Avatar: Seven Havens Has Korra Defenders Fighting For Their Lives

Avatar: Seven Havens, the new animated sequel series to Legend of Korra, is finally starting to roll out on Paramount+, and the first three episodes have woken up fans like a sleeper cell activation phrase, with its centuries-later story reigniting a not-so-dormant debate between two sides of the community: the Korra haters and the Korra defenders.

Seven Havens takes place over 200 years after the end of Legend of Korra, and while the previous Avatar capable of manipulating all the elements isn’t a direct participant in the events of the new show, her legacy looms over new Avatars (and twin sisters) Pavi and Nisha. Despite Korra’s heroics in her show, her legacy in the centuries that follow is one of a destroyer, not a hero. In Seven Havens, a great cataclysm took place that desecrated the world and also divided it into the titular Seven Havens. This happened during Korra’s time as the Avatar, and while the specifics are nebulous at this point in the show as a lot of records and first-hand knowledge of what happened have been lost to time, history has been written to state that Korra’s actions were a major factor in what destroyed the world.

As such, there are scenes of the people of Seven Havens actively celebrating Korra’s death, whether that be in street shows mocking her, or in just privately revelling in her being gone. Odds are this is an Elphaba Thropp situation in which Korra is being framed and used as a scapegoat for propaganda purposes, but right now, the show is playing it pretty straight.

Korra has been a divisive figure in some parts of the Avatar community for years, with some viewers upset for juvenile reasons like having to see a queer woman “take over” as the main character in a series previously led by a man, while others have had more specific grievances about the riskier, often darker stories The Legend of Korra told compared to its predecessor. Series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino say they’re aware of the ways Korra is divisive among the fanbase, but they also recognize that Korra might be held to a “different standard” as a queer woman hero by those who fill their diapers when they see such a thing.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, the pair responded to the notion that this new story in Seven Havens is some kind of roundabout way of saying they also hate Korra, which they denied with a laugh, and said that fans should watch where Seven Havens goes if that’s what they think.

For now, as Seven Havens rolls out on Paramount+, Korra defenders will be in the trenches as her detractors now have new ammunition, and those clips of people saying they’re glad she’s dead are about to go triple-platinum in Avatar spaces for the next few weeks, until the show tells viewers what really happened during the Cataclysm.

Janet Varney, who voiced Korra in the original show, says she had a very emotional reaction to seeing people treat her character the way they do in the first episode.

Seven Havens is only three episodes into its 13-episode season, but Paramount announced the show has already been renewed for a third and fourth season.