Korra


 * This article is about the character. For the series, see The Legend of Korra.

"water"

- I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!

Avatar Korra, originally from the Southern Water Tribe, is the Avatar immediately succeeding Aang. A talented and eager to learn bender, Korra has already mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, but has yet to conquer airbending. Hotheaded and rebellious, Korra fully accepts and relishes her role as "The Chosen One", and believes that being a powerful bender is all that it takes to be a great Avatar. The resulting lack of spiritual development is one of the reasons Korra has been unable to overcome her airbending block.

Background
Korra was born in the Southern Water Tribe after the death of Avatar Aang. She discovered at the age of four that she was the Avatar, an occurrence she proudly announced to the Order of the White Lotus when they came on her family's request. After performing waterbending, earthbending, and firebending before them, her identity as the Avatar was established, and her training to become a fully realized Avatar began in earnest under the Order's watchful eye. Over the next thirteen years, Korra became a prodigy in waterbending and earthbending, and by 170 ASC, her firebending training was almost complete.

Arrival in Republic City
At the age of seventeen, Korra demonstrated her firebending prowess to the Order of the White Lotus and Katara, her waterbending teacher. Although uttering concerns over her lack of restraint and ignorance on the spiritual side of the Avatar, the leader of the White Lotus decided that she had successfully mastered fire, the third element, and was ready to commence her airbending training under Tenzin's tutelage. However, Korra found the start of her airbending training put on hold when Tenzin announced that the imbalance in Republic City at that time was preventing him from leaving the city to relocate to the Southern Water Tribe as planned. Unhappy, she unilaterally decided that if Tenzin could not come to her, she would go to him. With Katara's blessing, she stowed away on a cargo ship headed for the city with Naga, her polar bear dog and animal guide.

Upon her arrival in Republic City, and driven by hunger, Korra and Naga roamed the city, discovering for themselves just how out of balance it really was, with unequal division of wealth and rampant street crime. After successfully thwarting members of the Triple Threat Triad, Korra found herself apprehended by the metalbender cops on charges of destruction of private and city property. She was brought to the police headquarters, where she was interrogated by a displeased Chief Lin Beifong. Although Tenzin managed to persuade her to drop all the charges against Korra, Lin made it very clear that she would keep an eye on the young Avatar.

Even though Tenzin had promised to send Korra back home again, she managed to persuade him to let her stay, as she now realized that Republic City needed its Avatar. She was allowed to stay and commence her airbending training on Air Temple Island under Tenzin's tutelage. Her decision to take residence at Air Temple Island was publicly announced in a press conference in front of Republic City's city hall, during which she stated that "Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the center of peace and balance in the world," and that she would strive to obtain that goal.

Pro-bending


Korra found herself struggling with the "element of freedom", eventually destroying a priceless Air Nomad training tool in a fit of rage. She continually found herself frustrated at her inability to airbend, and by the fact that Tenzin would not allow her to attend a pro-bending match. Unwilling to sit idle on the island, she sneaked off at night so she could finally attend a match at the arena. Upon arriving, she was caught sneaking around the arena's gym by Toza, but was bailed out by Bolin, who stated she was with him. Following her "rescuer", she was guided to the players area where she was introduced to Bolin's brother, Mako. She hung around for the match, and became enthralled with the sport and the Fire Ferret team. After the match, Bolin taught her some basics, and Korra proved herself to be a natural.

When the Fire Ferrets' waterbender, Hasook, appeared to be a "no-show", Korra jumped at the chance to take his spot and compete. When Tenzin ordered her to return to the island immediately, she justified her stay by stating that it was important for her as the Avatar to learn modern-style bending, something pro-bending could help her with. Struggling with the rules and the pace of the game, Korra slowly got the feel of it. Korra started applying some of her airbending lessons by moving around in her zone like "a leaf in the wind", proving to Tenzin who was still watching that his teachings weren't all lost to her. This sudden change of tactics from Korra won the match for the Fire Ferrets. This victory gained the team access to the official pro-bending championship tournament, and Korra was accepted to permanently replace Hasook as the waterbender on the team.

As Korra progressed, she learned that being the Avatar came with many dangers and responsibilities. When she encountered a group of chi blockers, led by the mysterious and charismatic Amon who threatened the city and all the benders in it, Korra vowed to fight the growing anti-bending revolution.

Personality
Korra is fiery and pugnacious. Her personality is in many ways the opposite of the previous Avatar, Aang. He was a peaceful, diffident, nomadic airbender, whereas Korra is tough, headstrong, and assertive. However, like Aang, she also has a good sense of humor, with a teenage charm and vulnerability.

Bending
As the Avatar, Korra had the unique ability to master all four elements, rendering her the most powerful bender in the world. Furthermore, since she was young, Korra always had an affinity for the more physical aspect of bending, though she struggled with the spiritual side.

Waterbending
Korra's waterbending abilities had manifested at a young age, before she had even been recognised as the Avatar by the Order of the White Lotus. She has been seen to create large walls of ice and powerful water whips.

Earthbending
Korra's earthbending abilities also manifested when she was young, and her training in the art only strengthened her technique.

Firebending
Like both waterbending and earthbending, Korra's firebending skills manifested at a young age, and is the element Korra most prominently utilizes, even though it is not the element of her nation. Her firebending training was completed when she passed the test at the age of seventeen, under the guidance and teachings of the Order of the White Lotus.

Airbending
Unlike the prior three elements, airbending never came easy to Korra, and upon her move to Republic City and subsequent training with Tenzin, she still found the technique difficult. Tenzin explained that she found difficulty with the bending technique due to the same reasons that his father, Avatar Aang had difficulties with earthbending, as it is the element most opposite their personalities.

During her first pro-bending match after joining the Fire Ferrets, she managed to employ evasive movements similar to that of an airbender's, and after tiring out the opposing team, she won the match (along with Mako and Bolin).

Relatives

 * Aang (immediate predecessor)
 * Unnamed mother and father

Trivia

 * Her name follows a long line of tradition in the polar Water Tribes, where often people include one or two "K"s and have an "UH" sound in their name (Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, Pakku, Kuruk, Kanna, Arnook, etc.)
 * Korra's situation appears to be the opposite of that of Aang; Aang had mastered airbending and had to travel the world to learn the other three elements. Korra has mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, and has yet to learn airbending. In addition, while Aang was very in tune with the spiritual side of bending and had to work to achieve the physical side of it, Korra is talented with the physical side of bending, but has very little aptitude for the spiritual side.
 * "Korra" means "from the mountain valley" in Irish, and is also similar in pronunciation to another Irish word "cora", which means "weir". It also means "crust" in Greek, and "grass" in certain Australian Aboriginal dialects and is an Estonian word meaning "procedure". When anglicized, Greek "Kore" reforms as "Cora", with both names meaning "maiden". Kore is also another name for Persephone, Greek goddess of the underworld, who is described by Homer as a formidable and powerful young queen.
 * Korra is also the name of a village in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.
 * Korra is the first Avatar to hail from the Water Tribes since Kuruk, 489 years ago.
 * Korra is the second known Avatar shown to know of her status as the Avatar before her sixteenth birthday, Aang being the first.