#txt post: katara

[f1reladymai]

people who claim that Katara ending up with Zuko rather than Aang would have made her character more “feminist” completely disregard her race and ethnicity. it shows a lack of understanding when it comes to intersectional feminism because Katara and Aang ending up together is revolutionary. these are two people who understand each other in a way no one else could. both victims of the same regime in the exact same way. both genocide survivors. both the last of their kind (Katara being the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe and Aang, of course, being the last airbender). both genocides committed to kill the avatar and erase hope from the world. both come from a collectivist culture. they are both leaders of a resistance group, two people who fight for a better world and in the process find love during war time, in the face of an imperialist nation that was set on wiping them out but they prevailed. not only did they end the war together, but they are tangible proof that love and hope and peace is possible and it’s never too late for things to turn around, even if you are the last of your kind.

Aang, Katara and their relationship is embodiment of that hope and of the revolution.

[reverentwormpriest]

it occurred to me thanks to tiktok that the gaang literally never learn how zuko got his scar and now I have the evil idea in my mind of them learning how he got it in the ember island episode cuz maybe they interviewed someone who was there for the agni kai and the whole gaang just kinda goes quiet and pitifully side eye zuko who is visibly shrinking into his seat

or there's the funnier but still sad option of one of them being like "haha I guess we both have scars cuz of training accidents" since thats what the fire nation soldiers assumed and zukos just like "oh no that was my dad" and they all hear a vine boom in their heads

[ofpd]

people have endlessly discussed how the fire siblings & the water siblings are foils but i really do think it's so fun how katara and zuko are the same person and have the same compassion and emotional openness, so when they become friends they become so intensely devoted to each other so quickly, but the ways in which sokka and azula are the same person (emotional repression, inability to let themselves have fun, etc) make it so that, even when they're eventually on good terms, their relationship mainly consists of a (mostly one-sided) pai sho rivalry and mediocre banter. so while zuko and katara are having sleepovers, braiding each other's hair, gossiping, and talking about both boys and their love & rage & grief, azula and sokka are just like.......... oh. you again.

[stonerz4sokka]

a point i see being made when analyzing aang's decision to energybend ozai instead of killing him is that it's his assertion of his role as the last airbender and that the air nomad's beliefs and practices still had significance in a world that had largely forgotten about them. this is very true, and we also see this in the final agni kai when katara and azula face off. katara, like aang, is the last surviving part of her people's culture. she has grown up in a world where her bending, a core aspect of who she is, was viewed as either inherently inferior to fire or useless in everyday life. for her to master her bending through sheer determination and end up defeating a racist princess who viewed katara as inferior to her was an amazing culmination of katara's arc. katara won by outsmarting and outbending(?) someone with years of formal training in their element. her triumph was proof that she is the most capable of carrying her people's legacy both as a skilled waterbender but also as an intelligent, brave and resilient young girl.

[smmushii]

mullet zuko and wolf cut katara.

[leahmovedagain]

for how much sansa stans ‘hate’ daenerys they sure do talk about her a lot

[sayonarajade]

when the sun was setting and they were riding on oppa in the sky and katara asked aang why he didn't mention he was the avatar and he says "because i never wanted to be" and the flute music starts playing softly in the background

[myfandomrambles]

ATLA/LOK ND, Disability & Headcanons/Canons

Aang: PTSD & ADHD

Azula: C-PTSD, psychosis & NPD

Bolin: ADHD & PTSD

Ikki: ADHD

Jinora: Autism

Katra: GAD, PTSD & depression

Korra: Chronic Pain, depression & PTSD

Lin Befiong: PTSD

Mei: AVPD & depression

Sokka: ADHD & PTSD

Suki: PTSD

Toph Beifong: Blindness, PTSD, Depression & ADHD

Ty Lee: PTSD & Anxiety

Zuko: C-PTSD, BPD, impaired vision & ADHD (post here {want to update though})

[timeofdeathnote]

[f1reladymai]

Aang getting so, uncharacteristically angry when Appa was taken by the sandbenders wasn’t just because of his love for his sky bison. Of course, that was a big part of it. Appa is more than just a pet to him, he’s his best friend and soulmate, someone who’s been around since Aang was very young and is meant to be a “companion for life”.

But, Aang ran away on a random Tuesday, got caught in a storm and it changed the whole trajectory of his life. He ran away because he was upset his life was changing so rapidly, he suddenly had all this responsibility at 12 years old that he wasn’t ready for but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gone back. We don’t know what would have happened; he could have needed a few days to cool off, he could have seen the start of the war and stepped up (from what we know of Aang, there’s no way he would have ignored it for his own needs), but that didn’t happen.

He got caught in the ice for 100 years and when he woke up he discovered that not only was everyone he knew and loved were dead, but brutally murdered in an act of power. That everyone from his teachers, friends (children, like him) and animals, were gone. Not only that but his whole culture; traditions, foods, clothing, music… everything important was eradicated and possibly most of the documentation of the culture, too. He’s suddenly handed this new responsibility on top of being the Avatar, trying to uphold this culture (as literally the last airbender alive) and grieve at the same time.

And Aang grieves very privately, in fact, does he even give himself a chance? He discovered the horrible truth and his immediate response it so go have some fun, maybe because he knows if he thinks too hard about it and gives into the pain, he’ll turn into something he’s not, he’ll forget what the monks taught him and he can’t let that happen.

So he tries to channel all his grief and anger into being the Avatar, even if he still has his reservations, and by his side is Appa. The only thing keeping him tethered to his life 100 years ago and his culture. He’s been with him through everything, and will continue to be, like I said “companion for life”.

And then he’s gone, he’s taken, and all of a sudden Aang cannot keep the crushing weight of his loss at bay anymore and he… snaps, he loses control. He gives into the avatar state because not only is everything he knew and loved gone, taken from him for nothing more than political gain, but now his soulmate that represented everything he lost is gone, too and he doesn’t know what happened to him. Is he dead? Is he scared? Is he fed? Who knows.

Aang losing Appa with the final straw and his grief, something he was ignoring and refusing to deal with, was brought to the forefront when he lost Appa, making it impossible to ignore and if it wasn’t for us friends trying to ground him and remind him of who he was, who knows what would have happened.

[paintdlady]

I’m in love with the idea of a Katara -- dare I even say.... Lesbian Katara even -- who travels the nation healing those who can’t afford medical bills and starts a non-profit hospital for people to come to, the first of many throughout the nation in fact. She goes from town to town, encouraging people to adopt better health care systems. She teaches first aid to girls and other people who are interested. She shows them how to do simple remedies and encourages them to continue pursuing medicine. After the war, she changes the world (again) for the better, and she isn’t reduced to just a love interest, because there’s so much more to her than what her relationship with male characters are.

She becomes known as the woman who healed the hardened world after the war, and when she’s old and grey, she’s more than just someone’s wife. Because it was revolutionary to me, a young indigenous girl, to see another young indigenous girl who was strong and nurturing at the same time because the two aren’t antonyms. Like this was one of the first shows I actually actively dedicated myself to, I’ve loved Katara from the beginning and getting to watch her continue to grow as a character with an amazing arc. She’s so much more than just the love interest or a sidekick like she could’ve been as is the Formula for most shows. She was allowed to be angry and sad and still be so strong instead of punished and I just want the world for her

[ofpd]

thinking about when zuko pulled up to the western air temple and toph and katara are (understandably) angry but sokka's first reaction is to stare at zuko all wide-eyed until katara starts yelling and snaps him out of it

[dgdsgdsg-blog1]

one of my mutuals blocked me??? what???? why

[f1reladymai]

I have so many thoughts about Sokka and Kya. I feel like Sokka is never given the chance to grieve, when in reality he’s the oldest and probably has much clearer memories of her than Katara does. Every time I say that, someone always says “but he said himself he doesn’t remember her face!” but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t remember her.

He remembers her holding him close on nights when it was so cold even the animal furs couldn’t keep him warm, curled up against her chest. He remembers her placing him on her lap, a baby Katara in his arms as she nuzzled into his hair and told him what a good big brother he would grow up to be. He remembers her taking him out in the canoe to cheer him up after his dad insisted he was too young to go hunting. He remembers her forehead kisses.

But the pain proves to be too much and he doesn’t deal with his grief the way Katara does. He isn’t open about it, he doesn’t get a chance to process on his own terms. He shuts it down, he has a responsibility to his sister, his tribe and later, the world. and because of these feelings he’s repressed, because he never gets to talk about her, cry over her, because he has to appear to be the strongest person, the big brother, the protector, his fear of forgetting her manifest into him forgetting her face. a common trauma response that kids have when they’ve lost a parent, and it’s so tragic because Sokka looks just like her.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the loss of his mother, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t remember her and it sure as hell doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her as much as Katara does, it means they deal with things differently. When Katara said “you didn’t love her the way I did” it might have hurt, but I don’t think she meant she loved her more, I think it means they loved her differently. they both saw different things in Kya and enact their love for her in various ways.

But Sokka should get to process his grief, should get to cry and be comforted. He should be able to let his memories of her flow, and enter his mind without guilt and be able think about them when he needs some respite.

[ofpd]

zuko: so he was like, "i'm powerless, you've got your swords, why don't you just do it now?" and i was like, "because i know my own destiny. taking you down is the avatar's destiny."

sokka: so... you had the opportunity to kill him. and you didn't do it.

zuko: well, yeah. and then, when i redirected his lightning, i made sure that it didn't hit him directly. it just wouldn't be narratively satisfying that way.

sokka: i'm sorry what the Fuck did you just say

[ofpd]

zuko: *jumps in front of lightning for katara*

me: well, that’s no reason to ship zutara. it’s an important moment in his character arc but also he would’ve done it for anyone he cared about at all. honestly, zuko would jump in front of lightning for fun, as long as he was sure he could redirect it. and while i do think that this moment signifies how strong their friendship is, i don’t see any reason to interpret it as romantic.

zuko: *jumps in front of fire for sokka*

me, crying: i just... love them so much... zuko and sokka... they’re Meant To Be... the way that they protect each other without thinking twice... they care so much about each other...