Characters / The Saga Of Avatar Korra Team Avatar

Fanfic — Characters Main — YMMV

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Beware of unmarked spoilers. All Book One spoilers are unmarked so be careful reading this.

General

• Adaptation Expansion: The pasts and relationships for the core members of Team Avatar are expanded upon.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Almost every member of the team has this, including Naga.
• Declaration of Protection: After finding out about Korra's past, her friends tell Korra they will protect her.
• For Want Of A Nail: Due to Korra keeping the fact she was the Avatar a secret, it allowed her friends to get to know her as a human rather than as the Avatar. When they eventually learn she is Avatar and find out how being the Avatar affected her life, they understand much sooner that being the Avatar is not necessarily a good thing.
• A Friend in Need: Despite being easily overpowered by the Red Lotus during their first encounter, Asami, Bolin, and Mako resolve to do what they can to save Korra without hesitation.
• Friendless Background: Every member of the group has this to some extent, but Korra gets hit with this the most.
• Good Is Not Soft: Every member of Team Avatar has this trait. Korra and her friends are willing to use lethal force against the Red Lotus in the final battle. Korra in particular kills P'Li and Ghazan.
• Jumped at the Call: For various reasons, each of them fulfill this trope.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Throughout a majority of Book One, Korra keeps the fact she is the Avatar a secret from her friends.
• True Companions: Even though they meet each other under different circumstances, they still become good friends with each other. Bolin, Asami, and Mako declare themselves the new Team Avatar shortly after Korra is kidnapped by the Red Lotus and resolve to rescue her.

Avatar Korra

Avatar Korra

A young teenage girl who was kidnapped by the Red Lotus when she was only three years old before the While Lotus could confirm her identity as the Avatar. She was kidnapped along with many other children from her tribe. After the Red Lotus discovered she was the Avatar, they took her and left the other children to be found by the search party.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: Korra enters into the Avatar State at least three times during Book One in which she managed to escape from the Metal Bending Police, save Bolin from falling to his death, and enhanced her healing capabilities to save Asami’s life. Outside of noticing there was something different in her vision and feeling a difference in her body, she did not know what was happening to her. During each of these times, Korra was unaware she was in the Avatar State nor did she even know there was anything called the Avatar State due to the Red Lotus not telling her. She finally becomes aware of the Avatar State after speaking with Katara.
• Adaptation Expansion: The past for this version of Korra is heavily explored through flashbacks while that was not the case for the canon version.
• Adaptation Personality Change: While she is just as much of a Determinator and Blood Knight as her canon counterpart, Korra in this story is more humble, cautious, and reserved than her canon counterpart.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Her upbringing by the Red Lotus has left an obvious impact on her psyche and personality. During Book Two, it is clear the influence of the Red Lotus continues to affect Korra. Several characters, including Korra, herself lampshade how they have affected her.
• Adaptational Badass: While she was undoubtedly badass in canon, she is even more so in this story. The training under the Red Lotus made her bending more powerful and thanks to Zaheer's training, Korra is able to airbend before becoming Tenzin's student and masters it much quicker than in canon.
  • Throughout Book One, specifically Chapter Fifteen, Korra delivers Curb Stomp Battles to characters who were more difficult for her to defeat in canon, such as Unalaq, Desna, Eska, Kuvira, and Zaheer.
  • Unlike in canon, Korra in Saga does not show any fear of Amon or his abilities and does not hesitate to confront him in the fifth chapter of Book Two. When her first confrontation with Amon comes, she is able to give him an arguably better fight than her canon counterpart did and with the aid of her friends is even able to force him to retreat. In her second confrontation with Amon, despite him using blood-bending against her to make her miss all of her bending blows, she switches to hand-to-hand and is able to soundly defeat him and even shatters his mask with a punch.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Despite being perhaps even more ignorant of the outside world than her canon counterpart, Zaheer's tutelage has provided Korra with a significant amount of knowledge in other areas. Korra also displays a level of cunning and awareness not seen from her canon counterpart.
  • While she initially considers the idea of overthrowing the Earth Queen to be a good idea, she realizes thanks to Tenzin that such an action would probably lead her down a path similar to what the Red Lotus wanted her to take. Korra makes it clear that she views the Earth Queen as an enemy that needs to be dealt with, but she shows a stronger willingness to try and think things through more.
  • Due to her Red Lotus tutelage, Korra appears to have a substantial understanding of the Earth Kingdom's geography. In Chapter Six of Book Two she surprised Mako with her knowledge by being able to tell how long a journey to a certain area would take on foot from their current position.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: This Korra still has some temper and rebellious attitude, but she is far more humble, rational, patient and composed than in canon. For example, when Korra begins her airbending training with Tenzin, she displays far more self-control than she did in canon. She does not destroy the rotating fans because she knows they are a vintage mechanism. She also recognizes some of her frustration with the airbending exercises makes her sound 'petulant,' and she does not accuse Tenzin of being a terrible teacher. This allows her and Tenzin's initial relationship to start on a slightly more positive note.
• Amazonian Beauty: Several characters have commented on Korra's muscular build and attractive appearance. Both Asami and Bolin have made comments about it.
• Ambiguous Situation: At the end of Chapter Eighteen, Korra finally succumbs to the effects of the needle she was hit with during her fight with the Red Lotus and falls unconscious. What effects the needle will have on Korra is currently unknown. In Chapter Nineteen it appears that the dart was actually a tranquilizer and Korra regains consciousness shortly after the end of Chapter Eighteen. It is revealed during Book Two's prologue the dart she was hit was was a tranquilizer dart, and the worse it does is cause Korra to eventually become so tired she is asleep for nearly two days.
• Amicable Exes: Korra hooks up with Asami early in Book Two, but they are soon forced to break up when several circumstances in their lives cause their relationship to fail. They remain best friends, though.
• An Arm and a Leg: She loses one of her arms in her battle against Kuvira in Omashu.
• The Atoner: Korra appears to be going this root following the Red Lotus incident since she wishes to make up for the harm she did.
• Attempted Rape: During Chapter Four, it is implied the gang members who surrounded Korra would have done this to her.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: In Chapter Seventeen, she quickly deduces the location that Zaheer is broadcasting from despite not having a proper trace of his signal.
  • It's a matter of Chekhov's Gun. Bolin gave Korra a good view of the city and pointed out the dormant volcano.
• Babies Ever After: She marries Bolin and they have eight kids together. The epilogue describes an elderly Korra with her grandchildren.
• Badass Boast: Korra's given a few in the story.
  Korra: I'm the strongest person in the city. No one can defeat me here.
  Korra: I can kill you all; I am the Avatar.
  Korra: Don't for a second think I'm not dangerous. I am not Aang; push me and I will kill. You wouldn't be the first.
• Badass in Distress: Subverted and Played Straight on occasions.
  • Bolin originally thinks she was in trouble during Chapter Four, but she was able to handle herself.
  • Played straight after the Red Lotus stormed Asami's mansion during Chapter Thirteen and Fourteen, they placed Korra back under their control. Despite telling her friends not to go after her, they immediately sought help to save her.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Korra suffers a few injuries from the Red Lotus during the end of Book Two and requires quite a bit of medical attention and bandages remain on her body for days. It is likely some of her injuries, specifically on her arms, will have scars.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Korra is more than capable of kicking anyone's ass. She becomes enraged at the Red Lotus when she finds out they kidnapped her and lied to her for fourteen years.
• Big Damn Kiss:
  • Exchanges a few with Asami at the end of Korra's eighteenth birthday.
  • Exchanges sensual kisses with Mako in a love hotel, might have gone further if Mako didn't stop it.
  • Kisses Bolin at the final chapter of Book Two.
• Big Good: As the Avatar, Korra is supposed to be this, but she is not entirely sure how she is supposed to take up this role.
• Blood Knight: Korra definitely enjoys to fight.
• Break the Cutie: The Red Lotus did this to her when she was kidnapped at three years old by telling the little girl that her parents were dead, and she would never see them again. She cried herself to sleep later than night with only Ghazan to provide any comfort.
• Broken Ace: In terms of power and skill, Korra is even more of an ace than her canon counterpart. However, being raised by the Red Lotus has greatly affected her psyche, and she has very little clue about things outside of training.
• Broken Tears: Has a few moments of this.
  • In Chapter Fifteen, after Korra refused to kill Unalaq and is nearly killed by the Red Lotus, Kuvira makes note that Korra is crying during their attempt to capture her.
  • In Chapter Seventeen, Korra breaks into this during her reunion with Asami and telling her about how the Red Lotus had been manipulating and deceiving her.
• Brought Down to Badass: Amon takes her bending in the final confrontation in Book Two, but she has previously proven that she can still fight great in hand-to-hand combat.
• Character Development: Spending time with her new friends made Korra a happier person and saw the world was not as bad as the Red Lotus made it seem to be.
• Chaste Heroine: Due to being isolated and kept ignorant of pretty much everything her entire life, Korra is mostly clueless when it comes to sexuality and doesn't really understand implications to it. The clearest example of this comes in "The Tale of Two Lovers" where Korra checks Mako and herself into a love hotel, not understanding what the hotel is really meant for. She then proceeds to unintentionally instigate several uncomfortable situations with the same lack of awareness as to why Mako is uncomfortable.
• The Chief's Daughter: Korra does not even know of her real heritage, but she is the daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and the niece of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe. This technically makes her a princess, which Bolin even lampshades when he and Mako are saving Korra's parents.
• The Chosen One: Being the Avatar involves being this.
• Combat Medic: During Chapter Eighteen, she uses waterbending for healing purposes for the first time in her life. She manages to save Asami's life after her fight with Zaheer.
• Cool Big Sis: Based on the prologue to Book Two, she seems to be taking on this role for the Airbabies.
  • In Chapter One of Book Two, Korra finds it easy to spend time with Tenzin's children in contrast to the awkwardness of spending time around other adults such as her parents.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Dishes these out with remarkable regularity when not fighting against her Red Lotus teachers. Notable victims have included characters who were able to give Korra trouble in canon such as Desna, Eska, Unalaq, and Kuvira.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Getting kidnapped and raised by the Red Lotus will do that to someone.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments as seen in Chapter Four after meeting Bolin and Mako.
  Mako: Fine. Do it your way. But if you want an easier time here, don't use the alleys, don't wander the streets at night, and don't trust people until you know them.
  Korra: (smirks) Okay. I'll start by not trusting you.
  Mako: I guess I walked into that one.
• Determinator: She is always determined to succeed in her goals and win her fights.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: This version of Korra eventually loses an arm to Kuvira.
• The Dog Bites Back: In Chapter Eighteen, Korra pays the Red Lotus back for all the years of abuse they've given her.
• Doesn't Know Their Own Birthday: The Red Lotus didn't let her know her birthday for most of her life. She only finds out about it when she has her first birthday party with her family and friends early in Book Two.
• Dreadful Musician: Mako makes fun of her attempt at singing, calling her awful at it.
• Easily Forgiven: While certain things were outside of Korra's control, she still committed a few actions that would be difficult for people to forgive. However, a number of people have no problem forgiving her.
  • Asami, Bolin, and Mako forgive Korra for keeping her identity as the Avatar a secret even though it indirectly put them in danger. They understood her circumstances and what she was put through. Asami even reverses it by stating it was her fault that Korra went through what she went through.
  • Tenzin, Tonraq, and Senna forgive Korra without hesitation. They are doing the best they can to protect Korra during Book Two.
  • Lin and Kuvira do not hold a grudge against Korra after she apologizes to them during the beginning of Book Two.
  • The writers have stated this is justified trope because a number of the characters who have forgiven her have ties to either Avatar Aang or the other members of Gaang, and the feel responsible for the Red Lotus being able to kidnap her.
• Establishing Character Moment: When she meets Asami for the first time as a little girl, she does not hesitate to save her life. Additionally, the affects the Red Lotus raising her are already taking root, such as believing her parents are dead and not knowing when her own birthday is.
• Evil Costume Switch: Subverted. After the Red Lotus recapture her, she changes to a dark outfit. While she does nearly kill Unalaq and his family, she ultimately decides not to go through with it. Afterwards, the Red Lotus nearly kill her, and she is firmly against them.
• Fights Like a Normal:
  • During much of her time in Republic City during Book One, she does her best to stick to firebending because she knows she could be identified as the Avatar if others witness her bending more than one element. Unfortunately, she encountered a police officer who was able to identify her as someone who previously used waterbending to escape from two police officers earlier in the story. As a result, this results in the White Lotus and Red Lotus being alerted to her presence in Republic City even though she manages to avoid detection fora prolonged period of time.
  • Uses her hand to hand skills to defeat Amon in their second encounter.
• First Kiss: Experiences the first kiss of her life with Asami during Book Two and then, experiences her first kiss with a man with Mako.
• First Love: Asami admits that Korra was her first love. While Korra is not entirely sure about romance, she was happy to kiss Asami back.
• Fish out of Water: She appears to be this even more so than her canon counterpart.
• For Want Of A Nail: Korra is kidnapped by the Red Lotus in this story when she was a child rather than being under the protection of the White Lotus.
• Friendless Background: Besides Naga, Korra had no friends while growing up outside of her brief childhood encounter with Asami. Ghazan, and to a lesser extent P'li, were the closest humans Korra had to friends with the Red Lotus.
• Good Is Not Soft: She makes clear that unlike Aang, she has little mercy for complete evildoers. In Chapter Two of Book Two, she tells Mako that she would have done the same criminal things he did had she been in his position and if she had been there at the time, she would have helped him torture Manu to get the information to save her parents.
• Healing Hands: During her first attempt to utilize waterbending for healing, Korra manages to save Asami's life.
• Heel–Face Turn: While Korra has been a good person, she was technically in league with a terrorist organization prior to turning against them at the end of Book One.
• The Hero: She wants to be one, but she is not always sure what that means.
• Heroes Love Dogs: She loves her pet Polar Bear Dog Naga and won't forgive anyone who hurts her. During Chapter Four of Book One, she completely flips her lid when gang members try to burn Naga. She not only protects her beloved polar bear dog, but she teaches the gang members a lesson they should never forget.
• Heroic BSoD: A couple of times.
  • She goes through one during Chapter Sixteen after the Red Lotus nearly kill her after she refuses to get out of P'Li's way to kill Unalaq along with believing her friends would never forgive her. She believes she has lost everything, and becomes even more frustrated that she cannot speak with Aang. She quickly gets out of this after she reunited with Naga and Tenzin tells her that her friends sought his help to save her.
  • In the final chapter of Book Two she goes into another one after Amon takes her bending, Ba Sing Se is in chaos because of the Equalists and the other members of Team Avatar are either dead or missing. It's so bad that Korra can't bend even after Katara restores her chi points. She starts recovering once she finally meets Aang and he helps her come to terms with her past hardships.
• Heroic Build: She is noted to be extremely strong looking by different characters, especially Asami and Bolin.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: She goes through this after the Red Lotus attempts to kill her in Chapter Fifteen. She beats herself up for lying to her friends about her status as the Avatar and even considers herself a coward.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Her time following her arrival in Republic City could be considered this.
  • She is able to remain under the radar from the Red Lotus for a while because she was careful. Unfortunately, Korra relaxes her guard to much later on which allows the Red Lotus to eventually find her.
  • When the Police begin tracking her due to Naga being spotted, she keeps Naga out of sight at Asami's mansion for the rest of her stay in Republic City. Tenzin even mentions the fact the Polar Bear Dog being out of sight slowed down their progress.
• Holding Hands: Korra and Asami tend to hold hands quite often throughout the story.
• Humble Hero: She starts off far more humble than her canon counterpart, and she is less proud of her status as the Avatar. While she has confidence in her fighting abilities, she not so confident in her ability to be the Avatar. During the finale of Book One, Korra wonders if she can do half as good as Aang, but she will do the best she can.
• I Will Find You: Korra's main objectives for running away from the Red Lotus is to find Asami and Aang. She soon finds out that Aang is already dead without knowing she is his reincarnation, but she is successful in meeting Asami again.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: The Red Lotus kept a lot of relevant information regarding the Avatar secret from her, including the fact that she is the reincarnation of Aang and the other Avatars preceding her.
• The Illegal: She arrives at Republic City as an illegal immigrant because she doesn't even know what identification papers are when the police officers demand them.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the difference in the background of Saga Korra and Canon Korra, there are still a fair number of parallels and similarities.
  • Korra still runs away from her guardians to head towards Republic City and has Naga. However, her objectives are different.
  • She becomes friends with Asami, Mako, and Bolin under different circumstances. While Korra did meet Asami first as a child, she still meets Bolin and Mako first during the present time.
  • She becomes a member of the Fire Ferrets and Bolin's teammate.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Her time with the Red Lotus affected Korra's ability to understand shame as she has no problem with having her body exposed and doesn't seem to understand why people would be bothered by this.
• Instant Expert:
  • During Chapter Eighteen, Korra is able to use water to perform healing for the first time and is successful in saving Asami's life.
  • In the Prologue of Book Two, Korra defeats Ikki and Jinora in an air-scooter race despite having only learned the technique the previous day and without calling upon the Avatar State to win as her canon counterpart did.
  • Korra has proven to be excellent at Pro-bending despite only getting into the sport a few weeks ago.
  • In Chapter Three of Book Two Korra shows that her skills go beyond knowing how to fight but also to other areas. While initially struggling with spear fishing she quickly adapts to the practice and makes a few catches. She is also later revealed to be an expert spelunker, having explored hundreds of complex caves at the North Pole that makes it easy for her to navigate the Horror Caves at the South Pole. Also, during a conversation with Mako in the Horror Caves she demonstrates that her storytelling abilities are on par with Bolin's.
  • Korra begins her metal-bending training in Zaofu with Kuvira in Chapter Eight of Book Two, after successfully metal-bending for the first time Kuvira notes that she has not seen anyone pick up the sub-element as quickly as Korra did.
• Intertwined Fingers: That tends to happen a lot when Korra and Asami hold hands.
• Irony:
  • Zaheer criticizes her for enjoying life as a princess while living at the Sato estate while she actually is a princess of the Water Tribe.
  • During Book One, Korra meets, fights against, and defeats the three main canon human antagonists of Book Two (Unalaq), Three (Zaheer), and Four (Kuvira) under various circumstances. However, Korra never meets Amon who was the main antagonist of the canon Book One story arc and is not even aware of his existence.
• It's All Junk: Early in Book Three, Korra throws the Team Avatar dolls Bolin made for her birthday because she can't stand to have such a painful reminder that her friends aren't there for her now that Mako is dead, Bolin is MIA, and Asami ran away.
• It's All My Fault: Korra goes through this a few times, especially after she starts to realize what type of people the Red Lotus are. She feels extremely guilty over the fact Yujin was murdered by them.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: She was kidnapped by the Red Lotus when she was three years old because she's the Avatar.
• Jumped at the Call: Korra is ready and willing to be the Avatar, but she has admitted she is not sure what she should do. Katara even lampshades Korra's willingness to accept her role unlike Aang was at first.
• Karma Houdini: While she did ultimately decide not to kill Unalaq and his family and the Red Lotus had affected her psyche for years, it does not change the fact that Korra participated in an attempted assassination that resulted in them being put in critical condition partly due to injuries Korra personally inflicted upon them. Korra more or less admits herself that she probably deserves punishment, but Tenzin hopes to prevent from getting into trouble for what happened due to her unique circumstances. Only time will tell if this will be a played straight or zigzagged example. Either way, Korra is the rare example who does not believe she deserves to be one.
• Killing in Self-Defense: Korra claims that is why she killed the Red Lotus rather than for revenge. Based on the description of the fight, that appears to be accurate.
• Lady of War: Her fighting style in the story contains more skill and finesse than the brute force oriented style of her canon counterpart. Bolin, when he sees her fight observes how refined and graceful her movements are and that they are "like a dance."
• Locked Out of the Loop: Korra is purposefully kept in the dark about a lot of things by the Red Lotus, and is even outright lied to about a few things, like the survival of the Air Nomad culture through Aang's descendants (plus the air acolytes) and the very nature of the Avatar Cycle. She is also completely ignorant about more mundane things, like bras.
• Made of Iron: In Chapter Fifteen, Korra is injured due to almost being killed by the Red Lotus, including being hit twice by a combustion bolt from P'Li and is still able to fight off the metal-bender police (who have Lin and Kuvira with them) despite not having learned how to metalbend.
• More than Mind Control: The Red Lotus have been conditioning Korra to believe what they believed for over fourteen years. Even after knowing the truth and defeating the Red Lotus, Korra still shows a bit of their ideology mixed with her natural heroic instincts (though she's aware of their residual influence. Bolin and Tenzin both lampshade what the Red Lotus put her through.
• My God, What Have I Done?: During Chapter One of Book Two, Korra has this moment after she realizes that her "mentors" made her attack her relatives.
• Nerves of Steel: The contents of the South Pole's Horror Caves does not perturb Korra in the slightest, if anything, she actually enjoys it.
• Nice Girl: Despite the way she was raised, Korra is still a good person.
• Oblivious to Love: Korra does not seem to realize Bolin has a crush on her.
• Plagued by Nightmares: In the first chapters of Book Two, Korra has recurrent nightmares about the deaths of the Red Lotus.
• Practice Kiss: She kisses Opal and Kuvira for experimental purposes.
• Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Early in Book Three, Katara manages to heal Korra's chi points that Amon damaged with bloodbending, but Korra still can't bend. Katara figures out Korra's bending is being blocked by her feelings of guilt and depression over the fall of Ba Sing Se and the loss of her friends, similar to when Zuko's firebending was blocked by the loss of his obsession to capture the Avatar. Korra starts regaining her bending over the four elements one by one after Aang gives her a much-needed pep talk.
• Real After All: Korra elicits this reaction from Asami. Asami always believed she met someone who saved her life from the blizzard despite everyone telling her it was impossible. When Korra reveals herself to be that person, Asami immediately believes her.
  Asami: Korra; you were the girl in the snow. You're the girl who wouldn't tell me her name. (Asami hugs Korra) I knew you were real. They never really believed me, but I knew I met someone out there.
• The Runaway: She runs away from the Red Lotus' hideout and goes to Republic City after she has a vision of Aang for the first time.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Her training under the Red Lotus made her more powerful and skilled than she ever was in canon, but her teachers made sure to keep her isolated and misinformed of the outside world. This resulted in Korra not understanding how the world works and unsure of how to interact with others. She doesn't even know what a bra is among other things.
• Scars Are Forever: Korra received a few burn scars from P'Li after she tried to stop her from killing Unalaq.
• Secret Identity: Despite being aware that the Red Lotus haven't been entirely truthful with her, she knows that the Avatar is bound to have enemies and keeps her identity as the Avatar secret. It isn't until Chapter Fourteen of Book One that the secret is out.
• Ship Tease: Has plenty with several characters.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Despite her attraction with Asami, this Korra ends up hooking up with and getting married to Bolin, who she describes as fun, caring, brave and strong.
• Stockholm Syndrome: While Korra was not aware that she was kidnapped or her parents were alive until Chapter Sixteen, she did feel imprisoned by the Red Lotus. Despite that, she feels a strong sense of loyalty to them even after she runs away partly due to them being the only parental figures she had. In Chapter Sixteen, she admits that she not only loves her friends, but she loves all her teachers, including Ming-Hua, who treated Korra cruelly. She's heartbroken over the revelation that they kidnapped her and have been lying to her. She tearfully tells Asami that she thought she loved them and they loved her. By the events of Chapter Eighteen, Korra rejects Zaheer's offer to rejoin them and fights the Red Lotus herself. She ends up killing Ghazan and P'li as well as fatally wounding Ming-Hua. She also manages to defeat Zaheer when the both of them are injured from their previous fights. The narration regarding her thoughts indicates she no longer feels any love for the Red Lotus.
• Tears of Joy: Gets a few of these.
  • During Chapter Seventeen, after Asami helps her feel better after they reunite, she goes through this after being introduced to Tenzin's family who were her predecessor's grandchildren, and they happily welcome her.
  • In Chapter Nineteen, Korra sheds these when she is reunited with her parents after fourteen years apart.
• Terrible Artist: The graffiti she draws at the Cave of Two Lovers is described as not good, such as making Naga's head look like a rat's.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: While she likes to fight, she does not mind wearing a dress.
• Too Much Information: A variation of this occurs in Book Two. After remarking about an injury that she had once received that resulted in her breaking her ribs, Korra decides that it may be best to not be too forthcoming about her time with the Red Lotus to her parents who are already suffering from being worried over her.
• Training from Hell: What the Red Lotus put her through. It results in her being even stronger than in canon.
• Tranquil Fury: When she learns the truth of her abduction by the Red Lotus from Tenzin, she is for the most part able to remain calm and reserved but is clearly seething with rage beneath. Naga becomes nervous when she senses Korra's anger.
• Trauma Button: By Book Two, Zaheer in general has become this for Korra to the point that she does not want to do anything that even reminds her of him, such as meditation training.
• Trauma Conga Line: She has been going through one throughout her entire life. She was kidnapped when she was three years old, told that her parents were dead, and put through a Training from Hell regiment for fourteen years. All of her teachers were abusive to her, even the ones who treated her relatively well, since they were training her to become a killer. After she ran away from the Red Lotus and gains some relative freedom and peace with her new friends, the Red Lotus eventually find her. When she ultimately cannot bring herself to go through with assassinating her target, they try to kill her, but she ends up ultimately killing them. It has been confirmed that the effects the Red Lotus had on Korra's psyche will continue to affect her throughout the story.
• Tyke Bomb: The Red Lotus intended to make her into this.
• Unstoppable Rage: Hurting Naga will prompt this reaction from her.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Even though he was always distant and sometimes even physically and mentally abusive towards her, Zaheer is perhaps the closest thing to a father figure that Korra had growing up and out of all her Red Lotus mentors it is his approval that she seeks the most. Best seen during Chapter Fourteen where even after Zaheer slaps her with enough force that causes her to bleed and have trouble with her vision, she apologizes to Zaheer about running away, and becomes happy that they think she is ready for her first assignment.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: Even as a child, she proved to be capable of common sense.
  • During her first meeting with the Red Lotus she denied being able to bend more than one element. Although Zaheer is able to coax her into admitting that she can.
  • After saving Asami from a snowstorm and talking to her, she hides from Asami in the first chapter because she knows she won't be able to leave the North Pole with her. Later, she wisely kept her childhood meeting with Asami a secret from her teachers.
• Worf Had the Flu: Subverted twice.
  • When she confronts the Red Lotus in Chapter Eighteen, Korra is exhausted, badly injured with only minor medical treatment beforehand, and is hit by a tranquilizer needle by Zaheer early in the battle. Despite all of this, Korra is still able to fight and is still victorious.
  • In Chapter Five of Book Two Korra is poisoned by Hiroshi Sato but is still able to give a good performance in the pro-bending match despite not being able to finish and even injures a Wolf Bat team member. Soon afterwards, while she might still be suffering from residual effects of the poison she is able to fight effectively against the Equalists, shocking both Amon and Hiroshi.

Bolin

An earthbender and younger brother to Mako. More open and idealistic, he is always willing to fight for his friends, family, and anyone else who needs help. He is imaginative and loves radio dramas.

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• The Ace: Bolin has proven to be quite good at Pro-Bending. Possibly better than his canon counterpart.
• Adaptational Badass: He is much more competent at Pro-Bending than his canon counterpart partly thanks to Asami providing proper funding for the team and training alongside Korra.
• Adaptational Intelligence: He still possesses his inherent goofiness and naiveté, but he is considerably more intelligent and perceptive.
• Amazon Chaser: He has a crush on Korra similar to canon.
  • While he still seems to have his crush on Korra, he seems to have temporarily given up on her and tried dating someone else. It doesn't last and before long he is again attracted to Korra.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: When he is trapped underground due to Kuvira attacking him, he finally admits his love for Korra.
• Ascended Fanboy: Two instances of this.
  • Bolin was a fan of pro-bending, and he eventually becomes a pro-bender.
  • Bolin is a fan of Aang's Team Avatar. He told Korra stories about them causing her to doubt what the Red Lotus had told her. When Korra was taken by the Red Lotus, Bolin dubs Korra, Asami, Mako, and himself as the new Team Avatar.
• Babies Ever After: The epilogue mentions he and Korra married, had several children and grandchildren.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Similar to canon, he is the most childlike in the group, but he knows when to get serious when he needs to.
• Betty and Veronica: Korra gets a lot of Ship Tease with Bolin and Asami in this version of the story. Similar to canon, Bolin is the Betty because he's the Nice Guy who was an orphan living on the streets until a while ago and pines after Korra's affection.
• Big Brother Worship: He loves his brother and looks up to him. While he does not know everything his brother has done and gets angry when he does find out, it does not stop him from loving his brother.
• Big Damn Heroes: He and Mako are able to save Korra's parents from the Red Lotus which puts a monkey wrench in the Red Lotus' plans.
• Book Dumb: Justified. Due to losing his parents, he and his brother grew up on the streets rather than having a proper home or education.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His parents were killed. While he has not committed as many crimes as Mako, he has committed a few to stay alive.
• Declaration of Protection: He gives one to Korra at the end of Book One.
  Bolin: If anyone takes you away then the three of us will not stop until we got you back. We'd search all four corners of the world for you.
• Deuteragonist: Ascends to this position in Book Two as he gets more focus and screen-time.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mako asks Bolin what they would have done about Korra if Asami did not help them, and Bolin does not come up with the best answers.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: He becomes deaf at the end of Book Three. The epilogue says Asami made a hearing aid for him years later.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Despite his obvious crush on Korra, Bolin doesn't make advances at her and focuses on acting as a good friend because their pro-bending coach forbids dating among teammates and Korra is developing a close relationship with Asami.
• The Dulcinea Effect: In Chapter Four, Bolin helped Korra without hesitation when she was being harassed by a gang despite Mako's warning and him not knowing who she is. When Korra is kidnapped by the Red Lotus, his first instinct is to save her. Ironically, she ends up saving him on at least one occasion instead.
• Friend to All Children: After Mako is hired to work at Future Industries and they move into a new home, Bolin takes up a job as a babysitter.
• Genre Savvy: Subverted since Bolin's fantasies tend to be improbable and whatever secrets he guessed correctly was out of sheer luck. He loves listening to radio dramas and he imagines his adventures as being in one.
  • He was able to guess that Korra was the Avatar, a princess, and kidnapped by evil guardians because he thinks that's how stories go.
  • Mako discussed this to him and told him fiction is getting into his head too much.
• The Heart: Book Two makes it clear that Bolin is what's keeping things together. While Asami and Mako have not exactly reconciled their issues with each other, thanks to Bolin's efforts Asami at least seems more tolerant of his brother and Mako has apologized.
• Heroic Build: He has this, especially after training to become a pro-bender.
• Hidden Depths: While he may not be the smartest person, he apparently has a gift for telling stories. It is most likely influenced by his love for radio shows.
• Horrible Judge of Character: At the beginning of the story, he got easily convinced into taking a dangerous human trafficking job without guaranteed pay. If Korra had not been there to save him, he would have been arrested.
  • Averted later when he meets Eska. In this instance, Bolin is smart enough to know that the Water Tribe princess is probably bad news, and it reflects that he could have learned from his previous Horrible Judge of Character issue.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He has quite a crush on Korra but he realizes how much being a Pro-Bender means to her and after their coach forbids relationships within the team he puts his pursuit of Korra on hold.
• The Illegible: In Chapter One of Book Two, he sends Korra a letter and she notices his poor handwriting.
• Insecure Love Interest: Throughout the two first Books, Bolin repeatedly refuses to pursue a romantic relationship with Korra because he doesn't think he deserves someone amazing like her and she probably still likes Asami better even after their breakup.
• Intoxication Ensues: He gets this after eating a "Sokkactus" in the Si Wong Desert.
• Jumped at the Call: After Korra is revealed to be the Avatar following the Red Lotus kidnapping her, he jumps at the chance at declaring himself, Mako, and Asami as part of the new Team Avatar.
• Justified Criminal: While he did not commit as many crimes as his brother Mako, he did take part in several, so they could survive.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Similar to canon, he appears to act as this to Mako.
• Mushroom Samba: Courtesy of a desert cactus, now aptly named the "Sokkactus."
• Never Learned to Read: Zigzagged. While he seems to have some literacy, he has a hard time reading the sign indicating the Sato mansion.
• Nice Guy: There does not appear to be a mean bone in his body.
• Not Quite Dead: Early in Book Three, everyone thinks Bolin died after he was left trapped in Ba Sing Se's crystal catacombs. Chapters later reveal he survived and managed to escape back to the surface.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He begins to feel this way in Book Two, believing that he does not bring anything significant to Team Avatar.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents were killed when he was young.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In canon, Bolin only had a hopeless crush on Korra through the first season, and he quickly lost any romantic interest in her once he found out she liked his brother. In Saga, Bolin always remains in love with Korra and gets a better chance with her due to there being more interactions between them and more time to develop their relationship. Also, there isn't an actual romance between her and Mako and Korra breaks up with Asami early. He and Korra become a couple towards the end of the final book. The epilogue confirms they eventually got married.
• Sacred Hospitality: He extends this to Korra after he finds out she has nowhere to go, and she is new in Republic City.
• Shipper on Deck: He appears to be one for Asami and Mako.
• Street Urchin: Since he was six years old up to the beginning of the story.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • It is noted that his earth bending improves after taking up training to be a pro-bender.
  • He becomes much more powerful in Book Three where he learns lavabending.
• Tragic Keepsake: After Mako dies, Bolin inherits his brother's red scarf, which had originally belonged to their late father.
• The Unchosen One: Bolin has the rare quality that not even divination can foretell his future, so he doesn't have a set destiny. This, however, makes him the master of his own destiny.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He tells Korra she should not blame herself for what the Red Lotus did to her.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He's enamored with the heroic tales of Aang's Team Avatar and wishes to be like them. He also hopes that everyone will accept his brother despite his crimes because he is a good person.

Asami Sato

Asami Sato

The only daughter and heiress to Hiroshi Sato. She originally met Korra when she was only five and Korra saved her life.

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• Adaptation Expansion: More depth is given to Asami's capabilities and her past than in canon.
• Adaptational Intelligence: While Asami was already pretty smart in canon, in this story her skills in science and business are much more pronounced. She is a skilled inventor (in this continuity she is the inventor of the shock glove and not just its user) and she also holds a leading position in her father's company by the time she and Korra reunite.
• Almost Kiss: Has the urge to kiss Korra in Chapter Two of Book Two, but decides not to.
• Amicable Exes: Asami and Korra briefly hook up in the first chapters of Book Two, but their responsibilities as a worker of Future Industries and the Avatar respectively forces them to break up. They still hold each other dear as close friends.
• The Atoner: After Asami realizes Korra's the Avatar and believes a lot of the horrible things that happened to her were due to Asami's not telling anyone about witnessing a child her age controlling two elements, she wishes to do everything she can to make sure Korra is safe.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: After observing the appearance and abilities of Korra's teachers, Asami quickly deduces Korra's true identity as the Avatar.
• Badass in Distress: She's kidnapped by Amon after her father is discovered to have poisoned Korra. Asami then spends the second half of Book Two being held captive by the Equalists and to make it worse, her father is in life support, leaving her unwilling to escape when given the chance by the Kyoshi Warriors. Her friends in Team Avatar sent out on a journey to rescue Asami.
• Badass Normal: She's a non-bender who can fight benders with chi-blocking and her technological knowledge.
• Betty and Veronica: Korra gets a lot of Ship Tease with Asami and Bolin in this version of the story. Asami is the Veronica because she's the beautiful and flirty rich heiress with lots of sexual experience.
• Big Damn Kiss: Has a few with Korra during the end of Chapter Four of Book Two.
• But Not Too Bi: Asami is bisexual just like her canon counterpart, but she has way more experience with women than with men.
• Clear My Name: In Book Three, she must go through a trial to prove that she didn't go with the Equalists to Ba Sing Se willingly and was forced to give them technological and financial cooperation because her father dragged her into the terrorist group.
• Combat Pragmatist: After being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle the first time she tried to fight Zaheer, Asami takes several precautions for the rematch. She kicks off her rematch with Zaheer by hitting him with her motorcycle.
• Cool Big Sis: She becomes a big sister figure to Yuzu, Prince Iroh's daughter who adores her.
• Cooldown Hug: She gives one to Korra during Chapter Seventeen of Book One after they reunited following her abduction by the Red Lotus.
• Dark and Troubled Past: While she gets off easy compared to the others, her mother was brutally murdered which led her father to isolating her out of protection.
• Declaration of Protection: She gives one to Korra in Chapter Seventeen after they are reunited following Korra being kidnapped by the Red Lotus.
  Asami: And don't worry. They won't take you ever again. I will not let them, I promise.
• Deuteragonist: During Book One, the amount of screentime and POV segments that center on her are second only to Korra's.
• Fake Defector: In the weeks of captivity she spent with the Equalists, she bided her time by sending secret messages to her allies and then by sabotaging the Equalist technology and communications while also manipulating their members into believing that she has made a Face–Heel Turn by joining their cause and tricking them into revealing sensitive information to her.
• Fake-Out Make-Out: Taken a step further in "Eve of the Revolution" when the Equalists are about to search Asami's room for a spy, she convinces Kuvira to strip down and make it look like the two of them are having sex to fluster the guards.
• Fallen Princess: Towards the end of Book Two, Asami is forced by the Equalists to renounce to her wealth and inheritance. At the start of Book Three, Asami doesn't believe she should accept any help after she was involved with the Equalists. She ends up travelling illegally to one of the worst parts of the Fire Nation and must accept a job with a bad salary if she wants to survive on her own without selling her body. Fortunately, Iroh finds her after she gets arrested by people who discovered her identity and Asami finally accepts his offer to give her shelter in Ember Island.
• First Friend: Even though they only had a brief, incidental meeting in childhood, Korra thinks of Asami as the first friend she ever made, and vice versa.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Subverted because she remembers meeting Korra, but she does not clearly remember all the details as vividly as Korra does. This allows Korra to trick Asami into thinking that Korra did not use waterbending and only used firebending to keep Asami warm, so she would not suspect she is the Avatar. It isn't until after the Red Lotus recapture Korra and Asami realizes that Korra's teachers represent a different element that she realizes she did see Korra use waterbending and is the Avatar.
• A Friend in Need: Despite the problems she has with Mako torturing someone, she is willing to help Mako for Bolin's sake since she still considers him a friend.
• Friendless Background: Her father kept her under such strict regulations that Asami never made any real friends before meeting Korra, Bolin, and Mako.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Her inventing skills are more emphasized in this story than in canon. She's the one who came up with the prototype of the electrified glove and in the epilogue, it's mentioned she made a hearing aid for Bolin after he became deaf.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She's very feminine, loves wearing dresses, make-up and shopping. She's also a genius in engineering and mechanics, as well as skilled at hand-to-hand combat thanks to the self-defense training her father made her go through.
• Go Out with a Smile: Subverted. After being fatally wounded by Zaheer, Asami is smiling when she is about to die, but Korra manages to narrowly save her life.
• Good Bad Girl: Asami is a charming and generous young woman who loves flirting and slept around as a way to rebel against her overprotective father. She also becomes Friends with Benefits with Prince Iroh.
• Good Is Not Soft: In terms of how she attempts to deal with Zaheer.
• Guile Heroine: When the situation calls for it, Asami will rely on her intelligence and technological expertise instead of her impressive fighting skills.
• Guilt Complex: Even though there were several factors that were outside her control, Asami still holds herself responsible for the circumstances of Korra's upbringing even though she acknowledges that the Red Lotus is the party that is truly at fault for what was done to Korra. It gets deconstructed during Book Two where it reveals that Asami still feels guilty, but she recognizes that Korra does not blame her, and if she keeps beating herself up it will make Korra feel worse.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Early in Book Three, Asami is constantly putting herself down over the consequences of the Equalists kidnapping her and her refusing her rescue attempt because of her comatose father. She blames herself for Amon taking Korra's bending, Mako dying, and Bolin being trapped underground. She believes there's no way Korra or anyone can ever forgive her.
• Holding Hands: She and Korra hold hands a number of times throughout the story.
• Homeschooled Kids: Due to her father being overprotective, Asami was home-schooled.
• Honorary Aunt: Korra has her and Bolin's grandchildren call Asami their "Auntsami".
• I Just Want to Have Friends: She tells her father that she wants real friends.
  Asami: I want to make more friends - friends I make all on my own. Like Korra; and Bolin and Mako.
• I Owe You My Life: While she has not explicitly said this, she has made it clear she is grateful that Korra saved her life when they were children as well as when Korra saves her life again during Chapter Eighteen.
• The Illegal: At the start of Book Three, she flees to the Fire Nation illegally because she can't bear to stay at the Earth Kingdom after what she did when the Equalists held her captive and she believes she would have been sent to jail if she stayed anyway.
• Important Haircut: In the first chapters of Book Three, Asami cuts her beautiful black hair shortly after she escapes to the Fire Nation so she can start over with a new identity now that she wants to leave her past with her father and the Equalists behind.
• Insecure Love Interest: At the start of Book Three, even though she still has feelings for Korra, Asami believes she has lost all right of being Korra's lover or friend after she was forced to cooperate with the Equalists and blames herself for Team Avatar falling part because of Mako's death, Bolin getting trapped underground, and Korra losing her bending. Asami is even convinced Korra must hate her now when Korra is actually worried about Asami and wants to make up with her.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Early in Book Three, she becomes good friends with Yuzu, Iroh's secret daughter. They bond thanks to Asami fixing and making toys for the little girl.
• Intertwined Fingers: That tends to happen a lot when Asami holds Korra's hand.
• It's All Junk: When she travels to Ember Island, she takes all the mementos from her family's vacation home and asks Iroh to burn them. She does this to symbolically severe ties with her past as Hiroshi Sato's daughter after the atrocious things he did as an Equalist.
• It's All My Fault:
  • She says this during Chapter Fourteen after the Red Lotus kidnap Korra and Asami realizes that Korra is the Avatar. She realizes that if she told other people she saw Korra use two elements at once when they were children, she could have helped save Korra from her fate years ago.
  • During Chapter Seventeen, Asami states the Red Lotus are truly to blame, but she still feels that she is responsible for what happened to Korra. The narration of that chapter highlight her feelings on the subject.
  Asami: I never wanted to be right. If I was right, then I never told anyone, and then... all this would be my fault. So, I guess it really is my fault in the end. I could have stopped it years ago.
  Narration: It was hard to shake the feeling of responsibility for so much of the trouble. She could have tried to tell someone back then. Not just let the adults dismiss her mystery girl as unimportant, but insist on what she had seen.
  • In Book Three, Asami blames herself completely for everything her friends had to suffer because the Equalists kidnapped Asami and she turned down the chance to escape with the Kyoshi Warriors because of her bedridden father. Iroh tries and comforts by making Asami see things would have probably not turned out much different even if she wasn't kidnapped because the Equalists would have still attacked Ba Sing Se and Korra would have needed to stop them.
• Jumped at the Call: While she did not have Bolin's enthusiasm, she was happy to become part of the new 'Team Avatar' after Korra was kidnapped and even told her servant that she and her friends were fulfilling their destiny.
• Lonely Rich Kid: While Asami always appreciated the company of her family's servants and employees, she felt lonely due to the lack of true friends that are not connected to her father.
• Love Martyr: For a chunk of Book Two, Asami suffers a lot from being held captive by the Equalists because her father allied himself with them and helped in a failed plot to assassinate Korra. Even though Asami can't forgive her father's crimes, she can't bring herself to leave his side when he's bedridden and on life support because he's still the only family she has left. She even refuses what might be her only chance of getting rescued because she doesn't want to abandon her father, even though it leaves her in a desperate state.
• Master Actress: While an Equalist prisoner, she gives off the impression that she has joined their cause and genuinely desires to help them when in reality she is using the opportunity to sabotage them and retrieve information. Even Amon is fooled by her act. She also proves to be a skilled Mover actress when she plays Korra in The Saga of Avatar Korra: The Musical.
• Mercy Kill: Near the end of Book Two, Asami is forced to accept her father won't wake up from his coma and even if he does, he'll inevitably spend the rest of his days rotting in jail. Not wanting her father to continue living only to suffer, Asami shuts off his life support.
• Muggle: Like in canon, she is a non-bender.
• Muggle Best Friend: She becomes this to Korra during Book One.
• Must Let Them Get Away: When the Red Lotus are recapturing Korra, Asami reluctantly allows the Red Lotus to take Korra away after realizing she was the Avatar. She understood that if the Red Lotus knew Asami figured out Korra's identity, they would probably kill her for knowing too much. If that happened, there would be no one left to even try and save Korra.
• Must Make Amends: Asami appears to be taking this path in the aftermath of Chapter Fourteen.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Her last conversation with her father is a heated argument over him joining the Equalists and his overprotectiveness driving her to try and rebel by sleeping around, only for him to reveal he knew all about it and deliberately let Asami think she was getting away from his control. During all the time Asami watches over her father when he's in a coma, she only wishes they could at least talk one last time to not end thing in such bad terms. In the end, however, Asami sees her father has no salvation and shuts off his life support.
• Nice Girl: She bails Mako out of jail despite the fact he stole from her after she hears his story. Afterwards, she offers to give Korra, Bolin, and Mako shelter after their home is destroyed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • She directs this attitude towards herself after learning about Korra's identity.
  • A man, apparently her father, gives the shock glove she designed to the Equalists.
• Nice to the Waiter: She treats her servants and employees well.
• No One Gets Left Behind: She refuses to leave with the Kyoshi Warriors when they come to rescue her because she doesn't want to leave her sick father with the Equalists.
• Non-Idle Rich: Similar to her canon counterpart, she does not let the fact she is rich stop her from doing things other people in her social class would not generally do.
• Not Quite Dead: Asami is fatally wounded during her fight with Zaheer is about to die from her injuries. Korra manages to successfully save her life with using waterbending to heal her.
• The Paralyzer: She is capable of utilizing chi-blocking.
• Patricide: In the last chapter of Book Two, she kills her father by shutting off his life support.
• Really Gets Around: Has had numerous sexual partners.
• Rescue Romance: Korra saved Asami's life twice which eventually resulted in Asami developing romantic feelings for Korra and kissing her.
• Riches to Rags: Because of the Equalists, she loses Future Industries and all her family fortune. Not thinking she deserves any help, Asami departs to the Fire Nation on her own to become an illegal immigrant and low-class worker until Prince Iroh finds her.
• Sacred Hospitality: She extends this to Korra, Bolin, and Mako after their home is destroyed.
• She Knows Too Much: Averted. When the Red Lotus were recapturing Korra, Asami figured out Korra was the Avatar, but she remained silent until the Red Lotus were gone because she figured they would kill her.
• The Smart Girl: More so in this story.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a devastating one to Hiroshi in "Storm Clouds."
  Asami: My whole life; you've always done something to make it miserable. I was happy. I was really happy. Friends, romance without complicated strings back to you. And you took it all away and never even asked me. My life is ruined. And it's because of you. I hate you.
• The Team Normal: Similar to canon, she is the only non-bender in the group, but she is still a Badass Normal who is capable of kicking ass.
• The Tease: She enjoys flirting with people of both genders a lot.
• Tragic Keepsake: She keeps a pendant that has a picture of her Missing Mom in it.
• Trauma Conga Line: Her story arc in Book Two after being abducted by the Equalists is pretty much this. It eventually culminates in her shutting down the medical equipment keeping her father alive in the last chapter.
• Unbroken Vigil: When held captive by the Equalists, she spends most of her time at the infirmary where her father is being kept on life support.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Asami is this to both Korra and the Red Lotus.
  • When Asami first met the young Korra, she was sure she saw her perform both waterbending and firebending. While the adults dismissed her claim, if she has mentioned that she saw the girl use two different elements, it is possible that would have attracted the attention of the White Lotus, and Korra could have been rescued. Asami lampshades this herself after realizing she was right all along.
  • Asami is this to the Red Lotus because it was due to her meeting Korra as a little girl that caused Korra to always have doubts about the Red Lotus' views of the world and never fully embrace everything they taught her, which eventually led her to runaway. Eventually, it is one of the reasons that led to Korra fully rebelling against the Red Lotus and directly or indirectly killing Zaheer's group at the end of Book One.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives this to Mako after she sees him conduct torture on a Red Lotus member.
• Worthy Opponent: Zaheer refers to her as one.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Tells this to Korra during Chapter Seventeen after they reunite following Korra's abduction by the Red Lotus.
  Korra: (while crying and hugging Asami) I always worried about you waiting in the snow for me and me never arriving and I wanted to say sorry for that. Again...and...and...now you know who I really am. I...I don't want to think what I would be like if I hadn't met you.
  Asami: You would always be the person you really are. And even if it was different, you would still be the same wonderful, caring, beautiful woman you are now. They could never change that about you. And no matter what I would still meet you. Somehow.

Kuvira

A resident of Zaofu staying in Republic City during Book One. She was working with the United Republic's Police Force under Suyin's sister Lin. She eventually returns to Zaofu and later joins Team Avatar.

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• 24-Hour Armor: Similar to Lin, Kuvira always wears armor like her canon counterpart.
• Adaptation Expansion: Kuvira's personality and abilities are further elaborated on, and she interacts with characters she never did in canon.
• Age Lift: Possibly. While her age was never explicitly stated in canon, it was generally assumed she was older than Korra. In this story, she is apparently the same age as Korra.
• Antagonistic Offspring: In Book Three, she turns against her adoptive mother Suyin after the latter refuses to cooperate in her plan to seize rulership now that the Earth Queen is dead. Suyin decides she must stop Kuvira from remaking the Earth Kingdom into her empire of terror, even if it means killing her own adopted daughter.
• Anti-Hero: Starts out as an Unscrupulous Hero but eventually manifests into a Nominal Hero by the end of Book Two.
• Anti-Villain: The sympathetic backstory of her character can't be questioned and has pretty solid reasons for her opinions about the negative effects that the Fire Nation occupation and the corruption of the Earth Kingdom royalty had on the Earth Kingdom.
• An Arm and a Leg: She loses part of her leg in her battle against Bolin in Omashu.
• Ascended Extra: Kuvira was a reoccurring character in Book One, and she is set to take on a more major role in Book Two.
• Badass Bookworm: Kuvira is intelligent and well-educated, and her schemes really are quite impressive even if they don't work out entirely as she wanted them to.
• Berserk Button: Varrick indirectly suggests Kuvira's plan to destroy and remake the Earth Kingdom isn't that different from what Ozai was planning to do with Sozin's Comet. Kuvira warns him that the next thing he compares her to Ozai, she'll have him fired at best, executed at worst.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: In Book Three, she becomes the final main villain of the story, like in canon. What makes her an even bigger threat to Korra and the entire world is that she has the back-up of Vaatu who has chosen Kuvira as the one who will help him start an era of chaos.
• Blood Knight: She enjoys fighting which is part of the reason she enters a fighting club and goes against Mako. In the first chapter of Book Two she reveals that she is proud to have fought the Avatar, even if she lost. She even considers her injuries as a 'badge of honor,' and she hopes for a rematch.
• Broken Ace: She is a talented and powerful Earthbender/Metalbender like she is in canon. Her dancing skills are also shown to be unrivaled. Her personality and beliefs, however, are revealed to be disturbingly unhinged and twisted as the story progresses.
• Broken Tears: Had shed these on two occasions.
  • After learning the truth about her parents. She learns that her parents actually loved her and didn't cast her aside as if she was nothing to them.
  • After Amon takes her bending, she is reduced to tears.
• Brought Down to Badass: Amon takes her bending but she is still able to take care of herself and in the final chapter of Book Two even kills several Equalists. She starts regaining her bending early in Book Three.
• Child Prodigy: She allegedly first metal-bent at the age of three.
• Control Freak: Just as much as her canon counterpart. After joining Team Avatar, the members recall how their activity has become much more regimented and efficient since Kuvira joined, such as installing a scheduled sleep time and ordering that nobody is to be more than fifty paces from the campsite without informing her first.
• Cool Big Sis: To Opal.
• The Corrupter: Attempted but ultimately Subverted. After Team Avatar is separated and she is left with Bolin, she tries to manipulate him and sway him to her side. But after witnessing what she did to the EK royal family, she tries to kill him.
• Cultured Badass: One of the most skilled benders in the story who is also a student of history who grew up in a city that champions metal-bending and Earth Kingdom culture.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Gives one to Mako, and gets one from Korra.
• Dark Messiah: Comes to be this as Book Two progresses. She murders the Earth Kingdom royal family and intends to unify the people of the Earth Kingdom under a new government. She becomes an even more literal one when she becomes the Dark Avatar.
• Death by Adaptation: Unlike canon, Kuvira is not spared and is killed during the final battle to end the war against the Earth Empire.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Korra and Kuvira seem to be on the road to becoming friends after Korra defeated Kuvira in Book One. They eventually come to consider each other as friends.
• Defeat Means Respect: She has been on both ends of this trope.
  • After defeating Mako, he has no ill feelings toward her. Likewise, she respects the actions he took to help the Avatar and save her parents.
  • Despite being easily defeated by Korra, Kuvira does not feel any anger towards Korra and is actually sympathetic towards her. She even tells Korra that the injuries she received will be a 'badge of honor.' Likewise, Korra has come to respect Kuvira's abilities and wants to learn metal-bending form her.
• Determinator: Learning the truth about her parents and having Avatar Korra by her side only serves to further motivate her towards her goals.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: This Kuvira needs to use a prosthetic after her fight against Korra and Bolin in Omashu causes her to lose part of her leg.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She is Desna and Eska's bodyguard in Chapter Thirteen.
• Establishing Character Moment: The end of Book One was used to illustrate how much she enjoys action.
• Evil Counterpart: To Korra, even more than in canon. This gets to the point where she's the one who makes a pact with Vaatu and becomes the Dark Avatar.
• Evil Former Friend: In this version, Kuvira establishes a friendship with Team Avatar, mainly with Korra, throughout the first half of Book Two. Towards the end of the same Book, she's willing to killing all of Team Avatar and anyone who gets in her way to accomplish her goal of killing all tyrants and uniting the Earth Kingdom.
• Fake-Out Make-Out: Taken a step further in "Eve of the Revolution" when the Equalists are about to search Asami's room for a spy, Asami convinces Kuvira to strip down and make it look like the two of them are having sex to fluster the guards.
• False Friend: When she feels it to be necessary, she uses her position on Team Avatar and her friendship with Korra to advance her own interests and plans for the Earth Kingdom.
• Fantastic Racism: Holds a fair amount of prejudice towards Fire Nation citizens.
• Faux Affably Evil: Disobey her or give her reason to believe that you are harming the Earth Kingdom, she can be downright terrifying and still be polite about it. When she confronts the Earth Kingdom royals, Kuvira has a rather casual conversation with them about history and their right to rule with the clear intent to kill them all afterwards. And then when she sees Bolin who has seen what she has done she doesn't drop the polite demeanor as she moves in to kill him.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Kuvira has no problem forgiving Korra for nearly killing her, but it doesn't look like she will forget it anytime soon. However, she takes what happened in stride, and she understands the circumstances Korra was in were less than ideal.
• Freudian Excuse: Left an orphan as a result of the post-colonial oppression present in the Earth Kingdom contributes to her belief that the Earth Kingdom would be a much better place without people such as the royal family and other families who profited from the Fire Nation occupation.
• The Fundamentalist: She makes no secret of her belief in the superiority of earth-bending.
• Good Is Not Soft: She tells Mako that she agreed that torturing Manu was the right thing to do.
• Grade Skipper: She comments to Korra that she skipped a few grades in school and already has a college degree at 18 years old.
• Happily Adopted: She was raised as a member of the Beifong family at Zaofu after her parents gave her away. Kuvira is grateful to Suyin for treating her like she really was one of her children.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Kuvira and Korra became quite close considering that they have only known each other for a few months.
• Hypocrite: When Korra comforted her after she learned the truth about her parents, she admired how compassionate Korra was. But when Korra wants to show mercy to captured Equalists, Kuvira silently criticizes her for being too soft.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She wasn't wrong when she called Asami selfish for not wanting to leave her father.
• Jumped at the Call:
  • Zig-zagged. During Chapter One of Book Two, Korra asks Kuvira to become her teacher which Kuriva states would be an honor. However, Kuvira was unable to actually accept the position since she was going to head back to Zaofu. Although, she does suggest to Korra going to Zaofu to learn metalbending.
  • Played Straight later as she teaches Korra how to metal-bend when Korra comes to Zaofu.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: For most of Book Two, she's more of an Anti-Hero with extremist views and who pretends to cooperate with Team Avatar to further her own goals of ending tyranny in the Earth Kingdom. Towards the end of Book Two, she goes into full-on Well-Intentioned Extremist when she assassinates the Earth Kingdom royal family and tries to kill Bolin when he catches her in the act. In Book Three, she becomes the main villain as she leads an army to destroy and rebuild the Earth Kingdom into her Earth Empire governed by fear.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: She wants to kill the corrupt Matou family and does kill the Earth Kingdom Royal Family. Despite the extreme nature of her hostility, neither parties are innocent of wrongdoing.
• Knight Templar: She wants to save the Earth Kingdom by uniting it... by murdering entire families.
• Lady And A Scholar: She's a well-read academic and intellectually advanced woman who is also socially engaging with a polite and friendly demeanor.
• The Leader: Of Team Avatar, while she initially appears to share the role with Mako it is clear that Kuvira's membership has a large influence on the team's goals and activities. She is also often the one to develop attack plans and backup plans for the team's missions.
• Living Lie Detector: Uses seismic sense to detect if someone is lying.
• Made of Iron: Survived a fight against an angry Korra and was in a good enough condition to still fight the Red Lotus in the same night. She also takes a fair amount of punishment near the end of Book Two including getting her bending stolen and one of her hands broken by Bolin when she tried to murder him, again she was still in good enough shape to fight Equalists later.
• Mentor Archetype: She becomes Korra's metal-bending teacher.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: She favors dealing with her enemies by killing them without mercy.
  • She begins to show signs of being this after Team Avatar overthrows the Matou family and Kuvira would have executed the entire family, including the children, had Korra not intervened.
  • She slaughters the entire Earth Kingdom Royal Family in "Kuvira's Decision" and follows this up shortly by then attempting to kill Bolin for witnessing the aftermath of the massacre.
  • In the final chapter, despite being stripped of her bending she grabs a sword and proceeds to kill every Equalist she sees.
• The Needs of the Many: It becomes clear that she takes this ideology to heart in "Crystal Skies" when explaining her version of an ideal ruler to Bolin.

  Kuvira: It has to be someone with no desire for riches or someone who remains always impartial. They can never favor family or friends, only the entire nation. The power must not be hereditary or come from material wealth. Someone without those legacies must be chosen to decide what is best for the future and not simply act to appease the present. Along the way the elite Earth Kingdom families will have their power stripped from them and all of it returned to the people. The leader must be willing to purge enemies and detractors without mercy. They must be able to mobilize the people into working towards a greater goal.

• Not in This for Your Revolution: While she aids the Team Avatar for a good part of Book Two, she also has her own goals in mind that differentiate her from the other members. While the rest of Team Avatar only want to deal with Amon and rescue Asami from the Equalists, Kuvira deviates and delays their quest in several ways for the sake of her own goals of freeing villages of the Earth Kingdom from tyranny and poverty, clearly intending to use the Avatar's cooperation for her benefit.
• Number Two: To both of the Beifong sisters.
• Oh, Crap!: Twice, both times justified.
  • When Korra flees from the police, Kuvira chases after her and sees Korra go into an area where many reporters are able to take Korra's picture.
  • When Korra enters into the Avatar State.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Zigzagged. She defeats Mako in an underground bending fight with ease. However, Mako's losing to her lead to some rather horrific consequences for him.
• Parental Abandonment: Like in canon, she resents the fact that her parents abandoned her, even though she had a happy childhood with the Beifong family at Zaofu. It later gets subverted; Kuvira eventually discovers that her parents loved her and were forced to give her up to protect her from being exploited by the Matou family for being a metalbender.
• Pet the Dog:
  • When Korra is being restrained, she notices Korra's breaking down into tears and feels sorry for her.
  • During Chapter Nineteen, she tells Mako that she agrees with him that the Cold-Blooded Torture of Manu was necessary.
  • Warns Korra of Suyin informing Lin and Tenzin of her location and helps Team Avatar escape Zaofu before joining them.
  • When Korra has a nightmare in "Liberation", Kuvira stays in Korra's tent that night to provide comfort and a calming presence.
• Pragmatic Villainy: After her duel with Iroh ends with him bloody on the ground and Opal interfering to save his life, Kuvira is irritated but spares them both. Iroh since Opal gives a speech saying that killing him would be dishonorable that Kuvira's own watching followers buy into and Opal since killing or publicly arresting her risks offending the Beifongs
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: She delivers one to the Earth Kingdom royalty.

  "Do you not feel anything for the people? None of you has a problem with how Hou Ting operates? None of you desire to build a united and powerful nation? I take your silence as evidence of your devotion to Hou Ting."

• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Just about sums up her arc in Book Two.
• Red Baron: Once she starts assembling her Earth Empire army in Book Three, people call her "The Great Uniter".
• Rousing Speech: Delivers a couple of these during "Liberation" while overthrowing the Matou family.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In "The Insurgent", Kuvira learns that Suyin has told Lin and Tenzin that Korra is in Zaofu and that they are coming to persuade her to return to Republic City. Suyin orders her to be silent about this, but Kuvira still tells Korra about it, then helps her and her friends to escape Zaofu before deciding to accompany them on their journey to rescue Asami from the Equalists.
• She Who Fights Monsters: She hates the Earth Kingdom Royal Family and clearly wishes them removed from power, but as her nationalist feelings grow she in a way embraces the autocratic style of ruling that they practice. In her efforts to unite the Earth Kingdom into the Earth Empire, Kuvira ends up becoming someone as cruel and monstrous as the oppressors and tyrants she wanted to take out of power.
• Shipper with an Agenda: She uses Bolin's attraction to Korra as a way to control him and keep Korra distracted in the future.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: She joins Team Avatar in the middle of Book Two. She ends up turning against them to pursue her own goals and becomes the main villain of the final Book like in canon.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Throughout Book Two.
• The Sociopath: Intelligent, charismatic, puts on an affable façade, manipulative, loves the thrill of battle, sees people as little more than pawns, doesn't care who she needs to lie to and betray for the sake of her goals, and murders with no remorse.
• Start of Darkness: Book Two, possibly begins in earnest in "Liberation." Although Bolin hypothesizes that the darkness may have always been there, it just needed an opportunity to come out.
• The Strategist: After joining Team Avatar, she is often the one coming up with the plans for infiltrations and fights.
• Team Mom: She plays this role to some extent with heavy My Beloved Smother vibes when traveling with Team Avatar, since she's more competent, reliable and experienced than the more immature members Korra and Bolin and quite the Control Freak about the team's activities. This is lampshaded by Korra and Bolin at times.
• Thrill Seeker: She enjoys a new challenge and finding things that excite her. She happily accepts going on a mission to retrieve the Avatar as a result.
• Tragic Villain: It was ultimately the culmination of tragedy and oppression that led to Kuvira's villainy.
• Underestimating Badassery: During the battle in Omashu, Kuvira doesn't hesitate to take on Bolin, thinking of him as small fry, especially since Kuvira just defeated Korra. What Kuvira didn't see coming was Bolin learning lavabending.
• The Unfettered: Nothing will stop her from saving the Earth Kingdom from corruption and division. If it means ensuring the salvation of the Earth Kingdom, she will kill anybody including the Earth Queen or even Bolin. She herself even lampshaded this in a conversation with Bolin by explaining how the new leader cannot make any exceptions for friends, family, or personal opinions.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her defeating Mako set off the chain of events that resulted in Mako and Bolin losing their home.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: She ensembles an army that set out to conquer the entire Earth Kingdom and unite it into the Earth Empire where everlasting peace can be achieved. For her goal, Kuvira will kill anyone who gets in her way and make people work in labor camps to instigate fear in the population.
• Vicariously Ambitious: She believes Suyin is the one who should rule the Earth Kingdom instead of a tyrannical Earth Queen, since Kuvira sees Zaofu as proof that Suyin can lead their country to prosperity. Kuvira ends up assassinating the Earth Queen and creates the perfect chance to suggest Suyin becomes the new ruler. However, Suyin refuses the throne because disturbing royal bloodlines could create even more conflicts when the Earth Kingdom is already dealing with the aftermath of the Equalists and the assassination of the royal family.
• Visionary Villain: She's determined to create a better Earth Kingdom by any means necessary so that none will have to repeat the circumstances of her childhood and so that the Earth Kingdom itself will never be left divided again.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Even as her actions became more heinous, she is still dedicated to the establishment of a strong Earth Kingdom.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Asami, calling her selfish and forcing her to choose between her friends and her father.
• Worthy Opponent: Korra and Kuvira feel this way towards each other.
• Would Hit a Girl: Delivers a slap to Asami.
• You Will Be Spared: Suyin and later Opal try and oppose her brutal ways to conquer the Earth Kingdom. Kuvira spares their lives and only takes them prisoner to honor Suyin's family having taken care of her, even though she feels no love for them.

Mako

A young firebender whose parents were murdered when he was a child. He does his best to look after his younger brother Bolin.

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• Anti-Hero: He is willing to take steps the others are not.
• Big Brother Instinct: He always looks out for his younger brother Bolin.
• Big Damn Heroes: He and Bolin are able to save Korra's parents from the Red Lotus which puts a monkey wrench in the Red Lotus' plans.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Inflicts it upon a Red Lotus member during Chapter 14 to find out what their plans are for Korra.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Witnessed his parents get killed, and he has committed various crimes to keep him and his brother alive.
• Death by Adaptation: Killed at the end of Book Two in order to kill Amon.
• Distressed Dude: He has to be rescued by Asami, Korra and Bolin when he was being beaten up.
• Dreadful Musician: He and Korra laugh at each other's singing when they're trying to bypass the badgermoles at the Cave of Two Lovers.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite the suddenness of it, Mako goes out in a blaze of glory by taking Amon with him.
• Good Is Not Soft: He is willing to conduct torture to gain information.
• Graceful Loser: Despite getting beaten badly by her in an underground bending arena which indirectly leads to him losing his home, Mako does not hold any grudge towards Kuvira.
• Honor Among Thieves: Planned to return Asami's precious pendant upon seeing it has a picture of her mother
• I Did What I Had to Do: He uses this as his reasoning for a few of his actions.
  • He tells Asami he committed a number of crimes to help keep himself and Bolin alive.
  • He tortures a member of the Red Lotus, so they can help Korra and learn what they plan on doing with her. In the process, he learns of their plans to kidnap her parents.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Played around. While torturing a Red Lotus member to find out their plans did allow him to help save Korra's parents, it does get him into some trouble with the authorities in Chapter Nineteen, especially since they figure he's had experience doing it. Additionally, Asami now feels uncomfortable around him as a result.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite the number of bad things he has done in the past, he is still a good person at heart.
• Jumped at the Call: While he is not as vocal or enthusiastic about it as Asami or Bolin, but he ready and willing to lay down his life to help Korra and even tortured Manu to obtain information on the Red Lotus without hesitation. He states he was partly motivated because Korra and him aren't so different.
• Justified Criminal: Prior to meeting Asami and Korra, he did what he could to keep his brother and himself alive.
• Mutual Kill: While his lightning attack at the end of Book Two struck and killed Amon, it ended up killing Mako as well due to Amon's water-bending.
• Only Sane Man: When trekking across the Earth Kingdom with Korra and Bolin he continuously comes off as this.
• Out of Focus: While he is still a major character in Book One, he lacks a POV, and he does not share as much screentime with Korra as Asami or Bolin, so his character and relationship with Korra remains underdeveloped outside of becoming friends with her.
  • Averted during Book Two where he finally gets his own POV scenes, and his friendship with Korra receives more development.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents were killed by firebenders when he was young.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Inverted. Similar to canon, Mako and Korra begin their friendship off on a rough note, but neither have developed romantic feelings for each other during the course of Book One unlike in canon. Additionally, Korra spends more time with his brother, Bolin, rather than him.
• Promotion to Parent: Like in canon, he took the responsibility of taking care of Bolin after they lost their parents and it was far harder on him here because they remained living on the streets until they met Asami.
• Scars Are Forever: He has a few on his body.
• Shipper on Deck: He appears to be one for Korra and Bolin.
• Street Urchin: Since he was eight years old up to the beginning of the story.
• Team Dad: During the journey across the Earth Kingdom to rescue Asami with Korra and Bolin, Mako acts like the responsible adult who looks after his younger teammates and supervises their antics.
• Torture Technician: Had a number of experiences performing torture in the past and utilizes it in Chapter Fourteen to get information out of a member of the Red Lotus.
• Undying Loyalty: To Future Industries when he opposed the Cabbage Corp. hostile takeover and to his friends and family.
• You Are What You Hate: He states he wanted to hate firebenders for killing his parents, but it was difficult because he is a firebender himself.

Naga

Korra's faithful Polar Bear Dog.

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• Adaptational Expansion: In this story, we get to see Naga as a pup, and she how this version of Naga became Korra's friend and Loyal Animal Companion.
• Badass Adorable: She is cute, but you don't want to mess with her.
• Big Friendly Dog: To Korra and her friends.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Witnessed her mother get killed.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: She was quick to pick up on the less than innocent intentions the gang members had towards Korra. Subverted with the Red Lotus in a justified case since she grew up with the Red Lotus along with Korra. However, she was upset by the Red Lotus kidnapping Korra.
• Loyal Animal Companion: To Korra.
• Only Friend: She was Korra's only friend and vice versa before meeting their other friends.
• Team Pet: One of the two, being the pet of The Heroine and part of Team Avatar.
• Undying Loyalty: To Korra.

Pabu

Bolin's pet Ferret.

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• Loyal Animal Companion: To Bolin.
• Team Pet: One of the two.