#it's what Sokka deserves

[nanabanonana]

ugly snorted and laughed while editing today bc while i was thinking about how to fix a paragraph my brain was giving me the following treat

Zuko: i don't like sweet things

Zuko after seeing Sokka: i have suddenly developed a sweet tooth

[demaparbat-hp]

He truly did.

[ash-and-starlight]

The world needs more Yue and Zuko friendship, I squeal just thinking abt the parallels. They deserve a life changing field trip together and if u have abt ideas I’m all ears 👀

Hiii anon this ask fermented in my inbox and in my brain for so long,, so take this??? Post canon yue lives/no war au arts?? Anyway aside from the Parallels and their political position & their duty before hoes grindset I think they could learn a lot from each other. With zuko learning the gift of patience & diplomacy from yue & Yue learning that allowing yourself to feel anger and speaking up can actually be Good.

anyway hypothetical life changing trip outcome: zuko takes an intro gender studies class and yue says fuck

(oh and also must not forget the crush on sokka)

[ecoterrorist-katara]

The tragedy of Katara’s parentification

Sokka and Katara were both parentified, and it’s a profoundly life-changing thing for both of them. One of the saddest things in ATLA, though, is how Sokka sort of got to outgrow parentification, but Katara never did.

Sokka’s told to be the man. The provider, the protector. He’s not so good at the former (his hunting failures are a consistent source of comic relief), and he takes failures of the latter very, very hard. He doesn’t manage to save Yue, and that wrecks him. After Yue, he becomes extremely protective of Suki in a way that’s borderline offensive to her. He’s willing to do anything to protect his friends and his family, including something as irresponsible as breaking into the Boiling Rock. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sokka is the only one of the Gaang who unambiguously kills. The rest of them may technically have clean hands because of cartoon logic, but Combustion Man is very dead, and Sokka is the one who killed him. We don’t know how he feels about it, because the show never goes there, but I have a pet theory that Sokka is so uncharacteristically (remember he was team “leave Zuko to freeze to death”) against Katara confronting Yon Rha in The Southern Raiders because he’s the only who knows what killing feels like and wants to protect Katara from it.

But by the end of the show, Sokka’s in a place where he can start to let go of his need to protect. Objectively, all his friends are unbelievably powerful and can take care of themselves, including his sister and his girlfriend. Suki is the one who saves him in the final battle, representing not only a reversal of his initial cartoonish misogyny, but also demonstrating that he is worthy of protection. And of course, he and his friends saved the world, so there isn’t really an enemy that he has to protect them from anymore. Sokka’s loved ones create the conditions under which his parentified behaviour is no longer necessary. Sokka would still have to take the first step to stop seeing himself as the one who has to lay his life on the line, but at least it’s possible for him.

But not Katara.

Katara had to take on the mom role after their mother was murdered, which meant she was responsible for domestic labour and emotional support. Sokka says in The Runaway that her role was to keep the family together. Unlike protection, that’s always a full time job regardless of the war. We see Katara spending more screen time than anybody cooking, getting food, mending, and generally doing women’s work. We see Katara giving everyone emotional support, including strangers and her enemy. We see Katara putting aside her own discomfort and her own hurt in The Desert because if she falls apart, they all die. Nobody ever showed her that she doesn’t need to be the only one who cooks, or that somebody else can be responsible for the emotional wellbeing of her friends, or that — god forbid — someone else can actually be responsible for her emotional wellbeing.

That’s why I never cared for the Ka/taang argument of “he teaches her to be a kid again!” Putting aside the fact that Katara ends up taking care of Aang a lot more as the series goes on, the whole tragedy of parentification is that you can never again be a child. That part of your childhood, your god-given right, is robbed from you. It is extremely precious and important to still be able to be a kid, but breaking free of parentification is not about seeing yourself as a kid. It’s about breaking free of being responsible for everyone’s feelings and behaviours.

For Katara, that responsibility is not problem of perception, but of reality. Unlike Sokka, who was told and shown that his loved ones are capable of protecting themselves, Katara has zero reason to believe that her loved ones are able to feed and clothe themselves and not fall apart emotionally. Between Toph and Sokka who emphatically don’t want to do this work, it all falls on Katara. Telling a parentified child that they just need to loosen up is akin to telling an overworked mother that she needs to just relax (“happy Mother’s Day! You get a break from chores, which you will catch up on tomorrow because nobody else is doing them”). It doesn’t accomplish anything if nobody creates the circumstances under which it’s possible to let go of responsibilities. A lot of Zutara fans, spanning all the way back to the early days of the fandom, like the “Momtara and Dadko” trope where Zuko also does chores. Why? Because even without the concept and language of parentification, many fans recognized that Katara’s performance of domestic and emotional labour is inequitable and probably very taxing.

Growing out of parentification is about more than just letting go of old expectations: it’s also about finding a new way to value yourself beyond the role you grew up with. I’ve said this before, but it’s very important to acknowledge that just because a kid is parentified doesn’t mean they’re actually good at being a parent. In fact, it’s probably a given that they’re not, because they’re kids performing roles that are developmentally inappropriate! Sokka remains a shit hunter; he becomes a decent fighter but he’s still miles behind his friends. A big part of healing from his parentification is finding another area — strategy, engineering, project management (what else do you call that schedule) — where he actually excels, to which he can dedicate his time and from which he can derive satisfaction and a sense of identity. For Katara, fighting for the oppressed and combat waterbending give her that. Crucially, however, Katara does not stop being a girl when she becomes a warrior. She’s still responsible for domestic and emotional labour. Unlike Sokka, whose protector duties were more or less relieved as the series went on and he found new ways to contribute to the group, Katara continued to perform her old role in addition to her new one (which is depressingly realistic btw, look up feminist theory around the concept of the second shift). Still, it’s important that she found these new ways to value herself and her contributions…

…which disappear in her adult life. Where’s adult Katara fighting for the oppressed? Where’s adult Katara enjoying her status as a master waterbender? Where’s Mighty Katara? Where’s the Painted Lady? Where’s the person who vanquished a whole Fire Lord?

What do we know about adult Katara? She’s no longer a rabblerouser or an ecoterrorist. She did not translate her desire to help the downtrodden into a political role, like being Chief or on the United Republic Council. She’s not known as the best waterbender in the world, only the best healer, even though her combat abilities are what she took the most pride in. Even as a healer, she established no hospitals, trained no widespread acolytes (except Korra, I guess?), and made no known contributions to the field.

What Katara is known for…is being a wife and a mother. The same role she was forced to take on at age 8. One which she performed for the next 80+ years.

[yunulus]

figuring out how i want to draw the gaang

[yourhighness6]

This is such a random thought but is it just me or were we cheated out of seeing the first conversation between the water tribe siblings and the members of their sister tribe in "The Waterbending Master". Like, it probably would have been hilarious for one considering that they would have to explain that yes, this is the avatar, yes, he is alive, yes, they are just kids, yes, they are the chief's children. Besides that, this is the first time the Southern and Northern tribes have had contact with each other for probably at least a decade. We were robbed

[captainblogger]

Rakhi is a tradition passed in hindu culture for thousands of years, in which a brother swears to protect his sister for life and the sister ties a ceremonial ribbon on her brother's hand to signify their bond

And then there's modern girls😭🙏🏼

[the-badger-mole]

Do you think Katara should have apologized to Sokka for accusing him of not loving their mother like she did?

Not really. I mean, it was a harsh thing to say, but I'd argue it was accurate. Sokka himself has admitted that his younger sister supplanted his mother in his memories. Also, for Sokka to take Aang's side for the reasons he did was also harsh. I think they deserved to have a deeper conversation about that whole situation. .

[five-flavor-soup]

my toxic trait is thinking that ‘then you didn’t love her like I did’ isn’t a horrible thing of katara to say actually. “she was 14 and angry and grieving that’s why she said it” she canonically saw kya’s body right after the murder. it would’ve been her, had kya not sent her away and lied to yon rha. kya took katara’s place to save her. katara was, to absolutely no fault of her own, the catalyst in kya’s murder.

sokka has a right to say he doesn’t want yon rha murdered in revenge. sokka lost his mum in a horrific way because of the southern raiders. but katara lost her mum in that same horrific way because the southern raiders wanted her dead. the kind of grief they experienced is different. katara’s is smeared with survivor’s guilt: katara took over kya’s role in the tribe to the degree that, in sokka’s memories, kya’s face is replaced with katara’s. katara’s need for revenge, her need to look yon rha in the eyes and tell him that he failed, that he murdered the wrong person—it’s a different kind of need for revenge that sokka might feel.

sokka’s logical nature might allow him to push it down until after the end of the war; katara, faced daily by a boy she connected with briefly about the loss of a mother and was then betrayed by, whose sister just tore apart a recently connected family, who was given a chance to avenge by that boy, would not have been able to. both because of her sense of justice and her more emotion-driven, righteous nature.

‘then you didn’t love her like i did’—then you didn’t experience her death the way i did; then you didn’t feel the same type of guilt i did; then you didn’t feel the same sense of responsibility i did. that’s why she said it. and i really don’t fault her for that at all.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

the atla live action remake reminds me of spop, they're just changing everything from the original. at what point does it just turn into a completely different story? isn't it better to just start off with your own original series with original characters instead of trying to readapt a beloved classic?

[awesome-normal-heroes]

"Aang kisses Katara without permission! He's the worst!"

Well, then I guess Sokka is the worst too...

[starryeyeddreamer21]

Oh no, oh fuck, I'm back in my zukka era

[witchering10123]

live action hahn/yue/sokka and no, I will not be accepting any criticism

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #26: Azula introduces Sokka to their child

My final artwork of the year... and I think it might be the best one to close things off. It's a scene I haven't written yet, but one that I hope will feel as glorious and bright as possible, once I do.

Small moments can sometimes be the most rewarding ones, whether in life or in stories. After all the hardships these two have faced and will still face... I can only hope that it will be a relief to know that bright moments such as this one await them in the future.

Do I know how to draw children? Honestly, no. References are not enough, I need a lot of help in figuring them out x'D still a work in progress on that front. But for now, I'm happy to show our little girl being dazed and curious about finally getting to know her dad. Sokka's expression probably required even MORE emotion, but this was the full extent of my abilities at the moment x'D As for Azula, as I mentioned in the Patreon post, I actually had to overhaul her entire position and situation in this artwork because it just didn't feel right. Things felt so rigid that it really wouldn't have appeared to be a sort-of screenshot glance into their lives, which is what the prompt would require :'D So I switched things around with her... and I'm honestly so relieved that the outcome was pretty good, basically just what I hoped it would look like.

As for questions like... why is Azula wearing an outfit unlike anything I've made her wear for all these years? Why's her hair down like that? Why is Sokka wounded? Where ARE they...?

... Weeeell, I shall leave you to ponder all those things while I go cry through the writing of the second half of Part 3 (?) I'm powering through, trying to make my way to this moment. Hopefully I'll be there next year! Who knows? Might be possible!

I really hope you guys like it, I'm honestly pretty proud of this one... so happy holidays, everyone, and I hope I'll be able to bring much more art next year, too :D

If you'd like to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a $1 pledge on Patreon will give you access to prompt suggestion, poll voting and Gladiator snippets, 6 days before the next chapter is released!

[shifuaang]

vehemently against NATLA existing 😤 but wildly protective over and incredibly charmed by Gordon, Kiawentiio, and Dallas ❤️

[dragononaskateboard]

Everything is so connected in Avatar The Last Airbender

Why does The Fire Nation send raids to The Water Tribes? Because The next Avatar, the only one able to stop them from conquering the world, will be reborn in The Water Tribes. The Fire Nation wants to capture and kill that person before they realize they are The Avatar. Before they have any power to stop them. They want to end The Avatar once and for all.

But what they don’t know is that The Avatar ran away and is still alive in an iceberg, deep in the sea close to The Southern Water Tribe where no one can reach him.

So the raids carry on. But The Fire Nation doesn’t find The Avatar. Only water benders fighting back. And even though these people weren’t their original target, they decide to wipe them out too. Because then The Fire Nation will have a higher chance of winning the war. The Avatar might not be present, but the people who will teach The Avatar is.

On one of them they capture Hama. Katara and Sokka’s grandmothers’ best friend, and a powerful waterbender. One of the waterbenders who helped trap The Fire Nation ship in ice. Said ship which soon grew to be seen as haunted because of its reminder of history.

Hama is captured and taken to The Fire Nation, where she’s put in prison. There she and her friends are restricted from any water and kept in cages. And as time passes all of Hama’s friends pass away, these people who she has grown up with her entire life. These people she was promised a future together with. These people she shared the same home with. And then she is the only one left. The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe.

In a last resort, she (somehow) invents blood bending and frees herself. She invents the ability to control someone’s blood, someone’s body, against their will, just to survive. And she waits for just the right moment, a full moon- when her power is at the height of its power, to escape.

And when she escapes she knows that The Fire Nation is gonna go looking for her. She knows she can’t ever return to The Southern Water Tribe again because they will be there waiting for her. They will search for her until they find her. The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe. She has put a target on her own back.

So she decides to hide under their noses. She adopts the identity of a Fire Nation citizen. But her fears were still carried out. The Fire Nation came looking for her.

They arrived in The Southern Water Tribe, looking for The Last Waterbender in The Southern Water Tribe. Looking for a grown woman who escaped a Fire Nation prison. Looking for Hama.

But the people in The Southern Water Tribe doesn’t know this. Katara and Sokka’s mother Kya knows that Katara can waterbend. And that Katara is the only waterbender in The Southern Water Tribe. So Kya assumes they are looking for Katara, to get rid of all waterbenders once and for all. Getting rid of anyone who could be or teach The Avatar. After all, that’s why the raids were carried out before.

So Kya tells the soldiers it’s she herself that they’re looking for. She’s The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe. She does it to protect her daughter, (and in a way to protect hope, in a way to protect the avatar). And the soldiers accepts Kya as The Last Waterbender, because she fits the description. A grown woman from The Southern Water Tribe. This time, they weren’t looking for a kid.

Kya is killed because Hama is alive. GranGran looses her daughter in law because her best friend survived. Hakoda looses his wife. Katara and Sokka looses their mother because a woman on the other side of the world outsmarted the Fire nation.

But it’s Katara who has to carry this guilt. She thought she was The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe that the soldiers were searching for. But she never was.

The raids stop because the Fire nation thought they found Hama. And because 100 years have passed, everyone believes The Avatar must have ceased to exist by now. It’s useless to continue searching. An impossible quest, (One that Zuko is sent on). The Avatar is gone, and who they thought was The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe is killed. And therefore the whole reason for the raids are gone. So the raids stop.

Katara and Sokka grow up without their mother. And then one day, they find The Avatar. And he’s just a kid who has spent 100 years in an ice berg. He didn’t even know there was a war, and now he’s the one responsible for it all. Just a day before this, his people were alive. His home was still there. But now it’s all destroyed and long gone. Aang has lost everything. His people, his culture, his home. In one day 100 years have passed, and Aangs standing alone in the rubble. He can never go back. He’s the sole survivor of a genoside. He’s The Last Airbender and The Avatar and everyone expects him to end a whole war. But he’s just a kid.

And that’s what Hama was too. Except instead of being stuck in an ice berg for 100 years, she was stuck in a prison for 30 years. She lost everything too. She could never return to her home again. She has to live the rest of her life in secret. She can’t ever bend in front of people again. She has to adopt a whole new life. She’s the sole survivor of a genoside. And she will never ever get even a glimpse of anything from The Southern Water Tribe ever again.

Except then she does. She meets four kids out in the middle of the forest. The forest she knows all too well after years of dragging Fire Nation citizens to a prison she has created, in the disguise of the moon when her bending is at the peak of its power. Where she has used her blood bending to execute her revenge for years. Her revenge for separating her from her home.

And suddenly, her home is looking right back at her. Two kids, with the same blue eyes as her. Two kids who have left their home, the home she was kidnapped from. Two kids who grew up without their mother, and who doesn’t know that it was Hama’s actions which caused it.

And one of these kids is a bender, just like Hama. Katara is immediately delighted. She has never met a waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe before, she thought she was the only one left. But she never was.

Hama sees this as an opportunity, an opportunity she would never get in her life. She’s old by now, and she doesn’t want her legacy to die with her. She wants the Fire Nation to pay for every bit of pain they caused her, even after she’s gone. She wants her revenge to live on.

Katara is so eager to learn from Hama. To learn the sacred art that’s unique to their culture. Unique to the two of them alone. And Katara is even more eager to learn it from an actual waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe. To learn from the people who never got to teach.

So Hama teaches her. She teaches her to utilize the water around yourself. To use what’s in your surroundings to your advantage. Hama teaches Katara the one thing that she used to save herself from The Fire Nation prison. Hama teaches Katara the one thing that is responsible for the raid that killed Katara and Sokka’s mother.

Hama teaches Katara blood bending. Hama makes Katara a blood bender, and even though it ends with Katara defeating her with these abilities, Hama’s legacy now lives on through her. Katara is a blood bender, whether she wants to be one or not.

Hama isn’t The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe anymore. And Kya never was. But now Katara is. And Katara still has to carry the guilt of her mother’s death. Because now she’s a blood bender, because now she actually is The Last Waterbender from The Southern Water Tribe.