Sokka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Avatar: The Last Airbender character | |
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| Sokka | |
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| Nationality | Southern Water Tribe  |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Age | 15 |
| Position | Warrior |
| First appearance | "The Boy in the Iceberg" |
| Voiced by | Jack DeSena |
Sokka is a fictional character voiced by Jack DeSena in the American animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The fifteen-year-old is a warrior of the South Pole's Southern Water Tribe who, along with his younger sister Katara, discovers Aang, the long-lost Avatar, and accompanies him on his quest to defeat the Fire Nation and bring peace to the war-torn nations.
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[edit] History
Sokka grew up in his village as an aspiring warrior-in-training of the Southern Water Tribe. Forced to mature quickly when his mother was killed in a Fire Nation raid, he cultivated his warrior skills with a militant zeal, while his sister Katara did chores and practiced Waterbending. When he was thirteen, his father and the other village men left to fight alongside the Earth Kingdom in the war against the Fire Nation, leaving him and his sister to look after their tribe with their grandmother, Gran Gran. Apparently the oldest male left at the South Pole, by the time he was fifteen he seems to have developed a semi-leadership role (or at least assumed one for himself).
While on a spearfishing expedition, Katara and Sokka found Aang in suspended animation inside an iceberg. When Katara freed him, Sokka was initially believed that the Airbender might be a Fire Navy spy, and he grew xenophobic enough to banish him from the village. Upon discovering that Aang was the Avatar, destined to master all four elements and bring peace to the world, Sokka relented, realizing that they had a common enemy, the Fire Nation. He then set off with Katara and Aang on their journey to find a waterbending instructor at the North Pole, determined to hone his warrior's skills by way of fighting a few Firebenders.
[edit] Personality
Skeptical, abrasive, and sharp-witted, Sokka is detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the bending arts. Not gifted with bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior, and he takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to exact a little vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He holds little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and prefers to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tends to be rash, however, and his pride often leads to embarrassment.
A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group (Aang is a vegetarian). Sokka also has a habit of using sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts at karma in the heavens vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance, agreeing to consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy." By the end of the episode, however, he has given up neither meat nor sarcasm. Though he started out as relatively the most serious and down-to-to earth character, Sokka has come to frequently serve as a source of comic relief throughout the series, increasingly involving violent slapstick.
[edit] Innovations
For an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka shows a remarkable proclivity towards science. He seems naturally adept at creating weapons out of practically anything at anytime. He 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 being able to Earthbend. He has even worked with a fellow technologist, the Mechanist, to engineer a working hot air balloon and to develop a system that detects natural gas leaks. Sokka also has a variety of weapons, and he is proficient in all of them.
As the only non-bender in Aang's group, Sokka is often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it is usually Sokka who comes up with a plan for victory. His skills as a fighter have also noticeably improved as the series progresses, though it is usually his persistence rather than skill that often allows him to get a shot in against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee, in "The Chase." Sokka employs the element of surprise in defeating larger enemies in "The Library" when he knocked out Wan Shi Tong by attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending failed. It was also Sokka who found out about a solar eclipse's ability to incapacitate firebenders and his idea to inform the king of Ba Sing Se.
More than a simple fighter, he can be seen as a promising engineer. Sokka effectively demonstrates his skills in the episode "The Chase" when he, Aang, Toph, and Katara are pursued by Princess Azula and her friends Mai, and Ty Lee although he is quite easily disabled by Ty Lee
[edit] Family
[edit] Katara
Despite constant bickering in the course of their travels, the siblings love each other dearly. Sokka feels obligated to his younger sister, as urged by his father before his departure to the Fire Nation. Sokka takes this very seriously and, at times, can become outright overprotective.
[edit] Mother
The death of Sokka's mother in a Fire Nation raid is the primary fuel for Sokka's deep grudge against the Fire Nation forces. Though his anger has faded somewhat, her loss remains a very sore point. Her name is yet to be given.
[edit] Hakoda
Sokka idolizes his father, Hakoda, hoping to become a great warrior and fight the Fire Nation just as valiantly. Deeply saddened by his father's departure, Sokka eagerly awaits the day he can meet him again. He once seriously considered leaving Aang behind in order to meet him at a military rendezvous point, briefly acting on this desire during an argument with him. Sokka's primary weapon (and most prized possession) is his metal boomerang, given to him by his father before going off to war. In "Bato of the Water Tribe", it was mentioned that Hakoda was heading to Ba Sing Se. Sokka reunites with his father in "The Guru"
In Japanese, the word hakoda (箱 田) means 'box field.' However, the word hakkoda (八甲田) which means 'Eight armor fields' and a mountain range in Japan seems more befitting as his name.
[edit] Gran Gran Kanna
Sokka's paternal grandmother, Kanna, is the oldest survivor of the Fire Nation raid on the Southern Water Tribe. Being such, she looks after the tribe. Like Sokka, she is cautious and wary of change and tends to be cynical. When she believes Aang's actions have endangered the village, she takes Sokka's side in the argument. However, she comes to see that it is her grandchildren's destiny to journey with the Avatar and sees them off, telling her grandson to take care of his sister and not to make fun of her.
[edit] Relationships
[edit] Aang
In regards to Aang, Sokka has yet to embrace the young Avatar as fully as his sister does. In the early episodes of the series, he seemed skeptical of Aang's powers and occasionally frustrated with Aang's cavalier attitude. He has shown fierce anger when Aang's carelessness gets Katara hurt in "The Deserter" and when Aang purposely deceives them in "Bato of the Water Tribe," though he forgives him fully afterwards. As series goes on, Sokka beings to show more marvel at Aang's strength. Sokka eventually even openly admits that Aang is "part of the family" in "(Bato of The Water Tribe) The two can also be seen goofing around on occasions (As seen in "City of Walls and Secrets"). Even though Sokka and Aang have their differences, they have since reached better terms with one another, and they can talk to each other easily.
[edit] Toph
Because of Toph's young age and blindness, Sokka was skeptical of her Earthbending prowess at first. Upon witnessing her skills, however, he is astonished to the point of fainting. Like Katara and Aang, Sokka gladly welcomes Toph when she joins their group. During "The Chase," when everyone was ready to fight the approaching tank, Toph discounted Sokka because he couldn't bend elements, much to his annoyance. A recurring joke seems to involve Sokka occasionally forgetting that Toph is blind (for example, Toph commenting that she likes Sokka's drawing, and his apparent joy before realizing she couldn't actually see it).
However, in "The Serpent's Pass," Toph saves Sokka's life and after he makes sure Suki is okay, Toph seems a little jealous. And later on the episode, while the "love theme" leitmotif plays in the background, Toph thanks Suki (thinking she was Sokka) because she saved her from drowning, then gives her a kiss on the cheek. Sokka was far away from hearing this, however.
[edit] Suki
Sokka once nursed a sexist streak (the Water Tribes seem to be fairly traditional with gender roles), but his associations with two particular young women have drastically changed his views. His presumption that women were incompetent fighters was tested when he met Suki, a young female warrior on Kyoshi Island. Humbled by her skill, he turned to her for instruction. The two bonded over sparring matches, and, before parting, shared what was presumably Sokka's first kiss.
Some time later, he and his sister Katara go back to Kyoshi Island to help Aang out of a predicament. Sokka then asks where Suki is and discovers that she and the other female warriors of Kyoshi had gone off to fight in the war, inspired by their actions during their earlier visit to the village.
The two are reunited when Sokka and the others are on their way to Ba Sing Se in "The Serpent's Pass," where she and her warriors operate as sentries for the Ba Sing Se ferry. He was extremely overprotective of Suki during the beginning of the trip. During the night on the Serpent's Pass, Sokka and Suki talk and he explains to her how hard it is to lose someone you care for and that he doesn't want to lose anyone else, meanwhile the moon is behind them. She expresses how important Sokka is to her and the two almost kiss but Sokka draws back reluctantly. However, while she apologizes about the night before, he does kiss her twice before she finally leaves.
[edit] Jet
Unlike Katara and Aang, Sokka did not trust Jet when they first met. He initially saw Jet as a rival and a threat, as Jet had stolen his thunder in a fight against a group of Fire Nation soldiers. He stood with his instinctive views even when his two companions opposed it. Although not friendly to each other, the two were very similar in nature, and both had loved ones killed by the Fire Nation. However, Jet took more extreme measures in his revenge, planning to wipe out an entire Earth Kingdom village in atttmept to get rid of the Fire Nation soldiers stationed there, without remorse for the innocents living there. Sokka is the first to learn this, and despite Jet and his group capturing him, he manages to escape and then evacuate all the people in the village. Jet calls him a traitor, but Sokka replies saying that Jet became the traitor when he stopped protecting innocent people.
Unlike his sister, in "Lake Laogai" he was willing to accept Jet's help to find Appa.
[edit] Princess Yue
Love found Sokka again when he became smitten with Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka's attempts to court Yue were first reciprocated; however, Yue eventually said she could not see him anymore, because she was already engaged to a young man named Hahn, though in reality it was a political union and she did not love him. She explained that she liked Sokka, but could not abandon her people and their customs. The relationship came to a tragic end when Yue sacrificed her mortal form to give the Waterbenders' patron Moon Spirit new life. Sokka's former love now exists as a reincarnation of Tui, the Moon Spirit.
While Yue promised to remain with him always in spirit and parted with one last kiss, her loss still deeply affects Sokka. In "The Swamp," he has a vision of her confronting him and asking why he was unable to protect her, something that her father Chief Arnook had asked him to do. Also, in "The Serpent's Pass", Sokka is seen sitting in seclusion while staring at the moon; presumably reminiscing about her. Sokka also seemed to have a problem kissing Suki in front of the moon, as it is Princess Yue.
[edit] Ty Lee
In "The Chase," at the end of battling, Ty Lee mentioned Sokka as "kinda cute." Later, in "The Drill," she mentioned the Avatar, and friends, meaning mainly, Sokka, giving him a flirtatious look. Sokka blushed and said "Hey" to her flirtatiously before Katara pulled him away.
[edit] Trivia
- Sokka could be deprived from Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist association that embraces the philosophy and teachings of Nichiren, a 13th-century Japanese Buddhist sage and scholar. Soka (創価) means 'value creation.' Sokka is also similiar to the Khmer name 'Sokha' meaning 'content or peaceful,' which would have suited the original lowkey version of Sokka.
- In The Tales of Ba Sing Se, Sokka's name was written as 索 卡 (Suǒ Kǎ) which means "inquire card". The second character, Kǎ, is the first character in Katara's name.
- Throughout the series, there is a running gag that Sokka is often covered in foul liquids such as Appa's snot, sewage, and slurry water.
- It is stated in the Avatar Nick Mag Presents: First Edition issue by the creators that Sokka was originally designed to be much more low-key, but when Jack DeSena came in and brought liveliness to his character, they began writing towards that strength.
- Sokka has created false firebending and earthbending via special effects and creative use of other Bending styles.
- Aang, Iroh, Sokka, and the other folks in "Avatar Roku" are the only known characters to have entered the spirit world and returned.
- It appears that Sokka is easily infatuated with young girls his age, whether allies or enemies.
- Sokka has so far shown interest in three girls; each from a different nation:
- Princess Yue - Water Tribe
- Suki - Earth Kingdom
- Ty Lee - Fire Nation
- In addition to his engineering skill, Sokka has shown a remarkable talent for poetry. In The Tales of Ba Sing Se, he stumbles into a poetry reading and goes toe-to-toe with the intructor in a haiku contest, and holds his own. However, his hubris gets the best of him and he gets thrown out for accidentally adding an extra syllable to the end of a poem.
- Sokka draws with his left hand, but writes with his right (As revealed in the episodes "The Library" and "Lake Laogai" ). He is possibly ambidexterous.
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| Information | |||
| Episodes · Media information · Guest voices · Trading cards · Video game Water Tribe · Earth Kingdom · Fire Nation · Air Nomads · Spirit World |
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| Characters | |||
| Aang · Katara · Sokka · Appa · Toph · Zuko · Iroh · Azula Major secondary characters · Minor secondary characters · Creatures Waterbender · Earthbender · Firebender · Airbender |
