Sokka

"water"

- I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic...

Sokka is a teenage Water Tribe warrior. Raised by his grandmother Kanna along with his younger sister Katara in the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka is the son of Chief Hakoda, who left along with all other men to fight the Fire Nation. As a result, Sokka was the oldest male in the South Pole. He assumed responsibility for the tribe until his sister discovered an Air Nomad named Aang frozen in a block of ice. When he learns that Aang is the Avatar, he is at first skeptical that a child could really save the world. As he and his sister help Aang on his quest, he begins to believe that Aang really is the only hope for peace in the world.

Despite his inability to bend, Sokka becomes the strategist of the group, constantly trying to prove himself to be a great warrior like his father. Sokka is also the "matter of fact" guy in the group and does not believe in spirit magic, and he calls it "mumbo-jumbo". Originally poor, his leadership skills improve over the series as well. His humor and his ability to organize and plan becomes imperative to the group on their travels. By the end of the series, Sokka becomes a master swordsman and finally becomes a great a warrior like his father.

Background


Sokka comes from the Southern Water Tribe. A warrior-to-be, 15 year old Sokka is a very physical person. He's very protective of his younger sister, Katara, and treasures the boomerang given to him by his father, Hakoda.

When his father left with the other men of the tribe to fight in the war, Sokka was put under his Gran Gran's care and became his tribe's last defense. He took the task very seriously, and even built a number of snow watchtowers around the village. Although Sokka has the spirit of a soldier and the courage to stand up to any enemy, at the beginning of the series he lacks the skills and technique that would make him a formidable opponent. That won't stop him from trying though, especially if his friends need help.

During his travels with Aang, he betters his skills significantly. By Book 3 he has become a very skilled fighter, leader, and strategic planner, with a sword forged from meteorite.

Boy in the Iceberg


While on a fishing expedition for their village, Sokka and Katara accidentally steer their canoe into a rip current, where it is crushed between ice flows. Sokka blames Katara for their predicament, and she begins to yell angrily about his inconsiderate behavior, gesturing emphatically as she does so. She does not realize that she is involuntarily Waterbending, causing cracks in a massive iceberg directly behind her. A large, spherical underwater portion bobs to the surface, revealing a flying bison named Appa and Avatar Aang, trapped in a state of suspended animation. Katara grabs Sokka's club and shatters the iceberg to free him. As she does so, a vertical column of bright blue light shoots up from their position into the sky like a beacon. The boy climbs out of the ice and collapses into Katara's arms. He introduces himself as Aang, an Airbender, and offers to escort them home on Appa.



After their village gets attacked by a Fire Nation ship, led by Prince Zuko, Sokka and Katara learn that Aang is the Avatar. Katara muses that they might find a Waterbending teacher at the North Pole, and Aang quickly brightens up, suggesting they learn Waterbending together. Along with Sokka, who decides to come along under the excuse of this being an opportunity to defeat Firebenders, they decide to journey together.

Kyoshi Island
Sokka, Katara, and Aang are flying on the back of Appa with Sokka indicating Aang's lack of navigational skills. Aang then lands on a small Earth Kingdom island with Sokka and Katara informing him that they have taken too many detours recently, which they cannot afford if they want to reach the North Pole. Suddenly the group is ambushed by a mysterious group of warriors. The gang is then tied to a pole and after having removed the cloth from covering Aang, Katara and Sokka’s eyes, Sokka utters a remark about how they could not have been beaten by a bunch of girls. Aang states that he is the new Avatar and gets his friends out of trouble. The group learns that they are now on Kyoshi Island. Aang and Katara enjoy a delicious meal of desserts and treats, charitably given from the town while Sokka lies on the floor, angry because he was bested by females. Sokka goes to the Kyoshi Warriors and he is asked if he wants to show off some of his 'moves'. He tries to demonstrate his techniques but is brought down by Suki. He simply states that he was going easy on her and ultimately failed again being tied arm to leg and swung to the ground. He then leaves out of embarrassment.



Sokka returns to the training area and bows before Suki, admitting he would be honored to be trained by her. She makes sure he would not care to be trained by a girl. He accepts that he said some inappropriate things before. She agrees if he undergoes all their traditions. The scene skips to him into a Kyoshi warrior outfit. He complains about being in a dress and Suki calls it a symbol of honor and bravery. Aang then walks by, giggling, and says, "Hey Sokka...nice dress." Suki begins training Sokka in the art of Kyoshi style fighting. After a little while of training, Sokka believes he is starting to understand the form but inevitably chucks his weapon out the door. Suki laughs, saying it is not about strength. It is about using your opponent's force against them and to wait until the right moment to strike. Sokka then knocks down, Suki, who embarrassed, says it was on purpose. Then she admits she was knocked down and asks him to try it again.

After the town is attacked by Fire Nation, Aang decides that if they leave so will the Fire Nation. Suki urges Sokka to hurry and leave but he says he would not leave her; at least without an apology. She asks why and he explains that he treated her like a girl instead of a warrior. Suki then kisses Sokka, telling him that she is a warrior but a girl, too. Aang, Katara and Sokka leave as the town is being set on fire and Zuko and his followers pursue him again.

Bato of the Water Tribe
The group meets up with an old friend from their Water Tribe village named Bato who had been injured and left behind. They head back to his current home in an Abbey of nuns who make perfumes and cures. They spend so much time reminiscing, that they neglect Aang. They suddenly start talking about how Katara and Sokka might be able to visit their father Hakoda, and that a message is arriving soon about their Hakoda's whereabouts. Aang runs off feeling hurt that Katara and Sokka might leave him to go find Hakoda instead of helping him.

While Aang is contemplating their possible departure, a messenger arrives with the news from Hakoda and instead of giving it to them, Aang hides it. Meanwhile, Zuko is busy relaxing with his uncle when a bounty hunter named June storms on his ship, finding a stowaway on board. Zuko hires her to find the Avatar using the scent of Katara's necklace on her Shirshu in exchange for the damages to his ship.

The next day, Bato takes Sokka on a coming-of-age ritual called "ice dodging." Instead of ice, though, they use jagged rocks. With the help from Katara and Aang, they pass the test and all receive a ceremonial mark for their wisdom, bravery and trust. But when Aang receives the mark of trust he can't contain himself any longer and gives the message to Katara and Sokka. A furious Sokka and a disappointed Katara decide to go off to find Hakoda and leave Aang to go to the North Pole on his own. Aang herded Appa back to the beach.



June, Iroh and Zuko burst into the abbey, having just missed the others, and continued the trail. The mother superior immediately ran to Aang seeking for his help. Aang realized that Zuko was after his friends.

Soon down their path, Bato, Katara and Sokka hear a wolf cry. Katara suggests that the wolf is hurt, but Bato tells them that the wolf has been separated from its pack. He then explains how he knows this by telling about when he was wounded in battle and left in the Abbey to heal by his fellow Water Warriors, feeling the loneliest he has ever felt. This story reminds Sokka of when Hakoda left to fight the war, and he told Sokka that he couldn't come along and fight with him. Hakoda tells Sokka, "Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most. And for you right now, that's here, protecting your sister." Sokka and Katara realize their mistake and turn around to apologize and travel with Aang.

As they are walking back to find Aang, Zuko, June, and Iroh appear on the Shirshu. They quickly subdue them. June comments that its no wonder Katara left Zuko as she's too pretty for him. A furious Zuko questions them about Aang's whereabouts but they do not know as they were separated. Even though the Avatar is not with Sokka and Katara, the beast finds a new scent; the message that Aang had. They head back to the Abbey as Aang came to the rescue.

Aang battles Zuko among the rooftops, while Appa takes on June and the Shirshu. Aang manages to get Katara's necklace back but is soon trapped by the Shirshu and Zuko.

Meanwhile Sokka and Katara are revived by some perfume given to them by the nuns and suddenly Sokka has an idea. The nuns pour out all their perfumes and Katara starts Waterbending them all around. Since the Shirshu can only "see" with its nose, it gets confused and starts lashing at random people. When Zuko and June are paralyzed by the beast, Iroh feigns paralysis to get close to June and holds her in his arms as he lies on the ground. Aang and the others use the opportunity to escape.

Later the kids are flying on Appa. Aang asks what the plan is now. They tell him they're going to get him to the North Pole because he's their family. Aang gives Katara back her necklace. Katara goes over and kisses Aang on the cheek. Aang blushes and twiddles with his thumbs to hide his face as they all fly off into the sunset.

The Waterbending Master
After Sokka complains that Appa is flying too slowly, Aang defensively replies that they should all climb on Sokka's back and he could fly them to the North pole. Katara tries to soothe the situation remarking that they are all tired and cranky as a result of flying for two days straight. Just as Sokka is voicing his doubts about finding the Northern Water Tribe, the group is attacked by Northern Waterbenders who lead them to their Water Tribe. While touring the city by gondola, Sokka sees Princess Yue for the first time and falls in love with her.



Outside the great palace of the Northern Water Tribe Sokka and Katara are celebrated as family from the Southern Tribe, and Aang is honored as a special guest. The 16th birthday of the Princess, Yue, is also celebrated, coming of marrying age. Sokka is far more interested in the food at the banquet and Princess Yue who is sitting next to him. He breaks an awkward silence by telling Yue that back in his tribe he is "kind of like a prince himself". This statement is heard by Katara, who derisively asks him what he is the prince of. Embarrassed, Sokka replies that he is the prince of a lot of things and that he is in the middle of a conversation. (Ironically, since Sokka's father is chief of the Southern Water Tribe, one could say that he is in fact the "prince" of the Southern Water Tribe. Though it is not specified what is the hierarchy of the Southern Tribe and whether or not he will succeed his father as head of the tribe when he dies.) He tells Yue that he will be in town for a while and asks if she would like to "do an activity" with him. Sokka makes plans with Princess Yue to meet on a bridge above the canal.

Sokka meets with Princess Yue on the bridge, presenting her with a carved fish, which she mistakes for a bear. However, Yue tells Sokka that she made a mistake inviting him there and runs away, leaving Sokka looking devastated and causing him to throw his carving into the water out of anger. Later, when the gang meet in their living quarters, they are all unhappy with how their day went. Sokka is confused and upset by Yue's mixed messages and Aang and Katara are unhappy that Katara is not allowed to learn Waterbending. Sokka suggests that at night, Aang can teach Katara everything he has learned in the day.

Master Pakku tells Katara that her grandmother left an arranged marriage to him to begin her life in the South Pole. Katara understands that she refused to let her tribe's customs rule her life. This revelation makes Princess Yue burst into tears and run away. Sokka follows her and finds her on the bridge they met at. Yue weeps softly while Sokka tells her he wants nothing from her, but to tell her that she is beautiful and that he never would have thought she would even notice a guy like him. Yue tells him that he doesn't understand, but Sokka believes he does: she is a princess and he is just a Southern Tribe peasant. He turns to leave, but Yue kisses him, making Sokka happy but extremely confused. Yue explains that she has also fallen for Sokka, but they cannot be together, and not for the reason Sokka thinks. She sadly pulls down the furs about her neck to reveal a betrothal necklace, explaining that she is engaged to Hahn. She apologizes and leaves Sokka alone on the bridge.

Siege of the North


As Admiral Zhao begins to launch his attack against the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka takes Princess Yue on a ride on Appa, during which they nearly kiss. Soot begins to fall and Sokka recognizes it from when his tribe was attacked; he knows that a massive attack is approaching.

The Northern Water Tribe prepares to defend itself from invasion and Sokka volunteers for a dangerous mission where several warriors will be forced to infiltrate the Fire Nation fleet. As the walls of the prestige city begin to fall, Aang feels duty bound to prevent the same fate that befell the Air Nomads and the Southern Water Tribe. However, he finds that against such a vast fleet, he does not stand a chance and retreats in exhaustion.

After some critical remarks from Sokka during a briefing (mainly about the Fire Navy uniforms), Chief Arnook decides to have him advise Hahn, the leader of the infiltration mission and Yue's betrothed. Hahn turns out to be a complete jerk, or a "self-absorbed weasel", as Sokka puts it, with a greater interest in rising in rank than Yue herself. The two get into a fight and Arnook pulls Sokka off the mission. A disgruntled Sokka is left behind until Arnook reveals the real reason behind the act: he wants Sokka to protect Yue.

After Aang came out of the Spirit World, he notices that he had been taken by Zuko. Just then, he was saved by the timely arrival of Katara, Sokka, and Princess Yue on Appa. Zuko and Katara have a rematch but due to the moon being out this time, Katara easily defeats him in a matter of seconds. Aang takes the unconscious Zuko with him, despite some disagreement from Sokka and Katara.



While returning to the oasis, Zhao has already captured the white koi fish. Promptly, the moon glows red, creating a lunar eclipse and color seeps from the world. Immediately, the fighting Waterbenders were rendered helpless. Zhao is making names for himself until Momo jumps on his head. After Zhao attempts to get the lemur off, Momo rejoins the group. However, Zhao suddenly throws fire at the koi, killing it. The moon vanishes altogether from the sky, leaving complete darkness in the world. Iroh and Katara attempt to revive the Moon Spirit, but it is too late. Aang suddenly enters the Avatar state and fuses with the Ocean Spirit, turning into a giant fish-like creature of water. In this state, Aang scours the entire Northern City and massacres the Fire Nation's invasion force, while leaving the citizens of the Water Tribe, who are bowed in worship, unharmed in a manner similar to the Passover.

Princess Yue, who at birth was saved from death by the moon spirit, sacrifices herself to give the white koi the moon spirit that was inside her. She becomes the reincarnation of Tui, the Moon Spirit, and gives Sokka one final kiss as she fades away and restores the balance of spirits. The moon reappears and La, the Ocean Spirit, dissipates and leaves Aang on a cliff. While returning to the Oasis, La attacks Admiral Zhao and drags him into the sea. After the battle, Arnook reveals to Sokka that despite all his attempts, he had known his daughter's destiny from when the moon spirit gave her life.

Book 2: Earth


After leaving the Water Tribe boat of Master Pakku, Sokka and the others arrive in an Earth Kingdom base. Once Aang is told that the only way to win the war is to master the Avatar State, Sokka attempts to help by scaring him into the Avatar state. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. He also knocks out the general, asking, "Anyone got a problem with that?"

Later, entering the Cave of Two Lovers, he is forced to deal with annoying nomads. He also assists in the freeing of the citizens of Omashu.

The Swamp
Sokka, Katara, and Aang are flying on Appa above a giant swamp. Aang stares at the swamp in a sort of hypnotic trance and starts lowering themselves into the swamp. When Sokka starts explaining what is happening to Aang, he comes out of his "trance" and starts telling Sokka and Katara that the swamp is "calling him." Sokka tries to convince Aang that there is nowhere to land and to move on, but Aang is still interested because of what King Bumi told him about listening to the Earth. Sokka, who is being usually stubborn, says to ignore it. Aang starts to leave once Katara, Appa, and Momo start to complain about the swamp. Unfortunately, an oddly located tornado comes right toward the gang and they fall down with much force.



Aang, Katara, and Sokka are separated from Appa and Momo due to landing in different places. The trio, led by Sokka, try to find their animal friends with Sokka chopping everything in sight with his machete. Aang tells Sokka that they should be "a little nicer to the swamp." Katara agrees with Aang, as she feels some supernatural qualities in the swamp. She claims that it feels "alive." Sokka keeps chopping around anyway. Aang says that the longer they stay there, the more he thinks he shouldn't do that. Though Katara and Aang still believe something supernatural is going on in the swamp, Sokka dismisses their concerns. They later see strange glowing eyes and get a little scared. The strange thing that was looking at Aang is shown again, still unseen. This time, it grabs each of them in their sleep with its vines. They wake up and each manages to escape from the vines using their styles of fighting. The trio all end up in separate places.

While wandering the swamp by himself, Sokka thinks he sees Princess Yue. The illusion speaks to him in Yue's voice and says, "You didn't protect me." She leaves and Sokka stands there stunned. The trio is reunited and they reach the center of the swamp, which is a giant tree. Aang believes that the swamp was calling them there. All of a sudden, the giant monster who earlier had grabbed them appears. Aang and Katara finally defeat the swamp monster, who is really a Waterbender bending the water in the vines that encased him to make the monster. He says the swamp is just one big tree, stretching out its roots for miles. He also says that the whole world is one organism like the swamp. If you listen carefully, he explains, then you can hear everything breathing together because everything is connected. He goes on to explain each person's visions. In the swamp, people have visions of "people we've lost, people we've loved", though they are not really gone because everyone is connected. After the group finds Momo and Appa, they leave the Swamp.

Avatar Day


While in the Earth Kingdom village of Chin Village, the three kids learn of an annual holiday called "Avatar Day". They watch a parade with giant floats that are made to look like Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang. The trio at first believed that the festival is honoring the Avatar, but then a man torches the three floats to the loud approval of the village, who chant, "Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar!" Aang reveals himself as the Avatar, only to be arrested. While in his jail cell, the village's mayor explains to him that "Avatar Day" was formed after Avatar Kyoshi killed the village's leader, Chin the Great. Sokka then takes up the job as Aang's detective. To prove Aang's (or rather, Kyoshi's) innocence, Sokka and Katara search the village and return to Kyoshi Island to find evidence that says otherwise. Unfortunately, the evidence is useless because in these trials, the opposing sides only tell what they believe happened. Using only the two stories, the jury decides who is innocent and who is guilty; for this case, the village mayor serves as both prosecution and jury.

During Aang's trial, after hearing the village mayor's story and Aang's vague version, he is found guilty. Refusing to give up, Sokka and Katara have Aang dress up in Kyoshi's old uniform. Kyoshi manifests herself through Aang and tells the true story. Right afterwards, the town is attacked by the Rough Rhinos. The trio engages the warriors in battle and is successful in driving them away, Sokka regaining his boomerang during the battle. In an act of thanks, the mayor decides that in the future, Avatars will be honored on "Avatar Day."

The Blind Bandit


Aang and the trio go to the town of Gaoling to continue his search for someone to teach him earthbending. While searching, they hear from a pair of students about Earth Rumble VI, a Lei Tai tournament featuring several powerful Earthbenders. The boys are not very inclined to help Aang with the location until Katara uses her "feminine charm," which involves freezing them to the walls, to convince them to tell.

At the tournament, they see a powerful Earthbender named ‘The Boulder’ who defeats every challenger he comes across. Sokka completely gets into it, but Aang is not very impressed, saying that the Boulder is "just listening to his muscles". The Boulder defeats several other contenders, working his way up to the current champion, The Blind Bandit. The Blind Bandit is a blind Earthbender who happens to be Toph, a 12 year-old girl. Aang notices the Bandit's techniques, especially how she waits and listens carefully to the movements of her opponent, and realizes that she is the type of person that Bumi said would make a good earthbending teacher. After Toph helps Aang get away from kidnappers, she decides to come with them, but her father says no.

As Aang and the others get ready to leave, Toph runs up to them, saying that her father changed his mind, letting her travel with them. Sokka wisely offers to leave quickly before her father "changes his mind again." Toph is ready to go, but she wants to show Aang one thing first. Aang hops down, and she promptly launches him into a tree. Toph, declaring them even, demands to have her championship belt returned. Sokka drops the belt on her head expecting her to catch it, "forgetting" she is blind.

The Library
Each of the members of Aang's group decide to take a little "mini-vacation" as a way to unwind after all the work they've done; Sokka, on the other hand, thinks the group should be working on getting intelligence on the Fire Nation, most specifically a map for when Aang must hunt down the Fire Lord. The group meets Professor Zei, a professor at Ba Sing Se University, who tells them he is searching for a legendary library said to be in the middle of a nearby desert. The library, said to have been created by the spirit of knowledge and his fox servants, has more valuable tomes than any other place in the world. Sokka, believing he may be able to get information on the Fire Nation there, dedicates his "vacation" to finding the place.

Using Appa to fly, the group soon finds the library. They find it completely buried in the sand except for its single, highest tower. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo, and Professor Zei use a window to enter the library; Appa stays outside, of course, as does Toph, who cannot read since she is blind. Toph also mentions that, because of the desert sand, she cannot feel the vibrations in the ground as well as she normally can, making her lose her usual advantage.



When the group enters the library, they meet the spirit, Wan Shi Tong, who constructed the library; taking the form of a large owl, the spirit initially does not trust them. The spirit, apparently, dislikes the fact that humans only use knowledge to get an advantage over other humans; he brings up the last human to have discovered his library, who happened to be Admiral Zhao (Zhao mentions a library in "Siege of the North, Part II"), and believes the group only wants to get information to help them defeat their enemies (which is, of course, true). But, they convince him otherwise.

Sokka finds a burned paper that mentions "the Fire Nation's darkest day;" it has a date but no other information. It also turns out that Zhao, before leaving, apparently destroyed every other bit of information about the Fire Nation, probably to prevent exactly what Sokka and the others are trying to do. However, a fox (one of Wan Shi Tong's animal helpers) finds the group and leads them to a room dedicated to astronomy. There, a date can be entered on a stone wheel, which then shows the heavens on that particular date; when Sokka enters the date of "the darkest day," it shows a solar eclipse occurring. The group realizes that solar eclipses must weaken or take away the ability to Firebend in the same way lunar eclipses affect Waterbending; they realize they can use this information to plan an attack on the Fire Nation forces.

Soon, however, Wan Shi Tong finds out their plans and decrees that he will no longer allow humans to misuse his beloved information. He attacks the group and causes the library to begin to sink; that way, it will be completely underground forever. Aang and Sokka hurriedly try to use the astronomy room to find the next date of a solar eclipse; it turns out the next one is in a few months. They plan to give this information to the Earth Kingdom armies of Ba Sing Se to help in the war. The group then quickly escapes, except for Professor Zei, who says he would rather spend eternity in the Library than see it vanish forever; the others have no choice but to leave him. They escape before the Library vanishes into the sand; however, the episode ends with Toph telling Aang that Appa has been stolen by sandbenders.

The Desert


While traveling though the desert, the group runs low on water. Sokka finds a cactus plant with a liquid trapped inside. He and Momo, desperate for any thirst quencher, quickly drink the "cactus juice". Immediately, Sokka starts hallucinating, saying things like, "Who lit Toph on fire?" and "How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Aang creates a giant mushroom cloud out of frustration from not finding Appa. Katara and Sokka see the giant mushroom cloud from a few miles away and Sokka says, "It's a giant mushroom.... Maybe it's friendly!" followed by waving his arms back and forth and saying, "Friendly Mushroom. Mushy Giant Friend!" At night, Toph accidentally kicks a Sandbender's Sand-sailor and they use its compass to sail to a giant rock which happens to be the magnetic center of the desert. On the rock they find strange tunnels that are actually insect-buzzard hives. In the hives, Sokka claims that his head has cleared out the cactus juice, only to eat some of the "honey" he finds on the wall of the hive. They fight the insect-buzzards until the arrival of a Sandbender tribe. Toph recognizes one of them as one of the sandbenders that stole Appa, accidentally prompting Aang to go into the Avatar State and destroy all but one of the sailors.

The Serpent's Pass
After the group escapes the desert, they met a refugee family traveling to Ba Sing Se. The group helps the family to an underground ferry way that leads to the city. While there, Sokka and the others are reunited with the Kyoshi Warrior, Suki, who was there helping war refugees. Later, the refugee family's documents are stolen, so Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Suki agree to help them cross the Serpent's Pass.



As the group travels along a sheer cliff side of the pass, Suki points out Fire Nation forces patrolling the water, telling them that they are rumored to be working on a secret project. As they continue, Than falls when the ground under him crumbles. Toph saves him, but the falling rocks draw the attention of the patrol ship, which launches a fireball at them. Aang leaps into action, knocking the ball back and striking their engines. The ship returns fire, hitting the rockface above them, and sending debris falling towards Suki. Sokka pushes Suki out of the way, and Toph saves him by deflecting the rocks. Sokka is too worried about Suki's safety to be thankful to Toph for saving his life, which annoys Toph. The group runs to the shelter of an outcropping wall of rock, leaving the ship behind to tend to its damage.

That night, Sokka is becoming overprotective of Suki, insisting that she not sleep so close to the edge of the cliff in case it collapses to the water below. After he moves her sleeping mat he screams and pushes her away from her mat. She inquires what's wrong; Sokka is calm and tells her that he thought he saw a spider. Suki finds Sokka staring at the moon. Sokka explains that he's being so overprotective because of someone he lost (Yue) before at the North Pole. Suki tells Sokka about someone she cared for and lost as well, although he only went away. Sokka starts to get jealous, not realizing that she's talking about him. Suki moves in to kiss him, but Sokka, feeling guilty to kiss her in front of the moon, turns away. As the group gets ready to depart, Suki gets ready to return to her comrades, telling Sokka that she went with him to make sure that he got through safely. She tries to apologize to Sokka for coming on to him the night before, but he silences her with a kiss. When the group comes to Ba Sing Se and sees the giant drill, they turn to Sokka for ideas. Katara's words about how Ty Lee fights gives Sokka an idea to infiltrate the machine and destroy it from the inside, by hitting its pressure points. With Katara and Toph plugging up the slurry, and Aang giving the final blow, the Drill is destroyed.

Ba Sing Se
Riding the Earth rail, the group finally enters Ba Sing Se. Sokka is confident that they will easily find Appa, but the city is bigger than they imagined... much bigger. Soon after they arrive, Aang and his friends are met by Joo Dee; a cheerful, incessantly smiling woman assigned to guide them around the city. Attempts by Sokka to try and get their guide to talk about the war and a possible audience with the Earth King are invariably ignored.



Katara makes a plan to sneak with Toph into a party. Aang and Sokka eventually arrive (after Katara and Toph) at the palace and manage to get in through the side entrance disguised as servants. Aang is soon exposed as the Avatar, but he quickly smooths things over with a display of his abilities to entertain the audience, until the Earth King himself arrives. Sokka is captured and dragged away by Dai Li guards as the Dai Li bind and gag Katara and Toph with earthbending. Inside Long Feng's chamber, Sokka tries to talk about the coming solar eclipse, but is abruptly cut off by Feng. To preserve the culture and utopian life within the walls of Ba Sing Se, Feng explains, no mention of the war is permitted. It is also revealed that Feng is in charge of handling day-to-day affairs in the city, including all military matters.

In the peaceful city, Sokka is outside his element of war and battle. His boomerang has become a toy as he walks through the city. Sokka finds a haiku class full of pretty girls. While peeking through the window, enjoying the 'show', he is shoved from behind by an ostrich horse and winds up inside. While explaining the accident to the girls he accidentally rhymes in haiku. The instructor becomes upset with the intrusion and disruption of the class. She is also disgusted with the common place message his haiku presents and presents the rules of haiku to him in a much more formal tone. Sokka soon gets into a contest with the teacher, (which seems to parody a rap battle) both of whom speak only in haiku.

After each of Sokka's, the girls in the class break into giggling. After several bouts, with Sokka comically winning each one, he eventually messes up and adds an extra syllable to the final line, causing the class to become silent and hard faced. After counting the syllables and realizing his grave error, Sokka is ejected from the room by a very large guard into the street. Sokka changed his mind about liking poetry in the end.

Lake Laogai & The Earth King
At Aang's house, Sokka is attempting to draw pictures of Appa, but Aang and Katara burst in with a stack of professionally-made posters they had a printer make featuring much better pictures of the lost bison than Sokka's crude drawings. The group plans on spreading the fliers all over the city, hoping someone will have some information.

Out in the city, the gang is setting up more posters when Katara runs into Jet. He tells her that he wants to help, but Katara distrusts him and attacks. Jet deflects her attacks and tries to prove his honesty by dropping his hook swords. The others arrive, drawn by the noise, and Jet tries again to explain himself. Then Jet shows them a flier. Toph, reading Jet's heartbeat and breathing patterns, pronounces that he's telling the truth.

On their way out, the group is sidetracked when Smellerbee and Longshot happen to come across them. Katara once again turns on Jet, as he had claimed to have left the gang behind. Jet insists that he's been living alone in the city, but Smellerbee claims that he was dragged away by the Dai Li. Toph realizes they are both telling the truth, even though their stories don't match. Sokka quickly figures that Jet has been brainwashed by the Dai Li.



The group makes their way to Lake Laogai the next day and Toph quickly finds and uncovers the underwater entrance. The gang find themselves confronted by Long Feng and several Dai Li agents. A battle quickly breaks out. Jet hurls one of his hook swords at Long Feng, who dodges and retaliates with Earthbending. After dealing a grievous blow to Jet, Long Feng escapes as the others enter the chamber. Katara tries to heal Jet and realizes just how badly he was injured. Longshot, speaking for the first time in the series, tells Aang and his group that they should go and find Appa and leave Jet to Smellerbee and himself. Jet tries to assure Katara that he'll be fine, but as they leave, Toph sorrowfully says that Jet was lying.

The group rushes back to the surface and is reunited with Appa. Less than an hour after the events of "Lake Laogai," Sokka and his friends are on a small island recovering and discussing what they should do. Katara and Toph both want to leave Ba Sing Se, as they have found Appa and thus have no reason to remain there. On the other hand, Sokka wants to stay to inform the Earth King of all that is taking place within Ba Sing Se, as well as the approaching solar eclipse, as this was their entire reason for heading to Ba Sing Se in the first place. Aang agrees with him. Ultimately, the others agree to do so, and all four ride Appa back to Ba Sing Se's upper ring and manage to break into the palace, tearing their way through the Royal Guards despite a strong defense.

At the palace, Aang and his friends finally reach the Earth King's throne room. Aang goes on to explain the various events going on that the Earth King is unaware of: a war outside Ba Sing Se's walls, Long Feng and the Dai Li's conspiracy, the imprisonment of Appa, and the brainwashing of Jet and countless other individuals. The Earth King arrives at the outer wall and is shocked to see the remains of the Fire Nation's drill leading right up to and through Ba Sing Se's outer wall. The Earth King orders the Dai Li to arrest Long Feng. The two Dai Li agents accompanying Long Feng share a conspiratorial glance and then bind Long Feng's arms with metal manacles. When they return to the palace, he also agrees, after some persuasion to support Sokka's plan to invade the Fire Nation on the day of the solar eclipse (dubbed by Sokka The Day of Black Sun), when the Fire Nation will be helpless.

Father and Son Reunion


The Earth King's top generals, the Council of Five, raid Long Feng's office and discover files about every person in Ba Sing Se. They find an intelligence report giving the location of Water Tribe warriors led by Hakoda, Sokka and Katara's father.

Aang and Sokka make their way over the plains surrounding Ba Sing Se on Appa, convinced that things are finally going positively for them. Aang and Sokka land at the mouth of Chameleon Bay, where they were told that Sokka’s father Hakoda and the rest of the Southern Water Tribe Warriors are. Sokka is very nervous, but Aang tries to calm him down, and succeeds somewhat. Sokka questions Aang on his feelings towards him meeting Guru Pathik to master the Avatar State. Aang smiles, and replies that he, unlike Sokka, is not nervous in the least. He then takes off on Appa, shouting back to Sokka that they will reunite in a week.

Sokka walks into the base and is greeted with warm and welcome arms by the warriors of the Southern Water Tribe. After a very brief exchange of greetings, the warriors point him off to a tent. Sokka enters the tent, where several more warriors, including Bato and his father Hakoda, are studying a map. Hakoda looks up from the map and he and Sokka embrace happily.

Sokka, Hakoda, and the rest of the Warriors are preparing what Hakoda calls Tangle Mines. Comprised of a buoyant casing around an explosive mine, they are filled with Skunkfish and Seaweed. Upon detonation, the seaweed entangles itself in propellers of Fire Nation ships, immobilizing them. Afterwards, the stench of the Skunkfish forces the soldiers on board to abandon ship. Hakoda jokes that he has dubbed the plan, “The Stink and Sink,” to which Sokka explodes with laughter. Bato remarks dryly on how similar the father and son are.

A scouting party returns, informing the warriors of the presence of four Fire Nation ships. Hakoda quickly acts, telling Bato to finish preparing the mines and the rest of the warriors to prepare for battle. Sokka hesitates as the other warriors prepare for battle, and then asks Hakoda what he should do. In a slightly irritated, yet joking tone, Hakoda repeats pointedly that he wanted, "the rest of [the] men to get ready for battle." Sokka smiles at his father's confirmation of his coming-of-age and quickly prepares himself for the encounter ahead.

Sokka and the rest of Hakoda's warriors are finishing preparing their ships to move on. Sokka tells his father that he is going to make him proud and prove what a great warrior he is. Hakoda smiles and replies that Sokka does not have to prove himself - he has always known Sokka has been a great warrior. This heart-felt moment is brought up short by the sudden appearance of Aang and Appa. Sokka only has to look at Aang for him to realize that the situation is urgent and bids farewell to his father.

Fall of Ba Sing Se


Sokka and Aang hurry back to Ba Sing Se on Appa; as they fly along, they spot Toph, who is trying to get back to the Palace as quickly as she can. They pick her up and fly to Ba Sing Se, trying to get there quickly to see if Katara is all right. When asked if he had mastered the Avatar State, Aang lies to the others, saying that he has.

Outside the Palace, the gang discovers that there is indeed a huge underground city and decides that Toph and Sokka should go to warn the Earth King about the coup, and Iroh and Aang are sent to rescue Katara and Zuko. Sokka and Toph soon see General How, but before they can say anything, the Dai Li place him under house arrest. At that very moment, every general is arrested. The two make it into the Throne Room and they reveal to the Earth King that the girls are not Kyoshi Warriors. Upon seeking Sokka, Ty Lee starts to flirt with him, but he says that he is involved with Suki. Ty Lee does not know who Suki is, which exposes, them and Toph throws her to the side with some rocks. Mai, realizing that their identities were exposed, threw a hail of ornate shurikens at Toph, who blocked them with a wall of earth. Ty Lee begins to “fight” Sokka. However, the fighting is in vain, as Azula soon has the King at flamepoint. Sokka and Toph give up immediately and are soon disabled by Ty Lee.

Back in the Palace, Ty Lee is trying to teach Bosco the Bear how to walk on his front legs, but soon she is trapped by Toph. Toph and Sokka take a fighting stance against Mai, who in her nonchalance says to take the bear and the King reunites happily with his pet. As the Earth King, Bosco, Momo, Toph, Sokka, Katara, and Aang fly atop Appa's back over the Outer Wall and out of the city, the Earth King looks back and sadly proclaims, "The Earth Kingdom... has fallen."

Plans Ahead


When Aang awakens on a Fire Nation ship, Katara informs him about how they had returned to Chameleon Bay after he was injured. They had found her father, and later captured a Fire Nation ship. Sokka explains that the Earth King and Bosco had decided to travel the world in disguise. He mentions that they have currently gotten through the Serpent's Pass. According to Sokka, although their forces are greatly outnumbered for the invasion, they have one clear advantage: the world believes the Avatar to be dead, and thus will not be hunting for him any longer. However, Aang does not take this revelation well at all, because this marks the second "death" of the Avatar. Sokka and the others separate from the rest of the Water Tribe warriors and decide to meet them on the Day of Black Sun.



Meanwhile, Sokka and the others are traveling through the Fire Nation, using a combination of Waterbending and Airbending to hide Appa in a cloud. They take temporary shelter in a cave (but not before Sokka can call some harmless Toucan-Puffins Enemy birds), and then go to seek out new clothes to help them better blend into the Fire Nation. They find an unattended clothesline and steal some outfits, and then go to town to buy some accessories. In town, the group attempts to act natural, which is somewhat impeded by Aang, who, having traveled through the Fire Nation a century before, claims to be an expert of their customs (however, his slang is obviously outdated). Aang returns to the cave at nightfall, relieving Katara, Sokka, and Toph, who were evidently worried by his long absence. The fact that he has been attending a Fire Nation school all day shocks Aang's friends, and when he claims to have enjoyed the experience and wishes to return to the school the next day, Sokka strongly objects. Aang manages to convince him to allow it by pointing out that it's an opportunity to find out information about the Fire Nation, specifically mentioning a "secret river" they were going to learn about that led to Fire Lord Ozai's palace. Sokka reluctantly agrees that Aang should go back the next day.

Aang gets into trouble for "roughing up" a favored student of the headmaster, Hide, resulting in a parent-teacher conference. Sokka and Katara attend the conference acting as Aang's parents, "Mr. Wang Fire" and "Mrs. Sapphire Fire". While they manage to succeed in fooling the teacher, Sokka is against Aang returning to school. Aang therefore plans to hold a secret dance party in the cave for everyone in the school. After the dance party gets crashed by The Headmaster, the group flees on Appa. As they leave, they surprise a small Fire nation kid by Earthbending the tunnel shut.



The group comes across the fishing village of Jang Hui. The village is in a deep depression. Many villagers are sick, and there is a lack of food because of the polluted water. Katara wishes to help these people, but Sokka says their overall mission is too important to stop to help everybody they come across. That night, Sokka is trying to find a way to rearrange their schedule, and mentions that the solar eclipse will only occur for about 8 minutes. In the morning, Appa is found lying on his side, and his tongue is purple. Katara suggests that the village might have some herbs that can heal him. The shop keeper, Xu, says that the Painted Lady came last night and gave the town food and medicine. Sokka skeptically notes that the Painted Lady's work will be all for nothing unless she helps them all the time, as long as that factory is still there, and jokingly suggests that the Lady should use her "spirit magic" to just blow it up. In the morning, the Katara and Aang arrive back at the camp and find Sokka and Toph waiting for them, having found out the truth on how Katara was acting like the Painted Lady. As they prepare to leave, they see a squad of Fire Nation troops heading towards the town on motorized boats, and realize that they must believe the villagers had sabotaged the factory. Katara is determined to stop them, and despite their argument, Sokka readily agrees to help her once he sees that she's set on helping. Katara, with help from Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Appa, chase away the Fire Nation troops. They then help the village to clean up the polluted river.

Sokka's Master


The group stops later in Shu Jing to watch a meteor shower when a meteorite lands nearby the town. Sokka is left to do almost nothing (other than watch over Momo) while Toph, Aang, and Katara extinguish the fire using their various bending abilities. The next day, while the group eats in the same town that they saved, Sokka voices what disturbs him: he feels ordinary and, by extension, inferior, compared to the others who exhibit such amazing abilities. Katara suggests that Sokka consider a master, since each of the others have had a master of their own. To appease him in the meanwhile, she suggests that the group go shopping, which cheers Sokka up noticeably. As he tries out various weapons, he finally stumbles upon a sword. The shopkeeper informs the group that it was crafted by the best sword maker and swordsman in Fire Nation history, Piandao. Katara says that they all have had mentors and that Sokka should seek out the master's help.



Sokka pays a visit to Piandao's estate and is met by the butler. Sokka is informed that Piandao often turns away those who apply for tutelage, but allows Sokka to present his case regardless. Finally seeing the man's back as he practices calligraphy, Sokka presents that he feels he is worthless, despite having traveled the world. His words are met with Piandao's invitation for them to see just how worthy he is, together. Thus, the two begin their first day of training. Piandao offers several training exercises meant to build more than Sokka's use of a sword, such as painting a landscape he was able to view for only a few seconds to teach him to grasp the landscape in the heat of battle, and rock gardening to teach him to manipulate the landscape in his favor. At the end of the day, Sokka feels he's learned nothing, but Piandao disagrees: though he messed up at every exercise, he messed up in a very "special" way, exhibiting cunning, creativity, and spirit in each.

Therefore, after only the first day, Piandao tells Sokka that he is ready for a real sword. However, rather than giving Sokka one of his own, he tells Sokka that he will make his own sword, since it is an extension of him. Sokka, rather than using materials on hand, opts to bring in his own material. Returning to the group, who has missed his jokes and planning finesse fiercely, he enlists their help to roll the meteorite which fell the day before to the mansion of the master. There, the two break the meteorite into smaller pieces, melt them, and forge the sword. Aang, Katara, and Toph all watch. Piandao presents Sokka with the finished blade later on, revealed to have a black blade due to the unique material used to forge it. He then proclaims that Sokka has been the most worthy apprentice he has had. At this, Sokka can no longer bear the lie he has told, and reveals his true identity and origin to the master.



Piandao says that he is sorry too, and attacks. Sokka is able to fend him off, and tells the others not to interfere, as this is his fight. The two move to the dueling grounds, where Sokka deftly avoids the man's strikes using various tactics he has learned (manipulating the environment, fighting from the high ground, utilizing a superior agility). Piandao finally disarms Sokka, but when the others move to help him, Piandao relents with a smile, and divulges that he is too old to fight the Avatar. The master says that he has known Sokka was of water tribe since he came, and that he should consider using a different name, such as Lee. He then tells Sokka, when asked why he trained him if he knew the truth, that the art of the sword belongs to no one nation just as it belongs to no one person. He encourages Sokka to train everyday, saying that if he continues to walk this path, he will become an even greater master. When leaving, Sokka is given a Pai Sho tile by Piandao - the White Lotus. While they walk away Sokka presents Toph with a fragment of the meteorite that he has saved.

Scams and Preparation
When the group comes to a Fire Nation city, Toph takes up scamming, which starts a feud between her and Katara. Toph, Aang, and Sokka start racking in loads of money with Toph's acting. With his new money, Sokka goes to a store selling Messenger Hawks. After buying a Messenger Hawk, Hawky, Sokka finds a wanted poster for 'The Runaway' (a.k.a Toph). He shows it to her and is embarrassed when Toph has to remind him she can't see what is on the paper. After Sokka reads it aloud, Toph is delighted at the nickname and how much money is being offered for her return. Sokka later talks to Toph to try to mend the rift between her and Katara. As they discuss how Katara's motherly instincts actually help them, Sokka takes Toph for a chat about Katara, not knowing that she is bathing underneath in the water below them. Sokka says about how he is dependent on Katara, and Toph agrees. Sokka then states that he doesn't even remember the way his mother looked. He says that whenever he tried to picture his mother, Katara is the only person he could see. The group is soon found by Combustion Man and they are forced to leave.

Several weeks later, Sokka and the gang arrive at the Black Cliffs, a small uninhabited island where the entire invasion force would assemble on the Day of Black Sun. However, they arrived four days early, causing Aang to suffer from a lack of sleep and hallucinations as he worries about his upcoming duel with Fire Lord Ozai. Along with Katara and Toph, Sokka attempts to help Aang by acting as his therapist, donning the same beard and mustache from his disguise as "Wang Fire" in "The Headband". The group is eventually successful in putting Aang's fears to rest, assuring him that he is in fact ready for the battle due to his expanded bending prowess.



Moment of Truth
Finally, the Day of Black Sun arrives, and so does the entire invasion force, led by Sokka's father, Hakoda. They show up with many of the gang's old allies, among them Bato, Haru, Teo, The Mechanist, and many others. The Mechanist had in fact spent months designing and manufacturing various weapons for the invasion, although Sokka's original sketches were "hard to interpret". Among these weapons are eclipse glasses, submarines for underwater infiltration, and treaded tanks for Earth Kingdom troops. The invasion force then assembles for the announcement of the battle plans, but Sokka gets stage fright in front of the crowd and lets his father take over. Sokka is ashamed of his performance, but Aang assured him that it's what he will do on the battlefield that will really matter. Sokka, wearing the traditional armor of his people, leads the invasion force alongside his friends, his father, and Bato into the Fire Nation capital, where they succeed in destroying dozens of tanks and forcing the surprised Firebenders to go on the defensive. When Hakoda is severely wounded destroying a Fire Nation battlement, Sokka takes over as leader and takes the Royal Plaza, and while doing so displays remarkable swordsmanship against the Firebenders. Aang then goes off to face Fire Lord Ozai.



Sokka continues to lead the invasion force in "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse" while Katara heals their wounded father. Everything goes well until Aang comes back to tell them that Ozai is not at the Royal Palace and that the whole capital is deserted. Sokka then realizes that the Fire Nation knew they were coming, and after everyone agrees that they must press on, Sokka and Toph accompany Aang to the capital, where Sokka deduces that the Fire Lord may be hiding in an underground bunker. Using her Earthbending, Toph easily finds it, much to Sokka's joy. However, it is Princess Azula who is at the bunker, not the Fire Lord. She reveals that she knew about the invasion for months and that she figured that Aang survived her lightning attack. However, Azula's firebending is disabled by the eclipse, so Sokka demands that she reveal the Fire Lord's true position. She refuses, instead sending a pair of Dai Li agents from Ba Sing Se to fight them. The group eventually defeats the agents, but Azula is way too fast to be taken down. Sokka stops his two friends from attacking, realizing that Azula was distracting them in the caves in order to waste their eclipse time, so they go off to find Ozai.



Suddenly, Azula reveals that she knows who Sokka is because her "favorite prisoner" used to insist that Sokka would one day rescue her. She then claims that she gave up on him because he never came. Sokka immediately knew that she was referring to Suki, his girlfriend from Kyoshi Island. Filled with rage, Sokka attacks Azula, and Toph narrowly stops her from stabbing him with a knife. Sokka demands that Azula reveal Suki's location, but she stands there silently. Suddenly, the eclipse ends and she escapes with her firebending, revealing Ozai's location. Sokka blames himself for ruining the invasion, but his friends assured him that it was not his fault. When Aang insisted that he should fight the Fire Lord without the eclipse, Sokka convinced him not to, assuring him that there will be a next time.

Sokka informs the troops of Azula's trap and orders an evacuation. Unfortunately, a force of Fire Nation zeppelins showed up out of nowhere and destroyed the submarines long before the group could escape, so Hakoda, now mostly recovered, insists that Sokka and all younger members of the group flee the country. Sokka and Katara say farewell to their father and promise to come back as soon as possible to save them. Sokka, Katara, Aang, and all of their younger allies from the invasion force are currently riding on Appa to the Western Air Temple, where the group will seek temporary refuge.

The Western Air Temple
Encountering Zuko again, with claims that he's a different person now who wants to help them, Sokka showed distrust, and later rage, when Zuko clumsily let out that he sent Combustion Man after them. He openly threatened to attack Zuko if he did not leave.

Later, when the assassin attacks the group, Sokka used his boomerang to defeat Combustion Man by calculating his trajectory. He allowed Zuko to join the team, trusting Aang's judgment on the matter. Even though Sokka voiced hanging around with Zuko "is really really weird", he soon became much more comfortable with the matter, often the subject of his sarcastic remarks such as "jerkbending" and "jumping into a volcano".

The Boiling Rock


When the "The Boiling Rock, Part 1" opens, Zuko is serving the group tea while Sokka sulks in a corner. When Zuko comes to bring him his tea, Sokka asks to speak to him alone. When Zuko joins him, Sokka asks where the Fire Nation would keep war prisoners, as many members of the Invasion Force were captured by the Fire Nation. Zuko tells him that his best guess would be the Boiling Rock prison, a maximum-security facility located over a boiling lake just south of where they are. When Zuko asks why Sokka is asking about it, Sokka only says that "Just knowing makes me feel better" and walks away with Zuko watching him. The following morning, Sokka wakes up a few hours earlier than the others and sneaks quietly towards Appa. When he gets there, he finds Zuko waiting for him, unsurprised to see that he is leaving. Sokka admits that he is going to the Boiling Rock. He says that, because the invasion plan was his idea, it is his responsibility to free the prisoners and that he "needs his honor back". Zuko says he understands but that it is a bad idea to go alone and offers to go with him. At first, Sokka refuses, until Zuko points out that it would be impossible to get there on Appa, and that they should instead take his War Balloon. Sokka agrees, and the two of them set out to the Boiling Rock, leaving the others a letter saying they were out to get meat.

The two of them are awkward around each other at first while on the balloon. Eventually, they begin talking more naturally about their histories. Their conversation moves to their girlfriends, with Zuko talking about Mai, and Sokka relating how Yue, his first girlfriend, turned into the Moon Spirit. Zuko responds by saying "That's rough, buddy", showing just how much a person's attitude can change towards someone, the prime example being when Zuko disrespectfully referred to Sokka as a "Water Tribe peasant" back in The Waterbending Scroll.



They arrive at the Boiling Rock and the balloon starts going down. Sokka realizes that the air outside the balloon is just as hot as the air inside, so they cannot fly. They crash land the balloon by the side of the island and sneak into the prison. Inside, they find some guard uniforms and begin posing as guards until they are called out into the yard. There, they find Chit Sang being harassed by a guard. Eventually, the guard provokes the prisoner into Firebending, prompting him to be taken to the Cooler. Sokka is ordered to help and tells Zuko to meet him in an hour. He takes note of the function of the Cooler in how icy it is and how well it insulates against heat.

Later, he meets Zuko, who tells him that he's been asking around the prison and there are no Water Tribe prisoners. Sokka at first becomes disheartened until he sees Suki in the yard. He and Zuko decide to go meet her and form an escape plan. Sokka goes to Suki's cell while Zuko stands guard outside. At first, Suki does not recognize Sokka and punches him in the gut when he tries to kiss her. When his helmet falls off, Suki realizes who it is and they embrace. He tells her that he is here to bust her out of prison. She says how happy she is to see him and that she almost gave up hope that she would be saved. The two of them kiss.



Meanwhile, Zuko is caught by a guard. As Sokka is leaving the cell, he sees Zuko wrestling with her and helps the guard, knowing that they would have no chance of escape otherwise. He whispers to Zuko that he plans to meet him later. He meets both Suki and Zuko later while they are on mopping duty. He tells them that his plan for escape is to use the Cooler as a boat to get off the island. He explains that the Cooler makes an ideal boat because of its way of insulating heat. He is overheard by Chit Sang who wants in on the plan. The rest of them agree and stage a fight between Chit Sang and Zuko to get Zuko in the Cooler to unbolt it. Later, Sokka meets Zuko, who has unhooked it from its screws. While inside, they both hear that new prisoners will soon arrive. The two of them move it to the lake with Suki. There, they meet Chit Sang and his friends. They are all about to leave when Sokka, Zuko and Suki decide to stay behind to see if Hakoda is among them. Finally, after all of the prisoners have been unloaded, Sokka sees his father among them.

In "The Boiling Rock, Part 2", Sokka joins the line of guards in the yard while the Warden interviews the new prisoners. Sokka witnesses Hakoda's insolence and secretly chuckles. Later, he meets Hakoda in his cell and says that he's glad to see he's okay. Hakoda does not recognize him due to his uniform, so Sokka takes off his helmet. The two have a touching reunion. Hakoda tells him where the other prisoners are, as well as that he met the Kyoshi Warriors. The two of them begin planning a new escape attempt. Sokka then goes to Zuko's cell before Zuko is taken away by the guards to see Mai. Sokka also visits Suki again, and tells her his and his father's plan start a prison riot as a distraction and then commandeer the gondola and take the Warden hostage so they won't cut the line.



After he leaves Suki's cell, he is taken by the guards under orders from the Warden. He is then put into a lineup with his mask off so that Chit Sang, who had been tortured by the Warden after getting caught, can identify him. However, the prisoner identifies another guard instead. Sokka goes to the technician operating the doors and tells him he has orders from the Warden to let the prisoners into the yard. When the guard questions him, Sokka only says that the Warden is being angry and irrational. Frightened, the guard opens the doors.

Sokka meets with Hakoda and Suki and tells them that it is time to start a riot. After Hakoda fails in his attempt, Chit Sang meets the three of them where he starts one. They are joined shortly by Zuko. Suki climbs the wall up to the Warden and takes him prisoner while the others follow. The group makes its way to the gondola and uses the Warden to get past the guards. As the gondola makes its way across the lake, it is attacked by Azula and Ty Lee. When the two girls make their way to the roof, Zuko, Sokka, and Suki go up to meet them. While Suki fights Ty Lee, Sokka and Zuko duel Azula.

During the fight, the Warden manages to untie his handcuffs and yell to the guards to cut the line to prevent the prisoners from escaping. Azula and Ty Lee flee the gondola so they won't fall into the boining water below. Mai attacks the guards that are cutting the line to save "the jerk who dumped me", referring to Zuko. After gondola makes it across the lake, the group steals Azula's Airship and travels back to the Western Air temple. Sokka and Zuko come back to the group and reveal that they've been to a Fire Nation prison, and when asked if they returned with meat, Sokka says that they've brought "the meat of friendship and fatherhood" and Hakoda, Suki, and Chit Sang step out of the Airship.

The Final Battle


During the final battle of the war, Sokka, along with Toph and Suki, are in charge of destroying the Fire Nation air ships. After breaking in, Sokka, pretending to be the captain, orders all the crew members to gather at the bomb bay to celebrate a birthday. After everyone reports to the bomb bay, Sokka releases the floor, causing all of them to fall into the ocean below. He soon commands the ship, causing it to destroy other warships in the process. As Sokka, Suki, and Toph run on top a ship safety, its cut in two, causing Suki to be left behind. As Sokka and Toph continue, they fall. Using his sword, he saves them both from death by breaking the fall, but hurts his leg in the process. As Sokka holds on to Toph, who is hanging from the ship, with one arm, Fire Nation soldiers surround them. Sokka uses his boomerang to hit some of the guards, along with his sword, resulting in the loss of his sword and boomerang. It proves futile, as more guards arrive in preparation to kill them. They are saved by a oncoming ship controlled by Suki. Sokka, Toph, and Suki manage to destroy all the air warships, ceasing the attack on the Earth Kingdom. Afterwards, Sokka, along with Toph and Suki, join together to berate the now fallen Ozai and comment on how cool Aang looked fighting.

After The War
After Ozai is defeated, all the war prisoners are released. Sokka and Katara are once again reunited with their father and Suki and the freed Kyoshi Warriors arrive in full uniform (Sokka mentions he kind of missed Suki's face paint), accompanied by Ty Lee. He initially thinks she is in disguise again and steps in to warn Suki, but he is informed (to his shock) that Ty Lee bonded with the Warriors in prison and later joined them.

Later, Sokka is seen in a green robe, along with Aang, Katara, Toph, Mai, Zuko, Suki, and Iroh at the Jasmine Dragon, all of whom except Aang are in similar Earth Kingdom clothes. Sokka makes a painting to capture the moment, but everyone notes that it is extremely crude (Katara's "hair loopies" look like Momo's ears, Zuko's hair is too spiky, Mai looks like a man, Iroh's belly is too round, and Suki is inexplicably firebending, to which Sokka replies that it looked more exciting). Only Toph, who of course can't see the painting, says, "Well, I think you all look perfect!" and everyone laughs.

Personality
At first, Sokka is skeptical and abrasive, "sexist" and "immature", according to Katara (The Boy in the Iceberg). He is always sharp-witted. Detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the Bending Arts, he openly expresses his 'Bender Envy', most clearly shown in Sokka's Master. Not having bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior and the scientist. He takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. Initially, he doesn't seem to believe in the bending arts, calling Katara's bending "magic water". The appearance of the Avatar seems to change his mind. However, he never seems to fully accept the fact that as the avatar, Aang must learn firebending. He is the least eager for Aang to start learning firebending under Jeong Jeong. Later on, when Aang accidentally burns Katara, Sokka throws him to the ground and screams how he knew that Aang learning firebending was a mistake. This antagonism toward firebending seems to persist. Later, he refers to Zuko's training of Aang as "jerkbending". Apparently, Sokka only accepts the mastering of the last element because it will help Aang defeat the Fire Lord. He can become serious when he wants to or when need arises and is very protective of his sister, Katara. This is shown when he violently tackled Aang to the ground after Aang accidentally burned Katara's hands in "The Deserter". Sokka is also protective of Aang, and when Aang surrenders himself to Zuko, Sokka immediately prepares to rescue him. Later, he decides that getting Aang to the North Pole is more important then seeing his father again after years of separation. Sokka is also very intelligent and good at coming up with ideas, even if said ideas are not always very good. He is also generally the one who is counted on the determining the strategy of attack.



Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to extract vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He holds little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and prefers to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tends to be rash, however, and his pride often leads to embarrassment. When Sokka has been humiliated, his versatility makes for a heartfelt apology and changing of his ways. A good example of this is on episode 1.4 "The Warriors of Kyoshi".

Sokka learns to be flexible. He may be closed-minded at first, but that's because he wants to protect himself and those he loves. Not long after he starts traveling with the Avatar, Sokka begins to change. His humble apology to Suki is seen in "The Warriors of Kyoshi". As the series progresses, he becomes more optimistic. He likes to keep smiles on his friends' faces using his wit, sarcastic humor, and overall eccentricity. Sokka is an underdog. He is constantly the one who gets beaten upon. Most of his plans fail miserably; however, he bravely keeps fighting. From the very start, as seen in "The Avatar Returns", Sokka is willing to die defending his tribe, even though he never stood the smallest chance. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acts very silly, if not outright stupid. He occasionally creates ridiculous plans that are nearly impossible to carry out. He is also a general victim of slapstick, often being sent flying or getting struck by things. Aunt Wu even states, "Your future is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self inflicted". When Sokka protests that she didn't even read his palm, she remarked "I don't need to, it's written all over your face". His sarcastic and strange behavior can sometimes carry over into important decisions.



A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group. Sokka also has a habit of using sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts at karma in the heavens, vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance. He would also consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy", but willing to be "Sokka the veggies and straight-talk fellow". By the end of the episode, however, he has given up neither meat nor sarcasm. He even asked "Aang, thank goodness, have you got any meat?" after being found less than a second after shouting to Karma. Despite his love of meat, he finds it almost impossible to resist food, often gorging himself on various dishes when the group eat properly cooked meals.

As much as Sokka loves meat, he grows close to every pet. He has a hilarious relationship with Momo. He tries to adopt a Messenger Hawk which he fondly names "Hawky".

Under the guidance of swordsmaster Piandao, Sokka expresses various unorthodox procedures while undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper, rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smears ink all over his face and presses it onto the paper. As he presents Sokka with his blade, Piandao relates that it was not his skills that impressed him, but his creativity, versatility and intelligence. All were traits that go beyond mere skills and define a great swordsman.

Sokka writes with his right hand but draws and eats with his left hand. He is possibly ambidextrous, although his left-handed art is crude and rudimentary. However, this could just be due to a limited drawing ability.

Overall, Sokka probably has the biggest heart of all the characters. He changes where change is needed, learns to love and respect others, embraces his own identity, accepts failure, and forms lasting loyalties. He fights to the death even when the cause seems hopeless. Sokka becomes the warrior he has always dreamed of by the end of the series. He becomes a master swordsman and finally becomes a great warrior like his father.

Innovations and Abilities


For an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka shows a remarkable proclivity towards science. He seems naturally adept at creating weapons out of practically anything at any time. He learned how to construct amateur explosives from his father, which he once used to simulate Firebending. In another instance, Sokka used trickery and optical illusions to help his sister Katara fake the ability to Earthbend. Working side by side with fellow technologist, the Mechanist, Sokka has managed to engineer a system of control for an experimental hot air balloon as well as conceptualize the design for waterbending-powered submarines. Alongside his trademark boomerang, Sokka is proficient in a variety of weapons, including clubs, a machete, spears, and the newest addition, a meteorite iron sword. However, it is unclear if Sokka ever found his sword after throwing it off an airship.

In addition to his engineering skill, Sokka has shown a remarkable talent for poetry. In The Tales of Ba Sing Se, he stumbles into a poetry reading and goes toe-to-toe with the instructor in a haiku contest and holds his own and nearly wins. However, his hubris gets the best of him, and he is viciously thrown out for accidentally adding an extra syllable to the end of a haiku, where he then decides to change his outlook on poetry. Sokka is also, quite humorously, a terrible artist, yet somehow strangely unaware of it (or is in denial). He emotionally defends his "artwork", which is still met with more laughter from his peers.

As the only non-bender in Aang's group, Sokka is often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it is Sokka that usually devises plans, gathers intelligence, and collects data and maps that could help his group defeat the Fire Nation. He often becomes the navigator and chooses the route to follow despite the objections of others. His skills as a fighter have noticeably improved as the series progresses, although it is usually his persistence rather than skill that allows him to land a blow against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee in "The Chase". Sokka employs other strategies to defeat larger enemies. In "The Library", he incapacitated Wan Shi Tong by using the element of surprise and attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending had failed. It was also Sokka who discovered that a solar eclipse disables Firebenders to bend and his idea to travel to Ba Sing Se and inform the Earth King. Perhaps his greatest triumph, however, is his nearly single-handed defeat of Combustion Man by using his boomerang to block the latter's chi flow. This action ultimately resulted in Combustion Man's demise, something that the combined efforts of his friends failed to do.

Sokka's leadership skills have evolved in the series. Initially he assumed leadership of the group based on that he was the oldest, that he had some rudimentary warrior training, and that Aang was just a goofy kid. However, his bossy attitude infuriated Katara. His skills were also undermined by his xenophobia, chauvinism and general bullheadedness. However, Sokka is generally willing to admit when he's wrong. This seemed to earn him the respect of several of the people he met and help him grow as a warrior and as a person. It should also be noted that Sokka was occasionally right in his opinions. His immaturity, though, often caused Katara and Aang to ignore him. By the second season, Sokka seemed to have matured and refers to the group as a team. He also seems to respect the opinions of others. They, in turn, consider his advice more seriously, even coming to rely on it. In Sokka's Master, the group tells Sokka how much they need him. Without him, they are bored, lost, and unable to decide what to do, cannot remember what they need to do, and are being killed by Katara's horrible jokes, to the point where Aang admits, "I guess the jokes don't run in the family", much to her annoyance.

Sokka has come to learn the art of swordsmanship, wielding a Jian sword, and has improved his contribution to the team. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka underwent various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his swordwielding skills and arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he uses fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the metal needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, is patterned on a Qing Dynasty jian, but has the properties of the alien material used for its creation, making it unique. The blade retains an unusual all-black appearance and is able to slice through the toughest materials, such as steel. Although Sokka proved unable to defeat his master in a duel, Piandao stated that Sokka possesses the traits that one day could make him an even greater swordsman than he is. During the events of Sozin's Comet, Sokka is once again able to prove his proficient skills in fighting. Even after breaking his leg from a fall and holding onto Toph who is about to fall to her death, he manages to take out two Firebenders that were about to finish him off. He defeats them by drawing his boomerang and throwing it at the first Firebender and knocking him out, then kicking his sword into the air, catching it, then throwing it to cut the platform the other Firebender was standing on. He unfortunately lost both items in the process, only for a group of Firebenders to appear. Luckily, he and Toph survived when another airship crashed into the one they were on and they managed to safely drop onto it.

Sokka shows his incredible intellectual potential, capacity to learn, and critical thinking skills throughout the series. He absorbs information quickly and completely, and solves problems at an alarming rate. An example of this can be seen in the Mechanist, where he solves the dilemma of the hot air balloon (which stumped an engineering genius) shortly after having the concept explained to him. More examples are present in Sokka's Master. In this episode, Sokka becomes an advanced swordsman rapidly, besting Piandao's servant, Fat, in just a couple days. He also manages to gain a firm grasp on blacksmithing in that short time, as he forges his own sword and later a suit of armor for Appa. His unique critical thinking ability comes into play often in this episode through the training exercises of Piandao. He "stamps his identity" on a page by applying ink to his face and rolling it across the paper after he's informed that he got a little of it on him while thinking. During the rock gardening exercise, he "manipulates the terrain to his advantage" by rolling boulders and relocating moss to make a sort of lounge chair in the shade, thus appealing to his love of relaxation.

Trivia



 * Excluding Katara's voice during the show's opening, Sokka gets the first regular line in the series ("It's not going to get away from me this time").
 * Sokka's favorite pastime, apparently, is shopping. Second to that is coming up with plans.
 * In "The Chase", Sokka mentioned that his "ponytail" is actually a "Warrior's Wolf Tail", which is worn by all male Water tribe warriors.
 * Sokka's name is derived from the Japanese phrase (here presented in Romaji) Sou ka, meaning "I Understand", which is a reference to his abilities as technologist and scientist, the use of understanding.
 * Sokka is well versed in most, if not all, Water Tribe weapons.
 * During the events of "The Drill", Sokka considered giving Team Avatar a name, which at the time was still nameles. He eventually settled on "Team Avatar", though before he did he considered names like "The Boomeraang Squad" and "The Fearsome Foursome".
 * Sokka is sometimes treated differently because he isn't a bender. In the season two opener "The Avatar State", when leaving the Water Tribe ship, while Aang and Katara receive Waterbending scrolls and spirit water, all Sokka got was a pat on the shoulder and "take care." And in "The Chase", Toph insulted him, saying that there were only three people in the group of them, and that Sokka didn't count because he wasn't a bender. Afterwards, Toph corrects herself, saying the group consists of "Three plus Sokka".
 * In "The Siege of the North, Part 1" with "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary, when Sokka was with princess Yue, some of the commentary bubbles said that "No girl can resist Sokka's charm."
 * A girl from each of the Four Nations (except the Air Nomads) has crushed on Sokka.
 * In "The Waterbending Scroll", he said that he couldn't steer the pirate ship because it wasn't made by the Water Tribe, meaning that he may be trained in how to operate Water Tribe ships.
 * Sokka lost both his sword and boomerang during the attack on the Fire Nation Air Fleet.
 * According to Sokka in "The Southern Air Temple", the reason he didn't trust Aang when they first met was because in his last life he was a Firebender, realizing this a upon finding that Avatar Roku was a Firebender.
 * Sokka appears to have gained forging skills in the episode "Sokka's Master," when he made his own sword in a forge. He later made a suit of armor that fit Appa perfectly.
 * Despite his age at the start of the series, Sokka technically wasn't a "man" until after he went "Ice Dodging", the Water Tribe's cultural test of manhood. He had passed the required age to go Ice Dodging, but a man who had already passed the test was needed to conduct the test. Since his father and all the other men in the village were away fighting in the war, Sokka could never take the test until the episode "Bato of the Water Tribe" where the group ran into Bato, a warrior from their village who takes him Ice Dodging.
 * Sokka was one of the first non-Avatar outsiders ever to visit an Air Nomad temple. It is arguable, though, because when Sokka and the group go to Northern Air Temple, they meet a group of refugees who had been living in the temple for years. If nothing else, he is one of the first invited outsiders to visit an Air Temple.
 * Even though Sokka hated the Fire Nation for killing his mother, when Katara told him and Aang that she had found the man who killed their mother, Sokka didn't show any signs of wanting to go get revenge on him, possibly due to him realizing that not all Fire Nation people are bad,like Zuko. When he tried to convince Katara not to, she claimed that he "didn't love her the way [she] did."
 * Throughout the series, Sokka is repeatedly shown to be the "killjoy" for Team Avatar; focused mainly on the war, he protests against actions that would jeopardize their plans, such as in "The Painted Lady." Sokka tried to get Katara to forget about the people in the sick village because it would take up too much time to help. If everything is going according to plan, though, Sokka will be as fun as everyone else.
 * Sokka has been shown to be, to some extent, ambidextrous. He is shown using both hands at different times to write, attack, and draw (though he does so poorly), and is even shown switching hands at times.
 * Sokka can perfectly navigate a Fire Nation Airship, as seen in "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into The Inferno".
 * Sokka's face changes from the beginning to the end of the series. Originally, he had smaller eyes, and an altogether more adult face than at the end.

Relationships

 * Sokka's Relationships
 * Yue (former love interest)
 * Suki (former love interest)

Relatives

 * Gran Gran Kanna (paternal grandmother)
 * Hakoda (father)
 * Kya (mother, deceased)
 * Katara (younger sister)
 * Pakku (step-grandfather)

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