#Zuko meta
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More reasons why Zuko being the Firelord is objectively the funniest thing on earth:
HES SEVENTEEN
He hasn’t been civilised in 4 years, his entire teenage experience consists of living on a boat and sleeping rough. The most stable bed he has was probably in Ba Sing Se he probably will just nap anywhere.
He has customer service experience which means he probably uses his customer service voice on his minsters.
Additionally he probably just wanders into to kitchen to get his own snacks and tea because he forgets what servants do.
He probably has no idea why he can’t just chase after an assassin he used to hunt the avatar for Agnis sake why is the captain of the guard demanding he stay in his room he’ll find the guy first (he’s probably right)
Katara probably has a free pass on Eco terrorism because what’s he going to do challenge her, she’ll beat his ass.
If he saw a minster doing something shady he will either invite lady Beifong to detect their BS or commit B&E and look for evidence himself.
He somehow found a baby dragon and raises it.
He will be far to willing to give Kyoshi island anything they want cause he feels bad and Suki scares him.
He randomly insisted on giving some earth kingdom village 100 ostrich horses.
The Avatar will just show up call him Hotman and demand the go on adventures and the Firelord will just dip because he’s been confined to long and has the Zoomies.
He takes far to much advice from Sokka and will genuinely believe if someone doesn’t get Sokkas plans they must be an idiot because Sokka is 16.
Sokka and Zuko also get into a lot of teenage rebellion phases by accident.
Toph just walks in breaks a wall of his palace and demands a field trip that always involves the Firelord having to explain himself to the cops.
He somehow knows every dangerous teen in the world and they all come for tea uninvited.
He has broken into both the NWT and Ba Sing Se.
He has a really well documented facial scar and official portraits but still disappears to be Lee the tea guy like no one knows.
HES SEVENTEEN.
#zuko is the funniest the circumstances just happen character ever#firelord zuko#zuko#atla#avatar the legend of aang#avatar the last airbender#zee rambles#zukka#zuko meta
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I feel one of the scariest things about Ozai is not necessarily the physical abuse he pulls on Zuko or Azula. It's the mental abuse and how under the radar it is.
Yes, it is easy to look at Zuko's scar and be horrified by his abuse. What I feel is more effective was that Ozai made Zuko believe that he deserved it. That he had to go on this three-year odyssey to try and find the Avatar for a chance at gaining his love back. Their reunion isn't about Ozai apologizing. It's Ozai saying how proud he is of Zuko for making up for HIS mistake. He doesn't mention the Agni Kai at all, and when Zuko does turn, he tries to make it sound like some exercise in learning respect.
Same thing with Azula. Ozai puts the mantle of Fire Lord on her shoulders, effectively giving her the responsibility of running a country. He puts on so much pressure to have her to be perfect (pitting her against Zuko, sending her out on missions). The only approval that he gives is for her performance which reflects on him. Basically, he treats her more like an asset more than as a person. And any failing she makes is on her part.
He puts so much responsibility on both Zuko and Azula, but never takes any for himself. So if they displease his high expectations, that's their fault.
And they believe him.
#ozai#ozai atla#zuko#zuko meta#ozai meta#azula#princess azula#azula meta#fire lord ozai#atla#avatar the last airbender#atla meta
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Seeing, "Zuko is canonically bad at firebending," takes on my dash, so...
Zuko is canonically not bad at firebending. He may not be the natural prodigy that Azula or Iroh are, but skills don't work on a basis of either "extreme prodigy" or "not good at all."
Zuko works hard throughout the series to grow and improve in his firebending, and he does.
He defeats Zhao, an adult firebending master, in an Agni Kai when he's 16 and ostensibly still stuck on the basics, because mastering the fundamentals is a huge part of getting "good" at any skill.
He learns lightning redirection in about a day and later successfully uses it against Ozai, who is meant to be an extremely powerful firebender.
He learns to understand and appreciate his fire on a fundamental level from the dragons, who were the original firebenders, and in so doing he becomes a firebending master just as much as Katara (who had a few days/weeks at most of formal training) or Toph (who declared herself an earthbending master after learning from badgermoles) are masters of their elements.
And then he took everything he had learned about fire and put it together to help Aang master firebending over the course of a few weeks.
None of that says, "canonically bad firebender." It says that Zuko didn't start out as a major natural prodigy like his sister, but he worked hard, never stopped learning and growing, and developed into a very strong and capable firebending master in his own right by the end of the show.
#atla#zuko#zuko meta#just because one person takes a bit longer to learn a skill than the person next to them#or because they aren't *as* strong as The Best person in their field#or because their talents lean towards more niche areas#and/or their learning style doesn't mesh well with traditional methods#doesn't mean that person is doomed to being forever “Bad” at said skill
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The thing that I find to be so funny and annoying about Azula hate is that people just do not seem to realize that Zuko could have ended up just like her, if it wasn’t for the fact that he had positive influences in his life. One of the many reasons why Azula is the way she is, is because none of the adults thought that she was worth the time and effort. Which Ozai saw and took advantage of. Thanks to his parenting “skills” and other factors, she learned how to play the game very early on in life in order to survive. Zuko, however, never got the memo, therefore he did not know how to play the game. Azula learned how to play the game and Zuko did not. That’s like, one of the many things that sets these two apart from each other, and what ultimately makes Azula’s character so tragic in the end: she thought that learning how to play the game and playing that game well would be what would protect her and keep her safe, but instead it’s what led to her eventual downfall. Meanwhile, Zuko not learning/knowing how to play the game is what initially put him in harm’s way at the palace, but it’s inevitably what saved him and put him on the better path in the end.
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I try not to engage with discourse, but I gotta say something about the discussion in Zutara circles on whether Zuko is "an awkward turtleduck" or confident and self-assured.
I'm sitting here like. Why not both. I love both. Both are good. And both are true.
He's awkward when he's feeling insecure and vulnerable, especially in the face of new or unexpected situations - which is why we see this attitude in Book 3 mostly (and notably, his date with Jin in Book 2). He's been humbled and he's been forced to question a lot of things; it makes sense he doesn't always find his footing. He also had an isolated upbringing so he will often be oblivious to social cues and won't always have the "right" reactions.
He's very self-assured and decisive when he knows what he's up to and knows what is right and what he's got to do. Book 3 Zuko also knows his own mind and is very determined in shaping his own fate. Final Agni Kai Zuko is not awkward. Southern Raiders Zuko is not awkward. The Zuko that confronted Ozai? Very much not awkward.
I think fan creators can take advantage of the possibilities for the same scenario (ie. a Zuko who's made up his mind to kiss Katara, vs. a Zuko who wants it but is unsure if she does) and every preference here is valid, but I'm a bit confused as to how the meta treats it as if it has to be one or the other.
#zuko#zutara#zuko meta#spring loves all zukos#all zukos are valid#so long as they love katara all the same
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Discussion: Zuko
This might be like a hot take, but I hate some Zuko stans. The point of his character isn’t for him to be some innocent, helpless guy who can do no wrong. Zuko is meant to make shitty decisions and he’s meant to face the consequences. YES, he is a victim of abuse, YES he still did shitty stuff. Zuko being an abuse victim does NOT justify what he did.
Zuko is such a good character and he’s so complex and people need to understand that. Stop making him one dimensional because you can’t handle the fact that he’s not perfect. YES of course Zuko IS socially awkward and he IS a teenager but that doesn’t stop the fact that he has affected and hurt people, stop reducing him to JUST being an “awkward turtleduck.”
Some of you guys just can’t handle the fact that Zuko isn’t going to fit your stereotype and your fanon version of him that you have in your head.
#atla#avatar the last airbender#atla zuko#prince zuko#zuko#opinion#and stop the azula hate my GOD#zuko meta#zuladefender
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I hate when people say(*writers*) when zuko is an emo bad boy. When zuko acts "emo" and "badboy" as they say it's him reacting to his trauma and abuse as a kid(most of time. Zuko is still badass. But badboy no). Is it an excuse? No. But when zuko is acting that way in canon, his obsession with honor, his yelling, his moodiness, his short temper. That is the product of having his empathy literally beaten/burned out of him by his father(and mocked and emotionally abused by Azula). The reason Zuko is doing this whole thing is because he wants to please his father. Become someone he's not. His struggle of who his father wants to be with who he is. It's because of the abuse of his father and his family. As the series goes on you get more and more flashes of the person Zuko was and the person he can become. By the end of the series it's such a great contrast and Zuko is much more happier because he's with the gaang. His family. He got out of that abusive situation he was in and finally became himself. A dorky, empathetic, caring, skilled swords men, a balanced person. Does he still have moments of anger? Yes. But over all Zuko becomes a fully balanced person.
gasp! but if we don't call zuko a bad boy, however will we make sure people don't get any ideas about shipping him with katara?
jokes aside, you're absolutely right and i roll my eyes so hard when people point to bad things zuko did, or his behaviour pre-redemption as indisputable proof of the kind of person he'd be post-redemption. like you said, a lot of zuko's actions and mannerisms before day of black sun is a direct result of the trauma he suffered, and though that doesn't excuse him - and neither does the show allow it to - discounting it entirely is to erase the abuse zuko endured and how that shaped him.
using the first half of book 3 as evidence of zuko being a supposed bad boy irks me in particular because a) the narrative makes it pretty clear that this is zuko as the worst version of himself, the opposite of everything he actually is and could be, and b) he is stuck in an abusive household at the mercy of his abusers, in an actively life-threatening situation.
zuko knows that he is in a situation where he has no real agency, freedom or control. he knows that aang is alive, that azula has turned him into a scapegoat and that his life will be forfeit if his father finds out the truth. that is an incredibly terrifying and stressful situation to be put in and it's worsened by the fact that he can't even admit it - not just because doing so would mean accepting that he gave up everything that actually mattered in the catacombs to gain nothing in return, but also because no one around him will allow him to do so.
his girlfriend can't understand his experiences or his turmoil and doesn't seem to particularly want to, brushing off his anxieties and encouraging him to stay the course. he is manipulated by his father and gaslighted by his sister, aware deep down that he is entirely under their control and that they have a vested interest in keeping him helpless, yet forced to pretend as though nothing is wrong. he is isolated from the one person who could help - his uncle - physically and emotionally, both because visiting iroh puts zuko in danger, and because zuko's choices have created a rift in their relationship.
all of this compounds the psychological stress zuko is experiencing, forcing him into a constant state of fight-or-flight, and this context is vital to understanding many of the decisions he makes and how he behaves in the first half of book 3.
(this is why i don't agree with the take that hiring combustion man is an ooc moment for zuko because even though i think the idea of combustion man himself is stupid - not to mention disrespectful to the hindu origins it's pulling from - it's a fundamentally desperate move, and zuko at this point is more desperate than he's ever been.)
that's why it's unlikely that zuko post-redemption would behave similarly since many of the factors that contributed to his anger, hostility and moodiness would no longer exist! judging zuko's future behaviour based on a time when he was constantly abused, gaslighted and threatened is just not an accurate or fair means of measurement, especially since we know what he's like at his best. the zuko we see with the gaang still has a bit of a short fuse, sure, but he's also sincere, honest, awkward, shy and far happier than he's ever been. because shocker, people tend not to act the same way in healthy, supportive environments as they do in abusive, traumatic ones. who would've thought?
people who make this argument also usually tend to compare zuko to aang, especially to glorify how aang remains cheerful and peaceful despite his trauma, and... no. just no. first of all, the show barely gives a fuck about developing aang's trauma the way it does zuko's so of course it seems to affect him less, and secondly, there's something to be said about how trauma responses like aang's are a lot more palatable and comfortable for audiences than responses like zuko's, or even katara's in the southern raiders.
anger or moodiness, or wanting to punish the people who hurt you, are not inherently wrong ways to react when you've been wronged and traumatized. praising aang for remaining cheerful and forgiving while calling zuko a bad boy for being angry and moody implies a sense of moral superiority that comes with reacting to trauma in the "right" way, which is both inaccurate and insensitive.
zuko will never be aang, and that's fine. he doesn't have to be. he ends the show reclaiming everything his abusers tried to take from him, having found himself and his destiny, in a place of healing that is all his own. that is an incredibly meaningful and powerful narrative, and the last thing zuko deserves is to have all of his complexity and development stripped just to be reduced to the tired trope of a "bad boy" when he was never one in the first place.
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A collection of seyaryminamoto's ATLA takes
For those who are not aware, @seyaryminamoto is someone who has been in the Azula fandom a very long time and who has written many brilliant metas that have greatly influenced my understanding of Azula, Zuko, and other characters. Thus, I decided to put together a post with links to all of her metas that I could find:
On the flaws in Zuko's redemption arc.
More on flaws in Zuko's arc.
On the four most overrated characters in ATLA
Yet more on flaws in Zuko's arc and why fans overrate and misunderstand his character.
Why Zuko's arc didn't revolve around him learning compassion
On reoccurring sibling conflicts in ATLA and LoK and Su and Lin
On the lack of accountability in modern story-telling and Zuko
On certain patterns of evil younger siblings in LoK and ATLA
On the Smoke and Shadow and Azula
On Gene Yang not understanding Azula
More on Azula
More on flaws in Zuko's redemption
On Azula, Iroh, and Zuko being held to different standards
On why the Fire Nation accepting Zuko as ruler makes no sense
On sexism in the Fire Nation
On whether Zuko or Aang is more moral
On how the ATLA finale could have been changed to give Azula a better fate.
On why Azula's breakdown was rushed, writing wise.
On why Iroh is sexist.
Edits:
On whether Zuko understands the concept of "Duty"
On Lo and Li and Azula
On Zuko, the Fire Teens, and "The Beach"
On Zuko, the Southern Raiders, and Justice
On Zuko and his "life-changing field trips"
On Zuko and what his arc could have been
On the issues with Katara's and her "arc"
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Zuko had a hard time living up to his sister. She was a firebending prodigy. No matter how good he was, she was always better. And their father favored her because of this.
Ozai's abuse made it seem like he is not a good bender, just because he couldn't match his sister, the wonder child.
But Zuko is a Proficient Bender
At 16, he beat Zhao, a firebending master, at an Agni Kai.
He exercises the original firebending learnt from the dragons.
His firebending is influenced by other bending forms.
He's one of 3 people that at that time coulf redirect lightning.
After he'd recognized Ozai's cruelty towards him, he also casually recognizes that he is skilled, that he is good at firebending.
He casually recognizes that he is so good that he can teach the Avatar.
#zuko#zuko meta#atla zuko#azula#atla azula#atla#atla meta#avatar: the last airbender#avatar the last airbender#avatar aang#firebending#fire lord zuko#firelord zuko#prince zuko#ozai#fire lord ozai#firelord ozai#princess azula#avatar meta#avatar the last airbender meta#pro zuko#a:tla
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Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?
That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.
But there is a constant exception.
Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.
And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.
On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.
He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.
More importantly:
1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"
2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.
3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."
4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.
5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.
Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.
Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.
His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.
Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.
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Unpopular opinion: Fandom overestimates how much Zuko resents Azula.
Zuko himself said that Azula's not the one he's angry at in "The Beach." I know that's not a lot to go on, but this was a deliberate choice on the writers' and showrunners' part. I'm ignoring the comics because they do every character dirty and betray the major themes and messages of the show.
Contrary to something I'm seeing more often in headcanons and media analysis, the purpose of art (as opposed to propaganda or commerce) is not to deceive its audience. So, when a character in a moment of vulnerability reveals their innermost thoughts and feelings, it's best to assume they're telling the truth.
What does Zuko say that night by the bonfire? Azula asks him, "Who are you angry at? Is it me?"
And Zuko says, "No."
Canon!Zuko is many things, but he's not: a) a good liar, b) shy about expressing his anger, or c) afraid of Azula, even when he should be.
Fandom often ignores "The Beach" when analyzing these two, but it's the most revealing episode about what they're really like without external forces pushing them to be at odds. What's that like? Remarkably normal. The distrust and resentment one would expect from them are simply not there.
In fact, the kuai ball game proves that they work extremely well together when they're on the same side, just as they did when they fought together in the Crystal Catacombs. They're very much in sync. It's impressive when you think about it.
The tragedy of the final Agni Kai is that they don't hate each other, and they didn't really have a choice to become enemies. They were forced into deadly conflict by things outside of their control. One could argue that the music of the Last Agni Kai symbolizes Zuko's growing awareness, perhaps subconscious, that him fighting his own sister (whom he can tell is struggling) for the throne is neither noble nor honorable but deeply tragic.
With all that in mind, I'm not sure that I'm completely on board with the idea that there's so much bad blood between the two of them that it's a Herculean task to overcome it. Honestly, without the grown-ups playing them against each other, I believe they'd find it surprisingly easy to get to a healthy place together. Knowing the two of them, they'd likely find a sort of macabre humor in it.
"How are you two getting along so well?"
"We are brother and sister."
"But... she tried to kill you. Multiple times."
"Duh! We're Fire Nation royalty. It's family tradition."
"Yeah, if you don't try to kill your sibling at least once, are you really family?"
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Sometimes I think about Zuko being the Firelord and I just giggle like yeah it is an angsty situation, yes it’s got great fanfic material but guys your just going to give a 17 year old a whole country. Like not even a normal trained from birth Prince you’ve got a guy that was officially the Crown Prince for like 3 years and then he was out at sea causing problems. His special skills include hunting the avatar, B&E, being buddies with mythical beasts, prison breaks and customer service and you gave him the ultimate power to do whatever he wants. Not to mention he’s got friends who are just as insane and feral and he’s got all the money. Toph and Sokka are going to talk him into the most insane purchases in seconds. Guys c’mon.
#atla#zuko#like yes Angst evil ministers removing your country’s genocidal rage with your guilt complex that’s all there too but guys he’s 17#he’s going to make the biggest shinest statue to just aangs bald head to piss him off and say it’s in the name of peace#melon lord is going to become an offical title with duke status#zuko somehow not setting the palace on fire by accident is an achivement#firelord zuko#avatar the last airbender#zuko meta
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Can I ask why you think the way Azula treated Zuko was not abusive?
To understand why Azula was not abusive to Zuko, we need to understand what IS abusive. I'm not exactly an expert in the field of abuse as there are many kinds of abuse. However, I do feel that the National Domestic Violence Hotline on their website www.thehotline.org does give us at least a basis to start off with in terms of this kind of abuse that Azula is accused of.
Essentially, if Azula were trying to exert any form of power or control over Zuko, we could consider that to be abusive. She would come from a position of power and use that to browbeat Zuko into submission. Whereas the latter wouldn't be able to do anything about it due to that power dynamic I mentioned. Either that or Zuko wouldn't know it was abuse since it was so engrained in their dynamic.
Thing is...Zuko never shows signs of being abused by Azula.
Whenever Azula mocks him or taunts him, he fires back. He's not afraid to speak his mind. We saw that all the time in "Zuko Alone". Indeed, he doesn't show any signs of being afraid of her or any sign of her exerting any sort of power over him. The closest we came to that was during the bedroom scene where she dangles the possibility of the Avatar over his head, but even that's debatable since he was the crown prince AND barged in with a bad mood already.
So clearly, Zuko didn't feel threatened by Azula at all. And if their dynamic had him fire back at her just as much as she did towards him, how can that be considered abuse?
But what I think is most telling is that we do have an example of abuse in the cartoon. And it does involve Zuko and everything that I just mentioned.
It's just, it wasn't Azula.
It was Ozai.
Putting aside the scar on his face, Zuko's relationship with Ozai DOES reek of abuse. I made a whole post about it, but the point is, Zuko never feels comfortable about speaking out against Ozai or fighting against him. The only time he does is when he has a bit of an advantage, but that was only to escape and not kill.
Zuko will speak out against Azula. But Ozai? No way. He'll take Ozai's comments, and internalize them to make himself feel weak as he does throughout the series. Hell, his rivalry with Azula is Ozai setting them against each other just like any abusive parent would do.
In short, Zuko's dynamic with Azula is the complete opposite of Ozai. And since we know that Ozai is an abusive father, I cannot for the life of me see Azula being at the same level. At worst, she was a symptom of the problem. Not the problem itself. And if you want to address the topic of abuse, you need to get at the source.
#azula#princess azula#zuko#prince zuko#ozai#fire lord ozai#ozai's grade a parenting#azula meta#zuko meta#ozai meta#avatar: the last airbender#atla#atla meta#ask answered#anon ask#anon answered#ask me anything
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okay so, recently I was replaying a game (won't say the title since this is a minor spoiler!) and at one point a character loses an eye, and there's a section where it shows him struggling to get used to this new lack of depth perception. even though i had an OC of my own who'd lost an eye, I'd never taken something like that into consideration. and then it made me think of your Zuko – and ofc whatever other Zukos have been imagined with a blind eye (which tbh I wish they'd allowed in the show but, oh well) – and how he might have to relearn firebending to some degree in the time after he'd been wounded by Ozai.
I just woke up so I'm not sure if I even had a question lmao but it's been stuck in my head for a little bit but, I also just love fanon Zuko lore that tbh I wish had been canon??
Hello! Partially blind Zuko never ceases to amaze me whenever I see a fanart or read a fic that depicts him like that.
There's a lot to be said about the damage done to him by Ozai, and Agni knows I'm a sucker for visual metaphors. The burn leaving Zuko half blind and deaf works for me as yet another metaphor of his dual nature. A permanent consequence of his father's hand covering his face in an attempt to silence him. To keep him isolated, weak, with only half of himself able to see the world as it is. A Blue Dragon who offers him the chance to close his eyes and rest.
The new lack of depth perception and the Agni Kai flashbacks would have made firebending torture for him. Zuko was already a failure and a coward. What kind of bender is afraid of his own element? What kind of Fire Prince can't stand the sight of a flame?
Healing is a tiring process, and though he may never see or hear as fully as he once did, he now knows fire for what it truly is. Life and destruction—two halves of a whole.
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Why is it that so many people seem to think that everything wrong with Maiko is somehow Mai’s fault, and that she has a lot of work to do before she can be a "worthy" girlfriend for Zuko? You want me to say what the real source of their incompatibility is? It's not Mai. It's Zuko. In case the class hasn't realized this, the boy was a needy, whiny little bitch baby for pretty much the entire show. He blew up at people the moment they said something he didn't want to hear, or they didn't cater to his every whim and validated his feelings. Yes, this is a result of how he was raised by Ozai, and to an extent, Ursa, with the way she coddled him BECAUSE of Ozai’s bs. However, it doesn’t excuse how he acts towards others. And you want to know something else? Let's say he did get together with someone who was more open with their feelings. Let's say it was Katara. It still wouldn't have changed anything. Why? Because he still would have had that flaw regardless. Hell, we have canon evidence showing how he treats people who showed him kindness or tried to open up to him. Toph? Brushes her aside. Iroh? Treats him like crap most of the time. Song? He steals her and her mother's ostrich horse, which was likely their only mode of transportation.
So, all of this to say? None of that has anything to do with Mai. It's a straight-up Zuko problem that he has to acknowledge and work on. Otherwise, he will never be ready for a relationship. It would be very unfair to dump all of that onto his girlfriend, and she shouldn't be expected to put up with his crap either just because he was abused and he constantly has an internal crisis about his every action.
And like I said before, this is actually why I prefer him with Mai. She calls him out on his behavior whenever it's needed. And with someone like Zuko? You need that.
#atla#zuko#mai#zuko meta#maiko#anti zutara#yes I'm using that tag#since apparently some of them want to get salty about my post
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One thing that Zuko antis miss about the turtleduck scene is that Zuko visibly regrets his action the moment the bread hit the turtleduck. It's almost like he didn't actually think it would hurt the baby duck and was shocked when it did. This is not an example of him exhibiting a lack of empathy or a propensity for cruelty. I can't belive I have to say this, but Azula and Zuko already had very different personalities in childhood. Azula displayed clear affinity for anti-social behavior (low empathy, manipulative behavior) atypical for her age while Zuko didnt.
I've seen this scene being used to compare him with Azula, usually to demonize Ursa. The writer imply that her gentleness with Zuko and harshness with Azula are entirely based on her favoritism. Then they follow it up by claiming that, had Azula had her mother's love, she would've turned out just fine, but Ursa was a bad mother for favoring Zuko. The problem with this argument is that, not only does Ursa show affection for Azula, this also shifts the blame for Azula's anti-social behavior from Ozai to Ursa. It also is plain wrong so
youtube
#this is not an invitation to demonize azula either begone if that's your goal#avatar#atla#avatar the last airbender#zuko#atla zuko#akira original#mine#zuko meta#Youtube
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