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I keep seeing anti-Maiko people complain that Mai never had a redemption arc to learn about why the Fire Nation was bad, and that's why she shouldn't be with Zuko. And I think that fundamentally misunderstands what a secondary character is. Mai is not a main character. She is a secondary character. She is there to provide support to the narrative, she is there to fulfill her plot purposes and that's it. That doesn't mean she has no character development, but her character development is mostly related to her function in the narrative. In Mai's case, her main functions in the narrative are being Zuko's love interest, and being a key piece in Azula's downfall. Her character development is related to that: we have a girl who is closed off and suppresses her emotions who gradually starts to open up a little through her relationship with Zuko. We also have her feeling like she's always trapped by fear and by others expectations (by her parents and by Azula), and because of her relationship with Zuko, she is able to finally stand up to Azula. That's her character arc. That's what's relevant to her function in the story. Learning about how the Fire Nation is bad is not relevant to her main plot purposes in the story. There's no reason why it can't happen offscreen after the war, with Zuko teaching her about all the things he saw and learned about the Fire Nation during his travels. She is not a main character, the show doesn't need to focus on every single thing about her character. In case people forget, we don't get a "redemption arc" for Ty Lee either, because this is not important, neither Mai or Ty Lee are meant to be the focus of the narrative, we don't need to see them "learning that the Fire Nation is bad".

Another thing that people don't understand is that not every character has to be a copy of Zuko. People act like the only acceptable way for Mai to learn about the wrongs of the Fire Nation is by having a redemption arc like Zuko, but that's not really the case. It's not even feasible: Mai didn't go through the same experiences as Zuko, she wasn't forced to live as a commoner amongst the Earth Kingdom peasants, she wasn't forced to flee as a refugee, so she never really had the opportunity to speak to these people and see their plight the same way Zuko had. Of course Zuko is the one who gets the redemption arc, because he is the main character for which this arc actually matters to the story, but also because the circumstances of his story allow him to have this arc, while the circumstances of Mai's story don't. But that in no way means she is irredeemable or that she can't learn, it just means she will learn about the Fire Nation in a different way than Zuko did, probably through Zuko himself telling her about his experiences and the things he saw. And there's nothing wrong with that! Mai is not a main character, she doesn't need to have some epic redemption journey. She was a Fire Nation noble, just like Zuko, she was taught the same kind of propaganda that Zuko was, so of course she's going to believe in it and believe that Zuko is betraying his country when he tells her he joined the Avatar. But Mai is also not some cruel person, and she's also not a Fire Nation fanatic. If after the show Zuko told her about all the things he saw, she would listen. And in fact, the evidence we have is that she did listen to Zuko and she did learn about the Fire Nation: in the comics she works with Zuko against the New Ozai Society even after they break up. And if you don't want to use the comics as evidence, we have the epilogue of the show as evidence, in which Mai is shown to be on good terms with Team Avatar and playing Pai Sho with Suki. We don't need to see the details of how Mai learned about the Fire Nation being bad (she is not a main character, it's not relevant to the main story), we know that she did learn, we can fill in the blanks with our imagination.

Secondary characters not receiving a huge narrative focus and character development about every single aspect of their characters is not "bad writing". Bad writing would be if the show focused on every detail of every secondary character, because that would be losing narrative focus. Just because certain people don't like Mai with Zuko and use this as an excuse to say why the ship is bad, it doesn't mean that Mai not having a redemption arc is "bad writing".

Finally, this isn't a reason for her not to be with Zuko. Some people argue that Zuko would never want to be with Mai after his redemption because of her still believing that the Fire Nation was in the right, but people forget that if there's one person who knows what is like to have been brainwashed since childhood with propaganda about the Fire Nation, that person is Zuko. And Zuko was way more enthusiastic about the Fire Nation being right and the Fire Nation winning the war than Mai ever was. Why would he hold it against her that she believed in Fire Nation propaganda, when he himself knows what is like to believe in said propaganda? The most likely thing to happen is that he would want to teach her about everything he learned about the Fire Nation, he wouldn't break up with her just because she didn't magically unlearn an entire life of indoctrination.

#maiko #mai atla #atla mai

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New chap!!! I’m alive!!!

In which Mai is married off and never joins Azula’s team, only to end up becoming her old crush’s bodyguard after the war ends.

#new chap #new chapter #fic #fic update #atla maiko #maiko fic #maiko #mai x zuko #maiko au #atla mai #zuko

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Before

After

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT

This relationship is so important to me, there are so many things to say about Aang and Sokka

#sokka #aang #avatar the last airbender #atla

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thinkin about how aang is zukos first-ever friend.

like hear me out, ty lee and mai are azulas friends primarily. in flashbacks zuko is only ever shown with his mom or his sister and her friends. even when zuko and mai date its like... it feels more like a proximity/being a Good Son thing than anything else, at least on zukos end. and he doesnt really have many meaningful on screen interactions with ty lee?

which i think is why aangs "do you think we couldve been friends?" moment is so impactful for zuko and its when he really starts to doubt what hed been taught growing up, bc this kid who he was supposed to hate and subjugate... is offering him friendship. something hes never had before, except in the weird proximity-friendships of ty lee and mai.

and tbh, i feel like aang never really lost that faith in him or their potential to be friends, even if said faith was shaken a few times.

and then by the end of the series zuko and aang hug and they declare themselves to be friends, and this feels like the first time on-screen we see someone declare zuko belonging to them in some way.

basically their friendship is so beautiful and i cry about it.

#aang #zuko #platonic love #avatar the last airbender

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Trying to sleep and was looking at books and that eventually led me to think of Pride and Prejudice and yk what moment we need to appreciate more?

That scene where Caroline is doing her pick me shit and joking with Darcy about Elizabeth's pretty eyes and she's like when you guys get your marriage portrait done do you think any painter could do her eyes justice?

And our boy Fitzy doesn't even HESITATE he's like I think a painter would do a great job at getting her eyelashes and the way they look in the sunlight and it's just like

MY GUY HAD U ALREADY BEEN THINKING ABOUT THAT??? U HAD THE ANSWER LOCKED AND LOADED WERE U ON YE OLDE GOOGLE LOOKING UP WEDDING PORTRAIT ARTISTS NEAR ME??? DID U HAVE A REGENCY ERA PINTERST BOARD OF UR DREAM WEDDING TO LIZZY ALREADY MADE UP????

#pride and prejudice #caroline bingley #fitzwilliam darcy #elizabeth bennet #jane austen

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Real Truth

#chu yan #well intended love #cdrama

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I think a lot of people (including the Ember Island Players) forget that Sokkas comic relief doesn’t come from him being the puns guy but from him being the worlds most miserable little pessimistic guy. He’s on a trip to save the world with two extremely overpowered idealists and an extremely overpowered tank going through a rebellion phase and he’s 15 years old and trying to put them all on toddler leashes and hating the spirt world which keeps spitting in his face and bullying him specifically. Him being miserable is why he’s so endearing.

#sokka

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zutara shippers: katara and mai deeply dislike each other. mai is literally seething with jealousy over the fact that zuko took lightening for katara, while he abandoned mai and left her to rot in prison until her uncle bailed her out.

katara and mai: *develops a canon friendship by the end of the series*

also zutara shippers: katara would adore on ji and consider her as a best friend!

katara and on ji: *do not share any scenes together. katara has only shown to harbour jealousy towards on ji dancing with aang*

it’s so funny to me how the self-proclaimed pro-katara and pro-feminist fandom will attempt to orchestrate a nonexistent rivalry between two girls who hold no animosity towards each other anymore in canon, while at the same time insisting that katara would become good friends with the minor character that she has only ever expressed jealousy towards.

#kataang

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She’s pretty much a pain. She’s always got to be right about everything and she gets all bossy and involved and in your business. Yeah. I don’t know how you could deal with it. Actually, in a way, I rely on it.

#katara #sokka #brotp: i will never turn my back on you #avatar the last airbender #atla

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I was talking to my dad about renewable energy and he was like “the only problem with solar farms is they take up so much space.”

And it made me think about a city and how much sun exposure all the rooftops in a city get and…why not just make the city it’s own solar farm by putting solar panels on every rooftop?

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as a huge lover of birds, 90% of the concern against wind turbines being used for energy is literally just pro fossil fuel propaganda. birds ARE at a risk however there is a lot of strategies even as simple as painting one of the blades that reduces a lot of accidental deaths. additionally renewable energy sources will do more in favor of the environment that would positively impact birds (and all of us). one study found over one million bird deaths from wind turbines. while that is a shockingly high number and we should work to drastically shrink it, at least 1.3 billion birds die to outdoor cats on a yearly basis. it was never about caring about birds

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King Kuei and Firelord Zuko friendship ❤️ 💚

They like to go see plays together, but they talk through most of it. The personal guards have gotten used to it and find it amusing.

#zuko #kuei #king kuei #earth king kuei #atla

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reposting (again, duh) 'cause i'm just—not satisfied with this. will leave it alone now, i promise

#maiko art #maiko

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hold on a second man…

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#bad and crazy #boss yong #andrei kang #kim hieora #won hyun joon #we already knew he was loyal to her #but now we know it's completely mutual #she's ready to give up everything to get revenge for him #and i really hope she'll be able to somehow #i wish there was more time and we could find out more about their backstory #yeah i'm a complete sucker for this kind of dynamic... #kdrama