Ka the Equalist

karavis:

Legend of Korra book 2 opens with an incredible chase scene between mako and some bad guys… mako is on his bike, using firebending to catapult over traffic and take down their van. he strides up to the incapacitated baddies with a cool smirk and some witty lines

then lin drops another stack of paperwork in front of him at his desk job at the police force, snapping him out of his daydream

(via masterarrowhead)

lennat:

Recently, I was revisiting some of the second episode of Legend of Korra, when I found a tiny little gem that blinked past my radar on my first viewing, but now has left me near tears.

There’s this one tiny little moment where Tenzin tells Korra that he stayed to watch her…

randomkorrablog:

Let’s talk about Saikhan.

In episode 8, Saikhan told Tenzin that he would have to talk to Tarrlok about releasing Korra’s friends from jail. Tenzin said that he planned to at the council meeting the next morning.

At which point the show randomly cuts to a close up of Saikhan’s eyes as he looks down.

For some reason this moment in episode 8 stood out to me. Aren’t closeups normally meant to bring the audience’s attention to something? What’s with the random close up of his eyes? My only guess to the purpose of this closeup was to perhaps show guilt. Maybe it was a hint that Saikhan was not really a big supporter of Tarrlok.

After all, in the beginning of episode 8 Tenzin said to Tarrlok, “Tarrlok, I don’t know what you did to get Chief Saikhan in your pocket but I highly doubt it was legal.”

Hmm. Exactly what did Tarrlok do I wonder? It wasn’t until later that it was revealed that he was a bloodbender. And we never saw Saikhan protest against any of Tarrlok’s decisions such as using the metalbenders against the peaceful protesting non-benders. We were shown, however, that when he saw Korra go to confront Tarrlok he just turned away.

We don’t know much about him. We were just told in his bio that he rose through the ranks under Lin eventually becoming her right-hand man. And that he respected her immensely. Although things seemed a bit tense between them when they reunited judging by the tone they used while addressing one another. (Notice that he addressed her by her first name.)

Although he wasn’t in the show that much I think that maybe there has been subtle setting up in book 1 for this character to be a bit more expanded in future books.

Also, for what it’s worth. Notice how he never stopped Korra from shaking his head around while she called him the worst police chief ever. He just stood there and took it.

(via ded0c0)

some verick sketches while i’m taking study breaks eheh
i seriously hope that howard hughes reference with verick has as much significance as possible
because if verick has relations with actresses (since we’re told he’s a ‘playboy’ lol) it’d be amazing because then FILM IN THE LOK WORLD ARE YOU KIDDING ME
EMBER ISLAND PLAYERS EPISODE VER. 2 

(Source: insomniatakesover)

polapaz321:

Tarrlok Headcanon:

He has presbyopia but he dosen’t want anyone to know

Because it makes him feel like an old guy,

actually he think himself is still young.

(via awakeningeden-deactivated201302)

anghraine:

Medusa’s nest: rambling about Amon

savagelee:

anghraine:

Emphasis on rambling.

I really don’t see how Amon’s history as Noatak “ruined” him. Maybe it’s because I’m that weird person who thinks that the backstory actually did far better by him than Tarrlok, and that it’d be predictable, thematically dull, and less coherent if he…

I really like what you said here. I like how Noatak is complex and hard to understand. He is pretty multi-dimensional. Here are some reasons that people I know and myself have raised about being disappointed in ways about the reveal, though after the initial shock wore off I liked Noatak.

1) His attractiveness. Basically, this is a pretty superficial thing, but when I liked Amon as a character before the reveal, it was “ew but he’s creepy.” But then it got turned around into “oh well he’s pretty good-looking so that’s okay.” Not really a reason to hate Noatak, but it was somewhat grating for people to judge others’ preferences on whether or not Amon was hot or not—and, if anything, Noatak is FAR creepier than who he would be if he was telling the truth. 

2) I think that Noatak is complex. The issue is how it’s presented. My personal belief is that Noatak was mixed, full of contradictions. He wanted to be the opposite of his father, yet he resents the Avatar, and he pities nonbenders; I believe his motivations were initially genuine, since he has seen the evils bending can do—he’s done some of it himself. However, we do not know this. The twenty-five years for Tarrlok and Amon where they were separated are not elaborated upon. So, we go from the caring brother to the distant brother to Amon abandoning his normal nonbending tactics and bloodbending throughout the entire finale, and it all seems like he’s dissolved into a standard villain. It’s a very haphazard development with tons of ambiguity. My basic thought is that he felt cornered in and he’s pretty mentally unstable, so that’s why he resorted to that, but I’ve had people say that there’s more proof that he genuinely believed in the cause and it wasn’t just a power grab, but it’s not really shown, you know? It’s something we can assume, but never know.

And people have complained that his past is worse than his fake story, so why did he lie? Well, Noatak probably has a ton of self-loathing and wanted to get as far from his identity as possible. So, instead of being a repentant predator, he became a victim. Someone pitiable and understandable and so much like the people he leads, and it feeds on prejudices toward the Fire Nation and firebenders. He was a messiah. I know someone said that Amon pre-finale was dull because he was just awesome for the sake of being awesome; that was the whole point. Amon is a myth, something more than human. He isn’t flawed and broken; he’s the culmination of everything Yakone isn’t, everything Noatak probably wants to be. A savior, absolutely untouchable.

3) Yeah, I figured he was lying, but the thing is, while I think the thought that it discredits the concerns of nonbenders should be nonsense, since it’s not like his points are invalid because the things he talks about DO happen, it might play that way, and it’s a shame if it does. The whole oppression element was really poorly developed, and I think, for people who wanted it elaborated upon, they will see Noatak’s story as a way to dismiss the issue as a whole. And I think people really sympathize with the wounded vigilante who’s taking revenge for wrongs committed to him, which is actually kind of, in a way, who Noatak is, since he was mentally strained and abused and this is his way of making up for it—but we don’t know. What were his true intentions? He’s dead, written off, so we can’t know, and that lack of clarity is really agonizing at times.

Who is Noatak? Hell, he probably doesn’t even know.

Thank you!

(1) I did notice some people complaining about his looks (though not many), but mostly, it seemed a kind of weirdly hipster thing - “we liked him before he was hot!” There did seem this idea that … like, he’s this epic creepy villain, he should look creepy. But I agree, it’s actually more disturbing that he just looks like a normal guy. (Well, very attractive, but that’s normal for the Water Tribe.) Korra could have passed him in the street, and she’d never know.

(2) Well, Tarrlok says outright that Noatak really does believe bending is the source of all evil in the world. Which is awkward exposition (I have plenty of issues with the writing and pacing - the backstory’s power for me is largely in its imagery, for instance, and not the dialogue - but this is about the content), but it’s definitely there and it’s very clear. At most we could say, well, that’s just Tarrlok’s opinion, but IMO that’d be pretty blatantly reading against the text. (And even in-story, Tarrlok is the only person to whom Amon could have conceivably lowered his guard.)

It’s also pretty much stated that Amon has been subtly using bloodbending all along to defeat other benders, quite apart from taking their bending (and I suspect waterbending too, at least in the snow). Again, strictly speaking, you could say, that’s just Tarrlok’s opinion and Mako’s opinion, but I think it’s presented as fact.

So I don’t see Amon using bloodbending in his final fight as him becoming more villainous, but rather that bloodbending openly in a place crammed with Equalists is taking a foolish risk. Which is … most fans see him unraveling over the course of the finale, but I think he starts losing his grip after Episode 9. He seemed to be pretty seriously concerned with PR until then, and suddenly it’s like he’s all but trying to erode his support, and it escalates until he’s debending Korra, which HE HIMSELF said would be a really bad idea. Given that Tarrlok’s debending is the only thing he regrets, and he felt driven to it, yet he’s simultaneously convinced that bending is the source of misery and evil, my personal interpretation is that he just snapped under the cognitive dissonance. (But that’s just mine. I totally accept that we don’t really get an explanation for why it happens - I do think it’s clear that it is happening, though.)

I don’t think the Amon-story was about making himself seem more of a victim than in his real story, though, but less so. Like ikkinthekitsune said, the fake story creates a straightforward, highly masculine narrative of avenging an injury to him and his loved ones, and then layers a messianic one over that, which removes all potential vulnerability. The real story, where he and his little brother were abused via their waterbending, at the hands of his doting, non-bending father, and he relished it but also suffered immensely, and in the end found himself attacking, defending, and abandoning that brother - I mean, essentially it’s the story of a victim who is defined by his abuse, forever. There’s not a lot of strength in it. I definitely agree that he makes himself superhuman and untouchable - though I’m not sure it’s what he wants to be so much what he considers most effective. (He seems far happier when he can reclaim his name and just settle down somewhere.)

(3) I totally agree with the reaction of his followers being cringeworthy, and the idea that ‘oh, he was lying about his bending-related tragic past, he has a completely DIFFERENT bending-related tragic past,’ completely negates all his points and totally resolves the conflict - that’s, um, yeah. I do think that removing Amon is likely to end the revolution, because it revolved so heavily around his cult of personality, but it won’t deal with the actual issues or the very evident discontent. (It seems very much a darker version of “The Painted Lady,” actually, when Katara was denounced by the people she helped when she turned out to be a waterbender, not a spirit. There, of course, it only lasted about two seconds, but it’s still a (very) similar dynamic.)

I tend to see the how-the-Equalists-were-dealt-with issue (which I’m not thrilled about) and the murder-suicide (which I really dislike) and Noatak and Tarrlok’s backstory (which I very much like, pacing notwithstanding) issue as relatively distinct things, though.

(via fannishcodex)

theslowestdrawfag:

Get in loser, we’re going equalizing: fox-glove replied to your post: fox-glove replied to your post:…

fabulousdebbie:

theslowestdrawfag:

fox-glove replied to your post: fox-glove replied to your post: yeah-well-hey…

I can’t wait to see Korra in the spirit world since there’s no bending there. That may be the only reason I watch book 2. She acted that way because no one told her she was wrong when they should have….

Hmm when it comes to the question if he was power hungry or not I think of something someone wrote.(I just have no clue where the post is exactly OTL)

A lot of people said that his true story would’ve been more convincing(which I personally highly doubt) than his made up one but someone pointed out how his fake story shows him different.

His true story would make people rather feel pity while the fake one is more a story people can relate to and sympathize.

I had in some of my classes some stuff about ugh masks and some other “filters” and similar things that basically create a distance between oneself and reality. etc and this part made me actually think about Amon, or rather Noatak and the representative persona he created.

Ah I’m bad with words, I see it that “Amon” is less(not totally but just less) of an actual person and more like a symbol.

Like he puts himself back in favor of the leader-figure.

In this context the mask also makes sense, him not wanting people to care for that particular poor guy who lost his family and had his face burnt(which is why a generic firebender killed my family story works better than a specific one) so he doesn’t really give that guy a human face just that mask.

I can’t really judge it but I feel like if it were more about himself he would’ve shown off his fake burnt face(and put more effort into it *cough*)

I personally kinda liked how from the moment he had to take the mask off(and knowing that someone knows his past he tried to hide) he starts to slip and slowly loses grip.

I think he may have expected people to doubt his firebender story but never that someone may know the true story which is a very personal thingy.  To me it makes sense that it causes him to lose it, I’m actually impressed how cool he stayed the moment she just said all that stuff in front of everyone.  Even knowing nobody would believe it’s still a very uncomfortable situation, bringing back memories and stuff.

which reminds me.. why does he even close his eyes while taking off the mask… I find it sort of weird, calming down? 

augh there is just so much left to clear up OTL

I mean even why did he start the whole equalist thing? He could’ve just run away from home and lived his life somewhere outside of any trouble… 

While it makes sense for him to hate bending it doesn’t make yet sense why he cares about nonbender-oppression or what made him care about it.  

Which is a point where I see parallels to Korra, they were both reduced to their bending abilities.

I could see him pretend to be a nonbender/not use his bending in order to avoid people wanting to just use him and his power like his father did. 

eh this is all over the place, I wish I’d write more structurized OTL

I never thought about it before but it makes sense that having Korra discover his true identity and past and shout it out for all to hear would make Amon lose it - there’s a crack in his “mask” and he can’t deal with it, it’s all downhill from there.

I don’t see any other reason for him starting the Equalist movement than that he honestly seriously saw bending as evil and thought that benders oppressed non-benders, and he felt like he had to do something about it. If he wanted power, he could’ve just become a triad boss like his father and used his bloodbending to take over, but he didn’t. Maybe he thought that the movement was just something that needed doing, but figured that a non-bender would never be able to do it - they’d get killed by the triads very quick.

Also, maybe he closed his eyes while taking off the mask to sort of calm himself? I could imagine taking the mask off in front of anyone - not to mention so many people! - would make him nervous. :3 /pets Amon

(via fannishcodex)

writingfail:

oreides:

delicioustrap:

fangirlingforeverz:

equalistsfuckshitup:

madeofcola:

So i was wondering about korra in avatar state. UNSTOPPABLE!

oh wow

So, this actually matches my headcanon that Korra is completely out of control and dangerous in the Avatar State because she’s so out of touch with her spirituality.

And I kind of want this to happen in the show like burning.

Yes yes yes YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. I really want Korra to be out of control completely and just go mad with the power. With a “I can do anything now” kind of attitude. Ugh, perfection.

oh shit that was my headcanon too D: argh

could someone fic this please

please… anyone…

crushwagon:

gingerbread-tea:

i just had a sad lieumon thought

not that they aren’t all sad but w/e

what if amon always did really subtle bloodbending on lieu to make sure he was okay because lieu always acted like he was okay even when he had broken bones

Read More

i could use a huge hug right now,and someone to cry with,because DAMN IT S.S. CRYING.

(Source: the-sixteenth-subject, via hi-im-liran)

ascended-extra:

One subject I’ve seen debated a fair amount within the Tarrlok segment of LoK fans is what motivated him throughout the story. Namely, his end-goal. There are basically two factors that get keyed in on during episode nine: the ruler and the savior.

After being outed as…

(Source: urbanchimera, via savagelee)