| “ | I am not a reflection of my father. I am Tenzin. | „ |
| ~ Tenzin conquering his insecurity and achieving spiritual enlightenment. |
Tenzin is one of two deuteragonists (alongside Mako) in The Legend of Korra.
He is the youngest son of Aang and his successor as Airbending master as well as the husband of non-bender Pema and father of Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan. He is the mentor of Avatar Aang’s teenage successor, Avatar Korra, who teaches her airbending and helps Korra grow and mature into a selfless young woman.
He is voiced by J.K. Simmons.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
Book One: Air[]
- He saved a young Korra in the past from being kidnapped by Zaheer and the Red Lotus with the help of Sokka, Tonraq, and Zuko.
- He postponed his upcoming training of Korra so he could focus on and resolve the instability of Republic City as Councilman of the Air Nation.
- He bailed Korra out from jail and agreed to cover all the damages Korra caused.
- Despite his initial reluctance, he realized Korra was right that Republic City needed its Avatar and agreed to let her stay on Air Temple island and train with him.
- He started Korra's training and remained relatively calm with Korra and tried to teach her patience.
- Although initially skeptical of pro-bending matches, he realized that they had helped Korra learn airbending skills and apologized to Korra for getting angry with her and previously forbidding pro-bending. He even complimented her on her gameplay and recognized how important pro-bending was in helping Korra learn.
- He was the only council member against Tarrlok's plan to create a taskforce to hunt down the Equalists, correctly arguing that it would only increase tension between benders and non-benders and deducing it was just a ploy for Tarrlok to gain more power.
- Despite not liking Tarrlok, he agreed to let him into his house and stay for dinner despite barging in uninvited.
- He told Korra that it was okay if she was afraid of Amon and told her he would be here if she needed to talk about anything.
- He found Korra after she ran off to duel Amon and comforted her when she started crying and admitted she was scared.
- He was the only councilman who wanted to close the pro-bending arena to keep it safe when Amon threatened it, trying to convince Lin that Tarrlok was playing her when he sided with her. He then decided to accompany Lin to the pro-bending arena to ensure her, Korra, and the arena's safety. His fears were proven correct.
- Despite his previous dislike of pro-bending, he was angered by how the Fire Ferrets' opponents blatantly cheated and the referees not calling them out.
- He comforted Lin when she felt regret over inadvertently playing into Amon's hands.
- He helped Lin interview witnesses following the Equalist's attack on the pro-bending arena, including interrogating Hiroshi Sato upon Korra’s suspicion. While suspicious of Hiroshi, he sympathetically stated the Agni Kai Triad’s murder of the his wife was tragic when telling it to Korra.
- He was the last person standing when he, Korra, and Lin went to investigate Hirsohi Sato's factory and Sato revealed his Equalist ties and ambushed them, saving Korra when she was knocked unconscious and putting up a long fight before going down.
- He tried to convince Lin not to resign as police chief.
- He correctly deduced Tarrlok had bought off new police chief, Saikan, through illicit means.
- He advised Korra to meditate on her visions of Aang to figure out what they meant and contact her past lives to help fix her block on airbending.
- He vainly tried to prevent Tarrlok from passing laws that would further upset the nonbender populace (making it illegal to be affiliated with Equalists and instigating a curfew), stating it was unfair to punish all of them. He was also infuriated that civilians in Dragons Borough, along with Korra's friends, were being incarcerated indefinitely under false accusation as Equalists, even agreeing with Korra on Saikan due to chief being Tarrlok's pawn.
- He contacted every possible lead when Korra was supposedly kidnapped by the Equalists and figured out that Tarrlok was actually the one who kidnapped her when Lin and Mako discovered she wasn't their captive, even deducing Tarrlok planted the evidence.
- He got Korra to narrate the events of her captivity and expose Tarrlok's backstory as the son of crime lord Yakone.
- He left Lin in charge of protecting Air Temple island while he and the newly formed Korra’s version of Team Avatar stop the Equalist insurgency in Republic City.
- He sent a dispatch to the United Forces for aid to help save Republic City from the Equalists.
- He rescued Saikhan, whom he held no ill will towards and worked with after Tarrlok's deception was revealed, and the other police officers from the police HQ when the Equalists gassed it.
- He advised and convinced Team Korra to go into hiding until the United Forces arrived to help take back Republic City from the Equalists.
- He defeated Amon and the Lieutenant so Korra, Mako, and his family could retreat.
- He tried to comfort Korra when she lost her bending, stopped Mako from going to Korra as she needed her space, and congratulated Korra when she regained her bending, unlocked her spiritual connection, and restored Lin's bending, terming her Avatar Korra.
Book Two: Spirits[]
- He chastised Korra for using the Avatar State, a great and dangerous power, irresponsibly as just a "booster rocket" to win races.
- He was the only one who tried to reason with the dark spirit when it attacked the Glacier Spirits festival.
- He complimented Unalaq for his spirit calming technique and although he tried to convince Korra to keep training with him to master airbending instead of going to Unalaq, he respected her decision and respectfully bid Korra farewell when she decided to train with Unalaq.
- Although his relationship with his siblings Bumi and Kya was somewhat strained due to their teasing and bullying of him as a child, he agreed to take them with his family on a vacation so they could spend some family time together.
- He calmed his wife down after she got angry when Ikki ran away due to Meelo and Jinora's teasing and went to go look for Ikki, accepting Bumi and Kya's offer to help.
- He found Ikki and returned her back home.
- Although he initially got angry with his siblings for teasing and getting angry at him and pointing out that Aang wasn't a perfect father, he later apologized to them for getting angry and overlooking some of Aang's faults.
- He agreed to help Meelo train his new pet Poki, but once Meelo went too far and became a control freak by taming all the lemurs, he convinced his son just to have fun with Poki and forget about training discipline.
- Once Korra reunited with him and his family, he convinced Korra to tell them everything that happened in the outside world since the start of his family's vacation.
- He comforted Korra when she blamed herself for getting manipulated by Unalaq, telling Korra that it wasn't her fault but Unalaq's and agreed to help her enter the Spirit World to close the Southern spirit portal and prevent Vaatu's release.
- Although he was a little jealous of Jinora's spiritual connection, he agreed to follow Jinora's spirit friends and fly the group to follow them into an ancient meditation circle.
- He performed a cleansing ceremony on the airbending meditation circle to strengthen its connection to the Spirit World.
- He reconciled with Korra over how they left things before his vacation/her decision to train with Unalaq and he vowed to not let her down and hugged Korra.
- He admitted that he might never have the connection to spirits like Jinora had and he wanted before agreeing to let Jinora take Korra to the Spirit World and hugged Jinora, telling his daughter how proud he was of her.
- In Korra’s secod attempt, he tried to convince President Raiko to send troops to help the South and Team Avatar stop Unalaq from freeing Vaatu during Harmonic Convergence, pointing out many people's lives, not just Jinora's, were at stake when he still refused.
- He went to rescue Jinora in the Spirit World with his siblings.
- He conquered his insecurity and realized he was not a reflection of his father but his own person, allowing him to rescue his siblings and Jinora from the Fog of Lost Souls.
- He stopped Korra from giving up hope and reminded her that Raava isn't who she was and showing the Tree of Time and telling her to meditate beneath it to connect with the cosmic energy of the universe and find her own inner spirit, making Tenzin responsible for Korra connecting with her inner spirit and saving the world from Unalaq/Vaatu.
- He helped defend Korra's body from dark spirits while she was unconscious and in spirit form.
- He encouraged Korra to do what she felt was right, motivating her to keep the Spirit portals open to connect the Spirit World to humanity.
Book Three: Change[]
- He supported Korra by telling her he knew she would find a solution to the new spirit vines in Republic City caused by Harmonic Convergence. The wisdom he gave was very realistic: change will be viewed differently, some (i.e. Tenzin himself) will like it while others (i.e. Raiko) will not, but they have to manage the conditions regardless. This helped Korra stand her ground with Raiko, who banished her from the city as a result.
- He offered and convinced the new airbender Daw to train as an Air Nomad and set out with Jinora and Team Korra to rebuild the Air Nation.
- He tried to convince numerous new airbenders to join the Air Nomad but remained firm that it must be their free choice and refused to coerce them to join. Eventually, he was receptive to Korra's method and Bumi and Bolin's idea once the former pointed out his attempts were fruitless.
- While he was skeptical after Kai turned out to be a thief and liar, he agreed with Korra’s decision to take him into his custody to train as an Air Nomad and turn over a new leaf.
- He formed a successful plan to rescue all the new airbenders from the Earth Queen at night, calming them down when he and Korra freed them. Once they escaped from the Earth Queen, he offered the new airbenders a choice to relocate them somewhere safe or come with him to train at the Northern Air Temple and was delighted when they all chose the latter.
- Although he initially took Bumi’s advice to train the Air Nomads like military recruits and be rigid with them and Bumi, he soon realized he was being too harsh with them and they needed time to adjust; this strictness was only because Bumi didn't word his advice properly. He also apologized to Bumi and Jinora for losing his patience with them and agreed to think about letting Jinora get her airbending master tattoos.
- He pushed Zaheer and the Red Lotus when they came to use him and the airbenders as leverage against Korra and told Jinora to lead the evacuation while he and his siblings fended off the Red Lotus.
- He refused to surrender and give up when outnumbered by the Red Lotus, battling them until he could no longer stand to protect his family, new nation, and Korra.
- Once rescued by Mako, Bolin, and Asami, he told them of a secret passageway out the temple where they escaped.
- He comforted Korra in the weeks when she was recovering from Zaheer’s poison.
- He appointed Jinora as airbending master in a traditional airbender ceremony.
Book Four: Balance[]
- He returned the Air Nation to its nomadic roots to serve all nations to restore peace and balance.
- He told Korra to focus only on her recovery and that Avatar duties could wait, and when he visited her he urged her to be patient, consoling her about her slow recovery and telling her not to focus on the future but the progress she had made.
- He along with the other world leaders made Kuvira the temporary leader of the Earth Kingdom after she proved herself in stabilizing the situation.
- He sent Air Nomads across the Earth Kingdom to help people in need by delivering food and driving off bandits.
- He tried to assure Prince Wu that it would be safe to return to the Earth Kingdom and the situation was mostly stabilized.
- He alerted Air Nomads across the globe to be on the lookout for a missing Korra.
- He was the only world leader who was concerned by Kuvira’s increasing authoritarianism and reports of her throwing dissenters in prison. His concerns were proven correct when she refused to step down and hand power to Prince Wu. He and the other world leaders then asked Suyin to talk with Kuvira as their representative and to try and convince Kuvira to peacefully step down.
- He tasked his children with finding Korra and bringing her back home, praising them all when they successfully completed the task, hugging Korra and warmly welcoming her home before assuring Korra that she wouldn’t have to face Kuvira alone as it was their collective responsibility.
- He consoled Korra when Korra was losing hope by telling her that there would always be new enemies and conflicts to face, but the importance thing was to learn from her enemies and better herself over time which he assured Korra that she did, telling her that she had matured from a hothead and slightly selfish person into a thoughtful young woman.
- Despite Kuvira’s actions, he refused to support launching an unprovoked attack against Kuvira’s Earth Empire or create a superweapon out of the spirit vines to wipe the Earth Empire out since Kuvira hadn’t attacked any other nation yet and only sought to use violence against Kuvira as a last resort.
- He reluctantly agreed to allow Korra to visit Zaheer in prison despite warning that it could be dangerous.
- He hugged Jinora once Korra freed her.
- He hugged his family once they decided to stay with him to help stop Kivira, telling Pema to aid Prince Wu in the evacuation of Republic City while Jinora, Meelo and Ikki keep track of Kuvira’s advancing army with the other airbenders and told Pema to increase evacuation efforts once Kuvira arrived in Republic City ahead of schedule by a few hours.
- He agreed with Korra’s idea to capture Baatar Jr. to get him to reveal how to stop Kuvira’s superweapon, infiltrating Baatar Jr.’s ship with Korra and Bumi, and personally capturing Baatar Jr. with Bumi before going back to Future Industries to interrogate Baatar Jr.
- He alerted everyone that Kuvira and her army were heading their way and helped lead the defense of Republic City from Kuvira’s mech by slowing it down to buy time for Asami and Varrick to finish the hummingbird mech that would allow the heroes to penetrate and infiltrate Kuvira’s mech.
- He saved Korra from Kuvira’s superweapon by knocking the superweapon off balance and saved Jinora by pushing her out of the way of the superweapon.
- He ordered everyone to keep looking for Korra when she disappeared and once she emerged from the Spirit portal with a defeated Kuvira, he hugged Korra with the rest of her allies.
- He allowed Varrick and Zhu Li to host their wedding at Air Temple Island.
- He complimented Korra by telling her that she had transformed the world in a few years more than most Avatars did in their entire lifetimes and was happy to hear Korra full of hope and joy again, especially when she reflected on the purpose of her past suffering being to learn to empathize with her foes.
Sequel comics[]
- He led the Air Nomads in helping out Republic City evacuee camps.
- He hugged and welcomed Korra and Asami back from their vacation in the Spirit World, informing them of what had happened while they were gone.
- He comforted Korra after they witnessed some of the Spirit portal lands turn grey and congratulated her on her new relationship with Asami.
- He held off the Spirit vines from attacking the group until they could escape.
- He and Asami defend Korra when Raiko tried blaming her for the problems following Kuvira’s invasion, pointing out it was thanks to her that Kuvira didn’t take over the city.
- Refusing to run for president to oust the self-serving Raiko despite having a possible advantage as the late Avatar Aang's son, he suggested Zhu Li run instead.
- He tried to convince General Iroh and the United Forces to withdraw from Spirit portal lands and let the Air Nation watch over the Republic City Spirit Portal.
- He tried to petition Raiko to withdraw the United Forces from the Spirit portal and led a peaceful protest in the Republic City Spirit Portal to pressure Raiko to withdraw the United Forces from the Spirit portal. Despite Raiko and the United Forces hosing him and the airbenders, he told the airbenders not to retaliate but to stand their ground, this pacifism convincing General Iroh and the United Forces to stand down.
- He helped evacuate civilians from the Spirit portal area with Zhu Li when Tokuga threatened to poison and kill them all.
- He led the Air Nomads in bending away Tokuga’s poison when Tokuga released it.
Trivia[]
- Tenzin, Asami, Jinora and Wan are the only four The Legend of Korra heroes to be Pure Good.
- Tenzin, alongside Aang and Jinora are the only Airbenders to be Pure Good. Ironically, all of them are related as Aang is Tenzin’s father and Jinora’s grandfather.
- Tenzin is the first, and so far, the only role portrayed by J.K. Simmons to be Pure Good.
External Links[]
- Tenzin on the Heroes Wiki
- Tenzin on the Avatar Wiki
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 Pure Goods
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