<p>Can sense a lot of hate here. While I do not totally disagree, i think you may be letting a few things cloud your judgement. let me lay some things out, and see how you feel after. Becoming a full airbending master, while it is a martial art and fighting technique, is probably around 25% Spiritual, 25% culture, and 50% airbending technique(36 in fact) and practice. So Jinora has been training with Tenzin since she was able to bend, assuming pretty young (3-4 yrs old?) And this was not a big class of training students, it was 1 on 1 until Ikki and meelo could train. So if you conisder Tenzin a good master, I am sure she learned quite a lot over her training (30-34 techniques? She was quite good in the spining panel exercise). Plus she did not travel like nomads (Aang) so she was probably training a ton on the Island. So then comes the spiritual and cultural side. It is said that she studies Air culture a Ton and is well versed in it. While it does not make you a better bender, it is a big part about understanding what airbending is and where it came from. So now spiritual. She has shown a very high proficiency for spirituality. She can mediate into the spirit world, use Astral projection at will and well, and she can personally interact with spirits. Now does she show a ton of amazing airbending moves like Aang did at that age? No. Does she get caught a lot and panic? Yes. But not all masters are created equal. Tenzin, a bonified BA and airbending boss, could not meditate into the spirit world at 40 (or so), yet Jinora could at 11. That is a pretty impressive feat and not to be taken lightly in Airbender culture. She also did step up pretty big at the end of season 3, not too just save Korra with some crazy spiritual energy, but to lead the Airbending nation with confidence and a calm mind. In no way is she as strong of an airbender as Aang was, but she does possess a lot fo unqiue and powerful attributes of an Airbending master. You are entitled to your opinion, just laying out some facts and view points of my own.    </p>

<p>Not to mention that for the longest time <i>there were no other airbenders but her siblings</i>. That is an IMPORTANT factor. Remember that <i>before her</i> there was only Tenzin. As there were things <i>he could not do</i>, should *he* have been a master? Perhaps, perhaps not. However as at the time he was the ONLY airbender other than Aang—for a while <i>the ONLY AB in the world</i>—so the WORLD NEEDED to see a "Master", and with no one else, he HAD to be it. Much like if you advertise for a job and only 1 person shows up, you work with what you have. </p><p>Now, Jinora was the eldest child. No arguing she was the better AB of them. Fortunately HC unlocked a lot more ABs. Jinora was *years* ahead of any of them. Not just in skills but in *knowledge*. Who will teach them? The airkids were already tasked at doing that, but surely the New ABs *needed* to see more masters than just Tenzin, and certainly Jinora was the best suited one of her siblings and any of the new ones. </p><p>BTW, according to many interviews with creators and staff, the *entire show* was finished BEFORE Book3 started. That means that they were writing Korrasami WITHOUT fan feedback since at the time there were very very very few "crackshipping" Korrasamians. Same applies to Jinora's arcs. </p><p>So really, while Bryke may love the fans, they were not pandering to any fanservice. </p>

<p>I complete agree with the OP. I absolutely hate Jinora and all she stands for, even after reading the above comments saying stuff like "She's had a long time to be trained by Tenzin." But I have to agree with the OP. I don't understand why Jinora has such a strong spiritual connection? I don't know why she does! There is no logical reasoning for why she has such a huge connection to the spirit world! At the end of Book 2, she's the one who comes and helps Korra, but where did all of this power suddenly come from? I smell a big Mary-Sue. When Book 3 started and she started showing her feelings for Kai, I could barely contain the vomit in my throat. <i>Seriously? </i>Of all the Mary-Sue type characteristics she shows, this one is the biggest. It's the classic "good-girl-falls-for-bad-boy" story that makes me want to rip out my eyeballs and throw them at the creators. Now I'm not saying that the creators are bad, in fact I really appreciated the cultural, racial, and sexual orientation representation they gave to the show (I'm the biggest Korrasami fan). But I can't <i>fathom</i> why they would give Jinora all of this power! It doesn't make any sense to me. I hate Jinora and I will never stop hating Jinora. </p>

<p>Making refernces doesn't make what you're saying less hateful. Okay she isn't the best charchter but she does have a lot of spiritual power and I think that asking why she has this much power is kind of ridiculous because other people also have different powers. Its like asking why did Toph discover metal bending? Why does she have so much power? Im guessing she has a strong connection because she was born with it (kinda goes without saying) so yeah she isn't great but I don't understand why you are getting so wound up about  </p>

<div class="quote"><i>There is no logical reasoning for why she has such a huge connection to the spirit world!</i></div>
<p>Funny, I've yet to see the logical reason for all of this hate. There are a lot of inborn talents in this universe. There's bending in general, & then there are specifics, like combustionbending or being born the Avatar. I fail to see how this is okay for some characters, but not others. </p> <div class="quote"><i>At the end of Book 2, she's the one who comes and helps Korra, but where did all of this power suddenly come from? I smell a big Mary-Sue. When Book 3 started and she started showing her feelings for Kai, I could barely contain the vomit in my throat. Seriously? Of all the Mary-Sue type characteristics she shows, this one is the biggest. It's the classic "good-girl-falls-for-bad-boy" story that makes me want to rip out my eyeballs and throw them at the creators.</i></div>
<p>Okay, I don't think you know what the phrase "Mary Sue" means. I don't like Kai or the random stuff in the Book 2 finale either, but neither of those things establish her as an idealized character. </p><p>How many of these traits does she actually possess? Obviously an individual character wouldn't have all, or even most of them, but she fails even the basic definition of being the center of attention. The other characters aren't on pins & needles waiting for whatever brilliant thing she's about to say, the heroes don't all like her & the villains don't all fear her, & while she's played a major role a few times now, they tend to be related to her very specific spiritual skills. </p><p>I can think of so many characters who had more of these traits. Mako has more of these traits (everyone seems to think he's awesome, his bad choices don't alienate anyone, he's mastered more subskills than any known firebender, was the Avatar's boyfriend, has been a star athlete AND a detective). Most of the Avatars have had more of these traits (story revolves around them, the Chosen One, has more powers than anyone else, things usually seem to work out for them). Kai has more of these traits (easily trusted & accepted, gets sympathy for his troubled past rather than facing consequences, instantly skilled at airbending, rescues others with more experience on multiple occasions). Azula has more of these traits (only character known to have blue fire, generally has few weaknesses, has unique talents like the ability to discern someone's motive or fool Toph's lie detector, everyone fears her). Toph has more of these traits (handicap becomes a superpower, invents metalbending, duels King Bumi to a standstill, only loses a fight to Aang who has abilities that specifically counter her advantages). Katara has more of these traits (single-handedly convinced Pakku to dispense with the Northern Water Tribe's sexist waterbending system, mastered more subskills than anyone, almost always portrayed as right, last waterbender in the south) </p> <div class="quote"><i>Now I'm not saying that the creators are bad, in fact I really appreciated the cultural, racial, and sexual orientation representation they gave to the show (I'm the biggest Korrasami fan).</i></div>
<p>Well, we can agree on that, at least. </p> <div class="quote"><i>But I can't fathom why they would give Jinora all of this power! It doesn't make any sense to me. I hate Jinora and I will never stop hating Jinora.</i></div>
<p>So yeah, this goes back to what I initially said, the case for hating Jinora seems to boil down to 2 steps: </p><p>1. Hate Jinora. </p><p>2. Take disparate scenes out of context to justify it after the fact. </p>

<p>Look, I know you mean well and you're trying to justify your beliefs on why Jinora isn't a "Mary-Sue" type character, but believe me, I know what I'm talking about when I say that I believe she is. And anyway I'm not looking to argue or have a convincing discussion with anyone. All I wanted to say is that I hate Jinora. If you like her, that's fine with me. I'm not judging or saying that you suck for liking her. But in the same way that I'm respecting your opinion, I would like mine to be respected to. I've always hated Jinora, and that isn't going to change. My reasons for hating her seem valid to me, and even if they're not valid to anyone else, I'm fine with that. So please stop trying to convince me that Jinora is a good character, and just leave my opinion as it is. </p>

<p>I love Jinora as a character, but I hate how her powers fluctuate and appear out of nowhere depending on what's convenient to the plot (she's a lot like Korra in this respect). Just try to keep count on how many times she turns from mostly useless into the Deus Ex Machina of the moment: </p>

1. Tenzin can't get into the spirit world, previously useless Jinora suddenly reveals she's a spiritual progidy and helps Korra to meditate into the spirit world!
2. Then she's used as a hostage by Unalaq and ends up in the Fog of Lost Souls, only to be saved just in time to save Korra and help her destroy UnaVaatu!
3. Jinora and the group travel to Lake Laogai and come up empty-handed, but then it turns out the whole travel was pointless, as Jinora could've used her psychic connection to Kai to project herself to wherever he was from the getgo!
4. After getting captured by bison poachers and later by the Red Lotus without much of a fight, she then leads the Airbenders into procuring a giant tornado, saving Korra and helping her defeat the antagonist once more!
5. After being anointed as airbending master and proclaimed a new leader for the Airbending Nation, we first see Jinora again sitting at home, seemingly not partaking in the Airbending Nation's peacekeeping attempts (though the same can be said of Tenzin). When tasked with finding Korra, her spiritual powers don't kick in until the very last minute, once again suddenly proving essential after quite some time of being troublingly inessential. This time she continues her streak, soon after saving Korra (sound familiar?) with help from Opal.
6. A bit later, Jinora then gets captured by spirit vines, needing to be freed by Korra. She later puts up a decent show in the fight against Kuvira's colossus, eventually helping to save Korra when Kuvira had her spirit cannon pointed at Korra (though in the process also endangering herself, requiring to be rescued by, in quick succession, her father and then her brother).