When Does Avatar: Seven Havens Take Place?

When is Seven Havens set?

In 399 AG, about 225 years after the end of The Legend of Korra. It isn’t a direct continuation: the world of Aang and Korra is gone, and the show starts generations after the disaster that ended it.

The timeline, from Korra to the twins

When	What happened
The Legend of Korra	Korra’s adventures as the Avatar, after Aang
Later in Korra’s life	The Cataclysm: a global disaster that destroys the four nations and tears apart the human and spirit worlds
After the Cataclysm	Survivors retreat into the Seven Havens; Korra comes to be blamed for the disaster
About 200 years pass	Much of recorded history is lost
Around 396 AG	Twins Pavi and Nisha are separated in a storm and lose their memories
399 AG	Book One begins in the haven of Ellora

What happened to the world?

The Cataclysm hit everywhere at once. Tornadoes, tsunamis and fires ravaged the planet, cities like Zaofu went up in flames, and both the physical world and the Spirit World were torn apart. Afterwards, humans and spirits ended up sharing a planet still battered by massive storms.

Two things make it hard to say exactly what happened. Much of the world’s knowledge was lost, and what survives comes from later tales, including the claim that the Cataclysm ended when Korra was defeated using all four elements. The show presents that as what people believe, not as fact. For why it matters, see why the Avatar is hated in Seven Havens.

What are the Seven Havens, and where are they?

The Seven Havens are fortified cities built to shelter survivors from the storms. They have electricity, industrial farming and advanced healthcare, and each blends the ideas of all four bending arts rather than belonging to one nation. Each haven also has its own colour, and the seven colours match the seven chakras.

Haven	Where	Colour
Ellora	Southeast of the Great Continent, in slot canyons	Red
Unnamed	East of the Great Continent	Orange
Unnamed	Northeast, roughly where Ba Sing Se stood	Yellow
Unnamed	Southwest of the Great Continent	Green
Unnamed	West coast of the Great Continent	Blue
Unnamed	The Fire Islands, the most remote haven	Indigo
Unnamed	Northwest, roughly where Republic City stood	Magenta

Only Ellora has been shown in detail so far: a city of over a million people known as the Haven of Wind and Sand, ruled by a chancellor and council, and surrounded by a storm-wrecked desert called the Harshlands. Not everyone lives inside the walls; some groups, like the bandits known as the Faceless, reject haven life altogether.

What’s different about bending now?

In Ellora, fewer and fewer people are born able to bend, and the law sends every bender into the Bending Brigade, the haven’s army and emergency service, usually as a child, and its ranks are still shrinking. It’s a long way from the bending-heavy worlds of the earlier shows, and one reason the twins’ return is such a shock.

Next: why there are two Avatars, or who’s who in Seven Havens.