Was avatar kyoshi gay

Avatar: The Last Airbender always made a priority out of its themes of inclusiveness, and the sequel series The Legend of Korra expanded on them by beginning the franchise's long history with LGBTQ+ representation.

And when they confess their love to each other, albeit infamously turned down due to network constraints, they happily join hands and walk into a new adventure together. And hope if they get a second season of the live-action show, we get to see Kyoshi and Rangi IRL. Do people still say IRL?

 

The Legend of Korra may have surprised and excited fans by revealing the relationship between Avatar Korra and Asami, but it turns out Korra isn’t the first LGBTQ Avatar.

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars – Part One, the new graphic novel published by Dark Horse Comics, reveals that Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom was bisexual.

The revelation comes when Kya, Avatar Aang’s daughter, approaches Korra and Asami about their relationship.

It isn’t said they were forced to hide because they were a same-sex couple, just that they were from opposing villages, but it does make you wonder if it played a part in it. While saying that he "decided not to feature romance in the book because [Yee] didn't think it would necessarily fit the kind of story the book would end up being," he did confirm that "Yangchen being asexual is an extremely valid and fitting interpretation."

RELATED: Avatar: The Last Airbender's Saddest Moment Isn't What You Think

Yee recommended other works of young adult fiction with ace representation of their own, such as Loveless by Alice Oseman and Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire.

I got your back and I always will.” is what Mako tells Korra before she speaks with Asami in the final moments of the show. DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, The Legend of Korra‘s other creator, confirmed that the moment was meant to indicate a romantic relationship following the episode’s debut.

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars – Part One, by DiMartino and artist Irene Koh, is on sale now.

[{"id":184532,"link":"https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/2025\/12\/22\/sirat-review\/","name":"sirat-review","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geeksofcolor.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-22-at-2.21.37-pm.png?fit=2390%2C1270&ssl=1","alt":""},"title":"'Sir\u0101t' Is an EDM-Fueled Ride That Manages to be Both Vibes-Based and Anxiety Inducing - Review","excerpt":"","content":"To call Oliver Laxe\u2019s latest feature-length film, Sir\u0101t, an emotional roller coaster with loud and catchy EDM music playing in the background would be a","author":{"name":"Timothy Lee","link":"https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/author\/jaewoonglee515\/"},"date":"Dec 22, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-12-22 19:22:56","modifiedDate":"2025-12-22 11:22:59","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-12-22 19:22:59","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"open","categories":{"coma":"Uncategorized","space":"Uncategorized"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/film\/' rel='post_tag'>Film<\/a><a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/general\/' rel='post_tag'>General<\/a><a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/movies\/' rel='post_tag'>Movies<\/a><a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/reviews\/' rel='post_tag'>Reviews<\/a><a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/sirat\/' rel='post_tag'>Sirat<\/a><a href='https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/tag\/sirat-2\/' rel='post_tag'>Sir\u0101t<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":6,"sec":34},"status":"publish"},{"id":184490,"link":"https:\/\/geeksofcolor.co\/2025\/12\/19\/percy-jackson-season-2-review\/","name":"percy-jackson-season-2-review","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geeksofcolor.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-9.26.38-am.png?fit=2036%2C1242&ssl=1","alt":""},"title":"'Percy Jackson' Season 2 Makes a Bigger Splash - Review","excerpt":"","content":"Fantasy is back and better than ever this holiday season with Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2.

And trust me, there’s a lot to be made up for.

 

 

From crappy stereotypes to downright bigotry, television can be a bully. Something new and gay has hit the Avatar universe. In the panel below, Aya tells Korra and Asami “Even Avatar Kyoshi – who by all accounts loved men and women – was unable to effect any kind of real progress.

It included an important discussion between Korra and Kya about same-sex relationships in the world of Avatar -- including the revelation that Korra's predecessor Kyoshi was bisexual -- and the franchise has continually represented a wider variety of LGBTQ+ relationships ever since.

That same trend continued in the first Avatar novels, where Kyoshi's life as a teenager showed the earlier Avatar's relationship with Rangi creating one of the franchise's most beautiful romances.

So we aren’t really sure if the new Oma and Shu kept their mountain meetings secret solely because they were from warring villages, or because their queerness wouldn’t be accepted in the light? While everything feels insane in this era of unrest, let’s all try to be a little more Avatar-like and bring balance to the world.

The two women joined hands by the series' end and endeavored a journey into the Spirit World that stopped just short of the characters sharing a kiss, but for any fans left with lingering doubts, the Turf Wars comic made the budding romance explicit. It’s very Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare meets Sci-fi. It honestly makes the tale of their love a lot more tragic- a couple having to meet in the dead of night already invokes sad imagery.

When Shu passes in the story and Oma creates Omashu, it's revered as a symbol of their love. Part of normalizing depictions of LGBTQ+ representations is not just in focusing stories on those relationships, but in featuring such representations as so ordinary that they need not demand focus at all.

Previously, the Avatar Legends core book and its expansions made some of the franchise's greatest strides in representation for queer and trans characters.

In continuing the series by delving even further into the world's past, author F. C. Yee sought to stray away from such focus on romantic subplots. Yet in so doing, Yee managed to present a character of an orientation too seldom explored in the realm of fiction: asexual people.

RELATED: Avatar Studios Co-head Confirms Where Books, Comics Fall in the Canon

Even before The Dawn of Yangchen's release, many fans speculated the Air Nun was asexual.

In the end she finds happiness with Asami and a new level of inner peace, not a coincidence!

 

So I’m thrilled Oma and Shu’s origin story was changed in the new Avatar live-action Netflix series. But her presence is known from the hit animated series and now it’s being re-shared to new audiences with the Netflix show.

 

 

The new live action show visits Avatar Kyoshi more than the animated series’ first season did.