The four-part Avatar: The Last Airbender finale, “Sozin’s Comet,” is full of thrilling victories for Team Avatar. However, Sokka, the brave water tribe warrior and lead strategist for the team, suffered two great losses during his last battle. Even though he and the rest of Team Avatar escape relatively unscathed, Sokka sacrifices both his trusty boomerang and his meteor sword in the fight against the Fire Nation’s soldiers.
In “Sozin’s Comet,” Sokka, Suki, and Toph hijack the Fire Nation’s fleet of airships before they’re able to reach the Earth Kingdom. Sokka and Toph are separated from Suki and chased by Fire Nation soldiers. They end up dangling from the airship while the soldiers prepare to bend fire at them. As a last resort, Sokka knocks the soldiers off the ship by throwing his boomerang and his sword at them. Suki steers an airship into the fleet, saving Sokka and Toph, but Sokka’s boomerang and space sword are lost for good. It’s a heartbreaking moment that gets lost in the rest of the finale as Team Avatar ultimately triumphs over Fire Lord Ozai and restores balance to the world.
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Sokka’s boomerang and sword were very important to his image of himself, as both a warrior and a member of Team Avatar. Each weapon allowed him to hold his own against some extremely powerful benders and develop his unique fighting style. Even though Team Avatar wins all of their battles – Aang defeats Ozai, Zuko and Katara beat Azula, and Sokka, Suki, and Toph take down the airships – Sokka’s loss still stings because of the significance both of these weapons have with regards to his personality and growth over the series.
One of the most iconic things about Sokka is his boomerang. Throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sokka uses this simple weapon to fight several formidable enemies, including the Rough Rhinos and the terrifying Combustion Man. Not only is his boomerang a useful weapon, it is also a link to Sokka’s Southern Water Tribe roots. His father, Chief Hakoda, gave him the boomerang before departing for war. Hakoda is an incredibly important figure in Sokka’s life, and for a while the boomerang was all he had left of him. The boomerang connected Sokka to his father and his home while on his journeys with Aang, and it also helped him and the rest of Team Avatar out of some sticky situations.
Sokka makes his sword in season 3, episode 4, “Sokka’s Master.” Feeling inadequate compared to his bender friends, Sokka learns the art of sword-fighting from White Lotus member Master Piandao and forges his own sword from the metal in a meteor. The entire episode is a celebration of Sokka’s ingenuity, with his unique space sword highlighting his creativity as a fighter and strategist. Even though Sokka wields this sword for less than a season, it helps grow even more into the image he has of himself as a brave warrior.
Both Sokka’s boomerang and sword are incredibly important to him and his journey throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, and losing them in the finale is a devastating blow for him. However, Sokka is not only the weapons that he fights with. He is smart and creative all on his own. Promotional art for The Legend of Korra depicts adult Sokka with a sword and boomerang, so he must have gained new weapons at some point after the original series ended. While he is the member of Team Avatar who loses the most in the finale, it’s comforting to know that he gets his trusty weapons back in some form.
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