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#zuko alone
demaparbat-hp · 3 months
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Fire Half-Child
#atla#zuko#avatar the last airbender#atla zuko#zutara#halfblood au#zutara au#atla art#atla fanart#zuko fanart#prince zuko#zuko art#zuko alone#Halfblood AU art#katara#Here comes the Blue Eye Samurai art style influence rearing its pretty head#Gotta love that show's use of lighting#I know this looks like another good ol' Zuko Alone fanart... And it kinda is... But I swear it's also from the HalfBlood AU#I'm still figuring out Zuko's backstory in this AU but I know he was raised in the EK after escaping the Fire Nation as a child#It was probably Ursa who took her freshly burned son and left with help from the White Lotus#I'm... not entirely sure if Zuko remembers everything from his previous life. Flashes of memories and faces but that's it#He believes himself to be a War Child. Ursa loved him but she was also distant in illness and grief.#She taught him to hide his real name and his firebending at all costs. Agni only knew what would happen to him if he was found out.#The last thing Ursa said to him before pushing him out of the burning cottage was to search for his Uncle in Ba Sing Se#He would help him. Keep him safe. And he had answers.#He could tell Zuko of his past and his memories and shed some light over his strange dreams and his mother's sorrow#He just had to reach Ba Sing Se and find him. Uncle would tell him everything about the monster who had burned her mother's back and spirit#Then Zuko would find him#And no demon other than himself would ever roam the earth again#Change of subject. Am I going to keep dropping the full backstory and plot in the tags? Yes. Yes I will. Sorry guys
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sabellart · 1 year
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zuko alone
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animoogus · 7 months
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Yeah, yeah, Zuko can't tell jokes. But it's time we give credit where credit's due and acknowledge "maybe a chicken flew over" as one of the funniest lines in the whole damn show. King.
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biby-24k · 2 years
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prince zuko
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renif · 6 months
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posting this again because i genuinely really like how i drew zuko here
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a-todd-illustration · 3 months
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I love little Sokka being an ass to Zuko. He's such a lovable little turd and unintentionally makes Zukos life so much harder
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dyingroses · 6 months
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Avatar: The Last Airbender + AO3 tags
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missaccuracy · 2 months
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What is wrong with that child?
My problem with this line isn't that Ursa says it at all, or that she's concerned about Azula, but rather HOW she says it.
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Notice, that Ursa doesn't even say " What is wrong with Azula, or THIS child", but " What is wrong with THAT child", instead.
I see this as an intentional hint left by the show's creators. It may be a small hint, but I think it's a hint nonetheless.
"The word 'this' is used to point to a singular person or object that is close to you. On the other hand, 'that' is used to point to a singular person or an object which is farther away from you."
It seems to me that calling your child "that child" is an expression of distance. It's almost as if Azula called her mother "that woman".
We have no evidence that Ursa didn't love Azula at all, but we also cannot say that Azula and Ursa had the same close relationship that Ursa had with Zuko.
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bestepisode · 1 month
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The Storm
Sokka accepts a job from a local fisherman to make money and the man accuses Aang of abandoning the world. In the large, ensuing storm, Aang recounts to Katara the events of his dark past. After being told he was the Avatar, Aang was ordered to be separated from his mentor, Monk Gyatso. Upset, Aang ran away from his home where he encountered a deadly storm, causing him to fall into the water, activating the Avatar State, trapping him within an iceberg. Meanwhile, Iroh tells the ship's crew Zuko's story. After speaking out of turn at a war meeting, Zuko was punished by being forced to fight an Agni Kai against his own father. His refusal resulted in him getting his scar and being banished for perceived cowardice. Meanwhile, Aang learns that Sokka and the fisherman are trapped in the storm; he rescues them, earning him the fisherman's respect. Zuko spots them, but lets them go, instead opting to escape the storm.
Zuko Alone
After deciding he would be better off on his own and leaving his uncle, Zuko continues his journey alone and ends up in an Earth Kingdom town, where a young boy named Lee brings him home for dinner and subsequently bonds with the banished prince. Zuko helps defend the family from rogue Earth Kingdom soldiers who terrorize the town and has flashbacks of his youth when his mother was still around. Zuko's identity as the banished Fire Nation Prince is revealed when he firebends, and the boy and his family reject him because of it.
Vote on more episodes here!
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sokkastyles · 7 months
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Thinking about Zuko objecting to the 41st division of new recruits being put on the front lines and the earthbender in "Zuko Alone" saying that the Fire Nation puts captured soldiers on the front lines without weapons as cannon fodder. Not only is this unbelievably cruel but it also shows that this is a tactic the FN uses repeatedly and that they'll use their own men in the same way. The connection between the fire nation nobles discarding the lives of their own men and the earthbender soldiers in the town in "Zuko Alone" bragging about the same thing happening to Li's brother because they could, because it was a show of power over someone they thought they were better than. That Zuko calls out both abuses of power in both episodes regardless of what "side" the soldiers being abused are on. Those are the kinds of things that will make Zuko a good leader, that make him the one to end the war, to end the needless and cruel deaths of young soldiers on either side.
It connects back to the story of Lu Ten and Iroh's song, the leaves from the vine who are felled because of the decisions of people abusing their power.
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your-royal-momoness · 2 years
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avatar text posts part 5
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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azulasnailtech · 2 months
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ATLA If they were allowed to swear
part 22/?? [suggested by anonymous] [I’d love to hear suggestions for more]
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five-flavor-soup · 15 days
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I personally think that basing your interpretation of how Ursa treated Azula on Zuko’s memories shown in ‘Zuko Alone’ is kind… incorrect. You can obviously — they’re the only real images of their childhood we get in the cartoon, other than the tiniest of snapshots in sepia — and that’s fine, but for me personally I just don’t think they’re complete enough.
These memories are from Zuko’s perspective. Not Ursa’s, not Azula’s, not Ozai’s or Iroh’s—Zuko’s perspective, his memories. And they’re all about him and Ursa together: every one of these memories have Ursa at their centre. We see her protect him and be kind to him, see her be physically affectionate and gentle, see her encourage him to be kind to himself and to Azula.
They essentially tell us that Zuko is Ursa’s son first, Ozai’s son second. Ozai remains a hovering, intimidating shadow on the sidelines (we still don’t see his face, we don’t see him genuinely interact with his children, and we see him irritating his father while being a very hands-off kinda dad himself) but Ursa is fully present. And ‘Zuko Alone’ is about Zuko trying to figure out who he is: the memories show that he views being his mother’s son as an exceptionally important part of his identity, which means they are about Zuko and his relationship with Ursa alone.
They are not supposed to tell us that Ursa neglected or abused Azula emotionally—that she only focused on protecting Zuko, while leaving Azula to suffer in Ozai’s incapable hands. Sure, we see Ursa scold Zuko for acting like Azula and cuddle him right after, and we see her scold Azula for acting mean and not cuddle her right after, but the key differences here are that Zuko shows guilt after frightening the turtleducks and Azula doubles down on trying to scare Zuko. The behaviour is different and will be, by any halfway decent parent, treated differently. 
I’m absolutely not saying that Azula wasn’t abused, because she 100% was. She was absolutely abused by Ozai, and I’m not ruling out that Ursa didn’t have a hand in how Azula ultimately turned out. But my point here is: these memories are far too limited and narrow for the viewer to properly determine whether Azula was treated incorrectly by Ursa. 
Zuko isn’t going to remember an intimate, lovely moment between Ursa and Azula when all that’s on his mind is his identity, and how it’s entangled with his mother and what she may have sacrificed for him. Additionally, he’s not particularly fond of Azula at this moment in the show (she did kind of kickstart his being a refugee, disregarding how the audience sees this sequence of events having begun), so he’s not going to remember her fondly either. Why would Zuko try to remember Ursa’s relationship with Azula at that point, instead of his own?
(Small tidbit: we also... don't know if Ursa's last words to Azula were 'what is wrong with that child', disregarding the comics which completely ruin azula anyway. Again, the memories are from Zuko's perspective and therefore won't show any private moments between Ursa and Azula. We're not even certain whether Azulon actually ordered Ozai to kill Zuko, or if that is simply what Azula interpreted it as/thought would be funny to say--causing the sequence of events that ultimately put Ozai on the throne. But whatever)
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dreamchasernina · 1 month
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Another thing I have to say.
I really liked that Iroh and Ozai never shared a scene together in the original show. Those two characters represented the two paths for Zuko. His choices would lead up to him becoming like Ozai or Iroh. They were the complete opposite destination for Zuko. By choosing anger and hate and giving into his family expectations Zuko would’ve become Ozai. Instead he chooses to follow his heart, learn about the world around him, better himself which leads him to the path of becoming like Iroh. Also it left this mystery in the air, because these two power houses never met on screen so we’re left wondering what their dynamic was like. It’s ok not to show everything, sometimes it’s even good! Fans are still wondering to this day if Iroh could’ve taken Ozai down.
In the Netflix adaptation, Ozai and Iroh share the screen a lot. Does it add anything to their relationship or the conflict within Zuko? Nope, not really. In my opinion it kind of takes away from the suffering Zuko endured. Iroh is there to speak for him every single time, advocating for him, fighting with Ozai. And that’s fine, but, there’s a reason why Iroh was a minor character in book 1, supporting Zuko from afar, advising him but still letting him make his own decision, because he knew, if Zuko were to become a better man, he had to get there by himself. Iroh would never tell Zuko his father didn’t love him, or that he was a monster, he knew that’s something Zuko had to see himself. And he had to make mistakes and chose the wrong path to see who he truly was.
So that’s another thing they added that I fee just cheapens the dynamics between the characters.
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lizardlicks · 2 years
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at this point half my sketch book is just zuko + birb.
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oneatlatime · 6 months
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More Zuko Alone Thoughts
Last season our expository Zuko episode was The Storm, an episode which I loved. It was both a well-written and well-animated piece of media, and enthralling to watch. I don't want to say enjoyable because of the subject matter discussed, but it was certainly good.
This season's expository Zuko episode was Zuko Alone, and I didn't like it. Although it was animated fantastically, I found the characterisation of Zuko in the present day sections to be completely off. I found it embarrassing, awkward, and frustrating to watch. Now, I've seen the rating this episode has on IMDb, so I know this is just my opinion, and a fairly unpopular one at that. I'm also aware that I'm biased because Zuko is not my favourite character. But I want to explore why, in my opinion, The Storm stuck the landing while Zuko Alone flubbed it.
Here's what I think is the main reason: The Storm is Aang's story about his past, juxtaposed with Iroh's story about Zuko's past. Aang and Iroh are our storytellers; Aang and Zuko are the stories being told.
Zuko Alone is Zuko's story of the present, being experienced through Zuko's perspective, juxtaposed with Zuko's story in the past, being experienced through Zuko's memories. It's too much Zuko, and unlike the characters in The Storm, Zuko has no idea what's going on.
Despite his flightiness and inability to take things seriously, Aang is perceptive, socially and emotionally intelligent (as much as a 12 year old can be), and able to be subtle when the situation calls for it. Look at The Great Divide: as soon as he had the appropriate backstory info, he saw right to the heart of the conflict, he saw that it was stupid as Hell, and he saw and successfully executed a way to fix it that relied entirely on an accurate assessment of all involved parties' stances. And it worked.
Iroh has easily the highest perception stat in the whole show, when he isn't being deliberately obtuse. His wisdom is off the charts, if his one liners are anything to go by.
So despite some very (very) notable differences, Aang and Iroh have similarities in their personalities and their perspectives, and importantly for this post, in their self-knowledge.
Then we get Zuko, who has the perceptiveness and subtlety of a mud brick to the teeth, all the wisdom of a bandaid wrapper, and the social and emotional intelligence of something that starts to grow in your sink when it's been too long since you did the dishes.
Aand and Iroh can see the themes, lessons, mistakes, and places for improvement in the stories they're telling, about themselves and others. Zuko is stumbling through both his past and his present. The Storm is compelling because the audience gets to simultaneously learn expository detail and watch Aang and Iroh go through a process of self-analysis, recrimination, and commitment to doing better. It's an info dump with a hefty dose of character building on the side.
Zuko in Zuko Alone is a dumbass blindly stumbling into the same mistakes we've already seen him make, learning nothing in the process (that I could detect - maybe he'll run into the family's older brother in a few episodes and work up the courage to save him based on what he learned during his time with that family, who knows). Zuko has been trained to be a fighter, not a person, so of course he's going to fail at the 'soft skills' parts of being human. So Zuko needs someone with him to do/model that soft skills work until he learns how to do it for himself. But Zuko is alone in Zuko Alone, so the character development that could have happened doesn't.
I don't need morals and themes explicitly spelled out in the narrative; I'm fine with subtext. But Zuko in Zuko Alone so thoroughly misses what's going on in the episode that it's annoying to watch. And there's no indication at the end of the episode that he's learned anything from having missed those things. There's no indication that he's aware that there was anything to miss.
In The Storm, Aang has Katara to bounce off of and help talk him through his story. Iroh's wise enough not to need a foil, but he does have the ship's crew, both as a reason to tell the story and as an audience to play off of. Heck, in Bato of the Water Tribe, Sokka has Bato giving the speech about the lonely wolf to help him understand the point Sokka's dad was trying to make in the flashback, and avoid the wrong course of action (leaving Aang behind). Aang moves on from self-recrimination and Iroh has won back Zuko's crew's loyalty at the end of The Storm; Sokka has finally understood 'being a man means being where you're needed the most' by the end of Bato of the Water Tribe. But Zuko is alone by choice in Zuko Alone, so he finishes the episode exactly where he started, his mother's last words entirely misinterpreted. No wiser, probably unable to even articulate where he went wrong beyond fire = bad in this context.
There seems to be a theme in this show of the necessity of friends and family networks and support. Aang (with Katara's help), Iroh (with the crew as audience and motivator), Sokka (with Bato's help), all come to better understandings of their responsibilities and/or their mistakes by working things out with the help of at least one other person. Zuko ditches Iroh to play at being a lone wolf and fails in a way that's frankly embarrassing to watch.
So the reason I don't like Zuko Alone is that he's doomed to fail from the start. Zuko is (trying to) go about his character development in a way this show has already showed us is opposite to how it should be done. I'm not fond of 'doomed from the start' narratives as a general rule, mostly because to me they feel like a bad investment. If you know it's all going to end badly (because it started wrong), then why bother committing the time and effort the narrative asks of you? (She says, having read The Silmarillion twice).
So if I became Queen of the world tomorrow and decreed that Zuko Alone needed to be changed to fit my personal tastes, how would I do it? The obvious answer is to shove Iroh in there, but it probably wouldn't work anyway, because Zuko is not showing any signs of being ready to listen - REALLY LISTEN - to those wiser than him. I'm not sure if he's even ready to admit yet that there are people who ARE wiser than him. He's already admitted that there are people with more martial prowess than him, like his sister, but I don't think Zuko actually values wisdom enough to see its worth. So it's probably not even on his radar. If Iroh's presence wouldn't work, what about having a removed narrator, like Iroh did for Zuko's story in The Storm? A narrator who is not as thoroughly blind to what's going on in the past and the present as Zuko. Maybe a single episode character, who tells the story of that time a stranger came to town? That might work. It would fit with the genre this episode is paying homage to. Or you could have an interesting juxtaposition, where the narrator character is not omniscient, narrating the present only, and Zuko is completely alone during the flashback bits. That would probably lead to Zuko making the same mistakes anyway, since it's really his past that he needs to work through.
Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this and I just don't like Zuko enough as a character to like a Zuko-centric story, no matter how it's told. Or maybe 24 minutes of second-hand embarrassment is 24 too many for me. At least he's keeping Song's horse bird fed.
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