Top 20 Darkest Avatar: The Last Airbender & The Legend of Korra Moments
The darkest "Avatar" and "Korra" moments took Nickelodeon to some adult places.
Transcript
00:00Happy birthday, my son.
00:03If only I could have helped you.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 darkest Avatar and Korra moments ever.
00:13Now, 10,000 years of darkness begins.
00:20I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster.
00:23That's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard.
00:26For this list, we're going over the darkest and most mature moments from Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
00:33Since we will be talking about important plot points, a spoiler alert is now in effect.
00:37What do you think was the darkest point in the franchise? Let us know in the comments below.
00:43Number 20, Aang is struck by lightning.
00:45We've got to find Sokka and Toph.
00:47The grand finale of Book Two of Avatar sees Aang and Katara fighting against Azula and Zuko underneath the city of Ba Sing Se.
01:01When the Dai Li army arrives to back the Fire Nation royals, Aang enters the Avatar state to give himself an advantage in battle.
01:08But before he can make any moves, Azula strikes him with her lightning.
01:12It's later implied that this bolt doesn't merely injure him, it briefly ends his life.
01:17Thankfully, Katara is there to heal him.
01:20When the underage protagonist nearly meeting his end barely makes our list, you know things are about to get dark.
01:26I didn't just get hurt, did I? It was worse than that. I was gone, but you brought me back.
01:32Number 19, Ming Hua's shocking demise.
01:35When I get out of here, none of you will survive.
01:38After Avatar Korra is captured by a villainous group called the Red Lotus,
01:42a group of her strongest allies comes to rescue her.
01:45While she takes on the formidable Zaheer, her friends Mako and Bolin take on two vicious opponents.
01:50Mako fights Ming Hua, a waterbender who creates prosthetic liquid arms for herself.
01:55But her unique bending style is ultimately her undoing.
01:58Now it's over.
02:00Mako takes advantage that her arms can conduct electricity,
02:04Although Korra is aimed at a teen audience,
02:06it was still willing to show a villain being taken out in a grisly way.
02:10No! No! You don't understand.
02:13Number 18, Azula's breakdown.
02:16I thought we were going to do this together.
02:18My decision is final.
02:21You... you can't treat me like this.
02:23While she's trying to save herself, her friends try to stop her.
02:27I'm sorry, Azula.
02:29My decision is final.
02:31You... you can't treat me like this.
02:33While she may be a militant villainess, Azula is still human.
02:38Towards the end of the series, her best friends turn against her.
02:41Azula's father also gives her a huge amount of responsibility by naming her the Fire Lord.
02:46In the wake of these events, Azula begins to lose her grip on sanity
02:50and becomes increasingly paranoid.
02:52She even hallucinates visions of her mother.
02:54I didn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation.
02:57Don't pretend to act proud.
02:59I know what you really think of me.
03:01You think I'm a monster.
03:03As satisfying as it is to see Azula's perfect facade crumble,
03:06we can't help but pity her.
03:08Although the former princess did some monstrous things,
03:11no one wants to celebrate her struggles with mental illness.
03:13Help! Help! Help!
03:15I can't!
03:22Number 17, P'Li's fate.
03:24So, do we have a deal?
03:26Yes. You release the airbenders, and then I'll turn myself over.
03:30The Red Lotus asks Korra to surrender to them
03:32to save the lives of a group of kidnapped airbenders.
03:36During the exchange, a fight ensues.
03:38Although Lin and Suyin Beifong try to rescue Korra,
03:41they're held off by P'Li,
03:43a combustion bender who can fire explosions through the eye on her forehead.
03:47Her explosive attacks initially give the metalbending sisters a lot of trouble,
03:51but they finally take advantage of a grim opening.
03:54I'm gonna draw her fire. You take her out.
03:56Just as P'Li is about to fire a blast,
03:58Suyin encases the villain's head in metal.
04:01This explosion backfires and instantly ends the villain's life.
04:05While the metal prevents us from seeing anything,
04:08the unseen implications of this scene are positively brutal.
04:12Where is P'Li?
04:14She sacrificed her life for our cause.
04:17Now let's make sure it wasn't in vain.
04:20Number 16, brainwashing at Lake Laogai.
04:23We need to talk to the king about the war.
04:25It's important.
04:26You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe.
04:29In season two of Avatar, Aang and company go to Ba Sing Se,
04:32a walled city that has mostly stayed out of the war.
04:36The gang discovers one major reason citizens have stayed out of the conflict.
04:40Anyone who speaks publicly about the war or causes too much trouble is brainwashed.
04:44The process is carried out by the Dai Li, Ba Sing Se's secret police force.
04:49These agents bring their victims to Lake Laogai.
04:52There, the Dai Li hypnotize the captives until they behave exactly as the agents want them to.
04:57There's no war in Ba Sing Se.
05:01What are you talking about?
05:02Where do you think all the refugees come from?
05:04You can't hide it.
05:05Did Avatar depict a totalitarian government that silences dissent
05:09through reconditioning the populace and spreading disinformation to retain power?
05:13Yep.
05:14This show sure likes to hit kids with some heavy stuff.
05:17You have made yourselves enemies of the state.
05:20Take them into custody.
05:22The Avatar Cycle is Broken
05:29During Korra's second season, the Avatar faces off against her evil uncle Unalaq.
05:34He allies himself with the dark spirit Batuu.
05:37Meanwhile, Korra sides with Rava, the light spirit that lives inside her body
05:41and makes the existence of the Avatar possible.
05:44Although the good guys try their best,
05:46Batuu and Unalaq eventually tear the light spirit out of Korra's body.
05:50Rava is then destroyed piece by piece.
05:53Korra! He's got the light spirit!
05:55The spirit's destruction also severs Korra's connection to all the past avatars,
05:59including Aang.
06:01Rava's absence also meant that the Avatar Cycle couldn't continue after Korra's life ended.
06:06Although the light spirit returns later on,
06:08seeing her destruction was quite traumatic for Korra and the audience.
06:12Now, ten thousand years of darkness begins.
06:20Ko the Face Stealer Appears
06:33The spirit world of the Avatar franchise can be pretty dang scary.
06:37Although Tenzin, Korra, and Bumi's trip through the fog of lost souls was terrifying,
06:42a spirit introduced in Avatar is far spookier.
06:45Ko the Face Stealer is a being who has the body of a large centipede
06:49and a constantly changing face.
06:52In the season one finale, Aang needs to find the spirit to gain vital information.
07:00But he's informed that Ko will take the face of anyone who shows the tiniest hint of emotion.
07:06This leads to a tense scene where Aang struggles to remain expressionless.
07:10Ko's creepy body, shape-shifting faces, and unsettling voice
07:14add up to a spirit that is straight-up nightmare fuel.
07:19We'll meet again.
07:30Iroh spends a day journeying through Ba Sing Se collecting items,
07:34while helping everyone from a child to a mugger along the way.
07:38Eventually, the purpose of his excursion is revealed.
07:41He wanted to build a small memorial to honor his late son Lu Ten's birthday.
07:45Lu Ten lost his life during Iroh's 600-day siege of Ba Sing Se.
07:49The idea that he's mourning in the same city where Lu Ten lost his life is sad,
07:54but our tears really flow when Iroh sings a heartbreaking song.
08:10Plenty of children's programming features missing parents or guardians who have passed away,
08:14but few deal with a parent losing their child in such a mature and heartbreaking manner.
08:30Katara enlists Zuko's help to find the Fire Nation man that took her mother's life.
08:35During the pair's revenge quest, the normally kind waterbender is unexpectedly ruthless.
08:40Eventually, Katara finally catches up to her target,
08:43a man named Yon-Ra.
08:55Consumed with fury, she forms a ton of icicle spears by waterbending the rain around her,
09:01and unleashes them all at once.
09:04However, Katara stops them from hitting Yon-Ra just before they caused irreparable damage.
09:09Although she didn't commit a crime she couldn't take back, she came extremely close.
09:14Katara's shocking journey with Zuko brought her to the edge of a very dark place.
09:34Before the Fire Lord Sozin and Avatar Roku were enemies,
09:37the two of them were close friends.
09:39They drifted apart after the royal expressed his desires
09:42to expand the Fire Nation past its existing borders.
09:45Since Sozin's goals conflicted with Roku's duties to maintain balance between the nations,
09:50the two had a major falling out.
09:59The two reunited after a long time apart when the volcano on Roku's island erupted.
10:04Sozin helps his old friend contain the destruction at first,
10:07but when poisonous gases weakened Roku so much he could barely move,
10:11the Fire Lord leaves his former friend to perish on the volcano.
10:18Sozin completes his betrayal by starting a long and devastating war against the other nations.
10:2510. Azulon Orders Ozai to Obliterate Zuko
10:34Iroh was once the heir to the Fire Nation throne, but things changed after he lost his son.
10:39While Iroh mourned, his brother Ozai asked Fire Lord Azulon if he could become next in line.
10:44The Fire Nation ruler is understandably furious at his son's callousness,
10:48but Azulon's response to this ridiculous request was much worse.
10:52He orders Ozai to take Zuko's life so the prince can understand what losing a child is like.
10:58In true family tradition, Ozai decides to do something much worse.
11:02Instead of going through with the order, he has his wife Ursa take Azulon out with poison.
11:07Ozai could have just stood up to his old man,
11:09but instead he used his loved ones as pawns just to seize power.
11:13As was your dying wish, you are now succeeded by your second son.
11:199. Jet's Last Stand Jet is a fairly dark character in general.
11:25The young freedom fighter is willing to take innocent lives just to get revenge on the Fire
11:29Nation. But the darkest part of his story is how it ends. After being brainwashed by the Dai Li,
11:43Jet leads Aang and company right into the stone hands of the secret police force.
11:47Aang helps the freedom fighter break free from his mind control,
11:50but after Jet attempts to lash out at the Dai Li leader, he receives a fatal blow.
11:55Although he claims he'll be alright, Toph can tell he's lying. We never see Jet again.
12:01Despite happening off-screen, his demise is clearly one of the show's bleakest moments.
12:068. Appa's Cruel Circus Visit One of the hardest episodes to re-watch
12:15is the one focused on Aang's flying bison Appa. After being stolen from the gang by sandbenders,
12:20Appa has to endure a series of awful events by himself. One of the most disturbing parts
12:25of his story occurs after he's imprisoned in a Fire Nation circus. The ringmaster refuses
12:35to feed Appa, and threatens him with fire until the animal obeys the performer's commands.
12:41Children's programming doesn't always devote time to tackling how cruel humans can be towards
12:45animals. Almost a decade after this episode premiered, the issues this story raised are
12:50unfortunately still relevant. 7. Zuko Shouts at the Storm
13:06Zuko is an angry young man. We all know this. Despite that fact,
13:12his uncle Iroh is always trying to help the prince improve and find balance in himself.
13:17Iroh even opts to show him how to redirect lightning, but he refuses to let his nephew
13:22try out the technique for real. Desperate to prove himself, Zuko decides to seek lightning
13:33elsewhere. He climbs to a mountaintop and rails at a storm to strike him.
13:43Thankfully, he is never hit by any lightning. Although the storm held back,
13:47the show didn't pull any punches. The teenage Zuko was so damaged that he openly welcomed
13:53the potentially painful and fatal consequences of being struck by lightning.
13:586. Korra Suffers PTSD After Being Poisoned
14:09We've already touched on Korra being kidnapped by the Red Lotus, but their ultimate goal was
14:14significantly more messed up. They wanted to poison Korra to trigger her avatar state.
14:18If her life was taken away while she was in this powerful form, the avatar cycle would end.
14:24Watching her get poisoned is incredibly gruesome, but the aftermath is equally grim.
14:35Korra has trouble walking after the ordeal, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
14:40Even after she makes a big physical recovery, she's plagued by nightmares and hallucinations.
14:46Korra's PTSD lasts past the episode she's poisoned and well into the next season.
14:51The show handles this subject well by depicting the mature struggle in a realistic way.
14:595. Noatak's Future Goes Up In Smoke
15:06Messed up families are par for the course in the Avatar franchise.
15:10Korra's first season features one of the worst examples of both series.
15:14While the villainous Noatak aka Amon terrorizes Republic City, his brother,
15:18Councilman Tarlok, tries to protect it in his own twisted way.
15:22After both of them become wanted men, they escape the city on a boat.
15:26Noatak is optimistic that the two can start a new chapter in their lives.
15:30Although Tarlok plays along at first, he eventually decides to bring their stories to an end.
15:35The former councilman uses one of Noatak's weapons to blow up the boat.
15:39It will be just like the good old days.
15:48It's safe to say that no one saw the two brothers going out in such a sudden and grim way.
15:53That's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard.
15:554. Bloodbending Battle
16:05You'd be forgiven for mistaking the Puppet Master episode for a horror film.
16:09The darkest part of this grim story occurs when Hama and Katara confront each other.
16:19Hama is a bloodbender, a waterbender who's able to control the blood
16:23inside the bodies of living things, effectively turning them into puppets.
16:27After using this technique on Katara, she uses it on Aang and Sokka.
16:35Hama controls their movements and nearly makes them wound each other.
16:39Katara uses bloodbending to put an end to the dark tale.
16:42The fact that Katara had to become what she fought against is disturbing.
16:51Although she never wanted to learn this twisted technique,
16:54she later bloodbends a man when she's blinded by rage and her own darkness.
16:593. Zaheer Ends the Earth Queen
17:09Airbending was generally seen as the most gentle of the bending disciplines.
17:13Until the brutal Zaheer became an airbender.
17:16As part of his plan to capture the Avatar, Zaheer makes a deal with the Earth Queen.
17:20But she turns on him and orders her loyalists to attack him.
17:24When Zaheer and his allies win the battle, he decides to get rid of the Earth Queen.
17:34He uses a horrifying airbending technique on the Queen that swiftly leads to her demise.
17:39The disturbing scene leaves us breathless every time we watch it.
17:43Zaheer's brutal bending is far and away one of the most wicked acts in the entire franchise.
18:01Zuko goes through some dark times throughout the story of Avatar.
18:04But one of his lowest points happened before the show began.
18:08During a storm, Iroh recounts how Zuko got his infamous scar.
18:11After speaking out of turn during a war meeting, Zuko was forced to duel his father.
18:16But he refuses to fight.
18:18Ozai punishes Zuko's refusal by using firebending to give his son a painful scar.
18:29The Fire Lord's actions would even be disturbing in a show aimed at adults.
18:33Seeing how despicable Ozai was to his own son took the story to a very dark place.
18:38But what could be darker than a parent giving their child a scar?
18:42Well...
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18:59Number 1.
19:00What happened to the Air Nomads?
19:03Before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders.
19:06What about them?
19:07Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see.
19:11Although the last airbender is right in the show's title,
19:13it can be easy to forget the dark reality behind those words.
19:17Aang is the only airbender around because the rest of his people were decimated by the
19:21Fire Nation at the start of the Hundred Year War.
19:24The full reality of the situation first hits home for Aang and the audience
19:28when he returns to the air temple he once called home and only finds bones.
19:33It's an utterly heartbreaking scene.
19:37Gyatso.
19:40The amount of off-screen horror that had to occur before this moment
19:44makes us shudder to contemplate.
19:46We're still stunned Avatar could convey the magnitude of such a heinous act
19:50so simply and so effectively.
19:52But you were right.
19:53And if firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too.
19:58I really am the last airbender.
20:00Do you agree with our picks?
20:01Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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