50 Fun Facts About The Legend of Korra

How many years after the original Avatar series is the sequel set?

Aang's son Tenzin is a grown airbending master with children of his own when Korra arrives.

Korra comes from which of the four nations?

She is 17 when the series begins and has already mastered water, earth and fire; only air eludes her.

How many episodes did the series run across its four Books?

It premiered April 14, 2012 and ended December 19, 2014, and was originally conceived as a 12-chapter miniseries.

Who voices Korra?

She called the role the most profound and meaningful part of her career because of the ending's impact on queer fans. Cora Baker voiced Korra as a child.

What is Naga, Korra's animal companion?

Bryan Konietzko first sketched a bipedal polar bear-dog in 2002 for the original series; the design mixes a polar bear and a golden retriever.

Bolin's pet Pabu is what kind of creature?

He was inspired by Futa, a Japanese red panda famous for standing upright, and Bolin rescued him from a pet store.

The city where Book One is set is the capital of what state, founded by Aang?

The creators described the 1920s-inspired metropolis as 'if Manhattan had happened in Asia'.

A pro-bending team is made up of an earthbender, a waterbender and what?

Teams try to knock each other out of a ring; the sport was inspired by MMA tournaments.

What is the name of Korra, Mako and Bolin's pro-bending team?

Their rivals for the championship are the Wolf-bats, captained by the waterbender Tahno, voiced by Rami Malek.

Who leads the anti-bender Equalists in Book One?

The masked leader can strip benders of their abilities. Steve Blum voices him.

The masked Equalist leader is unmasked as what?

Both brothers were sons of the crime boss Yakone, who forced them to learn bloodbending. Tarrlok ends the season by blowing up their speedboat.

What was the Equalist leader's birth name?

Yakone trained both sons to bloodbend after fleeing north; Tarrlok in particular hated it.

Hiroshi Sato's daughter takes over which company after his imprisonment?

After her Equalist father Hiroshi is imprisoned, she takes over the company. Her hair was modeled on Rita Hayworth's.

Mako is named after whom?

Mako Iwamatsu voiced Iroh in the first two seasons of the original series before his death.

Which Married... with Children actor voices Mako?

The former Bud Bundy plays the brooding older brother who dates the Sato heiress and then Korra in the first two Books.

Which Oscar-winning actor voices Tenzin?

Tenzin is Aang's son and the only living airbending master; his wife Pema is voiced by Maria Bamford.

Which Mad Men actress voices Tenzin's daughter Jinora?

Jinora earns her airbending tattoos and the title of master at the end of Book Three, and later dates the young thief Kai.

Who voices Republic City police chief Lin Beifong?

The Austin Powers actress plays Toph's older daughter; her half-sister Suyin gave her the facial scars.

Which Hollywood legend voiced the elderly Katara?

The On the Waterfront Oscar winner plays Aang's widow, who later nurses Korra back to health in Book Four.

Korra's uncle Unalaq, the villain of Book Two, is chief of which people?

He seizes power in the south and later fuses with Vaatu to become a dark Avatar.

Who was the first Avatar, whose story is told in Book Two?

He fused with Raava, the spirit of light, to imprison Vaatu, and is voiced by Steven Yeun.

Harmonic Convergence, the event Unalaq exploits, happens how often?

It is a decamillennial planetary alignment. Afterward Korra leaves the spirit portals open, letting spirits and humans coexist.

Which Parks and Recreation actress voices Unalaq's daughter Eska?

Bolin suffers an abusive relationship with Eska; her twin brother Desna is voiced by Aaron Himelstein.

How did John Michael Higgins describe his character Varrick?

The eccentric inventor marries his long-suffering assistant Zhu Li in the finale; she later becomes President of the United Republic.

Which punk musician voices Zaheer, leader of the Red Lotus?

Zaheer becomes an airbender after Harmonic Convergence and tries to end the Avatar cycle by killing Korra in the Avatar State.

What does Zaheer poison Korra with in the Book Three finale?

The idea was to force her into the Avatar State and kill her there. Suyin bends most of it out; Toph removes the rest in Book Four.

Whom do the Red Lotus assassinate in Book Three, plunging Ba Sing Se's kingdom into chaos?

Hou-Ting's death sets up Kuvira's rise. The season also introduces the retired Fire Lord Zuko, voiced by Bruce Davison.

Which rare bending technique does Bolin discover in 'Enter the Void'?

He had spent the whole season failing to learn metalbending in Zaofu.

Kuvira, the villain of Book Four, is voiced by whose daughter?

Zelda Williams voices the metalbender who was captain of Zaofu's guard before founding the Earth Empire.

What title does Kuvira take as head of the Earth Empire?

Suyin had taken her in as an orphan at eight. She ends up under house arrest at the Beifong estate.

How much time passes between the third and fourth Books?

Korra spends it recovering, physically and mentally, from her fight with Zaheer.

With whom does Korra leave for the Spirit World in the final scene?

The shot mirrors Aang and Katara's kiss at the end of the original series and is credited with paving the way for LGBT representation in kids' TV.

Which South Korean company did most of the show's traditional animation?

Most frames were drawn on paper in Korea and scanned. Japan's Studio Pierrot was brought in to help on Book Two.

Why did Nickelodeon reportedly suspend production early on?

Test screenings settled it: boys said Korra being a girl did not matter to them.

At what point in Book Three did new installments move from TV to online distribution?

Low ratings after leaks led Nickelodeon to pull the last five episodes from broadcast and stream them instead. Book Four launched online too.

Why did Book Four include the clip show 'Remembrances'?

Rather than lay off creative staff, the creators reused existing animation for the eighth chapter.

The score blends traditional Chinese music with what?

Jeremy Zuckerman composed it alone; his Track Team partner Benjamin Wynn became lead sound designer.

Which MMA fighter did Bryan Konietzko cite as an inspiration for Korra's design?

He also drew on his 'pretty tough' sister and on competitive female snowboarders.

The metalbending police uniforms were based on 1920s New York police uniforms crossed with what?

Republic City's overall look also borrows from film noir and steampunk.

Which Daytime Emmy did the first season win?

It also picked up Annie Award nominations and IGN's People's Choice Award in consecutive years.

Which publisher continues the story in the graphic novels Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire?

Turf Wars, drawn by Irene Koh, picks up immediately after the finale and follows the new couple's relationship.

Which developer made the 2014 Legend of Korra beat 'em up published by Activision?

Despite the developer's action pedigree, it drew mixed reviews. A pro-bending board game was later funded on Kickstarter.

How many viewers watched the series premiere in April 2012?

It ranked as basic cable's number-one kids' show for the week.

In 2011 the series briefly carried what working title, before the final name was settled in March 2012?

It had earlier carried a shorter working title when planned as a 12-chapter miniseries.

The creators described Republic City as 'if Manhattan had happened in' where?

The 1920s-inspired metropolis also draws on film noir and steampunk.

Wan, the first Avatar, fused his soul with which spirit of light?

He did so to imprison Vaatu, the spirit of darkness, whom Unalaq later frees.

Who voices the masked Equalist leader Amon?

Dee Bradley Baker voices the politician Tarrlok, the season's other antagonist.

Which Japanese studio shared Book Two's animation with Studio Mir?

Mir had been expected to handle the whole season before taking on The Boondocks.

Who composed the score for The Legend of Korra?

His Avatar collaborator Benjamin Wynn became the series' lead sound designer.

What average audience did Book One draw per episode, the biggest for a US animated series in 2012?

Book Two premiered to 2.6 million after a long gap and a move to Friday evenings.