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oneatlatime · 2 months

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The Painted Lady

Air Bison, Sea Bison, and now Sludge Bison.

I have no idea how Aang is swimming through a solid. Must be an Avatar thing.

I bet there would be time for more potty breaks if Sokka hadn't spent 100+ hours of their time drawing up the schedule. A very Sokka thing to do though.

Because hills often have horns. Great disguise.

You can't tell me that a factory that close to their town wouldn't also become the town's primary employer.

That is a lot of town.

I sense a return of preachy Katara. This episode is going to suck.

I'm with Sokka on this one. Buy fish, move on, defeat Firelord, return to help with environmental remediation if time permits.

I like Doc. And Shu. Nice people.

Writers: if you have to make one of your characters an entirely different person to set up the episode's lesson of the week, maybe the lesson doesn't fit your chosen characters. This is the Warriors of Kyoshi all over again. Funny how that's happened to Sokka twice.

We are all Sokka.

And where exactly did this mysterious painted lady get the food to deliver to the village, if the reason the Gaang stopped in the village in the first place was because they needed food?

Let the record show: I lost the last of my patience with this episode 8 minutes and 9 seconds in.

Waterbending healing has never thrown off that much light before. Even the spirit oasis water wasn't that bright.

Also where is the water she's healing with? Usually she has a big bubble of it.

Impersonating a religious figure. That won't end badly.

"Well I hope she returns every night otherwise this place would go right back to the way it was." YES!!!!!! THAT'S THE POINT!!!!!

What was Katara's plan? Forget about the eclipse, forget about fighting the Fire Lord, we're going to stay here for the rest of our lives so that the painted lady can put in a nightly appearance. THIS IS WHY SOKKA DOES THE PLANNING.

Spirit magic is more doing the worm than doing the wave. Good to know.

Bold of a kids' show to advocate for ecoterrorism.

Aang's like "Hey spirit lady! Here's my resume! Here's my connections on LinkedIn!" Why did Katara think that faking being a spirit within two feet of the bridge to the spirit world would be consequence free? Actually that presupposes that Katara thought. Which she didn't. Sokka does her thinking.

"I don't get to meet many spirits. But the ones I do meet, not very attractive." I am OFFENDED on Yue's behalf. And Sokka's. I guess Aang doesn't like Water Tribe girls after all.

"I guess I just became her." No. That's an excuse and a deflection. I don't want to hear it.

What was I saying about Aang and Katara enabling each others' bad tendencies?

Sokka is horribly out of character this episode, but Aang is as well. In what universe would Aang be so unbothered by Appa being sick, and then so unbothered by the reveal that Katara had been faking Appa being sick? Like, this is Appa. He nearly skinned a bunch of sandbenders over the guy. And he finds out Katara's been messing with him and calls her 'great' and 'a secret hero.'

So this factory, despite being operational 24/7, has no night staff, not even a night guard? Because if it does (which it absolutely does - automation is a problem for factories in our world, not the ATLA one), Katara and Aang just killed A LOT of people.

And so she follows up one short term solution with another short term solution, which causes a third problem she will no doubt solve with a short term solution. You think there won't be reprisals for the only obvious suspects to this industrial sabotage? You think they won't rebuild the factory?

Sokka was kidding when he said that the Spirit Lady had better blow up the factory, but not in the way Katara thought he was kidding. Katara thought he wasn't being serious. But Sokka was serious, in that blowing up the factory is as short term a solution as appearing every night. He thought the joke - exchanging one bad solution for another - was obvious.

Somebody's enjoying himself a little too much.

Unfortunately, serving as Exhibit A is the most Toph has had to do all episode.

It is cathartic to see someone finally call Katara on her nonsense. But I'll bet everything I own that the narrative is going to side with her anyway.

Welp. I won that bet.

"You need me." Correct! Katara unsupervised needs bailing out after five minutes. "And I will never turn my back on you." A much more realistic goal than never turning your back on anyone who needs you, and also Sokka summarised in one sentence. Impressive for an episode where they had to Flanderise him beyond recognition to make Katara somehow the good guy.

Oh for fuck's sake. It's not about having a heart. This late in the game it's pure damage control.

So that's where the Painted Lady's food came from. I guess Fire Nation factories count as pirates?

I like the jetskis. The seem far more stable than actual jetskis.

It never occurred to Katara to obscure the evidence even a little bit? At least rub some dirt on the emblem. Look at me assuming Katara has thoughts.

Actual reprisals for once. About time.

This kid is annoying.

Toph gets to be a haunted house sound effects machine.

That's awfully waterbendery for a Fire Nation spirit.

I don't buy for a minute that anyone would be able to stay perfectly upright and balanced after an air blast from below without extensive trampoline training.

This won't work. His superiors, or the next shift change, or the first recruit wanting to climb the ranks quickly, will rise to the challenge presented here by the "painted lady." And as soon as one FN attack goes unchallenged by the "painted lady," the village is toast. I give them a week, tops.

Kudos to some clever in-universe bending special effects. Doesn't save the episode though.

Katara's preachy speech here makes absolutely no sense in light of the rest of the episode. Scolding them for not saving themselves, when waiting around for someone to save them appears to have worked perfectly? And having little miss I-must-save-the-whole-world-on-a-weekly-basis-otherwise-my-sense-of-self-implodes deliver that scold?

Who are these people wearing the Gaang's skin?

Yeah, nothing screams undercover in enemy territory like an entire village knowing that you're a waterbender. Good thing the only competent tracker in the Fire Nation is Zuko, otherwise these kids will absolutely be dead long before the eclipse.

Hi Bushi! You're about the only part of this episode that doesn't drive me nuts!

At least the animators had fun with this one.

Is this guy mopping the river?

Exactly how many days did they take out of Sokka's schedule to restore the ecosystem? I don't care how overlevelled these kids are at bending, you cannot mechanically separate an entire river's worth of dirt from water in an afternoon.

Well that's just he piss icing on the shit cake, isn't it? It wasn't enough for Sokka to lose all reason and come around to Katara's very flawed way of thinking, it wasn't enough for Aang to call her a hero, it wasn't enough to have a village worshipping at her feet, Katara needs affirmations of how right and special and correct and perfect and morally justified she is from the spirit world itself. This is Mary Sue stuff.

Final Thoughts

This is the first time an episode of Avatar has felt like a waste of my time.

It's also the first time I've felt like an episode has gone out of its way to insult the audience.

Katara talking about how she knows what she's doing is wrong is worth absolutely nothing when a) she goes right back to doing it; and b) literally every other part of this episode trips over itself to assure Katara that she's in the right.

Katara is downright punchable this episode. Sokka is Flanderised; Toph is non-existent; Aang is just there; poor Appa is an unwitting accessory to crime; and Momo has as much impact as a housefly.

So the execs forgot about the existence of The Spirit World Part One and demanded a save the environment special episode. The writers responded by forgetting that they'd already established that Katara was ride or die for literally anyone with a pulse in Imprisoned, and gave us this to remind us of that fact. They also forgot that they'd already established that Katara has no moral code whatsoever the minute her personal interest is involved in The Waterbending Scroll, so they decided to recycle the "narrative sides with Katara endangering them all over Sokka being reasonable" plot from that episode and hope we wouldn't notice. We did.

At least with Imprisoned, Katara kind of sort of caused the problem that she fixed. She was super tangentially involved in that kid's arrest. Here, she causes problems by trying to fix problems that she didn't really have any business getting involved in.

The more of this I watched, the more I wanted someone to slap Katara. What I wouldn't give for an episode where she is wrong (has happened a lot) and the episode doesn't pretend otherwise (has never happened). For god's sake, LET HER BE WRONG AND FEEL IT. How else is she going to progress past being self-righteously fourteen? Why is she being so consistently insulated from consequences? Aang chooses power over family at the end of season two and gets actually murdered for it. Katara steals, lies, skirts dangerously close to being a false prophet and does a nifty little ecoterrorism (with Aang's help), and she gets villagers being a bit shouty before big brother comes in and fixes it. Then she gets divine sanction for her actions so even the shouty bit is negated.

There's an interesting contrast in Katara's "I will never turn my back on people who need me" and Sokka's "I will never turn my back on you." It shows which of the two doesn't have their head in the clouds, and has actually formulated realistic expectations of how much a single person can do. It also speaks to the fundamental difference in how they operate. Katara acts; Sokka mitigates. Sokka does Katara's thinking for her; Katara outsources her thinking and then gets pissed when rational thoughts don't conform to her emotions' view of the world.

Why haven't the villagers moved away? If the water was poisoning them this much, why are they still here? Was the early 2000s too early to have a theme of climate refugees? Or the pollution equivalent? That would have been more interesting than this.

I hated this. Why isn't this the episode that gets hated on like the Great Divide? Its sins are nothing compared to this.

Doc, Shu, and Bushi were the only good thing in this episode, but they weren't enough to make this one remotely rewatchable.

One out of Three so far on season three episode quality. No other season has had this bad a ratio this early. This does not bode well for the rest of this season.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #the painted lady

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comradekatara · 7 months

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How conscious do you think Katara of Sokka's pile of neurosis surrounding her safety, their father, or the tribe in general?

Basically, how well do you think Katara understands her brother?

[thinks about my own incredibly weird, callous, prodigious, neurotic brother] does anyone truly understand their brother?

just kidding. sort of. i mean, this is a really difficult question to answer, because as i've already stated, sokka doesn't actually understand himself. and katara doesn't really understand other people very well in general. she has a deep, presiding love for humanity that accords her warmth and nobility, but she also has a pretty rigid way of conceptualizing any sort of moral quandary (she is in the eighth grade) and often misinterprets people's motivations and subconscious desires. (very dorothea brooke core)

for example, in "the painted lady," when katara says, "oh, sokka, you really do have a heart!" she's only partially joking, right? like she genuinely doesn't understand how he can be so "cold" and callous." she doesn't understand his point of view at all, she thinks he just doesn't care. and sokka could probably do a better job of explaining his point of view, granted, but i also understand why he's given up trying to reason with her, because she does not listen to him unless they are in grave danger (at which point she forgets that he is her stupid annoying brother and places all her faith in him lol).

so we, as an attentive audience, know that sokka cares about the wellbeing of impoverished villages destroyed by the fire nation, because we remember the first couple episodes wherein he was prepared to die defending his impoverished village that was destroyed by the fire nation, and we also remember his promise to prioritize katara's safety over the war at large, so we are not surprised when he says, "you need me and i'll never turn my back on you" (the sokka thesis statement). but katara doesn't really understand how much she means to sokka, or how sokka thinks, or how sokka sees himself, or how sokka sees their father, or anything beyond what sokka is willing to show her regarding his psyche, which is ultimately very little.

and it's not katara's fault, to be clear. katara is not a bad sister for not attempting to plumb the depths of sokka's twisted mind. even if she wanted to (which, who would tbh. don't look at me) sokka does not let her. being vulnerable with her (truly vulnerable, not just "i can't make things fly around woe is me") would go against sokka's core programming. protecting katara doesn't just mean protecting her physically (dying for her, attacking anyone who hurts her even if it's aang and he really didn't mean to, etc.) but also emotionally – protecting her innocence, her naïveté, her idealism.

like he'll say shit like "optimism and wonder are cringe and you're a loser for having love in your heart," but it's still so flippant, it's clear that he doesn't consider "provoking/annoying her" and "protecting her" to be mutually exclusive (frankly, anyone who doesn't succumb to the urge to provoke their siblings is simply not human and cannot be trusted) and has no problem criticizing her when he thinks that she's wrong for whatever reason, but he also avoids being vulnerable with her and uses flippancy and deflection to mask his more honest feelings most of the time.

notice how he basically completely shuts down in "the southern raiders," how even though he is standing there the entire time katara and aang are arguing, he says exactly one sentence and lets aang say literally everything else. notice how in the pilot he calls her a freak for waterbending instead of communicating either jealousy that she can do something he can't or fear that her ability will get her killed (again, it's probably a combination of both, but does he even understand that? probably not. because he refuses to introspect). which is why "you need me and i'll never turn my back on you" or even his admission in "sokka's master" that he feels insecure about being a nonbender shocks her so much.

katara and sokka's codependency is mutual, and they love each other a lot. while sokka isn't katara's first priority and entire identity the way katara is for sokka, when sokka is spirited away in "the winter solstice," katara basically shuts down, clings to his boomerang with a blanket around her shoulders and refuses to move from the spot he was taken until he gets back, and when sokka is gone for the day in "sokka's master," she spends the whole day waiting for him to return. and like, both of these take place in the span of no longer than a single day. but as much as they love and need each other, they also do not really understand each other, or themselves.

i would say that sokka understands katara better than katara understands sokka, but sokka also just understands people better than katara does, so that's not really surprising. for example, he knows that she would not benefit from killing yon rha before katara realizes it (and unlike aang, he is not a pacifist). but he does have some blindspots, like how he doesn't understand why she wouldn't want to see hakoda in ba sing se (he interprets it as a purely selfless act, which it just isn't), but again, that's more of a daddy issues blindspot than a sister issues blindspot. they also just have very different worldviews. katara primarily cares about individuals whereas sokka primarily sees systems (with the necessary caveat that he still prioritizes his family), katara sees the best in people whereas sokka sees the worst in people, katara misses the forest for the trees whereas sokka misses the trees for the forest yada yada.

but what's important to understand fundamentally is that katara and sokka have both been dehumanized by the fn imperialist project (true of every atla character, btw) and so their lack of self-knowledge stems from the formative trauma of cultural genocide. those gaps in understanding originate from the roles they have been forced to inhabit, and since sokka's entire identity revolves around what he can and must sacrifice for katara, it's understandable that katara would be unable to acknowledge or even recognize that.

and then again, even beyond the inherent tragedy of their situation, no fourteen year old little sister really understands the neuroses and contradictions and lamentations of her older brother. even if he wore his heart on his sleeve she wouldn't understand him, because katara does encounter plenty of people who are far more obvious about their intentions and she doesn't really understand them either. but she means well. and that's what matters <3

#the-wright #asks #katara&sokka #katara #sokka #analysis #i think the person who understands sokka the best is toph actually #at least by the end of the show #god i love katara so much #calling her dorothea brooke core made me rly emotional? lol #like she doesnt really understand but it doesnt matter because she loves she so deeply and cares so much!!!!#her enduring faith and love and sense of justice for her fellow man........ oh boy :'')#also i have a post in my drafts that i never published bc i still havent really figured out how to phrase it #about how when katara is mean to sokka she thinks she is 'punching up' in the same way zuko treats azula #i have a lot of drafts...#anyway. theyre insane or whatever

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shanastoryteller · 1 year

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Happy Birthday! I was wondering what is next for Zuko, Azula, and the Gaang in the Banished Azula verse?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

If she becomes Fire Lady, then there's literally no reason to go home and deal with her parents' disappointment and anger. She'll be very busy helping run a country, or whatever.

"I accept," Toph says.

Zuko sputters.

"Relax, it's not like they're going to accept me as Fire Lady," Sokka says cheerfully as he claps Zuko on the shoulder. "You might as well marry Toph. She can play at being a proper leader until the council pisses her off and then she'll snap their spine in half like a toothpick."

Azula nods approvingly. Even Katara looks contemplative.

"I don't need a Fire Lady, it's fine," he tries.

Uncle raises a bushy eyebrow and everyone else just looks very disappointed.

"Fine, whatever, I'll marry Toph, stop looking at me like that," he grumbles.

Azula turns to Katara, "Do you want to get married at the same time? We can make a big political metaphor out of it."

"I can officiate!" Aang says excitedly.

"I'll be the best man," Sokka says, "for both weddings, it'll be great."

Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows Sokka gets like this when he doesn't have a project, but he thought he'd have more than a week after overthrowing his father to find something to occupy him.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #hecatemorrigan13 #atla

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kawaiichibiart · 2 months

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Some of my favorite "Zuko Joins the Gang Early" tropes:

His hair grows really fucking fast, so he disguises himself as a pretty lady

Meets Dadkoda earlier

He doesn't tell Aang the outfit he stole is a school uniform (either he forgot, didn't know or straight up just didn't want to make Aang sad)

One of Aang's pretend parents (keyword, parent, remember: pretty lady disguise)

He and Katara become besties earlier

Is the only one who understands Aang while he's sleep deprived (experience)

Had to leave Iroh behind (unwillingly)

Quickly becomes the group heater

DRAGONS (early visit to the Sun Warriors)

On Hama's shit list (gets bloodbent and imprisoned)

Return of the Blue Spirit

REVOLT IN THE NAME OF THE TRUE FIRELORD!!! FIRELORD ZUKO!!!

WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR FIRE GAY- I MEAN A RAINBOW?! ,

#zuko #atla #zuko joins the gaang early #i genuinely can't remember where the ''disguises himself as a pretty lady'' came from #like i know it was from a fanfic #but that's about it #i can't remember which one #where it is #if it's still up #i want to say zukka but it very well could have been zukki or jet x sokka x zuko as well #all i remember is zuko basically deciding 'im gonna be a woman while we hide'

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zuko-always-lies · 19 days

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List of Azula AU/fic ideas

Better parenting Ursa

Azula raises Katara AU (and continued) and more

Azula and Katara get friendly postwar and talk about their brothers.

Mai is significantly older than Azula and Ty Lee AU (Older "sister" Mai)

Jin works at Iroh's teashop but finds out about his past

Zuko tells Azula about the Spirit Water

Ursa and Ozai get along better, and it's not a good thing AU

Imperialist Lu Ten survives the war and tries to regain his throne afterwards

Zuko finds out more about his nation AU

Revolutionary Azula takes over Ba Sing Se AU

Three different AU ideas in one

Favoritism in the royal family is a little different

What if Zuko had a nonbending twin sister (who he doesn't get along with).

Zuko's daughter changes how he sees Azula

Zuko and Ursa try to isolate Azula ("for her own good")

Ozai gets exiled and the Gaang stupidly ally with him

Earth Kingdom ends up with custody of Azula postwar and support her bid for the Fire Nation throne when Zuko starts another war with them.

The Gaang tries to figure out why Zuko joined them.

Dangerous Ladies find Ursa in Book 2

Azula and Toph fake dating

Zuko/"world leaders" try to force Aang to take away Azula's bending and he's very much not OK with it.

Azula is thrown away to the NWT postwar as a trinket and Chief Arnook adopts her.

Comics! Ursa's letter about Zuko being a bastard gets out.

Zuko and Katara lie about what happened during the Agni Kai

An exiled Azula finds Fire Imperialist! Ursa postwar

Aang has to save Azula from being executed by Zuko

Zuko's defection during DoBS goes very badly for Mai

Zuko joins the Gaang at Ba Sing Se, but it ends poorly

Zuko killed Azula during the Agni Kai, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

AU idea where Zuko keeps Azula permanently imprisoned in bad and torturous conditions postwar, and Izumi finds out about when she’s relatively young, and draws exactly the sort of conclusions about her parents that you would expect. Not to mention being terrified that she might be treated the same way if she missteps…

Ozai never declares Zuko and Iroh traitors

Iroh-Azula roleswap au

Zuko asks Azula for help with his firebending

Zuko wants Azula to like him but doesn't get why she doesn't like him (postwar)

Katara has an arranged marriage with Zuko and Azula tries to get into the good graces of her sister in law

"Katara is supposed to have an arranged marriage with Zuko, but she falls in love with Azula instead."

Another take on Zvtara (arranged marriage) and Maizula.

Azula-Katara AU idea (or: Katara runs into an Azula who has changed a lot in some ways and not very much in others)

Zuko is actually Ikem's son

Firelord Azula ends her brother's exile

Azula raises Izumi (it's complicated)

"AU idea: Azula commits suicide out of despair, and just about everyone is convinced that Zuko had her murdered or at the very least “encouraged” her to do it."

Dangerous Ladies get banished/declared traitors and Azula basically gives up. Mai has to step up her place

I have to say, “Zuko has to deal with finding out that Ursa very much isn’t who he believed she was” remains excellent fanfic fodder.

"AU idea: Ursa is more aware of Ozai’s abuse and potential for abuse than in canon, so, right after her exile, she seeks out Iroh and charges him with protecting both of her children."

Firelord Iroh treats Azula in a really screwed up way.

"AU where Azula dies during the latter stages of the war or right after it, and Mai is the only person who ever morns her as a person, not as a politically convenient symbol (Ty Lee runs away from her complex feelings on Azula as much as she can)."

Dark idea

"Since so much of the fandom is convinced that Azula is Zuko’s older sister, I need an AU where this is true and Zuko is just as throne-obsessed as canon and spends all his time trying to usurp his older sister."

"AU where Ozai has a heart attack and dies right after the fire siblings return to the Fire Nation, and Zuko and Azula have to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, the Gaang are plotting to overthrow them and bring the war to a close once and for all..."

King Kuai adopts Azula as his heir

Things get complicated, darkly (Azula exiled postwar AU)

What if Zuko tried to be a good brother

"I really need an AU where Lu Ten returns and is pissed over Ozai’s usurpation, so he kills Ozai, seizes the throne, and continues the war. Of course, Iroh ends up supporting his actual son in all of this, and the conflict in the Fire Nation ends up boiling down to Zuko and Azula vs. Lu Ten and Iroh as the situation spirals toward civil war, at the same time the 100 years war continues."

"Maizula AU where Mai married Zuko, but he died not long after Izumi was born, and Azula and Mai are secretly carrying out a relationship while raising Izumi and ruling the Fire Nation as her regents."

Azula joins the Gaang with a twist...

"The chaos which would result if Lu Ten showed up alive again in Book 1 and launched a rebellion against Ozai in pursuit of “his” throne."

Ursa opposes Firelord Zuko

Iroh tries to kill Azula during "The Chase"

Mai and Ty Lee on trial for "war crimes"" and Azula has to save them

This is very long list, and people are welcome to steal any ideas they want from it for their own use.

#Azula #Au Idea #Au idea #Azula au ideas #Zuko #Ursa #Mai #Ty Lee #Katara #Ozai #Iroh #Not very friendly to Iroh #Various au ideas #fic idea #crack fic idea

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lovegrowsart · 1 month

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what do you think of the take that katara not having a statue is in line with her character because she’s not someone who would boast about her achievements, but instead would be humble about them?

firstly, i think framing the idea of having a statue in recognition of one's achievements as "boasting" a little flawed, considering aang, zuko, sokka, and toph all have one or more statues in tlok - does that mean they were boasting about their achievements? toph, maybe, but zuko? the guy can't take praise if you paid him to.

but more importantly, no, i don't think katara hypothetically refusing a statue because she'd be "humble about her achievements" to be in line with her character presented in atla much at all.

exhibit a) book 1, ep 15: katara when she's recognised with the mark of the brave.

exhibit b) book 1, ep 19: katara after kicking the ass of every other one of pakku's students and being told she has "advanced more quickly than any student he's ever trained."

exhibit c) book 2, ep 1: katara when she's called the "mighty katara" by general fong.

in the avatar wiki transcript, it says:

Katara: (Pleased) Mighty Katara? I like that.

exhibit d) book 3, ep 3: katara when the jang hui village put up a literal statue of the painted lady (who katara is acting as!).

she is, in fact, the only one of the gaang to show a positive reaction like this to the idea of having an actual statue of herself in recognition of her achievements, which makes her lack of one post-canon even more egregiously baffling.

it's also not a bad thing or a flaw if katara did want a statue of herself to recognise her achievements, especially if it's not treated as a flaw for the rest of the gaang to have them. aang has a literal statue of liberty style statue!

she worked hard to master waterbending when there were incredible odds against her. she doesn't often get a lot of explicit gratitude and recognition for her hard work and how much she helps people. in fact, at the start of the show, sokka is explicitly ungrateful and sexist about how hard she works because the work she was going then was "women's work". she helped end the war by defeating azula, a prodigy firebender superpowered by a comet, and saving zuko, the future fire lord's, life. and that's just all that she does in the show, let alone all she could've achieved afterwards, so fuck yeah she deserved a statue, probably more than one, and she would've been absolutely in character and within in her right to enjoy having one.

#katara #pro katara #katara deserved better #tlok critical #meta*#mail's here!#thank you for asking this because i was actually #already thinking about this cause i saw this exact argument a little while ago

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the-badger-mole · 8 months

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Why?

It was always fun when they got together, but this was a special occasion. In three days, Katara and Zuko would be married in a private ceremony attended by just close friends and family. In four days, they would have the lavish royal wedding to be attended by world leaders, nobility and whatever Fire Nation citizens would fit inside of Caldera. In five days, Katara would be crowned Fire Lady in a ceremony at least as lavish as the royal wedding. Tonight, though, it was just the six friends in Zuko's suite, reminiscing, catching up and drinking perhaps a bit too much.

It was well into the earliest hours of morning before everyone started drifting off to their rooms. Sokka and Suki, the proud parents of a six month old who was just beginning to sleep through the night, went first. Then Zuko, who was extremely reluctant to leave, but had business to take care of in order to make sure his honeymoon would be uninterrupted. Toph left soon after Zuko. She had fallen asleep on the rug in front of the fire, but when woken, she insisted she was just resting her eyes. Katara chuckled at her friend, but managed to convince her to rest her eyes in her own bed. The sun would be up shortly, so she was getting ready to go to turn in, too. Aang, though, lingered at the table they'd all been sitting at. He knew where his room was, so Katara thought nothing of letting him take his time getting there.

"Going to bed already?" Aang asked as Katara stood up.

"Yeah," she nodded, stretching her arms over her head. "I have a last minute meeting with the wedding planner before lunch, and then I was planning to spend the rest of the day with my dad and Gran Gran."

"I can't believe you're getting married," Aang said, shaking his head. "It doesn't feel real."

"Tell me about it," Katara laughed. "We've been planning this for a year, and it still feels like we didn't have enough time to plan."

"You think it's too soon?" Aang asked.

"Absolutely not!" Katara replied emphatically, a wide smile spreading over her face. "I was ready to marry Zuko three months into dating him. We only waited as long as we did because he wanted to make sure I'd be comfortable here." Aang was silent for a long moment, and Katara was starting to feel fatigue creeping up on her. She was about to say goodnight, when Aang spoke again.

"Are you sure about this?" He said it so quietly Katara wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"What?" she asked mid yawn.

"Are you sure about this?" Aang repeated a bit louder. "About him?" Katara's brow drew down in confusion.

"Of course I'm sure," she let out an incredulous laugh. "This is a lot of effort if I wasn't sure." Aang shrugged.

"I mean, it's not too late to back out," he said. "If you decided it wasn't what you want." Katara blinked hard and shook her head. The alcohol and the late hour must have been getting to her. Nothing her friend was saying made any sense.

"I'm not backing out," she said. "Wait...did Zuko mention something about not wanting-"

"No!" Aang said quickly. "No, that's not...I'm just...Why him?"

"What?" Katara felt as if every nerve in her body had suddenly been electrified. She gaped at Aang in shock. He sat at the table, fidgeting with his half-empty cup. He took a breath and squared his shoulders. He turned his wide, grey eyes up at Katara.

"Why did you choose him?" he asked. "Why Zuko? Why not- why not me?" Katara was at a loss for words. She knew Aang had had feelings for her once, but that was years ago. They were adults now, and she thought he had long since moved on.

"I love him," she told Aang simply. "I've loved him a long time. Longer than we've been together."

"But I love you," Aang said. "I've loved you since I first opened my eyes and saw you there." Katara shook her head.

"You love an idea of me," she said. "You love that I took care of you. But Zuko...he loved me in my grief, and my anger. He loved me when I wasn't kind and sweet. He loved me when I wasn't at my best." Aang snorted and thew back the rest of the contents of his cup.

"So because I didn't encourage your worst parts I didn't measure up?" he demanded. "You chose him over me because he didn't expect better of you?" Katara gasped as if she had been slapped. Then she got angry.

"For your information, Zuko pushes me to be better all the time," she snapped. "He just doesn't pretend that my anger is out of character for me. He listens to me vent. He lets me be upset. He doesn't expect me to put on a smile and pretend like the situation isn't as bad as it is."

"I'd let you be upset!"

"Oh please!" Katara snorted derisively. "The day after Ozai captured my father, you wanted to go play and got annoyed when we wanted to plan our next steps!"

"I was a kid then!" Aang protested. "I wouldn't do that now."

"You think I just got over that?" Katara demanded. "Aang, you are my friend, and I love you, but you haven't done anything since then to prove that you care about any of my feelings that are inconvenient to you! And that's fine. That's our relationship because I am the one who takes care of you. That's what you needed from me. But, Aang...I my feelings were never going to turn romantic from that. You're like my little brother. Sometimes my son. I can't turn to you the way I turn to Zuko. He's...he's my best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend."

Katara sighed. In nearly ten years, Aang had come a long way from the boy that she and her brother had rescued from the iceberg, but perhaps not as far as she thought. She could see the traces of the kid she'd taken care of in the sag of his shoulders, and in the way his mouth turned down in his disappointment. For an instant, Katara wanted to pull him into a hug and comfort him, but she knew that wouldn't be the right move here.

"You are a friend I love dearly," Katara told him. "But I can't turn to you with my problems. I can't be my full self with you. If I had chosen you, it would've been for the wrong reasons. It would've been because I thought you needed me, or I was afraid of hurting your feelings, or I felt like I owed you for defeating Ozai."

"What's wrong with any of those reasons?" Aang was near tears at this point, and Katara felt awful. Still, she reasoned to herself, it was kinder to kill any hope of her he had been harboring.

"I wouldn't be choosing you because I love you," she told him. "I was never in love with you. If I chose you, it would've been because I felt obligated to, and that wouldn't have been fair to either of us. We both deserve to be loved for who we are completely. I have that with Zuko. I hope you let yourself find it with someone else." Tears were flowing down Aang's face now. Once again, Katara had to hold herself back from pulling him into a tight embrace. If their friendship had any chance of lasting, she knew she this was a wall that needed to be built high and strong.

"There's no one else in the world for me other than you," Aang said. Katara sighed and shook her head sadly.

"I really hope one day you'll realize that's not true. Goodbye, Aang."

#atla #zutara #anti aang #anti kataang #pre wedding confessions #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

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starlight-bread-blog · 26 days

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Do you think there's a more complex and nuanced outcome as a result of Katara marrying Zuko rather than it just being Katara becoming a fire lady? Especially since, technically, she's the daughter of a chief and that considers her to be a tribal princess like Yue.

That is a good question. I suppose I don't think there's a situation where Katara marries Zuko and doesn't become fire lady. Since the definition of the word is, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Fire Lord's wife. But if you mean whether she'll live in a palace, I believe that she will.

According to this article she also lived Far From Home (lol) with A\ang, and in their family picture none of them wear clothes for the SWT's cold weather. Which does make sense with how fine she was with leaving to find Aang and how she spent the entire series away from home and the show rarely treated it as an issue to be dealt with. Additionally, now that the war is over she can pay regular visits to her home.

But that doesn't mean that the chief's daughter becoming fire lady isn't complex and nuanced. First thihgs first, I want to go through what being the fire lady & daughter of the chief would mean.

The fire lady doesn't seem to have duties, since we never see Ursa do anything for the Fire Nation. But it at least has to grant you respect and THE connection to the Fire Lord. Katara isn't Ursa, and is passionate & active in nature. The role comes with a certain power that can assist with one's political pursuits greatly.

As for her being a tribal princess, as opposed to the Fire Lady, Yue explicitly that she has duties.

Yue: You don't understand. I have duties to my father, to my tribe.

But Yue was probably the heir to the throne. She had no siblings as far as we know, and she says "my tribe". I don't know whether the north would accept a female chief, given how sexist it was. But some evidence there is to support that she was the heir is this line from her fiance:

"Perks". If she was going to marry him for him to become the chief despite having no other connections to the bloodline, he wouldn't casually call becoming a chief a "perk". Furthermore, when Sokka tries to hit on her, he remarks of their simularities as they're both a prince and a princess. And Sokka is ann heir, he's the future chief.

It's likely that they were arranged for other political reasons and Yue was going to become queen. Whether she was going to be respected/accepted is up in the air.

But we do know of another heirs that might help us get a fuller picture: Eska and Desna. They had a duty to their father as a prince and a princess. It was their wish to help their father whom they believed was a great man. Which isn't typical for an heir. This is why we can look at their case to see what Katara's life as the daughter of the chief would look like. In their case, they helpped the NWT in whatever they thought was right. And it's likely that so would Katara.

What does that leave us with? A role that grants her political power in the Fire Nation with no duties, and a person with a duty to the Southern Water Tribe.

The Positive

To me this paints a clear picture: Katara would use said political power to push the Fire Nation to rehabilitate the Southern Water Tribe from their atrocities.

I'm not the first person to show these before vs. After pics, but it's very important to remember the sheer extent of the Fire Nation's harm to Katata's home.

Before:

After:

And until the show ended, Katara was still the last waterbender of the south. Don't get me wrong, it IS Zuko's job to rehabilitate the SWT. But she'd want this.

Katara always want to help those around her by any means necessery. If it's getting captured in a Fire Nation prison or blowing up a factory, she will find the power to help others. So the power to fix the wrongs inflicted on her own culture and home being given to her, just for loving who she wants to love, is incredibly rewarding and narrativly satisfying.

The Negatives

1. All of what I've just described is good in theory, but in practice she's likely to face immense backlash. The people of the Fire Nation have been indoctrinated into believing the war was good and were fed Fire Nation propaganda since their school days (The Headband) and continued well into adulthood (Ember Island Players).

Suddenly the new fire lord comes along and decides that the war they've been fighting fir a 100 years is bad actually. And NOW he's dating a waterbender and the daughter of the chief, no less. + Suddenly the girl is starting to have demands. She'll be one of the most cobtroversial figures of that era, and that's no easy task.

2. It opens the door for one bad situation that no one could be blamed for. What if Zuko's heir would be a waterbender? That cannot be. Will the role of the heir go to whoever's a firebender/none bender regardless of order? What would it make their kids feel? Will Zuko be okay with how it'd make his kids feel? It raises so many questions, so many complexities and there seem to be no winners.

But looking at these negatives from a perspective of literary merit, as A:TLA is a fictional work, are these really negatives? I'd say no. There is no real suffering at stake here, only captivating conflicts to be explored. In real life, these nasty situations have to be dealt with. They're raw, they're complicated, and in literature, that's good. Conflicts are the oxygen of a story. Especially ones with no easy answers.

In conclusion, Katara marrying Zuko would make her the fire lady. This would lead to complex and nuanced situations, both good and bad, making for excellent conflicts/character progressions.

I don't know if this is the answer you wanted, but these are my thoughts. Thank you for the ask and have a nice day! 💕

#zutara #zuko x katara #katara x zuko #fire lady katara #zutara meta #asks #send me asks #pro zutara #anti anti zutara #zutara analysis #zutara asks #zutara forever #zutara nation #zutarian

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redbayly · 4 months

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I should be working on my next chapter for "Hot Ice, Strange Snow."

(I've just started on Chapter 12)

Instead, I'm just sitting around imagining headcanons for Zutara in the LOK-era.

Katara isn't just "greatest healer in the world." She is Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, former ambassador to the Fire Nation, founder of the Southern Water Tribe's Waterbending Academy (and frequently visits the academy to give advanced lessons in combat, practical, and healing waterbending), subject of numerous statues around the world to commemorate her contributions to ending the war and aiding in the post-war restoration (she even has a statue alongside Sokka's at the SWT cultural center in Republic City, because WHY WOULDN'T SHE?!), patroness of countless charitable and cultural organizations, and retired Fire Lady.

Zuko still has all his achievements from canon, plus he continues to endorse several groups dedicated to promoting world peace. He is a celebrated philanthropist, often volunteering his assistance to orphanages and shelters. Even in his retirement, he and Katara still travel regularly to look for opportunities to help people. Zuko also visits Ba Sing Se specifically to stop by the Jasmine Dragon. When Iroh passed away, he left the tea shop to Zuko and Katara's youngest son, who was obsessed with tea since he first tasted it (as the kid was way far down the succession line, he saw no point in living like a prince when he could run a tea shop, instead).

Zuko and Katara also enjoy spending time with their grandchildren. As someone who likes kids, I prefer to imagine they had a lot of children and, as a result, a lot of grandkids. They are extremely doting grandparents and try to be as involved as possible. They both enjoy sharing different parts of their respective cultures with their family.

Their children and grandchildren grew up learning about and appreciating their mixed heritage. While they are all Fire Nation royalty, they all know and practice Water Tribe traditions alongside Fire Nation ones.

When the Northern Water Tribe invades the South, of course Zuko and Katara step in. After all, the SWT doesn't answer to the North (seriously, wtf LOK?) and this is an unlawful occupation. Zuko and Katara also rally their kids and grandkids, who all turn up along with Sokka's kids and grandkids to stop the invasion. When the Southerners see firebenders in their land, they regard it as a cause for celebration rather than fear.

Kind of a cosmic role-reversal. Instead of people from the South defending the North from the Fire Nation (like in Book 1), it's the Fire Nation helping defend the South against the North.

Of course Katara is right in the midst of the action alongside Zuko and the rest of the family. After all, it's not like Katara would just sit silently in the background doing nothing while her homeland is invaded (*glares at LOK again*).

Also, Katara never outlaws bloodbending. She ensures heavy regulations are put on learning it, but she does teach it to some select students whom she has vetted to ensure they are mentally and emotionally sound, have a good grasp of ethics, and are trustworthy enough to study the art.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Just wanted to get these ramblings out of my brain before I go to bed.

#zutara #zuko x katara #zuko #katara #avatar headcanons #avatar the last airbender #legend of korra #pro katara #katara defense squad #random brain drippings #redbayly

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 22 days

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Just came across this argument under a post tagged “anti zutara” that talked about how Zuko would never leave his nation for Katara and Katara would never want to be fire lady.

Any thoughts?

"She doesn't have to be Fire Lady even though she's marrying the Fire Lord" Bruh. Do these people not know what words mean? The only ways Katara could NOT be Fire Lady despite being with Zuko would be if he created a new title for himself and, by consequence, changing his wife's title, or, like the conversation above points out, if she was just a concubine/mistress instead of a wife - and even then mistresses sometimes get their own titles, and sometimes mistress is itself a title.

And even if that nonsense was possible - that still wouldn't change the fact that Katara would never want to leave her tribe and family, would never want to spend the rest of her life in the Fire Nation, seeing her descendents rise to the throne that was built by the people that spent years making her tribe bleed until nearly all of them were dead. She'd never forsake her culture for the one that came dangerously close to destroying it. And she'd specially not do that over a guy that she never even had feelings for.

#anti zutara #katara doesn't want to be fire lady #katara doesn't want zuko

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melolord14 · 3 months

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Again enjoy this. There’s more notes at the bottom.

Welcome to Republic City

Y/N was walking to the compound to watch Korra's bending test which she already knew her sister passed. As she walked in she heard Korra "Woohoo! Hey, why all the doom and gloom, people? We should be celebrating three elements down, one to go". "You're getting ahead of yourself as usual, Korra. We haven't decided if you passed your firebending test yet". "Ever since you were a little girl, you've excelled at the physical side of bending, but completely ignored the spiritual side. The Avatar must master both". Korra was now pouting Y/N chuckled at that she knew her sister. Korra quickly replied "I haven't ignored it, it just doesn't come as easy to me. But that's why I should start training with Tenzin immediately. He's Mister Spiritual".

"I think my sister has proven to have master fire bending , hasn't she master Katara?"

Y/N said with a smile as she walked to where everyone was the masters saw the young avatars sister walking to where they were. Y/N was now stood next to Korra ,Y/N bowed to the masters as the the master did the same to the prodigy water bending master. "Do you believe she's ready, Master Katara?" The white Lotus leader asked Katara "Yes. If anyone can teach her what she needs to learn, it's Tenzin." katara said with a smile. Y/N smiled at that, Korra would soon be the avatar and helping people.

She was only brought back out of thoughts when she heard Korra "Yes! Finally! , I mean, thank you all for believing in me" Y/N just smiled at that as she was tackled into a hug by her sister which Y/N laughed at but hugged her sister back , soon Korra let go of Y/N and started walking but unable to hold her excitement, breaking into a run leaving the training ground as the master watch her. "It's good to see you Y/N" Y/N turned around and went up to hug her former water bending master as she did katara just chuckled at the young masters child like behavior "it's good to see you too master katara" Y/N said as she let go of katara. Katara motioned for the young master to follow her and so Y/N did she could tell that katara wanted to talk to her it had been awhile since they had talked.

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Time skip

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A few days later, Tenzin arrived with a very pregnant Pema, and his three kids. Katara greets her son and his family immediately while Y/N was walking to where Korra was as she had just gotten there. Korra watched the youngest son of Avatar Aang's with her big eyes full of excitement and a huge smile on face. Y/N in the other hand was much more reserved than Korra as for Y/N did not smile as much.

Tenzin looked over his mother shoulders to see the two young ladies standing there. "Korra, Y/N." Korra sprinted to where Tenzin was standing, ready to meet her new teacher, while Y/N walked forward "look at you Korra, you've grown into quite the young Avatar." His eyes lit up to see the young prodigy water bending master. "Y/N look at you, I have to say you are quite the fighter bending and non-bending." The girl nods at the airbending master. "Thank you master Tenzin." YN bowing to the airbending master soon be in interrupted by Korra,Y/N was not surprised to say the least that Korra would do so. "Master Tenzin, I'm so glad you're here. I can't wait to get started" he looks down at the young avatar finding it hard to tell her "yes, we'll..." Tenzin said with a sigh.

"You're going to have to tell her sooner or later" Pema said to her husband as she put her hand on his arm Korra now looking at Pema fully with a confused expression. "Tell me what?" Korra asked the airbening master with a hit disappointment and sadness in her voice "you're not staying, are you?" Katara asked her son sadly Tenzin sigh before speaking "I'm afraid not. We're only visiting for the night. Then I have to return to Republic City" "But ... no, you're supposed to move here. You're supposed to teach me" Y/N was now there standing next to Korra look at her sister Y/N had never been the one on to be touchy-feely as she says but looking at her sister face full of disappointment and sadness. she wished she could've done something that would her out ( y'all I can't write this part it's bit boring, so imma skip some of the talking, please don't hate me)

Afater Korra talked with katara she left the compound say goodbye to her parents but Y/N wasn't going to let her sister go by herself. Y/N had been to Republic city couple of times but she didn't know the streets well enough but new enough to get to Air temple island "where do you think your going?"

Y/N asked as she walked up behind her parents "ummm... nowhere I umm..." Korra knew she couldn't lie to Y/N she knew her to well so she gave up and told her where she was going "fine I'm going to Republic city to train with Master Tenzin" "alright let's go" "your going with me?" Korra asked Y/N "yeah come on let's got now I think I have everything, I knew you would leave so I had everything packed and ready to go" Y/N said as she got on Naga. "bye mom,bye dad , we love you" they said before they left.

________________________________

Time skip to where Korra is at the shops with Y/N

_______________________________

"Korra we're lost aren't we?" Y/N said a bit pissed at Korra for running away form she had to find her again so here they are lost. " yea we are but let me ask those people over there" Korra said to Y/N and walked over to the people when where there as Y/N tried to figure out where they were. "Excuse me, I think I'm lost." Korra said as she walked closer to the old lady "How do I get to Air temple Island from here?" the old women points Korra to Air temple island as she does a red Satomobile turns the street. "You should get going young lady" lord worm said to Korra clearly she was scared " it isn't safe" she whispered to Korra. ( oki so this is a lot of writing so imma skip agin I know this is my second time I promise maybe one more skip form her than I'll stop).

"KORRA WHAT DID YOU DO!?!?" Y/N yelled at Korra while she ran to where Korra was but Korra was to busy watching the metal benders as they used there cable to lower themselves to down the ground "Police! Freeze, where you are" One of the officers said. "Cool! metalbenders" Korra said excitedly Y/N on the other hand was still pissed , she didn't want to get arrested just because of her sister. "I caught the bad guys for you, officers." Korra said to the officer "arrest them!" the officer said as three officers went to arrest the gangsters. Than officer pointed at Korra "you're under arrest, too" Korra took a step back than defensively "what do you mean I'm under arrest?" Korra than pointing at the gangsters and said "those are the bad guys over there! They were smashing up a shop" " from the looks of it, you smash up a lot more" He took up a fighting stance and shot a cable to bind Korra. However Korra quickly moved out of the way and pulling the cable back.

"Wait, you - you can't arrest me!" her arms were trembling due to the fact that she was pulling the cable's to stop the officer from arriving her "Let me explain!" " You can explain yourself all you like, down at headquarters" the officer said trying to retract the cable. "Please officer you can't arrest her" Y/N tried to reason with the officer but it didn't work "I'm sorry ma'am you need to understand we're just doing our job". Korra let's go of the cable and gets on Naga than starts to get away format he police " KORRA! NO JUST GO WITH THEM" Y/N yelled at Korra but Korra had already left and now Y/N was stuck. 'We'll this just is great first day in Republic city and she gets herself arrested now I have to go to Air temple island Teznin gong to kill me' Y/N thinks as she walking a to air temple Island. Y/N makes it to air temple island as she steps in the island she heard the air bending kids and as she walked up the stairs she saw at same time they saw her "Y/N" they screamed as they tackled her into a hug she Y/N wasn't a fan of hug but she only allowed some people to hug. "Hey kids can you tell me where your dad is?" "Dads in his office" Jinora told Y/N "alright thank you Jinora" Y/N said as she walked to Tenzin's office.

Y/N Pov

'Alright all I need to do is knock on the door and tell Tenzin that Korra got arrested or does he already know?' I though I was about to knock when the door opened and on the other side was the airbending master. He looked shocked to see me but soon he collect himself and cleared his throat "I'm guessing you already know Korra got arrested?" I asked "I I why what are you doing here and yes I do know" "well I'll tell you why me and Korra are here once we get here Tenzin" I told the airbending master.

________________________________

Time skip to where they are at the police station

________________________________

"Chief, councilman Tenzin is here" I heard one of the metal bending officers "let him in" I heard a gruff but soft voice. As we walked in I saw Korra cuffed to a metal table and than I saw her she was the beautiful to say the least the chief of police , standing tall with authority 'so this is Lin Beifong she's so hot' I think to myself 'am I blushing !?!??' I tried to hide my blush it was a good thing no one was looking or paying attention to me. I was bought back out of my thoughts when I heard Korra's voice " Tenzin sorry... I got a little sidetracked on my way to see you" I mentally slap myself hearing Korra say that " Lin, you are looking radiant as usual" "Cut the garbage, Tenzin. Why is the Avatar in Republic City? I thought you were supposed to be moving down to the South Pole to train her" the chief asked Tenzin aggressively clearly she was annoyed.

"My relocation has been delayed. The Avatar, on the other hand, will be heading back to the South Pole immediately, where she will stay put" "but-" Korra try's to protest but it didn't work as she got cut off by Tenzin "If you would be so kind as to drop the charges against Korra, I will take full responsibility for today's regrettable events and cover all the damage" "fine" the chief says while crossing her arms and metal bends the cuff as Korra rubs her wrist "get her out of my city" "always a pleasure Lin" he turns to Korra and said in a hard tone "let's go Korra" as we were walking out I saw at the corner of my eyes the chief looking at me I tried not to think about it. When I look back I see the chief with her index and pinky figure out pointing it to her eyes than to Korra. As sign 'saying I'll be watching you' I see Korra mock her. 'Do you have death wish Korra' I think to myself when I see her mocking the chief.

________________________________

Finally we make it back to Air temple island as the boat docks we see three gliders heading out 'it's the kids' I think to myself. "KORRA!" I hear Ikki and Meelo yell happily as they run to hug Korra Jinora stays behind until Korra motion hurt to join the group hug and so so does as she runs and hugs Korra. "Are you coming to live with us on the island?" Ikki asked Korra excitedly I just stayed quiet to see what Korra says "No, I'm sorry, Ikki. I have to go home now." Korra say sadly and I sigh as we start walking up to the Southern Water Tribe boat that had arrived with the white lotus members. I put my arm around Korra's shoulders to gave her some comfort and it does.

"Wait" we nothing stop walking and look back at Teznin "I have done my best to guide Republic City toward the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy" Tenzin walks up to Korra and out a hand her shoulder I smile at that it's rare for me to smile I don't often but I do smile "but you are his legacy. You may stay and train airbending here with me" Korra gasps as I just watch her r"Republic City needs its Avatar once again" "Yes! Thank you! You're the best!" Korra excitedly says "yaaaaaaay" the three kids celebrate as Korra pulls me and the three kids into a group than pulls Tenzin as well.

________________________________

"Hello?" Korra say into the microphone "I'm Korra, your new Avatar" as the crowd cheer for Korra "Does this mean you've moved to Republic City?" "Were you trying to send a message to the Triads yesterday?" "Will you be fighting crime or the Anti-bending Revolution, or both?" "Will you be working with Chief Beifong and the police?" I'm a bit worried Korra has never been out anywhere so this is new to her but she doing great I am standing next to Tenzin on the lest as the chief of police stand to Korra's right. I can see the Chief glacing in my direction every once in a while I don't know why. Korra is a bit confused but she's holding up great "uh ... yes, I am definitely here to stay, but honestly I - I don't exactly have a plan yet. See, I'm still in training, but, look, all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the center of peace and balance in the world, and I believe we can make his dream a reality. I look forward to serving you." I smiled at my sister she did a great job for her first time being out in public. At the corners of my eyes I see the chief look at me she looks so be deep in though I don't know what about but looks relaxed but not for long as she is brought back out of her thoughts she. She hears the crowd cheer for Korra. Than I see the chiefs face shift into her 'work mode' as I call it.

_______________________________

Lin's pov

As I stand I look at the water tribe girl that came in with Teznin she's quite the sight 'she's beautiful' wait what am I think 'stop it Beifong focus' as I turned my head towards the left I see her smile 'oh god her smile it's so beautiful it's so perfect and uhg come on Beifong focus, focus Beifong'. Im brought back out of my thoughts when I hear the crowd cheering it's over finally and the avatar is staying well she better not cause any more trouble. 'Who is the water tribe girl that can with Tenzin? What's her name?' I wonder as look ahead.

________________________________

Somewhere in a warehouse

"I'm so happy to be here. Thank you, Republic City!" "All right, that's all the questions the Av-" the lieutenant turns off the radio "Amon, how do you want to handle this?" the lieutenant ask his boss "So, the Avatar has arrived early." as he truns and reveal masked face "It looks like we'll have to accelerate our plans" Amon says while turning off the radio.

__________________________________________

I thought I could post this here as well. I have my book on wattpad but I thought I could give it a try on here as well.

#lin beifong x reader #avatar #legend of korra #lin x reader #avatar korra #mako #bolin #korrasami #asami sato #tenzin #katara #avatar aang #toph beifong #atla toph #wlw post #wlw ns/fw #sapphic #smipforlin

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oneatlatime · 3 months

Text

The Awakening

Season 3 let's goooooooooo

These Fire Nation cells are absurdly spacious.

I do love that Momo's first reaction is kisses.

Not a cell. Oops.

Well that was confusing. I was arguing so vociferously that the SWT weren't pirates and then they go and gank a ship.

Mai girl get it! Questionable taste in men, but I love to see a lady getting exactly what she wants.

Mai: "how are you?" Zuko: *existential dread* Mai: "babe. Shut up."

Aang says he's the only one who's completely out of it, but Appa's behind him in full faceplant mode.

Actually, by the hair growth standard established by Zuko, Aang's been out 5 days at most.

Season 1 bitchy Katara is back again. I hate season 1 bitchy Katara.

I'm impressed by how much of these characters' identities is tied to their colour palettes. I see all these water tribe guys walking around in reds and blacks and I have no idea who I'm looking at.

Aang's eyes are back to brown this episode.

I love that Katara has no idea how she healed Aang. Superpowered does not mean superlearned. So much more believable than supergenius tweens.

It's the old ladies! They're wearing croissants on their heads. Why not.

This is a cool way to do exposition. A royal proclamation narrating a flashback.

These Dai Li don't know shit about loyalty huh.

SONG! HI SONG! I MISS YOU!

CORNY BABY & FAMILY! HI CORNY BABY & FAMILY! I DON'T MISS YOU! My guy why haven't you unpacked yet.

Given the welcome Zuko gets from the Fire Nation crowds, I'm thinking the exact cause/terms of his banishment were never made public? They're hyping him up like a wrestling entrance. That doesn't track with someone known to be honourless.

I want whatever's in Bato's bowl. Those noodles have him mesmerised. He's staring at them like they're telling him the secrets of the universe.

Are you telling me that Appa successfully landed on the deck of one of these ships without sinking it?

I love how Gaang's reaction to everything going wrong is to go find their dad.

STOP GOING ON ABOUT THE INVASION PLAN. IT WON'T WORK. STOP.

"Yep! The whole world thinks you're dead. Isn't that great!" Sokka. TACT.

Sometimes Sokka's brain gets too far ahead of itself.

Poor Aang. Not many people whose deaths are wrongly cause for celebration live long enough to see those celebrations.

How do the topknots fit inside the helmets?

This is silly beyond words. It's a two second throwaway gag but they're so into it.

Aang saying "I hate not being able to do anything" to the girl whose whole existence was not doing anything until recently is certainly a choice. And honestly, wasn't Season 1 Aang's whole point not wanting to be the Avatar? Actual responsible adults are handling the problems for once. He should be ecstatic.

I just realised this Fire Nation disguise ship plan means there are people in the Southern Water Tribe who know how to run coal powered ships. Neat.

One of the things I really love about Avatar is how much love they put into the side characters. This guy on the left is a nameless mook, but in the three to four lines of dialogue he gets, we see a world of political and bureaucratic headaches and a bunch of normal, humanising emotions (who hasn't been angry at that one coworker who can never be bothered to email?). The writers didn't have to give him that much personality, but they did!

Also, how often do Fire Nation ships get captured, if two pieces of bureaucracy not lining up causes this guy to jump to that conclusion, rather than think the bureaucracy messed up?

Someone in the Fire Nation has invented extra buoyant metal.

Turtleducks are scared of Azula. Turtleducks are good judges of character.

An awful lot of this episode is flashback footage.

Toph is a missile launcher. This is all I wanted out of life.

For the first time ever, Aang gets to play the role that Sokka plays in every bending heavy battle.

Since when can Katara do bending moves this big?

Sokka once again harnessing his ability to speak the opposite of what he wants into existence.

They said they passed through the serpent's pass a few days ago. Clever foreshadowing I completely missed.

Don't you love it when all your problems cancel each other out?

Aang. This is not the hill to die on. Also please don't throw tapestries around in a room with unguarded candles until you can firebend.

Wow Aang is just taking all the wrong lessons from this. And he's stealing Zuko's lines.

Turns out the Firelord is just some guy with an unfortunate goat beard.

Katara finally gets a chance to be her age, complete with nonsensical emotions and misdirected anger. I hate bitchy Katara but I love seeing her expressing the root of that bitchiness. And I love how illogical it all is, and that she acknowledges that! Emotions ARE illogical and messy!

Contrasting Hakoda winning Dad of the Year with Ozai setting off every alarm bell known to man is a choice. A really good choice. But wow. Not subtle.

I knew Azula always lied, but to her own dad/Firelord too? That's a dangerous move.

Aang. What are you doing. Stop.

Leave the door open. Peak sibling move.

In a turn of events that should surprise absolutely no one, Zuko's been played like a fiddle by his sister and is now as trapped as ever. The surprising part is that Azula thinks she can get away with lying to the Firelord too. Don't know how that's going to go for her long term.

So much for me saying the Avatar universe doesn't do ghosts. This season opener is surprisingly backwards-looking.

No offense to ghost Yue, but I think the saving the world she's referring to is the time she and a massive fishman saved the world, not strictly Aang.

How did they get past the blockade and find the right island?

I cringed at Katara's knee slide.

How are they standing on that island or breathing the air if it's hot enough to do that?

Final Thoughts

...what was that?

Seriously. This episode was a disorganised and aimless mess with the occasional gold mine of characterisation bobbing around. Did the writers not have a plan for what would happen after season 2 ended? This episode feels like the writers had as much plan as the characters did. If I was feeling charitable, I would say that this episode was a hot mess as a metanarrative commentary on Aang and the world's state, but I'm not feeling charitable. I think this episode was just a hot mess.

First, the good bits.

I liked that Sokka was very in character. We've seen before how he can run away with an idea to the point that he forgets to mind the human element. This episode's Sokka felt very much like Sokka. I liked that the beat up Sokka quota was replaced with 'Sokka dares the universe to play chicken and actually wins for once.' His optimistic characterisation this episode didn't grate like his inexplicable optimism did in Ba Sing Se, because here he has a reason to be happy. He's got his dad and a plan. Being around his dad and their people has done him good.

I like Toph the Ballista.

I like the noodle hypnosis.

I loved Katara's emotional blow up. It doesn't matter how noble or important the cause, leaving your kids for a cause is still leaving. I love that she points out how illogical her emotions are being. And I love that Hakoda creates a no-judgement-all-comfort-safe-to-rant zone for her. She's been waiting to do that for a while, and some of it came out at Zuko last episode, so it's been established that she's at boiling point. Fun fact: Katara has now had emotionally fraught venting sessions at Hakoda, Zuko, and Jet if you squint. I don't know what to make of the fact that the show has grouped these men into the same category of 'safe for Katara to vent to.'

I liked a couple of the throwaway gags, and the throwaway characters.

I liked the framing of Zuko's reintroduction to his father. Great use of angles and shadows. We've had two seasons of build up to this guy as the Biggest Bad, and the scene of Zuko kneeling in the throne room while Ozai paces around and delivers the world's most menacing praise felt big enough to be the crowning glory of that payoff. Especially contrasted to the loving father daughter reunion of equals it was interspersed with. But...

The bad bits.

Why did they immediately undermine two seasons of hype and all of the episode's menace by showing the Firelord as a gullible idiot who can't spot a bold-faced lie coming from a tween? I am legitimately pissed off that they defanged him as a threat so soon after introducing him. And I don't think showing that Azula can successfully lie to the Firelord builds up Azula as a threat - I think it also undermines her, because it's a stupid move. This episode could have introduced the biggest bad and reinforced the threat posed by last season's antagonist. Instead, it completely neutered the biggest bad and made Azula look like an idiot. I am actually mad about this.

Other stuff I didn't like: Aang's whole deal. Of course he was going to lose his mind and not be ok about what went down in Ba Sing Se. But he's never this dismissive of his friends, and a huge part of his early character is the fact that he would absolutely love it if some qualified adults stepped in and did the job he was unwillingly born into. Aang this episode felt self-centred and out of character.

Zuko's usually not this dim. I had figured out the angle Azula was going for by the end of the turtle duck pond conversation. Why can't he figure out for himself why Azula has redirected the potential blame if Aang is found to have survived?

The pacing felt off. The A plot flipped between action set pieces and emotional stuff. The B plot was purely talking. But the action set pieces felt out of place in an otherwise quiet episode. I get that you need something to interest the 8 year olds hyped up on sugar who only want explosions, but I think this episode would have been a lot better without the 'Aang almost drowns but gets a pep talk from a couple of ghosts who say exactly what everyone else has already said to him for two seasons but for some reason Aang listens this time and it works.' Why couldn't we have had a quiet episode?

Speaking of, why are Roku and Yue randomly popping up? Last time Aang talked to Roku, it took a trip into the Avatar state and the destruction of a very stupid general's whole army base. The ONLY person who's talked to Yue since she died is Sokka, and that took a magic swamp. I just don't get it. I don't get why they were there, why they said what they did, why those particular words in that particular order worked on Aang when no one else's words were getting through. I don't get why hiding out in the Fire Nation is the plan of choice over chilling with the Southern Water Tribe (other than because the plot says no responsible adults allowed).

The action piece with the Snekky Boy was fun. Even if what set it off was contrived (which it was), I think it was a fun watch and the only action the episode needed.

This episode was also so dark that I spent more time contemplating how much I really need to clean my screen than watching stuff happen.

I got so pissed off at this episode that I totally forgot about Mai. Go Mai! I am WEAK for romance arcs that boil down to 'Girl sees boy. Girl wants boy. Girl gets boy." Go Girl! Like I said above, questionable taste, but if it's what she wants, then congrats on getting it. I love Azula noticed and is like 'my resident goth appears to be broken.'

I have decided that Toph carved an underground harbour like the refugee station on Full Moon Bay and stashed all the water tribe ships in there, because those ships are too pretty to scuttle.

If I could surgically remove that scene between Katara and Hakoda and insert it into some other episode, I'd never watch this one again.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #The Awakening #unlike my s1 & s2 DVDs this one isn't bilingual #I can only conclude that the Fire Nation hate the French

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burst-of-iridescent · 6 months

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so sorry you've been getting these anons ana :( i thought as a native i could give my two cents on the fire lady katara trope? ill admit im more of a casual zutara shipper, so i havent seen a good chunk of the fandom, but ill give it my thoughts. for me personally, i am not a fan of fire lady katara- it's not particularly to do with the trope itself, but the execution often done by the fandom. ive discussed this with other natives before, but sometimes in the fire lady trope, it is often that katara moves to the fire nation, that she wears fire nation clothes and is surrounded by fire nation culture. obviously, that isn't wrong! the sharing of culture is a beautiful thing, but there is a good majority of fics where it feels like her water tribe culture is forgotten, that she is made to move permanently to the fire nation in favour of zuko. specifically in a post war climate, where a good majority of the people in the fire nation would still hold onto imperialist and racist beliefs, the idea of katara living there permanently is uncomfortable. i moved out of my mostly native village into a nearly fully white uni, and it's scary, and so when i apply those thoughts to katara living in the fire nation, its uncomfortable. and as for the rest, it's mainly just how sometimes it feels like the fandom doesn't value her culture as much as zukos, even unconsciously- it often feels like the fandom values the perceived glamour and power of the fire nation royalty, and finds fire nation culture more understandable than anything water tribe, and so prefer to have katara in a setting that is more 'easy' for them. in hand with this, is often the fandom perception that the water tribe is less progressive than the fire nation, that they are sexist and that zuko is giving katara a better life (i will say that this is not something i have not seen often, especially recently, but it is something i have discussed w people so i thought id mention it, especially since its usually not intentional). sorry this got so long, i went on a bit of a ramble but obviously this isn't the be all end all. like you said, there are lots of people who are fine, or enjoy fire lady katara because they perceive or write it differently, and that is fine! everyone perceives media differently, just like some people will be uncomfortable with zutara, some might not be. i just thought id send this as a reason why some of us do dislike the trope, and things to keep in mind when ppl are writing it

hi anon, thank you so much for sharing this with me! i really appreciate you taking the time to write out your thoughts and offer your perspective on this.

i definitely agree that the fire lady katara trope can be executed in some exceedingly problematic ways. there are many zutara fics that i've clicked out of for the reasons that you've mentioned, especially older ones that were written around when the show aired or shortly after. i won't deny at all that there are ways people write the zutara relationship that make me profoundly uncomfortable. my problem arises when someone assumes that the trope itself is inherently racist or wrong, instead of understanding that it can be written in a variety of ways by a variety of people, who bring their own perspectives - and prejudices - to their individual portrayals.

what you said about moving from your mostly native village to a fully white university really struck a chord with me because (although it's not the same, and can never be) i can really sympathize with those feelings of alienation and sudden lack of belonging. i'm part of the desi diaspora myself, and i've grown up in a country where i've always been the minority, and had to deal with racism and ignorance, so your experience really spoke to me. i hope that doesn't come across like i'm trying to co-opt your struggle or anything like that, because that was not my intention at all. i just wanted to let you know that i can understand what a scary feeling it is, even if not exactly in the same way.

that being said, personally if i could choose between spending my life in india or growing up overseas, i would still choose to do the latter even if it meant living through the bigotry and ostracization i've experienced again. i love the life i've built here, though it's a more difficult one than what i could've led back home.

in the context of atla, i agree that katara would most likely face racism and discrimination in the fire nation, at least in the immediate years following the war. but personally i also find a very empowering narrative in seeing her confront and dismantle the prejudices within the fire nation system, just as she did with the sexism of the northern water tribe. katara wouldn't abide bigotry in any form, and i think fighting inequality is a battle that she would want to take on, and would willingly choose to take on whether she ended up with zuko or not. that's why i take issue with the insistence that her becoming queen of the fire nation inherently equates to her victimization, because it can also very much be a power fantasy, and i know many woc who do see it as such.

(of course, that is just my own perspective, and i completely understand why others see it differently and might not be comfortable with it. their feelings are just as valid and legitimate.)

ultimately, i think correctly executing the fire lady katara trope isn't just about katara herself valuing her culture, but zuko doing it as well. i love seeing explorations of the trope (and the zutara relationship in general) where zuko takes an active interest in katara's heritage, incorporates her traditions and practices into his own life and home, and involves himself in her culture just as much as she involves herself in his. zutara is a ship that has always been about equality to me, and that's something that can and should carry over to how they blend their cultures together. like you said, there is nothing wrong in katara wearing fire nation clothes, or being surrounded by fire nation culture - so long as she isn't the only one in the relationship taking an interest in her partner's heritage. thankfully, in most zutara content i've seen, she isn't.

in my own personal view of katara becoming fire lady, it happens only years after the war ends. she spends her time postwar travelling the world and kicking ass, empowering women in the north to learn waterbending, rebuilding the southern water tribe, meeting and learning from everyone she can. when she becomes fire lady, she continues to travel often - home, of course, but also to the other nations when necessary, using her skill of inspiring and motivating others, and her desire to help the less fortunate, in matters of international diplomacy. when she returns, her husband is in blue, and her children wear whalebone beads in their hair, and there are fire flakes next to stewed sea prunes on her dining table. there are hard times, but there is also love and respect, and so she changes the world as she damn well deserved to in canon.

#zutara #fire lady katara

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