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Few characters inAvatar: The Last Airbenderhave drawn as much discourse as its second protagonist, Korra. Korra being framed as a deliberate foil to Aang has always had people debating Korra’s worth as a character, especially whenever her in-universe actions are taken into account, and even from conception, a subset of fans have hated her simply for being a female protagonist.
Korra has always garnered an unreasonable amount of hate from fans, even withThe Legend of Korrabeing almost a decade old, and unfortunately, that’s about to get much worse.A brand-newAvatarserieswas announced in celebration ofAvatar’s 20th anniversary,Avatar: Seven Havens, and what little is known about it, unfortunately, sets Korra up to be painted in a very negative light.Korra andThe Legend of Korraas a whole, however, deserve far more respect than the fans and the franchise give them, however, and hopefully, the new series will understand that point in its entirety.
Why Korra Is So Divisive With Avatar: The Last Airbender Fans
The Biggest Reasons Why Avatar Fans Hate Korra
It’s no secret thatKorra is a highly divisive character, and there are major reasons as to why. InThe Legend of Korra’s attempts at making Korra Aang’s opposite, she was written as impulsive and aggressive to the point of often making problems worse, and while she did mature in both the show and the comics, she never truly grew out of that behavior.The specific way Korra was made Aang’s foil made her unappealing to fans old and new, even without direct comparisons to Aang, and as subjective a point as that is, it’s not easy to write off.
The biggest reason some fans hate Korra, however, is for what happened inThe Legend of Korra’s Book 2 finale. In the final fight with Unalaq, Unalaq destroyed Raava and cut Korra off from her past lives, and while the fault should lie squarely on Unalaq,The Legend of Korra’s biggest detractors exclusively blame Korra for resetting the Avatar cycle, even though Unalaq was the one who did it. That point acts like Korra should be expected to always win, even though the same was never said for Aang, and it’s especially egregious because of that.
Avatar: Seven Havens Is Only Going To Make Korra More Divisive
Korra will always be a divisive figure, andAvatar: Seven Havenswill only make that worse. The story’s premise revolves around Korra doing something that caused the world to be destroyed and broken up into the eponymous Seven Havens, and it’s to the point that the Avatar went from being seen as a symbol of salvation to being seen as a symbol of destruction. With that in mind,Avatar: Seven Havenswill only worsen Korra’s discourseby having her destroy the world and ruin the Avatar’s in-universe legacy, and that’s nothing but disappointing to think about.
Naturally, things won’t be as simple as that when it comes to Korra. It’s unbelievable that Korra would willingly attempt to destroy the world, so it will probably be revealed that Korra tried to save the world and her actions became misconstrued as her trying to destroy it. Unfortunately,the fact thatAvatar: Seven Havenswill spend any amount of time at all framing Korra as being responsible for destroying the world will still give her biggest detractors more reasons to hate her, and by the time the show says differently, it might be too late to save her reputation.
Why Korra Deserves Far Better Than What The Fans & Series Give Her
As much as people criticized Korra for being so different from Aang, she probably would have received just as many criticisms if they had the same character type, but between the two, it’s far better for Korra to be a different character, altogether. Add in how well Korra’s aggressiveness is complemented by the growth she undergoes as she’s constantly forced to pick herself up after every loss, andKorra works as a great protagonist specifically because of how different she is from Aang and how muchThe Legend of Korragets from that.
Beyond that, of course, is the issue of Korra being blamed for losing the connection to her past lives. At best, Korra can be blamed because her initial trust in Unalaq played a big part in Book 2 going the way it did, but that ignores how Unalaq was manipulating Korra through her ongoing trust issues with Tenzin and Tonraq.There’s no reasonable way to view Korra losing her connection to her past lives as being her fault, and it’s frustrating that some fans still choose to do so a decade after the fact.
As forThe Legend of Korra, as a whole, while not a perfect follow-up toAvatar: The Last Airbender, the series still did a good job of naturally advancing the world ofAvatar, all of which was complemented by an engaging cast of characters that always worked well in whatever story they were put in. As such,it’s disappointing thatAvatar: Seven Havens’ premise serves to essentially erase everythingThe Legend of Korradid and start the world over from scratchas opposed to advancing things even further, and that’s one of the few things that, unfortunately, can’t be fixed.
How Can Avatar: Seven Havens Give Korra The Respect She Deserves?
There’s Still Hope For Korra’s Reputation Yet
It should be clear that the hate Korra gets is largely undeserved, and surprisingly, there are ways forAvatar: Seven Havensto fix that. A big part of the show’s plot will undoubtedly be about figuring out the specifics behind what Korra allegedly did to become hated, and when the truth finally does come out,Avatar: Seven Havenscan show how much Korra grew as a person and an Avatar through revealing the truth behind her part in the state of the world.
Korra’s maturity can also come out if she’s made into a recurring character. With how the Avatar is known to function, Korra can appear to the new Avatar as a spiritual advisor like Roku often did for Aang as an older and wiser version of herself, soAvatar: Seven Havenscan improve Korra’s reputation by showing her newfound maturity through her dynamic with the new Avatar. It would be easy forSeven Havensto give Korra her due, and after everything Korra’s been put through since day one,Avatar: The Last Airbendermore than owes her that much.
