#tl;dr kuvira needs therapy and if/when i rewrite a destruct sequel its going to essentially be a michael dimartino callout post

[kuvopal]

Kuvira: balance & motivations

... and the future of a Destruct sequel for those that are interested

remember when years ago i wrote a small essay on kuvira’s motivations?? i should’ve published it before the comics came out -_- 

Kuvira was raised in a self-sufficient utopia and wished to extend the security she felt there to other places. Her fatal flaw was that she did not actually feel secure and was not dealing with the trauma she’d experienced as a child when she was cast aside by her parents. She was so wrapped up in obtaining loyalty and power to satisfy what she’d needed as a child that she perverted her goals of preventing the nation as a whole being treated the way she had been. This was because she was never going to be satisfied as long as she didn’t address the real motivation behind her actions, and she became so consumed by her need for power that she was willing to destroy everything and everyone in her path.

The best way we can see this is by holding Suyin as a character foil to her. Most characters in this show can be held as a sort of foil to each other, and they sometimes even talk about it openly as a way to empathize with each other based on similarities. Kuvira and Suyin both sought to create societies they thought would benefit them and their citizens, but Suyin is a wiser and more balanced person. Suyin’s goal was to create a society independent of monarchy where primarily metalbenders, but also people in general, could nourish their gifts. Suyin, unlike Kuvira, did not wish to extend her power passed her own life and those who chose to live with her and actively chose to take part in her society without coercion or threat.

Kuvira viewed Suyin’s abstinence in refusing to become what was basically a new Earth Queen as cowardice. In reality, it was partly Suyin wanting to conserve her way of life (a ‘me-and-mine’ attitude which Kuvira shares) but largely her wisdom in knowing where the road would end if she chose that path. If Suyin was the type of person who would have tried to take control of the conflict and enforce her ideals on an entire nation she would’ve ended up just like Kuvira had. Kuvira began her journey with as good intentions as Suyin, but her intentions converted to excuses with her first taste of the power/support she’d needed as a child.

Kuvira, like all the other villains in TLOK, serves as an example that even pure/harmless ideals can be corrupted under imbalance (in Kuvira’s case: fascism, and fanaticism and hypocrisy in other cases). A metalbending city under a balanced individual turns into a nation where all but metalbenders are used as slave labour, where dissenters are not banished if they threaten security but rather imprisoned (re-education, work camps), where security turns from protecting a way of life from a tyrant (the Earth Queen) to building walls and mobilizing an entire country to protect another one.

When Korra stops Kuvira, she demonstrates to Kuvira that the world is in good hands and that’s a reason why Kuvira surrenders. But Kuvira starts slipping before that when she tries to stop her spirit weapon’s power, to control it, and finds herself unable to. In that moment, she realizes how truly out of control and out of balance she is, as well as possibly why she’d felt the need to exert that power over others, why she was willing to torture and murder others over loyalty. It’s suggested that she thinks about her motivations in the moments afterwards because that’s when she yells at Korra about her family. But I think something’s important about this, and her apology to Suyin later. Something that people in a society who are groomed to romanticize and empathize with oppressive figures might miss.

It doesn’t actually matter. Trauma is valid, but weaponizing trauma is not, and that’s what Kuvira does. She uses her pain as her excuse for her actions, to tell herself that she’s committing atrocities in order to build a strong nation that would never feel the way she’d felt, when in actuality she was only building a strong nation in order to protect herself, inflicting the exact same pain and worse on the citizen’s she’d dehumanized. And at the end of Book 4, despite her surrender, Kuvira is not suddenly in balance or capable of a redemption arc. In fact, there’s no evidence she’s even interested in redemption the way a person who’s committed war crimes should want redemption.

Coming back to Suyin, how does Kuvira apologize the one time she apologizes? She doesn’t apologize for the people she’s killed, the people she’s forced to work as slaves, the people she’s threatened and tortured. The only family among the hundreds that she’s torn apart that she deigns to apologize to is Suyin’s. Kuvira is still not balanced, at the end of the day she is still limited to herself and the people she deems relevant to her - the Beifongs who took her in (whether you interpret that as adoption or just letting her into Zaofu). Suyin on the other hand, while not a perfect person has lived a long life and is someone much more balanced and at peace with herself, does not accept Kuvira’s feelings. Rather, she grounds Kuvira to the larger apology Kuvira has to make, to all the people Kuvira’s wronged, that Kuvira will pay for all she’s done including crimes Kuvira shows no evidence she’s interested in atoning for. Suyin sees the bigger picture, but Kuvira is still limited by herself and by her experiences and her ideals (as were the other villains).

I find it very easy to rationalize character motivations because it’s one way I cope with atrocities and irrationalities, I attempt to understand why a human would make a choice and I choose not to. But the key is, as it will always be, choice. We can always choose. So I find it difficult to ‘choose’ to expend energy on writing on understanding a fascist beyond my need to understand fascists as a mechanism of my predicting their behaviour and humanizing them so that they are not a supernatural monster lurking in the shadows  my bed but something that can bleed like me. The point is, at the end of Book 4, Kuvira is still a mass murderer. If Korra wasn’t strong enough to stop her, Kuvira literally would have kept going enslaving and murdering people seeking more and more power until she killed herself (literally. Korra saving Kuvira from herself was Kuvira’s turning point). And Kuvira’s still a fascist.

Kuvira is a fascist despite our interest or investment in her character. Most importantly, she’s demonstrated no interest in changing her views, or any remorse for the harm she’s inflicted on anyone not directly related to her. We can’t give a redemption arch to someone who doesn’t want one and keep their characterization intact. We cannot ‘save’ fascists, and I think entertaining thoughts of redemption for fascists in this current world we live in, and fuck it ALL worlds that have ever been or will be, is dangerous. Humanizing an unrepentant fascist and attempting to ‘bring her back to the light’ is something I view as an inherently abusive and futile exercise. So I find it difficult that I will be able to write Kuvira/Opal fic until either Kuvira has undergone cannon growth or until fascism has been eradicated. whichever comes first. At any rate I hope whoever reads this essay will consider reading Kuvira a little more in depth, whether or not they like her character.

Edit: my views have changed somewhat w.r.t. someday writing a Destruct sequel, because prior to the comics I felt like people were too willing to forgive Kuvira. Little did I know that the person most willing to forgive her and swipe her crimes under the rug was one of the several LOK writers (the only way I can justify what happened is by reminding myself that DiMartino only wrote 3 of the Book 4 episodes, only one of which really had anything to do with Kuvira). As such, I feel more comfortable cracking my knuckles and writing her ‘redemption arc’ the right way - aka holding her accountable. And Opal is honestly the best character to do this. Anyway :) I feel pretty invigorated about someday writing a Destruct sequel, because for awhile there I was really not into it because of the above reasons. Ironically, it’s the state of the comics that pushed me there. Probably what I’ll do is retcon the last chapter/epilogue of Destruct, change some of Kuvira’s background (aka probably not go with my headcanon but also not make Kuvira a literal adoptive sibling to her future fiance (or Opal lmao)), and continue onwards with the plot itself (though I’m still not going to reinstate the monarchy @ michael dante dimartino what were you thinking man??????? Oh NOW we’re going to be realistic about political upheaval?? in the world with brainwashing tinfoil hats?? just say you’re voting Biden and go).