History of Katara (Summer 100 AG)

After the fall of Ba Sing Se, Katara and her friends hide away in the Fire Nation, stealing clothes to disguise themselves.

The Awakening


When the episode begins we learn that Aang has been unconscious for a long time. Katara informs Aang about how they had returned to Chameleon Bay after he was injured. The gang found her father, and later captured a Fire Nation ship. Hakoda greets Aang and tells him that though the Fire Nation has captured Ba Sing Se, they would still go ahead with the plan to invade the Fire Nation on the day of Black Sun. In an angered tone, Katara corrects him that it is Sokka's plan. Aang begins to feel pain once more and returns to his room with Katara to undergo healing. While she is healing his back, Aang begins to recall the battle in Ba Sing Se and feels that he has failed everyone as the Avatar, and that he was more than hurt by Azula's lightning attack.

Katara and the others run into an actual Fire Nation ship. Katara puts space between the two ships with a huge waterbending attack that nearly capsizes the enemy ship, and they try to escape. Despite the tremendous efforts of Katara and Toph, the ship takes heavy damage from the pursuing Fire Nation ship. Out of sheer bad luck, the Serpent of Serpent's Pass appears but is struck by a stray fireball. The heroes get the chance to escape as the enraged serpent attacks the Fire Nation ship. Shortly after, Aang, disliking the feeling of being helpless and useless during the fight and guilty about failing in Ba Sing Se, flies off on his own in a mission to regain his honor. Katara after discovering that Aang was missing, breaks down in horror and also finally confronts her father on her feelings about him leaving Sokka and herself to go off to the war. She is the first to hug Aang when they find him on the shores of the Fire Nation and is greatly relieved to see that he's safe.

The Headband
Katara and the others are traveling through the Fire Nation with Aang using airbending and waterbending to hide themselves and Appa in a cloud. They take temporary shelter in a cave, 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 (including a new necklace for Katara, who sadly removes her mother's Water Tribe necklace).



Aang then enters a Fire Nation School. Aang gets into trouble for "roughing up" a favored student of the headmaster, resulting in a parent-teacher conference. Sokka and Katara attend the conference acting as Aang's parents, "Mr. Wang Fire" and "Mrs. Sapphire Fire". Aang insists that they need to do something for the children in the school. He therefore plans to hold a secret dance party in the cave for everyone in the school. Aang asks Katara to dance, slightly hesitate about dancing with him and after making multiple excuses, she takes Aang's hand and is embarrassed by the amount of attention they get from the other dancers. Aang smoothly reassures her, leaving a faint blush on her cheeks before they get serious. They perform a combination of neijia drills and capoeira in synchronization, which does indeed appear to be an acrobatic dance. However, the headmaster and several teachers appear on the scene, having been told of the dance by Hide. The crew manage to slip away in the opening behind the cave. While the party flies off on Appa, Toph compliments Aang on his efforts, which she believes made a serious impact on the students. Katara agrees and kisses Aang on the cheek, which causes him to blush.

The Painted Lady


The group floats downstream, in the middle of a river that seems to be mostly brown sludge. With little chance of catching any food, they decide to buy some food at a nearby village, which happens to be in the middle of the river, which has been polluted by a nearby military factory. 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. 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. When they get to the village, everybody happens to be in much better spirits. According to Xu, a legendary local river spirit known as the Painted Lady came and gave them some more food. But there is no medicine in the village, as the factory takes it all. Katara suggests letting Appa rest for another day. That night, a thick mist comes across the village. The Painted Lady arrives and heals several of the sick. The child Katara helped earlier thanks her, and the Painted Lady, actually Katara in disguise, leaves across the water.



The next day, Appa is still sick, so they return to the village. The village is in even higher spirits, and have erected a large statue of the Painted Lady in thanks for healing their sick. Xu/Dock suggests that maybe the Painted Lady could help Appa out. 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. The next night, Katara once again puts on her disguise, but as she leaves, Momo wakes up, rousing Aang in turn. Seeing the Painted Lady, he tries to ask for her help, but she runs away. Aang chases her all the way to the village, where he finally finds out Katara's secret. Appa's illness was the result of her feeding him berries that stained his tongue. Katara sadly confesses and apologizes for holding them there to help the village, but Aang naturally likes the idea. Together, the two infiltrate the factory and wreck it, stopping the flow of pollution.When returning to the campsite they find Toph and Sokka have found out her secret too. As they prepare to leave, they see a squad of Fire Nation troops heading towards the town on speeders, and realize that they must believe the villagers had sabotaged the factory, Katara is determined to stop them. The soldiers start attacking the village, but a gust of wind blows their flames out. With help from Appa, Toph, and Sokka providing spooky sound effects, Aang and Katara stage an encounter with the Painted Lady to defeat the troops and drive them away.

As the gang stays behind long enough to help the villagers clean up their river. That night, as Katara examines the water, a thick mist appears out of nowhere, and the real Painted Lady appears to thank her.

Bloodbending
As the gang continues on their journey, they stop in a forest. They start telling ghost stories. Sokka is telling a lame one about a haunted sword. Then Katara tells of a friend of their mother's. Toph suddenly says she hears screaming coming from under the mountain and how it suddenly stops. An old woman named 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 leads her guests on a shopping trip, during which Sokka overhears some of the locals talking about the disappearances during the full moon. When Hama sends her guests ahead of her back to the inn, Sokka investigates the house for anything suspicious. Sokka then sees a box lying in a room. Just before they manage to open it, Hama walks in and catches them in the act. However, she opens the box for them and pulls out a water tribe comb, revealing she is from the Southern Water Tribe, but was captured a long time ago. She explains that she knows they are from the South Pole, too, as she heard them talking in the woods.



During dinner, the group also discovers that she is a Waterbender. 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. 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.



That night, Hama takes Katara into the woods were the villagers have been disappearing. She then has a flashback to when she was in prison. Hama reveals her technique that she used to escape the prison, "Bloodbending", which can only be used with the influence of the full moon enhancing her abilities. Horrified by the idea of controlling another person's body, Katara refuses to learn Bloodbending. This 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 and trees surrounding them, and it quickly becomes obvious that they are nearly equally matched. But when Katara finally begins to get the upper hand, Aang and Sokka arrive to assist her. Hama, using Bloodbending, sends them flying at first Katara and then each other, with Sokka's sword pointing straight at Aang. At the last second, Katara 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 forever. Hama remarks that her work is done, as Katara has already willfully used Bloodbending, and laughs as she is dragged off. Katara then breaks down in tears, with Aang, Sokka and Toph's comfort.

Day of Black Sun
Within the following days, Katara and the rest of the gang arrive on an uninhabited island in the middle of the Fire Nation where the entire invasion force will gather. Unfortunately, Aang learns that they have only four days until the invasion, and Aang feels unprepared, having not learned Firebending. He starts having nightmares about his duel with Fire Lord Ozai and trains relentlessly, depriving him of sleep. Aang starts having hallucinations and becomes tired, so Katara and the others attempt to help. Katara attempts to relax Aang with a few yoga sessions inside a soothing hot springs found on the island. However, the heat from the water reminds Aang of the Fire Lord's firebending, causing him to panic. When Aang continues to train nonstop, Katara manages to get him to sleep for at least a little while by telling him to sleep for her, since he would not do it for himself. On the day before the invasion, Aang talks to Katara and tells her that his lack of sleep has helped him to realize that while he is fighting the Fire Lord to save the world, he is also doing it for Katara. He then tells Katara that he loves her and they begin to kiss passionately. However, this is merely a hallucination, so Aang explains his behavior to a confused Katara by lying that he daydreamed about living underwater, much to her amusement. Aang completely loses his mind later that day, so Katara and her friends shave an entire herd of Koala Sheep and use their wool to create a large bed for Aang. He refuses to sleep due to his lack of confidence in the upcoming battle, so Katara reassures him that he's ready to fight because since the day they met, Aang has trained for this battle and has become incredibly strong, brave, and smart. He has displayed great prowess in battle and a great love for his friends and allies, and both have helped him to get where he is today. Thanks to Katara and the others, Aang finally gets some decent sleep and is now fully confident in his ability to defeat Ozai.



During the Day of Black Sun, Katara is first seen bending the water around the subs, allowing them to dive. Then, when they resurface, she tells Aang how proud of him she is, that he is no longer the goofy kid from in the iceberg. Aang then kisses Katara, to whom she responds.

Katara then assists in the battle against the Firebenders, proving to be a worthy foe in combat once again. When her father is severely injured, she uses her healing abilities to cure him, giving him the strength needed to carry despite not being able to actually fight. Katara does not join Sokka, Toph, and Aang in their pursuit of Fire Lord Ozai, and instead helps her father around and attacks the Royal Palace. Unfortunately, the invasion fails when Princess Azula distracts Aang during the whole eclipse, forcing the group to retreat. However, the entire force could not escape because the Fire Nation destroyed their submarines, so Aang and all of the younger members of the force fled to the Western Air Temple while the elders surrendered. Katara gave Aang a look of reassurance when he cried over the failure of the battle.

Hostility


Katara and the group arrived at the Western Air Temple and they discussed who would be Aang's Firebending teacher. She suggested Jeong Jeong, but Aang said that there was no way of finding him again. When Prince Zuko showed up at the Temple, Katara was enraged and prepared to attack, but Zuko announced that he had changed and now wanted to teach Aang Firebending. Katara was the most opposed to trusting him, and attacked him with her Waterbending when he insisted that he be taken as their prisoner. Katara later confesses to the gang that when she and Zuko were imprisoned in Ba Sing Se, he made her feel sorry for him when he lamented the loss of his mother Ursa, but when he betrayed her by joining Azula she chose never to trust him again. Toph points out to the group that Zuko was being honest in his apologies over his past crimes and that he is the only available person to teach Aang Firebending. However, Katara and the others shut her down with their disinterest, causing Toph to storm off.

The next day, Toph returns to reveal that Zuko burned her feet when she tried to talk to him about joining the group. It was an honest accident as he had mistaken her for an attacker, but the fact that he used fire on her is enough to convince Sokka and the others to hunt Zuko down. While tending to Toph's wounds, the Combustion Man attacks, pinning the group down. Katara and Aang's attacks prove useless, but Zuko buys the gang enough time for Sokka to take the assassin down with his boomerang. Zuko apologizes once again to the group for his misdeeds and proves to the gang that he has in fact changed for the better. Aang, Toph, and Sokka immediately see that Zuko does have good in him and chose to let him join, but Katara only allows him to join because of Aang's need to firebend. Zuko was clearly nervous when she made her choice, knowing full well that she had little reason to trust him. Katara later confronts Zuko in his room in the temple and tells him fiercely,

"'You might have everyone else here buying your... 'transformation', but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something right now: you make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I'll make sure your destiny ends, right then and there; permanently!'"

In other words, if she detects any act of treachery she will not hesitate to take his life (possibly with Bloodbending). She then leaves a very stunned and silent Zuko to ponder on these scathing words.

In "The Firebending Masters" she still shows her hostility towards Zuko as she openly mocks his loss of firebending and the irony that if he had lost it long ago it would have greatly helped them. By the time of "The Boiling Rock, Part 1", her hostility towards Zuko appears to have lessened: she mocks him after he fails to tell a joke properly, but in a less vindictive way than she did in "The Firebending Masters".

Trusting Zuko
At the beginning of "The Southern Raiders", a fleet of Fire Nation ships led by Azula assaults the Western Air Temple. When a bomb strikes the ceiling, a number of heavy stones fall to the ground, nearly crushing Katara, until Zuko saves her. It irritates her, however, that Zuko was the one to save her life, and she ungratefully shoves him off of her. The group attempts to escape through a tunnel, while Zuko holds off Azula and the fleet. When they can't get Appa through the tunnel, Sokka suggests they split up. Katara fiercely objects, arguing that the Fire Nation shouldn't be allowed to break up their family again. Hakoda reassures her that they won't be apart forever, and he bids farewell to Katara and Sokka. Katara and the gang escape on Appa, and she saves Zuko when he falls off of Azula's airship.



Later, the group camps out on an unnamed island, and they celebrate Zuko's heroism. Katara, however, does not enjoy the celebrations, or Zuko's joke about trying to capture them. When Zuko says he doesn't deserve their praise, Katara agrees with him and storms off. Zuko follows her and tells her that everyone else trusts him now, and that her continued animosity isn't fair. She angrily replies that she was the first person to trust him, and he betrayed her. When he asks how he can make up to her, she angrily says

"'You really want to know!? Hmmm, maybe you could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King, or I know-you could bring my mother back!'"

After learning what happened from Sokka, Zuko discovers that the Southern Raiders were the ones responsible for Sokka and Katara's mother's death. He waits outside Katara's tent and when she wakes up, he offers to help her track down her mother's murderer.



A furious Katara takes up the offer. When they ask Aang if they can borrow Appa, Aang jokingly asks if it is Katara's turn to take a field trip with Zuko. When Katara says that it is, Aang asks what's going on. Zuko tells him and Sokka that he knows who had murdered Katara's mother, and that they intend to find him. An argument ensues, where Zuko and Katara claim that she needs to have emotional resolution, while Aang and Sokka both say that it is a bad idea (as both violence and vengeance are never the answer), and Aang claims it is revenge. The argument ends with Katara angrily storming off. That night, Katara and Zuko sneak off to take Appa anyway, and Aang and Sokka meet them there. Aang lets them go, but he urges Katara not to kill the man who killed her mother, but to forgive him.

Zuko flies them to a Fire Navy communication tower, where they will find the location of the Southern Raiders. After sneaking in, they find the scroll showing the Raiders' whereabouts, at Whale Tail Island. Katara flies there for a day without rest, and tells Zuko the full story of what she remembers of her mother's death.



When they arrive at the Southern Raiders' ship, on the night of a full moon, Katara almost effortlessly takes out almost all the ship's crew. The two of them force their way towards the leader, and Katara blasts a metal door open with waterbending. When the leader fights back and Firebends at Zuko, she willingly uses Bloodbending to subdue him. After looking him in the eyes, she realizes that he is not the same man who had killed her mother. When Zuko interrogates him, he reveals that the man they're searching for is Yon Rha, the former leader of the Southern Raiders who had retired four years ago when Katara was ten years old.



She and Zuko track him down on a Fire Nation island and ambush him. Katara demands to know if he remembers her, and although he cannot at first, he realizes she is the Water Tribe girl that he had seen six years ago. He reveals that he had been ordered to find and kill the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, and that Katara's mother had told him it was her. An enraged Katara says that her mother had deliberately lied to protect the last Southern Waterbender, herself. She furiously then creates a dome out of rain, which she transforms into dozens of ice spikes, which she sends to kill him. However, she stops them at the last minute. Yon Rha begs for his life, and even offers his own mother's life in exchange. She says that she realizes now how sad, pathetic and empty he is, but no matter how much she hates him, she cannot bring herself kill him. She and Zuko leave, while Yon Rha cries.

"'She lied to you! She was protecting the last Waterbender!'"

"'What? Who!?'"

"'ME!'"

"'I did a bad thing. I know I did, and you deserve revenge. So why don't you take my mother, that would be fair.'"

"'I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, but now that I see you I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you... nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty'"

"'Please spare me.'"

"'But as much as I hate you... I just can't do it.'"

When they rejoin the group, Aang says he's proud of her for forgiving Yon Rha. Katara replies that she has not forgiven him, and that she never can. She does forgive Zuko, however, and gives him a warm hug.

The Ember Island Players


Katara questions if it is safe to hide from the Fire Lord in his own beach house, a concern that Zuko quickly dismisses. Sokka and Suki arrive, suggesting that the group go see a play about themselves. Like all others, with the exception of Toph, she is displeased with her portrayal. Her character is played by a much older (and more developed) actress, and portrayed as very melodramatic and exaggeratedly preoccupied with "hope", often bursting into tears and/or melodramatic speeches for the occasion. Such as when Sokka asked Katara why she stole the Water Scroll, she answered (while crying) "It just gave me so much hope!", much to the dismay of the real Katara. When the play reaches the point where Zuko betrays Iroh, Katara asks an upset Zuko if he did say that he "hates his uncle." Zuko says that he might as well had.



The play continues and reaches the point when it shows Zuko and Katara in the cave, during the events of "The Crossroads of Destiny", with the Katara actress hitting on the Zuko actor, which makes their real life counterparts slightly uncomfortable. The Katara actress tells him the Avatar is like a little brother to him and that she doesn't think of him romantically and they both hug. Aang gets annoyed and storms off. During a break between the acts, Katara finds Aang outside, and Aang tells Katara how he really feels about her. Katara says she's confused and that it's not the right time for them to be together. When Aang kisses her, she gets upset, noting she just said she was confused and goes inside leaving Aang heartbroken.

Sozin's Comet


When Zuko berates the others for having beach parties when the Comet is three days away, Katara states that the Fire Nation pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se, and that they'll wait until after Sozin's Comet. Zuko then reveals Ozai's plan to burn the Earth Kingdom down. The following day, they discover that Aang is missing, and later that Momo is missing too. Sokka notices that he didn't take his glider. The group searches the entire island, but are unable to find him, so they turn to Zuko, who has experience in tracking Aang down. The group flies to the Earth Kingdom, where Zuko asks June to track Aang down with Aang's staff. When her shirshu is unable to do so, he asks her to find Iroh, and shows that he kept one of his smelly sandals. June tracks him to Ba Sing Se and leaves. During the evening, the group is approached by members of the Order of the White Lotus, namely Pakku, who now is her step-grandfather, having married Kanna. Also with him are other White Lotus masters the group had met before: Bumi, Jeong Jeong, and Piandao. They take them to the Order's campsite, where they meet Iroh and where it's decided that Katara will return to the Fire Nation to help Zuko take the throne from Azula when Ozai is defeated.



They leave on Appa and head towards the Fire Nation. On the way, Katara notices that Zuko is worried, and tries to reassure him. He tells her that it's not about himself he is worried, but with Aang, fearing what could happen if he doesn't defeat Ozai. Katara reassures him one more time, saying Aang will appear, saying he has to. They arrive in the Fire Nation during Azula's coronation. Azula challenges Zuko to an Agni Kai. Zuko battles Azula, eventually gaining the upper hand. When he taunts her to use lightning, something he thought she was avoiding because he can redirect it, she strikes Katara instead. Zuko blocks the lightning, saving Katara's life, but taking the blast on his chest, injuring him badly. Katara proceeds to fight Azula, eventually tricking her into being directly above a source of water, which Katara uses to freeze herself and Azula. She liquefies the ice she is in so she can bind Azula's hands with chains, and then melts the ice with Azula bound and defeated. Katara rushes to Zuko and heals him. Zuko then thanks her, but Katara says that she is the one who should be thanking him. Later, she is seen at the Jasmine Dragon, along with other members of Team Avatar. She follows Aang after he leaves for some fresh air and hugs him. She and Aang then look at each other lovingly before she instigates a romantic kiss.