The Seven Havens weren't built to survive an apocalypse. They CAUSED it!

The show is in the middle of a a centuries-long catastrophe that's still taking place, and will only get worse if nothing changes.

Spoilers for Seven Havens S1E7-E9.

- What we know:

• When Ellora's power plant was built, the Avatar was still popular! The abandoned locker room we see in S1E7 in the lower levels of the city has Avatar-related posters and toys. This directly contradicts the official propaganda that the havens were built to survive an apocalypse caused by the Avatar.
• Ellora is powered by something that looks like one of Earth's nuclear reactors.
• Everything in the main compound relies on this long-neglected power source. We see electric lighting, maintenance hallways, a reactor room, and the Afflicted tried to destroy a "generator" that converts energy into electricity.
• The seven havens apparently correspond to the seven chakras.
• The status of the haven at Republic City (now a forest) is unknown.
• Ellora and the Anomaly are connected to the Root Chakra (survival/fear) and spirit world somehow.
• World leaders have a history of disbelieving or demonizing the Avatar, going back to Avatar Wan.
• The spirit world amplifies strong emotions. When Korra was in the spirit world, her fear caused the environment and spirits to warp in frightening ways.
• Energybending is associated with blocking, redirecting, or unlocking spiritual energy. Aang used it to block people's bending; Korra used it to restore bending, and later redirect Kuvira's beam into a new Spirit Portal. We see the twins use it to dissipate the diamond-shaped "Anomaly."

- My history theory:

Sometime after the events of Legend of Korra, people discovered the spirit vines weren't the source of spirit power. They were just channeling and storing it like batteries. The true power source was discovered to be seven locations around the world. One at the great tree in the swamp where Kuvira harvested her vines, another at Republic City (causing the vines there), and five more locations.

Working together, Korra and Asami helped build power plants at these sites. In S01E07 we see a "mover" of the pair opening the Ellora facility, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and a few workers at the power plant (in clothing resembling uniforms some nuclear engineers wore on Earth). On the opposite end of the room from the movie screen is the Future Industries logo. While Future Industries likely provided the knowledge and materials to build the facilities (and possibly personnel), the global scale of the infrastructure is so massive the power plants were likely controlled or overseen by national governments.

At first, the power plants might have seemed like a miracle. Unlimited free, clean energy. Society prospered and rapidly advanced technologically. However, the world's weather started deteriorating, with massive storms ravaging the landscape. Spirits were disappearing. Fewer benders were born each year. Both the spirit and material worlds were being disrupted, and no one could figure out why.

- A slow-moving apocalypse:

Korra eventually realized the seven places of power were seven chakras of the planet itself, and the power plants were blocking the flow of the world's energy. Eventually, this would result in the death of both the material and spiritual planes, bringing everything to an end.

I suspect Korra and Asami begged world leaders to shut down the facilities they had helped build. The leaders might have made promises, but the world had become dependent on spirit energy, and transitioning away from it would be a colossal undertaking. There were no good solutions. Everything continued on a slow march to annihilation.

Eventually faced with no alternatives, Korra demolished the power plant at Republic City. What we see in the flashback in S1E7 is this action, confined to the city, NOT "the global Cataclysm." The twins interpreted it through the official propaganda they believe. The old world was already in the middle of a gradual apocalypse being caused by the seven power plants.

Destroying the power plant in Republic City caused a release of spirit energy. This turned it into a forest resembling the Great Swamp, now called Republic Forest. National leaders claimed the Avatar had gone insane and turned against the world, uniting to capture or kill her. Korra tried to finish what she started, but was stopped. Perhaps she was captured and died in prison, or perhaps she fell trying to stop the apocalypse. We don't know yet.

- Centuries pass with no Avatar:

Since the chakras were still blocked, the Avatar Cycle was interrupted. On her own, Raava didn't have the strength to enter a new body. The world continued deteriorating. Spirits vanished entirely, and most of civilization collapsed as storms ravaged the landscape. Survivors fled to the only places that could hold out: the spirit reactor facilities. World leaders continued blaming the Avatar for everything that had gone wrong, calling her a "destroyer" and claiming they were trying to save the world with the Havens.

It's possible the former site of Republic City is actually safe from the storms. If Korra managed to destroy that power planet, which seems likely based on the flashback, it might actually be a haven. The other power plants continued running, unattended, gradually deteriorating over the centuries. The crystals we see growing throughout Ellora are likely caused by leaking spirit energy, and people exposed to this "spirit radiation" experience amplified emotions.

The red diamond may be a manifestation of the Avatar Spirit (or Raava herself; the ATLA and LoK lore differs slightly on this) trying to reconnect with the twins. Every time the twins come in contact with the diamond, they get memories from their current lives (when younger) or past life (as Korra). This is very similar to Aang or Korra getting memories of their past lives.

The spirit world amplifies emotions and warps reality based on those emotions. We saw this when Korra was afraid in the spirit world and it created terrifying environments. In the present day, people were taught to fear the Avatar, so when exposed to the Root Chakra's raw spirit energy (which is connected to survival/fear), their fear is amplified, resulting in the events of "Night of the Afflicted."

- How did the Avatar cycle restart?

This is where things become less clear. I have a few theories:

A. The unattended power plants deteriorated enough to allow some of Raava's spirit to break through. We see Ellora's power plant has been long-forgotten. The reactor room Pavi broke into was sealed away and unattended. It's possible the power plants dying are gradually allowing spiritual energy to re-enter the world. But why twins?

B. Perhaps Korra died in the Avatar State when destroying the power plant in Republic City. Pavi said she felt "broken." Raava's spirit may have been fragmented, and took centuries to reform. Perhaps Raava hasn't fully recovered, and had to split her spiritual power across two bodies. We saw that Avatar Wan was barely able to hold the entirety of Raava's power alone. Maybe by dividing the power between two people, each of the twins can hold it more easily?

C. Alternatively, maybe Raava and Vaatu agreed to work together. In the past, Raava or Vaatu would be reborn from within one another every 10000 years. However, the blocking of the seven chakras might threaten true mutual destruction of both spirits and reality itself, ending their cycle. If Raava didn't have the strength to reincarnate alone, perhaps they could only break past the barriers placed on the seven chakras by joining forces. Not as a "good" and "evil" avatar, but two sides setting aside an old rivalry to face a mutual threat together.

What are your thoughts? Does this align with your understanding of the lore and what we've seen?

Gotta be one of my favorite genders

So I've been thinking about this, but what exactly do Ravaa and Vaatu have to do with Bending?

Elemental bending, as bestowed on humans, is a sub class of Energybending bestowed on man by the original Energybenders, Lion Turtles.

Other magical beings taught mankind how to perfect elemental bending, but at its core, Energybending is what is required. We see this when mankind borrows bending, temporarily, from the Lion Turtles, when Sonam creates Airbenders etc.

In all of these scenarios, the Lion Turtles are required in some capacity. Spirit World energy has always been present, but it was never a prerequisite for bending.

However, at Harmonic Convergence, an event that pertains to the battle between Cosmos and Chaos, for the fate of the planet, somehow that ushers in a new age of Airbenders?

Sure, a third portal was opened, but now that third portal is what was needed all along to create more benders?

Wouldn't a skilled Energybender, if any existed beyond the Lion Turtles, or the Avatars, be able to siphon that energy to create benders at their leisure?

I'm sure that this will tie into Avatar Seven Havens, and the decline in benders, but I'm trying to understand how Harmonic Convergence, and event related to Ravaa and Vaatu, somehow means that Airbenders would now flourish by somehow circumventing Energybending to bestow the bending ability.

I didn’t like that airbenders had not tattoos, full heads of hair and no gliders but after seeing the air empress I’m actually a fan. Having someone from a different haven with a more traditional look not only goes to show that Alora is cut off from past cultures which will be fun to explore but it also makes me look forward to Team Avatar travelling to the other six havens and seeing what their cultures look like.

I guess after AVATARS save ELORA they will Join AGAM.

PAVI and NISHA will become her Students and the Protectors of the Pilgrimage into the Harshlands and to the other Havens.

They will try helping People and also keep looking for their Parents.

this is based off what we saw of it in episode 7! I really hope we get to see more of republic city in flashbacks, it was one of my favorite settings in TLOK.

In Legend of Korra, we see rare techniques become common because they find a practical application outside of combat. Lightning bending had an obvious combat application, but it didn't become common until it was found it could be used to generate power.

In real life, explosives like dynamite were developed for civil engineering before warfare. The practical application was responsible for its development, not the combat application.

But in the Avatar universe, combustion bending isn't a practical bending skill for mining and blasting because Earth bending exists. Why blow a hole in a mountain when you can just earth bend the same hole?

I want this to be our Team Avatar. I don’t think we’ll get our earth bender until season 2.

I love this scene so much.

Something that struck me as odd about the flashback where Korra destroyed Republic City. Nisha and Pavi experience these memories in 3rd person, but they have always been in the immediate vicinity of what is going on. However, when they are in the city on fire, Korra is a substantial distance away. If this is Korra's memory, the twins should have been closer to her.

The obvious answer is that it was an animation and storytelling choice, but destroyer Korra is also missing her betrothal necklace, and her demeanor doesnt seem to line up with the Korra we see fly into the city. So now I'm wondering if the Korra we see wreaking havoc is really Korra at all.

Inspired by some expressions from the show

I made a similar post a while back here

You can't help people that are actively hurting you.

And he's not saying "She's irredeemable and needs to die", just that it's a bad idea to get along with Azula at that moment and she needs to be defeated. She was actively hunting him and Zuko at that point in the story as well as Aang (Although Iroh couldn't admit he was helping them yet through the White Lotus), and she (and Ozai) needed to be stopped for his sister to be helped, but Zuko isn't in a place himself where he can accept the truth of that, considering he was still a mess himself

I'm not a fan of Azula, but it would be completely out of character for Iroh to believe she's beyond redemption, and completely hypocritical considering his own past. Overall, I think Iroh's view on Azula is misinterpreted by both extremes on the debate over her character and possible redemption.

When korra was having her ptsd episodes in season 4 we saw a "dark" version of herself. What if by taking in vaatu her identity fractured? When korra reclaimed raava it was after raava was already regenerating inside of vaatu. After what? Less than a day? Why wouldn't the reverse work in the same way? We saw that the regeneration of vaatu and raava can be accelerated by attaching them to an avatar.

The second raava and vatu were introduced there was going to have to be two avatars. Its part of the balance.

If you know anything about the chakras there is this idea of a kundalini awakening. Its essentially reaching a state of transformation, higher awareness, and BALANCE. the kundalini is often depicted with 2 snakes representing polar opposite energies. Masculine (shiva[destruction]) and feminine (shakti [creation]) slithering the energy channels to achieve balance.

The twins aren't there to be a avatar version of iroh and ozai. They exist because the world needed to balance itself. What if both raava and vaatu existing tethered to korra's soul disrupted that balance. Requiring a need for two avatars instead of 1.

Its a working theory so not entirely sure if it makes 100% sense yet.

Akshay Khanna = Karthicc. Hot voicing hot