Beginnings, Part 1

"spirit"

- My name is Wan, and I will show you how I became the first Avatar.

"Beginnings, Part 1" is the seventh episode of Book Two: Spirits of The Legend of Korra and the 19th episode of the overall series. It was aired on October 12, 2013, for attendees of the The Legend of Korra panel at the New York Comic-Con, and premiered on Nickelodeon on October 18, 2013.

Overview
Korra learns about the origins of the first Avatar, Wan.

Synopsis


After falling unconscious on the beach, the Fire Sages carry Korra to the temples where they reside. There, the shaman uses firebending to read Korra's energy, and concludes that she is infected with a dark spirit who would consume the Avatar Spirit if it was not cleansed in time. The shaman orders the sages to lower Korra into subterranean spirit waters, where she reconnects with her spirits, as well as four of her past lives: Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk. The past Avatars attempt to remind her of who she is, but she is unable to remind, prompting a young man to appear behind her in an orb of gold light. She asks him if he was the spirit Raava, whom she was told to find; the man said that he is not, but that assures Korra that he can aid her in finding Raava, before introducing himself as Wan, and recalling how he became the first Avatar.

Wan shows Korra his life, starting with him stealing food from the Chou brothers to feed himself and his family. He successfully evades his pursuers for a while, but the brothers eventually catch up to him and subsequently throw him into a pen with hybrid pigs. Wan returns to his family's treehouse, bringing Yao and Jaya what little food he had managed to salvage in his tunic. He laments over their impoverished lifestyle, wishing they could live like the Chous. His brother cautions him against stealing from the Chous again, fearing he would wind up dead, or rather banished into the Spirit Wilds. Though Jaya attempts to convince Wan that some people, like them, were simply born without power, Wan seems only inspired to prove his brother wrong.



In the city, a group of hunters prepared to journey into the Spirit Wilds in order to collect food, knowing that the local lion turtle would grant them the element of fire to protect themselves against wild spirits. Wan immediately volunteers; however, after receiving the ability to firebend, he feigns fear and is told to return the power of fire to the lion turtle before returning to the city. Wan returns to the city without returning his bending, and shows his ability to Yao and Jaya back at the treehouse.

That night, Wan leads his brother and several other citizens on a raid of the Chou estate. To allow the others sufficient time to escape, Wan battles the Chou brothers and the palace guards, and is unmasked during the altercation by one of the Chous. Hesitating to kill Little Chou, Wan is apprehended and brought before the lion turtle. Refusing to reveal the names of those involved in the raid, Chou the Elder banishes Wan to the Spirit Wilds and orders him to give back the ability to bend fire to the lion turtle. Wan pleads with the lion turtle, however, urging that he needs fire in order to survive the wilds.

As he wanders the Spirit Wilds, Wan encounters several hostile spirits, forcing him to remain awake until he eventually collapses from exhaustion. However, the ground opens up beneath him and starts to suck him in. Before being engulfed completely, Wan uses his bending to propel himself back to the surface. Although exhausted, he decides to venture onward until he comes across a tree carrying strange fruit. He plucks one of the fruits and attempts to eat it, but is surprised to find the fruit morph into a swarm of wasps that promptly attack him. In his attempt to flee the swarm, Wan inadvertently falls off a cliff.



As he lands, he finds himself looking at an oasis with more trees bearing fruit. Still hungry, Wan approaches the island, but before he could reach it, a spirit called Aye-Aye appears and tells him that he is not welcome at the oasis. Wan tries to reason with the spirit, telling the entity that he was hungry and in need of sleep. The spirit refused to listen, prompting Wan to attempt firebending to force the spirit aside; the spirit easily evaded the attack by teleporting behind him and proceeded to shove him to a nearby bush. Shorty after, a procession of spirits approached the oasis. In a final attempt to enter the oasis, Wan disguises himself as a bush spirit and briefly manages to fool the oasis guardian. However, he is stopped by Aye-Aye, who recognizes his distinct human scent. Aye-Aye orders Wan to return home once more, and he reveals that he was banished, causing one of the spirits to suggest moving to another lion turtle city. Wan expresses disbelief at the thought of other lion turtles, and inquires as to where he would find one. Aye-Aye refuses to help him, however, and he stalks off in frustration.

While traveling through the wilds, he spotted a cat deer caught in a net. He initially decides to have the creature for dinner, but ultimately chooses to help set it free. Before he could release the animal from its restraints, the group of hunters Wan was initially supposed to accompany show up. To protect the cat deer, Wan fights the hunters and leads them away from the creature, using the forest's own hazards to his advantage. Though he manages to stop two of his pursuers, Wan is eventually chased down. Before he could be apprehended, however, Aye-Aye appears and possesses one of the hunters, prompting the other to flee in fear. The oasis guardian then carries Wan to the oasis, and allows the spirit waters to heal his injures. Deciding that he has had enough of humans, Wan resolves to stay in the wilds to learn the ways of the spirits.



As time passed, Wan befriends the spirits and learns the Dancing Dragon form from a white dragon, mastering the art to the point where fire became an extension of his own body. In doing so, he dramatically improved his firebending skills and managed to drive off any hunters that trespassed in spirit grounds. Eventually growing restless, Wan decides to leave the oasis with the company of Mula, in order to travel the world and learn the other elements.



After wandering across many different terrains, Wan and Mula run across a large group of spirits running away from the all-powerful spirits, Raava and Vaatu, who were battling in a nearby valley. Wan goes to investigate, and attempts to stop the fighting in order to protect the spirits and animals in the surrounding forest. Vaatu manipulates Wan and tricks him into using his fire to separate Vaatu from his counterpart, Raava. Raava then informs Wan of his mistake, telling him that Vaatu is the spirit of darkness and chaos and she, as the spirit of light and peace, had kept him under control for the past ten thousand years. Wan also discovers that the human and spirit realms are now headed toward annihilation because of his doing.

Back in the present, Korra vocalizes her success in finding Raava.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Michael Dante DiMartino


 * Directed by:
 * Colin Heck


 * Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * Steven Yeun - Wan
 * April Stewart - Raava
 * Barbara Goodson - Shaman
 * Jonathan Adams - Vaatu
 * Jason Marsden - Spirit Aye-Aye
 * Andrew Kishino:
 * Big Chou
 * Townsman
 * Paul Nakauchi - Chou the Elder
 * Jim Cummings:
 * Lion turtle
 * Hunter #3
 * Travis Willingham:
 * Huntsman
 * Random spirit #2
 * Steve Blum
 * Crazy Yao
 * Spirit frog
 * Hunter #2
 * Jeff Bennett
 * Radio broadcaster
 * Random spirit #1


 * Also starring:
 * D. B. Sweeney - Aang
 * James Garrett - Roku
 * Jim Meskimen:
 * Kuruk
 * Hunter #1
 * Jennifer Hale - Kyoshi
 * Justin Prentice - Jaya
 * Marcus Toji - Little Chou
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Mula
 * Bailey Gambertoglio - Kind spirit
 * Nicholas Braico - Kind spirit #2
 * Serena Williams - Female sage

Production notes

 * The basic concept of the origin story used in these episodes had been in development well before the creators began work on Book Two: Spirits. Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had been discussing the idea since Book Two of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but did not present the story to the writers until much later.
 * In order to emphasize that the episodes are set in a much earlier time period, a unique art style was used to alter the appearance and aesthetics of the setting. The design was inspired by the ancient ink wash paintings and woodblock prints of East Asia, and was achieved by changing the color palette, reducing lighting effects, and increasing stylizing. However, the basis for characters' designs remains unchanged.
 * Avatar Yangchen was the only known Avatar not to appear before Korra.
 * The three Avatars preceding Aang who appeared before Korra are among the few characters in The Legend of Korra to retain their voice actors from the original series.

Trivia

 * The spirit telling Wan that "[the other lion turtle] is on the other side of none-of-your-business valley" recalls a scene in "The Blind Bandit" when an earthbender student told Aang that the Earth Rumble VI was located "at the isle of none-ya business".
 * Korra attempt to reconnect with her Avatar Spirit by connecting with her past lives resembles Aang's similar attempt after being struck by Azula's lightning.
 * This episode has a number of homages to the films of Hayao Miyazaki, of which the series creators are professed fans.
 * The scene with the spirit procession across the bridge to the Spirit Oasis is very reminiscent of a similar scene early in Spirited Away. Likewise, humans having a distinctive scent considered unpleasant by spirits is a key point in the movie.
 * Mula is reminiscent of the red elk Yakul in Princess Mononoke, which also deals with conflict between humans and forest spirits. The elk similarly serves as a mount for the protagonist, the banished Prince Ashitaka.
 * Wan's acquisition of fire through deception fits with the thematic theft of fire, in which an individual steals fire for the benefit of humanity. In this case, Wan's acquirement of firebending indirectly helped bring balance to both the physical and spirit realms.