Summary
With the Netflix adaptation ofAvatar: The Last Airbendershowcasing the sheer fluidity of Waterbending, Katara’s short stay with the Northern Water Tribe has demonstrated more uses for water than she had realized. On top of generating water whips and even icicles to attack opponents, her fellow Waterbenders demonstrated the innate healing properties of water. When mastered by a Waterbender, this unlocks theHealingSpecialization, allowing them to heal various injuries by tapping into the very pathways where life flows.
While Katara blossoms into both a skillful healer and combatant as a Waterbender throughout the series, more Waterbenders exist who specialize precisely in Healing. For fans and newcomers to the series, just who are some of the most talented users of Healing inAvatar: The Last Airbender?
Feat with the Specialization
The best Healer of her generation, a talented teacher
During the latter years of the Hundred Year War that Fire Lord Sozin’s family waged against the world,Yagodawas considered the best healer in the Northern Water Tribe. Such was her skill that she was entrusted with the care of a sickly Princess Yue, but the infant’s worsening condition proved too great for Yagoda’s abilities.
While she failed inhelping Princess Yue, Yagoda was still recognized as a talented healer and she was entrusted with the guidance of teaching beginner Waterbenders the craft. She was the teacher who formally introduced Katara to the basics of Healing, allowing her to naturally unlock the talent and use its principles to help Aang and Team Avatar in their journey.
One of the earliest Spiritbenders
Back in Avatar Roku’s time, the powerful WaterbenderMakittuqwas not only the first transgender character in theAvatarseries but also one of the earliest known practitioners of Spiritbending. She demonstrates this early on in the core rulebook ofAvatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, where her affinity with the Spirit World inspired Makittuq to use her Healing prowess to aid spirits in need.
As the core rulebook explains, Makittuq took her Spiritbending talents as her calling to help spirits achieve balance and move on the cycle of life. She spent her life on the outskirts of the Northern Water Tribe, residing near the edge of a spirit forest so she could stop dark spirit assaults.
”The Dawn of Yangchen”(Book)
Can heal extremely gruesome injuries
During the turbulent times ofAvatar Yangchenwhen loyalties were bought, she had to resort to deceit to restore balance to the four elements. However, while her cunning made her infamous in the eyes of the Four Nations, her image and specialization as a healer became one of the few things that her peers liked about her.
Chronologically speaking,Avatar Yangchen may also be the world’s first user of Healing via Waterbending. Through Healing, Yangchen has demonstrated both simple and complex forms of restoration. Delicate manipulation of water allowed her to help prevent frostbite in others, while also healing with her two hands. As her wartorn era saw wanton violence, Yangchen was said to have healed even the most gruesome of injuries.
Knew the complexities of Healing through Katara during her studies
With Katara serving as her Waterbending master,Avatar Korraalso became well-versed in the Healing arts. While Korra prides herself in the fact that she was taught by the World’s Greatest, Katara’s teachings did transform Korra into an extremely skilled Healing practitioner.Korra’s potentialon the matter may be rooted in her innate nature as a Waterbender.
In as early as her first few fights with Bolin and Mako, Korra is seen able to heal Bolin’s injured arm with relative ease. She even managed to cure General Iroh’s arm with no scars. Korra is even shown as someone capable of using the smallest traces of water to initiate Healing processes. In fact, such was Korra’s developed prowess in Healing that she could speed up the recuperation of the patient’s affected area by stimulating it with Waterbending.
The Legend of Korra, Season
Used advanced Healing techniques such as contactless treatment and spiritual tethering
The secondamong Avatar Aang and Katara’s children,Kyainherited her mother’s natural talent for Waterbending and even managed to learn the principles of Healing under her care. While Kya had demonstrated the basics of Healing through the treatment of various individuals and even simultaneous Healing, it’s through her advanced techniques that cemented her status as her mother’s successor.
After the Anti-Bending Revolution, Kya managed to treat her brother Bumi’s sensitive head injury by using healing water without ever making contact with his head. During Jinora’s entrapment in the Spirit World, Kya managed to stabilize her body for a week by ensuring the flow of energy around it.
Master Spiritbender
While infamous for beingthe former Water Tribe Chief who turned into the Dark Avatar,Unalaqwas also known for a unique talent: Spiritbending. Considered both a Waterbending Specialization and a sub-skill of Healing, Spiritbending uses one’s energy and knowledge of spirituality to “heal” ailments of spiritual origins.
Such was Unalaq’s talent with Spiritbending that not only could he appease angry spirits, but he even managed to defend the Northern Water Tribe from attacks from dark spirits. During his mission to release the Dark Spirit Vaatu, Unalaq also used Spiritbending to cause imbalances inside a person’s spirit, “imbuing” them with negative energy that, when infused with too much, can destroy their very soul.
”The Shadow of Kyoshi” (Book)
Used the same healing principles to kill an enemy
Being born in an era rife with politicking,Avatar Kyoshihad to learn early on the value of brute force when dealing with those who want to harm her. This is demonstrated early on in her career when she intuitively used Waterbending as a form of Healing after an encounter with the Triad of the Golden Wing.
After seeing Atuat demonstrate her healing talents in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Kyoshi asked the Sifu to teach her more advanced techniques. In the months under Atuat’s wing, the Sifu recognizedKyoshi as her fastest study, demonstrating great potential in the craft. Unfortunately for Kyoshi, she had to transform Atuat’s teachings into something lethal, as she used the same body-lowering technique that was supposed to heal fever as an offensive technique, freezing the lungs and heart of her opponent Yin before using the Avatar State to heal a friend with a grievous wound.
Managed to treat a poisoned Firebending master
Born in the Northern Water Tribe,Sifu Atuatearned global recognition when her aid to a dying Hei-Ran had the patient grateful enough to invite her to the Festival of Szeto where Atuat was introduced to Avatar Kyoshi. When an incident paved the way for Atuat to demonstrate her Healing prowess, even Kyoshi herself asked Atuat to teach her the Sifu’s techniques. In her short appearances inThe Shadow of Kyoshi,Sifu Atuat cemented herself as one of the most talented doctors and Healers in the world ofAvatar.
Atuat claims to have saved Hei-Ran from the clutches of death itself, implying that Hei-Ran’s condition should’ve been untreatable if someone else had handled her. In an attack during the Festival of Szeto, Atuat helped someone evade certain death by first stabilizing them by removing fever through Waterbending - something not everyone can do due to the risk of killing its targets. After establishing a field hospital in the Coral Urchin Noodle Shop, Atuat managed to save others from critical conditions using advanced techniques.
The Legend of Aang, Season 1, Episode 16
Talented enough to use Waterbending Healing in unique ways: memory unlocking for Jet, saving Aang from certain death
Even beforeKataralearned the basics of Healing, she already demonstrated the capacity to use water for healing during Aang’s rushed Firebending training with Jeong Jeong. Since Katara’s short tutelage under Yagoda, she’s used Healing in a variety of ways to aid the Gaang in their journey.
Aside from the occasional wound treatment, Katara was creative enough to use Healing to achieve different results. For instance, Katara managed to use Waterbending to “heal” the “injury” in Jet’s mind to restore his memories after Dai Li’s brainwashing. Meanwhile, Katara managed to heal Aang and bring him back from certain death after a lethal lightning strike from Azula. Such wasKatara’s talents as a healerthat she was hailed the World’s Greatest Healer, eventually passing her teachings to her daughter Kya.
