#nah bc zk is just so beautiful to me

[enbyzutara]

I was thinking about something: The Agni Kai scene (Lightning scene/Sacrifice scene). And I know... There's already so many essays (metas) and analyses about this scene, because we can have so many interpretations about Zuko's sacrifice and Zuko & Katara dynamic. And I'm actually not here to write a whole new and long essay about this, I just wanna talk about something that I've noticed.

Many people say: “Oh, but Zuko would've sacrificed himself for anyone from the gAnng” And I completely agree with this, Zuko is a kind and selfless person, he would, in fact, do this for anyone, but he didn't... And “Oh, this scene isn't a romantic scene” and even though I personally disagree with this, I won't try to convince anyone that “Wow Zuko did this because he was in love with her” because honestly? Nor do I think that at that moment in the narrative Zuko was helplessly in love with Katara and he did that because he romantically loved her and blablabla... What I want to say is that, you can view this scene as a non-romantic one, as you can view this scene as a romantic one, but one thing, that all of us should agree is that, what Zuko did for her, for Katara, sacrificing himself for her, was a gesture of love.

“Wait a minute... but didn't you just say 3 lines ago that this scene can be viewed as a non-romantic one?”Yes. But the love that I'm referring to here, is a love between friends, between people who care for each other, so that's why I said this scene can be read as a non-romantic scene AND/OR a romantic scene. Because even though you don't view Zutara in a romantic perspective, you cannot deny that Zuko did consider Katara as his friend, and that he holds her as one of his dear people. So you can still view the sacrifice scene as a platonic scene, and there’s nothing wrong with that, because even if you view this scene as a platonic scene, Zuko's sacrifice continues to be a gesture of love.

And it's not only me who thinks sacrifice is a gesture of love.

[An Avatar Comic Panel: Hakoda, Katara's father is looking at his daughter, and he's kinda smiling, and he's saying to Katara: “So you know that the right kind of love -- the kind that's real, that sacrifices -- that kind of love doesn't blind you. It actually helps you see.”]

Yeah... I didn't think I needed to say this, but: Canonically, sacrifice is viewed as a gesture of love. And Hakoda's quote can be read as romantic or not, but the meaning that sacrifice is a gesture of love, continues nonetheless.

And OMG. Look at this:

“the kind (of love) that's real, that sacrifices.”

“that kind of love doesn't blind you. It actually helps you see.”

Anyways...

And not only this is canon, look at this:

[A picture from the book “Legacy of the Fire Nation”, which is a Canon material, and the important quote that we gonna use from this image is: “At peace, you grew up. And then, your heart burned brightest when you protected Katara”.]

So... omg... Canonically, when Zuko jumped in front of a lightning bolt for Katara, his heart burned brightest. OMGG. And it's okay if you don't view this as a romantic thing, you can still think of this again as a platonic thing, but again: this quote proves, that the Sacrifice Scene, is a gesture of love, and this gesture of love in question, made Zuko's heart burn.

(And there's nothing wrong as well to view this as a romantic quote, since this quote in question can parallel with another quote in the show, which is a quote that is canonically romantic: “Love is brightest in the dark”.)

So, in conclusion:

Sacrifice is canonically viewed as a gesture of love & Zuko's heart canonically burned brightest when he protected (sacrificed himself for) Katara.

Again, you can view all of this as a platonic thing, that's your opinion, but please, just don't try to erase the meaning of this act & scene just because you're an anti-ZK or something like this. And there is no problem at all to view all of this as a romantic thing, so I truly don't understand why people fight Zutara Shippers when they say that the Agni Kai scene is a romantic one. Like… yikes, the lightning scene can be viewed as a romantic scene (please… It's literally a slow motion scene, and we get sad ass violins, a zoom in on Zuko’s desperate face and a zoom in on Katara’s horrified face watching Zuko sacrifices himself for her, and then the first perspectives that we have after this scene is that both of them are trying to reach out for each other… yeah..). So please stop being annoying and let people enjoy things.