The Legend of Korra

The Legend of Korra was an animated television series that ran on Nickelodeon from 2012-2014. It served as the sequel to the acclaimed series Avatar: The Last Airbender, starring the Avatar after Aang, Korra. Like its predecessor, the show was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko, but lacked Aaron Ehasz as the Head Writer.

Setting

The show is set 70 years after the original series ended, by which point Aang and Sokka are dead, and the new Avatar is a Southern Water Tribe girl named Korra. After spending 17 years at home training under the White Lotus, she leaves for Republic City to train with Tenzin and master Airbending. Republic City was built by Aang and his friends as a home for people of all nations to live in harmony.

Though the original series was set in a feudal Asian world, many things in this series mirror the 1920s, from the invention of cars, phones, and radios. As well as the architecture of Republic City looking more like New York City than anything in Asia from either the feudal age or the 1920s.

Main Characters

Avatar Korra (voiced by Janet Varney): Korra is the main protagonist in the series, and the Avatar after Aang. Unlike her predecessor, Korra is hot-headed and very arrogant, and can bend earth, fire, and water by the time she is four years old. Korra was born in the Southern Water Tribe, and spent most of her life there before the series started.

Mako (voiced by David Faustino): Mako is a Firebender, and serves as Korra’s love interest for most of the series, though he also dated Asami. Mako’s work ranges from pro-bending matches to a power plant that uses his lightning bending to working for the police. He’s named after Makoto “Mako” Iwamatsu, who voiced Uncle Iroh in the first two seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Bolin (voiced by P.J. Byrne): Bolin is an Earthbender and Mako’s younger brother. He served as a slight love interest to Korra and Asami. Bolin is the comic-relief character, and doesn’t have much going for him.

Asami Sato (voiced by Seychelle Gabriel): Asmai is a Nonbender and served as a love interest for all the characters, but got with Korra at the end. She’s a wealthy woman, the daughter of a businessman who made goods for nations after the 100 Year War. Asami took over the company after the first season because her father was thrown in prison.

Tenzin (voiced by J.K. Simmons): Tenzin is the third and youngest child of Aang and Katara, as well as their second son, and the only one of their children who is an Airbender. Tenzin spent most of his childhood training and traveling with his father, much to the disappointment of his siblings, Bumi and Kya, who Aang neglected throughout most of their lives. After Aang’s death, Tenzin became the new leader of the Air Nomads, and had four children with his wife Pema, being Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan, with all but Rohan being confirmed Airbenders. Tenzin also served as Korra’s Airbending master and mentor throughout the series.

Lin Beifong (voiced by Mindy Sterling): Lin is the daughter of Toph, and like her mother, is an Earthbender and the Chief of Police of Republic City. Lin’s father was named Kanto, though she never met him because he and Toph didn’t work out. Lin is shown to be a rule-follower, like her mother was in her adult years, which led to a 30-year rift between her and her half-sister, Suyin. Though not as much as ex-boyfriend Tenzin, she served as a mentor to Korra, showing her how Republic City works.

Minor Characters

Suyin Beifong (voiced by Anne Heche): Suyin is the younger half-sister of Lin, and the founder of Zaofu, a city in the Earth Kingdom that heavily relies on Metalbending. In her youth, Suyin was a troublemaker, much to the disappointment of Toph and Lin. After accidentally scarring Lin during her arrest, Toph spared her from prison, but she was exiled from Republic City, which also led her to avoid speaking with Lin for 30 years. Unlike Lin, Suyin is married to a man named Baatar Sr., and they have five children, whom Suyin calls a blessing. Bataar Jr., Huan, Opal, Wei, and Wing. All of them except for Opal are male, and the latter two are twins. Suyin also adopted Kuvira before she turned evil.

President Raiko (voiced by Spencer Garrett): Raiko is the first elected President of Republic City, and though not evil, he is an antagonist of Korra's due to frequent clashes the two have over what has happened or what should be done, which eventually led to Korra getting banished from Republic City in the third season due to her decision of leaving the Spirit Portals open led to the spirits destroying much of the city.

Villains

Amon (voiced by Steve Blum): Amon is the main villain of the first season of the series, and the leader of the Equalists, a group of Nonbenders who resent the Benders of Republic City for having all the power, both physically and politically. Amon claimed he had the power to remove someone’s Bending due to being blessed by the spirits, and he temporarily took away Korra’s bending. However, he was exposed as a fraud who used Bloodbending to block one’s Bending, along with his story of being facially burned by a Firebender being false as well.

Unalaq (voiced by Adrian LaTourelle): Unalaq is the main villain of the second season, as well as Korra’s uncle. Unalaq is more in tune with the spirits than Amon and wants to open the spirit portals to merge with Vaatu, the embodiment of chaos and darkness, plunging the world into Vaatu's image. He is also more manipulative, convincing Korra to open the portals that had been closed for 10,000 years, despite both her father, Tonraq, and her mentor, Tenzin, telling her not to listen to Unalaq.

Zaheer (voiced by Henry Rollins): Zaheer is the main villain of the third season, as well as the leader of the Red Lotus, a faction that tried to hunt Korra when she was little, believing it was the White Lotus’ true purpose. Zaheer is an anarchist who believes that all governments are in the way of true freedom. Zaheer is also a major follower of Air Nomad culture, from which he draws much of his philosophy. After the second season’s events, he was given Airbending due to harmonic convergence, causing him to break free from prison and free his fellow Red Lotus members. He manages to poison Korra, but is defeated at the end of the season.

Kuvira (voiced by Zelda Williams): Kuvira is the main villain of the fourth and final season, as well as the new leader of the Earth Kingdom after Zaheer killed Earth Queen Hou-Ting, who later forms the Earth Empire. Her goal is to harvest the Spirit Vines, which destroyed parts of Republic City after Korra left the Spirit Portals open, and make weapons to take over the world.

Controversy

When it was released, the show received some backlash from fans of the original series for a multitude of reasons.

Treatment of the original characters

One thing that drew backlash was how Aang was handled as an adult. He was much less joyful because he hated Toph calling him “Twinkle Toes,” the nickname she gave him in the old series. Aang was also criticized for his parenting, as he completely neglected Bumi and Kya for not being Airbenders but treated Tenzin very well, much to the other children's frustration. However, his wife, Katara, let him do all those things without protest, which many thought went against her motherly nature in the original series. As well as her own experiences of not having parents around for a good portion of her life, as her mother died when she was young, and her father left to go to war shortly afterward. Toph was also criticized for sleeping around with other men, as not only do her daughters, Lin and Suyin, have different fathers, but neither of them has met their father, and the name of Suyin’s father is unknown to this day. Toph was also criticized for valuing others' opinions, which went against her original characterization, as, despite Suyin being involved with criminals and having scarred her sister, Toph tore up the criminal report and told her to leave Republic City to live with her grandparents. Sokka was dead before the show started, and only got one scene, which left his character the same, though it’s not confirmed if he got with Suki, who was his girlfriend by the end of the old series. Zuko is much calmer and wiser than he was in the old series, and even gave Korra advice on what Aang would do in her situation. However, his daughter Izumi’s mother is unknown, but many fans think it’s Mai, Zuko’s girlfriend throughout the old series.

Unlikable protagonist

Unlike Aang, Korra takes major pride in being the Avatar, with her first line of the series being “I’m the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!” Even when she was 17, she was shown to be very selfish and to care little for other customs, as when she struggled with training under Tenzin and destroyed an old training relic, blaming Tenzin for being a poor teacher. Even as late as Season 3, Korra is unable to take much blame, as when President Raiko blamed her for Republic City’s infrastructure being destroyed due to her decision to leave the Spirit Portals open, she told him he’d have to deal with it. Even though she saw what the world was like when they were last open, which resulted in humans living on the backs of Lion-Turtles to avoid being killed or mutated by the spirits. Korra later goes through a PTSD arc in the final season, but later demolishes most of Republic City to stop Kuvira’s machines, opening another Spirit Portal in the city, walking in there with Asami, leaving the city Aang built in ruins.

She was also viewed as a Mary Sue character, able to bend earth, fire, and water by the time she was four years old, while every Avatar before her had to train just to try to bend the other elements.

LGBT propaganda

For most of the series, Korra’s love interest was Mako, but she had some moments with his brother Bolin. However, in the final episode, she and Asami hold hands as they enter the Spirit World, trying to mirror Aang and Katara’s kiss in the old series, which was the last shot, but due to the controversy, a kiss between Korra and Asami was never animated. The pairing came as a shock to many, as throughout the series, Korra and Asami didn’t talk much other than advancing the plot, and by the time it happened, it felt like it was made just for shock value. The graphic novel trilogy "Turf Wars" pretty much revolves around Korra and Asami's relationship, which leads to Korra disowning her parents for the crime of warning her to be careful around more traditional people.

Simplifying Chinese Philosophy

In the second season, the origin of the Avatar is explained, where Raava and Vaatu, who represent the forces of goodness and evil respectively, fought since the dawn of time until Wan separated them 10,000 years ago, which later resulted in Wan merging with Raava to defeat Vaatu, sealing him in a tree in the spirit world until he was freed by Unalaq. The controversy is that Vaatu and Raava represent Yin and Yan, but it's presented as a generic good vs. evil story, when Yin and Yang represent different forces in balance; just because Yin represents negative energy doesn’t necessarily mean evil, and Yin also represents things like femininity and the moon. It’s also worth noting that Raava, the Yang, is female, while Vaatu, the Yin, is male, which reverses the gender associations of Yin and Yang.