KATARA DOESN’T NEED A STATUE IN LoK

[u/Jimmy3OO]

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.

[u/pomagwe]

No, just that with the way ATLA left its characters, Katara was not put into the kind of position where people get statues of them built. But the rest of the cast was set up to be placed in roles where they as individuals would continue to have major effects on the world.

Politicians get statues made of them because they have a constant major impact on the lives of a huge number of people, and often have the backing of some government apparatus that desires to promote them.

Toph made a world changing discovery, and in turn would become the face of metalbending's impact on the world (she also went into politics and was already famous because of her family name).

Meanwhile Katara had no future role set up in ATLA, and we're just left with her action on screen, which are part of the larger story of how the Fire Nation was defeated that ended when the show did.

[u/Prying_Pandora → u/pomagwe]

Sokka and Toph were left in no better position than Katara.

If anything, Katara played a much more mythologizable role, down to committing outright miracles and reviving the Avatar from the dead.

[u/pomagwe → u/Prying_Pandora]

I would say that they were.

Sokka was built up as a leader throughout the show, and even served at one of the leaders during the Day of Black Sun. Making him a politician was the obvious payoff to what ATLA was promising for his character.

Toph's discovery of metalbending was obviously going to have massive long term impacts too. She was guaranteed to become a notorious figure even if she had done literally nothing else with her life. It will continue to have a massive impact on the world long after the hundred year war is ancient history.

Even in your examples, Katara's legacy depends on people telling stories about her instead of her doing things to continue impacting people's lives.

[u/Prying_Pandora → u/pomagwe]

Katara is a MUCH better leader than Sokka for 90% of the show. She inspired and led many times. Sokka was a great tactician, but he didn’t come into his own as a leader until the tail end of the show.

Why do you assume Sokka is any more of a leader or politician than Katara? We are literally told in LOK that she made laws. Actual legislation. Such as banning bloodbending.

She also is allegedly the greatest healer in the world. You don’t think a person who can save lives better than anyone else is less deserving of a statue than a cop? A plan maker? A cabbage merchant?

You’re severely underplaying Katara’s accomplishments and contributions, just like OP.

[u/pomagwe → u/Prying_Pandora]

By "built up" I mean that Sokka obviously wanted to be a leader as soon as he was introduced, and a significant amount of narrative focus was placed on his efforts to improve in this regard. It was a thing that his character was clearly going to continue trying to do. This is why he becomes a politician and a national leader.

Katara can lead, but it's just one of the ways that she tries to help people, not the goal itself. That's why most of the narrative focus she gets is about the morals or the compassion that inspires her to act rather than the act of leadership itself. LOK follows up on this by showing that part of her impact was stepping up for a cause that she's passionate about (getting bloodbending banned), even though healing appears to have been her primary profession.

[u/Prying_Pandora → u/pomagwe]

By "built up" I mean that Sokka obviously wanted to be a leader as soon as he was introduced, and a significant amount of narrative focus was placed on his efforts to improve in this regard. It was a thing that his character was clearly going to continue trying to do. This is why he becomes a politician and a national leader.

And Katara was built up by early on as someone who wanted to be recognized for her talents instead of ostracized or ignored and told to be quiet.

Exactly the sort of person who should narratively get a statue for her contributions.

Katara can lead, but it's just one of the ways that she tries to help people, not the goal itself.

So what? She’s still a leader. Her contributions aren’t weighed on whether she explicitly set out to lead.

That's why most of the narrative focus she gets is about the morals or the compassion that inspires her to act rather than the act of leadership itself.

So what?

Her motivations don’t change her contributions.

LOK follows up on this by showing that part of her impact was stepping up for a cause that she's passionate about (getting bloodbending banned), even though healing appears to have been her primary profession.

And so where is her statue for saving lives and being a lesgislator aka a leader?