The Northern Water tribe is the original Water Tribe, where all the Water Tribers lived. It was and still is the home of custom among the two water tribes.

In Avatar: the Last Airbender, it is much more developed than the Southern one - whereas in The Legend of Korra, they are both very technologically advanced.

Also, unlike how in the south there are many villages, in the North, everyone lives in one city.

History

Pre War

Long, long before The Hundred Year War, the people who now form the Northern Water Tribe moved to the north pole from the tropical regions that they occupied beforehand.

There they formed various different tribes, but decided to unite the tribes to form one united tribe.

The Waterbenders were able to build the temple, villages and canals, which make up the city. After a time of civil unrest, the Northern Water Tribe sent a team of Warriors, Benders and healers to the south pole to set up another Water Tribe.

Later on, Avatar Kuruk was born in The Northern Water Tribe and over 250 years later, Avatar Roku learnt his second bending form, waterbending.

War

Going forward to the start of the hundred year war, The Northern Water Tribe stopped being an open port because the Fire Nation attacked the Water Tribes at the same time that they launched the genocide on the Air Nomads.

After the Fire Nations initial attacks, the Northern Tribe built a huge wall to defend them from more attacks from the Fire Nation, making them increasingly isolated; eventually completely losing all contact with the Southern Tribe. Leaving the less advanced southern one to fend for itself.

Team Avatar's arrival

At the time of Team Avatar's arrival, Admiral Zhao of the Fire Nation carried out a huge attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Aang, Katara and Sokka helped out by disarming the Fire Nation's boats. Then, Zhao kills the moon spirit, forcing Aang to go into the Avatar State, killing Admiral Zhou and getting rid of the Fire Nation's navy.

Korra's Time

Government

Although the Northern Water Tribe is ruled by a tribal leader, most of the tribal aspects have been engulfed by the tribe's new take on government. The firstborn child inherits the throne and if the firstborn children are twins, they jointly inherit the throne.

Customs

The Northern Water Tribe is the world's home of traditions-often quite sexist ones. For instance, while in the south men and women can use waterbending for fighting, in the north, men use it for fighting, and women use it for healing. Additionally if the chief had only a women as heir they would not inherit the throne, though all these sexists traditions were dropped after the Hundred Year War, as Malina (a woman) led the Southern Reconstruction Project.

Marriages

In the northern water tribe, women become of age to be married when they are 16. In the North, they have arranged marriages, while in the south, they can marry whoever they like. This was why Gran Gran moved to the south pole.

The custom is that the man carves the woman a betrothal necklace.

Korra's Time

In Korra's Time, the Northern Water Tribe was ruled by the evil Unalaq, who used Korra's power to open the spirit portals and engulf the world in 10,000 years of darkness.

The Northern Water is never actually featured in TLOK, but it does appear in the flashbacks.

All the sexist rules are abolished by that time and girls are allowed to use waterbending to fight.

For more info on The Northern Water Tribe, listen to our podcast episode about is here: open.spotify.com/episode/62yoryXHE1kEXxfYKunTiK

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