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seyaryminamoto · 2 months

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Fic-to-Art #38: Ozai carries Azula to the physicians' wing

This has been done for A WHILE now, but I didn't post it because the past days have been chaotic and not just on a personal level. For one thing, I really wasn't eager to drop this when people were losing their shit massively over the liveaction and its recontextualization of Azula and Ozai's dynamics, I didn't look forward to releasing this just to be told that whatever I've done in my story is somehow wrong, sooooooooo... that held me back, for a few days.

Then? The AI-Tumblr deal started to be talked about and I may or may not have freaked out about that too. Sooo... this is the first glazed and nightshaded piece of my creation, as consequence. The original, clean and proper version is available in my Patreon. Is this me being a dick to Tumblr-only people? Unfortunately, it very much isn't, I'm not trying to say that if you want the best iterations of my art, you should pay me for it... this is squarely, entirely, at staff/the CEO's feet. Obviously, there's the insecure side of me that goes "what makes you think they'd steal YOUR art when there are so many better artists out there!" but ultimately? AI is about taking everything en masse. It isn't a matter of developing a criteria about who makes the better art... it's just taking EVERYTHING and trying to repurpose it in whatever twisted way it needs to. Therefore? I think my choice is more of a matter of caution than anything else. Once AI bullshit dies out (and I really hope it does), we may just return to the same level of quality across all my accounts. For now, it is what it is.

ANYWAY! Point is this artwork is very much what my Patrons happened to vote for this month, a very shocking scene where Ozai reacted in the least foreseen way to Azula being attacked. Azula's confusion/terror comes from a place of not knowing what to do and being powerless to stop her father even if she doesn't feel comfortable with his help... but for once, Ozai isn't making a dreadful choice that will only devastate his daughter. He's actually worried about her health... and feeling genuine guilt over what landed her in the situation where she was in danger in the first place. Yes. I like me my complex Ozai who finally learned actions have consequences. He bores me to death otherwise :') if anyone STILL doesn't know that this whole situation is Gladiator-specific, then I shall clarify fully: this is artwork based on my fic. It's about a story that has been developing these characters for ALMOST ELEVEN YEARS now. It has nothing to do with whatever's going on in canon or in the liveaction, the scene in question was written almost two years ago and the artwork proposed and voted for several days before the liveaction aired. Ergo: there is no connection between this and that. Nor am I saying through this piece that Ozai is a good father. He is not. He can still be an interesting character to work with on a narrative level anyway :')

Alright. With that out of the way, hope you guys like this piece! The big one I haven't posted is ALSO finished, also glazed and nightshaded, but I think I might just end up posting it on the 26th if I don't have time to do anything big for our eleventh anniversary... yep, I'm so busy I don't even have a huge project in mind this time. Also? I have a lot to write and I'm finally happily writing it, and I would like to continue doing that...

Anyway! If you would like to be part of the creative process behind this piece, as well as see it in its proper, OG, less color-bleeding clunky version? A $1 Patreon pledge gives you the chance to join in suggesting prompts, voting for them and reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before a new chapter is released!

#fic-to-art project #ozai #azula #obviously this was the February piece #and I'm very sorry for the long time it took me to post it but #god I hate it every time there's any “new” thing going on in this franchise #has nothing to do with me and yet it's always a pain because people with the STALEST takes #start to spring out and start trying to police what's going on in the fandom #even people with sense are saying things that blow my mind lately #... so yeah I don't feel entirely safe posting anything to do with my work lately #but hopefully that will change :')#for now enjoy this one

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harleyification · 1 year

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Can I talk about Avatar for a second?? Lemme talk about ATLA/ALoK for a second.

Like, so, I have many, many...many....grievances and hangups about A:LoK. I have tried to watch it twice, and while the first season is okay, the second season made me so mad that I dropped it. Twice. I have not watched the third season or got to see Gays In Action in 4k, because I was that disappointed.

I remember a hell of a lot about ATLA...but I can barely remember anything about Korra. That’s mostly due to my disappointment, but the fact remains that I barely remember the show, after watching it twice, and it’s the latest installment. That being said, I remember one thing that stuck out to me most....

Vaatu.

I am so, SO disappointed that they really just!! Made up this AMAZING concept of an Avatar counter-spirit, and they were just like!! “Oh yeah, his concepts are chaos and darkness, he’s EVIL, dudes.”

The one thing in the world that could possibly rival one as strong as the Avatar, would have been Another Avatar. They could’ve done something amazing with that!! They could finally have a balancing act!! A great leadup to this bigger enemy, with a twist at the end - like how ATLA did it with Ozai, with Aang refusing to kill him and instead taking away his bending!! The outcome wasn’t expected, but it still led to the same ending, with a better meaning behind it because it didn’t force Aang outside of his boundaries!! But...LoK didn’t have that. It was “Here’s this sketchy guy, we all Know he’s sketchy, but LOOK, THE TWIST IS THAT HE’S SKETCHY!! BUT ON A MORE EXTREME LEVEL!! Haha!!”

The only thing that LoK managed to twist was the lore of the world, by expanding on the Avatar, how it came to be, and by introducing a spirit of EQUAL POWER to the Avatar. I love Wan’s and Raava’s story, that isn’t my problem with this twist. My problem lies in the fact that Vaatu was merely made to be the Evil Avatar Spirit, in a world where balance and equality mean everything. I think Vaatu being the spirit of Chaos and Darkness would’ve been so cool to explore, if the creators had time to explore him - because Chaos and Darkness aren’t evil, they’re nature. What is morality anyway to a spirit?? Why make an Evil Spirit?? Why not explore WHY Vaatu is the way he is rather than say he just is??

Does that mean that Tui and La are merely good and evil, then?? They’re supposed to represent Yin and Yang, quite literally. Is Tui, the moon, evil simply because they can only thrive in the darkness?? Is La evil, because the sea is unrestrained and takes innocent lives, being a chaotic force?? Shouldn’t Tui and La be CLOSE, or at least GRATEFUL to Vaatu for giving them the darkness they need to remain balanced?? I don’t know too much else about the spirit gods in Avatar, so idk if there’s a Spirit of the Night, but my point still stands - the moon can’t prosper without darkness, and the ocean needs the moon. How can that be constrained to an idea as simple as “evil”??

Was La in the wrong or the in the right for destroying those fire nation ships, for taking control of Aang, for taking Zuko’s crew away from him after their other half died??

I just think that the world of ATLA/ALoK would have been so much better if Vaatu wasn’t just...Evil Bad Guy Spirit. The balancing act would’ve been restored if there are two Avatars (and Raava should be seen as something that can become Too Much - too much light, too much serenity/complacency, too much order means that there’s no room for self-identity, chance, risk, and the ability to look inward. If Raava can go too far, but be held back by their Avatar, then why can’t the same be held for Vaatu??). For a world that says that balance and equality is the true guide to peace, it seems really, really desperate to keep only one Avatar.

Vaatu would have been an excellent twist, if he just wasn’t so one-sided, and if it was anyone else but goddamn Unalaq.

That being said, I think Tui, La, and Vaatu (and maybe Wan Shi Tong, that giant Owl bitch) would’ve been/should be Ride or Die.

#Vaatu #Avatar #avatar: the legend of korra #avatar: the last airbender #Vaatu Headcanons #Lamenting the fact that I dislike ALoK despite trying so hard to love it #FUCK THE MCU AND TONY STARK THIS IS NOW A MULTIFANDOM ACCOUNT #No shame in having 20+ fixations!!#This is mainly me complaining about the writing choices used for Korra but also #This is me pointing the potential in Vaatu #BITCH GIVEN THE CHANCE I WOULD BE A DARK AVATAR #MY EYES WOULD GLOW RED!!! THATS SICK AS FUCK!!#ATLA #ALoK #I read Avatar fics for 3 days straight and YES it was mainly Zukka

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phoenix-king-ozai · 2 months

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Live footage of Azulon when the son he treats like trash and obviously wants his attention to the point he legit names his kid after him but with a more feminine sounding ending kills him after forty years of him being an awful parent: Shoced Pikachu face.

Yeah you can't tell Ozai didn't want to kill Azulon but simply never had the courage to go through with it. A part of me feels he was waiting for the bastard to kick the bucket and I'm of the opinion that outside of fear, the other reason he didn't try tripping the bastard down the stairs was because Iroh would get the throne anyway and whilst Azulon's death can be brushed off as the fucker just getting old, Iroh dying at the same time would raise red flags and it's only when Lu Ten dies and Iroh retracts his birth right does Ozai dare to even try insinuating he should get the throne.

I believe that Ozai and Azulon had a very complex, turbulent, and strained father-and-son relationship. My theory regarding Fire Lady Ilah's death is that she had complications while giving birth to Ozai and died in a traumatic childbirth scenario. Perhaps, Fire Lord Azulon desired to have another child in case of Crown Prince Iroh's death on the battlefield. Ilah probably was at the age where having another child was risky in her mid-40s or possibly infant Ozai burning Ilah alive from the inside out causing the Fire Sages to perform a bloody C-Section which led to her death due to immolation, blood loss, and overwhelming pain.

If this scenario is truly the canon case regarding Fire Lady Ilah’s death. Then I could see Fire Lord Azulon scapegoating Ozai for being the cause of Ilah’s death especially if Azulon forcibly demanded Ilah to conceive another child as a potential backup replacement heir for Iroh’s death in warfare along with the return of Sozin’s comet coming in the next half century. I can see both Azulon and a teenage Iroh resenting, neglecting, and verbally abusing Ozai during his childhood due to their beloved wife and mother dying horrifically in tremendous tormenting pain. Adult Iroh probably later resents and regrets how he and his father treated Ozai during his early formative years as a child and the negative effects it had on their relationship and Ozai’s own relationship with his own personal family with Ursa, Zuko and Azula…

However, I believe that despite the hateful resentment and negatively neglectful child abuse. Ozai during his youthful childhood and teenage years greatly appreciated, admired, and respected his father as Fire Lord and Supreme Commander of the Fire Nation Military and brother as Grand General of the Fire Nation Army. Ozai probably very much idolized and worshipped his father and brother as legendary war heroes and genius strategists who followed in his grandfather's legendary footsteps in achieving absolute victory for their homeland and people against the “barbaric snow savages” of the Water Tribes and “incompetent dirty filthy” Earth Kingdomers. Ozai probably later on during his adulthood began to resent Azulon for his maltreatment and neglect of him despite him being his ultimate idol as shown by his naming of Azula after him. Ozai also probably resents how Azulon values and has a better relationship with Iroh and Lu Ten than him due to Ilah’s death. I can definitely see Teen Ozai being fanatically loyal to Azulon just like Zuko was for Ozai due his exile.

Ozai is more ruthless, brutal, and vicious than his older brother Iroh. Iroh had taken after Ilah's influence and parenting style whereas Ozai had taken after Azulon’s influence and parenting style. Iroh probably is brainwashed and naive to believe that the Fire Nation truly cares about the prosperity of the other elemental nations whereas as Ozai is extremely realistic and pessimistic regarding the so-called “benevolent” plans for the other nations by their grandfather Sozin. Ozai probably internally realized and demoralized himself regarding the Fire Nation's true brutal, vicious, cruel, and selfish desire for imperial conquest. Which is why personality Ozai is much more strict, cold, ruthless and serious than his brother due to their different outlook on society and what it means to be a parent, warrior, and Fire Prince of the Fire Nation.

Ozai's parenting style is very authoritative, demanding, controlling, and ruthless like the Fire Nation Empire itself. Ozai most definitely inherited this style of dominating and vicious dictatorial parenting method from Azulon who inherited it from Sozin. Ozai treats his children more like soldiers and pawns for the Fire Nation's grand schemes and designs. Their happiness, wishes, and desires mean nothing to him to the cost of his family's Imperial Legacy. Ozai and Ursa used to have a happy family with Zuko and Azula, but Ozai "changed" when the children became older. I believe Ozai decided to allow Zuko and Azula to have a happy and "normal" childhood that he didn't experience as a child. However, once Ozai saw a chance in becoming Fire Lord and fulfilling Sozin's dream and legacy. Ozai gave up on the lenient and caring fatherly act because it was unnatural to him given his own personal childhood and relationship with his own father Fire Lord Azulon. Along with the fact that Ozai probably believes that with Ursa gone; he finally can stop coddling his children after their childhood has ended.

Unfortunately, Ozai cares more about the Fire Nation's imperialistic ambitions than the happiness of his wife and children. At the end of the day, Ozai doesn't understand and value the unconditional and pure love of a parent because he probably has never gotten to experience it with Fire Lord Azulon probably being resentful over Fire Lady Ilah's brutal and horrific death in childbirth!

Ozai's harshness and brutal parenting style and domineering expectations are because Ozai wants Zuko and Azula to both prove themselves. Ozai doesn't favor Zuko or Azula. It is about which child will succeed Sozin, Azulon, and his legacy as future Fire Lord. In fact, Ozai doesn't want Zuko or Azula to think that they are the “favorite” child. He wants Azula and Zuko to improve through competition. Because of the “only the greatest of pressures can forge diamonds” & “steel sharpen steel” mentality. Ozai has the mentality of an imperialist warlord. Ozai isn't trying to be the world's most loving and caring father but rather continue and build upon a powerful and dominant legacy that his forefathers had created before him. He wants Zuko & Azula to be cold, ruthless, heartless, vicious, and brutal imperialistic warmongers like him (Ozai), his father (Azulon), and his grandfather (Sozin).

#Sozin #Azulon #Ilah #Iroh #Ozai #Zuko #Azula #Fire Nation Royal Family #Fire Nation Parenting #Fire Nation Culture #Fire Nation Society #ATLA #Avatar: TLA #Avatar: The Last Airbender #Royal Fire Fam Cycle of Abuse #Fire Nation Royal Family Meta

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jet-apologistmybadhomies · 2 months

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part 1 vivzipops shows x azula and zuko

zuko will be in Part two his desgin aint done

i made two Versions because i couldnt decide on sinner or on hellborn

human azula! her clothes are all based on nanny fran (90s Series)

she was born 1952 died in 2008 😸 which is where the show ended and she would have died at 14 years old (ik i should give her 2000s Fashion but she was Always extra and i watched nanny fran in 2000s anyway)

here a both Versions

shes based on the blue Dragon in atla

she and zuko went a lil crazy through ozais abuse and ended up Killing him 😨 thats Not why they're in hell tho!

azula and zuko killed eachother in the end and ended up Fighting in hell again (to be clear they were not in the right mind when they killed eachother)

they still stick together after cuz like bro its hell. make some Friends or you're fucked

full Versions the Royal one is defo firenation clothing cuz i feel like it fits

azuals sinner Outfit will Always be diffrerent but keep a simliar look (also she is wearing earrings of the devil sign but its too light oops)

and then the full Version

#avatar the last airbender #atla #zuko #azula #fire hazard siblings #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #au #avatar the last airbender au #Crossover?#idk not really #atla azula #ozai #ozai is a b💥tch

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timur-pannonicus · 10 months

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Azula, Iroh and Lu Ten speculation and possible hc

It's been a really long time since I made an original post so here we go.

Trigger warning: Gender roles, marriage within families, historical realities that are repugnant to a lot of modern people.

Anyway...

I didn't come up with the theory myself but there's a headcanon that Azula and Lu Ten were supposed to be married, as arranged by the then Fire Lord Azulon.

If you take the comics as proof, there's a scene where Azulon says that he's marrying Ozai of to Ursa so that the union of Sozin's and Roku's blood will create a powerful dynasty that will rule the world.

However, Azulon is outraged at the very notion presented by Ozai that his firstborn Iroh should be disinherited, which leads to the possible conclusion that Ozai and his progeny were never meant to succeed the throne but to marry into the main line to strengthen it.

Even if you reject the comics it still remains plausible. Azulon clearly didn't have much love for Ozai, marriage between cousins in a great lot of societies through history barely raised eyebrows among commoners, never mind royalty, who often mistakenly believed "pure" blood makes offspring stronger.

Azulon might have arranged the marriage soon after Azula was born or also likely when she proved to be a prodigy and genius at firebending.

In any case, it provides a different or at least additional kind of explanation for Iroh's attitude towards Azula.

Lu Ten was most likely at least in his twenties when he died so Iroh knew what kind of women his son got along with and which not. Thus he tried to influence her into being the kind of girl his son would like. As we all know, she wasn't measuring up when she was little and after Lu Ten's death Iroh lost a good chunk of his motivation to try getting along with her.

It also gives new light on why Ozai dug his claws into her so early and raised her to be as much like him as possible. Even if he never formally got the throne he could influence the nation through his daughter, the queen.

This adds to his she was born lucky comment, from the start she had the right gender.

Plus, in my benefit of the doubt interpretation of Azula she did feel at least somewhat positive towards Lu Ten. Apart from condemning Iroh for not razing Ba Sing Se in revenge for his death there's the infamous moment where she asks Ursa and Zuko what would happen if Iroh died. She did not ask about Lu Ten and when Zuko counters and asks how she would feel if Lu Ten wanted Ozai dead, she doesn't talk back but runs out of the room.

Might also explain why she never really mentioned wanting the throne. For a good chunk of her life she was supposed to be queen anyway, giving her a rather secure sense of entitlement, so why announce it out loud to everyone?

Rant end.

Note: I'm pretty sure I will face disagreement but I simply like speculation for its own sake at times. Maybe I'm too hard or too soft on a character. Feel free to give reason why I am wrong but NO foul language or personal insults will be tolerated from my side and I don't want to see people being rude to each other in notes or reblogs either.

I'm also not exactly the best at tagging so if you have suggestions for that I'm all ears.

I wish you all a nice day.

#azula #avatar the last airbender #atla #tw sexism #tw incest #speculation #headcanon #idea #overthinking

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nono-bunny · 2 months

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Thoughts from watching the ATLA live action!

I initially wanted this to all be one post but. It got too long and also Tumblr accidentally posted it once instead of just drafting as I asked while I was writing it and I had to reconstruct the whole thing so I'm just going to make one post per episode I think.

So, episode 1!

Oh my god the show really opens on just showing the letters "Capital City", genuinely that's kind of hilarious?? I kinda always thought of it as Caldera City collectively because Capital City sounds dumb (very The Hunger Games of them, ngl) but like... I do recognize that it's only technically the rich district- even so I feel like maybe they should've reimagined that one in particular because honestly it's always been confusing for the capital to have two cities in it (Harbor City is the other one, basically the poor people district). Anyway not a big deal overall, just... Kind of funny to not change this

Truly a weird way to start the show with just some random Earth Kingdom revolutionaries, but based on the fact that I've heard they're not in it I'm just headcanoning it to be Haru and Tyro lmao otherwise it's just. A truly bizarre choice

Oh never mind they're??? Opening before the war??? They literally have Ozai in the first season, why wouldn't they just have a menacing Sozin in a war room, with like maybe some very subtle hints to him grieving someone who died disagreeing with him, and him going forward with it anyway? Idk it's genuinely very strange to open a show with such iconic and recognizable characters by focusing on some random mostly irrelevant people you're never gonna see again because the story takes place a hunder years in the future. I mean, it was a cool fight scene (when I could see it lmao, I wish it wasn't so dark- would've looked great in a cinema but this should have been made for people watching on home screens) but?? Why should I care about these people or what they're doing, either as a veteran who knows they don't matter or as someone new to the story who DOESN'T know that they're never going to see them again?

Oh shit wait, AGAIN??? They keep zagging on me lmao this is like. Exactly what I wanted!! I read they started things off with a lot of fighting and showing the war so I thoght this was what it was but no!! The random guy meets non other than Sozin... Who genuinely looks incredible and does a fantastic job at portraying exactly what I wanted!! I think there's something in the eyes specifically? Like, there's a certain sadness mixed with idealism there, which works really well with how determined, calculating and cold he otherwise is. He feels 100% like the sort of guy who'd reasonably be the ancestor to the mess that is the Royal Family we see during the rest of the show, and I'm genuinely really happy about it! Sozin feels like the sort of madman who believes in his own just and it's perfect, like, the exact vibe I got from him in the original!

Is Gyatso talking to Bryke rn or...?? Lmao fr Aang never learned any of the things he mentions which is why he was a bad Avatar, and why in the end I don't like canon OG Aang. Addressing it in the first episode is extremely bold of the LA tbh, but you know I love to see it! Also everyone was talking about how Aang wasn't silly enough, but literally in the OG he was too silly and never learned to take responsibility or work with others so?? This Aang that is already blending a whimsical air with what seems like a degree of emotional intelligence the original lacked is!! Such an improvement in my eyes, actually! I'm hoping they manage to properly resolve these things this time around, but already their direction with him just within minutes of meeting him feels a lot more palatable to me. Also they rewrote that scene in a way that makes Gyatso infinitely more likeable because now he actually GETS it, OG Gyatso was a kind man but in the end... He was wrong, he coddled Aang too much. Here, in a universe where the Air nomads want to help defend the rest of the world, he recognizes that while Aang is needed, he genuinely isn't capable of helping yet which!! Also feels like an improvement in terms of co-nation relations, it feels like there actually used to be a harmony of sorts before! It will help make the Air Nomads feel less out of place and "out of sight out of mind" in the bad way they were in the original. The Air Nomads already planning to get involved also feels like a way to rid Aang of his idealistic and childhish views of his own culture in a much more direct way than the more subtle approach just showing Gyatso surrounded by skeletons of people he likely killed. Also, again, saw people complain aboit the Air Nomads wanting to get involved being ooc and?? Okay, so? Have you maybe considered that them being so insular that their loss was barely felt in the original whenever they didn't need to make Aang have an emotional moment was a bad thing??? Like, I get that it isn't in line with their characterization, but personally? Them choosing not to get involved in an attempted genocide was always a bad look tbh, and as far as I'm concerned, this is a fix and a way to make them look much better than just like. Hermits unconcerned with the world- they care, they want to help! Honestly overall everyone in the Air Nomads looks so much better here, this feels like a net good in terms of like... Idk Air Nomad publicity lmao. Also, showing the different temples coming together to celebrate is!! Incredible, I wholeheartedly love that addition to the lore!

Ngl tbh so far this feels like a fanfic I'd read, in like. Literally the best possible way

Yo the "Gyatso and Roku were friends" theory looking realll possible rn with that "you will always be my friend" line 👀

Ah so I see what people meant about Aang's characterization in this episode being a bit tell-y rather than show-y, that's fair. That said, it was a really nice scene that established the bond between him and Appa quite well imo! Also now I'm genuinely curious as to whether they'll have him get a bit drunk with power like in the original considering the focus they're putting on how much he needs to NOT do that!

To everyone saying Aang running away was important and should not have been cut- no, it fucking wasn't, it was one of his biggest unresolved character flaws that got ignored when the destroyed his character arc in season 3 and I'm fucking glad it's gone. I do find it interesting that here Aang basically only just finds out about being the Avatar before getting frozen rather than having a bit more time to get used to the idea and see how it changes things for him- it makes it that in a way, this Aang has both a lot more and a lot less baggage! Essentially his entire journey of discovery of what it means to be pronounced the Avatar will happen alongside people who never knew him as anything but, it's an extremely finite and dramatic closing of the chapter of his life where he wasn't the Avatar- it kinda shows he has no room for confusion anymore, he must now become The Avatar because that's essentially his people's last request of him. It's a very different sort of vibe from "I wasn't willing", it's "I wasn't ready", and that is much more easily fixable in a shorter show! Also the og literally just "solved" the willingness issue by having him enjoy the benefits and refuse to do any of the work so. Not sad to see it go at all

Battlefield Sozin?! Firebending rockets?! Wilhelm scream?! Cool battle scene all around tbh, really heartbreakin and difficult to watch, which means they did a good job with it! I do still wish it was brighter though lmao

Uhh forgot to type anything for a while because I was crying but. Yeah I generally really liked the portrayal of life on Wolf Cove! There are definitely some very noticeable changes with our two leads here, and I actually don't think they're necessarily bad, they just feel very strange and might take a bit to get used to. Katara actually isn't passive, which is weird considering that's how a lot of people described her? She's just extremely cautious. All of her defining traits feel like they're still there, but some of them do feel like they're lying a bit under the surface due to her situation which! Makes sense as an alternative way of writing her! Sokka genuinely feels like such a big brother here, I like the emphasis on his sense of responsibility and how he doesn't quite know how to be a real leader yet- it goes very well with a Katara who desperately wants to be a fighter but can't and has to try and blend in. Both of them have very clear aspirations and the traits that will eventually allow them to get to where they want to be, but they're very far from reaching them at the start. A lot of the scenes do feels kinda awkward tbh, but idk, I think they do a fine enough job at what they attempt to.

Now, hearing that Katara wasn't the one to break Aang out in a fit of anger wasn't a deal breaker for me actually, but? Honestly the way he gets out is just needlessly confusing here, genuinely unclear if Katara did it or he just... Idk somehow reacted to another bender's presence or whatever. Idk, it felt extremely weird and I think just like? A bit of clarification here as to what happened could've saved this scene without it having to happen via anger if that's the way they wanna go with Katara, and specifically her relationship with Sokka (which, again, does really feel authentic and well done here imo!)

Aang saying that Katara is the only one who tried to fight for him is fucking wild, but I guess that's the impression he got given that Gyatso told him he had to go away and he didn't hear the meeting about him here. Still a wild thing for him to say, felt really weird right alongside Sokka being the bravest person he ever met. Idk that whole exchange was off and awkward and just... Strange

Iroh doing his best to help and teach Aang when he can is very sweet. Idk how to feel about how hard he's already going in on the whole "your daddy doesn't love you" thing with Zuko tbh, because it does make Zuko appear much less lost when he's got someone who's giving him the answers rather than leading him to them, it's kinda a book 2 vibe from them? It's strange. Also a straight talking Iroh feels so strange in general, literally his only "eccentric" quality so far is loving Jasmine tea and very clearly not being down with the war, it's... Certainly A Choice, but not one I'm really enjoying so far tbh

There's something really interesting about Katara immediately relaxing and allowing herself to be silly and mischievous around Sokka here, it's kind of a flip from their dynamic in the original but there's something really fun and sweet about seeing those hidden aspects of her come out around the one person she knows and trusts to accept and protect her just as fiercely as she would him. It's definitely different, but I'm genuinely really enjoying the unique spin they put on their relationship and how it correlates with their own individual personalities and how they perceive and present themselves.

Taking the burden of always being the only one who can bring Aang out of the Avatar State away from Katara feels like a big relief. Also in general I like the way they still kept Aang's attachment to Gyatso and his parallels with Katara, while also solidifying Sokka and Aang friendship which wasn't really... A thing in the original? Having Sokka protect and reach out to Aang feels much more personal here in a way than it did originally, I think maybe the weird scene where Aang praises them kinda worked to serve that? Idk I've read people saying they don't feel like a family but more like friends here but. They never did in the original in season 1 either tbh. If anything there's a sense of everyone being equal here which the original lacked in places, I like how both Sokka and Katara support and save Aang in equal measure here and how they look out for each other as well. Aang is kinda naturally a mess this whole episode but here's hoping he returns the favor for them for once in the future!

Edit: dammit Tumblr literally just did it again I didn't mean to post this yet, but I'm kind of at the end of the episode so fuck it, it stays I don't wanna reconstruct it in the drafts again. If I have anything to add it'll go after this.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender live action #natla

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innocentimouto · 2 years

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Jet and Hama were done dirty by the show

There’s this emphasis on these two killing innocents as proof that they were portrayed fairly because they weren’t great people anyway.

What this basically means is that the oppressed victims of war who kill innocents and enemies are worse than the people

who are killing innocents ONLY

who started the war

who erased an entire nation

who attack people not even involved in the war

who think they’re in the right

who don’t do anything to stop the war even if they realize it’s wrong

I’m talking about the Fire Nation. I see more people defending the writing of Jet and Hama than people criticizing how the entire Fire Nation was redeemed once the war ended.

It’s not just at the end of the show. Throughout the series, we see many Fire Nation characters have quirky/funny moments which is far more than any other nation. And they started the war.

Sozin got half an episode of being human and he ordered the erasure of the Air Nomads. Genocide. And somehow Hama gets nearly the same treatment if not worse since we never even saw her speak in her flashback.

Yes Hama and Jet were done dirty. How does the man who started the war not get any hate/fear from Aang, the last airbender, but Jet and Hama get fear/derision?

Sozin’s story ends with Aang deciding every person deserves a chance and friendship can last lifetimes, but the moral of Jet and Hama’s story is to be careful of hating your oppressors or you’ll end up a monster.

Sozin compared to Hama and Jet aren’t even equal; they’re portrayed as worse.

Not everyone in the Fire Nation is evil. But the people who started the war should not be given more sympathy and forgiveness than the victims of war.

There’s also the fact Hama and Jet were severely traumatized, and people either ignore this or argue it doesn’t change anything.

Zuko was also abused.

Zuko attached the Southern Water Tribe. He threatened the unarmed women and children. He ruined their homes. The Southern Water Tribe had been raided so many times before; it’s guaranteed everyone feared they would be killed.

Zuko also set Suki’s village on fire, and it’s explicitly stated that they wanted to stay out of the war.

Zuko gets a pass for all of this in the name of trauma. I’m not only talking about characters giving him a pass because they kind of didn’t. I mean the narrative and fandom all forgave him long before he joined the Gaang.

Why? Zuko never even had a scene of thinking back to what he did and regretting it. Zuko didn’t even think to apologize until the last minute. Zuko couldn’t understand why Katara hated him, despite him attacking her home like Yon Rha did. It was never misplaced anger. He did exactly what the man who killed her mother did.

The point is, there was no scene of him caring about his mistakes until the Gaang forced him to, and the story was fine with that.

Zuko had trauma, but he didn’t need to do the things he did. I’m not saying it would be easy, but really, Ozai didn’t order his death if he didn’t capture the avatar. Zuko never even mentioned capturing the avatar for the Fire Nation. He betrayed the Fire Nation by freeing Aang so he could capture him himself. So it wasn’t for the nation either.

Point is, Zuko wasn’t going to die if he left Aang alone. He would be severely unhappy and struggling through years of abuse and unlearning propaganda, which is basically what Book 2 was minus everything but unhappiness, but he would be fine.

Zuko was never forced to chase the avatar. And I look at Zuko very critically, but it does make sense why he chased Aang. He wouldn’t have died if he didn’t though.

Jet on the other hand.

Jet chose to live in a forest away from the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation took over Gaipan and then had soldiers regularly passing through the forest. Jet was forced to do something. The way he did it was wrong, but it’s not like he chose to do it for selfish or unnecessary reasons.

“Oh Jet could have just left.”

Yeah, and travel to any other part of his nation that was being colonized. Anyway, he literally did that by going to BSS and even if he didn’t bother Zuko and Iroh like everyone wanted him to, it would have been taken over in a few weeks anyway.

Hama was taken from her home and imprisoned in horrible conditions with no way out for decades. I feel like we skip over the implications of what she and her people had to face if they tried to escape. Regardless you can’t come out of that situation and not develop an extreme hatred to the people who did it to you.

That’s years and years of trauma. Even if you argue it’s different because she’s an adult while Zuko was a child, Hama became an adult in prison.

I don’t agree with Hama’s actions; I just don’t think the show should have went in that direction without even having Indigenous people involved. The implications of what she did to Fire Nation civilians is horrifying. But the disgusting way she was written is what bothers me the most.

In comparison to the Fire Nation, Jet and Hama were not portrayed fairly. And if the next point is that the two were side characters, then I have to ask:

Why do the victims of war get less time than the perpetrators?

Jet and Hama are side characters. They’re not meant to get much time. That’s fine. It still doesn’t change how they’re the only two victims of war who hate the Fire Nation viciously and were in helpless situations most of their life and got very little parts but enough to demonize them.

Hama’s story ends with her imprisoned which is problematic, and Jet’s story ends by being gaslit, brainwashed, and killed by an earthbender.

Not a firebender. What’s the lesson there? He was too angry, too obsessed, too crazy. It wasn’t the Fire Nation. It was Jet not controlling himself. Take him away from the war and he’d still be a problem.

Hama and Jet’s entire lives were uprooted and destroyed by the Fire Nation and one ends back where her brothers and sisters rotted away while the other ends in a pointless, forgotten death, and the Fire Nation get no blame for causing all their pain and even their “evilness” if you want to go there.

#Jet #atla jet #Hama #Jet meta #Hama meta #give me nuanced antagonists #but give me angry victims of war with good writing first

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nexstage · 1 year

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Something that got me curious about the whole deal Zuko and Iroh have with the concept of destiny is how ingrained in their minds it is concerning stuff that they believe must be theirs at any cost or it is theirs from the start because they feel it or say so despite the evidence against such sentiment or how questionable it is. And that got me wondering: what if it was a family thing? And well, I rewatched a fragment of The Avatar and the Firelord episode because I wanted to know if this destiny stuff had started during the several years before Sozin and Roku met each other again. Guess what? It did happen during that time or that is what Sozin’s dialogue implied: “I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately.” Lately as in the several years before Roku’s return? Or lately as in the time it took Roku to ask Ta Min to marry him until the talk they had during the wedding party? Anyway, Sozin had been thinking and that’s where “destiny” comes into play: “Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord. And although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the Avatar. It's an amazing stroke of fate we know each other so well, isn't it?”

With that mentality, Sozin believed it was also destiny to expand the Fire Nation, to “share their prosperity with the world” and that both best friends had this great future handed to them until Roku refused to be part on his delusions of power.

Other thing that is interesting is that even when Sozin had been thinking lately about such destiny, maybe there was an external influence that pushed him toward it, like his father’s teachings or words, or the greatness of former Fire Lords and what they had accomplished to make him believe world domination was his “destiny call” to make history.

Still, this context is super intriguing because it puts more weight into this mindset that we’ve seen on Zuko and Iroh. It’s not just reaching the top and make your mark on the world, it’s also like a family tradition. Though, while it was both of them for Iroh, for Zuko, destiny was tied to his self-worth too. Beyond the typical entitlement of a prince, there was also this high value his father had put on concepts like power, strength, dominance that were deeply connected to being a ruler, to be on the throne, and concerning the throne, that was also on a high pedestal. Heck, Ozai even created a new throne by naming himself the Phoenix King because he believed that was his destiny. So, when Zuko was stripped from his title and banished, his destiny AKA the throne, was taken away from him. No destiny means you were worthless or you screwed up so big you didn’t deserve to be close to what you have been told should be yours as long as you showed your power.

The same happens with the concept of honor, Zuko thought he was trying to restore it but in the end chasing Aang was just to please Ozai and get his love and approval. Honor and destiny are tied to his self-worth and this imaginary path he had paved in his head: getting his honor back means he finally did something right and he’s not a failure anymore, fulfilling his destiny means he has reached his true potential and is not a worthless excuse of a prince but someone worthy of the throne that is the embodiment of that potential.

The problem is that this attachment is not only unhealthy but also dangerous. Nor the show or the comics push Zuko to understand and come terms to with the fact that the throne is his not because of destiny but because of how the family inheritance structure works: if you are the firstborn, you will rule, if you aren’t, you won’t. And in very rare ocasions, if there were in ancient times, if the firstborn died on birth or childhood, another baby would have to take their place. Oh, but let’s not forget that he wasn’t even on the list, it was Lu Ten until he died on the Siege of Ba Sing Se and then Ozai schemed against Iroh and killed his own father to steal Iroh’s birthright, so Zuko’s case can be categorized as a special one of brother’s treachery and power usurpation.

Besides, by putting so much focus on destiny as this grand treasure that “he oh-so-rightfully deserves” it takes away the real struggles he had to endure to make sure the country is ruled appropriately. Sure, he was shown determined to restore the world with Aang after the war as a Fire Lord, but the comics have made him regressed a lot on character development making him incredibly entitled, abrasive, harsh, making poor decisions in politics, and arrogant by talking about how the throne is his and that’s law, blah, blah, blah. Though, to be a bit positive about how the comics portrayed Zuko, I have to say that they make him look like an ATLA version of Democles.

Have you ever heard of Sword of Democles story? He and the king, Dyonisius, swapped places and Democles starts enjoying the luxury and glamour of a king’s life, thinking that royalty is only that. He couldn’t have been more wrong because above the throne was a sword hanging by a single hair of a horse’s tail to depict the crude reality of being a king: facing multiple enemies and dangers that could eliminate him to take his throne.

Did Zuko have a sword hanging over his throne by a single hair? Technically, no. And symbolically, the comics made sure he was untouchable or that he got out of any trouble without confronting him with hard questions and realities in regards of always thinking the throne is his destiny instead of a duty based on loyalty to his people or how warped his sense of worth is by tying it to power. And honestly, with all the backlash I’ve read toward the comics, I doubt Zuko will be faced with such challenges.

#zuko critical #atla meta #the avatar and the firelord #atla comics critical #destiny this destiny that when will it be the time to address that this destiny is a warped sense of worth #heck even Eda from The Owl House knows destiny and chosen one stuff are cheap ways to feel special #Oh I forgot to mention Azula “divine right to rule” piece of dialogue #well I think she was talking with some spiritual knowledge she might have learned on the FN library

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sokkastyles · 1 year

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Hi,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for the response on my query regarding Azula.

Now, I am back with a few questions regarding The Southern Raiders. I was thinking, was Katara struck with guilt specifically because her mother died for her, which Sokka or even Aang did bot understand, but Zuko who feels that his mother disappeared because of him did?

Also, I was thinking did Katara really think of revenge when she wanted to Yon Rah, or did Aang end up pushing that thought into her head, because he thought that? Just a bit confused on this one.

Would like your thoughts on this.

I definitely think that Katara and Zuko both experiencing the loss of their mothers specifically because they tried to protect them is a huge part of why they connect on that specific thing, yeah. We know that Katara feels guilt over this because she refers to how she's "not that helpless little girl anymore." The confrontation with Yon Rha is largely about confronting that guilt and reframing her own story, in which she gets to be an actor and not just a helpless bystander. I think Zuko feels the same way because he also does the same thing when he confronts Ozai, both times, about what happened to his mother, contrasting with when he tried to confront Ozai about it as a child and got no response.

Sokka and Azula also share the parallel of not dealing with the loss of their mother in such a direct way, and thus not carrying the guilt of it in the same way. Both of them have distanced themselves from their mother's disappearance in order to cope with what happened, which also makes them unable and even hostile towards their siblings for wanting to directly confront it. See Sokka telling Zuko that he doesn't like to think about it and being against Katara confronting Kya's killer, and Azula dismissing the loss of her mother as "she liked Zuko more than me anyway" and pretending she doesn't care, telling Zuko not to dwell on the past when Zuko can't not dwell on it.

On the topic of whether Katara was thinking of revenge or whether Aang accused her of that incorrectly, I know this is hotly debated in the fandom. But I'll ask you to look back at the dialogue in that part of the episode.

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

I'd say it's not so much that revenge was never in her thought process, because come on, we all know she's not going there to have a peaceful conversation. She and Zuko initially think that Yon Rha is still the active commander of the Southern Raiders and intercept the ship while it's active. They knew there was going to be some kind of confrontation happening.

But for me, it's Aang's attempts to define the situation and not listen to what Katara is saying about her own feelings that feels dismissive. Katara admits that maybe it is about revenge, and maybe that is what she needs, but she's still not making limiting statements the way Aang is. Katara needed to figure out what she needed, and she couldn't do that with Aang telling her that if she does x, then y will happen, therefore she should do z which is what he wants her to do. Remember that Aang was initially against her confronting Yon Rha at all, and only conceded that she needed to go when she wouldn't give in to him telling her she shouldn't. It's after he realizes that he can't stop her that he tells her "not to choose revenge." His initially belief was that going at all constituted a violent act of revenge and that it was immoral.

I appreciate that the show has him change his stance, but there should have been some continued followup when Katara came back and it turned out that she did not choose either forgiveness or revenge, which Aang had presented as the only options. Even after he is directly confronted by Katara telling him he is wrong, there is no admission from Aang that it's not a black and white dichotomy. This is especially glaring since the episode already showed us once that Aang is capable of changing his stance when he concedes, reluctantly, that Katara has to take this journey, although even then it feels more like he's saying it so he can still feel like he's in the right because he's realized he can't stop her. He does the same thing when Katara comes back. He never admits that he was wrong even when Katara directly tells him so. He only engages with the argument when Zuko tells him he was right. This isn't so much wisdom as it is ignoring everything that doesn't make you look in the right. That's why I get frustrated with people acting like Aang stopped Katara from going on a murderous rampage in this episode. Aang both assumed it was about revenge AND assumed that Katara wasn't capable of making the choice not to do something horrible on her own, and when proven wrong, never admits it, but does take credit when Zuko credits him with "knowing what Katara needed."

Meanwhile, Katara was able to concede that maybe it was about revenge, but she was still able to make the right choice in the end, without the need to try and define someone else's experience and label their feelings and moralize about it. Katara is the one that shows true wisdom in this episode, because she's wise enough to understand that sometimes we can't truly define a situation or know our true feelings, much less the feelings of others.

So like, was it about revenge? I'm with Katara. Maybe it was, at first, but what's important is the choice Katara made and that she was able to make it, not how Aang feels about it. And I think Katara's choice in the end was much closer to how Zuko defined it - closure and justice - than it was about revenge, in the end, and she would not have gotten that opportunity if she had listened to Aang from the get go and not confronted Yon Rha at all, because he was so afraid that her feelings of revenge (which may have possibly been present) would override her sense of morality and justice.

#the southern raiders #katara #yon rha #kya #the discourse #zuko #sokka #azula #ursa #ozai

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stiffky · 2 years

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(ATLA) Giving Ta Min a backstory

I always said that many Avatars' partners need a more fleshed out backstory, specially Ta Min (Roku's wife), Ummi (Kuruk's fiancé) and Katara (after ATLA). Today I'll give some agenda to Ta Min's character...

Ta Min (b. c. 82 BG) was Avatar Roku's wife and a Fire Nation noblewoman. The series' encyclopedia says: born into one of the wealthiest families in the Fire Nation, Ta Min always thought that she would marry someone in the royal family. But then, she met Roku and was attracted to his persistence, kindness, and intelligence. She never stopped loving Roku, even after he died. She never remarried and quietly lived out the rest of her days on Ember Island.

That's all we got from this Avatar's love, and I think it's time we do her some justice. So, how can we give Ta Min a backstory? Well, she was a noble, so her family should trace its origin back to one of the clans we met in 'The Shadow of Kyoshi'. Only five clans are mentioned by Rangi: Saowon (lady Huazo's), Keohso (lady Sulan's), Sei'naka (Rangi's), Inta and Lahaisin. As we know, the clans tend to name their offspring after a significant syllable or letter of their familyname (Hei-Ran and Rangi; Ilah and Iroh; Chaejin and Chaeryu; Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, Zuko and Izumi...), so Ta Min's family must have follow this tradition. 'The Shadow of Kyoshi' also tells us that the Inta clan controls trade with the Earth Kingdom, meanwhile the Lahaisins are in charge of the passage of many sea routes. By the 3rd Century BG, both families fell in disrepair because of the Fifth Nation and the sacking of their islands and fortresses by Fire Lord Zoryu.

However, I think both clans could've made peace with the Fire Lord, and thus the Inta clan was still in control of trade with the Earth Kingdom by the 1st Century BG. The Intas are the best clan for Ta Min: first, Ta Min and Inta share the ta syllable, which could be the one passed from generation to generation; second, the control of trade would explain why they were one of the richest families, living in Hari Bulkan and being part of the Royal Court; Third, what better backstory for the Avatar's wife than that of an international family traveling through the Earth Kingdom? It fits perfectly!

Therefore, Ta Min was born the same Summer Roku and Sozin were, in 82 BG, to Tanu and Min Su (I made up their names, yes). Their home island could be... Jonduri? Makes sense, since it was an island controlled by Shang Merchants, and its inhospitable environment would explain why the family chose to live in the capital. Other options are Kirachu Island―famous for its delectable and spicy food―and Hing Wa, where ash bananas―which are later exported―grow. If 'The Dawn of Yangchen' secquel leaves Jonduri's fate open, I'll go with that island, which looks (almost) uninhabited and (almost) deserted by Aang's Era.

She grew up in Hari Bulkan and she must have attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. I wonder if she was a firebender, but perhaps diplomacy, cultural knowledge and politics were her forte. Anyway, I headcanon she was a bender and part of Roku's team Avatar along Sud, Taqukaq, Gyatso and possibly Sozin―this last one for a time, at least.

Ta Min's parents died when she was just seventeen. Many nobles wanted to take over her family's business, so the young woman sought Prince Sozin's help. She wanted to keep her father's loom at all costs, since the silk business with the Earth Kingdom was very profitable, but even the Fire Lord (Sozin’s father) doubted that Ta Min could manage the business, especially since she had rarely set foot in the factories. Roku's family was her great ally: Roku's father loyally managed the looms, but always under Ta Min’s orders. In time, Roku’s parents made Ta Min their heiress, since Roku had to maintain his role as the Avatar. Of course, they were targeted by the Guiding Wind...

Ta Min was a brilliant and highly educated woman, interested in poetry, astronomy, physics, music, mathematics, and geometry. She never liked easy things and that is why Roku always saw her as someone admirable, unpredictable and shrewd. For Sozin, Ta Min was unsettling...

Hope you like Ta Min's fleshed out backstory. Gosh, how I'd love to work in Avatar Studios or writing the novels like FC Yee does...

#avatar the last airbender #ATLA #legend of korra #avatar #aang #roku #ta min #the avatar and the fire lord #sozin #fire nation #lore #firebending #avatar's love #shadow of kyoshi

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pickypickypeak · 2 months

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thoughts on atla live action. spoilers below. anyway it’s a 7/10 for me. good but… could have been better.

thank you netflix for making a colorful show with lots of lighting so I can see what’s happening on screen!!!!!!!!!

the actors were good, the music was good, the graphics and effects were (mostly) good

the pacing was bad. and it’s partially because of. you know. 20 episodes shrinked into 8

we didn’t get to see the little fun dynamics between the gaang :((

yes they should have kept sokka’s misogyny :/

I feel like katara was very underdeveloped in the first episodes but then she grew on me

aang was… not bad but I wanted to see more of his fun personality?

I loved his relationship with gyatso though

I loved appa and momo

suki I love you

but she and sokka fell in love too quickly I mean they kissed after knowing each other for 20 minutes and she’s like “thank you for bringing me the world” girl

I really liked zuko and uncle iroh overall?? uncle iroh was a spotlight for me honestly (just like in the original lol)

omg why on earth did they bring ty lee and mai. like seriously. THEY WERE JUST STANDING THERE. THEY JUST EXISTED. totally unnecessary

making ozai so featured in the first season was. well. a choice

MY CABBAGES!!!! YES!!!!!

omashu lesbians let’s go

I really liked teo and the mechanist!

also jet and the freedom fighters! they’re all there!

omg the tunnel song!! “they’re doomed” LMAO

I hated zhao just like in the original so I guess he was written well?

JUNE

the owl…..?

the dream sequences caused by the mist broke me

YES they kept the sexism storyline with master pakku. they even expanded it. YES

irene bedard my pocahontas

I can’t believe sokka also kissed yue TWICE after knowing each other for 20 minutes

I mean I didn’t like it plot wise but. sokka you go my man

I lost my heart when momo almost died

I loved the avatars from the past so much😭😭😭

the final battle was good. I liked that

wait did aang not waterbend even once in book one water?

I feel like avatar the last airbender live action adaptations are just cursed at this point

please make season 2🥺🥺 this was not the best but I NEED to see live action toph.

sorry for the long post here’s a cabbage🥦 (it’s broccoli why don’t we have an emoji for cabbages)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla live action #atla netflix #netflix #avatar #aang

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adozentothedawn · 10 months

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I am hatching so many avatar fanfic ideas right now that I will probably never write but hot damn I am marinating in the ideas. A lot of them include Agni’s-favourite!Zuko cause I unfortunately read a fanfic that made me completely obsessed with Agni as a character and I just cannot stop. Agni as a mildly scary but also very smug patron spirit who is very done just watching shit go down and also has a very loving relationship with his sibling Tui now lives rent free in my head forever.

So yeah idea number one would be a one shot and is primarily an excuse for sun god drama. Zuko once again almost gets assassinated and Agni is very annoyed and done with this shit. If La gets to go on a giant water monster rampage and kill a bunch of his people, Agni gets to put on a dramatic show to discourage further murder plots against the first fire lord in a while that he actually likes and wants there. Really I am mostly picturing a scene with an unconscious Zuko getting carried past a huge crowd of people (throne room? palace steps? Unclear) by a very hot (in both ways) and glowing but otherwise for now mostly human looking Agni. He’s also glowing in a few spots which will later be revealed as injuries he would have died from without Agni’s intervention. Agni also gets to hold a speech/conversation with someone? Unclear details. Either way the more and more angry and unhinged he gets the less human he looks until he’s just a maby possibly but probably not slightly human shaped source of light.

Idea number 2, something about Zuko being briefly possessed by Agni and creeping everyone the hell out cause that calm and absolutely murderous smile is not a facial expression Zuko should be capable of making.

Idea number 3, Agni just straight up incinerates Ozai. Either at the Agni Kai already or post war, not sure. Either way it’s a “You want power? I will give you power” situation. Zuko is absolutely terriffied of that attention and not really on board with any of this but he doesn’t get a choice. A god’s attention is as much a curse as a blessing.

And idea number 4 is the only one that for now does not include Agni, but instead features Ursa as protagonist. She makes a different choice and instead of poisining Azulon she murders Ozai, not cause Azulon is really any better but she is certainly in a better position to deal with him. So second son Ozai tragically dies of a sudden unforseen heart attack, how tragic, Azulon does not care enough to ask and so Ursa is not banished. Instead she public performs grief as a proper royal widow should and humbly makes a suggestion to Fire Lord Azulon. Namely that after the tragic passing of both her husband and prince Lu Ten, perhaps it would be wise decision to have her marry crown prince Iroh. Should the marriage produce any direct heirs, good, should it not the marriage would still legitimize her already existing children, his grandchildren anyway, even better as heirs. Azulon agrees, Iroh when he returns is less happy about it but also understands that it’s the best move Ursa has to protect her children and agrees. Political hijinks commence. Of what sort I have no idea yet.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #fanfic ideas #i have spent the whole day just reading atla fics #i am boiling with hype #i've almost forgotten what it feels like to have an intense hyper fixation #but damn i have fallen for it again

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hello-nichya-here · 2 years

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If Ursa's love was unconditional, Azula still probably thought that it wasn't. And after Azula thought she "failed" to meet the conditions to the kind of love Zuko received from Ursa, Azula assumed that her mother never loved her. Because who can't be loved? A monster. (E.g. Ursa didn't say goodbye to Azula) And so part of Azula must have always low key believed that she isn't perfect no matter how hard she tries to be, because she's a "monster" and that's why her mother "couldn't love" her.

"My own mother thought I was a monster... She was right, of course, but it still hurt."

However, I can't exactly say that Azula herself can only love conditionally. Because it would be weird to say that Azula only loved Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee as long as they loved her. She has done things for them all that were unconditionally solely for their own benefit. When Mai and Ty Lee betrayed Azula, inferring to her that they stopped loving her (as she probably thought), she imprisoned them after being stopped from executing Mai by Ty Lee, implying that Azula wanted to execute Mai on impulse (without forethought, engulfed by emotions). And when she was stopped, she didn't order to neither torture nor execute them nor their families. And well, if she entirely stopped loving them and became totally apathetic about it, the mirror scene wouldn't exist where she basically reflects on her actions (also how her expression twisted in pain when Ursa said "Mai and Ty Lee"...) Her love for them is twisted. But I can't exactly call it conditional since she was pretty lenient when they disobeyed her, called her out, ect. She didn't just see them as her subordinates but as her friends as well.

I can't say for certain whether Azula loved Zuko "unconditionally" or not but her love for him definitely differs from the kind of "love" she thought she and he were gaining from Ozai, meaning that no matter how much Ozai brainwashed her, she still loved Zuko in her own way, not in "the right" way, not the way Ozai made her think he loves her. Like you said, Ozai made Azula have an extremelly poor understanding of what kind of emotion (if any) she should feel if Zuko died; Ozai, her idol, her own father, The Fire Lord, who she thinks can't be mistaken, disfigured him, disowned him, sent him on an impossible quest, you know the drill. But she still brought Zuko home, she still tried to connect and support him even after they fought each other multiple times. Hell, she even tried to set a date for him and Mai in "The Lost Adventures" comic. (Also she basically made it possible for Mai to become the future Fire Lady, meaning Azula wouldn't be able to command her around and they would be on equal terms) And she had nothing to gain from doing all this for him. She had the nerve to lie to Ozai, safety transported Zuko home, making him the crown prince again which again ignites rivalry between them from the throne and Ozai's love (because I assume that whoever Ozai chooses to be the heir is the one whom he "loves" and trusts more but I could be wrong, maybe she had always known that Ozai will love her more than Zuko anyway so might as well concede him the throne, she's not that power-hungry anyway).

And yeah, I also don't know if Azula loved Ursa conditionally but she wasn't apathetic towards her even after Ursa's neglect and sudden disappearance. Azula was still hurt and sad and bitter, meaning there's still a part of her that (even if reluctantly/unadmittedly) loves her mother and desperately wants to be loved by her in return.

Even thought I just said that I don’t know if Azula loves people in her life unconditionally, I've just proven that Azula does indeed?... The thing is, I'm not sure. So I'm asking you.

The thing I am sure about is that Azula needs to be shown how healthy relationships work. It'll be hard, confusing, conflicting maybe even painful for her to learn that but healthy relationships and unconditional love are exactly what she needs, what she should have had from the moment she was born.

Azula's love for the people around her is not conditional, but whether or not she shows them that love depends on the "Will my father disown me if I do this?" condition.

But yeah, she absolutely needs someone to teach her how healthy relationships work, not just so she should or shouldn't treat those she cares about, but also so she'll know what is or isn't okay of people to expect of her.

#asks #azula meta #azula deserved better

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