Sokka

Canon Information
Background: Sokka is from the Southern Water Tribe-- his family consists of his younger sister, Katara, his father, chief Hakoda, and his grandmother. His mother, Kya, was captured during a Fire Nation raid when Sokka and Katara were very young (9 and 8 respectively) and killed soon after that. While Katara was more profoundly traumatized by this event, Sokka barely remembers his mother. The whole experience gave him his complete distrust in anything or anyone possibly related to the Fire Nation. However, Sokka's childhood "trauma" came when his father left to lead all the men of the Southern Water Tribe in the war effort against the Fire Nation. Sokka wanted to fight alongside them, but, at age 12, he was far too young. Hakoda told him that he needed to be where he could protect Katara and the rest of the tribe, something Sokka took to heart.

Fast forward three years, and Sokka is the fearless leader of the warriors remaining in his tribe. Unfortunately, those warriors are all no older than eight or nine and don't like to listen to his battle plans. It's around this time that Sokka and Katara find a boy trapped in an Ice Berg, and everything sort of snowballs from there.

With Aang and Katara, Sokka leaves the south pole for the first time to travel all over the globe in an attempt to help Aang learn how to bend the four elements. Sokka is nothing if not adaptable, it just takes him a little while to start the process of really... adapting. There are a few events in each season that really have profound effects on Sokka. After getting kissed for the first time (BY A GIRL, THANK YOU, KATARA, NOT GRAN-GRAN) and saving the day a handful of times (as well as being the damsel in distress at least twice) they make it to the north pole-- the first real destination-- so Aang and Katara can actually learn Waterbending. There, he falls in love for the first time, and generally stands around and does a lot of nothing until his girlfriend dies. And then he makes a lot of sad faces. IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, THOUGH, realistically, Yue stands as a very early marker of the real sacrifices that will have to be made to win the war against the Fire Nation. Not only does it break Sokka's heart-- he really did fall head-over-heels for her in the three days he knew her-- it stays with him for a long time.

After the Siege of the North, Sokka and company find an Earthbending girl named Toph, a LIBRARY!!!!11 and some secrets and what Sokka basically thinks will be the way to win the war against the Fire Nation-- the day of Black Sun, a solar eclipse, during which, all Firebenders would lose their power. They uncover a secret government plot in Ba Sing Se to hide the war from the king, they bust that. More bad stuff happens-- Aang gets zapped by the bad guys, everyone thinks he's dead for all of twenty seconds and then he's in a coma for a while, the cast goes into hiding, and then they start making plans for The Day of Black Sun.

Which, through a series of events, turns out to be a complete failure. The adults of the group are captured, and the kids escape to the Western Air Temple. Considering the whole plan was Sokka's idea, this leaves a pretty big self-confidence issue for him to deal with. The whole fiasco was his fault, in his mind, even though there were several other factors working against him. While at the Western Air Temple, long-time rival Zuko joins the "Gaang" and in spite of Sokka's long-running distrust of the Fire Nation, he's able to put some modicum of trust in the prince-- especially because Zuko knows the prison where Sokka's father, one of the captured allies, might be held.

So, Sokka and Zuko set off for the Boiling Rock to rescue Hakoda-- and instead, show up on Vertiline.

Strength: IN BULLET FORM!

• Smart as hell. Sokka is a REALLY smart guy, and if you give him time to agonize over a problem, he will generally come up with a solution.

•Good instincts. No, really. Don't doubt the boy's instincts. They are very often correct.

•Combat skills. He can fight! He really can, especially since he got his sword.

•Strategy. Even in a time of desperation, Sokka's going to generally be able to come up with some kind of plan on the fly. Add this to the above, and you have a very effective warrior.

•Improvisation. Both in the comedic sense and the strategic sense.

•Heart. Sokka really is a legitimately nice guy, though his snark can sometimes be a little grating.

•Loyalty. Eeeeeespecially to his friends and family. If he likes you, he's got your back.

•Quick to act. If the situation is dire, Sokka's often the first on his feet, ready to go.

•Adaptive. Like much of the water tribe, Sokka is remarkably adaptable.

•Leadership Skills. Sokka is the man with the plan and has the power to motivate. When he's working with his friends, or people his own age (or a little younger) he's a remarkable leader and has a great proclivity for it.

Weakness:

•Impulsive. Because of his quick response time, he can sometimes just act a bit quicker than he's thinking. Which gets him into trouble. (See side image.)

•Deep thinker. Sokka tends to dwell on stuff, long after he can do anything about it. Yue haunts him for most of the series (though it's at its worst in the beginning of Season 2) and he tends to beat himself up over stuff that was beyond his control.

•Bad Karma? It's speculated by Mike and Bryan, the creators of the series that Sokka probably just has bad karma. (See DVD commentary on The Waterbending Master.) Really, it's a justification for the scriptwriters to make him the butt of most of the jokes.

•Skepticism. Though it dies down by season three.

•Laziness. Just occasionally. Let him get his sleep, though, or he'll be angry.

•The Cusp of Leadership. In contrast to what I said above, Sokka is not quite there as far as his leadership skills go. He sucks at public speaking, and he tends to have a lot of self-doubt.

•Protective to a fault. He's gotten better about this, but he tends to forget that the people he knows (especially Suki in season 2 and Katara in season 1) can take care of themselves.

Personality: In season two, Sokka names himself the "meat and sarcasm guy," and bargains with whatever higher power he wants to think there is to abandon that in favor of getting him out of a sticky situation-- pledging to become the "veggies and straight-talk fellow."

Fortunately, he doesn't make good on that promise.

Sokka's personality is best described is with a quote from his one-episode sword master, Piandao:

"I saw something in you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a Lionturtle and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me-- no, it certainly wasn't your skills. You showed something beyond that. Creativity, versitility, intelligence. These are the traits that define a great swordsman. And these are the traits that define you." (Episode 44, Sokka's Master)

By season three, Sokka has done a lot of growing up. No longer is he the vaguely sexist, close-minded, xenophobic water tribe brat he was in episode one-- he's become a warrior, a strategist, and a highly valued ally. Sokka exemplifies the adaptability inherent in all members of the Water Tribe, far more so than his sister. Fantastic at improvisation in stressful situations and generally a funny guy, Sokka is well-liked and makes friends pretty easily.

However, for all his versitility and intelligence, Sokka has quite the imagination and is prone to flights of fancy. His sarcasm can get him in trouble sometimes (mostly with his sister when she wants a serious response out of him) and he fails at public speaking when it comes to adults. In fact, Sokka is fabulously competent when compared to the adults in his canon, he just doesn't have the opportunity to prove it to their faces.

Sokka is passionate as well, and he's passionate about a few things: His friends and the people he loves, saving the world and kicking Fire Nation butt and proving himself to those around him. Did I mention how he happened to screw up the entire invasion on the Day of Black Sun? It was because Azula, the bad guy, happened to mention Sokka's girlfriend. He derailed the entire operation in an attempt to grill Suki's location out of Azula-- the boy makes impulsive, stupid decisions in the name of the ones he loves. No one can really begrudge him that. He's dedicated enough to helping Aang save the world that, in a remarkable display of OCD, he created an overly detailed schedule to keep them on track to the invasion. Sokka plans and plans and plans down to minute details-- what he fails to realize that his plans only ever seem to work when he comes up with them on the fly. Finally, he wants nothing more than to prove himself. At fifteen, he has bouts of insecurity, especially being the one normal guy in a group of super-powered teenagers. His big want, other than saving the world, his girlfriend, his dad, etc, is that he just wants to be acknowledged-- he wants to be this warrior wolf archetype that his tribe and his culture have set up for him and he wants nothing more than to just be that guy. He wants to make his dad proud. On this topic, Jack DeSena, Sokka's voice actor, points out that “He’s really striving to be a leader. He’s constantly on the cusp of leadership.” And by season three, Sokka is so close to being that fully-fledged leader that it's almost palpable.

Abilities/Powers: Sokka has always been billed as the "badass normal." He has no magical hoo-doo skills like everyone else he knows, and yet manages to hold his ground equally with all of his friends. As far as physical skills go, Sokka can use a boomerang and a sword and can tinker with a mess of other weapons. His father taught him how to build depth charges. Sokka knows a whole bunch about a lot of practical stuff, he can draft weapon designs and design everything from submarines to air balloons. He SUCKS at art but has good enough ideas to make up for a lack of technical skill. Though he can fight and definitely hold his own, Sokka's gift is for strategy and plans. He's got fantastic instincts and tends to be right when he listens to them.

Often portrayed as clumsy for the sake of comedy, Sokka is quick on his feet and while he might slip and fall and tumble around, he's always going to scramble back to his feet and try to press on. He has a decent set of hunting skills, and is pretty good at general survival, having lived in the arctic his entire life.

Extra: Herp derp.

Vertiline
Deaths: None so far!

Punishments: None so far!

Relationships
Canon:

Zuko: Sokka and Zuko have the makings of a bromance, really, they do. The problem is that Zuko kiiiiind of spent the entire first season and most of the second season chasing the Gaang around and making generally angry faces at them. Now that he's a part of the group, Sokka's adapting to Zuko's new role, though they didn't really get a real chance to bond before they left.

Vertiline:

Eir: The first person Sokka met at Vertiline. He can't help but be reminded of Yue when he talks to her, and that dictates a lot of his actions around her right now. She seems nice enough, and his instincts are telling him she's being honest...

Ventus: Needs a comb. Seems nice enough. Apparently "doesn't get out much." Sokka doesn't have a complete opinion yet.

Other Stuff, Links
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