Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender makes changes to one of the original show’s most annoying characters, improving them in live-action as a result.

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender made some alterations to one annoying character from the original show, improving them in the process. This character was found in the Northern Water Tribe, one of The Last Airbender‘s Four Nations. While much of Netflix’s live-action show takes place in the Earth Kingdom, Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s season 1 ending surrounded the fate of the Waterbenders as Aang, Katara, and Sokka helped push back a Fire Nation siege on the North Pole.

Once Aang made it to the North Pole, several new characters were introduced to the story. One such character was Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s Princess Yue, who had big ramifications on both the show’s plot and the character of Sokka. Through Yue’s relationship with Sokka, another character was introduced who was also present in the original show. However, rather than being a one-for-one translation between animation and live-action, the character in question was dramatically improved in Netflix’s The Last Airbender season 1.

Hahn’s Character Dynamic With Sokka & Yue Is Different In Netflix’s Last Airbender

The character introduced as part of Sokka and Yue’s dynamic was Hahn, the Northern Water Tribe warrior revealed as the man who was once betrothed to the princess. In the original show, the character’s depiction is different from Netflix’s The Last Airbender in several ways. For one, Yue and Hahn are still engaged to be married when Sokka meets them. This makes the relationship between the three of them in the animation a lot more like a love triangle than is presented in Netflix’s live-action show, as the latter mentions Yue broke off their engagement when she was 16.

This change alone provides a big difference in how Hahn and Sokka interact with one another. The original show presents their dynamic as immediately antagonistic, with Hahn constantly trying to belittle Sokka while proving he is the right man to marry Yue. This, combined with Hahn’s egotistical, self-centered ways, makes him much more annoying to both Sokka and the audience in the original show.

In Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender though, Sokka and Hahn form much more of a friendly relationship. Hahn is shown revering Sokka’s knowledge of Fire Nation soldiers as the latter has seen real combat. Hahn also has no problems with Yue calling off their engagement, even encouraging Sokka to protect the princess once the siege of the North Pole begins. All of this makes Hahn’s dynamic with surrounding characters much less annoying and obnoxious than it was in the original show.

Hahn’s Differences Make Him A Much More Compelling Character

Not only is Hahn less annoying in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, but he is also a much more compelling character. The original show depicted him squarely as someone for Sokka – and thus the audience also – to root against. As such, he had little to no character depth to the point where his apparent death in the battle is not even mentioned afterward. This certainly makes sense within context, as the original Last Airbender show was aimed primarily at children. In Netflix’s live-action show, though, Hahn’s character arc is allowed to be more mature, thus much more compelling.

While his friendship with Sokka and acceptance of Yue’s choices make him more likable, his desire to protect his men who have not seen combat shows Hahn to be more honorable than his animated counterpart. This culminates in a genuinely affecting scene in which Hahn defends Chief Arnook against onrushing Fire Nation troops. When Hahn is later revealed to have perished in the battle, the result is much more compelling than the final scene of his character in the original show, proving Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender to have drastically improved the original character.

All episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 are now streaming on Netflix.