Zaheer (The Legend of Korra)

In a contrast to previous antagonists, Zaheer is portrayed as a much more sympathetic villain, as he does not desire conquest or oppression. Rather, he desires freedom for all, be they human or spirit. He genuinely believes that he is leading a revolution that will bring equality to the masses, much like Amon, and is seen hesitating to truly use lethal force unless otherwise necessary to his goals. Zaheer is depicted as having a loving relationship with his girlfriend P'Li, who he personally saved from subjugation at the hands of an unknown warlord, and enjoys a strong friendship with fellow Red Lotus members Ming Hua and Ghazan. Before attaining the power of air, Zaheer became notorious for not only his proficiency in martial arts but his ability to charm or manipulate people with his words,[1] making him just as dangerous as his bender cohorts.

Despite his benevolent character traits, Zaheer remains an antagonist seeking to assassinate world leaders. Zaheer's character develops over the course of Book Three, as his well-intentioned and pleasant persona begins to fade as the search for Korra becomes increasingly drawn out and fruitless. Nearing the end of the season, Zaheer drops his pleasantries as he threatens the entire new Air Nation with extinction, and becomes far more malevolent when dealing with his enemies or captives. When his plans are foiled, he angrily rants that the Red Lotus' mission cannot be stopped before being imprisoned once again. After several years of incarceration, Zaheer appears to have made peace with his imprisonment, and is almost completely civil to Korra when she visits him in prison in Book Four. Zaheer's intelligence proves crucial to the final step of Korra's recovery, as she stops using him as emotional crutch to blame her slow recovery on and faces her fears of their last encounter head on. It is also Zaheer's way of making penance for his assassination of Earth Queen Hou-Ting, which allowed Kuvira to take control in a far more brutal regime than the last.

During production of the third book, Konietzko and DiMartino received a call from actor Henry Rollins, who was interested in taking the role of Zaheer and asked several questions regarding the role before auditioning and being cast.[2] The two also noted that Rollins took the role very seriously, and was baffled when the character took on a more comedic role during a cameo in the Book Four episode "Remembrances".[3] Zaheer was notably the first antagonist to survive the season he served as the primary threat in, a decision DiMartino and Konietzko made early on so that they might use him in the final season. Janet Varney mentioned that in the recording booth for the episode "Beyond the Wilds", Rollins recorded his part in a dark corner of the room, making him look intimidating to Varney and inadvertently helping her accurately portray Korra's fear of Zaheer.[4]

Disillusioned by the Order of the White Lotus revealing themselves at the end of the Hundred Year War and turning to serve the Avatar and the world's leaders, Zaheer joined the Red Lotus as a teenager, an offshoot of the White Lotus who sought to bring freedom of the world through chaos and anarchy. Thirteen years before the events of Book One: Air, Zaheer and his comrades plotted with Unalaq, the chief antagonist of Book Two, to kidnap the young Avatar Korra, and after indoctrinating her in the Red Lotus' ideology (unknown to Zaheer, Unalaq planned using her to open the spirit portals and release Vaatu so he could become the Dark Avatar). However, Unalaq betrayed Zaheer, and he and his group were captured by Tenzin, Sokka, Zuko, and Tonraq. Shortly after the end of Book Two, Zaheer attains the power of Airbending due to Harmonic Convergence and quickly escapes his imprisonment. After freeing his cohorts Ghazan, P'Li and Ming Hua, they began pursuing Korra. After a failed attempt to capture her in "The Terror Within", Zaheer is confronted by Korra in the spirit world. Admitting that the Avatar deserved the right to know why she was being hunted - and stalling until his friends could capture her body - Zaheer openly tells her most of their plans, but neglects to reveal what their endgame with Korra was. However, to Zaheer's dismay, in the material world, Korra has been captured by Earth Queen Hou-Ting, and he ventures to Ba Sing Se with the captured Bolin and Mako. Zaheer initially convinces the Earth Queen to hand Korra over to him lest she suffer the other nations' wrath, but upon hearing Korra had escaped Hou-Ting's forces, lost his patience and kills the monarch by Airbending the air out of her lungs, making Zaheer the first Avatar character to graphically kill another on-screen. Zaheer anonymously announces his deed to the world and invited the Earth Kingdom to celebrate the tyrant's death by descending into anarchy.

As Ba Sing Se burns in the ensuing riots, Zaheer frees Mako and Bolin from the Earth Queen's jail, but asks them to pass along a message to Korra: surrender herself or the new Air Nation would be massacred. The Red Lotus arrives at the Northern Air Temple where they capture Tenzin, his family, and the new Airbenders, though not without Tenzin putting up a ferocious fight first. In the Book Three finale, Korra initially accepts Zaheer's terms to turn herself in, until learning of Zaheer's bluff regarding the Air Nation. In the ensuing battle, P'Li is killed, and despite being grief-stricken by his girlfriend's death, Zaheer's loss enables him to unlock the power of flight, which requires the abandonment of all "earthly tethers". Zaheer captures Korra, and the Red Lotus reveals that they would invoke the Avatar State by poisoning her, only to kill her and end the Avatar Cycle. However, the sheer power of the Avatar State proves too much for the Red Lotus to contain, and Korra escapes her confinements and engages in a lengthy aerial battle with Zaheer. When she begins succumbing to the poison, Zaheer attempts to asphyxiate her, but was defeated by the giant cyclone led by Jinora; and Korra. His plans ruined and his friends and girlfriend dead, Zaheer is sent back to prison, though his claims that the Red Lotus still had numerous operatives around the world causes the world leaders to reflect on the danger his group still posed in the book's final scenes.

Throughout the fourth and final book, Korra suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from her final battle with Zaheer, haunted by his attempt to kill her and destroy the Avatar. Three years later, in "Beyond the Wilds", Zaheer is visited in his tailor-made prison by Korra, who is seeking to overcome her fear of him. Though he initially taunts her, Zaheer realizes the depth of her trauma and instructs her to let go of what he tried to do. Seeking to make amends for his actions that led to the rise of brutal fascist dictator Kuvira, Zaheer helps Korra to overcome her fear of him so she can finally enter the Spirit World and reconnect with Raava.

Zaheer is highly skilled in Airbending which utilizes aikido and the chinese martial arts techniques of Baguazhang and Xing Yi Quan.[5][6][7][8] The series' creators consulted a professional martial artist in the design of the show's fighting style.[9] Airbending represents the element of freedom,[10] and is categorized as the most elusive of the "four bending arts". Airbending involves "smooth coiling and uncoiling actions"; dynamic footwork, throws, and open-handed techniques; and swift, evasive maneuvers designed to evoke the "intangibility and explosive power of wind". Zaheer is remarkably agile and acrobatic. Zaheer is not proficient as a full-fledged Airbending-master like Aang or Tenzin. Having studied the airbending forms and disciplines as part of the Red Lotus' plan to kidnap Korra, he was proficient enough to hold his own in combat against multiple powerful bending opponents at once. Since he is neither an Air Nomad, nor a pacifist, Zaheer consistently utilizes airbending to assassinate his opponents via suffocation.

Zaheer developed the ability of flight through the teachings of Guru Laghima, becoming the first airbender in four thousand years to do so. When his lover P'Li's died at the hands of Suyin during a battle to rescue Korra from the Red Lotus, Zaheer let go of his "final earthly tether" and jumped off the mountain; but did not fall. Zaheer has demonstrated that the power of flight allows for fast and agile movements, being able to out-speed an injured Korra while she was in the Avatar State and performing airbending attacks whilst airborne. He doesn't appear to expend any physical energy while doing so, being able to defy gravity at will after having "entered the void"; this is in contrast to most other forms of bending, which are summoned through bodily or limb movements.

Zaheer is well-versed in Air Nomad spiritualism, philosophy and history; in particular, the teachings of the legendary airbender, Guru Laghima, whom he holds in high regard. Through meditation, Zaheer can enter the Spirit World and freely teleport himself and others to various places in that realm. Due to having practiced, trained, and meditated for decades, he can still communicate with his body in the physical world while his soul is in the Spirit World.[11]