Oland rubbed his forehead.
"Ok, run me through it one more time." He said.
"It's called the Avatar State," Bolin stated, "It's the strongest and most powerful ability that the Avatar can invoke is the Avatar State. It was created when Avatar Wan permanently bonded with Raava by touching the energy coming through the spirit portal during the Harmonic Convergence in 9,829 BG. It allows the Avatar to channel vast cosmic energies and the knowledge of previous Avatars, granting them superhuman strength and allowing for the ability to perform especially powerful and extraordinary feats of bending. The Avatar may unconsciously enter the State in response to perception of mortal danger, utilizing the State as a defense mechanism, or emotional distress."
"Go on." Oland said, trying to keep up.
"While in the State, the Avatar has access to bending techniques that may have not yet been learned in their current lifetime, but has no conscious control over the resulting actions, which can cause great collateral damage." Bolin explained, "An Avatar with full mastery of the Avatar State has conscious control over the State and can enter and exit it at will. It was by entering the Avatar State reflexively that Avatar Aang was able to freeze himself inside an iceberg for a hundred years by using a combination of airbending and waterbending. He did not physically age at all during the century, as he was in suspended animation, but it took a great physical toll on his body after being in the Avatar State for such an extended period of time."
"So I was connected with every previous Avatar?" Oland asked.
"Not exactly." Bolin answered, "While fighting during the last Harmonic Convergence, the connection between Avatar Korra and Ravaa was broken, ending the Avatar cycle and cutting all connections to the previous Avatars. At the peak of the Convergence, Korra formed a new bond with Ravaa the same way Wan had in the beginning, creating a new Avatar cycle, that you are now apart of."
Oland was finally beginning to understand it a small amount. Not perfectly, but he was starting to get it.
"Really, you're just connected to Korra. When you think about it, she was the last Avatar, and the first one. Making you the second Avatar." Bolin continued. "It's like, there's these two mountains. All the Avatars are standing on this mountain here, and you and Korra are standing on the other mountain, separated from all the previous Avatars."
"Well, why is the connection broken?" Oland asked, "I mean, technically this Ravaa left the body of each Avatar when they died, and connected with a new one, yet maintained a connection with the old ones. So just because she left Korra's body, I don't see why that would break the connection to the others."
"But you're forgetting that Ravaa was destroyed before rejoining Korra." Bolin explained.
"But earlier you said neither Ravaa nor Vattu could be truly destroyed, they would re-emerge from within the other, and it's not like it's a different light spirit. It's still Ravaa, exact same knowledge and memories."
Bolin stopped to think, "You know when you mention that, it really doesn't make that much sense. It almost sounds like some flimsy plot-cover in a kid story, so the writers can create challenges for the character, without having to explain why she can't use the previous lives to figure out the problems easily, and also it allows them to make their character loose fights even in the Avatar State. With a connection to millions of lifetimes, there would be enough power that would be impossible to stop, but one person on their own with nothing but an increase in spirit energy wouldn't be so tough."
Oland smirked, "That sounds like some pretty lazy writing."