#fire lady katara

[lphoenixspiritl]

Zuko finds out Katara was parentified from the age of eight and was a single mom friend of three until he stumbled into the position of gaang dad friend. So when she visits the Fire Nation Zuko dotes on her, making sure her every need is anticipated and catered to. He even goes as far as - to the horror of his council - kneeling to remove her shoes.

Because of this she earns the nickname Lady Katara among the palace staff which she finds amusing but a little confusing. So one day over tea she asks Iroh why they call her that and he explains:

"They're just practicing."

"Why would you need to practice a nickname?"

"Well my dear, they expect that within a few years Fire will preceed it."

And that's about when Katara chokes on her tea.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

“It’s gross if Katara marries Zuko since he’s her colonizer” she overthrew the last Fire Lord to put Zuko on the throne. If anything the Fire Nation would be worried that he’s Katara’s puppet

[teapotteakettle]

the fire lady will see you now~

I just can't get over the idea of katara falling in love with just how much water there is in the fire nation - the beaches, the ponds, the water lillies. that she's not giving up her element, but embracing a different, warmer facet of it. that she would take to dressing in these vibrant, watery blue silk robes that make zuko absolutely lose his mind

[stardust948]

I don't think people realize what a power move it is for Katara to become Queen of the nation that nearly succeeded in wiping her people out.

[umweiss]

Part 2 of 2

Katara in the Fire Nation

[the-badger-mole]

Father of the Bride

Hakoda swallowed hard against a lump in his throat. He had imagined this day so many times since Katara's birth. The details were different, though. She wasn't marrying a proven warrior from among their people. That was fine. She had spent so much time traveling the world, expanding her horizons, creating her own paths. Hakoda didn't think there were one in a thousand men at home who could keep up with the woman his daughter had become, and he had resigned himself to the fact that she might not end up with a Southern Tribe man years ago.

But he hadn't considered that her marriage might take her so permanently from home. A foolish oversight on his part, he admitted. And at least she would have the means to visit her family a few times a year. Still, he felt a pang. Same one he felt when he left his children behind with Kanna to go fight a war too big for him. Now that pang was tempered with bittersweet happiness as he watched the final preparations being made on Katara's wedding gown-a stunning piece of art even to Hakoda's untrained eye. All silks and linens in shades of blue and silver that recalled the bridal outfits of her homeland. Furs and leathers would be too hot for the climate, but Katara wanted to tell everyone up front how she would bring her own culture to merge with her new people. Her groom-to-be not only supported this decision, but had come to Hakoda and Sokka to ask them how he, too, could incorporate the Southern Water Tribe into the wedding on his end. That had been a long night, with strong drinks and stronger emotions, but at the end of it, Hakoda had decided that despite his initial misgivings about the marriage, he couldn't have picked a better son-in-law than Zuko.

Fire Lord Zuko. Fire Lord Zuko was going to be his son-in-law. Sometimes the thought made Hakoda chuckle. Sometimes it sent a chill down his spine. Not that he was worried about Zuko himself, but Katara's proximity to his throne. The crown. She would be coronated the next night in a ceremony as lavish as the wedding. She would become the Fire Lady. Co-ruler of the country that had spent a hundred years ruining countless lives with a war over something as silly as imperialist pride. Hakoda didn't think they deserved his daughter. If Zuko had earned his trust and respect, the rest of the Fire Nation certainly haven't. Not the nobles, anyway. When he brought them up to Katara, she laughed, though it didn't reach her eyes, which were flint hard and grimly determined. She told him no matter where she went in the world, she would have to fight for any respect she got. At least here she would have Zuko fighting beside her. Hakoda wasn't sure he agreed that was a worthy trade off, but he knew better than to try to talk his daughter out of it.

The Fire Nation had already benefited from her presence. As a foreign advisor, she had fostered trade and exchange agreements between the Fire Nation and all of the Water Tribes, Omashu and Gaoling. As an ambassador, she'd helped negotiate reparation packages that have helped the parts of the world hit hardest by the war recover. As one of Zuko's most trusted counselors, she'd helped him work the Fire Nation's budget so the government could provide for education, health and services for returning soldiers. The same kinds of programs she'd helped Hakoda and Sokka build in the Southern Water Tribe. It suddenly struck Hakoda that she had been acting as Fire Lady for a long time. Before she and Zuko had even realized they were in love, maybe. Today and tomorrow would just make it official. Hakoda still didn't think the Fire Nation deserved a Katara, but any chance he had of talking her out of it had long since slipped by him. And he now he wasn't sure he would talk her out of it, even if he did have the chance.

The final touches were done. The maids stepped back in a flurry of excited chatter. Kanna stepped forward, moving stiffly in her old age, smiling up at her granddaughter through tears. She had had this moment with Kya years ago, and Kya should be standing in her place now. Kanna reached out and ran her fingertips over the necklace she had passed to her daughter, and her daughter had passed on to Katara. Kya was here, Kanna assured herself. And Kya would be here with Katara as she made these next steps, first as a wife, then as a queen, then someday as a mother and grandmother herself.

"She would be so proud," Kanna told Katara. The two women embraced. Then Katara stood up, head high and looking as regal as any queen in any nation ever had, and turned to Hakoda.

"Are you ready, Dad?" she asked. Hakoda shook his head.

"I was never going to be ready for this," he confessed. "But it doesn't matter. You are ready."

[burst-of-iridescent]

i've written before about how fire lady katara isn't an inherently disempowering or racist trope, as have many others, but lately i've been thinking about how arguments against fire lady katara often tend to utilise a surface-level interpretation of colonial trauma.

[edit: this post will use the term "colonial trauma" because those who argue against fire lady katara usually use the same wording or are referring to that concept. but it's important to note that according to show canon, the fire nation did not colonize the southern water tribe and zuko and katara did not have a colonizer/colonized relationship.]

antis who present this argument usually posit that marrying zuko would be a form of re-traumatization for katara, while marrying aang would "protect" her. katara is supposedly more shielded from confronting the impact of colonization in the southern water tribe or on air temple island than she would be with zuko in the fire nation, which contextualizes colonial trauma purely through the lens of physical interaction with the colonial power (ie. living in the fire nation or looking after the people of the fire nation). whether intended or not, this argument inadvertently limits colonial trauma to the geographical boundaries of the colonizing country and implies that it can be reduced or averted solely by minimizing contact with said country.

even leaving aside that we have seen katara in the fire nation (and enjoying herself there), the implication here is that active engagement with a colonial power as a member of colonized peoples is an inherent form of re-traumatization... which i take issue with for multiple reasons.

firstly, katara lives in a world that has been permanently shaped and changed by imperialism, and that's going to affect her no matter where she goes. sequestering herself in the south pole her whole life and never seeing a glimpse of fire nation red again won't allow katara to escape the legacy of colonization or the trauma it has caused her, because its influence is rooted in everything from her family to her tribe to her own bending. believe me, i understand the appeal of a world where women of colour can avoid reckoning with the impact of colonization by simply never setting foot in the colonizing country again, and why people might be uncomfortable with zutara individually as a result - but i can't accept it as a valid argument against the ship, because that's just not how colonial trauma works.

secondly, the idea that this "protects" katara reeks of paternalism because katara is not a character who chooses her path simply based on how safe or comfortable it is. if that was the case, she would never have left the southern water tribe at all! she could've remained there her whole life and likely been safe, since the fire nation had no real interest in the south pole any longer. katara is fundamentally defined by how relentlessly revolutionary she is - over and over, she chooses to do what is right, what is hard, what is unexpected, even at cost to herself. she challenges injustice and discrimination and bigotry; she fights for the downtrodden and speaks for those who can't speak for themselves; she will never ever turn her back on the people who need her. does that truly sound like someone who needs to be hid away and protected from her own supposed re-traumatization?

thirdly - and i fully accept that there are those who might disagree with this - katara actively choosing to engage with her colonial trauma can be empowering just as it can be traumatizing. don't get me wrong: as a woc and a minority in my own country, i understand how tiring it is to do this. i understand the exhaustion of confronting what was done to you and your people, of facing down bigotry over and over. i understand the desire to run away from it all, and why it can be wish fulfilment for others to let katara do so. i really, really do.

but there is also wish fulfilment in letting katara fight, as a brown girl with power and resources that few brown girls in the real world hold. there is a power fantasy in seeing katara head into the belly of the beast and emerging triumphant. there is empowerment to be found in seeing katara struggle with racism and ignorance and mindless hate to enact change - and succeed. i love reading and writing about katara unpacking her trauma regarding the fire nation, about growing to love the place she once hated, about reconciling both her homes and healing from the wounds of her childhood.

and ultimately, i think that's what katara would want for herself. after throwing herself head first into the fight against the fire nation, after facing down her greatest trauma instead of letting it consume her, after helping and protecting the people of the fire nation, after refusing to let the fire nation take anything else from her - i firmly believe that the last thing katara would do is allow herself to be ruled by the fire nation instead of being the one ruling it.

personally, i find that a more hopeful and victorious narrative than one where she remains safe and sheltered away from the fire nation, but forever haunted and dictated by her trauma. would that be realistic? perhaps. but the entire point of foiling katara with characters like jet and hama is to show that she's not doomed to be mired in the pain of her past. that where their stories could only end in tragedy, hers can - and does - end in hope for something better, as she always believed it could.

[korielle-writiting-fanfics]

i love fire lady katara and fully believe that if she were. that we’d see her in her traditional water tribe clothing custom fire nation clothes that are like blues and reds.

but i want to talk about how i fully believe we’re missing her having purple in her clothing palette

[starartist]

𖤓 Fire Lady ☾

The Fire Lady Katara, now ignited by her union with Zuko, rises like a phoenix to become the Queen of Fire and Water, a symbol of rebirth and strength.

Bonus:

The necklace Zuko made and proposed to Katara❤️‍🔥

@starartist

I hope you like my personal dress design🫶

[heartofkandrakarz]

Happy zutara month heres some old art <33

[elevenharbor]

Zutara - soulmates (art)

All the other pieces i posted over the past month were all part of this monstrosity, as teasers. ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 )

accompanying video here

audio clip above was inspo for this piece. ngl this was a lot of work but still fun to make. til next time, zutara :)

love, eleven

[lphoenixspiritl]

Katara would never want to be Fire Lady, she would never want to lead the nation that killed her mother.

Idk, the girl staged a prison break, committed ecoterrorism, and demolished cultural misogyny. Getting the nation responsible for her mother's death under her thumb sounds exactly like her MO.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Nothing about Ka/taang precludes Katara being Chief of the SWT…

which is why it pisses me off even more that Katara didn’t get to have a role of any political importance whatsoever. It wouldn’t change anything about LOK’s storyline, and it would be fully in line with her character.

There’s a common anti-Zutara argument that Katara wouldn’t want to be Fire Lady, because she would want to rebuild and lead her own culture. I am sympathetic to that. Based on her canon characteristics, she might want to be a United Republic Councilwoman, Chief of the SWT, or just generally the Waterbending Master / Matriarch of the her tribe, which would be easier (though not impossible) if she weren’t married to the sovereign of another nation — I get that.

but the thing is…she didn’t get to do any of that, even though “wife of the Avatar” doesn’t contradict those roles. All the things that would be difficult for her to do if she were married to Zuko, she still didn’t get to do as Aang’s wife. She didn’t get to have a career the way her husband, or her brother, or her friends did.

so it’s extra hypocritical when Ka/taang shippers are like “but being Fire Lady would disempower Katara!” when Ka/taang canonically disempowered her! And KA fans are fine with that: they bend over backwards to justify why Katara doesn’t have a statue, or why she wasn’t there to protect Korra from the Red Lotus, or why she wasn’t at Yakone’s bloodbending trial. Yeah she got to live in the SWT — eventually, I assume, because in the comics she just follows Aang around — but what else did she get to do? Fucking nothing, apparently. Because to some people, the greatest honour for a woman is to be the hero’s wife.

[starlight-bread-blog]

No hate, but every time I see the take that Katara would have to give up her culture as Fire Lady, I just picture Katara's tying up her hair loopies in a Fire Nation castle, and then the meme "FBI OPEN UP"! starts with Zuko's face badly inserted there.

[stardust948]

A prompt: Hakoda meets his grandchild, the first steambaby

Sequel to She Lives In You

The Fire Nation had strange traditions and customs.

Some more strange than others.

Hakoda tried his best to adhere to them for his daughter and son-in-law's sake, but this one was far more aggravating than strange. His spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Suki's light laughter.

"You two are going to wear down a trough at this rate."

"We can't help it!" Sokka said as he continued to pace. "Katara said the seventh night right? I heard seventh night."

"I should have been there with her." Hakoda muttered while pacing in the opposite direction.

"And this is," Sokka counted on his fingers. "Four, six, seven! The seventh night!!!"

"What if something went wrong?"

"Guys!" Suki waved her hands. "Everything's fine. Katara and Zuko have the best healers at their disposal. Besides, if something was wrong, they would have told us by now."

"She right. Our lovely grandchild is in the best of hands." Iroh said while pouring more tea. "Though I do agree the wait is maddening."

Hakoda and Sokka shared a concerned look.

Suki laughed again then beckoned them to sit down.

"C'mon before you form a hole right through the floor."

Defeated, the father and son joined the others at the table. Hakoda massaged his aching head. He swore the past couple of days added several new gray strands of hair to his already graying head. Iroh placed a cup in front of him.

"Mint tea for the nerves."

Hakoda quietly thanked him and took a sip. It did help. Somewhat.

"Wow Dad, I've never seen you this nervous." Sokka said.

Hakoda grunted.

"Gran-Gran said he acted like this when you and Katara were born too." Suki said. "Actually did wear a trough through the snow."

Hakoda downed his tea, then placed his cup down firmer than he meant to.

"Don't you two dare make me wait this long. Understand?"

Iroh laughed as Sokka placed a hand on Suki's baby bump.

"Promise."

Just then the door swinged open. Hakoda and Sokka were first on their feet followed by Iroh, who was still quite nimble in his old age. But instead of the royal couple or a heralder, two out of breath figures ran into the room.

"We're here! We made it!" Aang panted.

"Aw man it's just you guys." Sokka said disappointedly.

"Good to see you too Snoozels." Toph shot back. "We would have been here on time but someone took forever shaving."

Aang sheepishly rubbed his freshly cleaned head. "I wanted to make a good first impression."

Hakoda resumed pacing as the pleasantries continued. He was glad to see Aang and Toph of course. But they were down to the bare minutes now.

The doors opened again. This time, a royal heralder entered. Everyone jumped up immediately.

"Esteemed family of Firelord Zuko and Royal Consort Master Katara, my I present to you," He glanced down at the scroll. "Princess-"

"Wait, I want to tell them." Katara said from behind as she and Zuko walked in decked in flowing white robes and cradling a small bundle.

The poor heralder was practically shoved aside as the family crowded around the royal couple.

"Let us see!"

"She's so tiny!"

"Give them some breathing room!"

Zuko eventually got them to settle down some by promising there was enough time for everyone to meet the new princess. Katara unwrapped her face and gently handed her to Hakoda. He couldn't take his eyes off the baby. Her soft brown skin and curious golden eyes warmed his heart.

"She's so precious..."

"Dad. " Katara said somewhat nervously. "Meet Kya."

The room fell into bittersweet silent as each person took in the gravity and importance of the news. The baby smiled and gurgled; eyes holding a sparkle Kya's used to. Long awaited tears trickled down Hakoda's face as he gazed at his granddaughter.

"Thank you."

___

Thanks for the prompt ❤️

[a-todd-illustration]

For all you Zutara fans ❤💙