#azulah

[natlacentral]

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’: Kid dentures, prison buff Iroh and more during PaleyFest

The animated fantasy action series Avatar: The Last Airbender has a passionate fanbase that can be very protective of the franchise. After a failed movie adaptation over a decade ago, some approached the most recent live-action television show with skepticism. However, this version was better received. At PaleyFest 2024, the cast and creatives came together to discuss the first season and their expectations for the future. 

Showrunner Albert Kim, executive producer and director Jabbar Raisani, and actors Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Arden Cho, and Elizabeth You all took to the stage.

During the panel portion of the evening���s events, the audience heard some behind the scenes stories during filming. For example, Kim did not realize how young his lead actor was until he received a call from the production office about an accident on set. There was no fight or stunt accident, but Cormier did lose one of his baby teeth. A week later he lost another. Kim hired a denturist on staff to create dentures for the star. Imagine, a twelve-year-old with dentures.

Lee was the oldest cast member on stage, and he reflected on how when he was growing up, he never saw himself in the shows he watched on television. He felt blessed to be part of Avatar: The Last Airbender with such a diverse cast. He was especially excited to work with Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Fire Lord Ozai, and Ken Leung, who plays Commander Zhao. Lee loved Leung’s character on Lost so much, that he named his son Miles.

Near the end of the discussion, the actors were asked what they were excited to explore about their characters in seasons two and three. 

Kiawentiio touched upon how Katara has gained a new confidence over the course of the first season earlier in the night. She would like to see more of that confidence, and just more of the main trio. Ousley spoke how Sokka experienced his first catastrophic emotional situation with a love interest in the season one finale. Now there is a lot that he’s going to have to work through emotionally.

One of the most engaging pairs in Avatar: The Last Airbender is the uncle and nephew duo of Prince Zuko and Iroh. Liu is anxious for fans to see more their relationship.

“You get to really see how close Uncle Iroh and Zuko really are compared to the animated series. Carrying that over to the future seasons of our show, if you’ve watched the original, you know how big some of those moments are in the ending and at the beginning of season three,” Liu said.  “I’m really stoked for Uncle Iroh and Zuko’s moments in those seasons because I think they’ll hit that much harder because of what we built in season one.”

Lee felt that his TV nephew stole his original answer. He then jokingly responded with Prison Buff Iroh to be aided with the use of CGI. 

Yu is looking forward to playing a bigger role in Avatar: The Last Airbender. “Towards the end of season one, I think Azulah gains her freedom from the Fire Nation when she’s able to reign terror on the rest of the world.” With that new sense of freedom, Yu is hoping to finally be able to interact more with the other characters.  

For Gordon, his thoughts came back to his character’s flying bison. He shared, “In episode one we get to see Aang’s relationship  with Appah a little bit, and if we did get to dive into that more in season two and three, that would be so amazing. That would be awesomeness.”

The final words of the night came from Kim. He will be stepping away as showrunner of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Raisani and Christine Boylan will be filling in moving forward. But fans don’t need to worry about the change in creative leadership. 

“Both of them were so involved in the first season. They were so vital in making the season what it was so I have utter confidence in what they are going to do,” Kim told the audience. “I know that Christine, who is here today with a bunch of our writers who are all here, they are hard at work on the scripts for season two. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do as much as anyone. I’m very very confident and happy of the hands the show is in and where it’s going to go.”

Check out the rest of the programming schedule of PaleyFest 2024.

[fire-lady-ilah]

(Accidentally responded on my main, oops)

Your theories are definitely far more... historically accurate (it’s not history but it’s based off history) than mine! I personally have a very idealized view on Azulon and Ilah’s relationship, especially since I’ve further fleshed out their characterization in my mind since originally writing this post. (Shameless self promo: I wrote a whole 15k fic about their betrothal), and of Azulon himself.

Aaaand. Stop now if you don’t want to read long rambling about characterization that is not at all based in canon. It’s been a while which means I have a lot to add to this post.

I view them both as complex people, Azulon as loving of very few people (but endlessly loyal to those he does love), and uncaring of all others unless they mean something to him or those he loves. Even in that, he is incredibly selfish about it (in my HCs he kills his older brother without considering the emotional effects it would have on his older sister, despite loving her), doing what he thinks is best for them rather than what necessarily would be best for them. My Azulon (which could be different from canon Azulon, even though he becomes canon Azulon. He changes a lot after Ilah’s death) would never commit marital rape. I honestly just chalk Ozai up to them being sloppy regarding protection. If he wanted another heir, he would be fully within his right (and he would, since he only cares for those he loves) to take a concubine for the purposes of having more heirs, and those heirs would still be in the line of succession. Despite this, both he and Ilah welcomed the idea of a new heir.

The issue for them came when Ilah got sick during the pregnancy and, in her weakened state, it only got worse and worse. He very much blames Ozai for his mother’s death (especially because Ozai inherited a lot of her gestures and expressions without realizing it). This is also when he stops trying for peace and immediately sends Iroh away to restart the attack on the Earth Kingdom. Iroh doesn’t blame his brother, but he isn’t around much, he’s too busy fighting.

I also have Ozai raised partially by Lo and Li in my mind, although to me they’re his cousins, the twin daughters of his aunt Anzu (Azulon’s older sister, who I have written multiple fics about as part of the ATLA OC Week). I also have him being heavily influenced by pro-war tutors. Azulon himself refused to pay much attention.

Ilah, on the other hand... okay, so I have her as a waterbending princess from the Northern Water Tribe. She’s the youngest daughter of the Chief, with two older brothers and three older sisters, one of whom already has two children at the time of her betrothal to Azulon. She is also utter garbage at healing, despite being amazing at other aspects of waterbending, This results in her being very good at political maneuvering in order to get her voice heard, even if it is a man that actually ends up speaking it. Like Azulon, she only cares about what is hers, though that does extend to the people of the Northern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation, rather than just a few specific people.

Her marriage has her in the Fire Nation in 18 AG, which means she has two years of constantly being at Azulon’s side in order to give him her views. Azulon is a force for peace in the beginning, although he’s also not willing to give up the colonies or any of the ocean they’ve claimed, which makes the discussion slow.

It’s important to note here that Ilah’s loyalty does not extend to the SWT.

In 35 AG, SWT assassins try to kill Iroh (and Ilah but she cares less about that). Azulon is the one that issues the vicious attacks on the Southern Water Tribe. Ilah is the one that whispers that, without their waterbenders, the tribe cannot fight back in any meaningful way. She is the one that gives the information needed to effectively fight waterbenders, being one herself and watching her older brother train in combative waterbending as a child. She is the driving force behind their destruction.

The only reason Ilah wanted peace is because it would be best for the people of the Fire Nation and for any children she had. She’s not a good person, neither is her husband. But they love each other fiercely.

She suggests he get concubines for more heirs as they are having trouble conceiving more (and they had trouble with Iroh), Azulon is the one that refuses.

Completely unrelated, but Iroh watching his mother waterbend as a child and teen is why he thinks of waterbending as an inspiration for lightning redirection.

I have more but this is probably getting boring already, hah. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to rant about my stupid fire boy and water girl.

Assorted Fire Nation Royal Family Headcanons

Azulon was the youngest of Sozin’s three children that survived past their birth. He had one sister and one brother.

His sister, while higher in the order of succession than him (the Fire Nation didn’t change the order of succession due to sex), stepped down from her position after their older brother’s completely natural death.

In 15AG peace talks began between the Fire Nation and the Northern Water Tribe in order to remove a front in the war. While the Northern Water Tribe knew they could withstand the attacks from the Fire Nation, they knew the Fire Nation would only continue to grow. These peace talks were headed by Prince Azulon, newly his father’s heir.

The talks culminated in a peace treaty being signed at the end of 15AG with a betrothal being made between 15 year old Prince Azulon, Sozin’s youngest, and 13 year old Princess Ilah, youngest daughter of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe.

Azulon crafted Ilah her own betrothal necklace of red silk and a charm made of pure gold. He had multiple drafts of it, all critiqued by his older sister before he eventually sent her the final necklace.

Azulon and Ilah truly loved each other and their marriage was viewed as the first love-marriage in the Royal Family in three generations (everyone knew of Sozin and Roku’s love and it’s tragic end).

Upon Iroh’s birth in 35AG, Azulon became more concerned with the war, sharply increasing military expenditure and effort. He put his focus on destroying the Southern Water Tribe, their biggest threat. He wanted the war to be finished before his son reached adulthood.

Simultaneously, he began approaching the idea of peace with the Earth Kingdom, starting by relaxing the rate at which advancements were made on their borders and reopening some trade. This move was supported by his wife.

When Ilah died while giving birth to Ozai in 55AG, the nearly completed peace treaty with the Earth Kingdom was burned. All ideas of peace in Azulon’s mind died with his wife. His attacks on both the Southern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom increased in intensity.

Iroh had been raised with ideals of peace, though he still joined the military. Ozai, on the other hand, was raised with nothing but conquering and violence.

Prince Lu Ten was born in 73AG and his mother died in the same way as his grandmother. Despite that, it didn’t lead Iroh to hate Lu Ten as Azulon hated Ozai. Instead, he pampered him.

When Zuko was born, Azulon was the one that forbade him from killing the child. He saw no spark in his eyes, but his saw his late wife in how the child was quiet, watching. He secretly hoped the child was a waterbender like Ilah.

When Azula was born, Azulon didn’t have to stop Ozai from killing her. He was happy she was a prodigy, yet all he could see was his older brother in her, in the way she smiled as she tormented her brother. But maybe that was for the best.

Lu Ten excelled in school, going to the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Boys. He skipped three grade levels, in a class with 10 year olds at only 7 years old,

There he became best friends and rivals with Wei Zhao. The two constantly competed for top spot in the class, equals in firebending and history, with Lu Ten excelling in mathematics, and the arts. Wei, on the other hand, was intelligent and ruthless when it came to battle strategy.

They began dating in their last year of school. Wei Zhao became Private Zhao after school, immediately enlisting in the navy. Lu Ten chose not to immediately enlist, instead focussing on his princely duties.

Despite being in the navy, Lieutenant Zhao had been pulled from his ship to join the siege of Ba Sing Se due to his firebending prowess and Lu Ten’s own request.

Zhao could do nothing as he watched Lu Ten breathe his last breaths, buried in earth and trying to reassure him he’d be okay.

[swordwife]

azul is a bitch that does not great things but he deserves to be happy 

[dicmonds]

voted for you to stay as clairtemples foR OBVIOUS REASONS. claire temple lord and savior. claire temple for president 2k16.

MY GOD, IM GOING TO DIE IF I ABANDON THIS URL I JUST

url: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / CLAIRE TEMPLE

icon:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / HERMIONE GRANGER

theme:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / FRANCIS VALOIS

posts:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / NATASHA ROMANOFF

updates:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / AMY SANTIAGO

overall:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / RAVEN REYES

following: no sorry bub’ / now i am / already was / FOREVER UR NEVER ESCAPING ME

compliment: THANK GOD I ASKED U FOR THIS URL BC I LOVE UR BLOG AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU POST, CLAIRE TEMPLE IS MY LORD AND SAVIOUR

want one?  (◕‿-)

[caviezels]

music asks: 6, 7, 18, 19, 20, 27, & 30!

thx for sending this in babe! srry it took so long lmao

6. A song that makes you want to dance

the x files theme song umm the walker by fitz and the tantrums

7. A song to drive to 

girls chase boys by ingrid michealson nd shine by years and years

18. A song from the year you were born

this question was why this took so long to answer okay. i had to look the songs up fake 2000′s kid smh but its a threeway tie between; oops i  did it again, its gonna be me, and bye bye bye bc honestly those songs are all so iconic i couldnt decide

19. A song that makes you think about life

sun by sleeping at last. its so beautiful nd makes me think abt a lot of stuff

20. A song that has many meanings to you

little talks by of monsters and men and homecoming heroes by the head and the heart

27. A song that breaks your heart

goner by twenty one pilots

30. A song that reminds you of yourself

not today by twenty one pilots bc its happy but so fucking sad

[greypryde]

wandamvximoffs tbh?? but also everything else damn son how did you get so many good urls

i love that one!! and omg thank u 

url     don’t get it | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 icon          selfie | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 theme     default | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5        sidebar/header 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5    posts      1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 overall   1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 following? no, sorry! | now i am! | hells yes | you’re fam

compliment: i love ur sidebar like omg laurel lance yes and also ur so nice like how?? 

new year, new url blogrates

[viktorcrum]

petra. I wanna see petra. it's just so cool, oh my god.

oh my goodness, I didn’t even know this place existed! (I totally had to google it and it’s stunning! I’ll have to add it to my list of places I wanna visit too) (✿◠‿◠)

icon: the grinch | mistletoe | mince pies | mulled wine | christmas pudurl: the grinch | mistletoe | mince pies | mulled wine | christmas pudtheme: the grinch | mistletoe | mince pies | mulled wine | christmas pudposts: the grinch | mistletoe | mince pies | mulled wine | christmas pudfollowing?: ofc, it’s like christmas everyday seeing your blog on my dash | I wasn’t, but I just unwrapped the greatest gift ever by opening your blog and so I am now! | I’m not, sorry darling! however, I’m sure your blog will be absolute perfection for someone else at this wonderful time of year (✿◠‿◠)

blog rates !!

[katebishop]

azulah replied to your post: lydiamcrtin replied to your post: lydiamcrtin...

tbh I’ve seen whole boards on nano dedicated to fanworks so I think they don’t really care ??

oh really?? that’s cool, i didn’t know! i guess the point is to just stick to writing something haha, here’s ur answer @lydiamcrtin :)

[flashhwing]

azulah answered: but what can you put in the pancakes? do you have blueberries bc if so pancakes all the way

I don’t like blueberry pancakes.  i put vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger in them, and SOMEHOW managed to fuck them up badly enough that they are simultaneously burnt and udercooked

[swordwife]

might fuck around and make the azul/delilah ship name azulah

[dicmonds]

amysamtiago → clairtemples

[markruffalos]

favorite characters tag game

the lovely daenarystorms tagged me (thank you!!) to do the ten favorite characters tag game (one per fandom) 

btw these are so not in orde

allison argent // teen wolf

clarke griffin // the 100

jemma simmons // agents of shield

steve rogers // mcu

capheus van damme // sense8

linh cinder // the lunar chronicles

greer // reign

laurel lance // arrow

daenerys targaryen // game of thrones

laurel castillo // how to get away with murder

now i’m tagging: azulah, fihli, fallingloki, aliciaflorrickxwine, trylerhoechlin, and bisexualmerlin

[katebishop]

OK SORRY my answer got cut off. but yeah it's totally valid for you to feel anxious about this but I'd go ahead and ask her anyways :)

haha yeah i thought it got cut off :’) thank u!!

[julianblckthorn]

voted for your clary herondale url :3

Want One?

[willsollace]

voted for you to stay the same; number 38 (or thereabouts)

thanks!

url: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

icon: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

theme: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

side/top bar: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

posts: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

overall: flip-flops | sunglasses | sundress | high-waisted shorts | crop top | sandals | bikini

want one?

[billvbatson]

do you ever just look at a character and think "yes. this one. this is the one I will sacrifice my soul to."

just one? more like 20.