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YMMV / The Saga of Avatar Korra

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All spoilers are unmarked so be warned.

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Due to this being a Korra related fanfiction, you can expect some of this.
    • Did Korra ever truly believe in the Red Lotus cause or did she almost go along with it because they had raised her for fourteen years and wanted their approval? Tenzin himself asks Korra this question to which Korra does not know the answer.
    • Was the abusive training that Zaheer put Korra through a form of Revenge by Proxy since she is Aang's successor and reincarnation, so was Zaheer inflicting a form of revenge on his late former mentor? Or did he genuinely believe that the training would make her a stronger and better Avatar, and thus only subjected her to it as a matter of what he believed to be necessity? Was it a mixture of both?
    • The last conversation between Korra and Ghazan in Chapter Eighteen, was Ghazan genuinely making one last attempt to reach out to Korra during the battle, or was he trying to trick her into lowering her guard and thus make it easier for him to kill her?
    • Korra's actions towards Zaheer in Chapter Eighteen, did she spare his life because she genuinely does not wish to kill anymore people than she already has? Or did she want him to suffer and knew that allowing him to live in a world without his lover and friends with his plans and organization in ruins would be a Fate Worse than Death?
    • When Deska and Eska accepted Korra's apology during Chapter Three of Book Two, did they legitimately accept it, or were they ordered by their father to accept her apology (since Eska did not try to take advantage of Korra to pursue her interests in Bolin)?
    • While Korra has stated that she did not intend to kill the Red Lotus and wanted to protect her friends, did she really wish to protect them or were her actions driven more by rage and revenge since she found out she was kidnapped and her parents were alive? Was it a mixture of both?
    • Is Tenzin's more relaxed treatment of Korra, such as not putting restrictions on her while she is on the island and refraining from openly criticizing pro-bending, a result of being more understanding of her circumstances? Or does Tenzin believe that with Tonraq and Senna being on the island that it is not his place to impose restrictions on Korra with her parents present?
    • Kuvira has become a notable example of this for several reasons. Is she genuine in her desire to help Team Avatar rescue Asami and stop Amon and the Equalists, or is she a Manipulative Bitch that is using Korra and her friends to accomplish her own goals and plans for the Earth Kingdom? Perhaps a mixture of both?
      • There's also the nature of Kuvira's relationship with Korra, she clearly admires and respects Korra but the reasons for which are the subject of speculation. Does she admire Korra more as a person, or does she admire Korra more as an Avatar? Is it Korra's personality or her power that Kuvira respects more?
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Ghazan's role as the Token Good Teammate of the Red Lotus and his Pet the Dog moments with Korra has gotten him this treatment by many of the readers. It came to a point where Word of God explained that Ghazan did not have a good relationship with Korra and even though he was the most Affably Evil member of the Red Lotus he still participated in the kidnapping of a three year old girl so that she could be raised and trained to be an assassin. Ghazan also attempted to kill Korra several times during the final battle between Team Avatar and the Red Lotus, yet his fans tend to downplay these moments and instead directed anger at the authors for the manner of Ghazan's death. Even though just before his admittedly grisly death he was willing and clearly attempting to deliver this exact fate to Korra by trying to kill her with lava-bending.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Ghazan was the most well received of the Red Lotus partly because of his cool design and abilities in canon. But readers also liked how he was almost a Token Good Teammate who treated Korra (relatively) well.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Many readers have noticed that Korra's persona in the story is a more calm and reserved nature along with a greater willingness to think her actions through than her canon counterpart. While this was a popular change, the authors later clarified that it was not meant to be seen as a positive change to Korra's personality because it is a direct result of the abuse that she suffered at the hands of Zaheer and the Red Lotus.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Korra and Asami kiss during Chapter Three of Book Two which was released on July 10th, 2015. Several hours later, it was announced during Comic Con that the Legend of Korra would receive a comic series that would heavily focus on the Korrasami relationship.
    • Kya being in a relationship with Lin in the story becomes this when it is revealed in the comic book series taking place after the show that Kya is gay.
  • It Was His Sled:
    • Amon's true nature as a water-bender and blood-bender.
  • Iron Woobie: Korra
  • One-Scene Wonder:
    • Azula's appearance in Chapter Eight was highly popular among the readers, the authors eventually had to assert that Azula was not going to be a main character in Saga.
    • The cameo appearances of original characters representing notable fans of the story have entered this territory.
  • Pandering to the Base: The writers of this story will occasionally make changes or expansions on chapters based on feedback. The changes have generally been more well received.
    • The writers made changes to Chapter Fifteen, where after Korra failed to kill Unalaq some readers felt the Red Lotus' reaction was a little out of character which resulted in the authors fixing it to make it fit the characters and plot better. The writers themselves believe this was a better change.
    • While Ghazan’s death scene was considered rather chilling and decently described, what led up to his death was not considered to be written as well since it caused a lot of confusion with the readers. A number of readers actually thought Korra used lavabending to kill Ghazan, which was not the case. The scene required a few rewrites to straighten things out, but it still confuses some readers despite that.
    • While Chapter Eighteen was well received, some readers did not like that the confrontation between Korra and Zaheer did not have more depth to it. The writers greatly expanded on the confrontation and even gave them a more proper fight scene which Korra won, which readers liked much more.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • Mako has been better received than in canon due to the authors' avoiding the Love Triangle trope.
    • Reception towards Unalaq has been far more positive than in canon due to having apparently undergone Adaptational Heroism by showing more concern for his family along with not being Obviously Evil like his canon counterpart.
  • Squick: Ship tease scenes between Iroh and Asami. Not so much now as a result of Iroh's Age Lift.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: While the Red Lotus were better utilized in this story than in canon, some readers believed the Red Lotus should not have been killed off by the end of Book One. A special mention goes to Ghazan who was the closest to Korra (and the authors even considered sparing him).
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic:
    • While Ghazan was meant to be somewhat sympathetic, he appeared to be more so than the writers intended. Due to Ghazan being the most amicable to Korra out of the Red Lotus and causing the least harm to her in comparison to Zaheer, Ming-Hua, and P’Li, some readers felt that his Cruel and Unusual Death was rather brutal, especially considering his death was far worse than the others. It may not have been a coincidence that the writers considered allowing Ghazan to be spared, and had Korra experience nightmares of his death in Book Two. Though the writers have also stated that Ghazan did not have a healthy relationship with Korra as he participated in kidnapping her as a child and training her to become a Human Weapon.
    • While Brock (an Expy of the Pokémon character) who appeared in 'The Heiress' might have been a one shot character the readers were not meant to really care about, Korra's rather Innocently Insensitive treatment of him during Asami's birthday made some readers feel sorry for him.

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