#And as many have pointed out Aang is a peaceful Avatar when the world wanted a fighter when Korra is a fighter for a world who want peacefu

[potatounicoorn]

One detail I really like about the Avatar shows is the outro music. While Aang is known as a pacifistic and a peaceful Avatar, Atla's outro music is very fast based and intense. On the other hand, Korra is more of a hot-headed straight to the point Avatar who loves to fight, but tlok's outro music is this very peaceful melody. Aang's time is an era of war, while Korra's era is in the era of peace.

[creampuffqueen]

I wanna hear more avatar headcanons! From the novels or just the avatars themselves! I loved reading your kavik and yangchen hcs 🥹🫶🏻

ahhh thank you!! i'm glad you like my random thoughts lol 🫶

here are a few more random thoughts i've been having that i just haven't quite made into posts yet (mostly yangvik because i love them but some other avatars as well):

yangchen is actually a terrible cook 💀 she's basically always had people taking care of her so she never really needed to learn! she can make a good cup of tea and that's about it. she regularly burns rice. she's also just generally bad at remembering to feed herself. kavik, who is a decent cook, is largely the only reason she remembers to eat

as for the other known avatars: kyoshi is by FAR the best cook. she's genuinely good at it. aang is a very close second. roku, kuruk, and wan are all average at it. korra has been banned from every kitchen in republic city

yangchen and kavik both strike me as people who really enjoy physical touch. they both really enjoy cuddling with each other, even before their relationship turns more romantic. acts of service is also a major love language for them

i also feel very strongly that they never used typical labels for their relationship. they usually referred to each other as their 'partner', occasionally 'lover', but most often just continued to use 'companion'. these vague labels frustrate scholars to no end, and today in the atla universe nobody can agree on the nature of their relationship. which is exactly how they wanted it lol, they were extremely private about their relationship

yangchen does have the iconic crooked smile that all the avatars share, but it only comes out when she's well and truly happy about something

her laugh is the same way. she has a very convincing fake laugh, as her real laugh is kind of 'ugly'. it's some kind of snorting, wheezing sound that kind of sounds like she's dying but is also absolutely adorable. yangchen hates it. kavik adores it, and will make an absolute fool of himself trying to hear it

yangchen is a massive, merciless flirt and takes great pleasure in seeing just how red she can make kavik's face turn. but on the rare occasion kavik gets enough confidence to flirt back, she turns into a total mess

pik and pak's favorite place to sleep is right on top of kavik's face

because of how hard she works herself, yangchen often falls asleep in the strangest places. if she's actually tired, she can fall asleep literally anywhere. it's simultaneously a superpower and a massive annoyance

a somewhat sad/bittersweet headcanon i have is that yangchen dies first. i've seen a lot of people saying that she lives to 150 but i can't find a source for that anywhere so i'm choosing to ignore it. yangchen has already watched too many loved ones die, she doesn't need to see kavik die before her as well. they both live very long lives, but kavik outlives her by a few years. after yangchen's death, he returns home to the northern water tribe

at one point, only a few months before his death, he is out for a walk when a little toddler wanders up to him all alone. he chats with him for a few minutes until the boy's parents find them and thank him for watching over their son. 'kuruk, what have we told you about wandering off like that?' the mother asks. the toddler waves goodbye, and kavik walks home feeling oddly contented. he never meets the boy again, and he dies well before kuruk is revealed as the avatar, but he feels a sense of peace from the interaction, knowing deep down that yangchen has made it safely back into the material world

when kavik dies, he wills his bone necklace to kuruk's family. they don't understand why until kuruk's sixteenth birthday. (SERIOUSLY THEIR NECKLACES LOOK ALMOST IDENTICAL ITS WILD)

that's all the thoughts i can scrape up off the top of my head, but i'm just generally thinking about avatar characters All The Time lmao. thank you for asking!!!

[oneatlatime]

Want to get your thoughts on something you've touched on in a couple places. A pretty popular idea in the fandom is that one of the (in-universe) reasons airbenders have gone so hard into the peace-and-love monk thing is a self-awareness that, if they didn't, there's not a whole lot anybody could realistically do about it.

Like, Southern Air Temple pretty strongly implies that Gyatso solo'd a room full of comet-roided firebenders. It killed him but he did it, and while he is a master Airbender, we're not given any real indication that he is uniquely so, right?

I have many thoughts on this! Sorry in advance for the long post! And sorry if this goes a bit off topic!

Short answer: I don't agree.

Long answer:

We've seen that nations' cultures tend to reflect their native bending styles. Or vice versa. It's probably a chicken and egg scenario. The Fire Nation chose to spread (like wildfire) and is full of hot headed, impetuous roid-rage sufferers who can't see or plan for the long term. Fire itself easily becomes ungovernable and is at best muzzled/leashed, always waiting for the next chance to bubble over in unplanned / unpredictable / generally unhelpful directions (Hi Zhao!). So an element shapes a culture shapes and element until you've got a positive feedback loop (or in the case of the Northern Water Tribe, a negative feedback ourobouros due to outside pressure). Importantly, neither culture nor element develops in isolation; I think they develop simultaneously.

The Earth Kingdom is probably the most rigid and unchanging, even when it would benefit them to change/innovate. We see rigidity and humourlessness in response to change or the unexpected (see Toph's parents) and we see an inability to let go of a bad idea, or mitigate the consequences / think on the go when things that were clearly bad ideas go bad in ways anyone with a non-earthbender brain can see coming a mile off (think The Avatar State episode). Earth digs in when it should retreat, stands solid when it should duck and weave. It is grounded to the point of stupidity (unless you're Toph or Bumi, although even Toph seems to be unbending so far). It's linear to the point of being unable to deviate from that line.

This is me guessing, but I figure since fire and water are opposites, air must be the opposite of earth, right? So while we'll never see airbending culture in a non-shrunk-down-to-one-person form, we can look at earthbending culture for its dark reflection. Well, probably not dark, but you get what I'm saying. They'll be opposites in world view. We can extrapolate.

So if earth is grounded, humourless, aggressively traditional, linear, then air must be constantly fluctuating, unchained, lighthearted, bonkers-all-over-the-place. The heaviness of earth would dictate that problems should be faced by digging in and facing them head on until the problem blinks first. The lightness of air would dictate that problems should be faced the opposite way: blinking first i.e. removing yourself from the problem entirely. The linearity of earth dictates that fights are solved by fighting - you punch me, I punch you. The non-linearity of air would seek to recontextualise a problem until it's no longer a problem because we all forgot what we were fighting about in the first place, i.e. throwing pies at it or busting out the marble trick. The heaviness of earth would cause excessive earthly attachment; the lightness of air would cause excessive detachment from worldly concerns.

To start violence is to make a statement that you wish to be involved. It's rooting yourself to a particular dispute, choosing a hill to die on. It stems from attachment. This is earthbendery behaviour (and Zuko-y, but let's not go there). To never start violence is to never invest, never dig in your feet and make a stand. To be detached. (I'm oversimplifying here.) It's clear from in-show examples that Aang's pacifism is of the "ladies don't start fights but they can finish them" variety; he's got no problem with self-defence (caveat: we have no idea how typical an air nomad Aang was). But he never attacks first that I can think of.

Violence is a very direct tool. If someone starts a fight with you, and you decide to continue it, you're choosing the most obvious action. Since when is airbending direct or obvious?

All this to say, I think that pacifism, peace and love, monkiness, etc., was more likely a natural and inevitable outgrowth of air nomad culture, caused by constant culture / element interaction, rather than a conscious choice.

So I think airbenders "have gone so hard into the peace-and-love monk thing" because the nature of their element creates a culture that discourages the traits required for effective offensive violence, and the inherent detachment and ever-changing nature of air naturally encouraged spiritual (i.e. monkly) pursuits rather than earthly ones, like whatever the conflict of the week is. I don't think self-awareness of the dangers of their element factors into it. Not to take away from Gyatso's accomplishment, but I think air is nowhere near the most dangerous element. From what I've seen so far that would be Fire or Earth, though I'd give the edge to Fire because they self-generate, and also because they've spent a largely successful century dominating the other elements. Waterbenders and earthbenders can be neutralised by taking away their element; airbenders - due to the very nature of their element - probably can't get past that initial avoid and evade instinct to become legitimate offensive threats.

As for Gyatso, I think he's an outlier. We know little about him so far, but we do know that: a) Aang says he's the best airbender (in I think the Southern Air Temple?); b) he's good enough that he was granted a statue while he was still living, learning, improving; and c) he's good enough that the monkly council (of which he is part) granted him the honour/responsibility of being the quasi-dad of the Avatar. These things tell me that Gyatso was the Spiders Georg of the Airbenders. I suspect Bumi is the same for the Earthbenders, and at least as far as the philosophy of bending is concerned, Iroh may be so for Firebenders. Even the example of Gyatso nuking the comet-enhanced firebenders is a case of defensive action in ultra extraordinary circumstances: he was staring into the teeth of a genocide while mourning the disappearance of his quasi-son and the likely loss of the world's only hope / chance at stopping the war. That's how far you have to push an airbender before they'll take a life. Unless the Avatar world pre-war is a lot more godawful than Aang has implied, airbenders probably wouldn't have been taking lives frequently enough for them to get to the point where they would have to start questioning whether they should consider pacifism.

I think what this fandom idea ultimately is, is a desire for the hidden badass trope. Everyone loves it when the most peaceful character in the story is revealed to secretly be a Rambo-level fighting badass, right? Who didn't love it when kindly grandpa Roku manifested in his temple and unleashed a volcano? But I think this trope fundamentally takes something away from the appreciation of Airbending, Air Nomad culture, and the concept of Pacifism as a whole. This is just my interpretation, but applying the "secretly the deadliest all along!" trope to airbenders undermines their commitment to pacifism and makes it performative rather than earnest. It's a cop out; an acknowledgement that violence actually is the answer, and even those head-in-the-clouds monks know to use it when the chips are down. This show goes out of its way to show that non-combatants have value and a place in this world that's worth fighting for, that fighting goes way too far pretty frequently, that non-violent solutions are valid, even preferable. It would kind of undermine that message if all of the elements were easily weaponisable.

Something I've loved so far about Avatar is the show's earnestness. There have been no Marvel-style fakeout bathos plots. I feel making airbending secretly the deadliest element or similar would be exactly that sort of thing. Can't my pacifists be peaceful not because they're secretly untouchable badasses who carry the biggest stick, whom the rest of the world leaves alone out of fear, who are not a threat only because they have chosen not to be, but because that's just who they are?

On the other hand: Aang's been a one-man-army plenty of times. We've seen that; that's undeniable. So air is stupidly powerful as an element. No denying that. Gyatso did murder a bunch of people trying to kill him, so air can be deadly. But I don't think your typical airbender could be deadly. If you gave a can of airbending to a firebender, an earthbender, or even a particularly provoked waterbender, I don't doubt that they could kill people with it. But the culture that the element generated - rather than a conscious choice by that culture's participants - prevents them from taking the direct, violent, solution. And I think that culture developed in tandem with airbending, so there could not have been a time when airbenders were deadly as a rule. Air shaped airbenders as much as airbenders shaped air, and it shaped them into non-violent people.

There's a lot of power in the idea of consciously choosing, and sticking to, something that is perhaps not in line with your natural abilities. Styling airbenders as deadly-but-choosing-peace is a great way to explore themes of agency, identity, strength of character, morals, maturity, etc. But, to me, there's also a lot of power in the idea that some people just can't - not won't, but CAN'T - fight their way out of things, and this doesn't make it any less wrong to genocide the crap out of them.

If the fandom wants to headcanon airbenders as secret badasses who consciously choose nonviolence, I say a) go ahead! there's more than enough evidence to support that conclusion; b) I respectfully disagree; and c) is Iroh not enough?

tl;dr in my opinion, air's pacifism was a natural outgrowth of, and restriction imposed by, the element rather than a conscious choice; airbending can be deadly but airbenders aren't; Gyatso is not representative; 'speak softly and carry a big stick' is all well and good as a philosophy, but those who speak softly and don't have a stick are of value too.

[likealittleheartbeat]

hey! i really enjoy your analysis of aang and zuko's relationship, and i was just wondering if you have any thoughts on this:

when aang considers what he's afraid of the most, he doesn't just see zuko - he sees the blue spirit. why do you think his fear is linked to that mask? zuko was the most amicable towards him when he put that mask on, and was hostile every other time.

Ooooh!! This is such a rich and meaty question!! And it's something I've wondered about but never dove into before.

I guess there are a couple of questions we need to explore. One, do we want to begin to analyze this from Aang's perspective or the series' themes, which, when put together, should offer us the fullest idea of what the intent might be? If we begin with Aang's perspective, then the next question we need to next ask what is Aang's view of Zuko and/or the Blue Spirit at this point in the narrative? My worry about beginning at that intimate level is that we might miss possible connections that a thematic understanding might facilitate and may, like many fandom analyses, leave it at a character level when, in fact, the characters exist to serve larger philosophical purposes, especially in a show like ATLA.

So, we'll return to those questions about Aang after we visit some questions about the broader themes here. We know for a fact that the team did a lot of research into Eastern philosophies that they had to then pack down into 24 minute episodes, preserving a surprising amount of complexity not in the words but in the actions and visuals. The 2 part Crossroads of Destiny episode is probably the most evocative of this practice. The four-way fight scene is celebrated for the way it masterfully shows character development through fight choreography. Then, Aang's crystal chamber he forms to master the Avatar State is a direct reference to a statement about pre-enlightenment in one of the foundational texts about Japanese Zen for American Buddhists, "The Three Pillars of Zen." The rapid explanations of the seven chakras with Guru Pathik might seem like a a skimming of Tantric beliefs based on the brief statements and processing, but it's another prime example the way ATLA suffuses meaning beyond the script.

What more can be said about the Earth (also called the Root or Muladhara) Chakra, then, that the show might reflect without stating it explicitly. Guru Pathik explains that the Earth Chakra "deals with survival." Is there any subject more prescient than that for our protagonist, the single survivor of an otherwise all-encompassing genocide? Other accounts of this chakra that I can find explain that it's at this chakra that one can observe that their base needs are being met--enough food, enough water, etc. There seems to be a subtle witnessing to the effects of PTSD here then. With this chakra untouched, unopened, and out of balance, Aang within his mind has been living in a state of emergency without knowing it, believing himself at a core level beyond his consciousness to still be under immediate threat even in moments of peace like his meditations throughout the opening of his chakras. "Your vision is not real," Guru Pathik points out, not to say that no danger exists for him in the world but to illuminate the immediate reality surrounding his person.

The memories and visions that flash during the sequence hint at how fear conceals deeper realities and thus possibilities. I'll start with the clip of Katara sinking away from the first episode of Book 2, "The Avatar State." The Earth Kingdom General performed this cruelty after many other attempts to force Aang into suffering to gain the Avatar State. Believing he lost another person he loved, the state was triggered despite the actuality that Katara was unharmed. The fear of her loss overwhelmed Aang, and even her safe return could not assuage his traumatic response. The Blue Spirit incident forms a striking parallel to this event, in that case. Aang felt himself helpless and in danger only to discover the opposite: the seemingly malevolent force freed him from danger. Further, that Blue Spirit Mask concealed Zuko who, by the end of the series, will be revealed (to himself and) Aang as an ally and a friend. The shadowy image of Ozai, then, connected with these two fear-inducing semblances, can be seen then as perhaps the ultimate foreshadowing of Aang's ultimate success in pacifying Ozai. Put in the context of this chakra and the other two visions, it frames the Firelord as a facade meant to induce terror and distance, when in reality, life and humanity still lay behind the horrifying megalomania.

Concerning the Blue Spirit element specifically in the series, I want to explore one more factor within the series before getting back to Aang's character relationship in this moment. Blue has a running symbolic theme within the series that seems especially relevant here since it played a huge role in a highly symbolic part of the directly previous episode, "The Earth King." As Zuko rides out his psychogenic fever induced by releasing Aang's bison and abandoning his Blue Spirit mask, he is confronted in his dreams by a blue dragon voiced by Azula and a red dragon voiced by Iroh. I felt really confused by these two would-be shoulder angels for the longest time (literally until I was sorting my thoughts out to write this) because Azula's blue dragon is the one who entreats Zuko to rest, which even in Grey Delisle/Azula's clearly threatening tone--she even ends the temptation by saying "sleep just like mother!"--seemed to be what Zuko needed to do as opposed to the red dragon's exhortations to get out. I could see how sleeping might also refer to accepting his upbringing without thought, but why blue? The layers upon layers of possible meaning overwhelmed me.

I posit that blue in the series, especially when put in relationship to red/orange, as it is in the dream sequence, the dynamic between the water tribe and the fire nation, the fire of zuko and azula (especially the final agni kai), and the energy-bending of Aang over Ozai in the finale, ought to be read as Yin (making red/orange yang). Yin is passive, retractive, and receptive, which makes the invitation to rest by a blue dragon make perfect sense. Yin is also feminine in nature, hence the association with both Azula (whose blue fire and lightning becomes especially interesting to explore under this understanding) and Zuko's mother in the dualistic dragon dream. If you know anything about yin and yang, you know that it's key tenet is ever-changing coordination of yin and yang within one entity and with relationships between entities rather than the privileging of one above another. The two dragons in Zuko's dream, while seemingly in opposition to one another, are actually seeking, like the bumper stickers say, "coexistence" of their dispositions.

Now, back to Aang's vision of fear over the Blue Spirit. The red that overlays everything is specifically a reference to the Earth Chakra, which is symbolized by the color red. But the fact that he has one fear of Katara, the pinnacle of blueness/yin in the series, dying, and another fear of the Blue Spirit, a de-flamed (read: emasculated) Zuko attacking him that are then overlayed by this Earth Chakra red, a color otherwise used to portray yang (masculinity, activeness, expansion, and repulsion) and the fire nation in the series, suggests that his fears are specifically about within holding onto yin nature (symbolized by his grasping for a disappearing Katara) without being entirely overwhelmed by it (in the image of the fear he felt as the Blue Spirit approached his imprisoned body). And all those fears are intensified when living in such a patriarchal, or yang-skewed age and society, which gets depicted through both the final image of Ozai, the ultimate patriarch within this world, and the red coloring.

I promised I would get back to the characters, and after that hopefully illuminating thematic expansion, we can hopefully get at the core of what's going on here for Aang personally and what it might mean for him to be picturing Zuko with the Blue Spirit mask as a fear. I want to put this moment into context with Aang and Zuko's relationship at this specific moment. Aang hasn't seen Zuko since he watched him cry over his uncle in the ghost town after Azula struck him with lightning as a diversion. That was ten episodes prior (and more than 6 months time if you were watching the show in real time as it premiered; May 26th-Dec. 1st). The next time Aang sees Zuko, two episodes later, they are glowering across a crystal prison cell at one another with antipathy as they're embraced (a gesture I can only remember from the fantastic black romance film Love & Basketball, and in a gay context that is clearly referencing that moment in L&B, in the Norwegian teen romance series Skam). Right before this scene, Aang readily agrees to co-rescue Zuko and Katara with Uncle Iroh despite Sokka's protestations. Nothing seems amiss with Aang, no obvious belligerence toward Zuko until he sees him. Zuko has barely seen the airbender this whole season, and the one moment they encountered one another, Zuko was attacking Aang's attacker rather than him. Why is Aang expressing anger toward Zuko in the crystal chamber then? It's a rare expression from Aang even when we look at their more antagonistic interactions from the first season.

Here's where this vision of the blue spirit Aang envisions as he opens his earth chakra might enliven his characterization and his relationship to Zuko. We get two pieces here. His attachment to Katara and the queer implications of his partnership with the Blue Spirit/Zuko. And they are inseparable.

I don't feel that I need to especially dive into the attachment to Katara since it's been a pretty big component of discourse within the fandom, both in general analysis and more specifically relating to the (literally historic) shipping wars between zutara and kataang that emerged after the series came out originally. What I'll say here is that the first vision that Aang has as he addresses his root chakra points to his fear of losing her and what she represents pretty explicitly and, as I suggested earlier, also provides its antidote in the realization that accepting/surrendering the fear of impermanence reveals its simultaneous illusion. Katara wasn't actually harmed and wasn't truly lost when the general subsumed her into the ground. Aang has to let go of her as a permanent fixture that he'll always be able to see and know entirely (not, as many have interpreted it, let go of loving her). He'll also have to let go of saving her and the world of so many others she represents, which is as much a pressure and role Katara and others put on him as Aang yolks himself to.

Part of this acknowledgement of Katara's impermanence as a living being and a romantic possibility is addressing the others in her life who pose both danger and attraction for her. Zuko embodies both of these things simultaneously. The aggressive stare Aang launches at Zuko in "The Crossroads of Destiny" can be understood through this lens. The Eve Sedgwick's concept of the triangulation of male homosocial desire between romantic rivals was one of the foundational ideas of queer theory. It's so well-established as to be a meme among the tumblr crowd. The show even references the history of these literary homosocial tropes in "The Avatar and the Firelord" as Sozin and Roku's tight-knit youthful friendship is slowly rent apart at the event of Roku's heterosexual marriage, which thus begins the imperialism of the Fire nation.

Except that Roku and Sozin aren't romantic rivals. And Zuko's obsession with Aang begins sans Katara. And, as you pointed out, if the romantic threat is Zuko, it ought to be Zuko in the Earth Chakra vision instead of the Blue Spirit? Well, those all exist because ATLA is not a tragedy for homosocial relationships, and it's hard for me to explain how groundbreaking that was.

You see, the show theorizes homosociality differently. If Aang is required to let go of Katara, he has no pivot point, no object (because women shouldn't be objects for male fodder!) to connect with and compete with a rival male, so he has to look directly at the desire of another male for him and, therefore, face the fears that he might have similar desires. I said above that the Blue Spirit is an entirely de-flamed Zuko, which I then paralleled to emasculation. One could even go farther to call it a kind of symbolic castration (Firelord Ozai losing his firebending at the end of the series certainly demands this kind of reading). These aspects ignite fears about lacking masculinity which then cause reactions, which make men avoid accepting any thoughts and behaviors associated with vulnerability and homosexuality invoked within themselves or by others.

I think Aang, in his way, is confronting these fears but not from the angle of someone raised within a homophobic or misogynistic culture. His openness to Zuko and the potential of connection to him is ripe from the first time they meet--"you're just a teenager" connects them without any intermediary. He comes to understand the rigidness of the environment he's in, though. He feels like he's being forced to choose between a yang/masculine role he plays with Katara, who at this point in the series though growing out of it and certainly not a fault of her own making still sees him as her savior and depends on him to save her and the world through metaphysical mastery and the repulsion of evil, and yin/feminine role he plays with Zuko, who finds Aang in and forces him into positions of elusion, surrender, and passivity, while requiring his compassion and forgiveness. When the Blue Spirit comes swinging his swords (read that with all the innuendos you want lol) at a shackled Aang, it's the ultimate expression of Aang's potential for submissiveness because, not only is he entirely helpless but the one who could harm or save him in that scenario is another who is not participating in the expected power of fire/yang/masculinity.

I think everything in the show says this is attractive to Aang--that he remains with Zuko immediately after their escape from the fort, that he reflects on the Blue Spirit as he opens his chakras, that a reference to the conversation that followed their escape that Zuko makes halts him in his tracks when Zuko asks to join the team. Zuko's Blue Spirit persona means a lot to Aang, a scary amount, and my point is that it's this fear of the meaningfulness of their encounter as two men who are not the masculine paragons they are supposed to be which Aang faces as he opens his chakra. As much as he wants Katara, he wants Zuko. He fears he'll lose Katara and he fears he'll lose his life to Zuko. These are the dichotomies he's tackling as he processes the Earth chakra.

Aang eventually opens the chakra, but that's only to say he acknowledges and surrenders his fears to a destiny and understanding beyond his control, not that he necessarily learns how to address and solve all the conundrums contained therein. We know he chooses his attachment to Katara at the end of the episode to obtain power over the Avatar state but perhaps we could've been clued into this choice by noticing he has not chosen Zuko with that initial glare Aang gives him. Aang hasn't found a way in his chakras or his heart to hold both Katara and Zuko at once, so he chooses Katara and expresses a newfound jealousy and rivalry toward Zuko (not that Zuko's at his best behavior at this point, but it's Aang who initiates the exchange).

By the end of this season, Zuko abandons the Blue Spirit mask and Aang loses his life for prioritizing Katara and a yang-centric mastery of the Avatar state. The next season involves all three of the protagonists finding more internal balance between yin and yang for themselves and accepting mutually reciprocal feelings for one another that allow them to escape the kinds of patriarchal tropes that have dominated Anglo- literature for centuries. The ability of this brief sequence to highlight so many of the series' central revolutionary themes speaks to the depth of the show and the way it invites the audience to think about rich subtext rather than pedantically hammer us with morals will just continue to be the gift that keeps giving from this show.

Thanks so much for asking! Didn't know how much I missed doing a deep dive into this kind of stuff.

[survivalove]

one example of atla fans’ media illiteracy is that they don’t understand the past avatars’ advice was written in a way that’s so vague that aang literally does everything they told him to do.

i see so many takes being like aang just ignored his past lives or even yangchen would’ve blah blah and i’m like. how did you miss the point that badly???

so i’m gonna point out all the ways the writers wrote around what the previous avatars said so that aang actually does what they all advised:

starting with the most obvious point: none of them actually tell him to end ozai.

kyoshi: “only justice will bring peace.”

aang? takes away ozai’s bending so the fool rots in a prison cell for the rest of his life.

the world? at peace.

kuruk: “aang, you must actively shape your own destiny and the destiny of the world.”

aang? makes his own choice against what everyone tells him to do and literally ends a war that was going on for centuries.

the world? destiny changed!

yangchen (because for some reason you all don’t get this one and it’s just never been clearer to me lmao): “selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.”

so let’s point out some key words:

selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.

and let’s go back to aang taking ozai’s bending away, but before that, when he says this right before even meeting the lion turtle.

aang: “I guess I don't have a choice, Momo. I have to kill the Fire Lord.” - Selfless duty

see even just like you guys, aang didn’t catch the signs, but that’s okay! cuz shortly after this the lion turtle starts to move and makes itself known to aang, and reward him for sticking to his faith.

now, let’s look at what the lion turtle was actually saying and how this aligns with yangchen’s advice:

lion turtle: “To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable or you will be corrupted and destroyed.” - is the willingness to Sacrifice his literal Spirit sinking in yet??

if not, here’s what was actually happening while he said that:

[As he speaks, Ozai's energy begins to make its way to Aang's body, consuming the blue and replacing it with red energy. Cut to a view above Aang looking down at his face as the energy reaches his face and continues to cover the beams shining out his mouth and eyes. Cut to a side-view as the red light begins to take control and the blue light diminishes. Cut to close-up of Aang as the red energy has taken over almost completely with just one eye left...]

WHATEVER IT TAKES?? literally? like hello

i feel like because this is a kid’s show and that it was obviously gonna have a happy ending, that people take for granted what aang did and what he was willing to do.

he put his literal spirit on the line to end the war, and this was after he was running trying to spare ozai for an hour.

and then you say you wanted him to end him. and sure yeah, let’s pretend that doesn’t go against the whole show and would’ve ruined his entire arc for a seeeecond, how exactly is that supposed to be more satisfying or end any differently to what we got? aang would’ve still been hit with the rock ex machina. ozai would be dead sure but the climax would be a lot less visually appealing, and everyone in the world would STILL be at peace except for…. oh right. AANG.

[balanceoflightanddark]

What if Aang never met up with a lion turtle?

Well, if Aang never met up with the Lion Turtle, he wouldn't have learned energybending. And if he never learns energybending, then he'd have to kill Ozai since there would be no other option to render him a nonthreat.

Remember that Aang did say he had to kill the Fire Lord before he learned energybending. He wasn't happy about it, but clearly, the option was there if there was no other way. And it wouldn't be the first time he killed. He did kill Fire Nation soldiers in the Siege of the North while fused with La (even if La was in control, Aang does take responsibility with that little incident hanging heavy in his mind). And one of his recurring problems is that deep down, there is a part of him that wants to get revenge on the Fire Nation for the genocide of his people (slips into the Avatar State upon seeing the corpse of Monk Gyatso, was just barely able to stop himself from killing Ozai during Sozin's Comet).

So with this in mind, we can assume that Aang resolves to kill Ozai. And probably succeeds. Either he redirects Ozai's lightningbending and kills him that way, or he slips into the Avatar State like he's done in the past and kills him that way once his chakra gets unblocked by the rock. Regardless of either option, he's able to kill Ozai.

And he'll be destroyed by it.

For one, he's 12 years old. Doesn't matter how many times his friends try to reassure him, that's way too young to kill. We've already seen that he feels responsible for any collateral damage that the Avatar State causes when he's not in control. What do you think will happen when he kills somebody as a deliberate action Avatar State or not?

Second, and probably most important, killing Ozai wouldn't solve anything. I mean sure, we can have the crowning ceremony for Zuko and the declaration that the new era will be one of peace and understanding.

But there would be this undercurrent of uneasiness behind it all. Zuko might not be as warm with Aang since, abusive POS or not, his father died. I don't think Zuko is going to walk away from that smelling like roses.

And there might not be as many celebrations or people coming together at the end of the war. Why?

Because Aang just put himself above everyone else and executed a man without trial. Even if Ozai was a monster, it doesn't take much guesswork to realize that if the Avatar was able to do it once, he could do it again.

And nobody would be able to stop him.

We've seen what happens when an Avatar gets too heavyhanded. Kyoshi and the Avatar Cycle has a whole became pariahs in Chin Village for killing Chin. Even if it was justified and even if the episode itself was silly at times, they weren't wrong in believing that an Avatar could go rogue and do the same thing again. People are afraid of that kind of power.

Particularly when it comes to the Fire Nation, who I think as a whole won't back down when Aang just murdered their Fire Lord and backed his traitorous son. We might get rebellions. Civil wars. Assassins. Any attempts on Aang's part to quell the warmongering Fire Nation is going to be hamstrung by this one act of violence. I mean Chin Village hadn't forgiven Kyoshi for her actions. Why would a warmongering society see Aang's point of view? Especially when he already has a history of wiping out Fire Nation naval fleets.

Which of course will fray Aang's patience again and again. The kid does have his limits (see the Sandbenders or General Fong). But the attacks won't stop. I could even see assassins being sent out for Aang or the Gaang if they can't kill the Avatar.

And if one of his friends gets hurt or even killed...

There's only so much a kid can take before he snaps.

Anyways, that's how I envisioned this would play out if Aang never met the Lion Turtle. Obviously, it's a bit dark, but it kind of hammers in the point about how you can't exactly end a centuries-long war with one more body to the pile. The world needed mercy, not revenge.

[natlacentral]

DALLAS LIU THRIVES UNDER PRESSURE

Few franchises have captured the imaginations of a generation as wholly as Nickelodeon's iconic Avatar: The Last Airbender, which ran for three seasons during the mid-2000s. Fewer still have demonstrated the series' ability to cross generational divides and maintain a lasting impact on the cultural psyche while continuing to enthrall successive generations as a touchstone of youth-oriented animation. Often regarded as one of the greatest narratives in television history, the show has spawned a massive and dedicated fanbase whose ethical boundaries have been imprinted by the mature yet sensitively portrayed moral quandaries presented therein. The world of Avatar draws upon Asian and Indigenous spiritual practices and traditional martial arts to construct an alternate reality where four nations, each attuned to one of the four elements (water, earth, fire, air), are home to different “bending” abilities—portions of their respective populations are connected to and able to control the element of their nation. The Avatar, capable of bending all four elements and serving as the human manifestation of spiritual light and peace, is tasked with maintaining balance between the nations and the spirit world as well as nurturing prosperity and peace. In its massive scope, the show touches upon a slew of issues including diplomacy, genocide, social responsibility, cultural conflict, ecology, and parental abuse—heavy material for a kids' show.

Given the entertainment industry’s recent streak of adaptations and reboots, it is no wonder that Netflix tuned in to the incredible demand for more Avatar. With the last attempt at live-action adaptation remembered as an unequivocal disappointment—the M. Night Shyamalan-directed 2010 film whiffed on its whitewashed casting and soulless direction—devoted fans followed the casting and production of the new miniseries closely in hopes for a vision truer to form. In the months leading up to the show’s release, conversation picked up immensely. The official trailer racked up over ten million views on YouTube and nearly two hundred thousand shares on Instagram alone, leaving the internet abuzz.

Avatar: The Last Airbender notably features an ensemble of characters who span across generations and the live-action casting follows suit (Gordon Cormier, portraying lead protagonist Aang, is only fourteen). Until now, Dallas Liu—who portrays the banished Crown Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation—had been used to being one of the youngest on any project. His first role was in the 2009 martial arts film Tekken, released when he was only eight years old, and until now he was best known as Shuji, the older brother of Maya Erskine's seventh-grader in Pen15. “Most of the time when I'm going on set, I'm the most inexperienced person. I take the role of a student and try to pick everyone's brain and take in as much knowledge and wisdom as possible,” Liu points out. Now twenty-two years old, he found himself asking while filming Avatar, “‘How can I also be a leader [to the younger actors]?’ [I was] trying to mentor them to become professionals and how to handle themselves on set. I feel lucky enough for them to have let me into their hearts and allow me to take this role of an older sibling they can rely on.”

Although older than many of his fellow leads, Liu also had the opportunity to draw upon decades of experience through multiple seasoned actors in the ensemble, particularly scene partners Daniel Dae Kim (Zuko's father Ozai), Ken Leung (antagonist Commander Zhao) and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Zuko's uncle Iroh). While filming, Liu found the older cast members to not only be sources of wisdom but also grounded peers. “Those guys had set the bar for me in terms of what kind of person I wanted to be on set,” he recalls. “It wasn't like people [had to look] up to them. [They] all created an interesting environment where everyone was equal. That's the way it should always be. I think the way people felt valued by them was something I really wanted. I want to be like that, that's a real leader.”

When the show's cast was announced, many viewers were particularly interested in Liu's selection as fan favorite Zuko, an embattled and exiled warrior prince hunting down the titular Avatar in hopes of reconciling with his cold-hearted, world-conquering father, the authoritarian imperialist monarch Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko's character development drives much of the plot of the story, tracing a redemption arc parallel to his coming-of-age in a high-pressure, war-torn environment. Liu's portrayal is pivotal in bringing the story to the franchise's new format and charting a course from brutal angst to principled compassion. The conjunction of the show's immense hype and Zuko's plot-driving character arc resulted in a unique strain of pressure for Liu, himself an avid follower of the original series, in assuming the role.

“The first thing that I ever remember seeing of The Last Airbender was Zuko training on his boat with Iroh. I fell in love with the show,” Liu recalls. “It was one of the reasons I ended up taking part in martial arts,” which he practiced competitively throughout his childhood and led to his acting career after he was referred to audition for Tekken by one of his instructors.

As he considered the scope of responsibility in portraying Zuko and how to apply his own idiosyncrasies to the character, Liu turned to Dante Basco, the original voice actor. Basco, aware Liu had been inspired by the initial show in his youth, encouraged his younger counterpart to embrace the differences between live-action and cartoon animation. “Dante had certainly set a high bar. Instead of trying to match him, try to surpass it, [we] talked about it,” Liu recalls. “He said, ‘What you're going to do is different. By all means, you have your own experience of Zuko from your childhood as well.’”

Liu's precise training and familiarity with action and combat have played a key role in his acting career, as he has joined franchises such as Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Marvel's Cinematic Universe in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Elemental bending is a central component of the world of Avatar, requiring the actors to study several different fighting styles. “They had us learn every single bending style to really differentiate,” Liu says. “We had an understanding so that on the day, they could make a certain shot work and we had to come up with something on our own.” The collaborative nature of the stunt work allowed Liu ample opportunity to impart his expertise to the other cast members. “We were in this boot camp,” he adds. “Helping the kids out, I was having a blast—just hanging out and kicking it because that stuff is like second nature to me.”

That blending of acting and martial arts in Avatar required Liu to reflect on the mortal nature of some of the circumstances in which Zuko finds himself. “You're going to do whatever it takes to come out of that situation,” he notes of some particularly perilous moments that he believes are more impactful in the live version. “I incorporated that into the fight scenes. Even the stunt team was willing to let me have some creative input.” At one point near the end of the season, for example, Commander Zhao tricks Zuko into boarding a boat rigged with explosives, causing Iroh and the rest of their naval forces to believe him dead. In the finale, their conflict comes to a head in a battle to the death; as Zuko is rocked by a revelation from Zhao, the commander goes for the kill. “In the animation, people forget,” Liu adds. “This is a life or death situation!”

If you ask Liu, he and Zuko share a proclivity for absorption in their endeavors. “It's almost two-and-a-half years since we started shooting the show. I've definitely grown more as a person, and when I was growing as a person, that also developed my acting,” the actor notes. “I was like, ‘I'm going to come into work, I'm going to stay focused.’ It wasn't because I didn't like anyone, it was because I was scared of getting distracted. I understood the responsibility and the pressure that came with doing this.”

Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Please tell me the misrepresentations you see in the ATLA/LOK fandoms (and how many are people being purposely obtuse about female characters)…

so it turns out i'm a liar bc i kept thinking I'd get to this eventually and then didn't but I'm doing it now!! I kept it to the main points that get me heated rn. all under the read more.

Violence!!!

mainly fandom thinks violence=murder? That because characters like Toph are down to fight that it means they're 100% chill with murder? or that Kysohi being okay with killing as a form of justice means she's simply violent and will always murder? And it pisses me off. Toph likes fighting - but she's never been shown to be okay with killing. she's more thoughtful than people give her credit for because all they see is that she likes fighting. Kyoshi tells Aang "justice will bring peace", which is NOT "you gotta kill your enemies", but just a simple statement - essentially she is telling Aang to bring justice, whatever that means to him and the world. It's important to note that while Kyoshi says she killed Chin and would have done anything to fight him, she doesn't actually kill him, he just refused to move. (She also didn't stop his conquest before that but that's a different issue.) Just because Kysohi is known as a fierce warrior and owns up to doing whatever it takes to bring justice, that apparently means she's overly violent and is down with murder. But even on her wiki page, while she's noted as being more willing to kill enemies than other avatars, notable accomplishments she achieved in her life didn't have anything to do with killing or violence, but rather trying to better the world and the Earth Kingdom systematically.

Other posts have summarized this issue better than I can and I can't find the one that really speaks to me but. basically the fandom is overly obsessed with violence. They get annoyed that Aang didn't kill Ozai. They get annoyed that Aang said "revenge isn't the answer" when Katara wanted to kill the man who killed her mother. They deliberately misinterpret characters into being more violent than they actually are and then misinterpret that too.

Lin/Tenzin/Pema

I think this is the issue that prompted my original post ngl because I was trying to go through the Pema tag and kept seeing hate. Which I hate.

I think this is really where the fan misinterpretation comes into play. Because it's generally accepted that Tenzin and Lin broke up because Lin couldn't have/didn't want children. This led fans to assume that Pema was a homewrecker and Tenzin simply decided to hook up with someone who did want to have kids. But this is such an uncharitable view on all of the characters involved and more importantly, none of it is canon!

While Pema's advice to Korra about confessing despite her love interest being in a relationship is admittedly not flattering to her, it's important to remember the context Pema had for her situation. As well as what Tenzin himself said about the situation, he says explicitly that Pema did not "steal" him. Tenzin says regarding himself and Lin that they were "growing apart" and "wanted different things". While this is vague and probably what prompted fans to assume it was a kid thing, honestly I doubt it. Tenzin and Lin, as we see in their adult selves, are very different people. I don't think they would have been able to make it work. Tenzin adores his family and values this connection deeply, even if he struggles with it. Lin, on the other hand, in both flashbacks and present day, overall values work over family. Which is not a bad thing, but is a definite clash between them. Especially since they're growing up and those issues would just fester if they stayed together.

While Pema confessing to Tenzin while he's in a relationship is a little questionable, honestly, Tenzin is not the kind of person to just break up with someone and date someone else simply because they confessed to him while things were rocky. And tbh there are worse things than confessing you like someone when you think they're not happy with the person they're dating. Like... destroying your ex's home and trying to throw their new s/o in jail, like Lin did. People forget about that part. Like that's just not cool and idk why people think it's okay.

So idk why people lean so hard into the "Pema is a homewrecker and Tenzin dumped Lin just so he could have kids and that's why Lin is miserable years later" headcanon. It just is so uncharitable to every character involved and doesn't have any text to support it.

Katara (and Katara & Zuko)

People misinterpret Katara every fucking day in one way or another and it drives me nuts. 1) She is not a crybaby or talks too much about her mom. The times she's cried has been in response to upsetting things and therefore definitely justified, and same thing for bringing up her mom - always in situations where it's relevant. 2) she is also not unnecessarily violent. she fights when she perceives a threat or needs to deal with assholes (ie those 2 guys from Toph's intro episode and Jet when they meet again), not whenever she wants to flex. 3) she's motherly, but she's not a mom. she's a teenager. she's not above mischief. 4) she's not an asshole! people who write hurt/comfort fics about Zuko after he joins the gang usually have Katara being unnecessarily mean to him just to amp up Zuko's pathetic-ness and it bothers me. She was warming up to him a little bit by the boiling rock episode! she swung back to anger in the next episode but like. it's not undeserved, and she's dealing with her mom issues and trauma. She's not an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.

related to this - Zuko and Katara are friends!!!! I keep seeing stuff about them being frenemies or Katara being friendly but still mean to him all the time and I'm sick of it!!! They made up by the end of the southern raiders episode. they were chill in the ember island players. they had clearly become friends by the final episodes like all of their interactions were clearly friendly. I legit think that the attitude towards zutara has gotten so negative that people swung too far in the opposite direction and can't interpret them as genuine friends because of it. even though they are!!!

Zuko's levels of pathetic-ness

Zuko's not as pathetic as people say he is. He's a disaster, yeah. He's awkward, sure. But he's not a pathetic mess like people tend to portray him. Like he is powering through every absolutely ridiculous situation that gets thrown his way like a boss - handling it badly? sure. not always saying the right thing? Absolutely. But he is powering through it surprisingly competently considering every situation he ends up in. He's not a mess on the floor about any of it, except for like, 3 times and that was the result of emotional turmoil and physical sickness. idk I saw this post where Zuko gets distracted by how hot the water tribe guys are and I was like No Shut Up You Don't Understand Him.

Like. is he the perfect whumpee? absolutely. but he is not a "crying on the floor" kinda whumpee. He is a "defiant to the end, still fighting back no matter what" kinda whumpee.

[izunias-meme-hole]

One Villainous Scene - Cruelty vs Restraint

Fire Lord Ozai, no matter how pathetic he is as a person, is still one of the most chilling villains in any animated series (Outside of like Emperor Belos, Bill Cipher, DCAU!Joker, Slade, and Professor Pericles). Despite only appearing in the flesh in season 3, his buildup through both the Fire Nation and his own family is amazing. We see that he scarred his son for both speaking out against him and not fighting back, we see that he basically groomed his daughter into a killing machine, we see that he's authorized so many war crimes, we see the crimes of his ancestors, and they all showcase one thing. He is unbelievably cruel. Born evil? No. Cruel to the point of disgust? Absolutely. Ozai, as the head of an imperialistic system, believes that he has a "Divine Right to Rule" and that "strength is all that matters", though his idea of strength is pure relentlessness and remorseless cruelty. In his eyes, if you're unable to burn whatever stands in your way with zero hesitation, then that makes you weak. It's a simplistic ideology for a villain, but its effective because of the type of villainous force the Fire Nation is (The fckin' Axis Powers), and the type of protagonist that The Avatar, Aang is.

Aang is an Air Nomad, a monk to put it simply. He lived a simplistic life before his people got eliminated by the Fire Nation 100 years ago, and part of that simplistic lifestyle involved zero killing. It's literally ironic since previous Avatar's have never hesitated to outright execute someone if they had to for the sake of peace. Since Aang is the current Avatar, and the current Fire Lord is literally threatening the world with the most brutal breed of fascism possible... you can see where this is going. Aang wants to stop Ozai, but he isn't willing to betray the beliefs of his long dead people. So when this inevitable fight starts, it got ugly really quick.

After stoping Ozai's attempt at turning the Earth Kingdom into a wasteland, Aang gets his attention and tried talking him into surrendering, but as expected Ozai doesn't back down. Aang does indeed fight this bastard, but consistently spends the fight restraining himself. He has opportunities to just snuff out Ozai's life, but chooses not to because of his beliefs. Meanwhile Ozai isn't hesitating at all. This is a man who burned his own kid for speaking out against him and showing weakness, so he has no qualms with killing this child who froze himself for 100 years.

Aang continues to restrain himself, while Ozai keeps trying to go in for the kill, taunting the last airbender while doing so and making him run. The Fire Lord continues showing absolutely zero mercy towards Aang, even as the boy is hiding, and this ultimately became his undoing. Thanks to his literal inability to show mercy, Ozai forced Aang into the Avatar State, and from there he is shown a power far beyond his own.

Now that he's literally pissed off the most powerful entity on the planet, Ozai begins getting completely and utterly washed. He is getting stomped out, and there is not a single thing he can do about it. He cannot fight back, and running is definitely not a luxury that he's being afforded. Now he's the helpless one while Aang is the one showing zero restraint, and it's made all to clear when Aang literally pins Ozai down onto the ground, getting ready to kill this man with all four elements.

Except, Aang doesn't do it. He regains control of himself, and regains that restraint, that desire to hold onto his people's beliefs, and shows Ozai mercy. Despite literally everything, Aang doesn't want to end it all like this. Ozai on the other hand is pissed.

"Even with all the power in the world, you are still weak."

Ozai was shown the immense power of the Avatar, and he was afraid of that power. Then he is shown mercy by this being who could decimate him in one shot? As scared as he was in that moment, Ozai would've rather died to someone that could overpower or at least have the will to kill him than be spared. So naturally, he wastes the mercy Aang gave him in an attempt to kill him, but ultimately gets pinned down, and unfortunately for him Aang remembered a little trick he learned before this fight. The ability to remove one's bending. So just like that, Ozai doesn't die, but rather is is powerless, humiliated, and shown for what he truly is... a small man pretending to be a big bad wolf.

Ultimately for all of his thoughts on what makes one "strong" and "weak," for all his talk about how he has a "right" to rule, and for all of his cruelty and ruthlessness, Ozai is ultimately just an pathetic human being using the past of his bloodline and his nation to become more than what he is. Meanwhile a literal CHILD MONK, the last personification of restraint and simplicity, not only kicks his ass, but proves that him wrong on so many levels and exposes him for what he really is. Fire Lord Ozai is a simplistic villain with minimal screen time, but what carries him is indeed his buildup as this purely monstrous figure, his constant presence, his cruelty, and the payoff that is this phenomenally done final fight.

[juniperhillpatient]

The Firebending Masters Re-watch

THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT SO FUCKING MUCH!!!! AHHH!!!

[id: Zuko & Aang back to back looking around at the rainbow fire created by the dragons, Ran & Shao. end id]

Toph's story about learning earth-bending from the badger moles - the original earth-benders - was amazing! I just think that's so fucking cool, that animals were always the original benders, & that Toph learned that way. I Just Love This Show A Lot.

[id: a gif of Toph being kissed by a badger mole. end id]

+500 iconic behavior points for Toph for this story.

There is something so narratively beautiful in Zuko deciding to join the Avatar in a mission to restore peace & balance to the world & learning in the process that his fire-bending doesn't have to come from rage it can come from love - fire is life, not just destruction. This lesson is truly what Aang needed too, in order to learn fire-bending. This episode serves as such a beautiful contrast to the episode "The Deserter" where we see only the violent & destructive nature of fire, & how Zhao defeats himself with fire fueled by rage.

I have seen this episode referred to as a "power up" kinda thing for Zuko & Aang but that's not how I see it at all. I think that this episode was about learning the true nature of fire-bending, for both Zuko & Aang, who have only ever known about fire fueled by anger & created for the purpose of destruction. Both boys still had to actually practice their forms after this & continue learning & improving, with this very important newfound knowledge.

I also love that it was a dance. It's just kind of beautiful that in a show about the horrors of war & lost childhood & what it means to regain peace & balance, the answer to understanding the element that's been the symbol of the enemy this whole time is dancing, not fighting. I don't know, I just really like the message behind that. +1000 iconic behavior points for Zuko & Aang each for being deemed worthy by freaking DRAGONS. love that for them.

I'm just gonna pepper in also that this episode REALLY said Zukaang rights. I mean aside from the fact that they're narrative foils, former enemies working together to master the final element - fire - they literally dance surrounded by rainbow fire. C'mon.

And I mean, Zuko & Aang's dynamic is just great & fun in this episode. I cracked up when Aang was trying to get Zuko to share his flame & Zuko was like "quit cheating off me!" they're such....children lol (another great moment was "I don't care what anyone else says, Zuko, I think you're pretty smart" as well as "what do you want to do now?" "I don't know, contemplate our place in the universe?")

Also, this scene was hilarious & also meaningful - I really do love the writing of this show --

Zuko: Yeah. It's like the Sun, [He curls his hand into a fist.] but inside of you. Do you guys realize this?

Sun Warrior chief: [Smiling.] Well, our civilization is called the Sun Warriors ... so yeah. Zuko That's why my firebending was so weak before. Because for so many years, hunting you [Turns toward Aang as screen zooms out to show Aang.] was my drive ... it was my purpose. [Aang turns toward Zuko as well.] So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. [Cut to Zuko's face as screen zooms in.] I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world.

The ending with Zuko & Aang demonstrating their moves & Sokka & Katara teasing them cracked me up. Another great episode!

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

I could go in all day about why I prefer Zutara.

The way the canon pairings (other than Suki and Sokka) were written were terrible in my opinion.

Even as a kid, I didn't understand why Katara and Zuko never got together. Katara and Zuko fought, yes, but you have to remember this was a clash of ideals and a story of change. Zuko changed for the better and wanted to prove it.

And he did. Then, he turned around and began to help the people he saw as the enemy for so fucking long. Beautiful redemption arc. Some of the best character writing I've seen in such a long time. There's Zuko analyses up to the eyes about his character development, you don't need me to reiterate it just go find one.

But what Zuko did for Katara that Aang never could was fully understand her. The southern raiders especially shows that. Zuko spent that whole episode being her support. Everything they did when finding and confronting Yon Ra was completely and totally KATARA'S decision. He just did what he could without overstepping on what she wanted.

Meanwhile, Aang was pressuring her to forgive a man who Katara already deemed unforgivable and offered a black and white way of thinking that only could amount to his immaturity and his lack of experience in this world.

Aang not only is a child, but he's a child who didn't grow up in war like the others. His naivety is part of his charm as a character. He's hope personified and a good glimpse of what a time of peace looked like in the past. The Southern Raiders and frankly the entirety of Book Three showed how painfully out of touch Aang still is with war currently.

From the dance party in the caves in avatar the footloose episode, being stubborn about hiding his arrow in the midst of enemy territory, all of the Ember Island Players and his sudden possessiveness over Katara even starting he'd go into the avatar state over it if he was able to. But especially when it hinged on taking out Ozai.

Now, I'm gonna keep my opinions on whether Ozai should live or die to myself. That part isn't the point. However, the way he handled dealing with how his friends felt about it sucked. And imagine the last lines you see exchanged between Aang and Katara, two people who are supposed to be together in the end, arguing. And I mean truly arguing with no resolution. Aang pulls his chronic running away from his problems gets a cheap way out to win the war and all of a sudden those two get together?

Katara had to deal with a little boy who constantly needed to be coddled and consistently ran when things got tough. Aang was babied by Katara.

I don't know many people who enjoy babying and practically raising their own life partner.

Zuko stepped in becoming part of the gaang and gave Katara support. They're referred to as momtara and dadko in the Zutara fandom for a reason. He was the sternness the rest of them needed and it showed. Zuko was another tactician, someone Sokka could bounce off with. He was another teacher that Aang sorely needed. He was the sturdiness that all of them needed. Hell, he's the one who stopped Katara from going after Aang in their big fight before the finale.

Zuko was the perfect boyfriend for Katara. The caves showed how they would end fights, Zuko was the first to extend the olive branch.

"I'm sorry, that's what we have in common." Without that sentence we would've never got the scene we love so much. He allows himself to be vulnerable with her, even to the point where he allows Katara to touch his scar. In the Southern Raiders, he allows her anger and instead of telling her not to be upset, he asks how he can fix it. And through her irrational asks, he allows her emotions. Meanwhile, Aang is the one who tells her she sounds like a man who basically was about to murder a town. He compares the loss of her mother, the person who gave her and Sokka life, to a fucking pet. There is a real give and take with Katara and Zuko. Katara is the only one who gives...and gives...and gives.

She is the emotional crutch. Aang never controls his avatar state, even in the comics where she has to coax him down from situations. There is no canon showing of him trying to control himself in that state. None. Only in Legend of Korra where all of a sudden Aang is just the perfect Avatar magically, does he have some semblance of mastery of his state.

I won't even get into the comic where he was all for separating people by nation up until his dream girl pointed out that they won't be together if that happened. Garbage.

Also, from the other zutara fics I have had the honor of reading, I've seen beautiful opportunities for Katara, from being the Fire Lady by Zuko's side and making her own path and prestige beyond being Zuko's wife. I've seen the badass girl I admired so strongly as a child when I first watched the series. I saw her stubbornness, her compassion. I saw her beyond being this damsel tied to Aang's arm.

Even in fics where she did end up with Aang for a while, she seemed more like Katara than she ever did in LOK. Katara is loved for being her in the hands of Zutaraians and that's what I love to see.

Zutara Poll

So claims have been made in the past that Zutara fans mainly like the ship because of aesthetics. My interaction with the fandom so far says otherwise. So I have quickly cobbled up this poll to get numbers! Please vote and share!

Also ZUTARA ANTIs DNI! This poll is meant for people who actually like the ship. Please respect that. Thank you!

[failingradish]

Hello, I have just started following your blog and I really admire your work. I always wondered what all the past avatars had looked like since very few made an appearance in the series. Anyway, I just came across your team avatar drawings for when after Korra had died and was reincarnated. I always tried looking up what people's ideas were for the future avatar and your designs for this certain era just stood out to me. Now many people have come up with names for their Earthbender avatar oc, though I don't recall seeing a name for your avatar on this blog and would like to know more about him. He's so interesting and I love how he is accompanied by some type of goblin spirit? The animal familiars that you have made for each avatar are just breathtaking. I think you are a very creative artist and if you don't mind I'd like to know more about the next avatar after Korra if you'd share some information with me. I'm sorry if I bothered you and if someone has already asked you this question, though I am just really interested in your artwork and want to know more about your characters.

Hi thanks so much for your compliment- but WOW that's a long question, but I'll try to answer it anyway- 💕

Truth be told I haven't put that much thought into the single characters- because that's not really what I'm most interested in. But I have some specific concepts in mind that I'd like to see partially addressed by a next avatar series-/ how I would do it with my 5 braincells.

1. It's not the avatar after Korra, but the one another generation down (Water-> Earth -> FIRE)

I want to see a world that NEVER found the next avatar and let the next one after figure out what happened to the one b4 them- or even a couple of fake avatars be declared by diffrent nations, since as unbiased as the avatar may be being the nation with the avatar has some advantages especially in a time of political peace trying to enforce soft power onto other nations.

(Similar to what the Chinese government is trying to do- capturing the penchen lama, so they can declare their own Dalai Lama once Tenzin Gyatso dies :( )

2. The mystery of whether the main character is actually the avatar (did the Earth Avatar actually die already or are they just another fake)

Ideally this would mean that 1- this wouldn't take place too long after korra's death (like 30-40 years) and 2- the mc can't bend any element yet (or just 1 element but that's somehow more boring to me)

They could be running away from the people claiming they're the avatar, trying to find the real one- traveling the world is an important part of avatar and that would be the perfect reason.

3. Growing independence movements.

I really want to see diffrent cultures within the earth kingdom and fire nation strive for independence now that they don't need the protection of a bigger state anymore and nobody (idealy) wants to look like the big, bad oppressor.

Similar to what happened in europe post ww2

4. The current avatars main mission always seems to be fixing something the previous avatar failed at-

Like how Kuruk fixed Yangchens mistake with neglecting the spirit world,

Kyoshi uuuh not sure- did she fail at anything?

Aang ended the war that Roku failed to prevent,

Korra brought back the air nation after Aang couldn't

And Korra ofc lost the connection with all past their lives.

I actually don't want them to change that- stick with it.

But I want the mc to go on a journey to discover his predecessor in the first season (build the problem for the final season //point 5) and then a treasure hunt of sorts to discover all avatars that were "forgotten"- avatars from cultures like the ones from point 3- tying these points together and discovering the avatars and (more importantly) their peoples identity and how to move forward.

Let them write it all down too, so they won't be forgotten again.

5. Every avatar story needs a main antagonist, so that's where I put something completely wild but stick with me-

The Earth avatar that was never found was born into an underground kingdom that was founded long ago by powerful earth benders(/or spirits idk make it a legend) that in an effort to shield their people from the dangers of the surface submerged their city, isolating it from the rest of the world for hundreds or thousands of years. Over time they created an elaborate tunnel system- building more and more cities and creating an empire.

The new avatar would realize who they are at some point and seek to understand this world they supposedly were meant to protect. The avatar would then attempt to befriend the next in line to the throne in order to attempt to convince them to let their empire rejoin the surface world. A suggestion that would eventually end up getting them killed by their friend (you could insert a tragic lesbian couple here ❤)

So the new mc finds out eventually what happened but not who killed them- keep that part hidden for the final show down.

6. Spirit gaang member

I want them to do something interesting with the joined worlds concept- so give them a spirit that aids in the groups journey- my version is a time based spirit that gave the mc a old fashioned clock that'll help 'unlock' the stories of the past avatars. Could also be a mount. Pls don't let it talk. If they make a comedic relief spirit i might oof myself tho.

Also also. Kill them.

7. So that's about it ofc, my only other request is pls bring back proper character development for the side characters. Like mentally bolin and mako stayed the same throughout korra...

??? Idk storytelling really isn't my strong suit

(Not question related)

FOR FULL DISCLOSURE! I didn't completely draw all of the backgrounds for this ask- for a lot of them I used Photos to bring across what I mean better.

(And also this is an answer for a Tumblr question and I already spent way too much time on this I'm sorry djbdkdbdzk)

All of the images  I used can be found HERE- other apps I used were Prequel, CSP, Paint Tool SAI and Photoscape.

Thank you for reading this far.

[raeynbowboi]

Crafting Character: Character Arcs

Today, we’re going to be laying out the four most important questions in your character, and we’ll be dissecting well-written characters to give us our examples. I’ll also provide a few bad examples so we can see what happens when a character doesn’t fulfill their arc. These four questions feed into one another, but all play an integral role in crafting your character. It’s also just a fun excuse to center an entire post around Zuko because why the hell not?

The Scar or The Ghost

This is the moment in the character’s backstory that defines who they became. This is the event that shaped their world views or motivates their goal. For Zuko, his ghost is the moment his father burned his face and banished him. The moment he was told that he had no honor. That he could never return home unless he brings the Avatar. In antagonists and antiheroes, this is the tragic backstory moment that is the source of their bastardness. The source of the trauma and that warped their values.

The Want

This is the character’s driving motivation at the start of the story, or by the point of the inciting incident. Usually by the end of Act I, the character has established what they want. Zuko wants to redeem himself and restore his honor. Capturing Aang is simply a vehicle to that Want. If his Want didn’t require him to bother a twelve-year-old, Zuko probably wouldn’t even care about Aang. The Want is the jumping off point of the character arc.

The Need

The Need answers in response to the Want by asking the character what they NEED to do or have happen. The Need manifests in two forms: either cooperative or antagonistic with the Want. Sometimes the Need is a stepping stone for the character to get what they want. They can’t get what they Want the way they are at the start of the story, so the character arc facilitates the development they Need to get what they Want. while for other characters, the Want and the Need oppose each other. Zuko’s Want (to restore his honor) clashes with his Need (to determine his own destiny). Or at least, the way he’s going about it. Zuko Needs to redefine himself and his approach in order to learn the correct path to his Want. In a bad character arc, the Want and the Need are utterly disconnected, and doing one does not lead to the other.

The Lie

The lie is the “truth” about the world they perceive to be true, and must unlearn. Zuko’s lie is that he is weak, and has dishonored himself. While Zuko believes this, Iroh from the start knows the Truth, and tries to guide Zuko to understand it. Zuko also flat out disproves his own Lie early on. When Aang gives himself up so Zuko won’t harm the villagers, he keeps his word. He takes Aang and leaves the people in peace. Zuko’s first act as a villain to the hero is an honorable one. Repeatedly in book 1, when Zuko is faced with making a selfish or honorable decision, he will choose the honorable one. He passes up on the Avatar to look for Iroh, he spares Zhao in their Angi Kai, he prioritizes the safety of his crew with the Avatar in his direct line of sight. It’s apparent to even the audience that the only people who believes this lie is Zuko. Well, also his pure evil villain father and sister, but they don’t count. They’re pure evil villains after all.

Zuko has another lie that isn’t focused on as much, but is worth mentioning. Zuko’s second lie is that the war was a glorious crusade. Only in book 2 when Zuko is no longer lounging around on his tiny ship and actually interacting with the common folk of the Earth Kingdom does he realize the devastation this war has caused to the everyday people. It’s never truly real until he sees the suffering with his own eyes. Book 1 Zuko never would have helped the family in Zuko Alone, but after meeting so many people personally effected by the war, Zuko has been changed by the deconstruction of his second lie. And yes, for clarity, a single character can have multiple wants, needs, lies, and truths. Just so long as they all work together.

The Truth

The Truth is just that. It’s the answer to the lie. Zuko’s dad told him that he had dishonored himself, Zuko realizes that’s not true, and he had his honor the whole time. Likewise, Zuko believed the war to be a glorious conquest until he saw that it was very much not. While the Want and the Lie can exist separately, I rarely find characters were the Truth and the Need are not at least somewhat connected. Zuko’s Need (to determine his own destiny) and his Truth (that he never lost his honor) are pretty much the same thing. Realizing the Truth is basically the “aha!” epiphany moment that transitions the character from Want to Need, depending on the type of arc. Zuko’s Truth manifests in The Day of Black Sun Part II, when he confronts Ozai and tells him to eat a dick. The Truth fascilitates the moment of turning, and Zuko spends the rest of Book 3 working toward his Need. He makes amends for past grievances, he forges new friendships based on respect, and he works toward giving the Fire Nation the same redemption arc he went through.

A Bad Example

Ruby Rose starts off as a decent character. She has a few minor wants. She WANTS to be a Huntress, which she’s already going to school to become, she WANTS to be a normal person, and she WANTS to do everything by herself without having to meet anybody new. The first one was just officially finalized in Volume 8, the second was abandoned after Volume 1 and “normal knees” has never come up again. Even after she found out about her sharingan special snowflake status, the “normal knees” never came back. And the third one ... was resolved in Volume 1... after like just a couple episodes. It was revealed when Ruby got to Beacon and was resolved by the time her team had formed. It literally lasted about the equivalent of 1 full-length episode run-time. Problem is, while Ruby has had a few flaws attributed to her over the years, she doesn’t really have a Need. Ruby Rose doesn’t Need anything, and so, she doesn’t really have an arc. Now, that’s not necessarily bad. Some characters have flat arcs where they never develop and are more of a guiding compass for other characters. Except Ruby has had a minimal to non-existent role in anyone else’s development... except for Weiss. Who she got to be nicer by, and lemme check my notes here... ah yes, doing nothing. Literally all Ruby does to get Weiss to be nicer to her is that... I guess Weiss realized she was stuck with Ruby as a teammate and they had to get along for teamwork purposes. So, RWBY is a show that already likes to fly by the seat of its pants in the story and lore department, and we can’t even craft a semi-decent arc for the protagonist.

I’ll give my own example for a story I’m working on. For my story, the protagonist Wants to be taken seriously and respected by her peers, but her impulsiveness and selfishness tends to result in her causing more problems than she solves. Thus, she Needs to not only change her behavior, but account for the way her past actions have hurt others. This gives her a collaborative Want and Need. She Needs to learn a lesson in order to get what she Wants. Learning to take accountability and think critically will in turn help her to earn the respect of her peers. The Lie is that she believes her peers see her as weak, and that’s why they don’t respect her. She therefore wrongfully assumes she needs to prove to others that she can be tough and strong, despite the fact that that is not really one of her strengths as a character. The Truth is that they don’t respect her because of her actions, and it’s dealing with the constant fallout of her actions that cause them to view her so negatively. While the weakness perception could pile onto why she’s not shown much respect, it is her actions that hold the biggest impact on how others view her. And knowing all of this now means that whether her arc is tackled across a single book or a series, I now have a very basic map to her character progression. Now, I simply have to put tests and trials in her way to help get her to these benchmarks, and figure out the pacing of her arc and story. But that’s a point for a whole other post.

[kidnappedbycartoons]

Can we talk about Katara?

Like, this girl has been through so much in ATLA, but because Aang and Zuko’s stories take most of the center stage, her backstory gets tossed to the side. But Katara deserves just as much attention (And I would lowkey like a short spin-off series about her own adventures outside of Aang).

Her Childhood:

Katara was born during the war, that’s all she has ever known. Not to mention, she was born into a tribe whose population has been on the decline for years due to the Fire Nation’s raids. The war clearly affected the Southern Water Tribe, but as a child, it didn’t really hit Katara until it got too close to home. In the Southern Raiders episode, we finally see her backstory. We’ve heard about it many times before, but this is the first time it is on screen.

In this episode, we see that Katara and Sokka were playing around until the black soot(?) starts falling from the air. Naturally, Katara runs to her mother, only to find the leader of the Southern Raiders standing over her mother. Even as a child, Katara can sense that something is off, but her mother attempts to protect her by calmly telling her to go and that she has it handled. She rushes off to find Hakoda, only for them to come back and find that Kya is dead. Imagine being that young of a child, playing with your brother one minute and discovering your mother’s dead the next.

Her mother’s death had a huge impact on her and pushed her to take on a more maternal role in the tribe. Sokka tells Toph this in The Runaway, that their family was a mess, but Katara stepped up and took on so much responsibility. But that’s not something a child should be doing. It’s something that was forced onto her because of the war. She never got the chance to really act like a kid and we know this because when she and Aang go penguin sledding, she says that she hasn’t done that since she was a kid, to which Aang points out that she still is one.

And he’s right. She’s only fourteen, but she has taken on so much responsibility and has been forced to mature quickly because of the war. And then on top of that, Hakoda had left to go fight in the war. And we know this affects her as we see in the Book 3 premiere. Yeah, she had Gran-Gran, but she already lost her mother in a horrible way and now her father had to leave too? She was a child who needed her father, especially after what had happened. But once again, the war tore her family apart. She is mature enough to understand why he had to go, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t angry and hurt over it.

And we see this when she, Sokka, and Hakoda are together again during Book 3. The thought of them separating again visibly upsets her. She wants to keep her family together more than anything. She refuses to let them be separated again, but sadly, that’s something that has to be done sometimes. And she knows this. But it doesn’t make the pain hurt any less. Because at the end of the day, she is still a child who needs her family. 

Waterbender:

My girl is a whole waterbending master. And don’t you ever forget it. But she was the only Waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe. We learn from Hama in the Puppetmaster that the Fire Nation would come to the tribe and take away all the Waterbenders. Katara was the first to be born in years and was the only one. She didn’t have anyone to teach her, but was still able to do some basic moves as we see in the first few episodes. When Aang suggests that they go to the Northern Water Tribe, she’s hesitant, but ready to go.

Waterbending is a unique part of their culture and throughout the show, we see that her culture is very important to Katara. Think about it. Girl has lost her mother, her father is off fighting in the war and she hasn’t seen him in years, the Southern Water Tribe has dwindled down to a tiny village, she’s the only Waterbender in the tribe with no one to teach her, Katara is going through it. But now, she has found the Avatar, the one chance at bringing peace and hope back to the world. The one chance she has of learning waterbending. She finally has something that hasn’t been around for a long time. Hope.

When Aang picks up waterbending very quickly and attempts to teach her about beding, it pisses her off because this is something that she has a lot of pride in. She’s the only Waterbender in her tribe and has been working on teaching herself this. It’s an important part of her culture too, but the Avatar picks it up quicker than she has. Naturally, she would get upset about this, but she does apologize. In The Deserter, she finds out that she has healing abilities, something that Jeong Jeong says only the great benders have.

When they reach the Northern Water Tribe, she is pissed off when she learns that Pakku won’t teach her solely because she’s a girl. She traveled across the world to learn how to fight and she’s not going to let some sexist tradition keep her from doing so. She straight up challenges Pakku, a Waterbending master, because, “Someone needs to sleep some sense into that guy”. Katara is not someone who backs down, she stands up for what she believes in and will fight no matter who you are, master or not. 

She ends up becoming one of the best students Pakku has (Once he learns that she is the granddaughter of the woman he could never get over), and he even refers to her as Master Katara. My girl is a master. Don’t ever forget it. Like Pakku says, raw talent isn’t enough. She has the determination, passion, and work ethic that not many have. And we see how her bending has developed in the next two books, especially in Crossroads of Destiny in Book 2, the Puppetmaster and the Southern Raiders with Bloodbending, the Runaway with bending her own sweat, and how she managed to defeat Azula in the finale. 

Hell, Katara is so good that she ends up teaching Aang and Korra about waterbending. My girl taught two Avatars, I don’t want to hear anything. Not only is she a master Waterbender, but is also one of the best healers. Powerful, showstopping, brilliant, talented, gorgeous, and fantastic. 

I Will Never Turn My Back On People Who Need Me:

One thing about my girl, she will always be there for those in need. Hell, we see this in the first episode with Aang. She’s the one that frees him, suggests that they help him and bring him back to the village. When he gets taken by the Fire Nation, she’s the one that says they have to go help him. She inspires the Earthbenders to fight back in Imprisoned, she is angry and hurt over what Jet did in his episode because she would’ve helped to destroy an entire village of innocent people, she offers to heal Iroh when Azula attacks him with fire, she helps out that one Fire Nation town in the boring Painted Lady episode. I can go on, but you get the picture. Katara is someone that will always help those in need and will never turn her back on them.

I just wanted to point this out, because I feel like this is an admirable trait of her’s and makes her a perfect heroine.

The Southern Raiders:

Listen. I’m not going to get into how she was being told what to do when confronting her mother’s killer. Instead, I’m going to get into how this was her moment. We’ve had some episodes where Katara was more at the forefront, but from start to finish, this was really Katara’s episode. She was finally given the chance to get the closure she wanted. This was her decision to make. For once, she wasn’t the one helping others, she was doing this for herself.

Yeah, she may have been a bit harsh when she told Sokka that he didn’t love their mother like she did, but she does tend to go for the throat when her emotions take over. And this was a very emotional moment for Katara. Yes, she was Sokka’s mother too, but Katara was the last person to see her mother alive and was the first person along with Hakoda to find her gone. That’s a lot to handle for a young child. And then she learns that her mother died to protect her. Imagine the guilt that Katara must be carrying, knowing that if it wasn’t for her being born a Waterbender, there is a chance that Kya might still be alive.

Her mother’s death caused a shift in Katara’s life. She no longer had the courtesy of being a child. She had to grow up, she had to mature, and through her journey with the Gaang, she has become a Master Waterbender. She could’ve ended that bastard’s life if she wanted to. But she didn’t. And in the end of the episode, we see that she is still grappling with the choice she made. She doesn’t forgive him, but she doesn’t know if she couldn’t kill him because she was too weak or strong enough.

I like this episode for Katara because she takes center stage. She gets her moment. She gets to face the guy that took her mother away, something that she can never get back. She gets to look into his eye, standing tall and strong over him as he cowers in fear. She gets to see him for what he is, a sad and pathetic waste of life. She chose not to kill him. She chose not to forgive him. And I love that for her. 

Final Thoughts:

I just love Katara. That’s it. Peace out.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Their are so many great examples of shows that handle justifying why we’re rooting for the main character so much better then RWBY does. As you mentioned Avatar sets up Aang as being divinely ordained to do so and the world itself recognizes his important and the role he plays in bringing peace and balance back to a war torn world. And it, unlike RWBY, isn’t afraid to really tackle morally gray and difficult situations. If you don’t want to establish SEWS as these great and powerful peacekeepers you could go the route of their being a prophecy that a SEW would rise up to stop a great power that controls the Grimm and Salem realizes it’s her and starts killing the SEWS kind of like in Kung Fu Panda 3 with the pandas all being killed because of a prophecy.

Or, the show could even just establish people being drawn to Ruby because she is a light that helps make things better for people around her even if she screws up and that’s why people trust her. For me a good example of this kind of character is Hazbin Hotel.

I know I know it’s a controversial show but at the end of the day, Charlie is a great example of someone not divinely ordained or prophesied to save the world, but you still root for her because even when she screws up and makes mistakes generally she does help make people’s lives better even if she fails (so far) at her ultimate goal of ending the exterminations. Husk is more open now about letting people in, Angel has learned he’s not alone in suffering even if their aren’t others going through exactly what he is and people will accept him, Sir Pentious became a better person and was redeemed, Charlie literally helped Vaggie out of her lowest moment, Nifty has found people she can be weird around and not be rejected, Lucifer has found his hope and has started healing, even Lucifer arguably has a certain fondness for the Hotel. And even if other people where more directly responsible for these improvements, they still happened because Charlie brought them all together and pushed them to become closer and be better.

When I think about Charlie I see what Ruby could have been. Someone who is kind and has endless forgiveness and patience for people she loves but still isn’t afraid to get angry and people who threaten or hurt people she loves while still being able to be compassionate and kind and forgiving to those around her who have caused her harm.

Ruby has none of these things though. Their is no reason the story is following her, no reason for us to root for her, no reason for anyone to root for her. The writers just keep pointing and her and saying “she’s the hero trust us” without doing anything to justify it despite it being so laughably easy to do so it’s frustrating it never did.

Okay, so I saw this RWBY meme made by a fan and I can't remember it completely but it was about Emerald switching sides. What stood out to me was the language used and how Ruby's group was specifically referred to as "The Good Guys side" and if that doesn't show how broken this show's morality is then I don't know what does. Emerald switched to the side of good, not just Ruby's side. The side that is specifically good because it's Ruby side. You're either with Ruby or against her with no in-between. Compare this to Aang's group in ATLA, affectionately called The Gaang by fans. A term that collectively refers to the group without proclaiming them as THE good guys. We know they're good because their actions show they are good. It isn't just a title grafted on because they're the stars of the show. And while they have an official grouping in the form of Team Avatar. It still isn't used in the same manner as RWBY fans calling all who agree with Ruby "The Good Guys".

Decided to start answering backlog asks! We've officially entered the post-RT discussion era. Fun! 😬

You know, RWBY is compared (unfavorably) to Avatar a lot, but this comparison is particularly interesting to me because Avatar is, well... Avatar. That's a title. And it's a title built into the fictional world, one that's so significant it's worthy of being the name of the show. The Avatar is a combined destiny/job description that, in the words of the wiki, is the "human embodiment of light and peace." Obviously free will still comes into play - I'd never ignore the significance behind Aang's personal choice of how to bring balance to the world - but there's an element of fate here, of self-fulfilling prophecy, and fourth wall-breaking knowledge. In-world, benders are (presumably) not chosen if they're unsuited to be this embodiment of peace. Once someone knows they're the avatar, they can more easily find the courage/determination to meet such high standards because this is how it's "supposed" to be (regardless of whether anything cosmic is actually ensuring their success). And the audience knows, by virtue of that title and our opening, how we're meant to view Aang: as the Good Guy of the story. All that already exists outside of the actions he takes within the show, helping to soften anything potentially suspect with a "Well, he's just a kid" or "Well, everyone makes mistakes," or whatever explanation that's technically true in any harrowing story featuring a young protagonist... but continually falls flat with Team RWBY.

Because RWBY didn't do that same work. RWBY doesn't have a handle on its own identity the way Avatar does. It laid some of the groundwork early on but then never capitalized on it, which is why I'm endlessly groaning over the failure of not doing anything with Ruby's status as a SEW/simple soul. Those could have easily been titles the way "Avatar" is a title, something that the people of Ruby's world see as cosmic evidence of her purity and inherent ability to lead them in this war. Instead, it's just a one-off, ambiguous statement and a very badly used skill.

So yeah, Emerald joins The Good Guys, which wouldn't be bad if, as said, the show had shown the group unambiguously being Good people in a war with black and white solutions. Or, if we had some reason to believe that Ruby is The One True Leader, destined/worthy of bearing this burden no matter the number of mistakes she's made. But RWBY even undermines the title aspect by making Ruby herself fairly inconsequential in later volumes. Yeah, the show is also named after this team/our protagonist... and yet that began to feel incidental as the cast grew AND many of the characters brought new - arguably better - perspectives + powers into the fray. Avatar made the simple but VERY important decision to say, "This is the ONLY GUY who can do this job. Sure, he's going to need a lot of help and saving the world is absolutely a team effort, but that team revolves around him because he is, again, the ONE PERSON who can accomplish this." RWBY failed to set that up and (arguably) failed to show the group being The Good Guys, at least to the extent that the whole world would understandably put their faith in a teenager who, frankly, just keeps making things worse. Like, that's a big consideration imo. Ruby's intentions have always been good and most fans are fully on her side regarding justifications for her choices, so in that sense she is absolutely The Good Guy, but beyond that she's just really bad at saving the world. So if she's not somehow ordained to do it and continually shows a severe lack of skill in this regard... why are the characters/the viewer rooting for her again?

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara PostWar Canon-Divergent Epistolary AU

Katara is the girl who travels the world to help establish healthcare and human services for underserved communities across the Earth Kingdom -- primarily villages that were overlooked because of the war.  

She is talked about like a legend, everywhere she goes: a young ambitious girl forging her own path, or “the one who turned down the Avatar.” 

It’s rarely both.  

Katara is the girl who decides to wait for love, despite strangers commenting how she’s using up her prettiest, most fertile years alone... like an aimless wanderer… and the elder women joke that if she waits too long, there will be no man left for her to take.  They’ve dubbed her “the hopeless beauty” but Katara is too preoccupied to see any of their disappointed eyes.

And anyway… she has never been one to lack hope.  

There are just too many things to do in the world before even considering settling down, and besides… she had already spent most of her life taking care of others, setting aside her own self-care, her own deep desires.  She deserved this time in the world, now that the war was over, to finally examine her wants, build her identity.  

Thank goodness, her friend Fire Lord Zuko seems to understand her.   He is the only friend who writes during her journey of self-discovery (as Aang is offering some distance and going through his own personal growth, Toph isn’t much for writing, and Sokka and Suki have gotten preoccupied with their own roles in Kyoshi Island and SWT and their relationship).  Perhaps this is Zuko’s way of living vicariously, as the Fire Lord rarely has the chance to leave his homeland.  

In any case, Katara enjoys writing to Zuko, telling him about a new herb she has added to her healing practices, a new economic proposal that could benefit a local village, a new problem she’s encountered with a town’s water supply or agriculture or infrastructure and how she’s brainstormed solutions for it.  In the occasions where she does decide to be adventurous and share a meal with the son of a local merchant, or farmer, or government official, Katara doesn’t hesitate to share these less-than-perfect experiences with Zuko because it feels nice to know someone is listening, even if he does just write back something like “I’m sorry that happened, but I’m glad you showed him how clever you are.  Don’t ever hide that fire in you.”  She smiles at her friend’s commentary, that humorous voice of sincerity with a flare of wisdom.  

Sometimes, along with her letters, she sends Zuko tokens of her travels — mostly calligraphy ink or tea samples, but sometimes a poster illustration or a festival mask— always addressed to the Fire Nation palace with a wax water tribe seal.  And when Zuko writes back to her, Katara always perks up, even as his letters sound formal and to-the-point by comparison to hers.  

She likes getting these letters because when she reads them, it’s like he’s speaking to her… stern face, soft eyes, secret smile… a sense of understanding that didn’t need to be seen to be heard.  

She knows it’s him writing these letters to her, too (rather than some scribe), because only Zuko would write “honorable” and “brave” so many times in a letter.  And only Zuko would tell her to look out for a certain star constellation out in the night sky this time of the year… knowing how late she stays up as the girl who “rises with the moon.”  

Katara knows how busy Zuko is over there, in the palace—too busy for things like writing letters to friends—and yet, he is still her friend.  

She finds comfort in that solidarity, that they share that same desire to serve the world as they look for their own sense of peace.

***

Zuko is the boy to dedicate his young life to restructuring his homeland, setting a good example for the next generation of peacemakers.  

It seems that with every council meeting, the temperature of the room deems him as “the idealist” or “the young, naive, idealistic usurper who will bring this country to the ground.”  Still, having kept track of all the attempts on his life before even gaining the crown (five), compared to after (none) he considers himself lucky that his advisors and Fire Sages are giving him a chance.  He has not visited his father since the arrest, and Uncle Iroh has remained loyal to him, staying at the palace since the coronation day, and that certainly helps, too.  

Zuko spends the early morning hours meditating, drinking tea, reading new tax bills and approving trade agreements … and yes, also confirming his attendance to regal affairs across the Fire Nation.  He’s still getting used to all of this attention, and isn’t so naive as to not know that these formals are also meant to introduce the young handsome Fire Lord to eligible, pretty Fire Nation noble girls.  What he had with Mai, after all, is ancient history, and other noble houses have jumped at that window of opportunity.  Zuko is courteous, yes, and makes sure to write thank-you letters to the noble families like a gentleman, assuring that their hospitality did not go unnoticed.  He also manages to remember each girl’s name, giving them his regards in every letter.  

His advisors have begun pushing him to secure an heir, as the country would be at risk without one, no matter the progress.  Zuko knows this… he understands what’s at stake the longer he remains idle, alone… but it doesn’t make him any more interested in marriage right now, much less raise children.  He’s tried writing about this to Sokka, but the young man seems so smitten and mature with regards to his relationship with Suki... and there definitely isn’t any underlying pressure with them to have children right away.  He’s never written about this to Toph, either, since even the various, formal agenda letters he has written to her at the Bei Fong Academy doesn’t compel her to write back.  And Aang... well... Zuko has sought to avoid the subject of romance with him, ever since he and Katara broke up, although he’s happy the young Avatar has seemed to come more onto his own with his destiny. 

And so, it’s ironic really... how, in spite of all of these friends he’s made, it seems like the one who once despised him is the one who understands how he feels.  

He looks forward to the moments his post manager announces the arrival of a new letter with that same water tribe seal… because he can’t help but emotionally dive into the multiple pages of words Katara writes, talking about her experiences out there “in the field.”  The girl could write books with her knack for storytelling, if she wanted to.  Zuko appreciates the gifts she sends him as well- particularly the caffeinated tea for his early morning routine, knowing full well he is a boy who “rises with the sun.”  

Determined to not send letters empty-handed, he always sends Katara little trinkets from his visits in the Fire Nation: seashells from the islands... hand lotions and spices from the mainland... meditation candles from the palace (knowing she’s trying to make that an everyday practice).  

He doesn’t hesitate to write Katara about his own “dating” experiences with these noble girls, how an emotional connection seems almost impossible with a social class who stood by his imperialist family for so long, that perhaps he’d be better off marrying below nobility or even outside his nation.  And he likes that Katara seems to listen, telling him that over time, people will realize that Zuko was the best thing to happen to the FN in a hundred years, and to not give up on connections (regardless of social class or citizenship)— as giving up is not exactly his style, anyway. 

He laughs. He can feel Katara’s sincerity, warmth and sense of humor in her letters.  Whenever he reads her words, it’s like she’s speaking to him right there... calm voice, hopeful eyes, sweet smile... a sense of understanding that didn’t need to be seen to be heard.  

He remembers how she once wrote to him that there is always room for true love when everything else is in order.  She advised him to make the most of his position as Fire Lord and not give up on real, true love for the mere sake of duty… that, just as finding the Avatar and bringing an end to this war came to be, destiny will compel people to act in good time. 

Zuko smiles at this, hopeful, and he continues his work to building the peaceful, progressive world he, and Katara, and all of their friends believe in.