Given my continued obsession with The Owl House, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t aware that Amity Blight and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender share a voice actor in Mae Whitman. The delivery and design of each character is different enough that the similarities aren’t immediately obvious, but the latest episode presented so many clear parallels between the two heroines that it’s now impossible to deny how alike they are.
‘Eclipse Lake’ features a fight scene between Amity Blight and Hunter as they battle over the possession of a key to the human realm. The conflict here includes spectacular choreography, a fluid sense of motion, and more than a few homages to the classic Nickelodeon series. If you aren’t familiar with The Owl House or Amity Blight, the young witch is capable of summoning gooey purple creatures known as ‘Abominations’ using the power of magic combined with a strange purple liquid.
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In past episodes we’ve seen these Abominations take on the form of human beings, used as classroom assignments as students get to grips with the arcane arts. Amity’s parents have made a living turning them into weapons for war, so it makes perfect sense their daughter has picked up some of their ill-advised habits. But Amity is using them for good, to search for ingredients that are integral to her girlfriend’s return home. Once you’re done with an Abomination they return to their original form, ready to be scooped back into a container for another day.
Eclipse Lake changes that perception, largely thanks to how Amity makes liberal use of the liquid that forms Abominations in her fight sequence against Hunter, a moment that is arguably the show’s most visually impressive feat to date. It’s gorgeous, with ample frames of animation combining with sharp, kinetic attacks that make full use of the show’s relatively loose definition of magic. Amity’s actions are also remarkably similar to Katara’s, with the Abomination liquid being manipulated in a way that is strikingly similar to waterbending in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Amity’s supply is stored in a small flask attached to her hip, and with the help of her staff she’s able to summon it as an aerial stream of liquid that can shape and bend itself into anything she wants. We see it take the form of a miniature tidal wave, a spiked fist, a shield, and so much more throughout the episode. The way in which Amity uses a combination of hand movements and her wand to command the substance is so much like Katara, suggesting similarities between the characters that Dana Terrace and company might have been deliberately trying to reference.
I really hope they were, since ‘water bending but magic’ is such a clever idea that goes far beyond just pointing a wand at somebody and screaming some magic words. The sharing of a voice only furthers this correlation, with Amity Blight and Katara both being bold, confident heroines eager to overcome societal expectations thrust upon them. Amity began her time in the show as a mint-haired bully eager to close herself off from everyone, but with the help of Luz, Eda, and so many others she was able to step out of her comfort zone, accept her sexuality, and even get a cute girlfriend. This witch gay, good for her.
Katara begins her time in the show as a woman expected to tend to the village, but an eagerness to learn waterbending and her drive to embark on an adventure with Aang, Sokka, and Toph allows her to grow into one of the show’s best characters. Mae Whitman has done a phenomenal job bringing both girls to life, and it’s wonderful to see Disney paying apparent homage to Katara with Amity’s unorthodox fighting style. With the season finale coming later this week, I’m crossing my fingers we’ll get to see her in action once again.
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