Katara's necklace



Katara's necklace is a blue choker with a Water Tribe pendant on it. It is a family heirloom, having been passed down from Gran Gran Kanna to Katara's mother, and then to Katara herself. It is Katara's most treasured possession.

History
In its early history, the necklace was a betrothal necklace. Sixty years before the events of the series, it was carved by Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe through Waterbending. He then presented it to a young Kanna as a token of his affection. Kanna did not want to marry Pakku, however, and she fled to the Southern Water Tribe. She kept the necklace with her thereafter.

Later, at an unknown date, Kanna passed on the necklace to her daughter-in-law, Kya, the wife of her son, Hakoda. Kya had been wearing the necklace on the day she lost her life in a Fire Nation raid. After her death, the necklace was passed on to the next generation, to the young Katara.

Katara explained to Haru that she kept the necklace because it was the only thing she had left of her mother, although it wasn't enough to fill her emotional void. At the end of the episode, she lost the necklace while escaping from the Fire Nation prison, and it was found by Zuko. After Katara stole a Waterbending Scroll, Zuko found and captured Katara, and revealed to Katara he had the necklace, the last tie Katara had with her mother. Zuko promised to return it to Katara if she was willing to turn in Aang. Katara refused, and Zuko kept hold of the necklace. Later on, Aang makes a new necklace for her out of flowers and Sokka's fishing line. It is Katara's modeling while wearing this necklace that pushes Aang's attraction to her into a full blown crush in this and future episodes. In that episode, Katara is rarely seen wearing the new necklace, and it is never seen in later episodes. When Zuko lost Aang's trail, he gave the real necklace to the bounty hunter, June, whose Shirshu used the scent from the necklace in order to track down Katara. By capturing Katara, and in the process Sokka, Zuko finally caught up with Aang. In the bending duel at the end of the episode, Aang successfully recovered the necklace from Zuko and returned it to Katara, who thanked him with a kiss on the cheek. At The Northern Water Tribe, Yugoda realized that Katara is Kanna's granddaughter by seeing the necklace; the old healer explained to Katara that Kanna was once from the Northern Water Tribe. The appearance of the necklace during Katara and Pakku's duel is what eventually convinced Pakku to put away his old prejudices and teach Katara Waterbending.

The necklace remained safe in Katara's possession during her journey to Ba Sing Se, when she was captured by Azula and imprisoned alongside Zuko during the overthrow of the Earth King. Katara then berates Zuko for him and his nation's cruelty towards the world. She further expresses her grief by telling Zuko of how his nation murdered her mother, clutching onto the necklace as she breaks down into tears.

When the kids sneak into the Fire Nation, they steal and wear Fire Nation outfits. However, Katara models the outfit and Aang comments that the necklace would reveal her identity. So Katara reluctantly agreed to remove it since it was obviously from the Water Tribe. Katara started to wear the necklace again when she re-dons her Water Tribe clothes, and wore it for the rest of the series, except when she wears her Fire Nation disguise to see a play and when she and Suki search for Aang.

Katara continues to wear the necklace regularly now that the war is over. She continues to treasure it for the memories she has of her mother.

Trivia

 * It is interesting to note that the carving on Katara's necklace is a close match to the Waterbending symbol.
 * It is possible that Aang made her a necklace