Spoiler Alert: This article contains major spoilers for Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1: Survival, particularly “The Envoys: Part Two.” Reader discretion is advised.
Many fans are still reeling from all the big revelations Avatar: Seven Havens episode “The Envoys: Part Two” dropped in our laps. Nisha reveals herself to be the Avatar, Karthik outs himself as a member of the White Lotus. One shocking moment is seeing Jae betraying Karthik and reaffirming his loyalty to Ellora and Chancellor Kayoko. But are things as simple as they appear?
What happened in “The Envoys: Part Two?”
The city of Ellora is hosting a summit for the envoys from the other havens in the desperate hope of getting more benders. Throughout Book 1, Ellora has been hit with multiple problems. A rebel group calling themselves the Faceless is kidnapping benders and stealing food, supplies and herd animals. The city has also been attacked by a strange energy construct known as the Anomaly that afflicts victims with intense fear, making them mentally unstable.
Just when Chancellor Kayoko is about to announce a deal, the Faceless takes over the summit and succeeds in convincing several members of the Bending Brigade to defect from their conscription. Nisha steps in and challenges Agam to a fight where she reveals herself to be the Avatar. Unfortunately for her, everyone is afraid of the Avatar over the belief that Korra allegedly destroyed the world in an event known as the Cataclysm. Everyone is terrified of Nisha which summons the Anomaly, who starts afflicting several envoys.
Commander Karthik exposes himself as a member of the Order of the White Lotus to buy Nisha time to escape. Hurt that someone she’s known for so long had hidden something like this from her, Kayoko orders the Brigade to “end” him and the Lotus (kid’s show speak for “kill them”). That’s when Jae decides to arrest Karthik, and tells Kayoko he’d been manipulated into hiding the Avatar. Kayoko forgives him and promotes him to be the new Commander of the Bending Brigade.
Signs Jae is lying to protect the Avatars
Did Jae betray the White Lotus to save himself?
If you look closely, Jae scratches his ear while he’s speaking to Kayoko, a tell that means he’s lying. Aside from a small gesture that no one, no one, not even his boyfriend, suspected anything to be amiss.
Another detail that fans missed is that Jae never tells Kayoko about Nisha’s twin sister Pavi, who’s also the Avatar. If he was truly loyal to Ellora only, he would have told the Chancellor there were two Avatars hiding within her city. The fact he’s keeping Pavi’s existence a secret is a big sign he’s trying to protect the twins as much as he can.
Why it’s possible Jae did betray Karthik
While the itchy ear is the tell that Jae lied, it doesn’t explain why he decided to lie at that moment. One thing Seven Havens has been consistent with is Jae’s loyalty to Ellora and its people.
He genuinely only sees the good things Ellora’s propaganda promotes which blinds him to the darker realities of the city. When Uki criticized Ellora’s conscription of benders into the Brigade, he defended the practice as being an honor to serve the city. He never questioned if she had a point, never stopped to consider if it was wrong to force benders to give up their lives particularly children.
Seeing everything that happened when Nisha revealed she was the Avatar, from everyone reacting in terror to the Anomaly appearing to afflict innocent people, could have convinced Jae that being in the White Lotus or helping the Avatar wasn’t worth it. Maybe he threw Karthik under the bus as an act of self-preservation. If Kayoko was willing to kill the man she’s known for years, then what hope does Jae have of escaping her wrath?
Keeping Pavi a secret could be Jae attempting to keep the situation from getting worse. Kayoko would go insane if she knew there were two Avatars hiding in her city. She would probably have the Bending Brigade disbanded or replaced with new members. Jae needs to keep the Chancellor in the dark on how deep the Avatar conspiracy runs if only to protect the Brigade members who aren’t involved with the White Lotus.
Why I still believe in Jae
I don’t believe Jae betrayed the White Lotus to just save his own skin.
Despite being raised to fear the Avatar, Jae does seem to be genuinely fond of Pavi and Nisha. In episode 3 “The Order,” he lied to his boyfriend Datu and the twins being family friends to protect their identity. He takes his position as their airbending teacher seriously and goes out of his way to keep them both safe. It’s going to take more than one really bad night to turn Jae against the twins.
I want to believe Jae is playing the long game to salvage what is a messy situation. I am curious if Jae has a Plan B or is he just making things up as he goes. Does he know what he’s going to do when Kayoko does figure out he lied to her? What is he going to tell his boyfriend Datu, who is very anti-Avatar? We’ll see what happens to Jae when the final four episodes of Book 1: Survival drops on October 30, 2026.
