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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 10 months

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Do you think Zuko and Katara would work as a couple?

The last time I spoke about Zutara in relation to fandoms at large.

It'd have to be AU.

It's not impossible, I've seen great fics, and the characters do have traits they admire in one another and a lot of screentime alone in canon.

However, given canon, I'm not shocked it didn't work out for a number of reasons.

Canon

In season 1, Zuko's very clearly an antagonist and Katara meets him when he terrorizes her defenseless village in search of the Avatar who is in fact a child himself. He then hounds them across the globe, representing the Evil Empire, trying to snuff out the one last hope for the world for reasons Katara simply cannot understand. Add onto this that he kidnaps her one time, fights her in the North Pole where he kidnaps Aang when he's helpless and takes him into the tundra (where Aang may uh die), and they're not getting off on a good foot.

Katara may have been into Jet, resident bad boy, but she liked him when he was a bad boy for her cause and giving the Fire Nation what for. She was horrified when it turned out he was a tad bit unhinged and planning to massacre civilians.

On Zuko's end, Katara and Sokka are the annoying water tribe peasants who hang around the Avatar. They're useful in that the Avatar clearly cares about them and they're weaker benders/non-benders (making them easier to kidnap and things) but he has his Avatar blinders on so doesn't really care much beyond that.

Season 2, the Gaang is confused when it seems they have a new and more terrifying hunter (Azula) and Zuko and his uncle seem to uh not be on her side maybe. However, Zuko's still fighting Aang at this point which means a big old no from Katara. We then get to Ba Sing Se, when both are kidnapped, and here we have our shining moment. Katara offers to heal Zuko's scar, they talk about their past and Zuko about how he's given up and is redeemed and a fugitive of the Fire Nation, and Katara wants to believe in him.

However, he immediately stabs her in the back, helping his sister to nearly kill Aang, betraying his uncle in front of them, all for the chance to go home and be redeemed.

After that, Katara canonically is very clearly done with this man. She vaguely tolerates him when Aang takes him on as a teacher but very clearly doesn't trust him and only slightly thaws after their murder adventure together.

Zuko, for his own part, seems to feel awkward around Katara and then terrified after the murder adventure as uh... he knows he did bad and there isn't an easy way to make them believe he's super good for real this time. Last time didn't count, guys. He's mostly trying to get in her good books and not in a way that will lead to a realtionship.

(And add onto that that Zuko has his thing with Mai, Mai ends up imprisoned because of him, and that Katara has her thing with Aang and it gets very messy).

But it Could Happen

If you diverge early, or have a very AU world, then it might work out. Granted, part of Zuko's character is focusing on restoring his honor, which is mutually exclusive to all of Katara's ideals. It would feel--weird and cheap if Zuko defected early and I think it was a key part of his character that he did get a chance to get his honor restored and realized that it wasn't what he wanted and his family is terrible.

Similarly, if Katara's more understanding of Zuko's position... Well, that's not who she is as a character and from her perspective what's there to be understanding of. Zuko is literally trying to murder the Avatar or else imprison him for life and doom the world: where is the good in that?

So, I can't tell you where, when, and how would be a good point of divergence. However, I don't think as personalities they're unshippable, I think there is a lot there, it's just not inclined to happen given who they are and where they come from.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender meta #avatar the last airbender headcanon #avatar the last airbender shipping #katara #zuko #katara/zuko #anti katara/zuko #meta #headcanon #opinion #shipping

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yourhighness6 · 1 month

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Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

#also just the angst potential #there are so many fics and better metas written about this but I had to throw my two cents in #Bryke's refusal to acknowledge bloodbending as anything but evil incarnate is so fucking annoying #anti bryke #bloodbending #zutara #zuko #katara #final agni kai #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla meta #zutara meta #technically

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starlight-bread-blog · 2 months

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