Healing

"water"

- The great benders of the Water Tribes sometimes have this ability.

Healing is a sub-skill of Waterbending which consists in healing wounds by redirecting energy paths (or chi) throughout the body, using water as a catalyst. It was first introduced in "The Deserter".

History


After Aang ignored Jeong Jeong's warnings, he accidentally burned Katara due to lack of control over his Firebending. Seeking to soothe the pain, Katara put her hands down in a creek, only for the water around her hands to glow silvery-blue and heal her. Katara uses this ability again at the end of the episode to heal a burn on Aang's forearm after a fight with Zhao.

In the Northern Water Tribe, this ability is the only aspect of Waterbending taught to female Waterbenders, due to the traditionally patriarchal culture of the tribe. It is not known to what extent the Northern Water Tribe teaches healing to men; no male Waterbender has been shown using this ability in the series. In rare cases, a Waterbender may develop this ability without any specific training. Due to the extremely low number of Southern Water Tribe Waterbenders and the limited knowledge concerning Foggy Swamp Waterbenders, it is not known whether this skill is a Northern Water Tribe specialty or whether the skill was at one time known throughout the Water Tribes.

Limits


Physically, healing draws on the restorative properties of water to organisms such as human beings that are primarily composed of it. Though unusually strong and powerful, Waterbending induced healing cannot heal every ailment, for example, Jet's internal wounds in "Lake Laogai" or the complications associated with Princess Yue's birth. During "The Drill", it is shown that healing is ineffective in a person who has had their chi flow blocked or otherwise disrupted, Katara was unable to help a Terra Team member who had been attacked by Ty Lee.



So far, Waterbending induced healing has been shown to work in physical injuries, such as burns (Toph's feet in "The Western Air Temple" and Katara's own hands in "The Deserter"), lacerations (Hakoda's injury in "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse"), diseases brought on by severe pollution (Jang Hui villagers in "The Painted Lady"), and severe tissue damage caused by lightning bolts (Aang in "The Crossroads of Destiny" and Zuko in "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang"); it has even shown to counteract mental distress and tampering (Jet in "Lake Laogai"). The healing abilities of a Waterbender appear to be influenced by the water they use: when using a special water from the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole, Katara was able to save Aang's life after he was mortally wounded from being struck by lightning in "The Crossroads of Destiny" (though he remained in a coma for a few weeks and required follow up healing sessions to cope with the pain and be restored to full health), while using regular water only made her father strong enough to walk on his own by the next summer. It was implied by Katara that the special properties of the Spirit Oasis water could heal Zuko's scarred face. A curious fact is that after healing Aang, the oasis water disappeared, as if it had been "used up." It is not known if that is a specific trait of that water in particular or of the healing process in general, as Katara has been shown to heal without using up water multiple times and because, when used in healing, water acts as a catalyst, meaning it should not be consumed by the process.