Makes me wonder what is one step worse than the other: Aang losing all his airbenders; or Katara thinking she had no waterbenders from her tribe, only for the sole survivor to threaten her after reuniting. At least Aang didn’t have to deal with a long-lost airbender, a potential tutor, threatening him at this time
@@EldenRingplayer407aang littlery lost his whole people. At least katara has water benders that are still alive and there culture is still around. Airbenders were pretty much extinct and their culture was almost nonexistent.
@@Sparrowhawk055 I know, but I was wondering which is worse. Besides, it’s *because* Aang lost all his people that prevents him from experiencing exactly what Katara felt. And, on the topic of culture… Hama might remember southern tribe traditions, but she lied about intending to teach Katara those traditions in order to trick Katara into learning bloodbending. Aang was actually taught many of his air nomad traditions before leaving his temple, without being threatened into learning dangerous techniques like vacuum-asphyxiation, which is why he’s so furious about his people having been destroyed. Katara might’ve met another last waterbender from her tribe, and that might mean her culture is still around, but that bender didn’t teach her any of it
Hama. Fucking unforgettable Hama. Between her and Jet, the writers really love making villains out of the Fire Nation’s genocide victims. But while Jet goes no quarter on the Fire Nation with any amount of civilians deemed as acceptable losses, Hama is… a serial killer. A PG-rated serial killer that locks people in her basement. She could have joined any military, hidden away in any continent, taught waterbending to any swamp-dweller, but she chose this. She picked a sleepy town in a country that wanted her dead, and picked off people that would never see the front lines or walk into a war room. Hama did several, several things wrong.
Yeah in retrospect the writers are really weird about how they portray rebels and revolutionaries, and what they did with LoK is just horrendous. One point they could make about Hama is that the fire nation as an ultimate act of violence robbed her of humanity, but even that is a really bad take
Ye I've seen some articles giving the show some cons for making many genocide victims villains and a (ex) conqueror a hero (Iroh). But I think they didn't push the narrative too much. Since the real lession was about how they dealth their loss. Taking it out on civilians who had no saying in the acts towards you isnno good. It's the fire nation royal family and the army who u should be mad at.
@@remember_this1336 ye it's a bit weird. But I never took it as a 'conquerer = good, victim = bad'. But I can see that It is a bit problematic in a way
One detail I find cool, that move Katara pulled to beat Hama was an Earth bender movement, completely changing the dynamic of a water duel, catching Hama completely off-guard. Also shows that little detail that Katara and Toph are on good terms, to the point one is imitating the other
Yep! Not only by stopping the water head-on, the stance she had on the move afterward resembled earthbending as well! It's a really nice intentional or not callback to Iroh's lesson about incorporating aspects of other bending into one's own to enrich their skills.
There's a bunch of times when characters copy moves from other forms of bending. Jeong Jeong does a lot of earthbending like movements, Aang has copied a firebending move mid combat and Zuko does some water bending stuff. It's all very fun to notice.
Yup, just like Iroh said in S2 about redirecting lightning. True mastery in bending is realising that all the elements are one, allowing you to use techniques from each style on the others. Learning and taking inspiration from each element is what gives the Avatar its power
@@ethanquirk28 Exactly. And learning how other benders use their element lets you learn not only how to fight them more effectively, but also use those same concepts in uniques ways for your own element. We see it all throughout the series. In the Kyoshi books, they observed some earthbenders using a technique they called "Dust Stepping" to traverse gaps and gain height. Kyoshi had a fire bending friend who saw that and adapted the same principles for what she dubbed "Jet Stepping".
Small theory that I came across is how the fire nation was capturing water benders before Hama broke out. But notice after Hama broke out the fire nation started to kill water benders? It's possible that Hama is the indirect reason why Kataras mom died, the fire nation didnt want to take any chances
The capturing water benders alive might have actually been more so because with air nomads dead, the next avatar would have been water bender, so they wanted to contain him/her alive to stop the reicarnation. But by the time Katara was a kid they nolonger felt the need, since it has been 100years. The avatar was either not coming back, , would have to be extremly old, or lived and died to reincarnate furthur in the chain (That´s why they now capture earth benders alive.) There was no need to keep young waterbenders alive and killing them was less work than keeping them alive.
There’s more to Hama’s reaction when Katara stops the water with her hand. Water bending is all about the ebb and flow of water so water bending techniques are about redirection. What Katara did was more akin to an earth bending technique by stop the water out right then sending it back. It caught Hama by surprise.
Between normal benders, the battle would have gone back and forth bending the same water all the time, but THAT moment gave Katara the momentum of the battle by stopping and spreading the water Hama had used. Never had I seen it like that before.
The creators made this episode to give people a shock as many people also had the morbid idea of blood ending to be a thing and kept bringing it up. This is also said to be an episode where Katara "Loses her Innocence." Which honestly is darkly true. She was forced to do something she didn't want after it was done to her. And there wasn't really any closure, just the ending shot at the moon, once seen as Yue, power and melancholy is now a symbol of horror.
This ultimately goes to show that the response to "Why not just bend their blood?" is a classic case of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
Pretty sure this was something of a Pyrrhic Victory. Yes, in the end, Katara saves the day and nobody had to die, but she had to go against her own morals to do so, which taints not just the win but herself as a Water Bender. Now that she knows she can go down that road, it's something that can be kept in the back of her mind. Loss of Innocence is very appropriate.
@@Starphoenix Because Katara won’t turn her back on those who need her, and she believes Aang can save the world, I’m not certain if it’s “going against your own morals” more than it is “Hama abused Katara’s morals”. I mean, this fight is basically implying “Either you can avoid bloodbending and tell yourself you did the right thing, or save the avatar so he can save the world… your choice. 😈” Also, Katara had no time to solidify “I won’t use bloodbending” as a moral, seeing how she learned of it and used it in the *same night*.
The same that was also done for the question "why not just glow it up and win the war? ". They slapped the audience with the same response and (what I consider the most perfect way to integrate a reason as to why heroes dont just use their strongest abilities to win everything everytime) the potential risk of the avatar state. @@bthsr7113
I have a theory for what happened to Nini. I believe that she was somehow pulled into the spirit world during the storm. My evidence is the blue skin. Whenever Aang enters the spirit world his skin/form turns blue. However, Katara’s mom wouldn’t know this and just thought that she was cold. Also, Sokka was pulled body, mind and soul into the spirit world by the Hei Bai spirit. Admiral Xiao was also pulled into the spirit. Now Nini is caught in a limbo state and is completely unaware of what had happened to her. During certain times of the year the lines between the two worlds blur and weaken to the point where she can temporarily cross back over to the physical world, but is unable to fully escape.
I love how this episode plays with our expectations. It's a Halloween special, and we all know how those episode usually go, and how in the end in most of those stories it turns out to be just imagination or we get a happy ending. This series uses this trope to get us off track a few times, making us believe that the episode is only trying to be creepy but in the end Hama will turn out to be a great woman...And then they reveal a major new part of the lore and end the episode on the most horrifying note
I will say that I am happy Alicia realized how both terrifying and damning the blood bending was. from being "Giddy excited" at the concept to what it actually means. And the weight it holds.
15:10 This scene draws a really cool parallel, "charring" the flowers, making them look outright burnt like that. Hama's disregard for life is equally as destructive as the Fire Nation's, and it shows in what her power does to the forest.
What I like about Hanna is that she wasn’t wrong to teach Katara bloodbending. They’re in a war and sometimes you’re forced to do things you don’t want to, in order to survive. If all else fails, Katara has one last trick up her sleeve to save her life. It’s too bad Hanna decided to go crazy and take out her vengeance on innocent people though.
Blood Bending is an awful an immoral form of bending. It takes away a victims free will and leaves them as a spectator in their own body. It's absolutely not okay to use it. We outlaw certain weapons even in war. Chemical Weapons are outlawed for how horrible they are to the victims. Blood Bending is no different.
@RefriedBean It mostly comes down to the nature of consent. Every example of bloodbending we see in this franchise is nonconsensual. I mean think of the way Hama describes it-“Enforcing your own will of theirs”. It’s intrusive at best and dangerous at worst. The things you can make a person do. The helplessness that you can make them feel because of the power you’ve taken from them. It’s not exactly SA or mind control, but it is still very traumatizing and headed right up that alley.
@RefriedBean There’s two problems with that. One, if we completely forget about Korra (no comment on it), you’ve only access to it on a full moon so it’s not the most reliable. Two, the ones that actually can blood bend aren’t really the sanest or gentlest members of society.
@@lennydickson8845 SPOILERS Hama needed the full moon because her bending was likely too weak to do what she wanted. Katara on the other hand, didn't need it. When she used Bloodbending against the man they assumed killed her mother, it was the day after the full moon at sunset. The moon wasn't even out yet and she was still able to do it. The more powerful the bender, the less they have to rely on their power boost.
One of my favorite, easily missed details is that Hama /sneaks up/ on Toph multiple times during this episode, around the campfire and in the room with the "secret chest". A true and insane testament to her skill
Katara was so hurt to do what she had to do but she had no choice. I’m not sure regular waterbending would’ve been fast enough to save Aang and Sokka. In the runaway episode you commented on how much Katara has needed take up so much responsibility. She’d do anything for her friends as they would for her. At the end of the day these are still just kids in the middle of a war forced to grow up before they were ready.
In the flashbacks to Hama's time in the Southern Water Tribe, we see her chatting with a friend who looks an awful lot like Katara. I always assumed that friend to be Gran-Gran.
Hama is one of the best one shot villains in the show. She had a terrifying ability, a highly sympathetic backstory that linked her with Katara, and she _succeeded in her ultimate goal_ by giving Katara no choice. Also, her voice actor did a wonderful job of making her creepy af. She spent years languishing unjustly in a damn near literal hell-and she was out for revenge! Then, she passed on her legacy. Through Katara, Hama’s legacy will live on.
And, with LoK, her legacy gets passed onto Yakone and his children as he harnessed and really learnt all he could about it. So much so that he fundamentally was one of the strongest bloodbenders despite not being it's progenitor (Which is Hama, obviously. 😊)
Alicia must be patting herself on the back after calling blood bending so early in the series, I was impressed you made that connection so early Being honest thought when you see the rest of the series as well as Legend of Korra you'll see how utterly terrifying blood bending is. That being said, I can't blame Hama for having that sort of blind hatred, being ripped away from your friends and family for maybe 30 or so years, I can sort of understand how she feels but targeting innocent civilians like that especially when she lives along side them its borderline psychopathic
Yeah. Who knows what she had been going through in the prison before escaped. (Tortured by fire nation soldiers? who knows) Thats what made her psychopatic. In the end she is just following her revenge plan on fire nation citizens. And of course teaching katara the dark side of waterbending art.
This episode was the one that made me revisit the show after over 10 years without watching it a couple of months ago lol, no regrets whatsoever since it's easily one of my absolute favorites from Book 3
Katara needs to start seeing the bright side of things. "I control every muscle, every vein in your body." During a full moon, nobody's ever going to bleed out on her watch. The implications for surgery in this low-tech world are staggering.
This was explored in the second Kyoshi novel, The Shadow of Kyoshi, where there was introduced an old waterbender woman who used bloodbending to lower the temperature of a body in critical condition for a quicker treatment and eventual survival.
Makes me wonder if bloodbending was actually used by benders (such as the northern tribe benders) for advanced healing techniques like the one used in the Kyoshi novels. If so, then Katara legally outlawed surgery by outlawing physically invasive techniques. Her external healing hut in the Legend of Korra might have high raw power, but it is not precise enough for every health problem.
When you think about it, having your blood bent would do such immeasurable amounts of damage to someone. Just simply clotting in a vein in someone's body can be deadly, imagine someone doing it to your whole body.
You have water EVERYWHERE - in any tissue. You are about 60% water. Any tissue has water in it - so bloodbending is less about dragging, for example, your hand by blood vessels in it and more about dragging all of it as one system, heck, you can skip blood vessels to avoid damage - there is more water in muscle tissue cells and you pull at them at the same time so no crushing there. If you think about it... It is exactly because bloodbending pulls at ALL water in affected organism - It can't do a precision based damage like creating blood clots in vessel. Well at least we didn't see anyone THAT good with it...
let's not forget that hama's victims were from the fire nation, which she considers to be her enemies despite the possibility that some of them might not be that bad. If she had managed to focus on the true villains like Ozai or if she'd been rescued earlier she could've been a powerful ally but all those years of being kidnapped and imprisoned in solitary confinement can really do a number to your sanity.
Gets even darker when you realize that during the water extraction from plants scene Hama was alluding to removing the water from a person's body, and she was rounding up at many people she could so she could do a mass extraction of all of their blood (water).
@@LJCastanoif you want to see this darker, there are essentially two bloodbenders in the Boys universe, one is a protagonist that cuts herself to make blood tendrils, the other uses the ability to explode people from far away.
Maybe Im just overthinking all this, but the mental image I get when picturing Bloodbending gets me queezy. Like, it's not the same as traditional mind control where you tell a person "raise your arm" and their brain goes ahead and moves the arm. No, a Bloodbender _forces_ the blood to move in a certain spacial direction, and the blood itself pulls _whatever part of the body it happens to be in_ along with it: kinda like putting metal liquid in a balloon and then using a magnet to attract the metal, which would slip n slide n push underneath the surface of the balloon. And since I assume Waterbending cant be precise down to the molecular level, that means if you're bloodbended to raise your arm up, you're gonna have blood rushing away from your shoulder & forearm, and pooling at your fingertips. The idea of so much "stuff" squidging around underneath skin so unevenly makes me lowkey wanna vomit. That's why when people talk about "wow bloodbending is so cool whats the big deal everyone should be learning it", I cant help but get serial killer vibes from those people...
See, that’s exactly it. “Body control” *is* another one of very popular tropes, but even then what’s being controlled is actual body parts themselves, not.. this. This is legit dangerous, disturbing and just bad. Blood flow is an integral part of our bodies and you absolutely shouldn’t mess with it do this degree. Even unintentionally, you *will* hurt someone with that. Those veins are going to burst.
Also the absolute agony of this! The blood flow being altered and forcing the body to move has to be absolutely agonizing. The pressure forcing the muscles and bones and such to move, and yanking them around at abnormal angles . . . Ugh 😶😣. Not good at all.
I remember that when I was a little kid (6 or 7 years old) I would occasionally see an episode of Avatar on tv. Back then I wasn’t really into it, but there were times where it was the only thing on that I somewhat enjoyed. Out of all the episodes, this was the one I remembered the most and when I sat down to watch the entire series as a 16 year old, I still remembered it all (everything down to Hama saying, “I’ve never felt more alive.” while staring up at the moon).
I can’t remember if this was actually a Halloween episode or if it just looks like it in most lighting, but Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday and this is quite possibly my favorite episode of Avatar. The creepy music, the tone-setting opening, the Ghibli-esque animation Hama had a few times, love it.
I believe if you examined the puppets you would find each one is a representation of each person Hama has imprisoned. Upon closer examination. You will find minute channels of water in each one. That way she can practice bending people in private. Not to mention being a monster, reliving what she has done.
Pay attention to how Katara fights Hama. She stopped the attack head on, like an Earth Bender instead of redirecting the attack like a Water Bender. Iroh's teaching shows its value here even more.
The existence of bloodbending and the way they can bend an element inside another's body opens up a whole can of nasty worms. Our bodies and bones in particular contain quite a variety and quantity of minerals. So an earthbender should be able to manipulate bones or in extreme cases shatter them or rip them out of a body entirely. Blood also contains a lot of iron, so an earthbender should also be able to bloodbend, like a waterbender... well, once they learned metalbending like Toph. An airbender could just bend the air in someone else's lungs out of their body and prevent any more from taking it's place, likely causing significant damage to the organ, even if they can get another breath before suffocating. Or they might even be able to manipulate the oxygen and CO2 in the blood itself, drawing them together to cause anneurisms or trombosis to make a target suffer a "natural death".
i dont remember where i read it, but there was this one post that points out that the reason Hama was surprised when Katara blocked that water attack (the scene where she stare with her mouth agape) was because she didnt expect her to pull that, since as water bender they work more with redirecting,while Katara straight up blocked the torrent and then step foward to attack, that move have more in common with earth bending than water bending....not sure if that was the intended meaning but makes sense as to explain why that moment took Hama by surprise and a cool showcase of Katara growth
I think this show did a really great job at making the everyday civilians of the Fire Nation seem like just normal people, and I appreciate that. They very easily could have gone the route of making all the people in the villain nation be villains but they went out of their way to show that they’re good people just like everyone else, they just happened to be born in and indoctrinated in to the evil nation. I doubt most of them even know what their nation is actually doing
@@bluecoin3771 the raids that explicitly captured waterbenders, as she described. But at some point they switched to killing them during raids instead; ala Sokka's mother.
Such a good episode. Not only does it introduce Blood Bending, which is probably the single most powerful subset of bending, but we get the first ever duel between water bending masters. This is what a duel between water benders means. It's taking your opponents attack and directing it back at them with a little extra thrown in. There is fan speculation that Katara used an Earth Bending move when she slapped the water during the duel, which I fully accept, but I don't think it has ever been confirmed. Hama is also great. She's the first every true water bending villain. Once more challenging what the audience assumes to be true in the series, even if it's pretty obvious she's the bad guy in this episode. Sure, Master Pakku was a jerk, but he wasn't malicious. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Hama is. Even if you understand her actions, that doesn't excuse what she is doing. Oh, and she's voiced by Dot Warner. I'll also say you should keep Hama and her capture in mind for later episodes. There's a fan theory about her that I don't want to say here to avoid spoilers for what may be another Top 10 episode that comes later on.
This is one of my favorite episodes, and also one of the few times an animated show tried to do horror and actually succeeded to terrify me, not because of any actual scare but for the things that happen. It's still PG-13 so no actual blood is shown but still, blood bending is absolutely fucked up and Hama is such a great character
Of all the reactions to this episode, you are the only one that I have seen, who caught how vile Hama's intent to pass the legacy, to impart the knowledge of bloodletting. *clap, clap* Bravo.
Honestly, I never truly realised until watching this reaction just HOW horrifying it must be for Katara to be forced to learn blood bending Like, that is SUCH a breach by Hama Damn, this episode STILL horrifies me...
It’s amazing what they could do with the writing given the restrictions on children’s animated programs at the time. Granted, this was Nickelodeon in the 2000s, so it’s not as terribly restricted as cartoons on broadcast networks from the evades before it, but still.
this episode is great. the fight beween hama and Katara before the rest of the gang arrive is my favorite water bending fight in the whole show. there's something visceral and kinetic about it compared to some of others in the show.
While that woman may not have been Katara's mom in the flashback it was probably her grandma. Who we do still see at the South and know she's around Hama's age. Also who could blame Hama? She was a prisoner of war. She was tortured. Watched as others were tortured. :( that is some PTSD stuff
Book 1 Alicia: Is there blood bending? If there is, that would be pretty neat Book 3 The puppet master Alicia: You know, maybe blood bending isn’t that great
Um, Alicia when Roku died he and his wife were at best in their 80's. Count 12 years until Aang flees and the Fire Nation attacks, then 100 years until Katara and Sokka find him, finally maybe close to 1 year by the time that book 3 is at. That would make Roku's wife let's just say 193 years old.
Although many have said that this goes along with what Iroh has told Zuko when he was teaching how to direct lightning, there is another past episode that this plays on. Remember at the end of The Avatar and the Firelord, Aang says anyone is capable of great good and great evil. Well, Hama is one of that examples. Yes, she learned how to Bloodbend, which is neither good nor evil. Yet, she chose to use the technique on the innocent, which is on the evil side of things....
Hama is the only "villain" i can't hate...she is a victim of the fire nation and their cruelty turned her into a monster...She is a product of the Fire nation.
@@Dogmaguy74 That still makes it random since they are not affilied with the army in any way as far as we know. That's not that different than for example if someone from Iraq or Afghanistan would carry out an attack against American citizens. If you think Hama is justified in her thinking, then you should also see this hypothethical attack as reasonable since they were also invaded by said country, and attacked the citizens of the invading country. It makes no sense to justify this in my opinion.
Not a spoiler, just a fun fact. So there's this meditation thing in the avatar world that just about anyone can learn, though lots of people mistake it as an earthbender trait, where you can learn how to keep your body from physically aging. Kyoshi grew to be 230 years old, it's kinda sorta explained in her books, of which you can read at any time. The first Kyoshi book totally explains why she is the way she is.
Katara was so happy to learn about her heritage and traditions, and Hama did the worst thing she could have done : she tarnished it. The Southern water tribe will be known in history as the one who gave birth to bloodbending. This is her heritage now, as well as any future southern waterbender, whether they ever learn it or not.
I only just started watching your reaction series but when, at the very beginning of the show, you guessed that Bloodbending would be possible, I knew it was gonna be so vindicating when you got this episode. It can only be done during a full moon but its the primary reason why waterbenders are easily the scariest benders in this universe.
"Who is the puppet master?" Someone you'll not soon forget. Haha HAHA AHAHAHAHAHA A little ghost story to set the mood. Followed by a ghost story that is much more chilling and might hold a grain of truth. When Aang is in spirit form, he is blue. When Iroh saw Roku's spirit dragon while Iroh was on the physical plane, it was blue. Maybe Nini became a spirit. 3:13 Toph is not the type to make this up without saying "Gotcha!" at the end. For Roku's wife to be alive, she'd have to be more like 200. Possible, but only one person pulled that off, and Avatar Kyoshi is the Avatar world's biggest example of "Built Different. 5:53 Old lady isn't so innocent. What sane or normal person keeps puppets in a closet like that? A comb with a color palette at odds with all the surroundings. The Fire Nation has been at this for 100 years, trying to overtake all the other nations, Not just in government, but culturally. To eliminate the Waterbenders is to take away the strongest defense and erode the culture of a "lesser" nation at the same time. We saw them outlaw earthbending in one town, and the novels talk about earthbending performers captured and made to be exoticized entertainment. More likely Gran Gran. Look how big the village used to be. It has been picked away at to the point of being almost nothing by the time Zuko showed up. 60 years of chipping away at them. To the point that with the warriors gone off to aid the Earth Kingdom, one campaign could probably wipe out the village and possible the whole tribe at the Fire Nation's leisure. She didn't turn traitor. I'll say that much. "I'm just waiting for someone to blood bend at this point." Oh, you have impeccable timing. "They're one of my favorite things about living here" Now watch as she turns these flowers she loves and only gets to see for a few weeks into ammo!\ You are far too eager for the bloodbending. Hama could have attacked supply lines, attempted to return home, joined the war effort. Instead, she took out her pain of civilians. She didn't even mention if her comrades were alive to be rescued. These people don't even have factories contributing to the war effort. This is the most unspoiled nature and least militaristic place we've yet seen. Bloodbending is a technique born of pain, rage, desperation, and boiling hate. It is not to be a celebrated skill. It is tool of forcing your will upon another. It is a violation. Some people can take the high road or even a middle one. Hamma took the subway direct to blind revenge. No matter how much Katara might hate bloodbending, she can't deny that she used it herself. That she knows the concept and tested the principles. Hama wanted to pass on the knowledge, and ultimately, she did.
Yes, Alicia. It is astounding how fast you came to the idea of blood bending all the way back in season one. But now you know the answer to the question of weather or not they should.
Lol, I love you, Alicia. I enjoy your content. I enjoy empathetic content. I find it more enjoyable when you can "understand" the characters' inner intention.
I'm just remembering how all the way back in Book 1, Alicia saw Katara doing something and asked if she might eventually bend blood. I literally sat there wondering how many other fans besides me were struggling not to send her spoilers....
Huh, just noticed. I think the water tribe girl you thought was Katara's mother was actually her grandmother, Gran-Gran. The scene where Hama is captured and taken on the ship is a near parallel to the scene where Aang gives himself up to protect the village. The reason Gran-Gran decided to let Katara and Sokka go after Aang is because Aang reminded her of Hama.
The raid against the southern water tribe when Katara and Sokka were young was a single raid. This has not been confirmed but there's a theory that this was after the brake out by Hama and the fire nation searched for her on the south pole.
In the larger scope of things, fucked up origins aside, I always thought blood bending was a legit technique. Like, outside the context of a kids show, you in a war, at some point you gonna have to ---- some folks, and here is an option that can let you end a fight without loss of life. Ultimately it's a blessing, just a really dangerous one, and it's probably a good thing that someone like Katara is the one to inherit the knowledge, instead of someone more willing to use it to, like, flush a dude out of his own backside
Our princess Alicia, clever and beautiful, had find out about bloodbending! This time I just saw Hama as another victim of Fire nation war. Yes, she is just a ressentful and crazy old lady capturing fire nation people in a way that is not even productive. It would take years until she kidnap a meaningful percentage of that village, so she is not even actually harming the Fire Nation. But she was a young woman that probably spent her prime years imprisioned by invaders, tortured and seeing her friends die one by one all this time. Then she invents/discovers bloodbending and at this point just assume her mind would be ok after all this is too much. Hama is guilty of her crimes, no doubt. But, again, nothing of this would be happening if Fire Nation would stick to its business and not doing a world scale ass kicking.
Because of iron being in blood, it would be obviously weaker, but I believe earthbenders can bloodbend by metalbending the iron. This has some leverage since in Avatar Legends, one of Avatar Kyoshis masters bent the metal in his own body to extend hia life. And Kyoshi did a little bit of that too since she lived to be over 200 years old.
Alicia: "I'm just waiting for someone to blood bend at this point"
Hama: "AND THAT DAY IS TODAY!"
This is one of those times where the bad guy “loses” but still wins because their actual goal was still achieved
Like Zemo
Everything Hama did or had done to her was without consent. A lesson from her would of course not be received with consent either.
Makes me wonder what is one step worse than the other: Aang losing all his airbenders; or Katara thinking she had no waterbenders from her tribe, only for the sole survivor to threaten her after reuniting. At least Aang didn’t have to deal with a long-lost airbender, a potential tutor, threatening him at this time
@@EldenRingplayer407aang littlery lost his whole people. At least katara has water benders that are still alive and there culture is still around. Airbenders were pretty much extinct and their culture was almost nonexistent.
@@Sparrowhawk055 I know, but I was wondering which is worse. Besides, it’s *because* Aang lost all his people that prevents him from experiencing exactly what Katara felt. And, on the topic of culture… Hama might remember southern tribe traditions, but she lied about intending to teach Katara those traditions in order to trick Katara into learning bloodbending. Aang was actually taught many of his air nomad traditions before leaving his temple, without being threatened into learning dangerous techniques like vacuum-asphyxiation, which is why he’s so furious about his people having been destroyed. Katara might’ve met another last waterbender from her tribe, and that might mean her culture is still around, but that bender didn’t teach her any of it
Hama. Fucking unforgettable Hama. Between her and Jet, the writers really love making villains out of the Fire Nation’s genocide victims. But while Jet goes no quarter on the Fire Nation with any amount of civilians deemed as acceptable losses, Hama is… a serial killer. A PG-rated serial killer that locks people in her basement. She could have joined any military, hidden away in any continent, taught waterbending to any swamp-dweller, but she chose this. She picked a sleepy town in a country that wanted her dead, and picked off people that would never see the front lines or walk into a war room. Hama did several, several things wrong.
It's good how the show makes it clear that while what the fire nation is doing is wrong that doesn't make everyone else right
Yeah in retrospect the writers are really weird about how they portray rebels and revolutionaries, and what they did with LoK is just horrendous. One point they could make about Hama is that the fire nation as an ultimate act of violence robbed her of humanity, but even that is a really bad take
Ye I've seen some articles giving the show some cons for making many genocide victims villains and a (ex) conqueror a hero (Iroh). But I think they didn't push the narrative too much. Since the real lession was about how they dealth their loss. Taking it out on civilians who had no saying in the acts towards you isnno good. It's the fire nation royal family and the army who u should be mad at.
@@remember_this1336 ye it's a bit weird. But I never took it as a 'conquerer = good, victim = bad'. But I can see that It is a bit problematic in a way
I mean to be fair 3/4 of the main heroes are victims of Fire Nation genocide.
One detail I find cool, that move Katara pulled to beat Hama was an Earth bender movement, completely changing the dynamic of a water duel, catching Hama completely off-guard.
Also shows that little detail that Katara and Toph are on good terms, to the point one is imitating the other
Yep! Not only by stopping the water head-on, the stance she had on the move afterward resembled earthbending as well! It's a really nice intentional or not callback to Iroh's lesson about incorporating aspects of other bending into one's own to enrich their skills.
There's a bunch of times when characters copy moves from other forms of bending. Jeong Jeong does a lot of earthbending like movements, Aang has copied a firebending move mid combat and Zuko does some water bending stuff. It's all very fun to notice.
Yup, just like Iroh said in S2 about redirecting lightning. True mastery in bending is realising that all the elements are one, allowing you to use techniques from each style on the others. Learning and taking inspiration from each element is what gives the Avatar its power
@@ethanquirk28 Exactly. And learning how other benders use their element lets you learn not only how to fight them more effectively, but also use those same concepts in uniques ways for your own element. We see it all throughout the series. In the Kyoshi books, they observed some earthbenders using a technique they called "Dust Stepping" to traverse gaps and gain height. Kyoshi had a fire bending friend who saw that and adapted the same principles for what she dubbed "Jet Stepping".
@@saltyk9869 Cool! Also, it really does go to show that an Avatar is more successful with a team.
Small theory that I came across is how the fire nation was capturing water benders before Hama broke out. But notice after Hama broke out the fire nation started to kill water benders? It's possible that Hama is the indirect reason why Kataras mom died, the fire nation didnt want to take any chances
The capturing water benders alive might have actually been more so because with air nomads dead, the next avatar would have been water bender, so they wanted to contain him/her alive to stop the reicarnation. But by the time Katara was a kid they nolonger felt the need, since it has been 100years. The avatar was either not coming back, , would have to be extremly old, or lived and died to reincarnate furthur in the chain (That´s why they now capture earth benders alive.) There was no need to keep young waterbenders alive and killing them was less work than keeping them alive.
Interesting theory
There’s more to Hama’s reaction when Katara stops the water with her hand. Water bending is all about the ebb and flow of water so water bending techniques are about redirection. What Katara did was more akin to an earth bending technique by stop the water out right then sending it back. It caught Hama by surprise.
Between normal benders, the battle would have gone back and forth bending the same water all the time, but THAT moment gave Katara the momentum of the battle by stopping and spreading the water Hama had used. Never had I seen it like that before.
The creators made this episode to give people a shock as many people also had the morbid idea of blood ending to be a thing and kept bringing it up.
This is also said to be an episode where Katara "Loses her Innocence." Which honestly is darkly true. She was forced to do something she didn't want after it was done to her.
And there wasn't really any closure, just the ending shot at the moon, once seen as Yue, power and melancholy is now a symbol of horror.
This ultimately goes to show that the response to "Why not just bend their blood?" is a classic case of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
Pretty sure this was something of a Pyrrhic Victory. Yes, in the end, Katara saves the day and nobody had to die, but she had to go against her own morals to do so, which taints not just the win but herself as a Water Bender. Now that she knows she can go down that road, it's something that can be kept in the back of her mind.
Loss of Innocence is very appropriate.
@@Starphoenix Because Katara won’t turn her back on those who need her, and she believes Aang can save the world, I’m not certain if it’s “going against your own morals” more than it is “Hama abused Katara’s morals”. I mean, this fight is basically implying “Either you can avoid bloodbending and tell yourself you did the right thing, or save the avatar so he can save the world… your choice. 😈” Also, Katara had no time to solidify “I won’t use bloodbending” as a moral, seeing how she learned of it and used it in the *same night*.
The same that was also done for the question "why not just glow it up and win the war? ".
They slapped the audience with the same response and (what I consider the most perfect way to integrate a reason as to why heroes dont just use their strongest abilities to win everything everytime) the potential risk of the avatar state. @@bthsr7113
I have a theory for what happened to Nini. I believe that she was somehow pulled into the spirit world during the storm. My evidence is the blue skin. Whenever Aang enters the spirit world his skin/form turns blue. However, Katara’s mom wouldn’t know this and just thought that she was cold. Also, Sokka was pulled body, mind and soul into the spirit world by the Hei Bai spirit. Admiral Xiao was also pulled into the spirit.
Now Nini is caught in a limbo state and is completely unaware of what had happened to her. During certain times of the year the lines between the two worlds blur and weaken to the point where she can temporarily cross back over to the physical world, but is unable to fully escape.
That's genius.
I concur.
It occurred to me if it wasn't for Sokka and Katara's stories, Hama would've blood bended them all up the mountain.
Hama is only capable of bending during the full moon. They were safe only because the full moon was 2 days away
Holy fuck LOL
I love how this episode plays with our expectations.
It's a Halloween special, and we all know how those episode usually go, and how in the end in most of those stories it turns out to be just imagination or we get a happy ending.
This series uses this trope to get us off track a few times, making us believe that the episode is only trying to be creepy but in the end Hama will turn out to be a great woman...And then they reveal a major new part of the lore and end the episode on the most horrifying note
I will say that I am happy Alicia realized how both terrifying and damning the blood bending was. from being "Giddy excited" at the concept to what it actually means. And the weight it holds.
Kinda the entire point of the episode tbh, but that doesn’t make it any less impactful
15:10 This scene draws a really cool parallel, "charring" the flowers, making them look outright burnt like that. Hama's disregard for life is equally as destructive as the Fire Nation's, and it shows in what her power does to the forest.
What I like about Hanna is that she wasn’t wrong to teach Katara bloodbending.
They’re in a war and sometimes you’re forced to do things you don’t want to, in order to survive. If all else fails, Katara has one last trick up her sleeve to save her life.
It’s too bad Hanna decided to go crazy and take out her vengeance on innocent people though.
Blood Bending is an awful an immoral form of bending. It takes away a victims free will and leaves them as a spectator in their own body. It's absolutely not okay to use it. We outlaw certain weapons even in war. Chemical Weapons are outlawed for how horrible they are to the victims. Blood Bending is no different.
@RefriedBean It mostly comes down to the nature of consent. Every example of bloodbending we see in this franchise is nonconsensual.
I mean think of the way Hama describes it-“Enforcing your own will of theirs”. It’s intrusive at best and dangerous at worst. The things you can make a person do. The helplessness that you can make them feel because of the power you’ve taken from them.
It’s not exactly SA or mind control, but it is still very traumatizing and headed right up that alley.
@RefriedBean There’s two problems with that. One, if we completely forget about Korra (no comment on it), you’ve only access to it on a full moon so it’s not the most reliable. Two, the ones that actually can blood bend aren’t really the sanest or gentlest members of society.
@@refriedbean7772to be fair blood bending still isn’t that ethical
@@lennydickson8845
SPOILERS
Hama needed the full moon because her bending was likely too weak to do what she wanted. Katara on the other hand, didn't need it. When she used Bloodbending against the man they assumed killed her mother, it was the day after the full moon at sunset. The moon wasn't even out yet and she was still able to do it. The more powerful the bender, the less they have to rely on their power boost.
One of my favorite, easily missed details is that Hama /sneaks up/ on Toph multiple times during this episode, around the campfire and in the room with the "secret chest". A true and insane testament to her skill
What, does she put ice on her shoes and lightly lift herself up to avoid making footsteps? Because that sounds like a way to do it 🤫
Katara was so hurt to do what she had to do but she had no choice. I’m not sure regular waterbending would’ve been fast enough to save Aang and Sokka. In the runaway episode you commented on how much Katara has needed take up so much responsibility. She’d do anything for her friends as they would for her. At the end of the day these are still just kids in the middle of a war forced to grow up before they were ready.
Hama and Gran-Gran probably knew each other, and were likely friends in the past.
Knowing how small the Southern Water Tribe is.
In the flashbacks to Hama's time in the Southern Water Tribe, we see her chatting with a friend who looks an awful lot like Katara. I always assumed that friend to be Gran-Gran.
@@elkins4406 Yes, even down to the "hair loopies" !
Hama is one of the best one shot villains in the show. She had a terrifying ability, a highly sympathetic backstory that linked her with Katara, and she _succeeded in her ultimate goal_ by giving Katara no choice.
Also, her voice actor did a wonderful job of making her creepy af.
She spent years languishing unjustly in a damn near literal hell-and she was out for revenge! Then, she passed on her legacy. Through Katara, Hama’s legacy will live on.
And, with LoK, her legacy gets passed onto Yakone and his children as he harnessed and really learnt all he could about it. So much so that he fundamentally was one of the strongest bloodbenders despite not being it's progenitor (Which is Hama, obviously. 😊)
Alicia must be patting herself on the back after calling blood bending so early in the series, I was impressed you made that connection so early
Being honest thought when you see the rest of the series as well as Legend of Korra you'll see how utterly terrifying blood bending is.
That being said, I can't blame Hama for having that sort of blind hatred, being ripped away from your friends and family for maybe 30 or so years, I can sort of understand how she feels but targeting innocent civilians like that especially when she lives along side them its borderline psychopathic
Yeah.
Who knows what she had been going through in the prison before escaped. (Tortured by fire nation soldiers? who knows)
Thats what made her psychopatic.
In the end she is just following her revenge plan on fire nation citizens. And of course teaching katara the dark side of waterbending art.
I felt so bad for Katara in this episode, the monster you must become to fight the monster before you. :(
Sounds like eren yeager 👀
@@akaza_Snow_Compass I'm pretty sure it's spoilers.
This episode was the one that made me revisit the show after over 10 years without watching it a couple of months ago lol, no regrets whatsoever since it's easily one of my absolute favorites from Book 3
Hama reminds me of those old characters that look innocent, but in reality, are the biggest monsters that you could find in society.
8:20 "We're not trying to steal from an old lady."
This is Toph, just remember back to last episode Toph doesn't give a f&CK.
Katara needs to start seeing the bright side of things. "I control every muscle, every vein in your body." During a full moon, nobody's ever going to bleed out on her watch. The implications for surgery in this low-tech world are staggering.
This was explored in the second Kyoshi novel, The Shadow of Kyoshi, where there was introduced an old waterbender woman who used bloodbending to lower the temperature of a body in critical condition for a quicker treatment and eventual survival.
Makes me wonder if bloodbending was actually used by benders (such as the northern tribe benders) for advanced healing techniques like the one used in the Kyoshi novels. If so, then Katara legally outlawed surgery by outlawing physically invasive techniques. Her external healing hut in the Legend of Korra might have high raw power, but it is not precise enough for every health problem.
When you think about it, having your blood bent would do such immeasurable amounts of damage to someone. Just simply clotting in a vein in someone's body can be deadly, imagine someone doing it to your whole body.
You have water EVERYWHERE - in any tissue. You are about 60% water. Any tissue has water in it - so bloodbending is less about dragging, for example, your hand by blood vessels in it and more about dragging all of it as one system, heck, you can skip blood vessels to avoid damage - there is more water in muscle tissue cells and you pull at them at the same time so no crushing there.
If you think about it... It is exactly because bloodbending pulls at ALL water in affected organism - It can't do a precision based damage like creating blood clots in vessel. Well at least we didn't see anyone THAT good with it...
I think airbending is way more terrifying, good thing that they all are pacifist to the extreme.
let's not forget that hama's victims were from the fire nation, which she considers to be her enemies despite the possibility that some of them might not be that bad. If she had managed to focus on the true villains like Ozai or if she'd been rescued earlier she could've been a powerful ally but all those years of being kidnapped and imprisoned in solitary confinement can really do a number to your sanity.
Oh, this episode.
One of the terrifying things in this show.
Gets even darker when you realize that during the water extraction from plants scene Hama was alluding to removing the water from a person's body, and she was rounding up at many people she could so she could do a mass extraction of all of their blood (water).
Yes, and if Hama was a bit more twisted, she could probably do something even more vile, like popping the blood vessels in someone’s body
@@LJCastanoif you want to see this darker, there are essentially two bloodbenders in the Boys universe, one is a protagonist that cuts herself to make blood tendrils, the other uses the ability to explode people from far away.
@@bluecoin3771 I’ve seen the boys and gen V
Maybe Im just overthinking all this, but the mental image I get when picturing Bloodbending gets me queezy. Like, it's not the same as traditional mind control where you tell a person "raise your arm" and their brain goes ahead and moves the arm. No, a Bloodbender _forces_ the blood to move in a certain spacial direction, and the blood itself pulls _whatever part of the body it happens to be in_ along with it: kinda like putting metal liquid in a balloon and then using a magnet to attract the metal, which would slip n slide n push underneath the surface of the balloon. And since I assume Waterbending cant be precise down to the molecular level, that means if you're bloodbended to raise your arm up, you're gonna have blood rushing away from your shoulder & forearm, and pooling at your fingertips. The idea of so much "stuff" squidging around underneath skin so unevenly makes me lowkey wanna vomit. That's why when people talk about "wow bloodbending is so cool whats the big deal everyone should be learning it", I cant help but get serial killer vibes from those people...
See, that’s exactly it. “Body control” *is* another one of very popular tropes, but even then what’s being controlled is actual body parts themselves, not.. this. This is legit dangerous, disturbing and just bad. Blood flow is an integral part of our bodies and you absolutely shouldn’t mess with it do this degree. Even unintentionally, you *will* hurt someone with that. Those veins are going to burst.
Also the absolute agony of this! The blood flow being altered and forcing the body to move has to be absolutely agonizing. The pressure forcing the muscles and bones and such to move, and yanking them around at abnormal angles . . . Ugh 😶😣. Not good at all.
I remember that when I was a little kid (6 or 7 years old) I would occasionally see an episode of Avatar on tv. Back then I wasn’t really into it, but there were times where it was the only thing on that I somewhat enjoyed. Out of all the episodes, this was the one I remembered the most and when I sat down to watch the entire series as a 16 year old, I still remembered it all (everything down to Hama saying, “I’ve never felt more alive.” while staring up at the moon).
I can’t remember if this was actually a Halloween episode or if it just looks like it in most lighting, but Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday and this is quite possibly my favorite episode of Avatar. The creepy music, the tone-setting opening, the Ghibli-esque animation Hama had a few times, love it.
I believe if you examined the puppets you would find each one is a representation of each person Hama has imprisoned. Upon closer examination. You will find minute channels of water in each one. That way she can practice bending people in private. Not to mention being a monster, reliving what she has done.
Pay attention to how Katara fights Hama. She stopped the attack head on, like an Earth Bender instead of redirecting the attack like a Water Bender. Iroh's teaching shows its value here even more.
Hama: Congratulations, you're a bloodbender
Those Villagers: A'fuckin' whut now?
The existence of bloodbending and the way they can bend an element inside another's body opens up a whole can of nasty worms.
Our bodies and bones in particular contain quite a variety and quantity of minerals. So an earthbender should be able to manipulate bones or in extreme cases shatter them or rip them out of a body entirely.
Blood also contains a lot of iron, so an earthbender should also be able to bloodbend, like a waterbender... well, once they learned metalbending like Toph.
An airbender could just bend the air in someone else's lungs out of their body and prevent any more from taking it's place, likely causing significant damage to the organ, even if they can get another breath before suffocating. Or they might even be able to manipulate the oxygen and CO2 in the blood itself, drawing them together to cause anneurisms or trombosis to make a target suffer a "natural death".
Kataras grandma is one of the women that is standing there as Hama gets taken away.
i dont remember where i read it, but there was this one post that points out that the reason Hama was surprised when Katara blocked that water attack (the scene where she stare with her mouth agape) was because she didnt expect her to pull that, since as water bender they work more with redirecting,while Katara straight up blocked the torrent and then step foward to attack, that move have more in common with earth bending than water bending....not sure if that was the intended meaning but makes sense as to explain why that moment took Hama by surprise and a cool showcase of Katara growth
Hama really had me wrapped around her finger when first watching this episode. Imagine how hard that reveal hits when you suspect nothing.
I think this show did a really great job at making the everyday civilians of the Fire Nation seem like just normal people, and I appreciate that. They very easily could have gone the route of making all the people in the villain nation be villains but they went out of their way to show that they’re good people just like everyone else, they just happened to be born in and indoctrinated in to the evil nation. I doubt most of them even know what their nation is actually doing
It is theorized that Hama is the reason why The Fire Nation started just killing water benders
She didn’t become a bloodbender until after the raids on her tribe.
@@bluecoin3771 the raids that explicitly captured waterbenders, as she described. But at some point they switched to killing them during raids instead; ala Sokka's mother.
Such a good episode. Not only does it introduce Blood Bending, which is probably the single most powerful subset of bending, but we get the first ever duel between water bending masters. This is what a duel between water benders means. It's taking your opponents attack and directing it back at them with a little extra thrown in. There is fan speculation that Katara used an Earth Bending move when she slapped the water during the duel, which I fully accept, but I don't think it has ever been confirmed.
Hama is also great. She's the first every true water bending villain. Once more challenging what the audience assumes to be true in the series, even if it's pretty obvious she's the bad guy in this episode. Sure, Master Pakku was a jerk, but he wasn't malicious. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Hama is. Even if you understand her actions, that doesn't excuse what she is doing. Oh, and she's voiced by Dot Warner.
I'll also say you should keep Hama and her capture in mind for later episodes. There's a fan theory about her that I don't want to say here to avoid spoilers for what may be another Top 10 episode that comes later on.
It's really impressive how quickly you caught on to the concept of bloodbending before it actually started happening.
"The moon! Yay!" - Famous last words
This is one of my favorite episodes, and also one of the few times an animated show tried to do horror and actually succeeded to terrify me, not because of any actual scare but for the things that happen. It's still PG-13 so no actual blood is shown but still, blood bending is absolutely fucked up and Hama is such a great character
The sound effects sell it, you can hear the blood 🩸 sloshing in the veins as the body is violently jerked back and forth like a rag doll.
People season 1: Blood bending would be so cool
Same people in season 3: oh hell no
Fantastic episode!
Katara is my favorite character and this is one of her absolute best.
5:15. I didn’t even catch that over my many viewings of this episode, and my mind is tuned into dirty jokes.
Of all the reactions to this episode, you are the only one that I have seen, who caught how vile Hama's intent to pass the legacy, to impart the knowledge of bloodletting. *clap, clap*
Bravo.
Ooh, baby! This is hands down my favorite episode! Tress MacNeille as Hama is *chef’s kiss.*
Honestly, I never truly realised until watching this reaction just HOW horrifying it must be for Katara to be forced to learn blood bending
Like, that is SUCH a breach by Hama
Damn, this episode STILL horrifies me...
It’s amazing what they could do with the writing given the restrictions on children’s animated programs at the time. Granted, this was Nickelodeon in the 2000s, so it’s not as terribly restricted as cartoons on broadcast networks from the evades before it, but still.
hama's non bender friend from the southern water was likely sokka and katara's gram gram!
this is a good reminder of what Aang said in episode 6, Anyone is capable of doing good or evil.
These are the episodes I like, they beat the bad guy yet the bad guy still succeeded in their goal. In this case it was teaching Katara Blood Bending.
Ho estly this was the perfect villain for her same background but what made them diferent was their morals and even so it didn't matter
this episode is great. the fight beween hama and Katara before the rest of the gang arrive is my favorite water bending fight in the whole show. there's something visceral and kinetic about it compared to some of others in the show.
It was stop Hama or her bois getting badly hurt
This is the most traumatic power up episode we’ve had (in this show) yet
While that woman may not have been Katara's mom in the flashback it was probably her grandma. Who we do still see at the South and know she's around Hama's age.
Also who could blame Hama? She was a prisoner of war. She was tortured. Watched as others were tortured. :( that is some PTSD stuff
Book 1 Alicia: Is there blood bending? If there is, that would be pretty neat
Book 3 The puppet master Alicia: You know, maybe blood bending isn’t that great
Um, Alicia when Roku died he and his wife were at best in their 80's. Count 12 years until Aang flees and the Fire Nation attacks, then 100 years until Katara and Sokka find him, finally maybe close to 1 year by the time that book 3 is at. That would make Roku's wife let's just say 193 years old.
When you really think about it soup is just dirty water
Although many have said that this goes along with what Iroh has told Zuko when he was teaching how to direct lightning, there is another past episode that this plays on. Remember at the end of The Avatar and the Firelord, Aang says anyone is capable of great good and great evil. Well, Hama is one of that examples. Yes, she learned how to Bloodbend, which is neither good nor evil. Yet, she chose to use the technique on the innocent, which is on the evil side of things....
You're right, the woman with Hama in the flashback wasn't their mom. It was Gran Gran!
Ye. They said life will test you and sometimes you wouldn't want the answer but you have to
Hama is the only "villain" i can't hate...she is a victim of the fire nation and their cruelty turned her into a monster...She is a product of the Fire nation.
So? That doesn’t excuse imprisoning random people.
@@stargazer1998 Random? You must have missed the part where they mention that these “random” people are Fire nation citizens.
@@Dogmaguy74 That still makes it random since they are not affilied with the army in any way as far as we know. That's not that different than for example if someone from Iraq or Afghanistan would carry out an attack against American citizens. If you think Hama is justified in her thinking, then you should also see this hypothethical attack as reasonable since they were also invaded by said country, and attacked the citizens of the invading country. It makes no sense to justify this in my opinion.
Not a spoiler, just a fun fact. So there's this meditation thing in the avatar world that just about anyone can learn, though lots of people mistake it as an earthbender trait, where you can learn how to keep your body from physically aging. Kyoshi grew to be 230 years old, it's kinda sorta explained in her books, of which you can read at any time. The first Kyoshi book totally explains why she is the way she is.
One cool/twisted thing I didn't notice until much later is that Hanma's puppets are modeled after the villagers she took...
And we have arrived at probably the darkest episode of the season
Katara was so happy to learn about her heritage and traditions, and Hama did the worst thing she could have done : she tarnished it. The Southern water tribe will be known in history as the one who gave birth to bloodbending. This is her heritage now, as well as any future southern waterbender, whether they ever learn it or not.
Remember ladies and gentlemen... kids show.
Even though she's a bloodbender now, Hama couldn't force her to become a monster, as that is always of Katara's control.
You could also see katara using an earth bending like stance to stop the water attack, seeing she's learning from Toph as well.
I only just started watching your reaction series but when, at the very beginning of the show, you guessed that Bloodbending would be possible, I knew it was gonna be so vindicating when you got this episode. It can only be done during a full moon but its the primary reason why waterbenders are easily the scariest benders in this universe.
"Who is the puppet master?" Someone you'll not soon forget. Haha HAHA AHAHAHAHAHA
A little ghost story to set the mood.
Followed by a ghost story that is much more chilling and might hold a grain of truth. When Aang is in spirit form, he is blue. When Iroh saw Roku's spirit dragon while Iroh was on the physical plane, it was blue. Maybe Nini became a spirit.
3:13 Toph is not the type to make this up without saying "Gotcha!" at the end.
For Roku's wife to be alive, she'd have to be more like 200. Possible, but only one person pulled that off, and Avatar Kyoshi is the Avatar world's biggest example of "Built Different.
5:53 Old lady isn't so innocent.
What sane or normal person keeps puppets in a closet like that?
A comb with a color palette at odds with all the surroundings.
The Fire Nation has been at this for 100 years, trying to overtake all the other nations, Not just in government, but culturally. To eliminate the Waterbenders is to take away the strongest defense and erode the culture of a "lesser" nation at the same time. We saw them outlaw earthbending in one town, and the novels talk about earthbending performers captured and made to be exoticized entertainment.
More likely Gran Gran.
Look how big the village used to be. It has been picked away at to the point of being almost nothing by the time Zuko showed up. 60 years of chipping away at them. To the point that with the warriors gone off to aid the Earth Kingdom, one campaign could probably wipe out the village and possible the whole tribe at the Fire Nation's leisure.
She didn't turn traitor. I'll say that much.
"I'm just waiting for someone to blood bend at this point." Oh, you have impeccable timing.
"They're one of my favorite things about living here" Now watch as she turns these flowers she loves and only gets to see for a few weeks into ammo!\
You are far too eager for the bloodbending.
Hama could have attacked supply lines, attempted to return home, joined the war effort. Instead, she took out her pain of civilians. She didn't even mention if her comrades were alive to be rescued. These people don't even have factories contributing to the war effort. This is the most unspoiled nature and least militaristic place we've yet seen.
Bloodbending is a technique born of pain, rage, desperation, and boiling hate. It is not to be a celebrated skill. It is tool of forcing your will upon another. It is a violation.
Some people can take the high road or even a middle one. Hamma took the subway direct to blind revenge.
No matter how much Katara might hate bloodbending, she can't deny that she used it herself. That she knows the concept and tested the principles. Hama wanted to pass on the knowledge, and ultimately, she did.
The voice of Hama is the same as the voice of Dot from the Animaniacs. You're welcome.
I always watch this episode on Halloween, it just has SUCH a good horror setting.
XD, the moment you said I'm just waiting for someone to blood bend, I lost it. XD
"I'm waiting for someone to blood bend at this point".
*wheeze*
Yes, Alicia. It is astounding how fast you came to the idea of blood bending all the way back in season one. But now you know the answer to the question of weather or not they should.
Hama was voiced by Tress MacNeille who voiced Dot Warner from Animaniacs.
And that's how you do a halloween episode.
Lol, I love you, Alicia. I enjoy your content. I enjoy empathetic content. I find it more enjoyable when you can "understand" the characters' inner intention.
Aang was in ice for a 100 years. Only Bumi, who Aang knew as a kid, is alive from before he was trapped.
Man Book 1 Jet would've gotten along with Hama swimmingly
Naa, more like Book 2 Jet, once a puppet...
The writers straight up follow the scariest episode with one of the funniest.
I'm just remembering how all the way back in Book 1, Alicia saw Katara doing something and asked if she might eventually bend blood. I literally sat there wondering how many other fans besides me were struggling not to send her spoilers....
It's amazing how you called blood bending from day 1
"THE MOON SPIRIT IS A GENTLE, LOVING LADY! She rules the sky with compassion! And.....lunar goodness!"
Sokka based
Huh, just noticed. I think the water tribe girl you thought was Katara's mother was actually her grandmother, Gran-Gran. The scene where Hama is captured and taken on the ship is a near parallel to the scene where Aang gives himself up to protect the village. The reason Gran-Gran decided to let Katara and Sokka go after Aang is because Aang reminded her of Hama.
The raid against the southern water tribe when Katara and Sokka were young was a single raid. This has not been confirmed but there's a theory that this was after the brake out by Hama and the fire nation searched for her on the south pole.
Your imagination wasn't too wacky, I'm pretty sure that lady in Hama's flashback who you said was Katara's mom is meant to be GranGran.
YES! This episode was one of the most uncomfortable and sad in my childhood
In the larger scope of things, fucked up origins aside, I always thought blood bending was a legit technique. Like, outside the context of a kids show, you in a war, at some point you gonna have to ---- some folks, and here is an option that can let you end a fight without loss of life. Ultimately it's a blessing, just a really dangerous one, and it's probably a good thing that someone like Katara is the one to inherit the knowledge, instead of someone more willing to use it to, like, flush a dude out of his own backside
Our princess Alicia, clever and beautiful, had find out about bloodbending!
This time I just saw Hama as another victim of Fire nation war. Yes, she is just a ressentful and crazy old lady capturing fire nation people in a way that is not even productive. It would take years until she kidnap a meaningful percentage of that village, so she is not even actually harming the Fire Nation. But she was a young woman that probably spent her prime years imprisioned by invaders, tortured and seeing her friends die one by one all this time. Then she invents/discovers bloodbending and at this point just assume her mind would be ok after all this is too much. Hama is guilty of her crimes, no doubt. But, again, nothing of this would be happening if Fire Nation would stick to its business and not doing a world scale ass kicking.
god i love this episode so much every1 sleeps on water bending but we really got to see the versatility of it here
Now Katara has had a taste and knows the true power of the Dark Side!
fun fact, this is dot warner from animaniacs as the voice of hama! so try watching animaniacs with THAT knowledge
If you look at the water droplets when Katara disperses Hama's attack they have reflections in them all
Honestly, bloodbending is probably the most powerful waterbendijg technique. Considering they'r3 at war, it's a strategic advantage.
This was originally the Halloween episode. And yes, that was Kataras mom. Correction, that was actually Kana, the grandmother.
Because of iron being in blood, it would be obviously weaker, but I believe earthbenders can bloodbend by metalbending the iron.
This has some leverage since in Avatar Legends, one of Avatar Kyoshis masters bent the metal in his own body to extend hia life. And Kyoshi did a little bit of that too since she lived to be over 200 years old.