#air nomads meta

[balanceoflightanddark]

This scene. This scene right here might be one of the most tragic and brutal scenes in the whole series.

We all knew going in that Aang was in fact the last airbender, but this just hit it home just like it did for Aang. A confirmation that his entire people was wiped out, and his father figure (the one he abandoned cause he couldn't take the pressure of being the Avatar) having been butchered. Later episodes only makes this image a lot worse since the Air Nomads valued pacifism and the sanctity of life, while Gyatso is surrounded by the corpses of firebenders he had slain.

There's no buts or ifs about it. Aang's people is GONE.

And he doesn't take it very well.

Aang, the happy go lucky kid that believes in the best in everyone goes absolutely berserk.

I think this is one of the recurring themes in Aang's arc aside from accepting his role as the Avatar. I really do believe that deep down, the kid does have a grudge against the Fire Nation. A rage like this doesn't go away easily nor overnight. And there are times when Aang went berserk when pushed too far, like how Appa was stolen or when he fused with the Ocean Spirit. Sure, you could argue he wasn't in control of himself in the latter incident, but considering how corrosive deep seated grudges and anger can be corrosive, I still think it's in the realm of possibility.

Plus I think it gives his decision to spare Ozai a bit more weight behind it cause he's choosing to move on from his anger and end the cycle of violence the world is trapped in. What the Fire Nation did was awful: yes. But it doesn't mean Aang's doomed to give into his anger.

Am I saying Aang was in any danger as being just as bad as his enemies? No. I don't think there's any circumstance where he'll become some genocidal warmongerer. Neither does it mean his trauma, grief, and anger will just go away over night. It's how one handles them is what makes his character. Despite being the last survivor of a genocide, Aang chose not to give in. Just because the world is brutal doesn't mean you have to be.

#aang #aang atla #aang meta #monk gyatso #atla #atla meta #air nomads #air nomads meta #fire nation

[starlight-bread-blog]

The Good & the Bad: On Aang (Not) Killing the Fire Lord

I recived this asks forever ago, trurly sorry anon, but I'll keep my apologises for the end. I'd love to answer that!

If you're asking me, this is way better than """killing him""". Case closed.

Getting this cleared up: The show didn't say that Aang is morally superior for this. It was solely about staying true to himself. Not a moral high ground.

So when I hear people say it's problematic because it implies that sparing imperialistic dictators has some intrinsic goodness to it, (Ahem-Lily Orchard), I just can't agree. It was never about universal ethics, it was about Aang's culture and values.

Why Is This a Good Thing?

Aang loves his culture, and takes a lot of pride in it and its values. (See: in The Southern Raiders his first go-to to convince Katara to spare Yon Rah is his culture, rather than what such act would do Katara herself). He would have been ashamed if he had broken them. But right now they clash with his Avatar duties, with god-knows how many lives at stake. He needs to let go of his pride & shame, and become humble.

Just like Zuko humbling himself to the GAang before they accept him, or Sokka humbling himself to the Kyoshi warriors and Master Piandao, Aang could only speak to the the lion turtle after he'd given up, after he was humbled.

Even beyond Aang, it enhances the show's themes at large. A theme in A:TLA is paving your own path, and that you can do what you want despite the pressure. Your true destiny will come, you might be surprised by it, but it's yours and you're free to carve it.

You just have to keep going, to continue to do the right thing, and your destiny will find you. Things have a way of working out in the end, eventually.

Sparing Ozai serves the theme, thus the show overall. Everyone told him it's his destiny to kill the Fire Lord and end the war. But he didn't agree, paving his own path, his own destiny, and all was well. The pieces fell in their place.

It is s amplified by the fact that if you read between the lines, he actually did follow all the previous Avatars' wisdom besides Yangchen's.

Aang knew what he wanted from the start. He isn't going to kill the Fire Lord. People (rightfully) tried to pressure him, but in the end, he stuck to his decision.

Justice was served. Aang took his bending away and put him to rot in prison for the rest of his life. There's more than one way to execute justice.

"... and the destiny of the world". That's exactly what Aang did. He followed his own path (staying true to himself) while saving the world (ending Ozai regime).

So that leaves us with Yangchen's advice. The one he didn't follow:

This opens another layer to this. Why doesn't Aang take the advice of a fellow Air Nomad? The one he should relate to the most? Because despite both being Avatars and Airbenders, Aang is the last. They're not the same. Yangchen is speaking from a place of privilege. She can carry the weight of the Avatar and not worry about the Air Nomads. Notice the wording: "spiritual needs". But it's deeper than that. In her time, they were there, they'll preserve their culture and values. Aang doesn't have that.

He's Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has both weights to carry. The decision to spare the Fire Lord, while protecting the rest of the world, is embedded in the show's title.

There's also something so incredibly powerful in Ozai being defeated specifically with Air Nomad values. A 100 years ago, during Sozin's Comet, the Fire Nation started the war by genociding them. When it comes back, the Avatar, the last Air Nomad, ends the war and stops the next genocide while preserving their values. The Fire Nation isn't going to push him to taint (one of) the last living aspacts of the Air Nomads, and Aang is shouting it – in the very same day the disaster occurred.

(Additionally I view this as a land mark of his character development since Siege of the North. He used spirit powers for murder, now he's using them for mercy).

(A:TLA is also a show made with kids in mind. They may not be able to make Aang kill Ozai. He got his bending stolen and sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. That's a more than serviceable punishment for a show aimed at kids).

(Ps: If Ozai had died Zuko would never have found out where his mother is).

The concept is fantastic. Nothing wrong there. But now, it's time for the critisism.

What's the problem then?

Despite looking in internet forums, it's entirely possible that I missed some things. With that being said, the Lion Turtles could have been foreshadowed better. As I stated, I don't mind it. But as far as I recall, it was foreshadowed once in The Library, and that's it. (Edit: It's also foreshadowed in Sokka's Master, but the point still stands).

The Lion Turtle is a twist, it subverted expectations, but that doesn't mean it has to be a deus ex machina. That's what foreshadowing is for. It's the literary device to making a plot twist feel believable. The result is many fans, including me, feeling as though it came out of no where, even though it didn't.

Overall, I love that Aang spared Ozai. It ties into the themes of the show and Aang's role as the last airbender. It makes perfect sense, it's rather beautiful. However, I do wish the foreshadowing was better.

And for Anon, to apologize for the wait, I dedicate you this meme:

#tw genocide #aang #avatar aang #lion turtle #ozai #fire lord ozai #atla meta #avatar meta #aang meta #atla ending #atla finale #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #air nomads #yangchen #kyoshi #roku #kuruk #avatar yangchen #avatar kyoshi #avatar roku #avatar kuruk #tw imperialism #avatar the last airbender meta #atla analysis #aang analysis #atla aang #atla critisism #iroh #uncle iroh

[imakemywings]

I feel like it explains a lot of Korra's behavior, especially in season 1, to remember she's spent presumably most of her life in that isolated compound. I'd guess she's about 4 in the opening scene of S1E1 where she's discovered as the avatar, and she's 17 when she leaves for Republic City, which makes for about thirteen years she spent there with limited or no contact with people her own age, looking at the same stuff day after day, training, training, training. This would be hard for anyone, but I feel particularly for someone like Korra who is so spirited and curious and eager to try herself in the real world it must have been deeply frustrating at times! Is it any wonder she gets herself into trouble when she's finally out in the world? She has no idea how to behave in a city, or around large groups of people she's unfamiliar with! Of course she gets overly excited and overreacts or makes silly choices! Being in a place like Republic City after having spent so long out in the middle of nowhere would be intoxicating.

#korra #avatar #lok #threw this on during dinner tonight for the nostalgia #and I do really love Korra #she's adorable #related to this: it's also no wonder she has such strong opinions about and attachment to being the avatar #when she's been raised virtually her whole life with nothing else but training to be the avatar #I think the Air Nomads were onto something about not telling the avatar until adolescence #it's no wonder when Korra feels she's ''failed'' at being the avatar she completely melts down #it's the only thing she's ever been taught to be #mine #meta

[lovegrowsart]

something that's endlessly frustrating to me is that while you could make the argument that bryke didn't intend for their invocation of attachment to be taken in the buddhist sense, then that frankly makes their appropriation of buddhist and hindu aesthetics through aang and guru pathik in the guru even worse.

aang is undertaking a spiritual journey through unlocking his chakras (an explicitly buddhist and hindu concept) to achieve enlightenment through mastering the avatar state - the entire aesthetic, thematic and narrative structure of that episode is one of the most overtly buddhist episodes of the entire show. to then argue that "oh, actually, they're not talking about attachment in that way! they're just talking about love and aang shouldn't have to give up love!!" is frankly insulting.

if what bryke wanted was aang's conflict to be a conflict of love vs power (as framed in aang's conversation with iroh), then the guru should not have been written the way it was, because that episode explicitly frames aang's conflict as being about personal earthly attachment vs enlightenment, which is not actually the same thematic conflict as love vs power. and even if that was the intention, aang just, like, gains a massive amount of power thru the lion turtle and doesn't actually do anything spiritually, emotionally, or mentally to master the avatar state, and then also just gets love.

so. what was intended point and meaning of having aang master the avatar state at all, exactly? to hopefully being in the right place at the right time to get hit by the right rock?

#aang critical #atla critical #bryke critical #again its about the completely muddled writing aang's arc could've been. so great #and it was not lmao #also something that that's completely thematically contradictory #is that yangchen in the finale says that the avatar can't detatch themselves from wordly concerns like other air nomads can #but then why the hell is achieving non attatchment presented as the way to master the avatar state #nothing else is presented as a better solution to mastering it other than the rock of ~~karma~~ #which is also a bad argument that's not what karma is or how you invoke it thematically #meta* #holly talks bs

[biconickyoshi]

Sooo...nothing to do with taatfp, BUT someone asked something about LOK and it reminded me of a headcanon that I got as soon as we met Opal and see Lin's reaction to her. (Im not very involved in LOK fandom or anything, so if this isn't a new HC sorry xD)

What if Opal is actually Lin and Tenzin's child? Like, after Tenzin chose Pema, Lin found out she was pregnant. She kept it secret because she didnt want Tenzin to choose her just for the child she was about to have and because she wasn't sure if she wanted to be a mother at all. She decided that if the baby was an airbender (I think baby airbenders are quick to show it? Idk where I got that info from but Im pretty sure that's true?) she would tell Tenzin and then decide how to move forward together. But the baby girl wasn't, so, desperate she reached out to Suyin and asked her to find the baby a loving family among her people and begged Suyin not to ask questions and not give her any details (Lin was completely sure she would be as horrible as mother as her own and didn't want her daughter to grow up to hate her) about the baby or where she ended up, to stop herself from reaching out and messing up.

So, imagine her surprise when she travels with Korra to Zaofu and recognizes the eyes of her niece. Her *airbender* niece.

Yeah, she feels betrayed, you could say.

Omg okay I'm so surprised I've never heard of this theory, anon! It's such an intriguing one! It would definitely provide a good explanation as to why Opal was one of the people who received airbending after Harmonic Convergence, especially when you consider Bumi getting airbending and his heritage. Gahhh this would be such an interesting fic premise.

My running theory as to why certain people got airbending (and I think this is a pretty common theory) is that they were people who had Air Nomad ancestry from refugees who had escaped the genocide and went into hiding in the other nations. Even though two airbenders always give birth to airbenders, we know from the existence of the Kataang kids that if an airbender has a child with a nonbender or a different type of bender, it's not guaranteed that their kid(s) will be airbenders. Again, Bumi having gotten airbending supports this theory as well because of his heritage - all the people who got airbending probably had a latent airbending gene that was "unlocked" after Harmonic Convergence.

In Opal's case (as far as we know in canon at least), I would say that there is likely Air Nomad ancestry on Baatar's side, or possibly on Suyin's dad's side.

#asks #lok #legend of korra #air nomads #air nation #lok meta #opal beifong #lin beifong #suyin beifong #tenzin #atla #avatar the last airbender

[spookyscaryfox]

what the most common injury caused by bending in earth kingdom must be? broken bones.

and like fire nation healers who know the most about the burns, earth kingdom healers must know everything there is about healing fractures. the same way water tribes healers expertise in frostbite/drowning and bloodflow in general.

which raises the question: did air nomads have healers? probably. but injury easily acquired while bending air is also broken bones. did they have their own ways of healing that? or were they more knowledgeable in healing respiratory system?

#atla #earth kingdom #air nomads #fire nation #water tribe #atla meta #atla lore?

[bambiraptorx]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how the existence of airbending probably prevented the invention of planes for hundreds or thousands of years, simply because the Air Nomad gliders (which would likely inspire the creation of alternate forms of flight) are designed so badly that they can literally only work if you're airbending constantly

#atla #airbending #air nomads #atla meta

[five-flavor-soup]

i genuinely, really like aang, but keeping his writing in book 3 and his writing in the comics in mind, i don’t think it’s all that implausible for him to get the sort-of-antagonist role in fics depicting katara-ships other than KA.

reiterating, i like aang: he’s adorable, he’s funny, and he’s nice. but i believe there’s something to be said about how his ‘niceness’ is written and seen as being The Reason he ‘deserves’ a love interest. his thinking is self-centred, and though that’s a believable flaw for a kid who’s, like, twelve, we’re shown that it’s a consistent character trait which is never treated as an issue… even though it is. (and if he’s mature enough to start dating the girl he’s going to marry and have children with, he should also be mature enough to be criticised for his less-than-savoury parts of his personality, no?)

it’s not OOC to write him as being possessive of katara even when they’re not dating, because he canonically is. it’s not OOC to write him as not respecting and/or noticing katara’s boundaries, because he canonically blows past them. the ideas that he might not mature much later on, that he might be wilfully and forcefully oblivious to any discomfort in the KA relationship, that he might continue shoving katara(‘s culture) aside—none of that is necessarily OOC, because aang does not go through significant character development in book 3 + the comics.

in The Promise, there’s that weird moment wherein aang is briefly anti-miscegenation and doesn’t change his mind until katara reminds him supporting that would affect him (him!!! his relationship with katara alone!!) personally. in TLOK, there’s the suggestion that aang never actively pushed for bumi & kya to learn about air nomad culture and there’s the heavy implication that aang never told the air acolytes about bumi & kya’s existence. additionally, tenzin doesn’t even have a hint of water tribe heritage anywhere in his house to honour katara’s side: he’s all air nomad (though?? nuclear family dynamic), in spite of being mixed.

don’t get me wrong, i vastly prefer fic and hc’s in which aang is a katara supporter first and foremost, and that’s also how i prefer to move through a fandom space barring meta and analyses. but i also don’t think making him jealous and petty when she dates someone else is a misinterpretation of the text we’ve been given; canon!aang shows the signs to become that way, and it’s not wrong to read his future self that way nor is it incorrect fandom-ing to highlight these traits

#aang critical #anti aang #and #anti kataang #just to be safe #don’t wanna infringe upon anyone’s space ✌️ #do i adore aang? yes #do i think that KA could’ve been way way WAY better than the babysitting fantasy we got? also yes #in the very first ep he pops out of an egg and imprints onto the first person he sees idk how more clear this should be #for legal reasons that last tag is a joke

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

I don't know if you were asked this before or already addressed it before, but what do you think of the argument that Belos' death was supposed to be anticlimatic

See, the problem with these arguments is that it assumes that people who were disappointed with Belos' death wanted a grand, epic battle when in reality, everyone that I've spoken to wanted him to suffer more. We wanted him to go out screaming, realizing that all he did for centuries was for nothing, since that was what the previous episodes were building up to. That's not grandiose, that's even more pathetic than what we got in canon.

Belos' death is anti-climactic because for two episodes, the show was expanding on his background, making him see ghosts or hallucinations, lashing out at the idea of being wrong when he sees "Caleb," all of this suggested that this would play into his ultimate undoing. Instead, we get Luz-With-Anime-Powers yank him off the Titan heart and then he melts in the rain. Cool.

What was the point of the previous episodes then?

Anti-climaxes can work if there is a point to them, be it comedic or tragic. But there was no point to how Belos died. Luz didn't need to learn anything about herself in order to earn the Titan powers, she didn't use anything she learned about the Wittebanes against Belos in the final battle, all that happened is that the Titan told her she's a good witch and to stop comparing herself to someone Obviously Evil like Belos. Great character moment there.

Hell, nothing about Belos played in his death. Not his backstory. None of his lies. Nothing. It just happens. Giving a megalomaniac an undignified death or defeat can work though. Just look at Ozai. He built himself as the Supreme Ruler of the World, as the Phoenix King. He sees himself superior to all others and uses everyone--even his own children as pawns. So to have him be defeated by the Avatar, by an Air Nomad child, who doesn't even give him the dignity of killing him in battle but by taking away the ultimate symbol of his power, his bending, works because it's the antithesis of everything Ozai believes in.

But Belos' death has nothing to do with him as a character or his beliefs. The idea that he needs an undignified death to bring down the megalomaniac doesn't work because Belos has suffered nothing but indignities since he got slammed into a wall. He's been dying for several episodes, lost his human form and the world he knew and loved is long gone and none of this is used against him in the final episode.

In fact, Belos' death actually supports his ideology: for centuries, he's believed that witches are evil and inferior to humans. And he justified all the evil he's done in the name of the greater good: of defeating what he saw as evil. So, picture the scene, you have a rapidly dying man who is no longer a threat to anyone, who is trying to reach out to the one person he thinks is moral by virtue of her species, only to be stomped on by beings who proudly proclaim that they are in fact, immoral.

Congrats gang. You just let the evil bigot die with his feelings justified.

Even how he died doesn't make narrative sense because we've seen him rebuild himself from a droplet and King even mentions some being stuck between his toes. How is it this fight is what finishes him off for good? He's both progressively weaker in each episode and yet is able to outrun (or out crawl) both the Hexsquad after entering the portal and Raine in the castle and possess the Titan heart. Plus, despite having possessed the literal Titan's heart, that equated to having just enough power to transform into his younger self and then get melted by the rain. Ok then.

So let's say that Belos' death works for meta reasons; that evil and bigotry should be given anticlimactic deaths. Ok fine, but it's still disappointing and boring af to watch. Giving a bigoted villain a gruesome, over the top, and entertaining death doesn't mean you suddenly validate the villain's ideals, just look at Raiders of the Lost Ark and its melting Nazis.

Also, unpopular opinion, but The Owl House is not about bigotry; it doesn't say anything about where it comes from, what perpetuates it, how people fall into it, how it can be stopped, etc. The writing is too inconsistent and the world building is too flat for any kind of deep or compelling themes. Instead, it has the grotesquely simplistic idea that "Bad Man Cause Bad Things. Get Rid of Bad Man and Bad Things Go Away."

And that's ultimately why Belos' death doesn't work; because The Owl House never had anything deep to say. It's a fun, escapist fantasy that wants to have deeper themes but can't commit to them. Anything "real" a person might interpret is largely projection because the show is too ineffectual in exploring its own world building and characterization beyond surface level meanings.

#the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism #emperor belos #philip wittebane #asks #long post #belosfanstakeover

[solar-plant-princess]

Everything I see and hear about the live action remake of Avatar is just a spit in the face. It’s so disrespectful to the characters. The writing is a mess and unfocused. And they routinely attempt to sanitize and soften all the characters, deflating the value and purpose of their character arcs.

There is nothing they can do to salvage this. The actors deserve far better than to be stuck in this poorly written disaster.

This is the end state of all soulless cash grab remakes. Gut out all the worthwhile character development in order to make room for empty set pieces and gags in a desperate attempt to replace heart with a modicum of entertainment value. They aren’t interested in telling a new or even good story, they just want to cash in on brand recognition and will take out all the worthwhile stuff and add unnecessary fluff the whole way.

Don’t give them anymore money, don’t watch the show, don’t watch the future seasons. Don’t waste your time on a show that will only ever respond to you wanting genuinely good content with a spit to the face.

Also the meta level sexism of removing ALL of Katara’s personality is just disgusting (same with literally every other named woman character, the genuine misogyny from the writers is on full display the entire time), it’s literally on par with the play episode where the actress is constantly whining about “hope” while doing nothing else, that’s legitimately where they are at.

Zuko fights back against his dad, and doesn’t even mention his honor ever, so what’s even the point of his redemption arc if he had that in him from the start?

Aang doesn’t run away from his responsibilities (or the Air Temple for that matter, he just gets caught in a storm by chance) or need to learn how to accept being the Avatar, or even feel guilt about what happened to the Air Nomads so what’s the point of his arc?

Sokka doesn’t need to unlearn his false bravado or learn how to be a real leader, literally being written out of the Jet episode where he was the starring protagonist, so what’s the point of his arc?

I’m willing to put actual money on Toph’s parents actually just letting her leave and in fact will not even condescend to her about her disability. What’s the fucking point of this show if none of the characters are allowed to have any flaws or growth or personality????

(I also simply can’t ever forgive them for the broad daylight murder and butchering of Suki. Taking a strong confident leader who humbled Sokka by force into accepting that women were just as worthy and capable as men and made him not just accept but embrace her culture. To a spoiled brat that spends her entire screen time being boy crazy, and teaches Sokka literally nothing other than some fighting moves while THANKING him for “bringing the world to me”, by which she means being a boy she can oogle at. This isn’t Suki, this isn’t Katara, the writers are beyond sexist pigs for this shit.

They wanted to improve Sokka’s reputation that wasn’t even threatened and in turn reduced every single named woman to flat-caricatures of incapable, quiet, obedient, boy obsessed little girls all of which rely entirely on the men in the show to do anything.

This is beyond the pale in overt but unacknowledged misogyny which is an insult to every member of the audience especially all the women in the audience. They make it very clear they actually just agree with not-that-covert sexism and patriarchy and it’s disgusting. Never watch this show, dear god never show this to kids who might pick up on this dogshit misogyny)

#avatar the last airbender #they did everyone so dirty it’s not even funny #if the only way to enjoy them conpletely butchering characters is to turn off your fan brain it’s just not a good show

[kataraslove]

Do you think Aang is a neglectful father to Bumi and Kya II?

going from just what we are shown in legend of korra through kya and bumi’s perspectives? yes. not intentionally, of course. but it’s important to recognize the amount of hurt that aang caused his children, to the point where tenzin’s idealization of him starts to falter, and he acknowledges that his father isn’t as perfect as he thought he was (or wanted him to be). don’t get me wrong - I think the fandom tends to exaggerate parts of aang’s parenting. like comparing him to ozai? that is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen. but i also see pro meta glossing over kya and bumi’s concerns with him, which isn’t right. there needs to be more nuanced perspectives than “he was as bad as ozai!” or “kya and bumi really were just overexaggerating their grievances with aang. he was a great dad!”

i think here is where it’s important to discuss authorial intent: bryke have said that they had not meant for their writing to come across aang being a bad father who set out to intentionally neglect his children. rather, kya and bumi’s concerns and resentment likely stem from how they perceived his role to the world. legend of korra as a series offers a meta commentary on living up to legacy, the legacy set by the heroes in avatar the last airbender, and the legacy of living up to a critically acclaimed predecessor series. kya and bumi’s concerns also stem due to legacy: the legacy left behind by aang and how the world views their existence in accordance to this legacy - as the non-airbending children to the last airbender. kya and bumi feel that they deserve the right to be part of their father’s legacy (and they do) just as much as tenzin. i don’t think their insistence to be part of avatar aang’s legacy is due to a desire for prestige and fame, as they’ve spent much of their lives shying away from their father’s legacy. i think it’s out of a genuine realization that they are grieving and missing their father and want to celebrate his successes.

in print media, we actually get a different perspective to his parenting. kya and bumi offer good words about their father (mostly). in turf wars (2015), kya shares how he was “nothing but supportive” in relation to her coming out. she offers some interesting lore about same sex relationships among the air nomads, likely quoting something that her father could have directly shared with her. in avatar legends, it is confirmed that aang did teach both kya and bumi about their air nomad heritage, and kya internalized his lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance:

Although she developed a slight resentment toward Aang for teaching more to Tenzin about his culture,[3] Kya internalized some of her father's lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance.[6] She developed a stronger connection with Katara, who taught her to develop her waterbending combat and waterbending healing abilities to proficiency.[3][6] - Avatar Wiki

in bumi’s recent comic called the cat owl’s cradle (2022) released in patterns of time, i was surprised to find that bumi held a much more favourable perspective towards his father than before. he thinks about his father’s great smile all the time and tells his nephew that meelo’d smile reminds him of his father’s. he mentions that aang and him used to go fishing (a water tribe practice). he’s understanding of his father’s many duties to the world; why - as the avatar - he often didn’t have infinite time in the world to spend with him. most importantly, through the advice he offers meelo, it is evident that bumi has realized that an absence of airbending couldn’t possibly make his father love him more than he already did - that he is fine the way he is, with or without airbending. in this story, we discover a vast growth in bumi’s self-confidence, as he no longer feels a sense of inadequacy, in his own skills and in his father’s eyes.

to answer your question: if you were to only watch the legend of korra, i can completely see why you’d arrive at the conclusion that aang was a negligent father who deliberately focused on his youngest child over his other non-airbending children. if you factor in print and comic media, it tells the story of a father who was trying his best to balance his responsibilities to the world and his personal life, succeeding in some ways and failing in others. at the end of the day, it seems like kya and bumi’s genuine love for their father overtakes their grievances with him. what’s interesting is that it’s not like an “he’s my father so I’m obligated to love him” type of love. it’s more along the lines of, “yes we have our issues with him but we do believe he loved us wholeheartedly and we want to be included in his legacy.”

now, just because i’ve grasped (after so many attempts) on what bryke was trying to do in korra does not mean that i don’t have my fair share of issues with the way bryke went about writing that storyline. i dislike the fact that they blamed the fandom on the overexaggeration - if all sides of the fandom came out with the take home message that aang was a deadbeat father who gatekept his culture to his literal family, the onus is on your writing, not on the fandom. the balanced perspective years later in the comics is appreciated, but we definitely needed to see this in the show from the get go.

ultimately, if they have an interest in redeeming aang’s arc as a father (which i suspect they might want to do given post-korra material), they need to show us, rather than just tell us, that he wasn’t as bad as how korra makes him out to be. the perfect opportunity for this is in this upcoming adult gaang movie with the birth of baby bumi. we have no details surrounding this adult gaang movie, so i don’t know if bumi will be in it or not. but it is the perfect opportunity, if bryke are interested in going that route.

I will end off by saying that i’d rather have aang as a father than my own any day lmaooo.

#aang #atla #avatar the last airbender

[punkeropercyjackson]

The Atla fandom is a really good example of how persecuted people who fight back vs their oppressors are treated.Aang lived a happy peaceful life with other tibetan monks-nomads until the Fire Nation saw them as a 'threat' for no actual reason so the Air Nomad genocide happened and after being unfrozen,Aang had to face the harsh reality of the whole world and did a lot of good for it by doing tons of damage to the FN and other corrupted groups and gave tons of kindness to those he was trying to protect and save from them out of the goodness of his heart but he has a belief from his culture that's not inherently bad but goes against western ones and he said a few bad things out of non-malicious ignorance and his young age so he's branded a bigot,an 'apologist' and even a fascist

Zuko's the son of an imperialist king that gave him every privilege under the stars bar his love and taught him legitemate toxic masculinity and racist ideologies that he weaponized in his search of Avatar which in of itself is an act of racial violence because it was a hunt to down a survivor of etchnic cleansing BECAUSE of their heritage to kill them and even after Zuko's redemption arc,he still dosen't let go of his bigotry and dosen't try to or even get called out on it!Suki and Sokka LAUGHED at him mocking Aang's dead people and Aang didn't even get mad at him for his significant amount of other anti-Air Nomad jokes and in a meta sense,he's treated better by the narrative than Azula because he's male.There are zero redeemed female villains and he never got oversexualized like she did and you cannot remove her japanese/east asian-coding and her gender in this context considering what irl underaged easian girls are seen like and treated as

Zuko did damage and he did make up for it too but only to the Gaang and Aang never did any damage to begin with,he was entierly Zuko's victim pre-season 3 and a victim of his people as a whole.But 'Zuko was never truly evil' because it was how he was raised and AANG is worse than him by virtue of not being conventionally attractive and openly nice instead of a brooding emotionally constipated dickbag with anger issues and unrestrained violent tendencies.The Fire Nation are the REAL good guys and the Air Nomads had it coming because they were different

You think i'm taking things too far?Japan WAS historically an imperialist nation,Tibetans ARE victims of genocide and the Atla crew choose that specific coding on purpose from their research.And you missed every message they told us with Aang and Zuko,including Aang's friendship being why Zuko was able to see how shitty of a person he was and unlearn propaganda and fucking DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT instead of wallowing in his own pity as if he wasn't active persecutor beforehand and THAT'S why his redemption arc was perfect.Aang is every victim of our fucked up society that's bitten the hand that maimed him and you think he's the REAL monster for it because he won't conform or whitewash himself.You're a genuinely disgusting person if you hate him and you should be embarrased that you do it over Zuko as if you're anything like him

And if you're going to insult me and speak over me about this post?Congratulations,proving my exact point

#aang #zuko #aang and zuko #pro aang #aanglove #pro zuko #azula #pro azula #air nomads #anti fire nation #pro kataang #kataang defense squad #katara deserved better #pro maiko #pro zukka #pro jetko #pro ty luko #atla geekery #pastel punk aang #genderfluid aang #audhd aang #autistic zuko #trans zuko #dadko #anti zutara #racism cw #genocide cw #victim blaming cw #pastel punk tag #summerposting

[starlight-bread-blog]

If Aang had accepted his role as the Avatar, he might not have had to leave Gyatso.

But he didn't. He ran away. And when he woke up, he saw the exact consequences of that. He won't do it again. It was hard, really, really hard, but when it came down to it, he had accepted his duty to kill the Fire Lord.

And then he didn't have to. Funny how things worked out, isn't it? He just has to keep moving forward.

#aang #aang meta #monk gyatso #avatar aang #the storm #gyatso #sozin's comet #sozins comet #atla finale #atla ending #atla aang #iroh #uncle iroh #lion turtle #fire lord ozai #fire lord #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender aang #fire nation #air nomads #avatar #atla meta #avatar the last airbender meta #“keep moving forward” i heard eren as i was typing this #he was manipulating me #aang atla

[sokkastyles]

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for the response on my last query. I was reading a meta about the air bender extermination, which you had reblogged in one of my older queries on TSR.

Reading it properly. I realized two things

The fact that all the air nomads were exterminated makes no sense. Were they stupid enough to not escape when they were attacked? If we are to believe none escaped, then air nomads are actually dumb.

The above also goes against the fact that Aang's Avatar training was to begin when he was 12 instead of 16, because the monks seems to have realized that the war was approaching, and he needed to be ready, which is why they tried to take Aang away from Monk Gyatso, which led to Aang running away out of fear.

This goes into LOK territory, but there are some disturbing implications of the way the Air Nomads operate. The idea that every air nomad child born will be a bender is just not possible. Heck, two of Aang's children are not air benders, so that itself throws a wrench in that idea. It also makes them similar to Ozai, if they actually held such idea (this point is never made in the shows or acknowledged in canon I think, but the idea is dangerous, and well Air Nomads are not to be idealized.)

I would like your thoughts on this.

(The meta I am referring to is; " The Airbender Extermination Is Dumbo and I Refuse to Accept It" by tumblr user @whentheynameyoujoy)

@whentheynameyoujoy's atla metas are a treasure, and I agree with the above statements. One of the big plot holes in the story is not only that the air Nomads were all exterminated in one fell swoop, despite being Nomads, something the live action adaptation tried to explain by having them all come to the Southern Temple on the night they were attacked, and Sozin purposefully planning his attack on that day. But the other thing about it is that as you say, the reason Aang was told before sixteen was because the Air Nomads knew the war was coming. They were preparing for it, to the point where they were willing to put a child's life on the line before he was ready, but they weren't prepared enough to be ready to fly away the moment a threat occurred? If we factor in the live action, this also means they decided to all have a party in the same place on the same night that they knew the people who wanted them dead would be at their most powerful.

It also just doesn't make thematic sense. These are AIR Nomads, they should be able to go wherever the wind takes them, to scatter at a moment's notice, to rise no matter how many times an attempt is made to crush them. Wouldn't that be a satisfying ending, for us to find out that like the air, there were hidden pockets that remained, permeating even the fire nation so that it would be impossible to truly defeat them. Wouldn't that also fit really well with the whole illusion of separation thing?

Which brings me to point three, or, Eugenics is Good When Good People Do It, which is actually very bad. The only way the Air Nomads only produced benders is if they did not mingle with the other nations, which makes no sense, since they were nomads, or if they somehow got rid of nonbender babies, either through dropping them off at the nearest earth kingdom orphanage (which is similar to my headcanon on what people like Ozai might do with nonbender children, or straight up infanticide, which Ozai also is a fan of.

Unfortunately the first method does not explain why there were no airbenders just hanging out in the other nations. Since we know that bending can be passed to a child from nonbender parents, then even nonbender children of air nomads would be passing on the airbender gene, and there would be nonbenders all over the Earth Kingdom suddenly giving birth to airbender children. That actually would have been another clever way to reintroduce airbenders back into the world, instead of...whatever Korra does. It also fits with theory of people like Ty Lee having air nomad blood without knowing it.

#atla critical

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Me, reading some pro-Katara meta because I like the character.

The meta author: “The Legend of Korra” ruined Katara’s character! She was made Aang’s trophy wife, whose whole life is dedicated to taking care of him! She does not have a chance to fight! “The best healer” title is empty since she never succeeded in healing anyone, it is only used to show how strong the opponents are! She is not shown during the trial on Yakone or Jinora’s ceremony! She never got a statue! Bryke said that’s because she never did anything important aside from giving birth to and raising Aang’s kids! Only one of her kids cares about Southern Water Tribe culture, two other worship Air Nomads’ culture and think this one is more important! She’s such a great character, she deserves so much better!

Me, a fan of Katara: Okay, I kinda agree with the opinion on LoK, in this aspect it sucks. And if Bryke really said this thing, it sucks too. *starting learning to draw Katara to make a cool fanart with her sculpture and many other cool fanarts with her one day, because she deserves it and much more*

Me, not really a kataang shipper, reading some anti-kataang meta that I came across, because I am open to different opinions.

The meta author: We never see Katara’s POV on this relationship, only Aang’s! The kiss in “The Ember Island Players” was a horrible attack on Katara’s borders! Katara and Aang had a fight about killing Ozai and never resolved this conflict! And how can you ever ship two literal children, it’s immoral! Also, Aang is younger than Katara, he’s too immature for her! “The Legend of Korra” ruined Katara’s character! She was made Aang’s trophy wife, whose whole life is dedicated to taking care of him! She does not have a chance to fight! “The best healer” title is empty since …

Me: Well, the kiss in EIP really was not okay, and I would like to see some dialog about it before the finale. The talk solving the conflict would also be nice. I do think that this sweet embrace in the end is better than their final kiss, because yes, they are kids, I think it’s too early for them to kiss on the lips. But I know that the final kiss is important, cause this time it’s Katara making the first move, cause now Aang learned to respect her boundaries. Also, LoK sucks. With the rest I don’t agree, but people can have opinions that are different from mine…

Zutara fandom: Zutara is such a better alternative than kataang!

Me, also finding out that these meta authors – both pro-katara and anti-kataang - ship zutara: Okay, what can you offer instead?

Zutara fandom: Wouldn’t it be nice if Katara got her own chance to be a hero… by saving Zuko? Wouldn’t it be nice if Katara only ever cared for Zuko and looked after his every need? Wouldn’t it be nice if she married him and gave birth to one, two, three, four, five, six children? Also only ever helping the Fire Nation people? Wouldn’t it be nice if she cheated with Zuko on Aang? Wouldn’t it be nice if we draw zutara arts in canon setting, with Katara in Fire Nation clothes without anything blue at all/okay, some blue elements/okay, some epic or sexy blue dress that looks nothing like the Southern Water Tribe style shown in the “Avatar: the Last Airbender”, because with Zuko she will have absolutely no problems keeping her culture? Wouldn’t it be nice if she used bloodbending more often since despite everything we saw in the show there totally is something good about it?

Me: HOW ON EARTH THIS IS BETTER?! You know, I am growing more and more into kataang right now.

As usual, I won't comment on the Korra thing because it's been years since I last gave it a chance, and I can't remember much other than "I hate the knew characters and can barely recognize the old ones."

The very idea that we "Don't see Katara's side/interest in Aang/was never the one to make the first move before the finale" is already completely false and this fandom gotta stop repeating stuff Zutarians say without rewatching the show first.

She's immediately his best friend after meeting him, says she'll leave her tribe if he's banished (she obviously spoke without thinking and I doubt she would have done it, but still), and she says "The world can't aford to lose you to the Fire Nation, and neither can I" before he's taken away by Zuko. Her obvious affection for Aang right away is so obvious that Sokka immediately teases her by calling Aang her boyfriend.

She's jealous when he's paying more attention to his "fanclub" than to her in "Warriors of Kyoshi." She decided to kiss him on the cheek in "Bato Of The Water Tribe."

The kiss in "Cave Of Two Lovers" was her idea, she's offended when she thinks Aang is not interested, and blushing after they actually kiss. In "Bitter Work" she gets jealous when he calls Toph "Sifu", and glad when he does the same to her. She's visibly upset when Aang doesn't want to hug her in "The Serpent's pass" and is touched when he says she gives him hope. When he dies in "Crossroads of Destiny", Katara goes berserk - much like Oma did when Shu died, hence their musical theme as a couple being the same.

In "The Awakeing" She's clearly touched again when Aang realizes she didn't save his life at the last second, but actually brought him back from the dead, and is visibly grateful to her. She's jealous AGAIN in "The Headband" when she sees all the girls at the party being clearly charmed by him, and is then all cute, shy and flirty when they're dancing together. She's happy when he is proud of her for the whole "Painted Lady" thing. When he kisses her in the day of the eclipse, she's suprised but kisses back and blushes, and by the end of the episode is practically cuddling with him.

She only accepts Zuko into the group because Aang feels it would be the right thing to do, and she trusts him, and then THREATENS TO KILL ZUKO if he steps out of line and hurts her best friend again. And in Ember Island, when Aang full on asks her if it's true that she only sees him as little brother and would never even consider dating him, she says "I didn't say that, an actor said that"

A 14-year-old girl who had crushes on other boys (and ended up going nowhere) and is busy being a child soldier in the middle of a war being a little unsure if she likes her best friend or if she likes likes him is not the same as "She never demonstrated ANY interest in him." There moments of Kataang being one-sided (again, because Katara was into Haru and specially Jet for a little while), but it was always very clear that show was setting up a Kataang endgame - one Katara was clearly written to want.

Also I disagree with the "they're too young to kiss on the lips." I don't know if it's just a case of different cultures doing things differently, but at least in my experience here in Brazil, 12-14 years old is EXACTLY the age where most kids start actually acting on their crushes, dating, and kissing - I'm not even talking a quick, cutesy kiss, I'm talking "I witness the unpleasant sight of my classmates aggressively making out in/under the school's stairs more than enough times to realize I was not the only kid/pre-teen with hormones coming out my ears"

And about what Zutarians do to "fix" Katara, don't forget: she needs to lose any and all agency she had as character so she can be the damsel in distress Zuko will save.

#anti zutara #pro kataang

[aanglican]

@sasukeless here’s bits of lokgifsandmusings meta on the cloudbabies + aang:

Mike and Bryan didn't intend on making Aang look like a terrible parent. It was more about how Kya and Bumi interpreted Aang's constant absence, which was due to the fact that Aang was the Avatar. Aang ended up taking Tenzin around the world because, as the second-to-last-airbender, he had the best chance of carrying on his legacy and keeping his culture going. Aang simply had a tough time finding balance in all of the duties he had on his plate. The idea that Aang is a terrible father is an extremely exaggerated interpretation.

Aang was gone quite a bit of the time. [Katara and the kids staying put] could have been to give the kids a more stable and modern up-bringing.

Tenzin DOESN'T REMEMBER TRAVELING WITHOUT HIS SIBLINGS AS A CHILD. This suggests that these travels were not ALL THE TIME, but rather maybe even sparse and infrequent. Tenzin was not always with Aang, but was the only child brought at times along with political/spiritual trips.

Kya recalling Gurus and Old Air Nomad stories and being bored. We also see her meditating and attempting to 'sense spiritual energy.' This literally STATES that she was at least attempted to have been taught Air Nomad history and culture and was not impressed by it. This states Aang did in fact share his history and himself with his other children. This also leads to the question over if Aang was hurt by Bumi and Kya's rejection of his culture, or if he maybe stopped teaching them because he thought they didn't care and they grew up and grew bitter over not being taught.

lt's pretty clear All of Aang's kids loved Aang very much--they were ashamed of the idea of not honoring him and were willing to die for the Air Nation and Bumi and Tenzin both dedicated their loves to upholding Aang's laws, though in different ways.

#mytext #lok #aang #cloudbabies 1.0 #meta