#gladiator ozai gives so much to work with for reals

[seyaryminamoto]

Here's a simple art of Zhao turning his back to Ozai scene.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/108411738

This was meant to be posted together with it's parallel scene because *insert "poetic cinema" meme* but due to reasons I don't believe I'd be able to finish the other piece any time soon.

Also revisiting the chapter made me realize Ozai's hair should look more disbehaved than that. 😂

OOOOOOH, DANG!

That's one hell of a portrayal of that scene, love the way you worked with the lighting, makes it feel very dramatic (and it was indeed very dramatic, haha). And maybe Ozai's hair could be messier, but that it's messy altogether is VERY rare in Diva Lord x'D so I think his chaotic state of mind at this stage is conveyed perfectly here!

I'm really loving your Ozai art <3 his character arc in Part 3 is a rollercoaster that evokes sooo many fucked up emotions in me every single time I have to write him, as it should be when writing a guy like him, I'd dare say. He's complicated, he's messy, and I really thrive in portraying that because of how much work you can get done with a character like this. Seeing you making so much art about him really makes me think he's hitting the right spot as a complicated & complex character for more people than just myself, and nothing makes a writer happier than evoking other people's creations with their work! Thank you very much!!! <3

[sokkathebluewolf]

Hi I have a question what would you describe Azula and Zhao relationship in your story?

... a disaster waiting to happen?

Some spoilers below, so read at your own risk:

Azula and Zhao have always had a complicated relationship in Gladiator's universe. She used to practically hero-worship the guy as a kid... until she realized he was actually underestimating her and looking down on her for a myriad of reasons. Thus, she set out to prove herself to him, and to everyone who dared look down on her, so she could make him respect her for real.

Zhao, on his part, has always treated and seen Azula as a child, with only the occasional moments of realizing that she's already fully grown up (such as when they met again once he returned from the north) or that she's actually damn epic (such as during her week as Fire Lord). But more than anything, Zhao's behavior towards Azula was decidedly arrogant for a very long time. It's not until Azula seeks him out for help her in one of her schemes that he finally tries to make amends for his failings with her... and then he spends most his time attempting to make amends still, even if Azula isn't quite as antagonistic towards him anymore, what with her being a little more mature and also having waaaay too much going on in her life to worry that much about this guy anymore.

So... in Part 1, Azula was hostile towards Zhao, and Zhao condescending towards Azula. In Part 2, their relationship evolves towards a wobbly sort of respect, in which Zhao frequently attempted to prove himself to Azula too, only to fail practically every time regardless of his intentions. She didn't care much about those failures at first... but she does once he vows to help her get Ozai to stop his rampaging madness only to fail catastrophically at it.

At that point in Part 2, Azula's opinion of Zhao swings back to the absolute WORST extreme because she starts to read his behavior so far, yet again, as manipulation and deceit at every corner, as opportunism and attempts to claw at power at her expense. At best, she thinks maybe he just doesn't care if he has to go over her to get some power... but all in all, she's just reading his behavior, and her father's choices, as what Zhao has been hoping for since day 1.

This isn't exactly correct of course, we've been working with a much more complex and nuanced Zhao than what canon gave us, but what brittle cordiality he had built with Azula, whatever common sense Zhao might still have in his head... all of it falls to the wayside when he starts to see Azula not as a child anymore, but as someone with actual agency and power to strike back when threatened, and with no apparent regard for whatever she has to destroy in order to get her way. It's ironic because that description fits Ozai far better than it fits Azula... but that's how Zhao starts to see her after his gladiator is the sole casualty after the horrific destruction of the Grand Royal Dome.

Hence... Part 3 will give us the absolute worst possible state of affairs between Azula and Zhao. There's absolute distrust on both sides, and there's a certain irksome Ozai pushing his agenda of forcing people into corners, his favorite way to manipulate the world around him, and he forces these two into a corner neither of them wants to be in, which makes their relationship even worse. Zhao will certainly have a few moments of trying to do right by his promise to Sokka, back when he last spoke with Sokka in prison... but there will be a breaking point for Zhao. Said breaking point arrives once he feels used, betrayed, manipulated by Azula and it pretty much makes him snap... which paves the way for our Zhao to pretty much become the worst version of himself he can be.

As for Azula, at that point in time... well, she's never going to lower her guard around Zhao, that much should be obvious, I think. She'll refuse to ever see him as anything other than a sneaky, conniving bastard waiting to make the most of whatever chances fall on his lap. Even so, she'll make a few attempts at cordiality at a few points in time, and she'll do right by someone who should matter lots to Zhao, someone we've already seen a few times but that we'll see far more often in Part 3... our soft-spoken, quiet and awkward Rei :') But as it happens, Zhao misreads Azula's behavior towards Rei as more and more manipulation... and things become a chaotic disaster because of his assumptions. Ultimately, there's only one thing Azula will ever cherish related to Zhao... and it's literally Rei, nothing other than that :'D

So... that's pretty much it. Azula and Zhao really won't have a good dynamic going forward, it deteriorates further over time too (so... we could say it's kind of uneasy, unpleasant and painful in the early arcs of Part 3, but that dynamic grows more aggressive starting from arc 4), so unfortunately, what awaits these two in the coming chapters is not easy stuff at all. If you were curious because you hoped they'd be allies and friends... I'm sorry to say that's not in the books, not for someone like Zhao who, for all his not-so-disagreeable behaviors in Part 2, is still 100% on board with the firebending supremacist ideologies of Sozin. If a refresher is needed, he was pretty casual about sacrificing a whole slew of innocents as scapegoats to deceive the general population of the Fire Nation and to drive across a message about the harsh punishments that await anyone who dares dissent against Ozai's regime. And that's without even bringing up his willingness to destroy the Northern Water Tribe, erradicate their culture and claim their oasis not solely for the sake of slaying the Moon Spirit as in canon... but to test if its waters will truly grant immortality :')

Zhao was always a chameleon-sort of character in Gladiator, and while I certainly have enjoyed making him much more complex than he was in canon, I also can assure you... he's not a good person, on just about any level you can think of. Even if he has a handful of not-too-terrible traits here, he's still someone who has been shaped by the cruelty of his nation and who has been enforcing the will of the Fire Lord since his early years. Much like Ozai is quite unwilling to change his ways... ultimately, so is Zhao if said change means discarding the entire ideological foundation of their actions and decisions since their teenage years.

Thus, the better days of his dynamics with Azula are long gone now. There's really nothing particularly positive waiting in the horizon due to a very strong mutual distrust... and also due to their personal agendas, which yes, they both will have. In short, if you were holding your breath for anything good to come from their relationship, I'm afraid it's not going to happen.

[fanwright]

Gladiator: 200th Chapter Celebration

Tagging: @kigozula @seyaryminamoto

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Seyary, this is a great milestone for you. Just want to let you know that I’m happy for you and impressed by the work that you have done over the long years of writing this story. You’ve inspired others to get into Sokkla as well as to have fun with the ship. Its been a great pleasure!

When I first picked up this story, I was still in college and rediscovering ATLA. Gladiator, as well as your other stories (which I recommend that others read as well) really cemented my liking for this ship. Years later, I’m still here, though all the ups and downs.

Now, despite me liking Gladiator a whole lot, I’ve admittedly fallen behind on catching up with it, chapter by chapter. That said, I do want to read it at my own pace and as I read more I still find myself loving the story, as there is much to enjoy. 

So, to that end, I’ll be commenting on the parts of the story I have been caught up with, Chapters 1 to 100. I hope that’s okay. 

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1.) Favorite Character: Sokka

Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t like Azula. Of course not. And choosing one over the other is such a hard call to make that I would rather have them both occupy the same spot. But I decided Sokka in this case for a number of reasons. Others have commented on Azula in their own posts, so I thought giving my reasons for Sokka seemed only fair. 

We’ve seen Sokka change a lot over the course of the story and I seeing him morph into the character he is now is such a stark contrast to the one we saw at the very beginning. He hated the Fire Nation and was unwilling to cooperate with Azula. And yet, after trial and error and harsh circumstance, we have seen become a great warrior in his own right and the closest companion Azula has ever had, being her secret lover. It has been such a treat seeing him change and adapt and grow in this story. And as someone who really does like him as much as Azula, it was (and still is) a thill to see him get an all-star treatment in a story. 

And yet there are lingering complexities within him in this story, as far as I have gotten in it. There is still that awareness within him of who he serves and what he is doing, along with a nagging feeling of inadequacy that has hounded him at every turn. Bit by bit, either by his own efforts or with a little help, he is clawing his way forward internally to find some reconciliation. And I find that very compelling. 

And also its fun to see him thrash gladiators.  

2.) Least Favorite Most Dreaded Character: Ozai

Well, that’s not true really. I don’t dislike any of the reoccurring characters actually. 

The best way to describe this particular choice is “Most Dreaded Character”. I chose Ozai for this one because I dread the moment in when he finds out Azula and Sokka’s little affair. Now, again, I’m only on Chapter 100, so things could have changed by now. Yet, I believe still that if Ozai finds about about all this... a lot is going to change for Azula, Sokka, and even the Fire Nation. He will be a consequential character in the chapters to come and dread to see the his wrath and what that will mean for everyone else. It will not be pretty.

3.) Favorite “Antagonist”: Toph

When I first picked up this story and saw Toph introduced as an adversary, I was hyped. Like, you have no idea how hyped and pumped up I was for them to brawl. And I was not disappointed. 

See, for me, Toph represented more than just a metaphorical torn in both Sokka’s and Azula’s side for a good chunk of this story. She is at times a very compelling mini-villain, as if she is straight out of a Disney movie. She loves what she does and enjoys it, and knows just how powerful she is. And flaunts it in spectacular display. She has such a simple yet understandable motivation and was a very real threat to Sokka’s own life in the very first fight they were in. And despite both Sokka and Toph eventually learning to respect and even befriend each other, there was always the nagging thought that they would eventually fight again, and each one knew they wanted to win that rematch. Toph provided Sokka and Azula a reoccurring adversary to strive toward beating. Even as other gladiators came and went, they always knew Toph would be their biggest obstacle. So much build up was focused on training for that eventuality. And all of it was compelling enough to paint Toph as this great rival to them. Her being a part-time ally in some cases and even being a friend didn’t really change that until after they had fought a second time. 

Its because of this that I now believe firmly that Toph should be used as an antagonist more, if a story needs one. She is just so fun and so good as villain that hope others come to use her as one in AUs. 

As I read more, I’m sure this might change in time. But, even with all the fights Sokka has had, I firmly maintain that Toph was his greatest adversary on many levels. 

4.) Favorite OC: Rui Shi

Honestly, I think this guy is a sprit animal to someone out there. He’s just a guard trying to do his job right and the person he protects consistently makes that job harder for him in the most ridiculous ways. “Oh great, my princess is in an affair with her Gladiator and that won’t stop fucking like rabbits. Joy.”

Honestly, this man needs a vacation. A long one. And Seyary hasn’t given it to him, because she likes to make his life hard. Rude. 

For the longest time, I actually thought Rui Shi was much older than he actually is in the story. So until a picture of him was finally made, I pictured him as a 40 year old veteran with a graying mustache and beard. Even with how he actually looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if his job made him grow gray hair from all the stress. 

Good OC, one of a few I like.

5.) Favorite Suitor: Zhao

Should probably be no surprise. Where I am at right now, he’s essentially the suitor to beat as well as having the ultimate Gladiator for Sokka and Azula to defeat. Azula even admired him at some point. Though that has changed, I feel that Zhao has his eyes set on courting Azula further. Its a move that Ozai would likely not object to, provided Zhao pulls off something grand to earn that honor. And although every suitor has made Sokka angry, I feel Zhao would anger him on a deeper level as his interest in Azula grows. 

I look forward to seeing him more.

6.) Favorite Gladiator(s): Jet and Suki (For Chapters 1-100)

Jet being a brainwashed Gladiator highlighted a dark aspect to the games. He was also a brutal berserker when in the ring and one of Sokka’s most bitter adversaries. Suki to me was an interesting contrast to Sokka his situation with Azula. She was to me a kind of noble gladiator, an Amazon in the ring put gentle when out of it. Putting the canon characters in as Gladiators was always a treat for me and actually lends itself to some world-building.

7.) Favorite Gladiator-Canon Pairing: Sokka/Azula

This should not be a surprise :P 

I could go on and on about it, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep things short. This should not be surprise because the driving force and the very soul of this entire story is about a warrior-princess falling in love with a tribal gladiator. Their differences and how they reconcile them, their fears and pain, their passion and drive, all propel this story forward. Things have changed in this story because of them and they themselves have changed because fate brought them together.

If that isn’t enough to make them my favorite, then I’m sorry I don’t know what else to say to convince you XD 

8.) Favorite Arc(s): Rough Rhinos Arcs

Two arcs hit me hard on an emotional level - The end of the introductory arc and the Rough Rhino’s arc. They literally crawl out of quagmire, find a dragon in the process, and have one of the most touching and sincere heart-to-hearts in the story thus far. It was one of my favorite arcs to read and the emotional stakes were high. As I read more and continue, this might change, but for now I maintain this is one of my favorite arcs.

9.) Favorite Places/Locations: To Be Determine

This is the down side of having to catch up. There are a lot of locations in the story and in the ATLA universe that I like, and its always a hard choice for me to decide. I am a big fan of settings for a story and when I find a setting I like I usually latch onto it in all its locations. So for now, I will not decide on a solid choice.

... however, in any AU it might show up in, Bs Sing Se is my first choice by biased default. I just love that city and I always appreciate when a story fleshes it out in little ways. Gladiator being set for a fraction of its time in the city was great for me as I got to read more about the city I like so much. 

10.) I wish to see Sokkla in...: More tender, couple-like moments

Surprising, I know. But I what I mean is this - moments where they refrain from arguing, don’t bicker, and just enjoy being around each other, doing small things together. And its hard for them, they have to train they, have to keep their relationship a secret, they can only be a true couple for fleeting moments because of how dangerous and vulnerable it will leave them. And it claws at my heart every time. So I cherish the moments they have when they can be themselves around one another, fleeting as they sometimes are. 

11.) I believe Sokka and Azula’s relationship will be revealed when/like/because of...:

... when they get careless. When they feel that they are safe in their secrecy, complacaent in their routines for keeping their relationship hidden, that’s when it will be revealed. Its a kind of Hubris of sorts. 

And when its revealed, it will lead to something bad and irreversible for the both of them. You can only hide something like this for so long. Even historical royal affairs were never as secret as theirs. And they have taken painful precautions to keep it all under wraps. 

So when it finally does, it will change everything. And that’s going to be quite the wild ride.

12.) I believe at the end of Part 3...:

... that a sacrifice will be made. A death or a relinquishment of something. Sokka and Azula will be together, but something will have to be given up, and it will test them for the final time. 

I can’t say what it will be, but I’m going to enjoy finding out.

[wingsfreedom]

Gladiator Week: Favorite relation-ship(s)

@seyaryminamoto I either have too much to say or lazy. I think both.

Romantic relationships:

Sokkla, ofc. OTP one.

I love its slow burn development. It went realstic for both characters' personalities. It isn't perfect, but real. And multiple faced. All the stages and arcs they went throw were well-done and interesting, you can't get bored of this ship honestly. I love it. I always thought Sokkla was a healthy ship if you give it the right bulid up, cause I believed they match well. Gladiator is the first Sokkla fic I read, however.

Zuki. I think it's best round for Zuko to be just happy with a small loving family. I can't wait for him to meet Ursa. She would be horrific of what happen to him, but would be heartwarming to meet his family, especially his child.

Mai and Ruon Jian. Wow such great family. It's brilliant how you came up with it. You did great job too of Ruon Jian trying to get Mai attention, and matured a long the way. I'm gald it work so well.

Other relationships

I'll take this opportunity to go into more relationships and characterzations in Gladiator world, since there are too many interesting characters, dynamics and analytical materials. You can say I like Azula's and Sokka's dynamics with other characters too, may or may not be in a shipping way or may develop! :

Azula and Rui Shi. I was really fond of Ruizula for some time during reading Gladiator (still do though sometimes). I don't think he will make Azula feels the way she feels about Sokka. Her feelings toward Sokka are special. But Rui Shi in general is about Protection™. Azula trusts Rui Shi, and Rui Shi wants and will -if can- protect her equally physically and emotionally. When Sokka hurts Azula in ch.27, her tears broke his heart and kept this event secret from anyone and Azula noticed this, he even told her she can confess to him what bothers her earlier if he can help, then Azula ofc brushed him off but was thankful to him. And I think this is enough. If Ozai forced Azula to choose a partner if things developed differently, she may choose Rui Shi. He may or may not had developed romantic feelings for her at that time. I imagine he would be dumbfound if Azula asked him out lol. Though he may accept Azula's porposal out of obligation. There are terrible suitors all over the place, and she choose him out of all these people and he doesn't want to hurt her. If they got married, he will make sure she follows his safety conditions more often than not, he wouldn't settled down when Azula refuse, argue back or brush him off. "You're not only my princess but my also wife now, I must ensure your safety!" Azula might be annoyed by his attitude lol

Azula and Lu Ten. It's a ship (or?) I think it's great and balanced relationship. He's a person Azula has special feelings for too. I think they're cute. I may draw art for them sitting side by side and Lu Ten listens to little Azula's talks.

Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. I love them in the show and I love them more in your story. But honestly I personally dislike Ty Lee, always have, cute girls with big eyes were never my thing. I hate to see her shipped with Azula simply due to incompatibility. But I like her and their relationship slightly better in Gladiator because she's more genuine. My favorite Azula-Mai-Ty Lee actively is when they met in the Palace in the first chapters and then their entire journey searching for Sokka a gladiator.

Azula and Toph. I talked about this before. I think it's everyone favorite Gladiator BrOTP.

Sokka and Toph. I'm very happy Sokka had at least one of the Avatar Team in the main storyline to interact with more often. Toph always gets the best of Sokka, and poor Sokka can't argue back especially when she teases him about Azula. Though, Toph gets in Azula's bad side immediately but isn't even scared, opposite, she's in fact become more amused xD. And this made the whole thing incredibly enjoyable to me!

Sokka and Zuko. The ultimate BrOTP in this story and OTP in another story. My favorite intercation of them when they met for the second time in Mai's house. Sokka teasing and mocking Zuko, and Zuko lose his temper and challenging him to a sword fight, before Azula kick both their asses, it was great.

Sokka and his father-in-law, Ozai. Their intercations in Gladiator are gold. It's either fucking hilarious or deadly serious, there's no in between. I think Ozai finds Sokka slightly interesting, he even said he's the perfect warrior for Azula (if I remember correctly), and I think he's low key approve of their relationship; he joked about Azula marrying him, if only Sokka wasn't a water tribe "slave". Oh Ozai you don't know.

Toxic relationships

Azula and Kuan. Hahah, ok it's toxic, I know. But I'm fan for fictional toxic relationship too. For one thing Kuan would be happy, Azula wouldn't. He sees her as trophy. Even making his life miserable wouldn't give Azula any amusement, well maybe some satisfaction. But overall he's just so hateful to her, that he, in fact, will make her life miserable.

Azula and Zhao. Toxic as well. I do not ship them. I like the tention and struggles Zhao brought with his arrival. The backstory and sort of dynamics he has with Azula are really interesting.

Azula and Ozai. Well, I can say this is my favorite toxic relationship. It's toxic and bizarre, and more complex than what people see in or out universe, or even Ozai and Azula themselves. Because the funny thing, I think, is that they've so much psychological power over the other. Maybe due to their isolation from the rest of the family that sort of dependence developed, I think. Though Ozai is less dependent on Azula for external validation for his sense of self than Azula is (or rather was). This role swap in Gladiator. Azula fits the perfect image he has in mind for her, he feels so proud and great about her, and in reflection, about himself as well. When the realization storm comes and he finds out she's trying to shake him and his teachings off and/or turned out to be more like someone he hated and felt lesser to for a lifetime and isn't him (big bro Iroh) he will shatter inside and respond with out rage.

Tbh I hated Ozai too much in Azula's flashback. It was very hard and disturbing to read. I think he deserves this ending for what he has done to her, that's why I think swap the roles this time would perfect lol.

But overall I think their dynamics are very well-excused. I think you're one of two writers I approved of their take on this sort relationship. I feel it's more canon than any other loving/altra abusive dad Ozai fics.

[sokkathebluewolf]

I am chickened out from gladiator because it is this long and it keeps getting longer is it worth my time to read it ??

... Uh, well. I can’t help but wonder if you’re aware this blog is run by the actual author of the story in question? I don’t know if you expect me to give you a non-biased answer when I’ve considered the story was worth 8 years of my life xD as far as I’m concerned, it absolutely has been worth it, but I can’t speak for the whole wide world when it comes to that. If you want the opinions of readers, there’s probably other blogs run by people who have read the story and who might have critical opinions about it... that may be what you were looking for. If, however, you were deliberately hoping to get my opinion on my own story... well, yes, for me it’s clearly worth it xD Otherwise, I would’ve quit ages ago.

The story is indeed very long and it keeps getting longer, and it will keep getting longer because we’re not done yet and won’t be for a while :’D if you’re the type of reader who can’t stand it when they catch up to stories and have to wait for updates, well, feel free to give it a shot when I’m done writing it, I guess? It’ll be a while until then, but it’s up to you. If you don’t like reading really long stories, then it’s probably better for you if you don’t force yourself to read this one, I know not everyone is ready to dedicate that much time to reading something, especially if they have lots of things to do. Hence, if the length daunts you, that’s alright, it daunts me too and I’m responsible for it xD it’s fine if that deters you from reading it.

But as the way you phrased your question almost sounded like you’re challenging me to give you some sort of sales pitch to catch your attention, let’s see if I can pull it off:

Gladiator is a massive ATLA AU, not only in terms of story length but also scope: it’s a complete rewrite of the entirety of ATLA in a more mature setting, starting chapter 1 with the characters 5 years older than they were in canon. Aang’s adventures in saving the world did not take place here because of a simple enough reason: Katara didn’t accompany Sokka on his boat on the fateful day when they were meant to find Aang, which means the story as we’ve known it simply doesn’t take place. I’ve taken liberties here and there, added some changes from canon when I needed to do so, in order to ensure the story works, but the gist of the story is to set a stage where the Fire Nation marched onwards, practically unopposed, and conquered the Earth Kingdom with the power of Sozin’s Comet (just in case it needs to be clarified, without certain technological developments, Ozai’s wild plan to incinerate the whole world wouldn’t happen, and if Team Avatar isn’t assembled before the Comet shows up, said technological developments simply wouldn’t exist... :’D). I’ve had to figure out how many details would change, how much of the original story would or wouldn’t happen without Team Avatar’s involvement, I think most my choices have been solid, but it’ll be up to you to decide if you think they are or not if you read the story.

The worldbuilding of Gladiator, then, is preeeetty huge and complicated because of that starting point. There’s a lot of elements that are completely new (such as the Gladiator League and all its derivates), some OCs, some lore expansion, so you can definitely say it’s an ambitious project. In a sense, I’ve reset canon to zero, and at the same time I haven’t, which makes things complicated but, for me, really fun to develop. If you’re interested in seeing more of the Avatarverse explored, characters repurposed, with new dynamics and relationships, Gladiator may just be what you’ve been looking for :D

In my experience, the main reason why most people stumble into this fic (other than by sorting FF.net’s ATLA stories by review count and drawing blanks upon glimpsing a Sokkla story on the first page xD) is because they’ve been drawn into Sokkla, or they’re looking for stories centered around Azula or Sokka. Gladiator, evidently, features all three such elements because, obviously, those two are the protagonists and their relationship is the beating heart of the whole tale. I’ve been asked in the past who’s the real protagonist and I honestly still have no idea xD but anyways, if you’re interested in reading a story with a toooooon of Azula character development, even if it takes place across a long, long time, this story may just do the trick. I’ve done the best I could to keep her character as true to what I believed a young adult Azula might become, within the circumstances of this story. She has grown a LOT in 200 chapters, goes without saying (if she hadn’t, I’d be one heck of a failure of an author x’D), so if you’re interested in seeing a slow but effective growth arc for Azula, you’ll certainly find that in Gladiator. Same is true for Sokka, but I think most people who come to this fic for Sokka are interested in seeing him being a badass, which we have plenty of as well xD still, it’s also a long and slow process for Sokka to grow into a powerful warrior, neither him nor Azula start out in the story with all the answers, and they both bump into many hurdles as they navigate their complicated lives.

There’s a lot of humor in Gladiator, perhaps more than expected with a story that has that sort of dark premise, but it’s, on great measure, because Sokka and Azula are inevitably given to banter xD if you want to read a lot of banter between those two, well, you may not be bored in 200 chapters because, while the nature of their exchanges does vary as they both develop, their conversations are usually pretty spirited and they love trying to outsmart each other all the time.

If you are already a Sokkla shipper and the main reason you’re here is because you want more Sokkla goodness in your life... I’ll just say Gladiator has become a bit of a dream come true for me as a Sokkla shipper as well, because it’s the perfect space for me to work with virtually every idea I’ve ever had for these two. Yes, there’s drama and conflict here and there, if you’re not too given to angst there’s a few parts of the story that won’t sit so well with you, though if you love angst you’ll probably enjoy them plenty... yet what I’m most proud of, with this story, is having developed their relationship not only as best I could, but I’ve also attempted to defy typical storytelling structures for romance stories, where the lead couple can’t seem to have a stable relationship because “that would be boring”. Screw that, man: these two have been in a serious relationship together in-story by now for well over half the published chapters, and I’ve had the time of my life writing their dynamics as a couple while the plot continues to develop around them. This, however, is not everyone’s cup of tea, so if you aren’t all that given to seeing such traditional romance storytelling structures dismissed because I wanted to write my favorite ship dealing with all their external struggles while finding strength in the bond they share, Gladiator may not hold your attention long enough for you to devote yourself to reading it beyond chapter 100-ish. On the other hand, if this subversion of romance structure is what you’ve been looking for all your life, or if it’s what you always wanted and never knew you wanted it, or if you’re simply curious as to whether it works or not, Gladiator may suit your interests fairly well. Again, Sokkla is the absolute center of this story, both together and independently, so if you want to see a rewrite of ATLA with them at the core of just... everything? xD that’s absolutely what you’ll find here.

That being said, there’s things I guess you should mind about Gladiator: I have some relatively controversial takes about certain things, including interpretations of fan-favorite characters that some people have been known to take offense over. I, personally, believe my interpretations of those characters don’t deviate that much from canon or that, when they do, the setting itself explains why the deviation works as it does, but due to the fact that I work with a protagonist who was in a villainous role back in ATLA, her relationships with some characters can be more complicated than a lot of people seem to believe they should be. Hence, if you’re not particularly adverse to reading content that brings up big questions about the motivations of certain characters, or how they’d react if the story from ATLA hadn’t happened exactly as it did, you’ll have enough fun in Gladiator. If, however, you don’t particularly care to see anything that shows beloved characters in a not-so-flattering light, this story may not be for you (though, if you’re willing to humor me and allow my story to question your perception of those characters, feel free to try the story as well). 

There’s also a variety of dark themes and situations in Gladiator, something that any reader should be warned about in this day and age: I am 100% against violence for the sake of violence, to name one such subject, and I generally try to portray it with as much nuance as possible, but even if I feature my own characters criticizing their violent world and wanting to put an end to the strife caused by the Fire Nation, some of the violence in Gladiator may be a little too much for the readers who prefer the tone of the original ATLA. Hence, if that’s how it is for you, it’s another reason to approach the story with caution. I won’t pretend I’ve handled every theme and subject perfectly, but I’ve never wanted the darker moments to feel gratuitous in any way, so if you’re open to reading a darker take on the Avatarverse, this may work for you after all.

Alas! If you want to see Azula growing out of the toxic Fire Nation indoctrination, if you want to see Sokka gaining confidence and strength as a man and warrior, if you want to see a fleshed-out but still very much villainous Ozai, if you want to see Toph fulfilling her dreams of joining an all-out fighting league where she can beat people up for a living, if you want to see a myriad of secondary ATLA characters (like Song, or Shoji!) given new lives and even genuine protagonism, if you want to see Zuko discovering he’s allowed to just... be happy? xD Gladiator may prove interesting enough for you.

Furthermore, if you want to see Azula being true friends with Mai and Ty Lee, discovering a dragon, developing new firebending styles, confronting her misplaced beliefs about herself, rebelling subtly (and lately, not so subtly) against her father, growing into a great leader who could change the Fire Nation’s nefarious direction...  aaand if you want to see Sokka fighting creatively (sometimes with TWO swords!), navigating the dangerous waters of interacting with Fire Lord Ozai, staying true to his beliefs while also learning that the world is not as black-and-white as he was raised to think it was, understanding himself better and making the most of his potential as a quick learner, writing embarrassing haiku and being an unapologetic rebel who goes toe-to-toe with Heads of State just because he can... yep. Probably read it? xD

Lastly... if you want to see Sokka and Azula grow through their mistakes, learning to understand each other, fighting side by side, training together, dancing to no music, learning the underrated pleasure of proper communication in a relationship, sassing each other left and right, flirting in ridiculous ways, taunting each other in many regards, laughing at each other’s terrible jokes, protecting each other fiercely, challenging each other to a spicy ramen eating contest, discovering indirect bending, being highly inappropriate at times and places where they shouldn’t be, making long, dangerous yet fun journeys together, sneaking around to meet up when they’re not supposed to, standing by each other in their darkest moments, watching over the other when they’re sick/injured, being ready to sacrifice virtually anything for each other, and even defying and defeating even death to save each other...? Well, I don’t know if there’s any other stories where you might find all of this, but I can guarantee you’ll find it in Gladiator :)

If none of this is convincing enough... that’s a shame, but I understand. If it convinced you to give it a shot, however... I guess I’ll just hope you enjoy it enough to stick around! :) thanks for taking my story into consideration regardless of whatever you decide. Have a nice day!

[seyaryminamoto]

If you're caught in the shadow then turn around Lost in the darkness, you will be found If you hear my voice, follow the sound 'Cause I'm here to guide you home

Gladiator’s Seventh Anniversary

March 26th swings by once more, and this time I’ve been celebrating this milestone for nearly a whole month :’D We have twenty Gladiator-arcs-themed artworks by now, and here’s our grand finale! A little more grand than every anniversary up to date, I hope!

This particular entry comes in two forms, however! And here’s the second one:

Say hello to the FIRST GLADIATOR ARTWORK VIDEO! :’D

Yeah, it wasn’t always meant to be the first xD I have two other videos in the works, and one of them is at least over halfway done (with rudimentary animation in it too :’D). Still, this occasion demanded it! And so I decided to go for a video this time, hopefully the next videos won’t take too long to finish!

This hasn’t been an easy year for me, despite I’ve certainly written a lot of things I’m reeeally happy about (that you guys will be seeing later this year). Quite often I’ve found myself losing traction, hope, faltering against many obstacles in my life. I’ve made big and small mistakes here and there, and I’ve had low points, even if none quite as low as the one I hit two years ago...

Still, at the end of the day, this story has always had my back in its own way. I’ve been able to find peace by writing it, even in the darkest of moments. Going over all the progress I’ve made with it, and looking ahead at everything that’s yet to come often fills me with the willpower and strength I need to keep going, no matter what. So, after a year of blackouts, water shortages, internet collapses, countless setbacks with my real-life plans and now even a pandemic, Gladiator has always been the safest harbor I can find refuge in when everything else fails.

This big finale is, of course, meant to encapsulate the growth of Sokka and Azula’s relationship throughout the first half of Part 2. At first I had wanted to draw scenes from each arc I had skipped... but that didn’t quite work out as well as that after I revisited a certain movie, which features a BRILLIANT OST, and it had two songs that I’ve now poached outright for Gladiator purposes :’D Strange Sight is a song that really works well for Sokka and Azula in general (from Sokka’s POV), but the bulk of the song really sounds more like it fits these two in Part 1 xD yet the very conclusion of the song changes its tone... and that’s the part that inspired me into making this video/artwork set!

The first scene depicted is Azula’s “blunder”, when she nearly admits she loves Sokka despite not being ready to say it out loud. He is thrilled, but she’s very flustered, so he gives her space while she blushes stubbornly in her Barge’s cabin (?). The second artwork comes from a scene I always wanted to depict in art, even while I was writing it: Azula watching Pohuai Stronghold at a distance while Sokka is enthralled, looking at her (even blurts out she’s beautiful because he’s a goofball like that xD). The third scene comes from their escapade to the healing hot springs, on the same chapter Sokka gives Azula her secret betrothal necklace. The fourth scene is the crazy kiss these two steal in the airship factory, when they lose sight of Ozai’s retinue and make out amidst the factory equipment, steam and whatnot rising around them... because that’s just the stuff they like to do xD The fifth scene is taken from their chaotic anniversary arc, once they had already patched things up and were drying each other’s hair with towels... Azula dried Sokka, his hair was a disaster afterwards and she laughed her ass off while he did his best to take revenge xD the sixth scene depicts a much darker moment, Azula using her gold fire to fight back against Seethus, underground (not sure if it shows, but clutching Sokka’s hand is what allowed her to use gold fire properly in the midst of such a desperate situation. And the seventh scene is meant to portray Azula in that arc too, after she has rebelled against her father and takes off with Sokka, putting more distance between herself and Ozai than ever before...

The final one isn’t really derived from a particular scene of the fic, instead it’s the image I always get of these two when I hear the end of that song. “You’re not alone” is definitely one of the most important things Azula needs and deserves to hear. Though it’s not only for her to hear it... it’s for her to know for sure that it’s true, that she has a partner who will stand by her through thick and thin, to the ends of the world if need be. That no matter how bad things can get, she knows he’s on her side and always will be.

It has taken quiiiite a while to develop their bond and relationship to this extent, but I have to say it has been such a wonderful process for me... as I’ve said in the past, Gladiator’s Part 1 was the story of how they get together, but Part 2 is the story of how things work now that they are together. There’s a strange, general perception of romance storytelling, and it even expands into IRL relationships, I’d say, that suggests, whether intentionally or not, that relationships stop developing, evolving, growing once they’re consummated. I don’t know if the fairytale “they lived happily ever after!” is to blame for that, but personally, I don’t see the point in watching a relationship be built up from the ground only to witness a brief glimpse of how it works before the curtain falls. That’s why Gladiator’s Part 2 has been the exact opposite of that. Both Azula and Sokka had a lot left to grow and develop after Part 1 was finished, their partnership did too, and there’s like a gazillion plotlines, new and old, that will be crucial in building up the biggest, baddest climax of the story so far. Therefore... I’d like to think my point has been made? You CAN tell a story about this side of a couple’s life together. Whether people stick around to read it is another subject, but if you’re working with a couple as dynamic as these two, getting them together is barely the first part of the journey.

I make it no secret that Part 2 is definitely my favorite chunk of the story, especially the chapters that are being published nowadays (and those that will be published in the future), so part of the reason why I went all out here is because I really, REALLY wanted to cherish everything this part of the story embodies for me and, hopefully, for everyone who has read and enjoyed it.

I deeply thank everyone who has stuck it out with me through this journey, no matter if you were here from the first moment or if you’re a newcomer who hasn’t even caught up yet. I’m also really grateful if you don’t know the story at all but still took your time to even drop a like on any of these posts. It has always been scary to be a creator on the Internet, both because of the potential backlash against what you do and, perhaps even worse than that, the indifference of people who don’t really care much about what you create, regardless of how much work you’ve put into it, and how much you’ve grown so you can make new ideas a reality. But there’s people out there, really wonderful people, who have always been supportive of my crazy creative efforts, always sticking by me no matter how difficult it could be (and no matter how long this story gets :’D). I’m far from a perfect content creator, and sometimes I get discouraged by the stupidest things... but when you guys show interest in what I do, when you say how much the story means to you, it never fails to revitalize me and get me going once again.

So this big celebration is for those of you who stick by me, who support me, who encourage me at my lowest and highest alike because you believe in me and the story I’ve been telling for SEVEN YEARS NOW :’D It’s also for those who may yet return to see what mayhem I’ve crafted for these two in the years since they stopped reading. And it’s, without a doubt, for myself... because now I’m certainly far more confident with my art than ever before, and because everything I make for these two gives me all the right feels just when I need them. Finally... it’s for Sokka and Azula, most of all. The two sides of my beloved OTP, who have been by far the most inspiring characters I’ve ever worked with, and who deserve the entire world, as far as I’m concerned. Granted, I’m a jerk and I won’t make things easy for them in the coming years... but we all know they can be stronger and prevail! At least, I hope you all believe that as well as I do xD

So, as always, here’s to you, my supportive readers, to these wonderful protagonists, and to the story that chronicles their many adventures on their way to changing the world, as they always have meant to! Thanks to all of you for your support, and keep an eye out for Gladiator’s next update, dropping tomorrow!

[seyaryminamoto]

Hold up isn’t Azula’s first marriage supposed to end poorly according to aunt Wu and she and Sokka just got married

I think you deserve to know what was my honest reaction when I read this ask. Here it is:

x’D okay, okay, I’ll answer seriously now.

Here’s the kicker: I did, blatantly, rely on Aunt Wu as a source of in-story spoilers. Because whatever is the point of having a fortuneteller in your story if not to tell your readers what to dread or look forward to in the future? :’D I am a bit like Sokka IRL in regards of how little stock I put into these things, but in stories, yep, I think they’re a great resource.

... But then, precisely because I’m a bit like Sokka, I’ve decided to give him the credit he deserves as a non-believer. And that means Sokka’s mentality has always been: “screw prophecies, if we want to get married we can get married, no matter what that woman said”. Ergo, breaking Aunt Wu’s prophecy serves the purpose of showing characters CAN change destiny, rather than merely walk down the path any fortuneteller tells them they’ll be on. 

The plot of Gladiator doesn’t obey world-wide astronomical events of the sort that often guided the plot in ATLA: we don’t have Sozin’s Comet, because it’s long gone by now. We don’t have eclipses either. We don’t even have a ten-thousand year old planetary alignment mess that can break the bounds of the spirit and human worlds: what we have, however, are characters making choices. Said choices define those characters, and listening to Aunt Wu is every bit as much of a choice as not listening to her. Ergo, Sokka had no intentions of waiting until Azula’s first marriage was out of the way to marry her :’D he’s been picking the stuff he liked and disliked within those prophecies for as long as he’s known they exist, and doing his best to prevent the ones he disliked from ever happening... so, in part, he’d likely think that by marrying her now he already broke the prophecy about Azula having an unhappy marriage, because he has no intentions to split up with her. So it’s a way to give characters agency of their own, in a sense.

 ALL THIS BEING SAID...

... the truth is Azula’s prophecies were tricky stuff :’D For starters, the only prophecy that was meant to be infallible was the one from the bones, since that apparently is Aunt Wu’s specialty. The others weren’t necessarily accurate, or, at least, not necessarily 100% accurate. The order in which the marriages will happen, for instance, could be a complicated thing :’D

But here’s the real logic I was toying with when I decided to feature both the prophecies AND Return to Shu Jing’s big surprise development:

Azula and Sokka aren’t getting married, at the moment, as Azula and Sokka. Legally? The ceremony was held for “Jing” and “Wentai”, they signed their names as that, too :’) And how does this make the prophecy real, you’d wonder? Why... the funny twist is that “Jing” was married to “Roshi” before. And it wasn’t a passionate or fulfilling marriage because they were both interested in other people :’D Let’s circle back to chapter 124: what did Aunt Wu say, exactly...?

"It says one of your marriages will end in separation. Then again, Roshi doesn't love you, so…"

"What? One of my… marriages?" Azula said, her eyes wide.

"Ah, but the other marriage looks rather promising, yes" Aunt Wu replied, beaming "See how short this first line was? Passionless, unfulfilling. The second, on the other hand, is very passionate and overflowing with joy"

:’D see what I’m getting at?

Azula, as “Jing”, has had two marriages by now. One failed, and the other worked! The first marriage wasn’t official, we know that much xD but Jing herself is a fabricated identity. Therefore... the prophecy applies to “Jing” just fine :’D

Now, then, when I said that Aunt Wu’s prophecies don’t need to be 100% accurate, I mainly meant the part where she chooses what counts as the “first” and “second” marriages, as far as the real Azula is concerned. Sokka’s marriage to Azula, as it is now, isn’t exactly legal. This doesn’t mean their devotion or commitment is any less real than it is, of course, but it means that, despite what Azula would have us all believe, she can’t really tell Ozai “I’m already married” when he decides he wants her to get married for good, in the future. There’s no legal proof, no matter if that’s where their hearts are at. So, legally, Princess Azula, sadly, can’t argue for her current, recent marriage to Sokka. Ergo... the first element in the prophecy hasn’t necessarily been fulfilled yet, seen from this point of view.

Another way to look at it is that Azula’s marriages aren’t necessarily going to happen in the order Aunt Wu says they will. Sokka, the happy, long, blissful marriage, could actually happen first... and the other, unfulfilling marriage can be the second one, instead :’D How come? Why, it’s so mysterious, isn’t it? x’D there’s a certain logic to looking at it this way, but I’m not entirely sure I ought to disclose it yet (though it probably would become obvious once the whole story is finished). I know she outright talks about the “first” marriage line, but again, this isn’t Aunt Wu’s best discipline, the bone-reading is. That’s why I featured later that she would get completely contradictory results with other types of readings, such as one that said Azula would have no children, despite the palm-reading said she’d have at least three: her readings aren’t necessarily 100% accurate, so she could have made mistakes in specific details about what Azula’s future would look like. Certain things in the future of our story might not be all that simple and straightforward, let alone easily translated into hand lines :’D

Meanwhile, emotionally, Azula could easily argue he’s her one and only true husband from here on and forever, no matter what may come in the future :’D And that, as well, leans into the angle I mentioned at first: characters make their own choices. Maybe, legally, she’ll have to marry someone else in the future. Maybe, as Jing, she was “married to Roshi”. But deep down Azula chooses to see things differently, and that means she’s willfully disregarding Aunt Wu’s prophecies in her own way, too.

Aaaanyways. In conclusion, there’s multiple angles from which to look at the prophecies:

Destiny is connected to people’s choices, ergo, Aunt Wu’s prophecies can be wrong/broken.

“Jing” was married to “Roshi” and the marriage ended in separation, as Aunt Wu predicted: now her second marriage to “Wentai” corresponds with the happier marriage Aunt Wu referred to.

Princess Azula isn’t legally married to anyone yet, ergo, no elements of the prophecy have been fulfilled yet for Azula’s real self.

Aunt Wu’s predictions aren’t 100% accurate and reliable unless they’re bone-readings, therefore, it’s possible they can be off-mark, or that she makes occasional mistakes when interpreting them.

:’D I hope that wasn’t too confusing. But believe it or not, I did ponder these ideas and potential problems within the story since a veeeeery long time ago xD

[seyaryminamoto]

Sooo... Tumblr ate an ask I had answered, tagged and queued. It likes being funny that way.

An anon had asked what Azula was afraid of in Gladiator, since it’s much easier to understand what Sokka is afraid of. They mentioned Azula wasn’t afraid of Ozai anymore and asked if she feared the Avatar State or spiritual crazy stuff...

I hadn’t even gone into those last two things in my original answer, but now that I’m re-answering, I guess I will... Azula isn’t exactly scared, as things stand, of spiritual things because she’s 100% skeptical of them. That will change in the future, once she learns a little better... but for now, she finds spiritual stuff completely irrelevant and ridiculous, so she’s not afraid of something she belives isn’t even real. As for the Avatar State, at best her knowledge of it is theoretical, and she has no reason, to this day, to believe there’s still an Avatar out there who will show up and smite anyone who messed up the balance of the world. So it’s kind of like asking someone in our world if they’re afraid of Napoleon or something along those lines: however powerful, dangerous and terrible he was, he’s a thing of the past and it’s assumed he’s not coming back :’D so no, Azula isn’t afraid of the Avatar State.

As for what she IS afraid of, Anon pinpointed that she was afraid of losing Sokka and that’s absolutely true and spot-on. Also, she would likely be afraid of losing her bending and that’s also true, though it’s not something she’ll think is possible until, uh... the second-to-last arc in Part 2 :’)

But that’s not the full extent of what she’s afraid of, because she’s afraid of the Fortuneteller’s prophecies coming true. She’s not happy with the one about her mind being powerful but frail, but the one that disturbed her most is the one that predicts she’ll lose everything. While she interpreted that as losing Sokka, which is a fair enough assumption and not at all distant from the truth, there’s more to it than just that: Azula can lose everything she’s ever worked for, all her achievements and all the progress she has made to earn the acknowledgement and recognition she’s sought since the start of the story. And I’d THINK we all know exactly how that could happen... :’)

So yes, she has a lot to be afraid of, and the higher she rises, the worse the fall will be. As confident and determined as she may be, our Princess isn’t yet in a completely stable position in life and in the political spheres of her nation, and until she is, she won’t really be able to put aside these thoughts and fears.

As for Ozai... that she has rebelled against him more openly, as she did with the Seethus situation, doesn’t mean she’s not afraid of him altogether. Otherwise I’m sure she’d be making out with Sokka in Palace hallways without a care in the world just because she’s not afraid of anything :’) so yeah, she’s still slightly afraid of her father, even if she knows he can be defied and she can absolutely get away with that defiance like no one else can. But this doesn’t mean she’s not afraid of the hell he can unleash upon her life... because she’s literally heard her father speak very casually about killing his own son, as if it were no big deal to discuss that kind of stuff in front of her. All of it because Zuko isn’t good enough and Ozai doesn’t care for him, not one bit... so of course, imagine what would happen if Azula, the one who WAS good enough, sometimes better than that, ends up proving she’s actually not up to his standards? Instead of being annoyed and disgusted, as he generally is with Zuko, he’d be outraged and he might even feel betrayed, to a fault, because he DID expect things from her and if she lets him down there’s no telling how far his punishments might go. So... yes, she’s still afraid of him. Not as much as she might have been in the past, not in the same ways... but she’d be pretty foolish to stop fearing Ozai altogether.

And there’s one more thing Azula is afraid of: her mother’s disapproval. I’ll be writing more about this in the story soon, expanding on how far those fears go, but it’ll still be a while before you guys can read it :’D anyways, Azula feels she has come far, evolved as a human being, grown in a lot of ways, and she’s actually pretty happy with who she’s become over the past years. But deep down she thinks Ursa will never approve of her actions and decisions, no matter what she does, no matter who she helps, no matter who she loves. It’s a deeply ingrained fear inside her, one she can’t really shake off, regardless of how accurate or inaccurate it might be. As far as Azula can tell, Ursa would be much like Iroh in her constant support of Zuko for Fire Lord and never giving Azula a chance to prove herself capable of fulfilling that role too. The difference being, of course, that Azula views Iroh as a rival and hardly harbors any good feelings towards him... whereas her relationship with her mother is a complicated mess, and if Ursa was backing Zuko that way Azula probably wouldn’t be able to take it in stride as she does with Iroh. 

Of course, things with Ursa are never going to be straightforward in Gladiator. Azula has one very specific perception of her mother, and she doesn’t really know her as well as she thinks she does. And that’s a two-way street, of course: Ursa as well doesn’t know Azula, didn’t know Azula, as well as she shold have, and that’s the main reason why their relationship is the toxic disaster it is. So whether Azula’s fears are justified or not is something to be explored in chapters and arcs quite far from where we are now... but however much progress she has made when it comes to her insecurities, the latent fear of Ursa being right about Azula being a monster hasn’t quite yet vanished.

So... to summarize it, Azula is absolutely afraid of losing Sokka, of losing everything she has worked her ass off for over the past 4-ish years, afraid of not being good enough, whether as a partner for Sokka (something he’ll always consider utterly ridiculous because she’s BEYOND AMAZING! but she’s still beating herself up about being better, inevitably...) or just as a human being altogether. Deep down she’s still afraid her mother could have been right about her being a monster, and that she’d still be one regardless of her best efforts to prove that’s not the case. And of course, she’s afraid of failure, especially of the kind of failure that could result in the aforementioned “losing everything” that would likely happen if Ozai as well decides she isn’t good enough.

[seyaryminamoto]

I like how you do OCs. So many fanfictions make them overpowered and without flaws. But your ones come off more natural, half of them aren't even martial badasses but just regular people getting by. Like Kino, or Shouji. If I recall, Rui Shi was once some nameless caption before you developed him. Hina is, haha, yeah, a bitch, lol. Is it just me or would Ozai's assassin and Toph make a great comedy duo? The blind girl and the invisible man. Even Xin Long has personality. My fav is still Rui Shi.

Well, like I always say, Shoji isn’t an OC :’D he’s another repurposed one-time canon character who got a much bigger role in Gladiator than in ATLA, just like Song. This is him! It’s possible that it will become more obvious that he’s a canon-based character in chapter 201, but even if it’s not that obvious, now you know the truth!

Either way, I’m glad you like my OCs! Rui Shi is one of the best of them, without a doubt, so I take pride in knowing he’s your favorite. I guess there are many secrets to making OCs for fanfiction, because chances are you will need OCs in a long-term story like my own… but when I started out with the story, I always kept them at a minimum both because I wanted to use as many canon characters as I could (hence, Shoji), and because I knew of the stigma that surounds fanfiction OCs. There’s people who do like reading about OCs… but the majority of the readers will open a fic out of interest in the canon characters they already know and love. If your story isn’t outright about OCs, you risk alienating readers by introducing characters who could feel out of place in the setting (and that, I think, is what bothers you with OCs who are overpowered and flawless).

Admittedly, it may sound like I’m talking out of my ass because of characters like Rhone and Seethus, who probably do fall into the overpowered OC cliches… but uh, small secret: they’re not exactly my creations. They were a suggestion by a friend, one of Gladiator’s staunchest supporters from its very inception (being upfront, Gladiator wouldn’t even exist without him), and I did my best to accommodate them into the story despite there were some things in his original ideas for the characters that would have been quite difficult to work with. Seethus seems to have been received much better than Rhone, which is a relief for me, but the truth is that neither of them are 100% mine and they follow entirely different character-building principles because of that.

Outside of those two, though, the other OCs we have generally obey the need for these characters to exist in this world and setting: when it comes to the soldiers in the Fire Nation army, the show portrayed them as real people by the last season but I wanted to flesh out some of them further than that, beyond showing they can be nice to prisoners (Iroh’s friendly prison guard) or playful with each other (the ones from the Boiling Rock). That’s where Rui Shi came from, the most exasperated and tortured Royal Guard in the history of the position. Part of Rui Shi’s success, I think, comes from him being 100% loyal to Azula despite being 100% exasperated by her antics just as well :’D he’s a cool guy, but all he ever wanted was to protect a Princess who refuses to be protected and who seems to make a sport out of making his job more and more difficult xD which results in his constant clashes with her and his little patience for the ridiculous crap she gets up to more often than not. He serves as a counterweight, I think, to all the characters who are starstruck by Azula and Sokka: he’s a grounding character, helps us see these two are a pair of reckless dorks in love who need to get reeled back into their best behavior once in a while.

And then there’s Kino, who basically breathed life into the South Pole and created much more fun dynamics with those characters than everything that had preceded him. Kino was a REALLY lucky hit, a completely random night-time idea that came to me when I was about to go to bed… and when I woke up the next morning I couldn’t remember him anymore :’D it took a while for me to remember what that damn great idea had been… I was so glad when he returned to me, honestly xD Kino is a lot of fun, and as comedic a character as he may appear, that comedy is what makes him an individual rather than just another soldier. The idea of him being largely ignored by his fellow soldiers and commanding officers started off as a funny way to ensure he could hang out with Katara and Aang without trouble… but in Part 3 that will result in a pretty useful skill that everyone shall cherish him more for. He’s a counterweight to main characters too, in a sense, but in the opposite way Rui Shi is: he lightens up the generally serious and heavy South Pole chapters and embodies the common, ordinary Fire Nation citizen who has been indoctrinated since youth but who can find a new path for himself, learn better, cherish new ways of living once he’s removed from that very toxic environment.

I could talk for ages about the OCs in the story: Xin Long being so feisty, for instance, comes from my need to give him a visible personality, reminiscent of Azula’s own, just like Appa and Momo had in canon. Otherwise he’d feel like a mere object to be ridden back and forth between places and nothing more… which would be really demeaning for a proud creature like that, huh? :’D But I think you’ll get bored of reading too much of my OC theory, because I’ve thought about this stuff a lot xD Still, I’d like to add that there may be some characters who feel a little more complex, who may have more substance to them than initially obvious…

… And it’s because they do have more of it: I had an original story before Gladiator, pretty dense and huge story, and I’ve littered Gladiator with cameos of those OCs EVERYWHERE, it’s just not something anyone can tell because that story was never published (and never will be x’D). So… remember the Priestess of the Flames, from the Dragon’s Pit? She’s one of my favorite characters from that story xD some of her defining traits in Gladiator are outright taken from her original iteration (if you don’t remember her, no worries, you’ll see her again in the upcoming Slave Riot arc and I suspect she’ll make more of an impression there). Your Doom, his sponsor, the Ruthless Hero, the Dark Rook, Scoundrel and his sponsor too… they’re all crossovering OCs who got small roles in Gladiator xD in general, these repurposed characters have always been background or secondary characters (the ranking is FULL of these OCs, even if they might never get speaking roles, because that way I could fill up the ranks a little faster :’D), but that they already have established personalities allowed me to work easily with the ones who do have a starring role in the story, without needing to spend more time than I could afford fleshing them out so they felt believable.

I guess that really should be my final point: the OCs have to feel believable. If it looks like they have a life beyond interacting with the main cast, I don’t need to devote too much time to developing them unless strictly necessary (as was the case with Yang and Haiyan, as a quick example). OCs are, ultimately, characters: they have flaws, they have personality, they have a history just as everyone you walk past in the street does, even if you can’t fathom what it might be. As much as the world absolutely revolves around Azula and Sokka in Gladiator, each ordinary individual’s world doesn’t revolve around them. These two are as good as celebrities to admire, leaders to look up to, obstacles to overcome or nuisances to deal with… but they’re not the center of everything for the average citizen, as things stand. They’re not the only thing on their minds. Each OC has their own struggles, their own pursuits, some more mundane than others, just like every canon character does. It’s easy to think of characters, especially OCs, through a very simplistic “helpers” and “foils” filter… but real people are a lot more complicated than that, and so are they :’)

[sokkathebluewolf]

Has Azula really never killed anyone? That doesn't seem like her but it does seem like it could be an interesting plot point that she's been hiding the fact that she has from sokka out of shame or something

*sigh* 

Well, this isn’t the kind of ask I usually get on this blog, but I’ll answer as earnestly as possible. Preemptively sorry if I come off strong, but I’m going to assume you really haven’t read the whole story and thus some of its underlying themes and established backstories (or absence thereof) have gone unnoticed for you because of that.

Canon Azula, at fourteen years of age, goes out to track down her brother and uncle in war times. Canon Azula is not morally appalled by murder, not by any means, but unless you count Aang, who (because of LOK and because he literally came back to life) hardly really counts despite her very obvious intent to kill him, Azula’s canon kill count would be ONE (1), and it’s still someone who didn’t stay dead. Aang has canonically and consciously killed more people than Azula (and I don’t mean Koizilla, I mean Sozin’s Comet, the falling airship that crashed pretty hard against solid ground when he knocked it down. Were there survivors? Likely. But genuinely thinking no one would have died after that sounds extremely naïve). So, please, keep that in mind before thinking “that doesn’t seem much like *insert character name here*”. 

Gladiator Azula, at fourteen years of age, goes NOWHERE. Gladiator Azula didn’t have to track down Zuko and Iroh because they were a failure and a traitor, respectively. Why? Because Aang didn’t come back. There was no Avatar on the loose that Zuko and Iroh would fail to capture heaps of times. Therefore, if Azula doesn’t have to go find Zuko and Iroh by Ozai’s orders, Azula doesn’t fight the Avatar and friends, Azula doesn’t end up anywhere near Ba Sing Se. Someone else (General Tiang) takes Ba Sing Se in Gladiator with the power of the comet, because in this setting the Fire Nation wouldn’t have the opportunity to take it any sooner. I am pretty sure the comet-enhanced take of Ba Sing Se is literally stated in the first chapter: there are no aircrafts yet because Sokka hasn’t helped the Mechanist complete them, ergo, Ozai can’t rain fire from the sky even if he dreams of that. There are also no dragons, so the firebenders couldn’t use this grand opportunity for something gradiose like burning the entire world to the ground and had to settle for an old-school military strategic victory.

Gladiator Azula is established, then, to not have taken action in her younger years because Ozai had no need to send her anywhere. Gladiator Azula has seen no military glory when the story begins, she has taken no missions before the first one she has in the South Pole, a mission where her role was meant to be diplomatic, first and foremost. The first enemy she meets whom she just might have a pretty good reason to kill? It’s Sokka. And we all know how that turned out. Had she been a trigger-happy murderer like you might think she is (considering zero murders “doesn’t seem like Azula” to you), that’s where our story would have ended. Funny.

Therefore, had Gladiator Azula killed someone before Sokka was part of her life, it’d have to be a Fire Nation someone. I repeat, she had never dealt with anyone who could be considered an enemy of her nation before the South Pole. If she didn’t kill Huang Li for disrespecting her, if she didn’t kill Admiral Chan for trying to screw her over and instead bided her time until she could one-up him for good… do you SERIOUSLY think the way I’m characterizing Azula leaves room for her to have committed, what, recreational murder of her own people because she was frustrated she didn’t get any chances to join the war?

Throughout the story, Gladiator Azula has showed very little compunction about threatening people with death, or even talking about killing others when she’s in a really bad mood. This is done as a very deliberate and intentional contrast with Sokka, who has killed countless people and wishes he’d never have to do it again. Why’s that?

Because often in fantasy fiction, in many stories I’ve found (including ATLA), killing isn’t treated with the gravity and seriousness it deserves. Sokka has canonically killed plenty of people too, and yet it never seems to bother him in the least there. I’ve read at least two other fics that give him PTSD for the deaths he dealt through the war, and to me, that’s a thousand times more sensible than him being utterly unconcerned with what he’s doing or who he’s killing. I like my characters more complex than Liam Neeson in Taken. Want senseless killing with zero consequences? That’d be a good movie to go to for that.

Gladiator Sokka killed his first man in the settlement, chapter 2, remember? He hasn’t forgotten it even now, despite at the time he tried to ignore it and move on to his actual mission. What was the purpose of that? If it needs spelling out, the purpose of it was to outright contrast the Canon Sokka mentality of “it’s what needs to be done”, a mentality he shares in this story at first, with the eventual Gladiator Sokka mentality of “taking people’s lives destroyed me on the inside because I don’t think I deserved to live when they died”. All this to make death a lot less leisurely, recreational, inconsequential than it is in countless works of fiction. Do you shrug off real life deaths as though they were inconsequential too? Has any relative of yours died and you’ve thought it’s irrelevant? Or, like me, are you living in a tyrannical country where fighting back against said tyranny has resulted in meaningless deaths of young people who were fighting for a future that was stolen from them? People whose deaths have just become a mere number on a list of atrocities a tyrannical regime refuses to answer for? Yeah, that sounds hella dramatic, I know. But I like to take my storytelling and the themes I deal with in it seriously, and death is one theme I categorically refuse to take lightly. ATLA did try to take death seriously too, but they certainly failed more often than not for me, especially when their heroes cared about death only if the plot required it.

That Azula hasn’t killed anyone so far doesn’t mean she won’t ever do it in the story’s future. But it does mean that, by the time she does, it will affect her, as it rightfully should affect any human being who isn’t completely amoral and, if you’ve read any further than the first three arcs, I’d like to think you already know Azula has a conscience she tends to ignore but that is still there. Spoiler alert, said conscience becomes louder and harder for her to ignore until eventually she starts abiding by it.

In conclusion, no, Azula hasn’t killed anyone. No, I don’t find that implausible for a character who hadn’t gone to war the way her canon counterpart did, especially considering said canon counterpart has only ever killed ONE (1) person if you do count him, despite being involved directly in the war to the point of even conquering a city herself. No, there isn’t some secret death Azula is responsible for that she hasn’t told Sokka about, because if there were, she would already have shown signs of keeping that kind of secret (yes, Sokka kept secrets that weren’t strongly hinted at, but they WERE hinted at: Rhone for instance was teased all the way in chapter 41 despite he only showed up in chapter 113, and the reasons for his reluctance to go home were implied since chapter 3, even if he didn’t outright tell Azula about them until chapter 106).

I’m sure there are countless other stories that don’t deal with death the way I do. But this is how Gladiator does it, and this is how Gladiator will continue to do it, because it’s being written by someone who doesn’t think carnage should be dealt with as lightly as it often is. Yes, there’s death in this story, a fair share of it, and that share will only increase in later chapters (I literally just finished an entire arc about serial murders through the Capital?), but I won’t ever take it lightly and I sure won’t turn my characters into secretive murderers for drama’s sake, especially if said suggestion contradicts virtually every bit of characterization I’ve worked on and developed for Azula throughout six years of studying her character and writing it in this story.

(Also… hiding it out of shame? If you think it’s unlike Azula to not have killed anyone, do you really think it’s “like her” to be ashamed if she really had done it? Do you really think she wouldn’t have been proud to own up to her kill count before her conscience kicks in for good later on in the story? What reason would Azula possibly have to be ashamed of killing someone in the earlier stages of Gladiator?)

[seyaryminamoto]

Got a mixed bag of Gladiator questions if its okay with you. 1st. Is Iroh out for himself, puppeting all sides, Avatar, Zuko, Lotus and FN? 2nd. Will Rui Shi help influence Azula's hardest choices in part 3? 3rd. Will Rui Shi get a chance to shine or play hero? 4th. Will Sokka send secret love letters to Azula in part 3 to cheer her up? 5th. Will Aang be impacted differently by what the FN has become? 6th Is Seethus Azula's firebending rival, or oneanother's foil? 7th. Was Ursa aware of Seethus?

Oh weeeeell… touching on a lot of important things here, Anon. I’ll try to not be too spoilery :’) under the cut

Iroh, as well as virtually everyone else in Gladiator’s setting outside the South Pole, thinks the Avatar is gone. Therefore he has no real interest in Aang because he’s not even aware of his existence. Now, once Aang shows up, will he try to manipulate him…? I’d give you a direct answer but I guess the best I can say is Iroh’s character arc is nowhere near finished yet.As for Zuko… as mean as I may be to Iroh, he genuinely loves Zuko. The problem is, Iroh has a very set idea on what Zuko’s future should be, which is about 75% of the reason why he’s got manipulative schemes up his sleeve in this story. So yeah, that does make him a puppeteer, regardless of how much he may love Zuko.He’s not puppeteering the White Lotus, though, because, while he’s not their absolute leader in my story, he’s still one of them and he doesn’t need to manipulate them to fulfill his purposes, same way an army general doesn’t need to manipulate his men into following orders… :’DHe kind of wants to puppeteer the Fire Nation, but he can’t, and it’s for the opposite reasons why he can do what he wants with the White Lotus, without needing to resort to manipulation: he has very little control over what’s happening in the Fire Nation, and very little power in political regards. He certainly can pull strings in some ways (as he did by suggesting Azula could chase down the Rhinos), but he’s nowhere near as versatile at manipulating the Fire Nation leaders as he’d like to be, if he had his way.

Rui Shi… oh boy. Sadly, I can safely say he won’t influence her future decisions. Rui Shi will try to dissuade her from making a very important decision at the very first arc, and as ever, he won’t be successful… after that he really won’t have a chance to involve himself in matters pertaining to Azula anymore.

He will get a chance to shine, however, in the second-to-last arc for Part 2 and later on he’ll have good opportunities for it around halfway through Part 3 (and the end of Part 3, too).

Tragic as it may be, nope again. Attempting correspondence with Azula at all will be impossible for Sokka at first, too dangerous later on. They will have one chance to communicate more-or-less directly in one of the earlier arcs of Part 3, but outside of that, it’ll be impossible.

Aang will begin to be impacted by the changes in the Whaletail Island arc, but he will see more of how the world’s evolved by Part 3. That, paired with a very complicated spiritual journey, will make Aang a really interesting character to work with by the time Part 3 arrives.

In some ways, yes, Seethus is Azula’s foil, but in general she’s more of his foil than he is hers. Azula’s gold fire can keep Seethus’s black at bay, and if you add Xin Long with his blue fire, Seethus is toast. Still, Seethus is a considerable menace to deal with, which is a very important thing to keep in mind for Part 3 :’)

Aaaand… nope. Ursa never knew about Seethus. Azula is genuinely the first person in Ozai’s life who’s found out about his pet assassin.

[seyaryminamoto]

I've started the process of writing my own love story. Its not a fanfic, but an original novel that I plan on completing someday. However, even though I already have the main story planned out, Im having a hard time with dialogue and coming up with ways for my characters to interact with each other(if that makes sense) I was just wondering if u have any tips 4 me. I know this doesn't have anything to do with gladiator, but im a huge fan of your writing style and would love to hear your advice.

Hmmm… well, dialogue is a little tricky. From what I’ve been taught in school, there are three different kinds of texts that can comprise a narrative text: action (the actual narration), description and dialogue. Action moves things forward, description somewhat stops time, and dialogue can achieve either thing, depending on how it’s used.

But dialogue also helps a lot when it comes to characterization. Dialogue is meant to convey information between characters, and characters, like real people, have different points of view, disagreements, points in common, and so forth. Each of your characters has had different experiences, and often dialogues are the best way to bring up those experiences (having a character talk about something that happened to them is often more dynamic than simply explaining it in descriptive or narrative text).

So, with that in mind, how to write dialogue? First things first: imagine yourself in the shoes of a character. Dialogue is the best empathy exercise I’ve ever done, because it really forces you to forget yourself and to picture yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment (kind of like what an actor does). Two characters are unlikely to respond in the exact same way to the same events. Say that there are two characters in a sports game and one team scores: one of the characters cheers and the other grumbles in frustration.  You can know, just through dialogue, that one character supports the winning team and the other supports the losing one.

Dialogue can be difficult, but it’s a really good tool for characterization, too often better than description or narration. Yes, actions speak very loudly, but a character can be incredibly elegant in actions and appearance, only to swear like a sailor once their dialogue begins (then you’d get a pretty funny contradiction between appearance and behavior that makes for an amusing character). In short, dialogue is how a character interacts with the world around them, with their friends and enemies, with their family and strangers (characters also interact differently with each kind of relationship I mentioned here, the same way real people do). So when you write dialogue you give your character a voice, and as in real life, everyone has different voices.

You’ve said you’re writing a love story… dialogue, to me, is essential for romance. I don’t know what kind of story it is for sure, but whether your characters are instantly attracted to each other or absolutely can’t stand each other at first…? You need to bring up situations for dialogue to produce genuine bonding. Physical attraction alone isn’t enough to establish actual love, most fiction these days makes a deliberate effort to go beyond that, so dialogue is a must in your line of work. Dialogue is how you show chemistry between your characters, how you prove to your readers that these two characters have plenty to offer each other and can have a very special bond.

My advice is… generate situations where dialogue can happen between them. Push the plot so that they have no choice but to interact. Their first dialogues may not go too far in establishing meaningful bonding, but that’s where you’ll have to produce situations where they get to bond. Using Gladiator as an example, in chapter 9, when I brought Sokka to the Barge’s deck and he found Azula training there, they end up training together for the first time in the story. Azula’s warrior training shows, but she’s no expert with the sword. Because of this, the subject of why she never trained with Piandao came up, and this is the first time Sokka hears about her conflicts with her mother. Azula finds herself telling him about this, while obviously holding back a lot of information he didn’t need to know, but she’s still sharing something with him that she hasn’t shared with most people (namely… because nobody else has asked her about any of this before :’D).

That exchange is what I consider the first real bonding scene between them in the story, where they first truly respected one another and their many differences, while finding a little common ground, too. Knowing Azula wasn’t allowed to learn how to use swords gave Sokka the chance to offer to teach her, many chapters later. Teaching her becomes not only another perfect excuse for them to spend time together, but it strengthens their relationship because he’s somehow fulfilling one of her dreams.

And it all started with that dialogue!

So, allow your characters to have important things in their lives aside from their relationship (as it is here with Sokka, Azula, training, bending, swords and such). If they have common interests it becomes easier to weave in a romantic storyline. If they have diametrically different interests, you can weave in the romance anyways because of how they try to conciliate those differences. Give them more substance aside from their relationship (which is realistic, as people in real life tend to have much more going on in life aside from just romance), and soon enough you’ll have two characters who can interact at leisure. From casual talk, like what I explained above with Gladiator as an example, you can get a conversation that will move dynamically and organically through many topics. If it’s a meaningful conversation, it can come back sometime later, once one of the character brings it up like “hey, remember when you told me about *insert topic here*…?”, as it was with Sokka and Azula’s interest in swordsmanship, or when Sokka remembered later that Azula’s relationship with her mother wasn’t that good, knowledge he acquired thanks to this particular exchange.

In any case, this is what I recommend. But for other important things to note with dialogue:

Small talk is a thing: while some people will tell you that you should NEVER have empty, pointless dialogue in a story (because a story should be concise), people in real life can have some really pointless conversations. Yes, your dialogue, ideally, should always convey new information, but don’t be unforgiving with yourself if it doesn’t. Sometimes you need a few lines of empty small talk before you can get to the real meat of the exchange. The main thing to avoid, though, is turning a serious conversation into meaningless small talk, but I’ll expand on that in point 3.

People have different vocabulary: this is something that can cause trouble in some ways. It’s been a little complicated for me in recent times, I used to be better at it. But part of characterization is knowing what kind of words your character would use, and what kind they wouldn’t. You can have characters who are very eloquent with their dialogue (I try to do this with Ozai, because really, it takes some real weirdo to say things like “the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence”, canonically), others who are less so, and some who would just have absolutely no fancy words in their vocabulary altogether.Important thing to note: your characters, unless they’re meant to be you, or are educated exactly like you, probably won’t talk exactly as you do. One particular problem I’ve seen in some writers is that they can’t seem to change the speech pattern of characters, either they aren’t sure how or just don’t know how to do it, and it gives the feeling of mechanical dialogue, because it’s like you’re just reading the narrator’s voice rather than the character’s. Whether you’re making fanfiction or original fiction, your characters should have different speech patterns from yours/the narrator’s, unless there’s a very good reason for them not to have them (example, you can have a character who loves using literary quotes when talking, and you can also have a character who’s never read any high literature: by logic, the second character shouldn’t be able to use any of the quotes the first one uses in common dialogue).

Make dialogue meaningful when it has to be: I am a fan of small talk, of simple conversations between characters that can be pretty easy-going, casual, what have you. I don’t need every exchange between characters to be filled with “I AM YOUR FATHER!”-like revelations. But I recently watched at TV show that had just featured a “character death”, and it provided a perfect opportunity for the character’s best friends to talk about what happened (and to properly talk about how one of them was going to fill the “dead character’s” shoes from there on), and… the dialogue that should have been important was absolutely, entirely, meaningless. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t move either character in any direction. You barely even felt like they were affected by their friend’s “death”, that’s probably the worst part of it all (they shoehorned one of the characters getting tears in her eyes at random, despite the conversation’s emotional charge was equal to zero).In conclusion: when something big has happened, your characters will show emotion, will react emotionally, and if they don’t, there’s a chance they’re just bottling things up (and you should imply the bottling up through dialogue, which can be done). When caught up in awful circumstances, characters cannot simply indulge in small talk, or pointless conversations that lead nowhere. It’s in these cases where strong dialogue is needed. Anticlimactic dialogue is a very unpleasant thing to have in your story, as it can break all suspension of disbelief from your readers.

Don’t be afraid of having multiple characters in one conversation: I’m not a fan of big conversations in real life, but multiple voices in fiction have been ridiculously fun for me to write. Yes, you need to be versatile and switch positions with every new character you write, but for instance, I really enjoyed writing the Gaang talking at the cafeteria table in IHTBY. When you bring together characters from different backgrounds, different experiences, and have them interact with each other, you find yourself with all sorts of different chemistry between all of them: you can have characters who get along well, characters who like to bicker with each other, characters who have entirely different views in life, characters who have crushes on each other… you can have virtually anything. And that provides the opportunity for dynamic dialogue scenes that, for reasons beyond my understanding, a lot of writers seem to avoid like the plague. Granted I’m not saying you should make every single dialogue a multi-character dialogue, but I do recommend that you don’t run away from this, because I’ve seen people who do that and it only seems to hinder their stories in the end.

Your character will behave differently depending on whom they’re talking to: this is something I mentioned earlier, but I’ll mention it again: Azula doesn’t talk with Sokka with the same cautious respect she usually has to muster when talking to her father. When she threw that caution into the wind (as she did in a recent Gladiator chapter), not only was she terrified while doing it, but she took Ozai and everyone else around them by surprise. Likewise, she wouldn’t talk to any strangers the same way she talks to Sokka or her father.Characters will respond differently to other characters, depending on how guarded or how free they feel around the other person. Depending, too, on what sort of relationship they have with the opposite person: Sokka is Azula’s partner and lover, he has seen Azula for who she is, entirely, which means she’s at her most open when she’s with him. Toph, Ty Lee, Mai and others are Azula’s friends, they know she has a her softer side but they haven’t seen it nearly as often as Sokka has, so Azula is more reserved around them than around Sokka. Ozai is her father, due to her relationship with him she endeavors to NEVER show him her soft/weak side, so she’s VERY guarded when talking to him. Likewise, she didn’t show her soft/weak side to Zuko, her brother, until a little while before they parted ways, because she couldn’t let him see she wasn’t absolutely perfect, so she was very reserved with him, too, even if she would lower her guard just enough to torment him whenever she felt like it.An important example, with which I seem to break this rule (despite I kind of don’t…) is Sokka: he’s constantly horrifying people everywhere because of how he talks boldly to Ozai, apparently not holding back at all (truthfully, he holds back a lot more than most my characters seem to realize x’D). He doesn’t get a pass for this: everyone thinks he’s crazy for showing so little respect to the Fire Lord. Ozai thinks it’s amusing, sure, but most other people are horrified. If you have a character who talks to everyone the same way, regardless of authority or different positions in the world, other characters need to respond to it, especially if it’s as far out of place as it is when Sokka does it in Gladiator.

Let the character guide you: once you’ve established your character, dialogue can become a matter of impulse (as it happens to me most times). Only a couple of hours ago I had to backtrack on an exchange between two characters where one of them responded negatively to what the other character said. I couldn’t really write it differently, because the one character could only be offended by the other character’s words. I had to modify the full dialogue so that the response to the first line of dialogue wouldn’t turn a playful conversation into an argument.In short, you can’t force a character to behave or respond to situations in ways they don’t want to. If your character leads you in one direction, you can’t double down on them and make them act differently than they would. Once you feel characters moving by themselves in one direction or another you know for sure that you’ve been able to understand them… but that is a full compromise, so to speak. If you understand them, it means you understand why they respond to things the way they do, and you also understand why they wouldn’t respond any differently than how they do. So, if you’re faced with a problem like the one I described in the previous paragraph... change the situation, or the previous dialogues that can be altered (if changing the previous character’s dialogue disrupts their characterization too, you’ll have to rewrite from further back). Just, don’t force a puzzle piece where it doesn’t fit. That only harms your story further in the end. It takes away the life in your characters, because they feel less consistent and therefore, less believable.

I’m not sure if I can come up with anything else… but if you have any other specific questions about dialogue-writing that I didn’t answer here, just let me know and I’ll give you a hand if I can do so! :D

[seyaryminamoto]

hey seyary! so i'm reading gladiator for the umpteenth time and i've always liked your characterization (especially of azula and sokka, ofc). anyway, i really appreciate the way you've written ty lee. some people make her overly happy/bouncy which makes her unbearable and annoying to me lol but idk, when i read ty lee in your fics she's very likeable to the point where i wish she were real so we could be bffs lol

Hehe, glad to hear it! Curiously you sent this just as I was gearing up to answer the other ask about characterization xD thanks!

I admit sometimes I worry I may need to give Ty Lee more credit in some things… which is why I intend to have a heavily Tyru-focused arc pretty soon :D by then she’ll actually get a chance to show more of her character and personality, as will Haru. So far their relationship has been straightforward and simple, so, as I’ve been testing the bonds between gladiators and sponsors, their turn is up now x’D

I’m glad she’s not too happy-go-lucky in Gladiator, I feel that we can’t forget she’s a girl very much driven by her emotions. And she has more than just one emotion, too xD so yeah, while she’s usually a happy soul, I’ll feature her being upset with Azula if Azula is being too much of a little shit, or being mad at Mai if Mai’s pulling her hair like she does with the bets x’D and so on, and so on.

But I guess that also works because I was determined to keep Ozai’s Angels as friends, to make them grow up and change a bit from who they were in canon, too. They’ve all been through different experiences than in canon, they’ve helped each other out, and they’re more honest with each other than they were in the show. I sure love writing those three having a genuine friendship and being willing to help each other out.

And I got sidetracked X’D At any rate, Ty Lee curiously is a character a lot of people have been satisfied by in Gladiator. I shall consider this a victory for my writing and characterization! xD And don’t you worry, I’m sure Ty Lee would love to be BFF with you too! :D Thanks for the ask!

[seyaryminamoto]

How far do you plan ahead when writing Gladiator?

Well, it’s been a wild, non-linear ride with Gladiator. Other things have been much easier to plan, but plotting Gladiator is a process that never seems to end.

The first thing I planned, solidly, was the conclusion of Part 2 (I split the story in three parts in my head: Part 1 ends at chapter 101, Part 2 is where we are now, Part 3 will be… the utterly insane resolution of everything). It must have been on the third day of pondering ideas for the fic that I came up with that, and while a lot of my plotting has changed, that particular idea for Part 2 hasn’t. I had no clue what the lead-up would be, or what would happen later, I hadn’t worked out all the details, but I’ve always known we’re headed towards that major peak in the story, and the process has mostly been about building my way towards it.

Part 1′s conclusion was also something I planned relatively early, at the behest of my beta asking when would Sokka and Azula seal the deal and how xD I was unsure at first, but eventually I realized what was the right way to make it happen. I needed it to happen at a culminant moment, something big, and the idea of it happening as the aftermath of a fight with Toph also was what led me to realize Toph was the perfect rival gladiator for Sokka, and thus, I started planning Toph’s involvement in the story, partnership with Iroh, and so on.

So, one thing led to another, slowly I started drawing out ideas on what I needed to do. The people close to the development process asked me questions about certain points of the story, or character developments, or even suggested plot ideas in case I was stuck someplace, and that helped me get the whole story into shape.

I think it took… well, I don’t know, months or even a whole year before I knew where the story was headed for real. One big plan I had for a while was for Ozai to take Sokka as his own gladiator eventually, choosing to take him away from Azula as to punish her (for the obvious, yes…). Then I concocted that Azula could end up sponsoring Katara as the two of them fought to get Sokka back, while Aang and Zuko worked to defeat/kill Ozai…

… I say all this freely now because practically every bit of this idea has been discarded in favor of something that makes waaaay more sense than that xD

I pondered so many things, opened doors and closed them, took steps in a direction and then backed down. I confess I even considered the Zutara route at the start, very briefly, as Aang would have been a 12-year-old while everyone else was older. That would have made a Kataang outcome kind-of extremely awkward so I pondered the obvious alternate possibility. 

But when a certain Zuki whisperer offered me a few ideas on how to make Zuki happen in the story, I chose a completely different direction for Zuko’s development, and honest to gods I’m thrilled I did. Without my awareness, Zuko’s story ended up serving as a major subplot that will eventually play a great part in the main plot, once his story collides with that of our main characters again. And when I think about it, I couldn’t have done this if I had chosen a different direction.

In all seriousness, I think it must have taken me about a year to finally make up my mind about where we were headed for good, in regards of Part 3. I had to really ponder it, and not take it lightly. I couldn’t just go with whatever felt right, because in the end this story isn’t quite a melodrama (which is what that outline with Ozai sponsoring Sokka would have been, major melodrama, this ain’t a soap opera!). The more I built it, the more loose ends I would have to tie. I opened a ton of possibilities from the get-go, and I plotted things without much connection at the very start, knowing that whatever couldn’t get tied in would have to be discarded. But this wasn’t just a capture story, star-crossed lovers, all we know and love. Gladiator was shaping up into an epic, and it didn’t deserve to be plotted as anything other than that.

So, my crazy aspirations and subconscious decisions brought me to make this story more than just the ship tale I originally had been thinking of. Because why lie? I came to this fandom to gush about my ship, first and foremost. Back when I was still writing The Reason I saw the big stories on FF.net, the crazy chapter counts, the length, the review counts, and thought to myself “That’s a lot of dedication, I wish I had it in me to come up with a story like that”, I honestly never believed I’d end up joining those stories, AT ALL.

But Gladiator has become something much bigger than me and than anything I could have anticipated. I certainly didn’t think I’d get the huge response I got, because it was way bigger than what I got for any of my other fics, even at its earliest stages. The Reason had felt huge for me, but it took around 16-17 chapters for it to get to 100 reviews, whereas Gladiator hit that mark at chapter 10. I had considered it could get more popular than my other stories, I knew it was on a different league from everything I’d ever written, but I never expected the response to be quite as overwhelming as it was.

Still, I did know Gladiator was going to be ridiculously long and much more ambitious than anything else I’d ever written. I got the suggestion for this story from Chaosconetic, but for about a month I didn’t really make up my mind about writing it. I thought it was okay, a possible story if I got tired of my main storyline at the time (The Reason), but I didn’t give it much thought until one night I went to bed and the thought of that gladiator story came back into my head. The next thing I knew, I was lying wide awake as I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of writing a story so big that I’d have a chance to basically feature everything I ever wanted to see from my OTP. Eventually, the possibilities widened further: I could also develop a lot of things that the original show didn’t explore thoroughly, and even rewrite a few things into what I would have liked to see from the show instead of what we got.

I went to my beta, to my closest friends at the time (of whom there’s still a few around, to this day), and I told them about this story. My beta’s response in particular was what pushed me forward because as soon as I was done giving her the concept she as good as shouted “WRITE THIS!” and I simply couldn’t even consider saying no xD I was daunted… but I wanted to give it a shot anyways, and see how it would go.

So yes, the massive story is almost five years old and, believe it or not, still under construction, plot-wise. As I said, the plotting process is absolutely not linear, and even to this day I’ve been pondering certain story arcs, listening to suggestions and possibilities for the future of the story. The general concepts usually remain more or less in place, but sometimes I find myself tweaking ideas and changing directions, but while always making sure I can get to where I’m going.

So, how far ahead do I plot? As far as my mind will allow it. I pretty much know what the conclusive scene will be, while also knowing what I’ll have in the epilogue. But I can’t say I know every single scene that will lead us there, despite having outlined most of what will happen in the future. Some story arcs are more obscure than others, some major events are still too tricky to figure out completely, some I go back and forth with (I was about to discard an upcoming story arc before realizing it would work really well if I changed a single factor in it…), some developments occur to me exactly as I’m writing them. It’s a complicated process in general, one I try to keep track of on a document where I have tried to organize my ideas properly, but even then it’s impossible to anticipate to the twists the story could take on its own.

In any case, I’m always plotting, pretty much. It really feels like a never-ending process and tbh, I think I’m going to feel terribly lonely when I finish the story and no longer have something of this magnitude to work with. It’s been such a massive part of me for so long, and every part of the writing process has been essential for Gladiator to be what it is. Plotting it has turned into a pleasure that never gets old, really. Every new idea worth writing feels like finding money in my pockets that I’d forgotten was there.

Anyways, that got long xD But I hope you understand my plotting process a little better now, at least.