They tell Korra that to remember who she is, she must find the spirit Raava, and reconnect with her. From behind, another figure appears, a simple-looking young man. He calls himself Wan, and claims to be the first Avatar.
From there, the show transitions right away to Wan running through city streets with stolen food, guys with swords close behind. Just like Aladdin, only Wan doesn't get away. Said guys take back almost all of the food except the few rolls Wan has stashed. He arrives back at a humble shack in the trees outside the city walls, but still close, and shares his rolls with his two friends - one resigned to a life of poverty, one mutated by a spirit living deep in the forest that surrounds the city. He then gives his roll away to woodland creatures who look hungry. Resigned friend tells Wan that should just accept their powerlessness and resulting hunger. Mutated friend tells Wan he shouldn't do anything that would get him banished to the spirit wilds, where spirits enter the bodies of humans and mutate them before leaving. But Wan is having none of their advice.
I have an awesome idea… that will have no consequences whatsoever!
A few city roughnecks are putting together a hunting party, and Wan volunteers, even though the leader really doesn't want him. Together, they leave the city, and hike to the top of a cliff, where Leader calls out to… a lion turtle! It rises from a valley surrounded by volcanoes, and gives the hunting party the power to summon fire for protection when they go hunting in the spirit wilds. The only condition? They must return this power back to the lion turtle when they return to the city. So that's how the lion turtle knew how to instruct Aang in robbing the Fire Lord of his power, at the end of the 100 years war. Wan gets cold feet as they enter the spirit wilds, and Leader scolds him and sends him back to the lion turtle to return the power of fire. Which Wan "forgets" to do.
Wan instead uses his new fire power to storm the gates of the city's wealthy and help a band of other hungry people steal food from the rich. Only Wan is caught, because he is unwilling to kill to get away when he needs to. So the rich fucker banishes Wan to the spirit wilds, but the lion turtle is merciful enough to let Wan keep his fire to protect himself.
Wan's first night in the spirit wilds is horrific - he can't sleep, because, literally, nowhere is safe. Animal spirits continuously stalk him, plant-like spirits wait for him to get comfortable before springing traps on him. What looks like fruit to eat is really a bunch of enormous pink bees. Wan is despondent, until he stumbles down a hill and sees an oasis. But it's guarded by a spirit that reminds me of the snooty maitre'd at the most expensive restaurant in town. Wan attempts to get in by subterfuge, but said Snooty sniffs him out and boots him into the river. The other spirits lounging in the oasis feel a little sorry for Wan, but Snooty sends him off. The other spirits tell him to try to find the other lion turtle cities, maybe he'd rather live there with other humans, than the spirit wilds. Wan, who has never heard of other lion turtle cities, is excited to be looking for safety.
"Do you have a reservation… I did not think so"
As Wan progresses through the wilds, searching for other lion turtle cities, he comes on a cat deer (imagine a deer with a leopard's head and antelope antlers, big enough to ride on) struggling in a human net. His love for animals wins over his hunger. As he tries to free the cat deer, the hunters he originally abandoned show up, ready to eat Wan's new friend. He tries to fight off the hunters, and almost succeeds, but the hunters beat him and are about to kill him when Snooty shows up out of nowhere and fights them off. Snooty also possesses one of the hunters for a few seconds. When Snooty passes back out of the hunter, part of Snooty remains in him, mutating the hunter into a half man/half Snooty. Turns out spirits can only stay in the body of a human for a few seconds, or the human will die. Remember that.
Wan's newest friend, Mula
Wan, Snooty, and the cat deer Mula, hang out later back in the oasis with the other spirits. Snooty warms to Wan a little, letting Wan stay and nicknaming him Stinky. For two years, Wan spends time communing with spirits, and perfecting his fire powers, becoming the first real fire bender. He repels hunters from the spirit wilds, earning the loyalty of spirits, and the respect of his original city. Some of the city-dwellers decide they've had enough of living under the wealthy, and get their own fire-bending power from the lion turtle, entering the forest to also learn to live in the wilds. But Wan doesn't know this. He and Mula have decided to finally go off in search of other lion turtle cities.
Wan learning fire bending from a dragon
Wan's trip is, at first, peaceful but solitary. Until, one day in a beautiful valley, he gets caught in a stampede away from a terrible brawl between spirits. Angry that the brawling spirits have scared other spirits and the animals, Wan tries to end their fighting, especially when he hears that one spirit has been keeping the other captive for 10,000 years. Even after the captor spirit warns Wan not to interfere, Wan can't help himself. He uses his fire to separate them and free the captive, who thanks Wan before leaving. The captor is furious, and grows a little smaller for some reason. She explains, impatiently, that Wan has freed Vatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos, which she, Raava, holds in check to keep the universe going. Neither can ever destroy the other, but Vatu wants to destroy the universe, spirit and physical worlds, so Raava holds him captive and every 10,000 years they duke it out to see which spirit will rule over the other.
Raava, the spirit of light and order, or an all-powerful kite
Now, Raava must find Vatu and defeat him at an event known as harmonic convergence, when the planets in the sky will seem to align in space. She's very pessimistic she'll be able to do it, so Wan offers to help. Raava scorns Wan's offer, sending him away, so Wan decides he'll resume his quest to find other lion turtle cities. Which he does, first seeing a group of air benders harvesting fruit from trees.
OSHA - Approved!
Wan makes his way into the air bending lion turtle city, and finds a welcome reception from the monk-like inhabitants, who would love to hear Wan's adventures over tea. Except that the harmless looking spirit on one monk's shoulder suddenly turns bright green and starts attacking people. Other dark spirits come, attacking the city, and Wan uses his fire power to try to repel them. Raava shows up and manages to fight Vatu off and he leaves, taunting Raava with his increased power while hers diminishes. Wan is more determined to help Raava then ever, and convinces the lion turtle of the air bending city to grant him the power of air. However, Raava must hold it for him until he is ready to contain two elemental powers. Raava is only convinced to do this when Wan reminds her she'll be unable to fight and defeat Vatu on her own. Wan also decides that in the year until the harmonic convergence and ensuing melee, he'll visit other cities and gain other elemental powers, which he does, all while fleetingly joining with Raava to gain these powers and feeling the intense level of power and spirit whenever they are joined.
And now we come back to Wan's neighbors, the people who decided to live in the spirit wilds, away from poverty, with the power of fire. Wan finds them warring with spirits, and immediately decides he will stop this fighting, as he has learned to get along with spirits himself. But the spirits turn dark because of Vatu, and so a fight is in the works, including Wan's old buddy Snooty!
The first Avatar stunt ever!
Wan is unable to stop the fighting, even after stunning both spirit and human by his joining of all four elemental powers and with Raava. Vatu comes to gloat, and we see that Raava had dimished to about the size of a ferret. Raava and Wan are both pretty dispirited as they head to the spirit world, to a place smack-dab-center between two portals between spirit and human worlds.
Vatu between the two portals just before the harmonic convergence
The battle is epic, as Wan tries to use all four elemental powers to defeat Vatu, but can't. Neither can Raava defeat him on her own. So Wan convinces her to join with him so they can fight together. They put up a valiant effort together, bonding as they never have before. But they're losing as the planets align themselves int he sky,
And the harmonic convergence begins,
It's not Alcatraz… but it's cozy!
Still bonded with Raava, and since they are already in the spirit world, Wan uses his new Avatar spirit power to close one of the portals with the human world, so that no human will be able to ever free Vatu again (hint hint, that's Unalac's plan). He then escorts all spirits back to the one open portal, and back to the spirit world, so that humans and spirits will stop fighting, leading to a sad farewell between Wan and Snooty. Wan then closes the last portal, sealing both worlds from each other, with Wan/Raava the only people who can go back and forth. The lion turtles decide that, since the wilds are no longer haunted by spirits, they will depart, leaving humans with different bending powers and different ways of living to duke it out in endless wars, which Wan spends the rest of his life trying to stop.
We end with Wan, an old man, collapsed against a shield after a battle. He apologizes to Raava, still joined with him through his life, for not achieving the peace he set out to bring. Raava assures him that their task is not over, and that she will never abandon it. As Wan dies, Raava passes from him,
And we see her search for another, another like Wan. As we hear a baby crying, we see Korra. She realizes now why Unalac wanted the portal at the South Pole opened, and now wants the other opened. With the portals opened, harmonic convergence can finally happen again, and Vatu can try to defeat Raava again. Unalac, for some reason, has been helping the spirit of darkness and chaos, and Korra now realizes she must re-close the South Pole portal to prevent the end of existence. Lucky for her the gentle inhabitants of the island she is stranded on have been raising air bison. Also, lucky for her she's just had a long rest. She has work to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment