Tenzin

"air"

- I have done my best to guide Republic City toward the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy, but you are his legacy.

Tenzin, the youngest child of Avatar Aang and Katara, is the only living airbending master, and represents the Air Nomads on the United Republic Council. A calm and serious man, he carries a great responsibility on his shoulders to protect not only the next Avatar, but also Republic City according to his father's dreams. He resides on Air Temple Island, a secluded sanctuary constructed by his father, with his wife, Pema, and his four children, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan. Tenzin is very protective of his family and loved ones.

Background
As the first airbender to be born in over a hundred years, Tenzin was taught the traditions and customs of the Air Nomads by Aang, eventually acquiring the traditional Air Nomad arrow tattoos, symbolizing his status as an airbending master. He and Lin Beifong were friends since childhood, and were a couple for some time. During their slowly deteriorating relationship, Pema approached the airbender and confessed her feelings for him, starting their own. Tenzin and Pema eventually married, and had three confirmed airbending children with her; two daughters, Jinora and Ikki, and a son, Meelo, and a newborn son named Rohan. At some point in his life, Tenzin became a member of the United Republic Council as the representative of the Air Nation.

Training Avatar Korra
In 170 ASC, Avatar Korra moved in with him to start her airbending training. Initially, however, he refused to bring Korra to Republic City with him from the Southern Water Tribe. Despite this, Korra came to the city in pursuit of Tenzin. He later discovered she was detained by Lin Beifong, and proceeded to bail her out and allowed her to stay, after realizing Korra was what Republic City needed.



When Korra read about pro-bending, she was excited to go see a match, but Tenzin refused as he believed it to be a mockery of bending and would only serve as a distraction to her airbending training. He later theorized Korra's struggles to learn airbending were because the art was opposite of Korra's nature. They made their way to training, where Tenzin stated that Korra had to make her way through a series of spinning gates, instructing her to be free like a leaf. However, Korra failed several times, and subsequently also had difficulties with meditation. The situation only worsened when Korra continued to be unsuccessful at moving through the gates. When Korra destroyed these gates in frustration, he snapped at her, revealing the gates to be a two thousand-year-old relic. Korra snapped back that he was a bad teacher and stormed off from the scene.

Later, Tenzin discovered that Korra was at a pro-bending match through a radio broadcast. Angered, he went to the arena to retrieve her, but Korra again refused, stating she needed to learn modern fighting, but he stated back that she needed to learn airbending. During round three of the pro-bending match, Korra finally demonstrated airbending movements while dodging attacks from her opponents, rallying her team to win the match. This caught Tenzin's notice, and he even let out a slight cheer before calming himself realizing what he just did.

After the match, Korra returned to the island and apologized to Tenzin for her frustrations, while Tenzin apologized too, stating that while he was teaching her patience, he lost his in the process. The two then agreed that they had no hard feelings, but he was still left a bit angry when Korra told Tenzin that she was now a permanent team member of the Fire Ferrets and would compete in the Pro-bending Tournament in a couple of weeks.

After Korra returned from an Equalist rally and stated how Amon had succeeded in taking away someone's bending ability, Tenzin stated that "The Revolution is more dangerous than ever".

Tarrlok's task force


Realizing the threat Amon and the Equalists posed to everyone, Tenzin attended an important meeting with the United Republic Council, where a solution about the Equalist movement was going to be discussed. When Councilman Tarrlok proposed the formation of a task force to attack Amon head-on, Tenzin strongly opposed this, stating that such an aggressive action would only cause bigger problems between benders and non-benders. However, the airbender found himself outvoted by the remainder of the Council.

Later Tarrlok visited Air Temple Island. He interrupted Tenzin in the middle of the prayer for the family dinner. Tenzin found himself obligated to let him pass, much to his wife's irritation. At Korra's refusal to join Tarrlok's task force, he was surprised, and interrupted the Northern waterbender before he could insist and try to convince her to change her mind, saying that Korra had already made a decision. Noting Tarrlok's increasingly extravagant gifts, Tenzin approached Korra and informed her that he, although glad she had refused the offer, hoped she had done it for the right reasons and knew it was okay to be afraid. However, at Korra's silence, he assured her he would be there to talk about anything if she needed it.

During a gala Tarrlok threw in Korra's honor, an exasperated Tenzin had to deal with Meelo's antics, and, worriedly watched Korra's announcement to join the task force to the press. After Korra publicly challenged Amon to a duel, Tenzin flew to her location using a glider, trying to dissuade her, but without success. When Tenzin found her on Aang Memorial Island, he was concerned that Amon had taken her bending, but at Korra's denial, he was relieved and offered her comfort when she cried in fear of Amon.

The Anti-bending Revolution
After this encounter, Tenzin and the rest of the United Republic Council were threatened by Amon to shut down the Pro-bending Arena or face "severe consequences". Despite Tenzin's disapproval, the rest of the Council voted to keep the arena open. Tenzin accompanied Chief Lin Beifong as she and the Metalbending Police Force protected the arena from the Equalists.



Tenzin and Lin watched the match together, and he even protested a series of controversial calls made that allowed the White Falls Wolfbats to defeat the Fire Ferrets. After the match, the two were stunned and knocked unconscious by two Equalists with electrified gloves. After everyone was reunited safely, Tenzin tried to ease Lin's regrets of playing right into Amon's hands by suggesting that everyone was. He then declared that "Republic City [was] at war."

Later, Tenzin assisted Lin in her investigation of the arena attack, helping her interview the witnesses which included Hiroshi Sato and Tahno. Soon after, Korra overheard Hiroshi Sato while in his home saying that the Cabbage Corp investigation provided a decent distraction, and that he would "strike" soon; she immediately told Tenzin and Lin, who both agreed that Sato had the means and the motive to make weapons for the Equalists, so they decided to interrogate him again. Tenzin and Lin visited the Sato estate and after informing him of their suspicions, the businessman assured them that he had no ties with the Equalists, and he gave them permission to search all of Future Industries' factories.

While Tenzin and Lin were distracted after a search of Future Industries yielded no evidence, a worker slipped Korra a note to meet him beneath the Silk Road Bridge that night. The three arrived and the worker revealed that Sato was indeed manufacturing weapons in an hidden factory under his home.



Tenzin, Lin, Korra, and some metalbending officers investigated the mansion, finding the factory and Sato's mecha tanks. However, they soon discovered it was a trap, and Sato cornered the benders and began attacking them with the help of some Equalists. Along with the rest of the group, Tenzin was eventually overpowered and knocked out. Sato ordered his men to bring the benders to Amon to have their bending taken away; however, Mako and Bolin managed to sneak into the factory undetected, and began carrying the airbender, Korra, and Lin out. Sato cornered them before the brothers could escape, but he and the Lieutenant were suddenly attacked by Asami, allowing the group to escape the Sato estate via airship, but they were forced to leave behind Lin's officers.

As Lin began to recover from the attack, she told Tenzin she was resigning as chief of police in light of her recent failures. Tenzin told her she could not give up, but the chief explained her decision had been made with the objective of taking down Amon without the restraints of the law.

New Chief of Police


After Korra's friends moved into Air Temple Island, Tenzin took Korra to the police headquarters in order to attend the inauguration of the new police chief, Saikhan. During the ceremony, both Tenzin and Korra became concerned when Saikhan announced that he would be directly reporting to Tarrlok on all matter relating to the Equalists. After the ceremony, the airbender and the Avatar confronted Tarrlok, the former suspecting that he blackmailed Saikhan but Tarrlok brushed off his concerns. On the way back to the island, Tenzin spoke with Korra about her block in airbending and asked if she had any contact with her past lives, so Korra told him about the visions she had of Aang. He advised her to meditate on them, believing that Aang's spirit was trying to contact her.

Later on, Korra contacted Tenzin at the police headquarters to help get her friends out of jail after being wrongly arrested. After Saikhan turned them down by telling them to talk to Tarrlok, he decided to speak with Tarrlok in the morning. Before leaving, though, Tenzin agreed with Korra that Saikhan was the "worst Chief of Police ever!"

Finding Avatar Korra


Tenzin awoke with a phone call the next day, alerting him of a fight that went down at City Hall. Rushing over there, he learned that Korra had supposedly been kidnapped by the Equalists. Trying desperately to find her, he phoned every contact he had for a possible lead to her whereabouts, but was interrupted by Lin Beifong, who had broken Mako, Bolin, and Asami out of jail to help locate Korra. Together, they all set out to find her, and their search led them to an underground Equalist hideout. Confronting a chi blocker, they learned that Tarrlok had lied about the Equalist attack, making Tenzin realize that he was the one who was holding Korra captive.

Returning to City Hall, Tenzin called the other Council members and Chief Saikhan and accused Tarrlok of detaining Korra. Before Tenzin could apprehend him, however, the waterbender used his bloodbending skills to overpower Tenzin and the others and subdue them into semi-consciousness. Being roughly awoken some time later by Lin, he and the others resumed their search for Korra, patrolling the city from up above using Oogi. They found Korra when they heard Naga howl. Tenzin and Lin rushed to her side to inquire where Tarrlok was, but were pushed aside by Mako who demanded that they gave her "some space".

Attack on Republic City
After Korra was found to be safe and sound, Team Avatar, Lin, and Tenzin returned to Air Temple Island to enjoy dinner from Pema. During the meal, Tenzin asked Korra to relate the events of her captivity by Tarrlok, learning that the former Councilman was Yakone's son and that Amon had appeared "out of nowhere" to take away Tarrlok's bending, subsequently capturing him, to which the airbender said that Amon was becoming emboldened and was entering his "endgame".



Before heading to City Hall to a council meeting, Tenzin left Lin in charge of protecting his family in the island. Once there, he was attacked by Equalists in the building's roof, but he could defeat them by performing an air spout. Tenzin then met the Council page, who informed him about the abduction of the other members of the Council. The two then observed several Equalists airships coming to the city and throwing bombs at different sectors. The Councilman quickly went to the police headquarters to plan a counter-attack with Saikhan. Being that the police force was spread too thin, Tenzin ordered a dispatch to be sent to the United Forces to send aid to the city; however, he was forced to escape from a gas attack in the building with the chief and some officers by creating a bubble of air to shelter. When they went outside, the group was ambushed by mecha tanks and, despite his best attempts to fend them off, Tenzin and the others were soon overpowered, but the airbender was saved by Team Avatar, who arrived at the scene in time. However, this victory was short-lived after they noticed an Equalist airship in the distance preparing to attack Air Temple Island.

Tenzin returned to the island to find the Equalist attackers defeated by his children and Lin. He then rushed to Pema, who had just given birth to their second son, Rohan, but the tender moment did not last as Tenzin and his family were forced to flee from Republic City in order to preserve the airbending race. He also advised Team Avatar to go into hiding until the United Forces arrive to turn the tide of the war. As they attempted to escape on Oogi with Lin, two of the Equalist airships began to pursue them. Using her metal cables, Lin shot down a net and grabbed a rope connected to the ship, successfully taking one of them down, but being captured while attempting to take out the second. Meelo declared that "that lady is [his] hero", a statement to which Tenzin solemnly agreed.

Capture and release


Despite Lin's sacrifice, Equalists managed capturing Tenzin and his family. During an Equalist rally in the Pro-bending Arena, Amon revealed Tenzin and his children, announcing the world's riddance of airbending. Korra and Mako, who had attended the rally to expose Amon as a bender, intervened. Mako attacked Amon and his Equalists while Korra freed Tenzin and his children, asking about Pema, the baby, and Lin. Tenzin told her that Pema and the baby were in prison, and he had no idea on Lin's whereabouts. While Korra moved on to free his children, Tenzin assisted Mako in overpowering Amon and his Equalists. Tenzin and his children went on to save Pema and Rohan while Korra and Mako created a distraction.

After the Amon's defeat, Tenzin and his family along with Lin and Team Avatar, reunited at the harbor of Air Temple Island. When the United Forces back-up fleet arrived, the captain was Tenzin's brother, Bumi. The kids were excited about their uncle's visit, but Tenzin was less than enthusiastic to meet him.

Avatar Korra
Tenzin and his family were among the many people in a small Southern Water Tribe home, anxious to find out if his mother, Katara, could heal Korra. Katara came out from the back room, announcing that nothing was working and she could not restore Korra's powers. Tenzin wanted to comfort Korra when she came out from the back room, but Korra took off on Naga. Mako tried to follow her but Tenzin restrained him saying that she needed time to come to terms with what had happened to her. Korra went to a cliff and cried her heart out, sitting on the ground, her head buried in her arms. In the background, a person wearing Air Nomad attire walked up. Korra mistook them as Tenzin, but when she looked up she saw it was Aang. Aang proceeded to restore her ability to bend. After Korra got her bending abilities back, she was also able to give bending abilities back to those who had had their bending removed. When she gave Lin her earthbending back by using energybending, Tenzin, who had been in awe watching her, walked up the steps and told her "I am so proud of you, Avatar Korra."

Six months after the revolution, Tenzin overhears Ikki telling Korra that using the Avatar State to win a race is unfair. Tenzin is alarmed by what he heard and walks over and chastises Korra for using the Avatar State "as a booster rocket" and how she is using it irresponsibly.

Personality


Tenzin is far more calm and stern in demeanor than his father; however, he does have a sense of humor at times. He always tries to be a calm person, an attempt that is sometimes thwarted by his "crazy" children. Similarly, his mother describes him as having a serious personality since childhood compared to his own siblings. He finds his patience severely tested with the arrival of the impetuous Korra. He works hard to transmit the Air Nomad teachings and culture, while taking his leadership role in Republic City very seriously. He does embody the Air Nomad nature of being peaceful and calm, but can sometimes be riled when around his children or toward Korra due to their differing perspectives. Tenzin is a very staunch traditionalist, and at times can come across as rather inflexible and stubborn. This also shows in his disdain for pro-bending, which he considers violent, irrelevant, and a perversion to more traditional forms of bending. However, after Korra joined the Fire Ferrets, he brushed up on the rules of the game and seems well versed in the sport and less antagonistic to it than before. By doing this, he shows that he is willing to show a liking in the interests of those close to him.

Airbending


As the only airbender among Aang's three children, he has been trained extensively in all of his father's airbending knowledge and prowess. After his father's passing, he became the only airbending master in the world. Ensuring that the technique's teachings would live on, Tenzin has since been passing on the art to his airbending children and the current Avatar, Korra. While a pacifist like his father, Tenzin has made his combat prowess evident during the first confrontation with the Equalists' mecha tanks, exhibiting air blasts that were powerful enough to knock his opponent backward and displaying a previously unseen variant of Aang's air scooter technique - a "wheel" of air which not only allowed him to evade attacks but was powerful enough to deflect the claws of the mecha tanks. He is also able to use a glider by bending the air around it. Tenzin is also capable of creating extremely powerful tornadoes that are strong enough to throw the mecha tanks in the air. Tenzin is also the first person known to land a solid blow on Amon, sending him and some of his men flying away with an airbending kick.

Other skills
Despite being middle-aged, Tenzin is shown to be a highly nimble and evasive fighter. When the Equalists launched a sneak attack to capture him, he effortlessly dodged their initial assault with no wasted movement. Even when his hands were bound, he was able to calmly dodge all of a chi blocker's short-range attacks.

Appearances
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Book One: Air (气)
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Trivia

 * Tenzin is an extremely common Tibetan name meaning "defender of the faith" or more applicably, "upholder of the teachings". This could refer to his position as the last airbending master after his father died, and that he must also defend his bending art against extinction. Its popularity derives from the fact that it is the first name of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, who also served as the inspiration for Monk Gyatso.
 * It is interesting to note that Tenzin learned airbending from his father, Avatar Aang, and that Avatar Korra, Aang's reincarnation, sought out his tutelage to learn the art of airbending, meaning that, in a way, Tenzin is passing on his father's teachings back to him.
 * Tenzin is the first airbender to be born after the Air Nomad Genocide and he is the first airbender known to be born to a waterbender.
 * Tenzin is generally seen wearing the same attire his father, Aang, did in his adulthood.
 * Unlike his older siblings, Tenzin is the only one not to be named after somebody close to his parents.