#platonic zutara

[sillybillylulu]

I love your art style! Maybe you could make a Zutara screenshot redraw if you want to? Doesn't have to be romance-coded, could be just platonic. :) Thank you in advance. And I read that you have a block currently, I feel with you. Same thing for me with writing. Take your time.

So sorry for the wait pookie!! I'm just loaded with requests but I hope you like it! Also I hope your writing block is already over 🫶🏼

Part 17 of re-drawing avatar screenshots!

Also I couldn't decide on what scene I wanted so this took even longer than I intended 😭

(meant as platonic but can be tagged as romantic)

[sleepyzukka]

ATLA Textposts Ft. Transfem Zuko

[thief-of-eggs]

Thinking about Zuko practicing hairstyles on Katara (for both his own benefit, and later to try on Sokka)

Thinking about them slowly but surely bonding through these little shared moments. Talking about their childhoods, their families, their memories.

Thinking about Zuko still asking to do her hair, even well after he’s mastered every style. Thinking about Katara coming to Zuko when she wants her hair done, thinking about her making excuses because she wants the peace that comes with sitting in front of him, closing her eyes as a touch so similar to her mother’s weaves through her hair.

Thinking about Zuko finding the sister he lost in those moments with her. Everything he wished he and Azula could be, he finds in Sokka’s younger sister.

[whineandcheese24]

I think one of the reasons I dislike zutara as a ship so much is because their friendship is so beautiful on its own without romance and such a huge sign of growth and character development. zuko and katara were one of the first m/f relationships I saw in media where the characters weren’t related or love interests. and while there are several other m/f friendships katara was my favorite character when I first saw the show and as such their friendship was (and still is) very dear to me. 

also, I know everyone loves a good enemies-to-lovers, and I do too, but y’all are sleeping on the criminally underused trope of enemies-to-friends. in almost every enemies-to-lovers story I’ve read the reason that they get from enemies to lovers is because of some undeniable and immutable attraction. but what if we didn’t have that? what if you didn’t haunt my dreams at night? what if it wasn’t a struggle to pull my eyes away from you? what if I had every reason to hate you and all you had to give me was a late apology and a promise to do better? what if forgiving you was a choice I didn’t have to make? then what? I’d have to know you on purpose. you’d have to trust me when I forgive you because I’ve thought of every reason not to. 

and I hear some of you saying “oh but that could be a great enemies-to-lovers story too” and maybe it could, but you’re missing the point. the reason zuko and katara hits so hard for me is because they didn’t have to be friends. they both had other friends and other family and they both would have had happy and full lives. but they got past it anyways. and it didn’t have anything to do with romance or love. it was purely growth and self-improvement. zuko didn’t apologize because of a crush on a cute girl, he apologized because he regretted what he did and was maturing into a better and kinder and more thoughtful person. katara didn’t forgive him because he was hot, she forgave him because she understood that her anger and hate was poisoning her and she wanted to move on. 

tl;dr: the beauty of zutara’s friendship is that they became friends because of growth and maturity that had nothing to do with romance and throwing in that they were attracted to or in love with each other cheapens the significance of their character development and shows that romantic love is the only way to overcome personal challenges.

[billsbae]

okayyy look i'm a die zutara stan, but platonic zutara with sleepovers, painting nails and talking about boys makes me want scream (in a good way)

[peachpitfan]

I hate that the atla fandom focuses so much on ships and can sometimes ignore the beautiful platonic relationships in the show

Like Zuko and katara? Amazing friendship in the show! Their dynamic is so great in the show, whether you ship them or not, but it can get ignored when the only time people are talking about them as a duo is when they’re arguing over ships

Like I love shipping characters I like as much as the next guy, but I think instead of battling over which ship is ‘right’ or ‘the best’, we should just agree to disagree and appreciate the show no matter what we ship

In my opinion shipping wars are the most pointless things ever, and they just distract from the beautiful relationships (platonic or not) that the show presents

[leajoyrambles]

My favorite polyship fic concept is basically Maizutaraang arranged marriage au where the "couple" within the four of them who are actually married are the only pairing in the group whose entanglement is 100% platonic.

Example: Zuko and Katara are legally married. They aren't actually together. They are both dating Mai and Aang. Mai and Aang are also dating each other.

Literally none of them are actually trying to hide this from anyone.

[tokyosmega]

dropping by to post katara doing zukos makeup bc i wanted to draw zuko in a cute little headband

[atla-confessions]

Hello! I'm actually one of the "wanted to read zutara but couldn't bc anti Aang" and I was a little disspointed when no one rose to suggest any safe ones, but I just stumbled across one! I was actually looking for jetaang, but found this fic and it's very cute.

heyy! I'm the original OP who wanted to read believable post-canon Zutara with platonic Kataang / Zukaang / Maiko best friendship scenes and zero anti stuff!

As I said, I gave up when no one recced anything. But this fic was super cute! Thanks!

It's really funny to me that an active ship war is going on here, and here we are just collecting fic 😂 To return the favour -

Not Zutara but here's a super cute fic I found: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26933116

It's a Kataang meet-cute in a coffee shop with platonic Zutara and Zukaang besties. It's adorable. It also has a lil Jet teasing, but nothing bad. Hope you like it!

X

[frothy-commissions]

Zutara platonically is so interesting to me because she literally is put as a direct parralel to Azula the whole franchise, done to the sibling bonds. Becasue where as Sokka and Katara have boundaries for one another and are dutiful to each other, Azula and Zuko have no true boundaries but we can see have some deep seeded resentment and yet duties to one another.

The way Katara in that finally fight too, feels as though Zuko having Katara filling that sibling space for him because he recognizes that it cannot be him and Azula.

[fidget-scribbles]

Fighting back to back against Melon Lord!

"Being part of the group means being part of group hugs"

Zuko holding Katara back from nagging at Aang!

(Katara listening to him!)

Sleeping next to each other on Appa!

Choosing to go after Azula together!

Zuko and Katara's relationship should be a big deal, even if it's totally platonic and they're romantically with other people. Even if there are zero smooches and zero yearning, it's a cool relationship. And their other relationships should be strong enough to support that.

Like, on a Doylist level, the endgame pairings should make sense even if the characters maintain their canonical relationships with family and friends. The writers should be able to show me Katara and Zuko trusting each other with their lives, caring deeply for each other *and* still wanting to be with other people.

In-universe (Watsonian) their partners should be strong enough people to support and encourage their other attachments. Aang in particular is a huge believer in the power of friendship, it seems like he would be super sad if Zuko and Katara grew apart after all the work and drama that went into them becoming friends.

(okay Mai can be kind of a bitch about it, I guess. I'd prefer to see her unfazed, but hostile wouldn't be OOC and I support her choices. Goth bitch supremacy🖤)

Personally, I imagine platonic adult Zutara and as the kind of high drama ride-or-die friends who have massive fights that everyone knows will get resolved and would still knife a bitch for saying the wrong thing even when they're the one who started complaining. (And like occasionally they do little a morally gray ninja mission together.) Their respective S/Os are patient and secretly a little relieved they have another emotional outlet.

Aang like 'Hey Zuko, how about yoooou tell Katara we have to split up the colonies? That was your idea, right?'

Mai 'Oh. You're disappearing for a weekend 'vacation' right after some terrorist attacks? Sure, whatever. If you get blood on the carpets again I'm not covering for you anymore.'

Zuko and his protectiveness over Katara backfired on the show

I think we're all quite aware of the fact that Zuko is canonically very protective over Katara

Exhibit A

When he saves Katara from falling rubble in the Western air temple.

Exhibit B

When he protects Katara from flames in that same episode when she is about to blood bend that fire nation soldier.

Exhibit C

The famous Agni Kai where he take lightning for Katara

Now why are these so significant? I think these are big gestures are to show Zuko's efforts to make amends after what he did to Katara. It could be argued these are very extreme ways of making it up to her because these came at the cost of his life. But this also goes to show his character development, as he is willing to protect Katara from danger. For me, one of the reasons why I ship them is because of his protectiveness. It's refreshing to see a character that has always been there to help and to be a support system to others be protected by someone else. I think it can be very fulfilling as a viewer. This effort that was made to write their relationship was so genuine, and it felt so heartfelt as the viewer, that it just made their dynamic one of the strongest in the show. Whether that be romantically or just platonically, their dynamic is probably one of the best in my opinion.

Now, with all that his protectiveness towards Katara immediately evaporate after the last Agni Kai which was pretty shocking, as they didn't get time to be able to talk about what happened. I feel like it removes a piece of genuineness from the show that the characters care for each other. And of course I know a reason why this could have happened is because, well, Kataang and Maiko exist. I think what made their dynamics so strong is because of their protectiveness for one another. Especially, Zuko's protectiveness over Katara. When it was removed in the comics, it felt like a bond had been destroyed because a big part of their dynamic was protecting each other and being there for each other, and having that level of communication. They were protecting each other through their communication and through their support for one another.

How I feel like it backfired on the show is that it created a bit of an emptiness in both of the characters. Especially when they interacted, it felt more distant in the comics, and it felt as if they were strangers. Zuko's writing, which leads to him being protective over her, is so poignant in their relationship that once it is removed it creates a hole in a way it makes his character feel more hollow in his relationship with Katara. It feels like an effort to create a divide and an erasure of their past and how significant his taking lightning for her was. A show that is built of meaningful character relationships took a piece of its own heart out and of its own show and stabbed it in front of all of us when it came to the erasure of Zutara. So they could push the canon ships. They were willing to remove that important element of character relationships for 2 poorly written couples.

I think it creates a level of ingenuity in this show. That is not shocking as many of Katara's other love interests met the same fate of ingenuity, whether that be Jet or Haru. Where she's never able to show her feelings about these people. Which I find quite strange seeing how the show aims to create depth and talk about feelings that actually provoke feelings in you. They don't actually go in-depth with what the leading lady's thoughts are about other people. For all the sake of keeping the focus on Kataang it costs the good writing for Katara to be able to feel complex emotions about the other male interests in her life. And it leads to a rough ending for a strong dynamic like Zuko and Katara that shows their desperation for Kataang at the cost of good writing especially for Katara.

[demaparbat-hp]

Kintsugi is the art of decorating your scars with pieces of Agni.

In the Fire Nation, the amount of golden marks are a sign of status. Only the Royal Family can afford to seal every single wound with Kintsugi. Such is the weight of this tradition that, among the ones with Agni's blood, it is the highest mark of dishonor to have a natural scar, for it proves you aren't worthy of the privilege.

After the Agni Kai, Ozai forbid Zuko's scar to be sealed with Kintsugi. The boy wasn't worth his title, his traditions or his pride. Zuko would be broken, but he wouldn't be beautiful. Not anymore.

(And sometimes it's easier to pretend he never was)

[theotterpenguin]

it’s always “let aang swear” or “let zuko swear” but y’all are missing out on the comedic potential of katara being the one who has the dirtiest mouth. she swears like a sailor but is just better at hiding it than everyone else because she doesn't want to influence aang or toph, and tries to keep up pretenses of being proper.

after all the time they spent fighting each other as enemies and sparring as friends, zuko’s the only one that knows this about her but no one believes him.

(for those who question where katara could possibly learn to curse, i ask - have you ever assisted women through childbirth in a world where epidurals don't exist? katara has. like c'mon. she knows all the swear words).

[seheartz]

winding down by the swamp

[therossgarden]

“Zuko understands Katara’s anger” girl no, if anything he fuels it, not good💀

Them: Aang acted entitled with Katara!

Canon Zuko:

Some of you are watching atla with selective amnesia over anything that doesn't make Zuko "look good compared to Aang", especially when it relates with Katara

[dranktwocoffees]

little doodle of these two <3