Sokka’s an interesting character because, in a show based around
bending the elements, he’s not able to bend anything. And that opens up
a really interesting angle for The Last Airbender to explore:
How do you find worth or value in yourself when you’re not as capable as the people around you?
That’s something we all have to deal with at some point in our lives. Nobody is talented
at everything. Even if you’re highly-skilled in one area, there will always be people far more
skilled than you in other areas. And if you’re surrounded by a lot of those kinds of people,
it can make you feel like you don’t measure up. So in The Last Airbender, it’s important
that they address those feelings of inadequacy so that Sokka’s character is realistic and relatable.
In the beginning, Sokka tends to mask those feelings with sarcasm or insults.
But by the end of it, he’s confident in his own abilities and
able to fully cheer on and support his friends without a hint of jealousy or defensiveness.
A large chunk of that growth occurs in Book 3 during the “Sokka’s Master” episode,
and that’s what I’ll be focusing on in this video.
But first, I want to tell you about this video’s sponsor: Raid: Shadow Legends. Raid:
Shadow Legends is a game for iOS, Android, and PC with cool champions, tough bosses,
and millions of players. Raid is such a fun game with an extremely active community, including
over 100,000 members on their Discord server. It’s super easy to get started thanks to Raid’s large
player base and all the resources available for learning how to play, including countless YouTube
videos on how to take down bosses and unlock awesome champions. I started off with Athel,
who is my favorite champion so far. I mean just look at her, she’s so cool! But there are more
than 500 champions available. You can join one of the over 200k clans that have been made to
fight against clan bosses and to help each other with unlocking all kinds of artifacts,
accessories, armor, and weapons to upgrade your champions. There are PVP and PVE options and so
many layers of gameplay that make for a really exciting game. Plus, Raid is always releasing new
updates. Right now, their biggest update ever is currently in development, the Doom Tower.
It will have 120 floors of super difficult levels and challenging bosses that will require you to
come up with new teams and strategies if you want to succeed. So to get started
playing Raid, go to the description of this video and click on the links there for your platform.
If you’re a new player, you’ll get 100,000 silver, 50 gems, 10 mystery shards, and 1 free champion,
Slasher! You’ll be able to find all these extra rewards in your inbox for the next 30 days. So be
sure to check out the links in the description and get started with Raid: Shadow Legends.
Now, let’s get back to The Last Airbender. So, I think on its surface, Sokka’s Master seems like
a pretty basic, straight forward episode. Sokka feels inadequate. He trains with a master. Now he
feels adequate because he is a good swordfighter. But, I don’t think that’s actually meant to be
the takeaway of the episode, and in fact, I think the episode intentionally pushes back
against that simple narrative. Because that “train until you’re as skilled as the people around you”
narrative would be the easy way out, and this show rarely does anything that simple. Sokka’s problem
is that he doesn’t feel as capable as his friends. So writing-wise, there’s two ways to solve that.
Either make him as capable as his friends by giving him some kind of high-end skill, or have
him go on a journey to learn that it’s okay if he’s not as capable as his friends. This episode
acts like it’s taking you down the first path, but I think it ends up following the second path, and
that makes it a much stronger episode. Not only because it’s a better life lesson. but because
it’s a more complex and harder-to-learn lesson that makes Sokka feel three dimensional and real.
When Sokka trains with Piandao, he doesn’t really get your typical montage of training and being
bad and then later training and being good. He does improve his sword-fighting to some degree,
absolutely, but for the most part, he just takes an unusual approach to all
of the tasks. His rearranging of the rock garden at the end isn’t
really *better* than his face-painted calligraphy in the beginning—they’re
both just very out-of-the-box solutions. And that doesn’t really match up with the
“learning a new skill” path, because he doesn’t learn so much as he demonstrates who he is to
the master. So when Piandao awards him with the sword at the end, he makes it
clear that it isn’t for Sokka’s sword fighting ability. Actually he makes that very clear.
“No, it certainly wasn’t your skills.”
The real reason Piandao gifts him with the sword is to praise him for his:
“Creativity, versatility, intelligence.”
But Sokka didn’t go there to learn those things; he went there to learn sword fighting, right?
So why even have this little award ceremony? Well, Piandao isn’t congratulating him on learning a new
skill, he’s just validating that Sokka has aspects of himself that he should take pride in. Sokka
didn’t learn to be creative from Piandao; he was always creative. So I would argue it’s less about
Sokka learning sword fighting, and more about Sokka figuring out what areas are his strengths.
Because every person has things they’re good at, whether that’s using magical abilities or being
creative or simply being kind. What’s important is accepting that you have your own value in
your own way and not comparing yourself to those around you. So while the show was making you—and
Sokka—think that the solution to his problem was learning a new skill, it was actually teaching
you—and him—a different lesson. The solution to feelings of inadequacy isn’t gaining a new skill
that will finally make you feel adequate, but rather learning and accepting that you were always
enough, just the way you are. And if you focus on and foster the parts of yourself that you like,
instead of focusing on what you can’t do, you’ll be better off in all aspects of your life.
The show drives this point home later in the episode when Sokka loses to the master. Sure,
he puts up a good fight and uses his unique fighting style to give Piandao a run for his
money, but he didn’t become a master swordfighter. He put himself on the path to improving that skill
because it’s something that he enjoys and will help him in his quest to take down the firelord,
but what he really learned was that he was good enough all along. Even though his friends
are extremely talented benders, Sokka also has aspects of himself that he is really proud of,
and recognizing that is what helps him overcome those feelings of inadequacy.
I think this is even more obvious if you think about where he was at the start of the episode.
The thing that initially brought his dormant feelings of inadequacy to the forefront was
that he was unable to help his friends put out a fire that could destroy a nearby town.
[Sokka grunting]
But at the end of the episode, he’s no better at putting out giant fires
than the beginning of the episode. He would just be better at standing aside,
letting his friends handle it, and knowing that he still has value and worth regardless.
This is exemplified in how he makes his sword. When it comes time to choose a material,
he leaves to go get the meteorite that crashed just outside the town,
and this is significant for two reasons. For one, this was the thing that initially caused
him to feel inadequate in the first place. It’s the thing that he wasn’t able to help with, and
what would’ve brought him shame at the beginning of the episode. But now, he’s able to recognize
that it’s okay that he wasn’t able to contribute to putting out that fire, and so he’s able to face
the meteorite and even have it made into a sword that he’ll carry around with him until, well...
“Bye, space sword.”
And secondly: It’s significant that he needs his friends’ help to take the meteorite to the master.
If Sokka was learning the wrong lesson here, he could’ve said, “I have to do this
on my own to earn it,” and then arrogantly—and unsuccessfully—tried to push the meteorite up the
hill. But he doesn’t. Instead, he asks his friends for help doing something that he cannot do,
and so Toph uses earthbending to move the meteorite up the hill. He’s learned that it’s
okay if he can’t do something and his friends can. Not being able to shove a meteorite up a
hill doesn’t make him worth any less, because he knows that he still has value regardless. That’s
the lesson he had to learn, and I love how this episode got that across in so many different ways.
His friends really are a big part of his journey. In addition to asking them for help at the end,
we also get to see how bored and lost they are without him, which proves how much he contributes
to the group. Even if he can’t put out giant fires, he can keep his friends entertained and
on schedule. Not everyone needs to be a big, powerful bender. Maintaining a happy community
and good interpersonal relationships is an equally valuable skill. And that’s an important lesson for
Sokka—and the audience—to learn. It’s further demonstrated by his gift to Toph at the end.
“Check this out!”
That little detail of him giving some of the meteorite to her wasn’t a strictly necessary
part of the episode, but it made it in anyway. Part of that might have been so that Katara
could joke about there being no such thing as Space Earth, but I think it also demonstrated
how Sokka was thinking of his friends during his lessons with the master. Toph being able to bend
space earth is a super cool skill that Sokka will never have, and he could’ve stewed in
that jealousy, in those negative emotions, but he didn’t. He accepted himself for who he is,
and in doing so, was able to take pride in his friends’ abilities. He wasn’t just okay with
Toph’s power, he was encouraging it and in awe of it. Sokka learned that in a group of friends,
everyone’s skills play a role, and everyone has value. Whether they can put out fires or bend
space earth or just crack a few jokes, every person has inherent worth. I just think that’s
a beautiful message that we could all learn from. It doesn’t matter how capable you are
of doing certain things, and there’s no use in comparing yourself to others who can do things
you can’t. You have your own importance and significance just by being yourself.
What did you think of the Sokka’s Master episode? Let me know in the comments. And if you liked this
video, feel free to subscribe and give it a thumbs up. If you want to support the production of
future videos like this one, you can check out my Patreon. I want to give a huge thank you to all of
my current Patreon supporters because you all make these videos possible. If you want to support this
channel, the best way is through my Patreon, which will be linked in the description of this video,
and that would help me out so much. Thanks for watching this video, and I’ll see you next time!