If you think Iroh was only Zuko’s and Azula’s uncle you’re wrong. That precious old man was dropping knowledge and wisdom on all of us man he’s our uncle too.
So Let’s Talk About The Reason I’m Even WATCHING LEGEND OF KORRA Right Now!
It is for one solitary reason and one solitary reason only:
This girl, right here!
Kuvira, The Great Uniter.
Why?
Because, despite Bryke so obviously advertising her as the antagonist for LoK, she has proven to be one of the more interesting female characters on the show, given her position, her power, and her personality.
She is supposed to be parelled with Korra, however she is a lot of things that Korra is not. She is smart, even-headed, strong, and has a strong passion for the Earth Kingdom, to protect it, and to let it thrive. She has a strong passion for her people. In reality, the only thing that she shares in common with Korra, mind you, is that she is stubborn and aggressive.
(Because any other Avatar girl characters who has these traits can’t be directly compared to Korra???)
Anyways, to the point, Kuvira has been announced as the antagonist for the series and the show has tried super hard to smear that fact in front of everyone’s faces so that you don’t miss it.
But the fact is… I DON’T THINK IT’S DOING A GOOD JOB AT CONVINCING US THAT KUVIRA IS THE BAD GUY AND EVERYONE ELSE IS RIGHT!
This lady comes in Episode One, three years after Ding-Dong-The-Witch-Is-Dead-Earth Queen’s assasination, and says that she has been spending that time, with her group, trying to establish order within a segregated and starving Earth Kingdom. And… She’s been REALLY SUCCESSFUL AT IT!
She’s fed villages, repelled COMPLETE anarchy, and united the Earth Kingdom under similar circumstances to ATLA.
However, the only downside is that she has accomplished this peace through albeit questionable methods (but not THROUGH AND THROUGH condemnable circumstances, cause even though some people have heard about them, they still let her keep unifying) and because of this, she is not a hero, but a villain. Albeit a very gray area one.
(SIDENOTE: She kind of reminds me of Kyoshi and how she brought about a peaceful era through somewhat forceful/aggressive means!)
When I saw this, I was immediately interested, because it’s rare to find a women in complete power that isn’t either 100% evil or 100% good. Kuvira, though, appears to be an interesting mixture (EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW BRYKE IS GOING TO SCREW THAT UP EVENTUALLY)
She is a very unique character and she alone became a reason for me to watch the show because I wanted to know what route she would take: Either the obviously evil route, or a conflicted gray one.
But despite her obvious good qualities and obviously good things that she has done, people have been treating her as if she has been doing more bad than good. Whether it’s Opal, Su Yin, Mako, Tenzin, Wu, Korra or anyone else, it seems like everyone feels as if this lady has just committed some unspeakable horror!
AND THAT, My Friends, IS WHY I AM RANTING.
In the latest episode, “Coronation”, it feels like it is now all too obvious that Kuvira is the main bad, with her speeches about crushing things, and her random OOC moment about always getting what she wants. (someone made fun of this by posting when Su Yin told her no to joining the fight to help the Avatar…So now she’s a selfish brat all the sudden???)
But while I was awaiting the reasoning behind why she is such a bad person in the first place, the characters and the show did little to really convince me that what she doing, or has been doing, is ultimately wrong.
But what are the reasons?
1) She is a dictator for aggressively pulling the Earth Kingdom together through questionable means
&
2) She is ignoring orders from the world to step down and allow Prince Wu to take over
-That’s about it. She hasn’t killed anybody. She hasn’t declared war. Nor threatening to take over the world.
She’s just restoring order in a country that has literally fallen to the dogs after the neglect of its previous ruler. In fact, the last episode pretty much said THAT WAS HER JOB. She isn’t some revolutionist. She was put in charge of restoring order so that she could, after all her years of HARD WORK, step down to a pompous prince who obviously doesn’t have the makings to run an entire NEWLY UNIFIED KINGDOM.
Even she said the reason for her NOT stepping down was because she was afraid that it would slip into disarray.
Think about it. Had the world leaders come together and given her a capable leader to rule the throne, do you think she would have slipped so far into her power?
That’s like becoming the temporary boss of a ruined company for three years, and after THREE LONG YEARS of perfecting it/rebuilding it/stablizing it, you learn that some way under-qualified guy, who only cares about spending money on himself, is going to take over just because he is the previous’ boss son.
That would drive me over the edge. I’m surprised Kuvira had the cool to not forget why she wanted to help in the first place. In fact, she hasn’t forgotten at all. She honestly seems like she is doing this because she cares for the Earth Kingdom and it’s people (even though she may have lost some morals along the way).
But nooooooooooo!
It seems like everyone is keen on saying that she is wrong and that…. well. That’s it.
They literally DON’T know what else to say. Whenever someone asks, “well, what is the alternative to Kuvira to help the Earth Kingdom then?”
NO ONE STEPS UP OR GIVES A SOLUTION.
They literally don’t bring up an alternative replacement or say they are in favor of Prince Wu. They just say they don’t want Kuvira to do it anymore. It doesn’t matter if the new Prince is going to be a worse ruler or if no one shows up and anarchy is re-established. They don’t care for what the future of the Earth Kingdom is. All that they’ve done is complained about how Kuvira does things and how she has too much power now.
But to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be many solutions out there.
Either they let the villages govern themselves and wait for them to establish their own order (FAILED: Due to bandit uprising, rise in anarchy/vandalism, and disorder/disfunction between classes resulting in starvation/ )
Try to revive the current monarchy by crowning the new successor, and hope that they will follow suit (FAILED: Successor not wanted and successor is inept)
The only other option is for someone to quickly step up, and reinstate a new government/order. And the only person who seems to want to do this and prevent the Earth Kingdom from falling into disarray seems to be KUVIRA!
AND EVEN KUVIRA POINTS THIS OUT!
When Su Yin had the opportunity to stand and help, Kuvira said Su didn’t because…. Even though everyone was asking her to help, she thought she would be seizing power for herself???
Really Bryke? Have you literally run out of good reasons for why previous characters can’t do certain things?
Su Yin might as well have said that, “Yeah, I didn’t want to do it!” because it just felt like it was a big excuse at that point. She can go about accusing her of being no different than Prince Wu, but unlike him and Su, she actually has been striving to change the world where others would rather just let everything “sort itself out.”
Because of the fact that Su Yin chose not to step up, and that Mako couldn’t back up his position on what to do with the Earth Kingdom after saying Prince Wu probably wouldn’t work, I started to wonder whether Kuvira, despite all her methods, maybe is doing more good than bad here. (Heck, even American Presidents have resulted to some of the methods she has resorted to and are still praised)
I guess, in the end, it just feels like Kuvira is going to lose her reasoning and SUPER QUICKLY deteriorate, so that everyone’s suspicions will come true and Korra can have her villain to face YET AGAIN.
However, out of ALL the villains introduced and ruined by Bryke, I truly do fear for this little gem.
Out of all the characters in Korra so far, I feel a bit connected to her and her intentions/motives to bring about a better world out of the fog of anarchy. I could understand the fear of watching something you built up, fall down due to negligence and mistreatment. I can understand feeling as if no one wants to help better the world when they have the power to. I understand the want to appear strong in the face of a new future and uncertainty amidst doubt and rejection.
Kuvira has potential to be the only new character in the show to actually progress and bring it all to a great conclusion if they focus on a realistic downfall for her (death of someone close, loss of something precious, force of hand) and the rise of a new Korra.
Until then, I find no current major fault with Kuvira, to the point that everyone else looks like the bad guy compared to her. Hopefully, after three seasons, Bryke will be able to develop the Great Uniter better than the previous villains, and give us a gray area to pensively ponder upon this character.
Until then, I am with Kuvira on this one. Hopefully, Bryke will do well to change my mind without resorting to the cheap “I am evil” tactic, and finally end the Legend of Kuvira- I mean Korra, with a bang!
Kuvira did nothing wrong. She used force to reunite the Earth Kingdom and save the Crown from a retard who ultimately abolished the monarchyand made a mockery of the ancient traditions and culture of the Earth Kingdom.
After a total collapse of Ba Sing Se, she was the exact antidote needed to save the country and the kingdom. As Empress, she would be able to produce a worthy heir and not some pro-republican faggot who has no regard for his nation or its history.
I agree with OP on this: the destruction of the Earth Kingdom and the demonization of Kuvira might be worse than the ham-fisted, railroad “suddenly gay” romance they forced in at the expense of far better pairings.
