#atla headcanons and aus

[captainkirkk]

Concept: Fire Lords traditionally dress like the stages of the sun to match their reign.

When Zuko is first crowned, he dresses in the colours of dawn. Bright yellows and pinks and even purples. He starts to wear more traditional crimson-and-gold robes after a few years, the colours of midday when Agni is at his strongest. And towards the end of his reign, when he's getting ready to pass the crown onto Izumi, he starts dressing like the setting sun.

[katanasonata]

if sokka and zuko were university roommates (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

[nevercomingoutofthecloset]

I like to think that in a modern atla universe that iroh just takes the most unflattering pictures of zuko

He'll just pull his phone out and start showing ppl pictures like "isn't my nephew so handsome?? 😊😊"

And then this is the picture

This post is loosely based on this 😭

[charlesoberonn]

Avatar headcanon (or AU really since I'm pretty sure it contradicts the lore):

The Air Nomads used to be a lot more violent.

They ate meat too, raising sky bisons and other animals not just for transportation but for food as well. Basically they were more like real nomadic civilizations, except they could fly and (some but not all) were Airbenders.

They waged nomadic warfare as well, raiding settled communities and extorting tributes. And waging war against other tribes of Air Nomads for grazing and raiding territory as well as for revenge of apparent slights. They were extremely loyal to their tribe and kin, above all other loyalties.

Eventually a powerful Air Nomad leader managed to unite the different tribes into one Air nation and he waged a war of conquest across much of the world.

He ruled for many years but after his death his empire was splintered among his descendants and rival warlords. The Air Nomads began to wage war on one another, but this time with a lot more ferocity, with armored Air Bisons and ground armies made up of conquered peoples.

It's during this warring states period that the beginnings of what would become the Air Nomad way developed, as a solution to the never-ending cycle of violence.

The practitioners of the new way adopted pacifism and eventually also vegetarianism. They raised Sky Bison not as property or tools, but as partners and fellow living beings, a sentiment they later expanded to all animals.

The practitioners took in many war orphans as well as babies whose parents couldn't raise them. And when these orphans grew and had kids of their own they often gave them to the temples to be raised there as well. This reinvented the way Air Nomads raised their children, putting harmony and individual growth over ties of blood.

As more and more Air Nomads adopted the new way, eventually the warlords and self-style Air Kings did too. And in time they or their descendants gave up their titles and claims. The now centuries-old way became the way of all Air Nomads.

Though their numbers were smaller, due to their spiritual acuity and their system of mutual aid, the Air Nomad were all much healthier than the other nations and all of them were Airbenders.

[ghostofthejungle]

During the lonely years following Sokka’s death, Zuko tried his best to hold on, but he was shattered; eventually, at the end of his long life, he found comfort in what Sokka told him before passing away.

“Don’t you think I’ll leave you alone, I’ll haunt you in all our next lives ‘till I find you again”. He even managed to smirk. What a dumbass.

-

At the end of 2023, during an archeological excavation, beautiful clothes and books belonging to the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe are discovered; an ample exhibition is held and people from all over the world gathered together to visit it.

A young student is hypnotized by a simple, yet captivating ivory necklace; he is so fascinated by it he bumps into another student, who was funnily spinning aroung himself, trying to admire five Fire Nation robes at the same time.

They distractedly looked at each other and briefly apologized before heading towards other areas, only to meet again in the following rooms for three times.

The taller one eventually smiled, instinctively playing with a strand of ebony, long silk hair to conceal the scar on the left side of his face.

“Haunting me?”

The other boy coarsely laughed, his bright blue eyes turning away from a scroll to look at the source of that sentence, meeting two golden irises.

“Looks like it”.

[shipping-all-ships]

Lu Ten, 30 and 171 cm: By order of your Fire Lord, I demand you stop getting taller than me! Zuko, 20 and 187 cm: Azula, 18 and 180 cm: Grow then.

[befloweringg]

tropes I'd totally see Zukka in

- Tattoo Artist Sokka x Florist Zuko

- Singer/Idol Zuko x Fan Sokka

- Artist Sokka x Writer Zuko

- Ballerina Zuko x Stagehand Sokka

- Cosplayer Zuko x Athlete Sokka

- Small Town Inn Owner Sokka x Big Shot Zuko

- Deaf Zuko x CODA Sokka

- Veterinarian Zuko x Firefighter Sokka

- Navy Zuko x Army Sokka

- Theatre Major Zuko x Aerospace Engineering Major Sokka

[petricorah]

tyzula wip [id in alt]

edit: finished drawing here

[longing-for-rain]

Ok but in a modern AU, this squad would have 100% roleplayed Warrior Cats with each other and you can’t convince me otherwise.

Mai is that emo girl who hisses at people in algebra class.

Azula gets sent to the principal’s office for biting.

Zuko adamantly denies participating in this but is secretly the most into it, has a notebook full of drawings of his catsona.

Ty Lee licks her wrists like a cat and says “rawr xd” (yes including the xd out loud).

They would be peak 2000s middle school cringe and I’m here for it.

[hanadoesstuffwrong]

Thinking abt the air nomads:

What if, after the war, once the dust has settled a little, Aang goes back to travelling, hoping that maybe he can find at least some trace of surviving airbenders. As an added bonus, he gets to do more of the exploring and wandering that he had to put on hold.

Toph goes with him ofc. She only just got a taste of real freedom and it was overshadowed by ever-present impending doom. While she's on speaking terms with her parents, she isnt quite ready to be back under their roof on a permanent basis. The rest of the gaang have their individual homes and responsibilities that they get back to, though they join for the odd field trip or adventure when they can.

So anyway, they're touring all over the world and over the years they notice just how displaced so many people have become. EK citizens who barely escaped the blaze but lost everything; FN military now decommissioned with no idea how to carry on; people looking for a new start in the hard-won peace. Maybe it starts with Toph heading back to Earth Rumble, where a group of young runaways scrounge for cheap fights to make a little money.

At each turn they find more and more people with no homes to return to and no family to protect them; runaways escaping the roles the war forced them into. Gradually, Aang and Toph start to see that they aren't so different from themselves. They just want a new start.

So they decide to give them one. They clean up the temples and set up villages in the surrounding areas (helps to be master earthbenders), where people can arrive and stay as long as they need. Travellers and refugees pass through in droves, sometimes choosing to stay and rebuild their lives there, sometimes continuing in their wandering with a guarantee that they'll always have a place to return to should they have the need.

Over time, the lemurs grow in number and even some flying bison calfs (hybrids with a relative species maybe?), can be seen in the skies. Whenever the founders visit, it isn't the same but Aang feels a little more at home.

The first time someone asks Aang to teach him his philosophies, and expresses his desire to become a monk, how can he refuse? Maybe it's a former soldier, somebody who's done terrible things, looking for a path to redemption. So Aang teaches him, and then he teaches others. And though they may not be airbenders, they are as earnest and faithful as any nun or monk Aang knew before. The temples become filled with new faces: Firebenders, Earthbenders, Waterbenders and non-benders all wearing Air nomad orange and yellow.

Aang always feared that it would be his responsibility to have airbender children, and the idea of forcing that on someone he loved terrified him. Maybe that's why he waited so long before acting on his feelings for his best friend, his travelling companion, his fellow-village builder and temple-restorer. How could they have a truly happy relationship with this pressure hanging over them? He wishes he could be content with the new way of things that he and his friends have created. But he knows that he can't be the last airbender forever...

Nobody knows why some children can bend the elements and others can't. Is it blood? Is it blessing? Is it the land in which you're born? Or is it the simple allocation of fates decided by the values and norms you're raised believing in? Is it enough to be surrounded by the culture and beliefs of the Air Nomads? Nobody knows...

All they know is that nobody sees it coming when the six-year-old daughter of two non-bender villagers from the Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe sends herself flying twelve feet into the air with a sneeze.

[captainkirkk]

I'm currently watching Damsel and having Thoughts so

ATLA AU where the royal fire family angered the spirits by massacring the Air Nomads, so now every generation a member of the royal family must be sacrificed to the dragons to keep them from destroying the Fire Nation. THAT'S the real reason why they have second-born children.

Ozai was born as the sacrificial child. However, everyone assumed that Iroh had killed all the dragons to keep his nation safe - only for word to get out that the dragons are still alive and the spirits are angrier than ever

Azula was technically born as the sacrificial child, but Ozai - also a born-sacrifice - takes one look at her bending talent and sends Zuko in her place.

Zuko was sent to be sacrificed but ends up learning from the dragons instead

[emkini]

And finally, best boy

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

[katydoodles]

In a modern AU, Ty Lee would be a yoga instructor, Pilates instructor, message therapist, bounty hunter and under the table hit-man. She would have a completed a degree in clown collage.

This is my hill to die on.

She would have so many skills and needs the outlet for all of her skills.

[prisi]

Do you guys think that if Aang scaped the Air Nomads genocide and didn't get trapped in an iceberg for 100 years, his Avatar team could have been kid Bumi, Kuzon and maybe a young master Pakku or a young Hama?

[kittenmoth]

Re-watched ATLA on Netflix recently and somehow centaur brain worms happened.

[stardust948]

Dragon AU headcanons

I came up with instead of paying attention in the staff meeting.

Ozai taught Ursa how to cook. Dragons are pure carnivores and usually eat their meat raw so Ursa never need a reason to cook before she met Ozai.

Also, Ozai pretty much taught himself how to cook. His mother died when he was still young and he was left home alone a lot (at an age he really shouldn't have been) so he basically raised himself.

One of the few memories Ozai has of his mother is making honey biscuits with her. He's glad his children love them, and Ursa enjoys making them even if she doesn't eat them.

The dragon pups were pure carnivores like their mother when they were very young. They slowly transitioned to plants and other non-meats. But their diet is still very meat heavy (which fits in perfectly with Water Tribe food).

Ursa tried a vegetable once and nearly threw up. She can handle tea but only if it's drowned in honey much to Ozai's horror.

Adult fire dragons are as big as Ran and Shaw in the show. Ursa's actually very small for her age due to the trauma she suffered when she was young. Zuko is the only one to reach Ran and Shaw's size when he becomes an adult.