Hiroshi Sato

"fire"

- These people... these benders... they took away your mother, the love of my life. They've ruined the world. But with Amon, we can fix it, and build a perfect world, together

Hiroshi Sato is a non-bending, barrel-chested businessman with a big personality. His family lineage extends back to the first Fire Nation colonists. His idea for the Satomobiles caused him to become the captain of industry in his era. During a police search of his secret factory, he revealed himself to be an Equalist, creating high-tech weaponry to fight against benders.

History
Hiroshi Sato was born to a poor family from the Dragon Flats district. A child with big dreams, he worked at a very young age shining shoes to help support his family. When he was eighteen, he convinced a wealthy businessman to invest in the idea of automobiles for the common man. Before long, he was producing Satomobiles in his first "Future Industries" factory. By the time he was twenty-five, the ingenious industrialist had made his first million yuans. Realizing that not everyone in Republic City could afford their own Satomobiles but needed transportation nonetheless, he created a taxi cab for the less-wealthy to get around in the city.

At some point, he married and had a daughter named Asami, but in 158 ASC, his wife was killed by a member of the Agni Kai Triad after the invasion and robbery of their mansion.

In 170 ASC, Asami brought Mako to Hiroshi's factory where he explained his humble beginnings, and then announced that he would sponsor the Fire Ferrets in the pro-bending tournament, provided they would bear the Future Industries logo on their uniforms. Hiroshi later attended a gala hosted by Councilman Tarrlok in honor of Avatar Korra. There, he saluted Korra, saying that everyone was expecting great things of her.

As the Fire Ferrets' sponsor, he and his daughter attended the Pro-bending Tournament final, which, along with the Equalists' ambush, they spectated from a private balcony. After the Equalists attacked the Pro-bending Arena, Hiroshi was asked to come to police headquarters to be questioned about what he witnessed during the attack. When he was done, Hiroshi was led out by Tenzin and Lin Beifong. Lin told him to come back if he remembered anything else. He accepted this statement, demanded the Equalists pay for their crimes, stopped to acknowledge Korra, and walked out.

While Korra visited his home, she overheard Hiroshi talking on the phone and began to suspect he was working with the Equalists. Lin and Tenzin interrogated visited him and communicated him their suspicion, to which Hiroshi excused saying it was all a misunderstanding and he was just talking about business and a opportunity to strike the market with a new line of Satomobiles, but at the obvious doubts of the benders, he offered his factory to be investigated. The Metalbending Police Force searched all of his warehouses but they were not able to find any evidence. After receiving a tip from a worker about Hiroshi being part of the Equalists by manufacturing their weapons and having an underground factory in his mansion, Korra, Tenzin, Lin, and some metalbending officers searched the house and found the place under his workshop. However, this was a trap by Hiroshi to ambush the benders, so he and some Equalists, using mecha tanks, attacked the group and eventually overpowered them. After his victory, he took Chief Beifong's metalbending officers captive and ordered them to be sent to Amon.



When Hiroshi spotted Mako and Bolin trying to save the now unconscious Lin, Tenzin, and Korra, he prepared to thwart them, but was confronted by his daughter, whom he tried to convince to join the Equalists, stating that his reason for being part of the revolt was to get revenge on all benders due to the death of his beloved wife, who had died at the hands of a firebender. Hiroshi offered Asami an electrified glove and asked her to join him and the other Equalists, who, after telling her father she loved him, took it to stun him, letting the benders and herself escape to safety.

Relatives

 * Asami Sato (daughter)
 * Unnamed wife (deceased)

Trivia

 * Hiroshi Sato's voice actor, Daniel Dae Kim, previously voiced Fong in the original series.
 * Hiroshi is a common Japanese male name, whose meaning of which changes depending on the Kanji used. Sato is the most common Japanese surname.
 * Hiroshi can be compared to Henry Ford, who was the first person to mass produce cars for the common man in America. However, similar to how Ford was a supporter of the Nazis, Sato is a supporter of the Equalists. He also has a large amount of control over his workers, as shown when he used one to lure the benders to his factory. Ford also had a large amount of control over his laborers.
 * Hiroshi strongly resembles former President Theodore Roosevelt and Yataro Iwasaki.