When we reflect on the respective careers of the two Avatars we met in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, Aang’s impact on the world was comparatively conventional. Yes, he ushered in an era of peace after ending a century-long war and helped establish Republic City as a melting pot of cultures and the center of innovation for the world. But Korra, for better or worse, left a much bigger mark on the fundamental rules governing that world.
And we still don’t know much about what she did after the end of book 4 — or even how long she lived. The new Avatar: Seven Havens series picks up about 225 years later, in an era when Korra herself is treated like the boogeyman: a mythical villain from the past blamed for triggering the "Cataclysm" that destroyed the world. In this post-apocalyptic world, the remnants of humanity subsist in seven isolated Havens scattered across the wastelands, constantly ravaged by storms.
Benders are becoming increasingly rare, and the spirits who flooded into the physical world during Korra’s lifetime are conspicuously absent. Korra’s precise role in all this remains a mystery. Glimpses from the trailer show an older Korra, with white streaks in her hair, as she seems to enter the Avatar State while a city burns around her. (Notably, this scene doesn't take place in the first three episodes of Seven Havens streaming now on Paramount Plus.) Knowing Korra, however, she may have caused the Cataclysm while trying to prevent something even worse.
Years later, the next Avatar has taken the form of twins Pavi and Nisha. What really happened to Korra? And why was she reincarnated as two Earthbenders instead of one person?
We’ve got a theory, but first, let’s look back at important details from The Legend of Korra. The Avatar cycle began 10,000 years before Korra was born when a man named Wan encountered two primordial spirits locked in eternal conflict. Raava represented light and peace, while Vaatu represented darkness and chaos.
Wan initially separated them, which allowed Vaatu’s power to grow, but he eventually fused permanently with Raava during the Harmonic Convergence, creating the first Avatar. Wan and Raava defeated Vaatu and imprisoned him within the Tree of Time, which stands in the Spirit World between two portals leading to the physical world’s North and South Poles. Wan then closed those portals, separating the two worlds and beginning the Avatar’s 10,000-year mission of maintaining balance between them.
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