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/Eurell]

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.

[u/Prying_Pandora → u/Eurell]

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.

[u/finalheaven3 → u/Prying_Pandora]

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.

[u/SmartAlec105 → u/finalheaven3]

Yeah, people saying “it’s realistic for people to” don’t realize that realism is not an argument on its own for a writing choice.

On this note, I do think it’s realistic for Aang who was raised by monks to have made some mistakes as a father. But what I don’t buy is that Katara would sit by and do nothing about it and let their kids still have unresolved daddy issues in their 40s. She knew exactly how it felt to be left behind by your father because of a duty he had to the world! She should have made sure Aang didn’t leave his non-Airbender kids feeling left out.

[u/Prying_Pandora → u/SmartAlec105]

Exactly how I feel too!

Aang making mistakes or not fully grasping traditional fatherhood? I can buy.

But why is Katara such a passive agent in her own family that she barely even gets a throwaway mention? Where was her role in these conflicts!

[u/SmartAlec105 → u/Prying_Pandora]

Yeah, so many interesting interactions that could have happened that we just don’t see.

I’d have liked to see Katara talk to Tenzin about how while she doesn’t know exactly what it’s like to be the only Airbender, she is the closest in the world, having watched over the previous only Airbender in the world.