Korra Discussion Post: 'The Revelation'

[whitelotusmods]

This is a post where you can discuss this week's episode* and link to your own reaction posts.

Spoilers for the series up until 1x03 below.

*(eeee I still can't over the fact that there are going to be new episodes every week now I am so excited. :D)

Comments

[loligo]

Well, here's more of my crazy theory that I developed last night: what if the rapid industrialization of the past decades has thrown the human and the spirit world out of balance? Remember how angry Hei Bai was about the forest fire that destroyed his grove? Presumably the kind of mining and logging it would take to build a place like Republic City has never been seen in their world before -- and the spirits may see the benders as being at fault, since it seems like a lot of the tech in their world is based directly or indirectly on bending powers, not our science.

So spirit intervention here might be more like "justifiably pissed off" than "evil incarnate". (And it seems like spirits don't handle anger very productively, to say the least.) Koh has intervened in our world before, when he stole Ummi because he thought Kuruk was a crappy Avatar. And I need to watch the ep again, but didn't Amon say that the fire bender "stole my family from me, and even stole my face"? That seems like a weird way for the writers to phrase things, unless they're foreshadowing the Face-Stealer.

Just a theory, though!

[talibusorabat]

A large part of Hei Bai's problem was he couldn't communicate with the humans, so there was no possibility of "HOW DARE YOU DESTORY MY FOREST?" "It wasn't us! It was the Fire Nation! Here, let's help you replant it." So he communicated his anger the only way he could -- through violence.

It's definitely an interesting theory - rather like Princess Mononoke, and would tie in nicely with Korra not being very spiritual. His speech didn't make me think of Koh -- it struck me more as poetic emphasis -- but I can see it now, especially with how he reaches for Korra's face in some of the previews. I'd still prefer him being human, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out either way.