Korra’s epic battle with Zaheer perfectly encapsulates Book Three, Change.
And here's a shot by shot battle breakdown to prove it.
The Korra versus Zaheer fight actually starts with a different battle,
Korra’s battle to stay out of the Avatar state.
Once we administer this poison, your body will naturally react,
forcing you into the avatar state, in an effort to keep you alive.
Sadly, for you, you'll be entering it for the last time.
For all his planning, it seems like Zaheer radically underestimated
the power of the Avatar state.
Platinum chains, lava and ice blades are impressive, but that’s nowhere
near enough to stop Korra.
Destroy the Avatar!
Especially, because she can breathe fire.
It's a skill she's used before, and it'll come up again soon.
But watch how she uses it here.
It’s a precise move to melt Ming Hua's ice blade.
It's clever and strategic.
Plus, Korra may not be able to bend platinum,
but she can bend the earth that the platinum is attached to.
[grunting]
Honestly, the Red Lotus members don’t seem prepared
for the incredible power, Korra unleashes here.
She snaps through solid platinum chains like they're nothing.
Maybe she could bend platinum after all.
Or maybe she's just that strong.
Korra takes out Ghazan and Ming Wan with what looks like an Air-Earth combo move.
Once she’s free to fight Zaheer, the battle starts to connect
to the main theme of Book Three, Change.
[screaming]
Look at the way Korra breathes fire here.
It's not like the last time she used this technique.
Her moves up until now have been very tactical.
But this fire breathing moment is not a strategic move.
It's an expression of rage and pain.
It also signals something more troubling.
For the first time, Korra seems to lose control in the Avatar state.
[grunting]
Now it’s just Korra and Zaheer.
The Avatar and the Airbender. And let’s talk about airbending.
Even though Zaheer is Airbending, Korra is definitely leaning on
Firebending and Earthbending in this fight.
Why? Well, she can’t draw on thousands of years
of Air Nomad knowledge in the Avatar State anymore.
Losing that connection to the past avatars
is a huge change for both Korra and the Avatar Cycle.
Combine losing her past lives with the debilitating poison,
and the terrain of this fight, and it makes total sense
that Korra falls back on the elements that come more easily to her.
Now let’s talk about Zaheer. Everything that Zaheer does this fight highlights
just how much Airbending has changed in Book Three.
Up until Zaheer blew off a cliff, everyone in the world thought
that the power of flight was just a myth.
Guru Laghima lived 4,000 years ago in the Northern Air Temple.
It is said that he unlocked the secret of weightlessness
and became untethered from the earth.
Is that how you plan to escape?
With something you picked up from an old Airbender Children's story?
So, Zaheer’s ability to fly drastically changes
the accepted boundaries of Airbending,
and we can see the full effects of that change in this Airborne battle.
Zaheer goes on the attack and he’s able to knock Korra off balance.
Zaheer’s violence, represents a massive change
in what it means to be an Airbender.
Zaheer’s been using Airbending classic evasive movements,
but he also uses his power and aggressive and fearsome waves.
Destroying the paradigm of Airbenders as uniformly peaceful and gentle.
[grunting]
it looks like Zaheer’s poison is really taking effect, too.
But she’s back in the fight and she’s bringing half of a mountain with her.
It’s not quite Kyoshi little tectonic plate shifting,
but it’s still incredibly impressive in terms of scale.
And again, isn’t drawing on any of the past Avatars here.
This is all her and Rava.
[groaning]
[grunting]
So, the way Zaheer fights represents the huge changes
to airbending in Book Three. And the way Korra fights is connected
to the changes in the Avatar Cycle.
But this fight also incorporates another huge change for Book Three.
The rebirth of the Air Nomads.
There haven’t been this many Airbenders in one place for a long time, either.
We have power together.
Hurry, everyone form a circle! Follow me!
Jinora points out that the Air Nomads have returned in force.
Bringing the brand new Airbenders into this fight
shows that the balance of the Four Nations has changed.
But most importantly, the end of this battle causes huge changes
to Korra's character.
What happens to Korra here deeply traumatizes
her. Both physically and psychologically.
[grunting]
She started Book Three with power, physical strength,
and growing confidence in her role as the Avatar.
Korra has always identified herself as a powerful bender
and a powerful Avatar. So, being in such a position
of powerlessness changes Korra in fundamental ways.
The Avatar Cycle will be over momentarily.
Looking at this from a different angle.
Zaheer, the anarchist, used the same move on Korra that he uses on the Earth Queen,
the collective force of the Air Nomads.
And the echoes of the Earth Queen's death remind us that so much has
changed in the balance of the Four Nations in Book Three.
And those changes will have huge repercussions for the world in Book Four.
In the last few moments of battle, all the changes collide.
Summing up the entire theme of Book Three in one fight and flight sequence.
The balance of the Four Nations has changed. Airbending has changed.
The Avatar Cycle has changed. And Korra herself changes because of this battle.
[grunting]
As the Airbender Cyclone pulls Zaheer downwards,
He refuses to let go of Korra. Even when it could save him.
It's as if in the end,
he can't actually let go of everything that tethers him to this world.
Even when he finally let’s go, Korra captures him with her chains.
Literally, an earthly tether to stop his flight.
And despite everything she’s gone through, Korra is still strong enough
to bring Zaheer smashing back down to Earth.
He’s even imprisoned in Earth by the Beifong’s.
For someone who's learned to fly, it's a crushing defeat.
But this fight doesn't really have a winner.
It changes Korra in painful ways. That take a long time heal from.
Ultimately, though, she finds a way to use this as a catalyst for growth.
This devastating battle between Korra and Zaheer
is all about change and the ambivalent outcome
echoes the conversation between Korra and Tenzin
at the very start of Book Three.
Change can be good or bad, depending on your point of view.
[sighing]
True wisdom begins when we accept things as they are.
You started a new age, Korra.
There’s no going back to the past.