people tend to talk more about the doll iroh gives azula as a spoil of war that directly illustrates iroh’s attitude of colonial paternalism, but there’s something so fascinating to me about how iroh gives zuko a knife that says “made in earth kingdom” on one side and “never give up without a fight” on the other, reducing a call to action, direct resistance through any means necessary, into an abstract, inspirational quote. a weapon that symbolizes the strength of a nation of resist imperialist conquest/colonial occupation is put in the hands of a ten year old who has no way of truly understanding the implications of that slogan. of course, zuko eventually does come to understand, and he does refuse to give up without a fight, as does iroh, but at the time that iroh gives zuko the knife, he is perverting that symbol of revolutionary action & resistance into a colonial artifact, a mere child’s plaything, its blade dulled and its power denied through the act of gifting it to the sheltered prince of the nation against whom they are fighting. yes, zuko has his own fight, and must face his own struggles, and he is largely defined by his persistence, so it’s easy to forget what this knife means within its original cultural context: “made in earth kingdom” isn’t just a dismissive joke, it’s also a grave reminder of who iroh was, what his “gifts” represent, and where they came from.

Yes, it really does.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the fact that the friggin Air Nomad Genocide was not directed, acted, and shot as a horrible, cruel massacre from the POV of the people being slaughtered, but instead as an adrenaline rushing action scene where Sozin has a DBZ-esque fire shield that somehow deflects wind (???). Nothing but a power fantasy. Think about how war is depicted in other movies and shows. Think about what film does when we are supposed to empathize with the ones being aggressed upon versus the aggressors. Then see what NATLA chose.

Or how about the fact that Aang has none of his motivations for The Guru set up? As others have artfully and comedically pointed out:

Or how about the water sibs?

Katara who has lost all of her anger, her passion, her idealism, her inner strength and perseverance, her dedication to never turning her back on people who need her no matter the risks. She’s now… a mild mannered a girl with all the personality of cardboard who constantly gets belittled by not only her brother but also the narrative which actively agrees with him! Even her trauma is made a mockery of. Kya’s death is now not only made her fault for recklessly trying to bend when she was told to hide, when it wasn’t before, they also place this highly traumatic incident before Sokka’s big traumatic memory of… kinda disappointing his dad one time because he botched a coming of age ritual. In the language of film, stakes are meant to escalate. By placing Katara witnessing her mother be burned alive before Sokka overhears dad saying he’s disappointed, they’re putting more importance and emphasis on Sokka’s trauma. How is that not the ultimate undermining of Katara’s trauma and loss? The entire show, she never once even mentions her mother’s necklace. There isn’t time to dwell on anything about her. Even when she gets to the North, she doesn’t get her moment to earn her place. She just IS a master. Oh well. What a waste of Kiawentiio’s acting talent. Everyone who came away from NATLA thinking she can’t act? I implore you to check out Anne with an E. She’s phenomenal!

Meanwhile, the show can’t stop kissing Sokka’s ass for five seconds at the expense of everyone and everything else. No longer is he the neurotic, sexist, xenophobic kid just doing his best to keep them all alive while slowly realizing that his ideas about what it means to be a man are phony and based on nothing but his desperation to live up to his father and protect his remaining family and tribe. No longer is he a wannabe warrior who has to learn not only how to fight but the respect and discipline and responsibility that come with being a leader. No, now he really is just the leader of his tribe, constantly talks down to his sister (which the narrative agrees he’s correct to do because it’s completely devalued the labor Katara does now, something the original NEVER did and took great pains to explain the sacrifices Katara made for her brother and tribe, to the point of missing a lot of her childhood), and yet every single character just cannot stop telling him how great he is! Suki doesn’t humble him anymore. Now she is thirsting over him with zero self respect like a vapid horndog ON SIGHT. She thanks HIM for bringing the world to her—instead of Aang, the living embodiment of her idol Kyoshi—when in the original she was the one who opened Sokka’s eyes! Even Yue dumps her chad fiancé the moment she meets Sokka in the spirit world! And even after she dies, Arnook doesn’t softly and quietly mourn Yue beside Sokka like he did in the original. No, now Arnook just HAS to reassure Sokka about how important HE is and how grateful he is that SOKKA was there. It’s beyond parody.

Don’t get me started on Zuko. We’ll be here all day picking apart how they removed all of Zuko’s moral ambiguity and complexity and had Iroh basically look into the camera and say “you owe Zuko your loyalty”. Gee, thanks! Being talked down to and spoon fed how to feel is SO much better than slowly watching him go from the angry, violent teen willing to burn down the homes of innocent civilians and threaten his own crew and Uncle, to the troubled young man forced to confront that everything he has ever believed is a lie. Nope! Why would we ever want tension or intrigue or meaningful development? He’s already had a meaningful conversation with Aang for some reason. Good luck justifying his betrayal in Book 2 now.

And poor Azula. If it isn’t enough that the fandom can’t decide whether she’s the embodiment of psychopathic evil or a helpless little meow meow (spoilers: it’s neither), now NATLA has to join in on completely reducing and misinterpreting one of the most complex and fascinating characters in the entire franchise. Far from the cool, calculating, clever prodigy that keeps her insecurities and vulnerabilities hidden beneath a mask of unshakable perfection, making her eventual breakdown and the reveal of her true feelings all the more powerful, now they’ve turned her into what Zuko was supposed to be! Volatile, angry, openly insecure, jealous of her brother’s success, constantly venting to anyone who will listen about her problems.

Bold of them to have kid Zuko beat Ozai in the Agni Kai though. Yeah, I’m sooo scared of Ozai after seeing his teen son get the better of him and only lose because he didn’t have the stomach to finish it. Just awful. Writing 101 tells us not to undermine our final villain in the first season! Rest assured though, they’ve already gone ahead and ruined Toph ahead of time by needlessly stuffing in a plot from Book 2 about the Cave of Two Lovers! Only instead of sensing vibrations (you know, the way Toph uses seismic sense), the badger moles now sense “love”. I can’t wait to see Toph sensing love through her feet, I guess! Assuming they even keep her blind!

But hey, it was all worth it to have moon spirit Momo. I GUESS.

Listen, it’s true that changes will always be necessary for adaptations. There’s nothing wrong with making changes to suit a different medium. But needing changes is not an excuse for horrible, sexist, pro-imperialistic writing! However unintentional some of it may have been!

All this AND every single recognized Cherokee Nation has spoken out against Netflix casting Sokka’s actor, since he’s registered with an alleged pretendían tribe that siphons resources from actual Cherokee people without requiring any actual proof you’re Cherokee as long as you pay.

How much further from the spirit of the original could you get?

what’s so crazy abt natla is that the cast is so phenomenal. the show itself absolutely butchers the story in all aspects other than appearance. the heart of the entire show and the entire emotional arc of avatar, the family that the gaang becomes, is no where to be seen within the actual text of the show yet every interaction between the actors behind the scenes and on social media has that heart. it’s so sad to see actors that look exactly like their characters and who understand and care for their characters so deeply be given material that feels hollow and void of all of this. natla has an insane level of untapped potential buried beneath netflix’s terrible handling of the story and that’s what i find the most frustrating and upsetting.

No problem! As a sufferer of chronic illness myself, I totally get the “eel brain” days.

I hope you have a great day and feel better!

I've been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender because why not and I'm losing my mind at Zuko's proper introduction. I don't know if it's hindsight, shifting characterizations, or just me not watching this in a long time, but this was amazing.

We start off showing he's an impatient and very angry kid. Reasonable, and the sort of flaw we might expect to see in a villain. Kinda funny that he expects to go up against an adult and fully 4-Element realized Avatar, but the kid is desperate and Iroh clearly expects his nephew to get the banishment-denial kicked out of him.

What's important here, though, is Zuko's introduction to the Southern Water Tribe.

Here, we have a very intimidating entrance where his entire ship just sails through the ice right up to the village's front door. It's quite ominous and this is our first proper introduction to how the Fire Nation interacts with a foreign people.

Sokka charges, I'm assuming fully prepared to die, and Zuko casually knocks him out of the way. Okay, so clearly the Water Tribe are entirely outgunned.

He asks "Where are you hiding him?" and the people of the Water Tribe go silent. I assume they're either just too scared to talk or actually protecting Aang.

Whatever the case, it's important to note that the Southern Water Tribe know the terror the Fire Nation can inflict. We have a whole episode dedicated to tracking down a division of raiders. Sokka was able to not only identify the ash-mixed snow as signs of an incoming attack, but estimate how many ships the amount of ash measures to. These are a people who have experience being terrorized and are probably expecting something terrible to happen.

And then, after they don't answer, Zuko grabs Gran-Gran. There was a horror sting to it, and everything the tribe knows about the Fire Nation suggests that Zuko is about to threaten or straight up hurt her to get answers. Classic "terrorize the elderly" bad guy stuff.

And then...

He goes "He's (the Avatar) be about this age and is a master of all four elements!?" and lets her go.

And all of a sudden, the tension that was built up is shattered as Zuko went "I know, I'll give them a reference for the person I'm looking for because clearly they're confused and I wasn't specific enough."

This went from a show of villainy to a show of Zuko being totally socially awkward and misreading the situation entirely. Not helping is that when he does try to menace them a moment later, his fire is slow and angled quite safely.

It still worked on the Water Tribe because they're understandably scared, but all I could think of is that this was the equivalent of a playground bully trying to make someone flinch with that fake-out lunge thing.

Because the fact-and something we'll come to learn-is that Zuko is TERRIBLE at being a Fire Nation oppressor. He's capable of doing morally dubious things and is a competent fighter. But he's lousy at terrorizing people and cruelty-that's kind of the point of his banishment.

And while we can see the story paint this picture of Zuko's true character as the story goes on with hints of good and conflicting loyalties, here we get to see just how bad he is at being "the bad guys".

I understand! I just liked another post of yours about them! Haha. Apologies if I seemed more aggressive than intended via text.

I’m just saying I don’t agree.

Azula would likely take the only thing she really needed from there (the Avatar) and peace out.

It’s what she does in all the other scenarios.

She goes to the place Iroh and Zuko were staying at? She tries to capture them, they escape, she peaces out. She does not stay to harass anyone working in the area.

She goes to the circus? She makes her threats, collects Ty Lee, and peaces out. She does not cause further problems for the circus.

She goes to Omashu/New Ozai? She helps with a hostage situation, collects Mai, peaces out. She does not stay to harass or intimidate the people of Omashu.

She goes to Ba Sing Se? She sneaks in, takes the city from under Long Feng’s nose, kills the Avatar, leaves a Joo Dee in charge, and peaces out. She doesn’t even disrupt the civilians of Ba Sing Se.

I really don’t think there’s any scenario where Azula would waste energy and resources capturing and maintaining control of a land with zero resources they want (their oil won’t be discovered until the comics) and with no strategic value.

She’d probably do what she usually does. Move in. Get what she wants. Get out.

I've been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender because why not and I'm losing my mind at Zuko's proper introduction. I don't know if it's hindsight, shifting characterizations, or just me not watching this in a long time, but this was amazing.

We start off showing he's an impatient and very angry kid. Reasonable, and the sort of flaw we might expect to see in a villain. Kinda funny that he expects to go up against an adult and fully 4-Element realized Avatar, but the kid is desperate and Iroh clearly expects his nephew to get the banishment-denial kicked out of him.

What's important here, though, is Zuko's introduction to the Southern Water Tribe.

Here, we have a very intimidating entrance where his entire ship just sails through the ice right up to the village's front door. It's quite ominous and this is our first proper introduction to how the Fire Nation interacts with a foreign people.

Sokka charges, I'm assuming fully prepared to die, and Zuko casually knocks him out of the way. Okay, so clearly the Water Tribe are entirely outgunned.

He asks "Where are you hiding him?" and the people of the Water Tribe go silent. I assume they're either just too scared to talk or actually protecting Aang.

Whatever the case, it's important to note that the Southern Water Tribe know the terror the Fire Nation can inflict. We have a whole episode dedicated to tracking down a division of raiders. Sokka was able to not only identify the ash-mixed snow as signs of an incoming attack, but estimate how many ships the amount of ash measures to. These are a people who have experience being terrorized and are probably expecting something terrible to happen.

And then, after they don't answer, Zuko grabs Gran-Gran. There was a horror sting to it, and everything the tribe knows about the Fire Nation suggests that Zuko is about to threaten or straight up hurt her to get answers. Classic "terrorize the elderly" bad guy stuff.

And then...

He goes "He's (the Avatar) be about this age and is a master of all four elements!?" and lets her go.

And all of a sudden, the tension that was built up is shattered as Zuko went "I know, I'll give them a reference for the person I'm looking for because clearly they're confused and I wasn't specific enough."

This went from a show of villainy to a show of Zuko being totally socially awkward and misreading the situation entirely. Not helping is that when he does try to menace them a moment later, his fire is slow and angled quite safely.

It still worked on the Water Tribe because they're understandably scared, but all I could think of is that this was the equivalent of a playground bully trying to make someone flinch with that fake-out lunge thing.

Because the fact-and something we'll come to learn-is that Zuko is TERRIBLE at being a Fire Nation oppressor. He's capable of doing morally dubious things and is a competent fighter. But he's lousy at terrorizing people and cruelty-that's kind of the point of his banishment.

And while we can see the story paint this picture of Zuko's true character as the story goes on with hints of good and conflicting loyalties, here we get to see just how bad he is at being "the bad guys".

While I’m sure it wasn’t the comics’ intention, I suppose it could be read a better way.

Zuko’s dream is of fire burning all around him while Azula laughs.

But as we see in the scene, Azula is a literal toddler asleep in her bed. She can’t harm anyone.

So why does this dream really seem to say, regardless of how the writer may have intended it?

To me, at least, it says nothing about Azula at all.

And everything about Zuko.

He’s not afraid of Azula. She’s a literal baby. She can’t do a thing to him. Even in the dream, she doesn’t harm Zuko himself. She laughs while his things, symbols of his status, all burn.

Zuko’s afraid of her potential. That she will outdo him. Dad already thinks he’s a failure and his promising baby sister is already at risk of outdoing him.

Perhaps the nightmare isn’t about Azula being scary or dangerous at all.

It’s about the beginnings of Zuko’s aggressive insecurity regarding her, and the seeds of their toxic rivalry already being planted by Ozai.

For me it's crazy how Zuko was always afraid of Azula, as young as probably 4y old? While Azula was like... 2?

Azula was really born and everyone already taking their prejudice on her cuz Ozai decided that was her favorite cuz she was born with the spark while the kid was still on diapers, are you kidding me? No wonder she's the way she is 😭

No matter how badly they write her in some comics, I could never hate on that kid. Literally the entire world is against her and the fact her mental health have gone worse and NO ONE decided that maybe those institutions are bullshit makes me want for her to just go her own way and never ever again go back to her family.

Girl fuck ur family and supposed friends, get urself a cat, a nice therapist and some bad bitch as ur gf, the rest will come alone

You know

As much as I love Zuko and his story arc I think I love Azula's just as much and that's because their stories work in tandem.

The beach episode is a really important turning point for her as a character because we see her out of her role of Weapon.

We see her as a teenager girl who struggles to flirt with boys, gets in arguments with her friends, and has a difficult relationship with her brother and who longs for a mother's love that she feels she never had

We see her not knowing how to act as anything but a tool of war. Because that's all she's been taught

I think that episode was the moment I really believed that Azula in the present day of the story did care for Zuko still.

That some part of her wanted her brother back

And after Zuko leaves and the day of Black Sun everything goes to hell for her

Mai and Ty Lee betray her

Zuko is helping the Avatar

Her father is sidelining her

She has lost everything and she desperate and alone and we see her falling apart

Azula is terrifying as an antagonist all through the second season and a good portion of the third. She is ruthless and callous and terribly good at her job

But the writers manuever us as an audience so when she faces off against Zuko in the climactic battle it's not a victory it's a tragedy

Zuko got his redemption or escape. His chance to find himself and who he is away from his awful abusive family

And in that moment we the audience are upset that Azula didn't

Because in that moment we see her for what she is: A teenage girl who had been raised to be a weapon

To be used until she broke

And we are heartbroken for her

And we know that Zuko is too

And that's really well done story telling

Respectfully, I don’t think that tracks.

There is zero strategic value to keeping a base so far away from home in a frozen land that has no resources you want and is too isolated to use as a means to encroach on any other more valuable location.

The Southern Water Tribe also has fierce warriors that have managed to fight them off. Staying there or attempting to colonize them would surely bring Hakoda and his men rushing back to defend it. Why invite more conflict when Azula is shown to always prefer a clean exit?

The Avatar “caring about” this land doesn’t really have any reason to hold it either. You can threaten to harm the villagers without actually keeping a presence there. Heck, she can just lie to Aang and say she kept a military presence there without actually wasting the resources it would take.

I know people desperately want to prove Zuko was always a good boy and somehow intrinsically better than his sister, but the reality is far more nuanced and more interesting but also more uncomfortable.

For all the ways Zuko is not as cruel or violent as, say, Zhao, he’s still perfectly willing to threaten and harm civilians, burn down their homes, nearly run over their small children, all to achieve his goals.

On the other hand, fact that he left when he got what he wanted and didn’t stay to continue harassing anyone, but rather kept his word, says it all.

There’s no need to draw up an OOC hypothetical with Azula as a contrast. We already have a contrast.

We see how Azula handles getting Aang. She doesn’t bother hassling him when he’s hiding in a village at all. She hunts him down and confronts him in an open area with no civilians. She avoids the complications of other people. Zuko does not and charges in blindly. One track mind.

Versus Zhao, who will chase after Aang, but also tries to destroy the entire Water Tribe and moon spirit in the process.

I've been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender because why not and I'm losing my mind at Zuko's proper introduction. I don't know if it's hindsight, shifting characterizations, or just me not watching this in a long time, but this was amazing.

We start off showing he's an impatient and very angry kid. Reasonable, and the sort of flaw we might expect to see in a villain. Kinda funny that he expects to go up against an adult and fully 4-Element realized Avatar, but the kid is desperate and Iroh clearly expects his nephew to get the banishment-denial kicked out of him.

What's important here, though, is Zuko's introduction to the Southern Water Tribe.

Here, we have a very intimidating entrance where his entire ship just sails through the ice right up to the village's front door. It's quite ominous and this is our first proper introduction to how the Fire Nation interacts with a foreign people.

Sokka charges, I'm assuming fully prepared to die, and Zuko casually knocks him out of the way. Okay, so clearly the Water Tribe are entirely outgunned.

He asks "Where are you hiding him?" and the people of the Water Tribe go silent. I assume they're either just too scared to talk or actually protecting Aang.

Whatever the case, it's important to note that the Southern Water Tribe know the terror the Fire Nation can inflict. We have a whole episode dedicated to tracking down a division of raiders. Sokka was able to not only identify the ash-mixed snow as signs of an incoming attack, but estimate how many ships the amount of ash measures to. These are a people who have experience being terrorized and are probably expecting something terrible to happen.

And then, after they don't answer, Zuko grabs Gran-Gran. There was a horror sting to it, and everything the tribe knows about the Fire Nation suggests that Zuko is about to threaten or straight up hurt her to get answers. Classic "terrorize the elderly" bad guy stuff.

And then...

He goes "He's (the Avatar) be about this age and is a master of all four elements!?" and lets her go.

And all of a sudden, the tension that was built up is shattered as Zuko went "I know, I'll give them a reference for the person I'm looking for because clearly they're confused and I wasn't specific enough."

This went from a show of villainy to a show of Zuko being totally socially awkward and misreading the situation entirely. Not helping is that when he does try to menace them a moment later, his fire is slow and angled quite safely.

It still worked on the Water Tribe because they're understandably scared, but all I could think of is that this was the equivalent of a playground bully trying to make someone flinch with that fake-out lunge thing.

Because the fact-and something we'll come to learn-is that Zuko is TERRIBLE at being a Fire Nation oppressor. He's capable of doing morally dubious things and is a competent fighter. But he's lousy at terrorizing people and cruelty-that's kind of the point of his banishment.

And while we can see the story paint this picture of Zuko's true character as the story goes on with hints of good and conflicting loyalties, here we get to see just how bad he is at being "the bad guys".

I think that’s a terrible misreading of Azula.

Of course Azula would’ve left. For the same reason the Fire Nation hasn’t colonized the Water Tribe yet despite their years of raids and attempted genocide.

They don’t see value in the Southern Water Tribe’s lands the way they do in the Earth Kingdom’s lands.

Azula never would’ve menaced the SWT because there was nothing there to gain. And if she did need to get something or someone out of there, she’d likely infiltrate and use subterfuge rather than charge in and demand things with ineffective threats the way Zuko did. I don’t know why people have the impression that Azula would run around terrorizing people for no reason when we never see her attack a single civilian for the entire duration of the show. Zuko meanwhile burns down Kyoshi village and menaces multiple others! Without regard!

The difference between Zuko and Azula at this stage isn’t that one is so much more intrinsically moral. It’s that Azula is simply more competent and thinks tactically, while Zuko is a hothead who relies on his raw skill and doesn’t actually bother to make exit plans. Nothing proves this better than how Zuko, when given the opportunity to join in on one of Azula’s plans of conquest, jumps at the chance! Even when it means betraying his own beloved Uncle.

Zhao? Maybe. He was that kind of loose canon bully at times.

But Azula?

She’d be in and out of there with the Avatar before anyone knew what had hit them.

Just like she stole Ba Sing Se under Long Feng’s nose.

That said, it notable that both Fire sibs were brainwashed to think this was all for the greater good of the world, and how they reacted the moment that vision of the world started crumbling for them. Zuko had days of fever and visions. Azula suffered a complete mental breakdown including hallucinations.

Zhao, meanwhile, seemed perfectly happy to relish in being that kind of arrogant bully. Right to the moment of his karmic death.

I've been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender because why not and I'm losing my mind at Zuko's proper introduction. I don't know if it's hindsight, shifting characterizations, or just me not watching this in a long time, but this was amazing.

We start off showing he's an impatient and very angry kid. Reasonable, and the sort of flaw we might expect to see in a villain. Kinda funny that he expects to go up against an adult and fully 4-Element realized Avatar, but the kid is desperate and Iroh clearly expects his nephew to get the banishment-denial kicked out of him.

What's important here, though, is Zuko's introduction to the Southern Water Tribe.

Here, we have a very intimidating entrance where his entire ship just sails through the ice right up to the village's front door. It's quite ominous and this is our first proper introduction to how the Fire Nation interacts with a foreign people.

Sokka charges, I'm assuming fully prepared to die, and Zuko casually knocks him out of the way. Okay, so clearly the Water Tribe are entirely outgunned.

He asks "Where are you hiding him?" and the people of the Water Tribe go silent. I assume they're either just too scared to talk or actually protecting Aang.

Whatever the case, it's important to note that the Southern Water Tribe know the terror the Fire Nation can inflict. We have a whole episode dedicated to tracking down a division of raiders. Sokka was able to not only identify the ash-mixed snow as signs of an incoming attack, but estimate how many ships the amount of ash measures to. These are a people who have experience being terrorized and are probably expecting something terrible to happen.

And then, after they don't answer, Zuko grabs Gran-Gran. There was a horror sting to it, and everything the tribe knows about the Fire Nation suggests that Zuko is about to threaten or straight up hurt her to get answers. Classic "terrorize the elderly" bad guy stuff.

And then...

He goes "He's (the Avatar) be about this age and is a master of all four elements!?" and lets her go.

And all of a sudden, the tension that was built up is shattered as Zuko went "I know, I'll give them a reference for the person I'm looking for because clearly they're confused and I wasn't specific enough."

This went from a show of villainy to a show of Zuko being totally socially awkward and misreading the situation entirely. Not helping is that when he does try to menace them a moment later, his fire is slow and angled quite safely.

It still worked on the Water Tribe because they're understandably scared, but all I could think of is that this was the equivalent of a playground bully trying to make someone flinch with that fake-out lunge thing.

Because the fact-and something we'll come to learn-is that Zuko is TERRIBLE at being a Fire Nation oppressor. He's capable of doing morally dubious things and is a competent fighter. But he's lousy at terrorizing people and cruelty-that's kind of the point of his banishment.

And while we can see the story paint this picture of Zuko's true character as the story goes on with hints of good and conflicting loyalties, here we get to see just how bad he is at being "the bad guys".

Hmm. I remain unconvinced. If only there were some kind of novelization or something that gave us Katara’s POV.

Then we would really know for sure!

Too bad nothing like that exi—

(Credit to Lilith-91 for that one)

Damn. Looks like canon wins again!

I'm gonna say something crazy about Katara and Aang, guys....they got married because they were in love. They had children because they were in love. They had a family because they were in love.

It wasn't a business marriage. This is horrible, i know.

Bringing this back because I want to record it!

So I suddenly had this idea about Azula in the Spirit Temple…

This is only a first pass, but if it works out, maybe I’ll record it as Azula.

Azula’s “The Spirit Came to the Temple”

Based on “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

Well, a Spirit conjured a Temple, it was looking for a soul to eat It was in a bind, 'cause it was time to dine, and Dragons were its favorite treat When it came across this princess soaking wet but her flames blue-hot So the Spirit jumped up, disguised as a monk, said, "Girl, let me tell you what

You probably didn't even know it, but I rescue lost souls too And if you care to take a dare, I'll make a deal with you Now you’ve got impressive willpower, but give the Spirit World its due I'll bet a night outta the cold against your soul, redemption’s too good for you" The girl said, "My name's Azula and it might be a sin But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret, ‘Cause I'm the best there's ever been!”

Princess don’t let your will waver, if you’re to beat this trial 'Cause hell's challenged you to Pai Sho and the Spirit deals the tiles And if you win and last the night, your legend will be told But if you lose the Spirit eats your soul!

The Spirit conjured up its spell, “I’ll start” it smugly said Sent visions from its finger tips as it got into her head And it pulled harshly on her heartstrings, and it made an evil hiss Then Azula’s inner demons joined in, and it sounded something like this

But when the Spirit finished, Azula said, "You know, you're pretty good old monk, But you best get in your life raft there, cuz I’m so sharp your ship is sunk!"

Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run The Spirit’s in the house of the rising sun Brother’s by the duck pond, feeding them dough Mother, do you fear me? No, child, no

Well, that old Spirit bowed its head because it knew that it’d been beat And it vanished with the temple, left only ground at Azula’s feet Azula said, "Spirit, come on back if you ever want to try again I’ve told you once, you son of a nun, I'm the best there's ever been!"

She spat fire on that mountain, run, boys, run Azula from the house of the rising sun Brother’s in the throne room, calling for you Mother, do you love me? Yes, I do!

The untrusting part goes into her pragmatism. She does what’s most logical and utilitarian for the situation rather than get fooled. The optimism goes into her confidence that she can and will succeed.

Versus Zuko who is more prone to getting tricked because he’s an idealist.

But also loudly carries issues of self doubt everywhere he goes and assumes the worst will happen like the pessimist he is.

I got an A on my ATLA Report

Those tags go hard! Reblogging for them alone haha.

Call me crazy but there needs to be more fanfics out there about Hakoda spending time with Sokka and Katara, essentially once the war ends. Forget all of those "Hakoda adopts Zuko and wants to kill Ozai for how he treated his son" fics, this man has two kids of his own! Kids that he rarely got to see during the war since he was fighting in it, and as such missed watching them grow up. Sokka and Katara have gone long enough without a parent in their lives. Hakoda has gone long enough without being with his children.

I told you guys it was a Harry Potter parody!

Thank you, OP, for the source.

I've been seeing this piece of art floating around recently, and I want to take a moment to talk about it!

This is an unofficial storyboard panel created by Johane Matte, aka rufftoon, storyboard artist for ATLA and LOK! This panel features the Gaang as adults, and was done purely for fun! Some quick fun facts;

This is part of a collection of fake storyboards created by Johane, and were presented during the New York Anime Festival. The scene shown above is a parody of the epilogue in Harry Potter.

Many think the child next to Zuko and Mai is their daughter, and possibly an early concept of Izumi, but it's not, it's actually their son! The son is unnamed, but Johane and fans jokingly decided to name him 'Prince Scorpius-Zhao Jet Yue Cabbage.'

The necklace Aang is wearing is similar to Monk Gyatso, and Johane notes that Aang would wear similar clothing to his old master.

Source!

I got an A on my ATLA Report

What a fantastic brilliant cute artwork ❤️✌️🥰

🦬🐉🎏🦡

🌬️🔥🌊⛰️

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