Baatar Jr.

"Zaofu stopped being my home long ago. I'm ready to take it by force."

- Baatar Jr.

Commander Baatar Jr. is the (former) secondary antagonist of Book 4 of The Legend of Korra. He is the eldest son of Suyin Beifong and Kuvira's ex-fiancée and second-in-command. He was an engineer in Zaofu, but later went on to betray his family and help unite the Earth Kingdom with Kuvira.

= History== Baatar Jr. was born to Suyin and Baatar in Zaofu, where he later became an engineer who enacted his father's designs. He and his father made a breakthrough with a new tram station, which would later serve Kuvira's needs as a base of operations and mode of transportation in her conquest of the Earth Kingdom.

After the defeat of the Order of the Red Lotus, he joined Kuvira's army when he saw an opportunity to stop living under his father's shadow. He eventually proposed to Kuvira, which she accepted. Baatar Jr. became estranged from his mother as a result, which still lasted after three years. When Kuvira sought to annex the Earth Kingdom state of Yi, he was reunited with Opal, who expressed her disapproval at his "betrayal".

During Prince Wu's coronation in Republic City, he was reunited with his mother, whom he greeted coldly. He proceeded to gloat about the achievements of Kuvira's army, and believed the she regretted declining the opportunity to reunite the Earth Kingdom herself. He urged his mother to accept Kuvira as a member of the Beifong family, and when Suyin responded that she was glad that Kuvira was stepping down, he called Wu a "royal idiot" and asked her if she would rather have him rule the Earth Kingdom. He approved when Kuvira usurped Wu and took over as Empress of the Earth Empire.

He later joined Kuvira in her invasion of Zaofu, and was very eager to take it by force, but his fiancée stated that they would have to do it delicately, and use Bolin to negotiate with Suyin. When he confronted his family, they tried to persuade him to abandon Kuvira, accusing her of brainwashing him, to which he responded that he was tired of living in his father's shadow. When Bolin's loyalty came into question, Baatar Jr. discovered that he had deserted with Varrick and Zhu Li, and set off after the trio with two soldiers in mecha tank suits. Following the ensuing battle, he threatened to kill Varrick, prompting his fellow deserters to surrender. He later arrested them and his fiancée sentenced the three of them to be sent to a prison camp, but Zhu Li turned on Varrick and pledged her loyalty to Kuvira. Baatar Jr. closely monitored Varrick and Bolin while they continued working on the spirit vines experiment. He often argued with Varrick over scientific endeavors. Varrick, however, had been secretly building a timed bomb, forcing Baatar Jr. and other soldiers of Kuvira's army to one half of the train while the other was unhooked, leaving Bolin and Varrick on the other side with the bomb. When the bomb exploded, Baatar Jr. remarked how crazy Varrick really was. He returned to Zaofu shortly to witness the citizens bow to Kuvira, but when his father and brother refused to bow, he ordered their arrest after his father expressed his disappointment. He reported Varrick and Bolin's apparent deaths to Kuvira, suggesting he take over Varrick's research for building a weapon, with Zhu Li appointed as his assistant.

He discovered that the roots of the Banyan Grove Tree produced even more powerful spiritual energy than the vines in Republic City, and would construct an even more powerful superweapon with them. During the first official test of the completed superweapon, the machine failed, and he noticed that one of the parts was damaged. Baatar grew angry with his troops and ordered them to fix the mistake. During the second test, another part was missing, and Kuvira discovered that Zhu Li had been intentionally sabotaging the weapon. A third test later took place that was intended to kill Zhu Li, and when Baatar saw that Opal was in the line of fire, he frantically tried to stop the test. He was too late, however, but Opal survived because the Beifongs had altered the trajectory of the weapon. He did not actively participate in the ensuing battle.

After Kuvira finished addressing her army in preparation for the attack on Republic City, Baatar Jr. declared his love for his fiancee, and she told him they could finally get married and rule their empire together after the invasion. Later, when Raiko surrendered to Kuvira, Baatar Jr. was sent to discuss the terms of the surrender with him, but unknown to both Kuvira and Raiko, Korra planned to kidnap Baatar and continue fighting. When he was successfully kidnapped, he called Korra an empty threat and refused to give any information and was confident that Kuvira would kill the Avatar for holding him hostage. Korra, however, threatened to make it so Baatar would never see his fiancee again if she didn't leave Republic City alone, prompting him to attempt to reason with Kuvira and tell her that they could marry and settle down in Zaofu. Kuvira responded by locking onto Baatar's location and firing her spirit cannon, much to his shock and horror.

Baatar survived the explosion but was gravely wounded. After regaining consciousness and coming to the realization that Kuvira had indeed intended to sacrifice him for the sake of her conquest, he reconciled with his mother and worried about whether his siblings would forgive him or not. He was also more forthcoming with information about stopping the Colossus, and was last seen explaining its defenses to Team Avatar.

Trivia

 * Baatar Jr. is the first character in the Avatar franchise to be named after one of their parents
 * Baatar Jr. is the first Legend of Korra villain to be biologically related to a member of the original Team Avatar.
 * His voice actor Todd Haberkorn also voiced Nobuyuki Sugou.