Mako (The Legend of Korra)

"I did what I had to do to survive and protect my little brother."

- Mako explaining his past to Korra. Mako is the main deuteragonist in Avatar: Legend of Korra. He is a firebender from a multicultural family who grew up on the streets of Republic City as an orphan with his younger brother, Bolin. Mako always wears his signature red scarf that was once his father's, who was murdered along with his mother when he was a boy. He formed a pro-bending team with his brother and Hasook, but eventually Avatar Korra joined the team and took the waterbending position from Hasook. Mako, with the help of his teammates, was able to lead the team to second place in the championship. After the tournament's conclusion, Mako joined Korra in her efforts to stop the Equalists. He also helped Korra on other occassions, such as stoping Unalaq from freeing Vatuu and becoming the Dark Avatar, defeating the Red Lotus and stoping their goals of anarchy, and ending Kuvira's reign of her Earth Empire order.

Early life
Mako was born the son of an Earth Kingdom man named San and Naoki, a Fire Nation woman, two years before Bolin. When he was eight, Mako witnessed his parents being killed by a firebender, leaving Bolin, his younger brother, as his only immediate family and his treasured red scarf as the sole memento of his father. Being the elder brother, with no knowledge of his relatives, he was forced to take on adult responsibilities from that point on, depriving him of the majority of his childhood.

As an orphan, Mako did whatever was necessary in order to survive along with his brother. He often resorted to his firebending to protect himself and Bolin on the streets. Both of them also ran small-time scams during much of their youth. This attitude brought him in contact with the criminal organization known as the Triple Threat Triad, for whom he collected money for bets and ran numbers. Mako even came into close-contact with the leader of the triad, Lightning Bolt Zolt, and was able to learn the techniques of lightning generation and redirection from him.

One day in 167 AG, during Mako's involvement with the Triple Threat Triad, the young firebender and his brother attempted to pull off a scam on an elderly woman. Posing as a thief, he ran toward the woman from behind and grabbed her purse, before leaving her sight by entering a side alley. When Bolin pretended to chase after him and fight, Mako willingly gave the purse to his brother, deceiving the woman into thinking that the young earthbender had stopped a thief. Bolin returned to Mako with a reward of two yuans and a loaf of bread he had stolen from the old woman; after Bolin gave a piece of the loaf to his brother, Mako reminded him that they had not eaten anything the day before.

Later that day, Mako went to the Triple Threat Triad headquarters with his brother and saw Shady Shin bribe Toza, a pro-bender. When Bolin expressed his disappointment about seeing Toza act this way, Mako became upset – Toza should be happy about being paid, Mako opined; after all, there had been no one to mourn for their losses when their parents died and had left them to fend for themselves, and that one must "hustle or be hustled". Afterward, Shin told them that if they did not acquire enough bets to recover the ten thousand yuans given to Toza, he would abandon Mako and Bolin on the streets, after which the two brothers speedily departed.

While the brothers were collecting bets at a pet shop, a fire ferret escaped and was restrained by its owner, Mr. Feng, because it was to be fed to a pythonaconda. Mako stopped Bolin from buying it as they could not afford to feed it, and felt his younger brother needed to toughen up and realize that bigger animals consumed those smaller than them. Mako collected the owner's bet while Bolin talked to Toza about that night's match; the firebender chastised him because he believed that doing so would get them in trouble with Shady Shin. Bolin angrily responded that Mako was being mean and walked away, leaving Mako to sigh.

That night, after Bolin broke into the pet shop to steal the fire ferret, he was strangled by the pythonaconda, but Mako arrived and yanked the snake away. After again criticizing his brother for getting into stupid situations, the two left, but, at Bolin's urging, with the fire ferret whom the earthbender named Pabu. Mako warned Bolin that Pabu's food would come out of half of his money.

Later that night, Mako and Bolin attended Toza's match, sitting in the same booth as Zolt and Shady Shin. However, when Toza won and Bolin revealed that he had encouraged the pro-bender to not to throw the match, Mako urged his brother to run from an irritated Shin. The brothers were eventually cornered by Shady Shin and two other gangsters and forced into the defensive until Toza helped bring the fight to a standstill and Zolt eventually broke it off completely. Impressed with the brothers' abilities, Mako and Bolin were offered the chance by Toza to live at the gym and train under him to become pro-benders. While Bolin was immediately won over by the idea, Mako doubted and Shady Shin used this to appeal to the young firebender's pragmatic nature and point out that he needed to protect his younger brother. Mako agreed with that assessment and used it as a reasoning to take Toza's offer for a chance at a more honest life. When Bolin wanted to celebrate the abandonment of their criminal lives, Mako reminded him they had to save what little money they had at that point, though due to Bolin betting on a Boar-q-pine victory, they had more than enough to celebrate with.

Acknowledging the dangerous nature and moral ambiguity of their past, Mako was determined never to return to that life and explicitly forbade Bolin from associating with the Triple Threats in any way. Under Toza's tutelage, Mako and his brother began competing in the Pro-bending Tournament and they were also offered the chance to work odd jobs to pay rent which allowed them to focus on the sport. Mako eventually became the captain of a pro-bending team, the Fire Ferrets, which included his brother and his friend Hasook.

Pesonality
Characterized by his stoic and brooding personality, Mako is generally aloof and indifferent, though he is not incapable of genuine kindness and a protective demeanor. It is implied that Mako has excellent control over his emotions, as he is able to bend lightning – a technique that requires the user to have a calm and steady mind. He tends to act in a critical and controlling manner, stemming from a life on the streets and a drive to protect his little brother, which forced him to take on adult responsibilities at a young age. In light of the brothers' pasts, he cares deeply for Bolin and is very protective of him. After Mako lost his parents, he was willing to do whatever means necessary to help him and his brother survive in the rough urban environment of Republic City, even going as far as scamming and working for a notorious criminal organization. Eventually, Mako abandoned these immoral activities, but refused to admit the criminality of his past actions to Korra, as he firmly believed he was only doing what was necessary to survive. Mako has always put the interests of safety and survival ahead of other things, as exemplified by his reluctance to let Bolin keep a fire ferret as a pet, since that would strain their already small food supply. Living on the streets has given him a "hard-edge", though he seems to relax when he is with Bolin, Korra, or Asami, or when he achieves something important. For instance, when Butakha gave him the winnings from their last match, Mako had a large grin on his face.

Going with his hard edge, Mako has a wrathful side to him as well, having the capacity to kill or harm anyone who does wrong on his brother and friends. This is particularly evident when he threatened an Equalist when seeking information regarding Korra's whereabouts by raising a flaming fist. His protective attitude toward his younger brother on the street in the years after their parents' death reflected this side of him as well.

Mako is very dutiful in his job as a cop, having arrested several triad members since joining the force, and was on the fast track to becoming detective. Despite his coworkers' constant belittlement, Mako promptly suggests his theories on open cases, and refuses to take the easy way out to close a case, being adamant in following leads. His commitment and effectiveness on the streets was such that he earned himself praise from President Raiko. His sense of duty also caused him to divulge information that would strain his relationship with Korra, ultimately even ending it.

Firebending
Mako has demonstrated considerable skill in the art of firebending, implementing a modern style of fighting that he developed in his pro-bending days. Critics of the sport note his use of a distinct "cool under fire" technique, which primarily involves a series of defensive weaving and dodging patterns quickly followed by successive spurts of offense, rendering Mako capable of defeating an entire pro-bending team by himself. Outside of pro-bending, Mako demonstrated great skill in traditional firebending combat. He can maintain his fire streams for a period of time for feats such as propelling himself through the air. He can also perform more advanced techniques such as the breath of fire. The raw strength of his firebending is also considerable, able to offset a large and point-blank explosion unharmed. His control is also very fine, able to form a sleek dagger for intimidation and the likes.

Lightning
Mako is skilled enough to generate lightning and redirect it, having learned the skills from his former boss, Lightning Bolt Zolt. He has used lightning for a job at a power plant in Republic City and can effectively use it in combat. He is able to generate it quickly with little charging time and no arm movement and is also capable of maintaining the bolt for several seconds. He can also fire it with considerable aim, being able to hit speeding targets and controlling the charge of it to merely stun targets. While fighting several Equalist mecha tanks, Mako redirected the electricity channeled through their metal cables to disable them. When restrained by Amon's bloodbending, he was able to maintain enough focus and calmness of mind to generate lightning and score a direct hit against the Equalist leader. Amon admitted to Mako that he was impressed with his firebending skill, and that it was almost a shame that he would have to remove the bending of "someone so talented". When he was cornered by Ming-Hua's tendril attacks, he stayed calm and used lightning to electrocute the water, thus electrocuting her.

Other skills
Mako has displayed considerable agility, capable of both jumping long distances and performing impressive flips, proving himself difficult to hit at a distance. Mako also has considerable raw strength: he effortlessly launched an Equalist agent a great distance, casually carried Bolin over his shoulder, and in anger hoisted an Equalist into the air with a single hand. He can also carry Korra in his arms rather easily and has done so twice: once after she escaped from Amon and Tarrlok and again when her bending was taken away. While under the control of Amon's bloodbending, Mako was able to move his body slightly better than others caught under this technique and managed to aim a bolt of lightning at Amon, something that took the masked man by surprise, considering his great skill in bloodbending. Mako is also shown to be quite level-headed in dire situations, and has quick thinking, which was exhibited when he came up with a plan to save his brother from the Equalists during Amon's revelation.

Mako is also good with maps, as he figured out where the Equalist Rally was located by looking at the maps he and Korra obtained from the Equalist protester. Mako demonstrated his abilities with a map again when he discovered where the Equalist airfield was hidden. He also appears to be at least an adequate cook, preparing meals for himself and Bolin.

Upon becoming a police officer, Mako uses a motorcycle as his vehicle of choice, displaying great skill with maneuvering it over slick terrain and even incorporating his firebending as a booster to extend the distance of his jumps and to stabilize after a near crash. He is also capable of piloting an airship, though is still an amateur at landing the vehicle.