#yeah it was to teach zuko that actions have consequences

[longing-for-rain]

what exactly is Aang's toxic masculinity that you're talking about? there are no examples of such behavior on his part in the show. he is not an ideal person, he is a child who sometimes behaved incorrectly, just like all the other children in the show (Katara, Toph, Sokka), and this is normal.

in addition, we see how he regrets some of his wrong actions and gets better, while Zuko does not regret his toxic behavior, doesn't apologize and doesn't face the consequences of his behavior (racist jokes about Aang, demands that Katara forgive him as if he has the right to her forgiveness, an attack on Aang to "teach him a lesson" and many other things).

Hi anon, thanks for the ask! This is a very good illustration of what I was talking about in this post when I mentioned that I feel toxic men are overlooked more often for appearing “nice” than they are for being conventionally attractive.

No examples of toxic behavior in the show? What do you call this then?

I know what I (and the law) call it:

But you see, he’s “nice” right? This is just a misbehaved child, as you put it? Yah, no. He knew better and still did it because he was possessive; this whole interaction started because he was jealous that an actress playing Katara was interested in men other than him. And the show proceeded to frame the situation in a way that made Aang sympathetic, despite being the aggressor and the one behaving irrationally. How much more “toxically masculine” can you get than that? But he put on a flower crown once so we’re supposed to think he’s a soft uwu feminine boi (even though he was absolutely enraged that a female actress played him).

I also find it very interesting that you describe Katara and Sokka as “children” while Zuko is omitted from that list despite being the same age. Are you admitting you agree he’s more mature, or are you admitting that you hold him to different standards?

But, anyways. You asked about toxic behavior on Aang’s part, which I’ll get further into now that the most egregious example is out of the way.

Let’s break down what you consider unforgivably toxic behavior on Zuko’s part and compare it to Aang’s behavior in similar situations.

1. “Racist” jokes

I’m guessing this is made with reference to the “Air Temple preschool” comment. How exactly is this racist? In context, Aang is the one trying to force his beliefs on others, and Zuko makes this comment to a) tell him to back off and b) point out that Aang is, in fact, a child who doesn’t have any business telling Katara how to feel.

This point is particularly interesting to me, because it implies that the simple fact that Zuko doesn’t agree with the philosophy of Aang’s culture makes him racist. By this logic, Aang is also racist against Katara’s culture, because he clearly disagrees with her philosophy and is openly telling her that his culture is morally virtuous over hers. And well. That’s even more believable considering Aang’s previous reactions to Water Tribe culture.

Ah, yes. Playing with a cultural artifact like it’s a toy because you were upset about not being the center of attention for once, and telling everyone how disgusting you think cultural food is, what great ways to show the supposed love of your life how much you respect her culture!

I know your response to this point would be something like “uwu but he’s a kid he didn’t knowww” ok well. The same logic can be applied to any alleged “racism” on Zuko’s part.

2. “Demanding” forgiveness

Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?

Ah, yes. How demanding of him. He’s clearly so self-centered and only thinking about his own values and agenda here.

It’s not like he…

…told his friend how she’s allowed to process her grief and try to impose his own morals…

…or demanded to know if his crush liked him back, wouldn’t accept “no” as an answer, and forced a kiss on her…

…or told an abuse victim he was wrong to want to kill his abusive father for trying to commit a genocide…

…oh, um. Yeah. Sorry, but after actually watching the show it’s very clear to me which character doesn’t seem to regret or see the flaws in any of his actions at the end of the show, which is when all of these examples took place.

3. Training in the finale

“Attacking Aang to teach him a lesson” … wow, that’s a very dishonest way of phrasing that situation. I’m impressed, I have to say. I’ve seen lots of dumb takes from Aang stans over the years but this is a new one.

Well, luckily I actually watched the scene in context, so my reaction was the same as all the other characters’ reactions in canon when they learned the context behind this “attack”:

They agree with him. Yeah. Obviously, when nobody is taking training seriously when the world is about to literally go up in flames, you might need to do something to get their attention.

“But it was dangerous!” you might argue. Well… yeah. When magic and bending is in the equation, training in the Avatar universe has been shown to be somewhat dangerous at times. As an example, from this very same episode, Toph very nearly smashed Sokka with a giant flaming rock. That was way closer to hurting someone than Zuko was in this incident. If you’re going to fault characters for making their training exercises too dangerous, I guess Toph is mega cancelled.

Now back to Aang. What was his reaction in this situation? How did he react to the end of the world being days away? He ran away with absolutely no plan. Just like he did at the very beginning of the show.

I mean, think about it. This is a critical flaw (and toxic trait) in Aang that is literally never addressed, because he starts and ends the show the exact same way: he’s faced with a problem, he runs away from it, then he’s saved by an in-universe equivalent of an Act of God. Wowie, such great character development. Not fixing your core flaw and having a mythical plot device materialize into existence to solve your problems for you. Aang’s whole arc is a big blah, because the writing fails to address any of his flaws or have him meaningfully question any of his values.

Meanwhile, Zuko has consistently been a fan favorite because he’s the opposite. His flaws are meaningfully addressed, he does admit he’s wrong and fix his flaws, and his character shows a critically acclaimed change throughout the show. His arc is written so well that despite being a cartoon character, Zuko is widely considered the poster child for a good redemption arc across all forms of media.

So anyways, miss me with the double standards… there is a reason why Zuko is the fan favorite, and it’s not just his abs 🔥

[pastabrand]

Sometimes I lay awake at night thinking about how fragmented Zuko and Azula are because of their family. With all the constant abuse for literally all their lives, I’m not surprised they turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms (Zuko with anger to hide any perceptions of ‘weakness’ and Azula perfectionism to an extreme degree). They were raised to believe that love was conditional, something to be earned through a rigid set of rules and expectations rather than something they should always have no matter what. How often did Zuko work himself past exhaustion to achieve even a scrap of Ozai’s affection? How much did Azula unintentionally harm herself to stay in his good graces? This can extend to people like Mai/Ty Lee and Iroh. Did Azula ever obsess over her actions to ensure Mai and Ty Lee would still like her before adapting to fear tactics instead? Did Zuko ever hide in the ship to prevent Iroh from seeing him do something that Ozai would’ve punished him for? And most importantly, do they ever learn to overcome this? I know the show has Zuko on the path to recovery, but does he ever actually recover? Does he ever understand, in its entirety, that he has Iroh’s unconditional love? Or, an even better question, does Iroh actually give Zuko unconditional love? Who’s to say that Iroh wouldn’t try to move to someone like Azula should he see that Zuko is inadequate to rule the Fire Nation. Iroh was raised in the same family and same standards after all. There’s nothing to indicate that he’s any different since Zuko’s never had competition for Iroh’s favor.

[muertawrites]

Two Halves - Chapter Six (Zuko x Reader)

Part Five

Word Count: 2,100

Author’s Note: Wow it’s been a clusterfuck this week. I’ve been exhausted and unable to concentrate for the past few days, and then today when I tried to release this chapter for patrons it turned out that all of Cloudflare was down, so something like 12 million sites worldwide were just completely unreachable. I plan to force myself into going to bed early tonight so I can actually get myself back on track and be productive over the weekend (I have two requests I want to publish so they don’t get pushed back into all my ideas for next month, and I also want to look into other ad providers outside of Adsense so I can start saving up money for my eventual move out of the country). I promise that next week will be less of a bummer chapter. Here’s hoping sometime we’ll actually catch a fookin break, m8. 

~ Muerta

You stand in the portrait hall, awaiting its newest addition with Rina; she grips your arm, clapping giddily as the towering scroll unfurls to reveal the painted image of you and Zuko beside one another. 

In it, you're seated to his left side, mirroring the generations of other wedding portraits that line the massive hall; what's different is not only the color and style of your robes, but the fact that Zuko’s hand rests on your shoulder, yours clasped firmly within it. When he did so, the royal historian who was present instructed that the Firelord and lady were never depicted touching one another - you'd placed your hand over his in a unified stance of defiance. You'd also been asked to remove your betrothal necklace for the portrait, and had told the historian in a few choice words exactly why it would be staying on; you still feel the rush in your veins of hearing Zuko mumble “that's my girl” under his breath.

“Oh, it's gorgeous!” Rina exclaims, bouncing excitedly on her toes. “The Firelord looks so handsome in a Water Tribe silhouette; I'm so glad you did this!”

You laugh, hugging her by the arm that's hooked with your own and unable to deny the fact that the Southern style tunic you had the seamstress make for him does provide a nice view of his body, highlighting more of his broad shoulders and sturdy midriff than the billow of traditional Fire Nation robes. It also pairs well with his chest plate, making him look every part the skilled warrior he is instead of some aristocratic monarch ruling only by privilege. Beside him, his fingers locked between yours, your gaze steely and knowing behind layers of ink, you look like a weapon instead of just a wife; you start to think there might be much more reason Hakoda arranged your alliance with Zuko than just forming a concrete tie between your nations. 

“My lady,” one of the palace messengers addresses you, bowing respectfully as he approaches. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Advisors Sung and Qiang request an audience with you in their offices.” 

You and Rina look between each other, Rina’s eyebrows raised in confusion. 

“Just me?” you ask. “Should I also send for the Firelord?” 

“No, your majesty,” the messenger says. “The councilmen asked that only you be sent for.” 

You nod, bowing to the messenger in thanks before taking Rina’s arm once more, walking in pace with her to the administrative wing of the palace. 

“They’re sure to send me out of the room,” Rina tells you, speaking in a hushed, conspiratorial tone. “I’m unsure about Advisor Sung, but Qiang has never trusted servants with any kind of information; he used to work information security under Firelord Ozai until he defected after Prince Zuko’s banishment.” 

“If he won’t allow you in the room, you’ll wait at the door,” you state. “Whether he likes it or not, I still have more power than he does.” 

When you arrive at the international affairs office, Qiang and Sung are seated around a small table, primed in wait for you. You make a point of not bowing in return when they do so upon your announcement, instead choosing to simply nod in greeting. Sung smiles at you in his polite, pleasant way as you sit, while Qiang eyes you with a cold, almost uncertain stare. 

“My lady,” Sung welcomes you, “I apologize for bringing you here on such short notice, but there are urgent matters that must be discussed. As you know, Advisor Qiang has taken the liberty of guiding me as I adjust to my new position as the head of international affairs, and we’ve been mulling over the matter of your wedding portrait for the past few days.” 

“More specifically,” Qiang interjects, “we’ve been discussing the stunt you pulled in deciding your wardrobe. Many people across the Fire Nation are not pleased to see their Firelord in Water Tribe garments.” 

“It was simply a tunic,” you calmly defend yourself. “The only other change was to the color. Has anyone taken issue with the fact that I wore a Water Tribe dress under a Fire Nation robe?” 

You glance between the two men, expecting the question to be entirely rhetorical - you know the answer already, but as you guessed, they’re either too cowardly or too correct to say it aloud. 

“We understand your intentions,” Sung replies after a beat, “but we’re uncertain the execution of your ideas is as tactful as it should be; I know I needn’t remind you that we’re still living in very unstable times as of the end of the war.” 

“I understand your concern, but I don’t think the nature of our mixed heritage is the most pressing issue at hand,” you say. “The world experienced a century of cruelty under Fire Nation imperialism - it’s important that we reform our militant image in every way we can. Dressing me like a traditional Firelady when I very clearly am not one would have upset far more people than just our citizens.”

“The Fire Nation is still very powerful,” Advisor Qiang argues, “even with the abolition of many of the Earth Kingdom colonies. Upsetting our people could have consequences that reach beyond the mainland’s borders.” 

His words are spat at you almost like a threat. You tilt your chin a little higher, meeting his gaze without faltering. 

“What do you suggest, then?” you ask. 

“We want to keep watch on you,” Qiang tells you. “Our aids will accompany you as you gain more freedom from the Firelord and guide you to ensure that your actions reflect the image the nation wants to see from their leader.” 

“This sounds like something Advisor Yong should oversee,” you evenly contest. “I'm certain my husband would like to have his say, as well.” 

“We simply wanted to present the idea to you,” Advisor Sung cuts in. “We thought it might give you more peace of mind to have someone beside you; teach you how to properly present yourself to the people of the Fire Nation.” 

“You can send your aids to keep tabs on me,” you reply, “but I am still your superior. Firelord Zuko has been more than an adequate mentor. I don't need another one.” 

“Do you suggest we have you answer to the Firelord on our behalf, then?” Advisor Qiang asks, sounding skeptical. 

“I'm stating that I don't answer to anyone,” you respond. “Zuko is my equal. You're the one born and raised in the Fire Nation - you should understand that better than anyone.” 

Qiang fixes you with the chilled, empty glare you noticed your first day in the council’s meeting chambers. You keep your own expression blank, refusing to avert your eyes from their lock on his. 

“My lady,” Advisor Sung addresses you, “I promise you, we mean no offense. We truly have your best intentions at heart; we understand that the culture of the Fire Nation is very different from that of the Southern Water Tribe, and only want to keep you safe in the wake of Advisor Fen’s passing. We believe taking extra care in how you interact with our people is the only way to move forward.” 

“Alright,” you say, standing abruptly. “I'd like some hands-on training, then. I need fabric to build my wardrobe with, and want to explore my new home. Gather your aids - I’m taking them to the market.” 

To say that people are shocked to see the Firelady out amongst common folk is an understatement. 

You travel in a rather large group, flanked not only by Rina, Iroh, and Toph, but three of Qiang and Sung’s aids and a small army of royal guards. People flee when you approach, some of them going as far as to fall to their knees before you, bowing out of fear; each time, you offer your hand and help them back to their feet, explaining that you're only out to do some shopping. Once more onlookers notice your kind, gentle handling of those who cross your path, panic turns to interest, many people staring at you as you pass or calling out to you, saying hello; a little girl manages to get past the guards, scurrying out of her father’s flower shop and through their legs, stopping in front of you with an adorably clumsy bow to present you with a dandelion she picked from between the cracks in the cobblestone street. 

“Why, thank you!” you exclaim, daintily taking the flower from her chubby little hand and bowing in return. “It's very beautiful, just like you.”

You twist the dandelion into your hair before walking the girl back to her father, who apologizes and thanks you profusely; you assure him it's no trouble. 

“How very touching,” Iroh says to you once you continue on your way. “I wonder what the aids will tell their superiors.” 

You huff, smirking at him out of the corner of your eye. 

“Probably that I don't inspire enough fear,” you mock. “I thought the dictatorship ended when my dear father-in-law was thrown in prison.” 

“The memories of his reign are still very fresh,” Iroh explains. “A brute hand is all much of the Fire Nation knows in a leader; it is hard to bring change.” 

“I still don't like our little entourage,” Toph remarks, loud enough that the men trailing you can certainly hear. “Aang never travels with guards, and he's got a way bigger target on his head than you do.” 

“Yeah, but he can also bend everything,” you remind her. “I've never even held a spear.” 

“I'm blind and I still kick hella ass,” Toph replies. “You don't have an excuse.”

You roll your eyes, grinning as you shove her sideways so she stumbles; she laughs, coming back at you with a hard punch to the boob and blowing a raspberry into your face. You can't help but cackle, taking her into a headlock and scruffing up her hair. 

“My lady,” one of the aids pipes up, her nose wrinkled in disdain, “this isn't proper etiquette for a Fire Nation queen.” 

“Oh, spirits forbid anybody be human,” Toph groans. “The war is over and this is a leisure trip. People have to get used to the Firelady acting like a person instead of a government puppet.” 

Rina takes hold of your arm, leaning in close to your ear. 

“I like her,” she whispers. “Can we ask her to stay?” 

You laugh, shaking your head.

“I wish,” you mumble back, “but Toph sort of just does what she wants.” 

You choose a small, cozy-looking shop to buy fabrics from, everyone in the group (save for the aids and guards, who have no choice but to wait outside) making easy, pleasant conversation with the owners; they're a relatively young couple from Omashu, who came to the Fire Nation after the war to trade fabrics that weren't widely available in either country, wanting to bring more options to each place. Their shop is filled with soft cottons and delicately embroidered patterns, many laced with shimmering metals and gems only found in the Earth Kingdom; you purchase a few yards of almost everything, leaving them a contact to the palace so that they can come and discuss expanding their trade routes. Everyone is pleased except for the aids, who look on with disapproving glares.  

When you return to the palace, you find not only Zuko awaiting you, but Qiang and Sung as well; you hardly acknowledge the two councilmen, instead going straight to Zuko’s side. 

“Rina sent me a message about your meeting this morning,” he murmurs. “I told Advisor Yong, too. They should have come to both of us.” 

You nod, taking him by the arm and leading him away from the larger group, out into an open corridor surrounding a courtyard that sits off the entrance hall of the palace’s administrative wing. 

“There has to be something we can do, right?” you wonder. “We’re above them. We have the final say in everything.” 

Zuko sighs, taking your hands within his and holding you close to him, chests pressed together. 

“We’re supposed to,” he says. “But my grandfather taught my father and sister how to manipulate their way into power. Lots of other government officials learned it, too, and it hasn’t completely gone away.” 

Advisor Qiang passes through on the other side of the courtyard, eyeing you with his signature frigid gaze as Advisor Sung and the aids trail behind him. You look away from him, focusing only on Zuko. 

“We have to keep the people on our side,” you murmur. “The government may be able to manipulate itself into submission, but they're no match for everyone else. The world beat them once - we can beat them again.” 

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[seyaryminamoto]

I also don't understand the mixed messages in ATLA. Zuko has a 'pure heart and unquestionable honor' yet he wants to put Azula in her place and takes advantage of her slipping without the slightest hesitation? Iroh is even worse helping random middle aged robbers and giving Zuko endless chances but says his 14 year old niece is crazy and evil. The show wants us to worship Zuko and Iroh and then makes them do this shit and I don't understand how mainstream fandom totally overlooks this??

Hmm, well.... Iroh’s attempt to help the middle-aged robber is technically spun eventually into him giving the man guidance for a better life, which, frankly, isn’t a bad idea. Only, it’s as usual another unclear case of what happens next: did the guy really turn his life around? Did he hurt a ton of people before meeting Iroh, and then proceeded not to make amends for it? Was that his very first mugging attempt and Iroh saved him from a real life of crime, or was Iroh just one more attempted victim out of many? Going back to the transcript, the guy is supposed to be a confused man who wants to be a masseuse but nobody believes in him until Iroh sits down with him and talks him out of the criminal lifestyle. The implication is Iroh realized the guy didn’t truly want to be a criminal and that’s why he taught him what he did... so, while I agree with most of what you’ve said, this particular element shouldn’t be removed from context. Iroh has a lot of questionable behaviors, but at least in this specific case he tried to reform the guy afterwards, even if he did try to teach him how to “properly mug” someone first. 

Meanwhile, there’s someone like Mongke, from the Rough Rhinos, who served under Iroh back during the war and is outright shown being responsible for the burning of Jet’s village :’D Yes, I’d say Mongke should be held responsible for his own actions, but that a man capable of that kind of atrocity was once in Iroh’s service kind of suggests Iroh was up to that sort of stuff too just fine once, and that he may have taught a lot of worse things to people (like Mongke) than what he taught that mugger from Ba Sing Se... only for those implications to go lost in the show’s hectic plot and then proceed to be ignored by the bulk of the fandom. Yes, Iroh is supposed to have changed his ways, but that doesn’t mean he ought to be exempt from all responsibility of his past actions, especially when he was an active commanding officer in the middle of a war, trampling over whole cultures far more violently than Azula herself did.

And yeah, the fandom will always excuse and dismiss this kind of thing because of the good Zuko and Iroh did, which yes, should be acknowledged, but if they don’t make genuine amends for their mistakes, especially the ones that affected real people, it can feel like they’re being given free passes that they may not deserve. I’ve written a lot of posts about this in the past, maybe that’s why you’re here... if not, then maybe I can direct you to my analysis over Zuko’s behavior through the show and why I can’t see him as favorably as a lot of people do. Outright, this analyzes some key aspects of his character back in Book 1, certain elements that coded him as a nicer person than what appeared on the surface, and how those elements can be linked to some of his behavior in Book 3... only to find that some of those elements have outright been corrupted or disappeared altogether, and instead of being a kind, pure-hearted hero, Zuko is actually far more ruthless and merciless than his biggest fans ever want to admit.

I recently received a completely uncalled for anon outright claiming Azula doesn’t deserve love because she’s “insane”, and that Ursa was right to “disown” her (which begs the question if the anon even knows what the word stands for since Ursa never did such a thing): mainstream fandom has a lot of people who have zero compassion for a character like Azula, moral purists who believe their favorite characters can do no wrong and everyone else’s favorite characters (especially when they get in the way of whatever they ship) need to go to hell. So that results in them erasing Iroh and Zuko’s mistakes if it means they can further put down Azula, and it’s a behavior the show itself promotes by featuring Iroh and Zuko treating Azula as they do without ever having them slow down to ponder if maybe they shouldn’t be so cruel to their relative. So, why do people react this way to Iroh? Here’s a rather lengthy answer I gave once about that. And why do people react this way over Zuko? Here’s another answer I gave regarding how there’s a major portion of the fandom that absolutely FAILS to understand Zuko’s character and projects a ton of wrong interpretations onto his character just to feel better about loving him.

In short, ATLA is slightly more complex than current day fandoms like their content to be. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that both Zuko and Iroh made mistakes they never made up for, because it’s true. Just so, there’s nothing wrong with saying Azula could have been treated with more kindness, no matter if she wouldn’t have reacted any better for it at first. Downplaying Zuko and Iroh’s mistakes, while constantly dialing up Azula’s own, is the most straight-forward hypocrisy there is :’D None of these three characters are inherently good or bad, they make choices that send them down different paths, and those choices can be harmful for others even when made for the “greater good”: that’s complex storytelling. That’s something that requires an analytical, capable brain to understand. Sometimes people make mistakes and don’t correct them at all. Sometimes they try to correct them and fail. And that’s simply part of life. Consequences for those mistakes are inevitable, and if those consequences are merely people like you and I pointing out that Iroh and Zuko aren’t the purest, cutest, nicest human beings in the Avatarverse, well, so be it. They’re still getting the better end of all the deals, considering they’re constantly excused by the fandom and the show for most everything they ever did, even the mistakes they show no genuine remorse for.

[callioope]

Okay, well, apparently now I have to START OVER from scratch because the tumblr new post option doesn’t remember the text you already entered when you RESIZE YOUR BROWSER

*insert Zuko tantrum here*

ANYWAYS let me try to remember what I was saying before I lost like five or six paragraphs of thoughts.

Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. The main characters were interesting and well-written, including most of the villains, and it always felt like their actions and feelings were understandable, even when they were very obviously doing something that wasn’t good for them or those around them. (Which is not to say they were justified — just that you could understand why they felt, thought, or did something.) 

On that note, it also felt like their choices and actions drove the plot, and that’s generally something I’m trying to integrate more into my own writing. It’s easy to plan a story by saying the plot is a list of things that happen, but what I want is characters to shape the plot. 

What do they want? What are they able to achieve in the direction of that want? How might their flaws get in the way? How might the wants and actions of other characters get in their way? Etc. 

I mean, now that I’m writing it here, it seems pretty basic and obvious as far as storytelling goes, but I don’t think it always is to some writers and there’s something about writing it out and framing it in a particular way that helps me.

While we’re on the subject of character, I think most of the main characters had really satisfying arcs. Aang is very silly in the beginning of the show (and he’s a kid, of course he is), and he grows up a lot over the series (which is actually kind of sad, but apparently his burden. I was going to say the burden of the Avatar, but I don’t think that’s even true, especially considering they don’t usually reveal who the Avatar is until they reach 16 — Aang being an exception). Obviously Zuko’s arc is the most dramatic, and I’ll get to that later, but I knew where that was going and I loved every moment of it. 

Speaking of knowing Zuko’s arc ahead of time — I should disclaim that I very rarely shied away from spoilers when they showed up on my dash, so I had a pretty good idea of the main plot points of the show even if I didn’t know every detail. And while I may not have been able to state a lot of what I’d read off the top of my head, very frequently as I was watching, I’d go “Oh YEAH, I remember reading about this.” 

One final preliminary thought before we dive into things, but also, I had no idea how to pronounce many of the characters’ names! I’d only ever read them before. Particular ones I got wrong: Sokka (thought it rhymes with Ahsoka), Toph (thought it rhymes with loaf), and Mai (thought it rhymes with pie). Not important but just something I found strangely jarring. Toph was weird in particular because it sounded like her parents called her “Tough” but then everyone else said her name as though it rhymes with “off”. 

OKAY BUT ONWARDS

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Book 1

Sokka

Sokka became a fast favorite! Despite his major misogyny issues, which were quickly addressed and something he grew past, I really sympathized with him early on. He has to put up with a lot! I mean, Aang is really silly and playful in the beginning and Katara often joins in. I don’t remember specific examples but if I recall, in the beginning (and actually even towards the end), he’s incredibly goal-focused and Aang keeps diverting their plans. 

I’ve been told that the overall fandom of Sokka is that he’s a big dummy, and I find this baffling. Yes, he often has goofy ideas, but then often his creativity becomes incredibly helpful! He reminds me of Ron Weasley. He may not be booksmart, but he’s creative and strategic. And if you know me at all you know I love Ron Weasley. #WeasleyIsOurKing #RonWeasleyProtectionSquad

Some favorite Sokka quotes from early on: 

“Oh, what, I’m not good enough to kidnap?”

“our friend is the avatar and i bet he'll fetch more on the black market”

Man, Sokka ended up having two love interests in this season! First Suki, and by the way, I was always confused about whether or not Suki was officially “part” of the crew based on the gifs and posts I saw. Sometimes seemed like she wasn’t, sometimes not. Obviously I understand why that is now, but anyways. Also I think for some reason I thought it was Toph who became the moon rather than Princess Yue. LOL! Toph/Sokka isn’t even canon but I guess I’ve seen that ship around enough I thought it was. More on Toph/Sokka later, since Toph isn’t in Book 1.

Aang

Aang is a Lot. I’ve already touched on how he’s incredibly silly and playful and the tone of the show initially is pretty goofy. It’s a kid’s show! That’s to be expected. But I really felt overly conscious of the fact that it was a kid’s show and I don’t think I would have kept watching if so many people hadn’t already raved about the show. 

On the other hand, any character who decided to yell at a literal kid for “turning his back on the world” infuriated me. Like, yes, okay, that is how Aang feels already and perhaps arguably what happened, but he’s still a child, and that’s not fair to put that burden on him. I mean considering that it’s eventually revealed that the monks told Aang he was the Avatar four years earlier than usual, why would they even assume that he knew the consequences? 

Katara

I did like the plot with Katara being frustrated at how quickly Aang picks up waterbending. I’ve been on both sides of that situation, and it sucks for both people. I appreciated them spending some time exploring it. 

I hated Master Pakku. He only agreed to teach Katara after he saw she was his former fiance’s granddaughter, not because he had any kind of revelation that he was Wrong in his thinking. At least, that was my interpretation of that moment. Are there any other girls in his class after he agrees to teach Katara? I don’t remember seeing any. 

Should I talk about shipping yet? I’m under the impression that can be a very touchy subject! Well, all I’ll say is this: seemed pretty heavy-handed in this season that Aang/Katara was the intended final ship. 

I don’t have another subsection so we’ll just toss this in under Katara cuz why not: Jet is something else. SMH. I appreciate them including a character like that here, but man was he annoying. (And I know he’s supposed to be, so congratulations, effect achieved.)

Zuko!!! & Iroh

Uncle Iroh is amazing. He diverts their journey to buy a new lotus piece for his game, only to find it had been in his sleeve all along! And I really just adore how much Iroh cares about his nephew. From the beginning it’s clear that Iroh is a better father to Zuko. 

This ended up continuing through the show, but I appreciated how Zuko’s story tended to parallel the story of another character (usually Aang although not always). Specifically how we learn Aang and Zuko’s backstory in the same episode. 

Speaking of Zuko’s backstory, this is something I appreciate as a Well Done Redemption arc, and I know for a fact that I’ve already read posts about this but I just want to express my own appreciation for it. His redemption arc works because they show the seeds of good that always existed within him. We, as the audience, see that very early on. We see him stand up to his father’s war council and stand up for the troops they were going to sacrifice. This is *integral* to his redemption working. It’s not the only part of his story that makes it work, but that redemption arc wouldn’t have worked as well without it. 

Finally on that subject, my reaction to his Agni Kai with his father: “I knew Zuko’s father was Awful, and I think I even knew he was the one who burned him, but this? This is crazy. PS: pretty sure we just saw a cameo of Azula smirking in the background!”

This was getting long, so I decided to break it into parts for each book/season.

[lucy-dont-give-a-fuck]

More toughts on Fem!Zuko/Usha AU Part 2

Check the part 1 here 

Now on the other point on interest, how Uncle Iroh’s masculinity affects Usha here.

First we have to talk about how Usha see man, marriage and submission. She is raised not as a possible heir but mostly to be betrothed an ally as she is considered non qualified as her sister that could have a chance to be the next firelord. She is trained on modals and households to be a good wife and, as I said before, diplomacy and politics to make this union the most profitable. She accepts her role and believes her marriage would be as her parents. We tend to emulate our parents for better or worse, most our relationships mirror our parents, so Usha probably accepted that marriages aren’t happy or loving, even more in royalty, you’ll be lucky if you marry someone who is apathic towards you. She accepts that men are violent, physically and psychologically, being Uncle Iroh, and probably Lu Ten, the exception to the rule. As long as she complies to Ozai’s standards and becomes useful she can may be loved. Again as she doesn’t want Azula to suffer from Ozai’s abuse she might think that is her duty as the firstborn and as princess to carry on with it as her mother did.

On a side note, Ozai’s burning her might be a new level of physical abuse, which could be one of the reasons why Usha feels the way she does, she has become accustomed to Ozai’s abuse and trying to not anger or disappoint him, she has learn more or less how to tip toe around so this is a physical proof that she has wronged her father that she has stepped out of line in a terrible way, it is in the end her fault.

So with all this information we can start theorize about her time before finding aang on the warship. I’m gonna use @kyuuley drabbles as a base because they are amazing and I think they illustrate very well what could have been Usha’s time on the ship. We can take three things out of them: 1) the first six months, give it or take, she behaved like a perfect little princess 2) She doesn’t seem afraid of the crew and 3) there are women on the ship.

We can theorize that this three connect and influence Usha’s behavior. First, we can say that the first six months she was on one hand still recovering emotionally and physically of her injuries and on the other she might have been testing the waters, she was out of her element, she had to adapt to her new normality and being instructed in diplomacy and politics, she probably was observing and waiting to learn what to do or how to act. During this observations she could have notice that the crew was easy going and even respectful of the women on board, that combined with her status could have make her feel, if not safe, in charge. 

Combined with her emotional state…poor crew.

Mentioning the last point again, the women, this is, in my opinion, VERY IMPORTANT, first because feminine contention and connection, don’t try to tell me these women wouldn’t go big sis/mother hen with her, don’t try. Feminine contention and connection is very important for women development, trust in another women and seeking knowledge in another women can be very positive. On their drabble Proper Education because of a situation, Satomi, one of the women on the ship, decides the princes has the right to learn about sex, having an EXCELLENT moment when Kyo, other of the women on it, ask if they have known or not about what they were doing. Not only this is an amazing resource and interesting point to make but can illustrate how the knowledge and support of an older woman can help on our development. Now Usha would understad what certain acts are and that she has to chose if engage in them or not, being easier for her to understand and defend herself against unwanted advances.

In fewer words, Usha feels safe and in charge on the ship and is contained and supported by the crew.

This could eventually lead to her realizing that earlier that her father was abusive and that her Uncle isn’t the exception but the rule or at least that there are more many men that treat their spouses and daughters with respect and kindness, that without counting that in certain places harming your spouse and children could get you in jail or beaten.

If we wanted to apply it to relationships, yes, I’m talking about Jetko because I like this ship, It could help her to establish boundaries and recognize abusive or manipulative behaviors. Basically she wouldn’t take shit and will establish what is okay or isn’t in her eyes. Wich could put Jet in line, so no stalker behavior, or very light. He will have to work hard to get the girl. And yes, hilarity ensues.

She would get into a crisis a bit earlier than in cannon, going through the process of mourning during the first season to finish it on season two, where she can establish herself on her new life without guilt or anger, freeing Appa by her own choice and conviction without breaking down or having this breaking point earlier on her journey.

The mourning process establish the following: 1) A crisis arise, 2) Negation, 3) Anger, 4) Negotiation, 5) Depression, 6) Acceptation and finally 7) Learning

1)     The crisis: Usha begins to realize her father’s abuse wasn’t right or normal and that she didn’t deserve it

2)     Negation: She can’t accept this fact so she focus on her training and searching for the Avatar.

3)     Anger: She doesn’t make any progress wich makes her angry and later directs her anger towards the gaang when aang wakes up.

4)     Negotiation: She starts to try negotiate between what she feels, what she knows, what she has been teach and what is right. Maybe this period starts after the blue spirit, reaching its peak when she ruins Zhao’s plans and saves the spirit and Yue.

5)     Depression: It could be trigger by the fight with Azula, here it could cut even more deeply. Now she not only becomes a traitor but has to bare with the harsh truth that her father can be wrong and that her sister will gleefully chase her. She still failed. Zuko/Usha Alone will be the pinnacle of this and the possible transition to the next point.

6)     Aceptance: Usha finally starts accepting and understanding that she was abused and that it wasn’t normal nor her fault. This could intertwine with her time in Ba Sing Se, living a new life.

7)     Learning: Once she accepts the reality of her father abuse and how his actions, and by consequently the war, are wrong, she starts to learn from her experiences and decide what to do, does she wants to get involved with the war or she prefers to hide and resign to her past? Maybe one of the actions that could determine her decision could be the liberation of Appa.

On another point, something that was mentioned on the Azula’s video was “the rescue parent”, a parental figure that comes to “save” the child of the situation they are in. To Zuko his rescue parent was obviously Iroh, which repeats on this AU. Azula doesn’t have a rescue parent on the series which could be an important point here, with Usha trying to reach Azula’s and rescue her, showing her another way of being driven by what she realized and by this more maternal feeling she could develop over her. Azula would most probably reject her intents, relating them to her mother and weakness, fear is power, love is weakness, the only one who loves her is her father, her mother thought she was a monster so Usha must do the same.

So yeah, this are a “few” thoughts I had over this AU. Please check Hello Future Me videos about ATLA because they are awesome, specially this two.

[loopy777]

Hm. Lately I’ve been feeling conflicted. I would usually say that even if Azula did become good, she would still need to be punished for the horrible things she had done (being in prison is a punishment for sure). But then I would think about how that should be applied to Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. Like yeah, they did decided to be good (arguable “good” with Mai & Ty Lee) in the end, but it didn’t really erase the terrible actions that they had done. (1/2)

But I’m attached to these characters. I understood why they did they things they did, why they acted like they did, and how they become who they are. And I don’t want them to be in harms way after knowing about their past, trauma, and issues that they had to worked through. But then I’m being a hypocrite since I wasn’t the same with Azula. And if Azula got punished for her past wrongs, I suppose the others should too? I don’t know... Should they have been punished? (2/2)

This gets into the purpose of punishment in general, which turns out to be a very personal thing.

I, coming from a Catholic Christian background, don’t see any purpose to punishment beyond an attempt (and we’ll touch on this word again later) to correct bad behavior. I used to be a fairly angry little kid (Raphael was my favorite Ninja Turtle for a reason) and I liked to wish misfortune (usually destruction of property, like a car dying) on the people I was mad at. So my mom used to quote me the famous bit from St Paul’s letter to the Romans: “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” So I was always taught that trying to pay people back for their evil deeds, purely as an act of justice, is cosmically wrong. On the other hand, I was given time-outs when my behavior was bad and also told I did not have to subject myself to the company of bullies, so clearly the lesson isn’t just to let people be bad and not worry about it.

There are people and cultures, though, that demand retaliation. This is just their worldview, and leaving bad things unaddressed would be an active injustice.

Pragmatically speaking, a punishment’s value to society at large is to discourage bad behavior. You do a bad thing, you get an appropriate punishment, and so you decide you don’t want to do the bad thing again in order to avoid future punishments. Ideally, the very threat of punishment is a preventative. Punishments are scaled to the crime to prevent inflation; if every bad act merited the death penalty, then you might as well commit premeditated murder against someone you dislike instead of just calling them a rude name.

However, as I alluded to above, punishments are an attempt to prevent or correct bad behavior, but are not necessarily effective. Rewards are the opposite side of the coin, a system of encouraging good behavior. There’s all kinds of studies on these things, how effective they are, whether and how they can be mixed, the effectiveness of certain types of punishments and rewards, etc. So I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of all that here. This is just foundation for answering your question.

So, with my background in mind, I don’t see any reason why Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee should be punishment because they have already done the following things:

Admitted they were wrong.

Suffered for their bad behavior.

Attempted to redress or mitigate the consequences of their actions.

Changed themselves so that they are now, based on the recognition of the badness of their previous selves, forces for good.

Again, to bring up my Catholicism, this is exactly the process by which forgiveness of Sin is achieved (maybe minus the suffering depending on how old-school or hardcore the Catholicism is, but narratively the suffering usually makes for a better story), so as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need for punishment or hell for Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. Some people, though, might not see their experiences and changes as enough; they might want the victims to judge Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee and pronounce some form of punishment or restitution. Arguably, though, this kind of already happened, with the Kyoshi Warriors accepting Ty Lee and Aang accepting Zuko as his Firebending teacher and Suki accepting Mai as a Pai Sho opponent (hey, they can’t all be dramatized on-screen). But some people might want a formal process.

Azula, on the other hand, is keeping up her bad behavior. Now, “redemption” is another one of those words that can mean different things to different people and cultures. Going by my own definition above, Azula has not admitted that her behavior was wrong- last we saw her, she was still trying to teach Zuko that fear is more powerful than love, and she’s still delighting in petty cruelties. She has suffered, but as I noted, this part is optional and not terribly important, anyway. She has not tried to fix the harm she’s caused other people. And she has certainly not even attempted to change herself to become better- just more effective at living up to her old standards.

So, arguably, Azula thus deserves a punishment as part of her path to Redemption.

However, let’s get back to discussing the effectiveness of punishment. As I noted, Azula has suffered. What punishment is going to be worse than her experiences in the finale, being left behind by her father to stew in her paranoia until she is defeated by her enemies and loses all self-control? Is throwing her in jail going to make her better? Is scarring her going to have more of an impact than what she’s already been through?

(Of course, if she doesn’t change, then jail is certainly appropriate to keep her from harming others, which she keeps actively attempting.)

This now gets into the modern debates about crime and punishment, and that our modern criminal justice system is not particularly effective at rehabilitation. Again, there’s stuff out there to learn from, but I’m going to focus on Azula’s narrative. She can certainly experience a story where she is not actively punished but nevertheless transforms into a better person through experiences that truly teach the rewards of being a good person. Azula might more effectively and believably embrace the power of love through rehabilitative experiences instead of punishments.

But would her story be as rewarding if there’s no transformational suffering? Would we feel her Redemption has been earned?

Like I said, this gets personal. I don’t think there are solid answers, hence why my own focus for telling stories about Azula isn’t “redemption.” I think there’s interesting stories to tell about her coming into mental and emotional balance, and that’s what I focus my narratives and themes on supporting. The end result might be a Redemption Fic, but I reached it through character work rather than judgement and justice. As Gandalf once said, “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” This seems to most directly address the idea of capital punishment, but I think it speaks to the inherent lack of ‘justice’ in life. There’s no undoing bad things or crimes, so no true justice can be done. What remains is simply how we ourselves react to it all.

So I don’t know if made my philosophical case, but I at least hope I explained why Azula is currently in a different class than Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee.

I am, of course, completely ignoring that the AtLA comics consistently portray Zuko as someone who tries to murder his friends whenever he disagrees with him. Because that Zuko totally needs a time-out.

[adoranymph]

I was never the most graceful of children. Not much has changed since then, but I’d say I was far more awkward in my formative years. Especially my very early formative years. There were a couple of things I did that were very ungraceful indeed, and I’m still embarrassed still thinking about those things, wondering how stupid could I have been? Child or no. But for these perfectly human mistakes, it was enough of a reason for the rest of my elementary school classmates to pass judgement and decree that they’d make the majority of my waking school life Hell.

Fortunately for me, I had a set of loving parents (and a cat) waiting for me at home every day to escape to. And I did have friends, however, most of them were outside of my class, so it was a gamble during recess if I’d see them, and things like finding partners for in-class assignments were awkward at best.

And unfortunately, not all kids are even as lucky as that, and have absolutely no friends, and come home to family lives that are less than loving.  

They say that “living well is the best revenge”, and oftentimes I would think as a child, “Just you wait until I’m a successful writer and you have some stupid boring job”, and that would get me through one day to the next. It was one of those thoughts that even my mother encouraged, if only to make me feel better. Not a nice thing, but there were other kids hurting her baby, so I’m sure as far as she was concerned, thinking that way in private at least couldn’t do any damage. I’d like to think that it didn’t, even as I still think about those kids and at this point just wonder if they’re managing to get through our current crises okay.  

I haven’t been without my own moments of being mean, and in truth, I don’t think any of us really can say that we haven’t been. Unless we’re raised a devout, hardcore Buddhist who’s a natural at letting bygones be bygones. Indeed, if only we all  had the patience of a saint and the ability to take everything with good humor like I’ve seen the Dalai Lama do in interviews. If anyone’s the pinnacle of that kind of merciful strength in a world like ours, it’s him. 

Forgiveness is a complicated thing. It’s a big deal when we can say that we can forgive those who have wronged us. Depending on the wrong that was done however, that can factor into how easy it is to forgive. Which means sometimes it’s just impossible. 

Some might call that a shame, and for the most part, I’d agree. 

Like everything though, there are exceptions. 

Unfortunately, at times, the desire of one who’s done another wrong to be forgiven for that wrong doesn’t always come from a place of sincerity. Which means it could be fair to argue that that person’s desire to be forgiven comes from a place of selfishness, which defeats the purpose. 

At the same time, true guilt is a painful thing to bear, speaking as someone who’s felt heavy guilt as much as heavy hurt. Anything to make that feeling go away can drive anyone decent to desperation. So one of the first conundra is whether or not it’s right to seek forgiveness, if it’s more to make yourself feel better than to heal the hurt you caused another person. Not to say it can’t be both, but to forgo the latter for the former is, I really believe, missing the mark.

True desires for forgiveness only come from wanting to make the person you wronged feel better. Never mind those who try to just use it as a free pass to get away with what they’ve done, something which casts a shadow on those who want it for sincere purposes. Mostly because I think many are under the misconception that receiving forgiveness works the same way as would a Sham-Wow on their soul. Because I’ve thought that too. I think most of us have. Most of us have felt so bad about doing something terrible to someone else, we’d do anything to make that bad feeling go away.

Then there are those who would say that that bad feeling is in and of itself a punishment, hence the argument, “Haven’t I been punished enough?” But, again, the important thing is whether or not you learn from that feeling, contemplate on it, and understand why it is you feel that way, and how it is that you’ve brought it on yourself. 

Even after all that, it isn’t enough to beg for forgiveness. And forgiveness just can’t be given. Like all the best things, it has to be earned. Sincerely earned. 

I have made mention more than once before that I’m “glad” I was bullied. “Glad” isn’t really the right word though, not unless I were a glutton for punishment. More what I mean that I’m glad I was the one was bullied as opposed to the one doing the bullying, i.e., I’m glad that I had to deal with that and that dealing with that made me a stronger person, rather than get swept up in the self-esteem high that seems to come from putting another person down.

I’d like to think so, anyway. But seeing as how I’d prefer above all that to have not been bullied in the first place, nor to have ever bullied anyone (as I said, I have thrown out the occasional mean thing here and there and then regretted it, realizing I was totally not thinking when I said those things), I had to settle with what I got. Like most of us do. To this day, I think about all the torment I went through socially in elementary school, and to a lesser degree in middle school, right before my parents died and I got packed off to live elsewhere with my aunt and uncle. 

In the anime film, A Silent Voice, Shoya, a boy who mercilessly bullies, Shoko, a deaf girl in his elementary school class, is forced to taste his own medicine when he himself becomes the target of bullying after Shoko is forced to switch schools just to get away from the abuse. Abuse which includes but is not limited to: destroying at least eight pairs of her hearing aids, openly mocking the way she speaks, and little things like drenching her in hose water and throwing dirt in her face.

The film follows his own efforts to atone, and how he and Shoko manage to form a friendship and learn how to heal each other’s hurts from the past in forming that friendship. It poses questions like whether it’s selfish for Shoya to seek atonement, and when enough is enough when it comes to being punished for something you did, especially now that you’ve changed. Truly changed. For the better. 

And Shoya’s change is startling. In his elementary school days, we see him as that punk kid with whom the rest of the class is willing to along when it comes to laughs, which unfortunately includes laughs at the expense of others. Until one day when he “goes too far”, which doesn’t say much considering he was already going too far but I guess the line has to be drawn at some point, which in this case is when the teachers finally get around to getting involved.

(Which by the way, what was up with their teacher back then? That whole beleaguered jackass routine? Yeah, that didn’t exactly help matters.)

But after that, when he himself becomes the bullied, when he undergoes his own form of karmic suffering for what he’s done, he turns meek, unable to look anyone in the eye or get close to anyone. He loses old friendships, and is on the brink of suicide when he tries to make amends with Shoko, only to find himself trying to form a new friendship with her, and the from there the film plays out. 

There are people in the world I know I can never forgive. That said, those I can’t forgive are usually people I can sense would never actually bear the weight of the guilt that most ought to feel for the things they’ve done. Still, a little forgiveness goes a long way in the grand scheme of things. Thankfully, most people are feeling individuals, so while I can’t forget what they’ve done, I can forgive for the sake of their sincere desire to change their ways based on their sincere understanding of why what they did hurt me and or others. 

In stories, we have the benefit as the reader/audience of seeing both sides of a situation, the one who wronged and the one who was wronged. So, from that fourth-wall perspective, we find it at once easy and difficult to understand where the characters on both sides are coming from. 

In Avatar: the Last Airbender, there was an episode where I felt this strong confliction of emotions. It was the episode where Zuko has left his father, the Fire Lord Ozai and ruler of the Fire Nation, in order to join Aang the Avatar in defeating him and his tyranny. But given his track record with Aang and his friends, having spent the first half of the show mercilessly hunting Aang down so he can present him to Ozai and regain his place as the Fire Prince, it’s understandable that Aang and the Gang aren’t particularly keen on letting him join their group. Especially for Katara, who seems to carry the deepest wounds where both Zuko and the Fire Nation are concerned. So, even though they do need someone to teach Aang Firebending, Zuko has to work hard to get into their good graces enough in order to be accepted, and even then, there’s still some shaky ground to cover.

 Part of this is seeing how Zuko has to confront the consequences of his actions. Not just hunting Aang to the ends of the earth since the beginning of the series in order to please his father, and all the crimes against other innocents that that entailed, But also the fact that as he was starting to turn good, it seemed, towards the end of Book Two: Earth, before turning back “to the dark side”, as it were.

In the penultimate episodes of S2, he briefly gained Katara’s trust, presumably sharing with her the loss of his own mother when she broke down over the loss of her own as a casualty of this war that the Fire Nation started. Only for him to turn right around and take up his sister Azula’s offer to join her in taking Aang down in exchange for finally being allowed to come home after so many years of being banished. Just the same, it still hurt to see Zuko get turned away with so much anger when he tried to switch sides for good (in both senses of the word), especially when Katara drenched him furiously with water when he offered to be their prisoner if not a member of their group. As if we hadn’t already gotten enough of him getting kicked when he’s down in the episode “Zuko Alone”. 

Then you have Katara scoff at the idea that he’s trying to manipulate them by “making himself seem like an actual human being”. Which he wasn’t, and we know that, but we also know that to her, it must seem that way, given what happened between them last time. Still it stings, and more so when Toph tries to talk to the guy and he accidentally burns her feet when he’s startled by her, then tries to apologize and then yells, “Why am I so bad at being good?!”, which is at once piteous and hilarious. I like though that that ties into the reason that Aang finally gives into letting Zuko teach him Firebending, when Zuko admits that he too needs to learn control, so that he won’t accidentally burn people again. Aang identifies with that after that time he accidentally burnt Katara while getting too enthusiastic with his own first attempts at Firebending. I appreciate that nuance, because it’s the smallest patch of common ground to start sowing new friendship on, as it was Aang himself who wondered aloud if the two of them couldn’t have been friends, back in S1. 

Where Katara is concerned, she doesn’t really accept Zuko for a few more episodes down the line, not even after Zuko helps her brother Sokka break their father and Sokka’s girlfriend Suki out of the Boiling Rock Fire Nation prison. When everyone else seems to have accepted him, and she’s still clinging to her anger, he offers her the information on how to find the man who killed her mother as a means of appeasement. They go out together to track that man down, and Katara faces down her own demons, her desire for revenge. She realizes, after seeing how pathetic the man is, that he’d simply this small man who’d used his brief moment of power to take the life of an innocent, and what all that had amounted to. In the end, she can’t bring herself to kill him.

But it’s after that that she’s able to forgive Zuko, perhaps out of the fact that his taking her side on seeking revenge might have convinced her of the humanity inside him that was worth taking a chance on. That they do share the losses of their respective mothers in common as a result of Fire Lord Ozai and the Fire Nation’s war on the world. Unlike the ex-soldier who killed her mother, Zuko made not only a very human mistake, but one that he is genuinely, humanly sorry for. 

Zuko had to work to earn that forgiveness, and through earning it, learned from his mistake, rather than simply wore it as a badge of automatic absolvement. He absolved himself of his guilt with his own actions, and not at the will of Katara, and only after did Katara forgive him. Which led to something that, as much as part of me ships them (sort of) I don’t think gets enough credit as a beautiful hetero friendship. (Plus, I love Zuko x Mai just as much if not more. But then, nine times out of ten, I agree with the canon ships in most things.) 

Whether the initial desire for forgiveness was selfish, in the end, Zuko atoned for what he did and more, since in the climax episodes of the series he saves Katara’s life from a death bolt of lightning from his sister Azula by throwing himself in front of it. That he learned from that absolvement to be more self-sacrificing for the sake of those who are vulnerable (thankfully Katara takes Azula out right after he’s down for the count and it’s awesome). He didn’t just go back to his old habits, and was in fact able to clear that last hurtle to fully atone for everything he’s done. Pity the same can’t be said for his sister Azula, but I can set that aside for another post in future. 

In the case of Shoya and Zuko both, we see them go through moments that would make you feel for him, even though at the same time you know objectively and subjectively both that they deserve what they get coming to them. What mother wouldn’t smack someone for psychologically scarring their child, as Shoko’s mother does to Shoya in once scene? And when Shoya is first trying to reconnect with Shoko, Shoko’s little sister Yuzuru tries to keep Shoya from getting to her, just thing to look out for her. Which is totally understandable. And she’s even the one who points out that if Shoya’s just doing all this nice stuff to make himself feel better, he’s wasting his time. 

Only for Shoya to bring it back to how he still feels maybe the world would be better without him. 

As it turns out, Shoko is just as or nearly as suicidal as Shoya was at the beginning of the film. Like when they were in school, Shoko just wanted to be friends. In truth, the two of them had more in common than Shoya would have initially thought. But it was hard for him to understand that in part just because Shoko was someone with whom communication was difficult. So when Shoya finds Shoko about to jump off a balcony to her death, he manages to pull her back in the end without regard to the risk to his own life. 

From there comes an emotional wave-chain of weeping apologies and catharses. And Shoya and Shoko both come to an understanding that heretofore they hadn’t been able to reach. Once they’re able to bridge the gap between them, through a reaching out to the other, they begin to see the worth in each other’s lives, find reasons for each of them to be alive. Even before this moment, Shoya still seems to wonder if the world wouldn’t be better off without him, even after his mother’s already made him promise not to try that whole suicide thing again. 

The two of them have different reasons for wishing they were dead, and for wanting reasons to like themselves again. But those desires in and of themselves serve as common healing ground for them both. The idea of playing these themes against a girl who’s deaf is interesting in its own way, if only because when we’re addressing those with whom we disagree as well as those whom we’ve wronged but can’t understand how, or who have wronged us, it can often feel like we’re talking to those who can’t seem to hear us, even if they do actually have a working pair of ears. Which can serve as yet another block to forgiveness. 

Forgiveness as a concept is put on a pedestal it seems. That the ability to offer forgiveness grants you validation as a good person. That if you can’t, then there’s just some level of enlightenment that you have yet to reach. But, as said repeatedly above, it’s more complicated than that. There could be differences between forgiving a person, and forgiving their actions, and even vice versa, and every which way in between.

As I said, there are people and things that I can’t forgive in this world. And that I can honestly say after giving it some thought that I don’t feel bad about not being able to forgive them. Which is not to say that I wish them every ill imaginable upon them, and if I were in the very unlikely situation where they were dangling off a cliff and I was the only person who could pull them up, I’d pull them up. And that I could do that and still not forgive them I believe carries its own unique sense of morality: “I can’t forgive you or what you’ve done, but I don’t believe that you deserve to be left to die either. Not when I can save you, anyway.” 

But who knows, I could totally be talking out of my hat. 

That said, there are so many miseries that would be made less miserable if there were more forgiving people in the world. That despairing question cried into the void, when will the cycle finally be broken? I’m not sure that it can, but I think it can be broken down, and that’s starting with things like forgiveness. And to start with that, means understanding that forgiveness does not mean giving a free pass to people and their transgressions. More it should mean, “I am willing to give you a chance as a human being, because I am a human being too.” 

To forgive is to be willing to open one’s heart to someone who has done them wrong. Sometimes that’s not easy on a personal level, and, again, understandable. But on a larger scale, I think it’s an important thing to consider. While there can’t be this illusion that forgiveness works the same as a magic finger snap, I still believe it can still work as a good first step towards something better than what we have now. 

With recent events as they are, I’m taking a moment here to offer the below link as a way to encourage another small but meaningful way to make a difference. 

  Forgiveness I was never the most graceful of children. Not much has changed since then, but I'd say I was far more awkward in my formative years.

[azeher]

So I guess I will have to tackle this topic again.

Just so people understand the difference between redemption and character development.

Example of redemption: Severus Snape. He spent most of Harry’s years at Hogwarts abusing him simply cuz he resented his father, and ONLY protected him at times just cuz he loved his mother. But in his last minutes, Snape proved not to be siding with Voldemort, gave his memories to Harry and that was enough for Harry to laureate him as a hero and even name his child after him claiming he was one of the bravest men he’d met (then again he also named his child after Dumbledore who was manipulative and deceitful af, something no one ever mentions, so Harry clearly didn’t have good judgement).

That is redemption. That is what people might complain about. Some characters do deserve this treatment: They did awful stuff but then do ONE good thing and regret their actions, and everything is forgiven. A lot of characters, tho, don’t deserve this. Snape didn’t.

Example of character development: Zuko. He spent 80% of the show chasing after Aang and his friends and being a violent maniac. BUT he goes on a journey of his own to grow up, where he has to face the traumas of his childhood, and the fact that his father’s actions were not justified, but most importantly, that his trauma and father’s actions didn’t justify his OWN actions. And it’s not an easy journey, as he struggles emotionally in every step, with having to acknowledge the Fire Nation was wrong, that his family was wrong, that Iroh’s kindness wasn’t weakness, that receiving love and protection doesn’t undermine honor, that accomplishing his father’s orders doesn’t give him honor. He learns how to be kinder and sees first hand the consequences of his own nation’s imperialistic ways. He sees slavery and oppression and child soldiers and abuse. And he tries to be better. He recognizes his bad actions. He offers teaching Aang how to be a firebender, and guess what? It took A LONG WHILE to the other characters to even trust him, especially Katara, and that didn’t mean they saw him as a friend or that they forgave him. Aang did these latest two things faster but because that was in Aang’s nature. The narrative never downplays what Zuko had done even when he was a kid too and arguably just another victim.

The difference between redemption and character development is actually just the way stories and writers have been tackling both to the point in which no, they’re not interchangeable, but can be used together. So, I can see where someone is coming from when they feel a certain character doesn’t deserve a redemption arc, but I’m never assuming they’re talking about character development. Every character, even the worst one NEEDS character development whether that development is for better or worse, but even if it’s for the better, that doesn’t mean the story and characters are forgiving them or pretending their actions were less bad than what they actually were.

A friend uses Teruki and Touichirou (mp100) as an example of this double standard in fandom of “Yes to Teru’s redemption arc but NO to Touichirou’s redemption arc”. The thing is, in my opinion, neither of the two was redeemed. They just went through character development. How do we know that?

Well, for starters Teru never stopped being the sadistic, violent kid we meet at first. He just tries to actively be a more humble person, while simply failing at it. We don’t have Teruki being treated as a hero, with a sudden pure personality, or being forgiven by everyone else. Mob didn’t really understand what had happened during their fight (he didn’t even understand what happened at the LOL cult) so he brushed it off and felt sorry that he did bad things to Teru (but that’s to show us Mob’s twisted perception of his own powers right there). However, the rest of the cast NEVER even learned of what happened at Teru’s school. From what we know of the others they wouldn’t have brushed it off or blamed Mob. This arc closes finally when Teru chooses to save the citizens instead of facing Mob, finally understanding selflessness. That’s not redemption. That’s character development.

Then Touichirou. He was ready to fight Mob again, not to be a hero; he intended to kill Mob this time. What was different from last time? Mob was still a 14 y/o middle-schooler. He’d gone on a rampant but all Touichirou knew was that this 14 y/o child was not able to control his powers anymore. That’s it. And he still wanted to kill him. He was still the same as before. BUT during the fight he pretended to die as his last resort to kill Mob, so that he would become a martir. THAT would have been undeserved redemption, and THAT was what filled Shou with even more disappointment about his father. So when Shou gave him one last chance to not fuck up and to leave with him and be the father he needed, Touichirou stopped and took the chance. That’s not redemption. That’s character development.

So if someone says again “I DON’T want a redemption arc” for whatever character, what they really mean is that they don’t want the narrative to give the character a free pass to the good side. Most of the time that’s not good writing, it’s bad writing (and can feel manipulative to the audience). Character development, tho, yeah that’s always good writing.

[redrobin-detective]

Not trying to get into the shipping war but I didn't get into Avatar TLA fandom until post S2 and it had never occured to me to ship Katara/Zuko. They were enemies who fought over Aang. They had the worst relationship w/each other until post TSR ep (which for a number of reasons I thought was the most anti romantic Zuko/Katara ep that also pushed why Aang was more compatible). I personally find their platonic dynamic, be it as enemies or friends, much more fascinating/better for each other.

(Just want to take a moment to say thank you anon, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to rant about Zutara when I see this in my ask. Thank you for giving me the chance to rant about something that’s bothered me for 10 years)

People are allowed to ship what they want, I can’t stop them and I generally don’t care but Zutara has bugged me since I decided to watch ATLA (the Day of Black Sun was the first live episode I watched). If you like Zutara, go ahead and please enjoy it. I strongly dislike it and I’m going to explain why. If you don’t want to see it, don’t read under the cut. I will be discussing why I dislike Zutara and why I support Maiko and Kataang (with caveats).

I think Zutara was the first, really big ship I encountered in fandom. I was blown away by how mean and intense some people were into shipping fictional characters (still am tbh). This is also probably the first real time I was exposed to the ‘Opposites Attract’ trope of shipping which. I. Utterly. Despise. Everyone was all 'oh fire and water, opposites coming together in love uwu’ and I’m like ??? Even 13 year old me who’s terrible with people and was still icked out by the idea of guys knew that opposites attract is a complete fallacy in a relationship.

People don’t fall in love with their opposite! Or maybe they feel strong attraction but to have a stable, respectful relationship you simply can’t work with someone who you can’t find common ground with. Now I know this isn’t completely true even as I type this, there are exceptions to everything but in most cases, opposites don’t work for romance. Let’s also kill the 'Oh these people hate each other, it must be sexual tension’ trope while we’re at it. Sometimes you just gotta let people hate each other.

You may argue that Katara and Zuko aren’t complete opposites and I would agree, they actually have a decent amount in common. The main problem I see with them is their complimentary traits don’t suit each other and as a couple they wouldn’t achieve a healthy, happy relationship.

- Both Katara and Zuko have unresolved anger relating to their childhoods and respective traumas. We see in TSR that Zuko is trying to reach out to her by feeding her anger and Katara very nearly does something she would have regretted later, something opposed to her basic traits while Zuko is having his father’s teaching on hatred and revenge justified to an extent. This is not a healthy thing.

- Both Katara and Zuko are compassionate and protective almost to the point of jealousy and rage. Again, that sort of personality wouldn’t promote respect but become confining. Zuko has shown that he struggles with romantic jealousy (though most of that incident was born out self-hatred, it’s still there just better controlled) and Katara has a desire to mother and protect. Those two instinct would war with each and make the relationship troubled from the start.

- Both Katara and Zuko are fiercely loyal to their people. I have never been more confused than I was by a text post saying Zutara should have been endgame because Katara “wouldn’t have had her cultural identity erased to become Aang’s baby momma” like??? Aang, for all his faults, loved Katara as she was and she maintained her Water Tribe roots even as his wife. If Katara married Zuko, she’d have been Fire Lady, loyal to the Fire Nation first and forced to live in a Palace. Katara would HATE that level of confinement and while she mightbe better with the Fire Nation now, I doubt she’d be totally cool spending the restof her life amongst the people who murdered her Mother.

Not tomention the whole animosity they had literally throughout the entire series. Ofcourse, Zuko proved himself in TSR but I don’t think Katara really accepted himuntil Sozin’s Comet. And before you cry your tears about how Zuko saved Katarafrom Azula’s lightening, I’m 100% certain given Zuko’s character that he wouldhave done that for anyone. Azula knows her brother is softhearted and we’veseen Zuko protect literal strangers when he didn’t need to. That could havebeen Old Man Li and Azula would have shot that lightening and Zuko would havethrown his stupid ass in the way.

I can see Katara and Zuko growing to begood, close friends. Because we all have those friends that we care and rely onbecause they’re different from us,think differently and bring something unique. Zuko probably relied on Katarafor counsel, advice on how to be a kind but strong ruler while Katara wouldseek him out on political manners and how best to handle Aang. Zuko is a partof the Gaang, now and forever more, he and Katara are the mature ones of thegroup, there to bring order and peace and pave the way for the new world. Butas a romantic couple, they’re simply not complementary in personality andlifestyle to have a truly happy relationship.

Whichbrings me, briefly I promise, to the relationships the two characters are in:Maiko and Kataang. I love Maiko, it’s my favorite of the ATLA ships (aside fromSokki) because I feel they do work and complement each other. I’ll start by gettingthis right out of the way; yes it’s kind of ridiculous that Mai and Zuko hadthat cute lil kiddie crush and then, 5 minutes after Zuko’s back in the FireLord’s favor, Mai makes a move. I’d have preferred if they showed more build-upto the relationship but I guess there wasn’t enough time. But I don’t get allthese accusations of Maiko being abusive. Becauselet me tell you, just because someone messes up in a relationship, makes amistake for the right reasons, that does not mean they’re abusive.

To me, Maiand Zuko are products of the same environment: emotionally stunting/abusive,rigid, accepting nothing less than perfection but they handled it differently.Zuko chose to become angry and emotional over his circumstances (I thinkbecause it’s the only way he could fuel his bending) and Mai chose to bury herfeelings. Healthy? No, Realistic? Yes. Mai liked Zuko because he was genuinelynice guy, he was expressive and open when no one else around her was andencouraged her to be more open. Zuko liked Mai because she was cool and calmbut also a bit nurturing when he needed someone to soothe his flames.

Twodamaged kids helping to repair each other’s faults, what’s better than that?Mai makes mistakes with Zuko, she doesn’t know how to handle his troubles in the Fire Nation and, frankly, she couldn’t. Zuko needed that time to self-reflect and understand that what was happening was wrong. Zuko likewise behaved badly in a few episodes when his anger and self-hatred were making him explode. They both worked through this to improve like, gee, a normal healthy relationship.

Plus Mai would make a good Fire Lady. The Fire Nation needed stability afterthe war and Mai was nothing if not stable. She comes from a good, noble family(to soothe traditionalists) and she’s experienced in keeping firebenderscontrolled (for those worried about Zuko’s youth) and experienced in the waysof the world like Zuko so he can bounce ideas off of her and have her give backa more well-rounded perspective. It’s not perfect but when the series endedthey were 16/15, they have time to learn and grow together. (also I’m ignoringthe comics after The Promise because everything after has sucked)

Kataang I’ma lot less invested in but I can still understand it. Like Zuko and Mai, Aangand Katara have a lot in common and provide a good balance for one another.They really bring out the best in each other, Aang’s encouragements and naturalcheer brighten Katara’s inner sadness/anger and Katara gives Aang a sense oflove and purpose while also gently nudging him the way he needs to go. Peoplecomplain that Kataang was pushed from the start and it was, but man if Aangdoesn’t love the hell out of Katara. He respects her and relies on her andadores her but is still able to push back when she’s out of line. My main thingwith Kataang, which will eventually resolve itself, is the ages. Aang is 12when he’s freed from the iceberg, Katara 14. Aang’s love was a kiddie puppycrush on a calming maternal figure which made me feel a bit icky during the finalepisode.

Because earlyAang did love Katara but he also needed her as a guide and a mother figurewhile Katara was nurturing Aang and making sure he’s safe and happy when hereally needed to be facing the consequences of some of his actions. I see whythe characters did what they did but it makes a romance then kind of ug. I’dhave preferred if the series ended with hints and then skipped to LOK where wesee they married and junk. Because given a few years, I can see Aang and Katarabeing a good healthy couple (with no *shudders* sweeties to be seen).

Aang has just changed the world, he needstime to settle himself as the Avatar and to help Zuko and other leaders repairthe damage done by the 100 year war. Katara needs to figure out what she’sgoing to do, go home? Travel? A romance isn’t advised, especially since they’reso young. But when they’re a few years older, Aang is more mature and iswilling to see Katara as a partner and not someone to mother him and Kataragrows into her potential and decides what she wants, yeah then they’d be happy.

TL;DR: Istrongly dislike Zutara (along with the ‘opposites attract’ and ‘animosity =sexual tension’ tropes it embodies) because it’s not a healthy, compatible shipwhile the canon ships: Maiko and Kataang are much more in line with thecharacters and their goals and have the chance to be long-lasting and happy.