Tenzin is the youngest son of Avatar Aang and is the oldest surviving Airbender in the Avatar Universe. He lives on Air Temple Island with his family. He has four children, namely Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan. With the former three all being highly-skilled Airbenders. Tenzin is one of the lead protagonists in The Legend of Korra. Tenzin also serves as the Airbending master for Avatar Korra and plays a vital role in assisting the Avatar throughout the series.
He is also very focused on re-establishing the Nomadic lifestyle of Airbenders. But the number of Air Nomads was only restricted to Tenzin and his three children. So he was never really able to adopt this lifestyle. But after the Harmonic Convergence, people started to develop Airbending abilities, and Tenzin became the Master of all these new Airbenders and guided them so that they could learn the ways of Air Nomads. In this article, we will focus on how Tenzin helped guide Korra and assist her in defeating her enemies.
History
Tenzin became an essential part of the Republic City because he was the only surviving Airbender after his father. And it remained this way until his children were born and became Airbenders themselves. Tenzin represented the Air Nomads on the Republic City Council. And was also tasked with various peace-keeping missions throughout the city. For example, when Korra was just a child, Zaheer and the Red Lotus planned to kidnap the young Avatar in hopes of freeing Vaatu. And their plan was also foiled when Tenzin, Lin, and Zuko stopped them and imprisoned the Red Lotus members.
As Tenzin was the only Air Nomad born in 100 years, he was extensively taught the traditions and customs of the Air Nomads by his father. And eventually earned the traditional Air Nomad arrow tattoos, symbolizing his status as an Airbending master. During his youth, he and Lin Beifong were a couple, but their relationship was eventually called off because of Tenzin’s wish to have children. At the same time, Lin wanted to focus on her career. Tenzin eventually married Pema, an Air acolyte, and started his family.
We see Tenzin in the first episode of The Legend of Korra for the first time. He arrives at the Southern Water Tribe on his flying bison along with his family. Meelo is sucking on his head when they arrive at the Southern Water Tribe. He arrived at the South Pole to train Korra in her Airbending. But when he delayed Korra’s training and returned to Republic City, Korra also ran away and came to teach with him at the Air Temple Island. However, Tenzin was initially hesitant but later agreed to train Korra at Temple Island.
Encounter With The Equalists
When Korra came to Republic City and witnessed, Amon is taking Mako’s bending away. She challenged him to an open duel. Tenzin tried his best to stop her but to no avail. He also consoled her when she started crying in fear of Amon’s capabilities. Amon threatened to respond to Korra’s challenge at the Pro-Bending Tournament. After which, Tenzin advocated for the tournament to stop and the Pro-Bending Arena to close down, but he was outvoted.
All his doubts came to realization when Amon attacked the Arena and wreaked havoc. Later he was kidnapped with his children by Amon. Who wished to take their bending away in front of the public. However, Korra and Team Avatar intervened, and Tenzin and his family were rescued. And together, they were successful in exposing themselves as a Waterbender ultimately defeating the Equalists movement.
Later Adventures
When Jinora’s body was trapped inside the Spirit World by Unalaq, Tenzin, Kya and Bumi went to her rescue. They met Uncle Iroh, who told them that Jinora was trapped inside the Fog of Lost Souls. They all went there but became lost due to the strong poison around them. While breaking down under this immense pressure, a spirit of Avatar Aang came to him and told him to follow his path. This gave Tenzin clarity, and he was able to rescue Kya, Bumi, and Jinora from the Fog.
Tenzin also brought Korra to the Tree of Time, telling them that it was not Raava but the accomplishments of the Avatar that defined her. And inspired her to fight and defeat Unalaq.
He also became the Master of the newfound Airbender and started training them. Meanwhile, I helped Korra throughout. When the Red Lotus attacked and captured Tenzin and his family, Korra surrendered to save Tenzin and his family. Season 3 of The Legend of Korra focuses on how the young Avatar takes down The Red Lotus with the help of Tenzin and others. And also helps Korra in taking down Kavira and rehabilitating the refugees of Republic City. Tenzin is one of the most integral characters throughout The Legend Of Korra series.
Personality
Tenzin has a very calm but strict demeanor compared to the carefree Aang. He does have a sense of humor at times. Tenzin also occasionally shows bits of craziness and works hard to suppress this. He always tries to be a calm person, an attempt that is sometimes nullified by his menacing children or even his siblings. Even Katara describes him as a severe child from the start. He has always been burdened with carrying the fate of the Air Nation which had made him very serious about things in life.
Airbending Capabilities
Tenzin is considered the most powerful Airbender after his father Aang. This is because he was extensively trained in all the air-bending techniques by Avatar Aang himself. It was not until Zaheer mastered Guru Laghima’s flying technique that he actually surprised. Even Zaheer, with so much power could never take on Tenzin alone. And all of the elemental masters of the Red Lotus attacked Tenzin at once that he was overpowered. And even in such conditions, he still did not give up showing his commitment to doing the right thing.
Conclusion
Tenzin is among the most potent modern-day Airbenders and is solely responsible for training all the future Airbenders. If you liked this article, visit our website, which offers a complete library of information on the Avatar Universe.