&Katara;

musesfool asked about my Katara feels! I spouted off about Katara (and my feelings about her feelings) once before, so I will try not to repeat myself, heh.

Katara is the most mature person in the Gaang from the beginning to the end of the series, and that and her strong moral compass- she has enough empathy that she could manipulate anyone into anything, and enough compassion that she never will- mean that her growth curve is a lot less steep than everyone else's. Unlike the rest of the Gaang, she already knows and is confident in herself- emotions, values, beliefs, capabilities, potential, and all- and is unafraid to show it. The one major area of self-development she wrestles with is her anger, not because she doesn't understand it, but because she's afraid of how far she might go if she can't control it. Even then, her struggle isn't so much about anger management as it is the line between justice and vengeance. Katara doesn't want to cross that line because she recognizes what she'd become, and the parts of herself she would lose, if she does.

The bulk of Katara's growth arc is figuring out her friendships with the Gaang. I don't mean to gloss over the more romantic moments she has, but they're not the main part of her storyline, and I for one really appreciate that. Katara is super grounded in her family and her place in the Water Tribe; between taking over for her mom and having goofball Sokka as an older brother, she's relinquished any little sister vibe she ever had (I say this as the older of two sisters, lol). She's spent so long doing How to Adult that she doesn't really remember how to cut loose and be a kid again, so it's an interesting contrast to Aang and especially Toph. Katara's meeting with Aang is the first time she gets to be playful again, but it's not the cornerstone of their relationship progression; she and Aang get along because they're both fundamentally people people. With Toph, who's had to hide her mischievous nature for so long and has Huge Parental Issues besides, Katara finding her way back to her inner child is literally half of their conflict resolution, not to mention what seals their friendship. For obvious reasons, her issues with Zuko primarily revolve around regaining/rebuilding trust, but Katara joining in on the collective teasing is what really lets him know that friendship status has been achieved. It's the cutest and most relatable thing. :D

tl;dr Every A:TLA character is my favorite character, but I have SO MANY FEELINGS about Katara and how she's the best! (Also, if there's anything else you'd like me to babble about, feel free to leave a prompt.)