Is Toph a better teacher than Katara?
So I was thinking about Toph and Aang this week and how amazing their fight chemistry is. Katara and Aang had their moments in season 1 when they were both novices...but after Katara became a master, it wasn't the same.
Anyway, I think Toph is a better teacher than Katara. For two reasons.
First, Toph pushed Aang to reach his potential in ways Katara never did. Earth was Aang's weakest element...yet earth arguably became his second best/used element in battle. In Bitter Work, Katara sounded like a preschool teacher talking about positive reinforcement in that maternal voice of hers whenever she talks about Aang. Yeah, I think Toph was borderline crazy in that episode and she was obviously getting used to teaching. But I believe if Toph used Katara's approach he would have not have become a great earthbender. Given how well Aang is at earthbending by the time the series ended, I think Aang should have been performing way better at waterbending given his natural proficiency, if Katara was a good teacher.
We don't see Katara passing on her specialised skills the way Toph does. Toph taught Aang her seismic sense. Yet, we don't see Katara passing on her tricks to Aang. You could say it's because of the short time before the finale...
But even with their kids, you see it! Toph's daughters can both metalbend. We see Lin and Suyin use metalbending in amazing ways - like Suyin metalbending the poison from Korra.
We don't see this with Kya. I admit that I haven't really seen much of Kya fighting outside of her battles with the Red Lotus. And she was an awesome fighter. But we don't really see any of Katara's ingenuity and skills in her. Katara learnt how to summon water from the air and plants. Katara learnt how to use her own body liquids to her advantage. It's a shame Katara was so ashamed of her bloodbending - imagine how badass Kya would have been against Zaheer if she had bloodbending in her arsenal ๐ซฐ๐พ๐ซฐ๐พ๐ซฐ๐พ. Zaheer and Ming Hua wouldn't have stood a chance. I think Katara's daughter should be able to do so many cool things with water. I also think the writers did Kya dirty by making her lose so badly all the time.
Maybe I am grasping at straws. I don't mean to undermine Katara...but it really seems like Toph is a superior teacher. As evidenced by Aang and their kids.
