One of the best things about Avatar: The Last Airbender is its incredible set of strong female characters that make the show even more worth watching. Just imagine it without its female cast, the show would lack strength, compassion, drama, and an endless amount of laughter.

The girls bring undeniable energy that demands all of your attention, not that they need it anyway! This is why we decided to honor them in our list today. Let’s hold a fist up in the air for girl power! Here’s a rundown of the strongest female characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Updated by Alan A. Mehanna, on March 6, 2024: This list has been updated to adhere to CBR's most recent standards for formatting.

15 Avatar Kyoshi Deafeated an Empire

The Kyoshi Warriors get a lot of praise for being an awesome female fighting force, but these soldiers owe their legacy to one person in particular: the Avatar Kyoshi. Kyoshi has made a bit of a comeback recently with the release of a book series exploring her early life, but she is seldom seen in the show.

However, the story of how she defeated Chin the Conqueror created Kyoshi Island is more than enough reason to include her on this list, as she mixed multiple Bending styles in a single moment to literally reshape the world by creating a new island and overthrowing a major military leader.

14 Hama Taught Katara How to Bloodbend

This elderly Water Tribe woman was stolen from her home by the Fire Nation and imprisoned because she was capable of Waterbending. To escape captivity, she developed a new form of Waterbending which she could only use under the full moon: Bloodbending.

Hama uses this power to torture members of the Fire Nation and force their bodies to move against their will. While Hama has sadistic tendencies, no one should underestimate her strength. How she handles the trauma left by her captivity gives her layers of complexity.

13 Aunt Wu's Prediction Sometimes Came True

Aunt Wu is an elderly psychic who meets Team Avatar in Makapu Village. She is mostly portrayed as a comic relief character, but there is more to her than meets the eye. In fact, because a few of her prophecies are demonstrated to be wrong, it is easy to dismiss her gifts.

That said, she does have the gift of prophecy and the villagers take her readings and predictions as gospel. No, it is not always correct, but she rightly predicted Aang’s fate in an unquestionable display of power. She also holds her entire community together as its spiritual leader.

12 Avatar Yangchen Left a Great Legacy Behind

Yangchen was the last Air Nomad to be Avatar before Aang. Little is known about her besides those simple facts: that she was an Air Nomad and was the Avatar.

Of course, being the Avatar makes her one of the most powerful characters in the world by default. But when Aang confronts his past selves, her words to him reveal the reservoirs of strength and wisdom within her, as she advises him that his own personal karma is less important than the actions he must undertake as the Avatar.

11 Kanna (“Gran Gran”) Held Her Family Together

Known as “Gran Gran” to Katara and Sokka, Kanna was born to the people of the Northern Water Tribe. When she was pressured into an arranged marriage, she left everything she knew behind and ran away to join the Southern Water Tribe—literally traveling to the other side of the world.

Her bravery and her unwillingness to let others dictate how she should live her life would later inspire her grandchildren in their adventures with the Avatar.

10 Azula Was as Competent as She Was Sadistic

The very definition of a competent woman. She is skilled, smart, and one of the most powerful characters in the show. Have you ever heard of anyone else conquering a great kingdom? One of which that many armies couldn’t conquer in a decade in just 48 hours? I don’t think so.

She is also an incredibly complex character with deep flaws and horrible deeds. Aside from not being the main character of the show, she gained wide attention from fans as well as having a deeply intriguing backstory. This makes her one of the most interesting women of the show and an established force to be reckoned with.

9 Katara's Journey Was Inspiring

Katara is a great example of the caregiving woman! Outside of being a role model with all of what this term means, she can be strong and clever but sweet and caring at the same time. Although she’s very kind, she’s not your regular damsel in distress. She holds her own as a fighter as well as an independent woman on her own journey.

Her backstory informs so much about her character. Her way of taking care of everyone around her comes from her motherly instincts; instincts that quickly came to force after the passing of her own mother.

8 Ty Lee Was Full of Joy

By bringing her joyful and pure energy to the show, Ty Lee made it all the more fun. I know that she seems naïve and super open for manipulation, but she actually is one of the strongest characters on the show. The fact that she withstood having similar looking siblings gave her a problem of struggling with individuality.

Like many women, she came out on the other side with her own personality and found independence that nobody can ever take away from her. She gave us all a lesson on finding one’s self and staying true to it.

7 Mai Struggled With Her Emotions

Here is one of the most privileged women of Fire Nation. And ironically, she's one of the most miserable of all. Remaining apathetic and keeping her feelings inside is a tactic she learned from how well her parents used to treat her. They loved her as long as she was well behaved, quiet, and had perfect manners. By that, she was put in a box that girls can all relate to at some point in their lives.

Later in her life, she faced many heartbreaks from her struggling relationship with Zuko. Ignoring her and not giving her the love that she needed led her to finally break up with him and finding shelter in herself.

6 Suki Was a Warrior and a Girl

Like Suki once said with her own words: “I am a warrior, but I’m a girl too.” As the eldest member of the all-female Kyoshi Warriors of the Earth Kingdom’s Kyoshi Island, Suki was one of the most respected war leaders due to her amazing combat and leadership skills that blew everyone away.

Being a strong warrior like Suki doesn't mean that she can't be kind and big-hearted as well as sweet and utterly generous. Her fierce ways to defend her clan and the trauma she handled in her life didn't turn her heart into stone. Instead, it made it blossom even more.

5 June Was a Worthy Bounty Hunter

The best and most expensive bounty hunter of her time, June is an utterly deceptive and clever mercenary that listens to no one but herself. She is the one to get the job done, but beware of her tricks. If one of your enemies offered her more, she would turn on you as quick as a serpent’s taunt.

Self-assured and confident, June possessed a sarcastic, dark wit and she wasn’t one to shy away from using her beauty to get what she wants. Aside from being a master manipulator, she had amazing physical strength as she used to arm wrestle big, strong men in bars and win like it’s a piece of cake.

4 Yue Was a Spirit in Disguise

Yue, the ultimate sacrifice. Since birth, Yue was diagnosed with an unknown illness, leading her parents to believe that she could die at any moment. After many attempts for a cure, one of the tribe's healers called Arnook and prayed to the Moon Spirit so desperately to cure Yue. He then placed her in the Spirit Oasis in the tribe. The Moon Spirit then gave her a chunk of its own lifeforce but turned her hair white as a consequence (and what a beautiful consequence that was!).

Later on, after the Avatar's arrival to her land, Zhao struck the Moon's Spirit mortal form and led to its death. Being the selfless girl she is, Yue (who saved her tribe and everyone else) sacrificed herself to replace the Moon Spirit after giving her life as an infant.

3 Ursa Had a Tragic Story

Talk about reinventing yourself, Ursa did just exactly what this sentence entails and actually took it way too literally. Despite what her daughter thinks, Ursa was a great mother to her children Zuko and Azula. She was caring, kind, and protective like all mothers should be. She was forced to marry Ozai to fulfill the Fire Lord Azulon’s prophecy that this marriage would bring great power to his lineage. So she was shocked when she learned later on that Azulon ordered her husband to kill her son.

Like any mother would do, she saved her son and made sure his life was spared at her own expense. She was then banished from the Fire Nation Capital. After her banishment, she returned to her hometown and rekindled her old flame and requested that the Mother of Faces give her a new face — a whole other identity. She then became the brand new Noriko.

2 Smellerbee Eventually Became a Leader

As a member—and eventually a leader—of a band of rebels known as the Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee showed her proficiency and incredible capabilities. Wearing a light armor and holding a sword and knife as her weapons of choice, she was the true resemblance of a fighter.

"As long as I'm confident with who I am, it doesn't matter what other people think," said Smellerbee, giving us a mantra to live by every single day of our lives. No matter what she did, she always remained true to herself and did what’s right based on her own unique point of view. She’s also very loyal and sweet — just don’t ever mistake her for a boy and you’ll be fine.

1 Toph Founded Metal Bending and Became Chief of Police

The toughest girl of them all, Toph is a real baddie in all its forms. Wondering where she got it from? Well, let’s start with her winning underground Earthbending tournaments under the name “The Blind Bandit.” I mean, how cool is that! She's all about turning her disability into an advantage and becoming a master of Earthbending. She's the best at what she does.

And let's not forget that she became the Chief of Police after the formation of the Republic City. She is also a trendsetter, inventing her own style of bending called metal bending. All of that and more makes her the strongest one yet in the Avatar series. What more do you need?