#cave of two lovers

[adriancatrin]

sketches from the cave of two lovers aka the boys are GRUMPY

[thatssroughbuddy]

Sokka saying “NO RAINBOWS!!” in book 2 ep 2 internalized homophobia moment

[vlackevil]

Kataang analysis: Cave Of Two Lovers

One of most beautiful chapters of the series, unfortunately has been misunderstood or take out of context for many stupid people (zutara shippers and anti kataang people), in this analysis i will show the evidence to refute about anti kataang arguments.

First, let’s meet the writer of this chapter:

Joshua Halmiton

(Before you idiots tell me “Joshua say in the biblie zutara was planned”, is a lie, read the biblie here, and you will know the truth)

In Braving Element when Janet Varney (the Voice of Korra) ask him about the story of the chapter he was writting, Joshua answer this:

“When i was first pitching it, it was like some hippie nomads that were going to be a kind of help to Sokka. These guys were more about enjoying the journey.

Mike and Aaron and you know:

“I like the story but i feel like there has to be more.” You know the labyrinth in the tunnels and i think we needed to introduce the earth bending in the badger mold.

That felt like a story to me and you know i was young, they said no we need this, there should be another story in it. And i think also when we were in the tunnels, when i pitched it, they got separated and When I pitched it, that was they got separated and Aang And Katara ended up together and that’s sort of like we gotta push the love element of it.

To push it even further, they said, there should be a legend in there, i don’t remember who came up with it, I’m going to say it was me.”

1- Many idiots say the story of two lovers was for zutara, but (again) is a lie, Joshua confirms the two lovers was to make stronger Kataang.

2- Joshua was not forced write the Kataang moment, he already say it “And i think also when we were in the tunnels, when i pitched it, they got separated and When I pitched it, that was they got separated and Aang And Katara ended up together and that’s sort of like we gotta push the love element of it.”

He pitched the idea of Aang and Katara having a romantic moment.

3- When he say “we gotta push the love element of it” definitely show Aang and Katara have a romantic connection. (The meaning of push the love element of it is it means that you want to emphasize or highlight the love story in the plot. In this context, it refers to the romantic relationship between the characters Aang and Katara in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. By “pushing” or giving more importance to the element of love, you seek to further develop and explore that relationship in the story).

Now about the romantic moment, look:

Many imbecile say Katara didn’t show any romantic feelings for Aang, so let’s see her dialogues.

Katara: I have a crazy idea.

Aang: What?

Katara: [Hesitant. Walks away, slightly embarrassed.] Never mind. It’s too crazy.

We can see she has a idea to get the cave but she was embarrassed and hesitant to say it, let’s see why?

Katara I was thinking ... the curse says we’ll be trapped in here forever unless we trust in love ...

Katara say trust in love is the only way to get out the cave, so she is thinking the love is the solution, so that show she is in love with Aang.

Katara [Turns to face him and gestures to the portrait.] And here, it says, “Love is brightest in the dark,” and has a picture of them kissing.

Katara is points out the picture of the lovers kissing, so she is saying the only way to show our love is kissing, is indirectly saying she want kiss Aang (And the poor Aang don’t understand she is saying “I want kiss you”)

Katara [Shyly, blushing.] Well, what if we ... kissed?

Is obviously, she was worried how Aang would react her idea and she want Aang agreed to kiss, and she was hoping to kiss him.

Katara [Fake-jokingly.] Us kissing. What was I thinking? Can you imagine that‌?

Come on, who you pretend to lie? Is very obvious you want Aang say “yes I want kiss you”

(And for all idiots say Katara didn’t want kiss Aang, when Aang say “I definitely don’t want kiss you”, look her reaction)

Katara [Insulted.] Oh, well! I didn’t realize it was such a horrible option. [Angrily.] Sorry I suggested it!

We can see she is hurt and angry, why? Because Aang don’t reciprocated her romantic feelings, she expect Aang want kiss her back. She want kiss him and get angry when Aang say no.

After that, they have their moment when finally they kiss

And we have two things to see about their romantic relationship:

a)

We can see Sokka looking her sister very suspect, he is not fool, he know what they do to get out the cave.

Aang’s gaze towards Katara may indicate that he has romantic feelings towards her and is looking for a connection or a response from her. Sokka’s crossing of his arms may be a sign that he has also noticed the romantic tension between Aang and Katara and may be protecting his sister or showing some discomfort with the situation. Katara’s blush suggests that she may also have romantic feelings for Aang and that the attention he is giving her makes her feel embarrassed or excited.

b) Now we have this:

Chong.

Meanwhile the moment Aang look Katara and she blush, Chong sing this:

Even if you’re lost, you can’t lose the love because it’s in your heart. Da, da, da ...

“Even if you’re lost”: Even Aang and Katara are confused or having bad moments.

“You can’t lose the love”: They never will loose their romantic feelings, their love to keep going.

“Because it’s in your heart.”: What Katara feels for Aang and viceversa is in their hearts and is truly that love, with that they get out the Cave of Two Lovers and suprass the problems.

The Chong song describe Aang and Katara feelings.

I hope you like it.

[the-badger-mole]

Uncharted Water: Finding the Path

Zuko was watching Katara. The glow of the three torches had brightened up the cave for several yards, but Katara was focused on the dead end they’d found themselves in. She frowned and ran her hand over the solid wall. Zuko walked over to and tried to see what she was studying so intently.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I could’ve sworn…” Katara said, mostly to herself. She ran her hands over the wall again, reaching as high as she could, then reaching down to where the solid wall met the floor.

“What are you looking for?” Zuko tried again. 

“I just…” she frowned and took a step back. “I could’ve sworn we’d come from this direction. There should be more path here at least.” Zuko looked at the wall uncomfortably.

“It was dark,” Zuko reminded her. “And it’s easy to be turned around in the dark.” Katara eyed the wall dubiously, and bit her bottom lip.

“Maybe,” she said at last. “It just…It felt more open a few minutes ago. Even if this wasn’t the direct we’d come from, there was more space. I…I thought there was more space.” Zuko looked over the wall again. Something nagged him about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was striking him as wrong. After a moment, he put his hand on Katara’s elbow and guided her away.

“We can figure it out once we get out of here,” he promised her. Katara nodded. Zuko was right. This wasn’t the most important thing at the moment.

With the light now to guide them, there was no reason for Katara to take the lead anymore. Still, everyone more or less fell in line behind her. Zuko walked at her side, holding the torch, but he, too seemed to be following her lead. Katara took the role reluctantly. Why, she wondered, did she seem to be the only one unsettled by the caves?

Read the rest of the chapter here

[turtleduckzuko]

I leave for months and come back to new zutara confirmation and lotsa great content. proud of u my bb keep thriving.

[leantailean]

情人洞

_________

Zuko and Toph

[reverseblt]

Time for some tearbending...

#AvatarTheLastAirbender #AvatarNetflix #Avatar

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Me, back in the day: *watching Cave of Two Lovers* ugggg first off this secret tunnel song is awful and second all the Aang/Katara "haha... what if we kissed?" scenes are so cringy just please find the exit already

Me, now: actually the duration of this episode is essentially a top tier crack fic and now i cant stop swapping my otps with Aang/Katara. If i ever learn how to write i absolutely will figure out some way to put every ship ive ever had into this exact situation

[hinacu-arts]

Posting all these pics here so i can screenshot with multiple pics in one since i dont know how to combine them elsewhere because im not individually sending and uploading 60 pics to my ipad

(I still think we should take the general idea of this episode and make it a fic trope, but like ramp up certain aspects like the fear factor)

[beginnerblueglass]

Cave of Two Lovers has me smiling through all 24 minutes 😁

[nco05]

"Well, what if we... kissed?" 😳😳😳

KATARA????? DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON YOUR BFF AANG? 😏😏😏

[abbyofthefirenation]

idk how you can watch the cave of two lovers and see aang and katara kiss in that cave and have the kataang theme play in the background while the story of oma and shu is told and think oma and shu is anything but a parallel to kataang

[oneatlatime]

The Cave of Two Lovers

I always wanted to be a frog on a leaf.

Does Aang have chaps?

Instructed to hold his arms closer together, Aang immediately spreads them as far apart as physically possible.

Hippies!

Chong's wife is not called Cheech. That's a travesty.

Between the 90s boy band hair and the quadrupedal underwear, Sokka is not looking his best this episode!

Uncle, were you watching? Did you see? Lookit Uncle I even threw in some fist shaking at god and a dramatic tumble. Did you watch? Lookitmeeeeeeee.

Seems like it's Zuko's turn with the brain cell. Iroh plays the dumbass a lot but he can't seriously be contemplating risking poisoning himself while he has zero resources.

Appa getting a turn as the couch rather than the whip. Sweet braids.

"Oh it's a real legend" is a remarkably accurate statement when speaking of oral folklore. Real v. Fake legends are an actual thing!

Did anyone watch Arthur growing up? Anyone remember the Crazy Bus song? I feel like this Tunnel song is what Crazy Bus was trying to be.

I like her skirt. Actually all of their clothes are pretty neat.

Why does Appa hate going underground?

That's got to be watercolour.

The stick is a better catch than the fish. It's a damn good stick.

Zuko actually managing to admit that he needs help! Or rather, that they need help. That's growth! Maybe that's why Iroh poisoned himself? Or maybe he's just having a dumb moment? Two consecutive dumb moments?

Do you think being unwanted in literally every country on earth including his own is going to be enough to convince Zuko that maybe his nation isn't so great?

Her earrings are bells. She probably deafens herself when she walks.

Why is the science guy freaking out about curses?

Chong's necklace flowers keep drastically changing size depending on how close up the shot is.

Average fire nation soldier is superstitious. I bet they can use that. And this guy's hands are huge. Also those flying grappling hook chain things are, in my opinion, the fire nation's greatest combat advantage. Who needs bending when you have those?

The math-defying torches apparently work like strike anywhere matches.

Definitely watching this one on a CRT when I have the chance. Too dark otherwise.

Can you do that? Turn a map of the paths you've taken into a solvable maze? Don't you need to see all possible paths to solve a maze?

Three things: a) I like Song's voice actress. Very pretty voice, matches the face well. b) Zuko being terminally awkward when needing to lie is something that's been consistent since the third episode. He really needs to work on that. c) There's a whole world of visual storytelling in the fact that, when hastily required to look natural, Zuko defaults to parade rest.

The latest fashion in men's neckwear.

I mean technically yeah, Zuko's dad is fighting in the war, but Good Lord are he and Song bonding over traumas from the 100% opposite directions.

They snuck in a Bob Dylan joke!?!?!

Poor Appa is having a time of it this episode.

Sokka would rather die in a self-inflicted rock slide than hang with the hippies. That's a very Sokka thing.

The lighting here is beautiful. All warm and glowy.

Poor Song. It's borderline embarrassing to watch how wrong she is. But at the same time, she's completely right. The Fire Nation did hurt Zuko. But the Fire Nation is Zuko. But Zuko was hurt by the Fire Nation. Zuko's brain must be inside out right now.

No touchy.

Why is Zuko surprised by her burns? Did he think his nation took over most of the world by asking nicely? Seriously, did he?

It's good to finally see more burns. Well, not good, but logical. I think I ranted last episode about why I was so surprised by the lack of burns.

I'm with Sokka on this one. There is a (very limited) time and a (very tiny) place for singalongs, and this isn't it. Also I keep thinking that Momo is wearing an Adidas tracksuit.

The last thing cave walls see before death.

What do you know, it is a real legend.

Pretty. This whole sequence is inky.

I love how this show does badass bitches.

How on brand is it that the city founded by think-outside-the-box badgermole wrassling innovators is now ruled by Bumi? Original thought, badass earthbender, giant murderous rabbit; he fits right in.

No kissing until you're 35. What a face though.

Aang STOP TALKING YOU CANNOT WIN!!!

What's wrong with you is that you're 12. No one is smooth at 12.

According to the episode The Storm, the avatar does in fact represent hope to Zuko, but Song just can't stop putting her foot in it. Literally any other earth kingdom refugee would come away from an evening with Song feeling renewed hope, but she's unintentionally and unknowingly hit pretty much every one of Zuko's sore spots. This must have been a very frustrating evening for him.

In case we forgot that Zuko was the villain, he steals a horse bird. Iroh why are you ok with this?

Ouch.

Where is your chin

Chong was right. All they did need to do was play music. These guys would probably kill me if I tried, but gosh they're so cute I want 5.

How many string instruments does Chong have stashed in his robe? His improv skills are top notch though.

You want me to believe that a couple of millennia of badgermoles rearranging things as they see fit has not altered the path of the crystals?

I feel ya buddy.

Sokka assuming his rightful throne. King of the Badgermoles.

Badgermoles have elf ears.

"Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way." I love this line.

Appa's such a good friend. Settling in for a long listening session.

"So are you guys going to come to Omashu with us?" "Nope." "Ok." *fucks off into the sunset* Now that's how you write out a character.

NOOO BUMI!!!

Do you think the hippies knew? Is that why they didn't want to go to Omashu? It would be totally on brand for them to know the whole time and not tell.

Final Thoughts

Well that was a hell of a bait and switch ending. Supreme goof A-plot, Zuko having his dearly held beliefs dragged through the mud B-plot, and then suddenly *BOOM* overarching plot.

So is this season going to be the 'step on Zuko until he's decent' season? Because he's got a long way to go.

Why was Iroh being so stupid in the beginning? Does he have a blind spot where tea is concerned? He made Zuko look like the reasonable one. That's quite a feat.

At first glance, Sokka got to shine in this episode, but actually it was Chong who was right all along. There was a real legend about a secret tunnel, the solution was to trust in love, both as Aang & Katara did and as Chong's group tried (love songs). And that kid WAS the avatar! Three for Three!

I'm still not a fan of Aang & Katara being involved romantically (mostly because they're BABY), but I love the way they related to each other this episode. Their interactions felt 100% natural. What tween hasn't put their foot in their mouth around their crush?

Someone give Appa a hug. You know what? Give Momo a hug too. He worked hard as a wolfbat early alert system.

Speaking of Appa, are his underside sections furry? Covered in short grey fur? Or are they hard grey armoured plates? Are they shell or skin?

I've noticed that animal noises come in three flavours in this show: Appa grumbles, Momo trills, or wolfbat hisses. Most animals make variations of these three.

Are we sure Song hasn't been hitting the White Jade herself? Those are pretty similar.

Poor Song is really crapped on this episode. All she did was be compassionate and she gets her horse thing stolen. It makes sense that she wouldn't try to retrieve her horse thing, both because she's too kind, and because it's just her and her mom against two fairly rough guys. If this is the season of Zuko improvement, how many more innocents like Song will be crapped on in the name of improving Zuko?

Chong's robe's sleeve kind of hangs off his waist, since he's rocking the one shoulder look. I thought Bato was rocking that same look in his episode, and spent the whole episode looking for where he stashed his sleeve, but I couldn't find it. But now I see Chong with the same look and he definitely has extra sleeve trailing. So did Bato cut off his sleeve? Is he wearing the robe he was wearing when he got injured and his sleeve burned off? Is there a known way to tuck robe sleeves in inconspicuously and the fact that we can see Chong's is a bit of visual storytelling pointing to the hippies' general scatterbrained nature? Am I overthinking this?

I liked this episode! Definitely going on my rewatch list! The hippies are just the right amount of stupid, Zuko gets a break from being a shouty jerk, and Aang and Katara get to be just awkward kids (albeit while trapped in a life or death situation - priorities guys). Poor Sokka, Appa, and Song have a pretty bad time. But Sokka being terrorised by stupidity makes for funny tv.

[monsieur-kazzle-dazzle]

i want some of whatever these mfs were on

[raayllum]

i also think one of the reasons Rayllum works whenever they have a solo (couples?) quest is because the circumstances leading up to said solo adventure make sense.

In S3 in particular, it's because Ezran has made the choice to go back, and while it does mean he'll interact with his brother and their friend less, it does flesh him out even more as an individual, and the core group (the main trio) was already pretty small. This is particularly true as the second a travelling companion is introduced (Nyx) she's meant to be an obtrusive obstacle and a threat, not necessarily a buffer.

In S4 when the whole group is together for the bulk of the season, we see different dynamics be explored through scenes and dialogue: we get to see more of Soren and Callum, Ezran and Rayla, Soren and Rayla, and of course the broyals, often times with scenes developing multiple relationships (4x05 in particular is great with this).

In S5 you could argue the split going a little bit more either way, but it still lets Callum and Rayla have more time to flesh out their dynamic (5x01, 5x02, 5x04 in particular) before taking more of a backseat in other episodes (5x03, 5x06, 5x07, 5x09) other than one or two small moments. And again we can assume in S6 that Ezran's duties as king will be what keeps him in Katolis, the same way he went off to deal with dragon diplomacy things earlier, and because Callum and Rayla both have the most individual incentive to go to the Starscraper / set up with Aaravos at this time.

Meanwhile in other shows, I've had it happen where it feels like the show is shoving two characters together by forcing them to regularly spend one-on-one times in ways they would not, and not only does it lead to a less than well developed romance, it also forces them to spend significant chunks of time away from the rest of the main cast (think 4 other main characters) for no real discernible reason other than to have awkward romantic tension.

[asocial-inkblot]

Art Style and Emotions Evoked

One of the choices made for ATLA that I really admire is that they sometimes used intentional shifts in art style (such as lines and colors) to change the atmosphere in a scene (or part of a scene, such as an ink painting) and give off a certain feeling, often dream-like and with the occasional benefit of reminding us of real life art history. 

Some examples of this can be seen in the episodes The Storm, The Cave of Two Lovers, Zuko Alone, Tales of Ba Sing Se and The Beach. Basically, it tends to happen during Zuko’s trips down memory lane or when focus is put on other members of the Fire Family (but not always).

(Above Images from The Storm)

You can see the differences of course, but also the strong yet subtle similarities between the first three images above—and especially the third one where a younger Zuko can be seen standing next to his father—and the fourth one after, where Zuko is standing on his ship. The third and fourth images practically mirror each other; one younger with a more innocent vibe, the other older and hardened from the past.

Also, the first three, to me, have softer edges and warmer tones. And (when animated) appear more blurry. It reminds me of a sepia-hued, smudge-style canvas painting or even an edited photograph. It’s truly like a memory, which is exactly what that scene depicts.

***

(Above Image from Zuko Alone)

The above is yet another example of a memory being shown within scene, although it somehow seems more “real” than the previous images, imo.

I think it’s because of the way it’s made to look closer to the regular art style. A part of me wonders if this maybe was the “original” art style that they were going to go for, before they switched to a more commonly used one.

***

(Above Image from The Beach)

Now I'd say the above is akin to that of a caricature, which I absolutely love. The Fire Gang all look like themselves, yet not, due to the exaggeration that also helps to showcase their differing personalities. The beach was actually a goldmine for stuff like this: Exaggerated illustration of personality.

A few more beautiful examples:

All in all, the changes in art style were a very good, dynamic choice for a high quality, quickly-advancing show. I can look on the images used in this post alone for ages, just studying and enjoying them.