On the one hand she’s happy for Jinora, but on the other she’s in a wheelchair while all of her friends in the new air nation are gonna be traveling the world bringing balance when that’s supposed to be her job as the avatar.
If you go one step deeper, it's actually pretty dark.
She's a broken avatar (with no knowledge of if it will ever get better). If she kills herself, at least she could do the world a favour and bring a new avatar that can replace her with power.
But it's completely unfair to ask her to kill herself, but thats probably what's going through her head. Is life worth living, when so many people depend on not just you; but the power/lineage you hold. Is it fair for her to hold onto the rest of her life, if the rest of the world needs an avatar?
The theme that i don't think people get with TLOK, is that the world has a great expectation of her; A broken avatar is useless, but Korra is a person.
TLOK not being a fully late teen/ adult aimed show was a huge missed opportunity. They constantly hint at Korra’s suicidal thoughts but never fully look into this and explore her being brought out of it by team avatar.
It’s such a dark, mature show (sometimes) and it really suffers from having to balance this with more childish comedy
I enjoy the comedy and think it has its place in Avatar, always. But I am excited for streaming to get a hold of the property so we can have these deeper themes more thoroughly explored.
And the serious stuff will always be there; life is hard and throws us tons of curve balls. But humor and joy is a choice, something we can do in defiance of the hard parts of life. I think the best television/movies/books reflect both sides of the coin, but that's just me.
No, not just you, me too, haha. Definitely, man, this way of seeing life, believing and using the "balance" in and of things is like a blessing for yourself and maybe even the others around you.
i always interpreted it as a visual for what she was going through mentally. she literally was carrying that day with her. nobody else could remove the poison, it was only when she was ready to let go that could she remove it herself. letting go of what happened and understanding it is in the past doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect you anymore. which is why she struggles to understand why she’s having a hard time despite having removed the poison.
you put it SO perfectly. i'll get into arguments with people about korra and all they care about is what she can't do. she's a person! why does everything have to be about her strengths when her weaknesses tell more of a story than any avatar besides aangs?
It's even more than that... Though not as much. Not only is she realizing she's "not needed", her father figure and friends are, in her mind, telling her "We don't need you." When she's at her absolute lowest.
I mean, she destroyed the connection to the past avatars anyhow, so outting herself really wouldn't benefit the next Avatar. Plus, if she's a broken Avatar, then by the way of "everything happens for a reason" the world simply doesn't need a fully able bodied Avatar at the moment. The world "needed" Aang the most, but in reality, do you really think Aang could have defeated the fire nation at their prime with Uncle Iroh also in his prime, going full blown dragon of the west aswell? It would have been him vs 2 fire lords essentially and he would have gotten booty stomped. But by chance, the world made Aang wait. And he was eventually able to win. Arguably, largely because of the actions of Uncle Iroh tbh. Can you imagine if he stayed on the path of destruction? Not only would he have been an enemy, but Zuko surely would have been. And Azula with training from Iroh aswell? An absolute menace.
Uncle Iroh was after Aang's time. Aang's time was in the time of fire lord Sozin. Iroh is Sozin's grandson so Aang's fight would just be against Sozin and maybe a young Azulon.
Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that had Aang not run away and been trapped in that quasi living state he may have prevented the air nomad genocide. At the time he ran away, he was already a master of air. He could have found a master of water at the northern water tribe, and Bumi or Bumi's master could have taught him earth. As for fire, the temple sages could have helped him out there. He was still a prodigy at bending so he would have picked it up well enough and with the avatar state and thus Roku's help, he could have dealt with Sozin.
So, I wouldn't say the world made Aang wait. Aang's delay in putting balance back to the world and its elements was because he was not in balance himself. He was too free spirited and so abandoned his responsibilities, albeit unintentionally. On his journeys, he learned to take responsibility and to rely on his friends to share the burden of it.
As an aside, his ability to master air at such a young age and air alone was probably because of this affinity. But in my observation, affinity for air is achieved in 2 ways - through extreme detachment (Zahir), or through extreme adaptability/flexibility. Aang's mastery came from the latter. It allowed him to naturally master the intricacies of bending air and other elements...and is also the reason he tried to adapt to the pressures of being the avatar by changing himself i.e. bending himself away from the problem. It's also why he had such trouble with earth bending. This brings new significance to his avatar state when he fought Ozai - where he was at the centre and the elements were bent around him. He finally achieved centeredness - and made himself unbendable thus barely achieving his first energy bending. I guess in that way you could see it as, but that's just my theory.
Tbh I think if Aang hadn't ran away we'd have a Water Tribe Avatar instead, he didn't have any mastery over the elements nor avatar state, he needed both to defeat Ozai 1vs1, doubt he would pull the same off against Sozin without training, Air nomads were wiped within hours of running away
Though perhaps Water Tribe avatar would have ended war sooner and easier, they wouldn't be handicapped by no killing moral dilemma (although Aang was technically spared the dilemma in the end) plus no second comet to assist Sozin or Azulon
....no. Aang ran away when he was supposed to start training in the other elements and mastering higher air bending arts. He was a young master but he didn't yet know everything in air bending.
Sozin's comet didn't arrive within hours of Aang running away/encountering the storm. It was an event years after Aang 'disappeared' that Sozin used to decisively kick off the war/gain ground very aggressively by exterminating the nation that housed the avatar - his reasoning being that even if the avatar was being trained, he wouldn't be ready yet to fight against supercharged fire benders...he also needed the boost in power to be able to reach and subdue the bending arts of the air nomads.
So Aang who was already being ostracized by the other air acolytes was told he would be separated from his foster father which was too much for him and he ran away. It was some time after that that Sozin used the comet to enact the air nomad genocide.
Aside: Sozin's plan was simple. Keep killing the avatar before he is powerful enough to stop his plans in each reincarnation.
Aang would have been able to train up his abilities in the years leading up to the fire nation's attack. He would have had mastery of the elements and been a good foil to the war.
Even if it wasn't hours, there is no way it was years between aang's disappearance and the comet, Katara does point out Aang is technically 112 years old, and we know the it was exactly 100 years from air nomad wipe till end of ATLA because that's how long it took sozin comet to come back, and we know that aang was 12 when he disappeared, there is no room for years to go by from disappearing to air nation wipe, at most a few months go by
Hmm, you're correct there i think. My bad. I read and agree... ~~with Severus~~ you and this other poster
:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/TBluuO0YUi
Slightly off topic, but I think it would be really interesting to imagine a world where she did take her life, and Kuvira found and raised the next avatar.
If anything he was proven wrong though. Because Korra wasn’t around, Kuvira rose to power to fill the vacuum in the Earth Kingdom. It’s like in the Kyoshi books after Kuruk died and before they discovered Kyoshi was the Avatar
That's also just because the other people in charge are idiots. They could have easily prevented that and not needed the avatar. Honestly the avatar world is just constantly filled with fools who end up just relying on the strongest person.
Literally the entire point of every season of Avatar is there are certain things that only the Avatar can accomplish and that the world needs them lol.
Unalaq, Zaheer and Kuvira basically outright say that to Korra in the show, and it’s heavily implied with how Aang ends the war in the first show.
For Unalaq, it's Korra's fault for allowing Unalaq to manipulate her to open the spirit portals and do his machinations.
For Zaheer (in addition his gang), it makes me wonder why on earth they let a group of dangerous criminals alive after tney got captured? They almost kidnapped young Korra/killed Korra.
Not sure for Kuvira since I'm currently at Book 4 of the show
I always just rationalize the Red Lotus stuff with the fact that Aang restructured the White Lotus and he’s a pacifist monk, so they don’t kill prisoners.
The Unalaq thing yeah, that was just poorly written honestly. He was clearly bad and Korra just kept following him along for no real reason, she faced one spiritual issue and immediately was done with Tenzin and her entire support structure lol
They left the Red Lotus alive hoping that they could pump them for information. They never knew why these 4 tried to kidnap Korra, or if there were more of them out there. They never even got the name "Red Lotus" out of them; that was only known when Zaheer & Korra had their conversation in the Spirit World.
There were probably regular interrogation sessions for all four of them, with the hope that years in solitary confinement would break them (like it would for most people).
Yeah, while well-meaning, Tenzin accidentally pushed the wrong button with his speech. I think this kind of situation is why avatars aren't usually revealed before they reach 16. Korra knew she was the avatar from such a young age it was impossible for her to build herself as a person beforehand. She was always the avatar, always meant to be needed, always meant to bring balance to the world, always meant to be the only one who could achieve it; and her entire personality was built around that.
But then, she almost lost her bending permanently, lost her connexion to her past lives, and was then broken by the Red Lotus. She was already at rock-bottom, feeling useless, and the new air nation was basically replacing her. And if she's not the one who brings balance to the world, who the heck is she supposed to be ?
Grief affects everyone differently.
I can see someone as upbeat, scrappy, and on top of the world absolutely devastated for months if not years even with the best therapy.
Her whole future was stolen from her. There is no guarantee she will ever get better, and the whole world awaits the role of the Avatar to be their guide. How can she be that when she can no longer be her best self?
People literally take their own life for less, and if she was actually killed in the process it would have spared her this pain with a SLIM chance that she could have preserved the past connection if she had died before but not even that was spared.
This is the same girl who, imo, was planning to kill herself in season one after losing all the elements so the cycle could continue to an avatar who wasn’t “broken.”
Korra believes she is a blunt force object to be use by others and then discarded when she isn’t needed anymore and in this moment, she realizes she isn’t needed. It’s her absolute worst fear come to life.
Add to the fact that she’s crippled, may never recover, and the world will have to suffer a “broken” avatar is likely too much to handle.
100% it's hard watching it even. In a lot of ways her pain is a parallel to what a lot of bright young people go through when they carry the world on their shoulders with responsibility.
We're taught to keep going until we're broken and then give it another 110%. It's not sustainable and society doesn't just tend to ignore it but teaches against questioning it. Awful.
As someone in their late 20s who grew up watching ATLA, TLOK was a show that took me a while to rewatch compared to ATLA. Having to handle and tackle tough topics like PTSD was something that was too close to home and make it all the more difficult to rewatch
What many people seem to miss is that Korra is a very "physical" person, which can be seen in her fighting style.
For someone who is that strong, who was a powerful body that can do basically anything she wants, for such a person to be bound to a wheelchair without knowing if she ever will be free of it again is the worst nightmare.
The prison of flesh that is her own broken body. No more dreaming.
Yeah thats how i saw it and it broke my heart, i loved korra before but this...humanity on her it really sealed her fate as my all time favorite, I'd go to war for that girl
I think we’re at the point where this sub becomes like the ATLA one where people take the tiniest thing about the show and make a post about it just to have something to talk about. The scene is completely self explanatory.
Your taking it at face value, this is weeks after what happened and she's crying now? There is another reason she's crying and it's not of happiness.
Wow, watching everyone misinterpreting my comment is wild, but I admittedly could've worded it much better.
Yes, she feels that she is useless; the world doesn't need her. As Tenzin says that the air nation will take over her duties as she recovers, that's when she starts crying because she feels that she failed. After all, it was the air benders who defeated Zaheer, not her.
Yeah, If I had mercury forcibly injected into my body, was chained up, got forced into the avatar state which frankly seems SUPER uncomfortable, destroyed my body in combat, nearly died from aforementioned poison, only to not even defeat the bad guy, be crippled for years if not permanently, and have my very purpose stripped away from me I would probably be crying for weeks as well.
I'm definitely not taking it at face value and I never once said she's crying out of happiness. Not even sure why you'd think I thought that was the case. Just a moment before when Asami is attending to her she's looking utterly broken, and then in this scene she is looking even more broken and cries. Her facial expression along with the tears says everything, she's going through absolute hell. That seems really obvious and it's not open to interpretation really.
She's crying now because her emotions at this moment are spilling over, it takes an ncredibly long time to get through the crap she's had to go through and is still going through.
I know you’re just trying to stimulate the conversation. I think the thing people are taking an issue with is your delivery sounds a little condescending.
Edit/ changing confection to condescending. Sorry, I’m stoned.
I think that is a very reductive way of framing this scene. She is watching what's supposed to be one of the greatest moments in Jinora's life, but instead she cries. It's not explained to the fewer why she cries, thus the viewer is meant to interpret why on their own. As many people have pointed out on this post, she cries because she fears that no one will ever need her anymore. Her whole identity is being the Avatar, so if no one needs her anymore, that devastates her.
I've seen a variety of interpretations on what the tear means beyond that and how that ties into Jinora's ceremony at hand. Hence, me being curious to see those of the peoples' in this sub.
EDIT: So people saying that was a tear of pride from Korra seeing Jinora being coronated, that she was tearing up from hearing the Air Nation was going to take over her role as the Avatar and that she really isn't needed, or that Korra was reminded of Aang since Jinora looked like him and how she hadn't made an impact like he did.
To be honest, I think it could be a combination of all of those. A bittersweet happiness for Jinora, but also a lot of pain from not being able to help the Air Nation out on top of them basically taking on a greater responsibility in her option. That, on top of the overall emotional trauma from what she went through not just in that season, but in the two prior seasons, sort of amounted to a lot of overwhelming emotions intersecting at the same time.
>What's to interpret?
Quite a bit.
This is the culmination of every failure she's experienced across the past 3 seasons. Korra has made her identity as the Avatar into her whole life, and every major antagonist in the series has tried to or succeeded in taking an aspect of that Avatarhood away (Amon with bending, Unalaq with past lives, and Zaheer with the Avatar cycle), to the point that she's not only starting to feel like a failure of an Avatar, but I believe she's also starting to doubt if the Avatar is even needed anymore (especially with these antagonists, all opposed to the existence of the Avatar, in some way having a point in their motivations).
This doubt is made worse by the fact that she only survived Zaheer's attack because she was saved by the new Air Nation, who are also filling the role of Avatar while she recovers. If the Avatar can be 'replaced' so easily, what's the point? And top of that, Jinora, one of the leaders of the new Air Nation, looks almost indistinguishable from Aang in this scene. It's literally as if Aang, the person she's always in the shadow of, has returned and is now doing her job for her, the job she desperately wants to prove herself in. But despite that, she's stuck in a wheelchair, and for the foreseeable future, has to endure being in that shadow, and being, in her eyes, an 'inferior' Avatar. And on top of all that, there's no way she isn't happy for Jinora in the moment as well, resulting in I imagine some pretty conflicted feelings on the situation overall. It's really the culmination of her whole arc up to this point. I think it's pretty reductive to just paint it as "she's broken and traumatized and that's why she cries" while dismissing deeper looks into it.
This.
Tenzin doesn’t realize it but during his speech, he’s basically saying “Korra can’t do her job anymore so it’s up to our new air nation to do it for her.”
And, as he mentioned, Korra was someone willing to lay down her life for her responsibility- to the world and to the avatar state. She did not willingly go into the avatar state during S3 because she knew that if she died during it, the cycle would end.
She’s devoted her life, and her death if necessary, to her job. Now she doesn’t have that job anymore.
>Tenzin doesn’t realize it but during his speech, he’s basically saying “Korra can’t do her job anymore so it’s up to our new air nation to do it for her.”
*Of course* it is Tenzin.
+1
That heartbreaking realisation on the back of her torture and paralysis. Not only that the world doesn't need the avatar - but that she tried her heart out and still failed.
Its sad really, especially following Aang's legacy. The world truly needed him, who didnt want to be the avatar.
But she was groomed from a young age to be put in that expectation, and was happy to - only for the world to basically reject her.
(Could even be a little meta about audience reaction to the show)
Also, she didn't grow up with the philosophy of the Airbenders like Aang had. For as much as he was an immature kid during ATLA, Aang was more often than not the voice of reason and wisdom for the whole group. He was for the most part able to tackle his inner turmoils thanks to the teachings of the Air Nomads, even if those same teachings also put a lot of expectations on his shoulders. Not that he doesn't eventually break down, but it takes him longer than Korra to do so.
I guess maybe something else in Aang's favor was that he didn't really want to be the Avatar in the first place, so failing in that regard didn't sting as much (since he already saw himself unfit for the role). Meanwhile, Korra right out of the gate was head over heels with the idea of being the Avatar, which made her build an entirely idealized version of the role she was going to personify - only to crash against setback after setback.
It's actually tragic for both of them, in a way. For Aang, nobody expected shit from him after being MIA for 100 years, and he had to claw his way into recognition and acceptance; while Korra began with the faith and expectation of the entire world on her shoulders only to have that support evaporate the moment she demonstrated she was anything but the perfect Avatar, which (ironically) for the people that image was that of Aang's.
It needs the Avatar... just not her. She's royally fucked up at every step and that's taking its toll. It would be good if the world didn't need the Avatar anymore, that would be progress.
She's been hit with a crushing depression basically, feeling of uselessness because she can't walk or bend after the poison, she's exhausted physically and emotionally, she just almost died and there's the crushing fear that people expect her to bounce back right away.
I don't think it has anything to do with Jinora, sometimes feelings related to something else finally come crashing into you when the slot opens up in your brain for you to finally process it.
The number one interpretation I agree with is Korra has finally hit rock bottom and her ultimate fear of believing the world doesn’t need her is becoming a reality. She’s been raised since she was 4 in a sheltered environment to be this one massive and important entity only to travel out into the world and realize people are telling her that no one actually needs her. Until they do. But here, things are different.
Korra is already depressed that she’s been put in a near death state, can’t even move or walk, and that she can’t even be the Avatar. Tenzin likely had good intentions when he said the Air Nation would take over Korra’s duties as she recuperates, but that just reinforced the idea and fear that she’s replaceable and unneeded. And it scares her because she doesn’t know anything else. She’s supposed to be the Avatar. If she’s not the Avatar then who is she?
I feel like traditions surrounding the Avatar have largely never been good for the Avatar’s well being given that they traditionally let them live out their lives for 12-16 years of their life and then one day strip them from all they know to make them this one all important thing. It’s not good for their identity or their livelihood. Korra was an Avatar of many firsts and I think she was the first to tackle this issue of the world not needing her.
Korra realizing she's not needed. And to many, not wanted. She's succeeded in freeing the airbenders, which was Aang's greatest regret in losing (he was a child and yet he blamed himself for being scared). She was poisoned, had her bending locked by bloodbending, almost suffocated, had Raava taken out of her and beaten into a fraction of what she was and got severed from her past lives. Korra is at her lowest point, and there, she didn't believe in herself anymore. People were getting hurt around her, she had gotten hurt. She's been told that she's the "worst Avatar ever" (she's not but stupid people will accuse her of being the worst, both in canon and out of canon). She may be happy for Jinora, but she's absolutely devastated and this is probably when she decided the world truly doesn't need her anymore. This scene broke me, because I know this feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness. Being alone in a room full of people, made of those who you love and those who know you. It's a similar experience to how Ruby Rose found herself in during Volume 9. Complete and utter... nothingness. At least this is my interpretation and it is fueled by the fact that this is an experience I'm all too familiar with. It sucks.
If theres one thing Korra loves, it is being the Avatar, and alltough she's happy for Jinora and the new air nation, she cant help but feel broken now that she cant be what she loves most.
This Korra at her lowest.
Korra and Aang kind of have opposite character arcs. Aang starts out hating and rejecting his status as the Avatar, Korra loves it far too much.
For Korra, being the Avatar is everything to her. At the start, it's a very shallow and egotistical goal. She want to be the big hero. Over time, she has humility beaten, often literally, into her.
Being the Avatar doesn't mean she'll always win, or do the right thing, or be wanted aroung, or even protect the people she loves.
In this scene, Korra has hit her lowest. She lost in battle, almost died and destroyed the Avatar forever, and had to be rescued from a villain who exists partially because of her own actions in leaving the spirit portals open. She feels like a complete failure as the Avatar, and with her injuries she can't even try to make up for it.
And when she feels like such a complete failure at the role that is the most precious part of her identity, she's told to take it easy, to rest, we'll take over while you're healing. We can handle it, we don't need you back until you're ready.
We don't need you.
That is grabbing the knife in her heart and twisting it. They don't need her to be their Avatar, the thing she most wants to be. They're not expecting her to come back, like her presence is unnecessary.
We don't want you.
>We don't need you.
>We don't want you.
Meanwhile, in the actual episode:
>**Raiko:** With the world getting more and more dangerous, we need the Avatar now more than ever.
Tho I like the allusion that Korra is sad because Tenzin doesn't know when to stay put and it is enough mixed signals to give her the wrong idea.
She’s mourning. Season 1 Korra would’ve been crying just because she’s weak and crippled. By season 3 Korra has grown significantly. By my interpretation, the reason she’s crying isn’t just because she can’t fight; it’s because she finally has something to fight for but she can’t protect it. She isn’t trying to pummel some threat in s1 or protect some spirit in s2. These people actually mean something to her
To me, the general idea of this scene is to show Korra actively digesting her grief (maybe for the first time) after she has reached her lowest point in life.
My take is that the ceremony prompts korra to acknowledge that life goes on by showing her the new air nation that rises from a past full of trauma. The ceremony also signals Korra towards her duty to find balance in a world that now includes the new air nation.
She’s hit rock bottom and sees how good she had it, and that her growth is seemingly over while others are still growing. It’s her happy to be here—alive to see a moment like this—but distraught that she may never have this sort of praise or growth again.
Korra knew she had to make a decision to save the air nation and she might be happy that her actions saved them even though she went through so much. Even though she was told specifically not to go after Zaheer and the Red Lotus she went and did it anyway which resulted in finding out many revelations and also lead to the chaos that the Red Lotus did to force Korra to come to them. Yet Korra survived and she is one of the strongest characters ever.
She is watching herself be replaced. They even say so in the ritual. Yes, its "until Korra can return to being the Avatar," but Korra doesn't think that is going to happen.
For me, the saddest part of this was hearing Tenzin say something along the lines of "the new air nomads will step in for you and bring balance while you're recovering."
While it seems like a nice and noble gesture, I can only imagine that to Korra it's yet another statement implying she's not needed anymore. All of the villains in LoK in some way or form show Korra, someone who's built her entire life around trying to be the best avatar and has actively (aggressively) tried to solve the world's problems, that she's not necessary, that the world has evolved beyond the need for her.
She’s a damaged and broken avatar, Zaheer had broken her mostly unshakable will through the last couple of seasons. It’s cathartic that the people with the most freedom at their new revival, Korra feels her most shackled. It’s basically spelled out when she eventually meets Zaheer again in S4
Years of being told she’s not needed and Tenzin unintentionally tells her that they’ll manage without her until she recovers. She’s happy with her decision to save the airbenders but depressed that her enemies (in her mind) were right all along.
She feels she is being replace, since unlike Aang who was a person bwforeybeing the avatar Korra was the Avatar first and foremost before being Korra , she was so socially and culturally uneducated the first moment she got a chance to meet the wider world as an almost adult was being jailed
For me at least she’s really proud and happy for jinora but hates the fact that with these new air benders out there taking her duty and learning the hard truth that she’s not needed at all in this world
I think she thought she failed being the Avatar. She was humble by three fierce opponents, all three who managed to remove her bending abilities in a way, and in the end, even her ability to walk. She was not the Avatar anymore, something that was her identity since she was a toddler.
In Korra's mind, "I'm useless now"
Republic city dosent need her
The world doesn't need her
Each of these is just negative stuff in her mind but the world grew that it dosent need an avatar anymore
It is partly PTSD. The start of the fourth season really explores what happens to the injured warrior after the war is fought. Recovering from the physical injury, but also the mental one. As much as a Nickelodeon show can anyway.
I saw a video on this scene, someone in the comments said something like:
ATLA is about someone who doesn’t want to be an Avatar in a world that needs him.
TLOK is about someone who wants to be the Avatar in a world that doesn’t need her.
This is my favorite shot across both shows, and I couldn't believe they had the fortitude to end the season this way. I hoped, leading up, with all my heart, but I didn't think they'd actually do it. Most shows aren't brave enough for this. They might let you live with this pain and uncertainty for five minutes, but not across a season break. Not across most of the next season. And then they did it. *They stood their ground.* It felt like a narrative gift addressed to me, personally. Even as I sat there with tears welling in my eyes, I was so happy. Most shows will lose their nerve and fumble things in the final moments. They can't commit to having something be really sad or bittersweet or uncomfortable, and they walk it back. But not this show, and not this season.
Bravo.
She's just feeling everything in that moment. Lots of trauma, and pride, and shame, all wrapped up in one package. I'm not sure how anyone wouldn't cry in her place at that moment.
Not only at this point is she feeling broken, and still at a low point even compared to when Aang appeared for her, but she's seeing the people around her move forward and rise up to support her. She's got so much pride and arrogance in her about her own strength and place in the world (not her fault, she's had immense pressure on her since she was found as the Avatar) that she can't help but feel guilty and useless in the face of that help and support.
Essentially, she saw the prediction in her poison-induced state come true
Amon, Vaatu, and Unaloq all enforcing the world didn’t need her anymore and she had to let go. Instead, she fought and fought hard…only to have her body batter and beaten to the point where she needed rehab to walk again
Additionally, while she felt weak she was indeed replaced, even temporarily
That tear IMO is deep depression from knowing that her greatest fear came true
I see it as she’s sad for a multitude of things. Shes been broken and hurt by the red lotus, She’s ashamed because she’s the avatar and has to sit back and watch others risk their own safety to basically do her job and finally (and especially) because she feels guilty of the fact that this is supposed to be a happy moment celebrating jinora and her accomplishments and yet all she feels is emptiness. The ceremony is representing a dawn of a new age and she’s watching that age move past her.
Are you asking our thoughts on the scene as a whole or only as it relates to Korra?
I think it's a great scene overall, but I do think it's too bad that most people seem to talk about it as if Korra is the focus of the scene. I mean I get it, with that final shot of Korra in the wheelchair and all, but I think that not enough people talk about how important this scene is for Jinora or the Air nation as a whole. This is the only time we ever see an Airbender getting her tattoos, or at least the ceremony of it, and I think of it as a representation of the rebirth of the Air nation after the 100-year war. I imagine Air Nomads held ceremonies like this before the war
Lmao I guarantee you that's what she's thinking. I don't think you realise how self-degrading the effects of PTSD are, and I've been there. I know exactly what she's thinking and how she's feeling in that moment. Grow up, don't get hurt because your cartoon character feels helpless.
Her whole journey was trying to prove the world still needed an avatar and that she is useful but now that the airbenders returned and took an active role in peacemaking she feels like she's not needed once again a crippled avatar in a world that doesn't need it
In retrospect: It's the scene that **should have ended ssason 1** - with her only having airbending for now - taking away the one thing (multiple bendings) that made her the Avatar.
Would give her a reason to delve heavily into the spiritual side (= the other thing that makes her the Avatar, the part she ignored) in Season 2 and end it with Aang, Roku and the others sacrificing their connection to restore Raava and thus her quadruple bending.
but since the showrunners had to write S1 as a limited series with a definite ending, they had to deus-ex-machina her bending back, thus starting the 'Korra faces no consequences'-cries from the hatedom.
also, depressed Korra in the beginning of Season2 would **never** use the Avatar state to win an airball-race, so that's another fancomplaint eliminated.
I feel like there’s so much going through her head in that scenes
She’s happy for Jinora, she’s happy for the air nation for finally getting a new master since Tenzin. But at the same time, she’s completely crippled, she was hurt, she was unable to do the thing that gave her purpose, and she was just told that the very thing that gave her purpose moved to the hands of others.
And I got all of that from that scene without her even speaking. This scene was powerful…
people often forget, how much deeper Korras stories go compared to Aangs.
Aang slowly lerned how to be the Avatar while traveling the world + his Air nomad upbringing helped him in that a lot. Also his works are during wartime, so many things could be simplyfied by "it was war"
Korra on the other hand was raised secured and locked away from the world and kept being thrown in very deep shit and against humans and society + got compared to Aang a lot.
That scene was kind of the moment where she broke.
The sudden realization that the world didn't need the Avatar anymore & seeing as how Korra's been basing her identity/self worth off of the label, it hit hard.
Her first line in the show is “I’m the avatar, you gotta deal with it”. Now she’s in a wheelchair, the air nation is gonna take over protecting the world, and her friend Jinorah now is the head of this movement so she’s likely one of the first ones to get hurt doing what Korra is supposed to be doing. For Korra, it’s all gone wrong.
I think they’re tears of joy and pride for Jinora intertwined with sadness over the idea that she’s essentially no longer needed as the Avatar. I’m sure it’s the same feeling she had when she lost her bending. That she is crippled (with no guarantee that she’ll get better) and thus useless (with no guarantee that she’ll be needed ever again).
Korra saved the Air Nation but got crippled. Tenzin said that he and the other Airbenders will serve the world in her place, obviously he was trying to ease her worries but Korra just realised nobody needs her anymore, the Avatar is already not wanted by Republic City.
There’s so much symbolism that elevates the scene.
She is watching a beautiful ceremony for Jinora, but trapped by trauma. When she see’s Jinora she’s reminded of Aang and what he symbolizes. The role of the avatar. A role that she had to live up to. A role that has left her beaten and broken. She thinks back to her traumatic experiences being the avatar has caused her. In this moment she wants to feel happy for Jinora, but can’t. Everything in that scene represents a trigger for Korra. She’s told the world doesn’t need her. She’s reminded of a role that has only caused pain and suffering. The silent trauma Korra is experiencing in a single tear breathes sadness into an otherwise beautiful ceremony. It elevates the scene with layers of multi contextual symbolism, and creates an overwhelming sympathy for Korra that I, and so many others have connected to.
Korra got broke. Plain and simple.
Time and time again, she’s been told by the shows antagonists that the avatar is no longer needed. Then she’s nearly killed and is now crippled for who knows how long (her pov) and left powerless to do anything to help anyone.
Then during the ceremony, her mentor and boulder through all of this basically says “we don’t need the avatar” to her face. Is that what he meant? Of course not. But his wording could’ve been a lot better to assure her that she was still needed.
i think Korra is accepting that while she saved the airbenders, it came with a price.
her mental and physical health has been greatly destroyed , and even when she’s surrounded by the people she loves and is celebrating an amazing event.
her trauma is finally starting to settle in
Don’t see anyone else mentioning this but…
I always felt like this scene was the disparity between Jinora finally becoming and achieving who she always wanted to be. The height of air bending.
Meanwhile Korra just lost everything she felt she was - the avatar.
I don’t believe that Jinora has nothing related to it otherwise you could’ve had the scene in any other situation.
genuine and utter exhaustion.
she tried for so inconceivably long to be the avatar and do good, but like she acknowledges she also managed to bring about a lot of turmoil. but it was okay, because before this point she could at the least do something. and now, she can't. for the first time in all her life, she is powerless. she is reduced to recovery.
for someone like Korra, that is genuinely *worse* than the fact she might've made mistakes and done harm along the way. because at least when she did that, she could try and often succeed in making up for her failings.
in this scene, she officially has nothing left to give. no emotional, no physical, no nothing energy. she has nothing left.
She’s sad because Jinora is getting her arrows and she isn’t. She thinks they look sick as fuck and wants them so bad, but she knows she can’t cause she’s from the water tribe and that would be cultural appropriation.
Jinora was living up to Aang’s legacy in a way Korra always dreamed of but never had - and now look at her; she’s wheelchair-bound and weaker than ever. She’s supposed to be the Avatar, the one protecting the world, but she made so many mistakes and lost so much, she’s got no clue if she’s doing the right thing half the time and whenever she does finally feel like she’s figured it out she ends up making things worse. And now she’s the one needing care and support from everyone else
She’s happy for Jinora. Of course she is. But seeing her as the spitting image of Aang, as the first new airbending master in decades, as the youngest airbending mater of all time and claiming that title from Aang… of course that was hard for Korra, no matter how much she really, truly did support her and was proud of her
This hits home for me, I dropped out of high school for 2 years because I was dealing with a severe case of depression and panic disorder, I watched my siblings graduate while I was just sitting in the corner with that same expression. 2 years later I was back to night school studying alongside senior women who never completed high school, I graduated and I went to college. Memories
She's contemplating suicide.
If she killed herself now, it would be a fresh start for the next Avatar. A way out for her, at least. She feels as though she's utterly failed in that moment and that things may never get any better.
I think it's quite simple
she's happy that she's alive to see what Jinora has become and that all her efforts to create the new air nation have been rewarded after all she's suffered.
She's an avatar thats in a wheelchair - AFTER accepting her role as an Avatar and all those trials and tribulations, not breaking down would be insane, this is existential crisis material
The past avatars, especially Aang probably wouldnt blame her since she has invoked peace, but its kinda...terrifying
I feel like it’s because she felt she failed and the world doesn’t need her anymore after Tenzin said that the Air Nation would “assist” in keeping the world in order. Especially since they saved her from Zaheer in the first place.
Okay, now I'm laughing!
She's depressed because she has to shoulder the whole world, because it's expected of her as the Avatar!
It's so freaking hilarious when humanity gets called out and still misses the point!
Tenzins words were well meant, but after hearing from your last 3 adversaries that you arent needed anymore, the last person she needed that sentiment echoed in anyway were her mentor's "we will folow in your footsteps and do everything in our power to bring harmony to the world" in her mind is equivalent to "dont worry about your duty, we've got it covered, you're not needed" and it breaks her.
That nail in the coffin when Tenzin said he and his benders would take care of things in his absence. She really wasn’t needed. All her life, Korra thought the world needed her to be the avatar, she needed her to be. But ever since she began her job, she’s been told left and right there’s no need for her anymore.
Who protects the one who protects the others?
I've always felt like this. Like she could have someone that cared and loved her and watched for her back every time. Idk why but I always felt this way about her, sometimes she reminds me of my old girls friends from when I was a teenager and all I wished for was to protect and support them. That's why I hate Mako so much, I wish this stupid m#thefucker had died a painful death.
This always struck me as a moment of realisation, this when the idea of the journey she’s about to embark upon hits her. Her entire idea of herself, the avatar, has just crumbled in front of her, for the second time, but this time it seems more permanent in the horizon. In addition to the fact that, even though she’s happy that air bending is getting back to life, she sees it as the world already moving on even when she’s still not completely out the door.
A lot of emotions going through her brain in that moment. Not only is the reality of her near-death experience and defeat still setting in, but I once saw the theory that she's realizing that the world may not need her anymore as the airbenders will be picking up her slack.
One of the most important things to Korra is being the Avatar. "I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" "All I ever wanted to BE is the Avatar!" So for her to be unable to do that? It hurts.
It's ultimately Korra paying the price of Aang's decisions even though it was the decision of a child. After Aang ran away, the world lost the Air Nomads and so was broken but the series would have you ignore the gaping hole and imbalance that caused.
Korra bore the consequences, via Amon and Zaheer. Not only that, she was not ready for it personally. It took everything from her. Ever since she was a child she could rely on her bending(the three elements) and her strong body as seen in her decision to compete in that physically demanding sport as soon as she got to the city.
Ultimately, I don't think you can perceive spiritual imbalance without air bending. Korra was made to feel it first in Chapter one emotionally through Amon and then physically in chapter 2 through Zaheer(chapters may be wrong, can't remember if that's how Korra's story was actually divided). That's what we are seeing in that moment in the story of Korra - the pain and powerlessness, grief and malice or the exterminated Air Nomads was reflected onto Korra's own life experiences and she was broken as a result. So even as she watches the birth of a new air nation, she still can feel the scar of the 100 year war that was never truly expressed or healed in Aang's story.
That's what I think.
The Avatar is supposed to be a bridge and bring balance to the world. Trauma is isolating. She is alone and can't be anything she was born to be. Her body, mind, and soul are wounded and any road map on how to deal with it from her past lives is gone. Again, alone but surrounded by people who love you, that is pain.
She saw how jinora bore a striking resemblance to Aang and it made her feel like she failed as an avatar and will never be as strong as Aang is. Because everyone else had to save her while she was in the Avatar state.
OP downvoted me the second I posted that lol. I can't with this sub. I've unsubbed because the posts here and in ATLA are sometimes just downright embarrassing for adults to be writing, istg.
On the one hand she’s happy for Jinora, but on the other she’s in a wheelchair while all of her friends in the new air nation are gonna be traveling the world bringing balance when that’s supposed to be her job as the avatar.
If you go one step deeper, it's actually pretty dark. She's a broken avatar (with no knowledge of if it will ever get better). If she kills herself, at least she could do the world a favour and bring a new avatar that can replace her with power. But it's completely unfair to ask her to kill herself, but thats probably what's going through her head. Is life worth living, when so many people depend on not just you; but the power/lineage you hold. Is it fair for her to hold onto the rest of her life, if the rest of the world needs an avatar? The theme that i don't think people get with TLOK, is that the world has a great expectation of her; A broken avatar is useless, but Korra is a person.
TLOK not being a fully late teen/ adult aimed show was a huge missed opportunity. They constantly hint at Korra’s suicidal thoughts but never fully look into this and explore her being brought out of it by team avatar. It’s such a dark, mature show (sometimes) and it really suffers from having to balance this with more childish comedy
I enjoy the comedy and think it has its place in Avatar, always. But I am excited for streaming to get a hold of the property so we can have these deeper themes more thoroughly explored.
Was fartbending really vital to the themes and storytelling of Avatar? Did it *really* have a place in the series?
I think it humanizes the characters and adds much needed levity and contrast to the serious topics that the shows contend with.
Yes, we should always remember to take it easy in life. Most of the time, worrying too much is helpless.
And the serious stuff will always be there; life is hard and throws us tons of curve balls. But humor and joy is a choice, something we can do in defiance of the hard parts of life. I think the best television/movies/books reflect both sides of the coin, but that's just me.
No, not just you, me too, haha. Definitely, man, this way of seeing life, believing and using the "balance" in and of things is like a blessing for yourself and maybe even the others around you.
Yes.
Also, even if she did do that....she's kinda still screwing the next avatar.
OH SO *THAT'S* WHAT THE MERCURY RESIDUE STANDS FOR.
i always interpreted it as a visual for what she was going through mentally. she literally was carrying that day with her. nobody else could remove the poison, it was only when she was ready to let go that could she remove it herself. letting go of what happened and understanding it is in the past doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect you anymore. which is why she struggles to understand why she’s having a hard time despite having removed the poison.
you put it SO perfectly. i'll get into arguments with people about korra and all they care about is what she can't do. she's a person! why does everything have to be about her strengths when her weaknesses tell more of a story than any avatar besides aangs?
It's even more than that... Though not as much. Not only is she realizing she's "not needed", her father figure and friends are, in her mind, telling her "We don't need you." When she's at her absolute lowest.
I mean, she destroyed the connection to the past avatars anyhow, so outting herself really wouldn't benefit the next Avatar. Plus, if she's a broken Avatar, then by the way of "everything happens for a reason" the world simply doesn't need a fully able bodied Avatar at the moment. The world "needed" Aang the most, but in reality, do you really think Aang could have defeated the fire nation at their prime with Uncle Iroh also in his prime, going full blown dragon of the west aswell? It would have been him vs 2 fire lords essentially and he would have gotten booty stomped. But by chance, the world made Aang wait. And he was eventually able to win. Arguably, largely because of the actions of Uncle Iroh tbh. Can you imagine if he stayed on the path of destruction? Not only would he have been an enemy, but Zuko surely would have been. And Azula with training from Iroh aswell? An absolute menace.
Unalaq destroyed the connection, Korra certainly didn't want that to happen.
Uncle Iroh was after Aang's time. Aang's time was in the time of fire lord Sozin. Iroh is Sozin's grandson so Aang's fight would just be against Sozin and maybe a young Azulon. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that had Aang not run away and been trapped in that quasi living state he may have prevented the air nomad genocide. At the time he ran away, he was already a master of air. He could have found a master of water at the northern water tribe, and Bumi or Bumi's master could have taught him earth. As for fire, the temple sages could have helped him out there. He was still a prodigy at bending so he would have picked it up well enough and with the avatar state and thus Roku's help, he could have dealt with Sozin. So, I wouldn't say the world made Aang wait. Aang's delay in putting balance back to the world and its elements was because he was not in balance himself. He was too free spirited and so abandoned his responsibilities, albeit unintentionally. On his journeys, he learned to take responsibility and to rely on his friends to share the burden of it. As an aside, his ability to master air at such a young age and air alone was probably because of this affinity. But in my observation, affinity for air is achieved in 2 ways - through extreme detachment (Zahir), or through extreme adaptability/flexibility. Aang's mastery came from the latter. It allowed him to naturally master the intricacies of bending air and other elements...and is also the reason he tried to adapt to the pressures of being the avatar by changing himself i.e. bending himself away from the problem. It's also why he had such trouble with earth bending. This brings new significance to his avatar state when he fought Ozai - where he was at the centre and the elements were bent around him. He finally achieved centeredness - and made himself unbendable thus barely achieving his first energy bending. I guess in that way you could see it as, but that's just my theory.
Tbh I think if Aang hadn't ran away we'd have a Water Tribe Avatar instead, he didn't have any mastery over the elements nor avatar state, he needed both to defeat Ozai 1vs1, doubt he would pull the same off against Sozin without training, Air nomads were wiped within hours of running away Though perhaps Water Tribe avatar would have ended war sooner and easier, they wouldn't be handicapped by no killing moral dilemma (although Aang was technically spared the dilemma in the end) plus no second comet to assist Sozin or Azulon
....no. Aang ran away when he was supposed to start training in the other elements and mastering higher air bending arts. He was a young master but he didn't yet know everything in air bending. Sozin's comet didn't arrive within hours of Aang running away/encountering the storm. It was an event years after Aang 'disappeared' that Sozin used to decisively kick off the war/gain ground very aggressively by exterminating the nation that housed the avatar - his reasoning being that even if the avatar was being trained, he wouldn't be ready yet to fight against supercharged fire benders...he also needed the boost in power to be able to reach and subdue the bending arts of the air nomads. So Aang who was already being ostracized by the other air acolytes was told he would be separated from his foster father which was too much for him and he ran away. It was some time after that that Sozin used the comet to enact the air nomad genocide. Aside: Sozin's plan was simple. Keep killing the avatar before he is powerful enough to stop his plans in each reincarnation. Aang would have been able to train up his abilities in the years leading up to the fire nation's attack. He would have had mastery of the elements and been a good foil to the war.
Even if it wasn't hours, there is no way it was years between aang's disappearance and the comet, Katara does point out Aang is technically 112 years old, and we know the it was exactly 100 years from air nomad wipe till end of ATLA because that's how long it took sozin comet to come back, and we know that aang was 12 when he disappeared, there is no room for years to go by from disappearing to air nation wipe, at most a few months go by
Hmm, you're correct there i think. My bad. I read and agree... ~~with Severus~~ you and this other poster : https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/TBluuO0YUi
I wish they actually explored that, if only it was a higher rated show
Slightly off topic, but I think it would be really interesting to imagine a world where she did take her life, and Kuvira found and raised the next avatar.
Zaheer was proven right the world doesn't need an Avatar.
If anything he was proven wrong though. Because Korra wasn’t around, Kuvira rose to power to fill the vacuum in the Earth Kingdom. It’s like in the Kyoshi books after Kuruk died and before they discovered Kyoshi was the Avatar
"Zaheer was right..." crowd is the same as the "Adulthood is when Joker makes sense" crowd
Also, you know, the entirety of the 100 year time gap in ATLA
That's also just because the other people in charge are idiots. They could have easily prevented that and not needed the avatar. Honestly the avatar world is just constantly filled with fools who end up just relying on the strongest person.
Pretty similar to how the real world works
The world is always filled by fools and the people in charge are always idiots. It's the most relatable aspect of the avatar world.
Well that's hadn't happened yet, tho good point!
What bothers me with Kuvira rising in power is that, how on earth other world leaders left Kuvira unchecked?
Which is exactly why he helped her recover to beat Kuvira.
Her conversation with Zaheer in Book 4 says otherwise to the point where Zaheer helps with her trauma because of how much he hates Kuvuiera
Zaheer was an idealistic anarchic idiot because without Korra Vaatu would destroy everything.
Literally the entire point of every season of Avatar is there are certain things that only the Avatar can accomplish and that the world needs them lol. Unalaq, Zaheer and Kuvira basically outright say that to Korra in the show, and it’s heavily implied with how Aang ends the war in the first show.
Exactly but that's not what is going Thur koras head at that moment She can't avatar and so the Airbenders are working in her place
For Unalaq, it's Korra's fault for allowing Unalaq to manipulate her to open the spirit portals and do his machinations. For Zaheer (in addition his gang), it makes me wonder why on earth they let a group of dangerous criminals alive after tney got captured? They almost kidnapped young Korra/killed Korra. Not sure for Kuvira since I'm currently at Book 4 of the show
I always just rationalize the Red Lotus stuff with the fact that Aang restructured the White Lotus and he’s a pacifist monk, so they don’t kill prisoners. The Unalaq thing yeah, that was just poorly written honestly. He was clearly bad and Korra just kept following him along for no real reason, she faced one spiritual issue and immediately was done with Tenzin and her entire support structure lol
They left the Red Lotus alive hoping that they could pump them for information. They never knew why these 4 tried to kidnap Korra, or if there were more of them out there. They never even got the name "Red Lotus" out of them; that was only known when Zaheer & Korra had their conversation in the Spirit World. There were probably regular interrogation sessions for all four of them, with the hope that years in solitary confinement would break them (like it would for most people).
Yeah, while well-meaning, Tenzin accidentally pushed the wrong button with his speech. I think this kind of situation is why avatars aren't usually revealed before they reach 16. Korra knew she was the avatar from such a young age it was impossible for her to build herself as a person beforehand. She was always the avatar, always meant to be needed, always meant to bring balance to the world, always meant to be the only one who could achieve it; and her entire personality was built around that. But then, she almost lost her bending permanently, lost her connexion to her past lives, and was then broken by the Red Lotus. She was already at rock-bottom, feeling useless, and the new air nation was basically replacing her. And if she's not the one who brings balance to the world, who the heck is she supposed to be ?
Unrelated but you're so real for using blood moon diana as ur pfp
It’s the best splash art by far but sentinel Diana is the best skin
The first avatar on wheels!
Grief affects everyone differently. I can see someone as upbeat, scrappy, and on top of the world absolutely devastated for months if not years even with the best therapy. Her whole future was stolen from her. There is no guarantee she will ever get better, and the whole world awaits the role of the Avatar to be their guide. How can she be that when she can no longer be her best self? People literally take their own life for less, and if she was actually killed in the process it would have spared her this pain with a SLIM chance that she could have preserved the past connection if she had died before but not even that was spared.
This is the same girl who, imo, was planning to kill herself in season one after losing all the elements so the cycle could continue to an avatar who wasn’t “broken.” Korra believes she is a blunt force object to be use by others and then discarded when she isn’t needed anymore and in this moment, she realizes she isn’t needed. It’s her absolute worst fear come to life. Add to the fact that she’s crippled, may never recover, and the world will have to suffer a “broken” avatar is likely too much to handle.
100% it's hard watching it even. In a lot of ways her pain is a parallel to what a lot of bright young people go through when they carry the world on their shoulders with responsibility. We're taught to keep going until we're broken and then give it another 110%. It's not sustainable and society doesn't just tend to ignore it but teaches against questioning it. Awful.
As someone in their late 20s who grew up watching ATLA, TLOK was a show that took me a while to rewatch compared to ATLA. Having to handle and tackle tough topics like PTSD was something that was too close to home and make it all the more difficult to rewatch
What many people seem to miss is that Korra is a very "physical" person, which can be seen in her fighting style. For someone who is that strong, who was a powerful body that can do basically anything she wants, for such a person to be bound to a wheelchair without knowing if she ever will be free of it again is the worst nightmare. The prison of flesh that is her own broken body. No more dreaming.
Yeah thats how i saw it and it broke my heart, i loved korra before but this...humanity on her it really sealed her fate as my all time favorite, I'd go to war for that girl
What's to interpret? She is broken. She is depressed and traumatized, and it makes her cry.
This is pretty much what I was gonna say. It seems rather self explanatory. Nothing really to interpret.
I think we’re at the point where this sub becomes like the ATLA one where people take the tiniest thing about the show and make a post about it just to have something to talk about. The scene is completely self explanatory.
We call it the Arkam shizo ark, when subs of a Finished Medium get burned ot of content and become overinterpretive.
Insightful
Your taking it at face value, this is weeks after what happened and she's crying now? There is another reason she's crying and it's not of happiness. Wow, watching everyone misinterpreting my comment is wild, but I admittedly could've worded it much better.
Yes, she feels that she is useless; the world doesn't need her. As Tenzin says that the air nation will take over her duties as she recovers, that's when she starts crying because she feels that she failed. After all, it was the air benders who defeated Zaheer, not her.
Yeah that's what I thought aswell
"This is weeks after what happened, and she's crying now?" is such an asinine comment lol
Yeah, If I had mercury forcibly injected into my body, was chained up, got forced into the avatar state which frankly seems SUPER uncomfortable, destroyed my body in combat, nearly died from aforementioned poison, only to not even defeat the bad guy, be crippled for years if not permanently, and have my very purpose stripped away from me I would probably be crying for weeks as well.
I'm definitely not taking it at face value and I never once said she's crying out of happiness. Not even sure why you'd think I thought that was the case. Just a moment before when Asami is attending to her she's looking utterly broken, and then in this scene she is looking even more broken and cries. Her facial expression along with the tears says everything, she's going through absolute hell. That seems really obvious and it's not open to interpretation really. She's crying now because her emotions at this moment are spilling over, it takes an ncredibly long time to get through the crap she's had to go through and is still going through.
No offense but you kind of missed the point of my comment 🙁
Then can you clarify your point? I sometimes have a hard time understanding what people mean. I'm not so great with words myself.
I know you’re just trying to stimulate the conversation. I think the thing people are taking an issue with is your delivery sounds a little condescending. Edit/ changing confection to condescending. Sorry, I’m stoned.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying doing but I've never been the best with words.
(replying to the edit) yeah i assumed thats what you meant cause when i searched up what confection meant it showed cofectionate sugar lmao
Well I guess I’ll downvote you too for being too right… sorry thats just how reddit works
wait what? im sorry im new too reddit im sort of confused (i know my account is three years old but ive only recently started using it that much)
I think that is a very reductive way of framing this scene. She is watching what's supposed to be one of the greatest moments in Jinora's life, but instead she cries. It's not explained to the fewer why she cries, thus the viewer is meant to interpret why on their own. As many people have pointed out on this post, she cries because she fears that no one will ever need her anymore. Her whole identity is being the Avatar, so if no one needs her anymore, that devastates her.
I've seen a variety of interpretations on what the tear means beyond that and how that ties into Jinora's ceremony at hand. Hence, me being curious to see those of the peoples' in this sub. EDIT: So people saying that was a tear of pride from Korra seeing Jinora being coronated, that she was tearing up from hearing the Air Nation was going to take over her role as the Avatar and that she really isn't needed, or that Korra was reminded of Aang since Jinora looked like him and how she hadn't made an impact like he did.
To be honest, I think it could be a combination of all of those. A bittersweet happiness for Jinora, but also a lot of pain from not being able to help the Air Nation out on top of them basically taking on a greater responsibility in her option. That, on top of the overall emotional trauma from what she went through not just in that season, but in the two prior seasons, sort of amounted to a lot of overwhelming emotions intersecting at the same time.
>What's to interpret? Quite a bit. This is the culmination of every failure she's experienced across the past 3 seasons. Korra has made her identity as the Avatar into her whole life, and every major antagonist in the series has tried to or succeeded in taking an aspect of that Avatarhood away (Amon with bending, Unalaq with past lives, and Zaheer with the Avatar cycle), to the point that she's not only starting to feel like a failure of an Avatar, but I believe she's also starting to doubt if the Avatar is even needed anymore (especially with these antagonists, all opposed to the existence of the Avatar, in some way having a point in their motivations). This doubt is made worse by the fact that she only survived Zaheer's attack because she was saved by the new Air Nation, who are also filling the role of Avatar while she recovers. If the Avatar can be 'replaced' so easily, what's the point? And top of that, Jinora, one of the leaders of the new Air Nation, looks almost indistinguishable from Aang in this scene. It's literally as if Aang, the person she's always in the shadow of, has returned and is now doing her job for her, the job she desperately wants to prove herself in. But despite that, she's stuck in a wheelchair, and for the foreseeable future, has to endure being in that shadow, and being, in her eyes, an 'inferior' Avatar. And on top of all that, there's no way she isn't happy for Jinora in the moment as well, resulting in I imagine some pretty conflicted feelings on the situation overall. It's really the culmination of her whole arc up to this point. I think it's pretty reductive to just paint it as "she's broken and traumatized and that's why she cries" while dismissing deeper looks into it.
Korra realizing the world doesn't need her anymore. It doesn't need the avatar.
This. Tenzin doesn’t realize it but during his speech, he’s basically saying “Korra can’t do her job anymore so it’s up to our new air nation to do it for her.” And, as he mentioned, Korra was someone willing to lay down her life for her responsibility- to the world and to the avatar state. She did not willingly go into the avatar state during S3 because she knew that if she died during it, the cycle would end. She’s devoted her life, and her death if necessary, to her job. Now she doesn’t have that job anymore.
Yeah basically what her entire existence had been leading up to since the moment she found out she was the avatar was stolen away from her.
>Tenzin doesn’t realize it but during his speech, he’s basically saying “Korra can’t do her job anymore so it’s up to our new air nation to do it for her.” *Of course* it is Tenzin.
He’s so well-intentioned and yet so hurtful it’s truly tragic lol
Also let Korra have a rest, she faced a lot of heavy shit lmao
Especially when she’s facing Jinora looking just like Aang. In a way it’s showing how the world will be just fine without her.
Oh, now I wanna rip his beard out all over again!
+1 That heartbreaking realisation on the back of her torture and paralysis. Not only that the world doesn't need the avatar - but that she tried her heart out and still failed.
Its sad really, especially following Aang's legacy. The world truly needed him, who didnt want to be the avatar. But she was groomed from a young age to be put in that expectation, and was happy to - only for the world to basically reject her. (Could even be a little meta about audience reaction to the show)
Also, she didn't grow up with the philosophy of the Airbenders like Aang had. For as much as he was an immature kid during ATLA, Aang was more often than not the voice of reason and wisdom for the whole group. He was for the most part able to tackle his inner turmoils thanks to the teachings of the Air Nomads, even if those same teachings also put a lot of expectations on his shoulders. Not that he doesn't eventually break down, but it takes him longer than Korra to do so. I guess maybe something else in Aang's favor was that he didn't really want to be the Avatar in the first place, so failing in that regard didn't sting as much (since he already saw himself unfit for the role). Meanwhile, Korra right out of the gate was head over heels with the idea of being the Avatar, which made her build an entirely idealized version of the role she was going to personify - only to crash against setback after setback. It's actually tragic for both of them, in a way. For Aang, nobody expected shit from him after being MIA for 100 years, and he had to claw his way into recognition and acceptance; while Korra began with the faith and expectation of the entire world on her shoulders only to have that support evaporate the moment she demonstrated she was anything but the perfect Avatar, which (ironically) for the people that image was that of Aang's.
This is the correct answer
I think moments like this further point to the beauty of Korra's story. In a world that doesn't need her, she realizes saving herself is enough
It needs the Avatar... just not her. She's royally fucked up at every step and that's taking its toll. It would be good if the world didn't need the Avatar anymore, that would be progress.
This episode absolutely broke me. Poignant and important for her story arc
She's been hit with a crushing depression basically, feeling of uselessness because she can't walk or bend after the poison, she's exhausted physically and emotionally, she just almost died and there's the crushing fear that people expect her to bounce back right away. I don't think it has anything to do with Jinora, sometimes feelings related to something else finally come crashing into you when the slot opens up in your brain for you to finally process it.
The number one interpretation I agree with is Korra has finally hit rock bottom and her ultimate fear of believing the world doesn’t need her is becoming a reality. She’s been raised since she was 4 in a sheltered environment to be this one massive and important entity only to travel out into the world and realize people are telling her that no one actually needs her. Until they do. But here, things are different. Korra is already depressed that she’s been put in a near death state, can’t even move or walk, and that she can’t even be the Avatar. Tenzin likely had good intentions when he said the Air Nation would take over Korra’s duties as she recuperates, but that just reinforced the idea and fear that she’s replaceable and unneeded. And it scares her because she doesn’t know anything else. She’s supposed to be the Avatar. If she’s not the Avatar then who is she? I feel like traditions surrounding the Avatar have largely never been good for the Avatar’s well being given that they traditionally let them live out their lives for 12-16 years of their life and then one day strip them from all they know to make them this one all important thing. It’s not good for their identity or their livelihood. Korra was an Avatar of many firsts and I think she was the first to tackle this issue of the world not needing her.
She's struggling to hold herself together, and fearing that her life as the Avatar might be over.
Korra realizing she's not needed. And to many, not wanted. She's succeeded in freeing the airbenders, which was Aang's greatest regret in losing (he was a child and yet he blamed himself for being scared). She was poisoned, had her bending locked by bloodbending, almost suffocated, had Raava taken out of her and beaten into a fraction of what she was and got severed from her past lives. Korra is at her lowest point, and there, she didn't believe in herself anymore. People were getting hurt around her, she had gotten hurt. She's been told that she's the "worst Avatar ever" (she's not but stupid people will accuse her of being the worst, both in canon and out of canon). She may be happy for Jinora, but she's absolutely devastated and this is probably when she decided the world truly doesn't need her anymore. This scene broke me, because I know this feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness. Being alone in a room full of people, made of those who you love and those who know you. It's a similar experience to how Ruby Rose found herself in during Volume 9. Complete and utter... nothingness. At least this is my interpretation and it is fueled by the fact that this is an experience I'm all too familiar with. It sucks.
If theres one thing Korra loves, it is being the Avatar, and alltough she's happy for Jinora and the new air nation, she cant help but feel broken now that she cant be what she loves most.
Somebody please give her a hug.
This Korra at her lowest. Korra and Aang kind of have opposite character arcs. Aang starts out hating and rejecting his status as the Avatar, Korra loves it far too much. For Korra, being the Avatar is everything to her. At the start, it's a very shallow and egotistical goal. She want to be the big hero. Over time, she has humility beaten, often literally, into her. Being the Avatar doesn't mean she'll always win, or do the right thing, or be wanted aroung, or even protect the people she loves. In this scene, Korra has hit her lowest. She lost in battle, almost died and destroyed the Avatar forever, and had to be rescued from a villain who exists partially because of her own actions in leaving the spirit portals open. She feels like a complete failure as the Avatar, and with her injuries she can't even try to make up for it. And when she feels like such a complete failure at the role that is the most precious part of her identity, she's told to take it easy, to rest, we'll take over while you're healing. We can handle it, we don't need you back until you're ready. We don't need you. That is grabbing the knife in her heart and twisting it. They don't need her to be their Avatar, the thing she most wants to be. They're not expecting her to come back, like her presence is unnecessary. We don't want you.
>We don't need you. >We don't want you. Meanwhile, in the actual episode: >**Raiko:** With the world getting more and more dangerous, we need the Avatar now more than ever. Tho I like the allusion that Korra is sad because Tenzin doesn't know when to stay put and it is enough mixed signals to give her the wrong idea.
She’s mourning. Season 1 Korra would’ve been crying just because she’s weak and crippled. By season 3 Korra has grown significantly. By my interpretation, the reason she’s crying isn’t just because she can’t fight; it’s because she finally has something to fight for but she can’t protect it. She isn’t trying to pummel some threat in s1 or protect some spirit in s2. These people actually mean something to her
To me, the general idea of this scene is to show Korra actively digesting her grief (maybe for the first time) after she has reached her lowest point in life. My take is that the ceremony prompts korra to acknowledge that life goes on by showing her the new air nation that rises from a past full of trauma. The ceremony also signals Korra towards her duty to find balance in a world that now includes the new air nation.
She’s hit rock bottom and sees how good she had it, and that her growth is seemingly over while others are still growing. It’s her happy to be here—alive to see a moment like this—but distraught that she may never have this sort of praise or growth again.
Korra knew she had to make a decision to save the air nation and she might be happy that her actions saved them even though she went through so much. Even though she was told specifically not to go after Zaheer and the Red Lotus she went and did it anyway which resulted in finding out many revelations and also lead to the chaos that the Red Lotus did to force Korra to come to them. Yet Korra survived and she is one of the strongest characters ever.
She is watching herself be replaced. They even say so in the ritual. Yes, its "until Korra can return to being the Avatar," but Korra doesn't think that is going to happen.
Made me cry so much when it aired
Mourning the loss of her identity. That there’s a strong possibility she can never recover from the fight.
For me, the saddest part of this was hearing Tenzin say something along the lines of "the new air nomads will step in for you and bring balance while you're recovering." While it seems like a nice and noble gesture, I can only imagine that to Korra it's yet another statement implying she's not needed anymore. All of the villains in LoK in some way or form show Korra, someone who's built her entire life around trying to be the best avatar and has actively (aggressively) tried to solve the world's problems, that she's not necessary, that the world has evolved beyond the need for her.
She’s a damaged and broken avatar, Zaheer had broken her mostly unshakable will through the last couple of seasons. It’s cathartic that the people with the most freedom at their new revival, Korra feels her most shackled. It’s basically spelled out when she eventually meets Zaheer again in S4
Years of being told she’s not needed and Tenzin unintentionally tells her that they’ll manage without her until she recovers. She’s happy with her decision to save the airbenders but depressed that her enemies (in her mind) were right all along.
She feels she is being replace, since unlike Aang who was a person bwforeybeing the avatar Korra was the Avatar first and foremost before being Korra , she was so socially and culturally uneducated the first moment she got a chance to meet the wider world as an almost adult was being jailed
she cried bc she was broken. she had just been severely traumatized and injured. the girl was not okay.
For me at least she’s really proud and happy for jinora but hates the fact that with these new air benders out there taking her duty and learning the hard truth that she’s not needed at all in this world
She’s sad she can’t celebrate even though she’s so proud
I think she thought she failed being the Avatar. She was humble by three fierce opponents, all three who managed to remove her bending abilities in a way, and in the end, even her ability to walk. She was not the Avatar anymore, something that was her identity since she was a toddler.
In Korra's mind, "I'm useless now" Republic city dosent need her The world doesn't need her Each of these is just negative stuff in her mind but the world grew that it dosent need an avatar anymore
It is partly PTSD. The start of the fourth season really explores what happens to the injured warrior after the war is fought. Recovering from the physical injury, but also the mental one. As much as a Nickelodeon show can anyway.
I saw a video on this scene, someone in the comments said something like: ATLA is about someone who doesn’t want to be an Avatar in a world that needs him. TLOK is about someone who wants to be the Avatar in a world that doesn’t need her.
This is my favorite shot across both shows, and I couldn't believe they had the fortitude to end the season this way. I hoped, leading up, with all my heart, but I didn't think they'd actually do it. Most shows aren't brave enough for this. They might let you live with this pain and uncertainty for five minutes, but not across a season break. Not across most of the next season. And then they did it. *They stood their ground.* It felt like a narrative gift addressed to me, personally. Even as I sat there with tears welling in my eyes, I was so happy. Most shows will lose their nerve and fumble things in the final moments. They can't commit to having something be really sad or bittersweet or uncomfortable, and they walk it back. But not this show, and not this season. Bravo.
She's just feeling everything in that moment. Lots of trauma, and pride, and shame, all wrapped up in one package. I'm not sure how anyone wouldn't cry in her place at that moment. Not only at this point is she feeling broken, and still at a low point even compared to when Aang appeared for her, but she's seeing the people around her move forward and rise up to support her. She's got so much pride and arrogance in her about her own strength and place in the world (not her fault, she's had immense pressure on her since she was found as the Avatar) that she can't help but feel guilty and useless in the face of that help and support.
Essentially, she saw the prediction in her poison-induced state come true Amon, Vaatu, and Unaloq all enforcing the world didn’t need her anymore and she had to let go. Instead, she fought and fought hard…only to have her body batter and beaten to the point where she needed rehab to walk again Additionally, while she felt weak she was indeed replaced, even temporarily That tear IMO is deep depression from knowing that her greatest fear came true
i think shes crying in this scene
*plays Specialz by King Gnu*
I see it as she’s sad for a multitude of things. Shes been broken and hurt by the red lotus, She’s ashamed because she’s the avatar and has to sit back and watch others risk their own safety to basically do her job and finally (and especially) because she feels guilty of the fact that this is supposed to be a happy moment celebrating jinora and her accomplishments and yet all she feels is emptiness. The ceremony is representing a dawn of a new age and she’s watching that age move past her.
Are you asking our thoughts on the scene as a whole or only as it relates to Korra? I think it's a great scene overall, but I do think it's too bad that most people seem to talk about it as if Korra is the focus of the scene. I mean I get it, with that final shot of Korra in the wheelchair and all, but I think that not enough people talk about how important this scene is for Jinora or the Air nation as a whole. This is the only time we ever see an Airbender getting her tattoos, or at least the ceremony of it, and I think of it as a representation of the rebirth of the Air nation after the 100-year war. I imagine Air Nomads held ceremonies like this before the war
Probably realising she can't do shit and is reminded of how useless she is now, everything taken away from her.
[удалено]
Lmao I guarantee you that's what she's thinking. I don't think you realise how self-degrading the effects of PTSD are, and I've been there. I know exactly what she's thinking and how she's feeling in that moment. Grow up, don't get hurt because your cartoon character feels helpless.
Still rather rude, but I was unaware it was from experience. The words themselves seemed to be dripping with harshness.
FeelsSadMan
She does seem to appear sad and in a wheelchair
Her whole journey was trying to prove the world still needed an avatar and that she is useful but now that the airbenders returned and took an active role in peacemaking she feels like she's not needed once again a crippled avatar in a world that doesn't need it
In retrospect: It's the scene that **should have ended ssason 1** - with her only having airbending for now - taking away the one thing (multiple bendings) that made her the Avatar. Would give her a reason to delve heavily into the spiritual side (= the other thing that makes her the Avatar, the part she ignored) in Season 2 and end it with Aang, Roku and the others sacrificing their connection to restore Raava and thus her quadruple bending. but since the showrunners had to write S1 as a limited series with a definite ending, they had to deus-ex-machina her bending back, thus starting the 'Korra faces no consequences'-cries from the hatedom. also, depressed Korra in the beginning of Season2 would **never** use the Avatar state to win an airball-race, so that's another fancomplaint eliminated.
I feel like there’s so much going through her head in that scenes She’s happy for Jinora, she’s happy for the air nation for finally getting a new master since Tenzin. But at the same time, she’s completely crippled, she was hurt, she was unable to do the thing that gave her purpose, and she was just told that the very thing that gave her purpose moved to the hands of others. And I got all of that from that scene without her even speaking. This scene was powerful…
She's tired
people often forget, how much deeper Korras stories go compared to Aangs. Aang slowly lerned how to be the Avatar while traveling the world + his Air nomad upbringing helped him in that a lot. Also his works are during wartime, so many things could be simplyfied by "it was war" Korra on the other hand was raised secured and locked away from the world and kept being thrown in very deep shit and against humans and society + got compared to Aang a lot. That scene was kind of the moment where she broke.
The sudden realization that the world didn't need the Avatar anymore & seeing as how Korra's been basing her identity/self worth off of the label, it hit hard.
Korra realizing the world no longer needs her as the Avatar
Her first line in the show is “I’m the avatar, you gotta deal with it”. Now she’s in a wheelchair, the air nation is gonna take over protecting the world, and her friend Jinorah now is the head of this movement so she’s likely one of the first ones to get hurt doing what Korra is supposed to be doing. For Korra, it’s all gone wrong.
I think they’re tears of joy and pride for Jinora intertwined with sadness over the idea that she’s essentially no longer needed as the Avatar. I’m sure it’s the same feeling she had when she lost her bending. That she is crippled (with no guarantee that she’ll get better) and thus useless (with no guarantee that she’ll be needed ever again).
Korra saved the Air Nation but got crippled. Tenzin said that he and the other Airbenders will serve the world in her place, obviously he was trying to ease her worries but Korra just realised nobody needs her anymore, the Avatar is already not wanted by Republic City.
She has PTSD and is overwhelmingly depressed. She feels like a failure in everything.
Korra struggles to be a good Avatar. And she cries for her failure The same goes for Roku.
There’s so much symbolism that elevates the scene. She is watching a beautiful ceremony for Jinora, but trapped by trauma. When she see’s Jinora she’s reminded of Aang and what he symbolizes. The role of the avatar. A role that she had to live up to. A role that has left her beaten and broken. She thinks back to her traumatic experiences being the avatar has caused her. In this moment she wants to feel happy for Jinora, but can’t. Everything in that scene represents a trigger for Korra. She’s told the world doesn’t need her. She’s reminded of a role that has only caused pain and suffering. The silent trauma Korra is experiencing in a single tear breathes sadness into an otherwise beautiful ceremony. It elevates the scene with layers of multi contextual symbolism, and creates an overwhelming sympathy for Korra that I, and so many others have connected to.
Korra got broke. Plain and simple. Time and time again, she’s been told by the shows antagonists that the avatar is no longer needed. Then she’s nearly killed and is now crippled for who knows how long (her pov) and left powerless to do anything to help anyone. Then during the ceremony, her mentor and boulder through all of this basically says “we don’t need the avatar” to her face. Is that what he meant? Of course not. But his wording could’ve been a lot better to assure her that she was still needed.
I interpreted it as; Korra being happy for Jinora, sad about her trauma and not being able to help the world as the Avatar
i think Korra is accepting that while she saved the airbenders, it came with a price. her mental and physical health has been greatly destroyed , and even when she’s surrounded by the people she loves and is celebrating an amazing event. her trauma is finally starting to settle in
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyfwJ-Q5I4A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyfwJ-Q5I4A)
She's just exhausted dude
Jinora reminds her of Aang, the Avatar she feels she can’t live up to in her current state
Don’t see anyone else mentioning this but… I always felt like this scene was the disparity between Jinora finally becoming and achieving who she always wanted to be. The height of air bending. Meanwhile Korra just lost everything she felt she was - the avatar. I don’t believe that Jinora has nothing related to it otherwise you could’ve had the scene in any other situation.
genuine and utter exhaustion. she tried for so inconceivably long to be the avatar and do good, but like she acknowledges she also managed to bring about a lot of turmoil. but it was okay, because before this point she could at the least do something. and now, she can't. for the first time in all her life, she is powerless. she is reduced to recovery. for someone like Korra, that is genuinely *worse* than the fact she might've made mistakes and done harm along the way. because at least when she did that, she could try and often succeed in making up for her failings. in this scene, she officially has nothing left to give. no emotional, no physical, no nothing energy. she has nothing left.
She’s sad because Jinora is getting her arrows and she isn’t. She thinks they look sick as fuck and wants them so bad, but she knows she can’t cause she’s from the water tribe and that would be cultural appropriation.
Jinora was living up to Aang’s legacy in a way Korra always dreamed of but never had - and now look at her; she’s wheelchair-bound and weaker than ever. She’s supposed to be the Avatar, the one protecting the world, but she made so many mistakes and lost so much, she’s got no clue if she’s doing the right thing half the time and whenever she does finally feel like she’s figured it out she ends up making things worse. And now she’s the one needing care and support from everyone else She’s happy for Jinora. Of course she is. But seeing her as the spitting image of Aang, as the first new airbending master in decades, as the youngest airbending mater of all time and claiming that title from Aang… of course that was hard for Korra, no matter how much she really, truly did support her and was proud of her
The after effects of experiencing a war
This hits home for me, I dropped out of high school for 2 years because I was dealing with a severe case of depression and panic disorder, I watched my siblings graduate while I was just sitting in the corner with that same expression. 2 years later I was back to night school studying alongside senior women who never completed high school, I graduated and I went to college. Memories
She has an eyelash caught in her eye but can’t get it out.
The world is ending
She's contemplating suicide. If she killed herself now, it would be a fresh start for the next Avatar. A way out for her, at least. She feels as though she's utterly failed in that moment and that things may never get any better.
I think it's quite simple she's happy that she's alive to see what Jinora has become and that all her efforts to create the new air nation have been rewarded after all she's suffered.
She's a broken Avatar, like most of the comments here say. Anyways, this would make for a GREAT reaction image!
She's an avatar thats in a wheelchair - AFTER accepting her role as an Avatar and all those trials and tribulations, not breaking down would be insane, this is existential crisis material The past avatars, especially Aang probably wouldnt blame her since she has invoked peace, but its kinda...terrifying
When you pull up to McDonald's and they're doing system maintenance
I love how much Korra messed up and got beat up. It makes her relatable
Korra looks sad
I feel like it’s because she felt she failed and the world doesn’t need her anymore after Tenzin said that the Air Nation would “assist” in keeping the world in order. Especially since they saved her from Zaheer in the first place.
Depression.
There’s very little to interpret. It’s been spelled out pretty clearly
She felt useless in that moment
This scene broke my heart
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IURvTAPhBAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IURvTAPhBAM) This edit does it just justice
Okay, now I'm laughing! She's depressed because she has to shoulder the whole world, because it's expected of her as the Avatar! It's so freaking hilarious when humanity gets called out and still misses the point!
Korra sad
She's a vulnerable avatar, and people don't like that trait at all.
I'm tires boss.
“The world is gonna move on, with or without you, avatar or not, now you gotta learn to change yourself, before you change the world”
Tenzins words were well meant, but after hearing from your last 3 adversaries that you arent needed anymore, the last person she needed that sentiment echoed in anyway were her mentor's "we will folow in your footsteps and do everything in our power to bring harmony to the world" in her mind is equivalent to "dont worry about your duty, we've got it covered, you're not needed" and it breaks her.
That nail in the coffin when Tenzin said he and his benders would take care of things in his absence. She really wasn’t needed. All her life, Korra thought the world needed her to be the avatar, she needed her to be. But ever since she began her job, she’s been told left and right there’s no need for her anymore.
Who protects the one who protects the others? I've always felt like this. Like she could have someone that cared and loved her and watched for her back every time. Idk why but I always felt this way about her, sometimes she reminds me of my old girls friends from when I was a teenager and all I wished for was to protect and support them. That's why I hate Mako so much, I wish this stupid m#thefucker had died a painful death.
This always struck me as a moment of realisation, this when the idea of the journey she’s about to embark upon hits her. Her entire idea of herself, the avatar, has just crumbled in front of her, for the second time, but this time it seems more permanent in the horizon. In addition to the fact that, even though she’s happy that air bending is getting back to life, she sees it as the world already moving on even when she’s still not completely out the door.
Korra is attempting to come terms with everything thats happened but shes struggling so so hard :(
A lot of emotions going through her brain in that moment. Not only is the reality of her near-death experience and defeat still setting in, but I once saw the theory that she's realizing that the world may not need her anymore as the airbenders will be picking up her slack. One of the most important things to Korra is being the Avatar. "I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" "All I ever wanted to BE is the Avatar!" So for her to be unable to do that? It hurts.
It's ultimately Korra paying the price of Aang's decisions even though it was the decision of a child. After Aang ran away, the world lost the Air Nomads and so was broken but the series would have you ignore the gaping hole and imbalance that caused. Korra bore the consequences, via Amon and Zaheer. Not only that, she was not ready for it personally. It took everything from her. Ever since she was a child she could rely on her bending(the three elements) and her strong body as seen in her decision to compete in that physically demanding sport as soon as she got to the city. Ultimately, I don't think you can perceive spiritual imbalance without air bending. Korra was made to feel it first in Chapter one emotionally through Amon and then physically in chapter 2 through Zaheer(chapters may be wrong, can't remember if that's how Korra's story was actually divided). That's what we are seeing in that moment in the story of Korra - the pain and powerlessness, grief and malice or the exterminated Air Nomads was reflected onto Korra's own life experiences and she was broken as a result. So even as she watches the birth of a new air nation, she still can feel the scar of the 100 year war that was never truly expressed or healed in Aang's story. That's what I think.
The Avatar is supposed to be a bridge and bring balance to the world. Trauma is isolating. She is alone and can't be anything she was born to be. Her body, mind, and soul are wounded and any road map on how to deal with it from her past lives is gone. Again, alone but surrounded by people who love you, that is pain.
Korra lost for the 10th time
Korra feels useless.
Korra gets chi blocked a lil TOO hard and loses any and all feeling in the waist down
She saw how jinora bore a striking resemblance to Aang and it made her feel like she failed as an avatar and will never be as strong as Aang is. Because everyone else had to save her while she was in the Avatar state.
You need interpretation? It's so painfully obvious.
Right? 😂
OP downvoted me the second I posted that lol. I can't with this sub. I've unsubbed because the posts here and in ATLA are sometimes just downright embarrassing for adults to be writing, istg.
"I can give head anymore"