Avatar: The Last Airbender/Characters/Team Avatar


This is Team Avatar or, going by the Fan Nickname, the Gaang.

Avatar Aang

Voiced by: Zach Tyler Eisen

"There's just too many of them. I can't fight them all... I'm just one kid."

The twelve-year-old (well, technically a hundred-and-twelve-year old) plucky Airbending boy destined to save the world. When he learned of his status as the Avatar, followed by the monks trying to take him from his teacher/father figure, he couldn't handle the pressure and ran away from home. When he was caught in a storm, he defensively used his powers to seal himself in an iceberg, which protected him for a century while the other Air Nomads were exterminated by the Fire Nation in an effort to kill him. After being freed from the iceberg by Katara and Sokka, he now must face his destiny by mastering all four elements and defeating Firelord Ozai to restore balance to the world.

  • Achilles' Heel: While going into the Avatar State makes him the most powerful character in the series, it also makes him very vulnerable. Because the Avatar State pulls all the spirits of the former Avatars - that is, the entire spirit that is the Avatar - into one body at the same time, dying while in the state means the Avatar spirit would die, the chain of reincarnation would break, and the Avatar would cease to exist.
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: In the first episode, after Sokka tells him about the Hundred Year War and Aang claims he's never heard of it, these two lines come up.

Sokka: You're kidding, right?
Aang: ...PENGUIN!


Katara

Voiced by: Mae Whitman

"I will never, EVER turn my back on people who need me!"

A compassionate girl who is the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara has accepted the responsibility of looking after her brother Sokka after their mother died and their father left to fight in the war. Despite her many hardships, she never lost faith that the Avatar would one day return to save the world. After finding Aang in the iceberg, Katara acts as the Team Mom while also being Aang's Waterbending teacher and love interest.

Sokka: How do we put a lid on hot air?
Katara: If only we knew...

"...then you won't have to worry about your 'destiny' anymore, because I'll make sure your destiny ends. Right then and there. Permanently."

  • Instant Expert: Katara goes from being so poor at waterbending that she accidently freezes her brother to being one of the top notch waterbenders in the world (ahead of fellow Instant Expert Aang) in one season. She did this in under 4 months[1], while Waterbending is described as something that can take years to master.
    • Can be justified in that, being the only waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe, she was bending out of natural talent but with no formal training, so she had potential power but no technique to channel it with. Also, Katara's personality is exactly the kind of personality that waterbenders are supposed to possess: passionate yet motherly and nurturing. If there were avatars that represented the individual elements, Katara would most definitely be the one for hers.
  • The Lancer: To some extent until Zuko joins the group.
  • Lunacy: Like all waterbenders, her powers are fueled by the moon.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: She's the quadratic wizard, Sokka is the linear warrior.
  • Making a Splash
  • Master of the Mixed Message
  • The McCoy
  • The Medic
  • Mood Swinger
  • Promotion to Parent: After her mother died, Katara took on this sort of role in looking after her family.
  • Rapunzel Hair
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Sokka in Season 1, Toph later on.
  • Revenge: Wants revenge towards her mother's killer. She gets a chance at it, but decides it's not worth it.
  • Sarashi: Part of her swimwear.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: As Aang is quick to notice when she's dressed up for a party in "City of Walls and Secrets."
  • She Who Fights Monsters: She almost becomes this when she confronts the man who murdered her mother but restrains herself at the last minute, deciding to leave him to suffer in his own horrible life.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With Sokka.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man
  • Sour Supporter: Mid Book 3. She's really not very happy with Zuko when he tries to join the Gaang. Justified by Zuko's past in the Avatar hunting business and his betrayal at the end of Book 2.
  • Stone Wall: Waterbending is mainly a defensive art, so she is mostly this.
  • Teens Are Short: As indicated by the artbook Katara isn't even 5' tall yet.
  • Teen Genius: When it comes to waterbending, she can master, in a very short time, techniques it takes others decades to learn.
  • Team Mom: It's even Lampshaded by Toph. It's also gotten to the point where Sokka has trouble remembering his actual mother, since Katara has replaced his mental picture of motherhood.
  • To Be a Master: Her goal throughout the first book is to master Waterbending, in which she succeeds.
  • Took a Level in Badass
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Toph's Tomboy.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Her necklace is her only memento of her deceased mother.
  • Tsundere: She acts as a Type B (deredere). Oddly enough she acts like a typical type A to Zuko (hatred followed by love friendship) but he's not her love interest. Its downplayed in the third season when her real love interest, Aang, wants to start a relationship.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: If you try to hurt Aang, she'll do whatever it takes to stop you. If she even thinks you might hurt Aang, that's enough to get you a menacing death threat.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Particularly during the first season. She becomes more cynical over the course of the show.
  • You Killed My Mother
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: "The Puppetmaster".


Sokka

Voiced by: Jack DeSena

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang... I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic..."

Katara's older brother, Sokka took it upon himself to protect the Southern Water Tribe. As a fairly serious non-bending warrior, Sokka is often irritated by the more mystical and nonsensical aspects of the world of Avatar. Nonetheless, Sokka makes up for it by being the team's "idea guy." And besides, where would the Gaang be without his comic relief and BOOMERANG!?

  • Arbitrary Skepticism
    • Agent Scully: Despite the fact that he lives in a world with Avatars and spirits and magic bending, he still tries to find a scientific explanation for everything.
      • He accepts the bending and the spirits eventually, though he was freaked out when first encountering them. Still, he prefers to find a mundane way to explain happenings without trying to invoke the mystic until its involvement becomes directly evident.
  • Anti-Hero: Type II.
  • Badass Normal/Badass Bookworm: A talented and clever swordsman with an knack for ingenuity in both inventions and battle plans.
  • Battle Boomerang
    • Precision-Guided Boomerang: The guy could give Link lessons in this. The way he takes out Combustion Man is probably the best example. Unfortunately, it deserts him in the finale.
      • It DOES always come back!!
  • Berserk Button: Don't insult or hurt his girlfriends. The Suki one is particularly strong, as he knew Azula was trying to provoke him, and fell for it anyway.
  • Big Brother Instinct: If you harm his sister, he WILL hurt you - even if it was just an accident.
    • Don't publicly vilify her, either. Sokka will defend her actions even if he's just spent an entire episode criticizing them.
  • Big Eater
  • Blue Eyes
  • Breakout Character: Was originally going to have a smaller role, but he's just so darn awesome they had to keep him in.
    • That and the directors really loved Jack DeSena's voice acting.
  • Butt Monkey: If something unpleasant happens to anyone, odds are it's happening to Sokka. Also, his first girlfriend turned into the moon, but that particular instance makes him more of the Woobie.

Zuko: That's rough, buddy.

Sokka: "If I can just get out of this situation alive, I'll give up meat... and sarcasm. Okay? Ow! That's all I got. That's pretty much my whole identity: Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy. But I'm willing to be Sokka, the veggies and straight-talk fellow. Deal?"

Sokka: Why are you all looking at me?
Aang: You're the idea guy.
Sokka: So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure.

Sokka: Suki! You know about sea monsters you talk to it!
Suki: Just because I live by the Unagi doesn't make me an expert!
Sokka: (Picks up Momo) Oh great sea serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering!


Toph Beifong

Voiced by: Jessie Flower

"I love fighting. I love being an Earthbender. And I'm really, really good at it."

As a child, Toph was thought of as frail due to her blindness and was kept from the outside world by her overprotective rich father. Toph found an outlet by becoming an Earthbending master, even learning to "see" by sensing vibrations in the Earth. Because of this, she was selected to be Aang's Earthbending teacher. Though she has a bit of an attitude problem out of a desire to prove her independence, she makes up for it with her blunt insight and all-around Badassery. Also the first Metalbender in history, which she's rightfully proud of. Was originally written as a boy in the early planning stages.

Toph: I am the greatest earthbender IN THE WORLD!

  • Beyond the Impossible: Invents Metalbending on the fly to escape capture. Something which an entire episode was used to show that it was impossible.
    • Probably justified. She is one of only two benders we see that uses vibrations to "see" (the other being Aang). This skill allows her to sense and manipulate the earthen defects in the metal. She may be one of the first, if not actually the first earthbender with this advantage.
  • The Big Girl: Not physically, but by personality and by her elemental powers.
    • Lampshaded in "The Ember Island Players" when an actual big guy plays her in the play about written about the Gaang's adventures.
  • Blinding Bangs: In the Avatar Super Deformed Shorts and some of the comics.
  • Blind Weaponmaster/Handicapped Badass: Provided she's fighting on top of earth or metal, she probably has better vision than most seeing people.
  • Blood Knight: She loves fighting.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: "All right! Let's break some rules!" SMASH!
  • Bokukko: Again, in the Japanese Dub.
  • Child Prodigy: One of the youngest benders we see, yet she is already one of the most powerful non-Avatar Earthbenders. Also invented Metalbending on the fly while captured, which was believed to be an impossible skill. And by the finale she was able to Sandbend, despite saying that she hated sand in season 2
  • Cute Bruiser
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Did Toph Just Have Tea With Iroh?: Bonus points for literally having tea with him. The rest of the Gaang is quite shocked at this. Subverted in that Iroh is actually a pretty nice guy.
  • Disability Superpower: Although blindness isn't a requisite for an Earthbender to use her method of "seeing," it did lead her to focus her earth senses to an unprecendented degree, allowing her to perceive things approaching or beneath her in great detail and leading in turn to her invention of Metalbending.
  • Disabled Snarker
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Like every Earthbender.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: Justified in that because she's blind, her bare feet are her strongest connection to the world. Anything that's not solid ground (or even moderate bandaging) dampens her "vision".
    • Further justified, quite literally every Earthbender in the series goes barefoot most of the time. She just does it out of necessity rather than choice.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Definitely had shades of this during Aang's earthbending training.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: First appeared in a vision Aang had, which led to him choosing her as his teacher.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She's right on the border between this and Raven Hair, Ivory Skin.
  • Evil Laugh: Now and then, especially as Melon Lord.
  • Extra Ore Dinary: Invented Metalbending.
  • The Face: The youngest and yet the one with the most social savvy. Technically, being the Avatar, it should be Aang but Toph is usually the one doing the talking.
  • Foot Focus
  • Friendless Background: Due to being sheltered from the outside world by her parents, she'd never made a friend before meeting the Gaang.
  • Green Eyes
  • Good Is Not Nice: May be just as heroic, brave and self-sacrificing as any other member of the Gaang, still is a bit of a jerk who rarely opens up to anybody.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: A mild case, and it's kept in the background for the most part. It's most evident during "Tales Of Ba Sing Se" and whenever her Achilles' Heel is hit.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Iroh, but hey, it's Iroh.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • The Ladette: The musclebound, belching, spitting hulk that was in the play near the end of the story? That's Toph on the inside.
  • Little Miss Con Artist: In "The Runaway".
  • Little Miss Snarker
  • Living Lie Detector: Through her 'vibration sense'.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: A fact that she dealt with by joining an underground fighting tournament and mopping the floor with anyone who challenged her.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Aang's Feminine Boy.
  • Mighty Glacier: Isn't especially slow, but she doesn't move around very much and is the strongest and toughest of the Gaang.
  • Never Learned to Read: Justified by the fact that she's blind in a world without Braille.
  • The Nicknamer: Calls Aang "Twinkle Toes", Katara "Sugar Queen" and "Madame Fussy Britches", and Sokka "Snoozles" -- among others.
  • N-Word Privileges: Toph is allowed to make blind jokes, and gets in some awesome ones.

Toph: [on Sokka's bad drawing of Appa] It looks just like him to me.
Sokka: Thank you. I worked really...[[[Beat]]]... Why do you feel the need to do that?

  • One of the Boys
  • The Pig Pen: A mild case. Despite eschewing most sorts of hygiene, especially where her feet are concerned, she doesn't look it unless attention is drawn to it.
    • You call it dirt, she calls it a healthy coating of earth.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: This girl is absolutely tiny being a little over 4 feet tall, but her only non-Avatar rival in Earthbending is King Bumi.
  • Power Levels: Mentioned in an interview. According to Word of God, she's the strongest bender in the Gaang (though this obviously doesn't count Aang in the Avatar State).
  • Rebellious Rich Guy's Daughter
  • Sadistic Choice: Was forced to choose between saving Appa from Sandbenders or saving the rest of the Gaang from a collapsing building. She tried to Take a Third Option, but her Achilles' Heel was active at the time. "I'm sorry, Appa."
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money: As a member of a powerful merchant family, she flashes her gold-bordered passport and makes up something about "valets" and a "seeing-eye lemur" to get entry passes to Bao Sing Se for herself and the rest of the Gaang from a humorless border official. Unfortunately it doesn't work as well when she later tries to bluff her way into the Earth King's party without invitations.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Almost immediately we see the rough wrestler became a well dressed lady in her intro.
  • Sixth Ranger
  • Sonar Sight: Toph uses earthbending to see, since she's born blind.
  • Sour Supporter: Sometimes.
  • Spoiled Sweet: Her family is stinkin' rich and spoiled her from birth, and yet she's still pretty nice. Something of a jerk but by no means a Rich Bitch.
  • Static Character: Compared to the other mains, Toph doesn't get a lot of Character Development.
    • Lampshaded in the time Aang goes missing days before Sozin's Comet arrive. When Sokka proposes to split up into groups to find him, Toph offers to go with Zuko (Since Aang, Katara, and Sokka had some Character Development when they went off somewhere with him). She gets nothing out of it.
  • Street Smart: Part of why she's the Team Face: she knows how to take advantage of street situations, such as in "The Runaway." And it's more than just the street. At the custom official and for Earth King's party she's was the one doing the talking.
  • The Runaway: She even has it as a nickname.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Katara's Girly Girl.
  • Tsundere: She shows affection for someone by punching their arm. She's usually at her softest around Sokka but only at certain times, like she missed him but won't admit it.
  • You Know I'm Blind, Right?: The rest of the Gaang (especially Sokka) tends to forget about her disability, leading to many of Toph's great one-liners.

Sokka: It's so dark in here, I can't see a thing!
Toph: Oh no, what a nightmare!

    • Subverted in the finale when Sokka, Toph and Suki take over a Fire Nation airship:

Toph: Oh, sure, ask the blind girl to pilot the airship.
Sokka: Actually, I was talking to Suki.
Toph: Oh. That would make more sense.

    • In Sokka's defense, Toph could "see" well enough with her Disability Superpower that it's pretty easy to see how he could forget she was impaired.
    • In one episode it happens twice:

Sokka: Toph, when I was in town, I found something that you're not gonna like. [Holds up wanted poster for Toph]
Toph: Well it sounds like a sheet of paper, but I'm guessing you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper.


Later


Katara: What's this? [Holds up the same poster]
Toph: I don't know! I mean seriously, what's with you people? I'm blind!

Suki

Suki

Voiced by: Jennie Kwan

"I am a warrior, but I'm a girl, too."

Leader of Kyoshi Warriors, Suki served as an early mentor and love interest for Sokka. Although she's dedicated to her job, she does have a soft side that comes out when Sokka's around. After the Yue incident, Sokka became a bit overprotective of her even though she's probably more capable than he is. And for good reason -- after running afoul of Azula, she was presumed dead for quite some time. Fortunately, she was alive and became a permanent member of the group just in time for the final showdown.


Prince Zuko

See Characters/The Fire Nation.

Appa

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

Aang's pet flying bison as well as his lifelong friend and companion who was sealed in the iceberg with him when he ran away. Acts as the group's main form of transportation.


Momo

Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

A flying lemur found in the ruins of the Southern Air Temple, Momo is Aang's other pet he picked up after being released from the iceberg. A close friend of Appa, he's just around for the comic relief.

  1. ↑ The episode before she finds The Waterbending scroll, which first lets her learn waterbending, is the winter solstice - December. By episode 8 of season 2, we learn it's spring, meaning anywhere between Mars and early June, though it seems closer to the early spring, and the summer solstice is not before season 3. Eitherway Katara is declared a master long before that season 2 episode.
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