Katara was one of the central characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender, being one of the strongest benders of her age, as was the case for most of her compatriots in the Gaang. However, earlier episodes of the show failed to do the character justice, given that they would have her in some precarious situations that she could have easily escaped.
Granted that there is a level of skill that is required to harness some abilities in the Avatarverse, but it seems like Katara kept on getting taken down a notch every time a confrontation came up.
Waterbenders in general have a lot of sway in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, given that a fairly trained Waterbender could bloodbend, and as seen in The Legend of Korra, even take away people’s bending abilities. It is shocking that Katara is not used for more combat than she is in the show.
Fans agree that Katara was nerfed in more than a few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender
While characters like Toph and Iroh are usually given the titles of the strongest characters in the show who are not Avatars, there are more than a few characters that deserve the title a lot more, including Katara.
The character has managed to showcase her powers in later episodes, but there are certain situations that make Katara look slightly incompetent. We have seen her bend without the use of their hands, yet often, at times, decommissioning her hands would mean that she cannot bend anymore.
Ming Hua is a prime example of how powerful water benders can be, and Katara conveniently is weakened and made stronger as the plot calls her to be relevant or irrelevant to a given fight. She is effective when she is with the group, but requires some development to fight alone, something that is absent for other characters.
Avatar: Seven Havens could explore waterbending in a new light
In The Last Airbender, waterbenders were given special abilities, such as healing wounds with special water and even blood blending. In the Legend of Korra, audiences learned that water could be used to heal corrupted Spirits as well. Given that Seven Havens‘ official storyline has talked about the new Avatar having spirit enemies as well, water bending might be a key tool for the next Avatar to have handy during combat, no matter where they are.
Avatar: Seven Havens is going to be set in a radically new world as compared to The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The world would have turned against the Avatar, and the Four Nation System would have likely collapsed. The mystery remains about what could have happened in the time of The Legend of Korra to change the world so violently between two Avatars.
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