The Saami are not a direct inspiration for the Water Nation. The Inuit and Eskimos are and uh…


They may not be black but they definitely are not white in the slightest.

I dont know what to tell you mate, the creators combined a lot of cultures to make the Water Tribe, like Inuits, Yupij, Native American and even Pacific Islanders, then they decided they would have relatively dark skin because it looked good aesthetically. And even that varies, Tahno, Hama, Sokka, Katara and Korra all hail from the Water Tribes and they have different tones.