A Lighter Shade of Grey - Niva is often inattentive and concerned with smaller issues and avoids the major population centers. She also uses forms of bending considered taboo, like bloodbending and glassbending. After revealing herself and having little wisdom to give people, the public grows to see her as contemptuous and lazy.
Affectionate Nickname - When she refused to give her name, Niva started calling her firebending teacher "Madame."
Badass Decay - The United Republic, which was a world leader and trendsetter in The Legend of Korra, has lost most of its lustre. The Republic's private corporations running unchecked have effectively neutered its power, as the pursuit of profits through cutting costs have made most Republic products inferior to those made by the other nations. The burgeoning free-market capitalism was abolished in the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Air Nation and Northern Water Tribe, and the yuan isn't accepted in those nations either. The other nations forbidding Republic corporations to do business in their lands meant that they couldn't seek the constant growth that those businesses demand and so they stagnated. All of this has left the Republic little more than a gilded cage. The technological advancement the Republic brought to the world also ceased, and many nations returned to the 'old way' of doing things.
Badass Normal - Lavi is a weaponmaster who is already capable of fighting Red Lotus benders. During her travels with Niva, she learns the bending arts alongside her despite not being able to bend elements. She uses this knowledge to her advantage when fighting benders.
Bad Powers, Good People - Niva is very skilled in aspyxiation and bloodbending.
Beware the Nice Ones - Though Niva is a more gentle Avatar than most, she ends up developing some of the most lethal bending techniques, including using Lavabending and Airbending to rapidly heat and cool sand into shards of glass, as well as her searing rain.
Big Sister Worship - Niva looks up to Lavi, even as a fully realized Avatar, and respects her input over anyone else's. Even when Lavi isn't invited to take part in a discussion with world leaders, Niva will bring her anyway and request her input.
Breaking Old Trends - Nearly every tradition of Avatar is broken in this story.
- There is no "Team Avatar." Lavi is the only permanent member of the group.
- Niva doesn't have a love interest, as her relationship with her sister is the story's central focus.
- Because of the above, the next Avatar (Ykoma) doesn't have the face of the previous Avatar's lover. Instead she has Lavi's face.
- Niva doesn't have an 'animal companion.'
- Niva doesn't have a main antagonist to fight against. Instead the antagonist is herself, her self-destructive cowardice and her attachment to her sister.
Clingy Jealous Girl
- When Niva was a kid, she resented Lavi's girlfriends for taking Lavi's time away from her and refused to get along with them. Given that Lavi's main condition for her partners was that they had to get along with Niva, this effectively meant that Lavi's relationships never lasted very long. Niva eventually grew out of this on her Avatar journey.
- Kannah, Lavi's girlfriend in the Southern Water Tribe, felt threatened by Lavi's devotion to Niva, resulting in her escalating attempts to drive a wedge between the two.
Cuddle Bug - Niva and Lavi hug very frequently and often cuddle.
Cute Oversized Sleeves - Niva wears a simple earth kingdom gown with extremely large sleeves that often cover her hands.
Designated Villain - The White Lotus. They aren't villainous, but their insistence on grooming the new Avatar is shown to be actively counter-productive to what Niva actually needs, and are innocently insensitive at worst.
Destructive Romance - Kanna, who Lavi dates during their years in the Southern Water Tribe. She competes with Niva and tries to drive a wedge between the sisters in an effort to monopolize Lavi's time. Niva, who has been growing on her journey, tries her best not to fight with Kanna but Kanna eventually escalates to violence.
Dirty Coward - For most of her life Niva was wracked by anxiety and explosive outbursts of Earthbending. She spent most of her time cowering in her sister's shadow.
The Engineer - Lavi modifies her weapons to take advantage of new knowledge, such as attaching a copper wire to her sword before fighting lightning benders.
A Girl in Every Port - Lavi has a long-term girlfriend during the three to four years they spend in each nation, and each time they have to leave she asks them to come with her. Those girlfriends ultimately decide they can't uproot their entire lives just to travel with a partner. Kannah goes to very extreme lengths to get Lavi to stay, and after that Niva tells her to cool it on the long-term relationships she knows she can't (or won't) commit to.
Hostile Weather
- During her airbending training, Niva had to stand alone against a hurricane that threatened the children of the Air Nation.
- Niva used sandbending and lavabending to create searing rain when she massacred the Red Lotus
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - Most of the episodes Orchard mapped out have names that reference media that involves siblings, for good or ill.
Living Emotional Crutch - Lavi for Niva. Early on, Niva can barely function without her sister's guidance and is pracitcally socially disabled. Even after Niva steps out of Lavi's shadow, she greatly desires her sister's presence at nearly all times.
No Anta
gonist - The story is about Niva's self-determination, and there is little in the way of antagonists. Most of the enemies Niva faces are holdovers from Avatar Korra's days or natural disasters. The Red Lotus only exists to be massacred by an angry and grief-stricken Niva to make a point about how they're relics who only persist because the world is too rich and happy to feel threatened by anarchists.
No Hugging, No Kissing - Orchard went to great lengths to ensure it would be very difficult to ship Niva with anyone, and therefore ignore the main premise of her relationship with her sister.
- There is no "Team Avatar." Niva's teachers don't leave home with her and her only primary companion is Lavi.
- Niva's teachers aren't romantically available to her. Her Firebending and Airbending teachers are geriatrics. Her waterbending teacher is a child. And her Earthbending teacher is her sister.
No Sense of Personal Space - Niva and Lavi are often in very close proximity to each other, are snuggling when they're off duty. On their adventure when staying in towns they often share a bed to save money, though eventually it just becomes the norm for them.
Platonic Life Partners - Though they were already very close before leaving, after setting out together when she was sixteen, Niva and Lavi stay at each other's side for the rest of their lives and act as a team in everything. Niva even makes sure her statue in the Avatar temples includes Lavi.
The Power of Blood - In terms of specialized techniques, Niva favours bloodbending the most.
Same Face, Different Name - As part of a running theme, Avatar Ykoma (a Fire Nation Avatar born after Niva's death) strongly resembles Lavi.
Sibling Team - Niva and Lavi are a package deal in all things.
Signature Style - Niva firebends exclusively from her fingertips, after being taught that way by Madame.
Together in Death - Lavi is the first to die, leaving Niva without her sister for fifteen years before she finally passes. They're reunited in the Spirit World and spend the rest of their afterlife together.
What Do You Mean It's Not Political? - The scorn thrown onto the United Republic and its barely regulated corporations is done to establish that the Republic isn't a world leader and that its not the model the world follows anymore, but beyond that the story has little to say about the capitalism or liberal democracy the Republic represents.
Wrong Genre Savvy - Multiple characters assume there is something more than sisterly between Niva and Lavi. They always end up being very wrong, and usually have ulterior motives behind the accusation.
