Amon

"water"

- The era of bending is over! A new era of equality has begun!

Amon, born under the name Noatak, was the charismatic and mysterious leader of a group of chi blockers known as the Equalists, whose ultimate goal was to create equality for all by ridding the world of Benders. A nimble and stealthy fighter, he was fearless in facing his opponents, regardless of their bending skills and abilities. Claiming he was a non-bender, Amon possessed the unique ability to remove a person's bending permanently, a power only the Avatar had ever demonstrated. While complete conquest of Republic City by the Equalists was at hand, Amon was outed by Avatar Korra as a fraud, in actuality a prodigious Northern Water Tribe bloodbender. His father was the escaped crime boss Yakone, who cruelly shaped him and his younger brother former-Councilman Tarrlok as children to be tools for his revenge against Avatar Aang.

Early life
Noatak was born in the Northern Water Tribe to Yakone and a Water Tribe woman. Three years after he was born, Noatak's mother gave birth to another son, Tarrlok. Tarrlok described Noatak as "...always looking out for [him]" and "even then [at a young age], he still wanted everyone to be treated fairly and equally."

When Noatak and Tarrlok both discovered they were waterbenders, Yakone trained them harshly to develop their skills. A few years later, Yakone took them on a "hunting trip" far from their home, where he revealed his true identity and explained to them the power of bloodbending. Every full moon, Yakone took them on supposed "hunting trips", keeping the truth from his wife, in which he would train them to use their bloodbending on animals, such as yaks and wolves. Tarrlok was against harming animals this way, but Noatak excelled in the art, also becoming colder and more distant. Yakone eventually succeeded in teaching his sons how to bloodbend without a full moon and was very impressed with Noatak's skill. Noatak mastered his father's psychic bloodbending technique by the time he was fourteen.



Eventually, Yakone ordered his sons to bloodbend each other, and when Tarrlok refused, Yakone became furious, calling his son weak. Angered, Yakone was about to attack, but Noatak defended his brother and bloodbent his own father, belittling Yakone how powerless he truly has become. Though he asked his brother to come with him to start a new life, Tarrlok declined, worried about their mother, which then caused Noatak to agree with his father that Tarrlok was weak. Noatak then ran off, prompting Yakone and Tarrlok to search for him for days. Eventually the two concluded that he must have perished in the blizzard. The incident left a terrible wound on the family, with Yakone losing his interest in revenge as he spent his last years with what remained of his family.

At some point in his life, having mastered a means to strip a bender's ability through bloodbending, Noatak took the alias of Amon and became the leader of the Equalists, an organization striving to rid the world of bending. To gather sympathy, Amon claimed that he was born on a small farm to a family of non-benders who were being extorted and then murdered by a firebender. In the story, Amon stated that the incident left him severely scarred, using washable makeup on his face to make his story more convincing should it be questioned.

Accelerating plans
When Avatar Korra announced her official relocation to Republic City during a press conference at City Hall, Amon heard her responding to questions through the radio. When his second-in-command inquired about how he was going to handle the unforeseen situation, Amon replied that since the Avatar had arrived early, they would have to "accelerate" their plans.



Later, at an Equalist assembly called "The Revelation", Amon announced to the gathered crowd that he planned on eradicating the world of benders, as they "had only brought suffering" and "were the cause of every war in every era". Amon proceeded to rally his followers with his story of being a non-bender while claiming himself to be chosen by spirits to usher in a new era of balance to the world by permanently removing people's bending in order to make equality a reality. As a demonstration of his abilities, he had his Equalist henchmen bring forward several Triple Threat Triad members and Bolin and proceeded to remove their bending, one by one, starting with Lightning Bolt Zolt's firebending. However, before he could remove Bolin's earthbending, Korra created a distraction by letting a screen of water vapor out into the room, allowing Mako to grab Bolin and escape. As the brothers and Korra were riding atop Naga with several Equalists chasing them, Amon opted to let them leave, as they would be the perfect tool to tell Republic City of his strength and power.

Meeting Korra
Amon had made a severe impression on Korra and she was plagued by nightmares of him in which he took away her bending. Upon hearing that the United Republic Council had proclaimed him public enemy number one, he spread a message over the radio to his fellow Equalists, using the actions of the Council as proof of the oppressive nature of the benders.



After Councilman Tarrlok and Avatar Korra led a task force that successfully raided an Equalist training facility, he was publicly challenged by her to a midnight duel on Aang Memorial Island without the involvement of the task force or chi blockers. However, Amon did not show up on time, nor did he come alone. Just as Korra began to leave the island, several hidden Equalists reeled her inside the island's museum. There, Amon emerged from the shadows and revealed that he would allow her to keep her bending for the time being because removing it then would only make her a martyr and cause benders from every nation to rally behind her "untimely demise". However, he warned a terrified Korra that he would "save her for last" and finally "destroy her" in their inevitable showdown.

Attack at the Pro-bending Arena


On the eve of the pro-bending championship match, Amon demanded that the Council shut down the Pro-bending Arena and put an end to the tournament, threatening that there would be "severe consequences" should they refuse. The Council voted to keep the arena open, which Amon revealed to be in line with his plans for the situation. He later entered the arena after the tournament and stripped Tahno and the rest of the White Falls Wolfbats of their bending powers. While some of his Equalists took out the police officers in the stands with electrified gloves, he gave a speech in which he stated his goals to replace the current government with "a fair minded, Equalist government" and remove bending from the world altogether. He partially destroyed the playing field before leaving the Pro-bending Arena via the roof on an airship. Boarding the zeppelin, he narrowly escaped Korra's firebending attack and remained unfazed as the flames swirled around him.

A family reunion


Days later, Amon, accompanied by Lieutenant and a group of Equalists, found Tarrlok in his hidden hideout deep in the mountains surrounding Republic City. Warning the Councilman that it was his time to be "equalized", the waterbender defended himself by bloodbending his attackers. Although his henchmen were easily bloodbent by Tarrlok, Amon's skill in the practice allowed him to resist to Tarrlok's state of shock. When asked what he was, referring to his ability to overcome the effects of bloodbending, Amon simply responded that he was "the solution" as he proceeded to take his brother's bending while revealing his true identity in the technique's process.

While taking care of Tarrlok, he ordered his fellow Equalists to retrieve Korra, who was trapped inside a tiny metal box in the basement. He reminded his men not to underestimate the Avatar and ordered them to electrify the box to knock her out before opening it. However, as he was putting Tarrlok in the truck they arrived in, Korra stormed out of the cabin, having overpowered the other Equalists. Noticing Amon, she shot several ice spears in his direction. Amon evaded them all and briefly gave chase, however, stopping when Korra made her escape by swiftly gliding down the snowy slopes of the mountain. When the Lieutenant and the other Equalists joined him in watching Korra leave, he lightly scolded them for having underestimated her.

Attacking Republic City


Amon observed the attack on Republic City from an airship floating above the metropolis. Eventually, his airship was in the vicinity of the police headquarters as Tenzin and Team Avatar were fighting the Equalists' mecha tanks. After Hiroshi Sato, who was present aboard the airship with Amon, expressed his disgust while watching his daughter fighting alongside benders, the revolutionary leader promised him that he would have his daughter back soon. Later, Amon was on Air Temple Island when his followers brought a captured Lin Beifong to him. He offered Lin the chance to keep her bending by telling him where Korra was, but at Lin's refusal, Amon proceeded to take away her bending.

Endgame


Amon soon used Air Temple Island as his base and began to de-bend benders by the dozens. After the United Forces battle fleet arrived, Amon's forces engaged them with a surprise attack, with an aerial assault led by Hiroshi Sato destroying the fleet after it ran into a minefield. Later on, when Korra and Mako infiltrated Air Temple Island to locate Amon, they instead found Tarrlok as a solitary prisoner as he revealed Amon's true identity as his brother Noatak.

With the knowledge that Amon is a bloodbender, Korra challenged Amon's story of his past at the rally in the Pro-bending Arena. However, using his convincing makeup to fool the audience, Amon manages to make Korra a liar in the mob's eyes. As Amon turned his attention to Tenzin and his children to "wipe out airbending," Mako shot lightning at the stage, allowing Korra time to free Tenzin and his family. Amon, his Lieutenant, and several other chi blockers attempted to fight back but were all blown off the stage by Mako and Tenzin.

Amon pursued and eventually found Korra, subduing her and Mako with bloodbending once believing that they are alone with no witnesses. However, after taking away Korra's bending, Amon realized his distraught Lieutenant saw the whole thing and, after seeing Amon use bloodbending, denounced him as a traitor and tried to attack him. Amon used bloodbending to stop his attack easily before sending him through the air. The distraction allowed Mako to struggle into position and blast Amon with lightning, buying time for him and a severely weakened Korra to escape. Amon caught up with them and again used his bloodbending to stop them. He prepared to take away Mako's bending, musing over the fact that no one else had been able to resist him so, and that it was almost a shame to take bending away from one so talented. Korra, however, seeing Mako in danger suddenly unlocked her airbending and used it to knock Amon away from him. As she unleashed a barrage of air attacks upon him, Amon attempted to fight back with bloodbending, but the narrow corridor allowed Korra to keep on attacking and blast him out a window into the harbor below and sinking fast into the sea.



Unaware that his scar was washing away, he regained consciousness underwater. To avoid drowning, Amon instinctively used his waterbending to emerge from the sea on a giant waterspout. This, in turn, exposed him to his followers just as they began to denounce Korra as a tyrant for "killing" him. Amon, realizing he had lost all leverage and followers, made his escape. Arriving to Air Temple Island, Amon released Tarrlok while once more offering his younger brother to leave with him so they could start a new life. However, after they acquired an Equalist motorboat and journeyed to the middle of the Mo Ce Sea, Tarrlok intended to end the madness that Yakone's revenge had placed on them. Amon was seen to shed a tear upon hearing his brother assure him it would be like the old days. It is unclear whether or not Amon realized that Tarrlok planned to detonate the fuel tank with one of the electric gloves nearby. The resulting explosion presumably killed both of them.

Personality
As Tarrlok explained, before he became Amon, Noatak a caring boy who looked out for his younger brother. However, having "revelled in his new found bloodbending power" at a young age, Amon became a calm and composed individual with sociopathic aspects and a desire for power. Believing that the Avatar is more powerful then a bloodbender due to being able to remove a person's bending; Amon eventually devised his own method to remove a person's bending using bloodbending. He had a severe abhorrence toward benders and was a staunch believer in what he views as equality and affectionately referred to his followers as "brothers and sisters". According to Tarrlok, Amon sincerely believed in his rhetoric, having strived to be fair since he was a child. Ultimately, it was a misguided desire for justice, as well as latent power craving, that led him to form the Anti-bending Revolution.



He was clever and calculating, as well as a convincing orator. He had a high command of the art of public speaking, knowing how to mystify and terrify his audiences and enemies alike, creating loyalty with each word, and gaining widespread following for his cause. At the very beginning of the revolution, he seemed to have plans for Korra and had thus far avoided fighting her, resorting to allowing her to escape and spread word of his abilities to the city. Amon also chose not to take away her bending when he ambushed her after refusing to fight her, foreseeing that it would make her a martyr for benders and unite them globally against his cause.

Amon was a cautious and calculating person, always prepared for direct confrontation with opponents, no matter how skilled they may be. He had displayed utter fearlessness, such as when he was almost blasted by Korra's firebending, overcoming Tarrlok's bloodbending, chasing after Korra following her escape from Tarrlok's hideout, and avoiding using his bloodbending in front of his followers. He was a strong-willed individual in possession of a high level of self control, making him an extremely formidable opponent. His calm composure never wavered; when Korra escaped her prison and fired large missiles of ice at him, Amon didn't hesitate to chase after her, but he remained composed when he lightly scolded his subordinates for underestimating her, which he had warned against.

Waterbending
Amon, even at a very young age, showed a great natural talent for waterbending and mastering it quickly under his father, Yakone's, tutelage. His mastery of the art was immense, capable of launching himself out a body of water on a gigantic waterspout, diving back underwater within moments and swimming away at a speed exceeding that of Mako's fire blasts. He also mastered the psychic bending technique at the age of fourteen, allowing him to perform his bending skills without the aid of his hands or feet.

Bloodbending


Having inherited his father's high aptitude for waterbending, Amon just as quickly mastered the rare and outlawed art of bloodbending, becoming exceptically skilled and powerful at it. In his training under Yakone, Amon learned how to bloodbend without the aid of a full moon, even at any given time he desire. Much like his father Yakone, Amon was also able to use more common bloodbending techniques such as body manipulation and torture to an extremely powerful degree while exerting minimal effort. He has also shown the ability to resist bloodbending with little effort, even against a fellow master of the skill like his brother.

Despite growing fascinated by this skill, he ultimately desired more; wanting to the power to steal people's bending like Avatar Aang did to Yakone. He eventually succeeded in this goal by using his mastery and precision with bloodbending to sever a target's chi pathways, effectively giving the same effect as Aang's ability. Taking his bloodbending prowess to levels even beyond his father possibly made Amon the strongest bloodbender ever. No medical intervention was able to reverse this effect, and even Katara, a world-renowned healer and bloodbending expert in her own right, was unable to reverse it. The only known way to reverse Amon's bending-block is energybending, as demonstrated by Avatars Aang and Korra. Korra implied that he uses bloodbending quietly to assist him in fights. This explains how he has managed to dodge almost all attacks launched at him; presumeably by subtly restaining some of his opponent's movements to slow them down.

Known victims
Amon has utilized his physical skills and powerful bloodbending abilities to block many peoples' bending, including the following:


 * Lightning Bolt Zolt
 * Shady Shin
 * Triple Threat Triad member wearing green
 * Triple Threat Triad member wearing brown
 * Tahno
 * Ming
 * Shaozu
 * At least five members of the Metalbending Police Force, including this metalbender officer
 * Tarrlok
 * Lin Beifong (restored by Avatar Korra)
 * At least one member of Tarrlok's task force
 * Korra (restored by Avatar Aang and Korra's past lives)

Other skills
Amon had also shown himself to be a very skilled, agile, and nimble fighter; his superior agility, in combination with stealthily bloodbending his opponent, allowed him to maneuver himself gracefully to the extent of being able to dodge lightning at close range. He was also an extremely durable individual, as he was able to withstand a point-blank lightning shot by Mako, and subdue him with his bloodbending seconds later while appearing unharmed.

Aside from his mysterious abilities, Amon's greatest skills were his intellect and charisma. Displaying a gift for political strategy, he accurately portended that if he took away Korra's bending so early in his revolution, it would only end in Korra becoming a martyr, ensuring that benders across the globe would unite against his Anti-bending Revolution. He was also well-versed in terrorist tactics, subverting non-benders by manipulating their hate and bestowing fear upon benders, always seeking a psychological edge against his opponents, and consistently using intimidation and threats against his numerous enemies. As evidenced by the multiple attacks orchestrated by the Equalists, Amon was also a capable strategist and tactician, outmatching other organized forces such as the Metalbending Police Force on several occasions.

Likewise Amon was also a versatile individual, as he was able to develop an alternative fighting style to conceal his bending abilities. This came in the form of chi blocking, encompassing non-bending fighting techniques which proved lethal enough to overpower and defeat even the most powerful of benders. This allowed Amon to masquerade his abilities as a mystical weapon against benders, gifted to him by the spirits, and he maintained this facade consistently under the heat of battle. The revolutionary leader only regressed to his waterbending after his identity was discovered by Avatar Korra.

Relatives

 * Yakone (father)
 * Unnamed mother
 * Tarrlok (younger brother)

Trivia

 * Given his altruistic (yet misguided) intentions and tragic past, Amon technically is an anti-villain. He's the first anti-villain in the Avatarverse to be an adult, since the two previous ones, Zuko and Jet, were both minors at the time their story arcs took place.
 * Amon is the first antagonist to come from the somewhere else than the Fire Nation
 * Amon is a name of a biblical king of Judah who was known as an idolator. While probably a coincidence, the fact he was corrupt and abusive in power might not be.
 * Like several other characters, Amon was revealed on July 23, 2011 at San Diego Comic-Con.
 * The red circle on Amon's mask is similar to that of the large red disk featured on the flag of Japan, which represents the rising sun and thus the dawn of a new era. This circle also marks one of the two pressure points Amon touches to take one's bending away.
 * Amon may be an English phonetic spelling for "Aman" meaning "peace" in Indonesian and Malay, Sanskrit (अमन) and Urdu (امن). This may explain the Chinese ideogram, meaning "peace" on the chest of his previous character design. The 平 ideogram also means "fair" and "equal", matching the Equalists' name.
 * The Chinese transliteration for Amon's name,, can have a few meanings, but the most appropriate is "to cover".
 * Noatak (Nuataaq in Iñupiaq) is a name for a census-designated place in the Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. The Noatak River also runs through that place.
 * Amon claimed to have lost his family to a firebender, in a manner similar to how Mako, Bolin and Jet lost their parents, how Asami, Sokka, and Katara lost their mothers, and how Aang lost his people, the Air Nomads.
 * Amon is the only known person who is not an Avatar to have the ability to remove someone's bending.
 * Though Amon is himself a bender, according to Tarrlok, he believes that bending is the greatest evil in the world.
 * Hiding his face prevents others from identifying him as Yakone's son and a waterbender, especially from his brother Tarrlok who was then on the United Republic Council, which would undermine his leadership with his Equalist followers and supporters.
 * Amon, along with Tarrlok, is the first person to die on screen in The Legend of Korra.
 * Amon is the third known person to break free of a bloodbender's hold by their own doing.
 * Tarrlok said Amon, calling him Noatak, was the strongest bender he'd ever encountered.
 * Amon's death is ironic considering he died due to electricity and fire, the same thing the firebender would have used to scar his face and murder his family in the lie he told.