Let's talk about Zutara
WARNING NOT KATAANG AND MAIKO FRIENDLY
CONTINUE WITH PRECAUTION
I thought I should finally use this second blog of mine for the reason I made it.
To scream into the void and find mutals.
So let's talk about one Ship which people to this day fight over.
The fanon ship (at it pains me to write this) made out of Zuko and Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender aka. Zutara.
I read a lot of analyses, arguments and so on about this ship.
It probably all has been said about Zutara, but since I'm writing an AangXOC story which will include Zutara, I felt like I should give my stance on it.
Back when Avatar first aired in the country I lived in the time I was like 11-12 years old.
I had an instant crush on Aang since he was so funny, kind and gentle.
I never saw Aang's crush on Katara as a problem, because it always seemed to me, till season 3, that Katara was just motherly to Aang.
Giving a friend a cheek kiss in thanks doesn't automatically mean that you like-like them.
At this time I only really shipped Sokka and Yue and cried my eyes out how it ended.
And then the famous scene from book 2 in the crystal catacombs under Ba Sing Se happened.
Short recap, in that season Zuko goes through a lot of chances and I root for, wishing him the best.
Now back to the scene, I said.
The scene turned me into a Zutara shipper in one instant.
Zuko and Katara opening up to each other, sharing their traumas and feelings about the Fire Nation, Katara offering to heal his scare...it was poetic cinema.
I was shivering all over and was like kiss, kiss, kiss!
Let's not forget that before this scene I didn't even see them as a potential couple...but this scene, this beautiful moment they shared with each other, opened my eyes.
I was like, yeah this is it, this is something one should want from a partner. Mutual understanding.
Then Zuko decided to betray Katara for a chance to go home and I cried right there with our favourite waterbender.
I felt also betrayed.
The scene they shared made me feel things, which I experienced as a young girl for the first time, I felt the connection between Zuko and Katara like it was my own.
I was Katara at this moment and couldn't believe that the boy who opened up to me, who understood what it was like to have their mother taken away from the Fire Nation, who said that he wanted to change, that he turned his back on me.
Didn't I/Katara mean nothing to him?
Didn't he feel how special our/their moment was?
I was devasted.
When Zuko then joined the Gaang in the middle of season 3 I could understand Katara's anger towards him.
Katara and I trusted him first and he betrayed our trust.
We had a right to be angry.
As the Southern Raiders came on, as I saw how flawlessly they worked as a team, I felt my own heart heal.
I swerve to this day, that I thought they would kiss at the end of the episode, but we got a hug.
However, this hug, made me feel all giddy and mushy inside.
I felt it was something special.
Maybe even more than a kiss.
It was a huge of forgiveness and the start of a new bond.
And then the last episode comes on.
Zuko sacrificed himself to save Katara from Azula lighting, she healed him then...I thought, yes this is it, now comes the kiss...but nothing.
Then suddenly Zuko is back together with Mai and I was like WTF?!
And Aang and Katara share this really intense kiss at the end.
I was literally like:
It came out of nowhere for me.
That Aang wasn't over his crush on Katara we all know, but when did Katara decide she liked Aang?
When did this realisation happen, when in the Ember Island Player, which was like a few days before Sozin's Comet Katara made clear that she didn't want to have a romance or get kissed by Aang, which he didn't respect.
Did he ever actually apologise for the unwanted kiss? I don't think so.
Remember I had a crush on Aang, but through the seasons I became a Zutara Shipper and literally felt all their moments like they were my own.
I was Katara and Aang wasn't on my radar anymore.
I really doubted my interpretation skill, did all these lovely, mushy, heartful moments have been really romantic or did I project?
I felt like Zuko and Katara had broken up with me.
Yeah, so much inpact had their "friendly" moments at me!
To this day, the hug Katara and Zuko shared on the Southern Raiders is one of the most lovely moments of any of my ships.
Not even kissing made me feel, what this hug made me feel.
Think about how powerful this is!
If Zutara had kissed, I would have probably passed out or cried like a baby in happiness.
I don't know and I will never know since it's a fanon ship.
Uurgh.
Anyway, years passed and as I mention before I read a lot of analysis and so on.
What shocked me most was that Byrke originally planned to have Zuko and Katara together but then changed their minds.
It did reassure me, how I wasn't imagining things between them, however reading then how the Souther Raider Episode changed a lot of times because Bryke found it too shippy, tells you a lot.
They wanted to make Kataang canon and better, than the natural flow Zutara had going on.
I want to repeat again, a HUG was MORE ROMANTIC and INTENSE than the crappy kiss Kataang shared.
Like what?!
How is this possible?
Well, yeah, if you don't force things and actually make people interact in a wholesome way it can be.
Zuko and Katara felt never forced because they just clicked. They were different, but the same in many things, that it was so natural to understand the other.
Aang and Katara felt always more like a mother-and-son duo, than real lovers.
And Maiko was kinda lame too.
Sorry.
I have this theory they just wanted to pair Zuko with a Fire Nation girl and be done with it.
I don't know why they chose Mai when it could have been worked with Ty Lee too, if it was only to pair Zuko with someone who doesn't understand him or doesn't want to try.
Excuse me, maybe Ty Lee would have been better since she seemed to care for her friends, in contrast to Mai who just tried her hardest to be goth and hate everything.
Sorry.
What I'm trying to say with this rant?
I think, as someone who had liked Aang and then felt more connected to Zuko and Katara, I can clearly say that if Katara had been a real girl and not a fictional character controlled by men, she would be together with Zuko.
Why would I/Katara choose someone who I need to mother, who is younger than me, who can't relate to me, if there is an older handsome boy who is kinda dorky and awkward and tries his best, understands my feelings and helps me to parent the Gaang?
Yeah, no, Katara would have smooched Zuko if she had been a real girl.
Now, who of you who knows me, can say, but Empress some of your OCs are older than their canon partner, how can you say that Kataang can't work if you do this in your stories?!
I want to make clear I don't have general a problem if the girl is older than the guy or taller.
It's just that their supposed age gap is when they are together makes it creepy.
Look at an example.
My parents have a three-year age gap.
Nothing much.
They are both in their 60, mid 60, so it's not weird.
They are in the same mature stage in life and understand the struggles of the other.
Now think if my parents meet at 12 and 15.
My dad is the older one.
Are you going to say with a straight face that it wouldn't have been creepy if my parents started to date at this age?
What does a teenager want with a pre-puperty child?
Also, they live in completely different worlds, how can they relate to each other?
The same goes for Katara and Aang, what does a 14-year-old want from a 12-year-old?
I bet if it was the other way around, we would all give Aang shit for preying on a 12-year-old girl.
The gender shouldn't decide if we find a couple creepy or not, even if it's so sadly.
What I want to say, Kataang would have worked better if let's say season 3 ended with no pairing, just all being friends and happy and then in the comics when they age, when Katara is 22 and Aang is 20 they got together.
They would have matured, been on the same level, probably dated other people and had experience.
It would have been okay.
Even if I still think Zutara is superior in anything.
Anyway, I hope I could explain myself and no hate to the canon ships and their shippers.
Ship and let ship.
I just wanted to explain my reason why I will be always a Zutara Shipper and don't reconsider the ending of Avatar as the end and Legend of Korra.
I will forever be Team-Season-Four-Where-Aang-Finds-Hiding-Airbenders-And-Falls-in-Love-With-A-Airbender Girl-His-Age-And-Zuko-And-Katara-Marry-Eachother-And-Katara-Becomes-The-Most-Beloved-And-Badass-Fire Lady-In-History!
And they find also Zuko mom ^^
So for now this is it for me.
If you want my take on an Aang and OC story, where Zutara will be canon, go to my other Tumblr profile empressofthesunwriter and read Yin and Yang.
Here is the link to the Index
I wish you all a nice day/night!
Till next time!
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The Fortune in The Fortune Teller
This is an isolated look into this specific episode.
The Fortune Teller is the 14th episode of book 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is famous for supposedly developping the show's romantic subplot between Katara and A\ang. The episode does two things: A\ang attempts to flirt with Katara, and Katara is finally willing to consider him as more than just a friend.
However, I believe that this episode could have masterfully foreshadowed the pair not getting together in the end. In this essay I will detail how each step the episode takes towards a Kat@ang endgame is actually foreshadowing the opposite.
1. Katara and the Nature of Destiny
In the beginning, the Gaang meets a person getting attacked by a bear. He is acting incredibly passive, simply dodging the bear's attemps at his life. Then, A\ang and Appa interfere to help the man. When the Gaang questions him on why he was so passive, he says it's because the Fortune Teller told him he'd have a safe journey. They then have the following exchange:
The man's logic is obviously flawed. If the Gaang didn't interfere, if the man continued to passivaly dodge, the bear would have attacked him. Fortune and destiny come from agency – from actively shaping them.
However, Katara is delaited at the prospect of seeing the future. Her and the Gaang go to meet the Fortune Teller, Aunt Wu. Aunt Wu tells her she'll marry a very powerful bender. Later, she comes back asking more details about her future husband. Remember her excitment, fantacising about her future husband:
After that, Katara becomes somewhat reliant on Aunt Wu's prophecies. She goes as far as to ask her what she should eat.
And she obeys her "prophecy", despite not wanting to. She became like the man from the beginning. She knowingly follows the fortune even though it doesn't make sense. She had given up on forging her own destiny.
Although by the end of the episode, she is no longer in this state of reliance, she still believes in the prophecies. Then, Sokka says that A\ang is a very powerful bender. This reminds her of what Aunt Wu said about her future husband. I don't want to cherry pick, so I took 4 different pictures of her face when she realizes A\ang might be the powerful bender she is to marry:
With the look in her eyes, with her mouth tilted down and with the ominous music, this could easily be read as disappointment. Especially when remembering how she fantacized about the powerful bender earlier in the episode. She doesn't smile, but looks concerned. As if she doesn't want this. Earlier in the episode, she says this:
A\ang is like the papaya. The fortune says he's right for her, but Katara doesn't want him. Now, she isn't like the man, passively dodging the bear attacking her. She shouldn't sit and wait for the prophecy to come true point blank. She has the agency to shape her own destiny and not to choose A\ang as her future husband.
2. A\ang, Meng, and First Crushes
In this episode we're introduced to a girl named Meng. Aunt Wu told her she'd end up with someone like A\ang, and so she developped a one sided crush on him. Throughout the episode she attempts to talk to him, all to no avail. Because A\ang is not interested in her.
Interestingly, her one sided crush is directly paralleled to A\ang's crush on Katara.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Please note that in exhibits B and C in particular, there is an emphasis on the other party not reciprocating their feelings.
In this parallel the show draws, A\ang is Meng, the younger, shorter one the one who is in love; and Katara is A\ang, the older, taller one who... *checks notes*... doesn't reciprocate.
But in the end, A\ang and Meng have a heart-to-heart.
Sometimes you'll like someone, and they aren't going to feel the same way, and even though it's hard, it's okay. They're young, just kids having a crush. A\ang responds to this with "I know what you mean". Because he, just like the audience that watched the parallels, knows that Katara likely doesn't return his feelings.
———————
In conclusion, The Fortuneteller could have been brilliant foreshadowing to Kata\ang not being the endgame couple, and it would have done so through beautiful, mature lessons about first loves and destiny. Thank you for reading.
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I’ve seen a few K@taang fans say that Aang telling Katara to forgive Yon Rha in The Southern Raiders is a parallel to Katara helping Aang leave the Avatar State. I really don’t like this take, for a simple reason:
The Avatar State is a supernatural uncontrollable rage. Katara’s anger is not.
On multiple occasions, Aang states that he regrets his actions while in the Avatar state, and he doesn’t like feeling out of control in that way. We even see his rational spirit’s reaction to the Avatar State when it detaches from Aang’s body to speak to Roku in “The Avatar State”.
Aang wants to be stopped when he is in this state. When Katara reaches out to him, she is not trying to change his mind, she is trying to allow his rational mind to regain control. She is giving him agency, not denying him agency.
By contrast, while Katara is angry in The Southern Raiders, we’re never told that her rational faculties aren’t still operational. She’s determined. Not possessed.
At no point does Katara say that she regrets acting in anger. Instead, we see her exercise judgement and mercy even when face to face with the man she saw kill her mother.
This is not someone who is out of control.
(Not that she necessarily would have been out of control if she did kill him.)
The fact that Katara wasn’t out of control and didn’t need to be stopped is further reinforced by the fact that, unlike Aang who agonises over his actions in the Avatar State after the fact, Katara doesn’t express regret at her actions or relief that she didn’t kill Yon Rha. Instead she re-states her initial position that she will not forgive him.
All of this makes Katara’s anger at Yon Rha very different from the Avatar State. She is in control of her actions and does not want or need to be stopped. Trying to stop her isn’t helping to reassert her own control over her actions, it’s questioning her active decisions. It’s denying her agency instead of enabling it.
An emotional woman is not the same thing as an irrational or out of control one.
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