#Zutara thoughts

[halfhoursonearth-writes]

I try not to read anti-Zutara takes because like, help, I'm literally here to escape the dark divisive real world. But one point that I see over and over is that there's no time between when Katara forgives Zuko and the end of the series for the dynamic to shift between them.

I always found this kind of a surprising argument (leaving aside all the narrative and thematic groundwork already laid between these two characters, and also the in-show precedent for compressed romantic timelines like Sokka and Yue) because of the Ember Island of it all.

Between the scene where Katara forgives Zuko and the scene when he jumps in front of lightning to save her (both romance-coded visuals), they're living for weeks as unsupervised teenagers in beautiful beach house, emotions running higher than ever as they face down the end of the world as they know it, in a location the story has already told us "has a special way of smoothing even the most ragged edges."

It's kind of hard to imagine a setting or situation with more romantic potential. Except maybe the moment after Katara saves Zuko after he risked his life to save her.

I'm not saying the show cashed in on that potential, obviously. I just mean that one scene with the two of them having a heart-to-heart on the beach late at night or flirting in the surf would have been pretty much all it took.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Zutara Thoughts

First, I want to thank the Zutara fandom for their participation in my poll! I knew the fandom was active and huge but I never realized how much. Definitely the best fandom I have ever been a part of :).

Anyway, I want to talk about an aspect of Zutara that I struggled with when I was younger and sometimes still do. I HATED how Katara treated Zuko when he joined the group. I hated how nasty her character became. I hated her. I could not stand her. Back then, I liked Katara of course. Maybe I liked Azula a tad more because I subconsciously saw Katara as just a lame love interest in the grand scheme of things. I find love interest characters usually not worth my time. And I was in an Azula angst phase. Zuko is my favourite character. Always was and always will be. Even though I appreciate her more now, Katara will never outshine Zuko. So I hated her.

And it affected the types of Zutara stories I read. I read the type of stories where Katara nearly murdered him. Tortured him. Starved him. Injured him. Basically where she was an outright menacing bitch to Zuko. The kinds of fics where Toph and Aang, and sometimes Sokka and Hakoda, had to play referee to prevent things from turning ugly.

Or I would read the fics where Katara's anger and hatred were resolved by the 'gaang learns about the scar' plot. Or the 'Zuko is Roku's grandkid' plot. Anything to cleanly resolve the tension. Because I did not care about Katara's anger. I just hated that she was treating my baby Zuko badly.

But both these types of stories do Katara a huge disservice. Sure, Katara teased Zuko and showed no appreciation when he helped her. But she would not let him fall to his death after the Zuko vs Azula fight at the air temple (read a fic where Katara did that, pretty sure it was discontinued). Sure, Katara has compassion for people. But people's sob stories should not automatically make their hurtful actions forgiven. It invalidates her suffering.

Part of me still thinks that she had no right to be angry on a rare occasion. Zuko never promised her anything in the catacombs. They were basically still enemies. They were down there for a while, but they could not be called anything resembling friends. So how could Zuko betray her? There was hardly a relationship to betray...

I think about how she would have left him to die in the tundra at the North Pole without a backwards glance if not for Aang. Without Aang stepping in, Zuko would be dead. Stiff, stone dead. And I doubt she would have shed a tear. I don't see Zuko holding that against her. And I honestly would have liked some kind of apology for her threatening to kill him. It's a miracle Zuko was able to function so well with that threat looming over him.

I struggle with that part sometimes because I love Zuko a lot. But I love Zutara and the beauty of the ship. How it compliments the story of ATLA and how it makes both Zuko and Katara better characters. The development of Zutara is part of what makes it special for me. All of the peaks and valleys. It's a shame it's not canon. But considering Bryke are completely blind to the treasure the ship holds, it's better off far away from those hack clowns.

[demaparbat-hp]

Slow mornings in Ba Sing Se.

I needed something soft today, so here's a little sketch for @nerdylizj's breathtaking fic Forgetting is a kind of mercy.

[late-draft]

[pineapple-frenzy]

Book 2 au: sparring sessions and short hair katara

They like to have sparring sessions in order to keep their bending skills sharp. They allow themselves to go all out and not hold back at all cause they know if anyone got hurt, Katara could just heal them

But anyways, wouldn't it be kinda funny if Zuko accidentally burned Katara's hair tho? Aofkqldkkajfjd

The "I think we can save the hairloops" line is from @linnoya-writes thank you for that!! :>>

[burst-of-iridescent]

if he’s your man then why is he jumping in front of lightning for me after he dumped your ass in prison and forgot about you

[heavensenthearty]

Do you guys ever think how Zuko is the only person who proves Katara that he won't leave her again?

Katara has abandonment issues. That's why she was so angry at Hakoda when they saw each other again, that's why she became so anxious when they had to separate, that's why she lashes out at Zuko himself, bringing up her mother's death. It's implied throughout the series that she has been abandoned physically and emotionally by the people she held dear.

Of course, Hakoda acknowledges and apologizes, but we don't see him making the effort to show Katara that he won't make her feel that way again—(which is probably due to the pacing of the story, although it's still a poor writing choice, but I digress).

But we see Zuko making an effort.

After betraying her, he is determined to make it up to her by any means. Even when she is openly hostile to him, he remains respectful and protective of her. He is constantly showing kind and heroic gestures. He goes out of his way for it in TSR to help her confront her feelings of grief and resentment, and saves her life yet again during Sozin's Comet. He expresses he has her best interest at heart through words and actions.

Thinking about all of that makes their relationship and personal character journey even more beautiful.

[cyanorhis]

momtara!

[ofswordsandpens]

wait one more thing about Ember Island Players that's so funny is like... imagine creating a show and then becoming either frustrated/annoyed/bemused that a sizable part of your fandom ships two characters that you don't want them to. And instead of ignoring it or letting it lie, they decide to use this episode as a moment to show these fans how silly that ship is. And sure, maybe its all supposed to be in good fun but like if the goal, in-part, was to discourage people shipping them, I cannot emphasize enough how acknowledging the pairing in-universe, having people consistently mistake them for a couple, and having said characters constantly over-react to the very notion and get belligerently defensive because they are very much not dating why would you say that is extremely antithetical to that goal.

[corgoship]

actually going insane from this take. holy shit.

It's one thing to point out that Katara and Zuko losing their mom in a traumatic way is something specific they have in common (note how Sokka is never included there either, despite literally having the same mother as his sister). It's another to invalidate and downplay Aang's loss of his ENTIRE RACE AND CULTURE just to boost your ship. He literally says in the show that he knows how Katara feels because of his loss. He's been depicted entering the same pain-induced anger as Katara has.

Not to mention, Aang and Katara have that to bond over too - as her culture has been decimated by the very same people that killed Aang's. Zuko's people, by the way.

Lastly it's just blatantly untrue and frankly insulting to say that Aang "got over" the genocide of his people "in one season" (given that it's mentioned in every season and plays an important role to Aang's character each time). This isn't something one can "get over". It's very likely that Aang will never recover from this. And it's disgusting to say that he hasn't been cut as deeply just because he doesn't mention it every 5 seconds and rage about it.

[miss-sweetea-pie]

Something that I’ve been thinking about is how antis think we only like zuko and Katara for the characters design. and if A.ang looked like him we would be all about k.a. And I’m just trying to imagine zuko’s face in a.angs spot. I honestly think we would dislike A.ang more, considering zuko’s character design is a typical villain look but could you imagine him ditching Katara to talk to girls on kyoshi island or imagine him snapping at Katara in the desert and going into the avatar and only Katara can calm him down or forcing a kiss at the play and being so angry that she may not like him. Like face swapping is just an insane argument. a.angs cute little cubby face protects him and hides his worst tendencies imo.

[fabdante]

@zutaraweek day one: crest

kicking off zutara week with something very vague. i first made this design for zutara week 2022 (under the cut) and have been dying to draw it more detailed since. and the way the term crest both deals with the movement of water and like emblems, it felt like it was finally time

i am always a fan of zutara/tui and la parallels

art only blog - insta - inprnt - redbubble

i originally drew this as an album cover in a 2022 piece about a record store au!

[demaparbat-hp]

Golden Boy (and Silver Girl) for the Kintsugi AU.

[piigeonss]

I just wanna mention, that zutara was that good of a ship, that my little brother, who usually absolutely DESPISES any kind of romance and shipping, even jokes on the topic, was rooting for zuko and katara, fangirling even, on his first watch since season 2

Like, he was gushing over how well they fight and work together, was SQUEALING every time he saw development (this was the first time i heard him squeal btw), got so excited when i told him about their ying and yang parallels and was MAD when he thought they were going to kiss, but hugged instead

He was so genuinely disappointed to see that kataang and maiko ended up canon

Zutara was the first ship my brother liked and rooted for

He can barely even watch when ships happen on screen

and he LIKED one

[pineapple-frenzy]

Book 2 au: and there was only one bed!! :00

Because of course I just had to do this trope

This is the first and last time they decide to sleep in an inn and they have an unspoken agreement to pretend this never happened

[the-badger-mole]

Why does Katara have to end up with anyone? Why can't she be single? ZK and KA are both annoying af

Short answer, she doesn't. Long answer, I like romance and I make no apologies for that. Zutara is a top tier ship, and them getting together would've enhanced the narrative for both, because they would be mutually supportive. Katara wouldn't have faded into Zuko's shadow, like she did with Aang because Zuko would have enough respect for her intelligence and passion to give her space to do the amazing things she should have been allowed to do after the war. Katara could've had both an amazing career/legacy AND a loving husband and family. I'm sorry if your imagination won't allow for both things to be true, but I promise it's possible