15 Mindbending Fan Theories About 'Legend Of Korra' Villains

Kuvira was one of the most interesting villains in The Legend of Korra. Her motivations were a little base, but one Redditor u/PlayingTheFool looked more closely into her story:

Kuvira tried to execute Korra after the duel ended, as Kuvira won. Now, this wasn't a fight to the death or anything, so why did she do that?

If Korra died, where would the next Avatar be born? The Earth Kingdom. The same one that Kuvira now owns all of. In just a few years, Kuvira would have the Avatar on her side, and she would have killed what was probably the only person that could stop her.

The visual appearance of the metallic substance could be a dead giveaway to some, but its interesting nonetheless. Although it was never explicity revealed, Redditor u/FridayNightThighs lists the evidence in which Korra was poisoned by the metal mercury: 

Based on all the clues the creators of the show have given us, it seems likely that Korra was poisoned with Mercury (Hg), an elemental metal which is naturally a liquid at room temperature. Mercury is toxic and negatively affects many organ systems. It absorbs into the body through the skin or through inhalation, and exposure to it can easily be fatal. Mercury occurs in many forms; it can either exist as a compound or as pure elemental mercury. Some effects of mercury poisoning include pain, dry lips, sweating, weakness, insomnia, depression, and hallucinations, all of which Korra had.

Bolin's ability to lavabend completely changed the momentum of The Red Lotus fight. Ghazan, a seemingly master lavabender with fully realized potential, was somehow at close match with Bolin, an aggressive beginner. Redditor u/far219 has a great theory on why these two possess such a rare ability: 

My theory is that lavabending requires a certain temperament. As we know, benders of different elements have personalities relating to their element. Earthbenders are usually strong willed, face things head on and can be brash and very confident. Metalbending takes this a step further; it basically represents law and order in the Avatar world.

But Bolin doesn't really match this description. He's very amicable, sociable, and he's been known to skirt the law. And he wasn't very confident that he could learn to metalbend. This is why I think he can lavabend and not metalbend. Lava is liquidy, unlike the solidness of rocks and especially metal. Lava doesn't need to go straight through something like an earthbender would, it can flow around. Someone with Bolin's personality matches the characteristics of lava rather than plain old earth.

As for Ghazan, he matches too. As said before we don't know much about his backstory, but what we do know from what we've seen of him is that he's a pretty chill, laid-back dude. A "go with the flow" kinda guy, which perfectly matches lava. Think about it. We never see him metalbend. It's possible that lavabending and metalbending are mutually exclusive because of the opposite personalities required to have them.

Audiences get a glimpse of the bloodbending mobster that terrorized Republic City. This small flashback contained a lot of coveted information for Avatar fans. Adult versions of Sokka, Toph, and Aang are seen fighting this powerful man, but we really don't know who he is. This theory from Quora user Rishabh Anand provides some context:

If you take a closer look at this photo, you will see an adult Aang in the background. You may notice that Yakone looks older than Aang. This means that during the events of Avatar the Last Airbender, Yakone was alive. Now, anyone who has seen the tv show knows that waterbenders can come from 3 possible places, the south pole, the north pole, and the swamp.

Yakone is most likely from the Northern Water tribe. Seeing as he was from the North Pole, older than the members of Team Avatar, and a master waterbender, he must have been one of the waterbenders assisting in fending off Admiral Zhao’s invasion. This also means the Pakku was likely the one who taught Yakone waterbending and that team avatar likely interacted with him during Aang’s journey to learn the elements, long before Yakone became a mobster. Just a cool piece of trivia to think about.

Season 1 of Legend of Korra went there. It might even be the most terrifying season throughout the series, if only because of Amon. Behind a daunting mask with seemingly impossible abilities only before possessed by Avatar Aang, he caused destruction throughout Republic City. Quora user Untorne Nislav has a theory on why Amon, with such a perfect plan, met his end:

Amon is arguably the most talented bender to ever live. But as one great waterbender once said: "Raw talent alone is not enough." Which is why he had to spend his entire childhood mastering his father’s bloodbending technique. After that, it probably took him decades to perfect his own bending style: the ability to foresee and redirect enemy attacks, and the power to strip others of their bending.

He probably travelled the world and devastated hundreds of benders in combat – all to learn their attack patterns. On top of that, he probably experimented on his unlucky victims to figure out a reliable way to sever their chi-paths. However, there was a problem: no airbenders to practice on. And that’s why he lost in the end.

The physical act of bending in Ming Hua's case is super interesting. One theory argues that she uses her mind to bend, like phantom limb. From DrSoaryn:

It's interesting to think about how armless bending would be different from the usual kind. Since so much of the bending is done by using arm and hand motions, it seems like it would be a lot more technically difficult. Maybe that's why Ming-Hua was so incredibly powerful. Because once she adapted to the change, she found that she could be a lot more precise, like phantom chi-paths. 

Another Redditor shufflekoh added:

Not to mention that she also uses momentum to bend her water arms. I find that so much more interesting because momentum shifting is kind of water's whole deal so she represents the epitome of what waterbending is meant to be. Awesome stuff.