u/OwnRepresentative916

Avatar: Seven Havens takes place 225 years after The Legend of Korra. We don't know the precise timing of the Cataclysm, but, considering Bryke often utilize round numbers, there's a common fan idea that the Cataclysm was 25 years after LOK, then ASH is 200 years after the Cataclysm. My post uses this estimate for the below ages. Based on Korra's appearance in the trailer, if this isn't right I don't think the truth is too far off.

Keep in mind that it's possible not everyone died during the Cataclysm. They could have survived awhile longer, but I think it's likely most or all died in or around the Cataclysm (ignoring possible earlier death dates from other things). The numbers are also assumed to be after people's birthdays. If they hadn't had their birthday at the time of the Cataclysm, just subtract one off the number. Treat these like minimum ages the characters made it to I suppose. Let me know if there are any others you want added to the list or if you have any corrections. With that out of the way, here are the estimates from youngest to oldest in 199 AG / 10028 AWHC.

EDIT: I'm really surprised by how many people think Korra was in her 50s or 60s during the Cataclysm. Here's my post about Korra's age and why she looks mid-40s (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/k1rnggm60x). Basically, she looks almost identical in age to her father in LOK Book 4 when he was mid-to-late 40s.

• Rohan: 29
• Meelo: 34
• Ikki: 36
• Jinora: 39
• Kai: ~Late 30s
• Desna: 44
• Eska: 44
• Wei: ~Mid-40s
• Wing: ~Mid-40s
• Opal: ~Mid-40s
• Bolin: 45
• Korra: 46
• Asami Sato: 47
• Mako: 47
• Huan: ~Late 40s
• Bataar Jr.: ~Late 40s
• Kuvira: ~Late 40s
• Zhu Li Moon: ~Late 50s
• Pema: 64
• Iroh II: 65
• Iknik Blackstone Varrick: ~Late 60s
• Senna: ~Late 60s
• Tonraq: ~Early 70s
• Suyin Beifong: 73
• Zaheer: ~Mid-70s
• Lin Beifong: 79
• Tenzin: 80
• Kya: ~Early 80s
• Izumi: ~Mid-80s
• Bumi: ~Late 80s
• Toph: 112
• Katara: 114
• Zuko: 116
• Iroh: ~Mid-150s (Chronologically)

Source:

https://youtu.be/Z_Fd0lCMx6E?si=0gmtVwNfRFeK5tfB

Season 2 of The Legend of Korra states that Raava is the Spirit of Light and Peace, while Vaatu is the Spirit of Darkness and Chaos. This has been the status quo for the last 13 years. While many fans have attributed order to Raava or even called them them the spirits of good and evil, these were all just fan designations. With Avatar: Seven Havens releasing in October, many fans have observed numerous signs that Raava and Vaatu will be returning as central elements of the new series. An optimistic take is that the creators will use this as an opportunity to recontextualize Raava and Vaatu to rectify much of the original criticism of LOK S2.

The new image in this post is promotional material from the upcoming Avatar Legends: The Official Character Encyclopedia releasing in December. It is the first time we have seen an expansion of Raava and Vaatu's lore, since the 2022 Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game still only referred to Raava and Vaatu as light/peace and darkness/chaos, respectively. Now, Raava has officially gained order and creation, while Vaatu has gained destruction. The source also states that Raava and Vaatu "cycle between periods of harmony and conflict", perhaps implying that these two Great Spirits are not always at each other's throats? Maybe they only enter a period of conflict when Harmonic Convergence is upon them and they must have their fated duel, but during the interim 10,000 years when one of them dominates the era the other no longer contests the temporary victor? This could have implications for how Vaatu could behave during ASH and may help define how the Dark Avatar could properly function differently than what we saw with Unalaq.

What do you make of this? Are the creators moving in the right direction with Raava and Vaatu in these changes? Do you think these additions are deliberately connected to the release of ASH? Share your thoughts down below!

P.S. Title Correction: "Are these additions part of the recontextualization of these Great Spirits* for Seven Havens?"

Source:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Avatar-Legends-The-Official-Character-Encyclopedia/Ben-Wilgus/9798337400013

Not only Jae and Karthik, but also the group of four Airbenders standing around the Earthbender girl all have grey eyes too. I see many people wondering if Jae is a descendant of Aang, with the idea being that only Aang's descendants (or some rare, distant other Air Nomad descendants) would have grey eyes, while Harmonic Convergence Airbenders would have mostly Earth Nation green eyes and pass that on. However, I think with the spirituality of adopting a bending art and culture, your offspring may have genetic differences too.

Aang was the Avatar, so he had worldly duties, and his children were mixed since Katara was Water Tribe, so they didn't all inherit Airbending. However, Tenzin focused only on Airbender spirituality and had a partner in Pema who was herself dedicated to the revival of the Air Nation, and all of their children were born Airbenders. I wonder if over time, the Harmonic Convergence Airbenders started having children with grey eyes too, even if they or their parents were originally Earth Nation. What do you guys think?

During the Era of Avatar Aang, it was revealed to the audience that "Kyoshi lived for 230 years, making her the oldest Avatar in history". Kyoshi was born in 312 BG and Roku was born in 82 BG. However, we have a new record-holder.

Korra was born in 153 AG and Pavi was born in 390 AG. This means that the Era of Avatar Korra lasted 237 years, beating Avatar Kyoshi's record by seven years. Do note that this is the duration of Korra's era, meaning the time between the start of Korra's Avatarhood and the start of Pavi's Avatarhood.

This does not indicate the duration of Korra's lifespan. If Korra's life was extended in some way, such as being in the Avatar State continually, then she would also be the new longest-lived Avatar. However, if she died in the Cataclysm and, due to mysterious circumstances, the Avatar's reincarnation was delayed, then Kyoshi would retain the title as longest-lived Avatar.

We'll see which is the case soon enough, but Korra's era has now officially surpassed Kyoshi's era to be the longest in the Avatar world timeline to date.

TL;DR: Sozin's Comet was very close to the planet when it returned during Aang's time: close enough to aerobrake in the atmosphere. If the comet were getting closer and closer to the planet with each passing, it could impact during Korra's lifetime. She will be 47 when the comet returns in 200 AG, which lines up with her age in the ASH teaser. The comet impacting could cause the fires, tsunami, storms, and other phenomena we see in the teaser during the Cataclysm. It could also cause the veil between material and spiritual worlds to tear wide open (perhaps along the path of the three open spirit portals, acting like perforations in notebook paper), merging the two worlds together and causing both permanent physical and spiritual damage.

One of the theories behind what could have caused the Cataclysm seen in Avatar: Seven Havens is that Sozin's Comet may have impacted the planet. I know people have mentioned this possibility before, but this post seeks to explain in detail how the comet could impact the planet, when this would fit in the timeline, and whether or not such an impact could account for the spiritual and environmental disasters witnessed in the ASH teaser.

First, the mechanics of it. We see in ATLA that when the comet arrived in 100 AG it was so close to the planet that it entered the outer atmosphere and its shockwave pushed aside clouds. That is incredibly close for an astronomical body to come to a planet. By entering the atmosphere, the comet likely experienced atmospheric braking, slowing it down to a degree. This is also why the comet erupts in a fireball: friction with the atmosphere.

I posit that the comet may not have always followed the same pattern. Perhaps at some point thousands of years ago, the comet first made an approach close enough to the planet for people to notice. Then maybe due to gravitational perturbations or something, it got closer and closer to the planet each time (returning every ~100 years for only perhaps the last few centuries). Once it was close enough to create a fireball, it granted firebenders immense power on each return (and that power boost got stronger each passing perhaps for the last 500+ years or something ). However, this process would eventually bring the comet in so close that it would be on an impact trajectory.

For timing, the next return of Sozin's Comet will be in 200 AG when Korra is at the age of 47. There is credible context clues to indicate that Korra's age in the ASH teaser is her 40s (see here for details: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/s/IdTvexkIJr), which would place the comet's return right when the Cataclysm happens. It's possible that the comet comes and goes peacefully and then the Cataclysm happens when Korra is like 49 (or even the Cataclysm happens just before the comet's return), but I find that unlikely considering how well the timeline matches up. It's too coincidental.

So, the final question is whether the comet impacting would actually create the world we see in the ASH teaser? First, I think we need to distinguish between the immediate events of the Cataclysm and the state of the world in the following decades/centuries. Some of the things we see that happened during the Cataclysm are cities on fire, a massive tsunami, and giant storms. If Sozin's Comet hit the planet, it would create a large atmospheric fireball. The shockwave would travel far and do untold damage. The impact would cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and if it landed in water it would cause a massive tsunami. It would also disrupt airflow and atmospheric temperatures, causing massive storms. So, I do think the comet impacting would cause exactly these kinds of catastrophic global phenomena. Not only that, but a large impact from space can definitely ruin a planet so severely that the after-effects could last centuries or millennia.

The main missing component is this: how would the comet impacting cause the spiritual damage / spiritual infusion we see with the later weather disasters? This is the final piece of the puzzle. In the Avatar world, all physical things have spiritual effects. Killing the Moon Spirit stopped people from waterbending, while the return of Sozin's Comet boosted firebending. We also know that the solstices for example represent the material and spiritual worlds being at their closest to one another. When Vaatu entered the material plane, he "pierced the veil" separating the two worlds. Raava chasing after him resulted in the two spirit portals at the poles. They are literally holes in the veil separating the two worlds that allow the direct traversal of inhabitants of either world to the other.

My idea is this: Korra created a new spirit portal in Republic City. The veil was pierced once more, leaving three across the world. Not only that, but all three portals are open now. What if the comet impacting was such a violent physical and spiritual event that it literally ripped a massive tear in the veil separating the two worlds, with the three open spirit portals acting as the weak points in the veil that the tear ripped through (like perforations in notebook paper). This could be the mechanism that causes the physical and spiritual worlds to merge together. Not only would this infuse all of those natural disasters with spiritual energy, but it would permanently affect the world afterwards.

So that's the theory. There could still be other things going on that led to the Cataclysm in some way, such as humanity's abuse of spirit energy or Vaatu's influence, but I still think Sozin's Comet impacting is an incredibly compelling option that fits with everything we've seen so far in terms of possibility, timeline, and effects. I also think it would be incredibly awesome. What do you think?

The same sentiment applies to Avatar: Seven Havens and other future projects.

TL;DR: IGN claimed Avatar: Ice Wars was "dead" and Paramount "decided against continuing the project". Paramount Games Studio Senior VP Kittelsen never said those words, instead saying the game was not at a sufficient stage of production to be officially announced and that we will still likely get a AAA Avatar game at some point. Bryan Konietzko confirmed that the project was not canceled, just reset. Hopefully this sets the record straight.

For background, Avatar: Ice Wars (working title) is a AAA RPG that was announced by Avatar Studios in October, 2024 to be made in collaboration with games producer Saber Interactive. Paramount subsequently merged with Skydance Media 10 months later in August, 2025. 10 months after that in June, 2026, IGN held an interview with Shawn Kittelsen (the senior vice president and head of creative and production at the newly formed Paramount Games Studio) following the merger to discuss the status of various projects. It was published under the provocative title "Avatar: The Last Airbender AAA RPG Announced in 2024 Is Dead".

In the interview, Kittelsen said that Ice Wars "wasn't in production when we came in". He claimed that prior to the merger, Paramount had a lot of "aspirations" for games but that they lacked "the conviction or the support" to actually be made. He contrasts this with the new and improved Paramount Games Studio that has "a larger team and more support", including Skydance's "two game studios ready to play" that they absorbed.

Their new approach is to "make sure that anything that we announce we're prepared to launch". Since Ice Wars had not yet entered production and Saber Interactive backed out, this title was nowhere near "prepared to launch" and was thus reclassified away from being an officially announced ongoing project. Or, as IGN puts it, the game has "fallen by the wayside". That being said, Kittelsen finished by saying that this "doesn't mean you won't get a AAA Avatar game at some point, but it might come in a different iteration."

Many outlets characterized the interview as a full-on cancellation of the game with no hope of a future (no thanks to the title most likely). Not only was the original interview much more nuanced than this, but Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko made an official statement to clear the air four days later. He said, "Despite what anyone without actual knowledge may be chirping about, that big video game—the premise of which I came up with—wasn’t "canceled." Did it experience a big setback? Yep. These things are not easy (none of this is). Will it ever happen? Hopefully. Will it be better because of the reset? If I have anything to do with it, most definitely."

Bryan describes this as a "reset" and makes it clear that the game wasn't "canceled". Notably, even though IGN reported that "For the Avatar RPG, Paramount Games decided against continuing the project.", this phrasing does not come directly from Kittelsen himself and is instead IGN's framing of the situation. Therefore, Avatar: Ice Wars has not been canceled and can instead be considered to have been moved into the status of a very early, not officially announced project in the eyes of Paramount Games Studio. A decent comparison can be made with Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game which itself was dropped by its original games producer, got stuck in development hell, and only later was picked up by a new producer, made, and released.

As Bryan puts it, "hopefully" the game still has a future ahead of it. I would describe its current status as on "hiatus" until production starts making progress and we hear more official announcements about it. We don't know how long that will take. However, the animated series in active production Avatar: Red Thunder (working title) is reportedly set in the same ice age setting as Ice Wars, with Paramount apparently quite keen on it. If Red Thunder picks up steam and is a success, this may provide impetus to expand on the time period and give new life to the production of Ice Wars.

In the meantime, I noticed that the official concept art by Bryan for Ice Wars came in two variations: one larger image without an Avatar logo and one smaller cropped image with an Avatar logo. Interestingly, if you go into the podcast episode that originally showcased the concept art, you can no longer find the version with the logo even at the exact original timestamp. So, I took it upon myself to make a clean edit of the preliminary Ice Wars logo onto the larger, higher quality concept art image. This compiled version fully captures what's been visually teased about the game so far. Enjoy, and stay hopeful Avatar fans. Thanks for reading.

IGN Interview with Shawn Kittelsen:

https://www.ign.com/articles/avatar-the-last-airbender-aaa-rpg-announced-in-2024-is-dead

Bryan Konietzko's official response:

https://www.instagram.com/bryankonietzko/p/DZaYyteGwOq/?hl=en

Official Avatar: Ice Wars concept art by Bryan Konietzko sourced for my edit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/1fzesqr/bryans_concept_art_for_upcoming_avatar_video_game/

When did the Cataclysm happen? How old was Korra in the teaser? I have some idea as to how to get an approximate answer to these questions.

Our main clue is Korra's hair. Most people have picked up on the fact that her hair has grey streaks but is still mostly black. In The Legend of Korra, her father Tonraq has black hair in the first three seasons (170-171 AG), but when he reappears in Season 4 (174 AG) he has very similar grey streaks as Korra. We don't precisely know Tonraq's age, but we do know that in Season 2 (171 AG) he says he was banished from the Northern Water Tribe 20 years prior. In the flashback, he is a fully grown adult but still relatively young; he was almost certainly in his 20's. We also know that Korra was born two years after Tonraq's banishment. We can estimate that perhaps Tonraq was ~23 at banishment and ~25 when Korra was born in 153 AG. This would mean Tonraq was born around 128 AG and would be 43 in Season 2 and 46 in Season 4.

Regardless of whether the ages are +/- a few years, this would mean Tonraq's hair began to grey in that fashion in his 40's and it would be reasonable to place Korra at around the same age. Fun fact: Korra was born in 153 AG and Sozin's Comet will return in 200 AG, which would make her 47 at that time. All I'll say is that 47 years old lines up mighty nicely with this age estimate... so perhaps the Cataclysm is related to Sozin's Comet after all and it happened in 200 AG (maybe with an impact?).

If this is true, then Korra would be 47 in the ASH teaser flashback and may well have died at that age (though perhaps she survived the Cataclysm and spent the rest of her life setting up the seven havens or fighting the spirit apocalypse or something). I personally think that whatever happened during the Cataclysm, Korra is the one responsible for whatever mechanism enabled the seven havens to exist post-Cataclysm, but I also think she died in the Cataclysm. It would be kind of anti-climactic for her end to be some random time later on.

What do you guys think?

When did the Cataclysm happen? How old was Korra in the teaser? I have some idea as to how to get an approximate answer to these questions.

Our main clue is Korra's hair. Most people have picked up on the fact that her hair has grey streaks but is still mostly black. In The Legend of Korra, her father Tonraq has black hair in the first three seasons (170-171 AG), but when he reappears in Season 4 (174 AG) he has very similar grey streaks as Korra. We don't precisely know Tonraq's age, but we do know that in Season 2 (171 AG) he says he was banished from the Northern Water Tribe 20 years prior. In the flashback, he is a fully grown adult but still relatively young; he was almost certainly in his 20's. We also know that Korra was born two years after Tonraq's banishment. We can estimate that perhaps Tonraq was ~23 at banishment and ~25 when Korra was born in 153 AG. This would mean Tonraq was born around 128 AG and would be 43 in Season 2 and 46 in Season 4.

Regardless of whether the ages are +/- a few years, this would mean Tonraq's hair began to grey in that fashion in his 40's and it would be reasonable to place Korra at around the same age. Fun fact: Korra was born in 153 AG and Sozin's Comet will return in 200 AG, which would make her 47 at that time. All I'll say is that 47 years old lines up mighty nicely with this age estimate... so perhaps the Cataclysm is related to Sozin's Comet after all and it happened in 200 AG (maybe with an impact?).

If this is true, then Korra would be 47 in the ASH teaser flashback and may well have died at that age (though perhaps she survived the Cataclysm and spent the rest of her life setting up the seven havens or fighting the spirit apocalypse or something). I personally think that whatever happened during the Cataclysm, Korra is the one responsible for whatever mechanism enabled the seven havens to exist post-Cataclysm, but I also think she died in the Cataclysm. It would be kind of anti-climactic for her end to be some random time later on.

What do you guys think?

When did the Cataclysm happen? How old was Korra in the teaser? I have some idea as to how to get an approximate answer to these questions.

Our main clue is Korra's hair. Most people have picked up on the fact that her hair has grey streaks but is still mostly black. In The Legend of Korra, her father Tonraq has black hair in the first three seasons (170-171 AG), but when he reappears in Season 4 (174 AG) he has very similar grey streaks as Korra. We don't precisely know Tonraq's age, but we do know that in Season 2 (171 AG) he says he was banished from the Northern Water Tribe 20 years prior. In the flashback, he is a fully grown adult but still relatively young; he was almost certainly in his 20's. We also know that Korra was born two years after Tonraq's banishment. We can estimate that perhaps Tonraq was ~23 at banishment and ~25 when Korra was born in 153 AG. This would mean Tonraq was born around 128 AG and would be 43 in Season 2 and 46 in Season 4.

Regardless of whether the ages are +/- a few years, this would mean Tonraq's hair began to grey in that fashion in his 40's and it would be reasonable to place Korra at around the same age. Fun fact: Korra was born in 153 AG and Sozin's Comet will return in 200 AG, which would make her 47 at that time. All I'll say is that 47 years old lines up mighty nicely with this age estimate... so perhaps the Cataclysm is related to Sozin's Comet after all and it happened in 200 AG (maybe with an impact?).

If this is true, then Korra would be 47 in the ASH teaser flashback and may well have died at that age (though perhaps she survived the Cataclysm and spent the rest of her life setting up the seven havens or fighting the spirit apocalypse or something). I personally think that whatever happened during the Cataclysm, Korra is the one responsible for whatever mechanism enabled the seven havens to exist post-Cataclysm, but I also think she died in the Cataclysm. It would be kind of anti-climactic for her end to be some random time later on.

What do you guys think?

Source:

https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar:_Seven_Havens

Food for thought for anyone wondering if the entity at the end of the ASH teaser is actually Vaatu or not. My bet is 90% yes, but of course it's not confirmed yet.

Food for thought for anyone wondering if the entity at the end of the ASH teaser is actually Vaatu or not. My bet is 90% yes, but of course it's not confirmed yet.

>"He cannot destroy light any more than I can destroy darkness. One cannot exist without the other. Even if I defeat Vaatu in this encounter, darkness will grow inside me until he emerges again. The same will hold true if Vaatu defeats me." -Raava speaking to Wan

When Unalaq destroyed Raava with spiritbending, she immediately re-formed inside Vaatu. Korra subsequently retrieved Raava from within Vaatu before spiritbending him to oblivion. The way this story is usually understood from here is that Korra re-fused with Raava, and while yes Vaatu will someday grow in strength and re-emerge from within Raava, it's something far off in the future and separate from the relationship between Raava and the Avatar. However, the truth might be much more mysterious and sinister.

Ever since we learned of the existence of the twins Pavi and Nisha, there has been widespread speculation about a Light Avatar/Dark Avatar dynamic at play, but how could this be? Unalaq died in the Avatar State, so his Avatar Spirit did not reincarnate. There is no Dark Avatar Cycle. From here, people usually make vague comments about Vaatu re-emerging within Korra and how perhaps Vaatu could have split from Raava during Korra's reincarnation. The question is, does this make sense? Even if Vaatu re-emerged within Raava, how could this result in a new Dark Avatar? Isn't this only possible if spirit and human fuse during Harmonic Convergence? So, it's too late for Vaatu to form a new Dark Avatar. Unless...

...he actually did fuse with a human during Harmonic Convergence. When Korra spiritbent Vaatu, Raava was a free spirit. She says, "Harmonic Convergence is nearly over. We must return to the Spirit World so we can fuse once again." The thing is, Vaatu immediately re-formed inside Raava after being destroyed. When Raava entered Korra, she brought Vaatu along with her. This is completely different from Wan who merged with Raava while Vaatu was still separate from her. In this way, Korra touched the spirit portal at the end of Harmonic Convergence and unknowingly permanently fused with Raava and Vaatu both.

But shouldn't Raava have known? Wouldn't she prevent that from happening? The answer I think is twofold. First, it's not like there's much precedent for this. A spirit fusing with a human had never been done before her and Wan, and she definitely didn't have Vaatu inside her then. It's an unknown variable. Second, she and Korra were in a hurry to re-fuse, as Harmonic Convergence was "nearly over". There wasn't time to think things all the way through or to try extracting Vaatu first and re-imprison him. It was a now or never moment. Regardless, the result is what it is: Korra's soul fused with Vaatu as much as it fused with Raava. This is irregardless of the weakened state Vaatu was in, because when Wan originally fused with Raava she was in an extremely weakened state herself and it didn't seem to affect the bonding process at all. In fact, Raava seemed to gain strength from interacting with the Harmonic Convergence-boosted combined spirit portal while fusing with Wan; the same may have happened to Vaatu with Korra, helping him immediately regain a fair bit of strength.

The consequence of this I believe is that when Korra reincarnated, her soul was split in two, because even as Raava and Vaatu separated they were both bonded to one soul. The only way they could go their separate ways would be to rip the Avatar's soul in two. It is often said in cultures around the world that twins share a soul or are two halves of the same person, and I think that could apply here quite literally. If there is indeed centuries between Korra and Pavi/Nisha, perhaps this unorthodox reincarnation situation caused the delay in some manner.

Anyways, that's the theory. Basically, it builds on the Dark Avatar speculation with a solid idea of the actual mechanism behind Vaatu's involvement and potential effect on Korra's reincarnation. Interestingly, even if one of the twins is a Dark Avatar, Korra would still be the past life of both of them, so they should both be able to commune with her.

Credit to u/Wildhogs2013 for introducing part of this idea to me.

>"He cannot destroy light any more than I can destroy darkness. One cannot exist without the other. Even if I defeat Vaatu in this encounter, darkness will grow inside me until he emerges again. The same will hold true if Vaatu defeats me." -Raava speaking to Wan

When Unalaq destroyed Raava with spiritbending, she immediately re-formed inside Vaatu. Korra subsequently retrieved Raava from within Vaatu before spiritbending him to oblivion. The way this story is usually understood from here is that Korra re-fused with Raava, and while yes Vaatu will someday grow in strength and re-emerge from within Raava, it's something far off in the future and separate from the relationship between Raava and the Avatar. However, the truth might be much more mysterious and sinister.

Ever since we learned of the existence of the twins Pavi and Nisha, there has been widespread speculation about a Light Avatar/Dark Avatar dynamic at play, but how could this be? Unalaq died in the Avatar State, so his Avatar Spirit did not reincarnate. There is no Dark Avatar Cycle. From here, people usually make vague comments about Vaatu re-emerging within Korra and how perhaps Vaatu could have split from Raava during Korra's reincarnation. The question is, does this make sense? Even if Vaatu re-emerged within Raava, how could this result in a new Dark Avatar? Isn't this only possible if spirit and human fuse during Harmonic Convergence? So, it's too late for Vaatu to form a new Dark Avatar. Unless...

...he actually did fuse with a human during Harmonic Convergence. When Korra spiritbent Vaatu, Raava was a free spirit. She says, "Harmonic Convergence is nearly over. We must return to the Spirit World so we can fuse once again." The thing is, Vaatu immediately re-formed inside Raava after being destroyed. When Raava entered Korra, she brought Vaatu along with her. This is completely different from Wan who merged with Raava while Vaatu was still separate from her. In this way, Korra touched the spirit portal at the end of Harmonic Convergence and unknowingly permanently fused with Raava and Vaatu both.

But shouldn't Raava have known? Wouldn't she prevent that from happening? The answer I think is twofold. First, it's not like there's much precedent for this. A spirit fusing with a human had never been done before her and Wan, and she definitely didn't have Vaatu inside her then. It's an unknown variable. Second, she and Korra were in a hurry to re-fuse, as Harmonic Convergence was "nearly over". There wasn't time to think things all the way through or to try extracting Vaatu first and re-imprison him. It was a now or never moment. Regardless, the result is what it is: Korra's soul fused with Vaatu as much as it fused with Raava. This is irregardless of the weakened state Vaatu was in, because when Wan originally fused with Raava she was in an extremely weakened state herself and it didn't seem to affect the bonding process at all. In fact, Raava seemed to gain strength from interacting with the Harmonic Convergence-boosted combined spirit portal while fusing with Wan; the same may have happened to Vaatu with Korra, helping him immediately regain a fair bit of strength.

The consequence of this I believe is that when Korra reincarnated, her soul was split in two, because even as Raava and Vaatu separated they were both bonded to one soul. The only way they could go their separate ways would be to rip the Avatar's soul in two. It is often said in cultures around the world that twins share a soul or are two halves of the same person, and I think that could apply here quite literally. If there is indeed centuries between Korra and Pavi/Nisha, perhaps this unorthodox reincarnation situation caused the delay in some manner.

Anyways, that's the theory. Basically, it builds on the Dark Avatar speculation with a solid idea of the actual mechanism behind Vaatu's involvement and potential effect on Korra's reincarnation. Interestingly, even if one of the twins is a Dark Avatar, Korra would still be the past life of both of them, so they should both be able to commune with her.

Credit to u/Wildhogs2013 for introducing part of this idea to me.

>"He cannot destroy light any more than I can destroy darkness. One cannot exist without the other. Even if I defeat Vaatu in this encounter, darkness will grow inside me until he emerges again. The same will hold true if Vaatu defeats me." -Raava speaking to Wan

When Unalaq destroyed Raava with spiritbending, she immediately re-formed inside Vaatu. Korra subsequently retrieved Raava from within Vaatu before spiritbending him to oblivion. The way this story is usually understood from here is that Korra re-fused with Raava, and while yes Vaatu will someday grow in strength and re-emerge from within Raava, it's something far off in the future and separate from the relationship between Raava and the Avatar. However, the truth might be much more mysterious and sinister.

Ever since we learned of the existence of the twins Pavi and Nisha, there has been widespread speculation about a Light Avatar/Dark Avatar dynamic at play, but how could this be? Unalaq died in the Avatar State, so his Avatar Spirit did not reincarnate. There is no Dark Avatar Cycle. From here, people usually make vague comments about Vaatu re-emerging within Korra and how perhaps Vaatu could have split from Raava during Korra's reincarnation. The question is, does this make sense? Even if Vaatu re-emerged within Raava, how could this result in a new Dark Avatar? Isn't this only possible if spirit and human fuse during Harmonic Convergence? So, it's too late for Vaatu to form a new Dark Avatar. Unless...

...he actually did fuse with a human during Harmonic Convergence. When Korra spiritbent Vaatu, Raava was a free spirit. She says, "Harmonic Convergence is nearly over. We must return to the Spirit World so we can fuse once again." The thing is, Vaatu immediately re-formed inside Raava after being destroyed. When Raava entered Korra, she brought Vaatu along with her. This is completely different from Wan who merged with Raava while Vaatu was still separate from her. In this way, Korra touched the spirit portal at the end of Harmonic Convergence and unknowingly permanently fused with Raava and Vaatu both.

But shouldn't Raava have known? Wouldn't she prevent that from happening? The answer I think is twofold. First, it's not like there's much precedent for this. A spirit fusing with a human had never been done before her and Wan, and she definitely didn't have Vaatu inside her then. It's an unknown variable. Second, she and Korra were in a hurry to re-fuse, as HC was "nearly over". There wasn't time to think things all the way through or to try extracting Vaatu first and re-imprison him. It was a now or never moment. Regardless, the result is what it is: Korra's soul fused with Vaatu as much as it fused with Raava. This is irregardless of the weakened state Vaatu was in, because when Wan originally fused with Raava she was in an extremely weakened state herself and it didn't seem to affect the bonding process at all. In fact, Raava seemed to gain strength from interacting with the spirit portal while fusing with Wan; the same may have happened to Vaatu with Korra, helping him immediately regain a fair bit of strength.

The consequence of this I believe is that when Korra reincarnated, her soul was split in two, because even as Raava and Vaatu separated they were both bonded to one soul. The only way they could go their separate ways would be to rip the Avatar's soul in two. It is often said in cultures around the world that twins share a soul or are two halves of the same person, and I think that could apply here quite literally. If there is indeed centuries between Korra and Pavi/Nisha, perhaps this unorthodox reincarnation situation caused the delay in some manner.

Anyways, that's the theory. Basically, it builds on the Dark Avatar speculation with a solid idea of the actual mechanism behind Vaatu's involvement and potential affect on Korra's reincarnation. Interestingly, even if one of the twins is a Dark Avatar, Korra would still be the past life of both of them, so they should both be able to commune with her.

Credit to u/Wildhogs2013 for introducing part of this idea to me.

TL;DR: For anyone who missed this new info from a couple of years ago, we have conclusive evidence of a total of 98–106 Avatars from Wan to Korra, and compelling reason to believe it is exactly 100. I hope this can inform you all in your discussions moving forward!

EDIT: As a commenter pointed out, the elemental cycle of the Avatar means Korra, as a Water Avatar, has to be either #99 or #103, and I think #99 sounds more plausible as it is still a relatively round number. It also makes sense why they would need to say "more than 90" instead of "more than 100" in this scenario, because the overall total actually isn't even 100! Thanks for pointing this out commenter.

With the recent uptick in community discourse on Avatar, I saw a thread where people were talking about the number of total Avatars like it were still a huge mystery. I think a lot of older fans are coming back to get involved in the new stuff who may be unaware of the new information.

A couple of years ago, Avatar Studios created an official website that contains a canon timeline. As shown in the image above, it clearly states that "more than 90 Avatars" lived between Wan and Yangchen. While technically open-ended in the strictest reading, it makes sense that if the number were actually much higher they would have simply said "more than 100" or something. The specific choice of more than "90" heavily implies more than 90 but less than 100. In addition to these in-between Avatars, we have Wan, Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and Korra (7) in the first 10,000-year cycle.

Added together, this constrains the total number of Avatars between 91+7=98 and 99+7=106. Considering how Bryke like to use round, symbolic numbers (like the even 10,000 years for one Harmonic Convergence epoch), I think a really neat solution to constrain the actual value is to call it an even 100, so Wan would be the 1st Avatar and Korra the 100th, like it's some sort of fated? thing or something. Excluding Korra's remaining lifespan (which wouldn't change the overall number much anyways), that puts the average Avatar lifespan at ~100 years.

This makes sense, as throughout the timeline several Avatars reached advanced age or existed as the Avatar for long periods. Kyoshi, Aang, and Yangchen lived to the age of or were the Avatar for 230, 166, and 155 years, respectively, while Roku and Kuruk died at 70 and 33 years old. Considering the advanced age of many Avatars and even some regular benders (like King Bumi at 112+, Guru Pathik at 150+, and Teiguai the Immortal), it is a long-held theory that benders and more spiritual people can have prolonged lifespans. So, even though most Avatars may have lived to normal ages around 80 and some died young like Kuruk, there are apparently quite a few examples of very long-lived Avatars too, making this average lifespan of 100 years not actually that surprising.

Another comment to be made is how Roku said he "mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes". Here, he was likely just using a big, round number for hyperbole to mean "a whole lot of times", like how "He Who Knows 10,000 Things" just means "he who knows everything" or "he who knows a hell of a lot of things". It doesn't literally mean 10,000 precisely, and the same goes for Roku's comment. Lastly, while I know some people have tried counting the various Avatar statues that have been shown in Air temples and such, even though the exact number at the time of those scenes being created may not have been decided, a total of 100 definitely fits what we saw approximately.

I hope this was clarifying for many of you. Thanks for reading all of my ramblings!

Source:

https://www.avatarstudiosofficial.com/timeline/