#Katara deserved better

[sapphic-agent]

The fact that LOK fans can complain that Korra is being screwed over in the upcoming show but then get pissy when we point out how Katara was screwed over in LOK is wild. Do y'all not see the hypocrisy?

Coming from someone who adores Korra and agrees. Stop defending what they did to Katara. They literally gave the cabbage man a statue over her

[liliacviolet]

I know that a big part of Sokka's arc was to become a leader and he obviously proved that he can be one

But look at my girl Katara. She's exactly like her dad

She was born to lead. She went out of her way to prove that she can be known for more than healing and she just ended up being recognized as one

She is also a master waterbender, but I guess that's not important enough to get a statue

[sokkastyles]

Like idk what it is with the incels in the katara tags today. Is it because it's mother's day? Don't y'all have a woman in your life who you can thank for letting you live in ignorance?

[oxyintelligent]

People say “I don’t ship Zutara because if Zuko and Katara got married, Katara would end up like this” and then they describe exactly how Katara ended up after she married Aang

[fangoeshere]

Something I find interesting is that even though Bryke reduced Katara to a mom and a healer, they couldn't even do that right.

Katara is a mom. What was her relationship like with her kids? How did her kids feel about her? Was she a good mom? Who knows? Bryke didn't care enough to address it. Everything about her kids revolves around Aang and his bad parenting. What about her grandkids? Well she has no relationship with them. They barely know her.

Katara is a great healer (instead of great waterbender). Are we shown how great her skills have gotten? Nope! She fails every time she tries to heal someone on-screen just to show how bad the affliction is.

So Katara was there to serve as a trophy wife and baby machine for Aang, and once she served that purpose, Bryke didn't give a damn about her. She has no known accomplishments in her adult life (banning bloodblending doesn't count because it didn't accomplish anything). And after Aang dies, she's just a sad, lonely widow.

[longing-for-rain]

Anyone else notice how Katara says “I have healing abilities” instead of “I am a healer” because she didn’t want to be defined as a healer but as a Master and warrior first?

[azula-hates-men]

the reason why i'll never take the argument that "fire lady katara disempowers katara" seriously is because in canon she is reduced to being aang's wife and the mother of his children, which actively disempowers her and a lot of the fics i've read with the fire lady katara headcanon have her being involved in politics which demonstrates that for the most part, zutara shippers care more about empowering katara than -GUNSHOTS.

[lady-iskra]

I can’t get over the fact that Bryke decided Katara should believe she deserves no thanks in The Promise. I mean, they literally made her feel guilty for being uncomfortable spending the night with her bfs groupies fangirls.

I’ve seen people claim that Aang was oblivious to this. Don’t they get what this is about? His obliviousness doesn’t even matter. Katara's feelings are valid no matter what, and talking about it would have been the only healthy thing to do.

And don’t get me started on those who insist that this shows how both of them had grown since Book 1... This is no growth to me. It seems like Katara, who has always been vocal about her feelings, learned in this one year of her relationship to repress them instead. Either to avoid conflict altogether or because she's been told to 'control herself'. And unfortunately, this is the reality for so many women in RL.

If this is Bryke’s idea of a healthy relationship, I’m actually so glad that Zutara isn’t canon. They could’ve easily made up for the forced K@taang endgame in ATLA by showing a relationship where both sides are validated equally, but instead we got this bs.

If this wasn’t already a bad enough example for girls and young women of what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like, Bryke took it even further: They made the very girls who openly flirted with Aang in front of his girlfriend the official Air Acolytes. In other words, unless Katara and Aang are off on their next adventure, they are surrounded by them almost 24/7.

Yeah, that’s right. Just keep smiling, Master Katara Avatar’s girl.

I mean, what does her life look like surrounded by those Aang-worshiping girls and her boyfriend, who remains oblivious? Constantly smiling, acting as though she doesn't hear the obvious advances happening right in front of her? Ignoring the catty comments directed at her by some of them? And, in general, adjusting to her boyfriend's—later, husband's—life while forgetting her own ambitions? Now, we could argue that she wouldn't stay with Aang if she eventually realizes that she has put up with too much and lost herself. But, I think, we all know that lifelong relationships like this exist in RL.

[azulasminion]

I noticed Katara does not canonically have any female friends her AGE Suki and Yue are right there but she barely have any strong connections with them because they obviously only exist to be her brothers love interests.

And the girls she do meet her around her age are either girls obsessed with aang (aang’s fan club) or tried to kill her Azula Ty Lee and Mai)

And every other girl is pitted against her or pop up for a moment to never be seen again

And in the comics Katara has no friends other than her brother and her boyfriend (she barely interacts with Toph)

It such a miss opportunity to have Suki and Katara talk about how the war made them grow up too fast

Suki being a kyoshi warrior as such young age and had to be a leader to other young girls and Katara having to be the caretaker after their mother was killed not just to her family but towards the other village kids after the men left for war.

They should had a conversation about that with each other

[theweeklydiscourse]

We’re going through this phase of fandom right now where people willfully ignore the sexist implications of female characters being shafted into housewife/mother roles or disempowered by the end of their stories. If you dare to criticize such writing decisions, you will be accused of sexism and be hounded for not “respecting their choices” as though these characters are actual people and not tools of storytelling. As if the cliche of female characters “sacrificing” their powers or having them stripped away exists in a vacuum and isn’t influenced by any larger cultural factors.

They’ll say: “Not every character has to be a girlboss!!” Or “Let women be soft and traditional!!” As if that’s some revolutionary way of thinking and not the norm. It’s an extension of choice feminism, dismissing any dissent about the quality of the narrative to make it make sense and avoid the uncomfortable truth. Diminishing the agency of female characters and cramming them into traditional roles is a common occurrence in many stories, and we should be allowed to criticize them without being silenced.

[beifong-brainrot]

I need a gun because how is Katara not winning by a landslide

Katara helped Raise Korra, train her in her first element, incorporating not only combat techniques, but also valuable skills and aspects of their culture like healing. She went on to oversee Korra's training even after she graduated to the other elements, and when she saw that Korra was losing steam, she intuited that Korra needed to leave. She encouraged her to do so, and I know that meant a lot to Korra. Especially as everyone else insisted on handling Korra and trying to control her (even with good intentions), Katara was the one who encouraged Korra to take her destiny into her own hands.

Katara : Aang's time has passed. My brother and many of my friends are gone. It's time for you and your generation to take over the responsibility of keeping peace and balance in the world. And I think you're going to be a great Avatar. Korra : [Hugs Katara.] Thank you. Katara: [Close-up of Katara's face, still smiling with her eyes closed.] Goodbye, Korra.

Katara was there from day fucking one, and her and Korra's bond is a treat to observe. Its also so visible in how Korra carries herself, her values and opinions, that Katara had a huge part in shaping the person Korra is. They're both confident, strong women with a firm belief in their ideals, and a burning desire to help others.

Korra: But I couldn't just sit by and do nothing. It's my duty to help people.

And this is all not even getting into the fact that Katara helped Korra walk again, healing her physically and starting her on her mental health journey. Without Katara, Korra wouldn't have even been able to make it to Toph!

And this still remains one of the most powerful scenes in the entire Avatar franchise to me. It is such a wonderful crowning of Katara's core character traits- hope and resilience. That stubborn, unyielding faith in the good in the world and belief that things will get better because you will make it so- this scene reminded me why Katara is my favourite character in atla, and how important she is to both shows.

This scene is also so wonderful about Korra's character, and I know so many people struggling with mental issues resonated with her here. And I know that Katara's words meant a lot to them, as they did to me and to Korra.

Also, I just adore that Katara's necklace seems to have Raava's pattern on it, it's just such a cool detail and it really makes sense for these two to be symbollicaly intertwined in Korra's story.

And not to discredit Toph, because there is some merit to be found in her time with Korra, and it is ultimately what helped Korra heal. But also beating up a 20 year old for a few weeks, not too long after said 20 year old was paraplegic seems like a steep price for a few nuggets of wisdom.I also have personal gripes with how this part of the show was handled but thats neither here nor there.

[sapphic-agent]

"i lOvE kAtARa bUt-" Shut the fuck up.

First of all, I promise this person doesn't love Katara. They're probably one of those people who like Katara when she's being mature and caring, but hate her the second she's flawed at all. Second of all, this is what I mean when I say people judge Katara unfairly.

Self-centered? Really? ALL OF THE GAANG WERE SELF-CENTERED. Toph being self-centered was a literal plot point in The Chase. Aang was constantly putting his own fun over everything else. Sokka literally grew up self-centered because Katara was doing all the chores that he didn't have to.

Because guess what, they're teenagers! Singling out Katara for being self-centered is such bullshit. Especially because there are way more moments of her being more concerned with others than herself

[threalcrabbysamantha]

A second comic from this universe. To be continued…

I’ve always wanted to explore how Katara feels about the whole situation with Aang more, since the show doesn’t actually give her much space in that area. This is going to be in the Zutara Canon Universe (the ZCU), though, so there will also be a lot of Zutara.

(I also really feel strongly that Sokka would be very pro Zuko x Katara but also…he’s sooo practical, I think he’d give her some misguided advice.)

[azural83]

Katara has no personality beyond being meek and passive,sokka doesn't have his feminist arc,suki is a simp,and now toph is 'feminine'

The writers strongly disagree with the anti misogyny message of the og it's embarrassing

[forevermore05]

Katara's storyline and ending are so many WOC's worst nightmares.

Ending up as a yes-man

Raising children alone even while married

Being kissed without her consent (twice)

Being old and alone, with her grandkids not recognizing her

Not given credit for her contributions to society

Not bending into her old age

Being parentified at a young age

Coddling her partner which led to huge problems

Also, want to mention I HATE that Katara was parentified, but what I hate even more is when people dismiss her efforts entirely and give it to Sokka. The fact when women do these things it is seen as the norm but when men do it is Oscar-worthy. She deserves all her flowers.

Me being a Zutara shipper does not make my points invalid.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

The tragedy of Katara’s parentification

Sokka and Katara were both parentified, and it’s a profoundly life-changing thing for both of them. One of the saddest things in ATLA, though, is how Sokka sort of got to outgrow parentification, but Katara never did.

Sokka’s told to be the man. The provider, the protector. He’s not so good at the former (his hunting failures are a consistent source of comic relief), and he takes failures of the latter very, very hard. He doesn’t manage to save Yue, and that wrecks him. After Yue, he becomes extremely protective of Suki in a way that’s borderline offensive to her. He’s willing to do anything to protect his friends and his family, including something as irresponsible as breaking into the Boiling Rock. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sokka is the only one of the Gaang who unambiguously kills. The rest of them may technically have clean hands because of cartoon logic, but Combustion Man is very dead, and Sokka is the one who killed him. We don’t know how he feels about it, because the show never goes there, but I have a pet theory that Sokka is so uncharacteristically (remember he was team “leave Zuko to freeze to death”) against Katara confronting Yon Rha in The Southern Raiders because he’s the only who knows what killing feels like and wants to protect Katara from it.

But by the end of the show, Sokka’s in a place where he can start to let go of his need to protect. Objectively, all his friends are unbelievably powerful and can take care of themselves, including his sister and his girlfriend. Suki is the one who saves him in the final battle, representing not only a reversal of his initial cartoonish misogyny, but also demonstrating that he is worthy of protection. And of course, he and his friends saved the world, so there isn’t really an enemy that he has to protect them from anymore. Sokka’s loved ones create the conditions under which his parentified behaviour is no longer necessary. Sokka would still have to take the first step to stop seeing himself as the one who has to lay his life on the line, but at least it’s possible for him.

But not Katara.

Katara had to take on the mom role after their mother was murdered, which meant she was responsible for domestic labour and emotional support. Sokka says in The Runaway that her role was to keep the family together. Unlike protection, that’s always a full time job regardless of the war. We see Katara spending more screen time than anybody cooking, getting food, mending, and generally doing women’s work. We see Katara giving everyone emotional support, including strangers and her enemy. We see Katara putting aside her own discomfort and her own hurt in The Desert because if she falls apart, they all die. Nobody ever showed her that she doesn’t need to be the only one who cooks, or that somebody else can be responsible for the emotional wellbeing of her friends, or that — god forbid — someone else can actually be responsible for her emotional wellbeing.

That’s why I never cared for the Ka/taang argument of “he teaches her to be a kid again!” Putting aside the fact that Katara ends up taking care of Aang a lot more as the series goes on, the whole tragedy of parentification is that you can never again be a child. That part of your childhood, your god-given right, is robbed from you. It is extremely precious and important to still be able to be a kid, but breaking free of parentification is not about seeing yourself as a kid. It’s about breaking free of being responsible for everyone’s feelings and behaviours.

For Katara, that responsibility is not problem of perception, but of reality. Unlike Sokka, who was told and shown that his loved ones are capable of protecting themselves, Katara has zero reason to believe that her loved ones are able to feed and clothe themselves and not fall apart emotionally. Between Toph and Sokka who emphatically don’t want to do this work, it all falls on Katara. Telling a parentified child that they just need to loosen up is akin to telling an overworked mother that she needs to just relax (“happy Mother’s Day! You get a break from chores, which you will catch up on tomorrow because nobody else is doing them”). It doesn’t accomplish anything if nobody creates the circumstances under which it’s possible to let go of responsibilities. A lot of Zutara fans, spanning all the way back to the early days of the fandom, like the “Momtara and Dadko” trope where Zuko also does chores. Why? Because even without the concept and language of parentification, many fans recognized that Katara’s performance of domestic and emotional labour is inequitable and probably very taxing.

Growing out of parentification is about more than just letting go of old expectations: it’s also about finding a new way to value yourself beyond the role you grew up with. I’ve said this before, but it’s very important to acknowledge that just because a kid is parentified doesn’t mean they’re actually good at being a parent. In fact, it’s probably a given that they’re not, because they’re kids performing roles that are developmentally inappropriate! Sokka remains a shit hunter; he becomes a decent fighter but he’s still miles behind his friends. A big part of healing from his parentification is finding another area — strategy, engineering, project management (what else do you call that schedule) — where he actually excels, to which he can dedicate his time and from which he can derive satisfaction and a sense of identity. For Katara, fighting for the oppressed and combat waterbending give her that. Crucially, however, Katara does not stop being a girl when she becomes a warrior. She’s still responsible for domestic and emotional labour. Unlike Sokka, whose protector duties were more or less relieved as the series went on and he found new ways to contribute to the group, Katara continued to perform her old role in addition to her new one (which is depressingly realistic btw, look up feminist theory around the concept of the second shift). Still, it’s important that she found these new ways to value herself and her contributions…

…which disappear in her adult life. Where’s adult Katara fighting for the oppressed? Where’s adult Katara enjoying her status as a master waterbender? Where’s Mighty Katara? Where’s the Painted Lady? Where’s the person who vanquished a whole Fire Lord?

What do we know about adult Katara? She’s no longer a rabblerouser or an ecoterrorist. She did not translate her desire to help the downtrodden into a political role, like being Chief or on the United Republic Council. She’s not known as the best waterbender in the world, only the best healer, even though her combat abilities are what she took the most pride in. Even as a healer, she established no hospitals, trained no widespread acolytes (except Korra, I guess?), and made no known contributions to the field.

What Katara is known for…is being a wife and a mother. The same role she was forced to take on at age 8. One which she performed for the next 80+ years.