#Unalaq

[quartings]

With the new Avatar series being post apocalyptic, I had to draw this up:

I'm not the most hyped about the new premise either, but I'm going to wait until we get actual footage to form my opinions!

[beifong-brainrot]

[shadelorde]

paraphrased from a conversation I had on Bluesky but actually the more I think about it the more utterly insane it is that the major thing Korra is hated for is losing the past avatars. You want to know HOW she lost the past avatars? by trusting an older member of her own family who then proceeded to GRAPHICALLY violate her and destroy an actual part of her in front of her with utter glee - but Unalaq isn't denounced as even a creep and no thought is given to any of the themes behind such a scene, it's just "how could korra let this happen??!?!?!"

life imitates art i guess.

[dragologist]

𝚈'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙾𝙽𝙶

[allgremlinyaps]

unavaatu you will always be famous (<- completely untrue)

spiritual successor to this <3 click for better quality

[hadesisqueer]

One of the things I really disagree with is that benders in LoK are weaker than in ATLA.

Like, maybe normal benders kinda were. Peaceful times and all, average benders in LoK probably weren't as strong or trained as people who were forced to learn how to fight because there was a war going on.

Now, top benders, benders who actually take a role in the story? Not really.

We didn't actually see many Firebenders in LoK aside Mako, Iroh II, P'li and 88yo Zuko who we only saw fight once at the North Pole at night, at his weakest, okay. And well, Korra. Still, P'li was one of the rarest benders in the franchise. And Mako was a pretty talented Firebender, and Korra was about his level except the lightning generation thing. They're not Ozai or Iroh, okay, I'll give you that, but about Show Zuko level. And Iroh II was pretty good too.

We didn't see many Airbenders in ATLA, with the whole Aang being the last one thing. We know Gyatso was great we didn't actually see him bend (aside throwing pies or messing with Aang to cheer him up), nor any other airbenders aside other kids-- and also, all that was before ATLA, in flashbacks. Aang was a prodigy and very powerful. But in LoK, Tenzin wasn't a slouch either. Neither was Jinora, who was also a spiritual prodigy, or Zaheer, or even Kai, who was also pretty good considering the kid had only gotten airbending a few weeks ago. And Korra herself ended up becoming a pretty good airbender. Neither her or nearly all of the others were at Aang the Airbending Prodigy's level, okay, but all of them were good, most of all Tenzin. Tenzin was one of the strongest benders in the franchise overall, and tbh he was probably better than ATLA Aang (but probably not as good as Peak Aang).

The strongest Earthbenders in ATLA are Toph and King Bumi, and most of all Toph, I agree with saying that they are stronger than all the other Earthenders in LOK; the only ones who could keep up with them in terms of just earthbending are people like Yun or Jianzhu from Kuruk's and Kyoshi's Era, or, you know, Kyoshi herself as an adult. However, those are the two only Earthbenders who stick out more than LOK'S. The other talented Earthbenders in ATLA-- guys, come at me. Come at me, look me in the eye and tell me that you actually think Tyro or Haru could beat Lin, Su or Kuvira. Tell me that you actually think that any Dai Li agent of Aang's time could beat Bolin or Ghazan. C'mon, tell me, tell me that you actually believe that. Toph was the exception of ATLA, not the rule. Aside her and probably Bumi —and Lavabending and Metalbending could still give any of the others an advantage against him that gives them the ability to put up a good fight—, any Earthbender in LOK could probably beat any other Earthbender in ATLA without breaking a sweat.

And in terms of Waterbending it's not just that the Waterbenders in LOK are as strong as the ATLA ones, it's that most of them are stronger. The only notable Waterbenders in ATLA (the only ones if we're being honest, we didn't see many Waterbenders). Were Katara, Pakku, Hama and Aang. Aang was a weaker Waterbender than any of the previously mentioned ones, and Bloodbending inventor Hama got beat up by 14yo Katara. So, really, the strongest ones are Katara and Pakku. Now, Legend of Korra had, let's see *checks* Amon, Yakone, Unalaq, Tarrlok, Korra herself, Ming-Hua-- damn, even 'weaker' Waterbenders like Tonraq, Kya II, Eska or Desna are still pretty skilled. Most Waterbenders in LOK are insanely OP, and generally stronger than even the strongest at ATLA. For example, in terms of raw power —idk about skill, that's a different thing—, Amon beats people like Katara and Pakku easily; his raw power was, well, more powerful than Korra's, who has the biggest pure Waterbending feat in the franchise, and than Tarrlok's, who had more raw power than Korra, at least in Book 1. The guy was likely the most powerful non-Avatar bender in the franchise.

[winter510]

When Unalaq referred to himself as a “Dark Avatar” this is all I could think of.

[endless-weightless]

No one does dilfs/hot middle-aged men like the water tribes

[jalapenoscumbag]

[blackflash9]

I love when "pragmatic and logical" viewers try to seriously reason and argue from the comfort of their couch that Korra should've let Unalaq destroy the soul of an eleven year-old girl to save the world.

[firelords-honour]

On s2 ep4. No this is not biased in any way

[beifong-brainrot]

Actually also the idea of Korra being related to Yue is such missed potential and Yue would've been a fascinating addition to B2. Like, walk with me here.

Korra's grandfather on her father's side was the chief of the Northern Water Tribe and her father was banished. Now, Unalaq and Tonraq's father doesn't look like Arnook, Yue's father, so I don't think they're Yue's much younger brothers.

But I can see Arnook abdicating and giving the position of chief up to a relative, perhaps a younger brother, making Unalaq and Tonraq Yue's cousins.

I do certainly believe that at the same time, Yue became some manner of religious figure in the Northern Water Tribe. Her sacrifice is definetly honoured (at least to the point of having a special desert in her honour lol), but its probably also seen as the deeply tragic event it was.

I can see this being why the Northern Water Tribe is so militarised even after the war ended, and why the big ice wall stayed up. Might also be the reason for Tonraq's need to hunt down and eliminate the bandits who attacked Agna Qel'a.

Unalaq's relation to Yue would be, in my opinion very interesting. Like considering him getting influenced by the story of his cousin merging with a spirit, and himself becoming enamoured with the idea. Like his obsession with spirits could very nicely meld with a potential familial relation to Yue. I can see him even encouraging the veneration of her in the Northern Water Tribe, but, of course, using the power of faith for his own gain.

Having Korra potentially interact with Yue would be cool too. They can bond on both growing up isolated, and connected to powerful spirits, on being trapped in that strange space between human and spirit.

Honestly, Yue would've made a fascinating spiritual guide to Korra. Iroh mesting her in the spirit world was cute, but also, Yue would've filled a similar role very well. In my biased opinion lol. Perhaps Yue could even lend a hand when Korra was cut off from Raava. There's a lot of possibilities there.

Yue watching her shitty cousin use her legacy to garner power and use the beings he claims to venerate:

They can be homies. She's stuck on the moon, I presume, he's stuck in a tree. They're penpals.

[uy-niix]

Honestly I took reference from polapaz321's art a lot🏃

[dragologist]

More Avatar Shenanigans

Senna & Katara tops I don't make the rules ✨️

[hadesisqueer]

Doing kill counts of the ATLA universe out of boredom (not including the Yangchen or Roku novels because I have not read them yet, so no spoilers).

Sozin: Unknown, but he committed genocide on the Air Nomads, so at least thousands.

Azulon and Ozai: Unknown but are to blame for the death of thousands, maybe millions.

Jianzhu: Kelsang, Saiful, Chamberlain Hui and a few other sages, all those Yellow Necks-- he had confirmed kill count of over 5000 people.

Tagaka: Unknown amount of people, but she killed Amak and clearly killed more. So at least one known and many others unknown.

Amak: Unknown but he was a professional assassin, so-- yeah, probably a dozen or two at least.

Kelsang: The Living Typhoon! He caused the deaths of a bunch of pirates. Unknown amount of kills, though.

Hei-Ran: Unknown amount of kills, but she had the record of most kills during Agni Kais, so several people at least.

Yun: Like four randos in the Earth Kingdom, Jianzhu, Lu Beifong, Chancellor Dairin, a bunch of Fire Nation guards, Father Glowworm-- like a dozen kills at least.

Kyoshi: Killed Xu Ping An, Yun and Chin the Conqueror, so known kill count of three. Unknown, definitely more.

Lao Ge: Unknown but probably many people.

Kuruk: No known human kills, but did slay several dark spirits.

Gyatso: He was surrounded by a lot of corpses of Firebenders, so the guy definitely killed like a dozen people at least.

Aang (possessed by the Ocean Spirit): A few hundreds at least. Then again that wasn't really him because the kid was possessed, that was the Ocean Spirit*

Zhao: One known, the original Moon Spirit.

Long Feng: One, Jet. Thought it was really unclear at the time.

Yon Rha: One known, Kya.

Sokka: One, Combustion Man*

Azula: One, Aang. Sure he came back but the kid was dead.

Ursa: One, Azulon.

Zaheer: The Earth Queen, and I guess you could kinda count Aiwei? Though he didn't really die. Anyway, one or two.

Ghazan: I guess you can count himself?

Tarrlok: Two, himself and Noatak.

Unalaq: One, Raava I guess? She came back though.

Korra: Technically One, Unavaatu. Sure, her uncle was gonna die anyway, but she finished the job and felt responsible for not saving him, so she kinda saw it as killing him.

Mako: One, he killed Ming-Hua with lightning.

Suyin: One, he killed P'Li.

Kuvira: Hiroshi and two guards, so like three.

So far I can't think of any other deaths? Like there's people like Iroh who was a general and most likely killed people as well, and you can argue that the rest of the Gaang likely took some more lives (most of all Sokka, Toph and Suki while they were taking down those airships during the comet, I mean someone had to fucking die there c'mon), as well as probably believing that the rest of the Red Lotus killed as well. And more probable kills from more people. But no confirmation though lmao.

[i-draw-desna]

Some Eska and Desna headcanons, and headcanons relating to them.

I'm putting it under the cut cause Idk im weird ig?

The reason Eska and Desna speak so verbose and poetic is because Unalaq wouldn't stop badgering them to use more proper language, and as a joke they played it up 10 fold hoping it would annoy him. Malicious compliance kinda stuff. But, it went from being a joke, to being something they just couldn't stop doing.

Everyone already had this headcanon probably, but I'll reiterate, Eska and Desna are autistic.

When Korra was super young, she was probably SUPER excited to meet her cousins for the first time. Likely she didn't interact with many kids at her compound so she thought, them being cousins, she'd get to be friends with them real easy. But no, they were so unequipped to even interact with Korra that they didn't even look up to speak with her when she greeted them. Which is why she thinks they're weird and doesn't really try to get too close. I also thought, if there was no Unalaq, would E&D and Korra have been more friendly or closer?

Eska doesn't just initially dislike Korra because of Bolin, but the act of Bolin being near or interacting with Korra was just a reinforcement of a feeling that was already there. She's undoubtedly extremely jealous of Korra cause of her father favoring her. Likely he compared Eska (and Desna) to Korra constantly, while berating them.

Eska is clearly the more explosively angry twin, but her rage teeters out really fast. The whole engagement situation is probably the longest she's ever managed to stay angry about something.

Desna seems calmer, but when he's mad, it can be very hard to read, and he could stay angry about something for years if he was left to his own devices. Luckily he's more patient and forgiving than his sister.

Both twins were sad about their father's demise, but really did not know how to handle those emotions or even recognize them. No doubt they feel a mix of emotions about it. On one hand, they grew up believing he was so great and wise, and that whatever he was doing, it was for the greater good. Lest it be the cost of their lives. Love had no place between them, especially as royalty, right? At least that's probably what they told themselves. Why get sad that he doesn't care? Or that he dies? he turned out to be a bad guy anyways. He didn't even care about them. So why do the very few good times they did have keep flashing in their minds?

These teenagers getting chiefdom is CRAZY right? Didn't even hand it to their mother? Maybe she didn't want it. But either way, of course they were mess around with these responsibilities, especially without anyone to tell them what they can and cannot do. Aside from their council. I have more, but I'll post those another time. It feels good to get these thoughts out. If you read these, I would love to know your thoughts!