#the other two seem completely disconnected and like they don't even have SWT heritage

[riddlerosehearts]

i've gotta admit, it confuses me how some people who are so against zutara and insist that firelady katara is an inherently problematic headcanon don't seem to understand that katara becoming fire lady literally does not mean she has to give up all of her water tribe culture and just stay permanently glued to the fire nation after marrying zuko, like?? would you automatically give up all of your cultural traditions if you moved to another country from your birthplace that you loved and felt deeply connected to, or would you not carry those traditions, and that culture and history with you, and share them with the friends you make and with your children if you have them? would you willingly just stay in the other country forever and ever, or would you not visit your original home as often as you had the means and desire to? let your children visit, let them know the other half of their own heritage? would your heart, and your family, not belong to both places as much as possible?

and then they act like they don't understand why firelady katara is such a popular trope and (sometimes) say zutara is okay as long as you don't hc it, when like... it's literally just because it's the single most logical and realistic progression of canon, that zuko is going to become firelord and whoever marries him will be his consort. that's why zutara shippers want katara to be firelady and like to write headcanons and fics about her grappling with her love of and canonical--watch the painted lady!--desire to help a nation whose people hurt hers so badly, and with the thought of holding such a position while remaining in touch with her water tribe culture. because it's what would be most likely to happen if zutara were canon. some people don't even call her fire lady, or if they do they make it clear that she is also master katara of the southern water tribe. i've seen a lot of people simply call her the princess/queen consort or even have the title "lady of the moon" invented just for her, which i'm not sure who originally came up with that but it is absolutely lovely. i kinda think that if you believe "firelady katara" = "katara stripped of all of her water tribe heritage and culture" you are really not being imaginative enough, though i'm also not saying nobody has ever written it that way before. i just know i've seen countless fanworks where it isn't.

also tbh lately i'm starting to wonder if people with other zuko/person-from-another-nation ships tend to headcanon that he never marries, spends his entire life somehow juggling being firelord and hiding a secret relationship with the other person in the ship, and ends the royal line by being unable to openly provide an heir to the throne. or if they headcanon that he abdicates the throne to iroh and moves to their nation in order to be with them. i've never cared strongly enough about other zuko ships to know what their popular tropes and headcanons are, but if not then i can't imagine why it's only zutara that gets hate for this lol.