Healing



Healing is a sub-skill of Waterbending which consists in healing wounds by redirecting energy paths (or chi) throughout the body, using water as a catalyst. It was first introduced in "The Deserter".

History


After Aang ignored Jeong Jeong's warnings, he accidentally burned Katara due to lack of control over his Firebending. Seeking to soothe the pain, Katara put her hands down in a creek, only for the water in her hands to glow and heal her.



In the Northern Water Tribe, this ability is the only aspect of Waterbending taught to female Waterbenders, due to the traditionally patriarchal culture of the tribe. It is not known to what extent the Northern Water Tribe teaches healing to men; no male Waterbender has been shown using this ability in the series so far. In rare cases, a Waterbender may develop this ability without training.

Limits


Physically, healing draws on the restorative properties of water to organisms such as human beings that are primarily composed of it. Though powerful, Waterbending induced healing cannot heal every ailment, for example, Jet's wound in "Lake Laogai" or the complications associated with Princess Yue's birth. During "The Drill", it is shown that healing is ineffective in a person who has had their chi flow blocked or otherwise disrupted, Katara was unable to help a Terra Team member who had been attacked by Ty Lee.

So far, Waterbending induced healing has been shown to work in physical injuries, such as burnings (Toph's feet in "The Western Air Temple" and Katara's own hands in "The Deserter") and lacerations (Hakoda's injury in "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse"), diseases brought on by severe pollution (Jang Hui villagers in "The Painted Lady"), it has even shown to counteract mental distress and tempering (Jet in "Lake Laogai").



The healing abilities of a Waterbender appear to be influenced by the water they use: when using a special water from the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole, Katara was able to seemingly bring back to life a lightning struck Aang in "The Crossroads of Destiny" (though he remained unconscious for a few weeks and required follow up healing sessions to cope with the pain and go back to full health), while using regular water only made her father strong enough to walk by the next summer. It was implied by Katara that the special properties of the Spirit Oasis water could heal Zuko's scarred face. A curious fact is that after healing Aang, the Oasis water disappeared, as if it had been "used up". It is not known if that is a specific trait of that water in particular or of the healing process in general, as Katara has been shown to heal without using up water multiple times.