13 Years Ago, 'The Legend of Korra' Finally Answered the Biggest Avatar Mystery

It's never been more important to know this part of the story

When Aang first appeared in Avatar: The Last Airbender as a little bald boy trapped in ice for a century, the language characters used to talk about the Avatar was somewhat generic. Only the Avatar can wield all four elements. It’s their responsibility to restore and maintain peace in the world. We take Aang’s duty, and later Korra’s, at face value. We just sort of assume that’s how this world has always been. The chosen one is reincarnated, and they’re very special. Do we really need to understand more?

Then, at a dire point midway through Legend of Korra season 2 when the South Pole spirit portal was opened, plunging the water tribes into civil war, Korra is swallowed by a massive dark spirit while at sea. She loses her memory. So much of each Avatar’s journey has been about reconnecting with their past selves, using their memories, shared knowledge, and skills accumulated over thousands of years. But perhaps for the first time ever, Korra is the only one who must go all the way back to the very beginning.

If there’s one episode fans of the franchise should rewatch now that Avatar: Seven Havens is in full swing, it’s the two-parter “Beginnings” (episodes 7 and 8 of Korra season 2), which first aired 13 years ago.

Korra must return to the beginning

After her incident at sea, a delirious Korra is told by the sages to find Raava before she’s lowered into spirit waters. We see the most recent Avatars, namely Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk. Korra doesn’t recognize them. Then a young man with an easy smile calls out to her and begins to tell his story.

Ten thousand years before the age of Korra, the world looked remarkably different. Spirits roamed the wilds while humans cowered on the backs of giant lion turtles, venturing out only to gather food. When the humans left their cities, the lion turtles lent them the power to bend an element for protection. Humans lived in these isolated communities safe from the dangers of the world, and they saw spirits more as monsters than anything else.

Wan is immediately presented as an Aladdin-like trickster, or even something closer to Robin Hood as he steals food from a wealthy family to feed his poor friends. He’s mischievous, warm, and quick to befriend any and all animals. We see echoes of Aang’s warmth and kindness, but also Korra’s bold penchant for sticking up for what’s just. He tricks his way into receiving the power to wield fire and uses it to raid the palace, hoping to feed the hungry and establish some semblance of balance. Yet he’s cast out for his actions into the wilds. He befriends the spirits and lives among them for years, but his greatest challenge is consistently trying to make others — spirit and human alike — see the world through his eyes.

Wan’s empathy sets the Avatar cycle in motion

That backstory makes his first great mistake more painful. Wan sees two spirits grappling in a massive contest. The white spirit, Raava, is dismissive and imperious, but the black spirit, Vaatu, makes a plea for help. Only after he’s intervened does he learn of his mistake. Though Wan was simply trying to help someone in danger, his empathy triggers a crisis he can’t solve alone.

Vaatu is actually the spirit of darkness, chaos, and destruction. Raava is the spirit of light, order, and peace. Every ten thousand years, these primordial spirits battle for the fate of the world during the Harmonic Convergence when the planets align, amplifying spiritual energy. Whoever wins ushers in an era of light or darkness, but neither can exist without the other, so the cycle always repeats.

This occurred for eons before Wan intervened. But because he did, Vaatu was given the upper hand. The dark spirit grows more powerful, while Raava shrinks. Spirits turn dark as the next Harmonic Convergence looms. With Raava’s help, Wan gathers all four elements from different lion turtles. When it comes time to face Vaatu, even when Wan and Raava temporarily fuse so he can wield all four elements at once, it's not enough. The only option is for them to permanently merge their essences with a healthy dose of spiritual energy during the Harmonic Convergence. Wan’s choice here is selfless, but also desperate. They’d temporarily fused before, but even that is not enough to defeat Vaatu.

Putting it in context with the rest of the series, Wan can only control all four elements at once when fused with Raava, but they can only do this for a few minutes at a time or Wan will die. If they merge completely, however, Wan casts aside that limitation and also unlocks the seemingly limitless Avatar state. With it, he’s easily able to imprison Vaatu in the Tree of Time.

Korra just so happens to be the Avatar exactly ten thousand years later when Vaatu and Raava’s fateful encounter is due once again. While that doesn’t play out until the end of Korra season 2, “Beginnings” proves vital when trying to understand the franchise’s overarching cosmology and the true purpose of the Avatar.

Wan’s promise to be a bridge comes with a contradiction

Wan makes the deliberate choice to coax the spirits back into the spirit world and seal the portals, proclaiming himself the bridge between both worlds. But he also spends many decades fighting, and failing, to bring peace to the human world. In retrospect, Korra sees the inherent contradiction in Wan’s choice here, which is why she ultimately decides to leave the spirit portals open at the end of season 2 in the hopes that humans and spirits can learn to coexist in harmony.

If the remaining Korra seasons have a fault, it’s that they only indirectly grapple with the implications of this choice. The remaining core conflicts mostly focus on powerful bender villains, but the consequences of Korra’s decision are both immediate and gradual. A new generation of airbenders is born. Spirit vines begin invading and growing in the material world. The Legend of Korra ultimately ends with the latest conflict resolved and a third spirit portal opened by accident.

Looking back now, 13 years later, we have to wonder not just if Korra’s choice to reunite the two worlds was a mistake, but if that might have ultimately led to the Cataclysm the world now blames on Korra. We know Pavi and Nisha are Korra’s immediate successors, but that does not account for the 225 years between Korra’s era and the present day of Seven Havens.

The twin-Avatar mystery matters beyond the shock of seeing two people inherit the same title. If the Avatar’s purpose began with Wan’s promise to bridge two worlds, what does that promise mean when the next generation arrives as twins? Are they a consequence of something Korra did, a new way to fulfill the Avatar’s mission, or something the old rules can’t explain?

“Beginnings” can’t answer those questions. It was made years before Seven Havens, and the new series is still withholding its biggest secrets. But it does give the mystery a meaningful history. The Avatar has never been a simple solution to the conflict between humans and spirits. Wan’s good intentions helped create the crisis he spent his life trying to contain. Korra inherited his mission, lost her connection to the Avatars before her, and chose a different path that in some ways feels more honest to Wan’s promise. Now the world sees her as its destroyer.

Maybe, much like Korra, if we want to understand the true purpose of the Avatar, the most important place to start is at the beginning. Only then can we begin to comprehend how and why the world wound up in such a sorry state — and how the twins might be able to finally fix it.

The Legend of Korra is available to stream on Paramount Plus.