While Katara (Mae Whitman) and Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) became a couple at the end of the third and final season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, many fans of the series still believe Katara and Zuko (Dante Basco) would have made a better match. While Aang and Katara were close friends throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, their eventual romantic pairing during the finale "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang" had been developed since early on in the series, long before Katara and Zuko even began to form a close friendship. Here’s why Katara ending up with Aang is better than her ending up with Zuko.
Throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe started out as dire enemies. Katara and Zuko formed a mutual hatred for each other based on their own biased opinion of their national roots; to Zuko, Katara was the “water tribe peasant” whose strong water-bending skills often prevented him from capturing the Avatar, while Katara’s hatred for the Fire Nation converged on Zuko, the embodiment of the cruel nation responsible for the death of her mother. Despite being victims of the Fire Nation’s regime, Katara and Zuko eventually became friends after Zuko ed Team Avatar in season 3 and they bonded over their shared trauma of losing their mothers to the Fire Nation. Katara and Zuko’s chemistry invited fans to ship the two as a couple, but they never became romantically involved.
Zuko and Katara’s relationship may have been too toxic to evolve into a healthy romantic relationship, especially given the fact that Avatar: The Last Airbender’s target audience when it aired on Nickelodeon was for children age 9 to 14. In season 1, Zuko started out as Katara’s tormentor, who hunted Aang, her brother Sokka (Jack De Sena), and herself across the world with the intention of handing over their friend to be killed by Fire Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill). Zuko held Katara captive during the episode “The Waterbending Scroll” from season 1, bartering for the Avatar’s location with her mother’s stolen necklace. In season 2, when Katara began to trust Zuko within the Crystal Catacombs, Zuko betrays her and helps Azula attack and mortally wound Aang.
Unlike Katara and Zuko’s relationship, Katara and Aang had a better foundation based on trust, honesty, and mutual respect built over years of friendship. As early as season 1, they encourage each other and work together to improve their bending techniques, with Aang even giving up his training at the Northern Water Tribe when Master Pakku refuses to teach Katara. They both establish a good line of communication, with Aang confessing his guilt over running away from the Southern Air Temple and essentially causing the hundred year war to Katara alone. Not only do they maintain a healthy relationship even before they became a couple, but their personalities are more alike, since both exhibit an upbeat, optimistic attitude.
Moreover, Katara and Zuko’s friendship allowed them to grow as people in a way that couldn’t have been achieved had they become a couple. Through his friendship with Katara, Zuko accomplishes the goal he’s had since season 1: regaining his honor. While Zuko wanted to capture the Avatar to prove to his father that he was a worthy son, what he really wanted was his father’s love and acceptance. Coming to the conclusion on his own in “The Day of Black Sun: Part 2” that he would never regain his family’s acceptance, Zuko finds a familial love anyway through Katara, whose kind and nurturing nature makes her the sister he never had, in place of Azula. When Zuko jumps in front of Azula’s lightning to save Katara during the series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender, it is an act that truly restores his honor, since he sacrifices himself to save someone he once considered a lowly water tribe peasant, but now considers to be like family.