#katara stan first human second

[the-badger-mole]

What are your thoughts on Azula redemption. Like if it was done properly and she got all the help she needed. Because honestly it's hard to find good Azula redemption takes without them being stans or something

I've talked about this before (here for instance), but I don't really think Azula needs the kind of redemption people seem to want for her. I think a transformative arc would fit her better. Like, yeah, she changes, but she's not necessarily redeemed through it. First of all, I don't think she'd ever be completely sorry about what she did, and I think that's a baseline requirement for a redemption arc.

Second, in my opinion, too many of these "redemption" arcs for Azula focus on her reconciling with everyone, and I just don't think that's realistic. I see her reconciling with Zuko and maybe Iroh, but beyond that, I don't see Ty Lee coming back (I actually like to think that she found her happiness far, far away from Caldera and the messiness of court). I could see Azula not wanting Mai back. Zuko's friends don't owe Azula anything either, so it bothers me a bit when I see stories that start with Azula being best friends with everyone with no explanation or acknowledgement of how odd it is. Especially when the stories are within a year or two after the war ends. The problem here is focusing so much on the trauma Azula went through, there's no focus on the trauma she caused. And she caused a lot.

Like, A LOT.

She contributed to Zuko's years long abuse, she controls Ty Lee through intimidation and forces her into service, she pimps Mai out to get Zuko in line (although, it seemed like Mai was into it, so this might be iffy?). Then there's everything she did to the Gaang. All of this before you dig into what she was like before she joined the hunt for Aang. This is my own personal theory, and not one I necessarily expect to see in fics, but I'm 100% sure Azula did a lot of damage even before she left the Fire Nation. Intentionally or not (and tbh, it probably wasn't intentional), it's pretty heavily implied in the show that Azula has a body count off screen, and those bodies were friendly fire (i.e. Azula has killed and injured people from the Fire Nation). Beyond that, Azula seemed to enjoy what she did. I know she was victim of abuse, but she was also an abuser. Just like a bully being abused at home doesn't automatically absolve them of being a bully, Azula has a lot to answer for. None of the people she harmed are required to welcome her in with open arms.

How I would approach a transformative arc for Azula would be to tell the story over a span of years- well into her adulthood, and probably into middle age. The only one from the original show she would have a firm relationship with is Zuko, and mostly because he insists on seeing her every so often. Katara, who is obviously married to him, would tolerate Azula for Zuko's sake, but things would be cold between them, and Katara would understandably want to keep her children at a distance. Iroh would forgive her, but wouldn't be super inclined to force a connection between him and his niece. He would support Zuko's efforts, though. Azula wouldn't live in Caldera. If she doesn't end up imprisoned after the war, I think she would end up semi-exiled to one of the outer islands of the Fire Nation. There she would build a new life for herself, and rediscover her humanity. She might come to regret more of her actions, but I think ultimately she'd end up absolving herself and not really care about making amends to anyone outside of Zuko (and maybe Iroh. Maybe).

Personally, I'm not super interested in punishing Azula, but I want there to be heavy consequences for her actions. I want the validity of people not wanting her in their lives to be acknowledged. I want to see how she navigates her life post war after losing everyone and everything. I want to see her carving out a place for herself that doesn't have much, if anything, to do with her life in Caldera. If she can make amends to one or two people from her past, that's fine, but it needs to take into consideration that she hurt them, and not just be them accepting her back because she "wasn't herself", because she was herself when she hurt them. I want Azula's redemption arc to be messy and imperfect and incomplete.

Well, either that, or I want to see her go full power trip and try to take power from her brother in an epic and tragic final battle between the siblings, because who doesn't like Shakespearean drama with elemental magic, amirite?

[juniperhillpatient]

"Imprisoned" re-watch takeaways :)

KATARA MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 (that's the most important takeaway)

This episode is....dark. It feels very bleak & hopeless for the majority of the episode. That old man turning on Haru after Haru saves his life is pretty damn dark & the majority of the episode seems to be about how hopeless everything is in this war, & how the Fire Nation has already won. This just makes the hopeful ending all that much more powerful. The gaang really are spreading tiny seeds of hope along their journey <3

Haru is one of those characters I can't find anything to latch onto about him per se but I do enjoy him when he's onscreen. Hopefully, that makes sense. Sidenote, I'm always saying the only valid guy to ship Katara with is Jet, & I mostly stand by that but I guess Katru can have some rights. As a treat. Also, I've been informed the ship's name is Harutara, but I like the sound of Katru better.

Also, we got "that lemur, he's earth bending!" this episode, which is notable :)

Aang is a little annoying when they're making the plan to fake Katara's earth bending, it's definitely an odd time to not pay attention. But I forgive him because later he makes that nifty tornado that shoots coal :D

Seriously though, Katara immediately going to GET HERSELF imprisoned when she realizes Haru has been taken is SO badass. Also just - the way she refuses to leave the prisoners behind - this episode is where we're introduced to Katara's best trait - she never gives up on people. She is dangerously idealistic but unlike a lot of idealistic people, she's not afraid to back her arguments up, no matter how dark shit gets. She says at the beginning that Haru should fight back, & that might come across shitty & tone-deaf from someone else. But not Katara. This bitch straight up chooses to get imprisoned & then REFUSES to escape without helping the other prisoners, putting herself in direct danger to help.

I just love Katara so much

The prison break itself is SO good & I loved Haru throwing that first little rock. Earth benders fighting fire benders with COAL is just a great way to fuck shit up. Also, I am gonna be a little annoying about this throughout my entire rewatch but uh, some of those Fire Nation guards definitely died in that battle. There's even the line at the end where the warden goes "I can't swim" & Haru's dad responds "that's okay, I hear cowards float" before dropping him in the ocean. Annnnnd Aang doesn't bat an eye? I'm not actually on team "Aang should've killed Ozai," like, at all, to be clear. BUT I can't help but get nitpicky when shows aren't consistent about no-kill rules. I'm just as annoying about all the humans who die in the crossfire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I re-watch knowing how annoying she is about Faith committing one little accidental murder. I just feel like if you're gonna get upset about murder, you should be consistent about it, that's all.

Side rant aside, I think this was a really good episode. Every episode where Katara gets to put her foot down & be slightly insane but also incredibly badass is SO good.

Also, if I were doing a jerk point competition of my own, Zuko would get 800 for picking up Katara's necklace. No, he doesn't know that it was her mother's. Yes, he's just tracking the Avatar like a good antagonist. But because it's personal to Katara & I'm not obligated to be fair, I'm gonna say he needs to get his Fire Nation hands off her necklace >:(

Alright, that's all for that episode :)

TLDR: I'm a Katara stan first & a human second

[weaponizedducks]

hi welcome to my blog! i'm di, or dia

this is just a random collection of thoughts and rants and my hyperfixations are constantly changing like every minute soo

about me: she/her, bi, english nerd, i am a minor so nothing weird please, i thrive on human interaction send me asks

my qualifications: musical enjoyer (bmc and beetlejuice enthusiast), bi, avid book httyd defender, lover of weird and niche things, blue and red gay veteran, florence and the machine stan first human second, og x men stan (adding this for when x men is added to the mcu and the apocalypse comes) ect. will update as it goes on

current hyperfixation: no idea gang im tweaking

if you want to read (shitty) analysis of things thats under blue analyses things, if ur here about merlin thats blue rewatches merlin, anything else is untagged i think

also on the analysis thing i love it so so much, its almost always rambly and long but if you want me to analyse or talk about something pls pls send me an ask and i would love to!!! (if i know the fandom)

other blogs: @blues-writings my writing blog where i promote any fics i've written but until i crack down and finish my WIPs that blog is a ghostland.

DNI: terfs, homophobes, sexists, anyone who hates katara or korra, proshippers

(note: if anyone likes the shapeshifter books, httyd books, kotlc, the school for good and evil, sinclairs mysteries, be more chill, nevermoor, butterfly soup, please please please talk to me about them because i am starved for content)

(second note: every fandom tagged below is something i am interested in that i cba to add here. interact about them!!)

[ap-kinda-lit]

Zuko when anyone (like a bigoted member of his council) disrespects Katara

[thirteenfortythreeforty]

um no nuance november: atla edition?

this was all over tiktok and ive seen some people do it here so...here we go...some of these are probably hot takes, you have been warned.

most of the fandom seems to forget that katara is a young girl with deep-seated trauma that she never truly dealt with. cut the racism and misogyny. shes not the “token straight,” shes not annoying, shes not technically the “mom friend,” she deserves a better life (and life partner) than she was given in canon.

katara’s comment to sokka during the southern raiders was harsh don’t get me wrong, but it was justified 

most of my issues with characters fall on their writing...not the characters themselves if that makes any sense

bakoda should have been canon

why didn’t katara, toph and zuko reunite in korra (they’re literally my three faves i was robbed, plus they all just seem sad...)

mako is hot

if we are talking combat, earth is the strongest element...toph can genuinely just drop a rock on someone and its over

republic city is absolutely unnecessary and frankly, stupid. capitalist propaganda :) why would you american-ize this series? im baffled

i just hope that azula got therapy and some love...her actions were outrageous but as far as we know she was conditioned by ozai to just be a pawn

katoph = best duo (friendship and fighting) in the whole show

katara is not a sister to zuko...that role is for toph

(as much as i love firelord zuko) zuko should have waited at least a few years to actually assume the position but even then i truly think he would hate it and institute a democracy

the humor did not land in for me in lok (list of tried and failed for me is meelo, bumi, bolin, varrick, eska...)

i truly did not feel any strong emotional attachment to any lok character (causing me to be pretty indifferent to most of the entirely new editions to the show)

(i think the large cast did not allow for much development for really anyone, save for korra tenzin and maybe lin?, leaving them all to be pretty two dimensional.)

more rambling under the cut (its more shippy you have been warned...)

the fanon portrayal of aang is a glorified version of the canon (you can criticize your faves!)

aang being a “bad” father in canon fits his (poorly written) character 

TAANG IS GENIUS (it makes me like aang more :)

i dont think maiko is healthy...at all (same for bolin and eska and zhu li and varrick) - bottom line: bryke cant write relationships

building on that it felt weird for zuko to change throughout book 3 for him only to revert back to his old life in the finale by staying with mai

sokka and suki are the only valid canon couple

also why is everyone so quick to be “oh suki is bi!!” but so much of this fandom feels the need to say “no, katara is the token straight she can’t be bi...” it seems so silly to say but katara hatred is so normalized in this fandom and it makes me so upset. literally everyone would be fucking dead if it werent for her i love my queen fuck y’all

kanna would not have gone back to pakku

MAILEE BITCHES

why are most zukka shippers women...food for thought

peace by taylor swift is a zutara song...zukkas dont even try to claim that

zutara works...it just seems like antis forget that these two characters (even if it is not explicitly romantic in atla) have such a strong bond. they listen, care, and look out for one another...and bottom line they see each other as equals. (also watch the second half of tsr again...they play off each other and work so well together)

this fandom demonizes zutara shippers for absolutely no reason while completely disregarding actual problematic issues that occur throughout the rest of the fandom

suki in the comics is practically a katara stand in

makorra felt like an attempt to appease the zutara shippers (it failed immensely)

should we love kuvira as much as we do? should we be shipping her with korra...?

in canon it does make sense that sokka could have been suyin’s father, but where did suki go? were they hinting that zuko and suki had izumi, meaning that sokka and suki broke up? but WHY? they were literally perfect with absolutely no complication in canon...tldr: post-atla is so ridiculous

i think this feels salty...and i went on for too long...i needed to get that out...um...

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

you guys remember when katara fully blew up a fucking factory and cosplayed a spirit in order to help a random town despite it possibly derailing her mission and putting her in danger?

she was so real for that

[mmnemi]

still can't wrap my head around the fact that is canon that zuko is mean to EVERYONE but katara and she's the only one who can tease him without making him mad

[visit-ba-sing-se]

If you ever wonder about the impact that Aang had, just remember that before he defeated Ozai, most people did not know what it was like to live in peace

[whoracefitz]

Wow i just love how Jet has an elite list of exes. Zuko? Immaculate....but KATARA? The master waterbender?? The selfless woman who puts everyone else before her and would beat your ass if your disrespectful and heal you right after.

actually if katara blinks in someone’s direction they need to consider themselves lucky bc wow. What do you do with all that greatness in front of you? You better take notes tf.

[tuiyla]

Every time Katara mentions her mother

Alright so I know it’s meant to be lighthearted and fun but I have this aversion to people making a meme out of Katara mentioning her dead mom. It might seem like she brings it up a lot or perhaps in random situations, which isn’t true but also if it was, it’s no reason to make a meme out of it. And yes, okay, people aren’t actually making fun of a 14 year old’s trauma and Katara is a fictional character anyway but it still grinds my gears. What did it for me was when people were making fun of it in the context of bringing up Kya’s death being Katara’s reaction to the Air Nomad genocide.

So anyway, I’m petty and I immensely dislike how this downplays the importance and nuance of this storyline so I did what any reasonable adult would do and counted the amount of times Katara mentions her mother. It’s ten, plus a few mentions of the necklace in the context of being her “mother’s necklace”. The number jumps to 14 if we consider every instance in “The Southern Raiders” as an individual one, and, I mean, it is an episode about Kya so I really think we should allow it but whatever, make it 14.

Fourteen times, so it sure isn’t every single episode, huh? But hey, let’s take it further and consider the context of each and every mention. It’s what Katara would want.

101 The Boy in the Iceberg: Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!

Katara brings up Kya in the context of what their family life has been since her death. This is the very first time Kya is mentioned and it sets up how her absence affected both Katara and Sokka.

103 The Southern Air Temple: They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people. //  I know you're upset and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom.

Katara is talking to Aang, first in the context of trying to prepare him for what might be waiting at his old home. Second, she’s trying to show empathy, not by equating their pain but by showing an understanding of what he might be feeling and connecting with him through loss and trauma. It’s a recurring theme with Katara and establishing trust.

106 Imprisoned: I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her. //  My mother's necklace! It's gone!

Like with Aang, Katara connects with Haru based on a similar loss. The second time around it’s Haru who brings up Katara’s mom, which is when Katara realizes that her nacklace is gone.

109 The Waterbending Scroll: My mother's necklace!

This isn’t counted in the tally since it’s not actually Kya Katara mentions, just the necklace, but it’s here for the sake of completionism.

110 Jet: Sokka and I lost our mother to the Fire Nation.

Once again, Katara connects with Jet by sharing this part of her past with him. She feels an immediate connection to those who share a similar trauma. This time around, she sees that people sometimes betray that trust. Jet also brings up Kya later when trying to convince Sokka that murder is good, actually.

118 The Waterbending Master: My grandmother gave my mother this necklace and my mother passed it down to me.

So technically Katara is once again talking primarily about the necklace and doesn’t even mention her mother being gone but I still included it in the tally.

204 The Swamp: I thought I saw Mom.

Unsurprisingly, the swamp haunts Katara with her mother’s memory.

220 The Crossroads of the Destiny: The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.

Katara brings up her mother’s death as a way to demonstrate to Zuko just how awful the Fire Nation had been. Little did she know but this would be another instance of connection based on similar experiences and betrayed trust.

302 The Headband: Aang: Uh ... your mom's necklace. Katara: Oh, oh, yeah. I guess it's pretty obviously Water Tribe, isn't it?

Once again, it’s more about the necklace and it’s someone else bringing it up.

307 The Runaway: Sokka: When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life.

For the first and only time in the series, it is Sokka who mentions Kya unprompted. Not included in the official tally (but a beautiful scene that demonstrates just how well the show handled this very human trauma).

308 The Puppetmaster: We completely understand. We lost our mother in a raid.

What do you know, Katara connects to someone based on a shared experience, this time that being the genocide of the Southern Water Tribe. It’s a different connection than with people like Jet, even more personal in a way. Hama later mentions Kya again as she betrays Katara’s trust. Almost like we have a theme here, huh.

316 The Southern Raiders: Or, I know! You could bring my mother back!

This is only the first time Katara mentions Kya out of five total in this episode, but like I said, the whole episode is about Kya’s death. It’s the culmination of the arc set up in the first episode.

321 Sozin’s Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang: Hakoda: And your mother would be proud, too.

The very last time Kya is mentioned goes is by Hakoda. It’s closure for him, Sokka, and Katara.

So that’s it. And even if it was twice as many instances, it all informs and builds one of the most emotional arcs of the series. It’s never random, never emotionally inappropriate, and always in service of something greater. Okay I’m done now.

[anatrik]

[sjoongki]

Your pinned post of Katara is sooooo badass!!!

awhhh thank you so much 🥰❤️❤️❤️ i had a lot of fun making it :’) 

[that-was-anticlimactic]

Top 5 atla or lok episodes? :)

ooooooo okay okay okay...

1. sokka's master (without a doubt. what can i say? i'm a sokka stan first, human being second)

2. the runaway (yeah imma be completely real: katara and toph friendship is everything and more to me. i love it so much)

3. the fortune teller (this episode is just. it's great. sokka is a mood, aang is just trying his best, and katara is just vibing and good for her. definitely a comfort episode!)

4. boiling rock 1 & 2 (yeah... it's the zukka shipper in me + suki is incredible in these episodes + like it's great platonic sokka and zuko content too and watching them support each other and also watching them be absolute idiots without suki... amazing)

5. ember island players & the beach (i cannot choose between the two because like... zuko kicks a table in the beach so like, i can't not put that episode in my top five for that reason + it's a great fire nation kids episode with great development and it's genuinely funny and heartfelt and ember island players just always makes me laugh and smile and just makes me happy and it's cute and pure... until the end ig lol)

honorable mentions in no particular order: the cave of two lovers, the warriors of kyoshi, jet, day of the black sun part one: the invasion, & bitter work :)

[momsopposed2theoccult]

Katara stans blaming their entire conflict on Toph and Toph stans blaming their entire conflict on Katara (and I say this as a Toph enthusiast first and a human second as well as someone who also really loves Katara) are both missing the entire point of why that conflict even happened in the first place.

[ap-kinda-lit]

I am so sick and tired of antis acting like Katara is Aang’s property. She’s a fucking person. She has no obligation to him, she doesn’t owe him anything just because he has feelings for her. She is more than allowed to have a life outside of him, to do things that don’t concern him at all, to be selfish, to have a problem with Aang, and to have bonds with other people. Shut tf up and reevaluate your twisted view on what a healthy relationship and love is.

[thirteenfortythreeforty]

society if katara was the avatar