rewatching the southern raiders and like. so much discourse about whether katara should’ve killed yon rha or whether aang was right or whether katara is a terrible person for that admittedly very mean “you didn’t love her like i did” line and not enough discussion of how this whole fucking thing was zuko’s idea. like he’s not ride or die supporting his bestie on her murder quest he’s straight up like “hey why don’t you kill the guy who killed your mom i’ll help you find him” and katara’s just like “you make a great point” and aang and sokka are over here like what the FUCK
i cannot BELIEVE people were in the notes of this post saying “zuko did nothing” when katara was hesitant and ready to walk away when they confronted the wrong guy and zuko was the one who kept hassling him and pushed him to reveal the right guy. like yes katara was down to go on this quest i’m not saying she has zero agency in this but zuko is definitely not just “along for the ride” the whole fucking operation was HIS idea and HE’S committed to seeing it through
I know I shouldn’t be surprised, and yet I am.
look when zuko sets out on a mission he likes to see it through
Remember the time Azula wanted to genocide "but it was my idea to brun everything to the ground" I don't think Azula is capable of changing even if she did her sins are unforgivable...I don't understand why you would want to give redemption in The Great Eggspedition
If the creators of ATLA gave this middle-aged guy, who waged a real war with many lives lost, who wanted to burn Ba Sing Se to the ground a redemption arc, then I think it is not a stretch to give a redemption arc to a 16-year old girl who still has so much potential to grow and change.
If we can’t conceive the notion that a child who grew up in an abusive household, under the control of her toxic father, with no positive adult in her life since early childhood, who never experienced unconditional love like a child should and who was indoctrinated her whole life with the violent and racist doctrine she was born to represent can change for the better under the right circumstances, then what is even the point?
But if this idea upsets you, then you are very welcome to skip my fic.
you ever think about how Zuko had 3 years to come to terms with the fact that his father never loved him and Azula had like. two hours. like Zuko had this whole dramatic character arc where he struggled to do right and Iroh was there to support him meanwhile Ozai was like yeah here’s a hollow title shithead. gonna go burn the Earth Kingdom without you lol. if i got done dirty by my dad as bad as Azula got done i’d start shooting lightning with my hair down too.
It’s even more poetic than that: Both of them had absent mothers, but Katara’s mother died to save her while Azula’s mother left to save someone else.
Both of their fathers were military leaders, but Azula’s father prolonged the war while Katara’s father tried to end it.
Both joined (initially) three-person adventuring parties, but Azula gathered her group by coercion and intimidation and placed herself at the center, while Katara’s group joined out of friendship and shared necessity and were mostly co-equal.
Both are skilled in rare variants of their bending arts, but Azula’s (blue fire) just makes her a more effective killer while Katara’s (healing) does not, and when Katara learned a more effective battle technique (blood bending) she found it repulsive and rejected it.
Azula in the agni-kai was constantly trying to make killing blows, while Katara won non-lethally.
They’re so similar! And now I’m even more sad we never got another season for an Azula redemption arc! Because she was clearly set up to fail from the beginning, and would likely benefit a lot from a more constructive environment. I want to see her grow and improve as a person! I want to see what she’s like outside of that toxic environment! But, alas …
i disagree in one area: azula gathered ty lee by coercion and intimidation. mai joined up as soon as azula gave her something interesting to do. both azula and mai wanted to be there, but ty lee felt like she had to be (and very likely did have to be).
similarly, sokka joined not bc he wanted to go on a journey to the north pole but bc katara was going with aang. he felt like he had to be there to keep his sister safe.
so both of them were traveling with one person who was more than happy to travel with them and one person who was more reluctant, but the latter in azula’s case followed out of fear and in katara’s case out of love.
Not gonna lie with the edit it really does drive home that she wasnt a princess or a formidable bender……..it shows that underneath that shes just a child forced to be a pawn.
Someone asked me to edit her crying without make-up, thought i would add. Thank you, i’m glad so many people are seeing exactly what i wanted to get across with those edits! :D
You know what I like about this? Without the make-up Azula looks like Zuko. She has the same chin, the same cheek bones, the same smile, and even the same look of hurt when she’s shamed by her father. But the make-up makes her look like Ozai. A fitting allegory all things considered.
somehow still working on rewriting fairy tail. (Avi, 25, he/him, queer, white Jew) | don't start discourse on non-discourse posts or so help me g-d I will block you | this blog is safe for all neurodivergent and physically disabled people | i eat ableists for breakfast and they don't taste good