#Ursa exists to do more than be a parent

[cobra-diamond]

Who Cared for Azula?

And which of them did she hurt?

Some people will read this and think the answer is obvious. The answer is not obvious. Azula in the Spirit Temple contains a particularly puzzling scene that feels eerily out-of-place and concerns the titular subject: who cared for Azula, and which of them did she hurt? I’m referring to this scene:

Spoilers under the cut.

Who is the Zuko ghost referring to? Honestly ask yourself this: who cared for Azula, and of those people, which of them did she hurt?

Her mother?

Ursa more than likely loves, and at a minimum cares for, her daughter despite us never seeing Ursa act affectionate and snugly toward Azula as she does Zuko, but Azula never hurt her mom. She was a young kid when Ursa left. Is the ghost referring to The Search? Smoke & Shadow? Azula never mentions the face change, Kiyi, the Kemurikage, any of that. Those comics barely seem to exist for this comic.

No, not Ursa.

Her father?

I’d be hard-pressed to say that Ozai loves his daughter, but he definitely cares for her. But Azula didn’t hurt her father. Failing to prevent Zuko’s coup? Mentally falling apart in the biggest moment? Lying to him about Zuko killing the Avatar? Maybe? That can’t be what the Zuko ghost is referring to, but I can believe Azula feels guilt over the events of Sozin’s Comet and that she, in part, is responsible for his current sorry state.

Maybe her father.

Her uncle?

Iroh is not shown to “care” for his niece. Be cordial, polite, neutral, yes, but affectionate? Devoted? No way. Azula only hurts Iroh after he hurt the Fire Nation, as a traitor, as per her father’s orders. Azula did not hurt Iroh personally and Iroh did not care for Azula personally either. Iroh did, after all, fail to avenge Lu Ten’s death and abandoned the siege. That’s not Azula’s fault. Other people in the Fire Nation, and Earth Kingdom, dislike him too.

Definitely not Iroh.

Her brother?

Zuko is never shown to care for his sister. Let me make something clear: siblings do no tend to leave each other as they love their parents. Perhaps in an ideal world deep sibling love is the standard, but there’s a reason siblings terrorizing each other is a meme: they want all the parental attention for themselves. And this happens between Zuko and Azula. Zuko is bitter toward his sister, highly competitive, and harbors a massive inferiority complex. Zuko is never shown to be loving, affectionate, or personally devoted to her. In fact, Azula is shown displaying more evidence of sibling love than Zuko, but that is neither here nor there. Azula has hurt Zuko, yes, but Zuko did not care for her. Zuko is not someone who cared for Azula, and who Azula hurt. He’s primarily a rival whose weakness she didn’t care for.

Not Zuko.

Mai?

Mai cared for Azula? In what way? When is Mai shown being affectionate, loving, and personally devoted to Azula? When does Mai bring Gatorade and Campbell’s over to Azula when she is sick? Mai is as biting and sarcastic and nasty as Azula at times. And how exactly did Azula hurt Mai in such a way as to draw feelings of guilt from Azula? Azula helped bring Zuko home so Mai could get back together with him. Azula “freed” Mai from Mai’s parents and Omashu. How did Mai care for Azula outside of taking orders from her nation’s princess?

Not Mai.

Ty Lee?

Maybe. Did Ty Lee care for Azula? Did Ty Lee love Azula, feel affection and personal devotion to her? She hugged her in Return to Omashu and was excited to see her, but she turned down her “beloved friend’s” offer without a second thought. Did Ty Lee want Azula as a friend at that point, or was she upset Princess Azula knew of her and wished she had never known her? Azula definitely hurt Ty Lee at the circus, without a doubt. But did Ty Lee care for Azula? All we see is Ty Lee giving Azula lousy dating advice that did nothing to assuage Azula’s self-esteem issues. That’s love? That’s care?

Azula hurt Ty Lee, but did Ty Lee care for Azula? Maybe, but likely no.

Lo and Li?

Lo and Li said they were concerned for her well-being. Nobody else ever said anything like that to Azula throughout the show, nor any expanded content since. Yeah, they might have cared for her. Maybe they even loved her. I have a hard time saying Lo and Li were good for her, but it does seem they took a personal interest in Azula. And Azula banished them unfairly. She hurt them. And they appeared to care for her.

Yes, Lo and Li.

Her servants?

Her servants technically cared for her, cooking meals, doing laundry, her hair. They seemed shocked when Azula banished the girl holding the cherries. Perhaps some of them loved her, having known her for her whole life. I find it plausible Azula’s servants felt affection and personal devotion to Azula. And she hurt them. She unfairly banished them. They didn’t deserve it. And they cared for her.

Yes, her servants.

Her Imperial Firebenders?

Maybe? I assume they were mostly men and some women. I imagine at least some of those men were attracted to their princess, and I imagine some of those women were impressed by their princess’ firebending prowess. I can’t say they loved her or were affectionate, but they were certainly dutiful, at least duty-bound. And she banished them unfairly.

Yes, her Imperial Firebenders. They didn’t deserve it at least.

Her Dai Lee agents?

Screw the Dai Lee. They are scumbags. She was right to kick their sorry asses to the curb.

Who else? Her Fire Warriors?

How did she hurt them? She rescued them from the asylum!

The Zuko ghost confused me, and I find it interesting that it also confused Azula. Of all the dialogue in the comic, this felt the most unnatural, disturbing even, and Azula’s expressions during the encounter reflect that same feeling.

The Zuko ghost doesn’t sound like the rest of the comic. Azula had responses to all the ghosts until that point. The previous discussions concerned topics that felt natural to Azula’s perspective and experiences. The Zuko ghost don’t sound like it is expressing Azula’s self-loathing and creeping doubt the other ghosts conveyed.

To me, it sounds like it was speaking fandom talking points.

Grey Delisle, many years ago, said in an interview that she thinks Azula manipulates people into being her friends because she’s afraid people will leave her. The comic almost says this verbatim.

Certain fans believe that Azula took advantage of scores of people who were weaker than her, or dependent on her as would a petty toxic individual in an abusive interpersonal relationship, regardless of her station as princess. They, without question, cite Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee as being the prime examples.

Of the three, Zuko is the only one she took advantage of for petty reasons, and primarily as a poorly-raised child. For Ty Lee, she gave her the medieval lord treatment to rip her from the smelly circus where platypus-bears lay eggs out in the open. Mai? I don’t see it. But the Zuko ghost is not talking about people she hurt in general. It’s talking about people who cared for her that she hurt.

Zuko has hurt Azula. Ty Lee has hurt Azula. Mai has especially hurt Azula. But did these people care for her? Did she betray their love they held for her?

I don’t think Zuko, Mai, or Ty Lee “cared” for Azula by the time the events of the show roll around. The Zuko ghost sounds like it is using fandom talking points from certain fans who hold the most pessimistic interpretations of Azula’s behavior.

I find it notable that Azula is drawn with a confused and disturbed expression while she is being confronted by the most off-sounding accusations. I also find it notable that the ghost delivering these accusations turns into a threatening monster. I also find it notable that she winds up killing this ghost.

Maybe it is a metaphor.

To answer the question, "Who cared for Azula, and which of them did she hurt?" It appears to be Lo and Li, her servants, and Imperial Firebenders. Maybe Ty Lee and maybe her father. But think of all the arguments over Azula and her interpersonal relationships. Does anyone care about Lo and Li getting banished? Her servants getting wrongfully accused of trying to assassinate her? Her Imperial Firebenders for being disloyal? Her father being in prison and debended at the hands of Zuko and his supporters?

Of course not, it's always Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee, but the evidence that they "cared" for her is flimsy at best. The people who Azula should feel most guilty about hurting are the ones we, as fans, and the narrative, give the least amount of sympathy to.

[mugentakeda]

azula and lu ten things because i am insane

-lu ten does that shit where he appears at azulas door randomly with a bowl of fruit. he cuts them and peels them himself (<-frequent kitchen invader). he kinda floats in and drops it off at her desk silently while maintaining intense eye contact with her like a weird ghost

-they do a lot of “parallel play” together. azula didnt go to the fire nation academy for girls until after lu ten died, so while she still was being taught within the palace, theyd do their work together in the palace library. shed do her studies, lu ten would pour over his scrolls. when lu ten does this stuff with zuko there’s always chit chatting, but when its azula they just do their thing in each others company and in silence. lu ten likes to bring blankets and pillows and tea so they can do it on the floor instead of slouching over the tables

-when bad summer storms roll around the three like to sleep in lu tens room because his bed is the biggest. azula likes to whisper menacing shit like “cousin when youre firelord i will usurp you and make you and zuzu my court jesters” when zuko falls asleep. and lu tens just like Okay💯

-whenever they see each other with snacks they like to make it a goal to snatch it and run off as fast as possible. one time lu ten snatched a mooncake right out of azulas mouth and hauled ass through the courtyard. ursa and iroh were playing pai sho together and he kicked the whole table over just to slow azula down

-azula spontaneously appears in lu tens room to annoy him when shes bored and cant find zuko or if zukos busy. she stands outside his door complaining until he lets her in and then she just wanders around his room and messes with his stuff and stands there menacingly. And rhen she just leaves and lu ten will call after her like “and stay out WEIRDO” and azula will respond like “YOURE BALD”

-when azula was a baby and lu ten was still looking after her for ursa, he eventually had to teach her how to eat on her own. everytime azula ate shed have to bathe cus shed get food Everywhere. face, clothes, hair. under her clothes. eyelashes. up her nose. it was disastrous

-lu ten was always someone azula knew would be there for her but. he was only her cousin. and lu ten taking care of azula while ursa suffered from her ppd is a secret that lu ten kept to the grave for the sake of ursas pride, so while lu ten loved azula a great deal and to a very intense level that mixed and complicated the love and older sibling has and a parent has (complicated because lu ten was only 15 at the time lol), azula never knew. and unless ursa tells her in the future then she never will

-itll always be one of the things azula hates her uncle most for. what she finds most disgraceful and pathetic about him. she’ll have to spend more years remembering lu ten than she did knowing him, and its all her uncle’s fault. and all they have are ink portraits and paintings. so eventually, his features, his human face, will slowly ebb from her mind. and the minds of everyone that ever knew him.

her father never talks about him, never talks about any of the phantoms in their family. they don’t do anything for his birthday. so she just lets herself in his room, and messes with his stuff to find proof of his existence.

its dusty. clean but untouched, like he’s just left for a long vacation and tidied up a bit before going out the door. the robe he last wore is still slung over his desk chair. his sandals are still kicked across the floor with one flipped on its side. the lounge chair on his balcony has marks on its seat and back from how much he sat on it.

but theres no humming to nonsensical tunes just to fill the silence (because azula used to swear he liked to hear the sound of his own voice). there’s no scrolls and papers stacked madly on his desk. the scent of spiced saffron tea doesnt linger in the air anymore. it’s not strangely lived in. it makes sense where the servants tidied some areas up, when lu ten never made sense in how he did anything. it’s not right.

it doesnt feel haunted, though- the dread she feels when she goes into mother’s room doesn’t exist in lu ten’s. the sunshine from the always open drapes warms her. the dips in the mattress from when the three of them would cram together, where she and zuko would crawl all over him and dig their elbows and knees into his lanky limbs, they call to her welcomingly. like the silence after the whisper, like he’s under the covers telling her to quit standing at the doorway like a weirdo and to just come in already. like if she pulled the blanket back he’d be there to listen when she’d tell him about the horrible dream she had.

its not dread. its warm feelings and nostalgia lingering, but slowly becoming infected by her own bitterness. a gentle reminder of something she’ll never get back. a question wondering what she did to the universe for it to take away the one person that always corrected her, but never while also judging her or scolding her simultaneously.

and as she looks at the knick knacks on the shelves, she knows that lu ten wasn’t meant for a soldiers death. it’s not just because he was a prince. it wasn’t just because it was down in the trenches, among filthy barbarians in a far off city. it was because she just knew lu ten was meant for the long and simple life, and then a simple death. in his sleep. leaving happy memories like the ones azula has, with tons of kids and grand babies that he loved to pieces and helped raise. by the beach at sunset. leaving an imprint everyone forever, a fond memory brought up at every turn. he didn’t deserve to just be known by a family and a palace that liked to suffocate everything within it.

when she takes ba sing se in her fist, she still knows that. and knows this is probably not even what he wanted, because her cousin was gentle and fair. but he’s also dead forever. he’s her gentle and fair, dead forever cousin. she’ll never stop thinking about how happy he would’ve been to be surpassed by her with lightning, because winning never mattered to him. he’ll never be older than twenty three.

so she will do what she wants in his memory rather than doing what he would’ve wanted. she will do everything shes wanted to do since she knew he was crushed out of existence like a dying star. she will find her uncle and make a wound in the shape of her bitterness, right in his chest, and twist the dagger until he howls like a dog. she’ll rip his arm off for his disgrace, for coming home with only a limb of her cousin’s, and no rage to show for. no want for anything.

[bitterrobin]

IN FACT pushing past the incredibly boring idea that "Damian and Chris should be friends bc they both have evil parents" (which only exists bc I refuse to believe anyone's actually read Last Son and his Nightwing arc or anything w Talia pre-Morrison) - I instead believe Damian and Chris could have a much more interesting relationship if you build it around a couple things:

being a publicly known figurehead in situations that doesn't allow you privacy even within a closed community

becoming your own individual outside of your family and learning to explore the world/expand your horizons without any prior expectations

the contrast in childhoods/relationship w parents vs how similar their struggles are

To my knowledge, the idea of all the al Ghuls being worshipped within the League religiously hasn't been explored (if only to make Ras eviler bc scary cult things). In the Taxonomy-verse, a lot of Damian's au character is built upon him being regarded as a religious figure related to Ras (the League's god/Mother Earth's messiah). He's a piece of god, a piece of the Demon. He isn't his own individual to the worshippers and assassins. Everyone is a shared conglomerate, and Damian can't be any different. With Chris, he's publicly known in Metropolis as the alien boy who saved the city from Phantom Zone invaders and the god vessel of Night-wing to other Kryptonians (mostly Kandor). Damian is also known as the son of Batman and the son of Bruce Wayne/Talia al Ghul, and Chris is known as a Kryptonian under Superman's protection and Clark Kent/Lois Lane's son. Neither is allowed individual identities outside of their families. They are worshipped as something other, not human, not mortal. Their stories are fundamentally about striving for independence and identity when the world decides it for them. Damian fights bloody to define himself within the Bat-structure, while Chris always seems to give up his own happiness and individuality in service of other people. Somehow always ending up in the Phantom Zone no matter what. Damian will always keep fighting and Chris will always sacrifice himself - but they'll never be who they want to be. They can't endure being gods. They can't enjoy being children.

They can be very similar when explored this way, but where they differ is their childhoods. Chris was raised by textbook abusive parents. Zod and Ursa never cared for him beyond what use he had as a portal to Earth. He was kept imprisoned, experimented on, treated as a tool and soldier and not a child. The only person who showed him kindness was Non, but Non lacked the ability to help Chris is any way besides silent comfort after the abuse had already occurred. Damian was not abused physically, but psychologically. He was manipulated with expectations, religious zeal, cult tactics of bombardment and the constant shifting of training goals. His father cared little for him and only began to start parenting him after Bruce came back from the "dead." His mother cared almost too much, she wasn't able to do anything to help him other than just removing him from the life he used to know. Chris knows what it's like to live in fear of those who should protect you, and Damian knows what it's like to live believing you are the best and then having that image utterly shattered. Damian wouldn't know what its like for a father to be ready to kill you with his bare hands, super strengthened fingers around your skull and an iron fist around your arm. He doesn't know of a mother who drives blades of radioactive poison through flesh, a mother who calls you a pathetic whelp and beats you until you lie covered in your own blood. Chris wouldn't know a father who tries his best but doesn't see you a person until it's too late, a father who'll always choose something (justice, the city, his other sons) over you. He wouldn't know of a mother who had no choice but to abandon you, a mother whose life you know would be improved if you'd just never existed.

But maybe they find each other. Maybe even when Damian resents Chris's ability to be unconditionally loved and Chris balks at Damian's need to prove himself even through death. Maybe they'll talk about things they can't have (a home, a purpose), maybe they try to be kids for once, maybe they try to escape the shadows of their parents but go down different paths. Damian will not be Batman, Chris will not be Superman. But they hold heroes in their hearts. They look at each other and go "maybe this time, we can be ourselves. no judgement. no world ending."

[sokkastyles]

The comics are shit so don’t ever try to mention them to me again, also if there was somehow a “canon” story about about Aang murdering people with a Glock, you’d probably defend it with your life

I’m pretty sure Iroh just grabbed a doll from a store he burned down and then gave it to Azula because he wanted her to act like a “proper woman”, both of his gifts were wrong to give, thank god Zuko gave it back to a rightful owner, Azula was an 8 year old with fire in her blood, and it’s not like Zuko or Ursa or Iroh (who was busy trying to commit genocide) really cared all that much, people have been calling other people fat for ages, it’s only you woke snowflakes that are afraid of it, and Azula called him fat 6 years after the gift 

This is Iroh’s face when Azula shows up, before she even got to her point 

That is the face of utter contempt and hatred 

What would you do if you were surrounded by 6 dangerous people? You don’t understand what “war” and “battle” mean

The worst things that Iroh says about Ozai to Zuko is that he isn’t very understanding and that he doesn’t tend to regret his actions. He also encouraged Zuko to keep trying to capture the Avatar, so he can go home to his abusive father, while also am saying that getting captured by Azula is a fate worse than death, and that she’s mentally insane 

Iroh and The White Lotus conquering Ba Sing Se does not change anything in the finale, you can cut it out and nothing changes, Ba Sing Se could have been taken back on any other day before the comet, Iroh should have changed his plans to help with the defeating the airships which would kill everyone (or whatever Ozai’s stupid plan was) but instead he sends 3 children (only 1 of whom could bend) to do it and they almost fucking die, he wants to conquer Ba Sing Se because he it was his “Destiny since birth”, and also because he wants to relax in his tea shop instead of helping the world, and he wants to use the comet to cause more destruction, achieving his goal in a way before he “changed” and its not like the city’s suffering more than when Long Feng controlled it.

Leaving your traumatized 16 year old nephew to become the ruler of a county, while also going to another continent to rest in a tea shop in a city you tried to burn down, is the definition of abandonment, Iroh easily could have opened the tea shop in The Fire Nation

Azula is far from selfish, she cares deeply about Ozai, Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, and Ursa, and she is a dedicated patriot who does things all in name of The Fire Nation 

I think Ursa SHOULD help Azula, AFTER she rejects Fire imperialism and admits she wasn’t the best parent, I think Ursa had good intentions, but was too harsh on Azula. 

That's all this is, just the completely ridiculous ramblings of someone who overidentifies with a violent bully because it feeds your own white woman Karen victim complex.

Again, this is why the Zuko fandom can't have nice things, and that I can’t ignore your incorrect opinions. 

Or you could just get out of my inbox, you troglodyte. I didn't read past the first sentence, but it's funny how the comics don't exist unless you want to (badly) try to use them to make a (nonexistent) point.

Iroh's face in that screenshot is my face right now. Because bullies who show up to harass others deserve contempt. Keep proving that this is what you and your ilk deserve, because I don't have as much patience as Iroh does.

[waterfire1848]

Pokemon AU that I've been working on for a while now. Most of the plot is lined out (I included a basic summary), but why not ask for some ideas?

Pokemon have replaced hybrid animals and bending does exists albeit weaker. Spirits remain hidden away, quietly observing from afar.

Aang, Sokka, and Katara set off to conquer every gym. Upon entering the Water Gym in Wolf Cove, they meet Zuko and Crown Prince Lu Ten. Aang and Zuko become rivals.

It should be noted that Ozai has been imprisoned for murdering his father and wife. Ursa's body was never found, however.

Weeks pass as the two groups travel and grow stronger together. Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai find them eventually. Azula complains about being left out of the fun. After watching Sokka win a battle, she gains interest in him. They shall become great rivals, and perhaps more, as the groups travel together.

They meet new friends, forge new bonds, collect gym badges, and maybe find a legendary or two. (Legendaries are treated as rarer, more powerful pokemon, not demigods)

Then they get a letter from Fire Lord Iroh: Zhao helped Ozai escape prison.

Hello, @blueleopard555 !!! (So I know literally nothing about Pokémon but I’ll try🫣)

1. With some Pokémon having powers, of course the Fire Nation wants as many as possible. Meaning that, along with capturing benders, they also captured different Pokémon in an effort to create weapons or just kill them so they can’t then be used against them. There used to be hundreds of thousands all over the world and now it’s rare to see one. Despite bending being weaker, it is still a possible danger so Katara was still targeted by the Fire Nation and her mother was still killed. Katara and Sokka notice a few Pokémon around but none that are overly powerful or useful so they pretty much leave them alone.

2. Aang, Sokka and Katara still travel around, similar to canon, to gather as many Pokémon as they can. In this world, rather than Lu Ten being killed, Iroh is. When Iroh dies, Lu Ten goes straight back to the palace where he finds his grandfather and aunt dead with Ozai being their killers. He throws Ozai in prison and takes control of the Fire Nation in his place. Zuko and Azula take some time to get used to this switch but they eventually do and Zuko becomes the crown prince as he is the oldest heir. When the Avatar is revealed to be alive, Zuko and Lu Ten decide to head down to Wolf’s Cove to get him which is where they encounter the Gaang.

3. Zuko and Aang’s fights are odd because Zuko does have access to more resources (you can’t convince me that the Royal Family wouldn’t at least try to get an army of Pokémon for their own use) but Aang has far more natural talent so their fights are pretty evenly split for the most part. Katara and Sokka don’t know what they’re doing at all but they are fast learners, especially since Aang is more than willing to help them learn about Pokemon. Exactly like you said, time passes with the groups continuing to fight and, eventually, Azula catches word about what’s been going on and she was already pissed about being left at the palace alone so now she’s really mad that she was left out of all the fighting. She gets Mai and Ty Lee and they head off to find her brother and the runaway Fire Lord. Meanwhile, the Gaang also comes across Toph who (very similar to canon) fights with bending and Pokémon in illegal underground fights then pretends to be someone else entirely for her parents. She gladly joins their group as well.

4. When Azula, Mai and Ty Lee find the Gaang, they’re quick to join in on the battle. Azula and Zuko, even though it’s been some time since Ozai was around them, still have that competitive side which causes them to try and one up the other constantly. Sokka would be lying if he said he didn’t find Azula’s pure talent and skill kind of amazing (yes, she’s the bad guy but you can find the bad guy cool.) The more fights they’re in, the more Sokka tries to predict what she’ll do and vice versa with Azula but, no matter what, the two can’t predict one another about any kind of battle move. It makes Sokka more and more intriguing to Azula and Azula more intriguing to Sokka.

5. Then, some time later, Ozai is revealed to have escaped with Zhao. Now, for as much as the Gaang doesn’t like Lu Ten, Zuko, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee, they know Ozai is worse. Thus, a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” bond is formed between the two groups. As a marker of good faith, the group decides to mix up so that they can trust one another better. Lu Ten, Azula, Sokka and Toph return to the Fire Nation to gather resources there while Zuko, Katara, Aang, Mai and Ty Lee go to the Earth Kingdom for help there. To make a long story short, in BSS, they run into trouble with Long Feng, who works with Ozai. From there, Lu Ten, Azula, Sokka and Toph gather some help in the Fire Nation (which really isn’t that hard when you have the Fire Lord with you) and head off to BSS to stop Ozai. The group in BSS breaks free in time to fight Long Feng and bring down the wall with Toph, Aang and (earth Pokemon, again I know nothing about this. Sorry🫣). Once the wall is down, the Fire Nation forces are able to get inside and take down Ozai and Long Feng.

[lowenzahhn]

“  you don’t have to hide your tears.  let it out.  then we’ll move on,  together.  ” //idolatri - dvalin

"You were suffering this entire time... and I didn't even know."

Even when she'd been very young, Vennessa had never been one who showed vulnerability so openly. She still vividly remembered when Ursa the Drake had savagely attacked her tribe and had caused unimaginable terror over those four days; they couldn't eat, they couldn't sleep, they couldn't stop. Just run in sheer terror while that monster had picked them off, only able to pray they wouldn't be destroyed. She and her little sister, Linda, had lost their parents over that period of strife and horror. And now, with how she'd been hibernating while Dvalin had sustained immense injury over the period after his battle with Durin, guilt had eaten at her like scavengers on a sun-dried corpse.

The winds at Windrise, at least, seemed to do something right. The cleansing atmosphere that existed in it and in her alleviated Dvalin of the lingering maleficence the Abyss had held over him, and being near him... was reassuring. As much as knowing the Windwheel Asters would always grow and oscillate at the places they called home.

Without thinking did the younger throw her arms around the elder Wind's neck, that release of emotion far more stabilizing than tears ever could be. Like a zephyr, wind could travel in the same direction... together.

"I'm just glad you're alright, 'lin."

@idolatri

[kataraslove]

you made the post about shipping by bringing up kataang, and then bringing up aang and ozai comparisons as a father. at least have the decency to not pretend like you chose those two topics at random. of course both of those topics are connected by you being a zutara shipper. of course this entire post is influenced by your shipping perceptions. the whole post can be summarized to “someone made an anti zutara post as a response to all the anti kataang posts and that’s why i’m going to rant about how everyone else who has a canon ship needs to suck it up and deal with shipping posts that are not necessarily bashing, but ‘critique’ (which nowadays often has become synonymous with bashing, providing an excuse to say whatever you want under the sun, regardless if there’s any logic behind that argument or not).

So why is it that my calling Ozai a bad father is not Ozai bashing, but me calling Aang a bad father is Aang bashing?? Why the double standards?? Sure, the hero will likely be more sympathetic because we are meant to root for them. But at the end of the day, just like Ozai, Aang played favourites and this left scars on his kids even in their fifties. If you are an Aang fan you can try to justify it, but his actions still hurt his kids no matter how you spin it.

it’s not aang bashing to state that the writing portrays him as a bad father. it’s aang bashing to state that just like ozai, aang played favouritism and that’s why he’s a bad parent. it’s aang bashing to compare his parenting to that of a genocidal dictator’s, who had favourited his children out of sheer malicious intent, as a means to genuinely divide and pit them against one another. aang favourited tenzin out of sheer necessity (a writing choice that i do not agree with, but it’s canon). unlike ozai, his favouritism and emotional neglect was not deliberate nor strategic, with the intent to maliciously hurt his children. does that make the favouritism choice, right? absolutely not. at the end of the day, however, his kids still felt safe and loved around him. despite the favouritism, they’re still able to reflect back on happy moments in their childhood. most importantly, they’ve worked out the issues and the scars that they’ve had in their childhood with each other. post-canon, kya and bumi have mostly positive things to say about their father. that’s the difference between aang’s relationship with his children vs ozai’s non-existent relationship with his own children.

parents and surrogate parents in general tend to have a favourite. is it correct? no. are some forms of favouritism more extreme than others? absolutely. in the examples of the avatarverse, ursa had a favourite. hakoda had a favourite. hell, even iroh had a favourite that resulted in him not even wanting to be bothered with azula. are you comparing any of these parents to that of a genocidal dictator’s whose sole purpose of favouritism was to produce the perfect heir, who physically and emotionally abused and neglected his children their entire lives?

toph’s issues as a parent were several multitude layers of complexity. however, one way i can decipher that your argument isn’t originated out of objectivity (good hero who is a bad parent vs bad villain who is a bad parent) but rather shipping-based opinions with the need to compare aang to a heavy extreme, is because you fail to acknowledge that toph did also subject her children to favouritism and neglect.

lin quite deliberately says: “one again, su gets to do whatever she wants and there’s no consequences.” lin spent her entire life in toph’s shadow, aspired and did her best to be the ideal child, took over the same career occupation as toph, looked up at toph to be her role model - and at the end still felt second to su in toph’s heart. where are the comparisons between toph’s parenting and that of ozai’s? lin felt genuine anger, rage, and resentment towards toph ever since she got her scar (maybe years before that). kya and bumi felt frustration (not resentment and hatred) about aang’s circumstances and his favouritism, but ultimately worked through those issues.

tenzin’s - and to an extent kya and bumi’s - particular issues do not just stem from aang, but from the extreme pressures felt by the world, especially after aang’s death. tenzin inherits the title of the last airbender and feels immense weight and pressure to not only train the next avatar in airbending, but to carry on aang’s legacy of rebuilding his nation. no matter how good a parent aang could have been, no matter how many times he could have reassured tenzin that he needs to do what is enough for tenzin, tenzin will always feel that pressure of legacy on his shoulders, this genuine fear that if he fails, the whole world is plunged into darkness and disarray. those are terrible circumstances to be in, irregardless of the person’s upbringing.

to address your point on whether it was the first time tenzin had received advise from his father to not live in aang’s shadow - no, it wasn’t. it is indicated in supplementary material canon to avatar studios (also, i don’t know if the spirit of aang was actually aang or if it was an extension of tenzin’s mind. but this, however, is a confirmed real event that occurs in tenzin’s childhood):

if the intent of your post was not about shipping, you’ve done a poor job of conveying it as such and keeping it objective. how can i twist words when they were hastily and poorly written in the first place? I don’t think me stating that your intent to draw a parallel between aang and ozai, thus making it aang bashing, is twisting any of your words. because that’s what you’ve quite literally said: aang is a bad father who played favouritism, just like ozai.

additionally, you stated that if you wanted to bash ozai, you didn’t need to tag it as anti. then you bring up ozai being a bad father as an objective truth (the objective truth is that he’s a monster. saying he’s a bad father doesn’t do it justice). then you bring up the fact that calling aang a bad father is now deemed character bashing. is it not clear to you how awfully written and misleading your post was? how do you expect people to not arrive at the conclusion that you were saying that aang was as bad of a father as ozai?

kataang vs zutara is fictional. it’s not real. it holds no significance outside of pop culture. christianity has impacted almost every single person on this earth, whether that’s in a good way, bad way, or somewhere in the middle (and that’s really, REALLY simplifying things). you’re going to see anti christianity posts especially on a site like tumblr. your argument about tagging weakens the minute you bring up examples past fictional spaces, so i’m glad you’ve realized the empty weight of it. the hermione argument makes more sense.

with that being said, there is no neutral ideal place on tumblr within fandom spaces. that’s like the equivalent of going to a meat lover pizza’s convention and being like, “i don’t really like meat pizza when it just has meat. i mostly like it when it has veggies and barely any meat.” then what’s the point of attending the convention in the first place? especially if the convention is unpopular?

shippers do not want to see anti or critical posts in their main tags. if the ship is popular enough that fanon content outweighs critical or anti posts, then they can ignore it. if the ship isn’t as popular, then they will not tolerate it (and regardless of the popularity of the ship, no one has to). again, if you do not want to see posts such as “zutara would never work out unless if zuko abolished the fire nation monarchy and spent the rest of his life in the swt helping katara rebuild it. this is the only way i can enjoy zutara and it makes sense to me, and you have to abide by my preferences,” why would you expect kataang shippers to want to see your kataang critical and kataang improvement posts? you’re free to make these posts about your idealized versions of kataang, hell i do it too, but i do not see any point in sticking it in the main tag.

Anti Tagging is a Broken System

So there was this anti Zutara post that I saw a while ago that was tagged as both 'anti zutara' and 'zutara'. As you can imagine, zutara bloggers were mad and the OP claimed they tagged the post as 'zutara' as payback for zutara fans bashing kataang in the 'kataang' tag.

There was also a jedi critical post that was considered to be insulting to someone's religion or culture or some other nonsense. The person asked (**demanded**), the post be tagged as 'anti jedi' because seeing it in the 'jedi order' tag was causing real-world harm.

It confirmed my belief that the tagging system is severely broken and lacking.

These are two issues at play that I notice:

Villain vs Hero Double Standard

What's interesting is that this issue is mainly relevant for protagonists. If I want to bash Ozai, Palpatine or Joker on Tumblr, I don't have to tag my posts as anti. Maybe their fans would prefer it but we all know that these men are villains and the lowest scum in media. It's not bashing - it's the cold hard truth.

So why is it that my calling Ozai a bad father is not Ozai bashing, but me calling Aang a bad father is Aang bashing?? Why the double standards?? Sure, the hero will likely be more sympathetic because we are meant to root for them. But at the end of the day, just like Ozai, Aang played favourites and this left scars on his kids even in their fifties. If you are an Aang fan you can try to justify it, but his actions still hurt his kids no matter how you spin it.

What Does 'Anti' Even Mean??

There are too many ways to be anti character, anti ship etc which makes things murky.

Let's use Kataang as an example. Are you anti Kataang because you objectively looked at the ATLA show and you think how it is presented makes it a bad ship? Are you anti KA because you genuinely like the ship but you think it was not developed properly or did not go the way you thought best? Are you anti KA because you are just emotionally repulsed for whatever reason even though canon may give you reasons to support it? Are you anti KA just because it may be popular to be so in your circle?

That's the problem. Theoretically, the first two scenarios could be classified under the general 'kataang' tag. Because people who hold those opinions are not just bashing it for no reason but have objective truths that they have observed about the ship. Saying that Aang kissed Katara without her consent is an objective truth. Why should that be labelled as 'anti kataang'? It's the truth about the ship.

How would I address this?

The general tag should not be treated as a safe space. If you want a safe space, stick to a 'pro' or 'anti' tag. The general tag should be treated like a neutral zone where everything is laid on the table for debate and discourse. So if I browse the Jedi Order tag, I should see metas about cool Jedi powers and master-padawan relationships but also metas about the separation of families and the social harm it causes kids.

People need to stop being babies and grow up. If someone posts a critical meta about the Jedi order, it does not mean they are attacking whatever religion you have or calling for genocide in real life. Do you know how much witchcraft, paganism, atheism and other kinds of Christian bashing posts I see in the Christianity tag?? If you don't like something, just scroll past it like a big kid. Don't send death or rape threats to someone if you disagree with them.

I think if someone does not have substantial or accurate reasons for hating something, they should stick to the anti tag and avoid the general tag.

What do others think?? Tagging is hard because it's up to the discretion of the poster but I hope my arguments here made sense.

@caripr94

@tragicfantasy-girl

@sokkastyles

@the-badger-mole

[lightdancer1]

One part of giving Ursa a role as a character beyond 'Ozai's wife' and 'mom to the Fire Hazards'

Is giving her a very specific role in Fire Lord Azulon's court, in particular after her arrival there. Canonically Ursa had the ability overnight to murder Azulon and conveniently create a passable forgery of a will deeding the throne to Ozai. This is the admittedly thin canonical basis on which I have Ursa in her time in the Palace becoming Azulon's *spymaster* and the equivalent of the head of the Eyes and Ears.

At the one remove she's 'merely' an actress, even of a Royal and a descendant of Roku and without formal connections (at first). This is one thing that in Azulon's eyes makes her a perfect choice because in theory she could never turn (irony of ironies given how it eventually turns out).

From her POV this is the compensation for the emotional and physical abuse Ozai puts her through, as she ends up with more power in the Fire Nation than he does (which as well as her raw power being infinitely superior to his is another of the reasons why Ozai deliberately begins to do this to keep Ursa cowed and 'loyal' to him). She can propose and a sparrow fall from a tree five islands over.

Even at her least morally ambiguous (and of course the Azula Heresy AU is the exception in this rule as in others) Ursa is still the Long Feng/Dai Li/Lavrenti Beria/Henrich Himmler/J. Edgar Hoover of the Fire Nation. She has depths and an iron ruthlessness and a willingness to resort to murder to match any Fire Nation ruler and noble.

And in the Continuation-verse rather than sparring with Mai about this openly the two use Azula's 'memory' at the time they think she's dead as a smokescreen for Mai to refuse to allow her mother-in-law to retake a position like the one she held (only to end up regretting it after the vacuum at the center leads to the very results Ursa warns it could) and is the biggest single reason why the two have a semi-stereotypical mother-in-law doesn't think her daughter is good enough for her son relationship, at least on the surface.

[captain-azoren]

The idea that Azula might have legitimate reasons for disliking Zuko (he was whiny and entitled, reckless, impatient, a poor student, rude, has a bad tempter, chickened out when he finally had to defend his honor, lies about how she feeds turtle ducks (probably), yet still got Ursa’s love and attention) is still a really hard pill for some people to swallow.

This ties into the “awkward turtleduck” perception of Zuko, the idea that Azula tormented and bullied him as kids, as opposed to being rivals for Ozai’s approval. They both resent each other for having the other parent’s affection or approval, and Zuko resents Azula for being more successful at having Ozai’s favor, not because she’s mean to him about it.

She’s rather patient with Zuko all things considered. I think Azula finally gained some real respect for him after his betrayal, but he also betrayed her so she liked him even least. I know the “celebrate becoming an only child” line is meant to demonstrate her downward spiral, but after bringing him back home a hero and then having him throw it away AND having her friends turn on her for him, I can understand her wanting to kill him out of anger.

I really wish the show had devoted even a little time to showing Azula’s perspective more often so we could see how she felt after each betrayal. As it is, I think the depiction makes it seem like Azula doesn’t care that Zuko turned traitor. Azula feels the same way as Ozai; apathetic,a tad frustrated if not unsurprised, and now at least she has an excuse to get rid of him. And that’s such an uninteresting way to go about it.

Even still, if Zuko always resented Azula’s success and played into Ozai’s game as much as she did, Azula doesn’t have much reason to be nice to him. He’s not a Cinderella, or much of the series, Zuko is trying to be as successful and powerful as his sister to impress Ozai. He does not believe that his sister is wrong for doing what she does, he’s envious of her being better than him and angry that she rubs that in his face. Zuko doesn’t truly object to what Azula is doing, which is really what the Fire Nation as a whole is doing, until the war meeting when Ozai says he’ll burn everything down. If Zuko really believed that Azula was evil, he would have joined the Gaang a LOT sooner.

Zuko’s life would not have been any better if Azula didn’t exist, he just wouldn’t have had someone to target his blame and anger at for his failure to gain Ozai’s approval, which by the way, he spent 2.5 seasons figuring out was worthless anyway. He just never bothered to tell Azula that. Not even someting like this for the finale;

“Azula, our father is a monster, he isn’t worth it. You don’t have to listen to him anymore.”

“No.. you’re just a quitter Zuzu, just like Uncle. Now run, like he did.”

“I’m not running, and I’m not quitting until you’re free too. I’m putting an end to this. Enough is enough.”

“... you’re a liar, brother, AND a fool...”

Instead we get “put her in her place” and “No lightning today?” In all fairness, I can understand it being too soon to get over his resentment, but still, a little acknowledgement please.

[yjwhatif]

okay but can we talk about how saturn girl, chameleon boy and phantom girl (+ lor-zod, technically) are the only people who experienced and remember their timeline and presumably the only people who ever will (we'll see what happens in the remaining eps), and how awful that must be for them, but like. at least they have each other. meanwhile bart is completely alone in the experiences and memories of his timeline and always will be, has no one he can talk to who's also been through what he has

Not only is Bart alone in remembering his timeline experience, but he’s still surrounded by people that possibly still existed in his timeline. Obviously we only have confirmation on Neut and Jaime - but it must be a strange experience living amongst people who he potential has up to 40 years of history on - all of which he either can’t or chooses not to discuss. Managing perceptions is hard enough without an alternate timelines worth of information still in your head. Also I was doing a run through of Bart’s moments from S2 and what struck me this time was how nervous he seemed around having to talk to Black Canary in Cornered - and it just makes me more intrigued to know what Bart’s relationship is with the mandatory check in sessions - does he avoid them or just lie through them? I’m pretty sure he’s still not reached a point where he’s comfortable fully opening up yet to anyone - for the safety of the timeline and all. There may be small moments where he’ll say something and someone will pick up on it, but he will ultimately deflect from delving deeper. Or maybe he’ll go against all that and actually talk with Dinah - she would definitely keep his secrets… though I am personally of the mind that Bart’s even harder to get a hold of than Gar when it comes to the mental health check ins.

I remember Greg saying something like the future Neut would have to re-educate himself on his new timeline memories as the Chronotron radiation would cause him to remember either only the original or both timelines - which really does sound horrible. I suppose, unlike Bart, the legion intend to go back to their time zone and will have to deal with a similar aspect - they’ll be the ones who remember while all around them will not. No matter how much others might try to understand what the time travellers went through - they cannot truly know because to them they’ve never known any different. I guess Bart’s staying in the past allows the comfort of experiencing a different side of life with different people, rather that living amongst ghosts of a time only he can ever know. He can be whoever he wants where/when he is now - and doesn’t have the burden of trying to be the person he never was for people he no longer truly knows. Similarly, it will be interesting to see how the Zod family reunion goes down - as I don’t think it’s gonna be quite like Lor has maybe imagined. Dru and Ursa may be his parents, but Lor is not their son - they don’t come across as the type of parents who possess an unconditional love for their child - no matter when he comes to them. To them I suspect he was only ever an heir to the name of Zod, with a role to fulfill instead of just simply being their loving son. 

It’s nice to finally start seeing the different perspectives of the time travel element of the show - for a while it was starting to feel forgotten about. I’m of course looking forward to seeing what’s to come. Bring on the time shenanigans!

Thanks for the message Anon!

LB

EDIT: There’s a mistake in this… it’s corrected here.

[fire-lady-ilah]

I would be fascinated in any ideas you had about how the hunt for Aang would go with 'good parent Ozai' AU!

Ask and ye shall receive! (@tiktokonaclock, here’s that part two you asked about). This continues from where I left off in part 1.

At first, Ozai says no. He has good reason to do so, Zuko is the Crown Prince, should he and Azula die then he will be heirless— he doesn’t know if Ursa would be able to bear another child, nor does he wish for another. In a less logical way, his mind protests because that is his son. Sixteen, yes, but still very much a child. That isn’t even the age of conscription.

He knows that the Avatar is a child, Commander Zhao’s report said that he appeared to be twelve, travelling with two other children that were closer to Azula’s age. He knows that his children make a formidable pair, he has no doubt that, together, they could be able to take on entire battalions of soldiers.

They are his children and they are Ursa’s children. How could he just let them go out to face an enemy such as the Avatar?

Zuko has Ozai’s charisma and awkwardness (as they come together, though few remember the way the Fire Lord used to stumble over his words as a teenager). Zuko looks so much like his father that sometimes older servants even refer to him by his name. But Zuko is equal parts his mother. He has his mother’s kinder nature, and he has her drive. Ursa’s persistence is one of the only reasons the Fire Nation is flourishing as it is now. Ozai knows that it had been suffering near the end of his father’s rule, he knows that he is an amazing military leader, just as he knows that it is better to leave his wife in charge of the majority of domestic policies.

It is that persistence combined with Azula’s carefully crafted wording that she also got from her mother that makes both Ozai and Ursa cave and give permission for their children to hunt the Avatar. Sometimes, Ozai wonders if his life would be easier if he didn’t love his family so much.

Zuko and Azula leave the Fire Nation together. Zuko is sixteen and looks the very image of a Crown Prince, even if a few hairs escape his top knot and fall across his face. Azula is fourteen and looks every bit the Princess she is. A single hair escapes it’s place and she leaves it be. She would not dare call attention to imperfections, just as Ozai himself wouldn’t. He is full of pride as he watches his children board the ship (the second newest design, as advanced as possible while having already been tested. He would not let untested technology take his children from him permanently). Captain Jee stands on the deck, greeting them. Apparently he had been demoted from his position at some point for assaulting an Admiral.

(He remembers the day he discovered the Captain’s existence well. Zuko had been eleven and helping him look over military documentation that had been sent to him to approve. One of such documents had been Jee’s demotion to lieutenant.

“I remember him. He was Lu Ten’s friend.” He heard his son mumble as he touched the included portrait of Jee. Closer examination showed that it had been drawn by his nephew himself. His son had loved his cousin, and he was not against doing things to make him happy. If Jee was loyal to Lu Ten, it only meant he would be more likely to be loyal to Zuko.

“I will have him transferred to the palace guard.”)

He proved to be honourable in the guard and had quickly been promoted back to captain after Ozai heard the true reasoning of the assault through Zuko’s horrified voice. He himself cared little for the affairs of military officers, but if it made his son happy to sign the papers for the Admiral’s dishonourable discharge and imprisonment, so be it.

That action had only solidified Jee’s loyalty to his son (and by extension, his daughter).

Now, I’m conflicted on whether or not Iroh would go with them. I’m leaning toward yes. Neither of them have been hurt by their father, but Zuko is still the most naturally kindhearted person in the royal family and he is destined to be Fire Lord. Azula has more empathy than she does in canon (although that’s not saying much), I doubt Iroh would comment that she’s “crazy and needs to go down”. After all, Ozai loves both his children here. That means that he doesn’t intentionally harm their mental health, nor does he encourage competition between them. They both want to make both their parents proud. If nothing else, Iroh would go with them so that he could stop them.

Thus, shortly after the Crown Prince and Princess of the Fire Nation step onto the ship, the Dragon of the West follows. It is filled with the best of the Fire Nation to seek the only bender of all four elements.

A stark contrast to canon, no?

The hunt progresses somewhat like in canon, though not. Lo and Li instruct further Zuko and Azula in lightning bending.

(“Only a hair out of place, Princess Azula.”

“That means I shall achieve perfection soon.”)

Iroh takes over his nephew and niece’s firebending training, though Azula is a master in her own right and Zuko is nearly a master as well. He forces them back to their basics.

Zuko yells and stomps and Iroh is reminded of his brother at the same age, back before his brother became the monster he is now. The same brother he sees glimpses of when Ozai is alone with his wife and children, the same brother that he sees none of in the Fire Lord. Azula is silent and moves to do her basics without complaint. She unnerves him, but he still loves her.

He loves them both. And he loves what remains of his brother in Ozai, even if he would choose the balance of the world over the Fire Lord in an instant.

They visit Admiral Zhao first. He declares that he has already captured the Avatar and that he would be more than willing to transfer his prisoner onto the royal family’s better equipped ship.

The siblings visit the chained Avatar. Zhao speaks of what he plans to do.

That is the thing about Ozai loving his children. Loving them means protecting them from certain cruelties, at least more than he did in canon. Zuko and Azula both see the Avatar, only twelve, and Zhao’s words overlap with Azulon’s orders to their father when Lu Ten dies. After all, Zuko had been only a year younger then.

That night, the Blue Spirit and the Dragon Emperor break the Avatar out of the stronghold with dual dao and twin daggers as the Prince and Princess sleep in their luxurious cabins. If that isn’t completely the truth, no one says anything to suggest as such. The Blue Spirit is knocked out by an arrow to the forehead. The Dragon Emperor does not allow the Avatar to remove the mask.

(“How did you not see that coming, Zuzu?”

“In my defence, you were supposed to be watching my back while I pulled the Avatar away.”)

They meet the Avatar’s companions briefly before the Emperor gestures to the rising sun and they disappear.

It is only after the escape of the Avatar that Iroh begins to consider the siblings further.

They pen a letter to their father.

Ozai reads between the lines and wonders, just once, if perhaps he had sheltered his children from the reality of war too much. He does not wonder again because he knows the alternative would have been far worse.

Instead, Ozai speaks with his wife. Ursa is a complex woman, but the Avatar is the reincarnation of her grandfather and she has an actress’s mind (and thus she has a politician’s mind).

As their children chase the Avatar, the Fire Lord and Lady put their own plan into motion. Canon Ozai may be content to lay all responsibility on his children, but this Ozai is actually a decent dad.

The siblings are free to enter Fire Nation territory as they wish and have no reason to sneak into the temple, even still they do. They watch as a Fire Sage, one of the highest religious authorities in the Fire Nation, disobeys the Fire Lord to help the Avatar.

Zuko’s quick fingers undo the water tribe boy’s restraints as Azula’s undo the girl’s. They share playful smirks, after all, neither of them are in any danger. They are a powerful team and they have their father’s unwavering support.

(“Why did you just untie us?”

“Zhao’s a dick.”)

Avatar Roku emerges in place of Avatar Aang. He pauses in front of the children, the girl that has Rina’s smile, the boy that has her hair (his own hair), always trying to escape from its confines.

They do not waver. They do, however, run when the Avatar begins to destroy the temple.

The siblings believe the Fire Nation is the greatest in the world. They believe that it is their duty to spread their glory to the other nations. But, late at night, taking tea together, they consider that perhaps Fire Lord Sozin went about it in the wrong way.

(Great-grandfather says hi, Ursa reads aloud from their children’s letter. Not for the first time, Ozai regrets sending his children on such a dangerous mission. He knew that Avatar Roku had been spotted on Crescent Island, he knew that he had blown up the temple. How close had his children come to being blown up?)

The Avatar sets course for Omashu. The siblings make a stop in the Fire Nation while they’re nearby. They have a friend to pick up.

Parts: [1] [3] [4]

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

I request a fluffy F!MC x Lavinia fic, where Lavinia visits F!MC at night for some reason. F!MC was unable to fall asleep and Lavinia ends up helping her fall asleep and they cuddle. Thank you in advance

Written by: @blue-is-the-coolest-color

Did midnight snacks help her sleep when she was having one of those nights where sleep feels impossible? No. Did Annisa find herself in the kitchen at one in the morning anyway due to lack of sleep? Yes.

Thankfully the rest of the house was asleep, or at least they were quiet enough to hopefully be asleep. She didn’t need a lecture from her brother about how bad late night snacking was. Besides, she grabbed a fruit so that makes up for snagging her secret stash of cookies that Lucas can’t know about.

Annisa grabbed her snacks and stealthily made her way back to her room, making as little noise as possible to not disturb the rest of the house. For a moment, she thought she had succeeded in being noticeable, until she went into her room to see a very familiar devious silver haired witch lounging on her chair, flipping through a book and looking rather at home.

Annisa sighed, closed her door and waited a few moments until Lavinia noticed her presence, looking up and flashing her signature cheshire cat grin.

“You’re up late.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Annisa dropped her snacks onto her side table, opening a box of cookies and walking one over to where Lavinia sat. The Ice Queen accepted the offering and put the book she had been flipping through down. Annisa noticed it was one of her many copies of Rapunzel. A leather bound special edition book her mother had gotten her the birthday before her parents left for California.

“What are you doing here?” Annisa decided to ask first, biting into her own cookie as she waited for Lavinia to answer.

“I saw your light on,” Lavinia explained, “so I thought I’d pay you a visit.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate the visit,” Annisa grinned, “but what were you doing out this late?”

“Taking Ezra for a walk,” Lavinia replied smoothly, her signature grin in place, “He doesn’t like being indoors for long.”

Annisa shook her head, resigning to the fact that she wasn’t getting a straight answer from Lavinia, yet for some reason, she was okay with it. Lavinia’s late night visits were starting to get more frequent, and Annisa couldn’t say she minded. She even started to look forward to them, staying up a little later every night to see if the queen of snow would grace her with a surprise visit, just for her.

“Are you having trouble sleeping?”

Lavinia’s voice is more concerned, her grin faded into a more serious expression as soft blue eyes took in Annisa’s appearance. Annisa smiled at the change in tone from Lavinia.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot on my mind, with the curse and school and all kinds of boring things.”

“Tell me about all the boring things.”

Annisa couldn’t help but giggle at the dorky tone. Lavinia flashed her a fond smile at the sound before getting up and moving to sit at the foot of Annisa’s bed, patting the space next to her. Annisa rolled her eyes a bit before clicking off the light and moving to sit beside her.

“Something Lucas patrols, if he sees the light on he might come in,” Annisa explained as she sat beside Lavinia, “then we’ll both be in a lot of trouble.”

“I’m always in trouble.”

“More trouble than usual,” Annisa clarified as she nudged Lavinia with her shoulder, “now I thought you wanted to hear about all my boring thoughts.”

“Think away,” Lavinia offered as she turned a bit to face her, “what’s on your mind?”

Annisa hesitated, suddenly a bit shy under Lavinia’s steady gentle gaze. She wanted to avoid talking about the curse, or about fairies, or about any other serious topic that stunned her sleep. She had the opportunity to just talk to Lavinia without some threat hanging over them, for now. Lavinia patiently waited for her, soft against the moonlight that now filled the room.

“Do you ever think about what would happen if your world didn’t exist?” Annisa blurted out without thinking, quickly going into a rant at Lavinia’s confused face, “like if you and everyone else had been born here instead and lived normal lives here instead of in a world of magic?”

“I’m… not sure what you mean.”

“Yeah, sorry, it was a weird question,” Annisa looked away, face growing a little warm in embarrassment. She felt Lavinia shift a little next to her.

“I’m not sure that would work. We may not have been born at the same time, since…”

“Since you’re kinda old.”

It was meant to be more of a joke, but the flash of hurt and shame that passed through Lavinia’s eyes made Annisa feel worse about saying it.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, that was uncalled for,” Annisa sighed and covered her face with her hands, “I’m being dumb, you talk for a while. What’s your favorite thing about this world?”

“You.”

Annisa’s face burned at the quickness of Lavinia’s answer. Her hands pulled away from her face so she could look at Lavinia, seeing the witch had opted not to look directly at her, but more towards the opposite wall of the room.

“I’m really glad I got to meet you.”

There felt like a million other things she wanted to say, held captive by dark lips and icy tongue. The comfortable silence that followed blanketed over them like freshly fallen snow. The newfound calm held a unique warmth that only Lavinia seemed to carry. Annisa let herself soak in the moment, to just be and enjoy the presence of the usually icy woman next to her.

The newfound peace pulled a small yawn from Annisa, she leaned a bit more toward Lavinia, resting her head on the girl’s shoulder. She felt the other woman chuckle, arm brushing against Annisa’s back as her hand traveled upward, playing with the ends of Annisa’s curly hair.

“Have I bored you already?”

“Shut up, my head’s just heavy.”

“I’ll try to compliment you less then.”

Annisa pulled away for a moment, swatting Lavinia in the arm before leaning back up against her. She could feel the lingering laughter as Lavinia’s body shook a bit with the suppressed giggles leaving her lips. Annisa smiled at the sound. Her eyes closed as she felt Lavinia’s fingers play with the ends of her hair.

“What’s that?”

Annisa looked over at Lavinia, noticing her head tilted upward before following her line of sight to the ceiling.

“Oh, that was one of my lonely projects. I recreated the night sky on the ceiling with glow in the dark star stickers,” Annisa explained as she caught the dull glow of the faded stickers. “I tried to recreate all the constellations, starting with the bears above the bead and circling around them. It kept me busy when it was just me here.”

“Bears?”

“Yeah, right there. That’s ursa major and minor.”

Annisa started explaining the various constellations and lore of the skies. Somehow the two ended up on their backs next to each other, Lavinia’s arm trapped under Annisa’s head. After a few seconds, Lavinia raised her free hand, creating a little bear out of light to float about the room. Annisa chuckled as she watched the little ball of light for a moment before it faded.

Annisa couldn’t figure out when, but her eyelids had gotten heavier between her vast tales of the sky and Lavinia’s light shows of creatures running through the air. She felt Lavinia shift next to her and next thing she knew, she was being lifted into the Ice Queen’s arms. She wavered in that space of half sleep as she felt Lavinia place her in bed and drag the blankets up to her shoulders. In her half-dazed state she willed herself to move, catching Lavinia’s sleeve before she could pull away.

“Stay, please?”

“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Lavinia’s voice is soft, but her eyes seem to completely give in when Annisa tugged her sleeve, flashing her sad puppy dog eyes until Lavinia sighed dramatically. She stood up straighter to shrug off her black cardigan before laying on the bed next to Annisa, over the covers rather than under them.

“Fine, but only because I hate when you give me that look.”

Annisa curled herself as close to Lavinia as she could, arms wrapping around her torso and head resting against her shoulder, breathing in her peppermint scent. She felt Lavinia’s arms wrap around her in kind, one resting across her waist while the other wrapped around Annisa’s shoulders, fingers resuming their dance through her hair. Annisa let out a low hum, smiling at the feeling as it pulled her closer to sleep. She listened as Lavinia’s breathing slowed, the hand in her hair slowing as sleep seemed to be close to claiming her as well. She let herself enjoy the steady feeling of Lavinia’s breathing, pretending for a moment that she’ll be able to wake up with the girl still there.

She imagined a morning where she could wake up next to her. Have breakfast together. Without the illusive woman having to slip away in the dead of night or early in the morning just to avoid her friends' backlash at finding her there.

Annisa pushed the thoughts aside, settling against the body next to her willing sleep to swallow her whole.

But only after she’s memorized this feeling.

[sokkastyles]

You also could have not responded to my post, but here we are.

I like Azula, but I like the character she is. She is a villain and an abuse victim that became an abuser. I don't actually think you like the character very much, beyond the version of her that exists in your head.

Azula does not have a canonical psychotic break. She does not have a canon mental illness. I know many people like to interpret it that way, but she is not canonically stated or shown to be mentally ill and insisting that she is and that people are demonizing her for that by treating her like a villain is itself problematic. What Azula has is a collection of vaguely ableist villain tropes, and treating that like it's a canon mental illness isn't the sensitive take you think it is. Comparing a character who meets a tragic end because she's violent and cruel to real people who suffer from mental illness isn't a great look.

Ursa's parenting is not "a factor" in any way, and that is not "black and white thinking." Please stop acting like reading against a text makes you smart and clever. It does not.

Ursa did not "see aspects of Ozai" in Azula. In the comics we see Ursa scold Azula for burning flowers and burning her brother. We see her unhappy when Azula burns a toy. We see Ursa reacting to Azula's actions. Saying that she's projecting Ozai onto Azula IS erasing the things Azula actually did. Azula internalizes this as "my mother thinks I am a monster" because she is being groomed by Ozai to believe that being cruel and violent is the way she should be and also to believe that any criticism of her actions is unacceptable. Azula internalizes these things because of Ozai's abuse, but Ursa reacts in normal ways to the things Azula does. You are blaming Ursa for Ozai's abuse.

And when Ursa said that she "didn't love her enough," as you said, she did not remember her, so that can't be taken as an acknowledgment that she did anything wrong parenting Azula because at that point she had no memory of parenting Azula. Also, she gives the exact same apology to Zuko in the comic, because she feels guilty for being forced to abandon them. It's not an acknowledgment that she did anything wrong as a parent.

You are correct that victims do not need to be perfect, but AZULA is the example of this, not Ursa. The "flaws" you are trying to prove are not actually flaws. Ursa not approving of Azula being cruel is not bad parenting or mistreatment, it is a normal reaction to a child behaving in the ways Azula behaved. OZAI is the reason Azula believed her mother hated her. You are blaming Ursa for Ozai's actions. That's the problem. Not that other people think Ursa needs to be a perfect victim. I also think you have more of a problem with thinking victims need to be perfect than I do, since you accused me of not liking Azula very much, and since you so badly need Azula to have been mistreated by her mother and need to rant at people in fandom for not liking her enough.

Also, you can't claim that the narrative is biased when it suits you and then claim that there's all this evidence in the narrative of Ursa's flaws when it suits you. Talk about lack of reading comprehension. You are free to your opinion, just keep it far away from me and stay off my posts.

What bothers me in particular after seeing the millionth post saying something to the tune of, "yes, Ursa was abused, but that doesn't excuse her mistreatment of Azula," when the supposed "mistreatment" doesn't actually occur in the show - the post I saw said that the show itself was "biased" - what bothers me in particular is not only the victim blaming of Ursa, but also the insistence that our focus should actually be on abuse that happened offscreen. When you are saying that the show itself is biased, then you're saying that you're willing to discard actual evidence of abuse in favor of another narrative that can be invented out of thin air. Because Azula is not, in fact, a real person. What is presented on the show is Azula as she is. There can be no "biased" portrayal because Azula is a product of fiction and does and thinks and feels only what she is written to do and think and feel, for the purpose of fulfilling a particular narrative function. Ditto for Ursa and Zuko and Iroh. So when you say you don't believe the text as it is presented, and you'd rather come up with another narrative, what you are saying is your first instinct, when presented with an abuse narrative, is to not believe it. That you'd rather believe that Azula's abusive behavior is the fault of other people, many of whom were either her victims or the victims of her abuser, because of her age or gender or whatever.

Azula is an abuse victim who became an abuser and instead of accepting that, y'all want to create excuses for her and blame other victims instead.

We're talking about fiction, but if the only abuse narrative you can accept is the one that only exists in your head, if the abuse survivor for whom you have the most sympathy is one whose narrative you can change to suit your ideas of what abuse looks like, what does that say about your ability to empathize with real people? People whose narratives you can't reimagine into comfortable headcanons because you think the narrative is biased.

That's what bothers me whenever I see people praising Ursa for being "a flawed character." Ursa is, in fact, barely a character at all and mostly defined by being a mother, but there's enough room in the narrative for people to imagine their own headcanons and so what the fandom comes up with is "she must have been a bad mother because her daughter is a bad person." Even though we KNOW why Azula became the way she is. Even though Azula (and Ozai, who Azula imitates) is directly juxtaposed with the goodness her mother represents in the narrative.

It's just so tiringly misogynistic. Like, the fact that Ursa mostly exists to be fridged is itself a product of sexism. Sometimes you need to ask yourself "is this a wonderful, detailed portrayal of a flawed female character, or am I just being a misogynist?"

Another good thing to ask yourself is "am I really listening to abuse narratives, or am I just changing them in my head to fit what I think they should be to make them more palatable to consume?" (i.e. the "but Azula is 14!!!" crowd. Particularly when y'all say Zuko can't be abused by his younger sister.)

Being a survivor of abuse doesn't excuse abusing others, but the character who exemplifies that message is Azula, not Ursa. Ursa's role in that narrative is to be juxtaposed against Azula, to represent that this is a truth Azula knows deep down but won't accept. To argue that Ursa mistreated Azula or is the reason why Azula is the way she is is to miss that point completely.

[hello-nichya-here]

Why Ozula Makes Sense & Why It Should Be Canonized

Note: Massive Trigger Warning

Note: Yes, I already know's Nichya's opinion on Ozula. But I want to see her specific thoughts in regards to my post.

In a fan base filled with split opinions, two of the few universally held truths are that Ozai is a horrible parent and that Azula has a lot of issues. But there is a lack of consensus on whether Ozai even abused Azula and even more of a lack of consensus on the nature of his abuse if he did abuse her.

  And for the record, I personally believe that at bare minimum Ozai did emotionally abuse Azula (“Trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable way” did not come out of nowhere). Not to mention turning Azula into a child soldier is obviously abuse.

  But is what we see, or what is heavily implied, enough to explain everything about the Ozai-Azula relationship? 

  In other words, does the abuse we see, or is heavily implied, enough to explain why Azula was utterly loyal to Ozai to the point she would gleefully risk her life for him while he sat in a bunk, despite Azula being utterly pragmatic in the other aspects of her life? 

  Does it truly explain why Azula utterly broke after he left to burn the Earth Kingdom despite being made Fire Lord and becoming the presumptive heir to the Phoenix throne?

  Moreover, where did Azula learn to flirt and/or why does she come off as sexually charged with nearly everyone she encounters (ex. Ty Lee, Sokka, Zuko) when it is canon that she has no life experience outside of being a soldier or a princess in court?

  Other people have come up with headcanons and theories involving, among other things, historical context and meta-textual evidence to explain the questions that I brought up, but what if there was a more sinister answer to all of them?

  What if Ozula was a thing?

  Yes, I know, there is very little evidence or subtext to support this but I think that if it did occur in canon, it would not only explain a lot about Azula’s character and/or issues, but also shed some much needed light on the Ozai-Azula relationship and even Ozai himself. Especially since, despite all the extended universe material we have gotten in the decade plus since ATLA the show ended, we still don’t know that much about their relationship, or Ozai himself.

  So, what is my personal take on how a canon version of Ozula? 

  I think that Ozai sexually abused Azula in part to replace Ursa once he “had” to banish Ursa and also in part to prepare her to produce super powerful heirs like herself in addition to using as a tool to keep her under his thumb by making her more attached to him than before he started coming on to her.

  In regards to the first reason, Azula is a dead ringer for Ursa and most people would agree Ursa is one of the attractive women in the ATLA-verse. Thus, considering Ozai’s canonical entitlement issues, it must have been hard to no longer rape have sex with Ursa...that is unless he copulates with Ursa’s mini-me. 

  This ties into the second reason, which is the desire to produce more superpowered heirs. 

  Thanks to The Search, we know that Ozai married Ursa in order to fulfill a prophecy that said would have produced exceptionally powerful benders. And that prophecy was mostly proven right since Azula is the GOAT Firebender as of current canon and Zuko has surpassed, or is close to surpassing, his father while still in his late teens or very early twenties.   

  For most people, being the father to such prodigies would make them content in life, proud that they could call themselves father to such talented people. 

  But Ozai isn’t like most people for, as Ursa aptly put it, Ozai is a small man trying to appear bigger than he is, which is obviously proven by Ozai’s ambitions and desires over the years.

  It was not enough that he was a prince of the most powerful nation in the world, so he must become Fire Lord at all costs. And once he achieves that by ripping his family apart and traumatizing the remaining members was enough that he was Firelord? 

  No! He must become the Phoenix King and build his new empire on the ashes of The Earth Kingdom despite already having it under his rule. 

  And it was not enough that he had a cult of personality, for Ozai commissioned larger than life statues with his package being accentuated to the point of absurdity. 

  So is it crazy to believe that he believes that not only is he entitled to the most beautiful woman he knows of (and if he can’t have her then he’ll have the closest thing to her even if it is his own daughter) but the most powerful heirs he could possibly have? Especially considering Ozai is a narcissist who made Azula his golden child because of his daddy issues caused by being the unfavored son of Azulon. 

  In other words, would it have been out of character for Ozai to fuck "himself" aka the person he thinks he would have been if Azulon recognized his “superiority” over Iroh? Especially when he can make more prodigies like himself Azula?

  And in regards to the third reason, did you see how needy Azula was in regards to Ozai when they had their short little talk before Ozai crowned him as the Phoenix King?

  I think Ozai, more than anyone, realized that Azula would soon quickly surpass everyone who was not a fully realized Avatar and wanted to ensure that Azula wouldn’t do the pragmatic thing and off him once she realized that she didn’t need daddy anymore. Especially after he offered his own father and betrayed his brother to take the throne. 

  For if he was paranoid enough to banish Ursa for her ability to make that OP poison, what makes you think he never had similar paranoid thoughts about either of his children? Especially Azula considering how strongly she takes after him and how he has been molding her in his image and ideologies ever since it was apparent she was a prodigy?

  So by sleeping with her, and therefore bonding with her, he would ensure that Azula would have no motive to ever overthrow him. 

  And how would this work in practice? 

  The same way he praised her for her firebending and ruthlessness. He would likely tell that he needed her; that she was a much better (pseudo) Fire Lady than Ursa could ever be (the old nick site said Azula was renowned in court and it is plausible that she did the duties that Ursa would have done as Fire Lady); that it was one more thing that Zuko could never do better than Azula and more proof that she deserved to be his perfect tool by his side; etc.

  And for the most part I think that Azula “responded” really well to Ozai’s false praise by further latching on to him, convinced more than ever that Ozai does love her and would never leave her. Especially since Ursa is gone, Iroh and Zuko are both gone at this point due to Zuko’s banishment, and Mai and Ty Lee are also already gone, or going to leave soon, leaving Azula with only Ozai as the only family and/or friend who hasn’t “abandoned” her.

  Ok, so I know what you guys are going to ask next; “cool theory but how does it explain anything other than your sick fetish?”

  Well, I think canon Ozula would explain a lot of things about Azula’s and Ozai’s behavior that really isn’t explained by canon or is, currently, only lightly implied. 

  For example, why did Ozai never remarry or produce more heirs in the five years he ruled despite putting his real heir, Azula, in constant mortal danger and spending most of that time either disowning Zuko or hunting him down as a traitor? Especially considering that he was only able to ascend since his brother was a dumbass and only had one kid himself? Not to mention the fact that Ozai is likely has a very high sex drive (have you seen his body?) yet we never see any concubines in the palace.

  Well because he wanted to produce heirs with Azula and so waited until she was of age to marry her and then have his new heirs.  

  Why did Azula collapsed after being told to say behind despite getting the title she always desired, Ozai having a logical reason to leave her behind (people would try to invade the Fire Nation..which is what happened with Zuko and Katara), and Azula eventually getting to inherit the Phoenix Empire? 

  Well, Ozai leaving her behind shows that Ozai thinks all Azula is worth after her numerous failures is producing heirs, making Azula realize that his bedroom talk was all lies and that he never loved her, only saw her as a tool. Moreover, all his words about her being a better Fire Lady than Ursa are lies since they both ended up in the same spot in life; only existing as Ozai’s (unwilling) broodmares. 

  Why does Azula hate and hallucinate Ursa despite Ursa being by all accounts a loving mother? And why does Azula avoid and hate reflective surfaces? 

  Well, because Azula’s subconscious wishes that Ursa was there to protect her from the abuse and also subconsciously reckoning with the long buried knowledge that part of the reason why Ozai came onto her is because she looks like a clone of her very beautiful mother. 

  Moreover, it would explain why Azula thinks Ursa thought of Azula as a monster when Ursa never said anything like that or gave any indications of seeing Azula like that. 

  For Azula would likely think, subconsciously, why would my mother leave me with a monster unless I am a monster?

  It would also explain, partially, why Azula goes from someone who is a bully, but loves & plays with her bro at 8, to someone who smiles when Zuko is burned at 13. 

  This is because Azula would think that all Zuko has to do to be in Ozai’s good graces is be a good firebender, a ruthless leader, and follow Ozai commands perfectly & without any hesitation. 

  Yet Zuko can’t even do any of that while she, in addition to previous requirements, has to give her mind, body, and soul to Ozai.

  It would also explain why Azula is so frantically loyal to Ozai (and even loves him) even when it is obvious to everyone that Ozai only cares for himself (he literally groomed her); why someone could be so fucked up and go insane at the age of 14 (victims of child sex abuse end up suffering from mental illness thanks to their trauma; and also explain why Azula has such sexual mannerisms (ex. her interaction with Sokka on DoBs) and voice acting while also being the only main female character to constantly wear makeup that is quite similar to her mother’s (she is trying to appear much older than she is while also trying to “replace” her mother for her father’s sake and maybe even for her own sake as well).

  Finally, it would contextualize that infamous bedroom scene, or more generally the subtle incest vibe between her and Zuko, by explaining her behavior towards him as attempt to unnerve him and/or an attempt to pass on her abuse to another person (which is very common).

  So the next thing you guys are likely going to say,” Ok then. Maybe Ozula might explain a lot of things but how would you explain the fact that Azula has never shown any indication that her father touched her like that? Moreover, what would be the benefit of introducing such a dark topic into the franchise.”

  Well to the first question, Azula would never bring it up because of some combo of: it is shameful as hell, she doesn't think it is wrong because it is all she knows, she still loves Ozai deep down, and/or thinks it her fault just like it was Zuko's fault for getting burned by Ozai and banished for talking out in the war council and/or not fighting back at the Agni Kai.

  And as to the second question, well there would be a lot of benefits. 

  For example, imagine the lore/story potential we could get out of a canon Ozula, as outlined in the headcanon down below?

One of the reasons why the places like Yu Duo became quickly filled with mixed families was due to a mix of sex slaves and families selling their daughters to their wealthy colonziers. 

  Also the Fire Nation had an extensive sex trackiffing network to service wealthy nobles and the Firelord; Ozai was in charge of this network and was able to blackmail people like Mai's father into supporting him in court and eventually his regime, especially in the early days when it looked like Iroh might challenge Ozai. 

  The reason why Zhao kept getting promotions despite his incompetence was because he was the best at capturing girls/women to keep the supply running high and Ozai had to keep him happy or else Zhao would spill the beans. 

  The reason why Ukano supported the NOS despite Zuko offering him a job and most likely becoming his father-in-law is because he was part of the network and it was a matter of time before Zuko found out and exposed him. 

  Azula helped procure women for Ozai during the 3 years Zuko/Iroh were away and this is part of the reason why Ty Lee and Mai distanced themselves from her (they thought they were next even though Azula would never do that to them) & why they followed her despite loathing her until someone they cared about was going to die (they thought Azula would punish them by making them into sex slaves though Azula “cares” about them too much to ever do that to them). 

  Azula was also abused by Ozai in those 3 years as raping women and girls weren't enough for him anymore and needed a new kink, incest, especially since Azula looks like her mom, who is one of the most attractive women in ATLA and Ursa was long gone.

And even disregarding the lore potential, there is the potential (positive) real world impact a seriously written Ozula could have.

  For it one of the best things about the Avatar franchise is its ability to deal with complex & sensitive topics such as child & spousal abuse (The Fire Nation Royal Family; Yakone’s family; Toph’s family), abusive/toxic friendships (The Dangerous Ladies), sexism (S1 Sokka & Pakku), PTSD (Korra), genocide (Airbender genocide & Southern Water Bender Genocide), propaganda/brainwashing (The Fire Nation schools & the Dai Li), and imperialism (Post-Sozin to the start of FL Zuko’s reign Fire Nation) with the respect they deserve while making it palpable to kids. 

  And considering the post-MeToo world we live in, what better dark and taboo topic to tackle than sexual abuse?

  Especially considering that most people aren’t really aware that most victims of sexual abuse where abused by someone close to them, that most people don’t seem to recognize when such grooming occurs or that it is a bad thing until it is too late (ex. Drake Bell, Kyle Massey, Drake (The Rapper), R. Kelly, etc.), and most victims don’t react to their abuse the way most people think they should (ex. Fight back or tell others). 

  Thus, couldn’t Ozula be used to educate people on the signs of such grooming and/or abuse and how to properly help such victims?

  I also think that seeing Azula overcome the effects of a canon Ozula could also provide healing for someone who played a pivotal role in bringing Azula to life: Grey DeLise.

  It was a shock for me to find out, but Grey DeLise has repeatedly said that she got abused by people her mother let into their home and that her mother did nothing despite obviously knowing what was going on. 

  Considering that DeLise heavily projects onto Azula (including Azula’s relationship with Ursa), has a history of sexualizing Azula (she explicitly said she voiced the bedroom scene with Zucest in mind), and went to really dark place to record Azula’s breakdown, is it crazy to say that DeLise had Ozula as her one of personal headcanons and that it affected her Azula performance?

  That is why, in combination with everything else I have said, I think Ozula has the potential to have a real impact how sexual abuse victims are treated and viewed.

  Imagine Ozai plotting to remove Ursa, Azulon, Iroh, and Zuko from the palace so he could "play" with Azula unimpeded after almost being caught several different times while also taking things to the next “level”? 

  Imagine the goading of Azulon/Ursa's banishment and Zuko's burning/banishment all part of this plot?

  Imagine Azula making inappropriate jokes about fathers breaking in their daughters to Mai & Ty Lee, causing them to be unnerved while Azula wonders what was wrong with her apt description of father-daughter relationships?

  Imagine Ozai spending the next three years molding Azula to not only be his perfect pet weapon but also his future consort once she is of age.?

  Imagine his anger when Azula comes home with her childhood friends and Zuko, cutting down on their alone time?

  Imagine his horror when he finds out that Azula non-ironically enjoys her time with them more than him despite the fact Ozai had groomed her from a young age to only love him? 

  Imagine his happiness when Zuko leaves and Mai and Ty Lee are later jailed, allowing him unlimited time with Azula again, despite the hardships Azula’s lapses in judgment regarding her friends & brother. Not to mention Ozai thinking that he once again gets to be the sole attention of Azula's affections? 

  Imagine Ozai finding out Azula non-ironically misses her brother and friends and so he leaves her behind during Sozin's Comet as punishment for her conflicted emotions & past failures?

  Imagine Ozai defeated coming home to see Azula chained, physically and mentally broken, screaming for her bitch of a mother. Only then realizing, for a fleeting moment, the damage he did to his daughter, only to go back to feeling rage at her humiliating loss & even more humiliating loss of sanity?

  Imagine Ozai patiently waiting to be reunited with his pet heir and once they meet in his jail cell, convincing Azula that they can be together again if Azula can get a hold of that accursed letter and kill Ursa, the only person who could possibly refute it?

  Imagine Ozai hearing that Azula failed in her mission due to being unable to kill her mother despite having Ursa literally in her hands, marking the first time Azula ever disobeyed him? Moreover, imagine his rage once he hears how she disowned him and basically dismantled from within an organization trying to reinstate him on the throne?

  Imagine Ozai confronting Ursa, Iroh, and Zuko once they find out about his abuse of Azula, thinking he has once again found a way to manipulate them? Only to find out that they are through with him for good and that they will help Azula heal from his abuse.

  Imagine Azula finally going through a healing arc, where with the help of well-trained healers and her mother (who she bonds with over both being victims of Ozai), she learns that what Ozai did to her was wrong, how healthy relationships actually work, & how her abuse never justified her abuse of others?

  Imagine Azula then undergoing an atonement arc, where, among other things, she becomes a leading advocate for mental health issues and sexual abuse victims, eventually working with Zuko & Aang to to create shelters & a proto-CPS in addition to radically changing the Fire Nations views on sex & consent?

  Imagine Azula eventually finding a loving partner and engaging in a mutually loving relationship, eventually having her own child who she raises in the exact opposite fashion that Ozai raised her while also being a loving aunt to Izumi?

  Imagine Ozai thinking that Azula will one day return to him, thinking that he has irreversibly molded her to need him the same way a baby needs its pacifier. Only for him to die never being visited by Azula again, who has long stopped caring for Ozai and hasn’t spared him a thought for a long time & will never do so again?

  Therefore, in sum, Ozula has the potential to do to victims of sexual abuse what the depiction of the Ozai-Zuko relationship, and Zuko eventually realizing his father is abusive & disowning, did for victims of abuse while also maybe giving DeLise some form of catharsis.

Thus, in the long list of bad things Ozai did (abuse his wife/son/daughter, kill his father/ruler, illegally urusp his bro, attempt a genocide of a continent, attempt to kill a 12 year old, turn Azula into a child solider/general, etc.) is molesting Azula the worst thing he could have done? 

  Or I am crazy with a need to go to a therapist for my many unresolved issues?

More Notes:

https://youtu.be/UjLzX1xPW1U?t=316

Grey: they're like 'why are you sexualizing everything?" because i do that in my whole life, my whole life is sexualized Olivia: same. that’s why Grey and I get along Grey: we've... got... abusive childhoods Olivia: uhhh Grey: uh... well I do Olivia: I don't, I just like sex! Grey: depending on who i'm doing it with... then yeah. Olivia: visibly uncomfortable Grey: I've not liked it a lot as much as I've liked it. Olivia: 0_0 Brad is like what... the hell.. is happening

Grey also talks about her abuse in an interview with Mental Illness Happy Hour where she details how her mother abandoned her to people she knew were raping her. And Grey has repeated her story in multiple interviews over the years.

----

Looooong-ass post ahead! You're not crazy, and there is subtext for Ozula... just like there is for Maizula, something I actually like but that I personally believe didn't happen - and if anyone reading this has not yet seen my first answer to why I don't think Ozai sexually abused Azula, I recommend you do so: https://hello-nichya-here.tumblr.com/post/650918965929000960/trigger-warning-i-know-you-talk-a-lot-about-how

While I see the merit of any good story, and I have read good stories that interpret Ozai and Azula's relationship as having involved sexual assault at some point, it is far more likely that in the actual canon (be it just in the show or also taking into account the comics) that simply neved happened, and I'll explain why.

About Ozai never remarrying

It would be very strange for Ozai to never try to have more heirs, and constantly endanger the ones he does have... until we remember that the only noble family in Avatar that has more than two kids is Ty Lee's, and that there are people like Kyoshi who literally over two centuries old when she died. Avatar is a very mature kid's show, but it is still a kid's show, with characters who control the elements and don't get a single scratch on them in situations that would severely injure or kill a normal human being, and the writers likely didn't want to add more characters to an already complicated, political plot like the Fire Nation Royal Family - which is why Iroh never remarried, Azulon's wife was already dead, there were no Lu Ten flashbacks, etc. If they went to such lengths to avoid creating too many characters, it makes sense that Zuko and Azula have no step-mother and no half-siblings in the show. Furthermore, the show clearly wanted to push Azula and Zuko's rivalry - adding another sibling would force their attention (and ours) to shift to said sibling, which is why Kiyi only was created in the comics that were focusing on the royal family, after Zuko became Fire Lord, and even then she is Ursa's daughter but not Ozai's, meaning Azula is still the only real "rival" Zuko has.

Ozai's supposed obsession with Ursa

Despite the radical change in the story of their marriage, I'd say that Ozai was NOT obsessed with Ursa, be it in the show where she consented to marry him, or in the comics where she kidnapped and raped. Princes were expected to marry and have heirs, and the war meant they'd need to have powerful heirs. He married Ursa (against her will or otherwise depending on the version of the story), had two kids with her (the standard in their universe), and encouraged said kids to be ruthless, punishing them when didn't meet his expectations (the Agni Kai and Zuko's banishment were cruel, but they were the type of behavior the Fire Nation rewarded). We need to remember that Ozai's only real problem with the hierarchy and expectations of his nation was when he had to see his brother be Fire Lord instead of him, because Ozai's only real obsession was the crown.

Yet he didn't kill his father until Ursa came up with a plan to do it so she could save Zuko, didn't kill Iroh, smiled in disdain when Zuko said he would help the Avatar defeat him, and constantly endangered Zuko and Azula despite having no other heirs. That behavior might seem strange, until you realize Ozai did truly respect the autority of Fire Lord at one point, but after he managed to steal the crown, he felt like he won absolutely everything - and to prove that he became the Phoenix King, showing he was above even that. He didn't need Ursa, Azula, or any other woman to give strong heirs, because Azula was already filling that role. There is no evidence he was obsessed with Ursa because he only married her because it was the norm (same logic applies to the possible sexual abuse she suffered - she was supposed to give her husband heirs, so Ozai forcing himself on her could easily just be him doing what was expected of him), and then once she was no longer needed and he would actually be in a more favorable position if she disappeared he CHOSE to banish her - the law said he had to punish her for killing Azulon, but the law also said he shouldn't have let her kill his father in the first place. And in the comics he threated to kill both their kids if she came back. If he was obsessed with her, he would have used their kid's lives to force her to stay and never say a word about what happened to his father. But didn't do that, because he didn't want Ursa around.

Could he be obsessed with Azula herself instead of thinking of her as a replacement for Ursa?

I personally don't think so, mostly because of his actions towards both his kids and because of the intentions the writers had. During The Beach, Ozai sends Azula away for a little while with Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee. On the meeting before the eclipse, he had Zuko at his right hand. On their last scene together, Ozai looks annoyed that Azula is around, stabs her in the back, lies to her face, and then leaves her. Finally, when he is last seen on screen, he doesn't ask Zuko what happened to her, if she is in prison, if she lost her bending too, if she is dead... nothing.

Ozai's behavior towards Azula is much more similar to his treatment of Zuko than most people realize. He shuts them both down when try to be anything other useful weapons - be it when they are showing "weakness", failing on their missions, trying to betray him, or trying to be equals to him. His reaction to Zuko's "All I ever wanted was for you to love me" was basically the same he had to Azula's "I thought we were going to do this together/This was my idea/I deserve to be by your side/You can't treat me like Zuko". He instantly told them both to shut the fuck up. He has no affection for them - for Azula - be it a normal one or a twisted one. They might as well not exist when they're not winning him battles.

On top of all that, comics!Ozai full on said he'd kill Zuko and Azula if Ursa didn't stay away, and considering how little regard he showed to anyone and how easy it would be for him to find a new wife if he had to, it is very clear he meant it. And a plot-line that was originally going to happen in book 3 but was cut (likely due to there not being enough time to explore it) had Ozai planning an arranged marriage for Azula - if he wanted her for himself, why was he more than ready to give her away to some rando the second she was old enough to marry?

Intention of the writers VS Intention of the actors

Assuming Grey did want there to have, at the very least, subtext for Ozula, we still run into a different problem: her intention goes against what is presented in canon. With something like Zucest or Tyzula, it is easier to make it work despite the pairings not being canon - they are meant to be complicated, unhealthy dynamics in which the characters involved have both negative and positive feelings for each other. So you could say Zuko and Azula were attracted to each other AND were still rivals. You could say Azula was in love with Ty Lee, and the feeling was mutual, but Ty Lee still chose to save Mai at the boiling rock regardless because it was the right thing to do for her friend.

With Ozula, however, it'd lead to a Zutara-esque situation (again, assuming Grey really did want that subtext to exist, since she didn't specify if that was what she meant when she said she went into a dark place while acting Azula's scenes in the finale). Dante Basco, aka Zuko, is the capitain of the Zutara ship, so any scene between Zuko and Katara gets at least a bit of subtext (and Zutara actually had full on ship-bait moments)... but the show also made it clear that the characters were NOT interested in each other like that, and they both ended up with different people. That means Zutara has some base for it, but it is still NOT CANON. Ozula is on even less solid ground since the overwhelming majority of the text activelly goes against it - again, Ozai seemed uniterested in both his wife and his daugheter, and activelly tried to distance himself from them.

How Azula flirts VS how she acts around Ozai

If we assume all of Azula's behaviors towards people like Zuko and Sokka was indeed intentional, we need to ask ourselves: was it really flirting or an attempt to unnerve them?

With that assumption in mind, I mostly see her actions towards Sokka as having been based on a display of power instead of flirting, but I can understand if people disagree. I fully believe she was attracted to Zuko and wanted both to intimidate him and flirt with him, and even discussed it at length on the link bellow (and offered another possible explanation of why she might not have been interested in Sokka after all) https://hello-nichya-here.tumblr.com/post/654197363889635328/zucest-is-it-really-flirting

When we take that behavior into account, regardless of motivation, and then compare it to her actually trying to flirt with Chan, we see that Azula has different styles of flirting, both of which are based on warpped perceptions of how normal interactions work - one having a predator/prey vibe with open ridicule, and the other with awkward/false flattery that is accidentally insulting and/or scary.

However, if we look at how she acts with Ozai, we see that she acts like a completely different person. She is very respectful and very distant - sort of how servants and guards act around her. That shows that despite her love for her father being actual canon (unlike any attraction she possibly felt for any character) their relationship is VERY formal. Azula doesn't take any liberties with her father, making it very unlikely that she learned her more "inapropriate" behaviors from him.

Azula's trauma

Azula was neglected by her mother and turned into a child soldier by her father. In Zuko Alone, we see Ursa spending a lot of time with Zuko but not with Azula, harshly reprimanding her without trying to understand her motives (like when she asked Zuko why he hurt the turtle-ducks), and even asking "What is wrong with that child?". Add in the over the top neglect she faced in the comics, the obvious guilt Azula was starting to feel for her actions in book 3, as well as the fact that a parent suddenly leaving like Ursa did can severely affect their child's mental health (which was likely to have been fragile in the first place considering Azula's more distressing behavior as a kid, as well as the psychological torment and hallucinations she dealt with in the finale) it makes perfect sense for Azula to believe her mother saw her as monster. Her claim that their mother liked Zuko more and her reaction to Mai's "I love Zuko more than I fear you" shows that her problems with her mother come believing she was not loved while her brother was - could she have also wanted Ursa to be there to protect her from sexual abuse? Sure. She could have simply wanted her mother to procted her from literally anything, or just be by her side and be proud of her.

This trauma also explains her freaking out as Ozai left her in the finale. She had recently lost Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai - the later of the three having accidentally touched an old, open wound of hers. Ozai was all she had left, and he turned his back on her after all she did for him. That was the last straw, and finally broke. You can add sexual assault or literally any kind of abuse to the story to explore a new theme/possibility, but it not existing in canon is not a plot-hole because the story works perfectly without it.

Imagine...

"Imagine Ozai killed Azulon and banished Ursa and Zuko so he could have Azula to himself, abused her, and then was mad when she brought Zuko home, with Mai and Ty Lee coming along"

I can imagine it. What I cannot is remember it. It can be a good, important, cathartic story, but is not the story we saw in the show. In the show we saw Ursa planning Azulon's death, not Ozai. We saw how his abuse was 99% purely psychological. We saw Ozai banish Zuko years after he supposedly got rid of the other two impediments of his abuse to Azula. We saw him not giving a damn about Mai and Ty Lee being around, welcoming Zuko home and rewarding him for "killing the Avatar", and then making Azula leave with them. And above all, we saw him shut Azula down the second she tried to have any kind of relationship with him that involved being anything more than a killing-machine.

Ozula can be an interesting plot, but said plot exists solely in theory and fanfics, not in the actual canon.

[waywardavatarenthusiast]

The Best Thing About Azula?

Can I just say that the best thing about Azula is her strength. Not as a fire bender, or a leader, but as a character. 

She gets half the screen time of her brother but still manages to get at least 2/3 as large a fanbase of his own. Her fan base is also much more intelligent. 

They give her red lipstick and other “older girl” things. Note the way Katara is constantly acknowledged as the pretty girl and despite Azula being just as if not more beautiful, every other guy in the series describes her as scary or weird. Is Azula those things? Yes. However, Katara got that attention without saying anything, and Azula got her own attention without saying anything. Like the beach episode where the guys are all over Mai and Ty Lee before Azula even does anything when she’s prettier than both of them. I know it sounds dumb that I’m comparing the beauty of cartoon characters but the idea behind that is because Azula is conventionally beautiful but that’s not the image the story is trying to project. The story is trying to project an older, seductive, and dangerous woman and rarely show her without makeup to downplay the fact that she’s a child. Fandom edits the makeup right off her and shows the little girl underneath.

The writers joke about her breaking down on Sozin’s Comet and call her a soulless, scary mess. It’s supposed to be funny. Instead it’s the most tragic ending in the story, it gains her twice the sympathy she had prior, and unleashes all this media and a new part of the atla fandom. 

Now this one isn’t on Bryke. It’s on Gene Luen Yang (I’ll do another post on him later). Azula’s mother is her kryptonite, she’s the Ozai to Azula’s Zuko on a less physically violent note. Instead of following that development, Yang tries to make Ursa this perfect woman and writes just the stupidest snap shots of Azula doing “bad things” (stealing mochi and burning flowers). The only thing is shows anyone with a brain is Ursa’s terrible parenting. He tries to perpetuate the idea that the love and affection Azula doesn’t receive is a result of her own behavior which is just the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. But the best thing is Azula fans noticing this and it only adds fuel to the dislike for Ursa and leaves more sympathy for Azula.

But by far, the worst sin those comics did was Kiyi. Yes, I’m talking about the toddler, and I do mean everything I say. Kiyi is Ursa’s other daughter. She’s a great firebender for her age and calls Zuko by the name Zuzu. Her very existence crushes half of Azula’s chance of redemption and all the chance of her reconciliation with Ursa. Aside from the fact that the child and Ikem feel like a huge blemish to the Royal Family’s story line, she is exactly Angelic Child! Azula. I get to say that because there is absolutely no other personality to her. And I am so thankful that she didn’t popularize like Yang wanted her to. Most people don’t know she exists and the ones who do haven’t forgotten about Azula. 

I change my mind. The best thing about Azula is her fanbase. Not all of it, but the part that is whole enough within themselves to see past a harmful and false narrative and see a child. A child whom they will never, ever, give up on. 

[theotherace]

Hey Der! I know you have a big extended family for Taang (maybe even Sukka and Zutara too!), but are there any facts or HCs about grandkids of the Gaang that you can share?

Hm. Enabling me, I see. Well. This is gonna get long, lmao.

The kids in these two drawings are only half canon to my main AU, by which I mean they might be changed and switched out at my convenience. I might have to replace some boys with girls, because there's always too many boys. The only one's I'm actually attached to (already) are these two:

and him:

The first two boys are Wan and Jin, the sons of Bumi and Kya II. So Taang and Zutara's grandsons. Wan (on the left) is the older one, which obviously isn't very visible here. He's an airbender. Jin is a non-bender. There are a lot of rumours flying around about their paternity, because their parents are neither, and that's despite the fact that Wan is basically Bumi with blue eyes and that Jin definitely has his dad's eyes. It gets to them, Jin especially, because with Wan it's like: Well, our grandpa's an airbender, it just skipped a generation. But I feel like there's a certain stigma to being born a non-bender to two benders, especially when you come form Fire Lords and Avatars. And then there's people saying his dad's not his dad because he can't make fire. It's sucks.

I'm attached to them because I used to think about them going out, being vigilantes together:

(Yes, there's art. Obviously. Their looks changed quite a bit.)

I'm getting back into comics, so who knows, maybe I will one day resurrect this niche, self-indulgent superhero AU. I do kinda like the thought of them hearing stories about the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady and sneaking out for Earth Rumbles from their grandparents and going: Well, we can do that! And of they went, two princes of the Fire Nation called Beifong, off to safe their city. I mean, really what else would one expect when combing Zuko, Katara, Aang, and Toph's genes? Dramatic-ass superhero wannabes, that's what. Jin's less excited about it than Wan, lol, but he follows along anyway, because somebody has to make sure his big brother doesn't get himself killed. And then he also gets into it.

Aguta is the only child of Norbu (and Miki, who barely even exists yet). I guess I'm less attached to really him and more to how he happened? I dunno. Norbu's ace (hello, projection), and he has a lot of fears and anxieties around relationships and intimacy, because sex seems important, and really, he's not interested in that at all, but at the same time, he's acutely aware of how few airbenders there are in the world, and that he kinda ... needs to have a child or two if he wants them to not die out. When he meets Miki, he's in his thirties and this eats away at him. Most people he tells about his troubles are understanding but not necessarily willing to deal with it in a long-term relationship. She is, though, because she gets it. Not the airbender part, of course, she's a non-bender from the South Pole, but the sex part. She's not that into it, either. They eventually have Aguta, obviously, who I don't know much about other than he is indeed an airbender and that that isn't the only reason his parents had him. He looks a bit like Sokka up there, because of the hair, but they're not related. He's a gentle guy with a lot of Grandpa Aang in him.

Otherwise! I know that Metok takes a lot after his dad. He's the oldest grandkid and takes that role quite seriously. His younger siblings take more after their mom, who is very carefree, at least compared to Tenzin. They live in the Fire Nation, close to Grandmas Mai and Ty Lee, and travel on occasion because they are still Air Nomads. Metok's a non-bender like Dawa. I think I wrote down somewhere what the rest of them bend or don't bend, too, but I'm too lazy to search for it now. Also, I do kind of love Metok, because he's the first grandchild I made up and the first I drew. I don't think I could ever change him much, either.

Kavi has three kids. He's only biologically related to two of them. Probably. They bend air, so there's a high chance. Not that it matters, really. These kids grow up on the road like Kavi did, and they grow up with a very loose, fluid definition of family. There's rumours about their parentage, too, and tons of judgemental people, but they've been taught very early on, before that gossip could even reach their ears, that blood isn't what matters. That Nuka's Kavi's kid even if he didn't help make her and that Mattaq loves Mida and Kipu even if they don't look like him, and that family is who they decide to make it, and that there's nothing wrong with the way they live and love and all that stuff as long as everybody involved is happy.

Li Wei receives similar talks, because he's adopted, and he was adopted at four or five, so there's a lot of reassuring that things are alright and that his moms love him and that he belongs, because while I'm not entirely certain what happened before he was adopted (yet), I do know he didn't have it easy. He's a goofy kid, usually. Not always the brightest but definitely one of the kindest people around. He is a very recent addition, actually, because Asha doesn't have any kids in my document, but I kinda like him now.

I mean, I kinda like all of them. If I ever get to a point in "the most important mark" where a NextNextGen actually comes into play, we'll see if I use all of them or none of them.

And ... that's the Taang grandkids. Also two for Zutara and four for MaiLee. Gotta admit that the NextGen kids not related to Taang are not nearly as fleshed out as the Dunebabies are (especially Ursa, Koji and the Bladebabies), but ... all in due time, I guess. These are already too many OCs, anyway, lol.

Thank you for the ask! I'm not sure if I acutally answered it properly.