Hi Appleeater1313!

You, sir, asked this question first, but it seems to be QUITE the theory floating around. I like you’re question because it deals with something we discussed in Episode 2 of the podcast, namely if there is an antagonist from the Spirit World that might not take to kindly to being forgotten. 

However, and I hope this doesn’t piss you off, I’m going to use your question to address a specific spirit that keeps coming up because of Amon’s “took my face” aside (which could mean just horrible burning, but we’re geeking out, so let’s go there). I’m of course, talking about Koh.

Koh the face stealer that took the wife of the last waterbending Avatar? Yes.

There’s lots of compelling evidence that Koh is the god we’re looking at, and I’ve been purposefully trying to avoid talking about it, buuuuuuuut – Koh has a thing against emotion in general.

Showing any emotion allowed it to steal your face, and his/her/its faithful meeting with Avatar Kuruk’s wife was about emotion interfering with the duties of the Avatar. So, it seems unlikely Koh would get involved with a Civil War of any kind, because Koh as a character is kind of unfeeling. I don’t see him sympathizing with non-benders, or even with and orphaned Amon, as the case may be.

On the other hand, all of Koh’s non-stolen faces are designed like – or actually are – Japanese Noh masks, as is Amon’s mask in this series. There’s compelling evidence on both sides for Koh.

Need more info.

Overall though, I think Devindra was really on to something this week when he mentioned that it would fall into a more recognizable anime storytelling structure by having Amon end up being an uneasy ally by the end of our story. If that’s because something from the Spirit World reveals itself, I’m cool with that.

But sometimes “took my face” is just a more dramatic way of saying “I’m horribly scarred under this mask,” and that’s the stance I’m taking until I  know more.

-Da7e-