Sokka
Encyclopedia
Sokka is a fictional character
in Nickelodeon
's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender
. The character, created by Michael Dante DiMartino
and Bryan Konietzko
, is voiced by Jack DeSena
. In the live-action film The Last Airbender
, he is portrayed by Jackson Rathbone
.
In the show, fifteen-year-old Sokka is a warrior
of the South Pole's Southern Water Tribe, a race of people who can control and manipulate water. Although not born with the gift of Bending
, he continually strives to become a worthy warrior and leader. He, along with his younger sister Katara, discover an Airbender named Aang
, the long-lost Avatar, and accompanies him on his quest to defeat the imperialistic Fire Nation and bring peace to the war-torn nations.
and Bryan Konietzko
, stated that Sokka was originally designed to be much more low-key, but when his comedian voice actor Jack DeSena
came in and brought liveliness to his character, they began writing towards that strength. Much of Sokka's dialogue and actions are derived from improvisations and intentional exaggerations on DeSena's part that the writers chose to include within scripts. Furthermore, DeSena has stated that he is inspired by fellow comedian Jim Carrey
, which would explain a majority of Sokka's mannerisms expressed throughout the show.
As a result of his design, Sokka's character has come to serve as a source of comic relief throughout the series, often a victim of visual slapstick
. Among various running gags involving Sokka are his affinity for being covered in viscous substances, such as raw sewage, slurry
, and Appa's phlegm or saliva, and forgetting that Toph is blind. Sokka also has a tendency to produce or at times laugh at jokes that nobody else gets, a trait he shares with his father.
In "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Sokka's name was written as 索卡. Sǔo (索) means to search, demand, ask, exact, or isolated; Kǎ (卡) means means to check, block, or card. The character for Kǎ also appears in Katara's name.
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. As the oldest male left in the South Pole, Sokka came to assume a semi-leadership role by the time he was fifteen, fiercely protecting the village from any possible outside threats while trying to train children to be a new generation of defenders.
While on a spearfishing expedition, Katara and Sokka discovered Aang
in suspended animation
inside an iceberg. After Katara freed him, Sokka initially believed that the Airbender might be a Fire Navy spy, and he eventually 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 skills by way of fighting a few Firebenders along the way.
In "Sokka's Master," Sokka expresses self-doubt and worry that he is not contributing as much to the group as his bender companions are. Inspired by his friends' encouragement, he seeks out a master from whom he could learn the art of the sword. Rather than fighting with brute force and flawless technique, Sokka's creativity and thinking-outside-the-box approach to things are the cornerstones of his technique, and his master notes that in time Sokka will be a superior swordsman. As he departs, Piandao has his butler Fat give Sokka a White Lotus tile, a piece used in Pai Sho, simply saying that its something to remember him by.
In the two-hour series finale, Sokka and Katara meet with Katara's Waterbending master, Pakku, whom has revealed he has reconciled with their grandmother and are now married, though he rejects Sokka's grandparent nicknames, Gramp Gramp and Grandpa-ku. In the battle against Ozai, Sokka, Suki, and Toph hijack a fire nation airship and use it to run into many of the other airships (similar to dominoes) while Aang duels with the Phoenix King (Ozai). Sokka and Toph are separated from Suki and attack another airship, but Sokka breaks his leg and strains his arm grabbing hold of Toph, who was falling off the ship. In a compromised position, the pair are attacked by two soldiers, but Sokka defeats them at the cost of his black "space sword" and boomerang using his remaining good arm and leg. As he and Toph are on the edge of the crashing ship, Suki arrives with another airship and saves the two. With the battle over, the trio reunite with Aang and the weakened Phoenix King, cleverly poking fun at his defeat. At Zuko's coronation back at the Fire Nation, Suki is reunited with the Kyoshi Warriors, Sokka and Katara are reunited with their father, and the rest of the group reunited with their friends. In the end, Sokka is seen at Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se where everyone teases a painted picture he created of the entire team—where he altered some factual details to make the scene more "memorable."
As of Comic Con 2011, no information has been shared as to what happened to Sokka following the great war.
's pursuit of the bending arts. Not gifted with bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior and the scientist, and he takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. He is also very intelligent and good at coming up with ideas and plans on the spot—even if the ideas are not always very good.
Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to exact 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, such as when he oversteps himself during an haiku
contest. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acts very silly if not outright foolishly. His sarcastic and absurd behavior can sometimes carry over into important decisions. It is also revealed in Sokka's Master that he is easily comforted through retail therapy.
A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group. Sokka also has an affinity for sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts vows to give up both meat and sarcasm in exchange for assistance, agreeing to consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy," but willing to be "Sokka the veggies and straight-talk fellow." By the end of the episode, however, he has given up neither meat nor sarcasm.
Under the guidance of swordsmaster Piandao, Sokka displays various unorthodox procedures when undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper, rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smears ink all over his face and presses it onto the paper. As he presents Sokka with his blade, Piandao relates that though his skills were hardly impressive, he displayed much creativity, versatility, and intelligence. All were traits that go beyond mere skills and defined a great swordsman.
After the failure of the Invasion, Sokka proves to have a sense of honor. He felt strongly disappointed since it was his idea, and therefore probably his fault for the invasion forces being captured. Sokka was willing to restore his honor by risking his life in order to rescue his father from a highly secure Fire Nation prison, The Boiling Rock.
Sokka writes with his right hand, but draws with his left hand. He is possibly ambidextrous, as he's often seen wielding his club, sword, and boomerang with both hands, although his left-handed art is crude and rudimentary, this could just be due to a limited drawing ability.
, the Mechanist, Sokka has managed to engineer a system of control for an experimental hot air balloon
as well as conceptualize the design for waterbending-powered submarines. Sokka also demonstrated advanced math skills and a talent for geometry
towards the end of the series. Alongside his trademark boomerang
, Sokka is proficient in a variety of weapons, including clubs, a machete
, spears, and the newest addition, an all-black jian
(sword) moulded from a meteorite that is capable of cutting through solid metal, that he fondly refers to as his "space
sword
". Sokka's ultimate achievement is leading Suki and Toph in destroying the entire Fire Nation Air Force.
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 head-to-head with the instructor 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 haiku.
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 skill in martial arts
noticeably improves as the series progresses, though earlier in the series it was usually his persistence rather than skill that often allowed him to fight against more extensively trained opponents, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee, in "The Chase".
Sokka has come to learn the art of swordsmanship in order to improve his contribution to the team. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka undergoes various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his sword wielding skills, as well as arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen to his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he uses fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the material needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, is patterned on a Chinese jian
, but unique in that due to the properties of the alien material used for its creation, the blade retains an unusual all-black appearance. The sword is also able to slice through the toughest materials, including regular metal (as seen when Sokka slices completely through a Fire Nation cannon during the Day of Black Sun). Although Sokka proves unable to defeat his master in heated battle and must leave to continue his training on his own, Piandao states the belief that Sokka retains traits which one day could very well come to make him an even greater swordsman than himself. This is proven as the series progresses; during the invasion Sokka used his sword skills to defeat multiple Fire Nation soldiers and in The Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko teamed up to fight Azula, a highly skilled Firebender, to a stalemate with Zuko defending against her fire blasts and Sokka keeping her back with his sword. In the series finale, his fighting abilities culminate in a scene in which Sokka uses a combination of speed, agility, and deft motion to disable two Fire Nation soldiers, even though he was wounded and dangling from a falling Fire Nation airship.
Sokka was also given a white lotus Pai Sho piece by his master, an important symbol to the secret White Lotus Society. Members of the society are known for appreciating philosophy, being masters of bending and warrior disciplines, and for disregarding traditional rivalries and hatreds held between the nations.
Beginning in the third season, Sokka also on occasion assumes the persona of Wang Fire, a Fire Nation citizen in good standing. First done to pass as Aang's father (with Katara as his wife, Sapphire Fire), he subsequently dons an oversized beard for comic relief as in "Nightmares and Daydreams" and pulling scams in "The Runaway".
video games for the show, which are Avatar: The Last Airbender video game
and Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
. and Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno. Like Aang, Sokka also appears on some Avatar T-shirts sold by Nick, as well as in Tokyopop
's films comic
(sometimes referred to as cine-manga).
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
. The character, created by Michael Dante DiMartino
Michael Dante DiMartino
Michael Dante DiMartino is an American animation director, best known as the co-creator, executive producer and story editor of the hit TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon...
and Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko is the co-creator and executive producer of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has also worked as a character designer at Film Roman for Family Guy and as Assistant Director for Mission Hill and King of the Hill. He was a Storyboard Artist and Art Director for the...
, is voiced by Jack DeSena
Jack DeSena
Jack DeSena is an American screen and voice actor. He is best known for his work on the sketch comedy series All That, having joined the show's cast at the start of its 7th season in 2001 Jack DeSena (born John Patrick DeSena; December 6, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American screen and...
. In the live-action film The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
, he is portrayed by Jackson Rathbone
Jackson Rathbone
Monroe Jackson Rathbone, V , better known as Jackson Rathbone, is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga and for playing Sokka in The Last Airbender....
.
In the show, fifteen-year-old Sokka is a warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
of the South Pole's Southern Water Tribe, a race of people who can control and manipulate water. Although not born with the gift of Bending
Bending
In engineering mechanics, bending characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element. The structural element is assumed to be such that at least one of its dimensions is a small fraction, typically...
, he continually strives to become a worthy warrior and leader. He, along with his younger sister Katara, discover an Airbender named Aang
Aang
Aang is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The character is created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and is voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen. Aang is depicted as the show's main protagonist, and as such has appeared in all but one...
, the long-lost Avatar, and accompanies him on his quest to defeat the imperialistic Fire Nation and bring peace to the war-torn nations.
Concept and creation
In the Avatar Nick Mag Presents: First Edition issue by co-creators Michael Dante DiMartinoMichael Dante DiMartino
Michael Dante DiMartino is an American animation director, best known as the co-creator, executive producer and story editor of the hit TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon...
and Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko is the co-creator and executive producer of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has also worked as a character designer at Film Roman for Family Guy and as Assistant Director for Mission Hill and King of the Hill. He was a Storyboard Artist and Art Director for the...
, stated that Sokka was originally designed to be much more low-key, but when his comedian voice actor Jack DeSena
Jack DeSena
Jack DeSena is an American screen and voice actor. He is best known for his work on the sketch comedy series All That, having joined the show's cast at the start of its 7th season in 2001 Jack DeSena (born John Patrick DeSena; December 6, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American screen and...
came in and brought liveliness to his character, they began writing towards that strength. Much of Sokka's dialogue and actions are derived from improvisations and intentional exaggerations on DeSena's part that the writers chose to include within scripts. Furthermore, DeSena has stated that he is inspired by fellow comedian Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
, which would explain a majority of Sokka's mannerisms expressed throughout the show.
As a result of his design, Sokka's character has come to serve as a source of comic relief throughout the series, often a victim of visual slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
. Among various running gags involving Sokka are his affinity for being covered in viscous substances, such as raw sewage, slurry
Slurry
A slurry is, in general, a thick suspension of solids in a liquid.-Examples of slurries:Examples of slurries include:* Lahars* A mixture of water and cement to form concrete* A mixture of water, gelling agent, and oxidizers used as an explosive...
, and Appa's phlegm or saliva, and forgetting that Toph is blind. Sokka also has a tendency to produce or at times laugh at jokes that nobody else gets, a trait he shares with his father.
In "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Sokka's name was written as 索卡. Sǔo (索) means to search, demand, ask, exact, or isolated; Kǎ (卡) means means to check, block, or card. The character for Kǎ also appears in Katara's name.
Plot overview
Sokka grew up in his villageVillage
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
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. As the oldest male left in the South Pole, Sokka came to assume a semi-leadership role by the time he was fifteen, fiercely protecting the village from any possible outside threats while trying to train children to be a new generation of defenders.
While on a spearfishing expedition, Katara and Sokka discovered Aang
Aang
Aang is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The character is created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and is voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen. Aang is depicted as the show's main protagonist, and as such has appeared in all but one...
in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
inside an iceberg. After Katara freed him, Sokka initially believed that the Airbender might be a Fire Navy spy, and he eventually 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 skills by way of fighting a few Firebenders along the way.
In "Sokka's Master," Sokka expresses self-doubt and worry that he is not contributing as much to the group as his bender companions are. Inspired by his friends' encouragement, he seeks out a master from whom he could learn the art of the sword. Rather than fighting with brute force and flawless technique, Sokka's creativity and thinking-outside-the-box approach to things are the cornerstones of his technique, and his master notes that in time Sokka will be a superior swordsman. As he departs, Piandao has his butler Fat give Sokka a White Lotus tile, a piece used in Pai Sho, simply saying that its something to remember him by.
In the two-hour series finale, Sokka and Katara meet with Katara's Waterbending master, Pakku, whom has revealed he has reconciled with their grandmother and are now married, though he rejects Sokka's grandparent nicknames, Gramp Gramp and Grandpa-ku. In the battle against Ozai, Sokka, Suki, and Toph hijack a fire nation airship and use it to run into many of the other airships (similar to dominoes) while Aang duels with the Phoenix King (Ozai). Sokka and Toph are separated from Suki and attack another airship, but Sokka breaks his leg and strains his arm grabbing hold of Toph, who was falling off the ship. In a compromised position, the pair are attacked by two soldiers, but Sokka defeats them at the cost of his black "space sword" and boomerang using his remaining good arm and leg. As he and Toph are on the edge of the crashing ship, Suki arrives with another airship and saves the two. With the battle over, the trio reunite with Aang and the weakened Phoenix King, cleverly poking fun at his defeat. At Zuko's coronation back at the Fire Nation, Suki is reunited with the Kyoshi Warriors, Sokka and Katara are reunited with their father, and the rest of the group reunited with their friends. In the end, Sokka is seen at Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se where everyone teases a painted picture he created of the entire team—where he altered some factual details to make the scene more "memorable."
As of Comic Con 2011, no information has been shared as to what happened to Sokka following the great war.
Personality
Skeptical, abrasive, and sharp-witted, Sokka is detached from Aang, Katara, and TophToph
Toph Bei Fong is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The character was voiced by Jessie Flower.Toph Bei Fong is a blind Earthbending master...
's pursuit of the bending arts. Not gifted with bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior and the scientist, and he takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. He is also very intelligent and good at coming up with ideas and plans on the spot—even if the ideas are not always very good.
Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to exact vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He holds little interest in the mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
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, such as when he oversteps himself during an haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
contest. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acts very silly if not outright foolishly. His sarcastic and absurd behavior can sometimes carry over into important decisions. It is also revealed in Sokka's Master that he is easily comforted through retail therapy.
A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group. Sokka also has an affinity for sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts vows to give up both meat and sarcasm in exchange for assistance, agreeing to consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy," but willing to be "Sokka the veggies and straight-talk fellow." By the end of the episode, however, he has given up neither meat nor sarcasm.
Under the guidance of swordsmaster Piandao, Sokka displays various unorthodox procedures when undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper, rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smears ink all over his face and presses it onto the paper. As he presents Sokka with his blade, Piandao relates that though his skills were hardly impressive, he displayed much creativity, versatility, and intelligence. All were traits that go beyond mere skills and defined a great swordsman.
After the failure of the Invasion, Sokka proves to have a sense of honor. He felt strongly disappointed since it was his idea, and therefore probably his fault for the invasion forces being captured. Sokka was willing to restore his honor by risking his life in order to rescue his father from a highly secure Fire Nation prison, The Boiling Rock.
Sokka writes with his right hand, but draws with his left hand. He is possibly ambidextrous, as he's often seen wielding his club, sword, and boomerang with both hands, although his left-handed art is crude and rudimentary, this could just be due to a limited drawing ability.
Innovations and abilities
For an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka shows a remarkable proclivity towards science and is something of a jack-of-all-trades. He seems naturally adept at creating weapons out of practically anything at any time. 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 the ability to Earthbend. Working side by side with fellow technologistTechnologist
An engineering technologist, is a specialist devoted to the implementation of existing technology within a field of engineering. Technologists often work with engineers in a wide variety of projects by applying basic engineering principles and technical skills...
, the Mechanist, Sokka has managed to engineer a system of control for an experimental hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
as well as conceptualize the design for waterbending-powered submarines. Sokka also demonstrated advanced math skills and a talent for geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
towards the end of the series. Alongside his trademark boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
, Sokka is proficient in a variety of weapons, including clubs, a machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
, spears, and the newest addition, an all-black jian
Jian
The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the jian date to the 7th century BCE during the Spring and Autumn Period; one of the earliest specimens being the Sword of Goujian.Historical one-handed versions have blades...
(sword) moulded from a meteorite that is capable of cutting through solid metal, that he fondly refers to as his "space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
". Sokka's ultimate achievement is leading Suki and Toph in destroying the entire Fire Nation Air Force.
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 head-to-head with the instructor in a haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
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 haiku.
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 skill in martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
noticeably improves as the series progresses, though earlier in the series it was usually his persistence rather than skill that often allowed him to fight against more extensively trained opponents, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee, in "The Chase".
Sokka has come to learn the art of swordsmanship in order to improve his contribution to the team. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka undergoes various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his sword wielding skills, as well as arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen to his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he uses fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the material needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, is patterned on a Chinese jian
Jian
The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the jian date to the 7th century BCE during the Spring and Autumn Period; one of the earliest specimens being the Sword of Goujian.Historical one-handed versions have blades...
, but unique in that due to the properties of the alien material used for its creation, the blade retains an unusual all-black appearance. The sword is also able to slice through the toughest materials, including regular metal (as seen when Sokka slices completely through a Fire Nation cannon during the Day of Black Sun). Although Sokka proves unable to defeat his master in heated battle and must leave to continue his training on his own, Piandao states the belief that Sokka retains traits which one day could very well come to make him an even greater swordsman than himself. This is proven as the series progresses; during the invasion Sokka used his sword skills to defeat multiple Fire Nation soldiers and in The Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko teamed up to fight Azula, a highly skilled Firebender, to a stalemate with Zuko defending against her fire blasts and Sokka keeping her back with his sword. In the series finale, his fighting abilities culminate in a scene in which Sokka uses a combination of speed, agility, and deft motion to disable two Fire Nation soldiers, even though he was wounded and dangling from a falling Fire Nation airship.
Sokka was also given a white lotus Pai Sho piece by his master, an important symbol to the secret White Lotus Society. Members of the society are known for appreciating philosophy, being masters of bending and warrior disciplines, and for disregarding traditional rivalries and hatreds held between the nations.
Beginning in the third season, Sokka also on occasion assumes the persona of Wang Fire, a Fire Nation citizen in good standing. First done to pass as Aang's father (with Katara as his wife, Sapphire Fire), he subsequently dons an oversized beard for comic relief as in "Nightmares and Daydreams" and pulling scams in "The Runaway".
Appearances in other media
Sokka's character has appeared in three THQTHQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
video games for the show, which are Avatar: The Last Airbender video game
Avatar: The Last Airbender (video game)
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a video game based on the animated television series of the same name for Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox...
and Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth is a video game for Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and based on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was one of the last games released for the Game Boy Advance in North America...
. and Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno. Like Aang, Sokka also appears on some Avatar T-shirts sold by Nick, as well as in Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
's films comic
Films comic
A , or , also referred to as ani-manga, are Japanese manga volumes which use images from an anime series, film, or video release instead of the standard drawn panels. They generally contain the full dialog from the anime from which they are adapted...
(sometimes referred to as cine-manga).