Hakoda

Chief Hakoda is the father of Katara and Sokka, son of Kanna, and the leader of the Southern Water Tribe. Hakoda is a talented ship and igloo builder, and weapons maker. Much of Sokka's ingenuity and craftiness he learned from his father.

History


Hakoda grew up in the Southern Water Tribe, and like all Water Tribe boys, was taught to be a warrior. He was friends with Bato, and the two of them had many famous and hilarious adventures, as stated in "Bato of the Water Tribe". At some point, he got married and fathered two children: Katara and Sokka. Tragically, his wife was killed in a Fire Nation Raid.

Hakoda recognized Katara's Waterbending abilities when she was young and encouraged her to develop them, knowing that her skills would be key to helping to rebuild the Southern Water Tribe; he even traveled around the South Pole, looking for a Waterbender to train his daughter, but could not find one. Two years before the start of the series, Hakoda made a difficult choice to leave his children behind, and lead the Water Tribe men to fight in The War. This event had a tremendous impact on Katara and Sokka.

It is shown that Sokka strives to be like his father, and shares many personality traits with Hakoda, such as planning, leadership, bravery, and sense of humor. Bato remarked upon this, saying, "You're definitely your father's son," after only Sokka laughed at Hakoda's attempt at wit in naming his bomb the 'stink and sink'.



Hakoda has only made four brief appearances in the series, the most important of which being at the beginning of "The Guru", in which Sokka saw him for the first time in two years. He is often spoken of, however, particularly by Sokka, who shows great respect and admiration for him. Sokka's memory of his last moments with Hakoda before he and the other Southern Water Tribe men left the South Pole was seen in the episode "Bato of the Water Tribe".

His short reunion with Sokka was cut short when Aang arrived to gain Sokka's help in rescuing Katara from the clutches of Azula; Hakoda gave his son a confident smile as he proceeded to launch the attack against the Fire Navy vessels. When he reunited with his family again, though, it was far from a happy reunion--a comatose Aang and his battle-worn friends arrived bearing news of the fall of Ba Sing Se and the entire Earth Kingdom. Battered by their battle with the Fire Nation ships, the Water Tribe was in no condition to fight off the reinforcements. Fortunately, Hakoda's son shared his trait of not giving up.



In the comic "The Bridge," Hakoda and Sokka led the Water Tribe in a raid upon a Fire Navy ship after sinking their own vessels. Taking it without too much trouble, they proceeded to sail west through the Serpent's Pass. During this time, Hakoda found his daughter strangely distant from him and resentful.

When he warmly greeted the revived Avatar in the episode "The Awakening", Katara darkly asked him to leave (though she unconvincingly denied being mad at him). Hakoda later proved his skills as a leader and an actor by managing to convince a Fire Navy Officer that they were from the Eastern Fleet and heading out to join the main group--unfortunately, what he had in acting abilities was lacking in information, and the ruse was seen through shortly. After barely escaping the enemy vessel, Hakoda found himself faced with an even greater conflict--his daughter. After Aang left the ship to fight alone, Katara rushed to her father and angrily emptied her feelings to him until she was sobbing. Hakoda realized that she was upset because of him--she tearfully asked him how he could have left them after their mother died. He explained that he shared the same grief, but knew that he had to take the course, no matter how much it hurt. Katara seems to have forgiven her father now, though she and the rest of the gang left him to help Aang.



The invasion took place in "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion" and "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse." Hakoda arrived at the Black Cliffs on the day of the eclipse, just as planned. Sokka had asked him to recruit some special people that would be good assets to the battle. Hakoda fell through on the favor and returned with all the people asked. Sokka had planned to give a speech explaining the invasion plan, but froze up. Hakoda stepped in for his son and proved to be a very good inspirational speaker. After getting the warriors excited for battle, they proceeded to the Fire Nation Capital.



After passing the Gates of Azulon, it was a straight shot to the capital. After landing of the beach, Hakoda led the charge to the palace. The warriors were being bombarded by the battlements, and Hakoda quickly learned that they needed to be destroyed. Sokka comes up with a plan to destroy them. Hakoda, Katara, and Sokka board Appa and proceed to destroy the battlements. They land between two battlements and Hakoda tells Sokka and Katara to take out one while he takes out the other. Sokka and Katara successfully destroy their target only to see an explosion in the other one. Hakoda stumbles out of the battlement and falls over. Katara uses waterbending to heal his wounds, but he still isn't completely cured. Unable to continue leading the invasion, Sokka takes over, making Hakoda proud. After Aang fails to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, Hakoda decides to send the younger warriors away on Appa. The younger ones, including Katara and Sokka, were sent to the Western Air Temple for a place to hide. The remaining warriors were imprisoned.

Because he was the leader, Hakoda was sent as a war prisoner to the Boiling Rock, a high security Fire Nation prison. Thanks to the infiltration of Sokka and Zuko, he is freed and joins the gang.

Trivia

 * The voice actor who plays Hakoda, André Sogliuzzo, also plays King Bumi.

Relatives

 * Kanna (mother)
 * Katara and Sokka's mom (wife)
 * Sokka (elder son)
 * Katara (younger daughter)