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starlight-bread-blog · 1 month

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The Good & the Bad: On Aang (Not) Killing the Fire Lord

I recived this asks forever ago, trurly sorry anon, but I'll keep my apologises for the end. I'd love to answer that!

If you're asking me, this is way better than """killing him""". Case closed.

Getting this cleared up: The show didn't say that Aang is morally superior for this. It was solely about staying true to himself. Not a moral high ground.

So when I hear people say it's problematic because it implies that sparing imperialistic dictators has some intrinsic goodness to it, (Ahem-Lily Orchard), I just can't agree. It was never about universal ethics, it was about Aang's culture and values.

Why Is This a Good Thing?

Aang loves his culture, and takes a lot of pride in it and its values. (See: in The Southern Raiders his first go-to to convince Katara to spare Yon Rah is his culture, rather than what such act would do Katara herself). He would have been ashamed if he had broken them. But right now they clash with his Avatar duties, with god-knows how many lives at stake. He needs to let go of his pride & shame, and become humble.

Just like Zuko humbling himself to the GAang before they accept him, or Sokka humbling himself to the Kyoshi warriors and Master Piandao, Aang could only speak to the the lion turtle after he'd given up, after he was humbled.

Even beyond Aang, it enhances the show's themes at large. A theme in A:TLA is paving your own path, and that you can do what you want despite the pressure. Your true destiny will come, you might be surprised by it, but it's yours and you're free to carve it.

You just have to keep going, to continue to do the right thing, and your destiny will find you. Things have a way of working out in the end, eventually.

Sparing Ozai serves the theme, thus the show overall. Everyone told him it's his destiny to kill the Fire Lord and end the war. But he didn't agree, paving his own path, his own destiny, and all was well. The pieces fell in their place.

It is s amplified by the fact that if you read between the lines, he actually did follow all the previous Avatars' wisdom besides Yangchen's.

Aang knew what he wanted from the start. He isn't going to kill the Fire Lord. People (rightfully) tried to pressure him, but in the end, he stuck to his decision.

Justice was served. Aang took his bending away and put him to rot in prison for the rest of his life. There's more than one way to execute justice.

"... and the destiny of the world". That's exactly what Aang did. He followed his own path (staying true to himself) while saving the world (ending Ozai regime).

So that leaves us with Yangchen's advice. The one he didn't follow:

This opens another layer to this. Why doesn't Aang take the advice of a fellow Air Nomad? The one he should relate to the most? Because despite both being Avatars and Airbenders, Aang is the last. They're not the same. Yangchen is speaking from a place of privilege. She can carry the weight of the Avatar and not worry about the Air Nomads. Notice the wording: "spiritual needs". But it's deeper than that. In her time, they were there, they'll preserve their culture and values. Aang doesn't have that.

He's Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has both weights to carry. The decision to spare the Fire Lord, while protecting the rest of the world, is embedded in the show's title.

There's also something so incredibly powerful in Ozai being defeated specifically with Air Nomad values. A 100 years ago, during Sozin's Comet, the Fire Nation started the war by genociding them. When it comes back, the Avatar, the last Air Nomad, ends the war and stops the next genocide while preserving their values. The Fire Nation isn't going to push him to taint (one of) the last living aspacts of the Air Nomads, and Aang is shouting it – in the very same day the disaster occurred.

(Additionally I view this as a land mark of his character development since Siege of the North. He used spirit powers for murder, now he's using them for mercy).

(A:TLA is also a show made with kids in mind. They may not be able to make Aang kill Ozai. He got his bending stolen and sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. That's a more than serviceable punishment for a show aimed at kids).

(Ps: If Ozai had died Zuko would never have found out where his mother is).

The concept is fantastic. Nothing wrong there. But now, it's time for the critisism.

What's the problem then?

Despite looking in internet forums, it's entirely possible that I missed some things. With that being said, the Lion Turtles could have been foreshadowed better. As I stated, I don't mind it. But as far as I recall, it was foreshadowed once in The Library, and that's it. (Edit: It's also foreshadowed in Sokka's Master, but the point still stands).

The Lion Turtle is a twist, it subverted expectations, but that doesn't mean it has to be a deus ex machina. That's what foreshadowing is for. It's the literary device to making a plot twist feel believable. The result is many fans, including me, feeling as though it came out of no where, even though it didn't.

Overall, I love that Aang spared Ozai. It ties into the themes of the show and Aang's role as the last airbender. It makes perfect sense, it's rather beautiful. However, I do wish the foreshadowing was better.

And for Anon, to apologize for the wait, I dedicate you this meme:

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toxicshipsincorporated · 1 month

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Listen....idk if the live-action will get this far but...the scene when Azula cries after Katara traps her is very important.

Its the moment when we as the audience are reminded very harshly, she is a child too.

And I think its a brilliant moment. I remember being a kid and HATING Azula before that moment. She played dirty and almost killed Zuko. She hurt so many people already. I was such a dramatic kid but I remember when Katara freezes them and I legit thought for a second that Azula was dead and remember feeling like...good. that's what she deserves.

And then she startd crying. Not even. She's wailing and its a very grim reminder that colonialism, facism, these systems of oppression, they only truly serve themselves and to perpetuate themselves in the end, even at the expense of the people dedicated to them.

I remember watching that scene for the first time and crying. Because Azula was a kid just like me. And she was wailing and thrashing and i think that moment really stuck with me because...I could relate to her. I couldn't escape in to my feelings of righteous anger. Even as a kid. Atla did not pull that punch.

#atla #atla finale

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fanfic-lover-girl · 6 months

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Question About Sozin's Comet

How did Ozai, Azula and Zuko fight so well in the finale?

This question came to mind when I was watching the final agni kai again. Azula shot blasts at Zuko and his reaction was to use fire to launch himself into the air. But why?? From my understanding, fighting moves are based on muscle memory and instincts. I don't recall Zuko doing something similar in previous fights. He did not have the power to pull off a similar move.

Ozai's flying is not hard to imagine since we see Azula do a more basic form in the Boiling Rock episode.

But how were they able to control themselves so well (besides the plot of course)? It should be similar to wielding a sword. You are used to fighting with a weapon with a certain weight distribution. If the blade becomes lighter, it may be easier to swing but your balance is off. Given the magnitude of the comet boost, I am kind of surprised that they had so much control without any initial hiccups.

It's not a big deal because the power boost makes the fights epic but just wondering.

Although I imagine Ozai underestimating his power and zooming past Aang into a rock formation at the beginning of the fight lol. But that would be too comedic for the boss fight of the series.

#final agni kai #atla azula #atla zuko #atla sozin's comet #atla finale #zuko vs azula #atla ozai #atla #plot reasons #firebending #aang vs ozai

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geekinator · 1 year

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Unpopular Opinion Forthcoming

The end of ATLA makes perfect sense and I love it.

The rock:

The rock was in the right place at the right time. Period. That’s not a bad thing. People like to call this bad writing, but the entire end of the series was all about destiny. Everything fell into place just like it should. It was a great moment and I personally loved it.

Spirit Bending:

It’s a show steeped in spirituality. A powerful spiritual being was called to Aang because he was in a spiritual crisis. Aang had said moments before he discovered where he was and conversed with the lion turtle that he was going to have to kill Ozai, and he meant it. Furthermore, he was only given the ability. He did not have to use it. He could still have chosen to kill Ozai. He almost did. But he chose not to. I agree with that choice, because he got to stay true to himself. Just because he’s the Avatar doesn’t mean he has to go against his beliefs. He would have if he had to. I have no doubt of that. But because of who he is and his desires to do what he believes is right (I’m not sure how not wanting to kill people is a bad thing anyways), he was given an alternative. It’s a sign of who he is as a person, as is also evidenced by the fact that he succeeded. He risked everything and proved his inner strength, which I believe is more important than the ability to take a life.

There you have it. That’s my unpopular opinion. I love the end of ATLA and I’ll die on that hill.

#atla #Aang #unpopular atla opinion #unpopular opinion #unpopular take #avatar aang #lion turtle #ATLA finale #Ozai

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ara-line · 1 year

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Since the OG scripts were found.....

I wonder if they were actually going to have Aang give up Katara in the finale to get to the Avatar state. It feels that way to me with how the script refers to what we got in the final as 'chi-bending nonsense.' If Bryke chose to sacrifice a more satisfying ending just so Kataang could be canon, then wow, that is shitty on their part. They really were fine with insulting their audience's intelligence just so they could have their desired ship.

Edit: The kids would've been fine if Kataang wasn't a thing. Even my 11 year old sister could tell how motherly Katara is toward Aang. Kids are smarter than people give them credit for.

#bryke critical #anti kataang #atla critical #atla original scripts #atla finale #atla meta

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maifandom · 9 months

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Fifteen Years Later...

15 years ago today, ATLA's finale aired. In commemoration, I dredged up my initial reaction to the finale, which I posted in the shipping thread of ye olde AvatarSpirit.net's forum. Consequently it's very shipping-focused and includes a billion portmanteaus. But it's the closest thing I have to a liveblog for ATLA, and I love nostalgia.

A little context, first. I found Avatar through Zutara fanart at the end of 2007 and caught up on all the existing episodes in probably January 2008? Disappointed that Kataang was so obvious, I turned to Sokka ships and decided I liked Tokka best. I lurked in the fandom for a few months, joined the forum shortly before everyone found out that the Boiling Rock was going to get a DVD release on May 6, two months before it actually aired on TV. I spent a lot of downtime debating the merits of Tokka and making predictions about the show based on random commercials and then the finale trailer. On the shipping side of things, my reaction was kinda negative. I was increasingly disappointed leading up to the finale. Don't worry, it gets better.

Brackets indicate present day edits or comments.

[Begin finale reaction]

OH MAN, WHERE TO START? [...] I guess I'll start from the beginning.

Zumo! ♥

Harutara, ahahahaha.

Nylappa! ♥♥♥ (Ahahaha.)

Irko reunion! ;_; Oh man, I cried. xD

Maiko reunion. xD Seriously, Zuko's eyes. Zudorko. ♥

Okay, I guess it's time for Sutokka stuff, right?

Sukka... were practically glued together. Seriously. And I'm sorry, much as I try to be unbiased, I just really didn't like it. D: There were moments. Mere moments, like back before I had a particular bias. I don't truly dislike it, but when it's so constant and final it's hard to ignore.

It made Tokka moments hard to come by. Or in fact, many other character interactions. Sokka was seriously obsessed. @_@

Did anyone else notice the only time we got Tokka moments was when they were separated from Suki? Dx Aside from the Tokka hand-leading seconds previous. I dunno. I suppose I should be thankful that they made a point of including Tokka. But much as I ADORE this scene:

[Image - probably Sokka covering Toph from debris]

*Insert fangirl scream that gets cut off*

...well it didn't really lead to anything else. ;_;

See, I wanted angst! And drama! And depth! And at least someone acknowledging it. ANYONE.

Frankly, I hated the apparent Toph x everyone-ness. [Zuko, The Duke, and...?] I'm fine with those ships. In fact, I ship more than one of them. But when they're all there? That just says Toph is fickle or childish, to me. D:

I would have liked it better if Tokka was never a romantic ship. Or if we were shown Toph was boy-crazy from the beginning -- with Taang, or some random one-shot character. Why did they save it all for the finale?

But I don't think that's necessarily what's happening. (Reminder to self: don't listen to every conclusion the fandom comes to. >.>) In which case, we still have Tokka disappearing as if it never happened, and Toph doesn't care one iota.

Apparently I came in at just the right time to stew in all the Tokkaness, come to all these conclusions, and then have pretty much everything I ever thought about Tokka or Sutokka be completely undermined. :P

I get the sense that M & B were looking over my shoulder at the things I listed that I didn't want to happen with Tokka, and thought it was a recommendation. :P

However, much as I must seem to be ranting, I'm far more apathetic than angry. Some of that fan depression I had after I watched EIP -- I got this sense I lost my favorite characters, because what I thought was there no longer was. D: [Particularly the way Sokka is characterized, since he's my favorite.]

So, oddly enough, the Sutokka plotline was probably the one I was least interested in, except in with glimmers of hope that those characters I loved might come back. (And they did. Some.)

But, oh man, you should have heard my breathing when Toph got in her metal armor. :P Sutokka got some of the best action EVER.

Wait a second. Pretty much EVERY moment in the finale that had action in it was better than everything else in the whole series. Where can I begin?

[I rambled about staying on topic.]

Except... Crazula? Seriously, I can't say enough how astdirl,dtbmortsnehjAMAZING Crazula was. AZULA, where did you GO? ;_;

And the Kazuko [platonic Zutara] was better. :D

Okay, I'm still not done.

Kataang?

Yeah, it's okay. (Best in EIP.) [Eh???]

Remember the Kataang commercial?

"I won't let him fight alone?" :P

I find it highly ironic that Katara was on ANOTHER CONTINENT THE WHOLE TIME.

Heh. Oh, well. I'll just pretend there's a little extra Kataang in there more along the lines of EIP. ^_^ And then I might be able to say I officially like Kataang, or something.

[End finale reaction]

Years later, I'm rather bemused by some of my thoughts. My disappointment in Tokka makes sense, since they would be so awesome. :P During ATLA, I assumed that shipping details were done very purposefully and would lead somewhere, even if it was just a character arc. After watching LOK, I came to understand better how the writers used shipping more for fun, especially with secondary characters. Part of the magic of shipping or just being in a fandom in general is the fans' imagination. I've been (more or less) happy to continue Tokka using my imagination. I can even imagine contradictory scenarios - angsty, happily ever after, silly, serious - so it really doesn't matter what happened in canon after ATLA.

I don't think Toph was boy crazy, but I do think Sokka will forever care about her well-being. Nowadays Sokka, Suki, and Toph's side plot might be my favorite plotline in the last two episodes, but it's really hard to choose. The Agni Kai is beautiful, the Old Masters are powerful, and Aang's battle against Ozai is intense and important.

My original thoughts on Kataang are really weird to me now. I think I finally warmed up to them a couple years later. I'm not sure what I thought was so good about them in EIP - maybe the fact they actually talked a bit about their relationship? But watching Aang kiss her prematurely is so cringy to me now, and like many I would have liked some sort of interaction before they kissed in the final moments. But I can enjoy it now!

I might dredge up more old posts from the days of great debates, or try to find my first impressions of a few more episodes. (I know I've always loved the Boiling Rock.) Let me know if that's of interest!

In other news, Kataang week is next week, and I am plotting to participate for once.

Now... back to drawing!

#ATLA #Avatar #Tokka #Kataang #ATLA Anniversary #ATLA finale #AvatarSpirit.net #me #nostalgia

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dapperenby13 · 9 months

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Color practice with Azula

#my art #fanart #princess azula #atla finale #atla #colored sketch #color practice

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aakiwa · 20 days

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So embarrassing but I’m having a zukka moment rn

Also Azula + Sokka bffs bcs if she got the therapy she deserves I’m telling u their brains together wud be unbeatable

(Ugh I keep flipping Sokka’s scars forgive me)

#fanart #art #illustration #zuko #zukka #sokka #atla #avatar the last airbender #azula #read this gorgeous fucking FIC AND AZULA’S REDEMPTION?? ATEEEEE SOKKA AND AZULA’S FRIENDSHIP??? ATEEEE #IT IS BURNED INTO MY BRAIN #IF I DIDNT HAVE FINALS ID BE PUMPING OUT ART LIKE NO TMRW #THAT FIC CAN TAKE MY SOULL #AND IT WAS ZUKKA SO LIKE FUCKKKK YEAH #sokka & azula

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fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma · 6 months

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Zuko’s swt visits throughout their relationship :)

#zukka #zuko x sokka #atla #zukka fanart #atla fanart #swt zukka #I’m just….#I’m so soft for them u guys 😭#this is the progression of their hugs into a kiss when they finally Get Their Shit Together #you’ve probably noticed how often I draw them hugging + in the SWT #but like…. I can’t help it #it’s just my favourite concept

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itscuriosu · 9 days

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my first girlfriend turned into the moon🌕

sokka finally joins my ATLA series! you can view the rest of my atla series below⬇️

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starlight-bread-blog · 1 month

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If Aang had accepted his role as the Avatar, he might not have had to leave Gyatso.

But he didn't. He ran away. And when he woke up, he saw the exact consequences of that. He won't do it again. It was hard, really, really hard, but when it came down to it, he had accepted his duty to kill the Fire Lord.

And then he didn't have to. Funny how things worked out, isn't it? He just has to keep moving forward.

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toxicshipsincorporated · 1 year

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the way Aang fights Ozai in the Avatar State is so fucking brutal. But the Avatar Spirit probably had a real bone to pick with Ozai's line. Sozin had all but murdered Roku, they committed genocide against the Air Nomads, tried to do the same to the Waterbending Tribes. They ravaged the Earth Kingdoms with invasion and war for a hundred years. Over the course of three generations, Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin destroyed the balance of the world that the Avatars had lived and died to protect time after time. I'm sure they were all fucking ACHING to take a swing at Ozai.

#atla #atla finale

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yourhighness6 · 25 days

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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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arabian-batboy · 1 year

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Don’t play with me now, this better be for real-

#they FINALLY made the right choice #logic wins #although I really hope this isn't him here #and its just a random guy from the Earth Kingdom #because I'm not feeling this design #he looks like a background character in that Metal clan #Zaofu?#or one of Kuvira's goons #but I'm willing to overlook it as long as they don't make him a basic stereotypical Earth-bending Muscle-head #if you watched the show you would know what I'm talking about #Avatar #LOK #ATLA

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mugentakeda · 2 months

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couldnt stop thinking about this idea i had of lu tens spirit being tethered to his medal that zuko gave iroh at his funeral so hes now cursed to have a front row seat to all their life-threatening shenanigans without actually being able to do anything about it so hes the most stressed guardian spirit of all time

#not even being able to finally chill in the afterlife after dying brutally would definitely happen to an eldest sibling i feel like #i always find ways to insert my beautiful lovely oc lu ten (joke) into everything. but this time i dont really have to try hard thank god #ALSO I THINK IM GETTING THE HAND OF DRAWING NATLA IROH... AMEN #iroh #zuko #lu ten #netflix avatar #natla #avatar the last airbender #atla #alicias art

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junotter · 8 days

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My redesigns for aged up gaang

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