Why These Legend of Korra Characters Are the Series’ Most Underwhelming Villains (2024)

Summary

The Equalist movement died with Amon, addressing the power gap between benders and non-benders.

Amon’s character started strong but fell apart when his true bender identity as Yakone was revealed.

Kuvira repeated the oppression of the 100-Year War, driven by unresolved abandonment issues.

The Legend of Korra didn’t have enough time to develop because Nickelodeon stunted the series’ growth.

The Legend of Korra expanded on the Avatar universe in many ways, answering unanswered questions created in Avatar: The Last Airbender and revealing the power of the latest Avatar. While navigating her way through the world, Korra was faced with many difficult opponents and was forced to make impossible decisions due to this. While these instances added depth to the Avatar-verse, some of the enemies Korra battled were better at doing so than others.

Both Kuvira and Amon played an important part in Korra’s time as the Avatar, not only on a character level but also concerning a deeper narrative. They each addressed underlying issues that have existed and been questioned since Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, when it came to resolving these overarching plot points, Amon and Kuvira’s arcs fell short.

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The Equalist Movement Died With Amon

The Problem Was Never Resolved

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Amon was the first villain introduced in TLoK, and behind him was an important movement for the bender universe. The Equalist movement, or Anti-Bending Revolution, addressed the gap between benders and non-benders. Essentially, Equalists believed that no one should be able to bend the elements because it’s inherently oppressive. As the name suggests, they aim to make society equal again by eradicating all benders. Amon’s Equalist movement deals with an important issue that the original series never really addressed — benders being innately superior to non-benders.

Unless a non-bender is highly trained or gifted in combat, such as Ty-Lee, the Kyoshi Warriors, Sokka or Master Piandao, even the least talented bender around has an insurmountable power advantage. Thus, nothing stops them from holding their innate power over the heads of non-benders. This is often seen among criminals in the respective Avatar series, with many preying on non-bender shopkeepers or business owners and apprehending any asset they can.

Due to this overarching issue always having existed, Amon’s character started strong. Before his identity was revealed, it was difficult to imagine how Korra and her friends would be able to defeat him. A non-bender able to take away the ability to bend with just a touch using precise martial arts to evade opponents was an enemy the benders couldn’t seem to stop. However, the moment Amon was revealed as Yakone, the Northern Water Tribe water bender who had mastered bloodbending, everything fell to pieces.

Suddenly, a contrived solution to the seemingly insolvable scenario was clear, and all Korra’s gang had to do was reveal that Amon was a bender. After Yakone was exposed as a fraud, the Equalist moment fell off completely. Republic City’s all-bender council was replaced by a democratically elected president, Raiko, one who so far has been a non-bender simply due to there being more non-benders in existence. Nothing more was done surrounding the issue; it just suddenly disappeared.

The underlying issue of benders having an innate power advantage over non-benders never really got further addressed, nor was a resolution ever sought after. Amon’s character could have opened a real discussion about societal issues within the Avatar universe, but rather than give any real solutions to said problem, his character was used to lightly brush over them and then move on. Oftentimes, in real life, even if a movement’s leader is shown to be fraudulent like Amon was, the movement — or some alternative version of it — will continue to persist. However, in TLoK, this issue seemingly disappears altogether after a mediocre solution.

Kuvira Repeated the Oppression of the 100-Year War

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Kuvira, a metalbender first introduced in the third season of The Legend of Korra, unexpectedly became the villain in the series finale. Despite growing up in the fallout of the 100-year war and undoubtedly being taught the atrocities and failures of the fire nation, she decided to repeat them with her reeducation camps and immoral conquest of Earth Nation land. While, at the beginning, Kuriva’s desire to reunite the Earth Kingdom first appeared as a helpful outreach, it quickly became clear that the general had ulterior motives. The guise of helping smaller villages fooled not only her followers but also the audience, leaving everyone thinking Kuvira just wanted the kingdom to flourish.

However, Kuvira couldn’t just settle for uniting the vast majority of Earth Kingdom land — Kuvira had to conquer it all. This is where everything began to go downhill. Kuvira’s attempt to retake the United Republic was very much an illegal conquest. The United Republic has been a sovereign state for over 70 years, and its sovereignty was recognized by all the other nations — including the Earth Kingdom. This means that the newfound Earth Empire and its citizens no longer had any authority over the territory as it had become completely independent. Republic City no longer fell under the authority of any of the four nations; it was its very own entity. So, when Kuvira invaded, she was no longer conquering the land of her ancestors, as she sold it to her followers. She was invading a completely independent territory over which she had no inherent claim.

Moreover, even before illegally attacking Republic City, Kuvira was reaching bumps in her road to the ideal Earth Empire. Anyone living on the land Kuvira conquered who disagreed with her approach was sent to reeducation camps and treated like a prisoner. These innocent people were plucked from their normal lives, placed in a camp, and refused any requests to leave. While trapped, Kuvira’s ideology was drilled into them until they grew complacent.

Kuvira didn’t commit these atrocities because she believed a new Earth Empire would be better for her people. She did it because of unresolved abandonment issues. Much like Princess Azula, Kuvira firmly believed what she was doing was right due to past trauma. However, Kuvira was a sane adult when she was a conqueror, while Azula was a naive 14-year-old who had been indoctrinated her entire life.

Much like Amon, Kuvira’s arc and character could have been used to discuss the dangers of revanchism and how refusing to let go of past injustices can lead a person to become as bad as, or even worse, than the people they’re opposing. In the end, Kuvira became a worse oppressor than the Earth Queen, while Prince Wu, who was never given a chance, ended up demolishing the monarchy altogether in favor of independent states. Much like Amon, Kuvira’s character could have tackled real-world problems, but in the end, she was forgiven despite her crimes after half-heartedly redeeming herself.

The Legend of Korra Needed More Time

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The Legend of Korra certainly could have made Amon and Kuvira tackle these bigger issues, as it’s been seen before. Avatar: The Last Airbender consistently tackled societal issues and injustices throughout the series, creating some of modern media’s best character and redemption arcs. As ATLA’s sister series, TLoK fell short in this regard, but there’s an explanation for this.

Korra was stunted by the Nickelodeon network, with the creators struggling to have the series renewed and budgets getting slashed at the last minute. As a result, every arc that was started had to be resolved in the same season, as it was unknown whether another season would be on the cards. In contrast, ATLA had full support from Nickelodeon and was guaranteed a three-season story that allowed the series to flourish. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko worked on both Avatar projects, with the only difference in the respective series being Nickelodeon’s interference. Essentially, Nickelodeon had faith in the original series, but TLoK seemed to be a flight risk for the network.

The Legend of Korra

Avatar Korra fights to keep Republic City safe from the evil forces of both the physical and spiritual worlds.

Release Date

April 14, 2012

Cast

Janet Varney
, P.J. Byrne
, David Faustino
, J.K. Simmons
, Jeff Bennett
, Dee Bradley Baker
, Seychelle Gabriel
, Mindy Sterling

Seasons

4