Hama

"water"

- They threw me in prison to rot, along with my brothers and sisters! They deserve the same! You must carry on my work!

Hama is a Waterbender who was born in the Southern Water Tribe. She was captured by the Fire Nation in their campaign to weaken the Southern Water Tribe but eventually escaped through the use of a new Waterbending technique, Bloodbending. Hama holds an especially deep grudge against the Fire Nation and its people, attempting to exact revenge whenever possible.

Early Life


In her youth, Hama was very close friends with Kanna. Over 60 years prior to the series, Hama was one of the many Waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. When she was young, the Fire Nation began raiding the Southern Tribe, systematically weakening them with hit-and-run attacks and capturing Waterbenders. Hama and her fellow Waterbenders did everything they could to resist the ruthless Firebending army and managed to freeze at least one ship into suspended ice (supposedly the same one Katara and Aang walked into in The Boy in the Iceberg). However, as the raids continued, more and more Waterbenders were captured, until Hama was the last. Finally, she too was captured and led away in chains, with Kanna watching in tears.

Discovering Bloodbending
While imprisoned by the Fire Nation, she and the other Waterbenders were completely caged and seperated from each other. The prison's air was dry, to prevent the Waterbenders from drawing water from the air. When they are given water, their hands and feet would be chained to avoid any chance of using their bending. However, each month she could feel the power of the full moon and knew that there had to be a way to escape. She eventually realized that water exists within all living things, and during the full moon she began to manipulate water in the bodies of rats that crawled into her cage. She spent years developing this technique, called Bloodbending, which could only be used with the full moon enhancing her abilities. After mastering the technique, Hama controlled one of the guards, forcing him to unlock her cage. She finally escaped after decades of imprisonment, freed by the very guards assigned to keep her locked in.



Hama later moved into a small Fire Nation village, becoming the keeper of a small inn. She used her powers to secretly abduct people every full moon, sadistically keeping them in a prison as revenge for the treatment she suffered. The disappearances caused the villagers to be afraid to go out during the full moon.

Meeting a fellow Waterbender
When Aang and his friends are camping in the woods, Hama suddenly appears (not before hearing Katara's story), offering them a safe place to stay for the night. She warns them that the woods they were camping in were unsafe and tells them that people had been mysteriously disappearing during the full moon. The group accepts her offer to stay with her during the night. The next morning, Hama and the rest of the gang went to get some supplies on a nearby town. During this time, Katara and Hama gets along very well. Soon after, Hama shows them a water tribe comb, revealing to the group that she is a Waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe but was captured a long time ago. She offers to teach Katara what she knows in order to carry on the tradition of the southern Waterbending. Katara happily agrees to learn, wanting to know more about her tribe's cultural heritage.



The next day, she teaches Katara a series of techniques for Waterbenders to obtain water in a foreign land. She first demonstrates that it is possible to pull water out of thin air. She tells her to keep an open mind and that there's water in places she never thinks about. She then leads Katara to a garden filled with fire lilies and tells her that water can even be drawn from living things. She demonstrates this by harvesting the water from the flowers around them and using it to slice through a rock. However, drawing water from the flowers dries and kills them. While Katara is amazed by the demonstration, she feels dejected that the fire lilies were destroyed. Hama dismisses her concerns quickly, telling her that they were simply flowers and that a Waterbender in a foreign country has to do what they must to survive. She then tells Katara that she has one more technique to teach: one that can only be used during the full moon. When Katara expresses hesitance due to the rumors of disappearances, Hama reassures her, stating that two master waterbenders under a full moon should be able to handle anything.



That night, Hama leads Katara into the forest and tells her about the technique of Bloodbending. Horrified by the idea of controlling another person's body, Katara refuses to learn Bloodbending. Hama argues with her, stating that it doesn't matter whether she wants to learn it or not and tells her that the power to use it exists either way. She says that they must have vengeance on the Fire Nation for trying to wipe out their entire culture. The outburst leads Katara to realize that Hama has been causing the villagers to disappear, but Hama angrily states that the people of the Fire Nation deserve the same treatment that they gave to her and all the southern Waterbenders. Hearing this causes Katara to adamantly refuse to learn Bloodbending and to try to stop Hama from further terrorizing the town. Hama uses the technique to temporarily force Katara into submission. However, Katara quickly regains control of her body, reminding Hama that she draws power from the full moon as well, and also stating that her Waterbending is more powerful than Hama's. The two begin to battle, each drawing water from the grass, the trees surrounding them, and the air. Both combatants demonstrate their mastery over waterbending, but after a furious fight, it becomes obvious that Katara is the superior bender. Aang and Sokka arrive, having found and released Hama's prisoners, determined to stop her. Hama turns the tables on them and uses Bloodbending to control the two, forcing them to attack Katara and then each other. Katara is then forced to use Bloodbending to subdue Hama and protect Aang and Sokka. Toph arrives with the other villagers, who handcuff Hama and take her away, vowing to imprison her forever. Hama remarks that her work is done, as Katara has already willingly used Bloodbending and laughs as she is dragged off, leaving Katara in tears. Her ultimate fate after being re-captured is unknown.

Abilities
Hama is a very powerful and creative Waterbender, and along with Katara, is one of the only two living Waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe. She is also the only remaining master of the Southern Style, as Katara was taught at the North Pole. Hama is very knowledgeable in her art, and is able to create shields and projectile streams of water easily. In addition, when no large source of water is around, Hama can draw water out from plants, reducing them to withered husks, or even draw water from thin air. Hama is also the creator of Bloodbending, a technique that allows her to manipulating the liquid in other creatures' bodies, effectively controlling their actions; however, it can only be performed during the full moon, when a Waterbender's power is at its peak. This technique is extremely powerful, so much that she could easily overpower both Aang and Sokka and control them both at the same time. Nonetheless, it is ineffective against Waterbenders, who can counter her influence by also drawing strength from the moon.

Trivia

 * Hama's name was derived from the Japanese word for soldier, beach (浜), etc..
 * Hama (蛤蟆, háma) is also the Mandarin Chinese word for "toad".
 * Hama is also a Korean word which means "hippopotamus".
 * Hama is also an Indonesian word which means "pest".
 * The name "Hama" may be derived from the Greek word "Haima", meaning blood. This is probable, as Hama's character has much to do with Bloodbending.
 * The puppets Hama keeps in a closet are all identical to the people she holds prisoner. This is reminiscent of a Robert E. Howard story entitled, "The Pool of the Black Ones".
 * The structure of the story is highly similar to that of the ancient Chinese tale, "The Inn of the Donkeys", which can be found in Cyril Birch's anthology.
 * Hama's loathing of Firebenders, including innocent ones, is similar to Jet's hatred of the Fire Nation.
 * Hama is one of the few Water Tribe members not to have a "k" in her name.
 * Hama is one of the few people in the series who have piercings. This is probably due to the fact she is making herself appear Fire Nation.
 * Hama is one of few Water Tribe members to not have blue eyes. Her eyes are gray.
 * Hama is the only Waterbender to have long fingernails similar to Azula's, however, this may be because she is making herself seem Fire Nation.
 * Hama was briefly mentioned by Kanna in the movie adaptation, "The Last Airbender", as being the last Waterbender in the South Pole until the Fire Nation came and took her. This foreshadows a potential appearance in the third movie.
 * It is unknown of what her views on the Avatar are as she never got to know Aang on a personal level like she did with Katara, therefore not knowing he was the Avatar. Had she known this, she might have thought twice about killing him, as he was to be the world's savior from the Fire Nation. It might have not made a difference if she had known, as she would probably blame Aang for disappearing when the world need him the most, as the old fisherman did.
 * Another term for Bloodbending is Dark-Water Bending.
 * Hama appears to have a light skin tone, which is unusual as most people from the Water Tribe have a slightly darker skin tone.