Yakone

"water"

- Republic City is mine, Avatar. I'll be back one day to claim it.

Yakone was a powerful crime lord who threatened Republic City for many years with his bloodbending abilities before they were permanently removed by Avatar Aang. He was the father of Amon and Tarrlok.

Crimes in Republic City
Prior to becoming a criminal mastermind, Yakone figured out a way to bloodbend without a full moon or even hand movements.

Yakone used his bloodbending to develop and become the head of a criminal empire in Republic City and had a history of arrests, though he was always acquitted of all charges.

In 128 ASC, Yakone was accused of bloodbending after the testimony of several witnesses. Chief Toph Beifong, accompanied by some metalbending officers and Avatar Aang, arrested him while he was eating at Kuang's Cuisine. The criminal proudly claimed he would beat this charge again as he had done with the previous ones.

Yakone was then taken to City Hall to be judged before the United Republic Council, where he was defended by a lawyer who appealed to the impossibility to bloodbend without a full moon. As witnesses had claimed, Yakone had performed the feat "at every other time except during a full moon", making the crime seemingly impossible to commit and their testimony to be suspect. Before announcing the Council's final verdict, Councilman Sokka stated the evidence was enough to convince the Council that Yakone was a "unique bender" and had used his ability to commit the crimes of which he had been accused. For this reason, the bloodbender was considered guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.



However, Yakone stood up, grinning, and responded by bloodbending Sokka and the other Council members. Toph attempted to halt Yakone with a metal cable, but he quickly overpowered her. Soon, everyone in the room fell victim to his bloodbending. Thereafter, he used the forbidden art to force Toph to unlock his handcuffs. Among his victims was Avatar Aang, who was able to hold out the longest. As Yakone levitated Aang in the air, the Avatar vowed that he will never get away with this. Cackling, Yakone declared that Republic City belongs to him and promised to one day return and claim it. Aang was soon rendered unconscious and therefore unable to stop the criminal from fleeing. However, Aang then entered the Avatar State and pursued Yakone, destroying his getaway cart. Surprising Aang by popping out of the wreckage, the bloodbender used his technique again in an attempt to kill him, but his attempt was thwarted when Aang entered the Avatar State once again, breaking the criminal's bloodbending hold and trapping him within an earth shell. Yakone was rendered unable to retaliate as Aang removed his bending.

After Republic City


Sometime after his trial, with the help of his gang, Yakone escaped prison, underwent surgery to change his facial appearance, and left Republic City. He headed to the Northern Water Tribe and met a woman, whom he would later marry. Eventually, his wife gave birth to Noatak, who later became the Equalist leader Amon, and Tarrlok, three years later. Tarrlok and Noatak soon discovered that they possessed waterbending abilities. Yakone made them practice waterbending every night, and eventually revealed to his sons that he was once Republic City's most notorious crime boss and that his bending was "stolen" from him by Avatar Aang. He then explained to his sons that it was their duty to avenge him by one day killing the Avatar and claiming Republic City for him.



During the full moon, Yakone trained his sons in the art of bloodbending, beginning their training on animals such as ox goats. Yakone eventually succeeded in teaching his sons how to bloodbend without a full moon; he was especially impressed with Noatak's skill. Sometime later, he forced Noatak and Tarrlok to bloodbend each other. When it was time for Tarrlok to bloodbend Noatak, Tarrlok refused, causing Yakone to become furious, call him weak, and make a threatening advance toward Tarrlok. Noatak quickly bloodbent his father Yakone and explained to him that it was he who was weak, because the Avatar had stripped him of his bending. The shocked and enraged Yakone reprimanded his son for using bloodbending against him. He quickly reminded Noatak that he believed his sons were supposed to become tools for his revenge, but Noatak refused to accept this and flung Yakone into the snow. Noatak then ran away, prompting Yakone and Tarrlok to search for him for days. They never found him and concluded that he must have perished in the ice. Thereafter, Yakone gave up on extracting his revenge against the Avatar and died a few years later.

Legacy
"'Our father set us on this path; fate caused us to collide.' — Tarrlok to Noatak in 'Endgame'."

Forty-two years after Yakone's trial, Tarrlok brought up Yakone during a Council meeting, hoping that he would be able to convince the Council to vote for the creation of his task force. Later on, Avatar Korra, through the visions shown to her by Aang, realized that Tarrlok was Yakone's son.

During a mission to find and confront Amon, Korra encountered Tarrlok once more, who told her that Amon was his brother, and informed her about the treacherous experiences their father had put them through as children. After Amon's defeat and unmasking by Korra, he fled the city with Tarrlok at his side, hoping that they could start anew elsewhere. However Tarrlok, filled with shame that he and his brother had become the people their father had intended them to become, instead killed himself and Amon by blowing up the boat on which they fled, silencing Yakone's legacy at last.

Personality
Yakone was a corrupt and ruthless individual, as demonstrated during his trial for committing various crimes and atrocities with his bloodbending. After being found guilty, he wasted no time in using his ability by bloodbending everyone present, including Aang, Sokka, Toph, and even his own attorney, rendering them all unconscious before escaping.



After escaping prison and Republic City, Yakone began a new life in the Northern Water Tribe, where he married a local woman and fathered two sons. At first, Yakone appeared to have found a new happiness with his family. However, upon realizing that his children were waterbenders, he began training them in the art of bloodbending, hoping that they would eventually be skilled enough to avenge him by killing the Avatar. During his son's training, Yakone forced the boys to bloodbend animals and eventually each other, against Tarrlok's wishes. Yakone constantly told Tarrlok that he was weak and that he needed to "toughen up". At some point, Noatak stood up for his brother and talked back to their father, which made him furious.

After Noatak ran away, Yakone's personality changed dramatically. He stopped training Tarrlok and was no longer focused on getting revenge on the Avatar. He passed away a few years later.

Abilities


Yakone was a powerful waterbending master who was capable of using the rare technique of bloodbending to an unprecedented level. Able to bend the liquids inside a living creature, he could manipulate the target like a puppetmaster; injure them by painfully twisting different body parts, levitate and hurl his targets around, and even knocking them unconscious. These feets made even more impressive by his ability to do so whenever he please and without a full moon present. Yakone also possessed the rare form of psychic bending, which allowed him to execute his high level bending with just mere focus. Compared to his son Tarrlok, who had inherited his bloodbending ability, Yakone displayed great command of his ability, as he was able to bloodbend a whole courtroom with mental effort, whereas Tarrlok often used direct gestures to manipulate his victims.

Despite his undeniable might in the outlawed skill, Yakone's blooding prowess proved ineffective against Avatar Aang in the Avatar State. However, even after Aang removed Yakone's bending, the former crime lord was still a highly capable teacher, having personally taught both his sons to master waterbending and effectively use bloodbending at any time, even teaching Noatak how to perform psychic bending without any hands-on or visual aid from Yakone.

Trivia

 * Yakone's name means "Red Aurora" in the Ahtna Athabascan language spoken by the Athna group of Alaskan Natives. When Yakone is used as a metaphor, it can mean "blood spray on the snow".
 * Yakone is the first person known to be able to bloodbend without the help of a full moon, and also the first male bloodbender. His two sons, Noatak and Tarrlok, inherited this ability.
 * He was also the first person known to be able to bloodbend without requiring the use of his hands.
 * Councilman Sokka compared Yakone's special bending abilities to Combustion Man's ability to firebend with his mind, as well as Toph's creation of metalbending.
 * Yakone is the second person known to have had his bending abilities removed by Avatar Aang.
 * Yakone shared many similarities with Long Feng, as both attempted to rule a city, Yakone through his criminal empire and Long Feng through his control of the Dai Li. Both leaders were defeated by Avatar Aang, and both tried and failed to reclaim their position and take revenge. However, while Long Feng was directly responsible to for Ba Sing Se falling into the hands of the Fire Nation, Yakone was not, as it was Tarrlok's actions which resulted in Republic City falling to the Equalists. Both were voiced by Clancy Brown, who also provided the voice of Bosco in the original series.
 * Yakone is the first character in the entire Avatar series to have plastic surgery.
 * Before his plastic surgery, Yakone had light skin, unlike most waterbenders.
 * Despite being called a waterbending master, Yakone was only seen bloodbending, never seen performing regular waterbending.