In the very last season of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Korra goes through so much and accomplishes so many great things. But for all the rejection and losses she’s been subjected to, you probably wouldn’t believe that Korra is roughly the age of a college graduate.
It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that any young Avatar has been through a lot. Aang himself was the sole survivor of a genocide against the Air Nomads, making him the very last one. By the fourth season of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, she would be only 21 years old.
But internally, Korra must’ve felt like she had lived many lifetimes. I’m not just referring to the Avatars with whom she once shared experiences. Korra lost her connections to the past Avatars in the second season, got abducted and paralyzed by poison by the third season, and reached a breaking point from the pressures of being the Avatar by the fourth season. Not to mention, Korra was found out to be the Avatar at age four and had to keep training under protection as a child.
Even if Korra loved being the Avatar of her generation, Republic City didn’t need the Avatar compared to the previous era. The nations were no longer at war, and Korra became an Avatar during a relatively peaceful time. All of this is to say that everything that Korra went through would cause accelerated mental aging and distress for anybody, let alone a normal 21-year-old. Luckily, Korra has a great group of friends and a good family to fall back on, even when the burdens of being the Avatar become too heavy.
(featured image: Netflix)
