Zaheer

"air"

- It's the dawning of a new age, the end of the White Lotus, and soon, the end of the Avatar.

Zaheer is the leader of the Red Lotus who escaped the custody of the Order of the White Lotus in 171 AG after becoming an airbender. He believes strongly in the foundation of a new world, ruled by chaos, without the Order of the White Lotus, the four nations, or the Avatar. He was in a romantic relationship with P'Li until her death. Of their group of four, he is the only survivor after their fight with Team Avatar when they tried to end the Avatar Cycle by killing Avatar Korra in the Avatar State. He is also the only living airbender since Guru Laghima to unlock the secret of entering the void.

Joining the Red Lotus and initial kidnapping attempt
Zaheer joined the Red Lotus as a teenager and learned about Raava, Vaatu, and Avatar Wan's decision to separate them, which he believed disrupted the world's balance. During his youth, he met a young firebender named P'Li, whom he saved from the clutches of a warlord intending to make her his personal assassin. Following this, Zaheer convinced P'Li to join the ranks of the Red Lotus. In 158 AG, Unalaq, a fellow Red Lotus member, devised a plan to kidnap Korra, something Zaheer supported, as they planned to use her to re-open the spirit portals and free Vaatu, while training her in bending and the ways of the Red Lotus. Although Unalaq did not go through with the mission and remained undiscovered, Zaheer, Ghazan, P'Li, and Ming-Hua went on with his plan, though were defeated and imprisoned by Tenzin, Tonraq, Zuko, and Sokka. Although they were subjected to relentless interrogation, Zaheer and his associates refused to speak of their motives at any point.

Escape from prison


Following Harmonic Convergence, Zaheer discovered he had become an airbender just when he started to lose hope. Two weeks after Harmonic Convergence ended, he took advantage of his newfound abilities and waited to attempt his escape until his guards came to bring him his bowl of rice. With the metal covering of his cell door open, he was ordered to face the wall with his hands upon his head. As his food was being placed in his cell through an opening in the bars, Zaheer recited one of Laghima's poem verses and after explaining the meaning of the writing, he used his airbending to pull one guard against the cell bars, where he restrained him, effectively preventing the others from attacking lest they killed that guard. He open his cell door with the keys taken from the guard's waist and used his airbending to defeat and jail all of the other guards. Zaheer cautioned them to ration the bowl of rice they had brought him, as the next shift change was three weeks away, and announced the dawn of a new age, where there would be no Order of the White Lotus or Avatar. Using his airbending skills, he swiftly made his way down the mountain, seeking to liberate his incarcerated comrades.

Releasing his friends


Zaheer managed to disguise himself as a White Lotus member and stole a speedboat to Ghazan's prison. There, he fought off White Lotus sentries and supplied his friend with a few rocks to help him escape. After Ghazan used his lavabending to release himself from his cell and dispatched the remaining guards, the two friends heartily greeted each other. Upon asked how he became an airbender, Zaheer explained that he believed it was a gift, bestowed upon him after Harmonic Convergence, to indicate that their path was the righteous one. Afterward, the duo journeyed to the volcano in which Ming-Hua's prison was located, intent on freeing her. Once they were within range of the waterbender's cage, Zaheer sliced the barrel of water that Ghazan had thrown in the air in half, enabling Ming-Hua to utilize it to escape. After the threesome took care of the remaining sentries, Zaheer announced that they would head to the Northern Water Tribe in order to free P'Li.

As they neared P'Li's prison, Zaheer created a snow storm to mask their approach before engaging in battle with Tonraq. The new airbender evaded all of the chief's attacks, before knocking him down with an air blast. After P'Li was freed by Ming-Hua, the four criminals made a clean getaway. Happy to see each other again, Zaheer and P'Li hugged, the airbender saying he never doubted he would see her again, before sharing a kiss.

Tracking the Avatar


Following the escape, Zaheer shaved his head and facial hair and made his way to Air Temple Island under the pseudonym "Yorru". He explained to Ikki and Meelo that he had heard about the island being a sanctuary for airbenders, demonstrating his newly discovered abilities by creating a small tornado in his hand.

Zaheer subsequently joined the airbending training with Meelo at the spinning gates, where he passed through them with ease, surprising everyone. Earning the compliment of being a leaf from Meelo, Zaheer returned the courtesy by bowing respectfully toward the child, saying that a student was only as good as his master. When Kya announced that they would leave the following day to join Tenzin at the Northern Air Temple, Zaheer asked if the Avatar was with him. Learning she had split from Tenzin, he took the news as "unfortunate", as he had been "looking forward to meeting her".



That night, Zaheer wandered into Tenzin's study, where he found a locket containing a poem written by Guru Laghima. He was interrupted by Ikki, who stated that no one but her father was allowed in the study. Zaheer apologized, stating he could not sleep, and when asked by the young airbender what he was reading, he explained that it was a poem of Laghima, whom he credited as the wisest airbender to have ever lived. Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Kya, who told her niece to go back to bed, before questioning Zaheer about his knowledge of airbending history. He replied that he had always admired the culture, though was eventually recognized for whom he was and subsequently attacked.

Zaheer grabbed an airbender staff and used it to shatter the ice bullets aimed at him before bending himself out of the window and gliding away. His escape was short lived, however, as Kya managed to catch him with a water tentacle and slam him down in the temple's pond. Recovering, Zaheer managed to avoid being frozen and blasted Kya back, though before he could escape, two firebending White Lotus sentries arrived. By the time he had done away with them, Kya was back on her feet attacked him with spirals of water. Ducking away, the airbender retaliated with a strong current of air, knocking Kya out cold against a wall, and escaped on the glider.



Zaheer regrouped with the Red Lotus at a vine-covered apartment in Republic City, hiding from the Metalbending Police Force. When asked by Ghazan if he wanted to try to take out President Raiko, Zaheer stated they would deal with him later as they were leaving the city. Hijacking a truck and forcing the driver to smuggle them out of the city, they made it as far as at a security checkpoint on Kyoshi Bridge, where they were discovered after their driver ran away. As one of the police officers turned the handle on the back doors of the vehicle, Zaheer blasted them open to keep the police back, while Ming-Hua drove away, with Ghazan and P'Li taking care of their pursuers. Taking refuge in a forest, Zaheer meditated and determined that the Avatar was with the Metal Clan in Zaofu.

Attempt to kidnap Korra


Zaheer and his gang traveled to the metal city and, with the help of Aiwei, were able to enter Suyin Beifong's estate without being noticed. Having cut an opening in the window to Korra's room, they were caught by Naga, who tried to attack. Although Ming-Hua bent three shirshu-spit darts into the polar bear dog to quiet her, Korra awoke to the sound of Naga falling and attacked, prompting Zaheer to quickly bend another paralyzing dart at her as well. With the Avatar in tow, the group began to escape, but ended up boxed in by metal plates in the estate's courtyard after Mako and Bolin alerted the Metal Clan to their presence. After Ghazan created a lava moat, melting the plates and creating a distance between the two groups, Zaheer attempted to use the smoke coming from the moat to create some cover by spinning his staff over his head. However, this motion enabled one of the guards to reel him in with a metal cable. Although he managed to free himself, he was forced to take on two metalbenders. When he noticed that Suyin and Lin Beifong had managed to save Korra, he attempted to pursue, though found himself grounded after Suyin pierced the wings of his glider with four metal arrows. Landing near his friends, he angrily declared their mission a failure and used the smoke to cover their retreat.

Explaining his motives
Zaheer and his companions made camp in a cave located at the outskirts of the Misty Palms Oasis, where he meditated into the Spirit World at sundown to meet Aiwei at Xai Bau's Grove. He blamed the truth seer for the Red Lotus' failure at Zaofu and the fact that they had now been compromised. Although Aiwei assured him that all incriminating evidence had been destroyed, Zaheer labeled Aiwei to be a loose end himself. As he grabbed him, Zaheer noticed Korra's presence, though before the Avatar could do something, the airbender teleported to the Fog of Lost Souls, where he condemned the truth seer to an eternity in the mental prison. Returning to Xai Bau's Grove, he learned that Korra had tracked him down by following Aiwei and offered her a chance to talk and find some answers. He revealed that he and his companions were members of the Red Lotus and told the Avatar of the organization's origin and purpose. Meanwhile in the physical world, he secretly revealed Korra's location at the Misty Palms Inn to his associates, who were guarding his body.



In the Spirit World, Zaheer kept the conversation with Korra going by elaborating on Unalaq's idea to kidnap her as a child, which was meant to bring balance to the world as she would have been used to re-open the spirit portals and release Vaatu. Rebuffing Korra's statement that they had different ideas of balance, Zaheer suggested that opening the spirit portals should only be the beginning, as the idea of separating the world in nations and governments was as foolish as separating the human from the spirit realm. He pointed out that she had already had to deal with a "moronic president" and a "tyrannical queen" and reminded the doubtful Avatar that it had been the Fire Lord's ambition for world dominance that had led to the Air Nomad Genocide. Stating the natural order to be disorder, he believed that true freedom could only be achieved when oppressive governments were dismantled and cited another one of Guru Laghima's sayings to emphasize his point: "New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old." Zaheer went on to explain he had begun to lose hope during his imprisonment, though when he had discovered his airbending abilities, he was strengthened in his belief that he was the one who could usher in the new era. He warned Korra that once change began, it could not be stopped. At her request to know what would happen if she was captured, he merely told her she would have her answer soon enough, assuming his accomplices to have captured her body by that point, and vanished.

Upon his return to the physical world, Zaheer was informed by Ming-Hua and Ghazan that Earth Queen Hou-Ting's army had gotten to the Avatar first, though that they had managed to capture Mako and Bolin. Zaheer instructed them to load the brothers in the truck, telling them they were going to Ba Sing Se.

Toppling the Earth Queen


Arriving at Ba Sing Se, Zaheer ordered Ghazan to gag Mako and Bolin. Upon gaining an audience with Earth Queen Hou-Ting, Zaheer assured her they wanted no bounty and that the brothers were merely a "thank you" gift for her taking time to talk to them. Zaheer used the location of the "stolen" airbenders as a bargaining chip to trade with the Queen for Korra, as he reasoned that that if she were to imprison the Avatar, she would invoke the wrath of the other nations, whereas if she handed Korra over to him, no one needed to know and she would still be rid of the Avatar while being able to get her airbenders back with no interference. With a deal having been reached, the four were escorted to an antechamber by Grand Secretariat Gun.

As the group relaxed, Zaheer noticed a Dai Li agent moving rapidly toward the queen's throne room. Intrigued, he used his airbending to secretly follow him and he overheard the agent telling Hou-Ting that the airship transporting Korra had crashed in the Si Wong Desert. Relaying the information to the others upon his return, it became clear that they would not be able to get to Korra before the Queen and Zaheer decided that he was through chasing her, declaring that it was time to make Korra come to them.



Zaheer blasted open the doors to the throne room and told the queen of their disappointment regarding the news on Korra. Deeming their eavesdropping actions to be punishable with imprisonment, the Red Lotus was offered the chance to evade arrest if they would give up the location of the airbenders. When Zaheer warned her that was not the deal, a fight ensued between them and the Dai Li, who were ordered to imprison them all. After the group easily defeated the earthbenders, Zaheer confronted the now defenseless queen. Stating he did not believe in queens, he used his airbending to pull the air from her lungs. While suffocating her in a sphere devoid of air, he told her that freedom was not something she could give or take on a whim, but that is was just as essential as air to her people and that without it, there was no life, only darkness. He emphasized his words by bending her breath away from her, ending her life.



With the queen murdered, Zaheer, Ming-Hua, and P'Li went to the city's radio control room, asking the operator how he could make an announcement to the city. As the man did not immediately cooperate, Ming-Hua grabbed him with a water tendril, prompting Zaheer to tell her to let go, as their goal was to help citizens like him. After the operator turned on the radio, Zaheer told the citizens that he and other revolutionaries had brought down the queen. Without revealing his identity, he simply told the people he was returning the city in their hands, as he believed they had no need for leaders telling them what to do and were free to find their own path.

Afterward, Zaheer ventured to the prison underneath the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace and released all the prisoners, save for Mako and Bolin. After dodging a fire blast from Mako, he threw the brothers back with airbending and implored them to listen to him. He calmly explained he was releasing them so they could relay a message from him to Korra.

Threatening the Air Nation


Zaheer and his associates arrived to the Northern Air Temple on a Ba Sing Se airship. He jumped down onto a walkway and intercepted Tenzin and his family as the rest of the Red Lotus gathered the temple's occupants into a courtyard. There, Zaheer expressed his pleasure to meet a "true airbending master" and told the group he wanted nothing, saying if they cooperated, everyone would escape unharmed. Asked by Tenzin why he came, the airbender stated he wanted Korra and had enough of the chase for her, telling Tenzin he would be using the airbenders for leverage. He also told him he had no choice, but, along with Ghazan and Ming-Hua, was promptly attacked by the master.

Zaheer recovered and dueled with Tenzin. The criminal was forced to rapidly scale the temple's walls as he was continuously attacked. Zaheer tried to counter, but his foe merely broke up his attacks, continuing to force him on the defensive as they climbed to a walkway ledge. At one point, Zaheer was knocked down but recovered, and jumped over Tenzin, nearly attacking him from behind. Tenzin again blocked the attack and soon knocked Zaheer down a second time. Just as the Red Lotus leader was about to be finished off, however, his associates swarmed in, with P'Li knocking Tenzin down from the ledge with a combustion beam and back into the courtyard. With the help of his friends, Zaheer gained the upper hand, though was briefly knocked down again by an air blast. After P'Li blasted Tenzin into a wall, Zaheer, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua surrounded him; the criminal airbender told his foe to give up. With the master refusing to yield, Zaheer dodged a quick air blast and countered. After this did not work, the three Red Lotus members began a relentless barrage on Tenzin.

Capturing Korra
In the Northern Air Temple's radio room, Zaheer was informed by Korra that she would agree to his terms. Wanting to sustain leverage, he told her to meet her at Laghima's Peak at noon on her own; once she was in his captivity, he would release the airbenders. Afterward, he made his way to a small room with a statue of Laghima in it, reciting the guru's writing about letting go a tether and entering the void. He was approached by P'Li, who told him the airbenders were secured. Zaheer thanked his girlfriend and told her he thought about her every day in prison. Afterward, she thanked him for freeing her and showing her true freedom. The airbender assured her the whole world would soon know as such and the two expressed their love, sharing a kiss.



Zaheer and P'Li went to the top of Laghima's Peak; upon Korra's arrival, the airbender demanded she drop her airbender staff and surrender, threatening to come after her if she refused. He was told to tell Ghazan to let the airbenders go first, but he told her it was not a negotiation and she would have to do what he said. With the Avatar still hesitant, Zaheer radioed Ghazan to wipe the airbenders out, but promptly told him to stand down when Korra decided to surrender. He told his associate they had Korra secure before he and P'Li led her to their airship. Before they got there, Korra found out the Red Lotus had double-crossed Team Avatar and Zaheer was attacked with air, fire, and earth. He dodged the attacks and threw her down with two blades of air, taking her to the airship while P'Li dealt with the approaching Lin, Suyin, and Metal Clan guards. Just as he began walking up the ramp, however, Tonraq arrived and attacked with water tendrils. While dodging, Zaheer threw the Avatar aside, briefly sending her off the cliff, but she was saved by Tonraq, forcing the criminal to have to deal with both benders.



Zaheer warded off Korra and Tonraq's strikes with both his bending and agility, barely escaping defeat when he was knocked down by a small line of earth by Korra but dodging out of the way of a blade of ice used by Tonraq. He spun up a tornado and threw the Avatar's father off a cliff. Soon after, however, P'Li was killed by Suyin, stunning the airbender and leaving him vulnerable to attack. He jumped around Korra's blasts, however, and knocked her out with a blade of air. With nowhere to go, however, and surrounded by the metalbenders, he again recited Laghima's poem about letting go of one's earthly tether, with his last earthly attachment, P'Li, dead, and slipped from the cliff's edge, able to take flight and escape his foes. By losing love, he entered the void, and achieved weightlessness.



The criminal took Korra to a Red Lotus prison and returned to his allies, telling them how he had achieved flight: letting go of his tethers and entering the void. He also told an inquiring Ming-Hua that P'Li had given herself up for their cause and her sacrifice would not be in vain. Checking up on Korra, he told the angered Avatar he understood her grief over losing her father, since he had lost a loved one himself before telling a Red Lotus guard to bring out a poisonous substance. The airbender told her the poison would trigger the Avatar State before he and his associates would kill her, ending the Avatar Cycle, saying it would bring on a world where man was allied only with himself and loved ones and in natural order without borders nor an Avatar.

Final battle
After telling a guard to administer the poison, Zaheer told his associates to prepare to take her out upon her entering the Avatar State, telling Ghazan she could not resist for long. He soon realized the poison was working as her resistance weakened, watching as the state fully activated. At that moment, Zaheer told his allies to attack, but Korra used her enhanced strength to get out of her bonds and counter. After dodging powerful blasts of earth and fire, Zaheer flew away, but was aggressively pursued by the Avatar.



Upon being charged at, Zaheer threw Korra to a stone pillar, but she managed to slide down it and continue attacking. Flying around the mountain, the agile criminal dodged several rocks and fire blasts before countering with three air whips, knocking his foe to the ground once again. He promptly flew at her and threw her further down a cliffside. However, Korra recovered and the airbender was soon targeted with a large boulder, which he quickly dodged. His ankle was promptly frozen in place by a water whip, causing him to descend rapidly. However, when she proved too physically weakened to land the decisive blow and landed on a cliffside, he used an air punch to shatter the ice and fly to Korra, telling her she could not fight him and the poison. Zaheer soon knocked her further down the cliff with two close-range air blasts and onto a stone pillar.



Declaring the poison did its work, the criminal surrounded her in air and began to suffocate her in a ball of air. At that moment, however, the freed airbenders raised a tornado to their location. He released Korra and grabbed her, attempting to fly away. The tornado ensnared them and he was unable to maintain his grip on her. Zaheer tried to escape, but was grabbed by one of Korra's chains and thrown to the ground. He was detained by Lin and Suyin in an earthen prison, but seeing Korra unable to awaken, laughed and declared the Red Lotus had won. His joy turned to shock, however, when Suyin used her metalbending to remove the metallic poison from within the Avatar. The airbender protested that the Avatar's allies were halting the beginning of the revolution and chaos as the natural order, but was silenced when Bolin stuck a sock in his mouth. He was subsequently returned to prison.

Although imprisoned, Zaheer remained on Korra's mind, as for three years after his encounter with her, the young Avatar kept seeing visions of the Red Lotus leader trying to kill her.

Personality


Zaheer is a staunch anarchist who sees chaos as the only order. He is willing to destroy anyone who stands against him and resort to extreme measures against any government. He shows no desire to needlessly attack others who pose no threat to him or his ideals, as demonstrated by the fact he told Ming-Hua to release the radio operator in Ba Sing Se. At the same time, he genuinely cares for the people he trusts, such as P'Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua, whom he treats as equals even though he is their leader. Zaheer's affection for P'Li was of such magnitude that she was his last earthly tether and it was only after her death that he was able to fly. However, his more caring nature does not prevent him from doing away with those whom he deems a liability for his goals, as exemplified when he condemned Aiwei's spirit to roam the Fog of Lost Souls for eternity.

He is clever and innovative, able to plan quickly and efficiently, as well as charming and charismatic when he needed to be, enabling him to sweet talk his way into homes or strike deals with people. He is intelligent and patient, though he is also capable of ruthless violence, as demonstrated by his murder of Hou-Ting and attempted murders of Tonraq and Korra. Although generally composed, he can lose his temper in complete defeat, as evidenced when he started to rant upon witnessing Korra's salvation.

Though he does not care for the idea of nations, Zaheer has an affinity for the Air Nomads' philosophy and mindset, save for their pacifistic nature. When he gained airbending, he took it as a sign that their path was a "righteous one" and used his knowledge of Air Nomad culture to quickly develop his new skills.

Blaming governments to be the cause of the greatest imbalance in the world, Zaheer holds the belief that disorder is the only true order, a philosophy that promotes chaos and pandemonium as the true attributes of freedom and individuality.

Airbending


Despite only having airbending abilities for a short time and being self-taught, Zaheer already possesses a high proficiency in the art, creating large air currents capable of knocking people off balance, as well as increase his agility to evade attacks, enabling him to take on multiple benders at a time. Although he is not as powerful as a full-fledged master like Tenzin, he was proficient enough in combat to more or less hold his own against the more experienced airbender, though he needed the assistance of his companions to defeat the master. He is also capable of using a glider, both in combat and as a means of transportation despite having no training in using one. He can take on multiple opponents at once and, since he is not a pacifist like most airbenders, he also uses his airbending in a more offensive and even lethal manner, such as pulling the air out of Hou-Ting's lungs and suffocating her.

Flight


During a battle to rescue Korra from the Red Lotus, Zaheer developed the ability of flight through the teachings of Guru Laghima, becoming the first airbender in four thousand years to do so. As a result of P'Li's death at the hands of Suyin, Zaheer let go of his final earthly tether and jumped off the mountain, with Korra over his shoulder, flying off toward the stolen airship acquired by Ming-Hua and Ghazan. Zaheer has demonstrated that the power of flight allows for fast and agile movements, being able to out-speed an injured Korra while she was in the Avatar State, and performing airbending attacks whilst airborne.

Other skills
Prior to obtaining airbending, Zaheer was a master in several forms of martial arts and had extensive combat experience. He was deemed dangerous enough to be detained in an isolated prison similar to his bending cohorts and had to turn his back to the cell doors with his hands behind his head while receiving food. Zaheer is remarkably agile and acrobatic, able to do quick cartwheels despite being incarcerated for thirteen years.

Zaheer is also well-versed in Air Nomad philosophy and history, mainly teachings of the legendary airbender, Guru Laghima, whom he holds in high regard. Through meditation, Zaheer can enter the Spirit World and freely teleport himself and others to various places in that realm. While his soul is in the Spirit World, he can still communicate with his body in the physical world.

He is also proficient in the art of public speaking, capable of swaying the public opinion to support his goals, as he demonstrated in his speech to the people of Ba Sing Se.

Appearances
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Book Four: Balance (平衡)
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Trivia

 * Zaheer is a common name in Asia and the Middle East that is inspired by the Islamic concept of Quran interpretation, which can be divided into its "apparent meaning" or zahir (ظاهر‎, pronounced za-heer) and its "inner meaning" or batin (باطن, pronounced ba-teen). Prior to Zaheer's escape from his prison, he explained to a White Lotus sentry a similar concept in interpreting the poetry of Guru Laghima, with zahir relating to "what you see" and batin relating to the "truth within the myth". Zahir is associated with Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, Swahili, and Turkish languages.
 * The name Zaheer is also similar to the Turkish word "zehir", which is a direct translation for the word "poison", relating to how he used poison in an attempt to kill Korra.
 * Zaheer is one of three known adults seen using a glider, the others being Tenzin and Roku's airbending master.
 * Zaheer has cauliflower ear from a career of fighting.
 * Zaheer is the second known person to have committed regicide, the first being Ozai.
 * Zaheer is the first main villain to have once been a nonbender as well as the first to be an air bender.
 * He is also the first main villain to not be a water bender or of Water Tribe descent.