Okay.
So we’re doing this.
I have a bunch of issues with the Legend of Korra, and a fair amount of my gripes come
from Book 2.
Honestly, since that season came out, I have been rewriting it in my head, and after mulling
it over for uh 4 years, I want to share how I would rewrite it.
Before I get started, I need to go over a few things.
For this rewrite I will be leaving the rest of the series as is with a few exceptions.
That does not mean that I think there are no issues with Books 1, 3, and 4...there are,
but my focus here is going to be on how Book 2 could have been a more compelling follow
up to the first season and a stronger lead in for the third.
I’ll still be trying to use a handful of the ideas from Book 2 in an effort to keep
the plot throughout the series consist and explore the themes that the season set out
to examine in the first place, but keep in mind that although similar bits and pieces
will be in my version, almost all of them operate in a much, much different way.
Also, this is more of a general outline, so not every point I bring up will be entirely
fleshed out.
Lastly, I think it is important to say that I am just a dude on the internet who doesn’t
have to worry about budgets, deadlines, target demographics, or any of the countless hurdles
that television writers have to deal with when making a show.
I also have the benefit of hindsight, so I already know what was received well, and not
so well.
My point is, I have it easy because all I am really doing is talking about what I would
have liked to see in this season without having to do any of the actual work of getting it
made.
With all that out of the way, this is how I would rewrite Book 2 of The Legend of Korra.
The second season didn’t have the best launching off point, and that can largely be attributed
to the way Book 1 ended, so to properly set up Book 2, I need to change Book 1’s ending.
Instead of Korra unlocking the Avatar state and getting her bending back, it ends with
her looking out towards the water, mourning everything that she’s lost.
For all intents and purposes, now, she’s just be an airbender.
And while I’m making changes to Book 1, I’d also have Harmonic Convergence be mentioned
early on in some capacity.
It doesn’t really matter how, but it’d be introduced in a similar way to how Sozin’s
comet in The Last Airbender was—as an event that would cause a major shift in the spiritual
energy in the world.
Some people are nervous for it, others are excited, but it’s common knowledge that
this astrological alignment is coming soon.
This would a) make it feel like it doesn’t come out of nowhere and b) set the expectations
that Harmonic Convergence may bring about some sort of change, which acts as a better
set up for the return of airbenders in Book 3.
With those changes made, Book 2 picks up a few months later.
Republic City has changed a lot since we’ve last seen it.
Due to Amon’s assault, the majority of benders living there no longer have their abilities,
so a lot of the infrastructure in the city that relied on bending has fallen to the wayside,
leading a lot of people who held anti-bender sentiments to realize that they may have jumped
the gun on that one.
Between losing their primary source of electricity and having a far less effective police force,
tensions in Republic City are high.
Furthermore, in Republic City and other major areas, there have been strange attacks that
are rumored to be caused by angry spirits.
Blame gets tossed around in all sorts of ways, and a fair bit of it is directed at Korra,
who hasn’t been fulfilling the assumed responsibilities of the Avatar, as she has hold herself up
on Air Temple Island, dedicating the majority of her time towards mastering airbending.
Although she doesn’t admit it to Tenzin or any of her friends, this is all in an effort
to distract herself from her hardships.
Despite telling everyone in her life that she’s fine, she still has not accepted what
happened.
I imagine there’d be a scene where she’s standing by the ocean late at night, trying
to bend the water, but to no avail, signifying her reluctance to let go even after all this
time.
During the time jump, Mako pines for Korra, but she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.
He joins the police to help protect Republic City, and he rises through the ranks quickly
because, with his bending, he’s one of the more effective police officers.
However, he is overworked and feels the weight of being responsible for everyone else’s
problems.
Bolin joins him on the force, and Chief Beifong tries to teach him, and the few other earthbenders
remaining in the city, how to metalbend, but he can’t figure it out.
This frustrates him a great deal and feels like a failure, establishing Bolin’s deep
desire to metalbend, strengthening his arc in Book 3.
Asami has been trying to keep her company afloat after the arrest of her father, but
with very little support from former business partners, it is proving difficult.
The group has grown apart a bit as they each try to adapt to life in a post-revolution
world.
None of them are comfortable with where they are in life, and each worries that they will
never get what they want.
Then Korra starts to have the same dream every night, similar to the ones she had in Book
1 that followed Aang’s interactions with Yakone, but instead of dreaming of Aang, it
is of a different Avatar, one Korra has never heard about before.
Avatar Wan, the first Avatar.
These dreams start cryptic, but soon Korra realizes that they’re showing her how Wan
became the Avatar.
Wan’s story is told throughout the entire season with these dreams, instead of them
just being designated to 2 episodes.
From these dreams she learns the origins of each bending discipline: waterbending from
the moon, earthbending from the badgermoles, firebending from the dragons, and airbending
from the skybison, sticking closer to the origins of bending that Avatar: The Last Airbender
first established instead of the direction the Legend of Korra took it.
Each source has a spirit associated with it, and Wan seeks each of them out in order to
wield the four elements.
Korra realizes that the dreams are trying to get her to find the original sources of
bending, and knowing the tales of how the Princess of the Northern Water Tribe became
the Moon Spirit, Korra heads north, in the hopes of reconnecting her bending.
She tries to go alone, but Tenzin insists that he be there to act as her spiritual guide,
and of course, his family joins them, including Bumi and Kya.
Lin, knowing the importance of Korra’s journey, assigns Mako to help escort her, Bolin comes
along, hoping he might be able to learn a thing or two about bending from the badgermoles,
and Asami sets up a meeting with a very eccentric and extravagant businessman, Varrick, who
has a summer home in the Northern Water Tribe because why not.
So, on a Sato made ship, the New Team Avatar sets sail for their first stop: the Northern
Water Tribe.
On the trip, Korra and Asami start to strike up an actual friendship.
They bond not just over their grief, but also over how no one knows how to treat them anymore.
Both have gotten more pity than anything else, so it is nice for them to talk to someone
who offers actual empathy.
As they arrive at the Northern Water Tribe, they are met by Korra’s uncle, Unalaaq,
the chieftain of the tribe, and he expresses his concern about the mistreatment of spirits
in the south.
He fears that the great cities outside of the north pole have lost respect for the spirtual
world, driving many of them from their rightful homes in the name of progress and science.
With Harmonic Convergence approaching quickly, he urges Korra to open the Northern Spirit
Portal as a sign of good faith to the spirits: a way to show that humans want to live alongside
them.
Korra tries, but she isn’t able to open it.
At some point, Bolin meets Eska, who he quickly falls in and out of love with, and Asami strikes
a deal with Varrick who agrees to finance a new project for her company if he is allowed
to document the Avatar’s journey in a mover.
So, Korra goes to the Spirit Oasis, and sits next to the familiar pond where two koi fish
swim around each other endlessly.
She tries to connect to the Moon Spirit, but due to Tenzin laying his guidance on a little
thick, distractions from Varrick’s film crew, and Korra’s personal walls, she is
unable to.
However, Jinora makes a brief connection with the Moon Spirit, who tells her to bring that
Avatar back later that night, alone.
They do this, and with Jinora’s aid, Korra is able to communicate with the Moon Spirit.
Yue, through spiritual energy, reconnects the severed link to Korra’s waterbending,
restoring part of her powers.
The next day, frustrated that he missed the moment, Varrick tries to recreate it, enlisting
the help of Bolin.
A funnier writer than I would come up with good bits for Varricks remakes.
I imagine Korra would have little interest in wasting her time with reshooting these
events, meaning Varrick would have to cast stunt doubles and stand-ins to try to make
a cohesive product.
This “remake” continues throughout the entire adventure as the film crew don’t
end up capturing many of the more important moments as they happen.
Varrick’s actual goal is to follow Korra to various spots with intense spiritual energy
so he can purchase nearby land, and commercialize it, essentially turning these spiritual spots
into tourist traps.
Mako is suspicious of Varrick and a game of cat and mouse goes on between them, similarly
to how it played out in the actual season.
Korra’s dreams continue, and she learns more about the life of Avatar Wan as she sets
out for the earth kingdom and then the fire nation.
She learns of how he separated Raava and Vaatu, the spirits of light and dark, and then offered
himself as a vessel for Raava in order to stop the world from falling out of balance,
allowing him to channel all 4 types of bending.
And it is important to note that in in this version, Vaatu and Raava spirits aren’t,
uh, rugs.
Back at the North Pole, Unalaaq is genuinely worried about upsetting the spirits, and with
Korra unable to unlock the spirit portal, he takes matters into his own hands by entering
the spirit world through meditation, and going to Wan Shi Tong’s library, hoping to find
information on how the spirit portal could possibly be opened.
In his research, he also learns of Raava and Vaatu, and that it was Raava’s power that
sealed the Spirit Portal in the first place.
Hoping Vaatu may have the power to reverse it, he sets out to find the dark spirit.
To do so, he visits one of the only spirits old enough to know where Vaatu may be: Koh,
the face stealer.
As a sidenote, it’d be awesome if Koh has a new face belonging to someone from Avatar:
The Last Airbender.
Ya know, maybe someone who we don’t hear much from in The Legend of Korra.
Someone famous for carrying a boomerang and wearing a ponytail...
Maybe that’s too dark though.
Anyway, Koh tells Unalaaq where to go, and he sets out to find Vaatu.
Meanwhile, Korra explores Omashu and the surrounding area to learn more about the origins of earthbending,
and with Jinora’s aid, communicates with the spirit that taught Wan and Raava earthbending.
Most likely it’d be the spirit of a great badgermole but maybe it could be the spirit
of Oma from the legend told in the Cave of Two Lovers.
Through this meeting, her earthbending is restored.
In the fire nation, Korra meets with Firelord Zuko who tells her of the Sun Warriors ruins,
and with the help of the dragons there, she is led to the boss-ass dragon spirit that
Wan met on his travels thousands of years ago, restoring her final lost piece.
She is ecstatic to have her bending back, but her dreams continue, as she watches Wan
mastering the Avatar State, something she still has not even been able to do.
In the Spirit World, Unalaaq makes the dangerous trek to Vaatu’s prison, where he finds the
spirit chained in place as light pours on him from every direction, weakening him greatly.
Vaatu tells Unalaaq that this was the work of the first Avatar, and while many believe
the Avatar is the bridge between worlds, spirits have been mistreated for millennia because
of the Avatar.
Unalaaq frees Vaatu and asks him to open the portal.
Vaatu, unsure whether or not he will be able to, agrees to try It’s worthwhile to note
that Unalaaq is not desperate for power and he has no desire to throw the world into darkness.
He believes in tradition and spiritualism, and feels that the Avatar and rest of the
world has turned its back on these tenants.
In this version, he’s also not a member of the Red Lotus as that felt like a tacked
on detail anyway.
Unaalaq isn’t evil, he’s just trying to do what he thinks will save the world.
As all of that is going on, Team Avatar tries to decide what to do next.
Tenzin questions his ability as a mentor as he sees Jinora doing a better job at the things
he trained his entire life to be able to do.
Through conversations with Bumi and Kya, he realizes that this is what children are supposed
to do: outshine their parents, which is in some ways relieving but in other ways unsettling
as he and his siblings consider if they have done better than their parents.
Also, Varrick’s plan to build resorts near spiritual locations is revealed, which leads
to further conflicts between humans and spirits.
Vaatu and Unalaaq attempt to open the spirit portal, but Vaatu’s powers are not strong
enough to do so.
Regardless, he begins gathering spirits angered by the actions of Varrick and other humans,
in order to try and break through it by sheer force.
Jinora senses the disturbance, and after communing with spirits, learns of what is happening.
Korra and Jinora enter the spirit world to see what is going on, and spirit world hijinks
happen that play out similarly to the way they did in the show, ending with Jinora being
taken captive by Unalaaq, Vaatu, and rogue spirits, and using her as leverage to get
Korra to open the portal.
Korra tries to open it, but it isn’t until Vaatu assists her that the barrier is lifted.
Jinora is overtaken by spirits, and Korra is kicked back to her body in the material
plane, with Jinora stuck in the spirit world.
Now out of the Spirit World, Vaatu manipulates Unalaaq by speaking of all the wrongs humans
have done to spirits over the history of the world, and how places like Republic City cut
off the spiritual energy of the world, slowly killing it.
And it is here that Unalaaq makes his tragic turn into true villainy as he suggest that
they “restore” the city to what it once was by using the power granted to the spirits
from Harmonic Convergence.
Spirits in tow, they head to Republic City, and Unalaaq brings Eska and Desna with him.
They obey their father, but have severe doubts about what he is doing.
Korra catches wind of Unalaaq’s plan, either from spirits or from people who see his mystical
army travelling south, so Team Avatar heads there as well.
Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi go to the Spirit World to rescue Jinora, which, again, plays out
similarly to how it does in the show, but uh, without the deus ex machina at the very
end of it.
When the spirits arrive at the city, Harmonic Convergence begins, and Vaatu along with the
other angry spirits, becomes even more powerful, and they began reigning havoc down on Republic
City, trying to erase it from the earth.
Korra and her friends arrive, and fight with Vaatu, but he is too powerful for them.
Focusing most of his efforts on Korra in order to stamp out the light that tormented him
for so long, Vaatu unleashes a barrage of devastating attacks, and it is here that Korra
enters the Avatar state for the first time in the series.
Pulling from the power of the Spirits who helped her along the journey and from the
energy brought about by Harmonic Convergence, similarly to what Aang does at the end of
Book 1 in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Korra takes on a massive, spiritual form, that,
ideally, is cooler looking than just a blue version of herself, and with all of this power,
she battles against Vaatu.
During the fight Unalaaq and rogue spirits continue to attack the city, and Bolin, Mako,
and Asami fight against him.
At some point Eska and Desna join the fray, and they try to appeal to their father, who
now seems to be beyond saving, so they fight against him, and are able to take him down.
After a destructive battle, Korra vanquishes Vaatu and the darkness he brought with him.
Saving the day.
Now able to enter the Avatar state, Korra finally connect to her past lives, and learns
from Aang how to restore bending to those who lost it.
And that is where it’d end.
I think these changes would help the series in a few ways.
First off, Korra at the end of season one gets off too easy.
She is met with a major problem, but she doesn’t actually solve it herself.
With these changes, she has to deal with the consequences of her conflicts.
Also, I think this would make her struggles in Book 4 hit even harder, because even though
she battled back from losing the parts of her that she felt made her special, even though
she finally connected to the Avatar state, even though she should was strong enough to
defeat the embodiment of darkness, she still fails.
She overcomes so much adversity just to be knocked down harder than before, and that
would be crushing, and fascinating to see.
It also gives Team Avatar a chance to actually become friends, which is something Book 2
lacked.
In this version, they spend time together, learn to respect one another, and genuinely
want to help each other find the bits of themselves that are missing.
It also sets up future arcs in more clear and distinguished ways.
It leaves Tenzin, Bumi and Kya wondering if they will ever have an impact on the world
in the way that their parents did, which leads well into the resurgence of Airbenders in
Book 3.
It shows Varrick has a lack of respect for the spiritual world, setting up his arc with
the spirit vines in Book 4.
It establishes Bolin as someone who wants to be a better bender than he is setting him
up to learn lavabending, it gives Mako a new layer of depth as he puts the problems of
others on his own shoulders making his attempted sacrifice feel like the inevitable toll of
taking on more than he should, and it gets the ball rolling sooner with Korra and Asami’s
relationship.
Lastly, it gives some actual depth to Unalaaq.
The way the show plays right now, both Vaatu and Unalaaq feel like moustache twirling baddies
who are evil for the sake of being evil.
While it makes sense that the spirit of darkness is evil, Unalaaq’s motivations never really
made sense to me.
But by showing Unalaaq’s attempts at trying to relieve the tension between humans and
spirits, he becomes sympathetic and his actions are more understandable.
Obviously, my suggestions here leave room for a lot of details that would need to be
filled in to make it a cohesive show, but this is the structure I would follow.
It would be a callback to that of the original show, giving viewers a glimpse of the world
they first fell in love with all those years ago.
We’d get to see how the world has changed over the past 80 years, which in regards to
especially the Fire Nation, would be very interesting to see.
All-in-all, it would feel like an adventure, which is something I always thought was lacking
from The Legend of Korra.
I love thinking about stories, and I know that this is nothing more than glorified fanfiction,
but I do think there is value in breaking down what works and doesn’t work in a story,
and considering how you would approach it if given the chance.
It’s an exercise I think anyone who likes to write stories should do every once and
awhile, as it allows you to focus on finding interesting story beats with an established
cast of characters.
Honestly, feel free to do it here with The Legend of Korra, and let me know what you
would have liked to see from Book 2.