The Amazing Women of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Light spoilers ahead!

I recently watched the entire Avatar: The Last Airbender series for the first time, after years of people telling me I would love it. And you know what? I did love it.  

The series’ three seasons chronicle the journey of 12-year-old Avatar Aang as he struggles to master all four elements and defeat the evil Fire Lord. The series has been lauded for its depiction of Asian culture and tradition, and for being awesome in general.

Part of this awesomeness comes from the show’s female characters.  Though the world of Avatar is patriarchal (an unnecessary detail, I thought), women play a huge role in Aang’s journey–by helping and hindering. Women also help and hinder each other, fall in love, fight in the war, and go through their own character arcs as fully-fleshed heroines and villainesses.

Let’s take a look at the women who make Avatar awesome:

Katara

I actually wrote this paragraph last because I did not know where to start! Katara is Aang’s confidant and first friend after he awakens from being trapped in an iceberg for 100 years–awakened, in fact, by Katara’s unhoned waterbending skills. Throughout the series, she becomes a waterbending master herself, and trains Aang during their travels. Katara grapples realistically and sometimes painfully with growing up during a war, mastering her craft (as both a warrior and healer), and facing off with enemies and friends. Katara is a kindhearted caretaker, but as we can see in many an episode, she has her faults and never falls into an angelic trope.

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Toph

Here’s another character who you won’t see being accused of being an angel! Toph Beifong is an obtuse but gifted earthbender. Toph was born blind, and she senses vibrations in the ground to help her see the world around her. She becomes Aang’s earthbending teacher and begins to travel with Team Avatar after escaping her parents, who believed she needed to be “protected” (read: isolated from the rest of the world forever). Toph knew being blind shouldn’t stop her from making her own choices. She becomes a vital part of the crew in season two (after learning to get a long with others) and is the inventor of metalbending.

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Azula

This badass villainess arrives on the scene in season 2 in a blaze of blue lightning. That’s right, Azula’s so powerful she can bend lightning, and does so to great effect. She pursues Aang & Co across lands, leaving destruction in her wake and enjoying herself the whole time. She strikes fear into the hearts of everyone around her, partially because of her combat skills and partially because of her ruthless, relentless nature. Azula is pretty sure of her own greatness and it’s hard to disagree after watching her kick ass and keep Aang on his toes.

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Suki

We meet Suki in the fourth episode of the first season, and she pops up many times afterward. Suki is a sworn Kyoshi Warrior, but she leaves Kyoshi Island to help with the war effort–and to support Team Avatar wherever necessary. Suki is the second woman (after Katara) to put Sokka’s sexism soundly in its place by showing him what powerful women are capable of. (The patriarchy in Avatar is always solved in the same way: by proving women can fight, too! This method is simplistic but I guess it is a kids’ show.) None of the Kyoshi Warriors (all women) have any bending abilities but they can definitely hold their own in a fight–by using their opponents’ strength against them.

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Princess Yue

The Northern Water Tribe’s heir to the throne, Princess Yue wants to escape her arranged marriage and structured life. What I love about Princess Yue’s storyline is that it’s resolved without Yue being rescued by another love interest, as so often happens in arranged-marriage storylines. The resolution is tragic and yet, Princess Yue finds a way to be true to her people and her own desires, and become a hero of the Water Tribe.

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Mai & Ty Lee

Princess Azula’s henchwomen are her two former classmates, whom she rounds up to help her capture the Avatar and her traitorous brother, Zuko. What’s cool about Mai and Ty Lee is that neither of them are benders. Like Suki, they must rely on superior fighting abilities (Mai likes throwing stilettos, Ty Lee is an acrobat who uses chi blocking to immobilize opponents). But, like many other characters on the show, Mai and Ty Lee have a choice about which side they’re on and will have to make decisions about where their loyalties lie.

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Past Female Avatars/Empress Ursa/Hama the Bloodbender/Gran Gran/the Painted Lady/and more…

I’m not going to write about each of this women because they are smaller characters, but I do want to give them a short shout-out. These female side characters have roles and personalities vastly different from each other, and are some of the best examples of how well Avatar represents women.

Instead of just having a fantastic, but solitary, female lead (like many other shows), Avatar has a wealth of women characters with separate agendas. These female characters forge lives in the fictional world as diverse as those real women lead, and it’s very awesome to see them represented.

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