#in a world where zuko doesn’t take up the role of firelord and sokka just bounces around the world to explore and sometimes visits the fire

[nazumichi]

not to be the zukka girl that requests zukka for the art reqs but um……zukka for the art reqs perhaps?? it’s zukka week

woah it is zukka week….. titled calm before the storm (divorce)/listening to your bf infodump is a love language

[id: a drawing of sokka and zuko against a light blue background. they stand closely together, side-by-side, dressed in their respective nation’s colors. sokka smiles and explains something, one hand over zuko’s shoulder, the other pointing for emphasis. zuko looks at him with a fond expression, holding a sleeping baby druk in a blanket to his chest. end id.]

[comradekatara]

Would you...would you like to share Chief Katara of the Southern Water Tribe thoughts?

literally always. 

katara normally has very little patience for the weird shit sokka says, but she is honestly so baffled every time he casually alludes to her taking on the mantle of chief someday that it takes her a while to confront him on it. she’s like “why do you keep implying that i’m gonna be chief???” and sokka is like “do you... not think you’re going to be chief?” as if it’s just occurred to him that somehow she is not aware of this. turns out she wasn’t. huh, weird. seemed pretty obvious to him. 

katara counters, “well what if i don’t wanna be chief??? huh??? ever think about that???” and sokka’s like “ever since we got back to the south pole you’ve basically been leading the tribe in everything but name. if you refuse your earned title just to spite me that would be really, really stupid of you.” unfortunately for katara, he makes a pretty good point. 

it’s true: she’s been reconstructing buildings, teaching new waterbenders, healing soldiers, bringing back old traditions, and bringing her people new inspiration ever since the war ended. she loves traveling and exploring the world, but there’s nowhere else she’d rather be but home. 

when katara eventually does become chief (as everyone knew she would), nothing much changes, really, except for her title. it’s really just an excuse for all her loved ones to throw a huge party. even toph, who once claimed that you could only ever bring her to the south pole in a bodybag, shows up because she’s just so damn proud and happy for katara. (unfortunately, this proves to be killer on sokka’s back, since he is tasked with carrying her around the entire time, and she doesn’t trust anyone else to do it.) at the end of the night, they proudly unveil the statue they’ve been working on. it was made with multiple materials, including ice, bronze, silver, marble, and clay. katara claims it is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, and cries. a lot. 

(toph’s like “of course you would think it’s beautiful, you fucking narcissist” and katara’s like “oh my god shut UP who even invited you?????” and throws a snowball in toph’s face, only she misses slightly, and hits sokka right between the eyes instead.) 

as the tribe continues to grow, and more and more of katara’s students start to become waterbending masters in their own right, she stops being able to teach and heal everyone, and instead starts delegating those roles to her former students, teaching only a few classes, and healing only those who specifically require the skills of the best healer in the world. that said, she never retires her open-door policy, meeting with any member of the tribe who wants her ear, no matter how seemingly trivial their problem is. she also holds multiple meetings a week where anyone can attend and make suggestions, and she responds to everyone individually and works as hard as she can to address their issues. 

whenever zuko is in the swt and bears witness to these meetings, he’s like “if i had to do this as firelord i would’ve drowned myself in the turtleduck pond in the first week.” sokka’s like “i know right this is literally why i could never be chief.” katara how no idea what either of those curmudgeons could possibly be talking about. it’s one of the most rewarding parts of her job??? but it helps that she knows literally everyone in the tribe and they all adore her and bring her food every time they show up at her office, including little treats for catara, who sits on her lap during meetings. and the people she does have beef with know it, because she’s not afraid to yell at them. so it’s fine. 

her craziest moment as chief is honestly when this guy about her age approaches her in the street one day and says, “do i know you from somewhere?” and she’s like “oh, sorry, but i already have a boyfriend” and he’s like “no. i mean it. i think i recognize you.” and she’s like “well... i am kind of a living legend.....” and he’s like “ok.... no.... that’s not it....” and she’s like “i’m the chief of the southern water tribe?” and he’s like “nope... that’s not it either. wait! yes! i know who you are! you froze me and my friend to a wall because we were kind of rude to your other friend!!!! you’re the chief of the southern water tribe??????” 

[thepeanutbutterwizard]

Back on my AU making BS!

Edit: (Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

I was finally able to watch A:TLA for the first time in my life (I haven’t finished the series yet, I’m on mid-S2, on Tales of Ba Sing Se) and I was, of course, struck by an A:TLA/Ninjago au. So I’m gonna talk about it.

So the FSM is the Firelord (He’s like an Ozai/Azulon combo) bc screw him. Omega is his dad and was the one who started the war. The war goes about the same as in A:TLA, with the Air Nomad genocide. Garm and Wu are the two Fire Nation princes (both are benders), until Garm basically pulls a Zuko and gets himself banished. Haven’t decided if I want the circumstances for Garm to be the same as they were for Zuko (speaking out in a war room meeting and the Agni Kai and all that) or if Garm ends up with a scar (it wouldn’t be exactly like Zukos if I do end up giving him one, but it will be very noticeable) but he is sent away on the same wild goose chase after the Avatar.

(Side-note, in this world the Air Nomad Avatar was killed in the genocide, and at least one Avatar has lived and died completely unaware they were the Avatar. Y’all can probably guess where I’m going with this. Shush.)

So Garm, a traumatized disgraced teenager, sets out to find the Avatar. It goes about as well as you all have probably guessed. I debated over whether or not to give Mystake an Iroh-like role, but ultimately decided against it. Years go by, and Garm does eventually realize that his father gave him a fools errand, but what else is he supposed to do? He cant go back to the Fire Nation, and if he tries to go anywhere else he’ll be imprisoned and killed bc he’s y’know a Fire Nation royal. So he just stays on the boat, and actually ends up befriending a new, very young crew member (only a few months older than Garm when he gets assigned to the ship. They’re like, 17ish at this point), a Fire Bender named Ray.

And then, when they’re sailing near the South Pole, a huge storm hits. Ray, who can’t swim, gets knocked overboard, and Garm, being an impulsive, ride-or-die idiot who just got a friend for the first time since he was banished, jumps after him. They get swept away, and are presumed dead by the rest of the crew on the boat, which returns to the Fire Nation with the news that the Prince and a crew member have perished. If we’re being honest, the crew should have spent enough time around Garm to know he’s too stubborn to die.

Garm and Ray make it to the Southern Water Tribe. And by that I mean they wash up on the shore of the Southern Water Tribe half drowned and frozen and clinging to consciousness. The Southern Water Tribe isn’t as decimated as it is in A:TLA since the war hasn’t been going on for a whole century and the men haven’t gone off to fight and there are still some waterbenders, but it isn’t nearly as prosperous as the Northern Water Tribe. The two boys are found by Maya, a waterbender, and her friend Koko, a nonbender who has a fascinating backstory I’ll get to eventually. 

(I’m going to make this worlds Misako/Koko a sort of mashup of her show and movie versions, which basically means Koko but she likes history and archaeology and she has glasses. There are glasses in A:TLA, right?)

So Maya and Koko find Garm and Ray, two half dead Fire Nation soldiers, and don’t know what to do. Bc they’re Fire Nation, but they’re injured and there doesn’t seem to be any other soldiers, and looking closer they cant be much older than the girls are, and crap I don’t think that ones breathing!

Maya saves Ray while Koko easily holds an injured Garm back bc he doesn’t know what she’s doing but she can’t possibly be helping him, can she? Things are at an awkward standstill at that point, bc Garm and Ray don’t want to be taken to the tribe, but even if they were in any shape to fight they wouldn’t exactly last long in the South Pole without any supplies, and there’s no way the girls are going to let them just, go free, so the boys get tied up and awkwardly walked back to the village.

There’s a period of chaos in the village as they try to figure out what to do with Garm and Ray. Garm is completely honest about how they got there (banished Prince, Avatar hunt, storm, etc. He doesn’t mention that his father straight up mutilated him tho) bc he thinks that he an Ray have a better chance of not being killed if he lets everyone know that they haven’t actually done anything in the war. Garms been on a boat sailing in circles for like, five years, and even though Ray was trained to be a soldier he was sent straight to Garms ship instead of into combat.

Some people want to hold them hostage, some people want to chuck them out and let the elements take care of them, some people want to straight up kill them. Eventually its just decided by the chief (mb that Sorrla lady from the Never Realm in S11?) that the boys are just going to be kept as prisoners and kept under constant supervision. After all, they have no idea if the Fire Nation has written Garm and Ray off as dead like Garm is sure that they have, and killing a Fire Nation Prince, banished or not, could bring a world of hurt down on the already hurting tribe.

So Garm and Ray are under constant supervision, banned from firebending under any circumstance, and basically put to work helping the village. Years go by. Ray and Garm learn about how the war has been hurting the world, and realize all the propaganda that they were being feed since they were young, and that the Fire Nation and Garms family especially are kinda the bad guys. And as the tribe members (and Maya and Koko especially) get to actually know these two Fire Nation boys, they learn that yeah the Fire Nation as a whole is kinda terrible, but its full of people who are under a tyrannical regime where not even the Crown Prince is safe from the wrath of the Firelord. And these guys are actually pretty good guys considering where they’ve come from!

Eventually Garm and Ray go from being captives to being a part of the tribe. There are still some people who never trust them, but overall they just get adopted by the Southern Water Tribe. And yes, Garm and Ray marry Koko and Maya.

I know that more stuff goes down in the Southern Water Tribe with Katara and Sokka’s mom, the Southern Raiders, and Hama and stuff like that, but all i know is from vague Tumblr osmosis bc I haven’t gotten to that part in A:TLA, but when I do I will revise this part of the au as I see fit. I’m probably going to avoid killing Maya bc I like her.

Life is as good as it can be during a war. At any sign that anyone from the Fire Nation could show up Garm and Ray hide bc they dont want to risk being recognized. And you guessed it, when the kids finally come around, Kai is a firebender, and Nya is a waterbender. I’m also making them Irish twins. Lloyd is three years younger than them. The men of the tribe go off to fight, and Ray goes with them. Garm wanted to go, but the risk of him being recognized as the dead Fire Nation Prince was too much of a risk, so he stayed in the village. 

(I might come up with something to get rid of Maya and Koko without killing them, but idk right now)

More time passes, and when Lloyd is about 10 they find out that he can waterbend to when he was trying to copy Nya. But wait, Garm is Fire Nation, and Koko was originally from the Earth Kingdom, Lloyd shouldn’t be able to waterbend. And then Lloyd accidentally kicks up a small windstorm.

And thats when Garm realizes that he’s finally found the Avatar.

(I’m gonna make a part two bc this got long and I have more to say.)

[elizabethemerald]

Personal, fandom rant.

There’s something that I, as an older trans person in fandom, have always found just a little exhausting. And its when folks in the fandom take a character whose parents are fundamentally awful and say this character is trans. Like this person’s parent is one of the worst people in the world or in some case a literal fascist, they are solely focused on global conquest or whatever but are still supportive of their child’s transition. Especially when there are so many characters from home situations where they might actually have been able to transition. And I get that not everyone has good supportive parents, and I just wish people would make that the story!

I can think of so many examples from all of the different fandoms I’m in. In ATLA it’s Zuko or Azula. Firelord Ozai is perfectly willing to murder his own children from the throne, maims one of them and is willing to attempt genocide against an entire continent. But Zuko is a trans man, or Azula is a transwoman. what? An megolomanic, murderer who banned homosexuality is going to be supportive enough of his children’s gender identity to support Zuko transitioning? When that same guy maimed and banished Zuko for...*looks at notes* speaking out of turn?

Why not make basically any of the other characters trans? Aang, grew up among the air nomads, maybe their culture is ultra loose with gender roles. Have Sokka or Katara be trans, water is the element of Change, I’m sure their tribe would have been supportive of that. Have Jet and the Freedom Fighters all be trans. Jet said I’m not a girl, I’m a boy, and I’m a boy who is going to kill some fire benders. 

Or if you want them to be trans, if you look up to those characters and want them to be like you, why not make the transition happen later? Not everyone is able to transition prior to puperty, and then passes perfectly after. Have Toph decide she doesn’t give a shit about gender after leaving her restrictive parents and identify as agender. Have part of Zuko’s internal struggle prior to confronting his father be about his gender identity. And when he joins the Gaang and becomes friends with Katara he asks her about dresses or something like that, and then part of his journey as firelord is transitioning the Fire Nation to post war, post fascist nation and transition himself socially and/or medically. 

In the TOA fandom: Trans!Steve, ok, Steve’s verbally and emotionally (and proberly physically) abusive dad who taught him nothing but toxic masculinity is ok with his child being a trans man? what? Especially when you have Jim, whose mom is supportive and tries to do her best for him, who could be a trans man. Or you could have Steve transitioning to Stephany after the events of TOA, or Toby exploring his gender identity with all of the trans people around him. 

In the TOH fandom: Amity, Emera, and Edric Blight. I love those kids. But their ultra controlling parents who say they aren’t allowed to play with witches who are not powerful casters are going to be super supportive of their kids transition? what? And on the other side, you have Luz, her mom loves and supports her, even if she doesn’t understand her. Maybe her mom is afraid that her transition is one more thing that is going to make her not fit in. Or you have Willow, who canonically has two queer dads, and that would be one more reason why the blights didn’t want Amity to associate with her. 

I want to emphasize I don’t hate these headcanons. I don’t hate the people who come up with them. I’ve written a few myself. Its just exhausting. I know every trans person wants the narrative that no matter how bad a person is, they will still let you transition, but that just not how the world works. 

Now this bit is a little personal, but this is why I’m so exhausted by this. I grew up in a religious family. My dad was a children’s paster at my church. He would use my siblings and I as lesson points during his sermons all the time, which never failed to be humilating. I was in the Boy Scouts in highschool and I’m an Eagle Scout now. I had a lot of friends through both organizations. 

 I didn’t even know being transgender was an option until I was 23. I spent years being tricked into thinking I was a pervert or there was something wrong with me because of how I felt. When I came out, my dad explicitly forbade me from interacting with the Boy Scout troop I had grown up with. All my friends from church disappeared in a matter of weeks. I haven’t talked to anyone from my troop in literally years. 

Because I was so late to my transition, I’m well over six feet tall, I have broad shoulders and a deep voice. I struggle to find clothes that fit, shoes my size don’t exist in the women’s section, and I will never be able to fully pass. 

But I’m still trans. I am finding new ways to love my body every day. I have changed my name, and now most of my current friends don’t even know my dead name. I rarely talk to my father. 

I wish people would tell stories like this. Tell stories like mine. Create headcanons that match my story. Because can you imagine how pretty Zuko, or Steve would be when they transition in twenties? They would make the most beautiful young women. 

[attackfish]

Avatar the Last Airbender, Humor, and Sympathy: Who is it Safe to Laugh at?

A while back I made a vid about Book One Zuko set to Uptown Funk, and as it turns out that vid, and the close attention to the visual language of Zuko in Book One it required is something of a meta mine for me, and led to a greater appreciation for the show's use of dramatic irony: [Link]. That vid got its start as a lighthearted exploration of Book One Zuko as a figure of comedy, but I realized very quickly that I was not going to be able to make the vid about the entirety of Book One, at least not if I wanted it to be purely comedy. Zuko's suffering in book one is funny, right up until it suddenly isn't funny at all. This is not about how we as an audience grow to appreciate Zuko as a character. After all, I came to this vid having watched Avatar: the Last Airbender many times, and already very attached to Zuko to put it mildly. This is about how Zuko's suffering is framed, and how the show switches from playing it for laughs to playing it for pathos: [Link].

This is a common thread throughout the show with many many different characters. What initially is played for laughs about a character is later revealed to have tragic roots. Humor in the Avatar world often has a sting in its tail. This holds true for most of the Gaang: [Link] and for Iroh, but it's at its most obvious, and its most unsettling, with the teenage Fire Nation characters, Azula, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Of the four characters mentioned above three have a redemption arc that doubles as a recovery arc, and the one who doesn't has a complete breakdown. All four are victims of abuse. Abuse is a big theme in Avatar: the Last Airbender. and the use of humor to first allow us to laugh at characters' idiosyncrasies before revealing them to be the result of the abuse they suffered ties directly into the shows themes.

And this relationship between humor for the audience and the characters' pain is systematic and consistent. First we get hints of a character's trauma accompanied by scenes of their quirks played for humor, and then, as they approach the culmination (or in Zuko's case a culmination) of their story, their quirks and their trauma are tied together, and suddenly they aren't played for laughs anymore. This pattern reaches its most elaborate and extended variation in Zuko's Book One portrayal. He is introduced to us yelling at his uncle that the avatar has returned and he must capture him, and the desperation pours off him in waves. We are given hints throughout the first half of Book One that Zuko is trying to impress an unloving father and end a humiliating exile, until Chapter Twelve, "The Storm", where Iroh tells Zuko's crew, who are sick of dealing with his mistreatment of them, the story of Zuko's branding and banishment. Until this point, Zuko has been tossed into the snow, had his eye poked until he falls into the water, landed backside up in the snow with his helmet on top of said royal backside, and made a fool of himself in his anger and impulsiveness time and time again. Much of the levity in Book One comes from Zuko playing Yosemite Sam to Aang's cheerful Bugs Bunny, or Sokka's Daffy Duck.

The Looney Toons style humor at Zuko's expense does not disappear at this moment, and Zuko's reckless drive leading to repeated pratfalling isn't tied explicitly to his pain until the Book One finale. There is one last good solid laugh-at-Zuko-being-obnoxious-and-paying-for-it episode, Chapter Fifteen, "Bato of the Water Tribe" between this point and the finale. And yet this moment does mark an important turning point in how the show handles Zuko's status as main season antagonist, and object of ridicule. "Bato of the Water Tribe" is the last episode of the season where Zuko serves as main antagonist, and in fact the last episode of the entire series where he serves this function. And between "The Storm" and "Bato of the Water Tribe" is "The Blue Spirit."

Aside from the heartwrenching rendition of Zuko's backstory, the Storm is full of parallels between Aang and Zuko, including Aang's own painful backstory full of guilt and loss. And because it's Aang telling us this backstory, Aang is in an introspective backward-looking mood at its end, which makes this the perfect time for an episode where Zuko and Aang work together, and which foreshadows their future friendship, and the Fire Nation's own potential for changing course. And the episode following "The Storm" does all of that. "The Blue Spirit" also gives us a taste of Zuko's failure and perpetual futile determination being played for pathos, even as this failure allows for Aang's escape. Indeed, the framing of this situation makes it clear that there is failure on both sides. Zuko is unable to capture Aang, and Aang is rebuffed by Zuko. Zuko's singular pursuit of his goals is shown as tragic, as something that prevents him from forging meaningful connections with other people, and prevents hin from building a life, a concept that will be expanded in Book Two. As an audience, we feel the weight of this moment. It is poignent, it is sad, and it is painful.

"Bato of the Water Tribe" is the only other time we see Zuko until the three Northern Water Tribe episodes, and in these episodes, nearly nothing about Zuko is played for any humor at all. After Zhao takes Zuko's crew, Zuko's relentless drive is portrayed as admirable and tragic. His failures are portrayed as tragic, and even his defeat of Zhao is portrayed as tragic. He captures Aang, and with no one else to talk to, in the middle of a blizzard he can only wait out, he tells Aang about his father and sister, and about how he has to rely on hard work, and how he has come to take pride in his never giving up, because he isn't lucky like his sister. His trauma is now tied to this key part of his personality, previously played for humor, now played for tragedy. The last time we see Zuko in Book One, he confesses to his uncle that he is tired, and stretches out to rest on the raft that his uncle uses to sail them away. The scene is framed in such a way that a viewer might be forgiven for thinking Zuko had died.

After this, Zuko's foibles are played for laughs again throughout the rest of the series, but the Looney Toons style merriment is gone, and the humor is much more affectionate, and used to puncture and punctuate his angst and the heaviness of his storyline. His role as the butt of jokes has been transformed. The point has been made. This change is highlighted by of all characters, Azula. In "The Chase," an episode full of characters laughing at each other and mocking each other in ways that are not funny at all as exhaustion takes its toll and characters show off their worst, meanest selves, Azula's comment to Aang about her brother stands out: "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor!" she says, covering her eye like her brother's scar. And when Aang only stares at her, she continues: "It's okay. You can laugh. It's funny."

How many times have we as a fandom laughed about Zuko and his honor?

And over the course of the rest of Book Two and Book Three, Zuko's sense of honor and his refusal to give up will become his greatest strengths and most admirable qualities as they lead him away from his father and the Fire Nation war machine and to becoming the Firelord who will end the war and restore the honor of his entire nation. The traits that once held him back from making real connections to other people, with healing and understanding of self, become the ones that enable him to make those connections in the end.

This same technique of playing a character's traits born of pain for laughs until they are explicitly tied to that pain is used again with Mai and Ty Lee in Books Two and Three. They are introduced in "Return to Omashu" in ways that also introduce Azula as their abuser, and in Mai's case, give ample information about how neglectful her parents are of her and her brother. However this is done subtly and not dwelt upon. Throughout Books Two and Three, Azula's abuse of the two of them will be touched on and reinforced, most notably in the flashbacks in "Zuko alone. However, most of their portrayals in Book Two will be of them as antagonists, and specifically as funny antagonists. They take this role over from Zuko. Their foibles are played for laughs and they are amusing in a way Azula can't be because she is too much of a threat. It's not until "The Beach" that their quirks are inescapably linked to their traumas, and their bubbly or emotionless exteriors are shown pointedly to be masks hiding pain. Mai yells, Ty Lee cries. And the next time they are given real focus, their pain and their abuse at the hands of Azula is shown to be the source of their triumph as they reject her domination and turn against her to protect the people they love. Mai especially is cool and collected, mask firmly in place as she tells Azula that she miscalculated. The parts of their personalities born of pain are first played for laughs, then for tragedy, then for triumph, just like Zuko's.

Azula in so many ways is the outlier, because for her, the triumph comes first. She appears to be in control at the start of her journey, winning victory after victory, playing with Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko like dolls. I mentioned earlier that Azula isn't played for humor very much in Book Two the way Zuko was because she is too big a threat. She's too scary to laugh at. This changes in "The Beach." Taken away from the battlefield and forced to interact with strangers in which there is no hierarchy putting her at the top or competition for her to win, the same traits that make her such a dangerous opponent make her laughably incompetent at social interaction.

At the end of "The Beach", we are given a hint of the pain at the roots of the same perfectionism and need to win that this episode lampoons: "I could sit here and complain how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt."

We will later learn this is far from the whole truth. Not only does her own subconscious tell her that her mother loved her, but her whole world starts to fall apart when, somebody, Mai, picks Zuko over her, and tells her she miscalculated. Last of all, her father, who always treated her as his perfect child in contrast to worthless Zuko, dismisses her and treats her with the scorn usually reserved for Zuko, something Azula notes explicitly, when she yells that: "You can't treat me like Zuko!"

This is one of the most telling lines in the entire series. She has built her self image around being better than Zuko, of being infallable, because the little girl watching her brother being abused thought this would protect her from her father. And now, with her sense of infallibility stripped away, the idea that she is inherently better than Zuko called into question, and her father's favor suddenly in doubt, her whole identity crumbles and she starts hallucinating [Link]. And this is why Azula sees her mother in her psychosis, because Ursa is someone else who she feels chose Zuko over her. While Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee end the show free of their abusers and ready to start new lives, Azula ends it chained, defeated, and sobbing uncontrollably.

And yet with Azula's arc, as with Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee's, an explicit line is drawn between the funny and the tragic about a character. The writers, strictly speaking, didn't need to make us laugh at Azula before turning her into an object of pity. Taking her from triumph to tragedy would have been a strong enough individual arc without the segue into the hilarious. This segue however, together with Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee's time spent as objects of humor, ties strongly into the show's themes and evokes a common emotional response. The humor comes before the revelation of tragedy in all four cases because before the tragedy of each character is made explicit, it feels okay to laugh at them. It doesn't feel mean.

But then the tragedy behind the funny quirks is revealed and we the audience can't help remember laughing at them. And we already have laughed at them. There's nothing we can do now to undo that. And this makes us feel just a little bit mean, just a little bit guilty. It makes us a participatory character in a way, and it drives home an important theme. There is no one safe to laugh at on Avatar: the Last Airbender. Everybody is human so no one is just a figure of fun. And just as in the real world, you never know when you are laughing at somebody's pain. Everybody is human, and everybody's pain is worthy of respect and acknowledgment, and you should be wary of anyone saying: "You can laugh. It's funny."

[avatarsymbolism]

Aang and Zuko Parallels, Part 11: Book 1 parallels

In order to make some of my longer metas more readable, I have decided to break them down into more easily digestible bites. The Complete Post can be found here.

Before I get started, let me explain how this will work. I’ll go through each season in order, pointing out parallels along the way. However, to maintain continuity, and to ensure better organization (and because the payoff will be better by the time I get to Book 3), parallels that occur between two different episodes will be mentioned in the episode that’s closest to the finale.

So, the plot of Book 1 is pretty straightforward. All our characters start out in and around the Southern Water Tribe when Aang is freed from his iceberg. This leads to all our main characters being introduced to each other, and Zuko chasing Aang as he travels to the North Pole so he and Katara can learn waterbending.

Along the way, we learn some of Aang and Zuko’s backstory, and we get to see a couple of nice parallels between them too.

The Boy in the Iceberg

Let’s start off in the very beginning, where we’re first introduced to Aang and Zuko.

“The Boy in the Iceberg” starts in the icy seas of the South Pole where we meet Katara and Sokka, two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe. They’re simply trying to catch themselves some dinner but, a series of events leads to them finding a boy trapped in ice.

This boy turns out to be Aang—a person who we later learn is the Avatar, which means that 1) he’s the bridge between the human world and the Spirit World, and 2) that he can master all four elements.

However, as Aang is freed from the ice, we see an immense amount of spiritual energy pouring out of it, which leads to our next character introduction.

The camera starts to move away from the giant energy beam and we eventually cut to Zuko, who we immediately learn is on the hunt for the Avatar. Concluding that the Avatar must have been the cause of the energy beam, Zuko sets a course toward the light.

And, after some more character introductions, some world building, and a series of events that lead to a flare being fired from an abandoned Fire Navy ship, the episode ends with Zuko tracking Aang back to Katara and Sokka’s village.

Here, aside from being introduced to our main cast, we get our first ever transition between Aang and Zuko. And, while it’s not all that impressive, it’s still a first for the Avatar and the Firelord.

That said, this episode is also important in that it sets up Aang and Zuko’s respective arcs for the rest of the series. It sets up Zuko as the frustrated banished prince who is constantly trying to regain his honor so he can return home and gain his father’s love, and it sets up Aang as this Avatar who was so burdened by the revelation that he was the Avatar that he ran away.

The Avatar Returns

This brings us to “The Avatar Returns,” which picks up where “The Boy in the Iceberg” left off.

After setting off the flare in the previous episode, Katara and Aang return to the village where they find an unfriendly welcome. The villagers, noticing the flare set off in the previous episode, fear that the Fire Nation will be on them at any moment, and thus banish Aang from their village.

Eventually, Zuko arrives and we see our first interaction between protagonist and deuteragonist as Aang and Zuko fight. However, after noticing that Zuko is unintentionally harming civilians with his fire, Aang offers himself up as a prisoner on the condition that the village be left alone.

After Zuko agrees and takes Aang prisoner, Sokka and Katara go after Aang and manage to catch up to him just as he’s about to escape, but not before he enters the Avatar state and waterbends at Zuko and his crew.

Here, there’s nothing really impressive parallel wise (—yet, just wait until we get to Book 3) but, episode 2 does introduce our main cast to each other. We continue to get introduced to Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka, and we witness some more interactions between these four characters.

The Southern Air Temple

This brings us to “The Southern Air Temple,” which takes place immediately after “The Avatar Returns,” and is all about loss.

Let’s start with our A-plot. The A-plot of this episode features Aang, Katara, and Sokka visiting the Southern Air Temple, Aang’s home. Despite hearing about the war and the devastation caused by the Fire Nation, Aang is deep in denial, insisting that some of his people must have escaped the genocide. This changes, however, when Aang is forced to face the reality of the Air Nomad Genocide as well as the death of Monk Gyatso. And, unlike Zuko who we’ll see is still very much in denial of his loss, Aang begins to accept his loss, going so far as to conclude that the Fire Nation must have gotten to the other temples as well.

Now, having said that, we can focus on our B-plot, which follows Zuko and Iroh. We start off with Zuko and Iroh paying a visit to Zhao’s harbor in the hopes of repairing their damaged ship. Here, Zhao outright tells Zuko that his father doesn’t want him. But, Zuko being Zuko, denies this, and even goes so far as to challenge Zhao to a duel all because Zhao dared suggest that his father doesn’t love him. And, it’s in this state of tension where we get our first hint at Zuko’s past.

So, what can we say about Aang and Zuko at this point?

Well, we know that both characters have experienced some sort of loss. We don’t know the details about Aang’s being frozen or the details of Zuko’s banishment but, we know that both characters have experienced loss, and we know that that lose concerns a father figure in one way or another.

As the series continues, we’ll see both characters deal with this loss until finally coming into acceptance.

Winter Solstice

After “The Avatar Returns” and “The Warriors and Kyoshi,” “Winter Solstice” is the third (and fourth, since this is a two-part special) episode where we see Aang and Zuko butt heads.

In “Winter Solstice, Part 1,” Aang travels to a small village where he tries to stop a spirit from attacking it. Meanwhile, Zuko chases Aang but, he ultimately has to make a choice between hunting Aang and rescuing his uncle.

“Winter Solstice, Part 2” again finds Zuko chasing Aang, this time to the Fire Nation. Here, we see some more world building done as it’s revealed that Firelord Sozin used the Great Comet (now called Sozin’s Comet) to start the war, and that Ozai will use the next coming of the comet to end it.

Aside from a neat little parallel where Aang and Zuko finish each other’s sentences, we have a few things going on.

First, despite not knowing how, Aang decides to try and communicate with the spirits, and later tries to rescue Sokka from Hei Bai. Zuko, in the meantime, makes a choice between going after Appa, and saving his uncle from earthbending soldiers. He chooses to save his uncle.

Later, both Aang and Zuko make a dangerous trek into the Fire Nation. For Aang, the danger is obvious—he’s the Avatar, and of course it would be dangerous for him to go. In a similar vein, it’s dangerous for Zuko to go as well, since returning home would mean his death if he gets caught.

Thus, this episode shows us three things. First, it begins to show us that Aang is willing to step into his role as the Avatar, and that he’s willing to take the risks associated with his duty. Secondly, it shows us that not only is Zuko still in denial of his losing his father’s love but, that he’s willing to take immense risks in order to regain Ozai’s love also. And lastly, this episode is the first of many episodes to show the struggle between Zuko’s wanting to do what’s right, and wanting to do everything he can to win his father’s affections or to get a piece of home.

As the show progresses, we’ll see this struggle between right and wrong play out even more until Zuko finally changes sides.

The Waterbending Scroll

Next, we have “The Waterbending Scroll.”

In this episode, Aang and the Gaang come across some pirates and a waterbending scroll. After Katara steals the scroll, Aang and Katara try to learn from it. However, after Katara gets a little jealous of Aang’s bending and tries to learn from it in the dark of night, she gets captured by Zuko, and we see the consequences of Katara’s actions unfold as Zuko tries and fails to capture Aang.

I know I said I won’t focus on insignificant stuff but, I just like this camera framing parallel (plus, we have a nice shot of Katara and Iroh having their attention caught by something they find to their fancy).

The Storm

And now, having to gotten to “The Storm,” the fun can really begin.

We start out with Aang and Zuko reflecting on just how nice the weather is. One storm symbolizing the turmoil of their past, and one camera framing/transition parallel later, and Aang and Zuko’s backstories begin to unravel.

Here, we learn how the pain and pressure Aang and Zuko were put through affected their decisions, and the position they found themselves in at the start of the series. For example, Aang, fearing separation from Gyatso, runs away. Meanwhile, Zuko, wanting both to gain his father’s love and protect his people, speaks out of turn and is eventually burned and banished.

The episode ends with some really beautiful imagery as Aang looks at Zuko, and Zuko looks at Aang. We don’t know where their journeys will take them but, still we sense some sort of connection between these two characters.

We also again see that Aang finds it easier to move on than Zuko. After all, this episode was all about Aang and Zuko’s past, and their ability to move on from their past mistakes. And, as we had seen in “The Southern Air Temple,” Zuko is very much tied to his past.

The Blue Spirit

This brings us to “The Blue Spirit,” which takes place immediately after the events of “The Storm,” and again shows us the strong connection between Aang and Zuko.

So, Zhao is again on the hunt. He captures Aang. Zuko, fearing that his honor is at stake, goes to rescue Aang as the Blue Spirit (even if his intentions aren’t all that noble). This leads to Aang and Zuko working together for the first time ever.

After Zhao has Zuko shot with an arrow, Aang learns the identity of the Blue Spirit and decides to save him, which eventually leads to the most well-known foreshadowing moment in the entire franchise.

Seeking sanctuary in a forest, Aang tells Zuko about his friend, Kuzon, who we learn was from the Fire Nation. At the end of his anecdote, Aang wonders if he and Zuko could have been friends had their circumstances been different.

While Zuko answers Aang with an attack, we still get the sense that maybe, just maybe, Zuko considers Aang’s question as he looks off into the distance.

After Aang returns to his and the Gaang’s shelter, and after Zuko returns to his ship, a delirious Sokka asks Aang if he made any new friends. Aang, thinking only of Zuko, responds with “No, I don’t think they did.”

This leads us into a nice little transition between Aang and Zuko, as well as one final parallel as Zuko considers Aang’s question.

Siege of the North

“Siege of the North” is our big climax for Book 1. Here, we see The Northern Water Tribe prepare for battle against the Fire Nation fleet led by Admiral Zhao. Meanwhile, Aang tries to find a way to defeat Zhao and save the Northern Water Tribe from his assault.

While there’s not much to say about “The Siege of the North” in regard to Aang/Zuko parallels, we still have a moment where both Aang and Zuko  try to save their enemies.

Aside from these events, we also hit our first major benchmark since the start of the series. Here, we see Aang beginning to accept his destiny as the Avatar and going into the world ready to be the hero that it needs. Meanwhile, Zuko is still shunned by his father and his people, and has hit a major obstacle after his quest to fulfill what he thinks his destiny comes to a halt.

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The Waterbender and the Firelord: Katara and Zuko Parallels

Avatar: The Last Airbender has three central characters: Aang, Zuko, and Katara. These three characters share a lot of parallels and connections, and we see each of them interact, develop, and grow during the course of the series.

With that said, Katara and Zuko are two very different, but at the same time very similar characters. And, just like with Aang and Zuko in my previous meta, we can look at the parallels between them to see how exactly the thematic parallels between these two characters play out. And, just like last time, I won’t look all the parallels (like this one), since not all the parallels are of thematic significance but, I will look at the really important ones that help tie them together.

That said, I will be doing something a little different this time around. While I’ll mostly be focusing on Katara and Zuko, I’ll bring in a couple of the parallels between Aang and Zuko as well since Katara kind of helps bridge these two characters, and because so much of the Katara/Zuko parallels are parallels between the narrative three and actually help to better develop both Katara and Zuko’s respective story arcs. Thus, it is my hope that. by the end of the meta, both the readers of this meta and myself will have a better understanding of just how this dynamic works. 

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

Just like with Aang and Zuko. we have similarities between Katara and Zuko that have to do with their personalities, as well as their upbringing. In addition to this, a lot of the big thematic parallels between Katara and Zuko occur because of these personality traits--they’re determined, they have a strict sense of morality and judgement, etc. Therefore, just like how Aang can be seen as a version of Zuko who was not groomed by an imperialist society, so too can Katara be viewed as a possible version of Zuko--one who always stayed on the right path, and one who didn’t have moral dilemmas the way Zuko did. 

Personality

In terms of personality. Zuko and Katara are very similar, with Katara even becoming a foil for Zuko in “The Southern Raiders.” 

Both Katara and Zuko are fiercely determined to the point of stubbornness. They can also get very angry when provoked. Usually, these situations end with either Aang or Iroh trying to calm everyone down but, they don’t always succeed. Sometimes, these outbursts can even end with them saying hurtful things that they might not have meant to say, or would later regret.

Similarly, Zuko and Katara both adopt spirit-inspired secret identities, which ties into their stubborn determination in that it’s a strong motivator for their actions. However, what distinguishes them is the reason behind these identities. 

Katara genuinely wanted to help people, and used the “Painted Lady” persona as a means to hide her identity as she did so. This ensured that the Gaang wouldn’t find out about her activities, and also made sure that the villagers in the episode of the same name didn’t find out who or what she really was. 

In contrast, Zuko donned the mask  of the  “Blue Spirit” as a way to hide his identity in order to fulfill his goal of capturing Aang in Book 1, and later to escape poverty by becoming a thief in Book 2.

We also get a nice little parallel where Katara and Zuko have to unmask themselves for Iroh and Aang. Again, the reasons behind these two unmaskings are different, but the parallel is still there. 

Morality 

Another thing that Katara and Zuko have in common is their strong sense of judgement and morality. Here, we see two people that are inherently good and who, despite the cruel world around them, continue to do good--even if one of them was misguided for two and a half seasons. 

I’ve mentioned in the past that one of the things that separates the Avatar protagonists from the Avatar antagonists is that the protagonistsare unable to hurtl, and kill innocents. This is true not just for the narrative three but for the other members of the Gaang as well. 

Even so, this is still a strong theme for Katara and Zuko. Katara refuses to take up Hama’s fight because she sees what Hama is doing as wrong. Likewise, Zuko thought that needlessly sacrificing an entire division of soldiers was morally abhorrent.

And again, here we have two staunchly determined individuals who can be motivated by anger, rage, and a need for revenge. And yet, just like with all our protagonists it doesn’t matter how many times Katara tells herself “I’m going to kill Yon Rha,” or how many times Zuko says “today I’m gong to kill Admiral Zhao” because deep down they are inherently good and have a strong moral compass that doesn’t allow them to take such drastic actions. They simply can’t, and the narrative is totally fine with that. 

Furthermore, it’s this determination and unwillingness to abandon their ethical beliefs that ultimately lets them prevail against their opponents (we even get a really nice camera framing parallel between Katara and Zuko in the process, as well as another parallel which shows Katara and Zuko catching their opponents off guard). 

With that in mind, one of arcs that Zuko goes through has to do with learning that mercy and forgiveness aren’t childish concepts. And, throughout the series, we see Zuko struggling with what he knows is right, and what his nation sees as right. Katara ties into this arc because she, alongside Aang and Iroh, show Zuko  that mercy and forgiveness aren’t in fact childish concepts, and that moving on and forgiveness aren’t mutually exclusive concepts. 

Family 

Now, let’s talk about Katara and Zuko’s respective family dynamics. 

Just like with Aang and Zuko, we see a stark contrast between Katara and Zuko’s upbringing. Katara grew up in a loving family, with her parents supporting and loving both their children. In contrast, Zuko grew up in an abusive household with his father pitting himself against his sister. This could be due to the cultural difference between the Water Tribe which prioritized unity and community, and the Fire Nation which prioritized strength and power.  

There is also another parallel between the overall family dynamics of Katara’s family and Zuko’s family with Hakoda and Ozai being the fathers that haven’t seen their sons in many years, Ursa and Kya sharing the role of the absentee mother, Azula ad Katara as bending prodigies, and Sokka and Zuko as older brothers who feel like they need to prove themselves to their fathers. 

Loss

Speaking of mothers, let’s talk about one of the big themes which, as I’ve mentioned before, is the one theme that ties all three of our central characters together the most: loss. It motivates everyone. It’s what makes it hard for Aang to let go of Katara, and makes him so upset when Appa is kidnapped. It’s what makes Katara so determined to succeed in the war against the Fire Nation, and so angry at Zuko. It’s also what makes Zuko both want to restore his father’s love, and eventually defect. 

Loss is everywhere. 

So, of course, Katara and Zuko parallel each other in that they both lost their mothers to the Fire Nation at a relatively young age. Ursa was banished as part of a deal that would spare Zuko’s life, and Kya sacrificed herself to spare Katara’s life. 

These two events affected who Katara and Zuko became when they grew older. For Katara, it meant becoming fiercely protective, and doing everything in her power to protect the ones she loved and cared about. This is the driving force that makes her protect and vouch for all the people she has saved or tried to save from the people in “Imprisoned” and “The Painted Lady” to Aang, Jet, and Zuko in seasons 2 and 3. In the show’s continuity it’s the parallels between Aang and Kya that really helps push Katara to continue to protect the ones she loves, and consequently to view Zuko as “the face of the enemy,” up to the latter half of Book 3. The consequence of this parallel is that Katara eventually connects her losing her mother to Zuko himself. This eventually culminates with Katara saving Zuko’s life in the finale after he risked his life to save her from Azula in a moment that parallels what happened to her mother.  

Zuko’s story is a little different. He lost three parental figures in the course of the series, and losing these parental figures affected him in different ways. 

First, he lost his father’s love, the one thing he he wanted the most. This is what motivates him to go after Aang, and even to betray his uncle. It’s a destructive driving force that blinded him to his true calling. 

We won’t talk too much about Lu Ten and Iroh, but just know that, like Ursa, Zuko’s losing Lu Ten ties into Zuko’s empathy arc and helps him connect with the people he meets in the Earth Kingdom. In a similar vein, the Kya-Ursa connection is one of the factors that lets Zuko empathize with the people whom his nation views as enemies as well. Iroh also plays into the mix by becoming Zuko’s motivator after he realizes he doesn’t need Ozai’s love. Here, “I want to make Dad proud” transforms into “I want to make Uncle proud.

That said, as mentioned before, Ursa’s influence on Zuko is twofold. On the one hand, it’s what ultimately makes Zuko able to stay true himself by leaving the Fire Nation. But, before this happened, Ursa’s influence on Zuko played out a little differently, with Zuko’s memories of his mother making him nostalgic for how things used to be before his banishment. At this time, staying true to himself was less about being his own person and freeing himself from Ozai’s influence, and more about fulfilling his role as Ozai’s son and heir and returning home. 

Still, the fact remains that as soon as Zuko stopped being blinded by his need to win his father’s approval, his memory of Ursa became a positive motivator, and was the push he needed to join the Gaang 

And, speaking of nostalgia, “North and South” does a great job of not only elaborating on Katara’s “protect all the people” arc and giving it a second conclusion, but it also turns what used to be only a parallel between Aang and Zuko into one that features all three of our central characters. 

This parallel, connects Zuko, Katara, and Aang together even more by showing us just how much they feel they’ve lost, and just how much they want things to return to normal. With Katara and Zuko especially, it demonstrates why their loss is such a potent motivator. It’s what helps them make it through the day, and want to push themselves against the odds. These are characters who lost something that affected them deeply, who want so hard for everything to return to normal, and yet all they can do is try to cope and try to somehow move on from what happened to them. 

Loss and Foils

This brings us to our final group of parallels between Katara and Zuko.

I mentioned already that loss is a powerful motivator for our main characters, and makes them do a lot of the things they do (in fact, a lot of the conversations that Zuko and Katara have focus on loss). I also mentioned the connection between Zuko and Yon Rha, and how this parallel played into Katara’s hatred for Zuko. 

In “The southern Raiders,” we see a version of Katara that we’be never seen, a version of Katara that is so blinded by her need for revenge that one can’t help but draw parallels to Zuko in the first season, and how he was blinded and motivated by his need to regain Ozai’s love.

In fact, the show does us one better by doing just that. 

The story itself resembles the arc of “The Avatar State.” Azula and Zuko give them an offer which revolves around what Katara and Zuko have both lost--Ozai’s love, and Katara’s mom. They agree. Aang, Sokka, and Iroh warn them not to do it, but Katara and Zuko refuse to back down and end up saying things that they might later regret. Both characters end up going through with their plans, with Aang and Iroh giving their reluctant support. The two plots continue from there with the two episodes’ separate conclusions.��

But now for the fun stuff. 

In “The Southern Raiders,” Katara becomes a foil for Zuko by showing us just how far Zuko has come. Where most shows might use this kind of parallel to make the antagonist (or anti-hero, in Zuko’s case) sympathetic to the protagonist or vis versa, TSR does it to highlight just how far Zuko has come from his Book 1 beginnings. In addition to this, it kind of helps Katara walk a mile in Zuko’s shoes in a way, maybe showing her where exactly Zuko was coming. Consequently, this all ties right into the “Zuko learns that mercy isn’t stupid” arc which I mentioned earlier. 

Thus, we get a parallel with Katara and Zuko saying they do not have a choice. This refers to Katara going after Yon Rha, and to Zuko’s need to capture Aang to restore his father’s love. 

We also get another parallel that really helps to drive home just how determined Katara and Zuko were in their respective missions. Here, they are so determined and angry that they refuse to sleep, with Iroh and Zuko having to come along to tell them that they need to rest. 

And finally, in what might be the most creepy of the TSR related parallels, Katara’s look when Zuko confronts her at the start of the episode resembles the twisted expression we see on Zuko in “The Waterbending Scroll” when he has Katara tied up, and that’s just downright scary. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Katara and Zuko are two similar individuals who go through some very different but, at the same time, very similar experiences. They are fiercely determined, and like many of our characters, they have lost so much.

Their loss is what makes them grow into the people we see in the show, and it’s their determination, combined with their loss, that makes them clash, interact, and grow as characters.