#‘unalaq was right’
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there obv IS a prevalent and aggravating trend of stories having an antagonist who correctly identifies a flaw in society and aims to fix it but also commits atrocities along the way that the narrative claims to undermine the entire goal and then when the hero defeats them it is in the name of the status quo - but people sometimes point to legend of korra as an example of this which is so annoying bc like man how can you not understand a show written for children. every single season ends with korra defeating the villains and then saying "they had some points tho!" and then changing the status quo to address the flaw the villain identified
#rambles#legend of korra#lok#she says amon WAS right nonbenders ARE underrepresented and then gave them more political power#she said unalaq WAS right we ARE severely disconnected from the spirit world and then kept the portal open#and then books three and four kind of combine with her saying#maybe assassinating the earth queen with no follow up plan wasn’t great bc now the entire earth kingdom has plunged into chaos#and kuvira’s brutal dictatorial style leaves something to be desired!#BUT the monarchy did need to go and now the earth kingdom must shift into a democracy#and like these aren’t things you need to analyze the plot to discover#korra says straight up ‘amon was right’#‘unalaq was right’#it’s just funny 2 me
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It’s me again, and I’ve got another ask for ya @comradekatara
And no stupid pol meme’s that I gave only a cursory glance too and stupidly screenshotted this time!
I’ve seen a few of your post (at least I think it was your’s) about LOK. So I was wondering. In regard to the main villains, who is your least favorite/most disliked?
And what would you change about their motivations and perhaps their “villainous” means to make them a more compelling and/or sympathetic character?
lol this is a pretty big ask. i mean basically every villain in lok is completely incoherent thematically, politically, ideologically. people will call amon a communist but he doesn’t actually give a shit about economics or class in any capacity. people call unalaq a theocrat but as far as im aware he isn’t exploiting people’s spiritual faith to gain power, (maybe that’s what he was doing at first, but) he literally wants to submerge the world into “darkness” for one million years for… reasons and purposes. unalaq/vaatu is by far the worst lok villain, but that’s not even saying much because it’s so patently ridiculous and cartoonish. the red lotus are actually compelling but they also love chaos for the sake of chaos (because anarchism!) and want to violently murder a teenage girl and hold a genocided people hostage to do so (despite zaheer’s supposed respect for air nomads). and kuvira is an ethnonationalist who declares herself emperor, so i guess she’s at least a somewhat coherent portrait of a real type of person who actually exists, but the fact that the fascist despot is the ONLY character who points out that republic city was built on colonized earth kingdom land is um….. not a great look?
and then side characters like tarrlok, hiroshi, varrick, queen hou-ting, suyin(???), wu(???) who aren’t really the primary villains even though in many ways they’re more ideologically coherent, are just also kind of weird for their ambiguous framing. like hou-ting is literally kidnapping airbenders and putting them in underground labor camps where they’re tortured and ruthlessly trained into forming an army, which is something that chaisee does in the yangchen novels and is regarded as utterly reprehensible and heinous for it (because it is), whereas we’re supposed to feel bad for hou-ting when she dies because murder is bad uwu. and we’re supposed to forgive hiroshi for [checks notes] attempted filicide. and varrick is just some fun wacky little guy who is a ruthlessly amoral capitalist but also he does the charleston! and isn’t him marrying his overworked, exploited assistant cute?? and not at all grossly misogynistic and horrifying???? LOL!
so i don’t think going through every villain and antagonist individually and imbuing them with depth is really a worthy use of time, since the show largely suffers from incoherence due to the fact that it isn’t cohesive at all. besides korra’s character development (which is excellent), there’s no real central idea that ties every season together. take atla instead: it’s a very linear narrative, with an established goal that is always being worked towards and once it’s ultimately completed, the show ends. lok has no idea what that central goal is. so instead of trying to fix every character, it’s better to work from the center out and first simply define that goal. the central political tension in lok is, fundamentally, a question of whether it is better to alter the status quo in various radical ways, or whether it is better to maintain the violently upheld hegemonic norm by virtue of it being the status quo (and spoiler alert, it’s the latter!). and these radical ways, whether it be the terrorist movement of a fraudulent right wing populist dictator, or the terrorist movement of a bunch of commies, is always presented as equally dangerous and in need of korra’s gaggle of cops, liberals, and capitalists to suppress. what a great show.
however, the lok that lives in my head does away with most of that, and simply focalizes the conflict between the white lotus and the red lotus as diametrically opposing forces both vying to control korra’s position in the world as avatar and reconstitute her legacy on their terms. because korra’s arc is fundamentally about learning to define her selfhood and her role in the world on her own terms, and the one commonality between every villain is that they’re trying to suppress or control her identity in some way. because it’s also, incidentally, a show primarily concerned with the value of identity politics, and doesn’t actually give a shit about any of the class struggles that underpin the show’s worldbuilding and inform so many of its primary characters. so while i’m not opposed to korra’s struggle of identity, and in fact appreciate it a lot and find it personally affirming in multiple ways, korra deserves a show that is actually worthy of her brilliance as a character.
it’s not that korra shouldn’t struggle to establish her identity on her own terms, but that the politics through which they attempt to communicate this struggle are incoherent. so i would simply reframe the conflict as one primarily between the white lotus, who are reformist liberals at best, and neoconservative reactionaries at worst. we see the best of the white lotus in atla (arguably), and the worst of the white lotus in the yangchen novels (which are fascinating and excellent and everyone should read them). xai bau is only ever mentioned in a single exposition dump (in one of the only truly great episodes of lok, i might add), but his philosophy and role in the narrative is nonetheless fascinating to me. the idea that the white lotus becomes more public facing after the war, leading to its detractors also growing more vocal, is genuinely interesting. the conflicts established between the white and red lotuses are genuinely compelling (to a point). but they never truly address how the white lotus kept korra locked away in a compound for the first 17 years of her life, they never meaningfully address the harm the white lotus has done to her and to the world.
like, of course korra couldn’t master airbending, the element of freedom, if she’s never been truly free. korra spent her entire life in a gilded cage, her role in the world and legacy defined for her by liberals who wanted her to be some kind of supercop instead of a genuine spiritual leader. it’s not korra’s fault that spirituality and harmony and meditation are difficult for her, she was literally denied those facets of herself for her entire adolescence. the white lotus constitute a microcosm of the ruthless neoliberal society korra encounters when first arriving in republic city. the white lotus are a metonym for the liberal identity politics centrist reformist vision of the world that lok uncritically presents as the ideal. in a better show, korra would question those systems, disavow them, and even perhaps attempt to dismantle them. korra would define her freedom of self on her own terms by realizing the ways in which the white lotus and their broader ideology has harmed her.
that said, the red lotus is also flawed. and i don’t just mean because they’re chaos-hungry terrorists who love to murder with impunity, but because they’re in the business of denying korra’s agency as a human being and not simply as the avatar. they want korra dead because they don’t believe in the role she embodies. and you know, they can want that for understandable political reasons without being completely evil about it, but obviously in a show as facile and shallow as lok, no they can’t. i think that korra’s brief pause in considering zaheer’s point of view should have lasted longer. i think that korra should have become disillusioned by the white lotus and the stipulations of capitalism (as early as book 1, frankly), and she should have genuinely considered joining them. and once she does eventually disavow them too, it’s not because of their evil commie politics, but because they’re also in the business of dictating her role in the world, and korra can’t stand to be boxed in by anyone, certainly not from people who claim to be in the business of dissolving borders.
so pretty much every villain in lok would fall under either the umbrella of white lotus operatives (whether direct or indirect) or red lotus (whether direct or indirect). people who want korra to be the world’s ultimate cop who upholds the systems that benefit them, or people who think that the avatar has no place in a truly just world, for (honestly) kind of valid reasons. the red lotus would be antagonists who work against korra’s arc of establishing her own freedom and agency, but the white lotus would be the “villains.” and the capitalist juggernauts who mistreat and exploit their workers (and their assistants and their daughters etc etc) would not be let off the hook so easily either. the neocolonial tensions in republic city wouldn’t be framed as an issue of the distant past. the issues of class and colonialism would be foregrounded alongside korra’s struggle to establish her identity. and then, perhaps, the narrative would finally cohere.
#745voiceofthepeople#asks#lok crit#analysis#korra#white lotus#red lotus#oh lok that lives in my head…… save me korra save me…..
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Can I talk about Avatar for a second?? Lemme talk about ATLA/ALoK for a second.
Like, so, I have many, many...many....grievances and hangups about A:LoK. I have tried to watch it twice, and while the first season is okay, the second season made me so mad that I dropped it. Twice. I have not watched the third season or got to see Gays In Action in 4k, because I was that disappointed.
I remember a hell of a lot about ATLA...but I can barely remember anything about Korra. That’s mostly due to my disappointment, but the fact remains that I barely remember the show, after watching it twice, and it’s the latest installment. That being said, I remember one thing that stuck out to me most....
Vaatu.
I am so, SO disappointed that they really just!! Made up this AMAZING concept of an Avatar counter-spirit, and they were just like!! “Oh yeah, his concepts are chaos and darkness, he’s EVIL, dudes.”
The one thing in the world that could possibly rival one as strong as the Avatar, would have been Another Avatar. They could’ve done something amazing with that!! They could finally have a balancing act!! A great leadup to this bigger enemy, with a twist at the end - like how ATLA did it with Ozai, with Aang refusing to kill him and instead taking away his bending!! The outcome wasn’t expected, but it still led to the same ending, with a better meaning behind it because it didn’t force Aang outside of his boundaries!! But...LoK didn’t have that. It was “Here’s this sketchy guy, we all Know he’s sketchy, but LOOK, THE TWIST IS THAT HE’S SKETCHY!! BUT ON A MORE EXTREME LEVEL!! Haha!!”
The only thing that LoK managed to twist was the lore of the world, by expanding on the Avatar, how it came to be, and by introducing a spirit of EQUAL POWER to the Avatar. I love Wan’s and Raava’s story, that isn’t my problem with this twist. My problem lies in the fact that Vaatu was merely made to be the Evil Avatar Spirit, in a world where balance and equality mean everything. I think Vaatu being the spirit of Chaos and Darkness would’ve been so cool to explore, if the creators had time to explore him - because Chaos and Darkness aren’t evil, they’re nature. What is morality anyway to a spirit?? Why make an Evil Spirit?? Why not explore WHY Vaatu is the way he is rather than say he just is??
Does that mean that Tui and La are merely good and evil, then?? They’re supposed to represent Yin and Yang, quite literally. Is Tui, the moon, evil simply because they can only thrive in the darkness?? Is La evil, because the sea is unrestrained and takes innocent lives, being a chaotic force?? Shouldn’t Tui and La be CLOSE, or at least GRATEFUL to Vaatu for giving them the darkness they need to remain balanced?? I don’t know too much else about the spirit gods in Avatar, so idk if there’s a Spirit of the Night, but my point still stands - the moon can’t prosper without darkness, and the ocean needs the moon. How can that be constrained to an idea as simple as “evil”??
Was La in the wrong or the in the right for destroying those fire nation ships, for taking control of Aang, for taking Zuko’s crew away from him after their other half died??
I just think that the world of ATLA/ALoK would have been so much better if Vaatu wasn’t just...Evil Bad Guy Spirit. The balancing act would’ve been restored if there are two Avatars (and Raava should be seen as something that can become Too Much - too much light, too much serenity/complacency, too much order means that there’s no room for self-identity, chance, risk, and the ability to look inward. If Raava can go too far, but be held back by their Avatar, then why can’t the same be held for Vaatu??). For a world that says that balance and equality is the true guide to peace, it seems really, really desperate to keep only one Avatar.
Vaatu would have been an excellent twist, if he just wasn’t so one-sided, and if it was anyone else but goddamn Unalaq.
That being said, I think Tui, La, and Vaatu (and maybe Wan Shi Tong, that giant Owl bitch) would’ve been/should be Ride or Die.
#Vaatu#Avatar#avatar: the legend of korra#avatar: the last airbender#Vaatu Headcanons#Lamenting the fact that I dislike ALoK despite trying so hard to love it#FUCK THE MCU AND TONY STARK THIS IS NOW A MULTIFANDOM ACCOUNT#No shame in having 20+ fixations!!#This is mainly me complaining about the writing choices used for Korra but also#This is me pointing the potential in Vaatu#BITCH GIVEN THE CHANCE I WOULD BE A DARK AVATAR#MY EYES WOULD GLOW RED!!! THATS SICK AS FUCK!!#ATLA#ALoK#I read Avatar fics for 3 days straight and YES it was mainly Zukka
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Aang actually *was* a Terrible Dad (and we should stop making excuses for him).
One thing I cannot get over is how people say that Aang actually wasn't that terrible of a father, and I keep hearing the same excuses to his behavior: he didn't grow up with conventional parents, he had to focus on bringing back his air-bending culture, Katara was already a natural parent and was totally okay being the housewife/mom who let Aang off the hook with most of the serious parenting duties... ugh....
Anyway, I have three points to give:
1) Aang may not have grown up with conventional family structure, but he certainly knew enough about the world (being a nomad his whole life pre-war) to understand what a healthy family dynamic looked like. He knew enough about Toph's dad and Zuko's dad to understand what a poor father figure looked like. Aang also spent time with Hakoda, in ATLA season 3, to see the characteristics of a good father -- and this doesn't even include the time he spent traveling with Sokka/Katara alone and noticing how their dad's absence was affecting them. I put a lot of emphasis on Katara, here, because she makes it very clear in Season 3 that her father leaving the family was devastating... and this girl would want a partner who understood those feelings and do absolutely everything to keep the family together. It's what she did throughout the entirety of ATLA-- Katara was the glue that kept everyone close -- and you would think Aang would pick up on those cues, rather than let history repeat itself after he had his family with Katara. Imagine how awful it must've been for Katara, watching the man she married ultimately go off with their air-bending son on these cultural excursions, and not even consider that their two other kids might want to learn about air bending culture anyway. They're a bi-cultural family, after all, right? Wouldn't that have been a prime example for the new world, showing a blended family being together and not separate? Just let that sink in for a moment.
2) Many people say that any misunderstood family dynamics between Kya, Bumi and Tenzin came to a peaceful conclusion in LOK season 2 with a happy family portrait. Here's the thing-- a posed, smiling family portrait doesn't necessarily indicate a healthy family unit. I'm also making note of LOK Season 3, when Bumi admits that he finally feels more connected to their father after he magically gets Airbending, and also that scene when Kya/Bumi arrive to the Northern Air Temple and the acolytes are shocked to hear that Avatar Aang had other children besides Tenzin. I mean... how much effort would it take, exactly, for Aang to just mention to the temple monks and acolytes that he had two other kids? Was he embarrassed to tell them they weren't air benders? Was he ashamed? In any case, he was the Avatar and he should've demonstrated pride for the children he had regardless of their bending ability or lack their-of. It goes without saying that, while Aang did grow up differently and had many priorities being the Avatar and the Last Airbender... he still made some conscious choices about how little of a "family man" he wanted to be. Aang clearly favored the air-bending life and didn't process that he was also raising a family that was part WaterTribe (perhaps because many of their customs clashed with his air-bending way of life... but that's another conversation.)
3) Yes, Bryke are notorious for writing examples of poor father figures (Ozai/Unalaq/BeiFong/Yakone/Hiroshi) and I'm also here to tell you that they're known for writing women who lose agency and turn devoted-doting-domestic-docile once they get with their man. Pema from LOK is a good example-- all we know about her is she literally gave her life to be an air-acolyte and carry Tenzin's children (the only backstory we get is Pema secretly pined for Tenzin until it became too much and she had to say something), and be the good housewife and mother to those air bending kids. We know nothing about this woman's individual wants or needs outside of motherhood. Another example is the backstory of Yakone and his unnamed wife who-- after giving this man two sons, completely disappears from the narrative and is not aware Yakone is abusing his kids. And she's still exists, because Amon refuses to go with Noatak so as to not abandon their mom. Their mother was so unnecessary as a character after she had the kids, she became this oblivious/silent character in the background who let her own kids get abused. Another example is Unalaq's wife-- again, about a father using his two kids like his henchmen and the mother isn't even in the picture. We know she exists because after Unalaq gets destroyed... Esna turns to Desca and says "what're we gonna tell Mother?" It may have been written as a subtle joke... but the underlying sentiment is still there.
I'd say my favorite example is the fate of Fire Lady Ursa-- a woman once determined to protect her children that she was willing to commit murder and treason -- ends up choosing to forget those same children and instead wipes all her memories of them entirely to start a quiet domestic life with her childhood sweetheart, a man who very much knows the life Ursa left behind and has the power to decide what truths he wants to tell her about the world and live like there wasn't even a bloody war happening. (Don't even get me started on how The Search disappointed me. Oy).
Perhaps Aang and Katara -- even without intent -- might have fallen into that formulaic pattern when Bryke wrote out the first two seasons of LOK, because that was during the time The Promise, The Search and The Rift comics got published, and Katara's character was definitely becoming that unquestionably-loyal/no fuss/devoted girlfriend to Aang where she would go with everything he decided and sadly sit in a corner while Aang got all the praise and attention and never considering her feelings. Bryke picked up on these mistakes, however, because in the later comics like North & South and Imbalance, you can see them giving Katara some leadership moments (particularly when Aang isn't around) and Aang more of a mature, considerate approach with Katara, saying things like "I'm sorry I just left you to fight alone like that!" and "You're always asking me if I'm okay. Now it's my turn-- are you okay?" The effort was definitely there to make Aang and Katara look somewhat more compatible than they let on. But things didn't really seem that promising in Legend of Korra... as Katara's character arc gets breadcrumbs of acknowledgement regarding what she did for the world outside of Aang's narrative.
It seems like Katara's badass individual characteristics were written second only to whatever she needed to be for Aang, including being the primary parent to his non-airbender kids while he focused on the air-bending culture.
In any case-- I'm almost certain Bryke will be bending over backwards to "fix" all of these flawed elements of Kataang and Aang as a father figure in the upcoming animated feature films, because if there's anything Bryke likes to do... it is "tell" us that Aang was a great guy and there absolutely was no other better person for Katara.
#avatar the last airbender#kataang critical#katara of the southern water tribe#katara deserved better#aang critical#atla#bryke critical#bryke projected their feelings about a woman's place pretty indiscreetly when they wrote their romances#katara
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u know what. im in the mood to piss ppl off. heres my ranking of the 10 strongest waterbenders in atla and lok (not including avatars, and im not including anything from kiyoshi or yangchen’s era. i havent read those hehe. sowwy. strictly going off the shows).
now im doing this bc waterbending is by FAR my fav form of bending. and in MY OPINION!!!!!,,, people overlook some pretty important facts and feats and decide based more on who their favs are. this is my opinion anyways so im sure i inevitably did that too! but anyways. here we go.
10 strongest waterbenders:
honorable mentions: kya- listen. she is my GIRL. and also she is very strong, but at the end of the day, shes a healer. she has very little combat experience, and she was up against some real monsters in tlok. and shes known to be a great healer, but we dont even see that much of that. for this reason, she cant be top 10:/. eska and desna- they are GOOD. and their synchronized waterbending is super interesting. unfortunately i just kinda think everyone else in the top 10 is stronger. and i feel like the reason they are so strong is because they’re a unit. if they were separated, i have doubts.
10. tonraq- right off the bat im wondering if im going off biases LOL. but i love him. i love his style of bending. he is arguably my fav waterbender to watch waterbend. but unfortunately, in most of his fights, he’s kindaaaa getting worked (im on s2 of lok rewatch now. so i may be forgetting some stuff. but the big fights that stick out for me are him vs unalaq where he gets worked and him vs zaheer and korra where again, he gets kinda worked.) very clearly strong, but does not have all that much to show for it in the show. but he fights with all the big shots for a reason, and he led the water tribe army or something like that. so. hes good.
9. huu- i honestly don’t remember a whole lot of him, but swamp style of water bending is super interesting, and he clearly does it the best. i know we dont see a whole lot of him, but i cant overlook that he is THEE swamp bender.
8. pakku- obv. hes a member of the white lotus and was the master waterbender of the northern tribe. a slayer for his time but i do think he is outclassed by most waterbenders we see in tlok. cannot deny his strength tho. he was the goat at one time for a reason!
7. hama- as far as we know, she is the first blood bender. aka the strongest aspect of waterbending. she is a LEGEND. but again, i think she was a master for her time, but would have trouble holding her own in modern day bending esp without a fully moon.
6. ming hua- the way she uses waterbending as an extension of herself is clearly masterful. and i feel like we never see anyone utilize waterbending anything like how she does. unfortunately, she cant be any higher bc we dont see any extraordinary sub-water feats (healing… i think???? don’t remember lol. bloodbending, spirit healing). but clearly, she was an insane threat to everyone around her.
5. unalaq- so like. MAYBE he should be 4, but i really hate him lol. but i cannot deny he is an EXCEPTIONAL waterbender and pretty much no other waterbender (that we see in s2) can even TOUCH him. hes got the spirit healing, and hes got the skill. somethin somethin vaatu vaatu. idk. i hate him and i dont rly like this season lol. moving on.
4. katara- ok. she was the best in atla. no ifs and or buts. HOWEVER. she gets outclassed in lok and i think we know why. BUT. she was a complete prodigy as soon as she started training with pakku. there was no extension of waterbending that she could not do. she clearly thrived learning waterbending how she did, in such a fast paced, high pressure, and high stakes situation, and thats not even HER PRIME! she was waterbending for under a year when we see her. and we still got the greatest waterbender of that time. there was no one like her, and no waterbender could hold a candle to her by the end of atla. and once again, was only 14. only waterbending for a year. whos doing it like my sis?!
3. tarrlok- unfortunately for katara, the bloodbending family, without a doubt, outdoes her. bloodbending without a full moon? done and done. sorry! i believe katara COULD bloodbend outside of a full moon given the extensive training tarrlok and noatak were given but unfortunately, we will never know, so i cannot in good conscience put her any higher than 4. tarrlok was a master waterbender in itself and pretty much a master blood bender.
2. yakone- he bloodbent. a whole courtroom. with his mind. we dont see anything else from him, and we really dont need to. sorry. it is what it is.
1. amon- he bloodbends with his mind. and learned to take away someone’s bending ability with blood bending. katara, the best healer in the world, could not restore korras bending. granted, she was probably going about it wrong, but the point is, she couldnt do it. taking away someones bending with bloodbending just takes the cake. that aside, even in a combat setting, when he wasnt even trying he was wooping on all other benders of all kinds bc he was controling their movements w his mind. imagine him openly using waterbending AND having his mind control technique?! he would be unstoppable. im ngl i dont love how lok handles waterbending/bloodbending in general. i kinda think they made it TOO strong with little reasoning). also we do see him do an awesome lil water tornado at the end. so. not that we needed that, but its a cute lil cherry on top to his waterbending. hes the strongest waterbender. sorry!
want to finish this by saying had katara learnt to bloodbend outside of a full moon, she would be number one. and i do believe she could have learned. but she didnt. so she cant be first.
#personal#atla#avatar the last airbender#avatar#lok#the legend of korra#legend of korra#tlok#waterbending
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so i just went through your entire anti-lok tag and everything you said in it was SO WELL WRITTEN. i wanted to ask if you might have any analyses or anything (or just good old rants! we love being bryke haters) - about something that i noticed, which is this sort of... ATLA/TLOK dichotomy between how all aang's villains seem to be focused on gaining power/dominating the world or whatever, but the villains in TLOK seem to revolve around very pointed targeting of korra and specifically stripping her of her agency/bodily autonomy, but i don't know how to expand on that point.
(idk just. TLOK has a whole list of scenes that make me VIOLENTLY uncomfortable in a way even the worst of ATLA doesn't? and i thought you might have some input to share about it, if you don't mind me asking)
thank you sm!! i'm glad you enjoy my lok and bryke salt <33
i know what you mean, because it's something that struck me when i was watching lok as well. korra's villains are far more personal to her (particularly in what they do to her, or want from her) than azula or ozai or even zhao ever were to aang, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing (in fact it can often be good to have a personal relationship between your hero and villain; just look at how much more impactful and meaningful zuko and azula's arc was compared to aang and ozai's), there is a way to do it right and that was... not what bryke did.
we didn't need to see korra brutally bloodbent and stripped of her bending, or brutally attacked by unalaq, or brutally tortured by the red lotus or - you got it - brutally beaten up by kuvira (over and over again, might i add). i'm not saying that violence never has its place in storytelling, but it needs to have an actual purpose that's not just shock value. atla, for instance, knew when and how to utilise violence: the sight of gyatso's skeleton in the southern air temple, aang's murder by azula, even katara bloodbending... the violence in all of those scenes was necessary either to communicate vital information to the audience, or drive home the emotive and narrative significance of the moment, or both.
in lok though, bryke hardly, if ever, achieved either of these objectives - especially because it was mainly only ever korra who got the brunt of the violence. no other character is repeatedly targeted and assaulted and violated even half as much as korra is, even when they're facing the same antagonists. tenzin's fight against the red lotus in book 3 gets a tasteful pan to black (one of the few times i think bryke did use violence purposefully; knowing what not to show is just as important as knowing what to show, and leaving the audience with the dread of tenzin's fate was actually sadder and more terrifying than letting us see what happened to him) but korra's agonizing torture at the hands of the red lotus is so long and drawn-out that it begins to veer into torture porn.
imo, this can probably be attributed to two things: 1) bry.ke thinking trauma = character development because they don't know how else to write a good character arc (and they still somehow fucked it up - i will never forgive them for making korra thank zaheer, of all people, for helping her overcome her trauma, like what the absolute fuck bry.ke), and 2) they wanted lok to be "more mature" than atla, which shows both that they fundamentally didn't understand atla, or what constitutes good storytelling, and also that someone desperately needs to tell them that simply upping the violence and hamfistedly handling "complex" topics does not maturity make.
(given the way bryke has written women, i also have to side-eye the fact that the strong-willed, independent, brown female protagonist is beaten and battered and torn down far more than the peaceful, affable light-skinned male protagonist ever is, even during an actual war.)
and of course, contrary to what our dear bryke probably expected, simply brutalizing korra season after season in the name of shock value and development did not, to anyone else's surprise, make lok the better show in the end.
#anti lok#anti bryke#apologies for how long it took me to get to this ask! thank you for being so patient <3#as an aside i see your tags and comments on my posts a lot and i always love reading them#please feel free to let me know more of your thoughts anytime! <3
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Korra should not be losing fights
My friends have a theory: any long enough conversation with me will eventually devolve into my complaining about the Legend of Korra.
I have come to the conclusion that the story of the Avatar should never be about a physical fight. By nature of what they are and the power system of the verse, the Avatar should not be able to lose a one-on-one fight.
What I mean by this is that bending is more about technique than anything else; it’s like fighting in the real world, there is a benefit to being stronger but there’s only so strong you can physically get. The inclusion of elemental abilities even negates that to a point because, at a certain point, it doesn’t matter how big the rock you get hit by is. The Avatar is the amalgamation of thousands of benders, their techniques and strength all rolled into one. Every avatar is, by nature, stronger than the avatar before them because they have that previous avatar’s knowledge and strength. And if there is somehow a reason they can’t figure something out, they can just bring forth that avatar to fight on their behalf. My point is, there is not a single bender alive that can fight an avatar and win.
The journey of the avatar is a philosophical one. They are, at the end of the day, human, and are prone to mistakes and they are given a job so massive that it takes more than one lifetime to accomplish: balance the world.
Aang’s story was simple. He existed in a time of war and so his job was unequivocally to stop the genocidal maniac leading the Fire Nation. Throughout his series we see hints at a subtler, more difficult thread of conflict that requires his attention (warring Earth Kingdom clans, indoctrination of the Fire Nation youth, sexism in the Water Tribe, etc) but because Ozai has always been the big threat, that’s what he focused on and no one could blame him. About half way through though, it kind of stopped being about whether or not he could beat Ozai, but whether or not he could do it without killing him. The Avatar State is a tactical nuke in the shape of a person, it’s what people were trying to draw out of him at the start of book 2 and, in truth, the moment it came out, it stopped being a fight and started being an asswhooping of truly cosmic proportions.
So what’s my point? My point is that Korra’s series started out the right way but devolved into fights she should have easily won.
Book 1 and half of book 2 of the Legend of Korra are amazing because they aren’t quite focused on whether or not Korra can beat the villain, but whether or not she can win the people. The nonbender revolution is honestly one of the best bits of either series because it’s a really good point that people without powers are at a HUGE disadvantage against people with powers (in fights and in just normal everyday living) and how they feel about their spiritual leader being a bender. Korra’s first statement to a group of nonbenders complaining about the disparity in society is that bending is cool so they should be quiet. It’s an interesting thing to explore. They we have book 2 where the Northern and Southern Water Tribes are at war and Korra has to pick a side. Whatever side she picks 1) is going to win, she’s, as I said before, way too powerful, and 2) going to send a message that the spirits favour them. It was really good stuff!
Then they turned it into a question of whether or not Korra could beat Unalaq. Yes, yes she could, there was no reason for her to have lost that fight. Unalaq might have been a better waterbender than her, but she was a much better firebender than him. And earthbender and airbender. As well, he might eclipse Korra herself in waterbending, but he’s not better than Aang or Roku or Kyoshi and spirits forbid Kuruk. In a 1v1 with her having full access to the avatar state, Unalaq should have lost even after he acquired Vaatu.
It’s not that I think Korra is weak, it’s that she shouldn’t be weak. Losing to any of the mediocre benders in her story was unacceptable the from the moment she unlocked the avatar state. I will make a special consideration of Kuvira as fighting against metalbending is hard on a good day and against Kuvira’s particular creative use of metalbanding, it’s a chore. She should have demolished Zaheer and his cronies though.
I’m not unreasonable. I can accept P’Li and Kuvira (the first time) being a challenging fight, but, as the title says, Korra should not be losing fights.
#Avatar legend of korra#avatar aang#avatar#kyoshi#shadow of kyoshi#dawn of yangchen#yang chen#the last airbender#waterbending#firebending#earthbending#airbending#fighting
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The Myth of Y/N (Korra x Reader) Part 23
LIBERATION
Y/N'S POV
I trace back and forth in silent anger in the garden behind the Swanky, trying in desperation to resist the temptation of marching to the palace and unleashing my rage.
FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!
In just a short amount of time, so much went wrong.
First, before even Korra got back from the Earth Queen, we realised that Kai was missing. The little thief ran off to do spirits know what. Mako and Bolin went off to find him and they haven't come back yet, much to the worry of all of us.
Then, if that wasn't enough, Korra returned and told us that she has to something for the Earth Queen before she even considers helping us. She said it was something about collecting tax money from the South and bring it to the highness. Basically, being a poster girl for her like some little servant. Despite her dismay, she and Asami went to collect it.
However, when Korra finally obtained the money and brought it to her, the Earth Queen has the absolute nerve to tell her that our report of airbenders in Ba Sing Se was incorrect and that there were none of them present. Bullshit! I wasn't even there, and I can already tell that she's hiding something. Then, when my best friend gives her a piece of her mind for giving her nothing after helping her, she demanded for her to leave!
FUCK!
Korra isn't happy about this either, obviously. Actually, she's fuming just like I am.
As I pace around the area, I notice Korra sparring with Asami presumably to blow off some steam. They've seen to gotten much closer. The thought makes me smile.
That slight trace of happiness is quickly diminished by my anger once more at the situation. At the Queen. DAMMIT!
I march toward the pair, both women lost in their own world. "You guys all right?"
Korra turns me to me, eyes blazing with a fiery rage. "No! The Earth Queen is nothing but a no-good liar! I know it with her stupid little queenly smirk! I should have known she was using me!"
"Don't blame yourself." Asami assures her gently. "There's nothing you could have done."
I let out a deep, frustrated breathe. "Agreed. Don't give the bitch another victory. We just have to wait for Mako and Bolin to retur-"
Before I can finish my sentence, I hear the all-too familiar chitter of our friendly fire ferret, Pabu. Then, immediately afterwards, we see the two brothers rushing towards us in a state of panic.
Speak of the devil.
"You guys all right?" I ask them with concern.
The two brothers, Bolin especially, are catching their breathe. The earthbender tries to give out a simple explanation. "We chased Kai. Train. Slipped away. Lower Ring. Slept in trash pile. Met our family. Grandma tears. Mako scarf. Earth Queen. Lying."
The last three words catch my attention.
Earth Queen lying?!
Asami turns to Mako. "Can you interpret that?"
"The Earth Queen's been secretly taking away airbenders and forcing them into her army." The firebender elaborates with utmost seriousness.
WHAT?!
She's been forcing airbenders to be her slaves?! Like they're not human?!
My fists clench tightly, teeth grating.
First Tarrlok, then Unalaq, now this?!
Nothing has changed! Why are these people so fucking vile?!
"She was lying. I knew it!" Korra angrily responds. "I swear, the next time I see her-"
"-It's the Queen." Asami urgently whispers.
What?!
Snapping out of my thoughts, I finally come face to face with...
Her.
The Earth Queen, carried in a sedan like she's the most special butterfly in the world. Then she approaches us with Guan by her side.
"Good. You're here." She speaks up. Despite her words, she doesn't sound pleased to see us at all. The feeling is mutual. "Gun, tell them the news."
The Grand Secretariat responds without hesitation. "We've received word from the Yang Province. There have been reports of airbenders there."
"Wonderful, isn't it?" the Queen oh so sarcastically and rhetorically asks us. "It's the very thing you've been looking for."
My eye twitches in response to the comments.
What I'm looking for right now is her abdication.
Korra responds with the same level sarcasm as the highness. "Thank you! That is just the most wonderful news. Ever. Yay."
Yay indeed. Fucking yay indeed.
"So, I assume you and your friends here will be leaving immediately." The Queen continues with her usual arrogance. She's probably jumping with joy on the inside of the idea that we will be departing or, at least, that's what she thinks we are going to do. However, before she can continue, she begins sneezing in repetition much to utter dismay and panic of Gun. "Is there an animal in my presence?"
Oh...so that's why she doesn't like animals. Makes sense. I glance to Bolin who covered Pabu behind his shirt. I guess the ferret's the reason for this allergic reaction.
Sweat falls rapidly from the man's face, so fast that one can mistake him to be crying from a distance, as he stutters out a response. "N-no, Your Majesty. I would never allow an animal near you."
The Queen sneezes once more followed by the utmost of rage in her glare. "If I find one within fifty feet of me, it's your head."
The man recoils from her threat. That fucking bitch.
"You should be nicer to him." I blurt out.
Everyone goes silent and immediately darts their head towards me, including the queen. She is sending me daggers of death with her own emerald irises.
"You have no say in this." She growls out and then turns to Korra. "Avatar, control your servant."
SERVANT?!
"I'm not anyone's servant!" I snarl with venom. "I'm a person! Just like those who live in your kingdom, your highness!"
"How dare you!" she exclaims. Before the situation can escalate, Korra steps in between us to act as an emotional negotiator.
"Your highness, I apologise for my friend's behaviour." She replies with professionalism. "We would leave but, uh-"
"-Our airship is having engine trouble." Asami cleverly fabricates. "It'll take me until tomorrow to finish the repairs."
Good thinking, Miss Sato. Good thinking.
After a hurricane of sneezes (much to my pleasure), the Queen sighs heavily. "Very well. Avatar, make sure any of your servants, especially that Water Tribe one of yours, is kept in line."
She glares daggers at me one more time and then walks away along with Gun, sneezing as she does so.
When she's finally away from earshot, Korra turns to me with frustration painted across her features. "Y/N! What was that?!"
"What was that?!" I ask rhetorically. "What was that?! I was giving her a piece of my mind! Of all of our minds! She deserved it!"
"And you nearly blew our cover!" She counters. Her face softens then slightly. "I completely get why you're angry, but we need to stay focused. All of us."
A hand is pressed on my shoulder. I glance to my right and see Mako.
"Korra's right, Y/N." the firebender tells me. "Let's tell the others and focus on freeing the airbenders."
I look at my friends who all have concern washed in their shining eyes.
Breathing out heavily, I nod slowly.
"You're right." I mutter. "Let's go."
When we finally go back to our accommodation and tell the others, nearly all of them are left in shock especially Tenzin. Everyone but Eshah.
"I can't believe the Earth Queen is conscripting airbenders." The airbending master states, completely stunned. That's all he can say.
"I'm not." Esha mutters. "From what I've read of the kingdom's history, I'm not really surprised. There appears to be a trend of morally bankrupt kept secrets in Ba Sing Se."
She isn't wrong.
"I can't believe I thought the secrets were over! Those people should not be forced to join an army!" Korra barks out, her anger from earlier resurfaced. I'm just standing to the side, my once fiery rage now cooled down and replaced with shame and embarrassment from my outburst.
Bumi's shock seemed to have diminished and is replaced with nonchalant once more. "Well, technically, the Earth Queen has a right to conscript her citizens."
WHAT?!
"Bumi!" I let out in surprise.
"What?!" The retired commander replies, hands in the air. "It's true!"
Okay, fine, technically, she has the authority to do so. Still doesn't make it right!
"Guys, what if Kai was spotted airbending?" Jinora worriedly asks, fear spread all across her face. "He might have been taken too."
I gaze at her with sympathy. I know all too well what she's feeling. That's what I felt when I saw Korra breaking down before Tenzin and I, when she was bloodbent by Amon, and her lifeless face when her bending of all but air was robbed from her. The feeling of the one you care about more than anyone being hurt. She might not feel as strongly, it seems to be an innocent little crush so far, but its familiar.
"Jinora, we're going to find him." I reassure her in attempt to calm her nerves. It doesn't seem to be working.
"But-"
"-Y/N is right, we will find Kai." Korra interrupts, kneeling before her and placing her hands on the young Air Nomad's shoulders like a comforting older sibling. "We just need to figure out where to look."
"I bet they're under Lake Laogai." Mako simply states.
...what?
We all stare at him and the firebender notices. "What? I've been reading some of Jinora's books. The old Dai Li agents used to have a secret fortress beneath the lake."
That's true. Avatar Aang and his friends travelled there in an attempt to rescue his Air Bison. Maybe they still use the base?
It appears Jinora recognises this too. "Mako's right! It's the perfect spot to hide airbenders, and I know how to check it out without being caught. I can project my spirit into it!"
Wait, what?!
Project her spirit?!
She can still do that?!
It seems her claim caught everyone else off guard too, even Bumi. "You mean that out-of-body thing you and Y/N did to help giant, spirity Korra?"
"You can still do that!?!" Tenzin asks with bewilderment.
"It's not as powerful as it was during Harmonic Convergence, but if I can get close enough, I think I can do it." Jinora explains carefully. She then looks at me. "You could probably still do it too, Y/N."
What?!
"I...I don't know..."
"Jinora's got a point." Asami notes. "If she can do it, why can't you?"
I open my mouth for a retort but I fail to the find the words.
She's...she's right.
The words of Korra, Tenzin, and Jinora become nothing but buzz in my mind and from my peripheral vision I see them leaving the accommodation. I assume they're going to Lake Laogai.
Me? Spiritual projection?
"Y/N!"
The feeling of a rough hand on my shoulder shaking me snaps me out of my little trance. I turn slightly to see Bumi with a raised eyebrow.
"You okay, kid?"
"Yeah, yeah!" I reply earnestly. "Just stunned at the possibility that I could project my spirit. I mean, that's crazy!"
"You can say that again!" Bumi agrees. "Speaking of crazy, this reminds me of the time I had to fight an entire tribe of spirit worshippers and I bested them with all with a feather and a string!"
I roll my eyes with amusement. Classic Bumi.
We all discuss and chatter on the current situation on what we could do once we learn of the location of Kai and the airbenders. Despite this, I can't help but continue thinking of this recent revelation that I can potentially project my spirit. That ability can be really helpful for communication and spying. If I properly start my airbending training, I can use this ability to my advantage in a lot of difficult circumstances.
After chatting for a considerable amount of time, Korra, Tenizn, and Jinora return.
"Well?" I ask them, stepping slightly toward them. "Are the airbenders underneath Laogai?"
Jinora shakes her head frantically. "No. With my spirit projection I was able to discover that Kai and the others are underneath the Earth Queen's temple!"
I hear a collective gasp from this, including me! The temple?! That was so close to us!
A irritated groan emits from Korra, clearly frustrated. "I can't believe Miss Queeny Smug Face had them right under our noses the whole time!"
You can say that again. I can't believe we were so close to them! The absolute arrogance!
"We have to get into that compound tonight and get those airbenders out." Tenzin declares, clearly already made up his mind.
I nod in agreement. "So, what's the plan?"
"I got just the one for a situation like this!" Bumi excitedly exclaims. "We go in under the cover of darkness: two small insertion teams and a third on the outside. Then all we'll need is twelve tons of blasting jelly, a medium-sized bulldozer and ... does anyone have a badgermole that knows Morse code?"
...
Well then, that was...something.
Before anyone can provide, um, feedback on Bumi's plan the tame mood is erupted by the a loud pounding on the door.
SHIT!
"Oh, great." Asami bitterly mutters. "Not the Queen again."
I glance at my earthbending friend or, specifically, the little fire ferret on his shoulder. "Uh, Bolin-"
He instantly understands, letting out a quick "On it!" After a quick disagreement, Pabu jumps down his shirt.
Okay, animal is gone. Time for more talk with the highness.
Then, after a short glance to us, Tenzin opens the door wide.
It's not the Earth Queen. Not even Gun. There, standing before the airbending master, is a tall middle-aged woman in black metallic armour, hair grey as the clouds and eyes with green that rival the grass. On her cheek is two infamous slashes that have brought fear into the hearts of criminals.
It's-
"Lin!?" Tenzin asks, completely bewildered as we all are. "What are you doing here?"
Yeah, what the hell is the Chief of Republic City Police doing in Ba Sing Se in all places?!
Beifong walks inside immediately and wastes no time. "We need to get Korra out of here immediately. Her life's in danger."
WHAT?!
"Korra is in danger?!" I ask, marching towards the two. "From who?"
"Yeah, what?!" my best friend adds on, marching to Beifong and Tenzin too. "What is going on?"
Despite our bombardment of questions, both of them don't pay us any notice like we don't exist!
"I just got word from Lord Zuko and Tonraq."
Tonraq?! Lord Zuko?! Huh?!
Korra seems just as confused as I am. "Why is Lord Zuko with my dad?"
Neither of them, yet again, take a single glance at us.
"Zaheer and the others have escaped."
Zaheer? Who in the spirits is Zaheer? And others?!
"How is that possible?"
"Because Zaheer is an airbender now."
A bad airbender? That's unheard of. And he wants to kill Korra?!
Finally tired of being ignored, I loudly speak up. "Stop ignoring us and tell us what going on! Korra deserves to know since you think her life is in danger!"
"Yeah!" Korra agrees. "Will you quit ignoring us and tell us what's going on? Who's Zaheer? Why is my life in danger?"
Finally, they give us the attention we desperately needed. After sharing a glance with the Chief, he turns to Korra with a solemn and troubled look painted across his features. "Shortly after we found out you were the Avatar, Zaheer and three others attempted to kidnap you. Luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka and I were there to stop them. We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their abilities."
When our mentor finally finishes his explanation, my breathe is stolen entirely.
Now it makes all sense...
I remember the day when Korra was moved to the Southern Water Tribe compound. I think I was like six years old when I woke up, went outside, and saw a crying Korra pulling me into a hug so tight that my bones nearly cracked.
"Korra, what's wrong?"
The tears on her face breaks my heart. Why is my friend so sad?
"I'm being sent away."
WHAT?!
"Why?!" I ask her. "Did you do something wrong?"
She shakes her head, sniffing loudly. "Dad told me the White Lotus are taking me to some, uh, I don't know what its called but its some place. He said Aang wanted me to be there for training."
Avatar Aang wanted Korra to live by herself? This isn't fair!
"B-But they-they can't do this!" I mutter out, now beginning to tear up as well. "We have to do something!"
Korra says nothing. She just shakes her head again.
"It's too late. I'm being sent there today."
Today?
"But what about us!" I let out. "Are we still going to hang out?"
My best friend just cries and cries and cries. "I don't know. I ran when I heard about it."
Tears go down my own face but then I just feel anger.
No!
"I will not let them tear us apart!" I say. "We're best friends! We're not gonna let some Lotus men split us up! I'll tell mama and papa and they can talk to your parents! I'll make sure we can still hang out!"
Before I can do anything else, Korra pulls me in an even tighter hug!
"Thank you, Y/N."
Closing my eyes, I hug her back with a smile.
The relief I felt and Korra's own reflected in her ocean eyes when the White Lotus allowed us to meet-up still was overwhelming. It wasn't the ideal situation, though. They gave us a very strict schedule of when I could see Korra because they didn't want me distracting her with her Avatar training. Of course, being the disbehaving children and teenagers we were, often disobeyed them and snuck in or out of the compound frequently. While it was a good distance away to be out of the public eye, it was thankfully not too far away by foot or, most of the time, by Naga.
For years, Korra and I thought she was placed into that compound because that was what Avatar Aang wanted. Then, very recently, we learned it was Tenzin and Tonraq who was behind it. And now we learn it was because of this Zaheer and his gang?
My best friend seems to have come to the same conclusion as I have. "So that's why you and my dad sheltered me away."
"It was your own safety." Tenzin replies. I guess that makes the whole isolated life Korra had more understandable and justifiable.
"Why were they trying to kidnap Korra?" Mako steps in, asking the question we were all thinking.
Beifong glances at her detective. "We spent thirteen years interrogating them, but they never broke. To this day, no one knows what their motive was."
Thirteen years? Over a decade with nothing?
She then turns to Korra. "Now we need to get you back to Republic City, where I can protect you."
I mean...I suppose that's for the best. Or maybe not? I mean, what about the airbenders?
"No." Korra declares. "I'm not running."
I recognise that determination in her tone. Once Korra has made her mind, its very hard to change her mind.
Before the Chief can counter the younger woman's disobedience, I speak up. "Chief, I am concerned for Korra's safety as you are, but we're not leaving without the airbenders. The Earth Queen has been taking them to create her own little army. We have to stop this!"
My passionate argument seems to have persuaded the stern heir of Toph. She huffs with frustration and crosses her arms. "Fine. Let's get them and get out of here. Where are they?"
"They are in a military compound." Korra states. "We're busting them out tonight!"
Her determination ignites my own resolve.
Tonight, we are going to break into the temple, free the airbenders, and wipe the smugness from the Earth Queen's face.
For the Air Nation!
TIME SKIP
Just as we planned, we attacked at night. While Asami, Eshah, and Lin stay behind on the airship as an escape route, we headed off. Infiltrating the Earth Queen's Temple was surprisingly an easy task. It was pathetic, really. I thought the defence was going to be heavy when I saw the two watchtowers in front of the small building from behind. However, there were only two guards that were easily distracted by Jinora. We knocked them out instantly.
Entering a doorway to hide from patrolling Dai Li agents, the next thing I see is green stretches of walls and corridors with many rooms surrounding us in a square-like shape. This place is massive. I have no idea how long it must have took to build something like this.
Tenzin turns to all of us, confidence radiating from his form. "Bumi, Y/N, and Korra, come with me to find the airbenders." He then turns to Jinora, Mako, and Bolin. You three, find Kai. We'll meet on the surface shortly. Radio us if anything goes wrong."
With a quick nod, we all split off. Tenzin follows the lead as we rush our way through the compound whilst avoiding any Dai Li agents we come across. When we finally reach to the prison cell, Korra slides the entrance open.
What I see stuns me to the core.
Dozens of airbenders lying on cramped, rough, rocky beds stare at us. The clothes they wear are covered in dirt and dust, rips and tears all over them. Their arms and faces are full of cuts and bruises, their eyes containing nothing but fear and dread.
Anger swells within me, feeding the dragon inside.
The Earth Queen did this...
She took these innocent people, some of them look to be younger than I, and treated them like slaves! Like they're not even human! She will pay for this!
"Who are you?" one of the prisoners asks. He looks quite young, with smooth jet-black hair and a tiny beard on the centre of his chin. "Who are you?"
Korra steps forward. "I'm the Avatar, and I'm getting you all out of here."
As soon as the words leave her lips, all of them start murmuring amongst themselves. I step forward to calm down the situation. "We're getting you all out of here, but you have to remain calm and don't panic."
"We're getting you all away from the Queen and the city." Tenzin proudly adds on. "Let's move!"
One-by-one, the airbenders rush out of the prison cell and as they do so I turn to the retired commander. "Bumi, tell Beifong we're heading out!"
With a quick "Got it!", the older man gets to it. The prisoner who spoke first stops before us. "There's an airbender that's not here. His name is Kai. We need to get him."
"We have friends helping him." I explain. "Now, let's go!"
Now avoiding all discretion, we run and run and run through the claustrophobic corridors until we finally reach back to the entrance. Korra takes a quick look to the outside to see if any Dai Li are outside.
"Come on! It's clear!"
We all rush out, ready to escape and-
Out of nowhere, dozens and dozens of Dai Li agents land right in front of us as if they fell from the sky, surrounding us in a tight oval shape. SHIT!
"So, you've discovered my elite army. I see their loyalty still needs some work."
Her.
The Earth Queen, standing tall and arrogant with her pompous yellow royal outfit. A stupid smug smile is on her thin lips as she stares at us with a sinister scowl.
"These airbenders shouldn't be used as weapons!" Korra yells with rage. "They have a right to choose their own paths."
Despite the obvious and humane argument, the Queen does not listen. Instead, she marches nearer, the scowl on her face deepening with every step she takes. "These airbenders are Earth Kingdom citizens, and I am their queen. Taking them will constitute an act of war. If you disobey me, I will bear down on you with the entire force of my kingdom!"
Act of war? Oh, she really wants to go there? Fine!
"Then I guess it's war!" I shout at the top of my lungs, the dragon that I have locked inside taking control for a moment. "They are coming with us, you stuck-up, vile, bitch!"
My words born from venom seem to have cut deep into the Queen's pride, as her eyes are lit into flames. "ATTACK!"
As she walks away, her soldiers take a big step forward and launch their infamous hand-shaped projectiles made of the hardest rock. However, before they even touch us, the airbenders we just rescued step forward and launch a powerful gust of wind which destroy them and cause the agents to remain in place and distracted! I guess their horrible experience brought about something good.
If our luck didn't get any better, the sound of an airship begins approaching us. Glancing upward I see Asami's good ol' ship. Perfect! This is our chance!
Joining in with the other airbenders, Korra, Tenzin and, I unleash giant blasts of air as strong as a hurricane towards the Dai Li to keep them distracted all the while Bumi encourages the now-freed men and women to climb the temple's architecture. One-by-one, they do so all the while we step backwards to get closer to the temple so we can climb ourselves. The agents advance to us, attempting to knock us off but we blast them away. When we finally reach near to the top of the temple, all of them finally got onto the airship and I see Beifong and Asami's airships flying past us and far away into the night sky, leaving Oogi alone.
Now its our turn!
Whistling and calling for the air bison, Tenzin leaps and twirls using his airbender to land safely onto his friend. Korra grabs my arm and she does the same, throwing us into the air and landing safely onto the nice, smooth fur of our salvation.
YES!
WE DID IT!
But, wait what about-
"WE NEED HELP!"
BOLIN?!
I gaze down back at the temple and I see Mako, Bolin, Jinora, and Kai still on the ground running away from all the projectiles of the Dai Li agents!
SHIT!
"We need to get them!"
Korra thought the same as she steers Oogi towards them. Before any of us can let out a command or say anything, I see Bolin launch themselves into the air with his earthbending like a crude trampoline, flinging them high up for us to land on the air bision!
YES! WE DID IT!
I look back at the Earth Queen and her cronies staring daggers right at us. I can feel their anger and frustration from here.
Good riddance.
LATER
After travelling for who knows how long, the two airships land near atop a number of hills in the middle of the desert. Standing before the airbenders sitting down, their energy regained, Tenzin, Korra, and I gaze at them with confidence.
"I know that none of you chose to become airbenders." The airbending master begins, voice full of sympathy and compassion. "But now you do have a choice. We can relocate you somewhere safe, or you can come with me to the Northern Air Temple, to live in peace and train as Air Nomads. You are no longer anyone's property. What path you decide is up to you."
When Tenzin finishes his heartfelt speech, there is a brief moment of silence.
Please, spirits. Let them join. For Tenzin.
Then, the airbender who told us about Kai stands up. "I want to go with you."
Then, another airbender. "Me too."
And another! "Count me in."
YES! THANK YOU!
I glance at Tenzin and very closely I can see tears welling in his eyes. I can't imagine how happy and relieved he must be feeling. This was his father's dream and now its coming true. He must be overwhelmed. Eshah and Kai won't be alone now.
As they all walk to Asami's airship, the three of us stand at a distance in our own little world.
"Are you coming with us, Y/N?" our mentor asks me.
My fists clench again and my mind is thrusted back once more to my father's voice.
"The next time we talk, you better tell us you are not joining the Air Nation. If not, don't contact or visit us ever again."
No. Not now. I need more time.
Responding immediately as if unfazed, I give him a smile. "Not yet." I then proceed to cock my head towards Beifong's airship. "I'm going to help find more airbenders for you. I'll start my training with the rest when we're done."
He nods understandably. "Of course. Good luck."
"And good luck at the Northern Air Temple." Korra adds on.
Tenzin's brow narrows in concentration. "Be careful out there and stay safe."
Ah. Of course. This "Zaheer" guy and his friends. Plus, I doubt the Earth Queen will let us get away with what we just did.
"I'll try." My friend humourly adds. She then adopts a look of grimace. "It seems like where I go, I make a new enemy."
"But you made some new friends too." Tenzin counters. He then places one hand on her shoulder and another on mine, their touch providing us comfort and warmth. "You both did well, Korra and Y/N. Thank you."
Feeling overwhelmed by pure joy, I pull them both into a group hug. The happiness I felt moments before is amplified.
"This is only the beginning." Korra declares with confidence.
Yeah, it is.
When we finally part ways from our mentor, we begin walking back to the airship.
"I'm sorry, by the way."
Huh?
"What for?"
Korra gives me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry for not discussing about the Queen's treatment of her people with her. I knew it meant a lot to you. I just didn't have the opportunity."
Oh...that.
I place my hand on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "Don't worry about it. I get it. Besides, I highly doubt she would listen. I can't believe she locked the airbenders up like they were objects and tried to make them her slaves. She shouldn’t be in charge of the Earth Kingdom."
"Agreed." Korra adds. "But, as of right now, there isn't that much we can do."
The pessimistic words that leave my best friend's mouth eradicates the tender moment in its entirety, leaving nothing but coldness.
I continue walking, hand off her shoulder, and pretend everything is normal. It isn't.
How can she does say that? How can she just accept it? She's the Avatar!
Then, from the back of my mind, I hear it. I hear the voice of the dragon from within whispering into my mind. My voice.
She's a coward.
What?!
I shake my head slightly to rid myself of the intrusive thought.
No! No, Korra isn't a coward. It isn't our place. Just like Tenzin told us.
"I am frustrated and saddened by this as much as you are. However, we can't just force the Earth Queen to rule her kingdom the way we want her to. It is not our place."
And yet, despite the echoing of my mentor's words in my mind, I can still hear quiet whisper of the dragon.
Cowards. They both are.
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Hope you all enjoyed today's chapter!
Feedback is appreciated!
See you all in the next chapter! :D
#korra#the legend of korra#avatar the legend of korra#legend of korra#avatar korra#korra x reader#avatar korra x reader#TLOK#avatar: tlok#tlok x reader#mako#lok mako#tlok mako#tlok korra#avatar tlok#asami#Asami Sato#asami avatar#tlok asami#bolin#lok bolin#tlok bolin#Lin Beifong#tenzin#lok tenzin#tlok tenzin#jinora#bumi#book three#unrequited love
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Legend of Korra First Watch: Book 4 & Overall Series Thoughts
Full thoughts under the cut!
-----Book 4 I feel did a fine-ass job with the emotional impact of Book 3's ending. "Korra Alone" is a stellar and heartwrenching episode, and incredibly done to showcase how Korra's trauma is continually affecting her ability to not only be a fighter and the Avatar, but also as a person. She's hesitant, afraid, and unsure of any decision she makes, but she comes out of it stronger as wise, compassionate, while still headstrong and a force to be reckoned with.
-----While most of main the cast personally don't hold a candle to ATLA's main cast (sans Tenzin of course 💞), Korra I learned to like more than Aang. I think her journey has been a treat to watch, despite the less likeable parts of the show. Now, Aang's emotional journey of maturity and remaining true to himself is still baller, but Korra's journey of self-discovery, coming to terms with her identity, her powers and their responsibility, and learning to accept past mistakes and pain rather than run away from them, touches places in my soul that Aang's didn't quite reach. It's mostly personal preference, and I don't have a stake in which one was "objectively" done better than the other. Lord knows there's enough infighting between the shows' fandoms; even as someone who's not really a part of it has been unfortunately witness to endless social media wars, and I don't really care to join in that.
-----The Beifong family is such a joy to watch when on screen, and it's messy in all of the right ways. Even when Lin and Toph patch things up, it's still not perfect, and it shouldn't be. Now, IMO, the trope that a sequel series should feature the previous cast's kids is pretty cliched, but since it's done, it should be done well; in the Beifong family's case, I think it was raw and real and didn't pull punches. Toph as a mother was never gonna be good, considering how her family treated her. I think the further aspects of that is one of the few examples of generational trauma being done in a show, not even just an animated show (though that could be an indicator that I need to expand my media library to include more things that I might be resistant to). Toph being too isolated made her be too lax with Lin and Su, and that led to Lin being less willing to bend her ways and Su repeating her grandparents' mistakes by being to sheltering.
Opal was a great standout character for the first half of the Book! I liked her as it was in her appearances in Book 3, but damn she shot up the list fast. I like that despite being an airbender who's learned the teachings of the culture, she's no nonsense and wants to stop problems as they come rather than waiting. She's an earth kingdom citizen and a Beifong still, after all.
------Oh boy. Kuvira, Kuvira, Kuvira... okay I'm not against the idea of a character like her being included; lord knows, I fucking had to deal with so much shit the past 4.5 years because of a certain red emperor in a certain video game series, and they have undeniable similarities.
But why oh why is Kuvira the one that gets the sympathy treatment??? I don't give a damn that she was orphaned and that no one wanted her, she was a crazy nationalist who locked dissenters in concentration camps and was terrorizing the entire populace of the Earth Kingdom.
And for some reason she was treated the exact opposite of the previous Books' villains, where Amon, Zaheer, even fucking Unalaq had good points to make but were invalidated cuz they were too crazy or too evil or hypocrite frauds. Kuvira's never treated as if she's had good points, but she's awarded compassion at the end cuz... she's a hotblooded stubborn person like Korra? Absolute nonsense. How dare you write Korra to say those things to Kuvira at the end. I wish this series had one more Book with a villain that's not a nationalist that Korra can extend her compassionate side to, cuz this being the showcasing of such is so uncomfortable to me. I know that the comics exist, but I don't have interest in reading those nor the ATLA ones. Maybe someday, but not now.
Back to ranting about this season's writing of fascism: the writers tried to give some leeway by having Wu step down and dismantle the monarchy to establish democratic states, which... wow could you make it anymore obvious that you see western concepts of democracy and capitalism as superior things that everyone should take inspiration from. And, whatever, my own leftist beliefs and hangups aside, there's plenty to value in democracy despite not being anywhere near a perfect system of government. But for as much as monarchy isn't great, you don't need to kneecap monarchy as a result of the actions of a fucking fascist/nationalist. No form of government is as bad or worse than nationalist fascism. None. Nada. Zilch. They never have a point, they don't deserve sympathy, they're evil people who take away personhood, control people through fear, oppress minorities, and eliminate "less desirable" cultures.
And while this isn't as much of a crime as the messy fascism allegories... Varrick getting redemption? Really? I know it's still a show for kids/teens primarily, and you can't punish your comic relief, but still. He's an opportunist war profiteer, who was still a prisoner, mind you! Though it's to be expected of the era this show was created, where people thought the ultra rich "inventors" were cool nerds with attainable wealth, but growing up and seeing how utterly gross it is for people like Bezos and Elon to even be walking the earth, Varrick never gets a laugh out of me whatsoever.
But it's fine, it's a mid 2010's show and funny capitalist is funny, ha ha /s
-----Goodness me, does no one have anything to consistently do it seems. It's the Korra, Beifong, and Bolin show featuring the air kids. Which, okay, I like all those characters, but regulating Mako to a bodyguard of an... honestly annoying character? Did they have faith in this guy at all? Asami got off better cuz of her reconciling with her dad (redeeming another capitalist inventor who's also discriminatory and tried to supplant a government which put his daughter in danger, yeah okay) and her connection with Korra, but still it feels like she's often reduced to an emotional crutch. Which okay, yes, Korra's the main character, but I was getting genuinely worried that Asami wasn't gonna get resolution at the end.
-----Korrasami yaaaaaay!!!! Love queer people, I wish they were real /s
But seriously, though, I like them together. I imagine for a Nickelodeon show that higher-ups were not willing to give any room for their relationship, and that's why it kind of comes out of nowhere at the end. I'm too gay for my own good, so the subtle hints here and there during last season and this one certainly weren't lost on me. In terms of being a queer relationship in pre-gay marriage legalization U.S.? Fine enough.
-----Previous character cameos! They're there! Uh, I like seeing Toph! And Zaheer, while only a small appearance, it was a genius move for him to be an unorthodox mentor/guide for Korra to get past her block. Aside from those two, I can't say I cared enough about most other characters come back besides saying "oh yeah it's that guy!". Meh, maybe I just don't get it.
The clip show was nice! Again, it definitely shows that the executives/higher ups were not being nice to the creatives behind the show at all, but I'm glad they did what they could. Nothing could really top Ember Island Players, but I'm sure they could've done their own version had they been given time.
-----Overall, to me Book 4 really shows the entire series' strengths and weaknesses. I think it's strong when dealing with philosophy, character development and themes, character growth and consequence, aesthetics, and action packed fight scenes. And I think it's weak when trying to balance too many characters at once, lore expansion and backstory, and pretty much every attempt at political allegory.
That last point, specifically, I need to say some things: I'm not politically mature in the slightest. I'm a philosophical and critical thinking type of mind, and beyond my leftist beliefs, lots of political jargon and analysis of systems flies over my head or is often explained in too much of an exhausting way for me to pay attention. I can discourse on an individual basis, not really on a systemic one. I did just criticize the writing of fascism in this season, but trust, I didn't come up with that from reading extensive theory, it just came from my base level knowledge and my Deep Inner Feelings™️.
I watched that "Politics of Legend of Korra" series on youtube, and it was kind of difficult for me to understand beyond "the writers wrote themselves into a corner by the bad guys having too many good points and they can only straw man themselves out with the few episodes they have left." As an adult in a tumultuous society, I'm probably gonna take responsibility going forward to educate myself on these things more, just so I know wtf is going on besides the surface level stuff I'm already aware of.
-----But yeah, back to Korra. Good when characterizing and deep thinking, messy when worldbuilding and politicking. Book 3 is probably my favorite of all the seasons, and... Book 4 for now is sharing a spot with Book 1. Can't put the former one higher since despite the amount it did right, the compassion for the fascist is so utterly bonkers to me, it gave me metaphorical hives. Book 2 is on the bottom of the list for me, just... so many westernizations of eastern concepts and tries too much while sacrificing what the show is good at.
As a whole, I liked the show lots! Pretty much fell into the brackets of my pre-viewing expectations: higher highs than ATLA, but the lows are too low for me to ignore. ATLA isolated is stronger as a whole than TLOK is, IMO. However, I just wanna see it as a continuation of this world rather than just a show with a similar moniker, if only so I don't unwittingly throw my proverbial hat in the ring of this fandom's discourse.
Thanks for keeping up with my first watch of this series if you did! Stan Tenzin! He's my husband now! 💞💞💞
#tlok first watch#tlok#tlok korra#the legend of korra#lin beifong#suyin beifong#lok asami#asami sato#korrasami
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I heard somewhere awhile ago that the LoK writers had no idea if they’d get another season after each season, so that’s why in the show every season gets their stuff wrapped up by the season finale to avoid cliffhangers in case they couldn’t get the show renewed
So I was thinking about that, and my ideal version of LoK if they had been able to have more overarching stuff because I really fucking love the waterbender brothers:
Starts off the same with Amon and the Equalizers, but they aren’t gone by the end of season 1, instead they’re a constant background threat
Season 2 also has the same villain it had, except, Tarrlok is still alive and instead of just getting a sad backstory for him to make him a sympathetic antagonist, he gets to work with Korra against her shitty fucking uncle, and we get to see him react to another waterbender being a corrupt piece of shit and actually see how he tries to be good and different from his dad in his own way
I think this would be fun as I like Tarrlok as a character, I think he’d fucking hate Unalaq and I’d love to see him take out his father issues on the guy, and Korra would have to deal with the fact that she can’t trust her uncle who she’s supposed to be able to trust but apparently she can trust the sleazy councilman who by all rights is untrustworthy??
Season 3/4 also has Kuvira, except for these parts, it’s Amon who’s the unlikely ally Korra occasionally ends up teaming up with, cause there’s no way that nonbenders didn’t end up getting really screwed over under Kuvira’s reign, this would give Amon his chance to show that he’s also trying to be better than his father in his own fucked up way, and again it’d have that delightful thing of Korra ending up teaming up with someone she never would’ve thought she would
Throughout all seasons, we’d see laws and stuff being put in place to help nonbenders, and also I think it’d be cool if throughout all seasons it’s kind of hard to fully tell if Asami is actually trustworthy or not because the entire time she’s being a double agent for Team Avatar
Also I think it’d be cool if the show ended up with Korra facing off against Amon, who wanted to stop the Avatar cycle, as the first Avatar of the new cycle (I’m a firm believer in that theory that she was always meant to become the first avatar of the new cycle, there was only one more space for Aang’s statue in that temple!!), showing him how futile and stupid his stance of getting rid of the Avatar was
#legend of korra#lok#korra#tarrlok#Amon#noatak#unalaq#asami sato#kuvira#both me and my lil sis fucking love the waterbender brothers#kinda long post sorry#had a couple of asks I wanted to respond to but oh my god I’m so much more tired than I thought I was#fuck I hope this post is legible#really hope it’s not one of those things where I reread it in the morning and every other word is a typo
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Kuvira and Bryke's Problem with Moral Ambiguity
I will be honest with you...I really like Kuvira.
She is probably one of my favorite characters from Legend of Korra. I like her design. I like a lot of the ideas behind her. And I think Zelda Williams did a great job with the character. So I can understand why Bryke wanted to do something different with her and try to redeem her.
Here's the problem. I love Kuvira...but she's also indicative of one of the show's biggest problems. Mainly the inability to commit to a morally ambiguous conflict.
Again, the whole point of Kuvira's character was that she wasn't a wholly irredeemable monster. That her methods, while heavy handed, weren't entirely in the wrong and her heart was in the right place. And we do see evidence of that early on with her forces giving relief to billages, stamping out bandits, and outing corrupt officials. Heavy handed and early warning signs sure, but nothing too over the top.
Then they made her into a power hungry dictator.
Yeah. Kind of hard to sell her as sympathetic when she takes imagery from real life oppressive and fascist political parties and governments.
Sad thing is, Kuvira here is not the exception to this. Throughout The Legend of Korra, we are presented with many antagonistic groups that are responding to some injustice or moral qualm which doesn't paint the current status quo the heroes are defending in a good light. Non-bender discrimination led to Amon and the Equalists. Unalaq was a response to mankind losing touch with the Spirit World. The Red Lotus were spurned by corruption in high places. And Kuvira was restoring order to a broken Earth Kingdom full of anarchy. It's clear that Bryke intended for all of these groups and characters to have some kind of point to generate moral ambiguity. Asking whether or not Korra and Co were truly in the right.
Yet when it came time to deliver, the antagonists were almost always portrayed as being in the wrong and often were portrayed in a way that makes it difficult for the audience to truly sympathize with them. The Equalists and the Red Lotus become terrorists. Amon is a bender with flimsy reasonings. Unalaq literally fuses with the Avatar equivalent of Satan. And again, Kuvira becomes a dictator. While their points are given some credence, the characters themselves always become a final boss for the heroes to triumphantly defeat. Which...muddies the message since it becomes difficult to see the villains' argument when they're treated the way they are.
Now admittedly, it is difficult to write a character like this. Balancing out the character's reasonable and sympathetic traits with the need to be an opposing force to the protagonists who audiences are normally predisposed to root for. So the question remains: how do you go about finding this equilibrium?
While I'm not a professional writer, I can think of at least two good methods. The first is allowing the antagonist to do genuinely good things that seems at odds with their position. This could include a concern for civilians or their comrades, limiting their violence, or throwing themselves in the line of danger for the sake of others. Kuvira does demonstrate this a few times with sending relief to civilians who need it or choosing to face down the Avatar herself rather than ordering her men to do it.
The second is actually giving a concrete reason for why the antagonist is escalating things. Maybe the situation is just that bad where the antagonist feels the need to escalate or is a response to something that the heroes did. Perhaps the antagonist's grievances are legitimate and they have a solid reason to fight. Again, this is explored with Prince Wu's incompetence and the attempted assassination on Kuvira's life by Suyin. While her methods are heavy handed, you could see why she may need to employ them.
The foundations for a solid character are there. If they expanded on that, we could've had a fairly compelling conflict where neither side is entirely in the right nor are they in the wrong.
And then they introduced re-education camps and had Kuvira invent the Avatar equivalent of an atomic bomb.
Uh...hate to be that guy, but why the hell is Kuvira sympathetic again? Especially when other villains who did far less evil get crapped on while she gets a redemption arc in the comics?
glares at what they did with Azula
...I'm sorry but no. Korra wouldn't have ever turned out to be a fascist And trying to say the villain can be redeemed because they're like the hero raises so many flags for the franchise as a whole that I'm surprised they didn't do the same with Ozai. What? He's who Zuko would've ended up as if he went too far.
I get what they were getting at with Kuvira. I really do. And with better writing, maybe she could've been that character I mentioned. The groundworks are all there. But the problem they ran in was consistency and commitment. They failed to keep her sympathy and anti-villain status consistent by making her too horrible to properly feel for. And they never actually committed to fostering this morally ambiguous conflict.
Trust me, I'm not knocking against Kuvira and her fans. I'm really not. I understand the appeal. I even think a lot of her fans have better interpretations and ideas than Bryke (trust me, Kuvira has some pretty good fanfics out there). But if they wanted to redeem who we saw in the series, we needed more than a single comic trilogy. Especially when other characters don't even get a chance at that.
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Some angsty headcanons I’ve come up with about Korra’s PTSD:
Korra still has nightmares. They’re mostly about her fight with Zaheer, but occasionally Unalaq/Vaatu and Amon make appearances too. The sound of chains rattling gives her flashbacks to the day she fought Zaheer, and reminds her of the spectral version of herself that used to haunt her. Being choked/suffocated also sends her right back to that day as well.
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Hi, I need to ramble about Korra villains and how terrifying and good they are.
First is Amon, a creepy cult leader who literally makes Korra's worst nightmare come true by taking away her power, all that she was - she never saw herself outside of her bending. He destroyed her. Then was Unalaq who manipulated her because he was her uncle and cut off her past lives (which must be devastatingly painful, by the way). Then the Lotus and Zaheer, who gave her years of trauma, and Kuvira, who Korra saw herself in.
My point is, they're all targetting and influencing her specifically. While Ozai just wanted to kill the avatar, as a figure, Korra's villains go after her specifically, using her personal weaknesses and psychologically torturing her. Because like, I remember seeing it at like 9, and Amon was fucking terrifying. The convulsions of people under bloodbending were scary, and so was his terror towards Korra. She had so much shit to deal with. And I love it! It makes the show psychological, esp s4, and I really saw my personal struggles in Korra so much it's insane.
Also unrelated but I actually love that Katara is not a famous warrior (no statues) but a quiet healer because 1. She's still alive and in contact with others so no statue and 2. She was fighting out of obligation, not hobby, and her main goal was always to help people in need. Nkthing wrong with her taking a more nurturing role as an old lady.
Also, mówisz po polsku?👀
I hear that! Tlok villains are one of teh highlights of the show. When i tell you that I had genuine nightmares about Amon... what a villain to start the show off with. Especially when Amon took Korra's bending and she was so obviously planning to kill herself.. like there's something so visceral about tlok villains
To Ozai, Aang was just an obstacle. But a lot of Korra's villains directly targeted her, to the point of her being the Red Lotus' main mark. I could ramble about tlok villains all day buy i think you said it very well.
And you're right about Katara, too. I know a lot of people hate how the Gaang was portrayed in tlok, but I really like it? Katara was a character who had a lot of rightful rage and pain in her from a young age, so seeing her just being able to do something that was so important to her, like healing people, is so sweet. She deserves to chill. Also I think, she may have a statue, or whatever, though she strikes me as the person who'd be least invested in having a statue. She's not dead or a world leader, technically. And Toph's statues was in front of the police station and in Zaofu, both places she had a lot of involvement with. Katara may have statues around hospitals, or in the southern water tribe culture centre. We haven't explored all of Republic City.
But even if she doesn't have a statue, that doesn't mean she isn't respected or revered in her own right.
Jasne, że mówię po polsku, urodziłem się i mieszkam w niej 🇵🇱
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Can we have another 5 hc for the Lin Adopts Mako and Bolin AU please :)
Continued from: [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], [Link], and [Link].
1. Lin is a woman who believes deeply in justice, and in responsibility and duty. And she used to believe that justice, responsibility, and duty, were clear cut. They might never be easy, but they were simple. It might be hard to do what was right, but it was always obvious what right was. It's part of why she never had any patience for people who acted like it might be complicated, like it might be difficult to judge what was right. She was sure they were only making excuses for a selfish desire to break the rules.
2. Her mother and sister only reinforced this picture. Whatever else they are, both Suyin and her mother have little time for selfless idealism.
3. But now, Lin is, every day, confronting how limited her view of justice has been, how she let rules and laws become substituted for moral judgement, and how the law she serves has been made to enforce a cruel order. With her newfound awareness of how badly her society is failing so many children, with its paralyzing poverty and full orphanages and schools that only the children who are already relatively safe from poverty get to go to, and with the confidence that comes from being both chief of police and the daughter of a international hero, Lin goes to the United Republic Council.
4. She talks about her two boys, and how they are thriving, in a school that offers understanding and help, she talks about what they came from, and who they might have become without this. She talks about thousands of street kids with nowhere to go, about the orphans, and about the kids on the streets because their parents are on the streets, about the power the triads wield in the poor neighborhoods, about the slum lords, and the people with no choice but to work for the triads, about how the tools she needs to keep this city safe are schools, hospitals, orphanages, and good cheep housing. And it's not like any of this would be new, globally speaking. The Fire Nation has universal public education and the Southern Water Tribe public hospitals are top notch. Surely if Republic City wishes for safety for its people, it can do that.
5. But Lin is an idealist. She is an idealist who is only just realizing how ignorant she has been in her idealism, but she is an idealist, and it's really difficult for her to grasp that actually that's rare. And the members of the United Republic Council are not. And worse, they have no incentive to run the United Republic or its capital city for the benefit of the people who live there, because they are appointed by and beholden to the leaders of the other nations of the world. What does the Earth Kingdom or the Northern Water Tribe care if Republic City has an impoverished underclass at the mercy of the Triads? The Earth Queen and Chief Unalaq find the situation in Republic City entirely to their benifit, and so do their appointees. The only Council member who even vaguely feels a responsibility to the republic is Tenzin, and by the way, this is how he becomes aware his old flame has kids now.
#lin beifong#legend of korra#posts i created#do you want to ask a question it doesn't have to be a question#five headcanons#that's chief lin bei fong to you
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Here are some changes that I see happening in TLOK in regards of ATLA having a book 4: Air, Zutara and Azulaang being endgame, the dark avatar arc happening in Aang's time, all three spirit portals opening and Aang losing his past lives.
By the time Vaatu was purified, his powers/status were all siphoned and combined with Raava's. This is what causes Aang's past lives to vanish and he was warned of this outcome beforehand.
At the beginning of LOK, the world would look like how it did when LOK ended. Except, the extra portal gets opened as a result of the giant swamp tree and the tree of time being blown up and destroyed.
Zuko personally destroys all of Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai's statues and replaces them with statues of Katara. Katara will be more famous and be called the mighty Katara more often.
Aang's sons will be the same except his oldest is renamed Roku. Aang's daughter will have the most change appearance-wise, not really personality-wise. Her name is Ursa and is a firebender.
Azula personally makes sure there is equality in the family. As Ursa, Roku, and Tenzin discuss their family dynamic. The family squabbles they had were all minor and they're able to look back at them and laugh.
Book 1 is called Energy and it features Korra trying to figure out the ins and outs of energybending and the avatar state, in addition to dealing with Amon and the equalists.
Book 2: Spirits, has Unalaq be the well-intended extremist he was supposed to be, mostly on the opposite of the spectrum from Amon. His spiritual ally is Hundun from the LOK game.
The airbending subplot of book 3: Change, is removed because that already happened right after the end of ATLA, which leaves space for something else to add.
In Book 4: Balance. Korra does not get this realization that she "deserved" to suffer just to be more humble and noble. Instead, she'll realize that the avatar is not invincible and the world won't always need the avatar 24/7 which makes the job less burden-heavy.
I also see the endings of both series being swapped. Korra and Asami have their epic kiss while Aang and Azula take a vacation/adventure in the spirit world and it lasts long.
#atla#tlok#atla book 4 air#zutara#bluetara#katko#azaang#azulaang#aangzula#korrasami#raava#vaatu#dark avatar#dark avatar ozai#ozai is vaatu#azula redemption#the gaang#the krew#spirit world
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#Avatar BioShock Crossover AU" 2023 please!!!
This one's a doozy.
I don't remember precisely what triggered this one, but there was a period of a couple weeks last year where I got really into the idea of an Avatar/BioShock crossover AU. This spawned several AUs, only one of which made it into my WIP folder, apparently, so the rest must be lurking on discord with my beta reader. This particular AU has a few scant character notes, some timelines, and a discussion of themes that paint what I would consider a compelling but overly-ambitious picture.
The themes in play: destiny, causality, consciousness, free will, and moral choice. We are pulling material from BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock 2: Minerva's Den, BioShock Infinite, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra. Rapture exists in its own right, whereas Columbia is replaced with Republic City. Tears, Spirit Portals, and Spirit Wilds are all the same thing, linking Rapture and Republic City across time and space. Bending and Splicing are the same, as well, with the "Avatar" being someone who has spliced up to an incredible degree and not died of every kind of cancer. The Avatar State is thus a kind of berserk mode that uses up all the EVE in the Avatar's body, leaving them powerless and vulnerable at the end. Past Avatars exist as coherent ADAM ghosts.
Aang, in this story, is a Jack/Eleanor Lamb character originally from Rapture who escaped into Republic City through a tear, and set about trying to find a way back to Rapture's past to undo all of the damage he ended up causing. He's a man haunted by guilt whose efforts are ultimately futile, because that's not how causality works.
Korra is our Elizabeth, whose ability to open and close tears makes her valuable to Aang in his quest for redemption, but also makes her a target for everyone on both sides of the veil who wants a slice of the Rapture/Republic City pie. But opening and closing tears destroys entire sections of probability space, creating fixed points in spacetime and releasing a ton of spiritual energy that gets eaten by the bioluminescent mass that sits beneath Rapture, spitting ADAM slugs back out into the world, accelerating the chaos and decline of both cities.
I have here that Aang somehow travels back to the past and becomes the founder of Rapture, which means he later creates and then kills himself while trying to do everything he can to avoid that outcome. It probably made more sense in my head the time. The other members of the Gaang are listed as Rapture's Best & Brightest: Zuko and Sokka are divorced and miserable, with Zuko trying to be a single dad and Sokka inventing the Thinker; Katara is the city's foremost doctor and philanthropist; Suki is a detective/private security chief; and Toph runs the banks because nobody else is capable. She also laid a lot of the city's foundation.
The Mechanist is here inventing things. Wu is a popular singer with his own radio program. Suyin is a prima donna ballerina. Asami is...presumably doing something amazing, but I didn't write that bit down.
The villain rogue's gallery is all here as well, moving back and forth across the tears and causing mischief and mayhem. Zaheer's radical spirituality causes Aang (Rapture Founder) to ban religion, and Unalaq tries to get control of the Avatar Program so that he can become an Avatar himself. Ozai and Zhao extend their feelers throughout both cities, seizing power and resources for themselves. Amon slots himself nicely into the Atlas role (plot twist and all), so nothing really more to say there. Kuvira is apparently a former police officer turned mob boss capitalizing on the chaos for her own gain. Long Feng is a cold technocrat who runs a private security firm and manages assets for city big wigs. My note on him is "a less affable Sinclair."
Pro-bending/ADAM boxing is a thing, so Mako and Bolin are here trying to make it big in the big bad city/ies, which probably means I planned some background Wuko.
I have no idea what my endgame was. I don't know what the actual plot was going to be. This project wasn't one I seriously considered planning out in detail because I was in the middle of H&V/J&R work, and that takes priority over anything else with this level of ambition. Having said that, it might be interesting to take another pass at the concept and see if I can turn all of that up there into something workable.
WIP Game master post.
#atla#fanfic#wip#tag meme#tag game#zukka#jesus h roosevelt christ#i have no chill guys#none whatsoever
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