#Azula is basically River already

[bookdragonideas]

Azula redemption, but make it a Firefly AU.

Serenity is named Appa instead. Aang is the pilot, taking the place of Wash. Katara takes the place of Zoe, with Sokka being Mal. Toph is Jayne. Uncle Iroh is the Shepard.

Im not as sure who would be Kaylee and Inara.

Probably Yue for Inara, though maybe Suki instead. And I almost want to say Ty Lee for Kaylee? Which doesn't quite work with Zuko taking the role of Simon, but oh well.

And then Azula takes the role of River. Zuko got her away from the Alliance (not sure if Ozai is part of the Alliance or just the same sort of uncaring jerk that Simon and Rivers dad was)

Not sure how the rest combines but I like the idea of the Gaang hurtling through space, while Aang chants "I am a leaf on the wind, Watch how I soar."

[shinidamachu]

Do you have thoughts on the Aang/Ozai showdown at the end?

Zuko: please. The real hero is a random rock the Avatar.

The final battle was amazing, from an animation poin of view. The colors, the fighting sequence, the symbolism, Aang finally mastering all elements. Just very exciting and satisfying to watch, because it was something that the audience was hoping for since episode one. And they delivered it.

From a writing point of view, though? It was less of a showdown and more of a cop-out. See, I'm not saying, by any means, that Aang should have killed Ozai. Quite the opposite. Not only because it was a children's show. Not only because Aang was a traumatized, non violent, 12 years old. But also because it made sense for the character and for the core themes of the show.

Don't get me wrong, Ozai one hundred per cent deserved to die. Aang himself stated that the world would be a better place without Ozai in it. I just don't think he should be the one to do it. At the same time, is on his hands that Ozai's fate lays and no one else can make that decision for him.

So if killing Ozai off could turn him into a Fire Nation martyr anyway and Aang refuses to do so because of his pacifist principles, what's the other option to defeat the guy and end the war? The authors went with energy bending and, honestly, I thought it was brilliant for a series of reasons.

First, ending Ozai's life seems like the obvious choice, an easy way out. I love the concept of Aang refusing to do what's expected of him and choosing instead to finish the war on his own terms, without compromising who he is, because in theory, that would mean he would have to go out of his way to find a different solution, in a perfect shout out to Bumi's words in The King Of Omashu: "you must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius."

Second, in a show where bending is intimately related to one's very being, the questions begs to be raised: how much taking someone's bending away is better, more ethical or less cruel than actively killing them? Because it's a fundamental part of who they are, of their soul. Ty Lee had the abiliity to block chis, temporarily making people unable to bend. And it was a terrifying thing for the people she used the technique on.

Lastly, it ends the "killing Ozai would turn him into a Fire Nation martyr" for good, because (ATLA COMICS SPOILER ALERT) Aang let him leave without his bending and a significant amount of people still worshipped the guy to the point of planning coups on the down low and sending Zuko death threats left and right, so we basically got the same result, but Ozai remained an ever present threat to the peace Aang fought to achieve.

The problem, as people smarter and more eloquent than I have pointed out countless times, wasn't the energy bending solution, it was the way it was introduced and then executed.

Aang: hey! Look at these weird Lion Turtle things.

Looking back now, this scene from The Library was obviously foreshadowing the finale, so the Lion Turtle reveal wasn't pulled out of thin air. It had a purpose. Considering that this episode, from Book Two, mentioned the Lion Turtle, who would later teach Aang how to energy bend and that The Guru, also from Book Two, introduced the arc of Aang having to let go of his attachment to Katara in order to master the Avatar State, I can only assume that the original intentions of the writers were very clear:

Aang doesn't want to kill Ozai but he also doesn't want to let go of Katara. That's the catch! To "energy bend" his way out of murder, he has to master the Avatar State. His conflict here, is much greater than before because now Katara is a factor in the equation as well. He either kills Ozai, keeps his attachment and gives up the Avatar State or he masters it, defeats Ozai by removing his bending but has to let go of Katara in the process. It's awesome because it's the hardest possible choice a character like Aang could be forced to make. And we knew he would ultimately do the right thing, but regardless of what he decides, he still loses something important to him, he still has to make a huge sacrifice.

Of course, none of that happens. This was the first and only time the Lion Turtle was brought up. The “letting Katara go” arc was unceremoniously killed alongside Aang the second Azula shot that lightning in Ba Sing Se, but differently from the Avatar, whom Katara ressurrected, it was never brought back. And it’s a shame. Because The Library was the perfect episode to expand on the Lion Turtle and energy bending mystery. 

And the finale? It was the perfect episode for Aang to do what he failed to do in Ba Sing Se: to let Katara go and achieve the Avatar State by his own merits, sacrificing something he wanted for the greater good. The way he hid into a cocoon of rocks? It would have been a great call out to the little crystal tent he made in his fight with Azula when he decided to give the Guru’s advices a try. And it would also symbolize rebirth in the same way Katara breaking him out of the iceberg did. Because now he had finally reached the other side of the river and he is no longer the same person he once was.

But the narrative decided, instead, to rob Aang from any growth, from any substancial change, from any interesting arc. They went with the “love is the most important thing” approach to justify him honlding on to Katara. And I could have bought it if they hadn’t been so dishonest about it.

First: if you love someone, you let them go. Attachment and love are two very different things. No one ever told Aang to stop loving Katara. He was told to let her go. And it makes sense because he was attached to her in a way that wasn’t healthy for either of them, and was keeping him from achieving his full spiritual potential, something he should care a little more about, given his upbring.

Second, in the person of Iroh, arguably the wisest character in the show, Aang is told that he is right for choosing love over power. But this is a false equivalence because it’s not what Aang is doing. The scene makes it look like he is seeking power for the sake of power. That’s not the case. The Avatar State is an inherent power, meaning Aang already has it. It’s part of who he is. He just needs to unblock it and learn how to control it. And he has to do that not for personal gain, but to put an end in the war.

A war that took almost everything from Katara, the person he loves. Aside from Aang himself, she is the person who would benefit the most from him learning to control the Avatar State, since she is the one who has to calm him down every time he accidentaly triggers it and winning the war is a very personal goal of her. Now, this is just conjecture but I firmly believe that even if Katara was secretly in love with Aang (which I don’t buy), she would be the first to tell his it’s okay to let her go. But alas, she wasn’t even aware of this conflict. A conflict she played a key part in.

That being said, I do think that the Ozai dillema was introduced too late. It should have been explored before the Day of Black Sun, giving Aang plenty of time to search for a different solution. It also never made sense to me why killing Ozai wasn’t a problem then. Apparently the explanation that I was supposed to stick with is that Aang was naive. He didn’t know people expected him to kill the Fire Lord until Zuko asked him what he would do when he faced Ozai, since violence wasn’t the answer. But I honestly struggle to accept this because, yes, Aang was naive. 

But not that naive. Not at that point. After episodes like The Siege of the North and The Avatar State, I just don’t buy he didn’t know what people wanted him to do. Plus, Aang has an evasive fighting style, based on always being one step ahead of his opponent. To do that, he has to plan beforehand. What was his plan to confront Ozai in the Day of Black Sun, after everything he went through? Talk to him? Arrest the guy? If that’s the case, shouldn’t it at least be discussed with the gang? It’s never addressed.

Then comes the finale. Aang’s moment of truth. The event we’ve all been hoping for. The one that will turn him into a legend. And Aang is losing. He can’t win without killing Ozai or controling the Avatar State to take his bending away. What will he sacrifice to become a hero? His morals or his attachment? Answer: neither! Because the writers decided he should have everything without give up nothing. So they miraculously make a convenently sharped rock hit the exact right spot in the perfect time unblock his chakra, allowing him to enter the Avatar State.

I’m not even gonna talk about how this is most definitely not how chakras work, because it’s not really my place. But I am gonna talk about the tragic (not to say hilarious) fact that, by trying to make Aang have his cake and eat it too, the writers ultimately made a fucking rock the responsible for Aang’s success. Not his cleverness, not his hard work, not his altruism: a rock. If that rock wasn’t there, in the right place, at the right time, then what? Would Aang finally have done what he had to do, or would he be killed, allowing the war to continue?

That’s my issue with it. That, and the fact that they had no trouble addressing delicate topics, but didn’t have enough courage to let the 12 years old protagonist end up alone. Because, of course, children can’t understand the hero not getting the girl. Right?

RIGHT?

Aang managed to defeat Ozai and get the girl even though there was a whole season dedicated to build up an arc in which he would have to let her go to succed. Even though their last one on one interaction before their last kiss was Aang screaming at her and storming off, while Katara reprimended him for walking away from the issue. Even if he had been acting more and more possessive and entitled when it came to her affection. Even if Katara had shown no real interest in him that way before she suddenly does. But what do I know? Maybe she was hit by a magic rock too.

Aang and Katara happened at the cost of Aang’s character development. Fandom might think the rival ship was harmed the most by it, but that’s not true. Aang was. And it’s really sad. He is an amazing character and he deserved to be the hero of his own story, to have his beliefs tested and to come out of his journey irrevocably changed, not locked inside a plot armor.

[gregorygrim]

Dragon Prince Hot Takes

!!! Full Spoiler For “The Dragon Prince” Seasons 1-3!!!

So I finally got around to watching The Dragon Prince. Timely, I know, but better late than never i guess. I’m not completely caught up yet as I only got as far as S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” in this first sitting. Considering I haven’t binged any series in almost two years, I think that’s pretty respectable. This means I won’t discuss the last few episodes here, except for a couple of things I was unfortunately spoiled for already, hence full spoilers.

These are basically my first thoughts and opinions after the binge and a good night’s sleep. It’s gonna be a lot so if you don’t care or don’t want spoilers…

TL;DR: 7½/10. Generally enjoyable, there are some aspects I’m not exactly fan of, but no dealbreakers

Firstly to everyone who told me that this was the new ATLA: you all need to rewatch Avatar stat! Like seriously. There are definitely parallels and given the cast and crew I think that’s what they were going for too (which is why I think it’s fair to compare the two), but still, no.

Secondly I love most of the worldbuilding and love that the series at least tries to give it to us in a bit of a non-linear fashion, even if it is kind of clumsy at times. I know some people are put off by expository dialogue and flashbacks, but I’m an epic fantasy nerd, I need that sweet, sweet lore to live as much as you mortals need food.

I like that there was clearly an effort made to integrate the worldbuilding in more subtle ways. For example you may initially find it kind of weird that all these different human ethnicities are existing perfectly integrated in what looks like a medieval society, until you remember from the opening monologue that the Human Kingdoms are the result of a massive diaspora following the human exodus from Xadia, so obviously people got all mixed up everywhere. It’s representation with an excellent in-world reason and that just brings me joy.

I also love the magic system(s) even though we haven’t really gone into that just yet. it really feels like there was a genuine effort made to create underlying mechanics for the magic rather than just making each spell a vaguely elemental themed ability. I really hope we’ll dive deeper into that in coming seasons.

I also like the little nods to other works of fantasy: Ezran’s ability to talk with animals is a reference to Tolkien’s world where some royal bloodlines had the ability to speak with animals, specifically birds; Primal Magic and its spells being cast with Ancient Draconic runes and words might be reminiscent of the Ancient Language from the Inheritance Cycle etc.

Thirdly the main cast is great. Callum, Ezran and Rayla are all interesting and relatable characters in their own right and as a group. I’m not going into each of them individually here, but while I think the series as a whole falls short of ATLA, as protagonist parties go I dare say this one is nearly on nearly on par with the gAang.¹

And yes, I love Bait, which I really did not expect following the first few episodes. I love his weird pug-toad-chameleon design, I love that he works like a flashbang whenever somebody says a quote from Scarface (I wish they hadn’t dropped that later on) and I love how done he is with everything and everyone at all times. I’ve only had him for 25 episodes, but if anything happened to him I would kill all of my followers and then myself.

On top of that, and speaking as someone who god knows is really not into shipping, I love Rayla and Callum’s relationship. It’s believable, it’s refreshing and it brings out the best in both characters without changing basically anything about them. Just two good friends who fell in love. A++, maybe even S tier.

Unfortunately though I can’t sing the same kind of praises about the villains. None of them are terrible (as in terribly written, most of them are pretty awful people), but with one exception they just don’t stand up to the protagonists in quality.

I could simply not take Viren seriously. Even now that is probably the single most powerful magic user in the world, he just has such strong Karen energy, every time he finishes a speech I am overcome with the urge to say “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” and it does not help the mood. I’m not even sure why. It might’ve been the voice because the guy who did Viren (Jason Simpson) also does a lot of kinda slimy characters in various anime dubs, it might be that over-the-top walking stick, idk.

What I’m saying is that as a primary antagonist he simply did not work for me. Which is doubly a shame because this kind of tarnishes the real “Big Bad” of this story by proxy. Aaravos, even as an invisible ghost, with his voice coming out of a caterpillar and next to no info on his backstory, has more style and gravity than all the human antagonists combined. It helps that he is by far the best designed character and Erik Dellums has the voice of a young god, but I’d argue even without that unfair advantage he has the potential to be a top tier villain. While he is stuck as Viren’s “little bug-pal” though he is just being dragged down.

(I’m aware that as of the final episode the caterpillar familiar is undergoing metamorphosis, probably to create a new body for Aaravos’ spirit to inhabit outside of the magic mirror, so I’m definitely hyped for more of him in the coming seasons.)

As for Soren and Claudia, I’ve got mixed feelings. This was one more aspect of the show that a lot of people compared to Avatar and while I see the parallels to Zuko & Azula, they are still very different, at least where Claudia is concerned. I’d also just like to mention that a lot of people told me that they thought the direction in which their storylines went were really surprising and I can’t disagree more. I predicted that Soren would defect to the protagonists on episode 5 right after Viren told him to kill the princes and I knew Claudia was going to stick with her father from episode 12 onward. My point is, it didn’t feel like some kind of plot twist, the way some people made it out to be, and which I don’t think was the intent.

I definitely got the sense that Soren was at least a Zuko-type character, though still not a Zuko clone, and as with Zuko I was consistently able to empathise and sympathise with him and his predicaments. I also appreciated that his dilemma is the result of his convictions and not him being kind of dense, which would’ve been all to easy and probably would’ve ruined his character for me. As it stands he is extremely milktoast, but perfectly functional for his purpose in the story and I can definitely see him evolving further and getting more interesting as we go on.

Claudia is where it gets complicated. Again, I can see the Azula parallels. But unlike that character, who is her father’s animal 110%, Claudia doesn’t strike me as a victim of Viren’s manipulation the way Soren undoubtably is. The way she talks about and uses Dark Magic, how she talks down to Soren and how even Viren finds it difficult to communicate with her, tells me as an audience member that she is an independent person. Which tells me that the cruelty and enthusiasm for causing harm she regularly displays is her own will. And that was before she straight up leads Callum on to manipulate him.

On the other hand I can absolutely relate to her devotion to her family, her big sister role (even though she is younger than Soren) and the way both the separation of her parents before the story and Soren’s injury in episode 16 must’ve affected her because of this. I know that, if my brother had become paralysed from the neck down and I knew a way to heal him, I would not have hesitated to kill that fawn either. Then again her relationship with her father is very different from parental relationships I am familiar with, so I can’t really say I see why she is so devoted to him, other than she promised her mother to stay with him years ago? ¯\(o_Ō)/¯

So basically Claudia falls into an emotional grey space for me. I can’t really tell how to feel about her either way and I’ll just have to see where she goes from here, which, while fine, isn’t necessarily great for an end of season cliffhanger imo.

Seeing as I’ve already talked about some of the show’s shortcomings, I think it’s time to dive into some of the what I would consider flaws.

Firstly this show needed at least 12 episode seasons. I have never made a secret out of my dislike for the modern short seasons and while I recognise that in the current climate in the industry giving everything full 25 episode seasons isn’t really doable, the pacing of this show, especially for the first season is just outright bad at times. It works as of the second season, but the first season alternately feels like it’s either rushing through or crawling along the whole way through.

The believability of Rayla’s and the princes’ relationship really suffers from this the most. It comes a bit out of nowhere on the boat ride and is then taken for granted way to quickly. Like Callum, seriously, this girl tried to kill you and your brother not even a day ago and you are currently cut off from all allies you have ever had until now. A little skepticism isn’t misplaced here. I also wold’ve liked if we’d just gotten a bit more of a sense of movement with the characters. I get that this is not the kind of show where we can just make an entire episode about the characters travelling and camping, intercut with plots centred around a more expansive supporting cast, but still I really would’ve preferred if Xadia didn’t feel quite so around the corner.

Another issue is with setup and payoff, which I think is partially a consequence of the pacing as well. A lot of smaller plot points are set up within the same episode as the payoff just wreak havoc on the narrative structure. A good example is the episode where they ride down the river in a boat and Bait tires to go into the water, but is saved by Ezran, who then explains the story behind Glowtoads and how they are pefect bait for large water predators. Then Bait falls into the water and is attacked by a massive water monster. This happens within five minutes of one episode and never comes up again. To me that looks like sign of rushed editing, which is probably not entirely the crew’s fault, given that they are on a schedule from Netflix, but it’s still a point of critique.

It unfortunately also manifests in the occasional line of horribly forced dialogue, often for things we can literally see happening on screen. Again, this is mostly the case in the earlier episodes, but it never completely goes away.

Finally, and this is where i get into serious issues that made me want to write this, we gotta talk about representation in this show.

First: disabled representation, meaning Amaya. Why is Amaya deaf? Because it’s good to have disabled representation.

Why is Amaya deaf and a high-ranking military officer? Because they didn’t think it through.

I know this may be a contentious opinion, but it is my belief that the purpose of representation, particularly of disabilities characters may suffer from, in fiction is to, y’know, represent people as they are in life. That includes especially the struggles they face and have to overcome, sometimes their whole life. This is not just me talking out of my ass either. A couple years ago I discussed this with several people that are disabled, specifically blind or otherwise severely visually impaired, in a different context obviously, and the general consensus was that it’s better to have representation that shows their life and their abilities as they are, rather than how they might wish they could be.

A mute or deaf person cannot be a medieval fantasy army general, no matter how good they might be in melee combat or who’s sister they are, because at the end of the day, they’re not able to give commands while they are holding a sword and shield. That such a massive logical oversight, especially in comparison to the extremely well done example of representation I mentioned above, and has so little impact on the plot that it leads me to believe, this aspect of Amaya’s character was tacked on in the last minute without being given any thought for the sole reason of the story having a disabled person in it. All this does is necessitate the existence of two otherwise entirely unnecessary characters, Gren and Kazi, both of which achieve nothing, aside from sometimes being literal set dressing.

That is where representation ends and tokenism begins.

And unfortunately this generally lacklustre attitude also extends to the LGBT+ representation on the show.

As of S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” we have had two onscreen gay couples on the show (onscreen in the sense that both partners were onscreen and they were somehow confirmed to be in a relationship on the show). One of these, the queens of Duren, literally die in the same flashback they are introduced in, which incidentally also features them invading a foreign nation to poach a rare animal and subsequently starting the conflict at the series’ core. Not a great look.

Aside from serving as a tragic backstory for their daughter, the most impact they had on my viewing experience was that they made wonder how the fuck royal succession works in Duren. (People who know me are rolling their eyes right now because I’m bringing anarchism into this Dragon Prince review, but I’m telling you, this why fantasy monarchies aren’t compatible with LGBT+ politics in the same setting. Dynastic governments are inherently bigoted, you can’t have it both ways.)

The other couple are Runaan and Ethari, Rayla’s caretakers, although if I’m being honest you wouldn’t be able tell based on Runaan’s treatment of Rayla in the first episode. By the time we actually meet Ethari and find out about their relationship with Rayla, Runaan is suffering “a fate worse than death” (direct quote from the show) trapped in a gold coin.

I mean come on. That’s about as “technically not ‘bury your gays’” as it gets.

I think I need to reiterate here that my point is not that this show or its creators are somehow malicious. As i stated in the TL;DR: I don’t think this is a dealbreaker for liking this show. But it does demonstrate that they are prone to slipping to some potentially harmful tropes and this needs to be criticised and pointed out to them.

In conclusion, I really love this show. It’s not ATLA, it never will be, nothing else will ever be ATLA no matter how badly (and terribly) Netflix tries. But it does and should not have to be.

What it has to do though is improve. A lot of the building blocks are already there, such as Aaravos or Claudia’s development, Callum’s father, the origin of Ezran’s ability, the purpose of the “Key of Aaravos”, the true fate of King Harrow (we all know his soul is in the bird, right?) etc. Some things like the treatment of Amaya’s disability unfortunately won’t be fixable as far as I can tell, but if they at least manage to fix the gay representation I can make my peace with that.

¹ I know I said I wouldn’t go into each of the characters individually, but a) you should never trust a stranger on the internet and b) I really want to talk a bit about Callum. Specifically the “mystery” of why the hell he is connected to the Sky Primal. I write “mystery” because I think it’s fairly obvious from whence this talent came: there is only one humanoid species we know of with innate access to the Sky Arcanum and one of Callum’s parent’s is unidentified, presumed dead. 2+2=4. Callum’s father was a Skywing Elf. That’s why he recognised Nyx’s boomerang weapon. He remembered one like it either from his very early childhood (remember that he has photographic memory) or Sarai kept one and he found it at some point.

On top of that the name “Callum” or at least the pronunciation is clearly derived from Latin “caelum” meaning “sky” or “weather” and I already mentioned that Ancient Draconic is just bad Latin. It’s not very subtle. Unless they pull a complete 180 concerning the lore about Primal Magic he’s definitely going to be a half-elf, which would also just so happen to make him the perfect mediator between the Human Kingdoms and Xadia. Hmm, it’s almost as if they are planning ahead.

My question: How the fuck did that happen? Or rather: how did that fuck happen? I don’t think even Harrow knew or he probably would’ve a) paid more attention when Sarai advised against poaching the Magma Titan, because obviously she’s gotten around Xadia more than him, if y’know what i’m sayin’ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) or at least b) put it in his final letter to Callum. Unfortunately we know basically nothing about Sarai except that she was a soldier alongside Amaya and already had Callum before marrying Harrow. So does Amaya know? This is probably the most interesting plot thread in the whole story and as far as my friends told me it’s not going to be touched on anymore in the last two episodes than it already has thus far, which is basically not at all.

[pxnk-velvet]

The Dancing Warrior: Water, Chapter 4

(Sokka x OC Reader)

The group had landed in a forest after their whole debacle with the Pierates. Navani jumping early so the others would have some what of an easier landing.

“Oh my gosh!” Katara yelled when Navani suddenly let go.

She had successfully landed, doing a roll and quickly popping up from her crouching position, “I’m fine!” She yelled back, waving.

After everyone else had landed, Sokka was quick to interrogate this new girl despite how fond of her he was already.

“So....you’re a fire bender?” Sokka questioned, looking this girl in the eyes. But she had a blue eye? How? Maybe something happened and that’s why her eye is blue?...

She blushed violently, kicking the ground with toe of her shoe, “Yeah...”

“But....” Sokka didn’t know how to say what was on his mind without seeming rude. Yet she easily spoke what he thought.

“I know what you’re thinking.” At that point Aang and Katara had joined Sokka, standing on either side of him.

She sighed, contemplating what she was about to do.

Her whole life her mother had always said to keep the fact that she could bend two elements, opposites for that matter, a secret. Typically she was always introduced to new people as a fire bender, despite her relation to Meena.

Her eyes were squeezed shut as she blurt out the question, “Can you guys keep a secret?”

The three other teenagers looked at each other suspiciously, but nodded. She took a couple of steps back, getting closer to the river bank.

What she did next completely shocked everyone.

She cartwheeled backwards, jumping into the air. Kicking her legs up, to do a mid-air split, manipulating the water to shoot from her left and fire from her right. Her eyes glowing immensely, like the sun and moon. When she landed, she stood tall with her right leg pressed against her upper body as she held it high. Spinning in a circle, moving the fire and water into an intertwined swirl. When she slowed she cartwheeled fowards. Shooting fire above with her feet and whipping water onto the ground with her hands as she landed, crouching on her knees. Her chest heaved gently as she stood tall, feeling pressure change on the bottom of her feet. She smiled softly, feeling content within.

It seemed as though the air around them stilled. They all stood in silence, stunned by all means.

The first one to speak up was Sokka, “Woah...” How could he possibly be even more attracted to her? At this point he was infatuated with her and he had to know all about her.

Next to speak was Aang. Completely thrown for a loop at the fact that she could bend two elements. Is there such thing as a second Avatar?

As for Katara, she felt somewhat envious. Envious of the fact this girl they just met could not only bend fire but water too! Not to mention her agility and flexibility. But she couldn’t let that get to her head.

“You’re a dual-bender.” Katara spoke softly as Navani settled into the timid posture she had before. Kicking the toe of her shoe into the dirt.

Katara had heard of the legends and myths about the dual-benders of the past. But there hadn’t been explanations as to how.

“Yeah. That’s why my eyes are like this...I know I’m a bit of a freak, so it’s alright if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore.” Navani presented, looking down with a shameful blush.

“Are you kidding?!” Aang exclaimed, running up to her, “That’s so cool! And I’m the Avatar!”

“Tell us about yourself!” Sokka suggested, plopping down onto the dirt. Hoping she would sit too.

She does, settling down gently with her knees tucked into her chest, next to him, “Well, what do you want to know?”

Sokka blurt out, “Who are you?” Maybe just a bit too quickly.

Navani looked at him, his blue eyes sending chills down her spin and warmth to her heart.

“Well, you guys know my name. I live on an island just a few miles away from here in the Fire Nation. I live with my mother, she’s from the Southern Water Tribe like you guys.” She told, untucking her knees and sitting with her legs crossed.

“Well how about that? A water tribe member living in the Fire Nation. You don’t see that everyday.” Sokka spoke sarcastically.

“What was her name? Maybe our Gran-Gran knew her.” Katara asked, genuine curiosity within her words.

“Meena. She was a water bending warrior. One of the few females warriors. Apparently she was very well known. Or at least that’s what she tells me.” Navani chuckled, thinking of her mother.

“Yeah! Dad and Gran-Gran would talk about her. Apparently she grew up with mom and dad.” Sokka said, eyes glowing, leaning in towards Navani in excitement. She giggled.

“Hakoda and Kya,” She spoke softly, remembering the stories her mother would tell her about growing up in the South.

~

Years and years ago, Hakoda, Kya, and Meena had all been friends. Growing up together and watching each other go from child to adults. Over time Meena had watch her two best friends fall in, despite her own feelings for Hakoda. She should’ve know, especially since she had the worst luck with lovers. But she didn’t let it get to her, letting her friends be in peace.

Her and Hakoda had started training to be warriors from a young age. Meena often getting teased for being a girl. Hakoda bravely standing up for her, even though he knew very well she could hold her own. This only led to her falling for the boy who had eyes for her best friend. Their fun conversations, sparring sessions, and deep connection but it didn’t matter.

Eventually she forced her focus on her training and water bending, becoming one of the best warriors to ever rise for the South. Her skills and agility weren’t like anything anyone had seen before and her bending was top tier. Having trained with some of the best masters around.

Her name became notorious with in the Water Tribes. Little girls and boys saying how they would like to grow up and be like her one day, something that filled her heart. But yet there would always be that emptiness, knowing she might of given up her future love.

~

“Who’s your dad then, if you’re a fire bender?” Aang asked, then feeling guilty seeing Navani’s expression sadden.

She looked at the ground with a slight frown, “I don’t know who my dad is. All I know is that he’s Fire bender and had a lot of money.”

At that the three others raised an eyebrow. Navani sighed, deciding to just tell them everything.

~

Throughout her childhood he would come and visit, bringing food, clothing, money, and other basic necessities for the two girls he had grown to love.

Yet up until she could remember him, he stopped his visits, resorting to sending things instead. Something that saddened the general deeply.

One day a young Navani had received a letter saying that she would be attending the Royal Fire Academy for girls.

Which could only mean one thing....he had power....or just a lot of money. Because only the family of Fire Nation nobility were allowed to attend such a school.

Within a couple of weeks she had begun her studies at the school, only to find herself in a tough spot.

She had been bullied constantly over how she looked. Being called names and being teased. Something that would take her years to finally let go.

But there were three girls in particular. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Navani was always the subject of their torture. Azula especially, saying and doing horrible things to the poor girl.

Eventually once Navani had reached the prodigy level, her mother quickly took her out of school. Ceasing the bullying and torment from her fellow classmates.

After that Meena had begun teaching Navani water bending and furthered her combat training. She took note of how quickly her daughter learned and excelled.

~

[][][]

Taglist!

@harmlessoffering

@ilovespideyyy

@eat-a-brick714

@none-of-ur-frackin-business

@smolbitch2006

@the-natureofme

[sun-summoning]

Summary: Aang’s parents need to talk to the headmaster.  Note: AU where Zuko joined the Gaang at the end of Book 2

When Aang explained his day of going to school, playing with some new friends, and making a noodle rendition of the Fire Lord, everyone was a little on edge. He mentioned they’d be learning about a secret river that might help in their mission though, so Sokka let them stay a bit longer. Zuko knew Aang had been lying, but he decided to let Aang have his fun. And really, the Noodle Lord that Katara hung up on the cave wall was kind of hilarious to look at.

But after his second day of school, Aang tells them about a boy who tried to fight him and how now the headmaster wanted to talk to his parents. 

Sokka and Zuko look at each from across the fire, silently debating who would have to be the one to play the role of his father. Before Zuko can protest, Sokka stands up and declares, “Zuko’s going to be your dad!” 

“I never agreed to that!”

“Too bad.” Then he turns to Katara. “And I guess you have to be Aang’s mom.”

Toph snorts. “Isn’t she already?”

Aang pouts. “Hey!”

“Alright, you guys will be Wang Fire--” Sokka turns to Katara, “--and Sapphire Fire.”

Zuko and Katara both frown. “Wow.”

“You really need to stop naming things.”

“Hush!” Sokka scratches his chin as he paces. “Now, your cover story is that you met when you were young and fell deeply in love. Then you got married and had baby Aang.”

“That’s...” Katara blinks. “Why is it so boring?”

“Well what else do you want?”

“Fell and love and got married is pretty basic, Sokka.”

“Oh, can you do better?!”

“Obviously!” Katara points to Zuko, oblivious to the way his cheeks were turning pink. “Like, why not something like...okay. Okay! So Zuko got captured by pirates...”

Sokka narrows his eyes as he nods. “I like where this is going.”

“I don’t,” Zuko mutters.

“Yeah,” Aang agrees, crossing his arms. “It sounds kind of--”

“Quiet!” Sokka orders. “The creative geniuses are talking.”

“Yeah.” Toph punches Aang’s arm. “I want to see how dumb this can get.”

“And then,” Katara loudly continues, shooting their audience a warning glance, “I came to his rescue. I was all, ‘I can save you from the pirates’ which I did and then he got super flustered and was extremely grateful and all but became my man slave because he was so in awe of my prowess. Honestly, it was really embarrassing for both us.”

“This is good!” Sokka exclaims.

“Right!” Katara is positively beaming. “And then blah, blah, blah. Love, marriage, baby Aang. There.”

“That’s basically the same as Sokka’s story!” Zuko points out.

Katara scowls at him. “How dare you! My story had pirates!”

“Your story sounds weirdly familiar!”

“My story did not go like the real story at all!”

“What story?” Aang asks.

“There is no story!” they both yell.

Toph slouches further down her chosen boulder. “Yeah, and nobody kissed under Ba Sing Se,” she mutters. Only Zuko is close enough to hear her and he doesn’t bother with a response.

“Whatever,” Sokka interrupts. “Okay. So. Wang and Sapphire Fire met when Sapphire saved him from the pirates--”

“I saved her from the pirates!” 

“You didn’t save shit!”

“--and then they moved to the colonies. And got married. And had baby Aang.”

Aang makes a face that says he doesn’t really appreciate being called ‘baby Aang’. 

“I think it’s fine,” Sokka concludes. 

“Yes,” Toph drawls. “Because surely the headmaster is going to ask Aang’s parents how they met when they’re there to discuss him getting into a fight.”

“You never know, Toph!”

Katara sighs. She turns to Zuko with only a slight flush on her cheeks. “I’m okay with it if you’re okay with it.”

Zuko nods. “I’m okay with it.” After all, the backstory means nothing when the bottom line is that Katara is going to be his wife. Well, his pretend wife. For now. Who knows what the future holds.

“What about if I’m okay with it?” Aang protests.

“You don’t get a choice,” Sokka says. “You’re the one who got into a fight and now needs parents to come meet the headmaster.”

“I didn’t start the fight!”

“Doesn’t matter.” Sokka picks up a discarded blanket and throws it to Katara. “Here.”

She looks at it, confused. “What’s this?”

“Baby Sokka, obviously. Kuzon Fire is getting a little brother named after me.”

Katara, clearly enjoying the farce, fumbles with her clothes to see how to best make herself look pregnant. “His name can’t be Sokka.”

“Of course it can be!”

“Well what if it’s a girl?”

“Then--”

“Agni,” Zuko groans as he sits down beside Toph to let the siblings battle and/or plan. “Sometimes I wonder if I should have just gone with Azula.”

Life on the ship as they fled had been tense, but, admittedly, the five of them travelling towards the capital has been oddly fun. Zuko enjoy’s Toph’s snark, Sokka’s plans, Aang’s kindness, and Katara’s...self. They’ve slowly forgiven him and welcomed him into their group. He’s become part of their routine and their plans and their lives. He’s one of them now. 

“What if,” he hears Sokka begin in a soft tone that means he’s having a revelation, “you’re having twins? A boy and a girl! And then they can be named after me and Toph!”

“No!” Toph protests. “Leave me out of your weird family!”

“No way!” Katara laughs as she pats her fake belly, which has gone from being that of a seven month pregnancy for one child to a five month pregnancy for two. She makes a weird dent, so Sokka curses and begins to fix it. “We’re all in this family now.” 

“Aw!” Aang begins to laugh. “Group hug time!” He grabs Toph and the two of them rush over to Katara’s arms. 

They’re clearly crushing baby Sokka and baby Toph, but the blanket can be fixed later. They all look at Zuko expectantly, so Zuko decides to close his eyes and pretend he’s asleep against Toph’s boulder.

“Zuko!” Aang calls. “Come join us!”

He pretends to snore.

Sokka glares at him so strongly that Zuko can feel it. “If you don’t join us, we’re all going to jump on you.”

“Yeah and then we’re going to cuddle,” Katara adds like it’s a threat.

Muttering curses, Zuko stands and joins them.

“Family hug,” Sokka coos.

Zuko tells him he’s an idiot, which only starts a back and forth of increasingly immature insults. They eventually separate so Katara can fix her fake belly even though it won’t be necessary until tomorrow. Toph asks Aang to show her whatever new art he made that day, and he does so eagerly, oblivious to her latest blind joke. 

They’re all kind of annoying and kind of absurd, but Zuko knows without a doubt that he made the right choice by joining them. 

[seyaryminamoto]

hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding  between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen. 

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him. 

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments. 

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again. 

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow. 

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko. 

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said? 

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

[technoskittles]

RULES: answer 20 questions, then tag 20 bloggers you want to get to know better.

Got tagged forever ago by @simplyabsolute and I’m just super busy and forgetful so doing it now lol

1. NAME: Ashleigh

2. NICKNAMES: Most call me Ash but I’ll respond to just about anything lmao

3. ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

4. HEIGHT: 5′2 (I know I’m short fight me)

5. LANGUAGES: English. Took French for four years but don’t remember anything haha. Know some basic survival Japanese since I spent a month in Japan and trying to sit down and learn more one day

6. NATIONALITY: American

7. FAVOURITE SEASON: Fall. crunch crunch on some leaves mothafucka

8. FAVOURITE FLOWER: I don’t think I have one? I’ve always thought this was kind of a weird question tbh. Lotus flower maybe?

9. FAVOURITE SCENT: Oh jeez I have a lot of that. Lavender incense probably though. Tbh, most scents for incense. I really love incense. Maybe I just really like the smell of smokey things

10. FAVOURITE COLOUR: Purple/black

11. FAVOURITE ANIMAL: Red Pandas

12. FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: Oh get ready y’all I’m about to break this down

-Legend of Korra: Korra, Asami

-Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara, Toph, Azula, Zuko

-Gravity Rush: Kat, Raven, Yunica, Lisa, Cyanea

-My Hero Academia: Ochako, Bakugou*** (probably my top fave), Deku, Jirou, Tsuyu, Momo, Toga

-Soul Eater: Soul, Maka, Medusa

-Fullmetal Alchemist: UGH SO MANY PEOPLE!! Riza, Roy, Edward, Alphonse, Mei, Greed/Greedling, Lan Fan, Lust, Envy, Olivier

-She-Ra: Adora, Catra, Entrapta, Scorpia, Double Trouble, Mara

-Madoka Magica: Kyoko, Sayaka

-Carmilla: Carmilla, Laura, Mel

-Firefly: KAYLEE, River

-RWBY: YANG MOTHERFUCKING XIAO LONG, Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Neopolitan, Penny Polendina, Nora Valkyrie

-Miraculous Ladybug: Chat Noir

-Overwatch: Tracer, D.Va, Ashe

-Fairy Tail: Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Cana

(I could probably keep going but we’d be here forever)

13. COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: Tea (herbal mostly but I also do like matcha). I can drink coffee but only frozen (anything else tastes awful)

14. AVERAGE SLEEP HOURS: wtf is sleep

15. DOG OR CAT PERSON: Both. But I’m also allergic to cats v.v

16. NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH: Depends on the night. One, two max (because the second one is my heated blanket)

17. DREAM TRIP: Technically I’ve already been, but I’d LOVE to go back to Japan one day and this time take my boyfriend with me. It was such a great experience the last time I went and I loved it so much that I’m just about dying to go back and share everything with him <3

18. BLOG ESTABLISHED: Sometime in 2015 lol I don’t remember exactly when

19. FOLLOWERS: 3628

20: RANDOM FACT: Babies are born without kneecaps.....wait, about me? oh um, I’m a practicing witch even though currently I’m still just a baby

Tagging: anyone else who wants to do this

[seyaryminamoto]

Rejoice! Long-Winded Anon is here with another question. You have dedicated a lot of time and chapter space developing the side characters more than many fics usually would because most authors focus much more on the main characters, bending or even sacrificing other in-universe elements to fit their preferred vision, as shipping fics often do. But you take much more care writing other characters. Was that planned? Or spontaneous in the flow of plotting and world building?

On great measure it’s spontaneous, but it’s mainly because the story has required it. I will say, I did have a lot of canon characters presence when the story started out. Often readers seemed to be just thrilled to recognize old characters in new roles, and I had been working, up until then, with the notion that the more canon characters I used, the happier I’d keep everyone, pretty much.

So, all the way back in the first arc we had Shoji, a one-time character in canon, from the Headband, taking up a recurring role in the story as clerk in the Grand Royal Dome. Likewise, Song was a one-time canon character and she took on a role that turned her into a constant presence in the story, with her own development and relationships with the main characters. Smellerbee has only featured for one chapter, but she was there anyhow. Piandao trains Sokka, same role he had in canon, but for a longer period of time and eventually vanishes for yet-to-be-revealed plot reasons. Chan and Ruon Jian had roles too, Chan a relatively brief one so far, Ruon Jian a constant but background role nonetheless: marrying Mai off to a completely unknown character could have been an easier way out, but offering a one-time canon character further relevance actually might intrigue certain readers, I guessed. There’s June’s very controversial role from early on in the story too, Toph’s first sponsor is the same guy who was hired by her parents to track her down in canon, Xin Fu. Jet’s initial appearance is brief, even if his hypnosis might have helped many readers guess he’d come back for more eventually. Even Haru, who yes, is relevant in canon but he only shows up in a few episodes regardless, gets a bigger role here as Ty Lee’s gladiator. The hammer-wielding earthbender from Zuko Alone? He’s the Twin Hammer, the earthbender Sokka fights in Garsai’s Arena, and the first earthbender he defeats.

Yeah, there were lots of less important characters even at the early stages of the story, and several OCs who didn’t amount to much. Smellerbee’s sponsor? Literally got his name from a brand of eggrolls that they used to sell in my country XD Hosang bite-sized eggrolls were so nice… and as I needed a name, that came to mind and he was her sponsor. The Spawn of the Volcano is also an OC, as is the Hallowed Rock and frankly nearly every gladiator who’s not easily identifiable. But many unfamiliar and new characters, like Kuan, Aonu and Renzhi, Kino, Tiang, Seethus, the homeless people Azula helps, Haiyan and Yang, the entirety of the Blue Pack, Hina, most gladiators introduced after Haru…? Practically all of them are outright OCs, and that’s because I really felt I would have been stretching believability past an excessive point if somehow I kept choosing to repurpose characters who had showed up in canon at some point.

To put things simply… Miyuki and the Herbalist couldn’t have showed up if I didn’t have Sokka and Azula traveling to the Herbalist Institute. Aunt Wu as well, along with Meng, couldn’t have showed up believably in the story if they didn’t go to Makapu. Even Jeong Jeong is very deliberately operating in the northwestern Earth Kingdom because that is where Aang finds him in canon. If I’d featured them in locations that were completely incompatible with who they were established to be in canon, I would have been hurting the story rather than enriching it.

So I can’t, for instance, have Onji and Hide and Shoji and basically all of Aang’s classmates from the Headband moving to the Capital when they all lived in an island in the outskirts of the Fire Nation, because yeah, maybe some would have moved away (like Shoji did)! But would they all travel and move away to the same places? Would they all choose professions that coincidentally would align with whatever Sokka and Azula are up to at the moment, so that they’re relevant to the story somehow? Seems like a stretch, doesn’t it?

I really think I just reached a point where I couldn’t stretch believability so far without risking the story’s integrity. I couldn’t just make Hide Azula’s Guard Captain, for example, when all logic dictates that there should be lots of competent firebenders and soldiers in the Fire Nation who would be far more suited for the role than a completely common boy who showed no special aptitudes in canon other than being an annoying teacher’s pet. Hide apparently would have grown to be in the military, says the Wikia, but how many soldiers does the Fire Nation military have? Soooo many… and why would we not get to know them? Why should we only stick to the ones we met through canon, when there are already so few of those  and most of them wouldn’t suit the role of Azula’s Guard Captain anyhow?

That logic steered me towards OCs over canon characters in the later stages of the story. Kino, Aonu, Renzhi, Yang, Haiyan, the entire Blue Pack, Hina, Rhone, Seethus… they’re all new characters, but as long as they fit in the roles the story needs them to fulfill, there’s no real reason for them to feel out of place the way they could if I was forcing them in, the way some writers do with overpowered OCs who break all logic in the setting they’re written into. Rhone, in particular, received far from a warm welcome when I introduced his character, but his character is an answer to a question canon brought up but didn’t really address at all: Yon Rha confirmed in the Southern Raiders that there WAS a leak of information in the South Pole that enabled them to figure out there was one last waterbender there. Canon never addressed this. I’m not going to pretend my way of addressing it is the one way to go… but it’s something. Likewise, Sokka’s increasing popularity would only logically result in him developing a fanclub like the one we saw for Suki early on in the story: why should the characters in that fanclub be anyone we already knew? There are so many people living in the Capital, lots of them unknown in canon, but they’re there. Is it more reasonable for common people who live in a city to be part of this club, or for people like, I don’t know, Star, to move all the way from Ba Sing Se only to fawn all over Sokka in the Fire Nation Capital? Which option makes more sense, ultimately?

And that’s really where my logic went in the end. ATLA did a decent job at showing us the common, ordinary folk who make a living in their world despite the chaotic war. Those are the people Aang helped often, and they didn’t all need some insanely exaggerated reason to be where they were, or to be who they were. Had I dragged them out of their natural living spaces, like for instance making Jin into a gladiator? It would have been ridiculous to no end. Her role and story work in Gladiator because it feels plausible within what canon established for her. And that’s how I’ve tried to keep it for all the canon characters I use. If there are no canon characters who can fulfill a certain role? Then an OC it is!

I admit, it was a lot of fun repurposing characters, but stories like mine reach a point where you can’t really do that believably anymore. I think starting off with as many canon characters in relevant roles as possible did help a lot with capturing the interest of readers who were intrigued by how much the world they knew from ATLA had changed in this setting, but it wasn’t sustainable to do that forever.

As for focusing more on canon characters than on OCs, I’m pretty sure I’ve done that, on the most part. Perhaps the only exceptions for it are characters like Rui Shi, Xin Long and Kino, but other than them I think the core cast of the story is comprised by canon characters. I guess I might be forgetting someone important, I don’t know anymore xD but as to why OCs get attention where they would just be standing in the background in many other stories… I guess because I’m not a big fan of static characters with little to no personality. Not to say all my OCs have personalities, pretty sure I have some terribly flat ones xD but I do want my characters to feel like real people with lives of their own, whether OCs or not. So when Dong cries a river because his girlfriend Yumiko dumped him, he feels like a character whose life didn’t just begin as soon as Azula stepped into his room to inspect it. When Kino airs his grievances to Aang and Katara about how his fellow soldiers ignore him no matter what he does, he also feels like someone who’s had struggles, however ridiculous they were, before he got to know them. When Haiyan and Yang have no money because they eloped and have been struggling to get on their feet ever since, it’s clear they’re going through their own problems too. Rui Shi may not have any issues of that magnitude, but he has a very obvious difficulty: his charge makes his life unnecessarily difficult ever since she got it into her head to get a gladiator :’D And there’s next to no reason for him to be pleased for that.

Ultimately, writing an OC is no different from writing a canon character as long as you let them have lives of their own, even if simple lives. And that’s what has guided me into writing this story and the characters featuring in it as I have.