Tenzin

"air"

- It's okay to be scared.

Tenzin, the youngest son of Avatar Aang and Katara, is an airbending master who 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. He resides on Air Temple Island, a secluded sanctuary constructed by his father, with his pregnant wife, Pema, and his three children, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo.

Background
Born sometime after the War to Aang and Katara as the youngest and the only airbender of their three children, Tenzin was taught the traditions and customs of the Air Nomads by his father, eventually acquiring the traditional Air Nomad tattoos symbolizing his status as an airbending master. He went on to meet Pema, whom he eventually married, and had three airbending children with her; two daughters, Jinora and Ikki, and a son, Meelo. They have another child on the way. At some point in his life, Tenzin became a member of the United Republic Council as the representative of the Air Nomads.

Book 1: Air
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. 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 see it, but Tenzin refused as he believed it to be a mockery of bending. 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, stating she needed 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, stalking away 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 down.

After the match, Korra returned to the island and apologized to Tenzin for her frustrations, while Tenzin apologized back for stating that he ran out of patience while trying to teach her it. The two then agreed that they had no hard feelings, but he was still left with some disgust when she announced she would compete in the pro-bending tournament with the Fire Ferrets.

Personality
Tenzin is far more serious 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 three "crazy" children. 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 has a hard time getting through to Korra because of their opposite personalities. Tenzin is a very staunch traditionalist, and at times can come across as rather inflexible. This also shows in his disdain for pro-bending, which he considers violent, distracting, and a perversion to more traditional forms of bending.

Relatives



 * Aang (father)
 * Katara (mother)
 * Sokka (maternal uncle)
 * Hakoda (maternal grandfather)
 * Kya (maternal grandmother)
 * Kanna (maternal great-grandmother)
 * Pakku (maternal step-great-grandfather)
 * Korra (spiritual reincarnation of Aang)
 * Kya (older sister)
 * Bumi (older brother)
 * Pema (wife)
 * Jinora (eldest daughter)
 * Ikki (youngest daughter)
 * Meelo (son)

Trivia

 * Tenzin is an extremely common Tibetan name meaning "defender of the faith" or, more applicably (considering his place in the story) "upholder of the teachings". 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 the next Avatar, a reincarnation of Aang, will seek out his tutelage to learn the art of airbending, meaning that on some level, he's teaching his father to airbend.
 * He owns a flying bison named Oogi.