Lin and Baatar Jr
Jan. 28th, 2017 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeI'm up to Book 4 in my Legend of Korra rewatch (I can't believe it's nearly over!), and I'm struck by the similarities between Lin and her eldest nephew.
Hear me out, it's not just the hooded eyes and cheekbones that make me say this!
They're both authoritarian -- Baatar is an out and out fascist technocrat, whereas Lin is more flexible, but it's still noteworthy that her proposed response to the Equalists in Book 1 is a show of metalbending force. Unlike Baatar, she works within the boundaries of the law -- oh, until her career is undermined and her elite officers abducted, at which point she goes rogue.
(I really must write the AU where Lin joins Kuvira. I swear it isn't just an elaborate ploy to put Lin in the Earth Empire uniform with Kuvira's hairstyle.)
They're also nature's subordinates -- Baatar to Kuvira, Lin to the lawful government of the United Republic. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (except when you're the willing subordinate of a nationalist dictator, obviously), but they're not natural leaders. Well, particularly not Baatar; obviously Lin commands the loyalty and respect of the police force, but she's not a master politician like Raiko, or an innovator like Su.
(On the other hand, neither is Tenzin, who has nevertheless managed to have a successful career in politics. This is something I'm grappling with as I work on The AU Where Lin Becomes President Instead of Being A Cop, figuring out what needs to change for Lin to develop those skills.)
Speaking of innovation -- they're both engineers (I believe it was the Welcome to Republic City game that told us Lin designed the back spools her cops use, and nothing in that game was contradicted by canon, so I'm counting it) but they tend to build on existing ideas rather than develop new ones.
And, of course, they both have complicated relationships with their parents, their ambitions directed by their parents' professions, but feeling that they're in the shadow(s) of their progenitures.
And, in both cases, with good reason -- Su dismisses Baatar's agency, preferring to believe that he only disagrees with her because he's been brainwashed by Kuvira, and Toph regards Lin's issues as "nonsense".
Baatar has the advantage of having TWO parents, so he also resents his father, whose work overshadows his -- Baatar Sr is the "brilliant architect", Junior's just the engineer that makes it all work -- and let's face it, calling the guy "Junior" all his life is a recipe for aggravation.
Finally, they're both angry little turtleducks, and they express it in similar ways -- albeit Baatar is once again more extreme than Lin. Lin spends most of her first day in Zaofu sulking, but she actually growls like an angry cat when Korra says something she doesn't like. When Varrick and Bolin escape, Baatar's whole response is angry cat growls (and also violence).
IN CONCLUSION, I think that Baatar and Lin have a lot of similar traits. It's my headcanon that they're subconsciously aware of this, and loathe each other accordingly, but since we never see them interact, we'll never know.
Hear me out, it's not just the hooded eyes and cheekbones that make me say this!
They're both authoritarian -- Baatar is an out and out fascist technocrat, whereas Lin is more flexible, but it's still noteworthy that her proposed response to the Equalists in Book 1 is a show of metalbending force. Unlike Baatar, she works within the boundaries of the law -- oh, until her career is undermined and her elite officers abducted, at which point she goes rogue.
(I really must write the AU where Lin joins Kuvira. I swear it isn't just an elaborate ploy to put Lin in the Earth Empire uniform with Kuvira's hairstyle.)
They're also nature's subordinates -- Baatar to Kuvira, Lin to the lawful government of the United Republic. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (except when you're the willing subordinate of a nationalist dictator, obviously), but they're not natural leaders. Well, particularly not Baatar; obviously Lin commands the loyalty and respect of the police force, but she's not a master politician like Raiko, or an innovator like Su.
(On the other hand, neither is Tenzin, who has nevertheless managed to have a successful career in politics. This is something I'm grappling with as I work on The AU Where Lin Becomes President Instead of Being A Cop, figuring out what needs to change for Lin to develop those skills.)
Speaking of innovation -- they're both engineers (I believe it was the Welcome to Republic City game that told us Lin designed the back spools her cops use, and nothing in that game was contradicted by canon, so I'm counting it) but they tend to build on existing ideas rather than develop new ones.
And, of course, they both have complicated relationships with their parents, their ambitions directed by their parents' professions, but feeling that they're in the shadow(s) of their progenitures.
And, in both cases, with good reason -- Su dismisses Baatar's agency, preferring to believe that he only disagrees with her because he's been brainwashed by Kuvira, and Toph regards Lin's issues as "nonsense".
Baatar has the advantage of having TWO parents, so he also resents his father, whose work overshadows his -- Baatar Sr is the "brilliant architect", Junior's just the engineer that makes it all work -- and let's face it, calling the guy "Junior" all his life is a recipe for aggravation.
Finally, they're both angry little turtleducks, and they express it in similar ways -- albeit Baatar is once again more extreme than Lin. Lin spends most of her first day in Zaofu sulking, but she actually growls like an angry cat when Korra says something she doesn't like. When Varrick and Bolin escape, Baatar's whole response is angry cat growls (and also violence).
IN CONCLUSION, I think that Baatar and Lin have a lot of similar traits. It's my headcanon that they're subconsciously aware of this, and loathe each other accordingly, but since we never see them interact, we'll never know.
