Tarrlok's relationships

This page is comprised of Tarrlok's relationships with other characters in the World of Avatar. He possesses a highly manipulative nature, able to persuade a majority of the United Republic Council's members to vote in his favor in meetings and having the Metalbending Police Force to report to him.

Yakone
"'Toughen up, Tarrlok! You'll need a thicker skin for this.' — Yakone to Tarrlok upon witnessing his brother bloodbending in 'Skeletons in the Closet'."



Tarrlok had a strained relationship with his father. Prior to the discovery of his bending capabilities, Tarrlok and Yakone apparently were on better terms; however, after learning of his son's waterbending abilities, Yakone became very verbally abusive of him. Being that Tarrlok's bending was not as powerful as his brother's, he was considerably less respectable in his father's eyes. Yakone eventually revealed to his sons his true identity as the most notorious crime boss in Republic City and a once incredible bloodbender. He told them that one day they would kill the Avatar and take over Republic City to avenge him. At this point, during every full moon, they went on "hunting trips" together to hone their bloodbending, which they were eventually able to perform without assistance of the full moon. His father often grew angry at him when he could barely stand to bloodbend animals and let them go free.

Eventually, Yakone forced Noatak and Tarrlok bloodbend each other. Noatak did so with little difficulty, despite hurting his brother in the process. Tarrlok, horrified at what he had been doing, refused to bloodbend again. Just as Yakone was about to lash out at him, Noatak bloodbent his father and forced him to stop. Noatak called his father weak and argued that the most powerful form of bending was not bloodbending but rather removing another's bending. Wishing to flee home, Noatak tried to convince Tarrlok to accompany him, but Tarrlok stayed behind for the sake of their mother. Yakone then stopped training Tarrlok, thinking that with Noatak gone, he would never be able to extract vengeance on Republic City or the Avatar. Yakone died a few years later.

As councilman, Tarrlok compared his father's threat to Republic City to Amon and his Equalists.

His mother
Unlike with Yakone, Tarrlok apparently had a very good relationship with his mother, as he refused to run away with Noatak because he was afraid of what would happen to her. He would later describe her as a "warm, caring woman" to Avatar Korra and Mako.

Noatak/Amon
"'Our father set us on this path; fate caused us to collide. I should have left with you when we were boys.' — Tarrlok to Noatak in 'Endgame'."



As Tarrlok's older brother, Noatak always looked after his younger sibling and when they started their waterbending training, Noatak would always try to protect his brother from his father's harsh words. However, over the course of their training, Noatak gradually grew colder and more distant, and after bloodbending his brother and father, he ran away. Tarrlok had thought that his brother had died soon after.

As a member and chairman of the Council and unaware that Amon was actually his brother in disguise, Tarrlok tried to stop the Equalists and overthrow Amon's revolutionary leadership. After he kidnapped Korra and hid her in his cabin, Amon, the Lieutenant, and some chi blockers encountered Tarrlok as he was about to leave. Amon threatened to take his bending away, but Tarrlok laughed at the statement and attempted to bloodbend them all. Although he was able to successfully subdue all the Equalists, Tarrlok was unable to detain Amon, and the masked man easily took away Tarrlok's bending. When asked what he was, since he was able to overcome being bloodbent, Amon replied that he was "the solution". Tarrlok would later come to realize that Amon was his brother due to the act of his bending being stripped feeling similar to being bloodbent by Noatak when they were children. He would later share this information with Mako and Korra when they found him imprisoned on Air Temple Island.



Later, Amon released Tarrlok from his cage, and apologized to him. They both escaped, using a boat to leave Republic City in order to start a new life elsewhere. While conversing with his brother about their fresh new beginning, Tarrlok used an electrified glove to electrically ignite the exposed fuel tank on the boat, causing it to explode in a gigantic cloud of flame and smoke, killing them both.

Korra
"'Avatar Korra. I am truly sorry for all that I did to you. I thought I was better than my father, but his ghost still shaped me. I became a soldier of revenge, just like he wanted me to be. And so did my brother.' — Tarrlok apologizing to Korra in 'Skeletons in the Closet'."



After successfully manipulating Korra to join his task force, they began to work together on one known Equalist raid. However, after her encounter with Amon on Aang Memorial Island, Korra decided to temporarily leave the task force.

Tarrlok then tried to invite Korra back to his task force, but she refused. Afterwards, Tarrlok began to harbor negative feelings toward Korra. After Team Avatar captured a number of Equalists, Tarrlok confronted the Avatar, telling her to stay out of his way and to let the police handle it. Later, Team Avatar confronted Tarrlok as he was trying to arrest a large number of harmless non-benders. The entire team was arrested, except for Korra. Later that night, Korra snuck off Air Temple Island with Naga and headed toward City Hall. Once she arrived, she broke into Tarrlok's office via a window and confronted him. After a brief conversation, Tarrlok launched an attack at Korra, thus prompting her to fight back. The confrontation resulted the destruction of Tarrlok's office, as well as other parts of City Hall. Right when Korra was about to deliver a strong firebending attack, Tarrlok began to bloodbend the Avatar into submission. Korra was shocked at the fact that Tarrlok could bloodbend without the aid of the full moon. He then proceeded to lift Korra into the air via bloodbending and slam her against one of City Hall's interior pillars. As she began to wake up, she found out that she was tied up in the back of a truck, with Tarrlok standing at the door. Tarrlok told Korra that he was taking her somewhere far away so that she would never interfere with his plans again.



Tarrlok proceeded to take her to a cabin far away from Republic City and locked her in a metal box in the basement. After recovering from her frustration about being captured, Korra meditated until Tarrlok returned. When he came back, he informed her that everyone now knew that he was a bloodbender. He said that he would start over, but he would take Korra with him as a hostage. Before he was able to, Amon arrived and took Tarrlok's bending away which allowed Korra to escape.

Following the Equalist conquest of Republic City, Korra and Mako ventured to Air Temple Island to confront Amon. When they arrived in the temple's attic where they planned to hide while they waited for Amon to return, they discovered an imprisoned Tarrlok. Tarrlok, who had since regretted his recent actions toward Korra as well as the rest of Team Avatar, sincerely apologized for his actions against them. He also went on to reveal to Korra and Mako that Amon was his brother, and he also relayed his tragic past to the two of them. Following this revelation, he urged them to defeat Amon and "end this sad story." Because of the valuable information he relayed to Avatar Korra and Mako, Tarrlok effectively redeemed himself, ultimately becoming a valuable ally.

Team Avatar
"'Go! Amon can't know anyone spoke with me. Defeat him! Put an end to this sad story.' — Tarrlok urging Korra and Mako to defeat Amon in 'Endgame'."



Team Avatar was created when Mako, Asami, and Bolin cheered up Korra when she felt that she wasn't able to do her job as the Avatar. Tarrlok tried to have them arrested by the Metalbending Police Force, but the gang was too agile. They caught the escaped Equalists even before the police were able to. After hearing that Tarrlok was arresting non-benders, the gang went to the district to defend them. Enraged, Tarrlok arrested Asami for staying outside past curfew and the brothers for protecting Asami.

Days later, after winning the duel between he and Korra, Tarrlok brought Korra to his cabin, far away from Republic City, where he imprisoned her inside of a metal box. Korra tried to escape, but couldn't. After realizing that Tarrlok had been captured by Amon, Korra thought of a way to escape by using his orders to the Lieutenant to her advantage. She was able to release herself and ran outside where Naga was later able to find her and took her back to Republic City.

Following the Equalist conquest of Republic City, Korra and Mako ventured to Air Temple Island to confront Amon. When they arrived in the temple's attic where they planned to hide while they waited for Amon to return, they discovered an imprisoned Tarrlok. Tarrlok, who had since regretted his recent actions toward Korra as well as the rest of Team Avatar, sincerely apologized for his actions against them. He also went on to reveal to Korra and Mako that Amon was his brother, and he also relayed his tragic past to the two of them. Following this revelation, he urged them to defeat Amon and "end this sad story." Because of the valuable information he relayed to Avatar Korra and Mako, Tarrlok effectively redeemed himself, ultimately becoming a valuable ally not only to Korra and Mako, but to the rest of Team Avatar as well.

Lin Beifong
"'Chief Beifong was supposed to protect Republic City, but she was powerless to stop Amon's attack on the arena. She has failed us all. If we are to survive these dire times, our law enforcement needs new leadership.' — Tarrlok on Lin Beifong after the Attack on the Pro-bending Arena in 'The Aftermath'."

As the Council was about to cancel the Pro-bending Tournament Finals after Amon's threat on the arena, Chief Beifong interfered and convinced the Council to keep the arena open. She promised that the Metalbending Police Force would be able to protect the arena from any Equalist attack. Tarrlok then asked Lin if she would personally accept responsibility for anything that happened during the finals, to which she agreed. Tenzin then made a remark that Tarrlok did not have Lin's best interest in mind.

After failing to protect the Pro-bending Arena from the Equalists' attack, Councilman Tarrlok publicly stated that Chief Beifong had failed Republic City and that new leadership was needed. Sometime later, on the way to Hiroshi Sato's estate, after receiving a tip that he was manufacturing weapons for the Equalists, Lin realized that if they were wrong, she would lose her job as Chief of Police. After losing her men at the battle with Hiroshi Sato, Lin decided to resign as Chief of Police in order to retrieve them without the law restricting her.

Council page
"'That is nonsense! Everyone knows you're nothing but a squeaky-voiced liar!' — Tarrlok to the council page after the page revealed his secret in 'Out of the Past'."

Tarrlok first used the council page to deliver many gifts to Korra, such as a gift basket and a Satomobile, to convince Korra to join his task force, and later had the page give Korra her invitation to the gala held in her honor. One night, the page was by Tarrlok's side as he did paperwork when Korra busted in. Tarrlok advised the page to go home for the night, which the page did. When Tenzin and Lin Beifong were questioning Tarrlok about Korra's disappearance, the page appeared and revealed that Tarrlok kidnapped her, to which Tarrlok replied that he was "nothing but a squeaky-voiced liar." When asked why he waited to tell, the page announced that Tarrlok was a bloodbender, prompting Tarrlok to bloodbend everyone in the room and run away.

Tenzin
"'This is just another one of your ploys to gain power, isn't it?' — Tenzin accusing Tarrlok of having ulterior motives with his task force in 'The Voice in the Night'."



Tenzin worked with Tarrlok on the United Republic Council. The two were fierce rivals for the duration of their tenures, hardly ever agreeing on suggestions in the council meetings. Tenzin was especially displeased with Tarrlok's new law that would enforce a curfew for all non-benders.

After Tarrlok abducted Avatar Korra, it was Tenzin who discovered that it was not Equalists like Tarrlok had claimed, but Tarrlok himself who had taken her. Tenzin headed to City Hall and confronted Tarrlok with his crimes, who claimed innocence to all accusations. However, the council page finally confirmed the truth and revealed that Tarrlok was a bloodbender, leaving him no choice but to incapacitate everyone present and flee the scene.