Water Tribe

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Water Tribe Avatar Temple

Northern Water Tribe armory

The Water Tribe is a collective term for a nation of people in the fictional universe of the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the series' "Four Nations," the Water Tribe is divided into two nation-states: the Southern Water Tribe, which inhabits the South Pole, and the Northern Water Tribe, which inhabits the North Pole. There is also a small population of Waterbenders located in the swamps of the Earth Kingdom. The Water Tribe is home to an order of men and women who practice waterbending, the mystical art of hydrokinesis. According to Uncle Iroh, Waterbenders can adapt to different situations easily, as they manipulate water, the "element of change."

[edit] Appearance

Ethnically homogeneous, members of both tribes typically have light or deep brown hair, blue eyes and light brown/tan skintone. Water Tribe clothing is typically a set of blue anorak and trousers trimmed with white fur, and worn with mittens and mukluks. Men may wear their hair long and half-up or in short ponytails, referred to as "warrior's wolf tails."^[1] Women plait and braid their hair in various styles, sometimes with accent beads, and many sport "hair loopies" in various styles. In the Northern Water Tribe, males appear to wear a darker blue than those of the Southern Water Tribe.^[2]

[edit] National emblem

The national emblem

The national emblem of the Water Tribe is a circle comprised of a waning crescent moon and three wavy horizontal lines representing ocean waves. It is displayed on the pennant of the watchtower in the Southern Tribe Village, and present throughout the architecture of the Northern Water Tribe. The emblem symbolizes the Moon Spirit Tui and the Ocean Spirit La, who provide the Water Tribes their life, grant them their power, and guide their beliefs. The two spirits coexist in perfect harmony, with the moon's force exerting a pushing and pulling motion on the ocean's water. Not only is this pushing and pulling concept foundational to the art of waterbending, but the relationship between the spirits also drives the Water Tribes' philosophy in peaceful cooperation among all nations.^[3]

[edit] Government

The Northern Tribe is a patriarchal chiefdom but has the aspects of a tribal group as its ruler is the chief of state. Now scattered throughout the South Pole, the Southern Tribe operates on a patriarchal tribalist system of government, as each village has a designated leader, all of whom are male.^[4] Prior to leaving to fight in the war, the southernmost tribal village was led by the warrior Hakoda.^[5] The Northern Water Tribe is ruled by the former great warrior Chief Arnook with the counsel of his chieftains.^[2]

[edit] Culture

The Water Tribe is divided into three distinct groups, primarily based on their geography and affinity for waterbending. The Southern Tribe occupies the Southern Pole with Katara as its only known bending member,^[5] the art having been almost completely erased from the South Pole as a direct result of sheer amount waterbending trainers dying fighting and being taken captive in Fire Nation raids.^[6] ^[7] The Northern Tribe consists of the majority of the official remnants of their civilization, occupying the North Pole with a multitude of able benders.^[2] Though separated, the southern and northern tribes continued to remain in contact prior to the war and at one time even retained a custom of coming together during a new moon.^[8] The Foggy Swamp Tribe occupies a swamp in the Earth Kingdom, while most of its members are competent benders with some unique talents. The Northern and the Southern Water Tribes both were heavily influenced by the Inuit tribes of North America.^[9]

[edit] Season

Each of the Four Nations is influenced by their own distinct, dominant season. The Water Tribe's dominant season is winter. To an effect, more Waterbenders are born during winter than any other season and their powers are at their strongest during the season due to the longer nights and because of the snow and ice around more of the world.^[10] In actuality, both polar Tribes experience winter-like weather consistently, with snow falling year-round.^[11]

[edit] Natural Resources and Foods

Inhabiting frozen poles near the seas, the Water Tribes inherently are dependent on the oceans for a majority of their natural resources as well as the bounty of the frozen tundra. Sea prunes are a favorite, while giant sea crabs are considered a delicious delicacy to those in the Northern Sea. Squid and seaweed can be used to make a wide variety of dishes, including soup, seasoning, and even bread and cookies.

Skins from seals are used to create decorative tents, while pelts from polar bears and other furry animals are used as clothing and to cover barren surfaces. Naturally, hunters and fishermen of the Water Tribes are some of the best in the world in their field.^[12]

[edit] Military

As a result of the strong customary theme expressed by the two major sects, the Water Tribes militia is considerably less sophisticated than that of the more modern Earth Kingdom or the industrialized Fire Nation. Nevertheless, the tribes also exhibit deep pride and willpower akin to that of a warrior race.

[edit] Warriors

All adult male tribe members are fully-trained warriors. Their weaponry includes clubs, bladed boomerangs, spears made of bone (also used in spearfishing),^[5] scimitars,^[13], whaletooth swords and machetes laced with whale teeth on the dull side of the blade. Water Tribe warriors typically wear black and white warpaint on their full face before going into battle.^[5] In severe combat, Southern Water Tribe warriors don protective battle gear, denoted as wolf armor. Wearing plated arm and leg guards along with a silver helmet shaped into wolf's head, the outfit is designed to intimidate the enemy, as when warriors charge, they resemble a pack of wild wolves.^[14] Waterbending warriors of the Northern Tribe are all masters of their element and wear hooded face masks to cover their mouths.

Waterbenders and warriors of the Northern Tribe

The more organized Northern Water Tribe makes use of armories located on the warrior training grounds which serve as weapons storage and war planning rooms where orders are distributed. Their Waterbenders engender and utilize a countless amount of iceberg spikes scattered across the ocean just outside the city as a first line of defense against Fire Nation ships. The spikes are capable of ripping through solid metal and sinking even the largest ships. The currents in the iceberg fields are known to be extremely dangerous, but are easily traversed by Water Tribe vessels.^[15] The iceberg spikes themselves are also used as cover for warriors to hide behind, enabling to easily ambush any unwanted visitors.^[2]

While its sister tribe had been the victim of raids, thanks to a mixture of strong, man-made defenses and imposing, natural icy landscape, the Northern Water Tribe has sufficiently been able to stave off the Fire Nation for over eighty-five years.^[16]

Two years before the Avatar returned, all the men of the Southern Water Tribe were sent to fight in the war, leaving the village defenseless.^[5] In "The Guru," the warriors are finally seen again, protecting the shores of Chameleon Bay, the single inlet leading directly to the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. The warriors had apparently achieved this so far with the use of "tangle mines," buoyant, terrible-smelling makeshift mines of Hakoda's invention, which he affectionately nicknames the "stink n' sink." The tangle mines are constructed with a bamboo frame and covered with dried animal skin, while the inside is filled with stinkfish and seaweed. These mines float in the water and detonate when a ship hits them. When the mines detonate, they erupt seaweed, which tangles around the propeller of the ship, incapacitating it, and stinkfish, which terrible smell forces people to abandon ship. Though a very unusual type of mine, they had apparently been quite effective.

The Southern Tribe warriors were last seen sailing off to engage in a battle with what was reported to be four Fire Nation ships closing in on waters near the Earth Kingdom capital.^[17] As illustrated in "The Bridge," a canonical interlude comic featured within the second All-Avatar Nick Mag Presents edition, the warriors were able to stave off the enemy vessels, but their ships sustained serious damage from the battle that left them barely sailable and utterly powerless to handle another confrontation. However, thanks to Sokka's ingenuity, the Southern Tribe warriors were not only able to obtain another ship, but also safely sail right through enemy territory. After abandoning and sinking their own ships to trick an approaching Fire Nation scout ship, the warriors were able to sneak aboard in the dead of night. The warriors gained the upper hand in the ensuing battle because of their enemy's general unreadiness as well as their own use of paralyzing stink bombs. Once the ship was captured, the Southern Tribe warriors donned Fire Nation uniforms which gained them entry through the barricade that closed off the Serpent's Pass and headed west for the Fire Nation homeland.

[edit] Navy

The ships of the Southern Tribe seem to be cutter sailing ships, containing wooden hulls and utilizing the wind for propulsion. The boats are shown to be operated by at least two people, one to maintain the main sail and one to control the jib, a smaller sail at the rear.^[18] The ships appear to be designed more for use as a transport vessel than combat.

The Northern Water Tribe's most common ship is a double-hulled vessel powered by waterbending. Though its small, compact size enables it to be used for a variety of applications, including transporting civilians across the canals within the city, its main purpose is to be used for short, open ocean trips. Even though its not necessarily designed for long voyages, it is capable of being used to travel over a thousand miles and withstanding the harshest ocean conditions.^[15] Warriors use this ship to patrol and protect the waters just outside the Northern Water Tribe.^[2]

Conceptualized by Sokka and constructed by the Earth Kingdom inventor the Mechanist, waterbending-powered submarines were actively used by members of the Water Tribe during the Fire Nation invasion. Resembling a smiling whale-dolphin, these large underwater vehicles possess a hull composed of waterproof wood and metal equipped with watertight glass windows that allows them to traverse deep beneath the ocean surface. The watercrafts function by propelling through the ocean with flexible fins on each side and the rear while sinking or floating by means of the Waterbenders riding inside. The submarines are also equipped with firepower in the form of torpedoes encased in ice. Crafted by pouring blasting jelly into a hollowed out section of a torpedo and freezing it along with the lit fuse, the projectile is launched via waterbending and designed to explode upon making contact with its target. There was only one real flaw that the vessels retained, that being their limited air supply, which makes it necessary to resurface periodically for air.^[15]

[edit] Southern Water Tribe

[edit] History

Southern Water Tribe members

Originally, the Water Tribe existed as one solely in the North Pole, however, following civil unrest, a group of warriors, benders, and healers journeyed to the South Pole to found a new tribe. Due to the division, the two sects evolved quite differently. Decades ago, the Southern Water Tribe was once part of a beautiful, bustling city carved out of the ice by Waterbenders, similar to the Northern Water Tribe, but was subsequently destroyed following the attack on the Four Nations. Contact between the two Tribes were severed and the Southern Tribe was split into smaller groups and scattered across the Pole, its natives reduced to dwelling within simple sealskin tents and small igloos.^[19]

The Southern Water Tribe is currently in dire straits, teetering on the brink of extinction. Its remaining population is dwindling due to Fire Nation raids and is currently defenseless, as its warriors left for the Earth Kingdom to aid in the century-long war against the Fire Nation two years ago. With the departure of the sole remaining Waterbender, Katara, and warrior, Sokka, with Aang the Avatar, the people consist mostly of elderly and middle aged women and very young children.^[5] However, in the aftermath of the Fire Nation's siege of the North Pole, select benders and healers from the Northern Tribe, led by Master Pakku, have left for the South Pole in an effort to rebuild their ravaged sister tribe.^[16]

[edit] Customs

The Tribe has a unique rite of passage called "Ice Dodging." This a coming-of-age rite that serves as a young boy's first step in being realized as a true warrior of his tribe. When a male tribesman turns fourteen, he is taken out on a boat with his father, and challenged to guide it through iceberg-studded waters. If and when the boy succeeds, he receives a mark on his forehead symbolizing his defining trait, and is declared a full member of the tribe. The mark of the wise is awarded for leadership quality and making decisions under pressure. The mark of the brave is given for inspirational displays of courage. Finally, the mark of the trust is bestowed upon outsiders who prove themselves worthy of the trust of others.^[20]

Certain Southern Tribe members are more than willing to liberally adapt the ritual to new situations. In one instance, tribe member Bato took the fifteen-year-old Sokka, his younger sister Katara, and Aang, a twelve-year-old Airbender, on an "ice dodging" expedition in the rocky waters of the Earth Kingdom. When all cooperated in the ritual, he marked and declared them all full members of his tribe.^[13]

Children of the Tribe play a game called penguin sledding which consists of catching a penguin, and riding its back as a makeshift sled.^[5]

[edit] Locations

[edit] Village

Southern Water Tribe village

The Southern Water Tribe Village before the Fire Nation Rade (taken at the New York Comic Con)

The Village, positioned on a northwestern shoreline, is surrounded by a low, roughly circular snow wall, broken up by a snow watchtower (built by Sokka) to the north that fell when Zuko's ship was landing, and an ungated entrance to the south. Inside are eight residential tents, arranged semi-circularly around a communal fire pit. A giant igloo hugs the east wall, while a handful of smaller ones cluster at the north wall. Outside, to the right of the entrance, is a small igloo-structure that serves as the village outhouse. The remaining population stands at less than two dozen, with ten married and/or elderly women, ten young children, and one domesticated arctic wolf.^[5]

The long abandoned Fire Nation vessel

[edit] Shipwreck

West of the village lies a Fire Navy ship, torn open on jutting ice shelves by waterbenders. Abandoned after becoming lodged in the ice, the ironclad ship was part of the Fire Nation’s very first attacks over a century ago.^[21] Though the shipwreck is a relic of the Fire Nation's long-ago first strike, its booby-traps are still in working order. The tribe considers the vessel to be a bad omen and the children are forbidden from entering it.^[5]

[edit] Fauna

The Southern Water Tribe is home to exotic fauna. Its sea lions are brown, with the dark brown striping and large ears of tigers. Polar bears are miniaturized and domesticated, with a black stripe running from spine to muzzle. The native penguins have four flippers, and are curiously beakless, instead sporting otter-like bewhiskered faces. White Hamsters inhabit the Shipwreck.^[5]

[edit] Gender Equality

The Southern Water Tribe has been noted to be less segregated than the north, which has specific societal roles for men and women. Though the Northern Tribe forbids women from learning waterbending in anything other than a healer's capacity, it is displayed that they made up at least half of the Southern Water Tribe's division of able Waterbenders and actively fought in battles.^[22] Overall, the Southern Water Tribe live a more simple, open-minded kind of life. They allow girls and women to enter waterbending training and do not force women to enter into arranged marriages. Instead, they are free to marry whomever they see fit.^[23]