Kya (nonbender)

Kya is Katara and Sokka's mother who is frequently mentioned throughout the show.

History
She was a member of the Southern Water Tribe and wife of Chief Hakoda. Her children were Sokka and Katara, with whom she was close. Very little is known about her life, but it is known that when Sokka was only nine and Katara was only eight, she was killed in a Fire Nation raid on the Southern Water Tribe. Her death had a severe impact on her whole family. Both Katara and Sokka developed a strong distrust in anybody from the Fire Nation, and Hakoda went off to war with his warriors in order to ensure the Tribe's survival following the war's end.

Sokka and Katara's mother has been mentioned on several occasions. When Zuko and Katara were imprisoned at Ba Sing Se, Katara expressed her hatred and grief towards Zuko by confiding that his nation killed her mother. He sympathized with her loss in the wake of the loss of his own mother, but that wasn't enough to stop him from joining his sister in conquering Ba Sing Se. Another instance is in The Runaway, in which Sokka confesses to Toph that he can't clearly remember his mother's face, as it has been Katara who has cared for him since their mother died. Whenever he thinks of his mother, he sees Katara's face.

While she does not officially appear in the series until "The Southern Raiders", Katara sees a vision of her mother during The Swamp. However, we only see her from the back, showing that her hairstyle resembles Katara's. In reality, what Katara thought was her mother was a tree stump in the middle of the swamp, masked by the Swamp's mystical powers. Katara then breaks down in tears.

Kya was killed by the Southern Raiders in an attack to eliminate the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. When repeatedly questioned by the then Southern Raider leader Yon Rha about the Southern Water Tribe's final remaining waterbender, she lied saying she was the last Waterbender in order to protect her daughter, the true last waterbender. She then offers to be taken prisoner, but is killed instead.

Relatives

 * Hakoda (husband)
 * Sokka (elder son)
 * Katara (younger daughter)
 * Gran Gran (mother-in-law)

Trivia
Kya is named after what her daughter was named in the Avatar Series Pilot.