In the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, certain people are capable of "bending" certain elements, like Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Not everyone, however, is capable of bending. The show's main group consists of Aang, an airbender; Toph an earthbender; Katara, a waterbender, and her nonbending brother, Sokka. While benders are capable of incredible things, non-benders are, too. Even though Sokka can't bend, he's still a valuable member of the group. Yes, he might be the comic relief a good amount of the time, but he's also the smartest member of the group, and pulls off some truly incredible feats over the course of the show. Let's go over some of the best moments of everybody's favorite "meat and sarcasm guy."
6 Haiku Battle
No list of great Sokka moments is complete without at least one comedic one, and getting into what is essentially a haiku-centric rap battle is one that highlights some of Sokka's best traits. Sokka stumbles upon a group of girls studying poetry and is forced onto a stage after a horse kicks him through a window. The instructor of the class teaches Sokka the format of a haiku (three lines with five, seven, then five syllables) and the two go back and forth until Sokka accidentally adds a sixth syllable in his final line. Still, having learned what a haiku is only moments before, Sokka holds his own pretty well, even getting to mention his every trusty boomerang in one of his poems. It's a funny moment, but it's also one that showcases his creativity and ability to think on the fly, traits that would serve him well when he traveled throughout the Fire Nation.
5 Training With Piandao
Sokka meets the legendary swordsman Piandao in the episode "Sokka's Master," which is arguably the best Sokka-centric episode of the show. After the other benders in the group put out a fire caused by a falling meteor, Sokka starts to feel like he isn't contributing anything meaningful and seeks to learn swordsmanship from Piandao, the best swordsman the Fire Nation has ever had. Piandao accepts Sokka as a student after he admits he has a lot to learn, something Piandao rarely, if ever, hears. The training includes not just swordplay, but calligraphy and painting, all tasks which Sokka puts his own unique stamp on (he adds a rainbow to his painting, for example). Even the fight with Piandao sees him compliment Sokka on his best traits, like his intelligence. While Sokka is training, the other members of the group, however, feel totally lost without him and are genuinely glad to see him when he returns.
4 Saving a Village From Jet
Jet was a freedom fighter Aang and his friends met while traveling in the Earth Kingdom. At first, Jet seems truly noble, rescuing Aang and his friends from some Fire Nation soldiers. The only one who remains skeptical of him and his freedom fighters is Sokka, and for good reason as we later find out. The skepticism increases when Jet and his followers harass and old Fire Nation man, despite Sokka's protests and are fully justified when Sokka overhears Jet planning to blow up a dam, which will cause a flood that will wipe out several Fire Nation soldiers... and the village they're in. While Aang and Katara try to stop Jet and his followers, Sokka tries to evacuate the village and gets help from a surprising source: the old man Jet harassed earlier. The two of them are able to evacuate the village in time. It's a great moment for Sokka, showing that while he has no love for the Fire Nation, he will not harm innocent civilians, unlike Jet.
3 Breaking In And Out of the Boiling Rock
The Boiling Rock is essentially the Fire Nation's equivalent of Alcatraz. After the failed invasion on the Day of the Black Sun, Sokka seeks to break into the prison to see if he can bust out his father. With Zuko as his guide, the two infiltrate the prison, finding not only Sokka's father, but Suki as well. When you think "prison escape," you tend to think of elaborate escape plans. Sokka comes up with two clever plans that aren't really that elaborate, but still get the job done. The first is to use the coolers the prison uses as a punishment and float away in those, which would have worked if one of the prisoners going with them didn't touch it like Sokka told him not to. Plan B is much more straightforward: start a riot and escape in the ensuing chaos. It takes talent to come up with even one plan to escape prison. Sokka came up with two, one of which wasn't that risky at all. Good thing Sokka wasn't the main character in movies like The Great Escape or The Shawshank Redemption. They'd have been over in fifteen minutes if he was.
2 Taking Out The Fire Nation's Airships
The series finale sees the return of Sozin's Comet, a comet that only appears once a century and amplifies a firebender's power. Fire Lord Ozai, the show's biggest and baddest antagonist, plans to use the comet to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground, literally. Accompanied by a fleet of airships, it looks very likely that Ozai will be able to do it, especially since the airships can carry on while Ozai is busy fighting Aang. However, Sokka, Suki, and Toph have other plans. After sneaking aboard one of the airships and getting control of it, they use it to slice through the other ships in the fleet. Whose idea is it to use one airship to slice through the others? Why, Sokka's of course.
1 Defeating Combustion Man
Combustion Man (or Sparky Sparky Boom Man, as he's sometimes known) was an assassin hired by Zuko with the unique ability to firebend with his mind. He relentlessly pursues the Avatar, culminating in a final showdown at the Western Air Temple, where Zuko has decided to defect and attempts to call the assassin off. However, Combustion Man continues on despite this, and has our heroes pinned. Combustion Man holds the high ground, which as Obi-Wan Kenobi has taught us, is vital in any fight. On the other hand, Sokka has a boomerang and a solid understanding of trigonometry. His trusty boomerang hits Combustion Man in the forehead, right on his tattoo, which proves enough to disable Combustion Man's ability to firebend with his mind. However, the assassin tries anyway, causing a backfire that leads to his ultimate demise. It's one of the most impressive victories Sokka got in the entire show.