- This article is about the character in the series. For the character in Netflix's live-action series, see Kanna.
| "It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender." |
| — Kanna to Katara.[1] |
Kanna, referred to by her grandchildren as "Gran Gran", was Katara and Sokka's caring paternal grandmother. She was a nonbender and the oldest resident of Wolf Cove.[6] Although Kanna initially distrusted Aang, once he was revealed to be the Avatar, she regained hope, something, she remarked, that she had not felt for a long time.[1]
History[]
Early life[]
Kanna was born in 19 AG to a family in the Northern Water Tribe, and when she reached the marrying age of sixteen, it was arranged that she would marry Pakku, a young waterbender. Following the tribe's engagement tradition, Pakku carved a betrothal necklace for her. Though he loved her deeply and thought their marriage would be successful, she harbored a strong distaste for the Northern Water Tribe's chauvinistic social standards for women, which Pakku vehemently supported. As a result, Kanna despaired and searched for a way out of the marriage. Sometime before their wedding, Kanna fled her homeland and traveled to the Southern Water Tribe. Although she left without notice, she did take Pakku's necklace with her.[4]
The Hundred Year War[]
A young Kanna watched with sadness as Hama was taken prisoner.
After relocating to the South Pole region, Kanna settled down at Wolf Cove, at the time a significant town. She also befriended Hama,[7] one of the Southern Water Tribe's most skilled waterbenders, and the two experienced the Fire Nation's first raids on their tribe together. Although Hama and her fellow waterbenders fought intensively, they eventually succumbed to the invasions, and when she was taken onto the Fire Nation vessel, Kanna was the last face Hama saw before she was locked away.[8]
After Kya's death and Hakoda's departure, Kanna raised Katara and Sokka.
Years passed, and the Hundred Year War continued to stress the Southern Water Tribe's warriors and resources. As she saw her people decline and Wolf Cove reduced to a small village, Kanna became somewhat bitter and cynical. Her son[2] later became the tribal chief of Wolf Cove and married a woman named Kya, who eventually gave birth to Sokka and Katara, Kanna's only grandchildren. Kanna later passed on her engagement necklace to Kya, and Kya passed it down to Katara. Kanna never told her grandchildren the history or significance of the necklace, or of her past in the Northern Water Tribe.[4] After Kya was killed during a Fire Nation raid and Hakoda left Wolf Cove along the other warriors, Kanna was responsible for raising Katara and Sokka.[6][9]
The year prior to the return of Sozin's Comet, Kanna told her grandchildren to go fishing, as their stores were almost empty. She told them to stick together when they started to argue, and warned them not to stay out for too long.[10] While they were away, Katara and Sokka discovered an iceberg concealing an airbender in suspended animation named Aang. They freed him and brought him back to their village,[6] and in agreement with her grandson, Kanna did not trust the stranger and came to view him as a threat when he accidentally triggered a Fire Nation flare used by Prince Zuko as a signal for attack. She was among the people who asked for Aang's departure from the tribe and persuaded her granddaughter to stay with them despite her longing to travel with the young monk to a place where she could learn waterbending.[1]
Zuko used Kanna as an example to show how old the Avatar must have been by 99 AG.
Nevertheless, the village was attacked by the Fire Nation and Kanna was directly threatened by Zuko. Aang quickly came to the rescue, revealing himself as the Avatar, and surrendered to protect the villagers. Following this, Kanna allowed Katara and Sokka to leave in order to save Aang and assist him in his goal of mastering all four elements, as she recognized that this was their ultimate destiny.[1]
Soon after the depature of her grandchildren, Kanna was faced with a new crisis. Several children in Wolf Cove went missing. Search parties tried to find them, but were attacked by hungry owl wolves. When a group of adventurers arrived at the village by chance, Kanna saw an opportunity and asked them if they could help rescue the children. As she explained the situation, one local girl spoke up, claiming that these were supernatural kidnappings and that the adventurers would have to slay angry spirits to save the missing individuals. The conversation was disrupted when owl wolves attacked the village directly, though the adventurers fended them off. Afterwards, Kanna thanked them, before angrily silencing the superstitious girl as she attempted to continue her rant about spirits. The adventurers then set off to find the children.[11]
To the villagers' delight, the adventurers rescued the children, also informing Kanna that they had been trapped in collapsed caves. The village elder deduced that these caves had been used by the owl wolves to hoard food, and thus their collapse had also caused the animals to become much more aggressive. Later, Kanna asked the adventurers if they could help collect discarded owl wolf feathers at the caves, as these were highly useful to the locals due to their thermally insulating capacities. In return, she promised to reward them with various goods.[11]
Rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe and marriage[]
Kanna and Pakku married after the Siege of the North.
After the Siege of the North, Kanna reunited with Master Pakku, who had ventured to her home with some other people from the Northern Tribe in order to provide assistance in rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe.[12] Pakku later carved Kanna a new betrothal necklace, and, two years after the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, they eloped to the Misty Palms Oasis to get married.[13][14]
Several weeks after their wedding, Kanna reunited with her grandchildren in the capital city that had been built up from their original village in the South. After embracing them, she informed them of her marriage to Pakku, Hakoda's tales of their accomplishments during the war, and that their father had been elected head chieftain of the entire Southern Water Tribe.[14]
Having returned to town that night after escaping from Southern nationalists, Sokka and Katara were slightly amused to find that while everything else of the old village had been torn down, Kanna had kept her hut, now situated between two modern buildings.[14]
Kanna reassured Sokka and Katara that she and Pakku would take care of Hakoda after he was stabbed by Gilak.
The following night, Kanna looked over Hakoda, who was brought to her hut after being stabbed by Gilak. Once he had regained consciousness, Kanna assured her grandchildren that she and Pakku would take care of him and said they could see him in the morning. Before they could leave, she mused that wounds were caused by wrong actions based on wrong beliefs and concluded that someone needed to reexamine their beliefs. That sparked an argument between her grandchildren over whom she was referring to: Gilak, or Malina and Maliq. Unable to find common ground, the siblings left to speak with Aang and Toph, but Kanna soon emerged from the hut to find Malina outside and announced that Hakoda wished to speak with her.[15]
Following the rescue of Hakoda from Gilak's clutches, Kanna hosted a small feast in her hut for Team Avatar and several of their allies. Although she was uncomfortable with other people cooking in her kitchen, Pakku persuaded her to relax and enjoy the festivities.[16]
Abilities[]
Despite not being a waterbender, Kanna knew a great deal about healing and medicine. She often prepared herbs to make into medicine for her village,[17] and often made rubbing pastes to treat colds.[18] She also regularly helped to deliver children born in the Southern Water Tribe.[5]
Relatives[]
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| Kya |
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Appearances[]
Avatar: The Last Airbender[]
Book One: Water (水)[]
- 101. "The Boy in the Iceberg"
- 102. "The Avatar Returns"
Book Three: Fire (火)[]
- 308. "The Puppetmaster" (flashback, no lines)
Graphic novels[]
- North and South trilogy
Avatar books[]
Avatar games[]
Trivia[]
Kanna was featured in The Last Airbender.
- The name Kanna is similar to the Japanese word "kan", which translates to "cold".
- Kanna is also the name of a river in Ginoza in the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan.
- Kanna's nickname in the Spanish dub of Avatar is "Gran Gran Abuela", which translates to great-great-grandmother. In the French dub, her nickname is "Mabouba".
- Kanna was portrayed by Katharine Houghton in The Last Airbender.
- Kanna seemed to have sported the same hairstyle, hair loopies, her whole life.
- Originally, Katara's name was to be Kya. However, when Nickelodeon vetoed the choice of name, the creators renamed her Kanna, which stuck for a few weeks before they decided to name her Katara. Kya became the name of Katara's mother, while Kanna became Gran Gran's name.[19]
- Kanna strongly resembled the wise elder women found in many of the works of Hayao Miyazaki – most notably, the Wise Woman who starts Prince Ashitaka on his quest in Princess Mononoke. The series' creators have professed their fandom of Hayao Miyazaki in many interviews.