Of all the romantic relationships on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara and Aang are the most well-known and the most influential. As two of the main characters from the series, their friendship and romance drive a lot of the plot starting from the very first episode.
While Katara and Aang might be canon and even grow up to have three children together, this doesn’t mean that all fans loved this pairing. There are many great things about them that make a lot of sense, but there are also some aspects of their relationship that had fans scratching their heads.
10 Their relationship sometimes felt familial
Because Aang was so young when he met Katara at only 12 years old, it’s hard to really read their relationship as romantic right away. While this doesn’t mean they couldn’t have developed these feelings as they got older, sometimes it felt less like they had romantic chemistry and more like platonic or even familial.
Because Katara seemed so much older despite only a couple of years difference, she often was looking out for Aang like a sister.
9 They didn’t have a ton of chemistry
Once again, this is a problem that’s mostly because of their ages. While Katara is only about 14 when the series starts, there’s a big difference between what a 12-year-old looks like and a 14-year-old looks like and also a big difference in how people in these age groups act.
Because of this, it seemed rather strange at times when they would engage with each other more as romantic partners than as friends.
8 Aang seemed more interested in Katara
Aang basically has a crush on Katara right away, and this makes sense as she’s obviously a very beautiful, kind, smart, and talented person. It’s pretty normal for younger people to have a crush on teens slightly older than them, but it definitely takes longer for Katara to return these feelings.
This doesn’t mean they don’t develop for her, but we don’t see much of their relationship once they are older.
7 Aang’s crush kept him from being the best Avatar
When Aang learns about chakras and his spiritual self from Guru Pathik, he learns he needs to be able to let go of his earthly connections in order to have control over his Avatar State. This is something that scares Aang because it means he needs to be willing to let go of Katara.
While it’s not Katara’s fault that Aang is so attached to her, he clearly is too young to completely understand what needs to be done. By cutting off this spiritual connection, it creates problems for Aang in the future as he can no longer connect to the Avatar State.
6 Katara constantly had to mother him
Katara often functioned as the mother of the group. She was the most responsible member of Team Avatar, and she had already been put in a position to take care of her own family after her mother’s death.
This, combined with her personality, made Katara the one who always looked out for the others, and while this was a great thing in many ways, it did make it seem like she was often looking out for Aang like a mother or older sister.
5 Their relationship didn’t feel equal
Aang is the protagonist of the series, and his arc is a pretty traditional hero's journey in many ways. He is the hero who needs to defeat the protagonist in order to bring peace to the world.
While The Last Airbender does a good job of making Katara a powerful, important character, too, sometimes it felt like she was always going to be secondary to Aang because she wasn’t the main character.
4 The relationship felt too stereotypical
While there are many groundbreaking and progressive things about The Last Airbender, it also follows some stereotypical tropes when it comes to romance. Aang is the main protagonist of the series, and it felt like the creators were compelled to give him a female love interest because of this.
While Katara was definitely an interesting and well-rounded character, too, it did feel a little bit too simplistic and typical for them to end up together.
3 The age gap when they were younger
While this point has been mentioned briefly in this article already, it’s worth its own entry as it’s one of the main things about their relationship that don’t make a lot of sense. This is one of the biggest reasons why many fans weren’t in love with this pairing. However, when we do see brief glimpses of Aang and Katara when they were together as adults, it’s clear that this is no longer an issue.
As adults, two years isn’t a problem at all, but it does make more sense if they had both been older in the series.
2 Aang could be annoying and immature
Watching Aang try to express his feelings for Katara was sometimes really awkward. He was only a kid really, and while his crush was cute in some ways, it felt like puppy love.
This is pretty natural given his age, but it didn’t necessarily make for a very compelling romantic storyline. Katara was more mature and definitely seemed much older given her life experience, so it was often hard to take Aang’s feelings for her seriously.
1 Why they didn’t parent more equally
One thing that many fans are still confused about is the way that Aang acted as a father. Fans were upset that he was rather distant and seemed to favor Tenzin. This also raises questions about Katara and Aang's relationship. It seems as if Katara was left to take care of the other children while Aang traveled the world with Tenzin.
This doesn't seem to match their personalities, and it's weird given that Katara also became a very powerful water bending master and mentor.
NEXT: Legend Of Korra: Aang’s Family Tree (From Oldest To Youngest)
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