- 6 hours ago
The Avatar universe is heading into a bold new era, and there’s a lot to keep track of before the journey begins. From a shattered world and a hunted new Avatar to the return of airbending, spirits on the loose, and long-awaited behind-the-scenes familiar faces, here’s everything you need to know before diving into the next chapter.
Transcript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down everything you need to know to fully appreciate Avatar's Seven Havens on
00:06October 9th.
00:06Word of the Avatar's return is spreading.
00:12Where We Left Off
00:13The world of Avatar looked mighty different at the end of Korra's reign, and it looks even more strange in
00:18Pavi's tenure.
00:19Why do you look like me?
00:22At the end of The Legend of Korra, Kuvira was defeated, but her attempted conquest left the Earth Kingdom in
00:27chaos.
00:27The canon graphic novels continued that story, dealing with the aftermath of Kuvira's campaign and the enormous political questions created
00:33by her Earth Empire.
00:35Republic City got a new president to unite the nation, and meanwhile, Korra and Asami's relationship grew into a full
00:40-on ironclad romance.
00:41Even once all of that settled into something resembling peace, it was clear the world Korra left behind was fundamentally
00:47different from Aang's.
00:48Seven Havens leaps over 200 years forward, so as you can expect, there's been quite a few developments.
00:53I will severely punish whoever is hiding the Avatar.
00:58The End of the Avatar Cycle
00:59Aside from all the geopolitical drama, one of the biggest lingering plot threads from The Legend of Korra involves the
01:05finer details of the Avatar's inheritance.
01:07Who are you?
01:08I am you.
01:10Who am I?
01:13You are the Avatar.
01:16I don't know what that is.
01:18For those who don't remember, which is totally fair, it's been over a decade since Korra ended, the feisty Avatar
01:23lost her connection to her past lives during a climactic fight with the corrupted Unalak.
01:27Korra remained the Avatar, and the cycle continued, but she lost her spiritual link to Aang, Roku, and all the
01:32others who came before her.
01:34Now, 10,000 years of darkness begins.
01:41Which now brings us to Pavi.
01:43Clearly, the Avatar Cycle continued, but if Pavi tries to connect with previous Avatars, who exactly will answer?
01:48Can Korra talk to her?
01:50Can everyone else?
01:50Or is Pavi also inheriting a broken cycle?
01:53How does that affect the Avatar state?
01:55At worst, Pavi might be starting her journey from square one.
01:58I can't be an Avatar.
02:00I'm no warrior.
02:02The return of airbending.
02:04Not everything that happened in Korra's era was a disaster.
02:06In my head, I saw that playing out very differently.
02:10Maybe we should have stayed and tried harder to convince him to join us.
02:13After the Hundred Year War wiped out almost all of the airbenders, most assumed that it takes several generations to
02:18get their numbers back up.
02:20Then Korra happened.
02:21The events of harmonic conversions caused all sorts of spiritual mayhem in the real world, including the creation of a
02:26new crop of airbenders.
02:27Led by Aang's son, Tenzin, this new coalition worked hard to rebuild airbender culture and preserve their rich history.
02:33That was incredible!
02:34When do we get to fly around in our own bison like that?
02:37Only after many years of practice and intense training.
02:40Oh!
02:41Oh!
02:42Nice reminder that Korra didn't just break tradition, she made a few new ones, too.
02:45Pavi certainly has a lot to thank her for, since her mother, Jay, is notably an airbender.
02:49Without Korra's adventures paving the way, who knows who would have taught Pavi how to control the wind.
02:56You can airbend!
02:58Of course, that may not be very high on her priority list, considering the Great Cataclysm.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Forget the cozy villages of Aang's era or the roaring neon streets of Republic City.
03:08We remain united.
03:09As a council representative, I am honored to be here today, celebrating the anniversary of Republic City and the opening
03:17of Unity Tower, a symbol for all people.
03:21Seven Havens occupies a completely different visual and historical space.
03:25Something known as the Cataclysm has devastated the world, leaving civilization fractured and scared.
03:30The details of this catastrophe have yet to be revealed, but promotional material implies it has something to do with
03:34Korra.
03:35And the Avatar let us down.
03:37The Avatar is never supposed to have an easy job, per se.
03:40They face political unrest, anarchist organizations, and world-ending spiritual wars.
03:44And that's just from Korra's time.
03:46But Pavi is facing a world that's arguably more dangerous than anything her past lives have faced.
03:50The worst part being, she doesn't even know why or how any of this happened.
03:53Not to mention, she's also much younger than either Aang or Korra.
03:57We wish we could say that was the worst of her problems.
03:59No matter what we discover, we'll face it together.
04:05If you want to master the elements like Pavi, scan this QR code to pop on over to our 24
04:08-7 WatchMojo livestream.
04:10Warning, bending abilities not included.
04:13My whole life, I was taught to hate the Avatar.
04:17The Avatar is public enemy number one.
04:19Remember how we said the only thing we know about the Cataclysm is that it has something to do with
04:23Korra?
04:24And the last one doomed the world.
04:26Well, apparently the general populace took that to mean the Avatar is a villain who needs to be hunted.
04:30It's a spin on one of the franchise's core tenets.
04:33Aang woke up after 100 years into a world that desperately needed his help.
04:36Korra grew up fiercely confident in her ability and was constantly praised because of it.
04:40You're turning into a pretty wise Avatar, after all.
04:43Conflict resolution. It's what I do.
04:46Pavi is none of that.
04:47Despite being the bridge between humans and spirits, the world is outright rejecting her,
04:51treating her as a pariah and the cause of all their suffering.
04:54While the Avatar being burdened with responsibility is pretty par for the course,
04:57the intense stakes here are unlike anything we've seen before.
05:00After all, in order to save the world, Pavi first has to survive it herself.
05:04You were born for this.
05:06Pavi is from the Earth Kingdom.
05:07Or she should have been.
05:08Water, Earth, Fire, Air.
05:11The cycle dictates that each succeeding Avatar is born into the next nation.
05:14How do you know it's me?
05:16We have known you were the Avatar for some time.
05:20Do you remember these?
05:26Those were some of my favorite toys when I was little.
05:29Roku hailed from the Fire Nation.
05:30Aang was an air nomad.
05:32Korra came from the frigid water tribes,
05:34leaving Pavi as a representative of the Earth Kingdom.
05:36But here's where things get complicated.
05:38Seven Havens takes place in a world where those binary labels aren't as applicable.
05:42Everything got turned upside down.
05:45Nations have mixed.
05:46Borders have shifted.
05:47Entire political systems have disappeared.
05:49And after the Cataclysm,
05:50even the idea of being from one particular nation
05:52may mean something very different than it did for Aang or Korra.
05:55That's what makes Pavi's identity especially intriguing.
05:57She isn't simply the next Earthbender.
05:59She's just the Avatar.
06:00So what does that mean for the cycle's democratic balance?
06:03You tell us, Pavi.
06:05You ready?
06:07Spirits run amok.
06:08Sorry, Korra.
06:09We really don't mean to keep harping on you,
06:11but Seven Havens is really coming after your legacy.
06:14This is as far as we go.
06:16See, one of her biggest decisions as the Avatar
06:18was leaving the spirit portals open at the end of Harmonic Convergence.
06:21As a result, spirits and humans could freely travel between the realms.
06:24Remember, in the past,
06:25only special individuals like the Avatar
06:27were permitted to cross borders like that.
06:29Who better to resolve a crisis
06:30between our world and the spirit world
06:33than the Avatar himself?
06:36You are the great bridge between man and spirits.
06:40Right, that's me.
06:42While it caused some mayhem at the start,
06:44it seemed like Korra had the situation under control
06:46until Seven Havens.
06:47Whatever the Great Cataclysm really is,
06:49the fact of the matter is now,
06:50angry spirits are at large,
06:51causing carnage and destruction everywhere.
06:53Whatever happened in the last two centuries,
06:55humanity's relationship with these spirits
06:57has become less than harmonious.
07:00The spirit world has unleashed its wrath.
07:03What are the Seven Havens?
07:04Because of that little spirit problem,
07:06Seven Havens picks up in a world
07:07where the remnants of humanity have gathered
07:09in a handful of civilizations called,
07:11you guessed it, the Seven Havens.
07:13The world isn't as black and white
07:15as you've been taught, little one.
07:17Given that these get title billing,
07:18it's safe to assume they'll play a major role
07:20in Poffy's journey.
07:21They already have pretty major lore implications.
07:24As we mentioned before,
07:25packing the Avatar world into seven compact societies
07:27has blurred our traditional understanding
07:29of the Four Nations.
07:31The effects on their culture and development
07:32remain to be seen.
07:34No one can know what you saw.
07:36And since this world is already hanging on by a thread,
07:39there'll probably be some Interhaven conflicts as well.
07:42Instead of Four Nations at war,
07:43there's a real possibility Poffy is stuck
07:45having a broker piece between seven independent factions.
07:48She better read up a mediation,
07:49is all we're saying.
07:50Okay, well, this has been fun.
07:52Returning faces behind the scenes.
07:54Rest easy, Avatar fans.
07:55Unlike the very controversial live-action remakes,
07:58series creators Michael Dante DiMartino
08:00and Brian Konitzko are back in the driver's seat.
08:03I don't want to give away too much
08:04because the idea is to watch the show
08:05and you get to unravel this mystery
08:07with Poffy along the way.
08:09They spearheaded both The Last Airbender and Korra,
08:11so no follow-up would have felt the same without them.
08:13They have their lucky charm with them too.
08:14We're very happy to report that the one,
08:17the only, D. Bradley Baker
08:18is gracing the Avatar world yet again.
08:20That's, that's, that's, that's Avatar.
08:23That's Airbender.
08:24If his name doesn't immediately ring a bell,
08:26his iconic animal noises absolutely will.
08:28He's the man behind both Appa and Momo
08:30from the original series
08:31and later, Pabu, the fire ferret, and Korra.
08:33While Seven Havens is a major creative swing for the franchise,
08:36it's reassuring to know
08:37there's still a lot of familiar faces bringing it to life.
08:39It'll be fun!
08:42All right, Pabu.
08:44Before we continue,
08:46be sure to check out WatchMojo's 24-hour livestream.
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08:52Always on, always live.
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08:58When Seven Havens drops on October 9th,
09:00you're gonna want to buckle in and grab your remote.
09:03Jay, what did you see?
09:05In a first for the series,
09:06the episodes aren't dropping on network TV at all.
09:08Instead, it'll stream exclusively on Paramount+,
09:11but don't worry.
09:12The half-hour program will be released
09:14in batches of three to four episodes,
09:15ensuring every week is packed to the brim
09:17with Avatar goodness.
09:19It's the one thing this world needs the most.
09:22You're not gonna want to miss a single minute,
09:23especially since the second season of 13 episodes
09:26is already confirmed and well into production.
09:28Both Aang and Korra's shows ran for around 60 episodes,
09:31so there's a chance we'll get more beyond season two as well.
09:33The streaming drop is definitely a different way
09:35to experience the series,
09:36but given how well we all experienced Avatar
09:38during the pandemic,
09:40a mini-binge every week feels like just the right balance.
09:44I will find her.
09:47No matter the cost.
09:49What are you most excited to see in Seven Havens?
09:51Let us know in the comments below.