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Katara

The Mundane World

Katara lived in the Southern Water Tribe at the South Pole. Although her father sailed away after the Fire Nation attacked their village, Katara lives an almost normal life with her brother Sokka and her Gran-Gran.

The Call To Adventure

She and her brother find a boy and his flying bison in an iceberg and bring them back to their village. As it turns out, this boy is the Avatar and his name is Aang.

Crossing The Threshold

After Aang is captured by Zuko, Katara and Sokka go to rescue him. They help Aang get off the Fire Nation ship and head on a journey to reach the North Pole to get Aang to a Waterbending Master.

The Path of Trials

Katara has a different set of trials than Aang. While she is more mature than Aang and Sokka, she still has plenty to learn, including learning techniques from the Waterbending master.

Throughout their journey, Katara must be the calm and caring force of the group. When Aang gets angry and goes into an uncontrollable Avatar State, she soothes his pain with kind words and a hug.

She also has to learn to be patient. When an advanced Waterbending scroll is found by the group at a local market, she gets so eager to learn more skills that she steals it. Her and Aang both try to learn the skills and Aang learns much quicker than she can.
When they get to the North Pole, the Waterbending master will only teach Aang because he is a boy. In the North Pole it is customary for the woman to only learn healing techniques and men to learn Waterbending. She gets very upset and challenges the master to a duel and almost wins.

Master of Two Worlds

Katara’s mastery of the two worlds comes slowly. At first, she realizes her role in the group as the motherly and caring individual that Aang and Sokka need. Secondly, she realizes that while it is important to learn more bending techniques from the scroll, she shouldn’t be so eager to steal it and as well as getting upset at Aang for learning more quickly than her. Finally, she understands that while it’s important to respect cultures, it’s not fair for her to not learn something just because she’s a girl.

Katara becomes a Waterbending master at the end of the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender and goes on to teach Aang.

Submitted by: Steve Kessel