Avatar: Katara’s Character Development

 Avatar: The Last Airbender is a great series since it explores several themes and philosophical ideas. The viewers are introduced to various moral and ethical debates that help them dig-deep in order to introspect. Important ideas like human corruption through absolute power, grief, and forgiveness are all explored in the series. Katara could relate to many such views as they helped shape her character in different ways.

Unlike Zuko, Katara did not change much in the three seasons. Most of the changes were subtle and limited to her maturity. When she made Zuko her friend, she learned to let go of the past and the importance of being mindful of relationships with the power of any sort.

Katara was one of the strongest characters early in the series despite not being a power-hungry sort of person. She was the only Waterbender in her tribe and was very dedicated to exploring more about it to help her loved ones and tribe. When Aang was released from an iceberg, she taught him about Waterbending before he eventually learned more from the Northern Water Tribe.

While Gaang was on the run during this time from the Fire Nation forces, Katara took it upon herself to fight back by any means necessary. She wanted to take on the Fire Nation no matter what and when an opportunity came her way, she even stole from pirates to help her achieve what she wanted. Although her choices were questionable it was the scroll that she stole that helped her use new techniques to fight off pirates and Zuko’s gang.

When much later Katara finally got a chance to dispatch her mother’s killer, she seemed determined to take revenge. Only when Aang and Zuko have successfully cornered the unfortunate old man that she realized that she might not be doing the right thing. Did she puzzle with the idea of whether killing the old man will bring her any sort of closure or happiness? Katara at the last moment decided to let go of the hate burning inside her heart.

She later admitted to Aang that she made the right decision in the end and it would not have been right to harm the old man no matter what he had done in the past. Unlike the time she stole the waterbending scroll from the pirates, she now knew that exploiting her abilities to harm others was not acceptable. She was committed to fighting the right way and dedicated herself to fighting for the greater good from then on.

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