#the scene where aang goes into the avatar state and katara hugs him is borderline unwatchable to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

comradekatara · 5 months

Text

“the desert” is katara’s most quietly admirable episode; she manages to guide and protect the rest of the gaang while they are in precarious states under unimaginable pressure and with very few resources. katara’s tireless endurance this episode culminates in her bravery as she risks her own safety to comfort aang in the avatar state.

for an audience upon first viewing, her ability to thrive under pressure here may seem like a surprising departure from the impulsive, reactive, sensitive girl we’ve been accustomed to over the past 1.5 seasons. but sokka’s admission in “the runaway” reframes katara’s behavior in this episode.

we know that while the rest of her family was a mess, katara stepped up and gave them hope. she refused to sink into her grief—to abandon the site of her trauma like hakoda did, to give up like kanna did, or to repress and depersonalize like sokka did. she may have a temper and she may not always think things through, but she is able to communicate her emotions and refuses to cut herself off from feeling and processing her grief and rage, which is more than can be said for her brother.

and upon learning this piece of her history, you realize that her indefatigable, relentless hope and care that she displays in “the desert” is actually a pattern of behavior for her that is being repeated. when all hope seems lost and everyone in her life has abandoned faith, katara finds purpose and meaning in being the glue that holds everyone together, even when she is as grief-stricken and exhausted as the rest of them.

in moments of abject despair, katara guides her loved ones and herself out of there desert, both literally and metaphorically. and that is why she is the narrator and the catalyst and the hero of this story of a revolution that successfully destabilizes an oppressive paradigm in the eleventh hour, because she represents the power and importance of organized resistance when all hope is lost, of refusing to give into despair, of continuing to believe in love even in the bleakest, most desperate circumstances, and envisioning a brighter future even (especially) when no one else can.

#id in alt text #katara #katara&sokka #aang&katara #kanna&katara #sokka #aang #kanna #analysis #this post was inspired by @oneatlatime's response to the desert #but she can't actually read this post yet bc it contains spoilers!#regardless. katara is so important....... to me....#the scene where aang goes into the avatar state and katara hugs him is borderline unwatchable to me #because it is so heartbreaking & overwhelming #which is also true of most of the southern raiders lol #just. katara's extraordinary depth of feeling!!!!#she is more than a cartoon character she is my best friend. ok #also. 'but now you're not letting yourself feel anything' and the aang & sokka foilism here!!!!!#how in this episode aang nearly falls into a trap that sokka may never truly escape from!!!!#will have to expand on that later too....#every time i think to myself 'maybe i should stop writing these stupid little posts about a cartoon that ended in 2008' i find yet another #thread to tug on. and another and another #i may never escape. alas #there are worse fates

932 notes · View notes