Lightning Bolt Zolt

"fire"

- You're gonna regret doing that, pal!

"Lightning Bolt" Zolt is the leader of the Triple Threat Triad. He is infamous in Republic City for crimes against non-benders; he is also known to solicit recruits for his triad operations at Central City Station. Being one the most notorious crime bosses in the city, he was the first known victim of Amon's ability to take a person's bending away.

History
As a leader, Lightning Bolt Zolt worked to make the Triple Threat Triad one of the most prominent organized crime syndicates in Republic City, using fear and violence to extort shopkeepers, steal shipments, and blackmail public figures. Around this time, the crime boss met Mako, whom he taught lightning generation and redirection to as the young boy was working as an accountant for his gang.

At the beginning of the Anti-bending Revolution in autumn 170 ASC, Lightning Bolt Zolt was among five bending mobsters taken after the Equalist raid on the Triple Threat Triad's headquarters. During an Equalist gathering, Amon, who recounted Lightning Bolt Zolt's many acts of oppression over non-benders, presented the bound crime boss to the booing crowd of non-bending Equalist supporters. Zolt, unmoved and annoyed by the situation, simply said that the non-benders should "boo [themselves]." Much to his surprise, an Equalist then released him, while Amon challenged him to a duel to keep his bending. At first Zolt was confused that someone, especially a non-bender, would face him out of free will, but he then grinned and accepted the challenge. Self-confident, he predicted that Amon would regret freeing him.



Lightning Bolt Zolt started the duel by sending multiple rounds of fire blasts at Amon, who dodged every attack to get closer to Zolt. Realizing that he needed more to kill the Equalist leader, Zolt then attacked Amon with a steady stream of lightning. However, the revolutionary easily overpowered him while evading all of his attacks. Amon caught Zolt's arm to control his lightning, and then placed two fingers on his forehead, and his other hand on the back of Zolt's neck, stripping him of his bending. In an impressive spectacle, Zolt's stream of lightning degraded into firebending and finally extinguished. After taking his bending, the Equalist leader let go of Zolt, who collapsed onto the ground. The crime boss, however, quickly regained his consciousness. Refusing to give up, he attempted to firebend at Amon to no avail. Shocked of the loss of his bending abilities, the Triple Threat Triad leader asked Amon what he had done to him. The revolutionary leader told Zolt, "Your firebending is gone. Forever."

Personality


Lightning Bolt Zolt is known to be a blunt and often merciless man who does not hesitate to cut his enemies down. Tremendously self-confident, he is unconcerned of what others think of him; this is evidenced by his callous attitude toward the booing non-bender crowd that gathered at Amon's rally. He also showed to be courageous and unyielding, as he accepted Amon's challenge without hesitation and even tried to attack the Equalist leader when he was defeated and lying on the ground. However, Zolt was deeply shocked when realizing that his firebending was gone, hinting that much of his self-confidence depended on his powerful bending.

Abilities


Zolt was very skilled in the art of firebending, having mastered the difficult and dangerous techniques of lightning generation and redirection at a high level. Thus, he is one of the few known firebenders who are able to generate lighting at a fast speed. Zolt also proved to be a capable teacher, as he passed his lightning techniques down to Mako. The extent of his abilities became apparent during his duel with Amon; Zolt employed quick bursts of fire before resorting to his powerful lightning. He was able to maintain a steady stream of lightning, using it to cut through multiple metal structures with ease. The crime boss is also physically relatively strong as he is one of the few who could stand up immediately after Amon's removing of bending and he also regained his consciousness very quickly.

Trivia

 * Zolt's line after Amon removed his bending was the same as Ozai's when Aang removed his bending: "What did you do to me?"
 * Zolt's voice actor, Kevin Michael Richardson, also provided the voices of Butakha and the doorman. This supplements his previous roles as Tyro, The Big Bad Hippo, Flopsie, and the lion turtle in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * Zolt is the third known person to lose his bending in the Avatar universe, but the first to do so in The Legend of Korra, and the first known person to have his bending taken away by someone who is not an Avatar.
 * Zolt is also the first person besides Ozai who has shown the ability to be able to generate lighting at a fast speed. Mako later also displayed fast lightning generation.
 * Zolt possesses an accent like that of an Italian mobster.
 * Zolt's teachings of lighting generation and redirection to Mako were cut out of the show to save time.
 * Zolt is shown on a most wanted poster along with Amon in the police headquarters in the Welcome to Republic City game.