#i give her a similar treatment to ikem although i have of course become more invested in her as you can tell by my current fic lol

[juniperhillpatient]

how do you feel about the character ikem? I have seen other fans say that he was "creepy" for obsessing over ursa for so many years. curious about your thoughts!

I would preface this by saying that I am not a fan of the writing in the ATLA comics at all & do not consider the comics canon. I joke that I take what I want from the comics & consider the parts I personally like canon because I think that they presented some potentially interesting concepts that were poorly executed. Ikem is among those concepts.

I can't hate Ikem on a personal level because he is so poorly written & so little thought seems to have gone into his characterization & motivations on the part of the writers. Yes, from an objective standpoint, obsessing over a woman for years & encouraging her to lose her memories & marrying her with no memories & lying to her kids when they come looking for her is....fucking creepy. Worse still is the way it's framed as normal & even good behavior. But like. He doesn't feel like a real fleshed-out person enough for me to hate him so much as I hate the writers for doing all that.

The thing (for me) is that if you take away everything the comics did with Ikem, giving Ursa a love interest that is not Ozai & shares her passion for theatre & maybe loved her before Ozai is...actually a good story? So is Ursa having started a new family & having a new kid? I mean, she thought she would never see Zuko or Azula again. Starting fresh in & of itself is sympathetic, especially if it's with someone from her past who made her happy. Choosing to erase her own memories...I don't know, perhaps it could be done well if the writers put any thought into it, but that storyline came out as such a nonsensical OOC mess that completely ruined Ursa's show! characterization as a mama bear & also a person with the potential for ruthlessness in a way that could have mirrored Azula. They could have delved into Ursa's willingness & desire to "move on" from her old life & start fresh & the psychological impact this would have on Zuko & Azula. Instead, they did....whatever the fuck happened in "The Search."

This turned into a rant. Whoops. Back to Ikem - I like the guy, in theory, like I said. The whole thing about "obsessing for years" was clearly meant to be romantic & in the past, I have written it as such with a very different take than the comics because I just had him thinking of Ursa as "the one that got away" & being excited to reconnect with her after she & Ozai ended & getting to know the new her. This in itself is a romantic concept to me. It's the way it was executed that came off clumsy & wrong with Ikem showing no regard for Ursa or the person she is now or her two children from her marriage to Ozai. But I can't even blame the poorly written 1-dimensional character for that because truly, it comes down to the WRITERS not wanting to put any thought into Ursa's character.

I like to use the shell of Ikem's character in fics to write a man that is essentially an OC because as I said I DO like the idea of Ursa having a new family if it's actually tackled. I find it more intriguing for me personally to write an Ikem that (has nothing to do with the comics other than his premise) DOES love Ursa & is a decent man who has the potential to care about Zuko & Azula & be a good stepfather to them. I like to write about Zuko & Azula healing & reconciling & perhaps starting fresh WITH Ursa & dealing with all the complex feelings amongst them. So, Ikem is a character I enjoy writing I just use him completely differently than the comics do :D

Thank you for the ask! 💖