100 Fun Facts About The Legend of Korra

When The Legend of Korra begins, which element has Korra yet to master?

Air. Korra had water, earth and fire down by 17, and when Aang's son Tenzin had to postpone her lessons she stowed away on a ship to go and find him.

Avatar Korra was born and raised among which people?

The Southern Water Tribe. The White Lotus kept her under guard in a polar compound for her own protection, a seclusion she later learned her own father and Tenzin had arranged.

Which word is the title of Book Four, The Legend of Korra's final season?

Balance. The show was announced as a 12-episode miniseries, but Nickelodeon extended it to 26 episodes before the premiere and ordered 26 more once the first Book had aired.

Who voices Korra?

Janet Varney. She went on to co-host the official Avatar podcast, Braving the Elements, with Dante Basco, the voice of Zuko.

What is Naga, Korra's animal companion?

A polar bear-dog. Water Tribe people had long feared and hunted the animals, yet Korra befriended Naga as a lost pup and now rides her everywhere.

In The Legend of Korra, Bolin's pet Pabu was inspired by Futa, what kind of animal famous in Japan for standing upright?

A red panda. Futa's fame inspired co-creator Bryan Konietzko's design, and in the show's backstory Bolin rescues Pabu from a pet store.

In The Legend of Korra, Book One's city setting is the capital of which state founded by Aang?

The United Republic of Nations. Aang and Fire Lord Zuko created it after the war as a fifth nation, a place where people from all four of the old ones could live side by side.

In The Legend of Korra, a pro-bending team is made up of an earthbender, a waterbender and what?

A firebender. Mako fills that role beside his earthbending brother Bolin, and Korra joins them when their usual third member fails to turn up for a match.

What is the name of Korra, Mako and Bolin's pro-bending team?

The Fire Ferrets. They reach the championship match but lose it to the Wolfbats, who have bribed the referees to overlook their fouls.

Who leads the anti-bender Equalists in Book One of The Legend of Korra?

Amon. At an Equalist rally the masked leader shows his power by stripping a line of captured gangsters of their bending for good.

In The Legend of Korra, the masked Equalist leader is unmasked as what?

A waterbender and Tarrlok's brother. Their father, the crime lord Yakone, raised both sons as bloodbenders, and Tarrlok ends the season by blowing up the boat the two escape in.

What was the birth name of the Equalists' masked leader in The Legend of Korra?

Noatak. He ran off into a blizzard to escape his father's cruelty and was given up for dead, then resurfaced years later behind a mask and a new name.

In The Legend of Korra, Hiroshi Sato's daughter takes over which company after his imprisonment?

Future Industries. Hiroshi made his fortune there with the Satomobile, then secretly built weapons for the Equalists, leaving his daughter to rescue the firm from bankruptcy.

Mako in The Legend of Korra is named for the late Mako Iwamatsu, who voiced which Avatar: The Last Airbender character?

Iroh. Mako Iwamatsu died in 2006 while the original series was still airing, and it closed Iroh's story in The Tales of Ba Sing Se with a dedication to him.

Which Married... with Children actor voices Mako in The Legend of Korra?

David Faustino. The former Bud Bundy plays the brooding older brother, who gives up pro-bending after Book One to become a police officer.

Which Oscar-winning actor voices Tenzin in The Legend of Korra?

J.K. Simmons. His Tenzin is Aang's youngest child, a stern teacher who has to learn in Book Two to step out of his famous father's shadow.

Which Mad Men actress voices the airbender Jinora in The Legend of Korra?

Kiernan Shipka. Her bookish Jinora turns out to be the spiritual prodigy of the family, guiding Korra into the Spirit World and earning a master's tattoos by the end of Book Three.

Who voices police chief Lin Beifong in The Legend of Korra?

Mindy Sterling. The Austin Powers actress plays a hard-bitten chief whose facial scars came from trying to arrest her own half-sister Suyin as a young officer.

Which Hollywood legend voiced the elderly Katara in The Legend of Korra?

Eva Marie Saint. The On the Waterfront Oscar winner plays Aang's widow, a master healer who nurses Korra back onto her feet in Book Four.

Korra's uncle Unalaq, the villain of Book Two, is chief of which people?

The Northern Water Tribe. He sends his troops to occupy the south in the name of reuniting the two tribes, then merges with a dark spirit to become a Dark Avatar.

Who was the first Avatar, whose story is told in Book Two of The Legend of Korra?

Wan. Banished from his city for keeping the fire a lion turtle had lent him, he survived in the wilds by befriending the spirits there; Steven Yeun voices him.

In The Legend of Korra, how often does Harmonic Convergence, the planetary alignment Unalaq exploits, occur?

Every 10,000 years. When this one ends, Korra chooses to leave the spirit portals open, so that spirits and humans have to learn to live side by side.

Which Parks and Recreation actress voices Unalaq's daughter Eska in The Legend of Korra?

Aubrey Plaza. Her Eska drags Bolin into a miserable one-sided romance in Book Two, going as far as declaring the two of them engaged.

Which Legend of Korra character did his voice actor describe as 'part Rupert Murdoch, part Thomas Edison, part Bozo the Clown'?

Varrick. John Michael Higgins's tycoon turns Bolin into the star of propaganda films called movers, and ends the series by marrying his long-suffering assistant Zhu Li.

Which punk musician voices Zaheer, leader of the Red Lotus, in The Legend of Korra?

Henry Rollins. The former Black Flag singer plays an anarchist who suddenly gains airbending, uses it to break out of prison and later learns to fly.

What does Zaheer poison Korra with in the Book Three finale of The Legend of Korra?

Mercury. The poison was meant to force her into the Avatar State so that killing her would end the Avatar cycle; Suyin metalbends most of it out, and Korra removes the last traces herself in Book Four.

Whom do the Red Lotus assassinate in Book Three of The Legend of Korra?

The Earth Queen. Zaheer suffocates Hou-Ting in her own throne room with his new bending, and her capital, Ba Sing Se, falls to looting and fire.

In The Legend of Korra's 'Enter the Void', which rare bending technique does Bolin discover?

Lavabending. After failing every attempt to learn metalbending earlier in the season, Bolin finds he can do this instead just as Ghazan's molten rock is about to swallow his friends.

Kuvira, the villain of The Legend of Korra's Book Four, is voiced by which star's daughter?

Robin Williams's. Zelda Williams first voices Kuvira as a loyal guard captain who saves Korra's father from a fatal fall, a season before she returns as a conqueror.

What title does Kuvira take as head of the Earth Empire in The Legend of Korra?

The Great Uniter. Sent to restore order to the fractured Earth Kingdom, she refuses to hand it back to its heir at his own coronation and declares an empire instead.

How much time passes between Book Three and Book Four of The Legend of Korra?

Three years. Korra spends them recovering at the South Pole and then wandering the world alone, letting her family and friends believe she has gone back to the city.

With whom does Korra leave for the Spirit World in the final scene?

Asami. The two walk into a new spirit portal hand in hand and turn to face each other, a pose the creators said shows two friends becoming a couple.

Which South Korean company drew most of The Legend of Korra's traditional animation?

Studio Mir. It was only two years old, set up in Seoul by Yoo Jae-myung, an animation director on the first Avatar series, who brought former colleagues with him.

Some Nickelodeon executives were wary of backing The Legend of Korra, doubting that which viewers would watch it?

Boys. The old TV rule held that girls will watch shows about boys but not the other way round; at test screenings, boys said they didn't care that Korra was a girl, just that she was awesome.

Midway through Book Three, how did Nickelodeon release The Legend of Korra's remaining episodes?

On the web. After leaked episodes and a low-rated TV run, the last five chapters of Book Three premiered on Nickelodeon's website and other digital outlets, and Book Four began there too.

Why does Book Four of The Legend of Korra include the clip show 'Remembrances'?

A budget cut. Nickelodeon trimmed the season by roughly the cost of one episode, and the creators chose to build Chapter 8 from old footage instead of laying off staff.

The Legend of Korra's score blends traditional Chinese music with what?

Early jazz. The brief was 1920s New Orleans jazz as if it had been invented in China, so the score sets Dixieland against traditional Chinese instruments.

Which MMA fighter did Bryan Konietzko cite as an inspiration for Korra's design?

Gina Carano. Konietzko, a fight fan, said that once they had the idea of a tough, athletic girl her personality took shape quickly; women snowboarders shaped her look and attitude too.

The Legend of Korra's metalbending police wear uniforms modelled on 1920s American police crossed with what?

Samurai armor. Bryan Konietzko mixed the two silhouettes at the sketch stage, then gave each officer spools of metal cable on the back to swing across the city.

The Legend of Korra's first season won a Daytime Emmy for which part of its production?

Casting. Among the first season's choices, Dante Basco, who voiced Zuko in the original series, came back to play Zuko's own grandson.

Which publisher continued The Legend of Korra in the graphic novels Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire?

Dark Horse Comics. Already home to the first series' comic sequels, it starts Turf Wars where the final episode stops, so the romance only hinted at on screen plays out on the page.

Which developer made the 2014 Legend of Korra beat 'em up published by Activision?

PlatinumGames. The studio behind Bayonetta made the brawler, but when Activision's licence lapsed in December 2017 the game was pulled from every online store.

Which hero of Avatar: The Last Airbender does Korra find living alone in the Foggy Swamp in Book Four?

Toph. Now a blunt old recluse, she finds traces of the Red Lotus poison still inside Korra but cannot pull them out, and bullies Korra into doing it herself.

In The Legend of Korra's finale, Kuvira's giant mecha is built of which metal, too pure for metalbenders to bend?

Platinum. Metalbenders really move the specks of earth left in ordinary metal, and refined platinum has too few, which is also why Tarrlok could cage Korra in a platinum box in Book One.

The creators described The Legend of Korra's main city as 'if' which place 'had happened in Asia'?

Manhattan. Bryan Konietzko also called it 1920s Shanghai meets Manhattan: a steampunk metropolis of old-fashioned cars and iron blimps, built for a moodier, more noir show than the first.

In The Legend of Korra, the first Avatar fused his soul with which spirit of light?

Raava. When her dark twin tears her out of Korra in the Book Two finale, Korra loses her link to every earlier Avatar for good, even after the two merge again.

Who voices the masked leader of the Equalists in The Legend of Korra?

Steve Blum. The English voice of Cowboy Bebop's Spike Spiegel plays a zealot who tells his followers that the spirits themselves gave him the power to take bending away.

Which Japanese studio animated part of Book Two of The Legend of Korra?

Pierrot. The studio behind Naruto and Bleach shared Book Two's animation with the Korean team that drew the rest of the series, which then animated Book Three without it.

Who composed the score for The Legend of Korra?

Jeremy Zuckerman. He and Benjamin Wynn founded The Track Team in 2004 and scored the first series, yet Korra's music reached the shops first: its Book One album came out in 2013, ten years before any album of the original's.

What powers the superweapon that Kuvira's army builds in Book Four of The Legend of Korra?

Spirit vines. They overran the city after Harmonic Convergence, and once Kuvira's engineers learn to draw energy from them she mounts the resulting cannon on a giant mecha.

Nickelodeon let Korra be shown bound in X-shaped chains after Bryan Konietzko cited a similar shot of which character?

SpongeBob had been drawn restrained the same way, so the network dropped a veto it had first imposed on a scene of the captured Aang in the original series.

Which eventual Oscar winner voices Tahno, captain of the rival Wolf-bats pro-bending team, in The Legend of Korra?

Rami Malek voiced the smug pro-bender in Book One, years before Mr. Robot and Bohemian Rhapsody, and the character returns for a cameo in the series finale.

Which star of The Walking Dead voices the very first Avatar in Book Two of The Legend of Korra?

Steven Yeun plays the hungry young thief whose rise fills the two-part episode Beginnings, which IGN rated 9.6 out of 10.

Which East African country's film board banned The Legend of Korra and Adventure Time from broadcast in 2017?

Kenya's Film Classification Board pulled six cartoons at once, The Loud House and Hey Arnold! among them, on the grounds that they glorified homosexual behaviour.

Which Lost actor voices the industrialist Hiroshi Sato, inventor of the Satomobile, in The Legend of Korra?

Daniel Dae Kim later returned to the franchise in live action, playing Fire Lord Ozai in Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender.

After defeating Unalaq in Book Two of The Legend of Korra, what does Korra do with the gateways between worlds?

Leaves them open: Korra reverses the first Avatar's decision to close them, so that spirits and humans share one world again.

Which political philosophy drives Zaheer and the Red Lotus, the Book Three villains of The Legend of Korra?

Anarchism, to Zaheer, means a world with no nations, no White Lotus and no Avatar, a creed one critic tied to the airbender ideal of freedom.

In Book Two of The Legend of Korra, Bolin becomes a film star by playing which hero of the South?

Nuktuk is the lead of The Adventures of Nuktuk: Hero of the South, a film produced by the very businessman who is secretly stoking the war.

Bryan Konietzko created The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender with which longtime creative partner?

Michael DiMartino wrote every Book One episode with Konietzko and later scripted the Korra graphic novels on his own.

Which voice actor, Appa and Momo in Avatar: The Last Airbender, performs Korra's animal friends Naga and Pabu?

Dee Bradley Baker supplies the growls and chirps for both pets, and in Book One he also voices a human politician on the city council.

The look of industrialist Hiroshi Sato in The Legend of Korra was modelled on which American president?

Theodore Roosevelt shaped the design along with Japanese industrialist Keita Goto, while the character's moustache was borrowed from Mitsubishi founder Iwasaki Yataro.

Which Republic City crime boss from Aang's era is voiced by Clancy Brown in The Legend of Korra?

Yakone is voiced by Clancy Brown, who had already played the scheming Long Feng in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Which fighting technique from Avatar: The Last Airbender do the Equalists use to disable benders in The Legend of Korra?

Chi-blocking was Ty Lee's signature skill in the original series, and the Equalists pair it with electrified gloves to even the odds against benders.

Which son of Aang, a retired commander born a nonbender, becomes an airbender in Book Three of The Legend of Korra?

Bumi was named after a childhood friend of Aang, and gains his powers when Harmonic Convergence awakens airbending in nonbenders around the world.

In the finale of The Legend of Korra, which long-suffering assistant marries the eccentric inventor she works for?

Zhu Li first demands to be treated as his equal after years of thankless service, and the later graphic novels make her president.

Which Red Lotus member in The Legend of Korra, born without arms, fights with limbs made of water?

Ming-Hua shapes her liquid arms into hands, climbing tendrils or ice spears, and is voiced by Grey DeLisle, the Azula of the earlier series.

Which Earth Kingdom city, home of the Metal Clan, is led by Suyin Beifong in The Legend of Korra?

Zaofu is where Korra learns metalbending from Suyin, and where the later dictator Kuvira once served as captain of the guard.

Which daughter of Suyin Beifong gains airbending in Book Three of The Legend of Korra and later dates Bolin?

Opal, a niece of Lin Beifong, departs her family home to train with the new Air Nation at the Northern Air Temple.

Which orphaned young thief from the Earth Kingdom becomes an airbender in Book Three of The Legend of Korra?

Kai starts out as a selfish young thief, then leads the rescuers to the captured airbenders and ends up dating Jinora.

Which vain heir to the Earth Kingdom throne does Mako guard in Book Four of The Legend of Korra?

Prince Wu later becomes king and, in the graphic novel Ruins of the Empire, pushes for his states to elect their own governors.

What is the name of Korra's father, the older brother of the Book Two villain Unalaq?

Tonraq is voiced from Book Two on by James Remar, and leads the rebels once he learns that his brother engineered his banishment.

After the ruling council is dissolved in The Legend of Korra, which nonbender is elected the first president?

Raiko wins office on the votes of the nonbending majority, a reform that follows the Equalist uprising of Book One.

Which veteran cartoon voice actor plays announcer Shiro Shinobi and narrates the recaps in The Legend of Korra?

Jeff Bennett's fast-talking pro-bending commentator doubles as the narrator of the short recap that opens every episode.

IGN's review of the Legend of Korra origin story Beginnings compared the first Avatar to which Disney hero?

Aladdin suits a hungry street thief who steals from the rich, then keeps the gift of fire he had only borrowed from a lion turtle.

The Legend of Korra episode Korra Alone was acclaimed for depicting which condition in a children's show?

PTSD shadows Korra as visions of herself in chains, and IGN gave the episode a perfect 10 out of 10.

How does Korra disguise herself before wandering the Earth Kingdom in the Legend of Korra episode Korra Alone?

Cuts her hair and swaps into local clothes: Korra has told her parents she is back with her friends, then wanders alone for months.

What happens to Korra on her first day in Republic City after she fights a gang of street thugs?

She is arrested for the damage she caused, and Tenzin has to bail her out under the glare of the city's chief of police.

Which spirit of darkness does Unalaq fuse with in The Legend of Korra to become the Dark Avatar?

Vaatu had been imprisoned by the first Avatar, and Unalaq frees him as the planets align at Harmonic Convergence.

A Wired critic likened the Equalist uprising in The Legend of Korra to which real-world protest movement?

Occupy only began after the season was written, one of the creators replied, though he agreed both showed a powerless many facing a powerful few.

Korra's main South Korean animators first passed on Book Two in order to work on which American comedy series?

The Boondocks was the less gruelling job, so a Japanese firm stepped in until the Korean team was asked back to share the work.

Why did Nickelodeon rush Book Three of The Legend of Korra to air in June 2014 with only a week's notice?

Episodes had leaked in Spanish-language versions, and the season then opened to 1.5 million viewers, well down on earlier premieres.

The Escapist compared Nickelodeon's treatment of The Legend of Korra to the fate of which Fox series?

Firefly was likewise a Friday-night genre show with a loyal following that left the air after erratic scheduling and thin promotion.

Korra's connection to what is severed in her battle with Unalaq in Book Two of The Legend of Korra?

Her past lives fall silent, so Korra can no longer seek counsel from Aang or any Avatar who came before him.

Korra's tough personality was inspired partly by which relative of The Legend of Korra co-creator Bryan Konietzko?

His sister, whom Konietzko called pretty tough, shaped the heroine along with women who fight in mixed martial arts.

At which annual fan convention was production of The Legend of Korra first announced in July 2010?

San Diego Comic-Con heard it described as a twelve-episode miniseries due in 2011; it grew to 52 episodes and premiered in 2012.

The hairstyle of Hiroshi Sato's daughter in The Legend of Korra was inspired by which 1940s Hollywood star?

Rita Hayworth supplied the waves, because Konietzko pictured the heiress as a Golden Age Hollywood actress living in the Avatar world.

Before a rewrite made her an ally, Hiroshi Sato's daughter in The Legend of Korra was conceived as what?

An enemy spy planted inside Team Avatar by the Equalists was the first plan, and her original character design survived the change of heart.

Seychelle Gabriel, who voices Hiroshi Sato's daughter, played which character in the 2010 film The Last Airbender?

Yue, the princess who becomes the moon spirit, was Gabriel's first role in the Avatar franchise.

Joaquim Dos Santos, a director and producer on The Legend of Korra, later co-directed which animated feature film?

Across the Spider-Verse arrived in 2023, after he had also served as co-showrunner of Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Which actor from The Wolf of Wall Street provides the voice of the earthbender Bolin in The Legend of Korra?

P. J. Byrne played the broker nicknamed Rugrat in Martin Scorsese's film, released while he was midway through his run as Bolin.

Which stand-up comedian voices Pema, the wife of airbending master Tenzin, in The Legend of Korra?

Maria Bamford plays the mother of four, whose youngest child Rohan is born late in Book One.

Chris Hardwick voices the grown-up version of which Avatar: The Last Airbender hero in The Legend of Korra?

Sokka turns up only in guest appearances, because the sequel is set 70 years after the original series.

Dante Basco, the voice of a young general in The Legend of Korra, played which royal in Avatar: The Last Airbender?

Zuko is the young general's own grandfather, so Basco ended up voicing two generations of the Fire Nation royal family.

In the Book One finale of The Legend of Korra, the Equalist leader's burn scar turns out to be what?

Make-up is all it was, a fact exposed when Korra blasts him out of a window and into the sea in front of his own followers.

At the end of Book Three of The Legend of Korra, a weakened Korra attends Jinora's ceremony using what?

A wheelchair carries her through the ceremony, and the season closes on a single tear as Jinora is named an airbending master.

The flying mecha suits that cut into Kuvira's giant robot in The Legend of Korra are named after which bird?

Hummingbird suits are nimble enough to cut a hole in the hull without being crushed, though the plan still costs one pilot his life.

What does the final blast of Kuvira's superweapon create in the middle of Republic City in The Legend of Korra?

A spirit portal opens when Korra bends the beam's energy aside to save Kuvira, joining the two older gateways at the poles.

The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins, a turn-based strategy game, was made for which handheld console?

Nintendo 3DS owners got the strategy game from Webfoot Technologies in the same month that a separate action game reached consoles.

Alongside Chinese martial arts and MMA, which acrobatic discipline of flips shaped the fights in The Legend of Korra?

Tricking gave the fights their stylised flips, with Jake Huang among the performers who supplied the moves.

In The Legend of Korra, Suyin Beifong's trusted adviser Aiwei uses his earthbending senses to act as what?

A lie detector is his role as the city's truth-seer, yet he is himself unmasked as a mole for the Red Lotus.