How So Many Airbenders Returned In Legend of Korra After Dying In Avatar

In The Legend Of Korra season 3, Nickelodeon’s sequel series to the wildly popular Avatar: The Last Airbender, the airbenders have returned as a consequence of the Harmonic Convergence, a rare celestial event where the portals to the spirit world merge. Like its predecessor, The Legend of Korra is an animated series set in a fantasy world where some people can manipulate the elements – air, water, fire, and earth – by “bending.” Unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender, though, Legend of Korra revolves around an older set of protagonists, and deals with more mature themes involving spiritual and sociopolitical conflict.

Avatar: The Last Airbender began after the genocide of the Air Nomads by the Fire Nation, and followed Aang, the only survivor of the attack and only airbender left in the world. The Legend of Korra is set 70 years after the events of the first series, and begins with the new Avatar, a 17 year old girl named Korra, traveling to Republic City to learn airbending from Aang’s son. The only one of Aang’s three children to be an airbender, Tenzin and the members of his family are the few remaining airbenders left.

In The Legend of Korra season 3, new airbending abilities began to randomly appear in non-bending people from all nations. This happened as a result of the Harmonic Convergence, a rare supernatural phenomenon that occurs once every ten thousand years, and amplifies spiritual energy around the world. When the portals to the spirit world at the North and South poles began to merge during the celestial event, Korra felt a shift in the planet’s energy, and said that the world will never been the same. Among other consequences from the Harmonic Convergence, the restoration of airbending abilities was one of the most significant.

Before the return of the airbenders, The Legend of Korra had already introduced the Air Acolytes, an order of monks from all nations that reside on Air Temple Island and in the four original Air Temples. Guided by Avatar Aang, and later by Tenzin, the Air Acolytes preserved and practiced the culture and traditions of the Air Nomads, although none of them were airbenders themselves. After the Harmonic Convergence and the return of airbending abilities, the Air Acolytes helped introduce the new airbenders to the traditions of the Air Nomads.

When Korra and Tenzin realized that the airbenders were returning, they travelled across the Earth Kingdom to recruit the benders into a new Air Nomad nation. Although the new airbenders were initially unwilling to walk away from their lives and become monks, most of them eventually agreed to join Tenzin and the Air Acolytes at the temple to train. Although the original Air Nomads led a reclusive lifestyle, the new generation decided to return to their nomadic roots and roam the world stopping corruption and disorder, following the example set by Korra.

The return of the airbenders in The Legend of Korra marked an important change from its predecessor. The series was already a tonal shift from Avatar: The Last Airbender, dealing with the balance between new technology and the old bending traditions with the conflict between the new airbenders and the Air Acolytes. The decision to reintroduce the airbenders following the Harmonic Convergence highlighted the tension between the spiritual and the secular – and helped set the show apart from its predecessor, turning The Legend of Korra into a story that stands on its own.

About The Author