From the South Pole Iceberg to the Republic City Portal: A Critical Study of the Avatar Franchise: Part Eight

ATLA Book One:Water

Chapter Nine: The Waterbending Scroll

In which Sokka cleans Momo’s toes, Iroh goes shopping, and Aang blows a whistle.

In a very welcome move after two episodes that don’t give her a lot to do, we get the show’s second big Katara episode. “The Waterbending Scroll” picks up on a thread from “Imprisoned” and much of her characterisation this season, and focuses on the importance of waterbending to Katara’s identity.

The first way the episode portrays this importance is through the parallels between Katara and Aang. I would suggest that “The Waterbending Scroll” is tacitly the beginning of Katara being Aang’s waterbending teacher, as she proves to be a natural teacher for Aang, with the gentle encouragement he responds to when she officially becomes her teacher being evident as she teaches him the few moves she has mastered so far. Of course, not being a master, she isn’t quite ready to teach Aang yet, with his natural aptitude for waterbending allowing him to quickly surpass Katara’s hard-earned skills. However, in retrospect, it is safe to say there is some truth in Aang’s suggestion that he was able to learn so quickly because Katara is a great teacher. Furthermore, while both characters have different learning styles and abilities, this episode reemphasises the fact that both are on the same path over the course of this season: travelling to the north pole to find a waterbending teacher and master their control of the element.

Katara’s mastery of water whip over the course of this episode exemplifies the very organic evolution of her bending confidence and ability over the course of the season. Her tenacity is evident throughout her self-taught mastery of the elements, as she starts the season struggling with simpler moves and having to adjust for her limitations (as discussed in previous posts), until she masters the water whip in this episode with the help of the scroll. It would seem the scroll helps her grasp basic form, as she makes less mistakes and pulls off increasingly powerful bending over the course of the season until she is able to freeze tanks in “The Northern Air Temple”. While her growth isn’t made explicit until her fight with Paku, it happens steadily, organically, and is plainly there for whole audience to see. Her bending slowly grows more complex over the course of the season, so that her standing up to and living with master Paku without any formal training isn’t actually jarring, just an awesome moment, and a sign of Katara’s sheer tenacity and willpower.

The episode also furthers Katara’s characterisation by continuing the plot thread surrounding her mother’s necklace, as she discovers Zuko has stolen it. We don’t learn much more about Katara’s connection to the necklace, but the revelation does change the dynamics between the characters, as Katara now knows that Zuko has something that is precious to her. The use of Zuko and Iroh in this episode is also interesting: we get the first hints of the white lotus through Iroh’s search for his tile over the course of this episode, but those hints are shrouded in a comic tone for the shopping subplot. They are also buried because Iroh and Zuko once again collide with the Gaang, hinting for the second episode in a row that intersecting with the Gaang’s narrative is something holds back narrative revelations and development of Zuko and Iroh. Once again, however, they are placed in a space just away from that of villains, as they come into conflict with the pirates when Sokka successfully turns them against each other. By giving them an enjoyable, if seemingly innocuous, comic subplot, and having them fight other antagonists, the narrative stops Zuko and Iroh being simple villains while still letting them be a threat to the Gaang.   

Also noteworthy is Katara’s moral ambiguity throughout this episode. “The Waterbending Scroll” sees Katara occupy the most morally grey space she’s been allowed to be so far. She has withheld information from Aang before in “The Southern Air Temple”, but that was with clear good intentions. For most of the show so far, Katara has been the moral centre of the series, taking on the position of the show’s “heart”: a position shows like ATLA often give unquestioningly to their female leads. However, here, Katara’s mistakes in the face of the thing she most wants are laid bare, as she lies to her friends and steals the scroll in pursuit of a chance to improve her waterbending. These actions show just how desperately important learning about this part of herself is to Katara. And her actions cause damage, as they lead to the Gaang being captured and endangered by Zuko. However, it is crucial that Katara gets to make these mistakes, because, as I said, too many female characters aren’t given the chance to by their writers: she is not an idealised female paragon of morality, but a complex, flawed, character.

In spite of the highlighting of Katara’s mistakes and flaws in this episode, it is questionable whether stealing the scroll could be considered a wrong action for Katara. She is, as she points out at the end of the episode, stealing from Pirates, and is remarkably unapologetic for doing so. This is understandable: the Pirates stealing the scroll is yet another example of the damage done to Water tribe culture, possibly over the course of the war, (it is quite possible to imagine they took advantage of the chaos of the war in order to gain access to the waterbending scroll). And Katara’s theft is an act of reclaiming a culture that belongs to her, and will probably be valued by her far more than the rich Earth Kingdom buyer who would have little use for the scroll. It is also significant that the scroll is from the northern tribe: it is an example of the knowledge and privilege the Northern tribe have that Katara has not been allowed living in the less privileged Southern Tribe.

Ultimately, the episode condemns Katara’s lies to the people close to her, but validates her stealing the scroll to reclaim her cultural heritage. While lying to Aang and Sokka, causes damage, placing the two of them and herself in danger, stealing the scroll is a way for Katara to gain crucial access to parts of her identity she otherwise could not. In short:

“Stealing is wrong… Unless it’s from Pirates!”

From the South Pole Iceberg to the Republic City Portal: A Critical Study of the Avatar Franchise: Part Seven

ATLA Book One: Water

Chapter Eight: Winter Solstice Part Two: Avatar Roku

In which Momo catches a fish, Sokka tries to fly, and Iroh strokes his beard thoughtfully.

“Avatar Roku” is the second part of the loosely connected “Winter Solstice” two-parter, and is noticeably more arc intensive than “The Spirit World”. It gives big roles for Zhao and Zuko, with Zhao appearing for the first time since “The Southern Air Temple”. Furthermore, this is the first episode Zhao is directly presented as an antagonist to the Gaang, and the first time Zuko is presented in the same way since “The Avatar Returns”. It is also, as the title suggests, the audience’s introduction to Roku.

Meeting Roku is, of course, a crucial stage in Aang’s hero’s journey, as he is introduced to his mentor figure. Roku has been flitting around the edges of the show since the beginning, appearing with his face in shadow in the title sequence as Katara mentions the disappearance of the Avatar, and first being named when Aang sees his statue. Thus far, Roku has largely been defined by the mystery surrounding his character: note how the title sequence associates him with the disappearance of the Avatar even though Aang was the Avatar who vanished from the world for one hundred years, and the curious fact that, even after this episode, at this point in the show we arguably know more about Kyoshi’s lifetime as the Avatar than we do about Roku’s. Instead fleshing out Roku as character, which comes later on in the show, the episode introduces him as both a mentor and a character who can change the shape of the series.

Roku changes the shape of the series in two major ways over the course of the episode. Firstly, his warning gives the show a definite endpoint in the form of Sozin’s comet, providing a timeframe within which Aang must learn all four elements in order to become a fully-fledged Avatar. Roku’s brief appearance in Avatar state also gives an idea of where Aang’s journey is going to end, as for the first time we see what a fully-fledged Avatar with mastery over the Avatar state and all four elements looks like. The show has undeniably been changed by these things: the journey so far has been relatively relaxed and undefined so far, but Roku’s introduction offers a clear endpoint for Aang’s journey and a ticking clock to inject a sense of urgency into proceedings. Ultimately, Roku’s introduction changes the shape of the series because he is a character who makes its ending inevitable.

The episode also offers a major change to the series through the nuance it adds to the conflict of the hundred year war. This nuance comes from the introduction of good Fire Nation Characters in Roku and Shyu: for the first time, we are presented with Fire Nation characters who are unquestionably on the same side as our heroes, moving the series away from a model where one nation is straightforwardly the evil nation, instead having good and bad people on all sides of the war. Both Shyu and Roku serve different purposes in introducing good Fire Nation characters. Roku represents a time before the war, when the Fire Nation was a good and vibrant culture, before falling from grace after his time, a portrayal of the Fire Nation made clearer in “The Avatar and the Fire Lord”. By contrast, Shyu shows the Fire Nation still has ordinary people who can make it redeemable in its present, and bring it back to the place in the world it occupied in Roku’s time, a fact that is crucial to the resolution of the series.

Zuko and Iroh fit strangely into this shifting image of the Fire Nation. It is increasingly apparent both are on redemption arcs, but as this episode shows, they are still both antagonists to the Gaang. After Zuko’s potential as a character worth rooting for was explored when he and Iroh faced off against Zhao and Earth kingdom soldiers, here he is introduced in a straightforwardly antagonistic role, bullying innocent bystanders into telling him where he can find Aang. This introduction serves as a reminder that in order to properly start his redemption arc, Zuko needs to be separated from the Gaang, as at the moment, whenever his storyline comes into contact with theirs, he becomes an antagonist. Once again, however, there is an intriguing parallel between Zuko and Aang, as heading into Fire Nation territory is a dangerous move for both characters: Zhao even compares the value of capturing the two of them, and is once again just as much of a threat to Zuko as he is to Aang. Zhao’s presence is once again crucial to Zuko’s redemption arc, as it allows Zuko to be a threat to Aang while still being separated from the true villains of the show.

Iroh’s actions in this episode are a classic example of the show subtly hiding his redemption arc in plain sight, which is the way his character is handled throughout the course of the first book. He hasn’t once attacked the Gaang so far in the show, and during the chase through the blockade he repeatedly tries to stop Zuko from trying to capture or attack Aang. However, because this advice is hidden behind his attempts to keep Zuko safe (which is, in fairness, Iroh’s main priority), it is still far from explicit that he has abandoned the Fire Nation’s cause, even though he hasn’t truly been working for the Fire Lord at any point in the show.

Ultimately, while Iroh and Zuko don’t yet join Roku and Shyu on the list of Fire Nation characters fighting for the side of good, their presence is incredibly useful in an episode that aims to add nuance to the portrayal of the Fire Nation. The episode does much to widen the spectrum of morality of Fire Nation characters: some are straightforwardly evil like Zhao, but others, like Roku and Shyu, are genuinely on the side of good. Zuko and Iroh both currently occupy spaces somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, with both obviously not being evil, but both having been more of a threat to the Gaang than the Fire Nation so far in the show.

Also: oh yeah, Zhao’s in this episode. And as is so often the case in this season, there really is very little that is interesting that I can say about his characterisation: this is a problem that will be explored in a later post. For now, it is worth noting that his presence does signal a more arc-heavy episode that will have more of an effect on the overall plot the series. Otherwise, his first encounter with Aang and the Gaang is relatively insignificant.

The Gaang, meanwhile, get some nice development, as Katara and Sokka show their support for Aang by following him into the fire nation. This support is crucial to Aang meeting Roku, as a combination of ingenuity from Sokka and Katara allows Aang to enter Roku’s room and speak to his mentor. This little thread highlights one of the central themes of the series: the need to accept help from the people who love us. Aang is always better off when he accepts that his friends have his back.

Ultimately, the episode is not clearly about anything in the way “The Warriors of Kyoshi” is about gender roles, “Imprisoned” is about war and oppression, or “The Spirit World” is about the intersection of the spiritual and material, and the effect war has on the environment. Instead, the episode changes the shape of the series. It changes the viewer’s understanding of the nature of the hundred year war by adding complexity to the villainous nation, and reworks Aang’s hero’s journey, giving it a sense of urgency through Sozin’s comet, and an endpoint in the form of Roku acting as a fully-fledged Avatar. The show goes on, but the rules for how it will operate going forward have been made much clearer.

End of Part Seven.

From the South Pole Iceberg to the Republic City Portal: A Critical Study of the Avatar Franchise: Part Six

ATLA Book One:Water

Chapter Seven: Winter Solstice Part One: The Spirit World

In which Katara hangs out with Appa, Sokka needs the Bathroom, and Iroh takes his clothes off.

“The Spirit World” is, of course, the first part of the oddly shaped “Winter Solstice” two parter. This storyline is probably the least interconnected of any multi-part Avatar story, hence my choosing to divide the parts into a post for each episode, in contrast to my essay on “The Boy in the Iceberg”/ “The Avatar Returns”, two episodes that are not technically a two-parter, but nonetheless feel like part of the same story in a way these episodes do not. These episodes are linked by nothing other than the Titular solstice, with the themes and narrative purposes of the two episodes differing wildly.

“The Spirit World” is also the fourth “Gaang visits a village” episode in a row, if we bend the definition of that kind of episode to include “Imprisoned” even though only the first few minutes of that episode were spent around Haru’s village. I bring this up because these episodes tend to be the filler-like ATLA episodes in nature, yet they still all introduce characters and places that will be revisited over the course of the show, even if not all of these characters are crucial to the show’s endgame, namely Aang learning to master all four elements to become a fully-fledged Avatar and defeat the Fire Lord. For example Bumi could be left out of the show without too much damage to the overall narrative, but his reappearances inform crucial themes in Aang’s hero’s journey, and allow for a cute pay off to the white Lotus subplot. Similarly, the spirit world isn’t necessary for the ultimate ending of the series, but it allows a completely different perspective on the hundred year war, and the themes and ideas of the narrative. The time spent fleshing out the world in these apparent filler episodes is crucial to the shape and nature of ATLA. And this fact tells us something very important about the nature of ATLA: it’s a show that’s interesting because of the journey, not the destination.

However, the episode is a little more arc intensive than the preceding three stories, returning to the “Gaang A plot/ Zuko sub plot” structure. The sub plot about Iroh’s capture allows a chance to flesh out Iroh’s backstory, as we learn about his siege of Ba Sing Se, highlighting the fact that Iroh, like Zuko, is also on a redemption arc, although Iroh understands the terms of his own redemption far better than Zuko: he acknowledges his defeat at Ba Sing Se without shame, seemingly now knowing the siege was not for a worthy cause. Unlike Zuko, Iroh knows that the Fire Nation cannot restore his honour, which is something he must do for himself. Zuko, by contrast, is still tempted by an apparent chance to chase after Aang, although in a crucial turning point for his character, he chooses to save his uncle instead. This episode also furthers the repositioning of Zuko’s character since he was framed as an antagonist in the first episode: here, he and Iroh are pitted against Earth kingdom soldiers, but the conflict is framed in a way that frames them as the characters the audience should hope will win. Zuko is still slowly being shifted along the path of a redemption arc, with a little help from his uncle.

And there are parallels between the Gaang’s storyline and Zuko and Iroh’s plot: just as Zuko worries for Iroh, we see Katara worry for Sokka and Aang as she waits for them to return from the spirit world. The episode does a lot to increase the bonds between the Gaang, as Katara gives Aang hope and consolation in form of the Acorn, and Sokka goes to help Aang when he first confronts Hei Bei.

Once again, we return to the theme of damage caused by the Fire Nation’s war on the rest of the world, as we open the episode with the Gaang discovering Hei Bai’s burned-down forest. To resolve this situation, Aang has to begin to understand his role as a spiritual leader as well as the boy who must master all four elements. And while the spiritual side of being the Avatar comes, as is often pointed out, more naturally to him than his successor, it still doesn’t come easily to him: he knows nothing about the spirit world, or how his role as bridge between the two worlds works, and only meditates in there by fluke. In fact, he still needs the help of being in the Spirit Oasis to meditate into the Spirit world at the end of the season. While he’s remembered as the Avatar who is naturally in touch with his spiritual side, this episode makes it clear Aang has a lot of spiritual growth to go through on his own hero’s journey.

On the subject of spirits, this episode starts the depiction of them that will run throughout the series: it is quite clear they operate on a different morality to humans. When responding to the destruction of the forest, Hei Bai doesn’t discriminate between different groups of humans, attacking an Earth Kingdom village for damage done by Fire Nation troops: this is a story about nature screaming out in rage at the damage humanity has dealt it. In this way, “The Spirit World” foreshadows the suspicion the Spirits have towards all humanity, setting up Wan Shi Tong, a character who is clearly not evil, but is always pitted against our heroes because he has different wants and values to any human character in the show. Throughout this episode, there is a divide not between the spiritual and the fire nation, but between spirits and humanity, between nature and war.   

Aang saves the day by understanding the nature of the situation, and understanding the link between nature and spirits. Instead of by fighting Hei Bai or trying to let spiritual communication come naturally to him, he understands the cause of Hei Bai’s hurt, and starts to understand the wants and desires of the Spirits, and to empathise with Hei Bai’s pain due to his own sorrow at the destruction of the forest. It is this understanding, and not his mastery of spiritual powers, that make Aang a naturally spiritual character. Our hero is growing quickly.

End of Part Six.