Katara. Creation and conception Bryan Konietzko's interest in martial arts influenced him to draw inspirations from various female MMA fighters for the design of Korra's character, one inspiration being Gina Carano. In addition, she was indirectly inspired by one of Bryan Konietzko's sisters. Korra was also designed to be an inversion of Aang, the title character of the preceding story Avatar: The Last Airbender. Instead of the young, spiritual Aang, Korra is a more physical character who has trouble grasping the spiritual side of being the Avatar while being able to already bend three elements at the age of four. In contrast, Aang takes a while to master each of the elements, but connects with the spirit world instantaneously. Korra's name was settled long after her character was imagined. Konietzko and DiMartino couldn't agree to a name for her until they learned "Cora", the name of a hotel operator's dog. The name was kept, and only changed in spelling. The creators felt the second season was built around Korra becoming more in-tuned with her spiritual side, reinforcing their belief that a giant spirit version of herself would be the "ultimate manifestation". DiMartino wrote that Korra's lack of usage of the Avatar State during the third season was purposefully done to show her connection with Raava as being full-fledged, her developed understanding that type of power should be reserved for the "most extreme circumstances." Along with Asami Sato, Korra is half of the first major acknowledged LGBT couple in western children's animation. Regarding Korra's sexuality, Konietzko admitted that the idea of a romantic relationship between Korra and Asami had been discussed by the creators during production of season one, but had not been given much weight due to assumptions that the show would not be permitted to openly depict a same-sex relationship. As development of the last two seasons went on and Korra and Asami's friendship progressed, "the more the idea of a romance between them organically blossomed for [the creators]," and so the show started hinting at the possibility of such a relationship. In the end, Konietzko and DiMartino chose to openly depict Korra and Asami's relationship in the series finale because they didn't want to regret not doing so after the series ended. While still having limits on what could be shown, Nickelodeon was supportive of the relationship when approached. Design Before drawing the character, Konietzko and DiMartino discussed