Hama

Hama is a Waterbender who was born in the Southern Water Tribe.

History


In her youth she was close friends with Kanna. Over 60 years ago, the Southern Water Tribe had many Waterbenders. Hama was present in the village when the Fire Nation came in ships of the tribe. The attack was first noticed by all the soot falling from the sky. Hama, along with all the other waterbenders, put up a good fight. Hama and a few others are responsible for The Shipwreck near the village. As more Firebenders came, the amount of Waterbenders kept growing smaller until it was just Hama. She was eventually taken in chains.



While imprisoned by the Fire Nation, she and the other Waterbenders were completely separated from any and all water. However, she eventually realized that water exists within all living things, and began to manipulate water in the bodies of rats that crawled into her cage. This technique, "Bloodbending", could only be used with the influence of the full moon enhancing her abilities. After mastering the technique, Hama controlled one of the guards, forcing him to unlock her cage, and allowing her to escape after decades of imprisonment, unlocked by the very guards assigned to keep her locked in.



When Aang and his friends are camping in the woods, Hama suddenly appears, offering them a safe place to stay for the night, as people in the woods had been mysteriously disappearing on full moons. The group accepts her offer to stay with her in her inn. Katara gets along with her very well. The next day, Hama shows them a water tribe comb, revealing to the group that she is from the Southern Water Tribe, but was captured a long time ago. Hama offers to teach Katara what she knows in order to carry on the tradition of the southern Waterbenders, and Katara happily agrees to learn, wanting to know more about her tribe's cultural heritage.



The next day, she leads Katara to a garden filled with fire lilies, and tells her that water can be drawn from anything. She demonstrates this by gathering the moisture from the air as well as harvesting the water from the flowers around them, before using it for some simple techniques. However, drawing water from the flowers dries and kills them, and while Katara is amazed by the demonstration, she also regrets that the fire lilies were destroyed. Hama dismisses her concerns quickly, reminding her that they were simply flowers. She then tells Katara she has one more technique to teach: one that can only be used at the full moon. When Katara expresses hesitance due to the rumors of disappearances, Hama reassures her, stating that two master waterbenders under a full moon should be able to handle anything.



Hama tells Katara about technique of Bloodbending. Horrified by the idea of controlling another person's body, Katara refuses to learn Bloodbending. Hama argues with her, stating that they must have vengeance on the Fire Nation for wiping out their entire culture. The outburst leads Katara to realize that Hama has been causing the villagers to disappear, but Hama angrily states that the people of the Fire Nation deserve the same treatment that they gave to the southern Waterbenders. Hearing this causes Katara to adamantly refuse to learn Bloodbending and to stop Hama from further terrorizing the town, and so Hama uses the technique to temporarily force Katara into submission. However, Katara quickly regains control of her body, reminding Hama that she draws power from the full moon as well, and also stating that her Waterbending is more powerful than Hama's. The two begin to battle, each drawing water from the grass, the trees surrounding them and the air, but it quickly becomes obvious that Katara is the superior combatant. Katara then uses Bloodbending to subdue Hama and protect Aang and Sokka. Toph arrives with the other villagers, who handcuff Hama and take her away, vowing to imprison her. Hama remarks that her work is done, as Katara has already willfully used Bloodbending, and laughs as she is dragged off.