Sunken Ship Stats: Wanorra (Wan and Korra)
The first ship in the Avatar Sunken Ships Week highlight series is also one of the smallest: Wanorra (Wan and Korra). The love between these two Avatars has generated 11 fics on AO3. Sure, in canon they lived 10,000 years apart, but who doesn't love a good long-distance relationship?
What We Love About It: Wanorra is the ultimate power couple - two Avatars in a world that only planned for one. It brings into question all kinds of things. Are they the same person? Do they share a soul? Will their union throw the world out of balance, or does it do the opposite? Is Raava listening in when they... you know? When two strong characters separated by time and space come together, it feels like almost anything can happen. And, it turns out, almost anything does.
The first thing to note about this ship is the sheer diversity of the AUs in such a small number of fics. We've got everything from canon-divergent time travel to alien ambassadors to fairies to the Titanic to a 50 Shades of Gray AU to A/B/O to Wan joining the Krew and General Iroh in a metal band. All in 11 fics. We are blown away by the staggering creativity shown in the many ways in which Avatar Korra and Avatar Wan find love.
By the Numbers: The most popular Wanorra fic* by far is Lost In Your World (M), the first fic in the Lost In Your World series. Mod Appa will add that this is the Wanorra fic, and the gateway to the ship for anyone interested in climbing aboard. At nearly 160k words, it's no small undertaking (the shortest being Nisshoku at 1,229 words), but well worth it. It's also notable that over half the Wanorra fics are rated E - we're glad to see the dual Avatars in love, but do heed the tags and read responsibly.
It's also a relatively recent ship. Though older content exists, the earliest posted fic on AO3, Nisshoku (E), was only published in December of 2020. We're hoping this indicates a revival of this rarest of rare pairs. If you want to dig deep, we've unearthed a few older Wanorra fics and ficlets on other platforms, like the "Magical Avatars" series on Tumblr from mid-2020 and "My Heart is Home" on ff.net (2015). But it's slim pickings. We'll be back later this week with a closer look at the fics that make up the Wanorra universe.
But the most remarkable thing about Wanorra is surely the commitment of its fan base. Of these 11 fics, 100% are written by or for the incredibly dedicated @ideklolwat, who is sailing this ship with a passion rivaled only by its subjects. So an extra special Sunken Ships shout-out to them, and here's to hoping we see even more fics for the ultimate power couple.
Served with: Wanorra seems to pair well on its own and with friends. Of the 11 fics on AO3, four focus exclusively on the Korra/Wan pairing or Korra/Wan/OC. As for the rest, there's a smattering of companions across LOK, ATLA, and the comics. Oddly enough, the most frequent companion pair is Iroh II/Asami Sato (three fics), another rare pair we hope to see more of in our Avatar Sunken Ships Week.
Up next, a look at the Art of Wanorra!
*we calculate popularity by # of kudos, but LIYW is the most popular any way you'd measure it
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