Enter the Void

"neutral"

- Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty, and become wind.

"Enter the Void" is the twelfth episode of Book Three: Change of The Legend of Korra and the 38th of the overall series. It was released on Nick.com for online viewing along with "Venom of the Red Lotus" as the first of a two-part season finale on August 22, 2014, and aired on Nicktoons alongside its counterpart on October 9, 2014.

Overview
''Korra turns herself over to Zaheer to save the airbenders, who are being held captive by the Red Lotus. However, she and her friends get double-crossed by Zaheer's group. As Ghazan tries to bring down Korra's friends, Bolin saves them with his new-found lavabending skills. Meanwhile, Korra and Tonraq face off with Zaheer on Laghima's Peak while the Beifong sisters attempt to bring down P'Li. Zaheer manages to push Tonraq off the cliff, much to Korra's devastation. Suyin succeeds in metalbending her armor around P'Li's head, killing her instantly. With his earthly tether gone, Zaheer unlocks the ancient ability of flight and escapes, successfully capturing the Avatar.''

Synopsis


Aboard a Zaofu airship, Suyin Beifong proposes an attack strategy based on an ambush from the air, which Lin Beifong dismisses in favor of a plan involving a more covert approach from the mountainside. Bolin suggests disguising himself as a lost hiker and distracting the Red Lotus with his bird calls, earning him strange looks from the group and an angry dismissal from Mako. The group continues to disagree on which strategy to use, prompting Korra to remark that all plans are futile, as Zaheer will wipe out the airbenders at the first sign of trouble. Suyin assures Korra that she is aware of what is at stake, given the fact that Opal is one of the prisoners. Korra acknowledges the matriarch and proposes that she surrenders to Zaheer. Despite reservations from the others, she insists that keeping the Air Nation alive is crucial in maintaining balance.

In the radio room of the Northern Air Temple, Zaheer receives a message from Korra, who agrees to give herself up in exchange for the release of the airbenders. Back on the airship, Bolin voices his concern over Opal's well-being, visibly tense as Pabu is not present to comfort him. He wonders how he and Naga are doing. Back in Zaofu, the two animals are playing tug with Mako's scarf, prompting Yin to scold the two for their behavior. Korra goes back to the group after contacting Zaheer, where Suyin has come up with a plan: Mako, Bolin and Asami take the airship to the Northern Air Temple, while Tonraq and all the metalbenders provide back up for Korra under Laghima's Peak.



Zaheer is seen meditating with Laghima's locket, which he took from Tenzin's study. P'Li walks in and tells him the airbenders are secure. The two share a brief moment during which the firebender recalls how Zaheer rescued her from a warlord, who would have just used her extraordinary ability for his own purposes. He assures her that the world will change forever the following day as they would finally have accomplished their goals. Zaheer adds that he loves her and the two share a kiss.

The airship of the Metal Clan has set down below Laghima's Peak, where Lin gives Mako some final instructions. Korra says goodbye to the rest of Team Avatar, before they head off toward the temple. Tonraq assures her how proud he is and after one last hug, she sets off on her glider, while the metalbenders scale the mountain with their cables.



Mako, Bolin, and Asami fly around the Northern Air Temple, astonished by the damage done to the building in the previous battle. They touch down and meet Ghazan, who leads them to a badly beaten Tenzin and what appear to be the airbenders being held hostage. Korra touches down at Laghima's Peak, where Zaheer and P'Li are waiting for her. The airbender tells Korra to drop her glider and her radio, but she keeps standing there. Mako radios Korra, informing her that they can see the airbenders, but warns her that Ghazan is there as well. Korra yells at Zaheer to make the lavabender stand down, but he insists Korra turn herself over first. After continuing to not comply, Zaheer radios Ghazan to wipe out the airbenders, but Korra stops him and walks forward, allowing P'Li to cuff her. Leading the Avatar toward their airship, the combustionbender tells Korra not to bother trying to metalbend herself free, due to the cuffs' platinum constitution.

Meanwhile, Asami and Bolin set to work freeing Tenzin, while Mako moves in to free the other airbenders. As they approach the captives, they are shocked to learn that it was Ming-Hua who was holding up airbender clothes with waterbending. Mako radios to Korra that it was a trick who, despite her chains, starts fighting Zaheer. He also tells Lin to immediately free Korra from the predicament, prompting the metalbenders to quickly scale the rest of the mountain. As they reach the summit, however, they find P'Li already waiting for them. Korra is having difficulty fighting Zaheer because of her chains, and he manages to overpower her with relative ease. He walks her to the airship, but Tonraq intervenes and engages Zaheer in a fight alongside his daughter.

After a brief battle, Ghazan and Ming-Hua escape, sealing off the exit with a lake of lava, leaving Team Avatar to die. Asami manages to free Tenzin with a hairpin, who knows an alternate escape route, if Bolin can earthbend through the back wall. This leads them to an office, where a trapdoor leading down into the mountain is located. They manage to escape through here, but are relentlessly pursued by the lava.



Back at Laghima's Peak, the metalbenders are struggling in their fight with P'Li, while Zaheer and Tonraq and Korra seem evenly matched. When Tonraq leaves himself exposed for a moment, the airbender takes advantage and throws him off the cliff. P'Li corners Lin and Suyin behind a rock, to which Lin decides to attempt to distract the combustionbender, thereby giving Suyin a chance to take her out. P'Li aims her attacks at Lin, leaving herself open to Suyin. The metalbender rushes out as Lin goes down, wrapping her armor around P'Li's head just as the bender begins her attack; confining the combustion beam to P'Li's head, the tall woman is killed instantly by the explosion.

Hearing the explosion, Zaheer whirls around and is devastated to discover that it killed his girlfriend. He is not given time to mourn, however, as Korra is upon him. He quickly refocuses on Korra and manages to knock her down. Carrying her over his shoulder, he notices that his airship has floated off, leaving him stranded atop the mountain. When Lin and Suyin scale to his level, announcing that it was over and that he should release the Avatar, he recites Guru Laghima's quote about letting go of your earthly tether to enter the void and become wind before letting himself fall backward off the cliff. Shocked, the Beifong sisters rush forward in hopes to still catch him before he plummets to his and Korra's death, though they find Zaheer standing midair, unharmed. They send their cables at him, though he nimbly avoids them and flies off, leaving the sisters shocked about his new ability. Zaheer rapidly flies past the airship piloted by Ghazan and Ming-Hua, rending his two companions shocked as well. Meanwhile, at the side of the cliff, Tonraq, having been saved by Kuvira, sadly watches Zaheer fly off with his daughter.



Underneath the temple, Bolin realizes that they cannot outrun the lava, so he decides to create another path. This leads the group to a dead end over a cliff. The lava continues to follow them. Desperate, Bolin makes a last ditch effort to lavabend and is, along with his allies, shocked when it actually works. Shortly afterward, much to Tenzin's surprise, Kai and his bison, Lefty, fly toward them. The team boards the bison and the animal flies them to safety as the Northern Air Temple collapses behind them.

They land near the peak where Tonraq and the others greet them, explaining that Korra had been taken by Zaheer. Suyin told Tenzin Zaheer had discovered the ability to fly and they began to discuss the whereabouts of Korra and the airbenders. Kai tries to tell the group some valuable information, though Lin and Tenzin keep interrupting him, until he shouts that he knows where the airbenders are. He explains that after P'Li blasted him out of the air, he woke up in a tree where Lefty found him. He attempted to return to the temple only to spot the hostages being moved to a cave near the air temple, where they were handed off to four more Red Lotus members. Before they leave, Mako apologizes to Kai for giving him a hard time, but Kai brushes this off, saying he probably deserved it. Flying on Lefty and Oogi, the team goes to the cave, while the Zaofu security force stays at the mountain to recover.



Ghazan and Ming-Hua approach a levitating Zaheer, who is meditating, and ask him about his new ability. Zaheer tells them he just gained it by letting go of all his worldly desires and gaining true freedom. Ming-Hua asks where P'Li is and Zaheer tells her that she sacrificed herself for their cause, adding that he hopes her death will not be in vain. Deep inside the cave, Korra is locked up with platinum chains, preventing her from metalbending her way out. When Korra sees Zaheer, she accuses him of murdering her father before breathing fire at him. Zaheer tells Korra that he had also lost a loved one that day, so he understood the Avatar's pain, though he then told her that her pain would soon be over. He calls for two members of the Red Lotus to bring over a bowl of poison, much to Korra's horror.

Credits
Written by:
 * Michael Dante DiMartino

Directed by:
 * Ian Graham

Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * David Faustino - Mako
 * Seychelle Gabriel - Asami
 * P. J. Byrne - Bolin
 * J. K. Simmons - Tenzin
 * Henry Rollins - Zaheer
 * James Remar - Tonraq
 * Mindy Sterling - Beifong
 * Anne Heche - Su
 * Skyler Brigmann - Kai
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Pabu
 * Naga
 * Oogi
 * Baby bison
 * Jeff Bennett - Radio broadcaster

Also starring:
 * Kristy Wu - P'Li
 * Grey DeLisle-Griffin - Ming-Hua
 * Peter Giles - Ghazan
 * Susan Silo - Yin
 * Zelda Williams - Kuvira

Series continuity

 * Zaheer telling Tonraq to give his regards to the Earth Queen is referencing "Long Live the Queen".
 * P'Li was killed by a point-blank explosion due to metal covering her third eye. This is similar to "The Western Air Temple" when Combustion Man was also killed by a point-blank explosion.

Character revelations

 * When she was young, P'Li was being trained by a warlord for killing purposes but was freed from the situation by Zaheer.
 * Bolin is able to lavabend.

Goofs

 * When Korra falls off the cliff, her head is down, but after she is saved by Tonraq, her position has twisted.
 * In the first shot of Tonraq hugging Korra at the base of Laghima's Peak, his skin in between his shirt and gauze on his forearm is visible, but in previous and subsequent shots he is wearing a skintight top underneath his shirt that covers his skin.
 * When Lin distracts P'Li, the Ba Sing Se airship can be seen again in the background, despite it floating away earlier in the fight.
 * While fighting P'Li, Lin sustains several scratches in her face and on her armor, though when she confronts Zaheer, they are already gone.
 * When everyone is mounting Lefty, part of the lava flow directly on the right of the opening goes nowhere and just ends halfway down the screen.
 * In the first shot of Kuvira bandaging Tonraq's arm, the gauze is applied directly to the bicep. In subsequent shots, the gauze is coiled over a skintight sleeve that was not a part of Tonraq's shirt during the initial wrapping.
 * When Oogi first comes into view, he does not have the saddle on him, but as soon as he lands, he does.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to show the Red Lotus' official insignia.
 * The episode's name references the inscription on the back of a locket bearing Guru Laghima's image, which read, "Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind." Zaheer repeats this saying to himself just before he attains the ability to fly.
 * When Zaheer says "I found true freedom. I'm no longer bound to this earth by worldly desires. I have entered the void", he is making a reference to the seventh chakra, the thought chakra that Aang could not unlock due to his love for Katara. After P'Li's death, Zaheer lost his only earthly attachment and unblocked the chakra.