#order of the white lotus

[principledstarfish]

Headcanon: In his younger years, Prince Iroh led an unsuccessful siege of Omashu which led to his capture. He was held prisoner (in the good chamber, as the bad one had yet to be refurbished) in King Bumi's palace for months - and regularly had tea and played pai sho with him. They had long conversations about philosophy, history, and quite a lot more (the King of Omashu was fond of testing out new jokes on the prince.) Afterwards, when they held a prisoner exchange, Firelord Azulon paid handsomely to secure his release. A courier then caught up with him a few miles outside the city - bearing a gift from King Bumi. Iroh opened it curiously - and was even more curious at it's contents. Why would King Bumi give him a white lotus tile?

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar fandom #king bumi #mad genius #order of the white lotus #omashu #general iroh #uncle iroh #fire nation #earth kingdom #avatar hedcanons

[theduckeminence]

I’ve been curious lately about the idea of a rewrite for Pakku’s little character arc.

Yes, he is a traditionalist master waterbender and a massive smug jerk when refusing to teach Katara. He was a sexist up until he decided that upon learning Katara was Kanna granddaughter, he saw her as a student. Now from the way the show framed that moment, it seemed more or less nepotistic. There was also the fact that by the end of the series, it’s become canon that Pakku and Kanna ended up getting back together to which everyone called BS on for how quick that is. Now honestly I can’t ignore or deny any of this as the way the series framed Pakku’s development is dubious at best. We go from sexist nepotistic jerk to “meet your new grandpappy!” and that’s about it. Sure there was a bit of Pakku and Kanna in the North and South comic but due the the extremely questionable writing of the comics, I resolve from really including it very much

(I could mention how we never really saw Pakku’s development during the time of Gaang’s adventures and the time we had for the show but I’ll probably mention it another time).

I would also like to add some moments to give into him being more sympathetic such as a more softer or relatable side to him, while also giving more nuance to his character’s arc.

As such, I propose a couple ideas/headcanons of my own that may add to this sour old crusty bastard:

Wouldn’t it be interesting if he had gotten married to another girl following Kanna’s disappearence?And/or maybe that his family arranged him to marry another girl? Though if he were to take another hand, arranged or not, it wouldn’t be a very happy marriage. Therefore, he might have decided upon staying single for the rest of his life. The insight of how he must’ve dealt regarding this decision can depend how you would want to frame it. Whether he was content with the idea or, if you want to go for a more angstier route, depressed about it, that’s all up to you.

If we had gone with the more depressing option of him staying single, imagine how it must’ve been for him to be alone for most of his life—with no one to go home to and spending nights by himself eating meals alone. This may as well hit harder when realizing that since tribes are usually more communal and closely-knitted, Pakku living by himself puts him out of place. And though he could spend the evening having dinner with a friend’s family, or find content in the silence of his home, he cannot ignore the utter pitiful loneliness of not hearing any laughter nor the sound of children/grandchildren roaming the halls.

Speaking of children, Pakku has always wanted to have a child or more of his own. When he was still a young man, he dreamt of coming home to a caring wife and excited children where he can pick them up and toss them up, all while telling them stories about his day. But ever since Kanna left, that sort of dream had drained away into, well, just a dream.

Though, as he grows older, sometimes he would see the young boys and girls play in the snow, away from doing any of their chores or classes. While he would scold, there were some occasions where he slips from his hardened expression to entertain the children with a shower of snowflakes to little snow puppet-figure shows.

When he moves down South and spends more time down there, he becomes known as the local Grandpa-kku (much to his dismay to the pun).

#atla #avatar the last airbender #master pakku #pakku #order of the white lotus #the white lotus #water tribe #can yall tell this post was just an excuse for me to ramble about this old man? because UH 👀— #i also probably have more thoughts but ill probably add more when i remember em BCKXJXX #long post

[vodka-01]

Okay so I'm rereading the Rise of Kyoshi and a thought occurred to me:

If the Order of the White Lotus during Korra's era had even a fraction of Jianzhu's ruthlessness, they would've turned her into Homelander.

#like we were this 🤏 close #vodka talks #avatar #lok #legend of korra #korra #order of the white lotus

[supernerddaniel]

Hey, everyone! A new video just went up on my YouTube channel, where I once again create some hypothetical Pokémon teams for some characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but this time, I'm taking a suggestion from a comment on a previous edition and focusing on some members of The Order Of The White Lotus!

Reblogs are greatly appreciated!

#super nerd daniel #pokemon #what if #avatar the last airbender #atla #white lotus #order of the white lotus #bumi #king bumi #piandao #pakku #jeong jeong #iroh #uncle iroh #general iroh #youtube #youtuber #youtubers #video #video post #Youtube

[thenadnerb02]

White Lotus Guy: Are you sure your daughter is the one? 🧐

Senna, in the midst of cleaning up Korra’s fifth earthbending related mess of the day:

#atla #avatar the last airbender #the legend of korra #tlok #korra #senna #senna atla #white lotus #order of the white lotus #korra meme #welcome to republic city #korra was a chaos child

[madsciencepottery]

The white lotus mugs are up on my etsy!

#avatar legend of korra #avatar: tla #avatar last airbender #order of the white lotus #coffee mug #coffee cup #cups #mugs #ceramic

[skratchpaper]

Order of the White Lotus Headcanon

There is no such thing as a "Grand Lotus" - the title was invented purely to cater to the egos of powerful men who need to feel more special than others. The real members of the Order of the White Lotus use this title as a way to easily recognise assets* of the order that are highly volatile and need to be handled delicately. e.g. When a Grand Lotus gives an order, the order may be obeyed... or the illusion of obedience will be provided.

There may or may not be a true group of leaders in the order. But if there is, it certainly doesn't consist of former conquerors, misogynists, reigning monarchs and/or people with less than two decades of membership.

*Yes, I am saying that "the old masters" aren't actually members, they just think they are. Easiest way to prevent them from getting temperamental and trying to wipe out the order... The order may or may not have used trial and error to figure this system out.

#anti-iroh #avatar the last airbender #order of the white lotus #uncle iroh #atla #headcanon #why would iroh be allowed to lead this organisation with his history? #with only a few years of membership at best? #because he actually isn't leading it at all #he just thinks he is #because iroh and his ego need to be “managed”

[zuko-always-lies]

How would you change the prison's conditions of the Red Lotus into more humane while keeping them secure?

Well, I think the first critical thing to acknowledge when dealing with this issue is that fiction is created by people. You can't use Watsonian reasoning to refute a Doylist issue. It would have been easy for the writers to imagine a non-horrific way of restricting bending, like a drug which suppresses the ability to bend or some sort of technological device which does the same. Instead, the writers came up with the horrific and cruel "solutions" they could imagine, and the fact that ATLA specifically called out the methods used as awful and cruel only makes the situation worse.

Now, to give a more in-universe answer, what the Red Lotus members (particularly P'Li and Ming-Hua) were subjected to was so horrific that anything would be better. If we inserted the slightest bit of realism into the situation, their conditions would result in a slow and torturous death, so even just executing them would be more merciful. In fact, it would be relatively easy to confine Zaheer and Ghazan in more humane conditions. Zaheer was a good fighter, but he wasn't even a bender. Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, etc. were very skilled, but the Fire Nation had no real issue imprisoning them in fairly conventional prisons, and Zaheer could easily be held somewhere where he wasn't kept alone and in darkness 95% of the time. Likewise, Ghazan isn't a metal bender, so imprisoning him in an offshore rig with more humane accommodations shouldn't be difficult.

P'Li and Ming-Hua pose greater issues. I think putting a strong metal lock over her third eye is a fairly effective way to prevent her from combustion bending, but her firebending abilities pose a greater challenge. On the other hand, it worth noting that the Fire Nation of the Hundred Year's War was able to imprison even fairly powerful firebenders without much expectation of issues.

I can't think of any real obvious way to counter Ming-Hua, but it has occurred to me that some form of remote-controlled shock collar might be effective with all the Red Lotus benders. It does seem possible to chi-block someone without actually disabling their movements, so keeping Ming-Hua, P'Li, and Ghazan continuously chi-blocked could be possible. It isn't ideal for obvious reasons(!) but again anything is better than how they were treated in canon. I suppose you also might be able to individually maroon at least a couple members on some remote, deserted island.

And if the White Lotus "regretted" the "necessary" cruelty but were "forced" into it by a lack of alternatives, they could have always asked Korra to remove the bending of the Red Lotus members as a way to ease their confinement. Korra became able to energybend at the end of Book 1, and it was six months between that and the beginning of Book 2.

In any case, what it really comes down to is that the writers chose to write the "good guys" engaging in just about the maximum possible amount of cruelty.

#Red Lotus #tlok #tlok critical #Zaheer #the legend of korra critical #legend of korra #Korra #ming hua #p'li #Ghazan #Order of the white lotus #not favorable to them

[reinedeslys-central]

hey, maybe I'm just remembering this all wrong, but where all the female members of the white lotus? you can't tell me there's no older highly experienced wise female bending/otherwise masters that were recruited into the order.

I know we don't see very many of the order at all, mainly just those five (one from each nation + iroh) near the end, but. hmm. just a thought ig

#avatar the last airbender #thoughts #order of the white lotus

[triscribeaucollection]

A Small Condition

Iroh only waited a brief moment before asking the guard to take their new prisoner’s staff to his nephew’s room; then he strolled down to the kitchen to fetch some tea. Simmering pot and two cups in hand, he continued his slow pace deeper into the ship, until the heavyset man came to a stop in front of the one and only reinforced prison cell aboard their vessel. Two guards standing at attention on either side didn’t appear to look at him, but Iroh could still feel the weight of their confused stares.

It took a little bit of serene juggling, but he freed a hand in order to knock. The guards exchanged baffled glances over his head.

A bemused moment later, their prisoner called out for him to enter, and Iroh nodded to the man on his left. “If you would, please.”

Thankfully the guard complied, spinning the wheel to turn back the locking mechanism, and Iroh confidently strode inside. A single lantern welded next to the doorway provided enough light to see by, as he approached the prisoner seated beside the back wall. The simple rope had been exchanged for a pair of manacles chained above him, with plenty of slack.

(Honestly, Iroh couldn’t help but shake his head at how little security went into the cell’s setup - if this mission had been given to Azula, rather than Zuko...)

“I thought I would try to make a better first impression than my nephew,” Iroh said politely, settling himself on the bare metal floor and putting down the cups in order to pour. “He is young, and bears his anger as a shield - I hope you will forgive him for speaking so harshly before.”

(Again, if it had been Azula, there would’ve been sly references to the lost Air Nomads, meant to needle and wound while seeming innocent on the surface. Zuko, however, had instead focused on the cowardice of remaining in hiding for a century of war; as always, the boy’s first and foremost thought centered on honorable conduct.)

Their prisoner smiled in return, and carefully accepted the steaming cup of tea Iroh offered him. “Perhaps, if I better understood his circumstances, Master...?”

“Iroh.”

“Iroh,” the other man tipped his head forward. “My name is Gyatso.”

---

They made it through most of a conversation before the ship suddenly rocked, and startled shouts echoed down from the higher decks. Pausing in taking a sip from his second cup of tea, Iroh turned to glance over his shoulder at the open door. “Would the two of you mind going to check on that?” The guards, again, shared a concerned glance. “If you think the prisoner won’t be well-guarded in my presence, then my reputation must be slipping worse than I thought.”

“We’ll be back soon, General,” one of the men said, before they both hurried out of sight. Iroh hummed, and turned back to face Gyatso.

The monk, for his part, stared up at the dark ceiling with a sharp frown. “Hm. It seems certain children decided not to follow my instructions.”

“They have that habit,” Iroh said dryly. He drank the final swallow from his cup, set it down, and produced two items from a hidden pocket within his sleeve. “If I may?”

Gyatso brought his gaze back down, and raised an eyebrow at the key Iroh held out in his direction. “By all means. Is there a catch to this offer?”

“A small condition,” the firebender agreed, inserting and twisting the heavy piece of steel. “I am aware of the Air Nomad tradition of pacifism, but I also fully understand how such things tend to take a lesser priority when one’s charge is in danger.”

(Zuko burned. Zuko burned at his father’s hand, and Iroh swore that very day he would no longer assist the Fire Nation’s war efforts. In fact, rather the opposite.)

“If you could make your exit without damaging my nephew or any of his crew beyond repair, I would be exceedingly grateful,” he finished, unlocking the second manacle. Gyatso hummed, tipping his head into another shallow nod - and then dark grey eyes focused on the second item. Iroh wordlessly handed it over.

“The Lotus Gambit is not something I expected to remain well known in this age,” the monk said in an offhand tone, turning the Pai Sho tile over and tracing his thumb along the painted pattern.

“Perhaps not well known, but certainly not forgotten. Would you be interested in a game some time, Master Gyatso?”

“I believe I would, Master Iroh.”

With that, the airbender flicked his fingers, and a whoosh of air heralded the world going dark.

---

“-cle. Uncle!” Grunting, Iroh forced his eyes open, just enough to squint up at his nephew. It took a moment for the boy’s half-panicked face to sharpen into focus, and as soon as Zuko could see he’d awoken that expression eased, before shooting straight past relief to anger. “Uncle, you let the Avatar escape!”

“Did I?” Iroh asked with a groan as he sat up. “My apologies, Prince Zuko.”

“Argh!”

---

(This one’s been posted on AO3 for a while now)

#avatar the last airbender #atla #monk gyatso #order of the white lotus #iroh #posted

[justanotherthrowaway1950]

Why Azula Staying a Villain Will Only Lead To Bad Stories

People who say that Azula should stay a villain usually do so due to some combination of the following reasons: she was born evil; her mental illnesses are untreatable, especially in her time; it would cheapen the redemption arcs we have already seen; she exists only to be a foil to Zuko; she needs to remain a villain to show what would have happened if Zuko had everything he wanted at the start of the show, and why what Zuko wanted at start of the show was ultimately bad; and that she is better as a villain.

But regardless of all that, I think the best reason against keeping Azula a villain is that we have already seen what Bryke will do if they keep Azula a villain

Illogical power buffs to the point one could make a credible argument that she is the strongest non-Avatar, non-bloodbender, and non-sprit fused character in the franchise, despite spending at least a year in captivity.

Shoddily relying on vaguely alluded to asylum abuse and a word of god statement to justify one of the smartest and cunning characters in the franchise engaging in several half-baked plots that don’t really seem to further any of her goals or help satisfy any of her desires.

Giving her Gaang-tier asylum inmates to serve as her new henchwomen, who allied themselves with her because they are scared of her and/or being manipulated, which doesn’t make sense since she no longer has any political power, and thus they can ignore her once she breaks them out. Not to mention she doesn’t seem to have regained all of her mental faculties (ex. her Mochi rant during Smoke and Shadow and how her eyes bulge out like crazy!Azula in The Search at the end of the rant).

Or because she became non-ironic friends with them, which doesn’t make sense since Azula during her time in the asylum was clearly not in the right mental state to take care of herself, let alone make friends not relying on her status or fear-mongering. Especially when The Search has Azula blame “Ursa” for making Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee stop fearing her, heavily implying Azula still thinks fear is a good way to maintain relationships. Not to mention two of them almost killing Aang after incapacitating him if it wasn’t for his plot shield granted by LoK, for he needs to die as a 66 year old man so he can reincarnate into Korra.

But most appalling, how everyone starts acting stupid and incompetent, thus denigrating them and their arcs/character growth, whenever Azula is involved so she can remain a credible threat despite the Gaang all being masters in their respective fields and having the resources of several nation-states at their beck and call plus a PMC (the White Lotus).

Like when Azula burned all those letters, how come Zuko didn’t order his guards to pat her down?

When Azula escaped into the Forgetful Valley and Zuko said he tried, does that mean Azula managed to evade an Avatar State powered seismic sense? Or that she evaded June's shushu? Did Zuko call Toph or the White Lotus to help him capture one of the biggest threats to his throne and world peace? And so, what does it say about them that a mentally broken Azula still managed to evade them?

How was she able to break out six girls from her old asylum without Zuko finding out? Moreover, how come Zuko, or anyone for that matter, never asked any of the asylum workers what Azula was hallucinating about? For if they did, maybe Zuko wouldn’t have taken Azula to find her literal trigger warning and put his beloved mother, as well as her family, in danger. In addition, how come no one asked Azula who “she” was?

But I admit all of the above assumes that Azula was getting relatively modern treatment, and that anyone cared about her mental health, which doesn’t seem to be the case. And I don’t blame them, for I don’t believe abuse victims have to help their abusers, nor do I believe that the oppressed have to help their oppressors, but still, they are world leaders who have proven to be highly competent in the past when dealing with sensitive issues. So what changed?

How come Ukano was willing to work with Azula to restore Ozai for the sake of his nation and family when not only is Fire Lord Zuko indebted to him for life due to Mai saving him at the Boiling Rock, not to mention the fact that Zuko offered him a job in his regime after Bumi retook Omashu, and thus his governorship was gone, but also when one of the first things Ozai would do after taking back power is execute Mai for her treason?

(In my opinion, it is clear that after Zuko’s defection, the only punishment for treason was death, with no chance for life in prison like Iroh had.)

How come the Gaang doesn't spend every waking moment after Smoke and Shadow hunting down Azula when she has made it clear with her actions, actions like engaging in mass kidnapping with her own terrorist group and manipulating other terrorists groups to serve her ends, that she would do anything to turn Zuko into a tyrant? Especially considering this the same person who conquered Ba Sing Se as a 14 year old with just two childhood friends and her brother, and thus her threat to Zuko at the end of Smoke and Shadow is anything but hollow?

For doesn’t the Gaang have a responsibility to ensure that the fragile peace they have built remains? Especially when it is mostly their fault that Azula got free, and that it is their general incompetence that allows Azula to remain free and a threat?

But on a more serious note, the biggest issue with Azula’s character, or the comics in general, is LoK. For thanks to LoK, we know everything ends up being ok, and that Zuko has a long and prosperous reign.

Thus, LoK hamstrings’ Bryke’s story choices; for example, if I told you that at one point Azula would escape after being cruelly locked in an asylum for at least a year due to being a madwomen, and that she had become the GOAT firebender and H2H fighter in ATLA, you would assume that Azula would be leading a plot to overthrow Zuko and eliminate everyone in her way, along with everyone who had betrayed her, en route to restoring the old regime.

(In my opinion, her lighting manipulation and smoke generation put her in a different tier from all other firebenders save for the Avatar.)

But instead we get Joker!Azula whose “true destiny” is to make Zuko have one day bad so he’ll turn out like her, even though the audience knows thanks to LoK she’ll never succeed, thus making the whole thing a waste of time for the reader.

And now Bryke wants to write more stories for Aang’s time?!

In my opinion, unless they retcon LoK and/or the comics, it appears that the stories they can tell will be lackluster for the reasons I already articulated. But who knows, I might be completely wrong, and boy do I hope I am wrong.

#azula #zuko #mai #ty lee #the gaang #ukano #order of the white lotus #zirin #kemurikage #fake kemurikage #fire warriors #asylum abuse #atla comics critical #tlok critical #bryke critical #yang critical #avatar studios critical #azula meta #justanotherthrowaway1950meta

[theduckeminence]

guys. would it be funny if I turned the Order of the White Lotus into a team of Magical Anime Girls?

#atla #avatar the last airbender #iroh #jeong jeong #bumi #piandao #pakku #the white lotus #king bumi #uncle iroh #master piandao #order of the white lotus

[chaoticklefics]

I got my White Lotus tattoo today!!! ✨💮

ATLA is LIFE.

#uncle iroh would be proud #order of the white lotus #atla #avatar tla #avatar #tattoos #new tattoo

[mandareeboo]

Well no wonder spiritualism is so damn hard your crusty asses are having her repress her emotions- and you need all of those bad bois.

#Legend of Korra #LOK01 #Avatar Korra #Order of the White Lotus #Mandar Liveblogs

[witchzoe]

The Order of The White Lotus are such losers. They are an ancient secret order, their leaders are five masters of their arts and all they do during the 100 year war is liberating Ba Sing Se. Which in the Grandscheme of things was not very helpful.

If Aang had lost his fight with Ozai, it wouldn't have mattered, what with the Earth Kingdom burned to the ground and the Avatar being dead.

And with the Zuko as Fire Lord he would have returned Ba Sing Se to the Earth Kingdom anyway.

The only case where liberating Ba Sing Se would have matter would be if Aang defeated Ozai, but Azula remained Fire Lord.

Also it is kinda sus that 3 out of the 5 leading members of an international order dedicated to helping the Avatar are Fire Nation ex-military?

Not to speak about their actions in Korra, where they decided to build super-secret torture prisons and were like "You know how Ozai raised Azula? That was good parenting that we should model Korra's training after!"

TL;DR: The White Lotus are a bunch of losers.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #order of the white lotus #white lotus #legend of korra

[the-great-anteater]

Young Iroh Prince of the Fire Nation

#iroh #uncle iroh #white lotus #order of the white lotus #atla