#this isn't just about azula btw

[zukosdualdao]

just… the absolute trust between zutara in the finale is unreal. after zuko’s impromptu training attack session, yes, katara is surprised and even somewhat angry as she confronts him, but when she says “you could have hurt aang!” all it reminds me of is the fact that just a few episodes ago, she literally threatened to kill him if he ever gave her a reason to think he might so something to hurt aang. but here, now, even as she’s confronting him, she just… waits for him to explain, and she actually sees and agrees with his point once zuko tells the gaang about ozai’s plan.

there is also the absolutely, 100% synchronized way they fight during the simulated training session, something that calls back to their synchronization and teamwork in the southern raiders, and that inherently shows a lot of trust and understanding between them.

katara is the one who initially asks zuko what they should do after aang disappears. everyone else agrees, but it's katara who trusts him enough to position him, not just to herself but to everyone else, as someone they should listen to because of his history, skill, and experience, especially noteworthy because the reason she gives—“you are sort of the expert at tracking the avatar”—is what used to make him untrustworthy in their eyes. they’ve come such a long way.

then katara notices zuko freeze and sit in front of iroh’s tent, and when she asks if he’s okay, he just… completely trusts her with exactly what he’s feeling, and if he’s even a little worried that what he’s saying might cause her to act derisively, because what he’s referencing here is also what katara was angry and hurt about, he doesn’t show it. he just so completely trusts her with it, and her insistence that iroh will forgive him is born from her own trust of zuko, and she's able to tell him what he needs to hear because she was once in iroh's position and zuko proved his genuine remorse and care to her.

then, of course, we've got zuko not missing a beat as he asks katara to be the one to come with him to confront azula, and her ready acceptance. they make a good team, and they know it.

but when they get there and azula challenges zuko to an agni kai - though she initially has misgivings, katara ultimately trusts zuko when he says he can handle it and understands that he doesn't want her to get hurt if she doesn't have to. (an aspect of zuko's "i can't explain it, but she's slipping" line that i think gets underexamined, btw, is that that's not an inherently good thing for them. yes, maybe that means zuko will be able to take her, particularly because he knows azula and her fighting style well. but someone who is "slipping" is also, in this case, desperate, and more prone to being reckless with people's lives. zuko tries to mitigate that by fighting her alone, but it doesn't work because azula can't follow the terms she sets when she realizes she's losing.)

the lightning scene is a really interesting example of trust as it relates to zuko and katara, because to me, the emphasis there isn't quite so much on zuko and katara trusting each other. there's barely time for katara to think through what will happen to as azula aims for her or wonder what zuko will do, after all, and zuko is probably in too much pain and too out of it to think about katara coming to try to heal him. (though if they did have the time and mental faculties to think it through, i think they would both 120 percent trust the other to help them.)

instead, the emphasis is on the audience trusting the characters. from the moment zuko sees where azula's aiming, he doesn't hesitate, doesn't even think about, just. immediately jumps in front of the lightning before it can reach katara. i've said this before, but as soon as he understood what was happening, there was just no chance of that lightning ever getting to katara and that's the point. we've seen what zuko looks like when he's hesitating or conflicted, and the difference is stark. the show never wants you to question exactly what zuko will do, that he refuses to let katara get heart, that he'll save her.

and for her part, katara immediately runs to try and save zuko despite azula still being around and attacking, and tries again before realizing she needs to defeat azula in order to do so. but the entire scene of katara's defeating her, while obviously heroic and emblematic of katara's power and the culmination of her arc as a girl whose culture and identity was nearly stripped away from her to being a master waterbender, is also framed as katara defeating azula so she can get to zuko. she would have done it anyways, yes, but in this context, right now, she is fighting azula so she can get to zuko to heal him.

here, in the narrative culmination of their arcs together, it shows not just that they trust each other, but asks the audience to not doubt the development of the dynamic that’s been built, to trust that they will take care of each other. and they do.

[beifong-brainrot]

I think the reason I'm a bit iffy about most zutara shippers who call themesleves "pro Katara" (and lets be honest the tags pro katara/katara deserved better are mainly people building themselves a moral highground of "if you disagree with me, you clearly dilslike Katara and want her to suffer") is just the hypocrisy of it all.

Katara's consent was violated by Aang, yes. But Zuko threatening her and being a fucking creep in the "I'll save you from the pirates" scene was sexy and not at all the nightmare of any sane woman.

Katara's role as a healer is treated as her acting subservient and her loosing her feminist icon status. Unless she's healing/offering to heal Zuko.

Aang is immature and childish. But we will handily ignore Zuko, a whole ass 16 year old who's heir to a country throwing a temper tantrum because his girlfriend dared to speak to another man. [Frankly, in my opinion, Zuko isn't really ready for a serious romantic relationship, but yall arent ready for that conversation]

Aang is supposedly misogynistic, but Zuko's many instances of actual misogyny are swept under the rug. Aang is shown in canon to be incredibly supportive of Katara defying the patriarchy.

Supposedly Aang makes Katara do all the housework. Despite there being evidence to the contrary. Zuko has just recently learnt to brew tea.

Katara being the Avatar's wife is supposedly degrading. But if she were Zuko's wife, I'm sure she wouldn't be just a baby maker. (What a horribke thing to call a woman btw. Tall call your own mothers baby makers too???) Despite the fact that Izumi's mother hasn't even been mentioned by name in tlok. But yeah. She'd be afforded the respect she deserves I'm certain.

Aang is, on most accounts, supportive and respectful of Katara's opinions, even when he disagrees with them. Zuko openly mocks people who oppose him. I am going to make a longer post on the Southern Raiders episodes and how all of you watched that episode blindfolded or smth.

Aang comparing Appa being kidnapped (his last connection to his genocided people, the last vestige of his happy past) to Katara's anger over her mother is bad. But Zuko comparing mommy leaving his ass to Katara's mother getting brutally slaughtered in front of her ? Silence.

Aang supposedly needs Katara to mother him and that's a bad thing. But Azula, Mai and Ty Lee having to gentle parent Zuko almost everytime they interact is never talked about, despite the uncalled for verbal abuse that trio goes through from him.

Aang and Katara's 2 year age gap is creepy. But Zuko and Katara's 2 year age gap is fine. My bigest gripe with Zutara lovers is them completely erasing Katara's childishness and immaturity, in order for her and Zuko to have this mature, sexy relationship. She's 14, guys. 14.

This post really isn't meant to decry Zutara. I just want people who ship Zutara to get off their high horse of feminism and to accept that they're no better than the rest of us ship loving freaks. Wanting the main girl to bump uglies with the broody emo twink doesn't make you a modern day suffragette. Disliking a main canon pairing isn't a measure of your love for a female character.

Grow up.

Enjoy your ship like a normal person.

[the-badger-mole]

I read your Azula redemption post, and I like it. It's kind of sad, but hopeful at the same time. I saw you said you had other ideas for Azula redemptions. Can you give us another? Is there a version you see where she and Zuko are still in each other's lives? One where she maybe still has some power, like as a general or advisor or something?

Thank you! Yeah, it was kind of bittersweet. I think it's also the most complete version of a redemption for Azula that I could think of working for her. The thing about her staying in court with any sort of power is that, to me, it feels kind of like letting a drunk run a bar. The reason I see Azula needing to either be in prison or in exile is because within certain circles, Azula would have a lot of people wanting to put her on the throne in Zuko's place. I think it would take a long time for her to not want to be on the throne in Zuko's place, and well, there goes the whole redemption narrative for her.

As for her having a relationship with Zuko, the version I put in that outline is probably the healthiest one they could have. In a redemption arc where she actually wants a close relationship with Zuko, I don't see her wanting to share him with anyone. At best, she would tolerate his friends and family. Mostly, I think she would resent the fact that he was all she had, but she wasn't all he had. I don't see her being the cool Aunt Azula to his children. She might form a bond with the child that is most like her, if she's allowed the time to spend with them, which I don't see being the case. Obviously, in any of my stories, the mother of Zuko's children is Katara, and I don't see Katara being okay with Azula being around her kids. Especially, unsupervised (completely understandable, btw). I mostly think she wouldn't want to interact with Zuko's kids at all. Her resentment for Zuko having people who love and support him apart from her would color their relationship and cause a lot of tension between them.

The one version of an Azula redemption where I could see her and Zuko having a "normal" relationship where she is actively a part of his life and knows and is known by the people most important to him is an AU story where she never tried to kill him.

The problem I have with most Azula redemption stories is that they don't tend to address the very real harm she did. They just kind of blow past the fact that she was a villain and excuse everything she did because of Ozai's abuse. First of all, canonically, the most abuse we see her get is being Ozai's Golden Child, which yes, I do believe is a form of abuse, but isn't enough to let her off the hook, which a lot of Azula redemption stories do. Second, blaming all of her actions on her abuse completely ignores any agency Azula had, which I think is insulting to her character. Azula was cunning, astute, and ruthless. Let her be those things. She hurt Zuko and made enemies of his friends. Let her have to face the consequences of that, too. An Azula redemption would be messy and inconsistent, and that is not only okay, it's necessary.

[corpsedisturbed]

im well aware there is a problem of racism within the zutara shipp community, i won't pretend to be dumb and say i don't notice how a lot of fanworks have katara abandon her culture in order to become fire lady or how zuko protects her from "the evil misogynist men from the water tribes" and how the fire nation is sm cooler than the southern water tribe, the whitewashing, etc. those are real things, it's disgusting and as a POC, it makes me feel insecure in the fandom. there is a problem w nsfw fanarts and fanfics of zutara as minors too

but all of this isn't limited to the zutara shippers and this isn't a defense but a plea for all of you to look closely with what and who u interact w. literally this week we saw a kataang shipper be exposed as a racist and a harasser. I'm on twitter again and her interactions w other kataang shippers are many but the warnings coming from other people come a long way too and i barely saw any ka addressing the situation. there was a exposed of a zk group chat some months ago who were actually proshippers and the exposed was created by a zutara shipper who was even harasseed by zk shippers (the ones in the gc and others too)

avatarfandompolice is another racist user who receives a lot of attention too. zvtara-was-never-canon is managed by a zucest shipper. hell there is a literal zionist lurking around both the zk and ka fandoms (starlight-bread-blog)

a lot of the anti zutara discourse i see the majority of time doesnt actually focus on the racism the fans have towards katara but go on to call it a toxic shipp and a colonizer/colonized shipp. funny thing is, these people praise zuko's arc and his friendship w the gaang. if u actually think zuko is a colonizer and he shouldnt be w katara romantically, he shouldnt have a friendship w any of the gaang either. they all suffered under the FN's imperialism but this discourse only appears when romance is brought up and specifically w zutara. as i said before, there is a problem of racism within the zk shippers but it isn't inherent to the shipp. a lot of times this anti discourse comes from a need to have moral high ground. but honestly, do u think u have moral high ground while stanning kuvira, a grown ass woman who put waterbenders and firebenders in concentration camps? do u think u have moral high ground when u insist zutara is ass but ship zukaang, a boy who is 12 and the other who is 16? do u think u have moral high ground when u ship azula and zuko, the siblings? do u think u have moral high ground while u shipp zukka and doesnt think it is colonized/colonizer bc "sokka doesnt care ab his culture"?

and it goes both ways btw. zk shippers, do u think u have moral high ground when u interact w racists fanworks and refuses to aknowledge their existence but at the same time say kataang is inherently misogynist and their shippers too? do u think u have moral high ground when u attack zukka by being homophobic? do u think u have moral high ground ignoring that by having a redemption's arc, zuko needs to have smth to redeem about and that something is his horrible fucking choices a lot of yall try to woobify? do u think u have moral high ground when u try to justify zuko being a bad and possessive boyfriend just bc u don't like mai?

there is a problem of racism, misogyny and homophobia in the fandom and im tired of everyone pretending their little bubble is perfect and never a part of the problem. i love avatar but anyone w half a brain knows the show is racist and stereotyping at times, just like the creators. yk, the two white men who appropriated a lot of things.

it was a long rant and i don't expect people to read it but I just needed to rant ab it anyway

[ilikepjo24]

We all know that Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems if she tried...

...But she could solve some of them.

People love to say that Ursa was a victim of Ozai (which is true) and the fact that she has a bad relationship with Azula is exclusively Ozai's fault (which isn't). Ursa also shares blame. You can't act like she holds no responsibility when she's the one Azula keeps hallucinating. She's the reason behind Azula's abandonment issues.

"bUT iT WAs oZai tHAt foRceD hEr to leAvE, sO IT wAs hIS fAuLt 🤡"

Ozai did force Ursa to leave, but did he also force her not to say goodbye to her daughter? Did any of you ever heard Ozai say "You can wake up Zuko if you want, cause adding abandonment issues on top of all his other flaws would make him even more unbearable, but don't you dare disturb Azula, she needs her beauty sleep."? I don't remember that scene ever happening, in the show or in the comics.

"BuT azULa coUlD hAve snItcHeD oN heR 🤡"

Blaming the child I see, but you're forgetting sn important detail. Snitch on her to who?

Ozai? He already knew she was leaving.

Azulon? He was dead.

To some guard? The guards would just report to Ozai, who would do nothing because he wanted her to leave.

Iroh? In what universe would Azula willingly go to Iroh if she had a problem? Was Iroh even there at the moment or was he still in the spirit world? We don't know, we never saw him!

There was absolutely no reason whatsoever why Ursa couldn't wake Azula up. No reason whatsoever. Plus, Azula is baby, if Ursa were to wake her up in the middle of the night, Azula would tell nobody (at least not immediately) because she would just fall asleep again, just like Zuko did, because she's nine!

Do you even know what kind of natural disasters nine year olds can sleep through? You can't possibly believe that, Azula, a nine year old, would leave her comfortable, warm bed, in the middle of the night, to go find her scary dad, or scary grandfather, or walk around until she found a guard (where were the guards btw? How come nobody saw Ursa? It's possible that there wasn't even any guards patrolling in the inside of the palace) to tell them that her mom came to hug her in the middle of the night, when, realistically, her mind was still fuzzy from sleep and she didn't even know that the hug meant goodbye, since Ursa had no reason to give away that detail, since she didn't tell Zuko either.

But let's pretend that you're right, and Ursa couldn't wake Azula up for some reason. That still doesn't change the fact that Ursa could still do other stuff to be close to her daughter. Ask her to do an activity together or something.

"bUt ThE tuRtlEdUCKs...- 🤡"

Stfu about the turtleducks. Feeding the turtleducks is an activity Zuko likes, that Azula has no interest in. Just like with the walks in the ganders. That's not how responsible parenting is done. This is "I will send some quality time with one child and drag the other one along to not look bad, but during the quality time the second kid can buzz off, I won't even be paying attention to them." This is exactly what is happening in this picture:

And don't go all "What chance would she have? Azula would push her away!" Because that just indicates that you don't understand shit about Azula's character. She wants her parents to be proud of her. She wants her power to be recognized. That's canonically what she craves the most:

So no, if Ursa gave Azula a chance to feel like she's making her mother proud, Azula would rather die than waste it. And under what circumstances could Ursa give Azula a chance like that without being interrupted you may ask? Well that's very simple. During Azula's training.

In this panel Azula is speaking directly to Ozai about how her training went. Which means he wasn't there to see it. He wasn't the one training her. He wasn't observing her training. And he wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from observing Azula's training once in a blue moon. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from telling Azula that she has improved so much and she's proud of her. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from showing Azula how much she loves her. He wouldn't be there to stop Azula from growing up knowing that her mother does care.

And who knows? Maybe the presence of a parent that doesn't believe in burning people's pants when you're displeased with them would prevent Azula from misbehaving on those occasions.

So Ozai couldn't prevent Ursa from doing that. Azula wouldn't want to prevent Ursa from doing that. So what stopped Ursa from doing it? Nothing. Nothing at all. She could easily do it and chose not to. Because Ursa isn't as good of a mom as some of you like to pretend she is.

Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems, but she could save Azula from a lifetime of thinking her mom didn't love her and she selected not to do it because Ursa is not a great person.

Thus proven.

[anonymousotherworld]

"korra is the worst avatar because she severed the connection with past avatars and almost ended the avatar cycle!"

actually, katara is the reason aang didn't end the avatar cycle all together. if she didn't have the spirit water/couldn't heal aang, the avatar cycle as a whole would have ended in ba sing se after azula (a 15 yo) shot him. unlike aang, korra was fighting against a her madman of an uncle who fused with vaatu and was quite literally an evil avatar (and who was very knowledgeable about the spirit world).

people shit on korra like as if she fell & lost the connection when in reality, raava was literally ripped out of her

this post isn't to hate on aang btw. i love aang but each avatar has their own strengths and weaknesses. the constant shitting on korra is really annoying & way too much. it's unfair to reduce korra to just her weaknesses.

[my-cabbages-gorl]

hey there!

if aang were to end up with zuko after the war as they were planning republic city together, who'd you want katara and mai to end up with? do you have any other pairings that you like besides zukaang?:)

your blog is super cute btw <33 i appreciate that you are spreading the zukaang agenda

Hi anon, I love this ask so much!! Thank you for sending it 🫶🏽❤️ I can't escape what I know is true in my bones, that Mai is a lesbian- and I do really love the messiness of Maizula and the potential for a bittersweet resolution to where we left Azula with plenty of darkness and angst and complicated drama along the way. Mai and Azula's relationship feels like those sweet queer stories from our childhood where we were drawn into someone in a way that felt just bad enough that we couldn't stop being around them. Only later to find out that it's because we were, in fact, homos all along hahahaha. right? As far as Katara, this one's a little harder for me, because kataang is such a RICH relationship that even separating her and Aang for the sake of Zukaang... I have to look away and pretend it's not happening hahahaha. But, I do love the idea of her finding someone who is just as passionate about justice, de-colonization, and general restoration of the world post-war (and the SWT) whose life isn't chaotic and unpredictable in the way Aang's is. I kind of dig Harutara for this reason- Haru is a bright-eyed bushy-tailed man who can share her passion, and meet her in her grief. Most importantly he does and will continue to follow her and worship her like she deserves. Although in the multiverse of my imagination kataang and zukaang both work out in different timelines and I just pretend the two universes never touch.

Thanks again for the ask, the zukaang agenda lives 😈

[goji-pilled]

Best advice I can give for Waterfowl is to just run tf away, and to run towards her during the move starting on phase 2 so she misses.

Malenia, Blade of Miquilla isn't in her prime at all in the boss fight so that means she can very easily get staggered and bleed. The Black Knife mimic is great here as well as any weapon/move that has the hp drain effect they have.

Really for phase 2 my only big piece of advice is just run away during her clone attack. She's just as staggerable as she was in phase 1, and can still bleed just as easy.

Good luck on defeating the Blade of Miquilla, the Goddess of Rot, and have a swell time with the end game.

Btw, have you fought the Ferum Azula super boss, or did you not know it exists/how to reach it?

hey hey what the fuck do you mean clone attack

also yessss i do know about placiduseax or however it was spelled, i havent entered farum azula yet at all though since i wanted to do malenia first (bad idea? maybe. who knows.) but i am aware of his existence and want to try challenging him at the very least

[erisenyo]

hiiiii I wanna play!!

16. How important is it to you to stay true to the original creator's vision while writing fanfiction?

26. How do you approach plot twists or surprises in your fics?

31. Do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints?

You’re amazing as always <3

16. How important is it to you to stay true to the original creator's vision while writing fanfiction?

Eh, middling important? I'm comfortable to change details or do AUs, but it's one of those "know the rules so you can then break them" situation. Every change is going to have a ripple effect, so for it to still feel grounded in the source canon, those ripples need to make sense from that canon.

Characterization is huge for me, too. I always want the characterization to stay aligned to canon. Even if I'm showing growth, or bringing them to places they didn't go in canon, I want it to feel rooted in their canon selves. Okay, Sokka would never [X] in canon--so what would it take to get him there? If I don't see that chain of 'what it takes' then for me it feels like it's drifting into writing an OC who happens to have a similar background, which isn't my interest with fic.

26. How do you approach plot twists or surprises in your fics?

I tend to know where they're going to be in advance, a twist or major surprise is generally a big emotional moment, moment of revelation, moment when the reader's and/or the character's perspective is challenged and shifts. So those tend to be some of the first scenes that coalesce as an idea is coming together, and then things get planned from a pre-reveal and post-reveal format.

So to use a fluffy example from a oneshot (instead of the big reveal in one of my longfics lol) - one of the pivotal moments in (With Wonder and Care) Reach for Far-Flung Dreams is when Sokka is surprised by the destination of the road trip and what the big vacation actually is (NASA, for him, no Disney, for everyone else).

So I have that as this big emotional height--so why is it an emotional height? Because Sokka is surprised by it. Why is he surprised? Because he thought they were going somewhere else. Why did he think they were going somewhere else? Because the Gaang is specifically planning this as a treat for him and it's a big secret they're hoping to pull off.

And now I have the front half of my fic, basically - all the initial setup, the initial dynamics and interactions and necessary exposition, that are building to this reveal.

And then I think about post-reveal--what changes because of this surprise? Sokka realizes the day is about him, instead of him facilitating a day for everyone else. Sokka is emotionally overwhelmed, because he wasn't prepared to seem cool and unaffected. Sokka feels cared for, and has to just let that soak in.

And then that starts to give me the emotional beats I need to hit in later scenes--Sokka being emotionally overwhelmed, realizing the extent of their preparation for him, feeling loved and cared for.

(I can do a breakdown like this for one of the bigger fics like To Open Every Door, if anyone wants, btw)

31. Do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints?

It depends on the story! I generally like to write from the POV of whoever knows the least, so that the reader can learn alongside them in real-time. Or if a scene is supposed to do some big emotional work for a certain character, I'd rather have their POV for the scene vs them reflecting back on it after.

So in a one shot, that's usually one POV (though sometimes I purposefully structure in external POVs because I think it puts a fun perspective on events). For longer works it tends to be multiple POVs, especially something plottier. In To Open Every Door To Night, for example, I needed dual POVs because I needed the reader to have knowledge that Sokka didn't, which meant I needed Azula's scenes.

But my Zukki series was also a longer work, and there I stuck to one POV because things filtered through Zuko's limited perspective with him misreading everything but the reader able to correctly interpret everything he was missing regardless was the vibe I was going for.

So a lot of words to say basically , no preference, it's what carries the story best :)

From this Questions for Fic Writers game!

[tuiyla]

Not sure if you spoke about this yet and if so, sorry for asking . I just really always enjoyed your thoughts on avatar. Would love to know your thoughts on all the sneak peaks that we’ve seen so far like the trailers and everything. Also your thoughts on the changes made to sokkas character. I don’t know if you heard but it apparently they want to get rid of some of his early Scenes because of his sexism. Also just recently they are changing some things about Katarina because I guess they don’t think some of her personality will translate well in live action.

Oh hey! Sorry it's been so long, sorry I've basically disappeared off tumblr. But I still love Avatar of course and warms my heart to hear people like it when I talk about it.

Sigh, the live action. I'm going to watch it when it comes out tomorrow, of course, and I remember being cautiously optimistic when it was first announced. But between Bryke leaving and the info we've been getting, idk. Visually, it looks really solid. The CGI is a bit too plasticky at times for how much it allegedly costs but the costumes are great, the cast seemed good from the beginning and bending itself, I have to say, looks sick.

But these are just aesthetics. Sure, the infamous movie didn't even get that right but being faithful to and respecting the source material is a lot more than just looking great in live action. Since you've sent this ask, more interviews have come out where they talk about changes made to not only Sokka's character but pretty much everyone's. Aang is less of a goofy kid escaping responsibility. I fear the larger presence of Ozai and Azula will make Zuko too sympathetic too early. Not to mention, apparently he's more so doing what he's doing to win the war not to regain his honour? A rumour I've heard.

I haven't heard much about changes made to Katara but, being Katara's no. 1 fan forever and always I'm sure I wouldn't be happy with any changes haha. With her my main fear is just making her less significant, missing the point of her being a sort of POV character and deuteragonist, and missing important beats such as Imprisoned and The Waterbending Scroll. Some variation of especially the latter may appear but come on, it's 8 episodes trying to tell the story of 20. Unfortunately, Book 1 Water is by faaaar the hardest Avatar book to adapt to modern and live action TV and even though the episode list seems solid, it's those quieter ch centric episodes that will suffer the consequences. That's where Katara thrives. Jet is included so I wonder how they'll handle that crucial storyline and it sets in motion a TON for Katara that all culminates, of course, in her magnum opus The Southern Raiders. I just don't see them doing it justice.

I'll inevitably be at least a little more active with the premier of this show and will share thoughts; idk about a proper review but might vent here or there. I'd love to share thoughts on particular topics people are interested in haha. But until then, on this last day before the Fire Nation attacks and everything changes, I will say this. I think the things they've said so far about character changes are misguided. Sokka's sexism isn't a bug storytelling-wise, it's a feature. It's called character development, look it up, Albert Kim. Now, I'll have to admit that his sexism and the larger gender politics of the Water Tribes is actually an aspect of the show, one of the very few aspects that I think could use quite a bit of improvement, so I wouldn't be against the Netflix show doing this differently. But if they do just omit it that's a grave error. Despite the flashy visuals it doesn't bode well so far, but we'll see. I'll watch it as soon as I get home from work and then probs rewatch the original then rewatch the Netflix one. Oh, the Avatar megafan in me awakens. Btw guys lol I never even updated y'all, I went to the London concert of the soundtrack and it was doooope.

Also Suki looks super cute I'm ready to simp.

[rotisseries]

‘he is haunted by the specter of the women who came before him’ rin girl trauma is genuinely so good do you want to explain your thoughts

YESSSS!! this got long lmao

ok so some obvious things straight up. he's azula, he's lady macbeth, (which. very interesting because these women could easily be considered masculine figures in their stories but tbh villainy in media always includes some level of the character acting in ways incongruent with expectations of their gender.) he's reaching for a goal that is unachievable and he's losing everything in pursuit of it and when he realizes he's done it all for nothing he loses his mind entirely. out damned spot out

he's not a physically strong or imposing character, he's sly and cunning, traits often given to female villains, also his weapon choice, I said this to hella in an ask gathering cobwebs rn but he uses poison!! poison is his weapon and poison is a woman's weapon, all the way back to like, medea. I actually found this really interesting thing real quick just by taking a quick google search for poison as a woman's weapon:

it's a weapon of intelligence and elegance, it doesn't leave a mess, it's for a death that's clean and pretty (also so often the reality of death by poison is a brutal and choking one, which. ughhh you get me) however women also die more by poison, which is interesting but idrk where to go with that. also in general it's a weapon of betrayal and intimacy of COURSE it would be rin's weapon.

anyway girl trauma time. ok so admittedly some of it is just vibes like I was just sitting around like "hmm the specific way rin is impacted by kiva and lugalia and how he handles it FEELS very Girl Trauma™️" which is obviously not a very academic way of discussing that. and like obviously trauma and trauma responses are not exclusively linked to your gender but he doesn’t feel like a man with mommy issues he feels like a woman with mommy issues you know? he's full of grief, not hatred. also this is coming from me who does not have eldest daughter syndrome and does not know a man with visible mommy issues so. take it with a grain of salt.

anyway he's a middle son who acts like an eldest daughter and I don't just throw that around because I kinda don't love when people say "this man has eldest daughter syndrome" when they just mean parentified like you can just say parentified it isn't always eldest daughter syndrome but rin HAS eldest daughter syndrome and I actually feel like that's a bigger deal here because he's NOT really being parentified like kiva actually does very well with parenting drako so rin doesn't need to step in or anything. no, rin is an eldest daughter because he has to be uniquely aware of kiva's mental state in a way drako just. isn't. drako knows lugalia was awful obviously and that kiva hates her for good reason but drako doesn't really seem aware that it's made kiva. not the perfect mom. rin is bearing the brunt of it all, he doesn't know about lilla obviously but he has to sit with the knowledge that something is holding kiva back from him, he can tell. he's also being permanently held to this standard he'll never meet.

a firstborn in general but especially a firstborn daughter is supposed to be your perfect example, the child always going above and beyond meeting your every expectation which lugalia does to him in the most obvious sense but kiva is also holding him to a standard he can't meet. she's holding him up next to lilla. obviously she's not hoping to replace lilla with him in fact it's the exact opposite but the fact he ISN'T truly her firstborn he CAN'T truly be lilla is something that keeps kiva from loving him properly. he isn't lilla he can't bring back lilla he will never be lilla he will never be kiva's firstborn daughter and the impossibility of this standard is HAUNTING THEM BOTH. very interesting that being the middle child gave him eldest daughter syndrome btw lmao. (also I saw this tiktok (<- bad start) that I sent a screenshot of to hella in ANOTHER ask that's gathering cobwebs but supposedly older children coming out of their mothers leave dna behind in the womb that becomes a part of the next kid can we TALK about the rin+lilla and drako+rin implications of that???)

and then the way he HANDLES his issues. he doesn’t really blame kiva OR lugalia he doesn't even seem fully acknowledging that they've done him wrong he just keeps reaching for these standards he'll never be able to meet. if he can just be the perfect heir he will no longer feel the ghost of lugalia digging her fingers into his shoulder if he can just be the perfect son kiva will love him wholly but this isn't true and it's not his fault but he won't see that because if something isn't wrong with him then it means something was wrong with the women who raised him and if something is wrong with them he's spent his life reaching for something he can't have and if he's spent his life reaching for something he can't have then where does he even go from there? how do you move on? it's all been futile? unacceptable.

so he tries to meet the standards he's being held to. and he's haunted by the women before him. he's haunted by lilla, occupying a space in his mother's heart that he can never have. he's haunted by kiva, her gentleness standing in contrast to his learned pragmatism, her feeling like she's looking into a portait of her mother, horrified at his every action, when he does it all for her anyway. he's haunted by lugalia, crafting him in her image, the perfect heir, hiding everything under a calm and icy exterior. he's haunted by hammari, reaching higher and higher for an impossible goal, wanting, needing, to be good, to be loved, committing greater and greater sins in pursuit of it, until it's gone out of control, and it's too late to quit, because if you quit, what was it all for? you lost everything, and for nothing. and at the end of it all, with a knife in his hand and hair scattered around him, he's once again haunted by lilla, who was the perfect daughter he could never be, without even trying.

he is forever living in the shadows of the women from before him he is constantly shaping and reshaping himself to try and fit to their place in the puzzle he was sculpted in their image and now he continues to sculpt himself and he will NEVER BE FREE of his sister and his mother and her mother and her mother and yeah I just think that's very girl trauma of him

[stillareakid]

I got a secret to tell azula Fans.

Villians don't win in Kids TV shows and Azula like it or not was a Villian a tragic villian but still a villian.

.. ..her whole arc is about being perfect to the point of it being detrimental to her own mental health she has no friends no family that includes OZAI btw a man people love to forget groomed her to be a weapon. ..

and her fight with zuko/katara isn't painted as a good thing it has sad music for a reason. her loss isn't meant to show who is more powerful its painted as a tragedy..

i mean i guess some dont think so but Katara was sure looking at her with compassion and pity as that is her core nature. .. it wasn't Azula loses because the writers love Katara it was set up to be a sad ending because azula/zuko should have a loving relationship but ozai ruined it..

and if it wasn't for zuko helping azula in the catacombs katara almost had her beat.. and it makes sense too because what experience does azula have fighting a waterbender? None.. While katara got some experience fighting zuko which is more than azula had.. cause the catacombs was her first time fighting a waterbender and the final was her second time.

and I think Katara winning in the final makes sense as she is using her brains to trap azula .. azula wasn't thinking clearly .. but i think on a day without the comet .. Katara could have taken her as we see her almost do at the catacombs.

I think azulas weakness is overestimating herself

and katara isn't a sue.. She' just the Hero of the Story and its a kids story so.. she was going to win thats just how the story goes. its like how Vlad didn't win in danny phantom he's the villian. He loses .. Villians lose in kids shows.. its not a shocking relvataion.

If you voted here, please reblog

[ljf613]

Look, I love Azula. Y'all know this. I probably have more thoughts, opinions, headcanons, and plot bunnies/fic ideas about her than any other character in the series.

But I have been seeing a lot of posts lately trying to reframe the entire series around her. And I need y'all to understand that Azula is not the main character. She is a side character who exists for the purposes of serving the story.

Whatever problems you have with how the narrative frames her (and I have plenty of my own), this was never going to be a story centered around Azula.

That's what fanfic is for.

[tea-and-la]

mai’s most character defining moment is related to zuko, but zuko and katara’s most defining moments are relating to each other. it really isn’t that hard to realize why people started shipping zutara. 

[creme-meme]

sometimes... villains without redemption arcs... is good writing

[dragomer]

You're seriously pretending the Warden was giving an order Azula wasn't okay with and she didn't say or do anything about it and didn't know how to get her own orders through? Really?

Again, if you want political bullshit, he's the actual legitimate firelord since the righteous heir Iroh declared him so and his attack on the usurper Ozai was his duty toward the Fire Nation and it's everyone who got in his way who was a traitor, it's utterly irrelevant.

Mai didn't think Zuko was in the wrong, she was mad he left her behind, didn't understand what he was doing but in the end chose to trust him.

That's not a very good nor relevant point. If anything if Azula thought that, it would make reconciliation with Mai harder because Mai wouldn't accept that bullshit behavior.

Again, most ethical systems hold that attempting to kill your brother and friends is wrong and so is supporting your abusive usurper father who wants to commit genocide.

'The ethical system' You mean 99.999% of ethical systems throughout human history? Because it's very much not a singular case, it's pretty universal.

'guess what Zuko was doing?' Defending himself from his unfilial father's abuse and murder attempts? You know since Ozai breached that very simple ethic first multiple times? Kinslaying is about killing your family, not about working for someone who killed a family member BTW.

Seriously what's with your obsession with a bastardized idea of ethics? Ethics aren't morality nor are very applicable to interpersonal relationship. We're talking about Azula mistreating her friends, not a journalist doing an ethics faux-pas.

You mean the irrelevant 'issue' that never comes up in the show and isn't part of Azula's reasoning at all?

Yes, she can leave them, nothing's stopping her, just like nothing was stopping her from not trying to kill Mai. Also Azula had no clue what Zuko and the gaang's plans were and had 0 reason to think Mai and Ty Lee would somehow magically join them despite not even knowing a thing about where they are or their plans. Literally nothing stopped Azula from just dropping Mai at her house and Ty Lee at her circus.

Your general point is wrong, imprisoning your friends because one didn't let you kill your friend and the other didn't let you kill her love and your brother isn't reasonable. It MIGHT be reasonable for a princess with her subjects (the actual reasonable course of action would be to NOT bring your friends on a military operation, especially concerning someone they've known since childhood) but not for a friend and if Azula can't let go of being Mai and Ty Lee's princess, there will be no reconciliation.

Azula cannot reconciliate with Mai and Ty Lee with a mindset of 'My actions weren't right but they were reasonable', it just can't work. She hurt her friends and she has to admit it all as wrong if she wants to move forward toward any reconciliation.

There's a massive gap between 'Not hate her' and 'reconciliate with her', at no point did I say either of them hated her.

My guy, almost 100% of the shittiness in the situation for Mai and Ty Lee came directly from Azula while she had literally no obligation to do so. Also again, Azula's actions at the Boiling Rock were not reasonable or even an attempt at being reasonable by Azula, she was just mad and reacting impulsively and violently.

No, being mad that your friend imprisoned you for the crime of defending yourself, your friend and your loved one who is also her family member isn't entitlement, especially when she just showed up one day to drag to her mission that frankly had nothing to do with you. If you're not ready to let your friends have their own thoughts and actions in relation to what's happening (like Mai made clear she would), don't take them with you and even less force them to come with you after they clearly said 'no' (like Ty Lee did).

Also it was a few weeks thanks to ZUKO, Azula clearly said it was a life sentence kind of deal.

Another question (for Azula stans)