The Legend of Korra is a hit animated fantasy series from Nickelodeon, taking place seven decades after the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai at the end of the Hundred Year War. Avatar Aang had since settled down and married Katara and his third child, Tenzin, is an Airbender just like him.
During the main events of Korra, the Air Nomad Tenzin became Aang's successor as the franchise's main Airbender master, but he is not just an Aang clone. While he and his father have their differences, they still have some obvious and some subtle things in common. Korra strikes a good balance in keeping Tenzin and Aang similar but distinct and Avatar: The Last Airbender fans may want to explore just how Tenzin follows his father's example.
10 Tenzin Earned His Airbender Tattoos
Tenzin shares more than his bending element with his Avatar father. Both of them are experts in their bending art and take it quite seriously and they have been recognized for their abilities. In his pre-war era, Aang received his tattoos as the young age of 12, proving his incredible talent.
Two generations later, Aang's son Tenzin completed his own Airbender training and earned the right to the same tattoos as his father. Not every Air Nomad has these — a bender must complete all 36 tiers of training first, which requires serious dedication.
9 Tenzin Has An Affinity For Spiritual Matters
Avatar Aang contained the spirit of Raava, the primordial light spirit, which allowed him to serve as the bridge between the mundane and spirit worlds. Aang met many spirits during his adventures in The Last Airbender and he tried many times to cooperate with and understand spirits.
Aang's son, Tenzin, is the same way. Tenzin may lack Unalaq's expertise in spirits, but Tenzin still has great respect for spirits and understands their importance in the grand scheme of things. He also helped Korra and his daughter Jinora get into the spirit world, though he was unable to join them there personally.
8 Tenzin Has A Temper
Tenzin and Aang both do their best to keep the peace and remember their Air Nomad training as disciplined pacifists, but father and son both have a surprisingly hot temper under their cool exteriors as robed Airbender monks. Aang has been known to lose his cool on more than one occasion.
Tenzin's temper is actually even hotter than his father's, but that may be partly from his fierce mother's genes as well as Aang's. Like Aang, Tenzin likes to stay cool, but if someone provokes him or tests his patience, he is liable to blow up, often at Korra or his brother Bumi.
7 Tenzin Respects Air Nomad Tradition
All four great nations have their own traditions, from the conservative stability of the Earth Kingdom to the dragon hunts in the Fire Nation. Then there are the Air Nomads, who are more tradition-bound than any other group given their rustic and old-fashioned lifestyle.
In his own time, Aang was strongly attached to Air Nomad tradition and he often got defensive about it. Much later, his son Tenzin shared his respect for Air Nomad artifacts, lore, and history, including the value of meditation and protecting priceless relics.
6 Tenzin Is Close To A Beifong
In Book Two: Earth, the young but talented Toph Beifong joined the Gaang, and she became one of Aang's best friends and most vital allies. A generation later, Aang's son and Toph's elder daughter became friends as well, though their relationship has been strained at times.
Like his father before him, Tenzin has a Metalbender Beifong ally by his side; Tenzin and Lin echo their parents in many remarkable ways during their adventures. The main difference is that Lin is a rules-oriented police chief while Toph hated rules and restrictions.
5 Tenzin Prefers Peace To War
Air Nomads are pacifists who don't even have a self-defense force — let alone a conventional army. This faction once relied on their defensive bending and seclusion to protect them; Aang carried on that tradition even after the Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads. Aang will always prefer peace and negotiations to battle.
Tenzin feels the same way — no matter how dire the situation, he will always attempt to talk things out and reach an understanding rather than tear the place up with bending battles. However, if he must, Tenzin will fight back, such as against Zaheer and the Red Lotus.
4 Tenzin Has A Cool Beard
In Aang's and Tenzin's time periods, clothing and fashion can say a lot about how people express themselves and their native cultures, including personal grooming. Hairstyles, beards, and more can be quite expressive. In his adulthood, Aang grew a stylish chinstrap beard. This style is sometimes seen in Korra.
Tenzin followed his father's example and grew his own cool beard with a unique style. Air Nomad men always shave their heads completely bald, but they are free to grow beards as they like, and Tenzin took advantage of that. His brother Bumi has a similar, but fuller, beard of his own.
3 Tenzin Got Married
Air Nomads may be detached like the wind, but they are not forced to take a vow of chastity by any means. Air Nomads are free to marry as they like and Aang and Tenzin both eventually found their soulmates and started their own families.
Aang married his Gaang companion Katara and they had three children together, including Tenzin. Later, Tenzin was involved with Lin Beifong until the charming Air Acolyte Pema stole him away; they got married and had several Airbender children of their own.
2 Tenzin Knows About Energybending
Unlike his father, Tenzin never actually performed the art known as "Energybending" in The Legend of Korra, but he was aware of its nature and existence, something he shares with his father. Right before facing Ozai, Aang met a lion-turtle and learned the ways of Energybending from it, then used that art to defeat Ozai bloodlessly.
Much later, Tenzin encouraged Korra to try Energybending in the Tree of Time to stop Unalaq. It's risky to bend energy, but Korra had no other options. In their own ways, father and son are both connected to this primal bending art.
1 Tenzin Often Travels
Tenzin, unlike his father, wasn't a permanent member of any Team Avatar and he likes to remain on Air Temple Island in the bay of Republic City. All the same, Tenzin has done his fair share of traveling, just like Aang, but for different reasons.
Tenzin came along with his father to explore the world and see the Air Temples and later on, Tenzin toured the world with Korra's group to find the new Airbenders and welcome them to the reborn Air Nomads. Tenzin is willing to travel halfway across the world for any reason, even if it's just to visit Korra in the Southern Water Tribe overnight.