The Avatar franchise has been one the most interesting and creative things to come across our screens in the last ten years. Between the the two series, Avatar:The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra fans have been enjoying this imaginative world and have grown quite invested in its lore. With the current season of Korra being the last and no plans to continue the franchise (at least on TV), I couldn’t help but cook up a quick list of the top six things I think should be done and/answered before the series ends.
Why top six?
Because I like going one step beyond.
Oh, and to get this out of the way, the who “Zuko’s mom” thing ain’t making the list. The comics have already addressed that so I feel no need to put it in here.
So without further ado…
6. General Iroh Get To Kick Butt
Every Avatar fan can agree on one thing, Dante Basco is the man. The almost endless layers of nuance and complexity he was able to bring to the character of Zuko in the original series truly was a work of art and his association with the franchise is a point of happiness and pride for him even to this day. He’s even appeared on the Nostalgia Critic in full on Zuko gear; if the franchise has a cheerleader, it sure as hell is Dante Basco.
Basco’s love for the show as well as the fans love for Basco was the very reason reason the character of General Iroh was ever created. Sadly, the character hasn’t had anything to do since the first season and even then he needed Team Avatar to save his bacon. Point is we’ve been led to believe General Iroh is a badass more than we’ve ever got to see him be a badass, and that’s a damn shame. I want to see Iroh live up to his name and really give us something to remember him by before the end.
5. Whatever Happened To Sokka’s Sword?
Sokka’s sword was a big deal. Forged by Sokka himself under the tutelage of the Sword Master Piandao from the metal of a recently fallen meteorite was Sokka’s statement to the world that he was more than the helpless joke many people, perhaps himself included, thought he was.
So the show stops in its third and final season to have Sokka have this whole thing about making and learning to fight with his special Space Sword, only to have him lose the damn thing in the final battle in the show.
So where is the sword now? Was it ever recovered or is it rusting on the battlefield just waiting like Excalibur for somebody worthy to pick it up? Swords are awesome, swords forged from meteorites are even cooler, swords forged from meteorites by great one of the greatest heroes the world has ever known have to be about the most baddass thing in existence. Such a thing deserves to be seen, give us some Space Sword action!
4. Where Are The Kyoshi Warriors?
The original series introduced us to the Kyoshi Warriors, a group of hard core fighting women founded by Avatar Kyoshi after separating what would become known as Kyoshi island from the Earth Kingdom mainland. These women were an elite fighting force that not only proved their worth in the war to stop the Fire Nation, but in helping build and protect a peaceful world afterwords.
So, where the hell are they now?
One could easily argue why we haven’t seen them in the last three seasons, but if they aren’t don’t appear this season I’m going to call “bullshit”. Kuvira claims to have control of the entire Earth Kingdom (now ‘Empire’) save Zaofu, which means she has to have control of the isle of Kyoshi, and I can’t help but think the Warriors would have had something to say about someone taking over the land they’ve sworn to defend.
Not only does it make sense to have the Kyoshi Warriors, but it gives the creators a great opportunity. Imagine for a second seeing the Kyoshi Warriors out in full gear fighting and we cut to one of the Warriors using a familiar boomerang or maybe even the Space Sword. That’s right, Sokka and Suki’s daughter or son (Sokka wore the outfit with pride, so why not his boy?) out there fighting the good fight. And don’t tell me the Warriors couldn’t stand up to metal benders, Ty Lee was adopted into their ranks which means they should have at least basic knowledge of her chi blocking techniques. Also I’m declaring the Space Sword unbendable because it would suck otherwise. I can’t think of a single fan who wouldn’t want to see that. Give us the Kyoshi Warriors already!
3. Korra To End Up With Anybody Else But Mako
When shows end they often have the protagonist(s) go off into relationships with the audience to assume that they live happily ever after. The original Avatar series did this well; setting up a series of relationships, most notably Aang and Katara, that grew and developed into romances we could believe could last a lifetime. Korra’s love life has always been a mess. When Nickelodeon first green lit the new series they said it was only going to be one season, with that in mind the creators sought to condense a love story into one already tightly packed season, paring Korra off with the young firebender, Mako. It was clunky and not too many fans liked that element of the story, but it worked for a one season show.
Then due to the popularity of the show, Nickelodeon gave them a full series run. Now the creators were stuck with a protagonist that already had been paired off. Oops. To the shows credit, they realized that the relationship didn’t have much meat to it and was unpopular anyways and so it ended in season two. This failure added character depth to both of them, but especially Mako, a character that audiences had found it hard to connect with up to that point. Since then Korra hasn’t had a relationship in her life and the show hasn’t suffered for it.
While I don’t think the series has the balls to leave Korra single when the curtain finally drops (kudos to the creators should they prove me wrong), I’m not against pairing Korra off when all is said and done. It just shouldn’t be Mako, please anybody BUT Mako. To pair these two again is going to come across as what it is, the cheap and easy choice, and I expect better than that from this show.
2. Fire Lord Zuko Getting To Speak With His Uncle Again
Everybody loves Uncle Iroh, none as much as much nephew, Zuko. The tale of Iroh and Zuko is probably the most complicated and rewarding part of the original show and fans have been buzzing about a possible reunion ever since we found out Uncle Iroh gave himself to the Spirit World and has been chilling there since his death.
Its a combination of wanting to see these two great characters together again and every persons desire to speak one more time to our loved ones after they have died.
While not my personal number one, if the creators follow through with any of the stuff I’ve listed it better be this one. They’ve teased us to the point that if there is no follow through it is going to leave a sour taste in people’s mouths. We understand what happened with the whole “Zuko’s mom” thing and the comic was a grand gesture, but if that sort of thing happens again with Zuko and Iroh I fear the audience will not be as understanding.
1. Aang, One Last Time
You knew this was going to be number one even before you clicked this link. Every Avatar fan wants this deep down in the bottom of their hearts, myself included.
One of the lesser things I’ve enjoyed about The Legend of Korra is the need to focus on the many failings of the original cast as parents and adults. I understand the creators didn’t want to deify the old cast, but in trying not to they have instead focused pretty heavily on their shortcomings, in Aang’s case both as the Avatar and as a father. I’m not saying they should wipe away everything they’ve done, but the very reason this franchise exists is because the audience fell in love with Aang when the show first hit almost a decade ago. We deserve a little bit of positive closure with the character, not only for we the viewers, but for his children as well. To see that despite all his faults, deep down he was that same good and decent guy we fell in love with all those years back.
It would fit with what the creators are already doing as we’ve seen Asami and her father and the reintroduction of Toph hints at a possible Bei Fong family reunion before the show is done.
I know they’ve promised more comics starring Aang, but this franchise began as a TV series and before our screens fade to black, never to visit this world again, I’d like to spend a moment with my favorite airbender.
Who knows what the end has in store (other than the creators obviously)? Maybe I’ll get everything I want and maybe I won’t get any of it. Either which way the chips fall I’d just like to take a moment to thank Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and everybody who made Avatar grace our screens. You have enriched the world with what you have made here and I am sad to see it go.
