Zuko And Katara In The Southern Raiders: A Catholic Analysis On Justice And Healing
Fandom Discourse
The Southern Raiders, written by Elizabeth Welch, is popularly viewed as one of the best episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is also arguably the most debated episode of the show. Justice vs revenge, forgiveness, closure, healing are only some of the topics that have been brought up in regards to this episode. However, one of the biggest arguments I have seen is whether Zuko was a bad influence on Katara. Let's take a look.
Katara's Condition Before Zuko's Intervention
Katara starts this episode acting not much like herself. The Fire Nation separates her from her father for the third time, triggering her. While the other members of Team Avatar are all talking, laughing, and having a great time, Katara is quiet, withdrawn, seething, and bitter(highly unlike her usual self). She makes a mean-spirited remark about Zuko, thus dampening the lighthearted atmosphere and gets up to isolate herself from the group. It's clear that the only thing poisoning Katara is harboring anger over the fire nation for breaking up her family, most especially her mother's murder(as evidenced by her confrontation with Zuko)
Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you? Katara: You really want to know? Hmm, maybe you could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King. Or, I know! You could bring my mother back!
If she had just been left alone, chances are she would have grown more and more bitter, seeing as no one else tried to talk to her and figure out what was going on and she herself didn't seek out anyone to talk to.
Justice And Anger As A Moral Emotion
In a murder case, the most you can do for the victim's relatives is to provide them with justice and emotional closure as it would not be possible to naturally bring the victim back to life. This part of Zuko's mindset makes sense. He recognizes that Katara is still bitter about her mother's death after all these years and decides that they should do something about it (Action is Zuko's established way of dealing with issues).
Katara's anger in this episode, by all Catholic standards is justifiable, understandable and a result of an unprocessed emotional and psychological wound. Yon Rha murdered Katara's mother and got away with no consequences and no repercussions, this is an unjust situation. Although killing him would not be the right choice(primarily because Katara is not an official judge), going after Yon Rha, confronting him and making him face the reality of his crime was a completely just pursuit and very much a good idea.
Zuko didn't see going after Yon Rha as being wrong; he saw it as justice, and he was mostly right.
Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.
Katara's desire to not let Yon Rha get away with his crime is in fact a righteous desire not a vengeful one. Neither Katara nor Zuko suggest that they're going to kill Yon Rha, Aang is the first to suggest this by calling the whole ordeal revenge(this was also risky because it had the potential of planting the idea in her head, simply asking her would've been the wiser choice), Katara then doesn't deny it nor does she confirm it, she says maybe.
Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!
Katara's lines indicate;
A sense of moral duty
Katara: Now that I know he's out there ... now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice. Katara: Maybe that's what he deserves!
And a desire for emotional release
Katara: Maybe that's what I need!
Showing that her intentions at this point in time are mix of righteous anger and vengeful anger
The Forgiveness Dilemma
Aang's stance on this issue is that Katara should forgive Yon Rha. This ideal is morally sound but poorly applied in Katara's situation. Telling Katara to forgive while the emotional wound is unprocessed and untreated poses many risks. It puts the burden of reconciliation on the victim; which is wrong, it leads to coerced false forgiveness, fragile peace, and is an injustice in and of itself because it seeks to forget the victim.
Forgiveness without some form of justice is what we call hollow forgiveness. It downplays the seriousness of the crime and the impact on the victim. We see this in how God deals with humanity; this principle specifically reflects the Christian understanding of why Jesus' death on the cross was a necessary occurrence. God chose not to just forgive humanity because forgiving humanity without anyone paying for the sins downplays its seriousness and is unjust to the victims that have suffered at the hands of sin. The only issue is that we as humans are unable to completely pay for our guilt, meaning we'd spend all eternity doing so.
God decides that He will absorb all the eternal justice that humanity is due, hence the cross and Christ's passion. Now that all humanity's eternal justice has been meted out, God's forgiveness can flow in abundance to anyone who wants it until their last breath or the end of the age(Basically Jn.3:16).
Contrary to Aang's statement, especially in a case like Katara's, where her pain stems from loss and injustice, forgiveness is not the first step towards healing; it's the last. A person's ability to forgive without coercion is a sign of completed healing, not the first step to it.
Accompaniment Over Correction: Why Zuko's Approach Works
When dealing with an emotionally and psychologically wounded soul, Catholic moral theology emphasizes something called accompaniment over correction.
Accompaniment is the act of walking alongside someone in their emotional or moral journeyāproviding presence, support, and validationāwithout imposing immediate solutions or judgments. It provides psychological safety to process trauma, empowers moral agency, and prevents premature moralizing. Accompaniment is what Jesus demonstrates with His disciples on the road to Emmaus(Luke 24:13ā35) and what Zuko near perfectly does in this episode.
āJesus himself came near and went with them.ā (Lk 24:15)
In the story, Jesus;
Draws near and walks with His disciples
Listens to their story
Acknowledges their grief and takes their state of mind seriously'
Teaches them scripture and gives them instruction, once He's dealt with their grief.
The fourth point is the only thing Zuko doesn't do, and I'll explain why this was a better choice, writing-wise, for Katara's character growth.
Practical And Emotional Support: How Zuko Helps Katara
Katara wasn't blinded by rage in this episode, she definitely felt rage but it didn't chaotically dominate her actions. She shows a notable amount of restraint throughout and isn't shown regretting any of her actions by the end of the episode(an indication that she knew what she was doing). However, Katara could've easily become blinded by rage, and a large part of the reason this didn't happen was Zuko's accompaniment.
Zuko vocally acknowledges the injustice of Katara's situation. This helps to affirm Katara that what happened to her wasn't her fault and that her anger is justified.
His presence keeps Katara from isolation
He takes care of all technical responsibilities concerning the trip(packing, planning, locating the place, flying Appa, getting the right information and pulling his weight in combat). This is important because it relieves Katara of all responsibility, thus allowing her to focus on herself, how she feels and what she'll do once she gets there.
He checks on her and looks after her well-being when she forgets/ignores it(Telling her to get some sleep and checking to see if she still wants to do this by asking if she's ready)
He provides a listening and attentive ear when she narrates the tragedy. This allows her to air out the memory, get it off her chest and process it better.
He makes a sympathetic and comforting remark about her mother. ("Your mother was a brave woman")
He backs her up physically and is protective of her without her being portrayed as a damsel in distress.
He shows anger, intimidation and a menacing attitude towards the man who they thought killed her mother, he accuses him of doing a horrible thing and shoves the reality of the crime in his face.
Zuko: You don't remember her? You will soon, trust me.
Zuko glaring at the captain of the Southern Raiders
Zuko: [Bending down closer to the commander.] Don't lie! You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did.
This is especially important for Katara to see. When someone defends you and shows passionate anger towards someone who has deeply hurt and wronged you, this validates the way you feel, it lets you know you're not crazy or ridiculous for feeling the way you feel, it lets you know that you're seen, understood, supported and not to blame for the way you feel.
He doesn't coerce her to spare Yon Rha. Katara being able to face the perpetrator, name his crime to his face, have all the power to kill him but choosing mercy based off of her own moral judgement and perception built true virtue within her. If she had spared him out of force or out of obedience to a human despite not wanting to, it would no longer be considered true virtue.
He took her to Ember Island, allowing her to be alone and reflect on the most emotional journey of her life.
He fills the others in on what happened thus, keeping her from being bombarded with questions.
Aang's Approach: Ethically Admirable But Psychologically Limited
Aang wanting Katara to forgive and not wanting her to kill are morally sound ideals and are consistent with his air nomadic view of inner peace and pacificism and it's good that he eventually conceded to let Katara go. His main issue however is how he approaches the situation. Aang prioritized correction and moralization over accompaniment.
Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish? Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet. Aang: The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself. Aang: Katara, you do have a choice: forgiveness.
This approach, while well meaning, is psychologically ineffective. Trying to do correction(though still very important) before the emotional work of validation, comfort and sympathy serves the effect of coming across as insensitive and uncaring and leads to hardening the heart to guidance rather than softening it.
Going on a quiet trip for days with a companion who spends the whole trip being supportive, looking after your well-being, taking care of all technical responsibilities, providing a listening ear, providing sympathy and validating your justified feelings is far more conducive to remaining grounded, unblinded by rage and having a clear enough mental space to make the right choice.
Even with Aang's instruction, if Katara had gone alone to face Yon Rha, her chances of killing him would've been much higher because she'd be isolated, unsupported, uncared for and have no one to talk to.
Mercy Without Coercion: Katara's Genuine virtue
In catholic and Aristotelian ethics,
virtue is not just doing the right thing, but becoming the kind of person who chooses the good willingly and knowingly.
Katara's decision to spare Yon Rha constitutes genuine virtue because she faces the evil head on, had all the power to kill him in his already pathetic state but chooses mercy because of her own internal convictions, moral judgements and assessments. If she had spared him because she was obeying someone else's moral authority, out of fear or any other external influence, it would no longer be genuine virtue but rather moral compliance(which isn't bad but not as valuable long-term).
Katara's achievement of genuine virtue ties back into accompaniment, because Zuko's accompaniment created the space for Katara to feel everything, think clearly and choose freely. Zuko may have believed that Yon Rha's justice should've come in the form of a death penalty but he didn't try to coerce or influence Katara into doing what he thought. The writing choice of having Zuko not be the one to convince Katara to spare Yon Rha, allowed all the credit for the decision to go to her, thus enabling the development of genuine virtue.
The Aftermath
The episode ends with Katara having no regrets in regards to anything about the trip, still morally conflicted about sparing Yon Rha, but smiling at, forgiving and hugging Zuko.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the episode doesn't present Zuko as a poor/toxic influence but rather uses him to demonstrate the importance of accompaniment in dealing with emotional trauma and allows Katara to achieve true virtue of her own agency without external coercion.
Analytical Note:
This essay draws on Catholic moral theology, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and contemporary trauma psychology in its analysis of character development and moral agency in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
