Wikibending:
Seige of Ba Sing Se
The Five Wisdoms
Bumi
Metalbending
Hundred Year War
The Floral Crisis
The Clash of the Comet
Southern Water Tribe Constitutional Convention
Azula
Equalist Party
Hakoda was born in 59 AG in the then-small village of Arjugaatchia in the Southern Water Tribe, son of Ataataga of the Allik Clan and Kanna, a refugee from the North leaving an arranged marriage, and one of the last connections before the Water Tribes were separates by the misfortunes of war. Ataataga was made chief of the clan when Hakoda was 6, and would serve with distinction during the wars against the Fire Nation, including as a ship captain on the raid that prompted the construction of the Great Gates of Azulon.
However the defining feature of Hakoda’s upbringing would not be victory, but grim defeat. The Southern Water Tribe became a poor target for Fire Nation raids, aimed specifically at kidnapping or killing Waterbenders. This in turn made it more difficult for Water Tribe ships to defeat the Fire Nation at sea, which in turn made raids easier for the Fire Nation. The beleaguered Earth Kingdom could offer little aid, while the Northern Water Tribe was able to escape the same fate, mainly by utterly abandoning their Southern cousins to their fate, a fact that caused no little resentment among Southerners. By the time Hakoda came of age War Chief Tuktu had been captured, to die in Fire Nation captivity.
The Southern Water Tribe, always fractious, shattered. Clans did not wind up in open war, but coordination was lost. No longer would united operations be undertaken. No longer would any attacks be made on the Fire Nation, or the Fire Fleet. Nor would there be any sort of coordinated defensive strategy, no forts on outlying islands as there once had been, no aid from neighboring clans in times of need. This, naturally, made the South even more easily targeted by the Fire Nation, and soon Water Benders were nearly completely eliminated.
Nonetheless, the Water Tribe trundled on, and the Allik Clan was no exception. Hakoda grew up the son of a Chief, although such distinctions meant less and less as the Tribe dwindled. His physical prowess was considered mediocre, especially compared to his best friend Bato. However his ingenuity was renowned, and his skill with traps was said to bring in as much meat as the greatest hunters of the tribe. He also became known for his memorization of ancient oral epics and his recitations to the tribe.
Hakoda also served as a warrior for his Clan and his Tribe, often manning the walls when Fire Nation raiders attacked his village. Hakoda’s knack for innovation again shone through, as his abilities to create booby traps and plan strategies to confuse and defeat the Fire Nation often proved successful. His willingness to share these strategies with other Clans endeared him to all across the South Pole. Hakoda’s ability to inspire his men to action and fight on was also widely known.
Hakoda would marry Kya, of the nearby Inikuk Clan in 83 AG, to much celebration, and many came from across the South to congratulate the happy couple. Even if many found his choice of jokes at his speech somewhat inappropriate. Kya and Hakoda would have two children, Sokka and Katara, both of whom would become famous in their own right. In 89 Ataataga died, and by general acclamation Hakoda succeeded him as chief, continuing to lead his men into battle against the Fire Nation, whose raids were becoming deadlier if more infrequent with the lack of Water Benders in many areas of the South.
There was, however a water bender in Arjugaatchia, Hakoda’s daughter Katara. Efforts were kept to maintain the secret, but word eventually leaked to the Fire Nation, who mounted a major raid on the tribe. The traitors who had sold the information to the Fire Nation were executed prior to the raid, in the traditional manner of being cast into an ice crevice. Given the events of the raid, this probably spared them a more gruesome demise.
The Raid of 94 was devastating to the Allik Clan in particular, with many homes destroyed and loved ones lost. For Hakoda personally the most devastating was the death of his beloved wife Kya, struck down by a fire bender while defending their daughter Katara. The Southern Raiders would eventually withdraw, as they always did, leaving a shell-shocked community and a grieving Chief.
However, Hakoda would not remain idle and spent much of the next few years traveling the South. Learning both about the Clans and the war, finding what information existed about the Fire Nation. He quickly came to several conclusions. Firstly, if united, the Southern Water Tribe could still play a key role in the war at sea. Secondly, the war would not be won in the South. The fate of the world rested in the great struggle between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Thus, he began to pitch a bold plan. The South should unite once more, and send her warriors North to fight. Fight the Fire Nation wherever possible and bring victory to the Earth King. Only then could the South be free. It was a bold plan. But Hakoda’s logic, reputation, and skill at public speaking would win him the support he needed.
Hakoda would claim surprise at being selected War Chief of the South for his expectation, but he in all likelihood expected this outcome. It was his plan, and as such it only made sense he would be given overall command of the fleet that departed the Southern Water Tribe in 97 AG.
The Fire Navy still patrolled the seas quite tightly, but Hakoda knew the waters well and weaved his way through the islands of the Southern Sea expertly to avoid being caught. It was only at the final moment when tracked by one Captain Zhao, Hakoda’s fleet was caught by Admiral Kaya’s Southern Fleet by Whale Tale island. Battle was briefly joined, and the Fire Navy seemed to be getting the better of it, but the wind shifted and Hakoda fled north. Fatefully, Kaya ignored Zhao’s begging and declined to leave his command area, allowing the Southerners to slip the noose.
Kaya might have expected the Home Fleet under Admiral Mizuho to intercept. But the prestigious Home Fleet was perhaps too prestigious for its own good. Ships that were impressive looking but outdated or impractical. Crews who were eager to be close to home and out of harm’s way rather than fighting, Officers who had achieved their positions via politics, not merit.
The Fire Nation had controlled the Mao Ce Sea, and the shipping lines between the home islands and the colonies for so long military escorts were hardly ever used. The home fleet sat in port most of the time. So there was plenty for Hakoda to raid. His men seized industrial products headed to the war front from the homeland, and they seized food and raw materials going from the colonies to the home islands. After years of being an afterthought, the “Water Tribe barbarian” returned to the forefront of Fire Nation propaganda.
Further disaster struck when Mizuho sortied in an attempt to defeat Hakoda. Hakoda hugged close to the shore, where the deeper Fire Nation ships had difficulty navigating and laid an ambush. The Third Battle of the Mao Ce Sea (the first two having been over half a century prior) was a devastating defeat for the Fire Nation. Hakoda would be forced to abandon his second in command Bato due to injury. He also failed to coordinate his campaign with any other anti-Fire Nation force and so little long term was gained, despite some delays as a result of shipping disruptions. However, for a time he truly ruled the waves.
Eventually, however, Admiral Kaya and the Southern Fleet would steam North, and Hakoda surmised that he could not defeat a battle-ready fleet. Thus, he turned North as well, sailing around the northwestern extremities of the Earth Kingdom, again benefiting from the mistakes of the Fire Navy. The Northern Fleet had not been informed that he was fleeing, and so was not positioned to stop him.
Hakoda might have continued North towards his Northern Cousins and found a safe harbor. But that may have given time for the Northern Fleet to pursue, Hakoda never entirely trusted Northerners, and he remained committed to his assumptions surrounding the Earth Kingdom guiding the fate of the war. However, he must have been seriously considering it, as the route he took would have made no sense otherwise.
Hakoda now turned back South for the first time, heading up the River Dashe in mid-98 AG. The River had been under Fire Nation control for some time now, despite being a key front earlier in the war, and so again Fire Nation forces were not particularly prepared. But guerrilla attacks by Earthbenders meant that the garrisons and towns lining the river were fairly experienced. So rather than a prolonged stay, Hakoda’s Dashe River campaign was more one long-running fight down the river, rather than a prolonged stay. Although Hakoda was able to inflict great damage, his own fleet was heavily mauled in the process, unable to escape to safe harbor or even over the horizon in the narrow confines of the River.
Hakoda exited the River into the Great Western Lake, which was also largely under Fire Nation control. Hakoda would seek to evade rather than confront the Fire Navy here, his men exhausted and somewhat demoralized. If their intended destination had been the Great Lakes the entire time, they muttered, they should have taken the shorter Jiantau Route inland, rather than circle the Earth Kingdom and take the longer and more treacherous Dashe. However, Hakoda remained broadly well-liked, in part because he always shared in the hardship of his men, there was never any serious talk of mutiny.
Hakoda would slip through the lake and into the last toeholds of Earth Kingdom control, where he was treated coolly. The Earth Kingdom had been fighting without allies for years now and were suspicious of offers of aid. He was ordered to proceed to the more secure Great Eastern Lake, than travel by land to Ba Sing Se to account for himself. However, this order was countermanded by Long Feng, who feared obvious foreigners in the capital would cause unnecessary excitement. Hakoda and his men were ordered to defend Chameleon Bay, at the other end of the Tuman River. Important yes, but not the main target of Fire Nation advances in the Earth Kingdom.
Hakoda would spend the next months impatiently defending Chameleon Bay. He turned the region into a fortress and picked fights with the otherwise uninterested Fire Nation forces. He was bored and felt he should be doing more, but felt bound to support the Earth Kingdom’s effort.
Hakoda had by this point heard that his two children, Sokka and Katara, were traveling with Avatar Aang, a fact of which he was quite proud once he was convinced of its veracity. However, in early 100 AG, he would finally see his son, who had learned of his location in Ba Sing Se. Hakoda and Sokka would participate in a raid together, but the reunion would not last long as Sokka returned to Ba Sing Se to combat the coup unfolding there.
Alas, this would fail and the Earth Kingdom would fall. Hakoda’s position became untenable with the Fire Army advancing behind him and the Avatar unconscious. However, Sokka did reveal the intelligence regarding the impending Solar Eclipse and his plans for an invasion of the Fire Nation. Hakoda agreed to a modified invasion plan and ordered his fleet to scatter, with an assigned rendezvous point. Each section would pick up allies for the invasion. Swamp Water Benders. Fugitive inventors. A regiment of highly organized soldiers from Omashu.
Hakoda would initially escort the (unconscious) Avatar through the Great Lakes, aboard a captured and commandeered Fire Nation vessel. There were a few close calls, but Hakoda would keep the Avatar safe until Aang awoke and departed for the Fire Nation. This time, Hakoda would use the Jiantau River, much to the relief of his crew. Hakoda would spend the next months assembling allies and reuniting with his fleet, before reuniting with the Avatar, deep in the Fire Nation’s home waters, hiding his Water Tribe ships by disassembling them in the hulls of captured Fire Nation vessels until the Invasion came.
The Day of Black Sun, jointly developed by Hakoda and Sokka, was perhaps the boldest operation undertaken by the Allies during the Hundred Years War. Taking advantage of the natural loss of Fire Benders during a solar eclipse, Hakoda would lead a small strike force into the very heart of the Fire Nation Capital, a crippling decapitation that would end the war in one stroke.
Alas, it was not to be. The Fire Nation had advance warning of both the attack and the eclipse. So while the invasion was able to push all the way to the Royal Palace, it was unable to secure victory. Worse still Fire Nation air attacks destroyed the invasion’s fleet, rendering escape impossible. Only the Avatar and other children, including Sokka and Katara, were able to escape. Hakoda was captured, along with the entirety of his expedition, which ended in inglorious defeat.
It would take Hakoda several weeks to be identified as Hakoda since the Water Tribe prisoners refused to talk to their captors. But eventually guards eavesdropping identified Hakoda and shipped him off to the feared Boiling Rock, reserved for the most dangerous of the Fire Lord’s enemies.
This would prove fortuitous for Hakoda, as the day he arrived was the day his son Sokka, and the defecting Prince Zuko arrived to break him out, unaware that he had not been there already. Along with Suki, Sokka’s future wife and leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and noted escape artist Chit Sang.
However once again his time with his family was short-lived, as an airship attack by Azula would separate him from the Avatar and his allies again. He and Chit Sang would be left leading an eclectic group of children for the final days of the war, leading a series of minor raids on lands surrounding the Western Air Temple before hunkering down on the day of Sozin’s Comet.
Afterward, he would receive word via a very confused messenger Hawk, that the war had been won, that Ozai had been defeated. He was picked up by the Avatar personally shortly after and deposited, to his shock, in extremely comfortable quarters in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Hakoda thus became the only world leader to personally witness the coronation of Fire Lord Zuko, and the formal declaration of peace.
The end of the war technically meant that Hakoda’s status as War Chief was irrelevant, and he was now merely the Chieftain of the Allik Clan. However all of the other Chieftains had grown accustomed to obeying Hakoda, and his reputation was extremely high. In addition, his children's close relationship with the Avatar and Prince Zuko meant he was rightly regarded as the best man to conduct Diplomacy. For the rest of his life, Hakoda was recognized as the de facto leader of the Southern Water Tribe.
Hakoda would be the first leader to formally exchange letters of peace with Fire Lord Zuko, and the first to negotiate the, still very controversial in all nations, reparations payments from the Fire Nation to its enemies during the war. Hakoda would then travel to the North, a guest of Chief Arnook for the Northern Water Tribe’s victory feast. That the Northern Water Tribe had little to do with the victory was not lost on Hakoda, and he was in fact subject to several insults. This culminated in his famous “Rung Speech” where he attacked the Northern Water Tribe for failing to fight in the war and highlighted the differences between the North and South. Hakoda would depart the North soon after the speech, which is seen as an important step in the development of Southern consciousness.
Hakoda would, after years abroad, finally return to the Southern Water Tribe and his home village of Arjugaatchia. He would oversee the reconstruction of the city, funded by payments from the Fire Nation as well as the belated investment of the North. Hakoda’s presence, the Avatar’s frequent visits, and Arjugaatchia geographic position would combine to make the village into a town and, eventually, into the premier city of the Southern Water Tribe. Walls were raised, permanent ice buildings were raised. Hidden and captured Waterbenders returned to the South, along with Northern immigrants, and restored the ancient arts.
Hakoda would always strive to keep the North at arm's length, but generally remained on fair terms with them, and now had to deal with a northerner, Pakku, as a step-father. It was Hakoda who welcomed the leaders of the world to Arjugaatchia in 105 for the Southern Peace Conference, the final round of agreements ending the 100 Year War.
With the death of King Bumi in 109 and Arnook’s death in 113, Hakoda became, aged only 54 became the Grand Old Man of international politics. Hakoda would help mediate the formation of the United Republic of Nations, appointing his son Sokka as the first Southern delegate to the Council. He would accept Southern trusteeship over lands previously under the Southern and Eastern Air Temples.
Hakoda’s leadership at home was more limited. Although his stature abroad was unquestioned, Southern Chieftains were zealously protective of their rights to rule their clan and their lands. Hakoda maintained his unquestioned leadership by never attempting to impose on anyone. In the Allik lands, he pursued a program of fairly moderate industrialization, importing modern machinery and starting some Southern resource extraction but working to preserve sacred sites. Hakoda would introduce the first Clan Council in the South, inspired by his son’s work in the United Republic. The Council was purely advisory and appointed by Hakoda but still represented a step forward.
Hakoda’s final years would be spent fending off attempts by the Northern Water Tribe to impose authority over the South. Hakoda’s attempts were successful because most Chieftains agreed with him and the rest of the world liked him far more than his Northern counterparts. He would be able to dote on his three grandchildren from his daughter Katara. In 129, his health taking a turn for the worse, he recalled Sokka from Republic City to prepare him to become Chieftain, which most observers felt should have occurred years earlier.
Hakoda died aged 71 in 130 in the same place he had been born, surrounded by his extended family. His funeral would be attended by all the Chieftains of the South, the Avatar, the Earth King, the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and the Fire Lord. He was the last man prior to Avatar Aang to have all the world leaders present for his funeral.
Hakoda’s successor as Chieftain of the Allik Clan had always been accepted by all to be his son Sokka, and Sokka also inherited Hakoda’s status as the unofficial leader of the entire Southern Water Tribe. Sokka’s intelligence, experience, fame, closeness with the Avatar, and general skill allowed him to slide into a near-identical role as his father.
Hakoda’s role in history has always been somewhat overshadowed by that of his children, both companions of the Avatar and both key figures in their own rights. But his leadership during the war is not to be dismissed, nor is the fact that he, as much as his children, ensured the Southern Water Tribe would gain a sterling reputation in the post-war world. Lasting political stability would not outlast Sokka, but Hakoda is one of the few people in history who could say he united the Southern Water Tribe towards a higher purpose.
Seige of Ba Sing Se
The Five Wisdoms
Bumi
Metalbending
Hundred Year War
The Floral Crisis
The Clash of the Comet
Southern Water Tribe Constitutional Convention
Azula
Equalist Party
Hakoda was born in 59 AG in the then-small village of Arjugaatchia in the Southern Water Tribe, son of Ataataga of the Allik Clan and Kanna, a refugee from the North leaving an arranged marriage, and one of the last connections before the Water Tribes were separates by the misfortunes of war. Ataataga was made chief of the clan when Hakoda was 6, and would serve with distinction during the wars against the Fire Nation, including as a ship captain on the raid that prompted the construction of the Great Gates of Azulon.
However the defining feature of Hakoda’s upbringing would not be victory, but grim defeat. The Southern Water Tribe became a poor target for Fire Nation raids, aimed specifically at kidnapping or killing Waterbenders. This in turn made it more difficult for Water Tribe ships to defeat the Fire Nation at sea, which in turn made raids easier for the Fire Nation. The beleaguered Earth Kingdom could offer little aid, while the Northern Water Tribe was able to escape the same fate, mainly by utterly abandoning their Southern cousins to their fate, a fact that caused no little resentment among Southerners. By the time Hakoda came of age War Chief Tuktu had been captured, to die in Fire Nation captivity.
The Southern Water Tribe, always fractious, shattered. Clans did not wind up in open war, but coordination was lost. No longer would united operations be undertaken. No longer would any attacks be made on the Fire Nation, or the Fire Fleet. Nor would there be any sort of coordinated defensive strategy, no forts on outlying islands as there once had been, no aid from neighboring clans in times of need. This, naturally, made the South even more easily targeted by the Fire Nation, and soon Water Benders were nearly completely eliminated.
Nonetheless, the Water Tribe trundled on, and the Allik Clan was no exception. Hakoda grew up the son of a Chief, although such distinctions meant less and less as the Tribe dwindled. His physical prowess was considered mediocre, especially compared to his best friend Bato. However his ingenuity was renowned, and his skill with traps was said to bring in as much meat as the greatest hunters of the tribe. He also became known for his memorization of ancient oral epics and his recitations to the tribe.
Hakoda also served as a warrior for his Clan and his Tribe, often manning the walls when Fire Nation raiders attacked his village. Hakoda’s knack for innovation again shone through, as his abilities to create booby traps and plan strategies to confuse and defeat the Fire Nation often proved successful. His willingness to share these strategies with other Clans endeared him to all across the South Pole. Hakoda’s ability to inspire his men to action and fight on was also widely known.
Hakoda would marry Kya, of the nearby Inikuk Clan in 83 AG, to much celebration, and many came from across the South to congratulate the happy couple. Even if many found his choice of jokes at his speech somewhat inappropriate. Kya and Hakoda would have two children, Sokka and Katara, both of whom would become famous in their own right. In 89 Ataataga died, and by general acclamation Hakoda succeeded him as chief, continuing to lead his men into battle against the Fire Nation, whose raids were becoming deadlier if more infrequent with the lack of Water Benders in many areas of the South.
There was, however a water bender in Arjugaatchia, Hakoda’s daughter Katara. Efforts were kept to maintain the secret, but word eventually leaked to the Fire Nation, who mounted a major raid on the tribe. The traitors who had sold the information to the Fire Nation were executed prior to the raid, in the traditional manner of being cast into an ice crevice. Given the events of the raid, this probably spared them a more gruesome demise.
The Raid of 94 was devastating to the Allik Clan in particular, with many homes destroyed and loved ones lost. For Hakoda personally the most devastating was the death of his beloved wife Kya, struck down by a fire bender while defending their daughter Katara. The Southern Raiders would eventually withdraw, as they always did, leaving a shell-shocked community and a grieving Chief.
However, Hakoda would not remain idle and spent much of the next few years traveling the South. Learning both about the Clans and the war, finding what information existed about the Fire Nation. He quickly came to several conclusions. Firstly, if united, the Southern Water Tribe could still play a key role in the war at sea. Secondly, the war would not be won in the South. The fate of the world rested in the great struggle between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Thus, he began to pitch a bold plan. The South should unite once more, and send her warriors North to fight. Fight the Fire Nation wherever possible and bring victory to the Earth King. Only then could the South be free. It was a bold plan. But Hakoda’s logic, reputation, and skill at public speaking would win him the support he needed.
Hakoda would claim surprise at being selected War Chief of the South for his expectation, but he in all likelihood expected this outcome. It was his plan, and as such it only made sense he would be given overall command of the fleet that departed the Southern Water Tribe in 97 AG.
The Fire Navy still patrolled the seas quite tightly, but Hakoda knew the waters well and weaved his way through the islands of the Southern Sea expertly to avoid being caught. It was only at the final moment when tracked by one Captain Zhao, Hakoda’s fleet was caught by Admiral Kaya’s Southern Fleet by Whale Tale island. Battle was briefly joined, and the Fire Navy seemed to be getting the better of it, but the wind shifted and Hakoda fled north. Fatefully, Kaya ignored Zhao’s begging and declined to leave his command area, allowing the Southerners to slip the noose.
Kaya might have expected the Home Fleet under Admiral Mizuho to intercept. But the prestigious Home Fleet was perhaps too prestigious for its own good. Ships that were impressive looking but outdated or impractical. Crews who were eager to be close to home and out of harm’s way rather than fighting, Officers who had achieved their positions via politics, not merit.
The Fire Nation had controlled the Mao Ce Sea, and the shipping lines between the home islands and the colonies for so long military escorts were hardly ever used. The home fleet sat in port most of the time. So there was plenty for Hakoda to raid. His men seized industrial products headed to the war front from the homeland, and they seized food and raw materials going from the colonies to the home islands. After years of being an afterthought, the “Water Tribe barbarian” returned to the forefront of Fire Nation propaganda.
Further disaster struck when Mizuho sortied in an attempt to defeat Hakoda. Hakoda hugged close to the shore, where the deeper Fire Nation ships had difficulty navigating and laid an ambush. The Third Battle of the Mao Ce Sea (the first two having been over half a century prior) was a devastating defeat for the Fire Nation. Hakoda would be forced to abandon his second in command Bato due to injury. He also failed to coordinate his campaign with any other anti-Fire Nation force and so little long term was gained, despite some delays as a result of shipping disruptions. However, for a time he truly ruled the waves.
Eventually, however, Admiral Kaya and the Southern Fleet would steam North, and Hakoda surmised that he could not defeat a battle-ready fleet. Thus, he turned North as well, sailing around the northwestern extremities of the Earth Kingdom, again benefiting from the mistakes of the Fire Navy. The Northern Fleet had not been informed that he was fleeing, and so was not positioned to stop him.
Hakoda might have continued North towards his Northern Cousins and found a safe harbor. But that may have given time for the Northern Fleet to pursue, Hakoda never entirely trusted Northerners, and he remained committed to his assumptions surrounding the Earth Kingdom guiding the fate of the war. However, he must have been seriously considering it, as the route he took would have made no sense otherwise.
Hakoda now turned back South for the first time, heading up the River Dashe in mid-98 AG. The River had been under Fire Nation control for some time now, despite being a key front earlier in the war, and so again Fire Nation forces were not particularly prepared. But guerrilla attacks by Earthbenders meant that the garrisons and towns lining the river were fairly experienced. So rather than a prolonged stay, Hakoda’s Dashe River campaign was more one long-running fight down the river, rather than a prolonged stay. Although Hakoda was able to inflict great damage, his own fleet was heavily mauled in the process, unable to escape to safe harbor or even over the horizon in the narrow confines of the River.
Hakoda exited the River into the Great Western Lake, which was also largely under Fire Nation control. Hakoda would seek to evade rather than confront the Fire Navy here, his men exhausted and somewhat demoralized. If their intended destination had been the Great Lakes the entire time, they muttered, they should have taken the shorter Jiantau Route inland, rather than circle the Earth Kingdom and take the longer and more treacherous Dashe. However, Hakoda remained broadly well-liked, in part because he always shared in the hardship of his men, there was never any serious talk of mutiny.
Hakoda would slip through the lake and into the last toeholds of Earth Kingdom control, where he was treated coolly. The Earth Kingdom had been fighting without allies for years now and were suspicious of offers of aid. He was ordered to proceed to the more secure Great Eastern Lake, than travel by land to Ba Sing Se to account for himself. However, this order was countermanded by Long Feng, who feared obvious foreigners in the capital would cause unnecessary excitement. Hakoda and his men were ordered to defend Chameleon Bay, at the other end of the Tuman River. Important yes, but not the main target of Fire Nation advances in the Earth Kingdom.
Hakoda would spend the next months impatiently defending Chameleon Bay. He turned the region into a fortress and picked fights with the otherwise uninterested Fire Nation forces. He was bored and felt he should be doing more, but felt bound to support the Earth Kingdom’s effort.
Hakoda had by this point heard that his two children, Sokka and Katara, were traveling with Avatar Aang, a fact of which he was quite proud once he was convinced of its veracity. However, in early 100 AG, he would finally see his son, who had learned of his location in Ba Sing Se. Hakoda and Sokka would participate in a raid together, but the reunion would not last long as Sokka returned to Ba Sing Se to combat the coup unfolding there.
Alas, this would fail and the Earth Kingdom would fall. Hakoda’s position became untenable with the Fire Army advancing behind him and the Avatar unconscious. However, Sokka did reveal the intelligence regarding the impending Solar Eclipse and his plans for an invasion of the Fire Nation. Hakoda agreed to a modified invasion plan and ordered his fleet to scatter, with an assigned rendezvous point. Each section would pick up allies for the invasion. Swamp Water Benders. Fugitive inventors. A regiment of highly organized soldiers from Omashu.
Hakoda would initially escort the (unconscious) Avatar through the Great Lakes, aboard a captured and commandeered Fire Nation vessel. There were a few close calls, but Hakoda would keep the Avatar safe until Aang awoke and departed for the Fire Nation. This time, Hakoda would use the Jiantau River, much to the relief of his crew. Hakoda would spend the next months assembling allies and reuniting with his fleet, before reuniting with the Avatar, deep in the Fire Nation’s home waters, hiding his Water Tribe ships by disassembling them in the hulls of captured Fire Nation vessels until the Invasion came.
The Day of Black Sun, jointly developed by Hakoda and Sokka, was perhaps the boldest operation undertaken by the Allies during the Hundred Years War. Taking advantage of the natural loss of Fire Benders during a solar eclipse, Hakoda would lead a small strike force into the very heart of the Fire Nation Capital, a crippling decapitation that would end the war in one stroke.
Alas, it was not to be. The Fire Nation had advance warning of both the attack and the eclipse. So while the invasion was able to push all the way to the Royal Palace, it was unable to secure victory. Worse still Fire Nation air attacks destroyed the invasion’s fleet, rendering escape impossible. Only the Avatar and other children, including Sokka and Katara, were able to escape. Hakoda was captured, along with the entirety of his expedition, which ended in inglorious defeat.
It would take Hakoda several weeks to be identified as Hakoda since the Water Tribe prisoners refused to talk to their captors. But eventually guards eavesdropping identified Hakoda and shipped him off to the feared Boiling Rock, reserved for the most dangerous of the Fire Lord’s enemies.
This would prove fortuitous for Hakoda, as the day he arrived was the day his son Sokka, and the defecting Prince Zuko arrived to break him out, unaware that he had not been there already. Along with Suki, Sokka’s future wife and leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and noted escape artist Chit Sang.
However once again his time with his family was short-lived, as an airship attack by Azula would separate him from the Avatar and his allies again. He and Chit Sang would be left leading an eclectic group of children for the final days of the war, leading a series of minor raids on lands surrounding the Western Air Temple before hunkering down on the day of Sozin’s Comet.
Afterward, he would receive word via a very confused messenger Hawk, that the war had been won, that Ozai had been defeated. He was picked up by the Avatar personally shortly after and deposited, to his shock, in extremely comfortable quarters in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Hakoda thus became the only world leader to personally witness the coronation of Fire Lord Zuko, and the formal declaration of peace.
The end of the war technically meant that Hakoda’s status as War Chief was irrelevant, and he was now merely the Chieftain of the Allik Clan. However all of the other Chieftains had grown accustomed to obeying Hakoda, and his reputation was extremely high. In addition, his children's close relationship with the Avatar and Prince Zuko meant he was rightly regarded as the best man to conduct Diplomacy. For the rest of his life, Hakoda was recognized as the de facto leader of the Southern Water Tribe.
Hakoda would be the first leader to formally exchange letters of peace with Fire Lord Zuko, and the first to negotiate the, still very controversial in all nations, reparations payments from the Fire Nation to its enemies during the war. Hakoda would then travel to the North, a guest of Chief Arnook for the Northern Water Tribe’s victory feast. That the Northern Water Tribe had little to do with the victory was not lost on Hakoda, and he was in fact subject to several insults. This culminated in his famous “Rung Speech” where he attacked the Northern Water Tribe for failing to fight in the war and highlighted the differences between the North and South. Hakoda would depart the North soon after the speech, which is seen as an important step in the development of Southern consciousness.
Hakoda would, after years abroad, finally return to the Southern Water Tribe and his home village of Arjugaatchia. He would oversee the reconstruction of the city, funded by payments from the Fire Nation as well as the belated investment of the North. Hakoda’s presence, the Avatar’s frequent visits, and Arjugaatchia geographic position would combine to make the village into a town and, eventually, into the premier city of the Southern Water Tribe. Walls were raised, permanent ice buildings were raised. Hidden and captured Waterbenders returned to the South, along with Northern immigrants, and restored the ancient arts.
Hakoda would always strive to keep the North at arm's length, but generally remained on fair terms with them, and now had to deal with a northerner, Pakku, as a step-father. It was Hakoda who welcomed the leaders of the world to Arjugaatchia in 105 for the Southern Peace Conference, the final round of agreements ending the 100 Year War.
With the death of King Bumi in 109 and Arnook’s death in 113, Hakoda became, aged only 54 became the Grand Old Man of international politics. Hakoda would help mediate the formation of the United Republic of Nations, appointing his son Sokka as the first Southern delegate to the Council. He would accept Southern trusteeship over lands previously under the Southern and Eastern Air Temples.
Hakoda’s leadership at home was more limited. Although his stature abroad was unquestioned, Southern Chieftains were zealously protective of their rights to rule their clan and their lands. Hakoda maintained his unquestioned leadership by never attempting to impose on anyone. In the Allik lands, he pursued a program of fairly moderate industrialization, importing modern machinery and starting some Southern resource extraction but working to preserve sacred sites. Hakoda would introduce the first Clan Council in the South, inspired by his son’s work in the United Republic. The Council was purely advisory and appointed by Hakoda but still represented a step forward.
Hakoda’s final years would be spent fending off attempts by the Northern Water Tribe to impose authority over the South. Hakoda’s attempts were successful because most Chieftains agreed with him and the rest of the world liked him far more than his Northern counterparts. He would be able to dote on his three grandchildren from his daughter Katara. In 129, his health taking a turn for the worse, he recalled Sokka from Republic City to prepare him to become Chieftain, which most observers felt should have occurred years earlier.
Hakoda died aged 71 in 130 in the same place he had been born, surrounded by his extended family. His funeral would be attended by all the Chieftains of the South, the Avatar, the Earth King, the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and the Fire Lord. He was the last man prior to Avatar Aang to have all the world leaders present for his funeral.
Hakoda’s successor as Chieftain of the Allik Clan had always been accepted by all to be his son Sokka, and Sokka also inherited Hakoda’s status as the unofficial leader of the entire Southern Water Tribe. Sokka’s intelligence, experience, fame, closeness with the Avatar, and general skill allowed him to slide into a near-identical role as his father.
Hakoda’s role in history has always been somewhat overshadowed by that of his children, both companions of the Avatar and both key figures in their own rights. But his leadership during the war is not to be dismissed, nor is the fact that he, as much as his children, ensured the Southern Water Tribe would gain a sterling reputation in the post-war world. Lasting political stability would not outlast Sokka, but Hakoda is one of the few people in history who could say he united the Southern Water Tribe towards a higher purpose.
