The Legend of Korra is the sequel to the Last Airbender Series. The Legend of Korra is a TV animation series that aired after the Last Airbender series. It is a series that showcases the next Avatar’s life, her struggles, and her life’s battles. Avatar Korra is a young Avatar who excelled at all the bending disciplines at an early age. She met opposition from a man named Zaheer and his team that was called the Red Lotus.
Avatar Korra was born in the Southern water tribe in the south pole. To understand who Zaheer is, it goes long before Korra was born as the Avatar when the Red Lotus formed. The Red Lotus is an organization operating as direct opposites of the White Lotus. They are an organization that is obsessed with restoring to the natural to the world. Their belief is the natural order is the best way for evolution.
Zaheer is the leader of the Red Lotus Gambit.
Zaheer explaining his ideals to Korra, said
“The Idea of having nations and governments is as foolish as keeping the human and spirit realms separate. You’ve had to deal with a moronic president and a tyrannical queen. Don’t you think the world would be better off if Leaders like them were eliminated?”
– Zaheer
This what they believe and what they stand for. Korra retorts, telling him that chaos would run wild. He tells her that this is the plan.
Who is Zaheer?
Zaheer, as earlier stated, is the leader of the Red Lotus. He is also an anarchist and a martial arts expert. He believes in the foundation of new world order, one that exists without the Avatar, The Order of the White Lotus, or the four nations. After harmonic convergence in 171 AG, Zaheer was also one of the individuals that were blessed with air bending.
He was and is a knowledgeable person in the ways of the air nation and their traditions. He was also fascinated by Guru Lahima, the only spiritual guru to have achieved flight. After the death of his girlfriend and the love of his life, he attained flight by letting go of his earthly tether and entering the void. He unlocked the ability of flight, making him the second person to have done that in all of history.
The Plan to Take Out The Avatar
Before he achieved this, Zaheer and the Red Lotus planned to capture a young Korra and raise her. Chief Sokka, Lord Zuko, and others banded together to stop him and his three accomplices. They were all imprisoned in high-security prisons that were designed to hold just them. They possessed special abilities that made them formidable. Almost unstoppable, too, but they were defeated by the combined forces of Chief Sokka and the rest of the older Team Avatar.
When he became an Airbender thirteen years later, this enabled him to escape the custody of the Order of the White Lotus. Also, subsequently, he was able to devise a plan to free his allies from the various prisons that they were being held in, including his girlfriend P’Li.
He threw the Earth Kingdom into chaos by killing the Earth Queen and attempted to end the Avatar Cycle by killing Avatar Korra while she was in the Avatar State, as Roku told Aang in the Last Airbender series. “If you are killed in the Avatar State, the Avatar cycle will cease to exist.”
Zaheer was going to capitalize on this and end the cycle permanently.
This attempt failed, and Zaheer’s comrades were killed, leaving him as the only survivor of their group of four. He was later defeated and imprisoned again.
After his defeat, Zaheer was once again imprisoned. This time, he was imprisoned in a new facility near Republic City. To his disappointment, he heard of Kuvira placing the people of the Earth Kingdom under her military dictatorship, thus rendering his attempt to free them from oppression futile. Hoping Korra could stop her, Zaheer helps Korra in 174 AG to meditate into the Spirit World and let go of her fear of him and of “what might have been,” as he explained to her.
Red Lotus’ First Kidnap Attempt
Zaheer joined the Red Lotus as a teenager. He then learned about Raava and Vaatu and Avatar Wan’s decision to separate them. Zaheer strongly believed that this action had disrupted the world’s balance. When he was in his youth, he met a young fire bender.
Her name was P’Li. He had saved her from the clutches of a warlord who intended on making her his personal assassin.
After this, Zaheer convinced P’Li to join him in the ranks of the Red Lotus. Soon after, the two of them eventually formed a romantic relationship. In 158 AG, Unalaq, a fellow Red Lotus member, devised a plan to kidnap Korra. Unalaq was also Korra’s Uncle. This was a plan which Zaheer supported, as they intended to use her to re-open the spirit portals and free Vaatu while at the same time training her in bending and the ways of the Red Lotus.
Although Unalaq ultimately did not go through with the attempted abduction and remained hidden and shielded.
Zaheer, Ghazan, P’Li, and Ming-Hua, however, did go on with his plan, though they were captured and imprisoned by Tenzin, Tonraq, Zuko, and Sokka. Despite being subjected to relentless interrogation, Zaheer and his associates refused to budge or reveal their true motives at any point during their captivity.
Zaheer Releasing His Friends
Soon after Zaheer was able to escape from captivity due to his newly found gift, he was scheming to free his friends from the hold of the White Lotus. He managed to disguise himself as a White Lotus member. He used the uniforms from the guards he had fought off and stolen a speedboat, which he used to make his way to Ghazan’s prison.
On getting there, he fought off White Lotus sentries and supplied his friend with a few rocks to help him escape. Ghazan is a lava bender, and he was able to utilize this assist properly. After Ghazan used his lava bending to release himself from his cell and dispatched the remaining guards, the two friends heartily greeted each other. When he asked Zaheer how he became an Airbender, Zaheer explained that he believed it was a gift bestowed upon him after Harmonic Convergence to indicate that their path was the righteous one.
The Journey Continues for Zaheer…
Afterward, the two of them journeyed to the volcano in which Ming-Hua’s prison was located with the intent of freeing her. Once they were within range of the water bender’s cage, Zaheer sliced the barrel of water that Ghazan had thrown in the air in half, enabling Ming-Hua to utilize it to escape. Their individual prisons were designed to keep them away from bendable elements.
After the trio took care of the remaining sentries, Zaheer announced that they would head to the Northern Water Tribe in order to free P’Li.
As they neared P’Li’s prison, Zaheer created a snowstorm to mask their approach before engaging in battle with Tonraq. The newly gifted Zaheer evaded all of Korra’s father’s attacks before knocking him down with an air blast.
After P’Li was freed by Ming-Hua, the four members of the Red Lotus made a clean getaway. Happy to see each other again, Zaheer and P’Li embraced, the Airbender saying he never doubted he would see her again before sharing a passionate kiss.
Zaheer is one of the most formidable, if not the most formidable, opponent that Korra faced in her time as the Avatar.
