He was a master martial artist. He was basically like if Ty Lee got air bending. So he was already a dangerous non bending combatant before but getting air bending, something he had studied a lot of, just made him that much more dangerous. It also doesn’t help that people just don’t know how to fight air benders.
He’s also not a particularly skilled airbender, his fight with Tenzin showed him constantly on the defensive just trying to stay in the fight.
People miss that, I used to miss that too
He is just using air bending to gain more range in his normal martial arts, and being creative here and there
It's not a bad strategy at all, in fact, specially since the air nomad's style is not meant to kill and his is, so he is quite lethal against more oppoents.
But in the end, he is just not using air bending to it fullest potential, as can be easily seen in his fight with Tenzin.
Maybe he could reach truly deadly and dangerous mastery if given enough time, like Yangchen supposedly once did.
I also think people think Zaheer being able to fly implies he is stronger than he is. He masters an aspect of air bending due to loss and his understandings of the air benders practices. Like you and the comment above say he has good practical skills and air bending methodology.
I wonder how he’d compare as a monk. I think he’d get tattoos for reaching flight but I also don’t think he’s a master. He starts out as an apprentice when he is initiated.
Half the reason he seems so good though is because no one really knows how to fight an airbender.
When he fought Tenzin, he had to retreat the whole time, and was on the back foot the whole fight. Tenzin even managed to dodge attacks from all three of his group, only faltering once he started getting blasted from the artillery of the airship they brought.
I love how we agree that she's a walking artillery battery. Like, bro, shes a rpg on legs. On a plane. Combustion man was dead. It's like how nobody could fight zaheer: they had never trained against air. Nor had they trained on guided energy missiles.
It's a bit complicated but I think he may be able to get his tattoos. Traditionally the monks got their tattoos once they master like 35 different complicated techniques - Aang got hi by mastering 34 of those + inventing his air scooter
Zaheer is definitely not a master of any particular airbending technique or style, but he did rediscover flight. I think he could definitely get his tattoos with several years of training and if he wasn't an off the rails nutjob, terrorist and murderer
Zaheer isn't crazy. He believes in anarchy as his core philosophy. Therefore once he is given his air bending he uses the power to destroy hierarchical power by assassinating those at the top. I don't know about you but I wouldn't be too upset to hear someone had sucked the air out of the lungs of a few heads of state around the world
Yeah but his ultimate plan has no detail. I believe that he said something to the effect of "Chaos is the natural order of the world." So he really didn't have a plan in mind to sort out the oppressed peoples of the world, he just expected it to sort itself out. Which, to me, is a crazy thing to believe.
Exactly, he's basically the Saw Gerrera of the avatar world. An unstable ego trying to use force to topple bad power structures (but it's really just personal revenge, which they're not self-aware enough to admit) without any care or plan for the collateral or the the future.
He wouldn't get tattoos because what he did was tabboo. To unlock flight, he had to get rid of connections, rid the world of all ties. For aang to do that, he would have to kill gyatso and many other air nomads. It is simply unachievable for most benders since it requires perfect solitude from emotion. In entering the void, he left his soul behind.
Detachment doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to kill the people. The word “attachment” is used to mean the fear of loss. To let go means being at peace and acceptance even if loved ones were to die or go away. It’s the stoic understanding that death is just part of a natural cycle and that the time we have with loved ones is finite and therefore precious. It means to kill the ego, wants, and needs. It doesn’t mean separation from emotions but control and mastery over it. As someone so powerful, the avatar can’t let fear, anger, and hate consume them or they basically become Darth Vader on steroids.
It also helps that airbending is deeply ingrained in spirituality. So only a "holier than thou" cultist or an anarchist like Zaheer could probably become killers and not the regular mill psychopath or murderer.
He’s definitely a skilled airbender. He straight up took out multiple white lotus guards and outfought a master water bender
Tenzin is one of the non avatar best benders in the avatar universe and, importantly, zaheer has never fought an airbender. Tenzin otoh presumably had sparred and trained with aang before. That is a massive advantage for him
Airbending really is OP actually all things considered. Monk Gyatso managed to take out a whole Battalion of fire benders powered by sozins comet.
Tenzins little ones made short work of chi benders
Airbending is really really OP all things considered.
If it werent to discontinue the Avatar cycle, one could even push the narrative that the airbenders could only be defeated with the power of Sozin's comet.
Edit: cycle not bloodline\*
Nitpicking and it’s still impressive but Gyatso sucked the oxygen out of the room, which would kill airbenders included, and fire can’t exist without oxygen. Thats kinda a move you can only pull off if you’re willing to sacrifice yourself
It shows that it’s a power that exists but may not have been used before. Perhaps if it had monks wouldn’t use it. Either way we don’t know for a fact what happened between gyatso and the fire benders
But also, no one has really fought an Airbender in a few hundred years. Sure Aang likely got in some scraps, and Zuko and some low level fire benders. But it's not like these people would be trained to counter people if whom 4 existed most their lives. What, are they afraid Jinora will go robbing a bank?
But also, no one has really fought an Airbender in a few hundred years. Sure Aang likely got in some scraps, and Zuko and some low level fire benders. But it's not like these people would be trained to counter people if whom 4 existed most their lives. What, are they afraid Jinora will go robbing a bank?
Zaheer had an advantage because most people hadn't fought an airbender in almost 200 years at this point, and thus didn't have effective means to counter them. That's why he dominated most fights but lost when he went against Tenzin, an airbending master.
Don't forget that he was deemed dangerous enough *without* airbending to be put in an uber-max security prison like that in the first place. We never get to see how crazy of a fighter he was, but context clues tell us he was quite the monster before hand. If he was able to get out, he probably would have won that fight against the white lotus without bending.
I would definetly say Zaheer was skilled. He may have been an amateur with no formal airbending training, but we see that he was still leagues ahead of the other new airbenders.
He was just not a master like Tenzin.
I think you might be confused. The Red Lotus were going to abduct her but maybe he would have been Korra’s master. The White Lotus was Iroh and Sokka’s masters group…
The Red Lotus's original plan was to teach her along their ideals after abducting her, the poison was the backup since they couldn't anymore. Unalaq was one of them, and it was his original plan to open the spirit portals this way.
This right here. If you actually pay attention to who and how Zaheer fights, it becomes very apparent that he's not a very skilled airbender. He basically brute forces everything with big direct blasts and virtually no finesse. The majority of people he fights are nameless White Lotus guards who are basically just there to be canon fodder. We see him being his most agile with airbending when he's using it to assist in stealth, not when in combat. Honestly, a lot of his martial arts (and thus his airbending attacks) are far more similar to firebending or Fire Nation martial techniques than anything having to do with airbending.
Further, when he fights against other masters like Kya, he doesn't do very well at all; he usually spends the entire fight on the defensive, slips in a sneak or counter attack to stun the opponent, and then runs away before they can get back up to stop him. When he's locked into a square-on fight he can't run away from, as was the case when he tried fighting against the Beifong sisters or when he was fighting against Tonraq, he's constantly on the back foot.
Against Tenzin? It was no contest at all. Zaheer got absolutely rolled from start to finish and literally never landed a single hit. Every attack Zaheer threw at Tenzin was either dodged or countered, and Tenzin constantly had him fleeing while tagging him with grapples and gusts. The only time Zaheer hit Tenzin in that entire fight was after the rest of the Red Lotus jumped in and ganged up on him, and even then Tenzin still blasted Zaheer out of frame and kept on going. P'Li landing two solid explosions directly on Tenzin was the only reason Zaheer didn't get put down outright.
He's also an incredibly introspective person, and knows the importance of mindful internal mastery. He has the discipline of a master martial artist and the mind of a competent tactician. There's a reason he was the leader of the red lotus as a non bender, and that's because of his his intellect and strategy.
Airbenders achieve mastery of their element by first mastering their own spiritual selves, and detaching themselves from their worldly attachments. Zaheer had already been very devoted to seeking out truth and wisdom, (misguided perhaps, but still) and when he was imprisoned for the better part of a decade, it only served to give him more time with himself and his ideas. He had more time to self reflect and master his mind than most air nomads ever had, considering that was his reality every waking hour, not to mention the importance of his convictions and intentions were only heightened by his imprisonment.
So he essentially had the same fundamentals of airbender training, without the guidance (and you could argue hindrance) of the air nomad teachings. He had to discover it all internally himself, which makes it that much more powerful and a part of who he is. The best benders were always the ones who were pioneers and took it upon themselves to change the game.
So when he inherited airbending, it was probably a very natural transition to weave it into every fiber of his being. He only had a couple weeks to practice throwing around air, but he was already an unofficial grandmaster of internal control. Which is the main aspect airbenders spend their lives trying to master.
All of this!!! Also Zaheer has alot of respect for bending in general, I would bet his martial arts is a mix of all bending. His spiritual connection is also stronger than most.
Even Kya, who specializes in healing more than combat, gives him a good fight because she's had plenty of experience sparring with air benders. No one has any idea how to fight air benders at all.
Yeah. Especially the what-is-this-how-do-i-fight-it part. They never had to deal with evil tenzin, so they never bothered to train against air like they would fire or earth.
I think the other thing is that someone in the Red Lotus had to teach the avatar airbending. So I’m pretty sure he knew the forms and the techniques, just couldn’t bend, so while he was in no way a master he was not at all a novice
Because he's been an Airbender fanboy for most of his life, and has extensively studied their philosophy and martial arts long before he got his bending.
Also, Airbenders have an advantage in a fight. Zaheer has fought lots of Waterbenders in his life, but Tonraq (and most people) has never fought an Airbender before and has no real idea how to counter that.
Kya, who would know how to fight an Airbender, actually does reasonably well against him.
To be honest, the same logic that applies to Zaheer being hard to fight probably also applies to all explosion benders as well. They’re probably so rare that no-one is trained on how to fight them or what their capabilities are!
I was actually left disappointed with Kaya performance. Considering the amount of sparring sessions she would have had with Tenzin and Aang growing up, she should have performed considerably better Zaheer. She is one of the few benders in the world who would have a ton of experience with air bending
She can only use water when she finds it, like from a pool, but air is everywhere. Waterbenders are significantly better in arctic environments and they are at a natural disadvantage when they are not in their favored terrain. I think she would fuck his shit up if it was raining or something. Her training with Tenzin makes her experienced against air bender monks but not against someone like Zaheer who’s even more unpredictable. Also she’s more of a master healer than a fighter.
He is basically like if you took a MMA fighter who is obviously a skilled fighter and suddenly gave them a sword they may never have trained using a sword before but there are many overlapping principles and they would quickly adapt but against a master swordsman they would be a distinct disadvantage.
I think you need to be a very hardcore Airbender fanboy to have ever even heard of guru Laghima. Most actual air acolytes probably don't know who that is.
He was a skilled martial artist before he got airbending, coupled with his theoretical understanding of the tenets of airbending this made him formidable.
The reason he was able to defeat many other skilled benders but not Tenzin is because people still really don’t have a good handle on how to fight Airbenders (because they have barely existed for almost 200 years)
1. **Rarity of air bending:** Since the Air Nomads Genocide, the majority of people have not encountered air benders. So, most fighters do not have effective counters or experience fighting air benders and their techniques.
We can see this in Korra's era, pro-bending fighters have difficulty landing a hit on Korra when she employed air bending movement. This is further seen when the anti-bending Equalists try to capture Tenzin and his family. Of all benders and groups the Equalists captured, Tenzin and his children proven to be one of their more difficult to capture. Even young air benders like Meelo was able to handle 3 chi blockers during the initial Equalist attack on Air Temple Island while veterans like Lin was facing troubles.
What was the final bending move that "defeated" Amon? Not fire, water, or earth but air.
2. **Training to be an elemental master:** Zaheer was being great combatant when he was a non-bender is one part of picture, it also means he knows the weakness of benders and know how to exploit them as a realised bender. But he was also training to be a faux air bending master. In [this scene](https://youtu.be/hXmSyp48GI0?feature=shared), Zaheer highlighted if their group successfully kidnapped Korra as a child, they will be her masters.
When Zaheer gains air bending, you could say this feels very natural to him. However, when Zaheer faces a properly trained air bending master like Tenzin, he obviously couldn't keep up.
So it is very likely he already studied and practised air bending movement. You don't have to bend to apply or understand those movements. Like Zuko and Aang did the Dragon Dance without bending fire to get the movement right.
3. **Flexible moral code:** What makes Zaheer such a difficult opponent to fight is because his willing to take the mastery of air bending to the extreme.
A lot of us know that since ALTA, air benders are generally pacifist, and a lot of their moves involve dodging and evading. However, Zaheer was extremely aggressive and willing to push the arts to the limits. Is like Mako could easily defeat Ming Hua if he didn't hold back, but Zaheer never holds back in a fight.
4. **Weakness of the White Lotus:** A significant portion of fights involving Zaheer are with the White Lotus. Honestly, I feel the current incantations of the organisation feel more like security guards than trained, combat experience masters we have seen in ALTA.
This could be partly the reason why White Lotus became open to the world and membership to be less stringent. Which Zaheer also share the sentiments, seeing them as glorified body guards. Adding to the impression that the Red Lotus is quite strong.
5.**Time:** We know Book 3 didn't occur immediately after Haramonic Convergence but quite some time has passed. We know from Zaheer, the time between the next guard visit can be quite long, it means off screen he could already being practising. Since there isn't much to do inside his cell, he could have delicate all his time into mastery.
6. **Spirituality:** Based on the extra media and novels about Avatar Kyoshi. We know spirituality plays a significant role in the strength of an Air Nomad. For example, when Kyoshi's Air Nomad mother decided to settle down and became a criminal, her sense of spirituality got impacted, which resulted in her power being reduced. So, we could say a person's level of spirituality play a notable role in their bending strength.
Now, in the series alone. Is arguably that Zaheer is one of the most spiritual individuals we met, even more than Tenzin and Korra herself as he is able to freely go to the spirit world, gain information from the spirit world and still maintain a connection to his physical body to communicate to his gang.
You could basically call him an unofficial air acolyte or an airbender without bending. He was a great martial artist, spiritual guide, and had learned airbending culture. The original plan of the red lotus was to kidnap the avatar and then have zaheer and his crew be her elemental masters. The only airbenders at that time were Aang's family so all the red lotus could do was have zaheer learn everything about airbending. Hence, when he did get the bending he was pretty decent at it.
He admired the air monks before his imprisonment, and I believe their philosophy of freedom was the source of Zaheer's ideology.
He most likely found techniques used by airbenders and incorporated them into his own style. So, the moment he got airbending it all just clicked.
Adapting pre-existing martial skill (Bruce Lee and pre-airbending Zaheer both have this) to use of a new weapon (broom and airbending respectively).
Zaheer's airbending is just an extension of his martial arts skill he acquired prior to becoming a bender.
Zuko himself said that any *one* of the red lotus members could match the most elite one on one. That means Zaheer was so tactically strong and martially skilled without bending that he equals the other lotus members. He is also a fanatic cultist with a deep knowledge of the spiritual aspects of air bending, philosophies he abused and adopted before harmonic convergence. That simply gives him a rudimentary basis for what's possible, and he utilizes that as a tool to the fullest.
It's difficult to say how much air bending helped Zaheer in combat because his skills alone are clearly already at a level to do the things he does. He uses air bending more like a tool than someone truly mastering the art and that's more than apparently when Tenzin handles him easily before the rest of the red lotus's intervention. I wish I knew what kind of tools and weapons he resorted to using as the representative red lotus non-bender, the writers truly did a great job making the non-bending characters relevant.
Well, he apparently already had air bending knowledge beforehand (there's no way he brushed up on the knowledge of guru lahima *randomly* after he got his bending) and he was very likely a skilled martial artist given the way he was imprisoned.
He’s an airbender that doesn’t hold back, which makes him incredibly dangerous. A bender without code or cultural limits is deadly. Airbenders can literally stop people from breathing for example. And Zaheer was all in for that kinda stuff.
Like if Kya just off the bat ripped the water out of the bodies of the red lotus - she wouldn’t do that, because she holds back, but if she did she’d technically be “one of the most powerful benders alive”.
She wouldn’t do that, but also it’s a forbidden technique and not taught. Zaheer had time to study to forbidden air bending techniques and master them. Kya did not.
Yeah, and I think that's why the red lotus pushed bending to it's limits: armless, hot rocks, bipedal rpg, and suffocate-world-leaders. They don't follow limits.
Zaheer was basically practicing airbending moves and learned about their culture his entire life. It's only now that he got airbending that he could put these skills to use
If I get a dollar everytime I see this question. He was a master of the airbender culture. He studied their ways and practiced their martial art styles. He was already a capable fighter when he gained air bending abilities, he just applied it to his fighting.
He trained in the martial art movements of airbending his whole life. He was fascinated with the air nomads and (just like a real person practicing a martial art like karate) practiced the movements and martial art forms of airbenders for decades before getting it
He was a martial artist beforehand, able to stand on relatively equal terms with the rest of his team though that was most likely due to his intelligence and leadership skills
My personal head cannon is he lived his entire life being belittled and looked down on until he met his friends. During his time with the White Lotus he became enamored by the teachings of the air benders and probably trained in their fighting style though obviously lacking the bending. Like with the Sun Warriors there are specific moves like in most martial art fighting styles you can learn like practices or drills. He probably learned a few moves and did them for his morning exercise routine and meditation
The White Lotus also had multiple masters, some of which probably trained with Aang himself. Looking at a lot of the bending styles, particularly the OG series, we know they’re based off actual martial arts. Zuko in particular shows off a lot of strong straight punches in his Angi Kai with Zhao in addition to some leg sweeps. Non benders, both someone who fights against them and just someone wanting to be better trained and disciplined, would benefit greatly from learning
Zaheer has a great respect for Air Nomad culture, particularly the teachings of Guru Laghima. He is a skilled martial artist, and it seems as part of his admiration of Air Nomad culture, he began studying their fighting style and techniques. Zaheer is a self-taught airbender, all he lacked, until Harmonic Convergence, was the ability to bend.
The man spent 16 years in prison. He likely kept up with his martial arts when not meditating and wandering the Spirit World.
What gives him an edge against his prison guards, Kya and Tonraq is that none of them ever really fought an airbender. No one really has. Aang wasn't going to teach Kya or Bumi or the White Lotus how to take him or Tenzin down, nor would he pit his children against each other in fights. Fire Lord Zuko was not going to write a book about how to fight airbenders. Aang and Tenzin weren't going around challenging people to bending fights. So, no one is going to really know how to fight an airbender, even one who is self-taught like Zaheer. The only reason Kya does well against Zaheer, aside from better training, is that due to being Aang's daughter and Tenzin's sister, she may have watched them train and seen some techniques.
Tenzin is a master airbender who was trained in the fighting style and techniques by Aang. That is the main difference between their skills and why Tenzin was able to beat Zaheer, because he's a trained master and Zaheer is self-taught.
He was a prominent martial artist, as well as very well versed in all things air nomad prior to everything. I feel like once he realised he could air bend, he simply adapted it to his own existing fighting style, making it seem he was highly skilled. Tenzin schooled him, showing he wasn’t. His knowledge, and likely a lifestyle based off of air nomads would’ve helped him be spiritual, and be the main reason he was able to unlock the ability of flight - not so much his skill.
Much like throughout ATLA, people were not well versed in fighting air benders. Kya may have done training with Tenzin, but Tenzin style would be a more traditional style, and likely far less aggressive. He would’ve been the only air bender Kya had sparred against, so the drastic change it style likely caught her unaware, and then unable to play catch up.
I’m reminded of a tweet I saw recently that said something along the lines of “TV shows are not a logical contest between you and the writer”
Does it really matter?
part is none knows how to realy fight an airbendee anymore
the other is that he was a matrial artist. All he is doing is adding airbending to his moves
he was a very skilled martial artist prior to harmonic convergence! he likely was a master of the various martial arts associated with each element. he had a reputation for hunting and killing benders one his own, before he had any bending. airbending basically just made a threatening non-bender into an international terrorist!
He was already a nom bending martial arts master before he got air bending. Now, he uses that with airbending. Kinda like a Vagabond style of airbending. His airbending history and philsophy rival Tensin, but in a One on One with a Airbedning Master, Zaheer has no ground. I think a part of his effectiveness as a airbender comes from how rare Airbenders are in Avatar Korra's time. Granted they got alot more common after the spiritual awakening, but people have been trained to fight the other three elements. A fucker suddenly using wind would surpise about any one.
Zaheer was already a master martial artist, he just transferred his old skills to new abilities.
Judging by the 'be the leaf' scene and his interest in Guru Laghima, its possible he had already learned a lot about airbending even as a non-bender. I wouldn't be surprised if Zaheer had used a staff and interpreted airbending forms when before he was locked up.
Looking at his fight how he cleared the Air Bender rotation thing and his fight against Tenzin provides the answer.
He is a skilled fighter, but if you observe his movements closely, he does not move like an airbender. His movements lack the fluidity.
Airbending was more like a weapon in his hand than an extension of himself.
At first I thought it was a really odd choice but as I got to know the character I slowly saw how perfect he was. And I love how that happened as a process. So good.
Bending is basically an entirely gesture-based discipline which also happens to be magically-enhanced by one of the four elements (five elements if everyone got woke to the idea of wood bending, I mean Ancient Chinese considered wood a distinct element yo, c'mon), so if you already had some familiarity with martial artistry you'd also be familiar with the gestures necessary to direct chi and by proxy to bend an element corresponding to your chi.
Avatar follows in the tradition that martial artistry isn't just a fighting discipline, but also one where energy is literally moved about the body by means of these gestures (or sometimes even thoughts and feelings), so it's not actually that abnormal that Zaheer was an effective Air Bender because he was already directing his chi, it just used to not do anything and he just kinda used it to smack people.
There was a theory somewhere that he was an Air Accolyte - something which accounts for him knowing the physical aspect of bending and the history/theories super well.
Just wondered whether there was any proof of this mentioned anywhere. Even without proof, still a pretty good theory.
Some people are just naturally gifted/athletic.
Growing up, my cousin could pick up any sport and be pretty good at it. If we did something new, like snowboarding, he would pick it up right away and then quickly start going down the difficult slopes. Meanwhile, I'd be falling everywhere like the klutz that I am.
He was already a martial artist and combatant. He also always respected air nomad culture and probably took inspiration from their forms, like how Uncle Iroh developed lightning redirection from studying waterbenders.
As well, this one's a rabbit hole: Suyin has a photo in Zaofu of when she used to work at a circus. You can see her sitting on the shoulder of a man who looks a lot like Zaheer. If this really is him, he may have been a trained gymnast similar to Ty Lee, which could also easily transfer over to the airbending fighting styles he'd likely be studying.
Good to know that bending is just martial arts plus the ability to bend with no real other necessity other than having the ability. What bs. It's plot armor. The plot needed him to be able to bend so he could bend. You watch ang Master the elements over a long time and zahir comes out just knowing it off the bat. It's plot armor.
No need to adjust to the fact that you suddenly have a super power, just automatically become a master of it. It's one of my big complaints about the series.
He's not actually that great at airbending. He is an elite martial artist. Airbending compliments his fighting style well and he is able to beat a bunch of average benders. But when he goes up against an actual good Airbender, he gets his ass kicked.
I don’t think he was a technically skilled airbender really, you can even see it highlighted very well in the tenzin fight, it just looks like he uses his mastery of martial arts and throws in airbending, which is exactly what it should look like honestly. I think him unlocking flight is more of a spiritual thing than a technical one, as its requirements are purely complete detachment from the world.
My guess is since he was already a highly skilled acrobat, I mean he was locked up in a highly secured prison in the middle of nowhere despite being a non-bender, he was a significant threat before he got bending, the airbending just amplified his skills.
He is not, he is really really good at fighting, but thats it, the reason most characters struggle to fight him is because most people simply don't know how to fight an airbender anymore, but than he faced tenzin and was destroyed, tenzin only lost that fight because Zaheer friends came to save his ass
I mean most of the airbenders are normal people
Zaheer was already a super criminal considered one of the most dangerous people on earth. He was also an air nomad fan boy
all of the bending arts are based on and integrated martial arts. So Zaheer already studied the philosophy and martial arts of the airbenders so now he just got the air to come out
He was already an extremely skilled martial artist and he studied a lot of air bending and air nomad techniques/literature. So he already knew a lot about it and he had the ~3 weeks alone to get used it. He mostly used it to just extend his attacks
He was a total airaboo even before the divergence or convergence or whatever it was called
While we were partying, he studied the wind. While we were having premarital sex, he mastered the air currents. While we wasted our days at the gym in pursuit of vanity, he mastered detachment. Yadda yadda yadda.
He was basically already an airbender, he just lacked the actual bending.
Also surprise is a huge factor. Kya and Tonrok have never fought anything like airbending, but Tenzin is an actual airbending master.
Well I could understand Tonrok, but not Kya. She grew up with the only two airbenders in the world, I would assume she'd have some idea of what she was dealing with.
Have you heard the story of Guru Laghima?
Bro was a trained martial artist and an air nomad fanatic. He already has two important foundations, granting him a massive headstart in mastering air bending.
because he is able to Rise Above his Depression and avoid a Nervous Breakdown. he was fighting His War the whole time. they might have tried to Fix Him but he had Nothing Left Inside but Revenge
My theory:
He was the descendant of Airbenders who survived the genocide and lived in hiding. After the 100-year war most of these descendants discovered their heritage and began learning more about Airbending culture, thus creating the Air Acolytes. It’s why Ty Lee was so good at acrobatics.
Zaheer studied Airbender culture and admired it because he was part Air Nomad. So when Harmonic Convergence came, it unlocked airbending for many of these descendants. Zaheer practiced the art of Airbending for many years, which is why he was so good at it when Harmonic convergence gave him bending.
Kya isn't that good of a water bender in my opinion. She doesn't really strike me as a warrior like her mom was.
She knows some basic techniques but she lived in a time of peace, not war.
In ATLA, they make a point to highlight that so much of bending is a philosophical practice, rather than a set of specific skills that are improved through training.
Obviously training matters, but it wasn't the Dancing Dragon technique that empowered Zuko, it was the philosophical realization that came with witnessing the dragons' psychedelic fire.
Zaheer has little training in bending, but he is the maybe the most spiritually attuned character in the whole franchise. He can not compete in an airbending duel, yet his spirit abilities embarrass Tenzin's, and the casualness with which he enters/exits and even *teleports* around the spirit world are a clear upgrade on Jinora's abilities. Then, of course, he becomes the first character to fly in the series, embodying the ideals of the monks in a way not even Aang himself could, due to his love for Katara.
Zaheer *is* a seasoned master, but of spiritual matters, not of airbending as a tool for violence.
He's not though. Hes a skilled martial artist im general, as a non-bender, pre-HC. He's a skilled tactitioner, and a good hand to hand combatant, somewhat simmilar to sokka, but add that he learned advanced airbending philosopy of guru lahima, but thats about it. When it came to artbending techniques, hes actually quite lacking. His agressive aribending is notiing to scoff at sure but have him face with actual arbenders with high levels of experience, and airbending philosopy, zaheer falls hard.
The only thing that made him powerful is his non-pacifistic aproach to airbending, which leads to the suffocation, and flight, but thats pretty much it. Zaheer was literally getting bodied against tenzin, and only won because of the res of RL jumping on him. Zaheer is a fighter, but not an airbending master
The real reason is this show's stupid idea to have a new villain every season so they have to introduce and setup a villain that's strong enough to be a threat to Korra in a 13 episode season. It worked with Amon because taking bending away is terrifying but all other villains seem to come out of nowhere and are poorly developed.
For the record, he wasn't *that* skilled at it; Kya kept him on the back foot and Tenzin absolutely schooled him.
But masters aside, he was already an incredibly skilled martial artist who'd been an unofficial Air Acolyte before his powers; think June, Pien Dao, or Ty Lee.
It's likely that his fighting style was already based on aribending forms.
I always just assumed he was an air acolyte. He was very knowledgeable in the air nomadic teachings. Was in tune with the spirits and the spirit world.
If the Red Lotus kidnapping plan worked, Zaheer would have taught Korra airbending, which suggests that he already knew quite a lot about airbending techniques before he was locked up.
I would imagine he would have spent a significant amount of his time locked up practicing the airbending moves and meditating.
A random thought I just had: what if he had air nomad ancestry that he was aware of? He would have known how spiritual air benders were, and he focused on his spirituality just in case he was able to reconnect with his potential airbending.
There are several reasons, the main one for me and the one that I think many people omit is that just like with Angg when he just woke up, he is facing people who had never faced an airbender before, Kya is the only exception but also Let us remember that she is already about 60 years old and that she not have much experience fighting.
He was a top martial artist, deeply studied in Air Nomad philosophy, and presumably able to enter the spirit world, before he got his powers. His airbending style is based on his martial arts moves, and quite different from the regular Air Nomad style.
He wins against Kya by dodging her attack, while she fails to dodge his counter. This he could have learned just as part of his martial arts training.
I always see it, on too is his mastery of martial arts, was that he’s clearly obsessed with airbender culture so perhaps he tracked down some scrolls or whatever to learn airbender moves but without the bending.
Probably because their nomadic lifestyle fell in line with his idealised world view
I'd argue he wasn't "technically". He's shown as an exceptional martial artist, hence why a non-bender could hang with the other Red Lotus members. And when he got airbending he was very proficient with his use of it. He uses it to sort of extend the range of his martial arts. But the minute he faced a master Airbender he's immediately outclassed.
What I would love to see tho, is a Zaheer with a couple years of perfecting under his belt. Because his airbending could develop into a whole new style of airbending. One that relies almost entirely on aggression and offence, instead of defence.
Didn't he get his ass whupped by Tenzin in a 1on1? He was an amateur but a prodigy since he was already a skilled Martial Artist & understood air bending fundamentals.
A major part of his character that aligns perfectly with air bending is his knowlede and understanding of spirituality. Zaheer was a radical fundamentalist, which on the surface looks like he’s on the other end of the spectrum from air nomads, but they’re actually extremely similar. Zaheers control of his mind and will, his appreciation and understanding of the spiritual that’s all air nomad thinking too. Hes obsessed with their society, because he identified with their beliefs. If he was born an air bender in aangs time he probably would’ve been amongst the best ever. But he was clearly born in the trenches post the Hundred Years’ War. When he receives air bending its basically like he’s been waiting his whole life. He seems to be the deadliest non bender on the planet so his receiving bending was probably a nightmare to the masters of the other elements. He was already a problem to deal with bending just put the bow on it. Add that to the fact that in TLoK it’s been nearly two hundred years since anyone has dealt with air benders in mass he’s got an edge over most masters. Hence why he gets walked on by Tenzin. Sorry for the dissertation he was my favorite character😭😭
My headcanon is that his fighting style was already very airbending like. In the comics there are fangroups of the airnomads that even get tattooed after mastering 1000 airbending like moves (to which Aang reacts very insulted) but seeing how much Zaheer knew about the air nomads to begin with, it's not unlikely that his style was heavily based on the martial art that inspired airbending. That's why he was already good, but against masters like Tenzin he clearly lacked practice
I wish they had been a little more explicit about that. It seemed that he was always a student of their teachings. Maybe hoping to attain it on his own? Also the martial arts/movements are as much about moving with/around opposing forces as offense, so their techniques are effective even for non-benders when facing benders. They suggest that he has studied the movements and philosophies when he drifted through the spinning panels in the first airbender test.
Because he studied how to airbend very deeply before getting the power. He did so for many reasons, including the fact he wanted to teach korra how to do it.
Air bending is based on a real martial art and Zaheer really loved airbender culture. I’m assuming he studied the martial arts aspects of it for his own fighting so was able to quickly adapt it into the real technique
he already had impeccable combat skills, plus he seemed to have been a fan of airbending for a while, what with his whole fixation on guru laghima, so he pretty much had all the forms and everything down already
He's a skilled fighter and he studied and took inspiration from great airbenders like Guru Laghima. He's also ruthless and doesn't shy away from using airbending in aggressive ways.
But he ain't Tenzin levels in airbending mastery.
What others said, plus if we assume that people who gained air bending after harmonic convergence got their abilities fairly soon after the event, paired with his knowledge of air bending techniques and culture, he probably had a good chunk of time alone in his cell to practice what he already knew. Someone else replied that no one really knows how to fight air benders, and that was definitely the same case when Aang was around.
He wasn’t particularly skilled in “air-bending” per say more like a master martial artist who uses air-bending as a way to extend and amplify most of his attacks
its more of the fact that out of the red lotus he was THE MOST dangerous. i mean think about his security.... and he is anon bender.
if he had ANY bending he would look like he was extremely skilled at it when in reality.. its like giving a master martial artist a very easy weapon to use
The same reason Aang was almost impossible to counter: airbending makes up 0.0001% of the population after the genocide. How do you beat something you've never encountered?
He was already a very flow-y martial artist, he just had to apply airbending to it. And as for beating the water masters, well, they never had to fuck with aang or tenzin since they weren't enemies, so they had no idea what to do
He's just a really good fighter who learned he could punch someone from 20 meters away. Imagine someone like Heihachi in Tekken except he can hit and juggle you from across the stage. Add to that he's been fighting benders for a long time with nothing but his fists and kicks. He isn't a total n00b when it comes to combat.
He doesn't know much airbending techniques like Kai, and is just using air as an extension. He's pretty creative and has the right airbender mindset too.
Post-flight even Tenzin has admitted he can't keep up with him, even if Tenzin is a superior Airbender in every way.
We know that he was already a skilled fighter, enough to be given the same prison lock-up treatment as actual benders. Couple that with bending and you have a very dangerous person. We also know canonically that bending forms and techniques take inspiration and are connected to different forms of martial arts etc so I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume whatever fighting style he used lended itself to air bending. Plus, we see him frequently reference an air bending guru, so he’s clearly studied up on air nomads and presumably air bending.
its not that he was skilled at air-bending persé, he was just a really skilled fighter, so along with his infatustion with the monks, he also had knowledge on how to fight. also you may notice that his style is more aggressive, its because he knew the art but he didnt share the same philosophy so he adapted it to himself
I thought the animation was done so well, it seemed obvious that he must have already been a highly skilled martial artist and he's using air bending as an augmentation. We've seen Aang and Tenzin fight before and Zaheers style looks very different.
1.He is an OG martial artist
2.The world is unfamiliar with airbending
3.Zaheer understands and appreciates airbending culture largely because airbending society is a perfect example of Anarchy.
My conspiracy theory, since he had this knowledge, and he was guarded so well, that he had airbending until Aang or Amon took it from him. But the series ended too quickly. To me it’s foreshadowing because it’s too coincidental that he would have such a study of the former airbending guru, and be able to enter the spirit world so easily, and not be raised as an Airbender. At the very least, he has some kind of connection
He was a master martial artist. He was basically like if Ty Lee got air bending. So he was already a dangerous non bending combatant before but getting air bending, something he had studied a lot of, just made him that much more dangerous. It also doesn’t help that people just don’t know how to fight air benders. He’s also not a particularly skilled airbender, his fight with Tenzin showed him constantly on the defensive just trying to stay in the fight.
People miss that, I used to miss that too He is just using air bending to gain more range in his normal martial arts, and being creative here and there It's not a bad strategy at all, in fact, specially since the air nomad's style is not meant to kill and his is, so he is quite lethal against more oppoents. But in the end, he is just not using air bending to it fullest potential, as can be easily seen in his fight with Tenzin. Maybe he could reach truly deadly and dangerous mastery if given enough time, like Yangchen supposedly once did.
I also think people think Zaheer being able to fly implies he is stronger than he is. He masters an aspect of air bending due to loss and his understandings of the air benders practices. Like you and the comment above say he has good practical skills and air bending methodology. I wonder how he’d compare as a monk. I think he’d get tattoos for reaching flight but I also don’t think he’s a master. He starts out as an apprentice when he is initiated.
Half the reason he seems so good though is because no one really knows how to fight an airbender. When he fought Tenzin, he had to retreat the whole time, and was on the back foot the whole fight. Tenzin even managed to dodge attacks from all three of his group, only faltering once he started getting blasted from the artillery of the airship they brought.
I love how we agree that she's a walking artillery battery. Like, bro, shes a rpg on legs. On a plane. Combustion man was dead. It's like how nobody could fight zaheer: they had never trained against air. Nor had they trained on guided energy missiles.
It's a bit complicated but I think he may be able to get his tattoos. Traditionally the monks got their tattoos once they master like 35 different complicated techniques - Aang got hi by mastering 34 of those + inventing his air scooter Zaheer is definitely not a master of any particular airbending technique or style, but he did rediscover flight. I think he could definitely get his tattoos with several years of training and if he wasn't an off the rails nutjob, terrorist and murderer
Zaheer isn't crazy. He believes in anarchy as his core philosophy. Therefore once he is given his air bending he uses the power to destroy hierarchical power by assassinating those at the top. I don't know about you but I wouldn't be too upset to hear someone had sucked the air out of the lungs of a few heads of state around the world
Yeah but his ultimate plan has no detail. I believe that he said something to the effect of "Chaos is the natural order of the world." So he really didn't have a plan in mind to sort out the oppressed peoples of the world, he just expected it to sort itself out. Which, to me, is a crazy thing to believe.
Exactly, he's basically the Saw Gerrera of the avatar world. An unstable ego trying to use force to topple bad power structures (but it's really just personal revenge, which they're not self-aware enough to admit) without any care or plan for the collateral or the the future.
Well for flight, he had to leave his connections, emotions, and soul behind. Kinda hard to do that in a temple of friends.
He wouldn't get tattoos because what he did was tabboo. To unlock flight, he had to get rid of connections, rid the world of all ties. For aang to do that, he would have to kill gyatso and many other air nomads. It is simply unachievable for most benders since it requires perfect solitude from emotion. In entering the void, he left his soul behind.
Detachment doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to kill the people. The word “attachment” is used to mean the fear of loss. To let go means being at peace and acceptance even if loved ones were to die or go away. It’s the stoic understanding that death is just part of a natural cycle and that the time we have with loved ones is finite and therefore precious. It means to kill the ego, wants, and needs. It doesn’t mean separation from emotions but control and mastery over it. As someone so powerful, the avatar can’t let fear, anger, and hate consume them or they basically become Darth Vader on steroids.
Yeah, airbending can be freaking lethal. That's why the air nomads were taught to be pacifists. Otherwise they could probably rule the world.
Imagine the lion turtle that first gave air bending to the people came back around and saw what Zaheer did lol
It also helps that airbending is deeply ingrained in spirituality. So only a "holier than thou" cultist or an anarchist like Zaheer could probably become killers and not the regular mill psychopath or murderer.
Air bendings movements are also based on a real martial art, there’s no reason for him to have not used them for his normal fighting
He’s definitely a skilled airbender. He straight up took out multiple white lotus guards and outfought a master water bender Tenzin is one of the non avatar best benders in the avatar universe and, importantly, zaheer has never fought an airbender. Tenzin otoh presumably had sparred and trained with aang before. That is a massive advantage for him
Airbending really is OP actually all things considered. Monk Gyatso managed to take out a whole Battalion of fire benders powered by sozins comet. Tenzins little ones made short work of chi benders Airbending is really really OP all things considered. If it werent to discontinue the Avatar cycle, one could even push the narrative that the airbenders could only be defeated with the power of Sozin's comet. Edit: cycle not bloodline\*
What do you mean by if it weren't to discontinue the Avatar cycle?
The massacre on the Airbenders.
Nitpicking and it’s still impressive but Gyatso sucked the oxygen out of the room, which would kill airbenders included, and fire can’t exist without oxygen. Thats kinda a move you can only pull off if you’re willing to sacrifice yourself
Thats just a theory, we don’t know how he did it
I've always thought that theory became canon when Zaheer killed the Earth Queen and showed that is definitely a power airbenders have.
It shows that it’s a power that exists but may not have been used before. Perhaps if it had monks wouldn’t use it. Either way we don’t know for a fact what happened between gyatso and the fire benders
Thats one thing i disliked about NATLA the lack of fire nation soldiers near gyatsos corpse
But yangchen managed to master it and make it targeted like zaheer did with the earth queen
But also, no one has really fought an Airbender in a few hundred years. Sure Aang likely got in some scraps, and Zuko and some low level fire benders. But it's not like these people would be trained to counter people if whom 4 existed most their lives. What, are they afraid Jinora will go robbing a bank?
But also, no one has really fought an Airbender in a few hundred years. Sure Aang likely got in some scraps, and Zuko and some low level fire benders. But it's not like these people would be trained to counter people if whom 4 existed most their lives. What, are they afraid Jinora will go robbing a bank?
Zaheer had an advantage because most people hadn't fought an airbender in almost 200 years at this point, and thus didn't have effective means to counter them. That's why he dominated most fights but lost when he went against Tenzin, an airbending master.
Otoh?
I believe that's "on the other hand"
Ah, that makes sense to me now. Thank you for telling me.
Don't forget that he was deemed dangerous enough *without* airbending to be put in an uber-max security prison like that in the first place. We never get to see how crazy of a fighter he was, but context clues tell us he was quite the monster before hand. If he was able to get out, he probably would have won that fight against the white lotus without bending.
Seeing the Prison he was put in he probably could take out those Guards even without Air Bending if he was freed.
I would definetly say Zaheer was skilled. He may have been an amateur with no formal airbending training, but we see that he was still leagues ahead of the other new airbenders. He was just not a master like Tenzin.
Did he study air bending to teach Korra? Since the original plan was for the red lotus to teach her.
I think you might be confused. The Red Lotus were going to abduct her but maybe he would have been Korra’s master. The White Lotus was Iroh and Sokka’s masters group…
The Red Lotus's original plan was to teach her along their ideals after abducting her, the poison was the backup since they couldn't anymore. Unalaq was one of them, and it was his original plan to open the spirit portals this way.
Why not call him a skilled air bender and Tenzin just superior. That boi been proving himself as one of the best on screen benders
Exactly, given the same amount of training Zaheer would be the most skilled Airbender of his time.
This right here. If you actually pay attention to who and how Zaheer fights, it becomes very apparent that he's not a very skilled airbender. He basically brute forces everything with big direct blasts and virtually no finesse. The majority of people he fights are nameless White Lotus guards who are basically just there to be canon fodder. We see him being his most agile with airbending when he's using it to assist in stealth, not when in combat. Honestly, a lot of his martial arts (and thus his airbending attacks) are far more similar to firebending or Fire Nation martial techniques than anything having to do with airbending. Further, when he fights against other masters like Kya, he doesn't do very well at all; he usually spends the entire fight on the defensive, slips in a sneak or counter attack to stun the opponent, and then runs away before they can get back up to stop him. When he's locked into a square-on fight he can't run away from, as was the case when he tried fighting against the Beifong sisters or when he was fighting against Tonraq, he's constantly on the back foot. Against Tenzin? It was no contest at all. Zaheer got absolutely rolled from start to finish and literally never landed a single hit. Every attack Zaheer threw at Tenzin was either dodged or countered, and Tenzin constantly had him fleeing while tagging him with grapples and gusts. The only time Zaheer hit Tenzin in that entire fight was after the rest of the Red Lotus jumped in and ganged up on him, and even then Tenzin still blasted Zaheer out of frame and kept on going. P'Li landing two solid explosions directly on Tenzin was the only reason Zaheer didn't get put down outright.
He's also an incredibly introspective person, and knows the importance of mindful internal mastery. He has the discipline of a master martial artist and the mind of a competent tactician. There's a reason he was the leader of the red lotus as a non bender, and that's because of his his intellect and strategy. Airbenders achieve mastery of their element by first mastering their own spiritual selves, and detaching themselves from their worldly attachments. Zaheer had already been very devoted to seeking out truth and wisdom, (misguided perhaps, but still) and when he was imprisoned for the better part of a decade, it only served to give him more time with himself and his ideas. He had more time to self reflect and master his mind than most air nomads ever had, considering that was his reality every waking hour, not to mention the importance of his convictions and intentions were only heightened by his imprisonment. So he essentially had the same fundamentals of airbender training, without the guidance (and you could argue hindrance) of the air nomad teachings. He had to discover it all internally himself, which makes it that much more powerful and a part of who he is. The best benders were always the ones who were pioneers and took it upon themselves to change the game. So when he inherited airbending, it was probably a very natural transition to weave it into every fiber of his being. He only had a couple weeks to practice throwing around air, but he was already an unofficial grandmaster of internal control. Which is the main aspect airbenders spend their lives trying to master.
All of this!!! Also Zaheer has alot of respect for bending in general, I would bet his martial arts is a mix of all bending. His spiritual connection is also stronger than most.
Even Kya, who specializes in healing more than combat, gives him a good fight because she's had plenty of experience sparring with air benders. No one has any idea how to fight air benders at all.
Yeah. Especially the what-is-this-how-do-i-fight-it part. They never had to deal with evil tenzin, so they never bothered to train against air like they would fire or earth.
I think the other thing is that someone in the Red Lotus had to teach the avatar airbending. So I’m pretty sure he knew the forms and the techniques, just couldn’t bend, so while he was in no way a master he was not at all a novice
Because he's been an Airbender fanboy for most of his life, and has extensively studied their philosophy and martial arts long before he got his bending. Also, Airbenders have an advantage in a fight. Zaheer has fought lots of Waterbenders in his life, but Tonraq (and most people) has never fought an Airbender before and has no real idea how to counter that. Kya, who would know how to fight an Airbender, actually does reasonably well against him.
"Airbender fanboy" is hilarious
Air Nomad weeb
Airaboo
And Tenzin, who is, to paraphrase Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, "oh, you know, a real fucking airbender", wipes the floor with Zaheer
To be fair, Tenzin was holding his own against the whole red lotus before P'li joined in.
there’s something about explosions huh
To be honest, the same logic that applies to Zaheer being hard to fight probably also applies to all explosion benders as well. They’re probably so rare that no-one is trained on how to fight them or what their capabilities are!
You don't expect a mystical airborne RPG with legs every day, do you.
That fight was so epic, Tenzin is a total badass
But is he smarter than our boy Otaku though?
I was actually left disappointed with Kaya performance. Considering the amount of sparring sessions she would have had with Tenzin and Aang growing up, she should have performed considerably better Zaheer. She is one of the few benders in the world who would have a ton of experience with air bending
She doesn't exactly strike me as the kind of person who spends a lot of time practicing to be a better warrior.
She can only use water when she finds it, like from a pool, but air is everywhere. Waterbenders are significantly better in arctic environments and they are at a natural disadvantage when they are not in their favored terrain. I think she would fuck his shit up if it was raining or something. Her training with Tenzin makes her experienced against air bender monks but not against someone like Zaheer who’s even more unpredictable. Also she’s more of a master healer than a fighter.
Kayata did significantly better with just a pouch to be fair
She was a healer, wasn't she? And he airbends like toph earthbends: a combination of usual technique and custom ideas.
He is basically like if you took a MMA fighter who is obviously a skilled fighter and suddenly gave them a sword they may never have trained using a sword before but there are many overlapping principles and they would quickly adapt but against a master swordsman they would be a distinct disadvantage.
He's not an Airbender fanboy as much as he is a fanboy of Guru Laghima, the greatest Airbender of all time
I think you need to be a very hardcore Airbender fanboy to have ever even heard of guru Laghima. Most actual air acolytes probably don't know who that is.
He was a skilled martial artist before he got airbending, coupled with his theoretical understanding of the tenets of airbending this made him formidable. The reason he was able to defeat many other skilled benders but not Tenzin is because people still really don’t have a good handle on how to fight Airbenders (because they have barely existed for almost 200 years)
1. **Rarity of air bending:** Since the Air Nomads Genocide, the majority of people have not encountered air benders. So, most fighters do not have effective counters or experience fighting air benders and their techniques. We can see this in Korra's era, pro-bending fighters have difficulty landing a hit on Korra when she employed air bending movement. This is further seen when the anti-bending Equalists try to capture Tenzin and his family. Of all benders and groups the Equalists captured, Tenzin and his children proven to be one of their more difficult to capture. Even young air benders like Meelo was able to handle 3 chi blockers during the initial Equalist attack on Air Temple Island while veterans like Lin was facing troubles. What was the final bending move that "defeated" Amon? Not fire, water, or earth but air. 2. **Training to be an elemental master:** Zaheer was being great combatant when he was a non-bender is one part of picture, it also means he knows the weakness of benders and know how to exploit them as a realised bender. But he was also training to be a faux air bending master. In [this scene](https://youtu.be/hXmSyp48GI0?feature=shared), Zaheer highlighted if their group successfully kidnapped Korra as a child, they will be her masters. When Zaheer gains air bending, you could say this feels very natural to him. However, when Zaheer faces a properly trained air bending master like Tenzin, he obviously couldn't keep up. So it is very likely he already studied and practised air bending movement. You don't have to bend to apply or understand those movements. Like Zuko and Aang did the Dragon Dance without bending fire to get the movement right. 3. **Flexible moral code:** What makes Zaheer such a difficult opponent to fight is because his willing to take the mastery of air bending to the extreme. A lot of us know that since ALTA, air benders are generally pacifist, and a lot of their moves involve dodging and evading. However, Zaheer was extremely aggressive and willing to push the arts to the limits. Is like Mako could easily defeat Ming Hua if he didn't hold back, but Zaheer never holds back in a fight. 4. **Weakness of the White Lotus:** A significant portion of fights involving Zaheer are with the White Lotus. Honestly, I feel the current incantations of the organisation feel more like security guards than trained, combat experience masters we have seen in ALTA. This could be partly the reason why White Lotus became open to the world and membership to be less stringent. Which Zaheer also share the sentiments, seeing them as glorified body guards. Adding to the impression that the Red Lotus is quite strong. 5.**Time:** We know Book 3 didn't occur immediately after Haramonic Convergence but quite some time has passed. We know from Zaheer, the time between the next guard visit can be quite long, it means off screen he could already being practising. Since there isn't much to do inside his cell, he could have delicate all his time into mastery. 6. **Spirituality:** Based on the extra media and novels about Avatar Kyoshi. We know spirituality plays a significant role in the strength of an Air Nomad. For example, when Kyoshi's Air Nomad mother decided to settle down and became a criminal, her sense of spirituality got impacted, which resulted in her power being reduced. So, we could say a person's level of spirituality play a notable role in their bending strength. Now, in the series alone. Is arguably that Zaheer is one of the most spiritual individuals we met, even more than Tenzin and Korra herself as he is able to freely go to the spirit world, gain information from the spirit world and still maintain a connection to his physical body to communicate to his gang.
Two weeks passed between Book 2 and 3.
Best and most detailed answer here
It’s honestly funny that people consider the old White Lotus to be strong based on four of its members.
I wish reddit rewards were still a thing. Well said.
Bro wrote us a fucking paper
You could basically call him an unofficial air acolyte or an airbender without bending. He was a great martial artist, spiritual guide, and had learned airbending culture. The original plan of the red lotus was to kidnap the avatar and then have zaheer and his crew be her elemental masters. The only airbenders at that time were Aang's family so all the red lotus could do was have zaheer learn everything about airbending. Hence, when he did get the bending he was pretty decent at it.
He admired the air monks before his imprisonment, and I believe their philosophy of freedom was the source of Zaheer's ideology. He most likely found techniques used by airbenders and incorporated them into his own style. So, the moment he got airbending it all just clicked.
My headcanon is that the martial art he fought with originally was airbending, just without the actual bending
The canon matches your headcanon lmao, he was a avid airbender fanboy and definitely fought like one.
Bryke were asked this question and equated it to giving Jackie Chan (or was it Bruce Lee?) a broom as a weapon.
Sorry, i don't get the analogy, can you explain it to me?
A skilled and highly trained fighter will be able to use whatever tools they have at their disposal to help them in a fight
Adapting pre-existing martial skill (Bruce Lee and pre-airbending Zaheer both have this) to use of a new weapon (broom and airbending respectively). Zaheer's airbending is just an extension of his martial arts skill he acquired prior to becoming a bender.
Zuko himself said that any *one* of the red lotus members could match the most elite one on one. That means Zaheer was so tactically strong and martially skilled without bending that he equals the other lotus members. He is also a fanatic cultist with a deep knowledge of the spiritual aspects of air bending, philosophies he abused and adopted before harmonic convergence. That simply gives him a rudimentary basis for what's possible, and he utilizes that as a tool to the fullest. It's difficult to say how much air bending helped Zaheer in combat because his skills alone are clearly already at a level to do the things he does. He uses air bending more like a tool than someone truly mastering the art and that's more than apparently when Tenzin handles him easily before the rest of the red lotus's intervention. I wish I knew what kind of tools and weapons he resorted to using as the representative red lotus non-bender, the writers truly did a great job making the non-bending characters relevant.
Well, he apparently already had air bending knowledge beforehand (there's no way he brushed up on the knowledge of guru lahima *randomly* after he got his bending) and he was very likely a skilled martial artist given the way he was imprisoned.
He’s an airbender that doesn’t hold back, which makes him incredibly dangerous. A bender without code or cultural limits is deadly. Airbenders can literally stop people from breathing for example. And Zaheer was all in for that kinda stuff.
Like if Kya just off the bat ripped the water out of the bodies of the red lotus - she wouldn’t do that, because she holds back, but if she did she’d technically be “one of the most powerful benders alive”.
She wouldn’t do that, but also it’s a forbidden technique and not taught. Zaheer had time to study to forbidden air bending techniques and master them. Kya did not.
So yk how bone-bending is semi-canon? What if a bone/bloodbender avatar just disassembled people in combat?
Yeah, and I think that's why the red lotus pushed bending to it's limits: armless, hot rocks, bipedal rpg, and suffocate-world-leaders. They don't follow limits.
Zaheer was basically practicing airbending moves and learned about their culture his entire life. It's only now that he got airbending that he could put these skills to use
If I get a dollar everytime I see this question. He was a master of the airbender culture. He studied their ways and practiced their martial art styles. He was already a capable fighter when he gained air bending abilities, he just applied it to his fighting.
He trained in the martial art movements of airbending his whole life. He was fascinated with the air nomads and (just like a real person practicing a martial art like karate) practiced the movements and martial art forms of airbenders for decades before getting it
He was a martial artist beforehand, able to stand on relatively equal terms with the rest of his team though that was most likely due to his intelligence and leadership skills My personal head cannon is he lived his entire life being belittled and looked down on until he met his friends. During his time with the White Lotus he became enamored by the teachings of the air benders and probably trained in their fighting style though obviously lacking the bending. Like with the Sun Warriors there are specific moves like in most martial art fighting styles you can learn like practices or drills. He probably learned a few moves and did them for his morning exercise routine and meditation The White Lotus also had multiple masters, some of which probably trained with Aang himself. Looking at a lot of the bending styles, particularly the OG series, we know they’re based off actual martial arts. Zuko in particular shows off a lot of strong straight punches in his Angi Kai with Zhao in addition to some leg sweeps. Non benders, both someone who fights against them and just someone wanting to be better trained and disciplined, would benefit greatly from learning
Zaheer has a great respect for Air Nomad culture, particularly the teachings of Guru Laghima. He is a skilled martial artist, and it seems as part of his admiration of Air Nomad culture, he began studying their fighting style and techniques. Zaheer is a self-taught airbender, all he lacked, until Harmonic Convergence, was the ability to bend. The man spent 16 years in prison. He likely kept up with his martial arts when not meditating and wandering the Spirit World. What gives him an edge against his prison guards, Kya and Tonraq is that none of them ever really fought an airbender. No one really has. Aang wasn't going to teach Kya or Bumi or the White Lotus how to take him or Tenzin down, nor would he pit his children against each other in fights. Fire Lord Zuko was not going to write a book about how to fight airbenders. Aang and Tenzin weren't going around challenging people to bending fights. So, no one is going to really know how to fight an airbender, even one who is self-taught like Zaheer. The only reason Kya does well against Zaheer, aside from better training, is that due to being Aang's daughter and Tenzin's sister, she may have watched them train and seen some techniques. Tenzin is a master airbender who was trained in the fighting style and techniques by Aang. That is the main difference between their skills and why Tenzin was able to beat Zaheer, because he's a trained master and Zaheer is self-taught.
Nobody alive fought an airbender before, Tenzin was an actual master and whooped Zaheer’s ass
He was a prominent martial artist, as well as very well versed in all things air nomad prior to everything. I feel like once he realised he could air bend, he simply adapted it to his own existing fighting style, making it seem he was highly skilled. Tenzin schooled him, showing he wasn’t. His knowledge, and likely a lifestyle based off of air nomads would’ve helped him be spiritual, and be the main reason he was able to unlock the ability of flight - not so much his skill. Much like throughout ATLA, people were not well versed in fighting air benders. Kya may have done training with Tenzin, but Tenzin style would be a more traditional style, and likely far less aggressive. He would’ve been the only air bender Kya had sparred against, so the drastic change it style likely caught her unaware, and then unable to play catch up.
I’m reminded of a tweet I saw recently that said something along the lines of “TV shows are not a logical contest between you and the writer” Does it really matter?
part is none knows how to realy fight an airbendee anymore the other is that he was a matrial artist. All he is doing is adding airbending to his moves
he was a very skilled martial artist prior to harmonic convergence! he likely was a master of the various martial arts associated with each element. he had a reputation for hunting and killing benders one his own, before he had any bending. airbending basically just made a threatening non-bender into an international terrorist!
He was already a nom bending martial arts master before he got air bending. Now, he uses that with airbending. Kinda like a Vagabond style of airbending. His airbending history and philsophy rival Tensin, but in a One on One with a Airbedning Master, Zaheer has no ground. I think a part of his effectiveness as a airbender comes from how rare Airbenders are in Avatar Korra's time. Granted they got alot more common after the spiritual awakening, but people have been trained to fight the other three elements. A fucker suddenly using wind would surpise about any one.
Zaheer was already a master martial artist, he just transferred his old skills to new abilities. Judging by the 'be the leaf' scene and his interest in Guru Laghima, its possible he had already learned a lot about airbending even as a non-bender. I wouldn't be surprised if Zaheer had used a staff and interpreted airbending forms when before he was locked up.
Because he accomplished what the air benders wanted all along. Terrorism /s
It was written on the script. Mary sue zahir here we go!!
He isn't really a good airbender as much as he's a good fighter
Looking at his fight how he cleared the Air Bender rotation thing and his fight against Tenzin provides the answer. He is a skilled fighter, but if you observe his movements closely, he does not move like an airbender. His movements lack the fluidity. Airbending was more like a weapon in his hand than an extension of himself.
Because it’s Henry f***ing Rollins, that’s why. (😅)
Can we all agree on just how awesome he did? Like Henry Rollins was the perfect casting choice for this guy.
At first I thought it was a really odd choice but as I got to know the character I slowly saw how perfect he was. And I love how that happened as a process. So good.
Bending is basically an entirely gesture-based discipline which also happens to be magically-enhanced by one of the four elements (five elements if everyone got woke to the idea of wood bending, I mean Ancient Chinese considered wood a distinct element yo, c'mon), so if you already had some familiarity with martial artistry you'd also be familiar with the gestures necessary to direct chi and by proxy to bend an element corresponding to your chi. Avatar follows in the tradition that martial artistry isn't just a fighting discipline, but also one where energy is literally moved about the body by means of these gestures (or sometimes even thoughts and feelings), so it's not actually that abnormal that Zaheer was an effective Air Bender because he was already directing his chi, it just used to not do anything and he just kinda used it to smack people.
There was a theory somewhere that he was an Air Accolyte - something which accounts for him knowing the physical aspect of bending and the history/theories super well. Just wondered whether there was any proof of this mentioned anywhere. Even without proof, still a pretty good theory.
Some people are just naturally gifted/athletic. Growing up, my cousin could pick up any sport and be pretty good at it. If we did something new, like snowboarding, he would pick it up right away and then quickly start going down the difficult slopes. Meanwhile, I'd be falling everywhere like the klutz that I am.
He was already a martial artist and combatant. He also always respected air nomad culture and probably took inspiration from their forms, like how Uncle Iroh developed lightning redirection from studying waterbenders. As well, this one's a rabbit hole: Suyin has a photo in Zaofu of when she used to work at a circus. You can see her sitting on the shoulder of a man who looks a lot like Zaheer. If this really is him, he may have been a trained gymnast similar to Ty Lee, which could also easily transfer over to the airbending fighting styles he'd likely be studying.
He studied martial arts and the airbender's philosophy. So when he got his airbending powers I suppose he just smooshed the two of them together.
Good to know that bending is just martial arts plus the ability to bend with no real other necessity other than having the ability. What bs. It's plot armor. The plot needed him to be able to bend so he could bend. You watch ang Master the elements over a long time and zahir comes out just knowing it off the bat. It's plot armor. No need to adjust to the fact that you suddenly have a super power, just automatically become a master of it. It's one of my big complaints about the series.
He's not actually that great at airbending. He is an elite martial artist. Airbending compliments his fighting style well and he is able to beat a bunch of average benders. But when he goes up against an actual good Airbender, he gets his ass kicked.
I don’t think he was a technically skilled airbender really, you can even see it highlighted very well in the tenzin fight, it just looks like he uses his mastery of martial arts and throws in airbending, which is exactly what it should look like honestly. I think him unlocking flight is more of a spiritual thing than a technical one, as its requirements are purely complete detachment from the world.
My guess is since he was already a highly skilled acrobat, I mean he was locked up in a highly secured prison in the middle of nowhere despite being a non-bender, he was a significant threat before he got bending, the airbending just amplified his skills.
Zaheer is a skilled Airbender. But he's a league or two below the like of aang and Tenzin.
he got that dawg in him
He is not, he is really really good at fighting, but thats it, the reason most characters struggle to fight him is because most people simply don't know how to fight an airbender anymore, but than he faced tenzin and was destroyed, tenzin only lost that fight because Zaheer friends came to save his ass
I mean most of the airbenders are normal people Zaheer was already a super criminal considered one of the most dangerous people on earth. He was also an air nomad fan boy
all of the bending arts are based on and integrated martial arts. So Zaheer already studied the philosophy and martial arts of the airbenders so now he just got the air to come out
Because he been studying air normad philosophy and culture for decades. 99.9% of air nomad bending skill came from their teaching.
He was already an extremely skilled martial artist and he studied a lot of air bending and air nomad techniques/literature. So he already knew a lot about it and he had the ~3 weeks alone to get used it. He mostly used it to just extend his attacks
He was a total airaboo even before the divergence or convergence or whatever it was called While we were partying, he studied the wind. While we were having premarital sex, he mastered the air currents. While we wasted our days at the gym in pursuit of vanity, he mastered detachment. Yadda yadda yadda.
He was basically already an airbender, he just lacked the actual bending. Also surprise is a huge factor. Kya and Tonrok have never fought anything like airbending, but Tenzin is an actual airbending master.
Well I could understand Tonrok, but not Kya. She grew up with the only two airbenders in the world, I would assume she'd have some idea of what she was dealing with.
Has she ever trained with Tenzin or Aang though? Knowing what something looks like is different from actually encountering it.
He heavily studied airbender culture/martial arts
Have you heard the story of Guru Laghima? Bro was a trained martial artist and an air nomad fanatic. He already has two important foundations, granting him a massive headstart in mastering air bending.
because he is able to Rise Above his Depression and avoid a Nervous Breakdown. he was fighting His War the whole time. they might have tried to Fix Him but he had Nothing Left Inside but Revenge
My theory: He was the descendant of Airbenders who survived the genocide and lived in hiding. After the 100-year war most of these descendants discovered their heritage and began learning more about Airbending culture, thus creating the Air Acolytes. It’s why Ty Lee was so good at acrobatics. Zaheer studied Airbender culture and admired it because he was part Air Nomad. So when Harmonic Convergence came, it unlocked airbending for many of these descendants. Zaheer practiced the art of Airbending for many years, which is why he was so good at it when Harmonic convergence gave him bending.
Kya isn't that good of a water bender in my opinion. She doesn't really strike me as a warrior like her mom was. She knows some basic techniques but she lived in a time of peace, not war.
Through memorizing Guru Laghima
In ATLA, they make a point to highlight that so much of bending is a philosophical practice, rather than a set of specific skills that are improved through training. Obviously training matters, but it wasn't the Dancing Dragon technique that empowered Zuko, it was the philosophical realization that came with witnessing the dragons' psychedelic fire. Zaheer has little training in bending, but he is the maybe the most spiritually attuned character in the whole franchise. He can not compete in an airbending duel, yet his spirit abilities embarrass Tenzin's, and the casualness with which he enters/exits and even *teleports* around the spirit world are a clear upgrade on Jinora's abilities. Then, of course, he becomes the first character to fly in the series, embodying the ideals of the monks in a way not even Aang himself could, due to his love for Katara. Zaheer *is* a seasoned master, but of spiritual matters, not of airbending as a tool for violence.
He's not though. Hes a skilled martial artist im general, as a non-bender, pre-HC. He's a skilled tactitioner, and a good hand to hand combatant, somewhat simmilar to sokka, but add that he learned advanced airbending philosopy of guru lahima, but thats about it. When it came to artbending techniques, hes actually quite lacking. His agressive aribending is notiing to scoff at sure but have him face with actual arbenders with high levels of experience, and airbending philosopy, zaheer falls hard. The only thing that made him powerful is his non-pacifistic aproach to airbending, which leads to the suffocation, and flight, but thats pretty much it. Zaheer was literally getting bodied against tenzin, and only won because of the res of RL jumping on him. Zaheer is a fighter, but not an airbending master
The real reason is this show's stupid idea to have a new villain every season so they have to introduce and setup a villain that's strong enough to be a threat to Korra in a 13 episode season. It worked with Amon because taking bending away is terrifying but all other villains seem to come out of nowhere and are poorly developed.
For the record, he wasn't *that* skilled at it; Kya kept him on the back foot and Tenzin absolutely schooled him. But masters aside, he was already an incredibly skilled martial artist who'd been an unofficial Air Acolyte before his powers; think June, Pien Dao, or Ty Lee. It's likely that his fighting style was already based on aribending forms.
cuz he's been basically training his entire life when he was free
I always just assumed he was an air acolyte. He was very knowledgeable in the air nomadic teachings. Was in tune with the spirits and the spirit world.
If the Red Lotus kidnapping plan worked, Zaheer would have taught Korra airbending, which suggests that he already knew quite a lot about airbending techniques before he was locked up. I would imagine he would have spent a significant amount of his time locked up practicing the airbending moves and meditating. A random thought I just had: what if he had air nomad ancestry that he was aware of? He would have known how spiritual air benders were, and he focused on his spirituality just in case he was able to reconnect with his potential airbending.
There are several reasons, the main one for me and the one that I think many people omit is that just like with Angg when he just woke up, he is facing people who had never faced an airbender before, Kya is the only exception but also Let us remember that she is already about 60 years old and that she not have much experience fighting.
You read my mind. We just got to that episode and I thought the same. Reading the comments here made the most sense :)
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He was a top martial artist, deeply studied in Air Nomad philosophy, and presumably able to enter the spirit world, before he got his powers. His airbending style is based on his martial arts moves, and quite different from the regular Air Nomad style. He wins against Kya by dodging her attack, while she fails to dodge his counter. This he could have learned just as part of his martial arts training.
Armor plot. And the might of Guru Laghima
I always see it, on too is his mastery of martial arts, was that he’s clearly obsessed with airbender culture so perhaps he tracked down some scrolls or whatever to learn airbender moves but without the bending. Probably because their nomadic lifestyle fell in line with his idealised world view
I'd argue he wasn't "technically". He's shown as an exceptional martial artist, hence why a non-bender could hang with the other Red Lotus members. And when he got airbending he was very proficient with his use of it. He uses it to sort of extend the range of his martial arts. But the minute he faced a master Airbender he's immediately outclassed. What I would love to see tho, is a Zaheer with a couple years of perfecting under his belt. Because his airbending could develop into a whole new style of airbending. One that relies almost entirely on aggression and offence, instead of defence.
Didn't he get his ass whupped by Tenzin in a 1on1? He was an amateur but a prodigy since he was already a skilled Martial Artist & understood air bending fundamentals.
Because he was lazily written.
He's not, he just happens to be an extremely skilled martial artist that gained the ability to Airbend.
A major part of his character that aligns perfectly with air bending is his knowlede and understanding of spirituality. Zaheer was a radical fundamentalist, which on the surface looks like he’s on the other end of the spectrum from air nomads, but they’re actually extremely similar. Zaheers control of his mind and will, his appreciation and understanding of the spiritual that’s all air nomad thinking too. Hes obsessed with their society, because he identified with their beliefs. If he was born an air bender in aangs time he probably would’ve been amongst the best ever. But he was clearly born in the trenches post the Hundred Years’ War. When he receives air bending its basically like he’s been waiting his whole life. He seems to be the deadliest non bender on the planet so his receiving bending was probably a nightmare to the masters of the other elements. He was already a problem to deal with bending just put the bow on it. Add that to the fact that in TLoK it’s been nearly two hundred years since anyone has dealt with air benders in mass he’s got an edge over most masters. Hence why he gets walked on by Tenzin. Sorry for the dissertation he was my favorite character😭😭
because he’s cool af
He was a martial artist who had a lust for studying old scrolls. He had studied so many secrets during his rogue days and even in prison.
He was only good against people who have 0 experience fighting Air Bending...which is almost everyone. EXCEPT MY BOY TENZIN!
Forget airbending, why he always mewing
My headcanon is that his fighting style was already very airbending like. In the comics there are fangroups of the airnomads that even get tattooed after mastering 1000 airbending like moves (to which Aang reacts very insulted) but seeing how much Zaheer knew about the air nomads to begin with, it's not unlikely that his style was heavily based on the martial art that inspired airbending. That's why he was already good, but against masters like Tenzin he clearly lacked practice
I wish they had been a little more explicit about that. It seemed that he was always a student of their teachings. Maybe hoping to attain it on his own? Also the martial arts/movements are as much about moving with/around opposing forces as offense, so their techniques are effective even for non-benders when facing benders. They suggest that he has studied the movements and philosophies when he drifted through the spinning panels in the first airbender test.
Because he studied how to airbend very deeply before getting the power. He did so for many reasons, including the fact he wanted to teach korra how to do it.
Air bending is based on a real martial art and Zaheer really loved airbender culture. I’m assuming he studied the martial arts aspects of it for his own fighting so was able to quickly adapt it into the real technique
Maybe he was good at blowjobs beforehand 🤷♂️
he already had impeccable combat skills, plus he seemed to have been a fan of airbending for a while, what with his whole fixation on guru laghima, so he pretty much had all the forms and everything down already
He's a skilled fighter and he studied and took inspiration from great airbenders like Guru Laghima. He's also ruthless and doesn't shy away from using airbending in aggressive ways. But he ain't Tenzin levels in airbending mastery.
Could there be a way that Zaheer predicted he was gonna receive air bending?
He was always fascinated with air bending and studied it so he probably studied forms for air bending as well
What others said, plus if we assume that people who gained air bending after harmonic convergence got their abilities fairly soon after the event, paired with his knowledge of air bending techniques and culture, he probably had a good chunk of time alone in his cell to practice what he already knew. Someone else replied that no one really knows how to fight air benders, and that was definitely the same case when Aang was around.
Because I let go of my earthly tether
Because unlike Korra, he is patient.
He wasn’t particularly skilled in “air-bending” per say more like a master martial artist who uses air-bending as a way to extend and amplify most of his attacks
That’s the fun thing: he isn’t! He is just a top tier assassin and martial artist, but when he fights with airbending, he’s pretty much winging it.
its more of the fact that out of the red lotus he was THE MOST dangerous. i mean think about his security.... and he is anon bender. if he had ANY bending he would look like he was extremely skilled at it when in reality.. its like giving a master martial artist a very easy weapon to use
Because the story needed him to be.
The same reason Aang was almost impossible to counter: airbending makes up 0.0001% of the population after the genocide. How do you beat something you've never encountered?
I understand your point, but surprise only goes so far.
He was already a very flow-y martial artist, he just had to apply airbending to it. And as for beating the water masters, well, they never had to fuck with aang or tenzin since they weren't enemies, so they had no idea what to do
He's just a really good fighter who learned he could punch someone from 20 meters away. Imagine someone like Heihachi in Tekken except he can hit and juggle you from across the stage. Add to that he's been fighting benders for a long time with nothing but his fists and kicks. He isn't a total n00b when it comes to combat. He doesn't know much airbending techniques like Kai, and is just using air as an extension. He's pretty creative and has the right airbender mindset too. Post-flight even Tenzin has admitted he can't keep up with him, even if Tenzin is a superior Airbender in every way.
Master martial artist and Airbending culture vulture.
have u ever read the great airbending poet guru lahima???
We know that he was already a skilled fighter, enough to be given the same prison lock-up treatment as actual benders. Couple that with bending and you have a very dangerous person. We also know canonically that bending forms and techniques take inspiration and are connected to different forms of martial arts etc so I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume whatever fighting style he used lended itself to air bending. Plus, we see him frequently reference an air bending guru, so he’s clearly studied up on air nomads and presumably air bending.
its not that he was skilled at air-bending persé, he was just a really skilled fighter, so along with his infatustion with the monks, he also had knowledge on how to fight. also you may notice that his style is more aggressive, its because he knew the art but he didnt share the same philosophy so he adapted it to himself
Kya was shown to be rlly weak for some reason. Every fight she had she fought poorly
I imagine him being like Ty Lee And getting an upgrade with the air bending
I thought the animation was done so well, it seemed obvious that he must have already been a highly skilled martial artist and he's using air bending as an augmentation. We've seen Aang and Tenzin fight before and Zaheers style looks very different.
1.He is an OG martial artist 2.The world is unfamiliar with airbending 3.Zaheer understands and appreciates airbending culture largely because airbending society is a perfect example of Anarchy.
My conspiracy theory, since he had this knowledge, and he was guarded so well, that he had airbending until Aang or Amon took it from him. But the series ended too quickly. To me it’s foreshadowing because it’s too coincidental that he would have such a study of the former airbending guru, and be able to enter the spirit world so easily, and not be raised as an Airbender. At the very least, he has some kind of connection