The Legend of Korra/Characters/The Equalists

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This is a partial character sheet for The Legend of Korra. Visit here for the main character index. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.


Amon

"I am the solution."

Voiced by Steve Blum

The leader of the Equalists and the primary antagonist of the first season. A man shrouded in mystery, Amon seeks to rid the world of benders and usher in a new era of equality. He seeks to destroy Korra, whose presence in Republic City threatens his anti-bender agenda.

  • Ambiguously Evil: It's still not clear just how villainous Amon is. We know so little about him that he could end up being anything from an Anti-Villain to a Complete Monster. It's undeniable, that he's certainly sinister. Whether Dark Is Evil or Dark Is Misguided, Not Evil is yet to be seen.
  • Anti-Villain: Type III. Wanting equality and to help lower class citizens isn't bad... but doing so by trying to eradicate bending is extreme. Also, as of "And The Winner Is", so far Amon has only removed bending from benders who intentionally hurt others with their abilities... but his rhetoric suggests that he's just building up steam (and probably support) and is planning to eradicate bending worldwide. He has also told Korra to her face (while his men held her down) that the only reason she still has her bending is that he is saving her for later.
    • For all purposes, he does appear to have a moral code. It's just that he is pragmatic enough to take more amoral or even outright immoral actions to see his plans come to fruition.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking
  • Badass: He has so far been sure to always give people a chance to fight before he removes their bending. No one has yet managed to so much as give him a good fight. He can even power through bloodbending, which Aang couldn't do outside of the Avatar State.

Tarrlok: What... what are you?
Amon: I am the solution.

  • Breaking Speech: He delivers one so effective and intimidating that Korra suffers a complete breakdown afterwards.
  • Big Bad
    • Big Bad Ensemble: Subverted. It appeared that he would be this with Tarrlok in the eighth episode of the first season, but upon their meeting at the end of episode 9, Amon resists Tarrlok's bloodbending and de-bends him. Which leaves Amon as the only, and rightful Big Bad.
  • Big Damn Villains: Rescues Korra from Tarrlok, though he didn't plan on letting her go free after taking down Tarrlok.
  • The Chessmaster: Holy crap, yes. His actions in Episode 6 sealed his status as one and even more. See Xanatos Gambit below.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Uses ambushes, greater numbers, weapons the opposition has no defense against, and psychological warfare to lead the equalists to victory.
  • Culture Police: Desires to end pro-bending as means to end "bending worship".
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy:
    • He lets Korra escape the Revelation because she'd be the "perfect messenger" about what just transpired; letting Benders hear it from the Avatar herself that he has the power to take away bending.
    • When answering Korra's gauntlet throw-down on Aang's Memorial Island, he doesn't come alone. He has chi-blockers dog pile Korra first, then says he won't unbend her because he'd just create a martyr.
    • His plan in "And the Winner Is...". See Xanatos Gambit below.
    • He also took the extremely dangerous Tarrlok off guard and in a position were Tarrlok had no water at his disposal to bend. With his bloodbending useless, Tarrlok was forced to fight Amon hand to hand, something Amon is exceptionally skilled at, instead of being able to fight back with his extremely powerful bending.
  • Dark Messiah: He's set himself up as a Messiah figure to the Equalist movement, and his ultimate goal is to replace the Avatar as the world's savior.
  • Death Glare: Gives quite a potent one to Korra as seen in the second trailer. It's especially notable since he can give quite a Death Glare even behind that mask.
  • Diabolical Mastermind: Beneath his ruse of being a revolutionary, he seems to be this.
  • Dissonant Serenity: The cargo bay of his zeppelin being filled with flame by Korra doesn't even break his stride. He doesn't seem fazed by Tarrlok's bloodbending, and while he's affected he is able to push through and maintain his composure without faltering.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: His ideals parallel the development of Communism and Fascism, which rose to compete against the fledgling democracies of the early 20th century.
  • The Dreaded: He terrifies Korra to the point that she breaks down into tears after one confrontation with him, and his encounter with Bolin left the earthbender with nightmares for at least a week.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Evil Sounds Deep: What else would you expect from Steve Blum? Evil's as deep as the ocean.
  • Eyes of Gold: He has amber eyes, which is interesting in regards to his (possibly exaggerated) back-story.
  • Fantastic Racist: Hates benders and seeks to get rid of bending altogether.
  • The Faceless: Supposedly due to Facial Horror.
  • Facial Horror: The stated reason for his mask. He claims to have gotten the scars from the same Firebender that killed his family.
  • Foil:
    • To Korra. If he really is an energybender, then he's essentially the anti-Avatar. He's also styling himself in the same vein as an Avatar, claiming to be a savior sent by the spirits.
      • He also is a very calm, controlled individual who claims to be sent by the spirits, while Korra is a Boisterous Bruiser who has major difficulty with the spiritual side of bending.
    • His back-story (if he can be believed about it) is very similar to Mako and Bolin's. They all had parents killed by a firebender. But while the brothers eventually learned to live with their loss, he took it in a completely different direction.
    • In a meta sense, he's a foil to Ozai in the same sense that Korra is to Aang. Whereas Ozai was a power-hungry conqueror, Amon is a partisan revolutionary. Ozai was as close to a complete monster as a character can be in a child-friendly cartoon, whereas Amon is arguably an anti-villain. Ozai was defeated with energybending and Amon is an energybender himself, possibly.
    • In a way, he could be seen as this to Tarrlok. Both men are highly charismatic people who've captured the hearts of their respective branches of public, they're both more than capable of holding their own in a fight, and they both have secret powers that come off as a major shock to anyone who's fighting them for the first time.
  • Freudian Excuse: Amon explains at an Equalist rally that his parents were murdered and his face disfigured by a firebender when he was just a child.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: He claims to have once been a simple Farm Boy... then, his family was murdered. Now he's a Dark Messiah revolutionary trying to bring down bending and replace the Avatar.
  • Genius Bruiser: Really good public speaker, social leader, and master strategist; terrifyingly good chi-blocking fighter.
  • Glorious Leader
  • Gold and White Are Divine: An unusual case in that said colour pattern is confined to his mask.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors:
    • When viewed through the lens of Chinese opera, Amon's mask takes on considerable symbolism. Its white/silver and gold color scheme immediately places the character in the realm of the mystic, with the gold/yellow coloration also playing into the character traits of treachery and ferociousness. The red circle on his forehead evokes a hint of Buddhist symbolism, referencing his spiritual connection, and also carries some connotations with intelligence and cleverness.
    • White is the color of death in Asian cultures, which fits well with the symbolism often attributed to the White Mask of Doom. Red and gold are generally considered positive colors in Chinese culture, making their use ironic in this case.
    • The gold on his mask can also be seen as green. Another analysis through that lens holds that the white symbolizes cunning, treachery, and craftiness, the green is violence and lack of self-restraint, and the red dot is both spirituality and the mocking of it.
  • Hero-Killer: Spiritually if not literally. Anyone he can lay his hands on is effectively neutralized since they can no longer bend. His first confrontation with Korra also implies that he plans to kill her after taking away her bending, though that may have been poor use of the phrase "untimely demise" as a metaphor.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Claims that his ability to remove bending is divine in origin. If it is energybending, it most certainly fits this trope.
  • I Am the Noun: When confronting Tarrlok.

Tarrlok: "What... what are you?"
Amon: "I am the solution."

  • Implacable Man: When Tarrlok tries to use bloodbending on him, he just shrugs it off and keeps advancing.
  • In the Hood
  • Just Toying with Them: Amon makes a show out of tying up bending members of a crime syndicate (and one of the heroes who got mixed up with them) and permanently removing their powers in front of a huge crowd of Equalist sympathizers. This trope comes into play when, as part of his show, Amon lets the crime boss loose and offers him the chance to fight to protect himself. It's all the more impressive when Amon wins. Rather easily, in fact.
  • Just You Me and My Guards: How Amon eventually responds to Korra's mano-a-mano challenge to him.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Every single instance of on-screen de-bending we've seen him carry out so far has been upon someone who was used their bending to illegally gain a position of power while being protected from reprisals by corruption in the system (the Triple Threat Triad, an organized crime syndicate, as well as the Wolfbats who cheated their way into winning the tournament, and Tarrlok). This is a consistent part of his political strategy, and also why he refuses to fight Korra at first.
    • Kick the Dog: Except when he debends the Metalbending officers, who by all accounts were good people that didn't deserve it. It's worth noting that this example happens offscreen in an Equalist prison, far from any non-sympathetic witnesses.
  • Knight of Cerebus: While the series started out as upbeat, immediately after his appearance, the story became much darker. Unlike Ozai, who wanted to take over the world and prove his superiority to the Avatar; he has made it quite clear that he intends to kill Korra and rid the world of Benders to which he does with lethal precision and intimidating charisma.
  • Knight Templar: See Well-Intentioned Extremist below. He definitely invokes this in his rhetoric.
    • The previews for the finale have him pretty much taking over Republic City with military force and arrange mass debendings execution style, which heavily implies he'll be heading over the edge soon.
  • Light Is Not Good: Though Amon invokes certain heavenly archetypes with his white and gold sun mask, Egyptian sun god name, golden eyes, and possible mystical connections, he's still the leader of a private military force with a cultist agenda.
    • Besides his possible energybending, which is the purest form of bending, he can also resist bloodbending, which is considered the "darkest" type of bending, invoking Pure Is Not Good.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Extremely agile and nimble fighter with the strength to take down even the most skilled benders with no sweat.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Like the lower-level Equalists, although they're Gas Mask Mooks and his is more of a traditional mask.
  • Mission from God: He claims that he was chosen by the spirits to bring down bending and replace the Avatar.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "Amon" has plenty of possible meanings.
  • Won't Work On Me: When Tarrlok uses bloodbending to incapacitate his mooks, Amon shrugs it off. Even when Tarrlok redoubled his efforts, it just barely slowed Amon down.
  • Pay Evil Unto Evil: Strips criminal benders of their bending, then attacks the Wolfbats after they cheated to win the Pro-Bending tournament.
  • Power Nullifier: He has the ability to strip people of their bending forever. It's heavily implied that he's an energybender.
  • Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "It is time for you to be Equalized."
  • Rebel Leader: He is the leader of the anti-bending movement.
  • Shadow Archetype: To Korra, as essentially the anti-Avatar. He's also one to Bolin and Mako, as they've all lost their parents to Firebenders. However, Amon now wants to destroy all benders, while Bolin and Mako are making the best of their situation.
  • Soul Power: Can energybend, or at least has such efficient control of the chi pathways that he is able to remove bending without it.
  • Superpower Lottery: Assuming that his abilities are, in fact, supernatural, he won the jackpot. Moves so quickly that he can avoid most all bending attacks directed at him, can energybend, and is resistant to bloodbending.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Initially, and not for the usual reasons. A consummate politician, Amon realises that killing his enemies will just make martyrs out of them and net him some seriously bad press along the way. As his influence in Republic City grows, he gets less and less concerned about this.
  • Ubermensch
  • The Unfettered
  • Unflinching Walk: Pulls this off in the face of a fireball that blasts most of his Mooks away.
    • Also, when up against Tarrlok, he pulls this off. Which is impressive, because he shouldn't have been able to walk, let alone stand.
  • Unreliable Expositor: His highly theatrical presentation of his "revelation," his Backstory and even his energybending, throws the truthfulness of all he says into question.
  • Villain Has a Point: His talk about benders oppressing non-benders gained a lot more credence once Tarrlok took over.
  • Visionary Villain
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to himself, Amon genuinely wants to make a better world. Said better world simply involves the eradication of bending and most likely placing himself in power.
  • White Mask of Doom: The only known Equalist to have one.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Her?: He makes it clear that he could have easily taken away Korra's bending when he ambushed her. He also makes it clear that doing so would have made her into a martyr, which is why Korra will be the last to lose her bending, and then she will die.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He knocks Korra unconscious when he ambushes her. And he plans to kill her.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Pulls one off in "And the Winner Is...". He makes a public demand over the radio that the city government shut down the Pro-Bending arena and cancel the championship match. If the pro-bending championships are not stopped, then he and the Equalists have an audience for the demonstration of their power and he gets to begin his war. If the tournament is canceled the government has given into Amon's demand and showed that it will not challenge him.


The Lieutenant

"You benders need to understand... there's no place in this world for you anymore."

Voiced by Lance Henriksen

Amon's second-in-command.

  • Awesome Backpack: He carries a power generator on his back to supply power for his weapons.
  • Badass Moustache
  • Badass Normal
  • The Dragon
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Being voiced by Lance Henriksen, this is a given. That man could inhale multiple canisters of helium and he would still sound like he had more than one puberty.
  • Glass Cannon: Very agile and deadly in combat. He hits as fast as lightning, and he's very powerful. However, he goes down after one hit.
  • Goggles Do Nothing
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: He has a Fu Manchu moustache.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: He wields a pair of electrified kali sticks, because his opponents are metalbending cops, and electricity works pretty well on all benders. The fact that an industrialized city like Republic City has conductive metal everywhere doesn't hurt, either.
  • It's Personal: When Korra's trapped in a metal cage, he shows a certain satisfaction in getting to shock her unconscious as payback. Unfortunately for him, she was one step ahead.
  • No Name Given
  • Shock and Awe
  • Simple Staff: Of the two handheld rod variety.
  • The Worf Effect: Rare villain example. Amon is too powerful to knock out every time a hero demonstrates their strength or progress, so the Lieutenant is usually on the receiving end. Korra and Asami both manage to catch him off guard, although at different times.


The Chi-blockers

The foot-soldiers of the Equalist cause, trained in chi-blocking to nullify the powers of benders.

  • Badass Army: Badass Normal Gas Mask Mooks trained specifically in a Pressure Point-striking fighting method designed to temporarily disarm and disable the wielders of Elemental Powers.
  • Badass Biker: The chi blockers are excellent motorcyclists.
  • Badass Normal: They completely dominate Korra and Mako in their first fight, due to clever use of their gadgets and their martial arts.
  • Chain Pain
  • Combat Pragmatist: They take any advantage they can get. Aside from their grenades, they use bolas, tripwires, whips, and do not obey Mook Chivalry.
  • Elite Mooks: They're pretty much an entire army of them. Even just a few of them can put up a hell of a fight against very powerful benders.
  • Equal Opportunity Evil: Their figures show that more than a few are women. The ladies fight alongside the men. Also we can't be sure with their masks, but they seem to be non-benders from any of the three nations.
  • Gas Mask Mooks: Since they use gas grenades, this is a necessary aspect of their outfit.
  • Kick the Dog: Electrocuting Shiro Shinobi, the announcer, who is a non-bender and wasn't fighting back.
  • Kung Fu-Proof Mook: The Equalists' Mini-Mecha are made from platinum, metal so pure metalbenders are incapable of manipulating it.
  • Mage Killer: Their combat training specifically targets benders.
  • Mini-Mecha: Their platinum mech-tanks.
  • Ninja
  • The Paralyzer: Their blows cause temporary (and apparently painful) paralysis in addition to serving as a...
  • Power Nullifier: Even after the paralysis wears off, a chi-blocker's strike will render their target temporarily unable to bend.
  • Pressure Point: The centerpiece of their fighting style, featuring extremely rapid strikes.
  • Shock and Awe: Their electricity-generating gloves.
  • Smoke Out: They use grenades that release a greenish, slightly unpleasant gas to dissuade pursuers.
  • The Voiceless: They apparently use this as a psychological tactic, as their near-absolute silence in battle, communicating and coordinating only through gestures and reading each other's body motions, accentuate the inhumanity their faceless masks lend them. It's almost jarring when we hear them speak in episode 9 during unguarded moments.


The Protester

Voiced by Carlos Alazraqui

He's a protestor who comes into the Republic City park to preach about Amon's ideals.

  • Attention Whore: He promotes the Equalists for this reason, according to the official website. He attempts to get said attention by taking the unpopular position on any given issue (in this case, bending rights). His parents were evidently supportive of benders.
  • Eyes of Gold: Implying at least some degree of Fire Nation ancestry.
  • Hotblooded Sideburns: Which also point to Fire Nation parentage.
  • No Name Given
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Korra/Characters/The_Equalists?oldid=2044360"