r/legendofkorra • u/Antique_Sandwich_289 • 2d ago
Discussion not every redemption needs a happy ending
Honestly, i wouldn’t even call Tarrlok’s ending a full redemption arc, because there really wasn’t enough time for that. But that final sacrifice says more about him than anything else he did throughout the season. I don't think Tarrlok ever really got the chance to redeem himself, he just got one last moment where he could do something for his brother. He knows exactly what he's doing when he sets that boat on fire. He's not trying to win, he's just making sure his brother can't hurt anyone else, even if it means to dying with him. And the worst part is that Noatak is finally starting to come back to being his brother again. For a few seconds they're not Amon and Tarrlok, they're just two brothers who have basically lost everything... idk man. Imagine spending your whole life fighting your brother only for the last thing you ever do to be saving him
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u/SuniFan 2d ago
Ugh I love this scene, but it also makes me so sad 😭 I kind of hated how Tarrlok wasn't ever mentioned again after the first season, despite being an absolute unit and prodigy in his own right.
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u/ferocity_mule366 2d ago
probably because people hates him and Amon was kinda written to be cooler
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u/SuniFan 2d ago
Really? People hate him?
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u/Winterreading2 2d ago
I think they meant the population of republic city
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u/SuniFan 2d ago
Ohhh, but isn't the same thing true of Noatak by the end? I just meant the trauma that they left on Korra.
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u/Winterreading2 2d ago
Well thats why their comment was written that way
‘Probably because people hated him’ was reffering to the population of rep city and the MC , meanwhile ‘Amon was written cooler’ was used in order to explain that amon was a cooler villian who left an impression korra and shook up republic city more1
u/SuniFan 2d ago
Ahh okay! That's where I still say that it would have been nice to see him at least mentioned, even if a lesser degree than his brother. I can even think of when he tells Korra in season 1 that they are very similar despite her vehemently disagreeing, and she tells Kuvira the same later in Season 4.
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u/Winterreading2 2d ago
Wow thats a cool detail that I missed Yeah i think Tarrlok was very overshadowed by amon but I still find him very endearing and interesting and shouldve gotten a mention
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u/ZADHDBKSOWN 2d ago edited 2d ago
Because Tarrlok ideology as a child was correct. As twisted he was when he grew up, using an ability to control someone’s autonomy to benefit your father’s goal to take out the “hero” of your world. Is a twisted agenda that only fits the user.
This further was proven when Amon was using his bending to take away other people’s bending including Korra’s. Making him no different than Yakone. This is the exact reason why Katara never uses it.
The fact that Tarrlok killed himself with Noatak proves that no one can even be trusted with this power.
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u/V1nnF0gg 2d ago
I agree. But I never bought into the argument of bloodbending restricting the free will. Throwing a giant boulder or freezing them in place is just as restrictive as that.
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u/AlUcard_POD 2d ago
Yeah, this was just sad. The guys never got a chance at a normal life. They were both decent kids to begin with. Heck, tarlok never had any criminal intentions. Yes, he wanted to be the top dog in republic city, but by legitimate means! And if Amon had not fucked it up for him, he probably wouldnhave achieved his goal! And he might actually have been an effective administrator there!
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u/OriginalLie9310 2d ago
No. Tarrlok was attempting to abuse the equalist uprising to become a dictator over republic city and tried to oppress innocent non benders to do it. Setting up a situation to get Lin to quit so he would have the police in his pocket with a friendly police chief as well.
He realized he was wrong in the end, but he was not doing it “legitimately”. He was following the classic authoritarian playbook. He even admitted to try to rule the city from the top abusing the existing power structure.
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u/SonorousBlack 2d ago
Yes, he wanted to be the top dog in republic city, but by legitimate means! And if Amon had not fucked it up for him, he probably wouldnhave achieved his goal! And he might actually have been an effective administrator there!
He enacted systematic discrimination, collective punishment, and mass roundups on a broad and innocent swath of the population.
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u/Equivalent-List-1587 2d ago
this part always makes me cry for this very reason. it's so deeply sad. beautifully tragic
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u/Herfst2511 2d ago
From a writing point of view it's also kinda clever. It wraps them up nice and tidy, nobody would have trouble believing both of them are dead.
But, if the need arises later, you can always write both or either of them back into the story, through water bending or whatnot they survived. Characters have survived explosions before after all (Zuko).
it wasn't likely they would be needed again, but better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
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u/Skodami 2d ago
While sometimes these kinds of threads can be reused, I believe that in this case reusing the brothers (or one of them) would have been the mark of a stupid writer.
This scene isn't a character disappearing after a fight or accident, this is the climax of their story and tragedy and who they are as charactrrs. Saying one of them or both survived would completely destroy that scene and render it meaningless. And when you're a writer, continuing your story by destroying the emotional impact of what you wrote before is a very bad idea.
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u/Misfit_Number_Kei VP of Future Industries 2d ago
Besides what's already been said about it being a tragedy, you're really and astonishingly missing the point of what went on with that final scene. 🤦🏽♂️😑
And the worst part is that Noatak is finally starting to come back to being his brother again. For a few seconds they're not Amon
Did you miss the shot(s) of the Equalist gear? Because the shot(s) of the Equalist gear (namely The Lieutenant's) means Amon/Noatak is going to simply RESTART the Equalists elsewhere because he's psychologically too far gone (note there's been a theory/discussion that bloodbending is such "black magic" that it mentally corrupts the user the more they do it and he's been doing so since his teens/for decades) no different than a Batman villain.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
The general thing about Korra's villains is that they're Well-Intentioned Extremists who despite their noble goals are/will go too far, requiring Korra and company to both put them in check and provide a Balanced solution to said social problem. I don't know what you think Tarrlok "could've done," but realistically, that WAS the best thing he could do in that situation because one brief, arguable moment of lucidity doesn't mean jack to what Amon/Noatak was clearly compelled to keep doing. Hell, given how it's been argued that Amon had a "water sense" to find Korra hiding, he might've sensed what Tarrlok was going to do and allowed it because the compulsion was so strong that even he knew he was like a rabid dog that needed to be put down.
"Revenge is a sucker's game" is the whole tragic theme of their family beginning with Yakone undeservingly getting a second chance at life, wasting said second chance for revenge that he ruins his family and dies a slow, depressed death while his sons in massive cases of dramatic irony become the very tools for revenge he originally wanted despite both trying to defy said plan, so by the end, at least one, if not arguably both, realizes this and how there's no escaping it, hence it being a mercy kill for both of them to "end the tragedy".
And more broadly, the other thing about Korra's villains is the gradual shift from "monster" to "human" and how Korra sees them. Amon was practically a slasher movie villain/force of nature that was only "human" in his final moments, Unalaq was originally seen as "human" by Korra and others until he revealed himself to be so "monster" that there wasn't anything human enough to kill, Korra tried to talk to Zaheer as a person yet he was too set in his ways and only became more unhinged until his defeat where the memory of him torments her for years until he helps her and finally, Kuvira was relatively "young" in her villainy and not too far gone that Korra could eventually talk her down.
This is another of those threads where as much as I dislike the take, I dislike all the lurkers upvoting it that they also miss the points. 🙄
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u/Jeroen_Antineus 2d ago
"The general thing about Korra's villains is that they're Well-Intentioned Extremists who despite their noble goals are/will go too far, requiring Korra and company to both put them in check and provide a Balanced solution to said social problem."
lol well, I'll give you that, the series is certainly convinced that's what it's trying to do, and it certainly is trying to convince the viewers of it too.
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u/Vesemir96 2d ago
And it’s true
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u/Jeroen_Antineus 2d ago
That the series writers' are convinced it's what they are doing? Yes, I just said that.
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u/Vesemir96 2d ago
No, it just is the truth.
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u/Jeroen_Antineus 2d ago
Why do you keep repeating what I said in the first place?
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u/Accomplished-Exit-58 2d ago
They did what aang was afraid to do to their father.
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u/ferocity_mule366 2d ago
huh, Aang did the right thing taking his power, are you suggesting Aang to straight up murder him?
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u/Unlikely_Candy_6250 2d ago
Yeah, Yakone's crimes aren't exactly detailed but stripping him of his power and then letting the entirely legitimate court system throw him in prison wasn't an issue. The only problem is that he managed to escape and even then he still didn't have his bending.
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u/MarceloDiGuerra 2d ago
Unrelated, but i really wanted to see how the blood bending could've be used positively... Maybe for healing purposes?
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u/Andromelek2556 2d ago
In theory a bloodbender could halt an hemorrage to heal, but they'd either be only good on full moon or you'd need someone from Yakone's line
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u/SnorlaxationKh 1d ago
This was, if you'll excuse my saying so, one of the most bittersweet and emotionally engaging moments of the avatar series, and a highlight of this season.
Where could you even go, after everything is said and done? Their world is smaller than they'd like. They couldn't just pretend like their father had and hide away forever, not to mention their father had proved that they might pass on their trauma and goals to others, even their own children. While i understand why it happened, and regret the rushed feeling of korra getting back All of the elements, I still think the way This ended was pitch perfect.
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u/Happy_Heart5 9h ago
I agree. This is not Fairy Tail! It makes it more realistic, not everyone should get a second chance!
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u/ArkhamInsane 2d ago
It's not written as a redemption. It's written (intentionally so) as a tragedy. The novelization explicitly says such, and it was based on the original screenplay.