The Battle of Zaofu


 * This article is about the episode of The Legend of Korra. For the eponymous battle, see Fall of Zaofu.

"URN"

- Zaofu is ours!

"The Battle of Zaofu" is the sixth episode of Book Four: Balance of The Legend of Korra and the 45th of the overall series. It was released online on Nick.com and through the Nick app on November 7, 2014.

Overview
''Suyin tries to take out Kuvira in the night, though her plan fails and she and her twin sons are taken prisoner. Kuvira announces to Zaofu what Suyin has done and tells its remaining leaders to step forward and surrender. Korra, Jinora, and Opal walk out to stop Kuvira, who has her entire army ready to invade the metal city. Kuvira and Korra have a brief standoff, after which Korra deduces there is no other option than to fight. Kuvira proposes a one-on-one duel, in which she has the upper hand until Korra enters the Avatar State. However, plagued by her Avatar apparition once again, Korra is unable to finish her attack, enabling Kuvira to defeat her. Before the metalbender can finish Korra off, Opal and Jinora intervene, saving the Avatar, and they flee Zaofu. Baatar and Huan are subsequently arrested as they refuse to acknowledge Kuvira as their leader. Meanwhile, Bolin and Varrick are forced to continue working on weaponizing the spirit vine energy, though Varrick secretly turns the stasis tube into a bomb, destroying his research and enabling Bolin and himself to escape. However, Baatar Jr. closely observed the research and is confident he can restart the project with the help of Zhu Li.''

Synopsis


Night has fallen over Kuvira's camp. A guard makes his way around the perimeter, but is gagged and bound by Suyin. She and the twins pull themselves up on a branch, giving them a good view over the camp. Wing asks his mother whether this is a good idea, and she answers that most of the army has been forced to come there and that taking out Kuvira will devoid those troops of a reason to fight. They sneak into the camp, skillfully dodging patrolling mecha tanks and searchlights. Suyin uses seismic sense to confirm that Kuvira is indeed asleep in her tent and they burrow their way in. However, they discover that it is Zhu Li sleeping in Kuvira's bed and the tent folds away around them, revealing that they walked straight into a trap. Kuvira steps forward and tells Suyin that she has always been a coward, capturing her and her sons.

Inside the domes, Jinora urges Korra to stop Suyin, but Opal says that Korra should be helping her mother. Korra objects to them both, saying that thy have no idea where Suyin is, and that charging into Kuvira's camp will only make things worse. They are interrupted by Kuvira, who plugged into the Zaofu speaker system, and announces to the city what Suyin has done. She gives the remaining leaders of Zaofu one last chance, to offer the unconditional surrender of the city at dawn. Opal urges Korra again to do something, but Jinora reminds her of her oath of nonaggression, but Opal brushes this off. Meelo and Ikki join them, awoken by Kuvira's message. Korra decides to go to Kuvira the next morning, taking Opal and Jinora with her. Meelo and Ikki will stay with Baatar and Huan, who will escort them back to Tenzin in case things go wrong.

In Kuvira's train, Varrick and Bolin are in prison together. Varrick is woken up by his nightmare about a lack of luxuries and Zhu Li to take care of said lack. Baatar Jr. and two soldiers come to collect him to continue his work of the spirit-vine project. Baatar forces Varrick to work, despite the latter's reluctance and excuses. He wants to know how the weapon works. Bolin also wakes up, and Varrick subtly coerces Baatar into allowing him to have Bolin as his assistant.



Back at Zaofu, Korra, Opal and Jinora approach Kuvira, who is standing in front of her army. Suyin, Wing and Wei are imprisoned in metal cases and put on display for the representatives of Zaofu. Opal demands their immediate release, but Kuvira refuses, reminding her that they tried to take her out during their truce. Wei disagrees, but Kuvira ignores him. Opal asks about Bolin, and Kuvira blatantly lies to her by saying that he is working on an important project, and is fully on board with her plans. She gives them one last opportunity to turn over Zaofu, but Korra refuses, and says that Kuvira is giving her no other choice than to fight her. Jinora is worried that Korra is not ready, but she assures the airbender that she has a lot of built-up rage. Opal warns Korra not to mess around and just go into the Avatar State, but she says she will only use that as a last resort. As the fight starts, it quickly becomes apparent that Korra is not yet back to her former prowess, as Kuvira has the upper hand.



Varrick has recommenced his work on the spirit-vine project, closely supervised by Baatar Jr. Bolin is not proving to be as good an assistant as Zhu Li, given that "do the thing" is not specific enough to make it clear what Varrick wants. Varrick goes on a little rant about how Baatar would never know what it feels to be a misunderstood genius, but is cut short. Varrick gives Bolin a meaningful wink, indicating he has a plan. He continues working, when he finishes. As the machine fires up, a constant beep is heard, which is picked up Baatar. Upon asking Varrick what it is, the inventor tells him it is a five-minute timer for the now spirit-vine bomb, and it will blow up the train, and everything within range. Baatar attempts to arrest Varrick, but the latter pulls a remote detonator out of his pocket, saying he will blow up the train remotely if anyone drags him away from the bomb.



Back at Zaofu, Korra is gradually losing more and more ground to Kuvira, who continues taunting the Avatar. Suyin urges her to go into the Avatar State, which Korra ultimately does. She instantly gains the upper hand over Kuvira, and raises herself on an airspout, lifts a giant boulder, but when Kuvira turns to face Korra again, the Avatar sees herself, as she appeared in her fight against Zaheer. She snaps out of the Avatar State again, and falls to the ground. Kuvira mocks her for being weak, and traps her in an earth prison, and is about to cut her head off, when Jinora and Opal intervene. They blast Kuvira away, who orders her army to attack. The airbenders create a tornado trying to hold the army back, while Jinora uses her astral projection to call for back up, in the form of Meelo and Ikki. Those two are with Huan, who approves of Ikki's child-like painting, but reprimands Meelo for his extremely life-like portrait of himself. Jinora's spirit appears, and asks them for help. Meelo wastes no time, kicks down his easel, excited that he has something to do.



On the train, Baatar Jr. has evacuated all the cars behind Varrick's lab and is sure to let Varrick know he is insane. Varrick brushes this off, saying that they knew that when they hired him. Bolin unhooks the cars and the rest of the train slowly pulls away from them. The lavabender lets out a relieved laugh, pleased that Varrick managed to fool Baatar Jr. like that. Varrick tells him he was not kidding and that the bomb really is about to go off and that he cannot stop it. Bolin is shocked to learn this and first sees if he can do anything about it, but decides to escape the train through a hatch in the floor. Varrick poetically comes to terms with his imminent death, but Bolin snaps him out of it by slapping him in the face and telling Varrick he hates him. He jumps out, moments before the train blows up. Baatar Jr. is shocked and declares Varrick "crazier than a sewer pipe elephant rat" before heading back to Zaofu. Meanwhile, Varrick and Bolin survived, and the emerge in the crater left by the bomb. Varrick is ecstatic that Bolin finally "did the thing" while Bolin wonders how Zhu Li stuck with Varrick for as long as she did.

The mecha tanks are struggling with the strong headwind created by Opal and Jinora, but slowly manage to break through. At that point, Meelo and Ikki soon show up on Pepper. Opal and Jinora lift Korra onto the bison and they take off. Opal wants to go back to free her mother and brothers, but she is stopped by Jinora and Ikki. Suyin yells after that her daughter that they will be fine to which Opal says that she will be back. Kuvira watches Pepper fly away and claims her victory over the city of Zaofu.



Inside, Kuvira gathers the citizens of Zaofu and declares that they will be dealt with as full citizens of the Earth Empire, so long as they bow to her. If not, they will be considered traitors, like Suyin and the twins. The entire city does, save for two: Baatar and Huan, much to the chagrin of Baatar Jr., who wants his father to bow to his rightful leader. Baatar simply declares that he disappointed in his son before he and Huan are taken away.

Later, in Suyin's garden, Baatar Jr. informs Kuvira of the death of Varrick and Bolin and that he is certain there is no way they survived. He also tells her he thinks he can replicate Varrick's work with the spirit vines, but only with an assistant. Kuvira assigns the task to Zhu Li before ordering the dismantling of the domes of Zaofu.

Credits
Written by:
 * Tim Hedrick

Directed by:
 * Melchior Zwyer

Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * P.J. Byrne - Bolin
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes - Ikki
 * Kiernan Shipka - Jinora
 * Logan Wells - Meelo
 * Jeff Bennett - Radio broadcaster

Also starring:
 * John Michael Higgins - Varrick
 * Stephanie Sheh - Zhu Li
 * Zelda Williams - Kuvira
 * Anne Heche - Su
 * Alyson Stoner - Opal
 * Todd Haberkorn - Baatar Jr
 * Jason Marsden - Huan
 * Jim Meskimen
 * Baatar Sr
 * Guard
 * Marcus Toji
 * Wing
 * Wei
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Pepper

Series continuity

 * Varrick recalls the time he was broken out of his prison cell by UnaVaatu in "Light in the Dark".
 * While playing with a piece of meteorite, Kuvira metalbends it into the shapes Suyin and Korra bent during the Avatar's metalbending lessons in "Old Wounds".

Character revelations

 * Suyin is capable of using seismic sense.
 * Despite having removed the mercury in her body, Korra still experiences hallucinations of herself in the Avatar State.
 * Varrick took an interest in spirit vines, intending to use them as a source of clean energy, after seeing them unleashed into Republic City by UnaVaatu.
 * It was revealed that Baatar Jr. hired Varrick.

Goofs

 * During their battle, Kuvira attaches a piece of metal around Korra left wrist and right ankle to twist her around. However, as Korra falls to the ground, the strips are gone without having been removed.

Trivia

 * The banners adorning Zaofu following its fall to the Earth Empire read "May Kuvira live for ten thousand years", a phrase often said in reference to the Emperor in ancient China.
 * Varrick stating that Zhu Li's name would become synonymous with "betrayal" is similar to how the name of the purported traitor Ephialtes became synonymous with "nightmare" in Greek following the Battle of Thermopylae or the case with Judas Iscariot..
 * This is the second time seismic sense is used while wearing footwear, the first time was in "The Terror Within" by Lin.