Book 2 of The Legend of Korra is often thought of as the lowest the series ever got. It did a lot to mess with established characters lore and introduced one of the most annoying and forgettable villains in the series, Unalaq, with his creepy obsession with the spirit world. The one highlight of this season was the backstory shown for the first-ever Avatar, Wan.
Showing a time before the four nations were properly formed, as well as what it was like in a time when the spirits had a majority claim over the earth, fans were given some deep insight into what life was like for the first bridge between the humans and the spirits. That doesn't mean that fans picked up on every detail that was shown, as there are some subtle nods that would fly under the radar if viewers weren't looking for them.
10 His Eye Color
As a resident of the Lion Turtle city who granted its citizens fire, it's safe to assume that his people would go on to become the Fire Nation in the 10,000 years that followed the events of The Beginning. One more subtle nod to this was Wan's eye color. Throughout The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, many firebenders are shown to have the same copper-colored eyes as Wan.
This is further expanded upon in the Rise of Kyoshi novel, where both Hei-Ran and her daughter, Rangi, are said to have a copper or bronze-colored iris'. It is also mentioned through Kyoshi that this is a telltale sign of a firebender, and one waterbender even goes out of his way to change his eye color using poison to hide his ethnicity from pirates.
9 The Double Meaning Of His Name
While the phonetic English translation of Wan is easy enough to compare to the number one, as he is the first Avatar to ever exist, his name also has a secondary meaning that has been shown in the series before. In Mandarin, Wan means "ten-thousand," a reference to him living 10,000 years before the events of The Legend of Korra.
This was also used for the owl spirit Wan Shi Tong, whose library Avatar Aang and his group used to find a way to stop the Hundred Year War. In Mandarin, Wan Shi Tong means "he who knows ten-thousand things," which the spirit even mentions in the episode he is introduced.
8 The Basis For His Design
It's not uncommon for an animator to design one of their characters in likeness to someone on their team, as they are a constant reference point when drawing and animating the character. A well-known example is the original Max Payne being modeled after Remedy writer and level designer Sam Lake, who also voiced the character in the first game.
In the artbook for Book 2 of Legend of Korra, it is stated that Wan was modeled after showrunner and Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko, who also played the "Foaming at the mouth guy" in Warriors of Kyoshi and Avatar Day in The Last Airbender.
7 The Order Of Elements
One aspect of the Avatar that is fairly well known among fans is the cycle of elements. The cycle transitions from the Fire Nation, to the Air Nomads, Water Tribe, and eventually to the Earth Kingdom, then back to Fire Nation for the cycle to begin again.
This is the order the Avatar is supposed to learn their respective elements in a well, starting from their native bending and working their way through the cycle in order. This order, as it turns out, was established by Wan as he obtains all four elements in his pursuit of peace with the spirits, starting with firebending and moving through the elements to learn earthbending last.
6 Where He Died
In the last moments of his life, Wan died fighting in a war either with or alongside the Earth Kingdom, as he was surrounded by multiple large coins that were signature siege weapons of the earthbenders.
This location that he died in was actually shown much earlier in the Avatar universe during the Book 2 episode Zuko Alone, where Zuko passes through a field of broken Earth Kingdom coins on his way to the rural town.
5 His Firebending Skills
Although many people utilized the power of fire before him, Wan was the first to truly form the art of firebending, as shown when he is easily able to outclass a group of wanderers who try to attack him with their own fire.
As the Avatar, it's expected that his bending skills would be above the average of most firebenders, but his skill in propulsion was very rarely shown in the series. The main instances where someone uses fire to propel themselves is with Zuko's family in The Last Airbender, including Azula, Ozai, and Zuko's grandson, General Iroh, in The Legend of Korra.
4 His Firebending Teacher
In The Last Airbender, it is stated that humans learned how to bend the elements by watching the original masters of bending: Dragons, sky bison, badger-moles, and the moon. While The Legend of Korra may have expanded on that idea with the Lion Turtles giving humans the power but not the art itself, viewers first see a bender being trained by the original masters with Wan.
During his time in the spirit wilds, Wan learns the ways of firebending from a dragon spirit, who teaches him The Dancing Dragon bending form. This is the same form Aang and Zuko learn from the dragons in the Book 3 episode, The Firebending Masters, where they learn that the dragons aren't as extinct as the world believes them to be.
3 The Outfit In His Battle With Vaatu
The Avatar not only represents the bridge between the humans and the spirits but also a unifying force for the four nations, where they must be impartial and observe all people with equality. Although he was unable to unify the four nations in his time, Wan represented the collection of his people in his battle with Vaatu in his outfit.
The robes are orange and yellow from the Air Nomads, his scarf is red from the Fire Nation, the blue sash is from the Water Tribe, and his green armbands are from the Earth Kingdom.
2 Was Inadvertently Responsible For The Red Lotus
Introduced in Book 3 as the main antagonists, the Red Lotus is a militant splinter of the White Lotus who vehemently oppose the world order, believing that the Avatar causes an imbalance and must be removed from the equation. One of their main issues with the Avatar is with the actions of Wan, as he not only sealed away Vaatu in the Tree of Time but also closed off the spirit world from the physical world until the next Harmonic Convergence 10,000 years later.
If it wasn't for Wan's actions, the Red Lotus may never have been formed, although it could also be argued that the world would have been thrown into 10,000 years of darkness that Vaatu promised instead.
1 Voiced By Stephen Yeun
The Legend of Korra pulled out all the stops when it came to utilizing big-name actors as major characters. While the most obvious might be J.K. Simmons as Tenzin and Zelda Willaims as Kuvira, Wan was also voiced by one of these actors.
While the majority of his work has been in Netflix animations, notably as Keith in Voltron: Legendary Defender, Steve in the Tales of Arcadia series, and Little Cato in Final Space, Stephen Yeun's most recognizable part is his role as Glenn in The Walking Dead.