#conflict in atla

[aangarchy]

Alright now this pissed me off

What do you MEAN you're going to remove one of the most important aspects of Sokka's character arc in the first season? What do you MEAN you're going to remove Sokka unlearning misogyny, accepting change and embracing his role as a fighter and protector of the Avatar in order to end the war? What do you MEAN???

[salty-pnutz]

Little Izumi painting her face to look like the one she admires the most

"Look daddy, i I have a mark like you"

"oh..."

[actualgoblinm]

Every time I think about The Southern Raiders when Katara bloodbends now I imagine Zuko getting flustered and thinking something along the lines "she REALLY could end me if she wanted" and spending days trying to figure out why he thought it was hot.

He eventually told that to Sokka after they defeated Ozai and Sokka was just like "lol yeah same, Suki whooped my ass when we met and I fell in love"

[ecoterrorist-katara]

“It’s gross if Katara marries Zuko since he’s her colonizer” she overthrew the last Fire Lord to put Zuko on the throne. If anything the Fire Nation would be worried that he’s Katara’s puppet

[theotterpenguin]

thinking about how katara is the only person zuko tells about his mother, the only member of the gaang who zuko opens up to about his scar, the only person he let touch his scar, the person that zuko gained another scar for in order to protect. thinking about how all the terrible memories wound up in zuko's scars are also now intimately connected to katara's kindness. thinking about how katara is the first person zuko trusted, how she offered to heal his scar out of the goodness of her heart, how much he values that trust she placed in him and so he cares the most about rebuilding that connection with her - more than anyone else - after his betrayal. thinking about katara always being so in tune with zuko's feelings, how she understands the importance of zuko and iroh's relationship and is concerned about zuko during the eip, and how in return zuko chooses to open up to her when he's worried about his uncle forgiving him. thinking about how only katara has truly witnessed the complicated relationship between zuko and azula, how she's seen azula's manipulation of her brother but has also seen how zuko still cares for her and stands by him even when he's grieving the defeat of his sister. and how for all these reasons it only makes sense that zuko would want katara with him for the most difficult fight he's ever had to face, and it only makes sense that azula realizes killing katara will hurt zuko the most.

thinking about how zuko is so in tune with katara's feelings, how even when they were enemies the crystal catacombs he reaches out to her when he realizes she's upset, how he never invalidates her negative feelings towards him, but instead only asks what he can do for her. thinking about how zuko is the only person in the show that katara ever reveals the full story of her mother's death to, and how zuko is empathetic and kind and apologizes to her, despite not being responsible for it. thinking about how zuko is the one who recognizes that katara still has her own story to resolve, separate from aang's, and helps her overcome the most traumatic event of her life. thinking about how zuko understands the strength in katara and trusts her to make her own choices, never questioning katara's personal moral choice not to kill but also not to forgive. thinking about how zuko is the only person in the show that ever looks after katara's wellbeing while she's so busy caring for everyone else, how he asks katara to rest, how he realizes that katara needs to face her past to heal emotionally, how he takes katara to ember island for some alone time to process what has happened, how he is always shown helping out with house chores without being asked. how for once katara gets to be cared for instead of the caretaker. thinking about how zuko never makes his forgiveness a requirement of helping her, and yet, for all of these reasons, it only makes sense that katara chooses to forgive him. and it only makes sense that zuko is the person that katara ends up trusting the most deeply, the person she is willing to run into an agni kai arena for and risk her life because she cares for him and doesn't want him to get hurt.

just thinking about the way that katara and zuko share a relationship that is so unique from any other dynamics in the show, and how they share the most complicated, emotionally intimate connection in the gaang.

and it's no wonder that they always gravitate towards each other the most in the second half of book 3 - because they understand each other the most out of everyone else. they never leave each other's sides in tsr, go out of their way to be near each other in subsequent episodes, and are together in almost every scene in the finale.

[hojichasunrise]

Katara playfully splashes water at Aang, who responded by sulking in a brooding cave and then exploding lava in her face and storming off without any apology. From The Lost Adventures.

Golly gee why don't I want to ship such a wholesome wonderful healthy ship like this? Gee whiz, it's great Katara didn't end with Zuko, otherwise she might get lava thrown at her in an argument from an immature, emotionally unavailable, abusive jerk! /s Oh, right, Aang is the one who did that.

Aang has always been the one to hurt Katara. Funny Zuko hasn't. Remind me again who scarred Katara's hands, who blew up into the avatar state leaving Katara to pull him out lest he destroy her, her brother, and everything around him? Who stormed off right before the finale without communication leaving his friends to die in the invasion? Was it Zuko who did those things? Was it?

Such a wholesome ship!

[dunnowho180125]

yes again

OK OK ok so

Zukka AU where Zuko has a tiny bit more common sense and realizes his father is batshit insane a few months after the start of his banishment so he ends up being a menace for the fire nation (especially Zhao) and NOBODY can catch him and his crew (which are loyal to him cause Iroh tells them the story of his scar earlier) and one day he has to go to Kyoshi Island to restock and also to catch up with a friend (Suki) he made while talking shit about the Firelord but when he arrives everything is on fire because Zhao, who was tasked with the mission of retrieving the Avatar after informants report the Big Avatar Beacon, is an ass so Zuko goes to help and almost gets killed by Sokka, who does not know who he is, and they all end up with very awkward presentations to do but the Gaang doesn’t rly trust Zuko at first and then Suki (who know about the scar) makes a joke about “the Firelord burning Zuko’s other eye because it worked so well the first time” and they are all like yk what after much reflection we are adopting you and Sokka is like “Aang if you don’t kill the Firelord i will” and-

[yuwuta]

i can’t stop thinking about your waterbender!megumi au..,, like yes he’s more specialized in healing but would not hesitate in using waterbending to protect you from whoever or whatever (even if he prob loses😭) he might even learn bloodbending from the village’s hermit choso who knows🤷🏽‍♀️ and lmao him just giving you a betrothal necklace without verbally proposing you… i hate (love) this dork

even if he prob loses LOLL megumi is such a loser but it’s okay he fights valiantly <33 but yeah, him spending all his time with his mom and all the elders in the village healing and homemaking and cooking because his style of water bending is so soothing and calm, and also he’s a huge mama’s boy, and also because everyone likes to use his and toji’s strength to their advantage to get them to do the heavy lifting, but the second there’s a threat to you, he pulls out all the stops. suddenly he’s a trained fighter and master waterbender oh he’s so beloved to me <33

the necklace thing to me is like how katara was wearing her grandmother’s betrothal necklace without knowing it? he took a trip to the opposite pole where the tradition is engagement necklaces or bracelets or whatever significant piece of jewelry, and comes back with one for you and just. gives it to you, no explanation and then a day later someone else notices it and grins ear to ear congratulating you and megumi and you’re like ????? and it’s not until his mom is like “oh he did it! tell me all about the proposal!” and now megumi is dodging icicles you’re bending his way bc who proposes without proposing. but it’d also be equally hilarious if he also didn’t know it was betrothal jewelry and was just trying to be romantic and now you’re engaged LOLL

[moredifferentthanusual]

my atla au fanfic pet peeve is people making katara angry or reluctant at zuko joining the group. katara was the FIRST one to trust and forgive zuko. he spent >5min telling her he had a tragic backstory and she was ready to use up her one and only vial of superultramagical healing on a cosmetic problem because it would make him happy.

katara is thee Most forgiving, trusting, and generous of the lot. thats Why she could be betrayed at all. Because she trusted so easily! the fact she holds a grudge at a betrayal that got her best friend killed severely injured does not mean she is anything less than the most trusting and willing to take a chance on others of the group!

if in an alternate universe zuko wound up joining the group earlier or the betrayal never happened she would be the first to accept him, she would welcome him with open arms and fight on his behalf with the groups true skeptic ie sokka

[elderwisp]

◁ || ▷ now playing

Atlas: [ internally ] They say that blood is thicker than water. But the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. So who’s your staunch companion? I’ll go first. Some would say it’s an old friend of mine.

[waterfire1848]

Azutara AU - Ozai angers a spirit, but, because Azula is actually the one there, it decides to curse Azula. Every night, she transforms into a dragon until sunrise. The curse can only be broken by Azula proving to the spirit that she deserves to have the curse lifted. While the Gaang is traveling through the Earth Kingdom, Katara sees a dragon get shot down and runs to help. When Katara finds the dragon, the sun is just rising and Katara witnesses this giant blue dragon transform into the princess that's they fought in Omashu

[the-badger-mole]

Hello, I would like to ask how do you see the friendship between Aang and Sokka and Aang and Toph post canon, taking into account both their characterization in the canon along with the comic Imbalance? Do you think they could be very close friends, or would their friendship be more superficial?

I've never read Imbalance, but I think that Aang is canonically only superficially friends with both of them. I'd like to think that eventually Sokka and Toph (and Katara and Zuko) would come to realize how Aang-centric all of his relationships are and call him on it. I could see a universe where Aang grows from that and becomes a better friend/person. But I could also see a universe where Aang stays incredibly a bad friend who's incredibly self-focused, considering what his role in the world is. I could also see any major confrontation leading Aang down the road to becoming Dark!Avatar Aang, and being the ATLA universe's version of Superman Prime.

[maxiemumdamage]

Am now contemplating an AU where instead of being cut off from the Avatar State after Azula hits him with lightning, Aang accesses the wisdom of Avatars future instead of past.

Of course, since the Avatar line was reset, there’s only one person that can be.

Korra.

[defnotkanyewest]

Honestly I get where he was coming from, like if I had to take the bus to work while other people could fly, air scooter and use earthbending to get there I’d be so pissed

[zukosdualdao]

i’ve sometimes seen the idea that azula cheating in the agni kai by aiming at katara is supposed to show how far she’s fallen and how lost she is because she wouldn’t have cheated before, but that just… does not ring true to me.

i think this idea comes from her characterization of trying to live up to perfection, but i think it’s important to remember she’s functioning under ozai’s definition of perfection, a guy who infamously colluded with his wife to kill his father so that he could be firelord. i don’t get the particular sense he cares how, exactly, azula carries out the goals he’s set for her, as long as she accomplishes them.

and a lot of really prominent azula scenes turn on the axis of her being exactly this underhanded. in the avatar state, she tries to manipulate iroh and zuko into coming home under false pretenses, when she really means to arrest them. in bitter work, seeing she’s outnumbered, she makes a false surrender so that her opponents will hesitate/back down and then attacks iroh when they do. in the crossroads of destiny, she strikes aang with lightning from behind while he’s in the avatar state. in the awakening, she lies that zuko killed aang because she wants an insurance policy she won’t be blamed on a hunch he might be alive.

whether or not these break official rules of combat or acceptable legal/social behavior in-universe, i think it’s hard to deny that these actions form a pattern that showcases azula as someone not concerned with integrity or ideological fairness in such situations.

azula is a fascinating character, and her breakdown in sozin’s comet is tragic. but it’s not because she’s acting out of character; if anything, it’s because she’s falling back on old patterns despite her hallucination of her mother (and therefore her own subconscious) trying to warn her that using fear to control people isn’t truly viable. but that means her entire concept of the world is wrong, so she doubles down and shoots for katara, a noncombatant in this fight, having seen zuko agree to an agni kai in the hopes she wouldn’t get hurt and thus understanding he fears that and will make sure the lightning never reaches her. azula doesn’t care how she wins because it’s never mattered how she wins, as long as she does. but with katara defeating her and ozai’s impending downfall, it’s about to matter a lot more.