They were greeted by many people, including Tonraq and his family.
In 171 AG, Unalaq and his children arrived at the Southern Water Tribe for the Glacier Spirits Festival. Unalaq would wait until Korra's powers matured before attempting to use her again. Instead, Unalaq betrayed the Red Lotus and cooperated with Fire Lord Zuko to construct a top-secret prison in the western tundra of the North Pole, specially designed to use the intense cold to negate P'Li's firebending abilities. However, on the day of the attempted kidnapping in 158 AG, Unalaq did not participate. He enlisted Zaheer, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and P'Li to take part in the mission. After his attempts to persuade Tonraq failed, Unalaq devised a plan to kidnap her with the Red Lotus' help. When Unalaq discovered that his own niece, Korra, was the reincarnated Avatar, he believed that he could use her to help him open the spirit portals and traveled to the South under the pretext of requesting Tonraq's permission to train Korra spiritually, but his brother declined his offers. However, the ambition he held of becoming the Dark Avatar was in direct conflict with the anarchist beliefs and goals of the Red Lotus, though it would not be until many years later that they learned of his plan to form an alliance with Vaatu. Īs leader of the Water Tribe, Unalaq gained territorial control over the closed spirit portals, which put him in a unique position to secure the entrances and carry out his eventual goal of releasing Vaatu and fusing with him to become a Dark Avatar and lead humans and spirits alike into a new era. At some point, Unalaq married a woman named Malina and in 155 AG, fathered a pair of twins named Desna and Eska. Because Tonraq's recklessness had endangered the city, his father banished him from the North, thus making Unalaq next in line to become chief. The forest was laid waste by Tonraq's forces and, in retaliation, vengeful spirits attacked Agna Qel'a, though Unalaq managed to calm them down and guide them back to their forest. Tonraq pursued the barbarians to a forest sacred to the spirits, where Unalaq had told them to hide, knowing that the headstrong Tonraq would attack their encampment anyway, despite being on sacred ground.
Unalaq warned his brother, a general in the Northern military, of the threat, and watched Tonraq drive off the invaders. In 151 AG, Unalaq hired a band of barbarians to invade Agna Qel'a, the Northern Water Tribe capital. Ī younger Unalaq watched as his brother chased the barbarian horde out of Agna Qel'a. To this end, he devised a plan to remove Tonraq from the succession so that Unalaq himself would be next in line to the throne. With a mind toward correcting this perceived imbalance, Unalaq aspired to usurp his brother's birthright and seize control of the spirit portals at the North and South Poles. After learning about Raava and Vaatu, Unalaq concluded that Avatar Wan made a mistake by closing the spirit portals, believing humans and spirits should coexist in the same reality. Eventually, he joined the Red Lotus, which had similar goals to his own. Growing up, he dedicated his life to studying the spirits and their ways. He was the second in line to become chief after his brother Tonraq. Unalaq was born as the younger son of the chief of the Water Tribes and hailed from a long line of chiefs.
He was the younger brother of Tonraq, husband of Malina, with whom he fathered Desna and Eska, and uncle of Avatar Korra. Adrian LaTourelle Image gallery (34) Unalaq was a waterbending master, the chief of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, a former member of the Red Lotus, and the first and only Dark Avatar.