Chenna's Corner

Juna is the ten-year-old daughter of Mako and his longtime on-again/off-again girlfriend, Mae Lin (an eccentric, flaky hippie who uses her waterbending for painting). Juna has no elemental power, but she has a mysteriously strong connection to the Spirit World and Raava. She's the first to discover the Avatar's Oasis, a special part of the Spirit World unreachable from the portals which houses Korra's spirit, as well as all past Avatars. She possesses the ability to transport someone to the Spirit World merely by touch, and is a crucial part of the search for the Avatar in Book Two: Chaos. Juna is kind of a meek, quiet girl, and her character doesn't really shine until Avatar Batakh comes into the picture.

(I couldn't think of a proper name at first, so I just gave her a shortened form of the Hindu prophet-type character, Arjuna. It was only supposed to be temporary, but it stuck.)

Batakh is the eight-year-old heir to a powerful, wealthy Emerald State (formerly called Earth Kingdom) family. His family, especially his father, is very “protective” of him, and had never told him that he is the Avatar. I haven't worked out exactly how the group finds and recruits the Avatar, but some light voluntary kidnapping may be involved his bodyguard, a Beifong descendant, escorts him. Batakh is very timid and uncertain (this is one of the ways in which Juna is important), and it takes a while for him to be comfortable enough to start training. He never knew he was even a bender, so this Avatar has to start from scratch.

His name, Batakh, is based off of Batukhan, a Mongolian name meaning “firm ruler.” It took me two years to name him. Additionally, I’m told his name means “duck” in...what was it, Urdu?

The third character is an earthbender who remains unnamed. He's stubborn, intense, quiet, and rather powerful. He's supposed to be only 23, but somehow he came off older here. He's related to the Beifong family (I might be playing with a Lin/secret child theory). Other than that, not much is known about his history. Although he's Avatar Batakh's guard, he's more of a background character for a while, until the next season, when he and Kanno start getting close.

Help me name him? I imagine him with either a short Chinese or complex Mongolian name. I have a ton of name files, but none of the names I've come across match him. The closest I've got is Chan, which would suit him but would clash with Chenna.

Kanno is the twenty-one-year-old son of Tahno. He's an effeminate, optimistic, gentle guy who's positively in love with life. He's a strong waterbender, but prefers to use his bending for healing, which was the first cause for tension between him and his father. His childhood wasn't too smooth. His father was hard on him, grooming him to become the kind of bender Tahno used to be. Kanno broke away when he was sixteen, and hasn't seen his father since.

His name has no actual origin. Since I started this post-Korra project in 2014, I knew there had to be a Kanno.

Note: may have a scene in which he flirts with Gappy, Gap jumps back and says, “Back off—I don't bend that way,” to which Kanno wildly blushes and stammers, “I didn't ask you to!”

...or would this accidentally be too much?

Chenna is the nineteen-year-old earth- and metalbending daughter of Avatar Korra and Asami. Her childhood was rough. She had a bullying problem when she was eight, which led to her retaliating violently and becoming a bit of a bully herself. She acted out a lot, especially towards Asami, whom she knew wasn't her birth mother. She fell in with a (nonviolent) gang of Republic City orphans.

Korra was assassinated when Chenna was just eleven, and it threw her into a deep period of despair and anger. She lashed out a lot more, and held hatred for Asami, whom she viewed as the reason for her mother's death. Due to safety concerns, the Sato family was sent to the Southern Air Temple, where they were protected and eventually healed. Chenna underwent extreme counseling, reconnected with Asami, and became close friends with a future villain. She still carries deep wounds from her past, and wouldn't achieve a full state of healing until Book Two.

Chenna is a lot like her mother (as her choice to emulate Korra in her clothing and hair suggests): strong, stubborn, a natural leader. She learned earthbending and minor metalbending from her mother, but also learned a lot of bending techniques from Toph Beifong. Because of her Water Tribe heritage, Chenna incorporates waterbending moves while metalbending.

Chenna's name has several different purposes and origins:

   1. A Water Tribe spin on an Earth Kingdom name [Chen], signifying the union and product of a Water Tribe-Earth Kingdom couple.

   2. An extension and combination of a Chinese (associated with Earth Kingdom) name, Chen, and an Inuit (associated with Water Tribe) name, Chena.

   3. A Water Tribe extension of a name with similar meaning to Asami. Chen means “morning,” Asami means “morning beauty.”

   4. A symbol of hope after the death of the Avatar, imagining “Chen[n]a” as a variation of the Native American Chenoa, meaning “dove”

Gappy is an eighteen-year-old airbending novice who first came into Chenna's life eight, possibly nine years ago. They were, as I call them, gang-mates; he was actually her first friend. The leader of the gang was Gappy's older brother, Sarge (real name Ryu), on whom Chenna had a crush. The gang was a nonviolent, mostly pickpocket type of misfits and orphans who had no other family. After Chenna left Republic City (she was 11, Gap was 10), a martial group, called simply the Secret Force, took over the city, starting with “cleaning up the streets”—that is, getting rid of the orphans and miscreants. The nonbenders, including Gap's brother, were killed; the benders were thought to be drafted. Only Gappy escaped.

Gappy is the typical airbender: energetic, optimistic, free, with a sharp mind. One might think that all of his tragedy would weigh him down, when in fact, it does the opposite—it fuels his desire to live and love every day, and often he finds himself dedicating every day and ever breath to his fallen brother and friends (some of whom may crop up sometime).

Gappy is so named for the gap in his teeth. (Many of the kids in the gang never knew a family and never had real names, so they named each other.) Towards the end of the series, he will be a master airbender, will be officially inducted into the Air Nation, tattooed (maybe), and given a real name.

Rei is much more like an airbender than a firebender. She's a twenty-one-year-old androgynous firebender with an unquenchable thirst for adventure. She's energetic, proud, and stubborn. She's very bright, but sometimes her boisterous energy interrupts her ability to grasp something. Rei doesn't have any tragic gay story like Kanno. She wasn't prejudiced against or kicked out, and she was fully accepted by her family. She was just hungering for adventure and itching to live, so she left home to explore. I think she has a giant family, including several brothers.

We first meet Rei in Book Two, when a distressed Chenna enters the Earth Rumble, in which Rei was a spectator (and practically “fangirls” all over Chenna).

Rei's gender is never meant to be a secret—that she likes dressing androgynously has nothing to do with her gender identity. Her sexual ambiguity is even a joking point sometimes, like when she first comes into the group and Gappy is jealous because he thinks this “guy” is interested in Chenna. At some point in the future, there will be an undercover mission which will require her to become feminine (and possibly couple up with Kanno, for added annoyance and entertainment).

Tomiko Murasaki (surname means “purple”) is a twenty-four-year-old, middle- to upper-class Republic City/Water Tribe woman who was Asami's protege at some point. She's a nonbender with a dry wit, and often presents herself as unaffected. For most of her appearance in the show, there is no concept of her having any romantic inclinations, especially not towards someone like Rei. I plan on a brief scene where a guy flirts with Tomiko, she says something about being gay, he says something like, “Really? You sure don't look like a lesbian,” and she dryly responds, “I'm sorry. Next time, I'll be sure to shave my head and wear pants so you won't be confused.”

No special name notes, though it took a while for me to settle on those two names.

Not Pictured: Asami Sato, Rahn Jianwu (who's not a “main” character, but is recurring in Books Two and Three)

Quick Notes:

There are four gay characters: two who are stereotypes, and two who are anti-stereotypes. Kanno and Rei fill the stereotypes, while the anti-stereotypes are the unnamed earthbender and Tomiko.

Relationships:

Chenna + earthbender (for just a moment, until she senses something...queer... There may be a comical scene surrounding this, I'm not sure)

Chenna + Gappy (it was one of those lifelong things that was bound to happen)

Juna + Batakh (not until their late-teens and twenties, though)

Rei + Tomiko (they were like water and oil at first, but eventually Rei got under Tomiko's skin)

Kanno + earthbender (their relationship is the last, hardest, and slowest to develop, and will be a cliffhanger until a “ten years later” sequence at the end of the series shows their future together)

Ship Names: Chappy, Junakh, Reimiko, [unnamed]

Friendships:

Chenna + Gappy

Chenna + Kanno

Chenna + Rei

Gappy + Rei

Batakh + Chenna

Batakh + Asami

Batakh + Juna

Asami + Tomiko

Chenna Timeline:

  - Born (Korra/Asami ages 24/25)

- Age 2: Korra and Asami "wed"

- Age 8: starts rebellious period; bullied at school; special rebellious target: Asami

- Age 11: mother Korra assassinated; Chenna & Asami wounded

 Chenna and Asami sent to Southern Air Temple for safety; placed in counseling, under close care; Chenna assigned special nomad guardian, Nahima

- Age 12: runs away, returns to Republic City, joins low key orphan group; meets Gappy

 Has many spiritual encounters; crosses into Spirit World; guided by butterfly cat spirit named Mosi (who shall reappear throughout her life); meets and counsels/trains with Toph Bei Fong; finds Korra's spirit

- Age 13: Surrenders rage, returns to Southern Temple; resumes counseling, reunites with Asami, returns to Nahima's guardianship

- Age 19: Chenna & Asami leave temple, return to Republic City, find destruction;

     Book One: Peace: Plot: End the Secret Force's coup, plan to take over Republic City & other world governments; Secret Force was behind Korra's assassination; Republic City police force was corrupt, as was the charming, underhanded shrew of a vice president, who turned her back in exchange for personal funding

     Chenna winds up forming beginning crew (like Korra's and Aang's), made up of old friend Gappy, new friend Kanno, glimpse of future ally Tomiko

       Book One spends a lot of time bringing us up to speed on adult Team Avatar and allies, including all of Tenzin's family and Korra's cousins, Chiefs Eska and Desna. We see Mako and Bolin again, meet their families. Special attention on Mako, who reopens and reinvestigates Korra's murder case, and young daughter Juna, who is instrumental in locating the next Avatar.

         It is towards the end of Book One that the quest for the reincarnated Avatar is begun; Guru Jinora (age 37, with boyfriend Kai, 38) is consulted, but reports that she cannot sense Raava....

         Crew background: Gappy*, airbender, age 18, grew up on the streets with nonbender brother Ryu (aka "Sergeant"); a few years ago, the Secret Force raided their gang, killing nonbenders and recruiting benders into their army; Gappy was the only survivor; Gappy & Chenna will likely come face to face with old friends when battling Secret Force; * orphan group did not have official names, but nicknames, i.e., Sergeant for his leadership, Gappy for the gap in his teeth;;

                          Kanno, waterbender, age 21; father Tahno, whose waterbending was taken away, was strict and tried to force his own bending ambitions on Kanno; a rift started when Kanno stated he preferred to use his bending to heal, not fight; boiling point was when Tahno kicked his son out after finding out he was gay;;

                          Tomiko Murasaki, nonbender, age 24; a reserved young woman about whom little is known, except that she is affiliated with the Sato Future Industries, having been Asami's protege, and is now a major figure in the company; Tomiko's role will be greater in future seasons

- Age 19/20: start of Book Two: Chaos, a heavy season; Chenna, Asami, Gappy, and Kanno attempt to find the next Avatar, despite Jinora's pessimistic report; Asami reunites with Mako, who brings Juna and reveals she has a spiritual connection to the Avatar and can help find him;;

   Juna reveals the Avatar is hidden in the Emerald States (formerly Earth Kingdom) aristocracy, which may explain why Jinora couldn't sense him; he is 8 yr old Batakh, a timid boy (who doesn't even know he's a bender) in a strict family (who's hidden the fact that he's the Avatar); family refuses to allow him to travel and train (reason? father is a member of the enemy; stifling the Avatar allows his organisation to move forward); family disregards importance, sends away the crew; Batakh's bodyguard, earthbender, age 23, understands the importance and tries to convince family, but fails; defies orders, sneaks out with Batakh and joins crew;;

     Memories and flickers of depression return to Chenna, who finds solace in joining the underground Earth Rumble; she squares off against tough as nails Kaori; they later talk a bit, and Kaori's longtime girlfriend, competitive surfer Minal is introduced; Chenna has never seen another relationship like her parents' before, and is in some strange awe; shortly afterwards, Chenna meets Rei, androgynous, firebender, age 21; Rei is an avid fan of the Earth Rumble, and practically foams at the mouth over the fact that the Avatar's daughter competed; displays a little crush on Chenna, asks out to dinner, Chenna politely declines; after learning about Chenna's journey and crew, Rei requests to join;;

     One scene finds Chenna and Kanno alone at a pond; Chenna talks about history and tragedy, reveals burn marks on her arms from the attack; Kanno offers to heal them; Chenna denies (because, as Toph later tells her, the burns represent a memory of Korra; grim as the memory is, it's perceived as a connection to Korra, which Chenna is terrified of losing); much later, Chenna changes her mind, accepts, is healed, and, as a result, is finally able to let go of the past;;

       Chenna wants to help her mother move forward, as well, and sets her up on a date with Julin, nonbender, age 50, a shy woman who has also suffered heartbreak;;

   Meanwhile, a horrible plot is unfolding. Book Two: Chaos revolves around the chaos unleashed as a result of Raava being dormant: Nahima, who was Chenna's caretaker in the Southern Air Temple, has developed dark ambitions (whether on her own or under dark influence is unknown); because Raava was dormant, Nahima was able to fuse with Vaatu and begin an Avatar journey; due to Vaatu's negative energy, the elements are to be mastered in reverse order; Nahima already mastered air, and must go back through fire, earth, and water; when the crew learns of her, she had air and fire under her belt, and was almost complete with earth;;

   Chenna, with Asami, Rei, and Kanno, must try to assemble a strong force to end Nahima's journey  Mako, Juna, Batakh, and the bodyguard remain together elsewhere; Juna helps Batakh into the Spirit World to find Raava while Chenna & co. work against Nahima; Chenna (who has one ability Nahima does not have: metalbending) and Kanno in particular are key in subduing Nahima and removing Vaatu; at the crucial point of the Nahima/Vaatu break, Juna sends Batakh to merge with Raava

   * Fun fact: Vaatu's evil, masculine energy so corrupts Nahima that, with each mastered element, she becomes more masculine; at the great battle (before she was able to master waterbending), she can be mistaken for a slightly malformed man with a strange voice;;

     The events of Book Two leave everyone in the crew drained—especially Batakh, who is now fully bonded with Raava. Training the Avatar (who had some earthbending training already, thanks to his bodyguard and Chenna) resumes after a period (~6 mos 1 yr?) of rest.

     * The form of Nahima's downfall is not really known—most likely, she lost her life when she lost Vaatu, either because her body and spirit were so corrupted and dependent on Vaatu for survival, or because Vaatu killed her.

-  Book Three: Rebirth takes place almost three years later {ages: Asami 49, Chenna 23, Gappy 22, Rei 25, Kanno 25, Tomiko 28, Batakh 12, bodyguard 27, Juna 14}. Group has rested and trained. Bonds have begun {Chenna+Gappy, Kanno+bodyguard, Juna+Batakh, Rei+Tomiko}. Batakh has mastered earthbending and has a good handle on fire  and waterbending (not yet airbending).

   They decide to visit the Emerald States again, and Batakh visits his family; the group soon starts to feel something different about the nation;;

   A political group that calls themselves the Tai Guo ("great country") is rising to power with the aim of uniting the Emerald States and returning it to monarchic rule, placing a key figure in power; Batakh's father, as a member of the Emerald elite, has an interest in this action, but his stake is not clear—could he actually be a Tai Guo figure, or just a benefactor? However, it is clear that his father has a big enough stake in the Tai Guo and the reunification project that he thought hiding his Avatar son would best allow the Tai Guo to move forward;;

     Taking down the Tai Guo is a serious project that requires much more power than the crew is capable of; they must create a multinational effort to disband the Tai Guo; this will prove extremely difficult as the Tai Guo's danger increases... As part of its plan to seize full control, the Tai Guo also wishes to eradicate elemental bending, attempting to warp the minds of the people into believing bending is a “corruption of the human form” (they use the terror of Avatar Nahima to support this) while secretly disarming the citizens to bring in a form of martial law (“disarming the citizens” meaning only Tai Guo members could be benders)...rumour has it there are several in the group capable of permanently removing bending power;;

     After Chenna's bending is blocked by a Tai Guo chiblocker, she and her crew realise the gravity of the situation and the size of the threat, Chenna & co. venture into the outskirts of the Emerald States, where the colonies were, to seek melee training; they find the eccentric, grandiose Rahn Jianwu (age ~25?), who trains them in the art of the sword (Batakh is too young for weapons training, but is given lessons in evasion and etc);;

 Book Three places Rahn Jianwu in the group; Tomiko Murasaki is brought back, and becomes a valuable team member (and romantic interest of Rei's);;

   At some point, the band is broken up  the benders (Chenna, Rei, Gappy, Kanno) are imprisoned, and Asami, Batakh, Tomiko, and Rahn must get them back; Batakh has an opportunity to shine, and Rahn is revealed to be a secret firebender;;

   After a great adventure and battle against the Tai Guo, the Emerald States are free again, and democracy is permanently restored. Because of his part in restoring peace time and again, Gappy is officially inducted into the Air Nation as Ashiva;;

     Later, an ongoing subplot finally comes to fruition: gay marriage is legalised in Republic City, and the town erupts in celebration. In a symbolic motion, Asami is finally legally wed to Korra in a ceremony at the memorial park—she ties a betrothal necklace around the neck of the platinum statue of Korra.

     The ceremony and final events almost mirror the final events in "The Legend of Korra." Couples are solidified  Tomiko (looking high class and elegant) and Rei (androgynously dapper) dance together; the earthbender, who is quiet and guarded, finally admits his interest in Kanno, who reacts excitedly and kisses him on the cheek; Batakh and Juna are sitting together and talking, and Batakh gives her a peck on the cheek; Asami and Mako become involved in serious conversation; Ashiva asks Chenna to dance; after their dance, Chenna invites Ashiva on a trip to the Spirit World (which is important for an air nomad), to which he replies "that sounds perfect."

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Seasons:

   Book One: Peace

   Book Two: Chaos

   Book Three: Rebirth

Villains & Groups:

   Secret Force (+ old orphan gang members)

   Avatar Nahima, Vaatu

   Nahima supporters—Black Lotus?

   Tai Guo

Other Groups (not villainous):

   Hamir Clan

   Peacekeepers

Settings:

   Republic City & Shu Xin district

   Southern Air Temple

   Spirit World (Avatar's Oasis, Toph's glen)

   Emerald States (Upper & Lower)—formerly Earth Kingdom

   Avatar Korra Memorial Park (+ platinum statue of Korra holding out lotus cup candle; inscription on statue base: "Divine Peacekeeper [a phrase also in Avatar's Oasis]: May our light in the darkness shine again")

   Fire Nation

   maybe the Water Tribes

Proposed Episode Titles:

   The Lady in the Forest

   The Emerald Son

   Into the Shadows

   The Man in White

   Chenna Alone

   The Emerald Crown

   Old Friends

   The Avatar's Oasis

   Shining Light

   New Baojing

   The Shadow Empire

   The New Age

   The Portal

   Fire and Ice

   Agent of Light

   [Of] Blood and Blade

   City Lights

Other Characters (ages from Book One):

   Tenzin (79), Pema (62), Jinora (37), Kai (38) (future son: Aang); Ikki (35), daughters Lotus & Lily (9); Meelo (32), wife, sons Tenzin (6) & Sangye (4); Rohan (26), girlfriend Kalindi (23)

   Mae Lin (longtime girlfriend of Mako, mother of Juna, waterbender, age 38)

   Bolin (43), Opal (41), daughter Jade (nonbender, age 14), son [?] (earthbender, age 11), son San (age 6, airbender)

   Desna (42), daughter Tanaraq (waterbender, 15), son Ahto (waterbender, 9); Eska (42), husband, daughter Nilaq (waterbender, 14), son Yuma (nonbender, 6)

   Elder Chief Tonraq

 Chenna's Future:

   Age 25: marries Ashiva

 Age 28: gives birth to earthbender Yasuko

 Age 30: gives birth to waterbender Kaona

 Age 34: gives birth to airbender Ryu

 Age 34: son Kaona [age 4] battles to wear a skirt

 Age 38: Kaona [8] tries on mother's makeup

 Age 40: Kaona [10] comes out as trans

 Age 42: Kaona [12] succumbs to pressure, has emotional problems [breakdown?], cuts hair...sneaks into school as a girl