In the new animated series Avatar: Seven Havens, being the Avatar has never been more dangerous. Centuries ago, a terrible event called the Cataclysm destroyed the four nations and devastated the spirit realms. What’s left of the world is constantly ravaged by storms, and most recorded history has been lost. History blames Avatar Korra for the destruction, vilifying her as humanity’s destroyer instead of its savior.
Now, over 225 years later, the surviving humans live in the Seven Havens, isolated safe zones that protect them from the storms. One is Ellora, a desert city known as the haven of wind and sand, where a group called the Bending Brigade patrols the streets to keep order. But as the city prepares for its big anti-Avatar festival, everything changes.
Episode 1: An Unexpected Discovery
The first episode, “On the Horizon,” introduces a young girl named Pavi, who travels through the desolate Harshlands outside Ellora with her cat monkey, Geet. Along the way she finds a tiny crystal beetle separated from its family and names him Sang.
Inside Ellora, friendly Bending Brigade member and airbender Jae is on patrol and fixing pipes before the festival. The festival depicts Korra as a monstrous figure attacking humanity until performers representing the four elements defeat her.
It also recounts the Cataclysm and the founding of the Seven Havens. Clearly there’s more to this story. I doubt it’s as simple as “Korra went rogue and destroyed the world,” since that would undo all her character development in The Legend of Korra. Plus, even at her worst, Korra was never that destructive.
Pavi sneaks into the city to find Sang’s family and gets into a messy argument with a merchant who captured them to sell. During the scuffle she uses earthbending to free the beetles, drawing the attention of the festival crowd.
Jae spots her bending and chases her into the desert, where a massive sandstorm and tornado hit. Pavi uses airbending to save him from flying debris, then loses consciousness. Jae is stunned: nobody but the Avatar is supposed to bend more than one element!
He brings Pavi to the Brigade’s infirmary and tells Captain Karthik what he saw, but Karthik doesn’t believe him because he already found the Avatar. Pavi wakes and wanders the compound, where she meets Nisha, a girl who looks exactly like her and can bend all four elements too!
Episode 2: The Anomaly
So, what’s going on with these two girls?
“Into the Storm” retells episode one from Nisha’s perspective. She poses as Karthik’s non-bender assistant while secretly earthbending during cadet training. Karthik keeps her inside the compound for her own safety, even as Nisha argues that the Avatar should be out helping people.
Watching the festival from the balcony with her cat monkey, Ruhi, Nisha heads to the garden to practice and meets Pavi. Stunned by how identical they look, the two suspect they’re twins. Karthik found Nisha three years ago and has trained her in secret, but she remembers nothing before that. Pavi also has no memories of her childhood or of how she lost her left leg, though she claims she was born that way.
When Karthik and Jae watch Pavi bend all four elements, they realize there are two Avatars for the first time in history. Then another storm hits, and a terrifying floating entity of red lightning called the Anomaly attacks the city. It strikes Commander Bountan, then goes after Nisha.
Pavi jumps in, and together they use earthbending to hold it back, but it phases through the rock and blasts them with a wave of energy. The twins get flashing visions of their forgotten childhood, though not enough to explain why they were separated or where their parents are. When they wake, the storm is gone and the entity has vanished.
Episode 3: A New Path
Ellora begins repairs, including a damaged gate. How urgent is that? The Anomaly emerged from beneath the city, so new fortifications wouldn’t have stopped it. Still, the gates will be fixed to reassure residents. It’s a matter of when, not if.
Jae asks Karthik whether the girls survived, and Karthik questions his sudden interest. Jae reminds him that Elloran law requires citizens to report suspicious Avatar activity to the council. Karthik warns that doing so would mean his imprisonment and the girls’ exile to the Harshlands, and that’s the best-case scenario. Jae is torn between the law and protecting the twins.
At a council meeting, Chancellor Kayoko praises the Brigade. With Bountan incapacitated, Karthik is now Commander. When Jae is invited to speak, he leaves out the two Avatars and praises Bountan instead. Afterward, Karthik privately urges Kayoko to request reinforcements from other havens, since Ellora has a bender shortage. She refuses to expose Ellora’s perceived weakness and tells him to make do. There’s clearly something brewing between them, and they’ve known each other a long time. Maybe Karthik can use that connection to make her see sense.
Jae’s boyfriend, Datu, notices he’s distracted. Jae struggles to tell Datu about Pavi and Nisha so he asks Datu a question. What would he do if the Avatar returned and discovered they weren’t humanity’s destroyer after all. What does Datu say? “I’d protect my haven and kick the Avatar out into the Harshlands.” It’s like he didn’t listen to a word Jae said as he blames the Avatar for the Cataclysm and how the survivors have to live in isolation. Poor Jae.
Jae follows Karthik to a secret underground base and is apprehended. He admits he hates keeping secrets and fears the Avatar’s return, but Pavi saved his life and he wants to help. Karthik introduces him to the Order of the White Lotus, a secret group that has protected the Avatar for generations, and invites him to help train the twins.
Training goes poorly. Pavi hates fighting and doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Instructors Shilpa and Hamka doubt two Avatars with such different experience can be trained together, and Shilpa notes Pavi is 986 days and four hours behind Nisha. How can she be of any use as the Avatar if she refuses to fight? Nisha sees Pavi’s pacifism as a rejection of their shared identity, and the sisters trade harsh words. Pavi runs back to her old cave with Geet.
Jae and Nisha track her down and meet a rampaging camodillo (a giant armadillo-like creature) with unnaturally red eyes. Jae can’t calm it, and Nisha’s bending only angers it. Then Pavi appears and sings it a song that’s been stuck in her head. Nisha recognizes it as a lullaby from their childhood. Together they sing and recall their mother singing it, down to her hair, braided like Pavi’s now.
The song calms the camodillo, and the sisters make up. Pavi moves into the compound and asks Karthik to help find their parents. Jae officially joins the White Lotus and becomes the twins’ airbending instructor. With new friends and a growing bond, the girls are ready for whatever comes next.
But at the end of the episode, three mysterious masked figures show up with plans to infiltrate Ellora.
