#CAPTLOK Commentary

[captlok]

Wait we talking about N!Sokka and N!Zuko and not OG!Sokka and OG!Zuko, right? We hardly knew anything about OG!Kya, which is I think one reason the fandom complained so much about Katara constantly bringing her up. If the writers had made us care about this character more, that wouldn’t have been an issue.

so my friend had the most insane take today

[captlok]

I just want to add something very brief to the discussion about the Kataang scene in Ember Island Players.

A comparison to the Yue/Sokka kiss was made. Yes these scenes are very different. Aang has confessed (multiple times if you count Serpent’s Pass) to Katara and she has given him many, many positive signals, whereas this is Sokka’s first confession and he has received very few overt romantic signals from Yue. (2) The reason Aang got bent out of shape at EIP is that, with the lines of the Katara actress about his being like a brother, Katara has said similar things before. See: the scene where she said “Aang is just a cute little guy, like Momo” in response to Sokka teasing her about potentially liking Aang. His frustration didn’t just come out of nowhere, and he wasn’t really even taking something an obviously erroneous play said out of context. She has actually acted this way in the past.

(As anti-Kataang people love to point out)

This is a long standing ambiguity between them, deliberately done by the writers because people generally agree that if a major pairing gets together in the middle of a show, it loses a lot of interest, and it’s considered more “dramatic” to end with a sought and secured relationship.

I’m really tired of people who I guess have never consumed other media or never picked it apart, or for some other oddball reason, can’t digest that’s why it was teased and angled and written this way. In this case reasoning akin to Death of the Author really misses a lot.

Katara essentially said she would figure out her feelings after they weren’t in the middle of a war. Which ... she then did.

That’s not even why I disliked the final scene with them.

@queenaleesbiggestfan-writes @sokkastyles

[captlok]

@sirenalpha Look I’m sorry I got mad. If you don’t hate Aang as a character and actually separate him out from literary criticism then that’s lamentably rare in the fandom.

So let’s do the literary analysis thing.

Here’s the previous discussion, for anyone reading (Tumblr dumped this post twice and having to retype it was UGHHH so I finally gave up and made this separate)

https://captlok.tumblr.com/post/638478816737673216/sirenalpha-herebeatla-sirenalpha-oh-my-god-i

You are assigning the character arc you think Aang should have had, not what was actually presented, on purpose, which was the literary conflict type Man vs. Society.

Aang and Gaang oppose Jet’s revenge-obsessed blindly loyal micro-society.

Aang narrowly avoids being killed by another revenge-obsessed person, Hama.

Aang saves his enemy, Zuko’s, life after being told by Society, in the form of Sokka (and the vast majority of people who would agree with him) to instead let him freeze to death.

All along the way, Katara and Aang are challenged repeatedly by people telling them ‘pragmatism,’ ‘revenge’ or ‘justice’ are the RIGHT ways to go about things. And every time, because that is the story they were telling, they win this Man vs. Society conflict.

Culminating in the finale.

A thematic whole.

So you’re right, let’s step back here and keep addressing what’s amiss with your literary analysis, not simply Aang.

If you have at least elevated yourself above people who hate Aang as a person, then again, that’s good.

Aang is told repeatedly by Society to do other things, too, like Joo Dee. There’s another thread that lists all the examples. Aang is a troublemaker throughout the series in the eyes of Society.

But.

Because viewers go in expecting a ‘rise to the challenge’ ‘prove yourself by fighting’ type story, a la testosterone-fueled action hero conventions, they can’t see it for what it is.

(someone else did a wonderful analysis on this, how Aang is an Eastern styled philosophy protagonist in a Western dominated media pool, which people have a hard time digesting. I replied to it in more detail. This pointed retention of goodness through adversity- rather than being hardened by it and embittered and hating those who are aggressors- is not familiar to a lot of gritty, tough-guy Western conventions, either. This is simply not a character arc a lot of audience in the West is equipped to vibe with upon first inspection. Thus the trend in the fandom to dismiss it and call him ‘weak’ for not toughening up.)

Now onto the chakra issue.

Dude we are shown that meditating puts you in touch with your chakras. It should only take 3 more seconds of thought to conclude that this knowledge was gotten with more meditating.

As the old writing advice goes, “Show, don’t tell.”

That in itself, gaining the knowledge of what was wrong, I had no issues with. It was obvious. It was only the physical injury part that took longer for me to figure out, upon a re-watching and paying attention to the wording.

MIGHT this have benefitted from more ‘hey this GAPING WOUND and scarring is disrupting the body’s natural energy flow’? Meh. I guess.

I bet when that blockage was jarred loose, like they do with deep tissue massage, it hurt like the dickens. Acupuncture can also be painful even aside from the needles. Heat from skin and itchy, burning discomfort are reported.

Didn’t come across as unique?

A master healer, Katara, spent weeks on end working on him without his waking up.

‘Show, don’t tell.’

Besides, HE DIED. You can’t get much more ‘unique’ than DEAD.

“but they decided to adapt footloose instead.”

Wow. That’s what you got out of that episode? The purpose of that episode, along with other hints we got throughout Season 3, is that the Fire Nation is oppressive even to its own people. It feeds very small children propaganda to make them blindly loyal to a violent ruler (the puppet show we see Ozai in at one point).

I remember seeing a chilling example of this brainwashing in the real world where four year olds had AK-47s strapped to their backs while calmly watching others aim and miming of violence with adults.

All expressions of divergent thinking, like our boy “Kuzon” who stood up to a teacher repeating propaganda about the deceased Air Nomads, are quickly silenced.

[Sidebar: It also demonstrated that many martial arts styles are interwoven or derived from dance.]

[Which, yes, they should have said that outright, but, can’t be perfect. The fans slobbering over how Zuko looks like he’s breakdancing while doing Northern Shaolin leg sweeps will have to do, I guess. XD XD]

Anyway, I didn’t see anyone in Footloose asserting that actually the Jews had an army and they were threatening.

But if there’s a scene of systematically approved Holocaust denial that I missed, please point me to it.

Now, did the Kataang hog up the spotlight from the worldbuilding? Yeah, and that annoys me. But people would complaining that it wasn’t demonstrated she was attracted to him even more than they already do when they mentally block out this episode and the looks she gave him.

“Show, don’t tell.”

Oh and reciprocating his kiss on the day of the invasion, but again, let’s get back to the worldbuilding and literary analysis. For The Headband, if focusing on romance over other more interesting potential elements were a literary sin, then whole seasons and whole series (and books!) would be on the chopping block.

To then claim that one episode cannot be spent on romance, that’s just short-sighted, in the eyes of literature.

If you want to discuss the whole of Season 3 pacing, episode by episode, then please start a different thread. (I may or may not comment. Feel free to tag me.) I’ve said my piece on the central pacifist conflict of the series.

[captlok]

good points

yay Bolin

I just want to comment on the first thing, “the greatest earthbender in the world”

This is classic unreliable narrator talk here. Toph has never been outside of Gaoling before we meet her, and competed in any tournaments that were above-ground (pardon the pun) to formalize her ranking in the world. She’s just being egoistic here (which is understandable given she so thoroughly dominated her ‘small pond’ as the local ‘big fish’) but since we never saw her, say, compete against Bumi or the great masses of people that have been fighting for their lives and families since before she was born, this is a suspect claim to take too literally.

cult of personality strikes again!

Don’t take what a twelve year old says as gospel.

Unless it’s Aang ofc, because he’s likely repeating ancient wisdom so it’s not really ‘him’ haha

We're watching Avatar: The Last Airbender again (as we do), and my hubby and I were discussing how Toph is "the greatest earthbender in the world". She mastered earthbending, metalbending and (mostly) sandbending by the time she was 13, yet we never see any hint of her lavabending, even in Legend of Korra

That doesn't make sense. Toph could sense earth so well that she, a 12 year old, invented metalbending, yet she couldn't manipulate the earth into lava? Really?

[captlok]

Me: *writes the wise Iroh being rendered speechless twice*

Me: *writes Snugglemagne deferring to someone else’s wisdom even though he’s king*

Also Me: No no my reluctant hero is- oh well he does have a reason to fight but it’s strictly not for the cause.

Also he can’t die so there’s much lower stakes. He’s just stubborn about joining.

If you write a strong character, let them fail.

If you write a selfless hero, let them get mad at people.

If you write a cold-heated villain, let them cry.

If you write a brokenhearted victim, let them smile again.

If you write a bold leader, let them seek guidance.

If you write a confident genius, let them be wrong, or get stumped once in a while.

If you write a fighter or a warrior, let them lose a battle, but let them win the war.

If you write a character who loses everything, let them find something.

If you write a reluctant hero, give them a reason to join the fight.

If you write a gentle-hearted character who never stops smiling, let that smile fade and tears fall in shadows.

If you write a no one, make them a someone.

If you write a sibling, let them fight and bicker, but know that at the end of the day they’ll always have each other’s back.

If you write a character, make them more than just a character; give them depth, give them flaws and secrets, and give them life.

[captlok]

All good observations, but this:

“Gyatso was still the odd cookie among the monks,”

Has little canon basis other than being attached to Aang. Iroh said that the monks had a great sense of humor.

Imagine the monks’ behavoir if war hadn’t been barreling toward the nations at top speed. The FN had to take lots of steps to get up the military skill and power to take on the much more populous world and that would’ve leaked obviously because in Roku’s time Nationalism was only just starting to poke its nose out, per Aang’s friendships in the FN, so those people would’ve been invested in warning the rest of the world.

Naturally the monks probably wouldn’t think they themselves were in danger. Who has the sheer depravity to attack places of worship?

Besides, they’re nomads. And monks. They eschew wealth, and ownership, so what incentive for resources would anyone have to conquer them?

They don’t even own livestock, a major indicator of wealth for most of human history. If someone wanted to attempt to eat an air-empowered ten ton cow, they’d have their work cut out for them.

(I go into this in my fic)

But despite probably not being in the line of fire, they were very concerned about doing right by the world and managing their current responsibility to mentor the Avatar.

If all of this hadn’t been bearing down on them, they would have exemplified freedom and fun, and deep spiritual joy, just like they always had.

Aang and his mentors — requested by anon

[captlok]

In my story Toph does say f**k, so.

And Zuko is angry at himself for even thinking the word, haha.

It’s only once so far. But, I’m not done with the thing.

consider: atla, but toph gets to say f*ck

[captlok]

I’ve seen the idea of Yue as a werewolf and written Sokka as a Selkie type shapeshifter, but haven’t done werewolves proper myself.

Sokka is a werewolf au would be really cool because:

- all of the wolf symbolism with the southern water tribe, a lot of possibilities for worldbuilding revolving around this idea making it really open ended creatively

- werewolves are really fun and great

- aang: “flaming hogmonkeys!” sokka: “hey! we’re werewolves, not swearwolves.” aang: “i’m not a werewolf.” sokka: “oh, damn, i forgot.”

- the last werewolf? the only one left when the rest of the pack goes away? did his first transformation happen before or after Hakoda and the others left?

- it could be really, really funny

- a werewolf boy who falls in love with a girl who becomes the moon

[captlok]

Aang’s trauma was triggered by a nation that seeks to mock him, tarnish his name and his memory, while they think he is dead.

Had he stayed dead, instead of being brought back- his lighting scars twinge and burn on his spine as he knows the scene is coming up and he will likely relive the searing pain of literally dying- this would be his legacy. Getting laughed at.

F~~~ yes he would be in the Avatar State.

And if Katara couldn’t bring him out of it that time, and instead had to defend FN theater goers from getting killed- that would be perfectly realistic.

Braindead part of the fandom: oh that obvs means he would hurt Katara intentionally without remorse, and it’s not like he’s posed a threat to her before when his genocide trauma has been inflicted and then re-triggered by losing the last piece of his family and nation, Appa.

Nah he just trippin’ over losing a pet ObVIoUsLY

(pt 1) i really enjoy all your atla analyses & you've done a great job breaking down the usual arguments re how eip shows that kataang shouldn't have happened. i'm curious about your take on one specific argument that i just saw today, in an analysis of the show by a zker that was otherwise quite good and respectful (i know you've already talked about eip a lot, so no problem if you don't feel like rehashing). the premise: aang didn't just pressure katara in eip, he threatened her.

(pt 2) they point to when katara joins aang & asks if he’s alright: “aang: no, i’m not! i hate this play! katara: i know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting. aang: overreacting? if i hadn’t blocked my chakra, i’d probably be in the avatar state right now!” the suggestion is he’s threatening her when he says ‘i’d probably be in the avatar state right now’ to describe his anger. i think this take exaggerates and oversimplifies it, but interested in your thoughts on it.

Hello my friend!! It is true I am Old inside and don’t like rehashing dhdlksjslks BUT your comments on my posts are always incredibly kind and insightful so I am more than willing to do a bit of rehashing for you 🥰 Besides! I’ve seen this general take before a few times and it’s always irked me for the exact reason you point out - it simultaneously exaggerates and oversimplifies the situation (and honestly that’s an impressive duality since it’s seemingly contradictory, so hats off to them lmaooo) - and now is as good a time as any to address it. So, for starters, let’s go ahead and get the excerpt they love to focus on so much:

Cut to Aang standing alone on a balcony. Katara enters and walks up to him.

Katara: Are you all right?

Aang: [Angered.] No, I’m not! I hate this play! [Yanks his hat off and throws it on the ground.]

Katara: I know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting.

Aang: Overreacting? If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!

Here’s the thing about so-called analyses of this excerpt: in a manner extremely convenient to the poster, they never seek to contextualize this moment. (I mean, to do so would deplatform their entire “argument” - perhaps that’s why they avoid performing a full analysis?) So let’s avoid that pitfall from the start.

Firstly, below are some links to related posts; I’m going to do my best to summarize the most relevant parts, but for anyone who desires greater detail, I gotchu 😤

This post explains why EIP (the play, lol) is imperialist propaganda and is intended to belittle the entire Gaang.

This post explains how Aang never acted “entitled” to Katara’s affections, particularly in regard to EIP.

This post breaks down the infamous EIP kiss like Snopes Fact Checker, covering common misconceptions, important perspectives to consider, etc.

Alright. With that out the way, it’s time for some context.

Aang and Katara have this conversation on the balcony after watching 95% of “The Boy in the Iceberg,” a play chock-full of Fire Nation propaganda that demeans the entire Gaang in order to prop up the Fire Nation as superior (hence why the play ends with Ozai’s victory). Here is my general breakdown of Aang and Katara’s treatment in particular from a previous post:

- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable

- aang, the avatar, the sole survivor of the fire nation’s genocide of the air nomads who is incredibly in-touch with his spirituality and femininity, is portrayed as an overly-airy and immature woman. the fire nation portrays him with a female actor to demean him (like, that’s classic imperialistic propagandist tactics) and furthermore writing his character as a childish airhead reinforces the fire nation sentiment that the air nomads were weak, foolish people who did not deserve to exist in their world

In other words, these kids have just watched almost an entire play that preys upon their insecurities and depicts them using racist and sexist stereotypes about their respective nations. It is completely understandable that tensions might run a little high and that their interactions would not be as balanced as usual (Katara and Aang have a great track record of communicating well with each other, as it happens!).

So we have to keep that in mind when examining the aforementioned excerpt. But there are other factors to consider, too! Namely: they are kids. Children. Teens. Aang is 12, Katara is 14.

If we want to be scientific, a person’s brain doesn’t finish developing until they are 25, lmao, and the preteen/teen years are when the prefrontal cortex that controls “rationality,” “judgement,” “forethought,” etc. is still developing. This doesn’t mean Aang and Katara are irrational and make poor decisions 24/7 (obviously not), but it does mean that in an intense, highly emotional situation, like after watching a play that intentionally demeans them and depicts them as inferior, they are more likely to overreact, more likely to be emotional, and more likely to make mistakes. Like, I’m serious, lol. “Teens process information with the amygdala.” That’s part of the brain that helps control emotions! It’s why teens sometimes struggle to articulate what we’re thinking, especially in situations that require instinct/impulse and quick decisions, because we’re really feeling whenever we make those choices. Acting more on emotion. Our brains simply haven’t finished developing the decision-making parts, lmao.

In sum: Aang and Katara are both kids, not adults, and should be interpreted as such. This doesn’t negate their intelligence, because they are both incredibly smart and Aang is arguably the wisest of the Gaang, but they are human. Young humans. They have emotions, and we should not be so cruel as to assume they’d never act on them.

So taking that all together, we can now acknowledge the high stress Aang and Katara are under, understand why they might be upset (*cough* imperialist propaganda is hurtful *cough*), and examine how their youth might play into their emotional reactions. And funny thing - all analyses that come to the conclusion of Aang “threatening” Katara here do not usually bother with this context. I can’t imagine why!

And you know what, let’s add one more piece of context: Sokka states that Aang left the theater “like, ten minutes ago,” which is what cues Katara to go look for him on the balcony. The reason I mention this line is because to me, it suggests Aang knew he was more worked up than usual! He chose to separate himself from his friends so he could process his frustration! He did not take his anger at the play out on them; instead, he purposefully took time and space to be alone.

With that in mind, I don’t understand at all how Aang’s Avatar state quote could be interpreted as a threat? Canonly, Aang is someone who was aware enough of his frustration to separate himself from the others - yet the logical next step is him threatening Katara as a result? He knew his intense emotions were because of the play (which he says himself), so the logical conclusion is that he then pinned the fault on Katara? What?? Sorry, that interpretation has no textual basis, lmao. But I digress!

Aang tells Katara, “If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!” As you said, this is the line people point to in an attempt to justify their (baseless) conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. So let’s bring in the two key pieces of context: imperialist propaganda and age. Given that Aang is 12, and given that Aang has just watched almost a full play that demeans him and everything his people stood for (and let’s not forget it also mocks his and Katara’s love for each other)…

His reaction is understandable. An exaggeration and needlessly dramatic, but understandable. He feels vulnerable and insecure and Aang is human. He is human and flawed and he overreacts here and I love that A:TLA shows how even our heroes, even people who are truly good at heart and in soul, can get overly upset (especially given the aforementioned circumstances!). Would Aang actually be in the Avatar state at that moment, had it been possible? Of course not! He’s young and he’s hurt and as such he says something dramatic to convey his anxieties and frustrations. The line is not meant to be taken literally, and seeing people do so despite all the factors that should be taken into consideration when analyzing it… Cue a long, tired sigh from me and so many other A:TLA fans.

And to be honest? I cannot fathom how people watch this episode and come to the conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. To me, this episode - besides being a recap episode - is one that humanizes our cast even further. Aang snaps at Katara, kisses her when he shouldn’t (which the story appropriately treats as wrong). Katara pushes down her true feelings and retreats into herself, afraid to start a relationship with the boy she loves because she’s already lost him once before and can’t bear to do so again. Zuko further confronts the hurt he’s enacted upon others, especially upon Iroh. Toph practices being vulnerable and accepting vulnerability from others by conversing with Zuko. Sokka witnesses how others have erased his contributions and labelled him as nothing more than the token nonbender in the group. Even Suki learns that she is not the only person who holds a place in Sokka’s heart and that she can never replace what he has lost.

To watch this episode where our heroes must come to terms with how the Fire Nation deems them inherently inferior, with how they have more fights to overcome in the future with the Fire Nation than a single war, and to come to the conclusion that… that what, Aang is abusive? A monster? Irredeemable? That he would threaten his best friend, someone he loves in every way?

Wow. That says more than enough about the viewer, doesn’t it?

[captlok]

As it so happens, most of these are questions I ask and answer in my fic.

Iroh reflects on his military days, gets grilled by Toph often, (and Sokka at least once, and ... idk how exactly to describe his conversation with Aang but I can link it as a stand-alone.)

Pretty sure Iroh has a character arc rivaling Zuko’s, we just never hear about it (and we need to).

I mean, this is a guy who was born Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, firstborn son and heir to the throne of his father, Firelord Azulon. His upbringing had to be steeped in the pro-war nationalism of his father and grandfather as he was groomed to take on the position of Firelord.

Prior to the failure of his siege at Ba Sing Se, it can be assumed that Prince Iroh was a wholehearted supporter of the war. During a flashback in “Zuko Alone” (S2 E7), Ursa reads a letter written by Iroh, sent from the war front, in which he jests about burning the Earth Kingdom capital to the ground. 

Only a few short days later, his heir and only child, Lu Ten, is killed in the very siege Iroh commands. Then, Azulon mysteriously dies, and names Ozai his successor, effectively robbing Iroh of his birthright. 

And, to our knowledge, a heartbroken Iroh does nothing to combat this. Why?

I’m almost certain it is during these dark days in which Iroh’s world perspective shifts dramatically. His life, his future, his priorities are completely rearranged. As he grapples with his own destiny, it’s very possible that he joins the White Lotus during this period, but we’re never really told for sure. 

There’s other holes in Iroh’s backstory too, like who was Lu Ten’s mother? What was her relationship with Iroh like? And why did Iroh choose to stay in the royal Fire Nation court following Ozai’s coronation? Did he promise Ursa he would look after Zuko in her absence, or was there a different reason? 

In “The Firebending Masters” (S3 E13), we learn that Iroh earned his nickname “Dragon of the West” by supposedly killing the last of the dragons, when in fact he protected them, lying in order to end the Fire Nation tradition of dragon hunting. In secrecy, he became a student of the dragons, learning from the true source of firebending. I believe this occurred sometime between Ozai’s coronation and Zuko’s banishment. So we can gather, by this time, Iroh is not exactly the nationalistic Fire Nation vessel he once was. 

And yet, when Zuko is banished, Iroh willingly follows along with him, even when his nephew intimidates the people of the Southern Water Tribe, burns Kyoshi Island, and repeatedly tries to capture the Avatar and destroy the world’s last hope for peace. And yet, throughout their early travels (and especially during the Siege of the North), Iroh demonstrates an understanding and respect for harmony, balance, and the cultures of the other nations.  How does Iroh, a senior member of a secret order dedicated to maintain balance and peace, justify standing by his nephew’s disregard for such things?

So yeah, I want answers. Your fan theories and headcanons fully welcome. 

[captlok]

TBH, and this has come up before, kids are allowed not to be as attached to a parent.

It doesn’t mean he’s repressed, or sexist, or any of that mess: it just means that Katara was closer to her, and that’s ok. You may be closer to one parent than the other, and likewise a parent may click personality-wise with one kid more than the others. That doesn’t mean anyone is doing anything wrong- it just means that we’re all individuals. With differing tastes in people. As long as it’s not favoritism, as in, acting out too much on it or putting another child down for not being how you want them to be, it’s fine.

Katara guilting him over it is not fine.

me: yes ships are nice but have you ever stopped to consider how most of the almost casual unspoken sibling tension between katara and sokka is that katara doesn’t understand sokka’s discreet way of loving and caring for her and in general because she’s so passionate about everything she feels and believes in it seems so baffling to her that sokka can achieve that amount of self-control for him not to want the man who killed their mother to suffer just like they did without that meaning he didn’t care for their mother at all and that entire ordeal of sokka not remembering his mother’s face which is in fact not him seeing katara and kya as the same person rather him denying himself of his own humanity but obviously they don’t know that. therefore in katara’s head sokka grieving more quietly than her → sokka not caring for their mother at all = sokka not caring for her at all despite the fact that an important part of sokka’s identity is based on and around his capacity to protect katara as the last bastion of their culture and as his little sister who the entire world is coming after to kill and because of all that sokka actively chooses to give up his innocence hope naivetè call it what you like so that he would be able to fit the ideal of a man a leader a warrior and therefore being able to protect katara better. you know that quote “if you love me you don’t love me in a way that i understand” and that other quote “"I suppose you do love me, in your way," I said to him one night (...) "And how else should I love you — in your way?" he asked.”

the tumblr dot com shipping community:

[captlok]

currently adding to a meta about how Mao plays into Dungeons and Dragons tropes, and now I see this <3

Got tired of waiting for season 2, so to celebrate March Maskness I decided to finish out the Mao Mao trio (I’ve done Adorabat before, link article) by looking at how to play Mao Mao and Badgerclops as The Legacy and The Delinquent.

[captlok]

Just want to point out quickly first that the ‘love is brightest in the dark’ line is sort of tone deaf to real life trauma. Trauma often leaves you with mood swings, emptiness, and all manner of things that explicitly get in the WAY of loving yourself and another person. Do not romanticize it.

Being in a relationship with someone with crippling depression or PTSD is devastating to the caregiver as well. On the whole, the more someone moves past trauma, the healthier and ‘brighter’ the relationship becomes. That’s just the reality.

I realize that ‘adversity’ is a widely accepted literary device and makes it seem like the payoff of an ending is more ‘worth it’ to you as a viewer, but that can get into Unfortunate Implications real fast if you’re not careful.

Now that we got that out of the way, no Aang’s childlike nature is NOT a response to trauma!!! The Air Nomads values fun, freedom, and playfulness.

Meditation is often referred to as returning to your inner child. If you grew up meditating, you would never lose touch with your inner child to begin with. Ergo, Gyatso, the elderly consummate prankster whose style, per Iroh’s monologue to Zuko, would have been no issue in the fun-loving culture had the Fire Nation not pulled its Supremacist Colonizer BS and forced the other elders’ hands.

Katara just lost Jet, a boy she crushed on. I was surprised that she didn’t say something like, ‘I don’t know if I can do that again.’

Aang and Katara: Two experiences of genocide

Do you ever think about how Aang was the last Airbender while Katara was the only Waterbender left in the South Pole? They were both children when they survived the genocides that claimed the caregivers they had bonded with, and the experience obviously changed them forever.

Aang and Katara show how different experiences of genocide can be. The destruction of Aang’s people was total, while Katara’s was partial targeting an essencial part of her heritage and the people like her who inherited it. Aang never meets another living human Airbender until Tenzin’s birth, while Katara grew up in Water Tribe culture but one impoverished and diminished by the targeted destruction of Waterbending.

The different experiences with Bending affects them as individuals, too. Aang had been well-trained in Airbending, in fact he was pushed too far and too fast, which leads to his desperation to have fun and be a kid whenever he can. In contrast Katara never had the chance to be trained by a Waterbender and was trying hard throughout childhood to train herself, trying to reconnect to this part of her heritage.

Katara’s anger in “The Waterbending Scroll” at Aang’s Waterbending proficiency was not her finest moment, but it’s understandable (though still inexcusable) when you think about what Waterbending means to her. Waterbending is the part of her culture that was nearly wiped out of her community; it was the reason she was targeted for murder as a child, and why her mother lost her life. With all the trauma bound into it I can understand why she snapped. Katara is as driven to be the Waterbender her tribe needs as much as Aang is to be the Avatar the world needs.

This is why it is all the more meaningful and beautiful that Aang and Katara, two survivors of genocide, fall in love and have a family together. Neither of them would have lived to adulthood if Sozin’s imperialist vision had been borne out, and every smile they shared, every joy they experienced together, every child they had was a defiance, another laugh in the face of violence and hatred. They not only survived, they lived fully, happily, imperfectly as people do and that was the greatest victory of all.

[captlok]

“Give me your Spirit Powers!” *nom*

“Now I can turn water bending on and off at will! We can force them to heal, but if they try to fight,” *snap*

“...wait why didn’t that work. Shit.”

Seal of Approval- part deux

Credit where credit is due, Trotsworth on DA made me realise this other similarity.

Remember: Korra premieres this Saturday on Nickelodeon!

[captlok]

Let’s be for real here. We didn’t see whether Katara would have been head over heels enough for Jet to put up with *typical* bad boy behavoir. We just saw a girl go ‘hey MASS MURDER is not ok.’ Hardly translatable to your average dating or flirting couple.

This is like people who claim Azula was a ‘bad friend’ or ‘a bad person’ when she’s the ruler of a Supremacist Militaristic Colonizer Country, for f**k’s sake. What did you expect her to act like, having grown up there where her own mother laughed at the idea of Iroh torching Ba Sing Se and leaving nothing but ashes?

Katara falling for Jet was definitely a play on the “girl falls for the bad boy while not seeing the nice guy right in front of her” trope.

However.

Katara did not have a crush on Jet because he was a “bad boy.”

No girl falls in love with a guy because they’re a “bad boy.” The bad boy trope is a misogynistic myth.

Katara had a crush on Jet because he was hot, confident, and promised her that they would take on the world together. But when his behavior turned out to be less than admirable, she turned him down. Quite forcefully.

And if you wanna talk about her relationship with Zuko, she didn’t put up with that crap from him, either. She didn’t make excuses for him. When he hurt her, she demanded an apology. When people say that Zutara would be “dark and messed up,” they are not only disregarding Zuko’s redemption arc, they are also implying that they think very little of Katara, despite what is actually shown in the series.

[captlok]

Obviously he spent time with the Swampbenders. The dude who says “pants are an illusion” and first season Iroh trying to get Zuko in on a good old fashioned friendly communal bathing would more than vibe with each other

And since the Swamp is far removed from the war and is not desirable land to conquer, they’d have no problem with a FN person

When do you think Iroh picked up lightning redirection? Before or after Lu Ten’s death? Either interpretation works, though I’d like to think that Iroh came up with the move while on a military campaign. Though the fact that Ozai and Azula don’t seem to know the move suggests that Iroh probably developed the technique during his soul-searching journey. Though he could have developed it earlier and just kept it a secret. Just in case.

The only thing he revealed about its development is that he "learned by studying the Waterbenders." That, combined with your observation of Ozai and Azula not even knowing it's possible, does suggest it's something he developed on his walkabout. We know he tried to get into the Spirit World after Lu Ten's death, and it seems natural to me that in order to do so, he'd be seeking knowledge and wisdom from across the world.

Of course, the Northern Water Tribe is rather closed off by this time frame, to an even greater degree than Ba Sing Se thanks to its environment. So exactly how Iroh managed to observe Waterbenders is a mystery. Perhaps he was attacked by them when he tried to seek out the Northern Water Tribe. Or, if he was already a member of the White Lotus (another unknown), he could have perhaps used his connections to visit one of Tribe's settlements. I think either of those feels more natural than his encountering Waterbenders while either a young prince or in a General conquering the Earth Kingdom.

Ambiguities like this are why I'm skeptical that we really need Iroh's backstory fully fleshed out in an official work. I'm not sure that getting these answers would be all that satisfying, and there's always the chance that some reveal (likely made in service of enabling another reveal, such as where he really developed Lightning Redirection) will cheapen the character or end up feeling contrived. Detailing a backstory like Iroh's is always tricky to do with a character as complex as Iroh and a world as intricate as Avatar's.

And to go ahead an answer your second query:

And to follow up on my last question, how long do you think Iroh was gone for after the Siege of Ba Sing Se? I’d like to think that he just got back shortly before Zuko’s banishment. Though unlike the question about lighting redirection, there really isn’t anything to go by.

Good question. It should be long enough for him to have an epic journey and a proper wisdom-seeking walkabout, right? However, I also feel like it needs to be long enough for Zuko and Iroh to get to know each other in their current states, long enough for Zuko to feel a bond of love for Iroh but also be certain that his uncle is the laziest man in the Fire Nation.

Plus, I think Iroh needs to have been in the Fire Nation and submissive to Ozai for long enough that no is suspicious or cares that he's attending a war meeting and making the decision to let Zuko in. If he's freshly returned and only recently bowed to Ozai, I feel like such an action could be see as a step in a plan to undermine the Fire Lord. However, there's only a three-year-gap between Lu Ten's death and Zuko's exile, so that leaves us with what feels like a tight schedule. Perhaps we can split the difference, and Iroh had his walkabout for a year and a half, and then spent a year and a half back in the Fire Nation?

Again, this is the kind of thing where when we start looking for hard answers, we might find that the mystery was the best answer of all.