The Legend of Korra: Empathizing with Villains

A traditional hero’s journey portrays villains as impediments the hero must overcome, not as building blocks for the hero to progress as an individual. The Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, portrays many of its villains in a way that questions the hero’s own motives and abilities. In The Legend of Korra, the villains are all inextricably linked to Korra’s journey as the series’ heroine. Not only are the villains connected to Korra, but perhaps even more importantly they are linked to each other through Korra. Each season, and thus each new villain, addresses another facet of Korra’s character. They each induce viewers to think: “What if the villain has a point?”

Viewers’ first introduction to the Avatar, Aang of the original series, inhabits a more ancient-looking world and is a spiritual person. Korra inhabits a modern world and strains to connect to the spiritual aspect of herself. Villains, by their very nature, are often misguided by a lack of vision. Despite carefully laid out plans and calculations, villains are unable to see past their own perceptions and conclusions and punish others for it. How Korra faces each subsequent villain reflects her current state of mind. This allows Korra to continually reestablish a level of spirituality within herself by figuring out who she is aside from “the Avatar.” The villains in The Legend of Korra mimic the Avatar’s function itself. Themes that are important to both the Avatar universe and Korra’s character continually disappear and reemerge in newer, “reincarnated” forms.

Amon 

The first villain Korra encounters is Amon, leader of The Equalists, whose mission is eradicating bending altogether. He has the rare gift of being able to remove people’s ability to bend the elements. For Korra, this is a terrifying prospect. How can she still be the Avatar if she can’t bend the elements? For fans of The Last Airbender, this ability should not come as a surprise. The last time viewers saw such an ability it was in the hands of a twelve-year-old named Aang. In Aang’s case, he was a boy wracked with fear at the idea of having no choice but to kill his enemy, the Fire Lord. In the midst of his spiritual crisis, Aang is given the knowledge of how humans first learned to bend the elements from a Lion Turtle in “The Old Masters” episode. Using this knowledge against his enemy, Aang takes the Fire Lord’s firebending away and thus renders him powerless. Whereas Aang removes the Fire Lord’s bending as a merciful last resort, Amon in The Legend of Korra uses this ability as an act of control and suppression.

Amon makes the claim that benders oppress non-benders. This topic has already been tackled in Kevin Wong’s article for The Artifice, “Politics and Privilege in The Legend of Korra.” Tarrlok, who is actually Amon’s brother, points out to Korra how she also uses bending to intimidate people into getting what she wants. Korra’s tendency toward aggression is one of her chief characteristics. Amon certainly has a point. What if bending is just another form of oppression, an unfair advantage given or revoked at birth? Despite all the implicit bender bias that goes on, one must keep in mind that both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra make a point of having non-benders be a part of the Avatar’s main entourage. The Avatar’s function is to keep the world balanced and care for all nations, which includes non-benders as well.

Amon’s anti-bender propraganda is meant to exaggerate the schism between benders and non-benders by exploiting the Avatar’s inherent weakness in the eyes of non-benders. By having the fate of the world rest in the hands of the Avatar, a bender and an all-powerful one at that, non-benders will no doubt feel slighted and frustrated by a lack of participation. During Korra’s first visit to Republic City and thus viewers’ first impression of it, the bender and non-bender conflict has already reached a climax. Korra witnesses a group of firebending thugs hassling a non-bending shop owner over unpaid debts. They threaten to set the man’s shop ablaze simply because they can. Even when Korra tries to help this shop owner against his assailants, her bending inadvertently destroys much of the street’s infrastructure. By showing this bender and non-bender conflict in the place Aang once deemed would be the spiritual and harmonious center of the world, Amon’s propaganda will likely play upon the viewer’s thoughts as well. ¹

Amon and his group of followers known as The Equalists have a similar rationale to the villain Syndrome from the animated movie, The Incredibles. Giving non-benders access to mechanized chi-blockers is analogous to Syndrome leveling the playing field between superheroes and their average human peers with his inventions. The Avatar is the bender who unites all four elements in harmony. With Amon, no matter what type of bender someone is, he can take that power away. Amon’s method of equality undoes the origin of bending itself, which humans learned by observing nature and being taught by animals, and thus severs a link between man and nature. Amon wills himself as an anti-Avatar, having complete control over the elements while at the same time rejecting any affiliation with bending whatsoever. It is also like Kurt Vonnegut’s famous dystopian vision of so-called equality in “Harrison Bergeron,” where those who excel are forcibly handicapped so as not to offend their mediocre peers.

Non-bending issues aside, one can’t neglect the source of those ideologies. Amon’s rationale is not: “If I can’t bend the elements, no one else will either!”. Amon wins non-benders’ support under false pretenses. He is not just a bender, but a gifted one as well. He’s a very powerful bloodbender. Bloodbending is one of the series’ most feared styles of bending since it can take control of other people’s bodies against their will. It’s illegal and as far as taboos go, it’s about as bad as performing the forbidden curses in the Harry Potter series. Think of the communal aversion to “Crucio” being demonstrated in class in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film. That same disdain and outright horror is displayed when Katara reluctantly uses the ability to save her friends from the bloodbender Hama in Avatar: The Last Airbender’s episode “The Puppetmaster.” Even Prince Zuko, one of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s long-standing antagonists, is visibly unnerved when he first witnesses Katara bloodbending in “The Southern Raiders” episode. Returning to The Legend of Korra, though viewers have seen bloodbending’s power before, it had never equaled an Avatar’s.

As a bloodbending prodigy, Amon has no personal reason to banish bending. Why would he go to such lengths to masquerade as a non-bender? That is a question the series itself never gives a definitive answer to other than suggesting Amon’s long-time obsession with absolute equality. As his brother Tarrlok mentions, Amon obsesses over fairness almost all his life. As a child, this includes kindness and helping those deemed inferior but that warmth is soon lost during his teen years. ² Like many so-called peace movements in our world, what begins as a non-violent protest can quickly turn violent with impatience.

One other possible conclusion is that Amon, whose birth name is actually Noatak, is unintentionally replicating certain childhood traumas. When Amon conducts his first major Equalist gathering, he constructs a tragic childhood background. It’s complete with poverty and murder and disfigurement just in case any of his fans doubted his dedication to the non-bending cause. ³ That story though is a false one. Amon’s real childhood trauma comes from having a cruel and perfectionist bloodbending father, Yakone, who raises his two sons as cold-blooded killers (no pun intended).

Korra’s vision of Aang removing Yakone’s bending is a precursor to what Amon routinely does to benders through his Equalist movement. Why would Amon take Aang’s place in this scenario? After all, it is this event which spurs Yakone into forcing his sons to take his place as master bloodbenders. ⁴ By taking other benders’ abilities away, Amon unknowingly encourages his father’s own cruel behavior to repeat itself in other people. From a psychological perspective, Amon may want to take Aang’s place in the original event against Yakone. He wants to take power away from his father, something he does once as a child and repeats over and over as an adult against other benders with the Equalist movement.

Whatever Amon’s personal reasons for igniting a non-bending revolution are, his presence does a very important thing for Korra as the Avatar. He unintentionally unlocks her ability to airbend, which she had previously struggled to do on her own. Who knows how long it would have taken Korra to airbend were it not for Amon’s help? It’s like how Bolin later discovers he can lavabend when lava threatens to engulf both him and his friends. ⁵ Being put in a life or death situation is sometimes the only way one truly realizes what he or she is capable of. As Asami mentions to Korra later in the series, the Equalist movement also helped give non-benders a level of recognition they never had before. Amon helps non-benders realize they are just as important as benders are. ⁶

Unalaq

Though Korra’s confrontation with Amon enabled her to finally airbend and go into the Avatar State, she is still a long way off from being a fully-fledged Avatar. She can airbend, but that in no way makes Korra an airbender. To borrow Toph’s famous nickname from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Korra lacks Aang’s graceful, “twinkle toes”-style bending and instead keeps the same rough style she uses with the other elements. She’s not yet the spiritual person an Avatar needs to be.

Unalaq, her next opponent, appears to Korra both as her uncle and a man with a rare ability to tame the dark spirits who have recently gone rampaging. Unalaq tells Korra that these spirits are merely angered by the world’s overall lack of spirituality and he can teach her how to calm the current rift between humans and spirits. ⁷ It would seem Korra needs this opportunity more than ever. He is the one who initially suggests to Korra that matters are not simply black and white or good versus evil. Like humans, spirits have both light and darkness within them. It’s important for Korra to grasp this since an Avatar has to show leniency, especially with one’s enemies.

What Korra learns about light and darkness is key to how she later defeats him. Realizing that darkness cannot exist without light is how Korra briefly summons a force of light without the help of Raava. ⁸ It’s crucial when Korra learns of the Avatar’s origins, which began with a ten-thousand-year struggle between darkness and light in the world. ⁹ One also realizes why, after thousands of years of history, there was never a bad Avatar. Couldn’t any of the previous Avatars have gone rogue and not care about keeping the world in check? The answer is that no matter an Avatar’s individual personality, Raava is forever fused to them and therefore an Avatar can never lean too far into darkness.

In that origin story, Avatar Wan is the Pandora of the Pandora’s Box myth and accidently tips the balance in the world toward chaos. Despite Avatar Wan spending the rest of his life trying to repair his lapse in judgment, it makes Unalaq’s actions seem like a reversal of the original Avatar’s mistake. Unalaq wants to unify humans and spirits, not separate them, so what could be wrong about that? Unlike Amon, Unalaq wants an Avatar in the world. The difference is Unalaq wants to be that Avatar. He wants to be a new type of Avatar, one that ushers in a new era of chaos using dark energy. He is a reflection, not a reversal, of Avatar Wan’s original mistake of releasing chaos out into the world. To be human is not enough for him.

Amon’s tampering with the world’s energies actually has unintended positive consequences. Unalaq is more like Prometheus than Pandora. Korra would not have learned the useful spirit-calming technique without Unalaq’s tutelage. By inducing Korra to open the spirit portals, the nature of the world changes forever. After defeating the dark spirit Vaatu, Korra decides to take Unalaq’s advice and leave the portals open. ¹⁰ Korra not only allows spirits and humans to live together but also relinquishes the Avatar’s monopoly as the bridge between the material and spiritual worlds. Unalaq’s actions, which cause this shift in the planet’s energy, also give bending abilities to select non-benders. This contributes to a major rebirth of airbending in the world, allowing Bumi to finally be the airbender he believes his father Aang hoped he would be.

Unalaq’s villainous motivations are more of the garden variety, trading in the weak human flesh and soul in exchange for all-mighty powers. His motives are mainly self-centered, even at the cost of his two children. With little personal backstory, he appears less complex than Amon. He lacks the tortured and mentally scarring childhood or the vigilante’s search for justice by whatever means necessary. Even in Varrick’s black and white films or “movers” as he likes to call them, the actor who plays Unalaq depicts him as if he had a mustache to twirl, a cape and top hat to skulk around in, and intended to tie some poor damsel to a set of train tracks. ¹¹

Perhaps Unalaq seems as cartoonishly evil as Firelord Ozai often was in Avatar: The Last Airbender because he’s meant to be. For someone who sincerely believes the world being consumed by darkness and discord is not only good, but something he can control, Unalaq seems a bit laughably short-sighted. Yet many villains have thought so before him. Think of all those bad guys in the Indiana Jones films who foolishly tamper with powers they know so little about in the hopes it will make them immortal somehow or at least invincible. Unalaq’s true power is not his own, but one derived from his dark master Vaatu. He does not realize his own vulnerability.

After facing the spirit of darkness, it seems only fair for Korra to confront the darkness inside herself. When Korra enters the spirit world during Unalaq’s arc, her fears transform her into her childhood self. ¹² This makes Korra similar to Jinora, who proves more receptive to spiritual energy than her more knowledgeable father Tenzin. ¹³ It seems as a child, conventionally thought of as purer and more accepting than adults are, Korra is able to befriend spirits that initially frighten her. Her encounters with Unalaq allow the often cocky and strong-headed Korra to admit she is sometimes afraid, a feeling initiated by Amon. Korra’s fight with Unalaq brings her to her lowest point so far in the series by exposing one of her greatest fears: “Who am I if I’m not the Avatar?”. Unalaq and Vaatu are direct predecessors to Korra facing her own psychological demons later in the series.

Zaheer

Not everyone is happy about the human and spirit unification, especially since it means the Spirit Wilds have taken over Republic City. This change is a catalyst for the next villain Korra must face, Zaheer, who is all about impermanence. Zaheer argues that chaos is natural. Chaos for Zaheer differs from Unalaq before him. It’s not about dark energy or evil power, but about the world’s naturally unstable condition. Civilizations come and go and order is essentially an illusion created by man. What better explanation for the vines that now take over the infrastructure in Republic City. ¹⁴

When a number of non-benders suddenly gain new abilities, it doesn’t go as smoothly as either Korra or Tenzin would have hoped. As Aang’s only airbending offspring, Tenzin expects to resurrect the Air Nation to what his father once knew. However, the new airbenders are either afraid and want their bending taken away or have little interest in leaving their homes to become air nomads. ^{15 16} There is a clash between what the Air Nation once was and what it can be now. Team Avatar’s first airbending recruit ends up being an orphan thief who only joined them to avoid imprisonment. ¹⁷ The energy shift gives certain people power it probably shouldn’t. It happens to give one of the world’s most dangerous criminals the ability to escape his prison.

Zaheer answers the original question raised by Amon’s storyline about non-benders having diminished roles in a world dominated by bending. Unalaq’s defeat and Korra’s decision to keep the spirit portals open gives Zaheer the opportunity he needs to take action. Zaheer was born a non-bender. Despite his inexperience, he quickly emerges as one of the most powerful airbenders the world has seen. If one talks about the standard principles of enlightenment alone, Zaheer succeeds where Aang failed, albeit unintentionally. When Zaheer’s girlfriend P’Li is killed in battle, it destroys his last earthly tether and grants him the rare airbending ability of flight. He is only the second airbender to have ever accomplished this feat, which had long been treated as an urban legend. ¹⁸ Never having to face the death of the girl he loves, Aang of Avatar: The Last Airbender is able to choose his love for Katara over mastery of the Avatar State in the episode “The Guru.” Zaheer uses his girlfriend’s death as a release from bonds to gain greater power. P’Li’s death, not his own personal realization, breaks his earthly tether for him.

This is a stark contrast to Korra’s sacrifice at the end of the series, where she risks her own life out of compassion for her enemy. Despite his violent tactics, Zaheer is not a stranger to acts of goodness. He once rescued his girlfriend P’Li from a life spent in servitude and seems to genuinely seek mankind’s elevation from bondage. ¹⁹ What makes Zaheer a villain is that he is willing to kill other people for the sake of an abstract ideal. His version of enlightenment and freedom does not include the essential components of compassion and wisdom, which are two qualities indivisible from one another.

Zaheer’s character has a strong affiliation with Buddhist concepts such as non-attachment from worldly cravings as well as awareness of the impermanence of all things. This connects to Unalaq’s speeches about spirituality. Instead of Unalaq’s concern over a tribe’s lack of spirituality, Zaheer’s arc concerns an individual’s spirituality. Even Toph, whom viewers of Avatar: The Last Airbender know as a brazen and fiercely independent tomboy, disappears from society in search of enlightenment. Reliance on oneself without an authority figure’s influence is a major aspect of Zaheer’s philosophy.

Korra has to test-drive Zaheer’s philosophy for herself. Though she can always rely on the help of her friends and family, this is the first season where Korra starts to feel truly alone as the Avatar. Never before has there been an Avatar, aside from the original, who cannot look to his or her past lives for guidance. This reality is especially brutal when Zaheer poisons Korra and she has a nightmarish confrontation with memories of her past enemies. Korra is an Avatar who is truly on her own, held together by her worldly connections but barred from otherworldly refuge.

Initially, an aged but in no way less feisty, Toph helps Korra recover from defeat. She helps Korra get rid of the physical poison in her body, but The Legend of Korra makes a strong distinction between physical and psychological ailments. It is Zaheer who is instrumental in Korra’s recovery from post-traumatic stress and depression later on in the series. As a hero, Korra has to meet her enemy twice. Once as a standard hero versus villain scenario and second as a healing process from trauma.

It is quite fitting for Zaheer to become an airbender out of any of the other elements. He often spouts the famous teachings of Guru Laghima. ²⁰ He is an ardent admirer of airbending culture, but seems to have missed the memo about the Air Nation’s preference for non-violence. Despite Zaheer’s great respect for the Air Nation, he is also not above wiping out the entire new generation of airbenders should Korra not give herself up. Though he does not succeed, Zaheer and his accomplices’ actions end up destroying an ancient Air Temple and no doubt a lot of important historical artifacts and remnants of Air Nation culture with it. ²¹ How can a true airbender think nothing of such desecration?

Airbenders are the most spiritual benders. The air temples, where the Fire Nation killed the original airbenders, are hidden away on mountaintops. It is easily reminiscent of Buddhist monasteries. The fact that the Fire Nation was able to desecrate those elusive sanctuaries in Avatar: The Last Airbender became a symbol of the world’s overall loss of spirituality during the Hundred Year War. Zaheer destroys a great deal of beauty in the world for the sake of his new world order. His group’s cause even comes at the cost of his girlfriend’s life, but her death only reinforces his belief rather than crushing it.

Receiving the miraculous gift of airbending out of the blue makes Zaheer believe he has a “divine right” of sorts to create the new world order he’s dreamed of. This is reminiscent of religious fanatics who will use certain natural phenomena as signs and sanctions from the gods to do whatever they see fit. It makes Zaheer a particularly frightening enemy to face. Not only does he believe his actions are necessary, but that they are morally correct and the universe supports him all the way. Being guided by the teachings of the ancient airbending master Guru Laghima, one has to ask oneself, how could the words of a guru possibly lead him astray?

Zaheer sees himself as a revolutionary, one who releases the Earth Kingdom from the tyranny of its monarchy. It’s not difficult to see his point. The Earth Queen is undoubtedly a corrupt ruler. Even Su Beifong of the Metal Clan in Zaofu, which is an incredibly safe place devoted to artistic pursuits, thinks the monarchy is an outdated system of government. ²²

The Earth Queen is mean-spirited, self-absorbed, and neglects (or is at least oblivious to) the sufferings of others. She is often depicted as if she were a dictator, not just a queen. Fans of Alice in Wonderland will likely be reminded of The Queen of Hearts’s demands for random and unwarranted beheadings when they see her. Mako and Bolin’s own grandmother has a portrait of the Earth Queen on her mantelpiece and does not allow criticism of any kind from anyone about the Earth Queen’s efficacy as a monarch. Even when her home is burning to the ground, she refuses to leave this royal portrait behind. When Bolin forcibly saves his grandma, the only belonging she takes is the Earth Queen’s portrait. ²³ Though this unwavering loyalty to the queen doesn’t seem forced upon Mako and Bolin’s grandma, it does resemble a cult of personality common to totalitarianism. To suggest that these are allusions to the ardent and militant devotion directed toward dictators such as Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, and perhaps most importantly the Kim dynasty in North Korea would not be far-fetched.

Zaheer’s reasoning does not differ all that much from what birthed the French or American Revolution, with their pursuit of the lofty goal known as liberty. Most revolutions are the blood-stained patches of history where anger, resentment, and acts of revenge override the human capacity for kindness and understanding. They often bring out the worst in us and Zaheer’s case is no different. As a member of the Red Lotus, the anarchist splinter group of the White Lotus, Zaheer takes the extremist route of what he believes is attaining peace. His idea of freedom involves executing world leaders so that power is in the hands of the people. He knows this will likely result in rioting, violence, and overall confusion but believes this is not only inevitable but good.

Having people forced to think for themselves for once and show their true thoughts and actions when respectability and order do not intervene is certainly important. Absolute freedom is something people often say they crave, but dread and turn down when faced with its reality. Zaheer is a man of his word since after killing the Earth Queen he does not decide to take charge of the Earth Kingdom himself. Instead, he leaves and lets Earth Kingdom citizens loot whatever valuables they can find and set the place ablaze. ²⁴

As bad as the Earth Queen is, she hardly deserves her cruel demise at Zaheer’s hand. Since airbenders are peaceful nomads, viewers likely see airbending only in a positive light. It is a graceful, defensive art about balance and designed to disarm one’s opponent by using their own force against them. Remember in the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode “The Headband” how Aang defeated a Fire Nation bully without landing a single punch? It’s often a reactionary bending concerned with agility and nimbleness and as Meelo often says, requires you to “Be the leaf!”. ²⁵ Airbending concerns the breath, which one assumes by default means it is only life-giving.

With Zaheer, it is the first time viewers see airbending being used in such a brutal and agonizing way. An airbender robbing another person of his or her breath seems unthinkable. By robbing the Earth Queen of her air supply, Zaheer is essentially removing her right to freedom. Since Zaheer only sees the Earth Queen as a figurehead for greed and corruption, it blocks his ability to see her as another person who also deserves a chance at freedom. Zaheer is unable to show mercy towards those he opposes. This gives Korra a model for how an Avatar should not behave. Acts of mercy and forgiveness become crucial for Korra as she faces her next opponent, Kuvira.

Korra and Zaheer even end up being on the same page when it comes to Kuvira. Zaheer realizes his actions unintentionally created a tyrant. With his help, Korra is able to reconnect with Raava and she learns more about how to energybend. This is crucial in Korra’s final battle. By the end of the series, even Zaheer gets what he wanted as far as the monarchy is concerned and without any bloodshed. Prince Wu, the Earth Queen’s successor, plans on dissolving the monarchy on his own terms.

Kuvira

It’s essential for Kuvira to be the final major enemy Korra must face in the series. Kuvira is shown to viewers even before her major arc in the final season. As a citizen of Zaofu, she helps in the fight against Zaheer and even tends to the injured. ²⁶ Unlike her predecessors, she is not shown leading protests, bidding for greater power, or leading any radical organizations. She seems entirely average, in a good way. She seems both kind and responsible. Maybe there’s a reason for that. It takes viewers off guard, just as it would be difficult to imagine an Avatar committing any sort of bad behavior or at least not being a prime example of human goodness.

The only alternative to the Earth Kingdom ruled by Kuvira is one ruled by the inept Prince Wu, who cares more about fancy celebrations and flirting with pretty women than actually ruling. He relies heavily on Mako to do just about everything for him, including protecting him from dissenters. Viewers’ first introduction to Kuvira in action as a leader is when she single-handedly captures a group of bandits while hardly breaking a sweat. ²⁷ When faced with the option of having either Kuvira of Prince Wu be the new Earth Kingdom leader, the choice seems all too clear.

The problem is that, unlike one’s first impression of Kuvira from Zaheer’s arc, Kuvira is also extreme in her ideologies like Zaheer. With Kuvira, viewers see a distorted funhouse mirror of Korra’s traits displaced on a military leader. Kuvira is an obvious riff on overzealous dictators. She wants to restore the Earth Kingdom to its supposed former glory but believes only she has the leadership it takes to get it there. Sound familiar? As the Avatar, Korra is meant to do much the same thing. Even Korra realizes Kuvira is taking over her job as Avatar while she’s been busy recuperating from her fight with Zaheer. The only difference is that, as the Avatar, Korra owes her allegiance to all nations and all people whereas Kuvira is solely concerned with the Earth Kingdom at the expense of all outsiders.

Kuvira perceives herself as a generous and benevolent leader, but as Toph points out to Korra that is a dangerous mode of thinking. The issues that routinely plague mankind are far too big for any one person to assume they can fix. ²⁸ Kuvira overestimates her own importance. This is something Korra must also learn. Since Korra is the Avatar, she also sees herself as the world’s saving grace. However, to be the Avatar, Korra must be a master of herself and a servant to her people.

Being a servant of the people is something strongly associated with royalty, which Zaheer and Kuvira have reached the same conclusion about. Kuvira also believes the monarchy is an outdated system. Not unlike Adolf Hitler’s rationale of restoring Germany’s bruised pride after the First World War, Kuvira will do whatever it takes to make sure the Earth Kingdom will never be mocked or hurt again. She even goes so far as to dub the Earth Kingdom as the “Earth Empire” instead, echoing the symbol of “The Third Reich.” ²⁹ Like any dictator and all of Korra’s previous enemies, Kuvira goes too far.

She operates on a “Join or Die” policy, reabsorbing territories into her Earth Empire through intimidation and wiping out any that stand against her. Siphoning supplies from those who don’t bow to her rule, she bends the opposition until it breaks. Even those who willingly submit to her authority don’t flourish. Instead, they turn into slave labor camps. She amasses her own private army and with the inventor Varrick’s help builds a superweapon at the expense of the spirit vines in the Foggy Swamp. As with Unalaq, Kuvira messes with powers she can’t completely control. These are all the unsettling symptoms of an emerging totalitarian government.

Whereas Zaheer wants freedom born out of chaos to reign supreme, Kuvira is obsessed with order. This is why her followers must swear absolute and unconditional allegiance to her. She loves to see her soon-to-be subjects grovel for her mercy and proclaim her as “The Great Uniter.” Kuvira is under the illusion Zaheer was also under, that she provides people with freedom. Though Kuvira is certainly no fool, her narcissism does make her somewhat susceptible to overt pledges of loyalty. Zhu Li, Varrick’s excellent but overworked assistant, convinces both Kuvira and Varrick himself that her years of being unappreciated have converted her into an ardent follower of “The Great Uniter.” ³⁰ Of course one can pin that down to Zhu Li’s great acting skills, which draw upon her actual pent-up feelings, but it’s more than just that. Kuvira truly believes she is an awe-inspiring savior and relishes having a yes-man remind her of her own vision of herself.

Kuvira’s quest for power is a repetition of what led to the downfall of the Fire Nation under the helm of Fire Lord Ozai at the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Fire Lord Ozai thought the Fire Nation was superior and it was a “manifest destiny” of sorts to wipe out all the other supposedly weaker elements. What comes with this lust for power and control is an apparent lack of vision. In The Legend of Korra, Korra is arrested upon her first visit to Republic City for dishing out a personal vendetta. She fights thugs and is arrested for doing so. Whether or not one agrees with her vigilante instincts, Korra gets into trouble for deciding to take matters into her own hands just as Kuvira later does with the fate of the Earth Kingdom.

Kuvira initially has Varrick on her side, whom viewers have come to expect to be a businessman after a profit before anything else. Bolin, on the other hand, viewers know to be a good-natured young man. He is a little naive perhaps, but usually well-meaning. The fact that Bolin initially supports Kuvira’s reunification of the Earth Kingdom lends credibility to her claims. Even Korra, who’s prone to initiating conflicts, does not at first think Kuvira is as serious a problem as she is. Korra originally believes she and Kuvira can reach a negotiation. ³¹ Despite Varrick’s selfish tendencies, he shows signs of having a conscience while working under Kuvira. It is only when Varrick’s doubts about Kuvira convince him to abandon ship at the risk of his own life that viewers realize how much of a problem Kuvira really is.

While Kuvira is busy trying to pick up pieces of the Earth Kingdom and patch them together into the new Earth Empire, Korra is left in her own state of disorder. During Kuvira’s rise to power, Korra has become sullen, withdrawn, and cautious which is a far-cry from what viewers have come to expect from her. Her defeat at the hands of Zaheer leaves her broken with little hope of her ever fully recovering. The initial solution to this problem seems to be removing the lingering bit of poison left in her body from the fight. With Toph’s help, Korra is able to push past her fear of previous enemies so that she can give full focus on the ones ahead of her.

Everything seems settled, but that would be too easy. Korra’s first one-on-one confrontation with Kuvira is far more taxing than she imagined. It also shows how, despite all the poison being removed from her body, she is still plagued by a nightmarish reflection of herself that hinders her ability to fight at her full potential. Throughout Korra’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, she is haunted by a shadowy doppelganger. Whenever she gains confidence in herself, especially in combat, the appearance of this dark side of herself causes her to slip up and underperform in battle. ³²

This figure is initially designated as being only a psychological projection of Korra’s mind. However, when a spirit disguised in the form of a dog growls at this “other Korra” viewers know it’s not just a mental projection. ³³ That’s not to say the “other Korra” is real in a flesh and blood sense, but it’s something tangible that can’t simply be wished away or miraculously cured. This “other Korra” is a precursor to Korra’s major problem in facing off against Kuvira.

Korra begins her journey as a hot-headed and impatient teenager. Her initial introduction to viewers is an explosive one, as a toddler who blasts through a wall and exclaims with gusto about her status as the new Avatar. ³⁴ It’s no accident that despite being born a waterbender, she is a natural when it comes to the aggressive elements of earthbending and firebending. Airbending, which requires a calmness of mind Korra finds difficult to master, is her trouble spot and unlike her previous incarnation, Korra is anxious to become a fully-fledged Avatar as soon as possible.

Kuvira may appear to be a cool and calculating villain on the outside, but much like Princess Azula of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there exists deep resentment and anger beneath that facade. In the series finale, Kuvira reveals the unlikely connection between her desire for world conquest and her personal background. The now-scattered Earth Kingdom is a painful reminder of her rootlessness as an orphan, feeling unwanted and having to construct and carve out her identity all on her own. ³⁵

In Korra’s final showdown with Kuvira, viewers witness a much matured and level-headed woman facing the impetuous teenager she once was. It’s no wonder Kuvira is the only main female antagonist of the series, to make her and Korra’s connection clearer. If Korra can stand as the woman she is now against the woman she once was without falling apart, only then can she become the Avatar she was destined to be. This stands as an entirely different conclusion from Aang accidently regaining control over the Avatar State and finding a compassionate loophole around having to outright kill his enemy. In Korra’s case, she has no choice but to face her demons if she wants to emerge a hero.

When Korra shows compassion for Kuvira in the end and defends her against an energy blast, it is nevertheless a reflection of the finale to Avatar: The Last Airbender. ³⁶ Unlike Korra and perhaps even Zaheer, Kuvira is willing to sacrifice her own fiancé in exchange for power. Like Avatar Aang, Korra no longer lashes out at her enemies in anger. By retaining her humanity and compassion when she is most likely to abandon it, she does what a villain would never expect of an enemy. Her humanity is so great by the final episode that it even inspires Kuvira to surrender, but not out of weakness. Korra’s compassionate demeanor makes Kuvira realize how much pain she’s caused and the extent of the Avatar’s power despite that.

Final Thoughts

The first half of the series has villains focused on remedying some past event, whereas villains of the latter half are all about the present. That’s a journey Korra must make herself, pushing past old traumas in order to face current ones. The villains of The Legend of Korra are not exactly the cuddly, huggable kind who make viewers burst into tears over how “relatable” and misunderstood they are. Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer, and Kuvira are not kind people and they commit plenty of horrible acts in order to carve the world into the image they most desire.

The same act can have entirely different connotations and consequences depending on who is responsible. If one isn’t careful, intentions and results can be radically different from one another. Amon wanted people to be treated fairly but decided to handicap people to get there. Unalaq wanted the spirits to return but decided to unleash darkness upon the world. Zaheer wanted freedom but only through violence and disorder. Kuvira wanted to unify her home but became a ruthless dictator to do so. All of them began with well-intentioned goals but were too consumed by their own visions to notice when their plans took wrong turns.

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