Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1 is complete. And with it, Pavi and Nisha are going their separate ways after confronting The Anomaly in Ellora. But along the way, plenty of mistakes were made, secrets were revealed, and we got just a little bit closer to the revelation of what happened with Korra and the Cataclysm that changed the world.
Fangirlish got to talk to creators Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Sehaj Sethi about Avatar: Seven Havens. And while we talked about the creation of the series, the origins of its design, and more, the one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was Korra. Because this world that Nisha and Pavi live in is grounded in fear of the Avatar. And the blame is placed on Korra.
MORE: Just started watching Avatar: Seven Havens? Read our review for the first 3 episodes!
As a staunch Korra supporter, I wanted to ask the creators of both Avatar: Seven Havens and The Legend of Korra what they thought about the legend that has built around Korra where she’s the villain. And as soon as they started talking, I could see how much they supported Korra too, no matter what anyone online says.
Bryan Konietzko started off by saying, “First of all, it’s a mystery show. So stick with it and see what happened.” This is spot on if you’ve watched the entirety of Book 1. We enter into Seven Havens with Pavi and Nisha living in a world where Korra is the boogeyman everyone fears. But she’s also the boogeyman that the new Avatars fear becoming.
For Konietzko, Korra mysteriously being the cause of the Cataclysm has opened the door for people to once again hate on Korra as if other Avatars haven’t made mistakes. “Second of all, there’s just, I feel like an undue amount of “Korra messed up.” I’m like, what about Roku? What about Aang? Aang’s entire culture got wiped out. Every Avatar messes up in some way. Otherwise it wouldn’t be an interesting story.”
MORE: Finished the series? Read our review for Avatar: Seven Havens Episodes 10-13!
This is the center of every Avatar’s journey. Because without faults, there wouldn’t be an adventure worth watching. But again, when it’s Korra, the response is disproportionate. Konietzko added, “Yeah, and I love that it’s just like, this person messed up as if everything was fine until Korra did something, you know? Korra was acted upon by very, very bad actors, you know. Like really people with malicious intent over and over again. And all this sort of, whether it’s stemming from misogyny or homophobia or whatever, just like garbage.”
Looking at Korra through this lens gives even more context as to what Nisha and Pavi are going through and will go through. Because they too will make mistakes. They too will be judged with a harsh hand, by viewers especially. But like Aang, like Korra, they’re fallible. “Every single Avatar was put into a really difficult situation and had really strong adversaries trying to act out really bad things. And did they succeed in preventing those things? No, because we’re not telling a superhero story, you know? We have this kind of supernatural deity-like character, but they’re human. And we’re not interested in a magical deity who can just always make everything perfect.”
And it wasn’t perfect in Seven Havens. We saw Pavi and Nisha fight each other and different forces inside and outside Ellora. We saw them be persecuted for a past no one has clear answers about because Korra is a mystery. And believe it or not, this is just the beginning of their challenges. That’s what makes the world of Avatar interesting for Konietzko. “One of the big things about the Avatar world is there are consequences. Things change, and they can’t always go back. They usually can’t at all. So I love Korra. I stand by her.”
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This is where creator Sehaj Sethi stepped in. She didn’t take part in Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra. But as creator and writer of Avatar: Seven Havens, the past influences the present. And she’s not here to write female characters that are demonized because they aren’t perfect. She’s here to help create a legacy of dynamic female characters. And that includes Korra, Pavi, Nisha, and so many other girls, young women, and women of the series.
“I think people see this as a binary. Like hero or villain,” Sethi said, “And that’s never been the case in any Avatar show. It’s really not the case in our show. So I think the thing that we liked bringing in about Korra was complexity. She’s a complex character, just like Pavi and Nisha. All of our characters have sides where they can fail, and they can succeed. And that’s what we wanted to bring to this. So, I just hold my hands, calm down, just for a second.”
Now that Book 1 is done, and books three and four have been written, this mystery of what happened with Korra and how it influences the world that Pavi and Nisha live in will continue. And with that, Michael Dante DiMartino is “excited for the people to experience more of the journey with the girls and we get to see more of the havens and all that stuff.” And they’re moving forward by trusting themselves, backing Korra all the way, and knowing that they can’t make everyone happy, so why worry about it in the first place?
Konietzko said, “Yeah, you’re going to get criticized either way. If you repeat it, you’re going to get criticized for watering it down. And if you do something different, people are going to say, ‘ We wanted the old thing. Why did you serve us this new thing?’ So, you may as well choose the one that’s going to be more creatively satisfying for you because you’re the one who has to go to work every day and live with it for years.”
And we couldn’t agree more. Whatever comes next for Nisha and Pavi, we’re here for their growth, the mistakes they’ll make along the way, and the way that they’re going to get back up again. As for Korra, we’ll trust in the creators. This is a mystery after all. And if they can have faith in Korra, then so can I.
Avatar: Seven Havens Season 1 is now available on Paramount+
