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[series]: Avatar: The Last Airbender
[character]: Katara
[character history / background]: Here.
[character abilities]: Katara can waterbend, and this is her strongest and most frequently used ability. Waterbending is the hydrokinetic ability to control water in any form, and the movements are based off of Tai Chi. Katara can freeze, melt, condense or evaporate water at will, and can also use it to heal. Waterbenders traditionally allow their "defense to become their offense" - that is, they turn their opponents own attacks against them. Water is a powerful element, and Katara is one of the best bending masters in the series, meaning she can do anything from simply push and pull a body of water to creating giant whirlpools. Katara is a creative girl, and has been seen freezing water into a chunk of ice to "surf", and even using water as armor.
Waterbending, unlike firebending, requires a source - Katara must have some sort of moisture in order to use her powers. She's been seen condensing vapor in the air or pulling water out of plants, but usually she carries a flask of water with her. However, if she's in a very dry environment, such as a desert, she's left completely powerless. Another way to render her defenseless is to bind her hands - waterbending is one bending style that relies completely on the movements of the user's arms. All bending styles require chi to work - it's been explained that chi begins with the breath, which is then extended past the body and used to manipulate or manifest the bender's element. If this chi is blocked in the muscles, the bender is left helpless. One antagonist in the series, Ty Lee, is shown doing this a number of times. She hits pressure points in Katara's body, and Katara's ability to bend disappears. She cannot control the water she is using at all, and even the ice she created to prevent another antagonist from fighting melts.
Waterbending also draws power from the moon. Katara is more powerful at night, and most powerful on the night of a full moon. However, during a new moon she's weakest, and during a lunar eclipse she cannot use her powers at all. There are also powers avaliable to Katara and other waterbending masters that are seemingly unrelated to water. For example, Katara was forced to learn a skill called "bloodbending". By taking control of the water in a person's body, she can control a person's movements or even paralyze them. Katara is, however, morally opposed to this and so never uses it, and it is only possible during the night of a full moon. Waterbenders can also heal people by using water as a catalyst to redirect the chi paths in their bodies.
[character personality]: Katara is kind and dedicated, the most mature of the group. She gets along with nearly everyone, and is very overprotective and loving. She's incredibly resentful of the passive gender role her tribe assigns her, as her dream is to become a Waterbending master and save her tribe. This does not, of course, fit in with her tribe's view - according to tradition, females can only use their talents for healing. However, very little can stop Katara once she has her mind set on something, and so she proves these ancient standards wrong by nearly defeating a male waterbending master. She can be quite bossy, controlling, and self-righteous, tending to believe her ways are the only ways. She can refuse to relent on her views and is very stubborn in this way. Katara is passionate and can be too emotional at times, and is incredibly loving and is described as "motherly" more than once. Her dedication is fierce: She taught herself a number of Waterbending moves before she found a teacher. Her sense of justice is also incredible, as she tends to rush into situations without thinking if she believes something unfair is going on. She once rallied a group of imprisoned Earthbenders to overthrow their warden and escape, and later pretended to be The Painted Lady, a guardian spirit, to help a starving village. When Sokka protested, she passionately says, "I will never, ever turn my back on someone who needs me."
This quote personifies her view on most things. Katara has a bad habit of putting the well-being of others before her own. This is proven time and time again during the series. When the group was trapped in a desert, Katara gave them the water out of her flask without taking any for herself. At one point, Zuko's uncle Iroh is badly injured. Despite their past and status as enemies, Katara offers to heal him, but Zuko forces her away. She also forgave Zuko rather readily when he told her of his past and motives. Unfortunately, once Katara is betrayed, she is not one to let the matter drop - this girl can hold grudges. When Zuko betrays her, she truly begins to hate him, and does not forgive him until long after the other members of her group have. In fact, while he fights with them, she often shoots passive aggressive insults his way, and only forgives him when he helps her track her mother's killer down. Similarly, when she sees Jet again, she attacks him on sight. Strangely enough, Katara doesn't seem as willing to hate Jet as Zuko - most probably because Zuko's father was responsible for the near extinction of her people.
Another fault is her colossal temper. She is not one to mince words with those she dislikes, though it does take quite a bit to get on her bad side. In fact, at one point, she tells Zuko that if he gives her even the slightest reason to think he is going to hurt Aang, she won't hesitate to kill him. She can also be quite petty - when she and Toph were angry at each other, she said, "The stars are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" Even when she isn't angry at someone, her teasing can still be rather biting - this is usually directed at Sokka.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Directly after The Southern Raiders.
[journal post]: I don't think--Aang? Aang? Where did you...
Sokka! Zuko! Where are you?
...Where am I?
[third person / log sample]: Katara had never thought she'd feel this strange... Peace. Ever since her mother had died, it had been one of the driving forces of her life. It was what drove her to protect Sokka, to help others, to take down every Fire Nation soldier she'd ever encountered. But now the rage and pain were just... Gone. She still missed her mother terribly, and she would always hate the man who had killed him, but she had gotten her revenge. She'd set out to find out why he'd killed her mother, and she'd discovered it - he was a coward.
It still hurt, though. It hurt that she couldn't remember her mother's face, let alone her voice. Even Sokka claimed he couldn't. It hurt that she couldn't see her father, or her grandmother. All the Fire Nation had done was hurt them - hurt all of them. Even Zuko.
But forgiving Zuko seemed to have given her a comforting, calm feeling. He'd had a tragic past, just like all of them, but when he'd betrayed her, it had been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to say. She'd trusted Jet, and he'd betrayed her. It had been hard to trust Zuko. Even as he'd told her his story, even as she was beginning to sympathize, she'd been scared. And she'd forgiven him anyway, only to be attacked. She would admit that treated him the way she had wasn't right or fair, but they couldn't fault Katara for being afraid to trust him again.
Jet was a completely different story. He had died heroically, and had maybe even saved them all. Despite that, she couldn't quite forgive him. She'd liked him. She'd really liked him. He'd payed her back by attempting to kill an entire village of people. Even though he'd wrong her so terribly, there wasn't a day that went by where she didn't wish she could have saved him somehow. He'd assured her he'd be all right. Katara knew he was lying.
Katara's "field trip" had left her emotionally drained, though her thoughts were so abuzz she couldn't sleep. And so, instead, she simply watched the others sleep - Aang, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Suki. They all meant more to Katara now than she'd ever imagined anyone could. She couldn't fathom being apart from any of them, and was quite certain that if it came down to it, she'd give her life to protect any of them. Was this how her mother had felt? Was this how she'd been thinking when she faced the Fire Nation soldier?
It was a terrifying, strangely wonderful, certain feeling.
[character]: Katara
[character history / background]: Here.
[character abilities]: Katara can waterbend, and this is her strongest and most frequently used ability. Waterbending is the hydrokinetic ability to control water in any form, and the movements are based off of Tai Chi. Katara can freeze, melt, condense or evaporate water at will, and can also use it to heal. Waterbenders traditionally allow their "defense to become their offense" - that is, they turn their opponents own attacks against them. Water is a powerful element, and Katara is one of the best bending masters in the series, meaning she can do anything from simply push and pull a body of water to creating giant whirlpools. Katara is a creative girl, and has been seen freezing water into a chunk of ice to "surf", and even using water as armor.
Waterbending, unlike firebending, requires a source - Katara must have some sort of moisture in order to use her powers. She's been seen condensing vapor in the air or pulling water out of plants, but usually she carries a flask of water with her. However, if she's in a very dry environment, such as a desert, she's left completely powerless. Another way to render her defenseless is to bind her hands - waterbending is one bending style that relies completely on the movements of the user's arms. All bending styles require chi to work - it's been explained that chi begins with the breath, which is then extended past the body and used to manipulate or manifest the bender's element. If this chi is blocked in the muscles, the bender is left helpless. One antagonist in the series, Ty Lee, is shown doing this a number of times. She hits pressure points in Katara's body, and Katara's ability to bend disappears. She cannot control the water she is using at all, and even the ice she created to prevent another antagonist from fighting melts.
Waterbending also draws power from the moon. Katara is more powerful at night, and most powerful on the night of a full moon. However, during a new moon she's weakest, and during a lunar eclipse she cannot use her powers at all. There are also powers avaliable to Katara and other waterbending masters that are seemingly unrelated to water. For example, Katara was forced to learn a skill called "bloodbending". By taking control of the water in a person's body, she can control a person's movements or even paralyze them. Katara is, however, morally opposed to this and so never uses it, and it is only possible during the night of a full moon. Waterbenders can also heal people by using water as a catalyst to redirect the chi paths in their bodies.
[character personality]: Katara is kind and dedicated, the most mature of the group. She gets along with nearly everyone, and is very overprotective and loving. She's incredibly resentful of the passive gender role her tribe assigns her, as her dream is to become a Waterbending master and save her tribe. This does not, of course, fit in with her tribe's view - according to tradition, females can only use their talents for healing. However, very little can stop Katara once she has her mind set on something, and so she proves these ancient standards wrong by nearly defeating a male waterbending master. She can be quite bossy, controlling, and self-righteous, tending to believe her ways are the only ways. She can refuse to relent on her views and is very stubborn in this way. Katara is passionate and can be too emotional at times, and is incredibly loving and is described as "motherly" more than once. Her dedication is fierce: She taught herself a number of Waterbending moves before she found a teacher. Her sense of justice is also incredible, as she tends to rush into situations without thinking if she believes something unfair is going on. She once rallied a group of imprisoned Earthbenders to overthrow their warden and escape, and later pretended to be The Painted Lady, a guardian spirit, to help a starving village. When Sokka protested, she passionately says, "I will never, ever turn my back on someone who needs me."
This quote personifies her view on most things. Katara has a bad habit of putting the well-being of others before her own. This is proven time and time again during the series. When the group was trapped in a desert, Katara gave them the water out of her flask without taking any for herself. At one point, Zuko's uncle Iroh is badly injured. Despite their past and status as enemies, Katara offers to heal him, but Zuko forces her away. She also forgave Zuko rather readily when he told her of his past and motives. Unfortunately, once Katara is betrayed, she is not one to let the matter drop - this girl can hold grudges. When Zuko betrays her, she truly begins to hate him, and does not forgive him until long after the other members of her group have. In fact, while he fights with them, she often shoots passive aggressive insults his way, and only forgives him when he helps her track her mother's killer down. Similarly, when she sees Jet again, she attacks him on sight. Strangely enough, Katara doesn't seem as willing to hate Jet as Zuko - most probably because Zuko's father was responsible for the near extinction of her people.
Another fault is her colossal temper. She is not one to mince words with those she dislikes, though it does take quite a bit to get on her bad side. In fact, at one point, she tells Zuko that if he gives her even the slightest reason to think he is going to hurt Aang, she won't hesitate to kill him. She can also be quite petty - when she and Toph were angry at each other, she said, "The stars are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" Even when she isn't angry at someone, her teasing can still be rather biting - this is usually directed at Sokka.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Directly after The Southern Raiders.
[journal post]: I don't think--Aang? Aang? Where did you...
Sokka! Zuko! Where are you?
...Where am I?
[third person / log sample]: Katara had never thought she'd feel this strange... Peace. Ever since her mother had died, it had been one of the driving forces of her life. It was what drove her to protect Sokka, to help others, to take down every Fire Nation soldier she'd ever encountered. But now the rage and pain were just... Gone. She still missed her mother terribly, and she would always hate the man who had killed him, but she had gotten her revenge. She'd set out to find out why he'd killed her mother, and she'd discovered it - he was a coward.
It still hurt, though. It hurt that she couldn't remember her mother's face, let alone her voice. Even Sokka claimed he couldn't. It hurt that she couldn't see her father, or her grandmother. All the Fire Nation had done was hurt them - hurt all of them. Even Zuko.
But forgiving Zuko seemed to have given her a comforting, calm feeling. He'd had a tragic past, just like all of them, but when he'd betrayed her, it had been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to say. She'd trusted Jet, and he'd betrayed her. It had been hard to trust Zuko. Even as he'd told her his story, even as she was beginning to sympathize, she'd been scared. And she'd forgiven him anyway, only to be attacked. She would admit that treated him the way she had wasn't right or fair, but they couldn't fault Katara for being afraid to trust him again.
Jet was a completely different story. He had died heroically, and had maybe even saved them all. Despite that, she couldn't quite forgive him. She'd liked him. She'd really liked him. He'd payed her back by attempting to kill an entire village of people. Even though he'd wrong her so terribly, there wasn't a day that went by where she didn't wish she could have saved him somehow. He'd assured her he'd be all right. Katara knew he was lying.
Katara's "field trip" had left her emotionally drained, though her thoughts were so abuzz she couldn't sleep. And so, instead, she simply watched the others sleep - Aang, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Suki. They all meant more to Katara now than she'd ever imagined anyone could. She couldn't fathom being apart from any of them, and was quite certain that if it came down to it, she'd give her life to protect any of them. Was this how her mother had felt? Was this how she'd been thinking when she faced the Fire Nation soldier?
It was a terrifying, strangely wonderful, certain feeling.