Why writing canon Red Lotus (especially post-Book 3) is a pain
I know it was all said before, but Iāll say it again. The LOK writers messed up many many times, but as the Red Lotus trash I am, the way their characterization, any semblance of a coherent plan or philosophy, utterly vanished in last three episodes will always infuriate me. (After I finish my current rewrite, I probably wonāt write more canon-compliant stuff for them for two reasons: after those prisons, theyāre all very messed up and thereās only so much angst I am willing to delve into; and itās way too bothersome to think of any way how what happened in the finale could make sense.)
Zaheer, the admirer of Air Nomad culture, decent with children (that moment with Ikki comes to mind), almost kind in some moments, just giving a nod to destroy an Air Temple, such an irreplaceable part of their culture? Threatening to wipe them out, even?
Itās just another case of āwe need the villain to do something despicable so people wonāt mind too much when we kill them offā. Or in Zaheerās case, return them to horrific conditions. (Why were those prisons even a thing?! If these people are so dangerous you have to keep them barely alive so they wonāt escape, torturing them in the process, then just kill them.)
And P'Li? For some reason, they thought that both her canon backstory as a child soldier and her agreeing to kidnap a child go well together??? That particular choice for her past has certain implicationsā¦
There are not many ways to make it work believably. Sure, they didnāt bother too much with personality when it came to her, so perhaps itās just me grasping at straws and headanons here? Letās see. One option is that sheās not very observant and it never even occurred to her. But thatās actually not true - when Tonraq, Zuko and the twins visit her at her cell, PāLi immediately knows Zaheer is out.
(Another thing⦠why the fuck was it necessary for them to go see her? It would make sense - and donāt hate me for this, Iām just speculating - if they were there to kill her so the fearsome foursome wouldnāt come together in full force. But the way it was set up⦠it just drove the point about the cruelty of whoever knew about and agreed to those prisons. Would you look at that, Zuko! (But Azula gets the credit as the sadist, I seeā¦) And Unalaq and Tonraq. You know what, if the other side is capable of this, the Red Lotus are in the right.)
The way she jokes around with Ming-HuaĀ also makes me think that PāLi is many things, but sheās not stupid. Thereās little to actually make my point, too bad. But Iāll stick with it anyway.
So, another option? PāLi noticed the parallel, but ignored it. Why? Either because she loves Zaheer so much she just goes with whatever he says - which is just incredibly gross - but that too doesnāt seem right. In Republic City, she actually calls him out on his recklessness on Air Temple Island. Their relationship strikes me as genuine and fairly balanced. (Call me Pāheer trash, youād be right, but they were one of few things the show actually did right. The most ironic thing is that it was likely unplanned, because Bryke canāt write f/m ships to save their lives.)
Okay, so what next? Maybe she convinced herself it was different, or is just ruthless enough that she doesnāt care that if they planned to kidnap Korra, they would basically raise her to become a weapon fit their own goals. Whatever they might be, the child would still be robbed of the choice, much like happened to PāLi. And okay, that may actually be solid. But I deeply dislike the implication it has - that the cycle of abuse continues. Also, Iām tired of the way combustionbending and other highly advanced techniqes (bloodbending) is so obviously demonized (if you donāt think it is, why was the Equalist subplot derailed to make way for ātwo villains are actually bloodbendersā? And why would Lin refer to PāLi as āthird-eyed freakā?).
TLDR: The Red Lotus were characters with tons of potential that got done dirty because the writers didnāt bother to think their choices through past the āomg this will look coolā stage, and their politics past the ādonāt go too far kids, leave it up to the authoritiesā message.
The canon is rejected and I recommend everyone to go read Empty and Become Wind, or write their own take on these characters just please donāt be a liberal about it.