| abstract
| - Korra is the present Avatar, successor to (and reincarnation of) Aang. Born to the waterbenders Tonraq and Senna, she is a teenage girl from the Southern Water Tribe with a rebellious streak. On her quest to become a fully realized Avatar and pacify the anti-benders in the United Republic, she asks Tenzin to teach her airbending.
* Action Girl: Quite obviously.
* Arrogant Kung Fu Girl: In Korra's first present-day scene, her teachers complain that she is amazingly good at learning the practical sides of bending, but amazingly bad at learning the discipline and wisdom that's supposed to go with them.
* Badass:
* Badass Arm-Fold: Welcome to the gun show.
* Badass in Distress: During "When Extremes Meet" and "Out of the Past," when she's been kidnapped by Tarrlok.
* Berserk Button: Don't mess with her friends, and especially don't provoke her to violence if you have.
* Betty and Veronica
* The Veronica to Asami's Betty for Mako's Archie.
* She's also the Archie for Bolin's Betty and Mako's Veronica. It's that kind of show.
* Blithe Spirit: She's certainly making an impact even in the constraints of Republic City. Though it's Deconstructed when most of the authority figures dislike her recklessness or outright manipulate her for personal gain.
* Boisterous Bruiser: She rarely fights out of outright malice; it's simply her preferred way of dealing with conflict.
* Boobs of Steel: Korra is one of, if not the most physically capable character on the show. She is also very well endowed.
* Braids, Beads, and Buckskins: Downplayed. Korra wears a tan-colored, fur-trimmed pelt around her waist and a parka while at the South Pole. While in Air Temple vestments, she still wears a few of her Water Tribe accessories.
* Bratty Teenage Daughter: Though not actually related to Tenzin, his status as The Stoic and Team Dad and Korra's Hot-Blooded nature means they frequently butt heads, so Tenzin sometimes sees her this way. Tenzin even begs his children at one point not to grow up to be teenagers like Korra. Jinora declares she will make no such promises.
* Break the Haughty: In "The Voice in the Night". The idea of having her bending taken from her is so terrifying that she is afraid to fight back, until her bravado forces her to try. Amon just made it worse by easily capturing her and taunting her about how he's saving her for last.
* Charles Atlas Superpower: She lifts Tenzin and his children in a Bear Hug effortlessly, and tosses a Mook at least a few meters through a shop through brute strength alone. In "And The Winner Is..." she is able to not only hold on to the edge of the pro bending ring, not only catch and hold on to Mako (who also ended up over the edge), but toss Mako back into the ring, averting a knockout loss for the Ferrets.
* It should be noted, though, that she could not hoist herself upward after doing so, and fell after throwing Mako-- even Korra has limits.
* Child Prodigy: Even more so than Aang; she could already bend water, fire, and earth before the White Lotus even confirmed her as the Avatar. She has, however, admitted a lack of understanding when the spiritual aspects of bending and being the Avatar come up.
* The Chosen One
* Chromatic Arrangement: Blue, though her personality fits the typical red. She does find reason to wear warm colors often, while training in airbending and pro-bending.
* Cool Big Sis: While not biologically related to Tenzin, she is a live-in student and eats at the family table instead of with the Air Acolytes. Meelo and Ikki have imitated Korra whenever she's frustrated, which does not please Tenzin at all. But Tenzin also cares about her on a personal level.
* Country Mouse: Korra spent her whole life at the South Pole and is amazed when she sees Republic City for the first time.
* Cute Bruiser: She's not particularly tall, but she is capable of lifting men much taller than herself. With one arm. And of lifting Tenzin's entire family in a bear-hug without even realizing she's doing so.
* Dance Battler: Korra sure loves flips and kicks. It's also evident in the way she navigates the airbending obstacle course. Jinora's demonstration is fairly clinical: she turns on a dime but keeps her upper body rigid. Korra uses a lot of spinning to do the same.
* The Danza: Her voice actor in her Minor Kidroduction was named Cora.
* Deadpan Snarker
* Destructive Savior: In "Welcome to Republic City", she quickly puts down a trio of gang members. However, it results in greater property damage than the gang members themselves would have caused. This puts her and Lin Beifong at odds. In "When Extremes Meet", she and the new Team Avatar similarly tear up large sections of the street in pursuit of the chi-blockers. Tarrlok tries to call her on it, but lacks the force of personality to keep her in check.
* Dreaming of Times Gone By: Occasionally has visions of her past life as Aang, when knocked unconscious.
* Dude Magnet: Both Bolin and Mako are attracted to her. Tahno offers to show her how a "real pro bends."
* Dynamic Entry: See Establishing Character Moment.
* Effortless Amazonian Lift:
* While hugging Tenzin, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo, she manages to effortlessly lift them off the ground. All at once.
* Also easily lifts a man several inches taller than her by the collar, with one arm, and holds him in the air for a while.
* Then, during Episode 6, she hangs onto the edge of the ring with one hand, holding onto the very tall Mako with the other, and throws him back into the ring with one arm.
* Elemental Eye Colors: Is from the Water Tribe and has Blue Eyes.
* Elemental Powers: Unlike Aang before her, Korra starts her series having already learned all but one of the elements.
* Dishing Out Dirt: Infrequently employed by Korra, due to the collateral damage it causes in an urban area.
* Making a Splash/An Ice Person: Her native element.
* Healing Hands: Katara taught her to use waterbender healing.
* Playing with Fire: Despite water being her native element, Korra seems to default to fire when frustrated.
* Enlightenment Superpowers: Korra has great difficulty with the spiritual aspects of being the Avatar, which is a problem because her ability to consciously access the Avatar State depends on spiritual enlightenment.
* Establishing Character Moment: Her entrance. She Earthbends a wall across the room, loudly and proudly proclaims herself the Avatar, and demonstrates by bending three elements at once. She's four.
* Fish Out of Water/No Social Skills: A big part of Korra. Moving from an isolated compound in the South Pole (which was already slower to develop than the other nations) to the booming urban center of Republic City causes a lot of problems.
* Fluffy Tamer: The first person to have ever tamed a polar bear dog.
* Forceful Kiss/"Shut Up" Kiss: Plants quite the good one on Mako. He reciprocates.
* Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
* Freudian Trio: Id.
* The McCoy
* Friendless Background: Growing up in an isolated compound populated strictly by teachers and guards, Korra's only friend before arriving in Republic City was her polar bear dog.
* Genki Girl: If there's one quality she and Aang share, it's energy.
* Glowing Eyes of Doom: In the Avatar State as shown on promotional artwork, which has yet to happen in the show.
* God in Human Form
* Good Is Not Soft: She's a lot more prone to taking violent solutions to problems than Aang, and has done a few questionable things, like attacking and threatening an Equalist protestor in "The Revelation" and continuing to attack Tarrlok even after acknowledging that she has rendered him helpless.
* Good Parents: Though minor characters, Korra's parents Tonraq and Senna are shown to be loving and supportive. Unlike most characters in the original series, Korra doesn't seem to have any parental issues, which is fitting as she was born and raised in peacetime.
* Goo-Goo Godlike: Most Avatars don't discover their potential until they are told at age sixteen, and even Aang didn't find out until he was twelve. Korra had discovered her ability to bend three elements with no formal training at four years old.
* Green-Eyed Monster: Toward Asami at first.
* Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted. While Korra is quite talented, she has also been shown regularly practicing on her own.
* The Heroine
* Heroes Love Polar Bear Dogs: As she wasn't able to leave the South Pole, Naga was her only close friend.
* Honor Before Reason: Despite being terrified of Amon and being coerced into joining a task force, she goes on a raid rather than go back on her word. Later, she challenges Amon to with a one-on-one duel, which ends badly when Amon ambushes her with dozens of chi-blockers instead of arriving alone.
* Hot Amazon: Bolin seems to think so. "You're the smartest, funniest, toughest, buffest, talented-est, incredible-est girl in the world!"
* Mako joins his brother in that account, mentioning that she's strong and a good athlete in the list of good qualities in their conversation of Korra being girlfriend material.
* Hot-Blooded: This is likely why she took to Firebending so well, despite being a native Waterbender.
* Innocently Insensitive: Part of her spiritual weakness is that she's almost completely oblivious to other people's feelings, most obviously in episode five where she goes on a date with Bolin, then forces a kiss on Mako the very next day. She doesn't really get that this is a problem until she sees Bolin's reaction.
* Instant Expert: Korra was able to bend fire, water and earth without any training at a very young age. Averted with airbending, which she has not been able to use even after a season of constant training.
* I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She lets Mako be with his girlfriend Asami, partly because Asami needs his support. Considering her character, this is actually a pretty big deal.
* Jumped At the Call: In stark contrast to her predecessor.
* Kung Fu Kid: Korra was Waterbending, Earthbending, and Firebending when she was just a little girl, way ahead of when she should have been able to.
* The Ladette: Loves fighting, and engages in burping contests with gusto.
* Lame Comeback: Becoming a pattern with her. "You're oppressing yourself!" most notably.
* Legacy Character: As the latest Avatar, Tenzin refers to her as Aang's legacy.
* The Medic: Katara taught her how to utilize the healing properties of water.
*
* Combat Medic
* Mighty Glacier: Compared to the pro-benders, Korra comes off as quite slow, favoring strength over speed and usually blocking attacks with all three elements. Tenzin's training is helping to counteract that weakness, though.
* Naive Newcomer: At first, she was surprised to find that not everyone in Republic City was rich. A cheerful old hobo corrects her.
* Rookie Red Ranger
* Welcome to the Big City: The criminals she encounters even ID her straight away as being "fresh off the boat."
* Nature Spirit: Korra is the Avatar, a reincarnation of the spirit of the world itself.
* Neck Lift: She does this to the park protestor to get information on Bolin's location.
* The Nicknamer: "Pretty boy", "Mr. Heartbreaker", "Mr. Hat trick", "City boy", "Cool guy", "Team Captain"... Mako seems to be the prime victim of these, as he owns the last four.
* Nobody Calls Me Chicken: Prone to it. Tarrlok gets her to join his task force by intentionally getting a reporter to invoke this.
* Not a Morning Person: States that the morning is "evil". As she is a native waterbender who gets an energy boost from nighttime, this is justified. Also justified by the fact that she's still in her teens; an age group that typically does not do well in the mornings.
* Not Good with People: Nearly a perfect example of the more primal type 2 (adept at hunting for food, managed to tame an enormous wild animal at a young age, with a loose regard for rules), except that the reason she is bad with people is because she was isolated from them. While she is clearly lonely without human peers and makes an effort to socialize, she still seems more comfortable around Naga and Pabu.
* Not Helping Your Case: Korra stumbles into this repeatedly.
* In "Welcome to Republic City" when she discovers and tries to argue against an Equalist protestor decrying benders as an oppressive establishment, he easily manipulates her confrontational attitude to make her look like the bad guy in front of a large audience of listeners.
* Later in the same episode, she's incredulous when police insist she be arrested for causing property damage during her well-meant Curb Stomp Battle of a trio of gangsters. Instead of coming along quietly to explain her presumption of Hero Insurance, she flees the police, fighting as she bolts, and forcing them to use an airship to bring her in, which earns the enmity of Chief Beifong.
* Matters worsen in "The Revelation" when, desperate to find a friend kidnapped by Equalists, she shakes down the same protestor for information in public, smashing his megaphone, flipping his table and hoisting him by the shirt, and must again flee the police when he wails (quite rightly) that he's being oppressed.
* Not Wearing Tights: Korra essentially takes on a superhero role in Republic City, but has no secret identity. She even announces her arrival and status as the Avatar at a press conference.
* One of the Boys
* Personality Powers: The cause of Korra's knack with three elements and issues with airbending in particular, as explained by her airbending teacher:
* Physical God: With emphasis on physical.
* Rage Breaking Point: A mild example, but whenever Korra gets frustrated by her airbending training, she tends to incinerate whatever she was trying to airbend.
* Red Oni: To Mako's Blue Oni.
* Emotions vs. Stoicism: The emotional to Mako's stoicism.
* Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Energetic Girl to Mako's Savvy Guy.
* Technician vs. Performer: The performer (along with Bolin) to Mako's technician.
* Reincarnation: Of the spirit of the planet and most recently Aang.
* Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: The Order of the White Lotus, on Aang's instruction, protected her while bringing in teachers to nurture her Avatar abilities. Consequently, Korra has poor social skills but is an extremely powerful bender.
* Shadow Archetype: She's designed to be the "anti-Aang". Her official bio even says she couldn't have less in common with Aang if she tried. This is highlighted by her inability to pick up Airbending quickly (since her personality is very confrontational), just like Aang had trouble picking up Earthbending as an Air Nomad and pacifist. She also neglects the spiritual aspects of being the Avatar, which Aang picked up on more easily than any physical bending forms.
* She Cleans Up Nicely: In "The Voice in the Night", tomboy Korra wears a dress with her hair down. No one comments on it in the show, but she does manage to pull it off quite nicely.
* Skirt Over Slacks: A variation. Over her pants, she wears a fur-trimmed pelt worn like a Showgirl Skirt.
* Sleep Cute: With Mako in "The Revelation". Cue awkwardness and blush.
* Sleeves Are for Wimps: She tries to roll up her Airbender uniform's sleeves. Tenzin does not approve and slides them back down.
* Smug Super: Downplayed Trope. Korra is initially inclined to brag and gloat, both when declaring herself Avatar in toddlerhood and as a teenager Curb Stomping gangsters.
* Spirited Competitor: Word Of Bryke says she picks fights for no reason, whereas Aang was a Martial Pacifist.
* Spiritual Antithesis: Korra was designed to be everything Aang wasn't. This is in keeping with other mentioned Avatars; Kuruk was easygoing and neglected his Avatar duties as a result, his successor Kyoshi was serious yet quite heavy-handed to compensate, Roku's merciful personality led to him spare the instigator of a century-long war...
* Superhero: See above. Her interpretation of what being the Avatar means. Chief Beifong strongly disagrees.
* Super Mode: Hasn't accessed it so far, consciously or reflexively, even in a situation when she was helpless and fully expected to have her bending stripped from her.
* Superpower Lottery: She's the Avatar. It's in the job description.
* Tomboy:
* Tomboyish Ponytail and Tomboyish Sidetails: So we're ruling out a girly girl, here.
* Tomboy and Girly Girl: Provides the tomboy half. Asami provides the girly.
* True Companions: What she, her teammates, and Asami have become by episode 8.
* Unresolved Sexual Tension/Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Mako. Episode five took this and ran it Up to Eleven.
* Unskilled but Strong:
* Referenced during her Firebending test:
*
* Also detailed in the opening animation where Korra is the Waterbender. She lifts more water than she needs and lets the excess splash back down, then creates an uneven wobbly circle of water--stumbling a bit--before splashing about twenty gallons at the camera. Compared to Master Pakku's perfect balance and poise, it is indeed quite sloppy.
* Unstoppable Rage: In "When Extreme Meets". Look at Korra's picture above, and look at this.
* The Worf Effect: She's the Avatar; the strongest member of her team, able to bend three elements with unrivaled power. However, the metalbending police, Equalist mooks (twice), the Wolfbats, and Tarrlok have all beaten her with use of strategy. Combined with her airbending block, it has taken a heavy toll on her self esteem.
* You Are Not Alone: In episode 8, when she cries about not being able to take the burden of saving the city alone, Mako, Bolin, and Asami come along and remind her Aang was not alone and neither is Korra. They are there to help her save the city.
* Defied by the end of the episode.
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