Avatar: The Last Airbender boasts a wonderful cast of characters, and Katara, who is the first character that viewers meet, is certainly one of the best. She's had many iconic moments, epic battles, and great quotes, and fans generally seem to like her. However, some fans disagree with some of the choices that the writers made with her character, and have voiced controversial opinions about it.
These unpopular opinions can be found on Reddit, as fans tend to discuss their opinions of characters there. And many of these opinions are worth discussing.
She Was Hypocritical
Katara is generally the moral compass of the group, and she often pushes people to do the right thing. However, according to Reddit user KingBlackthorn1, "Katara was a hypocrite. In Book 1 Katara steals a water scroll that is worth so much money but in Book 3 when Toph was scamming the Fire Nation Katara got all annoyed at her and told her she was wrong."
While Katara can often act in a way that she would criticize, most viewers can accept that Katara isn't perfect, and she often learns from these mistakes. She usually holds herself to the same standard that she holds everyone else, which prevents her from being a hypocrite.
She Was Too Preachy
There are many moments in the show when Katara inspires other characters with her speeches, but according to some viewers, she made these speeches far too much. One Reddit user states that "in the fan community she does have a reputation of a hope-preacher. I've heard many fans complaining about it. I don't know, you just get this preachy quality from her character."
This quality of Katara even became a joke in the show, when it was parodied in "The Ember Island Players," but in reality, her ability to inspire people is one of the best things about her. The Gaang probably wouldn't have made it as far without her pushing them forward.
Katara Didn't Mention Her Mother's Death Too Much
It's become a meme within the Avatar fandom that Katara mentions her mother's death too much. Thankfully, the majority doesn't take this joke too seriously, but it has still led to any disagreement with this meme being seen as an unpopular opinion. Redditor Darkavatar1 argues that "Katara mentioned her mother a perfectly appropriate amount of times for a 14-year-old who watched their mother get murdered."
Other Reddit users, such as Litokra223, agree, adding that "Katara does it to empathize with people like Jet and show them that she recognizes their grief and anger over losing loved ones to the Fire Nation. She isn't doing it to put her trauma over theirs like some people seem to claim."
She Overreacted When She First Used Bloodbending
While many viewers believe that "The Puppetmaster" is one of Katara's best episodes, some fans have a problem with how Katara's newfound ability to bloodbend was handled. According to Reddit user judojoker, the final battle where Katara bloodbends Hama isn't as dark as Katara acts like it is: "Katara starts crying even though all she did was stop Hama from killing Aang and Sokka. I just don't buy that it's that much more horrible than anything else we'd seen before."
There had been many scary forms of bending that had been shown before, such as combustion bending, but clearly, bloodbending was the scariest form at that point, which explains why Katara was as horrified as she was.
She Should Have Apologised To Aang At The End Of "The Southern Raiders"
When Aang and Sokka try to discourage Katara from getting revenge for her mother, she lashes out and states that Sokka didn't love their mother enough. Saying those things is arguably one of the worst things that Katara ever did, and according to Redditor planMasinMancy, "Katara should have been shown apologizing to Sokka and Aang. I'm still angry that they don't get an apology, and I don't think it's healthy to never resolve that, especially in a kids' show."
While many agree that she should apologize to Sokka, many also believe that Aang was in the wrong in this situation, as he was trying to make her forgive someone who had murdered her mother.
She Fell In Love With People Too Easily
As Katara was the only main female character for a while, she was often shipped with many male characters. However, according to Redditor COLDCYAN10, this reflected badly on Katara: "She falls for any person who can breathe, and every time she's around someone she believes anything."
Many other Reddit users, such as Wolfdijon, found this opinion insulting to Katara and completely untrue: "So Jet and Aang are the only two characters in the entire Avatar world who can breathe?" Katara only really had a romantic relationship with Aang and Jet, so it wasn't as if she was falling for every man she met, making the first opinion unpopular.
She Shouldn't Have Appeared In The Legend Of Korra
Fans were pretty ecstatic to see Katara appear in the spin-off series The Legend of Korra, but not every viewer saw this as a good thing, as it prevented the spin-off from being its show. As stated by Reddit user LetMyPeopleJo, "While I would have preferred to see more of Katara, Aang, Zuko, and Sokka, the show is not about them. It is about Aang's reincarnation Korra."
Perhaps this was why Katara was not seen very often as the show progressed, but this is unpopular with fans as since the show is about every Avatar, and Aang's children are heavily involved in the show, the show should have also included Aang's friends more.
Katara Ending Up With Aang Is A Disservice To Her Character
While many fans like the relationship between Katara and Aang, some felt like it was a disservice to Katara. According to Reddit user blo0_, it made it appear as if Katara was just a prize to be won: "It seemed like a: "hero gets the girl" moment. It just didn't fit."
Considering how Aang wanted to be with Katara from the start, Katara was more unsure. this opinion does have some ground. Other Redditors agree that Katara wouldn't choose someone with that she had acted so maternally towards. But arguably The Last Airbender's most relatable couple is Aang and Katara, and there are many reasons for these two to be together, hence why this opinion can be deemed unpopular.
Zutara Is Overrated
Zutara is arguably the most popular ship in the fandom, but not everyone likes the prospect of it, with some Redditors, such as WanHohenheim, even arguing that "In my opinion, all the romantic relationships in ATLA were forced." Zutara is possibly overrated, as the two don't share that many romantic scenes together.
But ultimately, this opinion remains unpopular, as according to other Redditors, such as slythclaws, "I still think that Zuko and Katara would have made more sense together as an endgame couple." The shipping debate will always be controversial when it comes to the Avatar universe, so pretty much any opinion can be deemed unpopular.
She Is One Of The Darkest Characters On The Show
Katara is generally seen to be the voice of hope and love in the show. She acts very maternally and almost always has people's best interests at heart. However, this can cause people to overlook how dark her character can be. When it comes to wanting revenge for her mother's death, or her use of bloodbending, according to some Redditors, it isn't made clear enough that she was one of the darkest characters in the show.
According to Reddit user Dennisbaily, "People don't understand the darker side of Katara's character besides in ''The Southern Raiders," which limits their view on her since it creates a whole other level to her character."