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[fvretts]

a Mai-Azula-Ty Lee analysis bc i have Many feelings

so this is definitely super random for my blog, but i just rewatched the boiling rock (bc ofc i did lmao) and i've been obsessed w this quote since like age ten, but it just hit different this time around and i feel the need to share:

"You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."

so. here's the thing. this quote is objectively insane for a million reasons, but i want to talk about some of the parallels we can pull from it bc imo it makes it so. much. WORSE.

"No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more!"

here comes the main theme of this post: fear, juxtaposed with love.

i do genuinely believe that Azula loved Mai and Ty Lee. not in the way typical friends love one another, because Azula is not a typical person who learned to love in a typical way, but love nonetheless.

(we can trace this back to her relationship with her father VS her relationship with her mother. Azula had a very distinctive way of looking at her childhood: she was her father's daughter, and Zuko was her mother's son. while we never saw Azula's reaction to his banishment, whether it was positive or negative, this surely cemented this idea for her. once their mother was gone, her father had no use for him. but of course he still had use for her—he loved her.

and if her father loved her, in a father-daughter relationship fueled by fear and intimidation, and her mother didn't, in a mother-daughter relationship that wasn't, what do you think she learned of love? but we'll bring this idea back later.)

she loved them, and she trusted them, and they betrayed her.

but before i really dig into the quote, i want to go over this love-fear juxtaposition, because it is a common theme throughout her character arc as she spirals further and further.

this scene is set after the betrayal, and the fact that they brought in a hallucination of her mother is very, very important.

once again, these opposing feelings of fear and love are brought back again. before, i said that Ursa and Azula's relationship wasn't fueled by fear. but is that true? Azula says very clearly here that her mother fears her and thinks that she's a monster. And this hallucination of her mother, a figment of all her worst fears and regrets and internal conflicts, brings up Mai and Ty Lee.

And then:

Even you fear me. No. I love you, Azula. I do.

"even you fear me" "no. i love you"? this is so, so crucial to what we know about Azula and her perception of love. she views love and fear to be very closely linked, even intertwined, not something to be separated in such a way.

even you fear me — but do you love me? i don't know if you do. but you fearing me does not stop you from loving me. they are not separate entities. i do not know how to be loved if i am not feared.

no. i love you — you are my daughter. i do not fear you. i love you. they can be separate. i love you without fearing you. no, i do not fear you. i love you.

and this is Azula's breaking point. tears stream down her face and she shatters the mirror. this separation of fear and love—it's too much. she doesn't know how to handle it. she knows fear without love, but she does not know love without fear.

her relationship with Zuko is another prime example. i fully believe that Azula loved her brother, or at least cared for him in some capacity. you see it in scenes such as these:

she had no reasonable ulterior motive here. she genuinely was trying to help him and look after him—but he's also afraid of her. he's afraid of what she might do or what she wants from him, even if in this particular scene that fear is unnecessary.

even when she recruited Ty Lee, she used fear to get Ty Lee to join her:

Ty Lee is legitimately happy to see Azula, but you can see the fear on her face when she turns down Azula's offer to search for the Avatar. and then, you can see that fear again when Azula tells her she'll be attending her show. and of course, Azula sets the net on fire, and Ty Lee ends up accepting Azula's offer.

i do believe Ty Lee and Azula had genuine love for one another, but Azula just never knew how to have that love without the fear.

and finally, we come back to the quote.

I love Zuko more than I fear you. / You should've feared me more.

or: I love Zuko more than I love you. / You should've loved me more.

the use of the word "miscalculated" fits perfectly here. everyone adores Azula. she's the prodigy, the crown princess, the Fire Nation's darling. no one is supposed to love Zuko. Zuko is the failure, the banished prince, their nation's greatest shame.

you miscalculated. you were supposed to love me. you were my friend. you were my ally. i trusted you. i made you fear me. you were supposed to love me. no one loves Zuko. everyone loves me.

you miscalculated. love doesn't work like that. love doesn't come with fear. fear chases love away. you made me fear you. you made me hate you. i chose Zuko, because you don't know how to love.

and it all always comes back to Zuko, doesn't it?

but i'm yours. Zuko was mother's, and mother is long gone, and see, Zuko was a traitor. Zuko was nothing. you treated Zuko terribly because Zuko wasn't yours. but i am. i am your daughter. i am your prodigy. i am your princess. i am your heir. how dare you treat me like him. like nothing. how dare you.

i also believe that this was the true final blow that sent her spiraling into her downfall. she's extremely vulnerable here: her two most trusted friends and allies have just betrayed her, and here it is, another betrayal. where she is usually cool and collected, she is snappy and hot-headed, here.

his betrayal is quickly and immediately rectified when he informs her she will become the new Firelord. see, she's not like Zuko. Zuko is banished with no crown and no legacy. she is different. she is her father's child. Zuko is her mother's. she gets the throne. he gets nothing.

but Mai still chose Zuko. and she was absolutely furious, of course, but even this she could still handle. it's what happens after that she can't.

The thing I don't understand is why. Why would you do it?

why would you choose him? why would you choose Zuko? only one person ever chose Zuko: Mother. but she doesn't matter. she's gone. but why. why. (why do they keep choosing Zuko?)

and then, probably my favorite shot in the entire series:

Ty Lee looks at Mai, then Azula. it's barely a second long, but it speaks volumes. she's making a decision. Mai, or Azula? Mai, or Azula?

throughout our time with Ozai's Angels, it's obvious that Ty Lee is Azula's right hand woman. she goes with her everywhere. even in this scene, Ty Lee is right next to Azula the whole time.

and Mai chose Zuko. Mai chose Zuko. she says that "I love Zuko more than I love you" and she should've loved her more, and so now Azula is going to kill her. she's about to summon her lightning, and—

so Ty Lee chose Mai. and Mai chose Zuko. and her mother chose Zuko. and Azula chose her father and her nation and her ambition, and she thought her father chose her, and he did, he did.

thing about Azula: she loves. she loves Zuko, and she loves Ty Lee, and she loves Mai. but she doesn't prioritize her love the way Zuko does. her love comes last. her father comes before her love. before her father, her nation. but before all of that, her ambition.

for her ambition to ever come to fruition, she needs fear, doesn't she?

and Zuko fears her.

so she wins. right?

wrong.

she loses.

she gave up everything, absolutely everything, and she. still. loses. to fucking Zuko.

he won their mother's love. he won Mai. he, indirectly, won Ty Lee. and now he won the crown, her crown.

Azula, born lucky, born a prodigy, never wins.

[fvretts]

South Asian and Hindu Influences in ATLA (Part 1)

disclaimer: i was raised culturally and religiously hindu, and though i've tried to do my research for this post and pair it with my own cultural knowledge, i'm not an expert on hinduism by any means. should i mess up, please let me know.

please also be aware that many of the concepts discussed in this post overlap heavily with religions such as buddhism and jainism, which might have different interpretations and representations. as i'm not from those religions or cultures, i don't want to speak on them, but if anyone with that knowledge wishes to add on, please feel free.

it's well-known that atla draws from indigenous, east and southeast asian influences, but something i rarely see discussed in the fandom is the influences the show takes from hinduism and south asia, and there are actually far more than i think people are aware of.

so here's a (non-exhaustive list) of the main inspirations atla drew from south asian culture and hinduism, starting with...

The Avatar

the title of the show itself is taken from the ancient language of sanskrit, often considered the sacred tongue of the hindu religion. in sanskrit, the word "avatar" means to "descend" or "alight".

the concept of the avatar is a very old one, referring to the physical incarnation of a powerful deity or spirit. the idea of the avatar is most often linked to the god Vishnu, one of three supreme hindu gods collectively called the trimurti, or trinity. the avatar is said to manifest upon earth primarily in times of great need, when balance must be maintained between the forces of good and evil.

atla borrows heavily from this idea in having aang be the incarnation of a divine spirit who returns to the world during a time of immense strife, and is tasked with defeating a great evil to bring balance back to the world. and though i don't know if it was an intentional reference, it's interesting to note that Krishna, the most famous incarnation of Vishnu was also reborn amidst a fierce storm and carried through a raging sea to a new home where he would be protected from the king who sought to kill him. sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?

Agni Kai and the Philosophy of Firebending

the word "agni" derives from the sanskrit name Agni, the god of fire, though it can also generally mean "fire".

the concepts of lightning bending and the sun being the source of firebending are likely also taken from the idea of Agni, since he's said to exist simultaneously in three different forms on three different dimensions: as fire on earth, as lightning in the atmosphere, and as the sun in the sky.

Agni is a significant aspect of many rituals, including marriage rites, death rites, and the festivals of holi and diwali. the concept of Agni is one of duality: life and death, rebirth and destruction. hindu rituals accept and celebrate both aspects, revolving around the idea that destruction is not separate from creation, but rather necessary to facilitate it. the cremation of the dead, for instance, is seen as purification, not destruction: burning away the physical form so the soul is unencumbered, set free to continue the reincarnation cycle.

this influence can be seen in the firebending masters episode, which discusses the idea of fire being vital to life. the sun warriors safeguarding the original fire and demanding that zuko and aang bring fire to the dragons as a sacrifice could also reference the ritual of Agnihotra - the ritual of keeping a fire at the home hearth and making offerings to it. the purpose of this ritual differs depending on which text you refer to, but it is generally believed to purify the person and atmosphere in which it is performed, similar to how zuko and aang must make offerings to ran and shaw and survive their fire before being deemed worthy and pure.

Agnihotra is said to serve as a symbolic reminder of the vitality and importance of fire as the driving force of life, a lesson that zuko and aang also internalize from their encounter with the dragons.

Bumi

bumi's name is taken from the sanskrit word "bhumi", which means "earth". it's also the name of the hindu goddess of the earth, bumi or bhudevi.

one of the things the original animation didn't do and which i really enjoyed about the live action was that they made bumi indian and added desi inspiration to omashu. it makes perfect sense for a king whose name is as hindu-inspired as they come.

NWT Royal Palace

chief arnook's palace in the northern water tribe takes inspiration from the gopurams of hindu temples, massive pyramidal structures that served as entrance towers to the temple.

gopurams were built tall enough to be seen for miles around, beacons to signal tired or weary travellers who wished for a place to rest that a temple was nearby. it's a nice touch that the chief's palace is located in front of the spirit oasis, a similarly symbolic entryway to a sanctuary housing otherworldly deities.

Betrothal Necklaces

to preface: i doubt this was an intentional reference, and this great post talks about other cultures that could have inspired the water tribe betrothal necklaces. given the desi influence in the nwt architecture however, i figured it was worth mentioning.

the idea of betrothal necklaces being given to women by their male partners is similar to the thaali, a necklace given to hindu wives by their husbands. during hindu weddings, grooms tie the thaali around their brides' necks to symbolize their marriage. once given, wives are expected to wear their thaali till the day they die, as doing so is believed to bring good luck, health and prosperity to their husbands.

Chi-Blocking

though chi-blocking takes primary inspiration from the art of Dim Mak, it is also influenced by the south indian martial arts forms of adimurai and kalaripayattu, both of which include techniques of striking vital points in the body to disable or kill an opponent.

kalaripayattu also shares parallels with firebending, being a very physically demanding, aggressive martial art that emphasises the importance of discipline and mental fortitude. control of the mind is essential to control of the body, a philosophy similar to that espoused by iroh across the show.

Wan Shi Tong's Library

the library draws inspiration partly from the taj mahal, the famous mausoleum constructed by shah jahan during the mughal empire as a monument to his beloved wife, mumtaz mahal.

i'll end this post here since it's getting too long as it is, and the following section will be even longer. for while atla treated the concepts in this post with respect, the same unfortunately cannot be said for its depiction of guru pathik and combustion man - both of which we'll be discussing next.

[fvretts]

genuinely one of the worst things that’s happened to television in the last few years (exacerbated by streaming services) is death of Filler. going from 20 episodes to 8 because “we didn’t really need that episode where the main characters went to the beach right? it had no long lasting effect” but we DID!!! we needed to see how they act without the Big Bad Plot and to establish the dynamics between the characters and lay in the sun (do they forget sunscreen? how do they react to a thieving seagull? do they get buried in the sand or do they do the burying?). the plot isn’t everything. the action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments. give us character development and our little scenes back

[fvretts]

If they ever make the live action version the Guru episode it’ll go like this.

The guru: so, Aang, let’s start opening up your chakras. What are you ashamed of?

Aang (who never hurt Katara): ummm…

The guru: What do you blame yourself for?

Aang (who never ran away): uuuummm…

The guru: What are the lies you tell yourself?

Aang (who never denied he’s the avatar): ummmm…

The guru: What attaches you to this world?

Aang (who isn’t in love with Katara): ummmmm…

The guru: WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?

[fvretts]

hi would anyone be willing to cowrite a nooreva fic with me? it's half written, canon compliant. i wrote it forever ago and i spent a lot of time on it, and i would hate for it to go to waste.

[fvretts]

"Who needed wealth and success and power when they had love? Didn't it conquer all?" -Coriolanus Snow

Yup. That's it. That's the end of their story. No need to turn the other pages that's the end of the book. Coriolanus Snow finally learned all the right lessons. They lived happily ever after. (in denial)

After watching this franchise and reading the books- I just love that Katniss and Peeta at the last scene of the series are in the meadow living their lives peacefully, the very SAME meadow where Snow once considered "Didn't Love conquer all?".

It did.

[fvretts]

Unpopular opinion about tbosas: I think that Coriolanus Snow loves Lucy Gray Baird.

A more unpopular opinion: I think that Lucy Gray Baird loves Coriolanus Snow.

That's the real tragedy. Their feelings were true. Always.

[fvretts]

need tom blyth and rachel zegler in another movie together immediately

[fvretts]

just recently watched tbosas movie and i wonder if highbottom had showed empathy towards snow, would it have changed the overall outcome of the series?

[fvretts]

Sizzy headcanons?

after simon lost his memory, izzy got a tattoo. yeah she'd probably had too much to drink that night, but she just missed him. missed simon, felt his absence in a way she never would have thought possible before him. and her options at that point were to push those memories aside, to forget the way he forgot her, or to remember twice as hard for both of them. so she made a memory of theirs permanent, a record on her skin.

the tattoo was a simple two dots just about an inch apart on her neck. a reminder of their connection, of when her blood coursed through his veins, of how perfectly they'd fit together. it was a permanent mark on her skin that wasn't a rune, but in a way it was. because weren't runes marks that made you a better version of yourself? wasn't simon once something like that for her?

among all the runes and scars, these two freckle-sized dots were easy to miss. but that didn't stop her from covering them with make-up after simon came back into their lives again. it was a lot. it was too much. it was embarrassing for izzy, to have been so obviously caught up on some boy--some boy who didn't have a single recollection of her. and she knew it would have been overwhelming for simon too. too much, all at once. so she covered them. again and again.

after simon rejected her during his time at the academy, all she wanted to do was scrub them from her skin. she'd rub at them when she missed him, and she'd glare at them in the mirror when she was getting dressed. but she knew too well how permanent runes worked.

but eventually, impossibly, things worked in their favor again. and simon was on top of her again. and they'd messed around enough that her makeup had smudged and simon touched his calloused fingers softly against her neck and his eyes were filled with curiosity and recognition and awe and regret and love and.. and izzy couldn't take it. she's not a crier. she makes a point of not being so soft and vulnerable to let anything touch her deep enough to spring tears. but it was different with simon. her love for him, and their journey to get back to this point, had worn down so much of that barrier. still she was mad at the few tears as they escaped from her eyes.

simon kissed her neck, where he'd bitten her in another lifetime. he kissed the tear from her cheek. he didn't need to apologize for not being the simon from before, because he knew by now that isabelle loved simon, no matter which experiences had changed him since the last time he'd had a claim over his own memories. but he says i love you, and it's an apology anyway, for not being there, for leaving her. he says i love you, and it's a promise, that he'll never make her regret that tattoo again. he says i love you and it's an i love you. and it's real. because he's back and he's here to stay and this memory she had sewn into her skin is theirs again.

[fvretts]

i initially didn't want to talk about this scene bc personally i think it's been blown out of proportion but if you want to get real and talk about symbolism, I'll come to play.

For Belly's entire life, Conrad has been "the sun". She idealized him so much that all she could see was him and no one else could compare, leaving Jere in the shadows despite always being there for her (and literally being nicknamed "the sunshine boy")

So many people have tied this shot to that quote "For Belly, Conrad was the sun" and have understood the light here to be the sunlight radiating on Belly and Conrad. But the thing is—despite so many people's misinterpretations of the shot—it (he) is not the sun.

It's artificial lighting. It's not real.

He isn't the person she built him up to be no matter how many times she had convinced herself he was. She just didn't realize it immediately.

When Belly wakes up (that in itself could also be a metaphor), and she is able to think clearly and decide for herself what she wants and what she needs, she chooses Jeremiah. And what exactly happens when she does?

The sun shines on both of them. There is real sunlight bathing the shot because she doesn't idealize him and he doesn't idealize her, they see each other for who they really are and love each other anyway and that's what's real.

it's so important to me that it comes across that the sun shines on both of them. she didn't find a new sun, she didn't choose a different person to revolve her whole life around—she wanted the sun to shine down on her as much as it did her partner bc ultimately, she is now also choosing herself and what makes her truly happy.

[fvretts]

[fvretts]

hey everyone please watch sweet magnolias for tv excellence

[fvretts]

if anyone wants an xo kitty fanfiction about kitty and minho!! here it is!! please read it it’s so so so so so so good

X

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: XO Kitty (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Katharine “Kitty” Song-Covey/Min Ho, Mentions of possible Katharine “Kitty” Song-Covey/Yuri Han Characters: Katherine “Kitty” Song-Covey, Min Ho, Yuri Han Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Rated teen just to be safe, Pre-Relationship, mentions of “doing more” wink wink Summary:

Kitty… I think I fell in love with you.

A little bit.

Okay, she could work with that. A little bit wouldn’t ruin the friendship that was blossoming between them.

But then, Min Ho just had to open his mouth and say more.

Or… a lot.

— Kitty has a lot of time to think about Min Ho’s sudden confession.

[fvretts]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: XO Kitty (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Katharine "Kitty" Song-Covey/Min Ho, Mentions of possible Katharine "Kitty" Song-Covey/Yuri Han Characters: Katherine "Kitty" Song-Covey, Min Ho, Yuri Han Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Rated teen just to be safe, Pre-Relationship, mentions of "doing more" wink wink Summary:

Kitty… I think I fell in love with you.

A little bit.

Okay, she could work with that. A little bit wouldn’t ruin the friendship that was blossoming between them.

But then, Min Ho just had to open his mouth and say more.

Or… a lot.

 --- Kitty has a lot of time to think about Min Ho's sudden confession.

[fvretts]

thoughts on the that 90s show ships ?

hey!

first off, jay/leia is the cutest little tropiest ship and if you don't love them you hate fun <3

i'm so conflicted on nate/leia, bc objectively i can understand the argument in their favor. (i will say that saying they're more like eric/donna just gives me gmw flashbacks w who was the new corpanga so i'm not getting into that debate) i've seen some fans of it say that leia's interest in jay was based purely on lust while her connection w nate was genuine and i can see that, but i don't think it's entirely true. leia's connection w jay started when he was kind to her in 103, it had nothing to do w his looks. is she attracted to him? clearly (girl get up). but leia says continuously that she loves the sweet and responsible side of jay. with nate however, i think their connection is very sweet too, but it was more convenience than anything else. they were both lonely, so they relyed on each other in those two brief moments.

now, as for who the show wants to be endgame? again, if we're doing the girl-boy next door thing, i can see the argument for nate/leia based purely on that, but i do think the writers are genuinely invested in jay and i think that since they were built up from the pilot, much like eric/donna (again gmw flashbacks) AND they do have that on the hood of the car scene (which is imo prob the most iconic moment of t70s pilot), that it'll prob be jay/leia IF we get renewed. i do think they'll explore nate/leia tho.

as for the other ships (wow that was a lot, sorry!), nate/nikki doesn't particularly interest me but i love a good jock/smart girl dynamic so we can see where things lead. i do think she's planning on dumping him tho :(

gwen/leia didn't really give me a buzz for whatever reason (maybe bc they just give me hyde/eric) BUT gwen/nikki gave me huge buzz. frenemies to lovers?? their lil plot in ep5 solidified it for me. and scrunchie gate? iconic.

if you're asking me ab the t70s ships, my opinion is that i love eric/donna and i'm glad the creators do too and that is all that i care about in any of the discourse.

[fvretts]

ik no one watches That 90s Show and That 70s Show was so long ago its obscure anymore, but I have to talk about the parallels between Leia and Gwen and Eric and Donna and how that just fuels my ship for them more. Leia having Eric's old room and Gwen having Donna's old room, and them sitting in the same spots in the basement. There's so many parallels don't get me wrong I LOVE Jay but Leia and Gwen would be so cute together