#zuko is neither a better person nor a better character than aang | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

seyaryminamoto · 3 years ago

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Why do you the majority of the atla fandom likes Zuko far more than Aang?

Eeeh... it's probably a mix of profound and shallow reasons all mixed into one very messy bag xD guess I'll start with the shallow reasons and then move on to the deeper ones:

Zuko seems to fit in the "tall, dark and handsome" archetype some people seem to automatically fall in love with when they see it in media. He amassed a lot of fans even early on with his angry ponytail, so I won't pretend that he exclusively had all the fangirls swooning over him when he grew out his hair xD but there's indeed a widespread consensus that he turned into the prettiest boy around when he grew out his hair (evidently I disagree but that's neither here nor there x'D). Meanwhile, Aang is a kid, and even when he grows out his hair he's not a "tall, dark and handsome" type. He's still just a kid, but now with hair xD and even if he's cute, the kind of people who fall in love with Zuko over his looks just aren't likely to feel the same way about Aang. There's also that a lot of the people who loved Zuko's looks were young teens when they watched the show and they weren't quite so likely to feel that way about Aang, who they could've perceived as simply a kid like them, rather than the handsome, tormented young man Zuko feels like.

Zuko comes from "the cool nation". A concept I cannot help but be swept by too because yes, sorry, I do love the Fire Nation even if I absolutely know and acknowledge it needs to be overhauled and changed from top to bottom in just about every possible way :'D but fire as a concept is popularly treated as much cooler than air, ergo, people like the Fire Nation characters quite a bit because of that perception. It doesn't particularly help that Aang's culture is the least relatable of them all, as they don't have family units, to say one thing, lived by being completely split by genders, and the one thing that could've made the internet crowds positively ADORE the Air Nomads was the LOK comic expansion that says they were 100% in on free love and accepted different sexualities when the other nations were squeamish about them or outlawing them... something that is nowhere to be seen in what few flashbacks we get from their culture in ATLA. Therefore, Aang's background as an Air Nomad and airbender can be interesting enough, but not so much as to overcome the "coolness" of Fire Nation aesthetics and worldbuilding -- doesn't help that people have this slightly inflated concept of the "equality between genders" in the Fire Nation based solely on a handful of examples of said equality while blatantly ignoring every example that suggests they're only a couple of steps ahead of other nations in that regard but that men and women are not genuinely equal in the Fire Nation, all around...? So, in short, people are more interested in Zuko the man who will reform the Fire Nation, which is cool as a concept already, than in Aang the Air Nomad whose culture was wiped out and we know very little of, and what we know of it is difficult to relate to, and whose future is just going to be to stop conflict all around the world in order to preserve balance and harmony rather than being a genuine reformer of societies, the way Zuko is perceived to be.

Zuko is a more brooding, tormented soul than Aang, who is often depicted as a fun-loving, cheerful kid. People find him a little more mysterious and intriguing than Aang, who seems to be exactly what we get from the start. Then we find out later that Aang does have his secrets and his darkness, but Zuko basically is the inverse of Aang: Zuko's worst side is constantly on display so the stuff he keeps hidden is actually his better side and that makes people feel they need to dig deeper to find Zuko's true worth as a person. Meanwhile, Aang's darkness, which he keeps hidden, is not so agreeable (his rage, his frustrations, his sadness, his grief). So, in these regards, it's basically that people have the perception that Zuko is a jerk with a heart of gold, whereas Aang can be interpreted as the opposite of that, gold with a heart of jerk? I don't even know how to word it in this case xD it's an unfair perception of Aang in my opinion, because the kid is burdened by soooo many awful things, but I've actually seen people with very stale takes declaring Aang is basically the blueprint of an abusive husband because he contains his rage and he'll explode eventually and hurt people (using accidents from the show like Aang burning Katara to justify this concept)... whereas Zuko apparently is just a pure sweetheart who needs love and cuddling, and all his violent antics and reactions are NOT evidence that he too could be an abusive husband, no, that's something else entirely and he would never treat anyone he cares about that way! -- Insert all his angry rants at Iroh, his not-so-stellar boyfriend behavior with Mai here and the two-faced argument just deflates in ten seconds.

Speaking of Mai, ships now :'D the canon relationships for Aang and Zuko aren't universally loved by the general fandom, though the people who do love them are veeeery passionate and adamant that they're perfect just as they are. But basically, Aang and Mai come off as the characters who are pining somewhat hopelessly over someone else, which produces a sensation of inequality in their relationships. Katara, in my opinion, shows plenty of appreciation and affection towards Aang especially in the first season, but it's completely possible to interpret it as platonic rather than romantic affection, and as Katara's very few instances of displaying romantic interest in Aang feel a little odd and aren't really developed and fleshed out, people can just assume (and they do) that Katara wasn't in love with Aang but Aang is openly, clearly, blatantly in love with Katara since day one. Same is true for Mai: Zuko never even TALKS about Mai until we see them on scenes together, whereas Mai's strongest motivation in joining Azula is seeing Zuko again. Next thing we know? Mai and Zuko are together and the lead-up for it is in a comic most people didn't even read. The glimpses we get of Mai and Zuko together are not at all displays of a perfect, beautiful relationship with no flaws... just as the glimpses we get of Aang and Katara advancing their relationship typically are more on Aang's side than Katara's, and feature Aang taking the initiative while Katara doesn't show that much interest. Again, it can be chalked down to a problem of writing, and their relationship could be so much better... but the fact of the matter is, people in the fandom seem to think Zuko would be better off with someone who awakens stronger passions in him than Mai seems to, ergo, they ship him with just about every character you can think of other than her... whereas Aang, instead, is the one in Mai's position: I, personally, find Aang's love for Katara is so deeply connected to his identity as a character that it would take a LOT of work in order to really convince me he could have feelings for anyone else. But it's really not that hard for me to fathom Katara could fall in love with anyone other than Aang (I mean... she outright has a huge crush on Jet back in Book 1, so canon outright proves she can), and Mai, like Aang, is difficult to imagine with someone else if you don't thoroughly work her out of her Zuko-dependency, which the writers weaved into her character to a point of excess while never giving Zuko an attachment to Mai remotely as strong as hers. Long story short... Zuko being the object of someone's pining, and Aang being a character who pines (and whose love can be interpreted as one-sided by someone who doesn't see him that way, for the most part), makes Zuko a little easier to work with as far as shipping outside the canon box is concerned, whereas the same is not true with Aang.

Still on that topic, Aang is so young that some people think Aang can't be or shouldn't be shipped with other characters. I've seen people outright citing their sole reason to ship Taang is "they're the same age" (not every Taang shipper is like that, of course, and I've seen good arguments for the ship, it's only that it has always weirded me out that this was the main reason people brought up to say why they shipped this ship back when I first entered the fandom). This means that some people find Aang to be too much of a child to be a compelling character to, for instance, write fanfiction about :'D whereas that's not at all the case with Zuko. So, starting from there, Zuko is a character people are far more willing to interact with on a fandom level, and it's not just because Aang is too young... it's because virtually every ship you want to write Zuko into requires a lot more work than the most popular Aang ships do. If you write Zuko in a relationship with Mai, unless you're actively trying to present them as a perfect match in a propagandistic sort of "Maiko supremacy" way, it means they'll clash and have problems, much as they did in canon. If you write Zuko in a relationship with Katara, you have to resolve a lot of issues and you have the whole "enemies to lovers, he proved himself and she forgave him!" vibe that people dig a lot with redeemed antagonists in relationships with protagonists. Same concept is true for people who ship him with Sokka, to the letter. Hell, shipping Zuko with Jet brings up a ton more issues than even those two ships do, since Jet wasn't even aware of Zuko being a prince, liked him fairly well when he thought he wasn't a firebender and then went off the rails because of that, and that sort of complicated set-up requires soooo much work to make it happen... and if you do make it happen? It can be more rewarding for the average fic writer than "Aang and Katara got together in canon, so have a sequel of how much they love each other!", I suspect (THOUGH I WILL SAY... writing stories about people in love with next to no internal conflict IS completely valid and rewarding, but fandom will be fandom and not everyone is ready for wholesome romance, apparently). It can also be more rewarding than "Aang and Toph are already great friends, worked out their lingering issues and got together eventually". I think the only ship with Aang I can think of that would require a ton of work is Aangzula (which tbh explains why it has some passionate supporters), and it might be the only one that really would put Aang's character to the test remotely as much as fanfics about Zuko growing into a better person through his relationship with *insert literally any character here* do. I'm not saying Zuko is OBJECTIVELY a more interesting character to write about than Aang, I have honestly had a surprisingly good time writing both of them over the past months/year, so I really think it's a matter of how you go about it... but I can absolutely see some people getting bored by writing Aang-centric stories and preferring Zuko-centric stories because they feel they have more content to flesh out than they do with Aang.

Iroh. :'D Iroh is another reason why people love Zuko better than Aang. I have a lot more issues with Iroh than I even do with Zuko but that's not really the point here: Iroh is generally loved by the general, casual fandom, he's loved by Zuko's passionate fans, and he can even be outright the most beloved character of the whole franchise. His relationship with Zuko is of course the very lifeforce of his character, and for some people, of the whole show. Aang has no such mentor figure actively by his side throughout his journey. The closest thing he has to that is Monk Gyatso, and as we all know, he's dead. The only few moments we saw of Aang and Gyatso together are flashbacks and while we can see how much Gyatso cared about Aang, we can't see remotely as much of their dynamic, of how Gyatso handled Aang when Aang was being rebellious or unruly, of how Gyatso took care of Aang and protected him as best he could, the way we can with Zuko and Iroh. Thus, Iroh pretty much ends up elevating Zuko's character and arc, and people will declare their very favorite bond in the show is the one between Iroh and Zuko, as it's so very wholesome... and you don't really have anything comparable with Aang.

It also doesn't help that Aang is often shown as having the right morals and ideology whereas Zuko has to give up on his previous set of beliefs and change his mind about the world (whether he did it effectively or not, that's my eternal matter of debate...). A lot of people perceive Aang as just being a goody-two-shoes who's never in the wrong, whereas Zuko is often in the wrong and had to reason with that wrong in order to get things right. It's not a fair perception in my opinion, Aang makes a TON of mistakes, the difference is that the show actually calls him out on most of them (see Bato, where Aang doesn't ever pretend he didn't fuck up with the map and he's ready to accept the consequences of carrying on alone for his mistake; see The Chase, where his outburst at Toph sees him losing his earthbending teacher within a very short time of finding her, and he's shown regretting it right afterwards, even if we don't get an outright scene of apology between them; see Bitter Work, where Aang's entire fighting ideology is put to the test very cruelly by Toph until he finally set aside his ways in order to adapt to hers, and the list goes on), whereas Zuko is typically given justifications (whether because his backstory is very sad or because everyone else is being comedic/stupid and he's the only one with sense) and virtually nobody calls him out on things that he deserves to be called out on (and if they do, the way Katara does in The Western Air Temple, she's being extreme, unreasonable and horrible, and poor Zuzu, he doesn't deserve this!). So it's really funny that the show actually puts Aang through more lessons than it does with Zuko, but they're not the flashiest lessons, they're not a full-blown redemption arc, so all of it is easily dismissed as "that kid who effortlessly does the right thing and is morally perfect just because" when he really isn't that person at all... while Zuko is "that tormented teenager who struggles to distinguish between right and wrong but HIS HEART IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!!", and somehow Zuko having such gray and muddled morality makes him more interesting than Aang, whose own morality was pretty questionable at several points in time but nobody seems to find him more interesting for that. Instead, he's hypocritical or just inconsistent whenever he's not being morally perfect, but Zuko's fine exactly as he is :')

Zuko has a tragic backstory that's personal. Aang's tragic backstory is not quite so personal and much harder for certain individuals to connect to it. You don't need to be part of any communities that were victims of genocide to empathize with Aang, but people take his tragedy for granted because we don't have strong ties with Aang's past before the Hundred Year War. Therefore, the weight of his tragedy is mostly implicit and the majority of the people who absolutely prefer Zuko over Aang seem to take Aang's circumstances for granted rather than for the genuine, horrifying tragedy it is. Meanwhile... Zuko's tragic backstory is extremely relatable for anyone who can see their own life story projected onscreen in Zuko. His mother is gone, his father is neglectful at his finest times and outright violent at his worst, his sister makes fun of him and is favored by their father... whatever my opinion of the character may be, his story is so much more relatable for the masses who may or may not have experienced at least one of Zuko's problems personally, be it an absent parent, or a violent one, or an unhealthy competition with their siblings... I, personally, experienced the last thing but the irony is I actually connect with Azula's side of it rather than Zuko's, for reasons well beyond the toxic parent favoring either sibling :'D but that's not the point of this ask anyway xD Aang doesn't have a family, outright. Aang has friends he lost because they lived out their lives without him and died a hundred years ago: who in our day and age has experienced ANYTHING like that? Nobody has. Therefore, Aang's story doesn't really speak of personal experiences the way Zuko's does. Which doesn't mean people cannot empathize with Aang's struggle, but I do think the show dropped the ball quite a bit by not truly featuring Aang grieving over everything he lost. His quickness to adapt to a world a hundred years more advanced than the one he knew may be easily explained outwardly with "there wasn't enough screentime for anything else", but the times when we do see Aang's suffering for what it is are not enough to outweigh the countless times he had no sorrows to show us upon being confronted with a world so different from the one he'd known, upon having lost everyone he used to love, everyone who built him into the person we meet him as in the very first episode.

Zuko has a redemption arc that I take a thousand issues with, but it's still an arc that resonates with a lot of people who are touched by the message that they can grow and change and that their circumstances and background and toxic influences in life don't define them. People have projected a LOT of different takes and understandings of Zuko's growth, which has practically made him into a thousand different characters from who he really is (especially "softboi Zuko" is a real headscratcher for me), and they're practically doing whatever they want in order to make Zuko the character they need him to be... all of which they don't do with Aang. Why? Because Aang doesn't resonate with people remotely as strongly due to his own growth process being a lot more complicated than Zuko's. Aang is a careless kid, he doesn't want to be the Avatar, he wants to live a life of freedom and fun. Aang is thrust into the role of the Avatar, and yes, he has a lot of fun in his journey, but he has to step up and be the person he wasn't sure he was ready to be, and he goes through a LOT of crazy stuff in the process. Aang goes from being a perfectly silly, happy kid to this stressed-out pre-teen who will lash out at people (Sozin's Comet Part 1, even that Lost Adventures comic where he gets angry at Katara) whether his opinions are right or wrong, who shows us he can be REALLY fiercely protective of his animal companion, to the point of not caring about how he hurts others in his journey to reunite with him (he lashes out at both Katara and Toph in different ways after Appa is taken away). Seeing someone nice showing these sides of himself is all-around unpleasant. Identifying with a character who's cute and wholesome is all good and easy until the darkness of that character manifests itself in a less than agreeable way, and it just... spooks out people, I'd say? While the show doesn't exactly call out Aang for being unfair in his behavior in these instances, it also doesn't justify him treating his friends the way he does. Zuko, instead, gets all the justifications under the sun whenever he acts out :') in short, Aang's journey made him grow into his own as the Avatar, once again a concept that isn't relatable for most people since nobody is really "the chosen one" IRL and in Aang's case that role is a burden that's hardly treated as one by the source material. His story doesn't bring as many "feel good" interpretations as Zuko's does for the general fandom. Aang may be a good kid all-around and he may be fun and cute, but while his story can have the potential to be interpreted as a reeeeally beautiful empowering story of a boy's growth into becoming a man in a very unconventional way (rejecting violence rather than embracing it, finding a new path in order to fulfill his role as the Avatar, changing the world and setting it free from the tyranny of a terrible man and his awful ideology), most people just seem to interpret him as "the kid who can't make the difficult choices that need to be made" (AKA killing Ozai :'D completey missing the point...), "the childish protagonist", "the protagonist with the infinitely more interesting side-characters", and so on and so forth. I do think Aang maaaaay be getting a little more credit these days than he used to, but the general understanding I got from the typical anti-Aang crowds was that they completely, willfully misunderstood his character to vilify him while completely, willfully misunderstanding Zuko's character in order to deify him :')

*sigh* there may be more reasons but that's more or less what I can think of atm. Personally, I think both characters have their good and bad things, and I don't particularly stan either one. I do believe BOTH could have benefited infinitely from better writing, but ultimately, Zuko holds an appeal to the fandom that Aang doesn't. Aang has a lot of passionate fans too, there's no denying that, and I would like to think a fair number of casual viewers love Aang better than Zuko, but casual viewers aren't the ones who generally interact and participate in fandoms. Zuko is widely acclaimed and beloved, he's the confessed favorite character of most the ATLA staff (really, if you haven't watched the documentaries on how ATLA was made, there's a scene where the only one who says he likes Aang best is Michael, everyone else says Zuko), he has the story people find most compelling and most relatable, and he happens to be handsome enough for them to swoon over him too. Thus... *shrug* it is what it is. I really don't love or hate either Zuko or Aang, neither one is or ever has been my favorite character. I admit I am bothered by the one-sided analysis a lot of people make to put down one over the other (and typically with arguments that crumble upon themselves because they both commit similar mistakes and yet it's bad when one does it but not when the other one does it...), and the fandom's general vibe of just taking Aang for granted doesn't particularly sit well with me, no matter if he's not my favorite character. But it is what it is, and I think these are the general reasons for why the fandom has such a different attitude with both characters.

#anon #that got long :>#as everything I ever do I guess #oh well #fandom will be fandom #that's all I can say on that front #it's particularly funny to imagine both Aang and Zuko being THE BIGGEST stans of each other #and flying into rages when they see fans putting down their BFF in any way #that usually is the best way for me to deal with particularly stale takes in this fandom x'D

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asocial-inkblot · 3 years ago

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Need Help Picking Out What to Write About Next

*Probably pointless of me to do, especially since I don’t know if anyone will even see this. Regardless, I’m going for anyway. Too bad there’s no poll option.*

I’m not a scholar or expert on media creation by any means, but I do have at least a few thoughts on the below ideas. Some I may have already hinted my feelings about in previous posts. Some I may merge together into one piece. Either way I want to eventually do something with all of them, but I suppose we’ll see. So, take your pick I guess. Oh and if you like a topic here, you’re welcome to do something with it! (Excuse the huge amount. I can’t help it.)

1. Theory On: Zuko’s age during his and his father’s agni kai and Fire Nation views

2. My Conflicted Feelings On Mai and Ty Lee

3. Headcanon: Neither Zuko nor Azula were trying to backstab each other in the last turtleduck pond scene.

4. (Despite Its Upsides) My issues with the episode The Beach.

5. Unpopular Opinion: Zuko shows signs and traits of a future (but not necessarily current) IPV/domestic abuser.

6. Unpopular opinion: Sokka has womanizer traits and doesn’t actually feel strongly for any girl he’s ever met, Suki included, save his mother and Katara.

7. Zuko didn’t really care about Mai, Ty Lee or Katara. The only women in his life he never stops thinking about are his mother and Azula.

8. My theory on childhood and adulthood in ATLA overall.

9. The Fire Sibs’ Minds: Who’s Really the “Crazy” One?

10. Azula while capable of understanding resentment and right vs wrong, likely wouldn’t view Ozai’s treatment of her or Zuko as unacceptable.

11. The Fandom’s Unchanging View and Characterization of Ozai Is Boring!

12. What If: Ursa Was the Toxic Spouse?

13. Imagining Canon or Non-Canon ATLA Weddings

14. Who’s More Sexist: Iroh, Ozai or Zuko?

15. Headcanon: Azula Is a Highly Feminine Character...Who Was Likely Groomed Into It.

16. Unpopular Opinion: Azula Does Not Lack “Motherly” Traits. She Just Has a Different Understanding of Motherhood than Katara and Related Do.

17. Both Azula and Zuko Need Serious Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Healing.

18. The fact that no sexist customs were implied to have been considered for change in the original series even after the GAang were confronted with them, is very irresponsible pro-macho writing.

19. Theory: The Dragons that Both Iroh and Zuko Met, Taught Them Nothing.

20. Unpopular Opinion: Ursa’s Parenting MO Was Actually Somewhat Harmful to Zuko in the Long Run

21. Theory: Zuko Was Probably a Far Worse Behaved Child than Zuko Alone Showed Us.

22. You Can Have “Abusive” (By Western Standards) Traits and Love Your Child, Even Be Kind to Them at Times.

23. What If: Ozai Lied to Zuko About What Happened On the Night of Azulon’s Death?

24. Theory: Ursa May Have Wanted Azula to Act Wife-Like Towards Zuko.

25. Azula Was Not Trying to Seduce Zuko in The Awakening (“The Bedroom Scene”)!

26. Draft: How Race Was Utilized for ATLA. I don’t know how many want to read my thoughts on this but I’m of the opinion that the characters are exactly what we personally want to view them as, all the above options, and none of the above.

27. Patriarchal Gender Attitudes Among Shippers

28. Your private thoughts are above criticism. The things you share are not, fanwork for your ships included.

29. Aang would not have been automatically going against his pacifist beliefs if he killed Ozai.

30. The different ways that the Fire Family’s Arc could have ended for (imo) a better story.

31. A theoretical season 4 & beyond could have had literal world building in it.

32. Headcanon/Theory: Azula knew about the blue spirit and who the person behind the mask was.

33. If Azula wanted, after the war ended, she could have just gone back to the Earth Kingdom and taken over again and done an actually good job ruling it.

34. Zuko is dim, but not clueless. Malicious but not diabolical.

35. Headcanon: Mai probably got fed up with Zuko’s self-centered, naive and destructive antics within the first two weeks of his reign and dumped him again.

36. Ty Lee probably realized while on Kyoshi Island what her real problem was, found a way to move past it and cope and then left the Kyoshi Warriors to come back to the Fire Nation rather quickly.

37. None of the Fire Teens except Azula are capable of staying loyal to a person/group/cause for more than a short while.

38. A character’s sexism/toxicity in-universe is likely often just a writer adding in their own unconscious biases. This means that much of the awful behavior we see in-show, especially by characters like Sokka and Zuko, was never meant to be resolved in all probability.

#ATLA #Azula #Zuko #Ursa #Ozai #Sokka #Katara #Iroh #Mai #Ty Lee #Aang #Suki #Fan theories #Headcanons #Unpopular fan opinions #Media Metas #Discussion ideas #Constructive Criticism

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hello-nichya-here · 3 years ago

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People who go out of their way to demonize Azula while sweeping Iroh and Zuko's flaws under the rug just make Iroh and Zuko look worse.

Iroh and Zuko have been given perspective; Azula hasn't. All Zuzu has to do is talk to her, show her the errors of both her and his ways, and she'll change her mind. There already have been too many tragedies like Zuko being mutilated and Iroh losing his own son; when does it stop? Zuko is a (justfiedly) angry man, who's got plenty of issues and used to constantly lash out at anyone who did not kiss his ass, but he is reasonable when he gets his head out of his butt. If he can be, then why she can't?

"Not every character deserves redemption" say this to Aang and he'll airbend your ass into the next episode (that's probably not going to receive a good budget by Nickelodeon). He was willing to give Ozai a chance, even while fighting him. When he was trying to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground and kill him.

Also, if Zuko is such a *ooooh* saint as you portray him to be, then he has no reason to not give her a chance. I'm not saying Azula did not bad things (she did), but she's also only a child (14 years old) and Zuko has also done plenty, plenty of bad things himself (while being older - 16 years old), but has been, although in a very unfortunate manner, been blessed with enlightenment of the bad things that are happening in the world and that they need to change during his exile. Had he not been given that, they would probably be side by side in the end (and they would've won because they're unstoppable together).

Zuko giving her a chance to become a better person, doesn't ruin his redemption arc, but makes it better. The guy who had so much resentment and jealousy for his little sister, who was also entitled to the Fire Nation throne despite not even being the main heir (neither to the original line of succession - Lu Ten, Iroh - nor to his father's eyes - Azula), who had to capture the Avatar and help his father destroy the other nations just to deserve a small bit of respect that he (much like his sister) naturally deserved but never got, becoming the Avatar's best friend and peacemaker, willing to rule alongside his sister to break the cycle of family hatred and power struggle, all while giving her a different point of view and making her a better person not only gives her an opportunity to have a redemption arc and a chance to recover, but also reaffirms his own by proving that it did not only happen, but it still happening as he continues to become a better person

And the best part: Zuko is allowed to be his own character. He realizing his sister being stronger, smarter and more talented than him, doesn't make him weak, stupid or unskilled. And that, naturally, no matter how much you train there'll always be someone better, but that doesn't make your efforts pointless. He doesn't need the Fire Nation throne to be his own person, and me saying this is not saying he can't rule; he can, but he needs to find a reason other than respect (because he shouldn't have to become a tyrant to deserve the natural appreciation a father should have for his own children, and neither pretend to be someone else's dead son).

If he wants to rule the Fire Nation with kindness... than he needs to be kind himself. And not only to Azula, but to his uncle, to Mai, to Ty Lee, to the gaang and to all other characters that, willingly (or unwillingly) he hurt, like Song and her mother, the Kyoshi Island and South Water Tribe inhabitants, his crew, etc.

He has the knife and the cheese. He can cut and share it with other people and stop them from starving or he can throw the knife away and eat all of the cheese, while giving excuses as to why the other people are dying, and watch as they stab him in the back. And in the comics case, he can also throw the cheese away and shove the knife up his ass, apparently.

But this is my opinion and it's just that.

Unrelated: if you want Zuko to have a more unique fighting style in comparison to Azula, why not make him combine his swords with his firebending'? Sure, Sokka uses a sword, but Zuko uses two and the former also uses a boomerang as well. Ah, this is probably just a topic for another ask and this one is already too long anyway...

It could also be a comedy bit with Sokka pointing that out to him and he's like "Huh? Is that legal?" or something, I don't know.

THIS IS THE TYPE OF QUALITY CONTENT I CRAVE!

#asks #azula deserved better #zuko deserved better

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patchofsunlight · 4 years ago

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Warmth | Zuko x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Avatar!Reader AU | Zuko has made many mistakes and holds uncountable regrets, but maybe Y/N can still love him back. Spoiler: she does.

REQUEST (by anon): “Could you do a zuko with maybe a f! avatar? Him falling in love with her like how they joked in ember island play. And him being tormented when she 'dies' in cross roads and them having some tender moment of confessing either in the western temple or ember island? maybe the play has the kiss and he confesses idk”

WORD COUNT: 5.3k

WARNINGS: Y/N is the Avatar, so Aang doesn’t exist. kissing, there might be swear words but I don’t really remember, bad editing. lots of mutual pining and some angst. I don’t know if I did this request justice but I really tried?

OBSERVATIONS: there’s a bit of Sokka x Reader bc I’m a weak woman but in the end he’s the main Zuko and Y/N shipper. not having Aang seriously hurt me. I wrote most of the Zuko sad rant in the beginning listening to Words Fail by Ben Platt and I think it would be interesting if you guys listened to that while reading? idk

I hope you all like it!!! feedback is always appreciated, so keep that in mind and thank you very much for reading!!

There was a hole inside his chest that Zuko simply couldn’t get rid of. It hurt him to his core, bringing pained sobs to the edge of his throat and slowly dismantling his soul.

He always thought getting rid of Y/N would quench his anger, rebuild his honor and complete his destiny. Now, his father accepted him again, Mai was his girlfriend, and Azula treated him like a true brother, in her own deranged ways. The Fire Nation considered him a hero, the man who killed the Avatar.

Then why did it trouble him so much? Why did he wake up every night in a cold sweat, with tears stinging his eyes? Why did he have the same nightmare over and over where he was the one responsible for her death, hitting her with lightning and watching as the light inside her disappeared, leaving behind only her idle body and Katara’s desperate cries? Why couldn’t he be satisfied? He had fulfilled his fate. He had done what he was meant to do, sided with his people, and fought against his greatest enemy. Why wasn’t he happy? Why couldn’t he ever be happy?

Back in Ba Sing Se, he saw her at the Jasmine Dragon more than once. He couldn’t believe his eyes when she first entered the teashop, and he was pretty sure she had recognized him, but Y/N managed to send a polite smile in his direction and sit down, greeting “Mushi” with joy. When Zuko served her tea, she asked him what his name was as if she didn’t know. She didn’t confront nor attack him — she simply let him live his new life and went on living hers. It felt like she had washed off his sins, erased the bloodstains he carried in his soul and hands. Y/N freed him of his past and he had thrown it all away.

It was the right thing to do, he had told himself day after day after day. Except it wasn’t, and now Iroh refused to talk to him and the Avatar was probably dead and, in the case she wasn’t, she would never forgive him. She wouldn’t let him be free of himself again and he would never get redemption for his mistakes.

He wished he could go back in time and fight alongside Y/N in that crystal cave, wished he could live up to the trust Katara offered him before they were saved, wished he could have stopped Azula from throwing that lightning bolt. He wished he could do things in the right way, yet he couldn’t. Zuko tried so hard to regain his so-called honor and to bring his father pride but his only real achievement was engulfing himself in guilt and regret, being aware that powerful and forgiving Y/N could be dead because of his lack of dignity and character — this couldn’t be honor. Violence, betrayal, death, and hurt couldn’t be honor, and he wasn’t sure he wanted his father’s pride if it meant feeling like this, like he was no good, like he was not worthy of love or praise or admiration.

Zuko had spent a great part of his life hating himself, but nothing compared to the hate he felt every night after waking up from another crushing nightmare. How dared he make this about himself and his feelings of guilt when the Avatar could be dead? How dared he worry about the Fire Lord’s pride when the world’s last hope was gone? How dared he indulge in self-pity after all he had done? He didn’t deserve pity, didn’t deserve help, he only deserved to wallow in his own pain and die. But that wouldn’t fix anything, neither would it bring Y/N back — he had to act, and he had to do it fast.

Going after Team Avatar was not difficult. He thought he would feel complicated like he had when first betraying Y/N’s trust, thought it would hurt like coming back to the Fire Nation did. Thankfully, leaving only caused a new type of satisfaction to bloom inside his chest, giving him the sensation he was finally walking through the right path. Hope seemed to pour out of every pore in his body and he could somehow think of better, future days when he would have done enough to make up for his mistakes, days when he didn’t feel the urge to scream every time he looked at a mirror. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to despise himself like he currently did, maybe things would be okay and he would be truly happy, if that was even something he had the capability to do.

But then they didn’t want him. He left everything behind, he charged every inch of his hope with the idea of joining the Avatar, and they didn’t want him. Why would they? Why would they, after everything he had done? How could he have even considered they would accept him, that she would trust him again? Of course they didn’t want him. No one did and no one ever would and that was entirely his fault — it was his fault that he was a bad person, took the wrong decisions, and caused pain and destruction. It was his fault he never did the right thing and he should’ve known he would be rejected again, for being rejected was just what he deserved.

But it still hurt. Oh, Spirits, it hurt. She couldn’t even look at him, even after he helped them defeat Combustion Man and was finally accepted in the group. Sadly, it made Zuko realize that, no matter where he stood, he would never be a part of their team, and Y/N would never trust him entirely. For some reason, that was more upsetting than their rejection. He wanted to impress her, wanted her to like him, and she never would.

“Y/N? Can I—can I come in?”

The Avatar looked up from the map she was currently analysing on her bed, studying his figure carefully before nodding with hesitance, “yes. Do you need something?”

He sighed deeply and walked towards her, feeling his heart crack when she brought her legs closer to her body and away from him the moment he sat on the edge of the bed, “I—I just wanted to talk to you about, well, you know, everything.”

Her expression hardened and she averted her eyes back to the map, “we have nothing to talk about, Zuko. You can go back to your room.”

The Fire Nation Prince swallowed nervously, “Y/N, please. I’m so, so sorry. I have made so many mistakes, I—”

“Zuko,” her voice was firm and emotionless, but that quickly changed when she met his gaze, “I thought things could be different. I thought things could be different back in the North Pole, when we first talked to each other and you told me about Azula. I thought things could be different when you saved me as the Blue Spirit. And I was so convinced things would be different when we met again in Ba Sing Se that I—” she scoffed at her own words, “I had a crush on you, can you believe that? That’s why I visited the teashop so regularly, I just wanted to see you. Stupid, of course. I should’ve known.”

Zuko was sure she could hear his anxious heart beating from the other side of the bed. They were less than a foot away, and yet it felt like miles. He didn’t want her to think about him like that, he didn’t want her to be disappointed in him. Damn, she used to have a crush on him, she liked him, and he screwed everything up like usual. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m—I’m here now, I’m on your side.”

“Yeah, but I thought you were on my side back then too. Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore. You need to teach me firebending and that’s the only reason you’re allowed here. Talking is unnecessary.”

“Please, I—”

“You should leave, Prince Zuko,” he flinched at the title escaping her lips, hating how it sounded bitter coming from her, “I have really important matters to deal with. We’ll start my firebending training tomorrow.”

“Y/N—”

“Leave, Zuko.”

With a heaviness inside his stomach, he left the room, missing if by a second the frustrated tear that ran down Y/N’s cheek. She wanted to trust him, but how could she? How could she let him in after his betrayal? She had always been forgiving, but she refused to be naive — seeing Zuko side with Azula in the crystal caves hurt her deeply and shoved her little crush on him down her throat. She couldn’t go through that again, it would be simply idiotic to. Y/N had to stand her ground. She wouldn’t be hurt by him again.

-----

“Hey, jerks. Mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerkbending?”

“Get out of—” Zuko was interrupted by the Avatar’s laughter. Sokka smiled softly at her, cheeks blushing. For some reason, that only managed to piss Zuko off even more, “get out of here!”

“Okay, take it easy. I was just kidding around,” the Water Tribe boy winked at Y/N, “see you later?”

“Sure, we still need to see that part of the temple we found yesterday. Exploration partners!”

“Exploration partners!” he agreed with a chuckle and turned away from them. “Bye, Y/N. Jerkbending… Still got it.”

Zuko glanced at her with irritation while she watched Sokka leave. He felt already incredibly frustrated for not being able to produce his fire and not knowing why, he definitely did not need to watch as Sokka and Y/N flirted.

They would make a cute couple, though, and she smiled so brightly at him it was physically painful to watch. He wanted her to smile like that at him, look like that at him. But she wouldn’t — she was over her crush and had no reason to ever feel anything towards him again, not after what he had done. He didn’t deserve her love anyway, so maybe it was for the best.

“So? Any progress, Sifu Hotman?”

“I told you not to call me that,” he snarled angrily and she sighed.

“Sorry, Sifu Hotman.”

“This was a mistake,” he sat down roughly, ignoring the ache on his legs due to the sudden movement, “maybe teaching you firebending is not my destiny.”

She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, not understanding, “what do you mean?”

“How can I teach you anything when I’ve lost my fire, Y/N?” he chuckled sadly, letting one of his hands go through his hair in distress. “I wanted to be on the good side of the war and I can’t even make myself useful.”

“You haven’t lost your fire, Zuko,” her voice was careful, “I think you’re just going through some internal conflict and that’s reflecting on your bending, but if you were meant to teach me firebending, you will. Your destiny is still your destiny regardless, Sifu Hotman.”

“It’s easy for you to say, you’re the Avatar! I’m not even sure who I am anymore, but you have always known what your destiny was.”

“Yeah, and I was scared of it,” she smiled softly, “I ran away and disappeared for a hundred years. People died because of my absence. I have made mistakes, and I have failed many, many times. Sadly, that doesn’t make me less of an Avatar. Zuko, if you must be my teacher, it’s gonna work. We’ll figure things out and you will get your fire back. Okay?”

He stared inside her eyes. There was still some sort of mistrust in them — she was willing to help him because she needed him, but still suspicious. She wasn’t really sure he was on their side, but this was a start. He was going to fix everything and he would make her proud. He would make Y/N happy to call him a friend. Or something more.

Maybe he had a crush on her, too.

-----

Toph’s idea to look for the original source of firebending had greatly backfired (no pun intended, even though Y/N could clearly hear Sokka’s laughter in her head at the joke). They traveled to the Sun Warriors’ ancient city and found an impressive temple adorned with statues. Things were going surprisingly well until they weren’t, and now they were stuck in a disgusting glue because Zuko touched the pretty gemstone. Hours had passed and Y/N was increasingly more annoyed at their situation.

“You had to pick up the glowing egg, didn’t you?”

“At least I made something happen! If it were up to you, we’d never have made it past the courtyard.”

“Maybe, but we wouldn’t be stuck here either, so did you really win?”

Zuko rolled his eyes, “this is stupid. How are we getting out of here?”

“Help!” the girl screamed as loudly as she could, being met with only silence.

“Who are you yelling to? Nobody’s lived here for centuries,” the Fire Prince argued and it was Y/N’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Well, what do you think we should do, genius?”

“Think about our place in the universe?”

Despite her current irritation, Y/N couldn’t help but smile at his words. He instinctively smiled back and she felt warmth spread through her chest.

She was starting to think she wasn’t as over her crush on him as she thought.

They were rescued by the Sun Warriors and judged by the last dragons, and Y/N was sure she hadn’t felt this alive in a while. After burning Katara (it was so long ago it seemed like a different life), she had thought of fire as something destructive, harmful, but she could now see it with new eyes. Fire could be love, life, and power.

The Avatar glanced at Zuko. Maybe she could try and see him as that, too.

-----

“You did well today,” Zuko complimented warily, avoiding her gaze, “if we keep up the training, you might become a better firebender than me.”

“Why, thank you, Hotman,” she smiled brightly and Zuko was sure he could pass out right there, “I just have a great teacher.”

“Y/N!”

The Avatar felt Sokka before she saw him, laughing at the way he hugged her from behind joyfully, leaning his chin on her shoulder. “Hey, honey. What’s up?”

“Doing fine,” he mumbled, brushing her hair off his face delicately, “wanna grab something to eat?”

“I think I’m gonna train some more and clean myself later. I’ll meet you after?”

“Sure! I’ll be back inside. See you, Y/N, Zuko.”

They both watched as the Water Tribe boy entered the temple again. There was a weird burning sensation running through Zuko’s blood when he asked, voice slightly raspy and overly quiet, “so, you and Sokka, huh? You make a nice couple.”

She turned her head to him so quickly it almost gave her whiplash, “what? No! I mean—” she blushed at the question, flustered by the fact he would even consider something like that. The Fire Prince waited silently, irritation surfacing at her stammering. He wasn’t sure why that angered him so much, but he decided to be still and listen, “we are just friends,” she concluded, “he means a lot to me, but so do Katara and Toph, you know? We are—we are just friends. He even likes that Kyoshi Warrior, Suki! So, yeah, we are definitely not a couple.”

“I see,” Zuko felt curiously static with that piece of information, “and you don’t have feelings for him?”

“No, of course not. I mean, I had a thing for him when we first met, but now it’s gone. He’s my best friend and I love him, just not like that.”

“Okay. Good.”

“Good?” Y/N turned her head to the side in confusion and he paled considerably, finally noticing the meaning of his own words. “Why is that good?”

“Oh? I—it’s good that you love him! Yeah, having friends is amazing, right? Yeah.”

She smiled amusingly, “it truly is.”

“Yeah.”

The Avatar chuckled lightly, “come on, Sifu Hotman. Let’s do that leg movement again, I think I’m not doing it right.”

Days passed and a lot of things happened. Zuko knew Y/N wouldn’t be happy with Sokka’s suicide mission, but he couldn’t let him do it alone, so he accompanied him to the Boiling Rock. Again, she wasn’t happy when he followed Katara for revenge for her mother’s death, but then at least someone had Katara’s back and was ready to protect her. He desperately wanted to earn Y/N’s trust and friendship, but that was rather difficult when he insisted on doing the stuff she didn’t want him to do.

They continued their training on Ember Island and the whole Team seemed to thoroughly enjoy the place. Y/N was giving her all to learn firebending and was succeeding splendidly. To be honest, Zuko loved to see her get the moves right — every single time she made it, she would look at him with bright eyes and grin. It was the most beautiful sight Zuko had ever seen and he would do anything to have it permanently engraved in his mind.

They stayed up late during one particular night. They were both exhausted after hours of training and ended up sat beside each other on the ground on the back of the Fire Nation Royal Family’s beach house. The air between them was filled with silence and heavy breathing from their previous effort.

“Hey, Zuko?” after a few moments, Y/N called him gently, voice tired and raspy giving him chills. She laid down and stared at the dark sky. “Look at the stars with me.”

He blinked, “really? I mean, shouldn’t we go inside?”

“Please?” her eyes met his and his heart skipped a beat. “Just for a bit.”

“Okay,” Zuko whispered, lying down next to her. They looked at the sky quietly for a bit.

He liked to be around her. It could be the Avatar thing, but Y/N had a calming aura around her that was just unmissable. Being next to her like this gave him the feeling things would be alright, the feeling he was not worthless. It was a lie, of course. There was no way to know how their plans would go, and he was pretty much worthless.

But being beside her was enough to trick his mind. Maybe the little crush he harbored towards her had become something more — Spirits, he liked her so much. Not that it mattered, considering there was no way she would ever love him back, not after everything he had done.

“When I was younger, I believed we became stars when we died.”

He turned his head to look at her, “really?”

She turned to look back and his breath hitched at their close proximity. She chuckled, “yeah. I didn’t even know I was the Avatar back then, I was so young. They told me when I was sixteen, and I ran away shortly after,” there was bitterness to her words, “like a coward.”

“You are not a coward, Y/N. You had no way of knowing how things would go.”

“You really think so?”

“I do. Besides, if you hadn’t run away, you wouldn’t have been stuck on ice for a hundred years, and I would never have met you, which would be awful,” he widened his eyes, completing quickly, “and Sokka, Katara, and Toph, too. I wouldn’t have met them either. Of course.”

Her smile was so pretty he forgot how to breathe, “you’re right, Zuko. I don’t think I would have liked to live a life where I never met you,” she smirked before going on with teasing eyes, “and Sokka, Katara, and Toph, too. Of course.”

“Of course,” he agreed with a blush on his face. They stared at each other carefully and Zuko was pretty sure his heart was performing a professional routine of somersaults inside his body. He definitely was past just a simple crush.

Y/N smiled that dazzling smile of hers before averting her gaze to the stars again and yawning. “We should go in.”

“We should,” the Fire Prince immediately started to sit up, but she held him down with a hand to his chest, and probably felt his crazy heartbeat under her fingers.

“Just a bit more, Prince Zuko,” she whispered, eyes trained to the sky. Slowly but surely, she moved her hand from his chest to his own hand, creating goosebumps on every inch of skin she lightly touched on the way there. Zuko could feel his body burn at the barely-there feeling of her fingertips. She intertwined her fingers with his carefully, giving him the chance to pull away if he so wished. He let out a shaky breath and squeezed her hand. She immediately squeezed his back in reassurance.

In the middle of the quiet and comfort they suddenly found in each other, they fell asleep under the stars, fingers playing with each other until exhaustion finally engulfed them in dreams of pretty smiles and light touches.

It was nice to dodge the nightmares.

-----

“I’ve heard you and Zuko slept outside today,” Sokka had a teasing tone to his voice. Y/N glared at him, “you are together now or something?”

“We are not,” she countered, scratching Appa while they talked. Zuko, Toph, Katara, and Suki had left for the beach already. Y/N still needed to feed her sky bison and Sokka offered to help with the excuse of being a good friend. The Avatar was absolutely sure that wasn’t the real reason he stayed back alongside her and he was currently proving her right, “we were just stargazing and then fell asleep.”

“Stargazing, huh? Real cute. I bet it was an endearing impromptu date, wasn’t it?”

“Since when do you even know the word impromptu?”

“I am always full of surprises.”

“Right,” she rolled her eyes and he laughed loudly, “it was not a date.”

“But you do like him, right?.”

“What?” she turned her entire body to him, furrowing her brows and crossing her arms in a defensive stance. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I know you better than you know yourself and I can tell you have feelings for him,” Sokka copied her movements, staring at her with a smirk, “I also know he likes you back.”

Y/N scoffed and transferred her attention back to Appa, “he does not.”

“So you admit you like him!”

“Shut up, Sokka!” she glared, but quickly gave up under his intense eyes and raised brows. “Yeah, I like him. It doesn’t matter, though.”

“Yes, it does! He feels the same! Look, what about this,” he leaned in closer, that crazy look he had whenever making up a plan taking over his face, “we are going to watch that play about us tonight, right? Well, you guys can sit next to each other! Like a couple!”

“That’s a terrible idea, honey.”

“It’s not! I bet he’s gonna make a move!”

“He won’t, because he’s not in love with me.”

“Wait, you’re in love with him?”

Y/N’s entire body tensed up. She shouldn’t have said that. She wasn’t in love with Zuko! Was she? I mean, she did love to be beside him, and her heart sped up when he gave her one of his rare smiles, and training with him when he had his shirt off was distracting to say the least. Besides, he really seemed to have changed and grown — she felt like she could trust him again, but she could never be sure, and she was adamant on not getting hurt once more. Especially now, when she was dealing with so many things. If he betrayed her a second time… Spirits, it would be just too much to handle.

“I don’t know,” she muttered and Sokka’s cheeky smile faltered, “I don’t want to be.”

He stretched an arm out to hold her hand fondly, “it’s fine, Y/N. Whatever happens, I’m here for you, okay?”

The Avatar smiled sadly, “thank you, Sokka. I’m really glad to have you in my life.”

“I know, honey. I’m great like that.”

She laughed loudly and he grinned in satisfaction, turning her body around and starting to lead her towards the beach, an arm through her shoulders holding her close to his body.

“Shut up, Sokka. You’re so stupid.”

“Yeah, yeah. I love you too.”

Zuko felt a pang to his chest when Sokka and Y/N arrived at the beach holding each other so dearly, but he knew he had no right to complain. She would be better off with Sokka anyway — he was good-looking, nice, funny, smart. Meanwhile, Zuko was nothing but a sad mixture of mistakes and regrets. The Avatar deserved more than that.

“Hey, Hotman,” she walked to him with a smile, planting a kiss on Sokka’s cheek before leaving his side. “Why are you all alone on the sand?”

“Because he’s boring,” Toph answered from some feet away and Katara chuckled. Zuko could feel his face redden.

“He is not,” Y/N argued amusingly, sitting down beside him and grinning. She glanced at him with a happy spark in her eyes, “are you excited for the play tonight?”

“No,” he muttered, but his lack of vivacity didn’t bother her in the slightest, “the Ember Island plays are always ridiculous.”

“I think it’s going to be fun,” she shrugged contently, basking in the hot sun, “if it isn’t, we can always throw food at the stage or whatever.”

He tried really hard, but couldn’t bit back the smile that took over his frown. He watched her attentively, noticing how she seemed to glow in the daylight, giving off this incredible warmth he had only ever seen on her. He averted away his gaze, feeling his neck and face heat up at how unapologetically beautiful she was.

Zuko cleared his throat quietly, “yeah, I guess.”

She only smirked in response.

-----

The play could be worse, he figured. Yes, their portrayal of him was horrible (even though his friends — could he call them friends? Were they friends? He hoped they were — said otherwise) and the actress playing Y/N was not nearly as pretty as the Avatar really was, but Y/N was next to him and, at some point, she had leaned her head on his shoulder tiredly and stayed there. All the training was getting to her and he felt inexplicable joy in the fact she trusted him enough to rest her body on his.

“Look,” her voice was raspy from sleepiness and a chill ran down his spine, “I think now is when you join Team Avatar and becomes our friend.”

He nodded carefully not to disturb her from her position and his heart skipped a beat when she nuzzled closer to his neck. Zuko watched as actor Zuko was accepted into the group and just after a scene with only him and actress Y/N started. Actor Zuko stared at the actress longingly, “my dear Y/N… I know I have wronged you in many ways, but I wanted to apologize for my mistakes and beg for your forgiveness!”

Y/N giggled at that, nudging him affectionately, “that really happened.”

He smiled, eyes following the performers on stage. Actor Zuko continued, “your forgiveness… And maybe your love, Avatar.”

They both immediately tensed up at the words and Y/N moved her head slightly, brows furrowing in confusion.

“My love, Prince Zuko?”

“Yes, my darling.”

They all watched as Actor Zuko and Actress Y/N kissed passionately, earning cheers from the audience. Sokka whistled loudly and Y/N turned to glare at him, receiving a wink in return.

“I have been in love with you since we first met!” Actor Zuko declared excitedly, holding Actress Y/N’s hands. “You are the only one who can make me forget about my teen angst. I love you, Y/N.”

“Well… I don’t!” Actress Y/N moved away swiftly and the crowd gasped in surprise. “I have accepted you in my group, Prince Zuko… But I’ll never accept you in my heart! You’re a bad person that doesn’t deserve my love!”

“What?!” Sokka almost screamed in disbelief. Y/N finally took her head off Zuko’s shoulder, incertitude swimming in her eyes. Before she had the chance to speak, Zuko had already left. The Water Tribe boy widened his eyes at her. “Go after him!”

Y/N nodded her head, getting out of her seat and walking after Zuko, calling his name. He ignored her, feeling anger boil inside him. He knew she would never directly say something like that, but he also knew it was true. She would never love him — he wasn’t worthy of her love, and he was pretty sure she was aware of that too.

“Zuko, wait!” she finally catched up to him, holding his arm and pulling him back. “It’s just a stupid play, Zuko. None of that is true.”

“Really, Y/N?” he turned to stare at her, rage covering his expression. “Because I’m almost certain it is. They said I don’t deserve love, Y/N, and that’s true. After everything I’ve done…”

“No!” she exclaimed desperately, shaking her head vehemently in disagreement. “Zuko, of course you deserve love. Yes, you have made mistakes, but all of us have. You shouldn’t care about what some actress says.”

“But they’re right, Y/N,” he insisted, feeling tears stinging his eyes, “I’m unworthy of love and everyone knows, and that’s why nobody actually loves me.”

“I love you!” she yelled out before she could stop herself, breath hitching at the troubled look taking over his face. Y/N sighed deeply, crossing her arms shyly and looking away, “I do,” her voice was small as she blushed, “I thought I was over my little crush for you but I wasn’t, and it’s—it’s much more than a little crush. I was afraid of admitting it but I know who you are, Zuko. You are loyal and smart and so inherently good and I love you. Spirits, I really do.”

He stared at her for a second, processing her words. She fidgeted anxiously and he smiled at all her small manners. With certainty to his movements, Zuko took a step forwards and cradled her face in his hands. He studied every inch of her expression, waiting for some kind of rejection. She offered him a hopeful smile and he was quick to smash his lips with hers, feeling the warmth that always surrounded her consume him entirely. He kissed her passionately, happiness pouring out of him — the words “she loves you” echoing inside his mind like a broken record, filling his heart with joy.

She moved away when there was no more air in her lungs, breathing heavily and grinning like a mad woman. Y/N lifted her arm and touched his scar so fondly it physically hurt. Never before had he been touched with such care and it made tears flood his eyes, something she instantly noticed, giggling at his cuteness and drying one running tear with her thumb. She felt like her chest was full. He kissed her thumb lovingly when it rested near his mouth.

She loved him. She thought he was worthy of love, of her love, even after everything he had done. No matter how many mistakes he had made, she still loved him, and that thought was enough to make Zuko feel some sort of hope towards the future.

Spirits, she really loved him.

“I love you too, Y/N. Very, very much.”

is it good? not really. could it be worse? yeah lmao

taglist: @bottledcostcowater @lammello @coldlilheart @azucanela @samsmultifandomblogs and @knaite-solo that asked to be tagged on this particular piece

thank you all for reading!! I hope you liked it!!

#zuko x reader #zuko x fem!reader #zuko x f!reader #sokka x reader #atla x reader #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender x reader #zuko #sokka #avatar #avatar!reader #avatar reader #ember island #the ember island players #requested

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firelxdykatara · 4 years ago

Note

If you interpret Katara’s aggression towards Zuko as romantic affection, then you have some serious issues of your own. Is a very dangerous message for teenage girls indeed. People who ship Zutara have to seriously analyze how unhealthy the message of the pairing would be. Katara hated Zuko for a valid reason, and to twist it into something it’s not is massively disrespectful to both the character. The outdated and ridiculous notion that a girl who acts like she doesn’t like a guy is simply “confused” and “denying her feelings” is so sexist and degrading. Take her emotions at face value. It's never been

Yawn. Boring. This is the same old tired argument I’ve heard a million times before--the one that proves a) you don’t actually understand how relationships work, and b) you’ve never read a single zutara meta in your life, because that’s the only way you could seriously get the ‘good girl is secretly in love with the bad boy and hopes to fix him’ read of a relationship that bares absolutely no resemblance to that particular collection of tropes either in the show or in our fandom.

But ok! I’ll bite, since you clearly want so badly to be educated and evidently don’t have the time to watch the show yourself, nor the reading comprehension necessary to understand the sort of media analysis that goes on in a lot of atla and zutara-focused meta in this fandom.

Which probably means that anything I write here will fly right over your head, but oh well, what can you do?

At any rate, the first mistake you’ve made here is assuming that I (or zutara shippers in general, but since you came into my inbox, I’m going to be taking this just as personally as you clearly intended me to) interpret Katara’s aggression towards Zuko as romantic at any point in the series prior to their reconciliation (after which point, there is no aggression from Katara aimed at Zuko for anyone, me included, to interpret romantically in the first place). I don’t, and I never have, and neither does a vast majority of the zutara fandom in the spaces I frequent (which encompasses tumblr, occasionally twitter, and the very large zutara discord server I’ve been an active part of for two years now). Pointing out oddly suggestive tension in early parts of the series (such as the “I’ll save you from the pirates” and “you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun” lines, or the fact that Zuko wore Katara’s necklace around his wrist for like nine episodes when there was absolutely no need for it) is just that--pointing out tension.

There doesn’t need to be feelings for there to be tension, antagonistic or otherwise, but that tension is the foundation from which their relationship arc throughout the series grew, developed, and eventually evolved. This is what is generally known as relationship development, and it occurs when two characters go from having one kind of relationship to another within the course of the story.

For example, enemies, who become friends, who become lovers.

Now, your mileage may vary on this next part (although I really hope not, cause Y I K E S), but I, personally, think that ‘if a boy kisses you without your consent, but he really really loves you, then you owe it to him to love him back, especially if he just saved the world, and you should never expect an apology because since you suddenly decided you return those feelings, that means the violation of your boundaries was ok since clearly you really liked him all along’ is a much more damaging message to send to young girls--and boys, to be frank, especially since learning about consent is hugely important at young ages--than ‘if a boy who was your enemy goes to great lengths to better himself, to the point where you forgive him for when he hurt you and become close friends with him, then it’s normal for those feelings to grow and change, even to the point of becoming romantic, and it’s ok to explore them’.

And guess which one of those is canon to the AtLA finale?

Next, you say ‘Katara hated Zuko for a valid reason’ as if that was ever in dispute. It wasn’t--certainly not on my blog. I know there are some people who hate Katara because she was ‘too mean’ to Zuko, but I don’t agree with them, nor do I associate with them, since I have no time, energy, or room in my life for Katara slander. However, do you know what the operative word is in that sentence? Hated. As in past tense. As in, ‘Katara used to hate Zuko, but by the end of the show that is no longer the case, and they are extremely close friends with a deep bond and multiple life-debts between them’.

Why are you so insistent on not only denying Zuko’s hard-earned and bitterly fought for redemption, but also Katara’s emotions and feelings, which you end this weirdly disjointed ask by insisting they be taken at face value?

And it’s actually really funny (ironic funny, not so much ‘ha ha’ funny) that you use the word ‘confused’ there, followed by the phrase ‘denying her real feelings’, and then call that ‘sexist and degrading’, as if that isn’t exactly what happened in Katara’s canon endgame in the show.

She said point blank that she was confused, she showed with her words, tone, and body language that she was not open to Aang’s romantic advances, she had completely forgotten about the last time he’d kissed her without her consent, rather than reflecting on her romantic feelings as one would expect of a girl who’d been kissed by someone we’re supposed to believe she’s had feelings for since book 1, and was completely taken aback by Aang’s reaction to the play and his weird believe that they ‘were gonna be together’, when she had never once indicated that she wanted to be with him in any romantic sense. And yet, he kissed her--and while she got angry about it and stormed off in the moment, he never apologized for crossing her boundaries, and they also didn’t have a single significant scene together between that moment and the epilogue.

What happened to taking Katara’s emotions at face value? What happened to how ‘sexist and degrading’ it is to assume that if a girl says she’s confused, that must mean she’s ‘denying her feelings’? What happened to caring about Katara’s agency, even a little bit?

Anyway, I’m gonna wrap this up by saying: I do not believe Zuko and Katara should’ve been making out in the finale instead. I actually hate the fact that the final shot of AtLA was a romantic kiss (particularly for such a poorly written pairing), rather than a shot of the gaang together like it should have been to show what the series was meant to be about. I think that focusing on the romantic relationships in the finale undercut an already weak ending to an otherwise great (not perfect, but certainly good enough that it deserved much better closure) show.

That said, I also think a Zutara kiss would have been more earned, at that point in both of their narratives. Because Katara’s feelings had been the focus of their relationship throughout its entirety. Zuko’s feelings mattered, too, of course, (in stark contrast to how they were treated during his relationship with Mai), but Katara was the one who got to choose when and why and what she felt about him. She got to choose when to forgive him. She got to choose to help him, and to save his life, and her emotions were frequently the focus in a way they never were during her relationship with Aang, so nudging those into a more romantic light not only would have fit better with her character arc, it also would have been far less jarring to see that as the culmination of their respective storylines, rather than a romantic kiss coming out of nowhere when her very last scene with him was being kissed without her consent and storming off about it because it upset her.

My most fervent hope, anon, is that some day you actually watch the show, Avatar: the Last Airbender. Because Katara and Zuko are amazing characters, they have amazing storylines both separately and together, and it’s really a crime whenever someone misunderstands both of them so badly. I hope that when you do watch the show, you pay attention. You may see something amazing.

#atla #zutara #katara #zuko #kataang salt #not a ton but yk it's there so #salt for ts #asked #try harder next time anon #this doesn't even rank a 'you tried' star #Anonymous

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ljf613 · 4 years ago

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Colonization & Imperialism in ATLA

One of the things I’ve noticed in fandom complaints about the ATLA comics-- namely, “The Promise”-- and subsequently, LOK’s worldbuilding, is the way the narrative handles colonization.

I see a lot about how what the Earth Kingdom chose to do with the former colonies is “none of Zuko’s (or Aang’s) business.” (I also see people talking about how Katara would never support colonialism, in any shape or form, no matter the circumstances.)

And I just.... don’t vibe with those ideas? At all?

Like, I definitely have problems with the comics-- especially “The Promise,” where all the drama centers around Miscommunications of Epic Proportions and could have been resolved in Part One if all the characters just sat down and listened to each other (not to mention that Aang would never have agreed to make that promise, nor would Zuko have asked it of him (Sokka would be a more obvious choice, but that’s a different discussion))-- but I never had any issues with their worldbuilding.

I love the idea of Yu Dao, and the fact that the narrative acknowledges that a new kind of world has new kinds of problems. It makes sense to me that we can’t always just “give back the land we took.” And I found the idea of the end solution being “give the people who live there their own country” really cool and empowering.

So I want to talk about why I feel this way. About what kind of real-world parallels can be made here. About some little-known bits of world-history that compare.

(Please note that for this meta I am only going to be discussing the relationship between Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. As far as I am aware-- and I could be wrong-- there is no real-world genocide quite comparible to what Sozin did to the Air Nomads, and most of the people alive in ATLA were not actually around for or involved in that. And the relationship the Fire Nation has with the Water Tribes-- and that the North and South have with each other-- is worth a whole separate analysis, and doesn’t deserve to just be shoved into this one.)

(Disclaimer: While this is in response to some of the interpretations I’ve seen on this site, it is not meant to discount or invalidate those fans’ views-- I’m just trying to show my take on it. I am a firm believer in the power of active discourse, and the value of looking at the same scenes through different lenses, rather than just getting one opinion and accepting it as Absolute Truth.)

The main thing I notice in general ATLA discourse-- and not just on this topic, but in any sort of meta about the Fire Nation, colonization, and global impact-- is that the fandom mostly compares the war and its after-affects to real-world Imperialism, the Age of Imperialism, New Imperialism, and Colonization.

And I understand why that is. In the grand scheme of world history, that era is still fairly recent, and we are still dealing with the afteraffects from it. It has shaped the Western World’s worldview on every level. (Not to mention that the Euro-centric way we’re taught history means that this piece of world history is the one we’re most exposed to, and so have the most understanding of and room to analyze/criticize.)

However, there are a few issues with sticking only to this perspective.

First off, the Age of Imperialism was a direct response to the Age of Exploration. This was the period of time when white Europeans sailed around the world acting as though they were discovering new places and pretending that there weren’t already existing civilizations there.

[ID: Two dots meme, edited so that Guy A says “i’ve discovered a NEW WORLD,” Guy B replies “you didn’t discover ****,” and Guy A insists “i’ve discovered it” / End ID.]

Now, I’ve mentioned this in passing, but the world of ATLA doesn’t appear to have had an Age of Exploration. There’s no vast “undiscovered” land masses, the four nations have always known about each other, and they all have a shared language.

The whole foundation for the Age of Imperialism was “oh, look, there are all these ‘unexplored’ lands with resources ripe for the picking (who cares about the indigenous people, they’re just simplistic savages who don’t know what’s best for them), let’s see which European country can grab the most land first.”

This was a race. This was sudden. This was Europeans coming in and taking over while viewing the natives as bothersome pests. This was about multiple major world powers competing over resources.

This was not 100 years of active warfare between a single conquering country and the very people they were trying to conquer.

The parallels don’t hold up.

Secondly, by focussing only on this one kind of historical narrative, we ignore any others.

I will admit that I have used the word “imperialism” in reference to the Fire Nation a time or two. However, upon further reflection, I realize I didn’t really mean imperialism, which is actually a fairly modern concept. What I feel the Fire Nation is really an example of is centralism and expansionism-- two ideaologies that have been a way of life for conquering empires throughout history.

(I am in no way qualified to explain the differences between these concepts-- I recommend doing your own research if you’re curious.)

The Persian Empire. The Greek Empire. The Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire. The Mongolian Empire. The Russian Empire. The First French Empire.

You could take any of these (or numerous others) and make an interesting analysis between the similarities and differences between their behaviors and that of the Fire Nation. And maybe I’ll do that someday.

However, I started this to talk about Yu Dao and all of the other so-called colonies (I really feel like territories would be a better word, but, again, that’s a whole ’nother discussion), and I’d like to focus on that.

FYI, here’s a basic history refresher: If two countries are at war, and then they decide to end the war, neither country is required to return captured territories. They can make a treaty and agree to do so, but there is no obligation to. The Fire Nation didn’t just march in and say, “this is our land now”-- they fought for it. They captured that land. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean they need to just give it back.

Like it or not, that is the way the world operated for thousands of years, and so that is the interpretation I’m working with here.

In any case, “The Promise” actually presents this as a three-way conversation. There’s Zuko (and, by default, the Fire Nation), Kuei (and, by default, Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom), and the people of Yu Dao themselves.

(My understanding of the Earth Kingdom’s style of government is that it’s made up of a large collection of different ethno-cultural regions who all answer to Ba Sing Se.)

I’ll let Sokka explain it:

[ID: Comic panel from Part Three of “The Promise.” Sokka and Katara are talking, both in obvious states of agitation, while Suki and Toph are looking at something in the background. Sokka is saying, “Let me see if I got this. The protestors and the Earth Kingdom Army want the colonials to go, the Fire Nation Army wants the colonials to stay, and the Yu Dao Resistance just want their city to be left alone?” Katara responds, “Yes!” / End ID.]

The people of Yu Dao don’t care about the war. They don’t even really care who’s in charge. They just want to be left alone.

This speaks to me on a very personal level, so I’m going to make another real-world comparison here:

My ancestors first came to America to escape from the poverty and opression they were experiencing in a place known as “White Russia”-- that is, Belarus. To be clear, I am not talking about the country “Belarus,” but the region, which includes the modern-day countries of Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Moldova, as well as parts of Poland and Russia.

I looked up White Russia, trying to find out how much information someone who didn’t grow up hearing stories about what it was like (that is, most of the people reading this,) might have. I didn’t find much. Most of what I found talked about political ideologies and such-- things that your average poor peasant, struggling just eke out a living, didn’t have much energy to care about. So let me paint a(n oversimplified) picture for you.

Imagine you’re a poor shoemaker in a small town on the Russian border. You spend your days hard at work, trying to earn a living to support your wife and nine children. You’ve never left the town you were born in. One day you get the news: Russia and Poland are fighting again. Your two oldest sons (ages 15 and 17) are forcibly drafted off to fight in the Russian army; you never see them again and have no way of knowing if they’re dead or alive (they’re probably dead). Poland wins-- this time. Congratulations, your town is now part of Poland.

Does suddenly being Polish make a difference to your life? Not in the slightest. Two or three years down the line, you’ll go back to being part of Russia again. This is the third or fourth time you’ve seen your town switch hands, and you can’t say you prefer one government over the other. It doesn’t really matter who’s in charge-- you’re still faced with crippling taxes, forced drafts, and various other forms of oppression. (It doesn’t help that you happen to be part of a persecuted minority.)

(This is why I have many ancestors who may never have left the town they were born in, and yet records show that they were born in one country, got married in another, and died in a third.)

This is the kind of worldview through which I am looking at Yu Dao. (Obviously, it’s not an exact parallel, but neither is the standard “colonizers vs oppressed natives” lens.)

My ancestors eventually got fed up with the treatment they were receiving from their respective governments, and left to build a new life, in a new place. But the citizens of Yu Dao don’t have anywhere to go. The only two real world powers in this story are the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, neither of which has ever before expressed any true interest or concern in the actual people of Yu Dao.

The Earth Kingdom didn’t really care about the city before the war-- they were just another poor, struggling town, whose citizens were barely able to make ends meet. And while the Fire Nation may have helped the place grow into a bustling town, they also established a hierarchy that did not serve in the citizens’ best interests.

And so, in “The Promise,” these citizens’ frustrations come to a head. “Enough,” they say, “we don’t want to be used as a pawn in your games anymore.”

And Zuko and Kuei (and Aang) actually listen. They say “we need to start thinking about these people as people, not as symbols of one side or the other. It’s time to give them a say in their future.”

And a new country-- a new way of life-- is born.

(Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it is constantly evolving and changing, trying to do better, be better. And that’s more than you can say about most of the other countries in this world.)

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cobra-diamond · 5 years ago

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The Unfinished 2nd Half of Zuko’s Journey

Zuko’s journey consists of two parts. The first part we saw in the show; it was Zuko receiving his Uncle’s forgiveness and becoming Fire Lord. The second part we did not see; it is his struggle to restore the honor of the Fire Nation.

The True Ending of Avatar

The ending for Avatar was not Aang and Katara kissing in Ba Sing Se in front of a beautiful sunset followed by the word “The End”.

No, the true ending of Avatar was Zuko’s coronation. That was the moment when you knew the Gaang had accomplished their goals, that their journey was complete and that the Avatar world had changed for good; the Fire Nation’s war was over and Zuko was the Fire Lord who was going to restore the honor of the Fire Nation...

... Going to. He had not done it yet by the show’s end.

Zuko: “I promised my Uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will.”

“And I will”... Will. It was a new goal that hadn’t been achieved and you can bet your butt it wasn’t over three months later. Now read the next lines:

Zuko: “The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace.”

The road ahead is “challenging”. “Get it back” on the right path. “Begin” a new era of love and peace.

Restore the honor of the Fire Nation... A Goal.

Begin a new era of love and peace... A Motivation.

The road ahead is challenging... A Conflict.

These are the beginnings of an entirely new story for the franchise; a logical continuation of the original cast that does not erase the significance of what came before. It is the continuation of Zuko’s stated Goals and Motivations at the end of the show where he must change and grow in order to become the Fire Lord that redeems the Fire Nation.

It is the beginning of the second half of Zuko’s journey.

Where Aang’s Journey Ends, Zuko’s Endures

Aang’s journey in the show consists of a single, clear goal with a definite endgame: master all four elements and defeat the Fire Lord. Once Aang masters all four elements, he is ready to face the Fire Lord. Once he defeats the Fire Lord, his journey is over. How he masters all four elements and defeats the Fire Lord, along with the people he meets along the way, is what makes the story deep and compelling. This is where Zuko comes in.

The purpose of Zuko’s journey wasn’t clear for over half of the show. Until Iroh spelled it out for him in Avatar and the Fire Lord, it appeared he was a morally ambiguous wild card who could end up on either side. Why Zuko’s inner turmoil was so important to Aang’s journey was not clear.

Indeed, we did not know the full importance of Zuko’s journey until he stood up to his father in Day of Black Sun. That’s when learned why Zuko was important: he was the crown prince abandoning the evil ways of his country to help the Avatar save the world.

So you’d think that when Zuko helped Aang master firebending, defeated his sister in the Agni Kai and was crowned Fire Lord that his journey was over, right? That being crowned Fire Lord was Zuko’s reward for being a sensitive, gentle soul unlike the ruthless, warmongering norm in his family?

That he’d spend the rest of his days slowly coping with his trauma while enjoying endless, relaxing days of romantic bliss with Mai? That he wouldn’t face internal opposition from the diehards and stalwarts of the old regime? That from the start of his reign he would be leading a Fire Nation that was fully accepting of him and everything he stood for… Right?

Wrong.

The Tragedy of the Fire Nation

In addition to the central conflict of ending the Hundred Year War and Aang’s need to defeat the Fire Lord, there were numerous subtle threads running through the show that gave Avatar its heart and soul: the tragic, lasting effects of war on a people and their culture, the effects of foisting too much responsibility on children, the importance of friendship and having people to lean on, among many others. One of these threads concerned the topic of how decent, normal people can turn bad.

In Season 1, it is revealed that Avatar Roku—a firebender—was a respectable, honorable Avatar despite being a member of the Fire Nation.

In the same season, a Fire Sage helps Aang in his effort to connect with Roku despite being loyal to the Fire Nation and Fire Lord and Avatar.

Aang: “If this is the Avatar's temple, why did the Sages attack me?” Shyu: “Things have changed. In the past, the Sages were loyal only to the Avatar. When Roku died, the Sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar to return. But he never came.”

In The Blue Spirit, Aang laments to Zuko how one of his best friends was Fire Nation and says to his enemy, “Do you think we could have been friends, too?”

A Fire Nation admiral and firebending master—Jeong Jeong—deserts out of disillusionment with the war.

And Iroh fights Zhao to stop him from destroying the Moon Spirit, to which Zhao does agree, for a moment, until his temper gets the better of him, showing that concern for harmony and balance isn’t a lost concept in the Fire Nation; it’s just buried deep.

In Season 2, Aang rescues the child of Omashu’s occupying governor, ignoring the practical advantages of keeping it as a hostage, and we are explicitly shown how happy this makes the invaders.

In Zuko Alone, Zuko becomes a truly sympathetic character. We are shown how he has always struggled to live up to the expectations of his warmongering family, and leading up to Season 2’s finale, Zuko and Irohs’ disillusionment with their country reaches new heights, showing that the militaristic expectations of the Fire Nation isn’t even embraced by all members of its ruling family.

In Season 3, the Gaang lives in the Fire Nation. We see Fire Nation people, their kids, their towns, their daily lives. Aang is actually excited to be in the Fire Nation because it reminds him how much fun it was before the war.

In Avatar and the Fire Lord, Roku is shown to have been the best friend of the Fire Lord that started the war, but Sozin’s desire and willpower to achieve his goals corrupted him, and in that same episode, Aang comments that friendships can transcend lifetimes, suggesting that the Avatar and the Fire Lord can be friends again. Ultimately, this is proven true when Zuko joins the Gaang, helps them stop the war and becomes friends with Aang.

Toph: “It's like these people are born bad.” Aang: “No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all. Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. And I also think it was about friendships.”

Everyone, even the Fire Lord and Fire Nation, have to be treated like they’re worth giving a chance. Even if they don’t ask for it.

But most importantly, at the start of every episode, Katara says the Four Nations used to live together in harmony.

What the show was saying in so many small ways was that the Fire Nation’s war and what its leaders had become were neither normal for the Avatar world nor for the Fire Nation itself. Not even Chin the Conqueror’s conquests of the Earth Kingdom holds a candle to the Fire Nation’s multiple layers of evil, self-interest and disregard for world balance. It was a world first, even for the Fire Nation.

While the existence of the all-powerful Avatar, in theory, helps keep the peace between the four nations, the Fire Nation did not used to be hostile to the other nations. Sozin changed the old Fire Nation, the one that was peaceful and enlightened, that achieved an unprecedented era of prosperity, that convinced Sozin that the Fire Nation was first among equals. The fun, friendly Fire Nation that Aang remembered was lost and it stayed lost for a hundred years…

… And the solution wasn’t to destroy the Fire Nation.

The True Purpose of Zuko’s Journey

Until the series finale, Zuko’s journey appeared to be about him achieving moral redemption for his time spent as a halfhearted, incompetent, semi-accomplice in his nation’s evils. But Zuko did not turn against his father and help the Avatar in order to redeem himself of his sins. No, he turned against his country because he was alienated from it, couldn’t meet its expectations and became disillusioned with its goals. In other words, because it was what Uncle Iroh had taught him.

Zuko’s heart told him that betraying Iroh in Ba Sing Se was wrong and that he needed to right that wrong. To Zuko, doing the right thing meant following Uncle Iroh’s guidance and accepting him as his true father, and to do that required switching sides. Zuko’s redemption was not achieved when he stood up to his father. It was not achieved when he stood victorious over Azula. It wasn’t even achieved when he became Fire Lord at the end of the show. Zuko’s redemption was when Iroh hugged and forgave him. That was the moment of catharsis for Zuko. That was his “redemptive” moment.

Zuko wasn’t redeemed when he showed people he was “good” or “righteous” or “honorable”. Zuko was redeemed when he felt accepted as a son... By his uncle.

Unfortunately, Zuko’s troubles were deeper than his banishment and Agni Kai with his father. In short, he simply didn’t belong in the Fire Nation he was born into.

Zuko was a normal boy born into an abnormal situation that he didn’t have the personality for. He didn’t have the ruthlessness, intelligence, competence, precociousness and raw talent for militarism and totalitarian rule that his sister had, so he failed to live up to his father’s self-serving, power hungry expectations which, in turn, represented the peak of malice, moral corruption and ruling-through-fear that the war had instilled in the country’s leadership.

In fact, Zuko also didn’t live up to the expectations of his country, as revealed by his monologue in Siege of the North Part 2.

Zuko: “She's a firebending prodigy – and everyone adores her.”

Hmm. I wonder who “everybody” is...?

If you think the Fire Nation’s militarism is simply the result of genetic predispositions, I encourage you to read The East Asian Origins of the Fire Nation and Its Villains. It helps shed light on the potential reasons why a “soft” boy like Zuko might struggle in a militaristic culture such as the Fire Nation’s.

So when Zuko finally realized the righteous path and followed it, his story was over, right? He stood up to his father and Iroh forgave him. He showed us that he had a pure heart and was a good person and good, moral people are supposed to be rewarded for their innate qualities, right? What only mattered to Zuko’s journey was that he help the Avatar, vanquish his sister and end the war by royal decree so that a new era of love and peace could begin… Right?

Wrong again. Iroh even says so when he tells Zuko that his journey is not over when they are together in the White Lotus camp in The Phoenix King:

Iroh: “… Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko… And only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation.”

Until that moment, Zuko had no visions of himself as the ruler of his country, never mind changing anything about it.

Let me repeat that.

Until THAT MOMENT Zuko had no visions of himself as the ruler of his country.

Zuko: “And then... then would you come and take your rightful place on the throne?... I'll try, Uncle.”

Very reassuring words from somebody who believes they’re destiny is to rule a country full of walking flamethrowers. Not. Once more, I encourage you to read The East Asian Origins of the Fire Nation and Its Villains for insight as to why this could go wrong.

To Zuko, the Fire Nation he grew up in is the Fire Nation. As he understood it, his father had to be eliminated, the airships destroyed and the rest of the world defended from what remained of the Fire Nation’s power. Him taking the throne was an afterthought at that point, never mind what to do about his sister.

Perhaps he thought that stopping his father and helping Aang become a fully-realized Avatar would be enough to intimidate Azula and the rest of his country into submission since there did not appear to be a plan to militarily dominate the Fire Nation. However, that’s a topic for another day.

Whatever Zuko thought his endgame was, he didn’t know it, but Iroh knew it. Avatar Roku knew it. The White Lotus knew it and Aang came to know it. Zuko’s journey was not to prove that he is a good person on the inside. It was not to turn against the Fire Nation. It was not to teach Aang firebending. It wasn’t even to defeat his sister and assume the crown. Those were all just means to his journey’s end. Zuko’s journey was, and always has been, to be the Fire Lord that redeems the Fire Nation.

And it wasn’t over when the final credits rolled.

The Two Halves of Zuko’s Journey

Zuko’s journey could be thought of as having two parts. Part one is in the show. It is where Zuko learns why the Fire Nation needs to change and what he needs to do to change it: help Aang, subjugate Azula and become Fire Lord. Part two would be the trials and tribulations that result in the Fire Nation’s redemption, or at least the key events that set it firmly on that path.

Redeeming the Fire Nation, however, is not a process solved by merely wearing the Fire Lord’s crown. It is not enough for him to have a pure heart and have unquestionable honor. He has to make the right choices and answer the hard questions when it comes to weening his country off of war, conquest, colonies and a massive military industry, to say nothing of the culture that supports it.

If “everyone adores” Azula, is everyone going to adore him?

He has to reform the members of the old regime: the generals, admirals, soldiers, nobles and true believers. He has to get the people who are resentful of him on his side. This is not a simple, good versus evil, 3 months later having tea in Ba Sing Se kind of problem. Do you really think Zuko is going to hold mass executions, imprison families and burn books like certain Chinese emperors of old? Or will his “pure heart” and “unquestionable honor” collide with the realities of the post-war Fire Nation?

Will the broken, anemic state of the Royal Family be important? Without old-man Iroh, the ruling family is just him, himself and himself. Will Azula’s ability to create heirs be left to shrivel to dust in the asylum? Ew! Gross!! But that’s a question Zuko has to ask; that’s how power is transferred in his government, and at the end of the show, it’s only him.

Will he even try to get Azula on his side? Does he need Azula on his side? If so, for what purpose? What role will his mother play in the government? Can he simply allow Iroh to be a “multinational agent” via the White Lotus? Will he have to force Iroh to put the Fire Nation first? Will the nobility and military see the state of the Royal Family as a weakness that must be fixed... Or be replaced?

Who will oppose Zuko? Who will follow him? What mistakes will he make? What will he get right?

How will Zuko struggle, how will he change and grow in order to become the Fire Lord that redeems the Fire Nation?

If you thought the reward for finishing hard work is not having more hard work to do, then you’re probably not an adult.

That is the unfinished second half of Zuko’s journey, that we didn’t get to see.

But don’t worry; the hard work ahead for Zuko is the basis for Season 4.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Zuko #zuko meta #fire lord zuko #atla meta

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 11 months ago

Note

What do you think about the claims that Omashu could still parallel Zutara because

1. When they “Bonded”, they were in Ba Sing Se, whose motto is “There is no war in Ba Sing Se”.

2. Zuko wore “yellow” during the catacombs scene and it happened while they were in a cave with similar colored crystals.

3. Katara defeating Azula is somehow a better parallel to Oma’s rampage than Katara’s anger at Aang nearly dying.

4. Oma or shu was holding an Olive branch and Katara offered to heal Zuko’s scar.

5. Aang can’t be a reincarnation of Oma or shu because neither was mentioned to be the avatar whereas Katara and Zuko could be their reincarnations.

I've already explained how nonsensical this "Oma and Shu is about Zutara" is, but MAN, the points you brought up only made it look even stupider.

1 - Being FORCED to be in a place together to bond is very different from willingly meeting each other. Ba Sing Se DENYING there's a war going on is very different from two people having to meet in secret because the war is THE ONE THING everyone in both rival groups is talking about. The situations are not just different, they're complete opposites.

2 - Zuko was wearing Earth Kingdom clothes because he HAD to blend in to survive. He did for the entire season, it makes no sense to connect that to a legend HE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF. And obviously the cave of Ba Sing Se, an Earth Kingdom territory, is gonna have the same color pallete of Omashu's cave, since it is also EK, and this show is aimed at 6-year-olds. That's why we have things like everyone in the WATER tribe having BLUE eyes.

Also, he and Katara were in a cave with crytals - but Katara and Aang were ON THE ACTUAL CAVE OF OMA AND SHU, and had their first kiss there, which they both seemed to enjoy. If simply having a conversation in a cave counts as parallels to Oma and Shu, Zuko opening up about his personal struggles to Aang (whose soul wasn't even there) in the North Pole and the Kataang dance in the secret party also count.

3 - Like you pointed out, Katara AND Aang fighting Azula, who had not even attacked Zuko at that point, cannot mean her grief over him parallels Oma grief for Shu (especially since, again, Zuko was fine). Meanwhile Katara was five seconds away from going Koizilla mode after Azula KILLED AANG IN BATTLE, aka the same way Shu died.

4 - FINALLY, a halfway decent point! Yes, the Crossroads scene was absolutely about two enemies maybe seeing eye-to-eye for once and realizing they're not so different - that's a theme that is constantly repeated through all three seasons of Avatar, through many different characters and dynamics.

But that doesn't change the fact that empathy/compassion is not the same as "I'm in love with you", nor the fact that, unlike Shu, Zuko REJECTED the peace offering - funny how Zutarians always ignore that part, huh? Once again, the situation is not just different, it's the direct opposite.

5 - The Avatar is the only confirmed case of reincarnation in Avatar. It's very possible that there are more (and Momo was originally going to be Gyatso's reincarnation), but we cannot say any character other than Aang is a reincarnation of someone else because the show did not ever say that was even possible.

And even if it IS, that does not mean Katara and Zuko HAVE to be Oma and Shu. There were literally THOUSANDS of people on opposite sides of a war on that show, and like I said, they were not even the only two characters to have a moment in a cave AND Zuko never even heard of the legend. He is not connected to it at all, unlike Aang.

(And while history repeating itself IS a theme in Avatar, cicles being BROKEN is also important narratively, so Zuko rejecting Katara's peace offering in Crossroads shows that even if, against all odds, he WAS Shu, their romance won't repeat itself, at least in this life)

Also, there's a big difference between saying "Katara and Aang are Oma and Shu reincarnated" and "The writers used Oma and Shu's story to further Katara and Aang's plot."

So yeah, bad, terrible, awful "arguments" just to pretend the Kataang centered episode was secretly about Zutara all along. These people gotta learn to the L already.

#anti zutara #pro kataang

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kikiscastleinthesky · 4 years ago

Text

THE SOKKASM ZUTARA

I’ve seen a lot of tumblr blogs that ship zutara and I decided that is time for me to open mine too. So, yes, I’m a zutara shipper. And for the time being, my posts are going to be dedicated principally to analyze the ships in ATLA.

Disclaimer alert: I’m not forcing anyone to ship zutara. And I won’t accept hate because I (and many others) may have a different opinion, If you are one of those persons I invite you to leave, don’t waste my time and yours, because I’m not even going to reply. Everyone has the right to ship whatever they like and want, without been mocked, harrassed and humiliated.

Well... now that everything is settled: 3...2...1 go!

I’m starting with this small analysis, because every zutara shipper has been attacked on why zutara and zutara is horrible yada yada but, this ocassion I’m gonna use all the attacks we get and defend it.

I. Zutara is way the worst toxic relationship:

You call Zuko the abuser, the toxic and the bad tempered? Then you didn’t get a clue of his redemption arc.

You call zutara toxic for:

a) giving your mother’s closure and final acceptance into the group?

b) saving each other’s life?

c) being the “leading co-parenting” of the group?

d) support you when you’re about to beg for his uncle forgiveness?

II. The cave scene didn’t mean anything, and just think about it, they would never ever get along well:•

Of course, I misunderstood Zuko confessing his own grief, probably he just hates her.

When Katara opens to her mother sorrow like she never did with anyone was like no big deal.

That part when she offers to heal his scar with SACRED water was totally illogical.

And being the first person who he let touch his scar really said to me that they were absolutely toxic.

Yes, he betrayed her initial trust. And it hurt, but guess who betrayed worst? The man who for three years was his father. But nope, Iroh, should never forgive Zuko, for what he did. (Right? Katara was betrayed and she should bever have interest in him, so Iroh would never forgive his abuser, right?)

III. Zutara is about getting in love with your abuser:

The abuser love? When did Zuko abused Katara? When did he forced to do something she didn’t want? Did he ever physically abused her or sexually assaulted her? Even if he tied her to a tree, he never humiliated her, he never hurt her or overpass against her. Or are you trying to make up his whole plot to eliminate all his attacks towards team avatar only rest in the female character? (Have you forgot how he betrayed his uncle? Or even himself?)

IV. Zutara is an age gap, it would be underage thing. “You don’t like Aang because he is a child and still pair Zuko, being a minor.” You want to hypersexualize two kids (Aang and Katara) into having sexual interest.

Katara would have been dating an underage guy too. She would have been 18 and Aang 16. I know! Age gap only matter when the man’s older. Both Katara and Zuko had gone through puberty, and both were in adolescence, both shared the same maturity level. Yes dude, there a huge difference in being a CHILD and being a TEENAGER, yes, still minor, But with puberty hit already.

Actually, I still believe even being 11-12 you can get like a… spark… a hint. Even if its not a relationship whatsoever, and not having sexual interest of any kind. If you really want to see what closest we get to a “real” attraction and potential between kiddos that age, you get S1Mike and Eleven (stranger things) / you get Chihiro and Haku (Spirited away) / you get Pazu and Sheeta. (The castle in the sky) –Wooo, that really changes things right?

But yet there are people that believe shipping zutara is “pedophile” I thought in seriously not replying to this stupidities but, here I am, dismantling their theories.

So, this is real life. An adult person trying to sleep with a prepubescent kid. So… there is no support on this. Because a ship is about two fictional characters in a fictional story.

What about fictional pedophilia? Well, we can change that: Fictional pedophilia is a psychosexual disorder when you ship an adult fictional character (+18) to have a sexual interest in a fictional prepubescent child (-12) and / or attempt to engage both characters in sexual acts.

So step one… are either Zuko or Katara either an adult or prepubescent child? As you can see in the image at the right, both have gone through puberty. Step two, are you trying to a couple of minors to get sexually involved? No, this is a love story, not porn. And before you yell at me for the porn zutara comics/fics on the web, I guess you should see the porn Kataang /fics comics on the web too.

But I don’t hate any ship. So, technically, neither Kataang, nor Sukka, nor Yukka, nor Jetara, nor Maiko is pedophilia.

Ok, yeah yeah its not pedo, but is statutory rape, so yet it’s illegal.

Oh yes, if we state that 18 is the age where you are considered an adult (at least in my country) both are minors, your term is partially correct. But guess what would be statutory rape too?

Sukka (15) and Maiko (16-17), both implied to have sex relationships and canon during the series.

The episode "The Southern Raiders" became (in)famous among the fandom for what is a truly epic instance of this trope. Zuko bumps into a very flustered Suki on the way to Sokka's tent, and she hurriedly excuses herself. He walks into Sokka's tent to ask him a question and finds him pants-less and surrounded by flowers and candles. He even greets Zuko with a suggestive "Well helloooo..." before he realizes who itis. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace for no apparent reason... except to indicate that maybe Suki had been “deflowered”.

And yet, if Kataang had sex, it would be statutory sex at some point too: 16 and 18 -Conclusions: Statutory sex takes all ships equally.

V. Poor Aang he would be devastated.

Kid, he’s 12, in the comics he’s 13-14. Or what? Haven’t you guys had a broken heart ever? Your high school sweetie? Or Aang’s so frail to not be able to find love? To close himself for a better opportunity? Seeking your own happiness in not selfish. What is selfish is seeking your own happiness at the other expenses.

And even that, we all know what would Aang do if Katara starts a relationship with Zuko. (Even if it wasn’t Zuko, I highly doubt he would like Katara dating someone else) He would go on avatar rampage. That is NOT healthy, that is NOT romantic. That is extremely possessive and selfish to do. It’s psychotic. Because Aang cares more about himself than Katara’s feelings, even if she would be happier without him.

VI. Zutara is all about sex interest.

Well once more you mistake chemistry with sexual needs. Wanting me to sleep with my husband means I only use him for sex relief? If I find myself sexually attracted to anyone probably means I just want to sleep with that person and nothing else.

VII. A hug is all zutarians have to acknowledge zutara:

We have a complete extended analysis in all the small details, but we like to use that forgiveness hug because in that hug you have more potential that all the kataang scenes all together. We have thousands of complete analyses, pages dedicated exclusively zutara.

VIII. Katara “fell in love with Aang” and it’s not one sided.

Uh... Nope, just because two persons are good friends it doesn’t mean they are a good couple. Yes, the way the both of them interact is absolutely beautiful, But not romantically.

Do we see Katara’s view on romantically being drawn towards Aang? Yes, we see it, and yes, unfortunately, is one sided.

How Kataangers complete this:

· The fortune-teller: I didn’t see like “Wow omg the avatar is going to be my future husband!” But… was like “uh… really?… well, I guess it’s him” Zutarians and Aunt Wu are the base for many backs up theories. ;) Aang is not the only powerful bender you know? And actually, that episode is way trying too hard to demonstrate the crush Meng has for Aang and Aang has to Katara. How is even healthy to accept that sometimes persons don’t like you back and it’s not the end of the world.

· The cave scene: I forgot that Katara is telling him to be her boyfriend and they will live happily ever after. And really, it all gets us to a real Oma and Shu theory. Not to mention that they were “forced” to kiss because their kids innocence believed if they kissed, they wouldn’t die, and that Aang messed up things as well. But if you see it beneath, if she was truly interested, she would have told Aang: “wow omg we kissed, ok. let’s give him a clue…” nothing, she goes back in treating him same as always.

· The headband dance: Well that’s a fair point yes. Actually, I felt something different…unfortunately Katara later had to tell him not to kiss her.

IX. Zutara is because you projected on Katara and had a crush on Zuko, because Katara and Zuko were your favourite characters and because is the bad boy style romance.

My crush was Jet <3, and zutara was the most logical endgame for girls. Ask any girl, ANY 14 yo who would like to date: A high school, nice and handsome guy or a 7th grader that had potential to be her best friend. (See the logic)

And nope is not like “Insert fav characters of the opposite sex to ship them” You need to see real development.

I don’t know why they stereotype Zuko as the “bad boy” – relationship archetype. Zuko is never seen to be the classic fuck boy who treats girls like shit and suddenly there comes a lady to change him. Maybe he is a “bad boy” (confused though) in S1 and S2, but his redemption arc is literally the answer of why he is not “bad boy” anymore.

If Katara was truly and really romantically interested then she wouldn’t have friendzoned Aang. Once? Nope 4 times. And also… are we forgetting kind of imagery…

Friendzoned

When Aang fixes her a small necklace with the fishing thread.

When he kissed her at the invasion. She didn’t reciprocate it. (I’m not even mentioning the mommy proud speech)

When he wanted to talk about the kiss in the western air temple (Comic love is a battlefield)

When he kissed her at the play and she had to told him to back off.

Strange imagery

She was June Pippinpaddleopsokopolis (Aang’s granddaughter)

When Aang got shot, she held his body in her arms in the exact way Mary held Jesus in Pieta’s sculpture.

She was Sapphire Fire. (Aang’s pregnant mother)

After they got married, in the book legacy, she said she enjoyed most seeing Aang becoming a man. (Honestly ladies if I got a BF the least I want is seeing how the kid transforms into a man)

I’m looking forward to watch you grow into manhood as I did to your father (Katara’s letter to Tenzin)

I’m really trying to deny Oedipus complex here.

Still hard for me to track Katara’s love interest for little Aang since all we see is more a relationship mom/sister or Harry/Hermione. I have heard rumours that Bryke wanted to give the ship “mystery” and “expectation” but I think they really messed up, I didn’t see expectation or mystery, I saw a child insisting to a girl that didn’t reciprocate. It wasn’t even like she didn’t have much of a chance, because her love interests:

Was killed by Long Feng

Gave him a hideous mustache and disappeared him after Azula’s attack in the western air temple.

Forced to be attached to a toxic relationship.

Apart that all those points I’ve mentioned, Kataang is not a relationship for me. Staying in a formal relationship with the first person they met of the opposite sex at 14 -12 (guys not even Disney does that, jeez not even studio Ghibli) and not having any chance to experience any other relationship. Never experiencing a broken heart, or someone better. I think that it gives the wrong idea, telling guys that no matter how long they are placed in friendzone, eventually the girl will fall for them. They just have to keep insisting.

You could say, but what a hypocrite! Snow White was 14 years old when she went to live with that prince! Many princesses are 16! And not to mention that many men were the first they met! Like Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Well, you are right at one point. But ... the interaction of these characters changes radically, mainly because they never "give cute kisses" to their future husbands, nor do they treat them like their brothers or their children and ... the men were never friendzoned, except for Naveen at the beginning. You see the real attraction of teenage girls with an older boy. And I'm not saying that they should never be friends or support each other. Mulan and Chang were allies, friends, they supported each other, they saved their lives. But at no time was there the kind of interaction Katara and Aang had.

If Kataang was to be endgame, we would see Katara’s reaction to Jet, totally different, THAT kind of reaction was what I was waiting. (That kind of reaction is what every princess do, at least one time)

The same chemistry we saw in Yukka / Sukka. Honestly, I saw more chemistry between Haru and Katara.

Or at least give us some character development like: Aang, I know my feelings where not as you wanted but now I decided I want to be with you because (list everything here except he being the avatar), I really like you, perhaps we can give it a shot. Or like several things that could clue us that she is interested (come on people, two persons can kiss/hug/ have sex and that doesn’t imply they will be together in a formal relationship) But all we got was: Oh, right, he’s the avatar... suddenly I fell for him and I’m gonna kiss him fully in the mouth and that’s how I’ll tell him and that all my confusion has magically disappeared.

X. I’ve never saw that kind of spark between them. Again, it was “Just a hug”

Yes! That’s initially the whole point of it, a friendship hug, the truth of why we don’t need silly blushes. Because that forgiveness hug shows their initial relationship, they are friends! All their love needs to come first from a truthful friendship, by the contrary of calling the “immediate falling” like Aang did for Katara, it shows us that friendship love can evolve into something more beautiful, and that’s why we like the ship, because all zutara shippers know Zuko and Katara wouldn’t fall in love like that all of the sudden, they have to create the romantic relationship, and that’s what we portray in the fics.

What makes Zutara exceptional is that he, sees her, he hears her, he listens what she had to do, at anytime he forced her to do something she didn’t. And before a “teenager adolescence ship” he sees her as a human, with feelings with own ideals and goals.

And there is a complete and extremely well based analysis in: The crossroads of destiny + The southern raiders + The lighting saving.

XI. The comics show us how toxic they really where.

Their interaction in the comics was something I like to call: destroying a character. Not only Katara, who turned to be that awesome badass to the submissive girlfriend. From how I see it in the series to the comics there’s all I have to say: That’s not my girl.

XII. How Katara could be queen of a country that almost aniquilates her tribe and killed her mother? It would be a betrayal.

I think this argument is out. Not valid. Is like saying a Jew can’t date a German because of the holocaust. (German doesn’t mean nazi, just as Zuko, who was from the Fire Nation and didn’t order Katara’s mother assassination, and not every citizen of the fire nation means a ruthless killer). Is like saying that a Japanese can’t date a us citizen because of the bombs in WW2. And even if we see it “political”, is like… an aphrodescendant can’t rule a country that is racist, then Mr. Obama would have never reached the presidency.

Two persons can unify them, because they can demonstrate that being from different country that initally has not good terms can reach peace. The union between those countries represents the power of maturity, of overcoming adversities and the power of forgiveness. *Our lands now connected by love* And I want her to be queen, I want her to rule, I want her in charge, I want her in power. Imagine all the potential she could have (politics, business, negotiations, rebuilding, restoration, education, public health!! ***faints***) Not only for the fire Nation but for the whole world! Imagine that once Zuko abdicated they left to the south pole and she opened a fighting school and a healing school of her own (like master Pakku, but now her students are given a medical license that acknowledges them as professional healers) And this is just an idea. Like these ideas are hundreds. It would have been the perfect feminist role model!

XIII. Since the beginning, Katara was always interested in Aang and she always supported him and was for him when he needed her. That’s proof they were meant to each other.

If a girl expresses faith in your abilities, she loves you, she hugs you, and she supports you clearly she’s completely into you. Because obviously female best friends don’t exist.

#zutara #ATLA #Zutaradefense #Ifyoudon'tlikeitscrollaway #Noreplytohaters #Katarandzuko #Dismantlingtheattacks

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