Since Avatar Studios announced Avatar: Seven Havens, Avatar fans' biggest question has been, "How did Avatar Korra cause the apocalypse?"
In Seven Havens episode 7, we finally get closer to finding out.
The episode continues twin Avatars Pavi (voiced by Saheli Khan) and Nisha's (voiced by Aishu Devan) quest to find their parents. Their investigation brings them back to the mysterious glowing red anomaly that has plagued Ellora on and off throughout the season. It left behind a mass of crystals following its resurgence in the zombie-influenced "Night of the Afflicted," and when Pavi and Nisha tunnel beneath those crystals, they discover the ruins of what appears to be an old world factory. Based on the gear logo on the wall and an old mover showing Asami Sato cutting a ribbon outside the building, it's a Futures Industries factory.
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Avatar: Seven Havens teases the Cataclysm.
Deep in the bowels of the factory, Pavi finds a vast pit full of a strange liquid whose surface ripples with the glowing red design of the anomaly. As she makes contact with it, she's greeted with a memory of Republic City before the Cataclysm. The city has been completely rebuilt following the battle with Kuvira at the end of The Legend of Korra, in which Korra created a new spirit portal within the city's Spirit Wilds. Now, the yellow beam of that portal appears to emerge straight from a Future Industries tower, suggesting that the people of Republic City have built over or around the Spirit Wilds. That couldn't possibly have a negative impact on the physical world's relationship with the Spirit World, right?
In Pavi's anomaly vision, she also sees a concerned-looking Korra, one who's much older than when we last left her, flying from Air Temple Island to Republic City. When Nisha joins Pavi in the vision, the scene changes drastically. The twins find themselves in the city streets, surrounded by fires and explosions. As the smoke clears from a motorcycle crash, the twins see Korra again. This time, though, she's changed: She's in the Avatar State, and she sports a menacing smirk. That can only mean one thing. The twins are seeing the moment Korra somehow turned and broke the world.
As Pavi and Nisha look on, Korra reaches up to pipe-like structures running along Republic City's skyscrapers and tears them down. The breaking of the pipes unleashes massive bands of destructive purple energy beams, which look very similar to the spirit vine energy Kuvira harnessed in her campaign to conquer Republic City.
That's all we get of the Cataclysm, but there's already a lot to unpack here, from Republic City's new look to the purple energy beams. Most fascinating of all might be the pipe structures Korra is tearing down. Their design is not rigid and pipe-like, but instead resembles vines. In rebuilding Republic City, could its citizens have tried to harness spirit energy from the Spirit Wilds as an energy source? Did they build around the vines climbing up buildings, and if so, did that strategy backfire spectacularly, contributing to the Cataclysm? Based on Republic City's skyline and these mysterious pipes, it seems like the physical world's relationship with the Spirit World was already way out of whack by the time the Cataclysm happened. That's odd, given that much of Korra's time as the Avatar was focused on maintaining that balance. After all, she opened the spirit portals at the poles and in Republic City.
Is Korra really to blame for the Cataclysm?
That brings us to Korra herself. Let's be totally real here. That smirking woman in the Avatar State might look like Korra and bend like Korra, but that frightening smile and the intent on destroying the world just doesn't feel like her. Obviously, a lot has changed since we last saw Korra on TV, but I refuse to believe she had an entire personality transplant!
Instead, this version of Korra in the Avatar State recalls a more sinister figure from Book 2 in The Legend of Korra. In the climax of that season, villain Unalaq merged with the darkness spirit Vaatu to create a dark Avatar whose eyes glowed red, contrasting with the white glow of the light spirit Raava, who lives within the Avatar. In the Seven Havens vision, Korra's eyes still glow white, yet her unsettling body language screams that the Avatar State has been corrupted in some way.
By the end of Season 2, Korra defeated Vaatu, but did not destroy him outright. Instead, his spirit is set to regrow within Raava over a period of 10,000 years, until the next Harmonic Convergence. That's a ways off within the Avatar timeline, but could the rapid acceleration of technology or Korra's proximity to the Spirit Wilds have accelerated that growth somewhat? Or alternatively, did some Future Industries technology create the anomaly and trigger some dark turn in Korra? I could very well be barking up the wrong spirit vine, but I have a feeling Book 2 of The Legend of Korra is about to become very, very important.
Clearly, we haven't gotten the full story yet, and Seven Havens is being very careful in how it doles out Korra's memories. In this episode alone, it leaves a gap between Korra's flight to Republic City and the Cataclysm. (Assuming the visions happen on the same night, that is, as Korra is wearing the exact same outfit in both.) That gap could be key to understanding Korra's motives in bringing on the Cataclysm, and hopefully in clearing her name somewhat in the timeline of Seven Havens.
Avatar: Seven Havens is now streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes every Friday.