Characters / The Legend of Korra - New Team Avatar

The Legend of Korra Main Character Index
New Team Avatar (Avatar Korra, Asami Sato, Mako, Bolin) | Tenzin's Family | Beifong Family | Allies (Varrick and Zhu Li) | Seasons 1 & 2 Enemies (Amon) | Seasons 3 & 4 Enemies (Zaheer, Kuvira) | Past Characters | Other Characters | Comic Characters

This is a partial character sheet for The Legend of Korra. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

Avatar Aang was not alone in his adventures up to seventy years ago, and neither is Avatar Korra today, as she realized being a hero would be too much to handle alone. This section details the titular Avatar Korra and her closest human (and animal) companions in her adventures.

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Character-Specific Pages

• Avatar Korra
• Asami Sato
• Mako
• Bolin

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General

• The Ace: All four of them are incredibly skilled prodigies in their various fields and can rival anybody with their prowess (as explained in detail in their character pages). Even Bolin, who initially subverted this trend, becomes this in Book 4 after fully mastering Lavabending.
• All-Loving Hero: By the series finale, all of them have proven to go to any lengths to help those in need.
• Amicable Exes: Considering how horrendously messy the love quadrangle got between the four, they all eventually mature enough to put it behind them and be great friends.
• And the Adventure Continues: After defeating Kuvira and her Army, the group knows that they'll have other battles to fight in the future, but the series ends with them enjoying the peace they managed to earn.
• Badass Crew: As mentioned above individually every member of the Krew is formidable on their own, when together in a group or pair they tend to be almost unstoppable to all but the most dangerous of villains (this is especially apparent whenever their Honorary True Companions join in on a fight). They can take on threats no army or police can handle.
• Breaking the Fellowship: In Book 4, after the Time Skip; Mako and Asami are pursuing their own lives in Republic City, Bolin has signed on with Knight Templar Kuvira, and Korra is still trying to recover from the events of Book 3. Korra eventually mends her body, mind, and spirit, Bolin eventually sees Kuvira for the despot she is and bails, and Mako and Asami were still around in Republic City and welcomed the other two back with open arms.
• Break the Cutie: Each member has gone through moments that have personally damaged them and some part of their innocence, even Bolin's moments that are mostly Played for Laughs (i.e.running in tears after seeing Mako and Korra kiss), are hard to watch.
• Broken Ace: They all suffer a lot of personal heartbreaks and tragedies, both in the past and over the course of all four books, that change them as characters.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: They have some noticeable difference between themselves and the Gaang.
  • The Gaang formed continuously throughout all three seasons but the Krew were made by the halfway point of the first book and stayed that way for the rest of the series.
  • The Gaang all had official significant others with only minor Ship Tease between themselves and others while the members of the Krew dated one another in a Dating Do-Si-Do situation.
  • The Gaang were mostly comprised of teenagers but the Krew had older teens transitioning into young adults.
  • The Gaang's main enemy were those from the Fire Nation but the Krew had enemies from many different ethnicities and ironically their least fought enemies were from the Fire Nation.
  • Each Gaang member belonged to one specific nationality while each Krew member is of mixed ancestry.
  • The Gaang members all technically came from royalty while Avatar Aang was raised in a monastery; the Krew members weren't from royal lineage but Avatar Korra is.
  • The Gaang members had at least one living parent, except Aang, who didn't know his parents and his only Parental Substitute was killed while he was frozen; Korra's parents are alive and were active in their daughter's upbringing but each member of the Krew had lost their parents by the series finale.
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: They just wouldn't be Team Avatar without this trope. The premise behind their formation was that they are aces who wanted to stick it to "The Man" (that man being Tarrlok), and fight injustice on their own terms. Plus, much of the authority figures they clashed with are obstructive jerks anyways, from Tarrlok to even the Earth Queen.
• Costume Evolution: In Book 4, all of them have new outfits that serve to symbolize how each of them have grown.
• Dating Do-Si-Do: In Book One Mako and Asami date, which leads to Korra and Bolin going on one date, before Mako begins two timing both Korra and Asami. With Bolin out, the Korra-Mako-Asami triangle eventually self destructs by the end of Book Two. The Grand Finale of Book Four has Korra and Asami get together instead. In contrast to the original Team Avatar (Aang and Katara, Sokka and Suki) Korra at least entertained the option of every member of her team, and Mako and Asami had a thing with each other for a time. While Bolin gave up dating within the team by Book One, he had relationships with a few different supporting characters anyway.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: All four fit an archetype that gets hit with reality.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: They each went through their own struggles, but ultimately found happiness.
  • After four seasons of continuous struggles and suffering, Asami and Korra find happiness with each other, become an Official Couple, and decide to take a romantic vacation in the Spirit World.
  • Bolin manages to maintain his relationship with Opal despite the shaky ground they had due to his former affiliation with Kuvira.
  • While Mako does not end up in a relationship with anyone, he has become a better and more mature person, and if/when he meets his true love, he'll make use of the lessons he's learned.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Each member gets one at the start of Book 4. Korra dispenses with the tomboyish pony/pigtails and lops off much of her hair up to neck length to go incognito during her lonesome wanderings, Asami ties it up for a power businesswoman look, and Mako and Bolin tame the pompador look for some more professional hairdos.
• Famed In-Story: The entire team. Korra is famous as the newest Avatar. Mako and Bolin both gained some fame by making it to the Pro-Bending finals, and Bolin furthered his celebrity status by landing the starring role in one of the first movers. Asami is famous as the head of Future Industries, though she started out as a Fallen Princess.
• Family of Choice: Mako and Bolin lost their parents at a young age, and Asami broke ties with her father because he wasn't the good man she believed him to be, so they have settled on Team Avatar being their true family. While the former two do discover the rest of their extended family, and Asami forgives her father before his death, this team will always remain their primary family to the extent that the ends of Books 3, 4 and Turf Wars have Korra and Asami promising to be there for each other as much as the Gaang before them has.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Avatar Korra is a Jack of All Trades, having access to all four elements. Bolin is the Fighter, being a strong Earthbender (the physical of the four elements and mostly close-range) who later develops the destructive Lavabending power, Mako is the Mage, using long-range Firebending and generating powerful lightning, and Asami is the Thief, being a non-bender Combat Pragmatist that relies on technology and tricks.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Sanguine: Bolin, whose laidback, rose-tinted idealism, and fun-loving character contrasts with his older brother's serious demeanor.
  • Choleric: Korra, the Hot-Blooded, headstrong, and assertive leader of her team who is dedicated to her role as an Avatar.
  • Melancholic: Mako, the stoic, aloof, and is single-minded with his devotion to survive and later to his job as a cop, while being devoted to the team's goals all the same.
  • Phelgmatic: Asami, the modest, caring mechanic, and overall the calming influence of the group in order to temper her other teammates' strong and oftentimes extreme personalities.
• Freudian Trio: Korra is Id. She's brash, stubborn and tends to charge in without thinking (she tones it down in later seasons but it's still there). Mako is Superego, he's focused, withdrawn, tries to control his emotions and is fairly aloof. Bolin and Asami are Ego, the middle ground who try to balance self-control with a flighty attitude.
• Heroes Unlimited: Throughout the series, Team Avatar befriends numerous individuals who become Honorary True Companions who fight alongside them at different points. During Book Four, 'Team Avatar' was disbanded, and the various group members more often operate separately, in concert with other recurring allies, than they do as Team Avatar. However by the Series Finale, Team Avatar reforms, and they fight alongside the many allies they have gained for the final battle.
• Hero with Bad Publicity:
  • In Book Three, Korra takes a lot of flak for her decision to leave the Spirit Portals open at the end of Book 2.
    • By Book Four, that appears to have been subverted since Republic City has accepted the changes overtime along with Asami helping with completing construction to incorporate the changes. Republic City finally recognizes Korra as the hero she is.
  • The entire team has a bounty placed on their heads by the Earth Queen after they rescue the airbenders the Dai Li had been conscripting.
    • After Zaheer kills the Earth Queen, that makes the subject null-and-void.
• Hidden Depths: There's something more to each of them.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: The Love Dodecahedron that they all went through for the first couple seasons was essentially a combination of desperation, youthful naiveté and probably teen hormones:

  • Korra was deeply insecure and all the more so in comparing herself to Asami in pursuing Mako and it's telling that consideration for others and her own self-worth helped her get over it/him.
  • Asami had initially backed off in the first season over Mako drifting away from her to Korra, but the loneliness and desperation of her situation in Book 2 caused an embarrassing rebound until Korra returned to finally wash her hands of him. Her finding love and support in Korra is far more healthy and mature.
  • Mako didn't think twice about Korra until seeing her with Bolin then became desperate when Korra was kidnapped, broke up with her when a lack of support from her for his job was a factor in their souring relationship, rebounded back to Asami over their mutual loneliness/lack of support then went back to Korra because she didn't remember him dumping her and it was easier to live with the pretty lie than responsibly deal with the ugly truth until it finally came out.
  • Bolin wanted to get with Korra from the get-go until he caught her kissing Mako, rushed to get with Eska until he realized how nuts she was then had a hard time understanding boundaries with Ginger while needing an ego boost as an actor. Fortunately, he also grows out of it by the time Opal comes along, who mutually help each other be confident.

• Interclass Friendship: Asami is the heiress to Future Industries, Korra is The Chief's Daughter and the Avatar, and both Mako and Bolin are former Street Urchins.
• La Résistance:
  • They briefly serve as one against the Equalists after the Equalists take over Republic City.
  • Again in book Four, they serve as one after President Raiko surrenders to Kuvira.
• Love at First Sight: 3/4ths of the team get this.
  • According to Shiro Shinobi, Korra fell in love with Mako the moment she saw him.
  • Bolin explicitly tells Korra he fell for her the moment he saw her. The first time we see him was him spotting Korra across the room and smoothing back his hair, and immediately after he walks up to her he starts implying to Toza that they are a couple (which Korra is quick to correct).
  • Mako falls hard for Asami within seconds of their Crash-Into Hello, as communicated by cartoon heart bubbles.
  • Ultimately deconstructed. None of the above relationships work out by the end of the series and each pair remains platonic partners. The only relationships that do work require work to keep it that way (Bolin and Opal) or build up based on preexisting, strengthening emotions that eventually become romantic (Asami and Korra).
• Love Hurts: Specifically in the first two seasons, all of them have experienced heartbreak and multiple times at that before they all get their act together and are ultimately better for it.
• Meaningful Name: Their names reflect some part of their abilities, life, personality, and/or physical looks.
• The Promise: Two between all or part of the group:
  • Mako, Bolin and Asami promise to help Korra as the New Team Avatar in "When Extremes Meet".
  • Turf Wars has Korra and Asami promising to always watch out for each other as they're now a couple possibly dealing with a world that may not accept them as bisexual women.
• Quirky Household: Korra moves in with Tenzin's family at the start of the series. Over the next three seasons, Tenzin's siblings join them, as well as Mako and Bolin. Even Asami is welcome in the household without explicit invitation. Bolin lampshades all their archetypes over dinner including crazy kids Jinora and her siblings, brooding teenager Mako, grumpy dad Tenzin, put-upon mom Pema, and wacky uncle Bumi.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: In comparison to Aang's Team Avatar, which had a prodigy waterbender taught by a master, arguably the strongest earthbender in the world who was also the world's only metalbender, and a royal firebender, all of whom were respected as powerhouses. By comparison, Korra's team has two reasonably skilled pro-benders (earth and fire) in a world where many of the skills that made the original Team Avatar strong have long since become common knowledge. Though overtime, Mako and Bolin both Took a Level in Badass. Bolin learned Lavabending. Asami is a Fallen Princess, but is still a master martial artist nonetheless. And Korra became the first Avatar with metalbending in her repertoire. Eventually, they've evolved into an ideal that inspires people.
• The Team: The core team consists of the old Fire Ferrets team and Asami, but they usually work with an extended team of allies.
  • The first group had Korra as the hotblooded Lancer to Mako, the cool leader and captain of the Fire Ferrets, and Bolin his happy go lucky younger brother and Big Guy of the team. With Tenzin in the background as Korra's mentor they were also a four element ensemble.
  • By the middle of Season 1 the shift in focus made Korra The Hero and The Leader, Mako her Lancer, Bolin remained The Big Guy and Plucky Comic Relief, and Asami joined as The Heart. As she got more character development she occasionally doubled as a Gadgeteer Genius and The Smart Guy. This is the core Team Avatar group dynamic for the rest of the series. They also have Naga as the powerful rideable Team Pet and Pabu as the small mischievous Team Pet, reprising Appa and Momo directly from the previous Team Avatar.
  • The recurring allies from Book 1 are Tenzin as Team Mom and The Mentor, Lin as Team Dad and Da Chief. Book 2 on adds Jinora as The Smart Guy and spiritually inclined, Bumi as Plucky Comic Relief, and Kya as The Medic. Starting in Book 3 they add Kai as The Sneaky Guy, and Su as Cool Old Lady. Asami gets promoted to Korra's Number Two. Book 4 makes Opal into a jaded version of The Cutie, and the aged up Ikki and Meelo as capable Tagalong Kids. The core team actually spends much more time with the allies than they do with each other by Book 4.
• Took a Level in Badass: They each level up in skill. See their specific character folders for more detail.
• True Companions: They are more than just a team—they treat each other like family, especially since three of them lost theirs.
• We Were Your Team: When Korra left and was gone longer than they expected, Team Avatar disbanded. In other words, there just wasn't a Team Avatar without the Avatar. By the time Korra came back, they transitioned back into the hero business (though with a readjustment period) in time to focus on taking down Kuvira, but with more resources and an expanded network of Honorary True Companions.

Naga

Naga

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

"Your best friend... is a polar bear dog. Somehow that makes perfect sense." —Mako

Korra's companion and best friend, a polar bear dog.

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• Action Pet: Charges a few times in to save her friends.
• Androcles' Lion: As a frightened cub separated from her mother, Naga was wary of Korra when they first met. Then the Avatar offered her some fish jerky, and the two have been bonded ever since.
• Badass Adorable: She is big and strong enough to topple three Equalist-mechas, but once you befriend her, she is a loving puppy.
• Bears Are Bad News: Korra is the first person to ever tame a polar-bear dog, which are fierce enough that a previous Avatar wore the hide of one to look more badass. She can and does use Naga as an intimidation tool, and Naga is fiercely protective of Korra.
• Big Damn Heroes: Like her predecessor in the "larger animal companion" category, Appa, she has a habit of extricating our heroes from dicey situations in the nick of time.
• Big Friendly Dog: Her Establishing Character Moment is licking Korra's face over and over. Her friendliness extends to those beyond Korra too, as seen when she licks a police attendant's hair. In one case, she roared viciously at an interloper only to discover it was Lin Beifong, and then proceeded to lick Lin as she still stood there petrified by the startling roar.
• Canine Companion: Well, she's halfway there, anyway.
• Canis Major: A dog-like creature the size of a bear, big enough that Korra can ride it like a horse.
• Cute Giant: She's a giant polarbear dog with a heart of gold.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As a young cub, Naga was separated from her pack and was alone for some time before meeting a young Korra.
• Demoted to Extra: By Book 4, Naga is only seen in flashbacks, her reunion with Korra, and the series finale.
• Evil-Detecting Dog:
  • She detects the presence of the dark spirits long before anyone else does.
  • She also detects the Red Lotus breaking into Korra's room when they've done nothing more than make a slight opening in the window.
• Familiar: Continues the tradition of Avatars having a particular companion animal.
• From Stray to Pet: Naga was a lost pup before being taken in by Korra.
• Heroic Dog: As Korra's companion, it is what she is.
• Horse of a Different Color: She is able to carry Korra, Mako, and Bolin with ease and good speeds. The entire crew proves to be too heavy to carry though.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Played with — she is the technique.
• Light Is Good: A white Big Friendly Dog.
• Mama Bear:
  • A literal example; she even traveled far out of Republic City to rescue Korra.
  • Carries over to the rest of Team Avatar by the end of Book 1 when she rescues Asami, Bolin and General Iroh after they were captured trying to take out the Equalist's airbase. Later in the same episode, she takes out three Equalist mecha tanks that were attacking Bolin.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Naga" is Inuktitut for "no." Given that Korra is the first person to have tamed a polar bear dog, and the Water Tribe is based on Inuit culture, one can imagine Korra had to yell "No!" enough that the name stuck.
  • Nāga are a type of entity or deity in Hindu mythology that are often depicted as guardian spirits. Vishnu, the great preserver god of Hinduism and manifestation of ten different avatars, has a nāga guardian.
• Mighty Roar: Delivers one of these to Jerkass Pretty Boy Tahno, in episode five, scaring him and his team away from a confrontation with Korra and Bolin.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Naga's hind end is thinner, like a dog's, while her front has bear-like proportions. Her skull shape is more ursine, while her floppy ears and slobbery jowls are more canine.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Naga is Korra's polar bear dog companion.
• The Nose Knows: She's a scent tracker as well. The team employed her olfactory senses to track Aiwei after his duplicity was exposed and he fled Zaofu.
• Only Friend: Naga was Korra's only friend during her years at the compound in the Southern Water Tribe.
• Super-Strength: She's capable of toppling three Equalist Mecha-Tanks at once by grabbing their grapple lines and giving a hard tug. She can also batter down wrought iron prison bars.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Appa in the original Avatar series, serving the same functions as animal companion, means of transportation and occasional combat monster bailing out the heroes.
• Undying Loyalty: She adores Korra and does her best to protect her. Justified, considering that she's part dog, and Korra's spirit guide, this is a given. In "The Voice in the Night", it's shown that Korra lets Naga sleep next to her bed. When Korra was kidnapped, she tracked her down on her own.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Nobody comments on the very large, potentially dangerous animal running around in Republic City. Except in the first episode, where more focus is nonetheless given to Korra's bad 'driving' than the animal itself.

Pabu

Pabu

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

"See? Pabu's not just a one-trick poodle pony." —Bolin

A fire ferret. Bolin's pet and partner in crime.

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• Demoted to Extra: Pabu, along with Naga, only makes minor appearances in Book 4.
• Evil-Detecting Dog:
  • Pabu sits peacefully by the radio while music plays, but hisses and jumps away when Amon interrupts the scheduled program.
  • Scurries for cover when Desna and Eska enter the room in "Civil Wars Part 2." Of course, this may be because Desna had been handling him roughly in the previous episode.
  • Goes nuts twice in "The Terror Within," once when the bad guys are sneaking in and once while they're sneaking out.
• Fluffy Dry Cat: In "The Aftermath", after the butler dries him down with a towel.
• Frisky Ferret: Possesses a mischievous personality and occasionally plays practical jokes on Mako.
• Meaningful Name: In Korean, Pabu is a term of endearment, kind of like 'silly you', which is befitting of his antics. Even more fitting is that Pabu is Tibetan for 'puffball'.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Ferrets, minks and red pandas.
• Nonhuman Sidekick: Pabu is primarily Bolin's fire ferret companion. Bolin has left him with Ikki in Book 4 while he serves in Kuvira's army.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite the species name, Fire Ferrets aren't native to the Fire Nation but from central Earth Kingdom according to Jinora. It may actually refer to "fire fox", another name for the red panda.
• Parrot Pet Position: He tends to ride on people's shoulders.
• The Prankster: Helps his owner pull practical jokes on his older brother.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: In the Republic City Hustle short showing his back story it reveals he is adept at these, as is Bolin.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Like his predecessor in the "Smaller Companion Animal" role, Momo. Look at him.
• Team Pet: To the Fire Ferrets.
• Timmy in a Well: Though Mako and Korra are dubious at first, it turns out Bolin's bond with him really is good enough to get across when they need a rescue.^note Contrast with Momo in the original series, who normally missed such nuances the first several times.
• Weasel Mascot: Bonus points for being their actual mascot.

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