Avatar: When Does Aang Learn Waterbending?

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series is finally here, and we on Fiction Horizon are going to be covering the series, explaining all the changes from the original animated series, as well as some crucial story elements that you might be wondering about. This article will be dedicated to Aang, the series’ protagonist, as we are going to explain a part of his story. Namely, Aang – as the Avatar – mastered all four elements, and in this article, we are going to tell you how and when he mastered Waterbending in the series, which was an important moment in his story.

Waterbending is one of the four main techniques in Avatar

Waterbending is the elemental technique of the Water Tribe, who learned this technique from the Moon, which controlled the tide, pulling and pushing, corresponding to the rise and fall of the tides. The strength of Waterbending is its defensive abilities. Unlike other types of elemental bending, Waterbending defensive techniques focus on using the opponent’s strength against themselves, rather than using Waterbending to injure them directly.

Waterbending provides a versatility of experience, as it can be created from small whips of water to large tsunamis. Waterbending seems to have a certain type of thermokinesis, as Waterbenders have the ability to freeze, thaw, condense, and evaporate water, according to the form they wish. They can change the aggregation state of the water, and they can create different weapons in the three different states. Another form of Waterbending that manipulates water in the gaseous state, controlling steam. This technique is not offensive but is mainly used to hide in fog or clouds and not be detected or flee suddenly in battles.

Waterbenders can manipulate plants by controlling the water inside them. This technique allows the control of plants through the water that exists inside them. Waterbenders, in particular, have the ability to heal wounds by redirecting the passages of energy through the body, and the water is utilized as a catalyst. Physically, this restores the properties of bodies that are basically composed of this element, as well as human beings. Although healing is powerful, waterbending cannot cure all types of ailments, such as complications associated with birth.

Since mud is a combination of water and earth, it can be controlled by Earth and Water Masters. Bloodbending allows control over a living being as if it were a puppet (manipulating blood and body fluids). Bloodbending is considered the darkest, most dangerous, and most feared of all the bending arts.

Aang learned Waterbending from Katara while they left the North Pole

The story of how Aang learned Waterbending is related to Katara and his stay with the Water Tribe. Namely, Katara was his friend, and she was, unlike her brother Sokka, able to use Waterbending. Since she was friends with Aang, who had to learn Waterbending, she was a very suitable teacher for him at that point in time, which is why she really did become his teacher. All of this happened after they left the North Pole, which is when Aang’s “journey” started.

Initially, Aang showed a natural proficiency in Waterbending, being able to create a huge wave on his first try. He was also more skilled than Katara in the beginning, but after her training with Master Pakku, Katara was able to surpass him. Her focus, which was far better than Aang’s, also helped her significantly to surpass her future pupil.

Aang was, thus, taught how to Waterbend by Katara, and she did an impressive job with him. He did not carry a water skin with him, as he preferred to use larger, natural sources of water, such as lakes, rivers, or the ocean, to use Waterbending. His skills were impressive, as he was able to extinguish large fires as well as create tidal waves with this technique.

On the other hand, despite this proficiency, Aang never used Waterbending that much; in fact, it was one of his least used elements while in battle. During battles, Aang preferred to use Air- or Earthbending, which were more suited for combat from his perspective.

And this is the whole story of how and when Aang learned to use Waterbending. This was an important moment in his evolution as the Avatar, which is why we have decided to explain everything to you in this article.

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