Seven Havens' Red Spirit Isn't Vaatu, Producers Say: They Call It "The Anomaly"

Spoilers for Chapters 2 and 3 of Avatar: Seven Havens. Chapter 6 spoilers are flagged below.

The red-and-black spirit that tore through Ellora in Chapter 2 is not Vaatu, according to the people making the show. Executive producer Ethan Spaulding told Inverse at New York Comic Con that the team knows fans took it for Vaatu. "We call it The Anomaly," Spaulding said.

Co-executive producer Sehaj Sethi kept the details close, telling Inverse "it's not what you think it is" and adding that there is more to it. Lyvie Scott's interview ran on October 15.

Correcting our own reading

Several of our earlier pieces, including our Chapter 2 recap, our Chapters 1 to 3 reveals and our characters guide, passed along Variety's reading of the entity as a version of Vaatu. We noted that the episode never says his name, and Paramount+'s official Chapter 2 synopsis calls it only a strange entity. With the producers now pushing back, we are dropping the Vaatu label.

Who Vaatu was

Inverse recaps the history. Vaatu, the personification of dark energy, was imprisoned in the Spirit World until Korra unwittingly released him in the second book of The Legend of Korra. He fused with her uncle to create a Dark Avatar, which severed Korra's connection to her past lives and nearly destroyed Raava, the light spirit that reincarnates with every Avatar.

Mashable's Belen Edwards noted the matching colors and a diamond shape much like Vaatu's kite form, but her October 9 explainer already doubted it was him. Vaatu and Raava's power peaks at Harmonic Convergence, every 10,000 years, and only a little over 200 years have passed since the last one in The Legend of Korra. Mashable guessed a corrupted spirit instead.

What the Anomaly has done so far

• In Chapter 2 it rises from the ground as a storm hits Ellora and fires a beam at people, from Brigade Commander Bountan (Clyde Kusatsu) to the twins, according to Mashable.
• Inverse says it can phase through any physical object, seems to fill its victims with paranoia and, up close, briefly pulls Pavi and Nisha into another realm where time moves very differently.
• Bountan is left with a red eye and a warning for Karthik. In Chapter 3, red-eyed animals, including a camel-dillo, seem possessed.
• It leaves glowing red crystals behind, which Mashable suggests might be what affects people.

Chapter 6 spoilers

Stop here if you haven't watched Chapter 6. In Chapter 6, "Night of the Afflicted," the twins come under siege from people affected by the red energy, according to GamesRadar+. The Anomaly is drawn to Pavi and Nisha again and unlocks a memory of their parents before they dispel it with energybending. Since manipulating spirit energy is one of energybending's known uses, GamesRadar+ argues the scene could confirm the Anomaly is a spirit. That is the outlet's analysis, not the show's. More in our energybending story.

Could it explain Korra?

This part is speculation. Inverse's Scott wonders whether the Anomaly is behind Korra's role in the Cataclysm, suggesting she may have been possessed or coerced. Neither the producers nor the show has said so.

Avatar: Seven Havens streams on Paramount+, with new chapters every Friday through October 30.