Sokka

Sokka was a Water Tribe warrior of the Southern Water Tribe and the son of Chief Hakoda and Kya. Following the death of his mother and his father's leave for war, Sokka was raised by his grandmother Kanna along with his younger sister Katara.

Hakoda left along with all of the other men in his tribe to fight the Fire Nation when Sokka was a young boy. Despite his desire to join his father, Sokka was not permitted to accompany the men on the mission and was left behind. As there were no other teenage boys in the tribe, Sokka was the oldest male in the South Pole and, therefore, left as the leader of the tribe. He assumed responsibility for the tribe, haplessly training children to be future warriors, until his sister discovered an Air Nomad named Aang frozen in an iceberg. When he learned that Aang was the Avatar, he was at first skeptical that a child could really save the world. As he and his sister helped Aang on his quest, he began to believe that Aang really was the only hope for peace in the world.

Despite his inability to bend, Sokka became the strategist of the group, constantly trying to prove himself to be a great warrior like his father. He attempted to train the younger children of the Southern Water Tribe in fighting. Sokka was also the "matter of fact" guy in the group and did not believe in spirit magic, as he openly mocked it. His leadership skills improved during his travels with the Avatar, culminating with his masterminding the plan for the invasion of the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun. His humor and his ability to organize and plan became imperative to the group on their travels. By the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Sokka became a master swordsman and a great warrior like his father.

After Aang and Zuko formed the United Republic of Nations, Sokka became the representative for the Southern Water Tribe and he also became the United Republic Council chairman.

Early life
Sokka was born at the South Pole to Chief Hakoda and Kya in 84 AG. Growing up as part of a minor tribe that lived in the remains of the Southern Water Tribe's ruined capital, Sokka was raised from a young age to be a warrior and possessed much knowledge of Water Tribe weapons and tactics. When he was ten, Sokka witnessed one of the last major Fire Nation raids on his tribe, during which his mother was targeted and killed, leaving him with great hatred for the Fire Nation.

When his father left with the other men of the tribe to fight in the Hundred Year War, Sokka was put under his Gran Gran's care and became his tribe's last defense. He took the task seriously, building a number of snow watchtowers around the village and even "training" the young children of the village as soldiers. Although Sokka had the spirit of a warrior and the courage to stand up to any enemy, he initially lacked the skills and techniques that would make him a formidable opponent. That would not stop him from trying, though, especially if his friends needed help. He was protective of his younger sister and treasured the boomerang given to him by his father.

During his travels with Aang, Sokka improved his skills significantly, and had evolved into a skilled fighter with a sword forged from meteorite, a true leader, and a cunning strategic planner.

Winter 99 AG
While on a fishing expedition for their village, Sokka and his younger sister Katara accidentally steered their canoe into a rip current, where it was crushed between ice floes, and subsequently the duo found a mysterious figure trapped in a large spherical ice block. The figure introduced himself as Aang, an airbender, and offered to escort them home on his Flying bison Appa. After their village was attacked by soldiers on a Fire Nation ship commanded by Prince Zuko, Katara learned that Aang was the Avatar and eventually managed to persuade her brother to help him. She and her brother set out to save Aang, who had himself purposefully arrested to save the village. After their successful rescue, the three began their journey to the North Pole together, with the intent of finding a waterbending master, who would teach the Avatar and Sokka's sister the secrets of waterbending. During their journey to the Northern Water Tribe, the group stopped in several locations in the now war torn Earth Kingdom. Their first stop was the Southern Air Temple, where Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar learned of the genocide of the Air Nomads. Next up, Team Avatar stopped on Kyoshi Island, where Sokka met Suki, with whom he at first had difficult relations, because of his more conservative views. These views however would, in the course of Team Avatar's adventure, gradually fade into obscurity and eventually die out completely. On Kyoshi Island, they were ambushed by the Crown Prince and barely managed to escape. After leaving Kyoshi Island, Aang, Katara, and Sokka flew to the great Earth Kingdom metropolis of Omashu, where they were brought before the elderly king of the city who treated them as royalty and threw a feast for them, but later imprisoned them. It was later revealed to them, that the elderly king of the city was none other than Bumi, a childhood friend of Aang.

Before reaching the Northern Water Tribe, the trio encountered several other adventures, all the while being chased by both Zuko and his uncle Iroh, and Commander/Admiral Zhao of the Fire Nation navy. Among their countless missions, Sokka and Team Avatar helped the villagers of Senlin Village, who were being attacked by a spirit called Hei Bai (this was an interesting experience for Sokka, as he ventured into the Spirit World); barely escaped the clutches of Zhao and Prince Zuko, an event, in which Katara lost her mother's necklace; discovered the darker side of the resistance, when they came into contact with Jet and his Freedom Fighters who tried to destroy a neighboring village of Gaipan and kill all the Fire Nation civilians living there - this was mostly prevented by Sokka's foreshadowing alone; helped two warring tribes, the Zhang and the Gan Jin to cross the Great Divide and to reconciliate; saved a village, in which from the erupting Mt. Makapu; encountered Bato, one of his father's friends and warriors, where the unity of Team Avatar was put to the test and with whom Sokka completed a coming-of-age ritual called Ice dodging; met Jeong Jeong who unsuccessfully tried to teach Aang the powers of firebending; and met and saved the refugees, who lived in the Northern Air Temple, among them Teo and his father, the mechanist, with whom Sokka formed a deep bond due to their mutual interest in technology, from a Fire Nation military force led by War Minister Qin. After reaching the Northern Water Tribe, Team Avatar was greeted as honored guests by Chief Arnook at a banquet, where Sokka met princess Yue, with whom he fell in love. Their love, even though it was two sided, was not possible, as Yue had already been betrothed to Hahn, with whom Sokka formed a deep routed rivalry. During the Siege of the North, Sokka proved vital in the defense of the city, instructing an elite group of Water Tribe warriors how to infiltrate the Fire Nation ships, even though he himself was not allowed to participate in the fight. It was revealed by Arnook that Sokka wasn't left back in the city because of any lack of skill, but because he was tasked with protecting Yue. Sokka later helped Katara and Yue search for Aang, who was abducted by Zuko. Their friend was eventually found and - together with the unconscious Zuko - brought back to the Spirit Oasis, where his astral projection could return from the Spirit World. In the showdown that ensued, the spirit Tui, residing in the form of a Koi fish was mortally wounded by Zhao. While Aang fused with La and attacked the Fire Nation armada, Yue sacrificed herself to give the white koi the bit of its life force that was inside her. She became the reincarnation of Tui, the Moon Spirit, and gave Sokka one final kiss as she faded away and restored the balance of the spirit.

Spring 100 AG
Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar traveled to the Earth Kingdom, where they were planning on searching for an earthbending teacher for Aang. At an Earth Kingdom stronghold, General Fong contradicted their original plan and set for the motion, that Aang should use the Avatar Spirit to assist in the invasion of the Fire Nation. Sokka initially agreed and helped Fong in his endeavor, but the general achieved only the destruction of his own fort. During their journey to Omashu, Team Avatar met with Chong, Lily, and Moku, easy-going people, which annoyed Sokka with their go with the flow attitude. Even so, Sokka needed their help and together they passed through a labyrinth and reached Omashu, only to find that the city had fallen into Fire Nation hands. In the city, it was revealed that King Bumi had intentionally been captured and Team Avatar barely managed to escape the clutches of Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Together the team got stuck in the Foggy Swamp, where each member experienced some sort of hallucinations, Sokka's being hallucinations of Yue. Afterwards the team visited Chin Village, where Aang was placed under arrest for a crime, which a past Avatar named Kyoshi committed and it fell upon Katara and Sokka to prove Aang's innocence. Later, the team helped save the same village from the Rough Rhinos. After the earthbender Toph Beifong joined the group to teach Aang, Sokka and the team barely escaped the clutches of Azula, who chased after them in a Tank train. Along with the others and Professor Zei of Ba Sing Se University, Sokka visited Wan Shi Tong's Library, where he learned valuable information regarding the War effort - the precise date of the Day of Black Sun.

After barely surviving the Si Wong dessert, Sokka and Team Avatar helped a pregnant couple to cross the Serpent's Pass and reach the safety of Ba Sing Se. In the Earth Kingdom's capital, Sokka firstly helped to thwart another of War Minister Qin's plans, by helping destroy the Fire Nation Drill, after which Team Avatar was welcomed into the city as honored guests. After the team spent some time to get some much needed rest, in which Sokka temporarily 'joined' a Haiku reciting organisation called the Five-Seven-Five Society, before he was eventually thrown out, they resumed their search for Appa and eventually found him in the clutches of the Dai Li, a secretive organisation under the leadership of Long Feng, who had complete control over the city and used Earth King Kuei as a puppet. Team Avatar managed to subdue the Dai Li and began to plan the Invasion of the Fire Nation in cooperation with the Council of Five. Sokka the visited his father Hakoda to tell him about the invasion and to enlist the help of the Souther Water Tribe military, but a coup led by Azula hindered these plans. Sokka and Toph encountered Azula and her minions in the Earth King's audience chamber and Ty Lee began to "fight" Sokka. However, the fighting was in vain, as Azula soon had the king at flamepoint. Sokka and Toph gave up immediately and were soon disabled by Ty Lee. They were imprisoned by Dai Li agents, but were later able to escape with Toph using her metalbending skills to free them from their prison cell. The three later reunited with Katara and Aang, after Aang had been struck with lightning by Azula during a battle in the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se. Together, Team Avatar flew away from the fallen Earth Kingdom capital.

Summer 100 AG
Sokka and the rest of Team Avatar traveled to the Fire Nation, disguised themselves as Fire Nation citizens, and made necessary preparations for the invasion. Among many things, Sokka and his friends helped students of a Fire Nation school to learn how to have fun and how to express one self; helped the impoverished villagers of Jang Hui, which was being polluted from a nearby Fire Nation Army factory; helped to sanitize the Jang Hui River; and imprisoned Hama the bloodbender. Sokka, feeling that he showed little of no worth to the rest of Team Avatar for not being able to bend, decided to train in the art of the sword with Piandao. When the day of the Invasion of the Fire Nation arrived, Sokka and the rest of the team met with the rest of the invasion force and started to stealthily advance toward the capital via Waterbending-powered submarines designed by the mechanist, a design based on Sokka's idea. During the eclipse, the invasion advanced steadily toward the innermost Caldera City, with Aang even reaching the Fire Nation Royal Palace. But it was quickly revealed that the invasion had been anticipated and the Fire Nation counterattacked with giant airships, which destroyed much of the invasion force, with only Team Avatar and a few younger members managing to escape the grim prospect of becoming war prisoners. After Zuko joined their cause, Sokka infiltrated the prison - the Boiling Rock - where his father might be being held with the help of Zuko. Sokka also discovered that his girlfriend, Suki was being held at the prison. He initially decides to escape the prison with Suki, Zuko and other inmates but decides to wait for his father to possibly arrive. Sokka's father, Hakoda did in fact arrive and Sokka formulated a plan of escape with him. The two along with Zuko, Suki and another inmate execute the plan and after a fight with Azula they managed to escape the prison. However Sokka was again separated from his father at the Western Air Temple due to a Fire Nation ambush, with Sokka going with Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko and Suki. During the final battle of the Hundred Year War, Sokka, along with Toph and Suki, were in charge of destroying the Fire Nation airship fleet, a task which they achieved. Afterward, Sokka, along with Toph and Suki, joined together to berate the now fallen Ozai and commented on how impressive Aang looked while fighting. After Ozai was defeated, all the war prisoners were released, and Sokka and Katara were once again reunited with their father.

Later life
By the age of forty-three, Sokka served as the Southern Water Tribe representative on the United Republic Council as well as the Council's chairman. In his function as spokesman, Sokka sentenced Yakone, with consensus from the rest of the Council, to life in prison for his crimes. In response, Yakone bloodbent him and everyone else inside the City Hall courtroom.

In 124 AG, Sokka wrote down the story of how he "singlehandedly saved the world" during the final stages of the Hundred Year War to include in a book that Aang was assembling for his son, Tenzin. In his letter, Sokka advised his nephew not to depend solely on airbending, since reflexes and strategy are equally important skills to develop.

Sometime after 128 AG, Sokka became a chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe. In 158 AG, a group of powerful benders known as the Red Lotus, led by Zaheer, a nonbender at the time, attempted to kidnap Korra, the new Avatar. Sokka, along with Zuko, Tenzin, and Korra's father, Tonraq, thwarted the kidnapping attempt and saved the young Avatar.

To commemorate his legacy, a statue of him holding his boomerang aloft was erected in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center.

Sokka died sometime between 158 and 170 AG.

Personality
According to his sister Katara, Sokka was initially skeptical, abrasive, sexist and immature and was always sharp-witted. Detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the bending arts, he openly expressed his "bender envy". Sokka thought bending was what got the world in trouble in the first place, so he believed only the skill and strength of ordinary men like himself could ultimately defeat the Fire Nation. Not having bending abilities himself, Sokka instead preferred the ways of the warrior and the scientist. He took his responsibility as protector seriously. Initially, he did not seem to believe in the bending arts, calling Katara's bending "magic water". The appearance of the Avatar seemed to change his mind. However, he never seemed to fully accept the fact that as the Avatar, Aang must learn firebending. He was the least eager for Aang to start learning firebending under Jeong Jeong. Later on, when Aang accidentally burned Katara, Sokka threw him to the ground and yelled how he knew that Aang learning firebending was a mistake. This antagonism toward firebending seemed to persist, evidenced when he jokingly referred to Zuko's training of Aang as, "jerkbending". Apparently, Sokka only accepted the mastering of the last element because it would help Aang defeat the Fire Lord.

He could become serious when he desired to or when the need arose and was protective of his sister, Katara. This was shown when he violently tackled Aang to the ground after Aang accidentally burned Katara's hands. Sokka was also protective of Aang, and when Aang surrendered himself to Zuko, Sokka immediately prepared to rescue him. Later, he decided that getting Aang to the North Pole was more important than seeing his father again after years of separation. Sokka also proved to be intelligent, creative, and good at coming up with ideas, even if said ideas were not always good. He was also generally the one who was counted on for determining the strategy of attack.

Sokka was clearly loyal to his friends, family, and allies. Many times over, he had helped them when he could and when he was needed. However, Sokka also seemed to realize the importance – and sometimes necessity – of one having to fight their own battles. When Master Piandao attacked Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Toph rushed in to help him, but he told his friends to stay back as it was his battle to fight alone. He had to prove himself as a swordsman, although it turned out Piandao simply attacked his pupil just to test him. Later, he held a similar view during Aang's battle with Ozai when Sozin's Comet arrived. When Suki suggested she, Toph, and Sokka should help Aang, Sokka pointed out that "the Fire Lord is Aang's fight". He understood it was Aang's destiny to face Ozai alone, while he, Suki, and Toph focused their energies on stopping the Fire Nation airship fleet. Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly desired and eventually meted out vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He held little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and preferred to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tended to be rash, however, and his pride often led to embarrassment. When Sokka had been humiliated, his versatility made for a heartfelt apology and changing of his ways. A good example of this was when he apologized to Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors for saying that boys were better than girls.

Sokka learned to be flexible. He may have been closed-minded at first, but that was because he wanted to protect himself and those he loved. Not long after he started traveling with the Avatar, Sokka began to change, even to the extent that he humbly apologized to Suki. As the series progressed, he became more optimistic. He liked to keep smiles on his friends' faces using his wit, sarcastic humor, and overall eccentricity. Sokka was an underdog. He was constantly the one who got beaten upon. Most of his plans failed miserably; however, he bravely kept fighting.

From the start, Sokka was willing to die defending his tribe, even though he never stood the smallest chance. Despite his obvious cleverness, Sokka sometimes acted silly, if not outright stupid. He occasionally created ridiculous plans that were nearly impossible to carry out. He was also a general victim of slapstick, often being sent flying or getting struck by things. Aunt Wu even stated, "Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted". When Sokka protested that she did not even read his palm, she remarked "I don't need to. It's written all over your face". His sarcastic and strange behavior could sometimes carry over into important decisions.

Sokka had a habit of over-explaining his plans, much to the annoyance of his friends. He also had a habit of missing the point in certain situations, again much to the annoyance of his friends. A passionate carnivore, Sokka had demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and was the main hunter in the group. Sokka also had a habit of using sarcasm. However, when he got trapped at one point, Sokka shouted at "karma in the heavens", vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance. He would also consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy", but willing to be "Sokka, the veggies and straight-talk fellow". However, when he was freed eventually, he had given up neither meat nor sarcasm. He even asked "Aang, thank goodness, have you got any meat?" after being found less than a second after shouting to Karma. Despite his love of meat, he found it almost impossible to resist food, often gorging himself on various dishes when the group ate properly cooked meals. He showed contempt for Katara's cooking, however.

As much as Sokka loved meat, he grew close to every pet he received. He had a hilarious relationship with Momo. He also tried to adopt a messenger hawk, which he fondly named "Hawky".

Perhaps the biggest growth and change in Sokka during his participation in the Hundred Year War was his learning to accept people of the Fire Nation, learning that no nation was entirely good or bad, meaning that he should not blame the people of the nation, but rather its ruler.

Sokka also appeared to be unbiased once he stopped judging girls. Despite Hama having been from the Southern Water Tribe like himself and his sister, a victim of War and the last true waterbender of their tribe, Sokka still did not exempt her from his suspicions as the probable cause of the strange disappearances. He also made no effort to prove her innocence when faced with absolute proof that she was behind them.

Under the tutelage of the swordmaster Piandao, Sokka expressed various unorthodox procedures while undergoing his training. In one exercise, when told to stamp his identity onto a sheet of paper, rather than simply writing his name, Sokka smeared ink all over his face and pressed it onto the paper. As he presented Sokka with his blade, Piandao related that it was not his skills that impressed him, but his creativity, versatility and intelligence. All were traits that went beyond mere skills and what defined a great swordsman.

Sokka wrote with his right hand, but drew and ate with his left hand. He was possibly ambidextrous, because he was seen painting with his right as well as his left hand. His left-handed art was crude and rudimentary; however, this could just be due to a limited drawing ability.

Sokka had a great ability to adapt: He changed where change was needed, learned to love and respect others, embraced his own identity, accepted failure, and formed lasting loyalties. He was willing to fight on, even when the cause seemed hopeless. Sokka became a master swordsman, and a great warrior like his father.

By the time he was forty-three years old, Sokka had mastered the art of public speaking; as chairman of the United Republic Council, he displayed an eloquence in speech and fluidity of presence he did not possess in his younger years.

Science and engineering
For an inhabitant of a world heavily supported by the mystic art of bending, Sokka showed a remarkable proclivity toward science. He was adept at creating weapons from a variety of materials, and learned how to construct amateur explosives from his father, which he once used to simulate firebending. In another instance, Sokka used trickery and optical illusions to help his sister Katara fake the ability to earthbend.

Sokka showed his incredible intellectual potential, capacity to learn, and critical thinking skills all throughout the friends' journey. He absorbed information quickly and completely and solved problems at an alarming rate. An example of this can be seen when he solved the dilemma of the hot air balloon, which stumped even the mechanist, shortly after having the concept explained to him.

Strategy and tactics
As a nonbender among a group of master benders, Sokka was often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it was Sokka that usually devised plans, gathered intelligence, and collected data and maps that could help his group defeat the Fire Nation. He often became the navigator and chose the route to follow despite the objections of others. His skills as a fighter noticeably improved as the team's quest continued, although it was usually his persistence rather than skill that allowed him to land a blow against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko and Ty Lee. Sokka employed other strategies to defeat larger enemies. He incapacitated Wan Shi Tong by using the element of surprise and attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending had failed. It was also Sokka who discovered that a solar eclipse disables a firebender's ability to bend and his idea to travel to Ba Sing Se and inform the Earth King. When Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom fell, Sokka devised a new invasion plan to strike the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun with a group of their friends and allies they had made, rather than Earth Kingdom's armies. On the day of Sozin's Comet, he came up with a strategy that allowed himself, Suki, and Toph to bring down the entire Fire Nation airship fleet. Perhaps his greatest triumph, however, was his nearly single-handed defeat of Combustion Man by using his boomerang to hit his tattoo on his forehead to block the latter's chi flow. This action ultimately resulted in Combustion Man's demise, something that the combined efforts of all his friends failed to do.

Sokka's leadership skills evolved as the War ended. Initially, he assumed leadership of the group based on the fact that he was the oldest, that he had some rudimentary warrior training, and that Aang was just a goofy kid. However, his bossy attitude infuriated Katara. His skills were also undermined by his xenophobia, chauvinism and general bullheadedness. However, Sokka was usually willing to admit when he was wrong. This seemed to earn him the respect of several of the people he met and helped him grow as a warrior and as a person. It should also be noted that Sokka was occasionally right in his opinions. His immaturity, though, often caused Katara and Aang to ignore him. By the second season, Sokka seemed to have matured and referred to the group as a team. He also seemed to respect the opinions of others. They, in turn, considered his advice more seriously, even coming to rely on it. Later, in the third season, the group told Sokka how much they needed him. Without him, they were bored, lost, unable to decide what to do, could not remember what they needed to do, and were being tortured by Katara's horrible jokes, to the point where Aang admitted, "I guess the jokes don't run in the family", much to her chagrin.

Arts
Sokka showed a remarkable talent for poetry. When he stumbled into a poetry reading, he went toe-to-toe with the instructor in a haiku contest and held his own and nearly won. However, his hubris got the best of him, and he was viciously thrown out for accidentally adding an extra syllable to the end of a haiku, where he subsequently renounced his short-lived love for poetry. Sokka was also, albeit humorously, a terrible artist, yet somehow strangely unaware or in denial of it. He emotionally defended his "artwork", which was still met with more laughter from his peers.

Weapon proficiency
While training to be a soldier for the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka became proficient in a variety of weapons, the most noticeable being his trademark boomerang, with which he has shown impressive accuracy, even from a blindspot by determining the enemy's line of fire. His arsenal also included clubs, a machete, spears, and a meteorite iron sword, though he lost this during the battle at Wulong Forest defending himself and Toph from firebenders.

Swordsmanship
Wishing to contribute more to his team in actual combat, Sokka decided to learn the art of swordsmanship, wielding a Jian sword. Under the tutelage of the Fire Nation swordmaster Piandao, Sokka underwent various activities, including sparring matches with the butler Fat to hone his swordwielding skills and arts such as painting, calligraphy, and rock gardening to sharpen his mind. Eventually, when instructed to make his own sword, he used fragments of a meteorite that fell the night before to collect the metal needed to forge his blade. Sokka's sword, like his master's, was patterned on a Qing Dynasty jian, but had the properties of the alien material used for its creation, making it unique. The blade retained an unusual all-black appearance and was able to slice through the toughest materials, such as steel. Although Sokka proved unable to defeat his master in a duel, Piandao stated that Sokka possessed the traits that one day could make him an even greater swordsman than he was. During the passing of Sozin's Comet, Sokka was once again able to prove his proficient skills in fighting. Even after breaking his leg from a fall and holding onto Toph, who was about to fall to her death, he managed to take out two firebenders that were about to finish him off. He defeated them by drawing his boomerang and throwing it at the first firebender, knocking him out, and proceeding to kick his sword into the air, catching it and throwing it to slice through the platform on which the other firebender was standing. However, he lost both items in the process.

More examples were present in his training with Piandao. Sokka became an advanced swordsman rapidly, besting Piandao's servant, Fat, in just a couple of days. He also managed to gain a firm grasp on blacksmithing in that short time, as he forged his own sword and later a suit of armor for Appa. His unique critical thinking ability came into play often through the training exercises of Piandao. He "stamped his identity" on a page by applying ink to his face and rolling it across the paper after he was informed that he got a little of it on him while thinking. During the rock gardening exercise, he "manipulated the terrain to his advantage" by rolling boulders and relocating moss to make a sort of lounge chair in the shade, thus appealing to his love of relaxation.

Hand-to-hand combat
Training himself from a young age to be a warrior capable of defending his village, Sokka was always reasonably adept in a physical fight though initially unrefined and preferring to use weapons. After being humiliated by Suki in front of the Kyoshi Warriors, he humbled himself and requested to be trained by her. In a reasonably short period of time, Sokka improved enough to be able to physically defend himself from Suki and knock her on the ground in a friendly sparring session. He continued to improve his skills to the point where he proved competent enough to dodge Ty Lee's attacks and best Vachir in close combat, despite the latter's claims of being formally trained.

Trivia

 * Aside from Katara's opening narration, Sokka is the first character to speak in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * Sokka's sarcasm is also referred to as "Sok-casm".
 * Interestingly, both of Sokka's romantic partners have names that mean "moon", as "Yue" and "Suki" (as the anglicized version of "Tsuki") both refer to the moon in Chinese and Japanese, respectively.
 * Sokka was portrayed by Jackson Rathbone in the film adaptation, The Last Airbender. His portrayal earned him the Golden Raspberry award for the "Worst Supporting Actor" of 2010.
 * Sokka's favorite pastime was shopping, followed by developing plans.
 * Sokka mentioned that his "ponytail" was actually a "warrior's wolf tail", a traditional hairstyle sported by male Water Tribe warriors.
 * Sokka means "loverboy" in Zulu, which fits his character well.
 * Sokka was kissed far more times than any other character in the franchise, having been kissed at least three times in the first season alone, twice in the second season, at least three more in the third season, and at least once in The Promise trilogy, totaling a minimum of nine kisses.
 * Sokka was an active sleeper, meaning that he tossed and turned at night.
 * Sokka was seen or mentioned in every episode of the original series except "Zuko Alone".
 * Sokka's outfit for The Promise was meant to appear similar to Hakoda's character design, in order to symbolize their bond.
 * Sokka was often treated differently as a nonbender: prior to leaving for the Earth Kingdom, Sokka did not receive a parting gift from Pakku, while Katara and Aang received waterbending scrolls and spirit water.[42] Later on, Toph insulted him by saying that it was a three-on-three battle, and that Sokka did not count because he was not a bender. Afterward, Toph corrected herself, saying the group consisted of "three plus Sokka".[34] In the Fire Nation, Sokka wanted to help his team douse a fire before it reached the nearby town, but was told by Aang to just take care of Momo.
 * Sokka stated that he was unable to steer the pirate ship as it was not a Water Tribe vessel. This suggests that he was knowledgeable in operating Water Tribe ships.
 * According to Sokka, the reason he did not trust Aang when they first met was because he was a firebender in his past life, realizing this upon finding that Avatar Roku was a firebender.
 * Sokka gained forging skills when he made his own sword in a forge. He later made a suit of armor that fit Appa perfectly.
 * Sokka was one of the first outsiders to ever visit an air temple.
 * Sokka was ambidextrous to an extent. He was shown using both hands to write, attack, and draw in different situations. In some case, he even switched hands during an activity.
 * Sokka's face changed from the beginning to the end of the series. Originally, he had smaller eyes and an altogether more adult face than at the end. His arms also became more defined and muscular toward the end of the series.
 * Sokka is one of only two people, aside from the Avatars themselves, to have seen four Avatars in their lifetime, the other being Katara. He saw Roku and Kyoshi manifest themselves through Aang, knew Aang, and helped to save Avatar Korra from the Red Lotus when she was five.
 * Until Yue's death,[69] Sokka held little to no interest or respect for any spiritual matters. Even after her death, Sokka was the least spiritual of Team Avatar; his lack of concern for otherworldly sanctity was rivaled only by Toph's own disregard for the subject.
 * After LEGO released a Sokka minifigure in one of their product sets, the company's official site stated that Sokka's boomerang came from his father, Hakoda.

Sokka and Katara were created at the same time. The creators of the show liked the idea of a sibling rivalry, inspired by the fact that the two both had sisters. They were also attracted to the idea of the sister being a bender, while the brother was not.
 * Sokka was conceived as a thirteen-year-old, but after a suggestion from Eric Coleman, he was "aged up".


 * Sokka had an alter-ego named "Wang Fire", which he used while hiding in the Fire Nation.
 * Sometime after the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Sokka worked at a grocery store.
 * Sokka was twice mistaken for the Avatar, the first time in the comic "Sokka the Avatar" and the second in the episode "The Earth King".
 * Sokka is similar to Bolin, as they both:
 * Serve as comic relief from time to time.
 * Have a sibling who dated the Avatar.
 * Lost their mother to a firebender.
 * Came up with the name of their respective Team Avatar.
 * Had a romantic relationship with a Northern Water Tribe princess, as well as with a four lettered named, nonbender born, Earth Kingdom citizen, i.e., Suki & Opal.