Similarities Between Hermione Granger and Katara from “Avatar”
While an animated television show about four types of elemental bending may seem to have nothing in common with Harry Potter, the characters do share similarities. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005 – 2008) features a wide variety of empowered heroines, my favorite being Katara. Katara is a complex and inspirational character not unlike the Harry Potter series’ main heroine, Hermione. Now that Avatar: The Last Airbender is on Netflix, I thought it was about time to see what Hermione and Katara share in common.
1. They are both outsiders.
Both Hermione and Katara are outsiders in their worlds. Hermione is a Muggle-born wizard and has to struggle to gain respect from pure-blood wizards. Katara is from a small water tribe and has limited knowledge of waterbending at the start of the series. Both Hermione and Katara come from humble backgrounds, but they are proud of their families. They use this pride to demonstrate that one person is not better than anyone else.
2. They are the reason the male characters stay alive.
Time and time again, it is Katara and Hermione who save the day. Hermione saves Harry and Ron’s lives with her vast knowledge of spells, and Katara saves the lives of her brother, Sokka, and Aang, the main protagonist, with her mastery of waterbending. Even before Katara was a master at waterbending, her basic bending skills were enough to save her friends’ lives. Aang and Harry may be the main heroes of their stories, but Katara and Hermione are the ones who keep the boys alive.
3. They both share similar Gryffindor personalities.
Katara could easily be Sorted into Gryffindor like Hermione was. Katara is fierce, aggressive, and impulsive in battle. However, like Hermione, Katara isn’t a typical Gryffindor. Katara does sometimes make impulsive choices, especially when fighting, but overall she makes calculated choices. Katara and Hermione are interested in gaining knowledge in order to perfect their talents. Katara and Hermione both enjoy reading – in episode one of book one of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara spends the entire episode reading and learning from a waterbending scroll.
4. Loyalty is the most important to them.
For characters who value loyalty, it is a relief when they find like-minded people. Katara and Hermione’s friends believe in loyalty just as much as they do. Similar to the golden trio, Katara and her friends are more family than friends. Since Katara and her friends, also known as Team Avatar, are inseparable for a year, they form a makeshift family. Team Avatar knows each other’s secrets, strengths, and weaknesses, the things only family knows. Hermione is loyal to Harry and Ron no matter what and leaves everything behind to save the world with them. Katara does something similar; she leaves the only home she has ever known to assist Aang in saving the world.
5. They are protective of family and friends.
Katara and Hermione both keep their makeshift families together. Maybe it’s a bad joke since Katara is a waterbender, but she is literally the glue that holds Team Avatar together. She does everything to help Aang save the world: She becomes his waterbending teacher, uses her magical spirit water to save all future Avatars (including Aang), and is present at the final battle of the series. Katara becomes like a mother, sister, friend – basically everything – to them. Hermione does something along the same lines. Harry didn’t have a home besides Hogwarts, so Hermione becomes like a sister to him, which Harry even admits in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
6. They are both feminist role models.
My favorite thing that Katara and Hermione share is their sense of righteousness. Specifically, both believe in gender equality. Hermione proves in every book that she can practice magic just as well as, if not even better than, male wizards. Even when men condemn her for not being a pure-blood wizard, Hermione doesn’t back down. Katara always tries to prove her worth, no more so than when she visits the North Pole, where other waterbenders live. Anxious to learn from waterbending masters, Katara seeks them out. While Aang is allowed to learn, Katara isn’t, because she is a woman. Katara doesn’t keep her cool; she challenges a male master waterbender to fight her so that he can see her worth. What’s impressive is that, even though Katara isn’t a master bender yet, she holds her own in the fight. Katara never allows any man to tell her what to do, even if it is her brother, who sometimes lets his sexist beliefs get the better of him. What Katara and Hermione share most in common is that they refuse to be quiet when anyone speaks disrespectfully to them.
