#fuck bryke for taking this away from me
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Hello lilbadgermole, I looked at your Taang post about their dunebabies and it was so cute. I was wondering if the dunebabies have any names?
Thank you so much!!!
BTW, you guys can just call me Adri, instead of my full username, if you'd like ofc!
But as for the names:
Oldest Son (Airbender) [16]: Gyatso - Aang would want to honor his mentor and friend. Toph agrees (and also believes that it'll be omen that their first born would become just as good a bender as the deceased Gyatso once she discovers he's an airbender).
Second Son (Airbender) [14]: Tenzin - I have no explanation for this one other than the fact that I like the name (and he's one of the only good characters to come out of TLOK);
First Born Daughter (Airbender) [13]: Daiyu - It means 'black jade' in chinese. In Ancient China, jade is symbolic of purity, morality, integrity and wisdom; jade was understood to connect people with the ancestral spirits. I think it was a perfect fit to name their first girl of a mineral (Earth) that represented spirituality (Air). Note: This could be wrong and if anyone from chinese descent could confirm this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Second-Born Daughter (Earthbender) [10]: Ying - it means “brave beauty.” And Toph, after three tries, finally gives birth to an earthbender, and a little girl at that. Aang named her.
Third-Born Son (Earthbender) [8]: Bumi - though hesitant at first given Bumi had questioned Toph's self-proclaimed title as the best earthbender in the world, Toph had agreed that Aang could honor his late friend with their third son. Turns out the name suited their kid perfectly, as little Bumi was a menace the moment he learnt how to walk on his two feet.
Youngest Son (Airbender) [7]: Banzan - in Tibetan, this name means indestructible mountain. Toph had hoped her youngest kin would be an earthbender, just to equal out the playing field - her son, after a particularly nasty tantrum, nearly destroyed their home with a tornado. Though he couldn't move mountains, he carried himself with the same attitude as an earthbender.
Aang names all their children, though never without Toph's consent and approval. Toph never held any interest for meaningful names, all she concerned herself with was their well-being and making sure the six of her and Aang's offspring were in good shape and loved (she loves all of Aang's names and finds it endearing how much time and effort he places into finding the perfect name, though she would never be caught alive admitting it to him).
I thought really hard on these names! I read somewhere that Earth Kingdom names are based on Chinese names and Air Nation names are inspired by Tibetan culture.
#taang#toph beifong#aang x toph#toph x aang#dunebabies#taang being amazing parents part 2#Aang is the sappy parent Toph is the logical parent#even as parents they balance each other out#I also feel like Aang would cry each time Toph allowed him to honor his late friend and mentor by naming her kids after them#Man I love older Taang so much they would have been such cute parents#fuck bryke for taking this away from me#lilbadgermoleask
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I keep being all up in your inbox, but I just gotta ask you another question about Zutara. So, based on everything we know about the show and the characters, how do you think Aang would react to Zutara if it was canon? Maybe at first we would be jealous and mopey about it, but when he pieces together that Zuko is a good partner because of how much he loves, respects, and helps Katara as an equal, Aang realizes that he treated his friendship with Katara too childishly and THAT'S why Katara wasn't so happy about their kisses on the Black Sun and on Ember Island. Aang realizes that Katara doesn't want him because he was too immature and it was unfair. But Aang swallows the hard pill of reality, and uses self-reflection to grow up and be a better person. Also, what do you think about Aang being with Toph? I've read an analysis that Toph would've been a better partner for Aang because Toph is much more likely to put her foot down at Aang's foolerly, and that Toph doesn't glorify Aang with the rose-tinted lens of him being the Avatar.
This could go a few ways.
But seeing as Aang has selfish tendencies and the writers are idiots when it comes to writing romance, I'm gonna go with Aang being jealous.
Let's pretend that Aang is a real kid for this instance. He is 12. He is going through puberty and has a crush on the first girl he has ever seen (you know because the Air Nomads were sexually segregated and there is a reason for that). It's just... eww. He gives me stalker vibes and then expects Katara just to be with him because he says he loves her. Then on top of all that, her choice to have any relationship is limited to Aang because of a fortune teller. Honestly, it's a horrible thing.
Aangs world view is that everything revolves around him, yet he doesn't want to take responsibility for it. He never does either. I honestly think Katara (if she were a real person) is pressured into 'loving' Aang. The problem is, he's doing the pressuring. I've seen this brought up in countless fics I've read, and we all seem to be on the same page. If they were real people, this relationship would absolutely be on the toxic side. So, yeah, I don't think Aang would let it go if Katara left him for Zuko. He wouldn't be happy because it changes all of his 'plans' for reviving the Air Nomad culture. That's a lot to put on Katara, too.
Now since these are fictional characters, I'd put my money on Bryke causing Aang to go into the Avatar state (which has happened before in one of Aangs childish tantrums) which is not good for anyone. I hate that they characterize him this way because it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Like calm the fuck down dude, you're supposed to be following Air Nomad culture... oh wait, you know Jack shit about it because you only learned the basics. Like ffs... the writing is all over the place with that.
But no I don't think fiction Aang would be okay with Katara and Zuko. He'd probably grin and bear it, but inside he's just one step away from Avatar state because Katara was supposed to be his forever girl.
If Aang was truly written to be wise and forgiving, (which he isnt) maybe he would let it go, but no. That's not what we got. He's... a very very flawed character.
#im just gonna say it... the antis can fuck off 😤#its not my fault that is how bryke wrote him#zutara#anti bryke#asks
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who is, in your opinion, the most well-written female atla character? and whose character was least affected by 2000s misogyny?
I think they were all written pretty well. If you ask me which one had the most/best character development, then the answer would have to be Katara simply because she got the most screentime (she's literally THE first character we're introduced to after all).
When it comes to female characters, Avatar is one of those kids shows from two whole decades ago that aged REALLY well. You have a few moments that would not happen today (the jokes about Sokka being all embarrassed for wearing a dress, Iroh taking advantage of June being paralyzed to hold her on top of him) but overall the girls were given equal treatment to the boys.
Like I said, the show literally starts with Katara's backstory, yet we don't know Aang's until chapter 12. "The Beach" could have easily been another "Zuko Alone", but instead the writers took the chance to give Azula, Mai and Ty Lee their time in the spotlight next to him. And don't let me get started on the awesomeness that is Toph Beifong and how she's one of, if not the absolute, best representations of people with disabilities we've ever seen in media in general, let alone just kids show, or I will literally never stop rambling about how great it is to see a disabled character that isn't an ableist stereotype.
More importantly, while they get to be badass and call people out on their bullshit, they are still allowed to be vulnerable, flawed, and they make mistakes, without being demonized for it (until we get to the comcis at least, when the writers decided to throw away all the praise I'd give them for Toph and went "Azula is always a threat and evil even when she's not doing anything because mental illness be like that").
Avatar's writting wasn't perfect and some arcs were sped up, or practically skipped like Ty Lee's, but I don't really think it was the result of the writers not caring about female characters in particular. Bryke wanted 3 seasons, one of each of the elements Aang would have to learn, and while that's a neat little idea, I think the show would have been even better than it already was if it had gotten a fourth season, like the lead writter Aaron Ehasz had pushed for.
If you want to see some misogyny that immediately dates the show as being from 2005, you can see the 2024 Netflix version and how it was both "bold" enough to cut a "problematic" arc about Sokka learning to respect women AND too cowardly to just let him wear a dress, without being made fun of this time, and also didn't trust the audience to understand that Katara being hot-headed doesn't make her a bad person, and thinks that the only way to show Azula is also a victim of abuse is to remove her claws and teeth.
This is your casual reminder that I wake up everyday telling Netflix to go fuck itself.
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Oh, thank you, my day is good, but after your message it got even better! I really found solace on Tumblr, which I could not find either in these terrible comics or in LOTR. To be honest, I hardly mastered the latter at all, literally forcing myself to watch series after series, searching in vain for the former depth of characters and conflict. In my opinion, LOTR is a complete failure on all fronts, with the exception of high-quality drawing. If it's about comics, it's an illogical development of events, which, unfortunately, is laid down in the last series. I wanted to ask you -how do you feel about Ursa's line? I was offended by her decision to leave the children (of course, it happened against her will, but still -to change her face and personality, forget about her beloved son and lead a happy life with an old lover?! Don't get it wrong, a woman should suffer for the rest of her days because of a failed marriage, she should not give up happiness if fate sends. But in the context of this story, in your opinion, does it not look like a betrayal, first of all of herself (Ursa?), and of course her children. She couldn't help but understand what kind of hell they got into, first of all the son, after her disappearance. And if you also disagree with this "canon", what would you see the fate of Zuko and Azula's mother? (sorry for such a long letter!)
hi again! thank you, you're so sweet!
i 100% feel you on both LOK (i'm guessing LOTR is a typo?) and the comics. it's so disappointing because both the show and the comics have some great conceptual ideas, and in the hands of competent writers, could've been excellent continuations of ATLA and worthwhile successors... but instead we got a flaming pile of garbage that deserves to be at the bottom of the sea.
the search isn't the worst atla comic imo (that honour goes to the promise) but it's definitely doing its damn best to earn that spot. i hate so many things about that comic: the outdated, insulting depictions of mental illness and mental healthcare in azula's story, zuko getting a "replacement sister" in kiyi as a fix-it bandaid, the fact that it becomes a whole gaang adventure when the correct narrative choice would've been for zuko and katara (and maybe azula at most) to take this trip together as a full circle from the southern raiders, katara and sokka's only role in the story being to foil zuko and azula and nothing else, and of course... the complete annihilation of everything ursa's character was set up to be in atla.
i agree with you that it is very much a betrayal of ursa's character for her to willingly lose her memories. she knows she's leaving her children in the hands of a dangerous abuser, one who's already molding her daughter into a lethal weapon and was fully ready to murder her son, who has proven his willingness to sacrifice his children without hesitation if it benefits him. but despite this, despite the fact that she committed murder, accepted exile and even risked her life (for she had no way of knowing if ozai would simply let her leave peacefully) to protect her child... suddenly she's willing to throw all of that away and fuck off with her childhood lover at the first opportunity?
it baffles me why bryke didn't at least make ursa's memory loss an accident, which would've both explained her absence and why she never went to look for her children without committing character assassination in the process - but that's probably expecting too much logical writing from those two.
i'm actually planning a post-canon book 4 zutara fic that would include a rewrite of the search, where ursa didn't just fuck off to do nothing, but actually had a redemption arc very similar to zuko's after secretly fleeing to live in the earth kingdom and seeing the damage the war had done. she takes it upon herself to right the fire nation's wrongs, and grows particularly invested in air nomad culture, seeing it as her duty to try and bring back some of what the genocide had destroyed. shortly before zuko's banishment she sets out to find the remnants of a people long believed to be gone - and finds that maybe they're not entirely gone after all.
i won't spoil the rest, but i think it'll both explain why ursa never went back for zuko and azula while still giving her a meaningful story that didn't involve just swapping one family for another. if only we'd gotten something similar in the comics but alas... bryke gonna bryke.
thanks for the ask! no worries about it being long, i thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts <3
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Isekai'd as Chloe
You were watching Miraculous Ladybug on your phone as your bus got hit by a truck. You died, it sucks. But a godly being gives you the chance to start anew in a brand new world. Sadly it's Miraculous, with all the plotholes, and flat characters, and don't forget worshipped while being a sexual abuser Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir. Could your day get any worse? You shouldn't have asked because you were reborn as Chloe and forgot who Papillion was. Someone wanted to see you suffer, that was sure! But you wouldn't give them the satisfaction. It was time to throw canon out of the window and make Miraculous a better show or in your case world!
Main Pairing: Reader/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Prolog: Why me? Why?!
It was a normal day in your little comfortable life.
Nothing was amidst and nothing was also exciting.
But it was alright.
You were sitting on the bus on your way to the library. You wanted to check out some new books and manga’s. You needed new reading material. Maybe you could find a new series which would excite you?
In your hand was your phone and you watched for like 100000 times the only good episode of Season 3 from Miraculous Ladybug it was Silencer. You loved Lukanette and it hadn’t any stupid Adrien drama.
God, how you hated Adrien/Chat! How you hated Thomas Astruc and his lackey that worshipped the ass of this sexual abuser who they created mind you. You bet anything that it was some kind of self-insert fantasy of Astruc self like with Aang from the Last Airbender and Bryke.
You couldn’t explain in another way, why Adrien was always in the right even if he was wrong, and poor, sweet Marinette had dozens of traumas to deal with and was ALWAYS IN THE WRONG WHATEVER SHE DID!
Empowering young girls, your ass.
They were grooming kids into thinking it was okay to harass girls with dates and nicknames and flirty behaviour because she was just playing hard to get and would on day magical say yes!
If you heard one more time how Adrien and Marinette were meant to be, even if them being together let the world end like two times, you would stab someone!
Preferably Astruc.
You signed and then cooed at Luka’s love declaration to Marinette. You have heard it so many times, but you had to agree with Tikki it was one of the most beautiful ones you have ever heard.
How you wished someone like Luka would confess to you like that.
Or how you wished to meet someone like Marinette and give her all the love she deserved.
You liked both of them together, but at the same time, you would want them as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Well, love triangles were so out, polyamorous relationships were the right thing!
You were so caught up in your little mussing, that you nearly didn’t hear the horn of the truck that was nearing your bus.
But you heard the cries and screams of the other passengers as the truck was before your bus.
You looked up and stared at the scarred face of the bearded man on the wheel of the truck and thought one thing: “Why do I have to die like in a cliché isekai anime!”
When you woke up, you had the strangest sensation all over your body and your head was like underwater.
What a freaky dream you had!
You dream, you died and some godly being gave you the chance to be reborn into a new world. It let you reborn into the last show you watched which was Miraculous.
You remember how hard you protest in your dream since you had a love/hate relationship with the show, but this god or whatever was kinda an asshole and said it was your own fault for watching it.
Then it said that you should make the best out of your new life and that he had to take away an important plot point from your memory because you would surely end the show in one instant if you remember it and itself and itself colleagues wanted to watch you struggle. It said to grow, but the little mischief grin told you another story.
Thank anything that it was just a fucked-up dream.
You rubbed your head and let out a yawn. You would sleep a bit more, you were still tired.
So you snuggled up into your bed and tried to fall asleep again.
Just…something was off.
The bed was too big…
The pillow to fluffy…
The blanket to fine…
That…was…not…your…bed!
Scarred you jumped up and let out a familiar scream. It was not your normal voice, but you have heard it before.
Now you were even more scared.
And when you saw the room you were in you nearly pissed yourself.
It wasn’t a room, but a hotel suite you know.
A hotel suite you know from a specific french cartoon!
You didn’t know how, but you found the bathroom and stared at the person in the giant ass mirror before you.
Blond hair, blue eyes, tanned skin and a satin PJ with little bumble bee’s.
You.
Were.
Chloe.
Bourgeois.
“The gods…hate me.”, you said in Chloe’s voice and seeing how the mouth in the mirror moved along, was the final nail in the coffin of it being a dream.
You were reborn as Chloe rich-bully-brat Bourgeois.
You wanted a drink, no better a whole bottle of Tequila!
You wouldn’t and couldn’t survive like this!
Next
#miraculous fandom#anti adrien agreste#anti chat noir#anti love square#anti miraculous creators#luka couffaine#lukanette#marinette deserves better#marinette dupain cheng#miraclous ladybug salt#chloe bourgeois#chloe bourgeois redemption#ml salt#reader get's reborn as chloe#marinette x reader#luka x marinette#marinette dupain cheng x reader#luka couffain x reader#ml fanfic: isekai'd as chloe#marinette dupain cheng x luka couffain x reader
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Zutara: FUCK BRYKE!! Nothing after ATLA is canon!!
Also Zutara shippers in the next breath: except everything that happened with Aang and Kataang after ATLA. That’s 100% canon.
The irony of the Zutara shipper mentioning that Kataang is overhated to a Zucest blog, like that’s going to make us all turn away from the ship. Newsflash, asshole, that’s going to just make me ship Kataang even more now out of pure spite. I was also like you, Nichya; neutral on Kataang at first. But now after seeing how it gets these chronically online losers so angry? I am 100% on board with Kataang. Congratulations Zutaras, you lot are even better at getting people to ship Kataang than Kataang shippers themselves.
I legit have a mental list of all the Kataang moments that proove all the famous Zutara takes are bullshit, and looking over that list made me realise the ship had some qualities I over-looked. Meanwhile, the blatant character assassination made me resent Zutara - and all the times I had some bitter zutarians bothering me made plenty of my followers resent it as well.
These people are masters of shooting themselves in the foot.
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ATLA LA
I just wanna say, that I called it back in 2020, Bryke leaving wasn't just Netflix wanting Zutara to be canon. they butchered it in such a way that I am in shock. I finished last night. it's like they're trying to remake the show with what they remembered not actually the source material. As much as I want Zutara to be in LA I do not want them to butcher it. STAY AWAY FROM MY OTP!!!!
book 1/ season 1 is Book of Water. guess who doesn't learn water bending at all in the 8 episodes of season 1. aang.
Don't get me started on Aang.
they are treating us like we have no media literacy when the show is almost 20 years old. ME AND ZUKO HAVE A LOT ON OUR SHOULDERS??!!!!!. OKAY BUDDY.
SOKKA SUCKS ASS. He had a few quips but the delivery didn't make him funny just pitiable. There is no character development. WHY CHANGE DIALOGUE WHEN IT WAS ALREADY GOOD AND YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING BETTER???
katara's fight with Pakku made me so angry. She was much angrier, where was the female rage? it barely lasts two minutes. if not less. where is the acknowledgement of kataras grandmother? That was the main reason why Pakku changed his mind. fuck bro she has so much potential and they snuff her out.
the entire time I was telling my sister we should just watch the cartoon.
also, the one good thing so far is how fleshed out Zuko's character is. and only Zuko. iroh was not iroh but tbh it didnt bother me, but again, where is the rage. where is my "you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun" where is my "here for a rematch? Trust me Zuko it's not gonna be much of a rematch".
the way they show the aftermath of the siege of Ba Sing Sei, and Zuko saving the 41st and them being his crew is my only favorite thing about this.
ALL IN ALL: I hate it thanks. someone described it as a trainwreck i can't look away from and that's true. I am watching solely to be a hater. (to the material never to the actors. I have to admit that they are wholesome and are trying their best. It's never the actor's fault.)
as much as I want to like it because of some additions the taking away is too great to ignore. the fact that most of the character arcs are gone, and they compress 24 20-minute episodes into 8 feels like a cop-out. the main character isn't even the main character anymore. with the time we spend on Zukos ship, this is the Zuko show, not the Aang show. Did you spend five years developing a show on Netflix and this is what it yields? wow.
and this is just what I remember at work.
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I am like, nothing short of absolutely disgusted at Bryke's portrayal of Katara in the comics and TLOK???
And apparently a majority of the audience is okay with this portrayal??
Just a recap:
This is Katara
A girl with severe abandonment issues because her mom was murdered by a Fire Nation soldier and soon after her dad left to fight in the war, leaving her alone to take care of her brother and the village.
This is Aang
A boy with chronic running away issues. This fault of his has led to a war extending up to 100 years causing death and destruction all around the world.
Katara does not acknowledge this fault of his because she idolises him as the Avatar but still his actions hurt her. A lot.
Katara: It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?
Logically speaking, a person with abandonment issues should never be with a person who has a tendency to run away from their issues. But Aang and Katara get together anyway.
But then the comics happen.
Literally anyone who cared about Katara as a character of her own (and not just as Aang's love interest) was infuriated at how she was portrayed. She was stripped of all her autonomy and characterization and was made into "The Avatar's Girlfriend". Nothing of her own.
Some people actually call this relationship sweet. Yuck.
But the thing is, it has panels like this:
Katara, the girl with abandonment issues looks— that's right, abandoned and forgotten.
Even if the "abandonment issues" angle is thrown out of the window, the above panel from Katara's pov is a very unhealthy and shitty experience. (I can vouch with personal experience)
When you clearly don't have anyone else and the one person who you completely dedicate yourself to is completely avoiding you in favour of other people who don't really matter that much just because it makes them feel better/superior, how lonely and abandoned does that make you feel?
Also this sort of behaviour is undeniably selfish and self centred.
This problem of "Aang paying more attention to fangirls" exists in the show as well but atleast Aang corrects his behaviour or accepts that it was incorrect. The comics however:
Katara, who was abandoned, ignored and lonely in this entire comic is reasonably upset about this. But instead of the comic validating her feelings, it makes her feel guilty???
What the fuck??
If this isn't a fulfilment of the male fetish of gfs/wives putting their own mental issues and feelings on a back bench just for the sake of the man's hApPineSs, then what is this?
Not to mention this fetish is pretty disgusting.
This is what young kids are supposed to learn form the comics?
This is harmful for boys AND girls.
But sure couple goals and soulmates or whatever.
Moving on,
The very existence of LOK!Katara is just—
Like what—?
This definitely isn't the Katara I know and love.
Katara, who was completely devastated by her mother's death but got her shit together immediately and seamlessly slipped into the role of her mother and was so damn good at it that her elder brother could conveniently use his coping mechanism to supress their mother's memories with Katara's instead.
You're telling me this same girl grew up to be a sad old lonely widow who spent her days and nights wallowing in the grief of the death of her husband—
Bullshit.
That's straight up romanticization of "life is nothing without you" trope where the wife just becomes a non-functional person after the death of her husband. That, and Bryke not giving a shit about Katara's character.
There's the evident drama of Aang ignoring his two other kids in favour of the Airbending one; leaving Katara with the other two kids. Just like how she was left alone in charge of things as a child.
And then there's this:
They actually take the time to show us that Katara is sad and lonely and abandoned??
What family does she have left at the South pole? None.
And yet, people manage to think Katara is perfectly fine and happy.
Katara, a person with severe abandonment issues spends her entire life being abandoned??
What the fuck Bryke?
Like, it's pretty clear that they didn't give two shits about Katara as a character; she was just supposed to be a pretty arm candy for the Hero™ with some handy dandy waterbending abilities.
But if other people have done a spectacular job of turning this cardboard character into a fully fleshed out, multi dimensional character, why would you throw it away??
Like, that's just dumb.
Why would they take an infinite number of steps back to turn Katara back into a cardboard character and fulfil romanticized misogynistic tropes?
Much wow, many thanks.
#katara deserved better#so much better#katara#pro katara#atla#atla meta#atla critical#atla salt#anti lok#anti atla comics#avatar the last airbender#anti kataang#i guess?#anti bryke#oh yeah definitely#ira's posts
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Zuko & Katara's Relationship Dynamic
This is like the third or fourth time I've tried to write up this post so please bare with me.
Oh wow. That video. Hopefully everyone has seen it now. Not only did it articulate arguments I've been making for years, but it also brought up ideas I had never thought of or noticed before. Watching that and watching the second half of Book 3 again (because it's my favorite) made me want to redo my zutara dynamic post.
I'm going to be using the tiny bits and pieces the show gave us to see how Zuko and Katara's relationship looks and how it would look if they gave us more because...Bryke really fucking hated zutara. I mean, I guess they did.
Katara is compassionate; Zuko is empathetic
A lot of anti-zutara arguments have said that Zuko and Katara could never be together because they would constantly fight and hate each other and it end sooner than later. Not only does this actually describe maiko, but that argument would need to ignore the characters' actual character.
One of Katara's biggest character traits is how compassionate she is. She has a drive to help others and ease their pain. Whether it's getting Aang out of the iceberg or healing a Fire Nation fishing village, Katara will go out of her way to help someone in need.
Katara: No. I will never ever turn my back on people who need me.
Zuko is very emotional and passionate person. As much as he tried to hide it to appease his father, Zuko does want to open up and connect with people. Unfortunately, aside from his uncle, most of the other people he knows are like Zhao and Azula. Not the most understanding of crowds. But because of this he can pick up what people are really thinking and feeling. Think of it as a defense mechanism he developed growing up around people like Azula.
Get these two kinds of people together and you get the crystal catacombs scene. Katara lashes out at Zuko until she breaks down. When she does Zuko opens up with empathy since they have something in common. This creates the beginning of an understanding between the two. Zuko uses that to finally open up to someone who isn't his uncle and Katara listens and reaches out to help. Contrast to the first episode of Book 3 when Zuko tries to voice his thoughts and concerns to Mai and she...doesn't really care.
Something similar happens during The Southern Raiders. Zuko figures out that Katara is taking out her anger of being separated from her father by The Fire Nation onto him and even connecting her mother's death to him.
It's not the first time Zuko has done this either. He easily figured out that Sokka was planning on going to The Boiling Rock. He does it again during Sozin's Comet when he tells Katara that Aang needs to figure out what to do about Ozai by himself.
There's a noticeable pattern of behavior by the time Sozin's Comet arrives. Zuko voices his concerns about meeting his uncle again and Katara is right there to help him through it.
Zuko's empathy combined with Katara's compassion creates almost a cycle of understanding and emotional vulnerability that the two can't really get with anyone else. One notices the other having concerns or problems and goes to give comfort by words or by actions.
Zuko still has a temper but so does Katara
Even after Zuko's fever dream character change thing, even after The Day of Black Sun, he still has it in him to yell at anyone who commits even the slightest transgressions against him:
Aang: That one felt kinda hot.
Zuko: Don't patronize me. You know what it's supposed to look like.
Aang: Sorry, sifu hotman.
Zuko: And stop calling me that!
Sokka: So all we have to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough. *pokes him with his sword* *annoying laugh*
Zuko: All right! Cut it out!
Maybe it's the firebender in him or maybe he really is just like that. Basically if you annoy him, he'll let you know. What people sometimes overlook is that while it takes Katara a bit longer, she also gets worked up when people upset her.
Toph: What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches?
Katara: Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?
And remember, it was Katara getting angry at Sokka that even broke the iceberg that revealed Aang.
Katara: Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!
Sokka: Uh... Katara?
Katara: I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!
Sokka: Katara! Settle down!
Katara: No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!
The point is that it is both Zuko and Katara that are very passionate and emotional people. One of them isn't emotionally dominating the other because they both wear their emotions on their sleeves.
This also comes in to play when they set goals for themselves. When Zuko sets a goal, he puts everything into it. Katara is the same way. The difference is that Zuko's drive sometimes gives him a one-track mind while Katara is more flexible. Like for example Zuko being so focused on finding Aang before Sozin's Comet that he ignores Toph's story about her childhood versus Katara wanting to go to the North Pole but taking time to stop and help whoever they come across.
This passion also fuels their values and how strongly they stand by their beliefs. I already put The Painted Lady quote up above but Zuko's morality is what is making him so angry at himself during The Beach. He knows what he did was wrong, but he couldn't face it yet.
Sometimes their emotions get the better of them, but it's only because they are passionate about what they're doing.
Their natural teamwork is amazing
I can't provide a lot of clues in this bit because it's more of a visual thing. Just consider how flawlessly their plans worked during their attack on The Southern Raiders. Especially when you consider that it was a stealth mission so they barely even said anything to each other during and it still went incredibly well.
You could see it again during their mock battle with The Melon Lord. Sokka must have noticed because he paired them together to deliver some "liquidy-hot offence." And they pulled it off, again, without having to say anything.
They've only been a team for a few weeks(?), days(?) but they act as if they've been doing it for years.
They trust each other's judgment
Piggybacking of the previous point, Zuko and Katara have only been a team for a while but there seems to be a level of understanding in terms of judgement. They both know that whatever the other chooses is going to be a well-thought out decision. Maybe it's because they see each other as the mature members of the group even though Sokka is the same age as Zuko? I don't know.
Aang disappears right before they embark on their fight against the Fire Lord, and out of nowhere, Katara puts Zuko in charge.
Zuko: Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away.
Katara: What should we do Zuko?
Zuko: I don't know. Why are you all looking at me?
Katara: Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang.
and that wasn't the first time in that episode that she went along with one of Zuko's decisions
Katara: Aang, don't walk away from this. *She begins to walk towards him as a hand touches her shoulder to stop her from doing so.*
Zuko: Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself.
As a lot of people have pointed out during the entirety of The Southern Raiders, Zuko never gives a suggestion on what he thinks Katara should do. Aside from making it a stealth mission, he follows her lead the entire way.
Katara teases Zuko (and he lets her)
The fun one. This one has two parts: pre and post The Southern Raiders.
Before The Southern Raiders, Katara was tolerating Zuko. She was still angry with him about the betrayal at Ba Sing Se. Getting little jabs at him was the only thing that was really helping her from loosing her cool around him.
Katara: I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know... how it would have been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago?
Zuko: Well it's not lost. It's just weaker for some reason.
Katara: Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are.
Toph: Ouch.
He just finished yelling at Aang and Sokka but all he does is glare at Katara. She does it again, but to be fair, he kind of set himself up for it.
Zuko: It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!
Katara: Oh yeah? What's your little form called?
Zuko: ...The Dancing Dragon.
Then comes post The Southern Raiders and...yeah, she's still picking on him and he still lets her. Granted it's a lot more playful this time around.
Zuko: They make me totally stiff and humorless.
Katara: Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on.
Zuko: How could you say that?
Actor Uncle: Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages.
Actor Zuko: How could you say that?!
(Cut back to Katara wearing a satisfied grin on her face and she looks to an expressionless Zuko as he slouches in his seat.)
I love pointing it out every time. She teases him and he does nothing about it.
Katara: Er, no. I was looking for cooking pots in the attic and I found this. Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute? Oh lighten up, I was just teasing.
And she admits it!
-
So what can we take away from this? From what little time they were given together (thanks, Bryke) it seems that Zuko and Katara really understand each other on an intimate emotional level. They can sense when the other is distressed and offer comfort. They're both passionate in and out of combat, for better or for worse. They're comfortable with each other as if they've known each other for years even though it's such a short time. Katara also likes to add a little bit of playfulness in there with Zuko letting her have her fun, again, showing how comfortable they are with each other.
I do think their relationship could have gone to romantic sooner than later if you would have given it a bit more time. Like first half of a hypothetical Book 4.
To me, at least.
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gods, ok, apparently i’m not done.
atla fandom? we need to have a chat.
(....ok that made me sound pretentious as fuck. and maybe i am, but this needs to be said, cause i’m getting....real, real tired of a Certain Corner of this fandom and as a result, this is gonna be a discourse-heavy post so feel free to scroll past if that’s not your bag. as always, my salt posts all carry the catch-all #salt for ts tag, which you’re free to blacklist/filter at your leisure. i’m Very Annoyed at the moment, which will probably come through in the following post, so just. yknow. be prepared for that. or ignore it, that’s perfectly valid too.)
under a cut bc i do care for my followers and their sanity i swear lmao
there’s a real serious issue in this fandom with not understanding what queer terminology actually means or implies, especially when applied to a fictional narrative.
i’m specifically talking about ‘coding’, here. (if i were in a more meme-y mood, i might have said ‘the atla fandom found out about the term “gay-coding” and haven’t shut up since’.)
to the people who say ‘zuko is gay-coded’, i have this to say: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means. because he isn’t. i’m sorry, but he’s not! and the fact that this is such a prevalent claim in this fandom is distressing, bc it says to me that none of y’all know what gay-coding is or when and how to apply it! please, i’m begging you, go and look up these terms and what they mean and when they should be used before actually trying to plug them into your critical analysis, because when you misuse them and then call other people delusional for disagreeing with you it casts a pall over the entire fandom and is, i think, the root of some of the worst toxicity this fandom has to offer.
and the thing is, there are cases where gay-coding would apply--for instance, a couple series that are famous for queerbaiting their audience by coding their main characters as being attracted to one another (sometimes even despite their openly stated sexualities) come to mind, but those shows bare no similarities at all to atla and how zuko was written and portrayed! (and it would be funny, if it weren’t so obnoxious and infuriatingly wide-spread throughout the fandom, because the only queer couple we actually seen on-screen in either show wasn’t even queer-coded in any respect, and they’re canonically bi! [yes, i’m shading korrasami, or more accurately i’m shading bryke for refusing to give ka the build-up and development they deserved].)
this absolutely isn’t to say that headcanoning zuko as gay is a bad thing or invalid in any respect. (although the tendency for zukka shippers to do this specifically to keep zuko away from katara and/or invalidate his canon relationship/attraction to girls is more than a little eyebrow raising. especially since sokka is usually allowed to be bi, bc fans have no problem letting sukka stay in the background bc it’s no real threat, while jetko shippers are happy to have both boys be bi. [possibly bc katara is less a threat to jetko bc jetkotara is every bit as valid as any single ship between the three, but zukka can’t exactly let katara join in, and if the potential exists for zuko to be attracted to her then canon giving them the far deeper emotional bond becomes a threat to zukka’s existence? idk for sure--you be the judge.]) i prefer to hc zuko as bi (and always have, long before the atla renaissance), bc i don’t think zuko being attracted to boys is outside the realm of possibility, and it isn’t a threat to my ship since zuko&katara had a deep and emotional bond in canon that is very easy to develop further into something that becomes explicitly romantic--but the headcanon itself isn’t really the problem (although what it’s often in service to can be).
it’s the strange insistence that this is the only way to read his character, bc he was coded that way and so anyone who doesn’t see it must be too straight to understand--and i really shouldn’t have to say why and how that is so incredibly fucking insulting. (the ‘hetero lenses’ comment wasn’t cute when it came from bryke six years ago, and the same sentiment being repackaged and delivered by zukka shippers ain’t cute now.)
calling zuko gay-coded not only demonstrates ignorance as to what the term actually means, and how to usefully apply it in critical analysis, but also validates the frankly bullshit insertion of institutionalized homophobia in the world of atla where it was neither needed, nor wanted, nor ever hinted at in canon. as a queer woman i’m still infuriated by one fucking comic panel shoving institutionalized and systemic homophobia into a world where it was entirely unnecessary (and doing this in the first installment of the franchise showcasing a queer relationship??? making korra and asami worried about ‘coming out’ when they could have just gone on to have cute adventures together and tell people ‘hey we’re dating’ and have everyone else be ‘that’s awesome =DDD’ [because it is, in fact, possible to just have a world without homophobia i promise!!!!!] double yikes, i’m still pissed at bryke about it), and i doubly hate that ‘zuko is gay coded’ has become so widespread that ‘ozai hates him bc he’s gay’ has become a staple in that part of the fandom.
not only does making zuko gay and implying (or outright stating) that ozai hated and abused him because of it completely undermine zuko’s character arc by making his abuse about his sexuality rather than ozai’s toxic pride and anger at seeing himself reflected in his ‘weak’ son, but it comes very close to outright stating that abuse and trauma are inherently gay experiences, and they aren’t!!! they really aren’t, i promise!!!
abuse and trauma narratives exist outside of ‘my dad hates me because i’m gay’. and, quite frankly, there are MORE THAN ENOUGH queer trauma narratives out in the world. we do not need to start trying to retroactively make them canon in a series where they didn’t exist! if you’re gay and see yourself in zuko and project your own experiences on him, that’s understandable and valid. that does not make zuko gay-coded. and honestly, the insistence that he is makes very little sense to me, because you’re essentially trying to give the show credit for work you put into interpreting the characters! why would you want to do that? why not own your own headcanons and take credit for them, rather than insisting they are canon and everyone else is wrong for not seeing them??? like, i’ve said before that i’ve always headcanoned zuko (and katara) as bi, and even support it with my interpretations of evidence from the show, but the difference between ‘i think zuko is bi’ and ‘zuko is definitely gay-coded’ is that i know that bi zuko is my interpretation of canon, and that it is work i’m putting into the show that wasn’t actually intended by the creators/writers, no matter how much sexual tension i read into the jetko swordfight.
and like, zuko’s character arc doesn’t actually parallel a queer one all that well to begin with. it’s easy enough to do the work and twist it sideways just enough to make the general points fit, but the fact is, zuko’s arc is not one of self-discovery. it’s not one of coming to understand something fundamental about himself that he can’t change, that he was hated for, and coming out to his father in a dramatic confrontation where he shows that he understands himself and doesn’t need his father’s acceptance to be fulfilled.
zuko’s arc is actually one of trauma and healing. and those can (and often are--like i said, there are more than enough queer trauma narratives in the world, atla really doesn’t need to be one of them) be part of queer narratives, for sure! but they aren’t uniquely queer. and zuko’s confrontation with ozai during the eclipse doesn’t read like a ‘coming out’ at all. (yes, i’ve seen that post. yes, i rolled my eyes and moved on, bc unlike some people, i’m capable of not clowning on correctly tagged posts i disagree with.) zuko is specifically confronting ozai over his abuse, because his arc wasn’t about discovering anything fundamental about himself (and therefore realizing that ozai was hating him for something he couldn’t change)--it was about realizing that he was not at fault for the way his father treated him. it was also about realizing that the fire nation was broken and corrupt at its core, and that his father was an aspect of that he needed to break away from so that he could help the world begin to heal.
he says it himself:
Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.
making this about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.
is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.
(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)
anyway, uh, that was a lot of words, so have a tl;dr: zuko is not gay-coded. there is nothing uniquely gay (or even uniquely queer) about his character arc or characterization, and he was certainly not coded gay in an attempt to sneak a queer character past the censors. if anyone involved with atla was gonna try that, it would’ve been in lok, and as established, they didn’t even manage to queer-code the actual queer relationship before the last few minutes of the final episode. headcanoning zuko as gay is absolutely fine (though if it’s only done to keep him away from female characters he may otherwise be attracted to, that smells more like misogyny than anything else), but insisting that this reading is the only one that makes sense, and anyone who doesn’t agree must be straight (hello, queer woman here making this insanely long thinkpiece) is very much not.
ship what you like, but stop trying to invalidate other ships and other interpretations of characters just to make your ship seem more plausible. it’s really not a good look.
#atla#zuko#zukka salt#more like zukka shipper salt#atla fandom salt#salt for ts#zuko is not gay coded and im so so tired of seeing that argument in this fandom#it's fine as a hc but it's not canon and was never remotely intended and his arc isn't particularly evocative of a gay narrative#long post#queer things
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On Wu’s backstory:
Wu is a character many people find annoying, but I enjoy. His backstory is vague at best. Here is what we know.
Wu is the grand nephew of Hou-Ting. He is the only heir to the throne.
At some point he moved to Republic City. Commentary implies that he was there doing a degree
At some point Mako was made his bodyguard. Commentary implies that Mako was his bodyguard for the three years.
The canon status of all commentary is debatable. As far as I see it, the show is true canon, the only reason we take the commentary as canon is because nothing contradicts it, but it is particularly substantial.
So, let’s analyse this backstory. This is all my personal opinion and headcanon and based upon what I find interesting and what fits Wu’s character as we see it in Book 4.
Was there a Royal Family massacre and is Wu traumatised?
We don’t see any other family members than Hou-Ting in Book 3. In Book 4, we are introduced to Wu, and only Wu. He is the heir to the throne.
At the end of book 3, Ba Sing Se falls to a the angry citizens of Ba Sing Se. We do see them enter the palace. They are seen looting and burning.
So, did this mob murder the rest of the Royal Family? Wu is the only heir. He is the grand nephew. This implies both his parents and grandparents are dead. What happened to them? They all must have died fairly young if Wu is the heir as a twenty something in Book 4.
I believe this is the basis of the ‘royal family massacre’ argument. Wu is too young to be the only heir to the throne. And the mob were angry. Therefore, the heirs above Wu were killed.
Now to be clear: the real reason Wu is a young heir is because Bryke wanted someone young for Mako to bounce off of. He’s around the same age as Mako but has a completely different life to him. Wu is not serious whereas Mako is. Wu is flippant and Mako is serious. Wu is extroverted and Mako is introverted. Wu is rich, Mako is not. This contrast is more fun if they’re the same age.
I say this because I think it’s clear that Wu was created with no clear trauma in mind. Wu does not act especially scared, or traumatised by the past. He is cautious and scared of hearing of Hou-Ting’s death, but acts in a comedic manner (fake strangling sounds) but then resumes a proper mourning action (may she rest in piece). Wu acts fairly silly throughout the series, enjoys the attention from fans, and even towards the end he creates a plan that he hopes will gain him attention from Korra. Wu is breezy and flippant and shallow, only really maturing towards the end and appears to be genuinely committed to dismantling the monarchy.
The trauma seen in fan works is a result of fan expansions, and personally I don’t really see it having a strong basis in the show. Wu is never really shown to be scared, or withdrawn at any points. Wu is never shown to be angry at the local populace who killed his family, as although Wu is shallow he never treats anyone badly. So is he masking? That’s totally up to your interpretation. Wu could be burying all his negative emotions and is acting out to hide his trauma. This is perfectly plausible. Personally, the lack of anger is what slightly damns this interpretation for me, I’m sure he’d show something.
Also I don’t think Wu not being fully prepared to take the throne is unreasonable— it makes sense if he was going to finish his education before starting public duties and gaining more political experience. And he could have made public experiences but still be fairly shallow. It’s implied that the Dai Li have a great degree of power so Wu not taking things that seriously or having a lot of experience is perfectly reasonable: it’s not needed for him to do so. So no, I don’t think Wu being the primary heir to the throne has to be sudden and unexpected because Wu isn’t very well prepared or serious.
How Old is Wu?
If you take the idea that he was in Republic City doing a degree when Hou-Ting was murdered, he could have been eighteen at the time, and twenty-one by the time of Book 4. He could be older. He could have started the degree at a younger age however, so he could even be nineteen at the start of Book 4.
If you ignore the idea that Wu was in Republic City prior to Book 3, and only came to Republic City to be safe after the Queen’s death, he could he even younger, potentially around eighteen in Book 4 if you HC him as young, but he could also still be older than Mako. Basically nothing confirmed, but I think it does depend on how seriously you take the commentary about the degree.
Have Wu and Mako worked together for three years?
This is going to be my strongest opinion, but I don’t think their relationship makes much sense if they’ve known eachother for three years.
I feel like this was meant to explain what Mako was doing for three years, but Mako doing his job as a detective was enough. So I don’t think it was needed.
In the episode where Wu’s coronation is ruined, Wu has a breakdown. Mako asks why he even wants to be King. He apologises, and Wu says that ‘no-one ever spoke to him like that’.
No-one has ever spoken to Wu like, even Mako. For three years? I don’t buy it. Mako is professional but he does talk back to Wu. Mako doesn’t think Wu is deserving of power just because he was born into it. I can’t believe Mako would his tongue on Wu for three years.
Also, I think Wu and Mako have a nice arc over Book 4. They get to know each-other more deeply. Mako sees the more mature side of Wu. I just don’t get the impression that they really knew each other that well beforehand, and I think you’d learn more about each other if you were together 24/7 for three years.
Obviously a lot of fan works expand on this and make the whole three years together thing make sense (by making them fuck usually and then having ensuing drama), but my critique is that I often think this over explains Wu’s character and ignores the very real shallowness Wu does show in early Book 4 by making It doesn’t meant I don’t love these fics, but I just don’t really ever reconcile them with the version of Wu we see in the show.
What I headcanon.
Again, this is literally just headcanon, and the events have no real confirmation in canon, it’s just what I think is both interesting and what I think matches with Wu’s characterisation in the show, whilst also giving him a backstory and more depth.
Wu’s grandparent and heir to the throne had one child, who became Wu’s father. This grandparent and heir dies. This grandparent dies young.
Wu’s parent’s were married. It was a political arrangement as Wu’s mother was from a rich family. Their marriage is strained. They have one child, Wu and don’t really talk to eachother much. Wu’s Dad dies young from partying too hard. Wu is left the only heir.
Wu’s mother remarries a wealthy baron or something. Because of not doing widowhood properly she is not welcome at the palace and moves away from Ba Sing Se. She and Wu have a strained relationship, since she never really wanted Wu in the first place. They sometimes exchange letters. (This could be swapped for his father and his mother was the heir but honestly I just wanted a strained relationship with a maternal figure. She got her happy ending but not with Wu).
Wu and Queen Hou-Ting have a very strained relationship as Hou Ting considers him weak, and despises animals which Wu loves.
Wu ends up with no real close familial relationship and is used to never really caring about anything. He is very isolated and is mostly raised by Dai-Li appointed carers.
At twenty ish Wu decides he wants out and asks to study in Republic City. The Queen is against this but Wu is insistent and she sees it as an excuse to get him out of her hair.
Wu moved to Republic City. After the fall of the walls, the Dai Li are in disarray as much of the leadership flees the city. Wu was previously appointed Dai Li bodyguards but Republic City officials replace them with city appointed bodyguards instead to maintain order. Unsure of how to proceed with Wu, Raiko and the other leaders agree that Wu shall complete his degree whilst Kuvira restores order. Wu is rarely included in meetings that decide the Earth Kingdom’s policy because they don’t like him and everyone just accepts he will be a King supported by his advisors and won’t rule himself.
Wu is of course horrified but he has a lack of personal stake in the death of his great aunt other than the realisation that he is now under a lot of pressure, which Wu mostly just ignores.
Wu completed his degree. After this, he begins to move into the public sphere and begins to make public appearances. Instead of a rotating team of bodyguards he requests a personal one, Mako, because he saw him a newspaper and thought he was hot really cool. This happens around six months before Republic City.
Mako treats Wu as a job, but the events of Book 4 eventually push them to become better friends and get to know eachother. Wu matures What happens next is either comics canon or my own ideas.
This is complete headcanon and I expect some people disagree! Hope it makes sense.
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please god let me overanalyze this literal five second bit for christmas
Zhao’s Demise but Actually I Talk About Why He’s a Viable Candidate for a Redemption Arc
—
So, Zuko offers his hand, Zhao refuses, his pride becomes his own downfall. Done deal, no need to read further into it.
Most people arrive at the conclusion that his arrogance is cause for that ultimate look of ‘eat piss’ on his face... I’m most people. I’m not arguing that. What I didn’t notice the first time around was the penultimate expression, one I believe is meant to convey something slightly more human. People have made note of this too, called it a moment of recognition or humility, anagnorisis. I’ll throw up the screencaps, second for second, and walk you through. The reason I do this is, considering how much time and effort goes into animation, I will be treating each and every frame as if it has earned its place in the episode’s run time, 100%. Bryke are the masters. I am but a humble consumer.
Two parts encapsulate Zhao’s final moments. The first, before cutting away to Zuko’s outstretched hand, has nothing to do with vanity or hatred. Rather, it’s the farthest emotion from both, and more importantly, it’s genuine.
He turns to look at him, at the banished prince he’s hunted and ridiculed relentlessly. Zhao doesn’t sour on the onset, at the mere thought of being rescued by someone he regards as a failure and disgrace. Instead it conveys surprise, expected of Zuko’s offer in spite of the heated rivalry they share. It’s everything he doesn’t understand, a merciless man shown mercy, a poster child for rage and grudge given a chance to live by a scarred boy with every right to hate the world around him, and get rid of his competition to achieve the only ends that will restore him. It cuts away after this look, face buried in the ocean spirit’s massive hand:
Looks almost repentant, if the context were switched up a little. Doesn’t it? ;p
The next part is, maybe, even harder to digest in its entirety without really slowing it down. Instead of the dramatically retracting his arm and delivering that lasting, withering look designed to ring with absolute contempt and self-absorption... Zhao reaches back.
His hand moves closer to the lower lefthand corner of the screen. His fingers curl inward, and for a terrifying instant it looks as though he intends to grab Zuko and drag him down with him. The anger fades again, however, and with no reason or motive to not maintain that facade, I assume the next few shots are also authentic, human.
Zhao’s hand falters. It moves back, and the slant of his eyebrows is not so severe. This doesn’t quite come off as the beginning stages of a royal ‘fuck you’... so what’s up?
And there you have it. The most baffling expression to witness on one Admiral Zhao, personally speaking.
It’s as if his hand has gone limp. His eyes are grave, and his anger has dissolved. Into what, is up to interpretation - easily the core of Bryke genius. I see it as mercy. Something Zhao only learns in his last moments, from an adversary, no less, and returns by refusing Zuko’s hand. Either Zhao believed himself worthy of more than damsel-esque rescue from the treacherous enemy of his nation... or he believed in the exact opposite. It’s that kind of realization, which, in my opinion, renders the expression above.
And so, he ends on a characteristically haughty note of dismissal, superiority. His iconic, scathing features return, and like most soldiers, choosing death is in and of itself an act of defiance, and at the same time a display of servile, unimaginable loyalty. Dying for honor or a cause is no light topic... if anything, this scene reveals the extent of Fire Nation nationalism. And we know how it’s repaid, how his story finally ends in a maddening, eternal fog.
So, Redemption Arc?
Yeesh, grim portrait of such a scoff-able moment. But bear with me. Redeeming Zhao deserves an entire post of its own, but I’ll lay down the bare bones of such a hypothetical.
Consider any other ATLA villain that shows such drastic change in their character - a brief, shining moment of humanity, vulnerability, or conflict. Zuko aside, and the crazed Azula, there’s little to nothing to work with. Long Feng, Combustion Man, Firelord Ozai - stagnant, little backstory. There’s a moment in Zuko Alone where we see Ozai standing over the turtle duck pond, regarded as an attempt at processing Ursa’s loss. It’s even said that the royal family was truly happy once. Scant, but plenty to expand on, right? Except Ozai remains the worst father in the history of fathers, and status as a genocidal maniac is generally seen as a hard pass.
Take Zhao, then. Complicit, or a pawn? Arrogant ass, or a brainwashed soldier, raised on the wrong ideals? We’ve seen Fire Nation schools. We know our own history. In both occasions where he’s on the verge of killing a minor, something that immediately lands a ticket to Irredeemable Land - he fails, embarrassingly so. Are his hands clean? Certainly not. Show-wise, however, he’s depicted as a laughable fool, his shot at greatness reduced to insignificance... just like Uncle Iroh’s heart of gold takes precedence over a history of warmongering. It’s framing, and it’s deliberate.
In the end, I leave anyone still reading with this.
If Zhao could learn mercy and return it in the last split-second before his defeat, if he genuinely saw Zuko, for the first and only time, and made a radical choice in light of it... what’s to say he couldn’t learn - or unlearn - more? That he couldn’t make another good choice, and another, if his mind wasn’t being rotted out by fog? *suspicious shrug emoji*
At the foundation of his character is a soldier. Someone hungry for glory, sworn to serve. He hunts the Avatar, he attacks the Blue Spirit, he besieges the Northern Kingdom and yes, takes the moon out of duty - a distorted notion of honor and destiny, and a destructive root to firebending influenced by a century of war. Seems to carry the faintest hint of PTSD. Any chance the show might contain such a hint?
Ah...
#LONG post#atla#avatar the last airbender#atla theory#atla meta#admiral zhao#zhao#zuko#firelord ozai#azula#merry chrysler everyone!! 🎄
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the difference between kataang and zutaras is zuts ignore her canon moments of affection towards aang/ and prop up momtara while kataang fans view her as a kid and dont treat her moments with zuko like he's pure evil towards her, i think most of us agree the times they got along were sweet moments.. and we know she didnt want to be vied as a mom she said so to toph in the runaway. we also know that didnt let everyone walk all over her/do chores cause she told toph that everyone did their fair share/ We also know that she cares about aang and was deveasted he almost died and dont consider her threatening zuko as just being mad he nearly cost them the war/avatar and that she mad cause her best friend died . and losing him is her biggest fear cause she loves him.. any katara that hates aang/ consider him childish/ a baby and wants to be saved by zuzo is ooc.. kataang fans know her character on this site.. zutaras ignore everything and call you a sexist bryke fan if you point out canon mometns cause they just hate canon i guess.. if you ask me ignoring kataras acutal words in thes how and calling em ooc is taking her agency away more than bryke ever did
I'm far from being a bryke stan and I do have some issues with some of their writting choices, but holy fuck, the way Zutarians talk about them is some Alex Jones shit.
They made up a whole conspiracy on how they were trying to sabotage The Dragon Prince, Aaron Ehasz's show, because he commmited the mortal sin of shipping Zutara - even though he has repeatedly made it clear that he loves Mai and Maiko. They straight up use a FAKE interview to "prove" he was on their side and that Zutara was always the plan, but evil Bryke ruined it.
They also like to use Dante Basco as an excuse to be shitty to other fans because he likes Zutara - even though he already said he likes Mai, and doesn't really have a problem with the way the show ended. The concept of multi-shipping doesn't exist to them.
They're not satisfied by just finding someone to "blame" for their ship not being canon - they're making up "saviors" for their OTP, which does nothing but make them look unhinged.
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hope this doesn't come across as rude, but i'm genuinely wondering how not having african culture in atla makes it anti-black? the world that the show is set in is loosely based on asian/indigenous cultures, and it's not meant to be a representation of the real world
@visibilityofcolor does a good job of explaining this, but basically, it assumes that excluding white people from your world is the same as excluding Black people. White people have had numerous fantasy representations of themselves. Black folks haven’t. Additionally, the ATLAverse (more specifically, Legend of Korra) *does* take Black culture--the score is heavily influenced by jazz, which was created by Black people and stems from blues, which itself stems from spirituals sung by enslaved Black Americans. But of course, there aren’t any Black people in Legend of Korra. Honestly, the fact that jazz is in lok’s score makes me so angry because it’s really clear to me that they thought jazz would be a fun, apolitical environmental detail to really sell the whole 1920s aesthetic they had going on, and the 1920s in America was not just aesthetic, it was Black people* suffering from numerous racially charged attacks and creating a culture out of that, out of the joy and pain and love in being Black in America. It’s not apolitical, it’s not just aesthetic, and if bryke really wanted to make a show just about Asian and Indigenous cultures, it shouldn’t have fucking been there. Personally, I chalk this up to bryke being weebs and weebs not giving a shit about people who aren’t white or pale East Asian (not to say that the East Asian characters were well-represented--bad representation in ATLA is a combo of fetishizing East Asian cultures, misrepresenting Indigenous cultures, appropriating/making fun of South/Southeast Asian cultures, and erasing Black cultures) but I’m sure if they were to read this post they’d say something along the lines of what you’re saying, that it’s not meant to be a representation of the real world. And that’s fine! I don’t feel the need to be represented in every story. What bothers me is that they erased even the possibility of Blackness in their story. ATLA is a huge world with tons of history but one thing you know for absolutely damn sure is that nowhere in this history, in this world’s past, present, or future, are there any Black people. (But there is jazz. Because of course there is.) All of the main characters could have been Asian/Indigenous, all the settings depicted in the show could have been inspired by Asian/Indigenous cultures, that is absolutely fine, but I would love to have it at least be a possibility that Black people could be included in this world at some point. But the ATLAverse bends over backwards to make certain that that’s not the case, and it sucks. I’m not saying that we should just throw ATLA away or anything because of this, but it is a valid criticism to have of the show.
EDIT: I just remembered this and VoC mentions it in their post too but like. there are Black people in all of the cultures depicted in ATLA/LOK/the Kyoshi Novels. fully they could have represented Black people and it would have been historically and culturally accurate and jived with the Asian/Indigenous inspired world they created, they just chose not to.
*please don’t misconstrue this as me saying that Black people are the only racial group that experienced racially motivated attacks in the 1920s, obviously that’s not what I’m saying at all, but when speaking specifically about the environment in which jazz, a Black creation, was made, I needed to speak about anti-Black racism in particular.
#antiblackness#racism#anons#replies#my cashapp is $nbycrafterarthur#i swear to fuck if i get an ask about how wakanda or w/e excluded asians i'm gonna lose my shit#swearing tw
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(Imperialism etc anon) Ok I get where you're coming from! Thank you for being understanding. While Zutara is obviously not inherently racist or anything there are zutara interpretations that *are* racist (example: fire lady katara which I can get into) and it does need to be acknowledged that Zuko's status as fire nation royalty does create a power imbalance between him and Katara. Now, this is a conversation that has a lot of nuance to it but it seems like the people harassing you are (1/2)
(2/2) just repeating some genuine critique they saw without understanding what it means just to say that they're right, harassing people in the process. I did not have that context when sending that first ask and I apologize, since anons harassing you and others are clearly doing it out of bad faith. I just didn't like the leveraging of concepts that really matter in real life (colonialism, etc), ykwim? But I get what you were trying to do.
hey anon I’m finally getting to you after 84 years XD
so first off, I want to be careful about how I approach this because I understand that as a white person (even if my ancestors experienced imperialism) in the US I absolutely benefit from imperialism and don’t want to like, idk, whitesplain XD so if anyone gets annoyed with any way I say anything, just lmk and I’ll rework it. and I also do understand that these are real world issues that are far more consequential than messaging in media (although I do think it’s very important that we challenge messages in media because of media’s influence on our thinking and politics).
but before I talk about zuko and his relationship to fire nation imperialism, and then later fire lady katara and why it isn’t INHERENTLY racist but definitely can be, I want to talk about the atla fandom and how we got here. like, why I assume that most anons who come at zutara shippers are asshats acting in bad faith. if you already know fandom history, skip this section.
1. atla and the fandom has always been kind of shitty and racist
so IDK if everyone is familiar with the history of the ship war in atla fandom, but it’s regarded as one of the nastiest ship wars in fandom history which I agree lol. atla’s creators were some of the first to interact with the fandom the way they did - back then it wasn’t all that common for creators to get into twitter feuds with fans and boundaries were respected more than they are now imo. but for better or worse, and it is a mixed bag, bryke interacted with fandom a lot. certainly at cons but also on social media.
but honestly things really got extra mean in fan spaces when bryke made a “joke” atla season 4 slideshow out of fan art (some of which was really sexual in nature and totally inappropriate) that mocked fans’ creations, but especially zutara fanart and zutara itself. it was pretty tasteless especially considering how most zutara fans were teen girls, and featured some art of sokka saying that if you think zuko and katara would be good together, you’re doomed to have failed relationships. that’s where the whole “dark and mysterious” bs came from, which does describe some zutara fic but not even most of it lol. I actually do respect bryke a lot despite my criticism of them, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over that shit. like even if you hate zutara, even if it’s a joke, we were kids. and they were adults, and the whole thing was nasty.
however, the ship war was chaotic and messy, but it does feel worse now. maybe it’s because back then the fandom was MOSTLY teens and kids, and I don’t think that’s true now. we were all trying to prove our ship was best with like, content from the show and theories and all that, and now it’s like... whose ship is ~problematic lol it’s a show by white us americans appropriating from various cultures impacted negatively by us/british imperialism that they then profited off of, of course it’s racist. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about that, and in fact many poc have been saying this shit for years - that atla is racist and colorist at many times (guru pathik anyone?) and no one really listened.
if fans are complaining only about zutara, then I’m automatically writing them off as being insincere or ignorant. and since most of these people are anonymous, I have no idea if they are having substantive discourse about colorism in avatar or cultural appropriation (even if it is mostly appreciative). if you are on anon, I have no context about what you actually think except for what you give me. and that definitely is how I view anons in general but especially within the atla fandom because for all 13-ish years I’ve been in it, it’s been messy. that’s why zutara fans have isolated ourselves from the rest of fandom, because the rest of fandom has been really nasty to us. like did we give back some nastiness? absolutely.
but I would hazard a guess that most anti-zutara shippers don’t know about the conversations we have had in this community to make it safer for people of color, conversations that centered poc and woc especially. hey, that’s okay - not to compare zutara to r*ylo because eurgh but like, idk what discourse the r*ylos have about their community. no idea, I don’t go looking for it. and I don’t go to the tags and harass r*ylos - even though they harass the fuck out of everyone else.
2. so zuko and his privilege
undoubtedly zuko as fire lord is in a fairly privileged position LMFAO. but during the show zuko is very clearly exiled - he holds very little political power in the fire nation EXCEPT for during the first season when he is in command of a ship that ozai gave him on a punishment quest lol like yeah he does terrible things and he of all people would not excuse his actions even if he was a traumatized kid, that’s the point of his arc - that he got some exposure to the rest of the world and worked to be better. and the only reason he was exiled at all was because he cares about people - he didn’t question fire nation supremacy at 13, but he sure did question the morality of his people being lead to slaughter.
but after zuko and iroh defect from the fire nation and stop hunting aang, he has next to no power, in any kind of way. like the guy is a political refugee. and yes, he goes back to the fire nation for like five minutes before realizing that he hates everything about fire nation hegemony and that he wants to end his father’s reign of terror, like that isn’t exactly someone who is going to be well esteemed by the powerful elites when he returns and takes the throne.
and I disregard the comics because they suck lol but zuko does have power as the fire lord, but he limits his power. like compared to ozai, phoenix asshole? azula? for the rest of the world, zuko is kind of an ideal leader for a former colonizing/imperialistic nation to have - someone who worked to end that tyranny, who is anti-imperialist, who believes in justice and equality, who wants to make things right for the peoples who his family oppressed.
I do think it is important to talk about power dynamics and imbalances in relationships - for instance, one could argue that mai is at a significant disadvantage in her relationship with zuko. sure she is from a powerful family but not as powerful as zuko’s. sokka? hah forget it. he’s just as disadvantaged as katara is politically speaking. toph? well, she’s definitely not as powerful politically as zuko - her family tried to silence her for years because of her disability. and oh, she’s disabled so it might be ableist for zuko to strike up a relationship with her when they’re both adults. forgetting of course that toph and sokka and katara and suki and mai are not going to be shy about their wants and needs, that these relationships are not likely to be coercive by nature of the show they’re in and the characters they involve. this is not bill clinton with monica creepiness. like, you’d have to write the relationship that way.
the only person who arguably has more political power than zuko is aang. I guess zuko can’t ever be in a relationship with anyone other than aang. and zuko’s family massacred aang’s people so I guess we can’t ship zukaang. now I know you’re not saying that, context matters. power dynamics are important. but you can’t take away the agency of characters - katara, who is essentially a princess, has agency and can choose who she wants to be with. strictly speaking, aang is more powerful than anyone in terms of political power - he’s the avatar - and of course the dynamic is different by nature of aang not being from a line of oppressors, but there still is a power imbalance in their relationship. and I don’t know how many k/ataang shippers have discourse~ on that. not that I really feel like they NEED to, um idk what they talk about lol I’m not in those circles.
3. fire lady katara is in the eye of the beholder
so fire lady katara is not inherently bad or racist, it’s essentially like saying michelle obama shouldn’t have been first lady of the us (now I get that like the obamas being in power didn’t mean black people are not marginalized lol). you can have conversations about whether or not individual versions of fire lady katara are fucked up, and I’m superrrr open to that because I’ve seen it be kinda shitty before. i’m just gonna leave this link to @shewhotellsstories and her post on this.
but often times katara as fire lady is very dominant in global/fire nation/water tribe politics, she’s a game changer ambassador (that is probably the most popular headcanon I see), she holds on to her culture (and many fans have designed her being in her wt colors, zuko is respectful af to her, she and zuko spend extended periods in the swt, etc. like... it just depends on the way it’s written.
also leaving this response by @avatarnerdkiller to the idea of katara being a prize figurehead.
anyway, thanks for your patience anon and I am curious to see if you see this or even feel like responding after all this time XD
#atla#petty fandom drama#zutara fandom#zutara#fire lady katara#discourse sigh#racism#fandom racism#asks#anonymous
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Yes, we went from a pan-asian world to Not!New York, but that's still something that could be considered implausible, not impossible. The spirits we saw in Korra are not the same spirits we saw in ATLA. Toph being a cop is implausible, not impossible. Aang's culture is still gone. Just because there are new airbenders, doesn't mean they're there to replace the culture that got wiped out. If Bryke and many of Avatar animators weren't involved in Korra, then just maybe you could say it's not canon
Mate, if you like Korra or at the very least consider it canon, that's fine. I don't. I tried giving it many chances, far more than it deserved, and every time I would straight up forget that I was watching what was supposed to be a sequel to Avatar, and not some incredibly bad teen sitcom that just happened to be animated. If you took away the intro and replaced the words "bending" and "avatar" with some shitty superhero terms I would never guess this was meant to be an Avatar thing because the show has no real connection to the original series except for a few terms and some characters that are supposed to be the same, but clearly aren't because they had their personalities retconned, flanderized, or just suddenly disappear.
I don't care if every showrunner, writer, animator, voice actor, director and executive producer comes back for a new project - if I can't recognize anything of the original in it, be it characters, themes or even the fucking world itself, then it's not canon in my eyes. You won't change my mind. If you want a blog that takes Korra seriously and deems it canon, this is not the place for you. I am not gonna pretend I don't think that show is garbage and completely divorced from the original story just because some rando on the internet is very insistently telling me that I should.
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