Sokka

:This article is about the character in the animated series. For the character in Netflix's live-action series, see .
Sokka was a Water Tribe warrior of the Southern Water Tribe and the son of Chief Hakoda and Kya. Following the death of his mother and his father's departure for war, Sokka was raised by his grandmother Kanna along with his younger sister Katara.
Hakoda left along with all of the other men in his tribe to fight the Fire Nation when Sokka was a young boy. Despite his desire to join his father, Sokka was not permitted to accompany the men on the mission and was left behind. As there were no other teenage boys in the tribe, Sokka was the oldest male of his village and, therefore, left as the leader of the tribe. He assumed responsibility for the tribe, haplessly training children to be future warriors until he and his sister discovered an Air Nomad named Aang frozen in an iceberg. When he learned that Aang was the Avatar, he was at first skeptical that a child could really save the world. As he and his sister helped Aang on his quest, he began to believe that Aang really was the only hope for peace in the world.
Despite his inability to bend, Sokka became the strategist of the group, constantly trying to prove himself to be a great warrior like his father. He attempted to train the younger children of the Southern Water Tribe in fighting. Sokka was also the "matter of fact" guy in the group and did not believe in spirit magic, as he openly mocked it. His leadership skills improved during his travels with the Avatar, culminating with his masterminding the plan for the invasion of the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun. His humor and his ability to organize and plan became imperative to the group on their travels. By the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Sokka became a master swordsman and a great warrior like his father.
After Aang and Zuko formed the United Republic of Nations, Sokka became the representative for the Southern Water Tribe on the United Republic Council, as well as its chairman.
== History ==
=== Early life ===
Sokka was born in the South Pole region to Chief Hakoda and Kya in 84 AG. Growing up as part of a minor tribe that lived in Wolf Cove, the remains of the Southern Water Tribe's ruined capital, Sokka was raised from a young age to be a warrior and possessed much knowledge of Water Tribe weapons and tactics. When he was ten, Sokka witnessed one of the last major Fire Nation raids on his tribe, during which his mother was targeted and killed, leaving him with great hatred for the Fire Nation.
When his father left with the other men of the tribe to fight in the Hundred Year War, Sokka was put under his Gran Gran's care and became his tribe's last defense. He took the task seriously, building a number of snow watchtowers around the village and even "training" the young children of Wolf Cove as soldiers. Although Sokka had the spirit of a warrior and the courage to stand up to any enemy, he initially lacked the skills and techniques that would make him a formidable opponent. That would not stop him from trying, though, especially if his friends needed help. He was protective of his younger sister and treasured the boomerang given to him by his father.
During his travels with Aang, Sokka improved his skills significantly and evolved into a skilled fighter with a sword forged from meteorite metal. He became a true leader and a cunning strategic planner.
=== Winter 99 AG ===
While on a fishing expedition for their village of Wolf Cove, Sokka and his younger sister Katara accidentally steered their canoe into a rip current, where it was crushed between ice floes. Subsequently, the duo found a mysterious figure trapped in a large spherical ice block. The figure introduced himself as Aang, an airbender, and offered to escort them home on his flying bison Appa. After Wolf Cove was attacked by soldiers on a Fire Nation ship commanded by Prince Zuko, Katara learned that Aang was the Avatar and eventually managed to persuade her brother to help him. She and her brother set out to save Aang, who had himself purposefully arrested to save the village. After their successful rescue, the three began their journey to the North Pole together with the intent of finding a waterbending master who would teach the Avatar and Katara the secrets of waterbending. During their journey to the Northern Water Tribe, the group stopped in several locations across the world, mostly in the war-torn Earth Kingdom. Their first stop was the Southern Archipelago, where they helped a local dojo before arriving at the Southern Air Temple, where Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar learned of the genocide of the Air Nomads. Next, the team stopped on Kyoshi Island, where Sokka met Suki, with whom he at first had a difficult relation because of his views on gender roles; however, Suki helped Sokka begin to challenge these notions. On Kyoshi Island, they were ambushed by the banished prince and barely managed to escape. After leaving Kyoshi Island, Aang, Katara, and Sokka journeyed to the great Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. On the way, they intervened in the siege of Shen Guan. Upon arriving at Omashu, they were brought before the elderly king of the city who treated them like royalty and threw them a feast before imprisoning them and held Sokka and Katara hostage. It was later revealed that this was none other than Bumi, a childhood friend of Aang.
Before reaching the Northern Water Tribe, the trio encountered several other adventures, all the while being chased by both Zuko and his uncle Iroh, and Commander (later Admiral) Zhao of the Fire Navy. Among their missions, Sokka and Team Avatar helped the villagers of Senlin Village who were being attacked by a spirit called Hei Bai, where Sokka was taken to the Spirit World; barely escaped the clutches of Zhao and Prince Zuko, where Katara lost her mother's necklace; discovered the darker side of the resistance when they came into contact with Jet and his Freedom Fighters who tried to destroy the neighboring village of Gaipan and kill all the Fire Nation civilians living there before Sokka's intervention; helped two warring tribes, the Zhang and the Gan Jin, to cross the Great Divide and to reconcile; saved Makapu Village from the eruption of its volcano; reunited with his father's friend and fellow warrior Bato, with whom Sokka completed his ice dodging coming-of-age ritual; met Jeong Jeong, who unsuccessfully tried to teach Aang the powers of firebending; and met and saved the refugees who lived in the Northern Air Temple from a Fire Nation military force led by War Minister Qin, among them Teo and his father, the mechanist, with whom Sokka formed a deep bond due to their mutual interest in technology.
After reaching the Northern Water Tribe, Team Avatar was greeted as honored guests by Chief Arnook at a banquet, where Sokka met Princess Yue and fell in love with her. Even though she reciprocated his affections, their romance was not possible, as Yue had already been betrothed to Hahn, with whom Sokka formed a deep-rooted rivalry. During the Siege of the North, Sokka proved vital in the defense of the city, instructing an elite group of Water Tribe warriors how to infiltrate the Fire Nation ships, even though he himself was not allowed to participate in the fight because Arnook instructed Sokka to stay back and protect Yue. Sokka later helped Katara and Yue search for Aang after he was abducted by Zuko. Their friend was eventually found and brought back to the Spirit Oasis with an unconscious Zuko, where he could return from the Spirit World, though they found that the Moon Spirit had been mortally wounded by Zhao. While Aang fused with La and attacked the Fire Nation armada, Yue sacrificed herself to give the koi fish the part of its life force that was inside her. She became the reincarnation of Tui, the Moon Spirit, and gave Sokka one final kiss as she faded away and restored the balance of the spirit.
=== Spring 100 AG ===
Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar traveled to the Earth Kingdom, where they planned on searching for an earthbending teacher for Aang. At an Earth Kingdom fortress, General Fong contradicted their original plan and tried to coax Aang into using the Avatar State to assist in an invasion of the Fire Nation. Sokka initially agreed and helped Fong in his endeavor, but the general's fort was destroyed in Aang's uncontrolled Avatar State, and the team chose to leave their military escort. During their return to Omashu, Team Avatar met with the laidback nomads Chong, Lily, and Moku, who annoyed Sokka with their go-with-the-flow attitude. Even so, Sokka traveled together with them out of necessity when they passed through a cave and reached Omashu, only to find that the city had fallen to the Fire Nation. In the city, it was revealed that King Bumi had voluntarily surrendered to the Fire Army, and Team Avatar barely managed to escape Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Later, the team got stuck in the Foggy Swamp, where each member experienced hallucinations, which took the form of Yue for Sokka. Afterward, they visited Chin Village, where Aang was placed under arrest for a supposed crime of Avatar Kyoshi, and it fell upon Katara and Sokka to prove Aang's innocence. Although the siblings failed in their endeavor, Aang was spared when the team helped save the village from the Rough Rhinos. After the earthbender Toph Beifong joined the group to become Aang's earthbending teacher, Sokka and the team barely escaped the clutches of Azula when she chased after them in a high-speed tank train. Along with the rest of the team and Professor Zei of Ba Sing Se University, Sokka visited Wan Shi Tong's library, where he learned that an eclipse would occur in the Fire Nation that summer, which proved to be vital information in the war effort.
After barely surviving the Si Wong Desert after Appa's kidnapping at the hands of tribesmen, Sokka and Team Avatar helped an expectant family to cross the Serpent's Pass and reach the safety of Ba Sing Se. In the Earth Kingdom's capital, Sokka firstly helped to thwart another of War Minister Qin's plans by helping destroy the Fire Nation drill, after which Team Avatar was welcomed into the city as honored guests, though they were denied a meeting with the Earth King. The team used their free time to get some much-needed rest, where Sokka intruded in on a refined women's poetry club called the Five-Seven-Five Society before being thrown out. Eventually, Team Avatar resumed their search for Appa and eventually found him in the clutches of the Dai Li, a secretive organization under the leadership of Long Feng, who had complete control over the city and was using Earth King Kuei as a puppet.
Team Avatar managed to subdue the Dai Li and began to plan the invasion of the Fire Nation in cooperation with the Council of Five. Sokka visited his father Hakoda to tell him about the invasion and to enlist the help of the Southern Water Tribe's forces, but a coup led by Azula hindered these plans when Aang arrived on Appa and informed Sokka that his sister was in trouble. Sokka and Toph encountered Azula and her team in the Earth King's audience chamber, where Sokka fought Ty Lee, but resistance proved futile when Azula held a flame to the Earth King's throat. Sokka and Toph surrendered and were soon disabled by Ty Lee. They were imprisoned by Dai Li agents, but were later able to escape with Toph using her newfound metalbending skills. Sokka, Toph, and the Earth King reunited with Katara and Aang after the Avatar was mortally wounded with lightning by Azula during a battle in the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se. However, Katara was able to heal him with spirit water. With the Earth Kingdom's capital now fallen to the Fire Nation, Team Avatar flew away on Appa.
=== Summer 100 AG ===
After Team Avatar and their allies stole a Fire Nation cruiser, Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar traveled to the Fire Nation, where they disguised themselves as ordinary citizens while making plans for the invasion on the Day of Black Sun. Among several adventures in the Fire Nation, Sokka and his friends helped students of a Fire Nation school to learn how to have fun and how to express themselves, and helped the impoverished villagers of Jang Hui clean their river from a nearby factory's pollution. Feeling little worth to the group as a nonbender, Sokka decided to train in the art of swordsmanship with Piandao, with whom he forged his own sword using ore from a recently fallen meteorite. When the day of the invasion arrived, Sokka and the rest of the team met with their allies and started to stealthily advance toward the capital via waterbending-powered submarines designed by the mechanist, based on Sokka's own idea. During the eclipse, the invasion advanced steadily toward the innermost Caldera City, with Aang reaching the Fire Nation Royal Palace to find it abandoned. Revealing that the invasion had been anticipated, Sokka, Toph, and Aang attempted to find Ozai in an underground bunker, but found only Azula. The princess managed to taunt Sokka by revealing that she had imprisoned Suki, stalling the group long enough that the eclipse passed them by. After escaping, the invasion force decided to retreat, with Team Avatar and their young allies taking to the Western Air Temple to avoid capture.
After Zuko joined their cause at the Western Air Temple, he and Sokka infiltrated the Boiling Rock where he believed his father was being held hostage. Sokka discovered that Suki was being held prisoner there instead. He initially decided to escape the prison with Suki and Zuko, but chose to wait to see if Hakoda would be transferred to the facility, which he was. Father and son started their escape attempt with Suki, Zuko, and Chit Sang, and managed to escape the prison after battling Azula. Sokka later separated from his father once more when Azula attacked the Western Air Temple with a fleet of airships, and split from the others with the rest of Team Avatar. When Sozin's Comet arrived, Sokka, Toph, and Suki managed to successfully destroy the Fire Nation airship fleet. After Ozai was stripped of his bending by Aang, Sokka and the others arrived on the scene to mock the former Fire Lord and congratulate their friend. Following the battle, Zuko was crowned as Fire Lord, and Sokka and Katara were reunited with their father once again. Sokka later joined his friends in the Jasmine Dragon in Ba Sing Se, where they all celebrated their hard-won victory.
=== 100 AG - 102 AG ===
In the year following the war's conclusion, Team Avatar helped Fire Nation colonials resettle in their homeland in what was known as the Harmony Restoration Movement. Although the newer colonies easily complied, the city of Yu Dao resisted, as citizens of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage had been living aside one another for generations. While in the city, Sokka visited Toph, who had founded an academy for new metalbenders. He met her students, Ho Tun, Penga, and The Dark One, but they had not yet learned to metalbend. Sokka arbitrated in Toph's dispute with Master Kunyo over the school's ownership, and encouraged her students to start metalbending against Kunyo's students on the day that a battle began outside the walls of Yu Dao. As the battle began, Sokka and Toph joined up with Suki and tried to disable the tundra tanks for as long as it took for Aang to diffuse the situation so that Zuko and the Earth King could come to an agreement.
Sokka later traveled to the Fire Nation Capital at Zuko's invitation, agreeing to his request to accompany him on his search for his mother. He, Aang, and Katara were shocked to see Azula standing free and apparently escaped, but Zuko explained that she was coming with them in exchange for information about Ursa. On the journey to Hira'a, Sokka battled Azula during one of her psychotic episodes and also fought against the mysterious wildlife, such as a giant wolf spirit. After the team camped, they headed to town, where they met Noren, Noriko, and Kiyi. Noren gave them the idea to head to Forgetful Valley in search of Ursa's childhood love, Ikem. The group was attacked by the wildlife in the valley, though it stopped once Katara realized the attacks were coming from waterbenders, namely Misu and her brother Rafa. Eventually, the team met the Mother of Faces and, after initial conflict, she calmed and revealed that Noriko was Ursa with a new face and memories and that Noren had once been Ikem. Sokka chased after Azula after she learned of this and tried to threaten her mother and her new family, and ended up crashing through the roof of Noren's house while battling Azula. The princess ended up escaping and Sokka reunited with Katara and Aang, questioning her motives for leaving a letter behind. Weeks after Ursa's face and memories had been restored, Sokka helped escort an anxious Ursa and her family back to the Fire Nation Capital.
When peace talks in Yu Dao came to an end, Sokka traveled there to celebrate the election of the new coalition government at a banquet. While there, he agreed to come with Aang and the Air Acolytes to celebrate Yangchen's Festival in the Yue Bay area, even though he wanted to shop in the city. Sokka participated in the Air Nomad rituals and joined the group in visiting the Earthen Fire Refinery after they discovered a small industrial town in the area. Sokka mostly supported the area's industralization, but was shocked to learn that the co-owner of the refinery was Toph's father, Lao Beifong. After Lao ordered the Rough Rhinos to escort Team Avatar off the premises, Sokka battled against them. Eventually, he and his sister retreated to an unstable mine. Realizing that the mine was about to collapse, Sokka rushed back to Lao Beifong to inform him of the situation. With Toph trapped in the mine, Sokka hurried back to Yu Dao on Appa and brought Ho Tun, Penga, and The Dark One to the town. After everyone in the mine was saved by the metalbenders, Aang returned from a meditation session and ordered the area to be returned to its natural state, including the destruction of the refinery. While trying to evacuate, Sokka engaged in a brief skirmish with the Rough Rhinos, which was interrupted with the approach of General Old Iron. Katara saved Sokka and the others from the ancient spirit on a water spout, in spite of Sokka's ingratitude. He returned to the area to celebrate the Spirits' Friendship Festival three months later. Around this time, he and Suki visited Toph's academy and helped her regain her passion for teaching after Toph's boredom of the monotony of her life.
Sokka and Katara traveled to Ba Sing Se for some time afterward, where they prepared to return to the South Pole for the first time since they left home. Sokka was impressed to find that Wolf Cove had grown into an urbanized city due to the efforts made in the Southern Reconstruction Project. The siblings reunited with their father, grandmother, and step-grandfather, and met the leaders of the redevelopment project, Maliq and Malina, who had come from the North. After Malina was robbed at a restaurant, Sokka and Katara chased the thieves to an abandoned ship, where Gilak and Thod explained that he believed that all foreigners, especially Northerners, must be banished from the South, as they had made their tribe weak. The siblings escaped the ship and made their way back to the city, where they were surprised to find that their father and Malina were in a romantic relationship. Sokka later followed Malina to a new factory that was being constructed with the help of Earthen Fire Industries, and the siblings were glad to be reunited with Toph, who had come as the company's representative. The team met up with Aang at a festival that evening, but Gilak's Southern nationalists attacked at the event and stabbed Hakoda. Even though they discovered that Maliq and Malina had been planning to take the South's oil to the North, Sokka was sure that the Southern Reconstruction Project was still beneficial to their home. At an international conference about funding the project, Gilak's soldiers managed to kidnap the Earth King. Sokka proposed a plan that the benders should wear chainmail under winter clothing to protect themselves against chi-blocking, which was used at the skirmish at the Bridge of No Return. After Gilak's death, Sokka comforted Katara at Kya's grave before they shared a meal with their friends at their grandmother's igloo.
While traveling to Yu Dao, Toph suggested that Team Avatar should stop by her father's factory. The group was surprised to find that the settlement had grown into a small, sprawling city called Cranefish Town, a name which irritated Sokka. They soon found that the city was plagued with problems, such as turf wars between bender gangs and an increasing social divide between benders and nonbenders. After Lao proposed a ban on public bending, the factory suffered an explosion, and he and the others investigated Councilwoman Liling as the likely culprit. He and Suki met up shortly after, and after Toph found out that Liling was hosting a bender supremacist rally, he encouraged them to go along and observe. Toph tried to arrest Liling at the rally, and during the ensuing fight, Sokka asked Liling's nonbending daughter Ru how she could support her mother's policies. Liling was captured and kept in a cage, and Toph proposed that Aang take her bending away. Sokka did not support the suggestion, as the situation was more complicated than Liling being the only malefactor, and unlike Fire Lord Ozai, she was merely a civilian. Later, Sokka and Suki were defeated by Yaling, who freed her mother from captivity. When Suki trained many nonbenders to chi-block while preparing to hold back Liling, she and Sokka convinced Ru to turn against her mother. Sokka fought in the final confrontation against the bender supremacists, knocking out Yaling with his boomerang after she managed to stun Toph. After Liling and Yaling's arrest, Team Avatar resolved to stay in Cranefish Town due to a special connection they felt with the city, helping it prosper into a metropolis later known as Republic City.
=== Later life ===
By the age of forty-three, Sokka served as the Southern Water Tribe representative on the United Republic Council as well as the Council's chairman. In his function as spokesman, Sokka sentenced Yakone, with consensus from the rest of the Council, to life in prison for his crimes. In response, Yakone bloodbent him and everyone else inside the City Hall courtroom.
In 124 AG, Sokka wrote down the story of how he "singlehandedly saved the world" during the final stages of the Hundred Year War to include in a book that Aang was assembling for his son, Tenzin, although Toph, who was present at the time of writing, reminded him to be more accurate in his recollection. Ending his letter, Sokka advised his nephew not to depend solely on airbending since reflexes and strategy are equally important skills to develop.Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legacy, page 46.
Sometime after 128 AG, Sokka became a chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe. In 158 AG, a group of powerful benders known as the Red Lotus, led by Zaheer, a nonbender at the time, attempted to kidnap five-year-old Korra, the new Avatar. Sokka, along with Zuko, Tenzin, and Korra's father, Tonraq, thwarted the kidnapping attempt and saved the young Avatar.
To commemorate his legacy, a statue of him holding his boomerang aloft was erected in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center.
Sokka died sometime between 158 and 170 AG.
== Personality ==
According to his sister Katara, Sokka was initially skeptical, abrasive, sexist, immature, and was always sharp-witted. Detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the bending arts, he openly expressed his "bender envy". Sokka thought bending was what got the world in trouble in the first place, so he believed only the skill and strength of ordinary men like himself could ultimately defeat the Fire Nation, Not having bending abilities himself, Sokka instead preferred the ways of the warrior and the scientist. taking his responsibility as protector seriously. Initially, he did not seem to believe in the bending arts, calling Katara's bending "magic water", however, the appearance of Avatar Aang began to change his mind, even though he did not fully accept the fact that he must learn firebending at first, as he was the least eager for him to start practicing the art under Jeong Jeong. Later on, when Aang accidentally burned Katara, Sokka threw him to the ground and yelled how he knew that Aang prematurely learning firebending was a mistake. This antagonism toward firebending seemed to persist, evidenced when he jokingly referred to Zuko's training of Aang as "jerkbending".
Sokka could become serious when he desired to or when the need arose and was protective of his sister, Katara. This was shown when he violently tackled Aang to the ground after he accidentally burned her hands. Sokka was also protective of Aang, and when he surrendered himself to Zuko, Sokka immediately prepared to rescue him. Later, he decided that getting Aang to the North Pole was more important than seeing his father again after years of separation. Sokka also proved to be intelligent, creative, and good at coming up with ideas, even if said ideas were not always good. He was also generally the one who was counted on for determining the strategy of attack.
Sokka was clearly loyal to his friends, family, and allies. However, Sokka also seemed to realize the importance – and sometimes necessity – of one having to fight their own battles. When Master Piandao attacked Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Toph rushed in to help him, but he told his friends to stay back as it was his battle to fight alone, for he needed to prove himself as a swordsman. Later, he held a similar view during Aang's battle with Ozai when Sozin's Comet arrived: When Suki suggested she, Toph, and Sokka should help Aang, Sokka pointed out that "the Fire Lord is Aang's fight". He understood it was Aang's destiny to face Ozai alone, while he, Suki, and Toph focused their energies on stopping the Fire Nation airship fleet.
Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly desired and eventually meted out vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He held little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and preferred to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tended to be rash, however, and his pride often led to embarrassment. When Sokka had been humiliated, his versatility made for a heartfelt apology and changing of his ways. A good example of this was when he apologized to Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors for saying that boys were better than girls.
Sokka learned to be flexible. While he was closed-minded at first, it was because he wanted to protect himself and those he loved. Not long after he started traveling with the Avatar, Sokka began to change even to the extent that he humbly apologized to Suki. He liked to keep smiles on his friends' faces using his wit, sarcastic humor, and overall eccentricity. Sokka was an underdog, constantly being the one who got beaten upon. Most of his plans failed miserably; however, he bravely kept fighting.
From the start, Sokka was willing to die defending his tribe, even when he did not stand the smallest chance. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acted silly, if not outright stupid. He occasionally created ridiculous plans that were nearly impossible to carry out. He was also a general victim of slapstick, often being sent flying or getting struck by things. Aunt Wu even stated, "Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted". When Sokka protested that she did not even read his palm, she remarked, "I don't need to. It's written all over your face". His sarcastic and strange behavior could sometimes carry over into important decisions.
Sokka had the habits of over-explaining his plans and of missing the point in certain situation, much to the annoyance of his friends.
A passionate carnivore, Sokka demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and was the main hunter in the group. Sokka also had a habit of using sarcasm. However, when he got trapped at one point, Sokka shouted at "karma in the heavens", vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance. He would also consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy", but willing to be "Sokka, the veggies and straight-talk fellow". However, when he was freed, eventually, he had given up neither meat nor sarcasm. Despite his love of meat, he found it almost impossible to resist food, often gorging himself on various dishes when the group ate properly cooked meals.
As much as Sokka loved meat, he grew close to every pet he received. He had a good relationship with Momo, and he also tried to adopt a messenger hawk, which he fondly named "Hawky".
One of the biggest changes in Sokka during his participation in the Hundred Year War was his learning to accept people of the Fire Nation, learning that no nation was entirely good or bad, meaning that he should not blame the people of the nation, but rather its ruler.
Under the tutelage of the swordmaster Piandao, Sokka expressed various unorthodox procedures while undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smeared ink all over his face and pressed it onto the paper. As he presented Sokka with his blade, Piandao related that it was not his skills that impressed him but his creativity, versatility, and intelligence. All were traits that went beyond mere skills and what defined a great swordsman.
Sokka wrote with his right hand but drew and ate with his left hand, and he was also able to paint with his right as well as his left hand, even though his left-handed art was crude and rudimentary.
Sokka had a great ability to adapt: He changed where change was needed, learned to love and respect others, embraced his own identity, accepted failure, and formed lasting loyalties. He was willing to fight on even when the cause seemed hopeless.
By the time he was forty-three years old, Sokka had mastered the art of public speaking; as chairman of the United Republic Council, he had displayed an eloquence in speech and fluidity of presence he did not possess in his younger years.
== Abilities ==
=== Intelligence ===
==== Science and engineering ====
For an inhabitant of a world heavily supported by the mystic art of bending, Sokka showed a remarkable proclivity toward science. He was adept at creating weapons from a variety of materials and learned how to construct amateur explosives from his father, which he once used to simulate firebending. In another instance, Sokka used trickery and optical illusions to help his sister Katara fake the ability to earthbend.
Sokka showed his incredible intellectual potential, capacity to learn, and critical thinking skills all throughout the friends' journey. He absorbed information quickly and completely and solved problems at an alarming rate. An example of this can be seen when he solved the dilemma of the hot air balloon, which stumped even the mechanist, shortly after having the concept explained to him.
==== Strategy and tactics ====
As a nonbender among a group of master benders, Sokka was often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it was Sokka who usually devised plans, gathered intelligence, and collected data and maps that helped his group defeat the Fire Nation. He often became the navigator and chose the route to follow despite the objections of others. His skills as a fighter noticeably improved as the team's quest continued, although it was usually his persistence rather than skill that allowed him to land a blow against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko and Ty Lee. Sokka employed other strategies to defeat larger enemies. He incapacitated Wan Shi Tong by using the element of surprise and attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending had failed. It was also Sokka who discovered that a solar eclipse disables a firebender's ability to bend. When Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom fell, Sokka devised a new invasion plan to strike the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun with a group of their friends and allies. On the day of Sozin's Comet, he came up with a strategy that allowed himself, Suki, and Toph to bring down the entire Fire Nation airship fleet. One of his greatest triumphs, however, was his nearly single-handed defeat of Combustion Man by using his boomerang to hit the tattoo on his forehead to block the latter's chi flow. This action ultimately resulted in Combustion Man's demise, something that the combined efforts of all his friends had failed to do.
Sokka's leadership skills evolved as the war ended. Initially, he assumed leadership of the group based on the fact that he was the oldest, that he had some rudimentary warrior training, and that Aang was just a goofy kid. However, his bossy attitude infuriated Katara. His skills were also undermined by his xenophobia, chauvinism, and general bullheadedness. However, Sokka was usually willing to admit when he was wrong. This seemed to earn him the respect of several of the people he met and helped him grow as a warrior and as a person. As he and his friends continued their journey, Sokka matured and referred to the group as a team. He also respected the opinions of others and, in turn, they considered his advice more seriously, even coming to rely on it. Later, the group told Sokka how much they needed him. Without him, they were bored, lost, unable to decide what to do, could not remember what they needed to do, and were being tortured by Katara's horrible jokes, to the point where Aang admitted, "I guess the jokes don't run in the family", much to her chagrin.
==== Arts ====
Sokka showed a remarkable talent for poetry. When he stumbled into a poetry reading, he went toe-to-toe with the instructor in a haiku contest and held his own and nearly won. However, his hubris got the best of him, and he was viciously thrown out for accidentally adding an extra syllable to the end of a haiku, where he subsequently renounced his short-lived love for poetry. Sokka was also, albeit humorously, a terrible artist, yet somehow strangely unaware or in denial of it. He emotionally defended his "artwork", which was still met with more laughter from his peers.
=== Weapon proficiency ===
While training to be a soldier for the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka became proficient in a variety of weapons, the most noticeable being his trademark boomerang, with which he has shown impressive accuracy even from a blindspot by determining the enemy's line of fire. His arsenal also included clubs, a machete, spears, and a meteorite iron sword.
==== Swordsmanship ====
Wishing to contribute more to his team in combat, Sokka decided to learn the art of swordsmanship, wielding a Jian sword. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka underwent various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his swordwielding skills and arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he used fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the metal needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, was patterned on a Qing Dynasty jian but had the properties of the alien material used for its creation, making it unique. The blade retained an unusual all-black appearance and was able to slice through the toughest materials, such as steel. Although Sokka proved unable to defeat his master in a duel, Piandao stated that Sokka possessed the traits that one day could make him an even greater swordsman than he was. During the passing of Sozin's Comet, Sokka was once again able to prove his proficient skills in fighting. Even after breaking his leg from a fall and holding onto Toph, who was about to fall to her death, he managed to take out two firebenders that were about to finish him off. He defeated them by drawing his boomerang and throwing it at the first firebender, knocking him out, and proceeding to kick his sword into the air, catching it and throwing it to slice through the platform on which the other firebender was standing. However, he lost both items in the process.
More examples were present in his training with Piandao. Sokka became an advanced swordsman rapidly, besting Piandao's servant, Fat, in just a couple of days. He also managed to gain a firm grasp on blacksmithing in that short time, as he forged his own sword and later a suit of armor for Appa. His unique critical thinking ability came into play often through the training exercises of Piandao. He "stamped his identity" on a page by applying ink to his face and rolling it across the paper after he was informed that he got a little of it on him while thinking. During the rock gardening exercise, he "manipulated the terrain to his advantage" by rolling boulders and relocating moss to make a sort of lounge chair in the shade, thus appealing to his love of relaxation.
=== Hand-to-hand combat ===
Training himself from a young age to be a warrior capable of defending his village, Sokka was always reasonably adept in a physical fight though initially unrefined and preferring to use weapons. After being humiliated by Suki in front of the Kyoshi Warriors, he humbled himself and requested to be trained by her. In a reasonably short period of time, Sokka improved enough to be able to physically defend himself from Suki and knock her on the ground in a friendly sparring session. He continued to improve his skills to the point where he proved competent enough to dodge Ty Lee's attacks and best Vachir in close combat despite the latter's claims of being formally trained. After the war, Sokka was also seen joining Suki's group sessions in the art of chi-blocking, although it is unknown whether he has made use of this skill in actual combat. However, at a later point, he sarcastically quipped that he was a "ranged chi-blocker" before using his boomerang.
== Relationships ==
== Relatives ==
== Appearances ==
== Trivia ==
* Aside from Katara's opening narration, Sokka is the first character to speak in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
* Sokka's sarcasm is also referred to as "Sok-casm".Avatar Extras for "The Boy in the Iceberg" on Nicktoons Network.
* Both of Sokka's known romantic partners have names that mean "moon", as "Yue" and "Suki" (as the anglicized version of "Tsuki") both refer to the moon in Chinese and Japanese, respectively. Furthermore, both Suki and Yue are written as "月" in Japanese and Mandarin, respectively.
* Sokka was chronologically the youngest known human member of Team Avatar to die at between 74 and 86 years old.
* Sokka was portrayed by in the film adaptation, . His portrayal earned him the Golden Raspberry award for the "Worst Supporting Actor" of 2010.
* Sokka's favorite pastime was shopping, followed by developing plans.
* Sokka means "loverboy" in Zulu, which fits his character well.
* Sokka was an active sleeper, meaning that he tossed and turned at night.Avatar Extras for "The Puppetmaster" on Nicktoons Network.
* Sokka was seen or mentioned in every episode of the original series except "Zuko Alone".
* Sokka's outfit for The Promise was meant to appear similar to Hakoda's character design in order to symbolize their bond.
* Sokka stated that he was unable to steer the pirate ship as it was not a Water Tribe vessel. This suggests that he was knowledgeable in operating Water Tribe ships.
* Sokka gained forging skills when he made his own sword in a forge. He later made a suit of armor that fit Appa perfectly.
* Sokka is one of only two people, aside from the Avatars themselves, to have seen four Avatars in their lifetime, the other being Katara. He saw Roku and Kyoshi manifest themselves through Aang, knew Aang, and helped to save Avatar Korra from the Red Lotus when she was five.
* After LEGO released a Sokka minifigure in one of their product sets, the company's official site stated that Sokka's boomerang came from his father, Hakoda.
* Sokka and Katara were created at the same time. The creators of the show liked the idea of a sibling rivalry, inspired by the fact that the two both had sisters. They were also attracted to the idea of the sister being a bender, while the brother was not.Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Art of the Animated Series, page 16.
** Sokka was conceived as a thirteen-year-old, but after a suggestion from Eric Coleman, he was "aged up".Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Art of the Animated Series, page 18.
* Sokka had an alter ego named "Wang Fire", which he used while hiding in the Fire Nation.
* Sometime after the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Sokka worked at a grocery store.
* Sokka was twice mistaken for the Avatar, the first time in the comic "Sokka the Avatar" and the second in the episode "The Earth King".
== References ==
== See also ==
* 
ar:ساكا
ca:Sokka
de:Sokka
es:Sokka
fi:Sokka
fr:Sokka
he:סוקה
id:Sokka
it:Sokka
ms:Sokka
nl:Sokka
pl:Sokka
pt-br:Sokka
ru:Сокка
tr:Sokka
uk:Сокка
vi:Sokka
zh:索卡
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