#i think that azula had to be OP for plot purposes to make her a credible threat especially as a 14 yo girl

[did-we-imagine]

Both Azula & Katara are OP.

OTOH, neither of them is a Mary Sue. A mary sue is an overly cringey perfect character for whom the universe's rules bend (usually a youthful -teens to early 20s- fanfic author's self-insert character).

Azula & Katara's "over poweredness" doesn't come from thin air.

->Katara is shown to be a very hard worker who trains more diligently than Aang does, to the point where despite him having more natural affinity than her (debatable IMO, because I feel Aang's airbending training is probably the real reason behind him having an edge over her at first, rather than just sheer prodigiousness on Aang's part), she surpasses him & becomes her teacher.

->Azula is according to various fan analyses either a freak of nature thanks to fantastic genetics, or the result of very, very hard work with a pefectionist mindset. I would say she is both (look those avatar and fire lord genes were not wasted on her lol), and that she enjoys firebending and/or is more motivated to achieve its mastery than Zuko was because of positive reinforcement VS Zuko's generally more negative experience with it. (That's just a hypothesis? I have a personal HC on this, I'll leave it for another time).

With all of this said, I do believe that the one who is the most in tune/connected with her element is Toph. Idk how to explain, but Toph is indissociable from earth. She met the original masters at a very young age, is younger than everyone else, and has created a whole sub bending category (metalbending). If fire and water are elements ti be bent for Azula and Katara, then earth is literally Toph's 5th sense (it's her eyesight!).

PS: Many people sleep on Katara's genius in waterbending because Aang had an easier time at first. I think that she is fucking badass, not only for the feats anon mentioned, but because my girl is the only bender who has master all sub bendings of her elements per the show's canon and literally beats an older master (Hama?!). Toph is not shown fighting Bumi in the show, and Azula doesn't beat any extraordinary older master (Iroh/Ozai/Jeong Jeong) in the show. (That one time she burnt Iroh was more due to her intelligence, it's not the same as over powering someone in a face to face fight, though she stood her own against 5 opponents).

People be calling Azula mary sue or overpowered while hailing Katara who's the same age and speedran her way from zero to a master in under a year, surpassing Azula who was trained with the best masters since childhood.

Very ture.

[piece-of-mined]

“One-woman army” is the perfect, most succinct way to describe Katara, thank you!

I guess if I wanted to argue in good faith, you’re correct in that nearly every female character embodies the 2000s era Girlboss and it’s not just exclusive to Katara. I think a lot of it could also be attributed to needing the plot to move forward, especially in Book 3 which feels particularly rushed. (How would the plot progress if Katara didn’t have her mastery of healing, for example.)

Sure, fans will say that Katara is “flawed.” But unlike other characters who needed intrapersonal confrontations and major self-reflection with inner turmoil (Zuko, Iroh, Azula), Katara was never forced to. In fact, I think she’s the prototype for the current-year MCU female characters whose only limitation was that darn heckin’ Patriarchy preventing her from becoming the Best WaterbenderHealerBloodbender in history. She might be a complex character, but hardly dynamic.

Isn’t the purpose of character flaws, in a narrative sense, meant for us to see how the characters take the steps to address and correct them? (Ie, for Sokka he had to be taken down a few pegs in order to temper his arrogance.)

The commentary to OPs post transported me back to my Harry Potter fandom days where and overwhelming amount of fans stated that Harry would be dead and Voldemort would have remained undefeated had it not been for Hermione doing all the work. It makes me question if that’s just flawed writing to have one character responsible for all of the protagonist’s successes, or it’s just a misinterpretation by the fans who desperately want their self-insert Girlboss to never experience failure.

(Don’t get me started on my thoughts on Zutara vs Kataang and how the former does a better job of actually addressing Katara’s flaws and forcing her to mature and grow.)

friendly reminder that even the cabbage merchant got a statue but katara didn’t