The Legend of Korra deepened the Avatar franchise in 2012 with a new, steampunk setting and mature themes to thrill and engage younger and older viewers alike. This also meant meeting a whole new cast of characters, from the fiery Avatar Korra to the bender brothers Mako and Bolin to the earnest but frazzled Tenzin. Along the way, these benders meet Asami Sato who, like Sokka generations past, proved that non-benders can be heroes, too.

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The daughter of the industrialist (and Equalist supporter) Hiroshi Sato, Asami eagerly joined Team Avatar to help free Republic City from the terror of Amon's vicious revolutionaries. Later, she fought alongside her bender friends against the spirit-mad Unalaq, then helped take down the anarchist airbender Zaheer and even helped topple the power-hungry Kuvira of the Earth Empire. All this easily makes Asami a fan favorite, and there are a few things to know about this gal and what makes her an indispensable part of Team Avatar (and simply a wonderful person, too).

Update August 14th, 2020 by Louis Kemner: With Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, countless longtime fans can watch their favorite animated show all over again, and of course, this is a great opportunity for newcomers to see what all the fuss is about. When they're done with that, The Legend of Korra is next, where viewers can meet outstanding new characters like Asami Sato. What else should be known about this member of Korra's team?

15 Lost Sister?

Do these two look a bit alike? Asami was not directly inspired by the character Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but Korra's creators did see the similarity and decided that it was flattering for Asami to resemble this villainess.

At the very least, they decided to use Lust's distinct, dark red lipstick color for Asami as a tiny tribute to the character. If they met face to face, though, Asami and Lust wouldn't like each other very much.

14 Future Sight

As a whole, Asami Sato is a very forward-thinking person on many levels. She is ready to learn from the past, but by no means is she stuck in it. She has moved on from her mother's death at the hands of a firebender, and she loves technology, too.

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Asami also has some wonderfully progressive ideas on relationships with women (namely with Korra), and she consistently pushes Future Industries into, well, the future. Asami knows that the future belongs to those who reach out for it, and she won't let the past weigh her down one bit.

13 She's Like Zuko

How exactly does Asami resemble prince Zuko of the Fire Nation from the original series? Their personalities and origins are very different, but their character arcs have some startling parallels. To begin with, Asami has an antagonistic relationship with her powerful father, Hiroshi.

If that weren't enough, Asami eventually "overthrew" her father and assumed his position. Not as Fire Lord, but as the CEO of Future Industries. They also ended up joining various avatar teams, and they declared their fathers as the worst ever.

12 Water Princess

Asami Sato in The Legend of Korra

Overall, there is very little overlap between the animated Avatar universe and the widely panned The Last Airbender live-action feature, but Asami does represent a link with that movie. Her voice actress, Seychelle Gabriel, played Princess Yue.

This might be the only connection between the two versions of the franchise, and it also means that Seychelle Gabriel is the only cast member to have a role in both the animated franchise and the live-action movie. Most fans will probably agree that they'd prefer Asami over the live-action Yue for Seychelle's roles.

11 Patience

In the heat of battle, Asami is a quick and decisive thinker, which is an asset. Otherwise, though, she is actually rather patient and tends to think ahead. She doesn't have the hotheaded nature that her Fire Nation ancestry would suggest.

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Instead, Asami takes after her Earth Kingdom side, and this helps her run Future Industries so well. Asami isn't the type to take reckless risks unless absolutely necessary, and at the start of Book Two: Spirits, she casually explains that in good time, Future Industries will be back on top. She's not too antsy about it.

10 A Sweet Thing

Asami's last name is Japanese for "sugar," and Sato is in fact a common Japanese surname today. The Avatar world draws from a number of real-life Asian cultures, from Chinese and Japanese to Korean and even Indian. While Asami's ruthless father might not be so sweet like sugar (in season 1, anyway), Asami is a gentle and kind young woman right from the start, and she'll never her turn her back on a friend.

She treated to Mako at a fine upscale restaurant after hitting him by accident with her bike, and she was Korra's emotional crutch during the Avatar's struggle to recover after fighting Zaheer.

9 She And Her Father Differ On Benders

Both Satos lost someone to benders: in this case, Hiroshi's wife and Asami's mother. Bender gangsters murdered her, but the surviving Satos took very different paths after that. While this bloody act inspired Hiroshi's hatred for benders,  Asami treats all benders and non-benders as what they are: simply people, whether or not they can throw rocks or fire with magic.

A tragedy like that can show the deep-seated difference between two people quite clearly.

8 Dazzling Green Eyes

The Avatar universe has visual cues for people of different nations. Waterbenders have blue eyes and tanned skin, while firebenders have gold eyes and black hair and earthbenders have green eyes. Republic City rests where a Fire Nation colony once stood in the Earth Kingdom, and Asami's green eyes suggest some Earth Kingdom heritage despite hailing from a family of Fire Nation colonists.

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Over time, the Fire and Earth people learned to get along and become one, despite 100 years of war in their past. Asami may well represent a future of true unity and belonging, no matter one's national origins.

7 Go, Speed Racer

As the daughter of an inventor and industrialist, Asami has spent plenty of time around machines, from cars and airplanes to terrifying mecha suits. From season 1 onward, Asami is perfectly comfortable in any driver's seat (more than Korra, to be sure), and she's a great driver, too.

A break from the action in season 1 shows miss Sato outrace another driver on a practice course, and Asami drives all sorts of cars, jeeps, and motorcycles in and out of action. She's cool behind the wheel even when the fur flies, and it saves Team Avatar from disaster more than once.

6 She's A Great Fighter

Asami can't bend the elements, but Hiroshi taught his only child to defend herself all the same. He did this both out of love for her and probably in case anyone tried to kidnap her or worse, attempt to kill her like her mother.

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This results in Asami's expert combat moves, and she can grapple with nearly anyone, even trained Equalist thugs or savage bandits in the Earth Kingdom (early in season 3, for example). She soon picks up a lightning-slinging Equalist glove that gives her an extra edge up close.

5 She Gets Jealous

Asami is a kind and caring person, but even she can get jealous at times. She's only human, after all. In season 1, she and Mako started dating soon after they met, and not long after that, Bolin let slip that Korra kissed Mako, too.

Asami took this pretty hard, and she and Mako called it quits not long after that. Asami even shot Korra and Mako a few dirty looks when the latter two acted nicely to each other. Even during a tense rescue mission into an  Equalist base, Asami found the time to investigate Mako's love life.

4 She Plays A Mean Game Of Pai Sho

During breaks in the action, Asami knows how to unwind and have a good time: a game of Pai Sho! First seen in Avatar: the Last Airbender as Iroh's favorite board game, Pai Sho remains popular well into Asami's time, and Hiroshi taught the game to his daughter well.

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Asami easily trounced Bolin many times in a row when they played, but to be fair, Bolin was taught a faulty version of the game. Unlike Bolin, Asami had correctly learned that patience and strategy beat haste and aggression in this game.

3 She Was Once Slated To Join The United Forces

It's not unusual for movie, comic, and TV show creators to scrap early plans for their characters, and some original designs often come as a surprise when revealed later. Asami Sato was once planned to join the United Forces after season 1, but goodness knows that didn't happen. Imagine her and Bumi rubbing shoulders!

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As a non-bender, Asami wouldn't have manned one of the firebender turrets; rather, she would probably end up the chief mechanic at a United Forces base, and innovate some new vehicles. The United Forces is really missing out.

2 Asami Sato, Double Agent

Here's another surprise about Asami's original design: she was going to be a villain! In this case, she would be on the Equalist's side along with her father, and use her relationship with Mako to get close to Avatar Korra and take her down.

If that happened, Asami would go from sweet to sour pretty fast, and Team Avatar (and the whole show) would miss out on one of its finest heroes. Let's be glad Asami didn't cast her lot with Amon.

1 She's A Stand-In For Amelia Earhart

In the real world, Amelia Earhart was a famed airplane pilot, and one of the first women to take flight. Back in the Avatar world, Asami is a subtle tribute to the late Amelia Earhart, being one of the first viewed characters (and first woman) seen flying an airplane.

Planes were a recent innovation in Book One: Air, and Asami was eagerly one of the first pilots to take to the skies. Someone had to be the first, So why not the vivacious and brave Asami Sato?

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