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Katara had bloodbending outlawed, so I don't think she would have practiced it herself. It's not impossible that she used it since the show, but she wouldn't have tried to perfect it or learn special techniques with it. She is the best Waterbender alive until we get proof otherwise: she taught Korra, and she was the best waterbender in the show (well there was Pakku, but she gave him a hell of a fight even before he trained her up to the level of master, and after that she proceeded to keep improving in her fights, especially with Azula as an opponent). But the skill of bloodbending was left by the wayside, so in that skillset she won't be a master like Yakone and his sons.
[quote]Meh, indeed. I feel like this is kind of double edge sword the writers were trying to do here. Korra was able to unblock her Airbending ability because of love. But we didn't SEE much of this kind of love here. They only showed Korra and Makko were crushing on each other. But there was no... PASSION nor having to fight for the love that they have. The only love obstacle they have was Asami. And to me, that is not enough. It only makes them some sort of teenagers with hormones.
Same thing with Amon. What made him change from this kind and nice boy into this power hungry man? Nature vs Nurture? Because his father was a villain, therefore he was bound to be like his father? I really didn't see what motivate him to be this awesome villain. I didn't see his struggle or his journey to become a villain. He didn't lose anything (lover, mother, brother) to make him a villain. And he was not a pure villain either. One backstory doesn't make a character development much.
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Although it's not a well-done romance, I don't believe they needed a more epic romance to make that scene believable. Korra would have reacted the same way at seeing Tenzin debended, or Bolin, I believe. Granted she saw that almost happen to Bolin already, but she still had the other elements and was able to actively do something to prevent it. This situation was much closer to hopeless.
With Amon, it was a mix of power corrupts and his own ideals. He believed in equality according to Tarrlok, but he was also very powerful, and his father trained him to perfect controlling other beings and to value having power over them. He saw his father and brother as weak, though he still had some instinct to protect Tarrlok, as that was when he attacked Yakone and chose to leave. So he chose to defeat the person he said was the most powerful, the Avatar, and he wanted to use the inequalities already present to do it and establish a new era with himself as the leader (because he he saw himself as the most powerful and the one who could bring it about). He was an extremist.
As for Korra, I see her struggles. From the very beginning she defined herself and was defined by being the Avatar. That was how she related to people. (Maybe that's why Avatars were never told what they were until they were sixteen; so they would grow up normally.) She was identified as a toddler, so she might even define her relation to her parents as being their Avatar daughter. Then she went to Republic City, found the world wasn't exactly as she thought it would be, and repeatedly failed to stop the tensions from escalating. She basically kept losing, sometimes barely getting away with her life and bending intact. Meanwhile she literally lived under the shadow of Aang's statue, and metaphorically did so as with her inability to be as peaceful and willing to see all sides. Granted, I think the show should have done things differently to challenge her, in making her have to deal with the Equalist cause in terms of how the average nonbender saw it. I really think that last part of her challenges was screwed up. But she did have a hard journey, and it was apparent that losing her bending meant she had failed at who she was, that she was no longer the person her life had revolved around being all her life. She legitimately believed that the people she cared about would grow to not want her, that they had loved her as the Avatar and would realize she was worth nothing if she wasn't, because "Avatar" was everything she thought she was (though she never stopped being an Avatar, she wouldn't see that or think she could now access her past lives, because all her life "Avatar" meant what she had just lost).
I hadn't thought of suicide until the AV Club reviewer mentioned it. But if she was, then no it's not selfish, at least not in a way that should be judged morally, so it's better to not even use the word because of the moral connotations. If someone is in a mental state in which they believe the world would be better off without them, that they should die because they are worthless and there is no point in existing, the person should never be judged morally no matter what other people feel about the person dying and no matter whether one thinks the person is right or wrong.
[quote]Meh, indeed. I feel like this is kind of double edge sword the writers were trying to do here. Korra was able to unblock her Airbending ability because of love. But we didn't SEE much of this kind of love here. They only showed Korra and Makko were crushing on each other. But there was no... PASSION nor having to fight for the love that they have. The only love obstacle they have was Asami. And to me, that is not enough. It only makes them some sort of teenagers with hormones.
Same thing with Amon. What made him change from this kind and nice boy into this power hungry man? Nature vs Nurture? Because his father was a villain, therefore he was bound to be like his father? I really didn't see what motivate him to be this awesome villain. I didn't see his struggle or his journey to become a villain. He didn't lose anything (lover, mother, brother) to make him a villain. And he was not a pure villain either. One backstory doesn't make a character development much.
[/quote]
Although it's not a well-done romance, I don't believe they needed a more epic romance to make that scene believable. Korra would have reacted the same way at seeing Tenzin debended, or Bolin, I believe. Granted she saw that almost happen to Bolin already, but she still had the other elements and was able to actively do something to prevent it. This situation was much closer to hopeless.
With Amon, it was a mix of power corrupts and his own ideals. He believed in equality according to Tarrlok, but he was also very powerful, and his father trained him to perfect controlling other beings and to value having power over them. He saw his father and brother as weak, though he still had some instinct to protect Tarrlok, as that was when he attacked Yakone and chose to leave. So he chose to defeat the person he said was the most powerful, the Avatar, and he wanted to use the inequalities already present to do it and establish a new era with himself as the leader (because he he saw himself as the most powerful and the one who could bring it about). He was an extremist.
As for Korra, I see her struggles. From the very beginning she defined herself and was defined by being the Avatar. That was how she related to people. (Maybe that's why Avatars were never told what they were until they were sixteen; so they would grow up normally.) She was identified as a toddler, so she might even define her relation to her parents as being their Avatar daughter. Then she went to Republic City, found the world wasn't exactly as she thought it would be, and repeatedly failed to stop the tensions from escalating. She basically kept losing, sometimes barely getting away with her life and bending intact. Meanwhile she literally lived under the shadow of Aang's statue, and metaphorically did so as with her inability to be as peaceful and willing to see all sides. Granted, I think the show should have done things differently to challenge her, in making her have to deal with the Equalist cause in terms of how the average nonbender saw it. I really think that last part of her challenges was screwed up. But she did have a hard journey, and it was apparent that losing her bending meant she had failed at who she was, that she was no longer the person her life had revolved around being all her life. She legitimately believed that the people she cared about would grow to not want her, that they had loved her as the Avatar and would realize she was worth nothing if she wasn't, because "Avatar" was everything she thought she was (though she never stopped being an Avatar, she wouldn't see that or think she could now access her past lives, because all her life "Avatar" meant what she had just lost).
I hadn't thought of suicide until the AV Club reviewer mentioned it. But if she was, then no it's not selfish, at least not in a way that should be judged morally, so it's better to not even use the word because of the moral connotations. If someone is in a mental state in which they believe the world would be better off without them, that they should die because they are worthless and there is no point in existing, the person should never be judged morally no matter what other people feel about the person dying and no matter whether one thinks the person is right or wrong.
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