Spoiler Alert: This article covers major spoilers for episode 9 of Avatar: Seven Havens, along with referencing things from previous episodes. Reader discretion is advised.
What is the Anomaly in Avatar: Seven Havens? Why is it afflicting the people of Ellora with intense fear? And why do twin Avatars Pavi and Nisha seem to be immune to its fear-amplifying effects?
Episode 9 “The Envoys: Part Two” may have given us some answers while simultaneously adding more questions to the mix. But we may have a better understanding of what’s going on with the current state of the Avatar universe.
What happened at the end of episode 9?
The Anomaly appears near the end of “The Envoys: Part Two” in response to everyone freaking out after Nisha revealed she’s the Avatar. When she fails to send it away with energybending, Pavi decides to intervene. She’s able to shift the Anomaly’s attention onto her as she leads it to an underground tunnel. When she gets the courage to confront the Anomaly, it transports her to the same cosmic bridge shown in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Normally, the end of the bridge would show a giant vision of the Avatar in the Avatar State. That’s not what Pavi sees. Instead, at the end of the bridge are seven black gates with colored rings that match the colors of the seven havens.
Right in front of Pavi is a red gate with the symbol of the root chakra on it. The root chakra, or Muladhara, is the first of seven chakras, or energy centers, in your body. The root chakra is linked to feelings of safety and survival, the color red and the element earth. When the root chakra is blocked, it’s said to cause feelings of anxiety, fear and insecurity. When Pavi touches the red circle, the Anomaly fades up into the ceiling in the real world instead of disappearing into the ground as before.
What we know about the Anomaly
The Anomaly is a red-and-black, shifting series of diamond-shaped energy constructs. It makes its first appearance in episode 2 “Into the Storm,” where it attacks Commander Bountan, then heads straight for the twins. People hit by its energy are driven to madness, suffering from overwhelming fear and intense hallucinations.
Episode 6 “Night of the Afflicted” suggests that the Anomaly only takes the fears and worries of its victims and cranks those feelings up to eleven, leaving the afflicted depressed, paranoid shells of their former selves. It feeds on a person’s fears as well, which seems to make it stronger. It disappears by fading through the ground, leaving behind strange red crystals.
The afflicted can also sense the Avatar’s presence. Despite the twins keeping their identities as the Avatar secret, anyone who’s been attacked by the Anomaly views them as red-eyed, grinning demons. In episode 7 “What Lies Beneath,” we learn that it seems to be residing beneath Ellora in what appears to be an old Future Industries power plant.
The only people who seem to be immune to the Anomaly’s strange abilities are the twin Avatars themselves. When Pavi and Nisha encounter the Anomaly, they’re hit with a memory of their past. The twins don’t remember anything about their lives until about three years before Seven Havens began. But the Anomaly has been very helpful in restoring the girls’ memories of their past and their parents. Almost like it wants the twins to remember who they are…
Pavi also seems to have a connection to the Anomaly that Nisha doesn’t have. When she interacts with the entity on her own in “What Lies Beneath,” she receives a memory of herself with her father. She also gets a vision of Korra implying her role in causing the Cataclysm is more complicated than what’s been reported. It’s also worth noting that Nisha was successful sending the Anomaly away with energy bending in “Night of the Afflicted” when she was working with Pavi, and only failed when she tried it on her own. Hopefully this detail will get an explanation before the season ends.
So what does any of this mean?
Nothing has been officially confirmed by the writers and producers of Seven Havens, but judging by what’s been shown, it’s looking like the world’s chakras/energy centers are blocked. Each haven could really be a nexus of spiritual energy that’s been closed off from the world. The Cataclysm could be the reason why, or this blockage could be a direct side effect of the devastation ravaging the world.
Rather than being a dangerous spirit, the Anomaly could be a physical manifestation of Ellora’s fear and anxiety, crying out for someone to unblock it. And since the Avatar is the bridge between the human and spirit worlds, it could be trying to restore the twins’ connection to the Avatar State so they’ll have the power to undo the damage.
The final four episodes of Book 1: Survival will premiere on Paramount+ on October 30. The final episode of the season is appropriately titled “The Root Chakra,” so hopefully it’ll give us some answers.
