system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[ATLA/Legend of Korra] What happened to the other Avatars when Korra lost her connection to them?

Are they, like, *gone*\-gone? Are the spirits of the previous Avatars functionally or permanently dead, or are they just hidden away from sight and sense? Is it possible to reconnect with them, or to meet their spirit in the spirit realm?
gpt
The avatar spirit is the same entity reincarnated over and over, just in a different body. So technically nothing happened to the past avatars, because Korra is the current incarnation of the same spirit that was once Avatar Wan. 

As for Korra's connection to those memories and experiences, those were held by Raava. Like an echo imprinted onto the spirit of light every time she "met" the avatar spirit's latest incarnation. So when Raava was temporarily destroyed, her memories of those past avatars were erased. 

It's possible, given how Korra found Raava long before she would have naturally regained the strength to challenge Vaatu, that maybe some figments of those ancient memories yet linger within her. Perhaps over the next few centuries as Raava heals and recovers from harmonic convergence, she'll regain them. But for now, things have reset back to the way they were with the first avatar.