#pheonix queen azula

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

I imagine there being a Book 4: Air. There is build-up for Zutara and some hints and teases for Azulaang.

The second half from season 2 of LOK is moved up into Aang's saga but not without appropriate hindsight and foreshadowing from the first 3 books.

Y’all really need to let Katara rule a nation

Hi, so I never use Tumblr but I have so many thoughts about this topic and it’s starting to get ridiculous and I’ve decided to solve my problem by ranting on the internet. Okay, so for some context on my point of view as a viewer, I am a multiracial woman. One side of my ancestors was from India and was colonized and brought to the Caribbean as indentured labourers by the British, my grandparents later immigrated to Canada. The other side of my family was settlers from Newfoundland that were forced to move after the mines closed. To sum that up, I’m part white, part brown, with a shit load of colonization in my history.

With the context of that cultural lens, please understand how much strong badass characters like Katara mean to me. Not only does she have strong morals and is super courageous, BUT HOLY SHIT SHE’S BROWN???!!! AND HER FIGHT IS PUSHING AGAINST COLONIZATION AND IMPERIALISM???!!! Katara is very close to my heart as the woman of color representation I’ve always wanted to see (Which is why I’m also pissed about what happened to her in LOK but let’s not worry about that right now).

I think that Katara can easily be generalized as “the good girl” in the ATLA fandom, especially in comparison to other female characters on the show like Toph, and Azula. Yes, she was extremely motherly, and taking care of others was her main goal, but Katara was never afraid to get into a fight. Let’s not forget, this is the girl that started an earth bender slave riot that ended in liberation, she stole an invaluable scroll from pirates, fought a Master water bender with limited training, fought both of the fire nation royal siblings, destroyed a fire nation factory in the name of environmental justice, mastered blood bending in one night, was part of the invasion during the eclipse, enacted revenge on her mother’s killer, and holy shit how do so many people forget that she defeated Princess Azula, to name a few examples. Katara is not a passive person, she is incredibly passionate regarding her beliefs and protecting her family.  

Katara very clearly cares about protecting and honoring her culture. She is also not afraid to call out her culture on its own shortcomings, especially regarding sexism. But she also values and cares about protecting other cultures, which can be seen in how she starts earth bender riots and how she dresses as the painted lady to save a poor fire nation village.

I believe Katara would have been an incredible world leader and It’s really disappointing to see that the rest of the Gaang was recognized after the war as great heroes and world leaders but Katara never got the recognition she deserved. (And don’t give me that “it’s because she’s still alive” bullshit cause guess what, so is Zuko and Toph so that’s a really stupid excuse)

In my ideal world, Zuko and Katara would have been the most badass royal couple that works to create change throughout the four nations. This is another reason why Zutara would have been amazing. There is so much in the show that shows Zuko and Katara build an amazing relationship and I think them perusing a romance would not be OOC at all. But HOLY SHIT CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS COUPLE???

Zuko becoming the Fire Lord means that any relationship he pursues is inevitably going to have some political consequences. Really, on top of the poorly executed relationship between Mai and Zuko, Mai being put in that role of power doesn’t really make any huge changes, she’s from nobility and the members of the Fire Nation that supported Ozai would most likely be in support of Zuko marrying Mai. Mai also never comes to the realization that what Fire Nation was doing was wrong. Yes, she did switch sides, but her only motivation for switching was her relationship with Zuko, not her own view shifting on what the Fire Nation was doing in the war. Throughout the show, Mai is shown to be passive, dismissive, and unfeeling. Her idea to cheer up Zuko is to order around servants and she doesn’t show any signs of discomfort when Azula decides to stop negotiating for the return of her baby brother. I don’t think that Mai is a bad person, I just don’t think it would make sense for Zuko to want to put her in a position of power.

However, putting Katara in that place of power definitely is going to change some things. Over the past century, the Fire Nation had built an image of their superiority and right to rule, having Katara as part of their monarchy shatters this idea. Part of what Iroh teaches Zuko is that the four nations rely on each other in order to maintain balance, Zuko and Katara’s relationship would be the embodiment of this idea. Both the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes have things they can learn from each other, the Fire Nation is far beyond the Water Tribes in terms of gender equality, with women even being in the army and nobody really has a problem with the idea of Azula becoming the Fire Lord. However, the Water Tribes’ sense of community and lack of a hierarchy is something that both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom could implement more into how they run.

Also Zuko and Katara having mixed-race kids quite literally blends two nations together. One of the things that as a mixed person, I found strange in LOK was how Aang and Katara’s kids didn’t seem to have mixed identities, Tenzin fully embraced his Air Nomad identity while completely disregarding his Water Tribe heritage, Kya embraced her Water Tribe identity and tried to embrace being an Air Nomad but was looked over in favor of Tenzin and Bumi seems to have rejected his roots altogether. Personally, I didn’t find it to be a great representation of multiracial people or the difficulty of trying to understand and embrace conflicting identities.

With the knowledge that Zuko is inevitably going to need an heir, it’s definitely going to raise some discussion on who is eligible to take the throne. I believe that Zuko and Katara would all raise their kids to value wisdom and knowledge from different sources because it would seem OOC for either of them not to. Imagine how others would react if they had a water-bending daughter, how would water-bending Fire Lord change the Fire Nation’s image?

I also want to make it clear that Katara and Zuko’s relationship only works because it depends on Katara having agency and independence in her decisions and Zuko striving for change and reparations. In TSR, when Zuko and Katara go to find her mother’s killer, you can see through Zuko’s expressions how he also is angry and disgusted by what the people of his nation have done, even holding on to a shot of him looking at Yon Rah with disgust after Katara has already turned away and left. Zuko striving to create an era of peace and hold the Fire Nation accountable can greatly be supported by Katara being involved. Also, Zuko and Katara getting married and running the Fire Nation is just a great big middle finger to everyone who wanted to keep Ozai in power.

In conclusion, Zuko and Katara being a couple would have an unbelievable impact on the world and the creators were too cowardly to give Katara power.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Azulaang - lifestyle

Azula: You really believe I’m capable of living in such a lifestyle? Me? A nomadic monk?

Aang: Think of it this way. You’ll feel more free than you’ve ever been in your lifetime.

Azula: My brother Zuzu did say that it was important to draw wisdom from as many places as possible.

Aang: Well then who better to have as your partner than the avatar? We can dive into nomadic roots and roam the earth. But unlike my ancestors, we can serve people of all nations, working wherever there is corruption and discord to restore balance and peace.

Azula: Interesting. Perhaps with the aid of this concept of balance, I can be reborn as the supreme ruler of the world and balance itself. Zuko can continue being fire lord. I can be known as, Azula, the nomadic Phoenix Queen.

Aang: That’s honestly very cool, and a nice ring to it.

Azula: A couple things I demand, first and foremost, are that I keep my hair, and for any air nomad robes you provide me to have some fire nation style to them. I still have a lot of pride for my country.

Aang: I wouldn’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t have it in me to shed away such beautiful hair. We can even have clothing and accessories that have style from all nations.

[waterfire1848]

Ozai: There's nowhere you can hide, Ronin. Put as much distance between you and the truth as you want. It will change nothing. Pretend to be everything you are not: A good sister to Zuko, a sister-in-law to Katara and Sokka, a reconciled friend to Mai and Ty Lee, a new member of team avatar, the wife of avatar Aang and mother of his children, and even a Pheonix Queen. But there is one unavoidable truth you will never escape: You cannot change. You always have and will always be...a monster.

Azula: I know. But I am your monster no longer.

Ohhhhh.

I like this. Azula accepting that she has power and that's going to make people afraid of her/get her called a monster by some but she has a choice as to how she uses her power now. She's no longer Ozai's loyal follower but her own person.

[berrybreaduwu]

ATLA au Where during Sozin's Comet, Ozai is defeated, but Azula wasn't and instead becomes Phoenix Queen so now the Gaang has to face her

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Right now, I'm hoping that, as she falls at the steep air temple, Aang flies to her, catches her, and saves her. This'll break away another piece of her false reality and she'll probably lose her lightningbending. Zuko will get a torso scar after she fires a regular blue fireball.

IDC WHAT YOU PEOPLE SAY SHE LOOKS GREAT! I love that her makeup isn’t so standoutish like in the cartoon I love the simplicity and because like in the cartoon bitch I did not believe Azula was 14-15 because the makeup! So simple makeup like this makes it like oh yea that’s a 14-15 year old girl! She looks like a young teenage girl! Not a grown women! She’s absolutely adorable and I love her! Idc what anyone says! ALSO THE VOICE ACTOR OF UNCLE IROH APPROVES AND THATS ALL THAT MATTERS! Also that’s probably Mai and ty lee behind her I’m only saying that because of the pink 🤣

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Azulaang - Phoenix Queen

Azula: I've been doing thinking...

Aang: When are you not thinking, Zules?

Azula: My new life as a firebending nomadic monk has been fun but I feel like I can do more.

Aang: What do you have in mind?

Azula: I keep thinking about what Zuko's always told me about how understanding others, other elements, other nations, would help us become whole.

Aang: And who better to understand that than me, am I right?

Azula: Hmph. As you may remember, the dark avatar made up a title called "The Phoenix King" and temporarily claimed it for himself. I don't think that title should just be dead and buried. It was designed to transcend the other elements and the nations they are based on. I think it can be used in a more positive light and that its purpose can align with yours.

Aang was intrigued by where this was going.

Azula: Princess Azula and Fire lord Azula are no more. Just as the world will be reborn in true balance, I shall be reborn as the world's supreme ruler that also stands by your side. From this moment on, I will be known as the Phoenix Queen. What do you say?

Aang: I wouldn't want it any other way, Zules.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

"Azula can't have a redemption arc or else it'll undermine Zuko's."

Ok, What? How?

I mean, if it was written exactly the same as Zuko's then I can kinda get where they're coming from with that but Zuko's not that special. He wasn't the first to redeem himself nor was he the last.

As soon as Zuko was properly redeemed, Iroh gave him a daunting task to redeem his entire warmongering nation and his family lineage. Zuko's gonna make hundreds, thousands, of depraved war criminals adjust to peaceful times. Azula's case will not be that different.

Zuko being patient with her, remembering some of Iroh's lines to say to her, and always believing in her will perfectly demonstrate just how far he has come. How does that undermine his arc?

What would make Azula's redemption different from Zuko's is that she still won't be fire lord and chakra cleansing can be involved. With Aang by her side, she'll always have a life of adventure and can even take the 'Pheonix Queen' mantle for herself.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

One of my Azulaang takes has her take up the mantle of Pheonix Queen. Ozai designed that mantle to transcend all nations including his own. With this title and the avatar by her side, she'll go from belonging nowhere to belonging everywhere.

Even without Azulaang, Aang has the potential to be a good listener for Azula if he wasn't written to be a 24/7 Katara simp.

He too knows the feeling of never truly belonging anywhere anymore. Azula, of course, will be reluctant to trust him and believe that his nation deserved its grim fate for propaganda reasons, but I picture Aang saving her from any life-threatening situations and this would cause her to rethink everything she's ever known.

You can NEVER belong

You know, I was watching Lilo & Stitch the other day when something sort of dawned on me. Mainly, I believe I figured out why, at least to me, Azula's handling in the comics was so horrible.

Her storyline basically was "you don't belong anywhere".

Think about it. Her brother shoved her in an asylum and basically saw her as a tool. Her mother replaced her with a half-daughter. Her friends hate her guts. And she has absolutely NOBODY in the post-war era who is willing to hear her out or treat her anything less than a monster.

Going back to Lilo & Stitch, this was something that Jumba flat out told Stitch when he ran away into the jungle. That he was meant to destroy, and he didn't belong with anyone. Mind you, this is after Stitch leaves Lilo and Nani cause he believed he screwed things up so badly, the two are gonna be separated.

What the comics did was basically validate Jumba's comment to Stitch, only with Azula. That because she was raised to be a weapon and conditioned by her father, she was a burden and didn't belong in society.

...please note that the comics were geared towards kids. Some of which are probably gonna be atypical and struggling with the same stuff Azula or Stitch were grappling with.

Imagine them reading this comic...and walking away with them believing that like Azula, they're good for nothing. People like Zuko can belong because they fit easier into society.

If you identify with Azula though, the comics might as well have a big sign that says "we don't want you around".

[thedragonemperorreignsimmortal]

She's beauty, She's grace, She'll punch you in the face

Azula