Pakku's History
Early life
Born to a long line of waterbending masters, Pakku began training as a waterbender "before he could stand", quickly advancing to become a master himself.
In his youth, Pakku was a talented waterbender, and, by way of arranged marriage, became engaged to Kanna, a Northern Water Tribe girl of similar age. Even though it was an arranged marriage, Pakku genuinely loved Kanna; however, she did not reciprocate his feelings, mostly due to his support of the tribe's patriarchal traditions. Unable to face her fate, Kanna fled to the Southern Water Tribe. Pakku was devastated by this turn of events; however, he refused to admit that it was his stubborn insistence on customs that caused him to lose the love of his life. He soon became malcontent and cranky, converting the pain of his loss into callousness toward others, thus denying himself the hurt of Kanna's betrayal. Over the years, Pakku became the leader of his tribe's waterbenders and led them to serve as the Northern Tribe's first line of defense against the Fire Nation.
Meeting Aang and Katara
Years later, when Avatar Aang and Katara arrived at the Northern Water Tribe capital of Agna Qel'a in search of a master from whom they could learn waterbending, Pakku consented to instruct him. However, as per the tradition of the Northern Water Tribe that only men were to be allowed to learn combative waterbending, he rejected Katara as a pupil and sent her to learn healing instead. One night, Pakku caught Aang trying to pass the lessons onto Katara, and barred the Avatar from further learning under him. Knowing that Aang could not afford to waste the opportunity to learn from Pakku for her own sake, Katara pleaded with the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, Arnook, to persuade Pakku to take Aang back as his student. By suggestion of Arnook, Katara was about to apologize to Pakku, but changed her mind at the last minute, unable to submit to Pakku's sour chauvinism. Katara, in defiance, challenged Pakku to a duel. Though he initially had no intention of accepting, Pakku eventually fought Katara. She was easily outmatched by the master, but refused to give up. Pakku ended the duel by trapping Katara among spikes of ice. Though he acknowledged her skill, Pakku still would not consent to teach her.
During his fight with Katara, Pakku knocked her grandmother's necklace to the ground. Picking it up after the duel was finished, he recognized its pendant as the betrothal necklace he had carved sixty years before for "the love of [his] life", his fiancée, Kanna. Realizing that his stubborn adherence to custom had cost him a wife, Pakku consented to teach both Aang and Katara, the latter learning and improving faster than any of his students. After this, Pakku played a critical role in defending Agna Qel'a in the Siege of the North. Following the battle, Pakku tasked Katara with instructing the slower-learning Aang, and also decided to travel to the Southern Tribe to help them rebuild their nation.
Aang and his comrades accompanied Pakku at the beginning of his journey to the Southern Tribe before separating to travel to Omashu. When the groups split, Pakku gave Katara a vial of water from the Spirit Oasis in the Northern City and gave Aang a box containing scrolls of waterbending techniques. As for Sokka, Pakku gave him only words of good luck, to Sokka's disappointment. Pakku and the other Northern healers and waterbenders worked to restore the war-torn Southern Water Tribe, where he reunited with Kanna and successfully proposed to her, even making her a new betrothal necklace.
Liberation of Ba Sing Se
When he and the other members of the Order of the White Lotus received a message from Iroh, Pakku joined the effort to liberate Ba Sing Se. Shortly before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, the Avatar's group reunited with Pakku and their other teachers in the Order of the White Lotus. When Katara and Sokka saw him, he told them that he was their new grandfather, and he made Kanna a new betrothal necklace. The two children were thrilled with this development. Sokka tried to find a nickname of his liking, considering "Gramp-Gramp" and "Grampakku", much to Pakku's annoyance, but was unable to create a good one. Pakku told his step-grandson to just call him Pakku, and Sokka's face fell as he was again dismissed by his step-grandfather.
Pakku and the Order of the White Lotus launched an attack on Ba Sing Se, working to liberate the city during the arrival of Sozin's Comet. Pakku created a large water slide over one of Ba Sing Se's walls, distracting Fire Nation soldiers. He subsequently froze the slide, trapping the soldiers and allowing himself and Piandao to slide into the city. He initially blocked a large fire blast, but the flames evaporated the water, leaving him unable to defend himself from a second blast. He was saved by the arrival of Jeong Jeong, who created a large wall of fire to dissipate the attack. Following the successful liberation, Pakku joined his allies and family at Zuko's coronation.
Life in the Southern Water Tribe
After the end of the Hundred Year War, Pakku eloped with Kanna to the Misty Palms Oasis, where they got married. Although Pakku felt that the settlement failed to live up to its name, the couple did enjoy their stay.
After their return to the Southern Water Tribe and three weeks before Sokka and Katara returned home to the South Pole, Pakku and Kanna discovered the sisters Siku and Sura, a pair of very young waterbenders, in a tiny, remote inland village east of the capital. Having sought out their mother, Pakku demonstrated his own waterbending and after much persuasion, convinced her to allow the elderly couple to bring the sisters with them to the capital, where they would become the first students of Pakku's new waterbending school. However, even though their mother had given her consent to be taught, the girls remained steadfast to her number one safety rule of not revealing their waterbending and refused to follow Pakku's lessons, insisting they were not waterbenders at all, though they would bend together when they believed no one was looking. Having the opportunity to at least observe them during these times, Pakku determined that they were very talented for their age, and persisted in trying to train his young students.
Three weeks later, Pakku and Kanna welcomed back Katara and Sokka. Pakku invited Katara to visit his school, hoping she could help him with an "interesting situation" he was having. Sokka offered to provide his "motivational bending" with his students, despite Pakku's reminder that he was not a bender. After showering their grandchildren with praise over their accomplishments during the war, Pakku informed them that Hakoda was in his office at the moment but got annoyed when Sokka became confused by the mention of an "office".
The next night, Pakku attended a festival being held in the capital, accompanying Siku and Sura, where they run into Katara. After introducing his students and showering praise to his prodigy, Katara asked the young girls how their lessons were going, but they nervously denied being waterbenders and ran off. Pakku explained to Katara how he and Kanna found the sisters and that they only practiced waterbending when they thought that neither he nor anyone else was looking. As they watched the sisters bend snow, he explained his previous observations of their talent.
Later that night, Pakku sat across from Kanna, dropping leaves in his wife's pot, as their family waited in silence as Hakoda recovered from the wound caused by Gilak. Pakku remained silent while Kanna remarked that the unrest in the South was due to misguided beliefs and Sokka and Katara argued over who was in the wrong: Gilak or Malina and Maliq.
The following day, Pakku attempted to teach Siku and Sura waterbending, trying to get them to pay attentively to his demonstration and imitate him. He paused his demonstration once he saw them doing nothing, and the girls denied being waterbenders once more. Frustrated with his lack of progress after three weeks of teaching, he introduced his students to their guests, Aang and Katara. The students were taken aback by the presence of the Avatar and his friend, and Katara managed to coax them into admitting they were waterbenders. Pakku interjected with annoyance when Siku and Sura referred to him as a "cranky old man." However, the sisters turned upset, proclaiming that even the Avatar and his friend could not make them do anything they did not want to.
Pakku's stepson arrived soon after his students departed, and the waterbending master formally welcomed the Head Chieftain to his school. Hakoda thanked Pakku for all he was doing for the South Pole, to which he unconfidently replied that he had built an empty school and frustrated a couple of children. Pakku thanked Aang and Katara for their help and advised them to accompany Hakoda back home, while he vowed to keep trying with the children.
After Gilak's death, Pakku and Kanna enjoyed a meal at their home with Hakoda, Sokka, Katara, Aang, Fire Lord Zuko, Earth King Kuei and Bosco. Kanna expressed her worries about having other people in her kitchen to Pakku, who advised her to simply relax and enjoy herself for one meal. Kanna watched him fondly as Pakku bent a stream of tea into his cup as everyone sat down to eat.
