The Legend of Korra - Book Two: Spirits

[FPAlpha]

I highly doubt that we'd ever see a SF version of Avatar but it's always nice to speculate.

Given 10.000 of technological advance i doubt the Avatar would have much power anymore at least not in the fighting category.

Much of their power can be easily countered by technology.. normal fire is meaningless for a full body combat suit (think something like Iron Man) as well as water based powers (Ice as the hardest thing water can produce?).

About the only thing halfway effective would be Earth and Air to unbalance the opponent but none of the standard bending practices could harm an armored soldier effectively.

However the Avatar could still be the spiritual guide of humanity working as the bond between Spirits and Mankind and ensuring peace which is their purpose after all.

 

[ChowdaHead]

I don't think anything here was a deus ex machina. That refers to a contrived solution introduced without any setup or foundation in what's come before.

Vaatu's prison was, very conveniently for Korra, a magical tree that turns you into a super powered giant if you meditate inside it.

Also, Jinora's magical powers that saved Korra in the end. Yes, we know she has a strong connection to the spirits, but that does not explain her powers.

exactly. I mean lazy is putting it lightly. maybe they were just really eager to get to book 3 and thus book 2 got the shaft.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Allegedly you pronounce swastika as Wan in Mandarin Chinese. The Nazi's perverted the meaning of the Swastika. Do you think it can be taken back and salvaged?

Also notice the number 10,000 there.

 

[Christopher]

According to the Avatar Wiki, the first Avatar is named for the word wan (萬) which means "ten thousand" (since he lived ten thousand years ago). So yeah, I suppose that's the same character (I wasn't sure at first, since there are a lot of homophones in Chinese).

In Asia, the swastika is still regarded as a positive symbol the way it's always been there -- although unfortunately there are many in Asia who don't seem to understand the horrors of what the Nazis did, since there are some subcultures that embrace Nazi "chic" and think it's just a fun way of dressing or something. But anyway, given that 2/3 of the human race lives in Asia, I think it's inevitable that over the broad swath of history, the positive uses of the swastika will outweigh its abuse by the Nazis. Though hopefully we won't forget the lessons of the Holocaust in the process.

(Interesting that wan means both "ten thousand" and "uncountably many." The Greek "myriad" has the exact same dual meaning.)

 

[intrinsical]

As a chinese Singaporean, this is all very interesting to me. In all my life and travels throughout the region, I have never seen the swastika used in Asia. It has no meaning to me other than as the german world war 2 symbol of oppression.

AllStarEnterprise, where did you get the image from? The first three are indeed valid chinese words, but the swastika symbol isn't. The character for ten thousand in chinese is either 萬 (old way of writing) or 万 (modern or "simplified" way of writing). The swastika symbol cannot even be written down without breaking at least three or more of the chinese calligraphic rules. Its like saying you can use the swastika symbol in place of the letter O in english. Its just completely unnatural.

Interesting that wan means both "ten thousand" and "uncountably many." The Greek "myriad" has the exact same dual meaning.

You're close but not exactly correct. Wan does mean ten thousand, but you will only get the meaning of "uncountably many" by combining two wans (萬萬) together as a phrase. It isn't used in modern chinese, but I still regularly hear it being used in period drama shows normally in reference to the emperor. For example to formally address the emperor, one would say something like "Greetings to the emperor, may he reign for a hundred million years". The only meaning 萬萬 has in the modern language is to literally refer to the value of one hundred million (ten thousand multiplied by ten thousand).

 

[RoJoHen]

Book 3 will be titled "Change," and some of the episodes are already in post-production.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013...a-book-three-will-be-titled-change/?xid=LOKFB

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I was expecting an announcement any day now. I set up a Book 3 thread here.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Watching the finale now...

The scene with Bumi, Kya and Tenzin running from the spider proves their heritage.

 

[Mr Light]

Unlike the rest of you I waited to see it on television

Excellent finale, but a few minor quibbles.

I did find it terribly convenient that Korra could meditate inside the Tree of Life and create a monster spirit form as powerful as the embodiment of all darkness in the Earth...

While the Avatar/Avatar fight was pretty cool, the entire time I was thinking how much more epic and impressive and violent the Aaang/Ozai fight was.

Kya should have stayed with Korra to fight the bad guys rather than look for Jinora. If she had been there, maybe Unaloq wouldn't have beaten Korra and become the Dark Avatar.

Minus 10,000 points for not showing Koh the Face Stealer this entire season.

Plus 10,000 points for the Zhao cameo. Cancels out.

I always regretted how the spirit world faded into the background as the original show went on, so bringing them back in a big way is a very welcome change to me. It will make the 1930s steampunk setting a lot more interesting.

When Raava "died", I thought that Jinora would become the new spirit inside Korra. That would have made a really interesting dynamic with her father figure Tenzin.

I vaguely remembered that you weren't able to use your bending powers inside the spirit world, is that incorrect?

Given that Vaatu was dispersed into a million pieces in the real world, I wonder if those fragments will influence/enpower bad guys in the coming seasons.

Do Kya and Bumi have their own family, children, loved ones?

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^Hey, I waited too! And I expect the series finale of Korra to be more epic. And the question regarding bending in the spirit world was discussed earlier. If you enter through a portal physically, your powers stay. If you enter spiritually like Jinora and Korra did previously, you can't bend.

One of the things I loved about the finale was how we are ourselves, not our parents' reflections. Tenzin finally accepted that while he is Aang's son, he shouldn't try to be exactly like Aang.

 

[RoJoHen]

I vaguely remembered that you weren't able to use your bending powers inside the spirit world, is that incorrect?

Prior to this season, we had only ever seen benders enter the spirit world via meditation. They could never use their powers because they weren't actually, physically there. Now, with the spirit portals open, benders can walk right into the spirit world and take their bodies and bending along for the ride.

 

[Mr Light]

Which reminds me when we see Middle Aged Aang for the first time, was that supposed to be Aang's ghost/spirit speaking to Tenzin or was he hallucinating it?

 

[RoJoHen]

Which reminds me when we see Middle Aged Aang for the first time, was that supposed to be Aang's ghost/spirit speaking to Tenzin or was he hallucinating it?

You mean in the Fog? I kind of wondered the same. I liked the idea of that scene (Tenzin coming into his own, realizing he doesn't need to be exactly like his father), but the execution of it was a little unclear.

 

[Mr Light]

Which also also reminds me... maybe in Book Three we can finally learn how Aang died!

 

[RoJoHen]

Which also also reminds me... maybe in Book Three we can finally learn how Aang died!

Perhaps.

I do wonder why Avatar spirits look the way they do? For example, Roku's spirit is an old man. Aang is a middle-aged man. Kyoshi seems like a relatively young woman.

Are these the ages they died, or do they choose how they want to appear?

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Remember how Tenzin said that the Fog brought out a person's worst memories?

Aang looked a bit older in the Fog than he did in Korra's flashback. I think it was Aang right before he died. Aang died relatively young and I'm sure that always haunted Tenzin... And so he saw his father in his worst memory...

 

[Christopher]

Avatar Kyoshi lived something like 250 years. So maybe it is about how they see themselves.

What's telling is that when Aang appeared to Korra in Book 1, he looked like he was in his 30s or so, but Tenzin saw him as an older man. That suggests that Tenzin was hallucinating, seeing his father as he remembered him. Although I wouldn't put it past Aang's spirit to have been influencing the vision somehow.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ 230, and she looked pretty good. I too have wondered if avatars appear at the age they died or if they appear in some other form, either how they choose or how the current avatar "remembers" them.

Do Kya and Bumi have their own family, children, loved ones?

It doesn't look like it. Kya seems to be more of a new agey free spirit who doesn't want to be tied down and Bumi doesn't appear to have anyone. Looks like Tenzin is the only one with a wife and kids, and he had them late. That must have been another source of concern for Aang. First he has two kids who aren't airbenders, then he finally has one who isn't married with kids at 30.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Bumi still has time for kids. But dang... he'd have to have a very strong woman to keep him in line. Like his namesake (and possibly past self), he's nuts!
ETA: Well, some of the time. I can see that Katara's side of the family balances him a bit. He's got some influence from his Uncle Sokka. So there's hope for him yet.
I'd like to know who Lin's father was.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Did anyone else find the music overbearingly obnoxious by the end?