Ming-Hua

Ming-Hua is an armless waterbending fugitive and a member of the Red Lotus. She was previously held in a maximum security facility above a volcano, monitored by the Order of the White Lotus until she escaped with the assistance of Zaheer and Ghazan in 171 AG.

Imprisonment and escape
In 158 AG, Ming-Hua was involved in an attempt to kidnap Avatar Korra, which led to her detainment in a cell situated above a volcano that deprived her of any sources of water. Deprived of any entertainment, she occupied herself by making up stories about the guards. Thirteen years later, she was liberated following an attack on the prison by Zaheer and Ghazan, during which she was given enough water to create tentacle-like prosthetic arms to allow for her escape. After using pressurized water to open her cell, Ming-Hua used her prosthesis to assist Zaheer and Ghazan in defeating the remaining sentries. Once the guards were all immobilized, Ming-Hua thanked her companions for freeing her, stating she was flattered to have been liberated before P'Li, Zaheer's girlfriend. The three subsequently set out toward the Northern Water Tribe to free the last member of their group.

Freeing P'Li


Shortly after arriving at P'Li's prison under the cover of a snowstorm, Ming-Hua began to dash toward the facility while swiftly avoiding a series of ice bullets from Desna and Eska. The twins attempted to trap Ming-Hua by conjuring a barrage of iceberg spikes, though she navigated through them with ease by using her arm-like water projections before trapping the two waterbenders in columns of ice. She proceeded to leap into the air to gather enough momentum to turn herself into an ice drill, which she subsequently used to tunnel underground in order to reach P'Li's cell. After defeating the sentries posted outside the firebender's cell, Ming-Hua froze the metal door, making it brittle enough to open with waterbending. She promptly released P'Li from her restraints and the two headed back to the surface, where they defeated the rest of their opponents before fleeing the scene with Zaheer and Ghazan.

Tracking the Avatar


The four made their way to Republic City, where they sought refuge in an apartment complex located in one of the several districts overran with spirit vines. Ming-Hua was involved in devising a plan to attack President Raiko, which was inevitably abandoned after Zaheer was discovered infiltrating Air Temple Island, compromising the four criminals. In order to leave the city, the four ambushed a delivery man, whom Ming-Hua threatened to hurt with an ice blade if he refused to cooperate.

Ming-Hua and her companions headed out of the city via Kyoshi Bridge, which was barricaded by officers in search of Ming-Hua and her associates. While questioned by the officers, the truck driver Ming-Hua held hostage wavered in his response, prompting the officers to force him outside of the vehicle to open the back of the truck. Having been discovered, Zaheer used airbending to temporarily fend off the police, while Ming-Hua drove the truck out of the city using her water prosthesis.

Infiltrating Zaofu
Following their escape, the four criminals temporarily camped in a forest outside of the city to discuss a way to find the Avatar. Ming-Hua expressed her regret over not having taken one of the officers hostage, as she believed that the police would have known about Korra's whereabouts. Shortly after being reassured by P'Li that they would find her in due time, Ming-Hua was startled to hear Zaheer exclaim that the Avatar was with the Metal Clan in Zaofu. With the help of Aiwei, Ming-Hua and the others were able to infiltrate the city of Zaofu and the four eventually made their way to the guesthouses near Suyin Beifong's estate. Ming-Hua used ice to cut a small circle from Korra's bedroom window, which allowed Zaheer to sedate the young Avatar and her polar bear dog, Naga, with shirshu-spit darts. Having captured the Avatar, the four prepared to leave the city, but were inevitably discovered by Bolin and Mako, who began to attack the group with bending. Ming-Hua used her water tendrils to deflect a boulder from Bolin, before fleeing with the others when the guards began to sound the alarms.



The four were eventually discovered, with Ming-Hua remarking that their attempt to use the element of surprise failed. Ming-Hua and the others were subsequently trapped in a makeshift metal prison by Lin Beifong and members of the Metal Clan, who ordered the group to release Korra and surrender. As a safeguard, Ghazan created a lava moat around the group to prevent the guards from approaching, but they remained under fire, inciting Ming-Hua and the others to defend themselves with bending. In the ensuing battle, Lin and Suyin Beifong managed to drop down from metal cables and recapture Avatar Korra, prompting Ming-Hua to ensnare Lin's leg with a water tendril. However, her attempts to pull the metalbender down proved unsuccessful as Mako was able to break her tendril with a fire blade. Having failed in their attempt to capture the Avatar, the group retreated under the cover of a smokescreen conjured by Zaheer.

Misty Palms Oasis
Ming-Hua and the rest of her group took refuge inside a cave, from where Zaheer eventually entered the Spirit World and determined Korra's whereabouts. Having been tasked with retrieving the Avatar, Ming-Hua and Ghazan traveled to the Misty Palms Inn in order to capture Korra.



Shortly after they arrived, Ming-Hua caught Asami leaving the inn with Korra's body and proceeded to attack the nonbender with a series of ice bullets. She attempted once more to ensnare Korra with a water tendril but was promptly attacked by Mako, whom she engaged in a duel. In the ensuing battle, Ming-Hua was able to pin Mako to a wall and slam him into a nearby room, effectively incapacitating the firebender. Afterward, Ming-Hua trapped Bolin underwater by creating a water orb around him, before pulling the earthbender to the surface.

With both of their opponents subdued, Ming-Hua dismissed Ghazan to find Korra while she remained at the inn to watch the two benders. The two were ultimately unable to capture the Avatar and returned to the group's hideaway, where Ming-Hua presented Zaheer with the two brothers, figuring that the airbender could find a way to benefit from their capture. She departed alongside her companions to Ba Sing Se in order to retrieve Avatar Korra from the Earth Queen's forces.

Liberation of Ba Sing Se
Ming-Hua, along with Ghazan, kept watch of the two brothers while the group drove toward Ba Sing Se and entertained Bolin's many questions about her imprisonment, remarking that she passed the time by creating stories about her guards, essentially deciding in her head which of them were having relationship troubles or regretting their careers. Bolin decided to use Ming-Hua's suggestion to invent a backstory for Ghazan, which impressed the lavabender but simply prompted Ming-Hua to look away in annoyance.



Once they arrived to the capital, the group headed to the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace under the guise of bounty hunters, where they surrendered Bolin and Mako to Earth Queen Hou-Ting as a gift. She was received well along with the other members of the group after the earth monarch decided to accept their terms of revealing the location of the Earth Queen's airbending regiment in exchange for the Avatar. When Zaheer discovered that Korra escaped the Earth Queen's forces, the group confronted Hou-Ting in her throne room and refused to reveal the location of the missing airbenders, prompting the earth monarch to order her Dai Li agents to apprehend the four. Ming-Hua helped her companions subdue the earthbending guards and effortlessly pinned an agent against a pillar with ice before witnessing Zaheer take down the Earth Queen by suffocating her.

Shortly after, Ming-Hua accompanied Zaheer along with P'Li to the city's communication tower, where she used a water tendril to threaten a radio operator when he refused to comply with Zaheer's request to use the radio system. Holding him up in the air, Ming-Hua angrily told the operator that it was not in his best interest to deny the man responsible for taking down the Earth Queen, prompting Zaheer to intervene and remind her that the group's efforts involved helping the city's citizens. Ming-Hua begrudgingly released the man and listened as Zaheer addressed the citizens of Ba Sing Se.

Securing the Northern Air Temple
After Zaheer relayed his message to Mako and Bolin, Ming-Hua and the other members of the Red Lotus commandeered a Ba Sing Se airship and headed to the Northern Air Temple. Shortly after the group's arrival, Ming-Hua ambushed and held Opal hostage in order to ensure the cooperation of Kya, Bumi, and the other members of the Air Nation, all of whom she led to one of the temple's courtyards to be addressed by Zaheer. Ming-Hua temporarily lost control over her water tendrils and was blown back against the wall by one of Tenzin's airbending attacks, though she managed to use water from a nearby fountain to recreate her prosthesis.



Ming-Hua promptly engaged in a duel against Kya after the airbending master enlisted the help of his siblings. During the battle, Ming-Hua combined her water tendrils to create a highly pressurized stream of water with the intent of overwhelming Kya, whom she continued to attack with a series of ice blades. She promptly redirected an icicle from Kya and reinforced it with a barrage of ice bullets, one of which managed to strike the healer and temporarily knock her off balance. Ming-Hua continued her assault by creating a water spout and rushing toward her opponent with an arm of ice, but she was blasted off the balcony when Kya directed a large stream of water toward her. Despite the setback, Ming-Hua recreated her prosthesis and drew the excess water from the balcony to fashion four additional water tendrils, which she subsequently used to push Kya back into the courtyard.

Ming-Hua worked with Ghazan to overwhelm Kya and Bumi, whom they eventually managed to push over one of the temple's balconies. The two promptly left their opponents for P'Li to finish off and headed back to the courtyard to assist Zaheer in battling Tenzin. Ming-Hua attacked the airbending master in tandem with the other members of her group, managing to strike Tenzin several times with jets of water and numerous ice bullets. She continued her assault along with Zaheer and Ghazan when Tenzin refused to surrender, lashing the airbending master repeatedly with water whips.

Capturing the Avatar
As part of her group's plans to force Korra into surrendering herself to Zaheer, Ming-Hua filled numerous Air Nomad uniforms with blobs of water to make them appear like the captured airbenders. She hid in a room located in the Northern Air Temple, where Ghazan led Bolin, Mako, and Asami, who believed that they were retrieving the members of the Air Nation.

After Mako discovered the ruse, Ming-Hua revealed herself and began to attack Team Avatar with a series of water bullets. She continued her efforts but quickly became frustrated over fighting the firebender, urging Ghazan to bury the temple in lava so that they could escape. The two proceeded to hijack a Zaofu airship and were both surprised over seeing that Zaheer had unlocked the ancient airbending ability of flight.

Ming-Hua and her group sought refuge in a series of caves near the Northern Air Temple, where they rendezvoused with other members of the Red Lotus. She approached Zaheer while the airbender was meditating to demand the reason why he never told the others that he could fly, silently expressing her fascination after he answered before promptly informing P'Li's whereabouts. She briefly exchanged a forlorn look with Ghazan after discovering that P'Li sacrificed herself, before heading to where Korra was restrained.

After Zaheer revealed his intention to destroy Korra while she was in the Avatar State, Ming-Hua fashioned her tendrils into two ice sickles in preparation of killing her. Ming-Hua attempted to strike Korra with an icicle shortly after she entered the Avatar State but she was promptly thrown back against the wall by a boulder, causing her to temporarily lose her tendrils.

Shortly after, Ming-Hua engaged in a battle against Mako, dodging the firebender's attacks by navigating through the cave's columns. While retreating, Ming-Hua's foot became caught on a protruding crystal, causing her to fall back and lose her prosthesis. After Mako cornered her and pointed out the fact that she was out of water to use, Ming-Hua jumped into an underground pool of water, fashioning eight water tendrils in an attempt to overwhelm her opponent. She quickly lashed at Mako with a series of water whips but was inevitably subdued when Mako electrocuted her after directing a lightning blast at the pool.

Personality


Ming-Hua is a relatively laid-back individual who possesses a sarcastic humor, which she has demonstrated on several occasions. Regardless of the situation, Ming-Hua is also able to remain calm and collected, as she did not panic when she and her group were discovered infiltrating Zaofu. While she retains her composed demeanor in battle, Ming-Hua is an aggressive waterbender who prefers the use of force and highly debilitating techniques in order to incapacitate and severely injure her opponents.

Ming-Hua is highly self-sufficient and takes pride in her waterbending abilities, even opting to carry P'Li out of her prison herself instead of taking an elevator. She is also fiercely protective of her friends, as she demonstrated when she repeatedly defended P'Li from Bolin and Mako's bending barrages during their attempted kidnapping of Avatar Korra.

Abilities


Despite her lack of arms to perform complex fluid motions necessary in waterbending, Ming-Hua makes use of her body to create two tentacle-like arms strong enough to support her body weight when used as makeshift cables. The ease and fluidity with which she maneuvers her body allows her to maintain projections at great lengths without jeopardizing strength or control, to the extent where she can bend the tips of her tentacle-like arms to bear appendages capable of grabbing an individual by the neck from a distance and subsequently tossing him across the room without breaking. Ming-Hua is also able to locally freeze portions of her prosthesis, in effect fashioning the tips of her makeshift arms into an assortment of weapons which she utilizes in combat.

Ming-Hua's water tendrils are strong enough to support her weight, which allows her to swing and navigate through obstacles with relative ease. In addition, Ming-Hua can use her prosthesis to execute amplified water whips powerful enough to pierce solid ground and materials used in construction. She is also capable of creating additional arm projections, even managing to effortlessly control eight water tendrils in an attempt to overwhelm Mako. Her use of several tendrils in unison provides Ming-Hua with exceptional mobility and substantially augments her offense, allowing her to remain aloft for longer periods of time and execute numerous waterbending techniques consecutively. Essentially, Ming-Hua's use of water tendrils as makeshift prosthesis allows her to overcome her disability and perform otherwise impossible feats, such as driving a truck.



As a testament to her skill, Ming-Hua is able to maintain her water tendrils while performing other feats of waterbending, as she was able to create a water orb to trap Bolin despite already using one of her tendrils to clutch Mako. The extent of her resourcefulness as a bender is also evident by her use of the body as a weapon in general, as she is able to gather enough momentum to turn herself into an ice drill capable of tunneling underground. Ming-Hua is also very agile, capable of evading a series of ice bullets with ease and navigating through numerous iceberg spikes with little difficulty.

Trivia

 * Ming-Hua is the third known bender to have a physical disability, the others being Toph Beifong and Combustion Man.
 * Ming-Hua's character was inspired by a "gruesome joke" between Bryan Konietzko and one of his friends, who later became a reference for Ming-Hua's design.