The latest installment of the Avatar Legends franchise is finally here. Avatar: Seven Havens is a Paramount+ exclusive, set over two hundred and twenty-five years after the events of The Legend of Korra in a world completely reshaped by a cataclysm. One of the most shocking moments from the new series is the reveal of there being two Avatars existing at the same time instead of one.
Meet Pavi and Nisha
The two Avatars are nine-year old twin sisters. Pavi is the more whimsical, street-smart earthbender living in the walled desert city of Ellora with her cat monkey, Geet. Her best friends are a couple of rocks named Luster and Mica, and she would much rather bond with her long-lost sister than worry about saving the world. Nisha, on the other hand, was raised in total isolation by the White Lotus. She has a tough-as-nails, confident personality who wants to fight to protect her home, even if it puts her at odds with Pavi.
They’re absolutely adorable but how is it possible for both of them to be the Avatar? It’s a mystery Seven Havens is slowly working its way up to solving, but I have a theory on why Pavi and Nisha are Avatars…
The Harmonic Convergence of 171 AG
To understand how this could be possible, we need to go all the way back to season two of The Legend of Korra. One of the main plots of Book 2: Spirits revolves around the Harmonic Convergence, a supernatural phenomenon where the planets align, an event that occurs once every ten thousand years. During this event, the light spirit Raava and the dark spirit Vaatu fight over what the fate of the world will be for the next ten thousand years.
On the last Harmonic Convergence, Avatar Korra’s uncle, Unalaq fused with Vaatu to become a dark Avatar. Then he ripped Raava (the source of the Avatar’s power) out of Korra and destroyed the spirit along with Korea’s connection to her past lives.
But Raava nor Vaatu can be truly destroyed because the very concept of lightness and darkness can’t exist without each other. With help from Jinora, Korra was able to restore Raava and refuse with her before the Harmonic Convergence ended. She then purified the Dark Avatar, killing Unalaq while Vaatu dissipated into a golden light.
As it stands now, the current incarnation of Vaatu has been destroyed and is regrowing inside of Korra since she houses Raava’s spirit. The Avatar Cycle has been reset with Korra becoming the first Avatar in a brand new cycle. Two known consequences of the Harmonic Convergence is 1) Korra chose to keep the spirit portals open, allowing humans and spirits to live side-side-by-side and 2) countless people around the world gained the ability to airbend, a miracle seen as a spiritual reset following the near-extinction of the Air Nation during the Hundred Year War.
Is it possible that another after-effect is that now more than one Avatar can be active at the same time?
Does This Theory Hold Water?
The Harmonic Convergence is arguably the biggest, most influential moment in the franchise’s lore. After all, the very first Avatar, Wan, was created during a Harmonic Convergence when he fused with Raava. Since this mystical event is what started the Avatar cycle in the first place, it can also be responsible for any changes made to the cycle.
However, because the Cataclysm in Seven Havens happened more than two centuries after Korra’s time, it’s hard to determine how much of Pavi and Nisha’s dual Avatar status is due to Unalaq. He didn’t start a new line because both he and Vaatu were destroyed, and Raava re-bonded to Korra only.
One theme that’s present throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, and now Avatar: Seven Havens is that the world is in a constant state of change. No matter how much you prefer the old traditions, they always make way for something new to take its place. Since Pavi and Nisha are the first Avatars to appear since the Cataclysm, the world might need two Avatars to restore balance. It’s the universe trying to correct itself after a massive disturbance.
Now that Seven Havens is in the second half of Book 1: Survival, hopefully this mystery will be solved sooner rather than later.
