The Legend of Korra/WMG/Amon

For theories about other subjects, see The Legend Of Korra Wild Mass Guessing Index.

Amon's face is not scarred. His backstory is a lie
He somehow sneaked into the pro-bending ring without being detected. It's ok for the other Equalists who disguised themselves as the audience, but Amon? How did he get past the security checks and all? Sato could have got them through VIP access, but Amon's face would be too conspicuous if it was as badly scarred as he claims. Also Amon can't stay under that mask all the time. How does he eat or drink, or wash his face?
 * 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.

The spirits have given Amon the ability to Energybend as they feel that humans are increasingly abandoning the spiritual side of bending
Seeing what the spirits can do in the last series against those who defy and upset nature's balance, this may actually be the real intention of the spirits in giving Amon his powers. But Amon has other plans.

== Amon is that whistle blower working in the factory who closes the door and gives Korra the note and then directs them to Hiroshi's underground factory. His plans are probably complete by the time Hiroshi's exposed and he intends to take down the City's industry while simultaneously exposing his true power. == Now Amon always has ways to let the city know of his power, so he would either direct them towards Hiroshi who would capture them with his Humongous Mecha, and even if they managed to escape him, the whole city would come to know about these new machines. Probably Amon knew that they could escape and Hiroshi could be exposed. But he's probably planned for this and Hiroshi was just a pawn in his hands all along. Book one already has 7/12 episodes complete, so seeing the Humongous Mecha it's likely that by this point Amon's plans are already more or less complete, so he could safely go and expose Hiroshi, and his own power to the world.
 * 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!

Amon wants to use energy bending to become the avatar
Energy Bending can do that, and it explains why he didn't just take her powers away. He couldn't do it there, because he has to take away everyone's bending so he is the only bender first.

Amon is AANG.
The flashback Korra had at the end of the fourth episode clearly shows that the grown-up Aang was having some sort of a disagreement with the city. Maybe the ruling elite really do favour benders; and he faked his death and started the Equalist movement to restore balance to the world. It fits; that's why Korra can't master airbending and that's also why Aang hasn't appeared to her as a Spirit Guide, like Roku did for him. Amon has the same build as you'd expect from an adult Aang, and, if you watch his fight closely you'll see that even his FIGHTING STYLE is strikingly similar to what we've seen from Aang in the original series. Amon is AANG!
 * 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...
 * 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.
 * NO! Aang got so angry when The Last Airbender got released into theaters, that he gave up his own status as the Avatar! He decided to release his Energy Bending upon the world for being sellouts!
 * Perhaps when Aang
 * 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.
 * 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.

Amon is the murderer of Mako and Bolin's parents
A mere toady in the triple threat triad, hungry for advancement, Amon eventually decided that the best way to end up on top of an organization like that was simply to build one of his own and destroy the other... and what better to build sympathy than a sob story?

Amon will know how to bend all four elements or know how to energybend
It'll turn out he is an dependent from the time before the avatar.
 * 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 as of "The Revelation" Amon makes a large show of explaining his past and background,

Amon will eventually be revealed in the season 1 or 2 finale as a new and rival Avatar
Due to the events of the past 170 years with the near extermination of one of the four nations, the brutal 100 year war, the (temporary) death of the moon, the whole energybending thing, and now Technology and industry spreading, as well as knowledge and awareness of the spirit world slowly vanishing, the Spirit world is thrown into utter chaos and anarchy, and due to the Avatar being the "spirit of the planet" and innately linked with the spirit world, this role is somehow split. In this confusion a new avatar is created by the spirits in a desperate attempt to bring back order, only for him to decide to bring this order by eliminating the spirit world altogether, starting with the benders.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Amon During the Rally
In "The Revelation"  The Revelation was just a way of sowing fear while he prepares his real plan...
 * 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
 * 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  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
 * His whole speech about is clearly bunk; surely he's already got a Zero-Percent 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?
 * 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 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.

Amon made a Deal with the Devil.
He claims that the spirits granted him The power actually came from some malevolent spirit who made a pact with Amon to destroy the balance between the living world and the spirit world so badly so that the barriers would break and it could break through. In the final battle this spirit will possess Among, making him go One-Winged Angel on Korra. And this spirit is...Koh of course.
 * 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 . 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.
 * 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...

Amon's mask covers up a face he acquired in the Spirit World...Aang's
Amon's "revelation" came from Koh the Face Stealer, patron saint of Malevolent Masked Men, who managed to finally get Aang in his clutches once Aang passed away. (And probably tried, with Kuruk, to rescue Kuruk's wife Ummi from Koh's clutches) Koh elected to gift Amon with because no matter the incarnation, he hates the Avatar. This is why Korra finds airbending so difficult. Her immediate airbender incarnation, Aang, is cut off from her, and being forcibly channeled via Koh's mediumship into Amon.

Who Amon is doesn't matter
I'm guessing that the writers will took the same direction as V for Vendetta. Amon is a symbol, and nothing more. There could even be more than one Amon. Just like in the actual V for Vendetta (minor spoilers),  We are going to know a little about Amon, but it won't be much of a shock and more like: "ooh, yeah that makes sense." The man behind the mask doesn't matter, he's just a symbol. He has no secret motive, he has a face that no one will recognize, while he might given a few lies, his character remain the same.

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."

There is a spiritual connection between Amon and Korra
Whether it's all related to the Avatar spirit or not, there will be some sort of spiritual connection between Amon and Korra.

Amon's identity will be willfully obfuscated by Steve Blum being Cast as a Mask
And the audible difference of his Secret Identity's voice artist will be lampshaded as a result of careful practice disguising his voice, which puts many of the supposedly less plausible theories below back in play. In addition, Blum will perform tertiary characters and crowd walla-walla both for utility and in a calculated effort to defeat our attempts to Narrow It Down To The Guy We Recognize.

Amon is descended from Sokka and Suki.
Sokka and Suki are the only non-benders of Team Avatar, with Suki as late add-on who nonetheless saved Sokka and Toph during the final battle. It is entirely likely that their contributions to the final battle was ignored in favour of Aang's fight with Ozai and Zuko and Katara's fight with Azula. We also know that Ty Lee ended up joining the Kyoshi Warriors after teaching them her chi-blocking techniques. Amon's minions, and possibly Oman himself, fight using that very technique. It adds up.
 * Which raises the possibility that Amon is Tenzin's first or second cousin. Scary.

Amon is the son of a Kyoshi Warrior.
That's how the Equalists learned chi-blocking: his mom taught him, and he taught them. The "everyone wears masks" thing is a carryover from the Kyoshi Warrior's facepaint.

Amon is a descendant of Ursa.
We're all wondering what happened to Zuko's mom. Is Amon the living answer to that question? Ursa was, likelier than not, alive at the time of Zuko's infamous line of questioning. Maybe she started another family, or was pregnant by Ozai at the time of her exile, and her son, grandson, or great-grandson learned of her noble fire nation lineage, becomimg determined to return the fire nation to sovereignity and bear the title of Phoenix King by any means necessary, whether bender or not. The symbol on his mask is, after all, a rising sun...

Amon is Azula's descendant
So far, the character voiced by Dante Basco hasn't been revealed, and Word of God said that he has a connection to Zuko. My guess is that either:
 * 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.

Amon is a later descendant of Ozai.
After having his bending powers taken away and being thrown into prison, Ozai either escaped or had a love affair with a female prison guard. (or possibly both) He sired a third child, Amon, who grew up believing that both firebending power and a royal life were taken away from him by the Avatar. As such, he vowed to get rid of not only the Avatar, but all benders in general, as revenge.

Amon is Ozai!
He convinced Zuko to let him help in the search for Ursa, and then used the opportunity to escape. He then fled to Republic City and took advantage of growing anti-bender sentiment to start a revolt. He did this as either a plan to get revenge on the Avatar, or as a plan to restore his rule. (those last two PotHoles are interchangeable, btw)
 * 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.
 * 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.

Amon is a Legacy Character
To contrast from Ozai, at least.

Amon will be the Evil Counterpart to Ozai
Ozai was inactive throughout much of the first series; Amon will be far more hands-on. Ozai was a Complete Monster that tried to be a good father; Amon will be a Frollo-esque Complete Monster, with Alternative Character Interpretation to give him reasons (but not excuses) for his atrocities. Ozai was frighteningly powerful; Amon will be disturbingly threatening, outmatching Azula and Combustion Man for Avatar's default Hero-Killer. Ozai was saddled a Fate Worse Than Death and achieved a Near Villain Victory; Amon will suffer through a Karmic Death or an And I Must Scream scenario. Ozai was manipulative, but only towards three people; Amon will be manipulative towards everyone in the main cast. Ozai attempted genocide; Amon will commit genocide. Ozai failed in killing a character; Amon will be responsible for several major deaths.
 * This doesn't make Amon the Evil Counterpart of Ozai, but Eviler Than Thou.
 * How can anybody be more eviler than Ozai?

Amon is Earth King Kuei
He's the most prominent non-bender, in terms of royalty. After having his throne usurped by benders, he's probably pretty sick of them. He may even have founded Republic City on the notion of being a place where benders were not accepted.
 * 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?

Amon is Tom Tom, Mai's Brother.
This would explain the lack of bending, since Mai's family doesn't bend. He would be about 72, so he'd still be active enough to fight for being sort of old.

Amon is Baby Hope from The Serpent's Pass.
Or she'll appear somewhere else. There's nothing to back this up, I just think it'd be kind of awesome.
 * 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.

Amon is Lee from Zuko Alone
That little kid who gave him the knife back when he found out Zuko's real identity? Being lied to and let down like that has made him bitter and now he's grown up into Amon! Also, his town was being bullied by that one earthbender. No wonder he now hates them so much. Benders never did anything good in his life.

Amon was a pupil of Aang
Following the war, Aang possibly took in students to teach them the ways of peace he followed so that they could rebuild the world as he had envisioned when he was gone. Amon was his most promising student and a close ally. Amon, a non-bender, learned everything Aang had to teach him and wanted to be Aang's successor to lead the new world. However, Amon was hit by a one-two punch:
 * 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.

Amon murdered Aang, which is why everyone is so scared of letting Korra near Republic City
Building on my above guess, I guess that Aang was assassinated by Amon, and this is known by Tenzin, the Order of the White Lotus, and by Chief Beifong. Aang likely knew he was being hunted by Amon at some point before his death, and tasked the Order into protecting the next Avatar when he died (which was mentioned by one of them in the first episode) before he went to find Amon. This is why Korra is kept almost imprisoned in a fort at the south pole, why Chief Beifong is so furious to find out she is in Republic city, and why Tenzin tries to prevent her from staying. The only reason Tenzin does not relocate to the South Pole is not because he is needed in the city, but because he wishes to avenge his father.

Amon is Bumi, Aang's other Son.

 * 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?
 * On the other hand, there are a lot of people who say that Amon's  is a fares 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.
 * 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.

Amon is Bumi (or Kya's) son.
Due to him  and the fact that no one had done that aside from   and   this seems to be a rather solid guess.
 * Energybending was around before bending the elements, so it's unlikely that it's a specialized version of airbending.

Amon is Aang and Katara's fourth child.

 * 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...

Amon is Mako and Bolin's father
Amon was already prejudiced against benders, and he couldn't stand the idea of having two benders for children, so he abandoned them.
 * 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.

Amon wears a mask because he has no face.
He lost it to Koh somehow.
 * 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 the canonical motion comic "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.

Amon is Koh the Facestealer

 * Which may explain why all the Equalists wear masks.

Amon is V
Running off the other theories floating through here, this makes the most sense.

Amon is Doctor Doom.
Look at the mask and hood. The big revelation of the series will be that it's set in the Marvel Universe, and Benders are actually Mutants!
 * And Tenzin is Reed Richards!

The fandom will not hesitate to put Amon in leather pants
Hell, you could argue that half the WM Gs here are doing that already.

Amon's mask covers up a horribly burned face.
He was injured as a child, a young adult, or otherwise: this could explain his fondness for masks and his hatred of benders.
 * He got the scars from a waterbender.
 * Confirmed in Amon's own words in "The Revelation"....but the man could be lying...

Amon is female
It doesn't have a confirmed voice actor (yet), to joss it.
 * 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.

Amon is an Anti-Villain
Because we already had a Complete Monster Big Bad.

Amon will cross the Moral Event Horizon
Whatever it'll be, it'll cement him as an even worse monster than Ozai.
 * 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.

Amon's Moral Event Horizon will have to do with bending children
Its physically impossible to take bending away from people who aren't even born yet. Thus, when the next generation of bender's are born, Amon's true motives will come to light. And it'll all start with Tenzin's kids, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. All benders-AIRBENDERS at a young age, Amon'll kidnap them and will order that his men to keep Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Tenzin away while he...does his dirty work. They manage to arrive..in time to save Jinora. Ikki and Meelo are now scarred since Amon took away their gift. And thus, that'll solidify Amon as a Complete Monster.
 * 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.

Amon will be a Hero-Killer
Almost every other Avatar villain has, so he shouldn't be any different.

Amon is secretly a Bender, or a public supporter of them.
And one so recognizable that he has to wear a mask to keep this a secret from his followers. When we see Amon, even when he's hiding in a private place and surrounded only by the Equalists, (and his Lieutenant) he still wears his mask. Either he's like Hitler who gushed over the Aryan ideals without fulfilling a single one of them himself, or he wants to wipe out the majority of the Benders so he can set up a real Bending dictatorship where the few remaining Benders are so paranoid that they will be willing to follow his rule and control the ordinary population with an iron fist, and uses his anti-Bending followers as mere pawns who can be wiped out once the plan is complete. In the latter interpretation he's trying to play both sides against each other, using his public persona to condemn the Equalists and use them as an example what happens without strong Bender governance, and his secret persona to use these actions as a "proof" that the Benders want to enslave all the non-Benders.
 * 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.
 * Alternate theory: Amon is a bender, which is how he can energybend, but is merely using the equalist movement to further his own goals.

Amon is a Bender Defector From Decadence who has seen the seedier side of bender culture and wants to destroy it.
In this world, benders more than likely make up some kind of aristocracy, and more than likely make up the majority of the business magnates, politicians, royals, police, and military. Amon is a high ranking, but younger member of this aristocratic class who sees the injustices that currently afflict the modern four nations and wants to change the status quo. Realizing that changing it from the inside is impossible, he founds the Anti-Bender Revolt with his wealth and influence, and is drawing both bender elite and non-benders to his side.

Amon is Hasook.
Tying into the 'Amon is a Bender' therory, he left the fire ferrets not because he argued with Mako, but because he didn't want Korra (who he knew he would one day have to fight) to learn anything about him. If you need anymore proof, just look at both of their eyes. They both have that dead, soulless gaze.

Amon was a child of two bending parents but he himself couldn't bend.
Best Freudian Excuse for the Big Bad is to have his parents reject or even outright abandon him. This made Amon bitter and resentful towards all benders.
 * Just like Filch!

Amon had a bending sibling but could not bend himself.
Similar to the above theory. Amon had a Bender sibling who got all the praise from his parents and grew up resenting him or her.
 * Just like Petunia!

Amon will be "interested" in Korra.

 * Just because...
 * Interested?
 * Well if the fans are to be believed, he's already interested in a few people.

Amon will attempt to get Korra on his side.
History has demonstrated more then once that if you want to change the world, having the Avatar on your side is a good idea. Exhibit A: Kyoshi dealing with the Earth Kingdom revolts (OK, granted that was more like Kyoshi finding a middle ground, but still). Exhibit B: The Fire Nation getting beaten by Aang. As a result, Foe Yay between Korra and Amon will be inevitable.
 * 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.

Amon will use Korra to be rid of bending forever
Specifically, Amon will permit Korra to complete her realization as the Avatar, and for her to learn energybending by some means. At which point he will use her as a living weapon by some means, forcing her to produce a mass energybending field on a global scale to wipe bending out forever. Korra overcoming this will symbolize her mastering the spiritual side of bending.

Amon's long term goal is...
To create the world's first nuclear bomb, or something extremely similar in power. He's an evil genius who believes all benders think they're above non-benders. So, he wants to prove he can be more powerful than any bender...which is why he's trying to create the bomb. This also would explain why Aang died young--the villain tricked him into going into a small space, and set off a large explosion that killed him. It was a prototype he's trying to make more powerful.
 * Aang died young because of his decreased lifespan, thanks to his time in the iceberg.

Amon's just using the Equalist Movement for his own ends
His plan to rid the world of benders (either through genocide or legal means) is a front to allow himself to take it over unopposed. This will be revealed and he will reveal himself to either be an extremely powerful Bender himself or have some secret weapon he was planning to unleash once he's succeeded.
 * Why hello there Ghetsis!

Amon uses benders as a political scapegoat.
Basically, he found some way to convince large groups of non-benders that benders were the source for a lot of their problems. By giving the people a common enemy, it's easier for him to get them to gather under his power and command. He may not really harbor any hatred toward benders, and may even be a bender himself, but he took discrimination against benders that already existed and used it to his advantage.
 * Just like Hitler did with the Jews!

The Equalists take orders from Amon, and Amon takes orders from... Chief Beifong.
Amon is a fake persona, a plant, concocted by Lin Beifong to co-opt rising anti-bender sentiments and discredit the whole movement through violent acts.

Amon and his lieutenant will be expies of Lenin and Trotsky respectively.
Amon will be a cynical and ruthless, but ultimately pragmatic Big Bad who rallies support from the genuinely oppressed by offering them what the elite are unwilling to, but is ultimately interested in power above all else. He will be a political mastermind and just cool enough to avoid Complete Monster territory while also making enough genuinely good political points to inspire tons of pantsification. The lieutenant will be a genuinely idealistic Well-Intentioned Extremist Anti-Villain who carries his idealism to the point of fanaticism believing ends justify the means. Will be a tactical and strategic genius but not as good at playing internal politics. In the second season they will be joined by a paranoid, brutal and Axe Crazy Stalin expy who at first seems useful to them but ultimately takes power and destroys them in an Enemy Civil War to become the true Big Bad.
 * 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.

Amon was Ty Lee's son and he was raised and trained by Azula after she was murdered
She trained him for vengeance, schooling him in the art of being a cutthroat, ruthless mastermind to take down those who killed his family, honing the chi-blocking abilities of his mother, possibly with the help of Kyoshi warriors. However, when Amon discovered that his guardian and teacher was not only formerly the most powerful firebender in existence and responsible for having trained others in how to bend lightning (proliferating its knowledge throughout the world) but was additionally connected to why Ty Lee was killed - the firebender who attacked him was a bitter supporter of Ozai going after the easiest defector to track down and kill - he turned on Azula and killed her. Or so he thinks.

Amon's face is completely unharmed.
During the Revelation, Amon claims to have been disfigured by the Firebender that took his family's lives. Of course, this is an outright lie used to garner sympathy and to increase the hatred for benders. By wearing the mask and not removing it to prove the statement true, it will be used as a reveal later that a large chunk of his supposed backstory is false.

Amon is the son of a farmer like he claims.
More specifically, a certain  farmer. Word of God said. Years of being pushed around by benders during the war and reconstruction have made him and his family resentful to all benders, an endless source of grief to their simple farming lifestyle.
 * 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.
 * seems to point to "no"... probably.

Amon runs on lies, and the entire Revelation was staged.
In the original Avatar series, most of the villains tried to succeed by using force. Amon contrasts that by purely messing with people's brains to get his way. Amon captured Bolin because he knew it would draw in Korra, as it's already been heavily publicised in Republic City that they're on a Pro-Bending team together. Without letting Bolin in on anything, Amon paid the bending criminals to pretend that they were in the same situation as Bolin. Then Amon "demonstrated" his energybending in front of Korra on the criminals, intentionally putting Bolin last in line so Korra wouldn't stop the thing until she saw his "power". In reality, he has no power. But since Korra thinks he does, he will no longer be targeted head-on by any benders. Why wouldn't an anti-bender want to take advantage of the concept of energybending? It's a bender's worst enemy. And since The Avatar is the only one who formerly grasped energybending, the prospect of someone else doing it would probably get to Korra's head. He probably made up his backstory to get sympathy as well. Ever notice how similar it was to Mako's backstory? Amon builds himself up by claiming he is not only powerful, but sensible. Eventually, when he is actually confronted by Korra one-on-one with nowhere to run, he'll be exposed for the lying little weakling he is, full with his mask flying off to reveal a totally unharmed face.
 * 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.

Amon's story is at least 90% true.
While he might be wrong on a couple things, due to being blinded by his Fantastic Racism and/or his aspirations of messiah-ness, Amon is not actively trying to lie about his past or the nature of his powers.

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.

Amon is an Airbender.
It is possible a small number of Airbenders survived the Fire Nation genocide and hid themselves away, and Amon could have been descended from them. He's hiding what he is for his own nefarious reasons, whether he hates bending or not. Also, it would be pretty sweet to have an evil Airbender on the show.
 * Warning: Possible massive spoiler.
 * The character in that pic looks remarkably like an older version of . Now, which character would have and look like an older, but ? Even the nose shape and the eye colour match . 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.
 * Sorry, but this is totally Jossed.
 * Or he could be a time traveling Meelo or even Pema's and Tenzin's 4th child from the futrue.
 * Or, if that
 * Or, my personal headcanon, using flashback, 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.
 * Or, my personal headcanon, using flashback, 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.

Amon doesn't make bending powers disappear, rather, he absorbs them.
He took scattered anti-bending sentiment that already existed and created a movement. He makes it appear that he can make bending powers disappear so his followers will bring him benders he can depower. However, what he's really doing is absorbing the bending powers and taking them for himself. He hopes to absorb so much bending power that he will become ridiculously powerful. He still believes in his own cause, but sees himself as an enforcer, that he can have bending powers because he won't (in his eyes) abuse them for his own gain. So he doesn't see himself as a hypocrite. He hopes to accumulate enough bending power to take over the nation, and then the world.
 * Wow, that is a terrifying thought. Seconding this theory.

Amon is "Protester", the angry guy with the megaphone.
What better disguise than a wimpy Butt Monkey?
 * 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.

Amon was given Energybending by Aang
Lets be perfectly honest here, Aang may have had shades of heroic idiocy, but he probably realized at some point that Airbenders would not be able to reestablish themselves purely through the. . . efforts. . . of him and his direct descendants. Energybending can take away one's bending ability, so it may very well be able to give a nonbender bending abilities. Theory: Aang initially tried to resurrect the Air nomads by finding people of a compatible mentality and gifting them the potential for Airbending. Amon was initially one of his students and one of the most promising. So promising, in fact, that before Tenzin proved himself as a capable Airbending master, Aang gifted Amon the ability to spiritbend, so that he could continue recruiting airbenders in the event of Aang's death. However, they perhaps had a severe falling-out (possibly fueled by Tenzin coming into his own, and Aang beginning to favor him rather than Amon) and Amon struck out on his own. There is some possible support for this in episode 3; when Katara reports to Tenzin about Amon taking away someone's bending, he hesitates and gives the classic "shifty eyes" look before saying that only the Avatar was capable of such a thing.

Amon was a disciple of Aang's, and Aang taught him energybending so he could act a safety valve against powerful benders.
In the end of "The Revelation", Tenzin clearly states that previously only the Avatar has been able to energybend. So, if we are to accept that Amon's energybending is the real deal and not fakery, who else could've taught him that but Aang himself? Based on his experience in the war against Fire Nation, Aang realized that powerful benders could do tremendous damage to the world. Also, he suspected that even the Avatar could possibly go corrupt abuse his/her power. So he decided that there should be a force in the world that could counter power-hungry benders. He sought out a non-bender disciple who he knew was wary of benders, and trained him to energybend, so that this disciple could stop any powerful bender, possibly even the next Avatar, from abusing his powers. This disciple was Amon. However, Aang didn't realize the extent of hatred Amon has for benders, or that he might use what he has learned to actively fight against all benders, not just the corrupt ones.

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.

Amon isn't actually human
In reality, Amon is a spirit from the spirit world. It may explain his energybending, and the reason he wants to take away the benders powers is simply because he doesn't want them meddling in the spirit world any longer.

Amon is a descendant of Cabbage Guy
Get ready, this is a long one. Alright, in the episode "The Revelation" Amon states that his face was burned and his family killed when his father was unable to pay his debts. This implies that he came from a poor family. What i see is Cabbage guy never really recovering from having his harvests destroyed multiple times, his already failing cabbage business was barely enough to make ends meet, so when the Gaang and their pursuers continually destroy his pitiful harvest it's really bad news for the elderly man trying to feed his family. So, some years later, the old man's son has taken over the farm, he does not share his father's passion for cabbages so he is even less successful at raising crops, quickly spiraling into the depths of poverty, he takes out a loan from the Triple Threat Triad. Someway or another the money is squandered and he is unable to make due on his payments, the Triad sends out a squad to take the money by force. But there'snothing to take. So, what's a new and not yet respected gang to do when they risk losing credibility, they have to send a message, somehow let everyone know they aren't to be messed with. So they torch the place, burn it to the ground and kill the farmer and his family. making them a force to be reckoned with. What they didn't know, was that the farmers son survived, the grandson of Cabbage guy, witnessing a group of three benders destroy his home and family. His name is Amon, and he will destroy all benders.
 * 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.

Amon is Tarrlok
He's trying to create unrest to further his own political ambitions to become the sole leader of the United Republic of Nations with Korra as his Unwitting Pawn and be the end of Book Two, he'll have taken over the council and start working on his next goal: turning himself into the Avatar using Mad Science and Magitek. Korra and her Krew will have to go on the run and gather allies from the Four Nations to fight him.
 * Seemingly Jossed by "The Voice in the Night". Tarrlok has the brown skin and blue eyes of the Water Tribe, whereas Amon is shown to have the yellow eyes and light skin common to Fire Nationers. Of course there's still the possibility that Tarrlok is a Master of Disguise...
 * I'm guessing that wasn't Amon. Why didn't he want to take her bending away? He couldn't. Only Tarrlok could, and he had to be waiting on the shore for Korra so they send another guy in a mask. "Amon" didn't spare her to save the fight for later, he spared her because he couldn't take away her bending and killing her wouldn't be useful because Korra is useful to Tarrlok (she's a polarizing force and he obviously has big plans for her). He also "begged her not to do it"... not because it would endanger her, but because it could expose him too early.
 * But in the scene in episode 3 where Amon does take bending away from benders, he has the same eye and skin colour as in episode 4. So it couldn't have been Tarrlok then, either.
 * Completely Jossed in episode 9.

Amon really can't tell a joke even if he tried.
He really can't.

Amon is Aang's Evil Twin.
Aang actually had an identical twin brother, but for whatever reason, maybe because of Air Nomad traditions, the two were separated at an early age, so Aang never found out about him. When Avatar Roku died, the Avatar spirit entered the womb of Aang's mother, but it was confused at first, because there were two kids with the same DNA. The spirit chose Aang, but Amon, Aang's twin, received some residual Avatar energy as well. This energy explains why Amon has managed to live for almost 200 years, and why he can energybend. Now, when Amon says a firebender killed his family, he's twisting the truth a bit, because he can't reveal to the Equalists that he's an airbender. But the truth is even more horrible: Amon witnessed his entire civilization being destroyed by firebenders. That's why he hates benders so much, and feels that they are behind every atrocity in the history of the Avatar world. Now, it's possible Amon's face was indeed burned by a firebender during the attack against Air Nomads, but the main reason he hides it is because he can't let the Equalists see his Air Nomad tattoos. It's also possible his face wasn't burned, and he hides it also because people would recognize he looks exactly like the former Avatar.

Amon is Tenzin.
If the theory that Amon's energy bending is a fares, then he would have to learned to Energy Bend from Aang directly. That would leave either Aang's two remaining children or Tenzin. I believe his reason behind this is when Amon claims he wants to bring balance to world, what he really means is that he wants to even the population of ALL benders. Even after 75 years the Airbender population seems confined on a small island. When you watched Amon dodge, it wasn't simply side stepping, it looked similar to an Airbender maneuvering, only with less pivoting and spinning but skillfull none the less. Also at the end of "The Revelation" he acted kind of suspcious and shifty-eyed when Korra shared her fear of Amon's ability to energy bend.
 * 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?

Amon was chosen by Aang as a means of keeping the balance in Republic City.
Aang taught Amon energybending as a last resort in case the benders of Republic City became too corrupt. He seemed to be the correct choice, but was eventually wronged by some bending gang like the Triads and decided to use the power Aang gave him to make sure he would never be wronged again.

The firebender who attacked Amon's family was Mako and Bolin's father.
Note that Bolin was the only person  who wasn't a criminal...
 * Bolin was present in a Triad meeting. Amon would have no reason to assume him anything but a Triad enforcer.

There is more than one "Amon".
When your main identifying feature is a mask, it's no great feat to be in many places at once. "Amon" is actually a Collective Identity of two or more people who need each other's influence to build up the Equalist movement into a real political force, but both their methods and motivations are divergent. Only one Amon is capable of Energybending, and is the top dog compared to the other(s), and it was a different Amon who encountered Korra on the Memorial Island; after all, putting the only Energybender in the group to such great risk of falling into a trap, if Korra had been remotely devious enough for such deception, would have been incredibly poor planning. Hence why he had to present an excuse as to why he wouldn't strip his most dangerous enemy of her Bending then and there.

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.

The firebender who killed Mako's and Bolin's father is...
A. the firebender who allegedly killed Amon's parents. 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.

Amon is Sokka
Sokka has been been known to be resentful of benders (see Sokka's Master in Book 3), and is one of only a few people who witnessed Aang energybend. He is "confirmed" dead, but Sokka is certainly intelligent enough to figure out how to fake his death. It might also give an extra reason as to why he doesn't immediately go after Korra. It also explains why he lets the other Equalists do most of the heavy lifting, because running around doing a lot of fighting isn't a great idea when you're eighty or so.
 * 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?

Amon is Starscream
I don't know how he got to this world, or how he got to human size (maybe the Benders are just giants compared to Earthlings), but Amon is really Starscream. His "energy bending" is actually "energon bending" and he is actually harvesting the energon-rich power from humans to survive on his own since cutting ties with Megatron. The clincher, however, is the voice: listen to Amon and Starscream and tell me that there's no connection between the two!

The Spirit(s) helping Amon
General guessing thread.
 * 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.

Amon is a Bloodbender and a chi-blocker
Those two abilities combined allow him to. Or he has a Bloodbender helping him behind the scenes (perhaps Tarrlok) and can only chi-block himself.

The Spirits didn't tell Amon how to de-bend to tear down the Benders, but as a convoluted method to Break the Haughty Korra and get her on track.
This would not be the first time that a Spirit entity has given an Avatar a swift kick in the ass to get them back on track; Koh the Face Stealer swiped the face of Kuruk's bride as punishment for his laissez-faire attitude towards his Avatar duties. And Amon will find out and be completely pissed that he's just a Cosmic Plaything.
 * 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.

Amon is the Anti-Avatar who knows the element Wu.
Korra is the avatar, so if Amon is the series' big bad, it would make sense. So say there was the traditional (I want to say Taoist) elements of China, with Nothingness: Wu. There is a pentagram analogy used to describe this and in the middle is energy bending, the Wu is accessed by the anti-avatar every so oftern, when he/she is renincarnated. Amon is the only a-avatar to unlock this as most do not know of thir existence. The Wu will force the end of the world because of the Artifical Enlightenment caused by Chi-less world of non-benders. The A As aren't necessarily bad, they just seek to end pain.

Amon will not be related to anyone, and will look like a normal man under the mask.
It would be a very effective commentary on everyone having equal capacity for good or for evil. And if Korra manages to learn Airbending and blow Amon's disguise away, she can show people the truth--no scars, no divine mission, simply one man with an obsessive vision and the ability to persuade followers. Which is how so many real revolutions got started.

Amon's spiritbending is different because he is not a bender
Aang touches two chakras while taking away someone's bending: Light, which signifies that all is one, including the elements, and Air, since he is an airbender. So the reason why Amon uses a different style to take away people's bending, is merely that he only has to touch the light chakra. Also, consider this: When Aang and Ozai matched spirits, we could see the glow for both of their native elements. The reason there is no glow for Amon's spiritbending is because he simply has no bending element to display. This could also mean that it is actually much simpler for non-benders to learn spiritbending (meaning Amon could teach it to his followers), since there is no way for a bender to resist.


 * 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.

Amon is related to Yakone, who has something to do with how Amon is now.
Yakone was a man who was mentioned to be a huge threat to Republic City before Aang stepped in and took care of him, but it hasn't been said what he exactly did. Yakone could have been one of the first Equalists who, instead of chi-blocking, held rallies and demanded non-benders to have equality to benders. The Benders on top see him as a threat as his followers become uncontrollable. Soon after his followers do something that nearly destroys Republic City, Yakone is held accountable and executed by Aang. His son, who had looked up to his father and was now the target of benders and non-benders who wanted nothing to do with him, disappears. Years later, Amon appears and promises to bring the benders down, saving the Avatar, who killed his father, for last.
 * 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.

Amon's Energy Bending will be his downfall
It's said that if one tries to Energy Bend someone else's life energy, their spirit must be unbendable, or they'll be destroyed. At present, Amon is totally sure of his own ideals and motivations, thus he's able to Energy Bend. In the end, Korra or someone will give him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, making him undergo a Villainous Breakdown and second guess his own ideals. He'll try to Energy Bend Korra, but his spirit is no longer unbendable, causing it to backfire and destroy him.
 * Amon wasn't keeping Avatar for last, he is simply terrified of Avatar.

When Amon attempts to de-bend Korra, her spiritual training will have advanced to the point where she is Unbendable, and Amon fails to de-bend her.
And will possibly get to see the consequences of failing to de-bend someone properly.
 * 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.

At some point, Amon will take over Shiro Shinobi's role as announcer on the "Previously On..." segments.
Based soley on his tendency to hijack radio broadcasts.
 * Possibly Episode 7 because Shiro was knocked out the episode prior?
 * Well not for episode 8, at least. Shiro is back.

Amon (directly or indirectly) bribed the referee to let the Wolf Bats blatantly cheat in the Pro Bending final.
Because breaking in on a fairly-won match wouldn't give him nearly as much propaganda for his speech. He's clearly not above dirty tricks to achieve his ends.
 * 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.

Amon requires a bender to be terrified in order to de-bend them.
Why did he give Lightning Bolt Zolt alone a chance to defeat him in single-combat? Because Amon needed to give the swaggering gangster a jolt of fear by kicking his ass. The other benders watching would in turn be terrified by Zolt's de-bending. Amon's terror campaign against benders is in part because whatever he does to them to stop their bending requires them to be filled with negative emotions. If benders, like Tahno, know that Amon can take away their bending with a touch, they'll be inclined to be afraid of Amon in a fight, playing into his hands.

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.

Zuko disfigured Amon's face.
Amon said his face was disfigured by a bender. One of the creators said he has a connection to Zuko. Therefore...
 * 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.

Amon is actually a firebender.
If he is actually energybending, this would explain how he has the affinity. Also, we know that he has the light skin and gold eyes of the Fire Nation. Maybe something happened in his past where he gained a hatred of all benders, and he wears the mask because he can't look at himself in the mirror.
 * 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.

Amon USED to be a bender.
Aang took his bending away in retaliation for a crime -- perhaps because he's secretly Yakone, which would explain why Korra mainly has those flashbacks in Amon's presence. Either way, when Aang took his bending away, he somehow inadvertently granted Amon the ability to spiritbend, which he now uses towards his own ends.
 * 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.

Amon uses energybending to block chakras.
There's a popular fan theory going around that Amon doesn't energybend like Aang did, but rather, blocks chakras. Others still maintain that Amon is an energybender. I think that both theories can be correct. Chakras have to be open to allow the flow of energy through the body. In theory, one could use energybending to block chakras. Certain chakras, or at least a certain combination of chakras, have to be at least partially open to allow bending. A lot of people have noticed that Aang and Amon use different hand positions when they take bending away, and have used that as evidence that they are using different techniques. However, it should be noted that bending styles can vary wildly within the same element. This is most obvious in the earthbending from the first show and the earthbending in the second show. Amon and Aang could've been using different styles of energybending to block chakras. The difference is that Aang blocked multiple chakras while Amon only blocked one. If a person who had their bending taken away went through enough meditation and concentrated hard enough, they might be able to get their bending back.
 * 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.

At some point, there will be a "Million Amons scene".
Party for the sake of Rule of Cool and the homage it makes, but perhaps also as a calculated effort by the Equalists to obscure Amon's true identity by claiming, "We are all Amon!".

Amon is the love child of Aang and Azula
Someone had to say it.
 * WHAT?!
 * What what? That would be amazing.

Amon is Pabu
I have no justification for this. But it's a possibility.
 * 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.

Amon's family wasn't killed by benders, but Amon himself.
Because they too were benders, which they kept hidden from him.
 * 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.

Amon is Asami's butler.
Because come on, it's always the butler.

Amon's identity will be discovered when Korra takes off his mask and heals most of his face with waterbending
And he will have a breakdown because a bender showed him true kindness.
 * 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.

In the end, Amon will lose his following when it's pointed out that he's become He Who Fights Monsters
He accuses Benders of oppressing and torturing non-Benders...and yet has launched terrorist attacks that harmed plenty of nonbenders in the process, and will probably get even worse as it goes on. When this is pointed out, in a suitable way, it'll cause his support to shatter, possibly coupled with a few other things, and cause him to have a Villainous Breakdown.
 * 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 is a robot built by .
Episode 7 reveals that  because he supports the cause. Maybe he is actually the driving force behind the cause. Amon is a robot he had built to act as a mouthpiece. There was no way he would risk his real life public image but he still wanted to start the Equalist movement. However, due to the Uncanny Valley effect, he wasn't able to give the robot a convincing face. Even if people did buy that he was a real person, they would be too put off by the robotic effect to rally behind him. (after all, the leader of a big movement has to be charismatic!) So Amon wears a mask and  made up the backstory about the bender who scarred his face to make "Amon" more sympathetic. The bender in the backstory was a firebender because a firebender killed  and it was something personal he added in.

Amon actually instigates one way or another for benders to commit crimes, one way or another
A running joke is that firebenders kill everyone's parents. Is it possible that Amon hires or somehow convinces them to do heinous things one way or another? It's possible that Amon needs to create a massive panic for his plans, and what better way than by using a figure that is already suspicious (the firebenders because of the war) and/or that he has a grudge on firebenders (because Amon's story is partially true?). In other words, Asami's mother's death was caused one way or another by Amon, and so was Mako and Bolin's parents' death. Basically, by making sure there's constant/frequent death or injury by benders, Amon can use people's feelings to support his cause.
 * 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.

Underneath the mask, Amon is an incredibly bizzare form of The Worm That Walks.
You remember The Nightmare Before Christmas and how Oogie Boogie was made out of bugs? Picture that with Amon, except replace the bugs with miniaturized Steve Blum characters.

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?

Amon has a plan to gain government power.
That way, it's easier for him to do what he wants, and to implement laws to disadvantage non-benders. Such laws would include making it illegal to use bending, forcing benders to only live in certain areas and go to certain places, making them wear things to indicate their bender status, preventing them from having children, and more.

Amon has plans for genocide.
Amon's ability to take bending away is impractical on a large scale. It should also be noted that even if a person is not a bender, they still have the ability to produce bender offspring. Katara is proof that two non-benders can have a bender child. Even if he can take bending away from someone, that doesn't necessarily take away their ability to produce bender children. So the only way to get rid of bending forever is to remove it from the gene pool...
 * 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.

Amon is planning on making a martyr of himself in the finale.
A Thanatos Gambit seems right up his alley.
 * Amon is Friend !

Amon is a former bender who lost his bending to Aang
In other words, Amon takes being butthurt and runs with it. Hear me out. Back when Aang was still alive, Amon was a young, up and coming bender. Probably exceedingly proud of his bending, and began to take on an attitude in the complete opposite of what he has now, bending supremacy. Drawing on another theory I heard, he may or may not have assaulted and killed Sokka, which was why Aang was so furious in Korra's flashback. Aang, being who he is, didn't kill Amon, but Energybent his bending away. This led Amon to become a bitter, broken man who looked into the art of Chi Blocking, and eventually perfected a form that permanently seals the chi pathways, staving off bending. (This is also saying Amon is NOT an Energybender). Once he became proficient, he turned his attitude towards anti-bending, and "equality" for all, and gathered followers that had similar sentiments. In other words, Amon's entire character now is simply the result of a vendetta against Aang and bender's by proxy.

Amon will achieve his goals, but in the form of being a Stealth Mentor to Korra
Other theories will establish that he is a very spiritual person given he has obtained some sort of energybending and was able to get it by entering the Spirit World. His goals of equality and peace for everyone are legit, but knows the Avatar has to be involved, and needs to be matured to achieve it. What does he do? Give Korra a reason to be more spiritual in the bending arts, assume the role as a Water Avatar more than a hot-headed female, and eventually finish it by indirectly aiding her access to the Spirit World and giving her knowledge of energybending to assure the job is finished. It was the payment he had to make to obtain the ability to energybend.

Amon is Secretly Dying
He was given a fatal injury prior to the series, or gave up a good chunk of life energy to obtain energybending. It just hasn't shown yet or is hiding it.
 * Alternatively, he uses energybending to stay alive by stealing other peoples' energy.

Amon is Spike
See the "Amon is Starscream", above, for why. Spike somehow survived the end of the series and was transported to the Avatarverse, possibly rendering him immortal in the process so that he could not be Driven to Suicide. Separated from the entire world he used to know, he decided to make it his world by removing bending and advancing technology until it's a perfect recreation of the world of Cowboy Bebop. The final stage of his plan includes him staging the disaster in the backstory of Cowboy Bebop. What? We know Bryke are fans.
 * 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.

Amon is Zuko's son.
He grew up resenting his father (runs in the family), had plenty of opportunities to talk to Ozai about Energybending, and eventually became estranged from his family or banished when his anti-bending sentiments were revealed. He wants the benders to be destroyed so he can take control of the Fire Nation and restore it to its former glory of the previous war. (Seriously, Does This Remind You of Anything?) Anyway, he made up his backstory as a way of saying firebending killed his father. He either got his power from Koh or learned it from talking with Ozai, but personally hates the Avatar for ending the war and will stop at nothing to destroy the bending population under the guise of equality.

Underneath Amon's mask...
...Is another mask.

Korra is the only one who can kill Amon and set him free
Those words apply to Korra as well.

Amon is actually the child of a character we saw from the original series who was killed by a firebender.
Amon is actually the son of the leaf that Aang burned when he first learns firebending. After watching its father die at the hands of a firebender, the leaf swore revenge on benders everywhere.

Amon is Zuko.
We know that even extremely aged individuals can be extremely strong, both physically and in bending, as shown with King Bumi. Amon says a fire bender disfigured his face and destroyed his family. Zuko's father disfigured his face, got rid of his mother, messed up his sister... if that isn't the destruction of a family, I don't know what is. And it wouldn't be the first time Zuko has put on a mask to step outside the law. Zuko and Aang founded the city together to be a place where benders and non-benders could live in peace. But that isn't whats been happening. Unable to use his position as Fire Lord to solve anything, he steps down so he can makes strides to remove the classism inherent in the system. He doesn't actually want to destroy bending, he wants to scare benders straight. So far he has only done permanent harm to criminals and jerkwads. Everyone else has just been shocked into submission. Add to this that technological advancement is typically a Fire Nation trait, and there could be a case for this theory.
 * 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).

Amon is Hope's Cousin Once Removed
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.

Amon is Tarrlok
How is it that everything Amon does gives Tarrlok more power? And given the fact that Tarrlok  and seems to be intentionally provoking people into joining the Equalists, it makes sense that Amon may actually be Tarrlok. As far as I recall, Tarrlok and Amon have never been shown at the same time.
 * Two problems I can think of 1) Amon and Tarrlok have different eyes and 2)
 * As noted above, this is jossed in episode 9.

Amon will

 * This is....Jossed? In Out of the Past,

Amon and Tarrlok got their special powers from the same source.
Both men, using secret knowledge, opposed to one another yet each trying to corrupt Republic City in some fashion. Amon claims his ability came from the spirits opposed to the old Avatar. There is a spirit with a personal beef against Avatar Aang for a grave insult, a spirit who can dispense secret knowledge to willing agents: Wan Shi Tong.

Amon actually started the Equalist movement to oppose Yakhone.
Judging from the flashbacks and Tarrlok's supposed relation to him, Yakhone was possibly an extremely powerful and fanatical bending supremacist. Obviously this would be more than enough justification for Aang and his friends to try and stop him. Amon still remembers this time, and somehow has knowledge that Yakhone or one of his followers has returned. Knowing that Yakhone is a bending supremacist, he formed the Equalists as a direct counter to him, as well as a method of flushing him out.

Amon will have a Tear Jerker death that Korra will cry to.
Tarrlok will gleefully torture and leave Amon to die, humiliating him. Korra will explode in tears, trying to save Amon, but he stops her, suggesting she be the new figure non-benders to look up to and achieve peace. Korra takes up this responsibility to acknowledge Amon as someone who wanted to obtain equality for good purposes and shouldn't be remembered as a villain.

Amon is the result of failed Energybending.
Aang was taught how to use energybending through an energybending transference technique used by the lion turtle. Aang is cautioned against having a weak spirit when using the technique, or else he would be infected by the spirit of the one he used it upon and could even be killed. What if the infection works both ways? Perhaps Aang used this technique on the man who would become Amon, and the technique backfired- transferring the ability to energybend to Amon and proving his claims that the Avatar failed. Aang is dead by the beginning of the series, after all, and there's nothing to say it was from old age...

Amon is/was a wannabe Air Nomad or Air Acolyte.
He's not a bender, of course, but growing up he was fascinated by Air Nomad culture and spirituality and studied it. He really has no desire to take everyone's bending away, but the bending of those who abuse their power (Lightning Bolt Zolt and Tahno, for example). Air Nomad culture emphasizes being kind to all creatures, and the abuses of bending we see in both ATLA and TLOK would be HEAVILY frowned upon by Air Nomads. Also, it's unlikely that any Air Nomad in Aang's time would have approved of pro-bending. This is why all of Amon's victims are Asshole Victims, and why he doesn't simply kill them. His study led him to the Spirit World, where a spirit saw fit to give him the gift of energy bending. Alternatively, he was never given the ability to Energybend, but it was after talking to a spirit that made him realize that the world was out of balance due to benders abusing their ability to bend. Of course, he was already prejudiced against Firebenders, and simply expanded his prejudice to waterbenders and earth benders. He never planned on taking Korra's bending away, because why would he blame the Avatar when the previous one had likely inspired him?! But then Korra came to Republic City and on her first day destroyed several buildings, and began pro-bending, which would of course rub Amon the wrong way because to him, even the freaking Avatar is abusing her bending! It explains why Amon hasn't (been shown to have) hated Tenzin or his Airbender kids, and Tenzin being the voice of reason helps.
 * 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.

Amon is Yakone's son.
And Yakone was the firebender that killed his family. But, not in the way we've been thinking. Amon's family was killed in both the physical and philosophical sense - his father was the only bender, having taken a non-bender wife and having a non-bending son. Driven into a sense of superiority over his family, Yakone often berated and otherwise mistreated them, and Amon received his share of abuse. This culminates into a horrid night when Amon's mother dies protecting him from his father, and his father, blaming Amon for the death, burns his face.
 * Jossed. Yakone was a bloodbender.

Amon is Professor Zei
The last time we saw the professor, he was trapped in a library with Wan Shi Tong. Considering the professors attitude regarding knowledge, he and Wan Shi Tong probably saw each other as kindred spirits. Wan Shi Tong hates mortal wars with a vengeance, and, considering his experiences with benders in At LA, its not entirely impossible that he considers benders the main source of all war. Over the past 70 years, he has been indoctrinating and training professor Zei. The library has confirmed literature on lion-turtles, so its possible that there was also information on spirit-bending.

Amon is an Eldritch Abomination
Servants, I am the night.

If Amon is Tarrlok, he is using bloodbending + chi blocking to debend benders. Blood bending may be another form of chi blocking
Think about it, healing in Waterbending is all about using water as a catalyst to move chi across the energy paths in the body to the affected area for healing. Which means waterbenders are chi manipulators because they use water's property to store and transfer energy by flowing. Bloodbenders by blocking the flow of water in the body, also block the flow of chi making it impossible for their opponents to bend against them. Now using a combination of bloodbending and chi blocking, this could be used for very destructive purposes. Amon could block off or destroy the same chi paths and completely stop the flow of energy through the chakras, making it impossible to bend. This also means the risks of Energybending can be avoided and it's possibly why healers cannot help them - the chi paths are too damaged or blocked for their healing to work. It also explains why being debended makes the victims so weak and drained - there is very little chi flowing through their limbs.

Amon and Tarrlok are the same person with split personality disorder
An extension of the 'Amon is Tarrlok' WMG. Tarrlok obviously has SOME kind of problem with Amon, yet he's just as bad. Them being the same person is a possibility, but in episode 8 when Korra mentioned Amon Tarrlok's expression leads me to believe that he isn't him, at least willingly. They are a lot alike, yet entirely different, if they're not brothers, I'd vote on this one.
 * Jossed, since episode 9 shows both of them at the same time.

Amon is Tarrlok's brother and both are sons of Yakhone
What else is wilder than guessing that Tarrlok is Amon? One possibility is that they're both working together to destabilize the city by pushing the bender-non bender tensions back and forth. Or Tarrlok fanatically supports bending while Amon wants to oppress it -- because it started out of extreme sibling rivalry. Tarrlok probably harassed his non-bender sibling enough to give him a full fledged hatred and vendetta for all bending.
 * Backing this is in "When Extremes Meet",Korra pushes Tarrlok's Berserk Button by accusing him of being just like Amon, suggesting sibling rivalry.

== Aang is trying to tell Korra that Tarrlock is Yakhone's son and that Amon being Tarrlock allows to play on both bender and non-bender sides and destabilize the whole city and destroy Aang's vision and work. == This guess is nothing short of Fridge Brilliance if it's confirmed. This guy is playing a double agent. As a bender, he is Tarrlock and he is increasingly going against non-benders by cutting down their rights more and more, imposing curfews and sanctions. He's stirring their anger. Then in the non-bender camp, he plays Amon, leading the Equalists, using the city's moves to wage war against benders and getting them to retaliate and using Energybending to strip benders of their fire power. It is precisely by the fact Tarrlock is a waterbender that he is able to ward off suspicion against himself - because everyone thinks Amon is a non-bender by default. His ultimate plan is to create a huge war in Republic city that utterly destroys it in the process, taking his revenge on the Avatar by doing so. This also allows him to both get rid of bending and maybe for added sadism, oppress non-benders at the other end.
 * Also it is the icing on his cake for his huge Xanatos Gambit. He will win in any case regardless of what is 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.

Tarrlok is Amon. Or at the very least he's hand and glove with the Equalists
Tarrlok has a strong resemblance to the man (maybe Yakhone) in Korra's flashbacks who faced the wrath of a very angry Avatar Aang, so they maybe related. Tarrlock and Amon have not been seen together so far. Somehow Tarrlock had intelligence about the location of one of the Equalists' training camps and for some reason he did not use Chief Bei Fong's assistance. Also in episode 4 he pretty much vanished and Korra was alone at Aang's statue in the night. The police backup he promised never came and probably was never there at all. Where was Tarrlock when Amon and his mooks appeared virtually out of nowhere. Also he has a strong motive for not cancelling the pro-bending finals - he looked like he was just waiting for Korra and Lin to barge in and protest, specifically Lin. The only motive that can be plausible is that it's a perfect opportunity to let the world know about the Equalists' ability to Curb Stomp even the powerful Metalbending police. Clearly the match was rigged to allow the Wolfbats to win - because Amon wanted to save Korra and co. for last. The Wolfbats aren't that great without their cheating and would be an easy target for Amon to take down and tell the city how even the best benders aren't a match for him.

We understand that the equalists could disguise themselves in the audience. But Amon? If his backstory is true, he couldn't hide in the audience wearing that mask. Which means he somehow he got special access which bypassed the audience and the entry queues (read VIP access). Tarrlock's skin tone is similar to Amon's. He claims he was granted Energybending by the spirits and if you've seen ATLA, the spirit world is easily accessible in the North Pole. And to cap it all off, the description of Episode 7 says that Korra suspects an insider is working for the Equalists and she's going to be playing detective.
 * His whole plan of forcing Korra into his task force was probably to see how scared she was. If he is Amon then he can just use that to play mind games on her. Energybending is possible if the opponent's spirit is weakened for any reason...so it makes a good plan to save Korra for last, when she'd be at her weakest.
 * Alternately, Hasook is Amon.
 * But Amon and Tarrlok don't have the same skin tone.
 * Not sure about that. They are both dark skinned.
 * Amon is not dark skinned, he has the lighter skin tone (see how Amon's hand is clearly lighter than Korra's skin in the linked pic, and Korra has the same skin tone as Tarrlok) and the golden eyes of a Fire Nationer, whereas Tarrlok has the darker skin and blue eyes of the Water Tribe. For Tarrlok to be Amon, he would either have to have some kind of power of visual illusion or metamorphosis, or he would have to be using make-up and contact lenses (which probably don't even exist in the Avatar world) to change his appearance. Not to mention that their voices are completely different too.
 * He's playing an absolutely incredible Xanatos Gambit. He's got Lin out of the way, and manipulated Saikhan on his side. Now he controls the police. And with Sato's capture, the city's greatest bastion of industry has fallen as well. It doesn't matter what the outcome is, it's always working in his favor.
 * Now it's episode 8, look at Tarrlock's eyes and his tone of voice. The color is the same, the timbre sounds almost exactly like Amon's as it gets deeper. Pretty sure Tarrlock is Yakhone's son, as both the villain in Korra's flashbacks and Tarrlock can bloodbend, not to mention the strong resemblance between them. And what about the fact that Tarrlock arrests Korra's friends right after they've taken down some Equalists. He and Amon are both at it trying to break Korra down psychologically. Comparing him to Amon pressed his Berserk Button. And his statement that "There are a lot of things you don't know about me." At the very least they have to be related.
 * This also gives Amon a good motive for wanting to destroy Korra and a better one to take over Republic City. His anger against bending is directly related to his anger against the whole Gaang. Only revenge could be powerful enough to justify it. How? Aang probably Energybended Yakhone to stop his bloodbending. He must have then spent the rest of his life trying to figure out Energybending and Chi blocking and taught it to his son. In revenge Amon wants to wipe out bending. Now he has Korra's friends, and he wants to take over Republic City, which was Aang's dream for the future of a balanced world, basically trying to destroy everything that the Avatar has striven for - the bending arts, Republic City, Balance, even friends and loved ones and finally, Korra herself.
 * And now he's trying to get Korra out of the city. With Korra out of the way, his next target will be Tenzin and the others. And whether she escapes him or not, it's going to help him declare the Avatar and probably Tenzin too, as a criminal and an enemy of the city, increasing opposition against her from benders, non-benders and Equalists.
 * And besides, if you're thinking how being a Waterbender he can lead an Equalist movement, well, Tarrlock has shown that he can go very low to do anything to win.
 * What if they're one and the same and everything is just a power play to put him in control of everything?
 * It's possible that he's Amon but has no intention of allowing the Equalists to succeed. He's been manipulating the press into portraying him as the hero in the fight against the equalists, so when Amon goes down, who do you think gets the credit? He's waiting to take Korra down at an opportune moment to make the Equalists seem like an even bigger threat so he can ride in, save the day by ordering his fanatical followers into a trap (Possibly employing a decoy Amon to dispose of to complete the illusion) and ride the credit to his real objective. The reason he wants Korra on his task force is so he can build her up as an even bigger hero and ensure that she's in the right place to be showily taken down when the time comes. What's his final objective? Not sure, probably world domination. With that kind of hero credit he might be able to completely dissolve the council, leaving it's former position entirely under his control (Especially after the fight against the Equalists "Proved" that his extreme measures worked.) since the Council appears to have some level of control over the rest of the world this puts him in a very good position to bring the world under his rule by political scheming. Or, he might use the Equalists as an excuse to wipe out all non benders and purify the population. He already seems to have a fairly low opinion of them at the least given his curfew and Mc Carthyan law banning association with the Equalists.
 * Jossed. Tarrlok gets depowered and captured by Amon in episode 9.

Amon will only be defeated in a head on battle to the death in the finale
Everything that's happening in the last 8 episodes is working to his advantage. With weak links in his Xanatos Roulette out of the question, the only way he can be defeated is head on in battle by a stronger opponent.

Amon will team up with Korra to bring Tarrlok down
The events of "When Extremes Meet" have not only upgraded Tarrlok into a second Big Bad, he's a BIGGER Bad than Amon. Think about it: while Amon has been pretty ruthless in his methods so far, he leaves Benders alone after robbing them of their bending. Once he takes it away, they're non-benders, he has no issue with them anymore. Tarrlok, by contrast, is not only abusing and oppressing non-benders, he's also manipulating benders into being exactly what Amon says they are, abusing their bending to take political control of Republic City. Add to that his political machinations and he's objectively a MUCH bigger threat. This will lead to an Enemy Mine situation where Korra and Amon actually put aside their differences temporarily to bring Tarrlok down. They will not win sympathy from each other at all: Korra will remain as opposed to Amon as ever and Amon will gain no sympathy for benders. However, they will agree that a world where they're the only ones at each other's throats is preferable to one where Tarrlok succeeds. I theorize that Amon is the one who will offer the temporary alliance, and Korra will accept out of desperation. After all, she got dragged out of Republic City by Tarrlok, and he'll probably be in full control by the time she returns. This is could also lead to Korra actually winning some Equalists to her side(it could lead to a reconciliation between Asami and Hiroshi Sato, for example).
 * Jossed. Amon didn't even need Korra's help.

Amon discovered how to become a bender.
Remember in the first series, the Lion Turtle basically stated that energybending is the first, the most raw, basic form of bending. However, the very knowledge, let alone the technique, has long been lost. Amon, with his face scarred, rarely went outside, so he did a lot of studying. He translated some ancient manuscripts, possibly written on stone, and came across a huge realization: anyone can become a bender if they use the right spiritual techniques, using meditation and opening the right chakras the right way. However, when that happens, they become an energybender, and it takes more work to bend an element. Amon received a sign from a spirit that he's supposed to help make the world a more equal place, but he misunderstood the message: the spirit wanted him to share the newfound knowledge and allow more people to enjoy and connect with bending. But Amon knew of all the benders who abused their powers and thought the spirit wanted him to make the world a more equal place by taking away the powers.

Amon is one of Sokka's children.
Sokka and Suki are both heroes of the hundred year war. but unlike the Aang,Toph, Kattara and Zuko neither of them seems to respected or honored. Throughout all of Avater the last air bender Sokka is belittled seen as useless and mocked for not being a bender. It makes sense that a child of theirs would understand that their actions saved just as many if not more than what Aang did. Sokka is able to find the humor in his suffering but his child wouldn't see it that way. To him it's just a sign that those with the power to bend will never recognize the greatness of those who don't have bending.
 * 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.

Amon is telling the truth about who he is... to the best of his knowledge.
What he doesn't realize is that the firebender that "extorted" his family was actually just a normal tax collector. His father was a Fire Nation supremacist who refused, even decades later, to accept the authority of Fire Lord Zuko. Eventually the police came to arrest him for tax evasion and things got really out of hand. Amon was so young at the time that he completely misinterpreted the situation.

Amon is a mutant non-bender, like Combustion Man was a mutant firebender.
That's why the writers had Sokka go on that extended speech about how Yakone's impossible bloodbending could exist. It's setting up the information in the viewer's mind to understand in the finale that Amon isn't an Avatar-style energybender. He's just a freak like Combustion Man or Yakone/Tarrlok. Unlike someone like Toph, whose blindness allowed her the insight to develop a teachable skill (metalbending), Amon's is a Combustion Man. Only instead of blowing up stuff with his mind he can disable people's bending. Amon's biology/chi is different enough from the human norm that Tarrlok's bloodbending could only partially affect him; maybe the abnormality that gave his uber chi-blocking also makes him partially resistant to bloodbending.

To put it in Warhammer 40K terms, Amon is a blank.

Amon is not human
He resisted bloodbending. Not even Aang could do that outside of the Avatar state. Amon is something much more...sinister.
 * 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.

Amon is capable of absorbing chi, explaining everything about his supernatural abilities.
I see one of the above posters already came to much the same conclusion I did. Yes, Amon is a "blank." He is like a chi vacuum: whenever he comes in contact with someone's chi, his body neutralizes 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.

The spirits taught Amon a fake de-bending technique.
In synergy with the "Amon is just a tool being used by the spirits to give Korra a kick in the ass for her own good" theory, they taught Amon a fake de-bending technique, as they didn't really want to have the world de-bended. Notice that Aang uses the chi points on the head and chest, while Amon uses one on the back of the head instead of the chest. Aang's could be the real deal, while Amon's is just long-term full-body chi-blocking that was sold to him as "better than Aang's" by the manipulative spirits.

Amon doesn't remove benders' powers. He steals them.
It defies credulity to believe that Amon is just a Badass Normal except for the energybending. He's just too good in battle, too fast, too agile. And now he's immune to bloodbending when even Aang was vulnerable? He's actually stealing the powers of every bender he "equalizes". All bending attacks "miss" him because he's using the bending powers he stole to deflect them, but subtly and only in a defensive manner so no one notices. By the time he fought Tarrlok, he had taken power from enough Waterbenders that his Waterbending was stronger, just as Katara's was stronger than Hama's in "The Puppetmaster", so he was able to overcome Tarrlok's bloodbending. And look carefully at the promotional clip for the finale – there's a scene where Amon makes a twitching, half-clenched hand gesture and Korra's facial expression looks like she's being bloodbended before she's physically struck. If Amon is stealing powers, then he now has Tarrlok's ability to bloodbend at any time, making him more dangerous than ever before.

Amon's an airbender
Did you see how he got through that dust (snow, whatever) cloud in Out of the Past? Aang did that all the time!

Amon is Hitler

 * 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.

Amon is Yakone.
Exhibit A: This preview. Look at Korra and Mako when they're facing Amon. That's bloodbending. Why can he resist Tarrlok? Because he can bloodbend, too. How does he know how to energybend? Because Aang did it to him. A man with such power over the human body likely found a way to fool Aang's energybending, allowing him to do the deed but hide his still-active bending. Futhermore, feeling what Aang did to him allowed him to duplicate it. Knowing that he could never stop Avatar Aang, he hid and set himself up as Amon. What better way to ensure total control of everything than to make sure he's the only bender around? He may be pushing 70-80 now, but he certainly wasn't old enough back then that he has to be dead now.

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.

Amon's body is largely not made of water
Bloodbending is possible because the human body is mostly water. Amon is able to resist it quite well, implying that somehow, his limbs partially/mostly are not made of natural cells. This makes it likely that his story about being attacked by a firebender is true. In that attack, he lost two or more of his limbs and had them replaced with metal prosthetics like Sparky Sparky Boom Man did. They're probably platinum because its unbendable.

Amon is an hieromancer or an hierophant.
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.

Amon is Azula's son
Amon is stated to have a connection to Zuko. Azula escaped and had a child, but she never regained her sanity. But was smart enough to hide her bending thanks to having distinctive blue fire that could reveal her easily. Eventually, she went on a rampage when she had a relapse into insanity and was the firebender in Amon's story. Zuko had to stop Azula, possibly lethally. The trauma from the event caused Amon to convince himself the 'firebender' wasn't his mother and instead another firebender that attacked his family, namely Zuko, and burned his face.
 * Where was is stated that Amon has a connection to Zuko? Not denying your theory, but just curious.

Amon is Aang...'s spirit
Ok, listen to me here. Aang is dead. Yes, quite dead, and the Aavtar Spirit has moved onto Korra. However, Aang became aware of a coming threat to the Avatar World, and watched Korra from the spirit world to see if she could handle it. Watching her progress, he would have seen that she was Unskilled but Strong, lacking the spirituality an Avatar needs to master Airbending and access the Avatar State. So, he returned to the world of the living with nothing but a "semi-flesh" form and Energybending, posing as a new threat Korra would have to adapt new ways to deal with and learn from her fears, becoming a Stealth Mentor Big Bad Wannabe, to prepare Korra for when everything truly goes to hell when the true Big Bad shows up in Book 2.

Amon's energybending is taking a toll on him.
It was subtle but is likely growing. Why else is going from debending here and there to suddenly doing one en mass? The type he learned likely transfers a bit of the person into him, transforming Amon into a mentally-unsound person over the series. The "head chakra only" style has to have disadvantages somewhere.

Amon has been Dead All Along.
Sometime before the start of the series, Amon was killed - accident, murder, whatever, he died. However, he didn't stay dead. Somehow, he was revived, and recovered. But, his close encounter with death left with him with the ability to energybend.