u/2-2Distracted

Because aside from not being able to Spirit-bend I honestly think she'd basically just be studying lots of theory & history, like Tenzin grew up doing, and would have had to rely on her Book 1 flawed style of meditation to get anywhere.

Let me elaborate.

Firstly, Book 1 had Korra successfully meditating in order to not only meet Aang but access his memories. The reason why I say it's flawed is because Korra actually speaking to Aang was mostly unintentional, and her previous experiences with his memories was when she was trapped in closed off spaces with seemingly no way out except within her mind and spirit.

Secondly, in "The Guide" Tenzin explained to Kya that he spent years studying how to be a spiritual leader:

> Kya: If you've never been to the Spirit World, how were you planning to get Korra into it?

>> Tenzin: I've spent years studying the techniques and theories of ancient spiritual leaders. Now that the Avatar needs me, it must be my time.

The problem is it means Tenzin would have basically dragged Korra around across the world trying to get her further in touch with her past lives, which honestly sounds like a pretty sweet deal considering Korra has never traveled the world, but it would also show that Tenzin is compensating for something.

And finally, there's also what he says in "Rebel Spirit"(which is why added the screenshot):

> Hopefully our visit to all the air temples will give you the inspiration you need to look more deeply into your studies.

> Chief Unalaq, clearly you are very knowledgeable, but Korra still has much to learn about airbending. And I hope that going to the air temples will help her connect with the past Avatars.

In the comic "Weavers Ball" we see a stuck up White Lotus master basically punish Korra by making her study theory and history all because she was distracted from her Firebending training by wanting to attend a festival. She kind of hated that then and would have clearly hated now.

To be fair to Tenzin tho, he and Unalaq obviously have different ideas and methods of spiritual growth, and both were done for different reasons. Tenzin's methods were him doing what he (and Tonraq) thought was best, which Korra hated. Unalaq's methods were pretty much Trial By Fi- I mean Water, which Korra loved since it was hands-on stuff.

Both of them were a mix of selfish and selfless tho.

It kind of makes me wonder how he would have managed being "Vacation Tenzin" all the while trying to train Korra if Harmonic Convergence wasn't right around the corner. Who knows, maybe we would gotten all those "Korra should have spoken more with Aang and her other past lives!" moments that people love to complain about.

Also looking back on all this made me realize that just because an Avatar can access the Avatar State at will doesn't mean that they can speak to their past lives as freely as ATLA gave the impression, but then again ATLA provided it's own complicated context for Aang. It's still pretty interesting tho since you'd think they'd be an all in one package.

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