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Sep. 3rd, 2020 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineSpeaking of Korvira AUs, I once had this concept for a LOK AU that would (basically) rearrange the seasons by villain threat: Zaheer(+Red Lotus) -> Amon(+Equalists) -> Kuvira(+armies) -> Unavaatu. I came up with a bunch of ideas for how to make the smaller pieces hang together. And I still think about it and really enjoy the idea.
But I read somewhere that the original, or at least earlier, conception was that Amon would be the final villain. And I really like that idea for an AU, too! I think in a lot of ways he’s the most terrifying and well-executed of them all, even if there are flaws in the over-arching narrative—and a lot of those flaws could be ameliorated by being developed over a longer span of time. Like:
The non-bender conflict! There are points where it seems a form of oppression that Korra is just not getting, and other points where it seems questionable if it’s even a real thing, and while they could have been clearer, there’s so much packed into B1 that there’s only so much time. But suppose the non-bender thing was built up over three seasons—not constantly, but a thread of tension that kept popping up in odd places and developing until it explodes in B4.
Also, I’m a Noatak-and-Tarrlok stan so I’m biased, but I also think Tarrlok’s ~reveal would be more powerful if we knew him a bit better in a ….. slightly more nuanced way, and it’d make sense for him to show up periodically in the Republic City-oriented arcs as this background irritant who gets some development (the subplot with Korra on the task force that got dropped could show up earlier and actually go somewhere, say). He wouldn’t be a major character until the fourth book, but we’d (think we) have a solid idea of who he is and then WHAM.
This AU would stick to the basic material that is present in LOK rather than completely overhauling it, so the order would basically be the same apart from shifting Amon to last: Vaatu -> Zaheer -> Kuvira -> Amon. That would a) allow the story of the Water Tribe Avatar to actually start out dealing with Water Tribe stuff, b) get the least interesting of the villains out of the way comparatively early, while c) the events of the show would have ramifications on the other seasons from the outset (the spirit stuff in B1 would lead to spirit/airbender stuff in B2 which has profound effects on B3, and we could figure out how that carries into B4).
And having a full book after Kuvira’s surrender could give us more time forKorvira dealing with her—the way it’s wrapped up in canon is pretty abrupt and underwritten (IMO, though I love what’s there). But it wouldn’t have to be so fast if it wasn’t the final episode of the whole show, and her rapid turn-around could go somewhere. Like Korvira.
There are difficulties, of course—a certain amount of the plot rests on Korra having the Avatar State through the non-Amon part of the series, and it’s hard to see the Equalists standing a chance against it … maybe she struggles to control it or something, which might make sense (there are definitely points in the show where I wondered why she wasn’t using it). And—I mean, there’d be a lot to finagle. But I do really like the concept!
But I read somewhere that the original, or at least earlier, conception was that Amon would be the final villain. And I really like that idea for an AU, too! I think in a lot of ways he’s the most terrifying and well-executed of them all, even if there are flaws in the over-arching narrative—and a lot of those flaws could be ameliorated by being developed over a longer span of time. Like:
The non-bender conflict! There are points where it seems a form of oppression that Korra is just not getting, and other points where it seems questionable if it’s even a real thing, and while they could have been clearer, there’s so much packed into B1 that there’s only so much time. But suppose the non-bender thing was built up over three seasons—not constantly, but a thread of tension that kept popping up in odd places and developing until it explodes in B4.
Also, I’m a Noatak-and-Tarrlok stan so I’m biased, but I also think Tarrlok’s ~reveal would be more powerful if we knew him a bit better in a ….. slightly more nuanced way, and it’d make sense for him to show up periodically in the Republic City-oriented arcs as this background irritant who gets some development (the subplot with Korra on the task force that got dropped could show up earlier and actually go somewhere, say). He wouldn’t be a major character until the fourth book, but we’d (think we) have a solid idea of who he is and then WHAM.
This AU would stick to the basic material that is present in LOK rather than completely overhauling it, so the order would basically be the same apart from shifting Amon to last: Vaatu -> Zaheer -> Kuvira -> Amon. That would a) allow the story of the Water Tribe Avatar to actually start out dealing with Water Tribe stuff, b) get the least interesting of the villains out of the way comparatively early, while c) the events of the show would have ramifications on the other seasons from the outset (the spirit stuff in B1 would lead to spirit/airbender stuff in B2 which has profound effects on B3, and we could figure out how that carries into B4).
And having a full book after Kuvira’s surrender could give us more time for
There are difficulties, of course—a certain amount of the plot rests on Korra having the Avatar State through the non-Amon part of the series, and it’s hard to see the Equalists standing a chance against it … maybe she struggles to control it or something, which might make sense (there are definitely points in the show where I wondered why she wasn’t using it). And—I mean, there’d be a lot to finagle. But I do really like the concept!
no subject
on 2020-09-04 01:02 am (UTC)I wonder if some of why Korra might not use the Avatar state against Amon and the Equalists in this AU is because there's been so much messaging about the Avatar being the epitome of bender oppression over nonbenders that she feels a drive to beat him without using her biggest superpower—the one that's in some ways cheating even against other benders.
no subject
on 2020-09-04 10:31 pm (UTC)I could see some combination of both—that Korra has gone into the Avatar State before when e.g. her life was threatened (Unalaq trying to squish her, Zaheer's poison), and perhaps when something is going very wrong—but she's never been able to do it on command, and for ~some reason~ (i.e., her own ambivalence about solving a nonbending conflict that way) it just ... doesn't switch on with Amon. And since Amon isn't actually trying to kill her, if she's tamping it down a bit, there really wouldn't really be a reason for it to activate.