One of my favorite parallels between Aang and Zuko is during the crossroads of destiny episode. I feel like it’s more subtle since lot that happened was side sweep mostly in Aang case unfortunately.

For most of the story we noticed Aang and Zuko are parallel with each other for example we get their back stories at the same time, we watch them work together. And during the guru and crossroad episode we see that they need to make an active decision on who they are meant to be. Time to face there wants and needs.

For Aang his want is to be with Katara no matter the cost vs his need to master the avatar state.

And for Zuko it’s wanting to go home to the fire nation vs need to do the right thing and make an active decision and be branded as a traitor.

And the really interesting part is that the writers use katara as an anchor in away to express this point.

My favorite way to explain it is that Zuko was suppose to let Katara in and Aang was suppose to let her go.

And guess what they both fail.

Zuko’s betrayal was supposed to be a surprise for both the audience and the characters. all out in the open. oh no! Zuzu we where rooting for you! How could you?

Aangs betrayal was a secret only the audience and Aang knew about it. And it should have been explored more in season three. And yes Aang did betray everyone when he turn his back on the Guru. And he definitely betrayed Katara in that moment, because all katara wants is for him to have control of the avatar state and end this war. And it crazy that Aang keeps the truth to himself, like he doesn’t feel bad about keeping that from Katara? So much for getting the mark of the trusted. Am I right? (Sure the show tried to explain that azula’s lightning blocked his chakras now but that sounds more like a sloppy way to fix it so Aang can get his forever girl, also it ruins the narrative, this was an internal struggle for Aang to overcome) I have heard the argument that Aang being shot with lightning was a punishment for letting go of Katara but I see it more as a punishment for letting her go in that moment when he should have already done it. Think about it if he just mastered the avatar state he essentially could’ve just rolled into Ba Sing Se with god mode activated, stopped Azula and black sun would have been a success and war is over. Him not letting go of Katara when the Guru suggests it does however tie into he’s character flaw, avoidance. he waited till he has no choice but to do it so he is “punished” for it.

Well at least Zuko got to redeem himself. All Aang got was a perfectly place rock it’s a shame.

"Katara was the first one to reach out to Zuko"

Nope, it was Aang

and zuko has never forgotten his words :)

Drawing from a mini comic where the timeline is reset but Zuko still has all his memories

Minicomic here

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

1.18 — The Waterbending Master // 3.14 — The Boiling Rock, Part 1

it’s actually really funny that zuko accuses katara of displacing her anger for her mother’s killer onto zuko even though she has so many valid reasons to be genuinely angry at him that he simply refuses to acknowledge, but then later in the same episode he actually displaces his anger for his mother’s killer onto katara’s mother’s killer and insists that she has no choice but to go with him on a revenge quest to achieve his own catharsis. and then it doesn’t even fully work because he still continues to insensitively bully aang over the fact that he, a 12 year old pacifist monk, is hesitating over the decision to kill a man. zuko can perfectly identify and critique all of katara’s flaws while simultaneously remaining completely oblivious to the fact that not only does he share all of her flaws, but that in him they are magnified tenfold.

ENEMIES TO LOVERS, here we come!

I never really thought about this until now, but. why did Aang never express any opinions on Azula whatsoever after she literally killed him

Like, am I supposed to believe that he's not deeply afraid of her after that? Or at least angry? She left a scar on his back that interrupts his culturally significant tattoos, and we just... never see him notice or care about that??

I'm currently about halfway through Book 3 on my rewatch, and the fact that nobody's even told Aang on-screen that Azula was responsible for what happened is more than a little absurd. I'm pretty sure they acknowledge it at some point, but in some kind of offhanded way that really doesn't do the matter justice.

It honestly feels like the show didn't want to touch that plot point with a ten foot pole, only mentioning it when it was absolutely necessary to further the plot on Zuko's side of things. Which is weird! Why kill your protagonist on-screen, leave him with two permanent scars when he's revived, and then never have him confront or even talk about the person who killed him again???

Aang deserved to have a significant dynamic with Azula after what happened at the Crystal Catacombs and the fact that they dropped the topic almost entirely two episodes later lowkey fills me with rage

the rozin timeline (lowkey a prequel to this)

bonus:

Another Zuko and Aang parallel that I don’t hear enough people talking about is the season 2 finale. Both of them are at a crossroads of destiny, both of them are choosing between what they believe to be “their destiny” or what they’re “supposed to do” and choosing the people they love, Iroh and Katara. The people who connect them to the parts of themselves that they want to be rather than who the world is telling them to be. They both chose their “destiny,” and leave the person they love behind. But I think what’s more important is that at the end of it all, they find their way back to that person and themselves simultaneously. They do this by choosing what they want, by choosing love. Zuko abandons the life he always wanted in the fire nation and finds forgiveness in his uncle, and Aang holds on tight to the values of his people who were taken from him, and finds peace and love with Katara. And they both seal this with tears in their eyes, and a tight embrace.

Both Aang and Zuko seeing glimpses of the other in nightmares

Zuko + receiving unconditional love

Aang, to someone being mean to him: it's okay, I forgive you

Zuko and Katara: Aang maybe forgive you but I don't

Read some Dark/Chaos Avatar Zuko AU fics a while back and those AUs are VERY GOOD but then I had a brain blast so. Dark/Chaos Avatar Toph AU

When the world needed the Avatar the most, he vanished. Because he's a coward. He ran, and people died.

He ran -- the ultimate warrior! He's a coward.

daily reminder that this parallel exists!!!

I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The fact is, they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne and which of us is going to be bowing down. But I know, and you know.

while azula’s speech to long feng in this scene is indisputably iconic and powerful, it is also blatantly wrong. azula cites “the divine right to rule” as her prerogative to take the earth kingdom throne over long feng in their vie for power, but the divinity of the monarchy is a hollow justification for the existence of any given monarchy in the first place, not some ontological imperative that demands certain families seize and maintain power. centuries ago, azula’s ancestors claimed power over the fire nation, and her belief system is the product of the rhetoric they created after the fact to justify their power and influence over the state, and some time later, sozin’s imperialist doctrine that it is also the fire nation’s prerogative to colonize other states beyond their accepted borders. what makes this moment so effective is that azula truly believes the imperialist rhetoric she spouts in this intimidating monologue, as it was the creed she was born into – but as we are plainly shown throughout the show, her belief system is wrong, and she possesses no inherent, divine superiority over others. her facade of power, strength, and domination ultimately guards an empty myth, a lie that nearly destroyed the entire world.

BUT.

out of context, her words are not entirely wrong.

you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power

but true power

the divine right to rule

is something you're born with

unlike in our world, wherein the existence of divine power(s) cannot ever be truly proven, the spirit world not only demonstrably exists, but is eminently accessible. only because of aang’s century-long stasis in the iceberg was there ever any doubt of the avatar’s return, reducing the spiritual/cultural/political/global significance of the avatar to a myth, and plunging the world into unrest, chaos, and despair. but the world of avatar itself spans a vast history, in which aang’s era is merely a blip. he is but one reincarnation is the vast line of avatars, the bridge between the human and spirit worlds, the bringer of balance, chosen by the spirits. if anyone has an ontological, divinely-necessitated influence over the world, it is not the fire nation royal family: it is, quite plainly, the avatar.