Who Does Korra End Up With In The Avatar Universe?

The 2010s and 2020s saw a surge of American children's media that put queerness front and center. Take the work of N.D. Stevenson, such as the Netflix series "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" and the animated film "Nimona," based on his graphic novel. From "Steven Universe" to "The Owl House," cartoons have gotten a lot gayer in the last decade.

And it is almost precisely a decade because Nickelodeon's "The Legend of Korra" is the show that broke down the dam in 2014. In the show's fourth and final season, Avatar Korra (Janet Varney) falls in love with her best friend, Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel). A sequel to "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "The Legend of Korra" is set in a fantasy world where people can bend one of the four elements. Korra, as the reincarnation of world defender the Avatar, can bend all four. If kids can accept a world that fantastical, there's no reason they can't accept some sapphic romance. The Avatar spirit (which has bonded to both men and women) has also loved many men and women across 10 thousand lifetimes, so why shouldn't Korra be bisexual?

Even so, queerness was still verboten in children's media at the time, so the show had to be subtle about it, and there couldn't be explicit physical contact between Korra and Asami. If you missed the relationship blossoming while watching the show, that's why. But the hints are there. Once the "Legend of Korra" finale "The Last Stand" had premiered, series co-creator Bryan Konietzko shared a post on his Tumblr declaring: "Korrasami is canon."

"You can celebrate it, embrace it, accept it, get over it, or whatever you feel the need to do, but there is no denying it. That is the official story," he reiterated. Of course, the show (by design) focused only on the journey of their relationship, ending once Korra and Asami had finally reached their destination. Like many young people, the pair discovering their sexualities and feelings for each other were journeys with bumps in the road.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" is about children; there's romance in the show, but it's always a supporting detail of the story. Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) has a crush on Katara (Mae Whitman), Sokka (Jack De Sena) has relationships with both Water Tribe Princess Yue (Johanna Braddy) and warrior woman Suki (Jennie Kwan), and Prince Zuko (Dante Basco) has a relationship with the sullen Mai (Cricket Leigh).

"The Legend of Korra" is about young adults, i.e. people whose romantic relationships and worldly outlooks are still crystallizing. So, "Legend Of Korra" explores different political ideologies (an area where the show, which is groundbreakingly progressive in some ways, is dispiritingly conservative) and amps up the soapiness of the romantic stories.

In Book 1 of "The Legend of Korra," Korra joins a team of "pro-bending" athletes alongside two brothers, the Firebender Mako (David Faustino) and Earthbender Bolin (P.J. Byrne). Bolin likes Korra (at first), but she only has eyes for Mako. Mako, though, is more reluctant to commit; while he's flirting with Korra, he also starts dating Asami (they meet when she accidentally crashes into him on her motorcycle). He eventually chooses Korra, but he doesn't properly break up with Asami either. 

In Book 2, Korra and Mako's relationship hits the rocks and they break up in episode 5, "Peacekeepers," they break up. Then in the following episode, "The Sting," while Korra is away, Asami kisses Mako on impulse and they appear to get back together. Then Korra returns, with amnesia, seemingly having forgotten she and Mako broke up, and Mako, even with Asami watching, doesn't correct her! And then it turns out Korra remembered the break-up, she was just pretending to avoid the difficult conversation. 

After that exhaustion, most (though not all) were happy to see Book 2 end with a permanent kibosh on "Makorra" and "Masami."

When "The Last Airbender" aired, many fans shipped "Zutara," meaning they wanted Katara and Zuko to get together. That didn't happen; the series concluded with Aang and Katara finally kissing, and "Legend of Korra" confirmed they stayed together (with three kids) until the end of Aang's life. 

Many have speculated that pairing Mako and Korra was a make-good to the Zutara fans, by pairing two broadly similar characters (plucky Waterbending girl and angsty Firebending boy). But the sparks weren't there and it didn't help that Mako is a pretty bland character, too. When Korra and Mako proclaim they love each other in the season 1 finale, "Endgame," it falls flat. 

"Korrasami" took life as a joke, that being the only reason Asami dated Mako was to get close to Korra. But behind the scenes, Konietzko (who calls himself the first Korrasami shipper) had already suggested the idea. No-one took it too seriously — at first.

Then, Book 3 (when "Korra" started get really good) started giving Korra and Asami more screentime together. In episode 9, "The Stakeout," Korra and Asami get abducted and have to escape together. In the season finale "Venom of the Red Lotus," Asami is the one who helps dress Korra, still reeling and impaired from her battle with the evil Airbender Zaheer. In Book 4's "Korra Alone," Asami is the only friend Korra writes to while she's recuperating back home.

The show operates with some plausible deniability until the very end. In Book 3 season premiere, "A Breath of Fresh Air," Asami teaches Korra to drive. As they talk, Korra says Asami is her first "girlfriend." Used between women, that can mean friend or lover, but the show was clearly inviting the audience to read in with the latter interpretation. Konietzko wrote in his aforementioned Tumblr post:

"Just because two characters of the same sex appear in the same story, it should not preclude the possibility of a romance between them. No, not everyone is queer, but the other side of that coin is that not everyone is straight. The more Korra and Asami's relationship progressed, the more the idea of a romance between them organically blossomed for us."

When it was time to wrap up the series, they chose the finale note to be one affirming Korrasami. Korra and Asami share a private talk together about how close they've grown and decide to take a vacation together to the Spirit World. The series ends with them departing as they gaze into each others' eyes. 

"I didn't want to look back in 20 years and think, 'Man, we could have fought harder for that,'" wrote Konietzko. "[Co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino] and I talked it over and decided it was important to be unambiguous about the intended relationship."

The comic mini-series follow-up "Turf Wars" (written by DiMartino, drawn by Irene Koh) begins right where the series ends. Korra and Asami step out of the portal into the Spirit World and they finally kiss. When they get back home, they come out to their friends and are officially, openly dating.

Dark Horse Comics

"Avatar" has only shown the early years of Korra's life, but there's no reason to assume she and Asami didn't stay together. If the next "Avatar" series reveals they broke up later in life, that would definitely undercut some of the good will that "The Legend of Korra" built.