| "I've decided to keep the portals open. Humans can now physically enter the Spirit World and spirits will be free to roam our world." |
| — Korra regarding her decision to keep the spirit portals open.[1] |
A spirit portal is a gateway that connects the physical world and Spirit World. There are three in total: two are located at the North and South Poles, created when the spirits Vaatu and Raava first broke through the barrier separating the two worlds,[2] and a third portal is located in downtown Republic City, created in 174 AG by a large discharge of spiritual energy combined with Avatar Korra's energybending.[3]
Description[]
Impervious to aggressive feats of bending, the orb of a closed spirit portal can only be pierced by the touch of the Avatar.
The spirit portals appear as beams of energy extending from the ground upward. A portal can be created by a large output of spiritual energy, such as the amplified energy extracted from spirit vines.[3] Once a portal has been created, only the Avatar is able to close or open it; with a single touch, they can cause the beams to diminish into orbs or reverse process. The Avatar can do so on either side of the portal, material or spiritual, and in its physical body or as a projected soul.[4][5] This must be done during the summer or winter solstice, when the barrier between the two worlds is the weakest.[4][6] However, the spiritual energy brought forth into the material world by a single open portal allows any other closed portals to be opened by the Avatar at any time.[7]
As physical gateways, spirit portals provide humans with a direct passage into the Spirit World, instead of through meditation or other means of entry. The use of spirit portals also allows individuals to retain their bending abilities in the Spirit World,[5] as well as to bring material objects with them.[3] By the same token, the portals give spirits a direct passage into the physical world, providing them the opportunity to remain there without sacrificing their immortality.[8]
If both are open, the Northern and Southern spirit portals overlap during Harmonic Convergence and experience a surge of spiritual energy.
During Harmonic Convergence, the Northern and Southern spirit portals overlap and experience a great amplification of spiritual energy, provided that they are both open during the phenomenon.[9] This increased energy strengthens the two gateways until the convergence has passed. This influx of energy can be utilized by nearby spirits in numerous ways; they may break free from a prison bound by spiritual energy—as Vaatu did—or permanently fuse with a human host—as Raava did with Wan and later Korra.[10] In the physical world, this overlap can provide spirits and the astral projections of humans with the ability to travel anywhere in the physical world instantaneously.[1]
Locations[]
North Pole[]
The Northern spirit portal is located in the North Pole and leads to a valley in the Spirit World near the Tree of Time.
The Northern spirit portal is one of the two original portals, the result of Vaatu and Raava's breaking through the divide between the physical and Spirit World. It glows a bright reddish color and is situated in the center of an ancient forest located at the heart of the North Pole.[11] Although the entirety of the North Pole is composed of harsh tundras, the forest surrounding the portal can thrive due to strong spiritual energy in that location.[4] The portal leads to a rocky plain in the Spirit World located near the Southern spirit portal and the Tree of Time.
This portal was sealed by Avatar Wan after his decision to separate humans and spirits in the aftermath of the Harmonic Convergence of 9,829 BG,[11] and reopened by Avatar Korra shortly prior to the Harmonic Convergence of 171 AG.[5]
Republic City[]
The Republic City spirit portal is located in downtown Republic City and leads to a meadow in the Spirit World.
Created by the discharge of spiritual energy from the Earth Empire's spirit energy cannon, the Republic City spirit portal glows bright green and is situated downtown, surrounded by a mass of spirit vines. Unlike the other two gateways, this spirit portal leads to an aquatic meadow in the Spirit World covered with underwater flowers and surrounded by icebergs.[12]
Having been created by an energy weapon of mass destruction during the invasion of Republic City in 174 AG, this spirit portal is the only one of the three in existence not to have been directly created by a spirit.[3] The spirits were not thrilled about its creation, however, as its location in the middle of a bustling metropolis left their world in danger of being ravaged and plundered by humans trying to exploit the portal; Wonyong Keum, who owned the land surrounding the portal, intended to turn it into an amusement park from where he would organize tours and excursions into the Spirit World. The dragon eel spirit urged Avatar Korra to close the portal and, upon her refusal, held her responsible for its protection. When she failed in its eyes, the spirits took care of it themselves and engaged the humans in a turf war over the portal.[13]
After a violent conflict between the spirits and the Triple Threat Triad, the spirits destroyed the flower field to which Republic City's portal led to in order to discourage humans from entering their realm; whenever someone would touch one of the scorched flowers, thorny vines would shoot out of the ground and attack.
As a reaction to the conflict, President Raiko deployed the United Forces to erect a perimeter around the portal.[14] After Zhu Li Moon won the ongoing presidential election, however, she called off the military and, following Keum's retracted claim to the land, gave the lands surrounding the portal to the Air Nation.[15]
South Pole[]
The Southern spirit portal is located in the South Pole and leads to a valley in the Spirit World near the Tree of Time.
The Southern spirit portal is one of the two original spirit portals, the result of Vaatu and Raava's breaking through the divide between the two worlds. It grows bright blue and is situated in the center of an ancient forest located at the heart of the South Pole.[11] It was sealed by Avatar Wan after his decision to separate humans and spirits in the aftermath of the Harmonic Convergence of 9,829 BG.[11] It leads to a rocky plain in the Spirit World located near the Northern spirit portal and the Tree of Time. Gradual spiritual decay in the South following the Hundred Year War caused the dormant spirit portal and the surrounding forest to become encased in ice, while dark spirits persisted in the South Pole and rampaged in the Everstorm.[4]
The portal was reopened by Avatar Korra in 171 AG during the winter solstice, which resulted in the dissipation of the Everstorm and the return of the southern lights. During the Water Tribe Civil War, the Northern army barricaded the portal and surrounding forest in an effort to protect the gateway from Southern rebels.[16]
Trivia[]
- Given the amount of energy necessary to tear open a spirit portal, the landscape surrounding each passage's point of origin is severely distorted: there is a crater covered by spirit vines where the Republic City spirit portal formed,[3] while the rocks in the plain where the Northern and Southern spirit portals are located in the Spirit World are warped in various different ways.[2]
- Traveling to either spirit portal is exceedingly difficult due to the harsh frozen landscape of the poles. Even the most skilled survivalists of the Water Tribes would not make the trek unless such a journey was of the utmost importance, and many take this as a sign to leave the spirits at peace.[17]
- During Harmonic Convergence, the overlap of the Northern and Southern spirit portals causes both to turn bright yellow.[9]
- The Northern and Southern portals share the same color as the markings on Vaatu and Raava, respectively. They are also located at opposite ends of the mortal world, reflecting the natural opposition between Vaatu and Raava.
- Similarly, the Republic City portal glows green, which is the same color as the spirit vines from which the energy used to create the portal was extracted.
- The writers initially planned to introduce four spirit portals in Book Two: Spirits, with Bryan Konietzko suggesting there be two portals instead of four after the narrative and design problems of creating four became apparent.[18]
- Additionally, some of the portals would have been located in the air temples.[18]
- In order to keep track of the portals in the Spirit World during the storyboarding process, which are typically without color, the production crew mostly kept the Southern portal on the left side of any shot, and the Northern portal on the right.[19]