#but she had to train to become the best waterbender in the world

[the-badger-mole]

What is your NUMBER ONE headcannon for each person in the Gaang (Katara, Zuko, Aang, Toph, Sokka, Suki [and Appa and Momo if you feel so inclined])

Katara: After the war, she goes back to the NWT to train with Yugoda and becomes a master healer as well as a master of the NWT fighting style. From there, she goes back to the Foggy Swamp Tribe and masters their bending style, too. With the help of Sokka, Zuko, and (in some headcanons) Hama, she also rediscovers SWT waterbending and not only masters it, but teaches it to the new benders in the SWT. By the time she leaves the SWT, there has been a school established where all bending styles are available for study. She's one of the few who actually has mastered them all, though.

Sokka: He is eager to return home after the war. He throws himself into infrastructure and policy revamps, and he almost singlehandedly staves off the soft colonization attempts of the NWT. Under his efforts, the SWT rebuilds and reestablishes parts of its culture that had been lost during the war. With the discovery of oil on SWT land, he is also instrumental in establishing eco minded extraction techniques, and in trade ties with the rest of the world (although he is very much helped by his sister's deep ties with the Fire Lord). It's a surprise to no one when he's chosen to lead the SWT after Hakoda retires.

Toph: She does not become a cop. Instead, she goes back home and takes over the Earth Rumble, taking it from an underground even to a world wide phenomenon. She eventually allows benders of other elements to join, and the Earth Rumble becomes pro bending. She does also establish a metal bending school. In the end, she is wealthier than her parents, but because she couldn't really care less about money, she keeps enough to live at the standard she wants, and gives the rest away to causes that interest her...like the guy who wanted to set the record for the biggest bao bun ever, and needed funding for an oven big enough to cook it. She also establishes a halfway house for runaway teens.

Zuko: During his tenure as Fire Lord, he establishes a robust social services program that includes subsidized healthcare, education, and housing for the lowest income families. Under his reign, the Fire Nation becomes home to some of the earliest pioneers of mental health. At his wife's advice, he also makes paid maternity leave standard across the nation, and includes several programs to help single parents stay afloat. Taking inspiration from the SWT, Zuko makes some changes to how his advisory staff is selected. Instead of choosing from among the nobility, Zuko has the different provinces elect a representative to speak on their behalf. A lot of the nobles hate this, blaming his wife's influence, but the people adore their monarchs and despite their best efforts, there's little the nobles can do except start campaigning in their home provinces. It's not a perfect system, but it does open the door for the Fire Nation to end the monarchy within a couple of generations.

Suki: She continues to lead the Kyoshi Warriors for a few years after the war. She also helps train troops around the world as they pivot from active war service to more local work. She helps establish something like the coast guards for several different countries. Eventually she retires from that to help her husband run the SWT. She and Sokka make a wonderful team as he handles the domestic policies and she handles foreign affairs. She often jokes with her sister in law, Fire Lady Katara that they ended up with the same job.

Aang: I'll go with my most optimistic headcanon for him. He's an okay Avatar. Not great. Not the worst. After the war, he tries to take part in rebuilding efforts around the world, but he finds his help isn't needed much. He turns his attention back to salvaging what's left of the Air Nomad legacy, and discovers that there are actually airbenders still around. A few of them are even interested in learning to live like the Air Nomads. Many of them aren't, though, and after learning how to actually use their powers, they go off and do their own thing. To Aang's shock and dismay, eating meat has no effect on the strength of their bending, He does learn to deal with it and enjoy his time with the air benders who embrace the Air Nomad culture. He does go on to have kids, and he still favors the benders over the nonbenders. Ultimately, his legacy as Avatar boils down to taking Ozai's bending, and that's it.

#atla #headcanons #katara #sokka #toph #suki #aang #anti kataang #zutara #sukka #katara has a statue #she also has hospitals and libraries and schools named for her

[dreamchasernina]

Netflix, I don’t know how to tell you this but a woman doesn’t have to be self taught to be a strong female character. It’s ok to let her know her limitation and ask for help. It’s ok to let her get angry, it’s ok to let her be jealous, it’s ok to let your female character have flaws and WORK on them. Your female character doesn’t have to become a master on her own to be memorable, it just makes her accomplishment feel unearned.

#katara was so determined and strong willed #she took no shit from anyone #she was freaking amazing #but she had to train to become the best waterbender in the world #the moves didn’t just come to her in her sleep #and she was co complex #she got angry and jealous but she was still caring and gentle #this katara just felt so one dimensional #atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar #avatar the last airbender #natla #Netflix #Netflix atla #atla Netflix

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara

Pt 1 (Here), Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6

So, as far as I know, we don't know much (if anything) about Azulon's wife. And I have a soft spot for fics that set up her as the origin for much of Iroh's (eventual) kind nature. Knowing a bit about world building and government structure (thanks DND), Azulon being a very militaristic leader means that the Fire Nation, to survive, would need a second in command (Fire Lady) that kept things stable on the home front. I love fics that include this, too. And we do see hints of that in ATLA. The polluted river? What smart leader puts a factory shooting chemicals into a river right housing a floating town???

Anyway, the fic that I was working on had Azulon's wife (who I called Ilah) as a main character. Basically, Fire Lady Ilah has fallen ill, and out of desperation to keep the balance of their power, Azulon managing the war front while Ilah kept the mother land alive, Azulon searches for something that can be done to save her. The only thing that was suggested that could work was a water bending healer. Of course, the Fire Nation had no access to any water benders. They executed all of the prisoners after Hama's escape, and an assault on the North would take to long to be effective. Thankfully, word had just come that there was a new waterbender spotted in the South.

Some worry its the blood demon (Hama) returned to rally dark spirits. Others hope it is a potential healer for their ailing leader. Either way, an investigation must be made. They must find the waterbender in the South.

When the ships arrive, led by Iroh (maybe Lu Ten, or with Lu Ten aboard), the tribe is helpless. Hama is not there, and hasn't been in decades. No warrior, no matter how many there are, could stand to the well equiped soldiers of three high class cruisers. So when the leader steps out, wanting to see the waterbender, the village can only cower. Hakoda tightens his grip on a spear that will be useless against so many. It's when an officer mentions a rumor that waterbenders instinctively save themselves from drowning, and suggests holding each tribesman under water until the bender is found that Katara, only 8, screams out that its her, so the Fire Nation won't hurt her family.

She's taken, her family screaming, onto the ship. There, she's kept by Iroh and/or Lu Ten, who sits with her and gives her tea. Iroh or Lu Ten explain why they came, how his mother/grandmother is ailing, and needs a healer. He tells her that, while she may be young, she's their only hope of a healer. Katara has no choice but to promise to do her best, knowing her village would take the punishment for her failure.

They dress her in Fire Nation clothes, which she hates, and as they sail back to the Fire Nation, Iroh and/or Lu Ten do their best to trian her. They have her practice on soldiers that are injured either from training or work accidents. She becomes surprisingly competent in a short time, all because she had a master (even though a firebending one) to guide her.

When she finally reaches the Fire Nation, she's taken by how bright and colorful everything is. She's amazed by how load and plentiful the people are. And when she's taken into the Fire Palace, she's shocked by how big everything is.

When she's brought before Azulon, the Fire Lord rages. A peasant child? This is the hope of the Fire Nation?! Iroh asks his father to trust, and they take Katara to the Fire Lady.

And, by some mix of sheer force of will and some miracles, Katara succeeds.

Ilah is able to recover, at least partially, and Katara is placed as her 'ward', always at the Fire Lady's side, lest the sickness return. But Ilah is a gentle soul. She won't have a child acting as a nurse full time. Whenever there is a moment, she makes sure to be where Katara can be around others her age will be. In the Fire Palace, that is anywhere Zuko and Azula will be.

Katara spends a lot of those first weeks stiff and cautious, hesitant to go near the Fire Nation royals. But Azula constantly pokes at her with Mai and Ty Lee. She bites back, snaps when Azula sneers. It is only because Ilah is there that Azula doesn't try to burn her. Later, Zuko starts to come by. He's awkward and kind of rude, but it's not meant in a mean way. Ursa encourages Zuko to be kind, to make friends with her, so Zuko does his best.

After a couple months, Katara isn't skittish or cautious. She surrenders to the fact that she's never going home. Ilah doesn't need her as much, so she is mostly locked in her room, a small room attached to the Fire Lady's personal chambers. With little to do, Katara begins to despair. It's Zuko, still trying because his mother asked and he would never disappoint her, that becomes her ally.

He brings her snacks, books, even trying toys and things, to get her to brighten. Eventually, she opens up, relying on Zuko as her only friend. It brings out more of Azula's spite, and Zuko becomes worried about safety. He asks if Katara would maybe like to come with him to practice instead of sitting around in her little room, hoping to keep her closer in case Azula tried anything.

It's at these firebending practices that Katara starts to learn combat bending. She mimics and mines certain moves when she thinks no one is watching, slowly learning what does and doesn't move the water. She learned, if she loosened her stance, made her body just a bit more fluid as it moved instead of sharp like firebenders, she could waterbend. Slowly, she adapts, teaching herself to fight by changing firebending moves to fit her needs.

It's about a year after Katara arrives in the Fire Nation that it happens. The sickness returns with a vengeance, and Fire Lady Ilah needs full time care again. Katara, attached to this woman whose life she holds in her hands and has been at the side of for over a year, weeps when she realizes she's not enough to save her. At 9, Katara must tell Fire Lord Azulon that she is weak and can not do the one thing that they kept her around for. She cowered as the Fire Lord raged, knowing that it could be the last thing she ever sees.

"It is only by Fire Lady Ilah's will that you live," Azulon tells her after the funeral. "It is her memory that stays my hand. Do not sully it, lest I forget why you are here."

Katara is put into Ursa's care, and is placed in lessons. She attends private classes, learning Fire Nation history, math, and literature. Her life becomes so busy, she barely has time for anything but her studies. Zuko is her only reprieve, and they share their wants and desires. Zuko wants to become someone that his mother and father can be proud of. Katara just wants to go home. Zuko promises that, some day, some how, he'll make that happen for her. Katara thanks him, but she knows that it's impossible.

Next

#zutara #wip #fanfic idea #atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #katara

[attackfish]

I know this is a controversial take in this fandom, but I actually don't think Legend of Korra did Katara dirty. Like I see a lot of people who complain about the fact that she didn't have a statue, and she never became Southern Water Tribe chief, and she was just the Avatar's wife, and was just a healer, and like I don't know what show these people were watching.

No, Katara never became chief, nor did she ever express a desire to be chief in any of her appearances. Yes, she was the Avatar's wife. Yes, she was a healer. But like, what do we actually see of Katara's life in the Southern Water Tribe after the war?

We see Katara as a master healer and waterbender, clearly well respected by the Order of the White Lotus, and training the next Avatar. We also see her in an extremely well appointed rehabilitative therapy center, that is implied to be hers, working with Korra. Korra talks about learning healing from Katara, who is one of if not the best waterbending healer in the world, and we see Katara's state of the art rehabilitative medicine center. This is how Katara chose to use her skills, in a way that is completely separate from being Aang's wife. And given how lovely and either new or well taken care of everything looks, I would argue that she probably isn't even retired. We are shown her as a world renowned rehabilitative medicine expert at the top of her game.

And the field of rehabilitative medicine is such an interesting choice for her. Rehabilitative medicine is the field of helping people who have been severely injured not only heal, but gain the skills to have the best lives possible after their injuries. It's something that somebody like Katara who wants to do the most good would absolutely be drawn to as a healer after the war, since both people who had fought in the war, and non-combatants, would have the kinds of grievous injuries that would benefit from rehabilitative medicine. Given the state of healing and technology at the end of the war, Katara might even have been a major pioneer in the field, in fact I think we're meant to read that as the case.

Katara as we see her in the show is not opposed to being a healer. She just doesn't want to be denied the ability to fight when she and her friends are facing conquest, death, and danger, and her people are facing elimination. After the war, Katara would do what she always has done, and look for ways to help. Once the fighting is over, the Katara we see in the show would embrace healing and helping the war wounded rebuild their lives.

Heck, we actually see her with a patient, Korra, who was injured in battle, and she's clearly very practiced at dealing both with the physical parts of recovery and the psychological. Katara has always wanted to help her people, and there were few things her people needed more after the war, than someone willing and able to treat the victims of the war.

I think the reason so many people see Katara's career in healing is because of a fantasy media tradition of healing being the weak, girly magic given to the designated girl of the group, secondary and even silly next to fighting. But that't not what we're shown in the show. That's something brought in from outside, and I think if we ignore this negative connotation that healing has in the fantasy genre, it becomes obvious that a better comparison for katara's career path is that of head of orthopedic medicine at a world class hospital, who volunteers with Doctors Without Borders.

I got a lot of problems with Legend of Korra, but I think they handled Katara pretty dang well.

#legend of korra #katara #posts i created #katara is the answer

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/caramel-ribbons/720001793861533696/i-just-watched-avatar-for-the-first-time-all-the?source=share

what do you think of this post? i found it kind of.. weird, in the way it talked about her relationship with team avatar compared to her relationship with zuko

It started out okay, turned into a train-wreck REAL fast.

I can understand being annoyed at how people will make fun of something like Katara bringing up her mom a lot, especially if these people don't do that for any other character when they ALL bring up their traumas a lot, but the way it quickly escalated into "Actually, Katara was right in telling her brother he didn't love their mom like she did" was honestly one of the most disgusting things I've read by anyone in this fandom - which is saying a lot.

Also, once again the complete bullshit claims of "The Gaang and Aang in particular never try to be there for Katara, emotionally, like she was for them."

Considering this person mentioned disliking videos that frame the entire show as just Katara being a bitch towards poor, friendzoned nice guy Aang, I would not be surprised if they let this dumb edits drastically affect how they see completely innocent Kataang moments as being something they weren't OR that they had already read Zutara "metas" (aka wildly out of character fanfic) and formed their opinion on these dynamics looooong before they actually watched the show.

People really gotta stop focusing on what the FANDOM does when they are talking about how CHARACTERS behave towards each other. Yes, some fans are sexist and hate Katara for the "crime" of being a female character - that does not mean the Gaang forced her into the role of being their mom/caretaker/therapist.

Sokka is CONSTANTLY trying to be useful the group. Toph learned to open up and clearly enjoyed spending time with Katara, even if it was to do things she did not want to do at first (you TRY dragging Toph to a spa and have people touch her feet after she explicitly said that was the one thing they were not allowed to do. See how fast you get crushed by a rock).

And Aang - oh my God, AANG. That boy was all about trying to make Katara happy from day one. They played together, he offered to go with her to the Northern Water Tribe so she could become a pro-waterbender, would always apologize to her whenever he did something wrong, explicitly told her she gave him hope (mirroring how she had hope the Avatar would save the world), was in complete awe after she literally brought him back to life, fucking blew up a factory with her, and tried to stop her from making a big mistake and sacrificing what was left of her innocence by killing a (admitedly AWFUL) man - yes, Zutarians, NOT letting your friend do something they'll regret IS being a good friend and thinking of what's best for them, sorry not sorry.

THE WHOLE REASON Katara is so emotionally attached to Aang and wants to be there for him whenever he needs anything is because HE ALLOWED HER TO BE A KID AND HAVE FUN AGAIN.

You'd think so called "Katara fans" would be able to understand such a simple concept that she verbally explains to us IN THE FIRST DAMN EPISODE!

Anyone that claims Aang didn't love and support Katara just as much as she did him is either misremembering the show, in deep denial, or just flat out lying to you.

#anti zutara #pro aang #pro kataang

[rafs13]

My views on the atla live action (6.8 out of 10)

What I liked about atla live action:

-Zuko, aang, iroh, monk Gyasto and jets actors really knocked the ball out the park so far

- I liked how they showed that there were people in the fire nation who fought back regarding resisting the war, and how azula went undercover to expose them. That scene showed not all fire benders were bad or agreed to the war due to the loss of lives

-I liked how they portrayed monk gyasto and his bond with aang.

-The scene with the earth kingdom soldier, iroh and the scene with Lieu ten was amazingly done. It really captured how loss happened on both sides, while showcasing more of who lieu ten was as a person and also Zuko’s kind nature towards Iroh

-Iroh joining Zuko on the boat after his banishment was a beautiful scene

-the bending, costumes and music are on point

Issues

-Aang meeting kyoshi too early and learning about the attack on the northern water tribe which he shouldn’t know

-Suki and sokkas romance didn’t develop over sokka learning from his sexism. It takes away from their development since he had to learn to humble himself to become a better warrior.

-Azula didn’t bend or fight enough. Also Ozai hated Zuko and adored azula but here it seems azula is fighting for his approval? It takes away from her character. She had it ALL and Zuko didn’t. Also ozai did not care if zuko discovered aang he just wanted him to suffer. He hated his son but in this version they make it seem like he cares?

-Aang isn’t training enough at all. We only see katara training on her waterbending but she trained with aang too. In the series it focuses more on aang going to the northern water tribe rather than learning the elements and helping others along the way.

-Kataang needed more moments. So far they only had a few but I liked the one they shared in the final episode

-Sokka seems to not like aang? It seems like he’s only there for his own benefit when in the original he warms up to aang.

-Ozai learning of aangs existence too early on makes it less easy for aang to travel on his journey.

-Aang and sokka didn’t meet Jet

-katara saving haru and the earthbenders got scrapped which I would have loved to see

-The meaning of the cave of two lovers didn’t make sense. Also it didn’t help aang as he was not there to learn more about the badger moles and earth bending. Plus he kissed katara there, so that love development is gone.

-Wan shi tong shouldn’t be there in book 1 and sokka and katara shouldn’t be in the spirit world

-Where is Appa and momo? They barely are shown. If they were pets with zero presence I wouldn’t mind but in this series they are apart if the show but the live action doesn’t showcase them enough.

-No Jeong Jeong ? he was a huge character regarding the use of fire plus aang had trauma over fire bending. Will he still show up in the future if this is renewed?

-Azula shouldn’t lose her cool she seems like she’s already cracking and that’s not her character. She is perfect and that breaks her in book 3. Not book 1. Also her fire is not blue.

-Aang is a bit too focused on being the avatar i wish it wasn’t so strong at times

-The fog of souls shouldn’t have shown up. It make things a bit messy and unclear, especially including koh into it all.

-Rokus erased as aangs guide isn’t the best change since he’s tied to the reason why the war happened. Also he links to zukos bloodline and struggle of good and evil.

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

[messrsbyler]

you have unlocked a specific brand of nerd in me by posting about avatar and stranger things, and a couple weeks ago i went on a trip with my best friend and we discussed this in depth so. now i'm here to word vomit my headcanons into your asks bestie. buckle up.

el: avatar, with her native element being water. i just feel like el is a very adaptable person (for the fact that she has been forced to be that way), but also very rooted in her love for her friends and her community (which is so water tribe ok)

will (and jonathan): air simply because will gives me SUCH aang vibes but also for reasons i will discuss further down

mike (and nancy): fire. no explanation needed.

max: earth (or fire bc tbh i can see both), but i was thinking about uncle iroh's quote about the earth kingdom/earthbenders and how he describes them as "diverse and strong" and also "persistent and enduring" and idk that gives me max vibes. also okay imagine a stranger things/avatar redux where max does lose her sight BUT THEN SHE LITERALLY CAN BE LIKE TOPH DUDE.

lucas (and erica): okay truthfully, i can put lucas into a A LOT of these (literally all of them but air lol), but when i was thinking about it, i ultimately went with water, in part because no one else in the party was water. but also, again iroh's quote about the water tribes "They have a sense of community and love that holds them together through anything" is giving me lucas vibes (particularly s4 lucas)

dustin: alright, don't hate me for this one, but i think dustin is a nonbender. dustin is INCREDIBLY sokka coded, and imagining some kind of ST/avatar world? steve is also a nonbender, and these two bond over it. steve helps dustin to find his value outside of the fact that he doesn't have bending, and it really helps dustin grow his confidence. (also something something something if eddie still dies in some kind of a world, imagine how crushed dustin would be realizing if he had bending maybe he could've saved eddie. shut up andi get out of here)

robin: AIRBENDING SHE IS SO AIRBENDER CODED NIC!!!!

joyce/hopper: both nonbenders who somehow got stuck surrounded by all these chaotic benders

brenner: waterbending. okay. so so so here are my more unhinged worldbuilding thoughts about this. i think it would be so Mean and so Neat for brenner to be the same native element as el, especially if it's the element where you can literally take away someone's control of themselves through bloodbending. there are so many horrors there, and i feel like brenner represents the darker, colder, and more calculating side of waterbending (if el and lucas and even erica represents the part that is love and community). also like. imagine el hating waterbending because of how she was forced to train with brenner? but then learning to heal from her trauma through her friendships later with lucas and the others? yeah ok.

vecna/henry: SIMILAR TO THE BRENNER/EL PARALLEL. i think it'd be so fun to have henry be an airbender (to have will/henry parallels), but also henry strikes me as a very zaheer coded character (idk if you've watched legend of korra, but the idea of chaos being the world's natural state and seeking freedom through chaos and disorder reminds me a lot of henry's monologue in S4E7). also like. the mindflayer particle manipulation could so very easily be like? an airbending trait? will, an airbender, gets hurt through some advanced form of airbending as a child and it traumatizes the hell out of him? but then he's able to reclaim his bending and use it to help defeat henry in the end? yeah yeah yeah do you see the vision?

other final thoughts in this huge ass ask that you didn't ask for but i sent anyways

lonnie is an airbender, and he's a shitty human being who is awful to jonathan (and will but less so since jonathan protects him) when teaching him how to bend. jonathan, because of this, hates bending and prefers to fight with other weapons when he has to, but robin and jonathan become friends eventually, and she helps him to reclaim this part of who he is. (please imagine robin, jonathan, will, and el all airgliding. thank you and goodnight.)

nancy is absolutely a prodigy when it comes to firebending, but mike is just kinda mediocre, which then feeds into his insecurities about literally dating the avatar and also being the party leader, because why should he get to lead if he's not even that good at bending? very azula/zuko coded wheeler relationship there except nancy doesn't wanna. ya know. kill mike and stuff.

i'm so sorry this was so long, like i said you unlocked a specific brand of nerd in me tonight LOL

yay! i love unlocking things! (btw i have to say your shoulder is really comfortable, maybe i'll stay here for a bit longer to be your personal demon who knows?)

okay yes YES! avatar el with her original bending being water makes so much sense based on her personality like you said and the great parallel between waterbending and how canon el uses baths to connect with the void and amplify her powers, so water is already greatly tied to her at least symbolically as her tool but ALSO as method used to torture her (i mean all the times she was put into sensory deprivation against her will), which ALSO TIES SO NICELY TO YOUR TAKE ON BRENNER ALSO BEING A WATERBENDER BC HE USES WATER TO CONTROL EL AND HE WOULD TOTALLY BE THE CORRUPTED KIND THAT USES BLOODBENDING ANDI YOUR BRAIN IS SO HUGE!! and el learning to find peace with her bending through her friendship with lucas is just so :((( also picture lucas teaching something brenner never taught el, how to user her bending to heal others and like that she learns that waterbending by itself isn't bad or good, it's how you yield your power that turns you bad or good same as how it happens with her powers in canon where they don't make her a monster just because she has them, it's how she uses that will define that and el has never been a monster, that is brenner. UGH I LOVE WATERBENDING EL IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE ANDI IM LOSING MY MIND!!!

"mike and nancy: fire. no explanation needed" LMAO yes those siblings can only be firebenders

i loooove firebender max so much, it also brings the possibilities that @bottomlessabyssposts mentioned how max mastered lighting first than mike and she kept zapping him until he had enough and had to teach himself how to master it as well though he would fail miserably because he is not gifted like you said, he is pretty mediocre in contrast with nancy who is powerful by nature. so max taking pity on mike and teaching him and also madwheeler being the same bending makes so much sense to me i adore the idea BUT ALSO YOU ARE RIGHT MAX EARTHBENDING MAKES SO MUCH SENSE BASED ON UNCLE IROH'S DESCRIPTION?? and yes i NEED HER TO BE LIKE TOPH BC SHE HAS THE SAME ENERGY LMAO and with earthbending she would learn to see through her feet and powers and UGH I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. also she would be a skilled metalbender because one day just like toph she was captured in a metal confinement and she lost her shit so while trying to scape by punching the cage she realized oh shit something is happening oh shit i can bend metal? neat.

me, with lucas: well he uses a slingshot to throw rocks so earthbending

meanwhile, andi with lucas: based on the deep meaning of the waterbenders and their sense of community and-

i am a buffoon, putting my buffoon hat on right now. that being said, lucas being what keeps the party together through his sense of community aligns so well with lucas. thinking about lucas always owning up to his mistakes, how he apologized to el in season one and said he had judged her wrong, how in season two he gave max a safe space to open up and when she needed reassurance he was right there to offer it, how in season three even when will says it doesn't matter anymore he still admits he was wrong and apologizes and how he is a supportive best friend to mike and his shenanigans, and in season four how lucas literally tricks the basketball team and runs back to the party to be with them and slowly becomes the anchor max needed so badly and I'LL CRY LUCAS I ADORE YOU SO MUCH HELP-

okay okay dustin for me could be an airbender because of his free spirit and how easily he adapts to new situations and new people like in s2 and then s3. but also him being a not bender makes so much sense? thinking how canon dustin is basically a mastermind and a crafter that can put together a long range radio while being on summer camp. so imagine that, yes, dustin isn't a bender and in a world of benders that's kinda a big deal and he could be self conscious about it but what if makes up for it with his trinkets and projects? he is no airbender but he crafted a set of wings with a string system that can be adjusted to the winds and keep him in the air just fine. he's no firebender, but he designed a flamethrower just fine. dustin being the crafter of the party makes my heart go woosh woosh because it's SO HIM (also dipping my feet into a different fandom/au but thinking how dustin and leo valdez are so similar in that sense and how dustin would totally be hephaestus' son OK GOING BACK TO OUR AVATAR PROGRAMMING!) AND YES steve also being a nonbender who is still so self confidence and he teaches dustin to be confident in his skills bc even when dustin is an amazing inventor he still feels like his lack of bending is still something he needs to fix so his inventions are to cover that insecurity but steve is like "no, dude! you are literally a tiny inventor, that's so cool? fuck bending, that's a gift some get and some who don't. but this? *holding up one of dustin's inventions* this was all you! no gift, just you and your mind. how is that not awesome?" and them bonding because it's a parallel of steve helping dustin be more confident in canon and i will cry no andi nooooo-

ROBIN AIRBENDER TRUTHER RIGHT HERE TOO SHE SIMPLY IS NOTHING TO ADD HERE just picture her annoying steve floating around upside down in a crossed leg position, hovering around him in circles while he tries to recover from the last girl that turned him down, but robin is there in his face, shaming gravity and going "dingus adds another point to the 'you suck' category'" LMAOOOO do you see this vision andi? *extends hands in alladin's 'do you trust me?' fashion*

LMAO HOPPER AND JOYCE BEING NONBENDERS IS SO-

hop: uh, honeyyyyy!

joyce: *from the other side of the house* yeah?

hop: some little shit named mike burned the wall again

(context of this: will flirted too shamelessly with mike and his face went poof! into a burning blush that also reflected on his hands producing fire without him noticing)

about henry, i watched korra until like half of book three or two? the one where the nonbenders learn how to shut down bender's powers but honestly i don't remember much. BUT through a quick google search i can say that YES TF? that zaheer dude alings with henry's ideology *shudders* I SEE THE VISION SO WELL! henry using a forbidden technique of airbending to hurt will and corrupt his bending and will learning how to bend again over the years, also just like brenner and el, henry representing the dark side of airbending and will the good side that goes back to the old airbenders and their ways to connect with their bending AND IT ALSO ADDS TO THE WHOLE bending isn't evil or good, it's just power that you decide how to use and yield AAAHH I LOVE THE VISION I LOVE YOUR BRAIN KUDOS KUDOS KUDOS!!!

NOOOO jonathan hating bending and creating weapons instead because lonnie always taught him bending was about controlling others and using their bending to that purpose but jonathan doesn't want to control others, he wants to be IN control and he can control the weapons he designs and builds (OMG HE WOULD ALSO BOND WITH DUSTIN LIKE THIS AND IT WOULD ALSO SHOW DUSTIN THAT THERE'S A NOT SO COOL/DARKER SIDE OF BENDING AND JONATHAN WOULD TELL HIM HOW DUSTIN IMAGINATION AND CLEVERNESS TO BUILD ALL HIS INVENTIONS IS WORTH SO MUCH MORE THAN BENDING AND AAAHHH), jonathan can be the creator of those weapons that end up to being at his mercy, instead of him being at his bending mercy by how lonnie taught him how to bend. but yes omg jonathan bonding with steve (stonathan my beloved, even if platonic i need more of those two PLEASE) and with robin who teaches him the fun side of airbending and the good side, the side that doesn't feel like a power that pretends to control others and control jonathan but instead a friend that always has your back. TEARS! will would also learn so much from robin (and not only about airbending ehem ehem wink wink you get me)

AND OH GOD THIS IS SO LONG ALREADY IM SORRY BUT TO TACKLE THAT LAST PART YES!!! nancy being a natural, powerful and a prodigy. something something this reflects how in canon nancy played the part of the perfect child lifting karen and ted's expectations on mike who then never met them because he is not nancy so by season two mike is punished for not dealing with his trauma the same way nancy has (or pretends she has to keep up this perfect child image to her parents), meaning quietly unlike mike who instead acts out and does things that clearly are a cry for help that karen and ted never attend to OK SORRY HAD TO SNEAK IN A BIT OF MY MIKE WHEELER ANALYSIS IN THERE BC ITS MY NATURE GOING BACK TO WHAT I WAS SAYING- nancy is a prodigy, mike isn't, he is mediocre at best, he has a hard time controlling his bending and being as powerful as nancy even though he is expected to and this transpires into his deeply rooted insecurity that then intensifies when he starts dating the avatar that was missing from the face of the earth and that mike one day stumbled upon because of dumb luck only, and also how he is the leader of the party but why? he isn't as powerful as the rest, he isn't the avatar or at the avatar's level, he is just mike and in good mike fashion he can't see his worth, so then will comes and lets mike know that yes, he is just mike and just mike is what keeps the party together, his leadership and heart because mike doesn't need to be anything besides just mike, because that's enough. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH SCREAMING FOREVER!!!

you are sorry your ask was long? no no no, look what you did to me. i went full nerd mode on you and you are to blame, i need to say hey, it's all you in your head, you are the one who burned us down but it's not what you meant-

ok enough with the taylor swift random reference this is long enough already i need to stop typing NIC STOP TYPING RIGHT NOW

okay okay bye bye

#nic has way too many thoughts and it's all andi's fault #half of this is nonsense rambling so keep expectations low #just me energetically agreeing with you and your massive brain #st x atla #andiwriteordie #that's right you get your own tag because i need to keep track every time you make me lose my mind #gotta hold you accountable #atlagate

[drachenfalter]

So almost done with the live action, I thought it was time to just collect some of my thoughts:

The first twenty minutes were great, helping to flesh out the airbenders a bit and introducing the world.

The bending and sets are both great.

Sadly, then we get Exposition Gran Gran,

Gran Gran "Oh, wait, did we do the intro already? Well, just in case, I'd better recite the whole thing word for word again."

(They did a version of the intro, and they did it better.)

Gran Gran "Oh, of course I know that he is the Avatar! How do I know this? Beats me, but I'd better tell my granddaughter in case he forgot to mention it."

Sadly, this overexposition is not the only incident, though it isn't quite as bad in later episodes.

Aang is different, but not bad as a character, though he's a lot less optimistic

Which is not surprising, considering her spends half the season listening to adults that blame him for his disappearance or tell him he needs to become some loner warrior without any close friends.

(Really, that BS is almost feeling like they're tryring to "Man of Steel" Aang here? Which is bizarre because at another point, Katara tells us point blank that his true strength lies in connecting to people.

Also, why does Aang not even try to waterbend until they've reached the NWT? If he's so determined, you'd think he'd get on that as soon as he can, not the other way around.

Sokka is probably the closest, though they put more focus on his inventor side (we see his contraptions in the first episode) and it seems they want to put that into conflict with the expectation of being a warrior.

Also, Sokka apparently flirted with a (female) fire nation soldier off-screen?

...And why is his worst memory about his dad being disappointed because he nearly failed his ice-dodging challenge? Is he not Katara's brother anymore?

Suki and Sokka were cute, I guess

Zuko's actor is great, and has some fantastic scenes here.

But I don't like how they portray him as someone who would attack a downed opponent or burn down a village because they didn't help him - that goes against one of the core traits of cartoon zuko, who had a code of honor even in Book 1.

(Yes, there is a scene in the Agni Kai that might connect to that scene with Katara, but it still doesn't work for me.)

BUT

I love the idea that Zuko accidentally becomes Aang's best teacher, the guy who "wrote the book" on being the Avatar.

Now for Katara...

Look, I'm gonna put the blame on the writers and directors here, but as other's have noted, we really lost Katara's anger here.

Worse, they don't go the north because she wants to learn waterbending. Instead, that is just a "hey, if we're already going there" thing.

They also decide to start her out with being barely able to bend, and then after one talk with Aang, she suddenly can bend and even is the one stopping Zuko's fireball at the end of the episode.

The bigger problem is though that they completely removed the prison break and the pirate scene, which in the OG help show Katara's skill and will to fight and master waterbending.

Which is probably why the "I want to fight" talk in the north falls flat - well, or maybe it's because she says it to Yagoda, not Pakku.

Worse, they removed the few weeks of training between Katara challenging Pakku and the Siege of the North.

-> Maybe they'll do something interesting in the last episode, but I'm not holding out hope.

A few other things:

What did they do to ZHAO?

Right now, it feels like they've nerfed Zhao to justify Azula's inclusion - I haven't seen the siege yet, but with how he was portrayed so far, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it so she came up with the whole "killing the moon" plan.

Mai and Ty Lee feel like "extras" right now. That is, without the context of the original show, you'd think they are just sycophantic nobodies only there to cheer up Azula.

I don't think Mai even touched a knife at this point.

(Like, they have Azula doing archery. They could have easily had Mai do the same, hinting at her marksmanship.)

Ty Lee's actress is clearly trying her best to be Ty Lee, but they aren't giving her anything to work with either.

There are some nice scenes fleshing out the Zuko and Iroh relationship, I'll give them that.

But also

WHAT DID THEY DO TO BUMI?

Is he supposed to be suicidal here? Trying to force Aang to crush him under a ton of rocks? Because it didn't feel like a trick.

Koh feels - less menacing, somehow? Just letting his prisoners go the moment Aang does something nice for him.

Oh, and I did not expect water bending witch sorry, priestress Yue who is living half of her live as a fox-spirit in the spirit world.

Yue feels like a completely different character so far, but I assume they'll still make her die to revive the moon spirit.

I guess the escape from Pohuai was great and so was Aang fanboying over Zuko's writing.

Uh, I'm sure I'll come up with more, but I'll end this ramble for now.

But in conclusion, I have to think of those characters as different charactes with no relation to the OG versions.

Also, I would say it's better if you don't know the original series, but they leave so much out I'm not sure you can understand this one without doing so.

#natla #natla spoilers #atla live action

[the-air-nomad]

Our duty (Part 1)

this is an AU where Yue lives and Hakoda is chosen as the king of the entire southern water tribe, 

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/the-air-nomad/719125972910309376/our-duty-part-2?source=share

           Five years had passed since the end of the Hundred Years War. After Ozai's defeat, the lives of avatar Aang and his friends had become even more charged than they were during the war. The avatar and his girlfriend, respected maestra Katara, were working on finding the remains of the air nomad culture and on preparing their wedding. Toph, the most powerful earthbender , had founded the first metalbending school in the world, and all the young people in the earth kingdom hoped to have the honor of becoming her students. The fire lord worked tirelessly to restore ties with the other nations and eliminate propaganda and Ozai's loyalists left after the war. 

        Sokka, now the crown prince of the Southern Water Tribe, had made countless diplomatic trips to other nations to facilitate the growing development of the South. Thanks to his inventions, his tribe had become an important industrial and cultural center. The prince even founded the first University of Engineering and Exact Sciences in the world. Although Sokka loved helping his people and considered his father one of the wisest people in the world, he could not understand the logic of his new decision. 

   Sokka: To recap, you want me to break up with Suki to arrange my marriage with the girl I left almost 6 years ago to continue my journey with the avatar.

   Hakoda: Sokka, you know that your relationship with Suki is already over because you both have different debts to your people. She moved permanently to the island of Kyoshi to train the next generation of fighters. You have to prepare to take over the leadership, and for that you need a wife

 Sokka: From what I can see, the fact that you don't have a wife doesn't stop you from being an extraordinary leader. However, don't tell Katara that I said that because I don't want to spend the rest of my life buried in ice.

 Hakoda: sometimes I forget that you inherited both my sarcasm and intelligence my son. I was afraid that I would have to burden you with another state problem.

Sokka: what are you talking about dad?

Hakoda: you see my dear, technically our tribe is still a colony of the northern water tribe. Not even the fact that the North ignored the South for a hundred years doesn't change that. With the help of Master Pakku, former General Iroh and the fact that your sister is engaged to the avatar we managed to get an agreement with Chief Arnook.

Sokka: And why didn't I find out about this sooner? Father, I fought in the war and I am your heir! How can you hide such a thing from me?!

Hakoda: Now is not the time to ask or offer explanations, but I swear this is the last thing I'm hiding from you. In a few weeks, a convoy of northern ships loaded with waterbenders will arrive in the South with the Chief and his daughter.

Sokka: maybe it's just the paranoia installed in the marrow of my bones due to the war, but this sounds quite threatening.

Hakoda: I'm afraid you're right and that if we refuse the generous offer of the Nordic Tribe, we'll get a civil war instead of independence.

Sokka: wonderful, this is the best present for my 21st birthday! Why does the universe hate me so much?!

Although I do not own the characters from avatar the last airbender, this work belongs to me! I sincerely hope you liked it and please rate it and leave a comment! follow me to see the continuation and to see my next posts! 💖💖💨

You can buy me a coffe if you want:  buymeacoffee.com/TheAirNomad

#yue #sokka #sokka x yue #Avatar The Last Airbender #avatar #aang #avatar sokka #toph #Zuko #katara #avatar yue #southern water tribe #Northern Water Tribe #nonbender #arranged marriage #hakoda #prince sokka #atla #fanfic

[justanotherthrowaway1950]

Why People Misunderstanding Zuko’s Arc Leads People to Misunderstand Katara’s Freezing of Zuko & Azula

Note: Zuko vs Katara at the Northern Water Tribe

Note: Azula vs. Zuko during Sozin’s Comet

I don’t understand (well I do, but I’ll get to it later), why people misunderstand the differences in how Katara froze Zuko in the Northern Water Tribe versus how she froze Azula during Sozin’s Comet.

For when she froze Zuko, it was a hollow dome that not only allowed Zuko to breathe, but also talk, as seen when he realizes out loud that Katara has found a master before breaking out of the dome.

Whereas when she froze Azula, she froze the two of them in a solid block of ice with no room to move, let alone breathe. And the only reason why Katara was able to move was because she was able to psychically bend the water before either of them died from asphyxiation, which almost happened considering how out of breath the two of them were when Katara phase shifted the ice back into water.

In other words, the differences in how Katara froze Zuko versus Azula is due to her growth as a bender. For not only was Katara at the time of the Northern Water Tribe fight still not a master, but also didn't have as much contact with firebenders as her future Season 3 self.

For by the time she had her rematch with Azula, not only was Katara at worst the second-strongest waterbender in the world, but also had lived for several weeks at bare minimum with two firebenders, including a master in Zuko.

And just as Aang picked up on his master’s skills like lightning redirection and seismic sense, it is crazy to believe that she picked up on how firebending worked by asking Aang and/or Zuko about the mechanics of firebending, and thus found out that without breath, firebending is impossible? Or that she learned by watching their training sessions?

Especially when it is highly likely she was looking forward to her rematch with Aang’s killer?

I mean this is the same show that literally tells the audience that taking inspiration from other sources, including the other bending arts, makes one’s bending stronger.

So why don’t people give credit to Katara for being the intelligent, eclectic badass that she is instead using the two instances to play up Zuko’s abilities while denigrating Azula?

For most people, if you go onto mainstream sites, think that the block of ice that Azula was frozen in was hollow enough to the point that she could have breathed, and thus melted herself out like her big brother.

And this causes people to say that Zuko is the better and/or stronger bender due to knowing the breath of fire, being exposed to the Dragons, bending without rage and/or hate, having (better) inner balance, and/or not being insane.

But disregarding the fact that show itself, through Iroh advising Zuko that he needs to take someone with him to take down Azula, and Smoke and Shadow making it clear that “sane” Azula is still stronger than Zuko, the reason why this happens, in my opinion, is because people are desperate to make Zuko the stronger fire sibling when that flies in the face of his arc.

For Zuko’s arc was not becoming the strongest firebender or the best leader, but instead becoming a better person. Meanwhile, Azula’s arc, as Zuko’s main villainous foil, is meant to show what happens when you prioritize power above all else.

For Zuko’s arc, in my opinion, is him learning that it is his uncle’s values of peace, kindness, and balance, and not Ozai’s values of domination, control, and destruction, that are the ones worth emulating since they are the only ones capable of giving him the inner peace and honor he desires.

And in the process of finally starting to live his life by his uncle’s values, Zuko not only manages to gain non-ironic friends in the form of the Gaang, but also helps save the Earth Kingdom before taking the throne, acknowledged by all the other nations.

Meanwhile, Azula wholeheartedly, but not entirely her fault due to the fact that Ozai groomed her, embraces Ozai's values, values that cause her to basically push away her brother, her friends, and all of her allies, leaving her with nothing, not even Ozai’s “love” or the throne, with the last image we see of her on the TV show being her crying and writhing while chained to a grate before being unceremoniously shipped off to a remote asylum where she was watched 24/7.

Thus, the key difference between Azula and Zuko is that the latter is only capable of invoking fear in others that eventually turns into hate while the latter is capable of invoking love that ends up saving him time after time.

For it was Ursa’s love that caused her to give Ozai the poison needed for him to kill Azulon and not go through with Azulon’s order, thus saving Zuko’s life, despite getting banished in the process.

It was Iroh’s love that caused him to join Zuko during his banishment and serve as Zuko’s rescue parent, even after Zuko hurt him time and time again, culminating in Zuko throwing him into prison for life.

It was Mai’s love that caused her to rescue Zuko and his party’s gondola, with the expectation that she would either be killed or jailed for life for her treason.

And it was Katara’s love that caused her to fight Azula after Azula had taken down Zuko during Sozin’s Comet and defeat her before healing Zuko despite being at a massive power disadvantage.

And to add on, I personally think that Azula only broke down after seeing Zuko rise up with Katara by his side because it hit her that while she might be a better fighter than Zuko, more ruthless than him, and a superior tactician/strategist, it doesn’t matter in the end. For even if she manages to defeat Zuko in a battle, she’ll never truly win since Zuko will have his friends, girlfriend, and their uncle to back him up whenever he falls while she has nobody.

And even if the comics falter on this point by having Aang and Zuko, and thus the post-war order, only survive their encounters with the Fire Warriors because the Fire Warriors wanted them to survive, Zuko straight up tells Azula when he thinks Azula is going to kill him during the climax of Smoke and Shadow that no one will accept her on the throne even if he is gone, something that she implicitly agrees with.

So I don’t understand why Zuko stans are so quick to dismiss the beauty of Zuko and Azula’s arcs in a misguided, in my opinion, attempt to make him the strongest?

And before anyone says that I am downplaying Zuko, I have Zuko as the fifth-strongest firebender in the world even before meeting the dragons. And I have post-comics Zuko as the second-strongest firebender in history only behind his sister thanks to his dragonfire redirection, lightning redirection, and handless fire jets (that he made while carrying Kuei during nighttime at the South Pole) feats.

So what gives Zuko stans?

#katara #zuko #azula #fire siblings #post war fire siblings #katara meta #zuko meta #azula meta #fire siblings meta #post war fire siblings meta #justanotherthrowaway1950meta

[mmsapataoltda]

Heartbeat  Chapter 4: And it all comes down to you

Chapter title from Gypsy by Fleetwood Mack I'm sorry it took 3 months to update, I'm working 10 hours a day and going to college so I'm barely living. Can't promise that will get better, but I'll try. We're going to get to a point in the story where I already have a few chapters ready so I hope I'll be able to get a head start on this.

I hope you enjoy the reading. If you can live a comment I live on them. 

Kya was playing in the gardens of Air Temple Island during a full moon when she accidentally killed a plant, after a week of the event she still felt sick as she understood what it meant and what she was capable of. She grew up being told that bloodbending was an evil thing, so when she discovered, at age of 12, that she had inherited her mother's bloodbending Kya was terrified at the realization and swore to herself that she would never use that power and would do her best to hide it from Katara. Kya already felt that she was a disappointment to her Father for not being an Airbender and was terrified that she would now lose her Mother's affections because of her newfound power. But as she should have known at that point in her life, no one could hide a secret from Katara for long. In the next Full Moon Katara found Kya huddled in a corner of her room crying and muttering "please stop" while covering her ears.  She was trying desperately and in vain to block out the pulse of the island residentes.

But contrary to what Kya believed, Katara didn't think less of her daughter because of her gift and rather she began training Kya to control her impulses, to become more comfortable with her new abilities knowing she wouldn't use them by accident. Kya was taught to hide her power, repressing it at all costs. She grew up knowing that she wanted to be a healer and hated knowing she had the power to hurt someone so horribly when all she wanted to do was help people. Katara used to say that although Tenzin was the airbender among her children, Kya was definitely the nomad. Ever since Sokka and Katara took her to the Southern Water Tribe on her 14th birthday to ice dodging, young Kya started dreaming of sailing arround the world, so her uncle started teaching her everything he knew about navigation. Kya learned to use the wind and currents to her advantage, learned to read maps as well as guide herself by the stars. At the age of 17 Kya knew everything there was to be taught about sailing and on her birthday, her grandfather Hakoda presented her with a sail boat, much to Katara's dismay, but there was no stopping Kya. When her mother allowed it, Kya would take her younger brother along with Lin and Su on her boat for short trips around Air Temple Island.

One autumn morning, a few weeks after her 18th birthday, Kya set off on her long-awaited journey around the world, taking with her only a suitcase of clothes, the money she had saved and a bag of food that Katara had forced her to take with her. After a goodbye with tight hugs and a few shared tears Kya left for her first destination: The Northern Water Tribe where she learned and embodied Northern Healing and Bending.

After that she went to the Earth Kingdom, more specifically to Taku, where she studied the uses of medicinal herbs with the Herbalist, during her journey she also learned how to transform earthbending moviments into her own bending. At Bhanti, she learned to sense and recognize Black Spirits from the sages and the Shaman and marveled at their ability to use firebending to sense chi trails and interpret spiritual energy so much like her healing.

Kya trained with healers in every city in the world, developed a deep understanding of the human body, how it worked and how she could heal it. She had the best training a waterbender and healer could have, but even then she was unprepared for the horrors she witnessed on her travels. She was crossing the Foggy Swamp with the swampbenders on one of her visits to the Earth Kingdom when she ended up getting caught in a hunter's trap. The more they tinkered with the trap the more it seemed to get deeper into Kya's ankle, when they finally managed to free her leg she realized she couldn't heal her leg as the water surrounding them was mostly mud. In a desperate act she reached out with her bending to stop herself from bleding out in the middle of the swamp. In that moment she realized that perhaps she could use that power she so hated not to cause harm, but to heal. The next morning she was packed ready to begin her research into techniques for using bloodbending as a form of healing. Over time she learned to suture blood vessels with the bend of her fingers, contract a heart with a squeeze of her wrist, and heal wounds just by pressing the palms of her hands over them.

A few days after leaving with Bumi from Republic City after the incident involving the Beifong sisters, Kya received a hawk with an urgent message from Izumi. So Kya went to the Fire Nation with Bumi, where he would meet his squad and Kya would head to the Capital to meet the Princess.

Izumi and Izao got married shortly after Izumi found out she was pregnant with Iroh, she was 19, and for nine Years Izao managed to consume Izumi's brilliant personality. Now, in her letter, Izumi said that Izao had abandoned her after she discovered her second pregnancy. Izumi cried in Kya's arms while telling her that Izao almost forced her to have an abortion and that when she refused he threatened to leave her, the Princess was tired of Izao's bullshit and let him go happy to let her Aunt Azula kick him out of the Palace. In the end he had married Izumi because of the unplanned pregnancy and for seeing a marriage with her as a life of grandeur, inside a Palace, living as the husband of the future leader of the Fire Nation, with that he also managed to climb the rankings of the United Forces more easily.

Kya had never liked the man, not even during the beginning of their relationship while he was still a decent person, but little by little he was revealing his true personality, trying to control Izumi's every action and dimming more and more her shine. Kya hated him with every fiber of her being for transforming the genius, decisive, powerful, confident person she had once dated into the insecure, dependent Izumi who now cried in her arms. Kya was more than willing to help her ex-lover and current best friend get over this situation and didn't leave the Fire Nation until four months later when she was sure the baby, young Iroh and Izumi were all right. Before leaqving she promised that she would return to accompany Izumi during the last weeks os pregnancy and delivery. After baby Ursa was born, Kya stayed a few more months in the Fire Nation to help Izumi adjust to her new routine, balancing a 9-year-old boy, a newborn, and an overprotective family. Kya received two letters from Lin during this time, but the waterbender didn't read them, she was determined to ignore Lin Beifong's existence until her heart stopped skipping a beat at the mere mention of the earthbender's name.

It was almost two years ago that Kya returned to Republic City for the last time, Kya hadn't spoken to Lin in those two years, the two letters that Lin had send her remainded unread and unanswered at the bottom of her suitcase and as Kya didn't keep Lin informed of her new locations further letters didn't arrive. The waterbender managed to do a decent job in keeping her thoughts away from Lin for the last couple of years and she always found a pretty lady happy to share a bed with her. For the last couple weeks Kya was staying with her friends from a community of sandbenders and was shocked when none other than Suyin Beifong arrived late one night. Last she have heard Su was living with her grandparents in Gaoling. Kya was the first to greet the girl who looked insecure from the moment she laid her eyes on Kya, afraid of how she would react. She knew Kya and Lin were close friends and knew that Kya was the one that stayed with Lin after an incident.

- I thought you were living with your grandparents in Gaoling. - Kya said while taking Su for a tour on the camp

- I was. - Su offered an awkward smile to her - But I decided it was time for me to take a vacation. - Su continued to regain all her confidence

- So you ran away. - Kya concluded getting a shocked look from Su

- How do you know?

- I was 17 once. – said Kya with a dismissive wave of hand

- I'm 19. - Su corrected

- Potato potato, tomato tomato.

- My mother retired. - Kya had to feign surprise, the last letter her parents sent her had already told her this information - I felt like I no longer had any obligation to stay hidden and reclusive, so I ran away. I was getting tired of being stuck in that house, playing instruments and pretending to be someone I'm not. - Kya had never been in the Beifong State, but she thought it couldn't be that terrible to be stuck in a house with a backyard practically the size of a city - Lin was always their favorite anyway. - she commented lightly, as if that comment didn't affect her

- Let me show you your tent. – Kya changed the subject - Tomorrow we can look for some clothes for you.

In the weeks that followed Su and Kya became closer than they ever were, there was a 10 years difference between them and they never had a real opportunity to become close, Su was just Lin's annoying sister trying to get in the Middle of their play. Su learned that the traveling circus that would be performing in Ba Sing Se for the next few days was looking for an dancer and Su was uplifted with the possibility of joining the troupe, so Kya accompanied her to town for the audition and celebrated with her when she was accepted.

During their time together in the sandbender community, Kya learned a lot about Su and how she didn't want to follow in her mother's career footsteps, but rather travel the world like she did with her friends during the end of the war of the Sandbenders.

  On the day that Su left with the circus, Kya received a letter from her mother accompanied by an invitation.  Kya was waiting for the invitation to arrive, Katara had told her about the happy news in her latest letter. She was waiting for this but she was taken by surprise when the big envelope arrived that morning along with Aang and Katara's monthly letter. Kya was at the middle of the Desert outside Ba Sing Se with a beautiful woman lying next to her, she was called Misuki and was making Kya company for almost a week. But now Kya's attention was completely turned to the invitation written in golden letters in her hands. Lin Beifong and Tenzin are pleased to invite you to celebrate their engagement.

Kya blinked a few times trying to hold back tears. The only news she received from Republic City were those that her mother sent her through her letters or through the newspapers that always arrived too late in her hands. Kya opened the envelope only to discover that her stupid baby brother's engagement party would happen in five days. It was a three day trip so if she wanted to arrive in the City in time for the party she would have to leave Ba Sing Se as soon as possible. She was having conflicting feelings about going to the party, in one hand she knew that her brother as well as Lin and her parents would be upset if she didn't go, in the other she also knew that all the feelings she'd been kiping hidden in the little-visited part of her mind would come to life as soon as she was in Lin Beifong's presence, especially in circumstances like that. Regardless of the decision she would come to Kya felt the need to leave, so she changed to a blue dress and wrapped a yellow sash arounh her waist. Kya was closing her suitcase when Misuki stretched on the bed and asked in a hoarse voice:

- You're leaving aredy?  - Kya looked at her with a sad smile

- I received a letter from home and I'll have to go back to Republic City.

Misuki sat on the bed using the sheets to cover her naked body.

- I hope everything is fine.

- Don’t worry. It's just my brother's... birthday. - she lied, not ready to knology the engagement out loud

- Let me know when you return to Ba Sing Se. - Kya wouldn't

- Of course. - she lied again. The waterbender slung the strap of her suitcase over her shoulder and got to her feet - I need to go now if I want to cacth the ship.

Misuki knelt at the foot of the bed and leaned up to give Kya one last kiss.

- Good bye, Kya.

- Good bye, Misuki.

And without looking back, Kya left.

#the legend of korra #Lin Beifong #Kya II #kyalin #heartbeat #beifong #suyin beifong

[influenzalake]

Batfam and Superfam + as ATLA Benders

totally original idea nobody has ever done before 

also only going on the original series, we dont talk about Korra

Bruce: Firebender

- Bruce would be a firebender because of the burning within him. Similar to how Zuko only found his power through pure rage, a young Bruce had to train, meditate, and suffer even more to find his strength elsewhere. His rage still plays a part in his power, the more he loses it the stronger he becomes. I see Bruce hiding his bender abilities for a very long time, refusing to expose his power as Bruce Wayne. As Batman however, here are rumors and whispers about the Bat being a Combustion style firebender. Little do they know, their Batman has mastered every sub-group of firebending possible. Bruce would specialize in combustion though. Great for keeping the mystery of the Bat and causing distractions when Bruce is in public and Batman is needed. 

Selina: Waterbender

- Water, free , flowing , always changing. Adaptable and versatile. Selina has not mastered any specific sub-group of bending, but has heard about bloodbending and uses healing waterbending for herself. Selina uses the cold, unpredictable weather of Gotham to her advantage. Any rain, any fog, any humidity is a Gotham waterbender's dream. She specializes in freezing the water. She uses frozen water as makeshift keys, spikes as weapons, and ice / smoke walls for her getaway. I think Waterbender Selina would change the color scheme of her Catwoman suit so she could use the water to her advantage. Black against ice and water does not blend well. She would make her own custom suit to blend into the Gotham darkness and to reflect her waterbending skills. 

Alfred: Waterbender

- Master Alfred, wise, powerful, and experienced in the world of waterbending. He specializes in Healing waterbending and mastered this ability in his youth. Now sharing his knowledge with Firebender Bruce and guiding his ward the best he can. His healing comes in serious handy when said ward arrives back at the cave barely in one piece. Wayne Manor always has tolerable weather despite what the reports say, as Alfred puts a dome of water for protection. Alfred is a formidable adversary and can incapacitate enemies in an instant. Alfred is also an advanced bloodbender, something even Bruce doesn't know. Alfred discovered his power during his time in the M16, but has sworn off such an act unless absolutely necessary. Alfred prefers to completely freeze his enemies, from near or far. 

Dick: Airbender

- "The element of freedom" , Dick is an airbender that can use the power of flight to some degree. His powers came to him naturally, as both of his parents were airbenders and invested a lot of time into their bouncing baby boy. He loves the flowing rush of wind in his hair and the thrill of being high in the sky. As a young boy, he used his airbending abilities with a "now you see now you don't" style. He was energetic, playful, and full of life.  As a young man, Dick uses his airbending abilities to keep his enemies off balance and to disorient them. In emotional outbursts, he is capable of huge whirlwinds. He is focused and has centralized his power. Dick either uses his power in a lower intensity to toy with his foes or goes all out there is no in between. He likes to tease younger heroes in a brotherly way, blowing their cape over their heads or uses the wind to mess up their hair. Dick has said the "breaking wind" joke over 100 times. 

Starfire: Despite the title, I see her as a Nonbender and despite her name, i don't see her as a firebender either, for the sake of the fic she will be an airbender

- In the crossover in my head, Starfire shares qualities with Ty Lee. Adding to this idea, the theories that state Ty Lee is or is a descendant of an airbender helped figure out what bender Starfire would be. Starfire has a free spirit and shares her joy with the world. Her airbending style is of Tameranean influence not found in any corner of the Earth. For that reason, she has not mastered or successfully attempted any of the airbending sub-groups. Tameranean Airbender Starfire can fly without needing to airbend and her favorite airbending move would be air currents. 

Jason: Firebender

- Due to his early life, Jason would have discovered his firebending at a young age. This early discovery and practice makes him a very strong very dangerous firebender before he even hits double digits. Bruce would notice his potential to be a force for either good or evil, and relate a lot to the rage inside of young Jason. Unlike Bruce, Jason never felt the need to control his anger and tame his fire. Jason feels that trying to calm him is restricting and his emotions are his most important quality. Any chance of him subduing his feelings and finding his firebending from his diaphragm instead of his rage went out the door after he died. He now cherishes his anger and feels it is more important than ever. He feels another layer of betrayal from Bruce, being a fellow firebender and daring to try and change him. The Red Hood would now have a tertiary meaning, with him as a firebender. He would retain everything from every trainer and experience he has ever had though, keeping his true power a secret. Jason can lightningbend and redirect with extreme effort. 

Roy: Earthbender

- Earthbender Roy would never be truly comfortable with his bending. Earth is solid and steady, something that was never granted to Roy in any way. Roy has tried to bend the earthbending subgroups, but failed. It didn't help that his mentor was Airbender Ollie that struggled to relate with and properly teach his earthbending sidekick. Roy could not connect with the earth, the source of his power, and found his bending abilities to be a useless burden. Roy's earthbending breakthrough didn't happen until later in his life. He eventually got his grip through his isolation and by practicing alone. Roy developed his own bending methods and has unique moves. He now loves the smell and feeling of dirt. Roy can do minor metalbending. 

Tim: Waterbender

- Tim is a prodigy waterbender. Able to move small bodies of water as soon as he got to stand on his own two feet. Tim would fill the room with glittering snowflakes when he was alone as a boy. He has some experience with healing, but even less experience with spirit and blood bending. Those subgroups required test subjects, and young Tim did not want to get in trouble. He feels it in his bones that he is capable of such feats. He instead turns his attention to refining his waterbending. By the time he becomes Robin, his waterbending has advanced so far Bruce is impressed and Alfred is so proud. Alfred is secretly ecstatic to have another waterbender in the manor and shares whatever tips he can with the prodigy. With Tim as the newest member of the Batfam, Dick jokes that all Bruce needs now is an earthbender Robin and he would be the Avatar. 

Conner: Earthbender

- Conner is strong, rigid, and very heavy. Earth is strong, rigid, and very heavy. (lol jk) Conner had some trouble with his bending abilities in his early stages. He could barely earthbend steadily, much less start on a subgroup and people would joke that he should have been a firebender. Jokes like that only made Conner fight more with his bending side. Conner would compare himself to other benders who took so quickly to their affinity. Con felt spited, as he had questions but never got the answers. He wanted nothing more to be like Clark, one with the earth. Conner had no mentor in his beginning. Conner's fighting and bending style came from surges of emotion, which made his bending unpredictable and unreliable. Over the years, Conner spends more time with himself. He works to accept his creation and who he is. With this self reflection, Conner finds peace. He finds that the world is not against him and he is not a mistake. Conner, as an earthbender, feels like he can finally breathe. He feels stronger than ever, that strength coming from his personal security.

Damian: Firebender

- Born of two strong firebenders, Damian had no doubt in his mind that he would be the best in the nation. Damian's first introduction to firebending was that it was a force for dominance and destruction. Damian internalized that perspective upon himself, only thinking himself capable of doing harm with his bending, never learning it could be more- or used for anything different. Due to the pressure of his LOA upbringing, Damian mastered firebending, every subgroup, and bends blue fire. He has studied endlessly about other elements and has a superiority bias against nonbenders. He thinks himself as higher than the Firelord, and believes that when the LOA's plans are complete he will be. 

Jon: Airbender 

- When Jon was born, his parents would always guess what kind of bender he would be. They looked at all of his behaviors as an infant and toddler, waiting for their precious child to start showing signs. There were bets from all of their friends and family. To everybody's surprise, he was caught floating to the top of his nursery by his parents. The news was out! Jonathan Samuel Kent was an airbender. This fact would have drawn some questioning stares, if Jon wasn't the spitting image of Clark. Turns out Lois had some airbender from her mother's side. His parents are shocked but overjoyed nonetheless. Clark is determined to learn everything about airbender culture and power to give his only son the future he deserves. Jon grows up to be a spoiled, friendly, and gifted airbender.

Clark: Earthbender

- Clark is an earthbender alien to nonbenders Martha and Jonathan Kent. Even being from another planet, Clark feels the earth as an extension of himself. Mastery of the art came easily to him. He spent a lot of time in nature as a young boy and he taught himself how to feel the earth. His heightened senses were a blessing and a burden. Clark was aware of every rumble coming from below and had to learn how to concentrate. In his young teens, Clark learned how to use both his Kryptonian and Earthbending powers safely and reliably. As an adult living in Metropolis, he spends less time  in nature, but can still remember his roots and feel the movement of the world all around him. Clark says he is not the power, but the earth is. As Superman he doesn't use earthbending in his fighting very often. If he does use it, it is in desperate moments and pretends it was not him. Everybody thinks Clark Kent is a nonbender.

Lois: Waterbender

- Lois has a complicated relationship with her bending. She never felt the need to use her bending nor did she feel any interconnection with water and what it represented. Lois knows some bending moves, but never spent too much time worrying about her bending. Her father wanted a firebender or at least an earthbender, but above all wanted a son. Lois grew up feeling that bending was not important. 

Jimmy: Either an airbender, earthbender, waterbender, or a nonbender. For fic's sake, Jimmy will be an airbender. 

- He's never had any formal training, so his bending isn't that strong. Jimmy likes using his bending for fun, he can make himself float, saving items before they drop, and it helps him go faster when he's running around for work. He likes being a casual bender.

Bizarro: (being the opposite of Clark) Airbender 

- Bizarro's bending is very random. He doesn't control it very well. When he does airbend, it is pure strength. Powerful, but it is messy bending. He kicks up dirt and other debris, also bringing into his attacks. Bizarro can fly without the help of his bending. He hasn't tried to practice any  airbending subgroups. Bizarro idolizes the avatar, he fanboying is very cute.  

Diana: Earthbender

- Diana is an incredible earthbender. Diana has trained alongside ancient masters and studied their techniques back on Themyscira. She masters earthbending and all their subgroups. Her favorite subgroup is lavabending. Part of her training included rumination, focusing on becoming one with the Earth. It was said to bring an earthbender closer to the source of their power. Diana has never revealed this to anyone, but after leaving the pristine island, Diana felt like her power was weakened. The Earth was truly suffering and she felt the ground beneath her as sloppy. As Wonder Woman, Diana uses earthbending sparingly. She knows her raw fighting power is strong enough. Diana doesn't want to aggravate the Earth any more than it already is. 

Barry: Airbender 

- Barry was not a natural born airbender. Funnily enough, it came after his superspeed powers. Due to this, his power is limited. His hypothesis is that the access to the speed force also made this possible. Acquired bending is a very rare phenomenon, but then again, the man was struck by lightning and became a superpowered being. When running, Barry feels the air around him dissolve and he goes FAST. After some time as the Flash, he learned the difference between the speed force and airbending. He tries to airbend but the mix of his speed powers only allow him to create sharp blasts of wind. Barry has tried all of the airbending subgroups, but physically cannot. He finds that his greatest airbending strikes come from his legs, not his hands. 

Arthur was already a waterbender lol

#atla #avatar the last airbender #dc #superfam #superman #batfam #batman #scenarios #headcanons #long post

[atlabeth]

warmth - zuko x fem!reader

summary: the two times he notices her shivering and the one time he does something about it. 

a/n: lmaoo we have been in a DROUGHT my people. i have barely given you any content this whole month and i feel bad. i wrote this out over the course of a few hours after getting the idea in the shower. i did not proofread. i am not sorry. enjoy.

and NO that end part is not dirty it is simply two kids sharing a bed for warmth bc they got cute lil crushes on each other 🔫🔫🔫🔫

wc: 1.6k 

warning(s): this is pure fluff bbbbbb 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three times. 

It happened three times before Zuko was finally able to get over himself and have a real, face to face, one on one conversation with the one person he hadn’t been able to get out of his head. 

Y/N. It was a name that had made a home in his mind, belonging to a girl that had made a home in his heart. He knew that she was a waterbender from the Northern Tribe and that she had joined the team after the Siege of the North, but apart from that, her life was a mystery to him. She was a mystery to him. 

It was pathetic. How could he become so enraptured with a girl when he didn’t even know the first thing about her? When he had spent the past couple of months fighting against her, trying everything in his power to hurt her? When she had no idea he even thought about her that way? 

Sometimes Zuko questioned himself, but then he caught a glimpse of her — the gleam of her hair, the way her eyes crinkled at the edges when she laughed, the fierceness with which she fought rivalled only by the way she cared for her injured friends afterwards — and he laughed inwardly. 

There was no way he couldn’t feel that way about her. She was simply enchanting. 

But there was only one thing he questioned more than his affections — why in the name of Agni could he not just walk up and start a conversation with her? There was no one else in the world that made him as nervous, as flushed, as completely incapable of basic speech as Y/N, and it drove him insane. 

It drove him insane that it took three times. 

~~~

The first time he noticed her shivering, it wasn’t on purpose. 

Zuko was serving tea to everyone as they gathered around the campfire, chuckling as Aang recounted one of their earlier adventures, back when he was still trying to capture the Avatar. Thinking about his past, who he used to be, was painful, but it gave him all the more reason to be thankful for where he was now. 

He wasn’t as focused on Aang’s story as he was on Y/N, though. She could hardly keep her thoughts to herself, interrupting every couple of seconds to add a detail that Aang forgot or give her own input on the events that he was describing. He started to frown as he noticed her shivering despite sitting right next to the fire — Zuko didn’t even realize how distracted he was until he felt someone hitting his arm. 

“Hey!” He was snapped out of his reverie by the harshness of Katara’s voice, angrily gesturing at the broken teacup and now spilled tea all over Haru. 

“Oh— I am so sorry,” he stammered as he crouched down and started to pick up the pieces on the ground. “Are you okay?” 

“It’s just.. really hot tea,” Haru muttered with a small wince. “No big deal.” 

“You’re right. It’s not a big deal.” Y/N raised her hand and with a small, fluid movement, she bent the liquid out of the fabric and formed it into a tiny sphere in the air. “See? Good as new. And you’re not even burnt.” 

Haru chuckled and pulled at his tunic, giving Y/N a grateful nod. 

“Can a sky bison drink tea?” She mused as she moved the liquid orb around in the air. 

“I don’t think so,” Aang said with a small laugh. 

“Shame we have to waste it.” Y/N bent it away from the group and let it fall to the ground, sinking into the rock below them. “Zuko can always make more though, right?” She said with a hopeful smile. 

“Uh, yeah. Of course.” 

“See, guys? No harm, no foul. You’re the best, Zuko.” She gave him an overexaggerated wink then began to pester Aang to get back to the story, leaving Zuko to continue handing out tea and keep his shaking hands as steady as possible. 

She really had no idea the effect she had on him. 

~~~ 

The second time? It was definitely on purpose. 

The night was unusually cold, even with the bonfire blazing in the middle, and he found his eyes trained once more on Y/N. This time she was the storyteller, giving them all a taste of Northern Water Tribe culture as she recounted a bedtime story she was told as a child. She had a whole arsenal of character voices at her disposal, keeping everyone thoroughly entertained despite the numerous lines she forgot. Zuko didn’t even realize he was staring until Sokka elbowed him in the elbow, gesturing at her with a nod of his head and a cocky grin. 

“What are you doing, just gawking at her like that?” 

“Wh— gawking? I am not gawking. I’m— I’m just listening to her.” 

“Yeah, sure. But I’m pretty sure Appa could start talking right now and you wouldn’t notice because you are hopelessly into her.” He gestured at Zuko’s eyes with his hand then in Y/N’s direction. “Gawking.” 

“I— I am not!” He protested, tearing his eyes away from Y/N’s animated face to give Sokka one of his signature glares. He lowered his voice to a whisper to ensure that no one would hear them. “I’m not into her, I’m not gawking, I am appreciating her storytelling.” 

“Uh huh, yeah.” Sokka looked at her and grinned before glancing back at Zuko. “If you’re not into her, then I can ask her out, right?” 

Zuko didn’t respond, simply kept glaring at him in hopes that it would intimidate him into backing down so he wouldn’t have to say anything and risk embarrassing himself. 

Sokka chuckled and held up his hands. “Alright, geez, I’m just joking. But maybe use some of that fire to keep it going? Looks like she’s cold.” 

Almost immediately, he broke eye contact and fueled the fire with a simple blast. Y/N shot him a grateful smile and nodded as she continued her story, and Zuko noticed her hands falling back down into her lap from their former place on her arms. 

No amount of fire could’ve caused as much warmth as her smile. He was sure of that. 

~~~

There was no way he could miss it the third time. After all, she was the only one there. 

Zuko hadn’t been able to sleep so he ended up outside, and there she was — sitting there, all alone in the middle of the temple grounds, shivering quietly with a moonless night sky as her backdrop. Before he could second guess himself, Zuko started walking over. 

“Hey.” Y/N greeted him without even looking up as she pulled her arms around herself, bringing her legs up to her chest in an effort to conserve all the warmth she could. 

“Hey.” Zuko took a seat on the ground next to her and crossed his legs. “Are you cold?” 

She let out an airy chuckle and nodded. “Strange, isn’t it? I grow up surrounded by snow and ice and I’m perfectly fine, but after a few months away a couple of breezes are tearing me down. I don’t get it.” 

“You’ve been shivering a lot lately,” he said after a beat of silence. Y/N raised an eyebrow and gave him a wry smile. 

“What, have you been looking?”

That sent him stammering. “I-I— yes? I mean— no, I’ve noticed, but I’m not actively looking at you, that’s weird, I’m not— I mean—”

Y/N threw her head back and laughed, the same laugh that sent flutter bats through his stomach and made his heart burst with happiness. She set her hand on his and squeezed, giving him a gentle look that almost immediately ceased his rambling. “Zuko, it’s alright. It’s… nice that you’ve noticed. Like you’re looking out for me or something.” 

He opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t find his voice — he was sure his cheeks were as red as his tunic, just at the simple touch of her hand — and it only got worse as she placed her other hand on top of it. 

“You’re warm,” Y/N muttered. “Like… intensely warm.”

“Is that bad?” He wondered aloud, preemptively panicking. “Do you want me to turn it off? I can’t turn it off, but I could find a way somehow—” 

“Thank you,” she interrupted with another small laugh, “but no. I don’t need you to uh, turn off your firebending. That already happened once. But you’re adorable to think of me like that.” 

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes, the air between them heavy with something she couldn’t quite place. Y/N pursed her lips and bit back a growing smile as she glanced at the ground. 

“This is, uh… really helping. With the cold, I mean. And I was… I guess I was just…” Another laugh. “I was just wondering if you’d maybe want to spend the night with me? Just because my room is especially freezing, and you’re so warm, and I think I would sleep a lot better if I—”

Now it was his turn to interrupt her rambling. There was something about her getting so flustered about him in the same way he did around her that made this easier. “I’d love to.”

“Great,” she breathed, the same smile from before returning just a little bit brighter. Y/N stood up and they began their walk back into the temple, hands still intertwined, warmth emanating between the two of them. 

Three times. 

Two strikes. 

One success. 

And that was all he needed.  

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla fic #avatar the last airbender fic #zuko #zuko avatar #zuko atla #zuko fic #zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #zuko x you #zuko x reader fic #avatar x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader

[perfectlypanda]

Katara and the “Trophy Wife” Trope as Depicted in Legend of Korra

I’ve seen a few posts where people express that they feel like when Katara is labeled a “trophy wife” or when Legend of Korra is criticized for having Katara be a wife and mother, that the critics are devaluing being a wife and mother or are just attacking how Katara is depicted because of not liking her endgame romantic pairing. These are incorrect understandings of the criticism about how LoK handled Katara’s character.

While there is a lot that could be said on this topic, I’ll be focusing on the points brought about by a specific comment (as this post is largely shaped by the comments I wrote in response to it):

the thing is, katara wasn’t treated as a trophy wife. we don’t know much about what anyone did between the comics and LOK. she helped in founding republic city, she helped take down amon, she trained waterbenders and healers (while also earning herself the title of the best healer in the world) and she raised a family. she also trained korra. z*tara shippers are just mad because they think she had kids with the wrong person.

There isn’t canon confirmation that Katara did the things the commenter listed. LoK says that Aang and Zuko set up Republic City with no mention of Katara, she is briefly cited as having helped ban bloodbending but she isn’t at Amon’s trial nor is Katara mentioned as being involved in helping bring down Amon, and there is no mention of her extensively training anyone except Korra and Kya. The only major confirmed things Katara did between the AtLA comics and LoK are get married and have kids, and then move to the South Pole when Aang died.

“But she is also a healer in LoK!” Katara’s healing skills are only used under the Worf Effect trope - to prove how serious an ailment is, they show Katara unable to heal it. The audience is told that Katara is a powerful healer, but she doesn’t actually heal any major problems during LoK. Katara’s role as a healer is not to add dimension to her character, but to serve as a plot device.

The “trophy wife” criticism is not about Katara being a wife and mother. There is nothing wrong with being either of those things. The criticism lies in how being a wife (now widow) and mother are the only things Katara did in her life that LoK decided were important enough to mention. Compare this to Toph, who is a mother too, but who also gets other accomplishments. She was the founder of the metal bending police, and the longstanding former Chief of Police. LoK decided that Toph did things in her life worth mentioning in addition to being a mom. But because LoK chose not to mention anything for Katara, the implication, whether intentional or not, becomes that she didn’t do anything else important enough to bring up. Katara is a side character in LoK, but how Toph is handled proves LoK could have done better by Katara, but it didn’t.

This is a common and problematic trope - when the female lead becomes romantically involved with the male lead, she is reduced from being an independent character with her own role in the story to only being relevant as the male lead’s wife and mother of his children.That is what is meant when people express frustration at LoK’s depiction of Katara by saying LoK made her into a “trophy wife".

Although it seems pedantic, the frequent “why didn’t Katara get a statue too?” complaint is really a reflection of this larger issue. Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph all have statues featured prominently in Republic City. Cities don’t just put up statues dedicated to any random person, they’re reserved for people worthy of note. So by giving Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph statues, LoK signals that these characters did important things with their lives that had a big, positive impact on people. By omitting a Katara statue, LoK implies, intentionally or unintentionally, that unlike her friends, Katara didn’t do anything important enough in her life to merit a statue commemorating her or her accomplishments.

#Katara #Avatar #AtLA meta #anti Bryke #Legend of Korra #Avatar analysis #I actually don't know what the tags would be for something like this #avatar meta #Katara deserved a statue #in this house we stan Katara #look I wrote a thing

[mintchochipkookie]

Katara being the Avatar and canon Zutara as standalone concepts are already too much for Bryke to wrap their heads around, so just IMAGINE what would have happened if we had gotten Avatar Katara marrying Firelord Zuko. I think the world would have exploded from the raw power couple energy they could have unleashed.

But seriously, if I had to say which character I genuinely believe was best suited to be the Avatar, I would 100% say Katara. Katara who “will never turn her back on people who need her!” Katara who challenged a misogynistic old man to a water duel for refusing to train her because she was a girl and won. Katara who was determined to become a waterbending master and wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. Katara who always gives the benefit of the doubt at first but isn’t afraid to fight back if you betray her trust. Katara who has a knack for bringing people together. Katara who plays an active role in shaping her own destiny. Instead of being forgotten about by the world, she could be celebrated for centuries to come as a phenomenal Avatar who restored peace and balance to the world, a gracious queen of the Fire Nation who loved her people as though they were her own children, a skilled politician who advocated for positive change on an international level, and just one hell of a woman in general.

You know what? I don’t even have anything else to add. You’re absolutely right.

Fuck Br\y\ke.

#literally anything would've been better than avatar a@ng tbh #why couldn't we have just watched Kyoshi fuck shit up #finalgirlsnape #ask #anti bryke #atla salt #zutara #pro katara

[linnoya-writes]

—Katara: a Lesson on Strong Work Ethic— Sometimes I just think about characters like Azula and Aang, who were naturally-gifted in their elements and became child prodigies, and how Toph became a prodigy with the help of blind badger-moles, embracing earthbending as an extension of herself.  Zuko wasn’t exactly gifted, but he had the Dragon of the West as his private teacher for at least 3 years, and he pushed Zuko to learn discipline and patience.  These characters had the privilege of time to practice their element, and they had excellent masters to help hone those skills to the best of their abilities. Katara? She didn’t have anyone. She was the only waterbender in the South Pole, and she was practically a secret.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Gran Gran discouraged her to waterbend due to the long history of war-violence against the Southern water benders, and perhaps the only reason she occasionally went fishing with Sokka was to sneak some practice. (Why else would she tolerate his antics more often than necessary?) 

Katara taught herself basic water moves without a clue of what she was doing, because she felt connected to that element. It was all around her with the ice and water and snow, so she had to give it a shot, right?  This must have been so awkward for her — her village may have seen her as a freak, but she didn’t care because waterbending was a part of her and she wasn’t going to ignore her ambition just because she was alone with the tools without a teacher.  

Imagine trying to teach yourself how to bake a cake, because you have a huge craving... and the ingredients and stove are right there in front of you... but no recipe. So you end up doing countless cycles of trial-and-error, measuring ingredients, mixing, heating, tasting, spitting out grossness, then measuring different ingredients, mixing them in different orders, then heating everything in different temperatures... learning more from every single attempt... until finally, things start to go somewhere... and you begin to smell the cake more and more as you go. 

That was Katara with her waterbending —and she did this for years. 

Without even understanding what she was doing, she gave herself structure and learned the value of discipline.  She didn’t care if what she did looked foolish, and she was determined to connect more with her element through self-discipline and self-discovery because nobody else was going to help her.  She did it when it was probably the most dangerous time in the world to do it, too. Her mother was killed for being mistaken as a waterbender... but if anything, this gave Katara another reason to keep practicing.  She must’ve known that if she didn’t stop waterbending, a significant part of her culture would die out.  She wanted keep her culture alive. Katara was fighting for its survival; it fueled her determination to learn waterbending.

In the entire year she travelled with Aang, she didn’t wait for teachers or scrolls to show up before giving herself a reason to practice.  She knew there was a war, she knew she needed to protect Aang, and it was her personal desire to master water-bending.  So she practiced whenever she found time to do it. 

Oh yeah— and she was also the resident “mom” of her group, playing the nurse, the therapist, the one who would cook the meals, train Aang, sew, clean. Every time the group arrived at a new place, the group had to adapt to new surroundings ... and yet, she still found the time to practice and train herself in new methods of waterbending all on her own. She was able to gather knowledge from other bending techniques that her friends had, and became perhaps the most versatile waterbender in a century of war.  

She became so good that, within less than a year of training on her own... she wasn’t just able to float blobs of water.  She was able to freeze and thaw water on command, suspend rain droplets, maneuver a water whip, create water-tentacles, create water pockets to travel underwater, create thick ship-disappearing mist, create cliff-high water chutes, create ship-capsize-able water waves, create face-reflecting ice plates, create wood/metal-cutting ice shards, heal internal wounds, and control human bodies against their will. 

Imagine how differently Katara’s skills would have developed had she been given the same luxury of time, resources and masters like everyone else. Those few weeks that she trained with Master Pakku-- excelling more than any student he’s ever had-- demonstrates how passionate and dedicated she was to becoming a master waterbender and learning from the best.  However, would she have garnered the same discipline, versatility, and appreciation to this craft... had she not had to pick things up on her own, in her own time, throughout that whole journey with the Avatar?  I believe it was because of her drive, her self-study and self-discipline with this practice that made Katara so unique of a student, and her sense of adaptation and open-mindedness made her all the more powerful.

Then, take a moment to think about how much wrong the world had thrown at her (the war-devastation, the sexism, the friend-betrayals), all the reasons Katara had to just “screw the world” because what she wanted didn’t come easily for her, and people were never fair to her.  At any point in this journey, she could’ve chosen a dark path.

Think about that, and how, in spite of her tenacity and her extraordinary self-taught abilities... Katara never lost her compassion.  She was an extremely powerful, self-made prodigy, yet she still chose to be good.  Think about how she used her gifts to help bring an end to the war and build an era of peace. She didn’t make excuses to not learn or practice just because she was alone in the South Pole without anyone supporting her of her gift. She didn’t give up because she lacked the resources to formally train herself. She didn’t complain about the little time she had to practice, due to all of her other responsibilities.

Not once did Katara consider settling for another hobby when she realized she wasn’t as naturally-talented as her other bending peers.  She kept at it.

Katara held onto her ambition. She gave herself the time, she gave herself the discipline, and (with her tribe’s dying culture, the war still happening, and the Avatar still a novice waterbender) she gave herself the reasons to work that much harder.   She made the most with whatever she had.  She learned to be resourceful, sharpened her skills and embraced new techniques... and that ultimately made her unstoppable. And...instead of turning selfish and chasing power, like Azula... Katara chose to use her skills to serve communities and inspire kindness instead of fear.

So, all of this is really to say: if you want something, stop waiting for the world to give you permission to pursue it.  Just get to work.  Give yourself the time, the tools, the structure and the discipline to practice getting better at it. Teachers can only push your potential, but they are not responsible for your drive or ambition.  Stop making excuses.  If it doesn’t come easy for you, remember why you want it so much and keep working at it.  If someone says you’re wasting your time, ignore them.  If someone says you should be wanting something else, prove them wrong.  Fight for what you want, and always be a positive inspiration. Let’s all strive to be brave, hard-working, determined, headstrong, and compassionate like our resident badass, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.

#katara of the southern water tribe #katara #avatar the last airbender #masterkatara #meta #meta essay #workethic #waterbender