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yandere-avatar · 3 months

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My Jealousy, Jealousy Started Following Me

Characters: Avatar Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Zuko, Toph Beifong, Ty Lee, Avatar Korra, Asami Sato, Tenzin, Kya II, Lin Beifong, Suyin Beifong, Opal Beifong [Might do another with Azula, Mako, Bolin, and Kuvira if yall want] Had this in the drafts for a while. Just had to finish it up. Holy shit this took forever. Kept debating if it was worth it...

Avatar Aang

Aang likes to think he doesn't get jealous

He's calm and collective

But that all changed when one of the girls at Toph's Metal Bending Academy tried hitting you up

He likes to give them the benefit of the doubt and thinks maybe they don't know you're both dating

"Hey Babe! Come look at this sculpture Toph made!" [He'll call you nonchantly, hoping they'll get the hint]

But when the other person also walks over, still flirting with you, that's when he gets angry

He'd want to confront them, but honestly he's to nice for that

He might ask Katara for help

Katara will tell you how Aang feels

You'll confront Aang, but he'll pretend he doesn't know what you're talking about

"You know, you can tell me, Aang. You trust me, right?"

He'll sigh and admit and you'll comfort him, even confiding in him that sometimes you get jealous when people hit on him

Katara

HAHAHAHA

Oh, I really feel bad for whoever is flirting with you

Katara is a very jealous woman

She doesn't like people taking what's hers

She might lightly bend them, but she'll do it nonchalantly

She'll justify it by saying that it's not a big deal and you're blowing it out of proportions

She gets really frustrated with herself, because she hates this feeling

She's very powerful, so she's not someone you want to mess with

She gets irritated and will roll her eyes as someone tries to flirt with you

Very passive aggressive

You better be prepared for a fight

Sokka

He's so confused

Did that person not know you were taken?

He already has insecurities, so this doesn't help

He knows you're great, one of the MANY things he likes about you, so of course people would want your attention, but the point still stands

He'll probably do something stupid to get your attention

It's rather ridiculous

You'll look away from the person flirting with you to see your boyfriend about to get hurt

"Hey, I have to leave, my boyfriend is about to get himself killed"

Suki

She's very confident, so she's not worried about this person at all

Though, she is annoyed, because who did that person think they were?

She will probably call your attention to her and do something to impress you, so you focus on her

She smiles when seeing you turn your attention away from them [Flirter]

It's a huge win for her

There is a slight part of her that is insecure because she sees you as incredible and she knows other people see it too

What if you end up leaving her? It really bothers her

So she's always doing crazy stuff to impress you so you never leave

Zuko

Probably the easiest to anger and get jealous

He has no control over his emotions what so ever

He WILL start a fight with the guy hitting on you

He does NOT care who they are or what was say, he's going to put them in their place

But before he does that, he'll express to you that he's upset, but you think it's nothing

He tries to win your affection by beating that guy up

You're just annoyed because you think he overreacted. He says he didn't [He did]

Will gaslight you, saying it's your fault

"Why were you even talking to him!?"

He's so angry and he'll break the closest thing to him

He wants to control his anger, but you really bring out this side of him. He makes sure you know it too, because he tells you

So, when he's done throwing this temper tantrum, you both leave the party; Mad af

You're mad that the party and good vibe was ruined and he's mad that you're mad, because he was just trying to get that dude away from you

Toph Beifong

She can feel the other person's heart beat pick up as they continue to hit on you

She's annoyed, but doesn't know how to express it healthily

She might use her bending to push that person away from you

She'll give them a show, so that they can have something to talk about

Might even crush them

The thought makes her smirk

She'll send little earthquakes to the person

Treated thems like a ball and and bounces them with the earth, without making it obvious

She'll forget about it when you come over to her and talk to her

Ty Lee

She's the least likely to get jealous because she's also a player

Though she does get upset when seeing that you're uncomfortable

She'll glare and excuse herself from whatever conversation she's in, even if it's with Azula, and walks over to where you are

Her tactic is to come in hot, just like the person flirting with you

She'll aggressively flirt with them to try and make them uncomfortable

But if that doesn't work, she'll be very direct and say that you're together and that they need to stop

They'll think it's a joke but Ty Lee is dead serious

She's willing to fight them if it comes to that

She might also grab your hand and drag you away, if you ask her not to make a scene

She'll keep an eye on you for the rest of the night

Avatar Korra

Korra gets extremely jealous

If someone even LOOKS at you in a way she doesn't like, she'll get angry

She's possessive over the things that are hers

Anyone approaches her and they are pushed into the wall

She's pissed and can't control her bending

She'll apologize to the person she hurt, but she doesn't really mean it. She's still focused on you

You're HERs, so why are they talking to you

Everyone knows you belong to the Avatar, so why even try?

She's thinking of all the ways she could kill them

It kind of makes her feel a little better, but not much

She is slightly insecure though, because what if you do like them better than her? No, you can't... You just can't like them more

Asami Sato

She'll roll her eyes and glare at them

They've got some balls talking to you, everyone knows you have a girlfriend, so why is that person flirting w/ you ??

She'll come strutting over & flip her hair

"Who's this babe?"

She's smiling, but anyone with eyes can see that's not true

Man if looks could kill

You tell her that they were telling you about some acomplishment they achieved

"Oh, did you tell them how we work with the Avatar and have saved the world?"

She's deadass going to shove her accomplishments in their face

She's so pretty too so she knows that they don't stand a chance

She's already won this fight, so they might as well give up

Tenzin

Haha? Him? Jealous? No of course not-

Okay, he's extremely jealous, but it doesn't show at all

He has mad stern resting face- No emotions

But inside he's steaming

You probably have a little bit of an age gap, so he's worried you'll leave him for someone your age

[But you've liked Tenzin for a long time, so you weren't letting him go anytime soon]

He's trying to preoccupy his attention

Though, it's not working

He can't get it off his mind

Will definitely start a fight over it later

Kya

She's confused. Why is someone flirting with you?

She's not insecure, just annoyed

Because who the hell did they think they were? Did they not know you were taken. No, they had to have known

She's pretty easygoing, so she won't act irrationally

Instead, she'll continue doing her thing and allowing you to do your own thing, because you're your own human being

She'll probably bring it up, like... offhandly, so you don't get suspicious

"Hey, who was the person you were talking to? You know, the one who had talked to Tenzin?"

You don't even think about it and are like "Oh! Yeah, they were so annoying. I think they were trying to hit on me."

She laughs it off, but she's not happy

Thankfully, you complain about it, annoyed af

Lin Beifong

We know how she acts when she's broken up with [Hence her destroying ATI]

Try her and see what happens

She's a cop and she's willing to play dirty and arrest the person or frame them for a crime

She's going to ruin their life

And she doesn't even care if it destroys that person

The only person she cares about is you

She wants to hurt them

And she will stop at no means necessary to make sure it doesn't ever happen again

Suyin Beifong

She, like her daughter, is passive aggressive

She'll glare and crush whatever is in her hand

She'll fantasize about all the ways she would kill the person flirting with you

She wants for it not to bother her, but it really does

Maybe because there is a part of her that is scared you'll leave her [Like Tenzin did to her sister]

She'll take a deep breath, before smiling, and approaching you

She'll try and join the conversation, but the person who was hitting on you cuts them off and pushes her out of the conversation

She gets pissed

How dare they do that to her

She wants to throw hands with them, but holds herself together

She'll grab your hand, capturing your attention

"Yeah?"

She then tells you she wants to go back home

Opal Beifong

She feels very strongly about you and doesn't know what to feel when seeing someone flirt with you so openly

She knows it's not your fault, but god does she hate watching it

Though with her outgoing nature, she'd walk up and join the conversation, switching it to what she wants

She's easy going, so she doesn't really exhibit jealousy, because she goes with the flow

Though if you look closely, you can see her eye twitch and her mouth frown ever so lightly

She's quite passive aggressive and can be quite mean with her words

#yandere aang #yandere avatar the last airbender #yandere the legend of korra #yandere tlok #yandere atla #yandere korra #yandere asami #yandere beifong #yandere kya #yandere kya x reader #yandere avatar x reader #yandere avatar #yandere aang x reader #yandere katara #yandere sokka

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cecilysobsessions · 1 year

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DESTINY (m.) | zuko

↬ fem!reader, protector!reader & protected!zuko

↬ genre: fluff / smut

↬ one bed trope, reader & zuko are adults (i am not writing no minors), fake dating for like one second, suggestive language, mild swearing, awkward cannon zuko, submissive zuko, typos but pretend you didn’t see them

↬ word count: 6k

↬ summary: you are hired as fire lord zuko’s personal bodyguard. being the stubborn man he is, he doubts that you can protect him. you’re going to prove him wrong.

↬ a/n: i was upset i couldn’t find any sub!zuko fics so i said screw it and wrote one myself.

m.list

Destiny is a funny thing. And, of course, Fire Lord Zuko knows all about it. After firmly believing for so long that his destiny was to kill the Avatar, the world threw him a curve ball and he ended up joining the Avatar’s team to defeat his own father.

So when his palace staff appoints you, an experienced assassin, as his personal bodyguard, he rolls his eyes at your stupid destiny that just so happened to intertwine with his.

When he became the Fire Lord, Azula almost immediately tried to get rid of him so that she could steal the throne by hiring you to kill him. Of course, she would have done it herself if she weren’t thrown into an asylum after their Agni Kai. However, after one of his staff overheard the conversation between you and his sister, they offered you twice as much payment as Azula did, and you couldn’t refuse the offer. Besides, what was Azula going to do? At this point she had already been taken away.

Although it seems shallow and a low blow to betray Azula because of money, you had to do what you had to do to get by. Growing up an orphan on the streets wasn’t always so good on you financially. You discovered you had a talent for stealing things for money, and even though you weren’t proud of it, it was the only way to survive. After running into some gang members who had heard about your talent, you began to work for them. Eventually you went from stealing for money to killing for it. Although it was not the life you wanted, it was the life you lived.

So how did you end up coming to the royal palace as Zuko’s personal bodyguard with questionable work experience and blood on your hands? Simply put, you were skilled. As one of the few fire benders known to use lighting, you were pretty good at it. Being able to both generate and redirect it impressed those around you, and word went around with some saying you were even better at it than Azula.

•••

“A bodyguard? I’m not a child; I don’t need protection.” Zuko rolled his eyes, his voice echoing through the large meeting room.

“Nobody said you were a child,” his advisor clarified, his voice filled with anxiety. Zuko always had a short temper.

“I can protect myself just fine. Besides, what will people think if they see the new Fire Lord with a body guard stuck to my side all the time? They’ll think I can’t handle myself.” Zuko was offended that his staff thought he needed a personal bodyguard to be near him 24/7. Sure, he was young, but he is capable. He rolled back his shoulders in an attempt to calm himself as he tried to explain his thought process. He has never been good with words, and he was already losing his patience.

“No, the people will know that you are taking your job seriously. And besides, we found an excellent fire bender that is able to both generate and redirect lighting! She’s excellent, and—”

“You already hired one without asking me first?!” Zuko cut off his advisor abruptly, his loud and stern voice rising along with the wall of fire in the room. He was already fired up and upset at the thought of having a personal guard, but the fact that his staff had already hired one without telling him first set him off.

“Please, think about this.” his advisor’s calm and collected voice soothed his rising anger a bit. “As your staff, we are dedicated to protecting you and making sure you are safe at all times. The girl is a strong and smart bender and might even be able to teach you some things. Please, give her a chance and reconsider.” his advisor lowered his head in obedience and hoped for an answer.

After a moment of silence, with the only sound being the low flames in the room, Zuko took a deep breath and spoke. “Fine, but let me test her first. If I am able to knock her down, she leaves and you’re not allowed to hire a new one.”

•••

“He wants to fight me? Zuko?” you let out a fake laugh filled with arrogance as you stared down at his advisor.

“Fire Lord Zuko,” he corrected you. “And well, yes. He is against the idea of having a personal bodyguard and the only way he will accept it is if you are able to fight him and not be knocked down.” the man explained, gesturing to the training courtyard outside the hallway window in the palace.

You followed his eyes and focused in on the former prince in the courtyard, eyeing his grown out hair. While you understood that Zuko wanted to make sure you were as good as his advisor said you were, you found it ridiculous. As far as you knew, he was constantly being bested by his younger sister. Although you weren’t as good a bender as his sister, you knew for sure you were better than him.

“Alright,” you shrugged as you began to make your way to the courtyard, his advisor following your steps. “Whatever makes him feel better. Wanna bet I can knock him down in sixty seconds?” a smirk grew on your face. You were not cocky in your ability, but confident. If you were being honest, you could probably knock him down in thirty seconds.

“I’m sure you can, but I’m not betting with you on whether or not you can knock the Fire Lord down in a minute. That’s inappropriate!” his advisor shushed you.

•••

Although you had seen the man from afar, you never realized how short Zuko was. You were almost taller than him (not that it mattered, it just made you feel superior when you were taller than men).

“Your royal majesty,” you sarcastically greeted, your deep and exaggerated bow earned you a scowl from the Fire Lord. You were unsure of why you had chosen your first words to Zuko to be sarcastic and cocky, but you knew you wanted to show that you were a capable bender and not some little girl who knew how to throw a fireball.

“Your bending better not be as horrible as your attitude,” he stared into your eyes, unamused at what you thought would be taken as a joke. “Let’s get this over with. Try and knock me down, if you can, and I’ll reconsider having you protect me.” you might have imagined it, but it seemed like Zuko didn’t believe you could beat him. You smirked, excited to prove to the royal that he was wrong and you are in fact the better bender.

“Aw, you think I can’t knock you down. That’s cute.” you winked, distancing yourself from him and taking a fighting stance, readying yourself. “Well your majesty, I’m ready when you are. Take the first move too, I’ll let you have that.”

Zuko clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Only because I want to get this over with,” he widened his feet and took a stance, his arm coming down to shoot fire at the ground, coming towards your feet.

As he shot his first move, you took a deep breath, rolling your eyes to show him what you thought of his predictable and easy to avoid move. Avoiding it simply, you punched the air, sending red flames towards him. But what he didn’t know was what you were going to do next. Distracted by your punch of fire, you quickly generated lighting through your fingertips, taking a deep breath before you aggressively pointed your hand towards where he was standing, making sure to miss him on purpose. As quickly as you sent the first shot of fire, Zuko saw a large lighting strike heading his way. Too slow to react and try to redirect it, your strike burned the spot on the ground next to him, the blackened spot on the ground inches from where he stood.

“How,” he started in disbelief. “How did you generate lighting so fast?” his eyes widened as he looked at you. Still in shock from how quickly you created lighting and nearly killed him, you moved quickly, running towards him and jumping in the air and sending multiple strikes of fire at him through your hands. Still focused on how you created lighting through your fingertips with such speed, he held his arms up to block you. His attempt was sloppy and weak, and you knocked him down to the ground and stood over him.

Zuko grunted, sitting up quickly and looking through the bright rays of sun blocking his view of you. “No way,” his hand came up to shield his eyes from the sun rays.

“How long did that take me? Definitely less than a minute, right, Mr. Advisor?” you hollered over at the staff who was standing off to the side. You crossed your arms and stared down at the royal man below you.

“You lasted less than a minute in this fight and I barely tried. Hopefully you’re not like that in the bedroom, Fire Lord Zuko.” you smiled down at him crookedly, a laugh escaping your lips as you started to walk off. “I’ll see you when I officially begin tomorrow, sir.” you bowed once again exaggeratedly. You couldn’t help but beam, you already knew you were going to win, but you didn’t expect to feel this good. Zuko was a handsome and talented fire bender, so something about beating him at something he is good at made you smile.

•••

It has been three years since you began to work for Zuko and he has learned three things in those three years.

One. You never refer to him using his title as you should be doing because you apparently hate all “royal blooded bitches” as you say. But if Zuko was being honest with himself, he was pretty sure it was just because you simply didn’t want to. The staff around you always shot you looks when you yelled out his first name to grab his attention, but you never cared. He admired that about you. You didn’t care what other people thought of you, something Zuko himself always struggled with.

Two. You were an absolute thug. What did he expect? You’re an orphan with a criminal background and a couple bodies on your list of people you’ve killed. Past Zuko would’ve thought you were some low life peasant, but that’s not what he thought of you at all. With a questionable past himself, he knew not to judge you for your past actions and choices. After all, some of his own past choices were questionable.

Three. You wear your heart on your sleeve and have a massive crush on him. So naturally, you make it known. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of relationship experience, or experience with women in general, Zuko never knew how to respond to anything you ever said to him that was even the tiniest bit flirtatious. After the breakup with his ex Mai, he had told himself to focus on his people and to stay out of relationships. When you first made it known to him that you fancied him, he thought you were joking.

“So, Zuko,” you had begun while escorting him to a meeting. “People are asking if you’re courting anyone. You’ll need a Queen soon.”

“I’m not interested in that right now,” he sternly told you. “And besides, nobody’s interested in me at the moment.”

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I am.”

Zuko shook his head, pushing away the past conversation that confused him because did you actually like him and were you just casually confessing your feelings out of nowhere? Or did you only say all that because you pitied him?

She flirts with every guy here, he told himself (not true, but telling himself that helped convince him that you did not in fact like him even though you did and expressed that on multiple occasions). There was just no way you could ever like someone like him. He was easily upset, always busy with his royal duties, and only had one eyebrow. Literally. The scar his father gave him convinced him that he wasn’t handsome or in any way attractive. Who would ever want to love someone with a scarred face?

“Zuko,” you barged into his quarters, shutting the door behind you as you interrupted his inner thoughts. “Are you ready?” you stood there, feet firmly planted on the ground like you didn’t intend on going anywhere.

“Do you not know how to knock?” he stood and looked at you, gesturing to his small luggage sitting on his bed. “I’m ready.”

The two of you were going on a secret mission (actually it was just him and technically you were just coming along to protect him) to spy on an unknown enemy of Zuko’s, most likely someone who did not want him on the throne. He had wanted to do it himself, saying that he needed to get a good look at the person who wanted to dethrone him.

“Just because I’m your bodyguard, that doesn’t mean I’m also your servant,” you eyed his belongings. “Carry your own shit.”

•••

You and Zuko quietly arrived near the location in a close forest of the unknown person who was apparently planning to rebel and dethrone Zuko. Tightening your hood, you created a small flame in your hand and searched around for any sign of danger. It was midnight and the two of you were planning to camp here for the night before resuming the mission in the morning to search for the unknown person.

“Stay close to me,” you instructed in a whisper.

“I know that.”

“Then come closer to me, idiot.” you aggressively grabbed onto his sleeve, yanking him closer to you as you quietly stepped around the area of trees.

“Ow, can you please be gentle?!” he complained, attempting to pull away from your gorilla grip but failing.

“Zuko, shut the fuck up.” you warned.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“One more word and I’ll burn the shit out of you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh yeah? Then—” in the middle of your banter with the Fire Lord, you saw a flame heading towards the two of you. Reacting quickly, you pushed Zuko behind your back and pushed away the flame with your hands before throwing a punch and firebending towards the threat.

“Who’s there? One step and I’ll burn you,” you threatened, eyes frantically searching the dark for a sign of life.

You felt Zuko behind you, chest pressed up against your back and heart rapidly beating against your body. He was nervous and scared and if you didn’t feel his panicked heartbeat, you wouldn’t know. You had to get out of there.

“Relax little girl, I only want what’s in that satchel.” you heard a gruff voice that came from a few feet in front of you. Zuko gripped the satchel around his body, debating if he wanted to just give it up to the intruder or help you fight him.

“You want it? Come and get it,” Zuko taunted, standing in front of you and kicking a flame towards the mysterious man.

“Zuko!” you warned. “Get behind me!”

“You might be my bodyguard, but I don’t always need your protection.” He spoke with determination in his voice as he stood firmly, his hands in the air and ready to firebend at any second.

“Your bodyguard is a woman?” the mysterious man cackled, jumping out of the dark and attacking Zuko with fire.

“Yeah, and what about it?” he shot back, easily defending himself against the wannabe thief. You stepped back, wanting to see how Zuko would protect himself. They began to fight close up, engaging in hand to hand combat, which you knew Zuko was good at. You had seen him at times training and were impressed. He easily overpowers the man, knocking him out with a swift kick and turns back to you, the unconscious man laying on the ground.

“If that were me, I would’ve beat you.” you commented.

“I know,” he responded, searching the man for any weapons. After patting him down, he takes a knife from the man’s pockets.

“That was hot,” you said, winking at him in the dark and hoping he’d see it. You grabbed the knife from him and started walking.

Apparently he didn’t see the wink. Wonder why. “Well yeah, fire is hot.” Zuko responded.

You did a mental facepalm. “I know fire is hot, you dumbass. I was talking about you being able to defend yourself. That was hot.” you repeated. How many times would you have to hit on this guy for him to understand you liked him?

“Oh…” he trailed off, unable to form his confusion into words. Why would you find that hot?

You sensed he didn’t know what to say, so you spoke first. “Let’s go to a nearby village and hope that we can find a place to stay there. It’s too dangerous to be out in the woods.

•••

Luckily the two of you wandered into a village not too far from the forest, and were able to find an elderly couple kind enough to house the two of you for the night.

“It’s so late, a young couple like the two of you shouldn’t be out and about at this hour.” the woman lectured after seeing the two of you walking down the street and hurrying you in her home.

Zuko wanted to correct the woman. “We’re not a cou—”

“Thank you for your kind hospitality. We really appreciate it. We were a little lost on our way and are traveling.” you cut him off abruptly and offered a kind smile to the lady. You grabbed his arm, squeezing it aggressively as a warning to shut up.

After showing you to their guest room, Zuko lit the only candle in the room, the low lighting barely bouncing off his porcelain skin.

“Why did you let her think that we’re a couple?” Zuko questioned, shutting the door behind him.

“Are you stupid? It’ll be suspicious if we tell her we’re just two people traveling together. It’s easier to just pretend we’re a couple so no one questions us.” you explained, but secretly you were happy the lady called you guys a couple.

You set your bag down by the door, taking in the small bedroom. There was an open window across from the door, the bright moonlight shining into the room. Other than a dresser and a chair, a small mat that was big enough to fit two people laid in the center of the room. Eyeing the singular mattress, the silence turned into an awkward moment of hesitation between the two of you. While Zuko probably felt awkward, you were happy. The thought of snuggling up to him claiming you’re cold as an excuse to be close to him crossed your mind. You were secretly excited.

“So I guess we have no choice but to sleep next to each other,” you started, trying to hide how happy you were feeling.

“What? I’m not going to sleep next to you!” he complained.

“Then where are you sleeping?” you questioned, gesturing to the singular mat. “There’s only one.”

“I’m sleeping on that mat. You can sleep on the chair.” he motioned to the uncomfortable looking chair in the corner.

“What?” there was no way you were going to let him take the mat for himself. “But I’m the woman! You should let me have it.”

He was already pulling out his sleeping bag. “You’re my bodyguard, so sleep on the chair and protect me. A man needs his beauty sleep.”

“Beauty sleep my ass,” you were beginning to grow tired and cranky and laid on the mat next to him. “It’ll be easier to protect you if I’m physically closer to you, don’t you think?”

Zuko’s eyes widened, his eyebrow furrowing in annoyance. “Whatever. Just don’t touch me.” he sighed in defeat, turning his back against you and pulling his blanket up and laying on his side his scar is on.

Your eyes trace the lines of his back muscles that are showing through his thinly made shirt. His shoulders are broad, hair covering his nape. Combing his hair behind him, you get a whiff of his shampoo. You can’t help but stare, even though he isn’t facing you. And suddenly you feel nervous. Too nervous to say anything, too nervous to do anything, too nervous to even breathe. The room is filled with silence, the only faint noise being the single candle in the corner of the room burning. What if you’re breathing too loudly? What if he can hear it? What if he thinks you’re a loud breather?

“No weird pickup line?” Zuko’s voice suddenly breaks the silence and your inner thoughts, his voice soft and low in a careful attempt to not wake the elderly couple.

Has his voice always been laced with such sultry and sexiness? Why was he suddenly making conversation? You thought he wanted to sleep, so why is he asking why you’re not flirting with him? Does he know you’re nervous?

“I thought you wanted to sleep,” a lame excuse, but some part of it was true.

Zuko’s body shifts and he turns on to his other side to face you, laying on his arm as his golden eyes search for yours in the dark. When he finally looks at you, you unintentionally hold your breath. The way he is looking at you makes you nervous. His eyes are staring into yours as if he’s all yours and you’re all his. As if you two are lovers and are sharing an intimate moment of eye contact before a kiss.

“The mattress is a little uncomfortable.” he whispers, his voice small and soft.

Was he already laying this close to you?

A beat of silence passes between the two of you, and his eyes refuse to break contact with yours. “What a spoiled royal,” was the only thing you said, you were feeling a little awkward and unsure of what to say. Normally you felt confident flirting with him, but something about tonight made it feel different.

“Of course you’d say that,” he lets out a small chuckle at your comment, his eyes moving down your body as if he is checking you out.

“You smell nice.” you say after a beat. You don’t know what came over you. Only that you thought it and wanted to say it.

“You’ve always been so straightforward,” he says and you’re not sure if he means that as an insult or compliment. “I admire that about you.”

Zuko admires you? You always thought he didn’t think much of you, but maybe you just thought that way because he never actually voiced his opinion of you.

“These last three years have been different,” he continued. “Good different. Ever since I took the throne I’ve been busy with my duties and haven’t had much time to relax. But spending time with you and getting to know you has been really… great.” Zuko has always been a little awkward, understandable since he often does not speak about his feelings.

“That’s it?” you laugh at his awkwardness. “Just great?”

“I think you’re amazing. Getting to know you has been so fun for me. And I’m starting to feel really comfortable around you. You make me feel safe.”

You make Zuko feel safe? Your heart swells at that compliment. “Well, I would hope so. I’m supposed to keep you safe, too.” you joke, and his eyes light up as he smiles. Or maybe it’s just the candle.

“I’m sorry I doubted your ability to protect me. You are a talented bender and an amazing bodyguard. But I want you to know, I will always be there to protect you, too.” he whispers, voice sweet like honey as he leans closer to you, his eyes moving down to your lips for just a moment before meeting your eyes again.

Zuko is even closer to you now, his face lit up by the moonlight. His tongue peeks out and he licks his bottom lip for a second, wandering eyes flickering down to your lips once again.

“You look beautiful in this light,” you comment, your eyes scanning his features.

“Are you saying I don’t look beautiful in any other light?” he asks, a teasing smile plastered on his face.

“Yeah, you only look this good when it’s almost completely dark and the only source of light is the moon.” he laughs at your response, a low chuckle escaping his lips.

“Can you see my scar?” he asks, insecurity in his voice.

“Yes, and it looks good. Scars build character.” As someone who’s received scars from living out on the streets and constantly getting into fights to rob people, you have a couple scars yourself. Although they may be an imperfection on the skin, all your scars tell a story and are unique to you.

Zuko wonders if you knew that he was feeling insecure about it. He has always been insecure about it since it’s a reminder of what his father did to him, and it’s never helped that he hears people always whispering about it in the palace.

“Do you have any scars?” he asks, unsure if the question is crossing a boundary.

“A couple.”

“Can I… Can I see them?” he anxiously asks you, his voice softer and more submissive. He is afraid you’re going to say no and afraid if you do that it will be awkward.

“Do you just want to see me naked, Zuko? You could’ve just asked.” you tease.

His eyes practically jump out of their sockets. His face flushes and his embarrassment travels down to his neck, red and and feeling even more awkward and nervous than before.

“W-What? That’s not what I meant! I was just—I didn’t mean for it to come off like that! I was only asking that because I’m insecure about my scar and—” Zuko keeps speaking, faster than before and more panicked. You chuckle, amused by how he tries to back himself up. He continues to rant and stutter a bit before you hold up your hand to shush him.

“You know, Zuko, for someone who doesn’t say much, you’re saying an awful lot right now. And you’re not even saying much. You're just rambling on and on.” you lecture, raising an eyebrow to prove your point.

“I’m just a little nervous,” he confesses.

“Why’s that?”

“Because. I can't tell if you’re joking with me when you say the stuff you say.”

“What do I say?”

“You know.”

“No, I don’t. What kind of stuff do I say to you?”

He sighs in frustration. He doesn’t want to say it. “Like, like when you called me hot… earlier.”

“You thought I was talking about the fire.”

“Yes, and then you said that you weren’t.” he says all confused; all you’re doing is trying to get him to stop beating around the bush and be straightforward, but it’s too nerve wracking for him.

“Because I wasn’t.”

“Right,”

“Right.” you agree.

“So, then you said—you said you were talking about me.”

“I did say that.”

“Yeah…” he trails off, unable to form a sentence.

“What’s your point? What are you trying to get at?” you’re teasing him. You know exactly what he wants to ask. You know he wants to ask if you have feelings for him, but he’s too afraid you’ll say no and he’s afraid to make it awkward.

Cute.

“I guess what I’m trying to ask is… if you, maybe, perhaps, possibly…”

“Like you?” you finish his question for him. Because if you don’t, he’ll take all night.

He stops himself from saying anything, face full of uncertainty and confusion. He stares at you, waiting—hoping that you will speak first. You have always led the conversations between the two of you, so now that he has to do it, he is lost and looking for help.

“What do you think?” you ask, turning the question on to him. You want to see what he will say.

“I…” Zuko trails off once more. “I would hope so.” His voice is hushed, low and subtle. If you weren’t listening so closely and weren’t so close to him physically, you wouldn’t have heard him. Through his whispering, he sounds hopeful, almost as if he is asking—begging you to feel something for him.

“You would hope so?” you repeat and he nods in response. “And why is that?”

“Because… I think I would feel upset if you didn’t like me.” he confesses, taking a deep breath. He looks as if he is trying to control his breathing. Is he nervous? Turned on? Or does he just have trouble breathing?

You smirk. “Why would you feel upset, Zuko?”

A faint pout forms on his pretty lips. His eyes droop and he looks like he is about to complain. “Are you really going to make me say it?”

You nod.

“I would feel upset because I like you. I like you more than just my bodyguard. I like you more than just a friend. I like you more than just a talented bender who can take my life with a single lightning bolt. I like you more than you can even imagine.” Zuko finally confesses, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in.

“You like me? More than you like your honor?” you joke; you don’t want him feeling so tense around you.

“Yes. A lot more.”

“Good,” is your only response before you lean in. His lips are warm and soft and inviting. You feel your loud heartbeat through your ears and it feels as if the entire world has paused just for the two of you to kiss.

To him, your kiss is intoxicating yet sweet. Addicting, so addicting he wants more. Zuko has never felt aroused by a simple kiss until now. He tilts his head, hopeful to kiss more of you. He feels himself losing control, his thoughts are wandering yet he is still staying put, his hands to himself because even though he wants more, he doesn’t want to make the first move. You have always led the conversations, so he is hoping you will lead this kiss too. Trying to control his breathing through his nose, he can’t help but moan quietly into your mouth, heat reaching his cheeks in embarrassment. He feels you smirk against his lips, tilting your head to deepen the kiss. Your soft fingertips cup his cheek, gently caressing his scarred skin with a tender love he has never felt before.

His hands hesitantly make their way to your waist, gently wrapping around your middle as he pulls you in closer to him. Zuko presses himself against you, desperate to feel more than just your lips against him. You feel his heart beating hard against your chest, the right grip on your waist firm. He quietly moans against you, slight whimpers being held back as he pushes himself into you, desperate for more. Desperate for something, anything.

“Ah,” he quietly whimpers, his hand grabbing at yours and holding it to his chest. You flex your hand slightly, taking the opportunity to feel his pecs. Someone has been working out. “Please,” he begins. He sounds so desperate; you’ve never heard him like this before, but you like it. “More, I want more. Please, do something.”

Zuko wraps his legs around yours, pushing his hips forward to meet yours, his body desperate for more affection and more friction. He is starting to slip, becoming more and more desperate each passing second. You can feel him through the thin material of his pants, dick hard and pressed up against your body. You take a deep breath in an attempt to calm yourself. Looking into Zuko’s eyes, you can see everything he is feeling in them. Aroused, in love, submissive, and breedable desperate.

“Would you like to see my scars?” you ask, earning a gentle smile from him.

“Only if you would like me to see.”

“I don’t mind.” you smile back, pulling away from him and lifting the blanket. Eyeing the wet spot on his crotch, Zuko quickly pulls part of the blanket onto his lap, embarrassed that you noticed.

“Sorry,” he says shyly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” you grin, sitting up and lifting part of your shirt to expose your lower stomach. “See this?” you ask. Zuko sits up with you and leans in slightly to look at your lower stomach. He can’t tell if you have been stabbed or sliced, but whatever happened, the scar looks deep and painful. “Got it in an assisination mission.”

“It must’ve hurt,” he whispers, his fingertips reaching out towards it. He looks up at you, eyes asking for permission to touch your scar. When you nod, his fingers gently ghost over the imperfection, feeling it slowly.

“Well I killed him, so he was probably in more pain than I was.” you laugh, remembering the man you killed.

“Do you have any more?” His eyes are full of curiosity, eager to learn more about your past and about your body.

“I have one on my thigh,” you tell him.

Zuko eyes your pajama pants. “You don’t have to show me. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Oh, so you don’t want me to take off my pants?” you joke. “I see how it is…”

“No! Of course I would like to see. Please?” he smiles shyly, hoping you’ll say yes.

“Hmm, I don’t know… you don’t seem very desperate to see…”

Zuko shakes his head in defeat, giving into you as he leans in. He kisses your cheek sweetly, his lips slowly moving down towards your neck. “Please,” he whispers. He leaves slow and sweet kisses, his hand coming up to your thigh to caress it. His large hand glides upwards on your thigh, nearing where you want it the most. “Please, show me…” his hand stops, gripping your thigh.

“Since you wanna see that bad, I suppose I could show you.” you begin to unlace your pants.

“You just wanted to see me beg,”

“Well, yes. And it was nice. I quite enjoyed it.” you laugh, kicking off your pants so you’re wearing nothing but your underwear and your top. Zuko looks, stares, admires your beauty. He looks down at the scar, smaller than the one on your stomach, but it still looks painful.

“I got stabbed. Another assassination.”

“Did you end up killing them?”

“Yeah, so no biggie.”

Zuko is quiet, unsure of what he should do. Should he let you talk about it, or should he ask about it? You’re quiet and he doesn’t know if that’s because you want something else, or if you don’t want to talk about it. Unsure, he leans down, his lips leaving a gentle kiss on your scar. At the same time, he eyes your underwear, a wet spot forming where he wants to kiss the most. He looks up, feeling himself grow hard again.

“Even with your scars, you are still beautiful.” he whispers, leaning up to leave a kiss on your lips.

“I know that, Zuko. I never said I didn’t feel beautiful because of my scars.”

“Oh,” he feels so stupid. Why did he assume you felt ugly with all your scars? You were not like him. “Sorry.”

“If you’re so sorry, make it up to me.” you smirk and lift your shirt up, exposing your breasts to him.

His eyes begin to wander, trying to memorize the curve of your breasts and where your scar is on your stomach. Leaning down, he buries his face into your chest. He leaves a gentle kiss on one of your nipples, his hand coming up to massage the other. His entire hand wraps around your breast, squeezing and kneading as he opens his mouth around your nipple, sucking on the skin. He leaves wet kisses as his lips move down on your body, stopping to kiss your stomach scar. Laying you back down, he starts kissing your lower stomach as his fingertips tease the band of your underwear. Your hips jerk up, signaling to him that he needs to do something. Gently pulling your underwear down and off, he crawls between your legs, eager to please you.

You spread your legs, exposing your wetness to his lips. He leans in, tongue carefully licking at you. You let a breath out, tugging on his locks to where you need him the most. He moans, almost more excited than you are and sucks on your clit. When you pull his hair, desperate for him to be tougher, he moans again, his hips grinding against the mattress in an attempt to relieve himself. Zuko pulls away for a second, sitting up in front of you. He pulls at his pants, impatiently yanking them down as he frees himself. His cock springs upwards, and he moans in relief.

“Can I touch myself?” he begs, his voice a whimper as he leans back down, face in between your legs again.

You nod and he leans back into you again, his tongue working at your clit again and sucking on it. One of his hands grips your thigh, slowly making its way to your entrance. His other hand strokes himself, his hips bucking into his own hand as his other hand begins to tease your entrance. You’re practically dripping, hips bucking up into his face as he pushes himself into you. Zuko’s fingers rub at your entrance, a mix of his saliva and your arousal allowing him to push a finger into you. He moans into you, his finger curving as he strokes himself faster. His hips desperately fuck into his hand as his lips desperately suck on to your clit. He moans, excited to please you as he also pleases himself. Feeling him moan and whimper against you and seeing him so desperate for his release he touches himself has you gripping his roots and pulling him into you. Your grip on him is strong and hurts, but arouses him more and his moans begin to grow louder.

“Ngh, fuck,” he pants, his hand stroking his dick. “You taste so good.”

“You’re too loud, Zuko,” it’s late at night and the elderly couple housing the two of you might hear and that would be absolutely mortifying.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it.” he moans again, pulling away to bite down on his lip. His hair has been messed up and there is a blush on his cheeks, his lips wet with your arousal and his saliva.

He leans down again, inserting a second finger and curling them, making you let out a loud moan. You cover your mouth with your other hand as the other one continues to grip his hair. He licks at you in desperation, eager and determined to make you orgasm. His long and thick fingers move in and out of you as he continues sucking at your clit, licking and tasting it as you move your hips towards him faster.

“Ahh,” he whimpers again, moaning against you as you desperately buck your hips upwards, the vibrations of his moans and the sweet sound of his whimpers sending you over the edge. Your legs wrap around his neck and he continues to finger you, his own hips moving faster as he fucks himself. The moans you let out make him move faster, desperate to hear you as he pleasures himself. He shakes, thrusts staggered as he finishes off of your moans and your own orgasm. The only sounds in the room are your heavy breaths and Zuko’s kisses he leaves on your thigh and stomach again, making sure to kiss your scars as well.

“So…” he begins. “Do you like me? Or….”

“What?” you ask, out of breath.

“Well, you never said if you do or not.” he questions, sitting up and reaching for his bag to look for something to clean you up.

“Oh my god,” you laugh, leaning in to kiss him. “I thought it was obvious.”

“It’s not.”

“You’re so clueless,” you smack his head playfully. “Yes, I do. I wasn’t lying the previous times I hinted at it.”

“Good,” he breathes a sigh of relief before kissing you again.

•••

“I told you that you were too loud!” you nag Zuko, angrily shoving his shoulder as the two of of you walk down the road in the middle of the night after being kicked out of the elderly couple’s house.

“Me? You were the one who wouldn’t shut the fuck up!” he rubs his shoulder in an attempt to soothe it. You were much stronger than you looked.

“No stupid, that was you! You were louder than me and got us kicked out! See what you did!” you yelled.

“Oh, shut up! You liked it!” Zuko fires back, rolling his eyes.

••• a/n: bye i didn’t even mean to write smut it j happened 💀

m.list

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princessmotif · 2 months

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it's really interesting to me how you can tell the level of respect azula has for mai, ty lee, and zuko through how she directs them within the confines of the fire nation's expectations of them all.

azula is someone who really values and upholds the fire nation's expectations of conformity, especially in regards to court. she herself plays her part as she's expected to. she plays by the rules her father sets for her, parrots his beliefs, renames omashu "new ozai" for her father, tasks herself with finding the avatar (zuko's fool's errand) and conquering ba sing se (iroh's greatest military failure), and is consequently ultimately hurt and betrayed when her father punishes her despite this by refusing to let her come with him during sozin's comet and giving her a meaningless title to mollify her. to her, playing by the rules that are set out for them within the fire nation, whether spoken or not, is essential, and to not play by them results in punishment. this mindset was already instilled in her before zuko's agni kai, but it was no doubt fully solidified by witnessing her brother pay for his inability to play the role he was assigned as a dutiful son and strong heir.

as a result of this, zuko is the most obvious liability of the fire nation kids in azula's eyes. he has already failed to abide by the rules once and is likely to do so again if she doesn't stop him from doing so. make no mistake, azula does not want zuko to stumble again. she manipulates him into coming home despite his wavering resolve by reminding him of what he could have and what he's always wanted (their father's respect, his honor and birthright restored, the return of a feeling of normalcy/familiarity) because she loves her brother and wants him to play the role he's supposed to successfully. if she didn't love him, she could easily have taken him home as a prisoner like her father wanted her to initially or killed him. i won't even entertain the notion that she brought him home specifically to take the heat if the avatar wasn't really dead; that is a deeply stupid thing for her to do which would result in her judgment and honor being called into serious question as she's the one who vouched that zuko killed the avatar which would be a failure in her role as the dutiful daughter and honorable princess.

so azula appeals to zuko's weaknesses to get him home because she loves him. but she still doesn't respect him because of his prior failings, so she tries to keep him on the straight and narrow within the confines of their roles in the fire nation. she confronts him about visiting their disgraced uncle in prison, tells him his actions could be misconstrued (although she knows exactly how zuko means them; she wants to remind him to play his part or suffer the consequences once more). she shuts him up in war council meetings by speaking over him so that he won't say something that would result in their father punishing him once more. she attempts to prompt him into letting her know if they should be worried about the avatar still, although he doesn't confide in her since he doesn't trust her and instead takes matters into his own hands by hiring combustion man. azula does not threaten to harm zuko herself if he fails in his role; she instead manipulates him with her knowledge of his personality and reminds him of the harm that their father will cause him if he fails.

ty lee is another problem azula thinks she needs to solve. once more, she loves ty lee, but ty lee has shown azula that she is not a reliable person to play her role as she's meant to. azula believes ty lee's failure to be even worse than zuko's, though. zuko said the wrong thing in a war council meeting because he didn't understand the rules; ty lee understood the rules, and she chose to run away anyway. this is not just ty lee being oblivious, but her choosing to intentionally disobey the rules.

so when azula comes to collect ty lee to resume playing her role, azula is initially friendly, perhaps giving ty lee the benefit of the doubt that she might have wised up, but the moment ty lee demonstrates that she is still refusing to play by the rules azula is convinced they all have to play by, azula turns to manipulations and threats of harm to pull ty lee back into line. like with zuko, azula loves ty lee but does not respect her. she knows that ty lee will not play the role society says she must unless azula coerces her into doing so. unlike with zuko, ty lee does not require multiple corrections from azula. the threat of harm once is enough for ty lee to return to her duties. noticeably, ty lee also manipulates azula a lot when she does so, showcasing her awareness of the roles they're all playing and her ability to play with the best of them.

but mai is different from zuko and ty lee. azula both loves and respects mai. yes, azula has to go out of her way to collect mai as well, but mai has moved to omashu with her parents. she never stopped playing her role. azula does not believe mai would ever stop. she respects mai's intelligence in a way she doesn't with zuko and ty lee because mai respects the rules of the game. so azula not only never utilizes threats or manipulation with mai, but she treats mai as almost an equal and allows mai to treat her as an equal. she asks mai to come along with her, and mai agrees. she promotes mai to a position of power above that of her parents, and mai obliges. she says that the trade of bumi for tom-tom is unfair, and mai calls it off. but it's not only when mai plays by the rules of the game that azula respects her and does not threaten or manipulate her to keep her in line. even when mai blatantly disobeys azula's orders, azula allows it. even when mai screams at her during the beach, azula allows it. mai knows that azula will allow it, too. she openly scoffs at the idea of azula lightningbending at her. why? because azula respects mai and her judgment. she sees mai as an equal because mai plays the game as well as azula does, including her moments of rebellion (this is undoubtedly what azula disobeying ozai by bringing zuko home under false pretenses and directly lying to him is, albeit a much higher stake rebellion than mai's refusal to search the sewers).

notably, while azula declares her intent to kill zuko after he commits treason and tells ozai that she lied to him, even when mai and ty lee take the ultimate step out of line with their roles, she doesn't allow them to be executed. i say "allow" here because she's not the fire lord, so it wouldn't be her personal decree to have them executed but rather her father's. they committed high treason. they not only aided and abetted in a prison break and the escape of some of the fire nation's most wanted but physically attacked a member of the royal family and the crown princess at that. this is a crime that's punishable by death, and yet mai and ty lee stay in their cells in boiling rock, seemingly unharmed given mai's unscathed appearance at the end of sozin's comet. ozai would have no reason to not simply execute them, but azula would since she loves them. it's entirely possible, she was on some level holding onto hope that she could coach them back into line again somehow.

but why does she hope to rehabilitate or at least preserve her friends while aiming to kill zuko? it's pretty simple: when zuko failed to play his part he did so in a way that meant azula was punished for having failed in her role as the dutiful daughter and honorable princess because she chose to play a different role that she gained nothing from playing: the role of zuko's sister. so in azula's eyes, zuko went out of his way to not only lapse in his role as the dutiful son and strong heir but to purposefully fail to play the role of her brother in a way he knew would cause her harm. do mai and ty lee also fail to play the roles of her friends while instead revealing their loyalty to someone else entirely when they betray her? yes, but them doing so does not result in ozai's wrath.

#atla #azula #zuko #mai #ty lee #fire hazard siblings

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saijspellhart · 3 months

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Things I liked about the Netflix ATLA and some critiques:

Before you read. Please go watch the series, take off your blinders and keep an open mind. It’s surprisingly good. This review has spoilers.

They reordered some scenes so that emotional moments would have a larger pay off. Like getting to see and experience Aang’s relationship with Monk Gyatsu, and seeing his tribe before it was destroyed. So when he has his breakdown in the air temple with Sokka and Katara later, you really feel and understand his agony.

Azula is introduced earlier, with a story running simultaneously with the Aang’s journey but not involved with his. So she has a chance to be more fleshed out and explored before she becomes a major threat. Only time will tell if this more complicated Azula comes close to the animated one. Big shoes to fill, but not a bad start.

Fire Lord Ozai plays a more sinister and oppressive role. Not a faceless boogeyman anymore. You get to see his machinations and the cruel games he’s playing with his family, and see the emotional abuse that warps them.

Appa is adorable as fuck, and so is Momo. So well animated, such gorgeous care put into them.

Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Roku make more of an appearance. With Kyoshi narrating the prologue. And if you loved the novels you’ll see they incorporated more of Kyoshi and Kuruk’s backstory from the novels than what we saw in the animated cartoon.

The acting was competent, even if a little wonky at times. I found Sokka very endearing, I loved the kid they cast as Aang and you can tell they really tried to find a balance between serious and playful. They didn’t always hit it, but the effort was there.

Zuko was great. I think they nailed him and he had great chemistry with the actor playing Iroh.

King Bumi was great, I love how they made his internal struggles more complex. He wasn’t just a crazy old man anymore. He was a crazy old man who was weary and worn down by the horrors of loss and war. A crazy old man who struggled to reconcile that the best friend he lost is the avatar and wasn’t there for him.

I loved the costume and set design. It was like stepping into the actual world of ATLA. Cities were complex and well constructed. Every setting was incredible and the attention to detail was intense.

Zuko’s boat is full of artifacts he pilfered from the Air Nomads while hunting for the avatar.

They changed how Aang got the bison whistle so it makes more sense and fits more seamlessly into the story. It never made sense why a random peddler would be selling a bison whistle if air nomads and bison have been gone for 100 years. Not impossible for a peddler to do, but not probable. The Netflix series actually gave more meaning for the artifact and changed how Aang received it.

Emotional points in the show are now more intense and brought me to tears.

Commander Zhao is more competent and conniving, and his presence felt more dangerous and less comedic.

Sokka’s outright sexism was changed from putting girls down, to just manly machismo, talking himself up. Not gone, but not degrading. They decided to let the sexism message shine more prominently with the northern water tribe, rather than tackle it twice with Sokka too. (Sokka’s sexism being solved in one episode was never well written to begin with. And the animated series quickly forgot about it and moved on to him tackling more important issues, like his being a non bender inadequacy, his leadership journey, his physical combat journey, and him finding himself as more than just the funny sarcastic guy.) For time constraints, it was better the Netflix series did not to tackle the same problem twice, especially when you might not have the resources to give both sexism issues the gravity it deserves. By focusing the sexism problem to the northern water tribe they were able to give Katara more attention.

We got to see Katara’s water-bending go from being ultra sloppy and weak to badass. It feels like they are spending more time focusing on her developing into a warrior rather than being the mom of the group. I’m honestly not sad about it. She’s still the hope ridden, emotional glue, but now it feels like she explores that warrior side a little deeper. It felt so earned when she got the title of master at the northern water tribe finale.

The actor playing uncle Iroh nailed the role. I couldn’t think of a better live action adaptation of Iroh. I love him so much.

The shirshu looks fucking phemonal.

Koh was scary as fuck and I love it. They really nailed his horror elements. Even if I’m a little sad that they changed some things about his face stealing. (He eats faces now to steal them, rather than stealing when someone shows emotion.)

The three actresses who play Mei, Azula and Tailee actually look appropriate for their age. Since they are introduced earlier, they are clearly younger, and since this show is intended to get more seasons, the casting choice made sense as we are intended to watch these girls grow up over the course of the entire show. These actors will get older, and the characters will get more menacing and sharper. It’s great. It’s thoughtful. I love it.

We get to see Zuko’s dynamics with his crew more. And find out that he did more than just speak out against his father at that meeting. His outburst at that meeting saved an entire squad of soldiers, and they don’t even know it. Zuko feels such disdain and bitterness because of the situation, and his crew doesn’t even know why. It’s so complex, you can see how the abuse Zuko endured causes him to take out his anger on his crew, and in turn they are bitter back. And it’s this cycle, that festers. But the crew also grows with Zuko, they change and evolve as he evolves. And it’s such a delight to watch.

They could have cut the Secret Tunnel minstrels altogether, given the time constraints and that the episode was mostly fluff in season two. A fun romp, but not necessary. But the creators knew people loved the minstrels so they found a way to use them anyway. Because they knew they were special. I am thankful for that, even if they show up waaay earlier than they should.

I was honestly more sold on Sokka and Suki’s relationship in the live action. It’s was so adorkable. Do I wish it had more time to develop? Yeah, of course I love a good slow burn. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun as hell watching the two flirt so badly with each other. Sokka being a buffoon, and Suki overstepping and being too rough, before realizing she was being too hard.

Some Critiques:

They reordered some episode storylines to happen at the same time, and while it does bloat some episodes. it’s understandable due the episode and budget limitations. In the cartoon, during the inventor episode Katara didn’t have a lot to do, and during the freedom fighters episode Sokka didn’t have a lot to do. So they ended up combining both stories into one hour long episode in the live action, so that both Katara and Sokka would be involved in something. Is it the best? No. But it makes sense. I get it.

Katara starts off bland in the first episode and it takes a bit for her to grow into the character.

The past avatars can be a bit strong with the doom and gloom, and I wish they’d toned that back.

Koh and Heibei (I dunno how to spell the panda spirit’s name) got combined to the same episode, and Koh stole Heibei’s spotlight. Again, I understand why these got combined, but I think it could have been handled a little better and Heibei should have gotten more closure.

There should have been a ninth episode, placed between the two episode Koh storyline, and the Northern Water Tribe storyline. Why? Because the Koh storyline was really heavy and intense. And it leads right into the season finale. An extra ninth episode should have been added with a more lighthearted tone. Something to ease the tension between the two very intense storylines.

Aang should have been using a glider to flit about the temples in the first episode. But it’s not something that ruins the whole show. It was a dumb that only happens in a single episode in the season.

I really missed Momo and Appa’s presence. They appeared atleast once in every episode, but it was still sad they weren’t more of a presence. Again I understand why. They were so beautifully animated that everytime they were on screen it (without a doubt) cost the production thousands of dollars. They were generous including as many of the unique animals and creatures as they had.

I still don’t think Sokka had enough time to develop a relationship with Yue at the northern water tribe. It was rushed and contrived in the animated version, and it was rushed and contrived in this Netflix version. There also wasn’t any of the chemistry like Sokka had with Suki to make the whirlwind romance work. I never liked the romance from the original, and I wasn’t a fan of it here. But that’s ok, because it’s such a small and insignificant thing.

In conclusion most of the changes I can see made were due to budget, and episode limitations. The creators were clearly trying to bring theater-cinematic quality to what was essentially an eight hour long film. And you cannot deny that this show is stunning. Absolutely breathtaking. Most of the episodes cut were filler, and while hilarious and mostly loved by fans, were stories not as necessary in the grand scope. You could feel the love and appreciation the creators included in this series. It wasn’t soulless, it wasn’t a heartless cash grab, it wasn’t a shot for shot (thank god) but it also didn’t butcher the source material.

I understand that the animated show creators had creative differences with the live action Netflix adaptation creators. But that doesn’t mean that the Netflix series completely failed. As every fanfic writer out there knows, the original authors are not going to love what you create based on their works. Tolkien hated every adaptation of his works, HATED them. But no one is going about saying that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were hot garbage. A creator doesn’t have to endorse a project for it to be good.

Netflix ATLA is good, it’s not perfect. And it never was going to be perfect. The cartoon it was based on wasn’t perfect either. But the ATLA cartoon was definitely some huge shoes to fill that set a bar very high. Any adaptation was going to struggle to be just as good.

I think the Netflix adaptation was a treat and a pleasure to watch. I think people should go into it with an open mind and see that it’s not trying to replace the cartoon. It’s a love letter to the cartoon.

PS: According to behind the scenes commentary on the Nickelodeon ATLA cartoon, the reason we didn’t get a season 4 was because the creators wanted a live action film. Nickelodeon offered the original cartoon creators the option to make season 4 or to spend the budget meant for season four on a live action ATLA film. The original creators chose the live action film directed by M. Night Shamalan. They wanted a live action for their show over a 4th season. They had no idea M. night would butcher their baby with his pathetic film all those years ago.

This show was a second chance after the M. night abomination. And you know what? It’s a pretty decent adaptation. And guess what? With a resurgence of interest in the series, we are getting more animated content for the original animated series. There’s definitely something for everyone on the horizon if this succeeds.

#netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #atla #live action adaptation #live action avatar #review #my thoughts #positive #loved it #it was great #go watch it #recommendation #pros and cons #a thoughtful and positive breakdown from someone who is generally picky and pessimistic about adaptations #spoilers #many spoilers

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night-daily · 9 months

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Are friends supposed to kiss on the lips? | Zuko x fem! reader

summary: Sokka's plans are the best.

warnings: none.

Has been two days since Zuko joined the team avatar at the western air temple. The things between you two were tense and the rest of your friends were growing tired of it but Sokka, as the genius he is, came up with a plan.

“Are you sure this will work?” Katara asked his brother. “Well, what's the worst that can happen?”

His plan was simple, Aang will lock the two of you in a room of the temple which can be only opened by him, Katara will tell you that Toph is waiting for you there and Sokka will just drag Zuko, in his mind, you two will become friends or at least will stop barking to each other.

You were training alone in the forest, and controlling the water wasn't hard but you wanna do it perfectly, it has become an obsession. You were tired of being beaten by the fire nation. By Azula.

“If you keep training just your element without moving you'll never improve.” Only hearing his voice made your heart race. “Are you offering to be my target then?” You didn't turn to face him. “More like training with you” The water on your hands fell to the ground. “You don't have to act surprised, like I told you before, I've changed, I'm good now.” He walked closer stopping in front of you. You watched his face, he wasn't lying. “I won't go easy on you.” That was your only response. “I wouldn't expect less.” He smirked blowing fire to you taking you by surprise “Hey! I wasn't ready!” You exclaimed stepping aside to avoid the fire. “The enemy won't give you a warning, you know?” This made you lose your temper, seeing the fire coming out of him remember all the times you have suffered because of it and not only you but your friends and family too. Your fists clenched.

You started turning the water into ice, trying to hurt him it wasn't a training anymore, he sensed your change of mood “Stop!” He thought you would stop but you didn't and you throw him hard on the ground. He hissed in pain and finally, you realized what you have done “Zuko!” You rushed towards him worried. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly. You grabbed his face putting his head over your legs. “Please, wake up” You were almost tearing up, this was your fault. “I can’t believe you fall for something so stupid” He was smirking again and opened his eyes just to see you worried. “You're an idiot I thought I hurt you” You push his head out of your legs. He groaned at the sudden movement “Ouch”

You sit away from him on the grass, hugging yourself tighter. You looked so fragile, so broken. Zuko felt his heart ache to see you. “Why are you training so hard?” He was curious because as far as he know you've never liked fighting but what changed? He knows you're in the middle of the war but that never made you be like this, so full of anger.

You didn't dare to look at him. “I'm tired of running away from the fire nation” even your voice sounded broken. For a moment he was confused but then he knew what you meant. Zuko stood up from his place and knee in front of you “look at me” you hesitated and then your eyes were looking at his “When Azula tried to attack you that day, I was afraid, you've been kind to me since the first moment even when you knew it who I was, you made your way through my heart and my mind” your faces were inches apart “I'm always going to come between you and anything that could hurt you, even if it's my sister” and then he leaves you there, alone with your thoughts and your heart beating fast.

what just happened? Did he likes you as you like hi-

“Hey” Katara's voice made you jump on your place “Toph is waiting for you” Toph? Did you forget you were going to do something with Toph? “Let's get going!” Her good humor was contagious so you started walking with her by your side, chatting about your memories together. You were walking for ten minutes until you arrived at the temple, you stopped in front of a room, and you saw Zuko sitting there on a chair, you turned to ask what was going on before Katara push you in there and you heard the door closing behind you. You and Zuko hurried up to the door trying to open it “This door can only be opened by Aang” Sokka explained “And we're not letting you out until you are friends”

Then the room was silent. None of you said or did anything for a few seconds. “Me too” your voice echoed. Zuko looked up to you, confused. “I- I'll always protect you, Zuko” hearing his name coming out of your mouth was like a sweet melody and it was enough to made him blush. He suddenly grabbed you by your wrist and pulls you closer to him. His eyes were looking at your lips making you nervous “ Can I?” He whispered. Instead of responding, you crashed your lips on his, his hands were now on your waist with closed eyes, you two have been waiting too much for this, to be together. Finally, you separated your lips to breathe, but still, you two were closer “Are friends supposed to kiss on the lips?” you asked with an amusing smile. Zuko laughed placing a kiss on your forehead “I hope not”

#atla #atla zuko #atla fanfic #atla fic #prince zuko #zuko #zuko x reader #zuko x fem! reader #zuko x y/n #zuko x you #avatar: the last airbender

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jettingtothemoon · 3 months

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Daughter of the Spirits; chapter 12

➳ pairing: zuko x f!reader ➳ genre: a retelling of the show from season 2 onwards with a heavy focus and expansion on zuko’s story (canon divergent) ➳ warnings: violence, swearing, smut (underaged if your age of consent is above 16), spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the show ➳ word count: 3570 ➳ rating: 18+ ➳ summary: In which y/n comes across the fire nation prince during her stay in Ba Sing Se. ➳ tags: @harmlessoffering, @lammello (i’m sorry if i’m forgetting anyone, lmk if i am or if you want to be added)

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13,

A New Start

The western air temple, that is where Zuko was sure the avatar would go. It was the nearest place for them to regroup and recuperate. They would be safe there. Well, as safe as they could be. So, the western air temple was where you went.

“We should be careful. They, uh, they probably won’t be very happy to see me,” Zuko stated as he prepared the ropes, making sure they were tight enough for you to safely climb down into the temple.

“You’ve been chasing after them for the better half of a year now, but they haven’t seen you since Ba Sing Se. It was Azula who tried to kill the avatar, not you. I’m sure they’ll be able to find it in their hearts to give you a second chance.”

“Well,” his tone was almost high in guilt as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, “I might have hired an assassin to hunt him down when I found out he was still alive.”

“Zuko!” you yelled, scowling at him.

He hushed you, clearly afraid that someone nearby might hear you, and avoided your angry gaze. “I know, I know. It was a bad idea but it was before I… before I decided to be good.”

You sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few moments and dispelled your anger with a long exhale. A was a trick your mother had taught you when you were young, one that always helped you keep a cool head. It was a teaching Zuko could certainly learn from as well.

Zuko was quick to descend into the temple after that, tugging on the rope when he reached the bottom to let you know it was safe for you to follow. He seemed lost in thought when you landed beside him, the sound of your feet hitting the floor hadn’t even caused him to glance your way.

Then came the sound of a beast, a sound the both of you recognised all too well. Zuko grabbed you and jumped back, making sure to conceal you both as the avatar’s bison flew overhead. He narrowed his eyes before gesturing to a staircase behind you both. “Come on, up here.”

It didn’t take you long to realise that Zuko had been here before, likely on his search for the avatar, which meant the last time he had visited this temple was with his uncle by his side. You could only imagine how strange it must have felt for him to have been here now, still in search of the avatar but this time as a friend.

Zuko insisted you took a moment to rest before seeking out the avatar and his friends. He joked and said the two of you would need all your energy if they turned hostile and chased you away but you knew what was really troubling him.

He, Prince Zuko, was nervous. Nervous of how they were going to react when they found him. Nervous of how he would speak to them. He wasn’t the most sociable person, as you both knew, and he wanted it to be perfect. He wanted to be sure he wouldn’t say the wrong thing, especially when he knew that he was the last person any of them would want to see.

When he was ready and had finished practising his introduction to a nearby toad — much to your own amusement — he took a deep breath and slumped to the ground.

With a soft smile, you sat down in front of him. “It’ll be fine. Just speak from the heart, tell them that you want to help — that we want to help. He’ll need someone to teach him firebending and I doubt he’s got too many options. They’ll come around.”

“Yeah, okay. Speak from the heart. I can do that.” He smiled back at you and pulled himself to his feet with a newfound determination. At the very least, having you by his side helped boost his confidence.

You approached the flying bison as it came to land, frowning just a little when the two of you had gone unnoticed and the avatar and his friends began to climb off on the other side.

“Oh, and you’re gonna love the all-day echo chamber!” the avatar exclaimed, clearly excited to show his friends around one of his people’s temples.

Just hearing his voice almost made you excited too but the looming fear that the conversation you were about to have wouldn’t go well was weighing too heavily on your chest. Zuko only wanted to help, you only hoped they would understand that. At least they had no reason to doubt you, other than the fact that you were once again approaching them by Zuko’s side, but you had tried to help them back in Ba Sing Se. Surely they would remember that.

“I think that’ll have to wait,” the young girl whom you remembered to be called Toph spoke, clearly noticing your presence with her earthbending.

The bison moved aside, revealing both you and Zuko, who raised his hand with a smile. “Hello, Zuko here.”

All four of the group adopted a defensive stance with angry scowls on their faces, clearly expecting you and Zuko to attack. To try and show them you came in peace, you both stood at their mercy, neither of you raising your arms to fight.

“Hey, we heard you guys flying around down there so we just thought we’d wait for you here.”

The bison was the only one to move, roaring loudly before licking Zuko from his feet to the top of his head.

You chuckled as you watched the creature’s clear display of affection. “Looks like someone remembers you.”

When the bison licked his face again, the avatar finally lowered his staff with wide eyes. Not that you could blame them for their confusion since there was no way they could have known it was Zuko who had freed the bison back at Lake Laogai..

Zuko rubbed the slobber from his face as he spoke, “I know you must be surprised to see me here.”

The watertribe boy, Sokka, frowned. “Not really since you followed us all over the world.”

Awkwardly, Zuko looked away. “Right… Well, uh, anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is that I’ve changed… and I, uh, I’m good now and well, I think I should join your group,” he looked at you and corrected himself, “we should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending… to you.”

The four of them only grew more confused, their eyes flicking between you and Zuko. They seemed to be thinking but they had still not let down their guard. Getting them to trust either of you, especially Zuko, was going to be no easy task.

“See… I, uh—”

“You wanna what now?” Toph cut him off with far too much anger residing in her soft features, her jaw almost clenching as she made it clear she thought what Zuko was saying to be crazy.

“You can’t possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean how stupid do you think we are?” Katara snapped before turning her attention to you, “And you? You may have tried to help us back in Ba Sing Se but even now you’re still with him? Don’t you remember all the things he’s done?”

Sokka chimed in next, he too wishing to say his peace, “Yeah, all he’s ever done is try to hunt us down and capture Aang!”

“I’ve done some good things!” Zuko cut in, trying his hardest to defend himself, “I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That’s something.”

The bison licked him once again, proving to them all that he at least approved of Zuko being there.

“Appa does seem to like him,” Toph concluded and finally began to let down her guard.

“He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him,” Sokka shrugged, “I’m not buying it!”

You went to speak, hoping that you would be able to sway them, but Zuko beat you to it.

“I can understand why you wouldn’t trust me and I know I’ve made some mistakes in the past—”

“Like when you attacked our village?”

“Or when you stole my mother’s necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?”

The watertribe siblings both stepped forward as they hurled their accusations at him. Zuko had told you that he had hurt them and that they would not be likely to trust him but he hadn’t given all the details. Hearing directly from them some of the horrible things he had done somehow didn’t surprise you but it still hurt to think that he was capable of such things before. He wasn’t that person anymore though and you knew that, you just needed to convince the rest of them of that too.

“Look, I admit I’ve done some awful things,” he confessed and pushed a frustrated hand through his hair, “I was wrong to try and capture you and I’m sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe… and I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you…”

You seemed to realise it before he had because Zuko kept rambling about how he had wronged them and was trying to make things right but all four of them had grown angry once again. They clearly didn’t know that he was the one who sent the assassin after them, not until now.

“Wait!” Sokka cut in again, reaching for his boomerang, “You sent combustion man after us?”

Zuko seemed startled as he realised he had only made things worse but knew that all he could do now was come clean and hope they would eventually come around to the idea of him helping them.

“Well, that’s not his name but—”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to insult your friend!” Sokka remarked with a roll of his eyes, looking about ready to pounce.

“He’s not my friend!” Zuko snapped, clearly growing frustrated that they were still being so hostile toward him when he was all but wearing his heart on his sleeve. Not that you could blame them, in their shoes you would have felt the same.

Toph pointed an accusing finger at him with a scowl. “That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!”

Seeming to notice that the avatar was the only one not shouting at him, Zuko sighed and asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.”

Without a word, Aang looked at his friends who all shook their heads with a frown. Then, he cast his eyes to you, someone he himself had seen as an ally once. You pleaded with him without words, silently begging him to give the two of you a chance.

Finally, he spoke, “There’s no way we can trust you after everything you’ve done. We’ll never let you join us!”

Your heart sank in your chest but you were nowhere near as crushed as Zuko. It was his actions that had brought him to this point. All his mistakes and bad decisions leading up to yet another rejection. It only hurt more this time because for once, he really was trying to do the right thing.

“You need to get out of here. Both of you.” Katara glowered at the both of you, her eyes two steely daggers.

Somewhat ready to admit defeat, you moved to place a hand on Zuko’s shoulder to urge him to leave. The two of you would be able to make a difference elsewhere, you were sure of it. Even if the avatar was refusing your help. Before your gentle touch could reach him, however, he burst again and began moving forwards as he flung his frustrated arms in the air.

“I’m trying to explain that I’m not that person anymore!” he cried out, trying one last time to convince them of his sincerity.

The four of them readied themselves once again, clearly taking his frustration as a sign of aggression. Once again, you couldn’t blame them. His notorious temper was getting the better of him again — a temper they had only seen before a fight.

“Either you leave, or we attack,” Sokka exclaimed, once again threatening Zuko.

The prince bowed his head before kneeling before them. “If you won’t accept me as a friend, then maybe you’ll take me as a prisoner.”

“Zuko…” you spoke with a soft breath, worried but also warmed by what he was willing to give up to help them.

“No! We won’t!” With a swing of her arm, Katara sent a force of water flying towards Zuko, knocking him back.

You ran to his side, kneeling in the puddle to help the drenched prince up.

“Get out of here and don’t come back!And if we ever see you again, well, we better not see you again!”

Dejected, he let you help him to his feet and shrugged you off, bowing his head as he walked away.

Before following him, you looked at the four of them, your eyes finally falling on the avatar as you spoke, “I know it might be hard to believe but he really is just trying to help.”

They didn’t utter a word as you followed after him, walking in silence as you left the western air temple.

You couldn’t blame them for their lack of trust in him, or you for that matter, but it still hurt to see Zuko so downtrodden. Finally, he decided to do what is right only to be ridiculed and chased away.

“Ugh, I can’t believe how stupid I am!” he began as he paced up and down, speaking more to himself than you, “I mean, what was I thinking? Telling them I sent an assassin after them? Why didn’t I just say Azula did that? They would have believed that! Stupid!” He groaned again and fell to his knees with a thud.

“You told them the truth, Zuko. That’s all you could have done. You tried and that’s better than not trying at all,” you tried to reassure him but he only flopped down onto his back, letting his hair spill out across the ground.

You sighed and moved to lay beside him, both of you watching the leaves sway in the canopy above. “Your uncle would be proud, you know.”

He turned his head towards you and waited until his eyes met yours before speaking, “You think so?”

With a tender smile tugging at the corners of your lips, you reached up to cup his cheek, smoothing your thumb across his skin. “I know so.”

He smiled back and pressed his forehead to yours, sinking into the warmth of your touch.

“I just… I don’t know what to do now. I can’t go home, not that I want to, and I can’t face my father alone. Not when it’s Aang’s destiny to stop him.”

You pulled back and sat up, stretching your limbs before rising to your feet. “We’ll find those that we’ve lost. We’ll find your uncle and then go search for my parents. If we can help anyone suffering at the hands of the Fire Nation along the way then we will. We don’t have to confront your father head on to make a difference.”

Zuko hummed and closed his eyes only for them to jolt back open when you lightly kicked his side.

“Well, come on then. If we’re going to be fighting firebenders I should at least know some basic moves.”

He crossed his brows and began to sit up, looking at you questioningly. “You want me to teach you?”

You only grinned. “Well, who else is going to?”

“Hmm, since you already know how to hold a flame I think we can start off with some basic techniques.” He returned your smile and stood before you, adopting a stance you had seen him use time and time again.

Standing opposite him, you tried your best to mimic his stance. He circled you, eyes scanning for any flaws, and nudged your knee forward, forcing you into a slightly lower squat. When he came back into sight again, he crossed his arms and hummed in approval.

“Good. Now, take a deep breath in. It is this breath that becomes the energy you need to extend from your body, creating fire.” He returned to his position and demonstrated, taking in a deep breath before punching a fist out in front of him. With a burst, flames shot from his fist, flickering around his knuckles and flew through the air beside you.

You steeled your expression and strengthened your stance, determined to learn at least some control over the element you feared most. As Zuko had done before you, you sucked in a deep breath, focusing on how it felt as it travelled through you. It was similar to the breath you had taken earlier to dispel your anger and you could feel the energy tingle under your skin as you focused it into your fist which curled at your side.

The prince watched on intently, moving to the side as you closed your eyes. When they opened again, you pushed your fist forward through the air with great force and, to your surprise, nailed the move first time.

Zuko clapped, applauding you as he stated, “You’re a natural.”

As the hours passed by, you were relieved to have managed to provide a good distraction for Zuko as he taught you move after move, honing your firebending skills. By the time the sun began to set and the cold night air closed in, you felt much more confident that you would be able to divert attacks from other firebenders by using their own flames against them.

You found some food for the night and made a small fire to keep you warm before cuddling up under a makeshift tent. Although you were worried Zuko would find it hard to sleep with so much still on his mind, you were relieved to find that teaching you had worn him out. His soft breaths hit your ear as he slept with one arm slung around you, holding you close.

The two of you slept for a while before you felt Zuko stirring beside you, sitting up slightly as he called out, “Who’s there?”

You sat up beside him, eyes peering through the darkness to see who or what was out amongst the trees. Before you could do anything though, Zuko pulled you behind him and sprung into action, conjuring a flame as he yelled, “Stay back!”

“It’s me!” a voice you recognised called out only just too late as the girl bended a wall in front of her to block Zuko’s attack.

Both yours and Zuko’s eyes widened when she stumbled back with a yelp, falling to the ground. “You burned my feet!”

Zuko was up before you. “I’m sorry, it was a mistake,” he protested as he began rushing towards her.

Toph backed up, crawling across the ground as she hurled boulders at Zuko. “Get away from me!”

“Let me help you! I’m sorry!” He tried again but the young earthbender only continued to flee.

You were finally on your feet as she yelled at him to get off of her and with one final move of offence, raised a pillar from the ground, sending Zuko flying. You were at his side in a second, already noticing he was hurt as he continued to yell after the girl.

“I didn’t know it was you!” he winced and grabbed his likely already bruising side, “Come back!”

With a cry of anguish he fell to his back and yelled at the world, “Why am I so bad at being good?”

You hushed him and pulled his head into your lap, already running your fingers through his hair. “It’s okay, she’ll be okay. Katara is a healer like me, she’ll be able to help Toph.”

He groaned and sat back up, holding in a sob of pain as he clutched again at his side. “I know, it’s just all I ever seem to do is make things worse.”

You squeezed his shoulder and moved to untie his shirt, reaching over for your waterskin as you pulled it open. The bruise was about as bad as you had expected from such a forceful impact. His skin was turning a dark shade of purple and was littered with painful scrapes and scratches. He sucked in a breath as you placed your hands against his skin, water already swirling around your fingers.

“Shhh,” you hushed him and smiled slightly as he visibly relaxed while the pain began to subside. It had been a while since you had been able to use your healing, what with having been in the Fire Nation for so long, but it felt good to be doing something to help someone again. You couldn’t relieve all of Zuko’s pain, but you could at least heal his physical wounds.

When you finished and whisked the water back into your waterskin, he pulled your hands back to him, placing them on his skin once again, and leaned forward until his head rested against your shoulder.

“They hate me,” he mumbled.

“They just don’t know you. Not the way I do.”

You smiled softly when he looked back up again, his amber eyes searching for refuge in your own. You were the only person who had ever looked at him like that, he realised. The only person to look at him with such tenderness in their eyes — such pure, unbridled love.

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13,

#prince zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko smut #zuko angst #zuko fanfic #zuko fluff #atla zuko #atla #zuko avatar the last airbender #avatar #sokka avatar the last airbender #prince zuko x you #prince zuko

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specialagentlokitty · 1 year

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Zuko x reader - the right side

Hi! I just recently discovered your blog and I’ve been loving your writing so much! I would like to request a part two to your Zuko x Reader - The Right Side. It’s so well done and I’m curious to see what happens after Zuko and the reader reconnect :) - Anon💜

Part two:

He slowly stood up and stepped out from the group, he looked at you, and you stared at him intently. It made him shiver the way you looked at him.

Your gaze was so full of fury, hatred, sadness, betrayal.

So many things Zuko thought he would never see in your eyes again, he never thought it would ever be directed at him.

“Why are you here?” You spat.

“I’m here to help, I swear. I want to teach Aang Fire bending.” He said

You scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest as you carried on gazing at him.

Zuko gulped a little as he dared to take a small step forward, and then another.

He kept going until you kicked your leg out, sending a line of fire directly in his path which he barely managed to dodge.

“(Y/N) don’t!” Aang rushed out.

You turned to Aang, frowning heavily but you lowered your hands and took a few steps towards the avatar.

You were furious with Zuko, and they all knew it.

“Go calm down.” Katara whispered.

“Come on, I’ll come with you.” Toph said.

She led you a way from everyone and Zuko watched in sadness as you left.

“She hates me…” he mumbled.

“She doesn’t hate you, she just needs time, that’s all.” Katara smiled.

“Yeah, (Y/N) can’t hate anyone, trust me!” Aang beamed.

Zuko looked over at them then turned to Sokka who gave a small shrug.

“I’ll be honest, she could hate you. You nearly killed her, betrayed her and just left her. She’s pretty mad man.”

“Sokka!” Katara hissed.

“No, no. I need to hear the truth.” Zuko said softly.

Zuko left, and for the rest of the night no one saw him, or you or Toph.

The earth bender came back before you, saying that you decided to head back to your room last night and she decided to go to bed, but she hadn’t heard from you since then.

Everything went to hell pretty quickly, from the killer Zuko hired showing up, and Azula appearing out of nowhere you guys had to fight for your lives to get out.

And you decided to sit up with Aang away from the fire Prince.

“Just talk to him.” Aang spoke softly.

“Not a chance.”

“(Y/N) he’s really trying. He feels bad for what he did and he wants to apologise, the first step to moving forward is to forgive.”

“I love you Aang, but you’re to oblivious to how to world works. It’s all good and well to pretend everything can be fixed with a simply apology but it can’t.”

Aang sighed, turning to look at you.

“You’re right, it can’t. But it’s a start, right? It will be great to be able to take some of that weight from your shoulders and throw it away. No one says you have to talk to him after that, you just have to hear him out.”

“I’m sorry Aang, but no.”

Even as you guys landed, he tried to keep convincing you to talk to Zuko, but you weren’t having it.

Sokka and Toph had asked asked you to just listen to what Zuko had to say, though Toph’s only reason was so she didn’t have to hear him complaining about it anymore.

Katara came over and sat next to you on the rock you had perched yourself on.

“If you’re here to tell me to forgive Zuko don’t bother.”

“I’m not.”

You turned to her slightly shocked.

“I understand why you’re angry, why you don’t want to talk to him or forgive him. You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“Thanks Katara.” You smiled.

She nodded and left, and you carried on looking out over the horizon.

Someone else sat next to you and immediately you stood up and started to walk away.

“Please! I’ll do anything! Just let me explain!” He begged.

“You want me to listen to you? Fine. I challenge you to an Agni kai.” You snapped.

“No!” Aang yelled.

The trio rushed over, trying to stop what was about to happen.

“If that’s what you want then okay. I accept.” Zuko nodded.

No one could stop this, they knew the rules, they couldn’t stop it, they couldn’t help either of you, they just had to watch it play out.

And they knew there was only so many outcomes.

Either you hurt Zuko bad enough for him to feel your pain, or you would be so blinded but your anger for him you would try your best to kill him.

You and Zuko stood opposite each other, and you stripped yourself of Iroh’s cloak before handing it to Katara to look after.

“Please go easy.” She whispered.

Saying nothing, you stepped back in front of Zuko, and he just stared at you.

You threw the first attack, pushing your hands forward to create a massive surge of flames straight at the Prince.

He easily deflected your attack, and carried on standing there, so you attacked again.

Kicking your leg in the air you sent attack after attack after attack.

All of which he deflected.

“Fight me you coward!” You yelled.

“No.”

You yelled and ran over to him, attempting to punch him but he dodged it, and so you tried to knock his legs from under him, but he dodged that as well.

“Fight me!”

“No! I won’t hurt you!” He yelled.

Zuko breathed heavily as he dodged your attacks.

Usually you were so well coordinated, you thought your attacks out carefully that you were able to knock him down easily.

But this time you were so blinded by your emotions that you were just attacking blindly, you were messy and desperate.

“Why won’t you fight me!?”

“Because I refuse to hurt you!”

Zuko grabbed your arm as you lunged at him, spinning you around so you were behind him and let go.

You stumbled a few steps and turned around.

You were heaving for air, hands on your knees as your eyes locked with his.

“Why not? You already have, May as well finish the job right?” You sneered.

“N..no.. no that’s not what I want…”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes as you turned around and started to walk away.

“Fine.”

Zuko sighed with relief, as did everyone else.

The battle was over, Zuko never once threw an attack, and you had finally called it off as you started to walk away.

In a split second, you spun around, kicking your leg up in the air, you sent a rope of fire at Zuko.

He barely managed to dodge it thanks to everyone calling his name, and he fell to the floor.

Running over, you took a deep breath and stared down at him as you stood above him.

Slowly you raised your hand towards the sky, crackling sounding at the tips of your fingers, and blue lightening started to build up.

“(Y/N) NO!” Sokka yelled.

“DONT!” Aang and Katara begged.

Toph tried to put up a wall between you and the Prince but she couldn’t, you were stood right over him, and she couldn’t put the earth between you both.

Zuko looked between you and the lightening in pure horror.

For you to do this it meant that you were sound of mind, you knew what you were doing, and you knew exactly what it was you were about to do as well.

As you stared at Zuko, you could register the fear in his eyes, the fear and regret.

The same thing you felt on that night he had attacked you, the pure fear running through your veins.

You had promised yourself you would never hurt anyone, you swore to yourself that you would protect people and keep them safe.

“If you want to do this… then that’s okay…” Zuko whispered.

You pointed your other hand at him, the charge was nearly finished.

Zuko gave you a sad and broken smile.

“Tell uncle I’m sorry…”

He closed his eyes and something in your snapped.

There was a loud crash, and everyone slowly opened their eyes to see what horror waited before them.

The trees in front of you had been blow down, a small fire in the centre where the blast was aimed.

You had fallen to your knees over Zuko.

He was still pinned below you, your knees rested on the dirt and you had your head cast down.

Zuko flinched when he felt something fall on his face, and he opened his eyes when he felt it again.

His eyes gazed up at yours, watching as the tears slowly slipped free as you stared at him in pure horror.

His heart pounded in his chest, his breathing was ragged and he was shaking.

Your tears fell on his face as you slowly fell to the side, resting your hands in your knees as you bowed your head down to hide your face.

“I’m.. I’m a monster…” you chocked out.

You swore you’d never hurt anyone, you’d protect people and keep them safe.

And out of pure, unresolved emotion you nearly killed Zuko.

You nearly killed a person.

A person you once trusted with your very life, a person who you had grown up with and whom you loved with your whole heart.

And he nearly died by your very hand.

Slowly Zuko sat up, turned to look behind him at what was left of the trees before he turned to you.

He reached out and hesitated, then finally reached out fully, placing his hand on your head before he quickly pulled you into him.

You wrapped your arms around Zuko, all the hatred and anger you felt was gone, you were scared, upset, ashamed.

Your fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt as you cried into his shoulder.

He held you tightly against his chest, burying his face into your neck as he let a few tears slip free.

Aang and Katara ushered Sokka and Toph away, leaving the pair of you alone.

The worst of it was over now, whatever happened now was up to whatever you and Zuko decided to do about what had happened on that night

#avatar the last airbender x reader #avatar the last airbender #avatar x reader #avatar #avatar the last airbender imagine #avatar imagine #avatar the last airbender x you #Zuko #prince zuko x reader #zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #zuko x you #zuko imagine #prince Zuko

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supremechancellorrex · 5 months

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Avatar in my head and I was thinking about Maiko and Mai.

Now, Mai's character arc in Avatar, from my interpretation, is rediscovering herself and her wants and personhood that has been stripped from her as a noblewoman part of a family that submitted to the Fire Nation Imperialist structure and Ozai. We see in Book 2 set up for this. Mai in early Book 2 does not resist Azula's will aside from brief sparks of rebellion where she isn't present. "Of course not, Princess Azula" she notes formally and apathetically when Azula asks if she "minds", knowing she has no choice as Azula 'just' ponders if Mai's hostage brother is worth an Earth King like Bumi. Mai is always aware that Azula, as Princess in an authoritarian nation where the Fire Lord is God, can have her executed and her family punished. The unequal power dynamic is surprisingly consistent in the show.

Mai can't even insult Azula back in Zuko Alone as a child. She just lets Azula put an apple on her head (as Ty Lee loyally sniggers along), set it on fire, and when Zuko pushes her into the fountain to put it out, Mai, drenched, glares and says "You two are such… ugh". We know Mai can have an acid tongue, yet her fear of Azula prevents her from using it. Her most rebellious act in Book 2 is when she says "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me. I am not getting in that wall sludge juice". Mai actually has self-respect, but she can't express it in the presence of greater threats, meanwhile Ty Lee merely says "Come on! Azula said we have to follow them", because Ty Lee follows Azula's will even when she isn't there.

Even when Mai gets with Zuko, she falls into a subservient role. When Azula interrupts Maiko's smooching, lazily dismissing Mai with "Oh Mai, Ty Lee needs help untangling her braid" Mai responds quickly "Sounds pretty serious" with only a touch of dryness and leaves, only able to muster throwing Azula a dirty look a split second after passing her. However, this little ember of rebellion will grow.

Mai has continued difficulty understanding Zuko's anger and reactiveness, or how to even function in a relationship. She initially tries to joke in a dismissive fashion, as if saying 'ugh, feelings are lame, right?', but that would only work with Azula logically. The Beach episode is a key Mai episode. She continues to be emotionally repressed, to the point Zuko, Ty Lee and Azula comment on it. However, Zuko's insecurity at her talking to Ruon-Jian to the point he physically removes him from her presence, and his accusative comments like "You like him, don't you?", also makes Mai feel a little boxed in, controlled, and that does irritated her given her history. However, at the Beach's emotional narrative climax, Mai is able to finally express herself at the rest of the group (Azula included) for the first time, telling them to "Leave her alone" and that she's "still mad". After Zuko explosively reveals the extent of his pain and confusion, we see a 'smoothing' effect on her attitude. She realises her and Zuko are dealing with pain in different ways and his way is understandable.

Mai says softly, "I know one thing I care about, I care about you". This is the one thing Mai can grasp in the confusion. This is where Mai betraying Azula becomes inevitable. We see Mai continue to be more supportive with Zuko, more actively trying to cheer him up in Nightmares and Daydreams with big smiles and jokes while Zuko remains shut down over the War meeting and is acting irritated and repressed due to his family trauma. When Zuko later leaves and joins the Avatar, Mai is hurt and angry, which shows in the Boiling Rock, saying "All I get is a letter? You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart". They have a tense conversation, but it's their most honest one. I actually think Mai already made up her mind in this scene to support Zuko over Azula, and she doesn't quite realise it. "Save it? You're betraying your country" she accuses, to which Zuko replies, resolute, "That's not how I see it", and in response Mai just folds her arms and turns her head away in an almost defeat.

I find it very telling she doesn't respond. It's because she realises Zuko is more passionate and resolute about his mission than she is hers. It's because she knows the Fire Nation under its current authority is not exactly great. Sometimes in life we fall into a box and we need someone to give us that little push so we can realise we can climb out of it, that the toxic space we're in isn't normal, and we don't have to tolerate it. I like to think Mai was thinking in that moment where Zuko locked her in the cell and he and she gazed into each others' eyes, what she was really thinking about was what life she actually wanted to live. She was thinking of Azula and being under her thumb, and she was thinking of all those moments with Zuko, like when they were lounging on the sofa together, smiling and joking in Nightmares & Daydreams, and she realised how ridiculous it was to be afraid of Azula killing her when the real fear should be being Azula's servant until her dying days, decades of repression and misery.

After all, what does Mai have left to fight for? Fear of Azula? Hah, what a joke. She remembers "I know one thing I care about. I care about you" and when she sees Zuko about to die she has to intervene.

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you" Mai says to an increasingly-enraged Azula's speak of 'consequences', because Mai did fear Azula, but now in her love for Zuko she has found a purpose she has been lacking, her feelings and wants over Azula's will. Zuko being true to himself is contagious. Iroh's love for Zuko puts him on the right path, and in turn the love Mai has for Zuko saves her. As a consequence Ty Lee chooses Mai and their friendship over Azula's toxic, fear-based one and even later bonds with former enemies like the Kyoshi Warriors. Like Zuko says to Ozai, "an era of peace and kindness" will replace an "era of fear". In the face of fear, love and empathy win.

#avatar legend of aang #avatar last airbender #avatar mai #prince zuko #alta mai #zuko #atla maiko #maiko #princess azula #ty lee #can't wait to see them in the avatar live action #themes #good writing #character writing #romantic relationships #classism #imperialism

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 6 months

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you once said that the ZK do not allow the canonical Zuko to show real, sometimes ugly signs of trauma. can you write more about this? because that's what I always felt when I came across their terrible takes, but I couldn't express it.

Gladly! But first, I need to mention the sign of trauma that Zuko usually lacks - and that, for some reason, the fandom insists defines his character:

Fear

Don't get wrong, I'm not saying Zuko never experienced fear. We all saw that poor boy on his knees, crying, begging his father not to hurt him.

But in "Zuko Alone" we also see 10-year-old Zuko get bitter that only his younger sister was expected to show off her firebending skills, and deciding that he would go against his father and demonstrate his own skills to the Fire Lord - that despite the fact that he knew Azula was better at it than he was. Even when it goes wrong, he is upset, but doesn't look afraid of the consequences.

That same episode shows Azula mocking him for playing with knives despite not even being good at it, and even though the fandom insists she was his worst fear ever since he was a child, Zuko responds with a "Put an apple on your head and we'll see how good I am." That little guy has exactly zero chill.

Let's not forget why he was banished either: Despite being considered too young to be in that war meeting, Zuko demanded to be there, eventually got his way, and despite having been told not to say anything, the second he hears a general suggest using their own men as "fresh meat" to lure the enemy, Zuko speaks out against it. And at the start of the Agni Kai, he looked 100% ready to fight a grown ass man with battle experience - until he saw it was his father/Fire Lord.

Let's not forget his Agni Kai with Zhao, which was his idea and that he actually won - and before that, he openly calls Ozai a fool, to which Zhao points out that banishment clearly not teach Zuko to watch his mouth. Or the time he openly challenged Azula in Ba Sing Se and they only didn't fight then and there because Azula knew she'd have the advantage by using the Dai Li. Hell, at the start of that very season, after she tried to lure him to a trap, Zuko's first reaction is to charge at her, fire-daggers in hand. That boy is the definition of "Fuck around and find out."

He has also done things like choosing to save his uncle from earthbenders instead of chasing Aang, crossing a blockade and going into actual Fire Nation territory even though he legally is no longer allowed to do that, and helped rescue Aang from Zhao as the Blue Spirit. It shows us that Zuko doesn't have an issue with temporarely deviating from his mission because of something HE deems important even though his father doesn't, openly disregarding Ozai's orders, and even basically saying "My father will have the Avatar as a prisoner only if I'm the one to capture him"

And, of course, on the day of the eclipse, Zuko grabs his swords and directly threatens Ozai, telling that bastard to sit the fuck down, shut up, and listen to his list of reasons why he sucks as a parent, ruler and person.

Zuko is brave. Unbelievably so. He is fierce, proud, and impulsive to the point of getting himself in situations that he should have known would not go his way (like fighting a waterbender in the snow, in the full moon) because he is very much a "act first, think later" kind of guy. So the fandom's insistence that he is constantly paralyzed by fear is a gross over-simplification of how his trauma affects him.

We only see him genuinely afraid of Ozai twice. During the Agni Kai itself, and then again when he WANTS to speak out against his father's plan to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground, but can't bring himself to because he remembers what happened last time he spoke out against that kind of horrible thing during a war meeting, at that very room. It took something THAT triggering to make him cower before a challenge.

However, fear wasn't the only reason why didn't speak out during that moment, and that takes us to the first "ugly" sign of trauma that the fandom as a whole likes to pretend Zuko wasn't repeatedly shown to experience:

"My father is right about me, actually"

Zuko doesn't think Ozai was wrong to disfigure and banish him. How could he? Nobody in that entire room stood up to at least try to support him, not even his uncle - who also once said "Why would your father have banished you if he didn't care about you?" because, surprise surprise, nobody in that family knows how to help someone through trauma because they're all dealing with their own shit. Even his crew, who WAS sympathetic to him after finding out how he got that scar, were still 100% willing to not only support Ozai, but risk their lives for him.

Zuko isn't just trying to heal from abuse, he is trying to heal from victim-blaming, and to go against YEARS of indoctrination that say the Fire Lord can do no wrong. That's part of why it was so difficult for Iroh and others to help him: Zuko didn't believe that he needed or deserved help.

And that is also one of his three major unhealthy coping mechanisms. Claiming that HE needs to prove himself to Ozai, that HE needs to make up for HIS mistakes, not the other way around.

It might seem strange that this could be a way to cope, but look at it this way: If it WAS his fault instead of Ozai's, then that means his dad is not an unfair, abusive piece of shit that is unbelievably cruel and impossible to please. Zuko just needs to accomplish this mission of capturing the Avatar and everything will be fine, they'll be a normal family again, and he won't have to be afraid of someone he thought he could trust.

It was like Iroh said: Things are never going to be the same ever agin, but the Avatar gives Zuko HOPE. And that hope that his abuser will one day have a change of heart and be a loving father to him again is both what allows Zuko not to give into despair - and what keeps him trapped in that awful situation.

Misplaced Anger

Another "unpleasant" sign of trauma that Zuko has is how he clearly has an anger problem. Sure, he's a moody teenager with a short fuse, but we see over and over again that he tends to blow things way out of proportion, and that when faced a fact or opinion he doesn't like, he is quick to lash out at someone with VERY cruel words (see him calling Iroh a lazy, shallow, jealous old man in "Avatar State", or calling him crazy and saying if he wasn't in prison, he'd be sleeping in a gutter in "The Headband").

Through the entire show, many people faced Zuko's wrath - Iroh, Aang and friends, his crew, Azula, innocent people of the Earth Kingdom, Mai, Ty Lee, that one rando that talked to Mai, and even Zuko himself.

The one person that usually escapes said wrath is, ironically, Ozai. In "Zuko Alone" he refuses to believe his father would ever be capable of harming him, in "Avatar State" he snaps at Iroh for doubting that Ozai really changed his mind about the whole banishment thing.

He is mad at Aang for being too difficult to capture, and at Zhao for stealing his one chance to come home. He never stops to question if it's fair that his father had him chase someone that was presumed dead, aka an impossible task, as the condition to bring him home. He also never addresses how he feels about the reason WHY said banishment happened until the Day Of Black Sun.

He is mad at Azula for lying to him and trying to take him home as a prisoner. He never gets mad at his father for not only wanting to lock him away forever because ZHAO screwed up at the North Pole, nor how messed up it was that he put Azula in charge of said mission.

For fuck's sake, in the day of the eclipse, we find out that Zuko legit believed his mother was DEAD - and the entire circumstance was shady as hell and put Ozai in a very bad light. Yet Zuko still wanted his love, still wanted to be a "worthy" son.

He HAS to direct his anger at other people, otherwise he'll realize that no, his father, the adult that was meant to care for him, is a complete monster.

Everytime Zuko lashes out at other people before confronting Ozai, he's basically acting like someone who is drowning and, in a panic, is trying to pull the nearest person under so he can try to breathe. It is one of the most accurate and honest representations of trauma and abuse, and it makes me SO mad when people erase it in their fics because "poor, innocent, helpless turtleduck that can do no wrong" makes Zuko look like less of a dick - and also completely strips him of his agency.

And that isn't even the thing that fans ignore the most. That "honor" goes to the simple fact that Zuko, as expected of a child raised to believe the Fire Lord can do no wrong, decided that Azula had the right idea and that the best way to avoid being a victim again was...

Copying His Abuser

Zuko has REPEATEDLY let his "inner Ozai" out through the show.

He is all manipulative by not letting the pirates know he was chasing the Avatar who was worth A LOT more than the scrowl they'd get as a reward for helping him, and by using Katara's necklace as a way to try and get her to say where Aang was.

He repeatedly steals stuff from innocent people (including some who helped him, like Song) because, in his own words "These people should just be giving stuff to us" - aka he's very much an entitled prince.

He betrays his uncle by joining Azula in Ba Sing Se, leading to Iroh being thrown in prison. He also doesn't give a shit when Katara says "I thought you had changed!" and he sends a freaking assassin after the Gaang. Even him refusing to tell Azula that there was a chance Aang could still be alive works both as a "Zuko doesn't trust Azula to not use that against him, and for good reason" and "Zuko did not even stop to think that, since Azula was the one who killed Aang, him coming back also puts HER in danger, because he's too focused on his own problems to notice anybody else's."

More importantly, he rejected a chance of a ceasefire with the Gaang three times (The Blue Spirit, The Chase, Crossroads of Destiny), much like Ozai refused his shot at ending the war in the finale before his battle with Aang, and not only did he challenge Zhao to an Agni Kai and seriously consider burning him, he also threatened one of his crewmen by saying he'd "teach him respect" - which we found out later that episode was what Ozai right before disfiguring poor Zuko.

For fuck's sake, Ozai was literally designed to look like an older Zuko. One without a scar, one that was never banished, one that never had to see first-hand all the death and suffering war brings and reflect on the role he plays in it.

Finally, we have the war meetings in "Nightmares And Daydreams", in which Zuko doesn't speak out against his father's completely inhumane plans to deal with the Earth Kingdom. When talking about it with Mai, he says "I was the perfect prince, the son my father wanted. But I wasn't me."

That is the turning point for Zuko for a reason. It's him finally being forced to acknowledge that, to become Ozai's ideal son, to earn his (conditional) love, to not be his victim he has to be just as bad as he is, just as cruel, just as unfair - and we see in Azula's breakdown how Zuko likely would have ended up if he accepted that path.

But he didn't, and that was not easy because even though it was the morally correct choice, it'd require him to sacrifice everything - his title as a prince, his right to be in the Fire Nation, his relationship with Mai, his (extremelly complicated, sometimes good, often awful) bond with Azula, the "easy" way to get literally anything he wanted at everyone else's expense, and, of course, accept that his father was never going to love him, was never going to change, and was never going to feel sorry for abusing him.

Erasing such a central conflict of his character for the sake of denying he ever did anything wrong is, ironically, removing one of Zuko's most noble character traits: his inability to just live with himself after doing something horrible. There's a reason he is in deep conflict even after getting everything he wanted after the fall of Ba Sing Se - he knows he doesn't deserve it after what he's done.

If you ignore his mistakes and the horrible consequences it had for other people, you also ignore Zuko's growth. This puts him more in the position of a good guy being held hostage by the evil villain, not of a troubled child that redeems himself as he matures.

No flaws, no mistakes, no growth, no arc.

Trauma Doesn't Just Go Away

This one is, by far, the bad trope regarding Zuko's trauma that Zutarians are the most guilt of: assuming that if he just gets enough comforting hugs (mainly from Katara), all of his inner turmoil will suddenly be healed. No more sadness, no more fear, no more of the ugly traits they never acknowledge in the first place. Just a happy, fully recovered Zuko.

But that's just not how these things work. Having the support of a loved one helps victims feel better, but it won't magically make everything okay. Trauma is a really difficult thing to handle. There's good days, bad days, relapses, bad habits that are difficult to move past from. And not only are there cases in which people take YEARS to recover, there are also cases in which they never fully heal, and instead just learn to live with that burden that is still very much present.

I understand the desire to show in fics and headcanons that Zuko will eventually be fully healed and happy, but the way Zutarians make Katara act as not just his girlfriend, but as basically his therapist that needs to find miracle solutions for every single one of his problems, comfort him whenever any minor inconvenience happens until he's gotten enough hugs to be magically okay doesn't just reveal how hypocritical they are, since they insist Kataang is about Katara being Aang's girlfriend/mom/baby-sitter, but also that they legit do not understand a damn thing about trauma and how it works.

Which takes me to:

How Mai Actually Did Right By Zuko

Poor, poor Mai. She gets blamed for "bring out the worst in Zuko", for not being "supportive", for being too cold and unemotional, for not "seeing the real him" - yet she's one of the characters that CONSISTENLY help put Zuko back on his track.

She offers him emotional support and lots of signs of affection over and over again - telling him not worry when they're arriving at the Fire Nation, pointing out she doesn't hate him when she says she's beautiful when she hates the world, explicitly saying she cares about him in The Beach, being incredibly sweet and loving to him during all of Nightmares and Daydreams, and then again in the finale by helping him get dressed up and acting all cute as they get back together.

But she also holds him accountable when he screws up. She doesn't let him use his difficult life as an excuse to be a jerk and calls him out when he's being unreasonable, or when she feels mistreated/like he's making a mistake (see The Beach and Boiling Rock Part 2).

But since the fandom loves to completely erase Zuko's mistakes AND to not let go of a stupid ship war, this completely changes the context, making Mai out to be this awful, bitchy girlfriend, when in reality, she did a great job handling Zuko - sometimes even better than the fan favorite and mentor figure Zuko had through most of his arc.

Uncle Iroh Fucked Up

Before all of you try to kill me, let me make one thing clear here: I love Uncle Iroh. He is one of the most awesome characters in the show, and I fully believe he was trying his best to help Zuko.

But he is still a human being that makes mistakes, and he was raised in the same dysfunctional family Zuko was, meaning he often had NO IDEA how to handle his deeply traumatized teenage nephew/son.

Him spending all of book 1 trying to help Zuko capture Aang so he could go back to living with the guy that disfigured him is already bad enough, but we also have the episode "Avatar State" in which Iroh asks "Why would your father banish you if he didn't care about you?"

Obviously he only did these things because he didn't want Zuko give into despair and depression - but he is still, at best, ignoring the issue, and at worst actively making excuses for Ozai's abuse of his own son. This backfires on him spectacularly, as Zuko sides with Azula over him both in the first and last episode of the season specifically because he believes that appeasing Ozai is the right thing to do, as he was only banished "for his own good."

But THE biggest mistake Iroh made when it came to helping Zuko was his refusal to accept that no, Zuko was never going to be happy by living a quiet, simple life in Ba Sing Se - even after Zuko explicitly said as much to his face.

Obviously, to some extent, Iroh HAS to make Zuko accept that he won't ever be able to come back home after Ozai literally ordered Azula to capture him, but he could have tried to find some kind of middle ground with Zuko, since being a waiter clearly wasn't making him happy.

"Oh, but what about how Zuko started acting after his metamorphosis? He was so happy about working on the tea-shop with his uncle, and that was supposed to reveal his true self!"

Yes, it was supposed to do that. But we saw how Zuko acted after actually dealing with his trauma and redeeming himself. He was obviously in a much healthier place, both mentally and spiritually, but he was still moody, still sarcastic, still as proud as ever, and even Iroh recognized that he was meant to be Fire Lord.

Zuko's arc has a lot to do with identity, with how he sees himself. At that point, the only thing he still had in life was his uncle - so he was acting like him, because there seemed to be no other role model, no other path. Seeing that weird, cheery, relaxed, always-seeing-the-good-side-of-things version of Zuko was honestly unnerving.

And Iroh thought that Zuko basically giving himself the Lake Laogai treatment was okay because he following in his footsteps, doing what helped IROH heal and change - he didn't realize it was never gonna be able to do the same for Zuko.

The very second Azula shows up, even when she's being hostile, Zuko drops the facade, because she's a reminder of both his old life and what he thought his future would be. And when she offers him "redemption" Iroh tried to advice Zuko against joining her by saying "The redemption she offers is not for you" (as in not for someone who is doing better and doesn't need to return to the Fire Nation) and "It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good." How is it a choice if Iroh is explicitly saying which option Zuko cannot pick, essentially making the decision for him?

Iroh didn't just get the way to help Zuko wrong - he didn't realize his nephew didn't believe he needed help. They were not on the same page at all, and that contribuited to Zuko betraying him.

Though, thankfully, it ended up being for the best, as Zuko found his own way to redemption by himself.

Conclusion

This fandom as a whole tends to not understand Zuko at all and just eat up a bunch of fanon while pretending to be so intellectual, which I very much resent it for.

#anti zutara #pro maiko #pro mai #zuko is not an awkward turtleduck

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akiizayoi4869 · 7 months

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Zuko and Mai at the Boiling Rock

I had the luxury of seeing a post that said that the eye contact between Mai and Zuko when he locks her up in the cell that he was in was a form of abuse on Mai's end.

That scene. Now, I don't know how in the ever loving fuck do you see this scene and the take away that you gain from it is "Mai was abusing Zuko with her eyes. It's the gaze I tell you" and I honestly don't want to know. I mean really, what are you supposed to even call this, eye abuse??? There was nothing abusive about the way she was looking at him, or how she spoke to him in this scene. Do you know what I see in Mai's eyes? Anger. Hurt. Confusion. Anger that Zuko is betraying their nation, that he broke up with her via letter. Hurt that instead of confiding in her like couples do, he chose to keep her in the dark, even though it was for her own safety, as we hear from Zuko himself when he says to Sokka "I couldn't drag her into it". Finally, confusion because she doesn't understand why Zuko is doing this. For as long as Mai could remember, Zuko's only goal was to capture the avatar so that he could return home and regain his honor. And he finally got his wish, only to throw it all away in the end. Now of course to Mai this wouldn't make sense, because she hasn't had the same experiences that Zuko had during his 3 years of being banished.

Some people also say that Zuko couldn't take Mai with him because she would have made things more difficult, would have tried to stop him, called the guards or Azula, etc. I think that this is a misunderstanding of her character, because going by how quick she was to join Azula in Omashu, before she even knew what the mission was? She more than likely would have left with Zuko. She loved him, after all. Not to mention that from what we saw, Mai really didn't care all that much about the war, if at all. All she really cared about was Zuko. So if he told her that he was planning on leaving? Mai would have abandoned ship with him.

#atla #zuko #mai #maiko #pro maiko

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comradekatara · 7 days

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please please please tell me about your avatar sokka au (only if you want) sokka as the avatar sounds SO interesting because it's just like. he's sokka and also how does aang fit into this...

@adeusdelta asked: Hey I just saw your post about the idea of an avatar Yue au. So basically I’m curious if you’ve ever talked the other possible aus you find more compelling (sokka, azula, etc.) and if you have, would you mind linking me to the posts? I’m curious to hear on your take on it!

so i have a post on this and how i don't really think that "other avatar" really work all that well, but i do think that sokka and azula would be the most compelling alternate avatars, simply because they both function as dark mirrors to aang in a way that would make the story infinitely more cynical. like sokka as the avatar with azula as a deuteragonist of sorts (the avatar and the firelord, edgelord version) is actually fascinating to me and i have been thinking about that concept specifically, um.... a lot. mostly because katara, still as the narrator, but instead of the object upon whom she has pinned all her hopes and dreams being this fantastical, mythical figure, it is instead her miserable bastard brother, is just an absolutely fascinating character study to me. her one thing, her one claim to specialness, is now wholly undermined by the fact that her brother is literally the most special person on the planet. her role as hero, discoverer of the avatar, teacher of the avatar, best friend of the avatar, narrator and catalyst of this sweeping tale of revolution, is basically just reduced to being "the avatar's little sister." and unlike aang, who is an idealist who wants to save the world out of a vision of hope and beauty, sokka is a cynic who wants to fix the world because he considers it his burden and his duty. he doesn't care who he has to hurt to get his way, and katara isn't powerful enough to stop him, she just has to trust that he'll make the right call every single time, because there is simply no one who can keep him in check (besides his past lives). it's terrifying. avatar sokka is lowkey a horror story.

more specific outline under the cut (in no chronological order; trust me, i tried to move my bullet points around so that they'd flow better, and this stupid fucking website wouldn't let me. whatever):

sokka genuinely hates being the avatar and considers it the greatest curse of his existence. he tries to advertise it as little as possible

nonetheless, word eventually gets out, as sokka develops a reputation for being ruthless, deadly, and unfuckwithable. he uses his reputation to control everything he thinks needs fixing, especially azula and the fire nation

azula watches sokka kill her father without blinking (he simply explodes his heart using waterbending) and immediately decides never to test her loyalty to him as his firelord

katara is rightfully wary of sokka simply accepting azula’s offer to puppet her, but sokka is just like “well azula is ruled by fear. before me her unquestioned loyalty was to ozai, but now that I have killed ozai, I have proven myself to be scarier than him and so she will devote herself to following me.” and katara's just like “um that’s literally sick and twisted????” she understandably doesn’t know how to feel about her brother killing the most powerful man in the world and puppeting his teenage daughter, but, admittedly she also sees the incentive.

eventually and azula and sokka just become actual friends. sokka uses logical proofs and verifiable data points to illustrate to azula why her ideology is dogshit. even though she’s still reasonably terrified him, azula actually gets to grow and learn and heal through her partnership and eventual friendship with sokka

for years azula keeps asking sokka to track down zuko so they can reunite. she’s like “i’ve followed your every order to the letter and all I ask in return is to reunite with my brother” but sokka only remembers zuko from that stretch between the south pole to the north pole where he was trying to hunt him down and capture him, so he is very dismissive of her requests. and azula keeps insisting that if he KNEW zuko he would love him because he’s such a sensitive sweetiepie, but sokka’s like “uhhh im pretty sure he’s a stupid bully” and largely just ignores her. finally he actually grows fond enough of azula to actually honor her request and track zuko and iroh down in ba sing se.

toph and katara are the only members of sokka’s team avatar, but he still knows yue, suki, jeong jeong, and pakku (he never meets bumi or piandao)

he finds toph before he gets to the north pole, so when they go to the north pole together he is basically just carrying her on his back the entire time. she hates it there and can’t wait to leave

azula never gets the chance to claim ba sing se, so iroh and zuko remain there indefinitely, since sokka is still under the impression that it’s a functional city state that requires no intervention until much later down the line

he figures out the presence of the white lotus through frequent communication with yangchen, his favorite past life. yangchen teaches him politics and airbending

he visits yue in the spirit world almost immediately after the war ends. he notes sadly that she seems somewhat terrified of him. she didn’t know that he was the avatar while she was still alive because he thought it best to keep it secret to everyone except those with a dire necessity to be in the know (obviously word has since gotten out)

he learned firebending first, then airbending, then earthbending, then waterbending. it’s in completely the wrong order, which yangchen chastises him for when she teaches him airbending in the spirit world

sokka doesn’t really waterbend much because he’s afraid of encroaching on katara’s domain. as for katara, she absolutely hates that the one thing that made her special in a way that sokka wasn’t is actually not even that impressive now and she HATES that the mystical figure she has been searching for her entire fucking life is HIM and she HATES that it’s not her WHY ISN'T IT HER…

she also hates that sokka lied to her about it for their entire childhoods because she assumes it was his patronizing way of sparing her feelings, even though he doesn’t think that being the avatar is anything remotely good, and only hid it from her because he was scared and ashamed. and he knows that eventually there will be a reckoning (in the form of somehow being a better firebender than zuko despite being completely untrained) but in the meantime he just wants katara to think he’s Normal

so at first he feels weird about waterbending because he sees that as katara’s “thing,” but eventually he starts doing shit with waterbending that katara literally can’t, and so (in his mind) it’s fair again. like he starts isolating individual atoms in H2O molecules to make H2O2 and shit, and katara’s just like "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT." but then he starts bloodbending (he bloodbends azula, for example) and katara is like nvm i'm glad i’m a normie :)

he never meets hama but develops his own mode of bloodbending, he invents metalbending independently as a way to break free from handcuffs, and he develops all kinds of other niche sub-bending categories as well

sokka’s firebending is like azula’s on crack. he just shoots a tiny bit of fire out of his fingertips like a gun and hits someone right in their neck and they double over in pain and boom he’s won.

he starts off not really knowing any earthbending because he doesn’t exactly have earth at home, but then once he meets toph, he realizes the potential of the element and gets really obsessed with expanding that potential as much as possible

and air is his worst element. because it’s the element of freedom.

he has to reveal to jet that he’s the avatar because he accuses him of being a firebender. jet doesn’t believe him at first, but then he sees him go into the avatar state to hold back the water from the dam for long enough for the whole town to evacuate

when he first calls the kyoshi warriors a bunch of girls, kyoshi herself screams at him for like an hour. lesson learned.

he reunites with hakoda only after the war ends, at azula’s coronation. hakoda learns that he’s the avatar once ozai is already long dead. hakoda doesn’t recognize him at first, and instead assumes that he’s somehow kya’s long lost son that she had with a fire nation noble. he then immediately realizes how stupid that is, but is still completely shocked by the revelation of who sokka has become and what he even is.

katara goes back to the south pole to be with her family, but sokka stays in the fire nation to oversee azula, with toph at his side. when toph asks him if he doesn’t also miss his family, sokka very matter of factly states that as the avatar, what he wants doesn’t matter. he’s not a person with desires, but rather a servant of the world, a vessel through which peace can be achieved.

azula is a very good firelord. she is also unwaveringly loyal to sokka and will do anything to achieve his vision. sokka basically replaces ozai in her mind. but with more banter between them

she asks sokka if they can’t retrieve iroh and zuko from ba sing se, but sokka doesn’t really think that having more evil family around will be a good influence on her. he goes to ba sing se to scope out the situation for himself, and decides that they’re pretty much harmless, but that if azula wishes to see them, they must meet in a third, neutral location

zuko finally learns that sokka kills ozai, and is so enraged that he tries to fight sokka. it goes very poorly, but out of some faint fondness for azula, sokka doesn’t hurt him. iroh just expresses his gratitude and appreciation (on both accounts).

despite azula being their ostensible ally, katara cannot fucking stand her. the feeling is mutual

sokka and toph, however, get along fairly well with her, and mai and ty lee also (mai doesn't understand why the avatar enjoys her presence so much, but she doesn't take it for granted either)

a couple years after the war, sokka starts taking an interest in more global politics, widening his focus from simply the fire nation. he goes home for the first time, revisits the north, and starts to tour the earth kingdom in earnest. that is when he starts to learn of and work to dismantle the police state of ba sing se and other unjustly hierarchized social systems, such as in the north pole. the nwt in particular is a sore spot for him due to his relationship with yue.

sokka uses spies from within the white lotus to keep tabs on the white lotus so as not to repeat the platinum affair, which yangchen warned him about. eventually he stops trusting his own spies and sends toph in there instead.

sokka also develops a very tender affection for kuruk, who reminds him of hakoda and who is the only person who can even somewhat get through to him regarding sokka’s somewhat toxic, self-dehumanizing ideal of what and who he should be. he thinks kyoshi is sweet and admires her ruthlessness and similar approach to the self (as a vessel rather than a person). he dislikes roku and thinks he has no redeeming qualities, and tells him as much the first time they ever talk. he talks to aang sometimes, but seeking advice from a kid who was captured by firelord azulon and died in prison (yes) always hurts his heart.

he feels a responsibility to the entire world and claims that he must remain impartial in all matters, but he would still lay down his life for katara (or toph) if it came down to it. that childhood conditioning doesn’t go away, it just gets worse as his responsibilities grow.

in conclusion: avatar sokka is sooo sick & twisted that i can actually kind of justify it as a compelling AU. like, aang's role in it is somehow even more tragic, because this narrative would necessarily dial the cynicism up to 11. sokka and azula as the avatar and the firelord duo in question would be absolutely miserable, just as katara's narratorial status being undermined at every turn would be miserable, just as an aangless world would be miserable. and guess what. i <3 misery

#dragonsarecats #adeusdelta #asks #AUs #sokka #azula #katara #not tagging everyone else #i love misery and suffering and pain <33333 #hence why i like the kyoshi & yangchen novels #kuruk novel when........

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hadesisqueer · 1 year

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You gotta give it to the Red Lotus, they were always smart enough to know they shouldn't try to fight Korra head on. She never got a fair fight against them. They either drugged her before attempting to kidnap her, or tried to kidnap her while she was meditating into the Spirit World and therefore unaware of what was happening, or fought her while she had her hands and legs chained up, limiting her bending. Probably because they knew that if they fought her head on, she could have probably ended up overpowering them: they were smart enough to know not to underestimate the Avatar.

But then they were dumb enough to underestimate the Avatar State. Like, the only reason Azula was able to kill Aang in the Avatar State is because she was smart and quick and caught him by surprise with lightning. Now, the Red Lotus ties Korra up, tells her their intention, poison her to trigger the Avatar State, and as soon as she enters it-- they try to kill her but she quickly overpowers everyone in the cave even though she's chained up and and she quickly breaks free from platinum chains. If Zaheer hadn't been able to fly away and lure her to follow him (and she still nearly killed him for most of the time they were flying until the poison really kicked in), then everyone in that cave would have been dead in a matter of seconds. Like what were they thinking.

#the legend of korra #tlok #avatar korra #avatar aang #azula #zaheer #the red lotus

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myths-tournaments · 6 months

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Awful Characters Round 4 (2/4)

Propaganda under the cut!

BENNY

The first thing that happens in new vegas is that benny fucking shoots your character in the face, steals your shit and leaves you in an open grave. Benny is by all accounts a bastard. He kills you, steals from you, he killed his last boss, he is the single most duplicitous man around. His gang are all about honesty- except him. He's a lying, cheating bastard. The guys who helped him catch you? He skipped on paying them and left them to get shot to death. His new boss, mr.house? He stole his robot, broke it open, got someone to reprogram it and decided to use it to TAKE OVER THE WHOLE OF VEGAS. Benny literally kills people, lies to people, steals their shit and takes charge. That's all benny does. He gets fucking CRUCIFIED if you don't help him out just because so many people fucking hate him. And yet. And yet. Benny is the single most compelling character in the whole game to me. He's just a little guy! He's just there! You can get shot in the head and come back and he goes "what in the goddamn" and then if you try and flirt with him he's like "uhhh sure? Okay?" And leaves you a polite note in the morning. He's fancy. He wears a stupid suit. He has a tiny gun with shitty bullets. He's catholic. He talks like an old timey news presenter. Literally nobody else in the entire game does that. He's got an intelligence of 3. He's my funtime boy. My silly little man. He's so funny. The antagonist in this game is a guy dressed like a tablecloth who looks at all times like a confused dog who doesn't understand what a tv is. And like. He's compelling. He robs from you, shoots you, but…. he never seems to actually wish you harm. He kills and robs and lies but like. He apologises for doing it to you. When he sees you again he doesn't attack you, he's just… confused. He tries to defuse the situation. You can convince him to talk to you, alone, with no guards and it's not that hard. If you spare his life, he doesn't go after you, like. Even if you sleep with him he doesn't take advantage of that and kill you, even if you try to. He… he just leaves. He gives you an apology. If he gets kidnapped by Caesar He just… apologizes again. He tells you his whole plan to take over the city, too. He thinks he'll die, and he wants something of him to survive. He's happy that you made it. And if you let him free, he just… leaves. He knows he's beat, he doesn't want to cause any more trouble. He walks out and leaves. The NCR will kill you if you cross them. The legion will crucify you. House? He'll blow you the fuck up. But benny, the guy who lies and cheats and schemes, he's honest. He's polite. He's… harmless. You can kill him with a single shot if you want. And he can't kill you. He doesn't kill you the first time, and he'll never really hurt you again. Benny just wanted to win. When he knows he's beat he just leaves. No lingering, no harm, he's off, off into the desert heat, and never seen again. Isn't that just insane? like have you ever known an antagonist so polite? He just leaves!! He offers you a drink!! His plan is genuinely probably the best one for the people of new vegas!!! He's. Benny is Benny. Anyway if you want to see some REAL propaganda go to the blog letmebegaytodd and look in the #benny tag. You'll Understand < https://www.tumblr.com/letmebegaytodd/717051175751614464/in-another-life-i-wouldve-really-liked-just> <- look at this shit man

AZULA

Azula explicitly considers herself a monster. She says needlessly cruel things to her brother and friends. She kills the show's twelve-year-old protagonist and masterminds the idea of burning down the entire Earth Kingdom to force them to submit to Fire Nation rule. I have absolutely seen people get called abuse apologists for thinking she's a cool character. But she's also a (canonically) mentally ill fourteen-year-old who was raised by her father to see her ability to be weaponized as her only value. Her mother, arguably the only adult in her life who could have had a positive impact, had a strained relationship with her because she was more difficult than her brother, and then disappeared when she was nine. Her uncle, who was her brother's main healthy role model, took absolutely no interest in her. She watched her father belittle her brother for years and eventually throw him away when he failed to meet his expectations, so that was a threat she was always facing. She really had no chance. And she also has moments that suggest she wants some sort of meaningful connection with another person. She lets her brother take credit for killing the Avatar so he can come back from exile, even though it means she'll be bumped back in the order of succession and offers him advice that seems genuine. Her spiral into a mental breakdown starts when her friends betray her. She's just a much more interesting and multifaceted than a lot of the fandom gives her credit for.

#awful characters tournament #tournament poll #awful characters round 4 #fallout new vegas #benny gecko #benny fnv #avatar the last airbender #atla #azula

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princessmotif · 3 months

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what iroh should have been, and how it would've impacted zuko and azula's arcs

in terms of canon atla, aside from my criticisms of the orientalism woven into the show's fabric, its pattern of telling not showing, the tumor-like presence of filler episodes that don't do enough as character studies or dynamic studies (mostly in book 3; in book 1 i'm more forgiving of these since atla was still finding its groove), and my issues with zuko's redemption arc not challenging his political beliefs in a meaningful way, the thing that i would consider its biggest failure writing-wise is the fact that iroh is not intentionally portrayed as a morally gray character.

the thing about iroh is that he is a longtime war criminal. they try to soft retcon some of that in book 3 by making his nickname "the dragon of the west" about him pretending to have hunted the dragons into extinction and by making him a part of the white lotus, but this to me is not only grievously boring but also a waste of his character.

i understand why the idea of iroh as little more than zuko's loving, wise, and kooky uncle makes people happy. it means zuko gets to have a father figure who loves him unconditionally and makes him feel safe. that's a lovely concept! but not a very interesting one in terms of the narrative, nor is it one congruent with iroh's initial characterization.

think of the absolute contempt and terror he struck into those earthbenders who tried to arrest him in book 1. think of the fact that he besieged ba sing se for 600 days straight well into his adulthood (his age is unclear, but i'd presume he's somewhere in his mid to late 50s throughout atla, so he would at youngest in his 40s when he lead the siege of ba sing se). think of the fact that iroh only changed his mind about his very active part in the war as a grown man once his son was killed. think of the fact that iroh spent 3 years with zuko in exile without ever once actively making a real effort to help zuko unlearn the fire nation propaganda he was indoctrinated with from birth or to truly help him understand that ozai abused him. think of the fact that the white lotus didn't really do much of anything throughout the war to end it.

what picture do these facts paint? is it really that of a reformed war criminal? no, not really.

iroh loves zuko unconditionally. he is patient and kind and loving with zuko. i don't think there's much, if any, room to argue with that. i am not denying that to zuko, iroh is a loving, wise, and kooky uncle.

however, i am saying that iroh is multifaceted. he is zuko's loving, wise, and kooky uncle, and he is also a war criminal who, despite the show telling us has reformed his ways, is not shown to have done so in any meaningful way. he does not do much to help zuko to unlearn imperialist propaganda, does not do much to discourage zuko from trying to capture the avatar, and does not do much at all to end the war.

this makes for an incredibly interesting and dynamic character! this is a character who believes that his personal kindness absolves him of his heinous political misdeeds. that is why he does not do anything meaningful to challenge imperialism where he sees it. that is why he is also a kind, loving man. he's hugely flawed, but he also has virtues that make you want him to overcome his flaws! there is so much room for him to develop whether its negatively or positively, and there is so much that can be done with the relationships he has, especially his relationship with zuko! furthermore, this is the summation of what the canon material overall most strongly presents us with.

but it's not how the narrative wants us to view iroh, so it's not how the narrative treats him.

instead, we are told that iroh is a reformed war criminal (and later even the notion that he was in the wrong for his military service to the fire nation is soft retconned) who is now nothing but a loving and supportive uncle to zuko. he's unfailingly kind to both zuko and the gaang, ty lee lets slip that she actually rather likes him despite azula's contempt of him to show us that ty lee is an antivillain who will be redeemed (despite her political beliefs never being actually challenged in a meaningful way), and really the only people iroh is unkind to or who dislike him are azula and ozai to highlight to the audience that they are villains.

this makes for an incredibly static character who essentially only exists to love zuko and act as his moral tether despite the fact that iroh never actually challenges zuko's political beliefs. iroh does not need to grow or develop within the narrative atla tells us exists. he has already done his self-reflection and repented for his behavior. he is a figure of moral authority. while this makes him feel safe and good to viewers who accept what atla tells them without question, in addition to not aligning with what's actually shown, it also makes him insanely bland from a narrative perspective.

but what if atla intentionally portrayed him as morally gray? what if they leaned into his shortcomings?

here's the thing about if iroh is intentionally portrayed as morally gray: zuko's redemption arc improves drastically, and azula's is given a much better opportunity to begin.

hear me out. if iroh is morally gray, then he is not solely there to show zuko what real, unconditional love looks like so that zuko can replace his abusive father with a loving father figure, giving him the strength to do the right thing and join the gaang. i'm not saying iroh no longer serves this function in the narrative; i'm saying that now that iroh does this, and his failure to meaningfully repent for his war crimes and to challenge imperialism creates conflict with zuko. you see, if iroh is morally gray, then his failure to challenge zuko's political beliefs (i.e. imperialism is good) is something that zuko is forced to reckon with throughout his redemption arc.

this would mean that zuko is finally actually challenged in his political beliefs as opposed to simply accepting that people are afraid of him because he is a destructive firebender/the prince and thus representative of the harm they have endured throughout the war. furthermore, it means that zuko has to go against a father figure who has treated him well, so his redemption is no longer a matter rooted in kindness but in moral conviction. zuko doesn't have to lose his love for iroh to do this; in fact, that would be a very boring way to portray this. it is far more interesting if zuko has the internal conflict of both loving his uncle and condemning him politically as he struggles to do the right thing in spite of that love.

the idea of zuko managing to grow beyond iroh and do the right thing even though it is hard, even though it means not only going against ozai's malice but also iroh's complicty, is one that would round zuko's arc out better.

it's also one that would open up the gates for an azula redemption arc a lot more than what canon does (although canon azula is still redeemable).

if zuko outgrows iroh enough to challenge his inaction, then he has outgrown iroh enough to start to really see his flaws.

one of zuko's main flaws in canon is that he has a very black and white way of thinking. this is a hugely defining flaw for him. it's why he struggled to accept that ozai abused him, why he struggled to see that his pursuit of the avatar and thus the war as a whole was wrong, why he got physically ill when he was confronted with the fact that he was harming people, etc.

but if zuko starts to see that iroh's inaction as a flaw despite the fact that iroh loves him so sincerely and is so kind to most everyone, then he can start to break this black and white thinking. like ozai, iroh is no longer on a pedestal in zuko's mind. this would lead to the unearthing of more of iroh's flaws.

in conjunction with the fact that zuko has now seen proof of azula's pain (her psychotic break in the last agni kai), this means that zuko can start to place blame where its due with people over her pain.

i am under no delusions about the state of zuko's relationship with azula in canon. i've expanded on my thoughts about the love between them here if you'd like to see them, but i can sum it up as so: while azula cares about zuko in her own deeply screwed up way, zuko doesn't really care about azula because he is shortsighted and struggles to empathize with her or even see a need to.

however, seeing proof that azula has been harmed too means that zuko would finally see a reason she is worthy of his empathy. the first, most obvious, and easiest to identify (for zuko) perpetrator is, of course, ozai. like with the war, ozai is clearly malicious. now that zuko has admitted and accepted that his father was abusive to him, it is much easier for him to admit that their father is responsible for azula's pain too. this much i believe is likely in canon as well.

the next person for zuko to look to, which can only happen if zuko has opened his eyes, is iroh. like with the war post 600 day siege, iroh was not malicious in his treatment of azula, but he was still complicit. iroh may not have abused azula, but he did neglect her entirely. he did not give her a chance to ever be anything but what ozai told her she should be. he did not show her love and compassion the way he did zuko. furthermore, he not only failed to encourage zuko to ever try doing so, he actively discouraged him from attempting to.

to be clear: i don't think zuko should be a mentor figure to azula during her redemption. like azula, he's just a kid. he's still growing and learning himself. he also doesn't really understand her at all, even if he has realized that she was hurt too. he doesn't understand how she was, and he's going to have to spend a lot of time reconciling the way their father's abuse colored his perception of her with how she actually is. furthermore, their relationship is complicated and full of pain for them both, so relying too heavily on it to help azula recover and redeem herself would end badly if we're being realistic.

but zuko seeing that azula was abused by their father and seeing that their uncle's failure to ever give her a chance to understand real love is crucial to him realizing that the asylum is not somewhere that gives her a real shot at recovery and redemption.

whether or not azula takes that shot when it's given to her is a more complicated story that would involve both zuko and azula having to reflect more wholly and honestly on ursa than i think either of them ever have before as well as some likely very painful conversations challenging the way she, like all other fire nation citizens, was indoctrinated, but do you see how interesting treating iroh as the morally gray character he is could be?

even if you don't want to see a redeemed azula (i personally do, but the possibility of her rejecting the idea of redemption is also quite fascinating and tragic in this context), zuko's arc and the commentary made about redemption and second chances overall are made so much more interesting and nuanced by this simple choice.

#atla #iroh critical #zuko #azula #fire hazard siblings #takes a while to get them since this is abt iroh's character and his role in the narrative #but we do get there

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