Order of the Red Lotus

Running from 2012 to 2014, “The Legend of Korra” was the sequel to Nickelodeon’s award-winning series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2005-2008). Picking up 70 years after the end of the original series, the sequel follows the adventures of Avatar Korra, a brave and determined young woman who has taken on the role played by Avatar Aang in “The Last Airbender”. In the years between the two series’, the world of Avatar has gone through and continues to experience momentous change. Korra must learn how to fulfill her role as the Avatar while simultaneously battling political resistance, all-out war, violent separatist groups, and supernatural powers that the world has not faced for thousands of years.

One of Korra’s greatest challenges comes in season three of the series, when she faces off against the Order of the Red Lotus. This radical anarchist group began as a splinter movement from the benevolent Order of the White Lotus, and has grown into a global organization that seeks to bring about a new world order by systematically dismantling all existing institutions. Korra’s unique abilities to bend (i.e. psychokinetically manipulate) the four elements of water, earth, fire, and air are pushed to the limit as she fights to preserve her own life, save the lives of many others, and prevent the Red Lotus from succeeding in a goal that would throw all life into chaos.

The image of a stylized lotus flower appears in many different forms and contexts throughout both series’, and the version used by the Order of the Red Lotus is particularly elaborate.