Southern Water Tribe

The Southern Water Tribe is the southern division of the Water Tribe. Its people are scattered in tiny villages and settlements located across the South Pole. Only one of these villages have been seen during the series.

The Southern Tribe was formerly concentrated in one great city, the site of the current village that is home to Katara and Sokka. Worn down by constant Fire Nation raids, the Southern Tribe is weak and almost defenseless against further raids.

Unlike its northern sister tribe, the people of the Southern Water Tribe are teetering on the edge of extinction, with almost no warriors or defenses left. Like many native americans the people of the Southern Water Tribe have light brown skin.The traditions of the southern water tribe are based upon the early Native Americans.

History


Originally, the Water Tribe existed as one, solely in the North Pole. However, following civil unrest, a group of warriors, Waterbenders, and healers journeyed to the South Pole to engender a brand new tribe. Due to the division, the two sects evolved quite differently. The Southern Water Tribe was once a beautiful city filled with Waterbenders, like the Northern Water Tribe, but was destroyed following attacks from the Fire Nation. The Firebenders came and started to capture as many Southern Waterbenders as they could. Despite being outnumbered, the Waterbenders put up a good fight, like trapping a ship in ice creating the Shipwreck. Apparently their fight was not good enough; eventually Hama was the only Waterbender left, and she too was taken.

Contact between the two tribes was severed and the Southern Tribe was split into smaller groups and scattered across the Pole, its natives reduced to dwelling within simple sealskin tents and small igloos.



Six years ago, the Southern Water Tribe was attacked by the Southern Raiders, an elite Fire Nation naval force assigned to raid the South Pole when ordered to. They knew that one Waterbender remained in the Southern Water Tribe, and were assigned to kill her. This turned out to be eight-year-old Katara. The Water Tribe warriors, led by Chief Hakoda, fought off the attackers bravely, but the leader Yon Ra managed to infiltrate the village. He captured Katara's mother, Kya, and interrogated her, demanding to know the identity of the last Southern Waterbender. At first Kya denied it, saying that there were no Waterbenders left as the Fire Nation had taken them all away long ago. However, Yon Ra contradicted her, saying that a source had told him that one Waterbender was left in the Southern Water Tribe and said that they were not leaving until they found the Waterbender. Kya than deliberately told Yon Ra that she was the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, lying to protect both her daughter and village. Kya told Yon Ra that she was ready to taken as their prisoner, but Yon Ra said that he was not taking prisoners and ruthlessly murdered her.

The Southern Water Tribe is currently in dire straits, teetering on the brink of extinction. Its remaining population is dwindling due to Fire Nation raids and is currently defenseless, as its warriors left for the Earth Kingdom to aid in the century-long war against the Fire Nation two years ago. With the departure of the sole remaining Waterbender, Katara, and warrior, Sokka, with Aang the Avatar, the people consist mostly of elderly and middle aged women and very young children.

Recently a group of Waterbenders and healers from the Northern Tribe have been sent to the Southern Tribe to help rebuild.

With the end of the war, the Southern Water Tribe have started to rebuild their nation with the help of the Northern Benders.

Within seventy years after the War's end, the next Avatar in the Avatar Cycle, Korra was born into the Southern Water Tribe, making her Avatar Aang's immediate successor and the next Avatar to hail from the Southern Water Tribe which could mean that the Southern Water Tribe's Waterbending population has expanded enormously over the last seventy-five years of peace and prosperity.

Government
Government System: Tribal Chiefdom

Head of State & Government: Chief

It is not clear who leads the Southern Water Tribe, although some evidence suggests that Hakoda serves as chief. He wears braids similar to those worn by Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe; in "The Waterbending Master," Sokka claims to be "like a prince" in his own tribe (although this is an attempt to impress Princess Yue); and in "The Awakening," Aang addresses him as "Chief Hakoda" and Hakoda does not correct him.

The Southern Water Tribe is a much smaller and less stratified society than its Northern sister tribe. It is unknown whether the chieftanship is passed down family lines as in the Northern Tribe, or by another method; it's even possible that the chieftanship is not a formal position in the Southern Tribe - people may simply defer to Hakoda because of his charisma and reputation for cunning and wisdom.

Village (Former City)


The Village, positioned on a northern shoreline, is surrounded by a low, roughly circular snow wall, broken up by a snow watchtower (built by Sokka) to the north, and a non-gated entrance to the south. Inside are eight residential tents, arranged semi circularly around a communal fire pit. A giant igloo hugs the east wall, while a handful of smaller ones cluster at the north wall. Outside, to the right of the entrance, is a small igloo-structure that serves as the village outhouse. The remaining population stands at less than two dozen, with ten older women, ten young children, and one domesticated polar bear.

As shown in "The Puppetmaster", the village was much larger sixty years ago, and consisted of dozens of tents and igloos surrounded by a very large ice wall. A central igloo lay in the center of the village, which was circular in design. However, the village has since shrunk in size due to constant raids and the departure of the Water Tribe warriors two years ago.

The Shipwreck
West of the village lies a Fire Navy ship, torn open on jutting ice shelves. Though the shipwreck is a relic of the Fire Nation's long-ago first strike, its booby-traps are still in working order. In "The Boy in the Iceberg," Aang accidentally set off a flare that was meant to signal the Fire Nation. It is later revealed in "The Puppetmaster" that Hama and the Southern Waterbenders were responsible for the wrecking of the vessel, as a brief scene shows them raising a Fire Navy Ship up with ice and grounding it. The location appears to be the same as seen in "The Boy in the Iceberg".

Ice Dodging
The Tribe has a unique rite of passage called "Ice Dodging." This is a coming-of-age ritual that serves as a young boy's first step toward being realized as a full member of the tribe. (It is unclear whether girls normally undergo the ceremony as well - Bato merely describes the ritual as being "for young Water Tribe members," but only Sokka is specifically pointed out as having missed his chance to participate, even though Katara is already fourteen.) The rite is described in "Bato of the Water Tribe" as "a ceremonial test of wisdom, bravery and trust."

When a boy reaches the age of fourteen, his father takes him out to sea and challenges him to guide the boat through iceberg-studded waters. The father watches but does not interfere. If and when the boy succeeds, his father places a ceremonial mark on his forehead symbolizing the virtue he demonstrated most prominently during the test. The mark of the wise is awarded to those who show leadership and decisiveness. The mark of the brave is given for inspirational displays of courage. Finally, the mark of the trusted is bestowed upon those who prove themselves to be exceptionally steady and dependable.

The Southern Tribe is willing to adapt traditions such as Ice Dodging when circumstances warrant it. When Bato realized that Sokka had never undergone the ritual due to Hakoda's departure, he took Sokka, Katara, and Aang on an "ice dodging" expedition in rocky Earth Kingdom waters. When they succeeded, he marked all three and declared even Aang an honorary member of the Water Tribe.

Games
Children of the Tribe play a game called penguin sledding, which consists of catching a penguin and riding its back as a makeshift sled.

Gender Equality


While the Northern Water Tribe is an exceptionally patriarchal culture, gender roles in the Southern Tribe are far less rigid. Katara is shocked to learn that the Northern Tribe forbids women from learning Waterbending except for healing purposes; in fact, her father Hakoda recognized her bending abilities early on and unsuccessfully sought a master to teach her. In "The Puppetmaster", female waterbenders are shown taking an active part in battle; a possible reason may be the practicality as the Southern Water Tribe is shown to be more vulnerable to attack. Furthermore, girls are never forced into arranged marriages, but are instead free to marry whomever they see fit.

Nevertheless, the Southern Tribe does not seem to be entirely free of gender roles. During the first few episodes of the series (up until his encounter with the Kyoshi Warriors), Sokka displays a sexist attitude, claiming on numerous occasions that men are naturally better than women at tasks like hunting, fishing, and combat. In addition, during the siblings' childhood, Katara was responsible for "women's work" like midwifery and washing and mending clothes, including Sokka's; in contrast, Sokka was allowed to spend his time builidng fortifications and training younger boys to defend the village against the Fire Nation, despite the fact that his preparations were obviously inadequate to deal with any real attack. However, notably, even Sokka is shocked and confused to learn of the Northern Tribe's sexist customs. In general, the Southern Tribe seems to have a simpler, less hierarchical culture and a more open-minded and flexible mindset.

Warriors
Warriors of the Southern Water Tribe wield weaponry that includes clubs, scimitars, spears made of bone (also used in spearfishing), bladed boomerangs, machetes with whale teeth on the dull side of the blade, and shields. They typically wear black and white warpaint on their full face before going into battle. During the invasion of the Fire Nation capital, all the warriors wore wolf-headed helmets and suits of armor.

It seems as though all adult men of the tribe are expected to be fully trained warriors; two years prior to the beginning of the series, all the tribe's men sailed to the Earth Kingdom to join the war effort. It is unclear whether women without waterbending abilities are ever allowed to train as warriors - there are very few women left behind, so the lack of women in the war party may simply reflect the tribe's overall population decline as a result of Fire Nation attacks. It is clear, however, that women who are waterbenders are accepted as fighters in the Southern Tribe; the Northern Tribe's custom of restricting female waterbenders from combat takes Katara completely by surprise, and a flashback in "The Puppetmaster" shows Hama and other women using their waterbending abilities to defend the tribe against a Fire Nation attack.

Fauna

 * Penguins
 * Polar Bear Dogs
 * Tiger Seals
 * White Hamsters