“The Puppetmaster” gave Katara a terrifying new power — and laid the groundwork for some of Korra’s greatest villains

For much of Avatar: The Last Airbender, waterbending seems like the most limited of the four elements for one practical reason: Its wielders need access to water. Firebenders generate their own flames. Earth is everywhere, and air is even more readily accessible. On her adventure with Aang, Katara is almost never separated from her water skin for this very reason. A waterbender in the desert is about as useful as a badgermole cub in a swimming pool.

Partway through The Last Airbender’s final season, however, that limitation becomes the basis for one of the show’s most horrifying revelations. Water is everywhere. You just have to do something terrible to access it.

Nineteen years ago today, on Nov. 9, 2007, “The Puppetmaster” introduced bloodbending, which allows a waterbender to manipulate the water inside another person’s body. Along with that extreme version of waterbending, we also learned that it’s possible to draw the water out of living things, or even the air itself.

These implications would eventually supply some of The Legend of Korra’s most frightening villains with their signature bending abilities. But its most disturbing achievement is what it does to Katara. In many ways, she’s the most virtuous of Team Avatar’s members, yet under the light of the full moon, she’s forced to learn arguably the most evil form of bending in existence.

“The Puppetmaster” opens with the gang telling horror stories around a campfire at night somewhere in the Fire Nation, immediately establishing a decidedly spooky vibe.

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