Katara's necklace



Katara's necklace is a blue choker with a light blue, hand-crafted jewel bearing the symbol of waterbending. It was originally crafted by Pakku as a betrothal necklace, but it has since become a family heirloom passed from mother to daughter, starting from Kanna to Kya, and eventually to Katara herself. The necklace is of heavy importance to Katara, who considers it her most treasured possession, serving as the only memento of her deceased mother.

History
Roughly during 40 ASC, this pendant was crafted by Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe as a betrothal necklace for his arranged wife, Kanna. It served as a proclamation of his affection and adulation for the young woman. However, Kanna did not want to partake in the Northern Water Tribe's customary boundaries, most of which oppressed women, and so she fled to the Southern Water Tribe seeking a new beginning. Despite her subsequent marriage to a southern tribesman, Kanna kept the necklace with her for unknown reasons.

Eventually, Kanna passed the necklace on to Kya, the wife of Hakoda, her son. Kya wore the necklace six years prior to the Avatar's return, during a Fire Nation raid that claimed her life. Following her death, the necklace was passed on to Kya's eight year old daughter, Katara.

Katara explained to Haru that she kept the necklace as it was the only reminder of her mother. However, she exclaimed that the necklace itself was not enough to fill the emotional void caused by her mother's death. Shortly afterward, she began a revolt on a Fire Nation prison rig, only to discover her necklace missing following her escape. During this time, the necklace came into the possession of Zuko, who found the lost necklace lying on the abandoned rig.



Zuko discovered and captured Katara as she was attempting to practice from a stolen waterbending scroll. After binding her to a tree, he revealed that he possessed Katara's missing necklace, the last tie Katara had to her mother. Zuko bribed her with the keepsake, promising to return it if she was willing to trade Aang. Katara refused, and she escaped shortly afterwards with Aang and Sokka, leaving Zuko with the necklace.

Later, near the vicinity of Makapu Village, Aang crafted a new necklace for Katara out of flowers and Sokka's fishing line. It was Katara's modeling of this necklace that pushed Aang's attraction into a full blown crush. Though she was seen wearing the hand-crafted necklace, it consistently appeared and disappeared from her neck during their stay, even so far as to never being seen again after the gang's departure from Makapu Village.

Zuko contracted a bounty hunter, June, who used the scent from Katara's necklace for her shirshu to track down Katara. Catching up with her once more, Zuko captured the young waterbender and her brother, Sokka, and confronted Aang in battle at an abbey. It was during this battle that Aang successfully recovered Katara's necklace from Zuko. As they flew away on Appa, he offered his prize to Katara, who thanked him with a kiss on the cheek.

While at the Northern Water Tribe, a skilled healer, Yugoda, recognized Katara as Kanna's granddaughter after observing the carvings on Katara's necklace. It was here that Katara learned that her grandmother was raised in the Northern Water Tribe. Later Katara dueled with Pakku, a waterbending master who refused to take her on as his apprentice, due to prejudice towards women in the Northern Water Tribe culture. During this skirmish, the necklace fell from Katara's neck and onto the icy floor of the sparring circle. Katara was soon defeated by being encased in a prison of ice. Having defeated Katara, Pakku began to leave the arena and saw the necklace that he had hand-crafted sixty years ago. This was what convinced him to finally put away his old prejudices and teach Katara, his past love's granddaughter, waterbending.

Having learned of Kanna's whereabouts, Pakku headed to the South Pole to aid in rebuilding efforts and to reunite with his lost love. From then on, the necklace remained safely in Katara's possession during her journey to Ba Sing Se, where she was captured by Azula and imprisoned alongside Zuko during the overthrowing of the Earth King. Katara began to berate Zuko for his and his nation's cruelty toward the world. She further expressed her grief by telling Zuko of how his nation murdered her mother, clutching onto the necklace as she broke down into tears. This was what sparked Zuko to share his mother's loss with Katara, which convinced her that he had the ability to change.

Having escaped Aang's death and Zuko's sudden betrayal, Team Avatar sneaked into the Fire Nation, obtaining local attire in order to blend in. Katara modeled for Aang once again, leading him to comment that the necklace would reveal her identity. Reluctantly, Katara removed it as it was obviously an accessory from the Water Tribes. Katara began to wear the necklace again when she re-donned her Water Tribe attire during the Day of Black Sun, and she continued to wear it afterwards, except in cases that required her to sport her Fire Nation clothes, such as when she watched a play on Ember Island and when she and Suki searched for Aang.



When Katara and Sokka reunited with their father at Zuko's coronation as Fire Lord, Hakoda told Katara and her brother that he heard of their brave feats in the final stages of the War, and that he was the proudest father in the world. In addition, he turned to Katara and stated their mother would be proud as well. This brought tears to Katara's eyes, as she rested her fingertips against the carved stone of her mother's necklace.

Katara was present with the rest of Team Avatar at Iroh's tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. She wore a white-collared green Earth Kingdom dress and lacked her mother's necklace.

Over a year since the end of the War, Katara still donned her mother's necklace as part of her new Water Tribe ensemble.

Trivia

 * It is interesting to note that the carving on Katara's necklace is a close match to the waterbending symbol. It is probable that this was intended, as we can assume that Pakku was already a gifted waterbender at the time of Kanna's betrothal.