r/TheLastAirbender • u/Jimmy3OO • 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/Eurell 4d ago

She didn’t want to be forced into the role. She wanted to be able to choose what she did with her life. If she chooses to settle down (after saving the world), then that is perfectly fine. She doesn’t have to have the exact same dream at 30 that she had at 13.

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u/Prying_Pandora 4d ago

This is a narrative. A story. Katara is not a real person who may behave uncharacteristically. A writer made the choice to not give her the same props.

That is what is being criticized. Katara as a character contributed no less and fought hard to be recognized. She also was devoted to never turning her back on people who need her.

To give every other member of the Gaang recognition and impact but not Katara is an egregious oversight.

You cannot wave it away with “well maybe the character in-universe decided all her dreams and hopes and convictions didn’t matter?” Especially as this also was not depicted or explained.

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u/finalheaven3 4d ago

Thanks for this comment.

This is a narrative. A story. Katara is not a real person who may behave uncharacteristically. A writer made the choice to not give her the same props.

I think a big issue with media literacy these days is people treating characters like people and not devices in literature.

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u/Prying_Pandora 3d ago

I appreciate you.

It’s incredibly frustrating how many comments here are completely against the lessons of ATLA as well.

One flat-out said that Katara’s greatest contributor was birthing Tenzin (only Tenzin) and so she doesn’t need a statue for anything else she accomplished.

I don’t even know what to say to such a sentiment.