Three years after the defeat of Zaheer, the vain Prince Wu is about to be crowned Earth King, and Mako is assigned as his bodyguard. In the Earth Kingdom, Opal and Kai try to protect a community from bandits with limited success. Kuvira, who now styles herself the "Great Uniter", appears at the head of an army that includes Bolin, Varrick and his assistant Zhu Li. She offers the governor supplies and protection – if he submits his state to her sovereignty. The governor reluctantly agrees, and th
Over the past three years, a despondent Korra has been slowly recovering her health with the aid of physical therapy and healing administered by Katara at the South Pole, following her torture and poisoning at the hands of the Red Lotus. However, the effects of the assault and the other suffering and losses that she has faced has left her psychologically traumatized, and haunted by doubts that she will ever be the same again, and she has not been into the Avatar State since the assault. Tricking
At Wu's coronation in Republic City, Kuvira refuses to yield power to him, instead announcing that she will consolidate the territories under her control into a new Earth Empire. This creates a rift between her and the other world leaders including Suyin, as well as between Bolin and Mako, who has to protect the unpopular Wu from angry supporters of Kuvira. Meanwhile, in the banyan swamp, Toph agrees to help Korra regain her strength, though her methodology largely consists of browbeating Korra
While the young airbenders look far and wide for Korra, Ikki is briefly captured by two Earth Empire soldiers. Based on what they say, Ikki leads the trio to the Foggy Swamp. There, Korra is still haunted by visions of being hurt by her past enemies, but manages to connect to the siblings through the great banyan-grove tree's roots. After they beg her to resume her Avatar duties to face Kuvira, Toph's advice helps Korra to let go of her fears, bend the rest of the poison out of herself and re-en
As Kuvira's army marches on Zaofu, Suyin refuses to let her city join the new empire, and Korra tries in vain to negotiate a peaceful outcome. Varrick and Bolin come to realize the totalitarian nature of Kuvira's rule, but their escape is foiled by Kuvira's fiancé, Suyin's son Baatar Jr. (Todd Haberkorn). While Zhu Li pledges her allegiance to Kuvira, Varrick is forced to weaponize the spirit vines for her, and Bolin is to be sent to a "reeducation" camp. In Republic City, Asami reconnects with
After Suyin and her twin sons are captured while infiltrating Kuvira's camp to take her out, Kuvira agrees to a duel with Korra to decide control of Zaofu. Although now free of the effects of the Red Lotus poison, Korra remains off-balance and Kuvira goads her to gain further advantage, consistently outmaneuvering Korra. Unable to otherwise gain the advantage, Korra enters the Avatar State and prepares to deliver a devastating blow, until she hallucinates a vision of her dark spectre in Kuvira's
As Korra reunites with her friends in Republic City, Wu is abducted on Kuvira's orders. Korra, Asami, and Mako rescue him from a train and hide him with Mako's family in Asami's mansion. Meanwhile, Bolin and Varrick encounter escapees from Kuvira's prison camps, which now house anyone not of Earth Kingdom blood, and help them escape from the now walled-in Empire. In the swamp, Kuvira's forces begins harvesting the spirit tree's vines.
In a clip show episode, Mako, Korra, and Bolin recollect their past. Mako tells Wu about his romantic entanglements and eventual breakup with Asami and Korra. Korra talks to Asami about her confrontations with Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, and Zaheer. Varrick presents Bolin's life to the Earth Empire refugees in the style of an action film pitch in which Bolin defeats all of Korra's previous enemies.
In Republic City, Fire Lord Izumi and Tenzin refuse to endorse Raiko's proposed offensive against Kuvira even after Bolin and Varrick bring word of her vine weapons research. Reacting to Kuvira's harvesting of the spirit vines in the swamp, vines in Republic City begin to attack random people, Jinora included, trapping them in the Spirit World. Korra's psychological trauma prevents her from meditating to enter the Spirit World. Unable to think of another way to let go of the fear that continues
Near Zaofu, Opal, Lin, and Bolin are joined by Toph and track the Beifong prisoners to a facility where Baatar Jr. and Zhu Li are testing a vine energy supercannon. A rescue plan takes form, but tensions run high between the previously estranged Toph and Lin. Zhu Li proves to have been feigning her loyalty to Kuvira and attempts to sabotage the weapon, but her effort is discovered by Kuvira. The rescue team frees the captive Beifongs, who engage Kuvira and her forces together, before being force
Wu and Mako help evacuate Republic City, and Asami and Varrick build a fleet of flying mecha-suits to defend it. But Kuvira's forces attack earlier than expected. Her superweapon, now mounted on a giant mecha, devastates the Republic's navy, forcing Raiko to surrender. Korra and the airbenders capture the mecha's creator, Baatar Jr. After Korra threatens to keep him from Kuvira forever, he attempts to convince Kuvira to end the attack, but she has the mecha fire on his position, in an attempt to
Barely surviving Kuvira's attack, Korra and her friends look for ways to take down the colossus. They discover that the exterior and joints of the behemoth mecha tank are made entirely of rarefied platinum and thus immune to metal bending. After paint bombs, lavabending, metal cables, collapsed buildings, Korra's bending, and an electromagnetic pulse set up by Varrick all fail to stop the giant mecha for long, Lin frees Hiroshi Sato, who proposes to take the mecha down from the inside. Asami, Hi
In the mech's control room, Korra and Kuvira fight one another. Meanwhile, Team Avatar begin to take the giant apart from the inside. Suyin and Lin disable its arm and weapon, and Bolin and Mako detonate its power source, with Mako risking and nearly losing his life to blow the colossus into several pieces. Korra and Kuvira crash-land in the city's spirit wilds, and Kuvira activates the discarded cannon, triggering a staggering and self-sustaining release of energy powered by the vines surroundi