#fire nation

[ill-kidnap-all-the-stars]

Zuko

[ image description: a digital drawing of Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender drawing in my style. He is a light-skinned man standing in ¾ view and looking at a fire in his hand. His right eye is gold, but his left is heavily scarred and closed. His black hair is held up in a top knot with the flame-shaped Fire Lord Crown. He is wearing a gold-trimmed red inner robe, with a brown outer robe. It has gold embroidery of Chinese dragons on the shoulders, and a peacock feather motif on the hem of the robes. He is standing in front of a brown Fire Nation symbol ]

prints ✨ commissions

📣 If your Zuko isn't half blind, I don't want him 📣

I feel like some Fire Nation outfits are bright and red, but Zuko's are always in some way darker. Let's not unpick the symbolism there :/ as always, influences and inspiration under the cut, with the reminder that these originally came from Instagram slides I made, so they're missing a lot of extra context and nuance - also that I don't speak a lick of Chinese (any flavour of it) but I tried my best with the characters:

A Bit of Background:

The Fire Nation is visually and geographically inspired by volcanic islands such as Iceland, Hawaii and Polynesian islands, while the culture of the Fire Nation is primarily inspired by East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as sun-worshipping cultures (such as the Ancient Egyptians and Mesoamericans). For example:

the Confucian concept of ‘filial piety’ (孝顺 or ‘xiao shun’) is central to the Fire Nation too;

the agni kai is a form of honour duel commonly seen in warrior societies of South Asia, and literally translates as ‘Duel of Fire’ or ‘Fire Quarrel’;

the Fire Nation propaganda justifying the war is reminiscent of the Japanese Empire during the Second World War;

the architecture draws on that of Ancient Egypt, different Chinese dynasties, and historic Southeast Asian kingdoms;

the food typically resembles the Sichuan food, particularly in the spiciness and quantities of meat.

Fire Nation Clothing:

The clothing of the Fire Nation draws from many East and Southeast Asian clothing. For example, the armour the military wears has influences from traditional Thai armour, the shoulder pieces the Royal Family wears come from Burmese court wear, the school uniforms are inspired by traditional Thai clothing, and the Royal Family's top knot appear to come from Qin Dynasty China.

The Royal Court are often seen wearing changshan, a traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, although that is not the only influence. For example, Azula's skirt comes from the wraparound trousers worn in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, while Ty Lee and Toph's jewellery comes from the Thai mongkut.

My Design:

Zuko's wardrobe is one of (if not) the most varied, diverse and expensive of any character is the show. For example, his Ember Island clothing is very Thai-inspired, his Blue Spirit mask is based of a Chinese Nuo mask, his armour and hair in season one come from Thailand, and his dual swords come from Chinese niuweidao swords (牛尾刀). And that's not even mentioning the can of worms that is season two. But, since I'm drawing outfits for a ball in Republic City, I decided to draw inspiration from his looks in season three of ATLA and ATLOK.

I decided to go for the traditional daopao (道袍) robe, which usually had white or plain facings, but I decided to make them gold because Fire Nation. I put peacock feathers on Zuko's clothing because they symbolise the sun and virtue in Chinese clothing. I also decided to draw dragons on his outer robe. The dragons in ATLA are a combination of Western and Chinese dragons. Visually, they are very inspired by Chinese dragons, although they have four toes, which is more common with Korean and Vietnamese dragons, and they retain a connection to the Emperor. However, the presence of wings and their association with fire comes from Western dragons.

[zuko-always-lies]

Be funny if Zuko tried to put Azula on trial through inventing crimes that 95% of the Fire Nation elite were guilty of and trying to condemn her for them, only to get immediately murdered. Not by her, though, but by a bunch of people realizing that they're now in the firing line since they're equally "guilty," like basically everyone they know is. And by "people," I mean the elites he's depending on to run the government.

[late-draft]

This is continuation of this thread with great ideas that inspired the art: Post

Zuko hasn't (yet??) blocked Azula, not even temporarily

Iroh's photo is blurry because OF COURSE

Zhao keeps editing his stuff

I debated placing "Ozai: Seen" but it turns out he probably wouldn't even be looking at this social media

Please help me name this lame Fire Nation social media for boomers

Zuko's "On a quest" status is pure copium

Next part

[demaparbat-hp]

Arsonist's Lullaby

[unknownuser20-04]

fire nation Katara !!!!! 🔥🌊

[cultofthewyrm]

Fire Nation Royal Family by Denver Balbaboco

[stormbornnn]

[dragologist]

Nobody:

Men from the Fire Nation:

More like the Fire Baddies 💅🏻❤️‍🔥✨️

[xxbimboboyxx]

I am pumping these out goddamn

[official-sokka]

Don’t forget we invade the Fire Nation today

[queen-morgana91]

Avatar the Last Airbender beautifully told the story of how imperialists lie and have to be called on it and yet somehow certain people missed that message and turned into fire nation apologists

[ill-kidnap-all-the-stars]

Azula

[ image description: a digital drawing of Azula from Avatar: the Last Airbender in my style. She is a light-skinned woman with gold eyes and black hair, the top part tied in a top knot. She is wearing a red cheongsam dress with a wide skirt, a dark red/brown sash and a matching shawl around her arms. Her upper cheongsam has gold hibiscus embroidery, while her sash has gold phoenix embroidery. Whisps of blue fire are coming from her fingers. She is standing in front of a brown Fire Nation sign ]

prints ✨ commissions

I honestly feel like this Azula might be close to my magnum opus 🔥 influences and inspiration under the cut, but the usual warning that it's nigh impossible to condense thousands of years and miles worth of culture into one post so there is 100% nuance and detail missing. Also, I tried my best with the Chinese, but I honestly don't speak a lick of it so I put my faith in strangers on the internet :/ anyway, enjoy:

A Bit of Background:

The Fire Nation is visually and geographically inspired by volcanic islands such as Iceland, Hawaii and Polynesian islands, while the culture of the Fire Nation is primarily inspired by East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as sun-worshipping cultures (such as the Ancient Egyptians and Mesoamericans). For example:

the Confucian concept of ‘filial piety’ (孝顺 or ‘xiao shun’) is central to the Fire Nation too;

the agni kai is a form of honour duel commonly seen in warrior societies of South Asia, and literally translates as ‘Duel of Fire’ or ‘Fire Quarrel’;

the Fire Nation propaganda justifying the war is reminiscent of the Japanese Empire during the Second World War;

the architecture draws on that of Ancient Egypt, different Chinese dynasties, and historic Southeast Asian kingdoms;

the food typically resembles the Sichuan food, particularly in the spiciness and quantities of meat.

Fire Nation Clothing:

The clothing of the Fire Nation draws from many East and Southeast Asian clothing. For example, the armour the military wears has influences from traditional Thai armour, the shoulder pieces the Royal Family wears come from Burmese court wear, the school uniforms are inspired by traditional Thai clothing, and the Royal Family's top knot appear to come from Qin Dynasty China.

The Royal Court are often seen wearing changshan, a traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, although that is not the only influence. For example, Azula's skirt comes from the wraparound trousers worn in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, while Ty Lee and Toph's jewellery comes from the Thai mongkut.

My Design:

While Azula (and, in fact, many other Fire Nation characters) originally had a distinctly Japanese-influenced design, I decided to roll with the overarching Chinese aesthetic that she and the Royal Court ended up with. I think it's well-established that Azula's obsession with perfection extends to her appearance, not just her bending, so I decided to draw her as the perfect Fire Nation princess.

My starting point was the Chinese phoenix (鳳凰 or ‘fenghuang’), which symbolises, among other things, feminine beauty and good fortune, and is traditionally associated with the Empress in Imperial China. In addition, the phoenix and the dragon are often seen as representative of the yin and yang, the two complimentary and opposing forces in Chinese philosophy, and I think the two nicely symbolise Azula and Zuko's contentious relationship. I also embellished her dress with hibiscus flowers, as they symbolise glory, grandeur and fame, which I believe Azula desires greatly.

[mayskalih]

fire siblings but make them travel together

[firelordrozula]

Here’s the theory, Ursa and Ozai are both narcissists who played favorites with the child that best suited their egos.

Ursa wasn’t a perfect mother, and she was also in an abusive marriage — both truths can coexist.

[demaparbat-hp]

Existential Nihilism Squad™

[maniacrow]

Zukka once again, this time with a time lapse as well.

Guys give me two minutes to figure out Tumblr and I'll be flying