#not Iroh friendly

[zuko-always-lies]

I didn't include the Siege of Ba Sing Se, because that's supposed to be "pre-redemption" Iroh, while everything else is supposed to be "post-redemption" Iroh.

And yes, Iroh did everything I listed here. If you have a problem, take it up with the writers, not me.

Please reblog for more votes!

[blorboazula]

random Azutara snippets #001

(aka short Azutara scenes & dialogues that get stuck in my head)

Sometimes, just sometimes, Katara thinks about the days when they were on opposite sides. When blue fire was the sight of nightmares and not a beautiful, soothing sight. And that's when she's, again, shocked by the fact they're the same age. (Really, for a long time, she thought Azula was older. Zuko's older crazy sister.)

She doesn't like to think about it, about the homicide attempts, much less about that day.

Oh, there's also the fact Azula casually drops fucked up moments like they were nothing. Like now, which gets Katara staring at her, blinking like it'll change what Azula just said.

"What?"

"The Fire Nation is an archipelago, so I had no trouble swimming and-"

"I've seen how large those warships are, he threw you overboard?"

"It's fine," yes, of course, that's the girl that saved herself from certain death with a hairpin. "I was more worried about the lightning. I was certain it'd blow my arm off."

"Tui and La, how are you even alive?"

Azula opens her mouth to say something, probably in the lines of Firebenders are hard to kill – yes, she noticed, the siblings seem to be unkillable (Katara isn't complaining, she likes having them around). But Katara throws herself at her, wrapping her arms around her waist and squeezing her until Azula makes a noise that is definitely not very royal-like.

(The more she learns, the harder it is to think Iroh is even a decent human being.

War is war, but family is family and wasn't Iroh meant to be the good brother?)

Azula pets her head, awkwardly – awkward little princess: "You can unhand me now."

"No."

The princess only sighs, resigned to yet another one of Katara's "I'm glad you're alive" hugs

[discordiansamba]

Iroh and Zuko sitting down after the siege of the north, after it's been revealed that Zuko is the Avatar, and just... talking about everything that's happened since he was banished. Iroh wants to know everything, if his nephew is willing to share it with him. And in turn, he assures him that he has no intention of doing him harm- the only reason he wanted to track down the Avatar was to teach him.

And what a delight! Now he can teach his nephew! But he is curious about his other teachers. It could not have been easy to find them.

So Zuko tells Iroh. He tells him about accidentally airbending. He tells him about going to the Southern Air Temple and getting trained by the spirit of one of the monks. That gives Iroh pause, certainly- his nephew's airbending teacher was a spirit? He would have thought they were perhaps a friend or a relative of the young airbender who accompanies him.

Zuko moves on, and tells him about the swampbenders. That certainly gives Iroh quite the pause. He can't really picture his nephew living in a swamp for over half a year, but he must have. It would... certainly explain a few things. His waterbending master, Huu sounds like a wise man that he might get along with, given the chance.

Zuko continues, telling him about his time living with the sandbenders in the Si Wong desert. He also cannot picture his nephew adapting to their lifestyle, but clearly his nephew has changed quite a bit since Iroh last saw him. He gets quite angry when he hears that the son of his sandbending master tried to sell him out to Earth Kingdom authorities, but at the very least, Zuko escaped.

He tells him about how he met Aang and Toph. How he ended up in the Northern Water Tribe. Once the whole story is done, Iroh embraces his nephew. He has been through so much, and Iroh is so, so proud of him. He only wishes he could have been there with him. From now on, he fully intends to be.

[ash-and-starlight]

.

[zukosdualdao]

i don’t like it when people call zuko stupid/dumb, etc. for many of the same reasons other people don’t (it’s generally ableist to make fun of people for lack of intelligence, but it makes me especially uncomfortable when part of the abuse zuko has suffered is specifically being treated like he is by ozai (and azula, who obviously learned this behavior from her father and seems to delight in being able to manipulate zuko so well when that is, of course, an effect of trauma.)

but i ALSO don’t like it because it doesn’t actually match up with what we see about him in the show. zuko, at multiple points, is able to logically assess information and react accordingly, use his bending and general combat skills and environment creatively, and when he is actively trying to grow and change, gets a lot better at emotional insight with both himself and others.

(moments that come to mind re: some of these abilities are when he’s looking for iroh in the first winter solstice episode, one of his crew members sees the spot where iroh was taken and assumes there was a landslide, and zuko is immediately like “no, land doesn’t slide uphill, he was taken by earthbenders.” also i think about him sliding the table between him and jet before their epic sword fight all the time. LOVE a character who is resourceful in their fight sequences. another is in boiling rock when they escape the prison but still need to get off the island, and zuko stops and deduces that azula must have gotten there somehow and then quickly finds the airship that they use for the rest of their escape.)

i think part of this idea comes from iroh telling zuko he doesn’t think things through and zuko later taking that to heart, and there is an element of truth to this, but i think it’s actually somewhat of an oversimplification on iroh’s part (and therefore in common fandom interpretation of zuko as a character.)

the thing is, some of the things zuko does that people deem ‘stupid’ are actually just showcasing that the tunnel vision he succumbs to when desperate makes him not only cause harm to others, but himself, because he becomes actively careless about his own life and general well-being.

for instance, a scene i see people attribute to zuko not being smart a lot is when he breaks into the nwt by following the turtle seals under frozen pathways. and i disagree! this is simultaneously really clever (zuko is #very good at breaking and entering) and very reckless. (he is very desperate by this point, even moreso than he has been all season, because his resources have pretty much vanished, with zhao having his ship exploded and commandeering his crew.)

and the line he has here shows that he actually is thinking about the logical consequences of this potentially very dangerous course of action: “they have to be coming up for air somewhere.” it’s not that he doesn’t think about what could happen next, it’s that to him, the risk seems worth the reward. and when he gets desperate enough, he decides his options are “figure it out as i go” or “die trying.”

and like. that is, to me, a more interesting trait, and also deeply concerning! i don’t read zuko as actively suicidal in the show canon — the comics are a whole different beast we won’t talk about today — but it is certainly risky, self-destructive behavior that is like… just to the left of passive suicidal ideation.

that’s also why i think iroh probably knows he’s oversimplifying a little in his assessment of zuko not thinking things through. because it’s a lot easier to tell himself that the nephew he loves dearly just isn’t thinking things through than actively devaluing his own safety to this degree. it’s also part of why he becomes so adamantly, deeply concerned (to the point of sounding almost stern) when zuko despairs that “there’s no hope at all” in book two. because once you give up on there being any hope left in the world or in your own life, it becomes a lot easier for those semi-passive self-destructive behaviors to become a lot more active.

[falderaletcetera]

listen. I don't just love father brown because I first saw it while ill with the flu or because it's consistently kind to the outcast in a way that has reviewers calling it Too Woke, obviously a vote in its favour. or because the recurring thief character is very pretty to watch. though those are significant parts of it.

I love it because after eight seasons father brown sits down with the village drunk (a munitions expert in the war, has a soft spot for the parish secretary, name of harold or blind harry) to find out why he gave a murder suspect a false alibi and harry explains to him, calm as you like, that seeing the life leave someone's eyes changes a person, that it's what he reckons brought father brown to his faith, that it's what drove him to drink, and he didn't see that shadow in the guy the police are chasing this time. and father brown, rather than justifying or correcting or dodging or doubting him, says he knows how unjust the situation is. that he got something good out of the horrors of the war. that harry really didn't.

it is not a perfect show and yes I have problems with it but gosh, this is a character who's largely used for comedic beats, albeit kindly, and a scene like this isn't out of place at all but it still takes my breath away. we could've been left with this as subtext, y'know? I hadn't even put together that his alcoholism must have been trauma. but instead harry tells us this directly, tells us it's about guilt, that that's something he shares with father brown, who is competent and so often cheerful and I can't even imagine when he was younger, and it's a moment of such unexpected humanity and respect. and it's such a strange thing to see these characters side by side like that.

the scene ends with father brown calling harry a good man, and harry denying it ("they was only young lads" "so were we, harold. so were we.") and the two them sharing a drink as father brown gets a bit watery-eyed and I'm crying too over my nice cosy 'this is a concerning number of murders for a sleepy english village' show and just. hi. what. ow.

I also haven't recovered from the episode that turned into a heist halfway through but frankly I'm only mentioning that because I don't know how to wrap up a post like this. (it was good though. there were two separate honeypots, three if you count the impromptu replacement, one character terrible at grifting and one unexpectedly great at it, and, somehow, a con within a con. it was really very fun. get a show that can do both, I guess?)

[mandareeboo]

I am kinda curious now on what your very specific Azula AU is about.

It's basically my excuse to dress Azula up as an Earth Kingdom butch and play a lot of pai sho with Iroh.

[peony-pearl]

*rolls around in my ‘Iroh and Azula were perfect parallels’ feels*

[irresistiibles]

@ivehurtpeople asked: [TEXT] - are you still alive? (iroh to toph)

toph → pretty cool old man : still alive! do you really think anything in that maze could kill me? toph → pretty cool old man : i should be asking you that. i mean it was three weeks in there. are you knees built for that anymore?

[ididgettomeetyou]

not sorry if you hate these two your wrong..

[avrelia]

"Aang is not mature enough for romantic relationships..."

Nobody of the Gaang and adjacent characters of AtLA are mature enough for romantic relationships. There are days I am not sure Uncle Iroh is mature enough for a romantic relationship.

That doesn’t mean nobody should engage in any kind of romantic relationships without passing a maturity test first. Or even reaching a set age. In the morning of the eighteenth birthday humans don’t get all the adult knowledge downloaded in their brains.

Relationships – romantic, familial, friendly and everything in between are a part of the human experience. They happen not because we are mature enough, but because we are human. We just deal with them differently and often better when we mature enough.

And yes, I remember that they are fictional characters, and nothing “just happens” to them. But they are not in a morality play that’s supposed to give viewers pre-chewed, easily digestible answers to all the problems in a sweet wholesome wrapper.

Inside their world they are alive, and that’s why we love them so much. Writers throw problems and feelings, and people, and accidents at them and we watch how they deal with them, mature or not.

They are not mature enough to fight in a war, let alone be responsible for stopping it, yet they do, and we cheer them up and feel heartbroken for them. They are not mature enough to have romantic relationships, yet they fall in love and try to figure out their way about it.

[zuko-always-lies]

What if Iroh cared about Azula instead of Zuko?

This is an AU idea that I've never seen done, probably because it requires looking at Iroh in a certain way, but what if Iroh favored the other fire sibling? He's still a very deeply flawed individual with the same tendency toward favoritism typical in the royal family and he's still basically incapable of caring about more than one kid, but, for whatever reason, the kid he cares about is Azula. Maybe he had a daughter who died young and Azula reminds him of her. Maybe he sees too much of Ozai in Zuko. Maybe Azula reminds himself, in a positive way. Maybe he drank some "respect women" juice. Maybe Iroh is impressed with Azula's ability and intelligence and thinks she's the only leader with the potential to lead the Fire Nation into a new and better age. Maybe Azula reminds Iroh of Lu Ten since she drinks his favored brand of tea. What matters is that Iroh is very deeply attached to Azula and sees Zuko as primarily an obstacle to her.

All of this doesn't mean that Azula is necessarily super nice or respectful of Iroh or anything like that. After all, canon Zuko was often a disrespectful jerk to Iroh, and Iroh didn't care. Likewise, this AU's Iroh is willing to ignore or excuse it when Azula is a jerk to him, along with a lot of her other bad behavior.

This is not a "role-swap" AU between Zuko and Azula. Azula is not getting exiled (unless things go very radically different than canon in unexpected ways). This is not an AU about Iroh accompanying Azula in exile. Zuko might still get exiled, but if he does Iroh would just wish has hands of the situation and stay as close to his beloved Azula as he can. This is an AU about Iroh being as much as a guide and companion and mentor to Azula as he can.

The thing is that, again, Iroh has all of his canonical flaws as an uncle, mentor, and person, he just favors Azula. He's still distracted by his hedonistic desires. He still refuses to seriously confront his brother or to protect Azula and Zuko from him. He's still extremely vague and non-assertive in his guidance for her. He still idealizes her in ways that dehumanize her. Iroh still wishes to live vicariously through her. He still stokes her rivalry with Zuko, when it suits his purposes. He still keeps changing his expectations for Azula without clear communication. He's still unwilling to have a five minute "this is why imperialism is bad" talk. Everything that makes people call canon Iroh "a good uncle" is still present, it's just directed at Azula instead of Zuko.

And yes, this means that Azula, Iroh, and Ozai are probably all hanging around the palace at the same time, and Ozai might have opinions about Iroh's relationship with Azula and even try to disrupt it. On the other hand, Ozai seems like a very lazy parent with zero time for or interest in day to day parenting, so maybe not. Maybe, as long as Iroh knows his place, Ozai's OK with Iroh doing all the hard work of actually raising Azula and crafting her into an ideal heir and weapon, as long as he doesn't pass on too much failure to her.

Thoughts?

[blorboazula]

I remember seeing an au idea post that goes on the likes of "because Sozin tried to hunt all the dragons, his bloodline was cursed and every female (born or married into it) shifts into a dragon when they're too emotional".

I wrote a little fic with that concept in mind and I have no idea who made the original post and don't know how to find it so I can credit it for the idea.

[hazashiovo]

G’day! Could I bother you for some Zuko hcs of him falling for a girl next door kind of girl during his time in ba sing se? If you still write for atla. Or with bolin if u don’t! (Can’t remember the name of his fav place rip)? Thank you so much!

I do write for everything that's on my list, especially Zuko ;)

Zuko x fem reader

When zuko first settled in Ba Sing Se with his uncle,he didn't expect an oddly friendly girl to take initiative in talking to him.

His cold demeanor didn't push you away from him,it really got him wondering, especially since he has a pretty bad image of himself.

Once he started leaving his guard down around you,that's when his feelings started to accumulate.

You would come to his uncle's tea shop almost daily, leaving a small present for Zuko. Maybe some rice cakes, or some cute little drawings. Just a way to show your affection for the boy.

You never asked about his scar,you didn't want to make him uncomfortable by bringing back unfortunate memories.

And he really appreciated that, he doesn't really like nosey people.

His uncle ships you two. Iroh also gives Zuko dating advice about how to talk to you,how to act and Zuko pretends he hates it,but secretly absorbs single thing Iroh says.

Each time you went out with Zuko was an amazing experience, learning new things about him.

Now let's say one day you didn't visit Zuko at all,which got him worried.

The next day same,wich is unusual,if you'd be busy the day before,you would visit and tell him,it's just something you do.

So he gets suspicious,and comes to your house to see if you're okay,only for your mother to tell him you've been attacked while making a delivery, everything you had was stolen.

Your parents would welcome Zuko inside to come see you.

He enters your room to see you lay in bed,hurt,but nothing very serious,just some cuts and bruises over your arms and so. He's bad at comforting,but he makes sure to tell you it's not your fault.3

And he is FERAL. After talking to you,Zuko asks your parents who did it,in which they say some raiders who have been bothering your family for a long time.

Safe to say,you never had problems with those people again.

He was close to you while you were recovering, bringing you your favorite tea,and claiming his uncle made him do it.(Which is bulshit).

Soon enough you got back to your usual routine,even spending more time with Zuko.

After you got better,he asked you out. Deciding that it's useless to waste more time on dwelling,and that he has to speak his heart.

After he confessed,you jumped on him, kissing him like there's no tomorrow.

And like that,he started dating you. He felt like never before,you gave him this warm feeling in his chest,and when you were not around he would be gloomy.

Iroh was so happy Zuko found himself a nice lady. And since then, it was unusual for you to be seen without Zuko,or him without you.

At one point in your relationship,Zuko spoke about the burn mark on his face,and what his father did you him.

Yes, he told you he's the prince of the fire nation,but he also told you he left that in the past. You trusted him with your life,and you made sure to let him know it.

He was so happy that you didn't judge him for what he did,and that made him trust you a lot.

.

.

My first Zuko request!

[princessmotif]

it's really interesting to me how you can tell the level of respect azula has for mai, ty lee, and zuko through how she directs them within the confines of the fire nation's expectations of them all.

azula is someone who really values and upholds the fire nation's expectations of conformity, especially in regards to court. she herself plays her part as she's expected to. she plays by the rules her father sets for her, parrots his beliefs, renames omashu "new ozai" for her father, tasks herself with finding the avatar (zuko's fool's errand) and conquering ba sing se (iroh's greatest military failure), and is consequently ultimately hurt and betrayed when her father punishes her despite this by refusing to let her come with him during sozin's comet and giving her a meaningless title to mollify her. to her, playing by the rules that are set out for them within the fire nation, whether spoken or not, is essential, and to not play by them results in punishment. this mindset was already instilled in her before zuko's agni kai, but it was no doubt fully solidified by witnessing her brother pay for his inability to play the role he was assigned as a dutiful son and strong heir.

as a result of this, zuko is the most obvious liability of the fire nation kids in azula's eyes. he has already failed to abide by the rules once and is likely to do so again if she doesn't stop him from doing so. make no mistake, azula does not want zuko to stumble again. she manipulates him into coming home despite his wavering resolve by reminding him of what he could have and what he's always wanted (their father's respect, his honor and birthright restored, the return of a feeling of normalcy/familiarity) because she loves her brother and wants him to play the role he's supposed to successfully. if she didn't love him, she could easily have taken him home as a prisoner like her father wanted her to initially or killed him. i won't even entertain the notion that she brought him home specifically to take the heat if the avatar wasn't really dead; that is a deeply stupid thing for her to do which would result in her judgment and honor being called into serious question as she's the one who vouched that zuko killed the avatar which would be a failure in her role as the dutiful daughter and honorable princess.

so azula appeals to zuko's weaknesses to get him home because she loves him. but she still doesn't respect him because of his prior failings, so she tries to keep him on the straight and narrow within the confines of their roles in the fire nation. she confronts him about visiting their disgraced uncle in prison, tells him his actions could be misconstrued (although she knows exactly how zuko means them; she wants to remind him to play his part or suffer the consequences once more). she shuts him up in war council meetings by speaking over him so that he won't say something that would result in their father punishing him once more. she attempts to prompt him into letting her know if they should be worried about the avatar still, although he doesn't confide in her since he doesn't trust her and instead takes matters into his own hands by hiring combustion man. azula does not threaten to harm zuko herself if he fails in his role; she instead manipulates him with her knowledge of his personality and reminds him of the harm that their father will cause him if he fails.

ty lee is another problem azula thinks she needs to solve. once more, she loves ty lee, but ty lee has shown azula that she is not a reliable person to play her role as she's meant to. azula believes ty lee's failure to be even worse than zuko's, though. zuko said the wrong thing in a war council meeting because he didn't understand the rules; ty lee understood the rules, and she chose to run away anyway. this is not just ty lee being oblivious, but her choosing to intentionally disobey the rules.

so when azula comes to collect ty lee to resume playing her role, azula is initially friendly, perhaps giving ty lee the benefit of the doubt that she might have wised up, but the moment ty lee demonstrates that she is still refusing to play by the rules azula is convinced they all have to play by, azula turns to manipulations and threats of harm to pull ty lee back into line. like with zuko, azula loves ty lee but does not respect her. she knows that ty lee will not play the role society says she must unless azula coerces her into doing so. unlike with zuko, ty lee does not require multiple corrections from azula. the threat of harm once is enough for ty lee to return to her duties. noticeably, ty lee also manipulates azula a lot when she does so, showcasing her awareness of the roles they're all playing and her ability to play with the best of them.

but mai is different from zuko and ty lee. azula both loves and respects mai. yes, azula has to go out of her way to collect mai as well, but mai has moved to omashu with her parents. she never stopped playing her role. azula does not believe mai would ever stop. she respects mai's intelligence in a way she doesn't with zuko and ty lee because mai respects the rules of the game. so azula not only never utilizes threats or manipulation with mai, but she treats mai as almost an equal and allows mai to treat her as an equal. she asks mai to come along with her, and mai agrees. she promotes mai to a position of power above that of her parents, and mai obliges. she says that the trade of bumi for tom-tom is unfair, and mai calls it off. but it's not only when mai plays by the rules of the game that azula respects her and does not threaten or manipulate her to keep her in line. even when mai blatantly disobeys azula's orders, azula allows it. even when mai screams at her during the beach, azula allows it. mai knows that azula will allow it, too. she openly scoffs at the idea of azula lightningbending at her. why? because azula respects mai and her judgment. she sees mai as an equal because mai plays the game as well as azula does, including her moments of rebellion (this is undoubtedly what azula disobeying ozai by bringing zuko home under false pretenses and directly lying to him is, albeit a much higher stake rebellion than mai's refusal to search the sewers).

notably, while azula declares her intent to kill zuko after he commits treason and tells ozai that she lied to him, even when mai and ty lee take the ultimate step out of line with their roles, she doesn't allow them to be executed. i say "allow" here because she's not the fire lord, so it wouldn't be her personal decree to have them executed but rather her father's. they committed high treason. they not only aided and abetted in a prison break and the escape of some of the fire nation's most wanted but physically attacked a member of the royal family and the crown princess at that. this is a crime that's punishable by death, and yet mai and ty lee stay in their cells in boiling rock, seemingly unharmed given mai's unscathed appearance at the end of sozin's comet. ozai would have no reason to not simply execute them, but azula would since she loves them. it's entirely possible, she was on some level holding onto hope that she could coach them back into line again somehow.

but why does she hope to rehabilitate or at least preserve her friends while aiming to kill zuko? it's pretty simple: when zuko failed to play his part he did so in a way that meant azula was punished for having failed in her role as the dutiful daughter and honorable princess because she chose to play a different role that she gained nothing from playing: the role of zuko's sister. so in azula's eyes, zuko went out of his way to not only lapse in his role as the dutiful son and strong heir but to purposefully fail to play the role of her brother in a way he knew would cause her harm. do mai and ty lee also fail to play the roles of her friends while instead revealing their loyalty to someone else entirely when they betray her? yes, but them doing so does not result in ozai's wrath.

[thegurlwhoisntthere]

Collector thinking they have to be more friendly and forgiving to Belos and Luz going “actually no” has the same energy as Zuko thinking he should get along better with his sister and Uncle Iroh going “no she’s crazy and needs to go down”