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Katara writing about Aang for a kofi request :’)

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The parallels between Katara & Aang throughout Avatar The Last Airbender

This will be a long post where I present parallels between Katara and Aang from the show, Avatar The Last Airbender.

Survivors of genocide

Katara: [Sadly.] No. You're looking at the only waterbender in the whole South Pole.

Aang: [Sadly.] But you were right. And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too. [Close-up of his sad face, as he closes his eyes.] I really am the last airbender.

Early on in the show we are introduced to the fact that both Katara & Aang are the last remaining benders of their homes. They were both children when they survived the genocides that was done to directly hunt them down. Katara and Aang show us how different their experiences of genocide can be.

The genocide of Aang's people was absolute, he does not meet a single air bender up until his third Childs birth, Tenzin. Katara was the last water bender in the entire southern water tribe. The water bending culture in the South Pole had been obliterated after the benders of her grandmothers generation were taken away or killed.

Aang grew up with other air benders and was brought up by his master and father figure, Monk Gyatso. After waking up from his long sleep in the iceberg, his culture and people had been wiped out and forgotten. The genocide of the air nomads was absolute, he does not meet a single air bender up until his third Childs birth, Tenzin.

And from there their friendship blossomed. From penguin sledding to training together to helping each other rebuild their homes/cultures.

Katara, the last water bender of the southern water tribe & Avatar Aang, the last air bender of the Air nomads.

The Southern Raiders: She runs nervously past her brother. Several Water Tribe warriors are shown running about in a frantic motion. The camera focuses on Katara again, who arrives at their igloo and pushes back the curtain. Young Katara: Mom! She runs in to discover her mother seated on the floor, a man towering over her. Kya: Just let her go and I'll give you the information you want.

The Southern Air Temple: Aang enters the room and looks around with a sad expression on his face. The scene switches to a closer shot of the skeleton in the snow and slowly zooms in on it. The skeleton is adorned with a round necklace that supports the symbol of airbending. Close-up of Aang, as he stares at the skeletons. Cut back to a close-up of the skeleton dressed in yellow monk robes. The camera focuses on the round, wooden necklace. Cut back to Aang, whose eyes are trembling with sadness and hold back tears. Aang: [Devastated.] Gyatso.

No hesitation

In this parallel we are presented with how far Katara and Aang are willing to go for each other.

Katara, without any hesitation, chooses to be banished from her village and gets ready to leave with Aang. In a similar manner, Aang chooses Katara in a heartbeat over this one chance of learning water bending from a master water bender. The rejection and disrespect thrown at Katara from Pakku was enough for the monk to dismiss him.

These choices are extremely hard to pick and puts them both in very tough spots. Katara potentially losing her whole family and Aang losing a master whom can teach and guide him as the Avatar. Yet, they both plead to the other to not make rash decisions based on them. The respect and love and understanding these two have for each other is outstanding.

Imprisoned

Imprisoned: Approaches Katara, kneeling to stare into her obstinate expression. She crosses her eyebrows, scowling coarsely at the man. Warden: Simply treat me with courtesy that I give you– And we'll get along famously.

The Blue Spirit: Zhao: Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left? Do you miss your people? [Aang looks down sadly.]

Katara & Aang are imprisoned for their bending abilities, chained down & humiliated. They bravely face the imperial violence & work in together with the members of the other nations to free themselves.

Oma and Shu

The Cave Of Two Lovers: A man and a woman from feuding towns met atop a mountain. Despite the dangers of meeting, the loving couple found a way to continue their relationship in secret. After learning earth bending by observing the natural skills of badgermoles, they created a labyrinth, which only they could navigate successfully and served as a meeting place.

The narrative symbolism in the show represents the love between Katara and Aang. The rest of the elements, where two people can’t be together because of the war, where one of them is killed (Aang & Shu), which leads to a powerful display of bending in the exact same position between Katara and Oma.

Can't be together because of the war - Katara telling Aang that their biggest priority should be focusing on the war in "The Ember Island Players" episode.

Shu is killed in the war – Aang enters his Avatar State to fight against them, but is wounded in the back by Azula's lightning and falls to the ground, dying.

Oma, in a fit of blind rage and sorrow, destroys everything in her path – Katara unleashes a powerful display of her water bending abilities and creates a huge wave.

The Southern Raiders and Sozin’s Comet

The Southern Raiders: Yon Rha: [Falls to his knees.] I did a bad thing! I know I did and you deserve revenge, so why don't you take my mother? That would be fair! [Attempts to smile weakly.] Katara: [Sorrowfully.] I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, but now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you, nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty. Yon Rha: [Humbly.] Please, spare me! [Cries.] Katara: But as much as I hate you ... I just can't do it.

Sozin's Comet: Aang: [With the voices of all previous Avatars.] Fire Lord Ozai, you and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world, and now you shall pay the ultimate price! [Aang, under control of his past lives, combines all four elements together for his final attack. At the last second, however, he manages to regain control; he comes out of the Avatar State, lets his attack die out, and floats to the ground, freeing Ozai in the process. He now speaks in his normal voice.] No, I'm not gonna end it like this. Ozai: Even with all the power in the world, you are still weak!

Katara and Aang, two children who were stripped of their culture at a young age, and were able to have the chance to come face to face with the men who took away their loved ones. Yet, they both choose to let them go instead of taking revenge in the form of killing them.

Pride

Imprisoned: Katara: [Sits beside Haru, sets her fingertips on her necklace.] See this necklace? My mother gave it to me. Haru: It's beautiful. Katara: I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. [Hangs her head, turning away.] This necklace is all I have left of her.

The Awakening: Sokka: Here, [Offering a Fire Nation bandana.] tie this around your head. It will cover your arrow. Aang: I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly! [He lies back down.]

Katara and Aang who proudly showcase their cultures in the form of a necklace and tattoo's. They honour the people that were taken away from them and the sacrifices made in their name.

Exploitation

"Let’s talk about how in these parallels, Aang and Katara are explicitly being exploited by adults that they thought they could trust, in an attempt for these adults to harness destructive power from within the children. in either episode, Aang and Katara, devastated and tearful, are brought to their knees, begging for the pain and torture to stop (in Aang’s case, he’s preventing general Fong from hurting Katara; in Katara’s case, she’s protecting herself from Hama, who is willing her to bloodbend). ultimately, the two children reach their breaking points, which results in them not only generating great bouts of power, but picking up a bending technique/state that goes completely against their moral beliefs." Read the rest here

A beautifully written parallel analysis on Kataang and the corruption of their powers! Written by the lovely @kataraslove

Disguises

The Painted Lady: Katara: Well, what was I supposed to do? Sokka: Leave! Do nothing! Katara: [Angrily.] No, I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me! [Gets up.] I'm going down to that village, and I am gonna do whatever I can.

The Headband: Male student #1: [Shyly hiding his face behind his collar.] I don't think my parents want me dancing in a cave ... Male student #2: [Runs in front of the camera.] Yeah! What if someone finds out?! [Looks around nervously before exiting left.] Aang: Oh boy. Listen guys, dancing isn't something you think about. It's a form of self-expression that no one can ever take away from you.

The Painted Lady (Katara) and Kuzon (Aang) are both identities that Aang and Katara put on to understand the Fire Nation people, to help them through their troubles , and to understand that good resides in places that were once thought to be inherently evil. These alter egos are driven by a desire to help the greater good.

Avatar Aang, the bridge between the spirit world and the human world, went undercover as his friend Kuzon to a Fire nation boarding school. There he spends his days playing hide and explode, making a noodle picture of the fire lord and seeing how the children of the fire nation are fed war propaganda.

Katara took it in herself to become a hero inspired by the village's wood carved spirit: The Painted lady, after seeing in what state the villager's were left in. Deprived and devastated by illnesses caused by the pollutants in their waters. She hid her identity and used her healing abilities to nurse them back to health and with the help of her friends, they clean up the river.

Bending Abilities

And at last, some overlooked bending parallels between Katara & Aang that they most likely learned by training together!

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emotional support knitting project in my bag that i will not touch all day

#going to start a new one even though I haven’t finished the last one #my knitting has traveled literally thousands of miles and I have not touched it 😂

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I'm tired of people defining Aang as this boring little vanilla guy. Aang helped Katara destroy a factory. He participated in Toph's scams. He shrugged off Katara's theft of the waterbending scroll and heartily laughed at her jokes about it. He was delighted by the Painted Lady ruse. He mastered airbending at twelve and the avatar state at thirteen. He snooped around the old ship after Katara said it was booby trapped and dared her to follow and stepped up to take the blame when it went badly and then surrendered himself to protect the village because he knew he could hand everyone on that ship their asses and escape. He outright lied to two communities that had been bickering for a century to get them to stop. He egged on Katara when she decided to throw hands with Pakku. He wants to ride every big animal in the world ("they don't like being ridden but that's what makes it fun" -unhinged take). He has sick burns for everyone which are doubly funny because they're almost always unintended as such. He threw a clandestine dance party in the nation that banned dancing and thought he was dead and wanted him dead. Before that he corrected and argued with teachers, beat a bully without lifting a finger and then brought his teenage friends to pose as his parents. The whole Bonzu Pippipadaleopsicopolis the Third thing. The being idiots with Sokka in Ba Sing Se thing with the bowing and the busboys disguises. He rightfully asked "what's cosmic power compared to a girl". Let's add all the badass stuff he does as a bender and as the Avatar up to and including energybending and the conversation with Koh the Face Stealer. That time in The Chase when he finished the fur trail and then decided to just sit down, sleep deprived, to wait and face whoever it was chasing them. Aang is one of the funniest and coolest characters I've ever seen and he deserves more respect. Absolutely unhinged kid with immense powers and the world is lucky he's goofy and has a good heart.

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emotional support knitting project in my bag that i will not touch all day

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my mom (went to catholic schools her whole life, graduated in the late 70s) just tried to argue that since jesus died in the afternoon on good friday that you can eat meat for dinner. “he is already gone,” she said.

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no one ever warns you about this about adulthood but no one tells you how important surfaces become to you. like it's a perpetual struggle to get enough surfaces in your life and then in turn keeping those surfaces clean

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i love you fries i love you hash browns i love you roasted potatoes i love you mashed potatoes i love you potato chips i love you potato pancakes i love you potato croquettes i love you hasselback potatoes i love you tater tots i love you potatoes

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Paris Hilton came out with a kitchen line for walmart and it’s everything I wanted my kitchen to be as a kid

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Y’all making women in their thirties feel old is my villain origin story actually

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Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

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man who opened a parenthesis he forgot to close 4 years ago is tragically unaware everything he's said since has been an aside

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Free reminder to NOT tell me where you live/lived out in the public wilds of the Internet, basically I just wanna know how people are defining "home town."