Spoilers for GOW: RAGNAROK - Ursa’s Quest

There is one big headcanon idea I have which heavily focuses on Ursa coming into her powers as a Goddess of Death. And that is through a quest to restore a certain someone’s soul which eventually leads to her realising her destiny as the future Queen of Helheim.

Here’s my take - Ursa is around the same age that Atreus was during GOW 2018, and her father is visiting Kratos, so she’s just hanging out in the forest, playing with the wolves and having some good old fun when she suddenly feels something, something she’s only felt in the presence of souls. But this one feels incomplete, like it’s missing it’s other parts. She summons it, but doesn’t hear much as it’s a little worn and weak. Just that the spirit is "missing his ‘soul bits’” and that his name is Brok. Ursa stores his first soul part, his mind, in her marble and tells her parents about it, who is shocked to hear that their daughter found a piece of Brok’s soul. Realising how much this means to them, Ursa sneaks out and decides to look for Brok’s other soul pieces herself, eventually gaining the help of Sleipnir along the way as they go on their quest to find Brok’s two other soul pieces, luck and form and bring them to the Lake of Souls to complete him.

And along the way, Sindri shows up, not sure what Atreus’ daughter is doing out here all alone with Odin’s old war horse, until she speaks honestly about her quest. Sindri is stunned, but readily decides to help the little girl in anyway he can if it meant that his brother can finally have an afterlife, even gifting her a dagger embedded with the famine of Fimbulwinter itself. And at some point, and very sleepy Ursa will say "thanks Sin." Leaving Sindri feeling both touched and sad, as he truly does miss having Atreus as a friend but still isn't ready to talk to him. And maybe through his journey to save Brok’s soul with Ursa, he will be.

It’s essentially like Kratos and Atreus’ quest to spread Faye’s ashes, but instead, their trying to find the soul-bits of a dwarven friend, the child’s taking the lead, her main protector is an eight-legged horse, and instead of a talking head, she has a dwarf that is technically her great-uncle to offer advice. They bond over stories and old wounds that Ursa is just hoping to fix, although Sindri tells her that some holes are too big to fill. But that doesn’t mean she can’t fill it up halfway. They open up to each other, become protective and caring towards each other as they help not only overcome their trauma but also help Ursa realise her new powers and accept them (after all, summoning Hel-Walker and becoming a half-dead skeleton can be terrifying for an eleven year old.)

And throughout the WHOLE quest for Brok’s souls, she is eating up Brok’s vulgar mannerisms and loving it! It’s just a riot to her and is spitting swears and insults at all of her enemies like Perrito from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; making Brok proud as peach of his great-niece, whilst absolutely shocking Sleipnir and appalling Sindri, who is low-key (hehe Loki) worried about what Atreus will say about all this when he finds out. 

They use Ursa’s Marble containing Brok’s soul as a sort of compass or tracker, but because the souls have no direction, they are always moving across the realms, and because it’s God of War, there’s always some sort of obstacle trying to hold them back at the last minute. I’m thinking Baldur returns as the most powerful and coherent Hel-Walker anyone’s ever seen and tries to kill Ursa as revenge against Kratos and Atreus, who denied him his own revenge. This could also imply that Hræsvelgr is slowly loosing her influence in Helheim (the only reason Hel-Walkers even show up outside of Helheim anymore is because Ursa summons them) further tying in that she is in need of a replacement. Maybe that opens up a power vacuum that Baldur wants to take advantage of: become the knew Hel so that he can bring forth a new Fimbulwinter, ultimately decimating the Eight Realms that the Fate Breakers sacrificed so much to save. So it is ultimately up to Ursa to claim her rightful throne as Queen of Helheim in order to prevent those like Baldur to abuse that power.

Then, as they finally find the last soul, finally able to see Brok’s spirit, Atreus, Angrboda and Kratos show up, and they are all just happy Ursa’s okay, are scolding her for running off without telling them, before tearfully saying hello to an old friend and returning to the Lake of Souls together to see him off for the last time. And as Brok leaves, he tells Sindri to look after himself and tells Atreus that he has one tough kid and that he should be proud.

And he certainly is.

That’s what I got! I hope that you guys like it! Let me know what you think!

Kindhearted princess

fire nation royal family x reader

The fire nation love their royal family as they had ruled the nations with pride and strength, making the fire nation proud and strong over the many years. From fire lord azulon to his sons and his grandchildren, everyone in the royal family had the respect of the nation. There had been someone in the royal family that seem to burn by her own candle flame, the youngest grandchild of fire lord and youngest daughter or ozai and ursa. The princess that seem to be called by her people and other the kindhearted princess.

y/n " ......" you are walking down the hallway of the palace heading towards, someone chambers. You had walked passed some servants and guards who are carrying some stuff, and stop and bow when they see you. You had give them a smile as you kept on walking until you reached the chambers of your older brother zuko.

????? " y/n"

y/n " zuko I came to see you ... you are really leaving I can go speak with father and he ..."

zuko " no I wish for you not to be brought into my issues anymore"

y/n " Zuzu you are my brother I will do anything for our family"

zuko " it will be okay if I return with the avatar everything will be fine"

y/n " ......."

zuko " it all will be okay if have all my stuff and anything else I will needed packed, come on we can go to dock together"

y/n " okay" you and zuko had walked towards the dock together making some small talk.

zuko " I will miss you"

y/n " I will miss you as well big brother"

iroh " wait up you two"

y/n " uncle"

zuko " uncle what going on here"

iroh " well I'm coming with you zuko as you will need all the help out there, and guidance as well and don't worry I spoke with my brother about this already"

y/n " uncle are you really going"

iroh " yes my niece but don't worry we will all stay safe"

y/n " good and I will pray for the safe return of you two and the whole crew, and hope you both come back with good stories to tell"

iroh " we will and I think the crew will be high hopes hearing, you wish us luck on our trip away from home"

y/n " thank you"

zuko " stay strong my sister and don't only our sister and anyones else, to break you spirt"

y/n " yes Zuzu"

iroh " yes remember my lessons with you and the advice I have given you, I will be hoping you will be doing well here as well when we are gone"

y/n " thank you uncle and brother I will make sure to make you both, proud and I will make sure I do well when I'm here" you had hugged your brother and uncle, right before they left the nation on their journey to find the avatar. It will be a very long time until you saw your brother and uncle once again.

many years later

y/n " ......" you are feeding the turtle ducks you had gotten sick of being stuck inside all day, the ducks seem to be having a good time with you until someone came behind you soon scaring the ducks away.

y/n " azula" you soon got up and hugged her you are the only few people that she only to hug her.

azula " hello little sister now may you tell me why you are feeding these annoying creatures"

y/n " they are not annoying azula I think they are cute and I love feeding them"

azula "sure"

azula " so how was the meeting with father what did he tell you"

azula " that choi failed him and now it my time to take matters into my own hand"

y/n " I didn't like the idea of the raid on North Pole"

azula " i don't get you my sister you are from one the most important and powerful family here, and you decide to be always peaceful even towards our enemies"

y/n " azula they are just like us and I don't like the who idea of using my title and bending to get people to do anything"

azula " so I will have to worry about you as well"

y/n " azula"

azula " i will be leaving to go look for the avatar and Zuzu along with uncle"

y/n " azula please don't hurt them they are still family"

azula " don't worry"

y/n " I have many reasons to worry azula I know you"

azula " i will be good for now but I still going after the avatar anyways I will tell Zuzu and uncle you say hello"

y/n " I wish I could come but father will not let me"

azula " we all know why you are not ready and you will be good here, father will make sure you stay safe and that means staying here ... but hey I will bring you back any gift I get on my travels"

y/n " yes sister please be safe out there and with anyone else who joins you"

azula " i will be good but I will come home vicarious"

y/n " yes sister" azula and you had spent some time together as she was planning her trip to leave, the next day she had left home to go after the avatar and the rest of the family.

ozai " my daughter I have called you here so we can speak"

y/n " yes father"

ozai " now that your brother and sister are gone, thing around here will be changing"

y/n " I understand father"

ozai " good as your duty if being princess of the fire nation, you have a image to uphold and duties as well ... I know you will do them well being their for the family and nation, but you need to know that your ability of kindness could be seen a weakness you can't always let your kindness rule over you when you are in changer of stuff my daughter"

y/n " I know father but this how I'm"

ozai " I know I know my child but I need you to know, that you can't always be kind when it come to our people or anyone else"

y/n " yes father but I will always make sure our family and people are good, even if they are fire nation or not"

ozai " that what I love to hear my daughter now you are free to go, as I have a meeting with the generals and sages"

y/n " yes father take care"

ozai " you as well my daughter" you soon bowed to your father as you soon left the throne room, as the meeting was getting ready to start. You are walking down the hall way of the palace looking at the portraits, of the royal family member past and present. You had thought about everyone words, and you were going to stick to being yourself as that is something you love dearly no matter what everyone else had to say about it.

Been having some Azula thoughts (really, when do I not?) and every time I think about this girl, I'm in awe as well as baffled about how the writers just...got so many things right and wrong at the same time when it comes to her. Mostly in the way how she was abused, and how people both in universe and out react to that. Like, it's very clear that the writers themselves didn't realize that they wrote her as an abuse victim until way after the show ended, and it's evident by the way how she was handled during the show, as well as in post canon content. In universe, the two people around her who could have helped her (Iroh and Ursa) don't realize that she was being abused because Ozai favored her over Zuko, so they figured that she was safe with him, whereas Zuko wasn't. Obviously this wasn't the case at all, but it shows you just how fucked up the kind of abuse Azula suffered really is. Because it's subtle. So subtle that the people around the victim tend to not realize it until much later. And this unfortunately happens in real life too. What's so damn infuriating about this though, is the way how the writers just dropped the ball so damn hard with it. Because it's framed as being Azula's fault. That she rejected any form of help she could have gotten (which is a lie because she was never offered any help to begin with) and her circumstances are her fault. That the adults in her life didn't fail her actually. Even though they absolutely did. And I wish that canon would fucking acknowledge that, because man that would be one powerful story to tell. The adults owning up to their mistakes, and actually trying to do right by her for a change. And yet they just absolutely refuse to. It's almost like they really don't see Azula as an abuse victim because she was mean to people, and manipulated them. Which is such a black and white view of abuse, and a dangerous one at that. It's even more stupid when you realize that Zuko wasn't a picture perfect abuse victim, and yet they were still able to acknowledge that he was abused. Basically what I'm saying is that the writers have a perfect example in their hands of how being the golden child/favorite child of an abuser isn't a good thing at all, but they unfortunately fail to utilize this effectively.

Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?

That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.

But there is a constant exception.

Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.

And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.

On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.

He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.

More importantly:

1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"

2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.

3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."

4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.

5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.

Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.

Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.

His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.

Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.

“The Search” Rewrites, Book 4: Air, Leaks, and A Call for Help from the Fandom

I’ve talked a little about the Book 4: Air restoration project @book4air. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! Three full episodes are already out and episode 4 is going to cover Zuko’s early days right after his banishment, exploring his relationship with Iroh and the world as Zuko understands it as a lost boy rapidly coming into manhood.

Wait until you hear the VA’s performance with music and everything! It’ll break your heart.

But I want to talk a little bit about what comes after these next few episodes: our adaptation of “The Search”.

If you’ve seen our adaptation of “The Promise”, you’ll know it was quite faithful. This won’t be the case for “The Search”. For the purposes of the overarching story we are telling, this story is getting overhauled. (Please still support the original release if you’d like to see the canon version).

The biggest change that’s been announced is the addition of Toph. The team felt that a story about family, identity, and faces could benefit from including Toph’s perspective as she comes from a unique but toxic family situation, has a strong conflict between the performance expected of her versus who she really is, and is completely blind and so faces don’t even register for her.

Here is the sample scene we released:

But I want to talk a little bit about what we are changing about Zuko and Azula’s roles in the story. While the set up is virtually unchanged, there is one small alteration that makes a big difference.

(Sorry for the poor quality, this is technically unreleased content and I’m being kinda risky leaking it.)

Ursa’s letters are now a diary. This means that rather than get random flashbacks, the narrative framing now becomes Zuko and Azula reading these entries together. As a result, they get to discuss their discoveries about their family, and even share each other’s perspectives.

What that means is that when things like Zuko dangling Azula over the cliff happen, now we actually are forced to address it. The characters have to talk about how they treat each other and the reasons why. They have to confront the toxic family dynamic they’ve been forced and groomed into since childhood. Zuko has to realize his mentally ill little sister isn’t the monster here and in fact he’s the one with all the power now, and Azula has to realize that Zuko can be trusted if she can let go of her fear long enough to talk to him about her vulnerabilities.

We also address issues like this:

Many people criticize this for being OOC, but I think there’s a way this could easily not be. Sokka has been known to be juvenile and reactionary as a first response, the difference is that he always eventually apologizes and learns from his mistakes. Without even needing to be asked.

Threatening a mentally ill person who has just been removed from an asylum—even as a joke—is not okay. It would be questionable even if they’d been friends before this, but considering their prior relationship it really does seem like an boneheaded lack of awareness or compassion for how triggering this could be.

So rather than remove this interaction, we addressed it. And I am really taking a risk posting this here, but here is a brand new script page:

Sokka isn’t just comic relief. Sokka is smart, Sokka is compassionate, Sokka is brave, and Sokka knows when it’s time to apologize and reach out versus when it’s time to fight.

Safe to say, there are several things that stay the same and we tried to keep faithful to the spirit of the story, but there’s a lot we wanted to do for the Gaang and for the Fire Sibs, and I hope you’ll join us on this adventure, whether you’re a diehard fan of the comics and just looking for a fun AU, or you hate the comics and would like a rewrite, or even if you’ve never read them and would just love to return to the world of ATLA.

The only trouble is, we can’t do it alone. The project is very expensive and time consuming to produce. Our team pays for everything out of pocket and some of us don’t even have reliable housing, so it’s been a hard time.

If you can help in any way, even only by spreading the word so YouTube will stop burying us in the algorithm, that would be huge!

If you can afford to help, we have a Patreon where you can get all sorts of early goodies.

Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated! As the head writer and voice of Azula, this project is very near and dear to me. Avatar was my first pro-writing gig when I was just a homeless 19 year old, and it’s here for me again as I struggle to rebuild my life and health that COVID destroyed.

I love this series and the community that has helped me through the hardest times in my life. I can’t wait to make something beautiful with you all!

I want someone to tell me what "non-evil" thing Azula was supposed to do when Aang was going into the Avatar State that wouldn't have been incredibly incompetent or out of character or made no sense in general.

How would you have written Azula in a way that makes her less evil but keeps the story the same? Just make her smirk less?

I see a lot of talk about Azula's agency and the choices she makes, but if she's trying to win, why would anyone expect her to anything differently?

And before anyone starts, this is not making excuses, this is trying to understand where the character is coming from.

Azula sees Iroh as a traitor and a disgrace. She legitimately hates him. Of course she's going to do a lethal sneak attack on him. Zuko betrayed her, their family and their nation. He also hates her. Azula had no reason to like him, so why is it so hard to fathom she wants him dead by the end of the series?

Azula isn't going to feel remorse because she believes she is the good guy, or at least that the Fire Nation winning is for the greater good. And newsflash, so does the vast majority of the FN. If any other loyal soldier in the FN had to make those choices, they likely would have done the same.

Nearly every single FN soldier had been trying to kill these kids. That includes Zuko. Zuko was literally RIGHT THERE fighting Aang and Katara in the crystal catacombs, but he doesn't get called evil or heartless all because he was too incompetent to strike a killing blow on Aang while he was powering up and then later expressed regret.

Except Zuko only regretted betraying Iroh. Need I remind people Zuko hires a damn ASSASSIN to kill a 12 year old in the next season? If you think Azula coming the closest to killing Aang somehow puts her at a higher grade of evil than 99% of the villains who attacked the Gaang, you have moral myopia and are full of shit.

Azula isn't going to bat an eye at killing Aang because Aang being a child is secondary to Aang being the single greatest threat to her goal. You cannot reasonably expect her, within the circumstances, to politely ask Aang to surrender. You cannot expect her to just lay down and accept defeat when her level of skill, her tactical cunning, and her upbringing under Ozai all point her towards shooting Aang in the back.

Why shouldn't she try to kill Zuko and Katara? She's the enemy and he's a traitor. She hates them and she's pissed. This isn't some moral event horizon.

Azula hates Ursa because she felt neglected and that Zuko getting more attention was unfair. It might be a misunderstanding, but as a child it isn't Azula's responsibility to sort things out.

Azula has arguably the least agency due to her age and having the most oversight by a powerful adult, so yeah I'm not letting that go.

I'm not saying Azula isn't bad. She has a pretty unpleasant personality and dies some shitty stuff. But it's only some, and on the whole she isn't even particularly bad compared to the other villains in the franchise. Is the smirking bad? It is only if you consider having nasty thoughts to be a crime. A bad sign, but just a sign.

But that's all it really ever boiled down to, isn't it? That damn smile of Azula's that shows you just how much she enjoys hurting people. Well the fact is, no matter how much Azula seems to enjoy her actions, no matter how little remorse she shows, it doesn't make her actions any worse than if she had a cold, emotionless or angry frown. It makes her unpleasant, yes, but ultimately you have to judge people on their actions and less on their thoughts and feelings.

No matter how conflicted Zuko was, he still stole that girl's horse when he could have kept walking, hard as it was. No matter how jolly or enlightened Iroh was, he still waged war for decades.

If you expect me to forgive Zuko and Iroh for all their wrongdoings just because they turned things around, then I'm going to hold Azula to that same standard and say that, smirk or no smirk, her actions are, not excusable, but forgivable.

And yes, I do sincerely believe that Azula caused less harm to the world than Zuko and Iroh in the months she was actually active. I understand that conquering BSS was bad and burning down the EK would have been an actual atrocity, but I also understand that conquering BSS was something the FN as a whole was aiming for and burning the land have zero objections by any of the FN military.

Azula also suggests it to keep Zuko from saying something stupid and to get on Ozai's good side. I do not believe she suggested burning the land because she sadistically wanted to kill thousands of people. Azula probably thought it was a brilliant tactic for stampings out the last few rebellions for good.

Is it bad? Yes, it's very fucking bad, because Azula doesn't understand the sheer gravity of what she's saying or the devastation of Ozai's escalation. But that's true for everyone in that room but Zuko. It isn't JUST Azula, it's the whole damn Nation.

You know what Azula does that's just plain mean? Destroying a sand castle. Taunting Zuko about Ozai going to kill him is pretty cruel. Azula probably could have found a nicer way to get Ty Lee on her team.

But don't give me any bullshit about Zuko being Azula's abuse victim. It was a toxic rivalry. And I guarantee you if Zuko had gotten the upper hand on Azula sooner he would have done what he could to humiliate her, because he hates her out if envy, not just because she's mean.

And why should Azula be nice to Zuko, who is always belligerent and angry towards her for being better? That is how she sees him, in her eyes Zuko is the bad sibling who needs to be humiliated and taught a lesson because he's stubborn and entitled and spoiled by their mother who loved him even when he failed, unlike their father who gave attention when it was deserved and earned.

Yes, that's a fucked up way of seeing things, but that's how Azula sees it, that's what she believes is right, and you shouldn't expect her to know otherwise because she IS 14 and has no exposure to anything else.

Azula DOES regret some things, she regrets always having to use fear to control people, but as the series itself spells things out, it's literally all she knows, it's all that she thinks she's even capable of from her failed attempts at being normal in the Beach.

Azula doesn't think she has a choice,band if you don't think you have a choice, then THERE IS NO CHOICE. There is NO opportunity or chsnce to change without guidance, and what so many dumb casuals and antis just don't GET is that Azula really doesn't know right from wrong. That these supposed second chances she's getting to change her ways are utterly pointless if she lacks the wisdom to see them as choices.

None of us are excusing Azula, because that would defeat the purpose of wanting her to finally understand for herself what she did wrong and to get better, but we can't blame her for everything either.

Just because what she did wasn't right doesn't put her beyond forgiveness. The right thing to do would be to trying and actually guide her and help her, not just throw second chances at her and be shocked when she makes another bad decision.

This is a hard pill to swallow for some of you, but a victim is a victim, and no matter how bad or abusive they are, a victim NEEDS HELP. So get over your hangup and do something useful, and if you can't do that, then stay out of the way and let someone else help.

I'm sick of people trying to convince me to forsake a kid, no matter how cruel or messed up she is. Stop telling me to give up hope, stop telling me to keep fighting to save that one little kernel of goodness buried deep down.

I've been doing this shit since I was a teenager, both for myself and for actual people who made bad choices. Even if Azula laughed at Zuko's pain or was willing to kill, she deserves to heal from her abuse as much as she needs to right her wrongs. Fuck anyone who thinks it's okay for her to suffer.

...well, I haven't talked about the comics for a hot minute so...here's my thoughts on the central theme of Smoke and Shadow: fear.

Disregarding the sheer amount of how badly the characters are butchered, about how Yang seems to disregard canon just so he can make his own fanfic, the basic theme of the comic is fear. He's talked about it in interviews. It's a running theme for characters to talk about how they're afraid. You could even argue that Azula's main motivation in the comic is a flanderization of her quote on fear.

I will be the first to admit that I'm no stranger to fear. I have high levels of anxiety and I have a tendency to get worried or scared very easily. So being afraid is nothing new to me.

With that said...Smoke and Shadow's message about fear is asinine.

The basic message seems to be is that the thing you fear isn't worth getting afraid over. That it's not worth the hassle. We see this with Zuko declaring he's not gonna be like Azula or Ozai at the very end. Or how Ozai pathetically screams at Ursa to fear him. And yes. There are some things that aren't exactly worth getting worked up over or dwell on for the rest of your life.

But that's not what's going on here. If that were the case, why does Zuko insist on Azula being some kind of hellspawn and being "put in her place"? What exactly does Ursa's speech to Ozai accomplish? Really? Especially since we go from someone who is scared of his photo to standing up for herself with almost no development in between?

Which makes me wonder...does Yang not understand what fear is?

Fear and anxiety don't come from nowhere. More often than not, they're the result of something that really shaped someone as a person. Or perhaps as some primal instinct passed down from generation to generation.

Yet Ursa is never shown gradually coming to grips with what Ozai did to her. We also never see Zuko struggle with his fears about becoming his father, just more about Azula and what she's up to. And neither really grow at the end of the story aside from saying they're gonna do better.

I'm sorry, but coping with fear isn't that easy. It's a gradual process, understanding what makes you afraid and coming to grips with it. Knowing where the anxiety comes from and how to properly address it. It's complex and differs from person to person. And it's never. Simple.

With how pathetic Ozai is portrayed in his final scene and how minute the development for Zuko and Ursa were...I kind of think the real message was "Fear is a choice". Which is NEVER the answer. Fear is real, and you don't choose to be afraid. It's a natural response to when you feel threatened. And often, there is something concrete at the root of it like I mentioned before.

Instead, Ursa just chooses not to be afraid of Ozai anymore, ignoring that A. she's talking from a position of power and B. it doesn't address the pain she went through. And while Zuko chooses to be a more benevolent Fire Lord...he has a habit in the comics of saying things he doesn't mean nor does it actually ACT on his words. And it's STILL not addressing his real issues of growing up under Ozai and he's STILL blaming Azula for everything.

You can't choose to be afraid. But you can choose to address it, lest you become somebody you're not.

RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: JAUNE ARC (VOLUMES 1-8)

“You're right, Ren. I… I did cheat my way into Beacon. And I'm glad that I had people around me to help me see that I was bigger than that mistake. You've got people around you too. You don't have to force yourself to be strong. The more you hide from what you're feeling, the more alone you're going to feel. Trust me.”

As I mentioned in my previous Versus Series match, this analysis of Jaune Arc's combative abilities will be focused on his appearances until RWBY Volume 8, prior to falling into the Ever After and being displaced in time. The strengths and limitations of Jaune before he became the Rusted Knight are simply more interesting to discuss, and, similarly to Maria Calavera, the significant gap in time between his being sent back and Volume 9 makes equating the two inappropriate. While Rusted Knight Jaune did display just enough in Volume 9 for me to have a good gauge of where he stands, this analysis is already stupidly long (over 6000 words and 11 pages) so pulling a joint profile like I did with Maria will likely bore you out. Although, If you want me to do a breakdown for Rusted Knight Jaune, let me know!

With all that out of the way, let's begin.

PHYSICAL

Jaune Arc is a human male, nineteen years of age when he fell into the Ever After two years after the Fall of Beacon.  Born into a family with a history of distinguished Huntsmen and military service, Jaune grew up on stories of heroism and glory, seeking to emulate of his forebearers and dreams of becoming a great legendary hero.  Despite this ambition, though the exact reasons are currently unconfirmed, Jaune Arc never attended a combat school, living a wholly civilian life alongside his parents and seven sisters.  However, Jaune was determined to achieve his dream to the point of cheating, forging transcripts to gain admission to Beacon Huntsman Academy in Vale.  Unsurprisingly, his nonexistent training left him severely out of his depth compared to his classmates, while his misguided belief in his need to excel on his own merits led to him rejecting offers for aid from his teammates.  Fortunately, a short conflict with class bully Cardin Winchester led to Jaune eating some much-needed humble pie, and he submitted himself to private tutoring from his partner, the Mistrali prodigy Pyrrha Nikos.  Pyrrha’s training greatly picked up the slack and helped Jaune truly develop his skills as a fighter and leader, making genuine contributions to the defense of Vale and Team JNPR’s Vytal Festival battles.  Sadly, the Fall of Beacon and Pyrrha’s subsequent death cut his training short, and he found himself thrust headfirst into the war with Salem, his subsequent development coming from direct experience in the field and his being forced to cope with the mounting pressure of his traumatic experiences.

While Jaune Arc’s lack of combat training left him woefully underprepared for academy life and the Huntsman profession, he was ironically well-suited to the physical rigors he was bound to encounter.  As the Arc family was known for regular camping trips in Mistral, Jaune was clearly able to develop a high degree of physical fitness and maintained a healthy lifestyle, standing as a surprisingly talented natural athlete.  His past as an outdoorsman left him prepared with the harsh conditions of the battlefield, and his formal training ironed out his athleticism to leverage his body for fighting.  Easily identified by the blonde hair and blue eyes shared by his family, Jaune stood at a robust 6’1”and sported an athletic, muscular build.  In terms of physical performance, his primary attributes were strength and agility, expressed through his joint use of powerful stalwart stances and dynamic full-body maneuvers.  Even before his training truly began, Jaune proved himself to be remarkably strong, deflecting aside a Deathstalker’s pincer during his initiation and holding back an Ursa Major’s mauling swipe in the Forever Fall forest.  After proper training and combat experience, Jaune grew into a true physical heavyweight, his might, while not matching juggernauts like James Ironwood and Hazel Rainart, being easily comparable to heavy hitters like Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie.  He has sent an Ursa flying with a shield bash, launched grown humans several yards into the air, briefly held back the crushing weight of the Nuckelavee’s hooves, and supported the weight of a Sabyr and Tyrian Callows when they held onto his shield, in addition to various displays of strength-based swordsmanship.  In the realm of agility, Jaune may not have been a talented gymnast, but he more than made up for it in grounded speed and parkour even in heavy armor, traversing the battlefield with powerful jumps and running charges while avoiding injury with combat rolls and sidestep evasions.  He has kept pace with most of his teammates without too much strain, dodged boulders thrown by a Petra Gigas, blindsided the Nuckelavee by rushing in while it was distracted, and even moved fast enough to intercept Neopolitan’s lunge at Atlas Academy.  Though tripped up in sparring with Vine Zeki, he was able to effectively freerun with the aid of his shield through the treacherous landscape of the Solitas tundra while perusing the Hound.  Jaune’s reflexes and dexterity were easily his least developed attribute due to his lack of training, though he was by no means slow or crude.  Though he favored simple hack and stab bladework, his attacks were still executed with great precision when needed, aiming for one-hit kills.  Defensively, he had no difficulty responding to projectiles or other incoming attacks, notably raising his shield in time to block most of the obsidian shards Cinder Fall threw through one of the Evacuation Central Location portals despite being right next to the portal at the time.

While Jaune’s high degree of physical performance was extremely impressive even compared to other Huntsmen, easily his most valuable physical characteristic was his incredible resiliency, stamina, and tolerance for pain and injury.  Evan accounting for his large Aura reserves and the properties of his Semblance, the hits that Jaune has worked through are extremely impressive feats.  In his initiation, Jaune, despite having no active Aura to protect him, endured the impact of being pinned to a tree after being launched into the woods, and showed no sign of injury until he got scratched by a tree branch a few minutes later.  In Forever Fall, he suffered a serious beating from Cardin Winchester that left him with a bruised face, yet he was able to engage the Ursa Major almost immediately afterwards, soaking up more hits and ultimately decapitating the creature.  During Team RNJR’s journey to Haven, Jaune worked through a flying rock to the face, physical combat strikes from Tyrian Callows, and numerous mule kicks and blows from the Nuckelavee, yet his Aura never broke or even flickered.  In fact, the first time Jaune’s Aura was ever seen breaking in serious combat was when he expanded it to help shield Nora from a punch Caroline Cordovin’s Colossus mech suit (which I’d like to remind you was a giant robot designed to fight kaiju-sized Grimm), overtaxing his Aura and slamming him into a boulder.  His stamina displayed itself during the Fall of Beacon, the Battle of Haven, and the Battle of Mantle, all of which were long term conflicts that he fought all through yet remained vital and fresh by the end.  In Atlas, Jaune was slammed into a wall by Salem after he burned through his Aura amping Ren, yet was completely uninjured and stayed vital during their escape from the Monstra.  It wasn’t until he was forced into close proximity to Cinder Fall’s explosion in the Evacuation Central Location that his Aura broke again, and yet he still had enough fight left in him to regain his feet and attempt to escape.  Quite simply, Jaune has spent the bulk of his career as a human punching bag, yet he’s still going strong, wars of attrition being his bread and butter.  Jaune was unfortunately saddled with his share of mental hang-ups, his early hubris leading to him making reckless calls before wising up while his traumatic experiences, especially Pyrrha’s death, left him with an inferiority complex that led to him overextending in a misguided idea of sacrificing for his friends.  Fortunately, the influence of those same friends helped Jaune learn from his experiences and maintain his composure, trading away the macho badass for an incredibly strong-willed vanguard.  Even after being forced to kill Penny Polendina following Cinder Fall’s mortal wound, Jaune Arc never faltered, holding his ground against the Fall Maiden’s savage onslaught despite the grief-stricken tears in his eyes.

Reflecting the irony of being physically prepared for Huntsman life despite having no training, Jaune Arc consistently supplemented his well-honed physique with heavy combat armor, providing him from a degree of protection from the dangers of the world of Remnant.  He initially wore only a simple breastplate and shoulder pads, though like the rest of his skill set, his kit evolved and expanded over time.  During his time as an Atlesian Huntsman, he wore a full-plated gold-trimmed cuirass, pauldrons, and gauntlets over a black high collared shirt, while his lower body was garbed in blue jeans and rugged calf-high boots.  His earlier armor upgrade from an unnamed Mistral blacksmith was specifically noted to provide superior protection from Grimm claws, so the updated plating provided by Pietro Polendina was certainly just as durable, and very likely greater.  Though he had no protection below the belt (seriously dude, Adrian needs cousins. get a cup! 😊), the lack of heavy plating still allowed full freedom of movement, maintaining Jaune’s agility.  Easily the most sentimental wardrobe component was Pyrrha Nikos’s red sash adorning his belt, a final reminder of his lost love.

RANKING: Tier 2, Peak Human Fitness

Despite a severe lack of training at the start of his career, Jaune Arc still started out as a prime human specimen, and his numerous ordeals have propelled him to the Huntsman physical apex.  He is a solidly built athlete with powerful performance levels in all areas that can match or even exceed many of his peers, and supplements this with both an extraordinary level of endurance and some of the best armor we’ve seen in the setting so far.  While unassuming at first glance, Jaune’s physique serves as the vehicle for a one-man war of attrition, winning by leveraging his capabilities to stay alive and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.  But much like his friend Ruby Rose, Jaune’s greatest asset as a physical combatant is his resolve, maintaining his composure even in the face of staunch resistance.  He won’t give up, he won’t break, no matter what.

MARTIAL

Jaune Arc’s primary weapon was Crocea Mors, a collapsible heater shield paired with an arming sword which was originally carried by his great-great grandfather during the Great War, eighty years before the Fall of Beacon.  Despite being an antique compared to what his classmates carried, the weapon remained in excellent condition when Jaune took it with him to Beacon, and it has been further modified and upgraded as he continues his adventures.  The sword was an approximately two and a half foot long double-edged blade outfitted with a golden crossguard and a lengthened handgrip wrapped in blue leather.  The shield, when fully extended, had a rough area of 2.5 square feet and featured an opening at the top to house the sword, its primary feature being to convert into the blade’s scabbard when not in use.  Following modifications from an unnamed Anima blacksmith, the sheath was upgraded to include retractable sharpened edges that could extend upward, transforming it into a stout zweihänder with a heavier blade, enabling far more powerful strikes in combat.  The most recent additions to the shield came from Pietro Polendina in Atlas, who outfitted it with hard-light and gravity Dust generators. The former extended barriers to either edge to improve Jaune’s protective zone, while the latter functioned as a combat repulsor.  Appropriate given its original owner was a soldier rather than a Huntsman, Jaune’s weapon remains one of the simplest and most utilitarian in the setting, form reflecting function even with its various upgrades.  While perfectly capable of slaying Grimm, Crocea Mors was built for war.

As he had never attended a formal combat school nor had grown up with real-world dangers to address, Jaune Arc was woefully unprepared for his early education at Beacon Academy, enrolling on the back of forged transcripts and having amateurish understanding of the field’s basics.  Despite this, Jaune was fortunate enough to survive his initiation, and his ability to coordinate Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie in their takedown of a Deathstalker earned him leadership of Team JNPR.  While his early blunders were quite obvious, falling behind in his studies and regularly getting stomped in sparring, Ozpin’s early assessments of the boy’s potential were eventually proven to have merit following his conflict with Cardin Winchester.  After a peptalk with Ruby Rose and his successful killing of an Ursa Major in Forever Fall fed him some crow, Jaune accepted Pyrrha’s offer of private tutoring and began to properly develop as a fighter.  Under her tutelage, Jaune slowly grew into a capable swordsman and began taking his responsibilities as leader more seriously, eventually qualifying for the Vytal Festival and leading his team to victory against Team BRNZ.  While the Fall of Beacon and Pyrrha’s subsequent death cut his formal training short, Jaune continued to train rigorously with her prerecorded lectures during Team RNJR’s journey to Haven Academy and maintained his skill by sparring with his comrades.  But more than anything else, Jaune’s greatest growth came through the trial by fire that was the war with Salem, the threats he encountered forcing him to learn quickly and build his skill set through experience.  Appropriately for a beginner warrior growing through trial and error in the field, Jaune Arc’s fighting technique was an exceedingly simple and direct sword-and-board method, emphasizing the baseline reliability of the practical benefits of his weapon set.  He primarily relied on his shield as the foundation of his technique, using it to intercept or deflect incoming attacks.  He alternated between stalwart stonewall stances and active pushback deflections, holding his ground against everything from gunfire to pouncing Grimm while disrupting their own attacks with sweeps and bashes.  When he did choose to take the offensive initiative, his bladework consisted of a simple yet powerful array of slashes, cleaves, and thrusts, aiming for one-hit kills.  Together, the two weapons enabled a defense-and-counter fighting style, following up his solid blocking sequences with quick sword attacks to quickly disable or kill the target.  Though friendly and kind, Jaune never settled for half-measure, always decapitating, dismembering, amputating, impaling, or otherwise seriously injuring his target.  When utilizing Crocea Mors in its greatsword form, Jaune’s bladework became less refined yet far more powerful, using hacking chops to deal brutal damage, though at the cost of his defensive stance.  Despite lacking variation as a swordsman, Jaune’s simple and loose style was extremely adaptable, allowing him to accommodate to virtually any situation or opponent.  This technique was reinforced by his fluid use of his special abilities, most notably his Dust loadout and Semblance to augment his maneuvers.  However, Jaune has displayed little in terms of alternative disciplines.  Despite possessing a strong physical component in his style, he has never been seen employing hand-to-hand combat in any capacity, and his knowledge of firearms began and ended with blocking bullets.  That being said, he has engaged opponents who do use these methods and survived, most notably Tyrian Callows and James Ironwood, so he clearly knows how to combat them even if he lacked proficiency in using them himself.  Furthermore, he proved to be a competent mounted fighter, delivering strikes from Pietro Polendina’s hoverbike very effectively in Mantle.

For all the strides he made in his training and advancement in spite of his inexperience, what truly put Jaune Arc in step with his peers was his surprising natural talent as a tactician and strategist.  Humbled by his first semester’s failings, Jaune recognized his limitations as one of the least developed fighters of his class, and instead focused on pouring his energies into learning to circumvent them with the aid of his teammates and friends.  While his lack of book smarts would make the tactical display out of his element, his ingenuity and ability to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both his troops and his enemy’s, even under dangerous high-stress situations, more than made up for it.  Jaune Arc was not a grand strategizing general; he was a boots-on-the-ground frontline commander, and in his tactics, he heavily emphasized adapting to and subverting the opponent while holding out for the long term.  He would open defensively to give him time to assess the threat and give his allies the opportunity to probe for weaknesses.  Once an opening was discovered, he would order a swift and decisive response to exploit it, often by disabling the opponents’ defenses and weapons and forcing them to expose the Achilles Heel.  Against the Deathstalker, Jaune worked with Pyrrha to defend against its claws while Ren weakened the stinger, and upon seeing this had Pyrrha sever it with her shield before propelling Nora into the air to drive it in.  Team RNJR’s battles with the Petra Gigas and Nuckelavee played out similarly, with the beasts ultimately being killed by keeping their limps tied up while leaving its main body vulnerable to Nora’s blows.  The Nuckelavee battle demonstrated Jaune’s ability to apply this thinking to wars of attrition as well, as he and Ruby were able to land several critical strikes on the legs while the head was distracted, wearing it down as they cooked up a decisive finishing strategy.  As far as more intelligent opponents went, Jaune demonstrated his talents during the Vytal Festival match against Team BRNZ, ordering a retreat following the initial exchange before quickly reengaging, working with Ren and Pyrrha to fend off the bulk of the team and flush out May Zedong’s sniper nest so that Nora could blow her to Kingdom Come.  While battlefield situations were Jaune’s specialty, he was still capable of contributing to larger strategic operations, and more importantly, demonstrated an ability to reevaluate and adapt if his plans were derailed.  The best example of this was the confrontation with Caroline Cordovin in Argus.  The plan was to commandeer an Atlas airship by having Weiss Schnee pretend to return home alone before she and Maria Calavera overpowered the pilots and picked up the others, hiding their return by sending Blake Belladonna to disable the relay tower.  However, their hand was tipped when Blake was ambushed by Adam Taurus before she could complete her sabotage, and Cordovin responded by unleashing the gigantic Colossus mech suit.  Despite this colossal setback (pun completely intended), Jaune quickly put together a plan of engagement, exploiting the mech’s bulk by having Weiss, Ren, Qrow Branwen and Calavera harass Cordo and chip away at her defenses while nullifying her firepower by evading her attacks.  Though the final blow was delivered through Ruby’s initiative rather than Jaune’s his overall game plan and trust in his teammates still enabled them to survive and disable the weapon despite the shock of their original strategy failing.

However, while Jaune was a fantastic field leader and achieved several impressive victories, most of these were done through the strengths and abilities of his allies rather than his own.  Jaune’s inexperience and underdeveloped technique left him at a disadvantage whenever he was confronted by a skilled opponent in single combat, his success predicated on his versatility and tactical supremacy rather than his ability to fight.  His first true victory against the Ursa Major demonstrated his tenacity and the raw talent he did have, but he nearly lost his entire Aura during the scuffle and survived only due to Pyrrha’s interference.  Despite pulling his own weight in the Vytal Festival and against Tyrian Callows, his personal performance mostly amounted to soaking up punishment while everyone else tried to make headway.  While Jaune had improved significantly by the time of the Battle of Haven, the psychological strain of his experiences combined with Cinder Fall’s posturing triggered an outburst from the still-grieving Jaune, who recklessly charged the Fall Maiden with his greatsword.  The only reason Jaune lasted as long as he did was because Cinder drew out the fight to play with her food, the closest thing he made to headway being when he scored a superficial graze on her face mask after she was stunned by Ruby’s Silver Eyes.  Fortunately, Jaune managed to get into a much healthier headspace following his time in Atlas and learned from his experiences.  In addition to improving his calm under fire, he managed to apply a solid measure of his tactical sensibilities to personable combat.  This was where his heavy defensive focus truly started to express itself, shifting his focus to protecting himself, his allies, and his charges and only attacking when the blow could efficiently end the immediate threat.  While his core technique was underdone, his tandem use of his alternative abilities allowed him to adjust to different situations even if he couldn’t win himself.

In Mantle, Jaune slew numerous Grimm in the streets by intercepting their attacks before immediately striking back, notably impaling a Sabyr after it jumped onto his shield and later throwing a hard-light Dust grenade into a pack of Sabyrs for them to faceplant into.  While unsuccessful at evading Vine Zeki while sparring in Atlas, he achieved greater success when he fended off Flynt Coal’s Killer Quartet, enduring the assault before closing in and overpowering him.  Against Neopolitan in the Atlas Academy dorms, Jaune managed to intercept her running charge and blew her backward with his gravity Dust repulsor, though he and the rest of his team were ultimately outmaneuvered by the assassin and forced to flee with the arrival of the Atlas security forces.  When confronting James Ironwood two days later, Jaune immediately followed up Emerald Sustrai’s disarmament and kick with a slashing sequence, and though the general was able to stop him and counter, Jaune immediately turned it around with his repulsor, giving Oscar Pine and opportunity to run in and attack himself.  In these various encounters, Jaune demonstrated great skill and fending off direct aggressors and using their energies against them, even when fighting opponents far above his own level like Ironwood.  Rather than just enduring an attack, he brought it to a halt by disrupting their forward advance and landing devastating counters.  Conversely, Jaune was less successful against more subversive opponents who could outmaneuver and undercut him, which is what he faced against Neo and ran into against Tyrian Callows in Oniyuri.  Furthermore, his success was predicated on his ability to strike at the moment of greatest vulnerability, and if unable to get the drop on his target, he could get into trouble very quickly.  Putting these strengths and limits on display was his second confrontation with Cinder Fall during the exodus to Vacuo.  Despite seeing his old nemesis again and witnessing Yang Xiao Long’s apparent death, Jaune remained composed and focused on ensuring the civilians could escape, only engaging himself when the last were gone.  He opened by flying in and blowing Cinder back with his shield and standing with Weiss and Penny Polendina, prepared to coordinate against their more powerful adversary.  Unfortunately, Cinder divided her assailants and mortally wounded Penny, forcing Jaune to tend to her while Weiss was on her own.  After Penny had Jaune reluctantly kill her to keep the Winter Maiden powers out of Cinder’s hands, an enraged Fall lashed out, but Jaune, despite his extreme emotional stress, stood his ground and repelled her.  However, Cinder recovered too quickly for Jaune to properly retaliate, and he was quickly overwhelmed when the Fall Maiden destroyed his weapon.

RANKING: Tier 5, Standard Application

Jaune Arc’s inexperience and limited performance in single combat make it clear that he is not a master, but he still possesses a well-rounded and comprehensive skill set that covers his bases and improves his overall viability.  His greatest asset is his intelligent tactical analysis on the battlefield, enabling him to adapt to situations and exploit weaknesses, even if someone else lands the killing blow instead of him.  In single combat, he can contend with superior martial artists by leveraging his techniques to nullify their offensives and hit them where they don’t expect, though his battles with Cinder and Neo prove that this has its limits.  Appropriately, Jaune Arc wears Pyrrha Nikos’s influence on his sleeve, both being talented albeit thinly spread fighters who compensate for their lack of development by using all of their skills together.  The difference is that where Pyrrha built a special weapon to enable all of her attack options in her technique, Jaune supported his basic technique with strong support gadgets and good armor to provide a margin for error.  Jaune’s feats make him seem better than he actually is, but unlike Volume 1’s macho dofus, Jaune is now aware of this, and has built his tactics accordingly.

SPECIAL

Jaune Arc was a late bloomer when it came to his Semblance, unaware of his abilities even after a year of formal training and thus making him an anomaly among his peers.  It was not until the Battle of Haven that Jaune finally properly manifested his powers.  Named Aura Amp, Jaune’s Semblance allowed him to amplify and enhance the Auras of both himself and others, bolstering the affect of the manifested soul power.  All Auras bless their users with moderate protection from direct injury, mitigating minor wounds, and the ability to utilize their own Semblances.  When amplified by Jaune, these abilities became far more pronounced, strengthening Aura shields far beyond their limits, enhancing the magnitude of a Semblance, and turning the mild regeneration into active healing, this last part easily being the most pronounced of Jaune’s powers.  The first time his Semblance unconsciously activated in the Forever Fall forest, Jaune was able to recover from the beating he took from Cardin Winchester fast enough to immediately engage the Ursa Major. This went even further when he properly unlocked his Semblance at Haven.  After Cinder Fall impaled Weiss Schnee in order to spitefully torment him, Jaune’s emotional distress over another friend being severely injured on his watch, coupled with his need to save Weiss’s life finally caused his powers to properly manifest.  Despite the fact that she had clearly gone into shock and was suffering from serious blood loss, Weiss was able to regain consciousness after mere minutes of treatment, and after a few more had regained enough of her energies to Summon a Queen Lancer and fight through the remainder of the battle.  Making this even more impressive was that Jaune was able to accomplish this instinctively and with little to no effect on his stamina.  Jaune refined his abilities for active use in the following weeks, to the point where he could casually heal the Huntsman Dudley’s broken arm on the Argus Limited, and later treated the battered Oscar Pine after rescuing him from the Monstra.  Beyond healing, Jaune’s ability to amplify Auras allowed him to empower the barriers of others to help them endure incoming attacks.  In Argus, he bolstered himself and Nora Valkyrie to brace against the Colossus’s punch, and thought disabled by the hit, Jaune’s power still saved their lives.  On a smaller though no less impressive scale, Jaune’s amplification proved instrumental in allowing Penny Polendina to resist the effects of Arthur Watts’ computer virus, allowing her human soul to overpower her circuitry.  Most impressive by far was Jaune’s ability to enhance others’ Semblances by adding his strength to their own.  Lie Ren was his most common partner in this, empowering Tranquility to the point where Ren could mask the entire Argus Limited train and whole mobs of civilians in Mantle, as well as conceal at least ten trained Huntsmen from detection by whole armies of Grimm.  When Penny nearly succumbed to Watts’ virus, Jaune’s enhancement of Weiss’s Glyphs allowed them to restrain her long enough to offer aid.  However, Jaune’s Semblance was not without its limits.  Prolonged use could drain his own Aura quickly, and even his own substantial Aura reserves were not limitless.  Furthermore, his healing powers could not mend all injuries, as Nora’s electric scars and the severity of Penny’s mortal wound from Cinder were beyond his ability to heal.

In addition to his Semblance, Jaune added to his arsenal with Dust gadgets during his time in Atlas, specifically the hard-light panels and gravity repulsor built into Crocea Mors’ shield.  Pioneered by Atlas and therefore costly to obtain outside of it, hard-light Dust is most commonly used in the creation of advanced defensive technology, generating tangible panels of energy strong enough to withstand severe kinetic impacts.  The projectors installed in the edges of Jaune’s shield could create barriers approximately a foot and a quarter wide and running down the full length, effectively doubling his range of protection, improving his ability to function as a defensive wall for himself and his allies.  While the strength limits of these projections has never been tested, I do feel they are at least comparable in strength to the shields created by figures such as Weiss Schnee and Arthur Watts, who were able to hold back the White Fan Lieutenant’s brutish chainsaw blows and block high-caliber gunfire from Due Process respectively.  More contemporary but no less potent, gravity Dust affected forces of push and pull in ways meant to facilitate adhesion, propulsion, and levitation, traits that made it an extremely common fuel in vehicles.  When applied combatively, gravity Dust used these same properties to function as limited telekinetic attacks, usually through the guided manipulation of thrown weapons, enhancing the tactile striking power of manual weapons, or, in the case of Jaune, powerful offensive shockwaves.  Outfitted in the center of the shield, Jaune’s repulsor enabled him to project bursts of power that pushed out in all directions, strong enough to repel charging enemies and deflect attacks though not enough to actively damage his environment.  Though unable to injure Neo, Ironwood and Cinder directly, the repulsor was still strong enough to stagger them, potentially setting up for a follow up strike.  This weapon in particular became Jaune’s most readily utilized combative tool, his favorite tactic being to activate it just as the opponent came within striking distance, essentially delivering shield bashes with a touch of a button.  Despite only recently taking these gadgets up, Jaune quickly became highly profieient in their use, smoothly integrating these abilities into his overall fighting method and together with one another.  In addition to combining the functions to turn his shield into a makeshift hang glider, Jaune could project the gravity waves to push back obstacles while activating the hard-light panels to cover his flanks, using this very method to clear away a pack of Centinels while infiltrating the SDC mine.  This combination tactic further demonstrated Jaune’s approach of utilizing all his abilities together as part of a greater fighting method, getting around his lack of power and skill through versatility and logistics.  At the same time however, Jaune’s Dust abilities had their own individual limits. The hard-light panels were a very specialized tool, and Ironwood’s ability to penetrate Watt’s barriers proves that even special Atlas Dust can’t take a beating forever.  While the gravity repulsor gave Jaune an offensive option, the kinetic output wasn’t sufficient to injure or kill, forcing Jaune to rely on other means to decisively defeat his adversary.

Regarding Jaune’s use of his special abilities in live combat, he clearly emphasized versatility over lethality, sacrificing offensive might for tactical supremacy.  While his Semblance’s properties have been most impressively demonstrated on external subjects, Jaune can and has used the power on himself to potentially decisive effect.  While training in Atlas, Oscar Pine observed that Jaune’s Aura was recovering at a significantly faster rate than usual, which leads me to believe that, similarly to Hazel Rainart’s Numbing Agent, Aura Amp functions as a minor healing factor to help Jaune replenish his energies.  Unlike Rainart, however, Jaune’s active use of his Semblance can allow him to do this on command and more quickly, which, combined with Aura Amp’s healing properties, makes him one of the only characters with the ability to mitigate his own injuries in the field.  Both of his Dust gadgets follow similar patterns of improving Jaune’s survivability, the hard-light shields artificially bolstering his martial defense while the gravity repulsor adds a layer of counteroffensive.  The latter has proven effective and giving Jaune a punch against opponents above his own level, successfully repelling Neopolitan, James Ironwood, and even Cinder Fall TWICE.  However, much like his martial skills, Jaune’s effectiveness as an ethereal combatant is predicated on his breadth of tools rather than their magnitude of his native proficiency. His Semblance is almost entirely a tactical support power, and its various powers still have their limitations that make its efficacy in single combat suspect.  While a number of factors were at play when Jaune was forced to euthanize Penny, the narrative framing makes it clear that the severity of her injuries would have been beyond his ability to repair even if he had time and shelter.  As far as his Dust abilities are concerned, Jaune may make creative integrations of his powers into his fighting style, but neither his shields nor repulsor have the means to decisively end the battle on his terms.  The effectiveness of the gravity repulsor is based around its ability to stagger the opponent and set up for a counterattack, meaning its effectiveness is significantly reduced if the opponent recovers quickly enough to exploit Jaune’s lack of skill as a martial artist.  Against Neopolitan, the attack was able to disrupt her forward charge and launch her down the hall, prompting her to retreat.  Against Ironwood, Jaune had the support of his allies, with Oscar rushing in to attack immediately after the Dust activated, while Weiss and Penny were clearly preparing to do the same against Cinder.  Jaune wasn’t so lucky when he was forced to fight Cinder on his own, their final bout taking place when Weiss was already disabled and Penny was dead.  With only his native abilities as support, Jaune’s final push against Cinder merely provoked her, and her quick recovery allowed the Fall Maiden to rally and shatter his weapon, Jaune’s survival owing entirely to the timely arrival of Winter Schnee.

RANKING: Tier 5, Limited Combat

Much like his fighting abilities, Jaune Arc’s special powers are comprehensive and versatile, but they lack the development to reliably set the battle on his terms.  His Semblance offers various supportive abilities that improve his survivability in the field, while the traits of his Dust loadout add layers to his fighting style, all coming together to cover all of his bases for just about any combat situation.  At the same time, he lacks the developed skill with these powers to properly control the engagement, getting by through the breath of his skill set and his intelligent use of all of his skills.  Rather than mastery of his abilities, Jaune Arc relies on clever gadgets to artificially elevate his fighting style into something greater than the sum of its parts, and his baseline reliability hinges on circumstantial factors.  However, Jaune ‘s limitations do not make him any less of a threat, and his cunning use of the various tricks in his bag means that he can still comfortably engage any situation even if he can’t always win.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 5, STANDARD HUNTSMAN

Compared to the true masters of his era, Jaune Arc is not a particularly exceptional combatant, but he is still significantly above the rank-and-file.  On the back of his martial skills and special abilities, Jaune stands as the archetypical example of a Tier 5 combatant in the RWBY setting.  His foundation stands on his rock-solid physical attributes, his exceptional athletic performance levels giving him parity with better trained opponents and his inhuman resiliency giving him the ability to work through the hits he needs to take, further supplemented by top tier combat armor.  With his versatile weapon set, solid general purpose fighting technique, potent empowering Semblance, and flexible set of Dust tools, Jaune possesses an extremely comprehensive skill set that leaves him prepared for just about any combat situation, but his lack of developed skill means that none of these attributes are elevated to a degree that can decisively tip the scales of the battle in his favor, leaving him spread thin and vulnerable against more skilled adversaries.  However, being a jack of all trades/master of none does not make one an inept combatant, as Jaune’s attributes still give him a degree of adaptability and grit that many more specialized fighters tend to lack.  Jaune’s saving grace is his tactical mindset, allowing him to circumvent his limitations by using all of his assets, be they his own or those of his allies, together as a layered combative tool to stay alive and win in the long term.  Furthermore, despite his lack of formal training, Jaune has spent almost his entire career either on the battlefield or contending against opponents far above his own level, and he has still survived.

Jaune Arc’s ranking shows that he is not yet a true master combatant and still has a long way to go before truly matching his peers, but his track record also makes it very clear that he is growing very quickly and will undoubtably match or exceed them. He is a rising star, only held back by a series of roadblocks that continue to temper him. Jaune entered Beacon feeling that to be a Huntsman and a hero was to be a mighty warrior standing on his own laurels, though the harsh realities have not only shattered this narrow worldview but also brought out Jaune’s true route to greatness. Similarly, Pyrrha’s death led him to believe that self-sacrifice was all he was good for if it meant giving his friends a chance to survive, but those very friends made it clear that throwing his life away would only hurt them more. Instead of laying waste to armies of enemies as a one man badass, he has grown into a stalwart defender dedicated to surviving to protect those that cannot do so themselves. Rather than the lethal blade of his sword, it is the impenetrable shield in his off hand that has come to define the kind of hero that Jaune Arc is. He will stand firm against evil for the sake of others, holding out as long as he must while searching for ways to end the threat with as little lives lost as possible. The strength of this shield need only be gauged by what it and its wielder has endured. The Breach, the Fall of Beacon, the Battle of Haven, the Atlas Crisis; Jaune Arc survived all this and more, and he has emerged all the stronger and wiser for it. Pyrrha Nikos saw more in Jaune than the rest of them did, and I think it’s safe to say that she could not have been prouder of who he has become; as a Huntsman, as a leader, as a warrior, and more than anything else, as a man.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth Community page on 06-8-22*

* images taken from RWBY Wiki*

RWBY Combat Analysis

Hi I do enjoy you takes on different avatar related stuff including the all of the royal fire family.what I wanted to ask is if you think it would have been better if Ursa was dead?

I feel like it would be and make sense narratively. She had very sensitive information about how Ozai got to power and when zuko is walking away Ozai try’s to get zuko to say by calling him weak but that no longer works so he used his mother to manipulate him he even smiles at seeing it work. But he’s just trying to waste his time. Plus it also add to the idea of found family like imagine Katara telling zuko “we are you family now” ohh we even get a zuko Aang parallel too. Idk maybe i just don’t like how Ursa was handled in the search. Sorry for how rambling I got.

What do you think?

Ursa might as well be dead as far as atla is concerned. I refer to her plot as fridging even though she is not technically dead because she nopes out of the narrative the same way she would if she were dead, and tbh I don't think the writers ever had much intention of bringing her back into the story to begin with. I'm glad she's not dead and we do get that line from Zuko at the end demanding to know where she is, but as far as the Search is concerned, that might as well not have happened.

I think you make a good point about her having sensitive information, which is enough of a reason to explain her absence without all the spirit bullshit the Search introduces. Ozai was absolutely trying to manipulate Zuko about Ursa when he told Zuko she did "treasonous things," and I could have believed that Ursa could have stayed away out of guilt, because of how Ozai made her complicit in his crimes, especially the ones against her children. We didn't need Ursa losing her memory to explain her absence, and that's one reason the Search felt empty.

Another is that as you said, she might as well be dead, narratively. I mean, I'm glad she's not, but she's served her narrative purpose so reintroducing her to the story feels pointless. She serves as part of Zuko's coming of age story and Azula's downfall and both of those arcs were completed at the end of atla. What the comics do with her doesn't really add anything to the story because those comics are not meant to progress the story, simply churn out dollars while keeping the characters stagnant.

Could you explain the concept of the transcendence au, I don’t understand it very well and could really use the help. Please

Hello!! I'm not the best at explaining things so first I reccomend looking at these following posts that neatly go through main points of the au!!

This Transcendence AU primer, which gives an overiew of the au and main points (alongside some good fic recs!!) (a lot of what i'm going to write underneath is based off this post!!!)

This one, that goes into an in depth summary of main events within the au

BUUTTT basically, to my understanding, the transcendence AU is a gravity falls AU that diverges some point after the sock opera episode where bill tries to end the world. The twins stop him, leaving him nearly dead. In an attempt to save himself, Bill tries to possess Dipper without a deal. Dipper stops bill in his attempts, killing him- but in doing so, all of bill's demon powers and magic infuse with Dipper, turning him into a demon.

(ALSO!! As a side effect of killing bill, all the supernatural of Gravity Falls spread across the entire globe, causing the event which is dubbed The Transcendence!!)

Following this, dipper finds that he can't be seen by anyone but Mabel (which leads to a lot of angst in the following years) who slowly but surely helps him through it all. as he grows up, he slowly develops more and more of his powers, getting a summoning circle of his own and making deals around the globe.

Being a demon, however, he ends up outliving his family. He keeps track of their souls, continuing his life as a demon whilst also looking out for their reincarnations (he often tries to bond with mabel's reincarnation, but often finds complications in doing so, considering the fact that having the world's most powerful demon show up in your bedroom isn't what you'd expect for a typical thursday afternoon)

TLDR: Bill tried to possess Dipper and failed. This killed Bill and turned Dipper into a demon.

(a demon that we know and love, called Alcor the Dreambender, based off the name of one of the twin stars found within the Ursa Major constellation (aka the Big Dipper))

Chaos ensues.

I 10/10 reccomend you to read the above posts since their explanations go into the smaller details of the AU. But you can find the main TAU blog here (or at @transcendence-au) where you can find a lot of art, fics, world building, head canons, and more! They have a pinned post there that links to a bunch of useful AU information (including the posts i had above!!)

But yeah! I absolutely love this AU with all my heart. the amount of lore and extensive world building that goes into it makes it feel like it's own vast universe, but because of how open-ended the foundations of the AU is, you can find many different renditions and takes of the various aspects of this AU. it's all just *chef's kiss* and I love to run away with the different components of this universe and just listen to everyone's different ideas of how things go (Alcor himself also lives for a veerry long time, so that gives a lot of writing potential or different stories during his time alive)

(if you're confused abt why bill is in my more recent posts with alcor, it's a tiny lil au of an au that i made where bill comes back when dipper's like, a few millenia old and at this point, everyone dipper knows and loves has been dead for a looong time and he's just lonely so when he sees bill come back he's just like fuck it, we immortal besties ig and they vibe (for the lack of a better term))

An Analysis of Ozai’s characterization, rise and descent

Recently I’ve seen a lot of discourse on Fire Lord Ozai. One of the cruxes of the issue being that people look at Ozai from the original series and claim he’s too “2 dimensional” or “cartoonishly evil” and I’m here to say “let’s look through a lens instead”

While there may be some case for Ozai being just another big bad there’s far more evidence that suggests his issues are far more nuanced. The show continually stops at these points of character development to focus on generational trauma and unlearning the negative influences of family/nation.

In that breath of we look at Ozai from the point of view of a nationalist with a narcissistic personality disorder almost ALL of his subsequent behavior makes sense…

• Ozai being controlling of his family members. Even from the start of his marriage he shows signs immediately of trying to manipulate and estrange Ursa from her family.

•His domination and manipulation of his children. Remember although he favors Azula it’s still very obvious that the only reason he does is because of her perceived value. I personally think this could come from her ability to fire bend blue flames, something his father likewise did. Whether it be a genetic trait or a sign of “pure” bending ability it is essentially a trophy for Ozai. A classic narcissistic parent only has value for their child and still demands to be above them - we see this when Ozai names Azula Fire Lord only after making a new greater title for himself (get to that later). Since Zuko showed none of the same promise as Azula - Ozai had already resigned to him being of no value to him and even admits the Fire Sages and his mother are the only reason he’s even here. Ozai only has value on power and much like his intentions to usurp Iroh were always there his intention to “cast [Zuko] of out of the palace” are likewise there for the same reason.

*side note YES there is one time where Ozai does save Zuko’s life but even his account of these events tells all you need to know.

Ozai saves his son (because it would be embarrassing for the FIRE prince to have drowned and Ozai knows this) but Zuko “spends the day” in his mother’s arms.

•Ozai’s narcissism eventually surpasses his nationalism as even Fire Lord is not a grand enough title. A key characteristic of NPD is an “excessive need for admiration.” We see this frequently with Ozai as well as his self importance and entitlement. When he becomes the Phoenix King he assumes a new level of perceived power and admiration. As well as a superiority over his ancestors who started the war. After all they were just Fire Lords, he is much more. He’s a megalomaniac and even taking the most powerful position in the Fire Nation wasn’t enough for him.

To suggest he’s just the ember island version of himself is too reductive. Almost all of Ozai’s behavior under this lens of sociopathy and narcissistic personally disorder track quite easily. It’s not that Ozai simply manipulates and attacks his family he NEEDS to be the most powerful. The perception of weakness and his hubris is the set up for his downfall because the ones he never thought worthy (Zuko and Iroh) are eventually his undoing.

This lens also provides a great backboard for analyzing Azula, it bleeds into why she’s a perfectionist and her own mental instability. Growing up under the boot of narcissistic father explains Azula and Zuko’s (initial) entitlement and desire for recognition. They’re both classists and nationalists at the beginning of the story. Zuko later gets humbled and has his eyes opened but Azula still very much (as we see with her relationships) holds her royalty and rights very highly.

Azula especially caters to her father’s need for admiration and she assumes his fantasies of grandeur. Her subsequent actions of manipulating people seems a learned trait and no doubt from Ozai, she did watch from the shadows as he manipulated his way to the throne. It sets a tone for her as well to dominate Zuko and usurp his birthright, even though Ozai shows he cares only for power not for tradition. She still strives for his approval and acknowledgement of superiority.

And of course the climactic ending of his reign being his power is taken away from him - this is a death knell for everything mentioned above. Thats WHY it’s so impactful what Aang does not only because it aligns with Aang’s desire for pacifism but it’s the antithesis of Ozai’s campaign for total domination. Ozai only ever cared about power and control - to be stripped of his literal fire power reduces him to all he has left - mental control. When he’s imprisoned he is STILL trying to fuck with Zuko’s head by bringing up his mother and these cryptic stories from the past.

Although there’s is the obvious black and white to see Ozai as a cartoonishly evil war lord who has intentions of genocide there’s more to Ozai than that. Hopefully this analysis also resonates with anyone like myself who has/had a parent who shows these signs of narcissism and empathized with both Zuko and Azula because we know what kind of monsters those parents can be …

I’m not saying this is the ONLY lens to view Ozai and if the textual evidence wasn’t there maybe I would say I’m projecting but I think the case is pretty solid for the kind of villain Ozai is. He’s much more cerebral than this audience is giving credit for and it’s his villainy that ultimately defines many of the other characters and their paths.

"someone PLEASE dare me to talk about the writing of Ursa's story from the comics"

This is your sign, child. Tell me all you've got

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

A bit of a foreword to anyone reading: I am going to be speaking about the writing of Ursa's trials from the comics in a critical light in the ways that her story was chosen to be written this way. If you find any kind of comfort or catharsis in her story, this post may not be for you. I am not here to be an anti, I am here to look at changes made to a character that I think could have been a lot more interesting if she had been allowed to keep her original backstory.

That being said:

Ursa's story of being plucked out of a happy home to marry 'the bad guy' could be interesting!

My problem with it is the inconsistencies it creates in it's own narrative... and the fact that it's such painful woobification of a woman who was willing to commit a high crime to save her son in the way that her circumstances create an issue where she is nothing but a martyr. It also continues the whole 'good lineage vs bad lineage' idea that completely undermines the power of Zuko's arc.

Ursa, in the comics, is presented to us as this bright eyed hopeful actress, in love with a man named Ikem when Azulon rolls up with Ozai, unlike some earlier lore where she was born into royalty and was the perfect match for Ozai. Now she's subjected to a wretched life which I can only imagine they put her through to make her completely sympathetic, because otherwise she would have been just like the rest of the royal family - EVIL.

Which I really hate that train of thought, but this is a family friendly show and as good as atla does with it's good vs evil nuances, I often remember I have to cut it some slack... but then I get a bit more frustrated because of the whole 'just because it's family friendly means they can simplify things' which I also don't care for but again... eh. I can't be too picky at times. (I was also raised on Gargoyles which did a great job on showing villains in sympathetic moments and heroes having big major flaws so I'm already a little biased)

Regardless; completely rewriting Ursa's backstory to the point that we no longer see her view of the war (or Ikem's! So they're good people!! We promise!) just comes off as almost manipulative and middle-school fanfiction-y. Ursa is a good person to sympathize with because she's being forced into these situations :C

And as such, she's a good person because of Roku!! And so Zuko is a good person because his mom loved him so much!!

And such, they don't have to show any changes on Ursa's part. No moral failings, no her and Zuko butting heads once they reunite to show how much he's grown... his morals come from her and Roku, because Avatar lineage = good.

And that grinds my gears so hard because then just like Ursa, that's robbing Zuko of his autonomy to make bad choices.

When Iroh tells Zuko in The Avatar and the Fire Lord that his legacy is the good and evil within him, it sucks because Zuko's legacy should solely be his own choices (I have my own issues with Zuko's view of the crown). Not the bloodline within him that he can't control. THAT'S A MAJOR POINT OF THE SHOW. People aren't born evil.

and yet Ursa is GOOD because she is Roku's GRANDDAUGHTER. That's really it. Yes, I can understand that she was raised in the moral compass left behind by him. But Ozai is only really good/charming to Ursa right up until their wedding when suddenly he's just EVIL and he's like 'you're MINE now hehehehe' like there's no in between, you just have to show Ursa in this miserable predicament which then also doesn't allow for any interesting development in our Ozai, aka previous big bad which could have been him following his father's orders to marry some woman and maybe he legitimately TRIED to make things work because NO ONE IS BORN EVIL. Ozai is such a shadow of Zuko that he would try to appease his father, and he might take this marriage on in the hopes that it would start building a bridge between them.

And we're not even getting into the fact that we don't learn that Ursa is the Avatar's granddaughter until the final season, JUST IN TIME for Zuko to learn this while he's locked in his self loathing and is utterly directionless. Again, this takes away the importance of his own choices. The boy who started the series completely devoted to returning home, willing to put himself and others through constant danger and misery just to appease his father is given a free ride card of 'oh you're actually good on the inside! Just do the good thing!'

Because he's Ursa's son, the woman who didn't want to marry Ozai because he was so so awful that his bloodline is OBVIOUSLY why Azula is the way she is (ugh).

Like this could work in more fairytale/simpler story settings but atla has gone so far out of it's way to continue to say 'no one is born evil' and 'people can change'; but when it comes down to it, they're really restricting the moral compass.

In the end, Ursa is good and suffered. Ozai is BAD because VILLAIN. (which yes he is but... ugh).

I don't know if I've made sense. I had a more cohesive idea when I wrote those tags but this is more or less my views of Comic!Ursa.

I don't hate her. But I hate that they just kind of shoved her on the misery train and kind of went 'wow that sucks right? This makes you want to see Zuko find her right?'

And then he does and all is well. Because Ursa is a GOOD WOMAN unlike that EVIL OZAI.

Finally being able to put into words why Ursa's arc really bothered me.

She starts off as "mom," that's her character. She is kind and patient and she exists to be Zuko's mom. Then, we get this glimpse into her, this mother bear with vicious claws, willing to do anything for her child. Still in the arc of "mom," but I think there is something hinted at here, a deeper anger and resentment for the Fire Nation that forced her into an abusive marriage, where her only solace is in her son.

Now, she has assassinated the Fire Lord. This bad-bitch murders her father-in-law to protect Zuko, but is there more to it? Maybe she has come to accept her own darkness, the feelings of bitterness and hatred that have festered quietly over the years, now erupting to the surface with a fiery vengeance. She has gotten a taste of power, and she likes it. At the very least, she realizes she can do something. She can rebel.

There are so many ways she could have evolved, embracing her righteous anger, taking on the fight against tyranny. Maybe she helps refugees hide in the fire nation? Maybe she becomes a full time assassin?

But no.

Her story arc is; she decides to forget. She decides to let go and become a new person and she ends up exactly where she started; being a mom.

Like okay. In real life, that makes sense and all, but narratively speaking, it is weak sauce. It basically erases any development she had outside of motherhood and says, "nah, she's just a mom, the end." And okay... That's FINE I guess... I am not saying it's wrong to just be a mom with some latent hardcore qualities, but damn. I just didn't feel it.

I don't really "get" ATLA fans who think Azula should have a redemption arc, but not be forgiven by her friends or family & not become friends with the gaang. I'm not even being a hater right now, I'm just genuinely stating my opinion that this is an odd way to look at the story any way you look at it. It makes no narrative sense for Azula to be removed from all the other characters.

The two main arguments I've seen for this arc are interesting because they're from opposite perspectives that come to the same conclusion: Azula should be alone in her arc. The first type of argument I've seen for this comes from people who think Azula has hurt the other characters too much to earn their forgiveness. The second type of argument I've seen is from Azula fans who are resentful of all the other characters (especially Zuko & Ursa) & think Azula deserves an arc away from those who have been involved in her trauma.

I started to address both arguments & state why specifically I disagree but then I stopped because I realized it's all just talking points I've used a hundred times in different metas. You all basically already know why I think Azula would & could forgive & be forgiven.

Instead, I'll say that aside from it being odd to want to remove a character from the rest of the characters who are relevant to her life (how does this make any sense from a storytelling perspective? you're taking away all context! why?!) it's also a rather cold & black & white perspective on healing & redemption. We've all had dark times in our lives. I'm certainly glad for the people in my life who didn't abandon me during my worst moments. Likewise, there are people I've forgiven & not abandoned during their bad moments. I guess at the end of the day I'm just a sap & I believe in love & forgiveness.

Ultimately it comes down to this: no, I don't believe everyone deserves a chance to be forgiven by the people they've hurt in real life, & no I don't believe anyone is OWED forgiveness BUT I think 1. in a STORY if you want a character to heal & change you kind of have to think about that within the perspective of a cast of characters & how that works. & 2. when you look at Azula's specific story there's no situation where forgiveness & friendship as the ultimate narrative goal doesn't make sense. of course I want Azula to reconcile with her childhood best friends who she hurt & who hurt her in the context of a horrible war. of course I want Azula & Zuko & Ursa to learn to see each other as fellow traumatized complex people & become a family again. of course I want Azula to become friends with the gaang & learn from Aang's wisdom as the Avatar (& as a child whose childhood was stolen by duty) & from Katara, another prodigious youngest daughter who grew up under immense pressure & of course I want to see her reacting to Sokka's goofiness & cleverness & Toph's brashness & talent & Suki's kindness & power. why wouldn't you want that???? weirdo behavior

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OC TAG GAME ｡*･♡;

i was tagged by the lovely @noonfaerie to categorize some ocs + use this picrew; tysm ambie!! 💕💕

♡ FAVORITE OC.

ursula — baldur’s gate 3

my three favorite ocs always alternate between ursula, thea, and audra, but as of right now i’ve really been on an ursa kick!! probably my most universally beloved oc as well?? u guys already know everything abt her—a sailor, a tyrant, a lesson in pride, and the rest!!!!! her backstory makes my soul ache and i just love her sm celebrate pride this year by driving ur gf to her death just like ursula !! 🌈 🌈

♡ NEWEST OC.

lacie lane — infamous (if)

my gorgeous gorgeous girl!! my cocky ex gf!!!! my problematic lead singer!!!!!! u guys know the gist. what can be said abt lacie other than she’s toxic and beautiful and not as in control as she thinks. i’m really eager to see infamous develop so i can think of some juicy lacie/seven content bc as of right now i’ve been in a creative drought 😔

♡ OLDEST OC.

rowena cousland — dragon age: origins

so rowena is technically my second oldest oc (the honor of first belongs to silla 💕) but i’m listing her instead of silla because her story and personality has been consistent for the past ten years whereas silla has evolved!! rowena is proud, stubborn, and clever as the devil—and each of these traits have been both flaw and merit. her relationship with alistair is complex and tragic but mended with a bit of time.

♡ MEANEST OC.

kinasi irress — star wars

honestly ursula and jael were both strong competitors for most cruel oc, but kina takes the cake because, unlike the other two who cultivated strong affinities/bonds in their youth, kinasi has never known kindness. for over thirty years she lived in an environment of fear, hatred, and isolation. all she knew was the vie for power and all she knew was punishment if she failed the social climb. in a world of every-man-for-himself and please-your-master-or-fall-from-grace, community-centric skills such as teamwork, generosity, and emotional support were nonexistent, and so she never developed them. to be “mean,” which is putting it lightly, was just their nature. dog eat dog. need against need.

♡ SOFTEST OC.

ellery lux — pillars of eternity

the sweetest weirdo who ever lived!! ellery is a druid who, after being separated from her parents, raised herself in the forest with no one but the creatures and sun-dappled greenery for company. everything she learned, she learned from the woods—tenderness a kind of virtue no human could have taught her. she’s decisive and gentle and accepting and doesn’t care for social conventions in the slightest AND!!! i love her so much 🌿🦌🤍

♡ MOST ALOOF/STANDOFFISH OC.

salylia dreneri — the elder scrolls: morrowind

she doesn’t mean to be this way, but she’s a stranger in a strange land and her former partner just framed her and there’s some freak talking to her in her head and she can’t help but put herself at a distance from everyone !! though she was always the cool, quiet one—tennebrae did most of the talking.

♡ DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE) OC.

bright — dungeons & dragons

her true name eaki, bright was given to a halfling village deep in the bramblewood when she was just an infant. an odd combination, tiefling and halflings, but they understood social scorn and ostracization and accepted her completely. when her adoptive sibling fell mysteriously ill, bright, at the behest of the village herbalist, sought out an ancient forest entity, and struck a deal—the life of her sibling (and many boons) in exchange for a favor when the time comes. all this being said, she is not the wisest warlock around. bright is bright for her charm and silliness, not her brains.

♡ SMARTEST OC.

jael khatri — pathfinder: wrath of the righteous

this was another tough one between jael and cath, but jael won because she’s, in the most reductive of terms, a sexy evil experimentalist!! everyone already knows everything abt jael and how her cruelty is clinical and her wit is sharp as a knife from when i first played pwotr last year but i’ll never stop being obsessed with her!!!

♡ OC YOU’D BE BEST FRIENDS WITH IRL.

corintha trevelyan — dragon age: inquisition

this isn’t because i think i’d get along with her best (i think that would be emika or honey??) but because i love a DELUSIONAL girlie. i’d kill to pick her brain fhdjfnfnfbd

tagging!! @malefiicarum @rosebarsoap @lvllns @devilbrakers @bunfey @saintjudegf @ladysanjo @statichvm @aartyom @celticwoman @shadowglens @druidgroves @mrs-theirin @necroticpetals @minaharkers @dantesparda @umbertors @nuclearstorms @liurnia @jillvalcntines @risingsh0t @brujah @solasan and you!!!!!!

As a fellow fan of ATLA and also heard how the comics kinda fucked up some characters but never read myself, what was wrong with Ursa?

Beware, LOTS of infodumping/rambling below.

Basically, Ursa is kind of the worst. And the writers aren't even aware of it.

You're probably familiar with Ursa as she's portrayed on the show. She was a kind, supportive mother to Zuko and she disappears suddenly in the night without warning. Absolutely no complaints there. She was a pretty mysterious character and was central to Zuko keeping his kind nature.

IN THE COMICS we find out that she was betrothed to Ozai against her will, but already had another love interest before him. Okay. No big deal, right? We then see that she played favorites just as much as Ozai did, with her neglecting Azula and Azula feeling increasingly obligated to lash out in order to get her mother's attention, even negative. There's some dramatic bullshit about Ursa forging the idea that Zuko is not really Ozai's son, and Ozai subsequently treating Zuko like he never was, even though he knows it's a ruse. Anyway, to make a long story short, Ursa poisoned Firelord Azulon and fled in the night in order to protect Zuko. Still no big deal, right? Okay, she was a neglectful mother towards Azula and probably contributed to a LOT of issues there later. But whatever.

So Ursa is out on her own, a fugitive. Does she bide her time and wait for the opportunity to sneak in to save her kids from what she KNOWS is an abusive madman? Does she use her political power as the Firelord's former wife and the granddaughter of Avatar Roku to slowly build allies for her cause? Does she do everything in her power to get a message out to her kids to come find her for whenever Ozai's reign of terror is over?

NO. Because she goes and finds her ex bf and hooks up with him. And then goes to a Face-changing spirit to alter her appearance so that she's never discovered. The catch? In order to change her face, she has to willingly give up all her memories and basically become a completely different person. So Ursa, mother of the year, decides SURE. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE'LL DO. She willingly chooses to abandon her kids and FORGET them so that she can change her identity and hook up with her bae for real. Oh, and they have another kid together. Because of course.

Years later, Zuko and go out to find her and are somehow able to solve the mystery that this random mom they've been talking to is actually his mother with no memories and a different face. Azula, btw, is fresh out of the asylum and is NOT having a good time, constantly hallucinating her mother, having manic border-suicidal episodes, and generally in pretty bad shape. If you recall in the show finale, Azula reveals via hallucination that she believes that Ursa always loved Zuko more than her and that Ursa perceives her to be a monster. Turns out, she was pretty validated in feeling this way, since even amnesia-Ursa herself seems to come to the conclusion that she didn't love Azula "enough" when Azula goes to confront her. Equally tragic is that Ursa now has a NEW and BETTER daughter who Zuko gets along with, making it all the more painful for Azula to process.

Azula eventually runs off just before the face-changing spirit comes to return Ursa's face and memories to her. Does Ursa spend subsequent comics looking for her seriously messed up daughter? Does Zuko struggle with the very real conflict that she willingly CHOSE to forget about her kids so she could have her happy little family without them? Of course not. No one calls her out on her selfishness. And she never looks for or mentions Azula ever again in pretty much every other issue that follows. Ursa constantly goes on and on about her trauma at the hands of Ozai, but the comics never take into account that she LEFT her kids to DEAL with that trauma WITHOUT her and probably was never coming back to get them.

So basically the moral of the story is that it's perfectly fine to leave your kids with your abusive partner as long as you're getting what YOU want. Oh, and that if you have a problematic child with mental health issues, you're right to ignore and replace them. Azula doesn't deserve anyone looking for her because she's "bad". Okay. Great.

Anyway, the Avatar comics are the worst. Like...the absolute worst.