[3] Katara's history is marked by loss and the temptation of vengeance; she once stood before the man who killed her mother, with the power to end his life, yet she chose mercy, a choice speaks volumes of strength of her character.

[10] Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino originally conceived Aang, Katara, and Sokka as younger characters, but they were all aged-up by two years during development at the insistence of executive producer Eric Coleman, who said that Nickelodeon was not looking for coming-of-age stories.

[11] In the commentary of the unaired pilot episode, co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino state that Katara's "hair loopies" were intended to hang downward.

[8] In "The Women of Avatar: The Last Airbender" special on The Complete Book Three Collection, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have stated that they envision Katara as the deuteragonist of the series, as well as the "person the story is being told through".

[12] Bryan Konietzko has stated that a major inspiration behind Katara's character was a girl he knew in high school who was a few years older than him.

The epilogue of the series in the bible concludes with the two going their separate ways; Katara sails off with Sokka and Hakoda to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe, while Aang flies off with Appa and Momo to search for other Air Nomads living in an unexplored part of the world.

Katara's history is marked by loss and the temptation of vengeance; she once stood before the man who killed her mother, with the power to end his life, yet she chose mercy.

Katara tends to be kind, empathetic, and generous, but is often stubborn or confined by her morals; becomes angry if doubted, insulted, or betrayed; and carries resentment for years on end.

Katara has a fear of abandonment; holding a grudge against her father for leaving their family to fight in the war, and is troubled by Aang frequently running away without warning.

[23] For the majority of the series, Katara mothers Aang, and despite her eventual limerence for him, views him as a younger brother rather than a love interest.

Bryan Konietzko has described the relationship between Katara and Aang as, "that dynamic of being the young kid having a crush on the older girl, and she loves you but like a babysitter, you know, like a little brother or something".

[25] Though her interests lay in developing her waterbending skills, she resigned herself to cooking and cleaning duties while her brother, Sokka, trained to become a warrior.

[30] At an Earth Kingdom stronghold, General Fong places Katara's life in danger to induce Aang's Avatar State, but achieves only destruction.

Later, she offers to teach Katara a waterbending technique called "bloodbending", which enables physical control of animals and humans.

When the war ends, she is seen in Ba Sing Se with the other protagonists and shares a kiss with Aang, starting a romantic relationship with him.

[34][35] In the sequel series The Legend of Korra, Katara, now eighty-five, is one of the three surviving members of the original Team Avatar, along with Zuko and Toph.

She is a high-ranking member of the White Lotus and took it upon herself to train Korra in waterbending, becoming the latest in a line of masters to serve as a teacher to multiple Avatars.

She plays a minor role in the first season of the series, only giving Korra her blessing to leave for Republic City to train with Tenzin and attempting to unsuccessfully heal her after she loses her waterbending, earthbending, and firebending abilities to Amon.

While together with them, Katara, holding her new grandson Rohan, watches sadly as she notices Kya and Bumi joking at Tenzin's expense.

At the end of the episode, Katara implores that Tenzin take his brother and sister with him to the Southern Air Temple, saying that he will enjoy looking back on the time he had to spend with his siblings and that it might be best for the three to visit their father's home together.

Waterbending emphasizes "softness and breathing" over "hard aggression"; fluid and graceful, acting in concert with the environment; and creating opportunities where none exist.

On one instance, Katara knocked down the entire Dai Li, Zuko, and Azula while riding atop a giant wave.

[33] This ability consists in manipulating the water inside a creature's body, leaving the target unable to move or resist in any way.

Many reviewers cited inconsistencies within the plot and between the screenplay and the source material, as well as the acting, characterization, writing and casting and has been considered to be one of the worst adaptations ever made.

[54] DiMartino and Konietzko were initially announced to be the executive producers and showrunners, but they later left the production citing "creative differences".

[58] Rachel Sandell of Collider argued that Katara had one of the "best character arcs" in Avatar: The Last Airbender and a female protagonist not afraid to "admit areas in which she can grow".

[59] Tasha Robinson of Syfy has praised Katara's character as "smart, capable" but has also stated that she is "almost a generic anime heroine".