#that no heaven Zuko doesn’t have nearly as close a bond with Iroh versus in canon

[marginal-notes]

Not really spoilers since this was a dynamic that was already present in the earlier parts of “no such thing as heaven,” but at the rate these chapters in “little vision” are going, I might end up needing to tag Lu Ten as a character. Despite the guy being dead the whole time and only coming up in memories.

Like, sure, there’s barely any basis for what his relationship might have been like with Zuko in canon, but in the “no heaven” verse the cousins had a decently close bond. Zuko didn’t have many male figures to look up to as a kid, with Iroh preoccupied with being crown prince and the Dragon of the West and Ozai being… Ozai, so he latched onto his older cousin who treated him fairly when few people did. Especially since Zuko also had so much trouble forming friends on his own too.

Then Lu Ten dies, Ozai seizes the throne, and Zuko’s suddenly flung into the position of crown prince before he has time to process all these changes. Iroh tries to reach out during all the chaos, but he’s still weighed down by grief and mired in the royal politics. And as much as Ozai holds little regard for his son, he’s absolutely not going to allow his brother to undermine his rule by proxy of Zuko.

Then the Agni Kai happens. And the banishment.

In Zuko’s mind, his father threw him away to die. His mother had long disappeared. His uncle was either powerless or didn’t care to try finding him. All these adults kept failing him, and his journey trying to survive in the Earth Kingdom and deal with the spirits’ trickery only further damages his ability to trust authority. Instead, he makes due with the version of Lu Ten he remembers.

It’s a version, though. There are plenty of other facets to Lu Ten that the other Fire Nation characters saw that Zuko was never aware of.

So, yeah, tl;dr: Lu Ten keeps coming up and I have a lot of thoughts about this character that’s basically a vessel for whatever the hell I want to express through him.

#no such thing as heaven #more Navi rambling thoughts on my phone #Zuko really admires his cousin #and let’s just say that uuuuhhh #that was kind of purposefully encouraged #also still highly relevant to the series #that no heaven Zuko doesn’t have nearly as close a bond with Iroh versus in canon #they didn’t spend three years on a creaky old ship together