The Legend of Korra introduced four main villains for Avatar Korra to fight in each season, but the forces of destruction and villainy go beyond human beings. The weapons that people use feel like proper villains in themselves. Like in the real world, the technology in The Legend of Korra is a double-edged sword, driving human progress while also causing great harm to people and the world.

Technology is often defined by its user’s intentions, but some pieces of tech are definitely villainous in their own right, and they have a habit of bringing out the worst in others. Sheer technology thus became the true villain of The Legend of Korra, which ties into the original Avatar: The Last Airbender in a few notable ways.

Amon & Kuvira Would Have Gotten Nowhere Without The Rise of Technology

Technology Brought Out the Worst in Avatar’s World

The leap in technology between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra was an inspiring development at first, showing how far humanity could go when the world was united in peace and the nations could share their innovations. Such a step forward in technology would have been unthinkable in the days of the Hundred-Year War, when the industrialized Fire Nation never would have shared its secrets with the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom. The 1920s technology found in Republic City was a symbol of progress at first, but before long, the technology took on a dark edge.

While advanced technology like cars, airships, and radios worked wonders to improve the lives of civilians, it also supported the rise of supervillains like the masked anti-bender Amon and, three years later, the tyrannical Kuvira. Neither villain would have gotten very far without advanced contraptions and vehicles to back them up, because with bending alone, they would not have been a serious threat to Korra and her allies, nor could have they challenged the United Forces navy. If technology remained the way it was in Aang’s time, then Amon’s anti-bender movement would have been limited to his own bloodbending and training chi blockers, which still would have been a threat, but not on the same level as the actual Equalist movement seen in Book One: Air. Amon and Hiroshi Sato even praised technology as a way to even the playing field against the benders whom they wanted to take down.

Similarly, the ambitious Kuvira would have had much more limited success without major advances in military hardware supporting her movement. Without armored tanks, mecha suits, and that fearsome platinum colossus, Kuvira’s force projection would have been far more limited, even if she was still a powerful metalbender with troops and metalbender minions of her own. The scope of Kuvira’s project was too great for a low-tech army to pull off in just three years, because uniting the entire Earth Kingdom would have probably taken a few decades without high-speed trains and the like. And of course, without the platinum colossus fueled by spirit vine technology, Kuvira would have had no means of threatening Republic City and demanding its immediate surrender. A conventional low-tech battle would have been too risky for Kuvira, especially with the Avatar on the opposing side.

Technology made the rise of the Equalist movement and the Earth Empire possible, and what is more, those innovations brought out the worst in people like Amon, Hiroshi, Kuvira, and Bataar Jr. It was almost personal for some of those characters, with the incredible possibilities of technology inspiring them to exploit the natural world, embrace radical ideas, and become violent extremists who feel enabled by the terrifying machinery they command. Bataar Jr. was once a peaceful young man living in Kuvira with his family, but when Varrick and Kuvira pioneered the spirit vine tech, Bataar Jr. became bloodthirsty, eager to take that destructive technology as far as it would go. The spirit vine tech had a similar effect on Kuvira, transforming her from an ambitious military leader to a true monster who would gladly wipe out an entire city if she couldn’t claim it as her own.

Technology’s Villainy Started With the Hundred Year War

Kuvira and Amon Were Seduced By Tech, Just Like Fire Lord Sozin

170 years separated the beginning of the Hundred-Year War and the rise of the Equalists and the Earth Empire, but fans can still see the parallels and see how a familiar villainous thing ties these events together. Avatar fans may recall that when Fire Lord Sozin first proposed colonialism and dreamed of conquest, he tried to justify it as spreading the prosperity of the Fire Nation to the entire world. By the time Sozin was elderly and the Great Comet was arriving, it was clear that prosperity included advanced tech, which means industrialization both inspired and supported the Hundred-Year War. Without industrialization and its many products, Sozin wouldn’t have dared launch such a war, and it may not have been possible to prosecute to that degree. Fans can see how Sozin was always a bad person, but fans must not overlook how technology fanned the flames of his wickedness and helped push him over the edge.

Technology’s aggressive rise to power in the Fire Nation created imbalance in the world, since much of that tech was in the military sector, not to mention complexes like the Boiling Rock prison, makin technology the Fire Nation’s true secret weapon, more so than Sozin’s Comet. That comet gave the Firebenders the power they needed to wipe out the Air Nomads, but high-tech weapons of war were the key factor in helping the Fire Nation fight the rest of the world evenly. Without airships, tanks, and metal ships, the Fire Nation would have been defeated not long after the Air Nomads’ fall if the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe worked closely together. Fans might say something similar about technology allowing the Earth Empire to pick a fight with the rest of the united world and almost win, even with the Avatar present for the war from the beginning.

Dangerous Technology Outlasts Its Creators

Once Created, Technology Can’t Be Taken Back

A villainous person and a villainous force of nature or piece of technology are not the same in a narrative like The Legend of Korra. A villainous person can be defeated, usually with their capture, redemption or death, which makes these villains surprisingly vulnerable. Fans can point to Fire Lord Ozai, for example, who lost his firebending to Aang and was mercifully thrown in prison after his defeat. However, the idea of Ozai is a powerful leader outlasted his tenure as Fire Lord, with the New Ozai Society aiming to restore his place on the throne in the Dark Horse Avatar comics. The idea of Ozai’s reign wasn’t defeated as cleanly as the man himself was, and something similar may be said about the technology that fuels villains like Sozin, Ozai, Amon, and Kuvira.

The user of a weapon of war may be defeated, and the heroes may defeat an entire army like Kuvira’s, but the existence of those weapons will persist. Once created, a piece of technology is nearly impossible to get rid of unless it’s something unique like the platinum colossus. Mecha suits and battle tanks became widespread as of Book Four: Balance in The Legend of Korra, and not even the Avatar can wipe them from existence. Fans may note how even after the Equalist movement’s downfall, that organization’s tech persisted in the world, with Unalaq’s Water Tribe army using Equalist mecha tanks on the field. The same piece of tech can be used many times to threaten the heroes and the world, being passed from one user to another. That tech may even evolve, with the mecha suits in Kuvira’s army outclassing the clunky ones used by Amon and Unalaq.

Thus, weapons of war can bring misery to the world in stubbornly persistent ways, which is a curse on the world while also having side effects like polluting the world. Fortunately, some of this tech can also be used by the heroes, who may “redeem” it in their own missions. Fans may recall how Team Avatar flew a plane toward Unalaq’s camp in Book Two: Spirits, making good use of what was once an aerial terror in the hands of the Equalists. Perhaps in time, the United Forces may adopt mecha suits into its own army, finally allowing these dreadful weapons to become a force for good, even if other parties have an equal opportunity to cause harm to the world with that same tech.