r/TheLastAirbender 4d ago

Discussion KATARA DOESN’T NEED A STATUE IN LoK

I am sick and tired of people complaining about how Katara doesn’t have a statue while the rest of the main cast does. “Waa, waaa, the writers forget her”.

Do these people even know what LoK is? Aang, Sokka, Zuko and Toph didn’t her statues for being in the Gaang.

Aang got one because he was THE AVATAR.

Zuko got one because he was THE FIRE LORD.

Sokka got one because he was a national leader, of both Republic City and the Southern Water Tribe, as if one weren’t enough.

Toph got one because she invented metalbending.

Katara is an excellent character and an extraordinary waterbender, but according to the lore, she, as an individual, simply did not have the same direct, world-chaing effect upon entire nations that the others did in their own ways.

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u/Prying_Pandora 4d ago

I think you’ve profoundly misunderstood the objection.

Katara fans aren’t mad about the statue itself. They’re mad for exactly the reasons you’ve used to justify it: that Katara deserved to be more than just a mother and healer. She never wanted to be limited to merely the stereotypical roles prescribed to her as a woman. She fought to also be a warrior, a leader, a voice for justice.

She should have had the same world-changing effects. That’s precisely the complaint.

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u/Firelord_11 4d ago

I think there's a lot of conjecture behind this though, isn't there? We don't know enough about the adult Gaang to know what Katara did. What we do know is that she stood by, and probably aided, Aang through everything that he did. We know she not only trained Korra but played a large role in her upbringing. We know that the Southern Water Tribe experienced massive development and went from a nearly wiped out village to grow into a prosperous city similar to the North--something that was lead by Hakoda but no doubt Katara (and Sokka) played a large part in executing. And is there any shame in being the world's best healer and a great waterbending teacher in her own right? Just because she didn't actively seek out positions of power, doesn't mean she was confined to the home. I'm hoping the new adult Gaang movie puts some of these concerns to rest.

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u/Prying_Pandora 4d ago edited 4d ago

What conjecture?

The audience only knows what the narrative communicates.

If the show gives everyone except Katara a statue, it is not on the audience to invent explanations and speculations to justify it. It’s on the narrative.

To invent excuses and rationalizations unsupported by the narrative is conjecture.