Comparing Aang and Korra: Part 2-Becoming the Avatar

In this blog I'm going to discuss some of the challenges Aang and Korra faced in their journey to fulfilling their role as the Avatar. Both Avatars faced obstacles, however the obstacles they encountered were extremely different.

Aang

Aang's main challenge in fulfilling his role as the Avatar was that he didn't want to be the Avatar. Frozen for a hundred years, he found himself in a strange new world in desperate need of a powerful Avatar to restore balance. Aang, a light-hearted 12 year old, wasn't ready for this kind of responsibility. All he wanted to do was return to his old life, the life of a normal child. However, outside pressure, from enemies hunting him down to allies in need of his help, forced Aang to accept his role as the Avatar.

Because there were many people throughout the world who wanted an Avatar, Aang was able to find guidance in his journey to become the Avatar. He found training from great masters, support from entire villages and cities, counsel from wise advisors. His enemies, the Fire Nation, drove him to accept his responsibility in their own way by forcing him to protect himself and his friends.

Throughout the series, there was never any doubt as to Aang's ultimate task: restore balance to the world by defeating the Fire Nation. His allies encouraged him towards this goal, and the Fire Nation recognized him as the biggest potential obstacle to their expansion. The job was daunting, to be sure, but it was also straightforward, leaving little room for doubt.

Aang's mission may have been well-defined, but that didn't make it easy. He was an orphan who, in what to him was an instant, lost his entire world. He was a child with the weight of the world on his shoulders, a peaceful monk forcibly thrust into a world of violence and chaos. Fulfilling his Avatar duties required Aang to undergo immense personal growth, challenged his morality to the core, and forced him to experience things no one, let alone a child, should ever have to experience.

Korra

Unlike Aang, Korra was raised as the Avatar, a role she embraced and was eager to accept. In many ways, her problems were the opposite of Aang's. While Aang hesitated to fulfill his role in a world that wanted an Avatar, Korra sought to find a place in a world that denied the need for an Avatar.

Unlike Aang, Korra was denied a normal childhood. From her early years she was raised and trained in a specialized compound, carefully monitored and kept separate from the rest of the world. While this could be considered an advantage, I see it as just as much if not more of a disadvantage. Korra was confined, sheltered, and overall held back. While Aang was encouraged to step up and take his place in the world, Korra was discouraged, told instead to stay out of the way. The White Lotus wanted to keep her under supervision, Tenzin was highly reluctant to train her, President Reiko wanted her out of Republic City, Lin hoped to prevent her from seeking out the Red Lotus. When people such as Tarrlok or Unalaq did seek her involvement, it was because they wanted the Avatar's assistance. Rather, it was simply because they sought to use her to further their own ends. In order to fulfill her role as the Avatar, Korra had to break through this opposition and establish a place for herself. She constantly had to prove her worth and show the world that she could and would make a difference.

Korra's path as the Avatar was also never as clear cut as Aang's mission to defeat the Fire Lord. Her's was a world of conflicting ideologies, complex politics, and unclear responsibilities. In this complex world, there was no overall consensus on what Korra's responsibilities were like there was for Aang. Everyone wanted different things from Korra, and few of those actually wanted something from her that would help her truly be the Avatar.

While Ozai's quest for conquest was clearly wrong, Korra's villains all had some level of reasoning that Korra could agree with. They had justifiable reasons for their actions, leading to questions as to whether they should really be stopped. In ATLA, however, there was never any real question that the defeat of the Fire Nation was good.

While Korra faced many challenges Aang never had to deal with, she also did not have to face many of the challenges Aang had to overcome. Korra had her family and a home to fall back on, a stable and secure foundation for her life. She was an adult in her prime, better equipped to establish herself in the world than Aang was.

In Conclusion

Aang and Korra each faced very different, but equally difficult, challenges in their quest to become the Avatar. Obviously the above description of the kinds of challenges they faced does not always apply (for instance: Aang had to navigate complex politics of Ba Sing Se and deal with the Dai Li's efforts to sideline him, while Korra's quest to defeat Unalaq was, in the end, very clear and defined). However I think it gives a reasonable overview of the differences in the challenges they faced.

This wasn't as well written as I hoped it would be, but I hope that it provides something for further discussion and stuff.

The next installment of my blog series-isn thing, not perfect but hopefully something interesting

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You could actually post it as a blog.

Going offline, do tag me later. Looks interesting. Where is part 1, btw?

I did, posted it to off topic too

http://www.comicvine.com/forums/off-topic-5/comparing-aang-and-korra-part-1-the-4-elements-1708700/#41 or http://www.comicvine.com/profile/arcus/blog/comparing-aang-and-korra-part-1-the-4-elements/109085/

Nice

I'm with it. Though curious who you feel was a better non combat avatar?

Thanks

He really did have some good points

Thanks

Non-combat, probably Aang. Korra came a long way by the end of the series, and by the end was a lot like Aang (just like Aang got more willing to fight by the end of the series), but Aang's more naturally suited to that sort of thing

Pretty good. Really would love to see a series about Avatar Wan but after the way Nick treated Korra I see why Mike and Bryan left

@arcus: Nice job. Could you tag me in this?

I feel like Wan could have made for a good movie

Thanks, and sure, I'll try to do that

@arcus: Good stuff. If you can, can you not tag me in avatar battle threads. I'm not familiar enough to debate those. Thanks

But tag me in these blogs. Are you only comparing the Avatars or will you be comparing other chacters? Good job

Sure, I'll try to not tag you for those

I haven't completely decided what I'll be doing, kinda making stuff up as I go. If you'd like my brilliant thoughts on anything in particular, let me know

Nice, is there gonna be a part 3?

@arcus: Brilliant thoughts??!! Lol. I think some supporting characters played VITAL roles in the story. Like Uncle Iroh. Without his company, I doubt zuko ever becomes Firelord. The introduction of Azula gave them a real villain. Compare the White Lotus vs The Red Lotus. How did Aang/Korra interactions with previous Avatars shape their course? How inventing new styles changed the show like bloodbending, lightning, lava bending etc

Yep, they're amazing. Lol (I am joking)

Oh I agree about the supporting characters.

Nice ideas, I'll probably use some (or all) of them

That's the plan

Amon had noble goals. The problem is Season 1 of Book Air didn't really flesh out the story and part of that may've been due to the number of episodes.

Amon said that there was inequality between benders and non-benders, but none of that was shown. All there was shown was benders holding certain jobs that non-benders don't and the Triads.

The season could've been deeper if they showed that non-benders had inferior healthcare, education, less wealth, lack of employment, impoverished, didn't receive correct media representation, dealt with police brutality from the Metalbending Police Force,etc a.k.a. actual discrimination.

Yeah, S1 had a lot of potential that couldn't really be used cause it was so short. There didn't have to be discrimination for there to be inequality-I mean, a segment of the population that has super powers is gonna have a basic advantage over a part of the population that doesn't. It's inherently unequal.

@arcus: korra had no avatar to talk to, aang talked to few, aang was a monk with spiritual balance something korra lacked for sometime, aang kinda craved for a family korra needed freedom from stalkers and wannabe protectors. Good point man, it makes sense.

@arcus: They were born with those abilities though. That isn't their fault. Amon tried to make it seem as if non benders were being oppressed which we didn't get much of

True, which is part of the reason why Amon was a villain instead of a hero-cause if there was a lot of intentional oppression it would have made him more of a heroic figure (though we did get some of that with Tarok, the curfew and arresting non benders, etc.)

Thanks

@arcus: The thing is Amon could've still been a villain based off of his ideology even if oppression was shown to non-benders. Amon was a villain due to his extremism even if it came from a legitimate grievance.

Yeah I know. Personally, I think his expressed grievance was legitimate as it was, though I agree it could have been expanded on a lot more