#ikeme prince spoilers

[sebfreak]

So why I thought or decided that Gilbert is an antihero and not a villain?

Well first of alle the fact that he behaves around kids differently and kids seem to like him very well was the first reason to me. Yes, he doesn´t say to them who he is because he already knows their reaction but because he knows their reaction he isn´t saying his name because he wants to play around with them and look into their faces where he doesn´t see anxiety.

Then there was the fact that Belle and Gilbert are the same person according to Akatsuki. Gilbert was really like her but because something terrible happened (the death of his mother and one of his brothers) traumatized him. But instead of trying to kill his dad/the emperor directly he chose the path of a "villain" and killed everyone around him to get his trust. It´s not like he liked it, it´s not like he decided it in a moment of silence, he was kinda forced into it, I believe. So he climbed up and got the attention of the emperor who saw the future in him.

Another reason why he is an antihero. When "Hope" was attacked and he saw what Obsidian made there he killed the emperor because it was the only solution for Gilbert to save his country. Because he had to get the full power in this country to make it better which he did. But he never stated the death of the emperor to the citizens because he always wanted to work in the shadows.

He built up Obsidian he did defeat hunger and gave his folk new hope to live in a better country. But all of this had a price because to get to this point he HAD to kill many people and he had to give other countries the picture of a brutal Obsidian. Because 1. he didn´t explain himself (the death of the old emperor and that he was the new ruler), because he had everything planned out, even his death 2. because it was so isolated nobody could have visited it easily so their picture of Obsidian didn´t change after the war.

So yeah he is an antihero for me. Forced into a role but choosing to go down this path because he saw a solution at the end of this way and he always had his people in his mind.

But yeah I can understand when people say he is a villain, i won´t get angry or something. But I think behind Gilberts mask is so much more and he always thinks for others.

[erinoma9]

Problems with "The Search" Comic

Retconning Ursa's backstory

Some old lore about Ursa, before the comic came out.

Admittedly, this page conflates "royalty" with "nobility," which extends to Mai and Onji's page.

Contrast these excerpts to the Search. (SPOILERS AHEAD! And Long!)

"Born to Fire Nation royalty [nobility] and - raised as such."

Search! Ursa: Her family went into hiding after Roku's death. She grew up as a commoner in Hira'a - a small, remote 'backwater village' located on the far edge of the Fire Nation. Her father, Jinzuk worked as the town's magistrate, and her mother, Rina was a master herbalist. Her mother is the daughter of Avatar Roku and has his headpiece in her possession.

"She was the perfect match for Prince Ozai and soon became his wife"

Search! Ursa: Azulon and Ozai track down Avatar Roku's (supposedly remaining) descendants and possibly monitor them for months. They (forcibly) propose a union between Ursa and Ozai for eugenics purposes.

In a nutshell, her relation to Avatar Roku is enough to qualify her as the perfect match.

"There was a time when it probably wasn't such a bad marriage. I think they probably started okay. Certainly better than it ended up."

Search! Ursa: She didn't want to marry Ozai, she wanted to marry her one true love, Ikem but she didn't get much of a say. And come the wedding, Ozai drops a massive bombshell on her.

In short, it starts out as a bad marriage, to put it mildly.

Someone on TV tropes (Fridge Horror section. Be Warned!) posited that "started out okay" can mean anything. And that "okay" doesn't mean happy or willing.

To that I say, it's a massive stretch to claim this scene is equivalent to "started out okay." Okay is not another word for utterly miserable! Words similar to okay can range from alright, pleasant, acceptable or tolerable. So, "started out okay" and the conveniently ignored "better than it ended up" doesn't apply to the Search.

"She is a very sweet woman and a wonderful mother, but she is also very protective -- especially of her favorite child Zuko" ... "Ursa spent most of her time raising her children to be good Fire Nation citizens and the ideal royal family."

Search! Ursa: The comics intentionally or unintentionally avoid portraying Ursa as an imperialist but don't contradict that she taught Zuko and Azula Fire Nation Propaganda offscreen.

She didn't seem to care about being the "ideal royal" herself, privately at least.

For instance, she writes that infamous letter falsely citing Ikem as Zuko's father to spite Ozai among other reasons. Most damningly, she sees her life in the palace as "a life that [she] did not choose for herself," leading to the infamous memory wipe. Both examples have attracted critics, hence the "infamous" connotation, and arguably butcher her 'protective mother' characterisation.

Zuko Alone Ursa: Zuko. That's what moms are like. If you mess with their babies, humph, they're gonna bite you back! [Later on] Ursa: Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are. DoBS pt 2Ozai: My father, Fire Lord Azulon, had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it. Your mother found out and swore she would protect you at any cost. She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan, a plan in which I would become Fire Lord and your life would be spared. [Later] Your mother did vicious, treasonous things that night. She knew the consequences and accepted them. For her treason, she was banished. "She (Ursa) kind of saved Zuko's life by doing something not very nice to Fire Lord Azulon" ~ Mike "Ursa mysteriously disappeared on the same night as Fire Lord Azulon's death. Some say that she was somehow involved in Fire Lord Azulon's death -- and that she did it to protect Zuko. But the truth is not known."

Search! Ursa: Despite these quotes stressing her role in Azulon's death and clearly implying that she murdered him, that role is given to Ozai. Instead, Search! Ursa merely makes the plan and a deadly poison, all because the writers didn't want her hands dirty.

Is it just me or is this scene so rushed? What happened to the "swore she would protect you at any cost" line?

Why does she assume she'll get to take her children, even though they are his heirs?

And then there's Ozai's response: he calls them, his collateral and has no problem referring to them as your children. He even threatens their lives, along with Ursa's, if she doesn’t keep her word.

Aside from how stupid it is for him to say that, it begs the question of why he didn't kill Ursa afterwards? He just lets her walk free when she's a loose end to him. Plot hole much!

So, Ursa's mum taught her how to make that poison - okay, in the vein of "what kind of mother forgets her children", what kind of mother teaches her daughter how to make an extremely deadly poison? Literally, no one talks about that!

[whoisthatcreepoverthere]

A real fucked up ATLA AU idea hit me while I was cooking, so enjoy headcanons no one asked for (and hopefully this isn't an overdone idea).

Spoilers for the post-war comics and side materials.

When Ursa assassinates Azulon and tampers with his will so Ozai will be crowned Fire Lord, she drugs her sleeping daughter and takes the girl with her, both to protect her and to screw her husband over. As gut wrenching as it is for her to do so, she keeps Azula in a vegetative state until after she and Ikem meet the Mother of Faces, who changes the faces and memories of Ursa and Azula both. Perhaps there's an inquiry made on how to dampen Azula's firebending, so it isn't so obvious, those blue flames are infamous already.

The new identies come with false memories of being a disgraced Fire Nation family who needed to escape their homeland and take refuge elsewhere. The hazy memories of the time Renamed!Azula was down is rewritten as a severe illness she contracted while on the run in both her and her mother's minds. Only Ikem knows the truth and he does not speak of it for years. Like many, the family flees to the Earth Kingdom, specifically Ba Sing Se. With their technical knowledge still in tact, Ikem and Noriko (Ursa's new identity according to the comics) are able to get decent jobs and Renamed!Azula returns to school once she heals.

Back in the Fire Nation Palace, Zuko is even more confused and hurt than his canon self, having lost both his mother and sister. While he's glad Azula doesn't have to experience the horror of Ozai's reign and their father's reaction to being triffled with, he wonders why he was left alone. He wonders if they're even alive, but it's impossible to imagine anyone daring to harm Ozai's beloved princess, certainly his mother is protecting Azula. Right? Still the feeling of abandonment runs too deep to ever disappear.

Ozai is even more abusive to Zuko, enraged that he was left with his "useless" son, the manner of which depends on if Ozai is still capable of having children. Should Ozai still be virile, he remarries and has a 3rd child, banishing and largely disinheriting Zuko for something trivial just after the new royal is born. Agni Kai and all. Should the Fire Lord be past his prime, Zuko is begrudingly kept in the Palace as Crown Prince, but Ozai does his damnedest to mold Zuko into what Azula was. This Zuko is covered in hundreds of scars and barely hanging on by a thread. Nearing a breakdown at barely 13-14, Iroh manages to give him an opportunity to leave home, providing the Prince a chance to run. Naturally, Iroh joins him and enter the Earth Kingdom as refugees much like they did in canon.

It's the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se where the siblings meet again, of course, they don't recognize each other between Renamed!Azula's new identity and the girl's altered memories. However, Renamed!Azula is curious about this "Lee" who strikes her as familiar somehow and is clearly a lot like her. She wonders if he's secretly a firebender like her and if so, could she convince him to teach her? Hence, she takes to observing him from afar, looking for proofs of his capabilities and leverage for a deal, only pestering him when she thinks she has a way in.

Her behavior reminds Zuko of his lost sister immediately. He wants to cry, laugh and rage. It takes time, but she does fool him into revealing his firebending, and eventually shoehorns him into tutoring her. Before he does, he makes her meet Uncle Mushi (Iroh's alias), who also notes the girl's similarities to Azula. Regardless, that's not the missing Princess's face, not even close. They have no clue if the girl is even alive. Iroh was not hopeful; Azula was proud of who she was and was deeply attached to her father, if she was alive, she would've fought to come home.

Zuko struggles with feeling like he's betraying Azula's memory with how much he comes to view the girl as a sister, but he can't help but seek her out, it's comforting. Iroh comforts his nephew, he knows too well that there's no replacing what was lost, but kindling something familiar makes it bearable. Perhaps Iroh/Mushi has Renamed!Azula follow Zuko/Lee when the boy goes off on his own and she helps him in his time of need.

Perhaps it's in the equivalent of The Crossroads of Destiny that Renamed!Azula's blue flames reappear out of desperation. Perhaps she even defends the Gaang from Zuko. But with less practice and experience, maybe Zuko beats her in this AU, or it's a close draw that still ends with Aang in a questionable state. I think this would be when Zuko and Iroh begin questioning if there's any way the girl could be Azula. In the wake of this experience, Renamed!Azula begins remembering things that slowly drive her mad, what she's seeing in her flashblacks couldn't possibly be true. Right?

I wonder where do they go from here? I feel like she does end up with the Gaang and Zuko's redemption plays out similarly in this AU. Asides from Ikem revealing the truth much sooner and Azula helping Zuko's progress rather than hindering it. The Princess may still have a breakdown of her own over how much of her life has been a lie, being drugged for months, the man she's known as her father isn't her father, her biological father is a tyrant who had full intentions of using her like a war machine, she has an estranged brother and uncle.

I wonder.