Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Waterbending Master

The Waterbending Master
Season 1, Episode 18
Airdate	November 18, 2005
Production Number	1x18
Written by	Michael Dante DiMartino
Directed by	Giancarlo Volpe
← Special 2 Avatar: The Legend So Far	1x19 → The Siege of the North (1)
Avatar: The Last Airbender — Season One

The Waterbending Master is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the eighteenth episode overall.

Guest Stars: Jason Isaacs (Zhao), Jon Polito (Chief Arnook), Victor Brandt (Master Pakku), Johanna Braddy (Princess Yue), Lucille Bliss (Yagoda), Keone Young (Captain Li), Byron McKittrick (Pirate Barker)

Plot Overview

The gang reaches the city of the Northern Water Tribe. The Avatar is honored at a great feast, where Sokka gets to know Princess Yue, the daughter of the city's chief. At the same time, Zhao commandeers Zuko's ship, seeking to bolster his own forces for an assault on the Water Tribe and hamstring a rival at the same time.

Aang is eager to begin his waterbending training with Katara, but the northern tribe's traditions do not allow women to learn the art, so Katara is turned away by Master Pakku and sent to learn healing only. Her teacher, Yagoda, turns out to be an old friend of her grandmother's, who recognizes this fact from Katara's necklace. Katara never knew that her grandmother had been born in the north, and the healer never knew why she left. Sokka, now quite smitten, is seeing more of Yue, who seems to honestly like him but reluctant to get too close. Meanwhile, Zhao has a bomb planted on Zuko's ship in an attempt to eliminate him once and for all.

Aang tries to secretly teach Katara the waterbending techniques he's learning, but when Pakku discovers this he refuses to teach Aang anything further. Katara goes to the tribe elders, but they side with Pakku, so she challenges him to a fight, which he wins without too much trouble. Afterwards, he notices Katara's necklace, and realizes that her grandmother was the woman he once held an unrequited love for, and who fled to the southern tribe rather than be forced into an arranged marriage with him. He finally allows Katara to join Aang in learning "real" waterbending. Later that night, Yue admits to Sokka that the reason she can't allow herself to fall for him is that she, too, is in line for an arranged marriage.

Notes

• Unlike the scattered southern Water Tribe villages Sokka and Katara hail from, the northern tribe is still a unified and powerful nation. Spread throughout their icy city is a network of canals, navigated by waterbending-powered locks and gates.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Fire Nation navy prepares for a massive strike against the northern Water Tribe, both to capture the Avatar and to remove another obstacle to their domination of the entire world.
• With Zuko presumed dead, Zhao invites Iroh aboard his ship as a general in the coming battle. Zuko secretly accompanies him, posing as a guard.

Characters

• Zhao discovers clues to the true identity of the Blue Spirit.
• Like most benders, Katara becomes more powerful when her emotions are running high. She clearly could advance quite far with proper training.

Referbacks

• Zhao hires the pirates last seen in The Waterbending Scroll for the attempt on Zuko's life.

Quotes

Katara: I didn't travel all the way across the entire world so you could tell me no!
Paku: No.

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