it could be seen as one. but also using freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want without thought of how it affects others, especially when it does harm others, is selfish. it's more self-responsability, holding yourself accountable and to a standard, not having a separate entity holding you to that standard and accountable. its a situation of nuance.
But he didn't really have a point except that order and chaos have a yin/yang relationship like life and death. As a philosophical idea it bears some truth, but as a political theory anarchism is the fucking worst because it only serves as a power vacuum for some authoritarian regime to step up and take over, which is exactly what happened. The fact he couldn't forsee this happening and envisioned utter chaos and barbarism like some stepping stone to utopia makes him look like a dummy. It would take decades, maybe even generations, for such chaos to *naturally* develop into a more civilized and *ordered* society again. Because chaos is not the "natural order", it is the blank slate of lawlessness and struggle for survival that order builds upon. Naturally this takes a really long time, unless someone with an army steps up and forces everyone to comply with their regime. Which is what Kuvira did, Zaheers idea of building utopia out of chaos never came true because it never does.
Exactly. He's like anti gandhi. Whereas Gandhi tried to inspire people without violence, zaheer just rolled up, shot the president and said "YOU'RE FREE, BE FREE. WAIT NOT THAT FREE, SHIT, STOP USING YOUR FREEDOM TO DO THINGS I DIDN'T MEAN TO HAPPEN"
No. Everything about anarchy is flawed. It's an unrealistic, idealistic ideology that doesn't take into account the teeny tiny fact that human beings are kinda shit, & we need institutions and leaders to help us deal when shit inevitably hits the wall. What happens when some guy decides he wants to start killing people? Oh well I guess we absolutely can't form a group to take him down or even investigate his crimes, or even have a place to separate him from society...because that would be a fucking institution and we're cool guy Edgelord anarchists.
FingerDawg omg, whatever you say, totally metal, high tier edgelord. Did you just take your first freshman philosophy class ? Pro tip: read Machiavelli next.
FingerDawg "water washing over the bricks of society." "Wouldn't mind ending this world for another one." My god. This . Is. Exactly . Why . Political scientists hate anarchists. They're all discontent 20 something year olds who don't want to talk about sustainable solutions to real world problems....they want to larp about homogenous discord.
Zaheer & Thanos are a prove that if a character is well written, even as the antagonist or a villain, they could outshadow the main characters and steal the show for themselves.
It's actually interesting. When you look at the hair on someone's head it can seem chaotic, but then you take one hair and it's organized in a straight line. Then you get a microscope and find out that the growth of hair is chaotic. Then you zoom in more and you find order again.
Order within chaos, light within darkness. They cannot exist without each other because they are polar opposites; without the concept of chaos, we cannot define order and the other way around. Just as how life and it's support cannot exist without components that are considered deadly
That's literally chaos theory and I recommend you look into it more. Among other sources, a good place to start is Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick.
It's not about right or wrong, It's how they present their idea. Zaheer delivers them dramatically, beautifully. That makes him my favorite villain in avatar korra series
True. I think it's less anarchy and more like John Locke's philosophy of the highest principles being life, freedoms, and the persute of happiness. Zaheer just dialed it up to eleven, doesn't really present his idea to individuals that might want that, and does immoral stuff to make the Earth Kingdom "free of tyranny". In a way he is forcing his way on the world
Yeah, you're right. Because he claim that the state should be commanded by the people, the oppressed class, but he DOESN'T understand that this class should be the one claiming the power, not him, the revolution has to be made by the people who form the state, not by some random who doesn't understand the local problems. And after his speech, he threat a whole civilazation of genocidy (after had defend some random Guy who don't have political power, as this nation). In fact, he is a hypocrate who only seek power, trying to justify his actions
One thing I liked in Legend of Korra is how each villain had the opposite ideology of the last villain Amon was anti exceptionalism Tarlok wanted to turn into a god Zaheer was an anarchist Kuvira was a fascist I think the main idea in Legend of Korra is that the world is not the black and white war of the last airbender era, where villains were obvious and absolute, now people disagree on what is evil and what is good, what is good for some is evil for others and in a world like that a figure like the avatar, a literal god incarnate that is supposed to be always on the side of right and justice, is kind of controversial, should there be an Avatar in a world that complex and should it take sides? I always thought that the main idea of the whole show was that everyone expects Korra to act as as saint even a Messiah, yet Korra doesn't know how to do that, unlike Aang she is not a walking moral compass, she doesnt know who to support The main problem of the series for me though is how Korra couldn't care less, her personality is less warrior and more athlete, to her bending is just a sport and she never truly grew out of that, she never actively tried to deside who she should punch in the face and for the most part punched whoever they told her to punch
@@RPIXELN Read the Bible, there's tons of wisdom and philosophy in there but most people only focus on the popular and controversial things in it. It reminds me so much of monks and Buddhism but people automatically judge the book by its cover. I just wish people would focus on the positive things it teaches and not the negative. The Hebrew Bible doesn't teach about a firey molten lava eternal hell, only the KJV, someone who was a homosexual hypocrite. It has been altered so much and that's what makes people hate it without giving it a chance.
I disagree with your analysis of his fight with Tenzin. I don’t think he lost because he was a free-stylist. I think he lost because his martial art system was not yet fully adapted for air bending, he had been an air bender for a short amount of time while Tenzin was trained from a young age to became a master.
@@jacklan4103 It's because he has no experience. For instance, the original fire bending style was the dance of the dragon, but the fire nation was able to create a new art that worked just as well. And Toph's Earth Bending uses the original style while others don't. A bending style doesn't need a specific style of martial art, it needs the actual skill and experience using the element.
I think Data is correct. Zaheer was a genius who had little practical experience with airbending. Tenzin was trained from birth to be a master and he was trained by an air nomad Avatar. Tenzin was one of the best benders in the world at that time, regardless of element. Damned right he mopped up Zaheer.
If I may add, the free lance fighting that zaheer had, would lose and not just because of tenzin's root in fundamental but zaheer style has many flaws that he himself may not have been able to flesh out due to time being a constraint. Great fight scene nonetheless
TheDeathmail but still going off that logic. When aang and zuko learned firebending from dragons they became much more powerful benders than others. Just like how Iroh was possibly the strongest fire bender at that time, since he learned from the dragons as well. I think instead of it being his inexperience, it was more he based his airbending off the martial arts he knew. While Tenzin and his martial arts were built upon through generations of airbenders. So In conclusion I think that Zaheer and his fighting style, while compatible with airbending, wasn’t as perfect for airbending as Tenzin’s
I feel like "instinct" in this quote is a far too vague word and is a failure to specify more directly to the intent of the meaning. Einstein rewording a fellow scientist said "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Instinct isn't a simple enough word because it could mean a hundred different things here.
I fucking love him. Zaheer is the greatest antagonist in this universe. He really believes he's doing the right thing, as fucked up as it is. He reminds me of real life misguided extremist movement. Maybe he has the right ideas or justification, but the execution of them and his plans ends up being horrible/counterproductive. But at least he's not a selfish Ozai, Azula, or Kuvira. He just wants to free the world in his way. (And can you blame him for being locked away for 13 years? That would make anyone crazy, anyone ready to believe and act in the name of anything I love the Red Lotus. But I feel so torn with him. But he truly thinks he's doing the right thing. He feels justified. We should at least listen to his message. He's not trying to claw himself to power. He just wants liberation. I bet he's earth kingdom originally, became religiously obsessed with airbender culture and beliefs and all that and he distorted it to fit his own beliefs. Zaheer is the most complex character I think, and it takes a lot of thought to understand and sympathize with him
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. " - C. S. Lewis
Kuvira is the best in LoK. Fighting to make her people safe, reluctant to hand power to a juvenile brat. She goes too far, but her actual beliefs and aims are excellent.
@@omni42 One thing I like about book 4 is that Kuvira retrospectively illustrates Zaheer's point, at least partially. People are happy to live under Kuvira's rule, but they don't have a choice.
You point about him being shortsight also makes sense when you realise civilization would eventually develop a hierarchy/government should anarchy arise, weather it be forceful or not Always happy to see a new video from you dude, keep up the good work and you'll definitely grow!
I. Th. Actually it's common knowledge that anarchy always creates a power vacuum. Also anarchy does not mean no ruler it means no government. In a state of anarchy bandits and criminals will arise and anyone can attain power if they can quell the chaos. For all its mistakes. LoK got 1 thing right. Anarchy will lead usually to a authoritarian government because most people will look to the chaos and say fuck this I want to live
I disagree because we humans have up our freedoms or chances to be in an anarchist state because of the dangers it has. It means we are leaving it all to nature to decide. Nature is cruel like mom order, what humans fear the most is natural selection for themselves. Which means the only the strong shall survive and the weak will fie . So to combat that we humans created communities, rules and governments by giving up our freedoms for a chance to give the weak a chance to live.
I would say everyone has a fair point. Though I have to lean on the side of, once power is removed, even if done so solely for the removal of power. Will eventually lead to a place that requires power. I would argue capitalism is a the structure of power that wroks the best. The reason I would argue capitalism as a structure succeeds so well, is because it perfectly seals each vacuum of power that opens up. Capitalism as a "power structure" while flawed, is also flawless. I'm not trying to preach it, as there are many reasons why I disagree with it. But there are also many reasons why I view it as a structure that will always appear once all other forms of power are removed. What I mean by it (nearly) perfectly seals all power vacuums is. For any market that lacks supply, someone will step in to provide the demand, and nearly always at a cost. If all other powers were to shut down, or cease to exist. The philosophy of capitalism would push on. Not through the need of any supreme leader of any kind. But simply through the need of a power to supply a demand. That's what I consider to be the only flaw in Zaheer's philosophy. Is the fact that we as human's and a species, are lazy. We will always look for the fastest and most efficient way to supply our demands. And currency, is the most effective solution. So even if Zaheer were to succeed. It would eventually lead to failure. Because a trade system would develop for everyone to quickly and efficiently get whatever it is we desire. Which, although it would be region dependent, would lead to a hierarchy of power for those who controlled the supplies for which there is the highest demand. That's why in democratic contries, monopolies are (officially) outlawed. Because it's an attempt to prevent a corporation from creating a structure of power higher than that of any government because they maintain a higher wealth and power structure due to whomever it may be providing the only available supplies through themselves. And even though we may believe this isn't how it would fundamentally break down. That's just how it always has. Person A grows a wheat field, Person B raises cows for milk. Person B needs feed for his cows and wheat to make bread. Person A needs milk for bread. Person A and B make a deal in order to fulfill these needs. That simple scenario will play out any time anyone needs something. Eventually leading to some form of power over the average people that work for person A or B in order to fulfill these needs. Unfortunately no matter how anyone wants to look at it. Because of how humans work, removing power only leaves an opening for supply and demand, which in itself, leads to power.
It would require like-minded individuals. People would have to be raised into it, so it will be difficult to imagine it ever happening. People today are possessive and vain, not very ideal place of mind to start a society.
Wow amazing video! I had similar thoughts on Zaheer's philosophy while watching the series. He is very idealistic and not very good at predicting the outcome of his actions or even realizing, after failing in the past, that his vision of the future is unchievable through the means he has chosen. Loved to hear your thoughts too! Keep up the good work! :)
Thank you so much for this. People always have a flawed, tinted view of what anarchism entails, and I'm proud to see someone actually explain what anarchy means to an anarchist.
SoulReaperSlayer19 - to be fair, anybody that clicks this video *before* watching the full series is foolish as it gives info on a certain character so naturally spoilers will be involved.
Even though i do not particularly enjoy korra as a whole, this video is still amazing. Its given me a pretty damn good look into this guy. Thanks for another great vid
Zaheer is one of my all times favorites "villains". When I first watched this chapter, I was kind of upset that the creators of TLOK decided to shed the idea of anarchy in such a bad light (I'm a long time believer in anarchy, even before watching). Later I realized that they didn't shed a bad light on the idea itself, but on a specific method to achieve it (not that I agree with them, I too think that anachy should be pursued even by force, but at least they didn't discard the idea completely)
Man, you're probably my favorite new channel I subscribed to. You're on another level compared to DigiBro, Super Eyepatch Wolf, they mostly focus on the composition of the visual medium involving anime and limit the scope of their conversation of storytelling to simply summarizing the beats and the audience response to those moments emotionally. Rather than diving into those characters as their own deep psychosis and motivations as to why the story is happening rather than arbitrarily having the story and then the characters who are simply loose fabric in the wind. Character's shouldn't be limited to simply what's what they can do next to keep what's happening in the future become closer to realizing. Since that obvious leading of the characters through the conflicts and narrative moments are bottlenecking the others. When one gets further ahead the other aspect suffers drastically. They don't have any harmony in the progression of how the story will flow. It should feel like it's moving along chronologically, and that feels like a natural flow of time that you experience as things occur in your own life. It mostly corrodes of the characters that aren't the main cast or the protagonist, they become blank slates that serve as tools to the protagonist and the author to fit whatever narrative moment that HAS to occur at that particular point of whatever corner they wrote themself in because the story isn't happening like a series of events it's spread thin over whatever bullshit, retcon, or straight up nonsense that has to happen even if it completely renders a fact stated previously making any sort of narrative, plot, or story logic completely unreliable,, if the story can progress at all. Handicapping each other at every critical point turning characters into hot messes of radical mood swings, acting against their own interests, and having the emotional pull of a piece of cardboard. Edit: Wow that was a grammatical mess, it still kinda is but it's a much more coherent thought now
While Zaheer is true that true absolute freedom can only be achieved in anarchy, he his flawed in two key ways. 1) Can you really "force" freedom on others? What if others reject this absolute freedom out of their own free will, choosing to create their own governments. Will Zaheer go around destroying every kind of government that pops up? Zaheer certainly seems to think that forcing people into his ideal of freedom by threat of force is justified. 2) Is freedom and detachment really the be all and end all of life? It's clear that Zaheer draws a lot of inspiration from the ideals of the Air Nomads, but in doing so he complete ignores all other goods. What about the love and support provided by stable, often hierarchical, community? According to Zaheer, that is worth absolutely nothing. Most people would disagree.
The sheer success and power that Zaheer achieved with self-taught airbending makes you think... What if the Air nomads have been wrong with their teachings all along? Maybe their pacifist ways aren't the right path...
My favorite character in Korra. Red Lotus was truly epic and their philosophy and the ways they tried to bring the total anarchy to the world was really interesting part of this show.
Zaheer was an awesome character and I finally got to see and loved an air bender who actually took action to defend their beliefs when majority were so passive and barely put themselves center stage when conflict came up only really fighting when they were attacked and even then didn’t badly injure or kill.
That line at the end was very true it is a lie told by a fearful body hoping to be wrong. Once I learned to go against my own instinct I became that much freer. I still struggle with it at times. But not as much as I use to. And the less I struggle with it the more my powers grow.
I find Zaheer to be such a fascinating villain, he was technically right about everything. The only thing was he didn’t account for the power vacuum left in his place.
If Zaheer had succeded he would try to make It so that gravity doesn't work anymore or to reverse the food chain, the fact that there are no governments doesn't mean that the world is in disorder
He wasn't right. The people who should claim the power are the ones who forms the state, not him, not some random guy alone who doesn't understand the local problems that well
Dude. This analysis is everything. I’ve always loved Zaheer as the first true “Airbender villain” cause his ideology is rooted in truth but his execution is done with malice. The duality of his character to achieve flight by letting go of earthly attachments but still having this unwavering need to destroy without the thought of cause AND effect. Very well done.
TSG KIDD It's simple, they wanted to control all the nations through power, some of them knew the whole truth while others didn't. Nagato just wanted to use tailed beast weapons while Kisame knew the actual truth. The infinite genjustsu
Abdirazak Warsame that was after Yahiko died. Ik very much about that. But if Sage’s Rain does it and explains it; it’s much more bad ass in a sense. Plus I’m actually learning more off of previous knowledge.
Abdirazak Warsame nah they wanted peace the first the akatsuki when obito got control of the akatsuki the philosophical sense did not change it was just that they didn’t care means as long as it achieved the end
TSG KIDD nagato does it for peace, hidan does it for his religion, Tobi does it to instill his ideals in others, etc etc , I totally ripped this off some site, you can Google it.
Your channel should have at least 500k subs! The quality of the videos it's clearly visible (content wise & perfectly explained) and the respect you have for Avatar, Naruto and other wonderful series.
Your channels aesthetic fits your voice and your content extremely well keep doing what your doing and I'm sure you will blow up and gain the success you deserve.
@@Slim2Flo no its not. The human body and all life for that matter is one of the most ordered and complex systems in the world. Zoom in on a salt crystal far enough and you'll see a highly structured and ordered world. Order and chaos is relative to the system your analyzing and the lens through which you are viewing something.
@@bobsonbobbybobson6888 the big bang aka chaos is the reason we all exist and so that being said chaos was the very first 'thing' ever in the universe. We arent talking about salt crystals or the making of the body etc.. the world, planets, universe etc.. chaos is the most natural thing and thats why this airbending dude does what he does. Freedom.
chaos and order is a struggle that drives human society and life. Without chaos, life would stagnate. No new struggle, no competition, no advancement. why build a bridge when there is nothing to cross? Why cure an illness that doesn't infect us? Why struggle to achieve greatness without the satisfaction of overcoming obstacles? Without order, at least some of it, we lack direction. Humans no longer struggle to succeed, they struggle to survive. The true anarchist philosophy is that humans can achieve this order without government and oppressive hierarchy. We understand order needs to exist, but moral structures, peaceful competition, and cooperation for mutual benefit create that order just fine enough
Season 3 was the best season. The villain was creative, the conflict, the battles, everything. If they made a movie or tv series souly about zaheer I would defiantly watch it.
"New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old " . wow, zaheer is the wisest villain in the series. I will never forget that quote, it makes so much sense.
amon is probably the kindest villain in the whole world. if his plan worked and all people became non benders literally nothing would change. look at us these days we have no bending and live normally using technology. he couldbe just killed the benders instead of “purifying” them but no he has to be a good person
Wait a minute??!! If Zaheer didn't let go of his mindset of killing the Avatar, So how did he really fly???? And also I don't understand that how Airbender can't fly??? They can manipulate air but can't fly. That's kinda dumb.
My favorite Avatar villain that I actually identify with. Now I realize why as I study chakras, elements, zodiac signs, etc. I am myself an Air Element, born as a Libra, which seems to be what Zaheer is as well. He is the perversion of the freedom and vibrancy of the Air Element and seemingly of the Libra zodiac sign specifically. The Age of Libra seems to be what he had in mind by destroying all hierarchy- a time in history believed to be one of shared consciousness between man and animal and all life forms when all lived side by side, violence and oppression were seemingly rare, and one's own responsibilities were only to one's own freedom and by extension, to all beings' personal liberties and transcendence by virtue of the shared universal consciousness. Airs want anarchy. Airs do not like order or to be held down in any way. They are intense intellectuals too, dwelling in the realm of thought so much that it can be dangerous. If not grounded or kept in check, they end up a lot like Zaheer. The more one is sucked into one's own thoughts without grounding, the more illusion is present and the more one's own ego is actually fueled by the oxygen to grow. You can fool yourself to believe you have transcended worldly attachments, but you may have instead self-actualized, which is actually the step below transcendence. Zaheer did this when he 'let go his earthly tether,' but obviously- and fans knew this at the time and questioned it- still wanting to murder someone, the Avatar, and being so at one with your goals, the Red Lotus' mission, is NOT at all letting go of attachments. The ego, or solar plexus, is fire, it is your own personal sun and fuel source. Of the zodiac elements, airs and fires are very close and can be fueled off one another in the same way fire is made stronger by oxygen and that heat makes the molecules in air move faster to create deadly pressure systems like tornadoes and hurricanes. Air element people can rev up the fire element people to help them do their bidding by way of manipulation and fueling that person with oxygen to fuel their energy; but vice-versa the fire element people in their passions and desires ignite the details and passions and sometimes the worst in the air element people, so drawn into their thoughts that they are that they sometimes detach from lots of the 'flame' of life and are detached from others. This was very therapeutic for me and I bet lots of you will find it fascinating. Yeah, I believe that not only is Zaheer a Libra but he is one of the most powerful. Of the 3 Air Signs, Libra is the Cardinal sign that launches the Air Season of Autumn, and therefore is the most bold and leader-like of the Air signs. Their leadership style can go haywire and chaotic, much like Zaheer's. Being a Libra I was very inspired by Zaheer at the time of Season 3, especially since at that time in school I learned a lot about conspiracy theories and the very real and horrible actions of world governments and actors. Ungrounded, chaotic Libras aren't bad people, they actually in theory want the best for the world, but this is easily blended with the ego's want for personal freedom and the desire of 'bringing everyone else down with them;' normal people can't see the evil at work in the world and so therefore no change will ever get done if they aren't manipulated and fooled into doing the Libra's work for them, for the Libra believes they're incapable of even seeing the maladies. "When you base your expectations only on what you can see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality." The more and more entrenched the mad Libra is in their own delusions and visions, the more the ego is fueled and the stronger the Libra fights opposition to the plans. You see this in Zaheer whenever he's challenged and in his disdain for reality as it stands. He'd rather there just be chaos. Sometimes it takes the worst of things to happen for the Libra's mindset to shift back. Zaheer had this happen in his imprisonment and in seeing the consequences of his actions- Kuvira's evil rising. But let's not forget, he was dragged off to prison yelling and screaming in prophecies and in indignant madness.
When I first saw the season 3 villain squad I thought 💭 in my head, “I know I’m supposed to not like them but they’re so badass” like Zaheer and the other 3 ming-hua, ghazan, and P’li
Formidable videos on Avatar. I'd love to see more stuff like this! For example Amon's "equalist" Communist revolution. Or perhaps even a little further... I think TLOK is based entirely on the Lion Turtle scene with Aang (ATLA). Quote: "The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatret without being harmed. Since beginningsless time, darkness thrives in the void... But always yields to purifying light." The first line connects to Book 1 when Amon chose to live in lies and illusions until the truth was revealed that he was a water/bloodbender The second line, which is a little more obvious connects to book 3 The third: Since beginningless time... in book 2 when Vaatu nearly destroyed the world and Raava was found again in the darkness. Also Zaheer entered the void. Then book 4, which I suspect is based on another Lion Turtle quote: 'In the era before the Avatar, we bend not the elements, but the energy...'. Korra bent the spirit energy beam.
Some Thing just a note, amon's "revolution" wasn't communist. It was populist. I'm not anything close to a commie sympathizer, but don't conflate the two because it can lead to confusion when criticising the two.
Nice idea and maybe good for a video and its true that energy bending within a person is something touched in other parts of the story (like the end of book 2) but I think(correct me when I'm wrong) that Korra didn't energybend to make the porta. she stopped the beam with airbending and the spiritual energy combined with her and Raava created a new spiritportal
Season 1 is about "socialism/communism" except the writers have no idea what socialism is. Amon screaming equality every other line doesn't make up for the fact that he has more in common with Fascists than actual Socialist ie. Populist movement during times of crisis, scapegoating societal problems based on Race (fascism) rather than Class (socialism) and helping the Capitalist Elite (Hiroshi Sato) maintain/gain even more power.
God of Light no I think it's that the audience has no idea what communism is. Just because amon uses the word equality a lot that doesn't mean his ideology automatically becomes communism. There was literally NOTHING to imply he had communist ideals other than "oh, he said the word 'equal' a lot" he was obviously a fascist, uses fascist manipulation techniques, rhetoric, propaganda, ect. I think The audience was literally just either too juvenile or too distracted by the word 'equal' to realize. But I mean lets be honest, the writers did a shit job at injecting ideologies into the rest of villains. The choose to make Unalok literally the devil to Korras god figure, the picked fucking dumb ass anarchy for the next one, anarchy is the most ludicrous ideology out there, then they just. Gave up. With season 4, reverting back to fire lord Ozai with tits & making her from the earth nation. Kuvora was literally earth nation Hitler by the end but not in a compelling way, in a lazy way.
I’ve only seen The Last Air Bender, and I was always putting off watching The Legend of Korra, but Zaheers philosophy, character, and the fact that Henry Rollins voices him, I now I must watch this show.
I absolutely loved Zaheer. One of the best character s ever created for an anime series period. But I also understand the danger if what he was. And extremist, a radical, and a terrorist. I like how you went into detail to explain how he, even though was similar to Guru Laghima, was also vastly different. Laghima was likely a peaceful anarchist, a peaceful reformer, while Zaheer was the opposite, though fully believeing in the anarchist ideals. His forceful, violent, and destructive methods flew in the face of the truly spiritual and healthy methods of Guru Laghima. He thought he truly understood the great airbending sage, but in actually it was only so much. Sure he attained the ability to fly, but that alone says nothing about his true spiritual development. Though Zaheer has grand and highly developed and good ideas for the world, he got so caught up in them that he lost sight of how they would effect the world in the long run was he to implement them through ruthless violence. While I believe Guru Laghima likely maintained an understanding of his responsibility and commitment to all beings and the sanctity of all their lives. Zaheer lost touch withhis humanity and what could have given his actions and ideals more perspective by remaining in his idealized, utopian version of reality in his mind. He probably found it too hard to deal with reality at ground level and instead wanted to escape it with losing himself in lofty philosophy and logic. He would definitely have been a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, but he would have been a loose cannon and detrimental to their cause. He would have been like Francoise Mackandal believing he understood the Creed better than anyone, and used that to justify wanton killing of both guilty and innocent people. But I still love Zaheer, even if he is an example of the truth twisted and distorted.
PLEAASE keep uploading your videos. They are amazing and you will grow so much if you keep doing them. Your channel has genuine good content and you do stuff that you and your fans enjoy.
As an Anarchist I appreciated the hell out of this villain. He however believes in “the natural order of disorder” whereas generally Anarchists believe “Anarchy is Order” Still his philosophy bears similarities to Far Leftism. Overall I love him above all in Korea.
how is it far leftist when governments shouldn't exist? most leftist seem to believe in big government programs and socialism. I'm fundamentally conservative but I really seem to be drawn to zaheer.
This is like Pain's theory about how every should experience an unforgettable pain so it can be a reminder of what war, violence, and power can cause and that sure his ideals were actually agreeabl, he had flaws in it with 1. calling himself a God and 2. That his way about going about it was flawed
Honestly, I think Amon and Zaheer are on par as villains. I relate to Amon more because of equality. I would have been really nice to see where his ideology of equality went. Dude, keep up the good work.
Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but wasn't his entire shtick pretending to be a non-bender? As in, he didn't care about equality in the slightest and was just using that ruse to further his personal goals?
@@calliph you are definitely right on the point of Amon being a false witnesses in the ideology of Equality. I should have elaborated more. A 'What if' scenario where Amon did not have bending.
i love Zaheer but like many anarchists he's the kind of guy who hates dictators and authority but would be one of these if he was having suddenly great powers. For example, if Zaheer could take avatar's powers he would destroy all the chiefs and who knows what happens after that ? he does make a speech about freedom and engaging to take it, it would be chaos, the bender would bullying the people to have things and...chaos everywhere. What Zaheer would do about that, except for example be the "savior" of these poor terrified people.
If Amon was a member of the Red Lotus (and was comitted to their cause) then Zaheer's arguments would be much less dissonant. Though it's interesting how the Red Lotus' philosophy seems to reject Marxism in favor of anarcho-communism, but their actions fall very comfortably within the vein of Marxist Revolutionaries. I wonder if a more successful Zaheer and Red Lotus would, without the power to resolve the bender non-bender power disparity (relatively) peacefully with the power of Amon's blood bending, carry out atrocities (a genocide to eliminate benders (or non-benders, but more likely the former)) like those carried out by the many "Communist" regimes to establish balance or if they would simply chose to ignore the issue altogether. I really love the fact that the creators of this universe would put something so complex into a show that is, ostensibly, meant for kids. It's fantastic when artists give the audience the respect to assume that they can understand the issue. This series is a gem that I want to ensure that the next generation of my family is able to experience.
"[...] but like many anarchists he's the kind of guy who hates dictators and authority but would be one of these if he was having suddenly great powers [...]" Ummm, have you met any actual anarchists? We work towards achievable goals by estabilishing communes and/or smaller projects that function on a non-hierarchical structure, or by fighting to tear down social forms of hierarchy like racism, homophobia, sexism and classism. Hardly autocrat material. Zaheer is the embodiment of a rather childish aproach to anarchism, he completely ignores the fact that people are conditioned by society to live under authority and that we need to deconstruct that before applying anarchism to any global scale. And yet, I don't think he would pursue any sort of leadership role. He never hints at it and you can see by his interactions with his partners that he actually believes in the concept of anarchy and maintains a horizontal relationship with them. The tearing down of the Earth Queen and Ba Sing Se's walls is a beautiful metaphor and a very romantic idea of a revolution, but in practice, as the plot itself shows in season 4 with Kuvira, the power vacuum is not filled by mutualistic anarchism but by fascism. Fascism is the natural form in which capitalism fixes itself after or in face of a crisis and you can't expect a different outcome until tackling these political structures first.
@@jackgray2419 One, that's a fallacy right there. Two, history has proven time and time again that anarchy hasn't and will not work. All anarchy ever did is to revert an oligarchial, autocratic, or representative system people don't like only for it to change into a different oligarchy, autocrat, or representatives to take charge or usurp power over the people. A sense of lawlessness can't guarantee everyone's freedom. How can you exercise your freedoms when you're worried over your own property or your own life? Even in our flawed government system, about 90% of the time you can still get the cops to do their work on protecting your property and life, criticized any wrongdoings in the government, and even change the government for something better by choosing different representatives. Anarchy only favors the strongest and smartest, just like any other government system. So, it's no better. You're just trading one master for another. Except you have less control over the ones you choose. And those anarchists who were interested in smaller communes? What does that has to do with anarchy, "the lack of government"? They're just substituting a bigger government that they don't like as well as its agendas for a smaller one with its own agendas. Except the very fact that it's only been very successful and sustainable in a small commune probably explained itself why it survived to this day. Not to mention that idea was not much different from other communal-styled communities that had existed such as tribal and religious ones. Three, individual freedoms can and has been guaranteed by larger governments before. Freedom of religion, where you can worship any god or none at all? Imagine a small, weak government which can't stop a Protestant mob from killing a Catholic. Except that used to happen in the early days of the United States, where the federal government didn't have much power over each individual's lives. The persecution of the Millerites, Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Jews, Jehovah Witnesses, and other faiths all happened in a time when the federal government wasn't strong enough to guarantee said freedoms. Only nowadays where if your employer won't allow you to take Saturday off as a Jew would the federal government defend you, because they can and have the power to do so. Or if someone refused to employ you just because of your faith without any reason, that's now an EEOC lawsuit brewing. Back then, they might say it's wrong, but they don't have the power to beat back against the crowd. And don't let me talk about slavery and civil rights. It took a Civil War, 3 Amendments passed by a Republican-majority Congress (about as close to a one-party domination in America at the time), and other legislations to end slavery and create the legal basis for the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
Man I just subscribed, I love what you do with your philosophical and analytical assessments of media, very very good stuff 👍👍👍 but man that extra deep voice definitely helps it along. Very epic and easy to get pulled into listening to for hours. I put your videos on my headphones when I go on runs. Thank you so much for making this video and all of them on your channel. You're incredibly talented.
Honestly, I feel that in the case of the Earth Queen, Zaheer did good... he took her down properly... the issue??? The new ruler, while an overall good ruler.... also wanted to rule everything...
You don’t think his plans are incredibly shortsighted and naive? How does he expect to kill all leaders and rulers all over the world and prevent new ones from rising up? He told the earth queen that if people find out she has the avatar people will pressure her for her release. So imagine how they would react if he succeeded in killing Korra. This is why it would have been smarter to try and get Korra to join him and use her as a rallying point for his cause.
@@austinjohnsen4430 i never said that i would *blindly* defend him. he's one of my favorite characters and i'm very critical of him. i more or less agree with everything you said.
@@user-zt3rt8zo2g Still, just for fun let’s imagine a scenario where Zaheer does succeed in killing Korra and escapes. What could he possibly do now? There’s almost no scenario where things could turn out well for him. Korra’s friends and allies would no doubt spread the word about what Zaheer did, and this would probably make her a martyr for most people. This was something Amon wanted to avoid back in season one. This would be a pretty dire situation for Zaheer, even if his friends were still alive to help him because now the nations of the world will be united against him. Wouldn’t it have been smarter if Zaheer wanted to recruit Korra and use her to gain the trust and support of the people he claimed he wanted to free from oppressive systems?
"Freedom without responsibility, is selfish." I have been trying to put words to that idea for like a year, and you managed it. thank you.
Would freedom with resposibilities be a contrafiction?
do you mean contradiction?
it could be seen as one. but also using freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want without thought of how it affects others, especially when it does harm others, is selfish. it's more self-responsability, holding yourself accountable and to a standard, not having a separate entity holding you to that standard and accountable. its a situation of nuance.
I have been using these words whenever possible👍.
What does that mean? I didn't quite understand it
The best written villains are the ones that make me think “hmm, they have a point”
Zaheer is one of them
But he didn't really have a point except that order and chaos have a yin/yang relationship like life and death. As a philosophical idea it bears some truth, but as a political theory anarchism is the fucking worst because it only serves as a power vacuum for some authoritarian regime to step up and take over, which is exactly what happened. The fact he couldn't forsee this happening and envisioned utter chaos and barbarism like some stepping stone to utopia makes him look like a dummy. It would take decades, maybe even generations, for such chaos to *naturally* develop into a more civilized and *ordered* society again. Because chaos is not the "natural order", it is the blank slate of lawlessness and struggle for survival that order builds upon. Naturally this takes a really long time, unless someone with an army steps up and forces everyone to comply with their regime. Which is what Kuvira did, Zaheers idea of building utopia out of chaos never came true because it never does.
Shotgun Pete agreed
DeShawn Thomas he really didn't
DeShawn Thomas Zander doesn’t make you think though.
you can say that to most of narutos villain, especially pein, obito, and madara
“Have you heard the tragedy of guru Laghema... I thought not, it’s not a story the white Lotus is comfortable with telling”
-some commenter somewhere
unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep.
Ironic... he could give others the freedom to choose their own way, but not himself
Some commentator from somewhere in a galexy far away...
Guru ligma balls is stronger than sheev confirmed
The only flaw with Zaheer's Philosophy is that he forgot, that the revolution has to come from the people themselfs
Exactly. He's like anti gandhi. Whereas Gandhi tried to inspire people without violence, zaheer just rolled up, shot the president and said "YOU'RE FREE, BE FREE. WAIT NOT THAT FREE, SHIT, STOP USING YOUR FREEDOM TO DO THINGS I DIDN'T MEAN TO HAPPEN"
No. Everything about anarchy is flawed. It's an unrealistic, idealistic ideology that doesn't take into account the teeny tiny fact that human beings are kinda shit, & we need institutions and leaders to help us deal when shit inevitably hits the wall. What happens when some guy decides he wants to start killing people? Oh well I guess we absolutely can't form a group to take him down or even investigate his crimes, or even have a place to separate him from society...because that would be a fucking institution and we're cool guy Edgelord anarchists.
FingerDawg omg, whatever you say, totally metal, high tier edgelord. Did you just take your first freshman philosophy class ? Pro tip: read Machiavelli next.
FingerDawg "water washing over the bricks of society." "Wouldn't mind ending this world for another one." My god. This . Is. Exactly . Why . Political scientists hate anarchists. They're all discontent 20 something year olds who don't want to talk about sustainable solutions to real world problems....they want to larp about homogenous discord.
FingerDawg sorry if I hurt your feelings but your ideology is bottom of the barrel.
Zaheer & Thanos are a prove that if a character is well written, even as the antagonist or a villain, they could outshadow the main characters and steal the show for themselves.
@@rishavroy3756 Good writing is good. But Korra doesn't have an end goal, and neither does Zaheer. The writing is really awkward off the mark in tlok.
thanos is evil and isane not so well estermist hypcorite
Well neither Zaheer nor Thanos are well-written
Maybe to teenagers who took their first philosophy class, but beyond that...
Thanos is insane not so well extremist he a hypocrite
And uchiha madara
It's actually interesting. When you look at the hair on someone's head it can seem chaotic, but then you take one hair and it's organized in a straight line. Then you get a microscope and find out that the growth of hair is chaotic. Then you zoom in more and you find order again.
Order within chaos, light within darkness. They cannot exist without each other because they are polar opposites; without the concept of chaos, we cannot define order and the other way around. Just as how life and it's support cannot exist without components that are considered deadly
This is my favorite youtube comment
@@isaiahjohnson9905 sort of like ying and yang
That's literally chaos theory and I recommend you look into it more. Among other sources, a good place to start is Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick.
@@gold22silver I mean, that's what I was referencing.
It's not about right or wrong, It's how they present their idea. Zaheer delivers them dramatically, beautifully. That makes him my favorite villain in avatar korra series
True.
I think it's less anarchy and more like John Locke's philosophy of the highest principles being life, freedoms, and the persute of happiness. Zaheer just dialed it up to eleven, doesn't really present his idea to individuals that might want that, and does immoral stuff to make the Earth Kingdom "free of tyranny". In a way he is forcing his way on the world
There is between right and wrong.
Yeah, you're right. Because he claim that the state should be commanded by the people, the oppressed class, but he DOESN'T understand that this class should be the one claiming the power, not him, the revolution has to be made by the people who form the state, not by some random who doesn't understand the local problems. And after his speech, he threat a whole civilazation of genocidy (after had defend some random Guy who don't have political power, as this nation). In fact, he is a hypocrate who only seek power, trying to justify his actions
One thing I liked in Legend of Korra is how each villain had the opposite ideology of the last villain
Amon was anti exceptionalism
Tarlok wanted to turn into a god
Zaheer was an anarchist
Kuvira was a fascist
I think the main idea in Legend of Korra is that the world is not the black and white war of the last airbender era, where villains were obvious and absolute, now people disagree on what is evil and what is good, what is good for some is evil for others and in a world like that a figure like the avatar, a literal god incarnate that is supposed to be always on the side of right and justice, is kind of controversial, should there be an Avatar in a world that complex and should it take sides?
I always thought that the main idea of the whole show was that everyone expects Korra to act as as saint even a Messiah, yet Korra doesn't know how to do that, unlike Aang she is not a walking moral compass, she doesnt know who to support
The main problem of the series for me though is how Korra couldn't care less, her personality is less warrior and more athlete, to her bending is just a sport and she never truly grew out of that, she never actively tried to deside who she should punch in the face and for the most part punched whoever they told her to punch
Unalaq not Tarlok,
Absolutely agree
tho i do agree to most, Korra was way WAY annoying in S2 that i just couldn't tolerate her
True
Great comment, but how was Amon anti-exceptionalist?
Waiting for this man to blow up
Unknown Z funny you should say that because one of them could literally blow us up
Unknown Z
Blow up just like P'Li.
like sparky sparky boom man
This aged well
@@mastershifu9149 very well
The voice clip at the end was the moment I fell in love with this antagonist and to this day I still think he was Korra's best foe.
"Freedom without responsibility is selfish"
Gave me chills dude. So glad I found your channel!
Excellent video. I love The Legend of Korra. Incredible show. I wish they did a third series that is even more mature/violent/philosophical
Didn't expect to see you here lol
Read Kyoshi's book, it's ll there!
@@RPIXELN Read the Bible, there's tons of wisdom and philosophy in there but most people only focus on the popular and controversial things in it. It reminds me so much of monks and Buddhism but people automatically judge the book by its cover. I just wish people would focus on the positive things it teaches and not the negative. The Hebrew Bible doesn't teach about a firey molten lava eternal hell, only the KJV, someone who was a homosexual hypocrite. It has been altered so much and that's what makes people hate it without giving it a chance.
@@jahahua just thinking the same thing
I don't like Korra very much but Season 3 was excellent and most problems I have with it are from past seasons.
If you base your expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to a possibilities of a new reality
I disagree with your analysis of his fight with Tenzin. I don’t think he lost because he was a free-stylist. I think he lost because his martial art system was not yet fully adapted for air bending, he had been an air bender for a short amount of time while Tenzin was trained from a young age to became a master.
@@jacklan4103 It's likely a bastardized version, since he wasn't born as an air nomad
@@jacklan4103 It's because he has no experience. For instance, the original fire bending style was the dance of the dragon, but the fire nation was able to create a new art that worked just as well.
And Toph's Earth Bending uses the original style while others don't.
A bending style doesn't need a specific style of martial art, it needs the actual skill and experience using the element.
I think Data is correct. Zaheer was a genius who had little practical experience with airbending. Tenzin was trained from birth to be a master and he was trained by an air nomad Avatar. Tenzin was one of the best benders in the world at that time, regardless of element. Damned right he mopped up Zaheer.
If I may add, the free lance fighting that zaheer had, would lose and not just because of tenzin's root in fundamental but zaheer style has many flaws that he himself may not have been able to flesh out due to time being a constraint. Great fight scene nonetheless
TheDeathmail but still going off that logic. When aang and zuko learned firebending from dragons they became much more powerful benders than others. Just like how Iroh was possibly the strongest fire bender at that time, since he learned from the dragons as well. I think instead of it being his inexperience, it was more he based his airbending off the martial arts he knew. While Tenzin and his martial arts were built upon through generations of airbenders. So In conclusion I think that Zaheer and his fighting style, while compatible with airbending, wasn’t as perfect for airbending as Tenzin’s
"Instinct is A lie of a fearfull body hoping to be wrong"
... Wow.
What's that supposed to mean?
@@jedediah3097 What is means is when you base your expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to the posibilities of a new reality
WOOOOSH! “Ah ah ah! You wouldn’t want to singe your friend would you?”
Ultra instinct enters the chat: *Say what now?*
I feel like "instinct" in this quote is a far too vague word and is a failure to specify more directly to the intent of the meaning. Einstein rewording a fellow scientist said "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Instinct isn't a simple enough word because it could mean a hundred different things here.
I fucking love him. Zaheer is the greatest antagonist in this universe. He really believes he's doing the right thing, as fucked up as it is. He reminds me of real life misguided extremist movement. Maybe he has the right ideas or justification, but the execution of them and his plans ends up being horrible/counterproductive.
But at least he's not a selfish Ozai, Azula, or Kuvira. He just wants to free the world in his way. (And can you blame him for being locked away for 13 years? That would make anyone crazy, anyone ready to believe and act in the name of anything
I love the Red Lotus. But I feel so torn with him. But he truly thinks he's doing the right thing. He feels justified. We should at least listen to his message. He's not trying to claw himself to power. He just wants liberation.
I bet he's earth kingdom originally, became religiously obsessed with airbender culture and beliefs and all that and he distorted it to fit his own beliefs. Zaheer is the most complex character I think, and it takes a lot of thought to understand and sympathize with him
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
"
- C. S. Lewis
It never made any sense to me how he gained the ability to fly considering that he never detached from his ideals and need to change the world.
Kuvira is the best in LoK. Fighting to make her people safe, reluctant to hand power to a juvenile brat. She goes too far, but her actual beliefs and aims are excellent.
@@shorewall I wonder if this is true, actually maybe doing the right thing even against the will of the person is not a bad idea...
@@omni42 One thing I like about book 4 is that Kuvira retrospectively illustrates Zaheer's point, at least partially. People are happy to live under Kuvira's rule, but they don't have a choice.
thank you so much for making this!! Zaheer was my favourite villian in probably all of Avatar
You point about him being shortsight also makes sense when you realise civilization would eventually develop a hierarchy/government should anarchy arise, weather it be forceful or not
Always happy to see a new video from you dude, keep up the good work and you'll definitely grow!
I. Th. Actually it's common knowledge that anarchy always creates a power vacuum. Also anarchy does not mean no ruler it means no government. In a state of anarchy bandits and criminals will arise and anyone can attain power if they can quell the chaos. For all its mistakes. LoK got 1 thing right. Anarchy will lead usually to a authoritarian government because most people will look to the chaos and say fuck this I want to live
I disagree because we humans have up our freedoms or chances to be in an anarchist state because of the dangers it has. It means we are leaving it all to nature to decide. Nature is cruel like mom order, what humans fear the most is natural selection for themselves. Which means the only the strong shall survive and the weak will fie . So to combat that we humans created communities, rules and governments by giving up our freedoms for a chance to give the weak a chance to live.
I would say everyone has a fair point. Though I have to lean on the side of, once power is removed, even if done so solely for the removal of power. Will eventually lead to a place that requires power.
I would argue capitalism is a the structure of power that wroks the best. The reason I would argue capitalism as a structure succeeds so well, is because it perfectly seals each vacuum of power that opens up.
Capitalism as a "power structure" while flawed, is also flawless. I'm not trying to preach it, as there are many reasons why I disagree with it. But there are also many reasons why I view it as a structure that will always appear once all other forms of power are removed.
What I mean by it (nearly) perfectly seals all power vacuums is. For any market that lacks supply, someone will step in to provide the demand, and nearly always at a cost.
If all other powers were to shut down, or cease to exist. The philosophy of capitalism would push on. Not through the need of any supreme leader of any kind. But simply through the need of a power to supply a demand.
That's what I consider to be the only flaw in Zaheer's philosophy. Is the fact that we as human's and a species, are lazy. We will always look for the fastest and most efficient way to supply our demands. And currency, is the most effective solution.
So even if Zaheer were to succeed. It would eventually lead to failure. Because a trade system would develop for everyone to quickly and efficiently get whatever it is we desire. Which, although it would be region dependent, would lead to a hierarchy of power for those who controlled the supplies for which there is the highest demand. That's why in democratic contries, monopolies are (officially) outlawed. Because it's an attempt to prevent a corporation from creating a structure of power higher than that of any government because they maintain a higher wealth and power structure due to whomever it may be providing the only available supplies through themselves.
And even though we may believe this isn't how it would fundamentally break down. That's just how it always has.
Person A grows a wheat field, Person B raises cows for milk. Person B needs feed for his cows and wheat to make bread. Person A needs milk for bread. Person A and B make a deal in order to fulfill these needs.
That simple scenario will play out any time anyone needs something. Eventually leading to some form of power over the average people that work for person A or B in order to fulfill these needs.
Unfortunately no matter how anyone wants to look at it. Because of how humans work, removing power only leaves an opening for supply and demand, which in itself, leads to power.
Anarchy is the greatest friend to would-be tyrants. After all, as one cunning politician liked to say, "Chaos is a ladder."
It would require like-minded individuals. People would have to be raised into it, so it will be difficult to imagine it ever happening. People today are possessive and vain, not very ideal place of mind to start a society.
Wow amazing video! I had similar thoughts on Zaheer's philosophy while watching the series. He is very idealistic and not very good at predicting the outcome of his actions or even realizing, after failing in the past, that his vision of the future is unchievable through the means he has chosen.
Loved to hear your thoughts too! Keep up the good work! :)
“Freedom, without responsibility, is selfish.”
Fucking YES.
Thank you so much for this. People always have a flawed, tinted view of what anarchism entails, and I'm proud to see someone actually explain what anarchy means to an anarchist.
This guy is like a grenade with a fuze that's way too long, been waiting for you to blow up for a while now
SPOILERS
I swear Legend of Korra was so damn dark! Zaheer taking the air out of the Queen’s mouth, seeing his girlfriend blow herself up..oh my god..
Nora Brown next time maybe say SPPOLERS... even though this has been out for years, some of us just got to season three 🤦♂️
SoulReaperSlayer19 Sorry. :(
Nora Brown it’s ok this time since she’s a bad guy 👌
SoulReaperSlayer19 - to be fair, anybody that clicks this video *before* watching the full series is foolish as it gives info on a certain character so naturally spoilers will be involved.
That’s the reason the show failed.
Even though i do not particularly enjoy korra as a whole, this video is still amazing. Its given me a pretty damn good look into this guy. Thanks for another great vid
woodparkweirdo thank you!
Zaheer is one of my all times favorites "villains".
When I first watched this chapter, I was kind of upset that the creators of TLOK decided to shed the idea of anarchy in such a bad light (I'm a long time believer in anarchy, even before watching).
Later I realized that they didn't shed a bad light on the idea itself, but on a specific method to achieve it (not that I agree with them, I too think that anachy should be pursued even by force, but at least they didn't discard the idea completely)
Can’t liberate people if they don’t choose liberation from their institutions
Yeah, I agree with you.
I loved the scene when Tenzin was kicking his ass shows the great difference between a talented amateur and a true master .
Man, you're probably my favorite new channel I subscribed to. You're on another level compared to DigiBro, Super Eyepatch Wolf, they mostly focus on the composition of the visual medium involving anime and limit the scope of their conversation of storytelling to simply summarizing the beats and the audience response to those moments emotionally. Rather than diving into those characters as their own deep psychosis and motivations as to why the story is happening rather than arbitrarily having the story and then the characters who are simply loose fabric in the wind.
Character's shouldn't be limited to simply what's what they can do next to keep what's happening in the future become closer to realizing. Since that obvious leading of the characters through the conflicts and narrative moments are bottlenecking the others. When one gets further ahead the other aspect suffers drastically. They don't have any harmony in the progression of how the story will flow. It should feel like it's moving along chronologically, and that feels like a natural flow of time that you experience as things occur in your own life.
It mostly corrodes of the characters that aren't the main cast or the protagonist, they become blank slates that serve as tools to the protagonist and the author to fit whatever narrative moment that HAS to occur at that particular point of whatever corner they wrote themself in because the story isn't happening like a series of events it's spread thin over whatever bullshit, retcon, or straight up nonsense that has to happen even if it completely renders a fact stated previously making any sort of narrative, plot, or story logic completely unreliable,, if the story can progress at all. Handicapping each other at every critical point turning characters into hot messes of radical mood swings, acting against their own interests, and having the emotional pull of a piece of cardboard.
Edit: Wow that was a grammatical mess, it still kinda is but it's a much more coherent thought now
Caleb1915 thank you, I appreciate it!
Sage's Rain Hey can you start doing Star Wars themed videos, like on the tragedy of Anakin/ darth Vader, amazing videos though
While Zaheer is true that true absolute freedom can only be achieved in anarchy, he his flawed in two key ways.
1) Can you really "force" freedom on others? What if others reject this absolute freedom out of their own free will, choosing to create their own governments. Will Zaheer go around destroying every kind of government that pops up? Zaheer certainly seems to think that forcing people into his ideal of freedom by threat of force is justified.
2) Is freedom and detachment really the be all and end all of life? It's clear that Zaheer draws a lot of inspiration from the ideals of the Air Nomads, but in doing so he complete ignores all other goods. What about the love and support provided by stable, often hierarchical, community? According to Zaheer, that is worth absolutely nothing. Most people would disagree.
Yes.
Greatest villain in the entire Avatar saga, and season 3 of Korra is my favorite in the whole saga.
The sheer success and power that Zaheer achieved with self-taught airbending makes you think... What if the Air nomads have been wrong with their teachings all along? Maybe their pacifist ways aren't the right path...
My favorite character in Korra. Red Lotus was truly epic and their philosophy and the ways they tried to bring the total anarchy to the world was really interesting part of this show.
I was surprised this was uploaded today since I swore I saw this weeks ago, but great video nonetheless! That was a killer last line delivery too.
Brett Tracey thank you!
Zaheer was an awesome character and I finally got to see and loved an air bender who actually took action to defend their beliefs when majority were so passive and barely put themselves center stage when conflict came up only really fighting when they were attacked and even then didn’t badly injure or kill.
That line at the end was very true it is a lie told by a fearful body hoping to be wrong. Once I learned to go against my own instinct I became that much freer. I still struggle with it at times. But not as much as I use to. And the less I struggle with it the more my powers grow.
I find Zaheer to be such a fascinating villain, he was technically right about everything. The only thing was he didn’t account for the power vacuum left in his place.
If Zaheer had succeded he would try to make It so that gravity doesn't work anymore or to reverse the food chain, the fact that there are no governments doesn't mean that the world is in disorder
He not villain governments are corrupt I liked how he freed the earth kingdom from the tyranny earth queen and wanted to oppress her people
He wasn't right. The people who should claim the power are the ones who forms the state, not him, not some random guy alone who doesn't understand the local problems that well
Dude. This analysis is everything. I’ve always loved Zaheer as the first true “Airbender villain” cause his ideology is rooted in truth but his execution is done with malice. The duality of his character to achieve flight by letting go of earthly attachments but still having this unwavering need to destroy without the thought of cause AND effect. Very well done.
Nice video I really learned a lot today Sage's Rain!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
“Freedom should be chosen for one self, not forced on to others”
-Blade Wolf
Can you do a philosophy of the Akatsuki video in the future
TSG KIDD It's simple, they wanted to control all the nations through power, some of them knew the whole truth while others didn't. Nagato just wanted to use tailed beast weapons while Kisame knew the actual truth. The infinite genjustsu
Abdirazak Warsame that was after Yahiko died. Ik very much about that. But if Sage’s Rain does it and explains it; it’s much more bad ass in a sense. Plus I’m actually learning more off of previous knowledge.
Abdirazak Warsame nah they wanted peace the first the akatsuki when obito got control of the akatsuki the philosophical sense did not change it was just that they didn’t care means as long as it achieved the end
TSG KIDD nagato does it for peace, hidan does it for his religion, Tobi does it to instill his ideals in others, etc etc , I totally ripped this off some site, you can Google it.
Do you mean the 1st akatsuki with Nagato and them rain village niggas or 2nd madara/Obito/Pain akatsuki
The way you explained it makes good sense sage, thanks.
When you haven't mentioned Guru Laghima for 0.5 seconds...
Zaheer: AHHHHLKKKKKKH!!!1!!1
Your channel should have at least 500k subs! The quality of the videos it's clearly visible (content wise & perfectly explained) and the respect you have for Avatar, Naruto and other wonderful series.
damn man great video, exactly what i needed to see right now
Your videos make me wanna watch the entire series again.
Amon and zaheer were my favourite villains. Also this guy's voice sounds cool. I subbed
Your channels aesthetic fits your voice and your content extremely well keep doing what your doing and I'm sure you will blow up and gain the success you deserve.
When you have disorder, you have chaos. A leader will always rise to the occasion and take complete control of the nation.
Chaos is the most natural and pure thing in the world. Its the very reason we all breathe. Nothing can be done without it.
That's basically the whole reason of Kuvira's existence as a villain. lol
@@Slim2Flo no its not. The human body and all life for that matter is one of the most ordered and complex systems in the world. Zoom in on a salt crystal far enough and you'll see a highly structured and ordered world. Order and chaos is relative to the system your analyzing and the lens through which you are viewing something.
@@bobsonbobbybobson6888 the big bang aka chaos is the reason we all exist and so that being said chaos was the very first 'thing' ever in the universe. We arent talking about salt crystals or the making of the body etc.. the world, planets, universe etc.. chaos is the most natural thing and thats why this airbending dude does what he does. Freedom.
chaos and order is a struggle that drives human society and life. Without chaos, life would stagnate. No new struggle, no competition, no advancement. why build a bridge when there is nothing to cross? Why cure an illness that doesn't infect us? Why struggle to achieve greatness without the satisfaction of overcoming obstacles? Without order, at least some of it, we lack direction. Humans no longer struggle to succeed, they struggle to survive. The true anarchist philosophy is that humans can achieve this order without government and oppressive hierarchy. We understand order needs to exist, but moral structures, peaceful competition, and cooperation for mutual benefit create that order just fine enough
Once again you’ve done it. You never cease to amaze me. Your break down type videos are amazing.
Season 3 was the best season. The villain was creative, the conflict, the battles, everything. If they made a movie or tv series souly about zaheer I would defiantly watch it.
"I'M ABOUT TO HAVE A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN MY HEAD REALLY HURTS!!!! " - zaheer 1978
"New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old " . wow, zaheer is the wisest villain in the series. I will never forget that quote, it makes so much sense.
Thank you for all you create, you renew my passion in what I do, keep doing what your doing man
my favorite villan Zaheer is awesome
DEVIOUS SIEGE Zaheer is obviously the protagonist.
Jack Gray clearly
I`ve never heard a voice that is more exhausting to listen to than yours...
Yeah, I enjoy his videos but the forced and fake deep voice is just overdone and too much most of the time.
Do a philosophy of Amon
and the other enemy of korra.
Amons philosophy was a lot more simple than the Red Lotus'
He believed in equality, but it looked more like equality in oppression rather than equality in freedom
amon is probably the kindest villain in the whole world.
if his plan worked and all people became non benders literally nothing would change. look at us these days we have no bending and live normally using technology. he couldbe just killed the benders instead of “purifying” them but no he has to be a good person
Wait a minute??!!
If Zaheer didn't let go of his mindset of killing the Avatar,
So how did he really fly????
And also I don't understand that how Airbender can't fly???
They can manipulate air but can't fly.
That's kinda dumb.
oh man how is your content not more known??? this is such an amazing video!
My favorite Avatar villain that I actually identify with. Now I realize why as I study chakras, elements, zodiac signs, etc. I am myself an Air Element, born as a Libra, which seems to be what Zaheer is as well. He is the perversion of the freedom and vibrancy of the Air Element and seemingly of the Libra zodiac sign specifically. The Age of Libra seems to be what he had in mind by destroying all hierarchy- a time in history believed to be one of shared consciousness between man and animal and all life forms when all lived side by side, violence and oppression were seemingly rare, and one's own responsibilities were only to one's own freedom and by extension, to all beings' personal liberties and transcendence by virtue of the shared universal consciousness.
Airs want anarchy. Airs do not like order or to be held down in any way. They are intense intellectuals too, dwelling in the realm of thought so much that it can be dangerous. If not grounded or kept in check, they end up a lot like Zaheer. The more one is sucked into one's own thoughts without grounding, the more illusion is present and the more one's own ego is actually fueled by the oxygen to grow. You can fool yourself to believe you have transcended worldly attachments, but you may have instead self-actualized, which is actually the step below transcendence. Zaheer did this when he 'let go his earthly tether,' but obviously- and fans knew this at the time and questioned it- still wanting to murder someone, the Avatar, and being so at one with your goals, the Red Lotus' mission, is NOT at all letting go of attachments.
The ego, or solar plexus, is fire, it is your own personal sun and fuel source. Of the zodiac elements, airs and fires are very close and can be fueled off one another in the same way fire is made stronger by oxygen and that heat makes the molecules in air move faster to create deadly pressure systems like tornadoes and hurricanes. Air element people can rev up the fire element people to help them do their bidding by way of manipulation and fueling that person with oxygen to fuel their energy; but vice-versa the fire element people in their passions and desires ignite the details and passions and sometimes the worst in the air element people, so drawn into their thoughts that they are that they sometimes detach from lots of the 'flame' of life and are detached from others.
This was very therapeutic for me and I bet lots of you will find it fascinating. Yeah, I believe that not only is Zaheer a Libra but he is one of the most powerful. Of the 3 Air Signs, Libra is the Cardinal sign that launches the Air Season of Autumn, and therefore is the most bold and leader-like of the Air signs. Their leadership style can go haywire and chaotic, much like Zaheer's. Being a Libra I was very inspired by Zaheer at the time of Season 3, especially since at that time in school I learned a lot about conspiracy theories and the very real and horrible actions of world governments and actors. Ungrounded, chaotic Libras aren't bad people, they actually in theory want the best for the world, but this is easily blended with the ego's want for personal freedom and the desire of 'bringing everyone else down with them;' normal people can't see the evil at work in the world and so therefore no change will ever get done if they aren't manipulated and fooled into doing the Libra's work for them, for the Libra believes they're incapable of even seeing the maladies. "When you base your expectations only on what you can see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality."
The more and more entrenched the mad Libra is in their own delusions and visions, the more the ego is fueled and the stronger the Libra fights opposition to the plans. You see this in Zaheer whenever he's challenged and in his disdain for reality as it stands. He'd rather there just be chaos. Sometimes it takes the worst of things to happen for the Libra's mindset to shift back. Zaheer had this happen in his imprisonment and in seeing the consequences of his actions- Kuvira's evil rising. But let's not forget, he was dragged off to prison yelling and screaming in prophecies and in indignant madness.
I see why you got so many subs. That soft rain in the background. Sage arts right there 💪🏾
When I first saw the season 3 villain squad I thought 💭 in my head, “I know I’m supposed to not like them but they’re so badass” like Zaheer and the other 3 ming-hua, ghazan, and P’li
I could watch this video over and over again and still not get bored
Formidable videos on Avatar. I'd love to see more stuff like this! For example Amon's "equalist" Communist revolution.
Or perhaps even a little further... I think TLOK is based entirely on the Lion Turtle scene with Aang (ATLA).
Quote:
"The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost.
The true heart can tough the poison of hatret without being harmed.
Since beginningsless time, darkness thrives in the void... But always yields to purifying light."
The first line connects to Book 1 when Amon chose to live in lies and illusions until the truth was revealed that he was a water/bloodbender
The second line, which is a little more obvious connects to book 3
The third: Since beginningless time... in book 2 when Vaatu nearly destroyed the world and Raava was found again in the darkness. Also Zaheer entered the void.
Then book 4, which I suspect is based on another Lion Turtle quote: 'In the era before the Avatar, we bend not the elements, but the energy...'. Korra bent the spirit energy beam.
Some Thing just a note, amon's "revolution" wasn't communist. It was populist. I'm not anything close to a commie sympathizer, but don't conflate the two because it can lead to confusion when criticising the two.
Some Thing you talk to me some time I like to tell you how he was not wrong half way but wrong in another
Nice idea and maybe good for a video and its true that energy bending within a person is something touched in other parts of the story (like the end of book 2) but I think(correct me when I'm wrong) that Korra didn't energybend to make the porta. she stopped the beam with airbending and the spiritual energy combined with her and Raava created a new spiritportal
Season 1 is about "socialism/communism" except the writers have no idea what socialism is. Amon screaming equality every other line doesn't make up for the fact that he has more in common with Fascists than actual Socialist ie. Populist movement during times of crisis, scapegoating societal problems based on Race (fascism) rather than Class (socialism) and helping the Capitalist Elite (Hiroshi Sato) maintain/gain even more power.
God of Light no I think it's that the audience has no idea what communism is. Just because amon uses the word equality a lot that doesn't mean his ideology automatically becomes communism. There was literally NOTHING to imply he had communist ideals other than "oh, he said the word 'equal' a lot" he was obviously a fascist, uses fascist manipulation techniques, rhetoric, propaganda, ect. I think The audience was literally just either too juvenile or too distracted by the word 'equal' to realize. But I mean lets be honest, the writers did a shit job at injecting ideologies into the rest of villains. The choose to make Unalok literally the devil to Korras god figure, the picked fucking dumb ass anarchy for the next one, anarchy is the most ludicrous ideology out there, then they just. Gave up. With season 4, reverting back to fire lord Ozai with tits & making her from the earth nation. Kuvora was literally earth nation Hitler by the end but not in a compelling way, in a lazy way.
I like how zaheer had the humility to admit his wrongs
I would totally be hyped up for a red lotus prequel
I’ve only seen The Last Air Bender, and I was always putting off watching The Legend of Korra, but Zaheers philosophy, character, and the fact that Henry Rollins voices him, I now I must watch this show.
Sage: With Great Ideas Come Great Power.
Me: And with great power.......
....you know the drill.
"Freedom is selfish without responsibility." Food for thought. Great video, subbed! :))))
I absolutely loved Zaheer. One of the best character s ever created for an anime series period. But I also understand the danger if what he was. And extremist, a radical, and a terrorist. I like how you went into detail to explain how he, even though was similar to Guru Laghima, was also vastly different. Laghima was likely a peaceful anarchist, a peaceful reformer, while Zaheer was the opposite, though fully believeing in the anarchist ideals. His forceful, violent, and destructive methods flew in the face of the truly spiritual and healthy methods of Guru Laghima. He thought he truly understood the great airbending sage, but in actually it was only so much. Sure he attained the ability to fly, but that alone says nothing about his true spiritual development. Though Zaheer has grand and highly developed and good ideas for the world, he got so caught up in them that he lost sight of how they would effect the world in the long run was he to implement them through ruthless violence. While I believe Guru Laghima likely maintained an understanding of his responsibility and commitment to all beings and the sanctity of all their lives. Zaheer lost touch withhis humanity and what could have given his actions and ideals more perspective by remaining in his idealized, utopian version of reality in his mind. He probably found it too hard to deal with reality at ground level and instead wanted to escape it with losing himself in lofty philosophy and logic. He would definitely have been a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, but he would have been a loose cannon and detrimental to their cause. He would have been like Francoise Mackandal believing he understood the Creed better than anyone, and used that to justify wanton killing of both guilty and innocent people. But I still love Zaheer, even if he is an example of the truth twisted and distorted.
“When you base ur expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to the possibility of a new reality”
A wooden prison for the earth bender
A frozen tundra for the fire bender
A waterless prison for the water bender
Me: *launches zaheer to the moon*
His new prison is just the Time Machine room from pokemon
PLEAASE keep uploading your videos. They are amazing and you will grow so much if you keep doing them. Your channel has genuine good content and you do stuff that you and your fans enjoy.
"Freedom without responsibility is selfish"
This reminds me of the threefold law of Wicca
?
I love your content, your analysis perfectly sums up the character
Instant like
I love this, thank you.
My marxist friends always tell me to read theory....
So I came here
I love your voice it’s gives your videos a more serious and complex tone.
The ending quote by Zaheer was so fire 🔥🔥🔥😭😭
I think it would be pretty cool to see a miniseries about the red lotus
It's funny how a cartoon series provokes more realistic thoughts than a whole trilogy of big budget comic book movies
Thanks for resurfacing a more robust form of the philosophy of anarchy. As a devout anti-anarchist, I needed that. Guess I should read Tolstoy.
As an Anarchist I appreciated the hell out of this villain. He however believes in “the natural order of disorder” whereas generally Anarchists believe “Anarchy is Order” Still his philosophy bears similarities to Far Leftism. Overall I love him above all in Korea.
Only in Korea? How about in the rest of Asia?
Wilhelm Dietz he meant Korra
@@entertainmenthome8584 r/whoooosh
I love the legend of Korra because of the characters and the animation is awesome.
how is it far leftist when governments shouldn't exist? most leftist seem to believe in big government programs and socialism. I'm fundamentally conservative but I really seem to be drawn to zaheer.
That was a new learning experience for me. Never knew what anarchy meant, and from these philosophy videos, I'm getting ideas for a story, thanks
Syed Musa Raza I hope the story goes well!
Sage's Rain thanks :)
U shud become a voice actor ..
Augustine Junior he has the perfect voice for these videos!
“With great ideas you do need great powers” most influential statement for men in this entire video.
“True freedom can only be achieved when oppressive governments are torn down.” -Zaheer, Legend of Korra.
Yep, then people would become selfish and kill one another. W
This is like Pain's theory about how every should experience an unforgettable pain so it can be a reminder of what war, violence, and power can cause and that sure his ideals were actually agreeabl, he had flaws in it with 1. calling himself a God and 2. That his way about going about it was flawed
Honestly, I think Amon and Zaheer are on par as villains. I relate to Amon more because of equality. I would have been really nice to see where his ideology of equality went. Dude, keep up the good work.
Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but wasn't his entire shtick pretending to be a non-bender? As in, he didn't care about equality in the slightest and was just using that ruse to further his personal goals?
@@calliph you are definitely right on the point of Amon being a false witnesses in the ideology of Equality. I should have elaborated more. A 'What if' scenario where Amon did not have bending.
Zaheer being a philosopher was so good! Spectacular and very intelligent villain!
The Avatar series had some of the best writing to ever exist
I've grown fond of your videos
i love Zaheer but like many anarchists he's the kind of guy who hates dictators and authority but would be one of these if he was having suddenly great powers. For example, if Zaheer could take avatar's powers he would destroy all the chiefs and who knows what happens after that ? he does make a speech about freedom and engaging to take it, it would be chaos, the bender would bullying the people to have things and...chaos everywhere. What Zaheer would do about that, except for example be the "savior" of these poor terrified people.
If Amon was a member of the Red Lotus (and was comitted to their cause) then Zaheer's arguments would be much less dissonant.
Though it's interesting how the Red Lotus' philosophy seems to reject Marxism in favor of anarcho-communism, but their actions fall very comfortably within the vein of Marxist Revolutionaries.
I wonder if a more successful Zaheer and Red Lotus would, without the power to resolve the bender non-bender power disparity (relatively) peacefully with the power of Amon's blood bending, carry out atrocities (a genocide to eliminate benders (or non-benders, but more likely the former)) like those carried out by the many "Communist" regimes to establish balance or if they would simply chose to ignore the issue altogether.
I really love the fact that the creators of this universe would put something so complex into a show that is, ostensibly, meant for kids. It's fantastic when artists give the audience the respect to assume that they can understand the issue.
This series is a gem that I want to ensure that the next generation of my family is able to experience.
If the red lotus had amon it would be a real life game over
"[...] but like many anarchists he's the kind of guy who hates dictators and authority but would be one of these if he was having suddenly great powers [...]"
Ummm, have you met any actual anarchists? We work towards achievable goals by estabilishing communes and/or smaller projects that function on a non-hierarchical structure, or by fighting to tear down social forms of hierarchy like racism, homophobia, sexism and classism. Hardly autocrat material.
Zaheer is the embodiment of a rather childish aproach to anarchism, he completely ignores the fact that people are conditioned by society to live under authority and that we need to deconstruct that before applying anarchism to any global scale. And yet, I don't think he would pursue any sort of leadership role. He never hints at it and you can see by his interactions with his partners that he actually believes in the concept of anarchy and maintains a horizontal relationship with them.
The tearing down of the Earth Queen and Ba Sing Se's walls is a beautiful metaphor and a very romantic idea of a revolution, but in practice, as the plot itself shows in season 4 with Kuvira, the power vacuum is not filled by mutualistic anarchism but by fascism. Fascism is the natural form in which capitalism fixes itself after or in face of a crisis and you can't expect a different outcome until tackling these political structures first.
@@grimaldus1523 If you believe anarchy is stupid, then you do not desire your own individual freedom.
@@jackgray2419 One, that's a fallacy right there.
Two, history has proven time and time again that anarchy hasn't and will not work. All anarchy ever did is to revert an oligarchial, autocratic, or representative system people don't like only for it to change into a different oligarchy, autocrat, or representatives to take charge or usurp power over the people.
A sense of lawlessness can't guarantee everyone's freedom. How can you exercise your freedoms when you're worried over your own property or your own life? Even in our flawed government system, about 90% of the time you can still get the cops to do their work on protecting your property and life, criticized any wrongdoings in the government, and even change the government for something better by choosing different representatives.
Anarchy only favors the strongest and smartest, just like any other government system. So, it's no better. You're just trading one master for another. Except you have less control over the ones you choose.
And those anarchists who were interested in smaller communes? What does that has to do with anarchy, "the lack of government"? They're just substituting a bigger government that they don't like as well as its agendas for a smaller one with its own agendas. Except the very fact that it's only been very successful and sustainable in a small commune probably explained itself why it survived to this day. Not to mention that idea was not much different from other communal-styled communities that had existed such as tribal and religious ones.
Three, individual freedoms can and has been guaranteed by larger governments before. Freedom of religion, where you can worship any god or none at all? Imagine a small, weak government which can't stop a Protestant mob from killing a Catholic. Except that used to happen in the early days of the United States, where the federal government didn't have much power over each individual's lives. The persecution of the Millerites, Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Jews, Jehovah Witnesses, and other faiths all happened in a time when the federal government wasn't strong enough to guarantee said freedoms. Only nowadays where if your employer won't allow you to take Saturday off as a Jew would the federal government defend you, because they can and have the power to do so. Or if someone refused to employ you just because of your faith without any reason, that's now an EEOC lawsuit brewing. Back then, they might say it's wrong, but they don't have the power to beat back against the crowd.
And don't let me talk about slavery and civil rights. It took a Civil War, 3 Amendments passed by a Republican-majority Congress (about as close to a one-party domination in America at the time), and other legislations to end slavery and create the legal basis for the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
Man I just subscribed, I love what you do with your philosophical and analytical assessments of media, very very good stuff 👍👍👍 but man that extra deep voice definitely helps it along. Very epic and easy to get pulled into listening to for hours. I put your videos on my headphones when I go on runs. Thank you so much for making this video and all of them on your channel. You're incredibly talented.
Honestly, I feel that in the case of the Earth Queen, Zaheer did good... he took her down properly... the issue??? The new ruler, while an overall good ruler.... also wanted to rule everything...
“Instinct is a lie,
told by a fearful body,
hoping to be wrong”
Sage's Rain how do u feel about Zaheer anyway as a character in your view?
i have been waiting for this...
zaheer is one of the few villains i will always defend lol
You don’t think his plans are incredibly shortsighted and naive? How does he expect to kill all leaders and rulers all over the world and prevent new ones from rising up? He told the earth queen that if people find out she has the avatar people will pressure her for her release. So imagine how they would react if he succeeded in killing Korra. This is why it would have been smarter to try and get Korra to join him and use her as a rallying point for his cause.
@@austinjohnsen4430 i never said that i would *blindly* defend him. he's one of my favorite characters and i'm very critical of him. i more or less agree with everything you said.
@@user-zt3rt8zo2g Still, just for fun let’s imagine a scenario where Zaheer does succeed in killing Korra and escapes. What could he possibly do now? There’s almost no scenario where things could turn out well for him. Korra’s friends and allies would no doubt spread the word about what Zaheer did, and this would probably make her a martyr for most people. This was something Amon wanted to avoid back in season one. This would be a pretty dire situation for Zaheer, even if his friends were still alive to help him because now the nations of the world will be united against him.
Wouldn’t it have been smarter if Zaheer wanted to recruit Korra and use her to gain the trust and support of the people he claimed he wanted to free from oppressive systems?
"Freedom without responsibility is selfish." That sums up Zaheer just perfectly.
Who down for the red lotus gang
Trivia: Zaheer's voice artist is Henry Rollins. Vocalist of Black flag and Rollins band and a spoken word artist.