Zaheer is one of the most fascinating characters we’ve seen so far in the Avatar universe. Born as a non-bender, he held the view that the four nations, avatar, and order of the white lotus needed to all be abolished, and, to this end, he joined the Red Lotus. During his time with them, he met a powerful waterbender, firebender, and earthbender. Together they plotted to kidnap the new avatar, a then 5-year-old Korra, and force her to re-open the spirit portals and free Vatuu, then teaching her under their collective supervision to make her a powerful tool to reach their goals.

Although he was unsuccessful in his attempts and was imprisoned for many years, Zaheer eventually broke out of his imprisonment thanks to the Harmonic Convergence, which gave him the ability to airbend. Now, here’s the thing; in the clips you’re seeing, he is performing incredibly smooth moves and is using the airbending flawlessly. But remember, he was a non-bender… something strange has occurred, because there’s no way he should be so expert-like in these moves, to the point that he very easily takes down dozens of trained guards all alone.

According to the director’s commentary of the episode, Zaheer found out about his powers two weeks or so before he broke out, and used his isolation to meditate and practice. But he didn’t have a lot of room to practice in, making some of his moves baffling since the two weeks of training shouldn’t account for them. As well as this, he passes through the spinning gates with complete ease. This, as well as this intimate understanding of the air nomad culture, has led some fans on an interesting line of thought.. What if Zaheer was actually trained by Aang or at least received training from somebody Aang taught?

In a way, it would make sense, since it explains why not only Zaheer had this deep knowledge and adapted so naturally, but it also makes the scene where Zaheer learns to fly make a bit more sense. Being so experienced and having the wisdom of the past monks, Aang could easily give Zaheer, an already intelligent guy, the information he’d need to know to perfect airbending powers if he were to get them. Ultimately, though, this fan theory ends here, since there isn’t any real evidence to suggest that

Additionally, the creatives behind Zaheer have stated that he was created to be a complete master of not only martial arts, but of the philosophy behind them as well, allowing him to easily become master-like with new tools or moves in a short time just because of how wise he was. We can also see, if we play them side-by-side, that Zaheer has a more aggressive and unnatural and unorthodox movement when going through the spinning doors, whereas Tenzin’s leaf demonstration shows a calm, gentle type of movement.