So I bought “The Lost Adventures” yesterday and Sokka's Poem almost made me cry the person who wrote it is a genius because it’s so PAINFULLY in character

If you haven’t read it ->

“Oh I know Sokka and his dumb jokes Sokka who lost his girlfriend to the moon. Sokka who can’t even bend paper except with his mitts. But at the risk of blowing my own horn, who rescued Suki from the prison at Boiling rock? Who defeated the wolf spirit? Well sort of. Lots of battles to fight, lots of strategy to craft, It’s a busy life But then night comes. The air is still the waters placid the fire banked the earth dense and unyielding. No one is combining with a spirit. No one is reincarnating. No one is kidnapped. Everything sleeps. Everyone vulnerable, barefoot, and drowsy. This is me at my best, when people I love or revere or both need me whether they know it or not. I almost never sleep. There’s too much to do and only I can do it!”

I would like to gently remind you all that this is canon before I continue.

I know Sokka is the main comic relief character and everyone focuses mainly on Katara and Zuko's trauma because it's the most visible but I think there is really something to be said about how Sokka copes by being a Type A personality.

I've said this before but I'll say it again. Sokka is the one who has arguably the most reason to be paranoid. There has not been a single person in his life that he has cared about who hasn't been killed, kidnapped, or tortured. It's often overlooked because the gaang is all friends with the same people but it's deeper than that.

Yeah Katara and Aang liked Yue but not like Sokka loved her, and the same goes for Sukki. Sokka is such an intense lover and always dives in head first for every one he meets even if he denies it (see: the nomads from the tunnel) and that's a depth that I think is sometimes lost on us as well as the other characters.

On top of that he is self aware. He knows how much he loves and cares for the people around him and he knows that they're constantly in danger. I also find it hard to believe that he wouldn't realize the effect that his trauma has on him especially in terms of paranoia.

He is the one who makes the plans and hides the bodies and protects them while they sleep because he's the oldest. So he spares them all he can so that they might retain even the smallest bit of a childhood that he was never allowed to have.

In the comic when he speaks the last few lines it is also over a frame of Zuko which is so special to me as well because even though he isn't younger- Sokka truly doesn't mind being the protector of the people he loves. He never complains, never mentions it, and never falters.

I could go on about him for days because the poem in this book really intensely highlighted my favorite aspect of his character and the one I relate to the most. A lot of media focuses on sibling rivalry and it means so much to me that the A:tLA writers chose to focus on the need/want to protect your siblings from anything that could harm them.

It’s skipping meals because you don’t feel like you deserve to eat today. It’s having sex because you want to be used or abused or defiled. It’s drinking recklessly because you might have the ‘courage’ do something stupid. It’s smoking - not because you need the nicotine - because you know it’s bad for you. It’s banging your head against a wall when you’re angry. It’s crossing the road without looking because you lowkey hope a car might hit you. It’s thinking about all the ways you could break a bone and make it look like an accident. It’s not taking painkillers because you want to suffer. It’s taking painkillers in excess because you know it’s dangerous. It’s walking home the more dangerous way because you’re kind of half hoping you’ll get attacked or raped or stabbed. It’s going for long walks at night and getting chilled to the bone and hoping that you get lost so that you can’t find your way back. It’s seeking out triggering material. It’s all the stupid little ways you punish yourself for existing.

Sometimes self harm happens when you put effort into depriving yourself of things you like or need, and sometimes it happens when you don’t put any effort into doing the things you like or need.

It’s a pattern of self-destructive behaviour, and it doesn’t only happen in one way.