I love that the show casually shows us that being from a certain place doesn’t mean anything about your character. Being a waterbender doesn’t mean you’re automatically good, and being Fire Nation or a firebender doesn’t mean you’re automatically bad.
Hama isn’t a bad person, she became a crazy and vengeful woman because of what the fire nation did to her. Anyone in her position might have done far worse than she did. The fire nation birthed a villain.
at 12:04 you can see Hama being shocked at the power of Katara but especially the way she handled the attack that Hama threw at her which Katara stopped in a very Earthbender way: "stand your ground and hit it head on", she stood her ground and did not use fluid movement to direct the water rather than just hit it head on which made the water dissipate into droplets, she then proceeds to using a Earthbender technique to throw her off her feet seconds later. she literally used different techniques to beat Hama since Hama was a very powerful water bender and could probably redirect any water technique attack she did to her... we can see this in earlier episodes when Iroh explains to Zuko the essentials of knowing every sort of bending because that's what makes the Avatar so powerful
Hama is really an example of letting the trauma take you over. She gave herself permission and convinced herself it was the right thing to do. One act of evil does not justify another. She had nothing left, so she turned to vengeance instead.. Unfortunately, it's an all too common and shameful cycle.
I'd say Hama is one of the most complex and tragic characters in the show. She fought when her village was raided multiple times but each time she had to watch more of her brothers and sisters get abducted by the invaders. Eventually, she was taken as well. She and her fellow prisoners of war were kept in separate cages and were bound to get fed water. The empty cages during her escape implies that all the others died and she would have watched her family and friends die in those cages until she was the only one left. Even though she managed to escape the prison, she was stuck in the unfamiliar land of her captors. The fact is that she is broken to the point that she can no longer function normally in society in a world where there is no treatment or understanding for her invisible scars. People often want to find a reason or purpose or to feel like they got something out of the experience as a way to cope (e.g. "the experience made me stronger") because it's painful to contemplate that you went through all these terrible things for no reason and that all of the suffering and hardship that's broken you as a person was for all for nothing. In the case of Hama, it's easy to see how she could consider her discovery of bloodbending as a purpose; from Hama's perspective, not only did practicing bloodbending give her something to do to pass the time in that cage, it saved her from dying in that cage like the rest of her family and friends. This is why she felt compelled to continue using bloodbending and why she was obsessed with passing on the technique: the belief that if she could pass on this technique she discovered to Katara and it can be used to help end the war, then it wouldn't have all been for nothing and her family and friends wouldn't have suffered and and died in those cages for nothing. What happened to Hama is tragic but another thing that is tragic is that in this world, where there is option for treatment or rehabilitation for someone who's been left broken by severe trauma the way Hama has and poses such a danger to others, there probably is no place for her except prison.
On a darker/brighter note, i thought the creators did a really good job of showing a young impressionable audience what its like to lose your innocence, how others feel when they lose theirs, and what an evil it is to take ones innocence.
Jet and Hama with their relatability adds such depth to the story; the writers trusted that kids watching can find their way through these characters to know what is ultimately good / bad, while teaching them compassion that behind every antihero is a story that led them where they are.
So here’s something that people kinda glossed over when they first introduced blood bending, its not a killing technique or a telekinesis technique, its a torture technique. Water in avatar was used to cut through rocks. When Hama was teaching katara water behind she pulled water from then trees and when she did she ripped it out. Not just pulled, ripped. And when she did the trees broke. Trees are much more denser than people. Which is why when Hama used it on katara she was crying because when the blood was pushing against her veins, muscles, organs in her body, it was hurting her. But for the person who was practicing the technique it takes a lot of effort because they have to find the traces of water in their opponents body. They are learning to take contrôle over a persons body. So they get lost in causing pain and having that amount of control. Until it becomes addictive. No matter who learns blood bending they’re mind willed become dark. Even if someone used it to end a war, most likely because of how much they love the power of it they are not gonna stop there. Also people gloss over how dark Hama was too. She created a puppets after every victim she blood bending and dragged to the cave for them to die. If you look at it from a « criminal minds perspective, she got lost in torch ring people.
i absolutely loved that they expanded waterbending to the stuff that we all thought about growing up while watching. I remember thinking, "wouldn't waterbenders be able to bend organic materials bcuz of the water inside?", then they gave us the swamp episode, then the runaway with sweat, and now moisture, pulling the water straight out of plants/trees, and then bloodbending! it was incredibly satisfying seeing my thoughts about the show come to life.
the puppets sokka found in hama s cabinet earlier were for her to practice. She filled them with water to test the movements and mobility that she could do with other people using those first
@user-es7zq6pc8t Just a deduction. I know the episode is called puppet master because of what hama does but there s something about the movements she made them do with their limbs. As if she was literally playing with puppets. that s why it ocurred to me she was practicing on the puppets first and then she mimicked the same movements with the real people
I think one very good thing writers did was to showcase that being fire nation doesn´t automatically make you bad or that being from other 3 nations is making you automatically good. It also shows another angle on how fire nation affected people in the world. They turned once probably a good person into a revengeful psychopath and gave opportunity to invent very scary and dangerous bending ability.
You two were killing me this episode 😂 so glad you didn’t have this one spoiled! I imagine being bloodbent would be painful. Aang says it feels ‘weird’ but lest we forget the children watching, lol.
This is one of my top 5 eps for sure. Hama is a pretty complex villian which is great. When I watched this as a kid, I never saw anything like it before on Sunday morning TV. Goosebumps!
I don't know if somebody else mentioned it, but there are two callbacks in the flashback of the fire nation raid. 1 - the ship the waterbenders manage to defeat is the same ship Aang and Katara enter in episode 1 (Katara thought Gran gran was a little girl at the time but we see she was actually a teenager), and the scene of Hamma being taken away by the fire nation is recreated shot-by-shot from episode 2 when Aang is being taken into the ship by Zuko.
This is my favorite episode of the entire series, im so glad to see your reaction! Love Hama's line "You've got to keep an open mind Katara; there's water in places you never think about.."
Katara fought hama with both water bending and earth bending techniques. The four nations always lived separately, so being around an earthbender has really given katara an extra edge, same goes for the other members of the group
Imagine how that must feel. You'd feel you arms and legs moving despite you mind and muscles. It's probably painful, and your senses are not dulled or impaired. Also, since benders connect with their element I imagine the bender feels the panic and fear of their puppets.
A lot of people make the confusion due to the name of the skill, but it's not bending blood itself (because it's not an element) but it's bending the water in the body
I find it a bit cliché that the creators made blood bending something exclusively bad. It's like guns, they're not bad, only people are bad, and people use tools for good or evil. How many people could Katara save when they are about to fall off a cliff or are going to be hit by something or attacked by an armed enemy, using blood bending to stop or move them away at least for a few painful seconds? Anyway. Love your reactions!! Please, be the first reactors to remember the detail that blood bending only works when there is a full moon, and not at any time.
La venganza de Hama es que katara se vengue por ella usando sangre 🩸😱😱😱 control ... por eso Katara lloraba..Hama reia...este capitulo lo transmitieron en halloween 🎃
See, this is the kind of thing thats always taught me personally that its not just fighting to win that matters, its also HOW you fight. She let herself become consumed with vengance (understandable, of course) but in the end, became no better than those who imprisoned her. Far worse, if you ask me.
Yes lets go!! you two are my favourite reaction channel at the minute! I binged watched all of your avatar reactions and im gonna say you brighten my mood whenever youre back with annother upload.
Hay una teoría que dice que Hama es indirectamente responsable de la muerte de la mamá de Katara por qué no querían mas maestros sangre 🩸 pero solo es una teoría... la verdadera razón es que buscan al nuevo Avatar... fue confirmado por los creadores de Avatar en un podcast o su sitio web oficial atacaron a la tribu mas débil
Fan theory: Hama escape was probably the reason why they killed Kartara mom :( cause of the bloodbending Also i think that in this episode the villian wins :( by corrupting Kartara to learn the ability
This show was my childhood and means the world to me. I've been watching you since the beginning of your Avatar journey and i'm lovingggg your reactions so far! I hope you enjoy the rest of the show, and at the end you need to watch Legend of Korra! Keep the good work!!!
Unpopular opinion: there is nothing inherently wrong with bloodbending. Just like any weapon, you can use it properly or improperly. Hama is kinda right when she says it’s kataras duty to use the gifts she was born with to win the war. It’s kinda selfish for katara to ignore this gift she has and inevitably cause more suffering to the other three nations by not taking down the fire nation
I hope that didn’t sound like rambling😂 and don’t get me wrong obviously Hama was wrong to lock up innocent villagers. I just love this show so much and try and overthink everything in it
Hama did nothing wrong. If you were stolen from your home, imprisoned most of your life for no reason, then hell yeah, let the fire nation know what it feels like to lose people. The problem is the firelord doesn't care. If she were keen, she'd just pop over to the palace on a full moon and could've ended the war years earlier.
except collective punishment is a literal warcrime. so id say Hama definitely did a lot of wrong lol. she had every right to use it on those imprisoning her, but once she got out, there is no defending her terrorizing innocent people for DECADES.
She tortured civilians for years by reaching into their bodies and forcing them to do things. She's just like Jet except she's better at getting away with it. She could've used her abilities to escape easily long ago. She could be showing other water benders how to do the technique. What happened to her and hers was awful. But, it doesn't justify her actions.
