The Legend of Korra is a contentious show among Avatar: The Last Airbender fans, as many are divided on their opinions about its quality. While it doesn't always live up to the highs of its predecessor show, it still has a lot of unique and interesting moments that make it stand out in its own way. It explores different themes than ATLA did, and is about a group of characters who are markedly older than those in the original show, which makes for a much different dynamic.

One of the things that The Legend of Korra did to differentiate itself from ATLA was its queer representation - albeit a limited amount. Representation of LGBTQ+ relationships was hard to come by at the time, especially in animated content aimed at children. Though the industry has made a lot of improvements in that area since then, it's still not perfect. The Legend of Korra was actually kind of a pioneer in this regard, as it hinted towards and then, at the very end, essentially confirmed a queer relationship between two of its main characters at the end of the series. Korra and Asami's relationship trajectory is interesting, but how did this choice come to be, and was this romantic relationship always intended to be canon?

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Who Are Korra and Asami?

Korra is the main character of The Legend of Korra, as the next Avatar after Aang. Her journey on the show consists of not only her learning to master all four elements, but also finding herself and coming into her own in the process. Korra is from the Southern Water Tribe, and so waterbending was the first bending skill she was easily able to master. She tends to struggle more with the spiritual aspects of bending, which is why airbending was the toughest for her. She tends to be brash and hotheaded, but is incredibly loyal and quick to rise to a challenge.

Asami is one of the characters that Korra meets during her time in Republic City, as she was dating Korra's friend Mako. Because Korra had feelings for Mako, she didn't warm to Asami immediately, as she saw her as a rival. However, the two got to know each other better and quickly became friends. Asami is the daughter of the wealthy industrialist Hiroshi Sato, and is herself a businesswoman and engineer. She's not a bender, but she's really good with machinery and took on the role as Team Avatar's driver. When she learned her father was working with the Equalists, she rejected his hatred of benders and fought against him and the Equalists. Though she had a wealthy and privileged upbringing, she is very independent and uses her resources to help others.

Are Korra and Asami A Couple?

The last episode of The Legend of Korra ends with a final shot of Korra and Asami gazing at each other just before stepping through the Spirit World portal, implying that their connection has moved into something romantic. This shot is also a metaphor for moving forward and moving into a new stage of life together. Their relationship status is not explicitly confirmed in the show, but the companion graphic novel series that picks up where the show left off explores their relationship a lot more. The graphic novels confirm that they're dating, and spend a lot of the story focusing on aspects of their growing romance, such as navigating feelings and coming out to Korra's family about the relationship. Though the show itself doesn't exactly confirm it out loud, much of the final season is dedicated to showing hints towards the ever-growing romantic nature of Korra and Asami's feelings for each other.

Was Their Relationship Ever Going To Be Shown In The Legend of Korra?

Obviously, getting a queer relationship into an animated TV show in the early 2010s wasn't easy, which is why it's only really hinted at in the show itself. Gay marriage wouldn't even become legal in all 50 U.S. states until a year after The Legend of Korra ended, so the show was a bit limited with the amount of representation it was allowed to show. The creators didn't intend for Korra and Asami to end up together initially; at first, they wanted to write Asami as a double agent who would become a problem for Team Avatar. However, as her character grew, they changed directions with her story arc and began to consider the real possibility of setting the two girls up in a romantic relationship.

Creator Bryan Konietzko revealed that during the writing process, the team began to think about ways to weave this romance into the story, even though they already assumed they would be very limited with what they were allowed to show. He claims that they began to allude to the idea that Korra and Asami could one day be more than friends during the second half of the series, especially in the last season. When they approached Nickelodeon about the story arc, apparently the network was supportive of the idea, but they still limited how far the show was allowed to go with it. This was how they came to include the ending scene with the pair holding hands as romantic music plays over the sequence.

The creators themselves have since admitted that it wasn't the best LGBTQ+ representation out there, but they did what they could within the constraints they were given. They also made an effort to expand the romance in the graphic novel series, so it's clear that they cared enough about the story to want to flesh out the "Korrasami" relationship more. One has to wonder if things would be different if the show was made today, with the leaps and bounds that have been made for queer representation in children's media since The Legend of Korra ended. Though it may not be perfect, the ending of the show was an early example of representation at a time when it was very hard to come by.

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