“Water is the element of change.
The people of the Water Tribes are capable of adapting to many things. They
have a sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”
-Iroh, Bitter Work (S2E9)
-Iroh, Bitter Work (S2E9)
We start our journey through Avatar with Water, the element
of Season 1, and the location for which the Avatar series began, fitting then,
for us to start here. First, let me sum up Water in its simplest terms, and
then go from there. You see, one of the many cool things about Avatar's elements is that each element can have its meaning shrunk
to a few key words, and in the case of water, these words are change and community.
Change
is many things, it is adaptability, originality, self-sacrifice, and more. And
change is something that is integral to the ways of water. Water flows in such
a way that it can traverse many different kinds of terrain. It can flow in
many different directions, as well as flow at different speeds, and is much more
dependent on its environment than the other elements. While fire can burn
infinitely through many environments with the right ingredients, earth can live
almost anywhere, and air can flow in any part of the world, water is only
present in certain areas, and can only exist in certain environmental
conditions.
After all, while you can find earth
and air easily on other planets, and the heat and dryness of fire, water is
something you rarely see, because it is the element that is so dependent on its
living conditions, and as a result, can only live if it is highly adaptable,
and able to go through multiple environments. And this is what water does, it
can freeze up into ice in cold places, evaporate into the sky in warm places,
and fall from the sky as either rain or snow. Unlike the other elements which
are generally always looking like their normal state, water has many different
ways of looking, so it makes perfect sense for it to be the element of change.
Community
is the second thing integral to water. Community means many things, family,
bonds, similarities, and togetherness. Another way to sum up community is
love, something that is integral to the ways of water. For water is an element
of healing, and an element of peace and rest. In comparison to fire which can
burn and harm us, water is cool and soothes us, healing our wounds and giving
off a nice general feeling, don’t baths and showers feel great, for example?
Water has a way of helping us all, to stay hydrated and cool in hot fiery
moments, to feel soft and safe after rock hard moments, and to feel something
at all, as opposed to the nothingness of air. Water is the element that
represents love better than any of the other 3, as it is water’s very nature,
and the way it interacts and helps us in times of need, making it the perfect
fit.
"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors
saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves...
Our strength comes from the Spirit of the Moon, our life comes from the Spirit
of the Ocean. They work together to keep balance."
-Princess Yue, The Siege of the North (S1E19&20)
-Princess Yue, The Siege of the North (S1E19&20)
Waterbending first came from the Moon itself, and the way it
slowly pushed and pulled the ocean, in the same way a mother slowly tells its children
to obey its commands, and they follow. And as the quote above says, the
Waterbenders believe that they themselves, are like the water, their life is
like the Ocean itself, and in the same way that the Moon can manipulate the
ocean, so do the waterbenders believe that they can use their own spiritual
bending abilities to manipulate the life inside of them and around them.
Because the waterbenders are so dependent on their environment, like water
itself, they believe in living in harmony with the world and all life, not
going against it or controlling it, but simply letting it flow, and offering
their own commands and guidance.
Balance
is a key theme in the ways of all 4 nations, but it is most prominent in the
Water Tribe, and this is because it is most important for them, as the nature
of waterbenders can be very contradictory. For indeed, if you are so big on
changing, trying new ways of living, and adapting, why keep a family and
community that will only make changing harder? And if you want to have a great
community and love with others, then would it not be bad news for you to change
and risk harming the family and community you have? Indeed, while all 4
elements have key words that define them, Water is the only element of which
its 2 key words can be very contradictory, and so it is the element of which
balance is most essential to them, as things can easily fall apart without it,
as we'll see later in this volume.
“Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their
defense become their offense, turning their opponents' energy against them.”
-Iroh, Bitter Work (S2E9)
-Iroh, Bitter Work (S2E9)
One of the many cool things about Avatar with the elements
is how all 4 elements have their core values used in the fighting styles of
their benders. For waterbenders, the key to their fighting and tactics is
change, as is water itself. Waterbending doesn’t have a preference between
Offense and Defense, waterbending is about changing the defense and offense on
your opponent, mainly by taking their offense and using it as your own, or
using a defense maneuver as an offense.
Really,
the attack that shows waterbending fighting philosophy at its best, is the
attack Iroh invented by studying the waterbenders, lightning redirection.
Lightning direction is both a defense and an offense at the same time, taking
your opponents attack and using it against them, as well as using a defensive
tactic as an offense, no attack sums up the ways of waterbending better. What’s
more, the ways of the waterbenders, if you remember from above, are not about
creating or destroying life, merely being its humble guide and moving along
with it, but not controlling it. And this is also seen in how waterbenders do battle. Instead of creating lightning and fire itself like firebending,
waterbending is about taking already existing energy and directing it, which
lightning redirection does perfectly.
On top
of flowing in between the lines of offense and defense, waterbending fighting
also involves many many attacks. In the way that it is about change and
thinking on your feet with originality, waterbending is the bending to have the
most attacks. It has you changing water into a whip, flood, freezing it,
turning it into an icicle, healing, bloodbending, and more, waterbending is
definitely the most versatile in terms of its attacks. Since the element is so
much about change, there are so many different ways of attacking and defending, as well as coming up with new original ways of fighting.
All
this makes waterbending sound like the best of the 4, but as with all great
things, there is a catch. While waterbending has the most attacks and greatest
opportunity to surprise opponents, in keeping with its element of water,
waterbending fighting is the most dependent on its environment. While firebenders can create fire, and Air
and Earth is just about everywhere for their benders, waterbenders face a much
tougher challenge, as water isn’t as common, and this can create a problem for
them. But….as the best and most talented water benders would say, confiding
your abilities to your environment only encourages you to strategize even more,
and find ways to trick your opponent when they think they have the upper hand.
This is water bending and its style of fighting at its core, which remains
integral to waterbending culture, and the element of water itself.
Waterbending culture has been around for a very long time in
the Avatar world, and the Water Tribe still lives on carrying out its ways.
There are 2 key Tribes where the waterbenders gather, though they are not the
only tribes; The Northern Water Tribe and the Southern Water Tribe. Notice the
location of the 2 great Water Tribes on the map.
There
are 2 great Water Tribes on the map instead of 1, signaling Water’s element of
change, as those of the water tribe can travel to either the North or South
Water Tribes, depending on what sort of changes they’d like to live, but they
have the rest of the water in the world to explore and find their own
locations, their location embodies change perfectly.
And at
the same time, the location of the Water Tribes also indicates community. Look
at the location of the Water Tribes with respect to the other nations. They are
directly above and under all the nations, in other words, they connect them
together. In the same way that waterbenders hold a community together and make
sacrifices for everyone, the Water Tribes are on the top and bottom of the
other nations specifically because it symbolizes how they hold all the other
nations together. Being above and below them all means that when any problems
break out, they can easily access it from one of their 2 center points and
douse out the problem with their efforts. They are what make the 4 nations
whole and connected in the Avatar world, and what help for them to remain
together in balance.
But
more than symbolizing the elements of water itself on the map, the 2 Great
Water Tribes also symbolize their elements at their 2 separate cores, or
rather…..what happens when you take them too far and go out of balance.
“We did our best to hold them off, but our numbers dwindled as the
raids continued.”
-Hama, The Puppetmaster (S3E8)
-Hama, The Puppetmaster (S3E8)
The Southern Water Tribe is the very first location we see
in the Avatar Universe, and is the first to see as a tragic result of the Fire
Nation’s wrath, or rather, what happens when things change too quickly. The
Southern Water Tribe is the tribe to have taken the most damage consistently
from the Fire Nation, and to have undergone the most change. As we learn, after
many many attacks on the Tribe, the population of the Tribe slowly dwindled and
dwindled, and the families became separated. The people of the Southern Water
Tribe changed as much as they could in order to adapt to the new surroundings,
but because they did not stick together and let the Fire Nation separate them,
their families were destroyed. What’s more, the Water Tribe warriors than left
the Southern Water Tribe to go out and search, again, changing things, and
separating the family, and the more the Water Tribe separated, the more weaker
they became, and the more lonelier they became. By the time Aang has arrived at
the Southern Water Tribe, there is no family at the Tribe at all, every family
has either lost someone to the Fire Nation or had someone leave to fight, the
community and love the Water Tribes are so known for have been utterly
destroyed as a result of their consistent constant change.
And in an ironic fashion, as a result of the vast separation of families, the few left at the Southern Water Tribe now have a great dislike of change, as a result of what it did to them, and cling to their remaining families, as we see by their negative reaction to Aang and want for him to leave. But if they thought they were clinging to community too much, they had no idea what was in store for them at the Northern Water Tribe.
And in an ironic fashion, as a result of the vast separation of families, the few left at the Southern Water Tribe now have a great dislike of change, as a result of what it did to them, and cling to their remaining families, as we see by their negative reaction to Aang and want for him to leave. But if they thought they were clinging to community too much, they had no idea what was in store for them at the Northern Water Tribe.
“I can see that. But our tribe has customs, rules.”
-Pakku, The Siege of the North (S1E19&20)
-Pakku, The Siege of the North (S1E19&20)
The Northern Tribe is the polar opposite of the Southern Water Tribe. As a result of taking the Fire Nation attacks without ever leaving to form a new strategy like the Southern Water Tribe did, and sticking so close to each other, they become old fashioned, stuck in their old ways, and in a weak state that can easily by defeated by their new original enemies. A moment when this becomes apparent is when the men of the Northern Water Tribe prepare to sneak into the Fire Nation ships pretending to be soldiers, although…..they are using Fire Nation armor that is very old and outdated, showing how weak they have become as a result of no one in the Tribe going out and learning about how the Fire Nation has changed.
But by
far when this is most apparent, is when our heroes get to the Northern Water
Tribe, to find that they refuse to train females in the ways of waterbending.
The Northern Water Tribe has become so obsessed with its sense of community and
tradition and keeping to the ways of waterbending, that they refuse to change
ways that seem completely illogical in new recent times, and are stuck in the
past, weighing them down greatly against the threat of the Fire Nation. They
have successfully entered their own bubble, in which no new ideas are accepted,
no change is made, and above all, there is no growth.
Avatar does a really cool thing where within each element
and its people, there are key characters that represent their element gone
wrong, and then there are characters that represent their element gone well.
For the element of water, the character who’s taken it wrongly is best
represented by the great master of the Northern Water Tribe, Pakku. Pakku, like
the Northern Water Tribe, sticks to tradition and old ways, and is also cold
and hard, not being open to change or letting things slip through, being hard
and unmoving, the opposite of change really. And in an ironic poetic fashion,
what takes Paku to realize the errors of his ways, is for him to meet someone
like him who won’t change, and will fight and be strong like him, and for her to possess a
connection between him and the one love and community from his life that he has lost.
It’s
interesting the way that the 2 problems of the Water Tribes seem to stem from a
similar reason; loss of love. Pakku remains unchanging and clings to the
community he has because he lost the one whom he loved the most. In a similar manner,
Gran Gran and Sokka weren’t open to change and letting Aang come and help,
which is a result of them losing family members, and clinging to their few
remaining ones. I don’t know what it means or what it says about us, but I found that quite interesting and thought I’d point that out. Anyways,
To contrast Pakku, the key character who represents the element
of Water at its best, is none other than the Father of Katara and Sokka. Their
Father shows this most of all, he is a warrior who is willing to change, and
willing to think up new ideas to get out of any sticky situation. Remember when
Sokka goes to see his Dad for the first time, and he shows him a new kind of
bomb he created? That right there is Water Tribe, thinking up new ways to
battle as the battle changes. And while it might not be apparent at the start
of the series, we learn over time that their Father deeply cares about his
family and holds them in such high regard. His ways of encouraging his children
to do their best and always giving them positive reinforcement and saying how
much he loves him, shows that no matter how far apart they are or how much they
change, they will always be a family, and they will always love each other There’s really no better way to symbolize the ways of the Water Tribe than that
sentence.
What’s
more, to constitute that he and his men are of the Water Tribe, is their fleet.
They aren’t sitting and waiting in their homes staying strong and waiting for
the right moment to attack, like Omashu and Ba Sing Se are, they are exploring,
changing their tactics constantly, and on the move looking for ways to attack
back, the ways of the waterbenders.
The elements of a true waterbender can even be seen in
Katara and Sokka’s Mother. For as we know of her, she gave her life to the Fire
Nation, in order to protect Katara, the last waterbender from The Southern
Water Tribe. She cared about her family until the very end, and wasn't afraid to change in order to protect them.
And now that we've dived into the waterbending parents, let us move on to their children, the main waterbenders of the story, and see how they carry their element through the entire story:
And now that we've dived into the waterbending parents, let us move on to their children, the main waterbenders of the story, and see how they carry their element through the entire story:
“I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!”
-Katara, The Painted Lady (S3E3)
-Katara, The Painted Lady (S3E3)
Let us move on to our first main character to discuss;
Katara. Katara is a waterbender, the last one of the Southern Water Tribe, and
she represents the water side of our heroes beautifully. Do you know the kind
of people who often change the way they act depending on who they’re around?
The people who often put others ahead of themselves, and will sacrifice so much
just to save the bond and community they have? Are you like that? This is the
ideal waterbender, the one who doesn’t mind changing themselves to better get
along with people, and the one who will be on good terms with everyone and be
able to tie a whole group of different people together, and this is Katara.
Katara
is the emotional side of our heroes, and is the character who holds everyone
together and keeps things going by doing the cooking and chores and
sleeping arrangements and the like, and she’s also the one member to have a special
relationship with each of the other heroes in the group. She is Aang’s kind
gentle waterbending teacher and lover, Sokka’s tough motherly brother, Toph’s
motherly and cool friend, and Zuko’s first sympathetic and then forgiving
friend, and we’ve seen a close emotional one on one moment Katara has with each
character, something you can’t say about any of the other characters in the
group. This is what makes Katara the mother of the group, the one that holds
everyone together, and the one that represents waterbenders best of all.
But
Katara isn’t just a waterbender, she also features qualities of her own, and
her big one is strength. Katara is strong, and can be very outspoken and
opinionated, and she will stick with her word to the very end, a very earthbender
esque trait to have. And it is this trait of strength she has, coupled with her
ways of being driven by emotion, that lead to some of her best, and worst moments.
My
favorite Katara moment has always been the episode titled The Desert, Season 2 Episode 11. This is the episode where we
perhaps see our heroes at their lowest points. Aang without Appa has lost
control of himself and become unstable, Sokka with his ways of change and
experimentation led to him drinking bad juice that’s drained his reason, and
Toph without any Earth cannot see or move at all, and with little to no water,
Katara can do little to help. This is the episode where we see the group at their
worst, and this is where Katara shows her true strength. For despite how far
they fall, Katara is the one person of the group who never stops moving, never
stops holding everyone together as a group, and most importantly, she never
gives up hope, she successfully pulls the entire group out of the desert, all
on her own.
Katara’s
other best moments come from her deep love and deep strength. In Imprisoned, and The Painted Lady, Season 1 Episode 6 and Season 3 Episode 3
respectively, we see Katara with her love to help in how much she
wants to help those that have been hurt by the Fire Nation, and we also see her
strength and perseverance in how far she goes to save them.
But for
every light side there is a dark side, and for the great things Katara’s traits
bring her, there are also consequences that we see throughout the show. For in
being strong and driven by emotions, Katara can be very stubborn, have trouble
being reasonable and realistic when her emotions get in the way, and can hold
deep long grudges against those that wrong her community. The spot at which
this is in the episode titled The Southern Raiders, Season 3 Episode
16. In this episode we see Katara overcome by emotions, wanting to get great
revenge on the man who captured and killed her mother, and so sure of herself that she doesn't listen at all to
what Aang and the others advise her with. The key flaw of waterbending that must be
overcome for them, is making sure that your love of the community doesn’t cause
you to hate those that are different from your community and may hurt it, and
we see Katara deal with that in this episode.
But
what’s more, is that we see Katara deal with another great flaw of
waterbending, while grudges and emotional driven moves are the obstacles in
having a great sense of community, what then is the obstacle in the great sense
of change? In the episode titled The
Puppetmaster, Season 3 Episode 8, we see the very problem first hand. For
in being a water bender, Katara has the most attacks of any of the other
benders. She can use water in many ways; to ride on, to send at enemies, to freeze as ice, to
heal, and more, and water is an element where because of change, you can learn
of so many different ways to use it. And as you get more original and
adaptable, and create new ways to use waterbending, you run the risk of
creating new techniques of waterbending that should not be created, with very
unethical and cruel implications, which we see in the form of bloodbending.
What I
love about Katara’s development is that we see her go through the main problems
of being a waterbender, learning that while it’s good to change and be
original, you shouldn’t do it too much less you go too far, and it’s good to
stick to old ways and techniques sometimes, the family ways. And at the same time, it’s good to have a
community and stick by them and keep them together, but also not focus on them
so much and make them your world, else you won’t be open to any outsiders or
new ways, and lose sight. The key to both, as is integral to waterbending
culture, is Balance.
And
throughout the entire series, this is Katara’s growth. She learns to be a
helpful mother, but not too much, and also to be a fun friend sometimes, as we
see with Toph in The Runaway, Season
3 Episode 7. She learns to trust Zuko and be open to him changing, and not
stuck on grudges in The Southern Raiders.
And by the end of the series, Katara grows to be a splendid waterbender, and as
we see in her final battle, she’s able to think on her toes, adapt to terrain,
and think up new techniques to conquer Azula, and of course keeping family at
heart when she saves Zuko, a fitting end for her character development.
“You messed things up in a very special way.”
-Piando, Sokka’s Master (S3E4)
-Piando, Sokka’s Master (S3E4)
And if Katara is the one who embodies the element of community
better than any other member, then what of the other ways of water, change?
Well, in enters Sokka, the element of change (oh god the way I’m saying it
makes it sound like the elements of harmony, okay anyways). Sokka on the surface and at the start doesn’t seem like
much, being the one non bender of the group, and the comic relief, you’d be
quick to write him off as the least important of the characters. But really,
you couldn’t be more wrong, as Sokka’s character receives very great
development throughout the series. While Katara is a waterbender with many
earthbender traits, Sokka is a waterbender with many traits of a firebender.
For while Sokka might not be strong like Katara, that doesn’t mean he’s still
not going to try his best and give it his all. As we see in The Avatar Returns, Season 1 Episode 2,
in Sokka’s first encounter with the Fire Nation, even though he’s far
outnumbered, Sokka charges in head first ready to give it his all. Sokka is
passionate, the surest sign of a firebender.
But
more than that, Sokka has the ways of change inside him more than anyone. For
Sokka is the character who leads tons of different jobs in the group, he
organizes the plans, he does the talking and experimenting, the mechanical
building, and he even rises up to be a leader by the end of the series. Really
the only member to do lots of different roles for the team is Katara, the other
waterbender, how about that. But getting back to Sokka, the most important part
about Sokka’s character is that, Sokka is original.
Sokka’s
originality has always been present throughout the series, often in the form of
his very out there thoughts and accusations, or in the form of the hilarious
things he attempts doing and odd situations he gets himself into. What’s
brilliant about Sokka’s character though is that his humorous side we all laugh
it isn’t just there to be funny, it’s actually part of his character. Very
often in stories we have characters acting out of character or sometimes out of
the logic of the show in order to be funny, but this doesn’t happen much with
Sokka. Sokka is actually an open minded guy who loves trying new things and
interacting with the world by means of his crazy own original ways, and this
coupled with his ability to act before thinking puts him in many hilarious
situations that really drive the show’s humor, and it works beautifully. On top
of that he of course has the usual sarcastic and overreacting archetypes to
help, but it’s his qualities that make him him
that really allow Sokka to shine.
For
while Sokka’s unique antics are almost always used for humor, we see them used
a few times in serious metaphorical ways. An example is what I think is Sokka’s
best moment, Sokka’s Master, Season 3
Episode 4. In this episode we see Sokka take up fighting, a skill with
practical implications that could prove to help him a lot. Only unlike most
students, Sokka does things in his own new way, he changes the way one might
think of doing sword fighting and crafting. He makes his signature in a unique
way, he has his sword built from a meteor, and in the climactic moment, he uses
dust to blind his opponent, a move we’d not really seen in the series ever, it
was brand new.
And as
we see, Sokka’s methods come in handy quite often. In The Drill, Season 2 Episode 13, it was his thinking that allowed
the team to devise a plan to destroy the great drill with a single blow. In The Day of Black Sun, Season 3 Episodes
10 and 11, Sokka is the one who changes and decides to lead the attack, and
devises the plan to battle, and again the plan to go and try and defeat the
Fire Lord in the caves. Often when quick thinking needs to be done, Sokka is
always the one who does it. He’s able to think on his feet in a way the others
can’t, and he’s able to change his methods and adapt very quickly and
accurately, and this embodies change perfectly for the waterbenders.
However,
this behavior coupled with his passionate side brings Sokka a bit of a
superiority complex that can give him trouble with concepts that are foreign to
him, and this coupled with his behavior to jump into situations without
thinking leads to much of Sokka’s greatest mistakes. In The Library, Season 2
Episode 10, he wanted to know the day of the eclipse so bad that he risked
being trapped in that library forever for it. In The Boiling Rock, Season 3
Episodes 14 and 15, he wanted to go to the toughest Fire Nation prison with
just him and Zuko, and somehow planned to get out and back. But most
importantly, we see this in The Kyoshi
Warriors, Season 1 Episode 4, in which Sokka has trouble accepting that
girls can be warriors just as much as boys can, perhaps as a result of growing
up in the Water Tribe in which all the men left to fight and the women stayed
behind. However, by the end of the episode, Sokka has usually got it covered.
Sokka’s waterbending side allows him to think quick on his feet, a great
compliment for his passionate side, so he’s usually able to get out of tough
situations okay, and generally with some humor to it too.
But
there’s another side to Sokka that becomes more apparent throughout the series,
and that is a strong want of community. We learn that this stems from Sokka
losing his Mother and Father at a young age, and that perhaps that loss creates
a hole in him that he wants filled by having a big group of friends and a big
community. And as luck would have it, Sokka seems to have the worst luck with
regards to that.
We
first see this in The Kyoshi Warriors,
Season 1 Episode 4, in which Sokka befriends Suki, and doesn’t like leaving her, as
it saddens him, showing that separation in general is a troubling thing for
him. We don’t see Katara act like this 2 episodes later in Imprisioned when she must say good bye to the earthbenders she saved, showing that it really is a Sokka thing. And again in Bato of the Water Tribe, Season 1
Episode 15, we see Sokka reunited with someone from The Southern Water Tribe,
and want to travel with him and expand his community, but alas, things don’t
work out again and they are forced to part, and it saddens him greatly. And then the culmination of this is
the Season 1 finale, in which Sokka meets Princess Yue, and sadly, loses her
forever.
All
this separation really changes Sokka in Season 2, though quite subtlety. As we saw in The Swamp, Season 2 Episode 4, Sokka still thinks about Yue, and perhaps
has great regret for it. And after so much separation, when he’s finally
reunited with an old friend, Suki, we see in The Serpent’s Pass, Season 2 Episode 12, how the separation has
clearly gotten to him. He again becomes clingy and overprotective to his close
ones, like he was at the very start of the series with The Southern Water
Tribe.
The
climax of all these developments for Sokka and separation lead up to The Guru, Season 2 Episode 19, in which
Sokka is finally reunited with his father after all those years, and then
tragically, has to leave him again. But the key to Sokka here, that I think
shows his development, is his reaction to him having to leave. You can see he’s
sad about it, and is going to miss his dad, but he’s not clingy, he doesn’t
question why he has to leave and if he’ll see his father again like he did with
Suki in both The Kyoshi Warriors and The Serpent’s Pass, he’s become
accepting that these things happen, and more importantly, accepted that
separation isn’t the end, and he doesn’t have to let it get him down.
Sokka
has a special relationship with his father, and I think in many ways his
development is exactly like that of his father. For was their Dad happy to
leave his only children at The Southern Water Tribe? Of course not, but as
Sokka does in The Guru, he doesn’t
cling to them, and accepts that that’s simply how things are, and doesn’t let
it cause him much grief.
This
leads to Season 3 where we see a wonderful arc for the Water Tribe family, between
separation and reunion. Sokka and his father go through a great change, they’re
together at the start of Season 3, separate after Episode 1, reunited in Episode
10, separated again in Episode 11, reunited once again in Episode 15, separated another time in Episode 16, and finally reunited again in the very last episode. There’s a
constant change between the contact the 2 of them have, but despite all that,
you never see either of them show a huge amount of grief and sadness despite
the separation. I think the cause of this comes from a realization those in the
Water Tribe have, that being that, no matter how far apart you are from
someone, that doesn’t mean you still can’t be a close family, and that your
bonds will suddenly break.
The
Serpent’s Pass is again critical to Sokka’s development, because it’s him
accepting that his close ones will be okay on their own away from him. It’s
Sokka accepting that the family will be okay, and that no matter what happens
they’ll be able to stick together. This is a big realization I think for those
who believe strongly in change, since when you change so much, separation is
inevitable. Learning to accept it, and that even despite the change you can
still be family, I think is the way to grow, and we see that development
perfectly in Sokka’s character as he grows to accept and love his community through whatever change they go through, as a wonderful waterbender.
And now that I have covered all the essential elements and
parts of Water in the Avatar Universe, let us conclude by taking a look at the
whole package, or rather, Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. For Season 1
isn’t just called Water for show, of all 3 Seasons, none holds the traits of
Water more than Season 1.
Change
is the element of Water, and is most apparent in Season 1. In Season 1, we see
our heroes go to tons of different locations and places, and see more change
between episodes than we do in the other seasons. In Season 2, the entire time
is spent in the Earth Kingdom learning about the ways of Earth. In Season 3,
the entire time is spent in the Fire nation learning about the ways of Fire. In
Season 1 however, our heroes go to the Water Tribes, as well as the Earth
Kingdom, and Fire Nation. What’s more, waterbending isn’t even all we learn
about. We learn about Firebending in The
Deserter, Season 1 Episode 16, and even a little about Earth in Imprisoned. No element was better to
start off with then Water, because it allowed us to see so much of the world
and its characters with the constant change.
The
other element of water is community, but….no season really has more community
or less I think, so let's ignore that. This wraps up my large write up on the element of Water in the Avatar universe and how it is used throughout the series. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks a lot for
reading, and hope you will look forward to part 2 in which I discuss the next element; Earth.
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Closing comments: Boy this took a lot longer to post then I expected, greatly apologize about that. Hoping the next one won't take as long, but I'm not so sure.........
Also, wow this doesn't feel written as smoothly as I would have hoped. This is most likely because I wrote this a while ago but never posted it until now. So it's not as neatly written and organized as my other recent write ups, apologies for that, but the next ones will be much better in that regard, hope you look forward to it!
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