We’d doubt that there are many people who haven’t seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, at least when they were younger. First aired on Nickelodeon in 2005 and spread out over three seasons, the show is one of the few series that has aged well, especially outside the demographic that it was originally targeted towards.
Despite being a kid’s show, it managed to tackle some pretty mature themes, such as racism, war, rebellion, and redemption, with some being more nuanced than others. That’s not to say that it still can’t be seen by kids, though - it has a lot of themes that young audiences can relate to and learn from.
While Avatar has been widely acclaimed and remains one of the best TV shows of that era, its sequel, The Legend of Korra, doesn’t share the same unanimous opinion. For one, many of the issues tackled seemed rather one dimensional, and those that do manage to go beyond the tired tropes of usual television, usually ended up being repeats of what we had already seen in the first show.
These aren’t the only entities in the Avatar canon, however, as many comic books and other media by the show’s creators have since been published, many of them happening between the events of A:TLA and TLOK. We detail some of the more interesting ones, giving you a bit more of an insight into this fascinating fictional universe.
With that said, here are the 20 Crazy Things That Happened Between Avatar: The Last Airbender And The Legend Of Korra.
The Creation Of The Beifong Metalbending Academy
Aang ran into Toph when he was out looking for an earthbending teacher in the Earth chapter of A:TLA, and as it turned out, he had happened to stumble upon one of the best in the world, despite the fact that she is unable to see. A gifted earthbender since she was a little kid, Toph went on to become Aang’s earthbending teacher and good friend, though her most illustrious achievement has got to be the invention of metalbending.
Having figured it out while trying to escape from a metal tin especially made to keep her in, Toph became the first earthbender in the world to be able to metalbend.
She went on to establish the Beifong Metalbending Academy in the Earth kingdom city of Yu Dao immediately after the culmination of Ozai’s war, giving a chance to all potential metalbenders in the world to come and hone their craft.
Aang and Iroh used to talk in the spirit world
Korra, the Avatar in TLOK (as the name suggests), runs into Iroh in the spirit world when she gets lost there. As anyone who’s familiar with Iroh knows, he had setup his own tea party down there with the spirits, and looked like he was having a good time. However, it’s what he mentions when he introduces himself to her that gives us a bit of hint about his larger role in the universe, namely that he also used to meet Aang and advise him back in the day.
While we can’t say exactly say what they used to talk about, we certainly know of Iroh’s special connection to the spirit realm. He has been shown to have the ability to spot the spirits that cross over into the real world in season 1, when he saw Aang flying atop Roku’s dragon across the sky.
A Fire Nation citizen tried to attack Zuko
After Ozai’s war, you'd think that it would have been all smooth and rosy for Zuko, as he seemed to have gone through everything he could in A:TLA. However, this was hardly the case, as he was then responsible for rebuilding an empire in chaos. He had multiple threats, as well, one of them being Kori Morishita; a citizen of the Fire Nation.
Morishita wasn’t happy with how Fire Lord Zuko had treated Fire Nation citizens after the war. Because of this, she snuck into the royal palace and tried to assassinate him. Fortunately, she couldn’t overpower the king, but her motives brought a change in Zuko’s attitude, who, after seeing firsthand what was happening to his colonies, withdrew his support from the Harmony Restoration Movement.
Aang almost took down Zuko during the Harmony Restoration Movement
The Harmony Restoration Movement was a push to remove Fire Nation officials and citizens from the Fire Nation territories occupied during Ozai’s war. It went as smoothly as any other event in Avatar history. The Fire Nation citizens already settled into the lands had mixed feelings about it, but one of the most important moments happened when Aang was about to off Zuko.
Aang nearly claimed Zuko's life because of a promise that he had made earlier to do so if he ever turned into his father.
Zuko and the Earth King were at odds about what to do with the territories, and at one point, Aang realize that the only way to stop the crisis was to keep his promise to Zuko. He even entered the Avatar state to do it, but fortunately, he stopped himself at the last moment after Zuko had a vision of his mother.
The Battle for Yu Dao
The fate of the captured territories that Ozai left was a question in the back of everyone’s mind, the least of them being the Earth King Kuei (you may remember him because of his pet bear). Having had enough of sitting around and not doing anything about his situation, he finally decided that he was going to fight for it. The focal point of the war happened to be in Yu Dao, which saw a decisive battle between the Earth King and Zuko to decide the fate of the territories.
This was a decisive battle that saw the creation of the United Republic of Nations. This chapter also saw a lot of crucial points in Avatar’s history that were never shown on television - and we sincerely hope that they make a TV show out of it someday.
Zuko found his mother
What happened to Zuko’s mother was one of the most important and unexplained phenomenons mentioned in A:TLA. It formed a central part of Zuko’s story arc, which finally culminated in him rebelling against his father. However, what exactly happened and where she went was always left out of the purview of the TV series, though we got to know some details much later in the graphic novel trilogy The Search.
All in all, it was discovered that she had her memories taken. Her face was also replaced by the Mother of Faces and she had moved in with her previous lover, Ikem (who also had his face replaced), to a small town with a different name. When the dust settled, Zuko gave her an official pardon and brought her, along with her new family, back to the royal palace.
Aang and Zuko became best friends
Zuko’s story was one of the most complicated of the whole series, and some people would even go as far as to claim that he was the protagonist of the show, and not Aang, as he had a true arc full of redemption and realization by the end of the show.
We know that he and Aang had settled their difference by the end of the last season in the trilogy.
However, we were never shown how their relationship transformed from being a simple teacher-student relationship to a close friendship during the time that passed between the two shows. Together, they brought peace to a tumultuous world, which set the stage for the events of TLOK.
Aang cut his connection with Roku
The job of the Avatar involves more than being a purveyor of prodigal bending abilities. The Avatar state is a manifestation of all the previous Avatars, giving the current Avatar the power and wisdom needed to fight the evil forces of the world as required. Aang was shown to have a connection with all the previous Avatars in A:TLA, seeking their knowledge when required, which led him to the ability that took Ozai’s bending.
His connection with the past Avatars, though, was severed during one of his arguments with the spirit of Roku, the Fire Nation Avatar before him. He did it in a fit of rage, probably regretting is as soon as he did. It is mentioned in TLOK, though we do not yet know the full implications of this event for him.
Official Avatar Fan Club Was Created
When the Hundred Year War was over, Avatar Aang ended up being the only airbender left in times of peace, and tales of his deeds travelled far and wide. It was a given that soon a fan club would develop, as fan groups are created for all famous people at some point. He was also the last airbender, as his people had gone through a genocide before the events of the show.
The Official Avatar Fan Club was formed by adoring fans of Aang, and many chapters of the organization soon existed around the world, including in Ba Sing Se and Republic City. The members helped Aang’s new family find their ground and helped them with their daily activities.
The Republic City and the United Republic of Nations Were Founded
When Ozai’s war was over, one of the most important tasks that the world leaders had was bringing peace back, as much was destroyed in the devastating event spanning across a hundred years. The Battle of Yu Dao was only one of the events that decided the fate of the world after it, but it was also one of the most pivotal.
Following this, the world leaders, including the Earth King and Fire Lord, agreed upon making a new nation: United Republic of Nations.
Its capital was Republic City, which was the setting for all of the events in TLOK. It was a nation free of any allegiance to one nation or race, where benders of all kind lived together in peace and harmony (until they didn't). The founding of the nation gave way to many technological and cultural innovations, which had stalled over the last hundred years.
Zuko freed Azula to look for their mother
Azula was one of the most insidiously evil and gifted benders in the universe, though as we learned about everyone (except Ozai, who was pure evil) as the show progressed, her motivations weren’t as black and white as they were shown to be. After the events of the show, she convinced Lord Zuko to free her so that they could look for their mother together, though this may have not been the best of decisions.
You see, her only motive behind convincing her brother was to ultimately usurp the throne, and given how she was objectively one of the most powerful benders in the world (she is one of two firebenders who could make lightning at the time of A:TLA, the other being Ozai), she came pretty close to it, too.
The New Ozai Society Emerged & Most Of Its Members Were Captured
Whenever an extreme nation is defeated in history, the traces that they leave in the world don’t always disappear completely. It happens in the real world, and it happened in the universe of A:TLA too. After Aang took away Ozai’s bending in one of the most intense finale fights ever, his support didn’t entirely disappear. It consolidated under the New Ozai Society; a group of rebels that were still loyal to Ozai and not Zuko.
Started by Ukano, who used to be a governor of New Ozai (previously Omashu), the loyalists believed that Ozai was the one true ruler of the Fire Nation. Obviously, it didn’t fly with Zuko and Team Avatar, who managed to dismantle the society and capture most of its members. Ukano managed to escape, though, and we can only guess what he did in the final days of his life before the events of TLOK.
Gilak started a group that blamed the Northern Tribe & stabbed Hokado
While the rest of the nations are spread out and are large countries in their own right, the same can’t be said for waterbenders. Even if the northern Water Tribe was a powerful, proud nation with a long history compared to its southern counterpart, it was still isolated and liked to do its own thing rather than involved itself into geo politics.
Gilak was one of the southerners who had assisted Sokka and Katara’s father, Hakoda, in the war against Fire Nation, though he went a bit… astray after the war was over.
When he moved back to the southern Water Tribe, he started a group that believed that the northern Water Tribe was trying to take over the south, and even stabbed Hakoda in the stomach before being subdued by Aang and Katara and eventually imprisoned.
The cabbage man became rich and created Cabbage Corp
The cabbage man was one of the funniest running jokes of A:TLA. Showing up in the most unexpected of places and often in tense, serious situations, he provided much needed comic relief in what was overall a pretty dark show. He would always find his cabbage cart being destroyed by someone in a fight, and "my cabbages" soon became a joke that every Avatar fan understood.
In the time between the two shows, he became incredibly rich selling cabbages and formed his own conglomerate known as Cabbage Corp, a rival to Future Industries. He was the good guy, but he was framed by Hiroshi Sato, the chief of Future Industries, for his apparent role in making Equalist weaponry. However, as we soon found out, it was actually Sato who was producing the weapons.
Yakone's bloodbending skills were ended by Aang
One of the show’s darkest episodes was "The Puppetmaster", where a new form of waterbending was introduced to us unsuspecting viewers called bloodbending, which proved that the show could tackle really dark themes if it wanted to. However, after its first appearance, we don’t see much of it in A:TLA. We know that it was used extensively by one criminal boss named Yakone between the events of the show, who set the stage for much of the events of season 1 of TLOK.
Yakone was an infamous criminal mastermind who had been a problem for the government of Republic City for a long time, and it was revealed in a flashback that he was actually a bloodbender. He almost got away too, before Avatar Aang entered Avatar state and took his bending once and for all.
Top became the chief of police but later resigned
Toph was one of the most powerful earthbenders in the world and remains the only one we know to have invented an entirely new form of bending: metalbending. She was also close friends with Aang and a part of Team Avatar in A:TLA, but we don’t see much of her adult life and what happened between the events of the shows.
After the dust was settled and Republic City was setup, Toph was appointed as the police chief of the city.
Though things didn’t always go well for her, as often happens due to the actions of two daughters from two husbands (another mystery that we don’t know the answer to), Suyin, was found to have been on the wrong side of the law, which caused her to resignas the chief.
Tonraq was banished from the northern water tribe
Tonraq, Korra’s father, was involved in many crucial events in TLOK, showing up in almost every season, which is obvious, as he was the Avatar’s father. He was instrumental in the events of season 2, and was known to have done everything that he could to protect Korra from danger. What is not quite clear, however, is how he came to the southern water tribe, as he was a northerner.
Apparently, he was banished because of his involvement in the destruction of a spirit forest in the north. Allegedly, waterbenders don’t take things like that lightly. His move made the premise for whatever happens in the season 2, and remains a crucial event in Avatar history.
Hiroshi Sato’s wife was taken out by firebenders
The first season of TLOK deals with the conflict between benders and non-benders, setting the stage for Korra’s final confrontation with Amon, the head of a loose organization known as the Equalists. We always saw them possessing advanced weaponry that no one else had, and it was later revealed that it was Horoshi Sato, the head of Future Industries, who was providing it to them. Why did he hate the benders? He disliked them because of something that happened before the events of the show.
His wife, Yasuko, was caught in the middle of a raid by a gang of fire benders – The Agni Kai Triad – on their family estate and passed away. It was only one of the groups of benders that had sprung up in Republic City after its inception, and this event set up much of his motivations for supporting the anti-bender Equalists.
Zaheer attempted to take Korra’s life
The third season of TLOK introduces Zaheer, a sort of pseudo monk anarchist who believed that the only true order was chaos. He believed that world leaders were actually not very nice, and wanted to dismantle the status quo and make a new world out of its ashes. Standing in his way, however, was the Avatar, who, as we all know, was way more powerful than any bender in the world.
They wanted to take down Korra in season 3, but they almost succeeded before this.
They had abducted Korra when she was a child and were on their way to take her life her once and for all when they were stopped by a bunch of people with her father. Their failed attempt on Korra's life when she was a child was why they were imprisoned in high security prisons, which set up much of the premise for the events of season 3.
Mai appointed Kyoshi Warriors to protect Zuko after the attempt on his life
Mai and Zuko’s relationships was one of the most complicated, as well as one of the strongest, in the entire show. We don’t yet know what happened to them before the events of TLOK, but what we do know is that she asked Kyoshi Warriors' helped to protect him after the attempt on his life.
If you may remember, Ty Lee had joined the Kyoshis after the events of the Hundred Year War. Uneasy by the prospect of someone taking down Zuko during the Harmony Restoration Movement, she soon asked Lee to help her with his security, who brought her army of fan warriors to do it. We don’t yet know of any major fights they were involved in, but we do know that it forms a central premise for a major part of Mai and Zuko’s relationship.
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Are there any other things that happened between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra? Let us know in the comments!