Hotah

Judge Hotah is a Water Tribe jurist who has worked with Chief Unalaq for years. His corrupt judgments were scripted according to his leader's request.

History
As a trusted ally of Unalaq, Judge Hotah was appointed by the chief in 171 ASC to be the sole judge in the treason trial against Tonraq, Senna, and Varrick's rebels. He first listened to Unalaq's testimony of what had happened to him before verifying it with a cross-examination from Korra. However, his curt questioning left no room for the Avatar to further elaborate on the case, thus painting a tainted picture of the events. During his questioning, Judge Hotah was interrupted several times by Bolin, whom he sternly told to sit down and stay out of it. After having heard what he needed from Korra, he retreated to make a decision. When he came back, condemned all but Senna to death for the crime of treason. As he was leaving, Korra angrily threatened to kill him if he let her father's sentence stand. Unalaq stepped forward, asking him to show mercy on the men and reconsider the sentence. Hotah complied and changed the punishment to life imprisonment.



Later, Hotah was driving away from the city in his Satomobile when he noticed he was being chased by the Avatar and her polar bear dog. In an attempt to escape them, he floored his gas, but Naga caught up with him and caused him to lose control of his vehicle. After he was forcefully pulled out of the car by Korra, he demanded to know what she wanted. He cowered slightly away from the angrily growling polar bear dog, explaining to Korra that he could not let her father out of prison as he was merely following Unalaq's orders. Realizing he had already said too much, he attempted to keep quiet, but when Korra terrorized him further by positioning his head between Naga's teeth, his resistance broke down. He confided to her that he had been a corrupt judge for years and that the entire trial had been staged. His job was to make it look as if Tonraq and the others had been tried fairly in order to keep Korra on Unalaq's side while still getting Tonraq out of the way. He also blurted out that Unalaq was responsible for Tonraq's banishment twenty years prior. After he had told Korra everything she wanted to know, she took off to free her father and confront her uncle.

Personality
Hotah was cowardly and corrupt, at least when it came to his job. Easily manipulated, Hotah bent to the will of Unalaq for years by his compliance with staged and biased court rulings. In the end, he even betrayed this trust under fear of death, showing further lack of commitment to his profession and disregard for the court system's intents.