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 will air on Nicktoons alongside its counterpart on October 2, 2014.

Overview
''Korra turned herself over to Zaheer to save the airbenders who are held captive by the Red Lotus. But she and her friends got double-crossed by Zaheer's group. As Ghazan tried to bring down Korra's friends, Bolin saved the day by his new-found lavabending skills. However, he's not the only one who acquired new skills. Zaheer unlocked the ancient ability of flight and successfully captured 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. The group continues to disagree on which strategy to use, prompting Korra to remark that all plans are futile, as Zaheer would wipe out the airbenders at the first sign of trouble. Suyin reassures 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 a plan of her own, which involved voluntarily surrendering to Zaheer. Despite reservations from the others, Korra insists that keeping the Air Nation alive is crucial in maintaining balance.

In the Northern Air Temple radio room, 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 the grandmother 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 that he stole 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 tomorrow, the world will change forever, and that they will finally have accomplished their goals.

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 towards 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 they can see the airbenders, but warns her the lavabender is there as well. Korra yells at Zaheer to make Ghazan stand down, but he wants Korra to turn herself over first. After not complying again, Zaheer radios Ghazan to wipe out the airbenders, but Korra stops him. She walks forward, and P'Li cuffs her. Asami and Bolin set to work freeing Tenzin, and Mako moves in to free the other airbenders, but is shocked when it was really Ming-Hua who was holding up airbender clothes with waterbending. Mako radios Korra that it was trick, who starts fighting Zaheer. The firebender tells Lin to get Korra immediately, and the metalbenders scale the rest of the mountain, but P'Li is waiting for them. Korra is having difficulty fighting Zaheer because of her chains, and he overpowers her with relative ease. He walks her to the airship, but Tonraq intervenes and together, father and daughter battle Zaheer.

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, who know that if Bolin can punch through the back wall, they can take an alternate route. 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. She is killed instantly by the explosion.

Zaheer watches as his girlfriend is destroyed, though he quickly refocuses on Korra and knocks her down. Carrying her, he repeats Guru Laghima's quote, while the metalbending sisters corner him. He lets go of his last earthly tether as he falls backwards off the cliff. Su and Lin rush forward, and much to their amazement, see him flying. The two sisters attempt to grab him using the metal cables, but are unable to match Zaheer's evasion tactics. He flying past the airship piloted by Ghazan and Ming-Hua, instead taking Korra to their destination himself. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Tonraq managed to avoid death due to being rescued by Kuvira.



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, and so, out of options, Bolin attempts to lavabend. He, along with his friends, are shocked to discover that 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 manifested the ability to fly, and they began to discuss Korra and the airbenders' whereabouts. Kai tries to tell the group some valuable information before Lin and Tenzin cut his speech, 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, and were handed off to four more Red Lotus members. Before they left, Mako apologized 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, with the Zaofu police staying at the mountain to recover.



Ghazan and Ming-Hua approach a flying Zaheer, who is meditating, and ask him about his new ability. As he explains that there is nothing tying him to the earth any more, Ming-Hua asks where P'Li is. Zaheer tells her that the combustionbender sacrificed herself for their cause, and 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 also lost a loved one today, so he understood the Avatar's pain, though he then told her that her pain would soon be over. He then called 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.
 * Zaheer unlocked flight.

Goofs

 * When Korra falls off the cliff, her head is down, but after she is saved by Tonraq, her position has twisted.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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.