One then has to wonder if her arrogance is the direct result of her being the Avatar and having the upper hand on people, or if that part of her personality was merely there all along? Frankly, there is no evidence of the latter: we never see her before she discovered her Avatar abilities.
The scene with her as a wild child is cute and funny, but also damning: right away we see the tragic flaw of Korra. And who better to pose a threat to that identity than someone who can take Bending away from people? Enter Amon, the leader of the Equalists and the only man in the world who knows how to do that very deed. Upon witnessing this evil first-hand, Korra naturally reacts with fear. Naturally, Korra tries to hide this fear from everyone, because the last thing a macho person wants to appear is weak.
Of course, coming that close to losing her Bending—since Amon spares her as part of his master plan—should have taught her to pick her battles more carefully, but no: for the most part, she still insists on going after Amon herself to face him.
Ultimately, that attitude costs her her Bending. Suddenly, our protagonist, who spent her entire life trying to appear strong, is rendered weak and vulnerable for the first time. From a physical standpoint, that is, which is crucial because it reveals just how little inner strength she had, having compensated it with her undeniable outer strength. She was just fundamentally unbalanced. But now she can Airbend and get in touch with her spiritual side. That, above anything else, should be the first step towards her truly becoming the Avatar.
Except for Airbending, she is born a natural Bender—not necessarily a prodigy—and has been trained, looked after, and taken care of by the Order of the White Lotus for most of her life.
Korra, despite being a generally nice kid, may have grown up under the impression that being the Avatar gives her free reign to do whatever and get whatever she pleases. As a result, she was never exposed to the more brutal realities of life that the brothers experienced after losing their parents as kids.
For the first time in her life, she had to really work for and earn the things she wanted. And gradually, she kind of did. Finally, the prospect of her having to earn her other Bending powers back would have cemented the validity of that theme. Her ability to Airbend and the newly acquired spiritual guidance from Avatar Aang and the other past Avatars would certainly be of help.
She could finally get in touch with those aspects of herself that received no attention because her initial aggressive personality would not allow it. She could rebuild herself from there. But it was not to be. Aang shows up, says something about hitting rock bottom doing something, and just gives Korra her Bending back. With literally seconds of story to go, DiMartino and Konietzko successfully create a domino effect which destroys the significance of nearly everything that came before.
She seems motivated more by pride and self-pity than anything else. Then again, she is a teenager! Maybe her first step to real maturity would have been to realize this contemplation as such. That would have been an interesting direction. Because she lost her sense of identity and contemplated suicide? Go ahead! Let her try to commit suicide! Why does she fail?
Because she inadvertently activates her Avatar State, saving her life. That there is she a way can still become the Avatar? Cue the spiritual journey! The filmmaking does just enough to drive that point across. He clearly regrets how his life has turned out, and how his genuine aspirations to make the world a better place were so misguided thanks to his father. Deep down, Tarrlok probably realizes that, even if he somehow got away from his brother and rose to power again, he would never be able to achieve his goal.
This, Tarrlok cannot abide, and so his solution to kill himself and his brother is actually as noble as it is tragic: in a world where neither of them is capable of doing good, the best thing they can do is no longer exist in it.
What if—and this is a big what if —her contemplation was primarily concerned not with herself, but with the world? That is to say, what if she was willing to kill herself not out of self-pity—which would be typical—but out of a recognition of the greater good?
The world still needs their savior, and since Korra is clearly in no position to be that savior, her suicide would allow that responsibility to go to someone who would be. That would be the ultimate self-sacrifice. That would have been a real ending! It would have been a brave, challenging ending. It would have been one of the most remarkable endings in all of television. Death, let alone suicide, is not something reserved for the main character, no matter how noble such a death would be.
No need trying to depress the little ones, now is there? The possibility I proposed earlier in which she inadvertently activates her Avatar State could have worked. But I might as well stop pondering such possibilities, for they are no longer such. A lot of people are wondering: where exactly can The Legend of Korra go from here? What new adventures can Korra and friends get into next now that Amon is no longer a threat? Will there still be Equalists to deal with?
Or will a new villain emerge? With Korra given all four elements now, how will she develop as a person and the new Avatar? Objectively, the series still has undeniable merits. But in the end, the emotional connection to this material has been severed. I was betrayed, let down, and cheated. The wonderful drama that was so real and involving turned out to be nothing more than a fake and manipulative rouse. Quite possibly the most disillusioning part of this whole ordeal is what it says about DiMartino and Konietzko as storytellers.
Avatar was more like a collection of short stories barely held together by an underlying plot and the world they took place in. Sadly not the case with Korra , where every episode built on each other in a more coherent and thematic way. If this is what these two plan to do with all of their stories, then consider me less than enthusiastic for the inevitable Book Two. And so I close with a direct address to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko themselves: you guys have certainly inspired me in my own creative endeavors, and your positive contributions to animation and storytelling are greatly appreciated, but this ending is unforgivable.
Night Shyamalan. Considering the two never speak publicly about The Last Airbender , I wonder what they would make of this comparison. The show seems to imply that she was stuck in the Southern Water Tribe all those years of her training.
Was the conflict in Republic City that bad that no where else in the world was a safe place to train the new Avatar? Good Lord, this show just keeps getting worse! This entry was posted on June 27, by Marshall Turner. It was filed under Essays and Rants , The Legend of Korra and was tagged with airbender , avatar , disappointment , ending , entire , finale , how , korra , last , legend , of , ruined , series.
Clever writing or covering their tracks? Why was she kept in one location? Book 3. Book 2. And it all culminates in Book 4, the return of Toph, er I mean Balance…hehe. After all, Aang was also saved by Deus ex Machina after he literally dug up his own grave during his greatest fight. Neither of them really earned their personal happy ending. Otherwise, I agree with you. Your main point that Korra should have attempted rather than contemplated is incredibly foolish.
Was it rushed as hell? Was it still internally consistent? Autobahn of the Something Awful forums from where I found this blog. Holy shit, I just wrote a lot of words about Korra, but I feel like the last few pages of the thread have been really pedantically missing the point.
I feel like the criticism that Korra lacked a character arc is really off. You gotta deal with it! From her very childhood, Korra latched onto the role of the Avatar and built her entire identity around it.
And from episode one, this idea is challenged. First, the entire idea of the Equalists serves to undermine and challenge the idea of the Avatar as this positive force in the world, which creates an ideological instability throughout the whole series. Note how this theme is perfectly reflected in the villains. And they both struggled with this role, with this purpose foisted onto them through no will of their own, and they both tried to overcome it… And they failed.
So what happens to Korra? And she does, when Amon takes her bending. She loses her identity. So what happens? Well, first, she airbends. She can only airbend by not trying to airbend. What happens then? The Korra of episode 1 would have jumped off that cliff. The Korra of episode 12 knows not to. The show has made it very clear that bending is a magic that stems directly from the chi, and the movements of the body are merely a way of expressing it.
The forms are a tool to channel a primal force, but they are not the primal force, and certainly the goddamn Avatar can find alternative ways to harness it. Mako was a pretty weak character, the plotting was too slow and then too rushed, and the focus on pro-bending really weaked the front half of the season. As a whole, it pales compared to TLA. On top of that, a vast majority of Z. In real life, one of the hardest things for those seriously contemplating suicide to do, is to make the decision not to do it.
Korra, when faced with the obliteration of her appointed identity as Avatar, one that she too had let define her, also has to choose whether or not there is someone else besides the Avatar identity inside of her that is worth keeping around, and she ultimately decides that there is.
Having her actually thrown off the cliff changes that meaning in an extraordinarily negative way. That would have been the cheat that robs the season of its emotional core, because we the audience still knew she was weak for that other reason she was on the cliff — the refusal to be able to understand her identity apart from what she was born into. Accepting herself as Korra, without all the abilities of the Avatar is the only way to show that growth, and the only way to show that is to imply that she is thinking about ending it all, and then backing down from it and choosing to face life as Korra.
Through the animated performances of the characters, having your bending taken away seems to be akin to the sensation of losing your sight. No amount of meditation or work will suffice for this kind of loss.
Fortunately, the Avatar universe allows for certain miraculous things to occasionally happen, and even in this case, the miraculous things that do occur, do not occur without a cost, and the price is what I have already mentioned and which has been brought up by countless others at this point.
We clearly were watching two entirely different shows, and I can only envy you for having seen something better and more satisfying than I did. You say Korra has indeed changed, and been humbled. The problem is I see no evidence from the show itself, or at least, no strong evidence. That is certainly the sign of the first steps towards maturity, but not the complete progression. Having been given her Bending back without ample time to truly and completely accept herself for who she is, this whole scenario has been reduced to a near-death experience.
And most people do not change because of near-death experiences. Human beings are creatures of habit, and it takes real effort and time for us to rewire ourselves into different people. Yes, the Avatar universe does allow for certain miraculous things to occur, but they used to be: 1 at least somewhat established; and 2 plausible. As it is, she will only regress back into her usual self, albeit a fully-realized Avatar. Oh, joy. To die as a monster, or to die as a good man? I did end up finding the ending plausible if only because we have seen past avatars directly control the physical world through the current incarnation with Aang in season 1 of Airbender at the Fire Nation Temple.
In this case it was the physical body of the current Avatar that took the physical effect via healing. That said, I was able to re-watch the entire series from the first episode in a relatively short run to go and discover more of the setup, knowing now where it was going.
The triads in the first episode where right about one thing: she was fresh off the boat. If the magnitude of the moment had been any less I would agree with you that it would not be sufficient for a long-term transformative effect, but the severity of it allowed me to accept that kind of long-term and lasting effect was equally plausible. Narratively speaking, the greater the severity of the event experienced, the less the plausibility of going backwards.
I do wish more fans were able to share that experience alongside me. Hell, that would have been a nice solution: have Korra get her Bending back during a Solstice, while in the meantime brushing up on her spirituality. Unfortunately, the last five episodes, and especially the finale ending, undid all the buildup to a much stronger and more believable character growth.
I knew Korra was intended to be the opposite of Aang personality wise, but that development completely flew past my head. Considering that the issue only arises from the tale end of the series, they could have easily had an alternative ending ready in case Nick wanted more episodes. Yes, I heard that as well. But if the series ended with Aang making an appearance and telling Korra that she must go on a journey to regain her powers, it would still have been a great ending.
A terrific ending, actually. You would know, considering that this is a kids show, that she would regain her bending eventually. Teenage suicides are too real and putting them in a work of fiction to make things more dramatic is just not a good enough reason. Not to mention that it would be laughable for any character to jump off a cliff because they can ONLY bend the element of air to their will. No, Korra crying alone was dramatic enough. Knowing that she assumed she lost her bending forever provided a lot of the tension in that scene.
It certainly would have been a terrific ending, giving us just enough hope that things will eventually be all right for our hero. No topic is too real for fiction. And not in a funny way, like in Invader Zim. Besides, teenagers have committed suicide over much sillier things than being to Bend a single element. As someone who once attempted suicide as a teenager and failed laughably , I can only look back on that time in my life with sheer embarrassment.
What would taking my own life have accomplished? Update on Korra Season 2. Deserving that result is another thing. Way way too much. I hate them and like them at the same time so I don't know about this MissAngelPaws : Me too. Tarrlok should stay as who he is and Amon should go to prison:. NightFrog: Agreed all the way. Magicalgirl12 picked Hell yeah I hate them both so much! Magical: Again, what a lovely person you are.
They were trying to do a good thing, but in the wrong way. Korra was the one doing the bad things, making things worse and proving Amon's point that benders treat non-benders horrible. They didn't deserve to die, they should have gotten away and started over. No, they didn't deserve to die.
Add Your Comment. Avatar: The Legend of Korra more polls. What bending bending do you prefer? What ship is better? Who's your favorite LOK shipping? Are you guys ready for season 2 of The Legend of Korra?
However, the true person hiding under the mask was much more complicated and not whom anyone suspected. Amon was in fact a water-bender named Noatak who was trained by his father, Yakone, to be a bloodbender. Yakone wished to pass this technique along to Noatak in order to get revenge on Aang for taking away his bending.
However, Noatak was very much alive and learned he could use bloodbending to take other benders abilities away from them. With this power he took the alias of Amon and became leader of the Equalists. Yep, all that backstory about his family being killed by a firebender and that scar?
His claim that spirits gave him the power to bend because the Avatar had failed the world?
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