Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Spirit World isn't the afterlife. Also the previous avatar spirits still reside in Korra because they are all one spirit reborn a thousand times over.

Its another dimension,I think there is an afterlife for them but its not pearly white gates with Saint Peter

I think it's most likely that some Avatars live in the spirit world, and some don't. Yangchen, for example, doesn't strike me as someone who would want to stay there.

Edited by indigoJay on Dec 23rd 2020 at 2:50:05 PM

I do wonder if it's something like with the Harry Potter ghosts, where if you choose to live a second life (in the spirit world, vs being a ghost), you live with that decision forever?

That’s...quite terrifying, to be honest.

x3 The Avatar's cannot rend their spirit from Korra and transcend mortality and take residence in the Spirit World like Iroh because they are Korra, it is the same spirit reborn in a new body.

Edited by lycropath on Dec 23rd 2020 at 1:10:40 AM

Are they still Korra? I thought the whole point was that Korra is now her own person separated from the past avatars.

My understanding is that they were intertwined entities bonded with Raava's light spirit (sort of like a chain), essentially making them all one spirit. But now their connection is broken and they are all disconnected, free to roam the afterlife.

Korra's connection to her past lives is severed because Raava was destroyed (And then reborn within Vaatu once more) but the spirit, that is the soul that is in Korra is still the same as it was when it was Wan and Aang and Kyoshi ect.

Edited by lycropath on Dec 23rd 2020 at 1:38:32 AM

I thought all Avatars were their own spirit/soul and Raava was the connection between them all. Otherwise i start having philosophical problems with a new Avatar being born as soon as the old one dies. Did the newborn not have a soul until that precise moment? Was the old Avatar always destinied to die at that precise moment, or are there multiple soulles kids walking around because their previous incarnation did not die when they were supposed to?

Raava very clearly said she would be with Wan throughout all of his lifetimes. The meaning there seems pretty clear.

I think that's overthinking things - it's destiny shit, the Avatar dies when they're meant to, and is born when they're meant to. There's not "missed opportunity" probably.

Edited by LSBK on Dec 23rd 2020 at 7:13:50 AM

Here's what the Avatar Wiki says:

I think this explains why when Raava is separated from Korra, Korra still exists while the past lives are still connected to Raava's spirit. And to be fair, part of the confusion also is due to the fact Raava's existence slightly retcons what was previously established in the first place.

The Avatar Wiki is filled with fanon, I wouldn't take it as gospel

The way I look at it, all the Avatars have different souls, the only aspect of "reincarnation" is that Raava comes into that new body, and with Raava comes a link to all the other Avatars. It's why we've seen other Avatars as separate spirits, they aren't literally previous reincarnations of the same soul, they're all different souls who are linked through their shared connection to Raava, and Raava is the Avatar Spirit itself.

Each Avatar is two spirits in one body: their own spirit and the Avatar Spirit, Raava. Raava is the reincarnation cycle constant between Avatars, their own human souls just happen to also be there.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 23rd 2020 at 6:46:20 AM

The point of reincarnation is that it is the same soul being reborn in every lifetime though? Its exactly how Raava describes it, she will be with Wan for every lifetime moving forward not she will christen each new soul as new Wan in honor of his legacy. Its Yangchen is reborn as Kuruk who is reborn as Kyoshi who is reborn as Roku who is reborn as Aang.

Edited by lycropath on Dec 23rd 2020 at 5:51:04 AM

The Avatar was created by Raava being permanently merged with Wan's soul. I'm really not seeing an interpretation of what happens that allows for the various Avatars to have a different one from the original.

Edited by LSBK on Dec 23rd 2020 at 7:52:53 AM

4x I mean...it's about as much Fanon as TV Tropes is. Also the quote makes direct references to the comics, Kyoshi, and the series.

But again, this is all interpretive. The real point to be made here is that the past lives should definitely make some kind of return somehow. The Legend of Korra comics are really missing out because of it.

Edited by deuteragonist on Dec 23rd 2020 at 5:53:43 AM

Kuruk isn't hunting anyone in the spirit world in the Kyoshi novels, I think that comes from that spirit world webgame that was supposed to be Aang's coma dreams in-between season 2-3. Of course this was all non canon because Aang did not know Yangchen or Kuruk when he was formally introduced to them in season 3.

Its definitely something that can be handwaved with a future Avatar if they really wanted. Like one was born in tune with their spiritual self like Aang and Jinora and thus easily connects the bonds that Vaatu severed, or another lifetime is a pious pilgrim who spends their lifetime in meditation under the tree of ages reliving their past lives memories to reforge the connection between lifetimes.

Of course I am still of the mind that the past has a more interesting setting to explore then the future of the Avatar world. The time after Korra will probably be modern bordering on futuristic, which- blech.

Edited by lycropath on Dec 23rd 2020 at 6:12:10 AM

The past lives are reincarnations of the same spirit. This is made clear at several points. Instances where they manifested are probably more like that aspect of the Avatar's soul coming to the surface. What happened with Iroh is more analogous to him achieving enlightenment and escaping the reincarnation cycle.

If we're talking in a strictly Hindu sense, reincarnation is generally understood as analogous to a naked person (soul) putting on different clothes (identity). You don't burn your closet every time you change. Essentially, Una Vaatu more or less burned the closet.

Aang is Korra’s immediately previous life. Not some guy Raava ditched to join Korra. The soul of the person who is the Avatar reincarnates when it’s resident squishy meatbag spoils, and Raava having merged with that soul moves on with it to the new fresh squishy meatbag, and the cycle repeats.

Korra just can’t Discord chat with her previous incarnations anymore. But whoever she reincarnates into will be able to Discord chat with her.

Edited by TheAirman on Dec 23rd 2020 at 10:34:09 AM

I'm not gonna lie, this is making less and less sense. This is kind of making it sound like the incarnations that Korra is communicating with are just memories, which doesn't really sit right with me.

Like I get that Korra is technically communicating with herself because that's what the Avatar is but again, when Korra separated from Raava, the past lives and Korra herself still existed separately. They were connected to Raava, not Korra. That's how the connection was severed in the first place. Otherwise, the severing would have just killed Raava and Korra would still have that access to her previous lives.

The Kyoshi novel explanation (that the Avatar is both the same soul while also being made of different beings in a continuum) is still the best one for me. It's a "two things can be true" situation. Also, it's the canon explanation considering Bryke approved it.

Edit: Lastly, the Avatar State itself calls on the power of all of the previous past lives, meaning that each life has their own spiritual energy and knowledge.

Edited by deuteragonist on Dec 23rd 2020 at 9:15:11 AM

Memories, emotions, thought processes ... basically a person. It still works. It's easier to think about past lives in terms of identities. The soul can hold multiple identities. I'm sure the Vedas or Bhagavad Gita has a better explanation, but this is Avatar so 1:1 translations isn't going to exist.

Edited by Dr.XXX on Dec 23rd 2020 at 12:18:58 PM

It's really not too complicated.

There is one Avatar. When they die, their soul reincarnates. But reincarnation does not confer upon them continuity of identity. When the Avatar's soul reincarnates, they are born as a brand new person with no memories and no pre-existing biases and no ideas or opinions carried over from their past lives. Their soul is the same, but they are born as a blank slate nonetheless. They grow up and develop a personality and a worldview through the life experiences that this version of them obtains.

So they are the same person, spiritually, but each version of the Avatar develops a different conscious identity. And these identities are stored inside Raava, which the current version of the Avatar can connect with for advice and guidance.

When the past lives were taken from Korra, they didn't go anywhere. Vaatu didn't, like, kill the Avatars any more than melting down those spirally statues of them would be killing them. He erased the imprints of their various identities inside of her. Effectively reformatted her hard drive, erasing all her saved documents and starting her over from a fresh boot.

But those Avatars themselves still exist, in the same sense that they've always existed: they are only one person, they have only ever been one person, and right now that person is Korra. And when she dies, an imprint of Korra's identity will be saved, and Korra's consciousness will end, but Korra will be born again as a blank slate with access to the stored Korra imprint.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 23rd 2020 at 9:43:34 AM

Which essentially means that whenever an Avatar talks with past Avatars, they are actually talking to themselves.

Kind of like how Tenzin in the Fog of Lost Souls ended up talking with himself which helped him realize he needed to stop trying to be Aang and instead be himself.

In that case Avatar world either has unchangeable destiny or there are some soulless kids being born (like the theory that Yue was supposed to be the next Avatar, but Aang didn´t die when he was supposed to so she wasn´t capable of living until the Moon spirit gave her some of their essence). Both of which suck. Well i guess there could also be a soul repository and everyone only gets a soul when born, but that has Unfortunate Implications.