#especially since the new earth avatar’s era is way more modernized than Aang’s or Korra’s

[kibutsulove]

As much as I want the victims of fire nation imperialism to receive their justice, I think it’d be a way better storytelling route if the fire nation’s war crimes were swept under the rug just as bad as japan’s crimes were

[araeph]

How do you see relationships between the Gaang progressing throughout adulthood? Bryke obviously did a bad job portraying them in general, and seeing how the other avatar writers felt the same, I imagined so much more for our favorite characters than what Bryke lazily did. Any thoughts on other characters like June?

First of all, therewould be NO leaving Zuko completely on his own to govern the Fire Nation. Thatis just a stupid move politically, militarily,

Jack: Spiritually, ecumenically, dramatically …

You name it. Thismeans that Iroh stays in the Fire Nation with Zuko, so that rather thanbacksliding by chatting with Ozai, Zuko would gain ground in his mission toredeem himself and the Fire Nation. The first few years would be extremelyvolatile, and there would be a lot of challenges ahead. He would have to searchfor his mother and reconcile, somehow, with Azula. But you know who would havebeen there to help him?

Aang. No, not theAang who decided “A promise is a promise!” and went into the Avatar State twice to attack Zuko. No, this Aang hascomplete control of the Avatar State, as he shouldhave by the end of the show, since that was one of the main goals of hischaracter. Aang would have gone to the Fire Nation first, since he spent theleast amount of time there out in the open and would have major trustrebuilding to do after what happened with Ozai.

During his time inthe Fire Nation, he would have discovered Ty Lee as an untrained airbender.This would give him the impetus to start looking for other airbenders, whomight not even know about their gifts. He would have difficulty with awork-life balance, but he would eventually find a way with the help of:

Toph. Toph’smetalbending academy is something I wholeheartedly approve of. I think sheshould eventually become a businesswoman and use her family’s vast wealth tomake Gaoling (and their new ally, Omashu) alternate power centers, so Ba SingSe wouldn’t have such a stranglehold on the rest of the Earth Kingdom, with metalbenders initially acting as private security, and later, a police force in the city. But while I understand that Toph has the attitude of a beat cop, she hates the city,walls, and rules, and there would be a bunch of all three if she became Chiefof Police. (P.S. She would have many more tea times with Uncle, and get that life-changing field trip with Zuko we allwanted to see.)

Toph would alsohave issues to sort through with her parents, and she would probably never seeeye to eye with her family. But one person would help coach her through it:

Katara. At first,Katara would bury herself in her work at the South Pole, helping her father,brother, and Pakku rebuild the Southern Water Tribe. She would be at the heartof social justice issues, especially for Water Tribe women, and would challengemore than one antiquated idea that the Northerners would bring with them. Shewould get many marriage offers once she turned sixteen, and to take a breakfrom it, she would answer Zuko’s request help find his mother. This leads toher realizing how stifled she feels at home, where everyone expects her tocater to them, in addition to helping lead their tribe. She would apply for adiplomatic post to the Fire Nation and eventually create her own cross-bendingschool, adapting her school from Toph’s metalbending academy. At first, shewould worry about not being at home enough to help the women’s rights movementin the Water Tribe, but someone else has the situation under control:

Suki. Suki would bean asset as the head of the Kyoshi Warriors, and also as a partner for Sokka.Her island’s location and the fact that the villagers wear blue all point toWater Tribe influence on Kyoshi anyway, and once the war is over and tradebegins booming again, she would work to make Kyoshi less of a spectator in theworld and more of a participant. She would be an excellent role model forSouthern Water Tribe girls who don’t want to be pigeonholed into the homemakerideal, and could also play a part in Republic City eventually. As the leader ofan island that was neutral during the war, Suki would be an ideal person tohave on the Republic City Council. (P.S. Why it’s a Council of Five when thereare no nonbending representatives in LOK is a mystery to me. This would fixthat oversight.) But who would lead the Kyoshi Warriors if she took up such aposition?

Ty Lee. Ty Lee didn’tget a real explanation for why she joined the Kyoshi Warriors, especiallyconsidering her misgivings about spending the rest of her life as a matchedset. She could turn the tables on the idea, lending individuality to theWarriors and teaching them chi blocking techniques while learning some of theirfighting styles as well. These nonbenders could eventually form the Equalistmovement, but a different one than in LOK—a morally ambiguous movement, insteadof a villainous cadre led by a demagogue.

In the end, though,Ty Lee is a wanderer, and I’m inclined to believe that she is, in fact, anuntrained Air Nomad. Eventually she would discover this, and that not only isshe not part of a matched set; she is possibly one of the rarest human beingsin the world. This would interfere with her “aura” for sure, because she’s notnecessarily cut out for the ascetic Air Nomad lifestyle. So while she would behappy for Aang to train her, she might also butt heads with him about how tobest secure the Air Nomad legacy for the future. Of course, since the AirAcolytes in Korra treated Kya andBumi so abysmally, in my opinion this could only be a good thing. Through itall, she would still keep in touch with:

Mai. I have adifferent character path planned for Mai than what other fans might suggest. Maibecoming a bounty hunter is a popular fanon idea, which makes sense, since shedid seem to enjoy tracking down Zuko and Iroh so that Azula could imprisonthem for life, as anyone would enjoy doing to a person they supposedly had acrush on. To me, Mai’s poker face and cool-under-fire attitude screams“White Lotus”, of which there are no female members that we know at the endof A:TLA. The main obstacle to inducting her into the Order would be that theWhite Lotus is based on principles of interconnection and understanding othercultures, which Mai categorically does not have. But this is one of the placesshe could thus grow the most, without having such character development tied toa specific person. The fact that she fooled the Fire Princess means she canplay both sides skillfully, which she’ll need to, considering a rival to theidea of a balanced world is going to be:

Azula. With Ozaiimprisoned and without his bending, Azula is the most creditable foe thefranchise still has. Patchy though her sanity might be, she is still extremelydangerous (as we saw during the Agni Kai). In an ideal world, she would use heralmost preternatural instincts for personal weakness and manipulation to be aruler, but the very confidence she exudes is based on her rigid mindset and afalse sense of Fire Nation superiority. As natural as leadership might be forher, she burned all her bridges when she banished or imprisoned every followershe had. I like the idea of her relearning the meaning of firebending from thedragons and bringing the Sun Warriors into the modern era, but it would be avery painful character path for her when just being mentally stable is a hugehurdle. I think she would need to stay in the Fire Nation for several years,slowly healing with Zuko’s help, before even attempting it.

There is one otherpath that I would consider for Azula, and that is: the Spirit World. Azula isnot a terribly spiritual person, but a spiritual journey such as Iroh underwentmight actually help her. It could train her mind to separate illusion and self-deceptionfrom reality, and give her a better sense of where she belongs in the world.Not to mention, the Spirit World is dangerous and full of tricksters such asKoh; I think she would enjoy the challenge.

And what about Sokka?

Well, Sokka’s character got shoved to the side in the comics, but honestly, him being on the Republic City council, helping the White Lotus, and likely being chief one day is just fine! Legend of Korra didn’t really do him the disservice that it did the other characters. However, there is one thing that he will never, EVER be, and that is the possible deadbeat dad of Suyin. For my reasons why, please look at this post.

I don’t have ideasfor anyone else, really, but we can’t leave out our most important character:

The GAang. In thecomics and LOK, the GAang all seem to have gone their separate ways, especiallywith Zuko being so isolated from everyone except Aang. Katara, too, seemsvery cut off from current events, which is unacceptable. The GAang remainedlifelong friends, regardless of any romantic relationships or lack thereof.Busy and hazardous as their lives might have been, they would always make thetime to write, visit, plan projects, and attend reunions together.

(P.S. I don’t knowthat June needs to develop as a character; she’s one of those tertiarypersonalities that’s just fine with the amount of screentime she has.)