Raava

"spirit"

- Don't worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes, and we will never give up.

Raava is the spirit of peace and light. At least since the Harmonic Convergence in 19,829 BSC, Raava battled her natural opposite, Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos. During the next convergence in 9,829 BSC, she permanently merged her essence with Wan's, creating the Avatar Spirit.

History
Raava is one of the oldest known spirits, having existed over ten thousand lifetimes before the appearance of the first humans. She and Vaatu spent much of their existence combating each other, with neither able to fully vanquish the other. Even if Raava were to destroy Vaatu and usher in a new era of peace, what little darkness existed in Raava would magnify until a new Vaatu burst forth, beginning the cycle again. The reverse would happen to Vaatu if he were victorious over Raava.



After defeating Vaatu during the Harmonic Convergence in 19,829 BSC, Raava continuously battled Vaatu, keeping darkness under control and the world in balance. However, their struggle came to an end in 9,830 BSC, when Wan was tricked by Vaatu to sever Raava's hold on him. The moment Raava and Vaatu were separated, she started shrinking, as with the dark spirit on the loose, the light for which she stood began to fade. Angered, Raava turned to Wan, who believed her to be nothing more than a bully. She explained who she was and that by helping Vaatu, Wan had let chaos back into the world. She chided Wan for interfering in the business of spirits, putting the blame for the world's immanent destruction on his shoulders. Before she left to track down Vaatu in order to prevent the world's annihilation, she sternly warned Wan to not interfere with her again.



Raava followed Vaatu's trail back to the air lion turtle, where she came to Wan's aid by knocking Vaatu down and brushing aside the spirits he had turned to the dark side. After the spirit of chaos took his leave again, a considerably shrunken Raava turned angrily to Wan, chiding him again for his interference. As Wan promised to rectify his mistake and stop Vaatu, Raava accompanied him to face the lion turtle where he hoped to receive the power to airbend. However, the lion turtle decided that, since no human had ever held more than one element at the same time, Raava was to hold the ability for Wan until he had mastered the skill. Albeit her initial reluctance, she complied since working together with Wan was the only hope she had to stop Vaatu from plunging the world into darkness.



As such, the unlikely duo set out on a quest to restore balance in the world. While journeying to a water and an earth lion turtle to acquire the ability to waterbend and earthbend, Raava enlightened Wan about the ongoing struggle she had with Vaatu, the unbalance between humankind and the spirits, and the importance of the upcoming Harmonic Convergence, which was only a year off. For nearly a year, the two trained together, becoming more proficient as a team; Wan experienced a rush of power each time Raava passed through him, combining their energies.

A few days before the Harmonic Convergence, their practice was interrupted by the smell of smoke, indicating the near presence of humans. As they reached the open clearing where settlers were busy burning down the forest with their firebending, Raava was immediately attacked by them for being a spirit. Raava angrily chided the settlers for their aggressive stance against all spirits, as their actions only aided to further the divide between humankind and spirits, enabling Vaatu to thrive. Their conversation was interrupted when the aye-aye spirit and several others arrived, prompting Raava and Wan to intervene in the brewing conflict between the spirits and the settlers. Their efforts to a peaceful mediation were thwarted, however, when Vaatu arrived, using the anger of the spirits to turn them dark, causing the conflict to escalate. Raava aided Wan to separate the two parties, though realizing that they were not strong enough on their own, she heeded Wan's request to merge their energies. Together, they managed to halt the fight temporarily, though Raava's presence in Wan's body was putting him in mortal danger. Raava warned the young man about this, though her concerns were brushed aside since their combined power was the only reason the fighting had stopped. However, Raava was forced to leave his body nonetheless when he fainted, being only just in time to save him from crashing to the ground and being trampled by the fighting parties.



Raava carried Wan to safety on a nearby cliff, though she was powerless to stop the battle, which resulted in the total annihilation of the settlers. Severely weakened by the spreading hate and anger, Raava shrunk further down and had no longer the power to fly or move on her own. She was discovered there by Wan, who did not hesitate to pick her up and continue their journey to the southern spirit portal. As they drew near to the portal on the day of the Harmonic Convergence, Raava apologized for her initial prejudiced view about Wan, as she had been unaware that humans had the capability of displaying nobility and courage.



After they entered the Spirit World, Raava was challenged by Vaatu, though Wan interjected, stating that if the dark spirit wanted to get to his counterpart, he would first have to go through him. As such, Raava witnessed how Wan attempted to defeat Vaatu. However, the young man proved to be not powerful enough, and Raava merged her energy with his once again upon his insistence. Together, they were more of a challenge to Vaatu, though the strain that Raava's presence was putting on Wan's body was in their disadvantage, and Vaatu manage to pin them down near the southern spirit portal. The exact moment of the Harmonic Convergence, Wan used the energy to permanently merge his essence with that of Raava, creating the Avatar Spirit. As truly one being, their combined power enabled Wan to trap Vaatu in an elemental cage and lock him away in the hollow of a tree. Although the dark spirit was neutralized, humanity was still surrounded by darkness, and it became Raava and Wan's life mission to restore balance to all of mankind.



Many years later, as an elderly Wan lay dying on a war-torn battlefield, Raava reassured him that although they had not succeeded yet in their quest for peace, it would not end in vain as they would remain together for all of Wan's lifetimes and would never give up. As Wan exhaled his last breath, Raava's light spirit, transformed to the Avatar Spirit, exited his body and moved on to the next Avatar.

Personality
Dedicated to her task as protector of the world's balance, Raava could be abrasive to anyone who posed a threat to it. Although she fought Vaatu for the betterment of all, both spirit and men, she could be judgmental toward humankind, deeming them all to be incapable of nobility and courage. As such, she was quick to blame Wan for his mistakes and remained alert for further errors. However, over time, she realized that she had been to hard to judge all humans to be the same, and came to care deeply about Wan.

Abilities
As a spirit, Raava is able to inhabit the body of a human and assert a level of influence on her host. However, unlike other spirits, Raava's presence in a human's body did not leave physical deformations, though it still put the host in mortal danger. She is also capable of carrying the power of multiple elements, and was charged with holding the elements for Wan until he had learned to master them. It was only when Wan was merged with Raava's essence that he was able to bend all four elements simultaneously.

As with her counterpart, Vaatu, Raava is incredibly long-lived, having been locked in battle with Vaatu for tens of thousands of years. If she is overcome by Vaatu, she can gradually reform herself from the vestigial light within him.

Ever since the Harmonic Convergence of 9,829 BSC, Raava has been merged with Wan's spirit, living on in the created Avatar Spirit. In this capacity, she has been the source of the Avatar's ability to bend all four elements, and the Avatar's connection with their past lives.

Trivia

 * Raava and Vaatu appear to be representations of the yin-yang concept in Chinese philosophy, which is used to describe the way in which opposite forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world. In this case, the concept accounts for the duality associated with the fact that Raava, represents light and peace, while Vaatu, represents darkness and chaos. Her attributes, however, are ironically closer in Taoist thought to the ideal of darkness (yin) than that of light (yang); Raava is female and relatively reasonable, if abrasive and initially discriminatory, instead of male and aggressive.
 * Furthering the yin-yang comparison, Raava and Vaatu are said to contain vestigial elements of each other within themselves, from which they can regenerate after being defeated. Similarly, each side of the yin-yang symbol bears a small dot of the opposite color, symbolizing how each side bears some elements of the other.
 * This duality is also apparent in their names and color schemes. In Sanskrit, means "sound", which is the opposite of, which means "silence". The two spirits are also negative images of each other.
 * As Raava became smaller, some of the details on her pattern disappeared.
 * Raava is featured in a wooden statue of Wan, the first of many Avatar statues to be kept at the Southern Air Temple.