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This is about to get extremely relevant.

sometimes you jus gotta 🍞🥖🥐🥞🍞🥖🥐🥞🥖🍞🥐🥞🍮🥖🍞🥞🍮🥐🍞🥖🍮🍯🥐🍞🥖🥞🥐🍯🥖🍞🍮🥞🍯🥐🥖

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"...no one respects it..."

Says the 2,322nd person to interact with a Zutara post and the first to express an anti-Zutara bent.

😂

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That did not age well. Still, pretend I was talking about part 3.

Guys part 2 of my TSR analysis won't be out for a long time. I only write when my depression allows it.

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My Interpetation of The Southern Raiders: Part 2 – Zuko

Warning: The views expressed in this analysis will be somewhat uncritical of Zuko. If you aren't likely to agree, you aren't going to enjoy this post. This is your chance to leave. I probably won't have a debate for personal reasons.

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This is the second part out of a three part series trying to answer every question posed by the discourse on The Southern Raiders. If I take some things for granted, it's because I discussed them in part 1, in which I delve into A\ang's role in the episode. Today, I'll set my sights on Zuko.

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1. Was Zuko a negative influence on Katara?

No, he did not. When Zuko merely presents the possibility of tracking her mother’s killer, it cuts through her reply right to her already leaving. In literature, what isn’t in the text holds no relevance and is to be disregarded as mere speculation. We don’t see Zuko convincing her, therefore he had no influence on her, and that she made the choices she did because she wanted to.

All Zuko did later on was defend a decision Katara already made on her own. And in both the first and second disagreements with Aang she had the last word. Ergo she was making her own choice.

Additionally, before they enter the room of who they think was her mother’s killer, Zuko asks her if she’s ready. And when she finally spares Yon Rha, he supports her decision. If he were to influence her, he wouldn’t have done either of these things. He only wanted to help Katara heal and never brought up anything that wasn’t already there.

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2. Was Zuko being too harsh on Aang?

(1) That's cute, but this isn't air temple preschool. It's the real world.

(2) [Forgiveness]'s the same as doing nothing!

(3) Okay, we'll be sure to do that, guru goody-goody.

He was definitely disrespectful towards Aang's culture, although his disrespectful remarks are a response to Aang’s own disrespect, imposing his beliefs onto Katara. And he didn’t say that until after Aang compared Katara to Jet. It was still wrong to come after the Air Nomad teachings, but they’re not as insulting as people paint them to be.

And it’s not like he didn’t take them back by the end of the episode. Zuko had good intentions, made a mistake and learned from it. That’s how characters grow, through mistakes. (More on that later).

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3. What motivated Zuko to find Yon Rah?

He wanted to earn Katara’s trust. The show makes it explicitly clear.

Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?

And so later:

Zuko: Katara mentioned it before when we were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, and again just now when she was yelling at me. I think somehow she's connected her anger at that to her anger at me.

I’ve seen many describe this motive as selfish or manipulative, but I have to disagree. He has no reason to do anything to earn Katara’s trust. He saved her life on that very day, is fully accepted into the GAang, and in this episode he found out that some of her anger at him is rooted in projection. But he still goes out of his way to do the impossible, to give Katara the closure she needs in order to put faith in him.

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4. Why did Zuko think revenge\murder would help Katara?

Katara is a kind soul and murder wouldn’t have helped her heal, but Zuko had good reasons to think it would have. He didn’t know Katara’s soul, she didn’t even consider him a colleague, at that point she hated him. However, he did see Sokka killing Combustion Man in The Western Air Temple. So he has no way of knowing whether revenge would help, but he’s under the impression that murder isn’t a big taboo at least for some of the GAang.

Moreover, he knows that the person who took his mother away from him will receive justice, and that it helps him sleep at night. Katara doesn’t have that, Yon Rha retired in peace. So he offers her the justice he knows helps him.

But the main reason why he thinks revenge would help Katara, is that she told him it will. Zuko plays a largely passive role in the episode, simply assisting Katara in whatever way he can.He’s only fulfilling Katara’s wishes, and she told him that her wish is to seek justice on “the monster”.

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5. Did the trip have an effect on Zuko?

It did. By the end of the episode, Zuko delivers the following line:

This is an important part of his arc of unlearning the Fire Nation’s black and white philosophy that values aggression above all else. He comes around to Air Nomad pacifism and non violent solutions from seeing them work first hand. And as the good (redeemed) person that he is, he admits he was wrong and changes his views. He grew as a character to become a better version of himself.

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In conclusion, despite the somewhat questionable nature of Zuko's actions in "The Southern Raiders", his underlying good intentions shine through. His role was not a devil on Katara’s shoulder, but a natural force backing up whatever decision she makes. And this allows him to emerge with a valuable lesson learned.

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the reason why izumi is an only child

pov: the jasmine dragon, ba-sing-se, like 15 years post atla

izumi, aged 5, cutely sipping at a cup of tea: papa, why don’t i have any siblings? i’d love a little baby brother or sister! it’d be fun!!!!

iroh and zuko:

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Many people have already discussed the way Zuko and Katara are linked by the loss of their mothers. I and others have also meta'd about the differences in how they interact with their fathers, a comparison the show highlights in "The Awakening," where Zuko faces his father for the first time in years and is forced to repress his emotions, vs Katara being allowed to express her hurt towards her father and being treated with kindness and compassion by Hakoda. But another comparison between Ozai and Hakoda that I have not seen anyone bring up before is this one:

Both Zuko and Katara running to their dads for help upon discovering that something has happened to their mothers. Hakoda immediately stops what he's doing to let Katara take him to Kya, while Ozai does not even acknowledge Zuko. Zuko's angry "where is she?" to Ozai also implies that he knows his father is the cause of her disappearance. There's also an emphasis on the fact that Hakoda is defending the village when Katara comes to him whereas Zuko finds Ozai tending to his own wounds and refusing to acknowledge what his children might be feeling.

The father as protector of the family vs the father who divides the family.

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Doctor Who (2005-) Season 1

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im hunting americans

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Matt Bellamy of Muse acknowledging The Killers’ cover of “Starlight” at Lollapalooza 2017: X

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"I cant draw" then do it bad who gives a fuck.....

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Day 263 of posting Good Omens memes Everyday until Season 3

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i heard she was the bees knees  😔

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It’s Lesbian Visibility day today so I spent yesterday making a comic about feelings. If you’d told me when I was a scared 16 year old that I’d have a wife and a rainbow flag outside of my house- I’m not sure what I would’ve said but I definitely wouldn’t have believed you.

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In light of my recent Fortune Teller meta, I think this would make the reveal that Zuko is the powerful bender Katara will marry narratively satisfying.

Aunt Wu's prophecies were never straight foreward. So "powerful bender" being the Avatar never made sense to me. Then, there is Zuko. Zuko who was assumed to be both her enemy and a mediocre bender, and ended up not being both.

Zuko had a hard time living up to his sister. She was a firebending prodigy. No matter how good he was, she was always better. And their father favored her because of this.

Ozai's abuse made it seem like he is not a good bender, just because he couldn't match his sister, the wonder child.

But Zuko is a Proficient Bender

At 16, he beat Zhao, a firebending master, at an Agni Kai.

He exercises the original firebending learnt from the dragons.

His firebending is influenced by other bending forms.

He's one of 3 people that at that time coulf redirect lightning.

After he'd recognized Ozai's cruelty towards him, he also casually recognizes that he is skilled, that he is good at firebending.

He casually recognizes that he is so good that he can teach the Avatar.

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Meet me at the hollow log

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my desi rapunzel designs (cuz she is) ☀️☀️