Sokka

"water"

- I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic...

Sokka is a teenage Water Tribe warrior. Raised by his grandmother Kanna along with his younger sister Katara in the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka is the son of Chief Hakoda, who left along with all of the other men in his tribe to fight the Fire Nation. As a result, Sokka was the oldest male in the South Pole. He assumed responsibility for the tribe until his sister discovered an Air Nomad named Aang frozen in a block of ice. When he learns that Aang is the Avatar, he is at first skeptical that a child could really save the world. As he and his sister help Aang on his quest, he begins to believe that Aang really is the only hope for peace in the world.

Despite his inability to bend, Sokka becomes the strategist of the group, constantly trying to prove himself to be a great warrior like his father. Sokka is also the "matter of fact" guy in the group and does not believe in spirit magic, and he calls it "mumbo-jumbo". Originally poor, his leadership skills improve over the series as well. His humor and his ability to organize and plan becomes imperative to the group on their travels. By the end of the series, Sokka becomes a master swordsman and finally becomes a great warrior like his father.

Background


Sokka comes from the Southern Water Tribe. A warrior-to-be, 15 year old Sokka is a very physical person. He's very protective of his younger sister, Katara, and treasures the boomerang given to him by his father, Hakoda.

When his father left with the other men of the tribe to fight in the war, Sokka was put under his Gran Gran's care and became his tribe's last defense. He took the task very seriously, and even built a number of snow watchtowers around the village. Although Sokka has the spirit of a soldier and the courage to stand up to any enemy, at the beginning of the series he lacks the skills and technique that would make him a formidable opponent. That won't stop him from trying though, especially if his friends need help.

During his travels with Aang, he betters his skills significantly. By Book 3 he has become a very skilled fighter, leader, and strategic planner, with a sword forged from meteorite.

Personality
At first, Sokka is skeptical and abrasive, "sexist" and "immature", according to Katara (The Boy in the Iceberg). He is always sharp-witted. Detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the Bending Arts, he openly expresses his 'Bender Envy', most clearly shown in Sokka's Master. Not having bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior and the scientist. He takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. Initially, he doesn't seem to believe in the bending arts, calling Katara's bending "magic water". The appearance of the Avatar seems to change his mind. However, he never seems to fully accept the fact that as the avatar, Aang must learn firebending. He is the least eager for Aang to start learning firebending under Jeong Jeong. Later on, when Aang accidentally burns Katara, Sokka throws him to the ground and screams how he knew that Aang learning firebending was a mistake. This antagonism toward firebending seems to persist. Later, he refers to Zuko's training of Aang as "jerkbending". Apparently, Sokka only accepts the mastering of the last element because it will help Aang defeat the Fire Lord. He can become serious when he wants to or when need arises and is very protective of his sister, Katara. This is shown when he violently tackled Aang to the ground after Aang accidentally burned Katara's hands in "The Deserter". Sokka is also protective of Aang, and when Aang surrenders himself to Zuko, Sokka immediately prepares to rescue him. Later, he decides that getting Aang to the North Pole is more important then seeing his father again after years of separation. Sokka is also very intelligent and good at coming up with ideas, even if said ideas are not always very good. He is also generally the one who is counted on the determining the strategy of attack.



Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to extract vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He holds little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and prefers to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tends to be rash, however, and his pride often leads to embarrassment. When Sokka has been humiliated, his versatility makes for a heartfelt apology and changing of his ways. A good example of this is on episode 1.4 "The Warriors of Kyoshi".

Sokka learns to be flexible. He may be closed-minded at first, but that's because he wants to protect himself and those he loves. Not long after he starts traveling with the Avatar, Sokka begins to change. His humble apology to Suki is seen in "The Warriors of Kyoshi". As the series progresses, he becomes more optimistic. He likes to keep smiles on his friends' faces using his wit, sarcastic humor, and overall eccentricity. Sokka is an underdog. He is constantly the one who gets beaten upon. Most of his plans fail miserably; however, he bravely keeps fighting. From the very start, as seen in "The Avatar Returns", Sokka is willing to die defending his tribe, even though he never stood the smallest chance. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acts very silly, if not outright stupid. He occasionally creates ridiculous plans that are nearly impossible to carry out. He is also a general victim of slapstick, often being sent flying or getting struck by things. Aunt Wu even states, "Your future is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self inflicted". When Sokka protests that she didn't even read his palm, she remarked "I don't need to, it's written all over your face". His sarcastic and strange behavior can sometimes carry over into important decisions.

Sokka has a habit of over explaining his plans, much to the annoyance of his friends. He also has a habit of missing the point in certain situations, again much to the annoyance of his friends.



A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group. Sokka also has a habit of using sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts at karma in the heavens, vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance. He would also consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy", but willing to be "Sokka the veggies and straight-talk fellow". By the end of the episode, however, he has given up neither meat nor sarcasm. He even asked "Aang, thank goodness, have you got any meat?" after being found less than a second after shouting to Karma. Despite his love of meat, he finds it almost impossible to resist food, often gorging himself on various dishes when the group eat properly cooked meals.

As much as Sokka loves meat, he grows close to every pet. He has a hilarious relationship with Momo. He tries to adopt a Messenger Hawk which he fondly names "Hawky".

Under the guidance of swordsmaster Piandao, Sokka expresses various unorthodox procedures while undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper, rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smears ink all over his face and presses it onto the paper. As he presents Sokka with his blade, Piandao relates that it was not his skills that impressed him, but his creativity, versatility and intelligence. All were traits that go beyond mere skills and define a great swordsman.

Sokka writes with his right hand but draws and eats with his left hand. He is possibly ambidextrous, although his left-handed art is crude and rudimentary. However, this could just be due to a limited drawing ability.

Overall, Sokka probably has the biggest heart of all the characters. He changes where change is needed, learns to love and respect others, embraces his own identity, accepts failure, and forms lasting loyalties. He fights to the death even when the cause seems hopeless. Sokka becomes the warrior he has always dreamed of by the end of the series. He becomes a master swordsman and finally becomes a great warrior like his father.

Innovations and Abilities


For an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka shows a remarkable proclivity towards science. He seems naturally adept at creating weapons out of practically anything at any time. He learned how to construct amateur explosives from his father, which he once used to simulate Firebending. In another instance, Sokka used trickery and optical illusions to help his sister Katara fake the ability to Earthbend. Working side by side with fellow technologist, the Mechanist, Sokka has managed to engineer a system of control for an experimental hot air balloon as well as conceptualize the design for waterbending-powered submarines. Alongside his trademark boomerang, Sokka is proficient in a variety of weapons, including clubs, a machete, spears, and the newest addition, a meteorite iron sword. However, it is unclear if Sokka ever found his sword after throwing it off an airship.

In addition to his engineering skill, Sokka has shown a remarkable talent for poetry. In The Tales of Ba Sing Se, he stumbles into a poetry reading and goes toe-to-toe with the instructor in a haiku contest and holds his own and nearly wins. However, his hubris gets the best of him, and he is viciously thrown out for accidentally adding an extra syllable to the end of a haiku, where he then decides to change his outlook on poetry. Sokka is also, quite humorously, a terrible artist, yet somehow strangely unaware of it (or is in denial). He emotionally defends his "artwork", which is still met with more laughter from his peers.

As the only non-bender in Aang's group, Sokka is often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it is Sokka that usually devises plans, gathers intelligence, and collects data and maps that could help his group defeat the Fire Nation. He often becomes the navigator and chooses the route to follow despite the objections of others. His skills as a fighter have noticeably improved as the series progresses, although it is usually his persistence rather than skill that allows him to land a blow against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee in "The Chase". Sokka employs other strategies to defeat larger enemies. In "The Library", he incapacitated Wan Shi Tong by using the element of surprise and attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending had failed. It was also Sokka who discovered that a solar eclipse disables Firebenders to bend and his idea to travel to Ba Sing Se and inform the Earth King. Perhaps his greatest triumph, however, is his nearly single-handed defeat of Combustion Man by using his boomerang to block the latter's chi flow. This action ultimately resulted in Combustion Man's demise, something that the combined efforts of his friends failed to do.

Sokka's leadership skills have evolved in the series. Initially he assumed leadership of the group based on that he was the oldest, that he had some rudimentary warrior training, and that Aang was just a goofy kid. However, his bossy attitude infuriated Katara. His skills were also undermined by his xenophobia, chauvinism and general bullheadedness. However, Sokka is generally willing to admit when he's wrong. This seemed to earn him the respect of several of the people he met and help him grow as a warrior and as a person. It should also be noted that Sokka was occasionally right in his opinions. His immaturity, though, often caused Katara and Aang to ignore him. By the second season, Sokka seemed to have matured and refers to the group as a team. He also seems to respect the opinions of others. They, in turn, consider his advice more seriously, even coming to rely on it. In Sokka's Master, the group tells Sokka how much they need him. Without him, they are bored, lost, and unable to decide what to do, cannot remember what they need to do, and are being killed by Katara's horrible jokes, to the point where Aang admits, "I guess the jokes don't run in the family", much to her annoyance.

Sokka has come to learn the art of swordsmanship, wielding a Jian sword, and has improved his contribution to the team. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka underwent various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his swordwielding skills and arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he uses fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the metal needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, is patterned on a Qing Dynasty jian, but has the properties of the alien material used for its creation, making it unique. The blade retains an unusual all-black appearance and is able to slice through the toughest materials, such as steel. Although Sokka proved unable to defeat his master in a duel, Piandao stated that Sokka possesses the traits that one day could make him an even greater swordsman than he is. During the events of Sozin's Comet, Sokka is once again able to prove his proficient skills in fighting. Even after breaking his leg from a fall and holding onto Toph who is about to fall to her death, he manages to take out two Firebenders that were about to finish him off. He defeats them by drawing his boomerang and throwing it at the first Firebender and knocking him out, then kicking his sword into the air, catching it, then throwing it to cut the platform the other Firebender was standing on. He unfortunately lost both items in the process, only for a group of Firebenders to appear. Luckily, he and Toph survived when another airship crashed into the one they were on and they managed to safely drop onto it.

Sokka shows his incredible intellectual potential, capacity to learn, and critical thinking skills throughout the series. He absorbs information quickly and completely, and solves problems at an alarming rate. An example of this can be seen in the Mechanist, where he solves the dilemma of the hot air balloon (which stumped an engineering genius) shortly after having the concept explained to him. More examples are present in Sokka's Master. In this episode, Sokka becomes an advanced swordsman rapidly, besting Piandao's servant, Fat, in just a couple days. He also manages to gain a firm grasp on blacksmithing in that short time, as he forges his own sword and later a suit of armor for Appa. His unique critical thinking ability comes into play often in this episode through the training exercises of Piandao. He "stamps his identity" on a page by applying ink to his face and rolling it across the paper after he's informed that he got a little of it on him while thinking. During the rock gardening exercise, he "manipulates the terrain to his advantage" by rolling boulders and relocating moss to make a sort of lounge chair in the shade, thus appealing to his love of relaxation.

Trivia



 * Excluding Katara's voice during the show's opening, Sokka gets the first regular line in the series ("It's not going to get away from me this time").
 * Sokka's favorite pastime, apparently, is shopping. Second to that is coming up with plans.
 * In "The Chase", Sokka mentioned that his "ponytail" is actually a "Warrior's Wolf Tail", which is worn by all male Water tribe warriors.
 * Sokka has been kissed far more times then any other character in the series, at least three times in the first season alone. Twice in the second season, and at least three more times in the third season, totaling at up to eight times.
 * Sokka is the only member of Team Avatar shown to kill an enemy, this enemy being Combustion Man, who he did not kill directly. Striking him in the head with his boomerang, Sokka unknowingly blocked Combustion Man's Chi, causing his explosive bolts to backfire killing him.
 * Sokka was the first person in the series ever to become sick.
 * According to Avatar Extras, Sokka is a "Active Sleeper" meaning that he tosses and turns at night.
 * Sokka's name is derived from the Japanese phrase (here presented in Romaji) Sou ka, meaning "I Understand", which is a reference to his abilities as technologist, scientist, the use of understanding.
 * Sokka is well versed in most, if not all, Water Tribe weapons.
 * During the events of "The Drill", Sokka considered giving Team Avatar a name, which at the time was still nameles. He eventually settled on "Team Avatar", though before he did he considered names like "The Boomeraang Squad", "The Fearsome Foursome", and "The Aang Gang".
 * Sokka is sometimes treated differently because he isn't a bender. In the season two opener "The Avatar State", when leaving the Water Tribe ship, while Aang and Katara receive Waterbending scrolls and spirit water, all Sokka got was a pat on the shoulder and "take care." And in "The Chase", Toph insulted him, saying that there were only three people in the group of them, and that Sokka didn't count because he wasn't a bender. Afterwards, Toph corrects herself, saying the group consists of "Three plus Sokka".
 * In "The Siege of the North, Part 1" with "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary, when Sokka was with princess Yue, some of the commentary bubbles said that "No girl can resist Sokka's charm."
 * A girl from each of the Four Nations (except the Air Nomads) has crushed on Sokka.
 * In "The Waterbending Scroll", he said that he couldn't steer the pirate ship because it wasn't made by the Water Tribe, meaning that he may be trained in how to operate Water Tribe ships.
 * Sokka lost both his sword and boomerang during the attack on the Fire Nation Air Fleet.
 * According to Sokka in "The Southern Air Temple", the reason he didn't trust Aang when they first met was because in his last life he was a Firebender, realizing this a upon finding that Avatar Roku was a Firebender.
 * Sokka appears to have gained forging skills in the episode "Sokka's Master," when he made his own sword in a forge. He later made a suit of armor that fit Appa perfectly.
 * Despite his age at the start of the series, Sokka technically wasn't a "man" until after he went "Ice Dodging", the Water Tribe's cultural test of manhood. He had passed the required age to go Ice Dodging, but a man who had already passed the test was needed to conduct the test. Since his father and all the other men in the village were away fighting in the war, Sokka could never take the test until the episode "Bato of the Water Tribe" where the group ran into Bato, a warrior from their village who takes him Ice Dodging.
 * Sokka was one of the first non-airbender outsiders ever to visit an Air Nomad temple. It is arguable, though, because when Sokka and the group go to Northern Air Temple, they meet a group of refugees who had been living in the temple for years. If nothing else, he is one of the first invited outsiders to visit an Air Temple.
 * Even though Sokka hated the Fire Nation for killing his mother, when Katara told him and Aang that she had found the man who killed their mother, Sokka didn't show any signs of wanting to go get revenge on him, possibly due to him realizing that not all Fire Nation people are bad, like Zuko. When he tried to convince Katara not to, she claimed that he "didn't love her the way [she] did."
 * Throughout the series, Sokka is repeatedly shown to be the "killjoy" for Team Avatar; focused mainly on the war, he protests against actions that would jeopardize their plans, such as in "The Painted Lady." Sokka tried to get Katara to forget about the people in the sick village because it would take up too much time to help. If everything is going according to plan, though, Sokka will be as fun as everyone else.
 * Sokka has been shown to be, to some extent, ambidextrous. He is shown using both hands at different times to write, attack, and draw (though he does so poorly), and is even shown switching hands at times.
 * Sokka can perfectly navigate a Fire Nation Airship, as seen in "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into The Inferno".
 * Sokka's face changes from the beginning to the end of the series. Originally, he had smaller eyes, and an altogether more adult face than at the end.

Relationships

 * Sokka's Relationships
 * Yue (former love interest)
 * Suki (current love interest)
 * Ty Lee (flirts with Sokka)

Relatives

 * Gran Gran Kanna (paternal grandmother)
 * Hakoda (father)
 * Kya (mother, deceased)
 * Katara (younger sister)
 * Pakku (step-grandfather)

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