Today I uploaded a video about Avatar: The Legend of Korra, where I talked about how Korra and Asami becoming gay characters out of nowhere was...basically bad writing in my opinion. One thing that is unrelated to Korra and Asami is Kuvira.
Now Kuvira was one of the biggest missed opportunities for a deep complex villain, especially since she was Korra's final adversary. Kuvira was characterized as a heartless, strict, military leader and was called "the Great Uniter" because she brought order to the Earth Kingdom after Zaheer killed the Earth Queen. If you watched the show then you know what I'm talking about. Here's my problem with Kuvira...we got hardly anything about her.
All we know about Kuvira, was that she was raised by Su after she became an orphan and at the finale we had Kuvira tear up and cry about how she was abandoned and how she didn't want the Earth Kingdom to feel the way she felt. Freaking bollocks. One thing I was always told about when it came to writing, both fiction and just writing an essay was "show, don't tell." Don't tell us Kuvira felt abandoned or felt genuine care for the Earth Kingdom, SHOW US FOR GOODNESS SAKES.
I honestly think a flash back episode or at least more verbal confrontations between Kuvira and Korra, kinda like with what happened between Zaheer and her, would have done leaps and bounds for her character. If we got some motivation behind Kuvira from the beginning of the season it would have made their final battle much more satisfying for me. If Kuvira and Korra would have talked more about how Kuvira felt before the final episode it would have made me want to see Korra succeed more, to not only stop Kuvira's plan, but for Korra to teach Kuvira something else. Granted at the very end that happened, but it only added small bit to Kuvira due to the fact that the story was over. We should have seen Kuvira actually do an act of kindness to an Orphan girl that reminded her of herself so we could see that while her methods were cruel, she really did only want the best for her kingdom.
Zaheer was hands down the best villain due to his rationality and calm demeanor. As much as you didn't want to agree with Zaheer, just his voice and the words he used made you want to listen to him. It's hard to hate someone like that guy, and Kuvira could have been the same. Instead of an evil Dictator she could have been a misguided person doing what she thought was the right thing. We only got small details at the end of the show instead of having the audience actually grow to care about Kuvira.
Kuvira was written to be the mirror Korra needed to look into, and I understand characters like that. Characters that are more or less the evil version of what our Protagonist used to be. It gives the audience perspective when it comes to how much the character has grown and they're useful plot devices. However I do still think the writers could have done a lot more with Kuvira. For a show that does and amazing job with it's Protagonists there always seems to be a lack of great villains and motivations behind them.
Those are my thoughts on Kuvira. I want to thank you guys for stopping by to read my post. More posts and video coming soon. Thank you again, and I'll see you cool cats soon.
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When I was a young man, I was small. Smaller than most people actually. It wasn't just that I was small, I was also skinny. Needless to ...
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Today I uploaded a video about Avatar: The Legend of Korra, where I talked about how Korra and Asami becoming gay characters out of nowhere ...
I was so wrapped up with how bad the ending was that I completely forgot about Kuvira. She could have been Korra's greatest adversary ever. However, instead of actually focusing on plot points to further the character development of Kuvira, Bryke decided to focus on useless relationship pairings and banter.
ReplyDeleteSee, Kuvira seemed to get off the hook when compared to the other villains this incarnation of the Avatar faced. Amon died in an explosion, Unalaq was torn apart and made into spirit particles, and Zaheer, after an excellent bout, was beaten and imprisoned before our very eyes. Kuvira, after a quick catfight, had a heart to heart with Korra and repented of her crimes, willingly going into police custody. Not a satisfying ending to the antagonist's conflict.
For one thing, as a way to prevent her from ever rising again, Korra should have stripped her of her bending. Ozai had this treatment, so I don't see why Kuvira didn't have it done to her either. Kuvira should have been the main focus of the first half of the episodes, and like you said, she should have been shown being compassionate to the orphans as a way to show motivation for becoming "the Great Uniter."
Kuivra should have been able to bend Sand, Earth, Metal, Mercury, you name it to beat her opposition. The colossus should have just been an added perk. My point being is that Kuvira should have been made a threat so serious that only the Avatar could defeat her.
The one thing that bothered me was the comparison they tried to make between Korra and Kuvira. Korra is the daughter of the Chief of the Water Tribe, essentially making her a "princess" in her own right. She has, and I use this very loosely, "mastered" all four elements, with an Earth sub-element and energy bending. She lived an entire life being prepped and trained into becoming a powerful Avatar, receiving much practice and guidance. Not to mention all the times she acted bratty against her teachers: Korra could not successfully recover from a near defeat she had from an enemy. Kuvira was an orphan who was adopted by Suyin, worked hard to master her element as well as the sub-element, was a security guard, and successfully repaired and led a nation during a time of sheer chaos. I fail to see the similarities.
Agreed with the comment above. I actually happened into this blog post after googling about Korra and Kuvira's similarites because to my recollection, the only thing that can count as a 'similarity' is the fact that they're both stubborn regarding their goals and will do just about anything to reach them, whether it's ethical or not. But where else are they similar? How are they supposed to be mirrors of one another? Not just their upbringing is completely different, but just about everything in their personalities is different as well. Kuvira was never shown to be childish where Korra (especially in Book 1) was, Kuvira is efficient with most things she does and takes her job seriously, both as guard and afterwards as military leader, where Korra almost always messes things up fifteen times before getting it right, and she doesn't really do her job as the Avatar considering she doesn't ever think about what bringing balance to the world means. Not once did I get the impression that she was trying to keep the balance of the world throughout all her adventures. Kuvira doesn't allow things to deter her, nothing seems to intimidate her... while Korra ended up in a crying fit when someone called her a 'half-baked Avatar'. So outside of Bryke's forced attempt to make Korra and Kuvira similar (I just read that they made them around the same height and build - maybe that's the only place where the similarities lay?), I can't see where they're alike. They just aren't.
DeleteAbsolutely agree regarding how Kuvira wasn't as powerful as she should have been, especially considering she was the final villain of the show. Her power was related to the Colossus and the spirit vine weapon, take that away and a competent master of his element would've given her a good fight and could have likely defeated her. Which I guess is precisely why the Colossus and the weapon were essential for the finale to deliver the "impact" Bryke wanted for the show's conclusion.