Bolin

"earth"

- Maybe I just can't turn my back on people when they're down!

Bolin is an earthbender from a multicultural family who grew up on the streets of Republic City under the protection of his older brother, Mako, after their parents were murdered when they were very young. Eventually, he and his brother founded a pro-bending team, the Fire Ferrets, that would eventually include Avatar Korra. After the Pro-bending Tournament ended, Bolin joined Team Avatar in an attempt to disband the Equalist organization.

Early life
Bolin was born to a multicultural family in Republic City; his father being from the Earth Kingdom and his mother from the Fire Nation, two years after Mako. However, at the young age of six, he lost his parents to a firebender mugger, leaving Mako as his only family. To survive, Bolin was heavily dependent upon his brother, who as the oldest, took on a parental role. To generate some form of income, the brothers initially ran small-time scams on the streets of Republic City during their youth and, for a time, also consorted with the Triple Threat Triad.



One day in 167 ASC, during Bolin's involvement with the Triple Threat Triad, the fourteen-year-old earthbender and his brother attempted to pull off a scam on an elderly woman. After Mako snatched the lady's purse, Bolin posed as rescuer and retrieved the item after pretending to fight for it with his brother. The woman gave him only two yuans, infuriating Bolin and prompting him to steal a loaf of bread from her as well. He returned to Mako with the bread and gave some to him, attesting that it tasted better than what they had consumed the day before, even though they had not eaten anything that day.

Later that evening, Bolin went to the Triple Threat Triad headquarters with his brother and saw Shady Shin bribe Toza, a pro-bender. When Bolin expressed his disappointment about seeing Toza act this way, Mako became upset, believing Toza should be happy about receiving the bribe. Afterward, Shin told them that if they did not acquire enough bets to recover the ten thousand yuans given to Toza, he would abandon Bolin and Mako on the streets, after which the two brothers speedily departed.

As the brothers collected bets for the match at a local pet shop, they found that a fire ferret was trying to escape. It ran onto Bolin's head but was quickly reeled in by its owner, Mr. Feng, who thanked the earthbender for catching him. The owner told Bolin that the ferret would be fed to his pythonaconda, much to Bolin's dismay. He asked Mako if they could buy him for five yuans, but the firebender denied the request because they could not afford to feed him, and that Bolin needed to realize that larger animals consumed those smaller than them. While his older brother collected the owner's bet, Bolin noticed Toza signing autographs. He walked up to the pro-bender, who quickly recognized him as one of the Triple Threat's workers. Bolin tried to tell Toza that he did not need to throw the match because "he [was] the best", but Toza brushed him off, remarking that he was no longer an apt competitor, and that he needed the money. The earthbender sadly watched his idol walk away before Mako chastised him. Bolin angrily responded that he was not as mean as his brother, and could not turn his back on those who were down.



That night, Bolin broke into the pet store in an attempt to rescue the fire ferret. He opened his cage, and it appeared as if the two would get away easily. However, the pythonaconda came out from the cage and wrapped itself around Bolin. Just as the snake was about to choke him, Mako arrived and unwrapped the snake, stuffing it back into the cage, while Bolin spun around and stumbled over a few boxes. After the firebender told the earthbender that he had a knack for getting into stupid situations, Bolin agreed and thanked him for saving him. Still, he refused to leave the pet shop without the ferret. Mako agreed to keep it, but the money to take care of it would come from Bolin's half. A happy Bolin left the shop with his brother and the ferret, whom he named Pabu, saying that he got the idea for the name while the pythonaconda was strangling him. Soon, the pair became close friends, constantly playing practical jokes on Mako.

The following night, Bolin attended Toza's match with his brother, Shady Shin and Lightning Bolt Zolt. Initially the young earthbender disheartened witnessed the match, seeing his favorite pro-bender beaten and pushed around without resistance. However, when Toza suddenly turned the tide and defeated his opponents single-handedly, Bolin was overjoyed, loudly telling his brother that he had told Toza not to give up. However, Shady Shin overheard the conversation, enraged about its content. Bolin briefly tried to calm Shin down by saying that "there [were surely] other factors", but he escaped with his brother, causing the mobster to chase after them. The siblings eventually escaped into a gym, but soon Shin and two other gangsters found them. During the following fierce fight, Shin almost overcame Bolin's defenses, before he was interrupted by Toza. The pro-bender came to help the siblings, effectively bringing the battle to a standstill. However, Zolt entered the gym and brought the duel to an end. After a short conversation between the criminals and Toza, the pro-bender, having witnessed their skill, offered Mako and Bolin a home in the arena and to train them in pro-bending. The young earthbender enthusiastically asked his brother if they could accept the offer, and after some initial insecurity, he agreed. Bolin suggested to celebrate the fact that they were no longer criminals, prompting Mako to remind his brother that they had to save their money. Bolin, however, revealed that he had bet everything they had on the Boar-q-pines, because he had a "good feeling" about it, thus winning lots of money.

Some time later, Bolin, along with Mako and Hasook, formed a pro-bending team called the Fire Ferrets, which competed in Republic City's Pro-bending Tournament.

170 ASC


At the age of sixteen, Bolin became infatuated with Avatar Korra from the first moment he saw her at the Pro-bending Arena. He immediately befriended her and showed her some pro-bending tricks. He was thrilled when she helped the Fire Ferrets to reach the Championship Tournament and join the team on a more permanent base. When the team needed to come up with the thirty thousand yuans to enter the Championship, Bolin accepted Shady Shin's offer to do some muscle work for the Triple Threat Triad. He was kidnapped along with four other triad members and taken before Amon to have his bending removed. Before that could happen, though, he was rescued by Mako and Korra.

Grateful for his rescue, Bolin decided to make a move on Korra and took her on a date, although the Avatar did not share his romantic feelings. The romantic tensions were tampering with the Fire Ferrets' effectiveness during the Tournament, though they managed to reach the finale regardless. However, after their match against the White Falls Wolfbats ended with their defeat due to cheating of the other team, Amon and his Equalists attacked the Pro-bending Arena, effectively destroying the building and leaving Bolin and Mako homeless. Asami offered them a place to stay, but after Hiroshi Sato was outed as an Equalist, both the bending brothers and Asami moved to live at Air Temple Island with Korra.



To make an insecure Avatar feel better about herself, Mako formed a team with her and the others to actively do something about the Equalists in the city. They were successful, though the team was broken up when an angered Tarrlok arrested Asami, and subsequently Bolin and his brother as they came to the girl's defense. He was broken out of jail by Lin Beifong soon after, who alerted them that Korra had been kidnapped. Together with Tenzin, they all set out on a search for the Avatar, during which Bolin accidentally let slip to Asami that Mako and Korra had shared a kiss.

In the aftermath of finding Korra, Amon launched his grand attack on the city. Mako and his friends fought back for a while, but the sheer number and power of the Equalists forced them on the run. The foursome retreated into the tunnel system of the city, where they would await the arrival of reinforcements in the form of General Iroh and his United Forces.



However, after General Iroh too proved to be no match for the Equalists machines, the team split up, and Bolin accompanied Asami and Iroh to the Equalist airfield in order to stop more planes from taking off. Their attempt was cut short as they were captured rather quickly, though with the help of Naga, they managed to escape and destroy the airfield nonetheless, as well as capture Hiroshi Sato.

171 ASC
Six months after the defeat of Amon and the end of the Anti-bending Revolution, Bolin became the new captain of the Fire Ferrets, following Mako and Korra's departure from the team. After the Fire Ferrets were defeated numerous times, Bolin hoped to give an inspirational speech to his fellow team members, but he seemed to doubt himself afterward. As soon as his team entered the ring, they were knocked out in the fastest defeat in pro-bending history. Upset with the circumstances, Bolin wondered to himself where Mako was when he needed him.

Meeting Varrick
Days later, Bolin was invited to join Korra, Mako, Asami and Tenzin's family by traveling to the Glacier Spirits Festival at the Southern Water Tribe. He rode on a boat with all of them, and when he arrived at the docks, he was surprised that there were a lot of people waiting for them. However, upon expressing this belief out loud, Korra corrected him and showed him that the people were there for Unalaq, Desna, and Eska. He was immediately infatuated with the twins, until Korra informed him that Desna was male.



Later, Asami requested that Bolin accompany her into Varrick's ship so that she could create a deal that would help her save Future Industries. Bolin said he was a natural assistant, but Asami still told Bolin that he should not talk, to which he agreed. When Bolin and Asami entered, they found Varrick sitting on a pillow, surrounded by several people. Varrick asked the earthbender what he thought of the businessman's levitation, but Bolin responded that he had not been levitating, causing shock throughout the room. The entrepreneur approached Bolin, seemingly angry, questioning what Bolin had said, to which he repeated that Varrick had not been levitating. Varrick's attitude quickly changed and he asked aloud why nobody had bothered to tell him, and fired his levitation instructor, Swami. Varrick told Bolin he liked him and invited him to look at his moving picture of an ostrich horse running. Bolin was very impressed, but Varrick declared it old news, and instead showed off a girl working for him, Ginger. Shortly afterward, he made the deal with Asami, who hugged Bolin, agreeing that he was a natural assistant.

Becoming Eska's boyfriend


Bolin later attended the feasting part of the festival, where Unalaq made an announcement that the South had become spiritually unbalanced and that he planned to fix it in the future. After the feast, Bolin attempted to accompany Mako and Korra, but became annoyed with the two of them feeding each other and said he was going to try and make a move on Eska. He approached the twins, introduced himself to Eska, and attempted to relate to the fact that she was from the Northern Water Tribe by saying that "north [was his] favorite direction". Desna did not seem to like this, but Eska said that she was amused, and dragged him by the hood to go off and win her prizes.

Later that night, the area Bolin was sleeping in was disturbed by a dark spirit that attacked the area. This caused Bolin to wake up, and he attempted to fight it with Mako and Korra, but the three of them had no success. Their efforts were soon aided by Tonraq, Korra's father, and later Tenzin, but all of their efforts proved futile until Unalaq entered and used a special waterbending technique that spiraled around the spirit, causing the water and the spirit to glow, and moments later the spirit vanished.



Given a snowmobile and new gear by Varrick, Bolin accompanied Korra, Unalaq, Tonraq, the twins and Mako to the southern tundra so that the Avatar could open a portal to the spirit realm. After meeting up with the group, Eska inquired as to whether the sidecar of the snowmobile could hold two passengers, with Bolin giving a definite yes. He was less than amused afterward as the waterbender brought her brother along for the ride. That evening, the group sought cover in a cave for the night. Prior to turning in, Bolin became uncomfortable when Unalaq explained the situation regarding the dark spirits, as he did not like to hear ghost stories. He scooted closer to Eska, who promised to protect him, labeling him her "feeble turtle duck".

On their way to the site, the group was set upon by dark spirits, one of which sabotaged the motor of Bolin's vehicle, causing him to lose control. As the snowmobile headed for a mountainside, the twins pulled the earthbender out of the driver's seat. As they dropped him on the ground, his special snowsuit inflated to cushion the impact, and he slid down the rest of slope. Arriving at the bottom, Bolin asked for someone to deflate the suit, with Eska complying by puncturing the suit with three ice spikes. With his snowmobile destroyed, Bolin was pulled the rest of the way by Desna and Eska's arctic camel, while he sat in the wreck of the snowmobile.

When Korra returned from opening the portal, Bolin welcomed her back with a hug. However, his action was interrupted and halted by Eska, who waterbent an ice wall between him and her cousin. She pulled him back to her, asking why he was initiating physical contact with another woman. Bolin smiled nervously, and Eska dropped him to the ground and walked away with her brother.

An unbearable relationship


The party returned to the Southern Water Tribe, arriving to find the Northern forces occupying the city. As the occupation sat in, Eska continued to treat Bolin more and more as a manservant as he chauffeured the Water Tribe twins on a rickshaw cart. As the three and Pabu arrived at their destination, Bolin sarcastically commented to Eska that he will miss her after she left, but much to his dismay, Eska revealed her plan to move back to the North with Bolin, where they would live together in "icy bliss". As the twins part his company, Bolin ran up to Mako, pleading his brother not to let Eska take him away. Mako suggested that he break up with Eska.

However, this was easier said than done, as every time he brought up the subject, Eska threatened to freeze him in a block of ice and feed him to dolphin-piranhas. Accompanying the twins on a double-date with Mako and Korra, Bolin despaired his troubles as soon as the twins were out of earshot and futilely pleaded Korra to help him.

The next day, Bolin chose to hide from Eska in Varrick's residence, when at the same time, his friend was late for wrapping up his deal with Asami. The room was searched by Desna and Eska, who claimed that Varrick was wanted for treason. As their search of the room turned up nothing, they left, but not before Eska ordered Bolin to grovel as she exited. Asami disapproved of how he easily kowtowed to her every whim and urged Bolin to stand up for himself. However, Varrick, revealed to be hiding in a stuffed platypus bear, told him he should instead flee.



Varrick passed Bolin a wad of yuans for the purpose of bribing guards to release the captive rebels, suspecting that Unalaq had rigged the trial. Bolin, however, made the mistake of bribing two random spectators instead of Judge Hotah. As the trial progressed, Bolin attempted to object only to be ignored every time. During the recession, the earthbender once more attempted to break up with Eska, only for his attempt to backfire, as she decided to marry him at sunset and wrapped a betrothal necklace around his neck. She dragged him off, forcing him and Pabu to wear Northern Water Tribe robes.

Official breakup and escape from the south
Bolin and Pabu returned to their friends, who were plotting to break Tonraq and the rebels out of prison. While Korra, Mako and Asami infiltrated the prison where they were being held in, Bolin led the others to Varrick's yacht, the billionaire and his assistant, Zhu Li, hiding in the stuffed platypus bear. Bolin was stopped by Northern troops, asking if the platypus bear was licensed. Varrick caused a distraction by scattering money about, enabling them to get onto the yacht. Korra's party rejoined them, explaining that the prisoners were being transferred to the North. Bolin remained on the bridge with Varrick while the others took to the air on a biplane so Korra could waterbend the harbor blockade out of the way. After rescuing the prisoners and dropping them off to continue resistance against Unalaq, Bolin thanked Korra for making the breakup between him and Eska official. However, Varrick spotted an enraged Eska heading toward them, and, at Bolin's urging, set full speed away from her.

Bolin's new calling


Upon arriving in Republic City, where Korra intended to get the United Forces to aid the south, news of civil war had already spread. While everyone had their own preoccupations for the day, Bolin was unsure of what to do, so Varrick decided to treat him to a night on the town. They attended the Pro-bending Arena as spectators and Bolin was personally interviewed by Shiro Shinobi, earning his fans' applause whenever he spoke of them or Republic City. After the interview, Varrick told him that he found his true calling.

The next day, after Varrick was done with his meeting with Korra and President Raiko, he returned to his yacht to show Bolin he could fire an arrow at his target blindfolded, only to miss several times, including nearly hitting Asami when she and Korra came on board to discuss their respective problems. Varrick began brainstorming by eating a hot pepper and hanging himself upside-down, and hit an epiphany. He also proposed using his moving pictures as propaganda, with Bolin starring as Nuktuk, the hero character in the film.

Bolin returned to his and Mako's apartment to tell him of what their friends had planned. Mako deplored their plan before focusing on trying to identify one of the bombers of last night's attack on the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center. Bolin indirectly helped by flipping a page of Mako's book, allowing him to identify the culprit.



Bolin later started up his acting career as he and Varrick started filming, though he criticized why his character would be wearing light clothing. Then suddenly, Korra came in, asking Bolin to watch Naga for her and Varrick for a speedboat, explaining that Raiko had found out about their plan and stopped her, so she intended to go to the Fire Nation to aid. She also wondered who could've tipped Raiko off, forcing Bolin to confess that he told Mako, prompting the Avatar to storm off to confront him.

Personality


Despite his tough childhood on the street, Bolin is still a laid-back and fun-loving person, in contrast to his older brother Mako. He possesses a good sense of humor, but is still a very capable earthbender. He is also expressive, naive, high-spirited, enthusiastic, and quite comfortable in his own skin. According to Mako, he has a "knack" for getting himself into trouble. He is typically an optimist and enjoys the attention he receives from his fangirls, though he is a novice in the world of dating. Bolin affirms that he is strong, fun, and attractive.He does readily admit he's not good at reading other people, which could be the reason his relationships never work out.

What gets under Bolin's skin is that he is second to Mako in everything, such as age, fighting rank, and even attracting girlfriends. His naive and immature personality is attributed to his past, as Mako attempted to shield him from the harsh realities of the world after their parents died. Despite differences between Mako's personality and his own, Bolin shares a close bond with his brother.

Like his older brother, Bolin is also protective of the people he cares about, which can cause him to behave slightly more aggressively and violently. A prime example of this would be when he rode in on Naga to Asami's rescue at the Equalist airfield, employing ferocious and brutal earthbending attacks on Hiroshi Sato, who was nearly able to kill her with his mecha tank.

Bolin is shown to be gullible at times; his affection for Eska caused her and her twin brother to take advantage of him. He was very grateful to Korra for starting a war just to get away from Eska, but his joy immediately turned into fear upon seeing Eska coming for him in a fit of rage.

Furthermore, Bolin is not the best at keeping secrets, as he carelessly told his brother that he, Varrick, Korra, and Asami are planning to go to General Iroh behind Raiko's back.

Earthbending


As the earthbender for an official pro-bending team, Bolin has become highly skilled in the art of earthbending. Bolin describes his earthbending style as "light on his feet", which grants him greater maneuverability and evasiveness during matches. Bolin also employs pro-bending-like attacks along with more traditional earthbending outside of matches, as made evident by him sending rectangular blocks flying at the Lieutenant and defending himself with an earth wall.

Bolin also possesses a sharp aim, being able to direct an earth disc at the exact angle to make it ricochet off a guard rail and squarely strike an opposing player. He can also fire small chunks of earth in rapid succession to take down a speeding motorcycle, thus demonstrating the ability to earthbend without touching the ground at all.

Other skills
Bolin also has some knowledge of wrestling and grappling as shown from his one on one tiebreaker match with an experienced Black Quarry Boar-q-pine earthbending opponent. Furthermore, Bolin has been shown to be resilient to pain, such as in his semifinal pro-bending match when he took a hit to his right shoulder by an earth disk, yet fought on nonetheless with one arm until being knocked out of the ring.

As noted by both Asami and Varrick, Bolin has strong business sense. Bolin is a talented and charismatic public speaker, able to draw huge positive reactions from crowds. Varrick decided to exploit this ability by casting Bolin as the star of his propaganda films, making him the poster boy of the Southern rebellion.

In addition, he is known to be able to communicate with his fire ferret, Pabu, by chattering with his teeth, which helped save his pro-bending team from Amon when Equalists attacked the Pro-bending Arena.

Appearances
{{Scroll|

Republic City Hustle

 * "Republic City Hustle: Part 1"
 * "Republic City Hustle: Part 2"
 * "Republic City Hustle: Part 3"

Book Two: Spirits (神靈)
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Trivia

 * Bolin's appearance was inspired by the early ideas of Toph, who was originally going to be male.
 * According to Mako, Bolin apparently has a habit of bringing "crazy fangirls" to the Fire Ferrets' changing room.
 * Korra noted that his "light on your feet" style of earthbending is more useful than the traditional style.
 * Bolin is occasionally nicknamed "Bo" by Mako and the kids in the streets, like Skoochy.
 * Narook's Seaweed Noodlery and Central City Station are some of the places Bolin usually hangs out.
 * Bolin is the only bending member of the new Team Avatar not to use any specialized bending techniques.
 * Bolin has appeared in every episode except "Welcome to Republic City".
 * Bolin is particularly bad at lying.
 * Bolin's hairstyle resembles a "ducktail", a very popular American hairstyle in the 1950s. "Greasers" often had their hair styled in a ducktail.
 * Bolin's voice actor, P. J. Byrne, stated in an interview that there is "major stuff" going on with Bolin regarding love interests in Book Two: Spirits.