#i have SOOO many thoughts on sokka ty lee friendship

[sokkagatekeeper]

so what are your thoughts about bi ty lee? (i don't really have an opinion either way but i think you do a really good job of explaining how your head canons are based in the text so I'm really interested to know why)

oh well this is officially the worst thing you could’ve asked me (affectionate). first off, a headcanon is not the same as doing an analysis imo. i talk about the difference between them here. anyhow!

i think ty lee being sapphic is a given, off the top of my head i can say because 1) i think she’s in love with mai 2) i think using that attraction as an empathy vessel of sorts to figure out azula was attracted to her was a very ty lee-esque move to make 3) she is not attracted to any boys (except one? we’ll get to that) on-screen, and was instead manipulating them into doing what she wanted them to do and toy with azula’s (maybe mai’s?) jealousy a little bit. watching “the beach” it’s safe to assume she behaves and feels that way about every boy she meets — say, she isn’t actually interested in them but the things she can get from them. it’s a fair assumption to make that she was acting like that with sokka when she was flirting with him (in the middle of battle. what an icon) you know, in order to distract him, catch him off-guard, a very ty lee-esque thing to do as well. however the comment towards mai (“was that boy kind of cute” or some shit) still makes me doubt.

now, this reading probably implies ty lee is a lesbian, but this blog is 60% analysis and 40% kinda forced analysis in order to achieve a comedic effect, mainly for me and myself. in other words i think the situation would be a lot funnier if ty lee was genuinely attracted only to sokka, and not any other fratboy from ember island. just plain physical attraction, not even a crush. nothing romantic there. because of all this it implies:

ty lee is indeed in love with mai, given sokka is also mai (sharp things, visibly depressed, dry humour, repression etc etc) in a different, loud expressive font

ty lee is, in theory, a lesbian. but she’s strangely attracted to one (1) singular boy and it’s a nightmare for everyone around them both

as previously discussed, sokka could technically count as lesbian adjacent, in all but gender and sexuality

ty lee saw one (1) man she was actually attracted to and gave absolutely nothing away. she starts out flirting (in the middle of battle!!) with him of course, because she knows her role, nothing out of the ordinary. but then he flirts back (a minimum amount, because he, too, knows his role) and ty lee is... amused? pleased? not absolutely disgusted? weird. chi-block!

the one man ty lee was ever attracted to was just some guy. sure, sokka is the most perfect man and the entire gaang silently agrees on the fact (except sokka himself) but to figure out how deep sokka’s specialness runs you need to stop and analyse it. on the surface he’s just... some guy. the only guy ever ty lee (living GODDESS) is attracted to. it is kinda funny

having in mind that all of this is speculation and not That much backed up by the text, i like to think the fact that sokka was the only boy ty lee was ever genuinely attracted to leaves her very stunned. she concludes that she is technically bi, but emotionally a lesbian. sokka’s reaction can range from confused, weirded out, smug, to absolutely on-board. and that’s where the funny part comes.

this is a non-exhaustive list of people ty lee and sokka would piss off if they made out once in a while for funsies;

zuko, who has a very well-crafted imaginary line inside his brain that separates his friends into the categories aang friends / azula friends, and if they ever touch the universe will simply collapse

azula, who is very hurt and offended by the fact that ty lee would hook up with sokka who is the smarter, kinder, male version of azula and azula’s arch nemesis, but not with azula herself

toph and aang, who, as any twelve-year olds, hate seeing people kissing

mai, who is ty lee’s girlfriend and soulmate. it’s more of a mild annoyance, really. everything that happens between sokka and ty lee is consented by mai, and mai even finds it sort of funny, especially when she can make fun of ty lee for liking... a boy

katara, who reasonably dislikes the vivid image of her brother making out with anyone and espeicially ty lee, who, to be honest, freaks her out a little bit

ty lee, who to this day cannot believe she’s attracted to one boy. not even two or three boys in total, ONE. she often pulls away from sokka mid-makeout session like “i can’t BELIEVE i’m doing this” and sokka is like “yeah well.” and ty lee is like “i can’t believe i’m ENJOYING it” and sokka says “crazy, right?” and then they keep going

and i have so much to say actually. this is not by any means a serious analysis but a very fun scenario. and as there is nothing in the text (in my opinion) that contradicts bisexual ty lee (maybe she’s homoromantic & bisexual??? is that a thing??) i have decided to adopt it as a headcanon of mine. you can take it or leave it!