#aang&katara

[comradekatara]

might be bit of a stupid question, and you may have even discussed it before. if so, sorry for asking again.

but: do you think aang forgives ozai, or does he just show mercy? aang seems to have a clear stance on the importance of forgiveness, however, the final moments of his battle with ozai are visually paralleled with katara's attack on her mother's killer - and katara is clear on the fact the she has not (and will not) forgive him. she just shows him mercy, i suppose.

do you think this sentiment is paralleled in these two scenes? do you think aang manages to actually forgive ozai, or is he just showing mercy in order to protect the values of his culture?

to be perfectly honest, the thought of whether or not aang’s decision to spare ozai is one of forgiveness never actually crossed my mind. you’re right that the issue of mercy is tied to forgiveness in “the southern raiders,” but i always read that issue of forgiveness as far less straightforward than a question of whether or not katara will forgive yon rha, and more so whether katara can forgive herself (and by extension zuko). as aang says, “revenge is a two headed rat viper,” and the reason he’s advocating that katara find room for forgiveness within herself is not because he gives a shit whether the man who murdered her mother will die or not (he doesn’t care if others kill as long as he doesn’t have blood on his hands, as evidenced by his relationship to sokka and toph), but whether katara will be able to live with herself after the fact. and he knows her, so he knows that she won’t.

by sparing yon rha, katara forgives herself for her own guilt in having to carry the burden of knowing her mother sacrificed herself to save her, lets herself rest and simply be a human person instead of dedicating herself to the pursuit of vengeance, to revenge kya’s foul and most unnatural murder. because of course katara has that instinct, and of course katara feels her mother’s death more personally than sokka does, and of course she feels a responsibility to right the wrongs that she (however inadvertently) caused in whatever way she possibly can.

she finally has the skillset and the intel that allows her to carry out her revenge, but in that final moment before she strikes the final blow, she hesitates and drops her weapon, her artform that she has dedicated herself to honing in a way no one alive has ever needed to (with the exception of hama, and even then). it’s a uniquely powerful moment in a show filled with powerful moments (many of them involving katara) because she is choosing herself over yon rha, over zuko, over the memory of her mother.

she lets the illusion that she is the hero of an adventure tale wherein good triumphs over evil fade away and she embraces her own humanity though acknowledging the humanity of her enemies. yon rha isn’t a uniquely evil cackling villain (unlike someone like zhao or ozai), he’s a person, an awful person, but nonetheless a human being. a soldier who acted as the arm of a vast and complex, terrifying machine. and by looking into his face once more, the face that haunted her nightmares, katara is able to see herself reflected in the face of the other, and finally fully realizes a tapestry of the world that can not be so neatly woven.

that is what it means to forgive. when she forgives zuko, it is not because zuko has done anything to earn her forgiveness: unlike with “the boiling rock,” where he genuinely risks his life to selflessly help sokka at his lowest point, he is the instigator of katara’s entire journey, and even though he is attempting to do her a favor because he understands her intrinsic desire for revenge born of guilt and rage and shame, it is not a selfless act (that comes later). but through forgiving herself, allowing herself to relax her rigid worldview of right and wrong, good and evil, she recognizes that even if zuko did do genuinely reprehensible, awful things, it isn’t in her best interest to hold onto that anger, and by allowing herself to feel less personal responsibility and shame over her misplaced trust in zuko leading to aang’s death, she is able to forgive zuko, but only because she had already forgiven herself.

when aang shows ozai mercy, however, the issue of forgiveness isn’t even really the right term for it. he’s not forgiving ozai nor himself, here, but rather powerfully asserting that mercy is not a weakness, but a deliberate choice, and one that is born of incredible strength of character, at that. he’s forgiving his people for “not fighting back,” he’s forgiving his culture for adhering to these pacifist values, and yes, he’s forgiving himself for not being the avatar that everyone expects him to be. he’s prioritizing his people and his humanity and his grief over what the entire human world wanted from him.

and crucially, before the lion turtle showed him his truest path, aang was going to kill ozai. he was resigned to this being his destiny. unlike katara, who fully planned on killing yon rha and only decided to spare him once she saw his face, aang didn’t want to kill ozai from the very beginning, and had to be forced into killing him, rather than being talked down. sokka tells katara not to kill yon rha as gently as he possibly can (and nonetheless immediately gets shut down for it), but then he almost bullies aang for not wanting to kill. sokka considers killing a tool that should be exercised with logical intent, katara considers killing an act that makes a statement, and aang considers killing a taboo that should never be violated. of course, aang’s stance on killing is a very culturally-specific one, which yangchen also adheres to as best she can, but also understands its limits when in the position of avatar. but aang cannot afford to simply be the avatar, because he must bear the burden of his entire people’s legacy.

so at no point does forgiveness for ozai come into play, because aang has no reason to consider forgiving ozai. his decision to take down the firelord is a tactical one, rather than born purely out of a desire for revenge. but he does mirror katara’s decision to spare yon rha in sparing ozai’s life simply because, in both cases, they prioritize themselves and the preservation of their own humanity over submitting to the logic of the men who have destroyed their lives.

#the-avatars-fury #asks #i love them so much wtf…. #analysis #aang #katara #aang&katara #katara&zuko #yon rha #ozai #idk who else to tag #sokka #i guess

[f1reladymai]

Aang getting so, uncharacteristically angry when Appa was taken by the sandbenders wasn’t just because of his love for his sky bison. Of course, that was a big part of it. Appa is more than just a pet to him, he’s his best friend and soulmate, someone who’s been around since Aang was very young and is meant to be a “companion for life”.

But, Aang ran away on a random Tuesday, got caught in a storm and it changed the whole trajectory of his life. He ran away because he was upset his life was changing so rapidly, he suddenly had all this responsibility at 12 years old that he wasn’t ready for but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gone back. We don’t know what would have happened; he could have needed a few days to cool off, he could have seen the start of the war and stepped up (from what we know of Aang, there’s no way he would have ignored it for his own needs), but that didn’t happen.

He got caught in the ice for 100 years and when he woke up he discovered that not only was everyone he knew and loved were dead, but brutally murdered in an act of power. That everyone from his teachers, friends (children, like him) and animals, were gone. Not only that but his whole culture; traditions, foods, clothing, music… everything important was eradicated and possibly most of the documentation of the culture, too. He’s suddenly handed this new responsibility on top of being the Avatar, trying to uphold this culture (as literally the last airbender alive) and grieve at the same time.

And Aang grieves very privately, in fact, does he even give himself a chance? He discovered the horrible truth and his immediate response it so go have some fun, maybe because he knows if he thinks too hard about it and gives into the pain, he’ll turn into something he’s not, he’ll forget what the monks taught him and he can’t let that happen.

So he tries to channel all his grief and anger into being the Avatar, even if he still has his reservations, and by his side is Appa. The only thing keeping him tethered to his life 100 years ago and his culture. He’s been with him through everything, and will continue to be, like I said “companion for life”.

And then he’s gone, he’s taken, and all of a sudden Aang cannot keep the crushing weight of his loss at bay anymore and he… snaps, he loses control. He gives into the avatar state because not only is everything he knew and loved gone, taken from him for nothing more than political gain, but now his soulmate that represented everything he lost is gone, too and he doesn’t know what happened to him. Is he dead? Is he scared? Is he fed? Who knows.

Aang losing Appa with the final straw and his grief, something he was ignoring and refusing to deal with, was brought to the forefront when he lost Appa, making it impossible to ignore and if it wasn’t for us friends trying to ground him and remind him of who he was, who knows what would have happened.

#txt post #atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #avatar aang #avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #txt post: aang #appa #aang&appa #Katara #aang&katara #(kinda) #air nomads #pro aang #always haha

[timeofdeathnote]

stop that's so funny 💀

#avatar #avatar: the last airbender #netflix avatar #avatar the last airbender #general zhao #aang #james cameron #sokka #katara #zukko #humor #meme #spilled ink #atla #natla #live action avatar

[m-r-moth]

decided to make silly cat versions for the whole avatar team

( psssst, there are more cats under the catla tag on my page)

#appa would 100% be a giant fluffy dog #atla fanart #art #avatar the last airbender #atla #zuko #toph beifong #aang #sokka #katara

[astra-kamari]

Ok can we talk about how toph held up a huge ass building? I feel like this is never addressed.

The Gaang is in the sand, which is already hard for Toph to see/feel, and then she holds up this giant library?? While trying to protect Appa.

Also, can we talk about how its not one mass of rock-it's made of bricks, and being held together by gravity. She really said "Every one of you blocks, pillars, tiles, boards, and the rest of you are going to stay in your exact spots and not sink to the spirit world BECAUSE I SAID SO!" while she was fighting super mystical spirit magic. While fighting and actual spirits power. For who knows how long, because Sokka and Aang had time to check every date till Sozins comet would hit at least a few months away.

Can we also talk about how Toph was so upset and ashamed about loosing Appa due to sand bending skill that she practiced hard to perfect it.

#honestly this sene is so underrated #astra rambles #atla #avatar the last airbender #toph #toph beifong #Gaang #sokka #aang #katara #zuko #sozins comet #appa

[bakedbeanchan]

I love the first season of atla

#baked bean originals #avatar the last airbender #atla #aang #katara #sokka #before i watched the show everyone told me he was such a silly guy but he had the biggest stick up his ass #he acted like a miserable babysitter the entire season #while katara was busy being a revolutionary and aang was busy being a silly guy or the avatar #yeah i kind of ember island ified aang here but it's for the bit

[lilith-91]

Imo, atla has a bittersweet ending

Aang is sitting alone and wearing the air nomads clothes, his culture clothes, a necklace similar to GYATSO's necklace. I can't even imagine the emptiness and sadness he was feeling here

There are no airbenders in the crowd

All nation gathered..... except the air nomads.

No one else in the crowd wearing orange or yellow.

Aang won the war, but his people are still gone.

Yes, he has the Gaang, he has Katara, he has Momo and Appa. But he's still the last airbender.

This is so heartbreaking.

#aang #avatar the last airbender #atla #katara #zuko #sokka #momo #appa #toph beifong #if i remember well another post mentioned the crowd #because it's true #:(

[mistbix]

so i've been re-watching atla....... expect more art soon

#atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #aang #sokka #kataang #i've made exactly 1 fanart for avatar before so i decided You Know What i'll make an art feast now #since the new live action came out i tought “hey now i can at least have refs of their clothes etc” and got a study as a bonus yay #mi arte

[calmingthoughtsinyourhead]

Poor Zuko

He just wanted to join the Gaang but now the blind girl is moving metal, the sweet watergirl is bending blood and the kid is talking to spirits

At least he can count on Sokka to be normal. Oh, where did you say that sword was from?

Yeah, that’s right, fucking outer space

#poor zuko #prince zuko #zuko #avatar renaissance #avatar aang #avatar #avatar the last airbender #fire lord zuko #atla zuko #im loving the atla renaissance #atla #katara #aang #atla aang #toph beifong #atla toph #sokka #atla sokka #sokka avatar the last airbender #avatar sokka

[mfshipbracket]

#mf ship bracket #mf ship bracket 2023 #bonus round #kylo ren #rey #reylo #star wars #avatar: the last airbender #aang #katara #kataang #anti-reylo

[animentality]

#twitter #atla #sokka #katara #aang #avatar the last airbender

[comradekatara]

aang and sokka have by far the most underrated dynamic in atla. they’re very cute and silly together, but they’re also insane. like, aang’s central tension concerns refusing to let his values be shaped by war and the imperialist logic of his oppressors, whereas sokka’s entire value system has been defined by war, by his experience as a colonized subject. in many ways, the ultimate tragedy of aang’s character, that he may become too cynical to appreciate his cultural values of joy, friendship, freedom, harmony, and peace, is the tragedy that he might someday become what sokka already is.

if aang is a force for good in sokka’s life, showing him how to play, to appreciate living in the moment and connecting with others, then sokka is quite literally a corrupting influence. “there, that’s how it’s done,” he says, and you know he’s not just posturing, because you’ve already seen him kill people before without remorse. sokka is aang’s big brother, his friend, his protector. he plays his games, makes him laugh, shows him kindness and undying loyalty. but he is also everything that aang must constantly strive to never become. he is a ruthless tactician, a hyperlogical cynic, a killer.

sokka would do anything to survive and protect his loved ones against the cruelty of the world. so he chastises aang for refusing to kill, for being soft and idealistic. he in fact almost kills aang after he accidentally hurts katara. while aang can never let himself sink into despair, to adopt the colonial mindset of his oppressors, to close off his heart to hope and feeling, sokka already has. yes, aang shows him joy and friendship and the potential for freedom, but in truth, it’s too late for him. and perhaps if katara cannot retrieve her brother’s humanity, his very soul, from the hollow shell of who he has since become, she has a second chance now, with aang.

#i have an even longer post about this in my drafts if you can believe it #but like. they’re so crazzyyyy #real ones know the best aang&sokka episodes are the deserter the siege of the north the serpents pass (!!!!!!!!) and sozins comet #aang&sokka #aang #sokka #katara&sokka #aang&katara #analysis #god 😭😭 #the way aang represents who she wishes sokka COULD be just breaks my heart #SHE JUST WANTS A FRIEND SHE CAN PLAY WITH!!!!!! #fucicuccuucucjkkkk !!!

[taakiitoo]

Comfy

#fanart #atla #atla fanart #zuko #katara #toph #aang #sokka #atla gaang

[timeofdeathnote]

there’s avatar and then there’s the blue people movie

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #aang #avatar the legend of korra #avatar: legend of korra #korra #zuko #katara #toph #sokka #korrasami #zutara #zukka #azula #50k #100k

[jaykuro51]

The dance

#avatar the last airbender #kataang #katara #aang #atla

[maybemacdc]

#my art #avatar the last airbender #atla #kataang #katara #aang #aang x katara #fanart #illustration #artists on tumblr #procreate #artwork #atla fanart #art #digital art