All posts by Poet Laghima

<p>Anyways, after refreshing my mind with this series, since the Earth Queen had much resemblance with the Empress Dowager Cixi (I'm sure many have noted this), and Prince Wu seems to be an older version of the last emperor Puyi (who came to the throne after Cixi's death), perhaps Kuvira resembles General Yuan Shi-kai, who used his military power to force the abdication of Puyi (Wu), and established a highly oppressive but nonetheless efficient order in China as the interim President, under cooperation with Sun Yat-sen (President Raiko) and the leaders of the KMT who headed the revolution and later the Republic of China (United Republic). </p><p>However, Yuan Shi-kai soon declared himself the monarch and reverted China back into an empire (Earth Empire). After war with the Republic of China, he was defeated and his regime demised. This is perhaps where the LOK timeline ends. </p><p>What happened after Yuan's death is rather dark and may provide a good template for what would happen next in the Earth Kingdom. </p><p>- Puyi, the last emperor, returns to the throne not once but TWICE, the first time under support from the Royalists but only lasted 12 days in 1917, and the second time under the pressure from the invading Japanese in 1931. This could translate to Prince Wu, despite his good intentions, later wanted a return to royal glory and conflict erupted over this. </p><p>- Warlords who were pivotal in the defeat of Yuan still kept their armies and land, so maybe this tranlsates to the Earth Kingdom-Federation's individual cities growing in power due to a weakened centralized government. </p><p>- Universities and academia began to take off in China but freedom of speech was oppressed, and the students and faculty were a crucial force in that part of history. Perhaps Earth Kingdom students and scholars (for example those from Ba Sing Se) would speak up against the divided rule. </p><p>- And lastly, the everlasting threat of Japan that also played a part in historical events. In the Avatar map the Fire Nation served as a mirror to Japan, but now unless we see them as villains again they should do no harm. If I had to pick I think the Kyoshi Warriors would have a militaristic government emerge and become a force in the future that will determine how the government in the EK changes. </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Avatar Vyakara wrote:
Personally, I like to think that, in light of the new Airbenders, those from the Air Lionturtles originally had a culture that was much more active in world affairs, shall we say. Only here, it was as judges from (literally) on high, keeping balance for four thousand years, until some catastrophe occurred and they were forced to reform into a more secluded, passive lot. This at least gives some precedent to elements of the later stories, and explains how some Bending techniques (like the clouds) were lost.</i></div>
<p>Maybe the original airbender who invented the technique of breathbending (what Zaheer did to the earth queen) was part of this more active airbender group as you described, the members of whom pursued a more aggressive and attacking style of airbending as opposed to those practiced by the air nomads. I think the current Four Nations covers only one hemisphere of the globe though, so this more active airbender group probably journeyed to the other side of the world following the end of the Lion Turtle era. </p>

<p>Regarding those who stated that there were way too many characters to focus on and as a result we didn't touch too much on people such as Kya, Kai, and the whole thing about Jinora being built up in Books 2 & 3 and suddenly have like only 10 lines in Book 4, I honestly think that the creators would have been able to contain these big character development plotlines if we had either 1) a season with at least 15 episodes or 2) 13 episodes with about 1 hour length each.  </p><p>I was watching <i>House of Cards </i>this entire Christmas break (because I needed something to entertain after Korra...LMAO) and this thought came to me. House of Cards has just as many characters and multiple storylines similar to that of LOK, but it handled it beautifully in 13 episodes as well. Part of the reason why I think is that the directors of the show had nearly an hour to put their thoughts into in each episode. I feel like maybe Korra needs this kind of extra devotion as well. Had Nick decided to bulid and market Korra the same way Netflix made HOC their flagship product, it would have turned out nicer. </p><p>Of course, with the past ugly circumstances Korra has still managed to establish itself as one of the best kids animated shows of all time. So imagine what it would become if it was an adult, big-budget show marketed as the flagship series of Netflix or any influential network. </p><p>P.S. if you guys want something to spend life on after LOK, check out House of Cards! It's a great series--a political drama, a different taste from LOK, but I find many similiarities nonetheless. </p>

<p>Personally I think that if we had a 15-episode season minus the clip show, then we would have had much better plot development and also the opprotunity to see Kuvira attack the Fire Nation. Although I have to say that I really liked the Varrick and Zhu Li arc this season. </p>

Perhaps we can have Peter Jackson direct the LOK series since M. Night is eh...and Jackson could also do somethinv fantasy but not middle earth related...:P

<p>I was actually thinking of the possibility of Kuvira being a Book 2 villain replacing Unalaq. The Equalists would cause an upheaval in the Earth Kingdom having escaped there since Amon's fall. Kuvira steps up and rids them to restore order, triggering her rise to power. Book 3 would then have the Red Lotus take advantage of the distaste non-Earthbenders had in Kuvira's regime to spread the seeds of anarchism, and then let's have the spirit portals opened in the Book 3 finale during Harmonic Convergence and releasing Vaatu, along with possibly Xai Bau, as the Book 4 villains. I took out Unalaq from this reordering because he played little to no part and I thought that having the Red Lotus be the villains to release Vaatu would be much more interesting., </p>

<p>Simply put, bending powers alone: </p><p>Amon > Zaheer > Kuvira > Unalaq. </p><p>Unalaq is obviously the worst since besides bending random spirits, all he can do is skilled waterbending, which is not a rare thing. Kuvira is slightly better due to her more creative fighting style and swift movement, but her and Unalaq are both merely skilled benders but do not have special bending powers. Now on the next level: Amon and Zaheer. They both unlocked a never before seen usage of their respective bending arts. Amon learned bloodbending without a full moon and using it to take away bending; Zaheer unlocked flight as well as breathbending (what he did to the Earth Queen). But I would have to give it to Amon because his bending powers are literally so overpowered. His range is way greater than any of the other three, so if the other three villains start attacking, they would not even get close because Amon would literally just bloodbend them to his will. Zaheer might be able to dodge Amon's control with his flying but if we put them in an indoor arena, then even he would not be able to defeat Amon because of the limited space. </p><p>Now comparing the villains with their finale form (basically their most powerful form in their respective times in the series): </p><p>UnaVaatu > Kuvira with Colossus > Flying Zaheer > Amon </p><p>This time Zaheer and Amon are in the lower league because honestly they didn't get much of a boost in the finale. Amon didn't get any boost at all as he merely had bloodbending. Zaheer was a bit more powerful with his flying. But I have to give the most powerful titles to UnaVaatu and Colossus Kuvira, since both of them utilize extremely deadly Vaatu beams. In this respect, UnaVaatu is more powerful than Colossus Kuvira since he is literally Vaatu himself. Furthermore, Kuvira needs to bend her Colossus with extreme strength, something that will eventually wear out in battle; plus her Colossus has been demonstrated to be quite vulnerable and immobile. She also has limited spiritual energy. But UnaVaatu being the literal incarnation of evil himself can shoot energy beams like water guns, fly around the face of earth, and as a spirit, become literally unbendable, unkillable, and infinitely mobile. So I think UnaVaatu would simply destroy Amon with a finger and dodge Kuvira's Colossus attacks with his spirit kite thing and simply find a way to tip it over and destroy it. Zaheer with flying might have some more mobility but in the end, it's like hitting an egg against a giant boulder. </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Waterbend.3.19 wrote:
I'm writing a fanon about how I envisioned his backstory. </i></div>
<p>Hi there, do you happen to be into the idea of co-writing fanons? I'm just wondering if I could join you as I am interested in the Red Lotus backstory as well and would like to offer my thoughts. </p>

<p>Indeed, an "Origins of Xai Bau" story similar to an origins story we got from "KIll Bill" would be cool. </p><p>I really like Xai Bau. He's one of those people you can tell is badass without even knowing what he looks like. </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Avatar Steve wrote:
<div class="quote">Poet Laghima wrote:
When Bryke said that this season would tie up everything in the story (see IGN interview) I had high hopes, but in the end there are STILL unanswered questions. The first being: <p>WHO'S SU'S DAD </p> </i></div>
I would add a hell of a lot of other questions above that one, including the identity of Lin's father. We know his name, and absolutely nothing else about him, aside from the fact he and Toph split up at some point. But I would argue that there are far more compelling questions to which we did not get answers, among them being:
<p>Did Korra ever get her connection to her past lives back? </p><p>How did Sokka die? </p><p>Who is the mother of Zuko's daughter? </p><p>Whatever happened to the remaining Equalists? Or the Red Lotus, for that matter? They couldn't have just disappeared. Even Ozai still had followers at the end of the 100-yr War. </p><p>Is Aiwei still in the Fog of Lost Souls? If so, did his body just rot away in that hotel room? </p><p>Did Kuvira clear out the swamp entirely? It seems that she had the resources and manpower to do it. And what happened to the swampbenders who lived there? </p><p>I'm sure I've missed some...feel free to add to the list. </p> </div> <p>Add that we still don't know the warlord P'Li worked for, as well as who Xai Bau was. I'm sure they didn't introduce these names to us for nothing... </p>

<p>Well this thread is a year old but doesn't matter eh </p><p>"B1E8" (can't remember the title), but this was the revelation of the villain Ozai's true purpose and has become the arc for the entire TLA series. </p><p>"The Storm" up until then Zuko was just a villain, but with this episode we knew that Zuko has also had a hard childhood and past. Begining with this episode we began to have parallels between Aang and Zuko as a running theme. </p><p>"Zuko Alone" continuing on the Storm, here we learned more about Zuko's childhood. Although born royalty, he really came from truly hard occasions where he was abandoned and deemed inferior...but he got back up from all that, became a better bender and defeated his sister, and became one of the greatest Fire Lords. It was from this episode that I started liking Zuko. </p><p>"City of Walls and Secrets" great artwork with Ba Sing Se, and some creepy detials with Joo Dee, Long Feng, Dai Li, and brainwashing. Set a mysterious tone that would lead to Book 2's tragic ending. </p><p>"Iroh's Story" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se" man this one was absolutely great...watch it, you'll tearbend. </p><p>"Lake Laogai" for its eerieness </p><p>"Crossroads of Destiny" for its awesomeness </p><p>"The Avatar and the Firelord" for reasons many here stated </p><p>"The Puppetmaster" for creepiness...this one was legitimately haunting </p><p>"Day of Black Sun Part 1 and 2" </p><p>"The Boiling Rock Part 1 and 2" </p><p>"Sozin's Comet" </p>

<p>Great question...I wonder as well too, but we may never find out. </p>

<p>Wow everyone thanks for the amazing input! Now that the series is over looking back at our creations as a result of this show has been great. </p><p>The main reason I had the next airbending Avatar after Wan as a male Avatar is that I modeled him after Aang, who was male and succeeded a male firebending Avatar, Roku. However I do believe in the next transition from fire to air it will be from a male firebender to a female airbender.  </p><p>I wonder who would be the first Avatar to have discovered sandbending though...? </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Dokutoru wrote:
No doubt it would involve the Fire Nation! (At least, my goodness, I hope so!) It would be another time skip, ten years I think. Tenzin's kids are becoming quite grown up and are given the responsibility of maintaining the four different air temples. The Northern Air Temple restored after the Red Lotus incident. The finishing touches on New Republic City are being made. In the midst of all this, there is an inbalance in the spiritual world by having the third spiritual portal with nothing to "balance" it. The North Pole and South Pole portals are opposites and having a nice symmetry. Thus, there are strange things happening somewhere in the Fire Nation where a new portal would provide the most balance and symmetry. There is a group of fire benders who are believers in the old ways of thinking, that fire benders should reign supreme. A decent of Azula at the head of the group, perhaps, thinking that he/she is the rightful ruler of the throne. They see their chance to achieve this with the spiritual imbalance in the Fire Nation and word that Korra will be arriving in an attempt to fix the spiritual problem.</i></div>
<p>I like this scenario. If you think about it, the Southern and Northern portals joined lights across the atmosphere during Harmonic Convergence, but the Republic City portal stands between them. Either it disrupts the convergence and thus the battle between Raava and Vaatu does not happen, or as you said, some energy in the Fire Nation creates another spirit portal. Perhaps this would be a good time to get the Red Lotus involved again, seeing that they are quite into increasing spirituality in the physical world, especially after the Republic CIty spirit portal opened. </p><p>EDIT: I have an idea. How about Book 5: Void? I envision an unhappy ending where all things become void. </p>

<p>I feel like this is going to be a hole for future plots, if Bryke ever wants to come back to the franchise. There will definitely be another Kuvira rising in the next few decades trying to unite the earth nation, since no doubt there would be richer and more prosperous states such as Ba Sing Se, and weaker states such as Yi from the first episode of Book 4. I personally would love it if we had a Kyoshi Warrior as an antagonist. </p><p>I envision an Earth Federation that takes the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, or the United States in the Articles of Federation times. with most of its states independent and only bond together under a leader that is elected go-around the states (meaning each state's representative takes command for a short time) when facing international affairs. However a representative from the Kyoshi Island will defy such agreements and take the Federal role for many years, eventually sparking unrest.  </p>

<p>Speaking of Book 3, think the majority of us absolutely adored it because it had something that the other three books didn't (or had less of). Book 3 had probably the best villains out of the series in the Red Lotus, who were illustrated to be mysterious and dangerous benders from the beginning. Unalaq and Kuvira had their personalities laid out right from the start which made their character fall flat. Amon came close but we knew that he merely wanted to rid the world of benders, however with the Red Lotus we only knew a little bit as time went on. The whole feeling of their appearance was dark too. If you remember, during the first few episodes, we get a shot of Korra and Co. being all cheerful, then cut to a dark scene where some Red Lotus member breaks free and joins Zaheer in going after the Avatar. </p><p>With that being said, I also felt that Book 3's villains were truly dangerous in that their goals did not lie in benders, Vaatu, or world domination, but they were going after Korra herself. That raised the stakes quite high. To see one of our beloved protagonists being pursuited is an intense experience. And we did not know what they were going to do with Korra until the finale. So Book 3 gave me the vibe that someone was ACTUALLY going to die. The other three villains did not seem as threatening, but in Book 3 you would've thought that Zaheer was legitimately going to breathbend out of someone (remember Tenzin? We all thought he was dead before the finale, and that's what made us nervous and excited for the finale to build hype on) </p><p>I also liked that Book 3 actually tied into the events of ATLA more than any other book. Book 1 and 4 naturally had no tie-ins with the original storyline. Book 2 had a little bit with the story of the origins of the Avatar. But for Book 3 we had the Red Lotus, the counterpart to the White Lotus, and which was resulted directly from the events from ATLA. I would have really liked it if the Red Lotus were the overarching villains for the series. They had the dynamics of a Team Avatar (where their combination of their four elements meant they had the power of the Avatar literally except spiritual powers), attractive bending styles (probably way better than Kuvira), and sinister intents.  </p><p>The whole plotline progressed more tightly and more intense as well. It started off with a bang and just kept going all the way till the end. Also, some may object but I find Book 3's last shot to be haunting and possibly the best last scene out of any book: a crippled Avatar with a tear down her face. I would have had no problem if LOK just ended at Book 3, it was such a perfect season to wrap up the series. Sadly Book 4 let the momentum down. </p>

<p>I am quite interested in the fate as well. I was hoping that we could see a battle between Kuvira's army and the swamp waterbenders for the banyan grove tree, but alas, if only we had a 20-episode season... </p>

<div class="quote"><i>ShadowRaptor101 wrote:
Overall, I think it was a very good season, although I still say my favorite was Season 3. My only major complaints about Season 4 are the way Korra handeled the Kuvira situation, and the fact that the developers decided to make it only a wrapup of the Season's story arc; the Developers were well aware that this was the final season, so I was hoping that the ending would have been made in such a way that it would've felt like an ending to the series overall, but instead, it felt just like any other Season's finale; the villain gets defeated and someone dies. THE END. <p>However, I did VERY much like how the they decided to create a new Spirit Portal; I have a feeling it could become a major plot point in any future comics. </p> </i></div>
<p>Very well written fellow fan, agree with you on most of your points. Yes, this season has indeed its high points and sparkles of brilliance.  </p><p>As for the Republic City spirit portal, I envision that in the next Harmonic Convergence it will play an important role. My theory is that it will disrupt the joining of the Southern and Northern spirit portals when it crosses over the face of the earth. </p>

<div class="quote"><i>IAmNothing712 wrote:
<div class="quote">Madz1101 wrote:
The absence of the Fire Nation in this was odd. We saw Zuko's daughter, we see her take a firm stance, we saw the city get attacked and no FN assistance. <p>Also does this mean that there are only 3 nations now, since Wu has decided to dissolve the EK and why not just pass along the throne, to someone waiting in line. Too many unanswered questions. </p> </i></div>

What the hell? Prior to the earth kingdom being separated in to city-states, the four nations + URN still exist. In fact, we will have more now that we have the city-states. </div> <p>Maybe they'll create something like an Earth Federation, with city-states independent but will each have one representative in a loose federal government that represents the land and people in international affairs. </p>

<p>Rewatched the finale again to make some calm judgments. What I think was that "The Day of the Colossus" was actually fine as I found their destruction of the giant mecha to be quite intense and had me on the edge of the seat. However "The Last Stand" was what actually disappointed, as </p><p>a) the final battle between Korra and Kuvira was lame, </p><p>b) Kuvira's surrender seemed forced and abrupt (where was the iron will and determination that led her to go as far to try and kill her fiance?), </p><p>c) continuing on the logic from b), we have seen nothing about Kuvira's orphaned years for us to sympathize with her, which resulted in her weeping and desperation to me at least, seem contrary to the plot development, </p><p>d) the absence of the Fire Nation continues to bug me. This is actually an illogical situation: where were the Fire Nation when the United Republic needed help? Didn't Izumi say that she would aid the United Republic in defensive work? </p><p>What I think right now is that Book 4 is probably on par with Book 2 but definitely behind Book 3 and behind Book 1. Heck, it might have even been worse than Book 2 since Book 2 had Beginnings and a battle for the fate of the world in it. Book 4 did not have an episode that truly stunned me as much as "Beginnings", "The Ultimatum", or the Book 3 finale, and its stakes were never high. </p>