I don’t know why I’m surprised that it’s taken this long to get through a series of comparative essays on two trilogies spanning days when you put them together. But I am. Let’s see if we can begin to tie everything together. Throughout this whole thing, my thesis has been that these two sagas tell (basically) the same story. And in terms of the archetypical fantasy saga regarding a hero or chosen one, they are. But there’s more to stories than the main character’s journey. The side characters are what make these stories unique from each other.
So what about the supporting characters of Avatar? Do they compare to the side characters of Star Wars? One way to find out!
I think I’ve covered the obvious comparison between Darth Vader and Zuko already, and I’ll talk about it more in the next concluding piece so…
We’ll begin with the first two characters we meet in Avatar: Sokka and Katara. In regards to character traits, Sokka proves himself a sharp tactician with a quick wit and he’s never short a joke (most of them bad, but with a few gems thrown in). He’s also the more cynical of the two. Katara is best described as motherly and hopeful, an optimist who hardly ever has her faith in her friends shaken.
As the main companions of Aang, this makes them most comparable to Han Solo and Leia. Han shares Sokka’s quick working mind (in regards to both getting out of situations and in his banter with other characters) and his general cynicism (especially in Episode IV). Leia fits with Katara a little bit better. She serves as a romantic interest for Luke (in Episodes IV and V) and Han (throughout the trilogy). Through the first couple episodes we see her ‘motherly’ side, comforting Luke after the death of Obi-Wan, looking after Han during the ordeal in Cloud City, and tending to Luke after his first fight with Vader. In the final episode we see the sort of unwavering confidence and faith in her friends that we see in Katara throughout the Avatar trilogy.
Appa fills the role of both Chewbacca and the Millenium Falcon. He’s the main source of transportation throughout the series, and is a large, fuzzy creature that communicates in roars and growls. Does that mean Momo is C-3PO or R2-D2? Not overly, but the relationship between Momo and Appa occasionally lines up with 3PO’s and Chewbacca’s relationship. They occasionally butt heads, but when one is in trouble the other is there to help.
Toph is difficult to place because her overwhelming self-confidence doesn’t really match any of the characters in Star Wars. On a very shallow level, she fits the sort of archetypal character we meet in Lando Calrissian. Both Toph and Lando don’t appear until around the mid-point of the second part of their respective sagas. Both cause friction and tension in the group when they join, but by the end of their second chapters, they’re firmly rooted as allies of the other main characters. Granted, Toph doesn’t betray everyone at the start, but like I said, this is a much shallower comparison.
Fire Lord Ozai and the Emperor clearly line up as main antagonists who we hear about throughout their sagas, but who we don’t actually meet until the final part, on the eve of their confrontation with the main protagonist. Both are clearly malevolent forces with essentially zero redeeming qualities and both wield incredible power. Both are also confident to a fault.
There are two main-side characters that don’t correspond to anyone in the original Star Wars trilogy: Iroh and Azula.
Azula, as Zuko’s sister, allows for a relationship-foil to Katara and Sokka’s sister-brother relationship. Whereas Katara and Sokka are mostly very supportive of each other, Zuko and Azula are constantly undercutting each other with Azula especially only helping Zuko when it suits her longer-term scheme. Unlike the Fire Lord, she gets more screen time and we get a better grasp of her character. It’s part of what makes the confrontation between her and Zuko almost more anticipated than the confrontation between Aang and Ozai. It isn’t outlandish though to compare her to Darth Vader. Beginning in season 2, the way she menaces the party is not unlike the obsessive menace Vader provides. The lack of a redemption story serves as a foil to Zuko’s role as ‘Vader.’ She’s also the one spinning the traps in seasons 2 and 3, rather than Zuko.
Before concluding with Iroh, I think it’s fair to say that the characters in Star Wars are built for the purpose of being strong as independent characters, recognizable through their own, stand-alone traits. The characters in Avatar are built more upon their relationships and through comparisons to other characters. Azula is such a strong character because of how she is differentiated from Zuko. The same goes for Katara and Sokka, Iroh and Zhao/Ozai, Mai and Ty Lee.
Speaking of Mai and Ty Lee, they’re the bounty hunters from episodes V and VI. They’re cool, we don’t see that much of them, and they help Azula (our new Vader) menace the good guys.
Alright, let’s conclude with Iroh. As the brother of Ozai and eldest son of Fire Lord Azulon he was the crown prince until his defeat at the walls of Ba Sing Se. His defeat was due to the loss of his son in battle which sapped him of the will to continue the siege. Ozai sprang upon this apparent weakness and asked Azulon to revoke Iroh’s right, which the Fire Lord did. When Zuko was banished, Iroh chose to travel with his nephew as a form of self-imposed banishment. Iroh acts through most of the series as a foil to every other Fire Nation individual, showing not ruthlessness, but compassion and wisdom. It also turns out he is the most powerful Firebender in the series (by marginal amounts, but still). He is the poster-child of the side characters in this show: a deep and complex backstory for someone who isn’t even one of the ‘main’ characters. If you pressed me to find a comparison in the Star Wars trilogy, it’d probably be Admiral Ackbar, but like I said, there’s not really a character who lines up with Iroh. Uncle Iroh represents the grey areas of the antagonists in the Avatar series that aren’t present in Star Wars.
Samuel G Whitesell 