korra is the current incarnation of the avatar and immediate successor of avatar aang. born and raised in the southern water tribe, where she mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending,[1] she later relocated to republic city to attain a similar proficiency with airbending under the tutelage and guidance of tenzin as well as overcome her aversion to the spiritual aspects of the bending arts. with the assistance of aang's spirit, korra gained the ability to energybend and after connecting with her past lives, she gained the capacity to enter the avatar state at will, marking her transition into a fully realized avatar.[2] following the events of the harmonic convergence of 171 ag, she lost the capability to access her past lives.[3] after defeating kuvira and bringing an end to the earth empire, korra started a romantic relationship with her close friend, asami sato.[4][5] test
history[]
early life[]
four-year-old korra proved herself as the avatar by demonstrating three bending arts.
korra was born to tonraq and senna in the southern water tribe following the death of avatar aang in 153 ag. at the age of four, korra proudly introduced herself to the order of the white lotus by performing water, earth and firebending before them. this caught the attention of katara, who started training korra in the waterbending, though her agressive style was nothing like the calm way the elderly master intended. during a snow storm, the young avatar snuck out, finding a lost polar bear dog pup. she took the animal in and named her naga, upon which the pup became korra's best friend and animal guide.[6] a year later, water tribe chief unalaq came to learn that his own niece was the avatar and constantly sought tonraq's permission to train korra in the spiritual ways of the water tribe, which was actually a ruse to indoctrinate her in the ways of the red lotus and coerce her to reopen the long-dormant spirit portals to release vaatu,[7] but his estranged brother shot down his offers. with this, unalaq, who was secretly a member of the red lotus at the time, commissioned four of its members named zaheer, ghazan, ming-hua, and p'li to kidnap her to train her in the ways of the organization. however, due to the efforts of tonraq, chief sokka, fire lord zuko, and councilman tenzin, the attempt was thwarted and the criminals were apprehended. after the incident, tonraq and tenzin, korra's eventual airbending master, came to a decision to have the avatar secluded in the southern water tribe compound, away from the public eye as she pursued the bending arts.[8]
over the next thirteen years, korra demonstrated a prodigious talent which allowed her to quickly master the arts of waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, as she completed her training of the latter by 170 ag. during her youth, she met and tamed a female polar bear dog, whom she named naga and who served as her animal companion.[9]
170 ag[]
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korra was interrogated by chief lin beifong shortly after her arrival in republic city.
at the age of seventeen, korra had mastered all the elements save for airbending, which she was set to be taught by tenzin as soon as he moved to the southern water tribe. however, after tenzin's move to her home fell through, korra took matters into her own hands and stowed away on a ship, traveling to republic city. roaming though the city in search of air temple island, she discovered that the bustling metropolis was not all that she was told to be; she learned that there was a great deal of imbalance among its citizens with triads and equalists running around. after defeating some members of the triple threat triad, she found herself in trouble with lin beifong and her metalbending police force. she was cleared of all charges due to tenzin's intervention and eventually allowed to stay with him at the air temple to commence her airbending training there.[9] however, progress was slow and the avatar grew frustrated. to unwind, she joined the fire ferrets pro-bending team and befriended her teammates, the brothers mako and bolin.[10]
when bolin got kidnapped by the equalists, korra helped his brother to find him. they tracked him down to an abandoned warehouse where they witnessed firsthand amon's ability to strip a bender of their bending abilities.[11] although they managed to save bolin, amon left a deep impression on korra, who grew fearsome of the equalist leader. regardless, she joined councilman tarrlok's task force.[12]
korra fought equalists on top of the pro-bending arena.
while she worked to rid the city of the equalists, she also kept training with the bending brothers to win the pro-bending championship. although they had some hard matches due to internal romantic struggles,[13] they managed to reach the finale. however, after their match against the white falls wolfbats ended with their defeat due to cheating of the other team, amon and his equalists attacked the pro-bending arena, effectively destroying the building.[14]
soon after, korra discovered that hiroshi sato had ties with the equalists, and as such, she invited both asami sato and the bending brothers to come live with her at the island.[15] there, feeling insecure about herself as the avatar, she and her friends formed a team with the purpose of patrolling the city and apprehending equalists. as such, she angered tarrlok, and the councilman broke up their team by arresting all of korra's friends. when she confronted tarrlok about his actions later on, the discussion erupted into a duel. as the avatar was about to overpower the councilman, tarrlok revealed himself to be a bloodbender and subdued her with the ability.[16] korra was locked up in a secluded cabin in the mountains surrounding the city. in isolation, unable to escape, she meditated and connected with aang, discovering the truth about tarrlok's heritage. however, when amon and his equalists ambushed the cabin, she managed to escape.[17]
subdued by bloodbending, korra lost her bending to amon.
in the aftermath of her escape, amon launched his grand attack on the city. korra and her friends fought back for a while, but the sheer number and power of the equalists forced them on the run. korra retreated into the tunnel system of the city, where she would await the arrival of reinforcements in the form of general iroh and his united forces.[18] however, he too proved to be no match for the equalists machines, and korra pulled the injured general out of the water. after this incident, she vowed to take the battle to amon, and together with mako, she set out to confront him. after having learned that he truly was a waterbender from the northern water tribe,[19] they eventually found him at the pro-bending arena, where he was holding a victory speech. the avatar freed tenzin and his children, though when she faced amon, the equalist leader managed to take away her bending. however, as she witnessed amon on the verge of taking mako's bending as well, she unlocked her airbending and managed to overpower amon.
aang restored korra's bending and gave her the ability to restore that of others.
after the equalists' defeat, korra traveled to the southern water tribe, hoping that katara could undo amon's action. the old healer was unable to, however, and a heartbroken korra ran off to grieve on her own. there, she finally managed to connect with her spiritual side, and as such, aang and the other previous avatars helped to restore her bending, as well as bestow upon her the ability to restore other people's bending. having regained her bending and mastered the avatar state, korra and mako became a couple.[2]
171 ag[]
events until harmonic convergence[]
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after the anti-bending revolution, korra extensively used energybending to restore the bending of the innocent benders amon victimized with his bloodbending[20] and trained with tenzin to perfect her skill in airbending, achieving the status as a fully realized avatar.
despite the resistance of the dark spirits, korra managed to open the southern spirit portal.
although tenzin wanted her to accompany him on a journey to visit all the air temples, korra was adamant about first attending the glacier spirits festival. however, after she learned there from her uncle, unalaq, that it had been tenzin and tonraq's decision to keep her secluded in the compound, she broke with her airbending master and accepted unalaq's offer to become her spiritual guide.[21] as a first step in her training, korra journeyed to the south pole an opened the southern spirit portal, causing the spirit lights to return to the south. when they made their way back to the southern tribe, korra discovered that in the meantime the northern navy had arrived and occupied the harbor.[22] although unalaq claimed it was an attempt to reconnect both tribes, the southerners were not pleased with the northern presence and korra was forced to mediate between her own people, causing her to be seen as a traitor by some.
korra attempted to intervene in tensions between southern water tribe civilians and northern military forces.
when korra learned of varrick's plan to kidnap unalaq, she feared that her father was involved. she thwarted the attempt and discovered tonraq had nothing to do with the southern water tribe rebels.[23] however, her parents were arrested and tried for treason nonetheless, a trial during which only her mother was acquitted. in an attempt to free her father, korra confronted judge hotah and learned that the entire tribe and tonraq's initial banishment of from the north had all been orchestrated by unalaq. enraged, korra and her friends, with the help of varrick, freed tonraq and the other rebels from northern custody, effectively commencing a water tribe civil war.[24]
korra and team avatar journeyed back to republic city in an attempt to persuade president raiko to deploy the united forces fleet to aid the south. with tensions rising between the two tribes and the pressure to do something on korra increased, she also began to have relationship troubles with mako and, after he had informed raiko of her plan to go to general iroh behind his plan, they broke up. in a last attempt to gather support for her tribe, korra left for the fire nation to ask the fire lord for help. however, she never reached her destination as she was first attacked by her cousins, desna and eska, and later ambushed and swallowed by a dark spirit.[25]
korra had to reconnect with her deepest memories in order to find her avatar spirit.
korra washed ashore on an island inhabited by the bhanti tribe, though the attack of the spirit had infected her avatar spirit, leaving her without her memory.[26] she was lowered by the tribe into a pool of spirit water, where she reconnected with her avatar spirit by learning how wan became the first avatar by fusing with raava during harmonic convergence in 9,829 bg and how they defeated vaatu.[27][28] with the warning of the shaman that harmonic convergence was nearly upon them again, korra tracked down tenzin and his family at the eastern air temple and asked for his help to enter the spirit world in order for her to close the southern spirit portal and prevent vaatu's escape. it was with jinora's help, however, that she managed to cross over,[29] though soon after they arrived, the girls got separated. korra found herself in a dark forest, where she reverted to her four-year-old self, though with the guidance of iroh, she was able to revert the change. making her way over to the spirit portals, she discovered that jinora had been captured by unalaq, who threatened to destroy the girl's soul if korra did not open the northern spirit portal as well. korra complied, though as opposed to earning jinora's freedom, she was attacked by unalaq and dark spirits. korra managed to escape with the help of a dragon bird spirit and returned to the physical world.[30]
once inside the spirit world, korra tried to close the southern portal.
having gathered reinforcements in the form of team avatar and varrick's battleship, korra made her way to the south to enter the spirit world through the portal there and close the portals from the inside before harmonic convergence started. although their initial attempt to breach through the northern defenses at the portal ended up with their capture, the team managed to escape due to bumi's intervention. while tenzin, kya, and bumi would look for jinora, mako and bolin would hold unalaq back while korra closed the portals. she did not manage to close them in time, however, and vaatu managed to escape at the start of the celestial event.[31] although she tried to re-imprison the spirit of darkness, she could not prevent him from fusing with unalaq and becoming the dark avatar.
korra reached inside vaatu for the reborn raava.
with the fate of the world at stake, korra engaged unalaq in battle, though knew her defeat when vaatu extracted raava out of her and destroyed the light spirit, effectively severing korra's connection to all her past lives.[32] upon tenzin's instance, korra meditated within the tree of time to connect with the cosmic energy and astral project an enormous apparition of her own spirit. traveling via the spirit lights toward republic city, korra engaged unalaq, who had taken on enormous proportions as well and was laying siege to the city. during the fight, korra searched the dark avatar for a sign of raava, as she knew that dark could not live without light and upon the destruction of one spirit, it would always live on in the other. however, she could not find a trace of raava and the dark avatar took advantage of her unguarded moment to trap korra's soul within a spiritbending move. right before korra's spirit was on the verge of being corrupted, jinora's spiritual projection appeared and revealed raava within unavaatu. korra pulled the light spirit out, before employing spiritbending to purify unalaq, destroying him. with harmonic convergence nearing its end, korra, raava, and jinora returned to the spirit world, where she and raava fused back together as the convergence ended.
upon her return to the physical world, she declared the water tribe civil war over and the south as an independent nation with tonraq as its chief. she also announced that she had left both portals open, ushering in a new era in which humans and spirits coexisted.[3]
red lotus insurrection[]
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korra was confronted by hundun, an enemy one of her past lives had faced a thousand years prior.
shortly after the unalaq crisis, korra temporarily lost her bending due to being attacked by chi blocking darts. on a quest to regain her abilities, she fought off the triple threat triad and the residual equalists, who had all been enlisted by hundun, as well as hordes of dark spirits. she eventually tracked hundun down to the spirit world, where she learned that he was out for vengeance due to the actions of one of her past lives. despite facing fierce mental and physical challenges, she eventually managed to regain her ability to enter the avatar state and overpowered hundun, using her spiritbending to dissipate him and his brother.[33]
in the following week, korra continued to struggle with the changes that harmonic convergence brought. the spirit vines created by the dark avatar had taken over parts of republic city, leaving countless citizens homeless, and her failure to remove them caused for tension between her and president raiko. additionally, the shift in the world's energy gave several people across the earth kingdom the ability to airbend. after her clash with raiko reached its zenith and he banished her from the city, korra and her allies set out to scour the earth kingdom in search of these new benders to offer them training and guidance.[34]
korra and tenzin held off the dai li along with the imprisoned airbenders as they prepared to escape.
despite initial failures to persuade the new airbenders to abandon their lifestyle in order to rebuild the air nation, they eventually managed to persuade kai to young them.[35] they journeyed to ba sing se, where they eventually discovered that earth queen hou-ting had been conscripting the airbenders into her army, holding them captive underneath the earth queen's temple. before they could formulate a plan to free them, lin joined them and informed them of the escape of four dangerous criminals who were after korra. she dismissed the threat, however, and decided to stay focused on freeing the airbenders. successfully fighting off the dai li and escaping the city, the airbenders and tenzin traveled to the northern air temple, while korra, her friends, and lin continued the search for more benders.[8]
korra and naga were sedated by the shirshu-spit darts.
their search led them to zaofu, where they met up with suyin beifong, lin's half-sister, whose daughter opal had become an airbender. although the plan had been to send opal to the northern air temple, the team stayed at zaofu for a while on suyin's suggestion.[36] while training opal in the basics, korra was taught metalbending by suyin, becoming the first metalbending avatar.[37] the threat lin warned her about eventually caught up with her, and korra was kidnapped by zaheer and his three companions, ghazan, p'li, and ming-hua. before they could escape, however, she was saved by her friends, and after discovering that aiwei had led the criminals inside the city, team avatar left the metal clan in order to track him down and find out why korra was being targeted.[38]
korra met and talked to zaheer in xai bau's grove, who told her about his group and their plan.
following him to the misty palms oasis, the team discovered that aiwei was meeting zaheer at xai bau's grove. in an attempt to follow them, they staked out aiwei's room at the misty palms inn, though eventually discovered that the grove was located in the spirit world. korra entered the spirit world via mediation herself and found aiwei being confronted by zaheer. zaheer promptly disposed of aiwei by throwing him into the fog of lost souls, leaving the two of them to talk. being allowed to ask questions, korra discovered that zaheer and his associates were part of the red lotus, who desired to radically change the world by doing away with the separation of the four nations. meanwhile, korra's meditating form was taken by asami on naga, as ghazan and ming-hua attempted to kidnap her. although they managed to escape the red lotus, however, they were captured by earth kingdom soldiers, since the earth queen had declared them enemies of the kingdom.[7]
korra and asami were captured by the earth queen's forces.
korra and asami eventually managed to free themselves and prevent being taken back to ba sing se. their escape left them and the airship crew stranded in the si wong desert, forcing them all to work together to reach the safety of the misty palms oasis, where they once again met up with mako, bolin, lin, tonraq, and zuko and learned that zaheer had killed the earth queen[39] and threatened to do the same with the airbenders at the northern air temple lest korra surrendered herself to them.[40]
their forces strengthened by suyin and her security force, the team set course for the northern air temple. on the way, korra decided that she would give herself up, as it was the only way to save the airbenders. as such, she met zaheer atop laghima's peak, while asami, mako, and bolin would check on the airbenders at the temple, and tonraq and the metalbenders would scale the mountain to be her back up. zaheer double-crossed them, however, and despite p'li's demise in the ensuing battle, he managed to escape with an unconscious korra.[41]
korra was poisoned in order to activate the avatar state so the red lotus could end the avatar cycle.
when she woke up, korra found herself suspended in chains in an underground prison hold and was administered a poison through her skin. she was told the poison would force her body into the avatar state, enabling the red lotus to end the avatar cycle if they killed her in the avatar state. she tried to fight it off, though she eventually succumbed to the poison's influence, and the avatar state was triggered. the moment she remained in the state, she was attacked by ghazan and ming-hua. using her enhanced strength and bending abilities, she managed to free herself from her chains and confronted zaheer in a duel, while bolin and mako took care of the others.
defenseless, korra was slowly suffocated by zaheer.
with the avatar state, korra was able to hold her own against zaheer, even force him on the defense, though she could not keep up battling both him and the poison, eventually succumbing to its effect. rendered defenseless, zaheer took the opportunity to suffocate her, though before he could finish his attack, they were both trapped in a tornado created by jinora and the novice airbenders. freed from zaheer's hold, korra managed to ensnare zaheer and pull him down with her, enabling lin and suyin to trap him in an earthen prison. despite her victory, korra was left on the verge of death due to the poison within her. when jinora recognized the poison to be a metallic solution, suyin tried to bend it out of her, saving her life. however, the poison had taken a great toll on her, confining her to a wheelchair in a physically and emotionally weakened state.[42]
171 - 173 ag[]
after jinora's ceremony, korra changed into her normal attire and was set to board the steamship heading toward the southern water tribe, together with her parents, naga, and kya. before boarding, she was given a letter by bolin, who expressed his delight over becoming pen pals with her. although asami inquired if she would be fine on her own as the business woman would be happy to accompany her, korra declined the offer, stating that some weeks by herself to heal would do her good. tenzin reassured her that he, jinora, and the air nation would try their best to take care of things in her absence so she could focus all her energy on healing.
after another sleepless night, korra agreed to her mother's request to visit katara.
three weeks later, while staying at the southern water tribe royal palace, korra had a nightmare about zaheer asphyxiating her. she woke up, severely distressed and breathing heavily. korra went out on the balcony for some fresh air and to look at the spirit lights, where she was found by her mother. senna approached her, worried about her well-being, and urged her to seek help from katara. she agreed and received a hug from her mother, who expressed her love for korra.
while being healed by katara, korra was told that the mercury poison had caused considerable internal damage. inquiring if the elder could fix it, korra was told that her recovery was dependent on her own efforts, though katara would help her guide her through. korra expressed her desire to recover and was urged to visualize her big toe moving, a feat she managed to accomplish, much to her delight. korra subsequently moved to the parallel bars in order to try walking. leaning heavily on the bars, she managed to keep herself standing, though before she could take a step, she was overwhelmed by the memory of herself being poisoned by the red lotus, causing her to lose her balance and fall down. although katara comforted her, emphasizing that she was safe there and urging her to use her mind to overcome her pain, korra refused to try again, declaring herself done for that day. throughout her stay in the south, korra received and read the letters sent to her by asami, mako, and bolin.
korra worked intensively with katara to help speed up her recuperation from the mercury poisoning.
korra kept up her intensive physiotherapy training, though nearly six months later, she lost patience due to a lack of significant progress. lamenting about her inability to take more than a few steps without collapsing, she snapped at katara in her frustration over being dependent on others for everything, while her friends were helping the world and the elderly woman could not heal her. immediately realizing that she should not have addressed katara that way, she apologized and was told to let go of her anger and frustration. upon admitting that she was tired of her situation and the senselessness of it all, katara tried to comfort her by sharing the sense of loss aang felt over losing his entire culture and telling her he had tried to find meaning in the suffering and eventually even succeeded to find peace. when korra asked what she would find, she was offered the response that whatever it was, it would be interesting to find out. korra subsequently tried to walk again with the aid of the parallel bars and managed to walk the short distance toward naga, falling happily against the polar bear dog's chest.
although she had improved greatly, korra grew frustrated that she had not recovered completely and began to fear that she may never do so.
korra continued to improve and by the time tenzin arrived at the southern water tribe compound, korra had improved to the point where she could once again run around and fight. as the airbending master climbed off oogi, she warmly embraced him, exclaiming how much she had missed him. upon receiving the compliment that she looked great, she dragged tenzin off toward the training grounds, eager to show him how much she had improved. she sparred against three firebenders and although she started strong, she was knocked down after she was once again overcome with a vision of zaheer flying down upon her. helped back to her feet by tenzin who declared the sparring match to be over, she angrily stated that she believed she had been ready. as tenzin tried to put her at ease by pointing out that there was no shame in taking the time needed to make a full recovery as her duties as the avatar could wait, korra asked about the earth kingdom, since she knew it was still in chaos. hearing that the situation had been stabilized by kuvira, she grew sad, stating that the metalbender was doing her job. before tenzin could tell her that she merely needed to be patient, korra glared at him, threatening that if he would voice the thought, she would "water-smack" him in the mouth. frustrated about the situation, she left the sparring ring.
korra confided in asami about all her fears regarding her recovering via a letter.
for two years, korra continued her training and recovery at the southern water tribe. at one point, she wrote a letter back to asami, in which she apologized for not having written before. she revealed that the past couple of years had been the hardest of her life and even though she had recovered physically, she still could not enter the avatar state and was often plagued by memories of zaheer and the red lotus attack. she admitted that she worried that she might never fully recover, despite her best efforts. korra implored asami to not inform mako and bolin about the letter, as she did not want to hurt their feelings and felt like they would not understand her as opposed to asami.
while having a meal with her parents, an absent-minded korra was playing with her food until her mother's inquiry about her well-being snapped her out of her thought. she expressed her desire to return to republic city, hoping that it could speed up her recovery due to it being the place of action and where her friends were. korra declined tonraq's offer to get the white lotus to prepare for her departure, insisting on going alone as it would give her the chance to clear her head.
wanting to start over and rediscover herself, korra shed her water tribe identifiers, donned an earth kingdom attire, and cut her hair.
en route, korra briefly stopped at a beachside village to purchase supplies. upon requesting the local fishmonger for two lobster crabs, she was recognized as the avatar and asked to pose for a picture, just like avatar aang had done decades before. the man's ramblings about avatars were cut short when another vendor shouted about a robbery in progress and the fishmonger pushed korra to intervene. although she intercepted the thieves, the two men easily defeated her, leaving korra lying on the beach in shame. korra eventually made it to republic city, though as she neared air temple island, she saw herself in the avatar state standing atop one of the rocks near the island, glaring menacingly at her. realizing she was not ready to return, she turned her boat and left yue bay, docking somewhere in a deserted area, where she obtained earth kingdom clothes, shed all her water tribe identifiers, and cut her hair.
convinced that she needed to discover how to reconnect with raava on her own, korra declined the help of the spirits.
korra traveled to the spirit world through the northern spirit portal and made her way to the tree of time. her meditation in the hollow of the tree was interrupted by chattering spirits, who were debating among themselves whether or not she was the avatar. when korra verified her identity as such, she revealed to them that she had been away for a while due to sustaining severe injuries in her last big battle, which had left her unable to contact raava. she admitted to meditating in the tree of time since the last time she had done so, it had shown her a myriad of images and she had hoped it would be the case again, figuring it could help her to reconnect with raava and access the avatar state. when it proved to be unsuccessful, she declined the spirits' help, deciding that she needed to figure it all out on her own since the help of others had not borne any fruit so far.
in order to keep people from worrying about her, korra wrote letters to her parents, telling them she was pleased to have returned to air temple island and see her friends again. in reality, however, korra was roaming the physical world by herself, crossing icy seas, hiking up volcanoes, and traversing the desert, all the while seeing an apparition of herself in the avatar state. while she was wandering the desert, korra saw raava atop a nearby dune, though by the time she had scampered to the top, the light spirit was gone, having been only a mirage.[43]
174 ag[]
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still suffering from the mental whiplash of the mercury poisoning, korra was haunted by visions of her avatar self attacking her.
six months after having left the south pole, korra made her way to a small earth kingdom town at night, where she was once again haunted by her avatar apparition. determined to end the haunting, korra confronted the apparition, though lost.[44] when she encountered a puppy in the middle of the road, she decided to follow the dog after it had chased away her apparition and ended up at the foggy swamp. losing track of the animal who turned out to be the light spirit whom she had met at the tree of time, she was once again attacked by her apparition, who dragged her down in a hallucinatory pool of mercury. she eventually woke up in the home of toph beifong, who had found her unconscious in the mud.[43]
letting go of her fears of her past enemies, korra was able to bend the mercury out of her body, relieving her mental block.
desiring to get back into avatar fighting shape, korra asked toph for help and eventually learned that she was still carrying around traces of mercury. when she was plagued by another vision of zaheer trying to asphyxiate her in the avatar state as toph tried to remove the mercury, korra was told that she would have to bend the metal out herself, since she was subconsciously fighting toph's attempts to remove it out of fear of getting injured again.[45] when korra made her way through the swamp two days later, she was haunted by visions of her old enemies once again, though with toph's help, she figured out that she needed to face her fears and stop fighting her old enemies if she ever wished to be able to deal with future threats. in order to speed up her recovery, toph took her to the banyan-grove tree, where she reconnected with herself and the world. after being found by jinora, ikki, and meelo, they all returned to toph's dwelling in the swamp, where korra eventually managed to bend out all of the residual poison out of her system.[46]
still not in top form and plagued by hallucinations, korra was overpowered by kuvira.
in order to let kuvira and the rest of the world know that the avatar was back, korra and the three airbenders traded the swamp for zaofu, though they discovered that the military of the earth empire was already camped at its gates. believing that conflict had only made things worse in the past, korra set out to negotiate with kuvira though was urged to convince suyin to give the city up. upon her return to the city, korra learned that suyin had left with wei and wing to sneak into kuvira's camp and deal with the threat themselves.[47] when kuvira announced over the city's communication system that suyin and the twins had been captured, korra tried to reason with the army commander though ended up being challenged for a one-on-one duel for the fate of zaofu. kuvira had the upper hand until korra entered the avatar state. on the verge of ending kuvira, however, she was plagued by another hallucination of herself in the avatar state, allowing the army commander to recover and defeat her. as kuvira moved to kill her, she was saved by jinora and opal and escaped from zaofu with them, ikki, and meelo.[48]
moving past the tension, korra shared a warm hug with mako and asami, truly reuniting as a team.
returning to republic city, korra met up with asami and mako, though there reunion soon became tense due to their three-year separation. when prince wu was kidnapped, the trio gave chase, tracking the royal down to a train departing from central city station. despite the team's continuous bickering, they found wu and freed him, though were soon after forced on the defense by several earth empire agents. working together, however, they managed to hold them off and escape. the three friends made amends before mako retreated to the sato estate with wu, and korra and asami returned to air temple island.[49] as korra mulled over her past experiences, she became doubtful over her abilities as the avatar, though with the support of asami and tenzin, she became once again determined to restore balance in the world.[50]
with no other options left to her, korra agreed to let zaheer guide her into the spirit world and help her to let go of her fear of "what might have been".
when jinora asked for her and opal's help to search for ryu, who had gone missing with his tour group in the spirit wilds, korra discovered via the plants that kuvira was harvesting roots from the foggy swamp. splitting for jinora, she left to warn the world leaders about the impending danger, though she was soon contacted by jinora again, who called for help as she was being attacked by the vines. with mako's help, korra discovered that jinora, ryu, and the other tourists' souls had been trapped in the spirit world, though after failing to meditate in, being blocked again by zaheer's memory, she concluded that she needed to face the red lotus leader. when zaheer noted that her spiritual block was a conscious choice, korra snapped at him for having created the "worst dictator the earth kingdom [had] ever seen", which lead zaheer to offer to guide her into the spirit world. although korra initially refused his help, she let him guide her through her traumatic experience, and she managed to make it into the spirit world, where raava's spirit lit up within her. together, they found and rescued the trapped souls.[51]
korra managed to force baatar jr. to try to talk kuvira out of conquering the united republic of nations by threatening to keep them apart forever, which was something he could not live with.
to help the united republic prepare for battle, korra asked the spirits to help defend their new home, though they refused to take part in human wars.[52] when she later learned that kuvira's attack was imminent, korra and team avatar set out to destroy the train tracks with which they presumed kuvira would transport her spirit energy cannon to republic city. much to her shock, however, she discovered that kuvira was already nearing the city and had mounted the weapon on an enormous mecha suit instead. while the earth empire military forced the united forces to surrender, korra formed an airbender stealth team and kidnapped baatar jr. in order to force him to try and talk kuvira out of conquering the united republic of nations. the plan failed, however, and then were nearly all killed when she blew up the future industries factory in which they were hiding.[53]
risking her own life, korra bent the beam from the spirit energy cannon to save kuvira.
while it was decided that asami and varrick, with the help of hiroshi and zhu li, would adjust the prototypes of the hummingbird mecha suits in order to cut through platinum, korra and the other benders faced kuvira's enormous mecha suit in an attempt to slow it down. after asami and hiroshi managed to cut a hole in the suit, which cost hiroshi his life, korra, mako, bolin, lin, and suyin infiltrated the mecha suit.[54] while lin and suyin took down the cannon, which ended up being discarded in the spirit wilds, korra faced kuvira, though their battle was interrupted when mako and bolin caused the engine to explode. the two women continued their fight inside the spirit wilds, where kuvira fired the spirit energy cannon at korra. although she dove out of the way of the beam, the cannon charged itself with the surrounding spirit vines and overloaded. when the beam threatened to kill kuvira, korra jumped in front of her and, entering the avatar state, held the beam at bay, though the enormous surge of energy expanded around them and exploded, creating a new spirit portal.
korra understood and sympathized with kuvira's reasoning for her actions.
korra and kuvira were thrown into the spirit world. seeing her opportunity, korra explained that she saw a lot of herself in kuvira, stating that they were both fierce and determined to succeed, sometimes even without thinking things through. when the metalbender snapped that she had been merely trying to help her people in the absence of the avatar, korra understood that kuvira had only been trying to create a place where she and her people would never have to feel vulnerable again and sympathized with the hardships that come from a life as an orphan. she managed to convince kuvira to surrender, and when they both exited the spirit world via the portal, kuvira gave herself up to lin and suyin, acknowledging that the avatar had saved her life and possessed a power beyond what she could ever hope to achieve.
korra and asami held hands and gazed at each other lovingly as they entered the spirit portal, beginning their romantic relationship.
later, korra attended varrick and zhu li's wedding at air temple island, during which she learned that wu planned to abolish the earth monarchy and establish independent states with democratically elected governments akin to the united republic of nations instead, a cause for which she pledged her support. when korra later distanced herself from the party and gazed over the skyline of republic city, she was joined by tenzin. talking about how much she had already changed the world and how much more she desired to do, they were eventually interrupted by asami, and tenzin left the two women to themselves. korra apologized to asami for having been absent for three years and tried to comfort her for the loss of her father. when asami stated that she did not feel like returning to the party and could use a vacation, korra offered to go with her anywhere she wanted. the two decided to journey to the spirit world and, upon stepping into the spirit portal, they turned to each other and held both hands while gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, starting their romantic relationship together.[4][5]
legacy[]
by 174 ag, republic city park had been renamed avatar korra park in commemoration of korra's acts of heroism and a statue of her was erected there as well.[44]
personality[]
fiery and pugnacious, korra was quick to pick a fight upon her first moments in republic city.
on the surface, korra is fierce, independent, and pugnacious, but beneath her tough exterior, she possesses a strong loyalty toward her friends and duty as the avatar. she also has an admirable compassion and devotion, demonstrated when she expresses love toward things such as her family and friends. her offensive battle style means that she is always quick to initiate or rise to a challenge, and is similarly quick witted and impulsive, especially in heated situations. as an "avatar-in-training", she lacked perception toward the damage her bending is capable of, and her rash decisions often resulted in her accidentally insulting others.
true to korra's character, lin once stated to tenzin that it was "hard to believe [his] sweet-tempered father was reincarnated into that girl".[14] her personality is, in many ways, the opposite of her past life's; aang was a peaceful, diffident, nomadic airbender, whereas korra is tough, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, and assertive. she has a habit of getting close-up to people when confronting them, sometimes grabbing them by the chin when trying to get her point across. additionally, while aang was initially reluctant to be the avatar, to the point where he ran away to prevent his responsibilities as the avatar from disturbing his life, korra fully embraced her position as the avatar from a young age, reveling in its power. however, similar to aang, she also has a good sense of humor and enthusiasm, and a vulnerable teenage charm.[55]
fully embracing her position as the avatar from a young age, korra is tough, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, and assertive.
being initially unable to connect with her spiritual side proved to be a stumbling block in korra's training, and she admitted that her personality is the opposite of the typical airbender's; as tenzin noted, avatars tend to struggle with the bending art most opposite their personality.[10] due to the lack of a spiritual center in her life, korra is impulsive and therefore has a hard time hiding her true feelings; this could be seen in her reaction to learning that asami sato was mako's date during the gala tarrlok threw in her honor, where she immediately expressed her jealousy by being rather hostile toward asami and short with mako.[12]
due to her concentration on the physical side of bending, korra was initially quite worried when she saw "the revelation" of amon's true abilities during his demonstration,[11] a fear which expressed itself in amon's words in the nightmare she had soon afterward, "once i take your bending away, you will be nothing." this and her later encounter with amon revealed this fear.[12] she tried repressing these fears for the good of republic city when she joined tarrlok's task force, but had trouble staying her usual upbeat self and became rather reclusive,[12] and eventually made the rash decision to call amon out in a one-on-one duel. this indicates that she is ruled by her emotions even when she tries to pretend they do not exist, leaving her vulnerable to amon as shown by the results of the said encounter.
refusing to admit her fear, korra challenged amon to battle.
like her immediate predecessor aang, korra places a high priority on her position as the avatar, despite their different approaches. although at first aang was uncomfortable with having to use outright violence to bring balance to the world, he eventually developed an unrelenting determination toward following his age-old destiny. korra, on the other hand, takes a non-conformist stance over her avatar training. for instance, after trying out pro-bending, she stated to tenzin that the reason why she had been unable to airbend was because the avatar no longer needed it and was instead meant to focus on modern styles of fighting. tenzin quickly stamped her proposal out as preposterous, reminding her that the avatar is destined to master all four elements at all costs.[10]
upon learning that she was kept locked away from the world by tonraq and tenzin, korra became quite irate toward them, being hostile whenever they tried to speak with her.[21] korra expressed more hostility for her father after learning about his past in the northern water tribe.[22] however, when she found out that tonraq was not involved with an effort to overthrow unalaq, she forgave him quickly.[24] korra has no qualms intimidating or threatening whomever has offended her friends and loved ones, as exemplified when she struck fear to the equalist protester to find out bolin's whereabouts,[11] and when she threatened to feed judge hotah to naga if he would not comply to her wishes.[25] after learning the truth about her father's banishment, korra developed an animosity toward unalaq, which caused her to dismiss him as her spiritual mentor. once she realized that unalaq had been using her to try to free vaatu from his prison in the spirit world, her animosity toward her uncle increased in intensity.
after learning the origins of the avatar spirit through the life of avatar wan and regaining her memories, korra became more patient and humble, as exemplified when she thanked tenzin for his undying loyalty to her.[29]
after the harmonic convergence, korra demonstrated a more patient demeanor yet still retained her impulsive nature. this is evident when she tried to physically force ryu, an airbending slacker, into becoming a part of the new air nation against his will, with mako and bolin eventually forced to drag korra out to stop the mayhem.[35]
believing zaheer had killed her father, korra firebent at him in rage.
korra's temper and rage, once provoked, could border on murderous, as during her captivity by the red lotus and still believing that zaheer had killed her father, korra declared that she would be free and none of the red lotus would survive. she fully intended to kill zaheer, showing her righteous fury, but with a dark and wrathful side to her as well.[42]
after barely surviving her encounter with zaheer and having the poison removed from her system, korra was placed in a wheelchair during her recovery, which left her traumatized and in a state of depression. she still showed compassion and pride for her friends throughout, however, and was present when jinora received her airbending tattoos, crying during the ceremony.[42] in the following years, she struggled to recover, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and being haunted by flashbacks to her encounter with zaheer. although she recovered physically, her emotional struggle led her to embark on a journey to reconnect with her avatar spirit while hiding her identity as the avatar, going against her tendency of being prideful about it.[43] after an elderly toph helped her to face and overcome her fears of her past enemies, korra bent the residual mercury out of her body and regained the ability to enter the avatar state,[46] though it was not until she faced zaheer in person and was helped by him to accept what had happened to her and release her fear of "what might have been" that she was able to fully reconnect with raava.[51]
abilities[]
bending[]
korra's first time in the avatar state was marked by her bending being restored.
as the avatar, korra has the unique ability to use all four elements, and has the potential to become the most powerful bender in the world. furthermore, since she was a child, korra has always had a remarkable affinity for the physical aspect of bending. she also quickly took to the three different styles of pro-bending with simple instructions from her teammates, greatly impressing them after only a week of training to ultimately become a highly capable member of the fire ferrets. while in the avatar state, korra is able to use an air spout to raise herself into the air while unleashing all four elements in rapid succession. later after more training, korra becomes able to easily enter this form with complete control, even during intense competition.
waterbending[]
korra used her waterbending abilities to attack a mecha tank.
korra's waterbending abilities manifested at a young age, before she had even been recognized as the avatar by the order of the white lotus. subsequently trained formally in the art for over a decade by katara, korra has demonstrated a high level of skill in this art in addition to its various techniques. she is capable of creating large walls of ice, powerful water whips,[9] and water waves strong enough to push back and, when frozen, contain an enormous mecha suit standing over twenty-five stories tall.[54] she can also launch herself high into the air and maintain the height on a gigantic waterspout easily, fight off several aerial attacks with various water attacks, and propel herself plus another person through the water at high-speeds to avoid attacks. she used her waterbending abilities to procure herself a spot on the fire ferrets pro-bending team, referring to herself as a "top-notch waterbender". while she was taught northern and southern style waterbending, which both employ fluid motions, korra has quickly adapted to republic city's more aggressive, straightforward waterbending style.[10] korra is also able to draw a sufficient supply of water from the air for her bending.[33] korra also has sufficient knowledge of bloodbending to fully understand the nature of its application, despite having never used the outlawed skill.
healing[]
korra healed bolin following a pro-bending match.
during her waterbending training, korra was also taught the advanced skill of healing. as katara was well-regarded as the best healer in the world, korra herself became highly skilled in the art, something she takes pride in.[13] by using a small supply of water as a catalyst on the targeted area, korra is able to drastically increase the healing rate of injuries. korra's skills were great enough to quickly soothe away the pain on bolin's injured arm,[13] and mitigate the severe burns on general iroh's arm, leaving no trace of scars.[19]
despite her short time studying under her uncle unalaq, a spiritual expert, korra managed to learn his technique of spiritbending, which involves changing negative energy into positive energy in spirits in order to pacify them.[26] while she only managed to understand the mechanics in the beginning, korra eventually successfully performed the technique and was able to calm countless small spirits at once.[29] she was even able to use the technique to destroy unalaq and purify the dark spirit vaatu when the two were fused together as the dark avatar. following her uncle's death, korra became the only known living practitioner of the skill.[3]
earthbending[]
korra threatened tarrlok through exhibiting her earthbending prowess.
korra's earthbending abilities also manifested at an early age. spending many years of intense training, korra has gained great mastery in this art. while regularly using traditional earthbending tactics in combat, she quickly learned the basics of pro-style earthbending from bolin, able to attack more akin to a firebender with light footwork and quick jabs. her prowess is great enough to easily take control of earth targets levitated by other earthbenders. she has demonstrated her adept skill and ability in earthbending on several occasions, notably launching a member of the triple threat triad several stories into the air. korra's earthbending is also able to affect a considerable radius, upturning and demolishing everything in the area. as seen when pairing with bolin, korra is able to effectively synchronize her earthbending with another person to increase the versatility and control of her target.
metalbending[]
korra used metalbending to rip through the top of a truck.
during korra's stay at zaofu, suyin beifong offered to train her in the art of metalbending. suyin started korra on a meteorite as a beginner and she quickly adjusted to the metallic body and learned to mold it into various forms. as such, she became the first avatar to learn metalbending.[37] korra quickly became more versed in metalbending, being able to skillfully wield metal cables with great dexterity and fluidity in her movements and ensnare her opponents, even more experienced metalbenders, with the said cables. she can also tear through a large, thick metal wall obstructing her path, albeit with some difficulty as she is still somewhat new to this skill.[38] korra's control eventually became of such a level that she was able to remove residual traces of mercury out of her own body[46] and could easily pry open the roof of vehicles.[49]
firebending[]
korra displayed her firebending during her test.
as with earth and water, fire also manifested at a young age. due to the fact that she relies on offensive maneuvers when under pressure, korra mostly uses fire in combat. her firebending training was finished when she passed the test impressively at the age of seventeen, having learned various advanced techniques such as the breath of fire. against other firebenders, she can easily deflect and disperse the enemies' attack. her control is so fine, she is able to produce a small yet intense flame at her fingers that she can maintain to melt through metal chains. she can likewise produce daggers in each hand for close-range combat. she can propel herself through the air with firebending in short bursts, and use these bursts to run along a wall. contrary to the usual difficulty an avat
References[]
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