'The Legend of Korra' Ending Explained and What Happens Next: Korrasami, spirits and the trial of Kuvira
Spoilers for 'The Legend of Korra'
Few Avatars have made as many changes to the world in their attempts to bring about balance as Avatar Korra (Janet Varney). By the end of her series, which was by no means the end of her tenure, she had irrevocably changed the world in several major ways. Korra's story, however, did not end with the series finale but has continued over several graphic novels to this day. We take a look at the ending of the series and everything that happened next.
The Trial of Kuvira
Kuvira (Zelda Williams) was Season 4's main villain, picking up the pieces of a ruined Earth Kingdom after the Red Lotus assassination on the Queen. In her attempts to unify the Earth Kingdom under one iron fist, she nearly created a police state more tyrannical than any monarch that had come before. Taking down her giant, spirit weapon mecha tank, Korra was able to corner Kuvira in the spirit world and get her to see that her actions had gone too far. Instead of defeating Kuvira in battle, she was able to talk Kuvira into surrendering for the good of the Earth Nation and the world.
In the 'Ruins of the Empire' graphic novel, Kuvira initially entered a plea of "not guilty" at her trial, believing that while surrendering was the correct choice, that all her actions were justified. As one of her former generals sought to reinstate the Earth Empire, Kuvira is released into the Avatar's custody to attempt to reason with him. The pair team up and Kuvira is forced to confront her many mistakes, as well as reconcile with her adoptive mother Suyin Beifong (Anne Heche) and her former fiance, Baatar Beifong Jr (Todd Haberkorn). All this led her to eventually enter a guilty plea in court. This, and the fact that she helped the Avatar and Prince Wu (Sunil Malhotra) to establish democracy in the Earth Kingdom, convinced the courts to grant Kuvira leniency, allowing her to serve her time on house arrest with the Beifong family in Zaofu.
Spirits in Republic City
One of Kuvira's most harmful actions was the harnessing of spirit-vines for destructive energy. She managed to greatly disturb the spirits as she stole their energy and weaponized it. In one last, desperate attack at the Avatar, she harnessed the power of every spirit-vine in Republic City to attack Korra — an attack that quickly got out of hand. Kuvira lost control of the weapon, which would have killed her if it weren't for Korra's last-minute save with a protective air-bubble. The energy blast was so powerful, however, that it tore a hole in the material world into the spiritual one, creating an all-new spirit portal right in the heart of Republic City.
In the 'Turf Wars' graphic novel, the new spirit portal becomes an important political point of contention as President Raiko (Spencer Garrett) attempts to get re-elected — contested by none other than the immensely practical Zhu Li (Stephanie Sheh). The spirits turn hostile, as a wealthy businessman named Wonyong Keum attempts to turn the spirit portal into a tourist attraction, arguing that the portal is on land that he owns. The Air Nomads, meanwhile, peacefully protest this, in the hopes of convincing the city to buy the land and declare the area around the spirit portal to be a protected sanctuary. Through the course of the graphic novel, Wonyong Keum realizes the error of his ways and donates the land to the city. Zhu Li's first act as president on her election day is to bestow the spirit portal and the surrounding lands to the Air Nation.
Korrasami
Korra and Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel) had grown closer throughout the course of the series. By the end of it, the pair decides to take a vacation to the spirit world together. The final shot of the series is of them holding hands and looking into each other's eyes as they go into the spirit world in a pose meant to reflect the wedding they had just attended a few scenes earlier. While this immediately signaled to many fans that the two were in a romantic relationship, it was confirmed by the show's creators later, who were afraid that they would be unable to show the romance between the pair more explicitly due to network restrictions.
However, in 'Turf Wars', we see the relationship not only stated explicitly but explored. What's more, the comic outs some other characters and we see how sexual orientation is dealt with amongst different cultures. Kya (Lisa Edelstein) reveals that she had once been in a relationship with a woman, something that Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen/D.B. Sweeney) was very accepting of. She explains that the Air Nomads were always open to sexual orientations of all types. The Water Tribes were also accepting, as were Korra's parents,but they prefer to keep such things private. While the Fire Nation was one that was initially open to same-sex relationships, Fire Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill) imposed conservative morals on the nation when he rose to power. The Earth Kingdom was, naturally, the most resistant to change, with Republic City being the most welcoming.
Korra and Asami continue their relationship, finding ways to help and support each other and revealing their relationship to their friends and to the world. They have so far received nothing but support for the love that they share - even from Mako (David Faustino) who has dated both of them and jokes that he is uniquely positioned to be able to say how perfect the two are for each other.
All episodes of 'The Legend of Korra' are now available to stream on Netflix.
