Samandar

*Character infobox belongs to Miraikosu — hope you don't mind me using it!*

**Samandar** (薩滿達爾, *Sàmǎndá'ěr*), informally known as **Saam** (萨姆, *Sàmǔ*) is a fan character of *The Legend of Korra* series.

Born to a Earth Kingdom father and a Water Tribe mother, he inherited his father's earthbending abilities, but developed his metalbending skills under the tutelage of his childhood master, Timur. Though he spent some time training to become a metalbending police officer, he ultimately quit the academy and resorted to building his own unique weapons and arms from stolen metal. Because of his talent, he unwittingly attracted the attention of Amon and Hiroshi Sato. Though he had his bending removed by Amon, Saam's earthbending was restored by Avatar Korra. Because of the mass offenses he committed, he was executed under orders of the newly inaugurated President Raiko at the beginning of Book Two.

## History

### Early Life

Samandar was born in 150 AG in Republic City to Rostam, a Si Wong sandbender, and Lumi, a Northern Water Tribe waterbender. He inherited his father's affinity for earth, but never developed his sandbending skills. Saam was conceived through an affair between his father and Lumi, who was his mistress at the time due to the grief he was facing after his first wife's death. Because Lumi wanted to prove that non-benders and their supporters were "backward savages", she purposely impregnated herself through Rostam and later falsely claimed to the press that she was "attacked by a non-bender". Lumi subsequently abandoned Saam, followed by Rostam. With some pity for the boy, Rostam left Saam in the care of Timur, a long-time friend from the Earth Kingdom.

Under Timur, Saam learned to harness his bending abilities and later learned the technique of metalbending from his father figure. Rostam would come to visit Saam once every two months and would provide the boy with yuans to make up for his absence and as a means of "affection" just to comfort himself. However, Saam never saw his mother again. After Rostam's "disappearance" (he was really staying with Amon and the Equalists though he could leave), Saam began showing resentment towards his father and would sneak out of Timur's house to wander the alleys of Republic City, which later led to his encounter with the Triple Threat Triad. Saam was recruited to become a member of the triad and would spend most of his time at their headquarters. Timur died of old age several months later, leaving Saam with no guardian.

## Trivia

* *Samandar* means "ocean" in Pashto, Urdu (سمندر) and Hindi (समन्दर).
* His nickname, *Saam* (سام) means "dark" in Avestan.
	+ Most people referred to him only as "Saam"; the only one who called him "Samandar" was his father (much to his annoyance).
* Samandar's girlfriend's name, *Dukha*, is taken directly from the Sanskrit word दुःख (duḥkhá) meaning "sorrow, grief, sadness"; a homage to Samandar's early death.
* Though his father was a sandbender, Samandar was not trained in the specialised sub-art and did not live in the Si Wong Desert, thus explaining his lack of affinity for sand. Because he was trained by a metalbender, he can metalbend instead of sandbend.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/समन्दर#Hindi
2. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/سمندر
3. ↑ https://www.behindthename.com/name/saam
4. ↑ https://www.behindthename.com/name/sam-2
5. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/दुःख#Sanskrit