Legend Of Korra: Every Main Villain From Worst To Best, Ranked

Summary Each season of Legend of Korra has its own set of adversaries, emphasizing Korra's journey and growth.

The series offers a variety of villains with different motivations, from tragic backstories to extreme ideologies.

Korra faces formidable foes, with some like Ghazan and P'Li being particularly strong and challenging to defeat.

While in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang and the team face off against a number of minor antagonists, but in The Legend of Korra, there is an emphasis on Korra herself, rather than her enemies, which explains why each book has its own set of adversaries to overcome (some of whom return later as allies.) Korra follows the titular Avatar as she tries to find her place in a world that seemingly doesn't need the Avatar the same way Aang's time did.

There might be some conflict between Avatar fans as to whether the sequel series lived up to the quality of the original, but one thing's for sure: both series have pretty fascinating villains. They can't all be legendary in the scope of the story, and different villain motivations will certainly appeal to different members of the audience. As fans revisit the series on streaming platforms and prepare themselves for more Avatar content from Nickelodeon, it's clear that Korra's villains run the gamut of how well they play the roles woven for them.

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Amon's Lieutenant

Unlike the rest of the villains in The Legend Of Korra, Amon's right hand doesn't get fleshed out as much, despite his screen time. He isn't even given a name beyond being referred to as the lieutenant. He does, however, work as a great representation of what the series' first set of villains are motivated by. They live in a world where they believe benders have had preferential treatment.

The Equalists want benders and non-benders to be, as their name implies, on equal footing. Amon, and his lieutenant, represent the extreme version of that point of view. He's a stepping stone for Korra to get to the stronger villains, so he doesn't make as big of an impression as others, but he's a clear look at what happens when a powerful person influences the actions of someone who's been consistently denied power.

Desna & Eska

Desna and Eska, the weirdly identical twins in more than just their appearance, are fun antagonists, but their roles in various events are kept minimal by their father, Unalaq. They are far better as sources of comic relief, especially in the form of Eska's "wooing" of poor Bolin, or Desna's cold cynicism and occasionally short temper. Their attempts at villainy don't really work out very well for them.

The pair almost succeed in killing Korra at one point, at least indirectly, by leaving her in the hands of an undersea dark spirit. That plan, however, doesn't work out, and it's good that it doesn't since they later become chiefs of the Northern Water Tribe and close friends of the Avatar. Korra clearly forgives them for their bad acts as they were goaded into their actions by others.

Hiroshi Sato

Hiroshi Sato is one of the unexpected Legend Of Korra bad guys as his introduction revolves around promising Mako his Pro-Bending sponsorship, which pleases Team Avatar as well as Asami. He's initially presented as a benevolent inventor and businessman. However, Hiroshi exhibits a seething hatred of all benders because his wife was killed by a random firebender who broke into their home.

He tries to help Amon with his revolution, but it is his daughter who takes him out of the equation at the last minute. Hiroshi isn't inherently a bad guy. His past trauma and grief influence him, and he wants the world to be safe for his daughter. Hiroshi does get the redemption he so desperately needs, though, when he dies a martyr to protect the United Republic of Nations from Kuvira and her mecha army.

Tarrlok

Tarrlok, unfortunately, is second to his older brother in every sense: bending skill, political maneuvering, and personal determination. He's got a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to his skills, but he actually does have impressive control over his bending. Of course, his skills are accompanied by a bit of hypocrisy. He bloodbends Korra even though he explicitly states that he despised using the technique as a child.

However, his lack of knowledge about Amon's identity shows that he still believes in the triumph of good over evil. In other words, Tarrlok is not a vicious fiend but rather a misguided soul who could have benefited enormously from some sensible parenting and decent role models. That's a common theme in Korra's time as the Avatar. Many of her enemies are those who start off wanting to change the world for the better but find themselves taking their approach in an extreme direction.

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Ghazan

At this point in the sequel series, The Legend of Korra villains take a turn towards the dark side, with Ghazan and his terrifying lavabending leading the charge. He isn't as focused as a villain as Zaheer, as dexterous as Ming-Hua, or as explosive as P'Li, but he is the only Red Lotus member who doesn't get frustrated or stressed out if events aren't going according to plan. He remains relatively calm even while causing deadly destruction.

Ghazan is not dismissive of talent either, even from someone he sees as an enemy. This is evident when he congratulates Bolin for his foray into lavabending (before asking him to employ it in a death match, of course). All in all, Ghazan is a solid B+ of a villain for Korra and her group of friends.

Ming-Hua

Ming-Hua is a captivating character, being the only person with a disability in the franchise since Toph in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series, but she never allows it to hold her back from being an exciting adversary. She and her water tentacles are practically invincible, making her one of the strongest waterbenders of all time. Ming-Hua uses her waterbending as a true extension of herself, and it's impressive to watch. She uses water in place of her arms with a serious amount of control.

More importantly, Ming-Hua doesn't see the difference between armed combatants and civilians when she's let loose on the world and is as likely to murder either of them in cold blood — if she's in the mood for it. She's one of the most dangerous Legend Of Korra villains for the entire run of the series.

Amon

The chief antagonist of Legend of Korra's "Book One: Air," Amon, aka Noatak, is an overwhelmingly powerful bender, especially due to his dangerous unbending ability. He can actually take away a bender's ability to use their gifts by blocking their chakra pathways. Although highly protective of his sibling when younger, Yakone's manipulations have warped Amon's mind into something gruesome and unfathomable.

Amon is formidable for none of these reasons, however, but rather because of how easily he is able to amass a cult following of anti-bending "revolutionaries," and for his starring role in many of Korra's nightmares. In the first season of the show, he is the source of many of the traumatic experiences that Korra goes through. He's able to turn nearly the entire world against benders with his rhetoric, showing that a convincing argument and the right amount of charisma can be enough to turn average people into villains.

P'Li

The story of P'Li is a sad one, because her destruction also ends one of the (surprisingly) healthiest relationships shown in the series. No matter how tough the going gets, she and Zaheer always keep their promises to one another. However, this blind loyalty is quite a sharp thorn in the Avatar's side, because P'Li's combustionbending is nearly impossible to deal with head-on.

She doesn't have the time nor the interest in the fates of those who don't concern her, which is basically everyone except her lover and her two friends — but mostly her lover. Her devotion to the Red Lotus' cause is unwavering and would have continued if Suyin Beifong hadn't come up with her genius ploy at the last second to take out one of the most formidable Legend of Korra villains.

Unalaq

When it comes to going up against Korra, Unalaq has a bit of an edge over her compared to the other villains. While Amon might get in her head, Unalaq is family. The fact that Unalaq is Korra's paternal uncle makes it all the more difficult for her not to trust him; he brainwashes her to the point that she justifies his blatant slander of her own dad, Tonraq, believing it to be an acceptable loss in the large scope of things.

Unalaq is so focused on what he wants that he fuses with the original darkness spirit, Vaatu, to produce one of the strongest villains in The Legend of Korra. Korra is unable to win this battle alone; it takes a combined effort from everyone — Tenzin, Jinora, Mako, Bolin, Asami, even Eska and Desna — for her to take UnaVaatu down.

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Vaatu

Without darkness, light doesn't have any meaning. Those who have experienced darkness appreciate the light even more. As such, Vaatu's place in the world is inevitable. He's one of the oldest spirits in existence. As the spirit of darkness and chaos, he isn't inherently evil, but his nature is chaotic. His desire to bring chaos to the world and snuff out the light completely is what ultimately motivates his actions when he gets Unalaq on his side.

One could make the argument that without the chaos brought into the mortal world by the spirit at the very start of the Avatar line, there would be no villains in the franchise at all. He's not just a thorn in Avatar Korra's side, but a powerful force that nearly ends the entire world as she knows it.

Zaheer

There is an elemental conflict in Zaheer's philosophy. On one hand, he professes to follow the path of the Air Nomads but simultaneously uses violence to meet his goals — stringently against airbender credo. The airbenders are pacifists by nature as is made evident by Aang, at the time the last of his kind, repeatedly trying to avoid fights with people who saw him as his enemy. Aang always saw fighting as a last resort, and he taught that to Tenzin as well, who passed on the culture of the Air Nomads to the new benders who emerged.

It gets more complicated when one realizes that his goal to end the Avatar cycle might actually make sense in the context of the modern world, and empathizing with the enemy is usually the first step towards sowing discord. Ironically, Zaheer aligns himself to Guru Laghima's doctrines a lot more after his defeat and subsequent imprisonment.

Kuvira

Amon might have been a fearsome threat to Korra early in the show, and Zaheer might be a fan-favorite villain, but the best villain in the series is a very different character. Kuvira, the charming earthbender rebel, is basically Korra through the looking glass. She and Korra both begin their journeys wanting the same things, but they have very different methods. She enters the vacuum left behind by the Avatar's "disappearance," quickly mobilizing armies and converting people (by any means necessary) to her brand of justice and equality.

Kuvira is based on the same template as most dictators: convincing in her ideologies and capable of employing unethical force in order to achieve her "dreams." In this respect, she is the most realistic of villains in The Legend Of Korra, which is honestly scarier than anything else the show has to offer the audience.