#atla Zuko

[demaparbat-hp]

I had a vision in shades of sacrifice.

[kylierainn]

Basically

[rose-bunny-28]

No need to call her out, Zuko

[beetlewashere]

like this? @picnicbitchsokka tagging you cause I saw your post about it! (should I have reblogged? I don’t know how tumblr works very well)

made zuko the ones with the mussels because he’s JACKED in b1 so he probably just has a sleeper build cause he isn’t as beefy in b3 LOL

uhm! first time doing zukka fanart and art like this, so, please be nice :]

[raylatdp-astridhttyd]

ATLA X TDP Parallels

Season 3 Episode 12 I Season 7 Episode 5

[boar-xam]

Some zuko sketches :D

[honeysmoonn]

is the atla fandom still alive…. i wanna make a sokka fic

[mfelewzi]

Well, for me is more simple: I just don't like Zuko.

Yes, he's an interesting character, he's a traumatized guy, all true. But I don't like him. And I find his Redemption's Arc superficial, a bit exagerated and very Incompleted. And I don't like that he became friend of Aang, Sokka and Katara (but not with Toph).

The only reason cause I find him a bit interesting is his Sword. Cause It's a sword that becomes two, that's more stupid than fan as weapons for Kyoshi Warriors, but It's Scenic cause It remembered to me Dhu Al-Faqār, Caliph 'Alī's Sword.

Yes, It was only that, and nothing more. Sadly, he's not an Imperfect Hero, but he's so imperfect that he CAN NOT BE a hero.

His Redemption's Arc is so incompleted that, forme, he should need to lost his Life or his bending and crown. But It will never happen, so whatever!

You post a lot criticising Zuko. Do you like Zuko or not?

(genuine q)

Well, let me break that down a bit:

Do I think we should have sympathy for Zuko?

I think as a 16 year old abuse victim he deserves a lot of sympathy and should get support.

Would I enjoy being around him?

No, I think the Zuko we see is a deeply unpleasant person and I doubt I would enjoy it if I were around him. However, I suspect I would also find Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Toph quite unpleasant to be around too, so that's hardly unique to Zuko.

Do I think Zuko is an interesting character?

I think Book 1 Zuko is actually quite interesting and in his own way quite likeable, even if he's a terrible person. Book 1 is where Zuko's writing peaks for me.

Beyond that, I honestly think Zuko becomes much more boring. The writers started leaning entirely on having viewers closely emotionally identify with Zuko and feel personal emotional catharsis when he "achieves redemption." If you don't, Zuko becomes much more boring and the flaws in his writing become much more apparent.

I also think Zuko isn't a particularly interesting or unique character in general. Azula, Ty Lee, and even Mai all manage to be way more interesting and unique than Zuko, despite getting vastly less character development time. At their core, Zuko's arc and themes amount to rejecting an abusive father in favor of a better surrogate father, which feels pretty standard to be honest. By contrast, I can think of only one character the least like Azula in any Western media, Miles Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan Saga.

Honestly, the most interesting thing about Zuko is analyzing the difference between how the narrative frames him verses what his actions actually suggest about who he really is. That's probably why I write so many "Zuko critical" posts, because I find analyzing the difference interesting.

Do I think Zuko's arc was well-written?

No. The writers were very good at tugging at the heartstrings but beyond that I think "Zuko's redemption arc" is not nearly as good as people make it out to be. In particular, the way that the narrative after Book 1 stops holding him accountable for anything he does weakens his arc badly. That, along with making Iroh the center of Zuko's arc at all costs, made things drastically worse than the original writing plans for Zuko.

Do I think Zuko is the morally pure perfect Firelord the narrative tries to sell him as?

The finale tries to present him that way, but it falls flat for me. Zuko is a very badly flawed person who never addressed most of his flaws, and he's not the least bit suited to be Firelord. The narrative needs him to be the perfect, rightful prince who will redeem the Fire Nation from darkness, and if Zuko had been written differently and his arc had been taken in a different direction, he could be that, but he's not. I could never buy the person we see at the end of the show being a good ruler, and I could never buy him being happy as a ruler.

Could Zuko be an interesting character?

Hell yes. If the narrative had been less prone to gloss over Zuko's many flaws, and more inclined to force him to address them and deal with the consequences of his actions, he could be very interesting. Even if the narrative was willing to seriously acknowledge Zuko's flaws without having him ever improve on them, things would be more interesting. The Zuko-Azula relationship is actually super-interesting if you think deeply about it, but you need to ignore everything about how the narrative frames them for it to be interesting. "Good boy tormented by evil demon psycho younger sister" is boring as hell.

[beanofthequeens]

Jet from atla is so funny bc like, he's fighting zuko and taunting him being like "bet you wanna use some fire instead of those swords, dont u fireboy" which is a funny thing to say to a guy who is clearly very eager to fight using swords

[m-r-moth]

redrew their interaction from the post below. i love them all so much

[nemkero]

rewatching atla after like 10 years and zuko is so insanely pitiful

[demaparbat-hp]

That infamous prison escape.

[saphizzle]

Literally just an excuse to draw ostrichhowrse

[shrewisweird]

Big cousin Lu Ten helping the kids on a hard level

I like to think that he was a lot like his dad, spending time with them and showering 'em with affection.

[goldenvulpine]

I want to clear up a mistake people make with Azula and Ursa.

Ursa didn’t play favorites.

Ursa didn’t think Azula was a monster.

Ursa simply, unequivocally, just didn’t enable Azula’s worst traits like Ozai did.

Ozai’s favorite child was Azula, but Ursa still loved her more.

Because enabling isn’t love.

What did Ozai’s enabling do? It made Azula into the type of person to never have any loyal friends. It made the type of person that Mai and Tai Lee would betray at the risk of their own lives.

Ursa pushed Azula to be with her friends. To be with Zuko. Ozai pushed Ursa away, and both kids suffered for it. Azula became a sadist, enjoying seeing her brother get burned—while Zuko was pushed away because he cared for his people.

Azula thought her mom hated her because her mom was the only one who cared enough to tell her no.