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The history of Zaheer from The Legend of Korra.
Early Years[]
Years before the start of the series, Zaheer was a member of the Order of the Red Lotus, along with Ghazan, P'Li, and Ming-Hua. He met P'Li when he saved her from becoming an assassin for a warlord. They were assigned by Unalaq to capture Avatar Korra when she was a little girl. Zaheer and his gang attempted to kidnap her, but were defeated by Tonraq, Sokka Fire Lord Zuko, and Tenzin. The four criminals were separated and placed in four separate prisons designed specifically to limit their bending abilities (despite the fact that Zaheer was not a bender at this time). While imprisoned, each of the criminals was individually interrogated as to why they attempted to kidnap Korra, but never got answers. During this time, Zaheer took a fascination towards the greatest Airbender in history; Laghima.
Post-Harmonic Convergence[]
Zaheer, after breaking out of his prison cell, declares the end of the Avatar and the Order of the White Lotus.
Shortly after Harmonic Convergence, Zaheer discovered that he could airbend. With his new powers, Zaheer managed to escape from his prison cell as well as lock up four members of the Order of the White Lotus. He then decided to break his friends out of their prison cells. He somehow knew that each of them was imprisoned at different locations as they were also placed in different cells to prevent them from escaping.
Zaheer and Ghazan reunite and proceed to free their comrades from incarceration.
The first one he broke out of prison was Ghazan, a powerful Earthbender. Zaheer disguised himself as a member of the Order of the White Lotus and traveled to a sea vessel, where Ghazan was being held. While he was fending off some guards Zaheer tossed Ghazan some rocks, which allowed Ghazan to Lavabend and escape his captivity. After the two managed to escape the sea vessel, they traveled to a volcano where another criminal, Ming-Hua, a powerful Waterbender, was being held. The two broke into the prison and tossed Ming-Hua a barrel filled with water, so she could waterbend and escape her imprisonment. After successfully breaking out Ming-Hua, they three went to the Northern Water Tribe so they can break out Zaheer's girlfriend; P'Li, a powerful Firebender with abilities similar towards Combustion Man. They succeed, and the two share a passionate kiss when they reunite, much to the discomfort of Ghazan.
Later, Zaheer's gang snuck into Republic City. Zaheer shaved his head to avoid suspicion and infiltrated Air Temple Island under the name "Yorru" as one of the many new airbenders looking to train at the Northern Air Temple.
Zaheer subsequently joined the airbending training with Meelo at the spinning gates, where he passed through them with ease, surprising everyone. Earning the compliment of being a leaf from Meelo, Zaheer returned the courtesy by bowing respectfully toward the child, saying that a student was only as good as his master. When Kya announced that they would leave the following day to join Tenzin at the Northern Air Temple, Zaheer asked if the Avatar was with him.
That night, Zaheer wandered into Tenzin's study, where he found a locket containing a poem written by Guru Laghima. He was interrupted by Ikki, who stated that no one but her father was allowed in the study. Zaheer apologized, stating he could not sleep, and when asked by the Ikki what he was reading, he explained that it was a poem of Laghima, whom he credited as the wisest airbender to have ever lived. Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Kya, who told her Ikki to go back to bed, before questioning Zaheer about his knowledge of airbending history. He replied that he had always admired the culture, though Kya recognized him and attacked.
Zaheer grabbed an airbender staff and used it to shatter the ice bullets aimed at him before bending himself out of the window and gliding away. His escape was short-lived, however, as Kya managed to catch him with a water tentacle and slam him down in the temple's pond. Recovering, Zaheer managed to avoid being frozen and blasted Kya back, though before he could escape, two firebending White Lotus sentries arrived. By the time he had done away with them, Kya was back on her feet attacked him with spirals of water. Ducking away, the airbender retaliated with a strong current of air, knocking Kya out cold against a wall, and escaped on the glider.
Zaheer reunited with the others. Ghazan asked Zaheer if they were considering attacking President Raiko. But Zaheer declined that offer as they could do it later. With that, Zaheer and the others continuing their search for Avatar Korra but needed to find a way to escape Republic City. They commandeered a truck, and even though they had some issues with the Metalbending Police Force, the four managed to escape. After they escaped and were far away from Republic City, Zaheer meditated hoping he could locate the Avatar. When he finished his meditating, Zaheer told the others that the Avatar was with the Metal Clan in Zaofu.
Capturing the Avatar[]
With the assistance of Aiwei, Zaheer and his gang infiltrated Zaofu and attempted to kidnap Korra, subduing her with poison darts. Everyone in the city was alerted to their presence and their mission failed, ending with Zaheer and the others fleeing in anger.
When Aiwei flees to Misty Palms Oasis and Team Avatar tracks him down, Korra and Asami find a note in his vehicle from Zaheer, telling them to meet at Xai Bau Grove, which could not be found on the map. Later, they find Aiwei meditating, and conclude that the grove is in the spirit world. There, Korra finds Zaheer and the truth seer discussing their failure in Zaofu. The airbender blames Aiwei for their failure, although he insists otherwise because he destroyed the evidence, and says there are no loose ends. Zaheer tells him he is the loose end and throws him into the Fog of Lost Souls. When Korra finally meets him, he is willing to answer any questions she has about his motives. He reveals he is part of a society called the Red Lotus, which was what the White Lotus was supposedly meant to be before they began protecting the Avatar. Kidnapping Korra was, in fact, Unalaq's idea, although he wasn't imprisoned and went on to become the Dark Avatar, which Zaheer says wasn't part of the plan and was a "selfish goal". Their ultimate goal is freedom and establishing chaos as the new order, and to do that, they needed to free Vaatu. The airbender says his idea of freedom is not so different from Korra's, congratulating her on freeing the spirits.
Meanwhile, in the physical world, Zaheer gives his gang Korra's location. P'Li stays and guards his body, while Ming-Hua and Ghazan go after the Avatar. They are intercepted by Mako and Bolin, who are easily defeated and brought back to the airbender, who resolves to bring them to Ba Sing Se.
Insurrection of the Red Lotus[]
Zaheer used his airbending to suffocate Earth Queen Hou-Ting and end her reign over the Earth Kingdom.
| “ | I don't believe in queens. | „ |
| ~ Zaheer showing his true colors to Hou-Ting. |
Zaheer brings Mako and Bolin to Hou-Ting, telling her in the process that if she doesn't hand Korra over, she would get the attention of the other nations and they would turn on her. He also tells her that he can lead her to the rest of the airbenders. She agrees to this, but after the airship carrying Korra crashes in the desert, she demands that he tell her where the airbenders are. Zaheer refuses and she orders them imprisoned, but he resists, taking out the guards and finally killing the Earth Queen by airbending her breath, telling her that freedom is as essential as air. He then releases the Earth Queen's prisoners and announces her death over the radio, causing Ba Sing Se to erupt into chaos. He passes a message to Mako and Bolin, telling them that he intends to travel to the Northern Air Temple and use the airbenders as leverage to lure Korra out.
Zaheer and Tenzin engage in a heated duel at the Northern Air Temple.
Korra finds out about Zaheer's plot and attempts to warn Tenzin, but she is too late, as he has already arrived by the time she does warn him. Zaheer then tells Tenzin about his plans, but the airbending master refuses to comply, displaying that he is the superior airbender. The two airbenders duel and Zaheer appears to be losing until Ghazan and Ming-Hua step in to assist. While Tenzin is able to hold off all four Red Lotus members, he is soon overwhelmed. Zaheer and the Red Lotus begin to brutally bombard Tenzin with attacks. Zaheer suggests Tenzin surrender, to which Tenzin refuses. Zaheer and the others then proceed to savagely beat Tenzin against a wall.
Later, Zaheer receives a radio transmission from Korra confirming that she's ready to surrender herself. Zaheer meditates in a room with a statue of Guru Laghima when P'Li informs him that the airbenders are secured.
Zaheer briefly distraught after witnessing the death of P'li.
The two share a moment of passion before both heading off to capture Korra. He briefly has her until Mako radios her to inform her that it was a trap and that the airbenders, except Tenzin, are not at the temple. She is thrown off the cliff but saved by her father. She and her father battle Zaheer while P'Li fends off Lin and Suyin Beifong. He threw Tonraq off a cliff, causing Korra to believe he is dead. However, not only was he saved by the Metal Clan, but Zaheer also witnesses the death of his girlfriend. With his last attachment to the world gone, Zaheer grabs Korra and, after reciting Laghima's poem, jumped off the cliff, gaining the ability of flight. He brings Korra to a nearby cave where the airbenders are held captive and chains Korra up with an insignia of the Red Lotus on the wall behind. Other Red Lotus members bring out poison to administer into Korra's body, where Zaheer reveals his true goal; to force Korra into the Avatar State so that he may kill her and end the Avatar Cycle once and for all.
Now able to fly, Zaheer pursues Korra in their final battle.
Though she enters the Avatar State, Zaheer fails to kill her, and flies out of the cave while battling Korra. She briefly holds up on her own until the poison begins to hinder her. Zaheer almost succeeds in killing her, until the airbenders create a massive tornado trapping both himself and Korra inside, allowing Korra to drag Zaheer down with her. Zaheer is stunned after hitting the ground, and is trapped in rock by the Beifong sisters before he can try anything.
After his defeat, Zaheer is encased in earth and humiliated by having a sock shoved in his mouth.
When Korra seemingly dies a few moments later, Zaheer begins to laugh, declaring victory for the Red Lotus. However, Jinora points out that the poison is metallic, meaning a metalbender would be able to remove the poison out of Korra's system. Suyin removes the poison from Korra's body and Korra regains consciousness. Unable to admit defeat, Zaheer declares the beginning of the revolution of chaos as the natural order, until he is silenced and humiliated by Bolin literally putting his sock in his mouth. With all of his friends dead and no longer considered a feasible threat on his own, Zaheer is later incarcerated in another tailor-built prison.
Post-Insurrection[]
| “ | But if you had any other opinions, you wouldn't be here now, would you? We may have been enemies once, but for now, our interests align. | „ |
| ~ Zaheer helping Korra to get into the Spirit World. |
Zaheer himself was imprisoned next to Republic City, where he was allowed an empty room but shackled to prevent him reaching the walls; nullifying his flight. With the physical world no longer holding a purpose for him? Zaheer spent most of his time meditating into the Spirit World. To his shock, Zaheer hears that Korra was alive but had lost connection to the Spirit World. This news lead him to believe that Korra had far more potential than he and the Red Lotus believed.
Though three years have passed since Zaheer's defeat, Korra still fears him, being afraid of feeling great suffering, frequently seeing him in visions whenever Korra attempts to get better. Also, after Korra found Toph Bei Fong living in a swamp, her seismic sense revealed that there will still traces of the poison within Korra, meaning Zaheer had indirectly taken the Avatar out of commission for three years.
Zaheer imprisoned.
Even after the poison is extracted, she still has trouble going into the Avatar State and going into the Spirit World due to her lingering fear of her nemesis, mostly of Zaheer.
For this reason, Korra finally decides to confront Zaheer so she can be restored to her former strength. He tells her that her powers are limitless and that she is merely blaming him to make herself feel better. Korra, in turn, blames Zaheer for inadvertently creating Kuvira's dictatorship with his revolution and killing the Earth Queen. Regretful of his actions, he stated he heard rumors of her but didn't know she was so infamous and offers to help Korra overcome her fear of him and get into the Spirit World, which she reluctantly accepts. Zaheer points out that Korra has been trying to forget her near death experience rather than confront and accept it. Through Zaheer's guidance, Korra successfully enters the Spirit World and is cured of her PTSD, allowing her to fully recover.
Zaheer guiding Korra into the Spirit World, helping her overcoming her fears.
With his final act to Korra, Zaheer proved that he was a man that possessed good within him, even if he were fighting for the wrong side of the cause. Zaheer remained in prison after Kuvira was defeated and it's unknown what happened to him, but it's relevant that he was imprisoned for life.
Legacy[]
| “ | And Zaheer believed in freedom. | „ |
| ~ Toph about Zaheer |
Zaheer is later mentioned by Toph, when she explained to Korra that even though Zaheer fought for the wrong reasons, his intentions of bringing freedom to the world were a reasonable motive. After his defeat, the air bending nation was able to rebuild itself and become ambassadors of peace throughout the world and even though he caused Kuvira to become evil, her defeat led to the Earth Kingdom becoming a democracy instead of a monarchy, thus bringing freedom to the Earth Kingdom.
Zaheer later appeared in a comical story told by Varrick to pass the time on a boat. In the story, Zaheer is described as the "master of the skies" and "a flying, chaotic, chaos machine" and kickstarts an evil plan with the other villains from the show. He starts by calling Vaatu on the phone in the Tree of Time. Zaheer sarcastically remarks that he is glad that he caught him at home, and Vaatu bitterly remarks that he cannot leave his prison. Zaheer then conferences in a zombie version of Amon, and, reluctantly, Unalaq. Annoyed by the boring Unalaq, Zaheer and his other two compatriots hang up on Unalaq, leaving him upset. At the end of the story, Zaheer was said to be defeated when Bolin pushed him into a tornado, turning him into wind forever. Bolin remarked that the story was impossible and made no sense (as Vaatu was defeated before Zaheer even escaped prison), but Varrick told him to never let the facts get in the way of a good story.