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My opinion is a long story, so please excuse my rant in this post::

I have been a major Katara fan ever since Avatar started. Contrary to what most of the commenters on the above-mentioned YouTube video claim, I never once thought of Katara as a wimpy, spineless damsel in distress. Indeed, episodes like Imprisoned, The Waterbending Master, and The Painted Lady are some of my favorite episodes because they clearly showed the strong-willed, kindhearted side that I especially appreciated about her character. Her little rant toward Zuko in the season 2 finale seemed out of place, but that was excusable being that she hadn't really come to know Zuko before then.

Then came The Western Air Temple. Nobody really trusted Zuko at first, and that was understandable given his past hunting Aang, but the ending was my first real disappointment with Katara. Essentially, Zuko nearly dies while trying to save the gang from Combustion Man, at which point everyone realizes he's a friend and allows him to join them. But later Katara approaches him and threatens to kill him if he hurts Aang. That in itself was very disappointing, because even if for whatever reason Katara still didn't trust Zuko, you would think she would keep a close eye on him and react if he turned on her again. But to confront him prior to any such incident, and especially to threaten his life, was a cheap shot at best coming from her. And her verbal abuse of Zuko when he briefly lost his firebending certainly didn't help her case either.

But my ultimate wake up call was The Southern Raiders. Her outright ingratitude when Zuko saved her in the opening scene was bad enough, but then we see Zuko (yet again) nearly falling to his death while trying to save the gang from Azula, for which everyone in the gang is visibly grateful afterward... except Katara, who essentially has it out for the guy who killed her mother.

Now, all the treatment Zuko had to suffer in his time with the group was bad enough, but in Southern Raiders he wasn't the only one Katara abused. Most noteworthy was the time when Katara wanted to take Appa so as to hunt down her mother's killer; Aang refused to let her take Appa, which she seemed to accept at first... only for her to stab poor Aang in the back by taking Appa later in the night. She knew she was betraying Aang's trust in doing so, and she knew it would hurt his feelings. But did she care even one bit about Aang? Judging from her cold response when Aang caught her, apparently not. This is also why I stopped shipping Kataang; Aang deserved better.

Then there was the Southern Raiders guy. No, not Yon Rha, the other one. The one Zuko and Katara first tracked down on Whale Tail Island. The one Katara used bloodbending on -that's right, BLOODBENDING- even though she clearly voiced her opinion in The Puppetmaster that bloodbending was a terrible power that she never wanted to have. And yet here, she showed 100% hypocrisy by bloodbending without hesitation and without remorse. While this is VAGUELY understandable due to her angry mood at the time, as soon as she saw that he wasn't the killer, she simply dropped him and left without even a twinge of remorse. Now, call me crazy, but if you had just physically tortured a man for a crime he didn't commit, wouldn't you at the very least feel some twinge of regret? Because Katara certainly didn't. At best, she was only disappointed that she wasted her time, but it was clear that she didn't care about having just terrorized an innocent man. Shame on her.

And last but definitely not least, the ending of Southern Raiders should have been where Katara is free of her vengeful mode and becomes nice again. But in the end she really did no such thing. Granted, she spared Yon Rha's life, but it was clear that she only did so for her own ego (so as not to say she killed a pathetic coward) and she herself said that she didn't forgive him, but that she does "forgive" Zuko. So let me get this straight; she irrationally threatens to kill him, verbally abuses him while he's powerless, shows him the utmost ingratitude, humiliation, and overall cruelty, even after he saves her butt three times -two of these by risking his life- and after all that, she FORGIVES him? Please. If I showed one quarter of that disrespect to any person, I would be begging THEIR forgiveness. And what about Aang, isn't she going to "forgive" him too? After all, she still took Appa and hurt Aang's feelings, and made no attempt to apologize for it!

So although I doubt she could actually reach Azula's level, there is no denying that Katara's sweet nature was just a facade. I've always believed that one's true nature comes out when said person is severely depressed, angry, or otherwise not in a good mood. And if that's the case, Katara failed the test where it really counts.

First off, I don't believe she compares to Azula (the thread title refers to the name of the YouTube video, and does not reflect my personal opinion at all) nor do I believe anyone to be 100% inherently evil. What I meant is that humans are taught since birth to inhibit their natural, subconscious instincts to be more acceptable to the society they live in. (This is why when a baby cries, typically your first reaction is to stick a bottle and/or pacifier in the baby's mouth to make them quiet.) These inhibitions remain intact as long as the person is in a good mood, but once they become sufficiently upset, the inhibitions are completely abandoned, if only temporarily, so that only their subconscious personality, facets and all, remains visible. Zuko is another very good example of this; pre-banishment Zuko was a relatively happy child, but after his banishment he became increasingly bitter toward his situation, and eventually toward Azula and Ozai. During the subsequent inner turmoil that he goes through we see his inhibitions (namely, all he was taught growing up in the Fire Nation) eventually coming undone until his real personality finally came out in The Day of Black Sun. He was depressed and angry a number of times before then, that's true, but that didn't mean that he was inherently evil by any means, and his confrontation with Ozai in Black Sun proved that, as did his crushing guilt over betraying Iroh after the fact.

Katara followed relatively the same pattern; her initial personality was her inhibited attitude, hence why she was kind and merciful even to the point of naivete, because she was seldom profoundly affected on a personal level during the course of the show. Her mother's death marked the first time that she was that deeply hurt by anyone, and Zuko's betrayal of her trust in Ba Sing Se added a great deal to that pain. So when Zuko showed up intending to join the gang, she reached that final breaking point, and her inhibitions began to disappear from that point on, eventually culminating in her behavior in Southern Raiders. And the fact that she still harbored hatred for Yon Rha in the end proves that she really learned nothing from the experience; rather, those inhibitions kicked in once again, and she reverted to her happy/nice mode. But her subconscious personality proved no better than before, or else she would have somehow found the strength to truly forgive Yon Rha, however difficult it may be, instead of sparing his life simply for her own ego.

On another note, you asked if I would want justice if I were in that position. But when Katara used bloodbending on that man without first checking if it was the right one, it was more than clear that she didn't care about justice; it was all about revenge. I would want justice, no doubt about it, and I can even understand to an extent why Katara resorted to bloodbending, but no remorse after seeing that he wasn't the killer? I would feel horrified if I punished someone for a crime only to find out they were innocent! In fact, I certainly wouldn't waste my basic moral principles in the process, or take out my anger on my closest friends. Remember, Katara strongly disliked the notion of bloodbending, believing it was a corrupt power and never even wanting to have it, but six episodes later she had absolutely no problem using it to torture that man, then showed no remorse at all when said man turned out to be innocent, which shows a great deal of hypocrisy in her. And the Aang incident in the same episode proved that Katara only cared about herself the whole time, or else she would have at least felt bad to some degree that she was betraying Aang, but she didn't. Again, Aang deserved better than that, and she knew it, but Aang's feelings meant nothing to her at that point.

Again, don't get me wrong. I was and still am a big fan of Katara, but in Southern Raiders her subconscious personality was plain to see (akin to a Freudian slip, if you will) and the results were very disappointing.

(PS: I got your comment on this thread Hollow, and I'm glad you liked the debate idea.)

My humanities teacher said once that everyone can take ten moments in their life when they were the meanest, and make them look like a horrible person.

We all have some time in our lives when we can be just as mean as Azula. No one is always good or always bad.

Comparing Azula to Katara could just work the other way- Azula: The New Katara?
due to descent into craziness when we see her weaknesses. When her friends desert her, when we hear that she believed her mother never loved her, we see a side of Azula we'd never seen before.

Are you then suggesting that that is her true nature? The one that comes out in bitter anger and sadness? Even if it is her "true" nature, it's impractical to rely on that, seeing as you'd be burned to a crisp approaching Azula believing her to be kind-hearted.

You all raise many good points. I especially agree with you [Hollow Point].

Think of it this way. Zuko betrayed them all and she TRUSTED him in Ba Sing Se but when he came back to help them she had already been wounded by him. She felt betrayed and hurt and was taking it out on him to show him that without saying it directly. She was like a wounded animal: she could be friendly but when she got hurt she lashed out as a defense mechanism.

HOWEVER, I think she started to trust Zuko again so she found a new excuse to keep hating him: her mother. Notice when she threatened him she didn't mention her mother. She only did that after he had helped the others a lot. She was struggling not to lower her shield which led to her snapping from the inner turmoil.

When she hurt the guy with bloodbending she wasn't thinking clearly instead she was just venting. I know she did it in a bad way but can you honestly say you've never hurt someone who hadn't done anything when you were going through a hard time? If you can I sincerely doubt you. It is human nature because we are still animals. We have some of the same instincts as the wounded animal I mentioned before.

As for being mad at Aang I would be too if I was that mad. He was a bystander who didn't realize she needed to get it off her chest not suppress it. She wasn't calm enough to forgive. Once she got to the man and almost killed him she snapped out of it and came to her senses.

She didn't forgive him but realized killing him wasn't the answer. Once the rage was gone mostly she reverted to the way she felt before. As for forgiving Zuko she DID have something to forgive him for: Ba Sing Se. Sure she might we for being a jerk to him but that was just a defense mechanism and she actually took it easier on him than I would have.

As for the bloodbending hypocrisy: she was too full of blood lust to care. I don't doubt that later she might have felt regret.

No, I don't believe she is the "new Azula". I agree with Hollow Point - except for a few moments of weakness, Katara was the patient, trusting, caring, and naive member of the group. Even people who don't think they have a single nasty bone in their body can be overcome with an unpleasant emotion in times of duress. I felt that Katara's overwhelming need to vindicate her mother was kind of out of the blue, temperament-wise. Yes, it was clear throughout the series that she adored her mom and misses her greatly, but I still thought the violent mood she was suddenly possessed with veered off the Katara path. I'm sure it was meant to lend more depth to her, but it just felt wrong to me. *shrug*

i think her sweet personality isn't a facade. people can be really nice but if you push their buttons hard enough they'll push back. i think given the circumstance that happened between her and zuko she had her right to be angry. no offense against zuko, hes my fav character. plus i think katara was more of a mother figure to aang rather than a possible girlfriend so like in one of the other episodes they used the example where if you try to hurt a mothers baby they will hurt you back. (i think it was a zuko flashback with ducks)