and Anonymous, and isn't that Tzeentch guy made of masks and plots?
- That's going to be a pretty gruesome genocide, seeing as that's not how Bending works. It is a skill, originating from those who observed and learned it from the primal elemental benders.
- That is how bending first started. Nowadays it's an inherited trait one is borned with. It all depends on genetics and spirituality, though what is meant by "spirituality" is unclear, especially sense super powerful benders can be spiritually weak and non-benders spiritually strong, so it's mostly genes. Genocide is a plausible solution, as long as you watch out for any... "rediscoverers".
- There was an episode in ATLA (The Fortuneteller IIRC) where they had identical twins, one an Earthbender, the other not. Genetics are not nearly as restricting a factor as made out to be.
- That is how bending first started. Nowadays it's an inherited trait one is borned with. It all depends on genetics and spirituality, though what is meant by "spirituality" is unclear, especially sense super powerful benders can be spiritually weak and non-benders spiritually strong, so it's mostly genes. Genocide is a plausible solution, as long as you watch out for any... "rediscoverers".
- Amon is Friend —the original!
- Alternatively, he uses energybending to stay alive by stealing other peoples' energy.
- This is....jossed? In Out of the Past, Amon did take out Tarrlok by debending him, but then he tried to capture Korra, only to have her escape.
- CONFIRMED. They are brothers. And that something was someone, none other than their father - Yakhone.
- Actually he created it to oppose Tarrlok, his brother!
- It would actually make dramatic sense for him to still be an Air Acolyte... he could strike at any time on Air Temple Island, hitting Team Avatar in their own home.
- Jossed. Yakone was a bloodbender.
- Unjossed and confirmed in Episode 11. Turns out that "energybending" he was doing was actually bloodbending.
- Backing this is in "When Extremes Meet",Korra pushes Tarrlok's Berserk Button by accusing him of being just like Amon, suggesting sibling rivalry.
- CONFIRMED. They are both brothers, AND sons of Yakhone. But it was Yakhone who pitted them against each other.
- Also it is the icing on his cake for his Evil Plan: he will win regardless of the outcome.
- For the rest, see the WMG below.
- Half Confirmed. Aang really was trying to warn Korra that Tarrlok was Yakone's son, but he's not Amon.
- But Amon is Yakone's son, so really the only thing this guess got wrong was that Amon and Tarrlok are brothers, rather than the same person.
- Jossed. Amon didn't even need Korra's help.
- At least partially Jossed by episode 9. Sokka is shown as the representative of the Southern Water Tribe in the City Council. He did get recognition and admiration, and an important political position. And the interquel comic has shown that the Kyoshi Warriors gain international importance, as well.
To put it in Warhammer 40K terms, Amon is a blank.
- Half-Jossed. Amon is confirmed to be a mutant. Namely, he inherited the psychic bloodbending thing from his father Yakone.
- Dunno, to me he seems to have much more in common with Lenin; utterly ruthless and merciless, but still genuinely believing that his ideology would make the world a better place.
As for attacking his son, Yakone seems the kind of sociopath who would do that. It's all about power to him.
- Meanwhile, this would mean Tarrlok has not only been de-bended but is currently being held captive by his sociopathic father. Assuming this WMG is all true, that would make for daddy-issues at LEAST on par with Zuko by the time Amon's face is revealed.
- I also think Amon is Yakone, but his "energy-bending" is fake. Aang stood in front of him and touched his head AND chest, Amon comes from behind and only touches the head. Amon's technique is probably some sort of long term chi-blocking, and I think it's possible to reverse that. As for Tarrlok – Amon sent his goons after Korra and was left alone with Tarrlok. I think he revealed himself to him as Yakone, and returned his bending. Tarrlok might be even working with him now – maybe he's the one bloodbending Korra in the preview.
- If Amon is Yakone and he's still able to bloodbend, what would his motivation for starting the Equalist movement be? "Out of the Past" shows that Yakone was a powerful but corrupted bender who used his powers to intimidate regular people; i.e. he was exactly the sort of person whom the Equalists are against.
- Could just be a power play. Possibly it wouldn't matter how he got it, and since he's been outed as a blood bender it wouldn't be farfetched to say the general public doesn't want him. The Equalists are already discontent with the situation and perfect for manipulation purposes. Plus there's the "revenge" incentive if he endured any punishment for blood bending.
- Yakone can't rule everything if benders are around. But if he eliminates them, no more trouble. He'll be the most powerful man on Earth.
- Alternatively, Amon only pretended to take away Tarrlok's bending abilities as a show for the other Equalists in the room. Amon created the Equalists as a threat that would allow his son to gain power in Republic City, allowing them to rule together.
In combination with the theories that he's a warp mutant above, he also make use of White Magic. That explains why he can energybend; he uses White mana/The Lore of Light/is an Alluminas cultist, which has spells that stun enemy creatures and exile permanents (bending as a whole seem like aura spells to me), and energybending seems like a light power anyways, what with those lights the people involved can see.
Likewise, he can resist bloodbending because he's a holy being, and holyness beat dark magic.
- Where was is stated that Amon has a connection to Zuko? Not denying your theory, but just curious.
- Alternately, the Avatar State is triggered and helps Korra fight back. It's stated that Energybending between spirits can backfire and destroy the user. This is how Amon will meet his demise.
- He also has very pale skin, which is a trait of the Fire Nation. One is also more likely to run across firebenders (friendly or otherwise) in the Fire Nation by default.
Tarrlok knows about the family connection, which is why he was so enraged at being compared to Amon: he feels that Amon is disgracing their father Yakone's legacy.
- If Tarrlok knows about this, why didn't he refer to it in any way when the two met in episode 9?
- This is confirmed. They are brothers. Tarrlok didn't refer to it in Episode 9 because he didn't figure it out until after Amon, or rather, Noahtok, captured Tarrlok.
- Just thought of this as well. It actually makes a lot of sense- Gommu's parents were nonbender immigrants to Republic City, and it's noted that Gommu grew up in an orphanage, which would fit Amon's backstory if he was telling the truth about that (other than about being disfigured). Gommu formerly served with the United Forces- granted, as a telegraph operator, but he could have picked up some fighting skills as well there. There's also the fact that Gommu lost his job because of technological advancement, and it is believable that someone who experienced that would also be angry about jobs that are closed to nonbenders.
- He claimed he has made contact with the spirits. Perhaps they're possessing him and that is what allows him to power through bloodbending.
- Or maybe he's actually a cyborg, so he has no blood to bend. He still has some organic parts, since he's still affected by bloodending, but not to the extent normal people are.
- He can remove a person's ability to bend, with some potent chi-blocking. Or Energybending.
- He is incredibly agile, and very powerful in combat.
- He wasn't fazed at all when Korra blasted the zeppelin with some fire, while his Mooks were being blown away. One theory above somewhere states that he was probably doing some Firebending himself, to bend the fire away from him.
- He can resist Bloodbending. While the WMG above states that he could be a cyborg, that certainly is a possibility, or he could just be THAT strong.
- Alternatively, he's an energy bending supremacist, and hates both the lesser benders and the filthy muggles.
- Though, to be fair, his name and the colour's that convey treachery and death in chinese culture can also be seen as Light Is Not Good from a western perspective.
- True, but Avatar has always drawn heavily on Asian culture, so it seems more plausible to interpret things through that lens.
- Though, to be fair, his name and the colour's that convey treachery and death in chinese culture can also be seen as Light Is Not Good from a western perspective.
- This troper now subscribes to this theory.
- Pretty much Jossed. Pema is seen fleeing Air Temple Island with her family while Lin tries to take down the airships. When we next see Amon, it's on the ground after catching Lin.
- Did Yakone have yellow eyes?
- It seems like there would be easier ways to con people.
- Amon may not be crazy enough, I could see Sato attempting to kill the moon.
- Jossed. He was just a better bloodbender and bloodbent his body back into moving.
Finally it will only be Korra, as he wanted it, last on the list. Korra and Mako will fight Amon, who takes out Mako before going for Korra. Except that, something will not go according to plan because she's the Avatar. That would be the killer climax.
- Lin just got equalized in "Turning the Tides", so this seems quite possible.
- Is there actually any Word of God that Zuko will appear in the finale? Everyone expected it to happen because they knew that Dante Basco will be in the finale, and because Zuko is still alive, but now that we know Basco plays another character, it seems unlikely that Zuko will appear. Especially since the new character has the exact same voice as Zuko.
- No-one assumed at any point that Dante Basco would voice Zuko; the assumption always was that he would be voicing Zuko's son or grandson. He definately doesn't have the right voice for an old man. But apparently there has been a leak indicating that Skeletons in the Closet will deal with Zuko's legacy, so if he appears anywhere, that's the most likely episode for him. And it would make little sense for him not to appear at all, after such a big deal was made of the fact that he's still alive. Most likely his role will be just to give wise council, rather than save the day, though.
- If the episode "deals with Zuko's legacy", that can refer to General Iroh, who's almost certainly Zuko's son or grandson. And I don't think there's been any "big deal" made on Zuko being alive: this information is based solely on some internet material, the actual series hasn't mentioned Zuko at all yet. I guess he might appear during season 2, but that'll probably be just a cameo like Katara in the first episode, and Zuko's actions in AtLA most likely don't have anything to do with Amon or any other major plot developments. I'm sure the writers of TLoK want its plot to stand on its own and not be too derivative of the first series.
- No-one assumed at any point that Dante Basco would voice Zuko; the assumption always was that he would be voicing Zuko's son or grandson. He definately doesn't have the right voice for an old man. But apparently there has been a leak indicating that Skeletons in the Closet will deal with Zuko's legacy, so if he appears anywhere, that's the most likely episode for him. And it would make little sense for him not to appear at all, after such a big deal was made of the fact that he's still alive. Most likely his role will be just to give wise council, rather than save the day, though.
- Or maybe the Equalists decided to send two assassins just be on the safe side (especially if the Fire Nation councilwoman is a bender), and since the other Equalist is just a background character, the animators decided to cut some corners and not animate him until he walks through the door.
- While the idea is good, the second exterminator has a wrong skintone, making this unlikely.
- I really, really hope not. It would be an incredibly cheesy cop-out, plus it would render Lin's sacrifice entirely meaningless.
- Jossed. He is a son of Yakone, shaped into being a {{Tyke Bomb} as an instrument of revenge against Republic City.
- Jossed. It's a clever combo of bloodbending and chi-blocking.
- Jossed. Amon just bloodbent right back.
- Bonus points if it's a descendant of Azula.
- His real face is the last thing we see of him and there's probably not much left to find.
- Jossed. We get a scene like this, where his mask floats up and he seems to be gone, but he quickly comes back up himself, waterbending!
Joker Immunity will come in full effect, he will not have died in the explosion, barely. He will be back for the second season...
- Yup. He was convinced Bending is the Source of All Evil. That says a great deal about the Equalists' cause
All of the main Korra antagonists had a Love Interest (P'li for Zaheer, Baatar Jr. for Kuvira, Unalaq's unseen wife for Unalaq), so it makes sense that he started that tradition. As he a foil to Korra herself, Amon was too bisexual, only that years of emotional abuse from his father and an eroded self-worth, Northern Water Tribe homophobic tendencies -they were never shown to be the beacon of social progress -, and just plain not having anyone to talk about his feelings to made him bitter and firmly closeted. When he started the Equalist cause, Amon struggled between his feelings for the Lieutenant and his righteous crusade, an inner conflict that probably was the reason for his more insane methods. He only realised his folly when it was too late, and he was forced to pull a Kuvira on Lieutenant, so that his cause wouldn't end. However, he was clearly shaken by it, taking his wrath sadistically on Mako, and eventually being unable to keep his concentration and defeat Korra.
Lieutenant, tragically enough, probably loved him too, which made his final moments all the more heartbreaking.
It would explain how he could have dark skin as a child/teenager, but was pale as an adult.