Summary

• The fridging trope involves killing off one character to advance another's arc, potentially generating controversy.
• Korra wasn't really cold, but she was sidelined for a while while Team Avatar moved on without her.
• Although Korra went through a period of feeling irrelevant, she eventually learned humility and grew as an Avatar.

The Legend of Korra is the official sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, but even though these two series were set in the same world and both starred Avatars, Aang and Korra had very different experiences. In fact, they also had completely different personalities and character arcs, which required different plot twists. In particular, Avatar Korra suffered greatly after the Red Lotus organization poisoned her with mercury, causing the Avatar to effectively disappear for three years.

Meanwhile, the rest of the members of Team Avatar continued on without Korra, pursuing their own interests and changing the world without Korra's help. Thus, Korra was partially written out of the story so that the rest of the heroes could grow without her involvement, and this may lead some fans to say that Avatar Korra, of all people, was frozen out. Analyzing Korra's arc means breaking down exactly what the fridging trope is, comparing it to Korra's experience, and determining whether or not Korra's arc was appropriate for the character.

What is the refrigerator trope and how can it be problematic?

Fridging kills off a character (usually a woman) so that someone else's (usually a man's) arc can progress.

The fridging trope, at least in its modern sense, has its origins in American superhero comics. The idea is that a “civilian” character close to the superhero is killed, kicking off the superhero’s own quest or character arc with that sacrifice. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as setting up a revenge story to avenge the dead character and/or setting up a mystery to determine how, when, and why the victim was killed.

The death of the refrigerated character can also force the hero to reevaluate their lifestyle and decisions, giving them some introspection. As for the name of the trope, the original version is literal, with the 1994 edition of Green Lantern comics showing Kyle Rayner, the superhero, returning home, only to find his girlfriend Alexandra dead and stuffed in the refrigerator. Thus was born the trope, although it doesn't have to involve an actual refrigerator or freezer.

By default, the fridging trope involves a secondary female character being visibly killed off to set the male hero's quest in motion or give him a personal arc to fulfill, such as Green Lantern comics have shown. This is the original paradigm of the fridging trope, with a female character dying to benefit the male hero's arc and plot. While fridging in fiction doesn't have to follow this exact formula and can be written in other ways, the standard paradigm still suggests some sexism embedded in this concept.

The same can be true when it comes to related industries, such as film and Japanese manga/anime, among others. Female supporting characters, such as the protagonist's girlfriend or wife, are quite minor and don't get to do much, so if the narrative has to kill them off to make them relevant to the plot, then the entire story has been, critics would say, poorly handled. If a character is only useful in death, then they're not really a character at all.

A broader definition of this trope is that fridging is when a character is killed off to benefit someone else's story arc, with the implication that the dead character said or did relatively little in the story before being killed off. If a major character or hero is killed off after accomplishing great feats, then their death is more conventionally the tragic demise of a great hero. Thus, the fridging trope can have a patronizing air towards the character who was killed off, since no take lots of notes before you die. A recent example is the women who were refrigerated in the early Size 100 anime series.

As for shaking up the original formula found in Green Lantern In comics, it's always possible for stories to try new combinations, like swapping the male and female roles, killing off a heroine's boyfriend or husband to set her storyline in motion, or the two characters being the same sex. It's even possible for this trope to be used in a racial rather than gender-based way, which makes it problematic in a whole other way.

The fridging trope is unlikely to go away entirely, and if handled carefully, it could avoid its problematic stigmas in new works of fiction. Still, writers can tread carefully around the trope, given its problematic roots, and many stories can work without upsetting anyone. Instead, stories can make a character more compelling by killing them off after they accomplish great things, or simply nerfing or weakening them before they can return to full strength later.

What happened to Avatar Korra to make her look frozen?

Korra was partially written out of the story during Kuvira's rise.

Not long after the Red Lotus left Ba Sing Se in disarray, Zaheer captured Korra, then force-fed her mercury and attempted to kill her while Korra was in the Avatar State. Fortunately, Zaheer was defeated and Suyin extracted the mercury from Korra's body to save her life. However, Korra still suffered severe physical and mental trauma, and when Korra appeared in her story for Jinora's Airbender ritual, Korra was in a wheelchair.

She was still in recovery, and her recovery continued for many months after that. Certain scenes and flashbacks in Book Four: Balance made it clear that Korra spent some time in her homeland of the Southern Water Tribe, isolated from almost everyone she knew while undergoing physical rehabilitation with Katara. After that, Korra began to wander the world alone, still isolated from Team Avatar.

Korra's solo adventure was almost like the "Zuko Alone" episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, except that Korra was the protagonist, making her solo journey much more consequential. She wasn't completely helpless, but Korra was still weakened by the remnants of mercury in her body, and no one trusted her to save the world. Instead, Mako, Bolin, and Asami Sato had their own arcs to explore, and Korra ended up feeling irrelevant for a while. So by being taken out of the action so that other characters could continue their own arcs, Korra felt somewhat frozen out.

Avatar Korra certainly wasn't frozen in the traditional sense, as Korra had enough power and accomplishments to be much more than the victim's plot device. She also had plot armor as The Legend of Korraprotagonist, and sure enough, Korra eventually regained her full powers and resumed her duty. Some critics have noted that unlike female comic book characters who are frozen solid, male heroes are "unfrozen," meaning they are held back by an injury or loss of power and then regain their full strength later when the plot requires it.

Instead of being refrigerated, Korra was frozen and thawed, as if she had been benched in a baseball game before finally being called to bat once more. So Korra may not have been rejected, and the animated series didn't trivialize her too harshly. But it accomplished something that Korra's arc needed and Aang's arc didn't.

Korra needed a chance to learn true humility.

Being unfrozen gave Korra a new perspective on herself and her powers.

Avatars Aang and Korra are two different people, and as such, they faced different personal challenges throughout their stories. Aang's main issues were guilt and moral dilemmas over killing Fire Lord Ozai, while Korra's problem was her brash and arrogant attitude as an energetic but ignorant Avatar trapped in the Southern Water Tribe. Korra always had a good heart and a desire to help people, but she had a misguided perspective about herself, her powers, and the world in general.

Korra thought she could tackle any problem and solve it all on her own, as shown by her initial challenge against the masked villain Amon. Over time, Korra gradually learned humility and cooperation, realizing that she may be the strongest bender in the world, but she is still just one of many heroes the world needs. Consequently, she is part of Team Avatar along with Mako, Tenzin, and the rest.

Arguably, it wasn't necessary for 100% to teach Korra her final lesson in humility by inflicting such severe trauma on her, and the story didn't really need to freeze and thaw her like a case of partial refrigeration. But what's done is done, so The Legend of Korra fans can make the most of it by interpreting specific lessons and themes. On the one hand, Korra's recovery showed incredible strength of spirit and determination on her part, easily rivaling Aang overcoming his grief over the fate of the Air Nomads.

On the other hand, Korra's difficult experience and time away allowed her to return to the global stage as a humble, more patient, and generally wiser Avatar who would seek the smartest and most practical solution to a problem, not the quickest or most straightforward. It was an essential lesson for Korra to reach her potential. Thus, Korra balanced herself and then balanced the world in a season that takes its name from the very concept of all things being in perfect balance and harmony.