#He doesn't have to be good at firebending or anything

[wileycap]

At the intersection of crack and tragedy, I have this fic idea about Zuko getting time looped during the day of his Agni Kai.

The first few loops are painful and traumatic. (Well, they're all painful and traumatic, but after the first fifty times... even getting half your face burned off by your own father gets old.)

After a while, he manages to stay awake long enough to hear Iroh crying at his bedside, begging for Zuko to stay. Pleading with the spirits, please, not him too.

(And then it takes more time for him to realize who visits him after Iroh falls asleep. She doesn't say anything.)

Zuko makes a Plan.

In the mornings, he tracks down Iroh or any experienced firebender, and he learns. So what if he isn't good? He'll make up for it the same way he always does: with hard work. He has the time.

(One of these days, Uncle won't have to spend the evening crying to the spirits.)

He gets better. Far better than he has any right to be. Iroh is thrilled on the days when he manages to catch him and not one of the other masters. Every time, the other masters barely tolerate him until he shows them. Iroh is always patient and kind.

Middays are reserved for Azula. A sister is a sister, and maybe... maybe Azula just needed somebody after Mom left.

(Zuko got that wrong, too. He's pretty sure he died the first time, and this is the spirits punishing him for being a bad son, a bad brother, a bad prince. He'll get it right, eventually.)

And at sunset, he still tries to plead with his father. Ozai will never hear him, but he has to try.

(A few hundred burns to the face can make you hate a man.)

But no matter how hard he tries, he can't beat Ozai. His skills improve, but his body doesn't - it will always be thirteen, with undeveloped chi paths he can barely break through to, and Ozai is a man in his prime.

Until one day he fights so well that Ozai halts the battle. He has the old general (after all this time, Zuko has completely forgotten the general) brought up, and orders Zuko to give him a mark of shame. To prove himself a good son and a good prince.

He stands above the general and looks at his tears and his shaking hands and his panicked eyes and he understands.

This time, Zuko earns his scar with pride.

(And when Iroh cries at his bedside, he reaches out and squeezes his Uncle's hand: I'm here, I'm not leaving.)

(And later, when Azula comes in with her soft steps and doesn't say anything, Zuko cracks open his good eye and gives her a smile.)

(And when he and Iroh set out the next morning, it is with purpose.)

(They leave behind a princess who knows that her father is not invincible.)

[beifong-brainrot]

I do find it annoying how a lot of Zutara fans tweak the character's stories, personalities and even the timelines to suit their own needs.

Once again, there's nothing wrong with fanon and headcanons, however if looking through the lense of canon, you're objectively wrong.

I ended up stumbling on a post from a Zutara shipper. (At this point I'm regretfully considering not following the tags for Zuko or Katara because I get way too much Zutara content lol) I'm not replying directly to her because I don't want this to turn into an argument, and I know she doesn't take criticism very well.

Ok, So let's break this down.

The character who was first out of the group to trust Zuko?

I'm quite sure this is referring to the scene in Ba Sing Se's caves. And yes, that is a very important scene. I think it's a very important scene preceeding Zuko's 'relapse'. It shows how he's matured during his time in Ba Sing Se and therefore it serves to add to our dismay when he joins Azula. I adore the fact that Zuko's journey to redemption is not linear, it certainly adds a lot to the character and shows us how his trauma affected him.

It's also a horrific moment for Katara. To have her worldview on Zuko and firebenders as a whole challenged, and then for it to go blowing up in her face. It rips open old wounds of her childhood. It refreshes her resentment of Zuko and the Fire Nation as a whole. It parallels the death of her mother when Aang dies due to Azula's lighting and she is unable to do anything about it. It places her back in that spot of helplessness. Even though she's grown up, even though she's a master waterbender, she still comes a hair's breadth to losing one of the most important people in her life.

No wonder she hated Zuko so much after this.

It's an important moment for both characters, but I wouldn't say it is that in a romantic sense. It's a sweet, hopeful moment that then turns absolutely horrific and visceral for both parties.

I could argue that there are other characters who could be given the title of 'first to trust Zuko'. Funnily, Appa being one of them lol.

But other characters trusting Zuko dovetails nicely into the next point.

The character who emotionally connects to Zuko?

Well, technically, I'd argue that most members of the Gaang connect emotionally on one level or another with him?

But I'd argue that Aang is the person Zuko connected with the most. Aang is Zuko's parallel. Aang is the first person to reach out to Zuko. Aang is the person who showed mercy to Zuko, multiple times. Aang is the person who valued Zuko's life, the life of someone whose whole life goal is to capture him.

This was also an incredibly important moment to Zuko. This is the thing he brings up when trying to convince the Gaang to let him join.

Zuko: Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.

The character Zuko feels safest letting his guard down around?

It's Mai. Love her or hate her, her relationship with Zuko is incredibly important to him. Maiko isn't my favourite Zuko ship, in full honesty. But even platonically, Mai and Zuko are one another's reprieve from their respective shitty lives.

People often talk about Katara touching Zuko's scar while discussing healing his scar, however one could argue that she did so as a medical examination. Mai touching Zuko's scar is a casual thing, neither of them really make a big deal of it and that's the beauty of it.

I'm mainly talking out of my own personal experience, as someone with a huge amount of burn scars, but there is a world of difference between someone inspecting my scars like Katara did and simply accepting them as a part of me, like Mai does for Zuko.

With Mai, Zuko isn't the scarred banished prince, Ozai's son or Azula's brother. He's just Zuko. And they speak freely with one another, arguing like real people do. Often, being comfortable having arguments is actually a sign of being comfortable with one another.

The character who helps Zuko heal from his trauma?

Once again, this is a bit of a flawed question. By the end of the show, Zuko isn't even fully healed, in my opinion. He has made leaps and bounds on the road to recovery, but when he will truly heal if ever is yet to be seen.

Zuko's journey to recovery includes plenty of people. This includes Iroh, Aang, Song and Jin. People who show him the error of his coping mechanism. Who challenge his worldview, who coax him out of the his shell of pain and anger.

The character known for showing most compassion to others?

Yes, Katara's compassion is a huge part of her character. Her need to help and protect those who cannot do that for themselves cannot be understated.

But Aang's compassion for others and all beings is just as great, if not greater than Katara's. Compassion and nonviolence are huge parts of his culture and his own philosophy.

Aang: Wait, we can't just leave him here. Sokka: Sure we can. Let's go. Aang :No, if we leave him he'll die. Aang airbends himself off Appa and retrieves Zuko, bringing him to Appa. Sokka: [Sarcastically.] Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us.

Friendly reminder that Aang could've absolutely wrecked Ozai, but held back because his own moral compass was so powerful. Hell, he was friendly and nice to Azula, the woman who literally killed him.

This is why Aang and Katara work so well together. They're both incredibly compassionate people who will immediately jump in to help others in need. Like they did during the Painted Lady, destroying the factiry together.

The character who primarily bears the burden of having to step up into a parental role?

I think "parental role" is an incredibly vague term. There's a lot of things that go into a "parental role". Katara plays a stereotypically "maternal" role, while someone who plays a "paternal" one would probably be Sokka.

Katara deals with very "homemaking" tasks like sewing and cooking, etc. And Sokka often takes on the role of leader, hunter, gatherer and also protector, despite being a nonbender.

This coincides nicely with their core childhood traumas. The loss of Katara's mother impacted her greatly, leading her to have to step up into a motherly role. While Sokka was clearly heavily traumatised by his father departing and the crushing responsibility of having to care for his entire village.

Sexism also probably played a part in this dichotomy.

The character who represses their emotions to be strong for others?

I'd argue that this could apply to all the members of the Gaang in some capacity.

Aang's pain is something most of us will never experience and cannot hope to understand. The complete horrific destruction of his culture and home followed him through the entire show. He was entitled to his grief and rage, yet he supressed it. We see during Appa's kidnapping, how easy it would be for Aang to rage, to let himself be destructive. And yet, he wakes up every day and chooses to smile and goof off, because his friends need someone to remind them how to be children.

Sokka puts on a very impressive bravado, despite having a lot of insecurities. However, as the oldest member of the Gaang (pre Zuko) he puts on a facade of the confident and unbothered older brother. Even if he's the butt of almost every joke, he still keeps that demeanour up, letting it slip only a few times.

I'd actually argue that Toph is the person whom this label fits best. While we know Toph as witty, callous and strong, we have to remember that she kept up the facade of her parents' good, helpless little blind girl for no reason other than her mother and father's comfort. She actually hides a lot of her hurt, covering it up with a prickly exterior.

I want to do longer think pieces about Toph and Katara so apologies if this isn't complete.

I'm actually baffled by the idea of Katara repressing her emotions. She's actually quite straightforward and open about her feelings. She yells and feels a lot of emotions and lets them be heard. She gets angry and sad. She's actually kinda bitchy sometimes and that's honestly why I love her so much.

The whole inciting incident of the show was her getting so pissed off she somehow pulls a giant iceberg from the bottom of the sea.

She is anything but repressed.

She is angry.

She's angry at the fire nation, at Sokka, at her father, at men, and with good right to be so.

This is what makes her an amazing character and one who broke the mould of a lot of female characters at the time. Her anger and unrestrained emotions rang true with a lot of watchers at the time. I'm not sure why this is being taken away from her rather than celebrated.

I reiterate the point I made at the beginning of this post: there is nothing wrong with headcanons and fanon interpretations for one's enjoyment. I do find it a bit odd when it changes a character too much (because then, why not just create an oc?) but it's all in good fun. However, you shouldn't push that onto other people and how they perceive canon and you certainly shouldn't use it to take away from other characters. It's a very unfair way of entering discourse.

[overlordneon]

tell us more abt ran??

RAN? My Zutara steambaby? Dragon of the Southern Water Tribe? Red twin? Sun Warrior? THAT Ran?

GLADLY! I've sortof reworked details of their backstory since I last talked about them anyways. Here's a lengthy ramble about her I guess...

So as you may or may not know already- Ran and Shaw were both raised in the Southern Water Tribe. Katara actually opted to do it alone (she was worried about introducing the two kids to the stresses of FIre Nation poltiics. Zuko respected her choice, hoping to avoid repeating the same relationship as him and his sister.

So neither of the kids knew who their father really was until the day that Ran started firebending. She was pretty sensitive as a kid, basically scared about everything and running to either her mom at anything scary- including her shooting fire out of her fist.

After that Katara finally came clean to them both and told them all about their dad. He would come to the Tribe to visit from then on but Ran wasn't super eager to learn firebending. For the longest time, she would've much rather prefferred to have been a waterbender, having the power to heal people like her brother and mom was something she really wanted. It took a lot of encouragement from her brother before she decided to give it a try. Zuko would try his best to teach her during his visits for a while but they realized that it was going to be better for Ran if they moved to the Fire Nation for her training (it took Katara a lot of convincing to agree to it.) And making it publicly known who his children were.

Being around so many more firebenders was a bit of a culture shock to both Ran and Shaw, where Ran felt a lot less like the freaky firebender of the family. It caused a major flip in her personality. She became much more of a hothead, (a lot like her parents) to counteract her brother's cooler and relaxed temperaments. She took her training a lot more seriously, getting more and more competitive and headstrong as a bender. For better or worse, Zuko saw a lot of Azula in her. When she was around 15 or so, Zuko would be the one to suggest that she should train with the Sun Warriors, feeling it would be the best way to keep her on a good path.

Her time training with the Sun Warriors was not the easiest. With neither her status as the Firelord's daughter or the familiarity of her home in the Southern Tribe she had to work to earn her place there, this included a lot of grunt work, cleaning up after dragons included. And while it was forbidden for any of them to directly interact with the Dragons (or their hatchlings) Ran would essentially do the thing where you feed the dog scraps under the table and leaving him meat treats. I think Shaw would briefly come to train alongside her for a bit there too. I imagine that part where she would finally earn the respect of her Sun Warrior peers would be something like... her confronting some aspiring firebenders that arrived to hunt the young Druk for sport. "You came here to make a name for yourself by killing a dragon but you'll have to settle for losing to one." It would still be some time later in her life before she would earn the official title of "Dragon" and finally return to her family. Around 19 i think? Druk coming along with her as they had bonded pretty strongly.

That's most of the rundown of her lore wise. She's set on bringing Sun Warrior philosophies to modern firebending, treating fire as a form of life rather than a force of destruction or power and in a way it made her feel more connected to her mother and brother too, no longer feeling like she was on opposing ends from from their elements.

And that's what I've got worked through so far. If you'd rather learn something specific feel free to ask more details. Ask me about Shaw next, how he's off breaking the women-as-healers stereotypes and working to implement bloodbending into healing practices (sortof against his mother's wishes). If the next Avatar series doesn't give us at least one male waterbender healer, I'll riot.

Side note but Avatar Wiki giving me better fuel for naming the twins after the dragons. Shaw is blue twin and Ran is red twin.

[zukosdualdao]

i know some people take the moment of azula speaking up in the flashback to the war meeting in sozin's comet as azula trying to "protect zuko" after he starts (while carefully choosing his words) disagreeing with ozai, but i really can't see it that way.

even aside from the fact that i don't think we should ever argue that her advocating for genocide here was a good thing, based on everything else about their relationship, i can't see this moment as anything but her once again trying to establish dominance and superiority over zuko. it actually reminds me of a different scene, all the way back from the flashbacks in zuko alone.

in both situations, ozai is testing his children in a way, and when zuko can't or won't give the "right answer", azula interjects and is able to say exactly what he wants to hear.

in zuko alone, of course, ozai is asking them questions that seem to be related to whatever (heavily inundated with propaganda, clearly) schooling they get. something that i find really interesting is that zuko doesn't seem to only struggle with firebending, but with his schooling as well. which isn't exactly surprising: abused kids often have trouble in school, and that seems particularly likely when ozai is already treating zuko like he is weak, incompetent, and unworthy in other areas. it's a self-fulling prophecy, on ozai's part: he demeans zuko for not being good at firebending (and perhaps for not being good in school), and, because kids are very naturally going to clam up and not get better at something when they're treated as worthless for any perceived flaw, it affects his ability to build his skills or performance in school.

but i think there's also a way in which zuko probably struggles to keep up in school because he's receptive to the values ursa tries to instill in him from a young age. he probably doesn't realize the things they are learning are things that are morally wrong, but there's a way, at this point, in which he can't relate to them, can't understand the motives of why it would be considered a good thing to defeat an enemy in such a brutal way when it runs so counter to the values of kindness ursa is trying to instill in her children, be it by explaining that throwing bread at turtleducks is not nice or that we shouldn't wish death on other family members.

by contrast, the emphasis on azula here is that she's clearly fully bought into the propaganda, that she respects and admires the brutality of the tactics. (also, is it just me, or does she sound a little like she's reciting a textbook, albeit with a lot of glee?) and notably, at the end, when she gets the answer 'right', she side-eyes zuko with a smug smirk. just like she does in sozin's comet as she's told she's right.

just for comparison's sake:

the situation in the sozin's comet flashback is different, of course, because they're not being quizzed on their schoolwork so much as they are being asked to put what they've learned about war and tactics into practice. zuko has a lot more understanding now than he did as a much younger child of the realities of war because he's seen it up close. and because of that, not only can he not condone or suggest any of the brutal and egregious tactics that are clearly expected of him, but he actually says something in defense of the earth kingdom, albeit trying to choose his words carefully, and with ozai (quite possibly willfully?) misinterpretating them.

to suggest that azula is protecting zuko here is its own form of a willful misinterpretation. you have to ignore the entire context of their relationship, azula's established motivations, and the tone of the scene itself to come to that conclusion. she does not interrupt zuko to keep him from saying something that will get him hurt, but because she wants to prove once again that she's better, that she's right and he's wrong, that he’ll never catch up. but zuko is starting to realize that he doesn’t and shouldn’t want to.

[creampuffqueen]

Hiii! I love your content and in my opinion you're such a funny and such a cool person!

I wanted to ask you if you plan on doing more yangvik headcanons? They are so funny to read and I absolutely love them!!

And I also just wanted to tell you how cool you are, Have a nice day!

oh my goodness thank you so much!! i'm glad you enjoy my content!

so, just for you, a few more yangvik headcanons i've been holding onto lately :3

kavik is a pretty average cook, but his real talent is baking

this is because he actually has a pretty big sweet tooth. yangchen prefers savories, but she's always willing to be a test subject for whatever new sweet concoction kavik is putting together in the kitchen

despite her terrible sleep schedule, yangchen's internal clock is almost scarily accurate. she's always up at the crack of dawn. might be the firebender in her

continuing talking about yangchen's sleep habits, she is the world's biggest blanket thief. she also drools in her sleep. kavik is of course her preferred source of heat, but she's also going to pile every available blanket on top of her as well

kavik's hair is very naturally soft, and yangchen really loves to play with it. she finds it quite soothing

this one has been alluded to in some of my writing but i like to think that yangchen smells like citrus fruits

yangchen actually sucks at playing sparrowbones. she doesn't understand it and cannot get the rules down for the life of her. this of course pisses her off to no end, and consequently provides endless amusement for kavik because he's finally found something she's not perfect at

yangchen has a habit of talking to herself. it's a coping mechanism she developed for her issues with her past lives, as a way to keep herself calm when she felt herself starting to dissociate. even when she's doing okay with her past lives, the habit still persists, and it's not uncommon to hear her muttering under her breath about anything and everything

kavik is a very sad drunk. yangchen is a very flirty and honest drunk. they have discovered they can't drink at the same time or else neither of them enjoys it whatsoever

yangchen and kavik love to spend as much time possible cuddling. they don't like PDA, so when they finally have privacy they pretty much spend the entire time touching in some form or fashion. they're basically glued together lol

and last but not least, i need to convert more people to the Glasses Kavik agenda. kavik gets some little brass reading glasses a few years down the line since he spends so much time reading small numbers. yangchen finds these glasses far more attractive than she's willing to admit

thank you so much for the ask! i hope you enjoy these!

[discordiansamba]

oh oh! AU in which Zuko is brainwashed by the Dai Li into believing he's REALLY Lee from the tea shop.

oh fuck, sorry about your life zuko. and also yours, iroh.

azula doublecrosses zuko after the fall of ba sing se and hands him over to the dai li. she never had any intention of sharing the glory with him. she smiles and tells him that since he enjoyed working at the tea shop with uncle so much, he can just become lee forever.

lee wakes up in ba sing se, alone. his uncle is gone. the city has been taken over by the fire nation. his memories are a blur- he and his uncle went to the earth palace to serve the earth king tea, and then... he can't really remember what happened next.

the fire nation princess wants him to serve her tea. he can feel her eyes on him the entire time he does. she's smiling, but he doesn't like that smile. her other two friends just watch him with looks that verge on pity- but only when the princess isn't looking. part of him feels grateful when they leave for the fire nation. the other part of him just feels... angry?

lee doesn't know where to go, so he goes back to the jasmine dragon. he finds out jin has been looking for him. she asks where his uncle is. he just shakes his head and says he doesn't know. he went missing. she invites him to come stay with her family... but he turns her down. he finds a job at another tea shop. it's all he knows. he's not good for anything else.

princess azula left behind standing orders with the dai li to make sure to keep up her brother's brainwashing. he's stubborn, so if you're not careful, he'll start to realize things he shouldn't. it's why she does not bring him home to the fire nation, as amusing as the idea of having him paraded before the court as a servant is.

the dai li visit lee once every week. it is the same agent every time. they have brainwashed many in their time, but the prince of the fire nation is their masterpiece. he crafts an entire new life for him. lee is drowning in a sea of lies and he doesn't even know it.

iroh realizes something is *very* wrong when he hears nothing of zuko upon arriving in the fire nation. when he breaks out of prison, he discovers that zuko never returned with his sister- and feels fear in his heart. but with the failure of the invasion, someone must teach the avatar firebending... and it cannot be jeong-jeong. iroh asks the white lotus to search for zuko in his place.

it's katara who finds him by accident, after the war is over. she decides to take a break at a tea shop. she looks up at her server- and sees a ghost. a ghost that doesn't recognize her, not even a little- and with a sinking horror, katara realizes exactly what must have happened.

she can't even be angry at him for his betrayal. not when all it earned him was this.

(lee was born and raised in ba sing se. he has no uncle, but he has his father. he is an agent of the dai li, and lee could not be more proud of him. he got his scar in the accident that killed his mother. a tragic fire. an accident. he's been afraid of it ever since.

lee lacks talent. he knows this, but he has found a simple happiness in the one thing he is good at- serving tea. he chats with the customers. he remembers the orders of all his regulars. his life is simple, but he is happy. he has never once thought of leaving ba sing se. why would he? his entire life is here. he has his father. his job. his girlfriend jin. he doesn't need anything else.

...he would like this strange water tribe girl to stop talking to him now. he hides in the kitchen. the owner kicks her out for hassling his best tea server.

lee has been kidnapped. these people keep calling him zuko. he has no idea who that is. they take him to the fire nation. he needs to get far, far away from ba sing se, they say. somewhere more familiar. lee doesn't know what they're talking about. he wants to go home.)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

What do you think of people saying “Kataang had a downward spiral in book 3.”?

I saw that video called “get in losers we’re stanning zutara.”that claimed that, along with many other people who are anti Kataang.

"The people who ship the two characters that barely interacted the entire show and hated each other for 90% of it think Kataang not always agreeing means the ship is having a downwards spiral" And? Why should we care?

I genuinely don't see how anyone could think book 3 Kataang was bad. Literally my one criticism of it is the forced Ember Island drama that so clearly only existed because of that stupid rule of "Main couple can't get together until the last second of the last episode". There were so many sweet, meaningful and even ICONIC moments happen that season.

Aang staring at Katara in awe when he learns that she literally brought him back from the dead. Katara making it very clear through her talk with Hakoda that she doesn't WANT to separated from the people she loves (bringing closure to Aang's Guru conflict).

THE HEADBAND DANCE AFTER KATARA IS JEALOUS THAT AANG IS GETTING SO MUCH ATTENTION FROM OTHER GIRLS!!!!!!

Aang immediately crushing on the Painted Lady and helping Katara blow up a factory. "You're my forever girl." The kiss before the invasion and Katara cuddling up with him after it. Katara trusting Aang's instincts when he says he wants Zuko to teach him firebending but it only happening after she gave him the greenlight because her opinion is everything to him.

KATARA THREATENING TO MURDER ZUKO IF HE EVER HURTS AANG AGAIN!!!

Aang letting Katara take Appa, one of the last connections he has with his pacifist culture, on a mission to kill someone (which he fundamentally disagrees with) simply because she needs to go on that journey and he KNOWS Katara will eventually realize, on her own, that she's not killer. Katara explicitly telling Aang that she doesn't think of him as a little brother she has to take care of.

KATARA CHOOSING TO KISS AANG AND BE HIS GIRLFRIEND IN A SCENE DELIBERATELY ANIMATED TO LOOK LIKE A COUPLE KISSING AT THEIR WEDDING!!!!!!

If that's a downward spiral, what does a winning-streak look like? Them still being together in every other post-show material that came out through the years, and being confirmed to have spent decades married, and having kids and grandkids?

Oh wait, they did that too, my bad.

Seriously, even before I grew to like Kataang as a ship, I would have been OVERJOYED if some of my non-canon and/or non-endgame ships in literally ANYTHING got even HALF the good moments Kataang had in book 3. Downwards spiral my ass, motherfuckers are just jealous.

[jaydude1992]

You: "DNI:..."anyone who tries to insist Azula was abused in the mental institution Zuko put her in post-series"

"Interviewer: Speaking of Zuko's family, what's Azula been up to? Her stay in the Fire Nation mental institution has got to be incredibly interesting.

Gene Yang: In "The Search," we'll see what a prolonged stay in a Fire Nation mental institution does to a person."

https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1027/avatar-last-airbender-search-cbr-interviews-gene-y

"When Ningka was a young girl, she could not control her firebending and was prone to violent outbursts of frustration. At one point, she fought off a group of bullies and lashed out with a blast of fire to keep them from hurting her. This was the final straw that led Ningka's parents to send her to a secure mental health facility to treat her instability. Her anger and despair only increased at the institution, however, as more care was placed in keeping her subdued than getting to the root of her problems. Her teacher at the facility would often punish her. Little by little, the young girl's vibrant gaze diminished after repeated admonishments, until she became a tired young woman quietly sitting in the corner of an institution, too exhausted to keep fighting."

https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Ningka

I don't think Zuko ever intended for Azula to get abused in the asylum or sent her there because she was a non-conforming member of royalty like Azula implies. Nor do I think he is aware of any systemic abuse present in Fire Nation asylums since he would fix it as soon as possible because he is a good man and ruler and because they created terrorists that have threatened his rule and the post-war peace. I also think there aren't really any humane ways to contain mentally ill firebenders and that Azula would rather have suffered abuse in her asylum than have her bending removed.

But considering Yang's word of god statement, the fact that Azula's mental state slowly but surely improves after she gets out of the asylum, and the fact that several girls would rather join a disgraced princess whose enemies include the Avatar and the Fire Lord than stay in their asylums, why are people wrong to come to conclusion that Azula was abused in her asylum?

The problem I have with using Gene's answer as proof that Azula was abused in the institution is that it's really too vague about what exactly happened for me. Obviously Azula's time there didn't do much for her mental health, judging by her actions in The Search, but I personally don't have enough information to decide if that was more due to the staff mistreating her/refusing to help her, or Azula herself being beyond treatment prior to her reunion with Ursa. It doesn't help that a mental institution is likely going to be a massive standard of living downgrade for a princess like Azula. Nor does it help that we don't really see any signs of abuse happening, no flashbacks to Azula's time at the mental institution or anything. The most we get is Azula being put in a straitjacket when she meets with Zuko - an enemy of hers whom she previously attempted to murder and got gleeful about hurting/killing - at the end of The Promise, a shot of another patient in a straitjacket being wheeled through a yard for some undefined reason, and Azula being put in a straitjacket again when she's taken out of the asylum to meet with Ozai. And I don't see these as "acts of abuse" so much as security precautions.

A related problem is that a number of fans - typically the hardcore Azula stans I complained about - tend to downplay her negative traits while exaggerating the scale and effects of offences committed against her, because they want to see her "redeemed" (i.e. rehabilitated/becoming good) and that's apparently the only way the only way they can think of facilitating that. I've seen Azula stans claim that Azula knowing she'd be able to escape the straitjacket after being chi-blocked by Ty Lee is proof that she was chi-blocked regularly without provocation. I've seen Azula stans claim that Azula being put in a straitjacket while around Zuko is proof that she was kept in one 24/7. These days, if someone tries to use the "Azula was abused in the mental institution" argument without going into detail, I can't help but question whether they're speaking in good faith.

I wasn't aware of Ningka's backstory when I made my statement. And yeah, there's definitely a vibe of the people at the institution caring more about keeping her confined than helping her with her issues. That said, the work it was in was published in 2023, ten years after The Search started being published, and people have been playing the "Azula was abused" card plenty enough before that time.

I agree with your points about Zuko, and your one about Azula likely preferring abuse over the loss of her firebending. As for confining Firebenders, I do believe that cells reinforced enough to withstand firebending could work, but of course that's not going to be an option if the Firebender needs to be moved about.

I've given my thoughts on Gene's statement above. Regarding Azula's mental state slowly improving after she's taken out of the institution, if we're talking how it changes over the events of The Search, that's kinda hard for me to judge since I don't exactly have anything to go on regarding what her mental state was like inside the institution. She definitely seems a little better after her confrontation with Ursa, but I don't know how much of that was due to her being outside the institution, and how much was down to what Ursa said to her during that moment.

With regards to why the girls/Fire Warriors decided to join up with Azula after she broke them out of the institution despite the repercussions, Azula in the Spirit Temple indicates that at least some of them were only put in there due to refusing to confine to the wishes of their traditionalist families, rather than any mental issues - meaning they'd have even more reason to despise the place - and that Azula spun them some bullshit about how they'd be helping out the less well-off of the Fire Nation as opposed to strictly trying to fuck over Zuko. When it became apparent that Azula's claim was a lie - and that she didn't particularly care about their wellbeing - they ditched her that same night.

I believe that's everything. Thanks for the ask.

[the-badger-mole]

The two moments that I can think of Aang being supportive are (arguably) the end of The Blue Spirit where he saves Zuko and attempts to connect with him at the end. The other being The Painted Lady where Aang helps Katara blew up the factory.

But even with the latter I can’t give Aang credit because he straight up lies to Sokka about his involvement afterwards. Like… the destruction of the factory takes place at night, and when Sokka finds out the day after and asks if Aang knew, Aang says something like “I only found out this morning!” and says nothing when Sokka is chewing her out about the factory. Support means nothing if you throw your friend under the bus the second you’re met by confrontation.

I knew both of those moments would be brought up. You already pointed out why it doesn't work in The Painted Lady, but in The Blue Spirit, Aang is still mostly focused on himself and his feelings. I'm not saying he isn't ever "supportive", but it's surface level at best. And he never tries to connect with Zuko on anything deeper than firebending again.

Aang is never shown being an actually good friend in the show. Don't even get me started on what a garbage friend he is in the comics. It's wild because this would've been such an easy thing to fix, and it wouldn't even have to be explicitly brought up by any other characters in order for Aang to grow into a better friend. But then, that would mean that his daddies would have to admit their pwecious widdle self insert isn't perfect.

[waterfire1848]

AU where Azulon was adopted, and by adopted I mean, Sozin stole him after his parents conveniently died because Sozin is so old and his genes are probably compromised. Also I could easily imagine Sozin getting desperate enough to steal someone's kid and bury the evidence as I imagine he forgot to have kids due to being angry Roku told him to fuck off or the kids he did have weren't benders so he banished them and didn't want another failure.

Hello, @deadlyangelofpurity !!!

Sozin becomes so focused on the comet that he forgets he's supposed to have children. After Roku dies, Sozin realizes that he needs to have some children of his own. He is the Fire Lord so there are one or two kids with his blood running around but they're all either nonbenders or weak benders so Sozin doesn't claim any of them. He's in his old age when he really starts to see that he needs to have some children, desperately. He goes to his inner council, a group of two or three men that are the Fire Lord's closest allies, are tells them about his worry. One of the men says he knows of a friend, an admiral, who just had a son with incredibly bending ability. After Sozin gets more information on the baby boy, he orders the infant brought to him and his parents killed. To the Fire Nation, the story is that a happy couple and their baby were sadly killed in a fire started by the admiral during a fight. Meanwhile, their Fire Lord just announced a healthy baby boy (with no mother in sight) and named him Prince Azulon, his rightful heir.

It's kept under wraps throughout Azulon's life that he's not related to Sozin by blood. The whole point of the Royal Family's rule is that they receive it by being blood related to "supposedly" Agni. So if it were to come out that Azulon isn't related to Sozin by blood then that opens the floodgates for people to potentially challenge his rule down the line. That being said, it's clear to literally everyone that Sozin had a child very, very, very late in life. (Councilmen: Fire Lord Sozin, I didn't even know- Sozin: Yes, it happened suddenly. One of the servants came to me a few days ago and said that this little one was mine. She saw that he had such firebending potential that she wanted to give him to me. Councilmen: Thank the spirits that there's an heir to the throne now. He'll make a fine Fire Lord one day. Sozin: Yes, he will). Azulon grows up in the palace as Sozin’s son exactly as you would expect. He’s taught to bend, put into academic lessons the moment he’s old enough to read, and into prince lessons once he’s old enough to walk. Sozin both doesn’t spend much time with Azulon because he’s old and because he’s not a good father so Azulon doesn’t really have much care at all.

Time goes by and Azulon lives under the believe that he’s Sozin’s son. Everyone just tells him that his mom was really young which makes a lot of sense to Azulon so he never questions it. Eventually, Sozin passes away and Azulon becomes Fire Lord. A few months before his father dies, he gets into an argument with one of his inner councilmen who starts telling people that Azulon isn't his real son and isn't royal blood. Most view his rants as those of an idiot who is spreading rumors because he's mad at the Fire Lord. Azulon doesn't really question anything because, again, it just seems so crazy, but he can't help but wonder if there is some truth to this and goes looking. When he goes looking, he finds his real birth certificate that was hidden away so no one would find out. (Azulon: FATHER! Sozin, on his death bed: Azulon? Azulon: Why!? Just why!? Sozin: You're going to have to be a little more specific, son. And what did I tell you about disrespecting your father? Azulon: You're not my father! Sozin: Huh? You finally found the truth. I was beginning to think you never would. Azulon: Why? Sozin: I needed an heir, you were strong and a baby. Everything worked out perfectly, wouldn't you say? Azulon: You killed my parents! Sozin: I made you a prince! *Cough! Cough!* What are you going to do? Tell the world? The Royal Family will crumble, the nation will crumble and you will be left with nothing more than whatever you can grab when they kick you out of the palace. Azulon: You don't care at all? I-I really thought- Sozin: It is not my fault that you were an idiot. The choice is yours, son. I'm already dead. There's nothing I can do to persuade you one way or another.) Azulon stays quiet.

Azulon later marries Ilah and has Iroh and Ozai. Ilah passes away seconds after Ozai is born which leaves Azulon with a hatred for Ozai. He can't look at him without seeing another parent killer like Sozin was. Azulon "raises" Iroh and Ozai as best he can while also being Fire Lord but the two brothers are pretty much left on their own. Iroh and Ozai are as close as they can be for having a ten year ago gap but they are still close and Iroh hates seeing his father hurt Ozai so much. He hates it enough that he decides to do something about it, but there isn't much he can do because he's not Fire Lord. That is until he comes across a familiar birth certificate and realizes the truth. Azulon would certainly have a lot of trouble if people found out he wasn't royal blood. The only problem with this is that it would also affect Iroh and Ozai and reveal that they aren't royal blood either. For a while, Iroh sits on this new information and doesn't do anything. Then comes the day that Azulon also burns Ozai's face (in a very familiar fashion) and Iroh stops him and decides that he needs to get Ozai away from here. He gives the birth certificate to the council then runs off with Ozai that night and with enough food and money for them to survive until he can get a job somewhere. (Ozai: Iroh? Where are we going? Iroh: Somewhere safe. Ozai: Is father coming? Iroh: No. No, we don't be seeing father...ever again. Ozai:....Thank you. Iroh: Always.)

Iroh and Ozai get stuck in a massive storm while they're sailing away from the Fire Nation and wind up in the South Pole. Because they are not wearing clothes appropriate for the weather or know how to fish, the two don't exactly have a fun first day. During their first night, a young mother finds them and brings them to her village so they don't freeze. The next morning, Iroh meets Kanna and Ozai meets Hakoda, Kya and Bato. Ozai is absolutely not up for leaving his brother's side and being around children he's never met (it has nothing to do with the fact that he's never been around kids his own age and doesn't know what he's supposed to do. Why would anyone even think that?). Kanna and the village are very iffy about letting two Fire Nationals stay in their home but they also don't like the idea of kicking out a 18 and 8 year old into the cold. Eventually, Kanna agrees to let them stay but says that they will kick them out if the two act like princes or start firebending at them. Since their in the middle of no where and Iroh basically just told the entire Fire Nation that he and Ozai have been accidentally lying to them for years, neither is very intent on getting kicked out of the village. (Plus, Iroh really likes seeing his brother getting to play with other kids....he just has to keep reminding Ozai that throwing snowballs doesn't mean you whack people straight in the face as hard as you can with a snowball.)

[hello-nichya-here]

I saw this take on Azula. What do you think:

“the way the atla fandom treats azula reminds me so much of how the spop fandom treats catra. don't get me wrong, i actually love azula, i think she was a very interesting and complex character. but that doesn't take away from the fact that she was still dangerous and toxic, willing to manipulate and control and kill without remorse.

one huge example of azula being coddled by the fandom is when the comics came out, and she was restrained and put into a straitjacket. i saw many fans complaining about how this was ableist and demonizing trauma and mental illnesses.

which.. i mean i'm sure azula has her fair share of mental health issues after all that she went through. but she wasn't restrained because she was mentally unstable, she was restrained because she was (at that point) the strongest firebender who could and would kill everyone in a heartbeat.

literally it feels like people sometimes forget that this was a fantasy world where people had magic powers. azula had to be restrained because she was a firebending prodigy who has killed once, and will kill again. yes, she was mentally unstable but she was also a threat to everyone.

and you can see, in this universe, how every criminal was restrained in some sort of way. In tlok, the red lotus were each contained in custom-made high security prisons because they were that big of a threat to everyone around them. ming-hua was disabled and she was not provided prosthetics in her prison, but this was because she used water as her prosthetics and was a waterbending prodigy with criminal intentions.

if azula was mentally unstable but not dangerous, the straitjacket would not be necessary. and i know that irl there's a lot of history and ethical discourse surrounding the use of straitjackets but in azula's case, i believe it was necessary. it wasn't ableism or demonizing mental illnesses, it was simply a safety measure to assure that no one else got hurt by azula.”

The tags said “again I promise you. You can sympathize with a villain without taking away their actions that made them a villain in the first place. Just saying.”

The writer of said comics full on admited that the way Azula was treated in the asylum was deliberately to justify her condition getting worse through the story, hence her only improving when she's away from it. He wanted her to be abused to get "crazier" and didn't realize that it painted Zuko in a terrible light to allow a place like this to exist at all, let alone send his own sister there.

Azula was being restrained and beaten CONSTANTLY, despite not doing a damn thing. We see it happening. And to try and justify that by going "well, but she COULD, potentially, do something" is literally THE EXACT SAME EXCUSE that was used to justify that kind of mistreatment in real life asylums.

Much like you can't have the black character linched by the fantasy equivalent of the KKK and expect people to not see the racism in that punishment, regardless of said character being a bad guy, you can't send the mentally ill character to be abused in an asylum and expect people to not see obvious demonization of mental illness and disabilities just because they were a bad guy. This is beyond just "Azula, the character, deserved better", this is a case of "these writers are telling their audience, of mostly children, that ableism is okay"

Atla is a fictional story, yes. One that literally said "everyone is capable of great good and great evil." One that shows us characters overcoming trauma through spiritual healing. One that shows us a criminal in the freaking Boiling Rock getting treatment for anger issues. One that literally Zuko himself say Ozai is not beyond saving, even if he understandably doesn't feel like sticking around to see it or try to play any role in it.

Anything that goes "Actually, just beat the villains into submission, no mercy, or second chances, or basic human decency, ever" is an insult to the message and to the original show - hence why Korra and the comics should have never fucking existed.

You can enjoy Azula as a villain and not want her to be redeemed without excusiving bad, intolerant writing just because it has bad things happening to her. I promise.

[roriaa]

When Sun and Moon meet - S2

Zuko x Fem!WaterBender!Reader Enemies to Lovers

As one of the Princesses of the Northern Water tribe, you were blessed with a gift by the moon. However you were permitted to be allowed to use the gift at all costs. From many hidden waterbending usages, the aftermath of the avatar visiting the Northern Tribe had led to your beginning journey, hiding yourself as a water bender as a princess from the Northern water tribe

Warnings: Fighting, arguing

Masterlist

҉ * ‧͙ ⋆ ⁺ ༓ ☾ Chapter 7 - Refreshing Tea

“Have you heard of that tea-house? All of a sudden their tea has been the best in Ba Sing Se!” One of the men said. “Oh then I must try it out! I have been craving tea recently," the woman responded with a laugh. I wasn't the biggest fan of tea outside of the northern water tribe. The only tea that exists was Spirit Oasis Tea which was only used for meditating in the Spirit Oasis to the Moon spirit. Ironic that the water tribe doesn't have a variety of drinks. “Uhm ma’am” I snapped out of me zoning out. I have been doing that more recently. “Sorry…” I said sheepishly as I handed him water tribe money. “You must be hearing about the new tea at the tea-house, I haven't had the time to go there but man I really want to. Sadly I'm constantly stuck at work.” The worker complained. Maybe I should check out the new tea area. “Water tribe money? Wow I haven't seen this currency in a while” The store owner said as I packed up my groceries for today. “Sorry, that's all I'm able to carry” Internally praying he accepts the pay. “Money is money” He shrugs and I let out a sigh of relief. “Have a nice day” he waved off while I smiled in gratefulness, taking Aku by the lead.

  ҉   ☾

Aku and I managed to get there, the sky was dark and the moon was slowly rising up. I really like the night sky because that's the only time I get to see Yue again. I smiled and parked Aku near the entrance. “Stay here buddy” I consoled before going into the tea-house. Once I walked there were still a lot of people, only one table was empty. Is the tea here really that good? Or this is the only tea-house here. I'm here to find out anyway. I was able to sit down at the empty table after making my order, which was just…tea. My mind wanders off thinking my father and Yue would have loved tea, not just specifically from here but in general. “Here’s your tea” a boy said, placing down the cup on the wooden table. I smiled softly “thank you” looking up at him, the realization hitting me. He has a very familiar scar on the left side of his face, it was none other than Zuko himself. Both of our eyes widened from the realization of who each other was. He totally figured out who I was. I immediately got up in fear, preparing to run away however it was prevented by Zuko himself. He grabbed my wrist, softer than I expected. “What are you doing here?” He whispered which made me irritated. “What are you doing here!?” I hissed. I didn't even get my answer due to an interruption made by…Jet?! 

“These two are firebenders!” Jet yelled out, holding two of his swords. How did he figure that out? Did he fight with them? “I saw the old man heating his tea,” Jet continued to yell. “He works at a tea shop,” one of the soldiers defended. He made eye contact with me, I freaked out internally thinking what was he going to do. “He is attacking this girl right here!” He pointed the sword at Zuko and I. We both looked down still seeing Zuko’s hand wrapped around my wrist. Due to this we quickly pulled back, I blushed in embarrassment. “N-No! The tea was too hot so he pulled my hand away before I could get burnt” I explained, my voice going a pitch higher than I wanted it to be. I don't know why I defended Zuko, but he didnt do anything bad to me at that moment. Zuko said absolutely nothing, way to go Zuko. “Drop your swords boy, nice and easy” The soldiers got up but Jet didn't care. “You have to defend yourself, then everyone will know. Go ahead! Show them what you can do.”  Zuko took the sword of one of the soldier’s “You want a show? I'll give you a show!” I grabbed my cub and tea before Zuko moved the table with his leg. I honestly couldn't be bothered with this situation. It doesn't include me and I wasnt that close with either of them to care. I tried taking a sip of the tea made, which was surprisingly still warm and I was even more surprised that it tasted really good. No wonder everyone wants to come here, and father would love this!

I continued drinking until I realized Aku was still outside. I went outside near the door frame to see a crowd of people surrounding Zuko and Jet, who were on opposite sides. “It's true sir, we saw the whole thing, this crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in this city.” One of the soldiers said, making the old guy blush. Jet's eyes meet mine again making me flinch and look away. “Y/N do you trust me?” He says out loud making all the eyes go on me. My eyes widened and I looked down in embarrassment. What should I say? It's not like me saying anything would make much of a difference, unless if I took my hood down I would be able to use my princess card. “Stop bringing the young lady into this, can't you see she is scared” One of the women said, shielding me. Slowly everyone was defending me. I looked at Jet one last time before turning away. I'm sorry Jet, the person you shouldn't trust is me. He looked at me painfully before getting taken away from the guards. Jet continued spouting out words which slowly went faint and slowly everyone in the circle disappeared. “Some kinda friend you are” I turned around and saw Zuko. “He was not my friend,” I sneered. “Why did you defend me anyways, your the one that actually saw me fire bend”

“I didnt even defend you, I was trying to keep attention away from me” “Did it work?” “What is your problem? Isn't it more beneficial for you than it is for me?” I spat in annoyance. 

“Calm down you two” The old man said, calming the both of us down. “How did both of you recognize me?” I asked worriedly, holding the hood closer to my face. “Your face is quite recognizable once you've seen it, Princess Y/N. Now how about some tea, it will be on the house.” The old man whispered the second part which made me breathily sigh. “I'm good for the day” I glared at both Zuko and the old man. I go outside to take Aku and leave.

“Sorry Aku, i'm just going to go for a little walk okay?” I patted Aku on the head before I left. I was never allowed to go out at sundown before so I wanted to see what it was like. I stretched my arms over my head before seeing a kid and an adult. The adult had the kids' ball, taunting him. Really? How immature are these adults? “Hey, let the kids have some fun” I stated, defending the kid who turned towards me. His eyes were bloodshot red, tears were streaming down his face. “Hah, what are you gonna do? Hit me?” The guy taunted, shaking the ball. “I might just do that” I get water out of my water pouch, slapping them. “Ow” the guy hissed and let go of the ball “you will regret this!” he yelled running away. I grab the ball and gently hand it to the boy. “You need to be careful at night, who knows what could happen” I wiped the tears that were on his cheeks. He sniffed in response, grabbing a ball. Shakily saying “T-Thank you kind lady” He looked down. I smile softly “No problem, now where are your friends?” I looked around to see no one. “They all left once the scary man came” He sniffled. I patted his head sweetly. “Let's get you home little guy” I smiled as he grabbed my hand.

“Say thank you to the kind lady, who knows what we would do without her” The mom patted his back, ushering him to thank me. “Thank you!” He smiled. Both the mother and the son waved in delight. I waved them back and turned around, away from the house. I should probably go home by now, I'm feeling a bit tired. I yawned in my hand, till I heard something. I turned around quickly, searching for anything but there was nothing. Huh…I guess I'm just hearing things. Then I felt a grasp around my wrist. I immediately flick it away, using my water bending to hit them back. “Who's there?” I said out loud. “I told you, you will regret this” the guy from before said, chuckling evilly. The same guy who stole a kids ball. This time he had two additional accomplices. “Please you're so immature” I laughed mockingly which heated him up furthermore. Before he could strike, a figure barged in, striking them with two blades. My eyes widened at the scene and I quickly took out the figure behind me, whacking him down. I turned around to check out the scene again. I got a better look of the figure who held two swords, wore a blue mask and an all black outfit. “Just who…are you?” I raised my brows, moving closer. Just as I was about to get close enough, he ran, taking the three guys with him. That was awfully weird, man I really need to get home now…

<- Back - Next ->

a/n: Sorry for the late post WOOO Managed to post it on time!! So yeah! Thats literally it LMAO have a nice day and take care fo yourself!!

--

Taglist: @luvkvni @katovano @karmaswitch @someonesmember @velvet-spider @sh3sa1dwhat @nerdisthenewcool @meiraloves2dmen @fqnfics101 @iluvme547 @leaderwon @yukihatesreoyo @heart4hees @4l3x1s @kkissaku @corpsebridenightamare @newjellis @fatkish

[eponastory]

I know you most likely already realized this, but I was just thinking about Aang as a father in LOK, and realized something. If Katara ended up with Zuko and eventually had children together, Zuko would likely end up being a better father than Aang. Aang never even met his parents, and only had instructors as parental figures. They're like parents but mostly just in the way that a school teacher would be. But Zuko understands what good parents and what bad parents look like because he knows what his own parents are like. His memories of Ursa and Iroh would be his guide to what you SHOULD do for a child, and Ozai is an example of what you should NOT do. Zuko doesn't have the pressure of repopulating firebenders because firebenders aren't virtually extinct, so there wouldn't be as much (if any) pressure to pay unfairly extra attention to one child over the other. Zuko knows what it's like to be neglected by a parent that's supposed to love because of something you can't control. Aang clearly doesn't, hence why he neglected Bumi and Kya II in the first place. Zuko also has experience with Azula, and would know to recognize any bad signs of sibling jealousy and/or hatred, and put an end to it because he knows what bad sibling dynamics look like.

I feel like he would also be a better husband to Katara. He's not as naive as Aang when it comes to marriage; Zuko has the experience of growing up with two married parents, and would know what not to do. Katara would relax better because the distribution over who watches the kids would be more fair, as Zuko would give them ALL attention. While Aang made Katara jealous from always being around the Air Acolytes (in the comics), I feel like Zuko would not give polite attention to women who are rude to Katara/flirting with him because in the show, Zuko knows exactly how hurtful it feels for a romantic partner to flirt with/give polite attention to people who are obviously pursuers. Imagine being in an alternate dimension where Zutara was the main endgame couple, and we get to see their parental dynamics in LoK. There would probably be a flashback of Katara getting worked up about one of their children, and Zuko would ease her into calming down because he sees a solution that she didn't.

Aang's issues are more than he doesn't know. He is selfish by nature. Selfish parents aren't good parents. I know this for a fact. It's an endless cycle of 'It's your fault' or 'what about how I feel' every time you try to say something. It's not fun, and it's damaging. I can totally see Aang using this behavior as a way to get what he wants. As far as him being naive... yes. He is very naive and doesn't take anything seriously.

Like the war, for instance. He was only there for the last year of it. He wasn't born into the war like Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Suki. They aren't naive. They know what war is like. Toph is the same age as Aang, and she is much more mature than he is. He's got this idea that killing anyone is bad, but he is responsible for a lot of deaths. Honestly, he has a kill count from the Fire Nation attack on the NWT, and a lot of people overlook that for some reason. Actually, the show overlooks it because Aang is the Hero, and it's okay if he killed people. So, when all is said and done, all of the things that he does afterward is overlooked too. It's a huge writing flaw with the show. So how does this translate to him as a parent?

It makes him a hypocrite.

Plain and simple.

He's so focused on reviving the Air Nomads that he has little knowledge on what they actually believed. What we are given is a few Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist proverbs to go off of. Then, it's completely disregarded (disrespected as well) for 'Love'. This 'Love' is actually deep infatuation fueled by jealousy and possessive behavior. Which is actually frowned upon by the three religions mentioned above. It is a 'poison' to the spirit. And disconnects you from being enlightened (I think that is what the proverbs/scriptures are eluding too, if I'm wrong, please do not hesitate to explain, I'm super interested in cultures and eastern religions) or granted a place in Heaven (or their version of it). Letting go of all earthly possessions is common place in most religions. Aang does not do this. But I digress.

So, while there is the Nature vs Nurture aspect of parenting... where Katara does most of the Nurturing because that is how her character is written post-war and LoK. Notice how is said Written. Written by two misogynistic men who stripped her of a lot of her characteristics from the original run of the show. This is the problem. And it's the same with Aang. I can't take him seriously because he doesn't take any of it seriously. Especially with his children. He's not a serious character. He acts like he's serious, but he never really left the 12 year old boy behind to mature. Probably because in his fictional relationship with Katara, she enables him to keep doing what he always does. Which is to not grow. Relationships grow sour when the two people in them do not grow. It's not really about who grew up with parents at that point because it's the current parents that are the ones that should be to blame.

Now on to Headcanon space...

Zutara is a Headcanon ship. Did it almost happen? Oh yes I believe it did because the writing supports it heavily and Bryke's actions post show also scream 'lairs'. Sorry, but I have a pretty good Bullshit metor and Bryke set it off big time by their immature behavior.

But I digress.

Zuko grew up with a Narcissistic Sociopath as a Father and a Mother who was caught in the middle of a choice she was essentially forced to make. Ursa was also forced to forget her own parents never existed after she married Ozai. This is all canon, by the way. Her life before her marriage was great, but then it was taken away so she had nothing left but her morals and beliefs. However, while she loved both of her children, her influence on Zuko is essentially what made him who he is. Ursa didn't get to influence Azula like she did Zuko. Why? Because of Ozai.

Ozai pit his children against each other. This was apparently a Fire Nation Royal Family tradition because it sounds like Azulon did this with Iroh and Ozai as well. This kind of parenting style is abusive to its core. What Ozai did to Zuko isn't neglect... it's straightforward abuse and control. How do you make a child do what you want? You hurt them, or you take something away from them. Ozai both hurt Zuko and took away his home by banishing him. If Zuko wants to go back home, he has to find and capture the Avatar. It's that simple, but at the same time, it's also near impossible.

Flash forward to Canon Zuko and we see he has one child and he is a very loving father. Actually, he's the best father in the show. His experiences with growing up as the not so favorite child has made his choice to have one child easy. Probably because he and his spouse had a less than perfect relationship. This also may have influenced him to be protective of Izumi (as we can see he's still protective over her even at 90 years old) because of the loveless relationship his parents had. It was enough to damage him deeply when it came to relationships. This is likely also why he had trouble with Mai as well.

Headcanon space now...

Zuko loving Katara is what makes the difference here. Love is giving your partner the freedom to make their own choices and support them. As long as there is good communication, trust, and honesty. Something Maiko does not have, by the way. So it stands to reason that even with Nature Vs Nurture in the way of parenting, both win here. I'll tell you why Zuko's relationship with his parents here have no effect on why he would choose to have more children with Katara.

Because if written well, it's a very good relationship between them. We already know they work well as a team. The show gives us this. We know that Zuko absolutely cares about Katara. The show also gives us that. We also know they become lifelong friends. So why do they make great parents?

Because they rely on each other.

It has nothing to do with how they were raised individually, but everything to do with how they support each other narritively. They trust each other to make good decisions together. They rely on being honest with each other. They also communicate with each other. This by itself is the building blocks for a healthy and stable relationship. With that in mind, parenting is easier. There is no need to be afraid of becoming a bad parent because they hold each other accountable. It's a deep relationship. Having multiple children is easier because it is a loving relationship. There's no conflict besides the silly little arguments over simple things that happen all the time. It's just an overall healthy dynamic.

And that is what appeals to Zutarians.

While it was almost canon, I'm glad it isn't because Bryke would definitely not get it right. They tried to make Korra and Mako happen out of spite because they believe Zutara is toxic. It's not. Their children would turn out absolutely fine because Zuko would not change a thing about Katara. It's in the show. He doesn't try to change her because that's not his job. His job in TSR is to let her find closure. He offers it to her because he cares about her. Bottom line.

Anyway, I probably forgot what you said at this point because I just tend to go on and on, but I tried my best to stay on topic... ADHD is both a blessing and a curse.

[weepingchronicles]

platonic yandere katara headcanons

tw/cw: overbearing behavior, yandere, guilt tripping, infantilizing

a/n: yippie katara headcanons! this is just thoughts I had and female yanderes are so underated here especially katara herself

I'm also working your guys requests, i have a lot of drafts right now!!

katara is a very controlling but soft yandere

her tendencies are a bit more toned down if you're older than her, but if you're younger you are basically adopted as her little sibling or mother

however she sees you as, she's still very motherly

she's a bit more soft because she'll let you socialize and have friends especially with those she loves like aang, sokka and toph

but she'll get VERY protective if fire nation is somehow involved, even when she eventually warms up to zuko she doesn't like him around you

if you're fire nation however? she'll insist that you're different and the only one who is truly good in her eyes

if you go against her and talk to zuko or someone fire nation, she'll basically guilt trip you and cry

"how could you do this to me? you know my mother died by firebenders" sob sob

some part of its sincere, other half knows if she cries you'll do as she says

if you ever get sick or injured, she is by your side ALL THE TIME

if you get a smallest paper cut or bruise she'll insist on healing it for you, which is fine at first until she demands full body healing sessions DAILY just incase you're hurt somewhere she can't see or you can't feel

her controlling tendencies go to its MAX and her overwhelming need to care for you goes out of control. she'll bathe you or at least be right beside you (just incase something happens!!), cook for you, do all your clothes, EVERYTHING until you're fully healed.

she genuinely hates to see you like this and couldn't live with herself if you got hurt more because she wasn't there.

the only reason she lets you come with her and the rest of the gaang is because what if something happens to you and she isn't there to heal you? she just needs you to be within a 2 feet radius

the only way i can see you reasoning with her is if you go to sokka or aang for help, to intervene. aang straight up says no, he's too loyal to katara and knows she's projecting her trauma onto you. sokka does try talking but it ends up in a full blown argument and kinda gives up

besides it's not like she's hurting you or anything??

she'll tone it down after sokka talks with her a bit but goes back right after

so you might as well live with it! 🩷🩷

if you try to escape, which I don't blame you-

you might be able to get away for even a month or two if you prepare well enough but cmon, she has the fucking avatar as a boyfriend and a flying bison

it won't take too long before she tracks you so enjoy your freedom while it lasts

when she "reunites" with you, it's all tears. she's somehow even more overbearing and checks if you're hurt and asks 100 times as well

she won't be mad at you neither will she punish you

she'll definitely keep a closer eye on you and will snoop through your things if she believes you're plotting

the most she'll do to punish you is, again, guilt tripping

"how could you do this to me? you're just like my dad, leaving me alone!"

she's practically hysterical and the only way to calm her down is if you apologize and swear to never do it again

another thought is if she'd bloodbend for you?

I don't think she would nor do I think she'd get to the point of killing someone for you unless they MUST be stopped

but i do think she'd threaten to bloodbend others or maybe even you if pushed far enough

she'd never actually do it though..

[zukosdualdao]

something i was thinking about regarding the parallels of aang and zuko accidentally burning toph and katara, respectively, is the similarity in their reactions in the immediate aftermath, but the way their reactions diverge afterward, re: apologies.

Aang tosses it into the air and spreads his arms out. For a second, he has a smile on his face, but it vanishes as he accidentally burns Katara's hands. Katara shrieks in pain. Aang: Katara! I'm so sorry! Sokka comes running to Katara's side. Sokka: [Concerned.] Katara, what's wrong? [Angrily.] What did you do?! Aang: It was an accident! I was, uh... Katara, I'm so-- Sokka furiously tackles Aang. Sokka: [Enraged.] I told you we shouldn't mess around with this! Look what you did! You burned my sister! [Katara runs away.]

Zuko: Who's there? Stay back! [Whips fire.] Toph: It's me! [Throws up an earth shield, but steps back into Zuko's fire blast.] Ow! You burned my feet! Zuko: I'm sorry, it was a mistake! [Comes toward her, but she begins to crawl away.] Toph: Get away from me! [As Toph crawls away, she grabs the earth under her and throws it backward at Zuko.] Zuko: Let me help you! [Dodges another rock.] I'm sorry! [Tries to grab her.] Toph: Get off me, get off me! [Brings up some earth which sends Zuko flying back.]

both of them try to immediately apologize as soon as they realize what they've done, and while that's understandable and they both do feel genuine remorse, the kinds of apologies being made in these contexts are inherently a little selfish. an apology should be for the other person, and neither katara or toph is in a place to process it, as both are in immediate pain and both are panicking. aang and zuko also both try to repeat the apology - aang only doesn't get all the way through his because sokka tackles him and interrupts - in the moment when it's become very clear that it's not going to be appropriate or helpful at the time.

where i think they diverge, though, is that while aang continues to feel remorse, he doesn't offer another apology now that tensions have lowered and she might be in a better place to receive it. instead, it becomes about his own guilt, and katara having to comfort him, telling him it doesn't matter because she was able to heal herself.

Katara enters the cottage to find Aang sulking. Aang: Jeong Jeong tried to tell me that I wasn't ready. I wouldn't listen. I'm never going to firebend again. Katara: You'll have to eventually. Aang: No, never again. Katara: It's okay, Aang. I'm healed.

he also learns the wrong lesson from it. and to be clear, i'm not criticizing that as a writing choice - i think it's very realistic. but instead of resolving to do better in the future and learn discipline, he declares his intent to avoid firebending instead of committing to the responsibility of controlling it. (which, as katara rightly points out, is just not going to work.)

whereas, despite his lapse in wallowing in his own guilt - why am i so bad at being good? - by the next day, zuko is able to apologize to toph in a setting where tensions are lower and she's better able to process it, as her feet might not be completely healed but are healing and she's in significantly less pain and a clearer mindset. he gives the explanation of it being an accident without excusing it, instead affirming that he knows he has a responsibility to be more careful and resolving to do better.

Zuko: [To Toph.] I'm sorry for what I did to you. [Bows to her.] It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally.

i think the reason zuko is able to work past this and not keep wallowing in shame and guilt is because part of his journey has been learning (with help from iroh) that the guilt and shame he was made to feel for his 'wrongdoings' in ozai's eyes never actually helped anything, and he has finally started to internalize that. so he's able to say "i did a wrong thing and i'm sorry and i will do better" without either trying to completely justify himself or debasing himself, and that's powerful and important.

[sokkastyles]

I do think it's a shame that people are so unwilling to engage with Kiyi as a character, particularly what she means to Azula because there is a lot of interesting stuff there that remains unexplored because people are so into the idea that she exists to be a "replacement sister" for Zuko and that's BAD. And like, I agree that Zuko doesn't need a replacement sister. But just because AZULA sees Kiyi that way doesn't make it true. Azula's instant hatred of Kiyi and her accusation that her mother replaced her says way more about Azula and her own internal conflict than anything. There's also a lot of interesting stuff in the way Zuko interacts with Kiyi, the way Zuko wants to protect Kiyi's innocence because it's something he never had and Azula's resentment of it for the same reason.

And the thing is, the comics do make parallels between Kiyi and Azula, but it's not to show that Kiyi is a monster or that Azula never did anything wrong and everyone just unfairly misjudged her. Azula meeting this little girl who is her half sister, who likes to mutilate her dolls, who is a firebending prodigy, who is too precocious for her own good, that Azula instantly hates and sees as a symbol of her mother's rejection of her, is meant to mirror her own self loathing and awareness that her father made her into something she doesn't want to be, deep down. Kiyi might have been Azula if Azula had not grown up as the Fire Nation princess and Ozai's golden child.

Also, as much as I have spoken against the "replacement sister" interpretation, Zuko is allowed to want to have a relationship with his half sister. Ursa is allowed to have another child when she was forbidden from seeing Zuko and Azula by Ozai. I really dislike the way certain parts of the fandom seek to control Zuko and Ursa's relationships because you know, that's what Ozai did. This idea that it's a slight against Azula for Kiyi to exist and be in her brother and mother's life reeks of Azula's own insecurity and desire to control the relationships of the people in her life.