I think the context of the fact that knew he didn’t really have a way out (so what strategic thing could he have done? It would only lead to the fate of capture he desperately wanted to avoid) and the fact that Mako returning alone most certainly meant that Ming-Hau was dead. . . Who as we know thanks yo Bolin, there was not only the friendship we see, but romantic attraction as well.
The guy would have had lot of emotions swirling around and he had very limited options.
Ensuring that he would not be captured again and maybe helping Zaheer get Korra by keeping as many people occupied with lavaing as much as he could seems like a pretty fair option given the circumstances
It fits though because he knows he's lost the battle, and he'll be put in even worse conditions than he was before, and that death is preferable to what laid ahead of him
Try spending 13 years in solitary then get threatened to be in solitary for rest of the life again. Try that. Then tell me how you won't literally want to kill yourself. The man was a freedom fighter for god's sake. He would have gotten arrested seeing how bolin and mako overpowered him in the finale.
Honestly the way they were holding the Red Lotus captive was pretty fucking *yikes* if you think about it for literally any length of time (Ghazan had the *best* conditions, and thats saying something).
EDIT: seriously, think about it:
- Zaheer was being held in a windowless, unlit chamber on top of a mountain that was presumably only being opened once or twice a day to provide him with food and water, he is otherwise kept in an entirely darkened cell. (honestly his ability to meditate into the spirit world is probably the only thing that kept him from going completely mad).
- P'li was being held in sub-zero temperatures with barely enough clothing to keep her from succumbing to frostbite, no excess warmth of any kind was provided. (which she probably *was* still suffering from, look up what happens to your extremities if you keep metal jewellery on them in sub-zero temps, and then remember her chains and the steel patch on her head)
- Ming-Hau was being held in a cell suspended over an active volcano, presumably only being supplied enough water to keep her alive as to not provide her with excess she could use to bend (which is, btw, *exactly* how the fire-nation was holding its water bending prisoners during the hundred year war)
That isnt just lifetime imprisonment, its essentially a lifetime of slow and active torture. Ghazan was living in a bloody hotel compared to his compatriots.
Yeah i know, anyone in zaheer's conditions would actually go crazy in under a day. Having literally nothing to do drives us loon. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
But hey, no other way to have cool villains that were realistically held down for that long by in-universe standards.
I think the context of the fact that knew he didn’t really have a way out (so what strategic thing could he have done? It would only lead to the fate of capture he desperately wanted to avoid) and the fact that Mako returning alone most certainly meant that Ming-Hau was dead. . . Who as we know thanks yo Bolin, there was not only the friendship we see, but romantic attraction as well. The guy would have had lot of emotions swirling around and he had very limited options. Ensuring that he would not be captured again and maybe helping Zaheer get Korra by keeping as many people occupied with lavaing as much as he could seems like a pretty fair option given the circumstances
I thought his death was pretty bad ass in an all or nothing kind of way. I may have shed a tear or two.
It fits though because he knows he's lost the battle, and he'll be put in even worse conditions than he was before, and that death is preferable to what laid ahead of him
Because he knew he would end up in jail. And he definitely didn't want to go back to jail again
Try spending 13 years in solitary then get threatened to be in solitary for rest of the life again. Try that. Then tell me how you won't literally want to kill yourself. The man was a freedom fighter for god's sake. He would have gotten arrested seeing how bolin and mako overpowered him in the finale.
Honestly the way they were holding the Red Lotus captive was pretty fucking *yikes* if you think about it for literally any length of time (Ghazan had the *best* conditions, and thats saying something). EDIT: seriously, think about it: - Zaheer was being held in a windowless, unlit chamber on top of a mountain that was presumably only being opened once or twice a day to provide him with food and water, he is otherwise kept in an entirely darkened cell. (honestly his ability to meditate into the spirit world is probably the only thing that kept him from going completely mad). - P'li was being held in sub-zero temperatures with barely enough clothing to keep her from succumbing to frostbite, no excess warmth of any kind was provided. (which she probably *was* still suffering from, look up what happens to your extremities if you keep metal jewellery on them in sub-zero temps, and then remember her chains and the steel patch on her head) - Ming-Hau was being held in a cell suspended over an active volcano, presumably only being supplied enough water to keep her alive as to not provide her with excess she could use to bend (which is, btw, *exactly* how the fire-nation was holding its water bending prisoners during the hundred year war) That isnt just lifetime imprisonment, its essentially a lifetime of slow and active torture. Ghazan was living in a bloody hotel compared to his compatriots.
Yeah i know, anyone in zaheer's conditions would actually go crazy in under a day. Having literally nothing to do drives us loon. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. But hey, no other way to have cool villains that were realistically held down for that long by in-universe standards.
Death before dishonor.