The fandom was pretty much convinced all along that Amon must be incredibly hot. The fact that he turned out to be one of a pair of, let's say, typical Water Tribe brothers just spurred on the explosion of fanart.



maybe it's Maybelline





Tarrlok and Noatak by yorinarpati



Please wake up



I'll go die now



Yakone's legacy

"This is pretty much an emotional illustration of what I wanted to see in the finale: Korra mediating the established political/ethical conflict, here depicted as two dudes whose personal issues just might embody this larger narrative drama."

Noatak and Tarrlok

Mask

Noatak

Amon and Tarrlok

The Legend of Korra: Noatak and Tarrlok

Sorry

I definitely agree with this much - I really like this meta on it, which says something similar. We'll have to agree to disagree on the rest (in-story, that explanation works fine for me, but as a constructed thing, I think it's more of another sudden-swerve-for-the-drama-with-uncomfortable-implications).

Oh, I don't think it's an endorsement of abuse by any stretch of the imagination - rather, it seems to be saying that there's no overcoming it. Noatak and Tarrlok tried separately, and only failed. I can see that. They didn't have anyone who could help them, since they could never breathe a word of it to anyone (which couldn't have helped).

And I think the implication is that, had they left together, they would have been more or less okay. So I see what you're saying. Yet - I mean, I think that's what's going on with I should have left with you then/leave with me now: getting it right this time. They couldn't get it right, separate and alone. They can try again together. They'll have supports in each other (yes, flawed, and with so very much issues, but still the only people who can possibly understand). They can do anything if they have that. But then, no, actually they're doomed. I don't know, it feels very much that we're supposed to see suicide as a better solution than any attempt at doing better, together this time. The world really is better off if they don't even try.

(I think if there were the range of characters'-responses-to-trauma we get in Jet/The Storm, just two episodes of ATLA, it might seem less deterministic, but Noatak and Tarrlok are really all we have in all of LOK.)

Agreement with you all on most things - Iroh is awesome but out of nowhere, Mako sucks and the love triangle sucks, I choose to believe the only reason he could overcome the bloodbending was because Amon was super distracted, ending is deus ex machina LIKE WHOA, I definitely think the sparkly teardrop was a Y7-acceptable version of Korra considering rebooting the Avatar cycle, why on earth did that unlock air (and why is she airbending like an earthbender?), Asami is a flawless human being and Hiroshi has just joined the Ozai and Yakone club of horrifically bad fathers.

What I want to talk about is the murder-suicide. In and of itself, it's a good scene. It's a great one, even - emotionally powerful, heartbreaking, sound and dialogue and visuals and relationships (finally) all coming beautifully together for about two minutes. And of all the ways to arbitrarily wrap up Amon and Tarrlok's arc in twenty-four minutes, making it immensely tragic without a touch of "rah rah!" is far preferable to a straightforward defeat. It's an astoundingly daring and dark move, given the (...supposed) demographic.

It more or less works character-wise, too - there's very little doubt that Noatak and Tarrlok have both existed in a state of profound self-loathing from approximately the ages of 9 and 6, and that Tarrlok had taken a sharp turn for the fatalistic by the time Korra and Mako found him. He was unwillingly and unconsciously shaped by his father's ghost. Yakone set them on their paths forever. Fate brought them together. He sends Korra after Noatak and refuses freedom/agency. Noatak is obviously a wreck (and went sharply downhill, throwing all his plans out the window from Korra's appearance at the rally). Thanks to the tear, I think he not only knew what Tarrlok was doing, he understood why and accepted it. Tarrlok was clearly the only person he has ever loved (sorry, lieutenant, but "aw, and you were such a good servant too OH WELL" is not exactly the height of devotion). He and Tarrlok dying together was probably far happier than any end he might have imagined for himself.

And all of that said, I dislike it. I really, really dislike it, and the more I think about it, the more I hate it. It's because I really feel that the narrative is endorsing Tarrlok here. Yakone did warp them that deeply. They can never overcome the damage from the abuse and torture that was their childhoods. They are twisted monsters who will inevitably harm anything they touch, no matter what their motives seem to be. No redemption is possible. No second chances. Yakone set them on this path and they were damned forever, no matter how hard they try. The only possible way out is to simply remove them both from the world. Noatak, talking hopefully of starting over again, of how anything is possible now that they're together - he's wrong (and vaguely disturbing). Abuse is forever!

Usually, "this seriously aired on Nickelodeon??" would be a compliment. And I don't want to be the "what about the chiiiiiiildren" person. But seriously, that message would be quite horrifying enough elsewhere. I don't think it has any business on a show for seven-year-olds.

Trying to embed for the first time, since maybe it wasn't depressing enough or something. idk, I hope I can get the formatting right!

<imc src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6anrztSiA1qfrrfso1_500.png">

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lenqi at deviantart

God, it's Eric and Ariel (first OTP!) all over again, only ten times more awesome.

Well, way back in "The Waterbending Master," we saw that healing had something to do with chi paths, so waterbending can affect that. I imagine he's doing some messed-up inverted healing thing that blocks the relevant chakra or something.

Oh wow, thanks!

(Er, that's me. Anyway. <3)

I'm not sure it's established that Amon is solely in it for power - it's explicit that he always cared about fairness and that he thinks bending is the source of all evil, he made perfectly valid points in the middle of his "ultimate powah!" rant, and protectiveness is the one quality that seems to have persisted from early childhood. He's obviously out for power too, but that doesn't negate his other motives, IMO. He never pretended his crusade wasn't about what personally happened to him, after all - it's just that what happened is different.

I love that one, too - especially the spoilertastic rest of it.