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I couldn’t help it, I needed to draw them in the iconic Princess Mononoke scene. 
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Life and death
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This is how Zuko looked at Katara when he first joined team Avatar
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Maiko and Jetara are relationships that make Zutara as a relationship even stronger. Even though these two relationships are toxic and I don’t like either of them, I like that they happened. I think these relationships played huge roles in both Zuko and Katara’s characters.
I know that Jet and Katara had a much less established relationship than Mai and Zuko but I think that there's still a lot of character development surrounding this couple. (Also there's more relationship development between Katara and Jet in the show than Katara and Aang. BAM there's your Kataang salt for this meta.)
Maiko and Jetara are different kinds of toxic relationships, Mai and Zuko both want the relationship but lack the communication to be a functional couple, Jet is a manipulator who uses Katara’s infatuation in him to further his own goals. Both of these relationships appeal to Zuko and Katara's want's at the time of entering the relationship.
Zuko wants to feel the same happiness he felt in his childhood, after returning from his banishment. Mai offers that in the form of a relationship with his childhood crush. This relationship cannot work because Mai and Zuko do not understand each other on a fundamental level. Zuko has grown and developed since leaving the fire nation, his views and opinions have changed, making it difficult for Mai to relate to him.
In Nightmares and Daydreams. Zuko looks to be uncomfortable being waited on by servants.
When he expresses his anxiety over an upcoming war meeting, Mai's suggestion to cheer him up is to order around servants for their entertainment, showing a lack of understanding of who Zuko is at this point in his life.
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This can also be seen in The Boiling Rock when Mai and Zuko have their final conversation before their conclusion at the end of the finale. When Mai tells him that by leaving he has betrayed his country Zuko explicitly states that they don't see things the same way. When Mai saves Zuko, it's out of caring for him not an understanding of his goals or ideas. This would have been a great place to end their relationship, instead of messily shoving them back together in the finale.
Mai has remained in the toxic environment of the Fire Nation, causing her to form a cold exterior and makes it difficult for Zuko to communicate with her. In episodes like The Beach, Zuko tries to show affection for Mai by bringing her gifts, including the shell and ice cream. Only for her to dismiss his attempts and leads to further disconnect between the two.
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After Zuko's attempts at performing acts of service for Mai are refused, he starts to act more aloof, matching Mai. At the party, Mai tells Zuko that she's hungry, he responds "so what". Zuko gives this response very defensively, likely from his genuine confusion on how to please Mai. Mai tells him he should get her food. He does so with no argument, despite his initial defensiveness when he didn't know what she wanted.
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Their disconnect climaxes in their argument at the party. Mai accuses Zuko of being "hotheaded" and "blowing up over every little thing". Zuko accuses Mai of "having no passion for anything". This argument demonstrates the communication barrier between the two. Zuko has grown more hotheaded because of the constant pressure he is under and the lack of genuine relationships, manifesting into aggression. Mai has no passion because she was raised in a restrictive household and progressively became more aloof as a defense mechanism.
Katara wants validation on her trauma regarding her mother's death, she is drawn to Jet because he open's up to her about his trauma with his own parents' death. What Katara wants is justified and knowing that Jet used her vulnerability to his advantage is enraging.
She also views Jet as heroic for his quest to free the innocent from the Fire Nation. Katara's desire to defeat the Fire Nation is inherently tied to the loss of her mother and the destruction of her home. Jet becomes more attractive to her because he tells her he's defending people who lack the resources to fight back. Even though Katara may not have realized it, she likely related to the people Jet said he was defending. The Southern Water Tribe also lacked the resources needed to fight back because the Fire Nation had immobilized them by capturing the water benders. Katara admires that they have similar goals and is immediately willing to do what he asks of her until she learns his true intentions.
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Jet's betrayal of Katara is so infuriating because not only did he lie, he also used the most vulnerable part of Katara as a way to destroy the town to kill everyone. Making Katara an unknowing accomplice to the murder of the people she wanted to save.
Jet and Zuko are explicitly paralleled in the show. They meet on the ferry going to Ba Sing Se after Zuko and Iroh have been named fugitives by Azula. Jet shares with Iroh and Zuko he 's done some things in his past that he's not proud of and that he's going to Ba Sing Se for a second chance, mirroring Zuko and his reasoning for going to Ba Sing Se. Iroh then acknowledges that both Zuko and Jet can have a second chance.
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There is also a lot of parallels between Zuko and Jet in terms of their relationship with Katara. Jet uses Katara's empathy to trick her into aiding him with flooding the town. This is paralleled with how Katara opens up to Zuko in The Crossroads of Destiny and later feels betrayed. You can see Katara has the same rage after seeing both of them after their betrayals.
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The difference between Jet and Zuko is that Zuko was genuine. Jet used Katara's empathy and that's why he acknowledges her loss. Zuko has no reason to validate Katara's emotions as he's already secured his spot as Aang's firebending master. He chooses to because he wants to rebuild the trust he destroyed with Katara. Zuko can recognize Katara's resentment stems from the pain of the Fire Nation killing her mother, just like Jet did. However, Zuko offers her a chance to actively face her trauma instead of telling her to suppress it.
When Aang and Sokka find out that Katara is planning to find her mother's killer Aang compares her to Jet. Katara refutes this by saying the Jet attacked the innocent.
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This claim Aang makes is incredibly invalidating, He knows how Jet manipulated Katara, using her vulnerability to destroy the village. Comparing that to Katara trying to get closure is illogical. It demonstrates how Zuko had a better understanding of Katara's needs than Aang or Sokka.
Zuko never told her what she should do. He told her he knew how to get information and asked if she wanted to act on that information. Facing her mother's killer gives Katara closure of some kind. She is finally able to forgive Zuko. Katara was able to be vulnerable with Zuko and he acknowledged her.
Katara and Mai are not explicitly paralleled the same way Zuko and Jet are but they still have very interesting connections in the way their relationships with Zuko work. Mai is an inadequate partner for Zuko because of the disconnect between the two. In the first scene these two share, Zuko tries to open up to Mai on his fears about returning to the fire nation and Mai responds with outright dismissal.
Katara is shown to be immediately empathetic towards Zuko. This can be seen in the catacombs scene, as soon as Zuko shows vulnerability Katara is willing to listen.
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Also when Zuko is worried about seeing his uncle after betraying him in Ba Sing Se, Katara takes initiative, asking him if he's okay even though he hasn't shared any explicit anxiety. She then listens to his worries and confirms to Zuko that he has earned forgiveness.
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So what did we learn today kids? Zuko and Katara's relationship is absolutely supported as growth from past relationships. It would have been a really good message that not every romantic risk you take is going to benefit you. You can also end relationships on good terms the way Jet and Katara did and how Zuko and Mai should have. Having these past relationships furthers the connection between Zuko and Katara through comparison. Can you do that with Kataang? Didn't think so.
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i will never stop defending zuko’s decision to break up with mai via letter i don’t care oh my god. i get that under NORMAL circumstances this would be callous and rude, and sure, i can understand why she’s upset, but people either forget or purposefully ignore that it isn’t JUST a break-up letter. it’s a letter that declares his intent to defect from a fascist society run by his abusive father. having that conversation in person is theoretically VERY dangerous. putting aside the fact that zuko has no reason at this point, based on her words or actions, to think that she wouldn’t try to stop him (whether by trying to convince him or through force), what if someone else overheard before he confronted his father? (who he very explicitly waits to confront until the eclipse in order to protect himself.) like idk man. i get that it’s not ideal but the whole situation is Not Ideal.
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Here’s my piece for Fire Nation @recovery-zine! It's been held back for quite a while and I'm excited to finally reveal it ❤️
The inspiration comes from the Lantern Festival in China's Anhui Province and the performance with those fish lanterns at night is really fantastic!
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Katara 💙
I love her so much
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random fire nation diplomat #492 will never understand the complex and fucked up relationship between the water siblings like I do 🙄
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So while rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender recently, I noticed a trend
A number of spirits we see have an animal form, specifically animals we recognize as "normal" for us. For example:
- Wan Shi Tong is an owl and his knowledge seekers are foxes
- Tui and La are koi fish
- Hei Bai is a panda
-The guardian of the mother of faces is a wolf (The Search)
Heck there's even the talking Baboon spirit and the monkey missing its face that we see in the Spirit World at the end of Season 1.
Basically every time we've seen a "normal" animal, they've been a spirit.
My point? I argue that Bosco is a spirit bear that's chilling and living the good life in the mortal world just because he can.
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can we acknowledge the fact that Zuko doesn't even have to stretch his arms to keep Aang away? he just keeps him slightly out of reach. peak sibling energy xD
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personal opinion, I think even azulas friends cared about her, but because she kept getting worse and worse. Tylee at least found more reasons not to stay and left. I think Azula slowly kept getting worse and worse till what we saw in canon. I think Ursa was a good mom, but Ozai made it seem to Azula she wasn't because he kept prasing her worse qualities. Than as soon as it was only just him and her he kept making her worse and worse feeding the fire into her worse qualities till she has to be perfect. Azula and Ozai was abusive to Zuko. But I also think Azula was abused too. Mostly emotionally and had Ozai playing mind games on her where she couldn't trust anyone eventually.
I agree with all of this. I don't see it talked about enough but something happened before the start of the show to make Mai and Ty Lee leave Azula (and it's a pity the live action didn't decide to explore that, and instead just had Mai and Ty Lee stand around and cheerlead Azula for all of the first season. Ty Lee and Mai both have their own separate reasons for leaving, but the way they react to meeting Azula when they are introduced hints at a deeper story. I think Ty Lee's story about not wanting to be part of a matched set is only partially true, and that another aspect of her running away to seek her own individuality in the circus was because of living under Azula's shadow. And Mai despises having to live in Omashu but if she had really wanted to, she could have stayed behind in Caldera. As bored as Mai is when she is introduced, I think she got to a point pre-series where she had enough of Azula's "excitement," seeing as how it involved her having lighted apples on her head. I think when we meet them at the beginning of season two, it's something akin to someone having left an abusive relationship being drawn back in by the abuser, who presents themselves as inviting, charismatic, and in need of their skills. The victim forgets how unhappy they were when they were with the person, and distance diminishes the bad and amplifies the memories of the good times. I think that's more true for Mai than for Ty Lee, who had to be much more aggressively coerced and was probably more hurt by Azula in the past than Mai had been.
I think what the live action show missed about Ozai's relationship to his children is not just the criticism and impossibly high standards, but the love-bombing that comes with that type of manipulator. Azula is the one who got that side most often, but we see in the original that Zuko gets it, too, when he thinks Zuko has killed Aang. Because if a parent is critical all the time, there's more of a chance that the child is going to see through that and eventually become resentful (like Azula in the LA appears to be). But in the original, both Zuko and Azula are in desperate pursuit of Ozai's love. In order for us to believe that, we have to feel that Ozai's love is actually worth something to them. Of course, Ozai's love is ultimately empty, but Zuko and Azula have to keep clinging to that need for it, that substance that makes it addictive. That's how abusers control their victims.
And while I'm at it, I think Ty Lee and Mai were a little bit addicted to it, too, before they god fed up. Ty Lee to the attention that being the best friend of "the smartest, prettiest girl in the world" got her. Mai to Azula's dark humor and hatred of the world, that felt validating to her in her depression. None of these are healthy relationships. That doesn't mean they aren't real relationships, though. They very much are. That's what makes them harder to get rid of.
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Sokka must have been so pissed when Katara and Zuko came back with matching outfits after their revenge field trip. They literally went shopping without him.
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THIS WAS VENGANCE
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Bonus
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Never forgive, never forget
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the zutara agenda will ALWAYS prevail 🔥🌊
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The 41st division is Zuko's CREW????
HE ACTUALLY GOT TO SAVE THEM AFTER ALL???
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I find the argument that "Zuko makes Katara worse" cuz of Southern Raiders to be inherently hilarious to me as if it isn't a giant romantic power fantasy for a girl to be like "someone hurt me so I'm mad" and the boyfriend instead immediately rolls up like "where?? Who's the bitch?? Is it me?? If it's me, I swear I'll kick my own ass until you're happy!! Oh, it's someone else?? In that case, rather than sleeping I stayed up all night to find his address for you, get in, you're so right," rather than wagging a finger at her that Her Anger Is Bad or Unjustified
If your girl says I Hate This Fucking Guy and you don't immediately pick up a baseball bat or offer to hold him down, do you actually fucking love her
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