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yahurit · 3 years

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Kuvira appreciation post. Hot take, unpopular opinion coming in hot. Of all of the “villains” in TLoK, this one is by a great measure the most relatable one to me. And it’s a hot take because- wait! If you support Kuvira, you support fascism??

The analogous nature of the show is not the end all be all. Did she do harm, and was she wrong? Absolutely. She definitely went too far, but hear me out. Of all of the ‘villains’ in this show, I find her reactions to not only be relatable, but 100% true to character. When it comes to people being themselves and doing what they feel they have to, Kuvira is the richest and deepest example of what happens in a vacuum, where democratic oversight gives compromise to convenience.

She wasn’t the monster. The system that enabled and created her position is to blame. Did she take things to an extreme? Absolutely. Did she have any choice? I’m not so sure.

Do you not remember that before she was thrust into power, she was an artist? She danced, in cooperation with a company that specialized in synchronization and harmony. She was just a small part of a bigger machine, lending her heart and mind as much as she could into a much bigger show intended to be for the good of the hearts and minds of its patrons.

And somehow, this Earth/Metal bender of no harm is called up into the major league and eventually put in charge of the *entire Earth Nation*

Who killed the Earth Queen, Hou-Ting? Not Kuvira. Who vanished and left the job to someone else? Also, not Kuvira. But, hear me out. Who was tasked with making all of these things right and stable again, with zero oversights and one hell of a task to pull off? If you guessed Kuvira, you’re absolutely right. *We don’t care how you make things right, just please give us some stability and hope.*

Keep in mind that nobody asked for that responsibility. There’s an even dozen people just as powerful, charismatic, and caring. And somehow Kuvira gets that role?

As a quick aside, let’s just say that the goal is to create a solid and unified Earth Nation. She did that in a time and place no one else could. She served her function to wild success and much aplomb.

The Great Uniter did a lot of things heavy handed, and I’m not saying her methods were correct. But I’ll fight you over whether she did the best she could with what she was given. And she was given a sickly inbred white elephant as a “gift” with a world of needs and demands. What did Kuvira do? Her god dammed fucking best to maintain it.

In a system that perpetuated everything that was hard about living in the Earth Kingdom, those very same people put her in charge, demanded that she fix it, and then just ignored all of those problems in favor of pinning the outcome on Kuvira.

And rising to the task, realizing she was good at it, and yeah- subjugating the populace she had sworn to protect- was okay sure, some bullshit. But she fucking did it, with almost zero help. Where is the Avatar!? they asked. There is no Avatar right now, this is all we’ve got.

And here is where it gets real hot and unpopular, so let me get to the point.

These high and mighty forces that be. The White Lotus, the government of Republic City, the absence of the Avatar, the Council, and fuck it- the entire Earth Kingdom just said *fuck off let’s make it someone else’s job* and somehow Kuvira rose to the top.

Did she go mad? Power hungry and murderous? Cuss yeah she did, no debate. But I’m referencing an escalation of arms here, and I’m almost done talking.

In the absence of literally any actual cohesive leadership, Kuvira was tasked with a Herculean labor of impossible proportion and still cussing pulled-it-off despite the odds.

And she kicked The Avatar’s ass. While Korra was running around mired in self doubt and emo AF dealing with almost dying from poison, Kuvira was out there keeping her skills sharp and literally never flinching from her tasks and owning her shit.

Was she right? There’s no way to know. Some upstart Avatar with an overblown sense of responsibility got out of her own ass long enough to care, when it was obviously a *wrong or right* issue to Korra who finally showed up several hours late for the first day of school.

Have your inner conflict, sweet Avatar. But you do not get to see the people who are *forced to* have their boots on the ground as people that have the same luxury as your hamfisted version of right and wrong. We are all doing our very best. And most of us cannot retreat or withdraw when things are their hardest. The Avatar did. Kuvira did not, jus sayin.