Talk:Amon/@comment-69.122.85.217-20120520181026

I have not been a supporter of the Asami Sato is an Equalist / Amon / Villain mindset. But I decided to give it some thought figure out how it could actually be so. Here are some of my theories, guesses and questions on the subject. Until she disabled her father, nothing Asami's done has been suspicious. Whereas people like Beifong (immediate distrust & dislike of Korra), and Tarrlok (his manipulation of Korra, the media and political manuevering against Beifong) actually displayed suspicious behaviors. But then Hiroshi Sato, who was completely unsuspicious until right before he became a suspect, showed his true colors. And he did so deliberately. So now, I'm a little less confident about Asami's non involvement. Could she be unsuspicious up until the moment she reveals a hidden agenda too?

I realize the idea of all this maneuvering to put her in place as a spy seems too convoluted. (I actually agree with that but I want theorize anyway.) Especially when we know Amon and the Equalists are fully capable of defeating powerful benders. Why not just capture, kill or neutralize them on the spot? Amon's plan may not be to kill benders. He's only neutralized benders so far as statements to make a point. And it seems capturing people isn't a goal but maneuvering them into position is. Remember, they could have attacked the arena with no prior warning and been successful without the threat of being defeated and captured by the Metalbending Police Force. They wanted to make a statement by engaging benders directly.

Let's assume Hiroshi and Asami are Equalists and this was all part of a plot." First, I have to figure what is this plot and their overall scheme? Let's see what we know: Hiroshi sent the informant to contact Korra and the others. That act revealed Hiroshi to be an Equalist that supplied the advanced weaponry. And that Hiroshi has a secret factory under his mansion where he's developing new weapons. That's a bold thing to do after you've successfully put the blame on another company already. Why reveal yourself when you could have remained beneath notice and unleashed the mech-tanks as a complete surprise later? Like before, it's another direct confrontation.

Asami directed them to that specific location. After exiting the bathroom, Hiroshi is overheard behind closed doors, speaking suspiciously on the phone by Korra. Later, Beifong and the others come to the mansion looking for the secret underground factory, go to Hiroshi's workshop and find the hidden entrance. In both instances, Asami directs them to the specific locations. If she's not an Equalist, it's a coincidence. If she is, it supports this tactic of deliberately baiting the authorities. The overall question is still "Why?"

What is their objective? Hiroshi refers to the battle after successfully incapacitating everyone as a test-run. Then orders they be delivered to Amon. Here's the thing: They prioritized loading up the metalbenders first. If they weren't interrupted, and left with just the metalbenders. Everyone would be confused trying figure out the Equalist's plan and perhaps presume Asami's not involved because she was left behind. That would mean testing the mecha-tanks and capturing metalbenders was the objective. If they left with everyone, then it would just be Asami, Mako and Bolin. And there's nothing to gain from them for the Equalists. Let's assume Asami only went into the secret factory to stop Mako and Bolin from interfering in the plot. We have to assume the plot was succeeding when they arrived so whatever Asami does at that point has to be something she thinks will help the plan succeed in a way similar had they not gone down there. While maintaining her cover the whole time. So, what was about to happen before Mako & Bolin arrived? Was everyone being kidnapped or just the metalbenders? That's unclear because they loaded the cops first. Here's the thing: Had Asami stayed quiet Hiroshi and the Lieutenant could've won against Mako and Bolin. It was a room full of chi blockers after all. Here's the other thing: Maybe she was afraid the others would regain consciousness during that time and didn't want to risk it. Here's the crazy thing: What if Hiroshi is unaware Asami's an Equalist like him? What if she secretly manipulated him into joining? What if Hiroshi was going against Amon's plan by capturing the Avatar and she decided to stop it?

I'm still not really onboard the "Asami Is An Equalist" bandwagon but I did feel it needed considering. Here's the biggest thing of all. Every act of the Equalists have shown them to be strategically counterattackers. You attack, they dodge, redirect and counterattack. You focus in one direction, they attack from another. Asami as a spy would fit perfectly into that tactically speaking. We have the benefit of viewing this from an outside perspective because we've all seen this kind of plot twist happen many times. But for the characters in this world, Asami has been below notice until her father became a suspected Equalist. Now that it's fully known, they have the perspective to look at her and wonder despite her actions against her father.