#autistic Zuko

[backstage-autorin]

I will never not find it funny that although Zuko is the one I see mentioned the most often in discussions of autistic-coded characters, of the three who set off my "takes one to know one" sense on my first watchthrough of the series, he is also the one I picked up *last.*

I picked up on Iroh first when he firebent his tea while waiting to enter Ba Sing Se. The only way I can make that choice make sense is if he had some kind of sensory processing issue that prevented him from drinking tea at the wrong temperature, or if he was stressed from the trip, needed to stim, and playing around with flavors/scents/temperatures of tea was the only form of stimming he was allowed growing up, making it his default method of stimming as an adult. (If the school he attended as a child was anything like the school where Aang got in trouble for dancing in music class, it's not difficult to imagine autistic students getting in trouble for stimming). Over the years of using different scents/flavors/temperatures of tea as the one form of sensory input he was allowed to be in control of, he developed a special interest in tea. Adding the fact that caffeine is sometimes used to self-medicate ADHD, depending on the caffeine content of his teas it's possible that Iroh has inadvertently been self-medicating for undiagnosed ADHD (as far as I'm aware the vocabulary to get diagnosed doesn't exist in-universe). Overall, I headcannon Iroh as AuDHD.

Azula was the next one I picked up on, during the Beach episode. The moment that made the headcannon click was the "sharp outfit" monologue/flirtation attempt, but she also takes the "party from dusk till dawn" invitation literally and her observation about the volleyball opponent's childhood injury on the left side reminded me of my own (self-described) unhinged pattern recognition. She masks well but unfortunately for her the environment she built her mask for was extremely dysfunctional, which I think played a role in her eventual breakdown. (For a modern-day equivalent, it's not uncommon for autistic women to only get diagnosed after seeking treatment for mental health disorders.) Azula being praised/recognized as a firebending prodigy but struggling in other settings reminds me of the discourse around gifted education, the prevalence of undiagnosed neurodivergence in gifted programs, and the recognition of twice-exceptional students (students who qualify for special education and gifted education at the same time), and I would probably headcannon her as a technically twice-exceptional student whose autism went undiagnosed so on paper she's just considered "gifted" instead of "twice exceptional."

Zuko, on the other hand, flew under my radar until he practiced the "Hello, Zuko here" speech for that frog, vented to that same frog (or maybe the frog was just there while he was talking to himself) while analyzing his social interaction failure after he accidentally reveals that he hired Combustion Man, and then an episode or two later fails to make anyone laugh with the "leaf me alone, I'm bushed" joke. I sometimes rehearse social interactions beforehand, very frequently replay my conversation errors in my head, and have plenty of experience with messing up at telling jokes, so i guess seeing Zuko do the same is what it took for me to figure it out. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason it took me so long to pick up on Zuko being autistic is because he was masking to the best of his ability when he was trying to regain and/or maintain his father's approval and then once he switched sides he no longer felt the same need to try to pretend to be neurotypical.

There's probably a lot more I can say if I were to analyze the show through the lens of Iroh, Azula, and Zuko all being autistic but tbh those thoughts should probably be their own post instead of commentary on someone else's meme.

[isthei]

sokka: zuko? zuko buddy you with us

zuko: (holy shit am i gay??)

[sleepyzukka]

More text posts cuz lol

[thief-of-eggs]

Zuko: *after Sokka officially asks to court him* Wait… you like me?

Sokka: *has been dropping progressively more and more obvious hints for months* What do you mean ‘you like me?’- Of course I like you!

Zuko: *needs everything spelled out directly in his face before he understands anything* How was I supposed to know?!

-Later-

Sokka: *Still seething* Zuko, we’ve kissed. You’ve had my tongue in your mouth-

Zuko: *crossing his arms* I thought it was as friends!

Sokka: *incoherent screaming*

[punkeropercyjackson]

The Gaang as candies

No i will not elaborate /lh

[not-aurii]

On my "Zuko is autistic" agenda:

That one time he decides to leave Uncle Iroh behind and go travel on his own (the first time, on book 2) after Iroh tells him he should figure out his own path in life, and not depend on finding the avatar to feel good about himself, and my boy heard that and went:

"Ah yes, I should go off on my own, because finding my own path obviously means I should path on my own"

The literal thinking got the best of him and you cannot tell me otherwise.

Because like, the second time he does that (after the lighting incident and all) that's for drama, he's being emo and edgy for sure. But this one? He legit went: "I thought about what you said, uncle, and this was the very logical conclusion I came to."

[thiirsdaygirl]

zuko sketches

hes STUPID and i HATE him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[transuncletaylor]

Oh look, Zuko gets a three day holiday

[szmaciarz-pospolity]

Jetko ISN'T!!! "Me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic". It's "Me and the autist I pulled by being a bad bitch"

Know the fucking difrence.

[gaybd1]

I love Zukka food conversations?

Zuko HAS known hunger but he’s also had all the food he’s ever needed served to him on a silver platter for the majority of his life

Sokka was responsible for feeding his entire village from way too young an age

Zuko has dealt with ARFID/autism-related texture issues his whole life and feels extremely guilty because of his “privilege to be picky” (he’s rarely been fully healthy regardless)

Sokka teaching Zuko to fish and hunt because it’s super important to Zuko not to be helpless while on his own again

Sokka expressing his own guilt to Zuko of the winters when there wasn’t enough food for everyone to go around. How he felt responsible. How he gave almost all his food to Katara so she wouldn’t have to know what real hunger was

Both of them getting a bit of chub as adults because they are finally in a position where they CAN

[corpsedisturbed]

partially blind partially deaf autistic zuko my beloved

[stardust948]

Zuko is "Briefly glances at you but mostly avoids eye contact" autism.

Azula is "Intense stare into your soul without blinking" autism.

[isthei]

in the vein of this post:

zuko has “no social skills and doesn’t care to have them” autism

azula has “hyper-analyze every social situation to make sure i’m making the effect i want” autism

…and ursa has “disappear into the woods for 10 years” autism.

[sleepyzukka]

atla textposts say whatttttt

[thief-of-eggs]

Zukka where it’s Sokka with that audhd rizz, Zuko with that autism rizz (aka it’s all- “wanna see my collection of rocks shaped like boomerangs???” and “yeah, ok.” ((they basically just confessed their undying love))

[punkeropercyjackson]

'Zutara should've happened to subvert the 'hero always gets the girl' trope!!!''Bad boy always gets the girl' is also a trope and one with significantly more misogynistic history than the hero one.Kataang itself is a subversion of how it's usually potrayed to make it feminist with specific writing points to switch up the gender dynamics and thus defy gender roles and sexist stereotypes,including that Katara is also the hero of Atla as much as Aang is,while Zutara calls for the bad boy one to be played straight in a classic faux-feminism move and false attempt at challenging cisheteronormativity.Also Zuko wouldn't have gotten Katara a statue 'unlike Aang' not just because he canonically didn't but also because she would never want one and there is no evidence to suggest she would nor that she finds manliness on men attractive nor that she's a preppy good girl nor that she enjoys playing into maternal roles to anybody except her actual kids or sees Aang as her son nor that she hates other girls her age nor that Zuko wants to burden his girlfriend with all his emotional problems nor be a 'female fantasy' for any girl instead of his girlfriend's boyfriend👍🏼Projecting is for film and y'all're M.Night Shyamalan