r/legendofkorra • u/Important-Contact597 • 1d ago

Discussion I still think it should have been the Avatar State that beat Amon instead of Airbending

We see in the Yakone flashbacks that the Avatar State made Aang immune to blood bending, which should have been foreshadowing for how Amon would ultimately be defeated. Korra entering the berserker AS to save Mako would have felt much more natural to the story than her suddenly being able to airbend while also suddenly being able to resist Amon’s blood bending enough to get a final attack in.

0 Upvotes

41% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

14

u/Sitherio 1d ago

Tbf she never really beat Amon. She punched him with an air burst into water. It was the collapse of his reputation and the movement's belief in him that sent him away.

1

u/XeronianCharmer 15h ago

The purpose wasn't to beat amon it was to expose him. Which she succeeded in. The lieutenant catches him openly, bloodbending, and the citizens see him waterbending. She established the movement.

0

u/jacobisgone- 11h ago

I mean, she only indirectly exposed him. It was less Korra's doing and more Amon's instinct to not drown paired with it happening in the worst spot imaginable.

1

u/XeronianCharmer 11h ago

I mean, you can downplay it however you want. Her goal was to expose him, and he was exposed in multiple ways well before he fell into the lake, that he inadvertently does it i don't think really matters in this instance

-1

u/jacobisgone- 11h ago

and he was exposed in multiple ways well before he fell into the lake

To like, a small handful of people. One of which he presumably killed.

that he inadvertently does it i don't think really matters in this instance

It's all semantics, I suppose. I just don't think it's quite accurate to say that it was Korra's doing when the end result was a happy accident that occurred because of his own actions.

1

u/XeronianCharmer 11h ago

>To like, a small handful of people. One of which he presumably killed.

Who the lieutenant? He was thrown through a stack of planks but there's nothing that implies he was killed, he likely slunk back into society until the next revolutionary comes through.

> It's all semantics, I suppose. I just don't think it's quite accurate to say that it was Korra's doing when the end result was a happy accident that occurred because of his own actions.

With that argument then, would you argue that Aang beat Ozai on his own merit in the final battle, or did happy accidents happen along the way that lead to his victory?

-1

u/jacobisgone- 10h ago

Who the lieutenant? He was thrown through a stack of planks but there's nothing that implies he was killed, he likely slunk back into society until the next revolutionary comes through.

Amon's "You served me well, Lieutenant." line has an edge of finality to it. It's not like he'd let him live either way. It's up to interpretation I guess.

With that argument then, would you argue that Aang beat Ozai on his own merit in the final battle, or did happy accidents happen along the way that lead to his victory?

Nothing Aang did was accidental during his fight with Ozai though. The only instance of luck was the conveniently placed rock that unblocked his chakras. Which more so enabled him to properly beat Ozai more thoroughly through the use of the Avatar State. Korra knocked Amon out of a window, that's it. Him being exposed was entirely dependent on how he fell, his condition afterwards and what he decided to do upon landing.

1

u/XeronianCharmer 10h ago

>Amon's "You served me well, Lieutenant." line has an edge of finality to it. It's not like he'd let him live either way. It's up to interpretation I guess.

I can see how you'd think that, but as far as the camera allows us to see, he's unconscious in the pile. Could he have a broken neck? Absolutely. I can acknowledge the possibility at least.

>Nothing Aang did was accidental during his fight with Ozai though. The only instance of luck was the conveniently placed rock that unblocked his chakras. 

Up until the point of the rock, Aang really had no plan of victory since he refused to kill him. Entering the state itself was sheer dumb luck, accidental luck, the rock's effect on him was lucky but it just as easily could have just hurt him a bit and then have nothing else happen. Even the energybending was accidental, as he had no idea what would happen if he tried it, and stumbled upon the ability and lionturtle entirely by accident/chance/fate

2

u/jacobisgone- 10h ago

Up until the point of the rock, Aang really had no plan of victory since he refused to kill him. Entering the state itself was sheer dumb luck, accidental luck, the rock's effect on him was lucky but it just as easily could have just hurt him a bit and then have nothing else happen. Even the energybending was accidental, as he had no idea what would happen if he tried it, and stumbled upon the ability and lionturtle entirely by accident/chance/fate

Yeah, but these are tools that Aang was granted by happenstance. He still outright beat Ozai the way he intended. Amon bending in front of everyone was an accident whereas Ozai's bending being taken was purposeful. One was indirect and reliant on Amon doing something Korra had no control over, the other was Aang making a conscious choice that he acted on.

5

u/Weird-Long8844 1d ago

That's fair. Maybe AS could awaken the Airbending, albeit moderately, so both the story beats could get involved.

1

u/Important-Contact597 1d ago

Personally, I would have had Korra start airbending after she can be the leaf and make it through the gates. Then, when Amon takes her bending, it seems even more hopeless.

If you want to keep the Aang restoring her bending scene, just make it so that she still can’t use any bending unless she’s in the Avatar State, with Katara unable to heal her, until Aang shows up and gives her energy bending.

3

u/PCN24454 1d ago

That’s too soon honestly. It would cheapen her struggle.

It’d be like if Zuko could shoot lightning before Book 3.

0

u/Important-Contact597 1d ago

Her struggle was with spirituality. You could have her begin airbending, but still struggle with it before the finale. As it stands, the series shows us her struggling to do it at all, finally being able to do it, then hard cutting to 6 months later where she’s mastered it.

We don’t get to see any struggle that may or may not have occurred during those 6 months. What I proposed would actually let us see her go from novice to adept to master.

1

u/Weird-Long8844 1d ago

That'd be cool too.

1

u/XeronianCharmer 15h ago

The Avatar state is a defense mechanism that only triggers when the avatar is in life-threatening danger, or pushed to an emotional extreme. If amon had maybe put her life in danger in the way she did at the cliff, I think it would've triggered, but her unlocking AB narratively works imo bc air is the element of freedom and finds the path of least resistance, with her other chi lines blocked, air was able to finally be released

2

u/Important-Contact597 7h ago

Amon being about to take Mako's bending is as valid an excuse for Korra to be pushed to an emotional extreme as Aang seeing Katara pulled into the Earth by General Fong.

0

u/XeronianCharmer 4h ago

But she can see that mako isn't dead, aang didn't know that it was a test. Mako can live through getting his bending taken

2

u/Numerous-Hotel-796 1h ago

General Fong literally told him in plajn words that he wants to trigger the avatar state and Aang obliged. Its obvious that Aang knows General Fong hurt Katara only to trigger the avatar state

2

u/Live_Pin5112 1d ago

Tough it was cool in a first moment, in a rewatch, Korra's air bending didn't had anything to do with learning it's technique like Aang did with Earth. While the Avatar State is already an emergency power up

5

u/Randver_Silvertongue 1d ago

Yes it did actually. It had to do with freeing herself from her attachments.

-1

u/Live_Pin5112 1d ago

What attachment?

3

u/Randver_Silvertongue 1d ago

To her bending.

0

u/Live_Pin5112 1d ago

That's not giving up attachments, that's the thing you're attached to being taken. That's not like Zaheer accepting death. And it's not even using the air bending fighting style 

3

u/Randver_Silvertongue 22h ago

I never said she gave it up, I said she was freed from them. Also, airbending does include punches.

1

u/Live_Pin5112 22h ago

That's kinda the point. It's hard to call it character development when Korra had no saying on it, not even as she reacts to it. And it's not just punching, but how it's done. Those air punches were much more closer to fire bending

3

u/Randver_Silvertongue 21h ago

It is character development because the fact that she's no longer restrained by her attachments, she was able to free her mind by following her intuition. Amon may have inadvertently removed her attachments, but Korra was the one who made the conscious choice of trusting her instincts rather than forcing it. The season had been consistently showing that Korra makes progress in her training whenever she stops forcing herself through things and starts being the leaf in the wind. This moment was following that pattern. And her intuition is why she doesn't go through with her suicide, because it allowed her to connect to her inner self and find value in herself without the bending that her identity had been so heavily dependent on and thereby opening herself to the greatest change.

And I fail to see how those punches resembled firebending. They just looked like a slightly heavier variations of the punches Aang did against the noodle picture of Ozai. And even if they weren't, she was still following the airbending mindset.

2

u/XeronianCharmer 15h ago

YES! I'm glad other people get this. It's a beautiful narrative moment

1

u/Aye_Okami 1d ago

This is the 5th critique post i read in this sub the last few days and every single time the top comment doesn‘t agree neither aknowledges your point, even tho the point you made is valid.

0

u/Numerous-Hotel-796 1d ago edited 23h ago

I think you have got an excellent point!! So lets say she enters the Beserker avatar state to save Mako, says “No” in the avatar voice (to resist Amon’s bloodbending), performs a short burst of insane airbending to blast Amon into the water(which leads to exposing his secret) but collapses on the floor because she cant maintain the avatar state for long and is exhausted.?! The cherry on top would be if that airbending move resembles one of previous avatar’s moves. (Like Roku blasting open Sozin’s palace, or one of Aang’s moves)

I would not have Aang teaching her energy bending and would end season 1 on a bittersweet note. Korra loosing access to earth,water and fire bending (even jn her berswrker avatar state); but comming to terms with this change . She ends the season 1 with a strong resolve to master airbending , the avatar state and be an awesome avatar even with these handicaps.

I would have Korra recover earth, fire and water bending in season 2 climax. This should come as a pleasant surprise when she fully masters the avatar state and learns energy bending as a consequence. Also I cant help but imagine the exciting possibilities for the beginning of season 2 a) The episodes mostly take place in the southern water tribe territory. There could be a nice angle probing Korra’s mental toughness, being surrounded by warerbenders when she cant waterbend. b) The concept of spirit bending also having close ties to energy bending(and not only waterbending). This could be a stepping stone towards eventually mastering energy bending.