Red lotus dump

Zaheer: I think he's probably just earth kingdom. He could have sandbender heritage due to his name being Arabic.

There's also a theory that he has airbender heritage. I think it's possible. I have a theory that the people who gained airbending after harmonic convergence all had airbending heritage like Bumi. I haven't done enough overthinking research to be sure, though.

Also, what about his clothes? Of course, there are airbender influences in them but I'm not super familiar with Tibeten/Shaolin clothing and there are parts of his outfit I don't recognize, mostly his shoulder piece, so there could be things pointing towards a culture that would help hint at more of Zaheer's background but I don't know.

Ghazan: I'm completely convinced that Ghazan is half fire nation. First, the only non-avatar lavabender we know the background of is Bolin who is half earth kingdom half fire nation. I think it makes sense for lavabenders to be exclusively both fire nation and earth kingdom. It would also explain why they're rare. Also, how else would someone be able to melt rock if they don't have the capacity to control fire or heat in some way?

Second, the tatoos on Ghazan's upper chest/shoulders are likely based off Dayak tribe tattoos. The Dayak tribe are an ethnic group in Indonesia. What countries is the fire nation mostly based off of? Japan, China and South East Asia including Thailand and Indonesia. His other tattoos on his torso are also reminiscent of Dayak style tattoos.

Third, the boots Ghazan wears are similar to fire nation style shoes.

Forth, his name. Ghazan's name is likely based off of the japanese word for volcano (Kazan) which ties him to the Japanese influence of the fire nation.

I think he could possibly be from Yu Dao which is a hybrid fire nation and earth kingdom city. It's known for having it's own identity which reminds me of the red lotus' views on not adhering to nationalities or specific cultural standards.

I also like the idea of him being part sandbender. The main piece of evidence for this is his name which is Arabic and Pashto in origin according to google, which connects him to the north African/Arab inspiration for the Si Wong tribes. He probably has that name because of the previously mentioned Japanese meaning, but why wouldn't they just name him Kazan then? There are some earth kingdom citizens with Japanese names, such as Suki, so it wouldn't be too out there if he in fact isn't part fire nation (which I doubt).

I would also use Ghazan's darker skin as an example but we see several earth kingdom citizens who aren't from the Si Wong desert that have darker skin tones such as Prince Wu, Jet and Kiyoshi. Other than that, it's mostly just vibes.

P'li: For a while I thought P'li may be a sun warrior mostly due to her outfit giving off sun warrior vibes as well as her oddly specific hair style. It doesn't make much sense to me though. Why would a sun warrior be a combustion bender? If she was kidnapped, then why would a fire nation warlord kidnap someone from the sun warriors? How would he even know they were there?

Ming-hua: I'm pretty sure Ming-hua is mixed race. I think she's part northern water tribe which most people seem to agree on. However, i'm not sure about whether she's fire nation or earth kingdom.

The main thing that convinces me that she's mixed race is her name. It is so far removed from any water tribe name we've seen. It is an extremely Chinese name. Yes, there are some names such as Yue and Tui and La that are Chinese. However, these names still somewhat fit the general naming scheme of the water tribe.

Water tribe names aren't all based on real indigenous names. Many of them are actually Japanese or just made up but are still used as long as they sound the part to westerners. Ming-hua though, is a very clearly Chinese name. It doesn't really fit in with the other water tribe names. I'm sure someone who knows more about linguistics could explain it better lol.

Another thing that makes me suspicious is her hair and eye color. It is very rare for water tribe members to have black hair especially pure jet black hair like hers. Desna and Eska have hair that sometimes looks black but is actually a very dark brown. The only example I can think of that is identical to Ming-hua's hair is Ummi, avatar Kuruk's wife.

Also, Ming-hua's hair is very straight. Most water tribe members have some curl or volume to their hair, though, there are examples of some having largely straight hair, such as Sokka.

I don't think we've ever seen someone from the water tribe with non blue eyes. You could argue that her eyes are a very very dark blue but I still think it's a big enough difference to be significant.

Lastly, her lighter skin color. She's still brown but light enough for her to appear pale in many scenes.

I think Aiwei could be from Omashu based on his darker skin color (which again could mean nothing considering other earth kingdom citizens have darker skin), and his name which, while likely being a reference to Ai WeiWei, a Chinese human rights activist, is also a Hindi name and Omashu is partially based on Indian culture.

Unalaq is obvious also who cares about Unalaq.

Please let me know what you think or if I missed anything that contradicts or backs these ideas.