Korra


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

"water"

- Well, I got news for you. You need me, but I don't need you. I'm the Avatar.

Avatar Korra is the current incarnation of the Avatar and immediate successor of Avatar Aang. Born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe, she mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending there before relocating to Republic City to pursue similar proficiency with airbending under the tutelage and guidance of Tenzin as well as overcome her aversion to the spiritual aspects of the bending arts. With the assistance of Aang's spirit, Korra gained the ability to energybend, and after connecting with her past lives, she gained the capacity to enter the Avatar State at her will, marking her transition into a fully realized Avatar.

Early life


Korra was born to two waterbenders named Tonraq and Senna in the Southern Water Tribe, immediately following the death of Avatar Aang. At the age of four, she discovered her identity as the Avatar, a fact she proudly announced to the Order of the White Lotus when they visited her home at 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 demonstrated a prodigious talent which allowed her to quickly master the arts of waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, as she completed her training of the latter by 170 ASC. During her youth, she met and tamed a female polar bear dog, whom she named Naga and who served as her animal companion.

170 ASC


At the age of seventeen, Korra had mastered all the elements save for airbending. After Tenzin's move to the Southern Water Tribe fell through, Korra took matters into her own hands and stowed away on a ship, traveling to Republic City. Roaming though the city in search of Air Temple Island, she discovered that the bustling metropolis was not all that she was told to be; she learned that there was a great deal of imbalance among its citizens with triads and Equalists running around. After defeating some members of the Triple Threat Triad, she found herself in trouble with Lin Beifong and her Metalbending Police Force. She was cleared of all charges due to Tenzin's intervention, and eventually was allowed to stay with him at the air temple to commence her airbending training there. However, progress was slow, and the Avatar grew frustrated. To unwind, she joined the Fire Ferrets pro-bending team, and befriend her fellow teammates, the brothers Mako and Bolin.

When Bolin got kidnapped by the Equalists, Korra helped his brother to find him. They tracked him down to an abandoned warehouse where they witnessed first hand Amon's ability to strip a bender of his bending abilities. Although they managed to save Bolin, Amon left a deep impression on Korra, who grew fearsome of the Equalist leader. Regardless, she joined Councilman Tarrlok's task force.



While she worked to rid the city of the Equalists, she also kept training with the bending brothers to win the Pro-bending Championship. Although they had some hard matches due to internal romantic struggles, they managed to reach the finale. However, after their match against the White Falls Wolfbats ended with their defeat due to cheating of the other team, Amon and his Equalists attacked the Pro-bending Arena, effectively destroying the building.

Soon after, Korra discovered that Hiroshi Sato had ties with the Equalists, and as such, she invited both Asami Sato and the bending brothers to come live with her at the island. There, feeling insecure about herself as the Avatar, she and her friends formed a team with the purpose of patrolling the city and apprehending Equalists. As such, she angered Tarrlok, and the Councilman broke up their team by apprehending all Korra's friends. When she confronted Tarrlok about his actions later on, he revealed himself to be a bloodbender, and overpowered her. Korra was locked up in a secluded cabin in the mountains surrounding the city. In isolation, unable to escape, she meditated and connected with Aang, discovering the truth about Tarrlok's heritage. However, when Amon and his Equalists ambushed the cabin, she managed to escape.



In the aftermath of her escape, Amon launched his grand attack on the city. Korra and her friends fought back for a while, but the sheer number and power of the Equalists forced them on the run. Korra retreated into the tunnel system of the city, where she would await the arrival of reinforcements in the form of General Iroh and his United Forces. However, he too proved to be no match for the Equalists machines, and Korra pulled the injured general out of the water. After this incident, she vowed to take the battle to Amon, and together with Mako, she set out to confront him. After having learned that he truly was a waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe, they eventually found him at the Pro-bending Arena, where he was holding a victory speech. The Avatar freed Tenzin and his children, though when she faced Amon, the Equalist leader managed to take away her bending. However, as she witnessed Amon on the verge of taking Mako's bending as well, she unlocked her airbending and managed to overpower Amon.



After the Equalists' defeat, Korra traveled to the Southern Water Tribe, hoping that Katara could undo Amon's action. The old healer was unable to, however, and a heartbroken Korra ran off to grieve on her own. There, she finally managed to connect with her spiritual side, and as such, Aang and the other previous Avatars helped to restore her bending, as well as bestow upon her the ability to restore other people's bending. Having regained her bending and mastered the Avatar State, Korra and Mako became a couple.

After Amon's defeat
After the revolution, Korra extensively used energybending to restore the bending of the innocent benders Amon victimized.

Six months after defeating Amon and gaining access to the Avatar State, Korra participated in an air scooter race on Air Temple Island with Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. As the close race was nearing its conclusion, Korra used the Avatar State as a boost to win, but was quickly castigated by Tenzin when he found out what she had done, deeming her actions to be irresponsible. Confident in her airbending abilities and uninterested in more training, the Avatar dismissed her tutor's claims that she needed to hone her skills in a more dignified and advanced manner.



Korra postponed Tenzin's travel plans to visit all the air temples, a journey he hoped would bring her more spiritual enlightenment, in favor of a trip to the Southern Water Tribe to attend the Glacier Spirits festival. Meeting up with her uncle, Unalaq, she found out that angry spirits had been attacking fishing boats in the Southern waters. Her interest in fighting spirits piqued, Korra became even less motivated to learn more advanced airbending, especially after she found out that it had been Tenzin and her father's decision to seclude her away in the isolated compound rather than Aang's.

When the village she resided in came under attack by a dark spirit later that night, Korra attempted in vain to fight the entity off, but even the Avatar State proved to be insufficient in comparison to the malevolent spirit's prowess. Only Unalaq managed to overpower the spirit, by using a special waterbending technique that calmed the entity down and make it disappear completely. Impressed, and aware of her own shortcomings when it came to battling the spirit, Korra took her uncle up on his offer to become her new spiritual guide, breaking with Tenzin as her mentor.

Later, as Unalaq began to explain the nature of his training for Korra, he explained that they must first travel to the South Pole and open the spirit portal, stating that despite its danger, it was necessary to begin the South Pole's spiritual restoration. They were joined by Mako, Bolin, as well as Desna and Eska. At the last minute, Tonraq insisted on coming along to keep Korra safe from the Everstorm that was brewing down there: a blizzard that has been going on for decades. Along the way, Unalaq expressed his belief that Tonraq was the reason for the spirits' attacking. It was also revealed that back in his youth, Tonraq was banished from the Northern Water Tribe for nearly destroy it because of his reckless actions destroying he sacred spiritual forest and angering its inhabiting spirits, a story which angered Korra because her father was continuing to hide secrets from him.

Further angered by her father's continued secrets and dictation of her life, Korra began distancing herself from her father. While admitting to his faults, Tonraq still insisted that the physical and spirit world should remain separate, only for Korra to reminds him that the Avatar is the bridge between both worlds and she has this chance to live up to her potential. While Tonraq still disagreed with his brother, Unalaq pointed out that that the Northern Water Tribe has helped the South rebuild physically, but it lacks spirituality, hence the spirits' rampage. Ultimately, Korra told her father to return home.

Upon reaching the Everstorm, Unalaq tells Korra that inside the frozen spirit forest is the spirit portal, and that she must open it again so that the South will become spiritually balanced once again, but she must do it alone. Korra entered and was attacked by dark spirits. She struggled to fight them off, but managed to tap the portal and thus open it, causing the sky to light up. Upon returning to the group, Korra's uncle commended her for her actions, stating that what she had done would help restore spiritual balance to the south and maybe the whole world. Upon returning to the Southern Water Tribe's shores, the group found a Northern Water Tribe fleet arriving. Unalaq told her that the South's spiritual decay cannot be cured simply by opening the source, which left Korra worried.

Personality


On the surface Korra is fierce, independent, tomboyish, and pugnacious. However, beneath this tough exterior, she possesses a strong loyalty toward her comrades and duty as the Avatar and an admirable compassion seen in moments when she expresses love toward things such as pro-bending, Naga, Mako, or family and friends. Her offensive battle style means that she is always quick to initiate or rise to a challenge and she is extremely quick witted and impulsive, especially in heated situations. As an "Avatar-in-training", she lacks perception toward the damage her bending is capable of, and her rash decisions often result in her accidentally insulting others.

True to Korra's character, Lin once said to Tenzin, "Hard to believe your sweet-tempered father was reincarnated into that girl". Her personality is, in many ways, the opposite of the previous Avatar's; Aang was a peaceful, diffident, nomadic airbender, whereas Korra is tough, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, and assertive. However, like Aang, she also has a good sense of humor and enthusiasm, and a vulnerable teenage charm.

Korra's lack of a spiritual grasp proved to be a stumbling block in her training; she admitted that her personality is the opposite of the typical airbender's, and as Tenzin noted, Avatars tend to struggle with the bending art most opposite their personality. Due to the lack of a spiritual center in her life, Korra is impulsive and therefore has a hard time hiding her true feelings; this can be seen in her reaction to learning that Asami Sato was Mako's date during the gala Tarrlok threw in her honor, where she immediately expressed her jealousy by being rather hostile toward Asami and short with Mako.

Due to her concentration on the physical side of bending, Korra was initially quite worried when she saw "the revelation" of Amon's true abilities during his demonstration, a fear which expressed itself in Amon's words in the nightmare she had soon afterwards, "Once I take your bending away, you will be nothing." This and her later encounter with Amon revealed this fear. She tried repressing these fears for the good of Republic City when she joined Tarrlok's task force, but had trouble staying her usual upbeat self and became rather reclusive, and eventually made the rash decision to call Amon out in a one-on-one duel. This indicates that she is ruled by her emotions even when she tries to pretend they do not exist, leaving her vulnerable to Amon as shown by the results of the said encounter.



Like her immediate predecessor Aang, Korra places a high priority on her position as the Avatar, despite their differing approaches. Although at first Aang was uncomfortable with having to use outright violence to bring balance to the world, he eventually developed an unrelenting determination toward following his age-old destiny. Korra, on the other hand, takes a non-conformist stance over her Avatar training. For instance, after trying out pro-bending, she stated to Tenzin that the reason why she had been unable to airbend was because the Avatar no longer needed it and was instead meant to focus on modern styles of fighting. Tenzin quickly stamped her proposal out as preposterous, reminding her that the Avatar is destined to master all four elements at all costs.

Bending


As the Avatar, Korra has the unique ability to use all four elements, and has the potential to become the most powerful bender in the world. Furthermore, since she was a child, Korra has always had a remarkable affinity for the physical aspect of bending. She also quickly took to the three different styles of pro-bending with simple instructions from her teammates, greatly impressing them after only a week of training to ultimately become a highly capable member of the Fire Ferrets. Despite her innate aptitude for physical arts, she struggled with its spiritual aspects. Despite this initial problem, she has slowly begun to connect with her spiritual side, seeing visions of her past life in Aang. Later, after her encounter with Amon, all of her active bending abilities were taken away, but this allowed her to finally break free from her airbending block and defeat Amon. Upon sinking into despair after Katara, the greatest healer, was unable to restore her lost bending, Korra's spirit was finally able to subconsciously contact Aang, who restored her full bending, as well as passing on to her the ability to energybend and to enter the Avatar State. While in the Avatar State, Korra is able to use an air spout to raise herself into the air while unleashing all four elements in rapid succession. Later after more training, Korra becomes able to easily enter this form with complete control, even during intense competition.

Waterbending


Korra's waterbending abilities manifested at a young age, before she had even been recognized as the Avatar by the Order of the White Lotus. Subsequently trained formally in the art for over a decade by Katara, arguably the greatest waterbending master alive, Korra has demonstrated a high level of skill in this art in addition to its various techniques. She is capable of creating large walls of ice and powerful water whips. She can also launch herself high into the air and maintain the height on a gigantic waterspout easily, fight off several aerial attacks with various water attacks, and propel herself plus another person through the water at high-speeds to avoid attacks. She used her waterbending abilities to procure herself a spot on the Fire Ferrets pro-bending team, referring to herself as a "top-notch waterbender." While she was taught Northern and Southern style waterbending, which both employ fluid motions, Korra has quickly adapted to Republic City's more aggressive, straightforward waterbending style. Korra also has sufficient knowledge of bloodbending to fully understand the nature of its application, despite having never used the outlawed skill.

Healing


During her waterbending training, Korra was also taught the advanced skill of healing. As Katara was well-regarded as the best healer in the world, Korra herself became highly skilled in the art, something she takes pride in. By using a small supply of water as a catalyst on the targeted area, Korra is able to drastically increase the healing rate of injuries. Korra's skills were great enough to quickly soothe away the pain on Bolin's injured arm, and mitigate the severe burns on General Iroh's arm, leaving no trace of scars.

Earthbending


Korra's earthbending abilities also manifested at an early age. It is also her second most-used element. Spending many years of intense training, Korra has gained expertise in this art. Her prowess is great enough to easily overshadow another earthbender's control of an earth target, taking control of it herself. She has demonstrated her adept skill and ability in earthbending on several occasions, notably launching a member of the Triple Threat Triad several stories into the air. Korra's earthbending is also able to affect a considerable radius, upturning and demolishing everything in the area.

Firebending


As with earth and water, fire too manifested at a young age, and it became the element Korra most prominently utilizes. Due to the fact that she relies on offensive maneuvers when under pressure, Korra uses fire more than any other element. Her firebending training was finished when she passed the test impressively at the age of seventeen, having learned various advanced techniques such as the breath of fire. Against other firebenders, she can easily deflect and disperse the enemies' attack. Her control is so fine, she is able to produce a small yet intense flame at her fingers that she can maintain to melt through metal chains. She can propel herself through the air with firebending in short bursts, and use these bursts to run along a wall. Contrary to the usual difficulty an Avatar has with learning the opposite of his/her native element, firebending has become second nature to her. Korra tends to utilize firebending before any other element when provoked, frustrated, or attempting to assert dominance, such as when she falls back on firebending a newspaper cut out of Lin after failing to do so with airbending. Tenzin attributed this unusual combination to her innate personality being quite fit for the art thanks to her natural assertiveness and fiery spirit.

Airbending


Unlike the prior three elements, airbending did not come easily to Korra. Tenzin explained that it was due to its innate nature of being the most opposite to her personality. While initially having difficulty with airbending's fighting style and battle tactics, during her first pro-bending match, she was able to employ basic airbending movements to dodge the opposing team's assault and ultimately tire them out to win the match for her team. As her training has progressed, her understanding of its moveset greatly improved, and she was able to quickly and gracefully progress through the gates and ultimately learned all of its physical maneuvers; she later applied these tactics against the Lieutenant, effectively dodging all his attacks.

After Amon removed Korra's ability to bend her first three elements and was about to take Mako's firebending, Korra's emotional build up allowed her to fully connect with her spiritual side to utilize airbending. Despite only knowing the theory and practice of its forms, Korra has shown considerable skill and power in airbending: being able to create air blasts from punching and kicking movements, which were strong enough to send Amon flying several yards through a window. Although she has shown great power in her offensive use of airbending, her style of airbending varies dramatically from other airbenders, employing straightforward offensive movements similar to firebending while lacking the more characteristic circular and spiraling movements. Months later, while still using more firebending-like tactics for airbending, she has nearly mastered all its various skills, including advanced techniques like the airscooter. While in the Avatar State, she is able to produce an air vortex around her for continuous hovering about in the air.

Energybending


When lamenting the fact that Amon had removed all but her airbending, Avatar Aang appeared to Korra alongside previous Avatar incarnations during her lowest moment. At this point, it became clear that she had finally broken the barrier between the spiritual and physical world, something that had been beyond her abilities ever since she was born. Aang subsequently used energybending to restore her ability to bend all of the elements as well as impart the knowledge of energybending. With this new ability, Korra was able to freely restore a person's bending, as she did so with Lin Beifong's earthbending.

Other skills


In addition to bending, Korra also has considerable physical prowess. Her impressive raw strength allows her to easily lift Tenzin and his children at the same time. Likewise, she can easily leap across long distances and over high obstacles from a stationary position, as well as effectively traverse various terrains and vertical surfaces with great speed to hoist herself easily up and off rooftops. She can easily throw a much larger and heavier opponent against a set of pipes with enough force to break them, and can shatter large chunks of ice launched at her with a single punch each.

Korra is also quite fast and agile with sharp reflexes, able to easily dodge a much larger opponent's assault in a narrow area or a metalbender's launched cable from close-range. Her dexterity and balance are also considerably high, allowing her to skillfully dodge a large barrage of projectiles nearly unscathed, further aiding her in battle. She has impressive acrobatic skills; akin to parkour and free-running, she can slide across surfaces with great control, perform mid-air flips and twirls, run up and across walls. She is also quite flexible, able to bend and twist effectively enough to attack from various angles or squeeze through most spaces.

Korra is also a highly proficient unarmed fighter, able to knock out opponents with a single kick and once subdued a man using only Mako's scarf. Even against an expert weapons-wielder like the Lieutenant, Korra skillfully parried and countered his close-range assault. Furthermore, with a combination of bending attacks, she was able to create openings and land powerful physical blows, ultimately defeating him.

Korra also has keen instincts under pressure, demonstrating capable tactical and escape skills, such as using her armband as an insulator against the Lieutenant's electrical assault, and faking unconsciousness in order to catch the Equalists by surprise. Her resilience is also considerably high as she is one of few who canceled and broke free from a bloodbending grip, albeit with some difficulty.

Appearances
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Book Two: Spirits (神靈)
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Trivia

 * Her name follows a longstanding tradition in the polar Water Tribes, where often people include one or two "K"s and/or have an "AH" sound in their name (Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, Pakku, Kuruk, Kanna, Arnook, Tarrlok, Noatak, Yakone, Eska, Varrick etc.).
 * Korra is the third known female Avatar after Avatars Yangchen and Kyoshi.
 * The creators could not find a name that they agreed on that followed the tradition of the Water Tribe names, but when they were staying in an eco-lodge, the owner introduced them to his dog Cora. The creators agreed on the name, and with a spelling tweak, it fit into the established culture.
 * Korra's name bears resemblance to the given name of Cora Baker, who provided the voice of four year old Korra.
 * 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 spiritually related to Avatar Aang's children and grandchildren, as well as Avatar Roku's descendants.
 * Korra's situation is the opposite of Aang's; Aang had mastered airbending by the time he was at the Southern Air Temple and had to travel the world to learn the other three elements whereas Korra had mastered waterbending, earthbending and firebending at the compound in the South Pole and had to travel 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 had to master the spiritual side.
 * Korra is the second known Avatar shown to know of her status as the Avatar before her sixteenth birthday, Aang being the first, though she knew of her status at a significantly younger age.
 * Chronologically, Korra is the youngest known fully-realized Avatar.
 * Korra is the only Avatar known to have both biological parents featured in the series, have her bending blocked with chi blocking, and to have used waterbending for healing purposes.
 * Korra is the first Avatar known to have her bending removed and likewise restored.
 * Korra is the second known Avatar to utilize energybending.
 * Korra is the second known Avatar to be seen restoring someone's bending that had been previously taken away, and the first to be seen doing so while presently alive.
 * Korra favors the "I'm looking for the bathroom" excuse whenever someone confronts her on what she is doing when she should not be there.
 * Whereas Aang relied very heavily on his native element and preferred to use it before making use of any other, Korra does not seem to have any real preference over using her own native element; as noted, she does not bother to carry a water skin. In fact, she relies more on firebending than any of the other elements.
 * Korra is the first known person to have ever tamed a polar bear dog.
 * Korra is the waterbender shown in the opening sequence of The Legend of Korra.
 * When she first utilized the Avatar State, Korra bent each of the four elements in reverse order of the cycle; air, fire, earth, water. This was the same order Aang bent the elements during the Battle at Wulong Forest when he entered the Avatar State.
 * Korra is the fifth known person to break free of a bloodbender's hold by their own doing; and is the first Avatar known to be able to resist bloodbending without being in the Avatar State.
 * Korra used the phrase "if you're man enough to face me" when trying to goad Amon into fighting her, which was the same phrase Katara used when she goaded Pakku into fighting her.
 * Korra's design was inspired by various female MMA fighters, one being Gina Carano.
 * After defeating Amon, Korra's outfit has changed; it has sleeves and an asymmetrically necked top.
 * Korra is the second Avatar known to have familial ties to a ruling class, following Roku, an ancestor of Zuko. Furthermore, Korra is the first known Avatar to be born into a royal family.
 * A chibi version of Korra can be seen in Republic City Run and in Super Mini Puzzle Heroes.