Hama

"water"

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

Hama was a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. She was captured and imprisoned by the Fire Nation during their campaign to weaken the Southern Water Tribe, but eventually escaped through the use of a waterbending technique she developed while incarcerated: bloodbending. Upon her escape, she fled to a small town in the fire nation, where she became an innkeeper. Hama held a deep grudge against the Fire Nation for her imprisonment, attempting to carry out revenge whenever and wherever possible.

Early life


In her youth, Hama was very close friends with Kanna, the grandmother of Sokka and Katara. Over sixty years prior to the series, Hama was one of many waterbenders residing in the Southern Water Tribe. When she was young, the Fire Nation began raiding the Southern Tribe, systematically weakening them with hit-and-run attacks and capturing waterbenders. Hama and her fellow waterbenders did everything they could to resist the ruthless firebending army and managed to freeze at least one ship suspending it on the ice, the same one Katara and Aang observed just after they went penguin sledding. However, as the raids continued, more and more waterbenders were captured, until Hama was the last. Finally, she too was captured and led away in chains, with Kanna watching in tears.

Discovering bloodbending


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

Hama later moved into a small Fire Nation village, becoming the keeper of a modest inn. In secrecy, she used her powers to abduct people every full moon, sadistically confining them in a prison as revenge for the treatment she had suffered. The disappearances caused the villagers to become afraid to venture outside during the full moon.

Meeting a fellow waterbender
When Aang and his friends were camping in the woods passing the time by recounting ghost stories, Hama suddenly appeared after overhearing Katara telling a story her mother knew about a little girl who mysteriously disappeared in a winter storm. The inn-keeper offered them a safe place to stay for the night, warning them that the woods they were camping in were unsafe, telling them that people had been mysteriously disappearing during the full moon. The group gratefully accepted this invitation.

The next morning, Hama and the rest of the gang went to get some supplies in a nearby town; during this period, Katara and Hama got along very well. Soon after, Hama found them snooping around. She showed them a water tribe comb, revealing to the group that she was a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe but was captured a long time ago. She offered to teach Katara what she knew in order to carry on the tradition of southern waterbending. Katara happily agreed, eager to learn more about her tribe's cultural heritage.



The next day, she taught Katara a series of techniques in order to obtain water in a place devoid of any obvious sources. She first demonstrated that it was possible to pull water out of thin air. Hama told her to keep an open mind and realize that there was water in places she never thought about. She then led Katara to a field filled with fire lilies and told her that water could even be drawn from living things. She demonstrated this by harvesting the water from the flowers around them and using it to slice through a rock. However, drawing water from the flowers dried and killed them. While Katara was amazed by the demonstration, she regretted that the fire lilies were destroyed. Hama dismissed her concerns quickly, telling her that they were simply flowers, and that a waterbender in a foreign country had to do what they must to survive. She then told Katara that she had one more technique to teach, one that could only be used during the full moon. When Katara expressed hesitance due to the rumors of disappearances, Hama reassured her, stating that two master waterbenders under a full moon should be able to handle anything.



That night, Hama led Katara into the forest and told her about the technique of bloodbending. Horrified by the idea of controlling another person's body, Katara refused to learn bloodbending. Hama argued with her, stating that it did not matter whether she wanted to learn it or not, and told her that the power to use it existed either way. For trying to wipe out their entire culture, the older woman extolled that they must have vengeance upon the Fire Nation. This outburst led Katara to realize that Hama had been causing the villagers to disappear, but the latter angrily stated that the people of the Fire Nation deserved the same treatment that they had given to her and all the southern waterbenders. Hearing this caused Katara to adamantly refuse to learn bloodbending and to try to stop Hama from further terrorizing the town. Hama used the technique against Katara to temporarily force her into submission. However, Katara quickly regained control of her body, reminding Hama that she drew power from the full moon as well, and also stated that her waterbending was more powerful than Hama's. The two began to battle, each drawing water from the grass, the trees, and the air. Both combatants demonstrated their mastery over waterbending, but after a furious fight, it became obvious that Katara was the superior bender. Aang and Sokka arrived, having found and released Hama's prisoners. Hama turned the tables on them and used bloodbending to control the two, forcing them to attack Katara and then each other. Katara was then forced to use bloodbending to subdue Hama and protect Aang and Sokka. Toph arrived with the other villagers, who handcuffed Hama and took her away, vowing to imprison her forever. Hama remarked that her work is done, as Katara had already willingly used bloodbending and laughed as she was dragged off, leaving Katara in tears.

Personality
At first glance, Hama appeared to be a gentle, kind old woman. She possessed a caring, maternal personality which eventually won Katara's full trust. Determined and strong-willed, Hama fought persistently to ward off the Fire Nation during the Southern Water Tribe raids. However, later events unveiled a much darker and unstable side of Hama. Her discovery of bloodbending led her to become power-hungry and radically driven to extract revenge on Fire Nation civilians whenever possible. Long to hold a grudge, she actively retaliated against the Fire Nation by imprisoning local villagers as a way to punish them for the devastation they brought upon the Southern Water Tribe. She revealed a cruel side to her, showing no mercy toward random Fire Nation denizens or even Katara, as she willingly used bloodbending on her.

Hama felt no remorse for her actions towards the villagers, as the soldiers that took her and her fellow waterbenders away "threw [her] in prison to rot, along with [her] brothers and sisters" simply for being waterbenders while Hama retaliated against the villagers simply for them being of the Fire Nation.

When she met Katara, she wanted to pass on the Southern Water Style so it would not die along with her, as well as her own invention of Bloodbending, stating "[Katara] must carry on [her] work". She showed to be an encouraging teacher, if not a little immersed in her instructing Katara. But her real goal was to ensure Bloodbending would not die with her, and that Katara would use it for the same reason Hama did, to avenge the Soutern Water Tribe upon all of the Fire Nation.

Waterbending


Hama was a very powerful and creative waterbender, and - along with Katara - one of the two known living waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe. She was also the only remaining master of the Southern Style, until she passed her knowledge on to Katara. Hama was resourceful enough to draw water from plants, and even from thin air, to fuel her bending. She must also have been very skilled in combat, as she resisted capture the longest during the Southern Water Tribe raids.

Bloodbending
Hama was the creator of bloodbending, a technique that allowed her to manipulate the water in other creatures' bodies, effectively controlling their actions; however, it could only be performed during the full moon, when a waterbender's power was at its peak. The technique was powerful enough, and Hama skilled enough in its use, that she could simultaneously control Aang and Sokka with great finesse. Despite her great mastery of the art, Hama's power had apparently diminished with age, as Katara was able to resist her bloodbending and defeat her in combat.

Other skills
Hama was a capable teacher, passing knowledge of Southern Style Waterbending on to Katara in a short time, though it should be noted that Katara was already a master in her own right. Hama also proved to be a skilled actress, hiding her grudge against her Fire Nation neighbors as she enacted her revenge on them one by one, even disguising her grim intentions from Toph, who had proven more than capable of detecting lies in the past.

Trivia

 * The word Hama (浜) means "beach" in Japanese. This word may have been adopted in the Inuit language for "coastal area" and the name of one their pihiq or Inuit songs. The name "Hama" may also be derived from the Greek word "Haima", meaning "blood", which is appropriate, as Hama was the inventor of bloodbending.
 * Hama was one of the few Water Tribe members not to have a "K" in her name, or to have blue eyes as hers were gray.
 * Hama was one of the few female waterbenders shown in the series, the others being Katara, Yugoda, those shown in her flashbacks, and all female Avatars.
 * Hama appeared to have a light skin tone, which is unusual, since most people from the Water Tribe have a slightly darker tan skin tone.
 * Hama was briefly mentioned by Kanna in the movie adaptation, , as being the last waterbender in the South Pole until the Fire Nation came and took her.
 * Hama is the first villain in both series to hail from the Water Tribe.
 * Hama was the first bloodbending master to be shown in both series.
 * Hama was the first known waterbender to settle in the Fire Nation.
 * Hama is the first known waterbender that bloodbends in both series, the second was Katara in Book 3 and the other three were Noatok, Tarrlok, and Yakone in The Legend of Korra.