#atla the fortune teller

[atla-milf-month]

ATLA MILF Month will happen in March 2025! This month will celebrate all the ATLA-verse moms and older women who... well, you know!

Click here to see the prompts! Click here to check the event rules! Do you have any questions? Do you want to be a mod? Please send us an ask.

Thank you for participating. We hope you enjoy the event!

[quillthrillswriting]

this is literally exactly what sokka sounds like in the fortune-teller ep when he's desperately trying to prove that fortune telling isn't real

use of this tweet inspired by this post :)

[the-badger-mole]

Heartlines

Zuko clenched his fists so tightly, he worried that he might pierce the skin of his palms. The Dai Li agents were walking slowly up and down the bazaar looking for...well, for him. Zuko pulled the musty smelling robes closer around him, doing his best to keep his face hidden. The lack of activity around the stall might draw attention itself, but he didn't know what else to do. He had no wares to pretend to sell, and the agents were getting closer. Panic caused his heart to speed up as he scrambled to come up with a plan- any plan- to make his cover stick.

"Fortunes!" he called, trying to change the distinct rasp of his voice. "Fortunes for a copper!" The response was almost immediate. Customers wandered over- mostly young, well-dressed women- to have their fortunes told. The crowd of mostly giggly young women had the desired effect. Zuko saw one of the agents glance in his direction, then almost immediately turn away. His mouth was twisted as if he'd bitten into a peppercorn. They didn't leave right away, though, suspecting (not incorrectly) that the troublemaker they were looking for was still there somewhere. So, Zuko, rolling his eyes to himself, settled in and spent the next hour predicting love, success, the downfall of enemies to seemingly every female between the ages of fourteen and twenty in the lower and middle tier. The cheap price of a fortune made him even more popular.

As the day drew on towards evening, Zuko thought he saw the last Dai Li agent leave the bazaar. He sighed with relief. He could finally make his way home. His uncle would be worried, but Zuko thought the sizeable purse he was bringing home. He'd stop and exchange the copper pieces for silver and gold on his way home. By his count, he had probably made enough to exchange for at least ten gold pieces. Maybe he should quit the tea shop and go into business as a fortune teller full time, Zuko though. Of course that would mean spending hours and hours talking to strangers. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth. As if the tea shop patrons weren't bad enough.

"Excuse me, are you still open?" Zuko was about to turn the new comer away, but his tongue froze. The Avatar's Waterbender- Katara- was standing before him, giving him a friendly smile. She didn't recognize him, Zuko realized. He pulled the robes tighter around his face and motioned for her to sit down. He didn't know what kind of information he could pull from her, but he'd hate himself if he didn't at least try.

"What do you wish to know?" he asked, pitching his voice down. A faint blush stained Katara's cheeks, and Zuko thought he had an idea of her question.

"I feel a bit silly asking this," she hemmed. "But I guess I'm a bit desperate- oh, not that I doubt your abilities, Mr...." No one had asked Zuko his name the entire time he'd been there, and he hadn't thought to come up with one. Now he scrambled for a response.

"I am...the Great and Powerful Seer," he said ponderously. Katara blinked owlishly at him.

"Um...okay," she replied slowly, trying to bite back a smile. "Mr. Seer, then." Zuko bristled a little. So he wasn't a great improviser. She didn't have to be so condescending.

"If you don't have any questions for the Great Seer, I have other places to be," Zuko huffed.

"No, please," Katara said, trying to placate him. "I didn't mean to offend you. I do have a question. You see, my friend lost someone very dear to him, and we've been trying to find him for weeks. We were able to track him here, but we can't find any more clues."

"I see," Zuko murmured. Katara's sharp eyes snapped up and she stared hard at him, trying to see his face through the cloth and shadows. Zuko cleared his throat and spoke a bit louder in his fake voice. "And this missing friend. Is he...human?"

"No," Katara sighed. The suspicious look was gone, replaced with worry and fatigue. "He's an animal."

"He would be hard to miss, I'd think," Zuko said. "Even in a place as big as Ba Sing Se would be a hard place to hide a flying bison." The sharp look was back in Katara's eyes.

"I didn't say he was a flying bison," she said. Zuko felt his entire body heat up in a flash.

"Psychic," he managed to say. "Remember?"

"...right." Katara didn't seem convinced. "So, what else can you tell me?" Zuko once again found himself scrambling for an answer.

"Sometimes the answers we seek," he said slowly, "are found where we least expect. You've checked all the obvious places. Now, maybe you should check...less obvious ones." Katara stared at him for a long moment. Her expression was unreadable. Zuko swallowed hard, and did his best to ignore the bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. Finally, Katara nodded slowly.

"That...makes sense," she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "We had been considering that maybe Appa is being hidden underground, but... Well, maybe we can check. Thank you...Mr. Seer." She reached into her purse and pulled out a copper coin. She was about to leave, Zuko realized. He'd gotten the tip about the Avatar's bison, but surely he could do better.

"Don't you have any other questions?" he asked. Katara blinked in surprise.

"I thought it was one fortune for one copper?"

"For such a pretty young lady, two fortunes for the price of one." Zuko wanted to bite his tongue off for such a cheesy line. Who was he? Uncle? But Katara's cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink and she ducked her head bashfully.

"Oh...well...thank you," she said. She was very pretty, Zuko thought to himself. When her eyes weren't full of rage, or suspicion, they were actually very warm and inviting.

Irrelevant, Zuko snapped at himself. "Focus!"

"Excuse me?" Katara asked.

"Er...that is, I'm trying to get a read on you," Zuko covered quicky. "Focus on what you want to know. I sense you have been on a long journey."

"That's an understatement," Katara scoffed. "But then again, Ba Sing Se is full of people on long journeys."

"Ah, but yours has been longer than most," Zuko pressed. "I'm sensing that you...aren't from the Earth Kingdom."

"No," Katara confirmed. "I'm from the South Pole."

"That's a very long way," Zuko said. "You must miss home." Katara paused for a moment and thought.

"Not as much as I thought I would," she said. "I mean, sure I'd like to go back someday, but I...I've met a lot of interesting people."

"And faced many dangers." Zuko leaned forward. "I see that, too." Katara's brows furrowed and she was searching him with that too smart gaze, but this time it seemed more curious than suspicious.

"How do you see it?" she asked.

"...pardon?"

"The last fortune teller I saw used bones," Katara explained. "You don't have anything. No bones, no dice, no cards...How do you tell fortunes?"

"I...I read auras," Zuko said. Katara was a dangerous opponent, even when she didn't realize she was being engaged. Maybe offering her a second fortune wasn't such a good idea after all. He should have gotten her away from his stall as soon as he could.

"What else does my aura tell you?" Katara asked. Zuko cursed himself silently. He tried to remember what he'd heard his sister's friend, Ty Lee say about auras the last time he saw her. The colors had meaning, and the last time she'd "read" his aura, she had listed off the colors she saw and their attributes, but it seemed to Zuko that she was just listing personality traits.

"Your aura is mostly blue and purple," Zuko told her. "The blue means you're insightful and powerful, and the purple means you're empathetic. But I see a bit of red around you, too. You're a very passionate person. I can see bits and pieces of your journey, so far. You've recently achieved a major goal, and you've suffered a loss- that'd be this...Appa. I also see a bit of grey in your aura. Maybe you're feeling...uncertain about something?"

"About a lot of things," Katara admitted.

"Why don't you tell me about it?" Zuko leaned forward eagerly. Perhaps she would let a useable secret slip if he left the question open.

"I don't know," Katara bit down on her knuckle and glanced up at Zuko nervously. "I mean...it's a bit silly."

"Nothing is too silly for me," he assured her.

"Alright," Katara sighed. "I mentioned that I'd seen a fortune teller before-" Zuko nodded and motioned for her to continue. "She told me...she told me about the man I'd marry one day."

It was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on Zuko. He was stupid to think that Katara would let sensitive information slip out to a stranger, but this reminder that she was still a teenage girl was jarring.

"You want more information?" Zuko asked, trying to keep his tone politely interested.

"Sort of," Katara huffed. "You see, she told me that I'd marry a powerful bender someday. Well, my friend is a powerful bender...technically."

"Technically?"

"He...isn't very motivated to practice," Katara admitted. Now, that was something, Zuko thought. She must be talking about the Avatar, and it seemed the Avatar was a lazy student. Zuko didn't know how that was helpful to him, but he stored it away, anyway.

"I see," he said. "So, you want to know how to motivate him?"

"No, nothing like that," Katara waved him off. "It's just that he's a powerful bender, and I know he likes me, but...I don't...

"You don't feel the same way?" Zuko guessed. Katara's cheeks blushed deeper.

"He's so...immature," Katara said. "I know he's just a kid, but sometimes I feel like I'm raising him. I don't know if I could ever like him the same way he likes me. I've tried. I wanted to give him a shot, but it doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm being too picky? Maybe the feelings will come later?"

"There are other powerful benders," Zuko pointed out. "Maybe you're meant to be with a different one." There was relief mixed with uncertainty on Katara's face now. Zuko thought he understood why. The Avatar is the most powerful bender by default, his laziness notwithstanding, and he clearly had a thing for Katara- even Zuko could see that.

"I guess that's true," Katara said.

"It's alright not to return someone's feelings," Zuko told her. "I would hope that you are looking for something more substantial in a husband than just his bending ability."

"Of course!" Katara was indignant. "Of course I am. It's just that...well, it's complicated. If my friend likes me the way I think he does, then...I might owe him."

"Owe him?" Zuko repeated incredulously. Katara clutched her elbows and ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Like I said, it's complicated."

"You don't owe anyone your affection," Zuko said. He was suddenly, unaccountably annoyed. "It doesn't matter what they do for you. If you're not into this guy, you don't have to force yourself to be. You're allowed to make your own choices about your destiny." Zuko froze as the words left his mouth. Katara leaned forward, looking at him in concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Zuko blushed and nodded.

"I'm fine," he said. "I've just realized I need to be somewhere soon."

"Oh!" Katara jumped to her feet and bowed her head slightly. "I won't take up any more of your time. Thank you...Mr. Seer." Zuko nodded and waved her off. Katara started to walk away, but after a few steps she looked back at Zuko. "It's okay if I don't return his feelings? Even if he does something major and life-saving?"

"Even then," Zuko assured her. Then she smiled at him. Zuko found himself smiling back, though he knew she couldn't see him. She had a nice smile, he realized. He'd never been on the receiving end of anything other than a challenging smirk from her. Now that he had, he wished vainly that he could see her smile like that again.

The coast was clear. The Dai Li had long since given up on finding him. Zuko shed the musty robes and gathered his earnings for the day, and he made his way home. As he walked, his own words chased him. You're allowed to make your own choices about your destiny. He wondered if he was included in that.

[fabdante]

a really, really late upload of my stills for my zutara month drawings for day 16, fortune teller! (these got lost in my drafts)

[nono-bunny]

"The Fortuneteller" is such an interesting episode to me because like? Aunt Wu is never wrong in the end, kinda like how in "Jet" Sokka's instincts are always right as well- the show tries to play it off in the end by saying "sometimes they're right and sometimes they're not", but throughout the whole episode his instincts led him to eventually save an entire town! If they never ran into Jet, he WOULD have destroyed that town, not to mention how Jet does eventually change through his experiences with the Gaang, but! This isn't about Jet rn

Aunt Wu not seeing anything about romance for Aang while she DOES see it for Katara is strange to me if we're to assume he's the man she's ought to marry, because like? Wouldnt their fates be intertwined? Which is why it's a good thing I fully don't believe she WAS talking about Aang, and this episode unintentionally serves the anti-Kataang narrative so well its not even funny (well, okay, it's a little funny, seeing Aang get subtly rejected over and over is very healing). Even if we take out the fact that I believe she was talking about Zuko because, c'mon, he's a fantastic bender who already loves Katara a bunch by the end of the show (platonic? romantic? nevertheless they share an incredible bond)... The Avatar isn't the only "great bender" in the world by a long shot, and I'd argue Aang doesn't even qualify because of his poor work ethic and lack of interest in bettering himself, like- Aang is acknowledged by more ATLA fans than just me to be the weakest bender in the group (until he enters the Avatar state, at which point, he's just the weakest Avatar because he has no control of it) and? Yeah being born with the Avatar Spirit is never gonna be enough to become a great bender by itself, which is something even all the other Avatars aside from Aang seem to recognize, y'know?

I forget who it was, but I saw a post saying that in a better written show, this episode that has such a big focus on unreciprocated feelings would be when Aang recognizes his situation for what it is, recognizes seeing his own lack of interest in Meng when looking at Katara and her lack of interest in him, and have him start to accept that and move on, but... Aang ALWAYS shows himself to either be incapable of understanding or just straight up ignoring Katara's nonverbal cues, not to mention how he goes on to ignore her express vocalization of her discomfort with him, so.

This episode also has Bryke use Sokka as a mouthpiece to give a very incel-y feeling pick up artist lesson and? Yeah, what could I have possibly expected? For Sokka to show some consistency? He fr never takes his own "advice" here, it's so weird! He's always been very forthright about his feelings, so him teach Aang to play coy is so ooc for him unless the point they want to end up making is "love makes fools of us all", which. Doubtful

It's yet another episode with a morality lesson about "Destiny", but fr this one feels so weak when compared to Zuko's whole thing later on about CHOOSING his destiny, where we actually see him do it when he defies and upends his harmful legacy in favor of peace, because here? Here everything plays out as foretold, with a "you control destiny" messaging tacked on at the end- the cloud bending was cool, but I hate the implication that Aang legit goes on to twist and bend Katara to a shape he sees fit, right by his side forevermore, but... Yeah, that's fully what he does, so? Thanks a lot, I guess, Aunt Wu! Look what you did! He was the closest he ever comes to giving up in this episode, some tough love would've done the trick!!! But noooo, god forbid Aang has to face and acknowledge any sort of REAL rejection, Katara simply... Doesn't yet understand that her ultimate role in life is to end up as his trophy wife, that's all! God, fuck comics and LOK Katara!!!

[miss-sweetea-pie]

I was watching the Fortune teller episode for Atla and I was just thinking about Aang’s fortune and how there wasn’t anything outside of ending the war. (beside this being a will they won’t they moment) it also kind of imply Aang was highly destined to died in the end like he had not future thats kind of scary!

[oneatlatime]

The Fortuneteller

(A title which I am itching to divide into three words instead of two because boy does 'Fortuneteller' look stupid - seriously, stare at it for a bit and see how fast it starts looking like Fortun Eteller)

The last couple of episodes have had a contemplative character, so I'm rooting for this one to be a silly one. Also more Sokka please. Poor guy gets demoted to one liners in the B-plot whenever Aang is the main focus.

Episode Time!

We start this episode off with a potential love interest for Sokka.

I had completely forgotten that Katara used to have a necklace. I'd also completely forgotten that she'd lost it. When did she lose it?

Aang-o-vision has a pretty heavy rose-tinted filter - literally.

Told you it was a love interest.

The NOISE Sokka makes when the fish slaps him! I love it. Hang on I'm going to rewind and listen to it again.

Yep. Still as good the second time.

Oh wow! Aang just got Momo-zoned. Gotta say I'm not a fan of a romantic relationship between Aang and Katara at this point, so I'm all for some Momo-zonage.

Platypus bear! Finally some hybrid animals. I was beginning to wonder if that would ever come back.

Is this guy a martial arts master or an idiot?

I'm leaning towards idiot.

Friendly reminder of Appa's size. That's a lot of molars. No canines or incisors? Guess he's an obligate herbivore.

Is sniffing eggs something that people do? I get sniffing melons or other produce, but eggs?

Yep. Floppy hat guy is an idiot.

Aang buddy you might want to get that checked out.

And with a mighty squelch, the egg fulfills this episode's Beat Up Sokka quota.

Appa shakes!

Those are weird ducks.

I don't know a thing about anime, but that's the most anime-looking guy I've seen in this show. Is this show an anime?

Meng-o-vision is red-tinted. Probably doesn't bode well.

Also, Meng could give Zuko some lessons on how to style Pipi longstocking hair. Someone with more photoshop skills than me needs to make a Zuko with Meng hair.

"Don't be modest, they're huge!" Presented without comment. I'm not going to say a thing. But we all thought it.

Katara is totally the kind of girl who would fall for fortune telling. We've seen (multiple times) that she is gullible. Actually, now that I think about it, we've had multiple episodes where Katara gets swept up in something a healthy dose of skepticism would have guarded her from - Jet and The Great Divide come to mind. The writers are really hammering the 'Katara is susceptible to romantic nonsense and Sokka is a science-minded skeptic' message home. Is this going to play some bigger part in the show going forward? Why else would we be on version number (arguably) 3 of this same plot?

Aang and Sokka took off their shoes, but Katara didn't. Huh.

Pinky out. Classy.

I am not digging the Aang x Katara stuff in this episode. I'm with Sokka on this one - let's pretend it was a stellar bathroom break.

Aunt Wu is being unnecessarily antagonistic to Sokka. First he gets an egg on his head, then Momo steals his bean puffs, now Aunt Wu tells him his life's going to suck. I should have been more specific when I hoped for a Sokka episode. I didn't mean a beat up Sokka episode.

Aang. Priorities honey. Honestly, Aang casually dismissing his destiny after all that build up did get a laugh out of me.

A god-like figure coming to have his fortune read and only wanting to know about his love life would give me a headache too.

Add malicious signage to the Beating Up Sokka list.

"The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction." I bet that's the first time that sentence has appeared in the English language.

These people are stupid. Blazing Saddles style 'common clay of the New West' stupid. It would take, what, a day? to run a visual check on the volcano. But nope. Too much work. Listen to me I'm morphing into Sokka.

Katara giving off some serious fangirl vibes.

Katara is officially addicted to fortune telling.

Live footage of me watching these village idiots.

Add duck to the list of Things Which Assault Sokka. Gotta love those duck noises though.

Sokka is getting dangerously close to advising negging here. Also Meng deserves better. Her poor pigtails droop in disappointment. Girl has sentient hair - she deserves better.

Papaya? When you don't like papaya? Just because some old lady said so? Too far. That's not even teenage nonsense; that's tweenage nonsense. I kind of feel like sending Katara to her room. Actually it's just like that one line Log Man said in the Jet episode. Something like 'He tells us what to do and how to think and things all turn out right.' Outsourcing your decision-making. Which, by the way, is both nonsense and cult-like. Then again, the lost boys freedom fighters pretty much worshipped Jet the way this village worships Aunt Wu, so... parallels?

So if this guy got the panda lily himself, doesn't that mean that he recently went up the mountain? Couldn't he have had a peak inside while he was up there? Would have taken an extra 20 seconds.

"Flowers are fine once you're married" Somebody get this boy to Victorian times. If he ever sees an ankle he'll self-combust.

You have a flying bison. Why don't you fly up instead of climb?

This is totally live action fire copy-pasted in to the animation. There has got to be a more technical term for that than copy-pasted.

Raise your hand if you saw the twist with the volcano coming. (I did I swear. Blue spirit was an outlier).

Forget Appa, why didn't Aang just fly up?

"They just won't listen to reason." "But they will listen to Aunt Wu." So the mountain comes to Mohammed. I guess talking to people in a way they understand / will listen to is a good lesson for an avatar to learn. I thought he'd learned that one in The Great Divide though. Either way this episode is getting increasingly frustrating.

Can Meng get a hug? She seems astonishingly self-aware and emotionally mature for a kid. Also way too smart for this podunk town. I may rescind the hug in light of the stalking.

Well, it's not exactly subtle, but at least volcanic doom isn't a fluffy bunny.

Look at those yummy purples. Finally an episode where it's light enough to have a beautiful sky. My collection of wallpapers was suffering.

Digging a lava trench might work, if the volcano is going to put out a gallon or two of lava. This must be a baby volcano.

Nevermind.

The ashes effect feels oddly 3-D.

I guess to an avatar this kind of challenge is small potatoes.

Totally ignoring the Aang x Katara stuff for a minute, I'm with Sokka on this one too, because I also had forgotten that Aang is a superbender. He didn't even need to go glowy.

If I lived in this village that redesign would absolutely give me nightmares. Are those mega claws of doom structurally sound?

I am going to punch this man.

Aunt Wu's final speech to Aang makes me think that at least she's not indulging in her own product as it were. I suppose a con artist (whose services are free, so, just jerking around a village for shits and giggles?) is better than an actual believer?

MENG!!!

Final Thoughts

This episode has me thinking about stories. Part of the reason Katara wants to believe in nonsense like fortune telling is because she is someone inclined to listen to / believe in stories. I think the opening monologue of the first episode mentioned something about her grandmother's stories. Katara was raised on stories and very much took them to heart as more than just entertainment. And you can't blame her for believing the conceits of stories could be possible in their world, not after the events of episode one dumped the star of those stories in her lap. Just so long as she doesn't confuse a belief in stories with a belief in happy endings. There is a war going on in their world, and judging by the stuff that the show did not shy away from discussing or implying in episodes like The Southern Air Temple and The Storm, I am willing to bet good money that there will be a couple of unhappy endings ahead. Not permanently unhappy; this is a kids' cartoon. But there will probably be setbacks and disappointments.

Would Katara have astrology nonsense in her dating profile?

"The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction" is going to be incorporated into my daily vocabulary.

Platypus + bear are interesting choices for a hybrid animal, since a platypus is about 15 normal animals smashed together anyway. A platypus bear is the swiss army knife of animals. Or the Mr. Potato Head.

At first I thought that Aunt Wu was a benevolent meddler (see putting together the couple with the panda lily), but she also advised that one guy to never bathe, which doesn't benefit anyone in any way that I can see. So I've concluded that she's a Bumi level ("it's pretty fun messing with people") shit-stirrer instead. Her services may be free, but she manages to pay for a very big house, an assistant in Meng, and anime guy the bodyguard(?) so I guess grateful villagers give her donations? However she's doing it, she's got it made.

There was some sort of running theme with those large blue-billed ducks that lived in the village. If that was meant to have more meaning than just a running visual gag, I didn't pick up on it.

Meng had a surprising amount of depth and insight for what (I assume) is a one-episode character. Stalking aside, I liked her.

This episode's humourous look at the stupidity of the village (in fact the science denial of the village) is not as funny as it would have been in a pre-covid denial, pre-antivax, pre-"global warming is a hoax" world. A shallow viewing of this episode is still funny because the villagers are just SO dumb (except Meng), but the more you think about the villagers' actions and the conclusions they reach at the end of the episode (to not change AT ALL - at least the tribes made up in The Great Divide, a similarly idiot-filled episode), the more you morph into Sokka. These people have denied reality so hard that it's frustrating rather than funny to watch. Their head in the sand approach is not cute anymore.

I really wanted to like this episode. Like I said before, I wanted a goofy fun episode after the one-two punch of the last two episodes, but this one rapidly went from goofy to frustrating. I can't tell if it's because I'm not the target audience (i.e. too adult) or if it's because much of the world is currently drowning in various forms of misinformation and science denial. I know this episode isn't supposed to be deep - it's supposed to be setup for Aang & Katara as a (hopefully very distant) couple. That's all. And the message at the end about shaping your own destiny (i.e. taking an active part in your life) is a good message, and thematically relevant to the avatar, who presumably is at least somewhat responsible for shaping the whole world's destiny. But damn if this episode doesn't make my teeth itch.

Pros: Sokka had some great lines. Appa got to shake. There were pretty backgrounds. The noise Sokka made when he got slapped by the fish was a thing of beauty.

Cons: Aang and Katara are not allowed to date until they're 35. I will smack each villager individually upside the head with a science textbook. Meng deserved better.

Maybe I'm just not in the mood for this episode. I'll stick it on the rewatch list just for the Sokka fish noise.

[stardust948]

[During The Fortune Teller]

Sokka: The fortunes aren't real! They're all fake! We have the book right here!

Villager: Blasphemy!

Sokka: Blasphem-YOU!!!

[blood-starved-beast]

Lady Maria for the blorbo bingo!

BINGO WOO

Maria is interesting to me cause she wasn't what got me into Bloodborne in the first place. And largely, I actually didn't really know much about her (in that she even existed) before that despite her being the Face of the Game post DLC release.

and yet!! everything about her design is catering to me directly (Miyazaki do you have a direct link to my brain???). In conjunction with my black plague phase as a kid I really loved that tricorn hat army aesthetic from the late 1700s specifically like what Maria wears. The peak gender envy 11 year old me would have been so insanely jealous of Maria's drip. (lowkey think this was intentional on Maria's part - not at me of course but @ everyone else on the Hunt).

The more I learned the more I realized this character is the kind I love - a soggy, pathetic wet rat of a masc woman who despite her "cool" appearance is actually really mediocre as an individual. Peak women's wrongs here she is a Bastard. And she's even more fun cause of my own bg (neuroscience) really informs me of how much of a fucked up human being she is. I cannot buy any of the "oh she was actually so sweet and the circumstances ruined her 🥺" interpretations. She uses the corpses of the people who she got to adore her as compost for her beloved flowers ya'll. This woman is Insane.

It's insane to me how protagonist-coded and yet she's such a failure. Failed redemption arc, haunting the narrative cause she was such a colossal fuck up. They way everything adds up (her backstory, her actions/morals/designs/etc.) she would have been the Main Character, but she didn't. She took "running from the Call" in the hero's journey and stuck to that. Her dream is nothing but her living in eternal torment of her own failures and I suspect part of the torture is self-inflicted (she can leave the room whenever she pleases but doesn't cause that'll require her to face her mistakes). I crave for fics that deconstruct or otherwise play with that narrative like you wouldn't believe.

I admit the reason I got the figma of her cause I wanted to get the High that no doubt Kos feels every time she fucks with her in the nightmare. Shaking her violently.

[ekwolfwriter-blog]

The Gaang are on their way to the Northern Water Tribe when they are stopped by a stranger that tells them to meet a fortune teller named Aunt Wu - who claims to see the future with the help of a spirit that she as made contact with. The Gaang decide to go, but stumble upon a strange blindfold traveler that is more what they seem. Here destines being to change, people's hearts and mind being to shift and the future is not so clear. Meanwhile, Zuko once stead fast in his destiny, begin to questions it. And Iroh meets with a divine being that he is none to happy to meet. Is this all designed in the stars or merely chance that brought them to this point? Only the future will tell.

[juniperhillpatient]

sorry for caring mostly about the Zuko parts of the episodes sometimes. as if it’s my fault (my most unpopular on tumblr but I think pretty normie opinion mayhaps)

[atla-milf-month]

ATLA MILF Month will happen in March 2025! This month will celebrate all the ATLA-verse moms and older women who... well, you know!

Click here to see the prompts! Click here to check the event rules! Do you have any questions? Do you want to be a mod? Please send us an ask.

Thank you for participating. We hope you enjoy the event!

[gennianydots]

Sokka (to Aang): “Flowers are fine once you’re married, but it’s critical at this stage that you maintain maximum aloofness.”

[haitanirindo]

idk why i decided to rewatch the last 8(ish) episodes of atla while drunk, i'm literally sobbing

[sneezypeasy]

All of this is true, (not to mention the whole Meng subplot as well) but tbh the thing that killed it for me was that Katara looked disappointed when Sokka accidentally implicated Aang as the potential answer to her prophecy.

I was a Kataang shipper when I watched The Fortuneteller for the first time (Zutara and literary analysis in general hadn't really entered my brain yet), but I could tell the episode was baiting Kataang. Aang's crush on Katara was already apparent by now, but Katara's thoughts on the matter had never been revealed one way or the other, and with the sudden focus on Kataang this episode (the whole "will they won't they" thing bubbling up to the surface) I began to anticipate that this episode, we would finally get a long-overdue peek into Katara's mind on the subject. So I waited patiently the entire time, waited as Katara dismissed and ignored and dodged Aang (and the episode's question of "will they...?"), waited to see how that tension would finally get resolved... till the curtains drew almost to a close, at which point Sokka casually suggested Aang was the "powerful bender" Aunt Wu had foretold. Katara startles as she hears the question of the episode for the first time, and I sat there staring at the screen like "A-ha!"

...only to see Katara look almost crestfallen at the thought.

I mean, compare to how she looked when she was fantasizing about her future beau 😂

Idk, it felt to me like -

Aunt Wu: Guess what, you're gonna marry a very powerful bender ;)

Karara: 👀👀👀👀

Later: It's Aang, Aang's your future husband.

Katara: .....Oh. 😕

And at the time, as someone who'd been effectively baited by Kataang and the "will they won't they" dilemma - you have to understand, I would have been happy to finally see some promise for the ship. I watched that episode wanting to see a Kataang resolution... and I finished that episode feeling as let down as Katara looked. 😂 I did not see the Fortune Teller as affirming Kataang at all. I came away from it thinking, welp, if it does happen, it won't be happening any time soon. Oh well.

(I guess that's what happens when Mai's animator has to take a day off fjisosksjaakaas 😂😂😂)

it will never not be bizarre to me that kat.aangers use the fortuneteller episode as foreshadowing for ka when literally every possible interpretation of this episode is anti kat.aang.

if aunt wu's prophecies are unquestionably true, then kat.aang is DOA right off the bat because she explicitly says she doesn't see romance in aang's future. yet kat.aangers love to uphold the “powerful bender” prophecy as foreshadowing for kat.aang so… which is it? are aunt wu’s prophecies only eternally binding for katara but conveniently untrue when it comes to aang? because if katara marrying a powerful bender is unchangeable, then so is aang not being able to find love, so that’s strike no. 1 for ka foreshadowing.

now on the other hand, if we take aunt wu's prophecies as false, then our boy aang is free to do all the lovin’ he wants… but following the same logic, so is katara. and since her prophecy is the catalyst for her seeing him as a potential romantic partner at all, that’s strike no. 2 for foreshadowing.

finally, we come to the last interpretation and the episode's actual message: that destiny is real, but not immutable. throughout the episode, it’s clear that aunt wu's prophecies do come true, though not in the way that their subject(s) might expect. the future isn’t created through passive acceptance, but active agency. everyone has the power to shape their own destiny, and make their own choices.

this is the complete opposite of katara beginning to view aang in a romantic light solely because sokka makes an entirely on-the-nose comment about him being a powerful bender. because had katara not heard her prophecy, that would have meant nothing to her! how is this meant to be the spark that fuels the kat.aang relationship when it's entirely based on katara holding herself to a prophesized future instead of writing her own story, and hence antithetical to the fundamental theme of the episode?

which is also why so many people interpret this episode to be lampshading zutara, because the only way that all of these contradictory interpretations — aang isn’t meant to find love, katara is meant to marry a powerful bender, but both of them still have the power to shape their own paths — make sense is if the final scene was an intentional red herring… but that’s a discussion for another time.

[thatbookgirl1118]

I cannot for the life of me find the original post (tumblr is a hellsite) but this was sent in an atla gc:

@the-badger-mole

and tbh i always kinda felt like kataang was weird exactly because of that one-sidedness??? like there's one episode of katara maybe sort-of seeing aang as a love interest (when the fortune teller tells her she'll marry a powerful bender), but then the rest of the show is her being passive in the relationship or actively pushing aang away (like their second kiss). and then at the end she just randomly decided "okay i like you i guess."

whereas aang got a bunch of pining moments and you actually believed he was in love with katara.

and most of their relationship was about how she helped aang - he did contribute to her character development over the course of the series especially as a bender of course but it didn't feel as emotionally/spiritually deep as katara's literal one episode sidequest with zuko.

but then someone else wrote "I would argue the opposite? Kataang is where Katara choose the peaceful nomad which subverts the trope presented where zutara is where she chooses the strong protector/combatant. Aang as a character is a subversion of the typical hero while zutara is like,,, coloniser romance idk"

and honestly... i kinda get that. aang was problematic in a lot of ways, but he was definitely a subversive protagonist, and i can see the power of allowing the woman to choose the pacifist vegetarian over the extremely obviously hot jock badboy. this is an incredible oversimplification of their characters of course, but the point stands.

Basically, Kataang is the ship we all logically want - the sweet, friendship-based, seemingly subversive one. But Zutara is the one that actually makes sense in the story, with these characters, not their tropes. Aang is subversive, but he and Katara are also kind of terrible for each other - he isn't mature or selfless enough for Katara, who needs someone to force her to take care of herself because she's always the one taking care of everyone else (wonder what that's like). That's why she and Zuko are so perfect, because he not only takes care of her, he makes HER prioritize herself. Aang... does not. He's pretty selfish, which yes is partially due to his immaturity (I personally don't count Korra as canon because it treated ALL the og characters terribly so I'm speaking purely from his 12 yo self), but it's also just a basic incompatibility thing. And Katara is actually equally bad for Aang - she enables him waaay too much, and he needs someone who doesn't. Who forces him to stand up on his own two feet and take responsibility. She's too much of a mother, and her relationship with Aang is too mother/older sister-ish.

With Zuko, on the other hand? Katara started out HATING him, forcing him to prove himself to her instead of handing him everything she had like she tended to do with Aang and Sokka. He had to earn her care, and as a result he appreciates it way more and demands way less of it. He's a far less selfish character generally for the same reasons, and is much more mature/has a better understanding of life and gray areas. Southern Raiders is a great example of this - he's down for whatever Katara decides because he understands that there's no one right answer, unlike Aang who simply preaches forgiveness. I'm not necessarily attacking Aang about that either - I do believe that grudges eat away at a person, and taking a life does haunt you, so forgiveness isn't necessarily bad advice. But it's not what Katara needed. Aang is great as a friend, but I don't think he's what Katara needs from a romantic partner. Zuko just... is.