#so i went on the wiki and read through each of the trilogies plot lines
Text
heres my thoughts on aa5
Introduction
Firstly, this post contains heavy spoilers for AA5 (and AA4 because I can’t help talking about that game JSDGHSDJ). I talk about culprits, I talk about backstories, I talk about major plot twists. If you’re planning on playing this game spoiler-free, don’t read this. If you haven’t decided whether or not you want to play this game, I would advise against it- the gameplay is insanely boring and the story is told in a way that’s about as compelling as a wiki page. In fact, just read the wiki if you’re interested! This game isn’t worth playing, and it’s definitely not worth paying for if you have no way of pirating it.
I also want to add that these are ultimately my own opinions and interpretations. If you liked something that I didn’t or vice versa, that’s like fine. I’m not really trying to call anybody wrong for their own interpretations by typing this. This also isn’t a callout post for AA5! I’m just a hater!
And fair warning, this post isn’t well-organized at all! I’d rather play through AA6 and make a better post about both the 3DS mainline games than put a lot of effort into a post about just one of them. The like Correct Grammar appearance is just to make it easier for me to read because it’s a lot sdjhgfdhksf. In this post I try to organize my complaints by the order of when they come up in the game, which is a little complicated when multiple things I wanna complain about are happening at the same time, so bear with me.
Episode 1
I’ll start with the easiest complaint: it looks bad. Not JUST in the sense that it has an ugly artstyle, but in the sense that it just doesn’t feel like a real Ace Attorney game. Whenever they try to recreate a sprite from the past games, it looks fake if not impossibly ugly, and whenever they try to do their own thing, it just looks generic and empty. Note that this applies to the music and voices just as much as it applies to the sprites! I don’t think it’s just because the sprites went from 2D to 3D, by the way. The Professor Layton crossover came out a couple months before AA5 did, and although the 3D sprites in that game aren’t perfect, they still feel more like Ace Attorney sprites than anything from this game IMO. Honestly, though, AA5’s appearance is super low on my list of problems with this game. It’s an issue that could easily be fixed without changing the content of the game itself- something you can’t say for the deeper problems.
The beginning of the actual game is very jarring. One of the first things you see is Apollo covered in bandages and wearing a weird blue jacket over his shoulders. While you’re still confused about that, he collapses in front of you. While Athena is going through the first trial, she gets stuck and starts having flashbacks of her as a little girl being scared and covered in blood. In the middle of the trial, Apollo gets ATTACKED and sent to the hospital. Most shockingly of all, a woman has a huge crush on Apollo? It’s shock after shock, question after question, and the game doesn’t give you any answers until it’s almost over. I can’t tell if this is the game’s way of trying to capture the player’s attention or if it’s the game trying to make the cases tie into each other, like many notably good games in the series do, while completely misunderstanding how connecting cases works. Either way, it makes for bad storytelling.
Aside from all the weird shock value shit going on, this trial still has a lot of issues. The player starts out as Athena, taking over the trial for Apollo because he’s too busy falling over and being edgy. Because Athena doesn’t have a co-counsel, the Judge and the prosecutor (a Payne) have to play the role of Tutorial for the player. The player’s opponent who they’re supposed to hate (and who hates the protagonist!) is helping them just because that’s what the gameplay requires at that point. It’s stupid and could’ve been easily fixed by having a more experienced lawyer be Athena’s co-counsel, like Phoenix. Just to name an example. Who knows, though, maybe the game just like forgot he exists like mistakes happen it’s- nope Athena gets stuck like 10 minutes into the trial and Phoenix has to come Save This Poor Damsel by taking over the tutorial case entirely.
On top of Athena getting booted from leading her own fucken case (that she did take from Apollo yeah but whatever it was girlboss at the time), she takes the role of Tutorial for the player (who is now Phoenix). This is marginally better than having your actual opponent be the tutorial, but not by much? Athena is literally an 18yo rookie lawyer. Not that she’s incompetent, but why exactly is she teaching Phoenix how to be a lawyer when he’s like twice her age and has years of experience?* Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Phoenix to be the co-counsel instead? The only reason I can possibly think of as to why the writers chose to write this the way they did is that they wanted to establish as quickly as possible that “hey the REAL main character is back in his normal protagonist spot we promise he’s normal now. please buy game.” This effort to appeal to trilogy fans at all costs does come back later, so keep it in mind.
*Note: I imagine some people excuse this because Phoenix had been disbarred for seven years, so it’s not crazy to imagine that he’s just rusty and needs refreshers. However. Those who played AA4 should remember that although Phoenix hasn’t been an official defense attorney for seven years, he’s perfectly able to lead several discussions during the trial in the first episode (he even takes the role of co-counsel in the second half of this trial, because AA4 is a good game). Additionally, he literally organizes a murder trial to test out an experimental trial system that HE helped design. Badge or not, he’s obviously still involved with the legal world before the events of AA5- no need for basic refreshers.
There’s one small part of this case that I believe acts as a sign of a much clearer and bigger problem with AA5. A piece of evidence for this trial is a bomb disguised as a mascot for a group of people critical of the court system. While discussing the defendant’s motive, the game asserts that because the defendant has had bad experiences with the legal system, she must be critical of it (she really isn’t, fyi) which must mean that she’s a literal bomber and murderer. The second half of that assumption is never really questioned, by the way! Literally all six of the games that came before this one were openly critical of the court system. Why is this game suddenly changing it up so quickly? I will admit that at this point I am maybe looking a little too deeply into one thing, but this does become a major theme in the game, so I think it’s worth bringing up.
Another bigger issue with this game that we can see early on- a basic piece of advice for writing stories is “show, don’t tell.” This game crumples that advice up and throws it out the window right off the bat. I could point out every single time that this game just tells you something and prays that you take it at face value instead of actually thinking about the content of the story. That would take ages though and I have other things I wanna write 6k words about, so I’ll only be mentioning the most notable examples. Onto the actual point: the game flat out tells you that Athena represses her feelings from the start. Several characters make clear remarks about it that go nowhere. These lines seem to solely exist to convince you that Athena is a super interesting character without the game having to actually write Athena as a super interesting character (I say “seem to” because these lines end up having a much more stupid purpose, but we’ll get to that in the next episode). Let’s compare and contrast this with AA4 my beloved AA4- with Trucy, in particular. Trucy, like Athena, is a female character with a troubled childhood who puts on a cheery facade so that others don’t worry about her. This character trait of Trucy’s is made clear in AA4- not by having Apollo or Phoenix nonchalantly observe and remark on it, but by dropping hints every now and then of it and ultimately only Really revealing it during the finale case. The player feels for Trucy and wants her to open up and grow for her own sake. Athena’s internal struggles, on the other hand, aren’t designed for the audience to really think about. They’re just a passing observation that later becomes an excuse for plot holes and eventually becomes a part of the game’s shitty ending. Let’s put that aside for now, though, because we still need to wrap this case up.
The case ends with a cutscene where Apollo suddenly takes a leave of absence, and Athena later internally literally asks “Why is Apollo shutting us out? :(“ This exemplifies TWO points that I already brought up. Firstly, this game is presenting something shocking out of nowhere and without explanation. Secondly, this game is TELLING the player what they should be wondering, instead of just writing a story that makes them wonder that question on their own. Also, Trucy literally doesn’t say anything as Apollo leaves in front of her but it’s not like she has any attachment to Apollo or any already established abandonment issues or like any personality at all /s /s /s /attack /kill
Episode 2
The culprit isn’t actually introduced until a lot later in the episode, but he’s in the opening cutscene and comes with a glaring issue so I’m bringing it up first: this character is written with a lot of offensive undertones? To summarize, the killer is a big man obsessed with wearing makeup and perfume, and he constantly gets called a freak for this by the main characters. I don’t remember him ever being referred to as a woman by himself or others, so I’m reluctant to call it transmisogyny (I’m TME, so it’s not my place to say anyways). I’m not really sure what else to call it, though, other than like disgustingly bigoted. Unlike the other stuff I talk about in this post, this issue does come up in previous games, specifically AA3 with Jean Armstrong. So this isn’t really an issue that AA5 created so much as it revived. It’s still shitty!- I’m just not trying to argue that the other games are better on this front. Lastly, transphobic undertones do come into play again in Episode 3, and I think the writing in this case should definitely be considered while analyzing the next one.
I want to introduce this next complaint by bringing up something I actually enjoyed! Jinxie Tenma is one of 2.1 characters from this game that I found myself liking despite everything. Although she does fall into the dead parent(s) trope that the series is addicted to, the trope actually serves a purpose for her character beyond just making the player feel sad- it’s used to further develop Jinxie’s relationship with her surviving parent. Jinxie definitely isn’t one of the more well-written characters in the series, but for a one-off character in a game as bad as this? Jinxie is surprisingly decent! Congrats 👏👏👏👏👏 I still have my complaints to get to, though. Jinxie is introduced in Apollo’s one (1) actual conversation with Trucy throughout the entire game. Trucy introduces Jinxie as a close friend of hers, but they hardly interact at all. This character’s introduction itself exposes multiple major flaws of AA5 (that have already come up!): Trucy’s character is ignored in favor of using her as a plot device, and this game only tells the player about the characters instead of actually writing them. This game tells the player that Trucy and Jinxie are best friends, and the player is left with a choice: take the game’s word and have a fun time imagining how good these things (that aren’t actually in the game) are, or refuse the game’s word until you see actual content supporting it and have an awful time thinking about how good these things that aren’t actually in the game could’ve been.
Let’s talk about another character introduced in this episode: Simon Blackquill! Athena and Simon have a dynamic that’s clearly meant to parallel the dynamic between Phoenix and Edgeworth. Athena’s entire motivation to become a defense attorney is to ~save Simon~ from a false conviction for murder. This motivation isn’t fully revealed until the last episode of the game, much like Phoenix’s motivations. Unlike Phoenix’s motivations, though, it makes no sense for the game to keep this motivation from the player’s knowledge for such a long time. In AA1, Phoenix is largely motivated by Edgeworth, but he doesn’t actually know what’s wrong with Edgeworth or why he changed so drastically. All Phoenix knows is that Edgeworth has changed, and that’s enough for him to want to seek Edgeworth out- if not to save him, at least to find some answers. Phoenix is left just about as in the dark as the player; the only information he withholds is about the class trial from ages ago. Athena, on the other hand, literally knows exactly what happened to Simon. Athena’s motivations couldn’t be clearer to herself- but the game doesn’t want them to be clear to the player yet! So the game takes Athena’s “repression” (you know, the thing the game conveniently told you about in the last episode) and uses it as a way to cover the story’s plot holes. Athena doesn’t mention or even think about her strongest motivations even when she’s in front of the person she wants to save because “she’s just THAT repressed!” This game constantly withholds important information from the player for no reason other than that it’s just what their narrative happens to need at the time. It’s just lazy writing.
My last remark about this case is something that’s been an issue for the entire game so far: it’s hardly a game at all. The gameplay of Ace Attorney largely revolves around having the player use logic and their own thoughts to point out contradictions, uncover new testimony, and investigate crime scenes. When players would rather focus on the story and avoid the gameplay, they usually use a walkthrough that gives them directions in a straightforward way- no racking your brain trying to find any faults in some testimony, no wandering around crime scenes praying that new dialogue appears, just a good story. This way of playing the game is perfectly fine! The story is honestly the stronger part of most of the games, and people not bothering with the gameplay is their own choice. They’re still able to enjoy the game through the story, and isn’t that the purpose of games? To be enjoyed?
I’ll get to my point: this game is extremely hard to actually play. It’s easy to read, it’s easy to press the right buttons, but to actually use your own logic and thoughts? Borderline impossible. When the game doesn’t give away the answer right after asking, it’s because it gave the answer away before asking. The “hints” the game gives you are so obvious and numerous that the only way you could have a chance of figuring anything out for yourself is if you never pay attention to the dialogue. I will say- this was nearly an improvement. You can tell the people who made this game wanted it to be more accessible to people who didn’t care as much about the gameplay. A mechanic of sorts is introduced in this game that acts as a to-do list for investigations, so that the player doesn’t end up wandering around for an hour because they forgot to present a piece of evidence or talk to a certain witness or whatever. Additionally, if a player is struggling to find holes in a testimony, the game offers a helpful nudge to the player that drastically narrows down their possible moves without giving away any answers. Both of these mechanics are entirely optional, too! While the game does let you know that these mechanics exist in fairly natural ways, it never actually makes the player look at them more than once. These mechanics allow for players to focus more on the story if they want, while theoretically still providing them with a challenging mystery to solve. As we already know, though, these mechanics are completely useless because the game forcibly gives you the answers anyways. The protagonist you play as almost always announces where to go next in the investigations and what evidence to use in the trials. While I was still at this point in the game, I kind of just passed it off as the earlier cases going easier on the player to warm them up. The game never stops giving you the answers, though. This is a problem that persists throughout the whole game. When I started this game, I already knew I wasn’t going to enjoy the story, but I figured that at the very least I would be able to enjoy playing new cases and solving new mysteries! So, in a way, this boring gameplay was almost more disappointing than the dogshit story itself.
Episode 3
This episode contains a lot of firsts for the game. For one, this is the first full case that Athena leads! It’s also the last episode where the player even plays as Athena! This is also the first case that doesn’t show you the culprit in the opening cutscene. What the game does instead is immediately introduce a Big Scary Man with an unreasonably creepy smile and Corrupt Ways. Side note: literally every culprit in this game is a big/rude/otherwise intimidating man. This is the first game in the series to not have a single female culprit! I don’t think it’s actually that big of an issue, but it’s still overly predictable and underwhelming.
I might as well talk about the culprit’s ~corrupt ways~ now, even though it only gets worse. The culprit is a professor at a legal academy whose main philosophy is “the ends justify the means.” The player knows that this is his main philosophy because he repeats this exact phrase fucking 50 times in every scene he appears in, and the player knows that this is a Corrupt philosophy because every single time he mentions it a main character says something like “wow... this is truly the Dark Age of the Law...” (which, by the way, is another phrase that gets grossly overused in the game despite meaning virtually nothing). The closest the game gets to forming any actual political commentary is when this professor says he encourages his students to use false evidence to “win” trials (as opposed to the other professor in the case who discourages this), and the game tells you that this (among exactly two other things) is the source of the “dark age of the law.” The source isn’t corruption or a broken system, it’s one teacher’s bad grade policy. The game never really challenges the player’s beliefs or teaches them anything- it just flat out tells you the moral it’s trying to get across and expects you to already agree. And this problem with the writing only gets way worse in the next case!
I mentioned early in the Episode 2 section that this episode contains some transphobic undertones. To Summarize: Robin Newman is a character introduced as a guy obsessed with masculinity who later gets proven in court to be a girl because she likes wearing “girly clothes.” While everybody is still under the impression that Robin is a guy that just “screams testosterone” (actual fucking line in the game btw), they treat the fact that he wore feminine clothes as embarrassing and weird. Robin ultimately proves that she’s a girl by taking off a bracer that was flattening her chest (yes, this game does the thing where a character’s “true gender” is revealed by awkwardly emphasizing specific body parts, it’s uncomfortable as hell) and revealing that she was raised as a boy by her parents despite really being a girl.
I’ve seen some people try to argue that the writers intended for Robin to be trans, but as much as I want to believe it I just don’t think it’s the case. Robin doesn’t identify as a man at all- she expresses nothing but relief upon being proven to be a woman and says that she hated having to act like a man- so she’s definitely not a trans man. Although there isn’t exactly textual evidence against Robin being a trans woman, the game (and series) has already established what it thinks of trans women and AMAB people who don’t perform masculinity correctly, and it’s not good! Robin is treated with nothing but respect after her reveal, and (unfortunately!) I just don’t believe that this game would afford her that respect if they intended for her to be a trans woman. I want to add that it’s really not unheard of for cis authors to write stories where a cis character is forcibly raised as the opposite gender (YTTD does this, for example) so it’s not hard to believe that this is what the authors were doing for Robin. Lastly, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to argue against trans headcanons for Robin. If I cared about Robin, I’d headcanon her as trans myself- it’s hard not to. All I’m trying to argue is that we shouldn’t give the writers any credit for writing a trans character because they don’t deserve that credit after writing such a cisnormative gender-role-addicted shit game.
Anyways, this case ends with Athena getting stuck at the end and needing somebody to come Save This Poor Damsel AGAIN. It’s definitely less shoehorned in than the first time it happened, but it’s still just annoying that it keeps happening.
Episode 4 & 5
You might be wondering why I put Episode 4 and 5 together. I did this because they’re the same fucking story split into two parts because ????? I don’t KNOW. There’s so many baffling writing decisions in this game like . this might as well be happening. who care. By the way, if my frustration seems to show more in this part of the post, it’s because this part of the game is just. such a mess.
The case opens right before the trial (that’s right, no investigation) with Apollo and the most forgettable defendant in the game being sad about Clay’s death. Do we know who Clay is? Do we know anything about the defendant? Or the case at all? Nope! The entire set-up for this episode is in one conversation where Apollo and some guy tell the player that Clay was a good guy and that it’s sad that he was killed. Once again, this game is telling you things instead of showing you, and it’s even doing that incredibly poorly! This game makes it borderline impossible to care about Clay, while also making it borderline impossible to care about the episode if the player doesn’t care about Clay. Scenes that are meant to be depressing are boring, scenes that are meant to be uplifting are confusing, and scenes that are meant to be deep are just frustrating. The fact that this episode opens right into the trial without any preceding investigation is fucking insane to me. Not only is it completely unprecedented for a multi-day trial, but a pre-murder investigation could’ve done wonders for developing Clay and the defendant! I can’t wrap my head around this shit! It’s not even lazy writing at this point- there’s no writing at all!!
Remember earlier when I said that I liked 2.1 characters in this game? Clay is .1 of those characters- no thanks to anything in the game! Despite being such a focal point in these episodes, Clay is hardly a character at all. He has like three lines total in a short flashback, and his only “character” traits are 1) Good Guy and 2) Dead Mom. Remember how the dead mom trope actually managed to serve a reasonable purpose in Jinxie’s character? All the dead mom trope does for Clay is give a reason for him and Apollo to be friends, because apparently there’s just nothing else that could’ve connected them together. It’s just sad backstory for sad backstory’s sake. I really can’t even point out anything well-written with Clay, embarrassingly enough! The only reasons I like him are because he has a nice design and a connection to a character I liked in a previous game. This game SUCKS
Speaking of sad backstory, by the way, they literally give Apollo’s CATCHPHRASE a sad backstory. Apollo apparently says his “I’m fine” thing because he and his now dead bestie used to say it together to cope with like not having parents. It’s stupid and unnecessary and I hate it basically.
Anyways Episode 4 ends with Athena being accused of killing Clay and becoming the defendant. Because this game was in need of more Damsel in Distress Athena. This accusation comes about because the detective in this game, Bobby Fulbright (who I haven’t mentioned up until now because he’s so fucken unremarkable), finds a piece of evidence with Athena’s fingerprints in the victim’s blood. For the majority of the rest of the game, this is the only piece of evidence that the player is given against Athena. However, multiple convincing pieces of evidence against Athena already exist in the story at this point. Athena and Apollo are even fully aware of this evidence before Episode 4 even starts, but the game withholds these from the player until much later. The game does this because it doesn’t want you to actually suspect Athena- not for even a moment! They want it to seem like it would be completely insane to even think about doubting Athena, and they do this by depicting Apollo as ~blinded by grief~ and irrational for daring to suspect his co-worker. Apollo, of all characters! Apollo, the character that had to prove his literal boss guilty of murder. TWICE. This game wants you to think it would be crazy for Apollo to do something that he literally justifiably did in the game that came directly before this one!
This brings us to the final character in this game that I liked: Aura Blackquill. Basically, her thing is that she’s mean and evil but she does it out of love for her brother. If there was any nuance in this game, Aura could’ve been like, a really good character. Sadly, though, she’s just not given much depth, and this game stumbles over its own themes too much for Aura to really challenge any of it. Also, fun fact! Aura was initially conceptualized as a character that would “seduce” Apollo to the Dark Side. This didn’t quite make it into the game, but it’s official information that exists and it makes me want to eat glass.
Aura is still used to show how ~warped~ Apollo is becoming when they’re both shown bonding (platonically, thank god) over their dead besties and investigating Clay’s murder without the Wright gang. It’s been made obvious to the player at this point in the game that Aura has an irrational hatred of Athena, too. By associating Apollo with this character, the game is further depicting Apollo’s doubts as comparable to irrational hatred. It’s frustrating to me because it could’ve been really interesting for the game to set up legitimate tension between two protagonists and take both sides seriously, forcing the player to question their own beliefs and the characters that they themselves played as! Instead, the game refuses to let the player take Apollo seriously and just assumes the player couldn’t possibly want an actual reason to believe in Athena’s innocence beyond “only Scary Rude Men are murderers and Athena’s just a sensitive innocent damsel <3” Not only is this writing throwing away a lot of potential, it’s shooting itself in the foot by not letting the game make any fucking sense!
The rest of this episode is honestly so bad that there’s really no way to neatly summarize its issues in a few paragraphs, so I’m going to walk you through the story beat by beat for a bit. In Episode 5 (which starts after Athena becomes the defendant), Phoenix is the protagonist. Athena is too busy being accused of murder, and Apollo is too busy being edgy, so who’s left for co-counsel? Trucy is the only character left at the Wright Anything Agency, so the game is forced to include her in the story. Finally. She joins Phoenix right before the scene with Apollo and Aura, and then . she leaves . right after that scene. So Phoenix is once again left without a co-counsel, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any characters left to fill that role... But Wait! Who Is That At The Door! Why, It’s Pearl! From The Ace Attorney Trilogy! Thank the fucken stars /s
Pearl is my favorite trilogy character. I really could go on and on about how badly AA5 fucked up with this (they didn’t change a thing about Pearl’s appearance or character despite her being twice as old as before) but at the end of the day it’s just more of this game doing a bad job at sucking the trilogy’s dick.
So, Phoenix and Pearl head back to where Trucy disappeared only to find out that she’s been kidnapped. Remember in AA4 when the game pretended that Trucy got kidnapped, only to reveal about a minute later that it was just a trick Trucy pulled to buy Apollo some time. Because the AA4 writers knew it would be fucking ridiculous for the series to pull that plot twist again out of nowhere. Look at how far we’ve come since then. Anyways. The kidnapper’s one demand is that Phoenix reinvestigates and holds a trial for a past case that Just So Happens to be connected to the current case. Pretty much every finale case in the series involves taking a look at an unsolved past case, but they usually give the player an actual reason to be interested in or care about said case. The only reason that this game can think of to get you to focus on this past case is Trucy’s life being in danger. The motivations and plot twists are so shoehorned in that it’s hard to give a shit about it.
So the kidnapper wants a trial, but who’s prosecuting? The main prosecutor, Simon, is the one that the past case declared guilty, and nobody gives a shit about Klavier, so it doesn’t seem like there’s any characters left that could fill that role... But Wait! Who Is That At The Door! Why, It’s Edgeworth! From The Ace Attorney Trilogy! I’m So Mad! Unlike Pearl, the game does change Edgeworth up quite a bit. He’s even wearing glasses now, to show that time has passed :~) His character changed too! Remember how, after the events of Turnabout Goodbyes, Edgeworth was all about investigating the truth and protecting innocent people from false accusations and struggling against his role as a prosecutor, literally getting his badge taken away at one point because he couldn’t bring himself to let an amnesiac teenager get taken advantage of and be accused of a murder she clearly didn’t do? Well. He’s changed . :~)
On top of removing any struggle Edgeworth had with his job, AA5 actually makes Edgeworth the chief prosecutor. I would be more upset with this writing decision if it wasn’t obviously just there to cover up plot holes. For example, why is Simon, a convicted murderer, being allowed to prosecute so many cases? Don’t worry about it, Edgeworth gave him Special Permission 👍 Also, why did Phoenix get his badge back so quickly? Don’t worry about it, Edgeworth used his Influences to get it back easily 👍
So, once the trial starts, Edgeworth takes advantage of a teenager’s amnesia to accuse her of a murder she clearly didn’t do. :~)
(Brief aside, this trial takes place in a courtroom that was bombed and is crumbling to pieces. The game literally has a character tell you “This courtroom is symbolic of The Dark Age Of The Law” like fucking VERBATIM. I couldn’t make this shit up if I wanted to.)
Obviously, Phoenix is eventually able to prove Athena’s innocence of the past murder. At this point in the case, Edgeworth tells the player about the meaning of a trial. The defense attorney is meant to do whatever they can to defend their client, while the prosecution is meant to do whatever they can to prove the defendant guilty. It’s through this adversarial system that the truth is most efficiently uncovered. I cannot stress this enough: the game is trying to argue that this is the way trials should work. It’s completely antithetical to all the games that came before it! Edgeworth and Klavier were both considered to be two of the few good people that were prosecutors because they were both bad at being prosecutors. They’re good people because they don’t let the goal of their job (to get the defendant declared guilty) get in the way of their personal goals (to uncover the truth even if it involves directly helping the defense). AA5 completely stumbles over the series’ past themes and characterizations to reach the conclusion that “Bad Trial Systems Don’t Result In False Convictions, Bad People Do!” AA5 tries to convince the player that the status quo is just fine. They don’t even keep what little reforms they made to the court system in AA4- that jurist system isn’t even mentioned in this game.
You might be wondering, though. If the game never really questions its own court system, then what was all the fuss about the “Dark Age of the Law”? Well. The game outright tells you that the “dark age of the law” started with Phoenix’s disbarment and Simon’s conviction. Before that the law was Just Fine 👍 and now that Phoenix has his badge back and Simon’s been proven innocent, the law is Just Fine once again 👍 . I don’t feel the need to explain why the court system was clearly not fine in the trilogy, or why corruption and imbalance of power didn’t explode in the courtrooms over two (2) fucking cases. This game’s attempts at political themes are a fucking joke at best.
Back to the trial- we’ve been able to prove that Athena and Simon are innocent of the past murder, but who WAS the culprit? And what about the current case with Clay? It’s only at this point in the story that the player FINALLY learns about all the evidence against Athena in the trial for Clay’s murder- far too late for the player to be able to take it seriously. It’s also at this point where Apollo reveals that he doesn’t really suspect Athena, he was just doubting her because he trusts her so much :) isn’t that so sweet. Seriously, Apollo is the character with the BIGGEST justification to doubt someone he works with and the game not only treats it like a completely irrational idea but tells you that it was fake the entire time! What the fuck!
After a really long battle in court, it’s revealed that Bobby Fulbright (remember him?) was behind the current case AND the past case, AND that he’s an international shapeshifting superspy with literally (like literally literally) no actual character. This is never foreshadowed or hinted at through the entire game! It’s pulled out of fucking nowhere because this game just needed one more Shocking plot twist. It’s stupid and meaningless and he gets caught because he sucks at blowing up rocks and Athena has a cool earring.
One remark about the ending: when Trucy gets released from being kidnapped, about two characters go “wow Trucy I’m glad you’re safe :)” and Trucy goes “I’m just fine ^_^ I even did magic tricks for the other hostages” because magic tricks are the only character trait that Trucy is allowed to have in this game. The kidnapping is completely brushed off like it wasn’t important in the first place because guess what? It WASN’T important. It was just a stupid plot device to get the story going where it needed to in a shocking way, like everything else in this stupid game.
Final Thoughts
My review of the game is that it suck left nut. Like I said earlier, just read the wiki if you’re interested in it, because the game won’t offer you a better experience. Its gameplay is boring, the characters are disappointingly flat, the story is empty, the plot twists are just there to shock the player and cover up plot holes, and it completely tramples on what makes the past games so good. A lot of people say to play this game for Athena and Simon, but IMO all they really do for the majority of the game is serve as an example of just how bad this game is. AA5 isn’t worth playing!
I rate this game 7.2/7.5 Imagine Party Babyz.
#jude talks#aa lb#long post#<- jic the readmore doesnt work#lmk if theres any weird formatting btw i had to like redo everything from google docs#ALSO tw for transphobia bc this game has that
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
Avatar the Last Airbender movie FIXED
I did it. TLDR: I fixed the movie The Last Airbender. Feel free to skip this rambling intro and scroll down to the good stuff.
For the rest of you, my name is Conor McCahill, I’m an actor and wannabee screenwriter living in Chicago.
I wanted to post this on the internet for three reasons:
One: Avatar the Last Airbender means a lot to me. My high school friends would meet every week at my house to watch each premier live. Those memories are among my happiest. I was beyond excited for the movie, but, everything I found out about it pushed me further from it and when it finally came out I resolved never to see it. And I didn’t, until I was in a show with Francis Guinan, who played Master Pakku, and when he told me he was in it, I thought, “Hey, why not?” Watching this movie was one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. Fast forward to now and I’m reading Save The Cat, which is a book about screenwriting and one of the homework pieces is to fix a bad movie and make it a good movie. Obviously, the worst movie I can think of is The Last Airbender, so I chose it to fix it.
Two: Fans scare me. True deeply loving fans are like tiger mothers. You have high standards, and good for you! I can’t think of anyone who would enjoy this project more than a diehard fan and my goal is to impress you.
Three: Though I started this before the Netflix announcement of the Avatar the Last Airbender live action series, I’d still like to think that this could help get the movie remade. However, even if it doesn’t, maybe this can help you find closure that in some universe, a better movie exists.
I wrote this as if it was a wikipedia article describing the movie. I tried to avoid dialogue as much as possible, but sometimes, it’s just clearer. I used screenshots from the show to aid the reader though sometimes the pictures aren’t perfect, and other times I used real pictures or art. I linked to the websites where I did that.
The process:
I watched all of season one again, with an eye for character and story development. It was a real treat and I graphed each character’s development over the season, who was the main character of each episode, and how they grew in each episode. I painted a picture of tracking information about the characters, which characters know it, and when it is revealed to a character or the audience. I also tracked tokens, my word for props of importance like Aang’s staff and the water scroll. Adapting this cartoon to a movie was a huge challenge that I was not fully prepared for. The biggest challenge faced is reduction of the source material into roughly an hour and a half to two hours. Season one is very filler heavy, we get to meet our characters and watch them interact, and the first season takes its time and lets the characters be kids in a really nice way. Each episode is roughly twenty-two minutes long, making the season about seven and a half hours long which means inevitably something is going to be lost in translation because we’re losing six hours of content. Episodically is a great way to tell a story with lots of characters with multiple plot lines and over longer periods of time. Movies are better equipped to tell stories as an immediate chronological sequence of events with few characters. This just comes down to time and how much we have to tell the story and how the audience processes a story in “real time.” If you want the movie to be exactly the same story, well, that’s impossible and you should just watch the cartoon. It’s gonna change, there’s no way around it. After finishing the cartoon, I decided it would be a good idea to at least watch the movie again.
Overall and if you squint, Shyamalan got the story of the first season in the movie pretty accurately. His movie goes, southern water tribe, southern air temple, earth kingdom, northern air temple, and northern water tribe. The problem is that we don’t really get to enjoy any one thing for too long because we’re being whisked off to the next one. I didn’t want to make the same mistake, so I chose to limit my main settings to the number of my acts, for simplicity. I picked the southern water tribe, the southern air temple, and the northern water tribe capital.
Shyamalan decided to write each movie one at a time and I really think that doomed the project. I think he decided to do it that way, Nickelodeon went along with it, and by the time he realized his mistake, production has already started, and he couldn’t hold it up because it’s millions of dollars and our young actors are rapidly aging. Any kind of delay will hurt a project starring kids more than other movies. If you want to do it right, you need to be ready to pump out each movie so the kids can age naturally and not suddenly be adults, (see: Harry Potter.) Keeping his decision in mind, I decided to approach this project as if it were a trilogy. That helped me eliminate characters and plotlines for movie one, because they can appear later. I whittled my main characters down to seven, which is more than plenty; Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zhao, Zuko, Iroh, and Yue.
Let’s talk about Yue. Her sacrifice is the emotional apex of the first season of ATLA and is therefore the most important part of the movie. We need to care about Yue because the more we care, the more effective her sacrifice is and the more satisfying the emotional catharsis. In visual media, the way we make you care is we give you screen time. In the show, she gets three full episodes, but the development of her relationship with Sokka feels rushed. It still feels better than the Shyamalan movie, where she comes in at the last thirty minutes, and by all accounts gets half as much time as the cartoon. Considering her sacrifice, Yue needs to come into the movie early. Save the Cat talks about act two as the love act. Often in movies, it is when our protagonists meet a new character(s) who will nurture them through the end. It does not have to be true love or romantic love, it is often friend love. That seems like a perfect place for Yue.
I didn’t want to change the canon, but I had to get Yue into contact with Katara, Sokka, and Aang. I decided that the most important thing, at least in adapting, is not necessarily what happens to our characters, but that they grow in the same way. That freed me up to consider other, more exciting possibilities. Like, what if we bring Yue to the south, on a quest? Aside from Yue, the most necessary element of the north is the spirit oasis, so Zhao can kill the moon. So, I thought to place the spirit oasis in the ruins of the southern tribe capital, so we’re not suddenly robbed of a whole world crossing adventure where lots of stuff must happen. We can grow with our characters (Aang, Katara, and Sokka) in the illusion of real time, and not cut to weeks later at the northern tribe. That evolved into a portal to the northern water tribe, something heavily plot relevant, canon from The Legend of Korra, and it gives something new to longtime fans.
The Yue I came up with differs from the show Yue in very exciting ways. I develop her relationships with Aang and Katara and give Sokka a stronger interest, a love that could actually be returned and is hopeful. The best part is, I make her more active instead of passive. Since this will be her only movie, she should be there more, not to mention there are five main males and only one main female without her. All my own changes made me sympathetic to the way Shyamalan had to alter the plot and characters and it was the choice to boost Yue’s role that really lead to this entire piece.
Thanks to Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino for their work that continues to inspire me to this day. Thank you to all the long-time fans who run the Avatar the Last Airbender wiki. Your work was essential. I lifted some passages directly from the episode descriptions that match what I see as the movie, but where I did, I tried to mark with a *. Also, I used some art and photos and I provided a link to those artists. And, I dunno, thanks to Jim Henson who thought it was important and healthy for children to feel fear.
How I would open the movie:
Open on the fire nation palace: an imposing tower of red crowned with gold spires slices a sunny blue sky in two and looms over a vast courtyard. The front doors are open and we zoom into the darkness. Inside the palace, the air is thick and stuffy and ornate tapestries line every wall lit by braziers that fume and pop and crackle.
In a gallery filled with portraits of proud and angry men and women cloaked in red and holding fire in their bare hands, a teenage boy sits at a table, playing a tile game with an older man.
The boy squirms, agonizing over his next move. The older man is toying with him, but plants seeds of wisdom on how defeat a superior opponent. The boy tentatively places a tile, lingering his finger on the it before whipping it away. The old man examines the board.
With one decisive move, he places a lotus tile in the center of the field, winning the game leaving the young man in disbelief. The older man laughs as the younger man passionately demands a rematch, but they are interrupted by the sound of footsteps and they stiffen. A messenger comes. He bows low, and begs forgiveness from Prince Zuko for interrupting him, but he has come to escort General Iroh to a war meeting. The older man smirks and asks the younger man if he forgives the messenger. Zuko rolls his eyes and says he does but asks his uncle if he can join him in the war meeting. His uncle denies him, but the young prince pleads. He wants to be a good king someday, why not learn as soon as possible? Iroh relents and warns Zuko not to speak out of turn.
Iroh leads Zuko into the hall before the throne room. As the firebending generals go in, each makes a flame in their hand and adds it to a fiery bowl on a pedestal in the center of the hall. Iroh explains to Zuko, as he follows suit, that the ritual serves to show that no firebender will use fire bending in the throne room or face extreme consequences. Even the fire lord is honor bound to uphold his promise, he just never has to symbolically prove himself. Iroh puts his fire in the bowl. Zuko steps up after him and does the same, his face lit up by the flames.
The inside of the throne room is darker than the rest of the palace. Zuko is both frightened and exhilarated. As a particularly old and decrepit general drones on, Zuko admires the long war table, painted to display the entire world and littered with pieces that make war seem like a big game. This will all be his someday. His eyes draw him down past the far end of the table, to the wall of fire beyond which a dark figure, the fire lord, sits on an ornate throne obscured by the dancing smoke.
Zuko stares at the man beyond the flames and their crackle fills his ears. He feels the eyes of his father staring back. Zuko snaps to attention, just as the old infirm general outlines a plan to send fresh recruits into combat against a heavily garrisoned earth kingdom fort. The prince asks the general how he expects the recruits to survive, his interruption sending a wave of murmurs down the table. The general clarifies, he doesn’t. Their sacrifice will be enough to weaken the earth kingdom army, so they can be wiped out by a second wave of more seasoned elite fire nation soldiers. The mutters of agreement wash over the room. The prince is horrified. He cannot believe what he is hearing and stands and speaks, in defense of the new recruits and their lives. To send loyal soldiers to their doom is nothing short of treasonous. The color drains from Iroh’s face as the wall of flames flares up. He clutches Zuko’s robes and advises Zuko to apologize or be honor bound to settle the matter in an Agni Kai.
Zuko sizes up the old general. What could this old man, so near to death, possibly do to him? His uncle hisses at him to be quick, but Zuko is not afraid and accepts the fire duel. The wall of fire burns high beyond him.
High above the Agni Kai arena, the crowd that lines the stands chant ceremoniously. Zuko kneels, his back to his opponent and the chanting ends. He breathes deep, spins and rises, and throws off his cloak to face… his father, the fire lord.
Zuko doesn’t understand, the general he spoke against is in the audience, smirking, next to a teenage girl and his uncle.
The Firelord fumes at him, it was his plan Zuko spoke against and it was he, the fire lord, Zuko disrespected. His booming voice echoes in the vast chamber. Zuko falls to his knees, he won’t fight his father. The fire lord demands that he stand and fight, but Zuko refuses. The fire lord will give him one more chance but Zuko bows further, touching his forehead to the hard stone floor. The Firelord calls upon the crowd to witness his son’s cowardly refusal to fight. Only a permanent lesson is appropriate for such shameful weakness, he growls as he approaches his grovelling son.
Slowly, Zuko lifts his head and begs his father for mercy, but there is none.
In the reflection of his left eye, a fireball heads towards Zuko’s tear-stricken face. A girl’s voiceover begins. “Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony, then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked.” The fireball grows larger and larger in his eye until the whole frame is filled with fire.
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-yurt-vector-drawing-portable-round-tent-covered-skins-felt-isolated-white-backdrop-freehand-outline-black-ink-hand-image80545151
The fire in Zuko’s eyes becomes a campfire in a yurt. “Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.”
Reveal, a pretty and bright water tribe girl, Katara, telling the story of the Avatar to the young children she babysits.
The kids beg Katara to waterbend for them. She’s not supposed to, and they moan and whine. To appease them, she waterbends the soup in the pot in a swirl. They beg for more and, though it is difficult for her, she manages to suspend an undulating ball of steaming water in the air. It is a magical moment, even for Katara, and they all watch in awe until she lowers it back down. The kids go nuts and all take turns trying to waterbend the soup, but it soon becomes clear that she’s the only one who can. As she watches them all around her, there is a sense of how lonely and isolated she really is.
The flaps fly open and a teenage boy on the brink of manhood barges in and asks what the ruckus is about. Katara blurts out Sokka’s name in surprise and passes the commotion off as just childish playing. She turns the conversation to his hunt. He pretends to be downcast, then reveals three small fish triumphantly. Katara squeals with joy and embraces him.
https://itadakimasuanime.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/seafood-shellfish-hitsugi-no-chaika-avenging-battle-06.png
Later, as the sun sets, the fish roast over the fire. Katara, Sokka, and an older woman, their grandmother, eat with appreciation as if a feast as meager as this is rare. Sokka finishes first and as he gets up, he rips his pants, again. He criticizes Katara, her stitching is still terrible, and since Grangran can’t do it anymore, it’s up to her. He reaches for his other pair of pants but stops when Katara admits that she hasn’t mended them yet. Sokka gets cross with her for not finishing her chores. Katara retorts that if he wasn’t so clumsy, he wouldn’t tear his pants. Sokka scolds Katara for just playing around and waterbending. Their grandmother drops her bowl. Quickly, Katara denies waterbending, but Sokka saw her. Grangran comes down on Katara: It is forbidden, but Katara can’t forbid who she is! Grangran snaps that waterbending will get them all killed. There is silence. Sokka brings the pants over to Katara. He puts food on the table, the least she could do is contribute. Defeated, Katara fetches her needle and thread but hesitates before she begins to work. She’s about to speak when Sokka pushes that his pants aren’t going to mend themselves.
Katara pops off that he can repair his own stupid pants and throws them in Sokka’s face and storms out into the night. Sokka sticks his head out and calls after her but Katara breaks into a sprint. She runs past her neighbors, out of the village and runs and runs and runs until she can run no more, collapsing at the top of a snow-white cliff, overlooking a frozen bay.
The cold light of the nearly full moon beams down upon her. She looks up, with tears in her eyes and screams out her frustration. She pounds her fists to the ground. The ice cracks inches from her fists and shatter the side of the icy cliff down down down into the middle of the bay. The ground shakes and Katara is avalanched over with the side of the cliff and is buried in the ice and snow.
She pushes a mound of snow off her with her waterbending. As she cleans herself off, she notices a soft glow emanating from the fissure in the ice. As she investigates, the light intensifies, rising, until the source, a glowing ice sphere, bursts through the floe before her.
Cracks splinter throughout the sphere causing the light inside to escape. The light is too much and Katara shields her eyes. The sphere goes dark for a second then a pillar of light erupts out the top.
Back in the village, Sokka mutters to himself as he struggles with a needle and thread. The light rips through the night sky and through the flap of the tent. His eyes widen. He whispers Katara’s name and grabs his spear.
A dazzling aurora fills the sky. The broken bay has frozen again by some mysterious power, leaving the landscape jagged and strange. A cloud of snow and swirling mists ebb and flow about the remains of the sphere. Katara approaches and sees in the remains a boy tattooed with arrows and a white six-legged bison, both fast asleep. She kneels beside the tattooed boy and touches his face. He dreamily opens his eyes and then closes them again as he mutters about how beautiful she is.
Katara is amused. The boy snaps awake, he’s not dreaming. He jumps out of Katara’s arms and admires his surroundings. With his hands on his hips, he announces that he has made it to the south pole as planned and immediately requests a snowball fight and before Katara can protest she’s pelted as he laughs. She pulls the snow off as the boy exclaims that she’s a waterbender, and that it is officially on! Katara puts on her game face and snowballs begin to fly back and forth. Katara hides behind a snowbank. She peeks out and sees the boy scooping snow into a ball, she turns back and uses her bending to mold her own. She peeks out again, but he has disappeared. Out of nowhere he lands behind her and unleashes an impossible number of snowballs. Katara screams as she’s hit. Sokka hears her scream and breaks into a sprint. He yells her name and runs towards the boy with his spear who dodges the thrust and the following swing. Katara, covered in snow, tries in vain to stop Sokka. Sokka thrusts again. The boy lands on the spearhead, faceplanting Sokka into the snow and bringing him to his knees. Katara, wipes the snow from her eyes and gets a full view of Sokka’s undercarriage. She shrieks, “Where are your pants!?” The boy helps him up. Sokka didn’t have time to put on pants, he thought she was in trouble. Katara is touched.
https://www.deviantart.com/akreon/art/Appa-132703919
A low grumble escapes the large, furry, six-legged creature lying motionless nearby. The boy climbs onto it and enthusiastically rouses it. Sokka asks, unsure, what the thing is, and the boy replies that it is Appa, his flying bison. Sokka expresses disbelief over the purported ability of the large bison to fly. The boy, looking around at his surroundings, asks if they live nearby, which triggers Sokka to tell Katara not to answer, as he is convinced that the mystery boy is a Fire Nation spy, a notion that Katara rejects sarcastically. The boy introduces himself as Aang, an airbender. Sokka tells him no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. Aang laughs, they are very good at hiding. *
Aang offers to fly them back to their village if he can get shelter for the night. Katara happily agrees and climbs on with Aang, while Sokka refuses, convinced that Aang and Katara are crazy. Aang says, "Yip-yip!", and Appa leaps into the air, though immediately comes crashing down, while Sokka crows sarcastically about Appa's inability to fly, Aang decides Appa is still too tired to fly just yet. He looks over his shoulder and leans out to stare at Katara with a huge smile on his face, causing her, after a few long, awkward seconds, to ask, "Why are you smiling at me like that?" He replies, "Oh, I was smiling?" Sokka lifts his head back, groaning, while Katara, at first smiling at Aang's response, frowns back at Sokka. *
In the moonlight, they walk back to the village. A curious Katara asks Aang if he knows the fate of the Avatar; being an airbender, she knows that the Avatar was supposed to be an Air Nomad. Aang awkwardly states that he knew people that knew the Avatar but did not know the actual Avatar himself. A disappointed Katara drops the subject, leaving Aang looking guilty. *
Underneath the setting sun, a scout blows a horn atop a fire nation fort located at the foot of the southern air temple mount. The commander of the base, a fierce looking full-grown man, greets Iroh and Zuko in the courtyard, he makes sure to highlight Zuko’s scar to confirm that it’s him. Iroh shows his respect to Admiral Zhao, who asks what brings the exiled prince and his uncle before him.
Zuko demands access south, to the Antarctic seas, Zhao’s domain. This amuses Zhao and arouses his interest. Even if he had seen or heard any sign of the Avatar, he wouldn’t tell Zuko. Iroh reasons with him, then, that there would be no harm in letting them search. Zhao deflects and muses if Zuko’s quest to restore his honor will ever truly end. He continues that when he marries Zuko’s sister, Princess Azula, they will let him come live in the palace dungeon. Zuko retorts that Zhao is a fool if he thinks he can ask the fire lord for Azula’s hand in marriage. Zhao is confident, that when his mission is complete, the fire lord will offer his daughter’s hand. He denies Zuko’s request, his mission is too important, and sends Zuko back to his ship.
Later that night, Iroh finds Zuko glowering over the vast southern sea. He presses the prince to sleep, telling him that if he doesn't rest, he will, like his ancestors, fail to capture the Avatar even if they do find him. The prince refuses to his uncle’s wisdom, he will succeed because he seeks to regain his honor through the endeavor, a trait none of his ancestors shared with him. Iroh casts doubt on Zuko’s assumption that the avatar is in the southern water tribe. Zuko reveals his logic, that the old airbender has likely died, and a young waterbender would be next in line to be the avatar. If it was a northern child, the proud northerners would have announced it, like they did their runaway princess. Iroh still doubts, Zuko snaps at him if he has a better idea. The night sky lights up, the same pillar of light from when Aang was released, and the aurora casts a green glow all on the southern hemisphere. *
Zuko observes it through the end of his telescope, his eyes narrow.
From high above the fire nation fort, on a cliff side, a mysterious figure in leather armor watches Zuko’s ship leave and turn south in the dead of night. The figure stands, a beautiful young woman who’s white hair shimmers in the moonlight.
Back in the village, Katara leads Aang into a stable. They don’t have much room, so he’ll have to sleep in here with Appa. She gets him a blanket. As she hands it to him, there is a moment where they share eye contact. Katara breaks it off and leaves, but not before stealing one last glance at Aang.
That night, Aang has a dream that he and Appa fly through a terrible storm. They are buffeted by the full fury of the gale, struggle in vain to escape and eventually are forced under the waves. *
In his dream, Aang’s eyes and tattoos began to glow and he creates a giant bubble around himself and Appa. The bubble freezes over, encasing their figures in light which grows brighter and brighter.
In his sleep, Aang stirs and his tattoos dance luminously. The lights wax and wane in the slit of the stable door casting a strange light on the sleeping village.
The sun rises over an icy expanse the next morning. Aang throws open the flap to the yurt, but it is empty. Sokka and Katara and Grangran are already doing their duties. As he explores, the elderly villagers look upon him with suspicion. Aang bows to the villagers respectfully, eliciting a response of fear from them, and they hurriedly take a few steps away from the airbender. *
He hears Katara calling his name. Eager to impress her, he jumps high in the air and lands in front of her and her wards. The kids go nuts. They goad him into showing off, which he obliges.
Aang attracts quite a crowd, almost the entire village. He finishes his trick. Everyone is stunned. One villager erupts in applause, the others glare her into silence. The kids tackle Aang and climb all over him. His airbending is even cooler than Katara’s waterbending.
A stir in the crowd. Katara is a waterbender? Katara feels the eyes of the villagers on her. Grangran assures the other villagers that Katara is not a waterbender, as the crowd whisper amongst themselves and go about their business. She gives the younger children the evil eye and they scamper off screaming and grabs Katara and Aang to throw them both into the tent. She looks Aang square in the face and tells him that it would be uncustomary to kick him out without breakfast but that the airbender is no longer welcome here. She goes to find Sokka. There is quiet. Aang timidly asks Katara why she refuses to waterbend. She tells him it is forbidden. Aang doesn’t understand why. The waterbenders get taken away, by firebenders. There’s a war. Aang didn’t know of any war.
Just then, Grangran and Sokka return. Sokka has checked the morning traps and has brought oysters. He passes them out, they each pry them open and slurp theirs down, except Aang, who holds it awkwardly. Sokka apologizes and opens it for him. Aang makes a face, “Do you have anything vegetarian?” he asks. Sokka aghast, scoots away from him. Aang realizes he’s made a faux pas. He corrects himself. “Can I please have something vegetarian?” Grangran and Katara share a glance. Sokka doesn’t have any vegetarian options except for sea prunes for Grangran and they are nasty.
Grangran throws a shell at Sokka and thrusts a bowl of sea prunes into Aang’s hands. His stomach growls, and he eats one. He likes them!
Sokka does not get Aang. He and Katara share a look of disgust as Aang gorges himself. Katara leans over to Sokka and whispers in his ear that Aang doesn’t know about the war. Sokka asks how that is possible: the war has been going on for a hundred years.
Meanwhile, Zuko spies the village through a telescope. Everything is going according to plan. Just then, from around an iceberg, an armada of three of Zhao’s fastest destroyers cut Zuko’s Battleship off and he is forced to change course to avoid them.
Zhao boards Zuko’s ship. Zuko greets him, amazed he found the time to chase him and hopes his all-important mission wasn't jeopardized by this detour. Zhao admits it was easy to catch up with them, the battleship was built like a tank to hold a fully realized Avatar, which makes it slow, but necessary for his capture, which is why Zhao is commandeering Zuko’s ship. Zuko protests, the Avatar is his. Zhao reminds Zuko that he ignored a direct order and is trespassing in his domain. Zuko spits out that he doesn't take orders from anyone, especially a low born upstart rat like Zhao. Zhao's smile fades as he orders his men to take the prince into custody. Two guards grab Zuko arms, but he throws them off easily. He points at Zhao and challenges him to an Agni Kai, winner gets the ship. Zhao laughs, and asks how Zuko plans to survive stranded on an iceberg without a ship, doesn't he remember the last time he did an Agni Kai? Zuko will never forget.
Outside their village, Grangran leads Appa with a rope as Aang, Katara, and Sokka head out with her. Aang tells them that it was very nice to meet them, and he’ll come visit the South Pole again soon. Sokka explains to Aang they aren’t actually in the south pole, they are much further north, less than a day to the southern air temple. Katara extrapolates: There’s nothing left at the south pole.
https://www.onthegotours.com/au/Iceland/Best-Places-To-Visit/Reykjavik/Classic-Ice-Cave-Experience
https://www.masterfile.com/image/en/679-07608205/moon-rising-over-trees-and-buildings-at-night
The tribes used to be connected by the moon gate.
Under the light of the full moon, the portal would open and northerners and southerners could walk between the poles via the spirit world to mingle and trade and visit family and make the pilgrimage to the spirit oasis. The moon gate connected the north and south cultures. Until the fire nation destroyed everything in south and the portal was destroyed.
Flashback: Fiery projectiles rain down on the southern capital and reduce it to rubble.
Everybody who was trapped in the south had no choice but to move away from the ruins because there was no food. The north pole is floating ice, and the waterbenders can fish beneath the ice year-round, but south pole is above frozen ground and there you can’t grow food in frozen ground. Grangran interrupts and tells the airbender that it’s time for him to go. As he turns to leave, Aang asks if they are sure the south pole is really destroyed. Sokka assures him sarcastically, that yeah, they're sure, and glares at Aang. Aang posits that the monks at the southern air temple would have told him, they tell him a lot of things, after all, they told him that he was the- he doesn’t finish his sentence. He climbs on Appa and they trot off. Katara calls for him to wait. As she approaches, she tells him the only thing they have at the southern air temple anymore is a fire nation fort. Aang looks at her with a twinkle in his eye and assures her, there are air nomad monks.
He extends his hand to her. Grangran yells that she’s taking too long and though Katara takes a breath, she doesn’t look back as she takes Aang’s hand and climbs aboard. Grangran pushes Sokka to stop her. Katara wraps her arms around Aang as he tells her to hang on. “Appa, Yip yip!” Appa grumbles and begins to move just as Sokka reaches them. He grabs Appa’s fur and tries to pull them back but ends up getting pulled himself and has to run to keep up. Aang leads them straight towards the edge of the cliff and Sokka screams that they are all going to die! He shuts his eyes and holds tight as Appa leaps and they disappear over the edge. Grangran cries out for them and falls to her knees. Appa and the gang reappear, flying. Sokka freaks as he clutches Appa's fur. Aang tells Sokka that when he says let go, to let go. Sokka protests but Aang leads Appa into a barrel roll and yells at Sokka to let go which he does out of instinct. The momentum flips Sokka up and over and plomp, directly seated behind Katara on Appa’s back. The daring move has made Katara cling to Aang close and she blushes.
Aang cheers and Grangran watches as they fly towards the sun.
The sun is directly overhead as the Agni Kai begins.
Admiral Zhao and Prince Zuko crouch, back to back on the deck of the battleship. Shedding their capes, they turn to face each other. Iroh counsels Zuko to remember his basics, as they are his greatest assets, but Zuko seems not to heed his uncle's wisdom, instead stating, simply and forcefully, that he will not allow himself to lose. As he assumes his stance, Zhao, doing the same, taunts Zuko, saying: "This will be over quickly." *
The two opponents stare fiercely into each other's unblinking eyes for a brief moment, waiting for the other to strike; it is Zuko who begins the duel with a series of fire blasts from his hands and feet. *
Zhao seems more than a match for Zuko, effortlessly avoiding and nullifying all of his fire blasts. As the prince catches his breath, Iroh continues to advise Zuko to remember his basics. Zhao throws his own volley of fire blasts; Zuko is able to block each attack, but he is slowly forced back with every parry he makes. For the final blast, Zhao, using both fists, sends a ball of fire that connects solidly with Zuko, knocking him to the ground. Pressing his advantage, Zhao leaps into the air, covers the distance separating him and Zuko, and prepares a finishing blast aimed directly for the prince's exposed face. An instant before contact, Zuko rolls out of the way, rises with a kicking flourish, and knocks Zhao out of his stance. *
With new-found vigor, Zuko releases a series of low attacks that cause Zhao to retreat, finishing him with a jet of fire from a full body kick. Prone, Zhao tells Zuko to do it, to give him a scar like his own, but Zuko aims beside his face instead. As the victorious prince walks away, a beaten and furious Zhao sends a jet of fire at Zuko's back. Iroh intervenes, however, stopping the attack with his bare hand and throwing the admiral to the ground. As Iroh stands over Zhao, Zuko tries to attack Zhao once more, but his uncle tells him not to taint his victory by retaliating. Iroh lectures Zhao about the dishonor he has brought upon himself through his actions and states that his nephew, even in exile, has proven himself to be more honorable. *
From the crow's nest, a scout shouts. They all crane their necks to see a flying bison with a water tribe girl and boy and air nomad fly far above them.
Up on Appa, Sokka refuses to open his eyes as he clutches Katara's garments. Katara lets him know that he's missing the sights. Aang spies the fire navy ships below. The fear deep inside him grows. He’s never seen fire navy ships this far south.
Both Zhao and Zuko blink in their telescopes. Iroh suggests they try working together as the bison disappears into the clouds.
Aang and Sokka and Katara fly through clouds and above mists and fog. Sokka asks if they are they yet. Aang spots the temple at the top of a mountain and they fly closer. Katara remarks on how beautiful it is.
From a window, the white-haired girl watches them all land in a sky bison pen and jump off. She disappears into the shadows. Appa grazes happily.
Sokka wishes he could eat, that ride took longer than he thought. Katara shushes him. Aang calls out to his people, but nobody answers. The temple appears to be abandoned. They walk up the temple steps. Sokka asks Aang if the airbenders have any food and is berated by Katara for being one of the first outsiders to see an airbender temple and he can only think with his stomach. She apologizes for Sokka. Aang insists the airbenders are simply hiding. There are lots of hiding places. They walk through a large archway into a great hall beyond. In the rafters above, the white-haired girl shifts into position. As Aang, Katara, and Sokka pass beneath her, she drops a net down upon them. The girl lands and knocks them off their feet and they fall to the ground in a pile.
She brandishes a staff at the subdued trio. “Are you firebenders?” She barks. They tell her they are not. “That’s just what a firebender would say!” They assure her they are not firebenders. They are water tribe, and Aang is an airbender. She releases them and introduces herself as Princess Yue of the northern water tribe. Sokka is impressed and bows, “your majesty,” Katara does a stiff movement she would call a curtsey. Aang recognizes the staff and grabs it but Yue holds fast. It’s a sacred air nomad staff, it’s not to be touched by outsiders. Yue is nonplussed. Sokka tells Aang that he can’t speak to a princess like that. Aang takes a deep breath and bellows, “LET IT GO!” His voice echoes in the halls. Yue lets go of the staff. Aang apologizes for yelling and inspects the staff. Yue never got the names of the other two, Sokka and Katara. Yue is incredulous, “You are Sokka and Katara!? Your father saved my life! Hakoda’s ship arrived at our capital a year ago and he was granted audience before me and my father. My father refused to help, and, I had to make a choice. I ran away and boarded your father’s ship in secret with the moon scroll.”
“We’re going to reopen the moon portal!”
But where is their father now? “He was taken prisoner by the fire nation. The last thing he said was he’d be a boomerang, but, I never got to ask him what that means.” “Means he’ll be back,” Sokka explains. He shows her the boomerang his father gave him when he left. Aang asks her how she got here. Yue continues, “I was found by a fisherman and made my way south. I got marooned here about a month ago after my ship sank. Been looking for a way off ever since, but there’s so many fire nation... We could fly to the south pole on a sky bison, though.” Someone’s stomach growls. Katara admonishes Sokka. It wasn’t him, it was Aang! Yue calculates that there is enough time to eat.
https://www.mostphotos.com/fi-fi/2720912/plum-orchard
The air temple orchard is overgrown, though a thousand years of tending have given a sense of order to the older trees. Aang hopes they like mountain peaches as he hops high in the air and grabs one. He lands and hands a peach to Katara and jumps back into the air. Sokka, asks her for it, salivating, and Katara licks it all over, much to Sokka’s chagrin. Aang lands with an armful of peaches and one in his mouth. He hands them out. They sit and enjoy a moment of peace.
Yue asks how the boomerang works. Sokka hands it to her and instructs her how to throw it. She does her best, but it is a terrible throw. She puts her hands up to her mouth and yells “Come back!” Sokka offers to go get it, but she should, she threw it, and they both end up going together. When they find it, Sokka throws it to demonstrate. Yue commends him on the throw. Sokka smiles goofily and gets lost in her eyes. They smile at each other and the boomerang runs smack into the side of Sokka’s head and he yelps in pain. Aang and Katara come running. Though he’s bleeding and wincing, Yue laughs and says it’s nothing a waterbender couldn’t heal. Katara isn’t sure what she means. Yue furthers, waterbenders can heal, she thought everybody knew that, especially waterbenders.
Yue pours some water into Katara’s hands. Katara is unsure what to do so she waterbends the water onto Sokka’s cut. Nothing happens. She closes her eyes and concentrates. The water releases a soft glow. Katara gasps and her eyes pop open. The wound has closed and there is no scar. Yue tells Katara that she just did some high-level bending. Aang lights up, he knows where the airbenders are.
Aang leads them to an intricately carved door. If the airbenders are hiding, it will be here. They have storerooms and water reserves deep in the temple. It’s his last hope. Only high level airbending can open this door, he reveals, and he bends two focused currents of air into the large doors' ornate locking mechanism, and a strange hauntingly beautiful tone resonates. The locks disengage, and the doors open slowly. Aang walks into the darkened room as Katara, Sokka, and Yue follow him.
Aang calls out to the airbenders. The room is pitch black and his footsteps echo. Katap. Katap. Katap. Skrit. He steps on something. It is a wooden medallion. He picks it up and flashes back to a happy looking older airbender monk: Gyatso, wearing medallion on a necklace.
Monk Gyatso is Aang’s sensei. Aang in the flashback has no tattoos yet and runs up to him calling his name and they embrace. Gyatso leads Aang out of the wind lock doors and onto the terrace before it.
Flying bison of all sizes fill the sky above. Gyatso tells Aang to call to him. “Appa!” Aang yells. Appa roars and dives down to Aang leaving his siblings and his much larger mother behind. Appa nuzzles and licks Aang as he laughs and laughs and laughs.
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/bison-skull-sean-griffin.html
The memory fades as Aang’s eyes adjust to the shadows. He sees a sky bison skull among bones and piles of soot and ashes, all over the room. Firebenders were here. Katara gasps. “Oh no.”
Aang falls to his knees. He is not alright. His eyes and tattoos light up. Wind begins to circle around him. Sokka freaks, “Is he glowing? How is he glowing?!” Katara calls for Aang. The winds get faster and faster, lifting Aang into the air. Yue makes them take cover. The soot and bones in the room get caught up in the whirlwind, disintegrating into brown and black dust and debris. Aang’s eyes, emanating white light, widen. The swirling blackness closes in on him. He shuts his eyes and pushes the darkness away, forcing all the ashes out the temple. Aang stops glowing and he drifts to the ground.
Outside, the ash cloud drifts away.
Yue, Katara, and Sokka cough around the corner. Katara runs to Aang and takes him into her lap. He stirs. It really has been one hundred years. She cradles his head and opens up to him that she and Sokka lost their mother to the fire nation. Even though his people are gone, he has found a new family: herself and Sokka. He looks Katara in the eyes and tells her with conviction that he will never firebend. Never ever. He sits up and hugs Katara as she mulls his statement.
From their ships, the firebenders notice the ash cloud drifting down from the temple as they pull into the harbor of the fort. Something must be going on. They form a squad of male and female fire nation soldiers fresh from the base. Zhao tells Iroh that he is too old and slow for this mission and Zuko is free to stay behind as well, if he doesn’t think he can make the climb. Zuko is ready. Iroh warns Zuko that Zhao is not to be trusted. Zuko assures his uncle, he can handle Zhao. From the battlements, Iroh watches the troops begin the hike. He puts on a cloak and sneaks out after them.
Later, the sun sets over the mountain peaks. Aang and the others bring flowers to a stone alter. The medallion sits in the middle of it. They pile the flowers around it. Aang sets a peach down with the flowers and steps back. Peaches were Gyatso’s favorite, he tells them. He closes his eyes. They all do. Aang gives the airbender prayer of mourning. The sound of wings. They open their eyes and a winged lemur eats the peach on the altar.
Aang laughs, a long clear laugh as he takes the lemur, lazily eating the peach, into his hands and names him Momo. The wind blows through the flowers.
Night falls. In a clearing in the orchard, Aang strokes the sleeping lemur as Sokka builds a fire and Yue puts peaches on the ends of sticks. She pokes fun at his fire building technique. Sokka has been building fires his whole life. Yue retorts that she’s only been doing it for the last year and she’s already better then him. They race to light the fire and Yue wins, but just barely. “Best two out of three?” Yue asks Sokka with a cheeky smile. Katara returns with a bucket filled with well water.
The peaches roast on the sticks as the fire casts an amber yellow on the kids’ faces. “So, are we going to talk about what happened?” Sokka asks. Yue and Katara avoid his line of questioning. Sokka extrapolates, “Aang was glowing. I haven’t heard of a glowing person before.” Aang is silent. Yue speaks up, “I have.”
“When I was born I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep, my eyes closed. They told my mother and father I was going to die. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the spirit oasis and placed me in the pond and pleaded with the spirits to save me. I began to glow and my hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue. For the moon.”
Yue explains that Aang must be filled with immense spiritual power. Aang is silent. Sokka pipes up that it was the same light from when Aang came out of the iceberg. Still Aang is silent. Katara scoots closer to him and prods him why he told her he would never firebend. She asks him if he is the avatar. Aang stands, surprising the lemur and it scurries away. He never wanted to be the Avatar. He only ever wanted to be normal and play airball with the other kids. He didn't ask to be the avatar! They were going to send him away, to the eastern temple where he would be safer. Which means he was in danger. Avatars aren't supposed to know they are the avatar until they are 16 because: what if they told you, you were supposed to save the world at twelve years old? That’s why he ran away. He was going to come back but ran into a storm and somehow he lost 100 years.
Sokka is confused, if he's the avatar, how come he can’t bend the other elements? Aang doesn't know how yet.
Yue smiles. Out of her pack she produces the moon scroll.
In it is more than just how to open the moon gate, but also advanced waterbender techniques as well. She gives it to Aang and suggests Katara give him his first lesson. Sheepishly, Katara unravels the scroll. There’s writing, but she doesn't know how to read. Aang and Yue are taken aback by this, but Sokka doesn’t know how to read either. They have chores all day, there wouldn't be any time for reading, even if they had books. Yue sadly remarks that everyone in the Northern tribe knows how to read and apologizes that life in the south has gotten so hard. Aang comes closer and reads the scroll to Katara. Water is the element of versatility. It is a liquid, a solid, a gas. Gifted waterbenders can even be healers. He smiles and Katara blushes and Sokka touches his head where the wound would have been. Water is Tui and La, Push and Pull, and the earliest waterbenders learned how to push and pull the ocean like the moon with its tides. The moon is the source of power for all waterbenders and they are strongest when the moon is full.
They look up at the moon above. Aang remarks that they will be really strong tonight. Yue informs Aang, it's almost full. It's waxing, it will be full tomorrow. Katara admits that from studying the drawings, she doesn't know any of these moves. Aang asks her what she does know. She smiles. She takes him by the hand down to the well. Katara thrusts her hand out over the edge of the well and instructs Aang to do the same. She moves her hand up and down. Aang isn't sure but she tells him to feel the water, even though it’s not attached to his body. Splashes echo out of the deep. Katara says “Ok, I'll pull it and you push it.” Splash. “Ok, now you pull it and I push it.” Splishy splash. He feels it! Katara asks Aang to pull the water up with her. Aang is surprised on how it's almost like air, but heavy.
Together, they lift a large ball of water high into the air. Aang chuckles and starts pushing it over Katara's head, he lets go. Katara closes her eyes and shrieks but opens them when she realizes she's holding up the water by herself.
She celebrates and loses her concentration and drops the water and gets soaked. Aang laughs and she douses him with the puddle around her. Aang laughs again and dries himself off with a whirlwind. Katara, drenched, asks if he could dry her off too. He tries. Her hair is swept back and poofs out. They both laugh. They gaze into each other’s eyes. Between their faces, the light of the campfire sparkles in the distance.
The campfire suddenly flares up a pillar of fire 10 feet high. Sokka yelps. Aang and Katara turn to face the flames. A rustle behind them. Fire nation soldiers! They throw their spears. Aang whisks Katara down behind the well with him. Katara begins to panic. Aang tells her to use the water.
They lift a spout out of the well and repel the foot soldiers. They run towards the campsite. Yue and Sokka are held captive by elite firebenders while Zhao taunts her. He’s been looking for the princess’s hiding place. Zuko concludes she’s the reason he’s locked down the southern sea. Zhao nods.
Katara and Aang come running to a stop. Zhao is immediately taken by the air nomad boy. Where did he come from? Where are the other air nomads? Zuko wastes no time in taking Katara prisoner. He advises her not to struggle. Zhao stares at Aang while confirming with Zuko that the girl is indeed the Avatar. She's the one from the village, the one waterbender in all the south, therefore, she must be the avatar. Aang shouts that she's not the avatar. Zuko sizes up the air nomad boy. Then who is? Katara tries to stop him but Aang tells them that he is. Zuko retorts that he couldn't possibly be the avatar, he’s just a child! Zhao isn't so sure. The avatar would be over a hundred years old, Zuko reminds Zhao, they have the princess, they have the avatar, but if he wants to waste his time with an air nomad liar, he is welcome to. Zhao willing to be convinced, leaves Aang.
Soldiers take Katara, Yue and Sokka and form ranks.
Aang drops out of the sky in front of the squadron. He declares himself the avatar and points his staff at the firebenders. They laugh at him. He calls for Appa. From above, Appa roars, then dives and the solders duck and cower. Aang makes an air scooter and zips through all the solders like a pinball. Appa lands where Aang was standing and charges the soldiers with his horns, they scramble to their feet to fend off Appa. Some run. The distraction gives Yue the chance to escape. She knocks her captor in the gut and off of her and throws him into Sokka's guard. Aang takes out the bender holding Katara, and they struggle to get the chains off.
Zhao calls for the men to form rank. Someone yells, “the prisoners are escaping!” Zuko and Zhao leap into the chaos. They arrive to hear Aang give up on getting the chains off of Katara and that they need get to Appa to escape. Zhao is a clever man, he turns and runs to Appa, manifesting a fiery whip in each hand. Zuko fire charges into the group and separates Katara from the rest. Aang spins in and spins Katara out into Yue and Sokka’s arms. Aang and Zuko duel. Katara won’t leave Aang so Sokka picks her up and puts her over his shoulder. Katara begs Sokka to stop, but then changes her mind and tells Sokka to take her to the well. Yue tells them she will get the key to the shackles and joins Aang against Zuko. Appa runs about the courtyard chasing a hapless soldier in circles until Zhao faces off against the beast.
Aang dodges Zuko’s fireball as Appa wails in fear from afar. In his distracted moment Zuko gets past Aang but runs right into Yue. Aang is torn, does he run to help Appa or Yue? Yue tells him that she’s got this, and he goes to rescue Appa from Zhao’s torment. Yue gets in close, Zuko is on the defensive. He dodges past her, and she doesn’t follow. She has pickpocketed the key.
Sokka and Katara are at the well and Katara is bringing up all the water she can with her hands behind her back. Zuko comes racing towards them. Sokka screams and Katara throws the water at Zuko, and completely misses him. Katara asks if she got him. Zuko didn’t even get wet. Sokka throws the boomerang and Zuko has to duck. Zuko rises to his feet and the boomerang comes back knocking Zuko’s helmet. The water pools by Zuko’s feet as he fixes his helmet and with menacing rage makes fire daggers in his hands. Katara closes her eyes. She spreads her fingers then clenches her fists with a quick breath out and the water freezes and Zuko feet are frozen to the ground. Yue slides by Zuko on the ice twirling the key on her finger.
Yue unlocks Katara’s shackles as, in the distance, a blast of fire. Appa roars and flees into the air. Aang screams his name as he runs after him, but Appa won’t come back.
Zhao turns to Aang with a sadistic look in his eyes and a fiery whip in each hand. Katara, Sokka, and Yue come running. They try to convince Aang he has no other choice, he has to run. If he’s captured, who will save them? Fire nation soldiers begin to compose themselves surrounding the group. Zuko, fuming melts his feet. Aang pops the wings out of the staff. It’s also is a glider. He runs and takes flight on the orchard path. Zhao barks a command and all the firebending infantry call out and punch the sky sending fireballs into the air above and beyond and all around Aang. The fireballs arc in the sky and land all over the temple. The peach trees left and right burn and Aang lands among them. The sight of temple burning sends him into a rage. Aang glows. The wind picks up and blows all the fires out. Zhao and Zuko see. He is the avatar. With the fires out, the avatar spirit leaves Aang and the light of his tattoos fade and he lands. Zhao and Zuko race towards him; the chase is on.
http://kidskunst.info/linked/history-of-stairs-ancient-stairs-686973746f7279.htm
Aang runs through a large archway and into a great stone rotunda with a corkscrew staircase in the center. He runs at the speed of wind up the staircase to the top. Zuko and Zhao are hot on his heels. At the top of the stairs there’s a hallway and at the end of the hallway Aang finds the door to the jump room locked. Zhao leisurely jogs, beast like, up the stairs. Zuko fire leaps up the sides to just beneath the top. Zuko grabs the edge of the top with the tips of his fingers. He pulls himself up. Desperate, Aang hits the lock with the staff and it breaks open. The door swings off the hinges to a launch pad at the top of the mountain just above the tree line. With freedom before him, he turns around and faces Zuko as the prince rises to his feet.
Zuko promises Aang that if he comes with Zuko now, he and his friends will be unharmed. Aang asks how he can trust Zuko. The fire nation invaded and killed his people. Zuko retorts it was the airbenders’ aggression and illegal settlements on Fire nation land that brought this upon them. Aang claims the airbenders are pacifist. Zuko clarifies then, that Aang won’t just windblast him off and takes a step forward. Aang also takes a step forward. The people who lived here were mostly children. He accuses the fire nation of genocide. Zuko doesn’t want to believe it, but Aang’s conviction has awoken what he knows to be true, and he falters. Aang is still very vulnerable and emotional. His tattoos light up, his eyes glow, the wind rustles around his clothing: the avatar state emerges.
Zhao comes around the corner, not even out of breath. He sees Aang’s glow and smiles his crazy smile and charges Aang. Under the state of the Avatar, Aang is stiffer, more confident. He sends a blast of air with his staff down the hallway at Zhao, knocking him off the stairs. Zuko jumps after him and catches Zhao’s hand and saves him from falling. Zhao glares menacingly at Zuko as he pulls him up. The Avatar spirit fades as Aang realizes he just attempted murder. His actions horrify and confuse him. Tears stream down his face.
Zhao kneels, winded from the air blast. Aang turns to flee. Zuko takes off after him. Aang activates his glider and throws it out the window and leaps out after it, catching it and the wind. For a second, it seems like he’ll get away but then Zuko jumps after him at full speed and grabs hold of his legs, causing them to spiral and crash in the clearing below. Zhao approaches the edge and looks down. He jumps off. Aang and Zuko lie in a crumple before him. Aang tries to get up, but he can’t. Zuko is also injured. Zhao gags Aang and shackles his hands and feet. He goes to Zuko and helps him up. Zhao compliments him on his willingness to sacrifice everything, maybe they aren’t so different. Zhao throws Zuko towards the edge of the cliff and fireballs him off.
Aang watches, in a daze, as Zuko disappears into the forest below. From afar, Iroh is lit up by the light of the fireball. Zhao lumbers back from the edge and picks Aang up and over his shoulder as Aang passes out. Darkness.
A knock on a heavy iron battleship door. Iroh opens it and stands in the doorway. A messenger tells Iroh to hurry, there’s been an accident with the Prince. Iroh pushes through the crowd to the deck of the boat where Zhao meets him. Zhao proclaims to Iroh that the avatar threw the prince off a cliff. A search party is to be sent immediately to find his body for proper burial. Iroh spits and claims he never liked the sullen prince who had no respect for his elders and they can leave the body on the mountain for all he cares. He asks if the Avatar is in custody. Aang, gagged and bound, is carried by two large soldiers. Iroh leads them into the bowels of the ship. The battleship is a marvel of engineering and the prison for the avatar is state of the art. Even so, Zhao expected more. Iroh states that it’s mobile, self-sufficient, heavily guarded, and the safest place for the avatar to be.
In the avatar’s cell, Zhao has Aang’s arms chained up and his legs chained down. Iroh gets into Aang’s face, “So this is the great Avatar. Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over.”
Zhao ungags Aang and asks him how it feels to be the only airbender left. “Do you miss your people? Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were.” Zhao turns to leave. Aang takes a deep inhale and breath blasts Zhao, knocking him to the floor. Zhao is triggered, and fiery. Iroh helps bring him under control. Zhao tells Aang, “Blow all the wind you want, but your situation is futile. See, if you die you will just be reborn and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again. So, I'll keep you alive, but just barely.” Zhao leaves in a huff. Uncle Iroh glares at the remaining guards and asks for a minute alone with the thing that killed his nephew. They oblige.
Iroh approaches Aang. Aang shies away, but Iroh lays a gentle hand on his shoulder and assures him he is not like the others. He reveals that he knows Aang didn't kill Zuko but that it doesn't matter because no one will believe Aang anyway. Aang asks what's going to happen to him. Iroh assures Aang that when the time comes, he will help Aang escape, but first, he needs Aang's help. He needs to know about the waterbending girl.
In the prison hold, Katara sits comforting Grangran. Grangran is babbling on about how the fire nation came not long after they left and rounded up the villagers onto their ships but Katara's eyes fix on Sokka. He’s worried about Yue. Katara thinks they should be worried about all of them. A guard rattles the door and tells them to shut up. Iroh enters, carrying a bucket of water. The guard tries to stop him from entering the cell but Iroh tells him the orders are from Zhao. The prisoners haven’t been watered all day. Besides, Iroh asks the guard if he thinks the dragon of the west can’t handle one young waterbending girl. The guard apologizes and opens the door. Iroh enters the cell, kneels, and takes out a ladle and invites the villagers to drink. They do not move. He drinks some water himself. Sokka takes the bucket and gently helps Katara quench their grandmother’s thirst. The bucket is passed around and Katara brings the empty bucket and the ladle to Iroh. He tells her, “Katara, I have spoken with Aang. He needs you to come with me.”
Iroh takes Katara into his cabin. On the bed, Zuko lies suffering, his stomach wrapped in bandages from Zhao’s fireball. Iroh asks Katara to heal him. Katara doesn’t want to, Zuko put shackles on her and he is after Aang. Iroh understands why she wouldn’t want to. Zuko attacked her, he’s an angry young man, he’s fire nation, but he’s the only good thing in Iroh’s life. Maybe she can see past the anger and the pain and see that he has suffered at the hands of the fire nation, too. Katara eyes the scar on Zuko’s face.
Reluctantly, Katara dips her hand in a bucket by the bedside. Water clings to her hands and she brings them to Zuko’s bandages. The water glows for a few moments and Zuko is soothed. Katara asks to be taken back to the cell. Iroh sneaks Katara through the ship. He takes her back into the prison hold and in with the rest of the villagers. As he locks them in, Sokka asks him about Yue. Iroh tells him, she is with Zhao.
In Zuko’s former quarters, Zhao sits beneath a rack of twin swords, eating a feast alone. Yue is escorted in. She has been bathed and dressed in her gown from the night she left the north. She is seated in front of Zhao. He invites her to eat. He tells her about the captain who found the dress of the northern water tribe princess on a water tribe boat headed for the south pole. Yue asks what Zhao wants. Zhao wants peace, a permanent peace with the water nation. The southerners have wasted their land, like the earthbending savages and the airbenders before them. The north will be safe, it’s water, the fire nation doesn’t want water. The southerners can move to the north. Yue doesn’t understand. Zhao tells her, he’s going to help her open the moon gate. Isn’t that what she wants? Yue asks about the avatar. Zhao tells her she can either leave here and return home with her people or join him in prison. Yue wants to know where her people are. Zhao will take her there.
The prison hold door is flung open. Zhao leads Yue to the southern people. She sees them locked in a crowded cell. She announces that they will all be taken to the North Pole as her new subjects. Zhao will allow them to open the moon gate to let the water tribe members through to their sister tribe. However, the southerners will never return to the south. This news is upsetting, the south is their home. Yue assures them, this is their only option. Zhao tells the Princess its time for her to return, Yue asks to stay. Zhao locks her up in with the rest of the tribe. A soldier enters the hold and tells Zhao they have the beast.
On the deck of the ship, fire nation soldiers struggle to restrain Appa with ropes. Zhao appears. Appa wails and struggles harder. Zhao delights in his fear and what a fine present Appa will be for his bride to be. They take Appa below deck and set sail. Momo watches from the walls of the fort. He glides down and reaches the battleship and crawls through a vent in the side of the ship. He hears familiar voices, Sokka and Yue huddled close. Sokka asks her what the north is like. Yue tells him that it’s different. She has responsibilities, she’s betrothed. Sokka doesn’t understand she’s to be married.
Yue asks if she can do something she’s wanted to do since she first saw Sokka. He nods and she kisses him. She curls into his little spoon as he holds her. Momo gags and continues through the vents.
Momo passes by Iroh and Zuko in his cabin. Zuko is feeling much better after being healed. Iroh tells Zuko that Zhao captured the bison and maybe they can use him to gain the Avatar’s trust. Zuko bets that if the Avatar escapes under Zhao’s command, it will be a huge blow to his plans. There is a knock at the door. Zuko hides in the closet. Iroh answers, it is Zhao. Zhao wants Iroh to know that he grieves for the prince and they will want to get word to the fire lord, but first, Iroh is invited to the north pole, as Zhao’s advisor. Iroh asks if Zhao meant the south pole and Zhao smiles and leaves. Zuko peeks out of the closet as Iroh shuts the door.
Momo continues on through the vents. Finally, he finds Aang’s cell. Aang is delighted to see Momo. Momo gnaws at the shackles at Aang’s feet, to no avail. He curls up around Aang’s neck, giving him comfort deep in the bowels of the battleship.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a19228/ice-breakers-coast-guard-great-lakes/
Late day, over the icy seas, icebreaker ships take the battleship as far south as they can. The firebenders load sleds and snowmobiles with their prisoners for the south pole. Katara is lead out, the only prisoner in full shackles and even a muzzle. Iroh walks down the gangplank after the last of the prisoners. He passes a soldier, there is a familiar scar beneath the helm. The two nod to each other and Iroh joins Zhao on his sled. The fire nation troops take off, roaring into the distance.
On the ship, a soldier stands guard outside of Zuko’s former room. There is a clanging at the end of the hallway. The soldier investigates and is incapacitated by a masked man. The man enters Zuko’s old quarters and stares at the twin swords on the mantle. The door is left ajar and the swords above the mantle are gone.
Down in the prison hold, four guards play a game in front of Appa’s cell. One of them asks why they need so many men to guard this beast. Another guard tells him, that he’s a gift for Princess Azula from Zhao just as Aang will be a gift to the fire lord. There is a bang down the hall. The guards all jump at the noise.
The helmet of a Fire Nation soldier rolls down the hallway toward them. When one guard investigates alone, the other three suddenly see a flame erupt from the hallway and hear the muffled sounds of combat and of chains being strung up. When two more guards follow after him, they find their companion strung up with his hands to the ceiling. The masked man, clinging to the ceiling, wraps a chain around a hand of each guard and drops down, simultaneously pulling the guards up. The last guard standing in front of Appa’s cell, having heard the scuffle, takes his horn to sound the alarm, though before he could blow the instrument, it is knocked out of his hands by a well-aimed knife. Noticing a figure running toward him, he firebends, though the masked man extinguishes the fire by throwing water and proceeds to sweep the legs from underneath the guard with the bucket. *
Appa groans in interest as the masked man offers him some hay.
Inside his cell, Aang hears a commotion and eyes the door with apprehension. Momo hisses at the door as the lock is being turned. Aang gasps as a masked figure enters with dual broadswords. Momo attacks the figure and is easily subdued when the figure reveals Appa in the hallway. The man unlocks Aang’s chains and retreats to Appa without saying a word. Aang asks him who he is, what is going on, and wonders if the man is there to rescue him. The figure does not respond, and they are interrupted by the sound of the alarm. He signals for the Avatar to follow him. *
Aang, Momo, and the masked figure ride Appa through the halls of the ship. They burst through the door to the deck and are surrounded by soldiers. The masked man draws his swords but Aang yells, “yip-yip,” and they take to the sky. Firebenders all around them shoot projectiles the sky bison dodges or are deflected by the swords. The soldiers’ last hope is artillery that they point at the escapees. FIRE! A rocket heads directly towards the bison. The masked figure taps Aang on the shoulder, but Aang is concentrating. The figure shakes him. Aang sees the rocket but doesn’t know what it is. The figure unsheathes his swords and throws them at the rocket causing it to explode and sending the riders tumbling through the sky in the resulting shockwave. The firebenders below argue about who’s idea it was to shoot the rocket. Gaining his senses after the blast, Aang whirlwinds himself onto Appa’s back. They dive and catch the masked man in Aang’s arms. Momo lands on Aang’s shoulders as the mask falls off the man, revealing him to be an unconscious prince Zuko.
At the south pole, the ruins of the former southern capital are jagged and jut harshly from the surrounding icy waste. Zhao investigates the moon scroll as firebenders race to cut blocks of ice. They stack ice block onto ice block to rebuild the portal according to the scroll. When it is finished, it looks like a tunnel that leads into the side of a wall.
Aang lands Appa on the icy terrain. The tracks of snowmobiles run deep and are easy to follow, but that’s not his issue. Zuko lies motionless on the ground. Aang’s gaze follows the tracks into the distance, then returns to the unconscious Zuko. He can’t just leave him here.
At the south pole, Zhao watches the sun set. He orders Princess Yue to open the moon gate. She can’t. Only a waterbender can. All eyes turn towards Katara. They unshackle and unmuzzle her.
Katara approaches the rebuilt portal. It looks rough and raw in the twilight. She waves her hands over the ice. No change. She does again, but nothing happens. Zhao’s face darkens. He barks an order. The water tribe villagers are pushed to their knees as firebender soldiers brandish flames at them. She tries again and again to use her powers on the portal, but still, it does not respond.
Katara cowers. Zhao approaches her, his fury palpable. He suggests she try again. She doesn’t know if she can open the portal. He sneers that he hopes, for her family’s sake, that she is wrong. He snaps his fingers twice and Grangran is dragged forward. Zhao commands her to open the gate, and though Katara tries, she still can’t do it. Zhao scowls. He looks over at the villagers and spies Sokka. He orders Grangran returned to the others and Sokka to be dragged forward next. Katara begs Zhao. He orders her to open the gate. Sokka tells her that it’s okay, and that he loves her. Grangran yells that she believes in Katara. Yue joins them. The whole village shouts encouragements. The sun disappears over the horizon. The light of the moon is the only light in the sky. Katara closes her eyes and waves her hands once again. Nothing happens. Zhao makes a fireball in his fist and approaches Sokka.
A villager shouts and Zhao turns. A soft light creeps over each ice block until the entire arch is shining. The shining abruptly stops and the blocks have fused together. Zhao investigates.
In the darkness of the tunnel, one can see the moon, hanging in blackness, illuminating a path to a distant archway. Zhao laughs, an evil laugh. Yue stands and bids the southerners to follow her to the north, but Zhao stops them. Elite firebenders take hold of Yue, while others put Katara back into shackles and muzzle and lump her in with the villagers. Yue spits at Zhao for turning against his word. Zhao takes her personally into custody and leaves the rest of the water tribe with the elite guard as he and a small team, including Iroh, lead Yue through the portal.
As they walk the moon’s path, Admiral Zhao sinisterly tells General Iroh that they are in the process of writing history, as they will be destroying the last of the Water Tribe civilization. Yue is aghast at Zhao’s machinations, and Zhao has her gagged. Iroh warns Zhao that history is not always kind to its subjects, Zhao condescendingly assures him that this will not be like Iroh's legendary failure at Ba Sing Se; Iroh ominously tells Zhao he hopes not, for Zhao's sake. The firebenders and Yue reach the end of the path and find themselves in the throne room of the northern water tribe. *
Iroh confirms their location and inquires if it is wise to attack during the full moon, as waterbenders draw strength from the moon. Zhao states that he is aware of the problem, and that he is working on a solution. As he reveals a secret door behind the throne, Zhao explains that years earlier, while serving as a young officer in the Earth Kingdom, he stumbled on the secret of the Moon and Ocean Spirit's mortal forms in an underground library. When he declares it is his destiny to kill the moon spirit, Iroh angrily informs him that the spirits are not to be trifled with. Condescendingly, Zhao tells Iroh he has heard tales of his journey into the Spirit World and assures him that the Moon and Ocean Spirits, having made the decision to give up their immortality to be part of the human world, will face the consequences of that decision. *
They descend down the passageway behind the throne to the spirit oasis: a small bamboo forested pool in a glacial atrium. A low voice is heard up ahead. Zhao puts his fingers to his lips and the firebenders sneak in the shadows. Chief Arnook, Yue’s father, prays to the moon for his daughter and his people. The light of the full moon shines brightly above. When he finishes, he asks an older man, Master Pakku, to escort him back. Zhao reveals himself and his prisoner, Princess Yue. Pakku squares up but Arnook orders him to stand down.
Zhao commends the chief for his wisdom and releases Yue to him. Arnook ungags her and Yue tells him that Zhao means to destroy the water tribe by killing the moon spirit. Arnook and Pakku share a look.
Arnook is incredulous that Zhao could kill the moon, whose bed is the sky and the horizon, but Zhao assures him confidently, that the spirits are close, closer than he thinks. He gestures to the pool, two koi fish swim around each other. Yue is in disbelief that Zhao thinks the fish are the spirits, but Arnook and Pakku are silent with secret knowledge.
Meanwhile, at the south pole, Katara breaths through her muzzle, now hoary with frost. A firebender yelps and points at the sky, it’s Aang riding Appa. The firebenders form a defensive perimeter. Katara takes her chance, she ices the locks to the point that they break and she frees herself from her bonds. She begins taking out firebenders as Aang does the same. The firebenders run to their snowmobiles and sleds and retreat. Katara throws off the muzzle and hugs Aang as Sokka inspects the gate. He runs through it, after Yue. The rest of the southerners follow with trepidation. In the palace, Sokka begins to call out. He sees the door ajar behind the throne. Sokka finds it out of place and passes through it. Katara and Aang ensure all the remaining southerners go through the portal. Aang shows her Zuko on Appa and they decide to leave him in the south.
Suddenly, as if he had been conscious for a while, Zuko makes his move and attacks. Katara trounces him. She freezes him in a block of ice and she and Aang and Momo try to pull Appa through the moon portal. Appa resists; after being cooped up in the ship, he is not interested in going through a small door again.
Sokka sneaks down the path to the spirit oasis. Zhao arrogantly applauds his own efforts to fulfill his "destiny", speculating as to which names by which future generations will call him. From the shadows, Sokka makes eye contact with Yue. He retreats to get help.
A water tribe scout on an ice tower watches the fire navy ship’s blockade. It’s nothing unusual.
Katara and Aang desperately pull Appa with a rope onto the moon path. Zuko the ice block begins to steam.
Zhao takes a burlap sack and charges into the water. After a moment, he rises with the fish in the bag. As he hoists it over his head in triumph, the full moon above transforms, turning from white to blood-red. *
The scout sees the red moon. His waterbender comrade in arms reacts: he can no longer waterbend.
On the moon path, the moon and path are red in the blackness. Katara feels weak. She collapses. Aang releases Appa’s rope and helps her up. Appa pulls back into the open air on the south side. Aang hobbles Katara over to the north side and lays her down in the throne room. He tells Momo to watch over her, he has to go back for Appa. The path beneath him cracks and Katara tells him to hurry. Aang runs through the gate to the other side. Before he can make it to the south, a shadow appears in the doorway and fireblasts him back. Prince Zuko who corners Aang in the disintegrating moon path.
Yue begs Zhao to release the moon spirit. The chief holds her and comforts her. Iroh pleads with Zhao to consider his actions: they will bring harm to all, not just those in the Water Tribe. Reinforcing the point, Iroh promises Zhao, "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold." Zhao confirms what he knew all along, that Iroh is a traitor. To save the moon spirit, Arnook offers Zhao the unconditional surrender of the northern water tribe.
Water tribe warriors swarm into the throne room and surround the villagers coming through the portal. Sokka appears in the door behind the throne and bids them to follow him. The arch of the moon gate begins to crack and Katara yells for Aang. Zuko’s firebending keeps Aang on the pathway guarding the south door as it splinters here and there.
Zhao confirms with Arnook, that he has his unconditional surrender and releases the fish back into the water. The moon turns white. Everyone, the water tribe scouts, fire navy sailors, Sokka, Katara, Aang, Iroh, and even Zuko is relieved. The floor beneath Aang and Zuko solidifies again and Zuko takes a defensive stance.
Zhao watches the fish swim. Something dark and unsatisfied crosses his mind. Without a hesitation, he fire blasts the white fish.
Iroh watches the fire bolt hit the moon spirit in horror.
On the moon path, the full moon above Aang goes out like a light. The path beneath Aang and Zuko disappears and Aang falls into darkness. Zuko jumps to the southern portal and pulls himself through as the pathway vanishes behind him leaving an empty black tunnel.
Katara yells for Aang, and approaches the portal, but the portal in the north now ends in an icy wall. Momo scratches desperately at the wall.
The scout blinks in the darkness. He is at a loss. One by one, on the horizon, the fire navy blockade lights their trebuchets. They fling fiery projectiles in waves. The scout blows his horn.
Appa huffs at the gate. Zuko tries again and again to jump through the threshold, but without the moon, the gate is shut. Zuko lights the sky up with his fire blasts.
Iroh bellows and lunges on Zhao. The elite squad do their best to protect Zhao but are subdued by Iroh’s fury. Zhao realizes he might be in trouble and flees up the ice wall, his fingers sinking like molten rods into the ice to climb his way out through the opening above. Iroh falls to his knees and mourns the spirit with the chief and Pakku and Yue. Sokka returns with warriors and villagers. The first round of trebuchet projectiles hit the palace and bits of icy debris fall from the ceiling. Grangran pulls Katara wailing for Aang to the safety of the path to the spirit oasis and down to join the others. The northern water tribe capital is in chaos. The dead white fish is prodded by the living black fish.
Aang floats in darkness thick as water. A giant black koi fish finds him and swallows him.
Katara clutches Momo as a ripple in the water breaks the stillness of the spirit oasis. Aang rises out of the water in the avatar state.
Katara is filled with joy, but Aang does not respond. He rises into the sky. Ice and snow from the land and sky begin to swirl around him and envelope him the form of a giant snow-white koi fish. The fish swims through the air out over the bay and dives into the water between fire navy ships. They are hit with a minor wave, but the sailors braced themselves. The snow fish becomes slush and the fish shape decompresses, filling the seas. Then the shape recollects and rises pulling all the water with it. The ships try to flee but are caught up in the gargantuan shape. The rocky bay beneath is revealed as some ships are beached on the seafloor. The water pillar takes a vaguely humanoid fish shape.
It collapses, and the navy ships are tsunamied away.
Back at the spirit oasis, Iroh notices, with astonishment, that Yue has been touched by the Moon Spirit, and that as a result, some of its life force is within her; Yue affirms the conjecture, then decides that she should try to restore the spirit to life by giving hers to it. Her father, upset by this idea, protests, but she is unmoved by him. Sokka takes her hands into his own and assures her there has to be another way. She calmly replies, "I have to try," and places her hands on the dead fish. *
The fish glows as Yue’s spirit leaves her body, she closes her eyes, exhales one last time, and collapses into Sokka's arms, dead. *
Moments later, Yue's body evaporates, and the fish, suddenly filled with life, swims into the oasis, looking for its partner. Floating, Yue appears above the water as a spirit, clothed in a flowing white dress. She tells Sokka that she will always be with him, kissing him one last time before disappearing; as she vanishes, the moon reappears in the sky, restoring the waterbenders' abilities. *
On the walls of the palace, Zhao sees the moon’s return and screams his frustration.
Aang fused with the Ocean spirit, in the meantime, has laid waste to the Fire Nation's navy but ceases as the moon reappears. The Ocean Spirit acknowledges the moon's restoration and, ending its violent vendetta, places Aang atop the outer wall of the city as it melts into the ocean water. *
Zhao finds a hole in the ceiling of the palace as jumps down. He has no choice but to escape through the moon portal. Except a figure blocks his way, Prince Zuko. They begin to fight. Iroh returns to the throne room and catches their duel. As Zhao and Zuko weave in and out of moonbeams let in by breaks in the ceiling. The beams seem to bend and sway as if attracted to Zhao. They wrap around him like a web of fine hair and he is stuck. Tentacles of light pull him into the air. Zuko, forgetting the duel, tries to help Zhao, reaching out a hand to him, but Zhao stubbornly refuses to take it, and he is pulled through the hole in the roof, where he vanishes in the light of the moon. Iroh puts his arm around Zuko and leads the teen back through the moon portal to the south.
Zuko is already planning, they will camp in the south and wait for the Avatar to return for his bison. Iroh looks at him sadly as Zuko begins to make camp with Appa tied up nearby. With a decisive move, Iroh unleashes a fireball that destroys the moon portal in the south. Zuko is speechless as Iroh retrieves Appa and mounts him and pulls Zuko aboard. Zuko says “uh… yip-yip” and the three lift off.
Back in the north, a drained Aang makes his way to the throne room as the rest return as well. Aang looks distraught at the closed portal’s dead end and whispers Appa’s name. The water tribe surrounds and embraces him as a group, with Katara, Sokka, Grangran, Arnook and Pakku in the center. The fire navy ships retreat out of the north and the moon glows high in the sky.
Post credit scene
In the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Ozai imparts the knowledge of Iroh's treasonous behavior and Zuko's failure to his daughter, Azula, and entrusts her with a special task as she looks up at him, a smile on her face. *
1 note
·
View note
Last Seen Blogs
michellekarenw
michelle karen
realgents
KAOS POLOS
artsylizzy82
libby/luna/lucky 🍉
drivinmeinsane
There are no clean getaways.