CANON HISTORY: Asami Sato @ Avatar Wiki
CANON PERSONALITY: When Asami is first introduced, she's shown as being a polite, attractive, and polished rich man's daughter. To be fair, these are all accurate. Asami grew up with everything that might sit at the envy of others; a large house, maids, enough cash to burn and the ability to eat at the nicest places and drive the newest cars. Her father invented the Future Industries' Satomobile, the first motor vehicle of the Avatar universe, and consequently it brought his family to a high status. "Sato" is a name that few don't know and Asami, while she doesn't necessarily boast about it, never bothers to hide it, either. She understands the status gives her some leeway, but she's fairly modest about her upbringing when it's addressed. If she can, she will use it to help people instead. She also obviously takes some care in her appearance given the way she does her hair and make-up, but she's fair from just a pretty rich girl, even if that seems to be all Korra sees her as at first.

What we learn next about her is that, perhaps, there are still things in her life that aren't as perfect as her hair. (And it is pretty nice.) Her mother was killed by a firebender when she was young, something that changed the life of her family and direction that her father took his wealth and creative genius. It would be easy for her to blame firebenders or all benders for this, but she doesn't. In fact, she was a big fan of pro-bending--a sport that sets teams of benders against one another for the entertainment of the masses, a popular sport in Republic City, where she grew up--and even went so far as to date a firebender, Mako. However, when her father's ties to the Equalists are revealed--a group of anti-benders, set on eliminating bending entirely to "equalize" the population--Asami realizes that there's a difference between the actions of a few and the whole. There's a moment of hesitation, but she willingly turns the weapons her father designed on him and his men, abandoning what's left of her family and her status because she believes what they're doing is wrong. It's important to note that Asami has never been without before, but that she sees what he's doing so morally wrong, what Korra and their friends are doing as the better path, that she makes the decision despite not knowing if she will ever get any of it back. And she doesn't complain about it once.

Asami is a caring and affectionate person. She's shown the ability to empathize and anticipate the needs of her friends, sometimes understanding their motivations better than they might. She sees how much Mako cares for Korra sooner than he and Korra even realize, and while it hurts her to lose him, she is still able to be friends with the both of them despite the awkward (and dubiously written) love-triangle. It would be easy for her to be spiteful, especially when it was made pretty clear that both of them had been lying to her, but she isn't. Asami is the kind of person who puts another's wants and needs before her own, even if it means it will hurt her. In the end, she realizes that it's their happiness that's important. It's different than what her father did, he tried to us his power and influence to exact revenge on undeserving people. What he did in the name of their mother and for her is something Asami has a lot of trouble reconciling. It's different than coming to accept one's own feelings for another person, what he did is betrayed them and it took several years for her to forgive him for it. This is perhaps the one instance in which Asami does not smooth those feelings over after a short while.

She is very resilient, taking the hits as the come. To say she's a "strong character" would be doing her a disservice, as her strength isn't shown in the same ways that Korra, on one hand, might be described. Her mother died, her father betrayed her, her boyfriend left her for a mutual friend, and her company ends up nearly falling to ruin because of her father's actions and ties. And yet, despite all of this, she continues to try and move forward, taking the burden of the family business to restore it to it's former success. To her, Future Industries is all she has left of her family and it's important to keep it. We still see Asami make herself available for her friends, willing to step away from the business head chair to go on their adventures. She's supportive and sympathetic, always turning her observations of others to see how something might look from their point of view. This is why she's able to understand and forgive.

However, the kind of person that she is in regards to wanting to be there for others also leads her to often assume the best of people. It allows her to be manipulated by Varrick and inadvertently let him take over her failing company. She also makes the mistake of making moves on Mako once again when he and Korra break up--actually within the week that Korra is gone. For as nice a person as she is, she's prone to make some pretty unfortunate mistakes. However, she also is able to own up and learn from them. She doesn't trust Varrick nearly as easily the next time they have to work together and she apologizes to Korra.

Growing up in a wealthy environment, Asami has been shown to be both smart and a little extravagant with money. She doesn't have any qualms spending it on people she cares about, and they are always with good intentions, though she doesn't often stop to think about how her gestures might make others feel. It makes her a little pushy despite the fact that she is generally an observant and caring person. It might be one of the areas she's never been checked because people either like gifts or find it hard to say "no" to her, but it does unwittingly draw that line between classes without her realizing it.

Daddy's little girl can also be one tough cookie. She initially surprises Korra with her interests--not being one to take a girl friend shopping and for makeovers, but instead bringing the group to watch cars race and even bringing Korra along for high speed drive. Asami grew up around wheels and motor oil and it shows with her ability to drive and pilot. She surprises the group further by how she takes out her father and the Equalists for the first time, showing her confidence and competence as a fighter, easily disarming them all at hand-to-hand combat. Because of this, she is able to keep up on the battlefield with her three bending friends, despite having no control over any of the elements herself. But perhaps what she brings most to Team Avatar is her intelligence.

Like her father, she is an engineer and inventor, though we don't get to see just how well until late Season 2 and Season 3. Despite not even being twenty years-old, Asami is designing and testing new ships and designing new suits. She's also shown to be able to improvise and work with very limited resources, like when she had to construct a functional sand-sailer from scrap. Her ability to anticipate the wants and reactions of others can lead her to be able to manipulate the enemy if need be, as shown when she and Korra are captured on the same airship she eventually uses to build that sand-sailer. Knowing that most only see her as a pretty young girl, non-bender and consequently a non-threat, she uses it to her advantage to put herself in a better position to escape and help Korra. However, Asami is typically an honest person and expects the same of others, which is why lying and half-truths can hurt her so.

She's a very loyal friend, if that hasn't been made apparent that she's still friends with the people that she could have easily left behind due to past romantic entanglements. She's also someone who shows affection very physically as when she and Mako were together they were almost constantly (grossly) PDA, and she almost always had her hand on him at some point. But it's not just in romance, she's shown to ruffle Bolin's hair when she's happy and proud of him, reaching out to Korra often, among other things.

At the end of the day, Asami is so much more than what she could have been in the most refreshingly wonderful way. She's a caring, helpful individual who has let herself be taken advantage of in the past, but refuses to do so in the future. Her friends have become her family and her high moral standards keep her set on the right path. Her intelligence keeps her on par with her equally talented friends and helps complete a well-rounded Team Avatar put the world back into balance.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Hand-to-hand combat: Despite being a non-bender, Asami is an extremely proficient and skilled fighter. She is able to keep up with her comrades and take out benders and Equalists just as well. She's very quick on her feet and uses dodges and throws often. Her fighting style came from self-defense classes that she's taken part in since a young age. There is force behind her attacks, but speed is her main weapon.
  
  
• Driver: Having grown up around motor vehicles--her father basically invented them--Asami is an expert driver. She's shown to take great risks and is very comfortable behind the wheel. This includes Satomobiles (cars) as well as motorcycles/bikes/mopeds.
  
  
• Pilot: She's able to pilot two-person planes with skill as well as large airships, even of those not by her company's own making. Which really goes into her biggest skill...
  
  
• Engineer's Mind: It's not a super ability by any means, but Asami is a very intelligent and practical thinker. She's able to see a machine and understand how it works, use it to her advantage, and even build new devices out of scrap. She was able to build a sand-sailor from the wreckage of an airship, which she initially helped repair until it was destroyed by a large sandshark. She's an excellent strategist as well, shown in her ability and take towards the board game Pai Sho.