#this whole show is so good but im in love with the agni kai scene

[gideonnavsenormousbiceps]

Zuko and Azula’s agni kai is probably one of my favorite animated fight scenes to this day, perhaps my favorite. the animation is amazing alone, but with the music and the contrast between Zuko and Azula its truly incredible. god tier scene

[notasiren21]

I was having a debate with a Kataang shipper, and eventually we came to differing viewpoints on emotional im/maturity that the two years could do between Kataang and Zutara.

And then, how their lives impacted them in terms of growth and maturing too.

And then I came to the realization of this (and sorry, this is long):

There’s this paved pathway Aang had that Zuko never did, just some pointless goal that was meant to forever keep him exiled and with only an uncle to watch him as he lived in anger and regret

Idk, to me, Aang had this destiny that he had to focus on and get to, a part of him matured for it, but he desperately clung to his freedom, which in turn, stifled his emotional maturity. In a way, it’s like Sokka, but even Sokka had what Aang never seemed to acquire in a sense.

Zuko was robbed of that by ozai, Zuko believed in being good and was naturally a good person by heart (as expressed in scenes with his mother, comparisons with Azula, etc) and he tried to save the lives of several by speaking out against the sacrifice of new troops just to win something.

His mother had left them (essentially him as Azula came to distance herself and become more like her father), he wore the weight of realization that Azula was considered superior against him, he bore the crippling thought that he was going to have to spend his life trying to earn his father’s approval, he lived the weight of his father snatching the role of Fire lord from his uncle, the knowledge that it was wrong as he heard Azula talk ill of iroh and ozai bash him to earn the title, and then how he was expendable to his father.

Aang lived among people who he loved and in turn, loved or adored him back, and tragically, he lost his friends to his role as the avatar, but he always had Bumi and the some of the monks (especially one) and Appa.

Zuko had a scar that engraved the idea that he was nothing but a failure, damaged him into thinking his ideals and morals were wrong when they were what was needed, that he shouldn’t have been born and was lucky enough to even be alive in a sense.

Zuko lost his briefly earned pathway to be the next Fire lord. He was sent on a destination to find the avatar who wasn’t considered a last saving grace or sliver of hope, to never be found again.

To a degree? He knew it was in vain to search for him, but he had nothing else to do but try.

Because not finding him secured his role as a failure, it let him lose to Azula, it didn’t really avenge his uncle, it didn’t secure his right to live if he was basically exiled.

And to another degree, he knew his father abandoned him. But that meant he would have to settle in the knowledge that both his parents left him orphaned in a sense.

He operated under the care, guidance and love of his uncle. The only support in his life. The only one who truly cared for him enough to stay by his side.

He was surrounded by soldiers on ship who didn’t respect him. He was mocked everywhere he went as much as he was feared (something he didn’t want to begin with before the Agni Kai), and he had no home.

I feel like that, especially occurring at the age of 13 I believe, more than forced a few aspects of him to grow up and mature. Enough to acknowledge when he was in the wrong without someone telling him, enough to know when to fix his mistakes or make up for them, enough to realize who was really there for them and who he could be vulnerable with.

To some level, I think he and Katara were on the same wavelength because she witnessed her mother die to save her, she had a huge responsibility in her tribe, she was of an important figure of birth and considered royal, she was practically playing mother to several, and the last water bender to live in the tribe but wasn’t allowed to really brush up on it.

Being with Aang and Sokka, then eventually toph, I think it also aged her to the point where the gap between her and Zuko in ages didn’t matter, it was like it taxed them both enough that they both had what the other was missing.

My mother and I had this debate that I think can apply to this:

“What’s worse, to wake up after being cryogenically frozen after 200 years and see the world new/different but you still be the same as before?

Or wake up after like x amount of years from a coma, and have your childhood robbed from you because you’ve aged and everyone else around you has and moved on?”

We eventually settled on, well they both suck, but seeing the reality of what your life once was is especially crippling. And we settled on the coma one

To me, Aang was just cryogenically frozen.

The world he knew died and a new one began in a sense. Everyone he knew and cared for was dead. His temple was gone and his people.

But he didn’t really have to see reminders of it because it was just history and the past. It was essential, beyond the storyline, for him to be frozen for so long because he didn’t have his old life to look back on and hinder him, all he could do was press forwards because he can’t go back and regret if nothing is there. Seeing the temple? It’s like a relic now, not what he once knew. It’s not as he left it. It’s something else now standing in its place. It’s just now, what is.

Beyond the whole weird avatar mojo stuff, he’s living with no reminders. It’s kinda more, benefiting in a sense? He can move on, he doesn’t have guilt to face him everyday.

Zuko, he was the coma scenario.

He lived his life thinking good of the world and people, and then it’s like what life was really like was revealed to him. And then he just got hit by a truck out of nowhere (consider the metaphorical coma inducing truck an Agni Kai with his father) and everything just kinda, paused for a long while.

Mother is gone, father disowned him, sister couldn’t care less if he was dead like dear daddy, and there’s kinda no point now?

He’s living in this rage induced haze that he’s sorta, disconnected from who he once was. He’s broken and suspended in time of heart ache and self loathing.

Iroh is standing by his bedside and talking to his unconscious state, and the words are going in, but there’s no point because he can’t take them in and process them.

He’s shut down.

And then, it’s like meeting Katara in the cave, it sorta wakes him up for a second, grants a miracle and shows him there’s something outside of the pitch black he’s been seeing for so long.

And then the past comes back in the form of Azula, and false promises and the offering of restoration to what once was now takes over and he falls back unconscious and no one can get through to him again.

Eventually, when the realization hits that he can’t go back, he wakes up

But Zuko now lives with seeing his past everywhere around him. He’s got the knowledge that he’s aged and he needs to accept it and adapt.

He lives with the constant reminders because they’re still fresh, they didn’t go away, and they’re crippling as ever.

That’s why I believe that in a way, Zuko aged and matured enough to be capable of Katara’s affections and love more than Aang. That he could be her equal. Because he’s living with reminders, while Aang is living in an air of ignorance and bliss to a sense because it’s just history, everything has aged or been rebuilt that it’s not the same world he once knew. He’s got a new lease on life

And Zuko has some physical therapy to do. He’s got muscles he needs to strengthen just to walk again in the form of finding his true good nature and being the future Fire lord his people needs. Being the son that wants to take down his father and sister.

Zuko is still young, he still has room to grow and learn more, but Katara has kinda already established herself in a sense and aged more than she should have playing mother and voice of reason at times, even if she has more to learn too.

And I think they’re on almost equal wavelengths to better understand each other and be a supportive life partner together.